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UK - The Events division of Northern Light is working with one of the biggest venue producers on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe - C venues - to 'green-up' the latest addition to its stable of festival venues - C aquila.

Head of hire and events for Northern Light, Nick Read, has teamed up with C venues production manager Richard Williamson, artistic director (and international lighting designer) Hartley Kemp, and industry journalist Sarah Rushton-Read to collaborate on an energy-efficient lighting rig that will not compromise creative expression or practical application.

To that end, Read, Williamson and Rushton-Read trawled the aisles of PLASA Focus in Leeds and the ABTT Show in London to source the best in low-energy entertainment technology. Read comments, "I'm delighted to say that having established the kit we required we received unfettered support from a number of to

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USA - Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro) has appointed industry veteran Doug Simpson to spearhead a new sales initiative specifically geared toward providing the Las Vegas market with special access to all of GC Pro's services, with a particular focus on the hotel/hospitality industry. The announcement was made by GC Pro director Rick Plushner, and represents the division's ongoing commitment to the continuing growth of GC Pro as a turnkey supplier for professional end users, says the company.

Doug Simpson has over 20 years of experience using and selling professional audio and video gear, and has lived and worked in the Las Vegas market for six years. Most recently, Simpson was the regional manager for Vegas-based MDM Group, where he managed all aspects of the Convention Services division.

States Simpson, "In Las Vegas, we have everything from major recording studios an

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UK - Analog Way UK is expanding its activities with relocation to a new facility, hiring of a new sales manager and organisation of a one-week roadshow in August through England.

Inaugurated in May 2010, Analog Way UK will move to a new facility in August. Located in London, the new office offers larger space in order to integrate training facilities and reinforce customer service quality.

The Analog Way UK team is also growing with the appointment of Andrew Smith, who joined Régis Pirot in July 2010, as area sales manager. "I am pleased to join Analog Way as area sales manager, as I feel this is a company with a clear sense of direction, innovative products and a great future in prospect," comments Smith.

"With more than 25 years experience in the UK Audio Visual market working with well-known distributors, I am hoping to be able to help companies in t

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USA/UK - Adding to the list of accomplishments for its first year in production, the RSC Lightlock has been named the Live Design Lighting Accessory of the year.

Presented during the 2010 Broadway Lighting Master Classes, the Product of the Year awards are chosen from the equipment brought to market in the last 12 months which the voting panel feel makes the biggest changes to the industry. The awards were presented 24 May at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Present to receive the award were Adrian Forbes-Black, vice president of Total Structures, and Vince Herbert, the designer of the RSC Lightlock and head of the Lighting Department for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Upon Avon.

This award adds to the accolades heaped upon the RSC Lightlock in its debut year. In addition, it has also been recognised as the best debuting product for rigging and staging equipment b

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UK - Blitz reports that it has become one of the first official sponsors of the England Team for The Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi this October.

Munir Samji, chairman & CEO of Blitz, comments, "This is the first time that we have sponsored an England Team and everyone here is really excited about it. We have always done our bit supporting trade events and charities, but to be involved with an England team is special. England came second overall in the last Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006 with 110 medals, of which 36 were gold, and we wish them every success in Delhi."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Llanelli, Wales- based Vaughan Sound Installations (VSI), part of the PAI Group, was brought in to design specify and supply specialist sound, lighting and AV systems for the new Glan Usk School in Newport, south Wales.

VSI was working for electrical contractors MJN Colston, after recommendation from electrical consultants WS Atkins. The installations are in the school's two assembly halls.

VSI has long experience and some highly successful projects in this sector. Their main philosophy when dealing with the education market has always been to deliver workable systems that are appropriate and relevant.

With this being a primary school, the requirements were more straightforward than those of a high school. The School needed "budget conscious, easy to use systems that give the flexibility to enhance general presentations and service a variety of live performances&qu

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UK - For the third consecutive year, Chroma-Q LED fixtures brought the Clubhouse of the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) at Silverstone racing circuit to life with a temporary lighting installation for their annual British Grand Prix Ball.

The BRDC Ball is held in a luxury marquee erected adjacent to the Members' Clubhouse on the Saturday evening of the Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix weekend. This year's event was particularly special, marking the launch of the new Grand Prix Circuit at Silverstone and the 60th anniversary of Formula 1 racing.

Personalities from the motor racing fraternity including Nigel Mansell OBE and BRDC President, Damon Hill OBE appeared on stage to talk about their experiences to the BBC's and ex-Radio Caroline's Johnnie Walker MBE.

A.C. Special Projects, a sister company of BRDC Rising Stars Programme Patron, A.C. Entertainment Technologie

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India - October 2010 sees the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. ESG Arena JV (comprising ES Group and Arena Group), together with local partner d-artindia (Spaceworkz Group), has been contracted to provide Games overlay for three competition venues and 18 training venues.

The team is responsible for providing the temporary overlay for these facilities including more than 130 temporary structures, a temporary stadium to host the Rugby Sevens, power, grandstands, media facilities and lighting. The scope of the contract also includes maintenance during the Games and removal of the temporary overlay afterwards.

The local partnership has been set up specifically to deliver this £20m project, but the intention is to develop the partnership and to deliver future projects together in India as the desire to deliver bigger and better world class events in India is very a

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Love Parade Tragedy - Survivors of a stampede at a free dance music festival in Germany in which 19 people were killed have blamed organisers for the deaths. Witnesses criticised the decision to have just one entrance through a tunnel to the Love Parade, and said they had warned police about overcrowding. German prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the disaster.

The mayor of Duisburg told a press conference that it was too early to blame anyone for the incident. The organiser of the festival said that there would be no more Love Parades. "The Love Parade has always been a joyful and peaceful party, but in future would always be overshadowed by yesterday's events," , Rainer Schaller said. "Out of respect for the victims, their families and friends, we are going to discontinue the event in the future, and that means the end of

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UK - Minister for the Digital Economy Ed Vaizey has indicated that the Government's compensation package to those being evicted from the 800MHz spectrum will only encompass 6% of the frequencies being cleared. This puts the large-scale live events, from the West-End to major TV entertainment shows, on notice because it threatens the small businesses that supply them.

The package covers channel 69, but the Government has exploited technicalities to avoid paying out to those high-end users that tune to channels 31-37 and 61-68, which are also being cleared. It is these additional channels that are needed to produce large-scale events like the Olympics.

Save Our Sound UK responds: The excuse the Government has given is that notice of eviction was given. But what seems to be continually ignored is the fact that no precise alternatives were provided or even now have been published.

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UK - The first details of this year's extended PLASA 2010 Education & Learning Programme have been unveiled by organisers PLASA Events. The acclaimed programme of free seminars and masterclasses includes top international speakers on industry projects and technologies, sustainability, AV and systems integration and much more.

The Gottelier Masterclass will be presented, as is now established tradition, by last year's Gottelier Award winner - Alex Cooper from Midas Klark Teknik. Entitled Don't Just measure: Listen, the Masterclass will be an appreciation of the power of human perception and spatial awareness, and how they relate to audio - in particular, the fact that just because a piece of audio gear measures correctly does not necessarily mean it sounds good.

InfoComm International will host a seminar theatre dedicated to AV & Systems Integration. Topics over the dedi

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UK - 5 Star Cases exhibited for the first time at the biennial Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) in Hampshire, UK, to boost its presence in the aerospace sector. FIA is an iconic global aviation event with a prominent position on the international aerospace calendar.

5 Star's booth was maximised with some creative space management, displaying many products as well as incorporating a small seating and hospitality area.

Products on display included two 19" rack systems, finished in desert sand powder coated hardware and extrusions, plus a new concept in transit solutions - 'Euro-Crate'.

'Euro-Crate' is a simple transit solution enabling irregular shaped items to be transported in safety by using a shock-mounted internal baseboard and a matrix of adjustable tie-down shackles and ratchet straps. Intermediate 200 mm case sections are then inserted to the desired height

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UK - Console manufacturer Calrec Audio has launched a community website (community.calrec.com) which aims to encourage industry education and the sharing of information amongst audio folk. Included on the site are video- and image-sharing blogs from the Calrec team and other industry experts, Twitter feeds, links to social media, and RSS feeds.

The aim is to create a forum for education and information-sharing between customers and anyone else in the audio world.

The community blogs and posts will focus on subjects that the audio community is passionate about, such as 5.1, loudness and networking, and on relevant technologies such as FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays).

Currently, Calrec is seeking contributions to the site from audio mix engineers with training advice, technical suggestions, on-the-job stories to tell, challenges to share, or questions. These can be writ

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USA - American DJ has filed suit in the United States District Court Central District of California against five companies, including Wal-Mart Stores and DBL Distributing, a division of Ingram Micro, for violating the Lanham Act, which covers federal trademark law, and the California Business and Professions Code.

The suit alleges that the five companies used the 'American Audio' trademark in advertising and promoting audio products that were not made by or affiliated with either American DJ or its American Audio brand. According to American DJ, the five firms "intentionally, continuously and wrongfully advertised, distributed and/or sold audio equipment... using the American Audio® mark since 2009".

In addition to Wal-Mart Stores and DBL Distributing, the companies that are the subject of American DJ's legal action are V2GO Technology, American Audio Laborato

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UK - TMB has announced the addition of Erica Frost to its Product Specialist Group. Her primary role will be working in TMB's 24-hour Tech Support Group, with additional product training responsibilities.

Based in London, Frost gained years of hands-on experience, as a crew member on live productions, and as an audio engineer in studios and clubs. She earned her BSc degree in Live Event Technology at the University of Glamorgan in Cardiff after two years at the University of Salford in Manchester, where she graduated from its HND Audio and Video Systems programme.

"I prefer the live experience to the studio," says Frost. "Outside the studio, we don't have the luxury of correcting a problem over and over again. There's nothing quite like the challenge of getting it right the first time, quickly."

CEO Colin Waters says, "Nothing is more important to TM

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UK - The organisers of the PLASA Show (12-15 September 2010, Earls Court, London) have announced the final shortlist of nominees for this year's prestigious Gottelier Award, which will be presented at the PLASA Show on Monday 13 September.

This will be the fourth Gottelier Award - named in memory of the former designer, developer and commentator Tony Gottelier (pictured), who died in 2006. The Award (sponsored by Lighting&Sound International magazine for which Tony Gottelier was a regular contributor for many years), aims to recognise those who have made a significant and sustained contribution to the development of entertainment technology. Former winners are Tony Andrews of Funktion One (2007), John Stadius of Soundtracs/DiGiCo (2008) and Alex Cooper of Klark Teknik and Midas (2009).

This year's nominees are, in no particular order:

Richard Cuthbert

Richard Cuthbe

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Celebrating Sondheim - Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim was greeted with a standing ovation at the BBC Proms on Saturday at the end of a concert marking his 80th birthday year. Dame Judi Dench and opera star Bryn Terfel were among the performers at the event, held at London's Royal Albert Hall. The concert featured numbers from Sondheim musicals such as Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Company and Follies. West End stars Maria Friedman, Jenna Russell, Julian Ovenden and Simon Russell Beale also participated in the event, the first Prom to be signed for deaf concert-goers.

Since making his Broadway debut in 1957 as the writer of West Side Story's lyrics, Sondheim has become one of the most popular and revered figures in musical theatre. A London revival of Into the Woods opens shortly at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, while L

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USA - Intelix recently announced the release of the AVO-USB extender kit, a professional-grade solution for extending USB 1.1 and 2.0 signals over structured pair cabling, such as Cat 5 or Cat 6.

"We are extremely excited to introduce the AVO-USB extender set," states Cameron Smith, Intelix sales and marketing manager. "Intelix has a long history providing USB extension solutions; however, the AVO-USB is the first product which combines an extremely compact form-factor with professional-grade performance. Most solutions trade size for quality - the smaller you get the worse the signal - this isn't the case with Intelix technology."

Prior to the AVO-USB, remote USB devices such as cameras, printers, scanners, keyboards, and mice were limited to only 16ft via direct USB cables or required expensive secondary network equipment. Using the AVO-USB, remote device

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UK - The Events division of leading UK sound and lighting installer Northern Light is providing specialist technical support to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society for a number of their key events and venues. 2010 marks the Festival Fringe's biggest line-up to date and the number of shows has increased by 17 percent since last year to total 2,453 this year.

Nick Read, head of hire and events for Northern Light, says, "We're delighted and proud to be supporting this world renowned event in our home city of Edinburgh. We've been working with the Festival Fringe organisers to ensure that they benefit from our extensive experience in theatre, events, live music, opera and comedy and receive all the technical support they require. Northern Light is supplying lighting, sound and AV equipment and staging plus technical labour and advice for both festival organised events and vis

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USA - Richmond, Virginia, is home to some of America's most legendary architecture, including the majestic building that now houses the Science Museum of Virginia. Built in 1917 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the former Broad Street Railway Station is a grand and vast space replete with massive rotunda, soaring domed roof, granite floors and marble walls. It's also an unintentional case study for how not to design an acoustical space.

"I've worked in professional sound for over 30 years, and I don't think I've ever been in a more acoustically challenging room," says Nelson Hoyt of Virginia-based Onyx Engineering. "I think of it as the Taj Mahal's evil twin." Indeed, Hoyt reports that sound in the venue has been an ongoing problem for many years. "If you get 30 or 40 people talking in there, the sound just reverberates and the vol

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UK - Ofcom today announced the details of how Government funding will be made available to the Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) sector to support its migration from channel 69 to channel 38. This follows the Government's decision last month on the level and nature of this funding, which will contribute to the cost of modifying or purchasing equipment.

Wireless microphones and other wireless equipment that uses channel 69 are being cleared from this part of the 800 MHz band. Countries across Europe are clearing these airwaves to make way for new services like next-generation mobile broadband. Citizens and consumers in the UK stand to significantly benefit from this, especially those that live in the countryside, where the roll-out of broadband and mobile services has been more challenging, say Ofcom.

In June last year Ofcom announced a replacement channel for those af

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UK - Event branding specialist Sunbaba worked with Bristol City Council for the first time to brand two of the Harbour Festival's most popular stages. The festival attracted 250,000 people during the weekend from Friday 30 July to Sunday 1 August, 2010.

The Bristol Harbour Festival, now in its 39th year, is one of the largest UK free arts events, covering two miles of waterfront along the city centre's harbourside, with seven different performance areas.

Branding was created for the Queen Square and Millennium Square stages, which showcased a diverse selection of music and dance respectively. The Queen Square stage hosted the Friday night concert, officially opening the 2010 festival to an audience of more than 5,000, while the New York City Ballet made their debut performance in Bristol on the Millennium Square stage.

The scrims for the two stages were both made from Sunbab

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UK - ALD, STLD and Clay Paky have announced the nominations for the 3rd Knights of Illumination lighting design awards. The awards will be held on the evening of Sunday 12 September 2010 at the IBIS Hotel London Earls Court.

The awards will provide public recognition for outstanding achievements in lighting design by UK based lighting designers, in a number of professional areas. At the same time, these awards will forge closer ties between the world of lighting design and the lighting Industry as a whole.

The awards for The Knight of the Illumination are nominated and judged by a panel of professional reviewers working in the specific categories, selected and coordinated entirely by STLD and ALD.

Television nominations

Light Entertainment

Mark Smithers for Mission 2110

Martin Kempton for Who Dares Wins

Lee Allen for Blue

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The Netherlands - Last month, the Ms Nieuw Amsterdam was launched from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard in Venice. It is the fourth Nieuw Amsterdam from Holland America, with the first dating back to 1906. With a capacity of 1380 passengers at a length of 780 feet (238 metres), the luxury cruise ship celebrates the glamour and history of New York City (formerly called New Amsterdam). The ship is also home to five Broadway-style shows, with lighting design and pre-programming completed in wysiwyg R25.

Four new shows debuted at the maiden launch: Avalon, Cantare, It Takes Two and NYC. Another show on board is Garage Band, which is a re-run of a show that was debuted on the Ms Oosterdam last year.

The creative team for all five shows (which will run for approximately five years) includes show director John Charron at the helm

  1. The Week in Lighting & Sound
  2. Smoke Factory celebrates at PLASA 2010
  3. Save Our Sound responds to Ofcom statement on PSME
  4. Chaos Visual Productions launches London office
  5. Ateis debuts integrated system at PLASA 2010
  6. Kling & Freitag appoints MYC as Chinese distributor
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