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USA - Originally created as a pure EDM (electronic dance music) festival in 1999, Ultra has grown through the years to present not only the genre's hottest, biggest and best headline artists (The Prodigy, Swedish House Mafia, The Chemical Brothers, Tiësto, David Guetta, deadmau5, Underworld, Kraftwerk, Armin van Buuren, Moby, Fatboy Slim, Justice, Carl Cox and Avicii to name a few), but also crossover headline bands like The Cure, The Killers, New Order, Duran Duran, The Black Eyed Peas, Erasure, M83, and even Madonna, who performed in 2012.

The audio ran on a backbone of Lake Processing. Behind the audio were Beach Sound from Miami, Florida, a full service concert production company that handles festivals, concerts and corporate events of all shapes and sizes.

"We go back

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UK - Recently re-opened after a three-year, £17m redevelopment programme, The Atkinson is Sefton Council's flagship arts and cultural venue. Housed in a grade II listed building in the heart of Southport, The Atkinson integrates four arts and cultural venues - the Southport Arts Centre, the Atkinson Art Gallery, the Botanic Gardens Museum and the Southport Library - into one single, regional cultural centre.

Theatreplan, were called in as the theatre consultants to oversee the redevelopment of the two auditoria housed in The Atkinson. Theatreplan specified EM Acoustics loudspeakers throughout both venues, all of which were installed by Oxford Sound and Media, along with the rest of the loose audio equipment.

The main performance venue, the Atkinson Theatre, is a traditional proscenium arch theatre with a capacity of 440, and also houses a state-of-the-art cinema screen.

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USA - Christie Lites has purchased an additional 200-plus MA onPC command wing from A.C.T Lighting, the exclusive distributor of the MA Lighting in North America. The company's new investment brings its inventory of MA onPC command wing to over 250.

Earlier this year, Christie Lites took delivery of 50 MA onPC command wing to extend usage of the flexible and powerful grandMA2 control system to customers working on location or those who find it physically difficult to fit a grandMA2 console at their venue. With 12 locations in the US and Canada, Christie Lites supplies equipment and services to lighting designers and chief electricians across an extensive client base.

"The popularity of the MA onPC command wing with our customers prompted us to invest in a substantial inventory of units," says Christie Lites CEO Huntly Christie at the company's Orlando headquarters. &

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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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USA - Audio-Technica US has unveiled its new Systems Integration Resource Center (SIRC) web site at http://sirc.audio-technica.com. Intended for consultants, contractors and system integrators, this password-protected web site offers Audio-Technica product information, price lists, spec comparisons and other resources.

Once authorised by Audio-Technica, the consultant, contractor or system integrator creates his or her own user profile and receives "24/7 access to a host of A-T resources". Visitors to the site will have access to dedicated product pages, along with a search function..

"The consultant, contractor and system integrator market is very important to A-T," stated David Marsh, Audio-Technica US director of sales & marketing, installed sound. "With this new dedicated website, we are continuing our quest to give our customers all the resources

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Australia - The new Clarity LX series consoles have proved invaluable for Sydney broadcast lighting director Grant 'Doc' Watson and his operation Strauss Productions.

Up until the final series of 2011, Watson was lighting the Australian productions of The Biggest Loser and My Kitchen Rules on a series of LSC maXim consoles. With the shows growing in size, The Biggest Loser saw the largest maXim XXLP console loaded to its limits with moving lights and dimmers.

With the need for a platform upgrade in mind, Watson was able to assess Clarity software on his Mac notebook and realised just how easy it was to use in the 'live' environment most of his productions demand. Rarely are the shows shot in a broadcast studio with some being produced in disused military buildings and naval dock yards, agricultural sheds, community centres and bare walls studios.

The key

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USA - The nomination period for the 6th Annual Rock Our World awards, presented by PLASA, is open from 20 May 2013 through 21 June 2013. An opportunity for industry members to celebrate what makes them proud to be a part of this industry - the Rock Our World awards recognize the genius of creators, designers and integrators. These awards focus on what makes new products, product applications or projects revolutionary, not just evolutionary.

As in previous years, anyone may nominate a project, product or product application with a PLASA member involved in a significant role as designer, manufacturer, supplier or collaborator. Nominations for the 2013 awards must have been available in the market or premiered between 1 October 2011 and 21 June 2013 and must not have been previously nominated.

A panel of well-respected industry experts will serve as this year's judges and finalis

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Band Aid - The PRS for Music Foundation and the Arts Council England have announced a new grant to help new bands and artists. The Momentum Music Fund is a two-year programme which launched last Friday. It will award grants of between £5,000 and £15,000 to help develop careers. Musicians are expected to come up with a business plan and to also have progressed to a certain point in their career before they will be considered for the award.

Vanessa Reed, chief executive of the PRS for Music Foundation, says this is not a "cash hand out". She says: "Momentum is a breakthrough moment for music in England, where it's now harder than in many other parts of the world for talented artists to access finance."

Something In The Air - An opera featuring a string quartet performing in four airborne helicopters, a dancing camel and 150 performers that

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UK - The Lennox Suite, an extension to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), celebrated a star-studded grand opening on 2 May 2013, unveiling flexible staging solutions designed and specified by Theatre Projects in collaboration with The Right Solution and architects BDP.

Built in the heart of Edinburgh's West End and surrounded by some of Scotland's most prestigious financial institutions, space for this events space was at a premium. Added to this challenge, the design team were required to make the new space fully integrated with the EICC's existing facilities. This required a much greater level of coordination and communication with the rest of the design team than usual, but this suited Theatre Projects' collaborative style perfectly.

What makes The Lennox Suite different is its fully automated moving floor. Theatre Projects designed an innovative engineer

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Italy - An Italian touring production of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - The Musical has arrived at the Politeama Rossetti theatre in Trieste, where audiences are enjoying quality sound thanks to the extensive use of DPA Microphone's 4066 Omnidirectional Headset Microphones and 4060 Omnidirectional Miniature Microphones.

DPA's Italian distributor M. Casale Bauer has supplied the production with a total of 34 DPA Headset Microphones, which are being used for every member of the cast (plus a few spares). The show's sound engineer Cristiano Grassini says the microphones are performing flawlessly every night and are proving very popular with cast members because they are so light and comfortable.

"The original Australian production of the musical specified DPA Headset Microphones and, having previously experienced the quality of these microphones on

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Australia - Sir Cliff Richard OBE returned to Australia earlier this year with his hit-packed Still Reelin' and A-Rockin' tour and with him was his long-time lighting designer Derek Jones who was touring an impressive rig that held close to 90 moving lights.

Jones has been a champion of Jands Vista consoles for many years and so it was no surprise to see him travel here with his own Vista S3 and Vista M1, part of a larger family of Vista consoles that he owns.

"The Vista consoles are easy to operate and easy to programme," he notes. "I also like the support that you get from Jands as they will actually listen to your ideas and feedback, coming up with real solutions to help achieve what you need."

Jones also favours the 'mix and match' ability offered by owning a few Vista consoles as well as their portability.

"The surface is flexible, smal

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Kazakhstan - An impressive range of Clay Paky fixtures, including the Alpha Spot QWO 800s, Sharpys, A.Leda Wash K10 and K20s, and Alpha Profile 800 STs are lighting up the X Factor as it debuts in Kazakhstan.

Lighting designer Andrey Kuznetsov is utlising 16 Alpha Spot QWO 800s, 32 Sharpys, eight A.Leda K10s, eight A.Leda K20s, 16 Alpha Profile 800s and two Shadow QS-LTs to create a winning combination for the launch of Kazakh X Factor, which follows a similar format to the UK show.

"I was impressed by Alpha Profile 800 - the Profile System is unbelievable, it made it very easy to make designs and to highlight the set and the performers," says Kuznetsov. "To have so many functions and capabilities in a single compact fixture is truly amazing. A.Leda impressed me with the wide range of fantastic colours it can deliver. They are fast, super bright l

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Sweden - The sound is ear-splitting: the howl of race tuned engines vying with each other to strip paint by SPL alone from the concrete walls of the long U-shaped arena at Tierp, purpose-built on an old military airfield in central Sweden. The brainchild of Lief Andréasson, this derelict patch of perfectly level wasteland has been turned into one of the most modern drag racing arenas in the world - with a host of other purposes planned - 2.51km (1.56 miles) of motorsport racetrack just 120 km (75 miles) north of Stockholm with the capacity for 20,000 spectators.

Tierp Arena is the first European drag racing track to be accredited by the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association), the US-based, 80-000 member strong body that is the sport's de facto world organization. Founded by Wally Parks in 1951, who worked to get racing off the city streets and highways and into safer, organi

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Sweden - Robe Robin LEDWash series fixtures continue to prove a popular choice for theatre installations in Sweden.

The 503 seat Skövde Stadsteater is another venue that has invested in LEDWashes, taking delivery of eight Robin 600 LEDWashes that were supplied by Swedish distributor Bellalite via locally based rental company, Sound Star.

The decision to purchase the latest fixtures for the theatre - an integral part of the first purpose built Cultural Centre (Kulturhus) in Sweden in 1964 - was made by head of lighting Fredrik Ekström. He sought an LED moving light and looked at the various options.

He specifically wanted one with a bright output, a smooth homogenised lightsource, silent running and a good zoom range. The LEDWash 600 ticked all the right boxes and he describes them as, the "perfect" fixtures for the venue.

He also remarks that the variety of

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Hungary - For the past two years, the Hungarian government has been funding a special project to bring regional theatres up to date and into greater community use. The town of Tatabánya has been one beneficiary, where three DiGiCo SD9 consoles have ensured that further capital investment will not be needed for many years.

Titled Agora, the project aims to modernise the venues and help them to stage a greater range of multicultural events. In Tatabánya it has included a complete technical refit of the town's theatre, which has featured three new DiGiCo SD9 consoles - two for the venue and a third as part of a mobile audio system, which can be used at events in different locations throughout the area.

Supplied by Budapest-based Chromasound, the SD9 was chosen thanks to its mix of channels, outputs and onboard processing for the events that Tatabánya stages, plus the re

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Portugal - ETC has proved that Source Four fixtures aren't just for theatres - by supplying Source Four HID luminaires to Museu da Eletricidade (Museuem of Electricity) in Lisbon.

"We first worked with the museum's managers about two years ago," says Vitor Paiva, commercial director at ETC dealer Luzeiro, "when they bought tungsten ETC Source Four luminaires. They were impressed, and asked to look at other models in the Source Four range. Key to their specification was that they need low maintenance and high light output."

So at the end of last year, the museum supplemented its exhibition lighting with 24 ETC Source Four HID fixtures, which were immediately put to use on a display by Portuguese painter Vitor Pomar.

These were deemed such a success that the managers ordered a further 34 to light the World Press Photo exhibition, which runs throughout May.<

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UK - Only Men Aloud came to prominence back in 2008 when they won the BBC's Last Choir Standing competition. Formed by conductor and musical director Tim Rhys-Evans, the 15-strong choir have re-invented the old Welsh Male Voice Choir tradition, by adding choreography, showmanship and humour to what was traditionally a very static art form.

In 2012, Rhys-Evans became equally as successful with Only Boys Aloud, comprising of over 180 boys on ITV1's Britain's Got Talent winning a respectable 3rd place on the talent, and off the back of the success of the show went on to sign a record deal with Sony Music. Recently they have added Only Kids Aloud to the family.

For the Aloud brand's Aloud at Christmas tour lighting director was Steffan Jones, brought on-board directly by Rhys-Evans to work on a show that would aim to fit a choir of up to 400 men, boys and chil

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Sweden - Working closely with technical director Ola Melzig, as well as production designers Frida Arvidsson and Viktor Brattstrom, Tait's European division supplied elements for the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo. The design concept was to bring the audience and artists physically closer together and bring an intimate live experience to the next level. A three dimensional environment was created on stage, with impressive depth and multiple layers creating interesting landscapes for the live audience and televised broadcast.

Tait provided a 450sq.m rolling main stage, including a downstage apron, pantograph stairway and four flaggapault lifts for dynamic performer stage entrance and exit. A catwalk leading to a B-stage was also provided, integrated into the B-stage was a triple scissor lift that could move up to 6m above the arena floor.

A range of scenic elements were incor

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UK - Genelec reports its continued commitment and support for the not-for-profit John Lennon Educational Tour Bus Foundation. A new European tour bus was recently unveiled by Yoko Ono Lennon at a ceremony in Liverpool, and like its USA-based sister bus, its two state-of-the-art mobile studios are outfitted with Genelec active monitors.

Following huge success in the USA, the Lennon Bus concept has now been rolled out to Europe where it will provide kids and students across the continent with hands-on digital media production experience. Built on a rugged Mercedes-Benz 12m long chassis, the bus also features a roof top terrace and 'pop outs' that offer expansion into exterior space when stationary.

Like the North American Lennon Bus, the European counterpart has two digital recording studios plus an acoustic isolation room. Genelec joins a raft of other sponsors including Apple,

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USA - KIIS FM's annual Wango Tango concert in Los Angeles always draws a galaxy of stars. This year's concert, held at the 27,000-seat Home Depot Centre, was no exception, with the likes of Maroon 5, Afrojack, FloRida, Fall Out Boy, Miguel, Jason Derulo, Demi Lovato, Icona Pap, Will.i.am, Bruno Mars and Avril Lavigne performing on stage.

Such a superstar line-up deserves a superstar lightshow, and that's exactly what LD Todd Roberts (Visions Lighting, Brea, CA) delivered. The spectacular non-stop exciting lightshow was anchored by 52 Platinum Beam 5Rs, the extreme ACL Beam aerial moving head effect from Elation Professional. Powered by Philips' MSD Platinum 5R lamp and utilizing Elation's advanced optics system, the 189W Platinum Beam 5R has an output comparable to a 575W discharge fixture.

Another Elation Professional product that contributed to the Wango Tango lightshow was

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UAE - Danish Intepretation Systems (DIS), a Shure company, has appointed NMK Middle East FZCO as the exclusive distributor for supplying its award-winning Conference Solution product range to Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.

A part of the Informationsteknik Scandinavia Group acquired by Shure Incorporated in 2011, DIS is represented through a global partner network in more than 80 countries, with offices in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia.

"NMK Middle East are looking forward to introducing DIS Conference Solution products across the region," commented Stuart Stephens, DIS product specialist. "With the addition of the new System 5900, NMK is even closer to providing our clients a state-of-the-art solution for a wide range of clients."

(Jim Evans)

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France - Amadeushas announced the re-launch of its famed UDX Series passive speakers - 30 years after originally releasing their first edition. Including four different models, the UDX Series is designed for sound reinforcement applications in concert halls, auditoriums, conference rooms, and theatres.

Designed to be included within fixed or long-lasting installations, each UDX speaker system can also be used in touring applications as a stage monitor when fitted with optional accessories. The newly redesigned UDX Series are now available from licensed Amadeus distributors and dealers throughout Europe and Asia.

Gaetan Byk, marketing manager at Amadeus, stated, "The core idea behind the UDX Series was to keep the main focus on the values which have given Amadeus its reference-quality status throughout the years, both the unique acoustical characteristics of its sound syst

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