UK - HHB has supplied audio equipment including five Pro Tools HD systems, Euphonix and ICON consoles, and ancillary studio and ENG equipment for the new premises of the Department of Theatre, Film and Television at the University of York. Representing an investment of some £30m, the new building includes full television studio and post-production facilities, and equips the University as one of the country's leading educators in film and television production.

Working in close cooperation with the technical installation company, Wire Broadcast, HHB provided extensive management and support throughout the projects, from the initial tender submission through to on-site commissioning and training.

"The Department of Theatre, Film and Television is different in that our remit not only involves providing students with a top flight education but also requires us to engage

Italy - Telenorba, the Puglia group specialist in TV, cinema and multimedia productions, has recently renewed its lighting manifest, and one of its choices was Coemar - on the express wish of technical director Dino D'Alessandro.

"High performance levels together with energy savings, reduced conditioning costs and lower maintenance costs are all possible nowadays thanks to the use of LEDs," says D'Alessandro. "And when you choose a company like Coemaryou are sure that your lighting will be a fantastic show in itself."

The studio walls are lit by 24 StageLite LED SC and 20 StageLite LED Sc devices with 50° optics. Ten RazorLite LED devices, consisting of 36 LEDs with RGB colour mixing system and elliptical optic, complete the wall lighting. The presenters are lit up with the aid of 10 ParLite LED Natural White 4000K devices, 10 Wash LEDs and five PinLite

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributors for TC Electronic in the United Arab Emirates has recently supplied two sets of System 6000 to Oasis Enterprises and Production Technology (Protec). Oasis Enterprises, integrators in Dubai have purchased a system for an installation while Protec who are a live sound rental firm have added it to their growing rental inventory.

"Both systems sold are the new System 6000 MKII version which include not only a new look but greater power in the processor and use the same intuitive user interface and user experience that people have come to know and expect," commented Richie Hiranandani, marketing manager.

(Jim Evans)

India - Sonotone has been appointed Distributor for India for dBTechnologies. At the forthcoming PALM India show, the Mumbai-based company will be presenting some of the Italian loudspeaker manufacturer's products for the first time in India.

Sonotone will be showcasing dBTechnologies' new Cromo series, FM12 floor monitors, and a selection of models from the Opera Digital range, as well as the heftier S20 and SUB 18D subwoofers. The DVA T4 - which has been seen before in India - will also be on show.

"There has been increasing demand from end-users who want dBTechnologies powered speakers to be available in India," sayss Martin Capp, Asia Pacific area sales manager at dBTechnologies, who has also seen much interest in the active speaker ranges from Indian visitors to other shows in the region. "I'm confident that PALM India will be a great show for Sonotone.&quo

UK - When Marshall Amplifiers needed a high quality PA system for its demo / rehearsal facility, it required something that was capable of reproducing subtle dynamics as well as being turned up to 11. The answer was Yamaha.

The company's Bletchley headquarters includes a dedicated demonstration theatre, which doubles as a rehearsal facility for its endorsees. Wanting to upgrade this to a full pre-production rehearsal space, Marshall needed a high quality PA system to complement the stage's backline.

"We needed a system that would truly complement our amplifiers and speaker cabinets," says Luke Green, Marshall's new product co-ordinator. "Not only in terms of volume, but also in clearly reproducing the subtler dynamics of vocals, drums and so on, as well as handling some serious bass frequencies."

After looking at a range of options, Green chose a Yamaha I

USA - Midas digital consoles have won starring roles on Broadway, with an XL8 at FOH in the Palace Theatre's new hit, Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert; a permanent PRO3 installation at 42nd Street's New Victory Theatre and a PRO9 at FOH with a PRO9 on monitor duties in the Broadway bound, Whoopee-Goldberg produced musical, White Noise.

"In the theatre world, we're very cue-based," explains Brian Hsieh, associate designer/programmer on White Noise. The production requires more than 100 scenes to be programmed into the PRO9, with every scene carrying MIDI commands to at least seven devices with links and follows. "We're able to take any number of the 24 wireless channels and put them on the VCAs needed for that scene. Every line is a fader move, and every scene changes the layout of the VCAs. So we use a lot of automation, and we're constantly on

UK - March and April saw boy band The Wanted undertake their first headline tour, with 12 dates in theatres and arenas throughout the UK. Despite the difficulty of getting the quintet's voices heard over the shrieking of thousands of young girls, Sennheiser equipment ensured that they delivered the goods.

The tour played arenas and larger theatre venues and will be followed by a number of summer outdoor shows and festival appearances, all featuring Sennheiser's ew 500-935 G3 wireless microphones and ew 300 G3 GB in-ear monitors.

"I've used Sennheiser kit for the last 12 years and have always been very happy with the products and the company's support," says the band's front of house engineer Andrew Thornton. "With The Wanted, up until this tour we'd been using various radio mics - basically whatever people could provide us with - although always favouring Sennhe

Austria - London-based motion graphics studio The Darkroom brought Bacardi's new Together worldwide brand campaign to life through light and sound in Vienna.

Bacardi's brief asked for experiences incorporating Cuban heritage and the iconic Bacardi Mojito drink as well as the Social Culture.

The Darkroom creatives Emma Wolf and Bruce Ferguson realised Bacardi's vision through an engaging mapping projection - the first public displays of the technology seen in Vienna, Austria.

Projected onto the Kursalon building in Vienna, the five minute public light show masterfully transformed the heritage building into a colourful, vibrant yet weathered Cuba-style building.

Sound was integrated into the projection to help viewers experience Cuba through swelling Cuban drumming, which then grows into a giant jamming session at a traditional Cuban club. Mint leaves and lime trees t

UK - Martin Professional has enjoyed a successful relationship with London's Southbank Centre over the years, a relationship that has included Southbank Centre investing in Martin theatrical lighting gear and more recently in Martin architectural lighting luminaires.

Most recently however is the installation of a Martin Professional EC-20 LED display that is being used as part of the Festival of Britain 60th anniversary series of events which take place throughout the summer, celebrating British culture and creativity.

"As part of our continued support for this hugely important London arts venue we have installed a 50sq.m EC-20 LED video screen on the outside wall of the Hayward Gallery opposite the Royal Festival Hall," comments Mike Walker, sales director at Martin Professional UK. "The screen is designed to the highest standards and we are proud that it is be

Israel - L-Acoustics' Israeli distributor Lightone reports that leading Israeli PA company the Mazuz Group has become a K1/Kudo Rental Network Agent. The purchase is part of an upgrade of the company's inventory to meet the growing needs of international touring riders.

"The addition of Mazuz as K1 agent for Israel is a great reflection not only of the system's performance but also on how L-Acoustics, supported by our distributor Lightone, can offer an unbeatable package in terms of performance, acceptability and return on investment," says L-Acoustics sales manager Tim McCall. "Mazuz has some of the country's most respected engineers and now they have the country's best system - a winning combination."

Following the purchase, L-Acoustics' certified trainer Paul Van Baasbank travelled to Mazuz's premises to carry out some K1 training before the new system w

France - The magnificent Notre-Dame de Reims Cathedral is celebrating its 800th anniversary with Dream of Colours - a spectacular high definition son et lumière show that recreates stages in the building of the cathedral and displays the massive intricate façade in all its original glowing colours. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991, the cathedral will host the show three times a night from May to October each year.

A major shoot-out was held between all the main brands of column loudspeaker considered capable of giving the performance required for audio quality, SPL, coverage and throw, and Community's Entasys was chosen for the job.

The Dream of Colours system consists of 16 Community Entasys three-way, full-range, column line-array loudspeakers, supplemented by six 18-inch subwoofers. Lab.gruppen amplifiers were selected to power the system and

UK - The Missing Abroad initiative by the Lucie Blackman Trust is one of the first customers in the UK to install Roland's new VR-5 AV mixer/recorder for a new studio suite which will play a central role in the charity's search for missing people, and assistance to families of muder victims overseas.

Between 50-70 UK citizens are murdered abroad each year. At any one time, the Lucie Blackman Trust is trying to find 20-30 missing UK citizens. Since the disappearance of Lucie Blackman in Japan in 2000, the LBT has assisted the families of missing relatives and has established Missing Abroad to provide unique expertise, practical help, advice and support.

Missing Abroad operations manager Matt Searle has commissioned the opening of a dedicated TV suite at the Trust's HQ in the Isle of Wight. "For families whose relatives are missing or murdered overseas, the process of makin

Switzerland - Taking two years to complete, a major upgrade to Thun's cultural and congress centre has provided the Swiss town with a truly 21st century venue. The project included a complete technical refit, with Yamaha equipment taking a central role.

Costing 24m Swiss francs, the project saw the existing Kultur und Kongresszentrum Thun (or KKThun) building extensively refurbished and extended.

The existing 740-capacity Schadausaal was completely revamped, including the addition of a moveable wall (which can divide it into two separate spaces) and greatly improved acoustics. It has been joined by a second performance hall, the 500-capacity Lachensaal, a 530m2 foyer (including bar and food facilities) and an 80 space basement car park.

The technical upgrade was carried out by Swiss AV specialists Kilchenmann AG and Szeno Engineering and includes a DME64N digital mixing engi

France / China - Loudspeaker manufacturer APG is preparing for a busy PALM Expo in Beijing in association with their Chinese distributor BVCAM. The exhibition, which takes place from 26-29 May 2011, will be the first showing in Asia of the new DX Series low profile monitor speakers, DX12 and DX15. The new range will be on demo in APG's dedicated demo room at the show, along with the big brother monitor speaker, SMX15. APG will also be showing their powerful modular line array system, Uniline.

"PALM Expo has always been an extremely worthwhile show for APG, and this year is likely to prove the best yet," commented APG's sales and marketing director, Xavier Pion. "Our business in China is growing all the time, thanks to the sterling efforts of our distributor, BVCAM, and with the new products that we have brought to market recently, we're anticipating a lot of inter

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies' Rigging Division's first two-day Rigging School of 2011 was completely sold out and a great success.

The Rigging School - a training partnership between A.C. Rigging, Prolyte and the Wakefield based Backstage Academy - was hosted at the LS-LIVE Studio in Wakefield.

Fourteen pupils attended the course, representing a variety of different industry sectors. They included freelancers, rental company staff and venue riggers.

Independent rigging expert Eric Porter led the course, which covered a comprehensive range of topics including regulations and risk assessment, standards and guidance, PPE systems for working at height, ropes and knots, inspection and records, lifting principles, basic science, angled loads, truss assembly and slinging / floating, bridle work (theoretical & practical), bridle analysis (load calculations), chain hoists and

Russia - Lab.gruppen distributor and major Russian systems contractor, MS-Max based in Moscow, has recently completed two substantial entertainment complex installations using Lab.gruppen amplifiers from a number of different ranges to better suit each specific application - C Series dedicated installation amplifiers and fP Series and FP+ Series high power workhorses.

The first installation is the Gorka Club in the ancient Russian city of Yaroslavl located some 250km north-east of Moscow. The second, called simply Europe is far up in Russia's frozen north in the Siberian city of Yakutsk. Located just 450km south of the Arctic Circle, Yakutsk has the dubious honour of being the coldest city in the world.

Also known as 'The Hill' after the ski hill that adorns part of the roof space of the complex, the Gorka Club in Yaroslavl is a substantial multi-level venue comprising the Hil

UK / Czech Republic - The Stage Technologies Group has confirmed its silver sponsorship of the British Architecture Exhibit at The Prague Quadrennial 2011 in conjunction with the ABTT.

The event takes place from 16-26 June in Prague and is the premier international showcase for scenic design and theatre architecture, attracting theatre professionals from all around the world.

The British Architecture Exhibit is being co-ordinated and curated by Tim Foster and Iain Mackintosh. It will be a proud celebration of The Guthrie Legacy, tracing the development of the Guthrie thrust stage from that initial appearance at The Edinburgh Assembly Hall in 1948, through to the newly completed Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2011. This development will be explored through five specially commissioned same-scale 3D architectural models of The Edinburgh Assembly Hall, The Fes

USA - Special Event Services (SES) and On Stage Audio (OSA) have announced that they will partner on the 17 May 2011 live production of the Oprah Winfrey Show finale, Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular, at Chicago's United Centre.

As part of the growing Martin Audio MLA network, SES and OSA will deploy the largest MLA system ever flown to ensure uniform coverage throughout the arena for this high-profile production.

"Knowing the high level of audio quality we need to provide for an event of this magnitude, MLA was the obvious choice," said Jim Brammer, SES president. "As the launch customer for MLA in North America, we're pleased to have a high-calibre company like OSA join the growing MLA network, and we look forward to partnering with them on this event."

On 17 May, the United Centre will serve as both the set for the taping of the fin

Paraguay - Italian live sound specialist dBTechnologies has reached an agreement with WorldMusic to distribute its range of products in Paraguay with immediate effect.

WorldMusic general manager, Mr Nabil explains, "dBTechnologies is a great brand with a strong image on the global stage. We pride ourselves on offering many top products and premium brands in the Paraguay market, and taking on dBTechnologies helps us broaden our product range significantly.

"We have had very good references as to the quality and reliability of the dBTechnologies products from existing users and see great potential - especially with the DVA series.".

WorldMusic, specialises in professional audio, with exclusive distribution with various brands such as AKG, BSS, Focusrite, Roland and Sennheiser. Also offering MI products and DJ equipment, the company has a retail store based in Ci

UK - Cornwall's largest professional theatre, Hall for Cornwall, has dramatically improved its energy efficiency following an investment in the new Philips Selecon range of SPX luminaires. The Truro venue welcomes more than 180,000 theatre goers per year and is the first arts organisation in the UK to complete a year of carbon emissions cuts, as part of its commitment to the 10:10 climate campaign.

The venue says that it has reduced electricity consumption in the auditorium by as much as 60 per cent since it replaced it's Cantata profile units with the Philips Selecon SPX range of luminaires.

The move came after the venue hosted a fixture 'shoot out' in September last year where the Philips Selecon SPX range was pitted against a number of competitor brands.

"The decision was unanimous," says Simon Crick, Hall for Cornwall's head of operations. "The efficiency

UK - Following the success of last year's PLASA International Rigging Conference, PLASA Events announces the return of this pioneering two-day event to be held once again alongside PLASA 2011, at Earls Court, London on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 September.

The first PLASA Rigging Conference took place amidst universal acclaim from the global entertainment rigging community. Over 200 delegates attended from 22 countries and gave an overwhelming endorsement to the return of the conference this year.

Robin Elias, technical director, Unusual Rigging states, "The first PLASA Rigging Conference, last September, was opened in style by our managing director and mentor Alan Jacobi LVO. Under the guidance of Chris Higgs the conference proved to be a huge success, bringing together a wealth of knowledge and experience from across the globe. Raising for discussion some very interesting

Australia| - The lighting team at Sydney Theatre Company have been using ETC Ion consoles in the Wharf 2 studio venue for quite a while. When the time came to purchase new consoles for the Wharf 1 venue there was no argument.

"We were very pleased with the way the ETC Ions were performing in Wharf 2 so we decided to purchase two 2000 channel ETC Ions for Wharf 1" said Graham Henstock, head of lighting at Sydney Theatre Company. "We decided that the ETC Ions were the best fit for our venues on the Wharf in that they're a very flexible console but compact enough to fit into all of our bio boxes.

"We are extremely happy with our choice to move to the ETC Ion. It is a very powerful theatrical lighting console, which my operators are finding intuitive to use and a pleasure to program."

One of the new ETC Ion consoles acts as the primary console, whilst th

UK - West Yorkshire-based rehearsal studio, staging, and set construction company LS-Live has announced a merger with Acorn Event Solutions.

The deal boosts LS-Live's stock of staging and trussing equipment so that it has become one of the largest staging rental companies in the marketplace. The company, which offers complete staging solutions for festivals, concerts, theatre productions and corporate events, now stocks ranges of Space Roof, Dome Roof, Mini and Midi stages, and staging equipment that comprises 17,500sq.m of Layher Event Deck alone.

Andy Nutter joins LS-Live as operations director, having headed up Acorn Event Solutions since 2006, during which time it has provided staging solutions for Swansea's BBC Proms in the Park, Leeds' Opera in the Park, the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Frieze Art Fair, the Silverstone Grand Prix, Mini's 50th Birthday at Excel in London a

Sweden - Täby Church outside Stockholm originates from the 13th century when it was one of the primary houses of worship in Sweden. Much of the interior including the altar is from the 1470s and has been carefully preserved over the centuries and is still in use today. The church is most famous internationally for its 15th century ceiling paintings depicting Death playing chess with a knight, which inspired Ingmar Bergman's famous film scene in the Seventh Seal.

When LjusDesign and lighting designer Peter Lindbom of AIX Arkitekter were tasked with creating a new lighting for the famous church, working with the historical and fragile interior proved a challenge. Electrical wiring was in place, but putting DMX cables in the church was simple not an option. The solution they used was building CRMX OEM cards directly into the fixtures themselves, making the lighting controls

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