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USA - Richmond Sound Design's (RSD) SM-Designer sound design software is known to be comprehensive and versatile - now it can claim to be "award-winning" technology, too, the company reports. Scott Siegwald, who recently won the 2007-2008 AriZoni Award for Non-Contracted Theater Sound Design, credits RSD's innovative sound design and management program for his success.

When Theater Works, a community theatre in Peoria, Arizona, decided to produce Bram Stoker's Dracula as part of their 2007-2008 season, they knew the sound engineering would involve an unprecedented challenge. The show required 72 music cues and 58 sound effects which needed to be overlapped and layered into 157 sound cues during the show. The production team decided that, in order to create the auditory atmosphere necessary for this eerie play, they would need to hire four sound engineers and pro

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UK - Scottish rental company EFX is the first to pair Midas XL8 and PRO6 digital systems on a tour. EFX has been using its two XL8 Live Performance Systems for front of house and monitors on Eddi Reader's UK tour and deploying the PRO6 Live Audio System on monitors in smaller venues.

FOH engineer Joe Thomas and monitor engineer Shona Steadman started the tour with an XL8 each, working seamlessly through dates across Scotland and the north of England before arriving at London's Shepherds Bush Empire, where the PRO6 took over on monitors.

No stranger to the XL8, Steadman has used it on a Deacon Blue tour and countless festivals and concerts throughout the summer, becoming very familiar with the system. Moving onto the PRO6, she simply transferred all her show settings across from XL8. "They all came up perfectly the first time, which was very reassuring," she says. &qu

PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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USA - FiberPlex reports that an extensive LightViper fibre optic audio transport system was recently installed at Southern California's MiraCosta Community College. The college recently completed a $21 million project to build a music technology classroom facility on its main Oceanside, campus. The new music technology building features a total of eight production control rooms fed by two large recording studios. All audio is routed through an extensive LightViper digital transport system via fibre optics.

San Diego-based ProSound, a LightViper VAR and audio design firm, handled all aspects of the audio design, as well as installation of the fibre audio components. Mike Krewitsky, owner and chief systems designer for the 30-year-old pro audio company says: "This project was truly about designing, and then putting into place, an affordable infrastructure that will remain tec

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UK - Allen & Heath has announced its Distributor of the Year 2008, awarding the accolade to the company's Chinese distribution partner, Sanecore Audio. The award was presented to Sanecore's general manager, Jun Zhu, and Sanecore Shanghai sales manager, Wu Hao, at the recent Music China show. The award recognises the best overall performance by an international distributor during Allen & Heath's 2008 fiscal year.

Allen & Heath's area sales manager, Bardy Hayes, commented: "It gives us great pleasure to make this award to the Sanecore team, which has displayed great enthusiasm and dedication to the A&H brand. Allen & Heath has launched many innovative products in recent times, including the Xone:4D DJ controller, the ZED-R16 dedicated recording mixer, and developments in its iLive digital range, and with dynamic distributors such as Sanecore behind us, Allen & Heath will cont

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UK - White Light and the Arcola Theatre supplied low-energy lighting and more to the 2008 Latitude Festival. Having established that a fuel cell and low-energy lighting could be used to great effect in a London fringe theatre, the Arcola team sought to demonstrate that the same approach could be taken in a non-blacked-out tent in daylight in the middle of summer.

In association with London Hydrogen Partnership, Logan Energy and BOC, Arcola powered the festival's Theatre Arena tent using a 5kW Gencore fuel cell. White Light then worked with the Arcola team to provide lighting capable of maximising the available power, the rig including ETC Source Fours fitted with lamps between 375 and 750W, Source Fours fitted with CDM lamps and Chroma-Q Color Blocks which use LED technology.

White Light also worked to maximise the event's overall eco-footprint by re-using equipment rather tha

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Jordan - "We've just completed one the most unusual, challenging, and yet ultimately rewarding shows in the company's history," said Britannia Row Productions' Bryan Grant, speaking after a recent gala event in Petra, Jordan, that saw stars from the world of classical and popular music come together to celebrate the work of Luciano Pavarotti on the anniversary of his birthday, 12 October.

"This wasn't just an act of veneration," explained Grant, "Pavarotti touched many people in his lifetime, particularly through his work as United Nations Messenger of Peace. It's rare to see stars the calibre of Sting and Zucchero rubbing shoulders with the likes of Carreras, Domingo and Bocelli, but that was the nature of the man."

Naturally, such a potent mix of performers brings its own challenges, the services of Britannia Row being engaged to bring their own

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Singapore - The Ignite Music Festival staged this summer at The Republic Polytechnic in Singapore had two stages - a main stage for full-on loud rock, and an acoustic stage for the more intimate experience.

Tony Kam, assistant director (technical operations) reports: "The PA systems were put together by my in house technical team at the Poly; they defined system, position and size of rig, but naturally the students assisted, putting it up, and effectively it was they who ran the show.

"We purchased a Q-Series system from d&b audiotechnik last summer, and knew this would be ideal for the main stage which featured a large Q1 loudspeaker rig with Q and B2 subwoofers. Since we bought into the Q-Series, our in-school technical team has attended several seminars on system design and application, theory and practice and related subjects.

These were run by Anil Suho

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USA - Ransdell Chapel, the heart of Campbellsville University in Kentucky, has installed an iLive-144 at FOH position. A 900 seat facility, the Ransdell Chapel provides the educational focus for the University and is used for various types of events including student orientation, bi-weekly student body worship sessions, annual Pastor's conference, worship arts conference, theatrical performances, symphonies, and full band concerts.

"Completed and dedicated in April of 2007, the new Ransdell Chapel is in constant use and every programme is different from day to day," says Doug Price, the A/V coordinator for the University. "Often, they will have multiple events in a single day. They needed a system with easy channel and output configuration, total recall, and flexible routing. The iLive-144 was the perfect solution for Ransdell. The mix rack lives at the stage, int

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UK - GE Consumer & Industrial has announced a call for entries for the 26th Annual GE Edison Award competition. Through the competition, GE recognises excellence and quality in professional lighting designs that employ the significant use of GE light sources (lamps and/or LEDs).

The GE Edison Award competition is open to professional designers, architects, engineers and consultants. Entries are judged on the following criteria: functional excellence; architectural compatibility; effective use of state-of-the-art lighting products and techniques; appropriate colour, form and texture revelation; energy effectiveness and cost effectiveness.

Projects scoring the highest number of points will qualify to receive Awards of Merit or Awards of Excellence. The GE Edison Award Winner is selected from among the Awards of Excellence.

The Award for Excellence in Environmental Design gives

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UK - Affliction Entertainment has burst into the mixed martial arts scene with an edgy and rock influenced style. To create the look and feel for the inaugural event Affliction Banned - Innovative Show Design (ISD) devised a lighting concept that would enhance and reflect the Affliction clothing brand.

28 PixelPar 44s featured on the immense lighting rig as truss warmers. ISD's lighting designer, Justin Garrone states: "For warming truss we primarily use PixelPars or PixelArcs. I like these fixtures because of their low profile, which allows us to fit them into tight spaces. Also, a nice feature of the PixelRange products - is the ability to spec a fixture that either has the brain attached or a brain that rides separately."

The Affliction Banned show featured distinguishable looks for each fighter - created using different colours and lighting effects,

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UK - Projected Image Digital has moved to new, larger premises in Chiswick, west London which includes a permanent training and demonstration facility. The new HQ is just 5 minutes from the previous one at 58 B Wellesley Road, London W4 4AD. All phone numbers and emails remain unchanged<

The move was necessitated by PID's proactive programme of hands-on product support and training, which reached the level where it needed its own dedicated space.

"We are now doing regular Catalyst and WholeHog training," states PID MD David March. He adds that the 1000sq.ft demo area is also ideal for them to stage product mock-ups and testing for clients and upcoming projects.

(Jim Evans)

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Opera News: Plans by the Royal Opera House to establish a northern base at Manchester's Palace Theatre are to be examined by the Arts Council. The proposal from the London-based company was discussed with Culture Secretary Andy Burnham. It was decided that an independent evaluation of the scheme, to open a new opera, ballet and lyric theatre venue at the Palace, would start immediately. Mr Burnham said the review was the "positive next step". The Arts Council said the evaluation would look at plans to expand opera and dance provision, develop new audiences and provide more training and skills development to the sector.

Live News: Big-name bands like Take That and Oasis are leading a boom in gig ticket sales, with UK stadium shows selling in record time despite the credit crunch. Take That sold 700,000 tickets for their 2009 tour, a week after 500,000 tickets to see Oasis were

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UK - The Diskus has become the latest addition to London's burgeoning conference venue landscape following an inspired and versatile multimedia installation by Design Integration.

Owned by UNITE, the Union T&G Section, and occupying a prime site in the Holborn business district, the independently run Diskus has been able to promote itself as an "advanced conference venue" since the AV specialists carried out a major upgrade this summer using QSC's AcousticDesign Series loudspeakers and CX Series power amplifiers.

Derek Wright, managing director of Design Integration, has frequently turned to QSC components to satisfy his project requirements - and given The Diskus's low ceiling height he was able to deploy multiples of AD-Ci52T and AD-Ci52ST recessed ceiling speakers for the foyer/break out area and main auditorium respectively.

Said conference manager, Francis Wil

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UK - When London's Royal Opera House re-opened its doors at the end of 1999 after a three-year refurbishment programme, the performances were, for the most part, lit with conventional luminaires. Since then, as automated fixtures have become quieter, the Royal Opera House has added them to their stock, along with multimedia devices, to enable them to meet their challenging schedules.

The control desk, however, is a 10-year old ETC Obsession which Nick Ware, senior lighting manager at the Royal Opera House, admits is long past its sell-by date: "No IT equipment would be expected to have this kind of shelf life and the Obsession can no longer cope with the kind of demands we want to place on it."

ETC dealer White Light, a long standing supplier to the Royal Opera House, is replacing the main auditorium's Obsessions with three ETC Eos 8K systems. The next generation of

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Isle of Man - Impact Products (Europe) Ltd recently supplied Chauvet Lighting's COLORado LED series had its RGB mixing capability put to the test when Event Lighting Services used them to light up the landmark Falcon Cliff overlooking the promenade in Douglas, Isle of Man in support of the Breast Cancer Care charity's official "In the Pink Day".

For the third successive year, the island was renamed the Isle of Woman for a weekend of fund-raising activities commencing Friday 24th October. In support of the event ELS were once again delighted to accept a request from professional services firm Maitland & Co, whose offices are housed in the former hotel, to donate their services by illuminating the building totally in pink for three nights.

ELS used four of Chauvet's Colorado 1 9-channel wash lights and two COLORado 3 12-channel bank systems. Both ideal for outdoor use

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USA - Behind the Scenes, the charitable initiative of The ESTA Foundation has confirmed the winners of the 2008 LDI Raffle. The Grand Prize ticket for a $10,000 dream vacation was drawn by Christian Choi, the very first Behind the Scenes grant recipient. The winner is Ken Vannice from Leviton Lighting Management Systems who is well known in the industry for his tireless work on behalf of standards and certification.

The winning ticket for the Second Prize of a $2,500 Amazon Gift Card was drawn by Rick Fisher, who took a short break from lighting Billy Elliott on Broadway to receive LDI's Theatre Lighting Designer of the Year Award. Rick is one of the founders of Light Relief, the UK based industry charity. Holmes Brown from PRG was the lucky winner.

Peter Finder of Rose Brand was the winner of the Third Prize, a $1,000 Amazon Gift Card which was drawn by Tim Hansen. Tim

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USA - Samuel Ryder (who died in 1936), was brought back to life at the Ryder Cup Gala thanks to Digital Illusions' Musion Eyeliner holographic projection system, the first of its kind in the U.S., and A/V leader NMR Staging & Events.

NMR Staging And Events director of audio, Lou Castelluci, spec'd a DiGiCo CS-D5 for the production to manage over 24 inputs of video, myriad wireless mics, recording/playback functions, and outputs for both the live audience and broadcast recording decks. The console's ability to handle the Digigram EtherSound technology proved invaluable, as Castelluci was able to keep the audio all-digital by sending eight channels of EtherSound out of the console to his Nexo PA. via his Nexo 242 digital processors.

"Since we already owned the EtherSound Cards for the Nexo NX242s it only made sense to have a digital board that could handle the EtherSound ou

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UK - 3M reports that Volkswagen UK has installed dynamic wide screen and interactive digital displays using Vikuiti Rear Projection technology in its Chelmsford and Milton Keynes dealerships. Volkswagen is using the displays to play vibrant video that captures customer attention and maximises brand assets to their full potential, says the company.

A 96" 16:9 Vikuiti screen has been hung on the first floor of the newly built flagship Volkswagen dealership in Chelmsford, Essex. A ceiling mounted projector beams streaming video designed to educate, entertain and inform customers of the latest Volkswagen offers and information, which is controlled by Volkswagen UK head office in Milton Keynes. Positioned above an open atrium on the ground floor, the giant screen is intended to catch the customer's eye and drive traffic upstairs to peruse the used car stock.

"We have been

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Portugal - Merging Select in Lisbon has taken on exclusive Adamson Distribution for Portugal. The deal was negotiated by Adamson director of European sales, Andy Weingaertner. The company's operations focus on sales, technical support, and education, aimed at commercial markets of touring, contracting, install, and corporate needs.

Merging Select aims to build long-term partnerships with their customers by providing them with a support and assistance program. It includes on-going services such as technical consulting, sound design, installation services, training and education, optimization and problem solving.

Director of technical support Wladimiro Garrido says: "This new partnership is an opportunity to work with a brand that is determined to take a leadership position in the marketplace. We believe in Adamson's capacity for constant innovation by their ability to rela

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UK - Rental company Lite Alternative has purchased four Novalight Nova Flower fixtures from UK distributor Lightfactor Sales, which are in action on the UK and European legs of Coldplay's Viva La Vida world tour.

The Nova Flowers - a high powered fully programmable 'flower effect' with DMX controllable pan, tilt, colour shutter - are positioned upstage of the band, and used sparingly, but for some spectacular back lighting effects and aerial impact.

Mark "Sparky" Risk initially lighting directed the first legs of the tour (now taken over by Fraser Elisha), and he comments, "They create nice big aerial beams and because they move and change colour, are proving extremely dynamic."

Coldplay are currently touring the US with lighting provided by Illinois based Upstaging, who have also purchased four Nova Flowers. They hit the UK in December.

(Jim Eva

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South Africa - The Guy Butler Theatre in Grahamstown, near the south-eastern coast, plays an important part in the city's National Arts Festival, one of Africa's largest and most colourful cultural events. With more than 500 shows from opera to cabaret, fine art to craft art, poetry readings to lectures, they needed a desk that was reliable and easy to learn. They settled on an ETC Congo, which they have recently upgraded to v5.

Venue manager Deon Lottering, says: "We purchased the Congo two years ago to replace our ageing desk which had become unstable. We wanted an intelligent desk which would last, and have regular upgrades. We also needed at least 24 masters or sub masters, as many touring shows need to improvise. Congo was exactly what we were looking for."

Continues Deon: "We used Dave Whitehouse, an ETC certified contracted trainer at Electro-Quip in Port

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UK - The Electric Proms have been running since 2006 and the third edition closed on Sunday 26 October. This festival is dedicated to creating new moments in music and more than 60 artists performed in London and Liverpool

Litestructures was approached by head of stage Ben Ranner at The Roundhouse in London to supply the main stage set for the venue. The stage, using LiteDeck, the modular staging system from Litestructures Hire department consisted of a tiered Orchestra riser supported by additional rolling risers. The set measured 8' high, 40' wide and 16' deep.

Litestructures hire manager Ben Brooks comments: "It was a real pleasure working on the 2008 BBC Electric Proms in such a prestigious venue as The Roundhouse. We supplied a spectacular looking stage set made entirely from standard hire products; this allowed us to provide the benefits of a bespoke stage de

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USA - The first annual Rock Our World Awards were presented at ESTA's Annual Dinner on 23 October, the evening before the LDI show. These awards, which recognise groundbreaking achievement by ESTA Members in new products, product applications, or projects were created to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of technology and the designer or integrator who applies the technology in a real world environment.

Over 30 nominations were received from across the industry and these were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine finalists for the panel of judges to ponder upon. The judges for this year's awards were Rick Baxter, Ken Billington, Cory Fitzgerald, Elaine J. McCarthy, Rocky Paulson, and Bruce Rodgers.

The judges panel was chaired by Mike Wood, who said prior to announcing the winners: "We wanted to create an award series that had no rules except for excitement

  1. Lee Evans gives it large on Lighthouse
  2. Airbus handover projected via Barco
  3. Philips Lighting Day in Llanelli
  4. D.A.S. reinforces Singapore nightspot
  5. Robert Juliat at Milwaukee Summerfest
  6. Dreamline installation in Stavanger
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