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UAE - Qatar's Al-Khor and Al-Wakrah football stadiums have recently installed Meyer Sound Milo line array loudspeakers and the SB-2 parabolic wide-range sound beams, with the entire project handled by AV-Tech of Doha.

The two stadiums are located about 55km apart on opposite sides of Doha, the capital of Qatar. When AV-Tech was contracted to install jumbo video screens and accompanying sound systems at both venues, the goal was to deliver highly intelligible speech and wide-bandwidth music to all 20,000 seats from one screen-side tower. It was an ambitious goal, as each point-source system would have to cover all of the seats at the stadium.

"Our design specification called for 105 dB SPL throughout, the same as for similar stadium systems we had done previously," says Hadi Arzouni, general manager of AV-Tech. "But here, because users wanted to have music during

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Croatia - The new Spaladium Arena in Split opened on 27 December 2008. It is the first newly built arena in Croatia since the state was founded in 1991. The Spaladium Arena is one of the designated venues for the World Handball Championship 2009, which will be taking place in Croatia next month.

The 28,500sq.m multifunction hall, which has a seating capacity of 12,000, has been equipped with chain hoists and a chain-hoist controller from ChainMaster.

For the Spaladium Arena, ChainMaster delivered four 6,000 kg BGV-C1 JumboLifts with absolute value encoders and load cells in VarioLift versions, along with a computerized controller and a switching cabinet for the positioning of the central video cube.

The ChainMaster computerised controller for the arena in Split boasts a number of additional features. Among them is an emergency lowering system operated by a key switch that ca

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USA - Peavey has added the PV 115PM powered stage monitor and the PV 118D powered subwoofer to its enduring PV Series of sound reinforcement products.

The Peavey PV 115PM is a two-way powered monitor system engineered with a bi-amplified class D power section that drives a 15" woofer with a 2 3/8" voice coil and a 1.4" titanium-diaphragm 14T compression driver with 200W total power.

The PV 118D is a powered subwoofer engineered with a class D power section that drives an 18" woofer with 300W total power. The sub also includes a built-in fourth-order Linkwitz-Riley crossover (120Hz), exclusive bass contour circuitry and Peavey's proprietary DDT loudspeaker protection technology.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - The Production, Operations and Artistic teams of Cirque du Soleil are currently looking for passionate individuals of all levels of experience to fill upcoming positions in a wide range of theatre-related technical fields, including automation, rigging, sound, lighting, carpentry, props, wardrobe, video/projection, stage management, artistic direction, technical direction and project/production management.

In an effort to attract the right people to fill these many roles, the company is hosting a recruitment event in London on Tuesday, 3 February 2009. This 'Red Curtain Recruitment Event' will provide an opportunity for those interested in working with Cirque du Soleil to meet its recruiters and managers, have a drink and a quick bite to eat with current employees, and generally learn more about the company and its many career opportunities.

Anyone wishing to attend can r

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UK - Artistic Licence has launched a redeveloped version of its Cata-Lynx DMX512 to Art-Net converter.

"The original Artistic Licence Cata-Lynx converter was initially designed just as a handy widget," says Artistic Licence technical director, Simon Hobday, "but since its release it has proved very popular, especially amongst those needing to bridge the gap between lighting and video control technology."However, with the new Art-Net technology Artistic Licence has been developing, re-designing the Cata-Lynx range means that the product will benefit from many of the new features seen in Data-Lynx, while retaining the high specification and functionality of the original Cata-Lynx."

The result is a choice of two products in a standard 1U Rack Unit: the Cata-Lynx I/P and the Cata-Lynx O/P.

Cata-Lynx I/P is a rack mounted DMX512 to Art-Net Ethernet conver

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UK - Delta Sound's remit for the Mayor of London's New Year's Eve celebration, held in its traditional location on the banks of the River Thames has expanded significantly and now includes audio coverage for a 2km stretch of the north bank of the river from Westminster Bridge to Temple.

Produced marketing agency Jack Morton Worldwide and sponsored by LG, the event attracted around 250,000 people who braved the freezing conditions. They were rewarded with moving video projected onto the 108m high Shell Building, supplied for the first time by ETC, a spectacular fireworks display launched from the London Eye and a series of barges on the river, once again produced by French pyrotechnics company Group F, as well as a Radio One hosted show by Nihal which provided entertainment throughout the evening, plus the musical countdown sequence to midnight.

"With the general ambient l

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Australia - ARX Systems has announced the appointment of Scottsdale Arizona based Olsen Audio Group as its distributor for the USA, Canada and Mexico.

ARX managing director Colin Park commented: "Olsen Audio Group CEO Craig Olsen and I have been discussing the prospects of working together in the North American markets now for a while. "ARX and Olsen's product philosophy is very similar, quality products, aimed into market niches, to make the audio professional's life easier.

"Olsen Audio has a large existing dealer network in the US and Canada and Craig feels that ARX products will be well received by dealers and end users alike."

Craig Olsen is an industry veteran of over 40 years in the US and Japanese pro audio industries. Olsen was involved in the touring sound industry from the late 1960's to 1982. In 1982 he was employed by the Yamaha Corporation w

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USA Music software specialist Waves announced at Winter NAMM its commitment to the live sound market with a new dedicated division whose mission is "to focus on the needs of FOH, Monitor and Live Sound/Recording Engineers".

Waves will unveil a new live division website (www.waveslive.com), as well as release the D-Show Enabler, making over 50 Waves TDM plug-ins compatible for the live environment.

Waves' history in the live sound market is varied. MaxxBCL was the first Waves product to successfully help deliver the most bass out of PA systems including line arrays, and since its introduction over three years ago, it has been used by sound companies, improving sound in prominent tours, top live venues, and places of worship around the world. Also, since its release in November 2006, Waves Live Bundle has become widely used with Digidesign's Venue consoles.

Asher Bit

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The Netherlands - DiGiCo's latest console - the SD8 - has already been used on a range of tours with one of the more unusual productions being a version of The Who's rock opera, Tommy, being performed in the Netherlands.

Although combining popular music with theatre is currently a popular genre of entertainment, combining that idea with genuine live rock'n'roll is quite a tough challenge. But, it's one that popular Dutch four piece band Di-rect has risen to and ticket demand for the 90-date theatre tour of their homeland has been exceptional.

Sound contractor for the Di-rect Does Tommy tour is The Purple Group, part of the Synco Network, with the company's recently purchased DiGiCo SD8 in place at the front of house position.

Using DiGiCo's standard stage rack, the console is using 48 inputs and 16 outputs. With the addition of an RME MADI interface, the show i

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The Netherlands - Midas Consoles Benelux has sold a further four Midas PRO6 Live Audio Systems in Holland, bringing their total PRO6 sales to five within the last month. Two of the new Midas PRO6 owners are Dutch rental companies Sound & Light Support based in Hilversum and Stagepoint in Tiel.

Sound & Light Support owners Jeroen and Veronica Brandon decided to expand their console inventory into digital with Midas. "Initially we were looking to buy a Midas Heritage, but when we visited Midas Consoles Benelux for a demo, we were also introduced to the PRO6," says Jeroen. "Following this demo it became clear to us that PRO6 is the new leading digital console."

Stagepoint, whose clients include major Dutch artists such as Frans Bauer, had already built up considerable experience of both analogue and digital large format consoles, and head of Benelux sales Sand

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UK - A.C. Special Projects has designed, supplied and installed full technical facilities for the Sidney Stringer School's multi-purpose theatre and drama studio. The School has built a reputation as an innovator that encourages experimental teaching practices, and offers a range of BTEC vocational courses including drama & theatre arts, and music, for students aged 11-18.

After losing its original theatre in a fire, the School's head of drama, Michael Collins, approached A.C. Special Projects to provide complete technical facilities for the new installation. Starting with an empty shell and power feed, the company specified the entire lighting, rigging, audio and AV products inventory for the theatre. Also, various equipment was supplied for a separate drama rehearsal space.

The lighting equipment includes an extensive list of ETC, Robe & Chroma-Q conventional, moving light &

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Australia - For 50 years the Great Moscow Circus has been entertaining audiences with acts of skill and agility. Featuring over 50 International performers, from Russia, Brazil, Mongolia, and Australasia, the Circus is again touring the country with a new production.

Brian Anslow, a lecturer in technical production at WAAPA, designed and programmed the lighting for this latest show trusting in a Jands Vista I3 for control. "I recommended that the Circus buys a Jands Vista I3 as I think it is fantastic," said Anslow. "I really think it's the next step forward in technology. We've had one at WAAPA for the past two years and I think the whole control system is very innovative; the whole idea of it, the visual reference - everything."

Anslow pre-programmed the opening of the Great Moscow Circus on his laptop with another screen connected to it so he could run b

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Belgium - Barco has announced its preliminary 2008 trading update, which reveals that while it was affected by the economic downturn, improvements in working capital have led to a better cash position.

Barco says that sales for 4Q 2008 were €208m, while total sales for 2008 were €725m - down 1.5% compared to 2007. Order intake for 4Q 2008 was € 204 m. For FY08 the reduction in order intake was 2.7%.

2008 EBIT was severely hit by the worldwide economic crisis, and will be below €10m, compared with €58.7m in 2007. "Underlying the low profitability for 2008 are the very weak performance of the corporate events business as part of the Media & Entertainment division, the decrease in gross margin, the higher provisions taken for bad debt, foreign exchange and higher cost," the statement said.

Management had originally set out to reduce cost by €30m, but following f

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UK - Production Services Ireland (PSI) has added in an ETC Ion console to its rental stock. Owner Brian Reilly says, "We are frequently asked to supply theatre-style lighting desks to control generic lighting rigs for theatre companies and television and film shoots and although we already have several lighting control desks that could do the job, customers were asking for one with a familiar programming style."

PSI's Ion has already been used as a house desk at Stranmillis University College in Belfast and during this year's Belfast Festival at Queen's University. It was also hired out for the Irish reality TV show Class Acts.

It has been a busy couple of years for ETC and PSI in Northern Ireland, with Sensor dimming being installed at the Ardhowen Theatre in Enniskillen, the Island Arts Centre in Lisburn and Belfast's Grand Opera House. PSI is also set to su

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Green Glastonbury - The Glastonbury Festival has sold 90% of tickets for this summer's event, founder Michael Eavis has said. The 137,500 tickets went on sale in October, earlier than ever, after last year failing to sell out in advance. Mr Eavis, who hosts the show on his Somerset farm, revealed he has four headliners lined up for the June event - two English and two from the US.

He was speaking as he picked up an award for environmental work at the Midem music conference in France. "You'll be amazed when you hear the headliners we've got coming this year, and we've already sold 90% of the tickets for this year already," he said. He was honoured with the Green World Award at the Midem music conference for the festival's history of environmental fundraising and ecological initiatives. The festival raises money for Greenpeace, Oxfam and Water Aid, while Mr Eavis' other

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UK - Stage Electrics' first ever Freelancer Day, held at RADA's Gielgud Theatre, was a resounding success, the company reports. The day was attended by over 40 freelancers from sectors across the industry, and a combination of those who had previously freelanced for Stage Electrics and those who were new to freelancing and wanted to learn more.

Paula Birtwistle, who returned to freelancing following a career break and who attended the day commented: "I really enjoyed the day and I felt like every minute was useful to me. I made a last-minute decision to come along and I'm really glad I did! Every part of the day seemed relevant to what I was after and at the level I'm at in my career."

The main objectives of the day were to get closer to freelancers and to provide them with a day designed with their interests in mind. Most importantly though was the opportunity for f

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UK - Last year witnessed a landmark development for the events industry with the arrival of BS 8901, a key new standard that specifies the requirements for a sustainable event management system.

Major event clients such as the London 2012 Organising Committee and the Greater London Authority are already referring to BS 8901 in their tenders, and corporate clients are expected to follow suit as they work to ensure their own sustainability policies are being implemented throughout their organisations.

Consequently, this new standard will soon become a minimum requirement to do business in the events industry, and like risk management and health and safety before, it will eventually become part of the way the event industry operates.

At the end of 2008, PLASA launched the first wave of its BS 8901 Programme - an initiative intended to give PLASA Members a head start on the rest

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The Netherlands - Robe moving lights have been installed into the new 80million Euro Muziekkwartier in Enschede, for use in two of the multi-purpose spaces inside.

The theatre replaces a previous building, with the different venues inside run by several companies and including Podium Twente (a big hall), Reisopera (an opera company), a music school and two Pop Podium spaces - Glosch Zaal and Studio Zaal - run by ATAK.

The project was under construction for 18 months, and was officially opened by Queen Beatrix in late November.

The Robes were supplied - along with other lighting kit - via Robe's Benelux distributor Controllux, in a deal project managed by Kuno van Velzen in conjunction with the Theatre's technical manager, Timo Wildschut.

"They needed a flexible system that could be used for a wide variety of shows and events specially those taking place in the Glosch

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Uruguay - On 3 December 2008, Italian pro audio manufacturer Powersoft held its first seminar in Montevideo, Uruguay, illustrating the basis of its advanced technologies and products lines.

Engineer Carlos Maiocchi from Equaphon (provider of support for Powersoft brand in Argentina) had a meeting during the morning with the people of Stratta Hnos., the company responsible for the brand in Uruguay, in order to offer required training support to the company's salesforce

Maiocchi later presented a seminar on Powersoft products to around 30 professionals from sound companies across Uruguay, entitled "Technological Renaissance".

The company reports a great deal of interest from attendees, and says that further regional seminars will be presented in the near future.

(Lee Baldock)

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Spain - Design consultants Equipo 63 from Madrid approached Czech-based trussing manufacturers Milos to custom build a large stand for their client at London's World Travel Market exhibition, staged at the ExCel Centre.

Equipo 63 are known for their innovative approach to design and build projects of all types, and are always keen to incorporate cutting edge technology in the process.

They have worked with Milos and used their products on many previous projects. On this occasion, the Equipo 63 team designed the stand, which included a 12 x 12sq.m 'crown' flown above, holding a 10m diameter circular truss 'inside', which was used to hang a series of projection screens making a 360 degree internal panorama.

Equipo 63 then approached Milos with their concept, and asked them to come up with a structural solution and all the required logistics to make it work in situ.

Milos dev

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UAE - Qatar recently played host to the official year-end tennis championships of the Sony Ericsson WTA tour. The tournament was held at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash complex in Doha which underwent a major AV and broadcast systems upgrade in order to host the event. The systems were designed and implemented by Doha-based systems integrator, AV-Tech.

"This is the first time that Qatar has hosted such a world-class tennis event, and we are proud to be a part of it," explained AV-Tech's general manager, Hadi Arzouni. "Furthermore, the complex will be hosting the Championships for the next two years, so it was imperative that we selected only the very best equipment from the top manufacturers. Our first choice for amplification is always Lab.gruppen for reasons of reliability and sound quality, and this installation was no exception."

AV-Tech ins

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UK - London-based pop band Scouting For Girls (SFG) recently completed a five-week UK tour that saw them play to more than 100,000 fans across the country.

Lighting designer Jon Barker was tasked with delivering the show's visuals. Says Barker: "When I came up with the design concept for the tour, I was after a low-resolution video screen that was in effect see-though and would simply 'disappear' when it was not in use, allowing me to use the fixtures I had placed behind the screens (a selection of four-way Molefay with Colour Scrollers, 2kw Skypans and Strand S Battens with clear globe lamps all rigged at different heights) as a 'hidden layer' that would pop out when illuminated.

"The two main reasons I chose the Stealth over competitive products was first the higher resolution of Stealth which made it much more attractive - smoother, much more 'flowing' video conte

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Norway - A network of two Midas XL8s and three PRO6 consoles linked via AES50 (Supermac) was used for the Nobel Peace Prize concert at the Spektrum in Oslo, Norway. The set-up was designed to handle 10 artists including Diana Ross, Il Divo, The Script and Robyn - each accompanied by a large orchestra.

The Midas consoles were supplied by Oslo-based AVAB-CAC, which has provided all audio requirements for the Nobel Peace Prize Concert for the past 17 years. In an entirely new approach to the event's audio network, the consoles were used to link three stages, produce live sound and provide a broadcast feed. A PRO6 was used on each stage for monitor mixes, with a pair of XL8s at front-of-house.

"Quite simply, we changed from a system that used many snakes, analogue and digital, running back and forth between the various performance areas and took us five to six hours to instal

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The Netherlands - Chief Manufacturing has announced a new partnership with Comm-Tec. The agreement, which took effect on 1 January 2009, will see Comm-Tec adding Chief's range of mounting solutions to its comprehensive selection of products for the AV and systems integration professional in Germany and Austria.

"The timing of this new agreement really couldn't be better," says Melinda von Horvath, EMEA sales director at Chief Manufacturing. "We are introducing over 20 new mounting solutions at Integrated Systems Europe, and these are exactly the kind of products Comm-Tec is so well-placed to distribute for us.

"We were looking for a value-added distributor able to explain the high-end features and benefits of our products to integrators, installers and dealers, and we believe that in Comm-Tec we have found exactly the right partner to do that."

&quo

  1. Wexford Opera House installs Robert Juliat
  2. Indalo Sonido excels with D.A.S. Aero
  3. Metallica keep faith with A-T
  4. IJS invests in Soundcraft Vi6 consoles
  5. Robe in action at Autosports 09
  6. First Australian PRO6 sold to Osmond
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