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UK - Girls Aloud are currently on the Tangled Up tour of UK arenas accompanied by Sennheiser in ear monitors and custom designed microphones. The microphones in question, five SKM 935s individually decorated with pink crystal by CrystalRoc, were warmly received by the band at the beginning of the tour.

"We revealed the mics to the girls before the final dress rehearsal in Sheffield," explains monitor engineer Nick Maddren. "I gathered the girls just before they started and pulled back the cover. There was a mix of screams, hands covering mouths and loads of excitement. The standard mics were immediately returned and the new ones disappeared like it was like Christmas day. CrystalRoc did an amazing job and the mics looked amazing."

Beneath the bling, the mics were still Sennheiser SKM 935s. "The 935 capsule was definitely the right capsule for th

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USA - "The audience pays to hear Dolly and it's my job to make sure they can," says Michael Fechner, Dolly Parton's longtime house engineer and production manager who recently linked with Thunder Audio to power Parton's Backwoods Barbie world tour with a Meyer Sound system.

Parton spends much of her show telling stories, jokes and ad-libbing for the crowd. According to Fechner, the performance of the previous sound system prevented the audience from enjoying the full live experience. "The problem was we were losing a lot of that great interaction," explains Fechner.

"We were originally called in to tweak their system," notes Thunder vice president Paul Owen. "But once they realised the possibilities with the Milo system and our production services, they were sold."

Dual arrays of 12 Milos and eight groundstacked 700-HP subwoofer

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UK - Specialist audio visual support from Sheffield company tdc has helped to celebrate the achievements of some of the most inspirational women in the north west of England.

The Heeley-based AV and live event company was selected to provide technical support for the 16th annual Inspiring Women Awards in Manchester. The prestigious sell-out lunch, attended by more than 350 guests, highlighted the achievements of special women from the public sector, arts, business and community who were nominated by the public for going the extra mile.

tdc director Eamonn Hunt presented the Arts awards to Claire Moore who set up the successful Certain Curtain Theatre in Preston nearly 20 years ago.

Hunt said: "We were delighted to be involved with the Inspiring Women Awards for the first time. There are so many truly inspirational women in the region, many of whom go unrecognised yet be

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USA - Bandit Lites supplied lighting production and crew for the UK leg of guitar hero, Joe Satriani's Professor Satchafunklus & The Musterion Rockadelic World Tour, which has just kicked off in Europe. The lighting designer is LA-based Ernesto Corti who is enjoying his third tour with the band.

The tour primarily plays large theatre venues, and the rig is based around four trusses - front, back and two mid-stage, that were subtly angled into a V-shape.

The upstage truss is used to hang a 33ft wide by 16ft drop of SoftLED cloth, adding a new dimension to his powerful performance, and nine ColorKinetics ColorBlast 12 LED wash lights are also over-rigged on the top rail of the back truss for stage depth.

The two mid-trusses are made up from pre-rigged sections - chosen for the larger spacing between the two rails.They vary slightly in length - the stage right truss meas

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UK For the Ricky Hatton v Juan Lazcano fight at the City of Manchester Stadium, Britannia Row technicians - system engineer Davide Lombardi and FOH engineer Derrick Zieba - set up eight clusters with 12 Outline Butterfly Hi-Packs each, for a total of 96 modules; the bottom end was courtesy of eight Subtech 218, flown in four clusters of two subs each. The PWM power amps were also Outline - T9 (2 x 4800W), a single rack unit and twelve kilos each.

As well as the MC's voice and the contributions from Sky digital TV (music and publicity), there was also a performance by classical singer Russell Watson.

FOH engineer Derrick Zieba commented, "The Outline system performed perfectly in the stadium situation, there was enough power to overcome the noise from the huge crowd of enthusiastic Ricky Hatton fans without problems. The Outline Butterfly's projection enabled us to turn

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UK - The Band of The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers are now projecting a larger sound than ever before thanks to the supply of a new KV2 Audio EX Series sound system supplied by A.C. Lighting's Audio Division.

The brass and woodwind military band have been discussing their ultimate wish list with A.C. Audio for almost a year, so when the budget was finally approved to completely over-haul their old sound system, the band's coordinators were quick to ask A.C. to design them a completely new audio rig that would be fully versatile and tailored to their specific requirements.

A.C. Audio sales executive Glen Thompson, who has extensive experience on both sides of the microphone, worked closely with KV2 and the band to design a fully flexible system which would complement the various formations in which they play. The diverse band is known to play in combinations ranging

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UK - The Automatic, the Welsh rock band that first shot to fame in 2006 with hits like Raoul and Monster, took delivery of a host of Sennheiser microphones for their month-long sold out tour of the UK this spring. The band played intimate venues across the country for an entire month, road-testing tracks from their second album, This Is A Fix, due out later this summer.

The band took a full range of microphones from Sennheiser, including four e 945s for the three vocalists, e 906s for guitar cabinets and snares, e 604s for toms and an e 901 on the kick drum.

James Lawrenson has been front of house engineer for the band since their inception. He says, "I approached Sennheiser's artist relations manager Phil Cummings and discussed getting hold of some mics before the tour started. I used to work at the Cardiff Barfly and still work at Clwb Ifor Bach in

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UK - The Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford is one of the leading schools for young people seeking to gain a skill set that will help them launch a career in the music industry. The curriculum encompasses a wide range of studies and classes for people wishing to become professional musicians and event technicians.

Recently the Academy made HK Audio its PA brand of choice. The Electric Theatre, the venue located next to the ACM's main building that hosts weekly live performances, is now equipped with a flown HK Audio ConTour Array system comprising six CTA 208 2x8"/4x1" mid-/high-range units and four CTA 118 Sub bass bins. Four D.A.R.T enclosures serve as monitors, while an Elias PX provides the drum-fill.

The ACM is also relies on HK when it comes to the school's portable rig. This combination of a D.E.A.CON system and D.A.R.T. monitors is compact and flexibl

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UK - Swindon town centre is set to play host to the first BBC Big Screen in the South West of England as a giant Lighthouse LED screen, installed by TMC screen specialists, is officially switched on.

'Big Screen Swindon' is the first giant, permanent BBC Screen in the South West of England. It forms part of the Wharf Green development - the first area in Swindon to be redeveloped since The New Swindon Company unveiled plans to regenerate the town centre.

Following the approval of designs for the Wharf Green by LDA Design, the large screen specialists TMC was appointed to install the giant 7 x 5 panel (7.14m x 3.8m) P16i/o Lighthouse LED screen, which has been placed along the North Façade of the Brunel West car park. It is housed in a freestanding structure, which camouflages the car park, and is controlled by a Lighthouse LIP-DX, an X-Drive Pro and an auto brightness control

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UK - In the first two months since its March launch, over 1,000 panels of Lighthouse's R7-Enhanced Resolution (ER) LED panels have been sold, reports the company. Using the same advanced digital processing technology as R12-ER and R10-ER panels, R7-ER's enhanced resolution doubles the effective resolution on the same-sized panel as its 16mm counterpart.

Creative Technology (CT) placed an early order for 163 panels. "We decided to invest in a new generation of outdoor screen and wanted a product which would raise the bar on the current generation of products, providing improvements in performance, weight and functionality," says Dave Crump, business development director for Avesco Group, parent company of CT.

The R7-ER panels were put to immediate use, after acceptance testing by CT staff being shipped straight from the Lighthouse factory to Bahrain for use at that co

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UK - PSL creativity and technology helped generate the appropriate pizzazz for the after-show party for Speed Racer, the new movie directed by the Wachowski Brothers, famous for The Matrix trilogy.

Speed Racer was described by one critic as "hyper-stylised, primary-coloured and taking on the aspect of a glamorous cartoon", and PSL worked with production designer Amanda Davies from AD Events to create a suitably sensational environment for Sir Ian McKellen, Christina Ricci, Emile Hirsch and others who had attended the film's premiere.

The party's unusual location was an edgy new space in central London called P3, once a 14,000 sq.ft concrete testing facility belonging to the University of Westminster, and only recently opened as an exhibition area and venue.

With its 30' high ceiling and mezzanine gallery floor, P3 offers interesting possibiliti

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UK - XL Video is supplying equipment and crew for the successful Boyzone reunion tour, which sees the Irish boyband take to the stage again for the first time in eight years.

The stage concept is that of a giant video box, with the floor, ceiling and walls all utilised to create a fast-moving, dynamic and constantly changing performance environment.

This features over 1000 MiTrix tiles which are lining the 12-stepped stage set making up the floor of the performance area, and bordering six staggered overhead trusses on three sides, creating a mirror-image effect to the stage below. The truss mounted MiTrix was made up as custom lengths for the tour.

Upstage centre is the back wall, comprising a 22.5sq.m Barco ILite 10 LED screen. The side walls feature a total of 128 Element Labs VersaTUBES, mounted on special frames, and arranged in horizontal lines.

All these video elemen

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UK - Seafood specialists, CT Holmes has become the first trader in the new Docklands-based Billingsgate Fish Market to embrace digital signage. The new 60i" dnp UCS rear projection display installed by Digital Vision AV has given the company (which trades as Holmes Seafood) a competitive edge during the brisk early morning trading at the world-famous 900-year-old market.

Paul Mayhew, who set up Digital Vision AV two years ago, says: "They had considered hanging a plasma or LCD display but these would have been too bulky given the confined area within the shop; they would also have suffered from reflection and would have had to battle with the elements and humidity in the market."

Instead he proposed an alternative solution. The 60" Ultra Contrast Screen (supplied by UK distributors Paradigm AV) provides enhanced brightness from a lightweight chassis - and t

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UK - Adlib Audio continues its busy spring, with their new V-DOSC system once again in action, this time on the recent Matchbox 20 UK arena tour, specified by industry veteran FOH engineer Jim Ebdon. It was the first time Adlib has worked with the band but had worked on Rob Thomas's last UK production tour.

Adlib supplied their most experienced V-DOSC systems engineers - Tony Szabo and James Neale, plus monitor guru Marc Peers who looked after everything onstage.

The spec comprised 12 V-DOSC elements and 3 dV-DOSC under-hangs per side for the main arrays with four V-DOSC left and right for the side- hangs, complete with six dV under-hangs per side. Ground-stacked were 16 of the new V-DOSC SB28 Subs, eight per side.

For in-fills they used two L-Acoustics ARCS cabinets per side, and four dV-DOSC fills were positioned along the front lip of the stage.

The whole system was run

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USA - Bandit Lites is touring with Carlos Santana on his current Live Your Light world tour.

Featured equipment includes Vari*Lite 3500 Washes, 3000 Spots, Coemar Infinity Washes, Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes, MAC 600s, American DJ LED Pars, and Lycian M2 Spots. Lighting was controlled by two grandMAs.

The tour's lighting director, Lee Gipson programmed the US. leg of the tour at Bandit's Nashville facility with Bandit programmer, Trevor Ahlstrand. Additional Bandit crew includes crew chief, Chuck Hastings and lighting technicians, Paul Holst and David Hauss.

Santana is currently playing shows in Europe. He will continue touring throughout Canada and the western United States before closing out the world tour in mid-October.(Jim Evans)

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UK - LD Paddy Sollitt is using Robe moving lights for the UK section of the Pigeon Detectives world tour. The energetic Leeds indie rockers have just released their new album Emergency.

For this tour, Sollitt's design is based on multiple layers of lighting, the idea being that he has an infinite variety of beam patterns and effects at his fingertips to deal with the sharp, punky, flashy nature of much of the set. It's a heavily back-lit show, with a 'wall of death' upstage. This style of lighting is very much suited to the band's frenetic set which has no dull moments, with lead singer Matt Bowman engaging in some spectacular acrobatics particularly on top of the monitors.

This tour is also a big step up for Pigeon Detectives in terms of it being their first with a proper full production, kicking off in style with two gigs at Millennium Square in their hometown of Leed

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USA - Chicago's Spybar re-opens this month following an extensive refurbishment. After bringing in new partners and recruiting a new management team, the group worked alongside design firm Simeone Deary to "conceive a fresh, sophisticated approach to cast Spybar as the premier nightlife destination in Chicago".

The 4,200 sq. ft. space features lush banquettes and can service up to 300 guests. Spybar will continue to usher in renowned DJ's. In collaboration with establishing the club as a premier nightlife experience in Chicago, Spybar has installed the Dynacord Alpha-Concept sound system. The system is one of only eight of its kind in the United States and the only model present in the Midwest.

(Jim Evans)

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Belgium - Barco has partnered with IBM Global Financing (IGF) to develop a new lease offering to help rental and staging companies more easily acquire Barco projector technology.

The new CLM Lease Offering, backed by IBM Global Financing, gives companies the opportunity to access Barco's CLM line of projectors, designed and built specifically for the demanding rental and staging market.

"For years, large concert promoters and event planners have relied on the Barco name to bring high-tech visualization and lighting technology to the stage," said Paul Foulkes, vice-president, vendor financing, IGF. "Thanks to the CLM leasing programme, smaller rental partners will also get the chance to acquire Barco's state-of-the-art CLM projection technology. We are delighted to incorporate a financing programme with Barco to support those companies grow their business."<

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Serbia - Eurovision lighting designer Per Sundin once again controlled the TV spectacular with a sophisticated grandMA system. Four grandMA full-size at the FOH were joined by an equal number of consoles as backup. 23 MA NSPs (Network Signal Processors) spread the commands to a massive lighting rig.

The show used, besides many others, 136 Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE, 24 BigLites, numerous Martin moving lights, approximately 120sq.m of Barco OLite 510, 24sq.m of Barco SLite 10 and a number of Martin LED screens. A giant stage construction was built on the arena floor which was 25m wide and 27m deep. 72 tons of light equipment were mounted to nearly 2,500m of truss.

Procon Event Engineering Germany, was the general technical supplier and provided lighting, sound, video, stage building, rigging and power. Production designer was Goran Joksimovic. Sven Stojanovic worked as art direct

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France - Large format projection specialists E/T/C Paris will supply video expertise to create 200m wide seamless video images on the 18th century Place de la Bourse as the highlight of the 10th Bordeaux Wine Festival.

E/T/C will utilise its multimedia production and display control platform, OnlyView, with four Christie Roadie 25K and three Christie Roadster S+20 projectors to achieve spectacular results.

Covering an area of approximately 4000sq.m, the high definition video will be in excess of 12 million pixels, a resolution six times greater than that of professional HD digital video.

The show, entitled Hommages, is a collaboration between E/T/C, video designers and producers Cosmo AV and audio experts Les Ateliers Lumière. The imagery for Hommages will be produced by Jacques Nougaret, Pierre-Yves Toulot and José Christiani from Cosmo AV.

(Jim Evan

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UK - Being a major venue for many different events, the London O2 Arena was legally obliged to provide audio assistance for visitors that are hard of hearing. For that the owners of the O2 turned to Vivid Acoustics, who in turn recommended Sennheiser products for the job in hand.

Traditionally, these needs would have been met by an Audio Frequency Induction Loop or an Infra Red Transmission system. However, due to the huge size of the O2 Arena and certain other factors, a special radio-based solution was implemented. The O2 Arena took delivery of 200 customised EK 1038 body pack receivers, 200 EZT 1011 neck induction loops, 50 GP 03 earphones, 100 L 2015 chargers with one SR 300 IEM G2 rack-mountable transmitter, one A 5000CP antenna and one custom built linear UHF amplifier, built by Sennheiser's chief engineer Andy Lillywhite to increase the power of the transmitter to cover t

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UK - The radical remodelling of a Council-owned Hertfordshire swimming pool between 1989-1991 resulted in a new type of building geometry, topped off with a giant hyperbolic roof which at that time was the largest of its type in the world.

During the first quarter of 2006, The Finesse Leisure Partnership, who manage the Hatfield Swim Centre for Welwyn Hatfield Council, completed a £750,000 council-funded refurbishment of the technical infrastructure for the local authority.

At that time the facility's system integrators Clarity in Sound, Light and Vision introduced Finesse to the idea of LED lighting to enhance the discharge lighting in the high-humidity environment.18 months ago the integrators specified and fitted 12 of Pulsar's ChromaFlood 200 fixtures (each containing a combination of 66 Red, Green and Blue LEDs).

Finesse's health & fitness manager, Amanda Morris,

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UK - Servicing a client located on the other side of the Atlantic can be a challenge for an event services company, but London-based PSL has forged a successful working partnership with American production company A Caspian Production.

Under the direction of A Caspian, PSL delivered the full staging solution for this year's 2008 Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, an annual forum and Awards ceremony to mark the distribution of more than $30 million of grants by the Skoll Foundation, the largest foundation for social entrepreneurship in the world.

For a two-night programme culminating in the Awards, A Caspian Production booked one of Oxford's architectural gems, the famous Sheldonian Theatre. More than 700 people attended the ceremony, which boasted former US President Jimmy Carter as one of its speakers, as well as Jeff Skoll, first president of Ebay and founder of t

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UK - Current Thinking, based in Sunderland, has supplied the massive network of integrated fire telephones and disabled refuge points installed throughout the Wimbledon Lawn tennis complex during the multi-million redevelopment of the world's most famous tennis centre.

The system, called VoCALL is a fully distributed Emergency Voice Communication System (EVCS), complying fully with BS5839-Part9:2003 and combines both fire telephones and disabled refuge points. It covers all buildings including offices, media centre, main court complexes and museum across the South London site.

Chris White of installation company Comlite said: "I hadn't worked with Current Thinking or the VoCALL system before this project, and though the learning curve was steep I have found the company easy to work with and was and was impressed by the attentiveness of its staff, technical support, system

  1. Three Mills Studios evacuated due to WWII bomb
  2. Rational Acoustics launches in US
  3. The Week in Lighting & Sound
  4. Cadac Electronics plc goes into administration
  5. L-Acoustics names Icelandic distributor
  6. Brazil's Telecom Theatre opens with Adamson
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