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Austria - Atrio in the town of Villach is the largest and most spectacular shopping mall in the Alps-Adriatic region. With a sales area of 28,000sq.m, it offers 82 shops and catering enterprises, and features exceptional architecture, both indoors and out.

An eye catcher inside the centre is a dynamic lighting scheme along a corridor of escalators, a multi-coloured illumination realised by use of specially developed Martin Alien 02 Downlights. The Alien 02 Downlight is a modified model of the customary Alien 02 colour changer, housing a 150W halogen metal halide lamp, CMY color mixing system and mechanical dimmer. The special design was developed in collaboration with Bartenbach LichtLabor of Aldrans, Austria.

In direct comparison to LED devices, the Alien 02 Downlight provides several advantages such as a high luminous intensity, 9000 hour lamp life and easily achievable lamp

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UK - St John's Church, situated in the heart of London's Westminster, played host to The Feeling in part of Capital Radio's Capitalive Summer Tour in association with Rimmel London, and gave Turbosound's new Flex Array series the chance to show what it's made of.

"The band are avid Turbosound fans and normally tour with an Aspect system," says Turbosound's UK sales manager, Paul McMullan. "So when Systems Etc, the audio rental company supplying the equipment for this tour, asked if they could try out our new Flex Array series, we felt it was the perfect opportunity to show them just what it can do in a live environment."

The FOH system comprised four TFA-600H compact trapezoidal three-way enclosures in 'A' mode - its line array mode - ground stacked on top of three TSW-218 subs per side. A further pair of TFA-600H in 'B' mode - with its horn rotated

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Ireland - Lough Eske Castle traces its roots back to the late 1400s and the famous O'Donnell family who founded the nearby town of Donegal. The original castle was built around 1474 and the current Lough Eske Castle was constructed in the 1860s, but was destroyed by fire in 1939. The castle has undergone a recent transformation bringing the hotel back to its former glory.

onepointtwo provided and fitted the lighting for Lough Eske. "We worked closely with The Kaye Rice Partnership from the designer's initial concept to final installation," says Julie Stokes, onepointtwo lighting consultant. "The client and The Kaye Rice Partnership knew exactly what kind of lighting they wanted and we were delighted that we fulfilled every aspect of the brief."

The lighting design for the five star hotel caters for all aspects of the lit environment including the lobby, fu

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USA - Bandit Lites recently donated lighting to support Waltz for Wishes, an East Tennessee Make-A-Wish Foundation Fundraiser. Held at the Knoxville Convention Center, the annual event raised over $143,000, of which all proceeds benefited the Make-A-Wish Foundation in East, Tennessee.

Lighting designer, Jason Workman, primarily chose to use Martin MAC 2000 Performances, High End Systems Studio Colors and ETC Source 4 Lekos to light the event. Lighting was controlled by an AVO Diamond IV. The High End Systems Studio Colors were used to provide saturated colour for the room. Workman added Martin MAC 2000 Profiles with custom Make-A-Wish gobos to create texture on the walls.

The event's chairperson Ken Shull said that the lighting played a significant role in the event's overall success. "Bandit makes the gala," Shull commented. "It's incredible the differen

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UK An Avolites Diamond 4 Vision console is rocking its way around the world with maverick heavy metal band Def Leppard on their current Songs From The Sparkle Lounge tour. They have just finished a two month UK and European section.

Tokyo based lighting designer Kenji Ohashi has worked with Def Leppard for the last six years, and has used Avolites control since the start of his professional career at Japanese rental company, Lighting Big 1.

Ohashi works closely with lighting crew chief Seth Conlin from Nashville based US rental company, Premier Global Productions. All kit for the UK section of the tour was supplied by west London based Entec Sound & Light.

It's exactly the same rig as they are using in the US, arranged across a master grid of trussing with gently sloping down side wings.

The D4 is controlling a total of 88 Martin Professional MAC 2K luminaires - 56

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France - For their current world tour, long-running L-Acoustics DOSC users Radiohead are playing most of their In Rainbows album, along with older material. Sound providers are Firehouse Productions for the US tour (first and third leg), and Wigwam for the second leg covering Europe.

For the concert in France (in Paris Bercy), the main FOH system consisted of 2 x 15 V-DOSC cabinets with 2 x 3 dV-DOSC, completed for the side- hangs by 2 x 14 V-DOSC and 2 x 3 dV-DOSC. The subwoofer system design called for 32 x SB28 in total, all driven by L-Acoustics LA8 amplified controllers.

Freelance System Engineer Sherif El Barbari explains: "With the exception of the two shows in Bercy, all of the concerts are outdoor shows - stadiums, sheds, green fields or amphitheatres, which make the sound design very challenging. I am impressed by the power of the 32 SB28 subwoofers drive

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UK - The London Studios - home of ITV - have invested in an ETC Congo and Congo jr for each of their three studios, plus another Congo jr with fader wing for each studio floor.

Project engineer at ITV Steve Usher says: "In the TV lighting world, operators are only interested in the lighting, and not the technology. The old desks needed increasingly frequent repairs, and it was becoming harder to get spares. We looked at lots of different options, but it was difficult to find one which all the operators were confident about using. We were looking for a desk which was sophisticated, capable and flexible."

To change the desks over, the studios needed to be taken out of use for a few days - and with the studios as busy as they are, finding a slot was difficult. Usher continues: "The previous desks worked on DMX, so we needed to completely recable for Ethernet. In fr

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Japan - EVI Audio Japan has installed a Midas XL8 Live Performance System, a Heritage 3000 and a Klark Teknik Helix EQ system comprising DN9340E dual EQs, DN9344E Quad EQs, and DN9331 Rapide controllers into a new Tokyo commercial and arts complex, the JCB Hall.

With a capacity of 3,100 seated around three balcony levels, the new venue - part of the Meets Port business development at Tokyo Dome City - is designed to host events ranging from circuses, musicals, concerts, fashion shows and exhibitions through to sport such as boxing, wrestling and martial arts.

"The main criteria was that the hall should be able to adapt to different uses, and that it be equipped with cutting-edge audio and lightening systems with an innovative design," explains Takayuki Ozaki, Midas and Klark Teknik project manager, EVI Audio Japan. "In addition, its audio performance had to meet

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UK - Sennheiser Global Relations and Sennheiser UK once again provided Tour Support at Glastonbury 2008, working with customer South West Group to provide a wide range of equipment and support for the John Peel, The Park and the BBC Introducing stages. This is the sixth year of this collaboration and it's a combination that certainly works for South West Group MD Alister Pook who stated: "This partnership we've formed with Sennheiser is a win, win for both parties. I know the information they gain from being involved at this level is helping to make a great product even better, and it enables us to deliver the best possible solutions for the bands."

After six years of working with South West Group it's no surprise that those involved have seen some changes occurring. "This year we were running Sennheiser Evolution 300 Series IEM's with 500 Series radio mics, all w

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Hong Kong - Hong Kong's Special Administrative Region Establishment Day on 1 July 2008 marked, not only 11 years since its transfer back to China, but also the official launch of Artistic Licence Asia.

The new company, founded as an evolution of the successful relationship between Artistic Licence UK and the Hong Kong based Ptarmigan Consulting, will, like its UK counterpart, take an active role in both product and project based activities in the Far and Middle East.

"We have been working together on a less formal basis for the past two years," explains Artistic Licence managing director, Wayne Howell. "This has proved to be a great, and continuing, success allowing us to explore the market thoroughly and establish ourselves within it. We have decided the time is now right to formalise the relationship by forming an independent company, Artistic Licence Asia.&qu

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USA - Niagara Falls Visitor Centre recently opened the doors to its new attraction, Niagara's Fury, described as a "world-class multi-sensory experience". Controlling the complex animated soundscape for this experience is Out Board's TiMax delay matrix and show control software.

US-based distributor, 1602 Group, demonstrated the TiMax to Niagara Fury creator, California-based Technifex who claim they were "so impressed it was immediately added to the budget". 1602 Group's Duncan Crundwell, who provided TiMax programming support on-site comments: "It made the howling wind feel much more real and as if you were a part of it. The moving effects were very smooth and you could pinpoint the water droplets as they splashed around you."

For periods during the show, the room is plunged into darkness without even the benefit of a lit exit sign. Sound is the

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UK - In September 2006, Peterborough Community Church opened a new, 80,000sq.ft building in the Cambridgeshire city it is named after. With a technical specification that would be the envy of many large theatres and live music venues, the installation included a DiGiCo D5 and D1 consoles.

Now renamed KingsGate Community Church, its technical team has had many months of using the DiGiCo consoles. "When specifying the system, our intention was to make it easy for people to understand the church's message, for it to be simple for them to join in and to feel part of it. Great sound and great vision are all part of that," says KingsGate technical director Pete Charlton.

"The truth is that every time I finish an event, it's been great. The technical side has been so smooth and the DiGiCo consoles play a huge part in that. I'm still continually impressed with the techn

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China - Bosch Security Systems' Digital Praesideo Public Address and Emergency Sound System is being installed in the new Shanghai World Financial Centre. At 492m, the centre is currently the world's third tallest building. The structure features three floors of underground parking and shops, a conference center on floors one to five, offices on floors seven to 77, a hotel on floors 79 through 93, and finally observation and exhibition areas on floors 94 to 100. Construction has taken over 10 years and since the events of 9/11 the tower was redesigned to withstand disasters such as a plane crash. Other critical safety features have also been added including 12 fireproof refuge areas and two external elevators.

The Praesideo Digital PA and Emergency Sound System is one of the latest safety features to be added to the construction. The whole installation comprises four Praesideo s

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Spain - Modern sport centres are fully equipped installations, and in this sense, the Quijote Arena Sports Center, headquarters of the Ciudad Real Handball Club has been provided with an impressive sound system. The powered line array systems from the D.A.S. Audio Aero series were the choice for this venue. The installation was carried out by Professional Lupe, C.B. in collaboration with the D.A.S. Audio Sound Projects Department.

Located in the capital of La Mancha, the sports centre has capacity for approximately 5.800 spectators. Its inauguration in 2003 coincided with the club's consolidation as part of the national elite. The team's performance in European competition and its titles, both national as well as international, have confirmed the club as one of Europe's top teams, and just recently, European Champions.

The Profesional Lupe, C.B.crew opted for the D.A.S. Audio

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Australia - The SoBar Nightclub at Sydney's lower north shore Cremorne Hotel has recently been transformed and reinvented with a AUD $2M fit out by design innovators SJB.

DJW Projects were contracted to undertake the sophisticated audio and lighting install, emphasising their own philosophy of "total integration of all systems." Dave Croxon, DJW's MD, commented: "One of the key issues we had to undertake was selecting a dimming and control system that was easy to use, provide enough useful features and was rock solid and reliable. After evaluating a number of commercially available systems, we chose the LSC EKO wall mount dimmers and e-PLATE wall controllers."

Croxon continued: "I was attracted to the EKO dimmer by the immediate support provided through the integrated touch screen on the front panel. No matter what else was happening in a commercial in

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USA - "InfoComm has always been a great place to educate the market about new technologies and products," says Renkus-Heinz marketing manager Margie Ulm. "This year's show gave us lots of opportunities to help audio professionals learn how to use advanced tools and techniques in order to deliver better sound to clients and audiences."

Renkus-Heinz demonstrated the capabilities of new products such as IC Live at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Fulfilling promises made at InfoComm 07, the company digitally networked its entire product line with RHAON, the Renkus-Heinz Audio Operations Network.

RHAON was also featured on the show floor, as was EASERA SysTune, the real-time acoustical measurement and analysis program from AFMG - Ahnert Feistel Media Group. AFMG's Stefan Feistel presented the latest concepts, techniques and tools for live sound system tuning an

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Italy - Ask any Italian who Vasco Rossi is and they will know the answer. Try to buy a ticket to one of his concerts and you'd better get to the box office early - his live concerts are some of the biggest events held in the country, this year attracting more than 80,000 fans on successive days.

For years, lighting designer Giovanni Pinna has been responsible for ensuring that Vasco Rossi's summer tours are even more exciting.

Set design is by Giò Forma Studio of Milan, who chose to decorate the stage with a background of round mirrors (the same ones you find used as traffic signals). Pinna incorporated a huge number of Martin fixtures: 63 MAC 700 Profiles, 50 MAC 700 Washes, 55 Atomic 3000 strobes, 78 Stagebar 54 L and 22 Stagebar 54 S LED bars, plus two Jem Roadie Compact fog and haze effect generators. The Martin gear was provided by Limelite of Rome.

Pinna turned to LED

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UK - Avolites consoles and dimmers were used site wide at the 2008 Latitude Festival by lighting rental company Siyan, who supplied four stages with equipment and crew. These were the main Obelisk stage and Lake, Uncut and Sunrise stages, dotted around the historic site in Henham Park, Southwold Suffolk

Colour Sound Experiment, who supplied the Comedy, Cabaret, Music & Film, Book Club, Poetry, In The Woods and Saddlers Wells in The Lake stages, also deployed six Avolites Pearls around the site.

Lighting for the four Siyan stages was designed by Steve Finch, who worked with their crew chief Ieystn Thomas and 10 others. It was based on creating something practical for all the incoming LDs, including moving lights and a selection generics, and he studied all their specs as a starting point.

There was also plenty of latitude (no pun intended!) in the designs for the Siyan FOH li

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UK - Vitec Group, which purchased Texas-based staging and rigging specialist Tomcat in 2006, is to close the manufacturing side of the Tomcat UK operation, with effect from 1 August 2008. The sales staff will remain the same, but will now operate under the banner of 'Tomcat Europe'.

In a letter to customers, Pier Luigi Gherardini, the general manager of Vitec's Staging Systems Europe division, said: "Tomcat is now completing its integration with the Staging Systems organization and continuing its expansion into the European, Middle East and African markets."

The letter continued: "Staging Systems will provide Tomcat with new state-of-the-art, 9,000sq.m facilities in Italy and Slovakia, where its capacity will be integrated and expanded, together with extensive R&D and engineering capabilities to support its new strategic geographical approach."

The compan

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UK - The recent refurbishment of two news studios at Television Centre in London has seen the installation of X-Chip and X-Bar LED products, supplied by distributors, LED-Lites.

The fixtures were incorporated into the new-look N6 and TC7 studios by set designers Jago Design as part of a consolidation of the news studios. When the studios came up for refurbishment the aim was to create continuity - enabling any news strand to be dropped into any studio via the video projection walls - but to create greater control flexibility and find a better way to light the presenters.

But the limitations of the smaller N6, home to the BBC News channel, created a major challenge. "Apart from the studios' physical size, it already has a low ceiling height and a massive air-conditioning duct brings it down lower still," said BBC lighting designer Dave Weighell, who oversees the news

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Italy - The curriculum at the prestigious Athenaeum Pontificium Regina Apostolorum in Rome covers subjects ranging from bioethics (in which it has taken a leading role) to secular studies.

With a constant programme of seminars, lectures and conferences taking place in the facility's many theatres and classrooms, it is vital that this knowledge can be shared, and the word passed bi-directionally.

However, these classrooms had been functioning as stand-alone units until the faculty contacted technology distribution company, Parma-based Audio Link srl. Proprietor, Stefano Cantadori, knew immediately that QSC's components could be used to establish a network and save the University money.

"Although the previous system did not have networking capabilities, it had only recently been commissioned," stated Cantadori. "Therefore we had to provide an alternative solutio

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USA - Clair Showco of Lititz, PA, recently provided the audio system for country music star Keith Urban's US-based tour. The multi-city tour featured Studer Vista 5 SR digital audio consoles in use for both FOH and monitor mixing applications.

Taking both the Australian and US country music scenes by storm, the New Zealand born Urban heavily relies on the sound quality of the Vista 5 SR while on tour. The Studer Vista 5 SR was chosen by his mixing engineers who went through a vigorous evaluation process prior to the selection of the console but chose the Studer after it met all required criteria: Sound quality, flexibility/ease-of-use and reliability.

FOH Engineer Steve Law and monitor mixing engineer Jason Spence evaluated numerous brands of sound consoles before the tour. Spence noted he had never felt as comfortable with a new desk as he did during the week he was trying ou

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Turkey - Allen & Heath's iLive digital mixing system and iDR audio distribution system have been installed in the concert hall and conference suite of Turkey's Anadolu University, as part of an audio upgrade of the University's public areas.

Situated in the city of Eski?ehir, Anadolu University is the fourth largest university in the world by enrolment, housing 12 faculties, three of which are for distance education, seven schools, four vocational schools, nine institutes and 28 research centres and units.

"The institute is renowned for being at the cutting edge of technology, so it was essential that its public service areas reflect this," says Erçin Ural from Allen & Heath's Turkish distributor, Asimetrik.

Consequently, Allen & Heath's iLive digital mixing system - comprising an iDR10 mixrack and iLive-176 control surface - was selected for the 1,000-capacity co

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Israel - More than 25 of Israel's most popular musicians performed cover versions of well-loved songs at the Avoda Ivrit (Hebrew Labour) concert. The show, a tribute to 60 years of original Israeli music, was one of the events celebrating Israel's 60 years of Independence. The thousands of people who attended the concert in the Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park enjoyed one of the biggest light show ever seen in Israel.

The Vector Red controlled a massive lighting rig included 24 Martin MAC 2000 profile, 24 Robe colorSpot 1200, 12 Robe ColorWash 1200, 24 Martin MAC 550, 40 Martin Mac 600, 26 Xenon 4K, 10 Atomic strobe, four Unique smoke machines and more than 200 dimmer channels.

"The lighting rig was huge and impressive and I really enjoyed programming the show with Vector consoles"; commented David Winnik, the operator of the show. "Programming is very intuitive an

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