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UK - ETC has released dates of training sessions for the Congo, Eos, Ion and Element control desks at its innovative training theatre - The Playhouse at Gypsy Corner in west London. Only six or eight places are available for each course, with a maximum of two people per desk, so each student will get plenty of hands on use. All the courses are free and include lunch.

For full details of the courses, contact Kumiko Swash at uk@etcconnect.com or phone 020 8896 1000, or www.etcconnect.com/support.education.aspx.

Outside the UK, ETC's dealers and distributors all offer free training for users, with trained staff offering hands-on training at all levels. At the offices of Lights International in Greece, groups of four to five people were invited to a number of Eos training sessions and presentations over the course of three days. Sales and marketing manager Stefanos Kotatis says, &

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Mexico - Clay Paky's Alpha Beam 1500 was specifically requested for the recent Eros Ramazotti concert at the Teatro Telmex in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico. Supporting his new album, Ali e Radici (Wings and Roots), Ramazotti performed to a sold out crowd of over 11,000. Italian singer-songwriter Eros Ramazotti is an international superstar, with huge fan bases in Europe and most of the Spanish-speaking world, as he releases his albums in both Italian and Spanish.

Mexican rental company Luzmila supplied 30 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500 fixtures for the show - the first time they were used in Mexico and South America. Luzmila Lighting Technician Federico Figueroa explained, "When the lighting design team from Eros Ramazotti heard that Luzmila had the first Alpha Beam 1500s in Mexico, they called us right away. The fixtures did a phenomenal job. The beams are intensely bright

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UK - When the New Testament Church of God in Handsworth, Birmingham, recently opened its new £5.2m building, the church took care to ensure that the most modern facilities were installed throughout. One example is a Yamaha M7CL digital mixing console.

Located at the spot where Aston Villa FC was founded in 1874, the new church building features the latest energy saving features and lighting and sound systems in the airy, spacious auditorium. Audio engineer Rowen Spence is a member of the congregation and so was well placed to advise church leaders on the sound specification.

Installed by the Birmingham-based Cloud One Group, the audio system comprises a Yamaha M7CL-48, a Nexo GeoS PA system (comprising S8 and S12 cabinets) with Martin Audio wedge monitors. System control is by a Symnet system, with a touch control panel at the side of the M7CL.

"The church needed

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UK - Manchester-based lighting rental specialists DBN were once again asked to design and supply lighting equipment for the BBC's Proms in the Park event in Salford.

The lightshow was designed by DBN's Nick Walton. It's the fourth year that the company has been involved with the north west region's prom event, staged for the second year in Buile Hill Park. DBN was working for production company Ear To The Ground for end clients, Salford City Council.

The line-up featured appearances by entertainer and musicals star John Barrowman, mezzo soprano Juliet Pochin and local opera sensation Jon Christos, alongside the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

Says Walton, "It's always a big challenge to design and light a large orchestra appropriately without being too distracting, providing just enough razzmatazz to highlight the soloists, plenty of and sufficient well balanced white light

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UK - Take 2 Film Services, The UK's largest independent supplier of motion picture and digital camera equipment, has announced that it has acquired £400,000 worth of lighting equipment from Elstree Light and Power (ELP) through media and broadcast finance company Azule Finance. The acquisition has seen Take 2 Lighting increase its share of the rental market offering its customers a complete production solution from cameras to grip and lighting, fulfilling the requirements of a broad range of programmes.

Take 2 Lighting has provided solutions for a number of high profile broadcast productions such as Lewis, New Tricks and Midsomer Murders, acquired the assets from ELP to scale up its operations and boost the lighting division of their business.

The rental company already has a number of lighting assets to complement its production portfolio, but neede

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Korea - The Joongri Catholic Church in Gumi Province, Korea, has recently installed a new sound system, incorporating Entasys column line-array loudspeakers from Community.

Originally built in 2004 at a cost of around $1.2m, Joongri Catholic Church comprises 1,725sq.m over two floors. An auditorium room is situated on the ground floor and the first floor houses the congregation seating and offices.

The original audio system used unsophisticated column loudspeakers, which the church described as "Flat and dry sounding, lacking clarity and difficult to hear for many in the church". They commissioned Bo-sung Electronics to design and install a new system to overcome these problems.

With a long room and highly reflective surfaces, Bo-sung were careful in the selection of loudspeakers. They needed a system that would provide high intelligibility with wide horizontal but

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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies Audio division is holding dedicated 2012 digital switchover open days on 10 and 15 November in partnership with leading wireless brands Sennheiser and Shure, to advise users on how they can best prepare for the switch to Channel 38 (606-614 MHz).

As a distributor for all major wireless microphone and IEM equipment brands, A.C. Audio has been keenly following the Ofcom ruling with a view to providing impartial advice and recommending the best course of action that will ensure minimal disruption for users.

As part of this service to both its existing wireless equipment clients and potential new customers, the sales division is holding free events at AC-ET's UK offices in conjunction with the manufacturers as follows: High Wycombe (South) with Sennheiser on Wednesday 10 November; Leeds (North) with Shure on Monday 15 November.

The open days

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USA - The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's Irvin L. Young Auditorium recently received an audio makeover that included the very first installation of an IC Live system utilizing the new ICL-R three-tall 'triple' arrays.

As Scott Leonard of Wauwatosa, WI-based Professional Audio Designs explains, audio for the 1300-seat hall offered some special design challenges. "The balcony is steeply raked, giving it quite a bit of height to the seats at the rear wall," he says. "We needed to design a system with a balcony delay but also provide a reference to the stage for localization."

Having previously worked with the IC Live system at Iowa's Luther College Center for Faith and Life, Leonard knew what the system was capable of in terms of fidelity, power and control. It didn't take much to convince David Nees, the Young Auditorium's technical director. "I br

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UK - Orbital Sound, a leading sound and communication systems specialist for the theatre, event and broadcast markets, has supplied the sound systems for The Railway Children production, being staged in London's Waterloo Station. The station's former Eurostar platforms have been transformed into a 1000-seat theatre, with the audience sitting traverse style along a 40m length of platform, either side of the track. Given the audience size and layout, and the constraints of the working-station environment, delivering quality audio required an innovative approach - resulting in four distinct systems, all using d&b audiotechnik loudspeakers and employing complex routing and delays. The show is also among the first UK theatre productions to utilise the moisture-resistant properties of Da-Cappo Micro Microphones, distributed by Orbital in the UK.

Following two critically-acclaim

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UK - Stephen Gilbert runs a successful audio & AV business in the south-west of England, but is looking for a change: would anyone else, he wonders, like to change their lives and take on his business?

"I have been running my own sound engineering business since 1985. The company's main activity is the installation and servicing of commercial and professional sound systems and audio-visual equipment although there is also a largely under-developed hire business as well. Over the years I have built up a solid client-base including churches, holiday parks, theme parks, sports and leisure facilities, pubs, clubs, hotels, government buildings and many more. I also carry out sub-contract work for various national companies as their 'local' engineer.

"Originally based in Falmouth, I relocated to Launceston in 2004 on the Devon/Cornwall border to be more central to my clien

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UK - Adlib Audio provided sound equipment and crew for one of Ireland's latest musical exports, The Script, on their recent UK tour, complete with a fresh FOH mix by Adlib's own Richy Nicholson, who is now on tour with them in the USA. Ian Quinn is at the helm as tour manager with Colin Rogers as production manager.

Nicholson recently took up the FOH engineer's role after coming highly recommended. He says, "They are a great band to work for; totally into their music, very knowledgeable and informed about the technology and what it can do, and all have brilliant personalities."

The UK touring system was L-Acoustics V-DOSC, chosen because it "sounds great" confirms Nicholson, and also because of its flexibility when it came to dealing with the variety of venues, ranging from student unions to London's Hammersmith Apollo. For the majority of shows, the PA had

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Russia - iLive was employed for two large scale concerts organised by Russian-Cuban cultural project Havana Calling, founded by Russian singer and composer Leonid Agutin and Cuban flutist Orlando "Maraca" Valle. The first concert was held on Cathedral Square in Havana and the second at the prestigious Kremlin Concert Hall in Moscow.

Sound engineer, Robert Boim, employed an iLive system at both events for FOH, monitors, and live recording of the full 62 channels via a MADI plug-in card. Two iDR-32 MixRacks were positioned on stage - one for drums, percussion, bass and guitar inputs, and a second managing keys and vocals - digitally split for separate FOH and monitor mixing. Boim used his tablet PC running iLive Editor control software to manage the Havana concert, and a combination of an iLive-T112 surface and Editor at the Moscow concert.

"iLive provides mobilit

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Europe - Cirque Du Soleil's Varekai show - currently touring Europe - has transferred its lighting control to a grandMA2 system, with a grandMA2 light as the main show console and another grandMA2 light running in full tracking backup.

The decision to change was made by head of lighting, Karl Jenkins. He says: "I think MA offers the best current solution for this type of show which is run live and changes every night". They also needed to change the consoles they were using, which had been onboard since the show first started touring seven years ago, so it was high time for an update and an upgrade. "The grandMA2 is an international control standard," confirms Jenkins, "And the idea is to introduce this platform across other Cirque shows".

Much of the show had to be re-programmed and re-built from scratch on the grandMA2 light. It was trans

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South Africa - One of South Africa's most established lighting and accessory suppliers Movievision has chosen to stock the full Dirty Rigger Gloves and Accessories range. "I was wowed by the durability and design of the glove, no gimmicks (apart from the logo J) just a really comfortable, durable glove. The sweat wipe is great and the dexterity of the gloves is brilliant, not like the usual heavy weight style that tends make things more difficult, with the Dirty Rigger gloves you really can use them for almost anything," comments Kim Reed, Movievision director.

The specialist rigging glove range launched only in early 2010 is now available in over 20 countries worldwide with Movievision being a great addition to the distribution network. "To have Kim and the team at Movievision to work with is a great step forward for the Dirty Rigger range, having worked with the

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UK - Since its first broadcast in 2004 the X Factor has been one of the UK's most viewed TV shows. With its stunning sets, scenery and using colourful, rich lighting, every single year X Factor has used Le Mark's professional StudioTak high gloss instant studio floor to give maximum impact.

Easy to install and "even easier to remove", StudioTak has been used on some of the most watched TV programmes throughout the world, from Eurovision to Ant & Dec. Thanks to its low-tak adhesive, StudioTak Studio Flooring can be applied and removed without hassle or need for residue removers (always test first, high-tak adhesive is also available, says Le Mark). Its easy application and ability to withstand energetic physical performances time and time again makes StudioTak one of the best temporary studio floors on the market today, the company says.

(Claire Beeson)

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India - Tourists and residents enjoyed a visual treat during the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi, India. In partnership with Doordarshan, India's public television broadcaster, and with technological support of Scala India, International Technomedia (ITM) presented live broadcasts of the Games on large format outdoor video screens installed in key commercial spots in Delhi. ITM's outdoor Delhi network is the largest one-city-network in the Asia-Pacific region.

The content on the ITM LED screens was powered by Scala. In an effort to enhance the viewing experience, Scala India was asked to set up a flawless live broadcast of the opening ceremony of the event on several of ITM's outdoor screens that are normally used for advertising. In a short time frame, Scala India was able to get the live feed running on the screens in high quality.

In a joint effort, ITM and Scala India dro

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The Netherlands - XLNT Advanced Technologies has announced the opening of a new, dedicated CyberHoist sales, training and customer support office for North America. A West Coast office will also be announced shortly.

The CyberHoist office, based in Manheim, PA, will be handled by PJ Visser. The office will handle sales activities, product support and training to rental and install clients, and will also provide equipment support services for CyberHoist rental network members based in Canada and the USA.

XLNT commercial director Marc van der Wel said: "The new North America CyberHoist office will allow our clients in the USA to receive the same high level of technical support as they get from our headquarters in the Netherlands, and all member countries of the worldwide CyberHoist network, and will also be our focus for driving the brand forward in the USA sales market. It

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USA - In 2002, right after 9/11, eight-year-old Veronica Granite from New Jersey began a petition drive to illuminate her hometown bridge with red, white and blue lights. She had recently seen tricolour lighting atop the Empire State Building during a visit to Liberty State Park and thought the Bayonne Bridge should be similarly decorated in patriotic lights.

Her lobbying efforts inspired the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which maintains the Bayonne Bridge - the fourth longest steel arch bridge in the world.

After seven years, the historic span that connects Bayonne, New Jersey, with Staten Island, New York, was decorated with red, white and blue LED lights custom designed by LEDtronics, Inc. of Torrance, California.

"When we initially showed the bridge maintenance group the LEDtronics 180-degree fixture that is used on the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Ange

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Slovakia - The largest installation of a BSS Audio digital network in the Slovak Republic has been deployed with the opening of the new Kempinski Hotel River Park in Bratislava. Located on the Danube River, the Kempinski will provide a new standard of lifestyle luxury in this historic city, steeped in imperial heritage.

With its selection of restaurants and bars, a spa and wellness center, in addition to a meeting room and four conference rooms (each divisible into two separate rooms), an advanced digital backbone connecting all the featured areas was required.

Peak Audio s.r.o. handled the installation utilizing two Soundweb London BLU-160 configurable processors, with two BLU-120 I/O expanders and a BLU-BOB2 break-out box, offering a further eight channels of analog audio output expansion.

The BSS Audio Soundweb London devices all interconnected through their digital audio

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USA - President of Lab X Technologies and marketing workgroup chairman of AVnu Alliance, Lee Minich, will chair the AES panel discussion on IEEE 802.1 Audio Video Bridging (AVB) standards in the Pro AV, consumer and automotive markets on Friday, November 5 at 2:30 PM and will provide expert insight as a panelist during the Live Sound Seminar LS11 on Networked Audio for Live Sound on November 7 at 11:00am.

As one of the leading AVB specialists, Lab X Technologies continues to work with Pro AV manufacturers to rapidly bring networked products to market by providing comprehensive solutions and services to the complicated world of networking systems.

"The evolution of digital audio and video networking is upon us. Increasing manufacturers' understanding and implementation of AVB networking will unify, and more importantly, grow the entire industry," stated Minich. "

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Denmark - Solund - a home for people with severe physical and mental disabilities in Denmark - has recently opened The Golden Horn, its new snoezelen centre.

Solund has dedicated its time and energy to develop a snoezelen centre containing the right elements to create a modern and innovative place that users can benefit from. The idea behind a snoezelen centre is to create settings which intensify the users' senses by stimulating, entertaining, calming or activating them.

ProShop Europe, a Danish-based AV technology integration specialist, has been the main technical partner for this project. They supplied and installed the screens, control panels, lighting and audio systems. They also selected and programmed the Medialon control system installed in The Golden Horn.

Nine different snoezelen rooms have been built and designed in the centre. They all feature modern AV technolo

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USA - Audio-Technica is a sponsor of the Art and Science of Sound Recording DVD series by producer/engineer Alan Parsons. After almost two years in production, this series of training videos covers all aspects of sound recording, in 24 programmes identified by topic.

The complete series, hosted by Parsons and narrated by actor and musician Billy Bob Thornton, was recently released as a three-disc set; the individual programmes are currently available for download at www.artandscienceofsound.com. In the 'Microphones' section, several Audio-Technica microphones are prominently featured and identified by Parsons as he discusses and demonstrates various aspects of the recording process.

"Alan Parsons' body of work speaks for itself," stated Gary Boss, Audio-Technica marketing director. "He is a true master of his craft, having worked with some of the most talented a

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USA - Lighting designer and programmer Scott Chmielewski of Digital Media Designs (DMD) turned to Martin Professional's new MAC 101 LED moving head as his main wash light fixture at the recent 2010 Virgin Mobile FreeFest.

"Throughout the whole design process, I wanted to create an upstage grid of fixtures but I found myself having to choose between quality or quantity," Chmielewski explains. "As with most festivals, we had a limited budget and we had some weight restrictions on the stage. The 101s were the perfect match of both quality and quantity. They only weigh 8lbs each so weight was not an issue and they were really bright.

"Every part of the fixture helped create an interesting effect from the beam angles to the exceptionally fast colors, and we were able to hit effects at 180BPM on the pan/tilt. The best part is that they were very inexpensive so I

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Chile - Bicentennial celebrations are sweeping Latin America this year, and Nexo systems are at the heart of a number of big events. Chile marked the commemoration of its independence with many prestigious live events; one of the most impressive was a sound and light show staged outside the presidential palace in Santiago.

Pure Energy, Pure Chile was the opening act for the bicentary celebrations, a fireworks spectacular conceived by the creative Les Petit Francais which used the Palacio de la Moneda as its backdrop. Sponsored by CGE, the estimated cost of the production was US $2m, and over six days, it was watched by more than 270,000 people.

REAL Audio, the sound rental company from Santiago, was chosen to supply all the sound reinforcement design and installation. They specified all-Nexo, using Geo D for the main stereo system, Geo S8 for the out-fills, and Geo S12

  1. Midas KT appoints Latin American representative
  2. Bandit gets lucky with Mark Knopfler
  3. XLNT grows in South America
  4. Alexandra Palace introduces new faces
  5. Dielectric changes name to SPX Communication Technology
  6. Eclipse stars at Peter Dvorský International Music Festival
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