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UK - Aphex, the US manufacturer of audio processing solutions, has appointed MSL Professional as its new distributor for the UK and Ireland. Aphex is renowned for its professional industry-standard technologies including the Aural Exciter, Big Bottom and Compeller based products that have contributed to a company history in pro audio, live sound, broadcast and MI spanning more than 35 years.

At this year's NAMM Show, Aphex unveiled a number of new recording products that are set to start arriving in April. These include the USB500, a 500 Series rack combined with professional standard USB 2.0 audio interface, as well as a range of new 500 Series modules including mic pres, aural exciter, EQ and compressor modules. Not stopping there, Aphex also introduced the Project Channel, an affordable high-quality channel strip with Aural Exciter and Big Bottom technology, the MicX USB 24Bi

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UK - Buckinghamshire New University and education partner, Sennheiser UK Ltd, have held a panel debate featuring top music industry specialists.

The debate, held in front of around 40 prospective students and parents, was part of an undergraduate open day at the University, in Queen Alexandra Road, High Wycombe.

The panel included live sound engineer, producer and promoter, Sean Cranny, also known as Rampton, who works with DJs, Chase and Status, and has enjoyed a 30-year career working with the likes of Basement Jaxx, The Libertines, and Razorlight; producer, designer and engineer, Chuck Knowledge, who has produced three award-winning albums for Dizzee Rascal, and worked with Taio Cruz, Calvin Harris, Jay Sean, and Tinchy Stryder, as well as the likes of Bush, The Divine Comedy, Hootie & the Blowfish, and Stereophonics; Chris McCarron, who is front of house engineer for Razor

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Australia - War Horse, the now legendary World War I drama depicting the devotion of a boy to his horse, has moved stage audiences in the UK and US, winning five 2011 Tony Awards. One of the most striking elements of the show is its highly evocative lighting design by Paule Constable who calls lighting 'the secret language of theatre". Constable won the 2011 Tony Award for Best Design for A Play for her design work on War Horse.

Australia now has the chance to experience this landmark theatre event with audiences packing Melbourne's Arts Centre State Theatre night after night. The show will move to Sydney in March followed by Brisbane in July.

The lighting rig, supplied by Chameleon Touring Systems, has only a small amount of moving lights; a couple of Vari-Lite 3500 Washes, six Vari-Lite 3000Q Washes, three VL500 Arcs and twelve ETC Revolutions.

"The

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UK - Friday 15th March saw the second instalment of the PLASA Golf Day charity event at the Drift Golf Club in Surrey. Following on from the success of last year's competition, the fundraiser was held to raise money for Light Relief - a charity established by and for those working in the entertainment industry who are experiencing times of difficulty and extreme hardship. The event was organised by PLASA with assistance from Delta Sound and White Light. The event raised a praiseworthy £4000 for the charity from a combination of entry fees donated by the players and from each of the competing companies who sponsored specific holes along the course.

This year's event saw 13 teams from across the live production and events industry battle it out for the top spot, and perhaps more importantly, to get their hands on those all-important bragging rights over their fellow teams. R

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UK - There can be no better endorsement for a company that a client who returns year after year; each time asking for a more detailed specification, more equipment and greater participation. Alex Leinster, MD of Chaos Visuals Productions UK can report precisely that. "Since the initial call from Bacchus in February 2011, requesting an LED screen and playback package installed two days later, our involvement at London Fashion Week has grown season by season.

"Last season the new lightweight 20K projectors from Panasonic allowed us to bring projection to the catwalk that could hold its own against the show lighting. This season, touchscreen technology was added to allow visitors to interact with, and customise, their experience of the Canon cinema."

Returning to the sumptuous surroundings of Somerset House, Bacchus PR and London Fashion Week upped its game this ye

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Mexico - David Guetta has sold over six million albums worldwide, so it is no surprise that he can fill an arena anywhere in the world. On 8 March, 2013 he did just that, as he packed more than 60,000 excited fans into Estadio Azteca for the Mexican stop on his Nothing but the Beat world tour. There are already thousands of YouTube clips circulating from the night that shows the excitement and popularity of this mega- star of the electronic dance music world.

Audio Systems del Norte was tasked with the job of providing sound for the event with the system tuning done by SonoTribe Audio Consultants, and technical support provided by Showco Mexico, the local distributor for Adamson products. Showco manager, Mauricio Alva said, "This was the first time that David Guetta's crew had used the E15s on their tour. As soon as the levels had been set to their specification Es S

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UK - BBC Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton has done many things to raise money for charity such as trekking the South Pole and this year she is getting the public and viewers involved by helping her complete Helen's Magnificent 7 for Comic Relief.

Over recent weeks Skelton has flown a jet with the Red Arrows, walked a rope bridge and appeared in a West End stage show.

To help celebrate Red Nose Day and the completion of the challenges, there will be a special Blue Peter episode from its old home at the BBC White City, one of the last to be filmed there before it closes for redevelopment at the end of this month. This went out live before the main Comic Relief show is aired later that evening.

The show's LD Lee Allen designed an exciting lighting show which as ever is provided by Richard Martin Lighting (RML). The show was filmed outside and with this in

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Turkey - Digiturk is Turkey's largest digital subscription entertainment platform with more than 2.5m subscribers. They required a top quality sound system for their newly renovated multifunction screening room and a key requirement to the system was that it needed to have an unobtrusive design.

The 90 sq.m room provides seating for 30 people. The asymmetrical room is highly dampened to provide very high speech intelligibility and because of that it poses a serious challenge in terms of achieving sufficient SPL and even coverage from a nearly invisible sound system.

Installer Can Electronik chose Cornered C6TRM's for front and centre channels and six Cornered C5s for side and rear surround channels. Also, a pair of C12PNC subs provides LFE coverage with seamless integration with the rest of the system. The system is powered by the eight-channel Crown CTs 8150 amplifier for the

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UK - Since 1984, Oxford Ice Rink has been a magnet for skating fans within and beyond the boundaries of the university town. In addition to being home base for National Ice Hockey League team the Oxford City Stars, the 700-seater stadium also serves as a venue for skating competitions and performances as well as a weekly ice disco. Under new management since 2009, the venue underwent a thorough programme of modernization last year that included the installation of a new sound system. This made its debut on in December with the Christmas Ice Show.

The task of designing and installing the new sound system was entrusted to Oxford-based specialists Lancelyn Theatre Supplies, who replaced the previous sound reinforcement system with a new one from Electro-Voice over the course of three weeks - all without any interruption of service. "We knew already from countless simila

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USA - Philips Entertainment, representing Philips Vari-Lite, Philips Strand Lighting, Philips Selecon, and Showline, has announced the realignment and consolidation of its Americas commercial group to provide better service to their authorized dealers, sales representatives, and all lighting professionals throughout North and South America. The realignment includes changes in the management, sales, and support teams within Philips Entertainment, and will focus on continuing technology innovations while creating a streamlined customer experience.

"The realignment of the Americas commercial group truly represents an exciting time for Philips Entertainment," said Julie Smith, commercial general manager of the Americas. "We have great brands with great histories and this consolidation will better allow us to grow the resources within each brand while refocusing on tec

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USA - Audinate has announced that Innovative Electronic Designs, LLC has licensed Audinate's Dante digital-media networking technology and will incorporate Dante into several new products.

Audinate's patented Dante solution is a media networking solution suite designed to transport many channels of high-resolution, uncompressed, low-latency digital media over relatively long distances and to multiple locations, using a standard 100 Mbps or 1 Gb Ethernet network. It has become the solution of choice for a variety of professional applications because it delivers tightly synchronized, sample-accurate playback while simplifying installation and configuration of AV networks.

"IED has always been on the cutting edge of high quality networked audio solutions," observes IED's VP of product development Jody Green. "Audinate's Dante technology will allow us to expand our

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USA - Video equipment rental company Pete's Big TVs is providing the video equipment, cameras and d3 media servers for the new 2013 production of the Dreamgirls tour which kicked off in late December 2012/early January 2013. It tours North America until early June, followed by Japan, with more dates expected.

Working with MB Productions, Pete's Big TVs is providing the main set of the show, comprised of 400 digiLED MC15 (15 mm) LED video panels in three screens, which all track and fly in different configurations. They are also supplying two d3s from d3 Technologies. More than a media server, the d3s serve as a 3D stage simulator, combining a timeline based sequencer, video playback and video mapper all in one.

Howard Werner of Lightswitch designed the media content and the show system in 2009 when an older production of Dreamgirls began an eight-month run in Seo

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UK - Loudspeaker manufacturer Tannoy has thrown its weight behind the Red Dreams charity in Hartlepool, England, by donating two sets of studio monitors to help young sound technicians with recording and mix downs.

The charity, which supports young people in the area by providing various creative outlets, was set up by Ian McManus and his wife Dawn in memory of their son Kyle, who died tragically aged 16 from a brain haemorrhage. Since Kyle had such a keen interest in the arts, his parents began a legacy that now coaches and mentors young people in creative arts, providing a valuable focus and outlet.

Red Dreams has a very basic ethos of 'Confidence Through Creativity'; however this is underpinned by a number of values, including dedication, respect, focus, determination and support. Red Dreams not only looks to support young people in their creative endeavours, but also offer

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UK - For a while now the Mercury Music Awards have been seen as one of the most credible and prestigious awards that a musician or artist can receive. The award is for best album in the UK and Ireland and is chosen by a panel of fellow musicians, executives, journalists and other key Industry figures.

As part of the build-up to this and to keep those who are really into music involved, Barclaycard now sponsors the Mercury Prize Sessions - a celebration of the best live music in the UK now. Acts in include Tom Odell, Suede and Johnny Marr. Each session is filmed at the Hospital Club, Covent Garden.

Richard Martin Lighting (RML) support lighting designer Nigel Catmur for the show. The cool and urban look is achieved simply with Sharpys and smoke. The Sharpys create such a strong and recognisable look, that in some situations, they are all that you need. Various lengths of truss

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South Africa - American electronic musician, Skrillex entertained South African fans in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban at the start of March 2013. The main technical supplier in Cape Town was Gearhouse, while in Johannesburg it was supplied by CES and in Durban by Insane Sound.

At the Wavehouse in Durban, lighting and video freelancer Thomas Peters assisted with the lighting.

"Reading through the Skrillex rider and adjusting accordingly for Durban, Vimal Rawjee (Insane Sound) and I came up with what we thought would be a viable rig for the show, which the production's management (Skrillex's Production Manager is Baptiste Chavaillaz) quickly approved," explained Thomas Peters. "While we did not have most of the first-choice fixtures available in the quantities requested, the substitutes we offered were all perfectly acceptable. The MMXs blew the touring LD aw

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USA - The new campus of Orlando's Faith Assembly of God Church was a huge project. In addition to the 3,000-seat, stadium-style sanctuary, the campus also needed sound systems for three kids theatres, a wedding chapel, choir room, and atrium. Primary AV contractor Encore Broadcast Solutions decided to leave nothing to chance, partnering with Atlantic Professional Audio (APA) as audio sub-contractor for the design and installation.

"Even though it was new construction, we were actually the second contractor on the job, so we had to design the sound system around conduit and fly points that were already in place," explains Jeff Cameron of Encore's Winter Springs, FL office. "It was a big challenge. We've partnered successfully with Atlantic Pro Audio on several other projects, and brought them in to provide a turnkey solution. They put together a shootout for the ch

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UK - Two of theatre consultancy Charcoalblue's major projects, The New Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury and The Newcastle Theatre Royal, have won recognition from the prestigious Civic Trust Awards, which were held at City Hall in Cardiff and supported by Cardiff Council.

In total 86 projects were chosen to receive an award or commendation from 263 national and international entries. The Marlowe Theatre Canterbury was one of just 32 projects to win a coveted Award, while Newcastle Theatre was one of just 46 to receive a Commendation.

The Award winning Marlowe reopened in October 2011 following a major renovation, which saw Charcoalblue work hand-in-hand with the client and Keith Williams Architects to help clarify and develop their vision. This included developing and refining the auditoria, foyers and back-of-house areas, and the design of completely new technical facilities inc

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Sweden - The charismatic Stora Teatern in Göteborg is one of Sweden's second largest city's most active receiving houses, hosting a wide variety of entertainment - bands, theatre and dance shows, comedy..

The theatre has recently taken delivery of its first Robe moving lights - 10 Robin 800 LEDWashes - which were specified by Joel Karlberg, the venue's chief lighting technician. They also happened to be among the first of this new fixture off Robe's production line in the Czech Republic.

The spectacular neo-Renaissance building designed by Carl Malmberg was originally opened in 1859, and from 1920 to 1994 used to stage opera, operetta and musical productions. Stora Teatern is run by the City and stages up to two or three shows per week in a very lively programme as well as accommodating longer running touring productions sometimes lasting several weeks.

The main stage can b

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Spain - The new distributor of Electro-Voice and Dynacord products in Spain has, since the start of 2013, been Pro3 & Co. Founded in 1995 and based in Barcelona, Pro3 & Co. is one of the most highly respected players on the Iberian pro audio scene - not only in the concert sound, but also in the fixed installation and mobile audio sector.

Pro3 & Co.'s reference list is long and features some of the most prestigious projects in Spain. These include halls, such as the Barcelona International Convention Centre, Toledo cathedral, Mallorca's Teatre Principal de Palma and the Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes in Valladolid, as well as a number of soccer stadiums, including FC Barcelona's Camp Nou.

"It's our corporate philosophy to offer our customers solutions tailored to their individual needs," comments Xavier Oliver, Pro3 & Co.'s marketing director. "Now, with Electro

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USA - Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500s are lighting up The Joint, the concert venue for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas where 16 fixtures were recently acquired and hung above the stage.

The Joint is an intimate 4,000 capacity space known for delivering unforgettable live music experiences. With a commitment to remarkable sound, it has earned a reputation as one of the most authentic venues in Las Vegas.

"We used to rent lights then decided to buy them. When we started looking at fixtures we had three lights in mind, including the HPE 1500," says Christopher Lose, lighting designer for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. "We're a rock 'n roll venue and need all the bells and whistles and versatility we can get. We have 10 lighting designers a month who come in wanting different things. So the more tricks our lights have the better."

Lose reports that th

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Australia / UK - Sydney will once again be immersed in light, music and creative ideas as Vivid Sydney returns for a fifth year from 24 May to 10 June. For the first time the programme will be streamed live from the web address below. The live streaming will take place 11pm Wednesday 20 March (GMT) / 10am Thursday 21 March 2013 (Australian Eastern Standard Time).

Vivid Sydney highlights include: the lighting of the iconic Sydney Opera House sails; 3D mapping projections on Customs House and the Museum of Contemporary Art; interactive light sculptures and installations; public talks, debates and workshops from innovative global creatives and thought leaders in collaboration with Vivid IDEAS; and performances from local and international musicians at Vivid LIVE and Vivid MUSIC.

The 18-day event, the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, is a major celebration of the cr

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UK - Funktion-One has made history by becoming the first loudspeaker manufacturer to supply sound for a house music event in the Houses of Parliament.

On Wednesday 6 March, a very special music event was staged at the centre of British politics - the Houses of Parliament - as the 'House the House' competition reached its spectacular conclusion. Organised by the charity Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (LNADJ), the two-and-a-half hour musical extravaganza saw a series of inspiring musical performances, including a set by DJ superstar Fatboy Slim.

Headlining the bill was 'House the House' winner Bryce Fury, who won the Final at Ministry of Sound in February. As the competition's winner, he snagged a stunning first-prize package, which also included a fully paid Audio Production Degree Scholarship at SAE Institute worth £20,000, a set at We Love Space in Ibiza and a haul of Ve

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UK - The Phoenix School in Peterborough recently hosted their annual charity ball. The theme this year was Spencer's Red Velvet Ball and the evening was supported by Pearce Hire with a striking production and stage set, designed to create the perfect atmosphere for an evening of entertainment and fundraising for this important special needs school, which is recognised as an outstanding Ofsted school.

The black tie event took place at the Atrium at Peterborough Arena, a venue in the East of England recognised for its excellent access, facilities and flexible approach from its staff. The occasion had a number of different areas including a formal sit down dining and stage area, a casino and dance floor. Pearce Hire produced the event with a complete audio, lighting, draping and effects package for the main room and pre and post dinner reception area.

"We have been a

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Brazil - 55 years ago, Scania - the Swedish heavy truck maker - began operations in Brazil. Today, Brazil has more Scania trucks than in any other country in the world, with around 40% of all heavy trucks operating in Brazil known to be by Scania.

The company celebrated its successful 55 years of operations in Brazil, at HSBC Brasil. Located in the south zone of São Paulo, the venue is a renowned music hall featuring a high-quality technical infrastructure. Over the years HSBC Brasil has played host to a number of high-calibre musical and theatrical events, and top international artists.

Several shows took place during the event, including an exclusive concert by famous Brazillian artist Jorge Ben.

The performances were lit with a light rig including XR3000 SPOT CMY moving heads and the new high-power compact LED moving heads NRG 1201 from D.T.S.

(Jim Evans)

  1. Star Events celebrates in Trafalgar Square
  2. Clay Paky HPEs and Sharpys fly high in Jeddah
  3. The Killers choose ArKaos for Battle tour
  4. Kid Rock rolls on with L-Acoustics
  5. RML purchases Robe MMX WashBeams
  6. D.T.S. plays key role in Italy's X Factor
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