USA - Dallas, Texas-based Bock Technologies was recently tapped to upgrade the sound reinforcement system at the Main Arena of the Somervell County Expo Centre in Glen Rose, Texas. The Expo centre is the premier location for equestrian events and cattle futurities, industry tradeshows and award-winning performances in the region.
“The existing system was worn out and just didn’t provide the coverage the multi-purpose venue required,” explains Pedro Salas, vice president of Bock Technologies. “We knew an EAW QX distributed loudspeaker system would blanket the seating areas while upgrading intelligibility and audio quality considerably. It would be more than capable of handling any event they had.”
The Main Arena of the centre is a highly reverberant space, appr

Germany - As the halls to the Messe Frankfurt Exhibition Centre open on 10 April, Altman Lighting will be in Hall 3.0 Stand B81 to showcase a number of innovative theatrical and architectural design solutions. With the show debut of the new AP-150 PAR RGBW luminaire, Altman Lighting will also be highlighting its popular Spectra Cyc family of wash luminaires, the versatile Chalice 70W LED downlight, the expansive Gallery LED Series, and their award-winning PHX LED profile and zoom spot ellipsoidals.
“We are always excited to exhibit at Prolight + Sound as it gives us a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate the performance capabilities of our lighting solutions to a broad audience,” said Jaime Friedstadt, Altman Lighting EMEA sales manager. “Recognised as the premier entertainment lighting exhibition in Europe, Prolight + Sound always draws a very captive audience who ar

USA - Atlona has expanded its residential AV sales team with the appointment of Joshua Trujillo as regional sales manager, west residential. Reporting to Victor Baut, national sales manager, residential, Joshua will cover a vast territory across Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. He will work closely with systems integrators, rep firms, consultants and end users to expand regional visibility and market share for Altona in the residential AV market.
Joshua comes to Atlona with 15 years of AV industry experience, most of which was with Logic Integration, a commercial and residential AV dealer and integration firm based in Denver.
(Jim Evans)

Germany - HK Audio, one of the leading German manufacturers of PA systems, is preparing to roll out “the largest product launch in the firm’s 35+ year history” at this year’s Prolight + Sound show in Frankfurt.
Says the company, “Having mainly focused on PA systems for musicians in recent years, the brand with the ‘made in Germany’ quality seal is set to begin a new chapter in its illustrious history.”
The first examples of a new pro audio range will be on display at HK Audio’s main Prolight + Sound booth, located at Hall 3.1 E91. They are the first components of a highly integrative product family which will comprise HK Audio’s portfolio for professional sound reinforcement services, says the company.
(Jim Evans)

UK - Peterborough-based touring and event power company Pearce Hire recently hosted a workshop on generator safety measures.
Organised by James Eade, with Patrick McGinley from the HSE, the event was set up for a group of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) electrical inspectors with the aim to shed light on the application of generator safety measures, especially in relation to earthing requirements, and to discuss safety concepts proposed by Eade for new IET guidance on the subject.
Eade comments: “The current guidance on generator earthing in particular has not seen many changes for years. The advent of modern technologies such as inverter generators coupled with the widespread availability of residual current devices for protection is driving a need to revise current practices.”
Current British standards and associated guidance categorises generators broad

UK - Ohm has appointed James Jewry as director of technical integration, heading up the new tech integration department.
Jewry is an experienced system design technician working with artists such as Kylie Minogue, Tom Jones and the London Symphony Orchestra. Having been involved in audio for nearly 25 years, he has worked with major tour and festival companies, designing and calibrating some of the largest audio projects around the world.
Gareth Coleman, director of international sales, comments: “Ohm is focused on building a strong core team, with the imminent release of state of the art DSP software & hardware, the creation of a new technical integration team will ensure our new products have both pre and post sales customer support.”
Jewry adds: “I’ve seen and heard some amazing loudspeakers built at Ohm, with over 39 years’ experience behind th

China - PR Lighting has extended its AQUA range of IP65-rated waterproof units with the launch of the AQUA 350 BWS. This integrates three features (Beam, Wash and Spot) in a single unit.
The fully-featured fixture adopts PR patented technology, combining an advanced Ushio 350W lamp with a superb optical system. Thanks to its IP65 rating it is suited for all outdoor events and activities.
Features include: Strobe (0.3-25fps with macros); mechanical dimmer (0-100% linearly adjustable); three prisms (standard 2x6-facet circular prisms and linear prism - plus Frost and Open). Rotation is bidirectional with variable speeds. 3-facet, 16-facet and gradient prisms are optional. The three light angles are 0°-2.5° (Beam mode), 2.5°-42° (Spot mode) and 5°-50° (Wash mode).
In terms of movement the AQUA 350 BWS offers Pan of 540° and Tilt of 270°, with auto position

Germany - Visitors to this year’s Prolight + Sound will be able to experience DiGiCo’s much-anticipated Quantum 7 processing, which is making its working debut on Stand 3.1 E40. The company will also reveal further new developments and give visitors another chance to experience the new 4REA4 digital audio networking system.
Quantum 7 has been developed with seventh generation FPGA devices that further expand audio processing power, and “ultimately allows DiGiCo to provide its users with an unrivalled amount of flexibility”.
Quantum 7 expands an SD7 to over 600 channels of processing in 96kHz operation that can be connected in the outside world to approaching 3000 potential I/Os. The engine is also equipped with eight newly assignable MADI connections and two DMI slots (DiGiCo Multi-Channel Interface) for AoIP and other connectivity options from the complete fa
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Germany - At Prolight + Sound (Hall 4, Stand C71) CAST will be showcasing the latest enhancements to BlackTrax, its real-time tracking system. The company will work with an unprecedented range of partners at the show.
The latest Version 2.3 of BlackTrax real time motion tracking system is being launched at the show and includes a number of significant new features.
“The number of partners demonstrating BlackTrax at Prolight + Sound is a strong indication of how widely accepted our solution is, and how rapidly it is succeeding,” says Andrew Gordon, director of business development for BlackTrax. “BlackTrax can bring a radically new dimension to any production, live performance or broadcast and more. Even in the most complex, most demanding shows, everything is where it needs to be, on time, every time, enabling a show to move to a whole new level.”
To ill

Germany - Currently on the European leg of their WorldWired tour, which opened in North America last summer, heavy metal heroes Metallica remain as fresh as ever. And a lot of that has to do with the imaginative set devised by production designer, Dan Braun and built by Tait Towers.
Meanwhile, experienced lighting designer Rob Koenig called on 16 of GLP’s new JDC1 multi-faceted strobes to light and punctuate the show, and at the same time minimise the amount of devices populating the stage floor. These were supplied by Premier Global Production (PGP) of Nashville.
Braun’s concept had been to do away with a conventional lighting truss entirely, and have a three-dimensional moving video on multiple plains, so that every seat in the house would see the show from a different viewpoint. Not only was he able to use kinetic movement, interacting between the video

UK - The first UK stock of the new ProLights OmegaPIX next generation LED video screen has gone straight to Lincoln-based event production company Peachy Events Services for use on a diverse range of client applications ranging from corporate events to outdoor music festivals.
Peachy Events were looking to upgrade to a higher resolution screen in the popular 3.9mm pitch specification. It was important that the chosen solution's price point and advanced feature set could provide them with a good rental return on investment.
Director Dave Broughton comments: "We are delighted to be the first UK event production company to adopt the ProLights' OmegaPIX LED screen. With the festivals season only a few months away, we expect it to be in high demand for outdoor live events as well as indoor use.
“The 3.9mm pixel pitch and fantastic screen resolution means content wi

USA - Fans of US rapper A$AP Ferg are treated to dynamic live footage and effects on his current Mad Man tour, through a slick stage design that features custom-built onstage robot cameras and a large HD video wall powered by Avolites Ai RX8 Servers.
Lighting designer, video director and programmer for the tour is Michael Smalley of Twin Designs, who in the past has worked with artists including Pitbull, Shakira and Bassnectar. Smalley collaborated closely with production design company Vita Motus and LA-based technology design firm VT Pro Design to deliver the show.
"The artist wanted a clean, runway look, like a high-end music video shoot," explains Smalley. "The cameras on the robot arms capture intimate and close-up shots so the audience can really see every moment on the big screen. This is mixed in with high impact effects to give a dynamic range to the sh

World - Currently touring their fifth studio album, Wonderful Wonderful, The Killers are travelling the world with an Americana-inspired show design, lit by long-term lighting designer Steven Douglas, who selected the Claypaky's Scenius Unico as the production's workhorse lighting fixture.
From the start, the band, Douglas and the rest of the creative team decided against a fixed creative brief for this production. Instead they worked on growing the show design organically during the recording of the Wonderful Wonderful album. The resulting production features The Killers' idiosyncratic Vegas styling, alongside theatrical small-town Americana set-pieces, inspired by the nature and feel of the album's music.
"Building the show whilst the album was still being recorded felt more natural, as the songs influenced the design process," says Douglas, who worked

Indonesia - ChamSys has been spreading the word about the benefits that its line of lighting consoles offers programmers and designers. Aziz Adilkhodjaev, the company’s international business development manager, has just completed a four-country tour that took him to Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Korea to conduct training sessions on the ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium and other consoles offered by the company.
Adilkhodjaev comments: “We had an enthusiastic response to our training sessions wherever we went. There is a strong desire at all levels of the lighting industry everywhere for affordable, user-friendly consoles that are both flexible and powerful enough to run any kind of lightshow or display.”
Aziz credits ChamSys distributors ASIIS in Surakarta, Indonesia, Forerunner Technologies in Manila and Live-Lab Company Ltd. in Seoul with contr

USA - Hog 4 lighting console range manufacturer High End Systems has launched Season One of Hedgeucation, a new online video series that demonstrates how easy it is to learn and use the Hog 4 platform. All episodes can be found on a new landing page on the HES website, www.highend.com/learnhog4.
The first season of many, Season One gets viewers up and rocking quickly, focusing on use of the compact HedgeHog 4 console to patch, programme and operate a live show.
High End Systems’ Joe Haller hosts the series, offering practical Hog tips and tricks along with a true Texan sense of humour. A nail biting season finale shot at the Majestic Theatre in Madison, WI shows programmers how to use what they’ve learned to light a live performance. Extras including Hog 4 show files and additional course material can be downloaded from www.highend.com/learnhog4.
Senio

Middle East - Nexo has announced the appointment of Yamaha Music Gulf FZE (YMGF) as its official re-exporter to the Middle East and Africa.
Established in 1997 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation, Yamaha Music Gulf provides its territory with the full line of Yamaha integrated professional audio products offering complete systems solutions for the broadcast, sound reinforcement/installed sound, touring, commercial recording, and post production applications as well as musical instruments and consumer audio products.
Jean Mullor, CEO of Nexo, comments: "This new partnership with Yamaha Music Gulf will help us meet the growing demand for our high-quality sound reinforcement solutions in the Middle East, Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Our two companies share the same philosophy and we aim to offer the professional audio market something

UK - Sound Technology, distributor of Martin by Harman professional lighting products in the UK, has announced the immediate availability of the Martin RUSH MH 11 Beam.
A replacement for the successful MH 3 Beam, the new RUSH MH 11 Beam is a high-intensity beam moving head designed for high end installations and rental applications.
The RUSH MH 11 uses the same 250W Platinum 11R lamp found in the Martin RUSH MH 7 Hybrid but with refined beam optics that provide excellent intensity and sharp mid-air effects in a beam-only fixture. When this lamp is combined with the class-leading optics of the MH 11, the fixture achieves sharp, high-output beam effects with a super-tight 2.6° beam angle.
“The new Martin RUSH MH 11 Beam truly has the best intensity and optics capabilities in its class,” says Mark Buss, product manager. “Because it has the same colour tempe

Germany - UK based automation specialist and manufacturer Kinesys will feature an action-packed booth D15 in hall 3.0 at the Prolight+Sound 2018 expo in Frankfurt.
The latest Kinesys Apex chain hoist system will be a big focus, and it will also be running an eye-catching motion controlled ‘art-tech’ centrepiece on the stand. Other popular Kinesys products like Elevation 1+, LibraCELL, DigiHoist and the Dimension Pendant controller will be highlighted.
Apex incorporates the best of Kinesys’ extensive knowledge and practical experience of working with variable speed chain hoist technology to create a range of safe, reliable and rock-solid hoists and controllers which are designed to maximise creativity for show, stage and environment designers and operators in all fields of entertainment.
Central to the Apex system is a versatile hoist controller and two ch

Germany - LSC Lighting Systems will once again be exhibiting at the forthcoming Prolight + Sound show in Frankfurt.
This year will see the official launch of the new UNITY 48ch and 96ch installation racks, a large-scale power switching/dimming system that can control virtually any load from traditional tungsten lamps, through to LEDs, neon and fluorescent fixtures. UNITY has already been installed into a number of high profile venues around the world.
There will also be a first showing of the new data distribution range aimed at the installation markets − a new four-way, DIN-Rail mount version of the popular MDR DMX Splitter with RDM as standard.
Also, for 2018 will be a new DIN-Rail mount LED driver for the professional user. The LED-CV4 is a 4ch LED dimmer with constant voltage, a 5A per channel output and is a True 16-bit dimmer that is controlled via DMX

Spain - An invitation-only masquerade ball takes place each year in the Liceu Theatre within the historically ornate ballroom known as Sala dels Miralls.
Live musicians perform while attendees dance and drink and laugh, each person a mysterious character for the evening. Unfortunately, in the past, because of the mirrored and marbled room’s highly reflective sound quality, the details of the music and the vocals were often equally mysterious. So, in its third year in 2018, the promoters of the Círculo del Liceo Masquerade Ball decided to fix the issue once and for all - with Clair Brothers.
VTècnics, Clair Brothers distribution partner in Spain, recommended using the new C12 speaker system to combat the daunting acoustical challenge. Explains Josep Maria Serra, VTècnics production manager, “An event that caters to high-society elite is expected to have everyth

USA - The Richard E. Berry Educational Support Centre in Houston, Texas recently completed a major update to its AV systems featuring seven Allen & Heath dLive S Class Digital Mixing Systems and an ME Personal Mixing System.
Serving the Cypress Fairbanks Integrated School District, as well as the Houston area at large, the Berry Centre hosts 4000 yearly events in its five multi-purpose venues (arena, conference centre, theatre, and two stadiums).
Ford Audio Video Systems provided the Berry Centre’s new AV systems. David Shriver, Ford AV’s Houston Division job centre manager says, “Our big goal in all of this was flexibility because the centre defines ‘multi-use facility’.”
Ford AV installed an Allen & Heath gigaACE network and a second Dante network to supplement the existing Dante network. Together, the three networks allow several of the dLi

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