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Italy - The Venice Jazz Festival included an impressive series of concerts in San Marco Square, where Hollywood Service was engaged for the second consecutive year to provide audio production services with its inventory of Turbosound loudspeaker systems.

Among the performers this year were the Italian Navy, James Taylor, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Venice La Fenice, and the well-know Italian singer Biagio Antonacci.

But the highlight of this year's event was the appearance of Sting on 29 July in Piazza San Marco. This was just one date of his worldwide Symphonicity Tour which has seen Sting and his band accompanied by the 50-piece Philharmonic Orchestra La Fenice.

The festival organiser's intention was to highlight as much as possible the stunning architectural values

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USA - High End Systems has announced a new Wholehog MIDI/LTC Widget and cosmetic changes to other existing Wholehog accessory products.

The new MIDI/LTC widget replaces the original LTC Widget and adds additional MIDI functionality with MIDI in/out/thru capability. Packaged in a lightweight metallic black case, the Wholehog MIDI/LTC Widget connects to any USB enabled Windows PC, Road Hog console, or Wholehog 3 console to provide a single Linear Timecode input as well as MIDI input/output capabilities.

When used in conjunction with a Wholehog 3 console, Road Hog console, or Hog 3PC software, the new MIDI/LTC Widget provides a powerful level of timecode and MIDI functionality. This configuration provides an excellent solution for backup and show control applications, says the company.

All other Wholehog Widgets have also changed packaging to a modern, lightweight metallic blac

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USA - Clay Paky scored a remarkable string of wins at the LDI show in Orlando, Florida. The company secured a total of four awards: a Parnelli Award, two LDI Awards, and a PLASA Rock Our World Award.

The Sharpy won a fourth Rock Our World Award at a reception organized by PLASA in connection with the annual LDI show. The jury, chaired by Mike Wood, gave the Sharpy their enthusiastic backing. Designer Natasha Katz said, "This is the beginning of more lights that have to be like this - efficient and green," while Nick Jones said, "Absolutely brilliant - an amazing amount of light coming out of such a small piece of kit."

Two days later success struck again when the Sharpy won a Parnelli Award in the category for Most Indispensable Technology. The award is often seen as an accurate barometer of public opinion and shows the extent to which the Sharpy has establ

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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

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UK - Digital network operator Ram Vision has extended its Iconic network, signing a five year contract as the exclusive media sales partner for the new 21sq.m LED screen at Glow, Bluewater, installed by ADI which went live on 10 November 2011.

The LED screen will join Ram Vision's large-format screen network and is located on the wall of the cinema in the r new Plaza space. The 3000m² leisure area acts as a hub between the mall, cinema, restaurants and Glow.

The screen has been installed by LED specialist ADI and is a 6mm SMD indoor product from the company's proprietary Virtuality range of screens. ADI worked closely with Bluewater in order to specify the screen - which has a high resolution and close minimum viewing distance - to give a stunning picture whether viewed from across the new Plaza or from a couple of metres away, ensuring that the messages of brands are accurat

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Sweden - Lighting designer Mikki Kunttu is using Martin Professional's MAC III Performance luminaire on Malmö Opera's current production of Les Miserables. Presented on one of Europe's largest opera stages, this latest staging of the Victor Hugo classic premiered in September and plays until February 2012.

"The MAC III is really the workhorse in this production as most of the scenes were built around the looks created by the MAC IIIs," says Kunttu. "It was chosen because it's perfect for the high contrast looks needed in this production."

Kunttu placed the MAC III Performances on two simple backlight trusses, upstage. "I've got nothing to complain about," he says. "They definitely get the job done."

Also used on the show are Martin MAC 2000 Washes and MAC 600 wash lights, as well as Martin's PAL 1200 moving mirror spot. The Mar

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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies' audio division has supplied a second Soundcraft Vi1 digital mixing console to Leeds based rental and technical production specialist 3D Productions. This follows high demand for the console since the company made their first investment.

3D's David Whittlestone decided to purchase the Soundcraft Vi1 consoles after considering many options. He chose them primarily because of the quality of the mic preamps, the competitive price of the console and the flexibility and expandability of the control platform. He adds that the quality of the onboard effects is excellent, "our engineers are all very happy."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - The award winning Hot Ice Show at top UK amusement park, Pleasure Beach Blackpool is one of the many shows around the world taking advantage of the Jands Vista lighting and media control system to run their lighting during their ice skating spectacular.

Hot Ice has been running for over 70 years, with the 2011 show, Aura, performed twice daily, six days a week, to entertain and enthral nearly 20,000 visitors a week. This makes it one of the UK's most popular attractions.

Hot Ice is created, produced and directed by Amanda Thompson and presented by Stageworks Worldwide Productions at the Pleasure Beach's ice skating theatre, The Arena. Stageworks head of production, management & events, Scott Hope, specified the Jands Vista T2 in consultation with his team, when the time came to upgrade and replace the show's lighting control desk.

Key to his

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UK - Britannia Row Productions has recently boosted its investment in Lake's LM Series Digital Audio Processors, having recently purchased another 17 units of the new LM 44 and a dozen LM 26s to add to its existing Lake inventory. This new purchase means Britannia Row now holds a total of 70 Lake LM Series units in stock.

Explaining his company's ongoing investment in Lake, Mike Lowe, finance/production director, Britannia Row, said, "We got into Lake in the very early days when the late, great Bruce Jackson came and visited us here in Britannia Row two or three times and it was pretty amazing the stuff that he showed us then. On top of the fantastic facilities that the Lake processor brought to the party, the end result was a great improvement in sound quality, and that was really the kicker for making the move in the first place."

Bryan Grant, Managing Director at

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UK - Manchester's Ritz Ballroom has re-opened after a complete £2m refurbishment, including a state Turbosound Flex Array audio system installed by Dimension Audio.

The HMV Ritz is one of Manchester's top live music and club venues, featuring in the coming months such diverse artists as Switchfoot, An Evening With Cake, Alabama 3, Thurston Moore, George Clinton with Parliament Funkadelic, Roots Manuva, and Steve Harley's Cockney Rebel.

Dimension Audio's project manager Andy Laurie headed up the install team of Ian Silcock and Pete Morgan to complete the job to a record six-week schedule, ensuring the timely delivery of the vast range of equipment and the commissioning of the Flex Array PA system.

The Ritz's main room has a capacity of 1,500 people over two floors in the style of a classic Victorian ballroom. Dimension's Andy Laurie describes the audio specification in

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World - Dolly Parton is performing across America, Europe, and Australia on the Better Day World Tour in support of her recently released album of the same name. FOH engineer and production manager Mike Fechner and monitor engineer Jason Glass, both of whom have been with Parton for several years, insisted on a Meyer Sound reinforcement system consisting of MILO and MICA line array loudspeakers.

For the US legs of the tour, Livonia, Mich.-based Thunder Audio provided a Meyer Sound system comprised of 24 MILO and 16 MICA line array loudspeakers; eight 700-HP subwoofers; eight UPJ-1P VariO loudspeakers; 18 MJF-212A stage monitors; and a Galileo loudspeaker management system. In Europe, equipment support came from Major Tom Ltd. A Countryman ISOMAX headset microphone is provided for Parton in all of her shows.

Systems Engineer Patrick Johnston describes Parton's performanc

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UK Brighton venue, The Haunt, has carried out a major upgrade, installing a Soundcraft Vi1 digital console and highly specified PA system.

Situated opposite Brighton Pier, the converted cinema, which operated most recently as the Kuku Club, wanted to extend its scope from pure playback facilities to become a genuine 350-capacity circuit venue.

The technical team opted for the versatility of a Soundcraft Vi1 digital console, purchased from dealers Crystal Pro Audio and installed by experienced local production and installation company, C3 Productions.

Run by John Crawley and John Castrillon, C3 Productions was chosen for the fit-out, based on their extensive experience with high profile events, including Great Escape, the Brighton Festival, Gay Pride, Brighton Fashion Week, and Brighton and Sussex Universities' Freshers' Balls.

At The Haunt, there had been no technical infr

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USA - Audio-Technica is celebrating its 18th year of supporting the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards by providing an extensive selection of vocal and instrument microphones for its annual awards show.

The 45th Annual CMA Awards aired live in 5.1-channel surround sound Wednesday, 9 November, on the ABC Television Network from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, and featured over 200 Audio-Technica microphones, including an impressive array of hard-wired mics and Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless Systems.

The team responsible for the audio at this year's CMA's again included a who's who of broadcast audio. The audio was supervised by award-winning audio producers Michael Abbott and Tom Davis; ATK/Audiotek provided the sound system with FOH mixers Patrick Baltzell and Rick Shimer; the broadcast music mix was handled by New Jersey/California-based M3's (Music Mix Mobile'

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Germany - The organisers of the papal visit to Berlin, Freiburg and Erfurt used comprehensive communication and AV systems from Riedel Communications to ensure successful events. Riedel delivered a solution that included digital trunked radios (TETRA), Artist digital matrix intercom, as well as the fibre based media network MediorNet and the digital audio network RockNet.

Both the strict security requirements as well as the technical demands were extremely high for the five main events associated with the visit. It was crucial to build a reliable communications infrastructure in each location that was also secure from eavesdropping. In addition, the locations needed to be ready to distribute audio and video signals to both broadcast networks and to the on-site video walls.

The two largest events were held in Freiburg, including a vigil and the farewell celebration at the local

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UK - Britannia Row Productions is enjoying a busy autumn and winter season, with its entire Midas digital inventory out on major international tours.

Two XL8s continue on Jamiroquai's world tour, with Rick Pope at FOH and Tristan Farrow on monitors. "Out of all the digital boards that I've used in the live environment, the XL8 is sonically by far the best," says Pope of the XL8. "The definition in one's mix can only be described as 3D; I have not heard separation like this before."

Another XL8 has been out with Cliff Richard, with James 'JJ' John on monitors, while FOH engineer Mike 'Bunny' Warren has been using a PRO6. An XL8/PRO6 combination is now being used on Kasabian under the control of FOH engineer Paul Ramsey, with a PRO6 being used by monitor engineer Yogi.

PRO Series consoles are also out on other BRP tours including a PRO9 on Tinie Tempah, wit

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USA - ETC's Source Four Fresnel, which launched earlier this year, picked up the Best Product award in the Equipment category at the LDI/PLASA Awards ceremony in Orlando this month.

Voting for the awards, which recognise newly released and outstanding entertainment technology products, was open to all employees of PLASA member companies who attended the LDI show.

Customers had been asking for a Source Four Fresnel for years - but ETC waited to make a winner, says the company. The dichroic reflector design enables a Source Four Fresnel equipped with a 750W HPL lamp to equal the lumens output of other manufacturers' 1000W Fresnel fixtures

The first batch of 250 Source Four Fresnels received in Europe from ETC's production facility in Wisconsin, USA, has just been delivered to dealers.

Meanwhile, ETC's Selador Desire LED line picked up two awards at the 2011 Worship Facilitie

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UK - Roland Systems Group (RSG) products are currently touring the country with one of the most familiar faces in British rock - Toyah Willcox. Toyah kicked off the final leg of her autumn tour, From Sheep Farming To Anthem 2011 at the beginning of October in Southampton to rave reviews and the hotly-anticipated concerts will see Toyah perform a selection of material from her first three albums and a concentration of songs from her 1981 Platinum-selling album Anthem, which celebrates its thirtieth anniversary this year.

Paul Nicholson who runs Salisbury based Midas ProSound and Red Square Audio has toured with Toyah for almost 20 years and is in charge of specifying, supplying, and operating the sound equipment for the Toyah band and her other project The Humans. For the UK Toyah tour, Nicholson specified the Roland M-300 Live Mixing Console together with the Digit

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USA - MA Lighting received two awards at the recent fourth annual PLASA Rock Our World Awards.

The first was for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards ceremony, where a grandMA2 light played the crucial role of controlling 34 media servers, feeding multiple onstage screens via 70 video projectors.

The second award was given for Disney's World of Color, where the installation also relies on grandMA2 for lighting control.

The Rock Our World Awards were created to honour groundbreaking achievements by PLASA members in the world of entertainment technology .

"We fondly recognise our trophy-winning partners' hard work, dedication to detail and outstanding conceptual product designs," says A.C.T Lighting executive VP and COO Ben Saltzman. "We cherish our strong, productive relationships with them, and stand behind their continued efforts to bring durable, reliable lighti

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France - Belgian lighting designer Francis Mannaert is currently using a raft of Philips Vari-Lite VL3000 Spot and Wash Luminaires to create a dynamic supernatural lightscape for the National Opera Ukrainia's touring ballet, set to the hauntingly evocative music of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.

Conductor Grigori Penteleîtchouk originally commissioned the production for a small classical music festival - Festival des Nuits Sainte Victoire, in 2009. However, so successful was it that producer Franck Dompietrini and Maestro, Penteleïtchouk, decided to take an expanded version of the production across France and play to the largest audiences possible.

Mannaert used VL3000 spots and washes, as part of a traditional ballet lighting rig, he explains: "I use the Vari-Lite's for punchy key, back and side lighting. There are no props or scenery on stage except for a p

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USA - Chauvet is a sponsor of Academy of Production Technology three-day seminars dedicated to the advancement of education and safety in the live event production industry. Led by Richard Cadena, a 24-year veteran of the entertainment lighting industry with a background in electronics and electrical engineering, the classes travel the country to capture a wide-ranging audience.

November's class will be set at Chauvet headquarters in Sunrise, Fla. The class covers theory and practices of entertainment technology for the working electrician and technician.

Attendees will learn essential training in safety, codes and regulations, control systems, and basic electricity to advanced power distribution. The course work also counts towards renewal credits for ETCP Certified Electricians.

"We are pleased to open the doors to our facility for an educational endeavour," said

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Poland - L-Acoustics' Polish rental network agent Fotis Sound has provided a K1 WST line source system for the opening of the Olympic Stadium in Kiev in preparation for UEFA Euro 2012 Football Championship.

The opening ceremony, under the guidance of director Alexey Batkovsky, was based on Ukrainian history, with more than 2,000 volunteers and dancers involved in the larger performances. At the concert's finale, Shakira appeared on stage to a backdrop of spectacular fireworks before an audience of 50,000, including Ukrainian president Victor Janukovich.

The event's technical coordinator Vlad Voloshuk, from Concert Bis in Moldova, invited freelance system engineer Andrey Akhromeev to design a sound system for the event. Drawing on L-Acoustics' proprietary acoustic design software Soundvision, Akhromeev's solution consisted of 18 K1 boxes and 6 K1-SB subs per side, with side- ha

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UK - BBC's The One show returns to the small screen with this year's hosts including Lenny Henry, Jasper Carrott and Griff Rhys Jones. The sketch shows will also include an array of special guests.

Richard Martin Lighting (RML) support lighting designers Oli Richards and Martin Kempton to create a simple and elegant setting for the shows. The specification includes Stage Zoom 1200's, MAC 500's, MAC 600's, 900mm Chroma Strips, GLP Impressions and GLP Impressions XL, Alpha Beam 700's and Stage Bars.

In addition to the main lighting rig, RML also liaised with Rosco to supply gobos for the show.

(Jim Evans)

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