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Glastonbury 2011 - Coldplay have been confirmed as one of the three headliners at this year's Glastonbury Festival in Somerset. The band will play the main Pyramid Stage on Saturday 25 June. Organiser Michael Eavis said, "Coldplay have played such a major part in the festival over the last 10 years or so. This is the triumphant return of a band that everyone here feels part of. They're one of the greatest phenomena to grow from these fields." Coldplay last headlined Glastonbury in 2005 and also topped the bill in 2002, three years after first appearing at the festival. Beyonce has also been announced as a headliner and will perform on the Pyramid Stage on the last day of the event, Sunday 26 June.

Eurovision Latest - X Factor twins Jedward have become Ireland's next Eurovision entrants with the song Lipstick. The duo beat four other acts on RTE's Late

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UK - When 300 guests sat down at a gala dinner at Australia House, to celebrate Australia Day on 22 January, they could little have anticipated the production awaiting them.

Although the Exhibition Room inside the landmark building - situated on the corner of London's Aldwych and The Strand - has been immortalised by Harry Potter (the opulent room took on the role of Gringotts Bank and has also featured in many other movies), production company Eclipse Presentations had other surprises in store.

Down the staircase in the basement they had created an outback theme (with some inspired props and an outback station pub) for pre-drinks and after dinner disco (the DJ operating from a purpose-constructed 'outback' hut), while in the main auditorium they had fielded a g 12 x 5 Christie MicroTiles media display, supplied by dry hire specialists Paragon Projection.

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China - An ETC Eos lighting control desk played a lead role for Cologne Opera last year, as the company took two shows to China.

The company was due to perform Wagner's Ring Cycle in Shanghai to support the World Expo in the city, followed by a journey to Beijing to perform Don Giovanni. However, their house desk, a Transtechnik NTX, was needed in Cologne.

Andreas Frank, head of lighting at Cologne Opera, explains, "Although the show had been programmed for its performances in Cologne using our house desk, we would only have a few days from arriving in Shanghai until the first show. So we had to get a desk which could easily handle moving lights, and not have any difficulty importing the NTX show files.

"Our contacts at ETC in Germany put us in touch with Peter Younes, a freelance programmer and operator, who was very familiar with the Eos desk, and

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Denmark - Speckle-free clarity and a wide viewing angle - plus an environmentally compatible solution - that is what Danish waste management company, Vestforbrænding needed for its process control centre. Installers eyevis (Germany) and Viju (Sweden) delivered in full, with a 6 x 2 array of 50" DLP rear-projection cubes featuring LED projection technology, SXGA+ resolution and Cross Prism Screens from dnp denmark.

Vestforbrænding processes around 900,000 tonnes of waste a year, 95% of which is recycled or used in energy recovery.

When the time came to equip its process surveillance centre, Vestforbrænding demanded more than the unobstructed visual clarity of a rear projection system. The solution also had to be compatible with its strong environmental philosophy. The exisiting system was based on lamps, "We recommended DLP rear projection cubes for Vestforbrændin

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USA - Freedom Tower, a historic 1925 landmark building in downtown Miami that serves as a memorial to Cuban immigration to the United States, recently received a dynamic nighttime transformation. The architecturally noteworthy tower, tucked amongst high rises and a major sporting venue, emerges from its surroundings in a dress of customisable colour and light provided by Martin Professional Exterior 400 luminaires.

The Exterior 400 Range - a powerful yet energy-efficient line of LED light fixtures for colored or white light projection - gives Miami Dade College the flexibility to bathe the building in any colour they choose. In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, for example, the building was bathed in pink - the official colour of breast cancer awareness - for the duration of the month.

Listed on the US National Register of Historic Places, Freedom Tower

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UK - The First Night Riders - a group of motorbike riding, theatre professionals and their friends - will once more don their leathers and helmets to raise much needed funds for The Theatrical Guild (TTG). As 2010, the one-week motorcycle ride is scheduled to visit some of the UK's most exciting theatres, towns and cities. However for added excitement riders will this year visit the Isle of Man TT course and also Stratford Upon Avon, where they will have the privilege of seeing a new production of Macbeth at the regenerated Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

The 2011 ride will rev up and burn off from the National Theatre on 18 June and the event will climax on 25 June at Alexandra Palace.

Motorbike enthusiasts from the industry are invited to join in, feel the wind in their hair and raise money for TTG, either on a daily basis or for the whole engine-revving week. Information

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UK - For The Chemical Brothers latest world tour, production designer Paul Normandale decided to think outside the box - literally. He says, "My job is to turn the band's performance into a truly three-dimensional show. I'd been sent a sample of G-LEC's Solaris+ and it gave us the idea of creating a three dimensional lighting rig."

Normandale rigged an 8m diameter truss from which he hung 48 x 8m lengths of G-LEC Solaris+ to form a circle around the band - making both them and the lighting really stand out from the crowd. The 40mm diameter LED light 'balls' of Solaris+ provide 360° viewing, which means that the graphics are visible to the audience, no matter where they are seated. And the product is light enough that Normandale is able to fly it in periodically throughout the show to surround the band.

"I've never used the product before, but when I was sent

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Spain - "This says everything you need to know about building a strong network on the back on fantastic products," commented David Rosello who heads up the d&b audiotechnik Spanish office. Speaking after receiving a special award from Produccion Audio magazine in Madrid, he said, "We have won awards from the readers of this magazine before; in the past it has been for specific d&b products, but this award is different and I'm very proud to accept it on behalf of d&b."

Produccion Audio is exhaustive in its judging process; the first stage is a readers' vote via the internet to draw up a shortlist of three nominees for each category. From these a panel of judges makes the final decision.

"The magazine appoints the judges, a selection of the great and good from all corners of the Pro Audio industry in Spain," explained Rosello. "Th

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UK - West London based rental company Entec is supplying a sound system for the ongoing Skunk Anansie world tour which has just started its latest European leg.

FOH sound engineer Paul Ramsay who has worked with the band since 1996, has specified a d&b J-Series system with d&b B2-SUBS for the euro tour which visits a range of large theatres and arenas.

Ramsay is mixing the show on the original Midas XL4 console that Entec bought when they first supplied audio for the band in 1996.

While he's a big fan of digital consoles and the DiGiCo brand in particular - he used an SD7 for the 2010 festival run, also supplied by Entec - he felt that the XL4 was and still is spot-on for the band. "Both consoles sound amazing," He says, "The SD7 has a very analogue hands-on feel about it and in fact on the summer run with this board I reckon I got stunning results. However I

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Norway - A Community sound system has been installed in the new Norwegian Sørmarka Arena, a multi-use indoor facility with an ice rink for hockey, curling and figure skating and a 400m speed skating track. Located in Stavanger, the arena is owned by the Municipalities of Stavanger, Sandnes, Sola and Randaberg and has been built to enhance the facilities available in the region.

Designed to meet the needs and standards of professional athletes, the focus of Sørmarka is also on improving public health for children and young adults through increased physical activity. The main sound system and automation for the Sørmarka facility was designed and programmed by Norsk Lydteknikk AS. with installation by Profitek AS. Using a total of 95 Community R-Series loudspeakers, the arena is the largest indoor installation of Community in Norway to date and comprises 15 R2-

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Australia - Professional Audio Technology Pty (PAT) has delivered the first K.M.E. Pano line array public address system in Australia to the Elevate Church in Wendouree, Victoria.

Elevate Church prides itself on its musical performances and audio visual displays during services and it was vital to cater to the high quality audio demands on and off the stage. The church, which can hold up to 300 worshipers during a service, was equipped with Line Array subs QLB118, Line Source Units QL1215 PANO and Versio VL12 as monitors. The digital controller amplifiers DA 428 with extensive DSP functionality drive the entire system.

Professional Audio Technology's technology director Tony Fitzsimmons comments, "We are extremely satisfied with the performance and clarity of the new system and, what is equally important, the client is very happy with their buying decision. We recommended

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Taiwan - One of Taiwan's leading artists Jay Chou held a mid-January concert in Guangzhou to welcome in the New Year. Performing at Tianhe Stadium, Guangzhou before 30,000 fans, the show was reinforced through an L-Acoustics K1 WST line source system. This was provided by new L-Acoustics rental network agent Reyn Yang Professional Sound Co, one of Taiwan's biggest rental companies, which was using its new system for the first time.

The system was configured into two L/R hangs of 12 K1s and three Kara modular line source cabinets for down-fill flown beneath six K1-SBs, and two side arrays of 10 K1s beneath six K1-SBs for far field coverage at both sides of the stadium. It was driven by LA-RAKs housing L-ACOUSTICS LA8 amplified controllers.

"This is a milestone and a revolution for the rental business in the Chinese market," says Danny Lau, managing director of L-Acous

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China - The world's largest water-based permanent show, The House of Dancing Water, is located in a purpose-built, 2000-seat theatre centred around a 160ft diameter swimming pool within Macau's City of Dreams resort.

This latest spectacular from artistic director Franco Dragone was five years in the planning and two years in creation. Lighting designer, Luc Lafortune, who has worked for many years with Dragone, designed the complex lighting for The House of Dancing Water which includes fixtures from French lighting manufacturer, Robert Juliat.

Six Robert Juliat 1800W HMI Victor followspots and 18 Robert Juliat D'Artagnan HMI zoom profile fixtures were supplied to the show's lighting supplier, White Light, by Robert Juliat dealer, Pacific Lighting HK.

The theatre is a huge space to light with a large rig of moving lights, long throw distances from differing leve

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UK - Yamaha UK's most recent two-day Motif training workshops, held at their Milton Keynes headquarters in February, was, as with the preceding three sessions earlier in the year, a complete sell-out with delegates travelling in from far and wide including Northern Scotland and one fan from Scandinavia.

The training also demonstrated the huge demographic and varied customer base embraced by the MOTIF range, occupations represented included music teachers, lawyers, church organists and GPs with skills ranging from beginners to advanced, says Yamaha.

Hosted by Yamaha's Chris Irvine and Bert Smorenburg the events have now also developed into in-depth 'try before you buy' events with a percentage of attendees not being Motif owners pre-event and happy owners post-event. Guest artist was Rihanna's keyboard player Hannah Vasanth.

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - Green Hippo has signed a distribution agreement for Germany with B&K Braun. Established in 1977, B&K Braun also distributes for GLP / G-LEC and has a large market share in trussing products by Global Truss.

Markus Augenstein from B&K Braun comments: "B&K Braun are looking forward to a successful collaboration with Green Hippo. Their products allow us to complete our product range perfectly and provide our customers with the necessary tools to put their ideas into practice. These days it is unthinkable to work without the countless possibilities and advantages that media servers have to offer and this will undoubtedly develop further in future."

Samantha Bailey from Green Hippo states, "We are pleased to welcome B&K Braun to the Green Hippo family, the enthusiasm and support they bring to the product is second to none and we have high hopes for the deve

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Germany - At the beginning of February, Elements dealers from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg visited the HK Audio headquarter in St. Wendel Germany, for a two-day product training seminar.

After a short introduction about the history of HK Audio the seminar got straight to the point. Elements, the new sound reinforcement system of HK Audio was presented with all its advantages and user benefits and discussed by all participants in detail. An extensive listening session in the HK Audio demo theatre gave the 30 participants an opportunity to experience the sound quality and performance of Elements under real life conditions. The second day featured an extensive factory tour.

"Approximately 600 dealers display and sell HK Audio products throughout Europe and convince their customers with their competence and knowledge. Excited consumers are the basis for their and a

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India - Foreigner are currently out on their first tour of India with 48 channels of ARX MSX 48 Mic Line Splitters, part of the complete audio production package supplied by Mumbai based Audio Sound.com.

The five-date tour comprises shows in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore. Foreigner are being joined on stage by Indian musician Niladri Kumar, the young Electric Sitar (Zitar) maestro who is opening each performance.

Sound.com are utilising their 48 channel rack of ARX MSX 48s for Mic and Line Splitting between the Digidesign Venue Front of House console and Yamaha PM5D-RH monitor console being used on the tour.

Sound.com are one of India's largest and most active audio production companies has recently supplied audio production and crew for events including the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, Oman's Tattoo & 40th National Day Celebrations and the 2010 IPL Award

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USA - It was the 90th anniversary of the Miss America Pageant and a pair of grandMA2 light's made their debut at the show, which was telecast live on ABC from the Planet Hollywood casino-resort in Las Vegas. The pageant reunited lighting designer Allen Branton, who returned for the fourth time, and fellow lighting directors Kevin Lawson and Felix Peralta, who marked their third year and fourth year on the show respectively.

"Because of the way the pageant is structured, we had a little extra time with several days of the preliminary pageant," says Lawson. "Felix and I worked on the show for eight days splitting the lighting rig as programmers and using the grandMA2 light in multi-user-mode: Felix lit the set and I lit the people on stage and the audience."

Atomic Lighting provided the grandMA2 light and the lighting rig, which included Vari*Lite VL3500 spot

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UK / The Netherlands - MTR reports that Steve Harley, the leader of Cockney Rebel, is endorsing the stageClix 'Jack' digital wireless system.

"The system is faultless," says Harley. "The response is immaculate and the build quality superb. I've used my stageClix 'Jack' for a hundred shows or more last year, at venues including small, acoustic-set halls right up to outdoors at the Isle Of Wight and Glastonbury festivals. I had problems for many years with wireless guitar equipment. But I hate leads rolling under my feet and was determined to keep on hoping for the real thing to come along. Eventually, I was introduced to stageClix. Worries over."

Guitarist Robbie Gladwell (Dr. Robbie) is also using the 'Pack' beltpack version in the band, and guitarist/violinist Barry Wickens joins Steve in using his own 'Jack' system on his guitar.

(Jim Evans)

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Europe - Usher's globe-trotting OMG Tour is underway as the electrifying entertainer delivers more than 50 large arena shows across North America, Europe, and Australia through March. UK audio hire company Major Tom is providing an all-Meyer Sound package built around 72 Milo line array loudspeakers and 40 700-HP subwoofers, with veteran engineer Tim Colvard at the front-of-house position.

"My approach with all mixing projects is to have the vocals on top, clean and clear. Once that's established, proper placement of the instrumentation is my next goal," says Colvard. "I try to take the whole set list into consideration to set up the dynamic structure. When the Milo system is properly set up, it is a very transparent and responsive system."

The system for each arena is configured from a touring inventory that also includes UPJ-1P VariO and M'elodie l

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Belgium - ADB Lighting systems are at the heart of two highly flexible theatres within C-Mine, a e new €300m cultural development on the site of an abandoned coalmine, in Genk, Belgium.

ADB supplied a total of 275 luminaires and 564 ways of Eurorack dimming to the project. A key aspect of the lighting installation design was the near-silent running of the Eurorack 60 dimmer. This feature enabled the design team to wall-mount the dimmers just a few metres from the main lighting bridge, thus significantly reducing the typical cable runs between dimmers and lighting fixtures and, as a result, the cost. The extra budget was then deployed to specify more dimmers, thereby greatly increasing the lighting flexibility of both theatres. "This aspect of the Eurorack dimmers has brought a big benefit to us," commented C-Mine technical director Winand Van Lil.

After the mine clo

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Egypt - A short distance west of the great city of Alexandria lies the warm coastal region of El Alamein. Now more famous as the most popular summer vacation destination for the majority of Egyptians, El Alamein is these days host to a significant and celebratory annual event.

"Amr Diab is one of Egypt's most famous singers," said Hussein Raouf of Technology KAR Inc. "A great star here and across the Middle East, he also has a reputation worldwide, winning World Music Awards in 2002 and 2007, he has performed as far away as Las Vegas."

The highly respected Diab makes just one major concert outing each Egyptian summer and his last event at El Alamein drew over 50,000 people, Cairo based Automation Inc. (a client of Technology KAR supplying the audio system.

"The show was promoted by Ayman Mohasseb of DDA," Raouf reports. "He contracted Autom

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UK - Comedian and musician Tim Minchin has just finished a seven-date tour of UK arenas where he performed with a full orchestra. For this demanding audio production, Dutch rental company Da Capo, chosen specifically for its orchestral experience, deployed a number of DiGiCo SD consoles to cope with the extensive requirements.

"We are very experienced with in-ear monitoring for orchestras and have specific systems that we use," says Da Capo founder and sound designer for the tour, Rob van der Meijs. "Initially, monitor speakers were requested, but the sound level on stage should be as low as possible so we recommended in-ears instead."

Using a system devised by Da Capo, every musician was supplied with his or her own personal amplifier. This enabled them to listen to the mix from the monitor engineer and to mix in the vocal and their own instrument to the t

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UK - The first of Artistic Licence's training days, initiated and sponsored by Artistic Licence's Wayne Howell, took place on 9 February 2011. The DALI Training was deemed "a great success and attended by industry leaders, from a wide range of disciplines, working at the forefront of DALI and DMX installations". Artistic Licence Engineering MD, Simon Hobday, led the training and answered questions on this comparatively new, but ever more frequently used, protocol.

In addition to the training, the day provided a good discussion forum and delegates came away feeling they had learnt valuable points. "DALI and DMX are being pushed as major protocols and it is important that we should be up to date on the methods and means of DMX / DALI conversion and also the problems, limitations and compensation methods of doing so," says Paul Simson of Enliten.

"It was

  1. EVA arrays for Mountaintop church
  2. Top tech team produces Grammy Awards
  3. White Light stages technology showcase
  4. Trinity College chapel upgrades with JBL
  5. Prolyte plays key role in Kazakhstan games
  6. Fuzion's Nexo on the campaign trail
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