USA - This year's Coachella Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California may now be over, but the success of Le Mobile Remote Recording Studios and its Fly Pak System that includes a Yamaha DM2000 console lingers on. Le Fly Pak was used for mixing the live webcast at the Mojave Stage.

"With shows and projects getting bigger and bigger, Coachella being one of them, we thought it would be important to make our Fly Pak system as flexible as possible," states Ian-C. Charbonneau, mixing engineer LeMobile. "We added four MADI cards to the DM2000 allowing an all-digital interface between our Pro Tools rig, Apogee converters, and the console. The MADI cards also provide more flexibility when using the console with our other recording systems, like Le Box or even Le Mobile."

"I had used MADI previously with the Studer digital recorder and knew this format was one

UK - Paradigm AV is set to launch a new Simulation Displays division this month, at the ITEC Show in Cologne, Germany.

Paradigm AV has been producing simulation displays and components since the 1990s. "Steadily increasing demand has driven the launch of a separate division - and a consolidated show specialising in defence, training and simulation is the obvious launch-pad," says company founder and chairman, Greg Jeffreys. "The setting up of Simulation Displays Ltd to serve our many simulation and visualisation clients on an exclusive basis was a logical development."

Simulation Displays will "combine world-leading expertise in specifying, creating (and measuring) projected displays with advanced parametric 3D design department and extensive manufacturing and testing facilities".

It will become a primary source for the specialist services requi

Malaysia - Two sets of FBT's Modus line array system have been installed in the National Institute of Valuation's (INSPEN) newly developed Campus 2, Sepang, Selangor, West Malaysia. INSPEN is the training and research arm of the Valuation and Property Services Department under Malaysia's Ministry of Finance.

INSPEN Campus 2 measures approximately 48 acres and is located in the vicinity of Putrajaya, the federal administrative centre of Malaysia. INSPEN is tasked with advising the government on all matters relating to the value of real estate, the impact of property development and management policies and to enhance the knowledge and expertise of the human resources in the real estate industry.

The new INSPEN Campus 2 consists of a central North-South axis connecting the northern building components comprising female hostels, student union, kindergarten, a central park and a pr

China The evening concert on 8 March 2011 at the National People's Congress in the Beijing Trade Hotel was performed by MYC with the Sequenza 10 line array from Kling & Freitag. The 330m high building with its 81 floors is at present the highest of Beijing.

In order to comply with these noise constraints, MYC used the Sequenza 10 Line Array from Kling & Freitag. The 40 m wide show stage was equipped with four K&F Sequenza 10N for the far field and two SEquenza 10W for the nearfield.

Six Sequenza 10B and two Nomos XLC in cardioid setup supported the system in the lower frequency range.

In total, 40 different radio and hand-held microphones were employed. A high quality monitor system, consisting of two Scena 15, provided the musicians with precise feedback, with a warm and precise basic sound. All speaker systems were driven by the K&F SystemRack. The combination of the digit

USA - Nominations opened 3 May 2011 for PLASA's fourth annual Rock Our World Awards, which recognise groundbreaking achievement by PLASA Members. Designed to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of technology and the designers or integrators who apply it, these awards were originated by ESTA and continue as a worldwide programme under PLASA.

Contestants for the 2010 awards showcased a wide variety of achievements, from the simplest problem solver to complex uses of technology that extended the boundaries of entertainment technology. Project nominations showcased everything from innovative new products, to unusual applications, to massive events that highlighted the collaborative nature of our industry.

Anyone may nominate a PLASA member for the awards. If you've seen something that's blown your mind in the last year, now is your chance to tell the world. It could be a pi

Italy - At Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice which is visited every year by at least 2m people from all over the world, an extensive new RCF sound reinforcement system has been installed, with 40 loudspeaker enclosures that include 10 of the new VSA 2050 digitally steerable vertical line arrays.

The audio system had to meet various requirements, as is explained by Marco Mazzon, founder of the company of the same name, based in Meolo (Venice), which installed the system. "The brief I got from the client was above all to ensure a considerable increase in intelligibility and flexible control of the various sectors - there are approximately thirty microphones used by officiates and singers in seven different zones of the church."

As he had detailed knowledge of the Basilica and its logistics, Mazzon designed the signal management system, whereas, for the actual acoustic de

Australia - This year's Logie awards, Australia's awards for television, was again produced by GTV9 and staged at the Crown Palladium.

Showtech Australia was called on to support the GTV9 team to supply rigging services for the rigging of all the lighting, sound and staging elements for the production.

Rohan Thornton, GTV9's lighting supervisor, also requested Showtech director and senior rigger Tiny Good deliver the automation for the movement of set elements detailed in the scenic design.

After the success of the Carlos by Candlelight 2010 production using Stage Technologies winches, this system was now pressed into service to move the elements on Showtech tacking system.

Thornton requested that the system should be fast, smooth, and allow for multiple 'looks' and sequential moves, but also be fast and flexible to operate and deliver changes during the rehearsals

UK - Goboland UK has made a variety of custom and standard gobos for the wartime-era musical Betty Blue Eyes which opened last week at the Novello Theatre in London's West End.

Based on Alan Bennett and Malcolm Mowbray's BAFTA-winning 1984 film A Private Function, Betty Blue Eyes is set in the ration-stricken Britain of 1947.

The show is lit by award-winning lighting designer, Neil Austin. for whom Goboland UK produced coloured glass gobos of the Royal Crest, stained glass windows and a keystone-corrected Union Flag, for use in Vari-lite VL3500Q Spots. Goboland worked with the designer to create a graduated edge iris gobo that makes it possible to achieve a soft-focus, round edge beam that is not normally available from the VL3500.

Goboland UK also created black and white glass gobos depicting the butchers' shop windows of Barraclough's and Metcalf's for

Austria - Redline Enterprises, Austria's largest full-service provider of technical equipment for events, has purchased an L-Acoustics K1/Kudo system consisting of 48 K1s and 36 KUDO WST line source cabinets, 24 K1-SB and 24 SB28 subwoofers and 18 LA-RAK with 54 LA8 amplified controllers. This is the first K1 system in the Austrian market.

"The reason we bought the K1 system was the quality and its high international standard," says Jack Langer, CEO of Redline. "Our new K1 system will push our company to a much higher level. Apart from the sound capabilities of the system, we particularly like the handling of the rigging as well as the digital network integration."

Adds L-Acoustics trainer Sherif el Barbari, "Yet again another highly professional provider, who's already been using L- Acoustics products has made the step to the top level of large scale

Germany - Hamburg's St Michaelis church has been equipped with one of Europe's largest Iconyx digital beam steering systems.

Churches and cathedrals often pose challenges for acousticians and sound system designers, but few surpass the architectural complexity of the cavernous St Michaelis, originally built in 1750.

Its interior is ornate Baroque at its most florid. White painted walls are endowed with gilded ornamentation and its architecture, advanced for its time, supports a soaring roof without columns. Destroyed by fire in 1906, then rebuilt virtually brick for brick, it has an important role in German culture, regularly hosting televised services, most recently a memorial service for Loki Schmidt, wife of former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, in November 2010.

Emphasising the importance of the pulpit in Protestant churches, where the sermon is central to worship, th

UAE - Al Laith Event Services built a 9,390 seat temporary arena at JBR (Jumeirah Beach Residences) to host the recent completely sold out first leg of the 2011 Red Bull X-Fighters world tour 2011 in Dubai with 15,000 spectators. It was the first time the event has come to the UAE.

It is one of the largest amounts of seating that the company has ever supplied at a single event. The project was managed for Al Laith by Ross Cameron, who worked alongside 120 crew including scaffers, climbers and riggers, in the process constructing grandstands around three sides of the arena, and installing media platforms, five camera platforms, two large format LED screen supports, 1Km of police barriers, 400m of Mojo crowd barriers and 1.8Km of Heras fencing, complete with tele-handling vehicles and scissor lifts and other access equipment and assorted other site infrastructure elements.

Al La

UK - Over 350 people descended on LS-Live's headquarters in West Yorkshire on for the launch party of its new studio facilities, stages and the unveiling of its new training centre, The Backstage Academy.

Entertainment industry professionals, product manufacturers, production managers, students, school and college officials, arrived for a day of tours and celebration in South Kirkby, where LS-Live operates Europe's largest rehearsal space, staging structures rental, set design and build, and equipment rental for the events industry.

Guests enjoyed entertainment by acts such as Rosie Doonan, The Jon Strong Band and Skint & Demoralised, on a stage erected in the LS-Live rehearsal studio and lit by HSL, took tours around the facilities and saw where Backstage Academy courses will take place on the site of the studio. They were also treated to a BBQ, bar, aerialists, a laser show,

UK - Orbital Sound ran its 10th annual Sound Fundamentals Training Course for theatre sound technicians last month, celebrating a decade of preparing theatre sound and technical theatre students for careers in live entertainment.

Held at Orbital's seminar facility in Brixton, south London, the course included application training from d&b audiotechnik and Yamaha Commercial Audio, as well as covering the spectrum of technical disciplines required for live sound applications. Led by principal tutors Theo Holloway and Richard Carter, the course's scope included modules on show control, radio microphones, video, communications and networking, as well as the chance to quiz guest speaker Gareth Owen, who presented a session on sound design.

The students were also treated to a detailed backstage tour on the West End production of Grease, providing an insight into the challenge

USA - In a flurry of international activity, Rational Acoustics LLC has appointed four new distributors in the first quarter of 2011.

Soundtools Oy, under the guidance of industry veterans Antti Murto and Peter Stråhlman will now handle Smaart in Finland. Soundtools is the newly formed sister company to well-known Finnish pro AV company, and former Smaart distributor, Studiotec.

In the UK, Wigwam Acoustics will now be handling all Smaart sales, support and training. Founded in 1979, Wigwam is one of the world's best-known sound companies for the rental, sales and installation of professional audio equipment.

Pacific Rim Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd (E&E) will handle Smaart for the territories of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia with their branch office E&E India taking on Smaart distribution duties for India. E&E was founded in 1951 and just celebrated their 60th anni

France - A Midas PRO3 live audio system, supplied by French distributor EVI Audio, has been installed in one of the most sought-after presentation spaces in Paris, the Gustave Eiffel room, on the first floor the Eiffel Tower. The 300-capacity venue commands 360 degree panoramic views of the city and hosts a wide variety of events from show cases to seminars and product presentations to business conferences.

"For a venue this unique, we have to have the best," says Alain Phillipon, the Eiffel Tower's resident sound engineer for the past eight years, who previously worked on a Midas Heritage 1000. "I wanted the versatility of digital as we host so many different kinds of events here that we need maximum flexibility. But I also wanted to keep the warmth of the Midas sound. The PRO3 offered the perfect solution."

Once the PRO3 was installed, the sound team at t

Russia - As the ancient Russian city of Yaroslavl was celebrating its 1000th anniversary, a new cultural entertainment complex called Hill Hall was opening in its midst.

Built on an area of 3,000sq.m, it combines bars, dancefloor, five billiard tables, eight lanes of bowling and the Gorka retro nightclub, all wrapped up in striking hi-tech urban architecture that blends into the landscape of the historic city centre.

Patrons can climb to the top of the pitched roof, which will be used as a hill slope for skiing in the winter - hence the name - and in summer as an amphitheatre for concerts.

EAW components have been used throughout the complex, as part of an installation carried out by EAW's Russia distributor, MS-Max.

Open seven days a week, much of the activity at Hill Hall takes place inside Gorka where the dance system has been constructed around eight EAW KF730 line arr

UK - In August 2010, Unusual Rigging was approached by London's Victoria and Albert Museum to solve two rigging issues. The V&A's major exhibition galleries have plenty of headroom, but, historically, prior to Unusual's solution, it had not been viable to hang anything due to a number of factors including restricted access.

Project manager for Unusual, Robin Elias, explains, "We were asked to design a system which would facilitate two things: the first was a way of displaying two 10m x 15m theatre back-cloths by Picasso, in the North Court Gallery for six months for the Museum's major exhibition Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes 1909-1929. The second was to create some way to facilitate the hanging of lighting and other electrical equipment for future exhibitions in the North Court gallery.

A system which could be reformatted to provide a solution

Classical Record - A record number of BBC Proms tickets have been sold within the first 12 hours of being made available, the corporation has announced. More than 85,000 were shifted - up by 7% compared with last year - and 376 tickets were sold every minute in the first hour. The series of classical music concerts take place from 15 July at London's Royal Albert Hall.

All the seated tickets for Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra sold out within three hours. Verdi's Requiem and Havergal Brian's gargantuan the Gothic Symphony have also all gone. However, up to 1,400 extra tickets are released on the day of each concert. Proms director Roger Wright said, "We're delighted that so many people have been able to get their tickets successfully and look forward to welcoming them to the Proms this summer."

Musical Chairs - Warner Music has been bo

UK - PLASA 2011 will switch to a paying registration site on Wednesday 11 May, giving visitors one last chance to avoid the £20 ticket price and register for free online.

The show is now over 85% sold - almost five months ahead of its four-day run at Earls Court from 11-14 September. Confidence that PLASA 2011 will be a busy event is confirmed by the increase in visitor registrations, with 8500 visitors representing a healthy 5% increase on the same period last year. This is matched by a 14% increase in the number of companies confirmed to take part.

PLASA 2011 event manager Sophie Atkinson comments, "The PLASA Show has a unique reputation for launching ground breaking products. The Show embraces everything from theatre, live music, film/TV and special events to night venues, architectural installations and construction projects. It's a true reflection of a highly d

UK - Adlib Audio has recently completed a sold-out arena tour in the UK and Ireland with alternative Irish rockers, The Script. The Science and Faith tour, now currently in Australia, culminated the UK leg with The Script's biggest production to date at London's O2 Arena.

Adlib provided all the sound equipment for both FoH and monitor systems based around an L'Acoustics K1 PA system. Adlib also supplied seven LM 26 digital audio loudspeaker processors from Lake for FoH and monitor system processing, along with a number of Lab.gruppen PLM 10000Q Powered Loudspeaker Management systems to drive the wedges on stage.

Adlib's Tony Szabo, who acted as system tech for the UK/Ireland leg of the tour, explains that the LM 26s were used for FoH EQ and time alignment. "We had three devices at FoH for general EQ and four at stage next to the amp racks to handle system zoning. W

UK - When Tannoy's VQ Live system was launched in 2009, it quickly found favour in the live sound market. Andy Linklater, the FOH engineer for the recent Steve Harley acoustic tour, has found that the system performs equally as well when sheer loudness isn't always the main concern.

"I'd heard about the loudness of the system, but I was really looking forward to hearing how it performed at a lower level," says Linklater. "My big praise for it, really, is the vocal definition. I mean obviously, there is the volume side of it as well; it is a very powerful system. But the main reason for bringing on the Steve Harley acoustic Tour is that I wanted to hear it with an acoustic band. This band has got quite a range of instruments, dulcimer, violin, full range piano for instance, and I wanted to see if it was musical as well as being loud, which it is, I'm pleased to say

Canada - Salle Albert Rousseau has weathered the ravages of time better than most. It has been well cared for by the citizens of Quebec City and despite self-imposed changes from being principally a classical music venue to the more contemporary multi-purpose centre, it has lost none of its charm or character.

Recent revamps have seen the house sound system totally replaced and the stage entirely remodelled to accommodate current trends. Steering that remodelling was the audio consultant Alexandre Forgues of 20k inc.

"I started my career as a system engineer and had visited the theatre many times. I know it well and have a great fondness for the room," he says. "On several occasions I had taken in a d&b audiotechnik system from Axion (now part of Solotech), a rental company that used to be based in Quebec. The house had always liked the sound of d&b equipment so

USA - Lighting designer Justin Garrone of Innovative Show Design incorporated Martin's compact MAC 101 wash light into the set of NBC's National Heads-Up Poker Championship, an annual poker tournament held in the United States and produced by the NBC television network.

Held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas from 27 February - 7 March, the championship was the first poker event ever to be televised on and produced by a major US television network.

The set design depicted a Roman coliseum and the 101s were chosen based on size, weight, brightness and speed, Garrone says. "I placed 18 MAC 101's (nine per side) on top of the Roman columns. We shot this show with two jibs and had star filters in them. I incorporated the MAC 101 into the lighting design to provide RGB stars (beauty lights) into the jib cameras. That way when we took a high wide of the set we had colorful,

USA - Lighting designer Carlos Colina who was responsible for Univision's Premio lo Nuestro a la Musica Latina awards show, selected a pair of grandMA2 light consoles to control approximately 400 fixtures illuminating the gala special. The 23rd annual show honoured Latin artists chosen by fans in online and mobile phone voting. It aired live from Miami's American Airlines Arena.

"The show was probably one of the largest TV programs that the grandMA2 light has done," says Brett Puwalski, vice president of operations at Atomic Lighting in Lititz, Pennsylvania, which supplied the grandMA2.

"Using the grandMA 3D software that MA offers as freeware really helped us with the pre-viz," he addss. "Univision has a very tight schedule, and the network uses its time and money very resourcefully. There were many acts participating and no time to prep such a

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