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UAE - Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the world's largest indoor theme park, opened its doors to the public on 4 November. It features more than 20 rides and attractions beneath its iconic 200,000 m² red roof.

Unusual Rigging & Engineering were involved in two particular projects at Ferrari World, one outside Galleria Ferrari, where three different red Ferraris have pride of place, hung on platforms on the walls as works of art. Placement was critical, requiring not just detailed measurements, but also a system that would enable careful manoeuvring for the final placement of the platforms.

Unusual's project manager, Leon Ingram, devised a hoist system which comprised a run of square truss and a runner beam carrying two hoists for each platform, thus enabling fine adjustments to be made both laterally and vertically.

The bare platforms were first offered to the wall and positioned

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UK - 5 Star Cases has again designed and is manufacturing a new case - the PRO-350 FLT - for l DJ equipment manufacturer, Pioneer Europe.

This is based on the success of the PRO-440 case - marketed as "The perfect hard case for 2 x CDJ 400 players, 1 x DJM 400 mixer and 2 USB sticks" - which to date has sold over 7000 units, in Europe alone.

The new PRO-350FLT offers lightweight and durable protection for Pioneer's 2 x CDJ-350s/DJM-350 portable professional DJ system. It also has some new features for which Pioneer returned to 5 Star - to continue the winning collaboration.

The main new physical addition is that the rear section now incorporates a cable management ('loom-box'), to ensure that the connectors and cabling are kept safe and neatly out of sight. This simple 90° up-stand creates the 'loom-box' area. (a separate structure was required on the PRO-440 c

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UK - The drpgroup has realised its challenge to complete 30 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects in its 30th anniversary year. The business has also managed to implement 30 environmental improvements to its activities, benefiting both the company and the clients it works with. The drpgroup launched 30 separate challenges of each kind at the beginning of 2010 with the 30 CSR projects and 30 environmental improvements the driving force behind the whole 30th anniversary initiative. The aim was to complete all the '30s' by January 2011, but the team have delivered on the challenges with months to spare, says the company.

The 30 CSR projects were completed following the sponsorship of and participation in the annual Springboard Awards for Excellence due to take place this November. Throughout the year the drpvideo team has slept rough to raise awareness of homelessness for

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UK - The Reproduced Sound 2010 conference (or RS26) will take place 18 - 19 November at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, around 2 hours by train from London and easily reached from Heathrow. The conference will concentrate on design-team challenges and the interdisciplinary approach necessary to successfully integrate highly specialised design services into a fully ambitious project. The design team Principles will be on board, along with a great range of contributors and activities.

Highlights include of the event will include:

- Key note paper from Leo Beranek

- Paper from Jonathan Adams, the Architect of the Wales Millennium Centre

- Paper from Jeremy Newton, the Acoustic Consultant

- Gareth Fry on designing sound for the theatre

- Trevor Cox on "Sonic Wonders of the World"

- An intimate performance of Beethoven's Piano Concert No. 5, played by co

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UK - Software provider Stardraw.com has announced a number of new features that have recently been added to the software-based system control platform, Stardraw Control 2010.

Project Templates are a selection of pre-configured, pre-programmed projects that are bundled with the Stardraw Control 2010 authoring tool. Each template represents a typical system type, e.g. boardroom, classroom, automated home, and contains the devices, their functions and a sophisticated user interface that is completely pre-programmed and fully-functional. At the same time, each Project Template is fully customizable, meaning that a system integrator can produce a complete control system front- (and back-) end, specific to a particular project, in minutes.

Critical to this is the addition of the next new feature, Driver Substitution, which enables you quite simply to drag a new driver from Stardraw

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India / UK - Navigator Systems, authors of the award winning rental management software, HireTrack Eclipse reports that they have extended their customer base to India, selling their software to Mumbai based Sound.com.

With nearly 1,000 different companies worldwide using HireTrack Eclipse, Navigator Systems, has been aware of the growing Indian professional production market, seeking a company like sound.com to help open up the market.

Director David Rose comments, "We are is delighted that this leading provider of professional concert sound and audio systems has recognised the reliability, robustness and ease of use of HireTrack Eclipse."

As well as being at the forefront of technology, Navigator Systems maintains its corporate responsibility with its'keep green' policy by regularly demonstrating their software over the internet using remote viewing systems and p

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India - Norwest Productions first came to international attention a decade ago when they supplied the audio requirements for the Sydney Olympic Games Ceremonies. Since then they have earned the reputation as a world leader in successfully tackling the audio requirements of large scale stadium shows racking up successful events such as two of the three Summer Olympics, both Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in Doha.

This year alone they have done the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Singapore Youth Olympics and now the Commonwealth Games Delhi. "The worldwide event fraternity knows that Norwest are not only easy and fun to work with, they ensure that nothing goes wrong and that nothing is a problem for them," says the company.

For the Commonweath Games, Norwest teamed with a regional, Mumbai-based sound production company Sound.com to supply the entire audio package an

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USA - Comics Come Home, America's longest-running comedy benefit show, returned to Boston's Agannis Arena on 13 November 2010. An annual fundraising event for the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care, Comics Come Home was once again be delivered through an all-Meyer Sound system provided by Rainbow Productions Services / New England Audio Tech of Atkinson, N.H.

This year's edition, hosted as always by Boston-area native Denis Leary, also featured performances by Jim Norton, Pete Correale, Thomas Dale, Lenny Clarke, Joe Yannetty, and other surprise guests.

The primary challenge for Scott Tkachuk, audio designer and touring operations director for Rainbow, was to create the illusion of an intimate comedy club in a reverberant 7,000-seat arena. To accomplish the feat, Tkachuk and Seth Hager, systems tech, deployed dual hangs of 12-each Meyer Sound Milo line array lo

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UK - Sennheiser UK is extending the warranty on all K-Array products from the standard manufacturer two-year warranty to five years for all UK and Middle East customers.

"K-Array products are among the most pioneering products available today," says Sennheiser product manager Paul Nunnington. "They have proven reliability and an almost non-existent failure rate. The decision to extend the warranty period reflects our confidence in the quality of K-Array products but, even more importantly, it gives our customers complete peace of mind and the assurance that their investment is underpinned by this failsafe offering from Sennheiser UK and K-Array."

K-Array systems have recently been used on The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent as an invisible aid to the two-way process of the dialogue between stage and judges, as side-fills at Eddie Izzard's

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UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises (NMK), distributors of Roland Systems Group (RSG) in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have recently hosted a launch event and training workshop over a two-day period.

The occasion was the first official event to mark the presence of Roland Systems Group in the Middle East and allowed attendees to understand the business philosophy of the company, its strategic plans for the region and its current product line-up. Attendees to the event included professionals from various market segments that include install, live and broadcast.

RSG's Middle East business operation is supervised from Barcelona, Spain, where Roland Systems Group EMEA has its headquarters.

"It was good to see both current and new customers at both our launch event and training workshop," commented Richie Hiranandani, marketing m

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South Africa - Anolis ArcSource 3 RGB LED fixtures and an Anolis ArcControl 1024 have been supplied by Anolis' South African Distributors DWR to Montecasino in Fourways, Johannesburg. The LED fixtures are set up in the 'pit' area where the gaming tables are situated.

Declan Randall from Congo Blue worked closely with Montecasino's David Butcher to come up with an appropriate lighting design. Montecasino is a popular Tuscan/Italian styled entertainment and casino destination in Johannesburg. Pillars with wooden beams and greenery form part of the décor in the pit area, creating a vineyard feel, and Randall opted to illuminate the pillars with an LED solution.

The brief was to create a lighting scheme to enhance the area around Pit 1 and attract people's attention as they walked past, without simultaneously distracting the players.

Using the existing pillars as the foca

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Canada - Corus Entertainment's eight-story LEED Gold-certified Corus Quay building in Toronto consolidates operations from 11 locations, including three radio stations and 24 television services, and brings together 1,100 Toronto-area employees. Touted as North America's most advanced broadcast facility, Corus Quay features a fully integrated digital infrastructure for broadcast and digital content creation. The system integration for the broadcast facility was handled by The Systems Group of Hoboken, NJ, who contracted Bexel to provide its wireless engineering expertise.

With six Telex BTR-80N wireless base stations, each with 24 TR-82N dual-channel belt packs in operation for the new facility working in conjunction with 20 wireless microphones and 16 wireless IFB systems throughout the space, Bexel's Distributed Antenna System allows maximum coverage facility wide.

"Wir

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Latin America - Grammy Award winning Spanish pop icon David Bisbal became a household name both in his home country and in South America after he achieved the runner up position in television talent contest Operación Triunfo - the Spanish version of the UK's Pop Idol - in 2001. For the Latin American leg of his latest tour Sin Mar Atras, which took in a number of the summer's festivals along the way, a DiGiCo SD9 digital mixing console, supplied by DiGiCo's Spanish distributor Meyer Sound España, was included in the audio inventory.

Having used DiGiCo D5s and then an SD8 on previous tours, monitor engineer Alberto Liras decided to swap to the SD9, the smallest console currently in DiGiCo's product line, for a variety of reasons.

"The SD9 I am touring with is configured with just one rack of 32 channels and 16 outputs," says Liras. "I am also usin

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UK - A.C. Special Projects has provided a studio lighting ceiling track system for a new photographic studio at the UK headquarters of Martin-Baker, the long established manufacturer of aircraft ejection seats and related safety equipment.

With headquarters in Buckinghamshire and locations in France, Italy and the United States, Martin-Baker hasestablished extensive modern facilities and specialist engineering capabilities to ensure the highest standards of product quality and safety.

Continuing this investment in its facilities, Martin-Baker decided it was time to replace their existing product photography room with a modern studio lighting system.

The company approached A.C. Special Projects to supply and install an IFF Advanced Rigging studio lighting ceiling track system to enable easy manoeuvre and setting of suspended lights above the studio floor when taking 360°

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European Affairs - The European Commission says it wants to know why Italian officials spent 720,000 euros (£613,000) of EU cash on a concert by Sir Elton John last year. "We're asking the managing authority about this. We want to know why they think it fits in with the rules," the Commission's regional policy spokesman Ton van Lierop said. The expenditure only recently came to light, he told the BBC.

The concert was part of the Piedigrotta festival in Naples in September 2009. A right-wing Italian Euro MP, Mario Borghezio of the Northern League party, called it a "shameful" misuse of EU funds by the Campania regional authority. The Commission does not know how much was paid to Sir Elton John for the gig, Mr Van Lierop said. Cultural projects can be co-financed by the Commission and regional authorities in the EU, he explained, "but we want to know

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UK - Theatre planning and design practice Fisher Dachs Associates has announced the opening of its new office in the UK. The Stratford-upon-Avon office joins FDA offices in New York City and Seattle, Washington, and will be led by Flip Tanner who comes to FDA directly from a 19-year career at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

Over the last nine years Tanner has been instrumental in developing both the temporary Courtyard and the permanent Royal Shakespeare Theatre for the RSC, where his work culminates when the company opens its new facility in January.

Joshua Dachs, FDA's principal, says: "I've known Flip for over 10 years and I've always been impressed by his incredible range of experience in the theatre. He also has the unique experience of sitting on the Client side of the table during intricate building projects at various scales. Further, the fact that he has a k

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UK - The durability of VDC supplied cabling and live sound kit was put to the test by Placebo and LEE Engineering during a gruelling, two year world tour which came to a close last month - a test that it passed with flying colours. According to Ian Nelson, director at LEE Engineering and Placebo FOH engineer, the man who, with VDC, oversaw the specification and development of the tour's audio technical infrastructure, its performance and reliability was unparalleled.

He said: "When we came to pack away the kit after the last date in Brixton, Brandon Reece and myself just looked at each other in disbelief. I can honestly say that I have never seen a line system go more than four or five weeks without a problem cropping up, let alone two years, and I've been in this business for 15 years."

Niall Holden, MD at VDC Trading said: "It's always great when customers tak

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UAE - RFW / SES reports that due to demand in the UAE region for their extensive range of power distribution products and accessories, they are having to re-locate to bigger premises.

Fragille Wade comments, "The demand for 'off the shelf product' has been incredible since we started the joint venture with SES, and we are having to stock more products to feed the insatiable appetite for quality product here in Dubai and other regions.

"This new facility within the Dubai Investment Park will also house our office, and will mean that all the stock will be under one roof making it easier for clients to collect at any time. With extended racking within the warehouse, we are able to stock more product and a wider variety, which our customers enjoy. Within easy reach of the Emirates Road and the Al Quoz industrial area, we can offer outstanding unrivalled service."

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UK - The Enchanted Forest - an annual sound and light show in Highland Perthshire for which Northern Light carried out the technical production - has broken all previous records by clocking up over 20,000 visitors in just 17 days.

This year's event was run for the first time by the Highland Perthshire Community Interest Company (HPCIC), on behalf of the community, who selected Northern Light to work with the sound and lighting designers to bring the show to fruition.

The event has been particularly well received this year, with over a thousand customers rating it the most enjoyable yet.

Nick Read, Northern Light's head of hire and events, said, "This spectacular event was months in the planning and we worked very closely with composer and sound designer R J McConnell and lighting designer Simon Wilkinson to realise the overall concept. We subcontracted the sound

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UK - Cooper Industries plc has announced the acquisitions of Mount Engineering plc, a UK based manufacturer of specialty threaded adaptors and reducers for harsh and hazardous environments, and Apex Lighting Controls, a private manufacturer of energy management lighting controls also based in the UK.

Mount Engineering specialises in the manufacture and supply of thread-converting adaptors and reducers that are "Ex Certified" for use in potentially explosive or hazardous areas. Additionally, Mount Engineering is engaged in the sale and distribution of industrial valves and actuators to the oil, gas, petrochemical and process industries throughout the world. Mount Engineering will become part of the Cooper Safety division of Cooper Industries.

Apex Lighting Controls delivers integrated lighting control systems and services to manage lighting and energy usage for commer

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Spain - VMB has introduced a new lift to its pro series range.The new TE-086 is now the largest in the Pro Series of telescopic lifts, lifting 300kg (661lbs) to a height of 6.5m (21.3').

The addition of the TE-086 now means that the Spanish manufacturer offers 15 different lifting solutions from the Classic, Pro and TL Series of lifters.

Like all pro series lifts the TE-086 includes ALS safety features, is BGV-C1 certified and is available in black or silver finish.

(Jim Evans)

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Netherlands Protest - Dutch singers, painters and TV presenters have demonstrated in the Netherlands against government plans to slash arts funding. The Dutch government has pledged to cut 200m euros (£171m) from its arts budget over the next five years. It has also approved plans to raise sales tax on theatre, cinema and concert tickets from 6% to 19%.

Organisers said the cuts had been justified by lawmakers who argued the arts were only for the "wealthy elite". "A 13% rise in sales tax hits all of the public because tickets get more expensive," organisers said in a manifesto published online. "By cutting culture budgets and raising tax on tickets, culture will become an elitist pastime and less accessible for people with less money."

In Amsterdam, around 20,000 people gathered on Saturday afternoon on the Leidseplein to listen to music and

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UK - For a limited time, LSI Online has slashed the price of over 130 titles in the Technical Book shop, with many books discounted by as much as 50%!

To take advantage of this offer, head over to the Technical Bookshop now or contact Sheila Bartholomew at Sheila@plasa.org or on +44 (0)1323 524137 for more information.

Offers are subject to availability and strictly while stocks last.

(Claire Beeson)

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UK - Azule Finance, the lighting and sound finance specialists, released strong FY10 growth figures, demonstrating "soaring demand for technical investments in new lighting technology". Figures released yesterday show that Azule's lighting business has doubled since FY09, spurred on by the growing popularity of products like GLP Impressions.

Azule's lighting division sales director, Gavin Scott comments, "The buzz and popularity around live events and festivals grows each year and lightshows for major artists are becoming more and more spectacular. When planning a live event lighting is nearly always an artist's first consideration and with a host of innovative new products coming onto the market from manufacturers such as Robe mixed with the enduringly successful products like GLP Impressions, lighting is fast becoming big business."

For lighting companies

  1. Showsec in Madrid for EMA awards
  2. Lighthouse acquires Huizhou factory
  3. The Week in Lighting & Sound
  4. Paul Sadler of Delstar incorporated with IMechE
  5. One month left to register for wireless microphone funding
  6. Global Infusion Group recognised by awards
Page 162 of 239
Robe - Large MPU
GLP - MPU - May-June, Sept-Nov 2024
Showlight - MPU - June-July, Oct 2024

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