UK - Fusion is the latest destination restaurant/lounge bar/club venue to open in Northampton, and has been an instant success with its blend of accessible international cuisine, elegant interior design and cool energy-efficient lighting.

Owners Rochmills initially approached the UK office of LED brand Anolis when they were looking for environmentally-friendly, low maintenance interior and exterior lighting schemes for this new-build project. Anolis had come highly recommended to them, and, explains Anolis's Scott Callis, "They in turn have the foresight to consider green issues and be prepared to invest money now to save in the long term."

The brief then expanded to include lighting for the downstairs VIP lounge and after-party area, which was designed by Nathan Wan of Robe UK.

A basic scheme had already been suggested for the outdoor elements, so that was followe

UK - Llanelli-based Vaughan Sound Installations (VSI), part of the PAI Group, has installed and integrated new sound, lighting, video and control elements for The Pierhead in Cardiff Bay, transforming the main room of the Grade One listed building of the National Assembly for Wales into a multi functional space.

It is one of the city of Cardiff's most familiar landmarks, originally built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company.

The venue's main hall can now be run as an interactive visitor attraction or utilised for numerous events and functions. VSI worked to a technical specification originated by theatre consultant Paul Covell, adding their own expertise and specialist knowledge.

The new installation includes a projection system that shows a seven-minute video biography detailing the history of the Pierhead. This combines various archival and current materia

UK - Over 25,000 spectators have been treated to a spectacular new event hitting summer's social calendar. Mint Polo in the Park brought the sport of royals to London's Hurlingham Park over three days this month, with a new format to the game making for a faster and more exciting experience for TV and event spectators.

Eight teams of three players, a smaller pitch, no changing of ends after each goal, point incentives for long shots on goal, hard plastic balls to give players more length to their shots and full match video coverage with live competitor commentary have updated the glamorous game of Polo to make the sport faster and harder in a similar way to how Twenty20 has changed the game of cricket.

Contracted by World Polo Ltd., Dimension Audio provided full audio facilities for the three day event. Control and playback in the form of LS9-16 and Instant Repla

UK - Lighting, control and dimming manufacturer ETC reports an enthusiastic response to their new and updated products at this year's ABTT show in London.

In addition to showing the latest software versions of the company's lighting control desk range, the company were showing the latest portable dimming from the Smart Solutions range and the new additions to award winning Selador series of LED fixtures.

Mark White, ETC's regional manager for UK and Ireland, said, "The signs of economic uplift continue; many of the initial enquiries we received last year are turning into firm orders, and this was reflected in the amount of interest in many of the products on the ETC stand."

The new Selador Vivid Fire and Ice attracted considerable interest. "We set up a brightly dressed mannequin, to demonstrate what happens when Selador lights colours, then compared it to the

USA - DNP Denmark showcased a suite of innovative media solutions at InfoComm 2010. All received an extremely enthusiastic reception, and according to S°ren Kræmmergaard, dnp denmark's global sales manager, these successes were in context with the show - which he felt had firmly turned the corner.

"The AV industry in the US seems to be on the right track again after the global economical tsunami," he stated. "While dnp denmark has weathered the global crisis well, the US market in particular has been badly affected - but now we are glad to see that things are changing."

dnp denmark themselves recorded a doubling of visitors attending their booth compared with the previous year. "As a result we can now look forward to the massive process of following up the many progressive discussions with our partners and customers," remarked Kræmmergaard.<

UK - The ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians) reports another successful new product Awards ceremony staged at its annual ABTT Theatre Show.

This year the competition for the coveted Hook Clamp Trophies was as strong as ever, with a host of companies entered across five key categories, which represent the spectrum of the industry. The Awards continue to set a precedent, highlighting the spectrum of products and services for the theatre production and staging market. The winners of the Awards were:

Best New Lighting Product: White Light scooped the Award for best new lighting product with its Prism Reveal, which was chosen by the judges for its flat field, colour correcting ability and overall efficiency. The nominees in this category included: Robin 300 Plasma Spot from Robe; the Gekko Kezia LED Spot Lamp from PRG and the Cyclo LED Panel from Showtex.

Italy - Despite the financial constraints that most companies are finding themselves in at the moment, many different types of venues are investing in Yamaha audio solutions, just one of which is Sicily's Mambo Wine Bar, the company reports.

Located in the Isola delle Femmine province of Palermo, Mambo Wine Bar combines sophisticated internal décor with stunning views of the island's dramatic north coast. Enhancing the ambience is a Yamaha audio system, which is also giving the venue a significant audio advantage over a neighbouring club.

The bar's owners wanted a high specification audio system whose quality would be the perfect complement both the high quality surroundings and exquisite coastal views. Having examined a number of different options, they chose the Yamaha system proposed by design and Palermo-based installation company Decibel Pro.

"The Yamaha sys

Sounds Of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel's planned tour of North America has been "postponed indefinitely" because Art Garfunkel has a condition affecting his voice. He is recovering from a vocal paresis which "inhibits the duo from performing shows" to their normal standard, a statement on their website said. The tour had already been postponed from April to July.

"According to his doctors, Art is expected to make a full recovery. However, they cannot predict an exact timeline," a statement said. Garfunkel added: "I do feel bad about disrupting so many people's plans but, as I continue to mend, I can't yet bring my A-game to a tour, and I would not perform for you with anything less."

In The Sale Room - John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to Beatles song A Day In The Life have sold for $1.2m (£810,000) at auction, well a

China - Christie has announced the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Shenzhen to meet the growing global demand for digital cinema projectors to screen 2D and 3D movies.

The new facility will significantly expand the company's production capabilities, with the Christie SolariaT projectors scheduled to roll off the assembly line in July. Production will begin with the Christie CP2220 and the Christie CP2210, with the Christie CP2230 to follow. The Shenzhen factory will initially feed the Asia Pacific market, freeing up capacity at Christie's North American plant to increase supply to the rest of the world.

"Assembly in China opens up significant new opportunities and shipping flexibility for Christie that will allow us to better serve all our customers around the world," observed Ihor Stech, Christie's vice-president of operations. "It is the ideal locat

UK - Bose is to exhibit at this year's PLASA exhibition for the first time in a decade. The decision was taken as the company's Professional Systems Division pushes forward with plans to work more closely with consultants and integrators on a series of prestigious projects.

Bose Pro divisional manager, Simon Holley, says, "It's been several years since Bose last exhibited at PLASA, but we feel that the time is right to demonstrate our commitment to the pro audio market. We have some exciting new products in the developmental stage, so this year is all about connecting with new contacts and building on existing relationships to create a strong foundation from which to move forward. We are delighted to join so many strong brands at what should be a tremendous show."

Bose will be fielding a strong side at the show, with representatives from both the technical and sales

UAE - The first ever Middle East world premiere by a Japanese auto manufacturer took place recently at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, when the Nissan Patrol 2010 SUV made its global debut in GCC.

The event was managed by MIA Agency, a Dubai based events management company, with TechnoPro, the distributor for PR Lighting, supplying and installing the LED screens, video, audio, lighting fixtures, staging and trussing.

To create the dynamic they used 24 each of PR Lighting's XL1200 Spot and Wash moving lights, and 32 XLED 590 (LED spots). The XLED 590 moving yoke colour-wash LED fixture in particularly impressive as with 90 Osram Diamond Dragon 5W LEDs (30 red, 30 blue and 30 green) it is one of the brightest in the market.

Patrol is Nissan's flagship SUV and enjoys a rich heritage - particularly in the Middle East, which dates back to the 1950's. As one of the first dedicat

Turkey - One of the most enigmatic of sweetmeats, there are just eight simple ingredients to make this most ancient of pleasures. Rosewater is essential and what gives it a flavour that resembles no other; Turkish Delight is quite simply unique. It transpires that Hakan Tamer, President of Display Sound and Light Systems in Istanbul, has a selection of ingredients too when creating his latest recipe.

"Since we took on the Distributorship for d&b audiotechnik it quickly became apparent we needed something special to tempt the appetite of our clients." That something was a new showroom and office premises, "But it needed some specific ingredients. It had to be easy to find and simple to reach; maybe not such a big deal in Paris or Singapore, but Istanbul has unbelievable traffic, there's almost no escape. So we managed to find a street that's not too crowded, a very

UK - Lighting for the current UK touring version of cult classic musical The Rocky Horror Show has been transferred to grandMA for control, with the tour, produced by the Ambassadors Theatre Group, carrying a grandMA light with a grandMA ultra-light for backup and two MA NSP (Network Signal Processors), supplied by lighting contractors White Light.

The lighting design is by Nick Richings and the programming was completed by Jim Beagley. The tour originally started in 2006. This current version has been out since 2009, when it started with another lighting console which was replaced shortly afterwards by the grandMA. Beagley explains, "We needed a reliable rock 'n' roll style touring desk onto which we could easily transfer the show and run in a similar fashion."

The programming for the transfer was done offline at White Light. Beagley took a DMX capture of the

Norway - Wireless Solution Sweden once again worked alongside the Eurovision technical production team to deliver the 56th Eurovision Song Contest in Norway. The show included three live broadcasts.

Lighting designer Al Gurdon used W-DMX for a special keylight ring built into the Technocrane and cameras in the Green Room to achieve specific lighting effects. The Technocrane ring light was operated by Gurdon himself while the Green Room camera ring lights were operated by Sveinung Solbrekke, lighting designer for the Green Room.

Production manager of design Ola Melzig said, "There's a very good reason that W-DMX is used for Eurovision - it works. You name it and it's at Eurovision: every kind of wireless and broadcast equipment, moving sets, thousands of fixtures and thousands of people. Wireless DMX is required for some aspect every year and we just won't take a chance wi

The Netherlands - With 18 bars and restaurants spread throughout the east of Holland, expanding operators, Oubaha Beheer BV, have retired their eight year old sound system at the 600-capacity, heavily themed Aspen Valley Enschede music bar in favour of a complete QSC system approach.

The Nijmegen-based operators had already adopted a QSC solution at the sister Aspen Valley Arnhem, but head of technology and maintenance, Gerwin van den Brink, has now gone a step further.

A long time user of QSC components, he was first introduced to the brand's amplifiers four years ago by Benelux distributors, AED. But now the Californian manufacturer has a complete set of audio tools he has been able to network Aspen Valley's three nautical concept bars (including a circular revolving bar) on a CobraNet backbone.

It was AED, who alerted van den Brink to the potential of this end-to-end solu

South Africa - Lighting sales and distribution company DWR has supplied over 400 LED fixtures for a new landmark, eco-friendly installation at the new HD hub of satellite channel, Supersport.

Located in M-NETs Studio 6, Randburg, Johannesburg, this is the first of its kind in South Africa, setting new technological standards with eight Philips Vari-Lite VLX Wash luminaires, plus over 400 Anolis LED units which are integrated into various set elements in a design by Michael Gill.

With sustainability a key issue, this whole elegant, highly versatile lighting rig can be run off two 15 amp plugs.

Gill, who collaborated closely with lighting designer Joshua Cutts of AV Unlimited to produce the original aesthetics, wanted "Something contemporary and totally different that utilised the best technology in the world".

The new studio was launched in time to broadcast compr

UK - Creative production supplier Hawthorn has announced its recent appointment as an approved supplier to the historic Royal Courts of Justice.

Hawthorn's general manager, Simon Wood, commented, "The Royal Courts of Justice is a stunning building which lends itself so well to events. We have worked at the Royal Courts of Justice many times in the past, so becoming an approved contractor was the logical next step for Hawthorn and we look forward to offering innovative solutions and to building a strong working relationship with the venue's events team."

"The quality of suppliers we have complements the first-class events we produce at the Royal Courts of Justice, most recently for Vivienne Westwood, Anish Kapoor and the British Fashion Council," said Royal Courts of Justice head of events for seasoned events, Gavin Marshall.

(Jim Evans)

Finland - L- Acoustics' Finnish distributor Starlike has supplied a new sound reinforcement system to the Old Student House, a multipurpose hall in the centre of Helsinki dating back to 1870.

The installation features five Kudo line source cabinets and an SB28 sub bass unit per side, with a 12XT coaxial providing centre-fill, driven by five LA8 amplified controllers.

As the venue is protected by the Finnish National board of Antiquities, any changes to the building or its structure were strictly forbidden. "My mission was to find a high quality system for this very demanding venue," says Old Student House sound engineer Sami Ahonen. "Any acoustic treatment is forbidden, and the stone walls and hard wood floor create a very powerful and long reverberation."

One of the venue's main requirement was to have an angle of horizontal coverage of 90° or less t

UK - Leona Lewis's new arena tour takes the concept of David Bowie's 1986 movie Labyrinth, bringing with it many set rotations (and four costume changes) during the heavily scenic show.

The production was conceived by a top team of creatives, with Alan MacDonald designing the set, Stufish's Nicoline Refsing the props - and the currently much in-demand Baz Halpin originating the lighting scheme (which was later carried forward by Nick Whitehouse).

All the lighting production (including 20 GLP impression 120RZ RGB LED Zooms) were supplied by Bandit Lites - and it was left to experienced LD Graham Feast to animate the set.

Having originally intended to use the impression heads to function on elliptical arms - similar to his design for the Alicia Keys 2010 Freedom Tour - a late concept change saw the lighting designer redeploy the GLP heads as floor effects.

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China - Returning late at night through whirling snow by the noted playwright Wu Zuguang is a magical story that has captivated Chinese audiences for over a century. It has run several times in the main theatres in the country such as the Beijing Opera and the Guangdong Opera, and it has also been broadcast on television. Now, to mark the 9th China Art Festival, the same story has been made into a ballet.

The Guangzhou Ballet has just finished its tour of over 100 performances in the most

important theatres in China.

The lighting designer of the event, Sun Tianwei chose to use the Infinity Spot XL by Coemar. Tianwei adopts a simple clean-cut style using black and white as the main colours: the key to the show is the emphasis on the spectacular effects of the ballet, the movements and forms of the bodies on stage.

The Infinity Spot XL meet all the requirements

UK / Germany - Optocore's new OptoRack environment - the plug and play fibre line system, co-developed by the German manufacturer and Wigwam Hire - has made its world debut on Leona Lewis's current Labyrinth tour.

Experienced FOH sound engineer (and long-term Wigwam affiliate) Kevin Pruce, said that the returns system, designed to provide a flexible solution to the technical restrictions which many hire / production companies face with Cat 5 cable systems, was functioning without a hitch.

"I enjoy working with new systems and know that Wigwam would never put anything out until they are 100% sure that it works," said the sound engineer. "Chris [Hill, Wigwam Hire director] decided it was time to find a solution to the problem of having to supply various different types of cable runs from FOH to stage, (AES, analogue and data). This system overcomes that, by

USA - Audio-Technica is a sponsor for the 15th Annual USA Songwriting Competition. This is the 11th year of Audio-Technica's involvement in the contest.

As part of the competition's prize packages, Audio-Technica has provided four AT4040 Cardioid Condenser Microphones, two ATM450 Cardioid Condenser Instrument Microphones, 10 ATH-M40fs Precision Studio Headphones, two AT2041SP Studio Microphone Packs and two ATM610 Hypercardioid Dynamic Handheld Microphones. The entry period recently ended 28 May 2010, and winners will be announced in November.

The USA Songwriting Competition is currently the longest-running consecutive-year songwriting competition. Last year's contest saw 34,900 entries from around the world. The competition has a proven track record in helping winners achieve recording contracts, publishing contracts and getting their music placed in film and television. Winn

USA - Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500 fixtures dazzled a complete sell-out crowd at the recent Ultra Music Festival - billed as 'The World's Premier Electronic Music Festival' held 26 and 27 March in Miami, Florida. The event won Best Music Event 2010 at the 25th Annual International Dance Music Awards, which celebrates the best dance records, CDs, DJs, website, producers, promoters and more.

AG Light & Sound supplied 24 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500 fixtures used by lighting designer Stephen Lieberman. The fixtures were spread over a 60m stage span. The fixtures that weren't under the protection of the main roof were covered with custom inflatable bubble domes. The rest of the stage was a towering back wall of high resolution video screens accompanied by lasers, fog machines and special effects to pulse with the high energy music. AG provided lighting and video for the mai

China/Switzerland - Chinese radio company Chongqing Broadcasting Group has placed an order for more than 20 Pyramix digital audio workstations with Merging Asia, the Chinese distributor for Pyramix's Swiss manufacturer, Merging Technologies.

The order is part of the broadcasting group's plan to move its eight radio stations to a new headquarters. In addition to the 16 DAWs required for live use on air (two for each station: one for live use, and one for back-up), a further six systems have been purchased to make recordings from the new headquarters' performance hall, and for use in the broadcaster's recording and post-production studios.

Weishen Xu, president of Merging Asia, comments, "The Chinese radio broadcast industry is entering a period of rapid change, and the new systems at Chongqing Broadcasting Group form a milestone installation, one offering a level of qualit

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