UK - The Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh is more than just an Olympic swimming pool. It contains multiple gyms, dry dive training facilities, cafeteria, kids party zones, diving pool and much more. This grade A listed centre piece of Scottish sport requires sound systems of extremely high calibre to match the level and quantities of events that are staged at the facility. Audio Light Systems Ltd was picked to design and install the building wide PA and music systems.

The main all important pool area, which is being used for the up and coming Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games required clarity in an extremely reverberant space. A pair of Tannoy QFlex 48 intelligent columns produced the best solution by having excellent sound reproduction at the same time as being discreet in appearance.

At the helm of the PA systems control is the new ADS T8X8 16 zone digital PA system. Dedic

South Africa - The Avolites Titan Training Course, comprising of two two-day sessions in Johannesburg (DWR Distribution Offices), and a one two-day session in Cape Town (The Arena Crew Lounge at the GrandWest Casino), was well attended by delegates fromacross South Africa and Namibia.

The course, presented by Avolites' Emma Thompson and assisted by DWR's Nick Britz, was fully booked with an estimated 20 enthusiastic delegates per day who brought along their own consoles and laptops for visualisers.

"It was really good," said Emma Thompson, who was visiting South Africa for the first time. "At times it was difficult having two different levels of students, some complete beginners to lighting, and some really advanced programmers, but I found I could show even the more experienced users some new tricks. Because I love the software it's great to train on, and it's

UK - IOEX, the International Outdoor Event Expo delivered a diverse audience of live event companies in its inaugural year from the worlds of sport, music, festivals, brand and corporate events.

The exhibition featured a well received seminar programme across the three days. Popular speakers and topics included Lord Shaftesbury talking about transforming his estate into an event space, Mumsnet co-founder Carrie Longton and Lollibop organisers Continental Drifts giving tips on how to engage families at events in 'The F Factor' and experiential agency RPM sharing the Five Rules of Engagement that should be considered for all experiential activity.

Rory Sloan, head of production at RPM and IOEX speaker commented, "I enjoyed visiting and speaking at this year's IOEX. Events cover such a broad range of disciplines and as an agency we operate in a number of these differe

UAE - A Midas PRO2, deployed by leading Dubai AV production company Artes Middle East, delivered a first-class debut performance FOH at this year's 10th Dubai International Jazz Festival despite the onset of strong winds and sandstorms during the week-long event.

"The console stood its ground through everything," reports a delighted Karl Da Costa, FOH engineer and technical production manager at Artes, who was using a Midas digital desk for the first time following a product demo by Chicco Hiranandani of Dubai-based NMK Electronics.

The PRO2 was installed at the festival's open-air Jazz Garden which saw some 19 acts perform over nine days, including headline bands fronted by Ruby Turner, Deborah Coleman, Shakura S'Aida and Sharrie Williams.

Da Costa, an experienced user of Midas Verona and Heritage 3000 analogue consoles, quickly familiarised himself with the Midas

UK - Respected UK lighting designer Johanna Town used Philips Selecon PL1 LED luminaires to great effect on Wiki play, Man in the Middle by Ron Elisha.

Staged at Theatre 503 in London, the play is a fast paced journey through the key events of Julian Assange's turbulent life. Each Wiki style scene moves dynamically to the next to arrive at a totally different time or place in his life. From boardrooms to bedrooms, offices to torture chambers, and student flats to hotel rooms, no scene is set for very long.

This presents Town with a tough job - to set a convincing environment for each scene, and to ensure they flow seamlessly from one to the next.

A back and front-lit rear projection screen is the key vehicle by which the time, mood and atmosphere of each busy scene was set. Everything else on the stage - the scenery, the props and even the actors - generally had more

UK - Triple E's Unibeam track System is ensuring the National Theatre's stage scenery travels right this spring for its production of Travelling Light. Since the show opened in January 2012 it has been broadcast to Cinemas worldwide and embarked on a tour of UK theatres, which opened at The Lowry, Salford, on 13 March.

Triple E specified and installed a custom curved Unibeam System that would work equally smoothly in the repertory as well as on tour.

"I was asked to recommend a track system that could be hung with the minimum of pickups, work smoothly and be capable of touring to different sized stages," says David Edelstein, managing director of the Triple E. "The solution was a hand winch rope driven Unibeam track."

Travelling Light, by Nicholas Wright, is a 'love-letter to the movies and an appealingly intelligent evocation of the Jewish

UK - Cue Media has taken advantage of the 0% finance deal that is currently available through A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET's audio division on equipment purchases of leading brands Nexo, Yamaha and Sennheiser.

Cue Media, a busy technical production and solutions provider, required a compact, highly versatile and fully digital sound solution to cover many different types and scales of event - from straight conferences to rock and pop bands, theatre style cabaret shows and lively motivational speaker events.

Nexo's successful PS-R2 Series speakers were the solution for their multitude of diverse events and shows. The package includes four sets of Nexo PS10-R2 speaker cabinets and two Nexo powered digital TD controllers.

Concurrently, Cue Media also invested in their second Yamaha LS9 32-channel digital mixing console, along with other Yamaha accessories.

Stuart Moo

China - In one of the largest technology rollouts the Swedish-based company has delivered, Dataton supplied its Watchout multimedia content playback solution for a multi-faceted228 m screen in an extraordinary new Chinese exhibition titled Old Beijing Gets Moving.

Located in the Chinese capital's National Conference Centre, adjacent to globally renowned Olympic venues such as the Bird's Nest stadium and Water Cube, Old Beijing Gets Moving takes as its inspiration A Glance Round Old Beijing - a celebrated panorama of the city as it was in the 1930s, originally created as an extended scrolled image by the painter Wang Daguan.

Thanks to Watchout's ability to seamlessly blend and synchronise the images of 56 digital video projectors, Daguan's original painting has been brought to life as a spectacular animated video in which up to a thousand ancient buildings

UK - Internationally respected lighting designer Richard Pilbrow has called the annual Knight of Illumination Awards "the most valuable gift to the entire lighting profession".

British-born Pilbrow, who now lives in America, is joint founder of the Association of British Theatre Technicians, Society of Theatre Consultants, The Society of British Theatre Designers, and the Association of Lighting Designers.

He has won countless awards, including the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award in Lighting Design from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Association of British Theatre Technicians Technician of the Year (2000), Lighting Designer of the Year by Lighting Dimensions Magazine (2005), The Wally Russell Foundation Wally Russell Lifetime Achievement Award (2008), and was honoured at last year's Knight of Illumination Awards with a Lifetime Achieveme

USA / Denmark - Phish lighting designer Chris Kuroda (Aerosmith, The Black Crowes, R. Kelly) has a couple of associations to Denmark. One is that he happened to be in Copenhagen on that June day in 1992 when Denmark won the UEFA European Football Championship.

Another is the fact that he is an admirer of Martin Professional lighting gear and has used Martin's 1500-watt MAC III Profile on Phish shows since 2009 - the second Phish tour using the fixture having wrapped up in December.

"It's the perfect fixture for Phish," says Kuroda, who has been with the band for so long - 24 years - that he is considered the fifth member of the group. "Upstaging pointed us to the MAC III Profile and it was a good decision. Brad Haynes at Martin has also been incredibly helpful."

Kuroda has 45 MAC III Profiles placed liberally across the set and uses them for different pur

UK - Newly launched entertainment technology installation company Push the Button Ltd has installed a new ETC dimming and control system into London's famous Royal Court Theatre, with no disruption to the venues busy programme of shows and events.

Push the Button - or PTB - came onto the scene in January 2012 with a mission to provide "an intelligent and sympathetic technical approach to all of its projects and clients". With an inaugural job at what the New York Times calls 'the most important theatre in Europe', PTBs managing director Nick Ewins and his team certainly didn't waste any time making their mark.

Matt Drury, head of lighting for The Royal Court concurs: "The Royal Court receives and considers an extraordinary quantity of new work and each year presents an ambitious programme across its two venues. It's therefore of paramount importance to us that o

USA - This March, Total Structures' hosted its first ever Outdoor Stage Roof Workshop focusing on aluminium temporary stage roof systems. The primary objectives for this event were safety, education, and to promote discussion within the industry on the correct use of such structures.

This invitation only workshop, targeted solely toward owners and users of Total Structures outdoor stage roof systems, covered topics including system design and engineering, rigging fundamentals, fall protection concerns, equipment inspection and maintenance, and wind and weather hazard preparations.

Held near the company's headquarters and factory in Ventura, California, this workshop was attended by 45 industry veterans representing 22 companies, from countries as far away as Columbia, all working in the outdoor event field.

The three-day workshop offered an all-star cast of presenters includ

UK - The world of entertainment technology has been joined by a newly formed installation business, Push the Button Ltd, launched in January 2012.

The brainchild of Nick Ewins, Push The Button - or PTB for short - already has a raft of projects on its books. Ewins, who takes the position of managing director, is delighted. "PTB's full time staff members, alongside our team of skilled specialist electricians and engineers, bring a friendly, expert approach to the demands of entertainment installation projects.

"Whether it's a top West End theatre, a cruise ship or a multipurpose arts venue, PTB understands the client's needs and has the ability to respond productively and positively every time. This philosophy has bought work to our doors from the moment we opened them for business."

Push the Button's mission is to bring an intelligent and sympathetic approach

UK - West London based lighting and visuals rental company Colour Sound Experiment (CSE) has expanded its current warehouse facility by acquiring the building next door .... and knocking through. This increases the area to over 12,000sq.ft, nearly doubling the previous available space.

The old warehouse was already about to start bursting at the seams last year! When CSE added over 100 moving lights and over 500 tiles of their new proprietary BT12 LED screen to the near capacity stock, things became critical - and something had to give.

By a completely serendipitous stroke of luck, the unit next door came available just at the right time. "It was almost too convenient to be true," declares Colour Sound's Haydn Cruickshank, who jumped at the chance to take it over.

The dividing wall between the two units has been completely removed and CSE is utilising the new area

Iceland - Several Allen & Heath iLive and iDR digital mixers have been installed in the prestigious new Harpa concert hall and conference centre in Reykjavik.

The new venue has four main spaces to manage a busy programme of music and conference events. iLive systems comprising an iDR-16 MixRack and iLive-R72 Control Surface have been installed in the Norourljos recital hall and Kaldalon hall, whilst a combined FOH and monitor system,comprising iDR-16 MixRacks and an iLive-R72 and iLive-T80 surfaces, has been selected for the Silfurberg conference hall.

All systems use A&H's proprietary ACE (audio and control over Ethernet) link, and iDR-4 digital matrix mixers are installed in each venue to manage audio distribution. There is also a portable iLive system, comprising an iDR-48 MixRack and iLive-T80 Control Surface, available for any additional audio requirements around the buil

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies' video division has supplied UK live visuals specialist, Creative Visual Artists with three Green Hippo GrassHopper HD media server systems and related video equipment, to meet growing demand from their client base.

Creative Visual Artists have been involved in providing lighting and video services to numerous high profile TV shows, concert tours and corporate events.

Creative Visual Artists' Russell Grubiak has built up a reputation as one of the leading programmers and operators in this specific field of technical production. He has been working as 'scenic video operator' on one of the UK's most popular TV series for over eight years.

With most show content requirements already being managed by Green Hippo systems, when it came to expanding Creative Visual Artists' inventory to service new and current clients' needs, Green Hippo were th

USA - Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope film studios, located in California's Napa Valley, has installed Meyer Sound EXP cinema sound systems in three new rooms, including an ADR stage, ADR control room, and a screening room. Consistent EXP monitoring will allow seamless translation between the new rooms and Zoetrope's existing re-recording stage, which in 2009 became the first facility of its kind to install a complete EXP system.

Coppola, working alongside re-recording mixers Walter Murch and Pete Horner, relied on Zoetrope's original EXP monitoring system for the final mix of his 2009 release, Tetro. Reflecting on the experience, Coppola says, "With Meyer Sound, there has been a tremendous increase in power, yet with distortion eliminated. If the sound were a picture, you would immediately notice how incredibly focused it is, with no blurring."

Zoetr

UK - The nominees for the 2012 Olivier Awards, which reward achievement in London theatre over the last 12 months, were announced on 15 March at a presentation broadcast live online for the first time. Entertainment lighting specialist White Light, lighting supplier to many of the nominated shows, would like to congratulate all of the nominees -in particular those in the Best Lighting Design category.

This year's nominated lighting designers are Howard Harrison for Anna Christie at the Donmar Warehouse, Bruno Poet for Frankenstein at the National Theatre, and Hugh Vanstone, who received two nominations - for Ghost The Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre and Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre.

Vanstone's nomination was one of the 10 received by Matilda, the show receiving a nomination in every category for which it was eligible, inclu

UK - Funktion One has announced the launch of their new website. The site has undergone a complete redesign with a much improved graphical interface including an extensive photo gallery and many new features. There are now direct links to every page allowing for speedy access to all Funktion One product information and news and the site is easily accessible via mobile phones.

In addition to the new website Funktion One have also launched the Funktion One (Official) Facebook page which can be directly accessed via a link on the homepage of the new site - http://www.funktion-one.com

In other news from the company, Danny Boyle's production of Frankenstein at the National Theatre, which features a Funktion One loudspeaker system, has been nominated in the Best Sound Design category in this year's Olivier Awards. The sound design for the production, by Ed Clark

South Korea - XTA Electronics has confirmed Midi & Graphics Co Ltd as its new exclusive distributor for South Korea.

The company was originally created 13 years ago to provide solutions for the then embryonic DAW market. Subsequently it began to attract more traditional pro-audio brands and now employs 22 people, including some of Korea's more famous sound reinforcement engineers. The business is located in the bustling Nonhyeon-dong ward of Gangnam-gu in the capital city, Seoul.

Midi & Graphics has built its reputation as a committed and focused company, by dealing with some of the most well-established and highly respected pro-audio companies in the world such as HK Audio, Powersoft, Apogee and Yamaha.

Midi & Graphics is made up of three divisions dealing with the PA, Rentals and Installations sector, the House of Worship sector and the Broadcast sector. Their client base

USA - Sensaphonics has announced its support for the annual Auction 4 Audiology, a fundraiser for the American Academy of Audiology Foundation (AAAF). The auction features several autographed items of music memorabilia, the proceeds from which will fund research for hearing health in musicians. The Auction 4 Audiology takes place on the BiddingForGood.com website and will be open for bidding from 19-31 March.

The auction items include electric guitars signed by Aerosmith, Lady Antebellum, the Dave Matthews Band, Buddy Guy, and O.A.R., all donated to the cause by Sensaphonics president and founder Dr. Michael Santucci. Additional autographed items include a framed gold record by Coldplay and concert poster from Umphrey's McGee.

"Promoting hearing health among musicians is our mission, and we're thrilled to once again work with the Foundation toward funding additional, much

Rwanda - Rwanda's nightlife has been the richer in recent weeks for a new attraction: on 3 February, an exclusive new discotheque, the K-Club, opened in Kigali's Brima Business Centre. The new hotspot features two stylishly furnished bars with dance floors, as well as several lounge areas. The aspirations of the new club - as is evident from its decor, ambience, lighting and sound systems - are of the highest order. The sound system was installed by Audio Visual Engineering Kenya Ltd (AVE), the Dynacord distributor in East, West and Central Africa.

Based some 500 miles away in Nairobi, the sound specialists from AVE opted for a Dynacord solution based around the D-Lite series for a number of reasons: "Dynacord enjoys an excellent reputation in the industry based on countless prestige references that include some of the largest and best clubs in the world," explains AVE

Jamaica - John Dacosta is fortunate enough to have been the lighting designer for the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival for the past five years. Not a bad place to spend a late January. For this year's festival, a kick-off celebration as Jamaica celebrates 50 years of independence, Dacosta turned to the design ease of Martin Professional EC-10 LED video panels.

"It was a simple choice to use the EC-10," he states. "I had used the EC-20 panels for last year's show and loved it. When I was presented with the option to use the EC-10, I jumped at it."

A large EC-10 wall upstage centre provided a stunning backdrop while graphics spilled onto surrounding columns of Martin LC Series LED video panels with MAC 101 LED wash lights mounted under each. Dacosta also had EC-10 panels mounted around FOH for IMAG.

"It worked out great. I love the look of the video, th

Denmark - Lighting designer Benjamin la Cour has been using his own Jands Vista T2 lighting console, running the next generation Vista v2 software, on a busy schedule which includes the Musical Silkeborg's production of the Victor Hugo classic, Les Misérables.

Benjamin decided to invest in his own console as he feels that programming shows himself allows him to get the most out of his creative designs. To achieve this he needed to have a desk that he could easily get to know 'inside out'.

To ensure he was making the right choice, Benjamin trialled three major brands of console for one month each. At the end of the period his decision was very clear - Jands Vista.

"I learnt the Vista T2 with incredible ease" he states, "I really love the interface, it makes programming exceptionally fast and enjoyable!"

Benjamin has been running Jands' next

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