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Malta - Large format projections specialists E//T//C UK returned to Malta to project onto the dramatic Fort St. Angelo in Valetta Harbour, for the opening ceremony of a Thomas Cook conference.

Working for the DRP who were the main show producers, the Malta Tourist Authority and the Malta Fairs & Convention Centre (MFCC) the event was staged for two sets of Thomas Cook delegates. It marks E//T//C UK's return to the island after their highly acclaimed work for the Welcome Europe celebrations in 2004 that saw 10 new member states including Malta join the EU.

E//T//C UK projected 500 metres across Valletta Harbour onto the Fort from the projector position located at the Old Customs House.

They used eight 6kW PIGI projectors with double rotating scrollers, all overlaid to optimise the image brightness, complete with special Barco 125 cm lenses. The image was divided into t

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UK - When a church in Dartford, Kent wanted to precisely light the background around two Christ figures, it seemed a very difficult problem to surmount.

When the newly-built St Edmund's Church in Temple Hill, Dartford was planned, a bold statement was wanted. So instead of the conventional crucifix, the church commissioned Japanese artist Tomoya Yamaguchi to paint two giant Christ figures - one in a crucifixion scene, the other depicting Christ as risen - on large scale white cross backgrounds.

Lighting for the feature was designed by Peter Moore of local company PM Lighting Services, in collaboration with lighting designer John Roffey. They planned to light the crosses at night, giving them a very different ambience to how they appear by day. However, the crosses were to be lit in blue, whereas the figures and their halos needed to be lit in white.

"We did experiment w

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UK - The Institute of Sound and Communications Engineers will be holding its annual exhibition on Tuesday, 27 February 2007 at the Park Inn Hotel, Watford.

More than 20 specialist suppliers to the sound industry have already signed up including; Ampetronic, Duran Audio UK, ADS Worldwide, Allen & Heath, Audio-Technica, Baldwin Boxall Communications, BC Technology, Brähler ICS UK, Canford Audio, Clockaudio, Communication Technology, Fuzion plc, Ikon AVS, Institute of Acoustics, Peavey Electronics, Rackz, RK Sound Engineering, R W Salt, Sennheiser UK, Shuttlesound, SigNET (AC), TOA and Yamaha-Kemble.

Running alongside the exhibition is a full programme of expert speakers covering the following wide range of topics: Sound engineering in churches (Malcolm Cunnings - Cunnings Recording Associates); Training the next generation (Dr Philip Duncan of the University of Salford); Fittin

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UK - Leicestershire based Hawthorns has announced that it has more than doubled its revenue from permanent installations to more than £1 million, over the last 12 months.

In addition to large church and theatre installations, Hawthorns have been successful in securing contracts for the Government initiative of City Academies. Having already done the installations of lighting, sound and other theatre equipment at Lambeth and Northampton Academies, it has just completed the Marlow Academy and is currently working at the Reading and Paddington Academies. They are due to start a further three Academies in the New Year. Tony Blair announced last week that the government is to double its initiative to 400 Academies by the end of the decade.

Tracey Hughes, a consultant to one of the key suppliers on the Academy build programme says: "We have worked with Hawthorns on two Ac

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UK - The International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) has now confirmed its line-up of speakers for their conference, The IALD presents: Sustainable Lighting Design Education in association with RIBA, which takes place on February 12-13 at the Business Design Centre during The ARC Show.

Leading lighting designers from around the world will take part in the conference as well as architects from the Royal Institute of British Architects.

To book your place at any of these sessions please visit the website address below, and click on 'Register Now'. The conference is charged at £20 per session, plus VAT, allowing delegates to hand pick the sessions of interest. Refreshments courtesy of IALD can then be enjoyed at their coffee lounge area within the main exhibition.

The ARC show will open late on Monday 12 February with drinks served within the exhibition

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Slovakia - Robe moving lights took centre stage for a special edition of Velky Hrac, (The Big Player) one of Slovakia's top rated TV programmers, with lighting supplied by Q-99. The programme saw six contestants including a Slovak celebrity taking part in the nail-biting general knowledge quiz.

Lighting designer was Martin Kubanka, one of the country's highest profile TV lighting designer and also LD for the last four series' of the popular programme for the independent TV channel JOJ.

Velky Hrac (known as PokerFace in the UK where it was created and presented by Ant & Dec) is based on the bluffing aspect of poker games and was recorded at Koliba Studios in Bratislava with a live audience. The series is licenced by UK-based Freemantle.

Kubanka explains that the terms of the licence contained certain lighting references which had to be followed. He took t

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USA - Two grandMA consoles and two grandMA lights are used in the production Love, a co-production of Cirque du Soleil and Apple Corps Ltd. celebrating the musical legacy of The Beatles. Lighting designer Yves Aucoin, assisted by Karl Gaudreau and Robert Brassard, employed an extensive number of moving lights and LEDs to light the stage, with lifts going up and down, and foggers to camouflage the lifts.

Love features HD video projections with 100-foot digital, moving images and a panoramic surround sound system. The grandMA's control an array of equipment for the show, including 28 Green Hippo Hippotizer media servers which permit eight different layers of HD images on a curved, translucent screen, a lighting rig featuring more than 200 Vari*Lite spots and washes, 200 Color Kinetics LED fixtures and 22 MDG foggers.

During the production period, Aucoin assisted by

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UK - When Peterborough Community Church was designing its multi-million pound, brand new purpose-built home in 2004, a key requirement was a large backdrop that would look impressive and help to bring the large congregation closer to senior pastor Dave Smith as he delivers his sermons.

The new church's main auditorium can accommodate 1800 worshippers and includes state of the art audio visual facilities. Hawthorn Theatrical was the contractor chosen to fulfil the staging and visual requirements, which included the task of sourcing a video screen that had to measure a vast 10m high by 16m wide.

"We needed to provide a backdrop to all that goes on during our services and other events," says the church's Pete Charlton. Having seen blended projection in other church venues - Charlton took the decision to take advantage of the latest projection technology and, together wi

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The Netherlands - As the Midas XL8 live performance system rolls out across the globe, the emphasis is now on training sound engineers to become as familiar with this system as they are with their much-loved Midas analogue desks.

Midas Consoles Holland has just completed a training session for the country's engineers at its premises. "The majority of Holland's top engineers - more then 100 - attended this six hour training session, where they not only learned what the XL8 is all about but learned for themselves that digital has indeed gone Midas," says MCD MD Axel Nagtegaal, who issued certificates to all who completed the training.

(Chris Henry)

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Europe - Lighting designer Leggy (Jonathan Armstrong) used a Kinesys motion control system to great effect for the recent Basement Jaxx tour. It was the first time he's used Kinesys and he enthused, "I love it," adding that he will use the system again at the first opportunity.

He designed four upstage/downstage 'claw' trusses as the key architectural elements of the lighting rig, and these moved constantly during the show into different positions, adding depth and dynamics to the overhead stage rig.

Each claw truss - two at 40ft long and two at 38ft - was suspended by five motors - two static Lodestar hoists downstage and three Kinesys vari-speed Liftkets on the upstage hinges, which moved them in and out via a Kinesys Vector control system.

Hung on the claws was the majority of Legg's lighting rig - including five High End Studio Command 1200 fixtures, four X-Spo

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Austria - Vienna's newest musical production Rebecca recently opened to critical acclaim at the Raimund Theater, featuring the story of Daphne du Maurier's famous 1938 novel. Staged by Vereinigte Bühne Wien (VBW), the musical is directed by Francesca Zambellow. Sound design is by Hendrik Maassen, whose musical credits include a long-term association with Phantom of the Opera. The heart of the show's sound system is the VBW Raimund Theater's resident Cadac J-Type Live Production Console, in conjunction with two Cadac D16 Digital Mix Matrices.

Rebecca is a technically very sophisticated show, combining video projection, surround sound and a dramatic lighting design. Sound designer Hendrik Maassen says:"The show's design is extremely challenging, particularly in the way that it combines the video, sound and lighting elements - this makes it a lot of fun

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Europe - The 89,600-ton MSC Musica is a new design of ship for MSC Cruises and can carry 2,550 passengers with a crew of 1,000. It was introduced in 2006, and will be followed by two sister ships in 2007. Musica is scheduled to sail on European cruises out of Venice.

MSC's Italian style is emphasised throughout the new ship's design, cuisine and service. Onboard highlights include a three-deck waterfall in the central foyer with a piano 'suspended' by means of a transparent crystal floor above a pool of water; a 13,000sq.ft spa/beauty facility offering aerobics, yoga, aromatherapy, thalassotherapy, chromotherapeutic hydro-massage and a purifying Turkish bath; a 7,000sq.ft casino; two restaurants, a Sushi Bar, an a la carte restaurant and a pizza/grill; a Cigar Room, Wine Tasting Bar and Coffee Bar, as well as a 46-foot-long bar in the casino and a Well-being and Fitness Centre B

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UK - Entec Lighting is supplying all equipment and crew to Renegade Productions and LD Nick Gray for an installation at the Entice corporate event venue in Canary Wharf.

The three-roomed tented venue - with a capacity up to 3000 - is being run by catering and hospitality specialists Dish. It's hosting a series of parties and events throughout the run up to the festive season, aimed at attracting locally based Canary Wharf companies keen on capitalising on the convenience of having corporate festivities on their doorstep.

Renegade is supplying the creative lighting design by Gray, plus co-ordinating supply of all the technical infrastructure and hardware including lighting, sound, video, staging, set and power. Sculptivate are looking after all the set, scenic and dressing elements, with a design by Andy Cobb.

When it came to sourcing the lighting gear, Renegade came to Entec

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USA - Two standout, low budget videos, one produced in a backyard for just ten dollars and the other choreographed with eight treadmills and performed in a single take, have brought Chicago-based band OK Go a lot of attention over the last year. Capitalising on their new-found public recognition, the band is currently touring the US with a stage full of Sennheiser Evolution Series wired and RF microphones, as well as wireless personal monitor systems.

Mike Kent has been touring for the last two years as front-of-house engineer with the band, and reports that backline amplification, drum and vocal microphones are all Sennheiser Evolution Series."On the kick drum I'm using the e901, which is absolutely my favourite kick drum mic in the whole world right now. It just sounds phenomenal," says Kent. "On snare, I'm using an e905, the toms e604s, and e914s on the overhea

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Germany/Ireland - Loudspeaker manufacturer Klein + Hummel has relocated its manufacturing arm to the Sennheiser factory in Ireland.

In parallel to the Ireland relocation, the after sales service has also been relocated within Germany. Spare parts, service information and equipment is now handled by: Sennheiser Vertrieb und Service GmbH & Co.KG, Niederlassung Magdeburg, Ebendorfer Chaussee 1, Germany - 39179 Barleben. Tel: +49 39203 / 72 680.

A company statement says, "The service relocation to Sennheiser in Germany is seen as the next step in creating full-line service centres around the world to support their commitment to the growing needs of their global customers."

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Color Kinetics has announced the signing of a global licensing agreement with Neo-Neon International Ltd. Neo-Neon will be granted access to Color Kinetics' complete patent portfolio, allowing the continuing development and sale of its LED lighting products worldwide.

Neo-Neon is a China-based, 25-year established manufacturer of decorative and entertainment lighting products that include a growing number of LED-based offerings. Through the agreement, Neo-Neon will be able to offer its customers the capabilities of digital intelligence as protected by Color Kinetics' patents. The license will apply to sales of numerous Neo-Neon products in all markets covered by Color Kinetics' patent portfolio.

"We believe that demand for LED-based lighting products will continue to increase as the technology progresses and becomes even more competitive with traditional light sourc

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Spain - Sound rental and installation company Oscar Molowny Sonido e lluminación, S.L. was responsible for the sound installation in the luxury hotel Mencey in Santa Cruz, Tenerife. Oscar Molowny resolved the sound requirements using D.A.S. flush mount Ceiling series and specially equipped Factor series where wall mounting was appropriate.

The nine conference rooms are outfitted with the most modern audio-visual equipment. A total of 96 D.A.S. CL-8T and 12 CL-6T ceiling mounted speakers provide background music and voice reproduction when needed.

"The Ceiling Series speakers optimise the dispersion," comments Molowny. "They provide better intelligibility which is fundamental in the conference rooms of the hotel. Besides being easy to install, the CL-8T speakers offer extended bass response additional bass providing a hi-fi sound for background music or A/V pres

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USA - Nemetschek North America reports that Spaeth Design used VectorWorks in designing the elaborate holiday displays that animate the windows of many department stores in New York City, as well as Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, and Vancouver.

For more than 60 years, Spaeth Design has been creating the festive displays that populate the windows of Lord & Taylor, Macy's, and Saks Fifth Avenue between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, the New York City-based firm expanded their use of VectorWorks' 2D drafting and 3D modelling capabilities to design and construct Lord & Taylor's gazebo window, Macy's O Christmas Tree scenes, and Saks' snow crystals story.

"We're trying to tell a big story within a very small space, between five and seven feet deep, and ten and twelve feet wide, and it's a constant challenge to make sure our concepts translate accurately, the p

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USA - Barbra Streisand recently returned for a twenty-date tour across North America with guests Il Divo, the pop opera quartet, marking the singer's first live concert appearances since 1999. The vocal microphone of choice for the diva and Il Divo was the Sennheiser SKM 5200 wireless handheld fitted with Neumann's KK 105 S capsule, while the 'popera' foursome also made use of Sennheiser's 3000 Series RF personal monitors.

FOH engineer and sound designer Bruce Jackson, who has mixed Streisand live for many years, reports that the Sennheiser/Neumann vocal mic won a shootout against competing systems. "I listened and compared it against some other mics that I was interested in," he says. "It worked out well."

Jackson, who was once front-of-house engineer for Elvis Presley and, for many years, Bruce Springsteen, was especially impressed with the strong RF perf

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UK - The opening of temporary outdoor ice rinks across the UK were delayed due to the unusually warm November weather (the Met Office states the warmest autumn since 1659). However, Stage Electrics' supplied rinks in Bristol & Gloucester which managed to open on schedule.

Speed of freezing was crucial to the rink Stage Electrics supplied to The Mall at Cribbs Causeway, a regional shopping centre on the outskirts of Bristol. The team led by Sam Saltmarsh, installed ice, lighting, sound and structures in less than a week to meet the launch deadline. The rink opened on time and runs until early January.

For the second consecutive year Stage Electrics is working with Gloucester City Council to provide a 475m2 ice rink for the Christmas season. The rink is situated in Kings Square in Gloucester city centre. Paul Greenwood led the team that installed all of the technical elements in

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Belgium - ADB Lighting has announced the appointment of Koto Lighting, based in Tokyo, as a distribution, sales and installation partner for the Japanese market.

The signing, which follows an agreement reached at the 2006 PLASA show in London, brings together ADB's growing product line-up and the expertise and resources of Koto Lighting, a subsidiary of Koto Electric Co., a major supplier to the professional lighting market in Japan.

The Koto Group has grown from its origins as a light bulb specialist with interests in manufacturing, distribution and sales of lighting products throughout Japan. It will handle the ADB Lighting product range, from the award-winning WARP zoom profile spotlight range to the MENTOR and PHOENIX control desks.

ADB's products have already enjoyed considerable success in Japan, with the NIETHAMMER range of profile spotlights installed in major Japane

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Russia - Rental Capital, one of Moscow's biggest lighting rental companies, has invested in 16 Robe ColorSpot 1200 ATs and 24 ColorWash 1200 ATs, complete with flight-casing, plus Weather Shields for use on outdoor projects.

The company supplies all the major Russian TV channels including ORT, NTV, RUSSIA and many others, and is also engaged in staging concerts, festivals and other events nationwide and throughout the CIS.

Rental Capital was founded in 2000, and now employs eighty staff. The company purchased the Robe kit to compliment its existing generic and moving light ranges.

The sales deal was completed through local distributor Sofitlight, following intense negotiations by director Arcady Chakhidjanov, with support from Robe HQ in the Czech Republic, International sales manager Harry von den Stemmen and Boris Krylov from Robe's Russian office.

Krylov comments, "

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UK - Wirral based lifting and rigging specialists Lift-Turn-Move has launched an apprentice scheme, and taken on its first new recruit. "We became acutely aware of the engineering skills shortage needed in our specific area of the industry when we were recently trying to recruit a workshop engineer," explains LTM's John Jones.

The company eventually engaged Lee Culff an experienced Lift Engineer, who joined Dave Ward, Alan Wood and Phil Jones in LTM's busy and expanding workshop.

The first apprentice is 17-year-old Phil Newton. "Phil wants to learn, he has a very positive temperament, a good brain and there's always a smile on his face," says Jones. Newton's apprenticeship in 'Electro & Mechanical Engineering' lasts three and a half years, and will be a valid qualification that he can use in other sectors of industry. He works at LTM's Wirral base four days

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Spain - In the twelve months it has been on air, La Sexta has seen its ratings rise steadily and a gratifying return from advertising sales. La Sexta's broadcast studios are in Barcelona and its news editorial offices in Madrid. Post-production is divided between the two, and the task of streamlining communications between, as well as within, the two centres was entrusted to Telex-RTS's Madrid-based partner Unitecnic.

In Barcelona, Unitecnic installed an ADAM 64 matrix with RVON and Mini Trunkmasters, two ISDN2005 interfaces and a variety of keypanels (9 x DKP 12, 5 x KP32 and 5 x MKP12). In Madrid an ADAM 48 with RVON was combined with four different types of keypanel (6 x KP32-16, 5 x KP32, 2 x DKP12 and 3 x MKP4), as well as four ISDN2005 interfaces, a BTR800 wireless intercom system and three TR825 UHF transceivers.

The system that links the studios in the Castilian and Ca

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