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Australia - The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts is a cutting-edge venue which incorporates a 300-seat performance space, modern art gallery, a screening room and multifunctional rehearsal spaces. In 2007 the main foyer of the centre underwent a major facelift with the installation of colour changing fixtures and a comprehensive control solution.

Lighting technician and operator Keith Clark has been with the centre for four years and was instrumental in the refurbishment and comments: "Originally we had fluorescent down lights and the atmosphere was cold and stark. We wanted to make the foyer more colourful and to represent the shows that were going on inside, so that the whole 'theatre experience' begins the moment you enter the lobby."

Steering the whole lighting system is the new Lighting Playback Controller from Pharos Architectural Controls. This compac

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UK - Entertainment lighting supplier White Light recently harboured a bunch of fugitives on the run from the Police - the 30 people were quickly recognised as respected television lighting directors, but fortunately they were only at White Light after escaping from the fictional Police of television series The Bill, filmed around the corner from White Light's base in Wimbledon, south-west London.

The visit was part of a joint day out organised by the Society of Television Lighting Directors (STLD). This saw the LDs visit the busy working studio of The Bill in the morning, to look at the techniques and technology used to light a realistic drama on the hectic schedule demanded by a show that is broadcast twice weekly, year round in a tour organised and hosted by The Bill's John O'Brien. After touring the various set inside and outside the studio - offices, cel

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Singapore - Broadcast Solutions selected Allen & Heath's iLive digital system - comprising an iDR10 mix rack with iLive-176 control surface - to manage audio requirements at the recent Barclays Open golf championship, held at the Sentosa luxury island resort last month.

Australian freelance sound engineer, Rob Hornbuckle, was appointed by the event's AV organisers, World Sport Group, to engineer the broadcast audio for the tournament, which was broadcast live on ESPNStar Sport.

"Rob was already comfortably configuring and mixing with iLive before the arrival of our engineers who were supposed to be there to help in the set up," says Bock Thye from Sindo Exports, Allen & Heath's distributor in Singapore and Malaysia, who, along with representatives from their associate company, PT Santika from Allen & Heath's Indonesian distributor, were on hand to provide technical s

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South Africa - The hit game show Deal or No Deal has proved to be very popular around the world and has now made its way onto South African television. Lighting plays an important part in setting the ambience for the show, and the production team used ETC equipment to create many of the signature effects.

Unlike the UK show, which features 22 contestants opening the sealed boxes, the South African production has 26 boxes opened by hostesses. Lighting designer Angus Clarke uses approximately 60 moving lights of various types plus 26 ETC Source Four 19º luminaires as profile spots for the hostesses on stage, as well as some Source Four 10º around the perimeter of the stage to create a 'light curtain' in conjunction with some haze machines.

Clarke also uses ETC systems to handle the lighting control, including the compact SmartFade desk for supplemental control, such as

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UK - Plus 4 Audio used its new L-Acoustics Kiva system for the main front of house arrays at the recent National Television Awards ceremony held at the Royal Albert Hall. Broadcast live on National TV, the annual event commemorated the most prestigious annual awards for both the stars and programmes alike.

Plus 4 used a total of 32 Kiva split into two arrays of 16 cabinets each, while 24 dV-Dosc in two arrays of 12 took care of the left and right out-fills. A further 4 SB118 subs were utilised for low end reinforcement All the amplification was derived from a mixture of the new L-Aacoustics LA4 and LA8 Controllers.

Stew Chaney, MD of Plus 4 comments: "Sight lines were very tight on this show so we needed the smallest possible system to cover the Royal Albert Hall. I used Soundvision to appraise the system coverage and was really surprised to find that the SPL and coverage

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Italy - Cardito, a town with a population of approximately 20,600 on the outskirts of Naples, recently hosted the launch of Max & Play. The venue takes its name from the owner, Massimo De Vita, a young man who has overcome the problem of impaired sight, becoming a multi-instrumentalist with his group, the Dioniso Folk Band.

Max & Play puts a live room at the disposal of emerging local musicians, with a layout that varies according to the evening (with or without tables and chairs), plus adjacent kitchen facilities and bar. As well as a Yamaha sound system, the stage is equipped with a complete backline and the venue also includes a control room and three recording rooms, one of which can also be used for rehearsals. There's also a welcoming outdoor 'relax' zone, complete with fountains, pools, sunshades and tables.

Max & Play was designed by Massimo's father, who studied archi

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Monaco - A visually stunning 190sq.m of Martin LC Series LED panels were incorporated into the stage set at the 2007 World Music Awards held on 4 November at the Monte Carlo Sporting Club in Monaco.

Hosted by Julian McMahon, the 19th edition of the World Music Awards featured performances by some of the world's top recording artists; Celine Dion, Avril Lavigne, Rihanna and Akon among them.

Ninety-two Martin LC 2140 LED panels were used for set decoration, graphics/text projection and colour accompaniment around a large main stage and side stages. An additional 12 LC panels were located in the audience. According to AED Rent, supplier of the panels, the Martin LC Series was chosen for its light weight and transparency not to mention the fact that there was a large amount available.

Video designer for the show was Dean Price who used five Martin Maxedia HD media servers to pro

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Singapore - Spektra Electronics has recently completed a number of audio system upgrades at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore, using a variety of Community loudspeaker solutions. Situated next to the historic Singapore River and close to the Central Business District and Orchard Road, the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel is one of Asia's premier choices for 5-star accommodation with 550 lavish rooms and award-winning restaurants.

The original audio systems had been installed by Spektra Electronics when the hotel was built and the company was again appointed to handle the upgrade by the hotel's chief engineer, Mr. Leo Hee Swee. The systems for upgrading covered the piano bar/lobby, coffee house and outdoor dining areas. The brief specified a significant improvement in music quality throughout, with and a particular emphasis on system power and speech intelligibili

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Denmark - No stranger to the principles of Source Oriented Reinforcement (SOR), Karsten Wolstad, one of Det Kongelige Teater's principal sound designers, has employed Out Board's TiMax delay matrix and showcontrol software at the heart of the theatre's new playhouse sound system. The main design objective was to maximise dramatic impact by optimising localisation of amplified voices and effects throughout even the largest performances on the vast main stage.

Wolstad and sound design colleague Jonas Vest worked closely with Out Board's Robin Whittaker to create an SOR-based sound system design to supply unobtrusive and subtle amplification with accurate audio image localisation and hence good intelligibility for all audience members.

Two rows of five d&b horn-loaded full-range cabinets provide the main reinforcement to the circular auditorium, supported by Tannoy NXT flat panel

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Brazil - Held at São Paulo's Morumbi Stadium on 21 November, the 2010 World Cup qualifying game between South American soccer heavyweights Brazil and Uruguay sounded superb, thanks to an Electro-Voice sound reinforcement system deployed by the Tukasom Company.

The São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) performed the Brazilian and Uruguayan national anthems before the game, while DJ sets in between the soccer action made the stadium a massive party zone. Tukasom set up more than 50 microphones to capture the orchestra, reinforced via a distribution of cart-loaded EV XLC line arrays, powered by P3000RL remote-control amplifiers running IRIS-Net software. A Midas XL4 was at FOH.

"The fans loved the sound system performance," says Antonio Pereira Neto of EV's Brazilian distributor Teleponto. "Tukasom's system design was excellent; the high quality audio made a very

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UK - XL Video is supplying over 200sq.m of Stealth screen, six cameras, 70 lens, a Kayak HD PPU, eight new Barco FLM18 HD projectors, three Hippotizer digital media servers, a 3m diameter Mi Pix globe, plus crew for Take That's Beautiful World tour.

Video is a core aesthetic element of the show which is production designed by Ray Winkler of Stufish, who worked closely with the show's artistic director Kim Gavin.

The tour is being project managed for XL by Des Fallon who comments: "It's great to be involved in one of the most ambitious tours on the road this autumn, and with Chris Vaughan and his team once again on my seventh Take That tour. The multi-layered video looks stunning and results from an innovative fusion of creative and technical ideas."

The 1237 tiles of Stealth are hung in seven columns and primarily receive time-coded playback footage output f

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UK - Up-and-coming PA rental company Eclipse Sound & Light has made a major investment in a new line-array sound system, bringing the marques of Electro-Voice and Midas to East Anglia in south-east England.

"The new equipment made an impact from the day it arrived," says Eclipse's MD Andy Collins, "we're definitely the big boys in town now."

Eclipse, headquartered in Ipswich, is a company that has grown out of Andy Collins' journey through all aspects of the sound business - from retailing, to DJ-ing, to providing small PA rigs for local bands and weddings. "We accrued such a lot of equipment that it was easier to expand into a bona fide rental company." Eclipse was founded in 2003, and has grown steadily in its local market, building a reputation as a retailer, as a rental provider and as a system installer.

Now Eclipse has purchased an Electro

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UK - Opened to the public in September 2007, the Lightbox in Woking, Surrey, is a new art gallery and museum which features education at its heart. Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and a range of companies, charitable trusts and individuals, the building was designed by a team led by the creators of the London Eye.

Long-term Ampetronic client Scanaudio was the company contracted to install four low spill loop and three counter systems, ensuring that those with a hearing impairment lose none of the impact and excitement of the changing exhibitions and learning opportunities that form the Lightbox's remit.

Ampetronic's engineers designed the four low spill systems - two in the exhibition galleries, one in an education suite and one in a room used for corporate functions - which faced some significant technical challenges.

"These were partly bec

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UK - Monday's widely reported Led Zeppelin concert at London's 02 Arena was played through a massive Meyer Sound Milo system provided by UK-based sound rental company Major Tom. At front-of-house, Big Mick Hughes of Metallica fame mixed the band, while Roy Williams handled Robert Plant's vocal.

The first full concert Led Zeppelin has played since they disbanded in 1980, following the death of John Bonham, was a tribute to the late Ahmet Ertegun, who signed the band to Atlantic Records in 1969. The 18,000 "chosen" (upwards of one million people registered in a lottery for a chance to buy the 18,000 tickets at $255 a piece) began lining up outside the arena on the Friday before.

Major Tom, headed by Lars Brogaard, which recently provided the sound system for the sold-out Prince concerts at the O2, deployed a powerful sound system comprised of 72 Milo high-power curvili

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USA -This fall's Life@50+ National Event and Expo welcomed 25,000 attendees from all 50 states and ten countries at the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Hosted by AARP, a non-profit organisation formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, the three-day extravaganza featured musical performances by Tony Bennett, Earth Wind & Fire, and Rod Stewart. It also presented a wide range of celebrity speakers, including Brian Dennehy, Maya Angelou, Kirk and Michael Douglas, Whoopi Goldberg, LL Cool J, Bob Newhart, Robert Reich, Joan Rivers, and presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee.

San Diego-based MSI Production Services teamed with Taylor, Michigan's Thunder Audio to provide sound, lighting and video for the event, including a massive line array of 48 Milo high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers and 24 Mica compact high-power curvilinear

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Ireland - Paddy Dunning's popular Temple Bar Music Centre, situated in Dublin's stylish downtown area, has re-emerged as The Button Factory following a major renovation that cost in excess of €1 million.

With its grand reopening last month, the venue now boasts a new layout, expanded capacity (to 750), and a state-of-the-art infrastructure, which includes a Digidesign VENUE D-Show Profile console supplied by local distributors Big Bear Sound.

Although the four-storey Curved Street facility was purpose-built as a live music venue around 12 years ago, the building was traditionally surrounded by button factories (hence the name). Today it houses a myriad of recording facilities. Dunning's original Temple Lane Studios is joined by The Sound Training Centre, which offers sound engineering courses on the third floor, while a rehearsal studio is housed down in the basement.

Tradi

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UK - The new Vista 5 SR live sound mixing console from Studer has made its UK debut, in the hands of front-of-house engineer Simon Wooler and the Concert Sound team. The event, the LIVE07 concerts staged by The Scout Association, was a showcase for the Soundcraft Studer Group, with Soundcraft Vi Series digital desks handling monitoring duties and orchestral submixes.

The Scout Association provides adventurous activities and personal development opportunities for 400,000 young people aged 6-25 in the UK, with some 28 million people participating worldwide. This year, the Association celebrated its centenary, and marked it with two unique entertainment spectaculars at London's O2 Arena, attracting 30,000 (two full houses of 15,000 people) to watch a cast of 3,000 Scouts, encouraged by guest presenters from children's TV programme Blue Peter.

If there is such a thing as an

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UK - PSL rounds off a year of impressive expansion in the live music industry with new clients the Arctic Monkeys and repeat business for the nutty boys, Madness. A PSL team, led by Rod Martin, was at Alexandra Palace to provide video and effects projection, live action screens and a PPU camera system for the biggest indoor show by the UK's biggest indie band - the Arctic Monkeys.

In 2007, PSL has delivered projects for some prestigious names, including tours for the Pet Shop Boys, Faithless and Razorlight, as well as showing the industry a good time at gong shows including the Vodafone Live Music Awards and the Urban Music Awards.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Glasgow's newest bridge, Finnieston Bridge at Pacific Quay, is lit up using LEDs from Dialight Lumidrives, the UK based LED technology provider. Carmichael Lighting Ltd used colour changing LEDs, controlled by 40 Colourdriver 36 modules, to create a dramatic effect on the new 169m long road bridge across the River Clyde.

The £20.3m Finnieston Bridge is a dramatic new landmark for Glasgow, featuring a central arch span which crosses the river at an angle between the roundabout atBroomielaw/Finnieston Street and the south side of the river.

The bridge accommodates four lanes; two dedicated to public transport and two for private and commercial traffic, with additional pedestrian and cyclist paths. It has a main span of 96m (314.9ft) with two end spans of 36.5m (119.7ft).

Gordon Routledge, managing director at Dialight Lumidrives says: "LEDs provide a superb lig

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Russia - MTV Russia has invested in new Robe moving lights for an upgrade to their busy Moscow Studios. This produces a host of different programmes, from news to assorted music shows, including the Chart Show and popular talent competition, Total Contact.

The Robes were specified by MTV Russia's lighting designer Ruslan Makliatsou and head of lighting Igor Korbeineko, following a collective decision made by all the studio's lighting operators and technicians. The fixtures are primarily concentrated in the ceiling lighting rig at the main Studio 1, run by a Jands Hog console, although they can be moved to other studios and locations as needed.

"We chose Robe because it offered us the most flexibility and best value for money for our available budget, "states Makliatsou, adding that they already knew that Robe was a robust and reliable product - essential for a

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UK - The first official training sessions for ETC's newest full size lighting control system, Eos, have been released by the lighting, dimming and control system manufacturer.

Sessions specifically for Strand 500 users are to be held on 9 January, 6 February and 26 March 2008, while sessions for operators and programmers with or without previous experience will be on 10 January, 20 February and 5 March. Class, which is free, is from 10am to 5.30pm, with lunch and breaks included. However, there is a limit of just six people at the sessions, which are to be held at ETC's west London office, known as the Playhouse at Gypsy Corner. Students will learn basic Eos functionality, and both experienced and novice programmers will find the session a useful introduction to the powerful programming style offered by the control system.

Working with pre-visualisation software, attend

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Egypt - Wireless Solution Sweden recently helped make a concert at the Pyramids of Giza worthy of a Pharaoh. Beladi - A Night at the Pyramids was the first "made for television "concert ever recorded at this historical site and it will air worldwide this winter. The concert featured Quebec singing superstar Chantal Chamandy, accompanied by the Cairo Symphony Orchestra performing for thousands of spectators, with the pyramids and the Great Sphinx providing a spectacular backdrop.

Lighting designer Matthieu Larivée of Luz Lighting Design and assistant LD Valy Tremblay of Proluxon designed a colourful array of effects on the massive structures using almost 600 fixtures to achieve the perfect look to accompany this historical event. The landscape provided the biggest challenge, the shortest distance from console to fixture was approximately 1000m (.6 miles) a

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UK - AKG Unsigned Heroes, the British and Irish unsigned band competition sponsored by mic manufacturer AKG and their UK distributor Harman Pro UK, is set to return in 2008. In keeping with the competition's aims of encouraging young musical talent, this year's competition is presented in association with Strummerville, the music charity which develops and promotes new music in the memory of Clash co-founder Joe Strummer. As a result of the charity's involvement, this year's AKG Unsigned Heroes winners will play live on the Strummerville stage at next year's Glastonbury Festival.

The winning band will also have one of their tracks remixed by UNKLE's Aidan Lavelle, and receive four VIP tickets to the new ZooThousand festival taking place in July amongst the beautiful natural surroundings of Port Lympne Wild Animal Park near Ashford, Kent. This year's Unsigned Heroes runners-up wi

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Australia - Miss Saigon is one of the most successful musicals in the world - seen by over 33 million people, in over 25 countries and played in 12 different languages. This time around producer Cameron Mackintosh has created an entirely new version of Miss Saigon which is just as exciting and even more emotionally involving than the original production.

The original Australian production of Miss Saigon ran for 16 sold out months in 1995 but only in Sydney as the show was simply too large to fit into any other Australian theatre. Rather than cut the show down in size, Cameron Mackintosh decide to meet the challenge of creating something new.

This new version of Miss Saigon uses cutting edge visual techniques and a new set which vividly recreates the streets of Vietnam and Bangkok. The memorable final helicopter flight from the roof of the American Embassy is achi

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