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USA - Bruno Mars finished the North American leg of his Moonshine Jungle Tour in September ­ a run that consisted of over 40 US and Canadian dates, a spectacular appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards, and an announcement that he will perform at the Pepsi Super Bowl XLVIII Halftime Show on 2 February, 2014. This month, the Moonshine Jungle Tour continues on to Europe before setting out to Australia and New Zealand in early 2014. Bruno and his band rely on Sennheiser microphones and wireless systems.

At the VMAs, which were broadcast from New York City's Barclays Center and reached more than 10.1m viewers, fans were treated to a thrilling rendition of Mars' new single, Gorilla. Dressed in a leopard skin shirt on a stage awash in green lasers and gorilla imagery flashing

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UK - All the endeavours that have gone into promoting SGM's G-Spot LED moving head paid dividends when the IP65 rated fixture was to pick up a top award at the prestigious PLASA Awards for Innovation in October.

A packed audience gathered to see SGM CEO Peter Johansen collect the coveted prize from PLASA chairman, Ed Pagett in a ceremony at the ExCeL's AudioLab Arena during this year's PLASA Show in London, as Association CEO Matthew Griffiths made the announcements.

The PLASA Awards for Innovation recognise products that advance the industry by demonstrating a new style of thinking, improving technical practice or taking a key step forward in terms of safety. During the show's opening two days, 45 new products were judged 'live' by an independent panel of expert judges who toured the show floor to view each product presentation.

The G-Spot was accoladed for a number of reas

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Australia - Joan Baez went on the road in Australia and New Zealand this summer with DPA Microphones' d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones. The musician and prominent activist's audio engineer Jason Raboin uses the mics to achieve the ultimate sound of the grand piano, mandolin and violin that are prominently featured in her music. A long-time DPA fan, Raboin brought them with him to Baez's special performance in late July with Jackson Browne and Emmylou Harris to benefit Downtown Streets Team, an organization aiming to end homelessness.

With two d:votes originally purchased for Dirk Powell - a multi-instrumentalist in Baez's band who wanted free range of movement while playing his guitar, violin (fiddle) or mandolin - Baez's rig now features a total of four d:votes. With the ability to mount the wireless microphone directly onto the instrument, Powell can perform with the gusto o

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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 - As the resurgence of psychedelic rock grows stronger in the UK and abroad, London-based Toy has risen to the top of the genre by developing a unique sound that combines numerous guitar effects pedals and keyboards, all of which are connected using Mogami 'Cable for Life' professional audio cables supplied by HHB Communications.

Toy began releasing records with Heavenly Recordings in 2010 to critical acclaim and fan devotion that landed them support gigs for The Horrors and The Vaccines. Billed as a band to watch by both The Guardian and the NME, they have continued to tour heavily throughout 2013, making stops at Glastonbury and Field Day Festivals and opening for Paul Weller and Wire.

With their second Heavenly LP due for release on 8 December, Toy will continue to perform throughout 2013 in NYC and Mexico and as the support act for Placebo's European arena

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UK - Organisers of Manchester's unsigned music festival Raw Fest presented cheques worth over £3,000 to two industry charities at a star-studded ceremony on 26 September at Band on the Wall.

Production suppliers and training centre Backstage Academy supported the festival at Jackson's Boat in Manchester on 15 June to raise money for charities that help disadvantaged and underprivileged groups launch careers in music and backstage production.

The second annual outdoor event grew threefold to welcome almost 1,000 people to the historic inn on the banks of the River Mersey in Sale this year, with Mr Scruff as the guest headliner supporting a line-up of 20 up and coming acts. The event supports unsigned artists and gives them a platform to perform in a professional festival environment.

LS-Live supplied its Mini Stage for the main performances and STS Touring, HSL, Euro Ge

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USA - Global Truss America's new Quick Rig Clamps save precious setup time while offering a low profile design for high-end looks and they are designed for simple attachment by a single installer, says the company.

To keep connection swift and simple, GTA's Quick Rig Clamps offer a hook style design and self-locking system - making setup a snap even for a single person rigging lighting equipment onto trussing. These products are designed for everyone from mobile entertainers who set up independently, to large productions eager to ease setup time and labor costs. With only a single installer required to climb ladders and attach each light, Quick Rig Clamps can offer a significant cut in setup time, saving money on every project.

The shallow-fitting clamp also provides a contemporary, professional look by holding lights closer to the trussing. With less obvious gaps between trus

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Brazil - The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup took place in Brazil, matching top football teams from around the globe. The event is staged by FIFA, the international football federation, in the host country for the following year's World Cup. The Confederations Cup brings together the world's top eight teams, one from each of FIFA's six geographical confederations, plus the host nation and reigning world champions. Each match was broadcast live to a global audience.

"This event was the perfect place to show how Shure's Axient wireless microphone system can help ensure success for any event," says Igor Del Ventura, Shure market development for Latin America. "We made arrangements with FIFA to use the system at several Cup matches, including the opening and closing ceremonies. The systems were used for live broadcast as well as Infotainment." FIFA explains Infotain

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UK - The official launch of the Britannia Row Productions Training centre was celebrated with an event following the completion of the first Live Sound Technology course. The party was attended by representatives of partners from the industry and the education sector, as well as press and tutors involved in the course. The organisers were particularly pleased to welcome the mayor of Wandsworth, Cllr Angela Graham.

The occasion of the successful completion of the first Live Sound Technology course run at the centre was highlighted in speeches along with the achievements of successful trainees who were running the live sound of the evening.

Britannia Row Productions director Mike Lowe reflected on the nature of live sound work: "It is a vocation and to my mind, cries out for vocational guidance and training from within industry." He highlighted Britannia Row's support

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UK - The MA VPU (Video Processing Unit) received the most attention for MA Lighting this year at the PLASA exhibition in London on the booth of its UK distributor, Ambersphere Solutions.

The revised versions of the MA VPU plus and MA VPU basic offer even more functionality and performance than their already sophisticated predecessors. And with the brand new MA VPU light, MA hit the market with a media solution for more budget conscious projects - offering nearly the same power as the MA VPU plus and basic.

Michael Althaus, MA Lighting's managing director, was happy with the trade show's feedback: "PLASA 2013 saw MA Lighting's system solutions taking a big step forward again. We expanded and enhanced our media elements, offering the market a wider range and set new hardware benchmarks. With HD resolution on any MA VPU and multiple HD layer processing in parallel, as well a

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South Korea - Since 1993 'Open Concert' has been one of the most enduringly popular music programmes on Korean TV. Aired every Sunday night for an hour on KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), it's staged in the KBS Hall at the broadcaster's HQ in Yeouido, Seoul in front of a live audience of nearly 1700.

Lighting for the show is designed by KBS's Mr Lee Kwan Han working closely with the KBS lighting design team. Currently on the rig for the weekly show are 40 x Robe Robin 1200 LEDWashes and 38 MMX Spots which were purchased earlier in the year by the KBS Hall to be added to their house lighting system.

They are proving ideal for lighting the show, giving Mr Lee all the creative latitude he needs to produce a rich and varied collection of looks and scenes for the different artists each week.

The Open Concert line-up includes a wide range of genres in singing, music and performan

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UK - London's Royal Albert Hall continues to entertain and delight over 1.5m people every year with over 370 shows per year in the main auditorium in 2012 and close to 200 events in its secondary event spaces

Long-time audio suppliers to the Royal Albert Hall, Sound by Design won a highly competitive tender process, thus retaining their contract in September. As a result of this, the Royal Albert Hall and Sound by Design took the decision to completely renew its sound system. However, this time, the winning tender was with a new Halo Compact system from UK loudspeaker manufacturers, EM Acoustics.

Sound By Design's founder and MD Andy Callin said the principal reason for choosing Halo Compact over anything else was, "it's outstanding accuracy and coherency and an ability to maintain control of the dispersion over a distance of 50+ metres."

"It isn't very often

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UK - Manchester lighting specialist dbn supplied rigging, lighting equipment and design plus bespoke draping for the Co-Operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG) annual Supporters Awards and gala dinner event, which was staged at Manchester Central.

Pete Robinson project managed for dbn. Both he and the company have been involved in the event for the last six years, each time working closely with technical production management providers A To V and also directly with the client, to interpret their brief and help bring the venue alive with the atmospheres required.

This year, the venue was split into two sections. A fully operational fairground was installed in one half, and the dinner for 1000 people into the other. The dinner area featured a stage in the centre of the room and dbn was asked to create a circus big top visual effect, which they did using hundreds of strips of red a

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UK - XL Video was again highly active at the ever-vibrant Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year, reflecting the increase in productions and imaginative ways to integrate video into the plethora of inventive new performances. This year video and projection systems were again supplied to The Pleasance, and for the first time to C venues.

For C venues, one of Edinburgh's leading independent venue producers, curating and hosting the Fringe's largest theatre-based programme, equipment was deployed in eight venues across three sites - C venues' Chambers Street base, C nova and C Aquila.

For The Pleasance, 34 shows featured video elements in 15 different performance spaces.

All of this was project managed for XL Video by Ed Cooper and overseen on site by three hard-working technicians who kept pace with the lively mix of drama, dance, physical theatre, musicals, cabaret, circus and v

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Canada - Manley Labs reports that they have signed HHB Communications Canada as their exclusive Canadian distributor. HHB Communications Canada is a major international manufacturer and distributor of recording equipment to the recording, MI, DJ and production sectors of the professional audio industry. HHB and HHB distributed products are sold through all major MI, production, pro-audio and DJ dealers across Canada.

Manley Labs, a privately owned company that designs, manufactures and distributes high-end analog audio equipment, is thrilled about this expansion. "Canada's size presents a big challenge for distribution but it also offers vast opportunities, " said Rick McClendon, vice president of sales and marketing at Manley Labs. "We are confident that the combination of HHB's resources and their excellent staff will guide Manley Labs growth in Canada."

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Spain - Acustica Beyma has announced key changes within its senior management. Jorge Serrano, current product manager of the company, has been promoted to the position of director of research and development. In his new role, Jorge Serrano will continue being in charge of the definition of Beyma products portfolio, support to the commercial structures, and overseeing all projects of the development department.

Serrano will oversee the R&D department to align its actions with market and company requirements in order to ensure the role of Acústica Beyma as a global leading edge company within the electro-acoustic field.

Pedro Enguidanos, current key account manager, will add to his duties the role of director of operations. His extensive experience will enable better alignment of essential business processes with the growing needs of the market.

Both Jorge Serrano and Pedro E

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South Africa - Barco Lighting Systems and Stage Audio Works have announced a new partnership that will enable Stage Audio Works to serve as exclusive distributor of High End Systems' products throughout South Africa and the surrounding countries. Effective immediately, this agreement enables Stage Audio Works to make HES' products available to their extensive network of local distributors and resellers. They will also have direct access to product knowledge, support as well as local stock.

Stage Audio Works CEO, Will Deysel, comments, "We have been searching for a lighting brand to add to our portfolio for a while and I am glad that we have been patient about it. High End Systems fits perfectly in completing our complete solution of world-leading brands."

"High End Systems is a well-established manufacturer that have pioneered digital lighting and offer excellen

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UK - LumenRadio has won a third PLASA Award for Innovation, presented at the PLASA Show in London last week.

This year's award was for the SuperNova 3 software, which enables system-wide control of RDM devices across an Art-Net network. SuperNova 3 offers the perfect tool for production electricians or system technicians to monitor, configure and display their rig status in real-time. Building on the SuperNova platform, this advancement enables users to control their whole rig - even the devices connected by cables.

LumenRadio's first Award for Innovation was given in 2009 for the CRMX Nova product line and it's contributions to wireless DMX and RDM data distribution including low latency, error correction, and cognitive coexistence that enable reliable operation in difficult and saturated radio environments. The second award was given to LumenRadio in 2010 for the CRMX Nova F

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UK - The QSC CXD Amplifier platform introduced earlier this year at Infocomm in Orlando, FL was recognised with a PLASA Award for Innovation PLASA London 2013. Featuring user configurable, built-in DSP, this amplifier platform includes Flexible Amplifier Summing Technology (FAST), which allows the amp's total power allocation to be distributed across one, two three or all four of its outputs, enabling amp channels to be combined for maximum current or voltage output, depending on the requirements.

The judging panel, composed of industry experts in the field of lighting, sound and installation technology, commented: "This is an incredibly flexible amplifier that can be used in almost any situation. It can be sub-divided and reconfigured, and will work well in installations or as hire stock."

"CXD and PLD amplifiers are a reflection of our use of cutting-edge tech

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UK - Martin Audio has announced the introduction of a 24-hour email tech support solution for its award-winning MLA family. This is the result of MLA's increased success with global partners.

Constantly monitored, the email helpdesk (mlasupport@martin-audio.com) will ensure that queries can be handled effectively and quickly by MLA technical support agents from around the world.

For more about Martin Audio, please click to www.martin-audio.com.

(Claire Beeson)

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UK - Doughty Engineering has awarded an aspiring performing arts student for her achievements at a gala dinner hosted by Brockenhurst College. 18 year old Josie Camble was chosen to receive the accolade at the awards ceremony on September 20, held at the end of a week of celebrations to mark the college's centenary and 100 years of education excellence.

Josie stood out as an active member of the performing arts department, and Tara Gadd, Head of Performing Arts, said: "I couldn't think of a better person to receive the award. Josie's commitment to her craft far outreaches her course requirements at Brockenhurst. Alongside her studies she was the lead dancer and choreographer for the Olympic Torch celebration, represented the college at the Christchurch Christmas Festival and choreographed the college's production of Spring Awakening."

She added: "We have an extr

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Asia - Mattel's universally beloved Barbie and Ken dolls are performing across Asia in the stage production Barbie Live!. For the young audience in this family show, sound designer Kai Harada has built a sound system based on the Meyer Sound M'elodie line array loudspeaker. Equipment provider is Orlando-based Show Systems.

"It's a dance-heavy show," says Harada, "so we needed a robust system that would cover large theatres or smaller arenas with exceptional clarity-but at levels appropriate for children's ears. I knew that a M'elodie rig would give us those qualities, as well as the flexibility to adapt to different venues."

The show uses up to 24 M'elodie loudspeakers that can be configured as either left-right or left-centre-right arrays, depending on the venue. The system also includes two 600-HP subwoofers, 16 UPJunior VariO loudspeakers for fold

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