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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd's lighting division supplied a significant quantity of SGM X-5 Strobes to lighting hire company Neg Earth for use on Glastonbury Festival's Other Stage.

Tom Lesh, house LD for The Other Stage chose to rig 28 SGM X-5 Strobes across three trusses as he explains: "We rigged 28 of them across three trusses - and kept two spare - to add some visual depth to the stage both for the audience and of course for the TV cameras. We also needed something that would cut through in the bright summer sunshine and these strobes were ideal. They were a big hit on the Other Stage during the festival, being used by LDs for the three high-profile headline acts, as well as many others further down the bill.

"For those bands that played in the

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UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light was recently chosen to supply lighting for the new musical version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which opened earlier this year at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane to critical and public acclaim.

Directed by Sam Mendes - returning to theatre after directing Skyfall, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory features an a-list creative team including Writers David Greig, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Choreographer Peter Darling, Designer Mark Thompson, Sound Designer Paul Arditti, Projection Designer Jon Driscoll and Lighting Designer Paul Pyant, who has collaborated with Mendes regularly during and since his time at the helm of London's Donmar Warehouse.

Lighting designer Paul Pyant, working with associate lighting designer, David Howe, specified a very modern lighting rig, using moving lights and LED l

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UK - When the Barbican Theatre in the Barbican Centre Arts Complex closed its doors for a major 15 week overhaul in May, Unusual Rigging was brought in to put together an access platform to enable the replacement of the entire grid.

Originally a lyric theatre, and long term home to the Royal Shakespeare Company, the theatre is now called upon to host a far greater range of international touring productions as well as its own in-house productions. As such the entire flying grid and system needed replacing to keep up with the growing demands placed upon the theatre's technical team.

Ashley Pickles, theatre technical manager (systems and maintenance) at the Barbican Theatre said, "This is a major project for us, removing not just the existing flying grid and system but also some of the gallery and proscenium bridge structures in order to expand the width of the stage and gen

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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 - Voting is now open for the Technical Theatre Awards, with 36 talented theatre workers shortlisted for the 12 'individual' awards, some of whom have been working within their speciality for over 20 years and are already extremely well established within the industry.

Alongside the awards dedicated to extraordinary individuals, four companies and three theatres will go head-to-head for the two company-based awards that are up for grabs: the Hire Company of the Year Award, and the 'Spotlight Accounting' Receiving Venue of the Year Award.

An additional award is dedicated to the theatre that has demonstrated the most effective awareness of venue sustainability and will be chosen and presented by leading industry specialists, :entertaining sustainability.

Voting is open to all members of the theatre industry and organisers are promoting each of the nominee's on the TTA websit

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Lebanon - Martin Audio has changed distributor in Lebanon, appointing Beirut-based Technosound with effect from 1 July.

Founded in 1969, and with a large portfolio of sole agencies in the high end pro audio sector, the company made its first approach to the British loudspeaker manufacturer at the ISE 2012 show in Amsterdam.

According to Technosound director of sales and marketing, Pierre Fahed, the company will be focusing on all core markets - from high end concert touring systems through to discreet boutique installation speakers.

"Martin Audio already has good brand awareness in our local market but we want to improve on the distribution strategies," he said. "We have been receiving excellent support from [director of sales] Simon Bull and [export sales manager] Dominic Jacobson and plan to set up product presentation and local training for all Martin Audio

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UK - Milton Keynes' AV and large-scale LED screen hire outfit Vector Lighting is gives clients the chance to have a look behind the scenes as they open doors to show off some of their latest technology.

Vector Lighting provides lighting and audio visual hire solutions for a range of uses including conferences, exhibitions, corporate and special events, and a range of professional services including lighting design, retail installations and exhibition management.

From Thursday 1 August to Friday 9 August, Vector Lighting will open their doors to show some of their latest LED video wall solutions, video mapping, LED gobo and high-output LED lighting hire stock. With 20 years experience hiring lighting fixtures and AV solutions, the company has a wealth of experience working in the UK and Europe for clients including Harvey Nicholls and Levis as well as partner production agencie

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Russia - Clay Paky's lightweight yet powerful A.leda Wash K20 luminaires and pure beam Sharpys have teamed up to create a 'Las Vegas-style' light show to launch a new floating restaurant in Moscow.

The Moscow-based Arlecchino Group, which supplies lighting to events across the region, provided the robust and lightweight Clay Paky A.Leda Wash K20s and the high output Sharpys for the launch of the restaurant on a boat, named Чaйka, or 'Seagull', which is moored in the centre of the city.

"The idea was to create an atmosphere of Las Vegas, beaming powerful light beams into the sky," says Sergey Kupriyanov, general director Arlecchino group. "To achieve this we used 39 Clay Paky Sharpys complemented by the A.leda Wash K20s, which were positioned around the roof of the boat. These pointed outwards and moved up and down from a horizontal beam to beams proj

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Netherlands - A large and enthusiastic group of service managers and technicians from several countries visited Elation's Customer Care Centre in July for the company's Pro Service Day. The one day seminar provided attendees with in-depth training and detailed hands-on exercises servicing the company's popular Platinum Wash and Platinum Spot moving head series products.

"We were very pleased with the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to our Pro Service Day," said Roger Hamers, R&D director for Elation Europe. "As a company, Elation believes that maintaining the highest customer service standards is essential to our success. The extraordinary level of interest we saw in our Pro Service Day demonstrates that our customers share this philosophy."

In addition to holding training events like Pro Service Day, Elation helps its customers deliver superior servic

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USA - It wouldn't be the Fourth of July without the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular and Robert Juliat Cyrano followspots helped light up the annual event, which was televised live from the Charles River Esplanade.

The free outdoor concert marked its fortieth anniversary. The event draws over 500,000 people each year to the Boston and Cambridge sides of the Charles River. Audiences wait with anticipation to hear the Boston Pops' now classic rendition of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture with real cannons, church bells and fireworks, The Stars and Stripes Forever with ceremonial American flag drop and confetti shot; and watch a final explosive fireworks array. This year musical guests included Susan Tedeschi, Ellis Hall, Howie Day, Ayla Brown, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Keith Lockhart conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra.

"The event was a lot of fun

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Belgium - Audio rental house Studio Haifax is the first Belgium company to take delivery of a Coda Audio ViRAY system. Purchased from Coda's Belgium distributor Apex Audio, the company has made this significant investment, says Studio Haifax Audio/System and Studio Engineer Yves Van Moerbeke, "because it sounds incredibly real".

Established over a decade ago, Studio Haifax has experienced a period of rapid growth over the last few years. "This has everything to do with the professionalism that every single one of Haifax's technicians brings to the job every single day," says Yves. "But with good intentions only, you don't perform a single show."

After the success of Belgium rock band Zornik's Less > More theatre tour, for which Studio Haifax supplied a Coda Airline LA8 system, the company became better known within the Belgian live entertai

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UK - Capital Sound Hire packed up its Nexo STM system in late June and headed down to Cornwall for the Eden Sessions, a series of outdoor concerts held in the beautiful grounds of the Eden Project. During the course of two weeks, artists including the Kaiser Chiefs, Tom Tom Club, Sigur Ros, Daughter, Willy Mason, the xx, Chic featuring Nile Rogers, Jessie J and A*M*E*, were part of what's been described in the UK press as "The most sublime summer music festival you could ever hope to experience," and "Magical... half Glastonbury, half Glyndebourne."

Capital configured the STM system in L/R arrays of 12x M46 Main cabinets and 12x B112 Bass units, with the M46s on the outside of the hangs, and 8x S118 Subs ground stacked per side. The main hang configuration remained the same for the duration of the event. "We thought this was the best option as the covera

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UK - Phil Christodolou and Graham Baker have announced that Alistage Ltd is open for business and currently operating out of Harlow, offering a full range of indoor and outdoor stage systems, dome roof systems, and front of stage barriers; available as both dry hire or with full service options for the event, conference, TV and film industries.

The stock includes the entire range of equipment previously available from Aliscaff Ltd who traded as Alistage.

The new company opened for business at the start of July and will be offering a newer streamlined service, with competitive pricing, as well as an option for full technical production support along with Centre Stage who currently operate within the live sound and lighting hire sectors.

Alistage Ltd can be contacted on 01279 406 270 or by email at sales@alistage.co.uk

(Claire Beeson)

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USA - Students rooting for the home team at Excelsior Springs High School in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, can now enjoy vibrant, crystal-clear sound as they take in football games and other events at their school's outdoor stadium. As part of a long-overdue audio upgrade, the school has installed two Technomad PowerChiton 500 modules at the stadium to drive its loudspeakers, significantly improving sound quality.

Kansas City, Missouri-based systems integrator Harvest Productions, which performed the upgrade, housed the new PowerChiton modules inside the stadium's scoreboard. The compact PowerChiton design enabled the unusual installation, ensuring they are not visible to spectators. The PowerChiton amplifiers now deliver 1100 watts at four ohms, with excellent sound quality across the stadium.

The weatherproof design also ensures better outdoor protection than the school's pre

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Switzerland - Reggaeton pioneer Daddy Yankee recently gave a well-received performance in Lausanne, his signature sound backed by D.A.S. Aero Series 2 professional sound systems. The concert was part of the I Love Reggaeton Festival held at Lausanne's Malley indoor arena, where over 6,000 fans converged to revel in the sounds of some of the biggest acts in the industry. The Puerto Rican artist headlined the festival, sharing the stage with a variety of world-renowned names in reggaeton like Prince Royce, Papa London and Rodri-go.

After weighing a number options event promoter Pro Sound & Light, with Paulo Martins at the helm, decided to roll out D.A.S. Aero Series 2 systems for the Daddy Yankee concert.

Led by sound technician Ricardo Peláez, the Pro Sound & Light team deployed 16 large-format D.A.S. Aero 50 line arrays for the main system in a typical left-right set-u

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UK - An integrated JBL / BSS Soundweb audio solution has been deployed by Sound Division Group - in London's most iconic building.

On the 31st and 33rd floors of the spectacular Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe, David Yeo, founder of Aqua Restaurant Group, has opened two diverse restaurants - aqua shard (31st floor) and Hutong (33rd floor). Situated halfway up the building, they offer panoramic views over the London skyline.

Having earlier worked at Aqua London in Regent Street, David Graham's AV integration company was awarded the contract to provide sound reinforcement and control at the new venues - along with a full CCTV package. They have designed elaborate background music systems, with facility for a punchier system at the 31st floor atrium bar, while Soundweb London devices, located in the central comms room on the 31st floor, distribute feeds over an exte

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Brazil - Singer and composer Luan Santana is one of the most famous and successful artists in his home country. His first live album was a bestseller throughout 2010, shifting over 500,000 copies. It remains among the best-selling albums in Brazil. After additional successful albums, Luan Santana produced a DVD at the Parque Maeda o Vivo in São Paulo.

DVD director Joana Mazzucchelli, and lighting designer / DoP Marcos Olivio, were assisted by an MA system consisting of two grandMA2 light, 1 x MA onPC command wing, one MA onPC fader wing, two MA NPU (Network Processing Unit) and four MA 2Port Nodes onPC PRO. This setup was used to control around 488 fixtures including loads of LED sources.

Marcos Olivio commented, "First of all the MA system is the most reliable on the market which was key to us. Second we used grandMA 3D for preprogramming which gave us many benefits in

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UK - Blitz North has been appointed as the sole AV and technical staging provider to the Liverpool Music Awards. Sponsored by the City Council, the awards are a key part of Liverpool's International Music Festival, held over August and September.

Ellie Phillips, founder and director of the awards, commented, "After meeting with Ian, it was clear that Blitz were going to be the right team to work with, alongside our events management and catering team. They demonstrated the creative flair we were looking for, essential for the awards, while remaining professional and extremely reliable. I'm looking forward to the ceremony at St George's Hall knowing how spectacular it is going to be in their hands."

Chris Jordan, Blitz Communications' head of sound added, "We have a strong background in the world of theatre and music and we welcome the opportunity to be involved

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Denmark - Martin Professional has announced its CO2 hazer, producing "outstanding fine-particulate atmospheric effects for large venues".

The Martin Jem Ready 365 Hazer uses advanced water-based fluid, which gives a comparable performance to industry-standard oils, producing the ultimate transparent haze, suitable for concerts, events, TV studios, theaters, clubs, cruise ships, theme parks and more.

The Jem Ready 365 Hazer houses advanced technology, including automatic shutdown with battery backup to prevent clogging and running out of gas by producing limited haze, even if gas pressure is lost. This allows the user to exchange the gas cylinder quickly without loss of effect. The Jem Ready is gas-efficient, sipping small amount of fluid per use and leaves no residue or smell.

The easy-to-use, plug and play system requires minimal setup time, runs nearly silent and

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UK - Essential Supplies UK has designed and created a new 100% dimmable multipurpose LED event light. The combination of LED lamps and versatile multi-purpose housing creates a light fixture with a warm white, halogen-like light with the energy saving and reliability of a LED source, making it perfect for events, says the company.

Simon James, director at Essential Supplies comments, "Uplighters are the backbone for lighting most marquee venues, they need to be low tech, no DMX data cables to go wrong, or flickering colour changes, just a simple plug and go uplighter. At Essential Supplies we have been looking into making an LED version of our traditional uplighter which has been a market leading product for over 15 years. Now with the right LEDs and driver, we have matched, and exceeded, the quality and warmth of light output offered with traditional tungsten with a new LE

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UK - Folkfest is London's only folk festival and centres around The Bedford in Balham, one of the city's premiere music venues. It is the brainchild of the venue's promoter, Tony Moore, who drew inspiration from a trip to Tennessee's Folk Alliance convention back in 2009.

"Folk Alliance takes place in one hotel in Memphis, which is booked out just for the music; after 10pm, every room becomes a showcase, and over three floors, all the rooms are buzzing with live music," Moore explains. "It's an amazing adrenaline-fuelled event, and because what the US regard as folk music is a lot broader than how we traditionally define the genre in the UK, I realised that over the last 10 years, The Bedford has actually been very 'folk' under those terms: we've always encouraged organic performance; we don't like playback; and we have a number of bluegrass, Americana, and singer

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UK - The world's leading set, costume, props, sound and lighting designers will be in Cardiff this September for the first UK-hosted edition of a week-long international festival showcasing and sharing what their creative skills add to the public's enjoyment of the performing arts.

World Stage Design 2013 is happening in Cardiff from Thursday 5 September, hosted by the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD) and using venues throughout the college as well as spaces in and around Cardiff city centre.

Project leader Sean Crowley, RWCMD's Director of Drama, says, "This exciting event only takes place every four years and global competition to host it is fierce. So, it is a real coup, that Cardiff's bid to bring World Stage Design to the UK - and Europe - for the first time has succeeded. It means that in September Wales will be the stage design capital of the world - th

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