France / Belgium - For its latest fashion show on 9 March, Chanel constructed an iceberg style runway in the Grand Palais in Paris. To prevent the iceberg from melting and flooding the fashionistas a giant fridge was placed over the 240-ton ice sculpture. Just before the show started the fridge was hoisted up in the air.

Wicreations of Tremelo, Belgium furnished all necessary equipment, engineering and people for the construction to take off. The fridge, a giant thermos was lifted by 14 0.5 T Varistar hoists. The two 40m lighting trusses that were mounted inside the box were lifted by 10 0.5 T zero speed lift-champ hoists. The major challenge was to synchronise all these hoists for the lift off to a height of 15m. All went according to plan, thanks to the Kinesys K2 3d software.

"As always we offered a complete motion control service," says Hans Willems, director of

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa supplied technical production including lighting, video and sound for It's No Joke, the landmark 46664/Real Concerts comedy festival event at Sun City Super Bowl.

This one-off event utilised the universal language of laughter to raise funds for the Nelson Mandela charities by uniting 10 of SA's cutting edge comedians - Trevor Noah, Marc Lottering, John Vlismas, Tumi Morake, Nik Rabinowitz, Ndumiso Lindi, Chris Forrest, David Kau, Riaad Moosa and Barry Hilton - all performing in the same evening.

Gearhouse's Tim Dunn was asked by promoter and show producer, Roddy Quinn, to create a visual concept for this high profile showcase that was enjoyed live by over 4500 people.

Dunn rose to several technical and creative challenges. One was producing a sophisticated, yet uncomplicated stage look that allowed the performers to communicate di

South Africa - MGG Production's ColorBeam 700s had hardly been taken out their boxes when they were set to work at the InniBosVeld 2010 Festival, held on 20 February. The show pulled in a crowd of 25,000 people which really says something about local talent.

Lighting designer was Johan Ferreira who is also the LD and operator for the main stage at the Innibos Festival in Nelspruit, which sees some 100,000 people pass through the gate during the week and well over 45 000 people on the field for the Saturday performance, that usually includes international acts like Boney M (2008) and Smokey (2007).

InniBosVeld (In the bushveld) is a partnership festival between InniBos and Kurt Darren. "This is the second time that we did the Kurt Darren en Jukebox vriende show," said Ferreira. "The first time was last year at InniBos and

UK - XL Video UK continued its long and productive working relationship with The Stereophonics, supplying video - cameras, PPU and screens - equipment and crew for the latest UK leg of their Keep Calm & Carry On world tour.

XL account handler Chris Saunders has worked with the band since they first started using video, circa 1998. At that time they were still playing relatively small venues and their use of video was considered groundbreaking. He also produced their longform Day At The Races video, and has been involved with all their tours and live work ever since. Throughout, he has seen the application of video in the band's show visuals grow in ambition and innovation parallel with the development and availability of the relevant technology.

The 'Phonics live video visuals have invariably been a lighting design driven element - and Saunders has seen several L

Germany - Audient's signal processing Black Series features in the production of the German tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Jesus Christ Superstar which runs until June this year. Technical musical director René Reinhardt tried a BB4 rack containing two Black EQs and two Black Compressors with a view to it being "a good solution as a front-end for a general FOH mix bus freshen-up".

Using it at the initial rehearsal of the Schleswig-Holstein Theatre and Symphony Orchestra Jesus Christ Superstar production, Reinhardt explains, "All artists are a mixture of professional classical and musical singers, so the dynamics on the mix bus are a challenge. We had to find a decent volume solution without it attracting attention. When we tried the BB4 on the master bus switching the bypass, we were amazed: there was no colouring, even with the extreme

UK - Hoist UK has announced that its Raynok Motion Control system has been selected by CAST Software of Toronto Canada to be a launch partner for its new BlackBox.

Gilray Densham, president of CAST says, "BlackBox is a live, realtime, 7D positioning and high speed communications solution that will change the way that productions are planned and produced in the future by providing a common communication interface for all the different technologies used in show production.

"BlackBox, to be released later this year after thorough beta testing, will use wysiwyg files as a primary source of information concerning the 'space', and then links to existing proprietary systems such as lighting consoles, media servers, 3D audio positioning systems, RFID tracking, imaging systems and the Raynok Motion Control system. Input data is received, the position(s) determined and then co

UK - A.C. Special Projects has provided comprehensive lighting and rigging systems for two separate performance areas at Buckinghamshire New University's recently opened £40 million learning complex, the Gateway.

Designed by RMJM Architects and built by BAM Construction, the building is part of an extensive programme of rebuilding and refurbishment at the institution. Production-based degree courses benefiting from the new Gateway teaching facilities include Performing Arts (Film, TV & Stage) and Film and Television Production.

Having previously provided the lighting system for the University's Students' Union venue, The White Room, which is also used for teaching, A.C. Special Projects was commissioned by BAM Construction to supply and install equipment for the new performance facilities. The company also assisted with the systems' specification.

For the green-screen

USA - For the second consecutive year, the NCAA Men's Final Four will feature an octagonal LED video wall suspended above the court. Fans attending the 2010 NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Championships this weekend will have a spectacular, high-definition view of all the action, regardless of where they are seated in Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianpolis, while fans at home will also experience the giant screens featuring Daktronics LED video technology.

Texas-based GoVision is providing the video wall and related production elements for the Men's Final Four.

In partnership with the NCAA, GoVision configured eight 15' x 28' Daktronics PST-12HD modular LED screens to create a true high-definition octagonal video wall. The eight-screen unit is suspended from the ceiling 60' above the basketball court and weighs in at 36,680 pounds.

The screens that form the video wall were pulled f

USA - Production manager Ted Jonas of Jonas Productions has been working with Harry Connick Jr. since 1995, when he started as the artist's monitor engineer. "I'm an old school analogue guy, and with few exceptions, we've always had a Midas console in Harry's monitors," he says. "Over the years, we've used the XL4, the XL3 and the H3000. We had no desire to go digital until we got our hands on the Midas PRO6."

The change occurred shortly after a tour of China, when monitor engineer Scott Griffith suggested trying the console. "With the logistics of touring these days, we had to consider going digital," recalls Jonas. "When we brought it into rehearsal, Scott and I both just fell in love with it. And Harry noticed right away. He's a pretty smart guy and knows what's going on in terms of production. He was definitely interested and said he loved

UAE - A ceiling of Clay Paky Alpha fixtures recently shared the stage with an eclectic international music lineup during Wakestock in Abu Dhabi.

Developed from a combination of waterskiing, snowboarding and surfing techniques, wakeboarding is a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over water. The three-day Wakestock event mixed an array of riding, including pool gap, System 2.0 and boat comps, with performances from big-name music acts during the evenings.

The record crowd watched as the sport's top 16 athletes competed against each other for a share of a $50,000 prize and the title of Wakestock Abu Dhabi Champion 2010. The three-day beachfront event was produced by Flash Entertainment and the City of Abu Dhabi.

Lighting designer Andrew Strachan used 28 Alpha Spot 1200 HPE fixtures and 28 Alpha Wash 1200 fixtures in the main stage rig to compli

UK - AC-ET's Audio division has supplied four independent PA systems featuring over 90 separate product lines to the University of Glamorgan's ATRiuM drama and music teaching facility. The audio equipment is helping music and technology students to learn the principles of live sound reproduction through a combination of hands-on training in the classroom and during live events.

The ATRiuM campus is a purpose-designed building for the university's creative division, the Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries. Featuring the latest industry technologies, students studying music and sound now have access to a comprehensive list of live sound equipment including four medium venue systems with microphones, mixing desks, outboard equipment and speakers.

A.C. Entertainment Technologies, a previous supplier to the University, won the tender to provide the live sound equipment

UK - Continuing its long and successful relationship with console manufacturer DiGiCo, 5 Star Cases is supplying flight cases for their latest console - the SD9, which was launched at the Prolight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt.

The partnership started with the case design and build for the SD7 in late 2007, and has continued through DiGiCo's SD8, SD8-24, D5 and D1 editions - and now with the SD9.

Ten special versions of the case were fabricated to coincide with the SD9's launch, alongside a standard issue 'production' version. The production model has the additional facility for using optional VESA screen mounts on either side of the console.

As on the SD8 models, a pull-out keyboard drawer and a rear-hinged access flap are included as standard. Colour matched rubber handle grips and the usual DiGiCo branding add further visual impact to the case.

David Webster, DiGiCo's m

UK - MTFX has recently invested in the new Stadium Shot confetti cannons. These cannons give a spectacular burst of confetti or streamers, providing their "shot" via a compressed air accumulator tank pressurized to 8 bar. This means they can fire confetti to 35m and streamers to an 50m.

Each cannon is flight cased to allow easy transportation and to enable them to be easily positioned for use.

(Jim Evans)

Denmark - Lighting designer Torben Sjoeberg Pedersen has handled the visual look of DR network's Sport awards show since 2003. For Sport09 he sought something fresh and turned to Martin Professional's new MAC 401 Dual LED moving head washlight.

Broadcast on 9 January h from Messecenter Herning, Sport09 recognised the year's best in Danish and international sport. Pedersen commented, "This year I wanted to try something new and decided to try out the MAC 401. We got some very good looks with them. It has a big fat beam that I loved, and the colour mixing was good. They made a good fill across the set."

Used as both a set design piece and beam luminaire, Pedersen dispersed 401s between background rows of Martin LC Series LED panels with several units on the floor lining the main performance stage. "It's light and small and the design is also n

UAE - The family of advanced Soundweb processors from BSS Audio has been used extensively by one of Dubai's most progressive system integrators, Bond Communications, to provide end-to-end networking at the Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai). This project, six years in the making, is the largest ever undertaken by the company - and the tallest building in the world.

Harman Professional distributors GSL Professional LLC provided the BSS Audio devices to Bond Communications. These audio tools function on most of the Tower's 164 floors, and GSL's marketing & PR manager, Glen Kershaw, states, "We were selling these products to Bond pretty much up until the day of the opening - and I anticipate that the after-sales support will be ongoing following the opening."

Bond Communications AV package manager, Omar Chataw, confirms that his company was asked to provide an integrate

Madonna Most Played - Madonna was the most played artist of the last decade in the UK, according to music licensing body PPL. The singer, who had her first UK hit with Holiday in 1984, beat The Beatles into second place and Robbie Williams into third. Queen were fourth and Take That were fifth in the chart compiled for BBC Radio 2.

It was based on plays - between 2000 and 2009 - on TV, radio and in public places including pubs, clubs and shops. PPL collects royalties for sound recordings. Last year, another chart compiled for Radio 2 - also by PPL - found that Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale was the most played song in public places in the previous 75 years. The song, which features a distinctive organ riff, stayed at number one for six weeks in the UK in the summer of 1967.

Health & Safety - Three workers were injured when part of the stage for a co

USA - HM Electronics Inc (HME), the first to develop the wireless intercom system for the pro audio industry, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Clear-Com Communication Systems, a business unit of The Vitec Group plc and a leading provider of mission-critical voice communication systems for broadcast, live performance, military, federal government and professional audio markets.

Clear-Com will continue operation as a wholly-owned subsidiary of HME, with no changes planned for its award-winning product portfolio or its current mission to be the world's first choice for high-end intercom solutions.

HME, a privately-held company, based in Poway, California, is a pioneer of digital wireless intercom solutions for restaurant, hospitality, sports and pro audio markets. The company says: "Combining HME's world-renowned expertise in wireless with Clear-Com's leadersh

UK - XL Events, the corporate event arm of concert video giant XL Video, have deployed TiMax Tracker as the core of a groundbreaking show control system for The Tweenies worldwide arena tour. In the illustrious company of Midas, DiGiCo and d&b audiotechnik, the unique performer-tracking system was used to automate not only the TiMax SoundHub audio localisation but also over a hundred moving-light fixtures and a Pandoras Box video effects server plus its attendant live cameras.

Roving TiMax Tracker tags are distributed in toys to children by spotters in the audience, to control tracking cameras which feed images of the childrens' faces to Pandora's Box where they are rendered for projection onto the heads of the dancing Tweenies. The radio mic'd talent are also tracked so their voices can be followed by the demanding and discerning audience.

XL Group director Rich Rowley takes

Singapore - UnUsUal Productions, one of the leading event and concert production companies serving China and the broader Asian region, filled Singapore's Indoor Stadium with its newly-acquired JBL Vertec line arrays, powered by Crown I-Tech HD amplifiers, for a performance by Taiwanese superstar Chang Huimei, aka A-mei, and her 2010 Amit Live First World Tour, named after her latest album. The performer's highly anticipated tour packed nearly 12,000 people each night for back-to-back sold-out shows on 29 and 30 January, 2010.

Born Gulilai Amit, Huimei has been a number-one recording artist since her first album, Sisters, in 1996, developing a substantial fan base for her pop star character, 'A-Mei'. She has since released 17 albums over the past 12 years. Her current tour features a lavish stage production and planned showcases in Malaysia, Hong Kong and other majo

Switzerland - Launching the new 2010 Ford Focus at the Geneva International Motor Show this month, global brand communications agency Imagination turned to the Static Light Company and Essential Lighting to provide the equipment for the press launch and stand lighting.

In addition to the press day rig of 22 VL3500 wash fixtures, Imagination's in-house lighting designer, Jonny Milmer, requested nine of PRG's proprietary BadBoy luminaires. The advanced accuracy, speed and zoom range of the BadBoy allowed Milmer to track the cars as they were driven around the Ford stand, peeling off to reveal and illuminate a static exhibit of the vehicle as it passed. Control was via a Hog iPC console, programmed by Paul Cook.

Milmer commented on the BadBoy, "In Geneva we work with a 16.5m trim height. In an arena with an incredible amount of daylight fittings, even the brightest lights on

Switzerland - Italian acoustic specialist dBTechnologies has appointed MGM Audio AG as its distributor for Switzerland with immediate effect.

MGM CEO Martin Frigg says, "With the Opera Digital, Flexsys and DVX-Series - and the new ranges launched at Pro Light & Sound this year, I am sure dBTechnologies is offering us exactly the right products to meet our market's needs. Our mission is not just to sell products. We want to fulfill the needs of the customer in terms of consulting and engineering, so that they feel comfortable from the outset."

European sales manager Harald von Falkenstein says: "MGM reflects our desire at dBTechnologies to put the customer first, which goes hand in hand with providing a good product for a good price as far as we're concerned. We look forward to supporting our partners in the Swiss territory to this end."

"We have know

New Zealand - A full Medialon system has been integrated in Alexandra Park, a leading horse racing venue in Auckland. The system was installed by SpyGlass Group along with Automation 4, a UK-based professional automation and show control designer and programmer, who provided the entire Medialon system programming for this project.

One Medialon Manager V5 Pro license is used as the main A/V and building management control system of Alexandra Park. The installation has been designed to control all the building's audio visual play out across the race course.

Six projectors and 12 50" plasma screens located around the bar and other corporate entertainment areas are fed a combination of media by the Medialon control system. Live feeds from the race course internal TV channel together with music, video and advertising material are routed to the various screens.

The Medialon c

UAE - Dubai-based Al Laith Event Services - the newly launched division of Al Laith Scaffolding - supplied a full staging and roofing system for the recent three-day Wakestock Wakeboarding & Music festival staged on the Corniche Beach in Abu Dhabi.

Event Services was working for Abu Dhabi production company Flash Events and Lee Charteris.

It was the first time that Wakestock has taken its mix of music and extreme sport to the UEA. The artist line up included Maximo Park, De La Soul, Goldierocks, Carole Samaha and many more, and the event hosted the first leg of the 2010 WWA Wakeboard World Series, where local and international wakeboarders showcased their best tricks and acrobatic stunts on the water.

The calibre of the artist line-up dictated they needed a good-sized stage with decent weight loadings to facilitate the flying of sound, lighting & video e

Italy - Clay Paky illuminates I Raccomandati (the protégés), a talent show broadcast by RAI since 2003. Various competitors perform on stage in the company of VIPs. The winner is chosen at the end of the programme.

The ninth series of shows, broadcast live every Friday during prime time from the Teatro delle Vittorie in Rome, has some elegant new scenery based on natural materials, designed by Riccardo Bocchini. There is wooden parquet on the floor and on the arch enclosing the stage, and chrome-plated trim behind the three large LED walls.

The lighting equipment has been supplied by Di & Di Service, and consists of 20 Alpha Profile 1200s (half of which are arranged at the height of the proscenium and the other half in the auditorium for front lighting), 20 Alpha Spot HPE 1200s (all as backlighting), 16 Alpha Spot HPE 700s (arranged around the whole intern

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