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China - It's rare that a complex evolution leads to an effective solution, yet the China Broadcasting Performing Arts Group (CBPAG) has forged a laudable reputation, both at home and further afield. CBPAG did much to further the value of Chinese live arts to a worldwide audience in the years when relations were more contentious than they are today. Established in 1953, by 1988 it had already visited fifty countries. CBPAG is the amalgam of five elements: CB Chinese Orchestra, China Film Symphony Orchestra, CB Chorus, CB Talking-Singing Arts Group and CB Electronic Orchestra.

Run by a fully professional management team funded through a special dispensation from the State Council of the People's Republic of China, CBPAG is charged with a noble task; to apply a national level perform

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Sweden - Respected lighting designer Per Sundin of Sundin Designers has used 170 Clay Paky Sharpys to light a star-studded, concert that celebrates the launch of the newly built, 67,500-capacity Friends Arena, Stockholm.

Shown live on Swedish TV channel SVT, and on the net via SVT play, experienced lighting designer Sundin knew the show lighting would have to make a dramatic impact both on the live and TV audiences as he explains: "Since the arena is the focus of the celebrations and because the show was performed in the round in the centre of the football pitch I chose to make my rig design as focused and efficient as possible," explains Sundin.

Using 10 hanging towers, each with four levels of truss pods, plus three truss rings Sundin had limited lighting positions available. The dynamic, 90-minute, music-driven, fast paced event, featured revered Swedish performin

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South Africa - Opened in 1997 by Nelson Mandela, the award winning Durban ICC celebrated its 15th birthday anniversary with a Grand Banquet.

With 33000m2 of space available to clients, the Exhibition Centre is the largest flat floor, column-free exhibition/conference space in Africa.

This year the Durban ICC was named 'Africa's Number 1 meeting and conference centre' by the prestigious World travel Awards, for the 11th time in 12 years. The ICC has welcomed Kings, Queens, presidents, actors, icons and entertainers and has hosted some of the biggest, most high profile conferences in the world.

The project's objective required the event organiser to showcase the capacity, versatility and flexibility of the ICC to stage major international events.

Makulu Events was awarded the tender to organise the event and with the ICC, invited a number of companies to propose designs and

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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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Iceland - Made from rough-hewn basalt, the split-circle exterior of the new Hof Menningarhús cultural and conference centre in Akureyri, Iceland, is reminiscent of an ancient druid temple. The technology inside is anything but ancient: both the main auditorium and a smaller multi-use venue are equipped with highly adaptable Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeaker systems.

The 510-seat Hamraborg hall is the larger auditorium in the complex. This space serves as home to the Northern Symphony Orchestra and hosts theatrical performances, conferences, film screenings, and concerts ranging from acoustic ensembles to heavy metal.

To accommodate Hamraborg's range of performances, Reykjavik-based rental and installation company Exton installed a Meyer Sound system based around dual-flown arrays each with nine M1D line array loudspeakers and two M1D-Sub subwoofers. The configuration also

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USA - An architectural staple and great example of greenhouse design, the Jewel Box in Forest Park, St Louis, turned into a giant gem for a surprise birthday party, lit by 58 Chauvet Professional fixtures. Listed on the National Historic Register, the art deco-style building has a glass structure and is a popular choice for various events.

"With all the glass, steel and plants that make up this greenhouse, we simply wanted to let the building glow like a jewel," said Stace Napper, lighting designer for Ironman Sound Industries, a full-service production company that provided the fixtures. "It was all about highlighting what was already there and making the structure stand out."

Napper used 32 COLORado 1 Tour fixtures within the planting beds to discreetly uplight the ferns and trees. Taking into consideration the limited walking space around the tables, Nap

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UK - Electrosonic has confirmed its acquisition of Global Immersion which will continue to serve the planetarium, institutional theatreand giant screen markets. The acquisition was completed on 10 December 2012.

"This is a significant strategic move for both companies, and I am excited by the prospects presented by the acquisition," says Jim Bowie, president of Electrosonic Group. "As a single operation, we will service an even broader range of markets, bringing further innovation and an expanded offering to our customers. Our goal to attract and develop the best industry talent has been one of the drivers of the acquisition. Together we will lead by consolidating our strengths and delivering the best visual systems in the world."

Founded in 2007, Global Immersion is known for its work with highly specialised and technically-complex digital immersive theatr

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Germany - The historic Deutsches National Teater in Weimar has complemented its purchase of a new Studer Vista8 console with a TiMax2 SoundHub-R32 system matrix and playback server, replacing an old analogue Studer and legacy TiMax Classic matrix which had been in daily use for the past ten years. The new TiMax SoundHub system was purchased from distributor Pro Audio Technik following on-site demos by the company's TiMax technical sales specialist Matthias Ziegenberger.

TiMax SoundHub was chosen by the theatre's experienced and distinguished sound crew of tonmeister Moritz Kobel, tonmeisterin Sarah Hölscher and tontechniker Uwe Kohlhaas, for its dynamic delay-matrix SOR localisation capabilities combined with comprehensive general housekeeping functions of linkable 8-band parametric system eq, routing and multi-zone level grouping.

Audio is transported between TiMax and the S

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South America - The Award for the Best PA or Stage Management System 2012 has been awarded to the V-Series line array system manufactured by d&b audiotechnik. This was one of 10 categories in the Innovation International Prizes presented by the prestigious Produção Áudio Magazine Group whose publications are the professionals' choice in the Portuguese, Spanish, Latin American and Brazilian market.

The rigorous judging procedure began with nominations from the editorial teams from across the Produção Áudio catchment. Five entries for each category were then reduced to three through a readership poll. Once the magazine and the readers made their choices the finalists were judged by specialist panels for either pro audio or visual arts categories. The pro audio panel included Professor Homero Sette from Studio R, whose CV covers over 40 years in the industry; Armando Baldassa

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UK - Dominic Harter has rejoined Harman to head up Soundcraft's global sales operation, following the promotion of Adrian Curtis to VP Sales of the Harman Professional EMEA sales team.

Harter originally joined Harman in 1998, primarily to manage the systems supply of the vast quantity of Harman equipment to the Millennium Dome project, working with all the Harman brands on all aspects of the project. With the completion of the project, Harter became sales manager with BSS Audio and C-Audio, using his in-depth technical knowledge and sales skills to support the distributors and products. Harter has spent the last 10 years with Turbosound, where he was director of R&D, before becoming sales director.

"It's great to be back at Harman with so many great people and old friends," Harter told LSi. "Soundcraft was the first brand I ever worked for as a student and I am

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China - In a country renowned for the grand scope and lofty ambition of its performing arts centres, the new Grand Theatre in Tianjin adds yet another architectural gem to the country's cultural landscape. It is also another major location for which ADB Lighting systems have been chosen, including fanless, silent WARP luminaires and the company's latest control desks and dimmers.

Tianjin Grand Theatre is the hub of the Tianjin Cultural Centre, located in the landmark district of the city - just 29 minutes from Beijing by high speed train - and close to the city hall of Tianjin Municipal Government. The Centre covers a total area of about 90 hectares and is comprises the Tianjin Grand Theatre, Tianjin Museum, Tianjin Natural History Museum, Tianjin Library, Tianjin Art Gallery, the Youth Activity Centre, shopping centre and the city's underground traffic hub.

The Grand Theatre

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UK - Wigwam Acoustics has recently completed a comprehensive audio and video installation at Danbury Mission Church in Essex, specifying a full Roland Systems Group REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication) system including consoles, stage boxes and personal monitors for the job.

The church, which has a packed events calendar, as well as the Sunday services, requested a high quality, fully encompassing system that would be flexible enough to cater for speech, live bands, vision and playback but simple enough to be used by a number of people with varying technical knowledge.

The Roland M-480 48 Channel Live Digital Mixing Console was chosen for FOH together with the S-4000 REAC Merge Unit, one S-0816 in the rack and one S-4000D REAC Splitter to supply audio and embedded power to the two S-1608 stage boxes with seven M-48 personal monitors for the stage. Roland V-Drums were als

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UK - Arena Group has appointed Niall Gaffney as general manager of Arena Seating, based at the seating office in Membury.

Gaffney joins Arena bringing with him more than 20 years specialist experience in the temporary seating installation and engineering industry with project responsibilities including The Open Golf Championship and Cheltenham Guinness stand. Qualified as a Chartered Structural Engineer, Gaffney was managing director and owner of Seating Contracts for 11 years, which then became a part of SGB Eventlink.

Brought in to help develop and manage the significant growth Arena Seating is experiencing following a £6m investment into 50,000 state of the art Clearview seats, he will be utilising his knowledge and understanding for the industry to implement and oversee a range of innovative solutions to new and existing clients.

Gaffney comments, "This year A

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UK - Acclaimed British drummer and percussionist Gavin Harrison, best known for playing with the progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, has invested in a large set of AKG recording microphones - including a pair of C12VRs, seven C414s and the new D12VR kick drum microphone. C391s take care of the hi hat and ride cymbal.

Gavin won Modern Drummer magazine readers' poll for "best progressive drummer of the year" for four consecutive years. In 2011 he was voted best progressive drummer by the US DRUM! magazine and won the 2012 prog drummer award in Classic Rock magazine. In 2008, he joined King Crimson as part of a dual-drummer lineup with Pat Mastelotto. Last year Gavin was a featured performer on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' as part of their "Drum Solo Week", along with such players as Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, and Sheila E.

"I used C414s on t

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Canada - CAST Group of Toronto has announced the arrival of Vivien 2013 - Virtual Event Designer which is available now to download for members only.

Vivien 2013's new features include:

Drawing Purge: If in the big event plans your Vivien files become very large and heavy, by using Vivien 2013?s powerful Purge tool, users can clear the drawing of old imports, renders, library custom items and more characteristics (you aren't relying upon) to make the file smaller in size and easier to move around. No need to waste time pulling huge files from the server anymore; this keeps you truly mobile," says CAST.

Layer Merge: "For dealing with an enormous file from a client or a convention centre with lots of drawing layers, Vivien 2013 allows users to merge some of those layers together so you can to better manage the drawing and make things less confusing," CAST adds.<

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UK - West Midlands-based video and production specialist Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) will be the main supplier of specialist broadcast and AV equipment to the re-launched Giltbrook Studios in Nottingham.

Giltbrook offers a cutting edge facility in the heart of the Midlands for all types of productions from drama and commercials to business television, infomercials and green-screen shooting.

The project to rejuvenate and bring the space right up to date - originally opened as a purpose-built, sound-proofed TV studio in the 1970s - is the brainchild of TV professional Andy Swain and other key individuals with extensive broadcast industry experience, who have teamed up with studio owners, Finishing Post.

Says Swain, "Many people have fond memories of working at Giltbrook over the years and the 'new' Giltbrook will be a vibrant and exciting space with great functionalit

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UK - Visualization expert Barco proudly reports that the British Museum, one of the world's most prestigious museums, has recently purchased a Barco RLM-W8, RLM-W12 and a cutting-edge HDX-W18 projector. The projectors will ensure eye-catching picture quality at the Museum's Clore Education Centre. "By purchasing three different projector types, we can offer our diverse audiences the image quality to meet their needs," said Chris Power, head of AV at the British Museum.

Barco and the British Museum have successfully worked together on various projects over the past few years. The Museum installed its first SLM-10 projectors back in 2005, they were originally set up at the Museum's Clore Education Centre, which houses two theatres used for lectures, conferences, concerts and other performances. Barco was also the Museum's visualization partner for the First Emperor exhib

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UK - A challenging gig at Wells Cathedral turned out to be the most successful yet for Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends - with a little help from the Roland M-480 Live Digital Mixing Console!

The Fisherman's Friends are shanty singers from Port Isaac on the Cornwall coast, who have been performing their set of shanties and Cornish Folk Songs for over 15 years. The 10-man group also travels around the UK playing at a variety of venues including theatres, festivals and portside concerts, so long serving sound technician for the Fisherman's Friends, Sam Littlechild, regularly works with the 'in house' equipment and engineer to achieve the desired final mix and monitor.

For the Wells Cathedral gig, Paul Nicholson from Midas ProSound supplied the M-480 (as well as a S-4000S-3208 Digital Snake 32 x 8 Modular Unit) convincing Littlechild - who usually prefers an analogue desk - to gi

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UK - Sound engineer Simon Allen is set to return to the UK from Cyprus in the new year. Allen has collected a wealth of experience in his 10 years in the industry, spanning everything from studio to live sound reinforcement, including theatre productions, live concerts and music venues. He began as senior audio and events manager at High Barn - a multi-media company, recording studio and live music venue in Essex. Since moving to Cyprus with his family in 2009, he has worked as senior sound engineer for City Studios; he has also been an occasional product reviewer for LSi.

Simon can be contacted on the following email address: si_the_music_guy@yahoo.co.uk

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Clothes Show Live returned to the NEC, Birmingham in December for another season. Once again the centrepiece of this annual expo was a spectacular 45 minute catwalk performance featuring the latest fashion collections.

There was certainly a lot to pack in in 45 minutes - 350 outfits, eight scene changes, and dozens of models and dancers. And all this took place seven times per day for five days.

Lighting designer Nigel Catmur, now in his fifth year of lighting the show commented, "This has been the smoothest and best executed production to date. It's always a very intense schedule but this time we managed to pre-programme on Wysiwyg and therefore arrived on site with a lot of the show already in the desk. We used my Wysiwyg studio for two-three days before arriving on site and that made a wealth of difference.

"The show is a multimedia production with LED wall

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USA - Chauvet Professional Nexus 4x4 wash lights performed next to top singers such as Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber during the two-day Jingle Ball concert produced by KIIS-FM radio station at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. As preeminent fixtures in the show, 16 Nexus 4x4 bold, eye-candy wash lights accompanied artists like OneRepublic, Ne-Yo, Ellie Goulding, Jonas Brothers, Ke$ha, Sammy Adams, Flo Rida and more.

"It was a turntable stage, which rotated back and forth," said Todd Roberts, owner of Visions Lighting, a premier lighting, staging, video and production company that provided the fixtures. "Normally we would have turntable walls, but instead we built a truss arch over the centre of the turntable and we mounted eight Nexus 4x4 fixtures on each side, thus becoming predominant lights."

Every time the table rotated, there was a Nexus 4x4 light beh

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UK - University Campus Oldham (UCO) and Oldham Coliseum Theatre are launching a Teaching Theatre Partnership that they say will "lead the way forward in offering the opportunity to study performance and technical theatre at university level, combined with experience within a professional repertory theatre".

Debbie Bridge, Head of University Campus, says: "We are very proud of the opportunity that we have created for students at University Campus Oldham. We offer 15 places on each course to generate the same experience you would have if you were part of a small theatre company, the resources we have are excellent and added to this we have the partnership with Oldham Coliseum to provide the dynamic of live theatre."

UCO offers two-year Foundation Degrees in Performance, and Technical Theatre, which can lead into the final year of the BA (Hons) at Huddersfield

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