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Australia - Communication technology for today's productions must be highly advanced and more dynamic than ever before, and yet continue to deliver the simplicity of the plug-and-play intercom systems of the past. Clear-Com's HelixNet is a platform of intercom products designed to offer simplified user operations and cabling requirements, ease-of-set-up and system management, unparalleled voice intelligibility, networking flexibility and system intelligence.

Crystal Productions, a Sydney-based AV Production and event company, required an updated communications system to maintain their technical capabilities and the Clear-Com HelixNet was the clear winner.

"Basically HelixNet simplifies the setup, management and use of intercom systems," commented David Thomas, project

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South Africa - The Gearhouse Group of Companies recently provided comprehensive technical support, in the form of rigging, audio, lighting, trussing, structures and power, for the successful execution of the electronic dance production Sensation Innerspace, which took place at the Coca Cola Dome in Northriding on 7 September.

This was the debut event for Sensation in South Africa and the staging of it brought about quite a few "firsts" for technical supplier, Gearhouse SA, as well.

Gearhouse was contracted to G and G Productions, through technical consultants Strike Productions and worked hand in hand with technical production manager, Dave Tudor and Mushroom Productions, who handled the overall local production of the event. Project manager Anthony Banks, handled the onsite co-ordination of Gearhouse's technical elements with the assistance of Madelein

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Switzerland - Several Allen & Heath iLive, GLD and Qu-16 digital mixing systems were in use across Switzerland throughout festival season.

PA company, Audiotronic, employed two GLD-80 mixers and an iLive-T system comprising an iLive-T112 Control Surface with iDR-48 MixRack. The GLD mixers were installed at the Interceltic Festival in Lausanne and FΩte de la Musique in Châtel-St-Denis, while the iLive system managed the FΩte Multiculturelle in Vevey.

Sound Lights PA company also used two iLive-T112 systems at the Festival des 5 Continents in Martigny, which attracts a 30,000 capacity audience.

(Jim Evans)

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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 - Following the 2010 release of Sigh No More and relentless international touring, Mumford & Sons' rise to fame has been nothing short of meteoric. Currently supporting its newest album, Babel, the band has once again been back on the road with The Full English tour, which marks its second sweep across North America this year.

Montreal, Canada-based Solotech has been providing L-Acoustics concert sound systems and support for The Full English as well as the band's May/June Summer Stampedeleg. Systems and support for August/September's Gentlemen of the Road (GOTR) two-day stopover shows have been provided by fellow Rental Network company LD Systems of Houston, Texas.

According to Jamie Howieson, Mumford & Sons' audio system engineer and sound designer, the production crew has been deploying 28 K1 mains and six Kara down-fills, plus 16 K1-SB flown

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UK - Lighting designer Richard Lambert of Lambco Lighting recently used his DTS Nick and Jack moving lights for two new productions - Miss Saigon at the Gulbenkian Theatre in Canterbury and Shadowlands at Buckfast Abbey Conference Centre in Devon.

These were selected to be right at the centre of the lighting action for both shows, which required very different approaches and lighting treatments, showing off the versatility of the fixtures.

The DTS Nick 600 LED Wash and Jack Spot luminaires were chosen for their small size, brightness, low power and feature-packed capabilities.

On the Jack, Lambert comments, "This is extremely versatile as you can expand the iris and it becomes a wash," while on the Nick, he says, "It's a really powerful LED wash fixture, fast, with an excellent zoom and very light in weight - so it ticks a lot of boxes."

H

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Belgium - De Grote Post Theatre in the popular seaside resort of Oostende in Belgium is a busy culture centre housed in the city's former post office building. It's primarily a receiving house hosting a lively performance programme encompassing drama, musicals, dance performances, music, comedy, live arts, etc., involving around 250 shows a year.

It's also the first culture centre in Belgium to invest in Robe's Actor 6 range of LED luminaires, with 32 fixtures newly purchased from Benelux distributor, Controllux.

The theatre has two auditoriums, with 400 seats and 200 seats respectively, plus several studios and conference rooms which are frequently used for arts-related workshops, lectures, talks and telecasts.

The sale of the Robes was handled for Controllux by theatre specialist Jeff de Clerck, who comments, "The theatre wanted a flexible power-and-cost-saving soluti

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UK - StratCrowd Associates has announced the launch of a specialised response to the increasingly complex field of crowd safety management. "It is all very well to have the resources available, but without a coherent crowd management plan, implementation can be troublesome at best, a positive liability at worst," claim the directors of StratCrowd Associates.

StratCrowd Associates comprise of crowd management experts Colin Lish, Tony Duncan, David White and Morten Therkildsen.

Says the company, "Crowd management is an evolving science as public events, festivals and concert tours become ever more complex and spectacular. We take the view that a more thorough approach is required to maximise the elimination of potential risk."

The four directors of StratCrowd Associates combine over eighty years of industry/event experience and are supported by Dr Mick Upto

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UK - 4HM chose IBC to launch the AM64, a new multi-format AES to MADI converter that provides fibre and coaxial transport. The new 1U device is intended to provide a single cost effective and space-saving solution to providing MADI on fibre for the broadcast environment.

The AM64 accepts up to 64 channels comprising 32 stereo pairs of AES/EBU or AES3-id audio (selectable from the front panel) and provides format conversion to MADI (with switchable sample-rate converters). The MADI data is then presented either via coaxial or fibre outputs. The AM64 is compatible with both single-mode and multi-mode fibre and provides peace of mind with a redundant power supply.

There is no set up time involved with the AM64 which means transporting multi-channel audio from one facility to another and over distance is much simpler than might otherwise be the case. This is especially true when u

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UK - Last week at Cambridge University's Institute of Astronomy, Russian artist Maria Rud in collaboration with The Projection Studio's, Ross Ashton and Panasonic Visual System Solutions presented a fusion of artistic colour set to a backdrop of hypnotic music. AniMotion is a live performance which takes an experiential approach to live art presentation, with Maria Rud painting on a light box which is then digitally captured by a Panasonic AG-AF101 camera with a large imaging sensor and streamed live to a large screen.

Dark Matter AniMotion was created by Maria Rud and Ross Ashton in collaboration with virtuoso flautist and composer David Heath, punk rock icon Fay Fife and DJ Dolphin Boy. AniMotion is akin to live story board in which music plays the role of the script. The result was a fusion of colour and fascinating images which enchanted the audience and created a unique atm

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USA - Community Professional Loudspeakers has announced the appointment of Steve Johnson as CEO. Johnson has over 25 years of engineering, marketing and management experience in the pro audio and communications industries. In his new role, Johnson is tasked with overseeing the company's overall business and sales strategies, and "leading Community into a new era of exceptional growth".

Johnson's previous roles have included VP and brand management positions with Bosch Communications Systems, Harman Music Group and Shure. Johnson joins Community from Bosch where he held the position of global brand manager and was responsible for brand management of Electro-Voice, RTS, Telex and Dynacord audio products worldwide.

"I am delighted to join Community at this important time in its history," said Johnson. "The company is well-respected worldwide and has an im

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Mexico - Guadalajar- based rental company Procolor has purchased over 250 new Robe moving light fixtures that were specified by Belgian lighting designers Alain Corthout and Ignace d'Haese for the world tour of Mexican superstar, Alejandro Fernandez.

The fixtures - which include 95 of Robe's new Robin Pointes, together with 52 x LEDWash 600s, 40 x LEDWash 300s, 12 x LEDWash 1200s, and 50 x MMX Spots - were delivered by Robe's Mexican distributor Vari Internacional - and constitute the biggest sale yet of Robe fixtures to Mexico.

Robe's sales director Harry von den Stemmen, regional sales manager for Latin America Guillermo Traverso and Bram de Clerck from Benelux distributor Controllux all played key roles in making the deal happen, demonstrating great international teamwork and reinforcing the excellent service for which Robe is renowned.

Procolor's CEO Javier Barba had bee

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Belgium - When the managers of De Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp were looking for a new lighting control desk, they were keen to try out options from a range of different manufacturers. Their old desk was coming to the end of its life, and they wanted a newer, modern desk, which could easily operate conventional lights, moving heads, LEDs and media servers.

Meanwhile, the nearby Koninklijk Ballet van Vlaanderen (Royal Ballet Flanders) in Antwerp, with which De Vlaamse Opera is soon set to merge, also began to look for a new lighting desk.

De Vlaamse Opera stages seven productions each season, as well as concerts and recitals in two theatres, (one in Antwerp, one 40 minutes away in Ghent), which also host smaller external productions and ballet performances, with lighting operated by a number of different people with varying specialisms.

Says Koen Ceulemans, account manager at ETC

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The Netherlands - Since Yamaha introduced the first digital mixer over a quarter of a century ago, digital consoles have had a seismic effect throughout the professional audio industry. Nowadays they can deliver remarkable quality and flexibility at low cost, as proved by a new Yamaha broadcast installation for the Telegraaf Media Groep (TMG) in Amsterdam.

TMG publishes the Netherlands most popular newspaper De Telegraaf, as well as regional newspapers, magazines, web sites and has significant interests in radio and television broadcasting. In-house production company Telegraaf TV has just moved into a new studio in TMG's main Amsterdam building to produce online news content. Built by broadcast technology provider DutchView, a Yamaha O1V96i digital console and DUGAN-MY16 auto mic mixing card have satisfied the need for high quality on a very tight budget.

The new facility fea

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UK - Nick Gray of London, UK based creative visual design practice Renegade designed lighting for the main British Fashion Council (BFC) Showspace at London Fashion Week SS14, together with a series of high profile off-site shows including Roksanda, L'Wren Scott, Jasper Conran, Matthew Williamson and Osman.

The all-white BFC Showspace in Somerset House was designed by Bacchus - Gray is one of their regular collaborators - and this year he took advantage of the structure being a wider double apex tensile structure, which increased the space by at least 50% on previous years.

The interior was designed around two near identical spaces which could be either joined to make one massive U-shaped catwalk environment, or each side could be run individually for more intimate showcases.

The lighting rig in both halves of the room was duplicated, with one central HUD truss - chosen for

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USA - The300-watt Satura Spot LED Pro from Elation Professional breaks new barriers as an LED spot, because its colour-mixing engine produces an output in all colours that's as bright and powerful as a traditional 575-watt discharge fixture, says the company.

Not only does the Satura Spot LED Pro consume half as much energy as comparably bright traditional moving head spots, its long-life LED engine lasts on average 80 times longer than a typical 575-watt discharge lamp.

Eric Loader, Elation Professional's director of sales, comm. Ents, "The Satura Spot LED Pro is a totally breakthrough fixture, because its LED engine truly delivers enough output colour-to-colour to compete with discharge fixtures that use double the power.

"This long-awaited technology is finally here - LED engines are now bright enough to where they can start to replace traditional discharge spot

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UK - Devon-based drapes, starcloth, LED and visual effects specialist S+H Technical supplied its new LED Stair product to the red carpet launch of the 2013 series of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.

The LED Stair was specified by the show's designer Patrick Doherty for the launch event, which was staged at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood UK.

The 11th edition of the massively popular series has moved to a new much larger home at Elstree, and for this, Doherty has again specified S+H's Pea-light starcloth.

For the launch event, Doherty wanted something visually different and spectacular, and the idea of constructing a functional and practical set piece - that also came alive with kinetic motion, energizing the presentation space - ticked all his boxes.

S+H's robustly engineered LED stair product is made up of 122 x 244 mm panels with a high resolution pitch of 7.6 mm, wi

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UK - The LS-Live production rehearsal arena in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was the chosen film location for pyrotechnics and special effects company Le Maitre, who used it to shoot product demonstrations for around 50 promotional videos.

Le Maitre needed a large studio space that could provide enough height for their higher effects such as the Mines and Comets, as well as Falling Stars, Cascades and Waterfalls, and they needed full blackout. The 17,664 sq ft rehearsal arena in South Kirkby was a suitable location with a height of 54 ft to the underside of the gantry. LS-Live's in house rigging company Knight Rigging Services were also on hand for the rental of two chainhoists and a power controller for the day.

Said Le Maitre's Sally Dobinson,"The location at LS-Live was perfect for us, with 54 ft height space it offered a unique opportunity for the higher effects which we

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Fame Again - A new production of Fame - the Musical is to tour the UK next year, directed by Gary Lloyd whose credits include Thriller Live, and who is also choreographer of the production, which is produced by Bill Kenwright. It will open at the New Wimbledon Theatre on 20 February, 2014. The full tour schedule and cast have yet to be announced. Since it was first performed in London in 1995, Fame, which is based on the film and television series of the same name, has had seven West End runs.

Fair Play - Eurovision organisers have announced changes to the song contest's jury rules, amid allegations of bribery. From next year, the names of each country's jury will be revealed ahead of the competition in an effort to increase openness and accountability. For the first time, individual juror scores will also be published immediately after the final. The

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UK - October will see the PLASA debut for :entertaining sustainability, the knowledge-sharing portal and sustainability consultancy for the live entertainment industry.

Technical director, Tim Atkinson, and creative director, Ruth Atkinson, will be on hand to talk to you about any sustainability niggles you might be having in your building - whether you're in a performance space or an industry supplier.

With an emphasis on practical solutions, :entertaining sustainability is happy to talk to you about the measurement and management of building and process performance, as well as taking you through the benefits of a full building audit backed by our unique industry experience.

Also on view will be entertainingsustainability.com - the free online network for industry professionals to exchange news, information and knowledge about products, equipment and experience in the field

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UK - August Bank Holiday 2013 saw the Galtres Parklands Festival take place in the picturesque surroundings of Duncombe Park, Helmsley. With its slogan being Beer Cider Music Fun Food KV2 Audio loudspeakers ensured that festival goers experienced the music aspect to its fullest in three of the festival's live spaces.

With all technical and production duties overseen by York based events specialists Camel Event Production, KV2 Audio loudspeakers were used on the Black Howl stage, the Arts Barge stage and, most importantly if the festivals slogan is to be taken literally, the Firkin beer tent stage - home to 300 firkins of fine ale.

The Black Howl Stage was situated within a large circus top and focussed on a wide range of acoustic orientated artists - ranging from solo singer-songwriters to full on rock and roll bands. One of KV2 Audio's ES Systems was used for Front of

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UK - ArKaos, Belgian-based pioneers in interactive video technologies, will be exhibiting in the White Light Zone on Stand E56.

The ArKaos team will be demonstrating ArKaos MediaMaster which recently toured the world with The Killers' Battle Born tour, mixing live camera feeds with visual content in real time across a complex array of multiple surfaces and video walls. New for the show will be MediaMaster 3.2, the latest software version which brings even more new features. MediaMaster 3.2 is available to existing MediaMaster 3.0 users as a free upgrade.

Also on show will be ArKaos Stage Server Pro which this summer was used to create a spectacular 3-dimensional overhead video wall at Belgium's famous Pukkelpop Festival. Three Stage Server Pros were used to animate a ceiling of the Boiler Room using SGM 3D Graphic Tubes in one of the largest media server installations to date.

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