Singapore - Chingay is a regional festival in South East Asia celebrating the upcoming spring. Tracing its roots back to the middle of the last century, it is now a parade with floats running along major streets in various cities throughout Malaysia and Singapore. Celebrated for the 37th time in Singapore, Chingay Singapore is today Asia's grandest street parade. Two grandMA full-size consoles running in full-tracking backup mode, plus four MA NSPs (Network Signal Processor) running 16 DMX universes were placed at front of house to run the show's lighting.

Emphasising the multicultural history of Singapore and themed Project Wonderland, this year's parade featured 13 floats, with over 4,000 performers from 40 organisations from Singapore and seven other countries including Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, India, South Korea and The Philippines. An estimated 150.000 visitors j

UK - Ultravox are back on the road 30 years after the release of the iconic Vienna. Keeping the crew, production teams and artists sustained on tour are caterers Eat To The Beat, also approaching their own milestone of 25 years tour catering.

The Return To Eden tour, promoted by Live Nation, plays 17 dates across the UK throughout April and May. Two Eat To The Beat chefs, Rachel Collins and Ali Matthew, are travelling with the tour, carrying their own flight cased equipment and utilising each venue facilities to prepare and serve three meals a day.

Production Manager Dave Claxton observes, "Midge [Ure] was recently a finalist on Celebrity Masterchef so he understands how pressurised the life of a chef can be. It always amazes me how they manage to produce such a varied spread at high standards in a wide range of conditions. They do it with humour and

UK - Orbital Sound reports that its annual Sound Fundamentals Training Course for theatre sound technicians was fully subscribed, with 24 students attending, from 14-17 April. Now in its eighth year, the course was held at Orbital's purpose-built 225m2 seminar facility in Brixton, south London, presenting students with the full range of technical disciplines across show control, radio microphones, video, communications and networking.

Tutored by Orbital's training manager Theo Holloway, the course is designed to combine theatre sound theory with extensive hands-on practice.

"A technical career in theatre sound requires a broad range of skills, from understanding the specialist technologies to the interpersonal qualities required in a tightly-knit team environment," says Holloway. "This year has probably been the most successful course to date - we had a great bu

Argentina - Even after 18 years as a band and nine albums, the Babasonicos are still hungry. "We will never be satisfied to rest on our achievements," says the band's frontman Adrián Dárgelos, "because it is in our very nature to continually subvert and change the panorama of what is understood as music."

Mucho, the band's latest album, brings expression of the band's latest evolutionary steps into sharp focus with a selection of songs mixed in London by Phil Brown of Roxy Music fame. "Phil has always been a mythical rock-god engineer to us," Dárgelos says. "Given our rock en espanol budget, we didn't think there was much chance of us ever working with him, however. That's why we were stunned after we sent him a disc of some of our songs, and he accepted to do Mucho right away."

Bringing the songs of Mucho to Baba

Norway - A Medialon Manager Show & Media Control system has been integrated in the Petter Dass Museum, located in Sandnessj°en in Northern Norway.

The museum has been designed by noted architect Sn°hetta and tells the story of the 17th century Norwegian clergyman and poet named Petter Dass.

One Medialon Manager PRO license, integrated by Multitekst Ltd and YIT Systemteknikk, controls the entire auditorium and the exhibition sections of the museum.

A Rugboard (touch panel) is the main user interface for the entire installation, and runs Medialon Panel software. It allows the museum's tour guide, by a simple touch, to control windows blinds and curtains, screen and building lighting as well as the show applications running in the Auditorium and the exhibition sections of the museum.

In the Auditorium, one Medialon Display Player (MDP) runs a 20-minute introduction mo

India - Outdoor concert goers were recently entertained in Delhi by touring French song and dance troupe Breizh Side Soriou. The 47-member troupe performed through a Soundcraft Si3 digital console and PA company, Dhawan Electrical of Delhi, also supplied a JBL loudspeaker rig comprising VRX932LA compact arrays and SRX 728S subwoofers powered by Crown IT4000 amplification. The onstage monitor system included JBL SRX 712M's with JBL SRX 725's in use for side fill coverage.

Yogesh Dhawan, director of Dhawan Electrical comments, "The troupe's French FOH Engineer, Paul Schneiter, found the Si3 to be very user-friendly and he quickly learned the board's features and was very comfortable mixing in no time. By the time we finished the one-hour sound check, he was very familiar with the entire desk and its features."

Dhawan added, "The Si3 easily managed the 18 mic input

UK - Lighting designer Steven Douglas is using 265sq.m of Chroma-Q Color Web 125 LED panels to provide a curved video effect backdrop for the stage design The Killers' current Day & Age World Tour 2009.

The tour sees them perform 55 dates in 14 countries to almost half a million people. Following a series of North American dates, the tour is currently on its European leg and will then return for more dates in the US and Canada.

Tour LD Steven Douglas was looking for a semi-transparent video surface that would enhance the band's performance rather than detract from it. In addition, he needed something that would take up very little truck space and could be curved into different shapes, due to the design of the stage truss configuration. Douglas considered several popular LED video surface solutions before selecting the Color Web system, which he had used to great effect

USA - Philips Color Kinetics aims to demonstrate new versatility for lighting specifiers by unveiling an extended portfolio of its most popular LED systems at Lightfair in New York.

In response to the design community's wide-ranging needs, the organization will demonstrate how its existing product lines have been broadened to include specific LED colour choices and other attributes. Beginning with several of its flagship solutions, expanded product offerings are now available:

iW Graze Powercore is a sleek, linear fixture designed surface grazing, wall-wash lighting, and signage illumination. Featuring IntelliWhite technology, iW Graze Powercore combines cool and warm white LEDs with digital control technology to offer colour temperatures ranging from 2700K to 6500K.

Combined with the improved operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Powercore technology, and a low-p

UK - The inaugural PLASA Focus Show in Leeds on April 28-29 was a great success, beating the headiest expectations and the credit crunch. Anticipation had been high since PLASA Events announced the takeover of the event from AC Entertainment Technologies last year. The team had set out to continue the show's compact, user-friendly format while opening it up to the entire industry, broadening the marketing and creating new networking opportunities. By its close, the show had registered a total of 1,398 visitors (pre ABC audit).

Philip Norfolk of MA Lighting, which showed its new MA2 control surfaces, commented: "We've seen an excellent mix of students as well as serious clients, users and operators - a really broad spectrum of visitors. There have been good visitor numbers, high levels of interest and an excellent environment . . . and the time to spend with these people. Fo

UK - If you haven't reserved your delegate place at Showlight 2009, you have only a few days left to do so! And this year's Showlight has so much to offer everyone, whether you work in the theatre, television, architectural, film or event lighting. From Beijing to James Bond, the Grand Mosque to media servers, Showlight 2009 will be truly international and truly educational, say organisers.

With an eclectic mix of lighting designers from all disciplines, suppliers, manufacturers, students and scholars, each Showlight is unique, providing food for the mind, soul - and body! Included in the delegate price of only £180 are refreshments and lunch every day, plus dinner on Sunday and Monday. What more could you ask for? Oh yes - and the visits programme on Monday afternoon, with a backstage look at Glasgow's finest theatres, a visit to Philips' local factory, culture in the for

UK This year's ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians) Show will have everything for staging a production, from the brightest lighting effects to stage machinery, seating and flooring. Among the companies that will be exhibiting are White Light, Stand Lighting Europe, Electronic Theatre Controls, Stage Electrics and Hoist UK.

Joining these stalwart supporters of the show are several newcomers, including Rigging Projects, a specialist in rope, cord and twine, French LED lighting and digital signage company Naotek, light and sound equipment supplier Terralec and LSC Lighting Systems. The Australian lighting console and dimmer manufacturer will be showing a full range of products, including the Redback 12 and RDM DMX splitters.

LSC will be sharing a stand with White Light. During the show White Light will display the Fusion 672 LED lighting effect.

Lighting control de

UK - The former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, will be the guest speaker at this year's PLASA AGM and Members Lunch, which takes place on Tuesday 2 June at Kings Place in London.Livingstone is one of UK politics more colourful figures: he was a member of the Greater London Council from 1976, its leader from 1981, and was largely responsible for The GLC's popular 'Fares Fair' policy which significantly cut the price of travel on London Transport.

After Margaret Thatcher abolished the GLC, Livingstone went on to become an MP for the Labour Party. In 1999, he stood for nomination as the Labour Party candidate in the London mayoral elections, but despite popular support, the Blairite Frank Dobson was selected. Not one to take things lying down, Livingstone chose to stand as an independent candidate and, as a consequence, was expelled from the Labour Party in 2000. However, he bea

UK - The charity live event for Cancer Research that PLASA's Ron Bonner and L&SI's technical editor James Eade are currently pulling together for 8 August this year is coming along nicely. Known as Vibes from the Vines, the event was last held in 2006 and raised £32,000 for the charity (if you are wondering about the name, the first event was held in a vineyard!). Offers of help from all around the Industry have been already received with companies and personnel being quick to step up to the plate with huge contributions in time and kit.

Ron Bonner says: "There will be some top quality equipment and expertise on show with Steve Williams of Nippy Industries providing the stage, Martin Hawthorn of Hawthorn Theatrical promising the vast array of Clay Paky lighting and Brian Grant agreeing to provide a top-spec PA from Britannia Row. Ric Salzedo at Avolites is agai

USA - Bandit Lites was named the best large business in East Tennessee by the Knox Area Chamber Partnership. Bandit took home the prestigious Business Excellence Award on 1 May at the Knoxville Convention Centre.

This award is presented to an outstanding firm in East Tennessee that has clearly shown leadership, innovation and quality. Past winners include Scripps Networks and Pilot Travel Centers.

Chairman Michael T. Strickland said, "All of us at Bandit Lites are humbled by such an honour and promise to continue to earn the accolade. We are truly blessed to have the great opportunities we have and will continue to be a business that everyone can have pride in."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Point Source Productions will be exhibiting at ABTT, London on 10-11 June 09. Staff will be on hand to answer questions with regard to dry hire and sales, whilst representatives from the Production Service Department, formed last year, will be present to discuss event requirements.

This year's latest development is the introduction of Point Source Productions' Equipment Service Department which has been created in response to the growing demand for the maintenance of customers' own equipment. Services on offer range from individual item repair to full scale, regularly scheduled, maintenance contracts, including Portable Appliance Testing, and is focused on schools, event companies, long term installations and companies which need to take the pressure off heavy workloads.

Also on show on the Point Source Productions stand will be an innovative new method by which to mount

UK - HD Pro Audio will be exhibiting at ABTT again this year, showing the latest developments from a selection of the manufacturers it represents and distributes, including Optocore, Ateis, Digidesign, Yamaha and Timax.

HD Pro Audio will be showing Optocore's new X6R converters, which include the option for dual preamps on the inputs and allow for independent gain control by two users. HD will also have details on the expanding list of digital console manufacturers that can control Optocore preamps directly from their consoles, enhancing Optocore's position as an open networking protocol.

Well-established in the rest of Europe, but still relatively new to the UK, Ateis has built its reputation on a range of innovative products for PA and Voice Alarm applications. HD Pro Audio particularly see potential for Ateis' new UAPG2 DSP processor and Terracom TCP/IP paging system in the

Romania - Sibiu-based Artmania Foundation is busy preparing the upcoming ARTmania Festival. The Festival will be taking place between 17 and 19 July 2009, and will have bands such as Nightwish, Pain, Opeth, My Dying Bride and Tristania performing. Artmania production Manager Silviu Scrob's relationship with Adamson began when Scrob heard the Adamson Y-Axis system at the Red Rock Festival in Luxemburg in 2007. The Y-Axis system he heard was installed at the indoor venue Rockhall which seats 6000 persons.

Since then Scrob has been requesting the Adamson systems on a regular basis. Adamson partner Omnitech in Romania purchased a 16 box Y10 & T21 sub combo in the fall of 2007, and followed it up with an additional Y10 and Spektrix order in 2008, thus facilitating Scrob's requests. The recent first Artmania event with Omnitech's Adamson system took place at the 4060 seater, Sala Pala

UK - Lighting Partners will be exhibiting at this year's ABTT show - its fourth year at the event. Members of the Lighting Partners team will be on hand at the show to discuss the company's expanding range of used equipment, its new item sales and ready-made cable department.

On the stand for the first time will be the entire range of Hazebase smoke and haze machines including the new 650W Base Cap. Iain Dennis of Lighting Partners commented, "We are excited about showing the Hazebase range for the first time at the show. We have represented the brand in the UK for only a couple of months but we are already staggered by how well it has taken off. Machines are already in the West End and we are delighted that one of the largest arena tours of the decade is going out with over 30 Hazebase machines."

Lighting Partners is also launching a new niche website, www.colourfra

UK - RC4 Wireless will introduce the latest in its RC4Magic series - the new RC4 Black Magic system - at London's ABTT Theatre Show.

"When we first introduced the original RC4Magic system in 2007," says James David Smith, president and chief designer at RC4, "we brought the cost of wireless dmx dimming below the $1000 threshold for the first time. With 15 years of RC3 and RC4 experience behind us, RC4Magic performance has been excellent, but we did hear one complaint over and over again."

Users didn't like the bright yellow labeling. A design decision that helped the product stand out at tradeshows and demonstrations also made it stand out where it shouldn't - inside props and set pieces on stage.

In 2008, the company released RC4Magic Series 2 with purple labels. "Problem solved, I thought," said Smith, "but I was wrong."

RC4 Black

UK - The organisers of the ABTT Theatre Show, which takes place in London this week, have told L&SI that the Show is set to open its doors despite the 48-hour strike by London Underground workers. Spokesperson told L&SI: "The ABTT Theatre Show is delighted to announce that show will be opening its doors tomorrow, 10 June, despite the Tube strike. Presenting a full house of over 100 exhibiting companies, the show's pre-registration figures are up by 5% on last year's figures, which highlights the interest and demand for technical solutions in auditoria and multi-purpose performances spaces."

Transport for London (TfL) has said it will bring in a taxi-sharing scheme at all major rail stations, escorts to lead cyclists across the capital and additional parking for cycles as part of its contingency plans. Oyster cards will be accepted on all trains, 100 extra buses and a f

UK - Orbital Sound is providing specialist guidance to attendees at this week's ABTT Theatre Show on the issues surrounding Noise at Work compliance, as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show signs of getting tough on non-compliance. With West End productions, tours and even pantomimes all falling under the legislation, Orbital Sound's emphasis is on providing accurate information on the issues and the steps required to ensure compliance - via its specialist Noise at Work risk assessment service.

Orbital Sound has been working closely with industry bodies, such as PLASA, to raise awareness of The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 Act, following the expiry of the two-year period of grace extended to the entertainment industry by the HSE.

PLASA's technical resources manager, Ron Bonner comments, "The entertainment industry has to start taking the requirements of

USA - Harris Corporation will demonstrate an array of digital AV solutions at InfoComm 2009 this month at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando. Merging traditional broadcast and IT technology, Harris provides AV solutions for markets such as educational institutions, corporations, houses of worship, stadiums and arenas and restaurants - enabling AV operations to implement efficient advanced media workflows that potentially open new revenue streams.

"The strength and capability of Harris digital broadcast products fully support growth in new markets including AV, based on a complete portfolio of networking, infrastructure, test and measurement and other solutions that enable cost-effective, fully integrated advanced media workflows," said Tim Thorsteinson, president of Harris Broadcast Communications. "In particular, recent Harris digital signage wins in

New Zealand - College Hill Productions, a sound rental company based in Auckland has recently selected a Soundcraft Vi6 digital console for use on a diverse line-up of summer concerts and music festivals throughout New Zealand. The most recent tour, Big Day Out 2009 took place in Auckland and hosted a number of international artists including, Neil Young, My Morning Jacket and The Prodigy. Director of College Hill Productions Chris Tate founded the company in 1996 and is responsible for introducing the first Soundcraft Vi6 to New Zealand.

"The console has been out on tour non-stop all summer and the engineers required a board that had a very fast turnaround time in between shows." Says Tate. "The Soundcraft Vi6's capabilities also helped us in a couple of other ways including a few instances where the console was almost a kilometer away in a broadcast com

USA - Norway's projectiondesign returns to InfoComm to showcase its broadest range of projection solutions. The company will lift the wraps off the FL32 projector, projectiondesign's first solid-state LED-based projection system that uses the company's new RealLED technology resulting in "greatly enhanced image performance and ultra-low maintenance". The FL32 is set to greatly reduce operating costs, and features a 100,000-hour life illumination system, says the company.

Since making its global debut at last year's InfoComm, projectiondesign's active stereoscopic 3D projector, the F10 AS3D has earned worldwide praise from the audio visual and visualization community for its ability to provide convincing and compelling 3D imagery from a single, portable device. This year the company will be showing the F10 AS3D, as well as F32 and F22 3D stereo projectors using INFITEC

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