UK - Visuals and moving light director Svend Pedersen made extensive use of a Catalyst digital media server to illuminate and animate the set for the latest series of The Krypton Factor, recorded at Granada Television Studios in Manchester for ITV.

Designed by Dominic Toft, the set was made entirely from Perspex and Barco MiStrip LEDs, featuring a wide, shallow set of steps at the front, leading onto the stage, with a MiStrip back wall that curved up and above the stage to form a ceiling over the area, producing a cylindrical style structure.

Pederson used the latest spec Catalyst supplied by Ross Williams, with one output making comprehensive use of the Mix Window facility to zone the output to cover each of the four contestants individually.

He used four Mix Windows p

Hungary - Located in downtown of Budapest, The Morrison's Music Pub is a very large venue which offers a great number of attractions; The venue comprises five main areas - a big room for live shows, two dance clubs and a lounge area with games and a heated garden.

All the audio systems have been installed by Pako, RCF's distributor in Hungary, using RCF loudspeakers, which proved to be the best all round choice for the various kinds of environments and applications of the venue.

Every week, from Monday to Thursday, concerts are held at the Morrison's Music Pub and after the show it is possible to dance or sing along with karaoke systems.

The sound reinforcement system for the main concert room comprises TT25-A and ART 310-A used as stage monitors. The DJ booth is equipped with ART speakers, used by the DJ as a cue monitor to mix music before and after the live shows.

In th

USA - One of the exhibits in The Grammy Museum, which opened in December 2008, is the Hall of Fame. Designed by Gallagher & Associates, it features a sculptural column of more than 350 Shure Model 55SH Series II Microphones.

"The Shure 55SH Microphone has been a music industry icon for more than 60 years, as the Grammy has for over 50," said Mark Brunner, Shure's senior director of global public Rrelations. "We are honoured that the Grammy Museum selected this classic microphone to evoke a profound connection to the history of music performance. The microphone sculpture, like this fabulous museum, is something that every music fan should see in person."

(Jim Evans)

UK - With just 10 weeks to go, the first PLASA Focus event has grown to fill two halls at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, on Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th April 2009 - and has announced its first, comprehensive, seminar programme.

To ensure the show is as valuable as it can be for busy visitors, a packed two-day seminar programme in a purpose built auditorium will cover a broad array of topics, including health and safety, rigging, sustainability and more.

Six seminars have so far been confirmed (with two more still to be announced). These cover 'Tallescopes - Friend or Foe?', 'PPE for Working At Height - Clearing The Mist' and 'The Theatres Trust - Open Forum' (Tuesday 28th); and 'Sustainable Events - Making BS8901 Work For You', 'Freelancing In The Industry' and 'Regulatory Reform - Fire Safety' (Wednesday 29th).

All seminars are free to attend and tackle a wide spectrum o

UK - Not quite an hour's drive west of Fort William, Glenuig is remote in the sense that it's far from any urban centre. That doesn't meanthat it's on the road less travelled. Striking in its outlook across the Sound of Arisaig and west to the Hebrides beyond, this community of just 30 souls has provided a welcome to many thousands over the past 25 years with a special brand of folk gathering in the beautiful setting of Glenuig Hall.

This timber building located in the Parish of Moidart, West Lochaber, Scotland, has recently been endowed with its own d&b audiotechnik PA system, provided by Warehouse Sound Services. Glenuig has musical history running through it and demands proper professional quality sound.

The Glenuig Games and Music Festival first manifested itself at a local gathering in April 1983, when the date for the first Not So Serious Glenuig Gameswas set for

UK - Wisbech-based flightcase manufacturer 5 Star has again provided a case solution for UK DJ equipment specialist, Pioneer.

Following the success of the Pro-420FLT and Pro-440FLT mini consoles, Pioneer required a custom designed case to house its latest professional DJ system, the MEP-7000 multi entertainment player and controller, which also includes a 19" mixer such as the DJM-3000. The DJM-700 mixer can also be housed via the 19" rack conversion.

Pioneer and 5 Star worked closely from the outset of the project to achieve a value added' product with numerous eatures and Pioneer branding.

"Pioneer has a great relationship with 5 Star", says Pioneer's Paul Beardsall. "We simply supply a brief for a new project and they have a remarkable ability to produce and deliver the goods. Design flare, an eye for detail and a superb production turnaround real

Spain - The Valencia Show Jumping Club (CES Valencia) was recently inaugurated in the town of Godella in Valencia and D.A.S. sound systems were chosen to form part of this equestrian complex's modern facilities. Its extensive show jumping arenas, social club and indoor covered arena complete with grandstand have all been equipped.

Technicians from Telesonic Valencia, S.L. were charged with matching D.A.S. systems to the needs of each area of this sports complex. Long-throw BiDriver systems were consequently employed for the main arena since they are specifically designed for applications requiring wide acoustic coverage and music reproduction with no compromises in voice intelligibility.

Systems from the new DR series were adopted for the grandstand in the covered arena. Audio for this smaller area is offered by seven D.A.S. model DR-8TW units. Adjacent to the covered arena ar

The Netherlands - Newly-formed Dutch rental company AVL Concept has made a strong investment in its future growth by investing in a large amount of new pro audio equipment including a Midas PRO6 and a Heritage 3000. The company, which was supplied by Midas Consoles Benelux, has taken over some well known companies including audio rental company Cazemier LGB and AV rental and installation specialist Provision.

"We've set up the new company to be ready for the next decade or so," says AVL Concept owner Ben Rosema. "AVL Concept is not a classic concert sound rental company, neither is it a traditional AV install company. We offer our clients the best, both in high end rental plus install, focussing on the highest level of audio, lighting, video, production and staging.

"We've only been able to achieve this level of business by taking over existing, well perfor

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USA - Carnival Cruise Lines' newest and largest 'Fun Ship', the Carnival Splendor, which can host more than 3,000 guests and offers high-energy entertainment options galore, made its maiden voyage from the Mediterranean to ports of call in Northern Europe in 2008.

Featured within this floating resort's 1,300-seat Spectacular Show Lounge is the new musical performance, The Beat. Using an Aviom Pro64 digital snake, the production crew was able to take full advantage of the Cat 5 connectivity and user flexibility the system offers as well as its robust performance in the challenging cruise ship environment.

"We have enjoyed a great experience over the years with Aviom," says James Keaton, audio supervisor for Carnival Cruise Lines. "We currently have 22 ships in the fleet and we have been using the Aviom Pro16 system for monitoring and communications in our

USA - The 81st Academy Awards Ceremony, held at the Kodak Theater and broadcast live on ABC, featured three Yamaha digital audio consoles behind the scenes. PA designer and front-of-house engineer, Patrick Baltzell, received a helping hand from ATK Audiotek, supplying both a Yamaha PM1D 128-input/64-output Dual Engine system and PM5D digital console to outfit front-of-house. A Yamaha PM1D-128 input/64-output Dual Engine system was also used and manned by monitor engineer Michael Parker, supported by monitor tech Tom Pesa.

"Digital recall consoles have increased the detail of a mix by an order of magnitude for multiple performance television shows such as The Academy Awards," says Baltzell. "In the analogue days, I was always 'splitting the difference' and making compromises, knowing I would only be able to restore certain settings but not all. I now can confidentl

Sweden - Lab.gruppen is anticipating "an extremely busy ProLight & Sound" with the public unveiling of four new products. The first of these is the prototype Lab.gruppen Lake LM 26 stand-alone digital loudspeaker. Based on the Lake Processing technology and first product to be introduced under the newly acquired Lake brand, the LM 26 is a full-featured 2-in/6-out Lake Processor in a compact 1 U frame.

The latest addition to the PLM Series of powered loudspeaker management systems, the PLM 14000 is built around a two-input, two-power output channel platform. It pumps a massive 7000W per channel into 2 ohms and 4350 W per channel into 4 ohms, making it suitable for demanding subwoofer and low-end applications.

Also new for Frankfurt will be the addition of three new models to the FP+ Series, including a new flagship amplifier, the FP 14000. The other two models are the

Europe - Lighthouse Technologies Ltd., a leading LED technology provider, has announced the implementation of a new corporate structure for Continental Europe and the Middle East (CEME) regions under the leadership of its current Southern European director, Roberto Segato.

The geographical scope of the new set up comprises the current Southern Europe remit, which includes Russia and the Middle East, as well as the former Western and Central European region.

A new German office has been opened in Munich, headed up by new team member, Massimo Dolce. Giulia Kabakova has also joined Segato's team as sales executive for Russia and the CIS regions to ensure that these areas can instantly benefit from this new arrangement.

"This move is designed to unify Lighthouse's European operation and help consolidate the company's position as the leading provider of high performance, fle

USA - In addition to showing a wide range of products from its existing S Series, Veris, M-Class, I/O, I-2W8, R Series and WET lines, Community will exhibit three new product groups at ProLight & Sound 2009 in Frankfurt - ENTASYS, VLF Series subwoofers and MX41E monitors.

ENTASYS is a new three-way full-range column loudspeaker system that delivers true line-array performance in a compact package. Designed for permanent installation applications, including auditoria, airports and train stations, conference centres, houses of worship, stadium concourses and museums, ENTASYS offers high output and high power handling, utilizing multiple low, mid and high-frequency drivers.

Each ENTASYS full-range column includes six low frequency neodymium drivers, 18 2.35-inch midrange drivers and six 7" long x 1" wide planar-coupled Compact Ribbon Emulator (CRE) high frequency eleme

Denmark - Victory Tour Production has recently added a pair of DiGiCo SD8 consoles to its rental stock, complementing the D1s and D5s that have been used by the production company for the last two years.

"We bought our first D5 in the spring of 2007, for a tour that had a D5 on the preferred list of desks," says Victory's Theis Wermuth. "We tested it, compared it to the other options and decided that the D5 was the right choice both for the tour and for our hire stock. One of the main things for us was the many ways of 'designing' the desk with input / output options, plus it was easy to operate even for engineers who weren't experienced digital console users.

"We had a meeting with Kim Johansen from Soundware A/S, DiGiCo's Danish distributor, and he quickly convinced us it was the right way to expand our range of DiGiCo desks."

Once delivered, the S

UK - FX Sales has continued its ongoing relationship with the BRIT School, upgrading the music department's recording studios with the addition of two Pro Tools HD3 Accel Systems with 192 I/Os, a 32 Channel ICON D-Control ES (supplied by Digidesign), Digidesign C24 Pro Tools control surface, Digidesign preamps, a Digidesign/PMC RM2 5.1 monitor array with a PMC TLE1S active sub, an SNS Global San X4 hard drive system, plasma screens, Waves Mercury TDM V6, TC System 6000 mastering bundle and a range of plug-ins and software.

In addition, FX also supplied a Mac Pro running Final Cut Studio 2, Genelec 5.1 monitors, a Plasma screen and related accessories into the BRIT School's DVD authoring suite.

"We received funding and decided to upgrade to Pro Tools HD," says Declan Cunningham, assistant director of music. "FX has always been supportive, having overseen the firs

UK - The Krypton Factor has returned to British screens, with a selection of high tech improvements, including the use of a selection of touchscreens, sourced for the shows from PSCo.

The iconic TV programme has been off air for 14 years and 2009 signified its comeback, with contestants being tested on logic, memory and agility. The famous assault course returns in the new series and all challenges have been updated using state of the art technology.

For the modern version of the show, the set incorporates four 42" plasma screens which are used by contestants in the studio. Each screen is fitted with touch screen using optical imaging technology, supplied by Lumina Display, making it touch sensitive for contestants to carry out logic tests during the programme.

The Panasonic plasma screens were chosen for their brightness and clarity in the ambient studio lightin

UK/China - A partnership between the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing and the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural Skills and the Royal Opera House, respectively, was sealed yesterday at the Royal Opera House, ensuring closer links between the UK and China in supporting the development of backstage and offstage production skills.

The agreement is designed to facilitate the exchange of contemporary and state-of-the-art techniques for running a successful and prosperous theatrical industry and establish a practice of exemplar training that can create a greater skilled workforce in theatrical production industries.

Tom Bewick, chief executive of Creative & Cultural Skills said: "By working cross-culturally, we are able to share the strong and specialised musical theatre skill set we have here in the UK with China. The new National Skills Acade

Trinidad - Caribbean Entertainment Technologies (CET) has recently completed a major project for the The National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) at the National Library of Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain.

The comprehensive and integrated systems were divided into five sub-sections. The first is a complete AV archiving facility: a dedicated AV server system for the repair and conformation of many different formats, both digital and analogue, of printed, audio and video media.

The second subsection consists of a complete MATV distribution system, used to retrieve audio visual content from specific building presentation areas via camera and microphone access and its redistribution via MATV to any video equipped room in the building.

The third subsection was the sound and lighting for the outdoor amphitheatre, and incorporated a sequenced power system and

UK - A new game show, with colour as its central theme, has had its set brought to life by a combination of LED media displays, provided by Creative Technology London.

Commissioned by format creators and producers 12 Yard, The Colour Of Money, presented by Chris Tarrant, is one of the most ambitious sets yet created by production designer Patrick Doherty.

A total of nine mission-specific media surfaces are used on the set, including Barco's iLite 6 6mm display, which forms the main high-resolution central screen. This is reinforced by G-LEC's 30mm Phantom 30 and Barco MiTRIX transparent screens, Barco OLite 612 modular banner (curving round the rear of the set), and the German Schnick-Schnack LED FX, which borders the cash machines and also provides a uniform colour light detail elsewhere on the stage floor, with wide angle diffusion. The transparent screens have been b

USA - RTS is set to show the DKP 16 CLD Color Display Desktop Keypanel at NAB 2009. The DKP 16 CLD is the desktop member of the CLD colour keypanel family from RTS. Like its rackmounted counterpart, the DKP 16 CLD is controlled using a full-colour graphic interface.

"A desktop version was the next logical step in the CLD series." said Christian Latzelsberger, senior product manager for RTS Intercoms Worldwide."Like the KP 32 CLD we evaluated how intercoms are used in various settings, and what meaningful improvements could be made. With the DKP 16 CLD, nothing was overlooked. Desktop users will be very pleased with the refinements in the control surfaces, and the graphical interface on the DKP 16 CLD."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Showsec secured the Brit Awards 2009 with at Earls Court and simultaneously, they played an instrumental part in the War Child Benefit gig at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, with some artists appearing at both venues.

Showsec's Operations Director Simon Battersby managed the Brits project, liaising with organisers from the BPI and production management M.J.K. and Earls Court. He said, "This is the second year that we have worked at the BRITs and the smooth, assured manner in which we undertook such a complex operation underlines the professionalism and capabilities that are present at all levels within our team."

Maggie Crow, event director for The BRIT Awards 2009 noted: "Showsec provided the most exemplary security at this years' BRITs. My feedback has been every guest - and there are over 12,000 of them who are all treated as VIPs - were welcomed and dire

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