UK - An early adopter of digital technology, Scouting For Girls' Front of House engineer Andy Williamson has been, up until now, a regular user of consoles by other manufacturers. However, at the start of the band's recent tour, which finished in Brighton at the end of May, audio rental company Capital Sound's Paul Timmins presented Andy with an opportunity to use a DiGiCo console.

"As soon as digital came out I jumped on it," says Williamson. "I love analogue, but the digital footprint is fantastic. However, you get used to certain characteristics of different consoles, with the result that I ended up using other manufacturers digital mixers.

"But then Paul offered me the chance to use an SD7. Having done a little research and read through the specs, I knew it was complete overkill for what I needed with regards to inputs and outputs, but the specs were so

UK - Revamped conference sessions, networking opportunities that include a Thames riverboat cruise, and the launch of the Live Music Business Awards are all features of the fourth LIVE UK Summit, set for 6-7 October.

The awards event will cover around 20 categories, ranging from Best Venue Teamwork - Arena/Concert/Club, Promoter of the Year and Best Media Campaign, to Agent of the Year, Breaking the Mould (live show innovation) and Best Record Company Partner.

The winners will be selected through votes cast by groups of carefully selected professionals with direct experience in the respective categories, supplemented by open voting online.

Meanwhile, The Summit itself will feature conference sessions covering vital topics affecting the industry, keynote presentations, a celebrity Q&A session and an afternoon of special panels devoted to the unsigned and emerging artiste sect

France - Following the unveiling of APG's new DX range of multipurpose loudspeakers at ProLight + Sound 2010 in Frankfurt, the company has announced that a number of French rental companies have already taken delivery of the new units with several more on back order for next month.

Those already in possession of their DX Series loudspeakers include Visuel in Normandy who have already used them for the Fete de la Musique on 21 June; Alpha Audio in La Rochelle; and SNO Technique just outside Paris. In addition to sales in the domestic market, there are also a number of orders in preparation for the export market, particularly to Germany and the UK where APG has developed strong distribution partnerships.

APG head of sales and marketing, Xavier Pion, comments, "We were pretty confident that we'd have a great reaction to the new range, but it's always reassuring when t

Europe - Bandit Lites reports a busy European summer season, with systems supplied for the Sugababes for LD Matthew Jensen and PM Andrew Thornton as well as Thievery Corporation's European tour for LD Eric Cathcart. George Benson's UK tour with support from Marti Pellow once again relied on Bandit to supply a Martin Nicholas designed rig. Kenny Rogers has just completed a successful UK trek with Jeff Metter in the LD saddle.

Bandit's other upcoming and current work includes the Once in a Lifetime UK tour, Al Green & Michael McDonald's UK shows, the Schools' Supersing Liverpool choir event, Pure's fashion show, The Saturdays' UK dates, Seal's forthcoming European tour, Westlife's outdoor summer shows, plus festival dates with Faith No More as well as European tours with ZZ Top, Jackson Browne and Crosby, Stills & Nash.

(Jim Evans)

South Africa - Robe lighting did its bit to represent the Czech Republic in the absence of the country's football team from the World Cup tournament - with Robe moving lights used extensively for the official Kick Off Concert, staged in Orlando Stadium, Soweto, Johannesburg.

The show featured a star studded line up, headlined by Shakira, The Black Eyed Peas, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Vusi Mahlasela, Blk Jks, Juanez, Tinariwen, The Parlotones, Big Nuz & DJ Tira and many more. There were also addresses by South African President, Jacob Zuma and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

All the lighting equipment was supplied by Gearhouse South Africa, the lighting design was created by Patrick Woodroffe and the show was programmed by Tim Routledge. The final three-hour section was broadcast live via the South African Broadcasting Company (SABC) and syndicated wor

USA - Theatrical Lighting Systems (TLS) brought 'new light'to a long established event at Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson, MIss. The USA International Ballet Competition, (USA IBC) calls Jackson, home thanks to a 1982 Joint Resolution of United States Congress. Every four years, dancers from around the globe come to Jackson to compete and learn.

This year, locally operated TLSMississippi contracted with USA IBC to provide the additional lighting system requirements for the competition which began 12 June.

David Milly, owner of the Huntsville, Ala., based TLS, says, "We are glad USA IBC chose to use a local company for this world renown competition. It's a great thing for the state of Mississippi when large events such as this use local small businesses as a resource. It benefits all of us."

Andy Prince, project manager for rentals at TLS worked with USA IBC lighting de

UK - Still a concert-hall favourite at 71, Kenny Rogers - wearing a crisp white shirt to match the patrician beard - has completed a UK tour, playing concerts in England, Scotland and Ireland with Nexo-centred audio production support from the SSE Audio Group.

In a career spanning six decades, he's given more shows than many younger artists have had hot dinners, and the same can be said of long-time front-of-house sound engineer Keith Bugos, who started mixing for Kenny Rogers when he was with the First Edition, 39 years ago.

"We've definitely seen some changes over the years," says this master of understatement, "not least with the equipment we are using. Back in the late 80s, when Kenny was blazing hot and selling out arenas in a couple of hours, we were long-term clients of Clair Bros and carrying all our own production. Today, with shorter tours, we carry co

China - What started with a major opening ceremony has also proved to be a huge success for grandMA - the 2010 Shanghai Expo.

During the ceremony the full scope of MA Lighting's grandMA series was used - including grandMA2 consoles, MA NPUs (Network Processing Unit) and MA NSPs (Network Signal Processor). But that was far from the end of the story for MA Lighting - it was just the beginning. A plethora of pavilions, stages, central buildings and squares on the huge Expo site also trust in the latest control technology from the German company.

Sites using grandMA/grandMA2 systems include: Culture Centre, Expo Centre, Performance Hall, European Square, Asian Square, Pacific Square, City Square, African Square, American Square, Greenland Square, Baosteel Stage, Boatyard Theatre, Chinese Pavilion, German Pavilion, Lithuanian Pavilion, Private Enterprises Joint Pavilion and the The

Syria - Last month, Buildex, the leading building and construction industry trade fair in the Arab world, was held in Damascus, Syria.

Buildex takes place every year and showcases raw materials and machinery for civil and industrial building industry and also represents a strategic meeting point for professionals and leading companies from that region who work in this field.

Technical Light and Sound Group (TLSC Group), the Syrian distributor known as SADA on the local market, presented a selected range of Proel solutions suitable for permanent installations and other applications.

Among the Proel products, visitors saw Proel's Flash Speaker Enclosure Series, HPD Digital Amplifier Series, a wide range of accessories and loudspeakers from AVL Systems Division for PA applications.

"Once more, this edition of Buildex confirmed its strategic importance for the professiona

Italy - ETC's Rome office has been busy recently, with a number of outings for the Selador series of LED fixtures. At the third Festival of Scenic Arts at the Casa dell'Architettura in Rome, Fulvio Cotogni, regional manager for southern Europe at ETC, joined Italian-based lighting designer AJ Weissbard on stage to discuss the latest developments with ETC's Selador series of LED fixtures.

In spite of difficulties faced as a result of the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano, which meant that invited speakers from several European states could not attend, the four-day conference saw audience figures top 800.

"Selador received a great deal of interest at the festival, thanks to its innovative colour mixing," commented Cotogni after the event. "The latest additions to the range - Vivid Fire and Vivid Ice - were specifically designed in response to user requests, who

UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians reports that the 32nd ABTT Theatre Show was its biggest show yet, both in the number of visitors through the doors and exhibiting companies that filled The Royal Horticultural Halls to capacity.

This year's record attendance bucked trends with a return to the show's previous visitor record in 2008. This rise in attendance following a dip due to a tube strike during the 2009 event and highlights the show's position of strength despite the recession.

The Show's success is attributed to its compact footprint, un-intimidating atmosphere and ever-expanding visitor base, say the organisers. The ABTT Theatre Show covers the spectrum of products and services for the theatre production and staging market, with a strong showing from the engineering sector, but also from the sound and lighting fraternity. It provides the only platform f

UK - Belfast-based Production Services Ireland (PSI), a regular provider of rigging services and equipment for Ireland's leading entertainment shows, has launched a series of regular two-day rgging awareness training courses.

This initiative is the brainchild of PSI's Sean Pagel, who also heads up the company's rigging team. It's something that PSI has wanted to do for some time - but the recent move to larger premises with a large dedicated training room has really facilitated this on a practical level.

Apart from the demand for it, one advantage for PSI explains Pagel is that many venues are council run, and have a commitment to keep their staff updated with the latest good working practices. "Therefore it's really important that they have a concept of what rigging is all about - it's one of the starting points for any show," he says.

Pagel qualifies that it's im

South Africa - Robe Robin 300 Spot and Wash moving light fixtures are making a big impact in the World Cup Broadcast studio for SABC (the South African Broadcasting Corporation), which has been set up in Exhibition 1 at the Sandton Convention Centre, central Johannesburg.

All SABC's 2010 FIFA World Cup match coverage happens in this studio along with several other regular programmes which are broadcast from this temporary location for the duration of the World Cup.

The spectacular set is designed by Dewet Meyer and has lighting, depth and dynamics much in mind. The lighting design is by Andre Rossouw of SABC and Francois van der Merwe of MJ Event Gear. Van der Merwe also programmed the show and is sharing operating duties with Theo Roodt. The equipment is supplied by MJ and SABC.

MJ brought in the moving lights - including the 36 Robin 300s which were purchased specially for

UK - The 2010 ABTT Theatre Show saw the launch of a new online store for the entertainment industry - oubiance.co.uk. The idea behind the website is that the goods available are not simply uploaded from a product database; each item is input by one of the experienced technicians on the team.

Barclay Dakers, who heads up oubiance.co.uk, said: "Traditionally, online shopping for theatrical consumables can take up a considerable amount of time, wading through difficult to understand codes and product descriptions. We wanted to offer a completely different way of doing things. This site is run by techs, for techs."

The site utilises easy to navigate menus and aims to cut through the confusion by offering simpler methods of finding the desired item. For example, the range of replacement lamps is illustrated to enable users to compare what's in their hand with what's on th

UK - Returning to London from touring with Beyonce and recording her debut album in New York, Katy Shotter performed a homecoming concert at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon.

Lighting designer Dan Terry chose White Light to supply lighting and video equipment for the event. The lighting rig consisted of 12 VLX LED moving heads and six VL3500Q Spots. Due to the limited load in and fit up time the design needed to be quick to rig, reliable and versatile.

"A variation of effects and looks was needed for a concert that was full of different musical styles. I was eager to use the new VLX wash lights and I was impressed with their output. I also needed spots with a bit of punch and the VL35000Qs were ideal," says Terry.

Supplementing the lighting rig, White Light supplied a Hippo Critter Media Server. Terry pre-loaded the content onto the Hippo Critter at White Light's Sou

USA - Welsh rockers Bullet for my Valentine have just finished their club tour across the US which saw them taking in the breadth of the country with a tightly packed schedule.

Lighting designer Christian Bonde knew that with lots of travelling, short load in and out times - and no certainty of the house gear each day - that he needed to bring fixtures that would be bright, fast, easy to rig, and take up next to no space in one of the two bus trailers they had (which also had to take backline, audio, wardrobe and merchandising).

Bonde decided that the GLP impression fitted the bill and took eight as the main part of his system for the show (moving up to 10 for the European leg). He commented, "The impressions were perfect - plug and play, just as I like them. This meant I could rig and de-rig them easily by myself if the local crew were busy with the extensive backline we

UK - When events management company Rel-Event was looking for someone to light a series of outdoor events, they started by seeking personal recommendations - and one company which kept coming up was London Light Production Services.

They went on to commission London Light to provide design, equipment, crew and transport for the production lighting for three outdoor events over the summer period, with the first taking place at Dunsfold, Surrey, in June. The event, called Strings and Wings, started on a Friday evening with a Queen tribute act, re-enacting some of the finest music of the 1970s. Then, on the following day, the history of the aerodrome was celebrated with a classic concert in honour of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

James Hodgeson, managing director at Rel-Event, says, "Although we've worked with London Light's technical director Sam Cro

Rock & Royal - This year's Glastonbury will be remembered for the unusually sunny weather and the number of surprise guests. U2 guitarist The Edge joined Muse, Kylie Minogue sang with Scissor Sisters, Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood played an unannounced set and Lou Reed was among those on stage with Gorillaz on Friday. Prince Charles also surprised fans when he went on a walkabout and trod the Pyramid Stage boards during the festival's first royal visit on Thursday. Organiser Michael Eavis said his event had "finally got the royal seal of approval" on its 40th anniversary.

Stevie Wonder helped the festival celebrate its 40th anniversary with a crowd-pleasing set to close this year's event. He brought Michael Eavis on to the stage to help sing a version of Happy Birthday.

In The Sale Room (1) - A crystal-studded glove belonging to the late po

UK - The drpgroup has completed another of its 30 Corporate Social Responsibility projects in honour of its anniversary year. The group embarked on the Believe Programme in conjunction with national charity Springboard UK and provided a group of unemployed individuals with the chance to undergo a training programme designed to prepare them for work in the hospitality, leisure and events industries.

The group had a special announcement to make at its 30th anniversary celebrations on 19 June, held at West Midlands Safari Park. It was an emotional moment as one member of the programme was offered the surprise opportunity to become a drpteam member as an events assistant.

The Believe programme began in April with 30 potential candidates joining the scheme. These individuals received expert training in computer skills, administration skills and a basic understanding of what it is l

USA - The first AES/EBU digital variant of the award-winning JoeCo Blackbox Recorder has made its debut on the recent Procol Harum tour of the USA and Canada. The band played a number of solo headline shows in addition to sharing the stage with Jethro Tull during the two-week tour that took in Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Boston, Chicago and Toronto.

Linked to a Yamaha PM5D-RH console, chosen for ease of use and changeover, Procol Harum FOH engineer Graham Ewins explained how the 24-channel multi-track live audio recorder proved its worth.

"Hook-up was simplicity itself, connect the looms, connect the hard drive, power up and off you go. We had to configure our new hard drives for fat 32 file handling, but once this was done, we were up and running very easily. Procol Harum channels total to 22, with channels 23 and 24 used as a stereo pair for audience c

USA - MultiDyne has delivered two units of its LiGHTBoX to Yonkers Raceway in New York, which employs the systems to transport video from cameras located in strategic spots on the racetrack and the entire complex.

"The MultiDyne LiGHTBoX gives us a lot of flexibility, providing connectivity over one multiple strand of fibre cable," says Michael Rooney, director of Media Convergence, Empire City Casino/Yonkers Raceway. "We can go places we never thought we could, and whether it's in the casino, Winner's Circle or down in the paddock, if there's fibre there, our cameras can be there as well. Also, it was easy to integrate our older analogue cameras onto the LiGHTBoX, along with our SD and HD cameras, which gives us more camera shots and flexibility."

Rooney adds, "I will continue to use the LiGHTBoX for other organizations I work with such as the Pittsbu

South Africa - Electro-Voice loudspeakers have been chosen to provide sound reinforcement in nine of the 10 arenas hosting the 2010 World Cup, and in six of them the stadium announcers will also be using Electro-Voice wireless microphones.

Electro-Voice's partner in the region, Prosound won the commission to install the sound systems. A mammoth task: - four of the stadiums were new constructions and the other six had to be renovated, extended or partly rebuilt in order to meet the stringent demands of an event of this calibre.

In the case of the sound reinforcement, each stadium was the subject of a separate invitation to tender and to merit serious consideration each sound reinforcement solution proposed had to be tailored to the acoustic and other requirements of each individual stadium.

"Ever since founding the firm over 37 years ago, I have worked closely with Elect

Macedonia - DT Kodi recently deployed AKG's DMM 4/2/2 digital automatic microphone mixer unit as the foundation of a complete Harman Professional audio upgrade at the US Embassy in Skopje, Macedonia. The system - which also includes JBL loudspeakers, Crown amplifiers, dbx processors and additional AKG wireless products - will be used to provide sound reinforcement for the floor debates, as well as be used to satisfy conference sound requirements, entertainment requirements, and more.

The system was designed to meet a special request from the Embassy's technical department, who were seeking a system that would be able to provide open conference, simultaneous interpretation, recording and some basic sound reinforcement. Furthermore, it needed to function virtually operator free.

"When I saw the space, it was clear that it was much more than a conference hall," said DT

Canada - Christie is participating in the Experience Canada Pavilion during the 2010 G8/G20 World Summit in Toronto this month. Christie's High Definition projectors and MicroTiles play a large part in providing compelling visuals to showcase Canada as a prime destination for business, investment and tourism. Housed within the International Media Centre located in the Heritage Court of the Direct Energy Centre, the pavilion is designed to promote Canada to over 3,000 international media.

In collaboration with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) and Lord Cultural Resources of Toronto, who was selected to develop, design and implement the Canadian Pavilion, Christie's projectors promote Canadian tourism and showed 2010 FIFA World Cup matches in High Definition on 30' and 16' screens.

Christie's MicroTiles modular display technology is a focal point at the Pavi

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