UK - Since PLASA 2011 and the successful launch of Green Hippo's Hippotizer software version 3.1, even more improvements and fixes have been made to the popular product. "Come along to PLASA Focus: Leeds and see 3.1 SP1 for yourself, including features such as VideoMapper, LiveMask and how 3D, mapping can be easy without the need for dedicated software," says the company.

Green Hippo will be showing new accessories for the Hippotizer range, now shipping, with breakout panels, a new Dual 3G HD/SDI input option and new FXs and Generators. Green Hippo - Stand S-E1 (with AC-ET)

(Claire Beeson)

USA - St. Luke's Hospital - Anderson Campus in Easton, Pennsylvania, is one of America's newest hospitals, a magnificent facility designed to promote healing and equipped with state-of-the-art medical technologies.

Since opening in mid-November 2011, the hospital's goal is naturally to provide a great health care experience but the hospital also prides itself on providing a great human experience as well. In keeping with that ethos, St. Luke's sought to do something extraordinary with its façade and chose to decorate it in an energy-efficient wash of dynamic coloured light from Martin Professional.

"Our goal was to celebrate the opening of our new hospital in a creative and significant way and chose to explore architectural lighting options that would create a dramatic, lasting effect," says Sue Ross, director of marketing & public relations, St. Luke's Hospital & H

USA - Houston Ballet Centre for Dance, a striking steel-and-glass architectural edifice designed by the world-renowned Gensler architectural firm opened in 2011 as the largest dance arts facility of its kind in the United States. It is also one of the most technologically advanced, with the entire six-story structure wired into a dedicated digital AV network that connects to more than 20 video screens and 68 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers spread throughout the building's nine rehearsal studios, 175-seat performance space, lobby areas, and conference rooms.

"It's an absolutely stunning facility in every respect," observes Bill Schuermann, senior design consultant at HFP Acoustical, the Houston-based firm charged with acoustics, noise control, and AV systems. "That said, the cutting-edge architecture created acoustically difficult spaces which, when combined

South Africa - A Midas PRO2 was used for monitors in partnership with a Midas PRO9 at FOH by leading sub-Saharan Africa pro-audio company, Johannesburg-based Prosound, for the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress (ANC). The weekend-long live music event took place at Loch Logan Park, Bloemfontein.

"It was our first opportunity to hook up a PRO2 and PRO9 in this way, and it's a dream set-up," says Prosound's Mark Malherbe, who has been a Midas user for some 30 years. "You get all the benefits of the individual Midas digital consoles - great sound, great ergonomics and exceptional versatility - and when you team them together, the operation is seamless."

The event, which attracted a capacity crowd of some 30,000, certainly demanded the highest technical and operational standards with a multi-artist and multi-DJ line-up, headlined

UK - The cream of the UK music production industry gathered once again at the Café De Paris in Central London for the annual Music Producers Guild awards.

Shure Distribution UK has been a key supporter of the awards since their inception in 2009 - in fact, the awards handed out to the winners are fully working, gold-painted Shure 55SH microphones. (The original design of these classic mics was released as the Shure 55A way back in 1939, and, in its 55S form, was famously used by Elvis and Frank Sinatra in the 1950s).

This year, Shure Distribution was involved in sponsoring two of the awards: Live Production of the Year, sponsored by Shure itself, and Mastering Engineer of the Year, which was sponsored by Radial Engineering, whose products are distributed by Shure in the UK. London-based Mastering Engineer Mandy Parnell picked up this award, which was presented to her by

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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

Australia - Gearhouse Broadcast recently purchased 52 Bel Digital Audio 3G HD compatible BM-A1-2SHD audio monitors/de-embedders and used them in their HD coverage of the 2012 Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne.

Gearhouse Broadcast provides the technical facilities as the host broadcaster for Channel 7 which includes TV coverage from seven courts plus the World Feed and Channel 7's unilateral facilities. They also provide uni-lateral facilities to ESPN and Tennis Channel from the USA and facilities to tennis Australia for their delivery to various platforms. The newly purchased 1RU units where used together with their current stock of the 2RU Bel boxes to provide all the audio monitoring in the entire facility.

The BM-A1-2SHD is a 1U two channel audio monitor that de-embeds and permits the monitoring of the audio content of 3G, HD and SD SDI bitstreams but crucial

UK - Pro Light Concepts Ltd is a rapidly expanding supplier of innovative lighting and sound equipment to the entertainment industry. At PLASA Focus: Leeds, staff will be on hand to discuss the products available from Pro Light's office and distribution centre in Lancashire for worldwide dispatch.

The stand will also feature many new products, including the LED Quad colour Q Color and Color Storm LED Battens along with the Xperior Platinum 5R Spot from iSolution. Many other new items from eLumen8 will be launched at PLASA Focus including fixtures specifically designed for theatre, stage and T.V.

Pro Light Concepts - Stand S-D12

(Claire Beeson)

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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

Germany - Guano Apes have just completed Bel Air, their second successful tour since reforming in 2009, and the decision by Front of House engineer Ingo Thürauf to specify a Coda Audio Airline loudspeaker system meant they delivered an audio clarity and punch that did their fiery brand of rock'n'roll true justice.

Supplied by Ambion GmbH, who provided full technical requirements for the tour, the system comprised a Coda Audio Airline LA12 three-way line array, augmented with high output sensor controlled SCP two18" and SC8 four 18" subwoofers, with Airline LA8 two-way compact line array cabinets as front/side-fill.

Thürauf had previously worked with both Ambion and Coda systems. "Coda line array systems offer a very exact reproduction, which made me specify the LA12 system for this tour," he says. "The powerful sensor controlled subwoofers in

USA - The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) and PLASA, the international trade association for the event, entertainment and installation technology industries, recently announced an agreement between the two groups to bring more audio, lighting, video & stage technology professionals to Nashville during the 2012 Summer NAMM event.

As part of the agreement, PLASA will hold its new PLASA Focus: Nashville 2012 event to overlap with 2012 Summer NAMM.

PLASA Focus: Nashville 2012 will be PLASA's second regional event in North America and will be held July 11-12, 2012 at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium downtown. Summer NAMM will take place July 12-14, 2012 at the Nashville Convention Centre.

In 2013, NAMM and PLASA are planning to further develop their relationship by offering a PLASA Focus event at Summer NAMM inside of the brand-new Music City Centre, allowing more

Europe - ETC's newly invigorated control desk training programme has seen massive demand from users, says the company, with sessions in the UK and now across Europe full and more dates added.

Training is offered at ETC's offices in west London; at ETC dealer Lightco's offices in Utrecht, The Netherlands; and, from later this year, at Onetwosales's offices in Stockholm, Sweden.

ETC's Marketing Events coordinator Sophie Pierronnet says, "When we started offering training in our offices in Acton a few years back, it was on an ad hoc basis for end users who had just purchased a desk. Then some ETC staff decided to get together to see how to make this more attractive to a wider audience, with a formal curriculum and printed training materials. This soon grew into regular sessions, with two or three per console type each month.

"We have a great team of freelance trainers

USA - This year's Grammy Awards event, hosted by LL Cool J, celebrating music's biggest night, went down in history as the second highest rated telecast since the show's inception in 1959. It was a phenomenal undertaking showcasing nearly 30 diverse musical performances on multiple indoor and outdoor stages, along with a very last minute tribute celebrating the late Whitney Houston.

The most highly anticipated performance of the evening arrived when Adele took the stage to perform Rolling in the Deep. Her favourite nickel-finish Sennheiser SKM 2000-XP wireless handheld transmitter with MMK 965-1 capsule conveyed her voice to the adoring crowd. Dave McDonald, Adele's front-of-house engineer, said, "It's a great microphone. We started using it just after the Brit Awards in February of last year, and she's loved it ever since. Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the equip

UK - This week, thousands of participants will turn out for the Perform 2012 theatre conference in London. Attendees will participate in seminars, network with other professionals, and get advice from over 50 exhibitors. This Friday, Women in Stage Entertainment, a leading networking and professional development organisation, will be hosting a seminar to engage young women considering a career in the entertainment industry.

Created by co-founders Paule Constable and Sarah Rushton-Read, WiSE aims to increase the visibility of women in the stage entertainment industry, and provides a dynamic forum for members to share information, opportunities and support. This year WiSE is taking on more educational initiatives to inspire young women to enter technical theatre.

The seminar, held at 12:30pm on Friday, is just the start for WiSE. It will feature women currently working in the in

Europe - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light supplied the lighting equipment to Swedish indie rock band The Sounds' European tour. Lighting designer Jack Davis was provided with his choice of equipment including the award-winning Martin MAC Aura LED fixture, Martin Atomic strobes and an MA Lighting GrandMA2 Light console.

The MAC Aura, with its dual optical system formed the centrepiece of a compact, versatile rig. "I was trying to utilise a small amount of lights to achieve big looks," Davis explains. "The Auras more than met that goal - honestly, I never want to use another LED mover again.

"The size of the Auras and the punch they pack really made all of the difference. I have yet to find another LED fixture that creates such an impressive white. The pixelated look, once common to LEDs, is gone. With the Aura being two lights in one it gives th

UAE - Melody House, distributors of DPA microphones, have recently supplied a range of the 4099V microphones to the Event Services division at the Dubai International Exhibition and Conference Centre. The division, which provides various audio, video and lighting services to clients at the centre, has invested in the microphones to support their various entertainment events

"With the violin mount included with the 4099V, the DIECC have purchased the best violin microphone in the market however by just adding any of the other available mounts, the same microphone can be used for numerous other applications making it a great return on investment," commented Amrith Verghese, DPA product specialist at Melody House.

(Jim Evans)

Canada - TELUS Communications of Canada held its annual sales conference on 3 February at the TELUS Convention Centre in Calgary and LD Jason McKinnon used 200 Martin Professional MAC 101 LED wash lights to dynamically pin spot each table.

"From the onset, as with most events of this kind, one of the biggest challenges is trying to transform the look of the room from a business session to a gala with very limited time," explains McKinnon who works for Electric Aura Projects. "I decided early on that I wanted to pin spot the tables using MAC 101 fixtures."

The 101s were placed throughout the room as per the table design with a few spares thrown in for last minute table additions. The 101s provided the main look for the room with complementary light from MAC III Performance, MAC 2000 Performance, MAC 2000 Wash, MAC 600NT and MAC 250 Entour fixtures. All of th

Benelux - Midas Consoles Benelux reports a healthy first wave of PRO2 and PRO2C sales, with systems going into rental, worship installation, touring and TV production applications.

The first PRO2 into the region went to Boerema Geluidstechniek whose owners, Ton Boerema and audio engineer Auke Meijer, decided to invest in a system due to its audio quality and the broad take up of Midas digital.

The Free Baptist Church Bethel based in Drachten, NL, has become the first installation into a place of worship for the system worldwide. Supplied by John van Zeist from Hecla Professional AV systems, the PRO2 will be used by Bethel technicians for weekend services with an average of several thousand Free Baptists each Sunday, and was chosen for its sonic quality and ease of use.

A total of three systems - a PRO2 and a PRO2C - have gone to Amsterdam-based rental company Peak Audio. Own

Sweden - SVT, the Swedish national television company, fully embraced LumenRadio's wireless CRMX DMX/RDM technology when they recently finished refurbishment of their expansive central news studio in Stockholm to exclusively produce High-Definition content. This studio will host more than 10 major national live news broadcasts of various formats every day of the year and the frequent set changes requires an extremely efficient and reliable technical infrastructure.

A shift from incandescent based lighting with a central dimming system to a heavy reliance upon LED fixtures with DMX control, coupled with the particular lighting requirements for HD production, necessitated a signal distribution system of much greater reach and flexibility than in a traditional TV studio.

LumenRadio's Swedish distributor, Hofmann Teknik, commissioned a system that features direct integration of th

Fair Play - Radiohead have linked up with a site which allows fans to sell tickets for their forthcoming UK tour to other fans at face value. The band said tickets sold via their fan club will be exchangeable via the Ticket Trust if a fan can no longer go. It follows a Channel 4 documentary highlighting gig promoters selling tickets on secondary ticketing websites for inflated prices. They added, "The band's enjoyment of their own shows has been marred by the knowledge that a great many of their fans have been obliged to pay well over face value for their tickets." Fans will be limited to purchasing two tickets via the fan club, with names registered, and photo ID required for entry, "to ensure fans are treated fairly". Tickets will still be available to buy from other ticketing websites.

Old News - Engelbert Humperdinck is to represent the UK at this

USA - When The Kentucky Centre for the Performing Arts in Louisville needed to renovate its multi-purpose hall's acoustical system, director of production services Peter Bell had to solve a wide range of rigging challenges.

The heart o the arts centre, the 2,400-seat Whitney Hall presents a year-round range of performances including touring Broadway shows, productions by the Kentucky Opera and the Louisville Ballet, and Louisville Orchestra concerts. To meet the acoustical requirements of so many different groups, Whitney Hall uses custom Wenger Diva shell ceilings, which can be adjusted to improve the sound quality.

In 2009, the Centre's technical staff determined that it was time to stop using the hydraulic hoists that controlled these ceilings. "You get hydraulics over an audience and you get nervous," said Bell. "The mechanics were nearly 30 years old. When

UK - Bel Digital Audio has launched enhanced versions of several of their confidence audio and audio/video monitors. The new units include 2, 4, 8 and 16 channel versions and all feature updated firmware and redesigned front panels, emphasising Bel's continued dedication to delivering a simple, intuitive and speedily adjustable control surface.

The updated audio and video monitor range features models in 1U and 2U versions with up to 16 ultra-reliable, high-resolution multi colour bargraphs. Each device auto-detects the signal sources with models available for all video 'flavours' up to and including 3G HD and options with a variety of Dolby decoding.

The BM-A2-E16SHD is a 2U audio monitor, capable of monitoring 3G/HD/SD video and multi-channel audio sources. This model provides a pair of auto-detecting 3G/HD/SD SDI inputs and accepts eight analogue audio inputs and eight AES-

Sweden - Barix is exclusively providing IP audio decoding solutions to Music in Brands for the delivery of unique music programming to retail stories and other public areas. The company uses Barix for both direct audio streaming and store-and-forward solutions in businesses around Sweden, providing flexible, low-cost play-out solutions for in-store campaigns.

Based in Stockholm, Music in Brands creates musical identities for brands through audio, designing specialty programs that match the business and its customers. The company produces a custom radio station for each business, building unique playlists that update regularly to keep programming fresh and store environments lively.

"Music is a very important piece of the shopper experience, and we want to play music that matches the environment without repeating the same songs over and over," said Anders Svensson, pr

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