UK - Justin Hawkins has purchased a Pro Tools / ICON Console system from HHB. Comprising a 32-fader ICOND-Control console, Pro Tools HD3, extensive storage and a full suite of plug-ins,the system forms the heart of the former Darkness frontman's new recording facility in North West London.

"The HHB team has been great to deal with right from the start," reports Hawkins. Commenting for HHB, Greg Wheeler says "Everyone at HHB particularly enjoyed working on this project. The new studio looks and sounds great, and we wish Justin every success."

(Jim Evans)

Germany - The German contemporary restaurant franchise Café 7 has opened its latest franchise featuring fully integrated lighting control from Zero 88. Style and branding are core to Café 7's philosophy and part of their franchise agreements is to maintain their distinctive ambience and style. During the day they operate as cosy café's but as evening approaches Café 7's evolve into relaxed bars offering a range of international wines and cuisines.

For its fourth franchise, which opened in Münster during February 2007, Cafe 7 chose Zero 88 for the lighting control. The management of the café needed a simple way for staff to seamlessly integrate ambient house lighting, colour changing LED and disco lighting effects. The combination of Chilli dimmers, remote panels and Frog-Box replay unit were chosen for their ease of installation, ease of use a

UK - PRG has bought a 30-way Kinesys automation system which has gone straight out on the Lionel Richie tour, for which PRG is the lighting contractor.

The Kinesys system was specified for the lengthy UK and European leg of the tour by show designer and LD Chris Medvitz. PRG's account handler Carol Croft says, "We had been looking at buying a system for some time, and then this came up - so the time was absolutely right."

On the Richie tour, the Kinesys system's Elevation 1+ motor drives are working in conjunction with 28 tonne Lodestar JJ vari-speed motors, being controlled by Kinesys Vector software, operated by Blaine Dracup.

The Motors are suspending nine lighting pods, eight of them each contain six Vari*Lites, and the ninth has ten 5K Skypan fixtures. All are hung over the stage, with the Skypan pod right above the piano riser.

The pods are static for most

UK - Dolly Parton, one of the most honoured female country performers of all time, has unveiled a plaque of her handprints, which will be on permanent display in Wembley, London's Square of Fame. The ceremony took place as Parton prepared to go on stage for a sold-out performance at Wembley Arena, part of the singer's 17-city, 10-country European tour.

The legendary singer, songwriter and actress joins other iconic artists including Madonna, Cliff Richard, Status Quo, George Michael, Kylie Minogue and snooker champion Stephen Hendry in having a permanent cast of her hands in the Square of Fame. On unveiling her handprints, Parton commented: "It is wonderful to be performing here at Wembley and an honour to leave my handprints in the Square. I never realised just how small my hands are."

(Jim Evans)

Denmark - In 2006, Martin Professional successfully maintained the positive developments in the company's operations that began in the second half of 2005. Substantial improvement produced a DKK 18 million profit before tax in 2006 (approx. $3.2 million), an increase of DKK 83 million over 2005 figures (approx. $14.7 million).

Revenue was up from DKK 955 million in 2005 (approx. $171 million) to a record level of DKK 1,027 million in 2006 (approx. $183 million), the highest ever as Martin generated new sales records in a number of geographical markets, among them France, Germany and Scandinavia. The year to year improvement in EBT was also the largest in company history and operating cash flow reached DKK 113 million (approx. $20.2 million), the highest level ever.

The improvement was attributable to a more focused sales effort, combined with the successful launch of new produ

UK - XL Video is supplying video projection and cameras to the Faithless To All New Arrivals tour, forming an integral element of LD and visual designer Ivan Morandi's provocative live show aesthetics. Morandi has worked with the band for seven years and has always seen lighting and moving images as a potentially symbiotic phenomenon, however this is the first time that Faithless have gone really large on the video.

XL Video's Des Fallon is project manager. He says, "Ivan is highly talented, knows exactly what he wants and his work always looks incredible. It's great to be part of the equation again following last year's Placebo tour."

Morandi wanted the Faithless show to look 'contemporary psychedelic' to match the pumping, dance energy of the band. Onstage are five 10 x 7 ft landscape format screens arranged in two staggered rows, three on the top, two on th

UK - Hawthorn were contracted by SML Events to supply a self-standing truss tower and screen for The Big Art Project for Comic Relief, sponsored by Muller and Visit London, held in Trafalgar Square last week. 54 small 1 sq.m canvasses were assembled to create one giant piece of art 6m wide and 9m tall.

Celebrities and VIP's painted the majority of the canvasses, however a few were painted by members of the public in Trafalgar Square on the morning of the event itself. Afterwards the canvasses were auctioned off to raise money for Red Nose Day 2007.

Hawthorn's specialist rigging team used a Prolyte ST self-climbing truss tower, complete with two one-ton double breaked Verlinde motors, and over 12 tons of ballast to secure the structure.

Hawthorn's senior rigger, Jono Toon commented, "it was a pleasure to be doing something to support such a worthwhile charity, and

UK - K-Klass, the award-winning DJ and Dance remix consortium, is celebrating its latest No.1 in the UK's Dance charts with its 2007 version of Rhythm Is A Mystery.The single, which originally entered the charts in 1990 when it went to No. 3, marks K-Klass' first hit since acquiring a pair of JBL Professional LSR4300 studio monitors, supplied by Harman Pro UK dealer, Liverpool-based Studiocare Professional Audio.

Andy Williams, who founded K-Klass in 1989 with Paul Roberts, Russell Morgan and Carl Thomas, says: "We recently started work in our new pre-production studio in Wrexham, but the small monitors we were using were not giving us the sound we wanted. After looking at a number of alternatives, we chose the LSR4300s because their low frequency correction tool gave us such a fantastic sound. This is particularly important with Dance music where you really need to

UK - Nitelites, the North East provider of sound, lighting and staging, has re-confirmed its commitment to JBL Professional's range of products by investing in eight Vertec VT4880A subwoofers. The units, which were supplied by Harman Pro UK, are being powered by four new Crown IT8000 amplifiers to provide 32kW of sub-bass for Nitelite's existing VT4889 rigs.

Founded in 1984 by current director Jim Moore, Nitelites was born out of a touring system from the halcyon days of 'Rock n Roll.' After years of on the road with Lindisfarne, the system and the company evolved to encompass Moore's experience in the sound reinforcement industry, which over the years has seen him work with artists including Frank Zappa, Journey, Def Leppard, Chris Rea, Dr Hook, Van Halen and Led Zeppelin.

Nitelites has been stocking JBL Professional's Vertec series for six years and was one of the first tour

Germany - Audio video software companies Ableton and Cycling '74 have entered into a strategic partnership. The two will join forces to create new software products for the creative community, leveraging their skills, technologies and combined thirty years of experience.

"We are excited to team up with our friends at Cycling '74," said Ableton CEO and co-founder Gerhard Behles. "David Zicarelli has founded an innovative company that develops exceptional audio and video tools. We feel they share our understanding of and vision for the creative technology market."

"Ableton has a strong sense of user-centered design that has truly inspired all of us," said Cycling '74 founder and CEO David Zicarelli. "We look forward to collaborating with them to develop a new generation of media tools."

(Jim Evans)

Germany - Novation, the UK-based manufacturers of synthesisers and software control solutions, announced at ProLight + Sound the signing of a partnership with Italian software company and Almateq brand, Overloud,experts in the field of accurate Guitar Amp simulation.

This collaboration falls in line with the future direction of Novation, in creating a broader group of products for all musicians, including today's guitarists, says the company.

Rob Jenkins, Focusite/Novation's director of product strategy, said, "I look forward to a future developing products with Overloud, and as a guitarist myself, I especially look forward to working with Thomas Serafini. His expertise in guitar amp simulation technology is beyond compare."

Thomas Serafini, VP R&D Manager of Overloud, added, "I'm really excited about this partnership. It will be a pleasure to work with the No

USA - Color Kinetics Incorporated and Element Labs have announced a global cross-licensing agreement, fostering ongoing product development in the entertainment-focused market for intelligent LED lighting. Element Labs will acquire access to Color Kinetics' complete patent portfolio, enabling the development and sale of certain LED-based product lines worldwide.

Element Labs is a prominent manufacturer of LED systems that merge lighting and video in a wide range of theatrical, touring, television and other entertainment applications. Its systems have been used in many high-profile projects around the world, including three of the last four Super Bowl halftime shows, the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, and the concert tours of Madonna, the Dixie Chicks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty and Coldplay, among many others.

Several of Element Labs' intelligent LED product lines apply Colo

USA/Japan - Konica Minolta Holdings, Konica Minolta Technology Center (collectively KM) and the General Electric Company have signed a strategic alliance agreement to accelerate the development and commercialisation of OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) devices for lighting applications. The goal is to bring OLED lighting to market within the next three years.

Masatoshi Matsuzaki, president, Konica Minolta Technology Center, said, "Having such unprecedented attractive features as flexible, thin, light weight, and sheet form, OLED lighting is considered one of the most promising new business opportunities for us in the future. We are delighted to collaborate with GE to accelerate the development and launching of this revolutionary new lighting technology."

Michael Idelchik, vice president, advanced technology programmes, GE Global Research, said, "The alliance o

Singapore - Only once every three years is the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting hosted outside Washington, D.C. In 2006, Singapore was chosen as the venue with about 16,000 delegates attending the meeting.

To accommodate them, 35 meeting rooms were equipped with audio visual equipment and conference microphones - with 14 of these rooms being exclusively equipped with Bosch DCN Next Generation simultaneous interpretation systems for up to nine languages.

The Danish company Teletech was selected as the sub-contractor for supplying the DCN Next Generation interpretation system and worked with the local AV supplier Showtec who installed the AV system.

(Jim Evans)

Greece - Lighthouse Technologies made its first appearance in Greece at one of the country's most important electronics exhibitions, Electronika and Digitec, a show that spans a number of markets including professional sound and lighting, held in Athens at the beginning of March.

Lighthouse showed a 5-panel x 3-panel (5.08m x 2.8m) configuration of its best selling R6-III, 6mm pixel pitch display on the stand of Athens-based sales and distribution company, Spectratech. The R6-III incorporates Lighthouse's Uniformity Control, developed to guarantee that the colour balance of every pixel and the brightness of every LED is identical, thus "ensuring screen uniformity to an exceptional level".

The cooperation with Spectratech heralds an agreement between the two companies for Spectratech to promote Lighthouse products within the Greek market. "We have chosen t

UK - Avesco, the international service provider to the presentation, entertainment and broadcast markets, has announced a proposed reverse takeover of InvestinMedia.

The merger of the two businesses will effectively double the size of the existing Avesco group with combined net assets approaching £50 million and substantial financial resources to fund future development. The existing Avesco team will continue to manage the enlarged business providing continuity for both staff and customers.

InvestinMedia recently sold its 49% stake in Complete Communications, world-wide rights holder of the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? TV show, producing a substantial profit on its investment. InvestinMedia currently owns Fountain Studios (the UK's largest dedicated independent television studio facility) and holds minority stakes in two media related AIM listed businesses.

Ov

USA/Australia - ENTTEC has announced the opening of its US sales office. Based in Brooklyn, NY and run by Jeremy Kumin, the sales office will support the growing network of ENTTEC dealers in the US.

Kumin, a veteran lighting designer and programmer, has been using and dealing the ENTTEC products through his company, Tri-Luminary, for some time now. He has worked in theatre, dance, fashion, video, film, special events, and retail store lighting, as well as consulting on new theatres and renovation projects.

ENTTEC reports healthy growth in the last few years. "This US office is just the next step in our growth plan and supporting our sales network in the US is very important to us," says Nicolas Moreau, ENTTEC's founder. "With a string of new high tech products about to be launched this will be a big year for ENTTEC and its partners."

The Sales office will

UK - US rock band Nine Inch Nails is currently touring the UK and Europe with a JBL Professional Vertec line array sound system, distributed by Harman Pro UK and supplied by Liverpool-based Adlib Audio.

The tour, which kicked off in Portugal in February, will see the band playing a variety of venues in the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Scandinavia before it moves to Australia and the Far East over the Summer.

Andy Dockerty, head of Adlib Audio, says: "The JBL Vertec line array was specified by the band's front of house sound engineer, Pete Keppler, who wanted to replicate the system he'd been using for their US tour. We have worked with Pete on several occasions in the past and he is always happy with the service he receives from us."

As the long-time front of house engineer for artists such as David Bowie, Keppler is

Finland - Following last week's Bottom Line Design Award, the FogScreen projection screen has been named best nightclub effect 2007 by Club World.

The 19 categories in six fields of the Club World Awards honour every element of a nightclub or lounge, from its design, to its technicians, to its promotion. The winners were determined by a panel of ten industry-veteran, expert judges.

"The nightclub industry has been the fastest growing segment for FogScreen within last 12 months," says CEO Mika Koivula. "Our installations include Harrah's Lake Tahoe, Myst in New York, Long Horn in Louisiana and the Box in Belfast. We expect this growth to continue."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Harman Pro UK has confirmed the venues for its 2007 product roadshows, which are taking place in mid-May at three different locations around the British Isles: at the Temple Bar Music Centre in Dublin on Monday, 14 May, at the Stanley Theatre at Liverpool University on Wednesday, 16 May, and at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford on Friday, 18 May.

The roadshows allow UK and Irish dealers and end-users the opportunity to check out the latest products from the companies in the Harman Group, including AKG mics, Crown amps, dbx DSP and BSS venue-management systems, JBL loudspeakers, Soundcraft digital consoles, and Lexicon signal processing. Harman will also have some of their product specialists on hand to give presentations on how to get the best out of the new equipment, and to engage in detailed question-and-answer sessions afterwards.

This year, AKG specialis

UK - XL Video UK is again supplying all touring video equipment to Production North for Westlife's sold out Love arena tour, with live video directed by Billy Robinson.

XL Video has worked with Westlife since their first Coast to Coast tour back in 2001. They have always used video elements inventively, and this one is no exception. XL account handler Phil Mercer comments, "It's good to see the band going to another completely new and highly imaginative dimension of video for this tour."

With a central high resolution Barco S-lite LED screen midstage (8 x 8 tiles in surface area), show designer Peter Barnes specified three 45 degree angled strips of XL's new Barco MiTrix 'invisible' low res LED screen per side, mounted on custom frames built by XL Video Belgium. These are criss-crossed horizontally by three banners of half-populated Barco O-Lite, cheque

USA - The Duderstadt Center on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor boasts a recently overhauled, state-of-the-art audio recording studio.

At the heart of the Walters-Storyk Design Group renovation is a new API Vision console that allows its users to intelligently mix in both stereo and surround formats simultaneously.

David Greenspan, audio resources coordinator at the Center, comments, "We're effectively calibrating our students' ears and brains so that their baseline standard is pristine analogue sound. When they hear other technologies or manipulations, they'll be able to hear and mitigate artefacts. That was reason enough to get an API console. With the Vision however, students are also learning to explore and conceptualise movement in space and timeand to think in both stereo and surround at a fundamental level."

(Jim Evans)

UK - The biggest Glastonbury Festival to date was given the green light this week under an agreement that will protect the event until 2010. Mendip District Council passed a plan to make 27,500 extra places available, taking the capacity to 177,000.

Festival founder Michael Eavis said, "This decision is a real first for us because we have got a full licence - it gives us a bit of breathing space. In the past we have had to jump through hoops, year after year. Now we can plan future festivals safe in the knowledge that it will all be approved."The festival takes place 22-24 June, with confirmed artists including the Killers, The Who, Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, the Kooks and Kasabian.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Representing a rich Buddhist tradition dating back to 15th-century Tibet, the monks of the Gyuto Tantric University have been chanting in their singular, multi-tonal style since the university's founding in 1474. On rare occasions, the monks who comprise the Gyuto Monks Tantric Choir venture out of their tranquil environs to bring their complex, captivating liturgical arts to the general public. This tour, the first in more than six years, will feature 14 monks, including the Vice Abbot, Omze la.

Meyer Sound has enjoyed a relationship with the Gyuto Monks dating back several decades, and has continued its tradition of providing support for the current US performance dates of the Gyuto Monks Tantric Choir. Meyer Sound is furnishing the monks with an audio system comprised of 16 M'elodie ultracompact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers and a pair of 600-HP compact high

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