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UK - UK-based video and AV specialist Central Presentations (CPL) continues its investment in premium brand technology and is one of the first UK rental companies to take delivery of the latest Yamaha CL5 digital mixing console.

CPL already has a large stock of Yamaha LS9 and other desks. One reason the CL5 was chosen is that it runs on the same operating principals as these, so all their engineers who are used to working with Yamaha digital consoles will be able to use the CL5 immediately, and quickly familiarise themselves with its many advanced features.

The CL5 system was supplied to CPL by the Birmingham office of LMC Audio Systems.

CPL managing director Matthew Boyse explains that they were keen to be among the first AV rental operations in the UK able to offer their clients all of the benefits offered by the new CL series.

"The compact size and weight for 72 ch

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UK - Black Light is now able to offer new-to-stock, lightweight and easy-to-manage staging thanks to its investment in the Lite Deck system from the Prolyte Group.

"We've added over 100 pieces of this innovative kit to our hire stock," says Calder Sibbald, head of Black Light's hires and events. "This makes us the largest stockist of this kind of staging in Scotland and means that our customers can benefit from the flexibility, good looks and exceptional ease of use of this fantastic range of equipment."

As it is based on an aluminum framework, Lite Deck weighs significantly less than comparable staging made from steel. However, despite its light weight, the equipment has a very high loading capacity. "It's easier to lift and handle," says Sibbald. "It therefore reduces the chance of any strains or injuries happening and allows more effective

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USA - The 2012 North American Theatre, Engineering, and Architecture Conference (NATEAC) wrapped up in New York last month, with attendees praising the presentations and organisers already planning the 2016 event.

Stage Technologies was once again platinum sponsor of the conference, which saw an increase of 20% in attendees over the inaugural event of 2008. Mark Ager, CEO of the Stage Technologies Group commented, "As a company we strongly believe in supporting this extremely important theater market. These conferences provide a wonderful forum for like-minded professionals to get together to debate and discuss a variety of relevant issues and push forward the boundaries of stage engineering."

Participants enjoyed a mixture of presentations, networking and backstage tours to the Met Opera and Radio City Music Hall. This year's location, the New York Hilton in midtown

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UK - London-based LCI has specified and installed a Soundcraft Vi1 digital console, as part of a flexible new audio visual infrastructure for major events venue, Old Billingsgate, overlooking the River Thames.

The company also tapped further into the portfolio of Harman Professional brands, distributed in the UK and Eire by Sound Technology. They specified 14 JBL PRX 615M self-powered monitors as delay speakers, while a number of JBL Control 1 Pro's have been deployed to provide audio coverage on the upper and lower mezzanine levels of the Grade II-listed building, powered by Crown CDi1000 amplifiers.

Line level cabling has been routed to all the trusses for use with the PRX615M's, which are brought into play when delay speakers are required - since all equipment is deployed on a 'per design' basis. Says LCI project manager (and co-designer) Carl Miller, "These PRX cabine

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Australia - AV company Scene Change has purchased a Jands Vista S1 console to accompany their existing Jands Vista I3 console.

"We've been more than happy with our Vista I3 and it made sense to purchase another console that was already in line with what we were using," commented Jordan Renouf from Scene Change. "By adding the Vista S1 we've gained more functionality and because it is the same software as the Vista I3, the ease of usability for the guys has been very simple."

Renouf states that the surface of the Vista S1 is particularly good with a good number of playback handles for such a small surface.

"Again, it has a similar surface to the Vista I3," he added. "The Vista is such an intuitive console - easy to use and quick. Because of this intuitive design it's very quick to patch and program and have a show up and running quickly. Als

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USA - The recently completed expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Centre (PCC) in downtown Philadelphia is, to date, the largest public works project in Pennsylvania history. The Convention Centre, first opened in 1993, was expanded by four full city blocks as part of a 20-year plan to renew Philadelphia's downtown City Centre District, a once-struggling area that has seen tremendous economic growth in the two decades since the revitalization efforts began.

The expansion has earned PCC a ranking as one of the 10 largest convention properties in the country. It now spans a massive 2.3m sq.ft - 20 acres in the heart of downtown Philadelphia - and features two large ballrooms and seven exhibit halls, ample space to hold two major conventions and several smaller events simultaneously.

"One of the important elements of the expansion project was the installation of a profes

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Germany - The long-distance triathlon is one of the most gruelling of all athletic disciplines, comprising a 3.8-kilometre swim followed by 180 kilometres on the bike and a full 42.2-kilometre marathon; yet year after year the number of participants grows - as, indeed, do the crowds lining the routes. A particular favourite with athletes as well as spectators is the Roth Challenge, the world's biggest long-distance marathon, which is staged annually in the rural district of Roth, just south of Nuremberg in Bavaria. In 2012, for the first time, the European Triathlon Union awarded the European Long-Distance Championships to the Roth Marathon and its sister event, the Half-Distance European Championships, to the Challenge Kraichgau in Baden-Wurttemberg.

In Roth, on 8 July, around 5,000 athletes lined up at the start, while over 200,000 spectators, taking advantage of the ideal wea

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UK - Following their debut in the London 2012 Opening Ceremony, the 'pixels' and Crystal's animations immersed the audience in a celebration of British music at last night's Closing Ceremony.

Danny Boyle said: "Every Olympic ceremony aims for a major technical breakthrough. Our remarkable audience pixels have opened up amazing new images, effects and spectacle, but most of all they have enabled our live stadium audience to be part of the ceremony in a way that's never been possible before."

Directed by Kim Gavin, the Closing Ceremony assembled stars of the British music scene from 1967 to 2012 performing their biggest hits. Working closely with Gavin's creative team, Crystal created 27 animated sequences, totalling the length of a feature length film to accompany the songs that brought Britain's musical heritage to life.

Over 10,000 pixels wide, the animations requ

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UK - At the end of June the High Definition Festival was held at Hainault in Essex. In only its second year it has already become one of Europe's leading dance music festivals with nearly 9,000 people turning up to party. Acts included Ms Dynamite and world famous DJ Fedde le Grand.

Lighting designer Terry Lewsey specified a total of 12 LEDHead 324W moving head wash luminaries and 30x LEDHead SBar battens to be included in the lighting systems across eight stages.

The 324s have 108x 3W RGBW leds and were used for general stage washes and movement.

All of the lighting production and effects for the festival were supplied by Light Design Ltd, based in Rainham, Essex. They have had both of the units featured above in their rental stock for over a year and have recently increased their stock levels due to high demand in the festival and corporate markets.

Terry Lewsey commente

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UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributors of ClearCom in the United Arab Emirates for the live sound market segment have recently supplied the Tempest wireless intercom system to Icon Art Productions. The company has already begun using the system for a TV production that involves a cooking show, which was shot in Dubai.

"ClearCom's Tempest system is the most sought after wireless intercom solution for high profile concerts, events and production applications where remote monitoring and control as well as clear two way communication is necessary," commented Chicco Hiranandani, business development manager at NMK.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - With the Wrecking Ball Tour, in support of their 17th studio album, Bruce Springsteen & Co are heading into a two-month US fall stadium tour following a massive world tour that started in March of 2012 taking them around the globe. Solotech US Corp. is the tour's production provider.

Critical monitor mixes for the 18-piece band are split in two between engineers Monty Carlo and Troy Milner and for the first time ever they're employing a pair of DiGiCo SD7s outfitted with the Waves SoundGrid bundle.

At stage left is Carlo, who's been with Springsteen since '92, handling a mix of wedges and in-ears for Bruce, guitarists Steven Van Zandt and Patti Scialfa, keyboardist Roy Bittan, background vocalists, and a five-piece horn section.

Milner, onboard since 2001, is at stage right taking care of drummer Max Weinberg, guitarist Nils Lofgren, bassist Garry Talent, keyboardist C

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UK / USA - Three draft control protocol standards are available for public review on the PLASA website until early October. They may be downloaded for free at the web address below.

BSR E1.37-2 - 201x, Additional Message Sets for ANSI E1.20 (RDM) - Part 2, IPv4 & DNS Configuration Messages, and BSR E1.45 - 201x, Transport of IEEE 802 data frames over ANSI E1.11 (DMX512-A), are available for review through October 1. BSR E1.37-2 provides additional get/set parameter messages (PIDs) for use with the ANSI E1.20 Remote Device Management protocol. Messages in this document are intended for configuring network interfaces and Domain Name System settings on devices with an IPv4 address. BSR E1.45 defines a minimal method to transport IEEE 802 data frames over ANSI E1.11 physical links using an Alternate START Code. The primary motivation is to allow communication of 802 data to luminair

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Germany - Fohhn Audio has supplied a range of loudspeaker systems, including its flagship Linea Focus electronically steerable line arrays, for a series of installations at the historic Ruprecht-Karls University in Heidelberg, Germany. One of the world's oldest universities, Heidelberg celebrated its 625th Anniversary during 2011, an event that was preceded by a multi-million euro programme of renovation and refurbishment over a one-and-a-half year period.

The project has included Fohhn loudspeaker system installations in the university's Neue Aula and in two lecture theatres. The last of these installations was completed in recent months. In each case, systems have been chosen for their ability to deliver balanced coverage and excellent levels of speech intelligibility, as well as for their ability to integrate into the architectural surroundings of the historic building.

A m

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UK - Backstage Academy will be hosting two clearing open days this month for those interested in finding out more about its pioneering Foundation Degree in Live Events Production.

The open days are scheduled for Tuesday 21 August (11am - 8pm) and Wednesday 22 August (11am - 4pm), in preparation to receive university applicants who don't receive an offer for their desired degree courses on A-Level results day on 16 August.

Backstage Academy will still be accepting applications for its FdA course, which begins in November this year, with an induction weekend in late September.

Visitors to the open days can book a slot to take an access all areas tour around the LS-Live rehearsal facility, and speak to staff about the course and life at the Academy. Staff will also be on hand to discuss its wide range of short courses in backstage skills, bespoke training packages and partnersh

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UK - Czech technical solutions Provider AV Media invested in a substantial amount of new Robe moving lights and Anolis LED fixtures which is installed at the 'Czech House' Pavilion, a base for all sports fans and supporters of the Czech National Team during the London Olympics.

The Czech house took over the entire Business Design Centre building in Islington.

Czech National TV's Olympic broadcast studio is located there, and the Pavilion features massive screens so the public can enjoy all the best of the Olympic action, together with food, beer, wine and digestives, chess, streetball, art, Czech Team merchandising and a host of other cultural offerings including a stage for live bands, DJs and other entertainment, with sociability high on the agenda.

AV Media's Project Manager Filip Klein explains that when they won the contract to co-ordinate all the technicals for the Cze

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UK - A BlackBox BBR64-MADI Recorder was used by award-winning engineer Donal Hodgson to capture Sting's recent Henley Festival show.

Hodgson, who has recorded and mixed Sting for over a decade said, "I have been using Pro Tools in the studio, live on and off stage, but just recently broke free of my comfort zone and decided to try JoeCo's BBR64-MADI Recorder. Sting has been using a Studer Vista 5 for FOH so I was very confident that the A to D would be good and utilising the BlackBox meant I wouldn't need to hire a van to carry my usual rig to the show, or upset production by taking up valuable seating space with a couple of big racks.

"Actually I was surprised how small my recording rig turned out to be. All I needed was a 2U rack - 1U for the BBR and 1U for the Glyph GT062E HD. The BBR64-MADI is surprisingly small considering it records 64 tracks. And, as it has an

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UK - Detonate Indoor Festival in Nottingham is an eight-arena, four-venue music festival featuring over 50 artists and dozens of Chauvet fixtures. The annual event features some of the leading drum and bass acts around, including Sub Focus, David Rodigan and Skream.

One of the venues, The Forum, featured a stage filled with 48 Chauvet Professional MVP 18 modular video panels, 14 Chauvet Professional Q-Spot 260-LED and six Chauvet Professional Q-Wash 260-LED moving heads, and eight Chauvet DJ Intimidator Scan LED 300 scanners.

Found throughout the other four (of the eight) stages were a selection of Chauvet fixtures, specified by Stage Electrics and JPS Sound and Light.

(Jim Evans)

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Maldives - The holiday resort destination of the Maldive Islands, in the Indian Ocean, has provided the exotic location for PR Lighting's latest foray.

Local event management company, BeamOn, is using the popular XS1200 Spot on the celebrity TV show, Tharinge Rey 2012, broadcast by Maldives TV station, DhiTV.

Recorded in a local theatre, the series runs once a week (over four weeks), with all shows pre-recorded two days in advance.

Working in conjunction with the TV station, BeamOn designed the lighting rig, specifying six of the high power XS1200s among the lighting effects, chosen for their colour temperature filters and colour saturation; the lighting is controlled from an Avolites Pearl Tiger console.

Everyone has been delighted with the lighting dynamics, reports BeamOn's Abdulla Shareef (Allo), and he expects these will feature again on future DhiTV shows in t

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South Africa - An audience of 2,000 attended Super M Live with The Parlotones performance at the Gateway's Wavehouse in Durban on Sunday, 5 August 2012. The concert was hosted for winners of the Clover Super M competition, and was also held in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Durban based rental company, Hirezone Audio Visual, provided the full technical at The Wavehouse including lighting, sound, av, staging and screens. The Robins came out to play, and while most of the fixtures were rigged on the Prolyte Ground Support and on two Prolyte bars above the stage, some were also placed on the stage for beam work. Philips Selecon Profiles were utilised for flood lighting and LED parcans added colour.

"The Parlotones were excellent," commented Richard Gild from Hirezone. "I have a new found respect for them and on stage they rock." Gild adds the entire show r

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South Africa - The 2012 PSL Awards were staged at the Lyric theatre in Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, and honoured South African football players, coaches and officials.

This year the event was lit by Nicholas Michaletos from l technical solutions provider, Sound Stylists, who supplied lighting equipment and crew for the show.

Robe moving lights were at the core of the rig for the event, which was broadcast live on SABC channels 1, 2 and 3 as well as SuperSport.

Michaletos worked closely with set and production designer Wayne Sproule from Pendragon Dezign, with whom he's worked very successfully on previous projects including the Sports Awards of Gauteng at the end of 2011 for the same client - producers Warren Bowles Corporate Communications (WBCC).

They were very keen to keep this visual continuity with the PSL Awards, and so asked both back in the same roles.

The Robes

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UK - Perfectly timed for London's Olympic summer is the new stage adaptation of the classic British film Chariots of Fire - telling the story of a much earlier Olympic Games.

Described as "one of the great treats of the summer" by the Sunday Times, the show opened at London's Hampstead Theatre before transferring to the Gielgud Theatre in the West End. It is adapted from Colin Welland's original screenplay by writer Mike Bartlett, features Vangelis' original music from the film, is directed by Edward Hall with designs by Miriam Buether and has lighting by Olivier- and Tony Award-winning lighting designer Rick Fisher.

To supply the lighting for the show, Rick Fisher turned to his regular collaborator White Light, which supplies his award-winning design for Billy Elliot in London and has regularly supplied the touring rigs for his designs for both

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Grand Finale - The London Olympics closing ceremony was broadly welcomed by the world's critics. According to The Guardian, the event was "a kaleidoscopic spectacle" that showed "the energy of British popular culture over the past few decades". The Telegraph said the show was "meant to be about cheese - an unabashed, honking hunk of over ripe Stilton".

"This all-star mix of live and pre-recorded music was a major crowd-pleaser," declared David Rooney of the Hollywood Reporter, saying the event would be "regarded as a wonderfully chaotic treasure trove by some and a hot mess by others". The New Zealand Herald described the event at the Olympic Stadium in east London as "a pop culture smorgasbord that had touches of brilliance, beauty and bewilderment".

Olympic Effect - West End box of

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As pro sound systems become ever more sophisticated, along with accurate prediction software and more and more powerful DSP, how close are we getting to guaranteeing perfect live sound in any environment? Is that even a realistic objective? Leading product designers discuss the questions . . .

presented by: Panellists: Jason Baird (Martin Audio) | Werner 'Vier' Bayer (d&b audiotechnik) | Miguel Lourtie (Meyer Sound)
Tuesday 11 September, 3.30pm - 4.30pm

To book this session and check out other session in the programme, please click here

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Ecuador - The Midas distributor for Ecuador, Electronic Amusement S.A., has sold the country's first Midas PRO2 Live Audio System to the country's leading rental company, Speakers Group. Speakers Group designs and delivers total audio solutions for high profile corporate customers in a number of sectors including car dealerships, drinks companies, make-up manufacturers, pharmaceuticals and government.

Since its inception in 2005, Speakers Group has established itself as one of the most important companies in its market in Ecuador. Company owner David Vicedo says: "It's our company mission to acquire market leading equipment for our clients. Midas consoles have been high on our wish list for some time. For Speakers Group, it's crucial to offer to our customers the best and without a doubt Midas offers unsurpassed sound quality. We have established our name as a leader in the

  1. Soundcraft Vi Series consoles tour with Kaiser Chiefs
  2. Innovason out in force at Les Vieilles Charrues
  3. LCI provides Old Billingsgate with Martin Audio W8LM
  4. Hippotizers come alive in Vegas
  5. Midas PRO2 sets tone for Beady Eye
  6. Black Cat scores at Crowborough RFC
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