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USA - Saginaw Valley State University is one of Michigan's fastest-growing universities, and its Cardinal Athletics teams draw a steady stream of fans year-round. The university's main athletic complex, the Ryder Centre, comprises a number of venues, including a 6800-seat football stadium, indoor and outdoor track and field facilities, baseball, soccer and softball fields and more.

The Centre's 3700-seat James E. O'Neill Arena is home to the university's Cardinal basketball teams. The multipurpose facility can be segmented using movable walls, accommodating not just basketball, but everything from baseball practice, pole vaulting and shot putting to convocations, and even the occasional swap meet. The arena recently received a major sound system upgrade, overseen by Bret Emerson of Rockford, MI-based CommTech Design, installing a high-powered audio system featuring Renkus-Heinz

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World - wysiwyg, the previsualization suite from CAST Software of Toronto, is on the current Roxette world tour.

Roxette began their current tour in February 2011, their first world tour since 1995, and have so far visited Europe, Russia, South America, and South Africa, with the 2012 leg covering Asia, Australia and Scandinavia, for a total of over 120 performances.

Calle Brattberg is the lighting designer, set designer, programmer, and operator for the tour, as well as creator of the wysiwyg design used for lighting the show.

The main lighting for the Fall leg of the tour was supplied by Starlight in Sweden, consisting of 40 Martin MAC 2000 Wash, 39 Vari*lite VL3000 Spots, 11 Vari*lite VL2500 Spots, 10 SGM Ribaltas, 11 Cromlech JARAGs, 14 Martin MAC 301 LED washes and 18 2-lights by James Thomas Engineering. Brattberg's own company, LXworks, is the supplier of the MA2 ligh

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Norway - Robert Juliat profiles, Fresnels and followspots have been supplied in quantity by AVAB CAC to the newly opened Kilden Performing Arts Centre in Kristiansand, Norway.

Kilden Performing Arts Centre represents the largest financial investment in a cultural building in Norway since the construction of the Oslo Opera House (itself kitted out with Robert Juliat profiles and followspots in 2008) and, covering a total area of 15,000sq.m, is the largest ever to be built in Southern Norway.

On its opening last month, Kilden became the new home of three important independent institutions: the Agder Regional Theater, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra and the regional opera company, Opera S°ør.

Kilden's special role as a cultural centre lies in its remit to accommodate everyone from local amateurs to international stars. It boasts an audience capacity in excess of 2270

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The Netherlands - In partnership with their Dutch distributors, TM Audio, Martin Audio has added another premium concert venue in the Amsterdam region.

Following landmark installations in the iconic Paradiso and Melkweg clubs in the past few years, a Martin Audio W8LCi compact line array system has now been installed in latest Amsterdam rock venue (and cultural centre), Duycker.

Owned by the local government, and situated near Schiphol Airport (in the affluent town of Hoofddorp), the complex comprises two live rooms and a café bar, where sound reinforcement is provided by Martin Audio's AQ architectural range.

The Martin Audio W8LCi solution was chosen for installation in the large, 850-capacity room after the line array approach had been compared with modular systems by experienced freelance sound engineer, Gerald Chermin, who was brought in as technical director to

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Park Life - The number of concerts held at Hyde Park has been cut from 13 a year to nine after complaints from residents. Westminster Council has also decided to reduce the number of people who can attend the events, from 80,000 to 65,000, and in some cases to 50,000.The changes come into effect next year. Hyde Park's licence to host events came under review after complaints about noise almost doubled since 2008.

The staging of live Olympics screenings and concerts planned for 2012 were not included in the review and the council agreed that an 18-day series of concerts will be held in the park to celebrate the Games and events related to the Queen's Jubilee.

Councillor Audrey Lewis, Westminster Council's Licensing chairman, said, "We have a duty to balance the needs of local residents with the desire of concert organisers to hold events and the compromise that the committ

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Canada - William F White International Inc. has become official distributors for the full Dirty Rigger gloves and accessories range.

With six offices across Canada, their industry knowledge and high company profile is a great addition to the Dirty Rigger distribution network which is rapidly expanding across the whole of North America, says the company.

National expendables manager Vicki Brown says, "The Dirty Rigger products are well made, innovative and useful and as they are made especially to meet the unique requirements of our market, they will certainly be a perfect addition to our existing line-up of sales products and expendable goods."

Dirty Rigger's product manager Steve Marshall says, "To have Whites see the quality and durability of our range and be so keen to work with us is fantastic. I'm really looking forward to hearing their customers response

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Brazil - W-DMX by Wireless Solution Sweden recently helped bring a holiday shower of lights to the Natal Luz Gramado Festival in Brazil. Billed as the biggest Christmas party in the country, Natal Luz saw an audience of approximately 1.4m people. The season lasted 74 days - 3 November 3, 2011 to 15 January 2012.

Four W-DMX transmitters and 12 W-DMX receivers handled a flawless signal to 48 Moving Spot IM700, six Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500,12 Atomic 3000, 36 Moving Wash IM575, eight Laser System DMX, 60 Fire Machine DMX, 36 Par LED 3W AQUALED, and eight fog machines; 120 Canais dimmers plus control was from a grandMA Ultra Light console and a grandMA NPU.

Daniel Ridano, owner of Lighting Bits based in Sao Paulo, was both the technical consultant and distributor for W-DMX for the show. Ridano has a background in lighting consoles and DMX control and has been a W-DMX consultant si

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UK - East London-based Presentation Rentals (PR) supplied technical production equipment to two high profile events on the same day in London, both featuring keynote speeches by Microsoft billionaire philanthropist and global anti-poverty campaigner, Bill Gates.

The first was a live broadcast by the BBC from Deptford Green School in Lewisham, east London, complete with satellite link to a school in Uganda. Later in the day, Gates and Professor Hans Rosling spoke and took part in a live webcast from the London School of Economics (LSE) in central London, addressing the 2012 Global Poverty Ambassadors and students. Gates also used this as part of the London launch of his Annual Letter.

PR was working for live event and communications agency Stretch who were event producers and for whom PR is a regular technical consultant and solutions supplier. PR's project manager was Justin H

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UK - Flare Audio supplied the sound system for Coca Cola's worldwide Olympic TV campaign filmed next to the London 2012 stadium, featuring Mark Ronson and Katy B.

Flare Audio provided a 13 box flown Triwave i10 FOH System coupled with their Quadhorn Q218 bass enclosure.

"The sound produced by the system sounded incredible and the entire system was extremely fast to setup and de-rig," comments Arron Smith, project manager for Flare Audio.

The complex stage monitoring system was made up of the entire range of Flare Audio products; Stealth Array was used as side-fills, M15 as stage monitors, the V65 and V12 bass enclosures fitted perfectly into some of the smaller spaces where larger speakers would have restricted the athletes movements.

Davies Roberts from Flare Audio comments, "We were very honoured to have been selected to provide our new British designed an

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UK - Lighting and visuals rental company HSL has acquired a new 240,000sq.ft warehouse and office premises very close to their current HQ in Blackburn, Lancashire. This will quadruple the current space and is currently being prepared to be fully operational by summer 2012.

HSL's business has expanded exponentially over the last four years and the company has completely outgrown the current building in Ribble Business Park and a second adjacent unit that came on stream two years ago.

In the new premises, there will also be room for future expansion into the rest of the space once the initial 165,000sq.ft 'phase one' development is complete.

Features in the new space will include a large technical department, complete with climate controlled test rooms from +85 to minus 20 degrees - including an anechoic chamber (dead room) - to enable the extreme soak testing of all products

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USA - After 35 years on PBS - making it the longest-running music programme on American television - Austin City Limits (ACL) moved to a new home in 2011 at the ACL Live, which was recently named the 'Best New Major Concert Venue' by Pollstar. A modern HD production studio married to a 2,750-seat live music hall, ACL Live is equipped with a Meyer Sound Mica line array loudspeaker system.

Austin City Limits shows claim ACL Live at the Moody Theatre for 45 days a year, with acts ranging from Janet Jackson and Steve Miller to Tony Bennett and Willie Nelson. "The consensus is that we have a great sounding room," says ACL Live's general manager, Tim Neece, after the first weeks of shows. "Overall, the response from both patrons and artists has been extremely positive. We haven't had anybody who wanted to fly their own system, even when it was right outsid

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UK - iLive was selected to manage a three-week run of performances held at The 02 in London, featuring over 100 bands, including The Feeling, Irwin Sparkes (Hoosiers frontman), and up-and-coming UK artists Nicki Garnett, Belakiss, Laura Steel, and Treetop Flyers.

Run by Silent Gig Ltd and supported by PA company The Audio Group, the December Sessions were a series of free performances to celebrate emerging UK talent hosted festival-style on an outdoor stage in the London Piazza at the O2. Allen & Heath's iLive digital system, comprising an iLive-T112 Control Surface at FOH and iLive-T80 on monitors both connected to iDR-48 MixRacks making use of Audinate's new Dante technology as a digital mic splitter, which also feeds the Dante virtual soundcard for full multitrack recording of the performances.

"The Audio Group is a long time user of the iLive systems. The flexibility

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UAE - How do you illuminate a 100m high metal tube on top of the tallest building in the world? That was exactly the question asked of Oasis Enterprises - Architainment Division - who were called in to solve the challenge.

Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, is over 828m high with more than 160 stories. Oasis had intimate knowledge of the structure and connectivity having already worked on the contract to integrate and programme the festive lighting system comprising over 800 strobes. An on-site mockup test was scheduled within weeks and the concept was enthusiastically embraced by global property developer, Emaar Properties, who gave the green light.

The system comprises four 2kw and two 3kw xenon Falcon spotlights from A&O technology located on the upper terraces. Oasis technicians originally installed rental units to hit the deadline for EID ul Fitr marking the end

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Turkey - L-Acoustics' Turkish distributor, Elit Light&Sound Technologies, reports a spate of recent installations and projects in Istanbul using L-Acoustics systems.

Technical production companies 911 Music and Pia Stage Technologies worked with Elit to provide all sound and lighting for a concert at new Istanbul venue, Ora Arena, featuring the Buena Vista Social Club and Omara Portuondo. A main system of 12 KARA WST line source speakers per side was used, together with four ARCS, 10 SB18 and six SB28 subwoofers and 16 112P coaxial loudspeakers as stage monitors, the whole system being driven by 10 LA8 amplified controllers apart from the self-powered 112Ps. The prestigious concert featuring the multiple Grammy-winning Cuban band was organized by Turkish event management company Unilife.

According to Hamid Nejatemin, partner of 911 Music, the only option for providing sound qu

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South Africa - Acclaimed electronic artist, Joel Zimmerman - aka Deadmau5 - is widely recognised as the guy in the massive mouse head equipped with built-in LEDs sporting video mapping, wowing crowds with his performances and productions. Based in Toronto, the Canadian music producer hit South African shores in December last year with a three cities tour.

It kicked off in Cape Town at the CTICC before moving to Durban for an 'unhooked' show which did not have the full lighting and video rig. This gave the crew at CTICC a day and a half to strike the kit, transport it up to the Johannesburg venue, Wild Waters H2O, and get it rigged it time for the final show.

Gearhouse took care of gear whilst Dillon Jearey, MD of Kilowatt AV, took care of all logistics, planning and production for tech for the entire tour. LEDVision, the screen division of Gearhouse supplied the back screen. W

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Poland - Tommex ?ebrowscy Sp. J. has recently completed the design and delivery of a Community loudspeaker-based pro audio and voice evacuation system for the prestigious Hala Stulecia (Centennial Hall) in Wroc?aw.

Constructed in 1913, Centennial Hall is undergoing a comprehensive programme of renovation and new development that transforms it into a state-of-the-art venue for its centenary. The installation of the sound system, handled by Asseco, is one of the final parts of this ambitious development programme.

Centennial Hall was built to commemorate the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, which ended Napoleon's occupation of the region. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006, chosen as one of the most important achievements in 20th century architecture. At the time it was built, Centennial Hall was the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world and feature

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South Africa - Johannesburg-based VWV, One of South Africa's leading production companies - responsible for the spectacular closing ceremony of the 2010 Soccer World Cup amongst many other events - has invested in Robe's new Robin MMX Spot moving light fixtures.

"They are currently building up a carefully selected stock of their own lighting technology, which is starting to expand," explains VWV Technical Director Jonathan 'Jonno' Royston, who co-ordinates all the company's technical requirements.

The purchase of the eight MMXs is the start of an expansion in the kit they own. The units were supplied by Robe's South African distributor, DWR, also based in Johannesburg.

Royston first saw the MMXs in action on the Robe stand at the PLASA 2011 exhibition in Earls Court, London. He was "Highly impressed" with the gobos, the animation wheel functionality and t

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UK - Experts behind the triumphant restoration of Newcastle's Theatre Royal will disclose the secrets of the project's success at PLASA Focus, Leeds on Tuesday 17 April. The seminar, which kicks off at 1pm in the Bury Theatre, forms part of the new PLASA Focus Professional Development Programme. It will see Jon Woodley of Charcoalblue Theatre Consultants heading up an expert panel comprising: Peter Hall from Sansome Hall Architects, Theatresearch's David Wilmore and Mark Priestley from Unusual Rigging.

Following an extensive £5m restoration project, Newcastle's Theatre Royal reopened its doors to the public on Monday 12 September 2011. The complex renovation drew on all aspects of the Charcoalblue team's theatrical expertise as Woodley explains, "The scope of the restoration for this Grade I listed theatre was particularly ambitious. It included complete internal rede

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USA - The Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing kicked off Grammy Week with its fifth annual event, this year honouring music producer, entrepreneur and chair of Interscope Geffen A&M Records Jimmy Iovine, who has worked with artists including Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, U2, the Pretenders, Dire Straits, Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and many more.

Iovine was recognized for his commitment to excellence in audio and ongoing support for the art and craft of recorded music. The event was held at The Village Studios in West Los Angeles. Grammy Week culminated with the 54th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday 12 February 2012.

The event was held with the support of leading companies within the musical instrument and professional audio markets. Presenting sponsors included The Village Studios, West L.A. Music and Westlake Professional Sales. Co-sponsors included

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Germany - MilTec(UK).ltd will exhibit at ProLight&Sound for the first time this year. On display will be a number of new audio and lighting products from its MT audio and LEDHead ranges. These include a new 8 channel amplifier, zoners, mixers and a new digital processor. On the lighting front, new battery powered units and an LED wash and profile in the same unit will be highlighted.

"We are currently looking for worldwide distributors for our audio and lighting products," says the company.

MilTec will be in Hall 9.0 stand number C51.

(Claire Beeson)

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France - Clear-Com reports that Y & Co has extended its hire inventory of intercom equipment with two new Clear-Com Eclipse Matrix systems, namely the Eclipse-Median and Eclipse-Pico Digital Matrix, along with the V-Series and ICS user control panels. This additional investment signals Y & Co's confidence in Clear-Com intercoms' capabilities to serve the growing live events and broadcast production needs, says the company.

A loyal Clear-Com user in France since its opening in 1989, Y & Co is a leading rental company providing audio solutions to live event facilities, tour groups and broadcasters. As a member of the Clear-Com Global Rental Group, Y & Co already supplies a portfolio of Clear-Com intercom systems including partyline systems, HME DX200, HME PRO850 and Tempest2400 wireless systems. In addition, Y & Co's technical staff are well-trained in Clear-Com technology to prov

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Australia - Townsville-based production company Wild Gravity caters to a wide variety of clients with events ranging considerably in size. Consequently managing director Noel Anthony requires a 'family' of lighting control consoles.

The company already owned a Vista M1 Control Surface and an S1 Control Surface when Anthony decided to purchase a Vista I3 Console late last year. The Vista I3 is a mid-range console that provides all the features of the full-size T4/T2 consoles in a smaller, more economical package.

"It's the same platform for us whether we're taking out our little M1 with five faders on it or a larger one - you only have to learn one system to do small or large jobs," commented Anthony. "We just love the whole time line aspect of the Vista consoles and the fact that they are very visual. I sold one to a mate a couple of years ago and it has never b

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UK - City Park in Bradford, designed by Gillespies and Arup on behalf of Bradford Council and supported by a multi-disciplinary design team, will be officially launched on 24 March 2012.

This landmark public space contains the largest city-centre water feature anywhere in the UK, a 4,000sq.m mirror pool, and the UK's tallest urban fountain which reaches a spectacular 100ft.

City Park stems from a city centre masterplan drawn up in 2003 on Bradford's behalf which provided a vision of opening up the city centre and creating a public space that would act as a focal point.

Bradford Council took the lead role in turning this vision into a viable plan and Gillespies, Arup, Sturgeon North, Atoll and The Fountain Workshop developed this early concept into a detailed design which was submitted for planning permission and funding in 2007 before construction started in late 2009.

The

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UK - J&C Joel manufactured and installed nine bespoke fabric swags for the 2012 TPI Awards ceremony.

The drapes were used to mask the ceiling within the Novotel London West Hotel in Hammersmith and were manufactured from Blue Jomeleon (JOM604B), a sheer two-tone Trevira CS voile with fantastic iridescent qualities, particularly when backlit.

J&C Joel also sponsored the award for Favourite Set Construction Company, which was awarded to Brilliant Stages who stood out for the judges in an extremely competitive field.

The 11th annual TPI Awards were held on 13 February 2012 and celebrated the leading lights within the live production and events industry.

(Jim Evans)

  1. grandMA2 joins Australia Day celebrations
  2. TC Group and Blue Microphones end distribution agreement
  3. RCF to back university sound engineering course
  4. The Knight of Illumination Awards 2012 open for nominations
  5. inspHire's success at Executive Hire Show
  6. Announcing PLASA Focus: Nashville 2012
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