Canada - Pop act Donny & Marie Osmond are taking their Las Vegas show to the cooler climes of Canada. Pete's Big TVs is providing equipment for the special run of high-energy Donny & Marie Live shows this month at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.

LD Peter Morse, who designed the duo's long-running show at The Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, designed a smaller production of the multimedia spectacular for this special two-week gig. Running the shows is lighting director Joseph Eddy, who directs the Flamingo shows for Morse as well.

"It's a fun show," Morse says. "It's a scaled down version of the Vegas show, with just three trusses of lights. There's a lot of archival content projected on the video screens, and we're adding three new songs into the repertoire from the new album."

Pete's Big TVs is supplying three LED scr

Germany - Hamburg's oldest parish church, Hauptkirche St. Petri, founded in the 11th century, has been equipped with a state of the art sound system designed and installed by Cobra sound light. The Hamburg based live event and system design company has fitted church of the Hanseatic city with Renkus-Heinz IC Live digitally beam steerable loudspeakers.

Located in the heart of downtown on Hamburg's major shopping hub, Mönckebergstrasse, the 1,033-seat Hauptkirche St. Petri is considered the 'city church' and opens its doors daily to offer on oasis of calm and a place to meet.

Cobra sound light engineer and project manager Hendrik Thode says the company's roots in live events is reflected in its approach to installations. "In live shows we always meet a new challenge. The fascinating job definition now is using new tools which offer new potential even in difficult locations

Germany - The Eurogress in Aachen is one of the most modern conference centres in Germany. Situated in the middle of a park, the complex offers facilities for a wide variety of events, including concerts, exhibitions, theatrical performances, trade fairs and conferences.

The facilities include 16 conference rooms (with capacities varying from 15 to 420 places) as well as three halls of different sizes (with capacities of 1700, 650 and 430 seats respectively). Of the three halls, the best known to the general public is the Europasaal. It is this architecturally outstanding venue that provides the setting for the presentation of the annual Wider den Tierischen Ernst awards that brings the carnival in Aachen to a conclusion.

The progressive installation of a comprehensive alarm and sound reinforcement system in the building began back in 2004. Now the long-term project has

Australia - A new event production company, Absolute Sound & Lighting (ASL) offering a broad range of equipment and professional services has chosen dBTechnologies speaker systems.

The company is located equidistant from Queensland's Sunshine Coast and the state capital, Brisbane. Managing directors Steve Teunis and Camryn Brown saw the need for another event production company to serve the fast growing population and huge tourist market in the region. No strangers to event organisation and shifting black boxes, Teunis and Brown seized the opportunity, pooling their resources and putting together a comprehensive portfolio.

"We have a dBTechnologies box for every occasion," says Brown, listing the inventory which includes the DVA Line Array, FlexSys mid/high units, S20 subwoofers, DVX series monitors and the digital Opera series. "In fact, we have enough boxes t

Germany - The 24-hour race on the Nürburgring ended with a victory for Porsche. The Manthey Racing team's drivers came out on top after completing 156 laps on the legendary Nordschleife.

During the race, tarm Showlaser GmbH projected large-format laser graphics on the castle ruins, under contract to the Stuttgart-based agency, Silkroad.

The Porsche logo, a silhouette of the Nürburg and animated laser effects were blazed against the night sky by a pair of full-colour, 25W lasers.

(Jim Evans)

Finland - Genelec has updated its 8000 Series monitors to include new contemporary colour options. The new finishes add a touch of style to the series while retaining the traditional strengths of the leading 2-way monitor series on the market, says the company.

"During its years on the market, the 8000 Series has become the benchmark for active monitoring loudspeakers" says Terho Savolainen, marketing manager of Genelec Oy. "With its combination of excellent performance and user-friendly features the range is a popular monitoring choice across a range of disciplines; studio, broadcast, installed event and fixed installation.

"This popularity has extended into the home studio market where aesthetic considerations can be a persuasive influence. We've responded to this trend by updating the colour palette of the range with some new contemporary finishes specif

The Netherlands - Fairlight has been appointed the new official distributor of Lynx Pro Audio products in the Netherlands. Fairlight made contact with Lynx Pro Audio at Frankfurt in April and went to Valencia for meetings and to demo the product range.

Peter Van Workum, Fairlight director said: "On paper the Lynx products looked really impressive so we decided to take a trip to Spain to see if they sounded as good as we thought. We were not disappointed. We were very impressed not only with the LX Line Arrays but also the ADP touring range and the QB Install series. We placed a substantial stock order and enough material to set up a demo room here in Holland.

Lynx's Ben Sinclair commented: "We are very pleased to be working with Fairlight. They are a very professional team with many years' experience in the Dutch market and they know their stuff. I am confident they

UK - Audient's ASP8024 mixing desk scored a thumbs-up from engineers, producers and artists at the first temporary recording studio at Glastonbury, this year. Consisting of a wooden structure and straw bales rendered in mud, Cowshed Studio hosted artists including the Noisettes, Jah Wobble, Seth Lakeman and Show of Hands as well as many unsigned hopefuls taking the stage.

Audient supplied the 24-channel high resolution console to the project, the brainchild of music producer Joe Leach of Cowshed Studio in London, who wanted to create a highly specified, fully soundproof recording studio in the middle of a field at the festival.

UK sales manager Gareth Williams was on hand to hear the comments from the various users throughout the five-day event. "We're not using any external mic pres at all, we are using all the console pres and they sound clean as a whistle. We're all re

Israel - Britannia Row Productions has provided a Midas XL8 live performance system for an open air production of Aida, part of the Masada, Dead Sea and Jerusalem Opera Festival in June.

Verdi's opera was performed against the backdrop of Mount Masada by the Israel Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Oren, with the Tel Aviv Philharmonic Choir. At front of house was engineer Richard Sharratt, veteran of many classical and operatic concerts, and a fan of the XL8 for his productions. "I always enjoy using the XL8 as the sound quality next to none, the EQ and dynamics are powerful and natural, and there is great versatility of control by using POP(ulation) groups," he says.

BRP's system tech Josh Lloyd has also worked with the XL8 on many gigs and festivals, and found the system's flexibility came into its own for the five Masada performances, which required a

UK - Summer cocktails hosted by WiSE (Women in Stage Entertainment) went down a storm at the ABTT show. WiSE Industry sponsors were invited to dabble in cocktail design by inventing their own cocktails to raise money for industry charity, Light Relief.

The cocktail line up included: the Avolites Ruby Rum, Charcoalblue Cooler, White Light Wimms, Rosco Lux Sangria, Phillips Entertainment Blue Hawaii and the drink with no name from MA Lighting.

Whilst sampling the various concoctions on offer, WiSE sponsors, members, guests and the press had the chance to network, make new friends and give generously to charity. Ultimately the event raised a respectable £137 for Light Relief, all in the space of just a couple of hours.

Coral Cooper, industry veteran and Philips Vari-Lite trainer was cocktail coordinator extraordinaire and kept the

UK - Jodrell Bank Observatory, the site of the UK's iconic Lovell radio telescope, presided over the first of a potential new series of live concerts.

Manchester based dbn was asked to provide lighting by co-promoters Ear To the Ground, who were collaborating with Kendall Calling and The Warehouse Project to stage the event in this different setting, headlined by the Flaming Lips. Also on the bill was British Sea Power, OK GO and two other bands. A 5000 capacity audience attended.

dbn's project manager Nick Walton comments: "It was a fantastic opportunity to work in a very special place overlooked by one of the most amazing scientific instruments in the world. Everything went smoothly and it was a massive success all round. We hope this will be the first of more events here".

The 12m orbit stage was situated just to the right of the 76m wide revolving telescope dis

Indonesia - Located some 20k from Jakarta, the Sentul International Convention Center (SICC) was recently the site of the Justin Bieber concert. Held as part of the artist's My World Tour, Jakarta-based DSS (Don Sistem Suara) rental company was contracted to provide sound reinforcement services. The SICC is Indonesia's largest indoor concert facility and DSS provided an impressive sound system drawn from the Aero and Aero Series 2 catalogues of D.A.S. Audio.

With the ability to accommodate as many as 11,000 people in its main hall, the SICC is a challenging acoustic environment.Donny Hardono, owner of DSS and a highly recognized figure among the region's music industry, reports:

"For this concert, we deployed 32 D.A.S. Audio Aero-38, three-way, medium format line array elements. These enclosures were flown in four clusters - each with eight line array elements. We

UK - Lighting designer Rob Sinclair is using a Jands Vista system running the new Vista v2 software for the current Pulp reunion tour.

So far, the European leg of the tour has seen the band play a string of high profile festival slots including the Isle of Wight Festival and headlining Sunday at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, London - with future UK summer dates including T in The Park and Reading / Leeds Festival - as well as a host of other European dates.

Sinclair is a long term fan of the Vista platform. He purchased his first Vista S1 control surface in 2008 shortly after the model's launch, and now owns three identical systems - comprising of a laptop running the Vista software, with a Vista S1 and two Vista M1 wings - to service his own shows. Currently the other two are busy touring the US with chart topping Adele (operated by Jon Barker) and Peter Gabriel (operat

Denmark - Visual Productions is expanding its distribution network with the addition of Light Partner in Denmark.

This new partnership developed after company director Stig Meyer Jensen visited the Visual Productions' stand for a product catch-up at Prolight&Sound. Jensen comments, "The way your company is so dedicated to your products really impresses me."

Visual Productions' sales manager, Zoe Castle says: "Stig had made it clear to me that they would only take on new distribution if the product and market where right for Light Partner to make it a successful venture."

Castle continues, says: "Light Partner has done everything to live up to my expectations and better them. The Din-Rail Hardware and Cuelux stock is in place, sales started and technical knowledge acquired to support our products well on the Danish market. In particular Stig's enthusi

UK - A specialist team from XL Video was dispatched to the 2011 Glastonbury Festival to coordinate the first ever 'mapped projection' onto three sides of the Pyramid Stage structure. The visual spectacular took place whilst Coldplay performed their latest release, Every Teardrop is a Waterfall as the finale to their Saturday night headline set.

The feat of technical engineering was project managed by XL Events' Robin Evans working with technical director David Mulcahy and XL's IT expert Ian Woodall.

The story began with a discussion between Coldplay's production manager Wob Roberts and XL Video director Des Fallon some months previously. Roberts comments: "The initial inspiration came from Coldplay's creative director Phil Harvey after seeing XL's mapping of the Ralph Lauren building in London. Once the team had demo'd the concept to all of us, the band confirmed t

France / Russia - APG has announced the shipment of the first Uniline compact line array system to Russia, courtesy of APG's distributor in southern Russia, Yugdoka, based in Krasnodar. Yugdoka has just taken delivery of eight UL210 and six UL115B cabinets along with an inventory of eight x DX12 multi-purpose monitor speakers.

In addition to their distribution activities, Yugdoka also runs a thriving rental and installation business. As long-standing APG customers and distributor, Yugdoka already owns a significant APG Matrix system complete with TB subs which forms part of their rental inventory. As a distributor, they have also sold numerous APG systems of varying types into Russian clubs and theatres throughout the territory. However, this is their very first Uniline order.

"The team at Yugdoka is already very familiar with many APG products, and the Matrix system in p

UK - The new £18.5m apex multi-purpose venue in Bury St Edmunds, owned and operated by St Edmundsbury Borough Council, now has a Martin Audio W8LM Mini Line Array system as part of its permanent technical infrastructure.

After the original fit out had been completed last year by Northern Light, new incumbent technical manager Tim Carr noticed that with an increasing number of amplified rock and folk events starting to appear on the upcoming programme of events, a conventional left/right proscenium line array hang was required to bolster the existing speech system.

Although the work went out to tender, and several sound systems were put forward as potential solutions, Tim Carr already had prior experience of Martin Audio's Mini Line Array - brought in by locally based W1 Productions when they were sponsoring a local band night. Thus the apex technical man was soon talking

China - Hong Kong-based technical supply company Ten Thousand Things has been appointed as Green Hippo's latest distributor in the company's Asian market expansion.

Ten Thousand Things has been newly created under the helm of Hong Kong's longstanding integrator Ptarmigan Integration. Providing sales and support for an extensive product range, Ten Thousand Things is a specialist company supplying goods required by Ptarmigan's project clients.

"We are delighted to be working with Ten Thousand Things as our distributor in Hong Kong. They are able to provide technical expertise and a real enthusiasm for Hippotizer products in this market," stated Samantha Bailey, sales manager for Green Hippo.

With its eight year history, Ptarmigan has worked on some of the most high-profile projects providing lighting and video integration services, including Macau's Bubble Theatre wh

Mandarin Musical - Mamma Mia! opened in a new Chinese version in Shanghai on Monday, marking the musical's 14th different language production. Producers say it marks the first time a major West End or Broadway musical has been translated into Mandarin for a Chinese audience. It is produced in China by United Asia Live Entertainment Co for China Arts And Entertainment Group by arrangement with Judy Craymer, Richard East and Bjorn Ulvaeus for Littlestar in association with Universal.

Craymer commented: "The challenges have been immense because what we're doing here is genuinely pioneering. There's virtually no infrastructure for commercial musical theatre in China, so finding the talent we needed - actors, technicians, stage crew and musicians - proved extremely difficult, locating a theatre to accommodate us took a long time and even translating the lyrics into a tona

UK - Following on from previous successful courses, Avitas is hosting another seminar on temporary power systems for events on 3 August at White Light in London. The one day course focuses on how - and why - the IET Wiring regulations and BS 7909 apply to temporary events and delves a little into why they are relevant and more importantly how compliance is not necessarily difficult.

As well as looking at how to implement them correctly it also examples where current practice is not always best practice, showing where potential dangers exist in a typical event. It will also be of particular use to rental companies as the course gives the delegate a sound understanding of the importance of portable appliance testing.

The content is aimed at those with a reasonable appreciation of electrical systems and covers areas such as multiple sources of supply, RCDs, earthing and bonding,

UK - West Midlands-based Stage Audio Services (SAS) has purchased a Midas PRO9 live audio system, which is making its debut at FOH on Slipknot's worldwide festival tour this summer, joining SAS' existing Midas PRO6 on monitors.

The PRO9 was specified by long-time Slipknot engineer Dave 'Shirt' Nicholls, who was won over to Midas digital by a PRO6 which he used on tour with Stone Sour in the US. "I loved the sound of the desk and I loved the feel of it," he says. "The EQ is smooth and the preamps seem to be bullet proof. When the Slipknot tour came up, it was a no brainer to stay with Midas digital."

A Klark Teknik DN9696 high resolution audio recorder and Klark Teknik DN9331Rapide graphic EQ controller complete the set up. "Both have worked flawlessly and are extremely easy to use," says Nicholls who pays tribute to Rob Hughes at Midas and SAS man

UK - The Arena Group supplied comprehensive temporary events overlay to the 125th Wimbledon Championship.Having successfully installed all temporary public grandstand seating around the outer courts and a wide range of design led hospitality facilities to house sponsors and guests, Arena experienced their own winning moment at this year's championships, when IMG Media awarded Arena Group an exclusive five year contract to install event infrastructure at all of their golf events in Europe and the Middle East.Ross Hallett, vice-president of IMG Golf states: "The Arena Group has consistently delivered high standards in all key areas of structures and seating engineering, safety, service and creative design that have allowed us to raise the standard of our international golf tournaments year on year. This five year deal underpins IMG's commitment to continue to deliver a truly me

Brunei - To mark 80 years of presence in the Sultanate since the discovery of oil in 1929, the Brunei Shell Petroleum Company (BSP) unveiled plans in 2008 to build its largest community development in the region. The Pusat Insani project is a multi-million dollar community centre that will serve as a link between the Oil and Gas Discovery Centre and Seria Town.

The development features function rooms, a gymnasium, a VIP lounge, a learning centre, and other modern amenities; however the key facility will be the centre's Multipurpose Hall which has the capacity to accommodate 1,500people in a lavish banquet style seating and will be used to host royal, government, community, and corporate events.

The centre's many facilities had to be equipped with reliable audio-visual solutions. Outline's distributor Synergy AVL, a Singapore based audio-visual consultant and systems integrator

USA - Bill Sapsis has announced the dates and location of the next North American Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference (NATEAC). The conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel in mid-town New York City on 22 and 23 July 2012.

"I can think of no better place to hold a theatre conference", noted Sapsis, "than in the heart of the theatre district in New York City. In addition to two days of excellent panels and discussions, the attendees will have access to the best of what New York City has to offer."

Sapsis, who is reprising his role as conference director, continued: "The need for continuing discussion regarding venue design is very real and I felt it extremely important to once again offer a forum for industry professionals to hold these discussions. The fact that NATEAC 2008 was a wonderful success doesn't hurt either."

Hugh Hardy

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