UK - Located on the top floor of London's Millbank Tower, venue Altitude London offers panoramic views of the city and beyond, adding an extra dimension to corporate and private events. With four separate spaces able to host a variety of functions, keeping noise levels down is a priority. This has been solved by the installation of four Apex Audio Argos units.

"We host a wide range of events, which often involve DJs, bands and presentations," says Altitude audio visual manager Jonjo Glynn. "Of course, these have the capacity to create large amounts of noise, so keeping levels under control is very important to ensure that both the adjacent rooms and floors below are not disturbed by both our own and visiting PA systems."

The Apex Argos prevents audio systems from producing excessive sound levels, but without producing unwanted sound degradation.

Using a (

Denmark - Film location recorder Allan Holmberg has been using a DPA 4017 shotgun mic for Susanne Bier's new film, The Revenge (Haevnen)

"I'd used the 4017 on a documentary I'd worked on, called Blekingegadebanden," explains Holmberg. "The clarity and natural sound of the 4017 was a huge success on the documentary, so I decided to try the mic on this feature film.

"My only concern was that the mic pattern may be too wide, resulting in extra background noise and ambience, but after a short talk with Eddie M°ller, the film's supervising sound designer, we both agreed to give it a try. The film contains some improvisation, and we wanted to avoid dubbing as much as was possible, so that was another good reason for using a wider mic."

Once on set, any misgivings Holmberg had were quickly dispelled. "The 4017 performed excellently, a

USA - GDS reports that it received an overwhelming response recently, when it exhibited at the LDI show in Las Vegas alongside its US distributor ACT Lighting who distribute LiteWare, Cue SystemNet, SMConsole and MOBAL for North America market.

The company showcased a host of new and existing products whilst introducing for the first time to the US market, the innovative CueSystem NET, a networked cue light system which launched earlier in the year and the SMConsole. Since its launch in 2006 GDS has designed and manufactured SM Consoles for venues around the world including, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, LAMDA, Hong Kong Performing Arts Centre, Theatre Chatelet Paris and several colleges in Australia and many more.

Matthew Lloyd, managing director GDS commented, "LDI was a really busy show for us this year, we have worked extremely hard over the past 12 months t

USA - Renkus-Heinz will present a full schedule of informative presentations during the upcoming Audio Engineering Society Convention at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Centre.

The presentations will cover a wide range of subject matter, ranging from alignment of subwoofers and full-range line array systems, audio measurement tools, advances in modelling and measurement, to practical uses of EASE Auralisation, and a summary of an award winning White Paper on line array simulation.

Presenters will include Bruce Olson of Olson Sound Design, Stefan Feistel of Ahnert Feistel Media Group, and John Murray of Optimum System Solutions, as well as Renkus-Heinz VP of sales and marketing Rik Kirby, national sales manager David Rahn and application engineer Jonas Domkus.

(Jim Evans)

UK - DM Audio played a key role in the sound and light show The Enchanted Forest: Force of Nature in Faskally Wood near Pitlochry in Scotland. The show brings together the talents of sound designer / composer RJ McConnell and lighting designer Simon Wilkinson to create a site-specific son et lumière promenade. The audio system was supplied and installed by DM Audio, who were appointed as a sub-contractor by main technical contractor Northern Light.

The technical requirements of the project were challenging as they involved the distribution of 24 channels of audio around a kilometre-long promenade for a month of Scottish autumn weather, making reliability as important as sound quality.

The audio system had been programmed and thoroughly tested before travelling to site, minimising the labour required in the forest. The show runs on a continuous loop, with set pieces at

Italy - Club Zen in Porto San Giorgio, in the Marche region, is changing its look for the 2011 season.

Calling on the experience gained in working with some of the most exclusive clubs in Italy, like Pineta in Milano Marittima and Tocqueville in Milan, the team that worked on this project at Merli Entertainment designed an exclusive venue for a demanding and fashion-conscious public: Club Zen Royal Suite.

This year, Club Zen opened with a new architectural look. During the summer the interior of the club was renovated and made even more chic with elegant furnishings built around a gold color-theme.

A strong point of this popular venue is the innovative Proel Lighting system. The owners of the club and the Merli Entertainment team brought in installation contractor Gianluca Ponzanetti's Orione Contract, a company based in Porto San Giorgio that designs and installs audio, vid

UK - Providing education for the audio professionals of the future is one of Sennheiser UK's core policies. Early Autumn saw that commitment bringing benefits to 200 first year students at Bucks New Uni, as they enjoyed a Sennheiser-run education day at the British Music Experience, the interactive museum of rock and pop within London's The O2.

Sennheiser UK has a close working relationship with the British Music Experience, which benefits students from a number of educational establishments. This, however, was the biggest session the company had hosted so far, with no less than six coach loads of eager new students on the Music Management and Audio & Music Production courses at Bucks New Uni attending.

As the number of students was so high, the party was split into two halves. The first half of the students toured the museum and its many iconic exhibits, while the other half

UK - Production North principle Iain Whitehead and lighting designer Dan Hardiman worked with Bandit UK CE Lester Cobrin for the latest McFly UK tour, and took the show in a green direction. The I-Pix BB7's were called into play as the heart of the system by Hardiman and they were supplemented by Pixel Range Pixilines.

This green beginning was augmented with Martin MAC 2000 Washes and Profiles, as well as Atomic Strobes with colour changers. Thomas 4 and 8 lights with changers were also employed to produce power washes. Lycian Starklites were Hardimans' truss spot of choice and the entire show is controlled by a Whole Hog 3 Console, operated by Paul van den Heijkant. Crew Chief Steve Rusling and staff member Neil Scrivener kept the system runningfrom day to day.

McFly's current tour is in support of the release of McFly'sAbove The Noise. Their first album in 2004, Ro

UK - Liverpool-based Adlib is supplying a complete sound, lighting and AV package for the current John Barrowman UK Tour, with Steve Rayment tour managing the operation and Paul Crockford as tour director.

It's Adlib's third tour with Barrowman and a full Adlib crew and sees the debut of Adlib's new Coda Audio sound system.

FOH is being mixed by Walter Jaquiss. The main left and right hangs are 24 Coda Airline LA12s, with 24 LA8s for side hangs (10 a side) and in-fills. There are eight SC8 subs ground stacked in four columns of two across the front of the stage and all of it is powered by Coda C10 amps.

They are using the Coda DNC 260 processors across the system which are very high resolution, and systems tech Kenny Perrin is using the standard Adlib Dolby Lake processing set up for EQ and time alignment.

The FOH console is a 96 channel Soundcraft Vi6, on which Jaquiss is

USA - For three weekends every autumn, smooth jazz drifts from the Avalon Ballroom overlooking the Pacific Ocean, when this legendary venue hosts the Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival.

Constructed in 1929, the Casino in Avalon Harbor was an iconic entertainment spot during the golden era of jazz, when some of the most famous big bands were broadcast nationally from the ballroom. Hollywood celebrities and tourists from around the world visited the Casino during its heyday in the 1930s and '40s to dance to the sounds of Jan Gerber, Kay Kyser, Bob Crosby, Dick Jurgens and Jimmy Grier.

JazzTrax producer Art Good has chosen to hold his festival at this historic Catalina Island landmark for the past 24 years. With its rich music tradition and breathtaking scenery, there could be no more magical venue for jazz.

The ballroom is on the second floor of the Catalina Casin

USA - The National Association of Music Merchants has announced plans for its Hands-On Training (H.O.T) Zone at the 2011 NAMM Show, offering the broadest educational experience for professionals in the recording, live sound, DJ, house of worship, and stage and lighting industries in the history of the show.

The H.O.T. Zone will offer attendees free one-hour classes on more than 85 educational topics over four days, including Basic Live Mixing Techniques PROTools 101, Social Marketing for Your Music Business and DJ Equipment Integration. On 13 January 2011, the opening day of the NAMM Show, the H.O.T. Zone will be offering Boot Camp Day with an array of basic courses designed to provide foundation-level instruction in music technology and business.

The H.O.T. Zone will be located on Level 2 of the Anaheim Convention Centre and is being held fo

USA - From its rural beginnings in 1922, Los Angeles County's Fairplex has grown to become the fourth largest fairground in North America. At 543 acres the facility is twice the size of Disneyland and hosts a year-round variety of concerts, conventions, shows and sporting events.

The Fairplex grounds are home to more than 325,000sq.ft of indoor exhibit space, including a 12,000sq.ft fine arts educational centre affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. The complex also houses carnival grounds, parks, plazas and picnic areas, as well as a 250-suite Sheraton Hotel and a 185-space KOA RV park. Also calling the Fairplex home is NHRA-rated Pomona Raceway and Fairplex Park horse racing facility. Both racetracks also host numerous concerts and performance events.

The Fairplex is constantly evolving, growing and modernizing its infrastructure, currently including a high-end revampi

Denmark - David Guetta lighting designer Mikeyray Harkins designed a high impact look for the French DJ's 8 October show at Tap 1 in Copenhagen using Martin Professional's new MAC 101 LED wash light.

"What an amazing little fixture. I absolutely loved the 101's. They stood up against my rig of MAC 700 wash and spots - really fast, good colour and a fantastic beam with great throw distance. I am really impressed," he stated.

Mikeyray says that he and Pilot Vision (video screen software designers and co-designers on the show) had been looking for a small, fast and bright LED fixture to mount behind the onstage video screen, something with a tight beam that emulates a big pixel to match the look of the show. The MAC 101 fits the bill. "It added that extra element to our visual content."

Mikeyray mounted 20 MAC 101s behind the video screen in four columns of

Sweden / Cyprus - Wireless Solution Sweden has announced the appointment of lighting specialists ArchiLX to supply W-DMX to Cyprus and surrounding areas, effective immediately.

Located in Limassol, ArchiLX offers consultancy, sales, design and support services to clients in the hospitality, entertainment, education, government, retail and private sectors.

"ArchiLX has proven to be the strongest contender in Cyprus, representing some of the best brands in entertainment lighting products", said Lotta Schiefer, business development manager for Wireless Solution. "Our products fit in very naturally with the ArchiLX portfolio, and we look forward to a long and successful relationship with them."

Ben Rogers, design consultant and designer added, "We are focused on high quality brands and equipment with which we can be confident we are offering the best pro

USA - Along with a new Panasonic Live 4HD scoreboard, Los Angeles' Staples Centre has added a significant inventory of 44 Vari*Lite automated luminaires supplied by Epic Production Technologies.

Looking to add to the 12 VL3000 Spot luminaires Epic supplied a few years ago, Staples Centre wanted to replace the 48 Par Can fixtures that were previously mounted under the scoreboard and they chose 16 of the LED-based VLX Wash luminaires. To round out the new rig, 16 VL3500 Wash fixtures and 12 additional VL3000 Spot fixtures were also added.

"The VLX Wash fixtures read extremely well. Along with great output and tremendous colour temperature control, they work incredible for the 120 televised sporting events that Staples Centre hosts each year," said Lee Zeidman, Staples general manager. "The low power consumption was also a big deciding factor. By replacing 48,000 w

USA - With more than 100 of the nation's top DJ artists pumping out tunes for 11 hours straight, Nocturnal Festival has become one of the premier electronic music events in the US. Produced by Los Angeles-based Insomniac Events, the one-day music marathon keeps getting bigger and better. This year's festival, held at the National Orange Show Events Centre in San Bernardino, drew a record 42,000 electronic/trance/house music fans who braved the sweltering 100°-plus heat to listen and dance to Ferry Corsten, Steve Angello, Simon Patterson and Pretty Lights, to name a few.

"Bigger and better" also describes the size and design of Nocturnal Festival 2010's physical facilities, which encompassed six different stages featuring simultaneous performances. Most impressive of all was the Main Stage venue, a gigantic tent-like enclosure measuring 400' deep by 15

UK - The ARC Show 2011will be previewed online on 1 December 2010. Without leaving the office, visitors can experience this virtual event and see first-hand what will be on offer at The ARC Show 2011. The show will feature on-demand video seminars, interactive booths and a live networking lounge.

Preview seminars on LED technology, Urban Lighting and Lighting Controls will all feature, with live video streams and webinars from industry associations, including The Lighting Association and Lighting Industry Federation, as well as lighting experts Jason Bruges, Leni Schwendinger and Mark Sutton Vale - with live question and answer sessions.

The ARC Show's event director Tony Crinion commented, "The ARC Show preview event is a fantastic way to bring global communities of people together where they can learn, network and see the latest advances in lighting. 1 December will see

Japan - Yamaha has announced that it will join AVnu Alliance "in order to support and promote the next-generation AVB network standard".

A company statement declares, "Yamaha pro audio products have always been designed to take advantage of the most advanced system infrastructure available for target applications by providing support for high-performance network formats such as Dante, EtherSound, CobraNet, and more. Yamaha has also cooperated closely with third parties to bring a variety of Yamaha-compatible network products to market

"And now, while maintaining support for existing open-format protocols, Yamaha joins AVnu Alliance, an industry forum dedicated to advancing and promoting the next-generation IEEE 802.1 Audio/Video Bridging (AVB) standard.

"AVnu Alliance was established in August 2009 by a group of world leaders in the audio and IT fiel

UK - Working with the course professors Rob Locke and Stuart Green from the BSc Live Event Technology degree at Glamorgan University, Green Hippo's head of training and education Simon Harris provided extensive tutoring and support to a group of students who welcomed the chance to use a Hippotizer for their sensory garden project.

Rob Locke remarks, "The University's relationship with Green Hippo was essential to this project which would not have been possible without the support of Simon and Nick, and we look forward to further collaboration in the future."

Erica Frost and five of her fellow students were given the brief to design an 'interactive sensory garden' for their final end of year project. This event was a first for the course as the planning and programming of interactive sound, lighting and video was not something taught or discussed as part of the course

UK - With at least £15m at its disposal, the global Technology Taskforce will recruit the very best technology companies and talent to Britain and help entrepreneurial and innovative start-ups in the UK to internationalise, it was suggested yesterday.

The new programme was unveiled by the Prime Minister at a visit to Shoreditch and the Olympic Park media centre. The UKTI taskforce will have a global network and a presence in East London to maximise the opportunities before and after the Olympic Games.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said, "We are firmly on the side of the high-growth, highly innovative companies of the future.

"Right now, Silicon Valley is the leading place in the world for high-tech growth and innovation. But there's no reason why it has to be so predominant. Our ambition is to bring together the creativity and energy of Shoreditch and th

USA - After years of being known as one church with two locations, the members of California's Oasis Church decided to vacate its Beverly Hills address and permanently settled into its 600-seat Hollywood location. In doing so, the church audio team upgraded the audio system with an Aviom Pro16 Personal Mixing System.

Now, the church is ready for both on-location and off-site celebrations, including the church's annual GodChicks Conference that takes place in Pasadena, CA. For Oasis Church technical coordinator, Daniel Rivera, the biggest factor in choosing the Aviom system was the need to change the theatre's aesthetics and to lower the stage volume. He also wanted a system that could accommodate the 60 musicians who share the stage at any given time.

"The Aviom personal mixers have given each musician the flexibility and control to create their own custom preset,&

USA - The annual ESTA Dinner and Awards Ceremony was the setting for the RSC Lightlock to receive its most recent accolade. Nominated in the best new product category for ESTA's Rock Our World Awards, the RSC Lightlock was chosen as the product which had the greatest impact on our industry in the last year.

The RSC Lightlock is a motion stabilizing device for moving head lighting fixtures, allowing them to be installed with a minimum of rigging equipment, removing the need for battens or trusses in the system. Its stabilization also allows the RSC Lightlock to be used with pantographs and motorized battens without the inherent movement caused by the moving head fixtures.

In its third year, this Rock Our Worlds programme has no real rules. The panel of judges, some of the best known people in our industry, has sole discretion on the number of awards to bestow and

UK - Producers Julian Marks and Clive McElarney of Event 360 in London called upon lighting designer Vince Foster and Bandit Lites UK CE Lester Cobrin to illuminate the team introductions for the fourth annual NFL game in Wembley Stadium, between the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos.

In order to produce a visually exciting show, but minimize power consumption, heat and impact on the environment, Foster chose to use a substantial number of Chroma Q Chroma Strip Mark II's as well as GLP Impressions for the bulk of the dramatic effects effect.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Martin Professional UK will be holding a Pixel Mapping Workshop on Thursday and Friday, 11-12 November at Riverside Studios in London. Using the latest Martin LED lighting fixtures, video screens and processor, lighting consoles and media server products, Martin UK will demonstrate lighting and video convergence in a number of practical show-type applications.

The workshop is designed to allow participants to get hands-on with the kit in order to gain insight into how to design and operate a pixel mapped rig. Designed to be an inspirational look at convergence, technical issues will also be covered.

"The convergence of lighting and video is a much used phrase in the entertainment lighting industry and on the 11 and 12 of November we'll be demonstrating what it's all about," says Martin UK sales director Mike Walker.

"We will address the lights with

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