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South Africa - The first Discovery Graduation Ceremony 2012 was held recently at Vodaworld at Vodadome, Midrand, put together by events company, Edith Unlimited.

Edith Venter, a long-time client and owner of Edith Unlimited, who is known for her charity and high profile events, asked MJ Event Gear to provide the full technical. The in-house occasion was attended by 260 people and awarded Discovery staff who had completed various forms of training.

"The event went wonderfully smooth," said Theo Rood, production manager from MJ Event Gear, who as part of his pre-production work also tested the venues' LED pillars and projectors prior to set-up to avoid any unforeseen hiccups.

The venue, tables and chairs were draped in white and looked stunning as Robe 600 LED fixtures washed them in colour. "Edith Unlimited rely completely on our creativity when it comes to lig

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UAE - SGM Lighting and TechnoPro have agreed a new distribution deal that takes the relationship which the two companies have enjoyed for many years to a new level. SGM's CEO Peter Johansen and TechnoPro founder and chief executive Nabil Bourgeili confirmed an agreement to extend the brand's territorial representation far beyond the UAE, during the PALME Middle East show in Dubai this month.

Under the new ownership of Danish entrepreneur Johansen, the former Italian lighting company is now focusing exclusively on LED fixtures. In fact the launch of next generation LED effects into the Middle East market formed a dynamic component of TechnoPro's massive 1000sq.m display at PALME - making them easily the largest single exhibitor at the show.

Johansen comments: "We are delighted to be partnering again with Nabil, as TechnoPro looks to move further into LED technology and the

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Qatar - During the recent Watch and Jewellery Exhibition in Doha, a gala dinner was held at the Sheraton Hotel, where the evening's entertainment included dramatic performances by aerial artists, dancers and musicians. Essential to the performance were two concentric rings, 8m and 10m in diameter, designed to look like cogs from a watch. Flown above the stage, the 'cogs' appeared to float in mid-air, moving and gyrating in time to the music.

With the original equipment delayed in transit, production manager Romain Rossel of MCI Geneva was put in touch with Unusual Rigging and Engineering, who were able to step in and provide the precise control required for the performance.

Project manager for Unusual Rigging & Engineering Leon Ingram explains, "The rings were suspended from a 10m high ground support system, the movement being provided by 11 hoists. With only days to come

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UK - Icons of British electronic music Leftfield, with the help of Red Bull Studios London, recently curated a special show at London's Brixton O2 Academy in aid of War Child. Leftfield, with a line-up of friends and special guests, provided an impressive show for fans while raising much-needed funds for War Child.

For the event, Prolyte Group supplied two branded versions of its performance platform: LiteConsole. Front fascia panels featuring the distinctive Red Bull and War Child logos were also supplied. During the show, the LiteConsoles were internally lit for maximum visual impact.

Chris Taplin of Shooting Star Productions, responsible for the smooth running of the entire event, stated simply: "We love your LiteConsoles."

Cato Music's Daniel Humphreys, who supplied equipment for the event, added: "For many years we've been searching for a simplified desig

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UK - Bristol-based event production company SXS was recently commissioned by the Royal Borough of Greenwich to provide sound and full technical production for the royal unveiling of the Cutty Sark in Greenwich. This followed a £50m restoration project as a result of fire damage to the 143-year-old clipper back in 2007.

SXS were tasked with constructing (and dressing) a dais stage, while the PA was provided by the company's new Martin Audio W8LM line array system supplied by dealers, LMC Audio.

The production company deployed a total of 12 W8LM Mini Line Array enclosures in two hangs, with two W8LMD Downfills at the base of each hang. This was driven by Lab Gruppen FP series amps and controlled using XTA DSPs.

Attended by both the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, the launch took place at the Cutty Sark Gardens and the event included a 90-strong symphony orchestra and a

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USA - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Time Rice's Evita has returned to Broadway for the first time in 30 years, in a new production directed by Michael Grandage, choreographed by Rob Ashford, designed by Christopher Oram with lighting by Tony- and Olivier-award winning lighting designer Neil Austin - who received both Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for the show's lighting.

To keep track of that lighting as it was created and then what for what looks certain to be a long, successful run, Austin and his team turned to FocusTrack to document the lighting rig, and to SpotTrack to document the show's four followspots.

The rig itself is made up pre-dominantly of tungsten moving lights, including ETC Revolutions, Martin TW1s, Vari-Lite VL5Bs and DHA Pitching Digital Light Curtains, with some discharge punch then provided by VL1000AS fixtures and PRG's new Best Boy 40

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South Africa - Allen & Heath's GS-R24 Firewire recording mixer has been installed in the main recording studio at the Campus of Performing arts (COPA) in Johannesburg, as a teaching console and to manage music students' projects.

"I needed a mixer to satisfy my students' obsession for all things digital, and to teach them the value of what they call 'old school'. Enter the GS-R24, new kid on the block and what I believe to be the future of modern recording consoles," explains COPA's head of production, Neill Pash.

"Everything the modern day producer and musician needs has been included in this little gem: musical fully parametric EQ, two great-sounding onboard valve pre-amps which also serve as instrument DI's, with onboard MIDI control of your DAW including transport and plug-ins, automated flying faders (GSR24-M) and the flexibility to route your DAW effects o

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Arts Funding - Public support for government funding of the arts has fallen significantly during the recession, according to research published by Arts Council England.

ACE's Stakeholder Focus Research reveals that 44% of the general public support government subsidy of the arts, down from 52% when the research was last carried out in 2009. Only 12% strongly support it - down from 16% in 2009 - while 19% of the population oppose it - up from 14% in 2009 - and 7% strongly oppose it, up from 5%.

The results also reveal the public generally believes subsidy should be used to widen access to arts events, with the least popular aim of public funding being "supporting artists and arts organisations to take risks and try new things out". Elsewhere, the research shows that within the industry, there is widespread support for ACE, with 71% of the arts sector and partners repo

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USA - Richard Pilbrow, founder of Theatre Project Consultants (TPC) and one of the world's leading theatre design consultants, will give the keynote address at the North American Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference (NATEAC) in New York City on July 22.

The conference, scheduled for Sunday and Monday, July 22 and 23, 2012, promotes communication between the architects, engineers, consultants, and manufacturers responsible for designing and building new theatres and renovating existing performance facilities in North America.

Pilbrow will speak at the conference's opening session on July 22 at 9:30 a.m. at the New York Hilton Hotel, 1335 Avenue of the Americas. The session is open only to registered attendees. To register for the conference, visit www.nateac.org/register.htm.

Early in his career, Pilbrow was selected by Laurence Olivier to be the lighting designer

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UK - Software provider Stardraw.com has announced the launch of the first of many planned Cloud services. The service supports their latest software design and documentation package, Stardraw Design 7, and is designed to automatically synchronise all User Defined Products (UDPs) across all the computers you use to run the application.

Stardraw Design 7 features vast libraries of product data; more than 55,000 symbols of products from over 600 manufacturers and users can also create their own product data with the User Defined Product Wizard. One of the challenges is that people tend to have Stardraw Design 7 installed on more than one computer - perhaps one (or more) in the office, one at home, and possibly a laptop as well.

Once activated, the Synchronize UDP service will automatically upload your customized product data to the Cloud where it is stored and backed up on three

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UK - The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Matilda - The Musical began life at the Company's Stratford-Upon-Avon venue, the Courtyard Theatre, to rave reviews and sell-out audiences. Having transferred to London's Cambridge Theatre in November 2011, the production has continued its success, last month sweeping the boards at the Olivier Awards when it broke records and took home seven of the prestigious awards.

As well as the awards for best new musical; best actress in a musical (presented jointly to the four actresses in the title role) and best actor in a musical for Bertie Carvel's cross-dressing performance as tyrannical head teacher Miss Trunchbull; technical elements of the show were also awarded. Simon Baker took home the Olivier for Sound Design, whilst Rob Howell won for his Set Design and Peter Darling was awarded for his C

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UK - LarMac Live (LML) produced the star-studded show at the heart of last weekend's Our Greatest Team Rises Team GB and ParalympicsGB gala fundraising event at the Royal Albert Hall in London .

The entertainment line up included Gary Barlow, Will Young, Melanie C, Alfie Boe, Charlie Siem, The Feeling, Kimberly Walsh, BGT winners Spelbound and many others, uniting Team GB and ParalympicsGB for both the Olympics and Paralympics in the run up to the summer Games.

The equally high-profile guest list for the black tie event was topped by TeamGB ambassadors including Sir Steve Redgrave, Dame Kelly Holmes, Denise Lewis OBE and Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. They joined over 3000 people for dinner with gastronomy created by Michelin starred chef, Simon Hulstone.

LarMac LIVE were contracted by Team GB/ParalympicsGB and worked in unison with Fireball

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Festival of Flame - Coldplay are to headline the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. They will take to the stage at the Olympic Stadium on 9 September for the ceremony, titled Festival of Flame. Frontman Chris Martin called it "a great honour" and said the band were "very happy to be involved". They will be among more than 2,000 performers at the event.

The closing ceremonies are being co-ordinated by artistic director Kim Gavin, who has worked on Take That tours and staged the Concert For Diana in 2007. "Our show will be a celebration of the UK as a centre for festivals, which is a fitting finale to the amazing festival of sport that is the London 2012 Games," he said.

Arts Funding - A major shake-up in Creative Scotland's funding strategy has left the country's independent theatre sector uncertain for its future,

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UK / USA - Loud Technologies, owner of Martin Audio, has announced that it has appointed Lincoln International "to conduct a strategic review of its UK-based division, Martin Audio, with a view to finding private equity backing to support Martin Audio into the next phase of its development plan".

The company says: "In sourcing the right investment partner, and forging a more independent path, it will further assist in the realisation of the growth strategy and objectives of the business."

Following the introduction of its award winning, and ground breaking MLA system in 2010, Martin Audio's sales of professional loudspeaker systems have grown over 40% in the past 12 months, driven by growing demand for its products in new markets - particularly in the Asia Pacific region - despite the current global economic position. Over 90% of Martin Audio's sales are ex

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USA - Three new sessions have been added to an already stellar line up of speakers due to take the stage at PLASA Focus: Nashville, a new style of regional event taking place, for the first time, at The Nashville Municipal Auditorium, on 11-12 July 2012.

Joining other exhibitors, such as Clay Paky, Barbizon Lighting, Robe, and Martin Professional, PLASA Focus: Nashville is proud to announce the recent additions of 4Wall, Drape Kings, The Light Source, Interspace, IATSE, SeaChanger, Techni-Lux, and ZFX, to its growing floor plan.

As well as the raft of exhibitors on show at PLASA Focus: Nashville 2012, visitors can also learn, first hand, about how those new products are best put into practice. Kicking-off the exhibitor demo sessions is Niclas Arvidsson, of Wireless Solutions with a unique introduction to the world of wireless lighting control, including Wireless DMX, RDM and m

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UK - One of theatre design consultancy Charcoalblue's biggest projects of 2011 has won a prestigious Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Award.

The successful Newcastle Theatre Royal restoration project was honoured with both 'Project of the Year' and 'Building Conservation' Award.

The award showcases outstanding work in the conservation of a single building or a group of buildings or structures and covers renovation or conservation to a new or original use.

Newcastle's Theatre Royal reopened its doors to the public on Monday 12September 2011 following an extensive £5m restoration project that had drawn on the theatrical expertise of UK theatre consultants, Charcoalblue.

Managing Director of the company Andy Hayles explains, "The scope of the restoration for this Grade I listed theatre was particularly ambitious, and included complete internal redecora

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India - TiMax SoundHub 3D surround panning and sound effects trickery took centre-stage recently at an exclusive pre-wedding party in Delhi, in a lavish custom-built outdoor nightclub which also incorporated ground-breaking video mapping onto an expansive DJ booth structure conceived by UK content producers and show designers Immersive.

Commissioned by Arjun Bahl of Most Technical India who co-ordinated production for the event, sound design was by Out Board's Dave Haydon and involved multiple surround zones running parallel 3D surround and dynamic delay-panning effects simultaneously for the dance-floor, dining room and lounge areas plus, in a global first for the TiMax system, animated surround sound installed in the luxurious men's and women's washrooms.

A separate surround system ran a continuously looping atmospheric soundscape of heartbeats, industrial sound effects and

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UK - British actress Keira Knightley is supporting this year's First Night Riders charity motorcycle ride following the recent announcement that she is the new patron of The Theatrical Guild alongside fellow patron award-winning actor Simon Russell Beale CBE.

The Oscar-nominated star, reportedly the highest paid British actress in Hollywood, confirmed her patronage this week.

Knightley is the latest in a long line of notable people from the world of theatre and film who are lending their support for the First Night Riders - an annual motorbike race touring parts of England to raise much-needed funds for industry charity The Theatrical Guild (TTG), the only charity dedicated to looking after the interests of backstage and Front of House personnel.

Renowned theatre design consultant Iain Mackintosh is joining part of this year's ride, travelling in a Morgan car alongside anoth

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Germany - Merging Technologies has announced that from 1 June 2012, Digital Audio Service GmbH will assume distribution responsibilities for the German market. DAS has offices in Hamburg and Berlin as well as a retail shop in both locations and a significant online presence.

DAS is particularly well known in the post production and recording world but has strategic plans to diversify into live and installed sound. This profile fits the Merging product range very well and mirrors the changing product mix coming from the Swiss brand, says the company.

This change brings to an end a long and successful partnership with Audio Export Georg Neumann & Co GmbH based in Heilbronn. Other brands handled by the company are mainly broadcast which is an important sector for Merging but recent product introductions have gone in other directions.

Commenting on the change, Chris Hollebone, M

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UK - Stage Sound Services in Cardiff, South Wales, is now one of the UK's busiest rental and production services hire companies to the theatre market. With an enormous number of prestigious projects already to their name, both in the UK and abroad, including the likes of Journey's End (two tours and two West End runs), sound and lighting for the UEFA Champions League Final at Wembley Stadium, plus video for both Warhorse and the Wizard of Oz to name but a very few, SSS is constantly having to increase inventory levels in order to be able to satisfy demand. The latest round of investment comprised another thirty EMS-61 small format, full range passive loudspeakers from UK loudspeaker manufacturer EM Acoustics.

This latest purchase brings SSS's EM Acoustics inventory up to an impressive 359 cabinets in all, 139 of which are now EMS-61s. According to Stage Sound Services owner and

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Egypt - At its grand opening in February, Club 35 Alexandria wowed its clientele with the sonic clarity and power provided by a Meyer Sound UltraSeries loudspeaker system. The night was a packed, memorable experience featuring a set from DJ Jean, who was flown in from Beirut for the occasion.

"I give a lot of attention to detail, and I wanted to create the trendiest nightspot in Alexandria," says Club 35 Manager David Boulouys. "That meant that all the elements had to be top-notch, and that is why I chose Meyer Sound."

Located at the five-star Maritim Jolie Ville Hotel in Alexandria, Egypt, Club 35 is the first franchise to branch out from Cairo's 35 Restaurant & Lounge Bar (aka Club 35 Cairo).

Cairo-based events company Modern Touch Entertainment - one of Egypt's top entertainment companies and the country's exclusive distributor of Meyer Sound since 199

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Puerto Rico - For a spectacular three-day performance, lighting designer Eduardo 'Wady' Rodriguez chose 80-plus Chauvet Professional fixtures as part of the concert rig for Puerto Rican pop-rock singer Ednita Nazario. Musique Xpress lighting company of Puerto Rico provided the lights.

"I addressed each element of the show separately, but also looked at the overall picture, looking for harmony," Rodriguez said. "The combination of music and lights reflected Ednita's personality - her fragility, passion and great talent."

Rodriguez lit a textured wall at the back of the stage with six COLORado Ridge IP high-powered luminaires, placed equidistantly while projecting intense red, blue, purple or green hues. The wall was a static element in the design, drenched in colour for most of the looks and serving as a base for a complex rig, featuring large video walls, n

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Mexico - Wireless Solution Sweden AB Mexican OEM partner Hermes Music, S.A. de C.V. recently brightened the skyline in Villahermosa, Mexico at the Liverpool Flagship store using PR Lighting with W-DMX. Hermes supplied 22 W-DMX transmitters and 64 of PR Lighting's PR-8800 architectural fixtures to light the façade.

Mexico City-based architectural firm Inaki Echeverria constructed the façade from 20m long segments of precast concrete slabs joined together that rotate at 180° angles. To create a dynamic colour wash and highlight the architectural features, lighting designer Joseph Charles Vargas Rubenak used PR-8800 fixtures with built in W-DMX.

The PR-8800, which has been newly launched by PR lighting, features the design of the W-DMX signal transmission, a true outdoor IP67 waterproof rating, RGB colour mixing system and the environment brightness automatic adjustment

T

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USA - Over his 20 years of mixing the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Rat of Rat Sound has had to deal with a wide range of audio issues. During the current multi-year tour in support of the album I'm with You, the band encountered severe interference issues with its IEM system, which Rat addressed with a switch to the Shure PSM 1000 system and its diversity reception design.

"The troubles we were having with our existing in-ear systems were primarily due to the LED stage we have on this tour," explains Rat. "We experienced a whole new level of interference issues. When you have the artists actually standing on an LED surface, it means the beltpack is only three feet away from the RF noise, while the transmitting antenna is maybe 30 feet away. The result was a lot of dropouts from a system that had previously been very stable. We couldn't even do frequency scan

  1. Audient Studio fully booked
  2. PRG selects Meyer for Dalai Lama's address
  3. Minister attracted by the bright lights
  4. GLP Spot One & G-LEC in Poisson Rouge upgrade
  5. 11th Hour Events for SES
  6. ABTT focus on future of industry training
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