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UK - Roland Systems Group (RSG) has recruited SFL Group to its group of RSS dealers in the UK. Reading-based SFL is actively involved with system installation and live event production all over the UK, and is taking the RSS M-400 mixing console and S-4000 Digital Snake into its own rental inventory as well as accepting dealer status.

SFL managing director Mark Payne has already identified several market opportunities for RSS' new digital mixing system. "I see one of its strengths in the provision of end-to-end audio networking at low cost. It offers the ability to plug into a PC and record everything you are doing with ease, and very inexpensively. And of course the integration of the Digital Snake in audio networks makes the V-Mixing System a very interesting proposition."

SFL offers an extensive range of short training seminars for live production engineers, and wi

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UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians reports that the 30th anniversary ABTT Theatre Show staged in London's Royal Horticultural Halls last week was considered another triumph.

Year on year the Show has expanded from both exhibitor and visitor perspectives. With over 100 participating companies, the organisers are pleased to reveal that, despite the current uncertain economic climate, the visitor numbers were maintained and were slightly up on 2007.

Recognised for embracing a developing range of technologies for use in any auditorium, the ABTT Theatre Show has built a position as a platform for manufacturers, designers and suppliers to showcase the latest advancements in technical theatre.

The Annual ABTT Awards staged at Church House in Westminster celebrated the products voted as this year's innovations. The 'Hook Clamp' trophies were awarded to: Best Sound P

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South Africa - FX Unlimited is a busy lighting rental and production facility based in Cape Town, and also a prolific user of Avolites control.

FX unlimited bought its first Avolites console back in 1993 explains founder Alan Muller, who has worked with the brand ever since. The inventory includes Pearls and Sapphires, and they have just taken delivery of their first of the new Tiger consoles. The company also has a stock of FD and ART 2K dimmers.

FX Unlimited shows tend to be very moving light orientated - they own Robe, Clay Paky and Martin fixtures.

They took the opportunity to purchase the new Avolites Pearl Tiger from Avolites' south African distributor DWR Distribution, FX Unlimited feels that the Pearl Tiger is an ideal console for smaller conferences with simple set ups of up to 20 moving lights.

FX Unlimited is also the in-house technical supplier for the Cape Tow

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UK - One of the first V-Mixing Systems from RSS by Roland has been bought by The Bedford Corn Exchange, which has snapped up the digital console plus snake package to use as a portable system, shuttling between four local venues.

The Bedford Corn Exchange has much in common with civic theatres in towns all over the UK, featuring a 1000-capacity main auditorium which hosts a huge variety of repertory productions and one-off shows. The sound team also sallies forth into other venues owned and operated by the Borough Council, and have therefore invested in a new V-Mixing System from RSS by Roland which gives them 48-channel digital mixing capability on the move.

Pro-audio dealer JAP Sound fulfilled the Corn Exchange order, supplying the M-400 16-bus digital console and two S-1608 Digital Snakes with remote controllers. This compact digital system can be moved around the Corn Exch

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UK - At last year's PLASA Show, Martin Hawthorn, MD of Hawthorn Theatrical, became transfixed by the new Impression LED heads on the stand of German Light Products (represented in the UK by LED-Lites). Before the end of the show he had confirmed his first order for 18 of the GLP heads, and in so doing was among the first customers in the UK to purchase these high-powered eco-friendly lights for rental stock.

By the time this year's ABTT Show came along the company had ordered a further 36 fixtures - divided equally between the RGB versions and Cold White/Amber.

The RGB version contains 90 Luxeon K2 LEDs giving it a high light yield capacity, with 30 each of the RGB colour LEDs able to create the entire colour spectrum. The White/Amber Impression contains 60 cold white LED's and 30 amber, to allow continuous colour temperature adjustment, down to 3200°K.

The fixtures offe

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Greece - L-AcousticsS DOSC systems were chosen to supply the Concert Against Global Warming in Athens, featuring Nikos Aliagas & Friends. Presented by renowned Greek TV show host Nikos Aliagas, this concert was the first act of a European Tour supported by the EU.

Greek sound providers Ypsilon & Audiosound provided L-Acoustics sound systems for this concert featuring left and right main PA arrays each comprised of nine V-DOSC enclosures with three dV-DOSC hung below, completed by two dV-DOSC per side for the stereo in-fills. Far left and right crowd areas were addressed by two additional outer-fill hangs each featuring six KUDO.

Sound designer John Moine de Russy reports: "I was in charge of the sound design aspects and system specifcation for this project. Thanks to the L-Acoustics Soundivision 3D simulation software, I was able to configure the complete system ah

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Good News - The Association of British Theatre Technicians reports that the 30th anniversary ABTT Theatre Show staged in London's Royal Horticultural Halls last week was considered another triumph. Year on year the Show has expanded from both exhibitor and visitor perspectives. With over 100 participating companies, the organisers say that, despite the current uncertain economic climate, the visitor numbers were maintained and were slightly up on 2007.

Company News - In the entertainment technology industry's latest high-profile acquisition, Barco has announced that it has bought High End Systems Inc, the well-known manufacturer of automated luminaires, digital lighting and lighting controls, for a total value of USD 55 million. "With the merging of two strong industry players, this acquisition reinforces Barco's leadership position in the fast converging video and lighting segmen

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UK - The Forum, in London's Kentish Town, was the venue for Pete Doherty's return to the stage after his 29-day stint in Wormwood Scrubs prison and with resident crowd management specialist AP Security on hand, the evening went off without a hitch.

The Forum has was added to AP's ever growing list of venues last September after an emergency call from the club's management, who needed to replace the incumbent security company.

"The Forum has undergone a recent facelift," explains Chris Hollands, one of AP's management team, who oversees a number of venues and events for the company. "We had been awarded the contract and were due to start once the re-fit was completed, but due to unforeseen circumstances, we were asked to step in much earlier than expected and at very short notice."

"In fact, we got a call one Saturday afternoon and we were in by the f

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UK - Foo Fighters, Metallica and Rage Against the Machine fans enjoyed the major European festival Pink Pop in total safety at the beginning of June, as Mojo Barriers deployed over 1k of barriers at the event's various stages and bars.

The sell out festival, which welcomed 60,000 visitors per day, boasted three stages, 39 bands and a variety of entertainment and refreshment facilities over the extensive site. For the first time this year, the event was not held on Whitsun weekend.

Mojo Barriers supplied 650m of barrier over the three stages, as well as 500m of bar barrier at the refreshment sites. On the main stage, Mojo Barriers deployed its Barrier Load Monitor System (BLMS) which adds extra safety to the system by continually monitoring the pressure which audiences are putting on the barriers, allowing teams to react quickly to crowd surges.

"Pink Pop is very well es

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New Zealand - The Rippon Festival,staged at Lake Wanaka, a National Park area on the South Island, celebrates the talents of Nw Zealand bands and musicians.

Rich Green was front of house system engineer for the festival and explained why the festival is so popular: "I have worked the last three Rippon Festivals, and while there are larger festivals in New Zealand, Rippon would have to be one of the most successful outdoor shows in the country. It consistently sells out a couple of months before the show, approximately 5,000 and is very well organized by a dedicated local committee. It used to run annually but the last few shows have been every second year and I think this formula has worked well, perhaps making it just that much more special.

"The festival offers a diverse range of music; rock, dub, drum and bass, indie, you name it. Sonically this poses its own chal

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UK - SPS recently completed the Institute of Directors Annual Convention. This one-day event was held in the Royal Albert Hall for nearly 3,000 business leaders, with speakers including Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Kevin Spacey and Bob Geldof.

SPS has worked on the IoD flagship event for five consecutive years and utilised its extensive experience to provide the bulk of the staging and production elements including the impressive stage set, screen content and opening video. The SPS creative team also worked with many of the speakers to develop screen content to support their presentations.

A 14m x 6m custom-built screen provided the main focus of the set, with imagery provided by two projectors to achieve a 45,000 lumen image with full 2K HD resolution. This screen was utilised in many ways throughout the day. "For the opening video we wanted to highlight the calibre of t

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UK - Lighting designer Martin Dudley used Robe ColorSpot 700E AT moving lights at the core of his lighting rig for The Guillemots most recent UK tour, for which his company, Reading based Martin's Lights, purchased new units from Robe UK.

Dudley has worked with the band for two years, and this was his fourth full tour. The tours and lighting rigs have steadily grown in size and stature mirroring the band's popularity.

At the start of this tour, management said they wanted to see plenty of red (and black) onstage. And they wanted it darker, weirder and edgier than the previous production tour a year ago, which was poppier and lighter in tone.

He was using just six ColorSpot 700E ATs, but these give him more than enough creative scope and range to light the full set without repetition, producing a vast array of different looks, textures and ambiences.

For the London show at

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UK - Live event specialist tdc provided a high-tech communication solution for the final service by the Bishop of Sheffield the Rt Rev Jack Nicholls. More than 1,000 worshippers were able to take part in the service after tdc installed a special microwave link between Sheffield Cathedral, where the event was held, and the Cutlers' Hall.

The link was used to overcome the fact that although the buildings are so close together, there is no way of simply running a cable because of the tramlines and overhead power lines.

Bishop Jack is retiring after more than 10 years in his role in Sheffield. The event also marked the 40th anniversary of his ordination. The Revd Canon Simon Cowling, Canon Precentor at Sheffield Cathedral, said: "This was a really special event for the city so it was wonderful that, thanks to the technical expertise of tdc, we were able to share the service w

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Brazil - Last month, Lighting Latin America conducted its third training and product presentation for operators and programmers in Sao Paulo. "It was the most successful event we held in Brazil. The training was attended by some 70 people from Brazil as well as Argentina and Colombia," reports Daniel Ridano, technical manager and project coordinator of MA Lighting Latin America.

On the first day the whole range of MA Lighting products was introduced, with the focus on the grandMA range especially grandMA full-size, grandMA light and grandMA ultra-light. Additionally, the software grandMA onPC and grandMA 3D as well as MA Lighting's media server grandMA video together with the Schnick-Schnack-Systems LED-Paneel C100 were demonstrated.

On the second day the MA Training - Level Basic was held. This is aimed at programmers and operators of moving and conventional lights.

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UK - Bandit Lites is again working with Leeds-based Production North and continuing its fruitful relationship, this time with Girls Aloud on their UK arena tour.

The production is headed by Iain Whitehead, lighting has been designed by Peter Barnes, with programming, operation and direction on tour by Tellson James.

The lightshow is big, bold and bright to match the primarily up-tempo set. Barnes conceived the design and briefed James with ideas on some of the songs, also allowing him latitude to make a creative contribution to the programming, which was done over four days in Sheffield Arena.

The back truss features four vertical legs, all of which flank three onstage video screens. The two centre legs are 6m high and the outer two are 4m. Rigged on and inside this structure are 11 Martin Professional MAC 2K Washes and 8 MAC 2K Profile moving lights.

In front of that are

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UK - The Foo Fighters played their biggest gig ever at Wembley Stadium on Friday 6 June, and Stageco brought their global experience into creating the stage. The band played an 'in the round' style show, with a catwalk reaching nearly the full length of the stadium.

It took Stageco's 16-strong team just three days to build the 180 tonne stage, designed by the company's in-house R&D department to deliver an 'up close and personal experience' for every member of the audience.

The distinctive 26m x 26m Stageco 'Super roof' was the main stage, with a B-stage connected by a catwalk, enabling Dave Grohl to run the length of the stadium during the performance.The mixing tower was placed at the end of the catwalk, with a central delay tower, and two further delay / spot lighting towers flanking the B-stage.

Antonio Cruz, technical supervisor for Stageco explained, "The initial

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UK - London-based Haymarket Media Group is taking steps to increase energy efficiency, and has appointed Greenled Light to further reduce its carbon footprint through sustainable LED lighting.

These enhancements are already reducing Haymarket's energy output. Replacing the lights with Greenled's Antares lamps and adding PIRs in the corridors, lavatories and recreation zones has reduced energy use in these areas by 90%, and will further reduce its footprint by 74 carbon tonnes per year, in addition to saving the company in excess of £100,000 in electricity costs over the next 10 years.

Overhauling the lighting system at Haymarket is in line with the company's objective to phase out high energy usage halogen bulbs. Haymarket's sustainability manager, Nathan McLean says, "We explored a number of lighting options and settled on Greenled LEDs because they provide the rig

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Spain - Following the technological and commercial expansion of D.A.S. Audio, the company recently expanded its woodworking facilities. An additional 1,200sq.m, fitted with the latest CNC equipment has now become part of the 3000sq.m woodworking facility which is manned by a team of 12, with José Antonio Vercher as manager.

In addition to the pre-existing cutting equipment, sanding machines and painting booth, two new milling and perforation machining centres have been acquired for processing wood panels, press board, MDF, plastic and light metals such as aluminum or brass. The new machines are equipped with the latest computer software, which allows the cabinet designs to be sent from other locations at the plant directly to the new equipment.

More than 1,500 wooden acoustic cabinets are now made at this production line each month, fully satisfying factory needs.

(Ji

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UK - When the Cottesloe Theatre was ready to retire its trusty d&b sound system after more than a decade of hard labour, Rich Walsh, Sound supervisor for the Cottesloe, was in do doubt that he wanted to remain with the same brand.

Technology has advanced in leaps and bounds since the original d&b system was installed, and now Walsh knew he could take advantage of a more compct and energy efficient footprint - specifying a system that could be remotely set-up, monitored and healthchecked over Ethernet.

He contacted the Theatre's regular audio suppliers, Orbital Sound, who delivered eight d&b E8 two-way multipurpose loudspeakers with a further eight E12-Ds providing bass extension via a long-excursion 12" driver. The rotatable 90° x 50° dispersion he knew would provide all the coverage he needed in the reconfigurable, 300-seat (maximum) studio theatre - whether set

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Ireland - A new opera house is under construction in the Irish festival town of Wexford. Rising high above the rooftops the quirky fly tower is the most visible symbol of the spectacular new venue opening this autumn.

Maltbury Staging, led by Philip Sparkes and Jason Tucker, won the contract to design, manufacture and install the seating tier structures to both the main house and second space. The contract also included provision of fixed and demountable staging throughout the venue and further areas were added while the crew was on site.

The steep balconies demanded a highly customised structure, whereas the stalls were best served by a deck-based approach. Understanding these varying demands, Maltbury responded with a bespoke framework up top and decking tiers below.

Precision manufacture was combined with a flexible response to changing circumstances: the architects' draw

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USA - Two of the world's larger audio and video system integrators, Impact, Europe's largest, and The Whitlock Group, a $135 million dollar US based company, have announced "the creation of the industry's first global alliance for the audio-visual (AV) integration market". Called the Global Presence Alliance (GPA), the group will initially focus on customers based in the US and Europe, with plans to build the international footprint and size going forward.

Fredd Causevic, CEO of Impact, said: "With the market for videoconferencing, in particular, growing at a rate of more than 25 per cent, it is exactly the right time to look to extend our geographic reach.

"Our clients here in the UK and Europe are increasingly asking for the same level of service and support for their offices throughout the world. The Global Presence Alliance is all about promoting best p

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UK - London Light Production Services has invested in an ETC Eos and an ETC Ion lighting control desk through dealer TMB, to complement its range of lighting, dimming and rigging products.

London Light director David Buffham says: "We were looking for a replacement for our old desk, which was no longer supported, and took several potential replacements out for a trial. The Eos really stood out as being both quick and easy to use. When we're working on a show, we generally have very little time to plot, so aren't able to spend hours on site adjusting the lighting. We need the desk to be powerful, responsive and intuitive, and both Eos and Ion really fit that description.

"Reliability is important, and although we never had any disasters, our old desk couldn't do full tracking backup. Now, with the Remote Processor Unit (RPU) backup, we can be sure that, should the wor

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UK - Park Audio was commissioned by promoters PLM to supply systems for the beach-side dance music festival in Portrush, Northern Ireland, featuring DJs such as Fedde Le Grand, Utah Saints and Eric Prydz, and headlined by The Chemical Brothers.

Park Audio's systems engineer Mark Morrison described the set-up. "The plot was 16 XLC DVX a side, six X-Subs (stacked six-high) a side, and centre- fill of six XLC215s plus two XLC DVX. For monitors, we used EV ZX5s and side- fills were X-Array cabinets. The system was overseen by Iris-Net control software to ensure we had adequate headroom throughout the event."

Park's decision to buy Electro-Voice's XLC compact line array was taken just as EV launched its DVX upgrade - the incorporation of new EV 12-inch low-frequency/mid-bass woofers into the XLC127 cabinets, giving greater high-SPL stability and full-bandwidth intelligibi

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The Netherlands - Techno producer, Jochem Paap alias Speedy J, has adopted a new set- up for his live performances based around Allen & Heath's new Xone:1D MIDI controller.

"My new set- up consists of two laptops, a Xone:92 and two Xone:1Ds, which combine the best of both worlds - the analogue sound of the 92 and the 1D's hands-on MIDI control for Traktor and Ableton software. Plus, the 1Ds match the design and feel of the 92, so it really feels like one big performance workstation," Jochem explains.

"Sculpting my sound is now more flexible and transparent than ever before. The 1Ds have a very clear layout, which makes them really comfortable to operate on stage. Although all sound in my sets is coming from laptops, I never have to touch the mouse and rarely have to look at the screens. I have mapped the controllers to all the functions I need, and they modify

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  3. Stage Electrics at The Hub in Sussex
  4. Yamaha moves to acquire control of Nexo
  5. PLASA08 unveils seminar programme
  6. Ciske finds his way with Alcons
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