USA - TNDV has introduced Aspiration, its new 40ft expanding-side mobile production truck. Aspiration is built to support premium remote video production services for broadcast TV, worship events and corporate video projects; as well as concerts, ceremonies and other live events.

Aspiration will cross the country with its advanced SD/HD/3D production workflow featuring up to 12 cameras, a large routing system, a feature-rich production switcher and a comprehensive audio suite among other capabilities.

Nic Dugger, president of TNDV and four-time Emmy Award winner comments, "The shows and the budgets are getting bigger, but our first truck has been maximised. Aspiration allows us to double the amount of production work we do across the country, and more than double the crew positions for big events, allowing us to employ additional tape operators, shaders and audio personne

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies audio division has supplied a Shure UHF-R wireless microphone system to Chichester Festival Theatre - one of the UK's highest profile producing and receiving theatres, renowned for a diverse range of productions including musicals, comedies, classic drama and innovative new writing.

A.C. Audio were approached when the theatre was in the process of evaluating the leading audio brands in its search for a radio mic system, and also one that was channel 38 compliant ahead of the 'digital switchover'.

A selection of demo equipment was delivered to the theatre to enable thorough testing. The venue thought the Shure system was "awesome" and easily the best sounding out of the four they had tried, and so immediately made the decision to purchase.

A.C. Audio supplied 16 Shure UR4D dual channel receivers, which is a 1U 19 inch rack mounti

UAE - The Amika Dubai has opted for a Dynacord sound system. Installed by CEG Technologies of Dubai, the Amika solution is based on the Dynacord VariLine, with 19 VL-262, four Sub 18 and three Sub 115 enclosures.

"We were acutely aware of the extremely high hurdle we had to clear if the Dubai club was to live up to the very high reputation of its sister club in London," says Chant Utukian, CEG Technologies' project manager. "The directors of the Amika were adamant that the standards set by the London club should be maintained in every respect."

AVL Electronics employed simulations to guide the design and configuration of the sound system. "As soon as they heard the system, our customers were not only astonished but captivated. They could see it was compact and elegant, but it also produced considerably higher sound pressure levels than they expected. A

UK - Roland Systems Group (RSG) products were once again at the forefront of the festival scene with their appearance at the Friends of Mine Festival - otherwise known as FOMFEST - which took place for the first time this year in the Cheshire countryside.

Paul Nicholson who runs Salisbury based Midas ProSound and Red Square Audio was asked to manage the audio systems across the four main FOMFEST stages. Nicholson decided to use FOMFEST to put the new M-480 digital console through its paces in a live environment. Launched in April, the M-480 is a central unit in a full V-Mixing System with a powerful new mixing engine, which can be integrated with Roland's Digital Snakes, Personal Mixing and Multi-Channel Recording solutions.

In the Big Top Tent, the M-480 demonstrated its capabilities as a live mixing console, taking care of FoH under the supervision of Simon Kenning from Rola

UK - Clay Paky have announced the next date of the UK New Product Tour, set to take place at the Royal Shakespeare Company's base in Stratford-upon-Avon and featuring popular Clay Paky products including: Sharpy, Alpha Profile 700 and the Shotlight Wash

"We would like to invite you and your colleagues to join us for an informal demonstration and a sandwich lunch," says the company. Details of the event are as follows:

Tuesday 19th July - Royal Shakespeare Company, Swan Theatre. 2pm - 5pm.

An optional tour of the theatre will take place at 3.30pm

Drinks and a sandwich lunch will be provided.

"Everyone is welcome, all we ask is for you to RSVP to janemonk@monkey.biz with a guest list."

(Claire Beeson)

Italy - Over 350sq.m of Pixled LED screen is being used to spectacular effect on the latest sold-out stadium tour by Italian superstar Vasco Rossi - Live Kom '011 - specified by lighting and visuals designer, Giovanni Pinna.

The Pixled F-25 and F-37L surfaces were purchased by Milan based AV Rental company Event Management specially for the tour, and supplied to them from Pixled Europe's HQ in Belgium. It's Event Management's first investment in the Pixled brand - although the company has used it on shows in the past.

For the Rossi tour, 14 columns of Pixled F-37L are positioned in two sections of seven either side of the stage at the back. These are on a Cyberhoist automation system that moves them between level 1 (the stage) and level 2 of the set. They can also move apart into seven individual segments or be run as one large surface per side.

Two horizontal strips

Hungary - Allen & Heath's iLive digital mixing system managed the audio broadcast feed for RTL Klub TV channel's Való Világ (Real World) reality show in Hungary, running non-stop for a total of 164 days.

The producers wanted two separate systems running 24 hours a day, picking up different material which could be selected for the final daily edit. Installed by A&H's national distributor, Audmax, in collaboration with system integrator, Rexfilm, an iDR10 modular MixRack was installed in a studio room managing 32 inputs, and a second iDR10 in the CAR-room managing 24 inputs and 48 outputs. Both MixRacks were connected via ACE to iLive-144 control surfaces located in the sound control room, and fitted with Ethersound to network them together for input sharing. The programme's sound engineers then used iLive Editor to manage both systems.

"iLive was selected for its respons

UK / USA - Following on from the critical success of the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has further developed Charcoalblue's and Bennetts Associates' auditorium designs to deliver a 975-seat 'flat pack' travelling performance space.

The new, three-tiered structure has been built inside New York's historic Park Avenue Armory. Here, from 6 July - 14 August, Lincoln Center Festival and Park Avenue Armory, in association with The Ohio State University, are presenting the Royal Shakespeare Company for a repertoire of five of Shakespeare's plays - As You Like It, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet and The Winter's Tale.

"The flat pack theatre is a dynamic replica of the RST theatre, originally conceived by Charcoalblue and Bennetts Associates Architects," explains Ch

Ireland - Robe moving lights proved themselves to be a robust and reliable choice of moving light for any festival situation, with over 100 used on the main stage plus many more around the site at the 2011 Oxegen Festival in County Kildare.

True to form, the skies opened and it pelted with rain throughout the first day of the event, turning the site at Punchestown Racecourse into a slightly sticky, mud-tastic experience - which didn't dampen any of the vibes.

The highprofile festival is promoted by the country's largest concert and live event organisation, MCD and this year it featured a strong line-up.

Dublin-based rental company Just Lite's relationship with MCD's Denis Desmond stretches back over 20 years, and the company headed by Paul and Alan Smith has been involved with lighting the festival for the last 11 years, when it was originally launched as Witnness in 2000. O

Australia - The Port Fairy Folk Festival is held in early March each year over the Labour Day long weekend on the south-west coast of Victoria in the historic sea-side village of Port Fairy. Australia's 'world famous' independent music festival presents major international and national folk, trad and roots music artists during a four day festival of folk, country, Celtic, blues, jazz, bluegrass, traditions, contemporary, singers, songwriters, acoustic rock and world roots music.

Geelong-based Total Events provided lighting, staging, transport, rigging and AV requirements for the festival across six venues. 2011 was the 35th year of Port Fairy Folk Festival and Total Events managing director Scott Parker has provided various levels of production to the event for over 15 years.

Lighting - consisting of approximately 100 LED fixtures, 50 moving head fixtures and 100 dimmer channe

Norway - Staging and technical production company AVAB-CAC Bergen AS, based in Bergen, has supplied its new custom designed Milos roofing system for a recent series of concerts in and around the town, including a recent show by Swedish pop superstars Roxette.

The band who had a string of chart-topping hits in the 1990s are back on the road again with a world tour and their first studio album Room Service in 10 years.

The Roxette show was staged at Bergenhus Fortress & Castle (a greenfield site, which is part of a medieval fortress and castle) located in the middle of Bergen's historic centre. It was moved from its originally intended site and the capacity increased from 6,500 to 10,000 people - which was immediately - again - sold out.

The roof features seven tower supports and a top trussing grid made up of RTT and FTT trussing.

The structure is 20m wide by 16 deep

Russia - Clay Paky's new narrow beam, the Sharpy, has been given its first airing on Russian television following an appearance on Star Factory, a reality TV talent show broadcast on Russia's Channel One. Mixing elements of Pop Idol and Big Brother, the contest aims to nurture the next generation of singing talent with help from pop industry veterans.

Star Factory lighting designer Leonid Pozdnyanskiy made up his mind to use the Sharpy after viewing a demonstration at the studio organised by Clay Paky distributor DOKA.

"We are pleased that Channel One allowed us to promote Sharpy on Star Factory," says DOKA's Vasily Litvin, brand manager for Clay Paky. "Sharpy has found an instant fan base here in Russia; those in the studio were absolutely amazed by the output, and we expect great things from this fixture in the Russian market

Europe - Take That's record breaking Progress Live stadium tour is being witnessed by over two million fervent fans across Europe, who are enjoying music from right across the band's career, as well as some of Robbie Williams solo hits. Sennheiser microphones, in-ears and radio systems are a key part of the production, ensuring that the boys hit the right note.

All five members of Take That are using Sennheiser SKM5200 handheld wireless microphones with dynamic MD5235 heads and EM3732 MkII dual receivers, as well as 2000 series in-ear monitors (IEMs). Further sets of the IEMs are used by the backing band, dancers and technical crew, while wired backing vocal mics are e 935s.

One of the biggest challenges of the show is its sheer size, with a B stage projecting well into each stadium. This has meant the addition of Sennheiser's A5000-CP circular polarized antennas alongs

Poland - Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2011, the Heineken Open'er Festival in Poland played host to some of the biggest acts on the planet recently, with the likes of Prince, Coldplay, Pulp and The Strokes gracing the stage over the course of the four day event.

With crowds of between 60,000 and 86,000 every day, the demands on a sound system for an event of this size are high. GMB Pro Sound, the company behind the sound system for the main stages, decided to power everything with Lab.gruppen's flagship PLM 20000Q.

Remigiusz Kasztelnik, director at GMB Pro Sound, said, "My colleague, the highly experienced sound engineer Janusz Klimowicz, was instrumental in our purchase of our new inventory of Lab.gruppen's PLM 20000Q. We had used fP and FP+ Series products before, but none of us had experience working with PLM Series.

"Initially, we considered three differe

Argentina The Teatro Argentino de La Plata was recently furnished with a grandMA2. Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin was the first production to use the grandMA2 ultra-light and premiered perfectly in front of an enthusiastic audience.

Prof. Juan Carlos Greco, technical director comments, "As we needed a very flexible and powerful control, it was logical to go with the grandMA2 as the console offers control for moving lights, conventionals as well as video. Furthermore it features a great back-up solution and fast programming tools."

Besides the main hall with 2,000 seats Teatro Argentino de La Plata includes the smaller 300-seat Astor Piazzolla Hall, as well as rehearsal areas, and space for associated technical shops. The lower level includes the Emilio Pettoruti Exhibition Hall for permanent and transient art collections.

The grandMA2 was installed by Max

UK - PLASA Events has announced the first details of the PLASA 2011 Education and Learning Programme, which runs on all four days of PLASA 2011, at Earls Court in London from 11-14 September 2011.

Headlining the programme is the 2011 Gottelier Masterclass presented by last year's winner of the Gottelier Award and one of the best known designers in the industry, Fred Foster. The theme of his talk will be a huge draw since his title is A Call To Arms - We Must Protect the Quality of Light.

Says Foster, "Faced with the headlong rush towards 'energy efficient' lighting, we as an industry must join together to defend the quality of light. While we have a duty to make and use more efficient sources of light, we must also work to ensure that these sources provide the beautiful full spectrum of light." The Gottelier Masterclass will be presented on Monday 12 September

Australia - For the first time in Australia, at Entech 2011 in Sydney, Meyer Sound will present its real-time demonstrations of the Constellation acoustic system. With a live saxophonist providing musical source, Constellation will transform the Meyer Sound stand by creating a palette of natural acoustical environments, ranging from an intimate recital chamber to a cavernous cathedral, says the company.

"Constellation is a technology that cannot be adequately explained in a brochure or on a website," states Steve Devine of Meyer Sound Australia. "Until you are immersed in it, you won't fully understand what Constellation is about."

At the core of Constellation is the new D-Mitri digital audio platform, a flexible suite of hardware and software components adaptable for the most demanding mixing, matrixing, DSP and show control applications. D-Mitri serves as

USA - The GDS LiteWare range of products continue to make an impact on the US event market as both GDS and ACT Lighting continue to sell the original wireless battery up lighter LiteWare HO and UL across North America.

San Francisco's City Hall was the venue for a recent private party. The main floor interior was bathed in dramatic colours by LiteWareHO (High Output),GDS's wireless LED battery-powered uplighter.

Allegra Entertainment & Events, a full-service entertainment, production and event-planning firm in Burlingame, California and a preferred vendor for, the City of San Francisco, teamed up with award-winning Little Rock-based interior designer Kaki Hockersmith for the event. The elegantly-restored City Hall, which was rebuilt in 1915 following the great earthquake, is a favourite spot for corporate receptions and social galas.

Allegra handled the event production and

UK - Richard Martin Lighting (RML) support Lighting Designer Michael Sutcliffe on the new Rob Brydon Show which is filmed at Teddington Studios in front of a live studio audience.

The BBC2 chat show, which will be airing its second series at the end of July, welcomes different celebrity guests each episode to come along, chat, play games and sometimes sing with the Welsh comedian.

The lighting rig includes Pixel Range Pixel Par 90s and Martin Stage Bar 54s.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Active Production and Design full-service production company took a bold step into a new cutting-edge design concept, when it added an LED video screen to its impressive warehouse of A-V, lighting, special effects, staging and set design offerings.

Billed by the company as 'the largest LED wall in Georgia', the new video screen is comprised of EVLED 1024SMD 20mm LED panels from Elation Professional. Each of the IP65-rated panels features 1024 pixels made of 3-in-1 SMD Tri-Color LEDs (red, green, blue), capable of creating over 14 trillion colours. Active purchased 80 of the 2'2" square panels, which can be configured to form a video screen of any desired size or shape to meet a wide range of design needs.

"Active clients expect innovation, and the LED wall has provided us with a whole new A-V design concept from which to create," said Matt Clouser, preside

USA - First Lady Michelle Obama recently delivered the keynote graduation address to the 2011 class of Spelman College. The graduation event took place at the Georgia International Convention Centre in Atlanta, Georgia. The centre's hall is massive - approximately 200ft wide by 420ft deep and able to hold in excess of 10,000 people.

The PA system, provided by Atlanta-based AEE Productions, utilised 16 EAW KF740 three-way full range line array Loudspeakers flown in two line arrays on either side of the 60ft wide stage. Another 16 EAW SB1000z large format subwoofers were set up and stacked on the stage itself. In addition, a pair of the new EAW KF394 line array modules was used as an out-fill on the wings of the main line array, positioned three feet behind and two feet to the side of the line array hangs, and eight EAW KF730s were used as delay speakers. The system was processed

UK - Visuals-for-events specialist Bluman Associates worked to a brief from West Design and Production (WD&P) on the premiere of the last ever Harry Potter film - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.

Bluman Associates provided and managed the giant high definition screen, which formed part of the ambitious WD&P design that wowed a crowd of thousands in London's Trafalgar Square. The screen was used to showcase a specially cut trailer (created by Edit Poole) along with live camera footage from the event.

Event designer and producer for the world premiere Lucy Smail of WD&P, comments, "This was a huge event and the screen formed a crucial part of our design concept. The screen added an extra dimension to the event and we were delighted with the impact it had. Excerpts and trailers from the Harry Potter film, specially put together by Edit Poole, looked grea

Chile - Teatro Municipal de Las Condes in Santiago de Chile, regarded as one of the finest theatres in Chile, has purchased a quantity of Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 700E AT moving lights, which were supplied by Robe's Chilean distributor Valook in a deal co-ordinated for them by Leo Macaya.

The first use of the new lights was by the theatre's resident lighting designer, Yury Canales for a high profile production of the classic musical Cabaret recently staged at the venue.

Teatro Municipal de Las Condes prides itself on high quality production values, and had been looking to invest in the latest moving light technology for some time to replace their existing stock. They underwent a lengthy evaluation process from which Robe was the brand selected.

"Robe was a clear winner because of the smooth colour mixing and wide range of colours, the incredible beam angles a

Switzerland - Waves Audio, and DiGiCo have teamed up to "bring studio-quality sound to the world of live sound". Currently, Waves processing is being employed in DiGiCo consoles at the 45th Edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival, currently taking place in the Swiss resort.

Since Waves and DiGiCo entered into a strategic alliance in 2010, Waves reverbs, equalizers, compressors, limiters, delays and more run directly from DiGiCo's SD series consoles. Waves plugins that are noted for their use in leading recording studios, mixing rooms and mastering houses the world over are now being use in live sound reinforcement as well.

Suitable for front-of-house, monitor, broadcast and theatre applications alike, Waves live sound applications for DiGiCo consoles provide instant access to the industry's leading audio processors. Powered by Waves SoundGrid technology, Waves integrat

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