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UK - grandMA consoles were in use at two key venues at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The Edinburgh International Conference Centre used a grandMA2 light console for their main Pentland auditorium, a 600 - 1200 capacity flexible space. This hosted two dance shows in rep and several comedy performances including Jimmy Carr and Jason Byrne, during the festival.

The console supply was instigated by freelance lighting designer Dave Elcome, who created the production design for most of the shows staged in the venue, and Kenneth Boak, the EICC's technical production manager.

Over in the Music Hall venue within the Assembly Rooms on George Street, another grandMA2 light was in action with a grandMA pico for the duration. The grandMA2 light was specified by Assembly Rooms' head of lighting Paul Lim, and operated primarily by Dave Evans and Steve Sanders, who ran it in 'series 1

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Japan - In the mahogany earthiness and mirrored elegance of its decor, the Cotton Club of Tokyo echoes its New York namesake, the celebrated Harlem venue revered in memory as the premier showcase of America's jazz age. A fusion of a restaurant, nightclub, and live performance venue, Japan's Cotton Club reaches beyond jazz to embrace essentially all Western popular music styles, which are reinforced through a self-powered Meyer Sound Mica line array loudspeaker system.

According to the Cotton Club's sound engineer, Taro Moriyama, selection of the Meyer Sound system was based in large part by the venue's eclectic musical fare. "Our stage hosts an incredibly wide variety of music, and we've found that Meyer Sound loudspeakers work well with any musical style because they don't colour the sound."

A quick sampling of acts that have graced the Cotton Club stage includes ja

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USA - The build team for popular US television show Mythbusters- Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara - visited Meyer Sound's Berkeley headquarters as part of their quest to verify the claim that a Russian-made SKS rifle could be set off by the vibration of a high-powered subwoofer.

Mythbustersoften calls on Meyer Sound when it comes to investigating audio-related myths. The show, which features a team of five special effects and science experts who put some of the most outrageous urban legends to the test, has turned to Meyer Sound to prove or debunk such popular claims as a duck's quack not echoing, the human voice breaking glass, or the existence of the dreaded 'Brown Note'.

While the Brown Note episode called for modifying electronics to accept frequencies well below the normal operating range, this time the test involved four of Meyer Sound's 600-HP co

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UK - For the past five years, FOH Kyle Chirnside has been manning the controls for Fall Out Boy, and the Midas PRO6 is Chirnside's console of choice for the band's current world tour.

"I've always been a Midas guy," states Chirnside. "Whenever I had a choice, I would have my XL4. But then I had the chance to test drive the XL8." That opportunity came with an invitation to visit Metallica FOH engineer Big Mick Hughes during preparations for Fall Out Boy's autumn 2008 tour of the UK and Europe. "We were at his house, sitting around mixing Metallica tunes on the XL8, which was huge for me. I fell in love with the console. So when I heard Midas was developing a smaller, more affordable digital desk, I was totally into it."

Clair Global supplied a PRO6 for Fall Out Boy's spring US tour, which featured four support acts. "Even with five bands, we o

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UK - The church of St. Mary Bredin in Canterbury has had an eventful existence. Over the centuries the congregation has seen many physical changes to their place of worship, but the latest building project has seen some of the biggest improvements yet, including the installation of an Alcons audio system.

Originally founded in Saxon times, by the late 1800s the church of St Mary Bredin was an imposing and ornate Victorian building. In 1942 it was destroyed by a Luftwaffe air raid which devastated much of Canterbury and it wasn't until 1957 that a replacement church was constructed on a new site around half a mile away.

Happily the 1957 building is still standing firm and, unlike many churches, its congregation has seen steady growth in recent years. In 2008/09 the church undertook its latest building project, which involved making major changes to the main body of the building

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UK - A number of prominent British acts are using the new Sennheiser ew 500 G3 wireless receiver, paired with new SKM 935 and SKM 945 microphones, says the company.

"When we heard that a new product was on the way we were eagerly waiting for it," says Jon Burton, front of house engineer for The Prodigy, one of the first professionals to receive an ew 500 G3 and the new SKM 935 mics. "And once G3 arrived it exceeded our expectations.

"Our ease of setting up each day has been greatly improved. Even if we have to reassign all the frequencies at the drop of a hat we can do so in minutes using the infrared sync system. Using it has proved to be very intuitive. Very handy as monitor engineer Joe Campbell and I both have a casual disregard for manuals.

Dave Mcdonald, front of house engineer for Florence and the Machine has been impressed by the audio quality of

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UK - Now approaching its 30th year, Nottingham-based Rock City - originally set up by director George Akins, and today among the UK's longest-surviving independent venues - has commissioned a new sound and lighting infrastructure.

To keep pace with modern tour riders, and the growing move by the medium-sized venue market to offer bands the opportunity to leave their production in the truck, visiting sound engineers can now mix their acts through Soundcraft 64-channel Vi6 at front-of-house and 48-channel Vi4 at the monitor position.

The desks were chosen by the venue's technical manager Dave McVea, and installed by the SSE Audio Group installation project team, led by Alex Penn and Steve Dando.

Rock City is owned by DHP (Daybrook House Promotions) who went through a long process of consideration before it made its final choice of an audio supplier. Managing director David Dav

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UAE - Approximately 30 pro sound specialists from across the Middle East assembled at the Dubai World Trade Centre on 12 and 13 July for a workshop conducted by Anthony Sawyer, technical support manager for Electro-Voice and Dynacord. The workshop primarily dealt with Electro-Voice's compact XLC line-array system. The participants were all Electro-Voice customers and already familiar with other EV line arrays, but the object of the workshop was to study XLC in detail to ensure that everyone was making the most efficient use of EV technology.

"Our watchword is 'The demo makes the sale','" says Oliver Sahm, director of technical support ProAudio EMEA (Europe/Middle East/Africa). "And this workshop demonstrated the truth of that idea for the umpteenth time. By the time the event was over, many of the participants had decided to either expand their existing XLC invent

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UK - Guardian cult columnist, writer of BBC4 series Screenwipe and writer of Charlie Brooker is heading up the new TV show, You Have Been Watching.

This Channel 4 eight part-series sees Brooker dissecting the week's TV shows along with three guests.

Production designer Cath Pater-Lancucki is the creator of the towering set of back-lit stacked TV sets crowned with satellite dishes. Lighting Designer, Will Charles wanted it to feel like an 'over the top' version of Telly Addicts.

Charles enlisted the services of Richard Martin Lighting to provide the lighting fixtures for the show which consists of 20 GLP Chrome Impressions as a ceiling of light above the set , seven VL3500 and four VL3000 Spots for searchlight beams behind the set , two Mac 500's as backlights and eight VL1000TS as tungsten key lights.

Charles has been working alongside moving li

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USA - The Sacred Heart Church, in Springfield, Massachusetts has replaced its old distributed audio system with a single pair of Renkus-Heinz ICONYX Digitally Steerable Array loudspeakers as part of a complete audio refit.

The visually stunning, beautifully renovated, interior is highly acoustically reverberant, and the basic problem that parishioners in the 1,200-seat space found eulogies and sermons hard to follow was compounded by the occasional intrusion of a local radio station through the church's sound system.

Ten loudspeakers, two flown over the congregation, eight more arranged along the walls, served the seating area that stretches back in a T shape to 102ft from the altar, varying in width from 92ft to 108ft across and measuring 80ft high, with intervening stone columns - driven from a rack full of equipment that produced, said Richard G. O'Connell, principal of int

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USA - Houston's Lakewood, the country's largest church and the home of Joel Osteen attracts a weekly attendance of approximately 43,000 people, they make their home in the former Compaq Centre, previously home to the Houston Rockets. And the job of lighting services in the 16,000-plus-seat arena, many of which have to perform the double duty of being recorded for broadcast and providing an intimate experience for worshipers falls to Chuck Pryor and his team.

"My production background is mainly in audio," Pryor says, "So my team has a lot of fun making all the standard lighting/audio jokes to keep things light and fun. I was actually hired in audio but was invited to manage the lighting department when Tom Stanziano, the previous LD, left. Tom was the one who originally specified theses fixtures to accomplish the goals, and he obviously made a great call. I still s

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On Stage - Colombian rock star Juanes is going ahead with a peace concert in Cuba despite receiving threatening messages, his manager has said. The event, due to take place on 20 September, has been criticised by some US-based Cubans for supporting the country's communist government. Latin Grammy winner Juanes, who lives in Miami, told police he had received threats via his Twitter account.

His manager said the star feared for his safety and considered pulling out. Fernan Martinez Maecha told the Associated Press: "The concert is still on, and Juanes is maintaining a positive attitude throughout all of this." Mr Maecha said there is "absolutely nothing political" about the peace concert, which is set to take place in Havana's Revolution Plaza. Juanes held a peace concert in March 2008 on the Venezuela-Colombia border when tensions were high over a Colombian c

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USA - Lab X Technologies has added a larger conference room and four new offices and expanded the reception area at its headquarters in Rochester, New York. Lee Minich, President of the engineering design firm, says that the decision to grow in the midst of a broadly shrinking economy almost made itself.

"We looked at the accelerated pace of connectivity proliferation, the continued growth of our client list, and the positive impact of emerging technologies such as AVB (Audio-Video Bridging)," he says. "Our need for growing room was immediately obvious. Product manufacturers in many industries are turning to Lab X for help in leveraging the IEEE's emerging AVB standards that make Ethernet ready for reliable real-time streaming of high-quality audio and video."

The new facilitiesalso give Lab X and its visiting clients access to a new entrance and additional

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USA - Technomad reports that its Vernal weatherproof loudspeakers are providing audio for narrated tours by Shoreline Sightseeing of Chicago on the waters of the Chicago River. More than 80 Vernal loudspeakers are installed on 18 boats, broadcasting clear speech with supplemental background music on boats ranging from 15 to 50ft in length.

Shoreline Sightseeing operates tours on the Chicago River and the Great Lakes that give visitors a historical overview of nearby architecture and other attractions. According to Chad Rice, director of fleet management for Shoreline Sightseeing, the live and pre-recorded audio narrations are significant to the tours, and the audio is intelligible from the shoreline as boats pass through the centre of the Chicago River.

"We take up to 300 people out at a time, and audio is the most dominant aspect of the experience," said Rice. "

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USA - Audio-Technica has announced that Patterson, New Jersey-based On the Road Marketing has been presented with A-T's President's Award. The award was presented by Marc Lee Shannon, Audio-Technica vice-president, sales, to Doug Brown, On the Road Marketing president. On the Road Marketing received this honour at an awards ceremony during this year's InfoComm Expo.

Doug Brown, principal of On the Road Marketing, accepted the award which recognises a leading manufacturer's representative for outstanding commitment and dedication during the Audio-Technica 2008/2009 fiscal year. The firm sells Audio-Technica professional products to retailers and sound contractors in New York City, surrounding areas and additional regions of New Jersey.

Marc Lee Shannon, Audio-Technica vice president, sales, commented, "Audio-Technica is lucky to have such an exceptional group of reps, and

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Switzerland - The SWX Stock Exchange in Zurich selected AKG's GN 30 E 5PIN gooseneck microphones, CK 31 Capsules and H 600 shock-mounts for deployment. The installation used several different loudspeaker systems strategically positioned to optimise the acoustics in the glass-walled conference room known as the 'crystal palace'.

The system was completed by Erwin Herzog of Kilchenmann and used 33 AKG GN 30 E 5PIN Gooseneck microphones, 33 AKG CK 31 microphone capsules, 33 AKG H 600 shock mounts, and a retractable column with a 360-degree loudspeaker in the centre of the room.

"We chose AKG products for their high quality, high gain before feedback, and flexibility," Herzog said. "Using AKG products, we managed to hand over the project on time in spite of a close deadline and still fulfilled all of the client's requirements and wishes. We even kept the price apprec

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UK - Having enjoyed sold-out events for four years running in London's Finsbury Park, Madstock - the festival featuring self-styled 'nutty boys' Madness - disappeared for over a decade. But in July 2009 it enjoyed a triumphant return at a new venue, Victoria Park. AP Security wasin charge of crowd management and stewarding for it and the ensuing Lovebox weekend.

AP was in charge of safety and stewarding throughout entire site for both events. The site featured three stages with a 'Golden Circle' in front of the main stage for Madstock and two stages (but no Golden Circle) for Lovebox. Both also featured the usual array of concessions stands, alternative entertainment and sponsored areas.

"The planning started, as usual, many months in advance," says Chris Hollands, AP's southern operations manager, who managed the planning and operation at

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Chechnya - After six years of rebuilding the structure, which was destroyed during the Chechen wars, the State Theatre and Concert Hall in Grozny, the capital of the Republic of Chechnya, was reopened late last year. ETC dealer Sistema played a prominent role in bringing back the hall's previous grandeur by installing new stage technology, including a lighting system full of ETC equipment.

Sistema faced a difficult task when they came on the project. "Our employees' first impression was daunting," says Pavel Petryanin, director of Sistema's projects department. "The grounds of the facility were seriously damaged during the war. The sun was shining through a hole in the roof. We had to carry out a complete reconstruction project, practically starting from scratch."

Sistema installed 560 conventional luminaires - including dozens of ETC Source Four PARs - and

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UK - Notifier by Honeywell and Ateis UK report that they have been awarded Network Rail Acceptance for their Voice Alarm and Public Address (VA/PA) solutions.

This significant accreditation by Network Rail follows much research into the Ateis/Notifier range as meeting stringent EMC requirements for products used on the rail network. It was awarded after the successful installation of a Notifier by Honeywell system at Shepherd's Bush overground station which has operated without fault for five months.

Notifier by Honeywell has extensive experience in the development of specialist VA/PA solutions and uses Ateis equipment in its range of VA/PA systems. The system was engineered specifically to meet Network Rail's precise requirements, designed to ensure effective communication of passenger information as well as controlled evacuation in the event of an incident.

With a strong t

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UK - Lighting Technology projects (LTP) has completed the first UK installation of Martin Architectural's Rail Light - running along the handrails of the Tradeston Bridge in Glasgow.

The new wave-like pedestrian footbridge links Tradeston on the south bank of the river Clyde with Glasgow's financial services district. It was devised by Glasgow-based civil engineers Halcrow in partnership with Scandinavian architects Dissing & Weitling, and reflects Glasgow City Council's objective to improve cross-river accessibility and create a landmark waterfront structure.

LTP's expertise and penchant for intricate and detailed installations (which recently includes the London Eye and Sidings Bridge, Swansea) was called into the project by Martin Architectural, who tasked them with delivering the lighting and providing their direct client BAM Nuttalls with a fully project managed scheme. T

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UK - At approximately 3am on Monday 6 July 2009, thieves broke into a commercial premise in Clevedon, North Somerset, where over £80,000 worth of lighting equipment was being stored following its use for a private event.

The offenders used a large blue Mercedes Sprinter van to remove the equipment from the premises; the van was last seen driving through Clevedon at approximately 3.30am, believed to be heading towards Portishead and possibly the M5 motorway.

A majority of the stolen lighting equipment was, at the time, on hire from Norwich stage lighting company Viking Stage Lighting. Some of the equipment stolen included expensive Robe Colourspot 1200, Robe Colourwash 575 AT Zoom, and Robe Colourwash 250 AT moving head fixtures. The lights would have been stored in, predominantly, light blue flight cases with the Viking Lighting logo screen printed on the sides.

Also s

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USA - Illumination Dynamics (ID) has moved to a new location in San Fernando, California that features easy access, ample space and thoughtful amenities for production crew. With 70,000sq.ft of warehouse space to house ID's expanding inventory of motion picture lighting and grip, automated and theatrical lighting, HVAC equipment and expendables, the rental house "offers improved equipment accessibility, working environment and customer service".

In addition to doubling the warehouse space, ID provides 11,000sq.ft of air-conditioned offices, repair, conference, and demo rooms - including separate production crew offices with convenient telephone and wi-fi internet connectivity.

Repair facilities offer maintenance in-house as well as equipment servicing for customers. Dedicated entries and spacious loading docks for each department facilitate easy equipment pickup and

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UK Sound designer Jason Barnes chose the new Duran Audio AXYS Scope range as the FOH PA for the UK tour of the rock opera Quadrophenia.

"I chose the Axys Speakers over alternatives because of their dynamic sound, energy and ability to deal with the full range of frequencies whilst not sounding over processed. I wanted to take the risk and try something new and powerful that had never been used in theatre before to create a more individual mix," says Barnes. "I also wanted a 15" speaker with punch rather than anything larger, because of the varied venues we are touring to. These boxes fit the bill and are light enough to throw up the pros and punchy enough to throw a rich rock and roll sound to the back of the house."

In total 12 AXYS Scope T-2115s were supplied to specialist theatre sound rental company Stage Sound Services for the tour together

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UK - Despite the challenging economic climate, console manufacturer Audient has reported 9.9% sales growth in its half year to June 30th compared to the same period last year.

Managing director Gareth Davies comments: "We entered 2009 with a good deal of caution and it's certainly true that a number of markets and territories have lost some momentum during the last six months. However, programmes we initiated last year in product development, distribution and manufacturing have enabled us to continue moving forward despite these constraints. These same programmes will also enable us to reap benefits when market conditions start to improve."

Second half sales have seen a strong start with Audient's small format Zen console starting to ship. Luke Baldry, sales and marketing director at Audient says "We're overwhelmed with the enthusiasm for Zen, it's been a great

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