UK - With Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway challenge standing at two all, the series decider on Saturday 6 April saw the pair climb a Tower of Terror at ITV's London South Bank Studios. Giving an added edge to the challenge, the 50ft tower, designed and built by Unusual Rigging, was suspended 120ft above the ground.

Describing the tower, Unusual's technical director Robin Elias said, "The challenge for us was to design a safety system that would allow them to perform a daring and exciting challenge without taking anything away from the feat itself. We were responsible for the safety management of the event, and specifically the safety management of working - or in this case, playing - at height."

Working to a brief from producer John Adams, Unusual had just three days to come up with the structure that would challenge the boys to the limit: two 50ft square

UK - Busy UK technical production specialist and rental company Pearce Hire has invested in 36 of Robe's LEDWash 1200 fixtures which have been added to its hire stock.

It's the first Robe purchase for the Peterborough, Cambridgeshire based company that provides lighting, audio, power, rigging, staging and draping to numerous events embracing multiple sectors.

Pearce Hire project manager Dan Shelton explains: "We needed an LED moving wash light and tested and compared several brands . . . in the process discovering that Robe stood out above all of the rest in every aspect - brightness, beam spread, colours, speed, zoom, etc."

Apart from that, he explains, the decision to go with Robe was also in response to an ever-increasing amount of specs now requesting the brand. He reckons that the LEDWash 1200 is 'rider friendly' for the majority of Pearce Hire's production pr

Slovakia - With roots going back to 1776, Slovenské Národné Divadlo (the Slovak National Theatre, or SND) in Bratislava has witnessed over 300 years of drama, in all senses of the word. Its current building, the City Theatre, was constructed in 1886. A recent technical upgrade has seen a state-of-the-art Yamaha CL series system installed, allowing maximum flexibility for its performances.

The current SND company was established at the City Theatre in 1920. The 611-seat venue is now known as the SNT Historic Building, to differentiate it from an additional venue opened in 2007. Locally it is referred to as the 'Old Opera', as nowadays it mainly hosts opera and ballet. After long and trouble-free service, the theatre's Yamaha PM5D-RH digital console has moved on to new owners and a CL series system installed in its place.

Supplied and installed by Mediatech Centra

UK - The new Harlequin Standfast vinyl floor has provided a new "world class" stage at the £1.2m refurbishment of Birmingham.

After 30 years and more than 1,000 performances since its last refurbishment, the main stage at the Birmingham Hippodrome was in desperate need of repair with splits, cracks and uneven surfaces. Versatile, durable and slip resistant - as well as being the closest match to the original flooring - the hard-wearing and heavy duty Harlequin Stanfast fitted the bill.

"We aim to provide something that is world class and that has to be world class in every aspect, front of house and on stage," said Stuart Griffiths, Birmingham Hippodrome chief executive. "We have to provide the best working conditions for performers, musicians and technicians."

Following the removal of the original floor and the repair and levelling of the

Canada - There's nothing like the malfunction of an aging rigging system in front of an audience to step up the pace of a replacement-just as it did at CEGEP de Drummondville, a technical college in Drummondville, Quebec.

The college had budgeted for a replacement "within the next five years," said Geoff Stock, project manager with J.R. Clancy, Inc. "While the president was doing a presentation in the auditorium, one of the hydraulic hoists slipped, and the pipe crept in behind him."

Suddenly the replacement rose to the top of the agenda. The hydraulic system was condemned overnight, said Pierre Lemieux, principal with Trizart Alliance, the theatre consultancy firm selected for the job. "Within two weeks, the contract was awarded," he said. "We had good support from Clancy's local installers. Everything moved very rapidly."

Trizart spe

Canada - At the 2013 JUNO Awards, Canada will celebrate its music industry achievements with more than 170 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers from Solotech, a Montreal-based full-production supplier. Hosted by Michael Bublé, this year's awards will be held on April 21 at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, and broadcast live by Canada's CTV Television Network.

This year's award programmes are presented on three stages in the 7,000-plus capacity arena, including two performance stages at the ends of the ice hockey oval and a centre presentation stage. Solotech's system design calls for a total of 112 Mica line array loudspeakers flown in 12 arrays of between eight and 10 cabinets each. Supplementing the main arrays are floor centr- fill arrays of six each Mina line array loudspeakers, with additional UPA-1P loudspeakers and UPJunior VariO loudspeakers providing f

USA - Built nearly seven decades ago, Miami Beach's Variety Theatre - later known as the Paris Theatre - achieved a certain amount of fame in the '80s when Big Time Productions used the space as a photo/film studio to shoot album covers and music videos for top artists like Madonna and U2.

Today, world-renowned musicians and celebrities are once again pouring into the South Beach hotspot - now dubbed 'Bamboo Miami' - but this time for its swanky nightlife. Bucharest-based Bamboo Group, a successful European club owner and promoter, took over the landmark venue last year and renovated it into a lavish nightclub that both faithfully preserves its classic Art Deco ornamentation and dresses it up with a mega-dose of modern ambience.

As part of the renovation, Bamboo Group brought in Audio Formula of Miami to supply a full L-Acoustics loudspeaker system to sonically reinforce the s

USA - As the reigning CMA and ACM Female Vocalist of the Year award-winner Miranda Lambert's Locked and Reloaded Tour set out across North America, it was her fourth headlining tour to date and her largest ever produced. So when the production meetings began, lighting designer Chris Lisle was asked to create a dynamic design to complement the fiery personality of one of the hottest acts in Country Music today. To accomplish this, Lisle turned to tour vendor Bandit Lites who supplied him with 45 high-powered VL3000 Spot luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite.

"I started working with Miranda in 2005 and the show has definitely grown over all the previous tours which has allowed me to have a great toy box with more lighting tools at my disposal," began Lisle. "Creatively my main goal is to always compliment her performance with the visuals and she is a very active

Panama - One of Latin America's hottest destinations just got even hotter. In the heart of Panama, the new Hard Rock Hotel Panama Megapolis rises up to a spectacular 66 stories, promising to deliver rock star service in an environment of urban chic design - all infused with the passion and irreverence of rock 'n' roll.

Some of the millions of investment dollars have been spent on a fabulous discotheque on the 11th floor, complete with a sound system worthy of the Hard Rock's reputation. Designed and installed by Grupo Eska Panama, the system features Nexo products throughout: Geo S12 line array modules and RS18 sub bass for the main system, and lots of PS cabinets throughout the venue.

The principal dance floor system uses four horizontal arrays of three Geo S1230s, and four RS18 subs running in cardioid mode. The rest of the club audio system is managed in six zones, using in

UK - If you are a technician, teacher or student and interested in obtaining new or improving on your existing skills then the 2013 technical training courses provided by Stage Electrics may be suitable for you.

Stage Electrics has been successfully delivering training for a wide range of technical entertainment disciplines nationwide for over 10 years.

New courses include Getting to Grips with Sound- a one day course aimed at professionals within the education sector providing an understanding of the fundamentals of sound and audio reproduction. In addition training topics include courses and workshops on lighting design, moving lights, pyrotechnic safety awareness and working at height (ladders and tallescopes) and accredited PASMA training.

Bespoke and individually tailored informal courses held at the customers venue, particularly on stage lighting, form an essent

Greece - Nikos Vertis is one of Greece's most popular performers and when he decided to invest in an audio and lighting rig for his performances, DiGiCo's SD5 digital mixing console was top of his wish list.

"Nikos and his Front of House engineer, Akis Eleftheriadis, first saw the SD5 at its ProLight+Sound launch last year," explains Pandelis Kariotis, general manager of Kariotis Audio & Lighting, DiGiCo's Greek distributor.

"Nikos was fascinated by the flexibility and capability of the console. He wanted to buy a product that is world-class, but he's very demanding and wanted to test the desk out in live conditions so that he could prove to himself that it was everything we were claiming."

Pandelis arranged with DiGiCo for a demo console to be made available for one of Nikos's performances in Athens, so that it could be tested under like conditions.

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Norway - There are seminal moments in every band's career and 9 March was one for Norwegian hip hop and rap band Karpe Diem. Playing to a packed house at Oslo's Spektrum Arena, Karpe Diem delivered a memorable show beneath a large Martin rig that included some of Martin's newest lighting solutions.

Playing before their largest audience to date, the show was universally acclaimed as a huge success for the band, and was also a benchmark for lighting designer Sebastian Ekeberg, who has been with Karpe Diem for the last four years.

"This was one of the largest and most important events I've been involved in so when I designed the show it was important for me to use equipment I knew in advance," Ekeberg stated, who turned to a large Martin rig that included some 225 MAC moving heads. "I've had great experience with the MAC range in the past so they were an obvious ch

Canada - CAST Software's lighting design suite, wysiwyg Perform, is a crucial component of the bespoke system used to illuminate Medieval sets on HBO's big-budget TV show, Game of Thrones, it has emerged.

wysiwyg has been used to create lighting designs for the epic fantasy series since 2011 and the start of filming for Season Two, which saw Belfast-based Key Console Systems take over lighting duties using a specially adapted rig put together by company director, Keith Shanks. At the request of production executives, who had been impressed by his work on the first season of the show, Shanks designed a new lighting system, which saw the introduction of wysiwyg and ChamSys MagicQ consoles to the Game of Thrones set.

Prior to this, Shanks owned a stage lighting rental company, which he subsequently sold to launch Key Console Systems, with HBO as one of its first cli

UK - Due to the phenomenal success enjoyed by multi-award winning singer/songwriter Emeli Sandé, the consequently high ticket demand meant that her seven date UK tour had to be swiftly doubled in number. Promoting a Special Edition release of her debut album Our Version of Events, Sennheiser equipment is key to Sandé's performance.

All shows on the tour rapidly sold out, including three nights at London's Hammersmith Apollo and two homecoming shows at Aberdeen Music Hall. Sennheiser UK has supported Sandé and her band since the 2012 show recorded for the Live At The Royal Albert Hall album and DVD. The current tour features an SKM 5200-II with MD 5235 head for the lead vocal, plus e604s, e904s and an MD 409 featuring on the backline and a package of ew 300 G3 in-ear monitors for all the performers.

Front-of-house engineer Darren Connor has be

South Africa - Robe once again was right at the heart of the action in South Africa when specified for filming of the newest South African TV talent show series, Clash of the Choirs.

The Endemol SA produced talent show presented by Bonang Matheba was broadcast on DSTv channel Mzansi Magic and had massive impact in a country with a fantastically rich musical culture of choir music and performance.

Seven amateur choirs from different provinces were mentored by celebrity musicians and are competing for a prize of 500,000 ZAR, 250,000 of which goes to the winning choir and 250,000 to a charity of their choice.

The first series' rounds were recorded at the new Soweto Theatre, Nr Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, and the final will be battled out by the top three choirs in April.

Lighting for the series was designed by Peter Reick from Blond Productions. The rig included ov

UK - Yorkshire-based Stage One has received the Queen's Award for Enterprise. Given annually to outstanding British companies, this award is made specifically for continuous innovation. Stage One excels in the field of event and stage spectaculars - not least the realisation of Thomas Heatherwick's design for the Olympic Flame at the 2012 London Olympics.

Stage One employs over one hundred people; designers, developers, electrical and mechanical engineers, motion control experts and materials technologists.

Founded over 20 years ago, Stage One output is varied, from the British Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo, to the staging system that enabled Lord Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group to tour Phantom of the Operathrough the sports arenas of Taipei. The common denominator recognised by this Queen's Award is continuous innovation throughout that whole body of work over

The Netherlands - Roermond-based Easy Touch and Live Music (Arnhem) report a complete AV installation at the ECI cultuur fabriek in Roermond. The cultural centre is located at a former electrochemical factory that has been abandoned since 1974. The site has now been transformed into a temple of culture over the past two years. Having opened in September 2012, it now comprises a concert hall, a theatre, two cinema halls, an exposition room and a bar/restaurant.

It was made clear to Bart Smits of Live Music that the installation would have to be without compromises and ready for the future. The ECI technical team was closely involved in the decision making from the start. "If we wanted to meet the high demands of the ECI we could only go for our selection of high-end AV suppliers."

Although the historic building was never intended for acoustical purposes a set of measu

Brazil - The 2013 Brazilian Lollapalooza Festival staged at São Paulo's Jockey Club featured a selection of Robe moving lights on the main two stages, Cidade Jardim and Butantã.

These were integral to the respective lighting rigs used to illuminate a truly stellar line up of international and local artists, enjoyed by around 60,000 people a day who flocked to see the action across the event's four performance stages.

The Butantã stage lighting rig included 27 x Robe ColorSpot 2500E ATs and 10 Robin 600 LEDWashes, while on the Cidade Jardim stage were 34 x ColorSpot 2500E ATs, 19 x ColorWash 2500E ATs and 10 Robin 600 LEDWashes. Additional units were located above the side IMAG screens on both stages.

The principal lighting contractor was São Paulo based LPL Professional Lighting.

LPL director and LD Caio Bertti states, "We chose Robe moving lights because of the g

Croatia - All hours night clubs, warm summer evenings, and long Adriatic beaches are a potent combination, throw in high octane musical entertainment and the cake is baked. The Noa Beach Club at Zr?e on the island of Pag is just such a place; owners Ivan Joki? and Zlatko Balaško have worked hard to make the club stand out amongst the many others clamouring for attention along the northern Croatian coastline. "Noa is quite young, 2013 is our third year. What we have learned is that there is no substitute for good sound when you're trying to attract international status DJs."

Joki? and Balaško approached Tomislav Koran (informally known as Kuki) from Sunflower, a well known audio dealer based in Rijeka, one hundred kilometres west of Zagreb, on the coast, "They had taken advice from several sources and had a good idea of what they needed to achieve. This is a typi

USA - City Theatrical is inviting visitors to explore its new website (www.citytheatrical.com). The new website has been designed to provide the ultimate user-friendly experience with improved navigation and functionality throughout, allowing customers to access detailed product information and videos with the option to share information across all major social networking sites.

The new site includes extensive product information to help customers understand City Theatrical's complete range of products for theatrical and architectural lighting. Technical data, videos, and case studies work together to provide a detailed overview of City Theatrical's capabilities over a wide range of sectors, including custom manufacturing.

The new website means that customers can now benefit from richer online content that is easier to navigate and share with others, says the company. All of t

Sweden - Södra Teatern (Southern Theatre) located in Stockholm's lively and creative Söder district, is one of Sweden's best known privately run theatres and the oldest such venue in Stockholm, established in 1859.

A Robe LEDWash installation is another facility that can be offered in addition to its seven stages, two restaurants, outdoor terrace and fabulous panoramic views across the city.

The theatre's action-packed programme of events focuses on live music and performance and stages up to 1000 events over an average year.

The newest Robe fixtures in the house are six LEDWash 600s and four LEDWash 300s, which were specified by Head of Lighting Lars Ekdahl, as part of a general lighting upgrade.

The first Robe fixtures in the venue were ColorSpot and ColorWash 575E ATs, purchased ten years ago - and still working well today - so they already knew from experience that t

Mexico - The first Nexo STM Series modular line array system has arrived in Mexico, the property of Tecno Son Espectaculos, the well-known rental company based in Mexico City, and its CEO Sergio Zenteno. The substantial inventory includes 36 sets of STM cabinets; a total of 108x Main M46, Bass B112 and Sub S118 cabinets, together with the NUAR NEXO Universal Amp Rack power and management system.

Zenteno has a long association with Nexo, introducing the brand into Mexico in 2003. Over the years, Tecno Son has acquired 24x Geo S and 32x Geo D10 line array cabinets, 24x CD18 Sub and 8x Alpha eM/B118. With the support of Nexo's Mexican distributor Representaciones de Audio (REPSA), he has built Nexo into one of the two dominant loudspeaker brands in Mexico, with Tecno Son itself becoming one of the largest sound rental providers in the country.

With 30 years' experience in the ind

UAE - Melody House, distributors of Primacoustics have recently supplied Mizany with 16 Control columns, 24 Scatter blocks and four Broadband panels. All of which form two sets of the industry known London 12 Kit. The Kit contains Broadway panels that tackle problems affecting any room, such as primary reflections, flutter echo, standing waves and excessive bass.

Mizany is the first compare and review site based in the MENA region to offer comprehensive coverage for the latest technology and consumer gadgets in both Arabic and English through videos and originally written content.

Commenting on the acoustic solution, Ramin Qadir of the Mizany team said, "We wanted a quick acoustic solution that not only made the room well treated but look aesthetically pleasing as well. Everything was put up within a few hours and we were ready to record by evening."

Grayson Soares

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributors of Roland Professional in the Middle East have recently supplied four V-800HD vision mixers to Dubai based Production Technology (Protec). Production Technology works on a number of high profile events in the region. Production Technology purchased the Roland V-800HD after a demonstration by NMK's Roland specialist Moswain Antao.

"The V-800HD is the new Live video switcher from Roland. It accepts high-end 3G/SD/HD-SDI DVI-A/DVI-D/HDMI, RGB, component, and composite formats video sources making it the ideal choice for any live video production," commented Moswain Antao, Roland product specialist at NMK.

He adds, "The mixer also features 4:4:4/10-bit processing on outputs up to 1080/60p resolution. Operating two V-800HD units in tandem makes it possible to perform switching for 3D Video split into left

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