Kuwait - Optocore network units played a key role in Kuwait's 50th Constitution Day celebration which took place recently along nearly 5km of beach in the heart of Kuwait City. The final act of the show lasted almost an hour, with a total of 77,282 fireworks, which broke the Guinness World Record for the largest fireworks display ever.

French-based rental company, Gilles Bouvard Events and Entertainment (GB4D) was contracted by the Kuwaiti government to deliver the audio and lighting system as well as video transport for one of the largest shows ever staged in the Middle East. The biggest challenge facing GB4D was the coverage distance along the beach and the associated problems posed by a sand and water environment.

Since production had stipulated that sound and light needed to

Czech Republic - As plans advance for Showlight 2013, more top line companies are signing up as exhibitors and sponsors at Showlight 2013.

With just six months to go before this quadrennial event opens in Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic, manufacturers and distributors alike are looking to take advantage of three days during which they will meet and socialise with many of the world's leading lighting designers.

Showlight is unique in that speakers, delegates and exhibitors mingle throughout the three days of the event - during the paper presentations, at tea and coffee breaks, over meals and during the visits programme - allowing plenty of time for discussion and exchange of ideas.

Durham Marenghi, who is presenting a paper on this year's Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, says, "No matter how much you think you know, there's always something to be learned

UK - Those walking down Store Street in the forthcoming weeks are in for a visual treat. Every year, Imagination demonstrates the agency's creativity and flare by transforming the building's imposing edifice into a tribute to the festive season.

This year, the lighting team looked to the past for inspiration, choosing to create a giant wreath complete with blue ribbon. The classic design is made from a large circular truss packed with real trees adorned with more than 3000 tungsten lights. Behind the design, the red brick Imagination building is lit a deep magenta colour, proving a warm background glow which complements the elegant motif.

Unlike many of the lighting displays that appear at this time of year, Imagination's efforts are always privately funded and created using lights already existing in Imagination's stores. This allows Imagination's lights to be a true manifest

Rolling On - The Rolling Stones returned to the London stage on Sunday night in the first of five concerts to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood were joined by their original bass player Bill Wyman at the 02 Arena. Music critics hailed the rockers' return a success. Reviews of the gig described the band as "still leading the pack" and "at the cutting edge of pop".

"They have a combined age of 273, but the four Stones remain an extraordinary live proposition," John Aizlewood wrote in the Evening Standard.

"Jagger, camp and louche, was a preening but energetic peacock; Richards was as cool as a man sporting a red hairband and turquoise jacket could possibly be; Ronnie Wood was a chirpy mascot and that ocean of serenity Charlie Watts showed the tiniest of drumkits can make the

Australia - Over 200 Robe moving lights were used on the 2012 Australian International Motor Show (AIMS) staged at the Sydney Exhibition centre in Darling Harbour.

Lighting equipment for 10 of the highest profile stands - including Ford, Holden, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Lexus, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Mercedes and Toyota - was supplied by Clifton Productions.

Lighting was designed by Ziggy Ziegler for the Toyota booth and by Mark Hammer for Ford, and for the rest of the stands by the Clifton Productions lighting team.

Robe fixtures were specified by both the LDs and by Cliftons - which has the largest Robe rental stock in Australia - as the best option creatively and because they are robust and reliable.

A wide variety of Robe products were utilised overall - including the Robin LEDWash 600 which was used extensively as it is ideal for automotive applications. The Hyundai stand

USA - James River Assembly, Ozark, recently upgraded its aging sound system with Outline's GTO line array loudspeaker cabinets as the sonic centrepiece. The new system, designed and installed by Special Event Services (SES), literally blew away the competition by providing the clarity and punch necessary for sermons, a contemporary house band and concerts. The church seats approximately 3,400 congregants and everyone from the pastor to those sitting in the back row can feel the power of the word through the GTO cabinets.

"We needed to put in a system that conveyed the spoken word throughout the auditorium, as well as have enough horsepower to present the music in an effective way," says Jason Farah, vice president of SES. "The church members charged with the upgrade were very diligent about listening to various top-shelf systems to evaluate the sound characteristi

UK - Stage Electrics have appointed Jon Smith as the company's new service manager. Jon is taking over from Steve Chappell who was the service manager for over 10 years. Chappell is moving into the newly created role of a full time commissioning and design engineer, responsible for lighting control system design and programming. This new challenge is a reflection of the company's busy order book requiring a dedicated full time position.

Jon Smith takes responsibility for the company's field service engineers and maintenance workshop, planning and directing the activities of all service engineers. Smith is a highly experienced engineer; with over 30 years' experience managing multidiscipline teams in specialist engineering environments for the Royal Air Force.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Christian rock band Kutless is playing a variety of venues on its latest tour, from churches and civic auditoriums to an outdoor field and even a Minnesota casino. Regardless of the venue type or size, the band relies on a Meyer Sound MINA line array loudspeaker system supplied by Blackhawk Audio to deliver a consistent-sounding show.

"We pretty much cover the gamut on this tour, which is why I wanted to take the MINA system," says Tim O'Neill, production manager and FOH engineer for Kutless. "It is incredibly versatile."

Room layouts and acoustics vary drastically, though most venues are in the 1,500- to 2,000-seat range. For a typical configuration, main front arrays are 12- or 14-each MINA a side flown from the twin Applied Electronics mini line array towers carried on the tour. The remaining MINA loudspeakers are used for front-fill or out-fill, w

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France - The French distribution company Dimatec has made a substantial investment in a range of Philips Selecon LED luminaires.

Dimatec, which distributes and imports the world's leading lighting equipment brands to service film, television, events and architectural applications, has purchased a considerable palette of luminaires from the Philips Selecon PL range and Studio Panel LED luminaires.

Olivier Bordini of Dimatec says the company made the investment in order to "stay ahead of the game as LED lighting technology progresses."

Bordini praised the Philips Entertainment Group for developing the Philips Selecon brand over the last decade into a renowned specialist for live performance lighting technology, and says that he is particularly impressed that Selecon can build 100% of its products in-house.

The Philips Selecon models currently in stock at Dimatec in

France - An array of Clay Paky Sharpys helped global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi launch the New Directors' Showcase at the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

The Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase is one of the Cannes Lions Festival's most popular events and premieres films by some of the world's best new talent. The event is renowned globally for the ambitious, sometimes outrageous theatrics of its opening events. And this year was no exception.

Sixteen free flying Quadrotor Robots, designed and built by Kmel Robotics, featuring mirrors on their undersides, worked in synchronicity with Clay Paky Sharpy luminaires to perform a surreal ballet of light and reflection. Razor sharp beams of pure white light danced in millisecond sharp time to a chilling electro soundtrack called 'Meet Your Creator'. The swarm of tiny flying machines look

Europe - A Midas PRO1 proved to be the ideal compact console for Afro beat and Blufunk star Keziah Jones's central European tour.

Monitor sound engineer Mark Portlock says he specified the PRO1 for the tour - visiting Brussels, Geneva and Basel - because, "This is a very short run of dates in small 700-1000 capacity clubs and theatres. We needed a console that was compact enough to go in the bus bay but that would give us the same high sound quality sound as the larger Midas consoles. We recently completed a run of European festivals with a Heritage 2000 on stage and out front and we will be back on a worldwide full production tour schedule with a PRO6 FOH and PRO2 on monitors in the spring."

Portlock is a seasoned freelance engineer who has worked with many well-known and respected artists. He is also a regular feature FOH at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London.

"

UK - Sandbach School in Cheshire have found that the Roland VR-5 'all in one' AV mixer provides the solution for their streaming and recording requirements in different areas of the school. Supported in their initial training by UCan Play, who supplied the VR-5, the staff have been able to produce, stream and record several recent live events from the school via USTREAM.

UCan Play is part of UCan.tv, a not-for-profit educational consultancy company that works closely with Roland UK and the Roland Systems Group managing the Roland Champion Schools initiative on behalf of Roland UK.

The VR-5's 'all-in-one' solution greatly simplifies production, recording and streaming of any live event as the design incorporates a video switcher, audio mixer, video playback, recorder, RGB input from PC or Mac, preview monitors and output for web streaming all in a single unit. The reduction in

UK - Lowestoft's Marina Theatre, now a newly formed Charitable Trust, has refurbished its 800 seater Edwardian auditorium, choosing HK Audio's revolutionary Elements install system to provide crystal clear sound throughout the venue.

Marina Theatre technical manager Karl Dunnett said, "As part of the refurbishment process we wanted to replace our 20-year-old, wheelie bin-sized speaker cabinets. We wanted a system that not only sounded great but was small and compact enough that it would go almost unnoticed to the eye so as not to detract from the Edwardian features."

The budget for the system was very tight, amounting to less than £20,000 for a system that would cover both tiers of the auditorium, plus front-fills and delays for the back of the Circle.

The HK Audio Elements install system specified by Jeremy Munns and advised and supplied by Chameleon Pro Aud

China - TC Group International has appointed Timothy Chan to the team as sales & marketing supervisor in Hong Kong & Macau. He will be working closely with TC in China and will be chiefly responsible for overseeing TC's MI/Audio presence in Hong Kong and Macau.

Chan will act as first point of contact for Tom Lee Music Co., one of TC's newest and largest dealers in Hong Kong. Here he will overlook promotion and marketing activities, in addition to offering technical support. Chan has considerable experience in this field having worked with another Hong Kong TC dealer, Uni•Sound, since 2007.

"We are very happy to be working with Timothy in this new role and extend our warmest welcome to him" says Robin Hu, chief representative of TC China.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Marc Janowitz, long time lighting and production designer for Kentucky psychedelic rock band My Morning Jacket, has kept up his tradition of using the evolving series of GLP impression LED heads by specifying 50 of the latest impression X4's on the band's recent US tour.

The LD admits to having been a fan of the GLP impression since the first impression 90 and later the 120RZ zoom. But he says that by embracing new technology, the X4 provides a higher level of functionality entirely.

Incorporating 19 quad colour RGBW LED's, each rated at 15 Watts, in a breakthrough design, the X4 offers a single homogenised colour output from its unique looking front lens across a wide colour spectrum and with high output. Janowitz could immediately see how he could put this featureset, with its impressive 7:1 (7°-50°) zoom ratio, to good use.

Given a free hand with the band's

UK - Birmingham Hippodrome has announced the successful completion of its Stage Appeal having raised the target of £1m towards extensive refurbishments costing over £2m.

The 30-year old stage was completely replaced, over 500 light-fittings were upgraded to LED, the orchestra pit was refurbished, and the entrance foyer was remodelled with a new box office, cloakroom, digital signage and new heat-efficient front doors.

Grant-making trusts and foundations contributed over two-thirds of the funds raised with significant generous donations from the Monument Trust (part of the Sainsbury Family Trusts), the Wolfson Foundation, The Garfield Weston Foundation, The Foyle Foundation and The JP Getty Jr Charitable Trust. Twenty-one further local trusts were also supportive.

Funds were also raised from the corporate sector, including donations at events and dinners, totallin

UK - Multi Grammy Award-Winning Evanescence have just completed their UK arena tour. The Arkansas rockers, who released their self-titled third studio album in October last year, played four arena shows. The band kicked off the tour at Nottingham's Capital FM Arena on 5 November and finished up with a show at London's Wembley Arena on 9 November.

PRG account manager Roy Hunt was pleased to supply Live Nation with a moving light rig. Working with celebrated lighting designer Dan Hardiman (Moby, Goo Goo Dolls, McFly, UB40), PRG supplied a mix of VL3000 and VL3500 Spots, VL3500 Washes and Clay Paky Sharpy's to illuminate the stage.

Dan Hardiman commented, "The core element of the show is the backlit backdrop; a multi layer device that has the band's album artwork printed onto fabric downstage of a sharks-tooth gauze with the band's logo appliqued onto it to form a giant gobo

UK - British singer songwriter Ed Sheeran is steadily conquering the world; travelling from continent to continent, his appeal seems unwaveringly universal. The speed of his acceptance is matched by the pace of his current tour, which has taken in Australia, the United States and is currently in the UK before heading off to cover the rest of Europe without a pause. With him every step of the way is a Sennheiser 2000 Series wireless microphone system.

Sheeran's front of house engineer is Chris Marsh from Major Tom, the tour's audio provider. "I first got involved with Ed last October when he was doing a club sized tour," explains Marsh. "I had met him previously at the Latitude Festival when I was there with Rumer. He was opening the festival that day and we got talking about the level of work that I was doing and where he wanted to be. Shortly after that, I got a

USA - With the installation of 40 CAL column array loudspeakers, Memorial Stadium at the University of California, Berkeley has become the world's first sports facility to use Meyer Sound's advanced beam steering technology. The slender 10ft high columns, discreetly mounted around the stadium's outer rim, provide an elegant solution that preserves the architectural integrity of the historic structure - inspired by Rome's Coliseum - while also providing extraordinarily high speech intelligibility despite the crowd noise in the 63,000-capacity seating bowl.

As part of the $321m, two-year upgrade project, Dallas-based acoustical consultants Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams, Inc. (WJHW) was given the challenge to improve the audio clarity for the audience in the bowl and minimize noise concerns for the nearest residences that are only about 200 feet away. WJHW also had to make

The Netherlands - For the third year in a row, InfoComm International will host a one-day Future Trends Summit the day before the Integrated Systems Europe 2013 tradeshow.

Running from 11.00am to 5.30pm on Monday 28 January, the Summit programme will be moderated by Clive Couldwell, Editor of AV Magazine.

In a departure from tradition, the day will be divided into three fresh and distinct segments. Part 1, Future Customer Needs, will comprise an end-user panel including AV users from a number of market sectors including corporate, education and healthcare. Part 2, Future of the AV Business and Market, will offer a glimpse into how the world of systems integration will look in 2015 and beyond. And Part 3, Future of AV Technologies, will provide an overview of the cutting-edge developments likely to impact on integration businesses in the years to com

France - Nexo has just conducted the first 'official' audio demo of a full STM Series PA, its new flagship sound reinforcement system. Joining forces with Yamaha Music Europe, the sister companies used the JTSE Live trade show event in Paris to demo Nexo's latest concert sound loudspeakers on a Dante network with Yamaha CL Series digital control.

For the first time, the Nexo team put its STM Series sound reinforcement system into action in a public arena, with front of house control provided by the Yamaha CL5 console over a Dante network - another first for both Nexo and the team from Yamaha Music Europe in Paris.

STM is the first scalable modular line array on the market. Standing for Scale Through Modularity, the STM Series for touring use offers a wide variety of design options using four loudspeaker modules - main, bass and sub cabinets, with an 'omni-purpose' down-fill. F

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