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USA - Nexxus Lighting's Advanced Lighting Systems business unit has completed a lighting project for the Georgia Power Wrap.

The Power Wrap is an art installation created for The Georgia Institute of Technology, by Amy Landesberg Architects with students from the Power Wrap Workshop, College of Architecture and the Georgia Institute of Technology. It was a recipient of an American Institute of Architects Merit Award and earlier this month received an Award of Excellence from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission.

The project goal was to screen the unsightly substation equipment that spread over several acres. It consists of a 500ft long screen made up of 75 panels; each panel has three sections of differently rotated vertical steel louvers, so that visibility varies depending on orientation. In daylight there is a visually rich pattern of light and shadow and at night, a surpris

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UK - Strand Lighting has announced the appointment of Audio Light Systems as the exclusive Scotland-based distributor for Strand products. "This is an extremely exciting development for us and completes our multi-discipline portfolio," said Trevor Cross of Audio Light Systems.

The Edinburgh-based company, now in the fifth year of trading, has been supplying and installing theatre equipment throughout the UK and is currently working on major projects in Theatre Royal Newcastle, Edward Alleyn School Dulwich and Usher Hall Edinburgh.

Strand Lighting offers a comprehensive and competitive range of luminaires, dimmers, control systems and software to answer the creative needs of lighting professionals in theatre, television, film, themed environments and architectural applications.

As part of the Strand expansion there are also exciting new products coming out towards t

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UK - Nelson Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday this year at the 46664 charity concert in London's Hyde Park with a spectacular show featuring artists from all over the World and 60,000 fans joining in their appreciation of the great man's achievements.

Adjacent to the stage, Arena Seating installed a bespoke, three tiered platform. It comprised a disabled viewing area with access ramps on level one, sponsors and VIP guest seating on level two and VVIP seating at the top level, complete with a cover, to host Mr Mandela, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and guests.

As an additional facility, Arena was asked to install a lift at the rear of the grandstand, making it easy for the guests to access the structure with minimal effort.

Arena Seating's sales and marketing director said: "It was a privilege to work with 46664, RW Productions and Live Nation to contribute to an event

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Germany - SchoolJam is Germany's national festival for school bands, which is organised annually by the Keyboards, Gitarre & Bass and Sticks magazines in cooperation with VIVA, Musikmesse Frankfurt and the German Music Council (Deutscher Musikrat). The aim of SchoolJam is to find Germany's best school bands and, via their first live appearances, give them a launch pad for their further development.

In December 2007, a jury of musicians, celebrities and journalists listened to the numerous CDs and invited the best 120 bands to take part in live concerts, with eight bands each appearing in 15 German cities between January and February 2008. After the heats, this was whittled down to eight bands, who competed in the final round at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt.

At the international music expo, the groups performed live under PR Lighting XL 700 spo

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Good News: London's theatres enjoyed their most successful year on record in 2007, with attendances exceeding 13m for the first time, a report says. The Society of London Theatre's annual report says that box office takings rose to almost £470m. But the number of plays opening was down by a third on the previous year. The report says two-thirds of tickets sold were for musicals, with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Grease doing particularly well.

Sports News: More than 90,000 visitors to the Beijing Grand National Stadium will hear the words of the opening speeches of the 2008 Olympic Gasmes mixed on two Aurus desks installed in the stadium's central control room,, which will be fed via a Nexus audio network to the sound reinforcement system of 220 line arrays. Additionally, around 40 billion TV viewers around the world will view the opening ceremo

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UK - 14 years after the public was first introduced to the Irish dancing of Riverdance, there are still usually at least two touring companies on the road at any one time performing a full theatre production of the show. This year has so far seen tours in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, China and Taiwan, with a tour in the production's native Ireland also in full swing. And at the heart of them all are Yamaha PM5D audio consoles.

The public's appetite for it has shown no signs of diminishing. Despite having played across the world and having spawned an entire genre of dance shows and with production values far more akin to rock'n'roll than anything that had gone before in the dance genre, Riverdance continues to delight audiences in many countries.

Sound design for all Riverdance productions is by Mick O'Gorman and his sound design company MOSCO,

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UK - At Glastonbury 2008, CBA Wireless Events rolled out its latest solutions aimed at simplifying and 'greening up' communications between the myriad companies and people scattered across hundreds of acres of Worthy Farm for the event.

CBA Wireless Events, the networking operations part of CBA, founded by Chris Beale in 2005, has been quietly developing event-proven, mud- and rain-proof, battle-hardened wireless IT, networking and telephony services to event sites. This was the company's second year at Glastonbury - where Beale also doubled his duties as Pyramid Stage sound coordinator - delivering those services to every corner of the sprawling site that for the other 50 weeks of the year is Michael Eavis's working dairy farm.

Beale has long been an enthusiastic embracer of technological progress - including the UK's first wireless linked festival PA delay stacks at Doningto

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UK - Robe moving lights were used by LD Dave Farmer for the touring version of Simon Cowell's hit ITV 1 series, Britain's Got Talent.

The tour - which proved as popular as the 2008 TV series - featured the 10 finalists including winner George Sampson and other popular artists like Kate & Gin, Strike and Nemesis - plus two runners up. It was a fast-paced, high-variety show playing UK arenas and theatres.

Farmer's design was based on having a clear, clean stage and the flexibility to light each of the 12 very different performers differently and dramatically. The backdrop was a large projection screen filling the whole upstage space, and he also has to avoid light spilling onto this.

The lights were positioned on a box truss and across upstage and downstage trusses, with the moving lights a mix of Robe ColorWash 700E ATs and ColorSpot 2500E ATs.

The front truss featur

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USA - Shure Incorporated has redesigned the packaging for all of its Microflex Installed Sound Microphones, ULX Wireless Microphone Systems, three of its wired and wireless Personal Monitor Systems (PSM), and two of its SE Sound Isolating Earphone models.

The size and shape of all cartons for the Microflex products, ULX Wireless Systems, and three PSM Systems (PSM400, PSM600, and PSM700) as well as the strength, durability, and product protection they provide will remain unchanged. As an environmental incentive, the elimination of the Mylar coating and full-color graphic printing on the cartons increases the recycle-ability of the packaging.

"We currently produce a wide variety of full-colour packaging across all product lines, but recently made the decision to move toward a more environmentally friendly design for several products," said Terri Hartman, director of b

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Italy - Video conferencing specialist Aethra has established Aethra UK. "Now is the time to strike in the UK," says Marco Viezzoli, CEO Aethra. "Thanks to our new brand identity and market philosophy, we are able to provide the UK market with an alternative approach to achieving top-class communications solutions. We have passed the point where just churning out great technologically sound products is enough for business applications; Our know-how in telecommunications has enabled us to achieve exceptional levels of quality and now our new vision is to go 'beyond technology' with a new range of innovative products."

Andy Wright, managing director for Aethra UK says: "Aethra is a very special company and I am proud to be spearheading their new operations here in the UK. Our offices have already been set up and I've recruited a team of specialists to work

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UK - Broadcast sound specialist Red TX is capturing the audio for ITV2's Live At IndigO2 series, which is being filmed at the eponymous London venue - the smaller, more intimate music hall attached to the O2 Arena.

Series producer Jim Parsons, of Spin TV, commissioned Red TX for the seven-episode project, which features live performances from three bands per episode. Additional tracks are also made available by New Stream Media to download via the O2 mobile network and online.

To date, four episodes have been recorded featuring Paul Weller, The Courteeners, Scouting For Girls, The Enemy, One Night Only, Amy McDonald, The Zutons, Alphabeat, Royworld, The Charlatans, We Are Scientists and Newton Faulkner.

Red TX director Conrad Fletcher, who is the engineer for the project on board Red TX's main OB truck, says: "It's a fantastic series to be involved with because o

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USA - The Comcast Experience at Philadelphia's Comcast Center features an LED wall comprising 6,771 Barco NX-4 LED modules.

Situated in a breathtaking seven-story high glass atrium, The Comcast Experience is a joint gift to the citizens of Philadelphia from Comcast Corporation and Liberty Property Trust.

By transforming a public transportation hub into an artistic focal point for the city, The Comcast Experience encompasses a number of important "firsts." From a technology standpoint, the world's largest four millimeter LED wall is 83.3' wide by 25.4' high, and is comprised of 6,771 Barco NX-4 LED modules. With 10 million pixels mounted in a seamless flat array, the wall provides an extremely high degree of photo-realism - five times the resolution of high-definition television. Behind the scenes, Barco image processing equipment includes six DX-700 LED digitizers, s

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USA - American DJ continues its expansion with the opening of a sales/distribution facility in the UK. Centrally located in Bolton, Lancashire, north of Manchester, the new operation will provide support to dealers and consumers throughout the UK.

"We are proud to announce the launching of our UK operation, which is another major milestone for our company and an indication of the worldwide strength of the American DJ brand," said Scott Davies, general manager of the American DJ Group of Companies. "ADJ products are already known and well-accepted in the UK, and having a facility and staff to specifically service that market will only further increase our presence there."

The UK operation is headed by Kris Dawber and Dave Swin, who have a combined total of more than 16 years in the lighting and sound industry. As a result of their experience, Dawber and Swin

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UK - Reviewing its own top ten theatres at risk for 2008 in England, The Theatres Trust welcomed English Heritage's new initiative to protect the nation's heritage. Of the 68 theatres in England on The Theatres Trust's Theatre Buildings at Risk register (TBAR), 34 currently face an uncertain future and are at high risk. The top ten theatres in the Trust's 2008 TBAR include theatres that remain empty, are under threat of demolition, neglect or unsympathetic redevelopment, and lack of funds for repairs and restoration.

Following the launch of English Heritage's new Heritage at Risk register The Theatres Trust highlighted the importance of its own work with local authorities, theatre owners and the public to secure historic theatres for future generations. Director Mhora Samuel added: "English Heritage is encouraging local authorities to make use of its new ambitious and syste

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USA - Ravi Jakhotia, known professionally as DJ Ravidrums has been singing the praises of his AKG K181DJ headphones. "I'm very critical when it comes to headphones," he says. "It's something very personal because it's the sound you hear that puts you right there, in the moment."

AKG's K181DJ headphones work for Ravi because they were designed specifically to meet DJ requirements, says the company. "I love the way these headphones reflect what's going on in my mix," Jakhotia adds. "With other headphones I've tried, you can't get that deep low end and all the highs. These give me all I need for everything I've got going on. The sound is incredible."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Christie Control Room rear screen DLP projectors proved they can go the distance and beyond at the AT&T Global Network Operations Centre (GNOC) in Bedminster, New Jersey. Clocking in at one million combined hours of uninterrupted 24/7 operation, the projectors have run with zero hardware failures. The results were confirmed by AT&T, which installed 141 Christie RPMSP-D120U rear projection systems almost ten months ago in the massive 83m wide by 4m high GNOC video display wall in the nerve centre of AT&T's world operations.

The hours are based on the projectors running non-stop from their first full day of operation in late August 2007 through June 17, 2008. The routine changing of the consumable components, some of which may have been replaced during this period, is part of the normal expected maintenance and is not counted.

Christie confirmed the high reliability of its

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USA - FiberPlex has announced that multiple LightViper digital audio transport systems were recently provided for the live ESPN and NBC Television broadcasts at the recent US Open Championship played at Southern California's Torrey Pines Golf Course. ESPN, which shared coverage of Monday's dramatic 19-hole playoff with NBC, garnered a 4.2 rating and was seen in more than 4 million households, making it the most-watched golf telecast in cable television history.

Kurt Heitmann, senior VP of marketing CP Communications and sister company Total RF Productions, explained his firm's use of the LightViper: "We furnished our clients, ESPN and NBC, each with two complete 32X8 LightViper fiber optic audio systems in our 'booth kits'. The audio run from the golf course to ESPN's SportsCenter golf set was around 5,000 ft., nearly a mile away. From this location, ESPN also handled their

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Switzerland - The seventh annual Dance with the Wolf festival recently took place in Corbeyrier with Allen & Heath's iLive digital system managing monitor mixing.

The two day festival is a celebration of everything Celtic, with Celtic food, folk tales, dance and most importantly, music. The event hosted eight bands over the two days from Ireland, Brittany and Wales.

"I have managed monitors for the festival for several years and decided to use A&H's digital system this year," reports Roland Dupertuis, from Allen & Heath's Swiss distributor, Decibel SA.

Comprising an iDR10 stage rack and iLive-144 control surface, iLive managed a range of musicians playing a diverse range of instruments from electric guitars and bass, to harps, mandolins, bagpipes and accordions.

"All the musicians praised the sound quality on stage, and the scene recall is very fast

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USA - D.A.S. Audio reports that All-star Audio Systems recently took delivery of a substantial D.A.S. Audio loudspeaker system. With offices in Smyrna, Tennessee and Merritt Island, Florida, All-star Audio Systems is a full-service sound, lighting, video, and staging design firm for corporate VIP events, live event marketing tours, concert tours, festivals, and other special events.

Over the last several months, All-star Audio has taken delivery of 24 D.A.S. Audio Aero 38A three-way, self-powered medium format line array elements, eight Aero 28A two-way, self-powered line array elements, four CA-215A mono-amplified arrayable subwoofers, and 16 Aero 218A high performance, powered subwoofers. Additionally, the firm took delivery of four PL-48 transport carts for the Aero 38As.

All-star Audio recently used their new D.A.S. equipment - with much success - during the Children's Mir

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UK - Amid the continuing growth in membership and a broadening range of initiatives, this year's PLASA AGM and Lunch on 3 June saw a record turnout for the third year in succession, the Association reports.

Over 170 members and guests enjoyed a day in the glamorous surroundings of London's Hurlingham Club, where the AGM and members' questions were followed by a three-course lunch with a talk by renowned broadcaster John Humphrys.

In its fourth year as a combined AGM and Member Lunch, and its third at the Hurlingham Club, the event has grown into a major fixture on members' calendars and the growing demand for places means PLASA will almost certainly move to a larger, but equally special, venue for next year.

Members now see this as a prime opportunity to celebrate being part of an organisation that is moving the industry forward and to network with other members in relaxed s

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Canada - Pacific West Sound Professional Audio and Design (PacWest), based in a newly constructed building in Bakersfield California, has made the decision to upgrade to an Adamson Y-Axis System.

Brent Milton, president and owner of PacWest explains: "It was a big, decision for us to add Adamson to our current inventory, but it gives us yet another means of meeting the demands of contemporary artists." PacWest currently has the largest inventory of Adamson Y-Axis in California which now includes 32 Y-10s and 16 T-21s.

PacWest had a busy year in the world of production, culminating with the New Year's Eve Together As One (TGA1) rave at the LA Sports Arena. This is the show in which PacWest decided to debut their new Adamson rig.

"2008 has been one of the most exciting and important years in our company's history; our output in all areas, production, desi

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UK - Brähler ICS UK was selected by the International Coffee Organisation to replace the conference system at their London headquarters, which is also one of Cavendish Conference Venue's prime conference locations.

Based on Brähler's CDSVAN digital conference solution, the system is controlled by a powerful DSP card with all functions, routing and adjustments accessible via the CDSVAN software. This system was chosen because it is highly flexible and able to cope with multiple audio configurations. A sophisticated digital recording system is integrated, which automatically records and name-tags each individual speaker to an mp3 file as soon as their microphone is activated, and ends recording when the microphone is switched off. This allows for easier and faster transcription of the meeting, creates a running order for the meeting and eliminates the need for audio cassettes.

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UK - Optocore devices were used again for the digital returns system on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury this year, sending multiple AES channels to stage processors and distributing them, as well as transporting the RS485 control signal.

Andy Huffer of Optocore's UK distributor, HD Pro Audio, explained the setup: "At FOH, the AES outputs from the Digidesign Profile console were sent to the Optocore DD32E device, with all digital devices locked to an external wordclock. The DD32E also received an RS485 input from an XTA DP226 processor located at FOH.

"These signals (both AES and RS485) were then sent to the Optocore DD32 device located on stage, and distributed. The AES signals were patched to multiple outputs via the Optocore internal matrix, allowing the same signal to be sent to multiple XTA DP226 processors where necessary - as in the case of the main PA hangs

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Mexico - Among many things, the Mayan civilization is noted for its spectacular art and monumental architecture, and the archaeological site of Edzná, in the Mexican state of Campeche, now combines remarkable architecture with a newer form of art, illuminating the building with colourful light shows provided by by Philips LED solutions and technologies.

At this historical site, the most remarkable building is the main temple called Pirámide de los Cinco Pisos or the Pyramid of the Five Floors. Built on a platform 131ft (40m) high, the temple provides views for visitors of the surrounding countryside. Another breathtaking view occurs on Friday and Saturday evenings, when a multimedia spectacle called the "Light of the Itzáes" occurs, bringing to life to the ceremonial centre that flourished between the years 600 and 900 A.D.

Lighting designer Elias Cisneros of 333

  1. Blinding Light flies the flag for BA
  2. NSCA at InfoComm aids charities
  3. TESS software reinforces safety at Glastonbury
  4. Yamaha delivers message on Day of Prayer
  5. The Warehouse to distribute RCF in Scotland
  6. Sound Projects bass cabinets on live debut
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