Hungary - Le Mark Group continued its expansion into Central and Eastern Europe this past June with a recent visit to Budapest. Spending time developing both new and existing business, Le Mark's Stuart Gibbons and Hannah Attfield report, "The country offers huge potential for all Le Mark products."

"It was a true pleasure to at last meet clients that I had previously only spoken to over the phone or by e-mail," says Attfield. "With the continued expansion and diversity of Le Mark products I wanted to meet and be able to discuss the next phase in our growth in Hungary. My only negative was that this visit was just too short.

"I can see that there are some excellent areas where Le Mark and our new products can grow. We've recently launched new additions to our Dirty Rigger gloves and accessories range in similar countries with huge success and have

USA - - The Boston Symphony Orchestra has once again tapped DPA Microphones for its nationally broadcast, live Boston Pops Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular. Held annually in the Hatch Shell at the Esplanade along the Charles River, the concert and fireworks show hosts nearly 400,000 attendees. As the most watched Independence Day performance in the US each year, the Pops have continued to rely on DPA Microphones to ensure that audio at the Spectacular is as magnificent as the rockets' red glare.

With limited rehearsal time and over one hundred production inputs, the Pops needed gear that sounded good from the start and worked dependably. DPA Microphones fit the bill for miking the orchestra, and the audio crew made good use of several of the company's equipment options during the event.

DPA could be found across the stage throughout the evening's performance, with t

USA - Norway's projectiondesign has supplied core technology to Electrosonic for the new building of the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. Electrosonic was the main contractor involved with the installation of audiovisual equipment and systems throughout the building.

Electrosonic was tasked with delivering AV systems that met the needs of media consultancy RomeAntics and media designer and producer Local Projects.

"Almost all the smaller screens at the NMAJH that require projection use projectiondesign," explains Bryan Abelowitz, system sales consultant at Electrosonic.

Depending on the throw distance, image brightness and resolution required at each location, Electrosonic selected projectiondesign F12, F22, or F32 projectors, and Abelowitz is pleased with their size and performance.

Anders Løkke, marketing director, projectionde

South Korea - Robe moving lights have been installed in the E&M TV studio in Seoul, Korea. Owned and operated by CJ Entertainment & Media, the studio is dedicated to producing music shows - both pre-recorded, live and often with live audiences - for the MNet broadcasting network's 24-hour music channel,

The Robe fixtures (30 x Robin MMX Spots, 24 x Robin 100 LEDBeams and eight ColorBeam 2500E ATs) were specified by Mr JaeWoo Choi, owner of rental company RGB, and supplied via Robe's Korean distributor, ArtTech Lighting Co.

RGB services all the lighting needs of the E&M Studio and the MNet music channel, and when the time came for new moving lights in the studio, Robe was an obvious choice. RGB has been using the brand for 10 years - ever since it was launched - and knows first-hand the reliability and creative potential of the products.

JaeWoo Choi comments: "After 10 y

UK - Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre in Armagh, Northern Ireland, has become one of the first venues in the world to install Allen & Heath's new GLD digital mixer, comprising a GLD-80 mixer plus an AR84 I/O rack in the control room, and an AR2412 rack down on the stage floor.

Replacing an existing analogue desk, the installation is part of a wider overhaul of the venue's analogue audio infrastructure, which includes installing Cat5 around the building to allow connection of an expander I/O rack to the GLD-80 mixer.

"We have a team of four technicians, and we all put forward names of desks we thought may be suitable, as well as consulting industry colleagues. We demoed a few desks before making our choice but the GLD came out on top for price, ease of use and input capacity. Moreover, it sounded the best in our comparison listening tests," commented technician, Gar

UAE - Dubai-based AV company, MediaPro International, recently fielded three Christie Roadie HD+35K projectors (along with two Christie HD18K 3-chip DLP projectors) to beam the action for the Etisalat Pro League football finals - a major event in the Abu Dhabi city of Al Ain.

Contracted by Al Ain Football Club, the production company ensured that the high output 35,000 lumens projectors, brought the event to life for the 11,000 people who gathered in the Tahnoun bin Mohamed Stadium, showing HD content and bespoke graphics throughout the event.

Images were projected onto a huge 60m x 90m canvas, using the Christie Twist module in the projectors, with the show run through a Dataton Watchout system.

With a throw distance of around 55 metres, MediaPro used 1.45-1.8:1 zoom lens on the projectors, which were mounted on scaffolding platforms positioned in the upper grandstand. This

Denmark - Parken Stadium is Denmark's national football stadium and the current home of FC Copenhagen. Built between 1990-1992 it currently has a capacity of 38,065 (for football matches) although for other events the stadium can hold as many as 50,000 people with an end-stage set-up and 55,000 with a centre-stage set-up.

In 2006-07 the club qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in its history, and three years later became the first Danish club to ever reach the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Keeping pace with the club's recent success, the Parken Stadium is equipped with a modern infrastructure, with a recently upgraded audio system. Danish company Nordic Sales (part of the Matrix Group) delivered and installed a premium RCF loudspeaker system, working in close collaboration with the RCF project department, who specified the individual products,

UK - On Sunday 3 June, over 1,000 vessels participated in a flotilla on the Thames from Battersea to Tower Bridge in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. And while it may have been an awful day for the weather, live acts were the order of the day at Battersea Park, with everything from 1950s swing orchestras on the bandstand, to a host of exciting acts on the main stage.

On hand was Illuminate Design, who set up and managed the lighting for all five stages, with an anticipated audience of up to 90,000 - as well as a number of different craft areas with a small but functional lighting arrangement.

Project manager Robin Shephard-Blandy reports, "We have worked on the Mayor's Thames Festival many times before, so knew the organisers of the Diamond Jubilee Pageant already. They asked us to help with a number of different stages, with a finishing time of 7pm - which meant ev

UK - The Royal Albert Hall, London's landmark venue, has recently purchased Coemar ParLite LED fixtures as part of a major re-vamp of its auditorium lighting.

Entertainment lighting specialist White Light, Coemar's exclusive distributor in the UK, supplied the hall with 54 ParLites, which have now been installed to uplight the columns that encircle the iconic auditorium at gallery level.

The Royal Albert Hall's team, led by senior technical manager Ollie Jeffery, chose theParLites after carrying out an extensive set of auditions encompassing a wide range of lighting fixtures. They ultimately opted for the ParLites because of their colour consistency, silent fan-free operation, and energy saving compared to traditional tungsten lighting fixtures. The ParLites now allow dramatic transformations to the mood and feel of the hall to be made quickly and easily from the lighting cons

Serbia - ETC's Serbian distributor, Studio Berar, has installed and commissioned the latest generation of lighting at the Palilula Cultural Centre and theatre in Belgrade - complete with ETC lighting, dimming and control.

Studio Berar's marketing manager Lazar Josanov, says, "The theatre's managers were looking for a complete new lighting system which would last them well into 21st century, and which would come with the backup and support that they would need.

"Studio Berar has a long relationship with ETC, and we were quick to recommend them - ETC has always provided an efficient and helpful service, with 24 hour customer support where necessary."

Studio Berar project manager Aleksandar Kruscic, who designed the system, explains, "We supplied ETC's latest update to the Source Four range, the Fresnel, as well as Source Four Zoom, Source Four jr Zoom and S

UK - Conceived and sponsored by Saville Audio Visual in partnership with De Vere Venues Whites, the first ever Conference North attracted an enthusiastic audience to Bolton's Reebok Stadium.

Chairman Richard John introduced a team of leading events industry professionals to debate the benefits and the development of blended, or hybrid, events in some detail. The viability and effectiveness of the eStream streaming solution was clearly demonstrated on the day, with 25% of the audience watching and interacting online as remote participants.

Topics and questions from the room and from the online audience were discussed, broadcast and captured, using the Saville iDEA iPad platform to sample opinions and display results on screen. Nearly half the audience comprised professional event organisers and 60% saw the benefits to accessing a wider audience coupled with the ability to respo

Mexico - Mexico City-based Representaciones de Audio have been appointed territorial distributors for SGM Lighting.

The agreement was reached with SGM's Antonio Parise during the recent Sound Check Expo in Mexico and the appointment will help the distributor to develop its lighting portfolio.

According to Rep. de Audio's Jaime Celis, the company had first been introduced to the lighting manufacturer whilst it was under the ownership of RCF Group, since they are also distributors for RCF's sister brand dB Technologies.

"SGM already has a good profile in Mexico, largely through its Giottos - which are very popular in rental companies and on TV sets," confirms Celis.

He believes that Rep. de Audio's core markets of rental, installation and broadcast will prove to be fertile ground for SGM's evolving portfolio of LED products - in particular the X-5 and XC-5 strobes.

USA - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light will this week be at PLASA Focus in Nashville, showing the latest LED lighting technology from i-Pix and Core Lighting.

For the last seven years, i-Pix has been creating LED lighting fixtures that have immediately become the favourites of lighting designers working across the full spectrum of entertainment lighting, from concerts and live events to theatre productions. At PLASA Focus, staff from White Light, i-Pix's distributor, will be showing the new i-Line 600 and i-Line 1200 battens. Building on the success of i-Pix's renowned BB range, the i-Lines are six-cell or t12-cell colour-mixing fixtures offering high light output in a beam that is completely blended. The i-Line fixtures deliver over five times the output of the original BB range. The new fixtures have already been put to use lighting the Queen's Diamond Jubilee con

Music in Schools - Violinist Nicola Benedetti has attacked the spending squeeze on music tuition in schools. She said young people needed a cultural identity to replace their obsession with celebrities and in becoming a celebrity. Benedetti began violin lessons at the age of five and went on to attend the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey. The 25-year-old told the Radio Times, "I'm fiercely furious about the provision of music in schools."

Benedetti secured a £2m, six-album record contract after winning BBC Young Musician of the Year at 16 and has risen to international fame. She has also been involved in supporting the Big Noise orchestra in Raploch, Stirling - inspired by the Venezuelan El Sistema scheme to help poorer children. The violinist said: "So many people up and down the country are trying to create a better foundation for musical education.

China - The Volkswagen Group presented an exclusive preview of its latest models at the first Volkswagen Group Night in China, which was held recently during the Auto China 2012 exhibition at the Beijing Olympic Swimming Centre. Over 1700 guests turned up for the one-hour event, which took place the evening before the opening of the motor show. The event was planned and coordinated by Filmtec Media GmbH, on behalf of Volkswagen Kommunikation, and technical direction was entrusted to Martin Kuhn.

Seventy-eight Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1500s, 24 Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500s, 14 Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500s, 32 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700s and 18 Clay Paky Sharpys were used at the event together with other lights.

Kuhn explained the advantages of using Clay Paky moving heads for this Night, "The Clay Paky range has been highly successful at this type of event in recent years, an

USA - On the morning of 14 September, 1814, Major George Armistead signalled the American victory in the war of 1812 by raising the first American flag over Fort McHenry. The incident inspired poet Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner, which would eventually be declared the country's national anthem.

On 13 June, the city of Baltimore kicked off a three-year national commemoration of the events of 1812 with the Star Spangled Sailabration, a seven-day festival of concerts, celebrations, fireworks, an international parade of ships, and a rousing air show featuring the Blue Angels.

To provide audio support for the Blue Angels air show, Continental Air Show Productions selected a dozen Community R.5HPT loudspeakers. CASP's Dave Olmstead comments, "Obviously, the biggest challenge in providing sound for a Blue Angels air show is competing with the a

Switzerland - 4HM has announced it is providing its SAM64 SDI to MADI and AES audio interfaces for use in five satellite news gathering trucks owned by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) based in Bern. The five trucks are being upgraded by German satellite broadcast and communications specialist ND SatCom based in Immenstaad.

"The first of the five trucks has already been upgraded and all are to receive a SAM64 as part of a major refit to their capabilities. The SAM64 was chosen because is provides a cost and space efficient solution to de-embedding up to 4 SDI streams simultaneously", says Johannes Schlieszus, engineer broadcast at ND SatCom. "Each unit also comes as standard with an in built redundant power supply providing the resilience essential for outside broadcast use."

The SAM64 can extract 16 audio channels from each of the unit's four S

Australia - "The Prime Minister's Olympic Dinner has become the signature lead-up event in preparation for the Games - to recognise and support those who have been selected to represent Australia in London by raising vital additional funds to support our Olympic team" says Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia.

The Prime Minister's 8th Olympic Dinner, produced by Multiple Award Winning producers -Peter Jones Special Events, held at the Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, raised over $2m dollars for our Australian Olympic Team, competing at next month's Games.

VIP's included former Prime Ministers, Over 60 past and present Olympians, along with corporate guests.

Entertainment for the evening included a star studded line up featuring Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne Philharmonic Choir, Delta Goodrem, Todd McKenny, David Hobson, Silvie Paladino, Mar

Hong Kong - As the finale to its 2011-12 season, the Hong Kong Ballet opened Turandot, a neo-classical ballet inspired by Puccini's internationally-renowned opera at the Grand Theatre Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

When Puccini passed away, his final opera Turandot was left unfinished, but now in the hands of Australian choreographer Natalie Weir, this work has been transformed into a dramatically alluring and riveting ballet. Accompanied by Puccini's original music, audiences are now taken on a captivating journey of intrigue and spectacle.

Behind the scenes, lighting designer Mak Kwok-Fai utilized more than 40 Philips Vari-Lite automated luminaires for the show in order to enhance the intense emotions and sensations behind Puccini's music and Weir's passionate choreography. The luminaire rig included the VL3000 Spot, VL3500 Spot, the award-winning VLX Wash and the

Portugal - Headlining the fourth night of this year's Rock In Rio (Lisboa) festival, Stevie Wonder used three DiGiCo SD7 consoles, ensuring that his sound didn't rely on any Superstition.

Playing a mixture of hits and cover versions to an audience of over 75,000, Stevie Wonder himself requested the three SD7s - one for Front of House, one for vocal an in-ear monitors and the third for band monitors.

Supplied (along with the rest of the festival's audio system) by Brazilian rental company Gabisom Audio Equipment, Stevie Wonder's set included over 80 inputs with each SD7 having two dedicated SD-Racks.

The FoH console was on a redundant Optocore loop, with the monitors on redundant MADI. All SD7s were dual redundant mirrored engines (audio and control), which assured total permanent redundancy.

"When Stevie made the jump from analogue to digital, the SD7 was the ideal ch

UK - As booking opened at 9am this morning, strong exhibitor numbers, record breaking pre-registration figures and a new focus on content provision were creating a buzz about PLASA 2012. With four brand new theatres and 80 free-to-attend sessions split into nine new themes, these exciting developments underpin PLASA's commitment to providing an unparalleled experience for visitors and remaining a leader in the provision of education, professional development and knowledge sharing across our industry.

PLASA CEO Matthew Griffiths comments, "PLASA runs events to provide quality business opportunities, education and thought leadership. The PLASA Show in London is the only entertainment technology event to reinvest its revenue back into the industry it serves - anything that is not invested back into the show is used to help develop technical standards, certification and qualifi

UK - Architainment Lighting has announced it is now a Value Added Reseller (VAR) for Philips Dynalite, adding the controls solutions range to its portfolio of high quality LED lighting and controls.

As a specialist lighting solutions provider of LED systems, controls and lighting accessories, Architainment Lighting is already a value added reseller for other Philips brands including Selecon and Color Kinetics, and has a longstanding relationship with the global leader in lighting. By introducing the Dynalite family of energy-efficient intelligent lighting control solutions Architainment Lighting is looking to further its ability to provide designers and specifiers with a complete solution.

Philips Dynalite has already installed the systems in some of the world's best-known venues and public spaces, including the tallest building in the world, Dubai's Burj Khalifa. John Preston

Italy - The Chieve plant, in the Cremona province, is the location chosen by Faital to install the manufacturing operations of its FaitalPRO division. This modern manufacturing facility is dedicated to energy savings and reducing Faital's Carbon footprint, the company says.

Initially opened in 1978, the Chieve production plant has continuously been updated following - and at times even anticipating - technological trends, including the installation of highly automated production lines.

The Chieve plant roof presented the ideal layout and orientation for the solar panels planned for this latest project: this new power generation system was designed and built to achieve outstanding production efficiency - thus significant savings - and at the same time to continue Faital's pursuit of more "ecologically conscious operations, guaranteeing FaitalPRO's ever 'greener' signature&

South Africa - For almost two decades, Johan Stemmet has presented the much-loved South African music game show, Noot vir Noot. When he contacted technical company Blond Productions, it was to tell them of a new thought - the creation of a fresh game show called Musiek Trivia which would be aired on Kyknet, DSTV.

The quiz show would have two contestants competing against each other not unlike the popular Weakest Link, but strictly focussing on music trivia. It was important to have a polished production with a 'wow' factor.

Blond Productions' Pieter Rieck and Christian Ballot worked on ESP Vision to present three potential designs. In fact, Blond were requested to come up with the technical and set design. They worked on their faithful grandMA.

The television studio at ZSE from which Musiek Trivia is broadcast, is a small, compact area. Blond Productions

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