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UK - High end audio manufacturer, Audient has brought UK distribution of Audient branded products in-house. Through a network of dealers headed up by a new UK sales manager, Audient is "determined to strengthen connections with end-users".

"Taking over distribution in our home territory creates a great opportunity for us to provide the high level of service that our customers expect," says sales & marketing director, Luke Baldry.

Gareth Williams steps into to the role of UK sales manager at the north Hampshire headquarters. Coming from a musical background, Williams has forged a career in studio recording and professional audio sales before joining Audient. He comments, "We're looking forward to working closely with dealers and end-users to further develop sales of Audient's high quality recording products to the UK market and beyond."

(Jim Evan

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- b>UKProduction Services Ireland (PSI) supplied lighting for the first gig staged at Belfast's new Giant's Park venue - headlined by DJ Fatboy Slim - together with a line-up of dance acts, including Deadmau5, Kissy Sell Out, Zane Lowe, Sidney Samson

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UK - The Friendly Fires' FOH engineer Richard 'Bars' Barling was one of the first users to put the new Soundcraft Vi1 digital consoles through its paces at a private corporate event at a noted London jazz venue in April.

"As we already use the Vi6 on our tours, it was really easy for me to use the Vi1 and its Widescreen Vistonics interface right away," Bars said. "The integrated I/O on the desk meant we could quickly swap it out for the existing house console, and I could just download my usual show file from the Vi6 on my USB key, with minimal adjustments."

Bars used 24 inputs plus four FX for the gig, and the Vi1 easily met all his demands. "I had to just tell everybody that the Vi6 has had a baby." reported Bars to Andy Brown, head of digital console strategy at Soundcraft Studer, who worked with Bars on the night.

The Vi1 has many of the fun

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USA - EAW has announced strategic partnerships with Lake, Lab.gruppen, and Powersoft whereby all manufacturers will integrate proprietary EAW DSP algorithms into a subset of their respective product lines. Additionally, in Q3, 2010, Lake, Lab.gruppen, and Powersoft will announce separate agreements expanding the partnership to enable EAW to sell a selection of their respective product lines as components in EAW system sales.

"At the onset, the integration of EAW's lauded DSP, most notably Focusing, will ensure seamless integration and optimum performance of EAW loudspeaker systems matched with Lake Processors, Lab.gruppen Powered Loudspeaker Management (PLM) systems, and Powersoft amplifiers," commented Jeffrey Cox, Loud Technologies' Pro Audio Group VP. "And once the sales component of the partnership is implemented, EAW will proudly offer a range of amplifier so

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UK - Following on from the recent successful Avitas seminar on BS 7909 'Code of practice for temporary electrical systems for entertainment and related purposes', the industry training organisation has added Tuesday 13 July to its programme in order to meet the demand from the industry.

Hosted by White Light in London, the seminar gives delegates a good understanding of how the Code of Practice should be used with the IET Wiring Requirements to provide safe electrical environments at events. According to White Light's head of production, Stuart Crane, "The BS7909 course proved to be a very useful day for me and my team. As well as confirming existing knowledge, it also proved to be very thought provoking and has made us look in greater detail at the way we design and install event distribution systems and the management of those systems whilst on site."

The seminar t

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USA - Entertainment lighting, effects, and sound equipment manufacturers are invited to supply product for this year's Connectivity Pavilion at LDI 2010, to be held at the Las Vegas Convention Centre, 22-24 October in Las Vegas.

The organisers are looking for controllers, monitoring equipment, signal distribution devices, luminaires, accessories, and other devices that use the American National Standards developed by ESTA's Control Protocols Working Group, particularly ANSI E1.11, E1.17, E1.20, and E1.31, otherwise known by their acronyms DMX512-A, ACN, RDM, and sACN (streaming DMX-type data using ACN) respectively. The devices will be shown working together as part of a multi-protocol network to show the utility and compatibility of the protocols.

The Connectivity Pavilion at LDI 2010 will be a 10ft by 30ft space across from the ESTA/World ETF booth. The Pavilion provides a d

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Israel - Better Place electric vehicle (EV) services provider has recently opened its first electric vehicle demonstration centre in Israel, which, as a symbolic gesture, was constructed inside an old oil tank located in one of Israel's last remaining gasoline storage and distribution facilities.

The visitor centre concept was developed, designed and produced by Promarket. Protech Integration, an Israel-based AV integration company, designed, made, installed and programmed the entire multimedia and control system of the Better Place centre. Protech selected Medialon Manager Show and Media Control software to be the main AV controller of the Centre.

The Visitor Centre offers the public to come and familiarise themselves with all the aspects of the Better Place solution: a fully electric, battery-powered car and comprehensive infrastructure that includes charge spots and a batte

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UK Stage Technologies was a sponsor of the International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conferences (ITEAC) in 2002 and 2006 and is returning as the sole platinum sponsor of this key quadrennial event in 2010.

The conference, which returns to the UK from 13-15 June, is in a new location at the Central Hall Westminster, London. The programme includes around 30 presentations and moderated debates in a structure that allows delegates to attend up to 10 sessions and the 2010 theme is ensuring that performing arts buildings are fit for purpose now, and in the future.

Session topics include stage engineering standards, power flying operation, the principles of stage engineering and technical planning, as well as sessions on lighting and auditorium design.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Orbital Sound reports that HME digital wireless intercom systems - exclusively distributed by Orbital to the UK professional audio market - are being deployed by Leicester Royal Infirmary, for medical training communications within its simulation facility. Orbital has supplied Leicester's Clinical Skills Unit with 10 intercom sets, comprising HME100 base stations and headsets, to aid team communications during training scenarios.

The simulation training facilities at Leicester utilise military-specification mannequins, which are controlled wirelessly and enable realistic monitoring of parameters such as blood pressure, heart rate and lung condition, and even allow blood samples to be taken. Life-size, and of realistic weight, they enable skill and confidence levels to be tested under close to real world conditions, along with the ability to arrive at the correct diagnosis u

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UK - Bandit Lites reports "an extraordinary start to 2010 in Europe, delivering services to some of the world's leading artist and designers".

Designer Vince Foster and production manager Julian Marks called upon Bandit to Illuminate the FA Carling Cup Finals.

Designer Greg Hamm along with tour manager Bill Thompson and production manager Peter Edmonds again tapped Bandit to provide touring lighting needs for the always sold out Elvis The Concert.

Ronan Keating put on his ever typical over the top extravaganza with designer Hunter Frith. Ian Whitehead of Production North produced the entire event. The tour manager was Paul Bultitude.

Designer Pat Marks continued his long relationship with Bandit using them again on the Status Quo tour for which production manager Glen Smith was ably assisted by stage manager Lloyd Gilbert.

The British Open Show Jumping C

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South Africa - UK-based Summit Steel were called in to provide specialist rigging services for the installation of a spectacular sculpture made from nearly 3000 footballs, installed into the atrium of the Carlton Centre shopping mall in downtown Johannesburg.

'Ballman' as he has become dubbed, is a World Cup project for sportswear brand Nike. He is comprised from 537 x 2 mm steel wire rope drops each containing specific numbers of balls.

The atrium of the Carlton Centre is being used as a Nike event and exhibition space for the duration of the tournament. Summit was initially approached by structural engineers, Leeds based Ratcliff Fowler Design, who designed the sculpture for Nike, and then needed some serious rigging expertise for the very intricate installation.

Prior to being sea freighted to South Africa, a complete Ballman test-build took place at Magna, the Science Ad

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China / Belgium - At a highly successful PALME Expo 2010 in Beijing, ADB Lighting announced the appointment of RACPRO (Rightway Audio Consultants) as its distributor for the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong and Macau with immediate effect. The move follows ADB's recent opening of its new ADB Asia office in Hong Kong, headed by Bertrand Dauphant.

RACPRO, headed by managing director Danny Lau, has put in place a specific lighting team and a technical lighting department headed by Mr Patrick Wong, also an entertainment lighting specialist for over 15 years with deep industry knowledge. The RACPRO team has received full sales and technical training at ADB's head office in Belgium and is fully equipped to serve both existing and new customers.

ADB Lighting CEO Christian Léonard commented, "We are delighted to have the expertise and market knowledge of RACPRO headin

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USA/Finland - As Oasis of the Seas sailed out of a Finnish shipyard, the luxuriously outfitted flagship of Royal Caribbean International went straight into the record books as the largest and most expensive passenger vessel ever built - weighing more than 225,000 gross registered tons and costing $1.5bn.

Oasis of the Seas also sets a new record for the largest ocean-going Meyer Sound systems. Three complex Matrix3 audio show control systems are installed, along with a total of 268 loudspeakers that include Meyer Sound's most compact subwoofer, custom designed to meet the stringent space requirements on the cruise ship.

Responsibility for the detailed design, integration, and installation of the AV systems was contracted to FUNA International. "This was like building a full-scale Las Vegas hotel-casino or themed resort inside a ship," says Derek Warner,

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World - For Michael Bublé's Crazy Love world tour, monitor engineer Craig Brittain is employing a DiGiCo SD7 console.

"I switched to a DiGiCo D5 at the beginning of our last tour, two and a half years ago. I fell in love with the sound, the versatility and flexibility of it," says Brittain. "At the time I happened to catch a glimpse of the then-unlaunched SD7 under lock and key in a back room at DiGiCo. So when audio company Solotech suggested purchasing one for me to use on this tour, the decision was a no-brainer."

The show's monitor setup is complex, with 90 inputs and close to 60 outputs. "We have an intricate talkback system, click tracks and various other things, which pushes up the count," says Brittain. "With that number, there's no other console which can even come close.

"But it's not just the channel count, I t

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USA - The 2010 Tony Awards were announced in New York City last night, with the Donmar Warehouse's production of Red leading the pack with six awards - more than any other single play or musical production. Red won best new play, best director (Michael Grandage - artistic director of the Donmar) and best featured actor in a play (Eddie Redmayne). Other members of Red's British creative team also came out on top, with Christopher Oram winning for best scenic design, Neil Austin for best lighting design of a play and Adam Cork for best sound design of a play. Austin, who earlier in the month won the Drama Desk award for his work on the same show, was actually nominated twice in the category, the second nomination for the Donmar Warehouse's Hamlet.

The musical La Cage Aux Folles, which began life at the Menier Chocolate Factory in Southwark, south

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UK / Poland - During the last month Ohm has completed a series of successful road tests of the new Ersa Major line array.

Over the May bank holiday weekend in England, Ersa Major was used at Premier League Stoke City's Player of the Year event in the Britannia Stadium which was an enjoyable and successful experience for thousands of supporters.

The sound system comprised of 16 Ersa Major mid/high cabinets and 12 PUKK-218 subs, amplified with Ohm CFU amplifiers. Witnessed by a number of Ohm's worldwide distributors and sound production companies the 68,000 watt system gave" a completely even sound coverage and excellent clarity, exceeding everyone's expectations".

At the same time in Poland the ERsa Major was also getting good results in a series of concerts with many top international acts, including ex-Genesis guitarist Ray Wilson and leading Polish band LZ

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UK - Prolyte is a Gold Sponsor of the International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference (ITEAC) currently being staged in London.

Promoted at the event, Prolyte Theatre Products is a strategic alliance of partners Prolyte Products Group, Silicon Theatre Scenery and Silk Production Design, focusing on the theatre market.

"We have valuable know-how to offer to this audience of architects, consultants, installers and theatre professionals; not to lecture, but to add to and share with the already existing knowledge. This conference offers a special mutual leaning opportunity for the benefit of our customers and end-users" states Michiel van der Zijde, product manager for Prolyte Theatre Products.

The presence of Prolyte Theatre Products as Gold Sponsor at the ITEAC is supported by a team of sales and technical representatives who will be attending the confe

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USA - The deadline for nominations for the third annual ESTA Rock Our World Awards is 1 July 2010. The awards 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.

The awards are an outstanding marketing and promotional opportunity for nominees and winners. Finalists and winners are featured in Protocol, multiple press releases distributed to industry media, on the ESTA website, and at the LDI show and ESTA Dinner.

Contestants for the 2009 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. Pro

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UK - Musician and producer Mr Hudson has just completed a successful headline UK May tour and is now the support for Jay Z on his sold out arena shows, before performing at a selection of festivals including Isle of Wight and Wireless.

His monitor equipment already featured a Sennheiser G2 in ear system, which, says monitor engineer and stage manager Jimmy Nicholson, are an industry standard. But when Nicholson started working with Mr Hudson in April of this year, his familiarity with the company's equipment prompted the addition of Sennheiser microphones to the audio inventory.

"We are using a combination of G3 and G2 935 mics, and G2 IEM systems. In addition, I'm using a Net-1 and a laptop running Wireless Systems Manager," says NIcholson.

"I specified all the equipment in use except the IEM systems, which Mr Hudson already owned - in the absence of the G3 o

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South Africa - Johannesburg- based DWR Distribution has hosted the first Philips Vari-Lite technical training sessions in South Africa, a five-day intensive course led by Vari-Lite's technical trainer Todd Kessler from Dallas, USA.

The course saw 11 people become certified Vari-Lite technicians, including five from DWR, whose Duncan Riley organised the workshops following recent significant sales in the region, including to rental company, Gearhouse South Africa and the newly kitted out Supersport HD Studio at M-Net, where VLX Wash luminaires were supplied by AV Unlimited.

DWR has built its success and reputation on providing the very best service and technical support, so as soon as the sales were confirmed, it became essential to train up their own team. Says Riley, "We also realised that there was a demand for training from the companies who will be involved with using

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UK - An innovative lighting scheme based on a system used by American fire and rescue trucks will provide the finishing touch to the refurbishment of one of Edinburgh's most famous landmark buildings. The system, designed by Edinburgh-based lighting company Black Light, comprises 14 lamps that will illuminate the upper level and copper dome of the Usher Hall. The new lights will be hidden when not in use and will be deployed using a system of pneumatic masts like those used on the roofs of emergency vehicles in the USA.

"When we were handed this project we looked everywhere for the right technology and found the perfect solution in America. The air-powered mast system we've chosen has successfully established itself as a necessity in Fire Departments across the States," says Craig Collin, Black Light's technical manager. "Although we're using it in a slightly diff

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Indonesia - L-Acoustics' Indonesian representative Tri Tunggal Abadi has installed a Kudo line source system into the new Gerej Bethany Suko Manunggal, one of Indonesia's largest churches. Located in Surabaya, Jawa Timur, the church can accommodate gatherings of more than 3,000 people.

The system consist of two hangs each of 10 Kudo cabinets and four SB28 subwoofers, making this the first church installation in Indonesia to use Kudo with flown subs. Three 12XT coaxials are used for front-fill, with two 112P for the pastor's monitor system and two 108Ps as stereo keyboard monitors. The system is driven by one LA4 and 12 LA8 amplified controllers.

During the installation phase, Tri Tunggal Abadi carried out extensive acoustic treatment to absorb and diffuse two long, parallel reflective walls, which were causing much reverberation in the room. Germain Simon and Cedric Montresor

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China - Hong Kong's Ocean Park reports that 3m visitors have ridden Ocean Express in the first 10 months.

Theme park design company, Sarner, was responsible for the creative and technical implementation of Ocean Express, which is a fully immersive show that has already captivated and visitors whilst transporting them from the Waterfront to the Summit at Hong Kong's Ocean Park.

Once guests embark the submarine-like carriages, they are 'transported' below sea level and fully 'submerged' deep into the Ocean thanks to underwater visuals and cleverly created programming from Sarner's technical team who made use of sophisticated audiovisual technology, animation and surround audio effects. The mesmerising visuals are viewed on 42 ceiling mounted Samsung LCD screens which look like windows into a colourful and true-to-life underwater world.

Although the passengers fee

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China - Global Infusion Group (GIG) are now fully Licensed and operational in Shanghai, China. Following five years of research, which included two years of negotiations and 6 months of design and build, their new catering kitchen and restaurant was approved by the Chinese authorities last week and opened for business.

The GC Brasserie, (taking its name from the initials of the German Centre where it is based in the Pudong region of Shanghai), is a beautifully designed modern interpretation of a traditional French Brasserie.

Whilst the 100 cover restaurant with its adjoining BBQ and Beer Garden is serviced by its own dedicated kitchen, the impressive facilities extend a further 400sq.m, built to the latest catering requirement under Chinese law. Already these facilities have been put to work with clients queuing up for the outside catering services offered by GIG Asia. Already

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