South Africa - Johannesburg-based Gearhouse South Africa supplied full production, technical infrastructure and crew for the Miss World event staged at Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg on 13 December.

Miss World 2008 utilised the resources, services and expertise of six Gearhouse Group companies - GHSA, LEDVision, SDS, In2Structures, GH Power and Havaseat - encompassing 10 technical production disciplines that provided design, rigging, structures, lighting, audio, video, specialist visuals, set building, power and seating in SCC's Pavilion venue. The event was broadcast live by SABC to 2 billon people in over 200 countries on 373 TV stations.

Tim Dunn's lighting design included the latest digital moving light fixtures from Robe Lighting in the form of 12 DigitalSpot 7000D

UK - Midas aficionado Ian Bond has purchased a PRO6 Live Audio System - serial number 007 - from UK distributor Shuttlesound. Having become familiar with the Midas XL8 Live Performance System on tours with King Crimson and Porcupine Tree, Bond took the opportunity to own Midas' digital technology and audio performance in a compact, more affordable package.

"I've always been a fan of Midas analogue consoles, so stepping up to Midas digital seemed a logical step, and I was keen to order a PRO6," he says. "Midas build quality and reliability also played a large part in my decision, and of course, the most important thing about any console is how it sounds. The PRO6 sounds like a Midas should: warm, but still accurate.

"I also really like the speed at which you can navigate around the control surface (GUIs), and get to all the features easily. And just like the

Canada - Following the Number One debut of their latest album in the Canadian album charts, Indie rockers, the Sam Roberts Band is currently on tour throughout Canada with Love at the end of the world. At the heart of the show is a full panoply of Innjovasaon digital mixing consoles; an Sy80 supplied by Metalworks Production Group in Toronto presides at FoH manned by engineer, Phil Hornung, whilst monitor engineer and tour manager, Denton Fraser, is at the helm of an Sy48.

Phil Hornung comments: "I think these desks sound better than a lot of the digital products on the market. I find the desk extremely easy to operate, and I don't have to pay a lot of attention to it during the show itself, which lets me pay attention to the mix instead of worrying about what's on the screen. In fact, we often offer it to opening bands to use instead of using a second console. The e

UK - A.C. Audio recently supplied broadcast and new media production company Three Media Creative with a complete sound solution of QSC HPR loudspeakers.

The Manchester based event production company was looking to expand its hire stock and required a versatile powered speaker system. They needed a system that could be used as one large PA, yet could also be broken down for smaller events and adapted for any bespoke situation that could arise. 10 QSC HPR152i 500 watt loudspeakers were chosen together with four complementing HPR181i subwoofers to enable a wall of sound to be effortlessly created in venues for in excess of 1000 people.

A.C. Audio sales manager Peter Butler comments: "Due to the nature of Three Media Creative's international business, it was very important that we supplied a reliable and durable system that would perform in all different climates. I have bee

USA - Harman Professional has announced the appointment of Alexander Rojas to the newly-created position of director of sales, intercontinental south as part of its continuing initiative to better serve the emerging and established markets of Central America and South America. Rojas will report to Jaime Albors, senior director of sales intercontinental and will operate from the company's new Intercontinental sales office in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Alexander Rojas joins Harman Professional from Caribbean Broadcast Suppliers, a family owned business, where he held the position of sales & marketing director since 1999 and was responsible for all sales operations and marketing activities.

"Alexander Rojas will be a very valuable addition to the Harman Professional team and I am confident his value will be felt immediately by our customers, distribution partners and dealers ali

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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

UK - White Light has been appointed as lighting supplier for the Donmar Warehouse's season of drama at the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End. Designed to bring Donmar productions to a larger audience than can be accommodated in the company's own 250-seat Covent Garden venue, the Wyndham's season, which re-opened the newly refurbished theatre, features four productions: Ivanov, starring Kenneth Branagh; Twelfth Night, starring Derek Jacobi; Madame de Sade, starring Judi Dench, and Hamlet, starring Jude Law, over the course of a year.

Lighting duties for the shows, the first three directed by the Donmar's artistic director Michael Grandage and the last by Kenneth Branagh, are being divided between two of the Donmar's most frequent lighting collaborators, Paule Constable lighting Ivanov and Neil Austin the remaining three shows.

The two hav

USA - ARRI's latest lighting products, the True Blue line of studio and Tungsten fixtures have won the International Forum (iF) Design Award. Introduced earlier this year, the True Blues offer innovative lampheads with over 30new improvements. The range was recognised by iF, an independent organisation that examines the success of design services in an economic context and promotes public awareness on the importance of design.

Over 1,000 companies from 39 countries applied 2,808 products for an iF design award this year. The competition is open to manufacturers and designers of mass-produced products that have been on the market for three years or less or are scheduled to go into mass production during the year of competition. The iF jury evaluated the many entries for the following: design quality, workmanship, choice of material, innovativeness, environmental compatibility, fu

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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

Russia - In Omsk, one of the largest cities in Siberia, the General Court has commissioned a Nexo line-array sound system installation. The remarkable historic interior of the Courthouse calls for an aesthetic solution as well as a sonic one, and the loudspeaker modules have been supplied in white to complement the sky-blue walls and white detailing of the main courtroom.

Design and installation of this sound reinforcement system has been carried out by Light Sound Systems Company in Omsk City. LSS's Alexander Muravitsky had to propose a solution to the challenging acoustics of the courtroom, which has a ceiling height of 9m, and large picture windows down one side of the room.

"It was not an easy installation, but, from our point of view, the Nexo Geo S8 arrays provided the ideal way to minimise problems with reverberation, while still giving us the perfect dispersion cu

USA - Apogee Electronics has received the Green Business Certification from the Santa Monica Green Business Certification Programme. By participating in this programme, Apogee Electronics is recognised by the City of Santa Monica, the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, Sustainable Works and the Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau as "an outstanding green business in the community ".

In preparation for the certification, Apogee installed a premier solar panel system using 96 energy-generating panels at its Santa Monica headquarters. The modules generate up to 15,000 watts at peak and any surplus power generated on weekends and holidays is fed back to the greater Los Angeles power grid. The company also promotes the recycling of all paper, bottles, cans, and other materials used within the office and is compliant with RoHS and WEEE Directives for its electr

UK - LSC has announced that Aubs Tredget has recently joined the LSC team and taken up the role as business development manager for the UK and Irish markets. Working closely with White Light, the official UK and Ireland distributor, Tredget will concentrate on the continuing development of the markets whilst offering sales and marketing support across the product range for both the distributor and their dealer network.

Tredget studied marketing as well as film and TV production in his native Australia. On graduation he enjoyed freelancing in Australia and New Zealand for 10 years before finding himself in the UK accepting the newly created role of marketing manager for White Light. One of his first tasks in 2004 was to reinvigorate the company's brand.

After four years at White Light Tredget said: "It was time for a new challenge and taking on a business development role

UK - 10 ADB Svoboda High Intensity Battens formed a distinctive effect for lighting designer Chris Bushell on the recent UK tour by The Hoosiers, with equipment rental from Neg Earth Lights.

Bushell, who was also co-designer of the tour's stage set, specified the nine-lamp Svoboda as part of a three-truss rig that surmounted a stage framed with a combination cabaret/theatre set with 2D cartoon-style set pieces silhouetted against the band's 19th century-style wallpaper backdrop.

He explains: "The band's performance is very visual, an excellent live act. They're always researching magic tricks coming up with new visual gags and buying new costumes. So I wanted to reflect this energy and excitement with quite a powerful light show, but with a design that was versatile enough to be dark and moody where needed.

"The whole look has a dark twist to it thanks to the band'

UK - Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, West London, is continually looking at ways to improve its facilities. Its most recent project was to develop a centre of excellence in the performing arts, to which end a bespoke building was constructed, which includes an impressive distributed audio system designed and installed by leading professional audio company, Autograph Sales.

The building, which owes its existence in large part to an anonymous donor, is connected to the existing arts centre by glass bridges, includes 110-seat recital hall, a dance/drama studio, a suite of teaching rooms that can house between one and six students and a music room that can accommodate a full orchestra.

Autograph designed an extensive audio infrastructure allowing analogue and digital audio signals to be routed to and from any room in the building, allowing many digital and analogue audio/medi

Nepal - As a sponsored event on behalf of Cancer Research, DiGiCo's Phil Down was part of a group - organised by trekking and climbing specialists Summit Climb - that completed a 16 day expedition to climb two mountains - the 6200m Island Peak, 5700m Kalar Patar and also visited Everest Base Camp (at 5540m no mean feat in itself).

Unfortunately Phil's trip got off to the worst possible start, losing four days after arrival in Nepal to a stomach bug, leaving the entire trip in jeopardy for him. But this is where his audio crew's sense of dedication and unwillingness to be beaten came to the fore - he wasn't about to let a bout of illness stop him. After racing against time to catch up with the rest of the trek, he met them at Island Peak Base Camp and was the first to the summit.

"It was the hardest journey of my life!" says Down. "But the thought of letting down

UK - When Osibisa arrived to play a rare gig in English West Country, Midas Pro Sound proprietor Paul Nicholson seized the opportunity to get behind the desk himself and road-test the complete suite of live mixing and recording products from RSS.

Osibisa, founded in London by four African and three Caribbean musicians, went on to become one of the first widely popular African bands. Performing live at the Salisbury Arts Centre in celebration of their 40th anniversary, these seasoned musicians found themselves in the midst of a most modern PA system; full front-of-house and monitor control using the RSS M-400 V-Mixer digital consoles, with dedicated digital multicores and stageboxes, connected to a show recording system via Roland's proprietary EtherNet protocol REAC.

Paul Nicholson was mixing the show on a Tannoy VQ PA system provided by his rental company Midas Pro Sound. Alt

Philippines - Soundcheck recently deployed a multi-array system equipped with JBL DrivePack technology to support a massive R&B show featuring Rihanna and Chris Brown. Promoted by Globe and sponsored by MTV Philippines, the outdoor concert was staged at Manila's Bonifactio Global City Open Field on 16 November for nearly 70,000 music fans.

A temporary stage with overhead roof and structural scaffolding support was erected onsite to support an extensive lighting system and video projection setup. Concert sound reinforcement services were provided by Soundcheck, the primary rental system contractor for the event, with additional Vertec inventory having been sub-hired from regional system owner FriendlyFire Sound. A total of 48 VT4888DP-CN midsize powered line array elements and 16 VT4888 enclosures were in use, along with a total of 28 VT4880 and VT4880A full-size arrayable subwoo

UK - With 50 years in the industry under his belt, the professionalism and attention to detail that Cliff Richard pays to his live shows are well-known. In November he did a three-week UK arena tour to celebrate the anniversary, with Yamaha PM5D consoles at the front of house and monitor positions.

The professionalism is very apparent as the show is set up. This is achieved by Richard building long-term relationships with the people that work with him. Monitor engineer John 'JJ' James has been there for a remarkable 29 years, with front of house man Mike 'Bunny' Warren still a bit like the new boy with a mere 12 years under his belt.

Despite it being just a three week, 14 show tour playing in seven UK arenas, the 50th Anniversary Time Machine tour was in production rehearsals for a surprising five weeks.

"That's why he's always good, he's a perfectionist," s

UK - Litestructures Studios has been celebrating the end of another successful year with a steady string of concert tour production rehearsals. Topping off a fourth year of growth, Litestructures Studios has been busy over the Christmas concert period hosting production rehearsals for tours including Elton John, Stereophonics, Keane, McFly, Simple Minds, and CBeebies Live!

"For Litestructures Studios, 2008 has been year of growth and development." says the Studio's general manager Brent Woods. "Increasingly we are becoming the rehearsal facility of choice amongst the biggest touring productions. We have been honoured to work this year with the most innovative and ambitious tours. We have exciting plans for developing the Studio further and are looking forward to a fantastic 2009."

(Jim Evans)

UK - This month, Hever Castle in Kent is hosting a Christmas spectacular featuring carols and music, huskies and illuminated gardens. The organisers have created an opportunity to view Hever Castle by moonlight, as the castle is adorned with traditionally decorated Christmas trees and the gardens illuminated.

Philips has sponsored the lighting for the festivities which also features a giant snowflake projected onto the front of the castle. This was created using Martin Professional's new Exterior 1200 Image Projector.

The Exterior 1200 Image Projector is the newest addition to Martin's Exterior range of outdoor luminaires. Designed for night-time environments with emotional impact, the Exterior 1200 Image Projector brings new elements of drama to outdoor illumination: effects projection and animation, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

UK - In April this year changes were made to the Noise at Work Regulations. As a result theatres, performing arts centres, night clubs and other venues are now required, by law, to comply with the new legislation (having previously been exempt).

In line with the changes in law, Stage Electrics has added a new sound monitoring device to its portfolio of products. SPLnet Systems provide a powerful set of tools to measure, display, and respond to sound levels at venues both indoor and out. The platform provides professionals with the data needed to cost effectively and simply monitor and manage sound and noise on a real-time basis.

Stage Electrics recently introduced SPLnet Systems to the market by hosting a 'Pie and a Pint' lunchtime event in the heart of theatre land. The informal event, held at The Theodore Bullfrog Pub in the West End, involved a demonstration of SPLnet Syste

UK - Barco has announced the release of a new High End Systems product for lighting control operation and programming. The Wholehog DMX Processor 8000 is designed to manage up to 16 DMX universes with ease while expanding the power and reliability of the Wholehog control system as a whole. By providing DMX and Art-Net output at a steady rate, the possibilities for lighting design are expanded. DMX Processor 8000 is 50 times more powerful than its predecessor the DP2000, says the company.

In addition, Version 3.0 software for all current lighting console products is now available. Version 3.0.0 represents major improvements to core components of the Wholehog software. Furthermore it adds support for the new DMX Processor 8000 and Art-Net output from the DMX Processor 8000 and Road Hog Full Boar console. Many network configuration windows, patch windows, and other dialogs have cha

France - Audiolite has completed the installation of a permanent system for the Football Stadium of Lorient with 42 Adamson Metrix W enclosures. Lorient is located in Rennes, Brittany on the Atlantic Ocean.

The Stadium's new sound system is mainly used for speeches and sports-event entertainment segments including music, but occasionally the venue is used for larger events such as the Festival Interceltique de Lorient.

The installation design was carried out jointly by Audiolite and DV2. On the site, project supervisor Franck Fily, sound system designer Sylvain Turpin - who was also in charge of the system alignment, rigging expert Lionel Gillet and cable manufacturer Jord Mallejac placed three clusters of six Adamson Metrix Ws in the North bleachers and four clusters of six Adamson Metrix Ws in the Presidential bleachers.

With the system's permanent placement outdoors at a

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