USA - Systems integration firm Axxentos of Fort Lauderdale, Florida turned to Technomad upon evaluating the outdoor audio needs of Club Med Sandpiper in nearby Port St. Lucie. The new outdoor audio systems, featuring 14 Technomad weatherproof loudspeakers, comprise part of a property-wide renovation alongside indoor AV upgrades and general construction projects.

Club Med Sandpiper's 400-square-mile resort property exists in southern Florida's sweltering climate, requiring durable outdoor audio systems that can withstand the year-round heat, humidity and moisture. The resort also required high-quality loudspeakers that could power full-range, high-volume audio over long distances, and reproduce soothing background music at clearly audible levels.

"I've learned what gear can survive in harsh environments over the years, and from all the outdoor installations I have done, on

Switzerland - A system comprised of MediorNet, Artist and RockNet equipment from Riedel Communications was used to distribute video, audio and communication signals for the renowned alpine skiing competition at the Swiss Chuenisbärgli in Adelboden.

Rivella AG was the on-site technical partner for the event. Riedel delivered a versatile installation that helped make the Ski World Cup in Adelboden a successful weekend with over 40,000 visitors - despite the bad weather conditions.

The World Cup race in the Bernese Oberland, a major event in the FIS skiing tour, is one of the most difficult giant slalom courses in the world. The demands of the event in Adelboden included establishing a reliable communications infrastructure as well providing a fail-safe distribution of the event's video and audio signals.

For the first time, Rivella used a MediorNet system to distribute

UK - Blackout provided bespoke heart shaped draping for this year's star-studded National Television Awards (NTAs) held at the O2 Arena, Wednesday 25 January 2012.

Broadcast live on ITV1, the annual event was hosted by Dermot O'Leary and saw stars from across the TV world commended in 14 categories.

This year's set design was the brainchild of Nicoline Refsing of Rockart Design and featured a stunning giant heart framing the stage and surrounding a projection screen for the show's graphics.

Blackout were contracted by NTA Producers Indigo Television and have provided extensive draping for the NTAs for the last five years. This year the five-strong team installed a custom made black wool serge drape 60m wide with a 24m drop , with a heart shape cut out to perfectly fit the set's design and allow flawless rear projection.

Chris Brain, Blackout's installation director led a t

Kazakhstan - The country marked its 20th year of independence on 1 December and President Nazarbayev chose the day to celebrate the inauguration of the fully renovated Republic Palace, the biggest concert hall in Almaty.

Begun only six months earlier, the renovation features a completely new design that includes the latest in Martin Professional lighting technology, a refurbishment that has raised the venue's profile to a "must visit" stop in central Asia.

Lighting designer for the anniversary show was François Guillet of Lumières Utiles who travelled from France to give life to the beautiful auditorium via the Martin rig.

Lighting and sound equipment was entrusted to APM Group, Martin Professional's distributor in Kazakhstan. Head of APM, CEO Maxim Vostrov, chose a large Martin package of 14 MAC III Profiles, 24 MAC 2000 Wash XBs, 110 MAC 700 Profiles, 80 MAC 70

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) 's specialist Audio division has been selected as one of the primary UK sub-distributors for RCF.

As part of the agreement, A.C. Audio will become a 'one stop shop' for all RCF equipment including the TT High Definition Touring and Theatre Professional Speaker System and Commercial/Public Address ranges.

The sales division has taken immediate stock of some of RCF's most popular ranges, including the TT Line Array, Point Source, NX series and ART series.

A.C. Audio sales manager, Peter Butler comments, "We are delighted to officially represent RCF, whose products have a strong reputation and presence throughout the production industry. We are very enthusiastic about bringing RCF products to our diverse customer base and developing the brand."

(Jim Evans)

Europe - LED lighting fixture manufacturer Prism Projection has appointed UK-based entertainment lighting specialist White Light as its exclusive distributor for all of Europe.

The agreement, reached following discussions at last year's LDI Show, expands White Light's involvement with Prism Projection; White Light has served as Prism's exclusive UK distributor for the last few years, during which time Prism's RevEAL range - CW washlight, Studio washlight and Profile spotlight - have been chosen for a number of new UK lighting installations.

"We're thrilled that Prism have entrusted us with looking after their products across Europe," comments White Light's sales director, Peter Threadgold. "We knew their products were something special from the first moment we saw them at LDI 2009; more importantly we knew the people behind the products were special, with a diff

Russia - "The important factor is to analyse exactly what is required, identify the correct tools to achieve this then implement it." Alexander Fetisov talking about a complete refit of RIA Novosty, Russia's largest and most significant news agency. A comparison to the BBC World Service might give a fair insight, RIA Novosty broadcasts in Russian and five European languages, producing programmes focussed upon political, social, economic, scientific and financial information.

"The tasks of the agency also include distribution of official messages of the Russian government, ministries, agencies and social organisations," continued Fetisov. "The offices of RIA Novosty are a complex of multi-storied buildings including a large multipurpose hall the Big Universal (BUH), several conference halls, apparatus rooms, operational halls, all located in the centre of

World - Katy Perry's engineering team relies on DPA Microphones' 4088 cardioid headsets for all the pop superstar's live performances, including her current California Dreams world tour. With the fast-paced, high-action set mechanics of the tour, Perry's front-of-house engineer Peter Keppler needed a mic that could adapt to any situation.

"When selecting a microphone, I wanted something that would provide a well-balanced, open and airy sound for Katy," says Keppler. "She's a strong singer with a great voice and I thought finding a good headset mic would be a challenge. From the moment we tried the DPA 4088, I knew the sound was no longer going to be a problem."

During Thinking of You, Perry stands atop a pink cloud that allows her to fly out over the audience playing an acoustic guitar. During this performance, Perry is in front of the main PA

Germany - In the Autostadt Wolfsburg, the communication platform of the Volkswagen operation, everything revolves around mobility. Over 23m people have visited the theme park and out-of-school learning centre since its opening in the year 2000, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in Germany.

The Autostadt is the world's largest automobile distribution centre and its automobile museum - the ZeitHaus - is the world's largest. With a multitude of cultural events staged there each year, the Autostadt is also an attractive venue for cultural pursuits, offering an ambience in which art, architecture and design combine to superlative effect in a 25-hectare landscaped park.

Work began on a technical upgrade to the Autostadt's sound reinforcement system around a year ago. The planning, project management and supervision were undertaken by the bureau of engineers Taub

UK - Airing live last Wednesday The National Television Awards was as glitzy and glamorous as ever before. For the third year running, Le Mark's StudioTak studio flooring played a key part in its lighting setup and set design. Le Mark's high gloss black StudioTak studio floor was the base of the stage design, decorated with a second gloss red layer to give a visually stunning set.

Constructed by London based Blackfriars Scenery, the set uses the latest technology combined with StudioTak flooring to make a stage bigger and better than ever before. Project manager Perry Judge says, "We've used Studiotak for the last three NTA's and a host of other awards shows over the past few years, it's a great floor and works really well with the studio lighting."

Le Mark's Leanne Baker says, "It's always a great feeling to see our floors on TV, especially when they're used on

South Africa - For the second consecutive year, Dreamsets provided the full technical production for Miss South Africa and Miss Teen held at Sun City's Superbowl venue. Lighting designer from the company, Mauritz Jacobs, has worked on the show at least five times before, and for this year's edition, he used a grandMA2 full-size as well as an MA VPU plus (Video Processing Unit).

The set and show was designed by Dewet Meyer and probably the largest challenge for lighting was having 96 LED screens to work with, which was simultaneously also Mauritz's highlight. He was impressed with MA System's integrated MA VPU: "It's like having an additional fixture, changing colours, shapes, images, etc - all at the touch of a button."

Dreamsets had two days to set up for the Miss Teen competition, which utilised all the same equipment apart from the LED panels. These were added for

UK - Bradford-based New Vision Signs & Graphics has installed illuminated signage - among the largest it has ever produced - at the 786,000sq.ft warehousing facility of multi-channel retail group Freemans Grattan Holdings (FGH) in Listerhhills, Bradford. Lettering for the sign at the FGH gatehouse on Thornton Road is 5m high and spans 6m between two vertical pillars.

Tony Stead, business development manager of New Vision in the city's Ventnor Street, said, "The project was challenging due to the scale of the signage and its position on the gatehouse structure. We called in a structural engineer to design the steel support frame.

"The letters are fabricated in steel and house low energy LED light modules, creating a subtle 'halo' illumination at night. The sign is very imposing and forms an impressive welcome to FGH's Listerhills site - both day and night.

"LED

UK - The Event Production Show, which starts today (Wednesday 1February) at London Olympia, is set to experience its busiest year yet, say the organisers. Exhibitor numbers are on the brink of 250, with over 90 making their debut on the show floor.

Chelsea Football Club, ODEON Cinemas and the NEC are among the 'Best of British' venues to utilise the platform of the inaugural UK Venue Show, which will run concurrently to the Event Production Show in the West Hall at London Olympia.

John Probyn, COO Live Nation, will return as chair of the popular Question Time panel, alongside Tim Owen, events, filming and contingency planning commissioner for Westminster City Council and Clive Little, director of events & programming at the Olympic Park Legacy Company.

Cashless events and London 2012 security will be on the agenda, along with a production special featuring Chris Vaughan, pro

UK - LS-Live developed and delivered a dynamic stage set to accommodate lively performances from mainstream hip hop's man of the moment, Tinie Tempah.

Known for his energetic fusion of pop and hip hop, the rapper embarked upon his first UK arena tour in 2011 with a stage design that was both edgy and futuristic, blending elements of live performance with the intensity of a club show.

Tour manager JP Firmin brought his partner at The Tour Group, Antony Randall, on board as show producer and together they created a production team capable of elevating his career to new heights in the touring arena.

In turn, Randall recruited designer Willow Perron into the mix to help shape a creative look for the show and produce video content for the screens. Together they collaborated with LD Andy Hurst, and stage and set suppliers LS-Live.

The latter's journey with Tinie Tempah began in

Europe - Internationally renowned guitar duo, Rodrigo Y Gabriella, recently embarked on their EU tour, cutting out the big production and stripping back to just two people and two guitars. Performing in a handful of intimate venues across Europe, the tour also carried a compact Allen & Heath iLive digital system, comprising the iDR-16 MixRack and iLive-R72 rackmount Control Surface, with a Dante audio interface card for virtual soundcheck.

"We kept all the gear down to just what we could carry," comments production manager, Mike Taylor. "You might think that two guitarists can't need much but we didn't want to compromise quality just because we had to fly from venue to venue. Both Rodrigo and Gabriella have two set-ups each - a full electric and an acoustic - so in reality we are taking four guitar rigs.

"We are carrying a total of nine cases of guitars and

France - The last G-20 Summit took place in Cannes, France in November 2011, and in order to achieve appropriate lighting conditions, 160 units of Elation's Opti Tri White LED PAR were installed. This fixture comes with Tri White technology and creates white light in cool, warm and amber shades.

Regardless of the shade of white, the light is extremely bright and flicker free making it suitable for major meeting surroundings as well as broadcast television, video production and general lighting. The 18 x 9 W 3-in-1 Tri SMD LEDs contained in the unit have a rated lamp life of 50,000 hours, and being LEDs they draw very little power and emit very little heat. Plus, thanks to its compact size, the Opti Tri White fits into standard 30 cm truss. So, meeting members can keep a cool head and will not be distracted.

"The Opti Tri White is one of the most versatile high performance

The Netherlands - Corrino Media Group (CMG) is one of the Netherlands major media production companies, operating as a one-stop-shop for the film, broadcast, live event, advertising and other industries. Clear communications between staff at the events it services are vital, which is why the company has invested in a significant ASL digital intercom system.

"We researched a number of different intercom systems and found ASL to be not only the most versatile, but also in a reasonable price range. The matrix-based system is also easily expanded, so we can start with a small system, and slowly build up to a bigger setup when required," says Atilla Meijs, CEO of the Amsterdam-based company.

The system includes two DS 4000 M Master Matrix, 12 DS 290 two-channel belt packs, six DS 1630 16-channel tabletop units, four DS 700 interface boxes, three DS 88 intercom hubs, two D

Germany / UK - Following a strong period of growth in sales in Germany, audio manufacturer Audient is now supplying dealers directly. The decision to change the distribution strategy in this territory was taken with a view to developing a closer relationship with customers and dealers. To coincide with this new set up, sales manager Simon Horn joins the team, providing a contact point for current and future Audient customers in Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

Initially based in Audient's UK headquarters, Horn is handling sales and support, as well as being at the forefront of business development in this region. Sales & marketing director, Luke Baldry, explains, "Having developed direct relationships with our dealers in the UK and US and seen the benefit to sales and support that this has brought, we're very excited to be able to offer this service to our German customers

World - Have you worked on a complex or high profile project that you think others might be interested to hear about? Or solved a seemingly impossible lighting challenge? If so, then the organisers of Showlight 2013 would like to hear from you.

Showlight has always been regarded as one of the best networking events in the international lighting calendar, with a conference programme of around 25 papers presented by a real mix of industry people talking about their work and ideas. Supported by a focused exhibition of 40 companies, Showlight is fun and informative - no hard sells, no mind-numbing seminars and no hidden costs!

The programme of speakers covers the whole gamut of lighting genres - theatre, film, television, event and architectural - as well as the technical wizardry behind our trade. Since the first event in 1981, delegates have enjoyed hearing from those who are at

UAE - Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) hosted the 2011 Dubai International Motor Show and to help support this they have invested in 40 500kg CAT-A LoadGuard hoists from LTM. These have been added to the in-house hoist fleet now standing at over 120 chain hoists.

DWTC rigging manager Matt Kirby commented, "I have known the guys from LTM for years and I trust their opinion on rigging and lifting. We've bought hoists from local suppliers in the past, but we felt the LoadGuard offered by LTM was the best way to push the site forward in terms of safety. LTM delivered the hoists and Guardian Hoist Controllers in super fast time as we needed the new hoists for the Dubai International Motor Show.

"Over 700 load points needed to be rigged throughout five halls so it's been a really busy period for us, so having the new hoists helps as they are really small in weight and due t

Europe - Leading European lighting designer, Belgian based Luc Peumans from Painting With Light, specified 62 of Robe's Robin 600 LEDWash fixtures for the current Holiday on Ice 'Speed' tour.

Peumans has designed lighting for the high energy ice extravaganza produced by Netherlands-based Stage Entertainment Touring Productions since 2005, and so this is now his seventh edition of the show.

The Robe fixtures - along with the rest of the lighting equipment - are being supplied by Belgian based rental company Phlippo Showlights MV.

Peumans has used Robe products before on some of his work, but this is the first time he has integrated such a large number of Robe fixtures into one of his creations, and the first time he has used the popular LEDWash 600.

Most of the Holiday on Ice tours will have a lifespan of three-five years, and so he was looking to replace a nu

World - 2011 was a big year for Swedish Pop duo Roxette as they embarked on their first world tour since 1995. Forming the backbone of LD Calle Brattberg's spirited lighting design were Philips Vari-Lite VL3000 Spot luminaires, supplied, for most of the tour, by Scandinavia's largest rental company of stage, lighting and sound equipment - Starlight.

So successful was the 2011 tour that this year Roxette will embark on yet another Round the World popfest with another 65 shows planned for 2012, and Brattberg will be with them. "The look for Roxette is fresh, sharp and vivid," explains Brattberg. "I wanted the lighting to work in synchronicity with the well-known, upbeat Roxette pop anthems. I also wanted the feel of the show to resonate with the ever faithful fans."

Lighting is indeed animated and colourful, however Brattberg has been careful to light

Germany - High End Systems has announced a recent upgrade to Modernes in Bremen. The popular live club for electronic and independent music is built in an old cinema with a huge dome, which can be opened to reveal the night air. The club has used six original trackspot fixtures from High End Systems for nearly 20 years. Recently however, they upgraded their system to the newly released trackspot Bolt LED luminaires.

Trackspot Bolt is a full-featured, 3000 lumen moving-mirror fixture powered by a LED lighting engine. .

Arcus Lighting, exclusive German distributor for High End Systems, delivered six trackspot Bolt luminaires to the company Active Blue, long time partner of the Modernes club who installed the new fixtures into the club.

Sascha Lembke of the Modernes and Jochen Rüttinger of Active Blue are impressed with the trackspot Bolt fixtures. Lembke commented, "The

UK - Unusual Rigging has announced that, with immediate effect, all its NRC assessments will take place at the company's facility in Bugbrooke, Northampton, including any originally scheduled for Earls Court.

Robin Elias, technical director at Unusual , explains, "Earls Court is out of commission for several months this year, as it's one of the Olympic venues, and this made the booking system difficult. We felt it was easier for all concerned to move assessments to Northampton. We're easy to reach from most parts of the country, the facilities here are excellent - and we lay on a pretty good lunch."

Unusual Rigging offers four assessment days each month, more than the other companies in the scheme, and last year assessed 55 riggers at Level 2 and 33 at Level 3.

With all the various events scheduled to take place in 2012, this year will be a busy one for riggers: Un

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