UK - Lighting Partners will be exhibiting at this year's ABTT show - its fourth year at the event. Members of the Lighting Partners team will be on hand at the show to discuss the company's expanding range of used equipment, its new item sales and ready-made cable department.

On the stand for the first time will be the entire range of Hazebase smoke and haze machines including the new 650W Base Cap. Iain Dennis of Lighting Partners commented, "We are excited about showing the Hazebase range for the first time at the show. We have represented the brand in the UK for only a couple of months but we are already staggered by how well it has taken off. Machines are already in the West End and we are delighted that one of the largest arena tours of the decade is going out with over 30 Hazebase machines."

Lighting Partners is also launching a new niche website, www.colourfra

UK - RC4 Wireless will introduce the latest in its RC4Magic series - the new RC4 Black Magic system - at London's ABTT Theatre Show.

"When we first introduced the original RC4Magic system in 2007," says James David Smith, president and chief designer at RC4, "we brought the cost of wireless dmx dimming below the $1000 threshold for the first time. With 15 years of RC3 and RC4 experience behind us, RC4Magic performance has been excellent, but we did hear one complaint over and over again."

Users didn't like the bright yellow labeling. A design decision that helped the product stand out at tradeshows and demonstrations also made it stand out where it shouldn't - inside props and set pieces on stage.

In 2008, the company released RC4Magic Series 2 with purple labels. "Problem solved, I thought," said Smith, "but I was wrong."

RC4 Black

UK - The organisers of the ABTT Theatre Show, which takes place in London this week, have told L&SI that the Show is set to open its doors despite the 48-hour strike by London Underground workers. Spokesperson told L&SI: "The ABTT Theatre Show is delighted to announce that show will be opening its doors tomorrow, 10 June, despite the Tube strike. Presenting a full house of over 100 exhibiting companies, the show's pre-registration figures are up by 5% on last year's figures, which highlights the interest and demand for technical solutions in auditoria and multi-purpose performances spaces."

Transport for London (TfL) has said it will bring in a taxi-sharing scheme at all major rail stations, escorts to lead cyclists across the capital and additional parking for cycles as part of its contingency plans. Oyster cards will be accepted on all trains, 100 extra buses and a f

UK - Orbital Sound is providing specialist guidance to attendees at this week's ABTT Theatre Show on the issues surrounding Noise at Work compliance, as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show signs of getting tough on non-compliance. With West End productions, tours and even pantomimes all falling under the legislation, Orbital Sound's emphasis is on providing accurate information on the issues and the steps required to ensure compliance - via its specialist Noise at Work risk assessment service.

Orbital Sound has been working closely with industry bodies, such as PLASA, to raise awareness of The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 Act, following the expiry of the two-year period of grace extended to the entertainment industry by the HSE.

PLASA's technical resources manager, Ron Bonner comments, "The entertainment industry has to start taking the requirements of

USA - Harris Corporation will demonstrate an array of digital AV solutions at InfoComm 2009 this month at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando. Merging traditional broadcast and IT technology, Harris provides AV solutions for markets such as educational institutions, corporations, houses of worship, stadiums and arenas and restaurants - enabling AV operations to implement efficient advanced media workflows that potentially open new revenue streams.

"The strength and capability of Harris digital broadcast products fully support growth in new markets including AV, based on a complete portfolio of networking, infrastructure, test and measurement and other solutions that enable cost-effective, fully integrated advanced media workflows," said Tim Thorsteinson, president of Harris Broadcast Communications. "In particular, recent Harris digital signage wins in

New Zealand - College Hill Productions, a sound rental company based in Auckland has recently selected a Soundcraft Vi6 digital console for use on a diverse line-up of summer concerts and music festivals throughout New Zealand. The most recent tour, Big Day Out 2009 took place in Auckland and hosted a number of international artists including, Neil Young, My Morning Jacket and The Prodigy. Director of College Hill Productions Chris Tate founded the company in 1996 and is responsible for introducing the first Soundcraft Vi6 to New Zealand.

"The console has been out on tour non-stop all summer and the engineers required a board that had a very fast turnaround time in between shows." Says Tate. "The Soundcraft Vi6's capabilities also helped us in a couple of other ways including a few instances where the console was almost a kilometer away in a broadcast com

USA - Norway's projectiondesign returns to InfoComm to showcase its broadest range of projection solutions. The company will lift the wraps off the FL32 projector, projectiondesign's first solid-state LED-based projection system that uses the company's new RealLED technology resulting in "greatly enhanced image performance and ultra-low maintenance". The FL32 is set to greatly reduce operating costs, and features a 100,000-hour life illumination system, says the company.

Since making its global debut at last year's InfoComm, projectiondesign's active stereoscopic 3D projector, the F10 AS3D has earned worldwide praise from the audio visual and visualization community for its ability to provide convincing and compelling 3D imagery from a single, portable device. This year the company will be showing the F10 AS3D, as well as F32 and F22 3D stereo projectors using INFITEC

USA Tomcat will be on hand for this week's InfoComm Exhibition in Orlando, featuring their latest products: Sky, Edge and (core). Tomcat is also partnering with InterAmerica Stage, a specialty equipment company that provides rigging and show system solutions to the broadcasting and entertainment industry, in their promotion of SkyDeck. SkyDeck is a modular wire grid system that provides safe access to theatrical lighting, audio cables, loudspeakers, stage rigging, and effects.

Accompanying the InterAmerica SkyDeck system is Tomcat's Sky product. Sky is a ladder beam truss product with a sturdy spigot connection. It is designed for light, medium and heavy duty applications over short and large spans. It utilises a 'Star Connection' system or can also be connected direct and has a range of accessories making it ideal for building grid structures and modular trusses. Its ladders ar

UK - The Association of British Theatre Technician's ABTT Theatre Show was another success despite fears that London's most severe tube strike for 12 years would play havoc with the visitor attendance.

The Show's organisers report that whilst pre-registrations were a healthy 10% up on last year, the total visitor count to the show was only slightly affected by the strike on London's underground system, down by 15% on 2008's figures.

Roger Fox, show director, commented: "We were delighted by the attendance at this year's show and very happy to have maintained our position as a leading event in the industry's calendar despite the tube strike. We were only 15% down overall on last year's visitor figures, which proved that people battled against the odds to attend. Feedback from exhibitors has been very positive. We're looking forward to an exciting 2010 Show on 16 and 17 Jun

USA - Teer Engineering recently completed the installation of high-performance, networked audio systems from Harman Professional for the conference room facilities at the redesigned Reliable Plaza building in Orlando, Florida.

The systems for four discrete, networked conference rooms, comprise components from BSS, Crown, and JBL in addition to playback, video and control technologies from other providers such as AMX. Considered to be the greenest commercial building in downtown Orlando, Reliable Plaza is designed to meet Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and houses municipal and commercial offices including the Orlando Utilities Commission customer service centre.

Reliable Plaza is designed to use 28 per cent less energy than a typical similarly-sized facility of its kind, so the audio systems for the conference rooms needed to be highly a

UK - RC4 Wireless has been awarded Lighting Product of the Year by the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) in London, for their RC4BlackMagic Wireless DMX and Dimming System.

"We are particularly flattered by this award because of the nature of the voting process," said James David Smith, president and chief product designer at RC4. "The ABTT is a small organisation of in-the-trenches theatre people -electricians, carpenters, lighting and sound personnel - who make live theatre tick in the UK. There are no nominations for ABTT awards, all you need is a great new product on display at the ABTT Theatre Show. Judges are anonymous industry professionals without commercial bias. They visit all the stands in the show, large and small, looking for notable new products."

While presenting a special pipe-clamp trophy to Smith in a formal ceremony, the c

USA - Denon Professional showed its DN-F300 and DN-F400 Solid-state Audio Players at InfoComm 2009.

The DN-F300 and DN-F400 Solid-state Audio Players implement stable and reliable solid-state media technology as the source medium. Both products are able to read MP3 files and uncompressed WAV files from SD or SDHC cards (The DN-F300 reads from USB drives as well), which utilise technology that is far more stable and reliable in demanding applications than the 'spinning' CD.

Housed in a compact 1U-rackspace enclosure, the DN-F300 offers contractors and system integrators a versatile solid-state audio player at a cost-effective price point. The DN-F300 also has IR control and a microphone input, making it perfect for fitness and dance applications as well as background music playback. Additionally, the mic input has music ducking, which helps for paging in BGM applications. It al

USA - Element Labs' Cobra LED display technology has been awarded Best LED product at InfoComm 09, presented by Rental & Staging Systems magazine and InfoComm International.

Barbara Nelson, CEO of Element Labs says, "We believed in the Cobra from the start, and this award is symbolic of the industry endorsement this revolutionary LED platform has received since its introduction. Cobra has proven itself to be an absolutely fantastic LED product for the rental and staging industry. With the successful introduction of Cobra, Element Labs consolidates its strategy to lead through product innovation, as it establishes us with knockout competitive advantages on every front - now and in the future."

(Jim Evans)

UK - The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has revealed updated designs for the UK pavilion that will represent this country at Shanghai Expo 2010; its theme being Better City, Better Life. Developed by one of the UK's leading creative talents - Thomas Heatherwick - the UK pavilion will provide "a dramatic demonstration of creativity and innovation in the UK".

The centrepiece of the UK's offering is the extraordinary pavilion building - a six storey high object formed from some 60,000 slender transparent rods, which will extend from the structure and quiver in the breeze. During the day, each of these 7.5m long rods will act like fibre optic filaments, drawing on daylight to illuminate the interior, thereby creating a contemplative awe-inspiring space. At night, light sources at the interior end of each rod will allow the whole structure to glow. The pavilion will

UK - PLASA Events has confirmed some of the industry names that will headline its 2009 PLASA Education & Learning Programme, which runs throughout the PLASA Show from 13-16 September at Earls Court in London.

Leading the programme will be the 2009 Gottelier Masterclass presented by last year's Gottelier Award Winner, John Stadius of Soundtracs/DiGiCo. Stadius is a highly respected name in audio circles, and will describe his early days in the industry, the formative years of analogue console design, the move to digital, the influence of the SHARC processor and how the latest generation of chip technology has removed historical restrictions on console design leading to new possibilities for the future. This Masterclass will take place at the show on Monday 14 September at 3.00pm, just in advance of the PLASA Innovation Awards Ceremony that evening.

2009 will also see the return

UK - The prestigious V&A Museum in London has been chosen to host the launch of the first edition of the International Festival of Scenic Arts, an international event celebrating contemporary stage, set and costume design. The world's largest museum of design and decorative arts will play host to a series of talks and presentations by world-class design practitioners of stage design, costume design, video design and 3D animation, scenography and lighting design.

The world's largest museum of design and decorative arts plays host to a series of talks and presentations by world-class design practitioners the calibre of William Dudley, British stage designer, costume designer, video designer and 3D animator, who has most recently designed the sets and costumes for the Broadway musical The Woman in White, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber. He is joined by lighting designer Rick

Australia - The Australian entertainment technology trade show ENTECH will see its tenth event in 2010 with "a new event director, a rebranded image and a new commitment to industry networking and education".

Robby Clark of Exhibitions & Trade Fairs (ETF) is the newly-appointed event director. He brings over 13 years of experience in the exhibitions industry, including the successful management of the world's top ten motoring events, the Australian International Motor Show and major national trade shows including AUSPACK and Irrigation Australia.

Clark said he was looking forward to building on ENTECH's history of successful events. "ENTECH has established itself as the leading trade show for professionals in the entertainment technology industry and I look forward to a new challenge in managing the 2010 event."

"It seems that in the past the event h

Russia - Co-organisers Integrated Systems Events and MidExpo have announced a string of new attractions for Integrated Systems Russia which opens its doors on Tuesday, 8 December.

Among the new attractions will be special pavillions for Russian manufacturers and for conferencing; an enhanced Digital Education area featuring real-world room AV solutions; and a ProIntegration Awards programme for the Russian and CIS markets, to celebrate best practice in regional systems design and integration.

Mike Blackman, managing director, Integrated Systems Events, comments: "After a productive and successful meeting of the IS Russia Advisory Board last month, we agreed to develop the show in a number of directions in order to maximise value for our exhibitors, visitors and supporting associations. The innovations we are now announcing will reinforce IS Russia's position

UAE - The upcoming Light Middle East, which was to be held at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre from 27-29 September has been postponed until autumn 2010.

Epoc Messe Frankfurt GmbH based in Dubai, UAE, an independent subsidiary of the Messe Frankfurt Group headquartered in Germany, "will continue to strive towards offering a combined and synergised platform for Light Middle East collocated with the ISH Kitchen and Bath Middle East exhibition in the autumn of 2010".

According to Dr. Michael Peters, CEO of the Messe Frankfurt Group: "Dubai remains an important business hub for the Middle East region necessitating a presence by Messe Frankfurt in key industries. Leading companies in the lighting field as well as regional market indicators, confirm the continued need for a regional platform catering to interior, exterior, architectural, urban, a

UK - MCS will be at PLASA09 (13-16 September, Earls Court, London) for the first time to demonstrate how its MCS-rm hire solution product can support the business needs of the audio-visual (AV) hire market. This will be the first time company has showcased MCS-rm, its premier Windows-based hire solution, at the PLASA Show.

Nick Thomson, sales manager at MCS explains: "We have been working hard on the detail of our hire solution to ensure it meets the specialist requirements of the AV market and believe we offer all the specific functionality the AV market demands. This is on top of its core functionality generating quotations, contracts and invoices as well as aggregating all delivery and collection notes together with all the associated documents. We feel it is time to take a stand at PLASA."

MCS-rm has all the functi

UK - At PLASA 09, leading European connector specialist Harting will feature its range of connectivity solutions specially tailored to the needs of light and sound engineers in the entertainment industry.

A key product range is the Harting Han family of heavy-duty connectors, which are increasingly being used for powering the spotlights used on concert stages and in theatres. In particular, the Han 16 E is a suitable for controlling special lighting effects in systems where 'multi-cables' incorporating six or eight lines are used to reduce installation times.

These connectors have proved their reliability and outstanding performance in industrial applications, and their rugged construction makes them ideally suited to stage environments. Typical applications include lighting connections for multiple spotlights, break-out boxes a

UK - XL Video supplied a completely integrated video package to the 2009 Download Festival at Donnington Park, Derby.

This year XL's brief included 72 hours of live internet streaming, a broadcast spec, HD camera system and screens package for Stage 1. Other services facilitated by XL included an HD record for Live Nation TV and VH1, MMS/SMS relay to screen, plus a standard definition camera/PPU package for Stage 2.

XL's project manager Chris Saunders - working on his sixth Download - led the video crew of 34. In recent years, Download's requirement for video/IT entertainment services has expanded voraciously - in line with the demands of its info-hungry audience.

The Live simultaneous web cast was a first for Download. XL's IMAG camera relays from stage 1 flash encoded and sent footage via satellite to the data serverfeeding promoter Live Nation's websi

UK - PLASA 2009 marks Allen & Heath's 40th year designing and manufacturing innovative pro audio products for the live, recording and DJ spheres. The British mixer manufacturer will commemorate the milestone with an exclusive party in a top London landmark, and display a cross section of its current digital, analogue and DJ mixers on the stand. These include the flagship iLive digital systems ZED analogue range, and Xone DJ series.

The iLive digital family will be central to the display. Following the recent launch of RAB2, iLive's latest remote audio card, it is now possible to 'mix 'n match' the flagship modular iLive hardware with the iLive-T fixed I/O MixRacks and Control Surfaces, increasing hire inventory flexibility and system integration.

RAB2 enables iLive digital mixing systems to work with a variety of common audio interface and networking standards. The new module

Australia/UK - LSC Lighting Systems has been manufacturing lighting control consoles for just on 30 years. Continuing on with this tradition, the company is poised to release its latest offering Clarity - a powerful PC/MAC based lighting control package.

Clarity is feature packed and offers "seamless integrated control of intelligent lights, LED pixel mapping and Media servers, the likes of which has not been seen before".

Scheduled for release at PLASA 09 in London, the company has started releasing small snapshot videos revealing the power of Clarity to spark people's interest.

Having previewed at the InfoComm show in Orlando in June and also at Integrate in Sydney last month, the product has already drawn much interest from many respected operators and reviewers alike, says the company.

The first of the Clarity videos can be seen by visiting the company's webs

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