UK - Lighting designer Grum Leesmith recently showcased PixelRange's new SMART technology luminaires on Example's latest tour. The rig included six PixelSmarts and six SmartLines from the new intelligent range.

Grum Leesmith states:,"The new PixelSmart is special. Being able to take control of every cell on the PixelSmart allowed me to give texture to what would normally be a flat wash. The addition of the narrow beam, warm white LEDs gave me an alternative to a traditional ACL, two lights in one fixture, saving me weight and space both on the truss and the truck.

"I was also incredibly impressed with the SmartLine, having used PixelLine many times I was keen to see how PixelRange would improve on the design. The RGBW colour mixing blew me away, I was able to get a rea

USA - The leafy green hills west of Baltimore are home to First Evangelical Lutheran, one of the area's oldest churches. Established in 1874, the church has grown steadily over the years, moving to its current site in the mid-1950s. The campus is home to several buildings, including the Ellicott City Children's House, Montessori School, and the current sanctuary, dedicated in 1996.

The octagonal-shaped sanctuary is acoustically challenging. Designed to feature the church's pipe organ and choir, the building's wood and glass ceiling, brick walls and rock and tile floor create a reflective environment that wreaks havoc with spoken word intelligibility. As senior pastor Eugene Kern explains, the issue was one that was initially not easy to discern.

"Since my arrival to First Lutheran in early 2009, there were complaints passed on to me about the sound system," says Kern

Germany - The 64th Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) drew more than 900,000 visitors. The IAA has been one of the most important trade fairs for Gerriets for many years, and the company was again involved in creating the show's largest and most spectacular display - the Mercedes-Benz booth.

Over the past several years, Gerriets has supplied a variety of extraordinary ceiling coverings for the Mercedes-Benz booth. This year, the ceiling element consisted of more than 5,000 m² of custom-dyed blue muslin. Wrinkle-free suspension of the fabric was achieved by means of a custom-engineered and -fabricated 7-ton elliptical steel ring.

All components were precision-manufactured to ensure that despite the enormous dimensions there was no difficulty incorporating the ceiling element into the venue's existing steel construction.

Gerriets worked closely with Display International to help deli

Belgium/USA - ArKaos will be bringing its successful new protocol, Kling-Net, to NAMM 2012. Kling-Net will appear in the new ÉPIX range of LED lighting fixtures from Chauvet - one of the first manufacturers to recognise the qualities of Kling-Net on its launch at PLASA 2011, and has collaborated with ArKaos to incorporate it into its pixel-based products, launching ÉPIX Bar and ÉPIX Strip at LDI 2011.

ÉPIX Bar is an independent batten-style fixture that incorporates 160 brilliant tri-coloured SMD LEDs for dynamic video displays. ÉPIX Strip is a 1-pixel wide strip of 40 SMD LEDs, designed for video and pixel mapping applications with countless of layout options. Both of these new products, and the ÉPIX Drive 640 power and data supply, are operated exclusively by ArKaos Kling-Net.

"We are very excited by Kling-Net as the protocol is

UK - The PLASA 2012 free registration website is now live. Show organiser PLASA Events expects around 6000 visitors to take advantage of the special free registration offer over the next 48 hours, with early bookers saving £20 on the standard ticket price for this year's PLASA Show, which takes place at London's Earls Court on 9 - 12 September 2012.

All previous PLASA Show visitors have been sent the special offer via email, and free registration for new visitors is now live at www.plasashow.com.

"We have been offering free registration for early bookers for the past three years and each year the number of registrations soars," comments events manager Sophie Atkinson.

"PLASA 2012 will be the first show to take place after the London Olympic and Paralympic Games and it will be a celebration of our industry's contribution to this summer's events. We'll be

USA - Electro-Voice's Jim Long retired in December 2011 after over 45 years with the company, during which time he became one of the pro audio industry's most familiar and respected personalities.

Long enjoyed a wide range of roles in EV marketing and sales over the years, most recently as a member of the product marketing management team, and contributed his technical know-how and communication skills to many aspects of the company's success, including the development of the 'PA Bible' - still a trusted reference guide today.

Long is well-known for his ability to relate engineering concepts in everyday terms, and his presentations educated hundreds of budding and seasoned professionals over the decades. For many, Jim's easygoing manner, tireless dedication to the industry and his customers, and attention to detail became synonymous with the Electro-Voice brand and its heritag

UK - The Skills Academy's third Annual Industry Conference (www.nsa-ccskills.co.uk/annual-industry-conference-2012) will bring together professionals from the theatre and live music industries to address current challenges, and to discuss "how we can work better in collaboration with young people and education".

Say the organisers, "Together, we will explore the real return on investment in skills and what impact this is having on the sector. We will look at the issues we're facing, explore possible responses and focus on real, practical solutions. We will also be acknowledging and celebrating the inspirational achievements of the last year, and looking at how we can build on these for the future.

"This is no talking shop - come prepared to make decisions! Please join us for a crucial two days, as we prepare to move forward into 2012-13 and the challenges a

Poland - Getting 2012 off to a great start, the city of Wroclaw hosted the country's biggest celebration and featured no less than six Yamaha digital mixing consoles.

Together with Ukraine, Poland is co-hosting the Euro2012 international football championships, so its authorities are aware that much attention will be focused on it throughout the year. Wroclaw always hosts a New Year's Eve (Sylwester in Polish) celebration in its Market Square, so this year there was an added incentive to show the country's celebrations at their very best.

Wroclaw's Sylwester event was hosted by TV presenters Gra?yna Torbicka and Hubert Urba?ski and featured over 15 different live bands from across Europe, who played in front of an enthusiastic crowd of over 220,000 and a televised audience of millions.

High profile Polish acts including Vavamuffin, Kayah, Zakopower, T. Love, LUC, Urszula Dud

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Czech Republic - An energy saving Anolis LED lighting scheme designed by Petr Kolma?ka has been installed to highlight the famous City Hall Tower in Ostrava, the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the administrative hub of the Moravian-Silesian region.

The city has a strong commercial heritage based on the heavy industries that grew up around its high quality black coal deposits, discovered in the late 18th century. More recently it has launched a big initiative to clean up the environment and control the many years of accumulated pollution, reinventing itself as the 'City of Colours', highlighting its equally rich history as a centre of innovation, creativity and education (as a major university city).

This, the city's first civic lighting scheme, is part of the process of helping to create a new cultural identity for Ostrava. Its numerous creative and entertainment

Poland - Gerriets Joker 95 has been used for the Polish edition of Voice of Poland show. ARAM multimedia, one of the largest and most innovative event engineering companies in Poland chose two independent Joker 95 track systems for moving led displays curtains.

The system has four independent engines each controlled by Gerriets with DMX option. As Rafal Mrzyglocki, CEO of ARAM Group sad, "We have used totally 54m of track, divided into two rails. Each track has two engines and two controllers, but the front screen has four screen tiles while the back screen has only two screen tiles. After long discussions with Gerriets, we chose the rope-free system has proved a good choice". All automation has been operated from an Avolites Tiger Touch console.

(Jim Evans)

USA - The ETCP examinations will be given at USITT's Annual Conference & Stage Expo in Long Beach, CA. All three examinations will be given at the same time and are scheduled for the morning of Saturday, 31 March. Candidates who wish to take more than one exam should contact ETCP. Interested applicants must submit their application, along with supporting materials and fee, to the ETCP office no later than 1 March 2012.

Candidate information, including eligibility requirements and applications, is available on the ETCP website (http://etcp.plasa.org), or if you would like the information mailed, please contact Meredith Moseley-Bennett, ETCP Certification Manager, at 212-244-1505 or etcp@plasa.org.

Can't make it to USITT? ETCP examinations are given daily at over 190 computer based testing centres across the US and Canada. After an application has been received and accepted, can

Italy - Robe Robin MMX Spots, LEDWash 300s and ColorWash 575 AT Zooms were the core lighting elements for LD Paolo Firulli's eye-catching design for the recent Meraviglioso Modugno, a tribute show to Domenico Modugno, one of Italy's best known actors and singer/songwriters from the 1950s.

The show was staged in the new Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, the largest theatre in the city and the fourth largest in Italy, well known for its stunning interiors and colourful history. It starred 13 different contemporary artists all of whom performed one of Modugno's most popular songs.

The main lighting challenge was to give each one of them a totally different look and feel for their performance for which was able to take advantage of the flexibility and scope brought to the occasion by using Robe fixtures.

There were 20 each of Robe's new MMX Spots and LEDWash 300s, plus 20 Color

USA - Escondido, California based Sound Image, a leading provider of audio systems for touring and installation applications globally, is the second American company to join Adamson's Project Energia.

The significant investment in Adamson's E15 system was no surprise to Sound Image president, David Shadoan who comments, "Adamson kept us closely informed as Energia was developing. As soon as beta testing began, we confirmed that we would join in Phase One. The Sound Image philosophy is to deliver leading technology and to stay ahead of the curve. Energia was a simple choice. This system is progressive and a very powerful solution. We look forward to getting it on the road."

Sound Image has carried Adamson Y-Axis and T21's in their inventory since 2007 and the move to the Energia series was a natural step forward. Adamson Systems Engineering, president, Brock Adamson c

Turkmenistan - An Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system has been installed in the conference room of Turkmenistan's iconic new TV Tower located in the capital city of Ashgabad.

Opened in 2011, the 700ft Television Tower includes a TV and Radio studio complex catering for six channels, and houses an OB fleet. There is also a revolving restaurant and offices built in the shape of the national emblem - an octagonal star - which is registered with the Guinness World Records as the largest star in Turkmenistan.

The building's sole conference facility has a small control room, which required a similarly compact mixing console. Consequently, audio and lighting contractor, Asimetrik, selected an iLive-T80 Control Surface and iDR-48 MixRack system.

"The tiny control room now has a small mixing system but with enormous features," comments Mert Kiliccote from Asimetrik. &

Spain - Following its success on Broadway, in the West End and on tours in the US, Israel and Poland, a new Spanish-language version of Shrek The Musical is proving a sell-out success in Madrid, featuring a Yamaha PM5D-RH at front of house.

Running at the Teatro Nuevo Apolo (New Apollo Theatre), Shrek El Musical is keeping family audiences spellbound with its mixture of comedy, choreography, a wide range of new songs and heart-warming plot, all suitably adapted for the Spanish audience.

Production company Theatre Properties specialises in musicals and has a number of Yamaha digital consoles in its inventory. A Yamaha PM5D-RH was chosen to mix the FOH requirements of what is a fairly complex production.

"ThePM5D-RH was specified for a number of reasons," says Jacinto López of Yamaha Music Europe Ibérica. "A prime one was that the company's

Brazil - The 2011 edition of the Rock in Rio festival featured a bill that included Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns 'n' Roses, Coldplay, Metallica, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Jamiroquai, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Shakira, Motorhead, Claudio Sanchez (Coheed and Cambria), Lenny Kravitz, Snow Patrol, Maroon 5 and many more.

The sheer scale of the event is extraordinary, certainly when compared with even the largest European festivals - the 150,000sq.m (about the same as 28 American football pitches) area of the Parque do Atleta in Jacarepaguá can accommodate 800,000 people.

Gabisom Audio Equipment, sound provider for the show and one of the world's largest audio rental companies, deployed an Outline GTO line-source system on the 'Sunset' stage, one of the most prestigious stages at Rock in Rio, featuring a diverse array of acts including Joss Stone and local favourites Sepultura as well

UK - Scottish lighting and sound supplier The Warehouse has recently completed a seven-week temporary installation commissioned by the City Of Edinburgh Council.

The project required the illumination of four specially selected 'iconic' buildings in the city centre over the Christmas and New Year periods. The buildings chosen were the City Chambers, New College, The Royal Scottish Academy and St John's Church in the West End.

The brief required the sites to be linked to allow synchronised colour changing using the theme of 'Fire and Ice'. Lighting hire manager and lighting designer Dave Morris chose a combination of Studio Due City Color 2500W, and Chauvet Colorado IP 1s and 2s for the sites. The Warehouse used their extensive stock of Wireless Solutions W-DMX units and aerials to establish the radio links across the City, which performed flawlessly over the entire period. With

UK - A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) has supplied a bespoke truss grid and flying system for Nike's new concept store in Westfield Stratford City, London's latest flagship retail destination and one of the largest shopping centres in the UK.

The 17,000sq.m Nike store showcases the latest innovations in professional sports and casual footwear from the brand and is situated in an impressive double-storey glass fronted outlet.

Nike Europe's retail design director Greg Stobbs, who created the look and feel of the interior, wanted to maximise the space as a versatile display area. Due to its layout, a substantial and unique atrium space was available reaching three metres back from the front façade, with eight metres of headroom.

Stobbs envisaged a truss grid that could be moved up and down for easy and safe accessibility and quick changeovers, that would look contemporary, attract

UK - Jands Vista consoles, running the new Vista v2 software, have been installed in the two TV studios at Lincoln University's Media Broadcast Production Centre, a purpose built production environment which includes radio studios, video editing, audio editing, digital imaging, and multimedia suites as well as a brand new sound theatre.

The studios have been newly upgraded to include some of the latest lighting and camera technologies, bringing the facilities up to full multi-camera and HD spec.

The University offers qualifications with some of the UK's leading media orientated courses, and the studios are used for full programme making and a variety of other associated functions. They are run by the University's Media, Humanities & Technology Faculty, and overseen day-to-day by studio engineer and technical specialist, Steve Judge who also teaches the practical and technical

USA - A flurry of new exhibitors and a wide-ranging seminar programme are creating a buzz around this PLASA Focus: Austin 2012 (22-23 February), organisers PLASA Events report.

Texas lighting guru Richard Cadena comments, "I have been overwhelmed by the wide range of reasons to visit PLASA Focus: Austin 2012. In addition to the world-class line-up of manufacturers and new products, the side-shows will undoubtedly make this a memorable first event for Texas."

While new audio, staging, lighting and AV products will top the show floor agenda, The Professional Development Programme will see educational sessions from PLASA's partners in the event: The Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas, The Broadway Green Alliance, Austin City Limits Live, The Production Equipment Rental Group, and the Long Centre for the Performing Arts, among others.

Joining an already packed floor pla

USA - Old news isn't good news, at least not for a TV station's news broadcast ratings. That's why Univision 41 TV in San Antonio recently decided to update the look of its news sets with sleek new furnishings and bright, colourful lighting. The station is part of the Univision network, which is the largest Spanish-language television network in the US in terms of viewership, according to Nielsen ratings.

"Univision's old set had an outdated conservative office look with dark wood veneers everywhere. For their new look, they really wanted to push the envelope and be completely different by having a lot of brightness and color," said Frank Burton of Event Ignition (San Antonio), which designed and installed the lighting in Univision 41's news sets, using LED products from American DJ and its sister company Elation Professional.

The station's management wanted lighting

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