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Russia - In preparation for the UEFA Champions League Final 2008, the host venue, Luzhniki Stadium, installed a new audio system in its press and VIP centre based around Allen & Heath's iDR DSP matrix mixer and a GL4800 multi-purpose mixing console.

The Moscow stadium's press centre comprises a 275-capacity conference hall, working area with 80 stations and eight individual reporting booths for journalists, and a press bar.

The iDR-8 forms the core of the new sound system deployed in the press centre, with iDR-in and iDR-out expander units providing additional inputs and outputs, bringing the system to its full capacity of a 16x16 digital matrix. A 32-channel Allen & Heath GL4800 multi-purpose console was also selected to provide manual control of the live audio requirements.

Victor Okladnov, sound engineer of Luzhniki Stadium, commented, "Our new GL4800 proved to be ve

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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 - A.C. Lighting has supplied a state of the art LED TV lighting system for the dedicated set of the new Five News with Natasha Kaplinsky television show.

As part of five TV's plans to refresh and relaunch its pioneering news programme, which include recruiting high-profile news presenter Natasha Kaplinsky for the show, the broadcaster decided to rebrand the set with a completely new look.

Set designer Chris Webster produced the concept of backlit acrylic panels that could be lit to achieve a varied range of looks to suit the mood of a bulletin, whether based on a particular theme or time of day.

Sky News, producer of the show for five, has a policy of incorporating energy efficient lighting into its sets where technology provides a viable solution, so approached A.C. Lighting to supply an LED system which would also provide five with maximum creative opportunities

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Business News: Yamaha Corporation is making an offer to the founders of French loudspeaker manufacturer Nexo S.A. to acquire all of their shares of Nexo - bringing Yamaha's share holding to 74.9% of the share capital. Yamaha intends to seek to acquire 100% of the shares of Nexo through the launching of a tender offer process for the acquisition of the remaining shares.

Festival News: Organisers of festivals including Womad, Creamfields, Bestival, Electric Picnic and Big Chill have joined forces to take on their bigger rivals. They have agreed to work together to help make events better for fans, greener and more cost-effective. Bestival promoter Rob da Bank said it was important to "ride out the problems and make them better for the customer". Creamfields owner James Barton said it was a good idea because "smaller festivals are also often overlooked". He added: &quo

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UK - Cirrus Environmental, a new business which aims to help organisations measure the noise they make and thereby manage the impact that noise has on neighbours and the surrounding environment, has been established this month. The new business is a sister company to Cirrus Research plc, the UK operation which specialises in the design and development of noise measurement equipment for health, safety and environmental applications.

Cirrus Environmental will use acoustic equipment developed by Cirrus Research to provide tailor-made environmental noise measurement systems for a wide range of applications including: transport, mining, construction, power generation, manufacturing and entertainment. Environmental noise pollution is an extremely serious issue according to Cirrus Environmental's new managing director, Richard Wright.

"Noise can have a negative impact on people'

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UK - Showsec were at the heart of the security and crowd management planning and operations for Download 2008, the annual celebration of heavy rock, which required a number of major site changes this year. These were necessitated by preparations for the Motorcycle Grand Prix at Donington Park racetrack the following week and involved creating a new main stage arena, an open air second stage at the far end of the site and a third tented stage.

Simon Battersby, Showsec operations director and Download's head of security, says: "We worked closely with the Live Nation production team throughout the planning phase, working to ensure the correct crowd management plans were in place."

One key challenge was the sloping ground towards the main stage: Showsec, Live Nation and barrier suppliers Mojo Barriers worked together to create a barrier configuration which would m

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UK - The Cornish town of Redruth has implemented an innovative lighting renovation plan - lighting the exteriors of its historical and architecturally significant buildings with LED lamps.

Sustainable lighting company Greenled, is rolling out the new lighting programme through the Redruth Economic Arts Partnership (REAP) who is coordinating the initiative to provide lighting throughout the town.

Greenled LEDs have a low carbon footprint and are beginning to achieve recognition as an alternative to toxic CFL bulbs owing to their very low energy usage. The exterior of each LED-lit building lit in Redruth will have a total energy usage of less than 100W. With a life span of up to eight years there is little maintenance required; a major factor in urban light design where a failed bulb can involve the high expense of a scaffolding rig or a maintenance contract.

The planned exter

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Italy - Aethra SpA, has announced that it has established a business alliance with Elmo Company Limited for the distribution of the Aethra range of video conferencing products in Japan. Thanks to the new agreement, Aethra solutions will be distributed in Japan through Elmo's sales channel network with the aim of enhancing Aethra brand awareness and market share in the highly-competitive Japanese arena.

The reciprocal nature of the agreement means that Aethra and Elmo will also collaborate on the development of a sophisticated and powerful line up of video conference solutions through the sharing core technologies.

Aethra has been utilizing the Elmo PTZ camera on its Vega X3 and X5 set top line since December 2007 and is confident that integrating the technology of the two companies will result in important developments, in particular for the Japanese market. By adding Aethra v

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UK - Ministry of Sound realized long ago that lighting has a positive draw, and the more impressive the better. The famed club brand is continually improving their offer for their customers, while striving to look better than any other nightclub. So when Alex Barrand, technical manager at Ministry of Sound in London, decided it was time to invest in a new laser system that would give the venue even more 'wow' factor, he turned to Martin's RGB Laser 1.6.

"The Martin laser is one of the best units on the market," Barrand states. "I like the fact that it can run DMX, also from a laptop, and I like the small size of the unit."

Two Martin RGB 1.6 lasers are located on each side of the DJ booth in Ministry's infamous Box.

The RGB Laser 1.6 joins MoS London's existing Martin rig of MAC moving heads, Martin effect lights and Jem smoke machines. Martin Professiona

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Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden has announced the next installment of Wireless University, its series of presentations and hands-on demonstrations aimed at educating the industry on the technology and benefits of wireless DMX.

The programme will be held during PALME Asia in Singapore on Wednesday, 9 July at the Suntec Singapore International Exhibition & Convention Centre. Niclas Arvidsson, International sales manager and co-founder of Wireless Solution will host the session and will cover topics including the pros and cons of wireless control, how it works, radio protocols (W-LAN, Bluetooth, etc.), choosing a radio system, system planning, and peripheral equipment.

"We're very excited about the educational series," says Arvidsson, "We encourage everyone to attend - dealers, specifiers, students - no matter what your level of knowledge on the subject. I

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Korea - The Conventions and Exhibitions Center in Seoul hosted Koba 2008, the international audio, lighting, and musical instruments exposition, which was held 28-31 May. D.A.S. Audio was represented by its distributor in Korea, Pro Audio Corporation Korea, who exhibited a wide range of D.A.S. products.

Sound engineer, Joan La Roda, arrived from Spain and Juan Luís García, D.A.S. Audio Asia director, from Singapore to give their support to the D.A.S. distributor at the stand. In Seoul, La Roda explained the technical features and applications of the line array systems in the seminar entitled Line Arrays: How they work. The next subject was Subwoofer Configurations and Time Alignment where he addressed the different types and features.

Joan La Roda's next stop was in Auckland (New Zealand) where he visited Edwards Sound's, a D.A.S. client, new installatio

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India - One of India's leading global integrated media and entertainment group, UTV, recently purchased the new Allen & Heath ZED-12FX USB mixer for its dubbing division.

UTV is involved in production and distribution for movies, broadcasting, interactive (gaming), television and new media (web, mobile & iptv). The company has operations across the UK, USA, Middle East and Australia, and has one of the biggest dubbing facilities in India with a presence in three Indian cities. UTV's client list includes National Geographic Channel, the History Channel, Bindass, Disney, TV18 and Hungama TV.

The new ZED FX mixer has been installed in UTV's Delhi sound studios. "Since we founded the business in 1990 we have installed Allen & Heath mixers in our studios as they always meet our requirements and budget," explains UTV Dubbing Division's technical manager, Rajesh Nair. "

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UK - After a decade away from the stage, Portishead could easily have looked a little rusty at the kick-off of their first British tour this millennium. But not only were the Bristol trio on form musically, but the stage was enhanced by a dramatic visual landscape, supplied by PSL.

To mark the release of their fourth album Third, the so-called trip-hop band from Bristol has been touring Europe with visual design that matches artist John Minton's creative concepts with PSL display technology.

Behind the stage, three separate projection screens are used in combination, with either three individual displays or as one large landscape. A multitude of small cameras, positioned all over the stage amongst the musicians, provide live footage, which is also processed as a feedback effect and relayed onto the screen.

Visual artist John Minton explains that he wanted to keep the

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USA - Meyer Sound has announced the launch of its 24-hour worldwide technical consultation phone line, a new addition to the company's comprehensive customer support programme.

Long known for its award-winning products and exceptional customer service, Meyer Sound understands the pressure audio professionals could face during setup for a live show or in the middle of a critical installation. Meyer Sound believes that accessible service is essential to ensure success for each customer.

"We take pride in giving our customers 100% confidence when using our products, from highly reliable and pristine-sounding equipment to accessible and knowledgeable support when they need it," says John Monitto, director of technical support. "It is important for us to work closely with our customers and give them the attention they deserve."

For Meyer Sound's 24-hour techni

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Canada - E/T/C Paris is creating a new world record in large format video projection as part of the festivities for the 400th anniversary of the City of Quebec, which runs from the 20 June to 24 August.

Le Moulin à Images (The Image Mill), is a spectacle of imagery and sound created by media innovator and artist Robert Lepage and his team at Ex Machina, recalling the history of Quebec City.

Each evening at sundown the grain silos on the banks of Louise Basin in the Port of Quebec will be transformed into an immense projection screen measuring 657m long and 33m high - some 40 million pixels - revealing this stunning work.

E/T/C Paris is installing a total of 27 Christie Roadster S+20K DLP video projectors for the project. Onlyview, E/T/C's multi-media control platform, will handle the programming, transmission and broadcasting of thousands of spectacular images, anima

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New Zealand - Strategically situated at the busy junction outside Raffles City, the Festival Maze temporarily added new dimension and depth to the Singapore cityscape as just one of 450 free arts performances and events that made up the 31st annual Singapore Arts Festival (SAF)2008.

Commissioned by the SAF the Festival Maze art installation, disSPACEments was conceived and designed by local designer Chia Yu Hsien as a way of exploring the spatial articulation of moments along a journey. Each day from the 9th May - 22nd June, 2008 the public were invited to wander through this maze of twenty-five towers losing themselves in photographic memories and three dimensional forms.

Kamal Thapa of Phat-EventZ comments on the art of lighting this unique installation: "I decided to use two Selecon Lui Cycs to light up each of the twenty-five Maze towers with a blue gel in the

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UK - Kent-based PA company, SRD Group, recently added two Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing systems to its hire inventory. The two systems, comprising an iDR10 mix rack plus iLive-112 surface and iDR10 mix rack plus iLive-80 control surface, enable the company to field a complete FOH and monitor solution.

"We evaluated a variety of products before deciding to purchase iLive, looking at overall value for money, quality of sound, features, ease of use and flexibility. We chose iLive because of its simple interface for analogue desk users and its ability to provide full DSP to every input and output. iLive's flexible architecture and micro footprint makes set-up very easy, yet we still have the capacity to manage up to 64 inputs and 32 outputs," explains Stuart Roberts, MD of SRD Group.

SRD Group provides dry hire or complete event management services for entertainment

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UK - Chris Bromfield, 22, a student in the design department at Leeds Metropolitan University, is the winner of the "Enlighten Design Competition 2008" run by Leeds-based High Technology Lighting.

The brief in the third annual contest staged by the Middleton Grove lighting design specialist was to design a high-end luminaire utilising Philips new 'Touch-dim' control gear with linear and circular TL5 fluorescent lamps technology. The competition has been designed to encourage innovation and awareness of the potential the lighting sector can offer and to recognise and reward good ideas.

A total of 14 third year BA (Hons) design students in Leeds Metropolitan University's School of Architecture, Landscape and Design entered this year's competition, with Chris judged the victor with his entry Luminous Attitude, a bespoke low energy lighting solution designed for u

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Denmark - ETC, through distributor Bico Professionel A/S, has installed lighting and dimming at the newly built 750-seat Royal Danish Playhouse, part of the Royal Danish Theatre. The Theatre used to hold performances across town, at the Stærekassen (New Stage) but now all dramatic performances under the auspices of the Royal Danish Theatre are performed at the Playhouse.

The main stage makes use of over 1,200 ways of ETC's Sine Wave dimming and switches, including 840 ways of ETC Matrix Mk II modular install dimmers and 360 ways of ETC distributed SineWave Power Bars. In addition to this, the Studio stage makes use of 260 ways of ETC Sensor+ SCR dimming.

Says project manager for Bico Professionel, S°ren J°rgensen: "The specification called for the same type of network and equipment as we already had at its sister venue, the Operaen (Copenhagen Opera House) - incl

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China - On August 8th, as China celebrates its emergence onto the world stage by hosting the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games at Beijing National Stadium, that stage will be lit by over 1,100 automated luminaires from Martin Professional.

The workhorse of the massive automated lighting system, set to be the largest single automated lighting system ever assembled for a single event, and the largest Martin rig ever, is Martin's MAC 2000 Wash and new MAC 2000 Wash XB moving head luminaires.

Martin will be the largest automated lighting manufacturer represented at the Beijing Olympic Ceremonies with more Martin MAC 2000 Wash luminaires in use than any other single fixture in the lighting system. Most of the MAC luminaires will be rigged in the roof of the stadium with several hundred lining an upper balcony. Lighting design is by Chinese LD Sha Xiaolan with main

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UK - Lloyds TSB recently organised an interactive conference for 1,300 CSMs (Customer Service Managers) in Olympia as the launch to a new training initiative. Echoing the coaching and training aspect and in line with Lloyds TSB's drive to become Britain's most recommended Bank, the event was themed Strictly Recommended and the stage featured a PixelArt staircase on which the dancers from the TV show made a grand entrance.

Lighting designer Nick Gray explains: "For this show we wanted something a bit more subtle than a PixelLine 1044 or 110, but with just as much punch! The new PixelArt batten fitted the requirements perfectly." The stairwell contained 24 PixelArts which complemented the theatrics of the rest of the stage set - and their bright intensity was exactly what was needed for an opening entrance.

Nick continues: "We were looking for a more defined look

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USA - Bandit Lites recently lit the University of Tennessee (UT) spring graduation ceremony, which took place over two days in early-May at the university's Thompson-Boling Arena.

Lighting designer, Greg Shipley primarily chose to use Coemar Halos, Martin MAC 2000Performances and MAC 600s to light the event. Lighting was controlled by a Compulite Vector Red.

Martin MAC 2000 Performances were used to provide an animated stage background. Custom glass gobos with the UT logo were projected onto the center screen. Shipley also added a water effect behind the UT logo using animation wheels. In addition to providing a stage wash, the Coemar Halos were used to light a brass band, which played offstage for the graduation entrance. Large projection screens with live footage of the event were added to either side of the stage. The event was also projected on the arena's newly renovated

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UK - Popular 1980s synthpop duo Yazoo (Alison Moyet & Vince Clark) have reformed for a short high profile tour, currently on its UK leg.

Lighting designer Nic Ayres chose Robe for his moving lights, which are supplied by Southampton-based rental company GLS, along with the rest of the lighting kit and technician Karen Brown. The stylish and minimal video-based scenic design was created by Bruce French. This gives the stage its basic architecture and definition, with two different sized Element Labs Stealth screen panels upstage, and eight 11m fingers of Superlite truss loaded with VersaTubes forming a gently asymmetric arc above the stage.

Content for the VersaTubes and the Stealth has been custom created by Mark Video, and he and Ayres worked closely during production rehearsals to ensure that lighting and video combine into coherent and seamless visual pictures for the show.

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UK - Tents, sacks of food and a replica of a burnt-out village hut appeared in Trafalgar Square as a tourist hotspot became a refugee camp to highlight the plight of millions of people displaced in Darfur and elsewhere.

The display, set up on 17th of May to mark World Refugee Day, came as the U.N. refugee agency reported a record 11.4 million people were driven from their home countries last year.

Organized by the UNHCR - UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Experience Darfur exhibition had white U.N. tents erected in the square and films of the UN work going on in Sudan and Chad were back projected on the windows and windshields of two Toyota vehicles.

Cinegel Silent Frost and Rosco's grey screen for rear projection were stuck on the inside of the windows and projectors were mounted inside the vehicles to provide images.

Cinegel Silent Frost is a relatively dense diffuse

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