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USA - Sound Investment Audio has been making quite a stir of late. The Funktion-One installer was recognised in late-2012 by Beatport, which featured five of its Funktion-One projects in the 'Top 10 Best Sound Systems in America' chart. More recently, the company has completed work at three new nightclubs - two in New York (Output and Marquee) and one in Los Angeles (Sound).

Though each of the three venues is unique in design and ownership, they share several commonalities. They all have a Funktion-One speaker system, specified through a Funktion-One/Sound Investment Audio collaboration. But there's more. Each of them features a bespoke sound system that incorporates new Funktion-One technology - so new, in fact, that the manufacturer is yet to officially launch it.

Over the last three years, Tony Andrews, John Newsham and the team at Funktion-One have been developing technolo

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UAE - Showforce was an official event partner to the Julius Baer Beach Polo Cup in Dubai. The two day event, which took place from 19-20 April on the sands of Mina A' Salam, was organised by mamemo productions, owned by Sam Katelia, who originally founded the sport in 2004. As an official partner, Showforce was contracted to supply stage and event crew for all aspects of the event including installation of 3,900m² structural decking, 4,000m² carpeting, 400 running metres of temporary walling and 2,000m² of high quality decoration. In addition, the Showforce crew also provided support to other event partners.

Sonu Bottom, mamemo productions said, "It was an amazing experience to see the Showforce team lead and help all our suppliers achieve their goals. Showforce was the backbone of the event and I cannot thank them enough for accepting all the challenges, last minute cha

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UK - Ross Ashton and The Projection Studio have designed and co-ordinated a permanent 270 degree video projection installation featuring an adaptation of their highly successful work Illuminata at Caerphilly Castle in Wales for CADW, the official guardian of the built heritage of Wales.

The show was originally a large format projection extravaganza created by Ashton and projected onto two buildings in the Castle's main courtyard for two short festival events in 2010 and 2011. This proved so popular and accessible that CADW wanted to integrate it as a lasting tribute to the colourful history of the Castle which could be enjoyed by the public all year round.

Says Ashton, "I was very honoured to be asked to revise the show to run as a permanent work. It's fantastic to see it have another lease of life and the chance to connect with so many more people in this re-worke

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USA - Held 12-18 March in Austin, the annual South By Southwest Music Conference has in recent years grown to encompass film and interactive media, but for many who travel to Texas, it's all about the music. With over 2,000 acts from 49 countries performing on over 100 stages, the capital city truly lives up to its' moniker, 'Live Music Capital Of The World'. And although SXSW's focus remains on emerging talent, established artists now line up to play intimate showcases during the festival.

With Austin as home base, High End Systems takes a special approach to the festival, both in support of the visiting lighting designers - many who are embracing the new Hog 4 console, and of the Hype Hotel venue, which featured Passion Pit, Cold War Kids, Ra Ra Riot and 60 other performers at the transformed downtown space.

Sponsored by Taco Bell, Hype Hotel is the brainchild of MP3 blog ag

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Belgium - Yes Rental is one of Belgium's fastest-expanding dry hire companies. Based in Tournai, the company is situated barely 5km from the French border, and just 20km from Lille, and is thus ideally placed right in the heart of Europe. Initially, Yes Rental MD, Frederic Van Durmen, concentrated mainly on developing the lighting department. Now that it has gained a considerable size and reputation and is fully stocked with the latest equipment, he decided that the time was right to move into supplying audio equipment as well. After careful reflection and a number of comparative listening tests, he opted to invest in a significant rental inventory of APG equipment.

The first tranche comprised 24 x SMX15 stage monitors complete with racks equipped with DMS26 digital processors and 24 x SA30:2 amplifiers, making Yes Rental one of the first customers for the new APG amplifiers rec

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UK - XL Events supplied LED screen for the UK premiere of Iron Man 3 - the latest installment of the blockbuster Paramount Pictures and Marvel Enterprises franchise - at an event staged in London's Leicester Square.

To display logos and character images from the movie, the design called for vertical LED "banners" which towered above the waiting crowds in the Square's gardens. Each banner was 3m high and mounted on a 2m high plinth to ensure that the LED was visible from all around the cinema.

XL Events supplied 147 tiles of Pixled FX-11 outdoor LED which was rigged in XL's special 3x2 touring frames - allowing the LED tiles to be pre-cabled ahead of installation - saving valuable time on the day.

Working in the gardens of Leicester Square proved challenging due to the soft ground in the grassy areas, which meant all the LED had to be manually lifted into pla

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Belgium - ArKaos Pro has announced the appointment of ESL as its new exclusive distributor for France. The agreement is the first new appointment since the formation of ArKaos Pro was announced at Prolight & Sound, Frankfurt.

ESL will be exclusively responsible for promoting, distributing and servicing ArKaos Pro's stage and stadium media servers as well as the ArKaos MediaMaster Express and Pro software across the whole of France.

Established in 1992, and with offices in Montpellier and Paris, ESL introduced the first comprehensive catalogue of stage lighting in France and has provided top class distribution and service across the country ever since. The company prides itself on enabling companies of all sizes to have easy access to high performance products at the best possible prices.

ArKaos Pro customers in France will now be able to benefit from ESL's accessibility and

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USA - Two new sessions have been added to the PLASA Focus: Orlando 2013 Professional Development Programme, a two-day programme of free educational seminars and workshops running alongside PLASA Focus: Orlando 2013, taking place at the Wyndham Orlando Resort, on 15-16 May 2013.

Sound engineer and designer Wayne Trevisani will present Music Mixing for Live Performance on Thursday, 16 May at 1pm. Wayne has mixed Front of House for a number of music legends including Jay-Z, Kanye West, Dolly Parton and John Hiatt. In this session he will give his advice on how to build a successful career as an audio engineer, as well as telling some of his own road stories which will are sure to be of interest to both the aspiring audio engineer and the experienced working professional.

On Wednesday, 15 May at 11am, a panel of representatives from the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas (SI

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UK - Audio-Technica has revealed exciting plans for PLASA Focus, taking place at Leeds Royal Armouries between 30 April - 1 May. Featuring a brace of Allen & Heath GLD digital mixing desks, the Audio-Technica stand will give visitors the unique opportunity to mix a 35 channel live acoustic performance by UK rockers Deaf Havana, recorded at London's Union Chapel in April.

The band's sold-out unplugged UK tour was mixed by front of house engineer Ben Hammond using an Allen & Heath iLive system and full complement of Audio-Technica microphones.

A competition running throughout PLASA Focus will see the winner collecting their choice of Audio-Technica or Allen & Heath products to the value of £500. Visitors will get the chance to record their mix of a Deaf Havana song from the Union Chapel set, with entries being judged by Hammond and band frontman James Veck-Gilodi.

In add

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UK - The ABTT will once again be exhibiting at next week's PLASA Focus, taking place Tuesday 30 April - Wednesday 1 May, at the Royal Armouries, Leeds, as well as participating in its Professional Development Programme.

Are You Competent: Can You Prove It? forms part of a continuous series of seminars the ABTT is presenting during 2013, aimed at working technicians in the theatre sector, looking to benefit from having their vocational competence assessed.

Since qualifications do not necessarily confirm competence, this seminar will look at what competence means, how it relates to training & assessment and how you can be sure that you can prove you are competent.

Ric Green, Opera North's operations and technical director now joins the panel, alongside the ABTT's associate executive officer Robin Townley and Chris Higgs of Total Training Ltd.

The seminar takes place i

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UK - Telling the extraordinary story of French chanteuse Édith Piaf - Leicester Curve's production of the eponymously-titled biographical drama enraptured audiences in March and April. Sound designer Ben Harrison chose a Yamaha CL3 for the production, which helped it to earn four star reviews in the national media.

Starring Frances Ruffelle - renowned as a West End musical star, as well as other roles - the production was initially staged in the Curve's Studio theatre. Such was its success that further performances were subsequently added in the larger main theatre.

A long-time Yamaha user, it provided the perfect opportunity for Ben Harrison to design his first show on a CL series console. "I first used the PM1D on a theatre tour back in 2002 and have almost exclusively specified Yamaha consoles ever since - I currently have five PM1Ds and two PM5Ds out on nationa

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USA - Schnick Schnack Systems LED Accent Lighting literally spins with the hot seats on NBC's The Voice. Chosen by designer Oscar Dominguez of Darkfire Lighting Design, Schnick Schnack Systems' quality, camera-friendly, calibrated colours light the triangular podium on the front of each judge's chair. Naturally, whenever a critical red decision button is pushed, the LEDs behind the Plexiglas podium change colours and the chair spins around.

"The system consists of 42 10" LED S-Strips and 14 5" LED S-Strips, all driven by a Schnick Schnack Systems Long Distance (LD) Controller," states Melanie Lekaj of TMB Sales. "All in all it proved to be a trouble-free installation and was easily integrated into the show's DMX control system. That's the beauty of the Schnick Schnack system; it's specifically designed to be 100% colour consistent and reliable, an

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South Africa - Calibre UK has extended its global reach still further with the appointment of Prosound as its new distribution partner for sub-Saharan Africa. Based in South Africa, Prosound is an experienced distributor and rental company with several decades of expertise in supplying professional sound and lighting equipment under its belt.

With more and more of its customers also requiring hardware solutions for multi-screen shows and installations, the link with Calibre UK was a natural progression, according to Prosound's technical director, Mark Malherbe: "Our reputation has been built on using only market-leading products in both our sales and hire departments, so when the opportunity arose to add Calibre to our roster, we jumped at the chance.

"We supply a number of high-end production companies not just in South Africa but in East and West African countries

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Italy - Early 2013 has seen Yamaha CL series digital consoles in demand for work in sub-zero temperatures. As well as featuring in the broadcast facilities at the Alpine World Ski Championships in Austria, the 2013 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships saw CL systems deployed as the main mixers for the event arenas.

The championships were held in northern Italy's Val di Fiemme, with the audio infrastructure supplied by rental company Jam Session.

"We were considering new digital consoles for our rental stock and particularly for the Nordic World Ski Championships. After looking at both the digital mixers and audio networking currently on the market, we felt that the Yamaha CL series was the best for our needs," says Jam Session's Michele Garbari. "Dante can also manage extremely complex network situations which would require a much bigger investment u

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UK - XL Video is supplying nearly 400sq.m of LED screen, plus 72 VersaTUBE LED battens and crew to Blink TV for the UK and European legs of One Direction's Take Me Home world tour.

The Pixled F-12 and F-30 screen has been specified by the tour's production designer Paul Normandale, who's worked with XL on many previous occasions including Coldplay's 2012 Mylo Xyloto tour, when he first used the then just launched F-12 surface.

"It was faultless," he comments. "It's always a pleasure dealing with Phil Mercer and XL - everything is very smooth and easy."

Phil Mercer (project managing for XL) says: "I really enjoy our on-going relationship with One Direction and with the tour's production director Steve Levitt and production manager Karen Ringland of Production North. Apart from that, it's great to see the band keep breaking records."

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USA - Bandit Lites is on the road with American rock band, Needtobreathe on the second leg of their tour entitled The Reckoning. The tour began on 2 April and will continue through 17 August.

The first leg of the tour featured a custom-made typewriter, an addition that, while elaborate and impressive, could be distracting for audience members. Fortunately, inspiration struck guitarist Bo Rineheart as he looked over at the fly rail system lit by back light.

Jay Waddell, Needtobreathe's lighting designer of the last five years, drew upon that inspiration to create a different but "less flashy" set production: 1800ft of rope hang from a custom-built touring frame with a rope nail attached underneath, creating a look of a fly rail system. VL 2500s and Martin MAC Auras light the set from all angles, a task for which Waddell said the Auras were especially well suite

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UK - In an ongoing commitment to raising the health and safety standards for dancers, Harlequin Floors was exclusive sponsor of the Dance and Lifelong Wellbeing conference which took place on 26 - 28 April at the Royal Academy of Dance and London College of Fashion.

Combining interviews, presentations, panel discussions, demonstration classes and a live performance, the conference brought together leading experts in dance, health, community arts and education to explore the ways in which dance can enhance lives.

"Harlequin Floors is delighted to be a part of such an important event," said Mark Rasmussen, group marketing manager for Harlequin Floors. "Our sponsorship of the conference is further evidence of our commitment to delivering the very highest standards of health and safety for the world's dance community."

Harlequin was present on all thre

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UK - Embracing diverse and varied projects has always been Star Events Group ethos and 2013 will be no exception, says the company.

Star Events Group brought its advanced QP (Quasi Parabolic) seating system to the market only three years ago and is already establishing itself as a leading quality seating supplier in the UK.

To continue this growth and development and with a strong focus on training ahead of the season, Star Events ran an extensive two day training exercise with Salima Ltd supplying 20 crew for product specific training.

The two days were split between classroom-style training and hands-on building of specific grandstand layouts. Salima were chosen as they were able to demonstrate the same focus and dedication to safety and service, says Star Events.

Star Events Group reports a much busier than expected season now taking shape, having already signed extende

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Belgium - After more than two years of restoration work, the 1875 built Théatre Royal de Liège, home of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie (ORW), re-opened its doors to the public at the end of last year in Liège. The whole renovation project, unique in its kind, represented an investment of 31m euros and includes a fully-fledged L-Acoustics system.

In 2008 Riva Audio were appointed by the main contractor Putman, to carry out preliminary research, design and install the new audio system, using their expertise in stage mechanics and technical installations of theatres and studios.

"The big challenge was to persuade the city officials and opera management to place new audio gear in a classified 19th century building - they wanted the venue to be 'sound reinforcement less'," says Frédéric Vard, managing director of Riva Audio. "For example, i

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Australia - The 55th Annual TV Week Logie Awards was held on Sunday 7 April 2013 at the Crown Palladium in Melbourne, Australia and broadcasted live on the Nine Network.

For several years the lighting has been designed and operated by Rohan Thornton in his role of lighting director at the Nine Network, however he left the network last year to freelance. Fortunately Nine realised they needed his talent and expertise and employed him on a contract basis.

On request from Rohan, Show Technology, Clay Paky's Australian distributor, rushed in the new Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330 fixtures.

Thornton first saw the Sharpy Wash at the LDI show last October and he rated it the standout product of the show. "I thought they were brilliant," he remarked. "The speed, quality of beam, quality of colour and all the features were amazing. They have great intensity, power eff

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Lebanon - X Factor is one of the most successful casting shows worldwide, and the same is true for X Factor Arabia which started broadcasting in March 2006. The current run of 20 shows is again based on the original British concept.

Video for X Factor Arabia, recently produced in Beirut, Lebanon, relied on an MA control system consisting of two grandMA2 light and six MA VPU plus (Video Processing Units).

Stephan Flören of LichtUnit GmbH, who worked as video supervisor and specified the MA VPU, the grandMA2 consoles and the video system, explained why he chose MA, and especially the MA VPU: "It was the reliability of the MA VPU and the grandMA2 system as it would have been very difficult to source any spare parts in Beirut.

"Furthermore, the new MA software release 2.8 has some excellent new features like the new 'output mixes' or the 'variable

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Ireland - Leading Irish lighting rental company Just Lite, based in Dublin, is the first recipient in the UK of Robe's new RobinPointe moving head fixtures. The much-anticipated product was officially launched by Robe at the 2013 Prolight+Sound exhibition in Frankfurt. "The initial round of confirmed orders - just at the show alone - have been phenomenal," says the company.

Just Lite's Paul Smith was one of those visiting Frankfurt to ensure that his order for the company's first 12 Pointes was at the top of the pile to be processed. They will be supplied by Robe UK.

Smith got straight to the point when asked why he's buying the fixtures: "I needed a small multi-purpose unit that was versatile and did many different things - which is exactly The Pointe - in fact, it does so much more than it says on the tin."

Just Lite already owns over 400 Robe moving li

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UK - POLARaudio has announced the exclusive UK distribution of Cornered Audio speakers. These loudspeakers are ergonomically designed for the provision of background music in a range of settings from retail environments to bars, entertainment venues and cafes. With a distinctly Scandinavian edge to design, form and function, they represent an interesting and decidedly original addition to POLARaudio's range, says the company.

POLARaudio MD John Midgley comments: "Cornered Audio represents another exciting opportunity to make available some extremely well designed and engineered audio products into the UK market. These specialist speakers are rugged but still aesthetically pleasing and take the concept of wall-mounted sound reinforcement to a very high level."

Cornered Audio speakers will be exhibited on the POLARaudio stand (N-C13) at PLASA Focus Leeds. Also on displ

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UK / Ireland - Lighting and visuals rental specialist, Blackburn-based HSL, has formed a dynamic new partnership with Production Services Ireland (PSI) - a market leader in the territory with operations in Belfast and Dublin.

The merger sees PSI's highly successful and well established operations in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic continue unchanged with the same directors, staff, facilities and distinct identity. PSI now has the additional advantage of access to HSL's massive equipment inventory and additional resources.

Combined annual sales are expected to reach £15m in the next 24 months, there are over 100 full time skilled and talented employees and the new working relationship will enable both companies' UK and Irish operations to be streamlined, seamless and highly competitive, says a statement.

HSL's MD Simon Stuart comments: "Joining forces with

  1. Innovation Productions expands hire stock
  2. Colour Sound adds more LED Screen
  3. Robe and Anolis illuminate Košice Cathedral
  4. Alchemea & Brit Row link for training
  5. Beyoncé dazzles with SGM X-5 strobes
  6. DPA Microphones on jungle duty
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