UK/The Netherlands - This year's ABTT, held on 15-16 June at London's Royal Agricultural Halls, sees Alcons Audio once again making an appearance with its comprehensive range of loudspeaker solutions and controller-amplifiers.

Alcons offers a complete portfolio from point-source, through line-source to line-array solutions, all based around proprietary and multiple-patented pro-ribbon transducer technology.

Point source systems on show - the traditional way of reinforcing theatre sound - include the VR8 compact monitor on display, as well as the SR9 front-fill, both two-way passive systems, featuring a 4" pro-ribbon HF driver.

Line source solutions are represented by the QR36 pro-ribbon column array system, a modular array concept comprising loudspeaker modules, one metre

Norway - Pianist Torgeir Kinne Solsvik has just finished a major recording project, releasing three CDs on his own record label, Cheek Piano. All recordings were made with DPA microphones.

"An investment in DPA Microphones was an important step to take, and a requirement for recording at the levels I wanted," says Solsvik. "I use a stereo pair of 4041-S large diaphragm microphones for ambience, which are supreme for this type of application, with their very high sensitivity and low self-noise. They provide an openness and airiness to the mix that is difficult to beat.

"For a stereo pair on the grand piano I use DPA 4003 omnis. They handle the piano's fast transients very well and provide a sound characterised by smoothness and roundness. That in itself is a big challenge when recording the grand piano. When they additionally reproduce the harmonic frequenci

UK - The ABTT has announced two new benefits for its members, to come on line during next month's ABTT Theatre Show (15-16 June 2011).

To mark this important year for the Association - which commemorates its half-century since its foundation by a small group dedicated to raising technical standards - these new products have been designed to meet the needs of the modern technician.

In line with the ABTT's safety and training ethos, an innovative membership card, using 2D barcode technology, has been developed. The plastic, credit card-size pass, will act not only as a traditional proof of membership but also as an effective way of demonstrating the holder's competency. Information stored on the card will include training, safety and insurance records, linked to an online record system.

Also, for those of its membership who wish to take-up the option, Public Liability and Prof

UK - Pro Audio Systems were proud to be closely involved with the recent opening of the new terminal complex at Birmingham International Airport, the latest component in an ongoing £100m redevelopment programme being undertaken at the Midland's leading airport.

The £13m 'One Terminal' development has been designed to unify Birmingham's security checkpoints, creating a single passenger flow and considerably simplifying operations.

Over 300 VIP guests from UK industry and international commerce attended the event, which culminated in the official opening of the new facility by the Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond MP. Birmingham Airport CEO Paul Kehoe welcomed the visitors and paid tribute to the efforts and expertise of its business partners in helping to shape 'Britain's newest global gateway'.

The Pro Audio Systems hire department designed and installed a bespoke sound

France - Digigram has announced a significant OEM deal with digital console manufacturer, Innovason, for their AQONDA EtherSound stagebox. Innovason has released their own version of the 16-in/16-out version called the SR-16.

SR-16 offers all of the AQONDA functionality and unimpeachable audio quality in an Innovason 'skin'. Fully remotely controllable by the Innovason Eclipse and Eclipse GT consoles, both from the console's GUI and the control surface, SR-16 is compatible with existing and upcoming EtherSound set-ups, and there is no limitation to the number of devices that may be controlled.

Alternatively, SR-16 can be controlled using any of the available EtherSound software management programs. By the same token, Eclipse is capable of detecting and controlling a Digigram AQONDA just as if it were an SR-16. It should also be noted that, even in its original factory format,

France - April saw the opening for the 2011 season of Le Bioscope amusement park in the Alsace region of France. And this year, Le Bioscope will include an addition by creative aluminium structures specialists Litestructures, part of the Prolyte Group.

The 31 acre park - described as a place where visitors learn about health, life and the environment "whilst having fun" is laid out in concentric circles, a design by Frédéric Jung meant to evoke the shockwaves caused by the impact of the Ensisheim meteorite, which struck nearby in 1492.

In 2006, designers and manufacturers of high performance portable buildings, Tectoniks, were commissioned by Le Bioscope to create a permanent installation at the Park to house an audio visual show presenting the science of sleep and dreams. In 2010, Le Bioscope decided it was time to update this award-winning structure a

UK - To promote their latest album, March saw Irish pop-rock trio The Script undertake its biggest UK headline tour so far, taking in 12 shows in most of the major arenas in England, Scotland and Wales. Sennheiser UK supported audio provider Adlib Audio for the band's microphone and monitoring requirements.

The tour took in arenas at Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Plymouth. A highlight was the two London shows - one at Wembley Arena, the other at The O2.

"As the band's first tour of big venues, the first thing we discussed was in-ear monitors," says Richy Nicholson, the band's front of house engineer. "We contacted two of the major manufacturers and Phil Cummings from Sennheiser got straight back to us. He and Mark Saunders came to one of the early rehearsals and they were also really

Germany - Eurovision Song Contest lighting designer Jerry Appelt specified a serious arsenal of lighting for the massive Arena in Düsseldorf. More than 2,100 DMX controlled moving lights (5,638 fixtures total) with almost 42,000 parameters allowed 43 countries plus three interval acts and an over-the-top opening performance to have a completely unique look during the three-hour broadcast.

Total control for all lighting and video came from MA Lighting. Four grandMA2 full-size consoles, each with a full backup, as well as five grandMA2 faderwings ran all lighting and video, triggered via timecode. Eleven MA NPU (Network Processing Unit) devices handled all traffic in one session on the MA-Net2.

"It's not even practical to do a show like this without timecode and grandMA2 is the best," said Appelt, "Absolutely every millisecond is cued and then rehearsed again and

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UK - Over 300 guests and sponsors were entertained to a spectacular gala dinner at Birmingham's Hippodrome Theatre on Saturday 14 May 2011. The event raised £40,000 towards the one million pound refurbishment cost to improve the weight loading capacity of the Hippodrome's stage, which will enable the theatre to host bigger and heavier touring productions.

The event brought together the well established working partnership of prolific UK lighting designer Adrian Barnes and Matt Clutterham of specialist lighting and event service provider MattLX. All under the careful control of the Hippodrome's technical manager and former MattLX project manager, Barry Hope.

The Theatre was turned on its head with the audience seated on the stage immersed in the performance technology, whilst the spectacular evening's entertainment performed over and around them. Hosted by the glittering

USA - Sensaphonics recently held the first of three scheduled 2011 Golden Circle seminars, educating audiologists with the specific skills and knowledge needed to work with musicians, audio technicians, and in-ear monitors.

The two-day Golden Circle seminar uses personalised, small-group instruction and includes a tour of the Sensaphonics custom manufacturing lab in Chicago. Another highlight is a trip to a local recording for a live music session, which is used to demonstrate the basics of PA systems, stage monitoring and in-ear systems from the artist's perspective.

"Musicians are totally different from any other client an audiologist is likely to see," notes Michael Santucci, AuD, Sensaphonics president and founder. "The Sensaphonics Golden Circle members are among the few who have the specialised knowledge to serve these clients properly, whether in the offi

USA - Subaru of America launched its all-new fourth-generation 2012 Impreza models in 3D using 3D R4 LED Display as the medium.

The glitz and glamour were centred in the middle of Manhattan at the Jacob Javits Center from 22 April 2011 to 1 May at New York Auto Show, the last car show of the season.

This is the first time that 3D LED Display technology has been customised for automotive events, in this case specifically for the company's media conference. During the show, members of the international automotive media went along for the ride with 3D glasses, to watch a video presentation demonstrating the diverse, active lifestyles of Subaru owners, who are heralded as the most active consumers in the automobile market.

Earlier this year, Creative Technology introduced 3D R4 LED Display to their clients, with impressive results.

Subaru of America Inc. agreed to create a 3D

UK - Mojo Barriers' York based northern office is already enjoying a successful start to the summer festival circuit. The new office which opened in April 2011 has already provided services for Radio 1's Big Weekend and is preparing for new contract win Newcastle's Evolution Festival.

The Mojo Barrier team led by managing director, Jim Gaffney supplied over 300m of aluminium crowd barrier to Radio 1's Big Weekend in Carlisle, to secure all four stages. Gaffney directed a crew of three skilled professionals during the build, which also included half a day ensuring the ground was level for the safe installation of the barrier systems. The Mojo Barriers' equipment was loaded in the Friday before the festival and removed immediately after the event finished.

Following this successful event, Mojo Barriers supplied 107m of stage barrier to last weekend's Evol

Switzerland - A recent rebuilding and upgrading project to a regional Swiss venue has effectively provided a new entertainment and exhibition facility in the town of Thun, just south of Bern. An integral part of the project was installing new induction loops, with Ampetronic chosen for the job.

The project cost 24m Swiss francs and saw the main Schadausaal hall at the Kultur und Kongresszentrum Thun (KKThun) completely revamped while an additional hall, the Lachensaal, was added along with a large new foyer.

"We have installed a lot of induction loops before, every time using Ampetronic products, and have had nothing but good experiences with them," says Rolf Aegerter, technical project manager at Kilchenmann.

The existing induction loops in the Schadausaal's two small balconies were re-used, driven by a newly-installed Ampetronic ILD500 loop amplifier. Meanwhile,

Germany / UAE - The beginning of June will see a reassignment of responsibilities at Bosch Communications Systems. To date, as sales director pro audio export, Klaus Seitz has been responsible for the pro sound sector (Electro-Voice, Dynacord) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), whilst Kamil Swobodzinski has been responsible for the marketing of broadcast and intercom equipment (RTS, Telex) in the same three regions. Henceforth, responsibility for both the brands and the sales regions will be differently assigned between the two. The duties of the existing export sales managers, however, will remain unchanged.

From 1 June, Klaus Seitz, as sales director MEA, will be responsible for the marketing of both pro sound and CCS products in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. To be closer to the customers, Seitz will relocate from Straubing to the Robert Bosch subsidiary in Du

UK - The 12th annual Classic Brit Awards took place on 12 May at London's Royal Albert Hall. Hosted by Myleene Klass and in the presence of the Duchess Of Cornwall, the award presentations were interspersed with performances by Il Divo, Katherine Jenkins and the cast of Les Misérables.

Despite the extensive technical demands of a complex and sometimes unpredictable event, the production proved the capabilities of the design and engineering crew. The audio side was handled exclusively by Britannia Row Productions who deployed a 30-element Outline GTO system flown in three 10-deep columns, each with three Outline Mantas under-hung for near-fills. The two side-hangs comprised 10 Outline Butterfly elements each, and the whole system was driven by Outline T-Series amplifiers run from Dolby Lake system controllers.

The Midas XL8 at FOH was operated by engineer Colin Pi

UK - Sennheiser UK is to host two seminars, which have been developed from last year's successful event in the stunning environment of Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh. This year's venues are no less impressive, with the first of the two days taking place on 7 June at Ashton Court near Bristol and the second, two days later at Knebworth House in the Hertfordshire countryside.

"The seminar will be along the same lines as last year, although the content has been refreshed and updated," explains Ken Morrison, business area manager at Sennheiser UK. "The accent is still on providing information, education - and a little entertainment - for our installed sound, AV and live sound colleagues in the industry."

The choice of venues reflects Sennheiser's desire for the seminars to make a lasting impression, says the company.

"Last year, we decided that, rather t

UK - Lighting designer Rob Mills used a grandMA2 light as his control platform for a recent production of Verdi's Aida at the Epsom Playhouse in Surrey. The week-long production by Riverside Opera was directed by James Hurley who is a regular client of Mills, a busy theatre and opera LD, who also lights corporate and live events.

It was the first time that the opportunity had arisen for him to specify and use a grandMA2 on one of his shows, a chance he had been waiting for since working on the Floating Finale section of the Lord Mayor of London's show, on the River Thames last year. It was here he saw a grandMA 'series 1' properly in action being programmed by David Miller.

"Once I'd mastered the fundamentals, I found it incredibly fast to move on to more advanced programming," states Mills. "Whilst it needs a bit of time at the beginning to set up and le

Recycling Sets - Theatre companies can now advertise and recycle old sets and costumes on a new Freecycle-style website specifically designed for the sector. With the tag line "giving your unwanted set a new home", Set-exchange.co.uk has been launched with the aim of encouraging production companies to share unwanted sets, costumes and props with other theatre organisations across the UK for free. Companies including the Royal Court, Glyndebourne and the Lyric Hammersmith have already pledged their support to the website.

Set-exchange was set up by lighting designer and production electrician Peter Harrison. He told The Stage, "The idea came from me working with some of the small companies as well as the big companies and seeing waste in one and scrimping and saving from the other, so it came out of trying to share resources."

Set-exchange is structu

World - PLASA has released a draft voluntary code of practice on Artificial Optical Radiation (AOR) for comments or observations from the global professional lighting industry.

The background to the document lies in the introduction of new EU Directive and national legislation regarding AOR, and the subsequent agreement, by manufacturers attending a presentation that PLASA's Ron Bonner and the Health Protection Agency gave at the PLASA 2010, that guidance should be created.

In short, the new legislation requires employers to assess the exposure to the workforce of AOR and if the exposure is believed to be above permitted levels, the employer will need to measure the levels and take action to reduce the exposure. Manufacturers will also have a duty to supply relevant safety information. In the UK this is enshrined in health and safety law, but will also be part of the conformit

Benelux - Over 100 axes of Kinesys automation were utilised to move a host of scenic and visual elements for Dutch megastar Marco Borsato's recent all-action 3Dimensies (3Dimensions) shows. He played to over 210,000 people during a two- week period across multiple nights at the Gelredome stadium in Arnhem, The Netherlands, and the Sportpalais in Antwerp, Belgium.

The total count of 107 Kinesys motion controlled elements on this production beats the previously held record of 80 by the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest final in Oslo.

Borsato's set and lighting was designed by Ignace D'haese from Arf & Yes who worked closely with show producers John Mulder and Flip Van Ommeren from Mojo Concerts who also did the production management.

WImotion - part of the Belgium based WIcreations Group - were asked onboard to co-ordinate and engineer all the automation design and specify t

UK - London-based sound rental company, Capital Sound Hire has invested in an Optocore optical fibre system for the first time to maximise signal transport and flexibility on the current Take That Progress Live 2011 stadium tour.

Project manager Martin Connolly confirmed that in order to eliminate sight-line issues caused by traditional loudspeaker delay masts, this tour would feature a distributed 'ring' delay system with loudspeaker arrays hanging directly from the stadia structure.

"We will be placing clusters of amp racks around the stadiums, picking up AC power locally," he states. "We considered a copper based signal distribution system, perhaps using AES3, but because of the distances involved and the need for electrical isolation we soon realised that an optical system was the correct solution.

"With a project of this magnitude we felt that

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