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UK - The Bristol Old Vic, one of Britain's most historic theatres, founded in 1766 by 50 merchants, lawyers and politicians, has been given a spectacular £12.26m makeover in the first phase of a major redevelopment.

Originally designed by the Bristol architect James Saunderson, the theatre is believed to be the oldest working theatre in the UK. Stage Electrics was awarded the contract to design and install a completely new technical infrastructure and production lighting, audio and communications systems. The project has been headed by consultants Charcoalblue with design by John Stevens and project management by John Woodley; architect Andrzej Blonski and builders Galliford Try.

The refurbishment includes the raising of the stalls and gallery to dramatically improve sight

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Australia - September saw five very different acts take to the stage in Melbourne, Australia, as the city's RMIT University staged its seventh annual MAVIS showcase. With all of the production's technical tasks carried out by students, a highlight was the fact that they were able to get hands on with a DiGiCo SD7.

A collaboration between RMIT's Music Industry (Sound Production) and Audio Visual Technology departments, the MAVIS project is an opportunity for final year students to apply their skills in event planning, live sound, audio and visual recording in a professional setting, using industry standard equipment.

This year they were faced with a variety of acts, performing on two stages. The music ranged from cartoon metal warlords Barbariön, country rockers Alford's Band of Bullwinkles and psychedelic beatniks Wolfy & The Bat Cubs to singer/songwriter Violetta Delconte Ra

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South Africa - South Africa was the destination for a roadshow with Robe, Avolites and LumenRadio from 30 October - 2 November 2012. The event was put together by DWR Distribution and demonstrations were held in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.

The UJ Theatre, The Playhouse Company and the Baxter Theatre were the hosting venues.

Overseas representatives promoting their latest equipment were Robe's Josef Valchar and Harry von den Stemmen, Phil Blue from Avolites and Peter Kirkup from LumenRadio.

"I feel like I'm coming home every time I come to South Africa," commented von den Stemmen. "When we do demos like these we never arrive with an average mix of products but choose novelties to show clients something different."

Robe focussed on the Robin DLX, DLS and DLF which are versatile and of equal interest to television studios, clubs and just about any

featured content

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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The Netherlands - The Gelredome in Arnhem was sold out recently for the world premiere of a new production of the truck-busting, ear-crunching spectacle known as Monster Jam.

For the first time in the worldwide history of Monster Jam, the event brought together the world's biggest monster trucks, along with daredevil demo riders and, of course, the FMX-ers from Team Marvel and Team Destruction - creating the largest ever extreme sports battle.

Last year almost 70 Powersoft Duecanali amplifiers were installed in the Gelredome arena by TM Audio. Olaf Landzaat created the system design and headed the installation team. In collaboration with Italian engineers at Powersoft, a custom-made Media Matrix plugin was written, enabling the amps to be integrated into the system seamlessly.

The house system at the Gelredome (also installed by TM Audio several years ago) has

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UK - ETC's latest lighting control console, Gio, has seen a surge in sales since it was introduced just a few months ago, with many of the company's UK-based dealers buying them for sales and hire stocks.

The first Scottish delivery was to the Dundee Rep Theatre, supplied by Blacklight, where deputy chief LX Alastair Phillips specified a Gio for their 450 seat performance space. "We were looking to upgrade our existing desk," he explains, "and decided we wanted more hands on control than an Ion offered out of the box. An Eos, on the other hand, was too big to bring out of the control room each time we wanted to program. So, when Gio was introduced, it seemed like the obvious choice."

Gio is one of four current lighting consoles in the Eos family - each with the same application software and operational syntax but with different packaging and physical contro

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Hurricane Benefit - Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi are to perform at a benefit concert for victims of Hurricane Sandy on Friday. The rock stars are natives of New Jersey, which was one of the areas hardest hit by the storm. They will be joined by Billy Joel, Sting and Christina Aguilera on the live one-hour telethon to be broadcast on NBC. Money raised from Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together will go to the American Red Cross relief efforts.

Hosted by Today show presenter Matt Lauer, the concert will be recorded from NBC's New York studios at Rockefeller Plaza. It will be broadcast live across NBC's other cable networks including Bravo, CNBC, E!, Syfy and USA at 20:00 EST (00:00 GMT) and tape-delayed on the west coast. The commercial-free telethon will also be streamed live on NBC's website. NBC organised a similar benefit after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 which raised $50

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USA - With one week remaining until PLASA Focus: Stamford 2012 opens its doors to the tri-state area for the first time, over 50 companies are currently preparing to debut new pro audio, lighting, video and stage technologies at the event, which takes place at The Stamford Marriott, Connecticut, on 12-13 November 2012.

PLASA Focus: Stamford will also host the popular PLASA Professional Development Programme, a two-day programme of free seminars and events running alongside the exhibition - including a Keynote Session presented by legendary lighting designer and one of the world's preeminent theatre consultants, Richard Pilbrow. Richard will also be taking part in a book signing before the seminar, coinciding with a cocktail and hors d'oeuvres reception. This free to attend event takes place on Monday, 12 November from 5pm onwards. To book this session, and to see the full line u

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UK - After its illustrious past as a cinema, the landmark Scala at London's Kings Cross has now been firmly established by director Ryan Bissett as a popular alternative live music, club and arts venue.

Since the venue also hosts LAE Live Audio engineering diploma courses, it depends on showcasing the best in production technology. Recently it upgraded its mixing consoles and now standardises on Soundcraft platforms, which can be found in both the house and stage positions.

Three and a half years after purchasing a 32-channel Soundcraft MH3 from dealers Crystal Pro Audio, head of sound George Gregori gave the go-ahead for the purchase of a new Soundcraft Si Compact 32 from the same suppliers - giving them a matched channel count at both ends.

The desk was specified by head sound engineer Dave Preston, who earlier reviewed several other options in the same category before dec

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Denmark - The recently formed Matrix Group has taken on the exclusive Danish distribution of PR Lighting's automated discharge and LED lighting portfolio, with immediate effect.

Established in early 2011 to harness and strengthen the respected companies, Nordic Sales & Staging, Signal Audio and Moto Audio Sales, Matrix Group provides a powerful distribution partner for many international manufacturers. From a base in pro audio it has expanded this year into lighting distribution and sales - with PR Lighting becoming its latest acquisition.

Commenting on the move, Matrix CEO Kenneth Bremer, said: "As part of our strategy we wanted a brand that had a broad and well-made range of lighting products - that was both affordable and had professional specs.

"I asked several people for recommendations and we were introduced to Cui Lin at PR Lighting. We quickly realised the

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China - Jazz artists from around the world converged on the two day Shanghai International Jazz Festival recently, including Incognito from the UK, Japan's Jabberloop, Theo Croker's Afrosonic global collaboration and Italy's Roberta Gambarini.

Additionally, American trumpeter Roy Hargrove's RH Factor made their China debut while Chinese artists Tia Yuan, Karen Mok, and Khalil Fong gave riveting performances. Over 8,000 music fans enjoyed a weekend of music and some fantastic weather in the world's largest city.

Martin Audio distributors, Budee, service the main Green Note stage - the largest and most popular of the six stages - on an annual basis and the company's Lee Feng, one of China's leading tour sound engineers, built the PA system around Martin Audio MLA Multi-cellular loudspeaker arrays.

Remarkably, the audio mains were about as compact as it gets: at only 790kg - in

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China - DPA Microphones' new hand held d:facto Vocal Microphone made its debut on Chinese television this summer when it was used extensively during the production of The Voice of China, a show produced and screened by Zhejiang Satellite TV that topped the nationwide ratings.

Based on the same concept as NBC's The Voice, the Chinese show featured four judges/coaches who used blind auditions to identify teams of singers they wanted to work with during the series. The prize for the winning artist, Liang Bo, was a recording contract.

Heading up sound production for the show was Mr Jin Shao Gang, a noted sound designer and one of China's most important sound engineers. During an extensive and illustrious career, Mr Jin has worked with many of the country's top recording artists and was also heavily involved in the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

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Colombia - Robe's new Colombian distributor Codiscos SA recently staged hands-on technical demonstrations followed by a rock concert in the city of Medellin - all designed to illustrate first-hand the capabilities of Robe's latest technologies to potential clients. The event was co-ordinated by Codiscos's Sebastian Ochoa and attended by Robe's Regional sales Manager for Latin America, Guillermo Traverso.

The first day was dedicated to showing existing Codiscos clients, particularly those in the rental and staging markets, the newest Robe technologies now available on the Colombian market. The featured products were Robin 600 and 300 LED Washes, MMX Spot, the Robin 600 Beam, CitySkape Xtremes and 48s, the LEDForce PAR 18 and a selection of Robe hazers.

Sebastian Ochea remarks that the power saving and efficient running made possible using Robe's products, built to their 'smalle

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UK - A Stage Technologies rental AU:tour control system provided the overhead flying for Nicholas Hytner's triumphant version of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens at the Olivier Theatre in the National Theatre. The production, which opened on 17 July, finished its run on 1 November in front of a live audience in London and was live-streamed to cinemas around the world.

The Stage Technologies system included 15 BigTow winches, ranging from 12 BT200s and two BT390s which flew smaller scenic items to a single BT490 which moved a very large scenic wall. The control system included several AU:tour control racks and an Acrobat G•6 desk, running the eChameleon software.

Stage Technologies' director of rentals services Ted Moore said: "It is a great privilege for our rentals team to be asked to provide an automation system for the National Theatre, one of the most famous

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UAE - A Midas PRO6 console has been supplied to Abu Dhabi's iconic Heritage Theatre, making it the latest high-profile venue in the Middle East to invest in a Midas console.

Chicco Hiranandani, business development manager at Midas's Middle East distributor NMK commented: "The Heritage Theatre joins a prestigious line up of venues that have specifically chosen Midas solutions for their reliability, redundancy and most importantly - audio quality. These venues include the Raha Theatre, Abu Dhabi; the Qatar National Theatre, Doha as well as the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman."

The Heritage Theatre is a 550 seat multi-purpose venue that is used for drama, dance, lectures and conferences. The latest supply of the PRO6 sees it join other UAE venues such as the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, which is currently using a Midas XL4.

"Midas is enjoying increasing

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UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light has recently welcomed industry veteran Lester Cobrin to its growing team as head of concert touring. Cobrin brings to the role more than 20 years' experience in the lighting and live production industry, having worked previously with Samuelson Concert Productions & Theatre Projects, LSD/PRG, Bandit Lites and, most recently, XL Video.

"Lester's appointment comes at a very exciting time for White Light," said Dave Isherwood, hire and technical director for White Light. "Over the last 40 years White Light has become renowned for a high level of service, and recent years have seen us expand our horizons, bringing our enthusiasm, quality and attention to detail successfully into the corporate and event sectors.

"With Lester on board we are very much looking forward to continuing our diversification into the conc

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Germany - A new head of sales has been appointed at d&b audiotechnik. Based at the headquarters in Backnang, Germany, Gerhard Mayr takes over from Peter Tongue who has retired after almost 14 years with the company. d&b took the decision to target recruitment beyond the entertainment industry. "Gerhard has skills stretching far outside the familiar toolkit," commented marketing director Simon Johnston.

In the 24 years of his career Mayr has worked with Force Computers (Solectron), Motorola, and most recently Garmin; playing a leading role in developing these brands internationally through engagement with new markets and the reinvention of existing ones, which has also involved spending a considerable amount of his time in Asia. Yet he also possesses traits familiar to d&b and like so many within the company, he once aspired to be a musician and still maintains a passio

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USA - CAST is pulling out all the stops for PLASA Focus Stamford with not one, but four new products, plus an educational seminar. PLASA Focus will be held 12-13 November at the Stamford Marriott in Stamford, Connecticut where CAST will be exhibiting in Booth 121 and will demonstrate their newest products, BlackTrax, wysiwyg R29, Vivien 2012 and Vivien Online.

Jim Hutchison, product manager wysiwyg and Vivien, will present the seminar entitled, The Birth, Childhood, and Apparent Adolescence of Lighting Design Technology as part of the PLASA Focus Professional Development Programme. The seminar will be held on Monday, 12 November from 1:30-2:30pm and again on Tuesday, 13 November from 12:30-1:30pm in the Massachusetts Room.

Hutchison's session will take trip through the last 75 years or so of lighting Design technology, from its birth with paper and pencil through the ab

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UK - Martin Audio has announced the launch of the latest version of its VU-NET control software for the MLA and MLA Compact Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array systems.

The new release (VU-NET 1.2.0) represents a major upgrade to the real time control of MLA systems and adds a number of features developed in conjunction with feedback from MLA partners. Added features improve connectivity and a number of key processes including the firmware updater; it also contains bug fixes and a large number of improvements.

With its intuitive graphical interface, VU-NET control software enables MLA arrays to be remotely controlled from a PC or wireless tablet.

U-NET itself is a low latency, redundant ring, fault-tolerant protocol for control and monitoring of data. Up to 254 devices can be linked and controlled by VU-NET and - for even more ambitious systems - VU-NET can control multiple U-N

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UK - Live Experience, the showcase for event and experiential production services has announced its exhibitor line-up which already exceeds the 2012 list. With five months of the sales cycle remaining ahead of the exhibition, this is a real testament to the growing appeal of live production in the events mix, say the organisers.

Event director, James Samuel explains: "The live event industry is buoyant after a record year in 2012 when this country's expertise was showcased to the entire world. It's clear that professionals are determined to maintain and capitalise on this exposure. The fact that bookings have already exceeded our launch year is an excellent testament to the show. It also highlights increasing optimism in the event sector and the UK's position on the international stage. We're delighted that Live Experience is growing at such pace in terms of floor space and

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UK - Brighton based pro audio, video and lighting integrator Penguin Media Solutions has recently achieved authorised dealer status with Crestron.

Dylan Thompson, Penguin Media Solutions' director of operations, says: "We've been aware of Crestron for some time and recently some projects have presented themselves which lend themselves perfectly to a Crestron product - becoming an authorised dealer was the only logical step to offer our clients the best possible solution."

(Jim Evans)

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France - Wireless Solution Sweden has confirmed French manufacturer United Light as its newest OEM partner, with its latest product, WiPLUG, using W-DMX technology.

United Light says: "The frequency hopping technology (AFHSS) used automatically adapts the band and the transmission channel in relation to the detected radio traffic, allowing interference-free coexistence with other systems like WiFi, wireless microphones, or intercom. It's easy to use and easy to implement."

"United Light has a very innovative range which aims to make your job easier," says Niclas Arvidsson, CEO of Wireless Solution, "When we first met regarding the implementation of W-DMX into the WiPLUG, we both knew we were on a path to success."

(Jim Evans)

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