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UK - Essential Lighting's new website is now available and ready for use. The site has been developed to provide customers with a useful resource to learn about the people at Essential, their services and most importantly the equipment they can provide.

Adding equipment to the new site has allowed Essential to start creating a complete technical resource, offering information including specifications and in-depth technical detail on many fixtures.

A download section that includes brochures, user manuals, datasheets, accessories and more is also available on a growing list of equipment.

The 'news' and 'equipment' sections have also now been linked together to allow users to see photos and videos of fixtures in use. Equipment items now include a 'recent uses' gallery to show how they have been included on shows - this will be especially useful to demonstrate the versatility of

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World - Education group SAE has recently made a substantial investment in Avid solutions for its international campuses, including 400 Pro Tools 8 upgrades (including more than 80 Pro Tools | HD licenses) and a new Digidesign ICON D-Control ES worksurface for its San Francisco, Istanbul and Oxford campuses. Each college has installed a 32-channel console, which offers unparalleled Pro Tools integration. The D-Control installed at SAE's Oxford HQ is the 20th that SAE has purchased since the console's debut in 2004.

SAE's managing director Rudi Grieme says: "Our students have access to multiple production systems so that they are able to deal with many situations within the industries that they choose to work in. However, Pro Tools is the industry standard in music production so it is vital that our students have access to the latest and greatest versions. ICON too is state o

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USA - At this years InfoComm in Orlando, Stefan Feistel of the Ahnert Feistel Media Group (AFMG) will deliver two seminars on the company's latest software updates. The new release of SysTune (Version 1.1) will be discussed on Thursday 18 June and a seminar on speech intelligibility prediction using the new version of EASE, Version 4.3, will be presented on Friday 19 June.

The SysTune seminar is free and open for all to attend; for the EASE seminar visit www.InfoCommShow.org in the Education section and register under the Manufacturers' Seminars.

The new features in EASE 4.3, aimed at sound system designers, room acousticians and architects, will be discussed in the Friday seminar, along with aspects of speech intelligibility theory, measurement and modeling. It will focus on the various methods EASE 4.3 uses to predict STI in accordance with IEC 60268-16 - and their advantage

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UK - Rental company SSE has supplied a Midas PRO6 live audio system for Maximo Park's sell out UK academy tour. A Klark Teknik DN9696 was used to record all shows, including support bands, which were also mixed on the PRO6. FOH engineer Huw Richards had used an XL8 for orchestral concerts in the past, but this was his first time on a PRO6.

"What I love about this board more than anything is the feel of it: it's like Midas has always felt, which is reassuring," says Richards. "So many digital boards are so flimsy and light, there's no foundation, but I don't think of this as a digital desk, to me it's a Midas.

"I like the 'fast zone' controls which take you to any instrument or control parameters wherever you are on the desk. You don't have to search through layers or change pages, everything you need is on the surface, which again is reassuring."

The

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UK - Orbital Sound is providing specialist guidance to attendees at this week's ABTT Theatre Show on the issues surrounding Noise at Work compliance, as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show signs of getting tough on non-compliance. With West End productions, tours and even pantomimes all falling under the legislation, Orbital Sound's emphasis is on providing accurate information on the issues and the steps required to ensure compliance - via its specialist Noise at Work risk assessment service.

Orbital Sound has been working closely with industry bodies, such as PLASA, to raise awareness of The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 Act, following the expiry of the two-year period of grace extended to the entertainment industry by the HSE.

PLASA's technical resources manager, Ron Bonner comments, "The entertainment industry has to start taking the requirements of

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USA - Hawaii's East-West Centre is the latest international conference facility to upgrade to Bosch DCN Next Generation digital discussion systems following a recent installation by Oahu-based AV specialists The Audio Visual Company (AVCO).

The 50-year-old facility was established by the United States Government to promote understanding and education between Asian and Pacific countries and the US.The East-West Centre continues to work toward these ends on its 21-acre property adjacent to the University of Hawaii's main campus on the Island of Oahu.

The new Bosch DCN Next Generation digital discussion system replaces a 25-year-old system in the Centre's 1,400sq.ft Asia Room, which seats 64 people. Each DCN interpreter station is configured to translate Korean, Japanese, and Chinese - the system can be configured to translate up to 10 languages.

AVCO project manager Wade Higa

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UK - Rental company SSE has supplied an L-Acoustics Kudo line source system for Maximo Park's sellout UK academy tour.

The system needed to have a small footprint yet provide enough power and headroom for the band, while being flexible enough to handle venues of differing sizes. This ranged from six groundstacked Kudos per side for the smaller venues, through to 13 cabinets flown per side at the two Brixton Academy shows. This system - powered by nine LA8 amplified controllers in three LA-RAKs - also incorporated eight SP28 subwoofers, three dV-DOSC cabinets across the stage for front fill and four ARCS for infill around the venue.

"Kudo is an incredibly powerful system for its size," says Maximo Park's FOH engineer Huw Richards. "It's a punky show so we need a system which can throw out and provide plenty of headroom. For the smaller venues it's been really ea

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New Zealand - College Hill Productions, a sound rental company based in Auckland has recently selected a Soundcraft Vi6 digital console for use on a diverse line-up of summer concerts and music festivals throughout New Zealand. The most recent tour, Big Day Out 2009 took place in Auckland and hosted a number of international artists including, Neil Young, My Morning Jacket and The Prodigy. Director of College Hill Productions Chris Tate founded the company in 1996 and is responsible for introducing the first Soundcraft Vi6 to New Zealand.

"The console has been out on tour non-stop all summer and the engineers required a board that had a very fast turnaround time in between shows." Says Tate. "The Soundcraft Vi6's capabilities also helped us in a couple of other ways including a few instances where the console was almost a kilometer away in a broadcast com

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USA - Total Structures has announced details of its summer hoist school. This two-day ETCP recognized training course is for anyone working with Columbus McKinnon entertainment electric chain hoists. The course will be held on Monday 17 August Tuesday 18 August in Oxnard, CA.

Class size is limited to 20 students, however should demand necessitate an additional course will be added for Wednesday 19 August and Thursday 20 August.Unlike prior Columbus McKinnon training schools this course will now include a written certification examination, with successful students receiving recognition as being a CM-ET (Columbus McKinnon Entertainment Technology) certified entertainment hoist technician.

Appropriately qualified students passing the course will also obtain 16 renewal credits towards ETCP rigging examination re-certification. Suited to both touring and in-house repair technicians

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UK - Within a year of purchasing a stock of EV Phoenix loudspeakers and CP Series amplifiers, the Berkshire-based PA rental company Event Sound is stepping up its commitment to, and investment in, Electro-Voice loudspeakers with an order for an XLC line-array system, to be delivered at the end of the summer.

One of the first companies in the UK to embrace the high-SPL compact Phoenix enclosure design, Event Sound has found the scale of its projects steadily increasing, recently completing its biggest show to date, an outdoor charity concert, headlined by Nick Heyward, for 2000 people. "We have evolved a long way from our origins as a dry-hire operation," says Nick Billinghurst. "The success we've had with the Phoenix system, winning a lot of open-air events particularly festivals, has given us the confidence and the custom to upgrade our inventory to full line-arr

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Spain - A large outdoor festival organised by Acció Cultural del Pais Valencià recently took place in the city of Valencia and D.A.S. Aero line array systems were key to the success of the event. Responsible for the technical production was Simes Audio, led by David Ferri, who put together a comprehensive lighting and sound system to ensure the best performance and consistent coverage over the considerable audience area.

Several thousand students gathered at the large open area on the sprawling campus of Valencia's Polytechnic University. Live performances were offered by bands including Berri Txarrak, Aramateix, and Rapsodes, the winners of Valencian music competition Amplifica't. Over four hours of music with amazingly different styles provided a truly enjoyable evening.

The PA system comprised 20 D.A.S. Aero 38A powered modules, arranged in two 10-unit line format

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UK - West London based audio specialist Encore has designed and installed a new d&b J-Series sound system into the newly revamped Fridge in Brixton. This is the result of the venue's original creators Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington forging an innovative new partnership with the Alchemea College of Audio Engineering. Alchemea, has developed a four-month Live Sound Diploma Course, with the aim of giving students real practical experience. All 'live' training and study will take place at The Fridge.

Encore's John Tinline explains that sound engineer AIan Hopkinson has been working with Neil Pickles, a director of Alchemea for some time in an advisory role as their head of live sound. He was given the challenging task of specifying a system that would both attract promoters and bands back to the newly kitted out Fridge, and simultaneously be suitable for realising the Alcheme

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Ireland - In March 2009, the holder at the time of the WBA Super Bantamweight Boxing title, Ricardo Cordoba of Panama, was facing the challenge of Dublin's own Bernard Dunne. The venue, Dublin's new O2 Arena, formerly the Point and as it happens a worthy challenge too for Dublin based audio hire company Acoustik.

"The first World Championship boxing match to be held in Dublin for 13 years," said Paul Ashe-Browne of Acoustik. "The show design stipulation was that no loudspeakers be in TV camera shot." Thankfully, within earshot was permitted.

"My system was primarily for speech reinforcement; let me tell you, 9,000 Dubliners in full cry is quite some level to overcome. Based around three hangs of d&b audiotechnik's Q1s and Q-SUBs, with numerous Q7s and Q10s providing in-fill around the ring, I was determined not to run out of headroom."

Acoustik

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UK - SSE Audio Group has announced two new developments which add further scope to the company's operations. The first is the purchase of the corporate events hire stock of North London audio specialists Green-i Ltd, as part of the formation of SSE Events as a new Group division. The move also sees Green-i director Andrew Frengley join SSE on 1 July.

SSE Events will be based at SSE's base in Hayes, where the Group's Contract Rental and Audio Installations business, SSE London is based. Canegreen, the North London audio rental company that joined SSE last year is also currently moving its operations from Tottenham to Hayes.

SSE Audio Group managing director John Penn says: "This purchase represents a great opportunity for SSE to secure its position in the London Events marketplace by taking over a resource already geared to that market. At the same time equipment is only a

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USA - The deadline for nominations for the second annual ESTA Rock Our World Awards is 1 July 1. The awards recognise groundbreaking achievement by ESTA members in new products, product applications, or projects, and 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,

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UK - London based draping specialists Cover it Up were in action again for the 2009 UK WWE wrestling tour. The company has worked with Davy Coates, co-ordinator of all WWE live events outside North America, for the last six years, and technological advances are constantly providing new challenges.

With HD broadcasting now common, Cover It Up has found that by exploiting the variances in the opacity of their fabric stock, draping and soft goods coverage can be maximized to provide more acutely defined edges, bringing greater depth to the set design, along with other production solutions.

Each textile has its own texture, light transmission and reflection quality which is much more noticeable with HD. Cover It Up's Elliot Sennett says, "We worked hard with the WWE production team to ensure that our grey and black wool serges work together. It's amazing how even a different

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France - Le Confort Moderne in Poitiers is a surprising place. The venue is unprepossessing from the outside, yet once inside, the visitor is exposed to 5000sq.m of modern and contemporary theatre and exhibition space. Billed as a "conceptual laboratory" Le Confort Moderne has been engaged since 1985 in the creation, production and diffusion of original works of contemporary art, music and trans-disciplinary experimentation. As part of a significant monitor system upgrade from a completely analogue solution to a largely digital one complete with EtherSound network, Le Confort Moderne recently invested in an Sy48 digital console from Innovason.

The new system was designed and installed by Z Professionnel, a Bordeaux-based rental company with offices in Poitiers. According to Z Professionnel's Bruno Gondrecourt, the brief was to optimise the existing Nexo system. "T

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Germany - The eve of 1 May found 25,000 ravers once again streaming to Dortmund's Westfalenhalle for the techno event of the year: Mayday. The slogan for this year's 15-hour marathon was Massive Moments. Werne-based service provider Satis&fy made sure that the sound system and the results it yielded lived up to the hype. The Satis&fy team led by technical director Jörn Busch opted for a substantial Electro-Voice system.

The system specifications for the marathon are impressive: 64 Electro-Voice TG7 amplifiers delivering 350,000 Watts, and 32 X-Line tops and 56 X-Line subs were distributed through seven sound stations.

Rüdiger Nürnberg of Satis&fy comments: "Not only in terms of overall loudness but also in point of homogeneity and even level distribution, the X-Line with the new presets is fully convincing. Normal bass loudspeakers in particular reach their ther

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Sweden - LumenRadio can officially claim the title Hottest New Swedish Company of 2009. The company won first prize in the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition beating close to 1,000 other competitors with its innovative technology and strong business idea.

LumenRadio develops wireless technology for the lighting industry. CRMX - LumenRadio's first product line for wireless light controls was released at Prolight+Sound in April of 2009 and has since continued to enjoy tremendous interest from within the entertainment community, as well as from major players in the architectural lighting market.

"The response from customers and distributors in entertainment lighting has been above our wildest expectations. We've been flying around the globe for the last two months meeting with excited customers who have been frustrated with the problems of the present wireless cont

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Germany - Harmonie in Bonn-Endenich is far from just another German music venue with a beer garden. With a history that dates back to 1899, this hall boasts 150 concerts, cabaret, themed parties, and lectures a year and enjoys r sound reinforcement, through a high-fidelity, low-maintenance audio system from Meyer Sound.

Three entrepreneurs from Bonn took over Harmonie in 1994, and in 2000, at the request of several musicians and sound technicians, Josef Schnorbus, co-owner and technical director of the venue, decided to replace its aged sound system, and compared several manufacturers' systems before settling on Meyer Sound's UltraSeries loudspeakers.

The Meyer Sound system initially acquired for the L-shaped live club in 2001 comprised two UPA-1P and three UPM-1P loudspeakers, a UMS-1P and two USW-1P subwoofers. The new system made a significant improvement on the sound quali

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UK - The success of GLP's Impression LED moving head - which became an immediate hit with both television lighting directors and concert touring LD's on its launch - is now finding its way steadily into the corporate world.

As the latest UK customer, Rob Mander of RM Lighting set out all 16 of his newly-purchased heads recently for a VIP launch of a new lifestyle magazine at a top venue in London's Mayfair.

Mander pinpointed the advantages of the GLP fixture. "These Impressions are so bright yet lightweight that we can both ground support and truss-mount them around the perimeter of a room to provide a constant colour changing atmosphere. However, at the same time we can use them on stage to highlight the performers, as the RGB versions produce a higher light yield than that of a conventional moving light or PAR can."

South London-based RM Lighting purchased the 16

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Australia - ARX Systems has announced the appointment of Moto Audio Sales as its new distributor for Denmark. ARX Managing director Colin Park commented, "Moto's Erik Bjerre and I have been discussing the possibilities of working together in Denmark for some time, Erik thought with the release of new additions to our USB DI product range and our MSX range of signal splitters the time was right to expand ARX's presence in the Danish market.

"Erik and his sales team also felt our range of signal processing products was a complementary fit with the other lines they currently represent, they were especially excited by the new products we released at the recent Frankfurt Pro Light and Sound Exhibition."

Companies represented by Moto Audio Sales include L-Acoustics, RCF, CAMCO, Aviom, Pinanson, Sennheiser and Yamaha.

(Jim Evans)

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Czech Republic - Czech professional lighting and sound sales company AudioMaster has installed Anolis LED products into its new HQ in Prague - both to enhance the functionality and aesthetics of the building and to demonstrate in situ, the benefits of the brand to their clients.

Music City is a new purpose built four-storey building, a collaboration between AudioMaster and the Prague Music Centre. The concept is to deliver the ultimate retail environment for musicians, performers, installers, technical specifiers, venue owners and managers and anyone involved in the professional entertainment and leisure industry.

Encompassing recording and demo studios, training plus conference and presentation areas, the Music Cafe coffee bar and specialist display areas for guitarists, drummers, keyboard and percussion aficionados of all types, Music City also features all the latest MI, DJ

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UK - Stage Electrics is holding its second round of Pie and Pint product demonstration events in London and Manchester, following the successful launch of the Pie and Pint concept last year. These free informal lunchtime events will feature a product demonstration on the ETC ION and Eos lighting control desks by ETC's Jeremy Roberts. During the demonstrations there will be an opportunity for guests to enjoy a pie and pint courtesy of Stage Electrics, network and ask some vital product questions.

The first event will be held on Tuesday 23 June from 11:30-2:30pm at the Sawyers Arms pub in Manchester. Following on from Manchester, Pie and a Pint heads to London's West End on Thursday 25 June from 11:30-2:30pm at the Theodore Bullfrog pub. Visitors can drop into these locations at any point during these times.

Chris Patton, divisional sales manager at Stage El

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