Serbia - Just in time for the World Student Games, which were held in Serbia in July, a new sports hall opened in Smederevo. The new 3,500-seat hall meets all the demands of today's major sporting events. Mega Music, Dynacord's partner in Serbia, was responsible for the installation of the sound system. Together with the new hall's management, Mega Music opted for a Promatrix 4000 system, all-in-one solution.

More than 160 Dynacord DL 96A and DL 84 ceiling loudspeakers round off the installation to ensure homogeneous coverage not only in the main hall but also throughout what is now Serbia's top indoor sports complex in areas such as the bowling alley, shooting gallery, passageways, staircases, and changing rooms.

Mega Music's Davor Tomovic comments: "We had meticulously prepared the whole installation in advance and the system worked flawlessly from the start. All we nee

UK - Arcstream AV was commissioned by music video directors Between the Eyes to create the visual laser effects in the video for Sugababes new single Get Sexy.

The video sees the singers enclosed in a cylinder of mirrors and Arcstream AV had to devise a way of creating the special effects within the cylinder. By installing a 10 watt RGB laser and diffraction mirrors within the cylinder and feeding the lasers and a camera through a small aperture in the side of the cylinder, the action within the enclosed area could be captured without disrupting the laser stream.

Wayne Haxton, director of Arcstream AV explained: "Capturing the images was a challenge due to the tight space restrictions, so we used defraction mirrors to bounce the laser beams within the cylinder allowing them to be directed."

(Jim Evans)

The Netherlands - The audacious, ambitious in-the-round touring spectacle that is Britney Spears' Circus World Tour has been wowing fans in the UK before heading off on its latest international leg in Europe, North America, down under and beyond. Literally at the heart of the giant production is a mammoth circular Stealth LED video curtain, raised and lowered with millimetre precision several times every night by an XLNT Advanced Technologies CyberHoist motion control system.

The complex, three-ring, non-stop show is a cornucopia of aerial action, with acrobatics, nine automated lifts, and a central 5.18m (17ft) diameter rotating device, all contributing to the Circus theme, and with over 100 lift cues there's not a moment to draw breath.

The concept is the work of co-lighting designers Nick Whitehouse and Bryan Leitch, with tour director Steve Dixon and show director J

UK - Electro-Voice line array systems have made their way down to the extreme south-west of England, recently appearing at the annual summer picnic festival for the Plymouth Jazz Club. This concert marked the debut for a new XLD system purchased by Light Years Light and Sound, complete with EV amplifiers, system controllers and microphones.

Light Years Light and Sound, from Tavistock, has been servicing the events of the Plymouth Jazz Club for many years, and chose the annual outdoor festival at National Trust property Saltram House as the first outing for its all-new EV inventory.

"Our old point-source system just ran out of steam," says Anthony Plumridge from Light Years. "The criteria I had for a new system was that it should be compact, quick and easy to set up, with superb sound quality. We went over to Shuttlesound's demo facility in south London and liste

USA - Dating back to 1904, the Ravinia Festival is the oldest outdoor music venue in the US, hosting a series of marquee performances every summer from June to September. Ravinia offers open-air concert experiences within its park-like 36-acre site near the shores of Lake Michigan, including the summer residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Ravinia Music Director James Conlon.

While the site's 3,200 seat main pavilion could well be called the centerpiece of its lush, tree-lined setting, Ravinia's lawn is a place where concert-goers are encouraged to claim a space with an outspread blanket and have a picnic. One of the few venues in the country that permit full meals and alcohol to be brought in and consumed at its concerts, Ravinia is accordingly visited by patrons toting lawn chairs, coolers packed with food, lawn accessories of all descriptio

Germany - To commemorate its 15th anniversary, Meyer Sound Germany will host an industry-wide open house event at its headquarters in Montabaur on 9 and 10 October.

The audio-focused programme will bring together touring, installation, and event production professionals, and will highlight a range of technical presentations and discussion panels on "the hottest topics in the professional audio business, such as the emerging IEEE 802.1 Audio/Video Bridging (AVB) networking standard".

A highlight will be a demonstration of the self-powered JM-1P arrayable loudspeaker, a system designed to provide precise and seamless coverage in tight-packed arrays.

In addition to exchanging industry information, attendees are invited to take a close look at the latest developments from Meyer Sound's active R&D department at the Berkeley, Calif. headquarters, and join a behind-the-sc

Australia - ARX Systems has announced the appointment of Rio de Janeiro based Sterling Do Brasil as its distributor for Brazil.

ARX managing director Colin Park comments: "Nestor Almeida, director of Sterling Do Brasil told me he is especially excited by the prospects of introducing our USB DI Series products and the new USB I/O Universal Transformer Isolated USB Interface to the Brazilian market, as well as the MSX series of Signal Distribution products, the AudiBox series of audio toolbox essentials, and the rest of the ARX signal processing range."

Alongside ARX, Sterling Do Brasil currently represents BARIX, Gefen, AVT Audio Video Technologies and BEL Digital Audio.

(Jim Evans)

USA - When the University of North Carolina School of the Arts' (UNCSA) School of Design and Production ran into a unique challenge for its recent performance of Sunday in the Park with George, it turned to Aviom's 6416Y2 A-Net Interface Cards for a solution.

The School of Design and Production teaches students to manage all aspects of a theater production by giving them hands-on experience. The school's five theaters do not have permanent sound systems. Students design and install a custom system from the ground up for each production.

To complete these builds, students rent items from the school's equipment shop, a process that mirrors that of professional audio rental shops. What made this production different from other musicals produced at UNCSA, however, was the unusual set design made up entirely of various-sized, rear projection screens. These screens, positione

UK - Delta Sound has invested in Navigator Systems HireTAG automatic equipment tracking system, an integrated RFID solution specifically designed for the events rental industry.

"We've been looking for a quick and easy way to track our ever increasing stock of equipment," says Delta managing director Paul Keating. "We believe that HireTAG is the ideal solution for us."

Each item of stock is individually tagged with easily fitted, specially designed components that have a unique ID, with a HireTAG Arch placed in a convenient location within Delta's warehouse.

Items are walked through the Arch, either singly or in a flight case, unique radio signals are read by the Arch's structure, processed and recorded on easy-to-use Rental Management Software.

"Although RFID tags have been around for some time, not only was the cost prohibitive, but the high meta

South Africa - System Solutions, part of the Gearhouse South Africa Group of Companies, has been awarded a 39 million South African Rand contract by the City of Johannesburg to supply and install a High Definition IPTV, digital signage video distribution system as well as two large format, high resolution outdoor LED screens at the brand new flagship Soccer City Stadium venue.

Offering a 95,000 capacity, Soccer City is located near Soweto, and will see a major part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup action, including the Final and the tournament's Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

The two 86sq.m Lighthouse R16i/o-II screens will comprise 224 lightweight LED panels, fed by a Vista Spyder video control system, running in conjunction with Christie Digital's newly released Vista Universal Routing Switcher (URS-1608). The control system has been designed for maximum flexibility, with all com

Rwanda - With the help of Brighton-based studio manager Dicken Marshall, a Rwandan charity has built a recording studio to help improve the lives of genocide survivors, choosing to install two Allen & Heath ZED-R16 Firewire recording mixers in the new facilities.

Solace Ministries was established in 1996 to help provide comfort to widows and orphans of the 1994 atrocities through counselling, childcare and development support, healthcare, farming associations and supportive programmes.

"Music is a fundamental part of Rwandan life, and for many people it is one of the few comforts they have left," explains Marshall.

Marshall decided to offer his expertise to provide a recording space for the charity's music development programme, which includes a full choir. He raised funds in the UK to buy all the necessary equipment, personally installed it, and trained the venue'

Germany - German rental company and L-Acoustics Rental Network Agent Sirius Showequipment AG provided an L-Acoustics K1/Kudo system for Pyromusikale 2009, three firework displays with musical accompaniment at the Tempelhof Airport, Berlin. Sirius is one of several international companies participating in the L-Acoustics K1/Kudo pilot program.

The total system provided by Sirius comprised 48 K1 line source cabinets, 12 K1 SB subs, 72 Kudo units, 24 SB28 subs and six ARCs, all driven by 78 LA8 amplified controllers in LA-RAK touring racks.

The challenge of this unique event was to synchronise the three firework displays with live jazz, pop, rock and classical music across the large area of the former Berlin airport. "The four K1 towers were very far away from each other," says Wolfgang "Schabbach" Neumann, CEO of Sirius Showequipment. "The K1/Kudo system

Spain - Renovation of an early 20th century building which was once the main slaughterhouse in Valencia recently transformed the building into a point of reference for cultural and athletic facilities in Valencia's capital city. In keeping with current demands and needs, the complex's nearly 13,000sq.m have been appropriately refurbished to adapt to a variety of athletic and cultural activities.

Among many attributes the complex boasts a magnificent multi-purpose hall with room for more than 300 people and an integral professional sound system provided by D.A.S. The system was installed by Megafonía Torres, S.L., industry pioneers with over 60 years' of professional experience in the sector.

Like many auditoriums or halls with a similar layout and acoustic profile, the use of compact array speakers was an ideal set-up in order to achieve optimal levels of sound pressure and c

UK - Defying the economic gloom mongers and with more than a week still to go, PLASA09 pre-show registrations currently match last year's record-breaking total of 15,000, the organisers report.

There will be more for visitors to see, too, as a further 10 new exhibitors have signed up for the show at Earls Court on September 13-16, bringing the total of new and returning exhibitors to 50. The seminar program has also been expanded, with two new audio-related sessions on Tuesday, 15 September.

Another major new addition to the show is the Supply2.gov.uk Lounge, a central feature area giving exhibitors and visitors the chance to get advice from Supply2.gov.uk - the portal that helps SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) gain access to public sector contract opportunities, typically worth up to £100,000.

PLASA is investing in this new feature area to raise awareness am

Finland - Clay Paky's Alpha Beam 300 recently aided a dynamic mix of choir-meets-rock'n'roll at Kuorosota (Battle of the Choirs) in Lahti, Finland. The format is similar to a singing contest, although the participants are not what you would expect. If you're picturing a stoic and formally robed choir singing hymnals, you're way off. After all, this is Finland.

The concept of the program is that choir leaders, who are already established in the music industry, pick ordinary people for a choir from their respective hometowns. The choirs then compete with popular songs during a six-week live television broadcast, with long hair and rock music a common theme. TV viewers vote and determine the winner, and each week another choir gets voted off. The final winner gets to select a charity from their town to receive 40,000 Euros. Approximately half a million people watch every week - rou

UK - The Gosport Waterfront Festival which took place from 28-30th August saw the UK festival debut of a pair of Innovason Eclipse consoles and a Tannoy VQ Live system supplied to PA company Technical Services by Red Square Audio.

A total of 28 bands took to the stage with an average attendance of 4,000 people on each of the show days. Headliners included the Kenny Jones Band, Alan Price, Maggie Bell, Angelo Starr, and Chichino. Red Square Audio's Paul Nicholson took charge of front-of-house duties with Andy Reeves on monitors.

Paul says: "We set up a generic 42-channel plot for the entire event and just picked what we wanted for each band. With the flexibility that the Eclipse offers it was the easiest three days I've ever had behind a console. I configured 10 VCAs and ran the onboard 64-track MARS recorder to multitrack a dozen or so bands which we then used for virtual

USA - ESTA (Entertainment Services and Technology Association) is pleased to announce the finalists in the second annual Rock Our World Awards to be presented at the ESTA Annual Dinner & Awards Ceremony at LDI 2009. The ESTA Rock Our World Awards were created to honour groundbreaking achievement by its members and to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of the technology and the designer or integrator who applies it in a real world environment. The finalists for the second annual Rock Our World Awards are:

Cobra Display - Element Labs, Inc.
DMXIS - ENTTEC
P3-100 System Controller - Martin Professional
OPTI Trilite V-Truss - Optikinetics Ltd
Bad Boy Luminaire - Production Resource Group
SRI ProPlus Fall Protection Systems - Sapsis Rigging Inc
Helix P1 in Marco Borsato's Wit Licht (White Light) Concert Tour - Element Labs, Inc
The Grand Mosque, Abu D

France - The European Space Agency hosted a spectacular celebration on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing at the Citadelle, an ancient fortress high above St. Tropezon 29 July, 2009.

As a highlight of the evening's festivities, an audience of around 1,200 invited guests from around the world experienced a laser performance by tarm Showlaser GmbH. A 15-minute collage of video projections and laser effects above the Gulf of St. Tropez and St. Maxime motivated attendees to rousing standing ovations.

Buzz Aldrin, one of the three astronauts who, on 20 July, 1969, were the first human beings to set foot on the moon, thanked the host organization with the words "a wonderful evening with an outstanding show."

(Jim Evans)

UK - HSL once again supplied lighting and power distribution to C venues' performance spaces at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. C venues is the home to the largest theatre and new writing programme at the event, featuring a busy schedule of physical theatre, drama, comedy, dance, music, musicals, mime, opera, children's shows, visual arts and more.

HSL project manager Mike Oates worked closely with C venues' production manager Richard Williamson co-ordinating the requirements for their 16 different performance spaces spread across five buildings in central Edinburgh.

Williamson says: "HSL has been great to work with as always - they are efficient, flexible, and extremely quick at sorting anything if the need arises. They are not the cheapest option, but we wanted a quality and level of service to suit our extremely busy and demanding production schedules."

The

Malaysia - When Peabo Bryson performed for a charity gala dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur last June, the Soundcraft Vi6 and Si3 consoles were used for front-of-house and monitor mixing. The sgow was part of the High Networth Summit and Pride Foundation Charity Gala Dinner, both of which were set up by former Malaysia Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Badwal as an initiative to support breast cancer patients.

For the event, sound company Show Gear deployed a Soundcraft Vi6 front of house console and Soundcraft Si3 monitor console, which were supplied by Soundcraft distributor Systems Electronics & Engineering.

"The Soundcraft Vi6 is easy to set up and repatch, and the usability allows even the most elementary sound engineer to programme and run any level event, even on their first use," said the Show Gear team. "The user interface is very straight

Bulgaria - Much like its Eastern European neighbours, Bulgaria has experienced some rapid growth in the night club sector in recent years, possibly reflecting the increasing levels of disposable income among the young adult populations that typically fuel that market. Club Deluxe, in the southern city of Asenovgrad, close to Bulgaria's second largest city of Plovdiv, is a good example of the shiny new dance music clubs springing up across the country.

Located over 500sq.m split across two floor levels, Club Deluxe is open six days a week running from Monday to Saturday and caters for just about every musical genre from retro and pop to house and techno. Designed by acoustic and stage lighting specialist, Eliana Spasov, the style of the club is distinctly modern, with an arty-industrial feel to it. Low level neon and laser lighting is used carefully throughout, coupled with indus

Europe - Linkin Park returned to Europe this July and August with selected headlining dates and festival appearances. Linkin Park carried their own board group, stage set and monitor package consisting of 10 Adamson M15 wedges and four SX18 for their on stage side-fills delivered by SSE (UK). European Adamson Y-Axis partners Livesound B AG (Switzerland) and Satis&Fy AG Werne (Germany) teamed up to support Linkin Park's non-festival dates in Switzerland and Germany.

Livesound B AG provided a complete audio package for the single indoor show of the tour in Zurich, Livesound's system engineer Sven Gerber did the initial Hallenstadion Shooter simulation, and worked closely with Linkin Park's systems engineer Chris Hoff on alignment and tuning of the system. The design featured flown L and R hangs of 12 Y18's, and six T-21 Subs per side on the ground. A total of 16 Y10's were flown a

USA - A cantilevered Milos QuickTruss structure proved to be the solution for New York-based event production company SIA Acoustics and Madison Square Music, a popular summer concert series held in New York City's Madison Square Park.

SIA Acoustics designed the cantilevered QuickTruss structure using only two towers to suspend the roof canopy and technical systems above the stage. Instead of ballast, concrete footings poured beneath the walkway were fitted with threaded rods and QuickTruss connectors. Completely concealed when not in use, the anchors could be uncovered only when needed, the towers dropped onto the Milos connectors, and the roof then placed on top.

The structure also complements the spirit and feel of the park in many ways. The Madison Square Park Conservancy strives for a peaceful musical experience for its listeners, rather than a big rock concert production.

UK - Cast Software has a lot in store for visitors at PLASA09. Every day during the show, Cast will host a professional wysiwyg User for attendees to meet. This relaxed format will display samples of work, Q&A time, and a chance to meet new faces. Visitors during the Guest Speaker times can enter a business card in a draw to win a free 3-month extension to an existing membership (or a special price for new software). The guests include:

Richard Cadena (Sunday), the author of Lighting Design for Modern Houses of Worship, Electricity for the Entertainment Electrician and Technician and Automated Lighting: The Art and Science of Moving Light. He is a freelance lighting designer/consultant and an Authorised wysiwyg trainer.

Mikael Berglund (Monday) who has a 30-year career in lighting design in everything from theatre and live concert tours to architectural a

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