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UK - ALD, STLD and Clay Paky have announced the nominations for the 3rd Knights of Illumination lighting design awards. The awards will be held on the evening of Sunday 12 September 2010 at the IBIS Hotel London Earls Court.

The awards will provide public recognition for outstanding achievements in lighting design by UK based lighting designers, in a number of professional areas. At the same time, these awards will forge closer ties between the world of lighting design and the lighting Industry as a whole.

The awards for The Knight of the Illumination are nominated and judged by a panel of professional reviewers working in the specific categories, selected and coordinated entirely by STLD and ALD.

Television nominations

Light Entertainment

Mark Smithers for Mission 2110

Martin Kempton for Who Dares Wins

Lee Allen for Blue

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The Netherlands - Last month, the Ms Nieuw Amsterdam was launched from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard in Venice. It is the fourth Nieuw Amsterdam from Holland America, with the first dating back to 1906. With a capacity of 1380 passengers at a length of 780 feet (238 metres), the luxury cruise ship celebrates the glamour and history of New York City (formerly called New Amsterdam). The ship is also home to five Broadway-style shows, with lighting design and pre-programming completed in wysiwyg R25.

Four new shows debuted at the maiden launch: Avalon, Cantare, It Takes Two and NYC. Another show on board is Garage Band, which is a re-run of a show that was debuted on the Ms Oosterdam last year.

The creative team for all five shows (which will run for approximately five years) includes show director John Charron at the helm

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UK - St Georges Centre in Medway, southern England, has recently seen a substantial digital audio system installation designed to transform its usability, following a new licence agreement for shared use between Canterbury Christ Church University and Medway Council.

The venue, a listed building on the south side of the Thames Estuary that serves as a Victorian Maritime Museum and church, can now be used for conference, teaching, examinations and music, with Medway Council in particular employing its conferencing facilities for presentations and their larger congress meetings.

The building was originally dedicated by the Lord Bishop of Rochester, as St George's Church in December 1906, serving the needs of the Royal Navy Pembroke Barracks until the Navy's departure in 1984. Its name was then changed to St George's Centre and its doors opened to the public for the first time, r

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USA - Electronic Design Company (EDC) installed the audio system at the new TCF Bank Stadium, home to the University of Minnesota's Golden Gophers NCAA football team. Designed by WJHW, the system features JBL VLA line array loudspeakers as part of the main PA system in the west end zone of the stadium.

The opening of TCF Bank Stadium was part of an expansion to the University of Minnesota's main campus, which is expected to include an additional 10 new academic buildings by 2015. As a member of the Big 10, one of college football's most competitive conferences, TCF Bank Stadium was designed to provide fans with an experience on par with some of the country's largest football stadiums. At the same time, TCF Bank Stadium is designed for purposes beyond football, and while it currently features a capacity of 50,805, it can support future expansion to up to 80,000 people.

To withs

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Germany - Uwe Senfftleben, based in Magdeburg and a long-time K.M.E. customer, has invested in a K.M.E. Pano Line Array System. He used the system for the first time at Rock am Denkmal (Rock at the Monument) in Hötensleben near Magdeburg.

Headliner of this year's festival was the German rock band Torfrock. Further acts included Bryan (a Bryan Adams cover band), Premium Flavour and NorFolk.

The arrays consisted of QL 906 line source units and QL 1215 down-fills. The subs QCB 318 delivered silence behind the stage and powerful rock sound in front of the stage due to the cardioid set-up. The amplification of the line source units was through DA 428 digital amplifiers.

Uwe Senfftleben comments, "The set-up of the system is very simple, the light-weight four-channel digital amplifiers reduce transport and cabling work considerably. On the internal memory you can save

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Vietnam - Robert Bosch (SEA) Pte Ltd has appointed VISCO Joint Stock Company as its authorised Value Added Reseller for Electro-Voice in Vietnam amongst other Bosch Security, Safety and Communication Technology Products. The appointment was announced during the PALME Vietnam 2010 exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City in July.

VISCO is a total solution provider for Communications & Security System, Traffic Safety, and Storage solution for enterprise. Headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, with branch offices in Ha Noi and Da Nang, the company has an exceptional track record of successfully completing sophisticated projects in Vietnam.

David Chua, general manager of VISCO Joint Stock commented on the importance of having Electro-Voice joining their products portfolio: "It is important firstly because we have been a Bosch partner for many, many years in representing their range of extr

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UK - Chappell of Bond Street has become the latest leading retailer to open a dedicated Yamaha Pulse Zone showcasing the e range of music production products and services.

The Chappell facility, located in central Soho, now takes the number of Pulse Zones nationwide to five. They offer "a combination of highly trained staff, a comprehensive events programme and, extensive product displays covering the entire Yamaha Music Production portfolio".

Finian Day-Lewis, manager of the Pulse Zone, comments, "The Pulse Zone at our Wardour Street showroom brings an entirely new dimension to London's most beautiful music shop. This new space provides the perfect environment to try, and buy Yamaha's Music Production products."

(Jim Evans)

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Europe - Faithless are embarked the European leg of a world tour, with twin Midas PRO6 FOH systems flip-flopping across the band's busy summer schedule.

With a relentless touring schedule crossing back and forth across Europe from early April, the band's long-term front of house engineer Mark Kennedy is manning one of two PRO6s from Britannia Row, while the other travels to the next venue with the rest of the system.

Kennedy first used the PRO6 in anger during band rehearsals, using the day's recordings to work on settings after the band had left. With drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion and two backing vocalists, plus the two main vocalists and sequencer, the board's 64 channels were quickly put to use.

"I'm using 56 inputs plus eight returns, so the board is maxed out," he says. "I'm also using all the onboard FX, and I'm very happy with the sounds I'

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Cyprus - Adamson Systems has confirmed the latest addition to its European distribution network - ProSonic Audio-Lights in Cyprus.

ProSonic represents a new live sound division of PanaSound's group of companies. Alongside Adamson, its line card includes Allen & Heath, Shure & T&M Systems. PanaSound. which was established in 1931, also offers lighting and its own retail MI shops.

ProSound has grown to include eight employees within its first year serving all pro markets including corporate, governmental, touring and installations. Director & technical support engineer Christos Chrysanthou first heard the Adamson Y10 system while touring Greece, and later looked upon the possibilities of acquiring the brand to satisfy its most demanding customers and projects.

Christos Chrysanthou, Adamson's brand manager comments, "The rumours have spread on the island about ProSonic's d

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UK - Lighting manufacturer GLP reports that it has been one of the founding contributors to the new touring research Moving Arts: Managing the carbon impacts of our touring, published by the UK-based environmental organisation for the creative industries, Julie's Bicycle.

The three volume report which measures the impacts of touring and presents practical solutions to help cut touring emissions is the first of its kind and was recently unveiled at an industry gathering at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The research includes analysis of over 30 tour legs across the globe, and discussion of a number of case studies and 'hot topics' such as biofuels and offsets. The document also tackles some of the perceived barriers head on and identifies a number of priority recommendations aimed at those responsible for all aspects of a tour.

Being an integral part of every touring

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UK - The newly formed Peavey Commercial Audio (PCA) division of Peavey Electronics has announced a PCA Open Day at Peavey HQ in Corby on Tuesday 28 September 2010.

The Open Day represents an opportunity for both existing and potential clients and end users interested in PCA products - namely from MediaMatrix, Crest Audio and Architectural Acoustics - to come along and find out more about the technologies and the products available, and to meet the PCA team.

There will be a number of presentations and discussions concerning current product lines, system integration and strategies for the future, hosted by several members of the PCA team. The session will be held from 10am-3pm and includes a complimentary buffet lunch.

According to PCA operations manager, James Kennedy, the Open Day is just the beginning of what will be a whole new programme of training and education put on by

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UK - Adding to Soundcraft's growing roster of PA companies adopting its Vi digital platform, is long-serving Southampton-based RPA Sound. Experienced FOH engineer Ian Grove, who set the company up 22 years ago, has placed his first order for a Vi6, with Soundcraft's UK distributors, Sound Technology.

RPA's touring commitments today take them worldwide, and fresh back from an event in Vladivostok, RPA's MD said, "We run an inventory of industry-standard equipment, and having seen how popular the Soundcraft Vi6 is on the continent, and the large number of engineers who use it, I took the decision to invest. I have always been knocked out by the sound quality and ease of use since first coming across it on a show in Austria three years ago."

Having placed the order, Sound Technology responded by sending Sam Brandon, from its Project Team, to run through features of the

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UK - Rental company Adlib Audio has become the latest member of the L-Acoustics K1/Kudo Pilot Programme, joining a number of international PA companies to field-testing the system in collaborate with the L-Acoustics R&D team.

The Liverpool-based company, which owns existing V-Dosc and dV-Dosc systems, has invested in the standard K1 package: 48 K1 large format line source cabinets, 24 K1-SB subwoofers and an additional 36 Kudo cabinets. Adlib has also purchased additional SB28s, LA8 amplified controllers and LA-RAK touring racks for its hire stock.

"We continually invest in the development of our inventory and pride ourselves on the service that we provide and the presentation of equipment," says Adlib director Dave Kay. "Investing in the K1 seemed like a logical decision. L-Acoustics has a great team of people and is a great company to work with.

"As one

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UK - The Lyttelton Theatre's hydraulic lifts were installed around 30 years ago and have given the theatre a great many years of reliable service. However, when The White Guard was staged earlier this year, the National's systems engineering team found themselves in a quandary. The show required that they synchronise all three lifts and they found that the existing system simply didn't have the required functionality.

Guy Kendall, head of electronic systems at the National was responsible for finding a solution. The brief was simple: provide a new control system for the three lifts and the main stage wagon to enable synchronous motion.

"Once we had the brief from the designer we knew that the existing systems could not provide the functionality required,' explains Kendall. "So we contacted Stage Technologies with a seemingly impossible challenge. They had to

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UK - AV specialist Media Powerhouse celebrated its third birthday on 7 July with a series of Open Days to demonstrate its technical solutions using a dedicated stage at Elstree Film Studios.

With live productions of music videos, Dr. Who, Big Brotherand CBBC's The Slammer taking place in neighbouring studios, Media Powerhouse showcased its Image Ultra widescreen graphics system, the semi transparent LED wall Mirage 40, two portable production units and the latest in 3D projection technologies.

Using industry standard software, Media Powerhouse has the capabilities to embed HD images for partial or full screen display and seamlessly integrate live video feeds to bring any imagery on screen to life, says the company. Most recently deployed at Management World 2010 in Nice, one of the world's largest telecommunications conferences, the multi output Ima

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UK - Light Tape proved to be a hit when used at the recent Farnborough Air Show on the floor and walls of the BAE pavilion. The simple, geometric design created using Light Tape ran from a central, interactive, touch screen console in all directions throughout the main exhibition pavilion to the various displays of defence equipment, and as part of the lighting effects in the entrance to the registration area.

The overall effect provided not only logical linking of the various exhibits, this could have been done using a white self adhesive tape on the floor, but by using Light Tape as the directional indicator the resulting effect added a whole new dimension to the overall exhibit, says the manufacturer.

The floor, which is usually seen as just something you walk on, came alive and became as much a part of the overall design of the room as the accompanying pictured canvases us

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Switzerland - The opera house in Zurich has installed a new communications system from Riedel Communications. Riedel delivered a flexible system combining Artist digital matrix intercom and Performer partyline technology.

At the heart of the installation at the opera house is a Riedel Artist 64 digital matrix intercom system. Due to its redundant power supplies and CPUs the installation provides maximum system stability. A total of 11 Artist 1000 control panels are used.

A C44 Performer digital partyline system interface provides the seamless integration of 10 Performer beltpacks. Riedel Performer combines the flexibility of traditional partyline technology with digital audio quality and provides excellent quality of speech transmission.

"For our communications infrastructure we needed an installation that we could absolutely rely on in terms of stability and flexibilit

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Germany - With the completion of Lawo's new production facilities, consoles from Innovason, the French manufacturer of digital live systems, will be assembled at the Lawo factory from July 2010. Relocating the final assembly of Eclipse consoles to Rastatt, Germany, is Innovason's response to the growing demand for its latest console, says the company.

According to Innovason's product manager and customer service director, Hervé de Caro, the move offers significant benefits to Innovason customers. "With the increased demand for Eclipse, we had reached the limits of our manufacturing capabilities at our own premises in Plougoumelen. The move to Rastatt will significantly increase both the speed and efficiency of the production process. We will also be able to take advantage of the fact that Lawo actually manufactures many of its own components, which are naturally of t

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UK / Spain - SES Entertainment Services, the UK's leading manufacturer of power distro, has appointed Bofill & Asociades in Madrid as the sole distributor for its products in Spain, the Canary Islands and the Balearics. Gordon Cooper of SES commented: "Having worked with Bofill in the past, we realised that there was great potential in appointing them as our distributor, and this has already been proven by way of a steady influx of orders and some very big enquiries for our range of permanent panels. The team at Bofill understand the market and already have a good portfolio of clients and other manufacturers, and we are very pleased to be able to sign this deal."

(Lee Baldock)

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On The Fringe - The Edinburgh Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world, has begun its three-week run in Scotland's capital. More than 21,000 performers will take part in 2,453 shows at about 250 venues across the city and beyond. Organisers are hoping to build on the 'staycation' success of last year's box office record 1.8m tickets sold. It is the 64th time the city has hosted what Fringe chief executive Kath Mainland calls the "greatest show on earth".

Mainland said ticket sales were strong and she was looking forward to a "successful" festival. She added, "We live in uncertain times. I think the thing about the Fringe is that it is an entirely open access arts festival. We don't decide who should take part in it. We don't decide how big it should be. We don't decide what the make-up should be. It will be interesting to see how it responds

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UK - Belfast-based Production Services Ireland (PSI) supplied lighting for the two main venues of the 2010 West Belfast Festival (August Feile) which is Ireland's biggest community festival.

This followed on from PSI's work for organisers Féile an Phobail for their Spring Festival and Comedy Festivals earlier in the year. PSI's Sean Pagel says, "It was a great pleasure to work on this event and come onboard right at the start. This gave us the chance to demonstrate how investment in production values can really enhance the look and feel of an event."

PSI designed and supplied lighting for The Marquee in Bank Square in central Belfast and for all the action taking place in Andersonstown Leisure Centre as well as for a selection of other one off venues including schools, community centres, youth clubs and a monastery.

The physical challenges of installi

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USA - The largest Optocore single ring network ever installed is currently in use in the Cirque du Soleil's Viva ELVIS production at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

Optocore's president, Marc Brunke, and North American director, Bill Coons, originally demonstrated the Optocore system to Cirque du Soleil sound designer Jonathan Deans and Matthew Ezold, Auerbach Pollock Friedlander's audio video systems consultant for Viva ELVIS. Based on feedback given during the demonstration, Optocore accelerated development of a server-based topology allowing simultaneous control from multiple client operators. As a result, "Optocore's flexibility and control options allowed us to consolidate multiple primary and backup switching matrices into a single routing engine," said Ezold

"We're the first to use client-servers," says the show's assistant head

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UK - Network Rail, which runs, develops and maintains rail tracks, signaling and other infrastructure such as tunnels and bridges - together with18 of the country's biggest and busiest stations - has chosen fire telephones and induction loop systems produced by Current Thinking for inclusion in its St Pancras Thameslink Box project.

Many rail stations on the East Coast Main line are already equipped with fire telephones and induction loop systems produced at Current Thinking's Sunderland factory and managing director Tony Smith says Network Rail's (PADS) endorsement follows installation of its products at St Pancras International, as well as Stratford, Ebsfleet and Ashford International stations.

He explains, "We're delighted to have received this recognition from such an important organisation as Network Rail. In fact our equipment is already in use in many different sit

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UK - If you are an acoustic consultant, facilities manager, architect or anyone involved in the manufacture, specification or installation of voice alarm systems, you will have heard of EN54 part 16, the new European standard covering voice alarm systems, including control and indicating equipment (VACIE), along with amplifiers, processors and similar hardware, and EN54 Part 24, which covers loudspeakers.

Its introduction is causing headaches - and considerable expense - for the UK and European manufacturing sector. The UK is one of only three of the EU's 27 member states where EN54 is yet to become law, but that will change in April 2011.

The complexity of the EN54 regulations, and the demands it places on manufacturers for testing, are onerous, especially in systems incorporating equipment from different manufacturers.

The situation is not improved by widespread uncertaint

  1. Electro-Voice in the Byscenen in Trondheim
  2. Stage Electrics flat out in Bristol
  3. Cryo-Fog for English National Ballet
  4. Yamaha controls Herbalife extravaganzas
  5. D.A.S. Audio pumps up Beerfest Asia 2010
  6. Herwin on the case in Hertfordshire
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