UK - Green Hippo reports a busy and successful PLASA 2011. 2011 saw Green Hippo move to Hall 1, conveniently situated for passing traffic and easy to find, due to its trademark double-decker stand and the slightly green glow emanating all-round.

The stand was never empty with visitors stopping by repeatedly and the upstairs area provided the perfect space for meetings or a chance to chill out with a drink from the strains of the show - perhaps with a pint of UberBrew or a glass of the green GrassHopper, says the company.

As always, the run-up to the show was a busy time with programming, building a house and not least of all with Green Hippo's new brochure finally ready and printed only days before the doors opened. With demonstrations and meetings as well as the usual dinners,

France - Inspired by the myth of the Fountain of Youth, a legendary spring that reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks its waters, La Fontaine de Jouvence in Puteaux has recently been rejuvenated by a multicoloured, dynamic underwater illumination system.

4J Événements, the company in charge of the lighting installation of the fountain, has chosen with the help of CSI, Griven's exclusive distributor for France, the best solution for this project. After the necessary renovations of the square in front of the city hall, la Fountaine de Jouvence has been sparkling in coloured lights since last July.

A DMX programmable lighting system based on submerged LED fixtures, Griven's Waterled, reproduces every night a series of stunning dynamic lighting schemes highlighting, in alternative appealing sequences of bright colours, the dancing water jets patterns. Blu

Italy - With a role that included AV consulting, theatre consulting, and project management for all entertainment systems on board Costa Cruise's new flagship, the Costa Favolosa, Nautilus Entertainment of San Diego specified the systems shipwide, with a DiGiCo SD7T chosen for its impressive theatre.

Following a three-day July vernissage cruise from Venice, the Costa Favolosa (114,500 gross tonnage and 3,800 total guests) began offering Eastern Mediterranean cruises, before being positioned in Dubai for eight-day Arabian Nights cruises in the UAE and Oman for the winter 2011/2012 season.

With its 13 passenger decks, the Favolosa, built entirely in Italy by Fincantieri, is the largest ship flying the Italian flag and offers guests a wide range of leisure and entertainment amenities, the latter including the three-deck Hortensia theatre, featuring a concentrate of cutting edge A

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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

UK - The Hexagon in Reading is one of the Thames Valley's principal theatres, its catchment area covering the wide commuter belt west of London. A recent upgrade to its audio system has seen the installation of a Yamaha M7CL-48ES digital console and three SB168-ES stage boxes.

The nature of venues like the Hexagon is that they stage a huge variety of productions - ranging from professional comedians, tribute acts, variety shows, choirs, psychics, musicals, pantomimes, dance troupes and TV spinoffs to amateur performances by clubs, bands, schools and talent contests. This means that the mixing system has to be extremely flexible, yet not so complex that it can't be taught very quickly to someone who may not have used a digital console before.

The combination of the M7CL-48ES and SB168-ES stage boxes meets all of these needs and, as a result, is proving extremely popular at regi

UK - Adlib's lighting division supplied a full lighting rig and crew for the first time to the Clumber Park Music Festival in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, as their busy Summer festival period continued apace.

Clumber's three diverse nights of entertainment for all ages and musical tastes - included Pop Party In the Park on Friday, headlined by N-Dubz also with sets by The Wanted, Chipmunk, Aggro Santos and Parade. It continued on the Saturday with a 'flashback' night featuring some of the best loved sounds of the 1980s with live performances by The Human League, Level 42, Heaven 17, Nik Kershaw and Toyah. On Sunday, there was a concert by classical crossover singer Katherine Jenkins backed by the National Symphony Orchestra, with special Guest Wynn Evans.

Adlib's Peter Abraham project managed, commenting, "It is always exciting working on new projects and rising to their cha

UK - Pete Watts, LD and MD of Essex-based DPL Production Lighting (DPLX), has designed and supplied the lighting set for the recent UK Stadium tour of N-Dubz. To achieve the effects he wanted, he created a lighting rig comprising 30 PixelRange PixelPars.

Watts explains, "I used PixelPars with 8-degree lenses, the reason being: I really wanted the speed of LED but the brightness of a moving wash. The PixelPar is bright enough for me to use as beam light, blinder or strobe - or all three! Very impressive for a single unit that draws less power than a lamp-based Par 56."

The tour is a prelude to next year's planned US tour and bearing the same name as the recently released album Love Live Life.

(Jim Evans)

USA - In its continuing support of arts education, ETC has announced the recipients of its 12th annual LDI Student Sponsorship. The programme gives six students who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of lighting design and stage technology an exclusive opportunity for professional development.

The students enjoy an all expenses paid trip to the LDI trade show; backstage access to ETC's tradeshow stand; an insider's look at the latest technology; and the chance to network with industry professionals. ETC matches the Student Sponsorship recipients with industry luminaries who serve as mentors - giving advice, inspiration and support to the students as they embark on their careers.

This year's ETC LDI Student Sponsorship recipients:

Ryan Bona is a Master of Fine Arts candidate for theatrical lighting design at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia

USA - Philips Strand Lighting and Philips Selecon has announced the realignment of key manager positions to strengthen its sales and marketing operations in North America. In order to continue the worldwide operational realignment, the company has appointed industry-veteran Leonard Miller to the position of North American sales manager.

"One of the key elements in the successful transformation of our North American sales and marketing team is to place talented and motivated individuals into leadership positions, and we have done so with the appointment of Leonard", states Julie Smith, general commercial manager for Philips Strand Lighting and Philips Selecon North America.

Based in the Dallas headquarters, Miller brings with him 25 years of professional experience in sales, operations and technical production for live entertainment and events, including theme parks a

South Africa - Idols is one of the most enduringly popular global TV talent shows - and Robe moving lights have joined the thrills, excitement and action on several Idols around the world, with the latest being the current series of Idols South Africa. This is recorded at the Mosaiek Teatro in Fairlands, Johannesburg live in front of 3,500 people, and broadcast on M-Net, M-Net HD and Mzansi Magic on Sunday and Tuesday evenings.

The lighting and video visuals for this seventh series of Idols SA have been created by Joshua Cutts, one of South Africa's most innovative designers who is working for the first time in this role, having operated last year's series. It is the first time that Idols South Africa has featured a coherent 'visual' design incorporating both mediums, which is going down a storm with everyone, bringing a new fluidity and harmony to th

USA - Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament has installed a Topaze 1200W MSD followspot from Robert Juliat at its Chicago Castle, now celebrating its 20th year as one of the Midwest's most popular family entertainment destinations.

Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament offers guests "ringside seats to a story of bravery and honour set in 11th-century Spain. The spectacular includes a jousting tournament and falconry, all enjoyed over dinner.

Barbizon Lighting Company supplied the Robert Juliat Topaze fixtures as part of a lighting upgrade to Medieval Times' suburban Chicago location.

"I was looking for something different, not the usual spots," says sound and lighting manager Edgar Campos. "Other lighting manufacturers seemed to have the same type of design. I was looking for the sturdiest fixtures with the fewest parts and found them in the Topaze, which combi

UK - Mojo Barriers worked closely with organisers Festival Republic to develop a bespoke front of main stage barrier design, incorporating BLMS (Barrier Load Monitor Systems), and NME/Radio 1 stage barrier designs. The new designs were suitable for both the Reading and Leeds sites.

A total of 1,100m of stage barrier was supplied to each festival, which included Mojo's line-up gate system for the silent disco.

Mojo's BLMS detects and records pressure applied by the crowd throughout the event with its unique pressure sensors. It was first used five years ago at Reading and Leeds and includes CCTV monitoring and personal observation by production and security professionals to monitor crowd dynamics.

As a result of previous years' results analysis, Mojo installed one of its trademark thrust systems into the main arena as a primary stage barrier, a first for the Leeds and Reading

UK - OnLive, the pioneer of cloud gaming, launched its on-demand video game service at the 2011 Eurogamer Expo at Earls Court, London, where PF Events were official sole AV suppliers.

The launch itself occurred in the Developer Sessions conference room, for which PF Events were contracted to supply all the audio, video, lighting, staging and technical management. The four-day event featured presentations from some of the leading games developers and manufacturers in the industry and included a combination of speech, HD presentations and on-stage gameplay.

PF Events installed 12 KV2 EX10 speakers and two Noise Control Audio VSB218 subwoofers in a 7.1 surround sound configuration. A Panasonic PT-DZ110X full HD projector was also installed with a 16ft x 9ft Monoblox projector screen. All the video was controlled using a Christie Spyder X20 HD video processor which was ideal for s

UK - The ALD and the ABTT assisted by Stage Electrics are holding a shoot out of LED theatre lanterns at the Royal Northern College of Music Opera Theatre, 124 Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9RD on 28 October 2011.

The intention is to see what an average theatre might expect from LED lanterns. To which end manufacturers have been invited to provide examples ofLED lanterns falling into the categories of - Profile Spots, Acting Area Wash Lights, Scenery/Cyclorama Wash Lights and Beam Lights - PAR equivalents etc. To limit the field, moving lights will not be included.

There will be two sessions, at 10.00and 14.00. Lanterns will be demonstrated alongside the Theatre's own stock of conventional lanterns all running on the house board, a Strand Lighting 530i. There will be opportunities to compare and contrast different lanterns and manufacturers' representatives will be available to

UK - The British Standards Institution has launched the revised BS7827, a code of practice for audio systems designers in sports venues.

BS7827 officially known as a code of practice for designing, specifying, maintaining and operating emergency sound systems at sports venues, was initially drawn up in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, and covers not only stadia, but any venue where sport is played such as racecourses, swimming pools etc, it is also applicable to large public facilities such as shopping malls, conference and exhibition centres.

Steve Jones, a consulting engineer specialising in sound and chairman of the EPL 100-2 Working Group at BSI, who produced the revised standard, said, "The origins of this standard are a code of practice produced by a working group within the Sound Communications Industries Federation, which I chaired back in 1989 after

UK - An entire portfolio of technologies from Bosch Security Systems - including the PLENA range of Public Address/Voice Alarm (PA/VA) technology - is being installed at the new Stobart Rail operated railway station at Stobart Group's London Southend Airport to protect the safety and security of passengers and staff.

The station and airport, which was acquired by the famous transport and logistics group in 2008, features the Bosch range of Projection Speakers and Metal Cabinet Speakers to ensure effective communications with passengers, whose numbers are expected to rise to more than two million by 2020. The site is also benefitting from a surveillance system which includes the first installation of its new digital hybrid recorder (DHR).

Project managers Birse Rail appointed DACS Rail as Electrical Engineers on the project who in turn appointed Max Electronic Systems to design

Europe - Summer means outdoor music season across Europe with Martin Professional lighting rigs going up on a wide variety of music festivals from rock to pop to dance to classical. Here is a small sampling of the many music festivals that featured Martin lighting rigs this past summer.

The Reading Festival, the world's oldest popular music festival still in existence, and its sister festival, the Leeds Festival, took place simultaneously in August, sharing the same bill. Neg Earth provided the main stage lighting, trussing and control systems and turned to MAC 301 Washes, MAC III Profiles, and Atomic 3000 strobes with Atomic Colors scrollers.

Perhaps the world's best known outdoor music festival, Glastonbury, took place in June and as in years past featured a plethora of Martin gear. Neg Earth supplied Martin MAC III Profiles and Atomic strobes for LD Willie Williams for U2's

Sweden - Hardcore Superstar is Sweden's most popular band in the hard rock genre with a very distinctive musical and visual identity. After seven albums and seven world tours, the quartet from outside Gothenburg has grown to be a headline act at many European festivals. The group has also toured with some of biggest rock names including AC/DC and Motörhead.

When lighting designer Henke Hjälm, together with Hans Ekdahl at HELL Produktion AB, wanted to bring along a wireless DMX/RDM system on the band's extensive European tour, the choice was LumenRadio's CRMX Nova RDM.

CRMX with its Automated Cognitive Coexistence was identified as the only wireless system that could provide the level of performance and reliability required for the group's very energetic, fast phased, and almost theatrical stage performances.

"A major concern was all the other wireless systems present

UK - Lighting Technology Projects (LTP) has supplied Llanelli's newest gym, the Robert Davies Health and Fitness Centre, with a solution-led lighting scheme.

Having undergone a complete refurbishment, the venue, which is in close proximity to LTP's base, required an innovative interior lighting scheme to enhance its extensive facilities.

Offering a two-floor gymnasium, sauna, steam and salt inhalation rooms, boxercise, a spinning room and two studios, along with physiotherapy areas and a coffee shop and lounge, LTP was able to design and specify effects lighting tailored to each different environment.

The key areas, including the central atrium ceiling, benefit from beautification provided by colour changing LED lighting. A visually vibrant centrepiece has also been created in this space utilising multiple light sticks. Some of the spaces feature UV graffiti art, so red plex

Italy - At the Strategies in Light Europe conference in Milan this week, Texas Instruments Incorporated introduced two integrated, phase-dimmable AC/DC LED lighting drivers, LM3448 and TPS92070, for use in solid state lighting residential, architectural, commercial and industrial applications, such as retrofit bulbs, LED ballasts, downlights, spot lights and other luminaires.

The National LM3448 adaptive, constant-off time AC/DC constant current LED regulator integrates a 600-V MOSFET and is optimized for 2-W to 8-W dimmable LED lighting drivers. The TPS92070 flyback AC/DC constant current LED driver controller is optimized for 6-W to 20-W dimmable LED lighting drivers. Both products feature thermal shutdown, VCC under-voltage lockout, cycle-by-cycle peak current limit and LED open protection.

To simplify AC/DC LED driver design, TI offers an online navigation tool that delive

USA - Helen Meyer, executive vice president of Meyer Sound, has been recognised with the 2011 InfoComm International Women in AV Award. At ceremonies held on 23 September in conjunction with the InfoComm 100 conference in Portland, Ore., Meyer accepted the accolade with the other winner this year, Erin Bolton, partner and strategic development for Pivot Communications. Now in its third year, the Women in AV Award acknowledges female AV industry professionals who represent a strong entrepreneurial spirit and excellence in technology management.

"Helen Meyer has transformed the audiovisual industry by being devoted to improving the user experience," says Randal A. Lemke, executive director and CEO, InfoComm International. "She has enhanced the enjoyment of audiences around the world by ensuring that Meyer Sound is developing products devoted to pure sound and intell

Australia - Genazzano FCJ College, located in Kew, Melbourne, recently unveiled their new Madeline Centre for Music and Performing Arts.

The Madeleine Centre is a fully functioning performing arts venue, incorporating a series of classrooms, drama rooms, a gallery space and the impressive Montagner Auditorium. The 456 seat auditorium and the accompanying rooms are already heavily used each day, playing host to drama and theatre studies, music classes, band rehearsals, meetings, assemblies, seminars, concerts, recitals and theatre productions.

Lightmoves were contracted to supply and install the theatrical lighting, sound and lighting control packages for the new artistic hub. For the PA, Lightmoves turned JBL.

The main auditorium features a high ceiling, curved walls and minimal space in which to mount a speaker system. A JBL VRX line array was chosen, given its small footpr

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