UK - To mark International Women’s day this year, sound design and music production facility String and Tins has announced the launch of the second iteration of its female-led programme No Fixed Mix. Aiming to improve the gender balance in technical sound roles, the music company will conduct a series of workshops, arming participants with tips, tools and resources to help them pursue a career in sound.
The inaugural programme of No Fixed Mix, held in 2019, welcomed five aspiring sound engineers into String and Tins’ studios. Created by String and Tins’ audio post production manager Eimear Ní Ghuaire, the programme included three workshops that focused on the audio industry - production, sound design and music - and was aimed at any woman seeking a career in sound desig

USA - Renkus-Heinz has announced the latest product in its C Series line: the CA/CX121M – a compact stage monitor suitable for a multitude of applications.
“The CA/CX121M is the culmination of extensive customer and market feedback,” said Brandon Heinz, product manager at Renkus-Heinz. “The addition of the CX/CA121M supports the totality of the C series as an innovative stage monitor, delivering exceptional performance and consistent coverage at a very attractive price point.” The monitor is available in both passive (CX121M) and powered (CA121M) models.
Designed not only as a stage monitor, the CA/CX121M is also suitable for portable and installed PA functions. It can be used as a pole-mounted side-fill – using the optional pole adapter – or sound reinforcement system without the need to rotate or reconfigure the drive unit. Also, the UBRKT/CT121M mounti

USA - The production teams behind the sound, video, lighting and broadcast facilities at The Potter’s House in Dallas have long sought out the best technologies with which to deliver the message of the church’s founder, televangelist Bishop T.D. Jakes, to his 30,000-strong congregation.
Most recently, the audio system has undergone a significant upgrade with the installation of three Dante-networked Solid State Logic Live L550 digital mixing consoles, positioned at front-of-house, monitors and in the church’s broadcast centre.
“As our ministry has grown over the years and we’ve started to do a lot of stuff that’s outside of the norm, we started to run into walls because we just couldn’t do it with our previous consoles. We have 160 or 170 inputs at times, and we were starting to run into input challenges,” says production manager and front-of-house engi

Spain - Amate Audio is marking International Women’s Day, celebrating the ever-increasing number of women working in and performing key roles in entertainment technology. Their increasing presence, a powerful force for improvement in our industry; in manufacturing and supply, on-stage, backstage, behind the scenes, or front-of-house.
In a statement the company says, “On International Women’s Day, we are celebrating the role of women working throughout our industry, alongside the particular achievements and importance of women at Amate Audio. Women fulfil some of the most critical roles in our company – in design engineering, production, marketing and administration. Their talents, skills and creativity are integral to our endeavour.”
Currently women make up 37% of the Amate workforce and hold many key positions. These include the company’s chief acoustics e

Germany - rental company Gahrens + Battermann has been active in events and entertainment since 1983 by offering innovative technical solutions, having eight locations throughout Germany. Gahrens + Battermann has invested in numerous Prolights EclPanel TWC recently, as part of a growth of inventory and business strategy.
Dennis Rudolph, head of the lighting technology department, comments, "In terms of output and light quality, the Prolights EclPanel TWC has completely convinced us. In addition, there are several points that make it stand out in my eyes compared to other product solutions. For example, the device has an integrated power supply and W-DMX, which is a great advantage in terms of mobility.
“Also, the panels are in a black housing, which of course makes integration into sets etc. visually easier. All in all, I can say that all features are convincing an

UK - The WACKIT Contest organisers - CAST Group of Companies, Claypaky and Durham and Jennie Marenghi have announced the winners of the virtual lighting competition held over the past few months and judged by the LD panel of Paule Constable, Davy Sherwin and David Bishop, chaired by Durham Marenghi.
WACKIT comprised two side-by-side competitions for professional and student lighting designers from UK and Ireland to create a virtual video of their work from a model of the Royal Albert Hall.
Winner of the Professional section is Nick Humphrey, second is Kris Goodman with David Howard taking third place. Commenting on the winning entry, the judges said, “Builds well – the cueing through it was good and the progression of ideas well delivered and it pulls back to the organ – so story keeps going – pretty realistic, good movie – lots of falling effects – well t

Switzerland - Chauvet continues to expand its presence in Europe. The company has just announced that it will begin providing direct sales and service support for its products in the Swiss market through its French and German offices.
Chauvet France will be responsible for the western section of Switzerland, and Chauvet Germany will look after the rest of the country. Renens, Switzerland-based Radio Matériel will continue to be a reseller and service support centre for Chauvet in the region. The new programme applies to Chauvet Professional, Chauvet DJ and Iluminarc products.
Martin Fournier, Chauvet’s European sales director will lead the expansion effort, while Aland Mahieu of Chauvet France and Alexander Rexforth of Chauvet Germany will oversee their respective regional markets within Switzerland.
“This is an exciting development for us,” said Stéphane

Germany - Neutrik has acquired Connex GmbH. The Oldenburg-based company, founded in 1990, produces and develops components for professional event industry and industrial applications.
The Connex product portfolio comprises solutions for mobile or stationary applications. These include power distribution systems, fibre optic solutions, video products, ethernet components, splitters, patching systems, stage boxes, cabling and measuring devices.
Connex focuses not only on standardised products, but also develops individual solutions and delivers comprehensive consulting services and support in the implementation of projects.
"We are very excited about the growth of our group. Connex GmbH is going to enable us to expand our activities to further areas of application and to strengthen our leading position in the market", says Chad Trevithick, CEO at Neutrik Group.
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USA - Denmark based professional lighting manufacturer SGM Light A/S has announced that Jason Osterman has joined the SGM team as architectural solutions manager. Osterman, who will remain based in the USA, previously served in various management roles within the architectural and theatrical lighting industries in both the USA and UK.
“I am thrilled to be joining the team at SGM, particularly during this exciting time of creativity in the architectural lighting and media integration sectors. SGM is vastly experienced at creating powerful, top-quality solutions for outdoor environments. Working together with the teams in Denmark and the US, I’m looking forward to developing the next generation of lighting solutions for lighting and media designers,” says Osterman.
By establishing Osterman’s role, SGM is expanding its global team focused on the development of s

Australia - Meyer Sound has announced the appointment of Owen Ironside to the position of sales manager, Australia and New Zealand. He will assume responsibility for all Meyer Sound sales in the region, supporting the company’s new network of direct resellers throughout the two countries.
Meyer Sound also announced Brisbane-based Ampd Electronics as the new authorised service agent for the region.
Based in Sydney, Ironside will report directly to Chris D’bais and director of international sales Scott Gledhill. Originally from Scotland, Ironside had been working in the UK pro audio and music technology industry since 2000, before migrating to Australia in 2011. Owen brings extensive industry knowledge from his previous live engineering, venue technical management, sales, and installation posi

UK - Vestel Visual Solutions has announced the expansion of its display range with the arrival of the Q Series family. Featuring four new 24/7 models - the 65” QN65, 55” QN55 and QP55, and 49” QP49 - the Q Series is built to meet the needs of businesses across a number of sectors, delivering ‘outstanding high-res picture quality within a slender E-LED design’.
Picture quality is delivered through UHD resolution and HDR 10 on the QN65 and QN55, and FHD resolution on the QP49 and QP55. A 500 NIT brightness level on the QN65 and QN55, and 700 NIT on the QP49 and QP55, also provide notably high brightness for displays of this size and price-point, making them a vibrant and cost-effective solution for areas of high ambient lighting - whether that be within retail spaces, schools, or corporate environments, says the company.
Each of the Q Series displays has been s

Belgium - Although he was in the clothing business, Luc Provost always wanted to own a theatre. Not long ago, fate gave him a reason to turn this aspiration into reality, when he acquired 10,000 pieces of theatrical costumes from a Dutch company.
Looking for a place to store his newfound collection of clothing, he purchased a former school building in the East Flanders town of Mater. Attached to that structure was a small theatre.
For Provost, it was a building of dreams. “I had the costumes and venue,” he recalled. “So now I was ready.”
On 2 January, 2020, Provost shared his dream with the world when, outfitted with a new rig of Chauvet Professional fixtures, the Cultuurcentrum Maskerade staged its first show. Unfortunately, it was also the last live show at the 220-seat theatre for the year, as the coronavirus pandemic brought public gatherings to a gri

USA - Attracting around 4,000 worshippers each week, Hope Church in Las Vegas opened a new, 1,750-seat auditorium worship centre and sanctuary in December 2020. The technical infrastructure was designed and installed by church technology specialists Stark Raving Solutions (SRS), who installed an Alcons Audio pro-ribbon system in the main auditorium.
At Hope Church, growth has been so significant, that in 2019, the church moved to add a fourth weekly service. With that additional service, average weekly congregation numbers grew by about 600, according to creative producer Micah Ogle.
Kansas-based SRS has installed many Alcons LR series pro-ribbon line arrays in churches. They introduced the leadership of Hope Church to Alcons solutions at a demonstration event in Las Vegas a few years ago. When SRS suggested a system based on the double 8” LR18 compact mid-size line-

USA - Passion Church, a thriving 400-congregant, multi-generational and multi-ethnic church in Casa Grande, Arizona, was in need of a complete audio, visual, and lighting systems overhaul to effectively equip its growing ministries into the future and chose Elation Fuze Pendants as part of the solution.
In early 2020, Passion Church reached out to 5 Words Media, an AVL production company based in Phoenix, to inquire about a full AVL system design. A day later, 5 Words Media sales engineer Brandon Cole met Pastor Romeo Leal on-site at Passion Church to walk the space and strategise an ideal AVL system to support their current and future needs.
“I wanted to hear the dreams Pastor Romeo had, not just for the AVL aspects of Passion Church, but for his church overall,” stated Cole. “Designing a system with the overarching vision and mission of the church in mind help

Luxembourg - Given that the Rockhal sits on Avenue du Rock’n’Roll, it is no surprise the venue raised its fist in the air to host five concerts aimed at gathering data to work towards the return of live events.
The Because Music Matters concert series was set up in partnership with the Luxembourg Ministry of Health to evaluate how future concerts can be presented safely and sustainably across the continent and beyond. The shows were mounted in the 1,200-capacity Club space at Rockhal (Luxembourg’s Centre de Musiques Amplifiées) with a range of safety and testing measures in place.
Featuring Glass Museum from Brussels and local heroes Cleveland, C'est Karma & Francis of Delirium, Fusion Bomb and Claire Parsons & Klein, the event also marked the first use of the Rockhal’s new Adamson Systems Engineering IS-Series PA, temporarily deployed in a configurati

Spain -At the end of 2020, singer Mónica Naranjo launched a special re-issue of her third studio album Minage originally released in 2000, which paid tribute to Italian artist Mina. Fast forward 20 years, and Puro Minage features a full complement of the exact content that Naranjo had wanted to include in the project from the start. Marking the occasion, she played a special concert in front of a live audience - with COVID rules in place - at the Palau de Les Arts, Valencia.
Lighting designer CaCo García has been working with the artist and her management team for around two years, and he chose to use 66 Robe moving lights to be at the centre of this show, which he helped deliver working closely with video director Alberto Arias.
CaCo discussed the moods and ambience that Mónica Naranjo wanted to evoke throughout her performance and then designed lig

UK - Brompton Technology and disguise are among the companies included in this year’s fifth annual Financial Times 1000 list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies. The FT 1000, compiled with research company Statista, shows 1,000 European companies that achieved the highest compound annual growth rate in revenue between 2016 and 2019.
This years’ edition highlights some of Europe’s most promising growth businesses, with data taken just before the pandemic took hold.
“We are delighted to be recognised by the Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business news and information organisations, and see Brompton included in the latest FT 1000 list alongside other brilliant companies, such as our friends at disguise,” comments Brompton’s CEO, Richard Mead. “We would like to thank all our staff and partners across the globe for their part in this achieve

USA - The Canopy by Hilton Downtown is the latest boutique lifestyle hotel to open in Tempe, Arizona. To provide sound reproduction throughout, management invested in the installation of an assortment of DAS Audio systems.
In charge of the project were ‘Skinny’ Greg Gilman, who has wide experience in the world of music and sound endeavours, and Oakland Park, FL-based TM Sound, an AV design/build firm.
“The hotel’s entrance is equipped with two Q-43-T systems,” Gilman reports. “The lobby, which also doubles as the first restaurant/bar, was fitted with ten white Ovi-12s, suspended 14ft above the floor and 2ft from the ceiling, providing equal coverage for Alter Ego (the restaurant & bar) and Myrtle Corner (a lounge/waiting area) - without the undesired reflections from a nearby large room with glass garage doors. We also hide four Q-10 subwoofer

USA - The 750sq.ft performance space that owner Evan Kirkendall and GM Steve Wozniak created inside Harford Sound’s warehouse in Joppa, MD, features a rig that includes over 75 Chauvet Professional fixtures and a massive 18’ by 10’ video wall made with F4IP panels.
The Harford Sound team and lighting designer Kyle Ryman attempted to replicate the hard-driving intensity of a mega-venue stage for the arena rock tribute band Glamour Kitty.
“Performance spaces like ours that have cropped up since COVID aren’t the biggest, but with a solid band and talented LD, they can create settings that come across great at conveying largescale energy,” said Wozniak. “Kyle did a great job making this performance come alive so it could really speak to viewers.”
Going with dramatic, synced hits, Ryman was able to create punchy vistas that captured the spirit of Glam

Japan - Enhancing its theatres to offer guests a ‘one-of-a-kind movie experience’, Humax Cinema hired Xebex Inc to design and install a Harman Professional cinema audio solution.
Featuring 10 screens and accommodating up to 1,200 guests, Humax Cinema is one of the most versatile movie complexes in Japan. In addition to showing films, the cinema doubles as a multipurpose venue that hosts jazz performances and other live sound events.
Elevating its facility to include ‘world-class audio’, Humax Cinema wanted to upgrade to a sound system that delivered pristine acoustics and provided guests an unforgettable experience, especially during movies. Xebex deployed a premium Harman Professional cinema audio solution that includes JBL’s Sculpted Surround technology as well as a collection of JBL ScreenArray loudspeakers.
“The client wanted to create an immersiv

Spain - The North West Spanish resort of Donostia-San Sebastian has long attracted the rich and famous to its many Basque architectural landmarks, including the ornate interior of what was once the San Sebastian Casino.
More recently, the space has been transformed into the plenary hall of the Donostia-San Sebastian Town Hall, but the interior is no less impressive. Clad in marble and stone with vaulted ceilings, chandeliers and stained-glass windows, the room is visually spectacular but sonically challenging – a serious problem for the meetings and events that are frequently hosted within the space.
“The plenary hall of the city of Donostia-San Sebastian is a unique space of extraordinary beauty and it is full of history,” explains Anselmo Calleja of Spanish AV systems integrator Sionua Pro, whose expertise was called on during the refurbishment of the hall.

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