USA - The University of California, Davis, School of Law has procured Barco's FSN presentation system to improve the production capabilities of its audio visual platform, enabling the law school to produce broadcast-quality events for viewing throughout its classrooms, the larger education community and via its website.

To date, the law school has used the FSN to produce and disseminate programming of high-profile events, including a 2010 debate between candidates for California Attorney General, a hearing of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a panel discussion regarding a 2010 gubernatorial debate on the UC Davis campus, and the school's own Law Review panel.

"With the FSN, we can broadcast our events 'live' to all of our trial practice and appellate class courtrooms

Italy - The new Juventus Stadium located in the Continassa area in Turin has a capacity of 41,000 seats and 120 executive boxes and it will be the centre of a totally renewed area that also will include a large 34,000 m2 commercial mall, the first Juventus Museum, a parking area with 4,000 vehicle capacity and many other facilities.

The stadium complex is equipped with state of art equipment and latest technology. It is a very modern facility and all the audio solutions feature RCF products. The RCF commercial audio department has been involved in the project since the beginning and designed the total audio solution for the stadium and for the other buildings in the complex.

Beside RCF Installed Sound and Commercial Audio products, special cluster design applications and other special products have been developed to fit into this major project.

"Being part of a large sc

UK - Fairport's Cropredy Convention is a rare event - a successful festival that has run for more than 30 years on the strength of its original concept, the music of legendary folk rock band Fairport Convention and friends. Its distinctive identity has given it a special niche status on the UK's summer festival circuit.

Festival director Gareth Williams, himself for many years the monitor engineer for Fairport Convention, and his PA supplier Pete Russell of SSE Audio Group chose the new Nexo 45°N-12 stage monitors for the Cropredy stage, deploying 10 units for up to eight mixes, all powered by NXAMP 4x4s.

This year's line-up, headlined by Fairport Convention, also included Horslips, Badly Drawn Boy, Seasick Steve, The Coral and UB40. The busiest man on site was Jasen Hattams of SSE, who mixed monitors for every band except Fairport itself. He had a few things to say about

Uk - CRMX Unity, SuperNova 2.0, and a dozen new OEMs have been announced by LumenRadio in conjunction with the PLASA 2011 show.

CRMX Unity is a new technology platform from LumenRadio offering "intuitive and effortless network and device management across wired and wireless networks".

CRMX Unity will be on exhibit at the PLASA Innovation Gallery and available for hands-on demonstration in LumenRadio's booth. This showcase offers an excellent introduction to the exciting future of DMX, RDM, and Ethernet connectivity and networking, says the company.

SuperNova 2.0 with enhanced RDM, Ethernet, and user interface functionality, including full integration with CRMX Unity and wired RDM communication, will also be released at PLASA 2011. Other feature additions include support for the recently released Art-Net 3 specification and IP independent discovery of CRMX Ethernet

UK - Hoist UK has reached the final of this year's Innovation Awards at PLASA 2011 for their ULC - TT Universal Load Corner, offered through their sister company Truss UK.

The PLASA Awards for Innovation recognises products which advance the industry by demonstrating a new style of thinking, improving technical practice, or taking a key step forward in terms of safety.

The load corner unit eliminates the need to try and support the truss either side of a conventional corner block or worse still suspend from it. The ULC-TT Universal Load Corner which is an integral part of the TT series of truss is a structurally rated and certified six way corner complete with a suspension and load point for up to 2,500kgs.

Paul Jordan, designer of the Universal Load Corner says, "The ULC TT shows that thinking outside the box on a new development actually works. Up to now truss manufac

UK - MilTec (UK) is expanding the product catalogue for their MT Professional Audio and MT Lighting ranges. Technical director Graham Gosden has been using his years of industry experience to design and develop new products for the increasingly demanding professional audio and lighting markets.

The Pro Audio catalogue sees the introduction of a new medium throw PA system, the HLP1, which includes a 700W, three-way mid/top cabinet and the new DNP26 network processor.

Also on display will be the MZ31 installation mixer. This 1U high mixer has three switchable inputs and one stereo output.

The lighting section will be utilising the latest developments in LED technology for both wash and spot applications. High output combined with low power consumption mean that these units can now be used for large professional applications that would have been impossible only a year ago. The

USA - Renkus-Heinz has announced the appointment of Ladd Temple to the position of technical sales manager.

Temple comes to Renkus-Heinz after more than a decade with Peavey Electronics, where he most recently served as product development manager for the company's Crest Audio and Architectural Acoustics divisions. Other positions he has held with Peavey include plant manager and artist relations manager.

In his new position, Temple will provide technical and sales support to Renkus-Heinz's extensive network of representatives and dealers throughout the western US. He will report to VP of sales and marketing Rik Kirby.

"We're very pleased to welcome Ladd to Renkus-Heinz," remarked Kirby. "We're fortunate that someone with Ladd's background and expertise came along at a time when we are in the process of growing and strengthening the technical and sales support

UK - Back by popular demand and in the new location of Ward Park in Bangor, Northern Ireland, the Tennents Vital Festival made a spectacular resurgence after a four year hiatus, with a star studded two-day line up headlined by The Script and Eminem.

Production Services Ireland, was asked by promoters MCD to take care of all lighting and production rigging needs for the main stage. PSI's Sean Pagel states, "It was great to see the return of Tennents Vital and a huge amount of enthusiasm and energy from all involved went into ensuring that it had the best production values and a fantastic vibe."

Pagel's lighting crew included Darragh McAuliffe, Richie Flanagan and Rob Meyer.

The lighting had to match Eminem's rig - designed by Dan Boland - as fixture perfectly as possible. PSI rigorously adhered to the specification, requesting very few substitutions. The Script (LD

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UK - The UK's largest light festival returns to Durham this winter with 30-plus installations including works by Tracey Emin and David Batchelor.

Event producers Artichoke have announced the first details of Lumiere 2011, the biennial festival that celebrates artists working with light in all its forms. It will be staged over four nights, 17-20 November 2011. Artichoke has been commissioned to deliver the festival by Durham County Council, with funds from Arts Council England and a panoply of other funding bodies and sponsors.

In 2009, the inaugural Lumiere festival drew an estimated 75,000 people into the city, and generated some £1.5m for the local economy. For Lumiere 2011, festival producers Artichoke will bring together a mix of international, national and local artists and designers, all using the medium of light to create artworks "to delight, surprise, and s

Blitz has been selected as the latest member of the global AV Alliance, which is now represented by 46 event suppliers in 26 countries.

The AV Alliance is a network of leading event technical rental specialists committed to delivering performance, service and quality at the highest possible level. The network boasts 2,725 employees, undertaking 46,209 projects each year with equipment sourced from 210,676 m2 of warehousing. Alongside Blitz, England will be represented by two additional organisations; Smart AV and London Audio.

Munir Samji, Chairman at Blitz comments, "We are thrilled to have joined the AV Alliance and to now have access to unrivalled resources across the world. We already supply quite a number of events across Europe, but we will now be in a strong position to provide a comprehensive service in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and South Africa."

Sim

UK - Chauvet reports that its COLORado Batten 72 Tour linear wash lights have been installed in Theatr Brycheiniog , the first solar-powered theatre in Wales. The fixtures were specified by Stage Electrics.

Twenty COLORado Batten 72 Tour fixtures were added to the theatre's lighting rig for a multitude of applications, such as front, side, cyc and overhead lighting. The LED-fitted fixtures joined the existing rig of half LED, half-incandescent lighting sources.

"The challenge has been for lighting designers to adopt different fixtures," Geraint Thomas, technical manager for Theatr Brycheiniog, said of the use of LEDs in a theatrical setting. "As new lighting designers come here, we first go over the equipment to prepare them to go from incandescent to LEDs."

The use of LEDs has made a marked improvement in regards to power consumption and heat generation.

UK - Lightfactor will feature the latest products from its raft of high profile international brands on an action-packed stand - including DTS, LDR, Integrated Technologies and VXCO.

Lightfactor's experienced and informed sales team will be on hand to demonstrate all products and talk authoritatively about projects and specifications.

New from DTS are the NICK LED colour wash fixtures and the high powered compact JACK Spot moving lights and there will also be a few new surprise products.

The DTS NICK 600 WASH ZOOM is a self-contained compact dimensioned high-output LED wash moving head with a 13.5° - 40° motorized zoom and a fast and silent Pan/Tilt. A powerful colour synthesis engine offers 16 million colours, a linear colour temperature of between 2800°K and 6500°K and two colour mixing modes - RGBW and CMY.

As Novalight's UK distributor, Lightfactor has

UK/USA - RGB Lights, the creator of FlexiFlex will launch its new FlexiFlex Touring Truss at PLASA 2011 in London. The new truss is the first specifically created to simplify and speed up large format video installations using FlexiFlex, one of the industry's leading flexible modular LED video systems.

"FlexiFlex Touring Truss takes the concept of pre-rig truss and brings it to the large format video world," says Brett Gardner, RGB Lights founder.

An integrated cable and power management system allows stagehands and technicians to set up faster and with fewer connections. The 24 in. x 12 in. box truss is designed to house power supply, power distribution, and networking components. FlexiFlex Touring Truss can support 50-100 millimeter FlexiFlex panels up to 60ft high.

"Now FlexiFlex users can install massive LED video surfaces in a fraction of the time needed

UK - PLASA 2011 continues a busy year for the Czech Republic based manufacturer which launches two new LED products - the Robin 1200 LEDWash, and the Robin DLX Spot, and previews the upcoming Robin 'Sniper' - a mega-bright beam fixture.

All are in line with the company's ongoing Think of the Future - Consider Nature commitment to producing genuinely more sustainable and greener technology which takes up less truck space, reduces weight loading on trusses, is quicker and simpler to rig and draws significantly less power than conventional light sources - without compromising on brightness, features or functionality.

Robe also highlights how it is streamlining its own production processes to reduce its carbon footprint and overall environmental impact.

The super-slim, mega-bright Robin 1200 LEDWash utilises the same multichip RGBW LEDs as Robe's Award-winning Robin 600 L

Saudi Arabia - The largest Milos trussing installation in the Middle East to date was built for a special presentation ceremony to give out the 2011 Makkah Awards for Excellence, staged in the Hilton Hall of the Jeddah Hilton Hotel, Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia.

Milos trussing and staging products from Bright Star were used to build a spectacular stage set for the event, including a 50m diameter circular truss that circled the perimeter of the entire presentation space, which was also used to hang a 360 degree projection screen and an 18m diameter round stage.

The installation was designed by Hattan Madani, who was also Bright Star's site and project manager for the event. Bright Star is a leading technical and event production company based in Jeddah, headed by Ibrahim Madani, and with a large stock of Milos products.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Batman Live tour directors will join leading Tait staff to reveal production secrets behind the astounding Batman Live show at a seminar during this year's PLASA exhibition in Earls Court, London, at 5pm on Monday 12th September.

Tait is widely considered as global leaders in the design, manufacture and tour logistics when it comes to scenic motion, and were an obvious choice for production director Jake Berry (who was in charge of all technical elements) and set designer Es Devlin as they conceived one the most ambitious live touring productions ever seen.

Berry and Devlin will be joined at this unique seminar by James 'Winky' Fairorth, president of Tait Towers, alongside Dana Bartholomew from Fisher Technical Services (FTSI), also part of the Tait Towers group. Following presentations by each of the panellists there will be a question and answer session fo

PLASA 2011 sees Cooper Controls show a host of new products from its leading UK brands - architectural LED manufacturer Cogent and lighting control manufacturer LightProcessor.

Among the main new architectural orientated products is the Cogent XC LED controller, which will be shown with its latest software.

This increases the number of operational modes from 12 to 20, which can be directly accessed via an RS232 port, with the colours also recalled by region via RS232.

This is one of the most straightforward and flexible 'environmental' LED control systems on the market. It is set up in 'regions' via eight compass points, each of which is assigned with its own DMX address, so regions can be activated, pre-programmed and controlled by selecting 'top' 'middle or 'bottom' buttons - in any room or space.

Also from Cogent is a new range of four-colour changing LED strip lights - in RGB

Europe - PRG is to hold a comprehensive online auction of used equipment in October in order to revise the European equipment pool. The company will sell equipment, which is rarely rented or will no longer be offered due to strategic reasons.

The material originates from the inventories of PRG Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and UK as well as EML and Showtec. In total, approximately 6000 lots of lighting, audio, video and rigging equipment will be offered for sale.

Troostwijk Auktionen GmbH & Co. KG will be responsible for the realization of the two-day online auction. The aim of this auction is to further optimize the rental pool concerning equipment quality and clearness, says the company.

The complete illustrated auction catalogue of the equipment to be auctioned will be available from the beginning of October on the following website: www.TroostwijkAuctions.com.

From the

UK - Blackburn-based rental specialist HSL has appointed UK lighting designer Andy Hurst - Prodigy, Faithless, Pendulum, Dizzee Rascal, and others - as a creative director, in a move to promote and expand the company's touring and special events division.

Hurst will be working closely with group director Mike Oates and other HSL project managers in a move that consolidates the company's massive expansion in the touring sector over the last four years.

Managing Director Simon Stuart comments, "It's great to have Andy onboard and to welcome him into our family. As with all our designers, he will have unlimited access to our extensive rental stock of lighting, digital lighting and LED products, and we are looking forward to a long and productive partnership together, and to sharing lots of positive energies and ideas."

Hurst adds, "HSL is one of the fastest growi

Belgium - Martin Professional's EMEA sales organisation has announced that Maarten Gossye has joined the company as key account manager covering the Belgian and Luxembourgian markets.

Gossye, an industrial engineer with a fascination for lighting and video products, worked for Martin Professional's former distributor in Belgium, EVDV, from 2007-2010 where he was responsible for customer service and product support.

In his new position as key account manager, he will cover both the install and rental markets for Martin in Belgium and Luxembourg. Due to his technical background, he also will handle product demonstrations and provide support on technical issues.

Gossye began in his new position in July and is based in Geraardsbergen near Brussels.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Lee House has joined Green Hippo in London as product manager for the firm's Hippotizer Media Server range.

House has a strong background in the world of lighting and AV, having previously worked at Flying Pig, High End Systems and most recently AC Entertainment Technologies. His role at AC was to build up the newly founded video division three years ago, a role which led him to gain advanced knowledge of the Hippotizer server range.

"I've been a huge fan of Hippotizer since its first appearance at PLASA in 2004 and distributing the product in the UK led me to become so close to the product I couldn't refuse the opportunity to step even closer by taking on the roll of Hippotizer product manager," says House. "This position is one I relish and I'm looking forward to the next phase of Green Hippo's evolution.

"The future developments and features in th

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