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14 March 2016

The Awards were presented on 7 May at Church House in Westminster by journalist and broadcaster Simon Calder. The exhibition ran from September 2007 to April 2008, becoming the British Museum's most successful temporary exhibition for 30 years, with over 850,000 visitors.It featured the largest group of important objects relating to the First Emperor ever to be loaned abroad by the Museum of the Terracotta Army and the Cultural Relics Bureau of Shaanxi Province in Xi'an, China. It was housed in the Reading Room at the heart of the Museum which was temporarily converted by exhibition designers Metaphor in con

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14 March 2016

The National Skills Academy aims to significantly help to reduce skills gaps and shortages in backstage and off-stage skills. The NSA business plan, supported by PLASA and over 120 leading employers from theatre and live music, sets out in detail an ambitious vision to provide world-class training for the world's greatest stages. Working together with employers, freelancers, colleges and training-providers throughout the country, the NSA will deliver industry-endorsed training for young people and professionals. A proposed new state-of-the-art training facility in Thurrock, Thames Gateway, will pr

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14 March 2016

The acquisition of Blue i complements Peli Products strategic vision to position the company as the pioneer in new lighting technology.

In 2003 the company launched Recoil LED technology. Now, through the acquisition of Blue i, Peli Products takes a further step towards the launch of its Advanced Area Lighting Group (AALG), a new line of products" bringing next generation Area Lighting Technology to market. The Advanced Area Lighting Group will drive primary R&D to bring portable, powerful, energy-efficient and environmentally responsible lighting technology to remote area applications.

"More than three decades

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14 March 2016

The new ETC Source Four lanterns wasted no time in Ka

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14 March 2016

More than 100 people turned up to the centrally-located Ricoh Arena in Coventry, including visitors from as far away as Belfast and Glasgow, Wigan and the West Country. Sean Maxwell's eight-person team from Shuttlesound was supported by an all-star cast of presenters including Bill Gelow, EV's head of engineering, Joseph Plager, EV's head of amplifier development, Alex Cooper, the director of console development for Midas, and Shuttlesound's own project design and support specialist David Howe.

With Midas' flagship XL8 digital console at front-of-house, there were demos of

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14 March 2016

InnovaSON's international sales manager, Philippe Pelmelle comments, "Amptec has an excellent reputation. I heard from a number of independent sources that I couldn't hope to find a better distributor in Belgium, which is always reassuring to hear. They place a great deal of emphasis on providing a real service to the client, and not just on selling him the equipment."

Amptec CEO Bart Willems adds, "I'm looking forward to representing InnovaSON in Belgium and Holland. I like the concept behind their products, and I appreciate their pioneering attitude. We have a lot of experience in their target market and I'm sure that once we start getting the products in front of our customers, they will be very keen to try th

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14 March 2016

For this sound installation, MSB Audio Madrid recommended the installation of six D.A.S. Artec 28 systems. "Taking into consideration the size of the complex and its peculiarities as to sound reverberation, they prove to be very efficient systems," comments Manuel Suarez, MSB audio director.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

With XTA enjoying considerable success in the Central and South American markets, it makes commercial sense for the company to expand its representation in the region, which has been achieved by the appointment of DA Professional SRL in Argentina and Audioacustica y Electronica in Mexico, says the company.

"We provide total production solutions, combining our expert personnel and only the very highest quality equipment," says Audioacustica y Electronica's Javier Posada. "The company was founded because of a need in Mexico for a supplier whose equipment portfolio and experience allows them to plan, coordinate and execute all technical aspects of a production. XTA is the idea

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14 March 2016

Over the past three years, No Static has installed over 120 DN-C615 decks in Bally facilities throughout Southern California and sold an additional 139 DN-C615 decks in that time period to other Bally facilities across the country.

"The DN-C615 is absolutely bulletproof," says Dave Meek, president No Static, a Burbank-based full-service systems integrator that will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year. "Bally facilities will often install multiple DN-C615 units in one club, putting them in Group Exercise Rooms and Spin Rooms. Whenever the design calls for a CD player, we use the DN-C615 exclusively."

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

One of the key challenges that both Stage One and their client faced was that they were brought on board quite late. Final detailed drawings were only received just six weeks before the load date. "The construction of such an impressive, but quite complicated structure, in this short time scale was always going to be a challenge," said Steve Dolan, account director, Stage One.

He continued, "We resolved the time issues by completing some of the work required on-site and delivered a set of the highest quality."

The city of Belgrade lies at

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14 March 2016

"We're delighted Sennheiser is supporting us," says Earthrace captain Pete Bethune. "This project wouldn't have been able to happen without their support and their contribution is vital to the overall goal of showing the world that the best technology can also be sustainable.

"We and the ground crew appreciate the fantastic support we have received. Every supportive company's efforts count in our race to beat the world record."

Sennheiser UK general manager Phil Massey adds, "It is great that we have been able to help such a worthwhile attempt by supplying Pete and his crew with th

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14 March 2016

City Impact recently embarked on a project to build a state-of-the-art auditorium that would set a new benchmark for worship venues.

Ian Anderson of Mitech Consulting was engaged as the primary technical and production consultant for the job. Under his direction Scott Willsallen of Auditoria mastered the audio design and Mark Hansen of Hansen and Associates was responsible for the architectural and acoustic design of the performance space.

Capable of holding up to 2,000 people, the Sanctuary needed to produce a powerful sound with excellent vocal clarity and accurate musical reproduction, despite the significant problem of reflective surfaces that existed on both the sides and the rear of the room. Extensive acoustic treatment w

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14 March 2016

The main funder of the operations of the Newseum is The Freedom Forum, a non-partisan foundation. Jim Updike, vice president of technology for the Freedom Forum and for the Newseum, points out, "doing the outside news broadcasts and programmes from here is an important part of our mission. We have done any number of television shows here from network newscasts all the way to our o

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14 March 2016

"We revealed the mics to the girls before the final dress rehearsal in Sheffield," explains monitor engineer Nick Maddren. "I gathered the girls just before they started and pulled back the cover. There was a mix of screams, hands covering mouths and loads of excitement. The standard mics were immediately returned and the new ones disappeared like it was like Christmas day. CrystalRoc did an amazing job and the mics looked amazing."

Beneath the bling, the mics were still Sennheiser SKM 935s. "The 935 capsule was definitely the right capsule for th

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14 March 2016

Parton spends much of her show telling stories, jokes and ad-libbing for the crowd. According to Fechner, the performance of the previous sound system prevented the audience from enjoying the full live experience. "The problem was we were losing a lot of that great interaction," explains Fechner.

"We were originally called in to tweak their system," notes Thunder vice president Paul Owen. "But once they realised the possibilities with the Milo system and our production services, they were sold."

Dual arrays of 12 Milos and eight groundstacked 700-HP subwoofer

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14 March 2016

The Heeley-based AV and live event company was selected to provide technical support for the 16th annual Inspiring Women Awards in Manchester. The prestigious sell-out lunch, attended by more than 350 guests, highlighted the achievements of special women from the public sector, arts, business and community who were nominated by the public for going the extra mile.

tdc director Eamonn Hunt presented the Arts awards to Claire Moore who set up the successful Certain Curtain Theatre in Preston nearly 20 years ago.

Hunt said: "We were delighted to be involved with the Inspiring Women Awards for the first time. There are so many truly inspirational women in the region, many of whom go unrecognised yet be

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14 March 2016

The tour primarily plays large theatre venues, and the rig is based around four trusses - front, back and two mid-stage, that were subtly angled into a V-shape.

The upstage truss is used to hang a 33ft wide by 16ft drop of SoftLED cloth, adding a new dimension to his powerful performance, and nine ColorKinetics ColorBlast 12 LED wash lights are also over-rigged on the top rail of the back truss for stage depth.

The two mid-trusses are made up from pre-rigged sections - chosen for the larger spacing between the two rails.They vary slightly in length - the stage right truss meas

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14 March 2016

As well as the MC's voice and the contributions from Sky digital TV (music and publicity), there was also a performance by classical singer Russell Watson.

FOH engineer Derrick Zieba commented, "The Outline system performed perfectly in the stadium situation, there was enough power to overcome the noise from the huge crowd of enthusiastic Ricky Hatton fans without problems. The Outline Butterfly's projection enabled us to turn

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14 March 2016

The brass and woodwind military band have been discussing their ultimate wish list with A.C. Audio for almost a year, so when the budget was finally approved to completely over-haul their old sound system, the band's coordinators were quick to ask A.C. to design them a completely new audio rig that would be fully versatile and tailored to their specific requirements.

A.C. Audio sales executive Glen Thompson, who has extensive experience on both sides of the microphone, worked closely with KV2 and the band to design a fully flexible system which would complement the various formations in which they play. The diverse band is known to play in combinations ranging

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14 March 2016

The band took a full range of microphones from Sennheiser, including four e 945s for the three vocalists, e 906s for guitar cabinets and snares, e 604s for toms and an e 901 on the kick drum.

James Lawrenson has been front of house engineer for the band since their inception. He says, "I approached Sennheiser's artist relations manager Phil Cummings and discussed getting hold of some mics before the tour started. I used to work at the Cardiff Barfly and still work at Clwb Ifor Bach in

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14 March 2016

Recently the Academy made HK Audio its PA brand of choice. The Electric Theatre, the venue located next to the ACM's main building that hosts weekly live performances, is now equipped with a flown HK Audio ConTour Array system comprising six CTA 208 2x8"/4x1" mid-/high-range units and four CTA 118 Sub bass bins. Four D.A.R.T enclosures serve as monitors, while an Elias PX provides the drum-fill.

The ACM is also relies on HK when it comes to the school's portable rig. This combination of a D.E.A.CON system and D.A.R.T. monitors is compact and flexibl

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14 March 2016

'Big Screen Swindon' is the first giant, permanent BBC Screen in the South West of England. It forms part of the Wharf Green development - the first area in Swindon to be redeveloped since The New Swindon Company unveiled plans to regenerate the town centre.

Following the approval of designs for the Wharf Green by LDA Design, the large screen specialists TMC was appointed to install the giant 7 x 5 panel (7.14m x 3.8m) P16i/o Lighthouse LED screen, which has been placed along the North Façade of the Brunel West car park. It is housed in a freestanding structure, which camouflages the car park, and is controlled by a Lighthouse LIP-DX, an X-Drive Pro and an auto brightness control

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14 March 2016

Creative Technology (CT) placed an early order for 163 panels. "We decided to invest in a new generation of outdoor screen and wanted a product which would raise the bar on the current generation of products, providing improvements in performance, weight and functionality," says Dave Crump, business development director for Avesco Group, parent company of CT.

The R7-ER panels were put to immediate use, after acceptance testing by CT staff being shipped straight from the Lighthouse factory to Bahrain for use at that co

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14 March 2016

Speed Racer was described by one critic as "hyper-stylised, primary-coloured and taking on the aspect of a glamorous cartoon", and PSL worked with production designer Amanda Davies from AD Events to create a suitably sensational environment for Sir Ian McKellen, Christina Ricci, Emile Hirsch and others who had attended the film's premiere.

The party's unusual location was an edgy new space in central London called P3, once a 14,000 sq.ft concrete testing facility belonging to the University of Westminster, and only recently opened as an exhibition area and venue.

With its 30' high ceiling and mezzanine gallery floor, P3 offers interesting possibiliti