UAE - AV Concepts, a Dubai rental firm focusing on corporate and live performance events has purchased HK Audio CT108 compact touring cabinets from Melody House. Distributors of HK Audio speaker systems in the United Arab Emirates, Melody House has already supplied 50 units of the popular cabinet to various rental companies across the country.

"Everybody we have demonstrated to have been impressed with the CT108s output," commented Dino Drimakis, business development manager at Melody House. "Its compact nature is the icing on the cake as it allows companies like AV Concepts to use them in various manners for different kind of events."

(Jim Evans)

UAE - Dubai based Showtech Rentals has recently acquired a wireless communication system from ClearCom's UAE distributor Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises. Distributors in the United Arab Emirates for the Live Sound market segment, NMK has supplied the rental firm the new Tempest wireless intercom system. The deal includes the 2.4GHz base station, five belt stations and a number of CC-95 headsets.

"Showtech are one of Dubai's most active rental firms, with constantly being in and out of different venues the need for a flexible yet reliable system is paramount," commented Richie Hiranandani, marketing manager. "The system also seamlessly integrates with their existing wired intercom systems, hence a clear choice for Showtech."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Jersey production/hire company, Stage2 Productions, recently bought an Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system, comprising an iDR-48 MixRack and iLive-T112 Control Surface, as part of a digital upgrade in its hire stock.

Stage2's iLive has already been used to mix monitors for Russell Watson; FOH for Jersey's Help for Haiti Concert, featuring artists Cathy Battistessa and Nerina Pallot; and on monitors at the Grassroots Festival, featuring Fun Loving Criminals, Bedouin Soundclash, Jose Gonzalez and Natty.

"I have had great success with iLive at all levels from small band/pub gigs to very large scale festivals. It's such a versatile system," comments Stage2's MD, Rob Richie. "I am so impressed that I am looking to increase our hire stock of iLive products to the modular iDR10 MixRack with iLive-144 Surface, and the compact iDR-16 MixRack with iLive-

UK - The Arena Group provided a number of temporary structures for the BRIT Awards 2011 with MasterCard creating a VIP and after party venue for artists and celebrities.

This year the BRIT Awards with MasterCard relocated to The 02 after a 13 year residency in Earls Court, creating challenges and opportunities for the events production managers in the way that they chose to utilize the space available in this new and unique arena.

To ease this transfer process and help optimise the layout of the ceremony evening, The Arena Group carefully positioned its temporary structures to make use of this large space. By transforming the area available into a pristine temporary party venue within the 02 The BRIT Awards with MasterCard were able to host the pre and post celebrations comfortably in their new home.

The Arena Group built a 40mx70m TFS structure inside the outer space of the

France - Soundcraft digital desks have piloted the sound mix for many leading rock bands over the years, but in the last six months they have also reinforced the speech of two world leaders.

Following the use of Soundcraft consoles during the visit to the UK of Pope Benedict XVI last summer, a Vi1 was again on duty in the Chateauroux region of France on 20 January 20, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed more than 1,000 health workers in the gymnasium of the local hospital in Chatillon-sur-Indre.

The rental company called in to convert the gym into a full production space were Poitiers-based sound and lighting company, SLJ Sonorisation, Eclairage, Vidéo. They built a lighting structure which was rigged in the roof while the President's staff constructed the stage itself.

FOH engineer, Benoit Lasjuilliarias, confirmed that the president always favours using lo

UK - Production Services Ireland has run its latest round of three two-day Rigging Awareness Training courses, which were completely sold out. The courses were held at PSI's Belfast HQ, where an area of the warehouse has been designated, complete with a full training truss structure set up.

Courses were limited to eight people per session, although such was the demand that 10 were accommodated on the final course. The cross section of attendees represented all areas of the industry and included venue personnel, freelancers and sound, lighting & staging rental companies. Three technicians from BBC Northern Ireland were there along with two from University College Dublin.

Freelancer Phil McVeigh used the course as an invaluable all round 'primer' opportunity before going on to successfully complete his National Rigging Certificate (NRC) Level 2 in the UK the following week.

Th

UK - High Wycombe-based industry distributor, A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd is launching a training programme to find new recruits for its expanding sales teams, aimed at individuals currently working in the entertainment sector, or with previous sales experience and looking for a change of career.

The three-week paid training programme will give candidates a thorough induction to some of the most popular and industry-standard lighting, audio, rigging and video entertainment technologies stocked by AC-ET, which supplies over 200 brands to dealers, distributors and end users in 80 countries worldwide.

Successful candidates selected from the training course will then follow a development programme over the next 12 months, depending on their individual level of industry experience.

Originally launched in 2003, the training programme has proved extremely successful, with 6

USA / Australia - Production Resource Group (PRG) has entered into an agreement with Staging Connections Group Ltd of Australia, which will see PRG acquire Bytecraft Entertainment from Staging Connections Group for A$15m. The sale is expected to complete in March 2011. Bytecraft managing director Stephen Found will continue in a leadership role at the company.

Founded in 1984, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, Bytecraft Entertainment specialises in supplying lighting, drapery and LED screen systems to a wide range of entertainment and event markets. "This acquisition will be hugely beneficial to our customers," says Found. "PRG's global reach, depth of inventory and technical expertise will provide many opportunities for our existing clients."

PRG chairman and CEO Jere Harris comments: "With the acquisition of Buytecraft, we will be able

Kenya - The Kenya Music Week serves as a showcase for the African pro audio and music scene. This year, around 50 of the leading African dealers and distributors presented their new products and services to industry insiders.

One of the focal points of interest was the booth of Dynacord and Electro-Voice's African partners Audio Visual Engineering (AVE), where visitors could enjoy live demonstrations of Dynacord D-Lite and VariLine loudspeaker systems and Electro-Voice Tour X and XLC loudspeaker systems.

In addition to daily 90-minute audio training sessions - which, besides covering the basics, included a line-array workshop and dealt with special aspects of limiters and loudspeaker controllers - the fair's four-day programme included twice-daily Open Mic sessions offering up-and-coming performers a chance to demonstrate their talent on stage. These, like the audio workshops

USA - Winners of the third annual Next Generation Luminaires (NGL) awards were announced 23 February 2011 at the Strategies in Light Conference in Santa Clara, California. Sponsored by the US Department of Energy, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, and the International Association of Lighting Designers, the competition was launched in 2008 to promote excellence in the design of energy-efficient LED luminaires for general illumination in commercial lighting applications.

This year, 42 commercial LED lighting products were recognised for excellence. Out of 138 entries from 61 different lighting companies, 33 were chosen as 'recognized' winners and four were chosen as 'best in class'. An additional five products were deemed 'notable', a new category created for those NGL entries that might not yet be considered specifiable but nevertheless have at least one out

USA - The Stage, Miami's newest music performance venue opened 7 January and is rapidly becoming the place to hear leading music acts, with styles ranging from R&B to jazz to pop/rock and even some New Age tossed in for good measure. The sound reinforcement system is drawn from the catalogue of D.A.S. Audio.

Interface Sound, a Miami-based sound services firm that specializes in live sound for concerts and the special events/corporate industrial markets while also maintaining a presence in the commercial installation business, was contracted to design and install the new sound reinforcement system at The Stage.

Ralph Alvarez, Interface Sound's owner/operator and designer of the sound system, comments, "The Stage is an area roughly 3,500sq.ft with a stage positioned along the back wall of the space. Because the venue has a wide range of music performances, we needed a louds

UK - At De Vere's Wokefield Park Hotel, Golf Club and Conference Centre, an all-Electro-Voice sound reinforcement system is helping to define different spaces and events in the newly-built Executive Centre.

Set in the rural Berkshire countryside, Wokefield Park offers a variety of meeting options for business and social events in its spacious, ultra-modern, purpose-built Executive Centre. For conferences, Christmas parties and gala dinners, the main function room can accommodate up to 550 seated, but has designed in extra flexibility using room dividers and a switchable PA system.

AV contractor Show State and its supplier Concept Audio have equipped the Executive Suite with eight EV ZX1-i/90 full-range loudspeaker cabinets in white, wall-mounted at intervals down either side of the large space. Supplemented by 2x EVID 12.1 subs, the system is powered by EV CPS amplifiers, runn

USA - All eyes turned to the stage as the familiar Theme From 2001: A Space Odyssey heralded The King. Elvis was indeed in the building - but on video.

For two days in February, Elvis Presley came alive. Pete's Big TVs/Performance Video (PBTV/PV) supplied the video projection and production to the Stig Edgren event to make it happen.

Elvis Presley in Concert reunited Elvis on video with some of his former bandmates including original musical director & conductor Joe Guercio and a 16-piece orchestra, The Sweet Inspirations female backing vocals group and a band lineup featuring James Burton (Presley's lead guitarist 1969-1977), Glen Hardin (pianist 1970-1976), Paul Leim (drums) and Nathan East (bass).

This year's shows at the Mohegan Sun Arena and at Radio City Music Hall were similar to past shows, featuring a 15x20ft high screen - portrait style - on which Elv

USA - One hundred miles from the start of the historic Natchez Trace, the city of Ridgeland, MS is steeped in the rich tradition of southern hospitality, with a small town charm and big city amenities. Ridgeland is the birthplace of country music artist Faith Hill and home to St. Columb's Episcopal Church.

The congregation of St. Columb's recently moved into their new facility. The sanctuary itself is traditional in appearance, with high ceilings and large, ornate stained glass windows, but with a few contemporary touches. Along with the new building came a new sound system, installed by Josh Sanders from Players Audio Video of Jackson, MS.

Being traditional in design, the room has a fairly live acoustical signature, which can spell trouble for amplified sound. So right from the start, Renkus-Heinz Iconyx IC24R Digitally Steerable Arrays were specified as the main loudspeaker

Australia - Equitana is probably the most anticipated annual equine event of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere attracting over 50,000 visitors per event. It is three days of everything equine featuring horses, Olympic gold medalists, educators, Aussie cowboys, an elite equine competition programme and over 350 exhibitors making up the largest equine shopping spree in Australia.

Equitana 2010 was held in November at Melbourne Showgrounds with Audio Visual Dynamics contracting Deluxe Audio to supply the sound system for the Grand Pavilion, one of the largest tensile fabric membrane structures in the region.

With many very expensive and highly strung horses performing, it was essential that the audio was carefully delivered.

"You had to deliver so that the audience could hear but there were no uneven sounds - you couldn't have a horse come round the corner and freak out

UK - Two projects that were supplied by Architainment Lighting are hoping to win an award at the upcoming Lighting Design Awards in London this March. Lighting Design International has been nominated for its work on premier office building, The Peak, and Jason Bruges Studio has also been shortlisted for its interactive lighting installation on at Sunderland Station.

Lighting Design International's (LDI) work on premier office headquarters, The Peak, in London's Victoria, has been shortlisted in the Exterior Lighting category. Along with architect, Shephard Robson, and installers, Emcor, Architainment supported LDI as it worked to transform the site's identity. Following a bespoke mock-up of the cladding, LDI specified approximately 700 fixtures of Philips Color Kinetics iColor Cove MX Powercore to light up the outside of the building.

LDI Design associate, Nishi Shah, commente

UK - XL Video celebrated its 10th consecutive year as the production video supplier - incorporating LED screens, projection systems, PPU, cameras and co-ordination of the show playback content - for the 2011 Brit Awards - for the first time staged in London's O2 Arena.

XL again followed their successful model of splitting the project management duties between Chris Saunders, who oversaw the camera and playback elements (celebrating his 17th Brit Awards) working alongside Paul Wood, who managed the screens, projection and specials packages for the various live artists.

Chris Saunders says, "It was great to be working on The All New Brits, specially in a new venue and with a new format, celebrating some of the best musical achievements of the last year in a show that continues to advance, evolve and push boundaries in technical and presentational goals, this was a stunning

USA - D&M Professional recently recognised its manufacturer's representatives for outstanding achievement in the company's fiscal year 2010. Presenting Hudson Marketing with their Rep of the Year honour, D&M Professional continued its tradition of acknowledging rep partners who distinguish themselves in the areas of attaining sales quota, market development for new products or a specific product category, inside sales support and overall excellence.

Located in Williston Park, Long Island and coversthe Tri-State NY/NJ/CT region, Hudson Marketing was founded in 1987 by company president Mike Phillips.

D&M Professional senior vice president Paul Mathis stated, "We at D&M Professional commend Hudson Marketing for going above and beyond in terms of sales, marketing, service, support and effective communication with the market. Mike Phillips and his team are creative and determ

Sweden - Erik Nordlander of Nordlander Produktion has used 18 Martin Professional Tripix 300 LED (RGB) striplights to illuminate a newly rebuilt pedestrian bridge in Kramfors, Sweden in warm shades of white light and occasionally in dynamic colour.

Mill Bridge, a charming wooden bridge used by cyclists and pedestrians alike, is located just outside the city centre of this northern Swedish town. The Municipality of Kramfors sought not only to secure the bridge at night and increase safety across the popular pathway but looked to reveal the beauty of the bridge with an aesthetic nighttime illumination.

Nine 300mm IP66-rated Tripix luminaires are mounted on the underside handrail on each side of the bridge. The Tripix 300 uses single lens tricolor RGB color mixing - a colour wash system that projects a more uniform wash of colour across a surface.

"The Tripix has exception

USA - City Theatrical reports that on 19 January 2011, SHoW DMX transmitters and receivers and SHoW DMX equipped PDS-750 TRX power/data supplies were used in the first ever installation of a wireless DMX system at the White House to light the State Dinner for President Hu Jintao of China. The dramatic and innovative lighting design was created and implemented by Al Crawford and his company, Arc3design.

Arc3design's lighting incorporated CTI's new PDS-750 TRX for controlling many of the Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12 TRX LED fixtures used in the system, and he complimented these with battery powered CTI PDS-50 and MasterBlast units driving additional individual ColorBlast 12 TRXs. The SHoW DMX wireless technology provided in these systems allowed Arc3design to locate gear wherever it was needed, and the fully featured SHoW DMX Receivers built into the PDS-750 TRX Power/Data

UK - Cooper Controls have confirmed their partnership with the Phoenix Artist Club to provide a London Training Centre for their Zero 88 lighting control products.

Situated in the heart of the West End (below the Phoenix Theatre on Charing Cross Road), the Phoenix Artist Club will play host to Zero 88's regular training sessions and product demo days.

To mark the beginning of the collaboration Cooper Controls recently sponsored the winner's prize for Talent 2011 at The Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly Circus, in aid of The Theatrical Guild - the charity for front of house and back stage staff.

Organised by Stand Well Back and The Phoenix Artist Club, Talent 2011 was the gala finale of the search for the West End's next musical theatre star, with guest judge Elaine Paige. The event was won by Rosanna Colclough, who beat ten other talented finalists with the song

The Netherlands - Projecta has introduced Tensioned Elpro Large Electrol, an electric projection screen for large venues with a tab-tensioned projection surface for a perfectly flat viewing area.

The Tensioned Elpro Large Electrol ensures the flattest possible viewing surface for a retractable screen thanks to its tab-tensioning system. The projection screen surface is tensioned in all four directions by a heavy duty aluminum extruded slat bar and nylon tensioning cables on each side to match with the parabolic curves of the screen. The end result is a projection viewing area that is evenly tensioned and suitable for all critical applications.

The Tensioned Elpro Large Electrol is available in widths from 3.5 to 4.5m and in 4:3 (Video), 16:9 (HDTV) and 16:10 (Wide) aspect ratios. The casing is equipped with flexible mounting brackets which are one metre laterally adjustable fr

UK / USA - More than 20 years of touring with such diverse acts as Rage Against The Machine, Maroon 5, Cypress Hill and Weird Al Yankovic has prepared FOH engineer Joel Lonky for a wide range of performance issues, but few are as chaotic as his current gig mixing FOH for Rob Zombie. "The show is unpredictable," he reports. "I don't have the luxury of knowing what will happen next, so I needed a console that would allow me to stay on top of any situation that might arise. The PRO6 turned out to be the ideal solution."

One PRO6 feature that Lonky really appreciates is Area B, which allows him to keep one fader group 'always on top' at the right-hand side of the surface. "I use it for Mr Zombie's mics and effects returns," he says. "I can be all over the console, yet still have Rob's priority channels at my fingertips in any scene. It's incredibly

Singapore - The inaugural Youth Olympic Games held in Singapore brought together young Olympic hopefuls aged 14 to 18 years old from 204 countries competing in 26 events.

The opening and closing ceremonies were held at the site of the Float at Marina Bay, the world's largest floating stage located in the heart of Singapore. A live audience of 27,000 plus the 3,500 athletes and an estimated 2bn television viewers watched a spectacular light, video, laser and fireworks display with the Singapore skyline serving as a backdrop.

The floating stage was surrounded by a ring of shipping containers, a reference to Singapore's prominence as South East Asia's largest harbour. In front of the containers a 5000 m2 floating 'lake' was created; at the rear a 32m high lighthouse, which held the cauldron for the Olympic flame. Lighting and video were positioned around the ring to create the pe

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