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UK- British loudspeaker manufacturer, EM Acoustics, has announced the appointment of one of the UK's leading suppliers to the entertainment industry, Stage Electrics, as a UK dealer for the brand. The move further reinforces EM Acoustics' presence in the UK market and adds a premium loudspeaker brand to the portfolio of high end audio brands that Stage Electrics supplies and installs into entertainment.

"We listened to a whole range of speakers and we were continually drawn back to the EM Acoustics products," commented James Gosney, Stage Electrics' business development manager for audio. "The energy and philosophy of this independent British manufacturer sits very well with our aims. We strive to deliver well designed and high quality audio and the EM range just so

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USA - In a move to strengthen its sales and marketing operations, Philips Vari-Lite has appointed Brad Schiller as its new product marketing manager. With over 25 years of experience in the automated lighting industry, Schiller will oversee the development of the complete line of Philips Vari-Lite automated luminaires while also operating as a key contact for lighting dealers, designers and end-users worldwide.

"We are extremely excited to bring in a product marketing manager of Brad's caliber," said Bob Schacherl, Philips Vari-Lite vice-president of worldwide sales and marketing. "Through his established knowledge and expertise in the industry, Brad understands the legacy and quality of our product line and we feel confident that he will continue the work before him to build our global brand even stronger."

With extensive experience as a as a programmer, d

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UK - Monitor engineer Francois Pare has been working with American indie pop band Foster The People for just over a year. When the band decided to expand its set up for the current tour he decided it was time to bring in the big guns in the form of an SD7 from British digital console manufacturer, DiGiCo.

"I'd been working on a maxed out board since I started with the band and I thought, now is the time to make a change in this set up. I talked with Foster's FOH engineer James Lawrenson about what we should do to make the gig better and what we both wanted to do with the set up. After our numerous chats, I came to the conclusion that there are not many boards out there that could give me more than 32 auxes."

Francois was familiar with DiGiCo's D5 and SD8 and liked the sound of the consoles. His decision was between the SD10 and the SD7.

"I finally chose the SD

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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 - Plus 4 Audio has just invested in a sizeable Uniline modular line array system from French manufacturer, APG. Operating out of Surbiton in Surrey, Plus 4 Audio serves the London Studios, Fountain Studios, Maidstone Studios and the BBC as well as various OB events with shows such as the Mercury Music Prize, Strictly Come Dancing, Sports Personality of the Year and new for 2012, The Voice, to name but a few. The Uniline system, which is the first of its kind in the UK, adds to Plus 4's existing APG inventory of DX12 compact monitor speakers purchased in September 2010.

Plus 4's Stewart Chaney reports, "I've been looking at Uniline for a while now, and have always been attracted to its power-to-size ratio, which is very important in a TV studio environment. However, when APG launched the UL210D down-fill element, which is actually a system in i

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UK - Fans, celebrities and actors alike were all present at the premier of The Amazing Spider Man in London's Leicester Square.

Digital insanity headed up the audio visual production of this highly anticipated film premiere. Along with the red carpet, celebrities and fans, a huge red spider hung at the front of the stage. Free runners and other visual performances worked on the stage as large screens relayed rendered images of the film, video streams and parts of the trailer to the crowd along with live video feeds of the actors as they walked down the red carpet.

Digital insanity used Hippotizer HD's running a dual output, driving a lighthouse R7 screen and a 8mm Cobra screen using Videomapper. As well as playback prepared GFX by Digital Insanity; they used live cameras at the premier via HDSDI. By using the HippotizerHD as the media server Digital insanity was able to

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UK - Allen & Heath's iLive digital mixing system has been selected by FOH engineer, David Millward, as the console of choice on Morrissey's 2012 worldwide tour. Requiring a small, lightweight console to travel with the production, Millward selected an iLive-80 Control Surface and iDR10 modular MixRack fitted with a Dante Card for multitrack recording and virtual soundchecking.

"I've been using iLive on tours with Tindersticks over the last couple of years, most recently renting a pair of R72 surfaces, and I've enjoyed the experience immensely. So, I had been wondering how it would perform on a Morrissey tour," comments Millward.

The tour has already visited Japan, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, The Philippines, Hawaii and USA during April and May.

"All the backline equipment was to be air freighted around Asia at considerable cost but it seemed the only realisti

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Olympic Countdown - The Musicians' Union has accused Olympic organisers LOCOG of breaking the terms of their agreement on performers' pay. The union claims that it has received reports from several musicians who have been asked to play at Olympic gigs for no fee and that it has forwarded these onto LOCOG.

Horace Trubridge, assistant general secretary of the MU, told The Stage, "We have been sending [LOCOG] examples all year of professional musicians who are being approached by LOCOG representatives to work for free . There seems to be a trawling exercise going on where LOCOG representatives are looking at band websites, listening to the music, thinking, 'I quite like that' and sending them an email to see if they will work for free. That seems to be what's happening, which is a complete breach of the agreement that we have with LOCOG."

A spokesman for LOCOG sa

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UK - L-Acoustics UK Certified Provider SSE Audio Group has supplied a Kara WST line source system to staging and production hire company Pro Productions.

Pro Productions has an inventory of outdoor stages and riser decks, with some PA and lighting equipment. This year, company founder Will Bushell decided the time was right to invest in some prime audio brands, enabling the company to provide a complete high spec package. Based close by, SSE has a long relationship of dry hiring to Pro Productions, so it was logical for Bushell to visit an SSE Roadshow for a demo.

"We wanted to invest in rider friendly, road proven brands," says Bushell. "L-Acoustics Kara puts Pro Productions on the map as a pro audio provider as well as a staging company.

"Investing now we should get maximum life expectancy - if dV-DOSC is anything to go by, then we can be confident that

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UK - Lighting designer Andy Hurst used 96 of the new Robe ROBIN LEDBeam 100s as one of the central features of his rig for The Prodigy's headline slot at the 2012 Download festival, staged at Donnington Race Track near Derby in the UK.

"I really like the LEDBeam 100s," he enthuses, "They are super bright with great colours and amazing speed." This was The Prodigy's only UK appearance this summer, so Hurst wanted to ensure that the visuals helped to etch indelible memories on the minds of all those at the festival. Prodigy, one of the most influential electronic acts in the world, are renowned as a loud, energetic and innovative live act.

Fans endured high winds, driving rain, bitter cold and knee-deep mud to watch another show-stopping performance.

The LEDBeam 100s - supplied along with the rest of Prodigy's substantial 'specials' package by rental compan

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USA - Renowned architect Hugh Hardy will give the closing speech of the North American Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference (NATEAC) on Monday night, 23 July at Sardi's Restaurant in New York City.

Hardy, a leader in the planning and design of active public spaces throughout North America, has been responsible for the design of numerous performance spaces including LCT3 at Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, Brooklyn Academy, Signature Theatre, NYC and The Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY.

(Jim Evans)

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Austria - Andreas Gabalier is using a High End Systems lighting rig his current Volksrock'n Roller Tour in his native Austria.

The university student in Graz, Austria, made his major-label debut in 2009 with a self-produced CD that he burned in his basement. Since then, he's garnered numerous awards and critical acclaim.

GETEC Eventtechnik Graz is supplying the High End Systems gear to the tour in which LD Michael Mayler chose exclusively High End Systems products.

For stage and video designer Andy Fink, the design elements centre around Gabalier's love of traditional costume. When each show opens, the first thing the audience sees onstage is Andreas Gabalier in his leather trousers and accordion, with the Volksrock 'n Roller T-shirt logo projected on the back screen.

LD Mayler and designer Fink pre-programmed the whole show on Wysiwyg including video pre-programming on th

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USA - The Renkus-Heinz booth and demo room were buzzing with activity throughout the three days of InfoComm 2012, with visitors and customers checking out the company's new products.

One of the biggest hits at the show was the introduction of the Ralph Heinz Signature Series loudspeaker line. The RH Signature Series, which includes both self-powered and passive models with a dual wedge angle design and multiple rigging and mounting options, was recognised with ProSound Network's Best Of Show award.

Also making a splash was the new Varia series, an innovative modular design that can be configured as a vertical line array, point source horizontal array, or ground stacked. Varia's flexible design makes it an excellent choice for a wide range of permanent or touring applications, says the company.

In addition to a busy booth and fully-packed demo room, Renkus-Heinz carrie

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UK - Avolites and Avolites Media report a busy ABTT show. On show were the Sapphire Touch and Titan Software - Version 6 along with the Ai AiS-T Media Server and MSC-1 control surface.

Selvin Cooper, part of the technical support team for Avolites Media, demonstrated the new MSC-1 control. "The new console offers visual designers an instinctive live show control system that delivers seamless integration of all visual content including video, lighting and projection from a single console," Cooper states. "The console connects directly to the Ai Media server for super fast access to the Salvation node based configuration engine via a touch screen laptop. MSC-1 provides instant access to effects, layers and clips and offers ten assignable faders that can be mapped to any server function. The console is generously furnished with a number of direct access buttons for l

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UK - Watford-based AB Lighting has recently expanded its lighting equipment rental stock with Coemar ParLite LED lighting fixtures, supplied by Coemar's UKdistributor White Light.

AB Lighting describe the ParLite as the "ideal digital substitute for the analogue par can. AB Lighting opted to have their fixtures in a silver finish and with 30 degree lenses, though a wide range of interchangeable lenses are available.

AB Lighting'sAndrew Bird comments, "The help and support of the exceptionally knowledgeable sales staff at White Light helped us to find the best and most reliable products for our hire stock. We are exceptionally happy with the Coemar ParLite LED fixtures. We also had a very tight deadline to take delivery of the units and White Light managed to deliver ahead of time."

The purchase of the ParLites continues the long-standing relationship between W

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USA - For the fifth consecutive year, synaesthesiax LD JC Campbell played an active role in the four-day Wakarusa Music and Arts Festival in the Ozarks of Northern Arkansas.

However, this was his first year with responsibility for lighting a complete stage; working for suppliers Midnight Lighting, he produced the lighting plot for the Outpost tent, using large quantities of fast moving GLP LED heads to create the wow factor among the more conventional luminaires.

Promoted by Pipeline Productions, and held in the picturesque Mulberry Mountain, the festival featured five stages in all - including Outpost, a medium-sized tent with a self-climbing grid.

Suspended from the raked overhead trusses, JC Campbell used eight Spot One and 12 Volklicht Zooms; four of the Spot Ones were evenly spaced on each section of US truss, while the Volkslicht Zooms were set in pods of three on the

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Germany - Visual Productions' German distributor, LMP, recently supplied a CueCore and other lighting equipment for the new Cinema Centre in Papenburg. Designed and implemented by Werner Post of W.P.highlights, his concept revolves around energy efficiency with the magic word for the overall design being "Emotional signage". The installation included the complete interior and exterior lighting.

LMP's own range of LED fixtures, V:LED were specified for the interior lighting of the new cinema building. Post opted for Visual Productions' CueCore, solid-state controller, to control the LEDs by DMX via V:LED USC-500 and dynamic RGB outdoor LED lighting. Post programmed the outdoor lighting using the CueCore's scheduler to trigger the colour changes he had in place. The CueCore's scheduler is not only capable of triggering on time, date and weekday but also on sunrise and su

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Denmark - After Martin Professional's successful launch of the M2GO and M2PC lighting controllers at the Prolight and Sound exhibition, the first production models are now ready for shipment.

Having set Martin records for the largest number of pre-sale orders for a lighting controller, the M2GO has already proved a game changer by setting new standards for compact lighting control, says the company.

The M2GO and M2PC are small yet highly capable lighting consoles in Martin's popular and easy-to-use M-Series and are suitable control solutions for smaller shows and venues of all types. The M2GO is equipped with a fast, dual-core processor with no external computer required while the M2PC is the complementary control surface for Martin's PC-based M-PC controller software.

(Jim Evans)

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PLASA 2012 announces a brand new, free-to-attend Professional Development Programme - confirming its position as one of the largest knowledge-sharing events in Europe.

Created to encourage the exchange of important ideas, the new Pro Development Programme puts unrivaled focus on content provision, significantly developing the show's educational offering.

The four-day programme consists of 80 free-to-attend sessions taking place in four brand new, purpose-built seminar theatres on the show floor. Organised into 9 distinct categories, the new format provides unparalleled access to entertainment & installation technology's leading thinkers and doers.

The first category is Future Trends, a series of sessions looking at the current direction of technology and where it might lead us. This programme includes the headline session Are we near to Perfect Sound? - presented

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UK - Popular West London live music venue, Bush Hall, has recently invested in a Midas PRO2 console.

Charlie Raworth, managing director and proprietor of Bush Hall, made the decision to 'go digital' following the venue's chief engineer, George Hider's, visit to the PLASA Show last year.

"George went along to PLASA 2011 where he was able to compare the new Midas PRO2 with other desks and the Midas was by far and away the winner,", comments Raworth. The PRO2 is part of a fixed installation for gigs and events at Bush Hall.

Raworth continues, "Now that we have gone digital, the improvement in performance has been significant. The PRO2 has been very successful. All of our house engineers are loving it, getting very techy and geeky with it, and promoters and tour managers have been similarly impressed."

Following Hider's initial interest in the console, JP C

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UK - PRG's head of full service, John McEvoy and account director for vdeo, Jeff Bailey have provided a full production hire to Open Mike Productions. This will be the fourth series of Stand Up For The Week for PRG, who worked with production designer, Colin Pigott and lighting designer, Ian Jackson-French.

Recorded live at the The Clapham Grand in south London, this is a series of edgy satirical takes on the big stories and themes of the week, as seen through the eyes of some of the country's best comedians. Shot in front of a live audience as well as televised for Channel 4, the production had to strike the right balance of lighting for both.

Supplementing elements of the Grand's in-house rig, the cabaret-style set featured conventional fixtures & moving lights. PRG provided the Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 300 supported by Par 64s, Fresnels & Lycian Starklites.

Behind

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UK - The Gus Dudgeon Foundation and JAMES have confirmed that their Post Graduate Summer Course will take place on 15-21 July at the Gus Dudgeon MCI Studio Suite based at The Atrium Campus of Glamorgan University in Cardiff.

Tutored by music producer Phil Harding, the course will take ninetop-graduating students from JAMES accredited music technology and production courses for a week's experience recording on both analogue and digital systems.

Funding for this opportunity has been met by the Foundation and JAMES sponsors that have signed up to the 'Adopt a Student' scheme launched earlier this year.

Responsible for major hits with Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley, East 17 and Boyzone, Harding comments, "It was a great honour for me last July to lead this course in its inaugural year and to be able to take the course into its second year is brilliant! I learned my trade as an

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