China - Milos trussing is being utilised in style in several major pavilions at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, supplied by Guangzhou based Milos China in conjunction with Milos' HQ in the Czech Republic.

Five major Pavilions - USA, UAE, Canada, Singapore and the China Information & Communications Pavilion are all featuring Milos products.

The Information & Communications Pavilion - Extending City Dreams is built by China Mobile and China Telecom, and utilizes cold water from the Expo site to regulate the indoor temperature, helping to reduce energy consumption and emissions. Most of the construction materials are recyclable and environmentally-friendly, and after dark, the pavilion's surface changes color. A variety of Milos products are used in this space showing the versatility of the range. All the indoor structures in here are supported with Milos which is hanging many pro

UK - Black Light reports that it is renewing its sponsorship of one of Scotland's leading village cricket clubs. The sponsorship deal for the Freuchie Cricket Club, which includes providing clothing for the club's teams and equipment for its social functions, is designed to help the club move forward with its community and youth work.

Freuchie Cricket Club, which celebrated its centenary in 2008, is one of the most active and successful village teams in Scotland and a real focal point in the life of the mid-Fife community in which it is based. It is a driving force in the development of youth cricket and a leading fund-raiser for this worthy cause.

"Freuchie Cricket Club's members are justifiably proud of their achievements, whether on the pitch, in the community or through its youth development programme, and we are proud to support them," says Gavin Stewart, Black

Germany - Pop star Pink was injured during a gig in Nuremburg, Germany when a flying stunt went wrong. She fell out of a harness which was supposed to carry her out over the crowd, and was dragged into a barricade. The concert was stopped and the performer was taken to hospital for checks.

She later apologised to fans on Twitter, and added: "Didn't get clipped in2 harness correctly, drug me off stage, fell in2 barricade. Getting xrays. I hope it at least looked cool!!!"

(Lee Baldock)

UK/Germany - In the wake of its successful sponsorship of the Agora stage during the Frankfurt Musikmesse 2010, Peavey Electronics has confirmed that it has been selected to run the live stage at the forthcoming London Music Show at ExCel in October in partnership with LMS organisers, Future Publishing, and the Agora stage in Frankfurt once again for Musikmesse 2011.

The LMS stage will feature a similar system to the one that performed in Frankfurt in March - that is to say a Peavey Versarray line array system powered by Crest Pro 200 Series amplifiers with Peavey QW Series stage monitors also powered by Crest Audio Pro 200 Series amps. A Crest CV 20 console will handle FoH duties and a Crest HP-Eight has been selected to run monitors. System management and speaker processing will be handled by a MediaMatrix Nion n6 digital audio processor.

British singer-songwriter Newton Fau

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa was contracted by ceremonies producers VWV Group to deliver all technical aspects of the Closing Ceremony of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup - including rigging, power, sound, lighting and large format projection (which was contracted out to French-based ETC) - utilising the dynamics, skills and services of most companies in the Gearhouse Group.

The 30-minute show at Soccer City Stadium in Soweto happened just ahead of the Final match. It reflected the vibrancy, energy and colour that characterised one of the most successful World Cup tournaments ever. It featured a cast of 740 including 40 'elephant operators' plus 35 headline artists.

Mark Ransom was technical production manager. Technical director Mik Auckland and David Proctor, David Zolkwer and Adrian Bourke from Jack Morton Worldwide acted as consultants. A spectacular lightshow was d

Russia - While leading politicians and authoritative experts gathered in St. Petersburg, Russia for the International Economic Forum to focus on the problems faced by emerging economies and to discuss laying the foundation for the future, Faithless, the British electronica band, entertained the masses.

The main rental company in the area, Euroshow, organised the event, which took place on 17 June. To create the dynamic effects desired, Euroshow chose to work with Martin Professional's MAC 401 Dual, MAC 301 Wash, and the power-packed MAC 700 Profile luminaires, as well as Martin LC Plus LED panels.

Alexander Blednykh, owner of Euroshow, states, "It was Martin equipment that performed the main role in the lighting decoration of the event. Martin is a good and reliable partner. Their technical solutions for lighting projects are innovative and their equipment is high quality

USA - Audio-Technica reports that its microphones are being used by a number of leading performers and stage shows in Las Vegas. Productions as varied as Donny and Marie at the Flamingo and comedian Carrot Top's show at the Luxor, as well as a number of other high-profile venues including Sammy Hagar's newly-opened Cabo Wabo Cantina at Planet Hollywood, have all turned to Audio-Technica microphones and wireless systems.

Veteran performers Donny and Marie Osmond have been the headlining act at the Flamingo Hotel since September 2008, and the show has proved to be a huge success, with the duo set to continue their run through at least October 2012. Both performers use Audio-Technica's Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless System.

Sax, trombone and trumpet are handled by the 3000 Series Wireless System with ATM350cW Cardioid Condenser Clip-On Microphone. Also used a

UK - Paul and Sarah Clarke, who run The Great Football Giveaway hosted an event in June to celebrate and thank all their volunteers, friends and donors for their continued support in their goal of delivering footballs and netballs directly into the hands of children from some of the poorest and most rural areas in Africa. Stage Electrics provided a complete technical solution for this outdoor event, which took place at their home in Wiltshire.

Stage Electrics supplied a 3m x 1.7m (12 panels) high performance LED screen to display the England vs. America World Cup football game via a live Sky feed, with the match sound being provided through an L'Acoustics PA system, controlled by a Yamaha LS9.

A 4m x 3m stage and lighting for the live band was also be supplied by Stage Electrics, as well as illuminating the marquee and the picturesque grounds with warm mood lighting, re

Israel - The music of Brahms, Grieg, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Verdi featured in the Jerusalem Festival of Light 2010. The Concert of Light took place at the Sultan's Pool in the city.

The performance included the work of internationally renowned lighting designer Gert Hof and the music of The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra IBA orchestrated by Gal Altrovich. With the old city walls of Jerusalem as a dramatic backdrop to the event, it also relied on the latest technology, with a grandMA system used for lighting control. Lighting director and programmer Ofer Brum ran the show on a grandMA full-size console with a grandMA light as a backup and two MA NSPs (Network Signal Processors).

Ofer Brum reports, "The show programming was done on a grandMA full-size with MSD (Martin ShowDesigner) 3D lighting visualisation software. I made the 3D model, including stage trus

UK - Martin Dawes has been working closely with the Business Design Partnership (BDP) for many years, so when it required a full audio-visual solution for its newly built, award-winning Manchester studio Martin Dawes was the natural choice..

The system Installed features a full audio-visual and video-conferencing suite including beyerdynamic Revoluto conferencing system, Biamp audio processing and beyerdynamic wireless microphone systems.

The space, used for both internal and customer meetings can be divided in to one, two or three room configuration and required an adaptable, easy-to-use and configurable microphone system for meetings and video-conferencing. BDP also required the facility to display boardroom content on LCD screens in its reception area and wireless microphones systems for meetings and presentations. Martin Dawes project managed the job from inception.

POLA

UK - Pro Audio Stash has further improved its website. The new look website (www.proaudiostash.co.uk) has been designed to make searching and buying as painless as possible, says the company. This has been achieved by including easy to follow navigational menus and advanced search filters.

In order to reduce the time clients typically spend sourcing the right racking product, Pro Audio Stash has incorporated a Rack Unit Calculator. Further innovations include more video content on the fitting and installation of available products, and the latest product launches are also regularly updated.

Managing director Rob Platt states, Our main focus is customer service and with this in mind the new website has been designed to assist clients make the most of their time. We believe that the products should be easily accessible from the ordering to the delivery, deadlines are becoming ev

USA - The biggest stars in country music gathered at the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville on 9 June for Country Music Television's annual awards show. This year's show, which came on the heels of the May floods in Nashville that saw widespread damage and loss of life, gave a much needed boost to a devastated community.

Lighting design was by Tom Kenny, who has designed looks for some of the music industry's biggest names and events over the years. He commented, Nashville had just been through some terrible flooding and this show proved how strong a community the city is. The show celebrated the city's rich musical culture with great success and record-breaking ratings.

Compliments on the lighting design and the overall feel of the show (the stunning scenery was by Anne Brahic) have been many. The show was produced by Jesse Ignatovich and Chris Choun with direction by th

USA - BSUN Media Systems, a full service audio design, sales and installation provider, recently worked with GoVision, a Daktronics rental partner, to provide a Supersize Surprise for a series of special events at LuLu's restaurant at Homeport Marina in Gulf Shores, AL.

When tropical storm Alex forced the postponement of a Gulf Shores charity concert to benefit victims of the BP oil spill, LuLu's was left without an act to entertain the large crowds expected on 30 June 30 and 1 July. Fortunately, when your name is Lucy Buffett, you've got an ace up your sleeve. Lucy convinced her brother, Jimmy Buffett, to make an impromptu, surprise appearance with his Coral Reefer Band at her harbor-side restaurant and bar on 30 June.

Special accommodations for staging, video, sound and other logistics were made last minute to enable the legendary performer to do what he does best. BS

USA - Audio-Technica reports that its microphones are the choice of monitor engineer Kevin Glendinning, who recently wrapped a high-profile gig for Alicia Keys at London's O2 Arena. Glendinning, who has also worked with longtime Audio-Technica users Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani and Linkin Park, selected a quartet of wireless Audio-Technica Artist Elite AEW-T4100 microphones (in conjunction with 5000 Series receivers) for Keys and her three backing singers.

Alicia is a phenomenal singer, Glendinning says, and the power she has is quite incredible. So it's really important that we use microphones that not only deliver beautiful tone, but that can also cope with the volume that she puts out. I've used the AEW-T4100 mics for a long time and they've proven themselves over and over as being incredibly durable as well as awesome-sounding, so they're the perfect choice for her.

Gle

UK - Milton Keynes Dons' stadium has recently opened a luxury hotel, complete with pitchside views and high-specification event / conference facility. At the heart of it is a Yamaha audio system.

The stadium has been home to a Yamaha LS9-16 since it opened, used for announcements and background music, and club chairman Pete Winkelman is well aware of Yamaha being located nearby. So when the Doubletree Hotel was opened within the stadium, the company was the natural choice for the sound system installed in its Ballroom.

The 50m x 22m room can be used in a variety of ways, as a single space or divided in up to three separate rooms by the use of moveable acoustic screens. Winkelman approached Yamaha with a tough brief - to provide a system that was extremely versatile, could be controlled by novice users and would provide high quality audio for speech purposes, but could still de

UK - London based Cover It Up supplied the recently finished Dancing On Ice tour with specialist printed draping, a concept that worked so well that production manager Andy Gibbs from Phil McIntyre Entertainment decided to use a similar style of draping for the current Britain's Got Talent tour.

For the Dancing On Ice tour, Cover It Up supplied a black wool serge 'touring package' of borders and legs, to cover all masking eventualities.

Where it became more interesting was the supply of a series of printed drapes. Two of these were straightforward kabuki drops printed on a gloss satin fabric, the result of a lot of research to determine optimum 'falling' properties - so it ended up in a neat quickly foldable pile on the floor rather than an unwieldy mass that was difficult to move. Cover It Up arranged for these to be printed at a specialist facility in Ma

USA - The Entertainment Technician Certification Program Council has announced that the Academy of Production Technology (APT) has been approved to become an ETCP Recognized Training Programme.

The Academy's three-day course covers the concept of electrical theory, power distribution and networking for stage and studio. Course instructor is APT Founder Richard Cadena, who is an ETCP Certified Entertainment Electrician and Recognised Trainer. Now that the course is recognised, ETCP Certified Technicians who attend will receive full ETCP Renewal Credits.

The course is designed for practising professionals as well as novices. This seminar is an excellent review for the practising entertainment electrician as well as a primer for the aspiring electrician, says Cadena. It has enough detail and information to challenge the experienced among us, but is presented in such a way as to c

France - Genesis Networks recently teamed up with digital audio solutions specialist Digigram to provide broadcast services to France's leading pay-television channel Canal Plus for their coverage of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in the UK.

Genesis needed to transmit 10 broadcast quality duplex audio channels between South Africa and France, and similarly, six duplex channels between Wimbledon and France. Digigram was able to provide a simple and cost-effective solution based on the IQOYA*SERV/LINK multiple stereo / multichannel IP audio distribution codec.

In this instance, Digigram provided six IQOYA*SERV/LINK devices for a fully redundant contribution system; one 'main' unit and a second unit for redundancy purposes for each site (Wimbledon, Paris, South Africa). The flexibility and scalability of the IQOYA*SERV/LINK system meant

Greece - In Platanias, a popular beach town located 10km from Chania on the island of Crete, a two century-old building greets you by the crashing waves. Outside banners and posters advertise A New Sound Experience at the historic locale, which has operated as the Mylos club since 1993. It's a popular stop for both locals and the thousands of annual visitors who venture in to hear internationally acclaimed DJ's.

The owners, brothers George and Stelios Varouxakis recently began looking for a new sound system and decided on Adamson.

"It is quite remarkable that a club has operated under the same name, ownership and philosophy for 18 solid years" comments Alexios Ganas, the club's technical consultant, and installations technician at DNA. "The previous system installed was an equally old used ElectroVoice MT-2 which partially replaced a system which caught f

Russia - With Over 200,000 DMX Channels, the Kremlin State Palace is one the largest architectural LED installations worldwide. Formerly known as the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, it was built in 1961 and intended for use as a modern arena for Communist Party meetings, congresses, performances and concerts.

It contains over 800 rooms, and its central space remains one of Europe's biggest auditoriums with seating to accommodate 6000. Today the space is used primarily for concerts and ballet performances, is home to Kremlin Ballet Theatre, and acts as a second stage for the Bolshoi Theatre.

The main auditorium is encased by towering walls which, during the recent contemporary update led by architects from the studio OTASH, were plated with RGB LED panels creating two vast curvilinear LED screens (25mx60m).

Centrally controlled by an e:cue lighting control system, the new multi

UK/USA - Columbus McKinnon has asked the PLASA Technical Resources Office to assist them to alert all CM hoist users to ensure that have carried out the correct replacement process of the brake retaining pins in line with their 2006 replacement programme. Owners of CM hoists may recall that there was a need to replace the brake pins on certain hoists due to a suspicion that there was a potential flaw on a small number of brake pins.

At the time, CM sent a warning bulletin to all their distributors with all the related serial numbers of the hoists manufactured between 2005 and 2006 that required attention. Since this recall in which very small number of the hoists were affected, no incidents had been recorded in which there had been a failure of the brake pin.

However, a recent incident in United States in which a brake pin failed has shown that in this case the pin was not rep

Malaysia - Every year at the end of May, Citrawarna Malaysia (The Colours of Malaysia) is held in Kuala Lumpur, commemorating the rich tradition of cultural diversity that defines the nation. This year on 22 May, LED display provider Lighthouse Technologies and regional rental partner Nova Superscreen brought Malaysia's culture heritage to life with three high performance LED displays installed at the main stage.

Comprising 36 R16 i/o 16mm LED panels in a 6x6 configuration, the main stage's centre screen measured 6.1m across and 4.57m high, while the two side screens, arranged in 6x5 panel configurations, measured 6.1m (w) x 3.81m (h). Together, the three screens displayed the rich colours of Malaysia's ethnic groups' traditional music and dance.

"Citrawarna Malaysia is one of Malaysia's most internationally recognised events, drawing guests and digni

UK - Cloud Electronics has announced the addition of six new distributors, now representing the Cloud brand across Europe and the Nordic region.

In the Nordic region, Standard Audio Systems AB represents Cloud in Sweden, while in Denmark, DTK Audio Produkter is flying the flag.

The BeNeLux area is covered by two companies - Mennegat Trading BV across the Netherlands region with M-Pro BeNeLux BVBA providing for Belgium and Luxembourg.

Sound Directions SARL France is the new distributor for France, as Show Supply is for Switzerland.

"The appointment of so many new distributors at one time is unprecedented for us and reflects our ongoing strategy to strengthen our brand throughout EMEA," says Mark Bracken, Cloud sales manager EMEA.

(Jim Evans)

USA - New York's Major League Soccer team, the New York Red Bulls, finally have a place to call home. The new Red Bull Arena, in Harrison, New Jersey, was completed on 20 March 2010, and features an EAW-based sound system.

The arena features a European design, with a canopy that encircles the entire two-tiered seating area. The first row seats are approximately 21ft from the touchlines, while the following rows are steeply raked, creating an intimate experience for fans that are closer to the playing field than in traditional US soccer stadiums.

This is the only soccer stadium of its kind in the United States, states Brian Elwell, project manager for Acoustic Dimensions. A catwalk that follows the path of the canopy made access to the hang points easier, but the proximity of the canopy to the seats created coverage challenges for the PA system design.

The closer speakers wer

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