UK - Lighting will come sharply into focus during May's PALME Middle East Show, with two giants of the architectural and entertainment sectors consolidating their presence, the organisers say. Both Martin Professional Middle East and Avolites Middle East will have their heavy artillery on display. The former will unveil a host of new products for the first time in the Middle East, among them the MAC TW1 - a tungsten wash light with an even, soft-edged beam, a motorised zoom, CMY colour mixing and both internal and external electronic dimming.

Lining up alongside are the company's new LC series - a semi-transparent, modular system of LED panels, suitable for displaying film, digital images and graphics; the RGB Laser 1.6 - a compact and lightweight Class 4 laser with deep saturated colours and true whites; LED Stagebar - a light yet robust fixture featuring RGB, amber and 'true'

UK - For the first live BRIT Awards since 1989, Sennheiser commissioned Crystalroc (www.crystalroc.co.uk) to produce two special Union Flag designed SKM 5200 hand-held microphones for presenters Russell Brand and Fearne Cotton. This was also the sixth consecutive year that Sennheiser has provided support to leading sound designer Derrick Zieba and Britannia Row Productions on the UK's top music awards show.

Sennheiser UK's director of marketing John Steven said: "We first worked with Crystalroc when they produced some dazzling gold and diamond microphones for the Kylie Showgirl Homecoming Tour. Everything worked out so well that we thought it would be nice to do something special for The BRIT Awards. We ran it by Derrick and the producers, and everyone was really pleased with the results."

Performers on the night using Sennheiser systems included Corinne Bailey Rae,

Germany - Beyma will be presenting a complete new family of loudspeakers, at Frankfurt's ProLight+Sound exhibition, 28 - 31 March. The new P1000ND is based on its larger siblings, 18 and 15 P1200ND, but with a more adjusted magnetic circuit and a power handling of 1000W AES. The new P1000ND family will be composed of three new models of 18", 15" and 12".

Another brand new family is the MW/ND. This new model incorporates a greatly improved dissipation heat system, which allows it to withstand an unexpected power handling from smaller voice coil sizes. This allows for an improved transducer at a lower cost. Apart from this, the models have a sensitivity and efficiency rarely found in this type of speaker. The family will be composed of a 10", a 12" and a 15" speaker.

Beyma will introduce a new type of component. This type of high frequency transduce

Germany - At ProLight + Sound in Frankfurt, Kling & Freitag will present a selection from its current product range which now includes the option 'Installation' for the models CA 1201, CA1215, CA1515 and Line 212.

The speakers have been optimised for unobtrusive operation, and with numerous M10 mounting points, they allow for variable, simple and safe mounting in fixed installations.

The mounting brackets CA 1201 / CA 1215 and the mounting bracket CA 1515 are also new to the range. They enable the horizontal and vertical mounting of the same-named systems with the option 'Installation'. With this, all passive systems of the CA-Series are now suitable for horizontal and vertical mounting, says the company.

Kling & Freitag will also present the digital system controllers CD 24 and CD 44, both available for delivery since the beginning of the year and offering "a unique co

UK - January saw the launch in California of the 2007 product ranges from the Harman Group of pro-audio brands, and British distributor Harman Pro UK will be giving the London public their first chance to see much of the new gear at Sounds Expo 2007, running from March 1st for three days at Kensington Olympia.

Under the banner 'Harman Pro UK In The Studio', featured products include studio recording mics from AKG, new additions to the MX range of Lexicon processors, and studio monitors from JBL.

AKG has several new products to show in this, its 60th anniversary year, including the new "affordable" D5 handheld dynamic and C5 condenser mics, the Micromic range of miniaturised vocal and instrument mics, and the eye catching anniversary-edition C414 condenser microphone, production of which is limited to just 2007 mics worldwide.

Lexicon's new MX500 reverb processor, l

UK - AKG, celebrating its 60th anniversary, and its British distributor Harman Pro UK are showing several of the company's latest products at Sounds Expo 2007 at Olympia.

Perhaps the best commemoration of AKG's heritage on display is the limited anniversary edition of the C414 large-diaphragm recording mic. Only 2007 of these mics are being made worldwide, and only during this year.

Two of AKG's biggest launches this year are the D5 and C5 vocal microphones. The supercardioid D5 is a hard-wearing handheld dynamic mic (also available as the D5S with an on/off switch), while the C5 is a rugged cardioid condenser mic. Both mics are designed for recording or stage use, and use some of AKG's most recently developed microphone technology, including a laminate diaphragm in the D5 and a 24-carat gold-sputtered capsule housing in the C5 as a protection against humidity and moisture bui

USA - Through a generous grant provided by GE Consumer & Industrial, Thomas Edison House in Louisville (KY) has installed new museum lighting. The project was completed in commemoration of Thomas Edison's 160th birthday. The inventor lived and worked in Louisville, and later became the founder of the General Electric Company.

Kevin Ruppelt, general manager of Water Products, GE Consumer & Industrial, and a member of the Thomas Edison House's Board of Regents, comments: "This was a great way to utilise GE's design, products and resources, and to give back to our local community. Thomas Edison would be proud of GE's advances in lighting technology and what we've done to highlight his inventions at the Museum. We are proud of our heritage."

The lighting installed at the Museum includes GE's new Diamond Precise track lighting designed for interior museum applications. Di

Germany - Pioneer Pro DJ will present "an exhilarating and educational snapshot into digital DVJing" during ProLight&Sound 2007 (Frankfurt, 28-31 March 2007). Pioneer's stand will feature all its latest Pro DJ equipment. This includes digital DJ mixers like the DJM-800 and DJM-400, as well as the new range of CDJ CD decks: the CDJ-1000MK3s and CDJ-800MK2s.

More established items, such as the DJM-1000 mixer, EFX-1000 effects unit, and Pioneer's plasma screens, will also feature, but the "true star" of the show, the company says, this year will be the DVJ-1000 - successor to the groundbreaking DVJ-X1 hybrid DVD/CD deck. Like the DVJ-X1s, the DVJ-1000s combine the capabilities of the industry standard CDJ-1000 series with the ability to perform multimedia sets.

DVJ'ing is seen by many DJs as an evolution of their audio art form, and it is now universally accep

Finland - For the Finnish Symphony Orchestra's Tapiola Sinfonietta, lighting and set designer Valo Virtanen used the Martin MAC TW1 because of its "quiet operation, power and functionality". Tapiola Sinfonietta wanted to deviate from the typical black suits and concert lights to create a story about musicians' fantasies, both happy and sad, by incorporating acrobats, magicians, dancers, singers, and even a "wild vacuum cleaner".

Valo chose the MAC TW1 tungsten washlight because "traditionally powerful Tungsten washlights have been a problem. When the TW1 came out our local distributor Electrosonic Lightinen kindly sent one to me for testing. Now we have twenty on tour. Its "quiet operation - not just virtually silent - combines with really good colour mixing and a wide zoom range to make these units heavy workhorses for us. I really enjoy working wi

Czech Republic - This June, Prague will host the combined celebration of design for theatre at the Prague Quadrennial and the PQ Scenofest. In June every four years, Prague hosts an international competition of the work of individual designers and nations. The best design from across the world will be on display for the 10 days of the Quadrennial.

Scenofest sits in the very heart of the Quadrennial, designed to bring the next generation of designers together to collaborate as a part of a huge range of exhibitions, performances and workshops. The world's greatest designers will take part as workshop leaders and in delivering a series of Lectures and presentations.

The venue is the Industrial Palace, and the PQ organisers have given Scenofest pride of place in the Central Hall. This space will see a 300-seat theatre space, workshop areas and exhibition areas - and the Tower of B

Slovakia - Czech pro audio distributor Prodance combined a dealer launch of RCF's TT+ line array with some major music event in Bratislava. The 800 plus charity event featured a complete cross section of entertainment which included folk music, chamber music, rock and even tap dancing!

Daniel Smutný, Prodance's technical support was on hand to meet the dealers on the Friday morning. He says: "The TT+ system and rigging is very user-friendly and the whole array, comprising six TTL33-As per side, were flown with ease in no time at all with two TTS28-As ground-stacked below, this really impressed some of our customers who had turned up early to view the whole event. The set-up of the actual array was also quickly taken care of with the aid of the RCF TT+ Shaper software; this takes just a few minutes to enter details of the venue and then gives you all the array configuration

UK - Kylie Minogue has made a strong return to touring and performance after her courageous and public battle with breast cancer. Her Homecoming tour has been winning rave reviews, including a recent series of seven sold-out dates at London's Wembley Arena.

Front-of-house engineer Christopher Pyne specified a multiple line array system featuring Milo high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers. The main arrays of 16 cabinets per side were augmented by two side arrays of 16 Mica compact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers each and front-fill from 12 M'elodie ultracompact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers. The rig was driven by three LD-3 compensating line drivers.

"A lot of people aren't aware that Wembley Arena was built as the swimming venue for the Olympics and British Empire Games (now the Commonwealth Games), shortly after World War II," says P

UK - HSL is supplying lighting for the current Ricky Gervais UK theatre and arena tour, which has been designed by Arturo Ollandini. HSL is once again working with Phil McIntyre Productions who are promoting the multi-award-winning writer/comedian. It follows on in the comedy vein from their successful work together on League of Gentleman in 2005 and Mitchell and Webb in 2006. HSL's Mike Oates is overseeing the account and comments, "It's great to continue including a healthy spot of comedy in our comprehensive theatre repertoire. It's a very specific genre to light and requires special detail."

Operating the show on tour is John Slevin, who is working with Simon 'Piggy' Lynch. The rig features two 56 ft long mid and back trusses and a 40ft front one - all pre-rigged, and slightly randomly loaded with PARs and ACLs. There are seven ETC Source fours on the front truss,

Singapore - Exhibitors to PALME Asia (12-14 July, Singapore Expo) will be set to take advantage of Singapore's burgeoning free market economy and strategic location when the show returns to the island city-state in July. This year the rebranded event is set to follow the successful PALME Middle East model by introducing an Event 360° Asia live staging sector alongside Install Asia.

With its move to two halls within the new Singapore Expo, PALME Asia sales manager, Hanslee Azhar, sees huge advantages in returning to the island. "There are a number of positive factors," he said, "but essentially Singapore Expo can accommodate the growth of the show and its expanding number of features, since we have grown 30% from last year."

At the same time, he says, it is an opportunity for exhibitors to take advantage of the highly-lucrative market in South-east Asia.

Italy - Although world famous for its Parmesan cheese, Reggio Emilia is alsothe home of Mordente Music Service, a rental firm run by Beppe Pelliciari which has built a reputation in specific sectors of the sound reinforcement market, such as classical, operatic and spoken word.

Some of the more recent events on which the company has used its QSC ISIS WideLine arrays have included open-air concerts by the orchestra and chorus of Genoa's Carlo Felice theatre, with music ranging from opera, through the classics to the Beatles. For these events, the subwoofers used were a pair of QSC WL218S-sw and the powerhouse comprised QSC PL 236 and 230 amplifiers.

Another interesting event was Cividale del Friuli's MittelFest, a festival of the performing arts under the artistic direction of Moni Ovadia, which offers a showcase spanning the artistry of Central Europe, as well as shows involvi

UK - Hand Held Audio's growing involvement in Outside Broadcasts has kept them "very busy" in the first part of 2007, the company reports. Apart from the now regular contribution of all things wireless at the BAFTAs and the BRITs, the North London wireless specialist has a large system of Sennheiser 1046 radio mics on this year's Comic Relief fund-raiser, Celebrity Fame Academy.

A complex system spread across the facilities of BBC1, BBC3 and CBBC has a total of 44 channels of radio microphones and nine channels of in-ear monitoring. A combination of personal mics for the reality section and chromed hand-held mics for presenters Patrick Kielty and Claudia Winkleman uses five of Sennheiser's 8-way 1046 receiver racks and two of their 3-way 203 racks. Transmitters are SK50/SK3063 body packs with MKE2 Gold for the personals and the new SKM5200 hand-held transmitters

USA / Germany - Since its introduction two years ago, the Digidesign Venue live sound environment continues to gain momentum with 350 flagship D-Show systems sold worldwide. Venue has been used by engineers on major tours with artists such as Beck, The Good, The Bad And The Queen, The Cure, Snow Patrol, Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, Barbara Streisand, Manic Street Preachers, U2, and many more.

Inline with market demand, Digidesign introduced a second Venue System last September and in just five months the Venue D-Show Profile has sold more than 100 units worldwide. With its more compact footprint, the D-Show Profile extends the benefits of Digidesign's unique solution into new live sound applications such as theatre installations and corporate AV.

Digidesign's European Live Sound sales manager, Mike Case, attributes Venue's rapid adoption to its unique feature

USA - Clive Davis pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton, was the traditional glittering affair this year, where nominees, presenters, record industry executives and celebrities rubbed shoulders as a string of A-list music performers took to the stage. Delicate Productions of Camarillo, California once again provided the sound equipment for the annual event, outfitting the stage with Sennheiser wired and wireless microphones for performances by Smokey Robinson, Black Eyed Peas, Akon, and the night's highlight, Jennifer Hudson.

"We used 16 channels of the Sennheiser EM550G2 wireless microphone receivers, with SKM935G2 handhelds," says monitor engineer Scott Scherban. "There were eight channels of EW300IEMG2 in-ear systems." The setup also included two Sennheiser NET1 wireless management systems, providing control, monitoring and management of the microphone and

UK - Among the many companies honoured at this year's Total Production Awards ceremony was the Birmingham based Total Solutions Group. "We were absolutely delighted and proud to receive the award for 'Favourite Stage Set Company'," said managing director Chris Cronin. "It's a tremendous 'thank you' to our dedicated and hard working team who are always prepared to take on the next unusual challenge that this industry constantly issues."

Hosted by Suggs, of Madness fame, a record 1,200 people from the live entertainment industry attended the ceremony. "It's a great honour to be recognised as an industry leader by your own peers," said a clearly delighted Cronin.

Over the year, Total Solutions provided staging for Kylie, Il Divo and George Michael along with a host of other top artists. The Company specialise in blank paper design challenges such as

USA - Super Bowl XLI may have suffered through a downpour, but it was Prince who reigned, with an electrifying performance that was hailed by some as one of the most thrilling halftime shows in the history of the game. Conditions were far from ideal for any electronic equipment, but the most critical item, Prince's chrome-plated Sennheiser wireless vocal microphone with a Neumann capsule, took the rough weather and the singer's rough handling in stride.

"My big worry was that Prince's mic was going to get soaked and quit working," admits James Stoffo, who has been in charge of wireless systems for the musical entertainment segments of the Super Bowl for many years. "But it never did die. It was soaking wet when we got it back, but it never quit on me.

"Although there was a spare standing by, the vocal microphone, which pairs a chrome-plated handheld Sennhei

USA - XL Touring Video recently completed its project as video contractor for Rock Star Supernova's You Can't Stop The Party 2007 World Tour, which kicked off in January in Hollywood, FL, and finished up the American leg at the end of February.

XL worked with production designer Brian Hartley to provide an 8ft XLTV custom-designed MiPix Globe populated with 2,500 MiPix LED, which was suspended over the crowd, stage left; four Mainlight Soft LED High Res panels, hung upstage, three portrait-style Barco D7 panels configured two wide x three high were positioned in front of the soft LED panels and two High End Systems Catalysts.

XLTV's president, John Wiseman, said: "Rarely do we get a chance to work so closely on the front end as we do with Tommy Lee on all his projects. For RSSN, we were given the chance to bring in our favourite creative team including Nick Militel

UK - Adlib Lighting supplied equipment and crew to Mika's recent tour. Adlib designer Ian Tomlinson was brought onboard by tour manager Jamie Butterworth - the two have previously worked together on Mylo.

Adlib's head of lighting Pete Abraham says: "It's exciting to be working with such an amazing breakthrough artist as Mika. There's a massive buzz about him and he's a great live performer. Ian came up with a highly adaptable and dynamic rig that fitted a variety of venue sizes." These ranged from the Birmingham Barfly to Koko in London.

Tomlinson started with floor-based trussing to build a structural outline for the stage. To give it a quirky flavour - matching Mika's interesting performance style - he chose a semi circle of truss that rested on the floor at the back creating an arched effect, flanked by two quarter circles, which also appeared as arches.

Onstage

Germany - Danish manufacturer DPA Microphones will be co-exhibiting with its German distributor, Mega-Audio at ProLight&Sound 2007, Frankfurt.

Among the wide selection of DPA products on display will be the SMK4061 Stereo Microphone Kit, billed as a cost-effective and flexible stereo recording solution aimed at project studios and for discreet mic setup on stage. The kit packages two DPA 4061 high quality omnidirectional miniature microphones with a variety of mounting accessories.

Another recently introduced product is the BLM4060 Boundary Layer Microphone for use in boardrooms, conference facilities, courtrooms, teleconferencing and any application "requiring excellent vocal pickup". The BLM4060 is a transducer designed to work under optimum conditions when placed on a tabletop, and also performs well on any hard, flat surface that reflects sound.

Also on show at

Germany - Midas will be displaying a grand total of five XL8 live performance systems at Prolight + Sound 2007, Frankfurt. One of the systems can be found on the PADCO stand and another, a full flight cased touring system, on the Bosch Communications Systems, EVI Audio stand.

For those who want to hear a XL8 through a large PA system, two more will be performing front of house duties for all three stages at the Agora Tent, handling a range of live performances throughout the day and into the night, while the fifth XL8 will be installed in a private VIP room where Midas will host hands-on demos for the duration of the show.

XL8 is the first of a new generation of open-architecture, cross-platform, integrated audio control and distribution systems, which brings control of not only audio, but other aspects of live performance to a single, intuitive control centre. XL8 represents

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