Business

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Singapore - Exhibitors to PALME Asia (12-14 July, Singapore Expo) will be set to take advantage of Singapore's burgeoning free market economy and strategic location when the show returns to the island city-state in July. This year the rebranded event is set to follow the successful PALME Middle East model by introducing an Event 360° Asia live staging sector alongside Install Asia.

With its move to two halls within the new Singapore Expo, PALME Asia sales manager, Hanslee Azhar, sees huge advantages in returning to the island. "There are a number of positive factors," he said, "but essentially Singapore Expo can accommodate the growth of the show and its expanding number of features, since we have grown 30% from last year."

At the same time, he says, it is an opportunity for exhibitors to take advantage of the highly-lucrative market in South-east Asia.

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Canada - In the few months since it opened with a lavish production of Wagner's complete Ring Cycle, Toronto's new CDN$181 million Four Seasons Centre has vaulted to the front rank of the world's fine arts performance venues. Inside the gleaming steel-and-glass complex, a stunning interweaving of space and structure by principal architect A.J. (Jack) Diamond, the focus of architectural acclaim is the 2,000-seat R. Fraser Elliott Hall. Home to the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada.

In addition to the beautiful architecture and construction, the Four Seasons Centre boasts the sonic virtues of more than 150 Meyer Sound loudspeakers, though their presence isn't apparent: all are concealed from sight, either around the proscenium or embedded in the hall's walls and ceilings. The system works hand-in-glove with the acoustical characteristics to provide fl

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UK / USA - Loud Technologies has entered into an agreement to purchase the entire share capital of UK-based manufacturer, Martin Audio Limited. The move brings Martin Audio into the Loud stable alongside EAW, a direct competitor of Martin in the touring, install and commercial audio markets. However, Martin Audio will remain "an independent brand" within the Group, say Loud.

David Bissett-Powell, managing director of Martin Audio, commented: "We are excited about becoming part of the Loud Group of Companies. Over the last few years we have built an incredibly strong and dedicated team of professionals and their knowledge of our industry is second to none. Our worldwide distribution partners have also become a strong part of this team and in order to utilise these talents and benefits to their maximum potential we need to have access to a wider base of technologies

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UK - BBC Studios, part of BBC Resources, has chosen FreeSpeak from Clear-Com as the single intercom solution used across the massive Elstree studio complex and outside lot. The FreeSpeak system is made up of 60 advanced antennae and 80 belt packs and is able to serve BBC Studios' operations on the site. This covers six studios and an outside lot stretching to several acres, all operating from four control room suites.

The flexibility of the FreeSpeak system enables on-site locations to be covered by using easy to site antenna. "This is a particularly large installation, even for BBC Studios," said Tim Deane, resource manager at BBC Studios. "Using the FreeSpeak system allows a user to be anywhere on site, in or between the studios and to remain in clear contact with their Production Team."

FreeSpeak operates through a cellular network of active antenna, whi

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USA - High End Systems has completed a turnkey installation at the Evangel Cathedral in Upper Marlboro, MD. The church recently installed 10 DL.2 Digital Lights to project onto a 76ft cyc to enhance their worship services. This is the largest permanent installation of DL.2 fixtures to date. They also added an Axon Media Server to manager. Though DL.2 already features an on-board media server, Axon is compatible with DL.2.

The install complements the church's existing HES equipment manifest of ten Cyberlight Turbos, 44 x.Spots and a Wholehog 3 console. The DL.2 install actually started at LDI 2006. Koster Design brought Evangel's LD Bryan Meares to High End's booth to view the demo of the DL.2 Collage Generator software feature. They then brought Bishop Don Meares to an HES Open House on the East Coast, who loved the idea of DL.2s in his church. Koster Design then purchased the g

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Italy - Although world famous for its Parmesan cheese, Reggio Emilia is alsothe home of Mordente Music Service, a rental firm run by Beppe Pelliciari which has built a reputation in specific sectors of the sound reinforcement market, such as classical, operatic and spoken word.

Some of the more recent events on which the company has used its QSC ISIS WideLine arrays have included open-air concerts by the orchestra and chorus of Genoa's Carlo Felice theatre, with music ranging from opera, through the classics to the Beatles. For these events, the subwoofers used were a pair of QSC WL218S-sw and the powerhouse comprised QSC PL 236 and 230 amplifiers.

Another interesting event was Cividale del Friuli's MittelFest, a festival of the performing arts under the artistic direction of Moni Ovadia, which offers a showcase spanning the artistry of Central Europe, as well as shows involvi

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UK - Southampton Guildhall has recently upgraded its lighting control system with the purchase of a Chamsys MQ100 console, playback wing, and Capture design/visualisation software.

The console went straight into use, servicing a wide range of events including student balls, graduation ceremonies, corporate dinner dances, concerts and comedy shows, controlling the in house Avolites Art 4000 dimmers, with a mixture of in house and sub hired equipment including Pars, ETC Source Fours, ACLs, blinders, strobes, hazers, Martin Professional and Robe automated spots, and Colorblock LED fixtures.

"The desk gives us full control of the existing house rig, with much greater flexibility than we've had before, along with the capacity to cope with pretty much every show we get thrown at us with its 12 universes, and on board features for LED fixtures," says a Guildhall spokesman.<

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UK - Hand Held Audio's growing involvement in Outside Broadcasts has kept them "very busy" in the first part of 2007, the company reports. Apart from the now regular contribution of all things wireless at the BAFTAs and the BRITs, the North London wireless specialist has a large system of Sennheiser 1046 radio mics on this year's Comic Relief fund-raiser, Celebrity Fame Academy.

A complex system spread across the facilities of BBC1, BBC3 and CBBC has a total of 44 channels of radio microphones and nine channels of in-ear monitoring. A combination of personal mics for the reality section and chromed hand-held mics for presenters Patrick Kielty and Claudia Winkleman uses five of Sennheiser's 8-way 1046 receiver racks and two of their 3-way 203 racks. Transmitters are SK50/SK3063 body packs with MKE2 Gold for the personals and the new SKM5200 hand-held transmitters

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China - After the official launch of the Audi Olympic Games Programme, the FAW-VW Audi factory in Changchun, China, hosted an unusual afternoon of classical music for its 1,000 employees and members of the media to announce its sponsorship for the 6th Asian Winter Games. To celebrate the event, the Chinese Philharmonic Orchestra brought their graceful music to the factory on January 25.

The orchestra gathered at the special "concert hall", set up in the middle of the high-tech car factory complete with a stage. They performed an hour of classical music in tribute to Passion for Movement, with the direction of famous conductor Yu Long. Passion for Movement is the central theme of the FAW-VW Audi's Sponsorship & Olympic programme campaigns.

EAD, Adamson's Chinese distributor, provided the Spektrix line array system for the occasion. Five Spektrix, and a S

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USA - The Spokane Opera House has been rechristened INB Performing Arts Center to reflect its diverse calendar of arts presentations and new corporate sponsorship from Inland Northwest Bank. Along with the name change, the venue has been treated to extensive interior renovations, including a new system of 18 self-powered Meyer Sound loudspeakers.

Mike Tucker, the venue's technical director, felt the recent audio refit was long overdue. Although the system had been upgraded piecemeal since the building's 1974 opening for the World Fair, it still fell far short of what most touring acts now require - and what discriminating patrons had come to expect. "It was a mostly second-generation, mix-and-match system," Tucker says. "It couldn't supply the clarity and 'oomph' we wanted for most shows, so more often than not we had to bring rental systems in."

The rental

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UK - Star Events Group Ltd (SEGL) has added significantly to its portfolio with the acquisition of The Rigging Partnership which provides custom-made solutions for the concert touring, theatre, exhibition and television industries. Its blend of off-the-shelf technology and innovative thinking means that it has the likes of the Harry Potter films, Take That's comeback tour and a variety of West End shows on its list of credits.

The staff is retained in its entirety and current managing director Gavin Weatherall continues to run the company, which will now trade as a specialist subdivision of Star Rigging focusing on theatre and trade show/corporate work. He will also take up a place on the board of SEGL as a director and shareholder.

"The inclusion of The Rigging Partnership's team of highly trained technicians undoubtedly gives us the finest collection of event rigging an

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Russia - The 2006 installation of over 150 Selecon luminaires on to the lighting rigs of the prestigious and historically significant Maly Theatre in Moscow made it a most apt venue choice for Sistema to host a recent Selecon seminar attended by over one hundred Russian lighting designers and theatre technicians.

The event was co-presented by Vladimir Lukasevich, resident lighting designer for the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and Rainer Weggen, Selecon's market manager for Germany, Austria & Switzerland using a mix of presentational techniques and hands-on experiences with Selecon luminaires.

Alexey Kapustin from Selecon dealer, Sistema, was responsible for the organisation of the event and he was delighted with the interest shown by the attendees and the professional and capable manner in which the presentations were handled.

Rainer Weggen commented, "The respons

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UK - The latest revival of the Puccini opera Madam Butterfly staged in the round at the Royal Albert Hall sees the introduction of ground breaking new audio technology. As in previous years, sound designer Bobby Aitken specified a TiMax Audio Imaging delay matrix to dynamically control time delays from each performer's radio microphone to the vocal reinforcement loudspeaker system, to make all audience members localise to the actors on-stage and not the PA.

Out Board director Robin Whittaker comments, "We only have four or five rehearsals in the RAH and it can be very difficult to know what you are listening to, for example, if an actor is not where they were blocked, or Sharry misses a couple of movement cues because he is focused on getting the orchestra mix right or EQing a mic, then the delay scenario from that actor's mic could be way off."

This year sees

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USA - The Midas XL8 digital live performance system is attracting rave reviews for its first live production run on the stage debut of Sister Act, a new musical by Alan Menken that, critics concur, is a Broadway-bound hit. Having completed a sold-out run at the Pasadena Playhouse, the show has transferred to the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta accompanied by FOH Engineer Pierre Dupree and an XL8 deployed by Sound Associates, Inc, whose Carl Casella and Domonic Sack completed sound design for the show.

Casella comments, "From a hands-on perspective, the XL8 is really well thought out. It's a highly sophisticated piece of equipment, with a vast range of practical features missing on other digital offerings. "All digital desks 'work' in a controlled environment, but we, as engineers, do not. The XL8 was designed with that in mind. Around 175 cues are written into the X

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Portugal - An Avolites Diamond 4 Elite was specified to control over 100 moving fixtures and a host of digital lighting and effects for the Portuguese 4th channel, TVI's 14th anniversary gala event. The special live broadcast was staged in the Black & Silver saloon at Estoril Casino just outside Lisbon, with full lighting and video production supplied by locally based rental company Backlight - run by the charismatic Luis Pedro.

Lighting designer was Mario Bastos and the moving and digital lights were programmed and operated by Mario Rui. The show featured performances by Portugal's top entertainers, musicians, singers and comedians. Rui and Bastos and executive producer Rita Carrelo all worked closely with the team from Backlight to realise the event's technical production in the very tight timeframe.

Avolites Diamond 4 Vision and Elites are the consoles of choice for Rui, wh

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USA - Clive Davis pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton, was the traditional glittering affair this year, where nominees, presenters, record industry executives and celebrities rubbed shoulders as a string of A-list music performers took to the stage. Delicate Productions of Camarillo, California once again provided the sound equipment for the annual event, outfitting the stage with Sennheiser wired and wireless microphones for performances by Smokey Robinson, Black Eyed Peas, Akon, and the night's highlight, Jennifer Hudson.

"We used 16 channels of the Sennheiser EM550G2 wireless microphone receivers, with SKM935G2 handhelds," says monitor engineer Scott Scherban. "There were eight channels of EW300IEMG2 in-ear systems." The setup also included two Sennheiser NET1 wireless management systems, providing control, monitoring and management of the microphone and

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UK - Among the many companies honoured at this year's Total Production Awards ceremony was the Birmingham based Total Solutions Group. "We were absolutely delighted and proud to receive the award for 'Favourite Stage Set Company'," said managing director Chris Cronin. "It's a tremendous 'thank you' to our dedicated and hard working team who are always prepared to take on the next unusual challenge that this industry constantly issues."

Hosted by Suggs, of Madness fame, a record 1,200 people from the live entertainment industry attended the ceremony. "It's a great honour to be recognised as an industry leader by your own peers," said a clearly delighted Cronin.

Over the year, Total Solutions provided staging for Kylie, Il Divo and George Michael along with a host of other top artists. The Company specialise in blank paper design challenges such as

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Finland - The Himos Arena, a new multi purpose hall situated in the ski resort of Jämsä, has installed a TT+ - based sound system from RCF.

Timo Kunnas of Noretron, RCF's distributor in Finland explains, "We had carried out several demonstrations of the new line array system here in Finland, so when this project came up we put the TT+ forward for it".

The design and installation of the system was carried out by Jämsän Discofix, where Ville Rantanen takes up the story, "The arena is very large and is used for a variety of different events including live bands and discos. We needed a system that would cover the entire area. By side flying the TT 33's together with the TTS 28A subs under the stage it gave us the coverage we wanted"

Also specified were Acustica C3110's compact units for the front fill delay speakers, and a pair for the DJ monitors. For th

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USA - Super Bowl XLI may have suffered through a downpour, but it was Prince who reigned, with an electrifying performance that was hailed by some as one of the most thrilling halftime shows in the history of the game. Conditions were far from ideal for any electronic equipment, but the most critical item, Prince's chrome-plated Sennheiser wireless vocal microphone with a Neumann capsule, took the rough weather and the singer's rough handling in stride.

"My big worry was that Prince's mic was going to get soaked and quit working," admits James Stoffo, who has been in charge of wireless systems for the musical entertainment segments of the Super Bowl for many years. "But it never did die. It was soaking wet when we got it back, but it never quit on me.

"Although there was a spare standing by, the vocal microphone, which pairs a chrome-plated handheld Sennhei

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South Africa - Lighting designer Tim Dunn used two grandMA full-size, one grandMA light, two NSPs and two grandMA mediaPC with grandMA video to illuminate the Miss South Africa spectacular in Sun City, while Kabelo, Unathi, The Bala Brothers, Hi 5 and Brandon October added some musical extravaganza to the event.

"After working on the Whole Hog platform for ten years, discovering the grandMA control system was a revelation for us," related Dunn, "The features of the desk not only make lighting programming faster and more productive but the cues are restructured and look totally different. Being able to personalise the desk to create a completely comfortable control system to work with is also a great feature"

Together with the NSPs one grandMA full-size controlled the conventionals and moving lights. The other one was used to operate the two mediaPC which de

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UK - Element Labs, the award-winning manufacturer of LED video technology, has opened a London office to better serve its growing customer base in the UK.

Located at Perseverance Works in London's Shoreditch design district, Element Labs' neighbours include architectural, design, and other creative firms. The new office is conveniently located to provide demonstration, project management, and technical support services to London and the broader UK market, as well as continental Europe.

"Expanding our presence in Europe beyond our Germany office is essential as our international business continues to grow," says Nils Thorjussen, president and CEO of Element Labs. "The opening of our London office demonstrates our ongoing commitment to our extremely important UK customers."

The new office includes an extensive demo facility loaded with the full-range of Ele

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USA - Branson, Missouri-based Theatreworks recently supplied 10 Robe ColorSpot 575AT moving lights for the Palm Springs Pavilion Theatre in Palm Springs, California.

"Robe was selected for its price and quality," stated Bob Finical, senior manager of Theatreworks, which has over 30 years' experience in production design, covering all areas of the professional entertainment industry.

The fixtures were supplied to Theatreworks by Robe America's West Coast office who, Finical explains "really excelled themselves in organising a demo at our shop in Branson, showing us first hand all the great features and functionality of the CS 575."

The Palm Springs Pavilion Theatre is a concept of Dick Taylor Productions, designed to provide live, family entertainment on a year-round basis. It is located in the heart of downtown Palm Springs on Tahquitz Canyon Way directly

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USA - XL Touring Video recently completed its project as video contractor for Rock Star Supernova's You Can't Stop The Party 2007 World Tour, which kicked off in January in Hollywood, FL, and finished up the American leg at the end of February.

XL worked with production designer Brian Hartley to provide an 8ft XLTV custom-designed MiPix Globe populated with 2,500 MiPix LED, which was suspended over the crowd, stage left; four Mainlight Soft LED High Res panels, hung upstage, three portrait-style Barco D7 panels configured two wide x three high were positioned in front of the soft LED panels and two High End Systems Catalysts.

XLTV's president, John Wiseman, said: "Rarely do we get a chance to work so closely on the front end as we do with Tommy Lee on all his projects. For RSSN, we were given the chance to bring in our favourite creative team including Nick Militel

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UK - Entertainment lighting supplier White Light was reunited with long-time collaborators The Admirable Crichton and Private Drama for Party Under Construction, a showcase for the best in the events industry that took place at Number One Piccadilly, London.

Overlooking Piccadilly Circus, with spectacular views down onto Eros, the Under Construction theme of the party came from the venue itself still being a building site! Nonetheless, it was transformed to host a spectacular party for over 600 guests, who enjoyed performances from the casts of Chicago and Tap Dogs and by Private Drama, food and party design by The Admirable Crichton, sound by Delta and event lighting courtesy of White Light.

White Light's lighting designer Jason Larcombe used a comprehensive range of equipment from White Light's diverse hire stock to create lighting that highlighte

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