Business

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UK - On 6 and 7 September, Hippotizer distributors came together from different countries to preview the latest software and catch up with the latest developments of Green Hippo over the past year.

Previewing the newest features, product manager Lee House gave an introduction into 3.2 and gave the Hippotizer distributors a chance to get involved with a Hippotizer monopoly, an interactive session looking at how Hippotizer customers approach decision making.

"Even in the frantic run up to PLASA it is always a pleasure to host the distributor days," says product manager Lee House. "With a very motivated and very successful team of distributors we are pushed in every direction to make the product easier and more powerful. This year was no exception and we're already been working hard on the great ideas that came from those two days."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Event Projection specialises in one-of-a-kind productions - from product launches and museum exhibits to music videos and corporate events, the AV and lighting hire company has a history of unique and distinctly varied projects. So when they were looking to expand their lighting hire stock, they turned to entertainment lighting specialist White Light to find just the right equipment to suit their varied needs. The company chose the latest technology from Coemar - the LEDko P 3200K, available in the UK exclusively through White Light.

Event Projection is the first company of its kind in the UK to purchase the LEDko units, which use an innovative 120W 'Multi-LEDs' source to produce an even, uniform beam, creating huge energy savings over traditional 575W tungsten profiles. Now, several other companies have followed suit, purchasing the LEDko LED light engines for entertainmen

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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) were officially announced as the exclusive UK distributor for Italian manufacturer Griven's LED lighting solutions at PLASA 2012.

AC-ET brings to the table its extensive specialist LED lighting knowledge, experience and customer base in the key entertainment, architectural and architainment sectors serviced by GRIVEN.

Their innovative product range further complements AC-ET's extensive portfolio of premium LED brands, enabling the company to offer an even wider choice of solutions to suit different applications.

In addition, sister company A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) provides bespoke solutions and installations for a whole variety of architectural projects ideally suited to the Griven product range.

Showcased on ACSP's stand was the new Powershine Ultra Spot RGBW, which features an ultra-narrow (4 degree), sharp projection of l

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USA - A Jands Vista L5 media and lighting control console, running the latest Vista v2 software, was used by designer Geoffrey Platt to help deliver US telecoms company 5LINX Enterprises' corporate vision to over 8,000 sales delegates.

Platt, of Atlanta based Production People Inc. (PPi), used the Vista L5 with another of the family, a Vista T2, running in full tracking back-up to deliver a stunning stage production featuring video, lighting and LEDs.

The L5 was controlling over 100 moving lights - a mix of Vari*Lite V*L3000 spots, V*L3500 washes, Martin Professional MAC 250 washes and Clay Paky Sharpys - as well as conventional lightsources and 140 LED fixtures including Chroma-Q Color Block, Philips CK ColorBlast and ColorBlaze, Chauvet Colorado TriPAR and Alkalite Opto Strips. All lighting equipment was supplied by rental company 4Wall's Las Vegas facility.

Two Catalyst m

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USA - Iconic rock bands Mötley Crüe and Kiss teamed for a North American tour and took a grandMA2 full-size along for the ride that is being used to programme and control lighting and video on 44 shows, which are drawing huge crowds coast to coast. Sooner Routhier, Robert Long (SRae Productions) and Patrick Whitley are the lighting and production designers for the tour.

Michael Cooper of Newfangled Lighting, the programmer and operator for Mötley Crüe, has been using the grandMA2 since it debuted. "I pulled grandMA2 serial number 2 off the pallet at Upstaging in 2009 and they have come such a long way with the new software. I love it," says Cooper. "I've used it pretty exclusively for the last few years - it goes around the world with me. Christie provided me with a grandMA2 light last year for the worldwide Motley tour, and now Epic has provided us with these

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UK - SFL Group has just completed a substantial audio visual technical installation as part of a comprehensive renovation project at St James Church in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, using the Roland M-480 Live Digital Console, M-48 Personal Mixers and Digital Snake products to provide a compact digital audio solution at the heart.

The project completed in July this year, contracted house of worship specialists SFL Group as key partners to design, supply and install a full audio, video, and lighting solution; that also included a full audio and video, bi-directional link-up to the Church centre some 300m away.

A multi functional venue with a membership of around 800 adults and young people, St James can hold up to 11 worship events on a Sunday, with upwards of 750 people taking part in the services and activities. Music plays an important role in worshipping life at St James

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UK - The much talked about, 360-degree information screen atop the BT Tower in London, made up of Martin Professional LC Plus Series LED panels, gets a visit from the Martin Service Department each month, and has done so ever since debuting over 1000 days ago.

"Since its installation almost three years ago, Martin Professional have been invaluable in the smooth operation of the BT Tower display," states Jared Ruddy, group marketing & brand manager at BT. "It's the biggest of its kind in Europe and has become a familiar sight for Londoners."

Used to display a variety of visual content, the 59m long by 4.8m high information screen is visible across the city. A key visual landmark in London's busy 2012 summer of sport, the screen has endured harsh weather conditions since its installation in October of 2009.

"We counted down from 1000 days in the lead u

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End of An Era - EU and US regulators have approved the takeover of UK music firm EMI by Universal Music, but it must sell some of the firm's most valuable labels. The European Commission said Universal would have to sell off assets including the Parlophone label, home to artists such as Pink Floyd and Kylie Minogue. The US Federal Trade Commission later approved the deal in its turn without imposing any conditions.

The £1.2bn ($1.9bn) takeover of EMI was announced in November. Although the European Commission said its ruling would allay competition fears, rival music labels have condemned the move. EMI, with a history dating back to 1897, is home to artists including the Beatles and Pink Floyd. Universal is a unit of French media giant Vivendi.

In EMI's 1960s heyday, it was one of four music companies that dominated the British charts. The others were Decca, Philips and

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Russia - Few theatres around the world have such a long, rich and tumultuous history as the State Theatre of Nations in Moscow, Russia. It stands as a testament to the importance of the arts, having survived many challenges. A recent large-scale renovation means the theatre's tough times are a thing of the past, and an equipment upgrade - including a new lighting system starring an ETC Eos lighting control desk and Source Four luminaires - prepares the Theatre of Nations for a promising future.

In 2007, Russia began a campaign to modernize its theatres. The Ministry of Culture awarded the Theatre of Nations a grant to refurbish its Russian Revivalist building. The four year renovation project expanded the building by over 3,900sq.m, with new rehearsal spaces, offices, a restaurant and a blackbox theatre.

Included in the grant was €11m to upgrade the technical equipment, from

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The Netherlands - The latest in a series of Lighthouse LED screens has recently been installed at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. As the main international airport in the Netherlands and the fourth busiest in Europe, Schiphol's new high quality Lighthouse screen displays advertising to many thousands of travellers with pin sharp clarity.

Lighthouse's Impact 16 LED screen was chosen for the project. Designed specifically for the permanent installation market, this is the first SMD LED outdoor screen to feature at Schiphol and is the also the airport's first with full Electro Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) compliance.

Installed by Hecla Professional Audio & Video Systems BV for leading Dutch outdoor advertising agency Interbest, the 15 x 8 panel (12m (w) x 9m (h)) LED screen is mounted on one side of an existing triangular advertising structure, facing the main A4/E19 motorway bisec

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UK - David Essex is back on the road in the David Essex Rock Tour 2012. Supporting the rigging and production team throughout the 34 venue tour will be Le Mark's MagTape Professional Gaffer Tapes.

"A tape with such diversity allows us to carry one roll for everything rather than a stock pile of hundreds, it's marvellously sticky and the perfect tape to carry when on tour" Says Richard Linford, associate producer & general manager for the tour.

Le Mark's Sharon Marshall adds, "I've grown up hearing David Essex songs, it's so strange to be supplying our products to a childhood icon. If you read this David - I'd love some tickets."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - The walls of one of Scotland's most stunning historic sites, Tantallon Castle, provided the backdrop to a spectacular outdoor light and music show commissioned as part of the recent Lammermuir Festival and watched by an audience of over 1500 people.

Northumberland-based events producer, Culture Creative, who were brought on board to creatively produce the show, commissioned Newcastle-based production company, R&B Group, to provide digital mapping technology to help wow the audience with unforgettable images, lights and animation projected onto the castle walls.

Zoe Bottrell, director of Culture Creative said, "When we were asked by the festival organisers to creatively produce a light show incorporating music and words to tell the tale of the castle's history, we knew immediately that we wanted to do something quite ambitious. We engaged the expertise of R&B Group to

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Germany - dB Technologies Deutschland, the SGM German distributor, has announced the sale of the first 300 SGM P-5 LED washlights to some of the country's leading rental companies.

Said MD, Michael Herweg, "We are delighted with the response, as this is before we take into account the architectural market for which the P-5 was designed."

Drawing just 450 watts, the IP66-rated P-5 uses 44 high power RGBW 10W LED's outputting a total of 23,666 lumens. Michael Herweg confirms that the groundswell of interest had begun in April at the Prolight+Sound Show in Frankfurt, where rental company customers were queuing up to see SGM's new LED technology embodied in a sleek chassis.

"There was also huge interest in the X-5 and XC-5 strobes, so we decided to create a series of starter packs," he said. "Each comprises 24 P-5, eight X-5 and eight XC-5 fixtures."

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USA - Celebrating his fifth year of lighting the MTV Video Music Awards, experienced LD Tom Kenny kept up his pledge of always trying to use new lighting technology in order to animate Florian Wieder's other-worldly landscape set.

This year it was GLP's new impression X4 that was brought into focus at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where acts including Green Day, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Pink, Alicia Keys, Lil Wayne, Frank Ocean and One Direction all graced the futuristic stage, which was lit by a massive lighting rig containing over 5,000 light sources.

"The show itself has become a social network event and a focal point of fashion - and so it was a fabulous place to show off this stylish new light," remarked Kenny. "It's always a policy of mine to try out new technology and styles of lighting on the VMA's and every year we have a standalone product that catc

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Bulgaria - A Martin Audio sound reinforcement system has been fitted in La Playa Bar in the seaside resort of Varna, on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast.

Part of a completely renewed interior, the dynamic new Martin Audio architectural AQ system has been provided by the manufacturer's Bulgarian distributors, Imperia AV.

The renovated venue features eight AQ8 satellite speakers, distributed into three zones - the indoor area, front outdoor area and a delay line which covers the most remote spots on the beach.

Four AQ212 sub-bass speakers have been placed along the boundary between the outdoor and indoor areas, with all loudspeakers powered by Martin Audio MA2.0 and MA3.0 amplifiers (two units of each) managed by a dedicated DX1.5 digital controller. A significant role for achieving studio quality sound is played by the silver-plated Van Damme signal and power cables, according t

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Lebanon - Since being founded in 1992 by brothers Mazen and Rawad Saad, Sound on Stage has grown to become one of the Middle East's leading event production companies. This year the company needed to add a new audio system to its inventory and, after auditioning several types, invested in a Coda Audio Airline LA-12.

Sound on Stage works at a variety of high profile events from offices in Dubai and the Lebanon. Having run other large format line source systems for many years, Mazen and Rawad needed to invest in a new system to upscale their provision of quality sound solutions.

"We wanted to invest in a more advanced audio system, to take advantage of the latest sound technology," says Rawad. "We auditioned several and, following a meeting with Paul Ward, Coda's representative at the PALME show in Dubai, were invited to spend a few days at their headquarters in H

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UK - Just over two weeks since it all ended and the highs from PLASA are still running through the office at Green Hippo, says the company.

With distributors, lighting designers and DJ's to students, technical managers and programmers the stand was buzzing and everyone was able to get a sneak preview into how easy just got easier.

Head of sales Samantha Bailey stated, "The response from customers to the new release was fantastic, they are thrilled with the new markets and customers it opens them up to and are heading back to their respective countries with new jobs on the horizon as a result.

"Not only has the development been with our products but with our staff and office. Many of you will have seen familiar faces on the stand and with a closer look discovered that we're not quite human. Looking at the people behind the product we make up the team of dedicated st

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UK - Orbital Sound has announced a new training course, 'Mixing Musicals' designed to help aspiring theatre sound operators take their show mixing skills to the next level. The two-day course is being staged at Orbital's purpose-built training centre in Brixton, and focuses on the practical skills and theory behind the best-practice FOH mixing requirements of musicals.

The course emphasis is firmly on what is required to achieve sound operating excellence, with principle tutors Marcus Wadland (UK tours of Blood Brothers, Never Forget, Whistle Down The Wind among others) and Daniel Bailey (West End productions including High School Musical, Rent, and Fame) bringing their own extensive mixing experience to the table for an intrinsically hands-on curriculum. As well as the essential theory behind mixing, Dan and Marcus will be introducing t

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USA - The Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Labour Day Telethon is a time-honored television tradition in the U.S. The 2012 edition, renamed MDA Show of Strength, featured a new format with LD Lee Rose of Design Partners turning to the Martin MAC Aura as a key element of the lighting design.

This year new producers revamped the benefit with a three-hour taped show that featured significantly more contemporary talent like Alanis Morissette, Hot Chelle Rae, All American Rejects, will.i.am and more. The show aired on 2 September on the MDA 'Love Network' of stations across the US.

Lee Rose has employed the MAC Aura in his designs since its launch in 2011 and chose them for the MDA special for their extremely bright and focusable beam, as well as their quick movement and small size, which made vertically hanging them easy and visually attractive, he says.

Lee moun

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UK - Event Projection specialises in one-of-a-kind productions. From product launches and museum exhibits to music videos and corporate events, the AV and lighting hire company has a history of distinctly varied projects. So when they were looking to expand their lighting hire stock, they turned to entertainment lighting specialist White Light to find just the right equipment to suit their varied needs. The company chose the latest technology from Coemar - the LEDko P 3200K, available in the UK exclusively through White Light.

Event Projection is the first company of its kind in the UK to purchase the LEDko units, which use an innovative 120-Watt 'Multi-LEDs' source to produce an even, uniform beam, creating huge energy savings over traditional 575-Watt tungsten profiles. Now, several other companies have followed suit, purchasing the LEDko LED light engines for entertainment an

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USA - A Clovis, New Mexico high school is bringing more energy to its 1,500-seat outdoor campus stadium on Friday nights with a new Technomad Turnkey PA system. The Technomad system provides an all-in-one audio solution to enhance quality and coverage for all home football games, including pre-show and halftime music.

The school needed a system that would produce clear and even sound across the stadium, including visitor and home stands. The Turnkey PA system comprises four Technomad Berlin weatherproof loudspeakers, a pre-wired amplifier, a dynamic hard-wired microphone, and a six-channel mixer with front-panel iPod/mp3 inputs. The solution included all necessary cables and connectors to facilitate a quick and simple installation just in time for the 2012 football season.

The new setup replaced outdated loudspeakers damaged by time and weather. Technomad loudspeakers feature

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USA - The 2012 Teen Choice Awards buzzed with extra excitement and anticipation this year ... complete with an impressive live line-up including Flo Rida, No Doubt, Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepson and many more joining hosts Demi Lovato and Kevin McHale at the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, CA.

The challenge of lighting the fast-paced, action-packed environment was taken on by Tom Kenny, and included some of Robe's latest moving lights in the visual mix.

The event was aired live nationwide on FOX to huge ratings, and attended by a star studded array of almost everyone who's hot in teen entertainment, including the cast of cult motion picture series Twilight, all in an equally fabulous array of sizzling outfits.

The pace and complexity of staging the 2012 Teen Choice Awards was a serious challenge to Kenny and everyone else on the production crew and

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UK - Chaos Visuals have been a constant presence at London Fashion Week twice a year for the last three years providing screens, playback, operators and technical support. Everything about this show is world-class: fashion design, hi-tech shows that wow the celeb audiences and run to time (quite a feat in the catwalk world) and in settings that other cities can only dream of. The Neoclassical delight, Somerset House is exactly that; a piece of eighteenth century London that provides a delicious backdrop to the week's proceedings.

Although many of the catwalk shows take place within the purpose built structure that is erected in the central courtyard, other events take place at various locations across the capital. So if you want to stay abreast of everything on offer during the week there is only once place to catch it: on the screen system set up by Chaos that relays a live vid

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USA / UK - D-Tools has announced that the company will conduct its' first Regional Training event in Europe, since the launch of System Integration SIX software at CEDIA Expo 2012. The training event will be held from 14-16 November, 2012 at the Holiday Inn London- Brentford Lock, London, England.

D-Tools Regional Training events provide a classroom-style venue for hands on training delivered by expert trainers. This training will make it convenient for UK and Europe based companies to send one or multiple attendees to experience three days of intense hands on instruction, says the company.

The UK training event is planned to help attendees get the most from the all new D-Tools SIX. Attendees will learn tips, tricks, best practices and ways to build their businesses with D-Tools from expert D-Tools instructor, Ryan Brown of Media Environment Design (MED). The course content is

  1. AVL Productions on the EOH Spring Ball
  2. Sennheiser catches Coldplay
  3. DiGiCo SD7 on the road with Madonna
  4. Bristol Theatre Royal refurbishes & re-opens
  5. XL Events in Felixstowe promotion
  6. Clear-Com in conference in Reykjavik
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