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UK - Two grandMA full size consoles and four MA NSPs were specified by lighting designer Steve Nolan for the BBC's Let's Dance For Comic Relief live TV shows - the first time grandMA has been used on a fully live BBC entertainment show. The four shows were all shot in Studio 2 at Ealing Studios, West London, UK, and were an integral part of the high profile 2009 Comic Relief campaign.

Nolan states, "It's a fantastic console - and ideal for all the crossover work I do like this which involves the combination of a TV production with live entertainment onstage."

The grandMAs (the second one running in full tracking backup mode for the show) were programmed by Tim Routledge. He comments, "For a show like this when things are constantly changing and evolving right up till the time we go live on air, it's been essential to have the two consoles. This has allowe

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Brazil - Nearly 300 audio professionals from the world of broadcasting, live audio, and audio rental came together on 25 March for the long-anticipated Brazilian launch of the Midas PRO6.

Organised by Bosch's Communications Systems Division, its Brazilian distributor TelePonto, and regional dealer Vitoria-Som, the launch was held at Vila Country, a 12,000sq.m, western-themed complex with dance floors, saloons, shops, and space for livestock auctions. Vila Country is also outfitted head-to-toe with audio equipment from Electro-Voice, effectively making it Brazil's largest EV showroom.

"Having raised the bar with the flagship XL8 system, the introduction of the PRO6 brings Midas digital technology to a more compact size and accessible price point," says Robert Klesser, sales manager, Brazil, Bosch Security Systems communications systems division: "There has been a

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Italy - At the end of 2008, a large format Lighthouse P10 10mm LED screen was installed at Cinecity Arts & Cinemas in the northern Italian city of Parma to show film previews, trailers and advertisements in the main foyer and circulation area of the complex.

Audiovisual specialists Mediacom Digital Evolution Srl (MDE) specified a total of 63 panels of Lighthouse P10 LED screen for the project.

"We want to demonstrate high technology and innovation, so we chose to have an LED screen in the foyer, which was also visible from outside," says Gianantonio Furlan, CEO of Cinecity Art & Cinemas. "The choice of LED panels was completely quality-oriented, with Lighthouse providing the expected high quality of product."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - National Geographic's flagship store in London's Regents Street is more than just a traditional retail experience. Interactive zones across the store's three floors represent each continent of the world - and Ecler amplification, distributed in the UK by MilTec, was central to the realisation of the final soundscape.

The world zones are themed retail areas that work separately from each other at certain times, hosting continent-specific events.

A total of 17 Ecler MPA6-150R multi-channel amplifiers, specified and installed by Peter Knowles, are zoned to enable each retail area to emanate its signature sounds. For special events, or to create extra interest in an area, a sales assistant has the ability to alter the levels of the amplifiers in their zone, from either a cash desk area or point-of-sale.

Knowles explains, "There were several reasons for using the Ecler

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UK - The London stage production of Mamma Mia! has just entered its eleventh year. And to celebrate, Sennheiser has added some extra sparkle to the proceedings.

The production has used Sennheiser G2 SKM5000 wireless microphones for the 'three Dynamos' closing performances since the outset of the production, but to celebrate the show's 10th anniversary, Sennheiser created a set of specially made 'blinged' microphones.

Using the same Swarovski crystals used in the production's lycra stage outfits, Autograph Sound helped swap the microphone's bodies and cages allowing Sennheiser to create the special sparkling look.

"We're delighted with the new look microphones. We use the SKM5000 (with Neumann KMS105 heads) for eight shows a week. They sound fantastic, are very reliable and really fit in with the spirit of the show." says Mamma Mia!, head of sound, Fab

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UK - Classic Technical Services has secured an exclusive three-year contract with the Wyndham Grand London Chelsea Harbour hotel as in-house AV and sound supplier.

The contract involves supplying equipment including large screen projections, video wall, plasma screens and sound systems which will be used for a variety of events staged at the hotel.

Paul Seeney, account director for Classic Technical Services, said: "We are thrilled to be working with one of the most exclusive hotels in London and we look forward to continuing our association. Our vast amount of stock, our expertise and our innovative solutions to specific requirements has given us the right platform to be the best in the business."

Classic Technical Services provides a broad range of services and equipment including lighting, sound systems, power distribution, plasma screens and audio-visual.

(Ji

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Canada - Celebrating its 21st year, the 2009 East Coast Music Awards, Festival and Conference saw many leading artists and industry figures come together in Corner Brook, Newfoundland & Labrador, for a four day conference and celebration of Canada's East Coast music scene.

Taking place on the evening of 1 March, the highlight of the event was the annual East Coast Music Awards ceremony, which saw live performances and video clips interspersing the presentation of awards in 31 categories - ranging from DVD of the Year through to Aboriginal Recording Of The Year.

With a complex, two stage production to mix the sound for, DiGiCo consoles were chosen to ensure that everything ran seamlessly on the night. Supplied by Nova Scotia-based Tour Tech East, a D1 was used at monitors, while front of house engineer David W. Hillier manned an SD7 console.

The event comprised 17 live perfor

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Belgium - UK-based Stage One were recently approached by Vlaamse Opera Company to provide an integral part of the set for a brand new production of Samson and Delilah, opening at the beautiful Antwerp Opera House, one of Vlaamse Opera's two theatres. Stage One were brought in by Vlaamse Opera's project manager, Kjell Peersman, to provide a steel platform positioned 2 metres above the house stage and containing an in-built hydraulic ramp.

Roy Webber, project manager for Stage One, said: "Requiring input from the metalwork, woodwork, automation and interpretation departments, this project proved to be a perfect vehicle to demonstrate how we are ideally placed to provide a full range of services from under one roof."

The 8m by 8m platform is hinged at the rear, allowing it to be raised and lowered, as the performance requires, to one of two height settings. Set w

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Argentina - More than 35.000 people enjoyed Peter Gabriel's concert at Velez Sarsfield Club Stadium in Buenos Aires on 22 March where Buenos Aires Live Show provided the sound system, stage sets, lights and video facilities.

Powersoft amplifiers K10, K8 and K6 powered the entire sound system with a main L/R of 14 JBL Vertec VT 4889-1, the out-fill with 12 JBL Vertec VT4889-1 per side plus several VCA Sub Low 2x21 subwoofers.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Northside Christian Church of Spring, Texas, recently installed a new sound system featuring loudspeakers and subwoofers from EAW. The installation was completed in March 2009, with final system commissioning on 28 March as part of the development of the church's new worship facility.

Vance Breshears and Kelly Dunlop of El Cajon, California-based Sound Technology Consultants were the A/V and lighting design consultants for the project, and the A/V installation contractor was David Hairel and a team from Hairel Enterprises of Conroe, Texas. The church's team included music director Jeremi Carnes and mix engineer Jose Barni. Other key individuals included Bruce Green from Irvine, California-based Visioneering Studios who served as design architect for the new facility, and Kirk Guillory from Columbia, Maryland-based Waldon Studio who was the project architect.

EAW products

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Live & Free - Coldplay are to give away a free CD at every remaining live show in 2009, the band have announced. Starting with the group's first North American tour date in Florida on 15 May, fans will be given a copy of nine-track album LeftRightLeftRightLeft. The band said the giveaway was meant as a "recession-busting mark of gratitude" to their fans for supporting them. LeftRightLeftRightLeft will also be made available as a free download on Coldplay's website from 15 May. "Playing live is what we love. This album is a thank you to our fans - the people who give us a reason to do it and make it happen," the band said on its website.

In The Sale Room - A rare Motown seven inch single has fetched a world record price of £25,742 after its seller Kenny Burrell, from Fife, put it up for auction. The copy of unreleased 1965 single

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USA - For nearly six decades, Drexelbrook, PA, has been a first-call gathering spot for events large and small in the tri-state area. Its historic Georgian style mansion and Grand Ballroom have been the backdrop for countless weddings, proms, trade shows and corporate retreats and The iconic TV series American Bandstand filmed some of its earliest episodes there.

Drexelbrook's 15000sq.ft Corporate Events Centre, opened in 2000, is the largest facility of its kind in the region, and offers state-of-the-art audio and video systems including an elaborate distributed sound system using Community CLOUD6 ceiling speakers.

Brian Latocha of Aston, PA-based Toner Sound reports: "The old system was underpowered to begin with, and with the room's 25ft ceilings, it had been pushed to its limits for years, and was showing signs of age. We installed a distributed system of 60 CL

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UK - New lighting consultancy Flare Lighting opened its doors for business on 1 May 2009. Launched by business partners David Amos and Ben Cash, the West London-based company provides lighting design and system delivery for the event and entertainment industry, and builds on the pair's many years of experience in the field.

Flare offers a range of services, from lighting for corporate events to theatre to architectural installations. As part of the business launch the company has commissioned a website, live now at www.flarelighting.co.uk.

Amos and Cash have joined forces following successful individual freelance careers. Previous clients have included Brandwidth, Blonstein and Ultimate Experience . Their years in the industry mean they have a large team of experienced and professional freelance crew and technical staff to draw upon.

David Amos is a graduate of the RSAMD in

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UK - Lighting designer Leggy (Jonathan Armstrong) upped his count of i-Pix BB7 LED wash lights from 19 to 35 for Bloc Party's two sold out shows at London Olympia, the latest on a world tour that kicked off in January.

Bloc Party's Intimacy tour is the first time that Armstrong had incorporated BB7s into his rig - a move prompted by wanting a very bright, soft edged source with fabulously smooth colour mixing to produce the main over-stage washes.

On the first section of the tour he used four BB7s a side for front and side-stage washes, plus four on the floor behind each musician, for silhouetting and other style effects. The other nine BB7s were arranged on an inverted triangle on three back trusses - typically a main truss with two sub hangs - dependent on the venue and available space.

At Olympia, the triangle was expanded to four trusses - mid and back with two su

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UK - The APRS (The Association of Professional Recording Services) is launching its re-designed web site at a social and networking event on 18 May at The Bath House, 96 Dean Street, Soho, London starting at 7.00pm. Open to everyone (members and non-members) the event will be an opportunity to learn more about the new features of the website.

A key element of the new site will be a fully searchable database of members' details. This will be of great benefit to members and non-members alike as site visitors will be able, for the first time, to search for member studios, facilities or manufacturers which match their project criteria.

Webmaster Mike Brown explained, "There's more to this than meets the eye because we've also been streamlining and centralising many of our back-end office procedures as part of this upgrade. New members will be able to apply online and subscrip

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UAE - "The presence of so many of the region's events industry professionals at our One year in Dubai party reflects the level of success EFM has already achieved in the Middle East," said Mike Llewellyn, the company's Managing Director, at the event.

Dylan Owen, regional director of EFM in the Middle East, together with general manager, Chris Lumb have undergone a busy 12 months, since the Dubai office's opening in April 2008, building the business and gaining increasing respect from a wide network of contacts across the GCC region. Together with the EFM international management team, they welcomed fellow events professionals to the poolside iKandy Bar at Dubai's Shangri-La hotel for an evening reception to celebrate a successful first year.

During the last 12 months in the Middle East, EFM has moved an extensive list of events supplies in, around and back ou

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Italy - With an ultimate retail floor space of 26,500sq.m, Italy's Mondovicino outlet village, retail park and shopping centre will be the biggest of its kind in the country. And with Yamaha audio equipment bringing the best audio quality to shoppers, it is certain to offer the ultimate retail experience.

Located near the town of Mondovì, in the province of Cuneo, north west Italy, the first phase of Mondovicino - with about 60 stores - has opened, with the rest of the development progressively opening in the near future.

Sound designer Adriano Zigante and his company Alto Gradimento won the contract to design and install the audio system at the complex. Zigante specified a comprehensive Yamaha system, which will deliver high quality audio via a highly flexible, multi-zone system.

The indoor shopping centre forms the first completed phase of the development and features fou

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UK - Classical vocal group Blake and soprano Natasha Marsh recently brought together their musical talents for a special four week tour of the UK, performing popular classical works, their own hit material and pop arrangements. The tour, universally praised as a captivating and emotional show, ran from 22 March 22 - 9 April.

Lighting and production design was by Mark Cunniffe, who used Martin MAC III Profile, MAC 700 Profile and MAC 700 Wash luminaires to light the memorable series of shows. Known for his detailed attention to artistic requirements, Cunniffe's wealth of experience includes working with artists such as Elton John, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and Stevie Wonder.

"Steven Howard and Jodi Mitzman from the TCB Group requested a show that contained projected imagery together with lighting to provide an operatic and theatrical mood not normally associated with this

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UK - Percussion combo Noise Ensemble are touring with 30 SGM Idea 250 moving lights. These have been newly purchased for the tour by Snap To Black, the tour's supplier of lighting, AV, crew and production management. The purchase was made through SGM's UK distributor Lightfactor Sales.

Lighting has always been an essential element of the show and part of the original concept since its inception at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2004. The latest tour's design is again created by Ben M Rogers - who has been involved with Noise Ensemble since Edinburgh - and is based on bringing edgy, moody multilayered drama to the performance.

For this tour however, Rogers wanted to up the production values and create a new setting and ambiance via the meticulous and well thought-out lighting. The intention with the new moving lights - a substantial rig for a theatre tour of this scale - was also

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USA - Nominations have opened for the second annual ESTA Rock Our World Awards, which recognise groundbreaking achievement by ESTA Members in new products, product applications, or projects. These awards were created to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of technology and the designer or integrator who applies the technology in a real world environment.

Contestants for the 2008 awards showcased a wide variety of new products and product applications from the simplest problem solver to complex uses of technology that extended the boundaries of the entertainment technology field. Project nominations showcased everything from theatrical productions to special events to permanent installations and highlighted the collaborative nature of our industry.

Nominations may be made by anyone in the industry, but an ESTA Member must be involved as the designer, manufacturer,

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Switzerland - Barix announces that Acutron Electroacustica of Portugal has completed the installation of a Barix Audio over IP zoned audio solution for the Colombo shopping mall in Lisbon. The solution provides Colombo, one of the largest shopping malls in Europe, with a point-to-multipoint solution to deliver voice, audio and control signals to more than 30 locations.

The complete Barix Audio over IP solution features Instreamer 100 encoding and Exstreamer 100 decoding devices for voice and audio distribution as well as Barionet and IO12 devices for control and system monitoring. The entire system is controlled using Acutron software for signal distribution to any zone from the central server and local operator terminals.

According to Antonio J. de Oliveira, co-Founder and head engineer of Acutron Electroacustica, the Barix solution provided a flexible, multi-zone entertainme

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USA - "I think we were always attracted to that sort of infinite sound that you can create," Julian Hamilton says, trying to define the motivating force behind his and musical partner Kim Moyes' fascination with electronica. "There are only so many sounds you can make with a violin or piano. With synthesizers and samplers, you can create totally new worlds."

As The Presets, Hamilton and Moyes are Australia's techno dance duo extraordinaire. Currently touring in support of the album Apocalypso, the pair have made the transition from studio to stage with the help of Shure SCL5 earphones and UHF-R wireless systems.

"When we write our music - especially for this last record - it's a very computer-based thing," Hamilton says. "The music takes on a whole life of itself, and after it hits the stage, it does step up in terms of energy. It's a r

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Russia - Moscow is introducing 450 tonnes of the latest stage and lighting technology to the huge Olimpiyski Arena for this year's Eurovision Song Contest. 2,000sq.m of LED walls will bathe the two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May and the final, on 16 May, in an extraordinary display of light and colour. And for audio transmission, host broadcaster Channel One's partner is Sennheiser.

Since Dima Bilan and his rendition of Believe won last year's competition, Moscow has been preparing for the world's biggest live music show. The Olympic Arena can hold a crowd of 80,000 but as the stage of the 54th Song Contest is so vast - 1,000sq.m - there will only be space for an audience of around 20,000.

When the artists' first rehearsals start on 3 May, Sennheiser's RF expert Klaus Willemsen will have already been on site for a week - the wireless microphone and monitor equipment was

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UK - When the producers of the Thriller Live musical arrived at the Lyric Theatre in London, they found themselves faced with the difficult challenge of isolating a wireless radio frequency within the heart of London's theatre district. After much deliberation, the company turned to Shure and the Joint Frequency Management Group (JFMG) to provide the solution.

"The issue we have in such a densely populated area is isolating RF channels that are not already in use," explained Chris Whybrow, the production's sound designer. "We basically needed to make sure we weren't stepping on anyone's toes."

The iconic venue is located in London's West End, surrounded by numerous theatre, musical, and comedy productions. The crowded nature of the area made isolating RF for on-stage instruments and vocal artists very difficult. Following a full assessment of his req

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