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Germany - Exhibiting at the show for the tenth year, Alcons Audio enjoyed a highly successful ProLight+Sound 2012, with the company promoting both new products and expansion into new premises and markets.

Attracting much interest was the new RR12, which saw a number of visitors to the show wanting to place orders immediately. A modular arrayable point-source system, based on Alcons pro-ribbon cylindrical projection technology, the system consists of two-way elements with a 30º dispersion in the coupling plane and a 60º asymmetrical dispersion in the non-coupling plane. Featuring a high-output 12-inch driver in combination with a newly developed six inch pro-ribbon driver, RR12 can be used as horizontal or vertical array.

The production version of the BC332 self-contained cardi

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UK - Manchester based lighting and rigging rental specialist dbn supplied three giant truss crucifixes used as a dramatic and eye-catching backdrop for the BBC's live broadcast of The Preston Passion.

The event re-telling of the Crucifixion of Jesus was instigated by Preston Guild, directed by Mark Murphy and hosted by Fern Britton for the BBC on Good Friday at Preston Bus Station. The outdoor and live mass participation elements of the event were produced by innovative arts / performance company Walk The Plank,

Each crucifix was 9m tall with a 4m cross piece, and was constructed on the top floor of the multi storey car park above the Preston Station.

The crosses were clad in wood, painted black, and erected one at a time using an electric chain hoist and self-climbing tower methodology. This was choreographed to happen while three short sections of pre-recorded drama

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UK - Pro audio mixer manufacturer Allen & Heath has received the Queen's Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category. The honour has been granted for the company's outstanding achievement in export growth between 2008 and 2011, with overseas earnings growing by 64%, along with growth in turnover and profit.

This is the second time the veteran Cornish manufacturer has won a Queen's Award, having previously been recognised in 1995 in the same category.

"As a British company, we are thrilled to be recognised by the Queen's Award Office once again. Since Allen & Heath's inception in 1969, our goal has been to build a premium global brand, and the relationships we have formed with our distribution partners, which now number more than 80 across the globe, are key to our success," comments Allen & Heath's MD, Glenn Rogers. "Not only do we rely on this inte

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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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Austria - The Burgtheater in Vienna has added five DPA d:fine omnidirectional headsets to its armoury of more than 70 DPA microphones. The d:fines were purchased from DPA's Austrian distributor, Studer Austria.

The Burgtheater actually comprises three separate stages: the 1200-capacity Burgtheater itself, the 400-capacity Akademietheater and the 350-capacity Kasino. There is also a fourth stage, the Vestibuel, which can seat 65.

The d:fines are being put through their paces on productions such as the prominent discussion panel Debating Europe, where top politicians and experts discuss the future of Europe. "We achieved excellent results using our new d:fine headsets for the latest discussion panel, and also had very positive feedback from the people wearing them," says David Muellner, head of the Burgtheater's sound department.

"There are certain things

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Oman - Melody House, distributors of HK Audio speaker systems has recently supplied Omani based rental firm BIG Rentals with the ConTour 108 cabinets. The Business International Group (BIG) originally began in 1978 and since then has grown into one of Oman's leading multi sector organizations that are now part of the Zubair Group. The rental department has grown rapidly in the past few years procuring equipment to enhance its offerings to its clients in the Sultanate.

"In terms of compact 8" cabinets, the CT108 from HK Audio is fast becoming the industry standard in the Middle East," commented Amrith Verghese, HK Audio product specialist at Melody House. "The reason for this is their capability to easily deliver great audio quality at high levels with a very small footprint."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Single source live event technical solutions provider, Universal Event Productions (UEP) from Buckinghamshire has invested in the latest Robe LED moving lights to boost its inventory of LED lightsources.

This is following busy trading for the last two years and a healthy order book for the upcoming months. It's also part of an on-going commitment to providing greener and more eco-friendly lighting rigs to its varied client base.

This latest purchase involves six of Robe's Robin 600 LEDWash units to complement the 12 Robin 300 LEDWashes bought last year, plus 12 of the new Robin 100 LEDBeams - just launched at Prolight+Sound, Frankfurt in March and already proving popular. Also new are six Robe Robin DLX LED Spots.

Says UEP's Steve Butcher, "Many events are becoming a lot more carbon-conscious, and, apart from that from a rental perspective, there are all the advant

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UK - LD for Florence and the Machine, Chris Bushell, is using VL3500 Wash and VL3000 Spot luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite to deliver his evocative and atmospheric lighting design for the band's sold-out world tour.

Playing venues such as Alexandra Palace, MEN Arena, plus a raft of vast spaces in Europe and the USA, Bushell's lighting skillfully pulls the audience focus to the centre of the stage without losing the essential theatricality of the early Florence shows.

Lighting is ethereal with Bushell using it more as a statement than for big effects. He discusses, "The overall theme is based around 1920s Baroque fashion and architecture. While a great deal of thought and planning went into the set, I also wanted the presence of the lighting to complement and exploit the space around the set piece. The VL3000 Spots were perfect for this. With their wide angles and long th

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UK - Some of the first ETC Source Four LED fixtures have been sold to the National Theatre of Scotland by ETC's Edinburgh-based dealer Black Light, just hours after they were first put on sale.

The Company's technical director Niall Black explains: "ETC's associate regional manager for UK & Ireland, Jeremy Roberts, brought a range of different fixtures to Scotland in February to provide a demonstration to our technicians and others, including Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, freelance technicians, designers, and students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

"Jeremy let everyone just play with the fixtures. We compared a 750W tungsten Source Four to the new LED version in a shoot out; inserted gobos; and got a chance to get a good all-round look at them. It was obvious that the Source Four LED is a fantastic unit.

"We've previously invested in some LED lig

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UK - Not even the rain could dampen the enthusiasm at the Royal Armouries last week as PLASA Focus: Leeds 2012 opened its doors for two days of unparalleled access to the newest and most innovative products on the market for the live entertainment industry.

Visitor numbers reached a record-breaking 2122 - an increase of 8.5% on 2011. In all, 2680 people attended the show over the two days and such was the confidence felt by exhibitors that an unprecedented number of exhibitors re-booked on-site for 2013.

As always, the combination of the Professional Development Programme which profiled the effective use of new products and explored areas of special interest through seminar and discussion, together with the dozens of new products for people to get their hands on proved a massive hit with visitors and exhibitors alike.

Among the many new products making their UK debut were Ch

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UK - Midas has announced the launch of the Mixtender iPad app. Available now from the iTunes app store, Mixtender provides wireless remote control of the PR02 and PR02C digital mixing systems permitting an engineer to access fader levels and output GEQ remotely from an iPad. The app will also be available for the MIdas PRO Series and XL8 digital systems upon the imminent release of v2.0 software.

An impressive 64 input meters and 27 output meters can be viewed simultaneously in real-time on the 'console overview' screen, aiding fast channel navigation. Multiple iPads can be used on a single console simultaneously, and the mix engineer has the option to 'lock' each iPad so that it can only access one mix. This allows each performer to control their monitor mix on their own iPad, without making changes to any other area of the console.

Mixtender also provides wireless remote con

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UK - Julie's Bicycle has announced a new sponsorship deal with entertainment lighting specialist White Light. Julie's Bicycle and White Light have developed a strong relationship over the last five years based on a mutual commitment to environmental sustainability, a shared understanding that this issue is at the forefront of business trends, and respect for one another's work, which has now culminated in a three-year sponsorship deal.

White Light's sponsorship will support Julie's Bicycle's UK-wide theatre programme. Julie's Bicycle and White Light have already jointly promoted events for theatre professionals specialising in lighting, and have identified the challenges and opportunities presented by low carbon solutions for front o house and auditoria lighting.

White Light's sponsorship has contributed to the development of a new IG Tool for Production - the latest carbon ca

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UK - As part of their on-going business growth strategy, Northern Light has announced the launch of Northern Light Direct.

Northern Light Direct is the division of the company responsible for the supply of goods and services to theatres, educational establishments and other performance spaces right across the UK.

Ed Gamble, head of Northern Light Direct, said, "Northern Light Direct will offer customers a huge range of boxed goods and consumable items, delivered direct from our warehouse to their venues. We will also be a variety of aftercare services to Northern Light's installation customers, including lots of advice and provision of loose equipment to enhance their installed systems."

Additionally, the Northern Light Direct team will be offering tailored maintenance contracts to ensure that venue systems remain at the very peak of performance.

Colin Cuthbert,

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Columbia - Adamson Systems Engineering has announced the addition of the first Energia Beta partner in Latin America. Bogota, Colombia based C.Vilar Amplificacion LTDA, has been a long time Adamson user, with one of the largest Adamson inventories in South America. C.Vilar provides production for high profile shows, tours, festivals and installations. Recent Colombian productions with C.Vilar at the helm include FIFA, Coldplay, US President Barack Obama's recent visit, The Cartagena Classic Music Festival, Rock al Parque and The Bicentennial Celebrations of Colombia in Bogota.

C.Vilar sound designer Leonardo Vilar comments, "Energia's global network is growing rapidly and it's exciting to be a part of the vision from the beginning. Energia is without question the world's leading concept as far as innovation and interactivity is concerned. Many of Adamson's competitors have

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Norway - ARX Systems, the Australian based pro audio designer and manufacturer has announced the appointment of Horten based Intersonic AS as its new distributor in Norway.

Headed by JP Westerlund formerly of distributor PSS, Intersonic was established in 2011 by JP as a joint venture with distribution heavyweight IntersonicAB of Sweden.

Along with ARX Intersonic also represents other hi end manufacturers including Camco, Coda Audio, Sabine and Orban.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies' video division has supplied lighting and visual designer, Max Conwell of Naked Eye Lighting with a Green Hippo HippoCritter and a TV One down-convertor - to help service his busy schedule of TV shows, events and world tours including Paul Weller and Morrissey.

The scope of Naked Eye's work encompasses all genres of visual design - from high profile rock 'n' roll world tours, to major events and architectural concepts. Conwell also programmes video and moving lights for a variety of high profile TV and game shows.

He has been using media servers for some time, and was an early adopter of the innovative technologies and mindsets fuelling the 'convergence' between video and lighting.

On the most recent Morrissey tour, he used the HippoCritter to playback video content for the pre-show movie, which ran for 25 minutes. The HippoCritter was al

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UK - At PLASA Focus in Leeds, WiSE (Women in Stage Entertainment) and Le Mark, specialists in self-adhesive tapes, printed tapes, road case labels and dance floors joined forces to raise funds for Breast Cancer Care.

Le Mark, maker of the Dirty Rigger collection, announced that 10% of proceeds from the sale of their Ladies XS range of gloves for the coming year would go towards the Breast Cancer Care Programme.

To maximize the reach of this initiative Le Mark has teamed up with WiSE (Women in Stage Entertainment), a not-for-profit networking group for women working in the industry.

Sarah Rushton-Read, co-founder of WiSE says, "We were delighted to be asked to team up with Le Mark to promote this valuable initiative and we really hope we can help. WiSE has nearly 600 female members and a vast network of supporters working in the industry worldwide. Not only do we hope th

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USA - Mission Media asked Bluman Associates to help them produce a complex AV presentation alongside Nicki Minaj's performance in Times Square to launch the Nokia Lumia 900 phone.

This event saw the artist take to a stage in the square with a special remix of her hit single Starships being played live to a big audience with flash mob style dancers, pounding sound effects and a 200ft LED wall.

Bluman enabled the production to take over the American Eagle LED tower in Times Square to create a hero screen which would form the centrepiece for the event with striking content designed to move in time with the song. Other screens around the square were taken over to relay camera feeds from the live event as well as brand messages for the launch of the Nokia Lumia 900. Super high resolution CGI content was created for the screen by UK production company Glassworks.

The screen

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Qatar - W-DMX by Wireless Solution Sweden helped make the grand opening of the Katara Amphitheatre in Doha, Qatar a truly illuminated evening.

The venue, the largest amphitheatre in the Middle East, played centre stage for a special concert by the Oscar-winning Greek composer Vangelis. A&O Technology implemented a spectacular light show by the late esteemed lighting architect Gert Hof for the special concert.

A&O was responsible as general contractor for the lighting and pyrotechnics including the provision of electrical power, control and programming for the light show. Only 10 days had been assigned to put together a multimedia show in which at times over 350 high-powered searchlights, a variety of lighting systems, fireworks and video projection were employed simultaneously.

The central section of the giant screen erected on the seaward side of the amphitheatre formed a g

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UK - West London UK based rental company, Entec Sound & Light supplied full technical production including lighting and sound equipment and crew for a recent high profile show at Wembley Arena by Taiwanese alt rock superstars, Mayday.

Their brief included the provision of the band's backline which was sourced from John Henry Enterprises, and specialist video which came via Bluman Associates. All necessary rigging was also supplied by Entec.

Entec's project manager Noreen O'Riordan worked closely with Mayday's LA-based production manager Jeffrey Soon to ensure that all their needs were met, and brought Simon Tutchener on-board as their overall production and site manager.

Tutchener started work on the gig about two weeks in advance. The challenges were all the usual ones of a large one-off - a pressurised time frame, the logistics of remote co-ordination .... and only one cha

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France - To offer fans first class entertainment both on the pitch and off it, more and more rugby clubs are investing heavily in stadium infrastructure. A case in point is the Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin, home of ASM Clermont Auvergne which now features a new sound reinforcement system from Electro-Voice.

The installation in the 18,000-seater stadium was performed by the Clermont-Ferrand branch of Manganelli, supported by EVI Audio France. "Those responsible for the stadium wanted a sound reinforcement system with the highest intelligibility level possible," explains Jean Marandet, the French Electro-Voice distributor's product & service manager.

The greatest challenge was the need to obtain high sound pressure levels and at the same time even coverage with a 100-V system.

In the case of the Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin, simulations and calculations reveale

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UK - White Light and Coemar have announced that, with immediate effect, all new Coemar products will be supplied in the UK with a two-year warranty at no additional charge.

The new warranty term covers all of Coemar's products, including the Infinity Mrange, which can take either discharge or tungsten lamps, and the Reflection range of spot and wash LED fixtures.

"Coemar makes a wide range of products, offering fantastic output as well as remarkable versatility," comments Peter Threadgold, White Light's sales director. "We hope that these new two-year warranties will provide everyone - rental companies and end users alike - with one more reason to buy into Coemar. The capabilities of Coemar products speak for themselves. The warranty should just provide re-assurance that they will continue to perform night after night, show after show."

"In the UK, w

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