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UK - LED and feature lighting specialists i-Vision has been appointed as the exclusive UK distributor for Spanish manufacturer Mundocolor. Barcelona-based Mundocolour offers three different lines of lighting equipment, and i-Vision will be taking on the broad-based 'Technical' range of LED fixtures for architectural and decorative illumination.

Mundocolor was looking for a proactive business partner says export manager Dave Simpson: "I was made aware of i-Vision, their work and their products, and soon thought they fitted the bill perfectly." He adds that once they met face-to-face, he was immediately struck with the company's energy and enthusiasm for the industry. I-vision already manufactures its own successful Lumos range of industrial and commercial LED luminaires.

The Mundocolor range - which includes stair nose and step lights, in-grounds, linear LED and neon

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UK - Metro announced that it will be working with leading media and production company Blink TV at the V Festival for the second year running. The festival takes place on 19-20 August and Metro will be providing onsite editing suites, storage and support at the Chelmsford location.

The portable post-production facility will be installed at the Chelmsford site for set-up on 17 August. There will be six Avid suites with a Unity shared media network working throughout the event for daily programmes on C4. Metro has worked closely with Blink and its editors in the run up to the event and will supply on-site technical support.

"Metro's expertise with fast turnaround location-post on reality shows and other large music events allows us the experience to provide solutions for companies such as Blink TV," comments Richard Folley, Metro Broadcast. "The Metro team have be

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UK - Meaning the 'great melody of life' or 'big song', Òran Mór is a cultural centre and meeting place in the heart of Glasgow's West End. Formerly Kelvinside Parish Church, the converted building opened in 2004 and now houses two bars, two restaurants, a nightclub and private event space that are now serviced by a Turbosound Aspect loudspeaker system.

When the venue was originally opened, the owners had an open mind as to the kind of events that would be staged. But it quickly became apparent that Òran Mór had a captive market, as the only venue in Glasgow that catered for live gigs of 550-600 audience capacity.In addition, being located in the heart of the city's student population, a combination of live music and club nights swiftly proved extremely popular.

So, in 2006, the venue's technical manager Duncan Taylor was tasked with sourcing an additional PA system which h

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UK - Blitz, one of the UK's leading technical staging specialists, supplied audio-visual and sound equipment for the première of United International Pictures' new film Miami Vice, in London's Leicester Square earlier this week. The film which officially opened over the weekend went straight to number one in the UK Box Office charts. Blitz, which works on over sixty percent of the prestigious movie premières that come to Leicester Square, used its comprehensive experience and knowledge of audio-visual techniques to great effect, contributing to an incredibly successful preview of the film.

Blitz was responsible for setting up two large R8 and R12 projectors inside the theatre and the construction of a frame to hold the 5m x 3m LED screen outside, above the Blue Carpet walkway. By using a live relay from the camera crews outside the event, Blitz allowed those inside the

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France - French phenomenon Johnny Hallyday is currently on tour with a showcase of Vari*Lite fixtures. Influenced by Elvis Presley and the 1950s rock revolution, Hallyday became famous in the 1960s for singing rock 'n' roll in French. Since then he has had a 40-year career in the music industry and is one of France's biggest stars.

Lighting designer Jacques Rouveyrollis is affectionately known as 'The King of Vari*Lite' and has worked with Hallyday for 30 years. Director of the tour is Bernard Schmitt and Jacques' assistant is Nicolas Gilli.

The lighting specification includes 40 VL3000 spots, 35 VL2500 spots, 35 VL2500 washes, 15 VL1000 AS and 30 VL500s. The 'Flashback Tour' is an elaborate theatrical production, with Hallyday singing 25 songs both old and new. The set morphs from a destroyed theatre in to a contemporary scene throughout the show adding to the drama of the pe

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Canada - Fifteen years after investing in its first Soundcraft audio mixing console, Axion Sonorisation éclairage Audiovisuel (Axion SéA) in Quebec has become the first sound rental company in north America to commit to the company's large-format digital desk, the Soundcraft Vi6.

François Corbin of Axion is convinced that "the Vi6 ushers in a new era", and that its arrival will mean that other developers of digital mixing products are going to have to raise their game. "We have had this console for just a few weeks, and we are ready to purchase a second one right away," he says.

Shortly after taking delivery, Martin Chouinard, Axion's rental manager, sent the new desk to Le Festival d'été de Québec, a 10-day international outdoor event held in Quebec City. More than a million people come for the festival, and up to 10,000

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Austria - BSS Audio has provided advanced DSP and multi-zonal routing capabilities as part of the renovation of Vienna's most prestigious restaurant/bar. Two BSS Audio Soundweb Original SW9088iis processors and remotes have been supplied to Do & Co, the flagship for the prominent international catering company of the same name.

The company, whose client portfolio ranges from airlines to Formula 1 racing, specifically requested an ultra-flexible system that could handle routing of different signal sources to a number of zones, divided across multiple levels, with further system expandability should they require it.

Planning of the system and Soundweb programming was entrusted to Alex Reitterer from Kain Audio (Harman Professional's Austrian distributor), while the installation was carried out by Friendly House. A pair of SW9010 'Jellyfish' remotes and three SW9015 wall controll

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UK - Arena Seating supplied three tiered grandstands to the British International Motor Show at ExCel this year.

Organisers created a new look exhibition when the UK's most prestigious motor show returned to London for the first time in 30 years. One of the new features of the exhibition was the Motor Theatre, which ran four presentations a day of a modern adaptation of Romeo & Juliet throughout the event featuring performers, stunt cars and JCB plant.

In the evenings following the show, Tim Etchells, Rob Mackenzie (for IMIE) and Harvey Goldsmith used the temporary theatre as the venue for a series of nine concerts, Dock Rock, featuring UB40, Brian Ferry, Van Morrison and The SugaBabes.

Robbie Wilson of RnR Logistics was the event manager (responsible for the site, health & safety and production), who brought in Arena Seating to help create the dual-purpose temporary theatre

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UK - Northern Light's recently launched Events division has already been responsible for bringing numerous prestigious events to life, the company reports. Gregor Murray, events manager at Northern Light, said: "The UK events market is ripe for a new player - and Northern Light has the experience and expertise to offer a fresh and innovative approach."

Murray joined Northern Light from his own company, Edinburgh-based Liquid Lighting - and is no stranger to servicing high profile events. Working with venues, event organisers and directly with artists, he has been providing specialist hire services and consultancy for over 15 years.

To date, the Northern Light Events team have provided specialist lighting and sound hire to major events including the After Shock Arena at the Download Festival in Donnington Park, the Duracell Arena at T in the Park, the Braun Arena at t

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Eastern Europe / Turkey - Integrated Systems Europe has today announced an intensive schedule of one day events in the autumn, targeted at key emerging countries in Eastern Europe as well as Turkey. ISE is bringing the AV Systems Integration experience to the furthest reaches of Europe where the market offers unlimited opportunities.

The Integrated Systems Europe 2006 Roadshow will visit four key cities over an eight-day period. In an intensive one day programme, it will offer plenary sessions with keynote speakers, supported by up to 15 sponsors who will showcase the latest in AV Systems Integration technologies through a series of presentations and an exhibition. This will offer new and existing customers the chance to discover, learn and do business in a purposeful environment right on their doorstep. The ISE 2006 Roadshow arrives in Eastern Europe on the 30 of October and w

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UK / Spain - The PSL exhibitions team has received a new boost for 2007, with its appointment as one of the 'Recommended Suppliers of AV & IT' for exhibitors at the 3GSM World Congress 2007, to be held in Barcelona.

The GSM Association's 3GSM World Congress is the world's biggest mobile communications conference and exhibition. The 2007 Congress, which will take place for the second time at the Fira de Barcelona exhibition and conference centre in Spain next February, is expected to attract more than 50,000 visitors from over 170 countries. Well in excess of 1000 companies are set to take part in the event.

As the crowds from across the global mobile industry descend on the Fira de Barcelona conference and exhibition centre to do business in a decisive year for new multimedia services and growing markets, PSL's exhibition team, led by Lauren Steadman, will be on

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USA - High atop New York's Rockefeller Center is a unique, interactive space that takes the capabilities of intelligent LED lighting to new heights. Conceptualized by Electroland of Los Angeles, the 'Target Interactive Breezeway' is an imaginatively lit passage that connects the Center's top-floor observation decks. Its intention is to engage visitors as they pass through by tracing their movement with intelligently controlled light.

According to Electroland partner Damon Seeley: "Color Kinetics' LED-based fixtures were the only technology that could effectively deliver the full RGB spectrum in a small package, while keeping power consumption to a reasonable level. We required a tried and true product with manufacturer support to do the job on a fast-track basis."

The space comprises a glowing ceiling and walls that are entirely lit by LED systems. Approximately 1,30

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UK - HSL supplied all lighting, rigging and staging for the acclaimed Whiteplane 2 project, a live interactive performance/art installation tour using an atmospheric mix of ambisonic sound and architectural lighting, created by experimental artists Alex Bradley and Charles Poulet.

Whiteplane 2 immerses its audience between two horizontal planes of light, one coming up from below and one coming down from the ceiling above.

The floor and ceiling each contain 30 JTE PixelLine LED fixtures, chosen as one of the few types of lighting that could be made into a smooth and even floor of light and walked over for 12 hours a day whilst emitting virtually no heat.

The audience enter the space and sit, stand or lie between the two planes of light, which change colour and intensity as the piece unfolds. The multilayered physical experience is completed by the 'walls' of sound coming in f

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Worldwide - Automation and control specialists Kinesys have designed and built a bespoke control system for 40 giant streamer cannons which have been added to the latest leg of the Rolling Stones Bigger Bang world tour.

It's been project managed and engineered for Kinesys by Andy Cave who's been working closely with Andy Edwards from Brilliant, designer of the hardware, in conjunction with the show's set designer Mark Fisher.

This also follows on from work Kinesys completed earlier in the tour involving the design and build of a motion control system to move the B Stage into the middle of the auditorium.

The compressed air cannons are rigged to a header truss running the width of the stage, each containing a very long piece of folded silk, which is ejected - parachute style - at the designated moment, forced out by compressed air.

Kinesys was asked to design a syste

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UK - PSL is now able to offer its clients a full pre-production and production service using video, after opening a new HDV video editing suite at its corporate headquarters in Potters Bar, Herts.

The new in-house studio, offering Apple Macintosh G5 with Final Cut Pro HDV, is designed to be extremely user-friendly, and fully compatible with other edit suites. It has already been used successfully by PSL clients, editing video content for the Pet Shop Boys and the European premiere of the blockbuster Poseidon.

The suite can be rented on a daily basis, with or without an operator.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - There may have been an absence of Glastonbury Festival this year, but Glastonbury Abbey delivered live music to the south west and pleased the crowds this August, with the help of That's EnTEEtainment production behind the show.

The annual three night extravaganza organised by Michael Eavis partly as a thank you to the people of Glastonbury for their acceptance of the main festival and also to raise funds for Glastonbury Abbey, this year hosted Jools Holland, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rat Pack, performing to thousands in the beautiful surroundings of the Abbey.

Having been involved with Glastonbury Festival for eight years and Glastonbury Abbey for 11 years, Dick Tee of That's EnTEEtainment was the production manager for the show, overseeing the complete production from build up to break down.

Arriving on site five days prior to the event, Tee and his tea

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USA - Nashville renegades, the Dixie Chicks, hit the road again this summer in support of their seventh album, Taking The Long Way. Because of the complex audio requirements for the tour, Dixie Chicks FOH engineer Fern Alvarez went with Digidesign's Venue live sound environment for all his mixing needs. Working closely with Digidesign product specialists Steve McCale and Jeff Priepot, Alvarez configured a multiple Venue rig with one system at FOH and two systems for monitoring (each Venue system consists of one main console and two side cars).

Alvarez chose Venue after using the console on a brief run with Lisa Marie Presley in 2005, after which he was sold. "With the onboard features, versatility of the plug-ins, and the quick access to all parameters on the surface, I knew Venue was the solution for the complete package with the Dixie Chicks." Alvarez was imme

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Slovakia - Allen & Heath's Slovakian distributor, Rock Centrum, has supplied and installed an audio and video system for a congress hall in a new building for Zilina's regional parliament. Rock Centrum selected a MixWizard 14:4:2 mixer to manage all the audio requirements, and Martin Audio speakers.

The whole project was completed in 30 days, and the new multi-function complex is one of the most modern and technologically-advanced halls in Slovakia, providing technology to enable the running of parliament voting, as well as AV for conferences, including audio recording, and multi-lingual translation into five languages.

The Centre has been used for several main events, including Parliament meetings, voting sessions, multi-lingual conferences, and video conferences. The hall is also rented out for commercial purposes and has hosted companies including Siemens, IBM, and KIA moto

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USA - Miami's Dolphin Stadium is arguably one of professional sport's more active venues. Along with regular season rosters for the Miami Dolphins football and Florida Marlins baseball teams and the annual FedEx Orange Bowl, the stadium has played host to the 1997 and 2003 baseball World Series games, three NFL Super Bowls in 1989, 1995 and 1999 (and is scheduled to welcome the match again in 2007 and 2010), and a wide range of concerts by the likes of U2, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, the Who, and the Three Tenors. On its off days Dolphin Stadium has also seen countless international soccer matches, Monster Truck shows, RV and boat exhibits, circuses, as well as numerous festivals and trade shows. And that's not to mention the odd commercial and feature film.

The 75,000-seat open-air venue shows no sign of slowing down. Part of the continued success of this pr

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UK - Lighting Partners has supplied new exterior architectural fixtures for the National Theatre on London's South Bank. The company supplied nine Showtec City Painter 575 units which feature a shutter and zoom facility, coupled with CMY colour mixing and an MSR 575 light source.

The National Theatre's lighting resources manager Alex Murphy said: "We initially tried the unit as we were extremely tight for space. However, when we turned it on and saw the light output and played with the zoom we knew we were on to a winner. We're just trying to find new places around the building to use them now."

David Morgan of Lighting Partners added: "We are delighted to build on our relationship with the National Theatre and to have been able to bring the Showtec product to their attention with an on site demo."

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - One of Birmingham's best known nightclubs DV8, has chosen Wharfedale loudspeakers for its new front bar extension, Innov8.

Mark Broadhead, installation manager at local dealers Matthews Electronics, who service many of the local bars, says that the comprehensive Wharfedale range offers so many options, that each venue can have its own tailored Wharfedale-specific sound to reproduce the wide range of background and DJ sound. This was certainly a feature that appealed to DV8 owner, Wayne Toon.

The 900-capacity venue was in a run-down state when he purchased it some four years ago and added it to his 150-strong community pub portfolio in the West Midlands. Recently he decided to commit in the region of £300,000 to developing a bar that would build up the early evening trade.

DV8 itself, which trades with a 6am license, is something of an institution in the city. Whil

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Slovakia - Slovakia's leading television lighting designer Martin Kubanka specified Robe moving lights at the core of his design for the country's latest Big Brother style series, Vyvoleni.

This second series was produced by independent TV channel JOJ, and recorded in Koliba Studios - the largest in Slovakia. Like the massively popular first series, it also utilised Robe ColorSpot 1200 ATs.

Vyvoleni quickly became the top rated TV show for its three month run, where 15 housemates including four couples vied for some serious money prize and the chance to become celebrities.

The TV action included twice daily 'house visit' shows, plus a weekly eviction show with an interactive and very enthusiastic live audience.

Kubanka is a big Robe fan and uses the luminaires regularly on most of his work which includes high profile shows like Superstar and large TV

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USA - Director/Choreographer Kathleen Marshall's Broadway revival of the 1950s classic play The Pajama Game has received a 2006 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, while Marshall herself won one for Best Choreography. The show received an impressive seven Tony nominations in all, including Best Direction of a Musical, and best performance nominations for leading actors Harry Connick, Jr. and Kelli O'Hara.

Meyer Sound's Design Services Department played a key role in the show's sound design, working with NYC-based sound designer Brian Ronan to create a system custom-tailored for the show. Ronan added an array of 15 M1D ultracompact curvilinear array loudspeakers to the American Airlines Theatre's existing sound system, which included four UPA-1P compact wide coverage loudspeakers around the proscenium, 10 UPM-1P ultracompact wide coverage loudspe

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UK - The Crystal Bar carries through the Dorchester's themes of luxury, quality and high service standards to late night opening. Opening from the refined calm of the promenade, it offers relaxed drinks and discrete corporate or VIP entertainment. Following successful commissions, CGA Integration was chosen to provide an audio system reflecting the Dorchester signature values through high quality, attention to detail and intuitive operation.

The Crystal Bar is a compact, opulent venue finished to a high degree of craftsmanship. The installation had to fit with the design brief, be invisible and yet provide a dynamic audio range and usage flexibility for many different occasions. Interfacing with the hotel fire alarm and procedures was also essential.

Consultation with the Dorchester identified an extremely varied scope for events and entertainment. Routine opening required bac

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