Russia - One of Moscow's landmark live music venues, B1 Maximum, recently re-opened after a major refurbishment and change of identity to A2. A hallmark of the updated venue is a new live-performance sound system. Primary components of the new sound system, unveiled to the public on 18 December, include JBL Vertec line arrays, sold through Harman Professional distributors A&T Trade and installed by St. Petersburg-based concert sound rental company, Euroshow.

A2 is the latest metamorphosis of a building that was originally one of the Ordzhonikidze Moscow Machine-Tool Plant workshops, named after famous Georgian Bolshevik Sergo Ordzhonikidze. The original factory dates back to the 1930s, with a three-storey addition having been built in 1974.

B1 Maximum opened in December, 2006, and has presented many international artists including Iggy Pop, Sinead O'Connor, Franz Ferdinand, Ch

UK - The Blue Room Technical Forums have announced a major upgrade to their popular website. After eight years the site has secured over 15,000 members and over 370,000 posts.

The latest software includes integration of social networking features offering users the facility to share content with their contacts over sites such as Twitter and Facebook, a completely new look and feel together with a modern, stylish, new logo. Updated Blue Room merchandise, featuring the new logo, is now available for purchase through a dedicated web store. As ever The Blue Room remains a not for profit organisation run entirely by volunteers, with all money raised invested back into the running of the site.

Although designed for future proofing, the Blue Room's investment in a dedicated web server back in 2004 has now been surpassed by the demand for the site. The upgrade sees a move to a new ser

Poland - Constitution Square in Warsaw was the venue for the Euro Vision gala, billed as "The Greatest New Year's Eve in Europe". ARAM, one of the largest Polish event engineering companies, was a one of gear suppliers for this occasion.

A giant dome stage was covered by LED Grid modules from Fourlight, with a total hang of 1,400 pieces. They were all combined into one big screen controlled by three Catalyst media servers and a Whole Hog 3. On both sides of the stage were two large LED screens and on the floor, 180 modules of Fourlight LED Floor in star formation. The lighting includes Vari*Lites and fixtures from Clay Paky.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Korg USA has taken on exclusive US distribution for the Elements line of HK Audio products. The Elements line of portable audio products will be debuted in the US by Korg USA at the 2011 Winter NAMM trade show.

Korg USA president Joe Castronovo noted: "In line with Korg USA's longstanding reputation as a brand builder, we welcome the opportunity to develop the HK brand in the U.S. HK is a high-quality and respected brand in Europe, and we're proud to now represent them in our market."

"I am delighted that Korg USA decided to become our exclusive Elements partner in the US market," commented Hans Stamer, president of HK Audio. "We thank Korg USA for their trust and confidence in our company and products. I am more than convinced that this partnership will be a very successful one."

"Korg USA has a reputation as a strong brand builder a

In The Money - Bon Jovi's The Circle show was the highest-earning tour of 2010, taking $201.1m (£130.7m) worldwide, according to music trade publication Pollstar. Australian rock band AC/DC landed at number two for the second year in a row, with tickets sales from their recent tour totalling $177m (£115m). U2, the top worldwide act in 2009, came in at third place, with ticket sales totalling $160.9m (£104.6m). Lady Gaga followed in fourth place, with Metallica at number five.

On The List - The Abbey Road zebra crossing in north London - made famous after appearing on a Beatles album cover - has been given Grade II listed status. The crossing - the first of its kind to be listed - is being recognised for its "cultural and historical importance" following advice from English Heritage. The Beatles were photographed on Abbey Road in I

USA - When BlizzCon 2010 opened its doors at the Anaheim Convention Centre, fans of the wildly popular video games produced by Blizzard Entertainment were treated to a serious spectacle. At the helm of the lighting design for the four-day event was designer Arnold Serame, Serame Design, who was tasked with creating a consistent yet rock-n-roll atmosphere. To bring his design to life, Serame worked with 4-Wall Los Angeles and 200 Vari*Lite luminaires.

"This was my first year with BlizzCon and right away I knew I would be in for a challenge," said Serame. "In our initial discussion about the event, Blizzard Entertainment made it clear that they wanted to really step up the production values over previous years. When BlizzCon first started it was about one-quarter of the size it is today, but the lighting, sound and video elements had not grown to support it. This ye

UK - Lighting rental company HSL, based in Blackburn, has bought 12 new Robert Juliat Lancelot 4K followspots to add to its already substantial hire stock of RJ products.

These were supplied by UK distributors White Light, and were part of a £2.5m investment that HSL has made in the last quarter of 2010 to service its ongoing work.

HSL MD Simon Stuart comments: "We have been very happy with the reliability of all the Robert Juliat products purchased over the years and with the support from RJ and White light. We know this purchase will confirm our commitment to Robert Juliat as a leading brand in this field, and we also look forward to expanding on this initial investment soon."

(Jim Evans)

USA - ANSI E1.3, Entertainment Technology - Lighting Control Systems - 0 to 10V Analogue Control Specification, and ANSI E1.27-1, Entertainment Technology-Standard for Portable Control Cables for Use with USITT DMX512/1990 and E1.11 (DMX512-A) Products, are announced as being in public review for reaffirmation from now through the end of February 2011.

The intention of the Control Protocols Working Group at this time is to reaffirm the existing standards as they are, but this is, of course, contingent on any objections or comments that the public might offer. The public review forms are accessible at http://tsp.plasa.org/tsp/documents/public_review_docs.php. The standards themselves are being sold by The ESTA Foundation at http://www.estafoundation.org/pubs.htm at their normal prices.

ANSI E1.3 describes a method of controlling equipment by means of an analogue control voltage

UK - HSL is supplying lighting equipment and crew to Production North for the first arena tour by boyband, JLS, with lighting designed by Dave Lee and a lively, entertaining show created by artistic director Beth Honan.

HSL's project manager is Mike Oates, and this follows on from their work on the band's first theatre tour earlier in the year. He says, "It's great to be out with JLS again. Production North has really upped the production values and it's good to see the band develop and become such a success."

Lighting equipment includes 160 moving lights - a mixture of Vari*Lites and Robes - including the first of the new Robe LEDWash 600 fixtures, one of many recent new purchases by HSL. The moving lights are distributed over a series of semi-circular trusses above and to the sides of the stage, and across the stage floor and set which was designed by Peter Barnes.

UK - St. Clement's church in Finsbury, London is now lighting up the capital's skyline as a result of a project designed and specified by LED suppliers Architainment Lighting in conjunction with Islington Council. The council was looking to enhance the church's identity, which had always blended into the background of King Square, and it was keen to do this using a low-energy, low-maintenance lighting system.

Architainment Lighting specified a range of LED fittings that could meet the council's environmental and financial requirements and these were then installed by Wishbone Electrical to illuminate St. Clement's portico, church tower, spire and clock.

For the spire and portico, Architainment supplied Philips Color Kinetics eW Blast Powercore and LED floodlight with a high-intensity wash of white light. For the side recesses, Philips Color Kinetics eW Graze Powercore was fitt

USA - Tonic Bar & Restaurant in Times Square NYC's first floor boasts 25 large Plasma & LCD TV's and a large marble top bar. The second floor is a restaurant with a full international menu. At the Tonic Bar facility there are also private bars for special events.

Recently the Tonic Bar installed new sound systems and Foundation Audio's installation features several RCF products.

Justin Shafran from Foundation Audio reports, "On the second floor we flew the four H1315 in the four corners of the room. We added two S8028 side by side to one side of the room dedicated to the dance area and one S8028 to the other to add some extra low frequencies to the bar area.

"On the the first floor we flew two C5215L on each side of the room for side-fill and five C5215 on U Brackets on the wall facing the bar at a 45 degree down angle. The ART 410A is being used as a DJ monitor.

USA - Located at the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip, the Tropicana Hotel has a storied history that dates back to 1957. Over the years, the 'Trop' has been spotted in films such as Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas and the James Bond 007 hit Diamonds Are Forever. The hotel's Tiffany Theatre - once home to the >I>Folies Bergère production show - now serves as a venue for a wide variety of headline shows and other entertainment. An upgraded loudspeaker system consisting of products from the Aero and Avant Series catalogs of D.A.S. Audio was recently placed into service.

Las Vegas-based A.D.D. Productions, a part of Eagle Group Holdings, manages all aspects of entertainment at the Tiffany Theatre as well as the hotel's forthcoming Las Vegas Mob Experience attraction. A.D.D. Productions general manager David DeLeo selected a sizeable D.A.S. Audio loudspea

USA - Steve Linder is the principal behind SRI Training, a company that provides strategic life coach training for thousands of clients each year. Linder's presentations utilise a variety of biofeedback and neuro linguistic programming (NLP) techniques to teach leadership, communication and other interpersonal skills to both individuals and organizations.

He uses an array of A/V technology to illustrate his points, including live video feeds, audio and video playback, live wireless microphones, and live telephone feeds. To control it all, he uses the Allen & Heath iLive R72 control surface paired with an iDR-16 MixRack.

"The iLive has really revolutionised my presentations," Linder notes. "The audio is so clean and easy to control, it really keeps everyone focused on the content. People will put up with mediocre video, but not bad audio. As soon as you have feed

USA - Human-powered flight has been a dream sought after for centuries and accomplished only very recently. Red Bull gave contestants a crack at this rarely achieved fantasy during its summer-long Flugtag competition, held nationwide.

In Long Beach, California, 105,000 spectators watched teams push whimsical contraptions from a pier. Sound for the event utilised IEEE 802.1 AVB Bridging protocol, enabled by AVB-compliant technology from Harman Professional. The signal control chain consisted of four dbx SC 32 Digital Matrix Processors and 24 AVB-capable Crown CTs 3000power amplifiers, as well a half-dozen network bridge switches from BSS Audio/NETGEAR configured and controlled using Harman HiQnet System Architect. On Stage Audio (OSA), led by vice president Jim Risgin, deployed the AVB system.

Using the HiQnet System Architect's virtual software environment, Red Bull ran audio

USA - J.R. Clancy has been selected to supply the automated rigging for Hempstead Hall, the new auditorium and conference centre at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope. The hall is scheduled to open in fall 2011.

J.R. Clancy is the rigging equipment manufacturer for the project. Pook, Diemont & Ohl is managing the project and performing the installation of all of the rigging equipment.

The 50,000sq.ft facility will feature a 1,600-seat auditorium, a convention area and an expandable exterior amphitheatre. Completion of the construction project is scheduled for January 2012.

J. R. Clancy will provide six PowerLift automated hoists, each with a 2000-pound capacity and a fixed speed of 20ft per minute. The PowerLifts will be used for the cyclorama, electrics and utility battens.

Clancy's SureTarget 10 control system will be used to control the PowerLifts' mov

USA / Australia - Intelix has partnered with Ness Corporation to better serve the Australian audio-visual market. Effective immediately, Ness is stocking and supplying Intelix hardware, including their HDMI, digital signage, security and audio/video over twisted pair solutions.

"Ness is an ideal partner in Australia," says Steve Cohan, Intelix CEO. "Their exceptional support, extensive product offerings, and numerous stocking locations cover over 95% of Australia's population, making them a leader in the datacom, security, and commercial and residential AV markets."

"Ness partners with quality suppliers from North America, Asia and Europe, allowing us to bring leading edge technology to our customers in all areas of the industry," says Greg Kingsley, Ness national integrated solutions manager. "We are always looking to expand our range and co

Germany - As its year as the Culture Capital of Europe came to a close, the Ruhr region in Germany celebrated on 18 December with a massive multi-media show broadcast live on Germany's national WDR TV from three separate locations.

The main event was staged at the disused Nordsternplatz coal mine in Gelsenkirchen which, using the latest video technology, was transformed into a life-size paddle steamer, the MS Ruhrtopia, on which a cast of artists and musicians took a journey through 2010.

With a series of video screens formed of over 500 m2 of G-LEC Phantom Frames and supplied by Videotechnics Bär, the event made a big impression on the 30,000 strong audience.

"The build-up happened under the worst meteorological conditions" says Philip Bär, owner of Videotechnics Bär. "Heavy snowfalls and winds, kindly brought to us by Cyclone Petra, were a big problem. Th

USA - Barco is supplying integrated creative lighting and projection solutions for multiple live stage and cinematic shows presented on Allure of the Seas. The cornerstone of the deployment is a 3D digital cinema theatre - the first installation on a new cruise ship - leveraging Royal Caribbean's pioneering alliance with DreamWorks Animation to showcase first-run movies produced by the company.

Barco's DP2K 20-C digital cinema projector marked the occasion by showing a video of the Princess Fiona character, from the Shrek animated movie series, christening the ship. The projector, featuring Texas Instruments' DLP Cinema technology, will present 2D and 3D movies in the ship's 1,400-seat main theatre.

"By partnering with the best manufacturers and service providers, we've been able to offer our guests the ultimate entertainment cruise experience. Barco's help

UK / USA - FocusTrack, the production lighting documentation system, and its sister software SpotTrack, for documenting followspot cues, both enjoyed a successful 2010, helping to transfer existing shows to new productions and documenting many new shows for their successful runs and future productions.

In New York, FocusTrack provided show lighting documentation for Neil Austin's Tony Award and Drama Desk award-winning lighting for Red and his Tony-award and Drama desk nominated lighting for Hamlet, as well as for Natasha Katz's Drama Desk award nominated design for The Addams Family.

FocusTrack is currently assisting with a number of productions moving to a life beyond Broadway - the transfer of Donald Holder's lighting of Come Fly Away to Las Vegas, and the US tours featuring Kevin Adams' designs for Hair, Next to Normal and Sprin

USA - Loud Technologies has announced the appointment of Studio Sound International (SSI) as the new independent sales rep firm for the company's Ampeg, Blackheart, Crate and Mackie brands in Latin America.

"I have always admired Mackie for their value and sound. Ampeg is as legendary a bass amp name as one can get, and having US and overseas-built solutions is key for the Latin-American market. Crate offers real price-point value and a name young users can trust. Blackheart has great boutique guitar amp solutions at an amazing price point, even for the most demanding players," says SSI president, Chris Adams.

"Armed with the most sought-after brands in the business, and a wide range of gear perfectly suited to the Latin American market, Loud is poised for an aggressive cycle of growth in the region," said Henri Cohen, director of sales for Loud. "SSI'

UK - High-brightness F32 series DLP projectors from Norway's projectiondesign can be found at the heart of a new training facility at the Cobham, UK offices of control and automation manufacturer, Crestron.

"Education is a huge part of our market. Our own business is no different and we've invested in the best communications technology throughout our new training and education offices," says Jamie Blakemore, UK sales manager at Crestron UK. "These are used throughout the year to train and educate our staff, partners, consultants, architects, technology suppliers and customers. We have about 1.000 people coming through our doors for training purposes alone annually. For the display of information, we're using nothing less than the 8,000 lumens high-brightness models of the F32 series.

"The projectors are certainly being put through their paces and able to ha

UK - DB Systems has become the UK's largest stockist of the NEC MultiSync 46" LCD video wall modules, following increased demand from its clients. DB currently has 60 units and associated accessories.

Oliver Richardson, DB's sales and marketing director, comments, "This product is our flagship video wall system because of what it can offer our clients. It is a display system that, when combined with the right content, ensures an exhibition stand has that elusive 'wow' factor, which gets noticed by event attendees.

"Design agencies, exhibitors and event organizers are increasingly demanding such a high quality display system, which is why we are happy to invest large sums of money to cater for the demands."

Simon Jackson, vice president of NEC Display Solutions Northern Europe adds, "DB needs the very best technology to maintain its standing amongst i

USA - AVnu Alliance has confirmed Bosch Security Systems Communications Systems Division as a new promoter member.

"Bosch Communications Systems is a strong supporter of open media networking standards," says Bill Scott, vice president of engineering and technology. "We believe that a goal of media networking development should be universal interoperability. For this to happen, the industry needs to educate the marketplace, and it needs a widely accepted compliance certification process. Bosch Communications Systems is pleased to have joined the AVnu Alliance in order to promote these principles."

"We welcome Bosch Communications Systems to the AVnu Alliance," states Lee Minich, AVnu Alliance marketing work group chairman, "and in joining our shared vision for interoperable AV networking via Audio Video Bridging (AVB) technologies."

(J

USA - At the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), sound artist Bill Fontana has added another dimension to the turret-skylight atrium atop the building by enveloping the space in a dynamic, interactive auditory experience. Entitled Sonic Shadows, Fontana's work employs eight Meyer Sound MM-4XP miniature self-powered loudspeakers - working in conjunction with four moving ultrasonic emitters - to reproduce sounds generated organically by vibrations inside the building.

"What Bill Fontana has achieved is a truly hybrid and reactive sculpture of sound in time," says Rudolf Frieling, SFMOMA curator of media arts. "Crossing the bridge on the fifth floor activates a complex work in which the invisible structures of the architecture play as large a role as the random movements of visitors. It is a unique SFMOMA sound."

Nearly invisible, the MM-4XP lo

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