Benelux - Rentall, one of Holland's leading technology sales and rental companies, has been appointed exclusive Benelux distributors for SGM lighting - under its newly formed division, Sales-All BV.

The appointment was confirmed, with immediate effect at this year's PLASA Show in London, by company director Michel Roelofsen, and SGM's managing director Peter Johansen and export area manager Steen Geertsen.

Along with co-founder Theo van Workum, Roelofsen has built up a formidable sales and rental company over the past 15 years, with bases throughout Holland and Germany. Their channels to market take them into television and architectural applications as well as concert and theatre touring.

"We are extremely impressed with the new range of SGM products - and over the years we have also sold a lot of older SGM fixtures," he stated. "It's important that we can do

Portugal - Following several years of strong growth as Martin Audio's exclusive Portuguese distributor, Tecnimúsica has now been awarded full brand representation by the British manufacturer for all the PALOP territories (the group of five African countries where Portuguese is the official language).

Tecnimusica's new status was confirmed during last month's PLASA Show in London by Martin Audio director of sales, Simon Bull, and export sales manager, Martin Kelly.

"We have worked with Tecnimúsica's owner Jorge de Oliveira and his team for a number of years and have been impressed by the way they have built the brand - particularly in recent years," stated Kelly.

With more than 25 years' experience behind them, Tecnimúsica's founder said he was delighted by the recognition and the increased responsibility. "It will enable us to strengthen our reputation and

Germany - The official visit to Germany of Pope Benedict XVI received worldwide press coverage, whilst the national media provided comprehensive information on the event by means of special programmes, talk shows and live reports. The highlight of the tour was a visit to the German capital, Berlin, on 22-23 September, where the Pope celebrated the Mass with 61,000 followers in the Olympic Stadium while millions more followed the event on television.

To ensure that not a word spoken by the Pope, who has a relatively quiet voice, was lost in the giant, 56,000sq.m oval stadium, sound reinforcement equipment from Electro-Voice was used exclusively.

In addition to the 171 Electro-Voice XLC enclosures already installed, a multitude of additional EV array elements were deployed. These included 104 XLD181, 40 X-Line Xvls and Xvlts (main in- and out-hangs), as well as 60 XLE181 enclosu

Tax Relief - Commercial producers and Arts Council England are lobbying the government to introduce US-style tax relief that would allow theatre investors to write off losses against income tax, reports The Stage. The Treasury has just finished consulting on proposals aimed at extending tax benefits on investment by business angels for small and start-up businesses across all sectors. However, in its response, ACE has called on the government to launch a separate review looking specifically at tax breaks for all the creative industries - including theatre - claiming there is a need for "a detailed review of the evidence base on the different forms, levels and instruments in this sector."

The arts council's director of theatre, Barbara Matthews, told The Stage, "We're sort of saying 'thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond to this, it might

UK - In a sales initiative pioneered by the White Rose shopping centre in Leeds Joe McElderry and the Rizzle Kicks performed to a crowd of 8500 people as part of the centre's Girls night in event. All the shops reopened for the event with exclusive discounts for the ticket only evening whilst audiences were entertained by the acts.

Powered by six dB Technologies DVA T4 and three DVA S10 per side this was the system's first major event for Indivisual who recently added the system to their rental inventory and also managed the event from start to finish.

Jonathan Bentham explains, "Whilst looking for a new flag-ship line array product for our rental stock we were recommended to look at the db Technologies T4 system. The recommendation came from a fellow user who suggested it was ideal for our needs.

"After seeing and hearing the product we were instantly sold.

Bulgaria - New television station Bulgaria On Air has commissioned a major Christie MicroTiles installation at its newly-renovated facility near Sofia Airport. This is the first use of the video wall in Bulgaria.

Owned by MSAT Cable, a subsidiary of Holding Varna, the priority of this broadcaster is to deliver top quality business and financial information to local audiences and international investors, advising them on the opportunities that exist in Bulgaria. Their development strategy is to generate leads by attracting the right audience.

Assisting them in their mission is the new MicoTiles display, which is located in a versatile new studio, for which five separate stages have been built to host the different shows.

The feature backdrop is a curved display, measuring 5.71 x 2.45m and containing 112 MicroTiles. In addition there are two displays with 30 MicroTiles each (2

UK - In the few short months of being distributed in the UK by White Light, the comprehensive range of LED fixtures from Leader Light has attracted quite considerable attention - and has already been selected by a number of lighting practitioners, including the team at the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre.

The theatre has purchased seven Leader Light Stage Wash RGBAW fixtures, a 60cm long, 12cm wide, 12.5cm deep LED batten that incorporates five LED colours - red, green, blue, amber and white - to give a higher output and more flexible colour options than the more familiar three-colour RGB fixtures. The Stage Wash is easy to control, using standard 5-pin XLR DMX connectors, and has the familiar LED virtue of using less energy - 110W maximum - than equivalent tungsten fixtures.

Barry Hope, technical manager for the Birmingham Hippodrome, describes the Stage Wash as a "great p

South Africa - Capetonians were treated to the Gospel Skouspel held at the Grand Arena at the Grand West Casino in Cape Town on 10 September 2011. Ninety-one Robe fixtures controlled by an Avo with technical support from a jacked-up team, ensured a breathtaking show. Local performers included Juanita du Plessis, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Nianell, Romanz, Retief Burger, Riana Nel and Joe Niemand amongst others.

For the fifth consecutive year, Phoenix 5 called on the technical expertise of Cape Town based rental company, C&S, for the set, stage, AV, sound, lighting and rigging. The gear was jointly supplied by The Grand Arena and C&S. The day was divided into two 200-minute shows, each playing to a full audience and recorded for the television programme Kyknet on DSTV and for a DVD.

Alan Muller was the lighting designer and consultant for both lighting and rigging. "The p

Italy - dBTechnologies digital line arrays towered above the Motocross World Championship racecourse in Fermo last month. The dramatic undulations of the Italian track used for the last Grand Prix of the season could have presented quite a challenge for an audio engineer to provide complete coverage during the two-day event. Andrea Salvioli, however, was definitely up to the challenge.

Making use of the manufacturer's newest release, DVA T12, dBTechnologies product manager and audio specialist, Salvioli explains the system's design. "We used three clusters each comprising ten T12 modules, flown from a crane at a height of 16m. Beneath these were a further two stacks of the DVA S20 subwoofers, six facing one way and six the other, to get the best possible low frequency coverage for the area. One stack of subwoofers was delayed by 4.5 milliseconds to compensate for the gap be

USA - The Bible-based, evangelical Gateway Church opened its new, main Southlake campus last fall from which it oversees the North Richland Hills (NRH) campus in the centre of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex and an extension campus in Frisco, Texas which opened last July. The church has a congregation of more than 20,000 people; the senior pastor's messages from the Southlake campus are fed live to the other campuses via fiber during Sunday worship services.

Southlake boasts a grandMA2 full-size with a grandMA2 light as a backup while NRH is outfitted with a grandMA2 light - all purchased from Barbizon Lighting.

"I used to be a touring guy whose console of choice was the original grandMA," says director of lighting/stage design Kyle Russelburg. "When I joined the church in 2008, part of overhauling the current lighting system was upgrading their current lighting

Poland - Jozef Pilsudski Park in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski is one of the most popular recreational areas in Poland's Kamienna river basin. One of the latest attractions of the park is a new thousand-seater amphitheater. The programme scheduled for the new venue includes both theatrical productions and live concerts. This being the case, the amphitheater's sound reinforcement system necessarily had to be capable of offering the highest possible level of intelligibility as well as enough punch to bring musical performances to life.

The planning and implementation of the sound reinforcement solution was entrusted to two Polish companies: Tommex, the Polish Dynacord distributor, and Anna-Bud which was in charge of the installation. Together both companies opted for a lavish Dynacord system based around the compact Cobra-4 line array and featuring eight Cobra PWH planar waveguide bass

Germany - Almost half a century after their first gig in the city, The Beatles finally came home to Hamburg when the concept of a permanent interactive exhibition dedicated to the Fab Four became a reality, with a Renkus-Heinz loudspeaker system powering an immersive cinema experience.

Situated at the end of the Reeperbahn, in Hamburg's famous red-light and club district, and close to many of the venues where the band performed, Beatlemania is a 1,300 sq m celebration over five floors of the Liverpool band, from their early days in Hamburg's Indra club and Kaiser Keller to their break-up in 1970.

Technical partner for the ambitious project was Hamburg-based Amptown System Company (ASC), who designed and installed audio, lighting and video technology and integrated media systems. The client brief also called for a ticketing system using RFID technology to coordinate ticket desk

UK - The National Skills Academy is coming to the Birmingham Hippodrome on Friday 4 November for the Birmingham leg of this year's Offstage Choices programme, which introduces young people to the variety of career options available 'offstage', through workshops and tours backstage in industry venues.

Join them from 5.30pm in the StageSide bar for an evening of informal networking and the opportunity to discuss topics including:

- How the Skills Academy can benefit you

- How the NSA can support Birmingham's creative and cultural industry

- What opportunities are available with existing Skills Academy Members in the West Midlands

- The backstage training centre

- Future projects and potential opportunities

CCS Skills are particularly interested in talking to freelancers about the new freelance membership of the Skills Academy which will be rolled out in the next few mo

Denmark - Martin Professional recently held an installation products training seminar for lighting designers at its headquarters in Aarhus, the first of several planned over the coming year.

Martin product manager for fixed installations, Jonathan Meineke, headed the training with participation from members of Martin's R&D and design & application departments.

The training included an up-close look at a live lighting installation on the exterior of Martin's headquarter building, along with hands-on training in the Martin demo room. Discussions covered general lighting topics such as the appropriate use of LED, fluorescent and discharge light sources in different applications, and in-depth case stories like the award-winning Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.

The training gave lighting designers the opportunity to get hands on with several Martin installation products, including the

UK - NL Productions - the events arm of Northern Light - provided a range of equipment and services to this year's MOBO Awards, which took place in Glasgow on Wednesday 5 October.

The company was called upon to provide a variety of audio visual systems including repeater screens to the left and right of the main stage, projectors, plasmas and lighting effects.

Phil O'Halloran, head of NL Productions, commented: "It goes without saying that being asked to work on an event as prestigious as the MOBO Awards was a fantastic coup for NL Productions. We've recently rebranded to make our service offering more creative; and an event like this really enabled us to shine. We hope to continue our working relationship with the MOBO Organisation for many years to come."

NL Productions utilised Panasonic 10k projectors and two repeater screens on either side of the stage and pro

UK - London based AV and technical production services company Presentation Rentals (PR) has become the first UK company to offer an all-White d&b Audiotechnik sound system in its rental stock, which is being used to service its busy ongoing work schedule.

The initial PR White Series speakers comprise d&b T10s and B4s, which make an suitable system for high profile small to medium events, and join PR's extensive d&b audio rental stock.

PR has made the move after recent work in many venues in and around London - including art gallery and exhibition spaces - which are clean, white and airy, lending themselves ideally to the aesthetics of a white audio system. The same is true of marquees and other tensile structures, which are also usually white-based, however the new system looks equally appealing and sounds excellent anywhere with a good design and atmosphere.

Explains PR's

UK - Members of Cooper Control's entertainment lighting control team spent the month of August onsite in Edinburgh, supporting one of the world's largest and most diverse performance festivals - the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Over 150 venues selected Zero 88 control desks and dimming for their fringe appearance this year, with products being supplied from a large variety of Zero 88 dealers including Northern Light, Black Light, Hawthorn, HSL, Stage Electrics and Stage Lighting Services. On-site backup was provided by members of the Zero 88 team throughout the month long festival, including a number of training and support consoles supplied directly to give venue staff members an opportunity to try out equipment even whilst theirs was in use.

Continuing its partnership with the festival, which began in 2003, the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe proved to be one of the busiest years for Ze

UK - Audio Light Systems has recently completed work at the Theatre Royal Newcastle on the restoration project.

The ambitious development required the technical infrastructure to be replaced in the main auditorium and surrounding spaces. Audio Light Systems working to a Charcoal Blue specification completed the five-month build with the usual high standards required for this level of work.

Over 20 miles of cable, over 100 new panels were used and more than 3,500 man hours were taken during the short build period. The Audio Light Systems project engineer Dennis Martin used his extensive experience to make sure the project programme ran as smoothly as possible.

"The auditorium has been fully refurbished and it was a priority that newly installed facilities be discrete, if not invisible. This was a challenge, but the end result was outstanding. Doughty panels and IWB's wer

France - Nexo Geo S12 line array cabinets have been chosen by the Theatre Mac-Nab, the municipal arthouse of the French town of Vierzon, near Orleans. Installed by rental and installation specialist XB Diffusion, the system is a pgood example of Nexo's sound reinforcement solution for a 500-capacity auditorium.

The theatre is named after the celebrated 19th century singer Maurice Mac-Nab, a native of Vierzon. Now in its 12th season, this dynamic venue punches well above its weight, booking well-known artists and hosting an eclectic programme of classical music, variety, drama and musical theatre productions, contemporary dance and comedy. Technical director Jean Marc Bondeux recently commissioned a new sound system, capable of handling such a diverse artistic menu.

XB Diffusion has given Theatre Mac-Nab a very versatile answer, a Nexo Geo S12 line array system that lives insid

New Zealand - St. Peter's School in Cambridge, New Zealand, recently installed an Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system in its 600-capacity auditorium. Comprising an iDR-32 MixRack with iLive-T112 Control Surface, the system is an upgrade to the incumbent analogue mixer.

One of New Zealand's leading independent secondary schools, St. Peter's is set in 100 acres of land and includes facilities such as an equestrian park and golf academy. The auditorium hosts various dance, drama and music events throughout the academic year, culminating in an intensive performing arts fortnight, which includes two variety concerts, a rock concert, dance showcase and house music competitions.

"We have had a variety of A&H desks over the years and we loved our GL2800 but the complexities of the concerts we stage and the scale of our annual major production means an upgrade to digital was

Australia - St Catherine's school in the Sydney suburb of Waverley is both the oldest Anglican girls' school and the oldest independent girls' school in Australia. It boasts many famous old girls including Dame Joan Sutherland and the school's performing arts centre - the Dame Joan Sutherland Centre - is named in her honour.

However, the centre was opened 15 years ago and although their sound system, supplied by Jands Contracting, way back when, and incorporating JBL speakers, had performed magnificently over this time it was starting to show its age and needed to be updated to meet current technologies.

Rod McKinnon, from Jands Sales followed up an inquiry, and involved Lee Conlon, managing director of Revolver Audio, to implement, supply and install a renewed solution in terms of their audio system.

"The school was happy with the performance that their old JBL system

UK - XL Video supplied LED screens, Video projection, IMAG camera system, HD playback and control systems and crew for the spectacular celebration event marking 25 Years of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera musical, produced by Cameron Macintosh and staged in London's Royal Albert Hall.

The high-impact digital scenery and projections elements were designed by Jon Driscoll. He was asked onboard by the anniversary show's designer Matt Kinley and by Cameron Macintosh's production manager Nic Harris. Driscoll also designed the projections for Phantom sequel Love Never Dies which ran at the Adelphi Theatre.

Driscoll in turn asked XL to provide the hardware, with XL's Paul Wood project managing their elements of the three RAH shows, the final one of which was broadcast live to movie houses in the US, Japan, Australia, Europe and across the UK. Driscoll has wor

Europe - Making significant progress in its technical work, the OCA Alliance pre-released a first set of technical documents to its observer members, making it possible to follow up on the process to become an open public standard for professional media network systems.

The Open Control Architecture Alliance has been formed to ensure the standardisation for a wide interoperability of professional audio equipment. Since its formation in June 2011 the nine full members have been working towards a final technical definition of OCA and it eventually becoming worldwide standard.

The following documents are now available to observer members: OCF Open Control Architecture Framework and OCC Open Control Architecture Control Classes.

The observer members are encouraged to give their feedback to the OCA Alliance at this early stage of development and will be able to join

Finland - The Espoo Cultural Centre (Espoon kulttuurikeskus) is the premier venue for performing arts and cultural life in Espoo, Finland's second largest city. Earlier this year, Meyer Sound dealer Studiotec installed a new M'elodie line array system in the cultural centre's 800-seat Tapiola Hall (Tapiolasali).

System versatility is key at the Tapiola Hall, which hosts musicians from around the world for dance, opera, and conferences, as well as crossover performances with classical orchestras and electric bands. Local children with their Finnish kantele are also amongst the stars at the venue.

"The sound reinforcement system has to be very sensitive and very powerful, while the clarity must remain the same for every performance," says Tuomo Matikka, sound designer at the Espoo Cultural Centre. "Because the installation is in a concert hall, the system must als

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