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14 March 2016

Part of President Francois Mitterrand's 'Grands Projets', Opéra Bastille was one of eight iconic building projects begun in the 1980s to revitalise Paris and create modern 'monuments' to symbolise France's role in art, economics and politics at the end of the twentieth century. The scale of Mitterrand's project was compared at the time to the major building schemes of Louis XIV and as such, The Bastille Opera house constitutes part of one of the most important post-war examples of urban planning in Europe.

It was

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14 March 2016

Companies and individuals from PLASA's worldwide membership voted in the elections, which were conducted via a secure online poll.

There were four positions available on the European Regional Board. Filling the officer positions, Adam Blaxill of Stage Electrics was elected Regional Board Vice-Chair and Duncan Bell of Autograph Sound Ltd, was elected Secretary. Lee Dennison of Sound by Design Ltd is the new Professional Services Representative and Matt Lloyd of Global Design Solutions Ltd, has been voted as the Manufacturer Representative.

Four positions were up for election on the North American Regional Board with Eddie Raymond of IATSE Local 16 elected for his second term as Cha

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14 March 2016

South Africa's Greg du Toit was victorious as the overall winner for his entry 'Essence of Elephants', with 14-year old, Udayan Rao Pawar, taking the top prize in the youth category.

Held at the Natural History Museum, Blitz Communications was contracted to deliver the event in the Central Hall. In a competition where image is king, it was crucial that both the photographs and the photographers themselves were shown in the best light possible.

Joanne Wood, senior events manager at the Museum said, "'The team at Blitz worked with

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14 March 2016

The open air stage was again entrusted to lighting designer Thomas Gerdon, who used the three brands Lightpower deals with for his lighting design: Clay Paky, MA Lighting and Showline. The show equipment included none other than a grandMA2 full-size, a granMA2 light, a Network Processing Unit (NPU) and a 4Port Node (made by MA Lighting), Clay Paky Sharpy Beams, Clay Paky Sharpy Washes, Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500s and Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1500s.

"It is as if Clay Paky Sharpys were ma

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14 March 2016

"We wanted a console that would be more hands on than the Yamaha consoles as far as the crossover between digital and analogue," commented Frank Meany, managing director of One Vision. "Basically we wanted a console with knobs on it as opposed to a console with buttons and scrolling pages of menus, it's more intuitive.

Frank and his team have found their Soundcraft Si Compact consoles to be very powerful and they are particularly impressed by the console's sound, with Frank remarking that it sounds more like an analogue console than other digit

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14 March 2016

That's what Chris Chavanu of Electronic Contracting Company (ECCO) in Lincoln, Nebraska discovered when he set out to find the best match for the sound system requirements of Lincoln's new 15,147-seat Pinnacle Bank Arena, the new home of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers men's and women's basketball teams.

Based on specifications developed under the direction of Kevin Day at Dallas AV consultancy Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams, the arena's request for proposals (RFP) favo

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14 March 2016

The 100 strong cast included James Corden, Dame Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Derek Jacobi. And with a cast like that you know you are in for a night to remember!

RML supplied lights to the event which were used in the main stage during the show. The lighting designer Mark Henderson decided that MAC TW1s and VL1000TS would work perfectly to enhance the in-house rig and create his desired vision.

Matt Drury, head of lighting at the N

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14 March 2016

After winning the Renault Clio Cup in 2012, Jack moved up a level and signed with Team HARD for the 2013 BTCC season. He achieved great pace over the season, including being second fastest for most of the race day at Silverstone and a 2nd place podium finish in the final round at Brands Hatch.

As a result of his performance, Jack has been invited to be a guest driver for CAST Motorsport in the Lotus Six Hour endurance race on the Indy Circuit at Brands Hatch this Saturday 9 November. He shares his guest drive with Simon Deacon, the current Lotus Cup UK Overall & 211 Champion.

The long distanc

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14 March 2016

"The Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, part of the expanding University of Lincoln campus, required a ground support grid," explained Jeff Pallett at SES Technical Ltd. "We already have a significant amount of TSG trussing in our hire stock; all their various ranges are durable, strong and retain their good looks. What the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre required was simple in definition - a

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14 March 2016

L&L first invested in Robe when the Robin series was launched in 2009 and their first Robe purchase was 600E Spots, which at the time, were actually the first in Benelux.

L&L was also the first company in Benelux to take delivery of LEDWash 600s when they were launched in 2010 - so they enjoy being 'the first' with the latest technology and paving the way for others to follow. This in turn has helped Robe become so strong in the Belgian market.

In rental stock at the moment L&L has nearly 200 Robe fixtures including 600E Spots, LEDWash 600s, LEDBeam 100s and

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14 March 2016

The second season of the Italian version of the hugely popular US Minute To Win It games show was recorded at the Auditorium del Foro Italico in Central Rome for national channel RAI. Contestants participate in a series of simple but frustratingly difficult to achieve 60 second challenges that usually involve common household objects!

Castrichella has worked for the prime Italian broadcaster for an impressive 35 years. He has also used Robe products in his work since 2004 and for this one - where 90 % of the lighting is for effects - he chose 20 x Robe DLS Profiles, 12 LEDWash 1200s and 30 LEDBeam 100

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14 March 2016

These are to house a variety of kit used day-to-day by the busy rental operation which is headed by general manager Andy Reardon, including control systems, racks, a variety of different sized plasma screens, mains and power distros, 3U drawered racks, plastic blow-moulded cases with CNC machined foam inserts for audio and video processors and a number of high end bespoke designed cases to house assorted cameras.

5 Star's Keith Sykes visited Doha in the summer and undertook a marathon measure up of all the kit needing to be cased.

In the UK, CT has been a 5 Star client for many years, but this is the first time they have supplied the international facilities.

Reardon

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14 March 2016

The 47th Annual CMA Awards aired live in 5.1-channel surround sound Wednesday, 6 November, 2013, on the ABC Television Network from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, and featured over 150 Audio-Technica microphones, including an impressive array of hard-wired mics and Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless Systems. Audio-Technica microphones were chosen for their ability to provide clear and consistent audio quality for live broadcast.

The CMA Awards presentation is recognized as Country Music's Biggest Night and represents the pinnacle of achievement for those involved in country music. Once again, Audio-Technica microphones were featured for their accurate and reliable s

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14 March 2016

HiSys boxes were used for a string of audio applications across the four days including spoken-word presentations, background music, and hymns for the award ceremonies; two HiSys H10s and two HiSys H12s were deployed on speaker tripods, and were the loudspeakers of choice due to their lightweight frames and high performance, according to European Event und Medientechnik GmbH's owner, Thomas Beth.

"We supplied the Peavey HiSys system for Tour Cha

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14 March 2016

The first new course, The Principles of Digital Audio covers the encoding and representation of audio in digital formats, how audio is communicated and manipulated in the digital domain and introduces the features and benefits of digital audio networking. Each person taking the course will receive 3.0 CTS RU credits in CTS Domain A.

The second new course, Introduction to IP Networking for AV Systems provides a high level informative discussion on the adoption of IP networking and then introduces the OSI model and how

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14 March 2016

Joburg Theatre were looking for a LED Cyc light solution to light up the cyclorama, the large white backdrop on stage which changes colour during shows. The purchase had to arrive on time for the annual panto.

"We compared the PLCYC-2LEDs with similar fixtures and found them to be more suited to theatre application and surprisingly more affordable," said Enos Ramoroko, technical manager at the Joburg Theatre. "With no need for labour intensive rigging (fewer and lighter units) and almost nonexistent maintenance, we can only hope to buy more of them to put a smile on the crew.&

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14 March 2016

The two day event - the first and only music festival to be promoted and staged by an industry technical production solutions specialist - has been nominated in the 'Best New Festival' and 'Best Family Festival' categories. The Awards ceremony takes place at London's Roundhouse on 2 December.

A delighted Steve Butcher, MD of UEP declared, "I can hardly believe it - it's amazing to even be nominated as a newcomer to the scene - and its certainly not something we expected even though we had such a great event."

The inaugural Chilfest was staged at Pendley Meadow in Tring and featured a lively pop night on the Friday headlined by Little Mix and a show-stopping line up of stars from the 1980

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14 March 2016

That's what's taking place at Georgia Southern University, where the school's music technology department is moving forward with an innovative curriculum. The programme utilises eight RedNet 1 devices, which offer eight channels of line-level analogue I/O with Focusrite's precision 24-bit A-D and D-A conversion, to connect acoustical and electronic performances from the school's electronic ensemble. This allows students to manipulate the audio in real time, creating entirely new compositions in the process.

For instance, as John Thompson, the school's associate professor, music technology, explains, a performance by a clarinet in one of any number of venues across the campus, including a perf

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14 March 2016

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14 March 2016

In common with many provincial venues, the Hertford Theatre is council-run and stages a wide variety of events - focusing on drama, comedy, lectures, community events and films. The production centrepiece of the year is the annual pantomime, which runs throughout December and early January, often with two shows a day.

"By the end of last year everything on the sound side was life expired, it had reached a crucial point where we had no choice but to do something," says the theatre's technical manager Alex Antonis. "The pantomime, in particular, places great demands on the audio facilities, but even the amateur companies and semi-pro youth theatres that use the venue were needing more channels.

"We also found that,

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14 March 2016

This successful history prompted mutual agreements to sell Prosound's lighting stock to Splitbeam allowing Prosound to focus on their core strengths.

"It made sense to move our lighting stock to Splitbeam in order to continue the obvious synergy between the two companies," says Mark Malherbe, Prosound technical director.

Splitbeam director, Alistair Kilbee is enthusiastic about the possibilities this new stock offers his company. &qu

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14 March 2016

Dance News - Sadler's Wells plans to create a new venue it hopes will help establish London as a global centre for dance to rival New York and Paris. The search has begun for the

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14 March 2016

Graham Burgess started displayLED from an office in his London home ten years ago this November, following 20 years working with industry leaders such as Sony and Lighthouse Technologies. The basis in those early years was brokering used screen deals between rental companies. He has since grown displayLED into a global screen supplier and manufacturer, with clients including the world's biggest consumer brands and highest profile music stars.

Today displayLED has offices on four continents, customers in five, and is now one of the largest buyers of LED screens in the world. Drawing from both its own award-winning digiLED brand and other international manufacturers, including in China, the company has dev

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14 March 2016

Notorious among the sound community for producing violent reflections inside the venue (and receiving noise complaints from the neighbours), would the Above & Beyond Group Therapy 050 live radio broadcast prove a challenge too far for the award-winning sound system, which promises ultimate pattern control? As for A&B, this was to be one of the biggest events in the dance music trio's calendar.

So just how unforgiving is Ally Pally? In the words of Capital Sound account manager, Martin Connolly, "The Great Hall is a beautiful space; but when it was built in 1873 no one ever envisaged that the building would need to play host to the high volume of a moder