USA - When Tampa's Journey Christian Church made the decision to invest in a new facility, it chose Guitar Centre Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Centre that focuses on the needs of professional users, as its partner to provide a wide range of A/V products, support and consultation. As part of Journey's new facility, GC Pro collaborated with the church's leaders in choosing and supervising the installation of systems that covered all aspects of A/V technology.

Audio systems include a JBL Vertec VRX flown line array PA system including subs, a large complement of both wired and wireless microphones from Shure and Sennheiser and acoustical control elements from Primacoustic, which were integrated with sanctuary design elements to produce both beautiful and practical solutions to deal with the complex acoustic nature of the space.

Theatrical lighting s

UK - The 12 100m steel masts of London's O2 Dome can be seen from far and wide. Jutting from the venue's iconic 365m wide roof, the masts have been set aglow in colour changing light from Martin Professional Exterior 1200 Wash luminaires.

O2 owners, AEG Europe, sought a new lighting scheme for the successfully revived multi-purpose venue. After an original lighting proposal proved cost prohibitive, Philips Lighting was contacted and their creative director Rowena Preiss tasked with creating a new solution based around the latest technology and energy savings.

Animation and colour wash schemes across the roof were subsequently proposed but the vastness of the structure made those solutions impractical. "We decided to concentrate the colour inside the masts which are fundamental to the design of the Dome," Preiss says. Although the original intent of the owners was to

The Netherlands - Rotterdam's centuries of history as a major international port make it a fascinating place to visit, and nowhere sums up the city's appeal better than the Rotterdam Port Experience, a new visitor attraction that opened its doors late 2008.

Located on the waterfront under Rotterdam's spectacular Erasmus Bridge, Rotterdam Port Experience (RPEX for short) uses various projectiondesign 1080p HD projectors in four areas: the entrance lobby, elevator and two cinemas to wow tourists, local schoolchildren, retired former port workers and business people alike with a series of multimedia displays designed to showcase the city's unique history, diversity and range of trading activities.

Rob Haarlem, managing director of DEP B.V., was hired to turn the RPEX team's creative ideas into technical solutions, and was ultimately responsible for the multimedia infrastructure o

UK - Purple Audio has been selected to provide sound to both stages at the new Indie Guitar festival for 2009. The festival located in Ascott Under Wychwood, Oxfordshire will feature some great artists including Starsailor, British Sea Power, Holloways and many more including a headline act yet to be announced.

Davies Roberts (managing director, Purple Audio) told L&SI: "I am extremely pleased that this new festival chose the high quality audio route instead of using the cheapest. This shows that they have the right attitude towards making their festival a success long term."Purple Audio will be supplying a Funktion-One Resolution 5 system to the main stage along with a Funktion-One Resolution 4 system to the second stage. The new Funktion-One RM18 stage wedges will feature as monitoring for the festival, along with Midas and Audient analogue sound desks.

(Lee Baldoc

New Zealand - System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian recently took the stage with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra (APO) to reinterpret his first solo album, Elect the Dea, a pairing that presented the arrangements quite differently from those heard on the record.

"My belief is that music is a universal medium," Tankian said not long ago, perhaps offering at least a glimmer of insight into his performance with the APO. "It's a wave. It's an energy. And, it's a way for us to communicate. I think music comes from the universe, and it's not something that songwriters create. At best, we're skilled presenters."

Performing live, Tankian has chosen Shure wireless products for everything from his guitar and vocals to in-ear personal monitors.

"I like to move around a lot onstage, so being wireless is extremely important," he explains. "I

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa continues a busy start to 2009 supplying lighting, sound, video, staging and power for the 2009 Coca Cola Zero festival, staged on two sites in two cities - Riversands Farm in Johannesburg and Lourensford Wine Estate, Cape Town.

This provided an opportunity for Gearhouse Media and Lighting divisions to utilise the latest version of the Green Hippo Hippotizer HD digital media server for the first time. This was specified for the event by Gearhouse director Tim Dunn and made available by UK-based Green Hippo.

The event was headlined by Oasis and Snow Patrol, and also featured Panic! at The Disco plus six Africa-based bands - The Dirty Skirts, Zebra & Giraffe, Casette, Foto na dans, aKing and One Day Remains.

The overall production design included a series of onstage LED screens, which, combined with the content run through the Hippotizer w

USA - ClearOne, the US-based conferencing system specialist, has been awarded approximately $9.7 million in damages by a Federal Court in Utah, following judgement in the trade secret misappropriation case the company brought against WideBand Solutions Inc and Biamp Systems Corporation. Biamp plans to appeal against the judgement.

Biamp Systems has been involved in a court case between ClearOne Communications, based in Salt Lake City, and WideBand Solutions, filed in 2007. The case claims WideBand Solutions misappropriated ClearOne's intellectual property. Biamp Systems was named as a co-defendant in the case, based on a license agreement between WideBand Solutions and Biamp Systems.

The United States District Court of Central Utah in Salt Lake City issued a permanent injunction prohibiting WideBand Solutions from any use of the intellectual property, including the AEC-2W algo

USA - On April 5, 2009, the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Evaluation Commission began their official inspection visit to Chicago. The host city for the 2016 Games will be announced on 2 October 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

During the visit, the Chicago 2016 bid team revealed its vision for a spectacular Summer Games experience in the heart of the city. In preparation, the team called on expertise from a number of local companies. Shure Incorporated and the Chicago office of On Stage Audio (OSA) were asked to provide technical assistance with wireless microphones used during the event.

"Shure is honoured to support the effort to bring the Summer Olympic Games to Chicago in 2016," said Tom Krajecki, Shure's industry relations manager. "Shure was founded in Chicago in 1925. We've been involved in major entertainment and sporting events here, at the Olymp

UK - Lift Turn Move (LTM) and Litestructures have announced a partnership, aimed directly at providing complete Trussing, Staging and Support Solutions to the rigging and live production industry.

Under the agreement, LTM will have core stock ranges of LitePro 290, LitePro 390 and 520 Pro trussing for immediate dispatch, whilst Litestructures will have access to LTM's acclaimed range of LoadGuard Hoisting Equipment and Guardian Control Systems. A direct working relationship between the two companies will mean technical advice and first class customer service is only a phone call away.

Dan Holme, entertainment sales manager for LTM comments: "We are delighted with the partnership between our two companies. The move into having truss on stock is a logical step towards the one stop solution we are working to achieve for our customers. We can now supply truss as well as the h

UK - Audio will have a strong presence at this year's ABTT Theatre Show, with first-time exhibitors L Acoustics, the SSE Group and distributor Red Square Audio, Cuk-Audio, Loh Humm Audio, Midas alongside Sound Technology, d&b audiotechnik, Cadac, Allen & Heath and Polar Audio, Duran Audio and Martin Audio among those exhibitors already confirmed.

The exhibition, which takes place at the Royal Horticultural Halls in Westminster, London from 10-11 June, sold out at the end of April, with pre-registrations 20 percent up on the same time last year, say the organisers.

The ABTT Theatre Show director, Roger Fox, commented, "We're very pleased to see how the audio contingent of the show has grown over the years. It highlights the value that audio can add to modern productions, enhancing the experience through special sound effects and immersive sound reinforcement. The companies

Europe - American songstress Pink has recently embarked on a high profile world arena tour to promote her latest album Funhouse. And monitor engineer Horst Hartmann is manning a Yamaha PM1D.

Starting in March, the tour has already visited Europe and is currently in the midst of 16 UK and Ireland dates before heading off for a mammoth 60 shows in Australia. It will then come back to Europe, the UK and Ireland for a second round of gigs - with the PM1D at every one.

The PM1D was the first digital console that Horst learned and it remains his favourite. "When I made the transition from using analogue consoles, I had all the usual doubts," he says. "So I approached Yamaha for some training and I found the transition very straightforward. I like the fact that it has enough physical controls, you're not having to scroll through endless menu screens because you'

Argentina - D.A.S. Audio reports that Argentina continues to showcase a large number of live events featuring D.A.S. Audio's Aero sound systems. Thanks to the efforts of professionals such as Ariel Marti, from Marti Audio, the country has undoubtedly become one of the best references of Aero line array success in Latin America, says the company.

Aero systems were on tour with Soledad Pastorutti's and at the Chamamé National Festivities. Soledad's tour, which kicked off in the city of Santa Rosa on 19 September and ended in Villa La Angostura in February, also helped the needy since all profits will be donated to different charities in each of cities where the shows took place.

As part of the 100-year celebrations, 'La Sole' has already given a series of recitals mainly in Patagonia that were attended by a total of more than 45,000 people. The Aero systems have been tour

Australia - In March 2009 Mandylights' designer Richard Neville was once again charged with the task of designing the entire party site for the infamous Mardi Gras party - the largest gay and lesbian dance party in the world. Working with the Nations United theme of the festival, Neville's designs for the five rooms reflected the international theme of the party and scenic items found around the site.

Neville chose to use a purely Vari*Lite moving light rig for the main venue - Royal Hall of Industries (RHI) - which looked spectacular for all ten hours of the party. The venue took on the theme of It's a gay world after all complete with elaborate set and giant rotating technicolour globe in the centre of the space. The RHI's lighting design took a different turn this year, with Neville choosing to lower the trim height of all the trusses to create a less cavernous

Spain - RCF is opening a new sales office in Spain. It will be based in the Madrid area and will ensure a direct distribution and on-site support to the Spanish pro audio community.

Rafael Gonzalez has joined the RCF team and will be the RCF Spain's director of sales for professional audio products.

Alberto Ruozzi, RCF director of sales, commented: "Rafael is a very high profile sales manager with a vast experience on the professional market having dealt with many brands in his career. M.I. and professional audio retailers, rental companies, installation companies, will have now access to products directly from RCF company headquarters in Italy and, thanks to Rafael's great expertise, to an unsurpassed level of support pre and after sales."

(Jim Evans)

The Netherlands / UAE - Prolyte has announced that Neumann & Mueller Dubai has taken up the distributorship for Prolyte in the UAE. German originated company N&M has seen an extensive growth over the last decade, resulting in an organisation with 15 German and three international branches.

N&M will now distribute the complete range of Prolyte products, including trussing, staging and Prolyft hoists and can rely on a large stock supply in Dubai.

Jens Giessler from N&M stated: "Based on our sound reputation as rental and productioncompany, we are extending our services to sales as well. In our Dubai office we have a dedicated and trained sales team, led by Michael Thyssen. Prolyte not only has an extensive product line, their focus on high quality products combined with excellent support and technical know-how, is exactly what we like to offer our customers".

With th

Australia - The Capitol Theatre Tamworth, New South Wales, is a 402-seat purpose-built proscenium arch theatre, located in the new Centrepoint Shopping Complex in the town. The Theatre shares its foyer and bar facilities with Forum6 cinemas.

Theatre consultant Richard Stuart was engaged to plan and oversee the fit-out of the theatre. He explains: "Originally the theatre was going to be a large cinema but halfway through construction they developed the idea of making the largest cinema a live theatre. Consequently the building design was put on hold for a while whilst the theatre design evolved. As the developer started to think about theatre equipment and machinery, I was brought in as Theatre Consultant for the project although the building structure was well and truly locked in design-wise."

The main issue to be addressed was turning a large rectangular box cinema

USA / Germany - Wildfire Inc, the California-based the UV (or "black light") effects and fixtures specialist, has appointed Trendco GmbH as the exclusive dealer of Wildfire products in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

"We are very proud of the international growth our business is experiencing," says Wildfire president John Berardi. "Trendco will do an excellent job bringing the Wildfire magic to customers in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The people at Trendco recognise the importance of good customer service and integration. They operate on the understanding that technology is only as good as the people who design, select and apply it - or as they put it, 'Technik kann nur so gut sein, wie die Menschen, die sie auswählen, einsetzen und bedienen'."

"We are very excited to add the Wildfire brand to our line-up," says Martin Wickel, w

UK - Lightfactor Sales has supplied 27 SGM IDEA 250 Series moving lights to Newcastle-based service and production company Snap To Black.

The first project for these is on the innovative percussion spectacular Noise Ensemble's UK theatre tour, which features 27 SGM IDEA 250 spot and Wash fixtures.

Snap to Black were brought onboard the tour by Noise Ensemble's lighting designer Ben Rogers to provide production management, staffing and the 2009 tour's lighting package.

Snap To Black's James Henshaw decided to make the investment in the 13 IDEA Spot 250s and 14 IDEA Wash 250 units because he saw it as a "Cost effective compact unit that would deliver the show's specific design requirements". Additionally, they will now be available in hire stock for future projects.

The IDEA 250 features that were specified by Ben Rogers included the twin gobo wheels and prism of t

USA - Deep in the heart of New York City's Financial District, two blocks from Wall Street, the newly refurbished Dubliner Irish pub opened its doors in March, equipped with a compact Renkus-Heinz SYGMA SG Series distributed sound system, installed by Starview Satellite Corporation of Flushing, NY.

The pub, housed in a Victorian era building and surrounded by cobbled streets, features three dining areas and one large bar area. Quiet chatter and fine dining during weekday working lunches is accompanied by low level background music from the sound system; evenings see the place abuzz with city gossip and higher level music.

Four SGX41 cabinets, tucked away under the wooden ceiling beams, serve each of the two small dining areas. A further eight SGX41s cover the larger dining area, while the bar area has six SGX41s, with each area augmented by a separate in-ceiling subwoofer.

A

Switzerland - Allen & Heath's Xone products were the DJ mixers of choice at the recent Caprices music festival, which takes place every year at the Crans-Montana ski resort in the Swiss Alps.

The four-day festival hosted live acts including Duffy, Skye and Paolo Nuttini, and had a comprehensive programme of DJ performances.

The highlight of the DJ programme was a special daytime event called Modernity, which was held at an altitude of 2300m further up the mountain at the Cry d'Er station. A Xone:92 DJ mixer was requested for the event, which included sets by Chilean DJ and producer, Ricardo Villalobos, local hero, Luciano, and renowned German DJ, Loco Dice.

The main DJ line up was hosted in the resort venue, The Club. The first night featured a Xone:4D mixer/controller used by Brazil's Amon Tobin, whilst a Xone:92 mixer was specified as standard for the line up of top

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies has been appointed as an authorised UK distributor for German Lighting Products (GLP).

GLP appointed A.C. due to its proven track record of helping to launch innovative new technologies into the UK market. The company has invested in extensive demonstration & training facilities and a fully equipped service & repair centre, ensuring it provides the highest standards of customer care, both pre and post sale.

GLP's business director, Kasper Gissel, commented: "We appointed A.C. Entertainment Technologies due to its renowned expertise in the UK lighting industry. They have the infrastructure in place to ensure our products are backed by the highest levels of service and support at every stage of the customer experience."

A.C. Entertainment Technologies will have full access to the GLP product range and carry stock of the Impression

Germany - Merging Technologies, maker of the Pyramix digital audio workstation, isrunning a free prize draw for visitors to the AES show in Munich next month. The draw may be entered by visiting Merging's stand at the show, and entrants will be asked to guess how many tracks the latest version of Pyramix is now capable of playing back simultaneously.

The Pyramix Track Count prize draw will be open throughout the AES show. On the last day of the show, the three entrants who have most accurately guessed the maximum track count achieved by Pyramix during Merging's demanding tests will be declared the winners. The first two winners will be offered free Pyramix upgrades if they are already Pyramix users, or free copies of the Native versions of Pyramix if not. The third-prize winner will take away some bottles of fine Swiss wine.

"Of course, very high track counts aren't impor

UK - Academy Music Group (AMG) has purchased 18 GLP Impression LED RGB lights - for use in O2 Academy venues in Bristol, Liverpool and Newcastle. These fixtures have been supplied and installed by Utopium, AMG's lighting supplier.

AMG's group technical manager, Ed Jackson said the decision to invest in the high-powered fixtures became self-evident after seeing them turn up increasingly on touring productions. "Numerous technical managers across AMG venues were also commenting on them, so we knew these were the lights to invest in," he said.

"The reason we are seeing their impact in both the touring and TV industries is because they are the first moving LED light that lighting designers seem unanimously confident in using," he added. "As a result, these fixtures will improve the house production values."

Jackson said he was particularly impressed

UK / USA - Today is Light Relief day, with the entertainment lighting communities on both sides of the Atlantic joining forces for the first time to raise money for members of the profession who face extreme hardship. Light Relief is joined by the US and Canadian charity, Behind the Scenes, and a record number of designers are donating their day's royalties, with many donations coming from other sources - including a collection at tonight's performance of Hairspray in London!

Well-known lighting designer Rick Fisher, who instigated Light Relief Day in 2007 in honour of the late Tony Gottelier, co-founder of Light Relief, said: "The link with Behind The Scenes has given the day a much higher profile and as a result we have a record number of designers joining in the fund raising. Anyone who has links with the industry is welcome to join us, including rental companies

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