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14 March 2016

"Control4 is a leading provider of intelligent operating systems, and we are pleased to be selected as a participant in the Solution Provider Programme," says Adam Stone, president and CEO of D-Tools. "We are like-minded in our goal to provide our customers with a platform to fuel their growth, and we look forward to assisting Control4 dealers in expanding their businesses and maximizing their bottom line."

"We are committed to providing Control4 dealers with the best project solutions in the industry and the D-Tools software package is no exception. Their comprehensive software package is an excellent tool for syste

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14 March 2016

Members of the pages will be the first to find out about industry news, PLASA news and show news and content Plus, PLASA 2011 is offering the first 1000 members the chance to win a pair of Sennheiser HD 380 Pro collapsible high end headphones! To be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is "like" the PLASA 2011 page, then a winner will be picked at random.

To view the PLASA Facebook page, click here.

For the PLASA Focus page,

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14 March 2016

Adam Beaumont, head of AC-ET's rigging sales division, James Bawn from the lighting division and Stuart Moots from the audio division co-ordinated the event, which involved their collective skills, experience and resources, plus some of the industry's leading rigging, lighting and audio products. The equipment was taken to the college for the day and set up a series of live interactive demonstrations in the purpose built Grange Arts Centre performance facility. Both Moots and Bawn are former students of the college.

The courses being studied are for Entertainment Technician and Stage Technician qualifications, and include modules on lighting & sound enginee

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14 March 2016

The veteran sound engineer and technical innovator was killed in January when his plane crashed in southern California. He was 62. His career included sound engineering duties for Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand and many other leading artists. In addition to his live sound mixing experience, Jackson was a skilled technical innovator and entrepreneur: among his achievements, he co-founded Australian production house Jands, founded Apogee Electronics, and co-developed the ground-breaking Lake Technology DSP loudspeaker processor.

A native Australian, Jackson worked closely with Opera House technical director David Claringbold on the 20

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14 March 2016

Love Never Dies, which received mixed reviews when it opened in March last year, is also nominated for best lighting, set and costume design. Its nominations follow a four-day closure in November, during which some changes were made to the show. Love Never Dies and Legally Blonde will compete against Fela! and Love Sto

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14 March 2016

"An important part of the mission for Matrix Group is to become a facility house with the right people, the best product lines and be market leader with high skills and knowledge about the things that we work with," says chairman of Matrix Group, Claus Reher-Langberg. "The investment behind Matrix Group is on a solid capital base, and we will become a major player in the industry. We have worked on this for a long time and the companies that are brought in to the group are a future investment, and we look forward to growing further."

He continues, "Our organisation is up and running and we are proud to announce that Moto Audio Sales, Nordic Sales & Staging and Signal Audio are now part

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14 March 2016

Last summer, LOCOG announced the appointment of Danny Boyle as artistic director of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, and a team of executive producers led by Steven Daldry to oversee the Olympic and Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies in 2012.

Now roles within the London 2012 Ceremonies Team working at Three Mills Studios in East London are being advertised on the London 2012 website.

Creative roles include producer of the Olympic Opening Ceremony, head of audio visual, head of costume, head of casting and design studio manager. Applications must be made by 23 February 2011 for these roles.

Bill Morris, LOCOG directo

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14 March 2016

The new name is registered with the UK Charity Commission in addition to the name 'PSA Welfare & Benevolent Fund', and donations can be made in either name. The charity is also registered with JustGiving.com, which allows the tax value of donations to be reclaimed under the Gift Aid scheme, boosting the value of individual donations significantly at no extra cost to the donor.

"We felt it was time to have a punchier and more memorable handle for the charity," explained Mike Lowe. "We've recently seen a surge in donations, largely thanks to the efforts and generosity of PSA member

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14 March 2016

Eurovision Latest - X Factor twins Jedward have become Ireland's next Eurovision entrants with the song Lipstick. The duo beat four other acts on RTE's Late

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14 March 2016

The 2011 ride will rev up and burn off from the National Theatre on 18 June and the event will climax on 25 June at Alexandra Palace.

Motorbike enthusiasts from the industry are invited to join in, feel the wind in their hair and raise money for TTG, either on a daily basis or for the whole engine-revving week. Information

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14 March 2016

Richard will take over as Technical Editor of Lighting&Sound International magazine from James Eade, who has helped the PLASA Media team steer the technical content of L&SI for the past nine years. Lee Baldock, editor of L&SI since 2004, said: "James has made a huge contribution to the technical content of L&SI over the years, while still running his own successful business, e-Mech. I personally would like to thank him for all his help and guidance over that

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14 March 2016

"We are very experienced with in-ear monitoring for orchestras and have specific systems that we use," says Da Capo founder and sound designer for the tour, Rob van der Meijs. "Initially, monitor speakers were requested, but the sound level on stage should be as low as possible so we recommended in-ears instead."

Using a system devised by Da Capo, every musician was supplied with his or her own personal amplifier. This enabled them to listen to the mix from the monitor engineer and to mix in the vocal and their own instrument to the t

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14 March 2016

A Redback Wallmount may be specified to be a combination of conventional dimmers and/or relay channels to power LEDs and intelligent lighting fixtures. For example, a 24-channel 'combo' unit provides 18 channels of dimming as well as six channels of relay in the same chassis.

In addition, the relay modules can be configured to be switched on or off using DMX512, auto-powered - to improve energy efficiency - or controlled via a number of other methods in the same fashion that the standard dimming channels may be controlled.

The relay outputs provide direct power by utilising physical

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14 March 2016

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

In addition to the training, the day provided a good discussion forum and delegates came away feeling they had learnt valuable points. "DALI and DMX are being pushed as major protocols and it is important that we should be up to date on the methods and means of DMX / DALI conversion and also the problems, limitations and compensation methods of doing so," says Paul Simson of Enliten.

"It was

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14 March 2016

The Grammy Awards' technical staff consists of audio pioneers who continually strive to employ the latest in HDTV and 5.1 technology to enhance the show. The Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing members Phil Ramone and Hank Neuberger again supervised the broadcast audio, while fellow P&E Wing member Leslie Ann Jones supervised the house audio.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Held in late January, the event once again presented the equipment in a real theatrical setting, Central's Embassy Theatre. There, the equipment was set up and programmed by students from Central's lighting courses to create introductory shows that showed off the potential of the equipment. The students were then on-hand to respond to requests from visitors to demonstrate particular products or features.

The day featured early appearances for Robert Juliat's new Aledin LED Fresnel, the PixelRange PixelSmart LED washlight, Pulsar's new UV LED Chromaflood, the Galaxia LED washlight newly distribu

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14 March 2016

Moscow-based contractor ARG was awarded the contract for the Opening Ceremony on 30 January 2011, and they in turn called in The Prolyte Group to supply a number of elements to help realise their vision.

The ceremony, at the newly built 30,000-seat Astana Arena, began with much fanfare and jubilant activity. The entertainment comprised a cultural extravaganza depicting the history of Kazakhstan, aided by a virtual "eagle's eye view" of the country's vast plains. The ceremony included dance, song, distinctive musical instruments and props that came to life.

The centrepiece of the impressive production was a waterfall t

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14 March 2016

Following introductory concept discussions with Peter Fairhurst, it emerged that the system was to be used by the current President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni for the current national election campaign.

Fuzion's Jimmy Potter and Edmund Draycott combined their expertise to create a powerful, easy-to-rig PA system that could be assembled and dismantled in less than an hour.

They decided that Nexo Geo S was answer. The rig comprised nine Geo

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14 March 2016

Conference speakers will include John Hayes, Minister for Business Innovation and Skills, Paul Latham, COO- Live Nation UK and Chair of NSA Board and other key figures from the technical and production sectors. There will also be a series of masterclasses.

The purpose of SARA'S visit is to attend the industry training and educational seminars, network and engage with industry players regarding knowledge and skills development issues, and also understand the qualification standard

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14 March 2016

Gavin said he wants to put a "UK stamp" on the proceedings. Speaking to The Stage, Gavin said: "I think first and foremost [on my mind] is what would you like to see in the stadium and how do you want to feel. We have a time constraint, in that the last thing that happens in the stadium is 16 hours before we have to perform so that has to be considered

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14 March 2016

Courses were limited to eight people per session, although such was the demand that 10 were accommodated on the final course. The cross section of attendees represented all areas of the industry and included venue personnel, freelancers and sound, lighting & staging rental companies. Three technicians from BBC Northern Ireland were there along with two from University College Dublin.

Freelancer Phil McVeigh used the course as an invaluable all round 'primer' opportunity before going on to successfully complete his National Rigging Certificate (NRC) Level 2 in the UK the following week.

Th

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14 March 2016

The three-week paid training programme will give candidates a thorough induction to some of the most popular and industry-standard lighting, audio, rigging and video entertainment technologies stocked by AC-ET, which supplies over 200 brands to dealers, distributors and end users in 80 countries worldwide.

Successful candidates selected from the training course will then follow a development programme over the next 12 months, depending on their individual level of industry experience.

Originally launched in 2003, the training programme has proved extremely successful, with 6

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14 March 2016

"The Executive Hire Team has delivered another great show", said Graham Dobbs managing director at inspHire. "The level of enquiries was excellent and there was a fantastic level of interest from our existing customers in our newly launched inspHire-iX, the Apple device application for inspHire users on the move. We also had a lot of interest in RFID, which will help hire companies to speed up their processes and therefore bring efficiencies to their businesses. I think everyone at the show felt the buzz again this year which is really encouraging."

inspHire again hosted th