UK - Blackburn-based lighting rental company HSL continues its busy autumn/winter season supplying lights, Kinesys automation, projection and LED to the Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark(OMD) UK and European tour.

It featured the band's original line up, a new album History of Modern and an energetic set comprising a lively mix of classic hits and new material.

It was lighting/visuals designer Andy Liddle's first full production tour with the band since he came onboard in 2009. He created an interesting mix of moving elements, LED and projection surfaces and lighting, to provide a contemporary scenic showcase for OMD - three decades of synth pop later.

All suppliers were invited to tender for the tour at the outset, from which HSL won the lighting and visuals package ex

UK - The Audio & Music Production course at Buckinghamshire New University has been awarded a three-year accreditation by JAMES - the Joint Audio Media Education Services Association.

JAMES is the education and accreditation arm of the APRS (Association of Professional Recording Services), UK Screen Association and the Music Producers Guild (MPG) and the course at Bucks is one of just 10 courses awarded accredited status in the UK.

Plaques confirming the award are now on display outside the University's audio and music production suites and outside the Students' Union's White Room venue at the University, in High Wycombe, Bucks.

Warren Bassett, course leader, audio production, said: "We are pleased to gain another endorsement that shows the growing industry links held by the Audio & Music Production degree at Bucks New University. It will benefit our students going in t

UK - Wakehurst Place, a National Trust property in West Sussex, southern England, which is managed by Kew Gardens, believes it has the largest Christmas tree in the UK. Wakehurst Place decorates the giant tree every year and hosts a number of Christmas events for the public.

Facelift Access Hire has been working with Wakehurst Place for more than 10 years now, helping to decorate the tree with lights. Work begins at eight a.m. when two Bronto machines are carefully positioned, with a team of ground staff from Wakehurst Place helping to load the lights up and begin the process of attaching them to the tree.

The day provided every kind of weather - sun, wind, rain, sometimes all at the same time. Fortunately, as the team are now so familiar with the operation they completed the work ahead of schedule, allowing plenty of time to take up the visiting journalists for a better view

USA - On 11 December 2010 Warren Haynes began his 23rd annual Christmas Jam inside the Ashville Civic Centre. This event again hosted a who's who of the music world. Haynes premiered his new endeavor, The Warren Haynes Band, alongside artists such as Gregg Allman, The Steve Miller Band, Umphreys McGee, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Missing Cats and John Bell of Widespread Panic.

The focus of the concert is to raise money for Habitat for Humanity, which builds housing for those in need. Haynes has raised well over a million dollars for this cause and looks for ways to increase the stake every year.

This year's edition found production manager extraordinaire Chris Rabold assembling a team that included lighting designer Paul Hoffman at the creative helm, along with Bandit Lites and client representative Dizzy Gosnell. Rabold worked his visual art that included "a 'fest

UK - It has been announced that, following a restructuring of the Stage Technologies' group of companies, Mark Ager has been appointed as CEO of the new holding company Stage Technologies Group Ltd. The company's subsidiaries include Stage Technologies Inc. in the USA and Stage Technologies Ltd and Delstar Engineering Ltd in the UK.

As part of this rationalisation Nikki Scott has been appointed managing director of Stage Technologies Ltd.

The Stage Technologies group continues to provide automation and engineering solutions for entertainment venues, live productions, TV and film around the world.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Systems integrator IVC Media, has installed a full AV system in London University's Senate House. The major installation was part of a multi-million pound, three year refurbishment, which has seen Senate House now re-open its doors as a leading London conference and event venue.

"We have been delighted to supply all the AV equipment required at Senate House, to ensure this magnificent Art Deco building has the highest class of facilities, throughout its conference, class rooms and public areas," says Ray Harding, chairman, IVC Media. "From video conference systems to large screens, projectors, multi input devices right through to the 250-speaker PA system installed within 21 zones over five floors of the building, IVC scoped, sourced and installed the entire working AV and PA solution."

Built in 1936, Senate House was London's first skyscraper. The bui

New Zealand - In preparation for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Auckland's Eden Park has undergone a multi-million dollar transformation which includes a new three-tier south stand and a new two-tier east stand to replace the terraces thus increasing the crowd capacity to 60,000 from 42,000.

The redeveloped Eden Park, which will host the Opening Ceremony and Game as well as the Final, also features an internal concourse that will allow people to circulate around the grounds inside the stadium and world-class facilities, including food and beverage outlets, toilets and corporate areas.

As well as an update of facilities, the Stadium has had a complete overhaul of its sound systems by Bartons Sound Systems (BSS), subcontracted to Fletcher Construction to design and implement combined music, PA and evacuation systems.

BSS and acoustic consultants Marshall Day Acoustics used EASE and

UK - Event LED Signs took their sign system to Earls Court earlier this month to work backstage at the British Military Tournament (formerly known as the Royal Tournament). The networked signs provided a cue light system to marshal the troops backstage and indicate when they should move into the arena.

The LED signs were placed at strategic points backstage, using text and colours to call specific performers to get into formation; to proceed to a waiting position; then to enter the arena. The signs were updated from a single control point under the direction of the deputy stage manager.

Karen Mayne, Event LED Signs director said: "Participating in the Tournament was a fantastic experience, as it such an iconic show. I was providing the cues for the bands and troops to enter the arena. There were two entrances to the arena and with more than 500 people and 150 horses invol

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Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden AB was recently a 'green' participant for Allt Ljus på Uppsala 2010 ("All Lights on Uppsala 2010') in which lighting designers and architects lit a variety of buildings, statues and trees in the city. The event first took place in 2008, aiming to promote the city with all its beautiful facades, as well as promoting and improving public health by getting people out of their apartments at night walking around to see the lights. The project was a huge success and the Uppsala Municipality decided to make the project a biennial event therefore reoccurring this year, 2010.

One of the objects of 2010 was the old mill in the city centre and the water surrounding it. Kreativ Teknik AB created and transformed the area into a dynamic coloured adventure with music and sound effects. The theme was 'The Four Seasons' and the site went from winter throug

Romania - The National Council of Private Small and Medium Enterprises in Romania (CNIPMMR) last month ranked Synco Network member Five's in the highest position of the 'National Top of Private Companies in Romania 2009', awarding the company for its outstanding financial performance in a challenging 2009.

Five's thus becomes the leading company of the corporate and musical events production market in Romania in 2009.

"It is a matter of great honour for our company that Five's not only secured first position in the shows and events category, but also indirectly awarded our clients, partners, suppliers. Actually we win when our clients win, and our commitment, first and foremost, is to provide them best-in-class services and solutions." stated Liviu Stanescu, general manager of Five's.

Just like previous years, the ranking was established based on data provided by T

Europe - Danish rockers Volbeat are currently in the midst of an extensive European tour to promote their latest album Beyond Hell / Above Heaven. With inspiration ranging from Elvis Presley to Metallica, the band's sound features two DiGiCo consoles on the live shows.

Supplied by Danish audio company DPA SoundCo, which has a wide range of DiGiCo consoles in its inventory (purchased from DiGiCo's Danish distributor Soundware), the Volbeat touring rig features an SD7 at the Front of House position and a D5 on monitors.

"I have been using the D1 and D5 for the last couple of years, but the size of this tour gave me the opportunity to work with the SD7 and it has been a very pleasing experience," says FOH engineer Mads Mikkelsen. "I love using the dynamic EQ and three-band compressors. I use them on almost all my outputs and on many of the input channels. Fo

UK - Paul Weller's tour across the UK and Ireland saw a Midas XL8 FOH, supplied by Canegreen/SSE, earn new fans in the shape of Andrew Jones, Weller's FOH engineer of over 20 years, and tech support Mike Savage who used the same console for support acts The Bees, The Rifles and Cow.

With no previous files to install, Jones's first task was to build the entire show from scratch for an artist who draws on an extensive repertoire for his sets where, according to Jones, no two shows are ever the same. But the basic show with 20 or so scenes was ready to go pretty quickly, and his final set up encompassed some 45 scenes.

Savage, who has completed in-house training at Midas, helped with the initial set up. Utilising the XL8's flexible modular system, they decided on three DL431 splitter units to create a total of 72 available channels plus an isolated split to allow for any outside

Australia - St Mary's Anglican Girls School in Karrinyup, Western Australia is home to the Lady Wardle Performing Arts Centre, a 509 seat auditorium which hosts an array of school events including plays, concerts, debates, dance productions, assemblies and lectures.

Recently the School decided to upgrade their lighting system with the purchase of eight Selador Vivid 22" and eight Vari*Lite VL500 80V.

"The Selador Series high power Vivid LED fixtures have made an excellent side light replacing what was once a very patchy par-can wash in basic colours," reports Peter Rubie, head lighting operator for the venue. "I love the 7-LED colour mixing. It gives me the ability to accurately match any gel colour instead of just the party colours you get from so many LED wash lights on the market.

"As we have such a fast turnaround of shows and a wide variety of s

Italy - The ancient Adriatic port of Porto San Giorgio is a historic town, popular with tourists and famous for its annual chess tournament and festival of the sea. Now, however, Yamaha loudspeakers and amplifiers have brought a new attraction to its nightlife.

Originally a 'literary bar', a comprehensive refurbishment has seen Caffè 900 transformed into a disco bar - high quality food and drinks complementing equally high quality sound, thanks to the Yamaha audio rig.

Specified and installed by Promo s.r.l, based in nearby Alba Adriatica, Caffè 900's nightly DJ sets are distributed throughout the venue via Yamaha Installation Series IF2108, IF2208 and CW118 loudspeakers, SP2060 loudspeaker management units, XP 5000 and XP 7000 amplifiers.

"Caffè 900 is a well known site for the town's nightlife, where many people like to 'see and be seen'," says Mauro Traini, t

Australia - Perth's Helvetica Bar is one of those cool city bars that you have to walk down a dark and dingy alleyway to find. Recently the venue opened a new space upstairs, contacting B & H Australia to design and install the audio system.

The audio system has been configured for music playback utilising JBL speakers, Crown Amplifiers and a Soundcraft mixer to provide superior, clear intelligible audio throughout the upstairs area. Background and foreground music was required resulting in the installation of six JBL Control 226CT and two JBL Control 19CS in ceiling subwoofers. The speakers are powered by two Crown XLS1000 amplifers.

"The JBL Control 226CT in ceiling speakers are ideal for applications where superior musical impact, voice clarity and high sound levels are required," remarked Paul Raphael, B & H Australia's account manager for Western Australia. &quo

Slovakia - ADB Lighting has appointed City Light Slovakia as its new distributor for Slovakia. City Light recently staged two open days to show off ADB's new products.

The company, headquartered in Humenne and with a new showroom in the capital, Bratislava, is a major player in the Slovakian entertainment technology industry, stocking many leading international lighting, audio, staging and special effects brands.

"We have been seeking to grow our presence and market share in Slovakia, where a thriving entertainment industry is looking for new innovations in product development," said ADB Lighting area sales manager Andre Bragard-De Naeyer.

"We are strongly positioned with our new and forthcoming product lines, and with the perfect partner in City Light Slovakia we anticipate building on our combined strengths to create exciting new opportunities."

Marek

UK - Lighting designer Yenz Nyholm took to the O2 Arena, London, UK, with a Diamond 4 TITAN for much loved pop-rock band, Level 42's 30th Anniversary world tour. Nyholm has been a keen Avolites user for some years and he particularly likes the power and functionality of the D4 for larger shows.

For this tour he was one of the first to try TITAN V4, the latest software due for official release in the new year. Having now used the TITAN D4 on over 60 shows, it's proved to be "Very reliable," he states.

Lighting equipment for the UK tour was supplied by High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire based rental company Siyan.

The tour's lighting design was based around three large and striking backdrops - a central cloth and two legs - featuring artwork from all the band's record sleeves since 1980. The general vibe on stage was that of a big celebratory party atmosphere with lots of

UK - 5 Star Cases has designed and manufactured a bespoke flightcase for Paragon Projection, to house their new fleet of Christie MicroTiles.

Paragon Projection, in Hednesford, Staffordshire is a trade-only rental specialist in professional display equipment for exhibitions, and training seminars, as well as being one of Europe's leading trade-only plasma screen rental company.

The company has been a long time customer of 5 Star, which has supplied them with a numerous cases for plasma and LCD screens, projectors, lenses and numerous accessories over the years.

New to Paragon's hire inventory is the Christie Micro Tile, and as soon as they'd taken delivery of the first batch of 60 Tiles, Paragon's Mark Davies again contacted 5 Star to create a case solution.

The brief was to house six Tiles, the associated mounting hardware, accompanying ECU control unit and the front disp

UK / USA - Big screen and videowall specialist PSCo is launching an exciting new LED technology from US manufacturer NanoLumens, which is not only flexible, but also thin, lightweight and extremely efficient in its power consumption.

NanoLumens is a display technology innovator that has designed and manufactured a flexible digital LED display that can be curved in convex or concave formations, flexed around walls and wrapped around large columns. The screen is lightweight and thin, which means it can be hung simply from ceilings, with very little infrastructure. Incredibly, they can be used in locations where large, heavy and fragile flat panelled displays are impractical to install or projection systems are unlikely to work.

PSCo is currently offering the technology as a 112" screen, designed for both indoor and outdoor use. In the longer term the products will be able t

UK - XTA's iCore software package was developed to provide the interface for sister company MC² Audio's Ti Series and XTA's DC1048 integrated audio management system. Now, the new iCore2 package has been extended to support all 4Series products as well as adding a number of features that will make operating systems - whether in live sound or fixed installations simpler.

iCore2 sees upgraded control features including the aforementioned control of 4 Series devices, Parameter Linking, Custom Control Panels, application auto-update and wireless kit compatibility.

The XTA 4-Series is completely supported by iCore. Although Library Manager files cannot be handled by iCore, presets and memories (including those with locked parameters) can be uploaded from 4-Series devices to iCore. Settings can be intelligently copied and pasted from 4 Series memories and presets into DC1048 device

UK - Belfast-based Production Services Ireland (PSI), supplied lighting, video (including screens and media servers), trussing and rigging to BBC Northern Ireland for the 2010 Belfast Children In Need concert staged at the city's Odyssey Arena.

PSI has been involved with this annual fundraising event for at least seven years, but this was the first year that they have supplied such a comprehensive package of technical equipment and crew for the show, which was presented by John Daly and BBC Radio 1's Reggie Yates. The capacity audience enjoyed live performances by Westlife, The Script and Jedward among others, and it was broadcast live across the region, with link ups to the simultaneously running London event at the BBC.

PSI's Brian Reilly project managed, commenting: "We were delighted to be so involved with Children in Need this year as it's a fantastic cause, and it w

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