UK - White Light has been appointed to supply the lighting to Love Never Dies, the highly anticipated sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musicalThe Phantom of the Opera.

Since its 1986 debut at London's Her Majesty's Theatre, where it continues to play, The Phantom of the Opera has been seen in more than 25 countries and by more than 100m people. Love Never Dies continues the story of the Phantom, following his move across the Atlantic to haunt the fairgrounds of Coney Island.

To meet the challenge of bringing the story to life and matching the success of the first Phantom, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has assembled a creative team with an impressive track record, including lyricist Glenn Slater (The Little Mermaid, Sister Act), director Jack

USA - dbx Professional Products has announced the launch of the newly redesigned dbx Professional Products website (www.dbxpro.com). The site features improved navigation, and more targeted resources geared toward the markets dbx serves.

Featuring individual areas on the website focused on the installed, portable, tour, and studio sound markets, website visitors can now more easily navigate through the site to find dbx products that are most appropriate for their specific applications, says the company.

"We developed our new website with the goal of giving our customers and dealers a greater resource to information about our full product range and the continued support and service they have come to expect from dbx. In addition to increased functionality, we have created a better resource for communicating new information that will allow us to better serve our customers,&q

India - Soundcraft's new Si3 digital desk is receiving high exposure on the Indian sub-continent, thanks to the support of New-Delhi based rental company, Dhawan Electricals Pvt.

Having already used the board to mix one of India's leading rock bands Agnee this autumn, sound engineer Yogesh Dhawan, says that the Si3 has subsequently enjoyed a heavy tour of duty. "Pathways World School went crazy when I told them that we were going digital for this year's Annual Day," he said.

The two-day Founders Weekend at the exclusive school in early December featured non-stop entertainment on its 30-acre campus, under the theme of the school's motto, Learn, Work, Play, Think, LIVE!.

Over the weekend of festivities Dhawan ended up making around 25 cues for each event and used almost 37 channels on the board as a programme of Indian classical music, orchestras, theatre (inv

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Strictly FX, Pushing Boundaries

Strictly FX was founded in 1996 by industry veterans Mark Grega and Ted Maccabee. Our expertise and knowledge of the world’s leading pyrotechnic, laser, and flame manufacturers allows us to curate astonishing live events. With over 500+ shows performed a year, there’s good chance you’ve seen some of our work!

USA - Meyer Sound has announced CAL, a new series of self-powered steerable column array loudspeakers that offer "unprecedented control and low-profile aesthetics". The Meyer Sound CAL steerable column array loudspeakers feature vertical coverage control and low-distortion sound. Without sacrificing any power, the vertical beam can be angled up or down 30 degrees and can be configured with vertical beam widths from five to 60 degrees. Multiple or split beams can be used as needed to fit the application.

Using a range of vertical control presets programmed for the steerable column array loudspeakers, system integrators can choose the angle and dispersion to accurately project sound where needed while avoiding surfaces that interfere with speech signal transmissions. For acoustically challenging spaces such as churches, mosques, airports, cruise ships, stadiums, and them

UK - Llanelli- based AV integration specialists PAI recently completed the roll-out of bespoke narrow bezel LCD panel technology for a series of the Reiss mens and womenswear retail stores in central London.

The locations - Barrett Street; Kings Road, Chelsea; Kent House, Oxford Circus and Selfridges in Oxford Street - are some of the busiest locations for the popular high street brand.

PAI was contacted by Reiss's design team who were seeking a technical solution to deliver their concept for a new in-store promotion system requiring an anamorphic screen measuring approximately 1.8M high and 0.6M wide.

PAI won the contract for offering design realisation at the right price and the ability to deliver a fully working end product within the client's demanding programme.

"We reviewed the brief and came up with a simple cost-effective approach," reports PAI's technica

Sweden - The Upsala Nya Tidning (UNT), a noted daily Swedish newspaper, has recently opened a visitor centre in Uppsala. PolyVision Teknik, the A/V system integrator, selected Medialon to be the main A/V controller of the UNT visitor cent.

"The producer, Lars Josefsson at PolyVision Mediaslottet, is really the creator of the whole media centre. My task was to make his vision come true", says Per Sigemark, project manager from PolyVision Teknik.

The UNT combines a media centre and conference facilities - both controlled by a Medialon Manager PRO Show and Media Control software.

The visit starts with a multitude of pictures regarding local, national and international events. From the 7x10m dome-shape ceiling, visitors are surrounded by moving pictures and sound. The ceiling changes colour from deep blue to dark red thanks to LED lights installed behind the dom

USA - The Hard Rock Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma is a $155m upgrade and expansion of the former Cherokee Casino Resort, which has been transformed into a powerhouse gaming/hotel/nightclub complex and re-branded as a Hard Rock franchise.

Still owned and operated by Cherokee Nation despite its new name, the casino was looking to give itself a facelift, when the branding and renovation opportunity with Hard Rock arose. Along with the obvious advantages of aligning itself with the world-famous pop culture icon came the challenge of assimilating $2 million worth of rock music memorabilia and other Hard Rock design parameters into the casino's Native American roots.

Nowhere was this blending of the old and new played out more dramatically than on a large plastic light sculpture that hangs over seven banks of slot machines in the casino's 125,000sq.ft gaming area. Designed in a Native A

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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

France - A mythical Parisian nightclub and clubbers' temple, Le Queen is one of the most important nightclubs in the capital. Located at the heart of the Champs Elysées, the often-packed club distinguishes itself by the quality of the artists that perform there as well as by its atmosphere. With a recent Martin lighting update, Le Queen remains a reference point for Parisian clubbers.

From the outset, the plan for replacing the lighting was simple: conserve the party spirit of the place by remaining as simple as possible. Therefore, the aim was to replace the old lighting kit while reducing the number of sources. It was, however, very important to lose neither the effects of the traditional ACL projectors nor the sensation of the power of the light provided by all of the projectors.

In order to meet different expectations, two types of products have been installed on ei

The Netherlands - Duran Audio will be showing two new products at ISE in Amsterdam. On display will be the AXYS Octadrive DSP and the AXYS PB400.

The PB400 is the latest product in the AXYS IndustryAmp range, which was first introduced to complement the AXYS ADC and ABF loudspeaker ranges. The PB400 is a 4 channel 250W per channel power amplifier, with built in DSP, which is available with either low impedance or 70V/100V line output stages. The 100V unit has a CobraNet interface and a wide range of features as standard.

The Octadrive DSP is designed for use as a high performance line driver that can be used for a variety of situations and forms an interface between third party systems and AXYS products. The unit has eight analogue line level outputs (all with pilot tone generators and individual processing) and on board DSP. The unit also comes complete with a CobraNet inter

The Netherlands - DMi D&M Installation Europe is expanding the functionality and capabilities of its Escient Zone home control system with major new additions to the product range at Integrated Systems Europe 2010. New Zone products to be introduced at ISE include a new video media player, adding video streaming to Zone, an AV I/O extender, and a range of DIN Rail lighting modules.

Escient Zone is a powerful integrated CI home control system exclusive to D&M Europe. Zone is positioned to provide fully featured, high performance home automation and control at a lower price point than current market leading systems, says the company.

The new Zone MP400 media player extends the multiroom audio distribution capabilities of current Zone media players into the video domain. The MP400 enables distribution of video from a central hard drive throughout the home and can handle a wide ra

UK - Sheffield-based Cloud Electronics has launched the VTX-WM1 web monitor card, a web server Ethernet option card option for Cloud's new VTX power amplifiers.

The VTX card hosts its own website providing monitoring and surveillance information about the amplifier's condition and status which can be viewed from any remote location at any time using any computer (or PDA, smartphone, etc.) via its normal Internet browser application.

Passwords and criteria are established at point of installation. Monitoring options span load monitoring, input level monitoring, signal level indications, temperature and level controls and all user configurable settings. Alarm warnings and status messages are sent via email (or SMS). This includes a Black Box message should the amplifier fail and shut down: the battery back-up within the card allows it to send a final message and its settings.

UK - Firefly has announced that it is to be the exclusive technical production partner for the Brighton Festival Fringe in 2010. Firefly will be with the festival to ensure internal productions are delivered sustainably.

Brighton Festival Fringe is one of the largest and fastest-growing open access arts festival in the world and the largest in England. Anyone can put on an event in the Fringe, so it functions as a springboard for new work as well as a guaranteed platform for more established acts.

Brighton & Hove has held Fringe activity since the Brighton Festival was launched in 1967. In 2006 the Fringe became a company in its own right and appointed an independent board of directors: it is also a registered charity. Fringe 2010 will run from 1-23 May.

Firefly will be providing a number of solar powered stages as well as supplying all technical infrastructure

Germany - A problem faced increasingly by many leading European football clubs is what to do when their stadium - often originally built in the early-to-mid 20th Century - is no longer adequate for the needs of the modern supporter? High on the list of priorities is the provision of high quality audio, which has been achieved at two of Germany's highest profile clubs with installations that feature 120 Yamaha power amplifiers and DME digital mixing engine control.

Bayer Leverkusen and Augsburg FCs both recently faced the dilemma of having stadia which could no longer fulfil 21st century expectations. To achieve this they chose different options - Leverkusen to radically extend its existing facility, whereas Augsburg went for a completely new build.

In both cases new systems were needed to deliver high quality audio. The flexibility, reliability and quality of Yamaha power ampl

Finland - The Season of Light festival used two Barco XLM HD30 projectors to illuminate Senate Square in Helsinki. The festival took place early January and presented two façade light-art installations.

Season of Light is an annual light-art festival in Helsinki. During the dark winter month of January, two façade light performances gave the country's capital an exciting atmosphere. Both installations, Reflections at Senate Square and Oratoribus at Parliament House, were created by lighting designer Mikki Kunttu.

The performance at Senate Square is a 15-minute story, projected on the façade of Helsinki Cathedral. Reflections is a voyage through time into the past and onwards into a world of fantasy. Senate Square and its surroundings return to the year 1852 when the St Nicholas church - now Helsinki Cathedral - was inaugurated. Starting wi

The Netherlands - This week's ISE2010 will see the introduction of a software upgrade for all existing Yamaha M7CLs, but also the first show outing of a new model, the M7CL-48ES.

Developed partly in response to "the remarkable uptake" of Yamaha's SB168-ES EtherSound stage box, M7CL-48ES replaces the 48 internal mic pre-amps with two EtherSound ports. This keeps the three MY card slots free for other uses - for example allowing connection of multitrack recording equipment.

Also included is a third port, which allows permanent connection of the console to a computer while using EtherSound in 'ring' mode.

To make setup quick and easy, the M7CL-48ES auto-configures its connection to the SB168-ES stage box, obviating the need to use ES Monitor software to establish the link.

The upgraded, Version 3, software - which will be offered as a free upgrade to all existing M7

Sweden - The TC Group has announced a restructuring that has resulted in the formation of a new organization known as TC Group International which will operate out of Aarhus in Denmark and Coatbridge, Scotland.

The new organisation, which comes into being today (1 February), will offer "a new and revitalised sales and support structure based on vertical markets" across all TCGI-owned brands, namely TC Electronic, TC Helicon, Lab.gruppen, Lake and Tannoy, as well as the distributed brands Dynaudio Acoustics and Blue Microphones.

All sales activity that was previously handled at individual brand level, such as order processing, and account management will now be centralised and handled at group level out of the offices in Aarhus and Coatbridge.

In addition to this, all sales force and sales support activity will be organised by market segment, of which there are five

UK - Liverpool based rental company Adlib supplied Lighting, AV and PA to the latest successful UK tour by award winning comedian Jimmy Carr.

Adlib has worked with Carr for the last four years and they have also been enjoying a spurt of comedy tours in recent months which included Russell Howard's pre-festive arena tour.

The lighting rig was designed and operated by Adlib's Tim Spilman. The set-up featured a front truss with eight Martin Professional MAC 250 wash lights, with three 90 degree ETC Source Four profiles on side booms each side of the thrust stage for downstage side illumination. There were six floor PARs, fitted with front filters to eliminate facial shadows.

A black back curtain was up-lit with another five floor PARs. There were three main performance positions - centre stage, sofa stage right and table stage right - each of which was lit with two profiles and

USA - Behind The Scenes, an initiative of The ESTA Foundation, has announced its first-ever holiday card student design contest, open to any lighting, set, video or costume full-time design student interested in creating an original design for a 2010 card.

The winner will be chosen by an all-star panel of previous holiday card designers including Bob Bonniol, Beowulf Borrit, Scott Pask, Bruce Rodgers, Douglas Schmidt, and Tim Hunter Design. The winner's design will be among the cards offered for sale to raise money for Behind the Scenes, which provides financial assistance to entertainment technology professionals who are ill or injured.

The winner will also receive a free pass to the Live Design Master Class of choice (lighting, sound, or projection) to be held in May in New York City.

"This is an incredible opportunity for student designers to have their work seen by

The Netherlands - DMi D&M Installation Europe is showing the new in-ceiling Architectural Series from Boston Acoustics for the first time at Integrated Systems Europe 2010 this week. The CI speaker series has been nominated for an InAvation Technology Award 2010.

All three models - including a subwoofer - are designed to resemble small modern halogen type enclosures, providing "the most discrete sound installation speakers yet devised, while employing proprietary Boston Acoustics' technology and engineering to ensure that this is achieved without any compromise to the company's renowned sound quality".

The HSi 430 and HSi 435 are 3½ " hi/mid enclosures, with round and square bezels respectively; the matching HSi S6W2 subwoofer also comes with alternative bezel forms. In addition to their diminutive size, the speakers feature dramatically reduced bezel visibilit

UK - Berkshire-based sound rental company Event Sound has joined the ranks of UK mid-format line-array providers, with its purchase of an Electro-Voice XLC system from Shuttlesound.

The upgrade of an inventory which has included two generations of Electro-Voice PA products signals the serious intentions of Event Sound's owners Nick Billinghurst and Jason Spencer, who are now committed full-time to building the high-end rental operation, and adding a sales and installation dimension to the company.

Shuttlesound will supply Event Sound with 18 XLC 127DVX modules with eight Xsubs, and a stock of new Tour Grade amplifiers, which are fitted with RCM26 remote control modules, providing the full complement of IIR filters, signal routing, level control, compression and limiting, and FIR-Drive processing.

"They have big plans and they're prepared to work hard," says Shuttle

USA - Alcorn McBride, Inc. has promoted Tommy Bridges to the position of sales manager.Bridges has been a senior account manager at Alcorn McBride Inc for the past six years and has 20 years of experience in the AV industry, beginning when he sold AV equipment as a manufacturer's rep for Sony, Panasonic, and other industry giants. As sales manager, Bridges will focus on the Western United States and will manage Alcorn McBride's relationships with many of its international distribution partners.

"We are fortunate to be in a growth mode," said Jeremy Scheinberg, COO of Alcorn McBride. "Our customers were the reason 2009 was such a great year for us and Tommy's elevation to sales manager ensures more personalised attention for our loyal client base while the company expands. Tommy really cares about our customers. Not only does he remember everyone he meets, he's tru

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