Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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UK / Germany - Brown Box AV, one of the key wholesalers of quality AV and lighting solutions, has signed a dealership agreement for Germany with Soundcheck GmbH, one of Germany's leading AV providers to the health and fitness industry. Soundcheck has installed AV solutions into top name clubs across Germany, including Reebok, 24 Hour Fitness and Fitness First to name but a few.

Dave Goody, European business development manager, commented: "Soundcheck first saw Audeon [Brown Box's wireless entertainment system for health clubs and gyms] at FIBO and were impressed with the product. Their managing director, Denis Nessler, immediately identified that it was exactly what the German market has been waiting for. I am delighted that we have joined forces with Soundcheck GmbH and am s

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Belgium - Last Monday King Albert II of Belgium celebrated 10 years of reign with a big outdoor party in Brussels. The event was a huge success; according to the Brussels police more than 45,000 people attended the concerts. On the stage, which was situated in front of the monumental Palace of Justice, 100 Xilver Droplet moving LED luminaires lit the musicians.

The Droplets were placed everywhere on stage between the orchestra and on the catwalk. ETC Source Fours along with VL2Cs, VL5s and VL2200s from Vari-lite, lit the rest of the stage. With the unique Xilver color-combining system (16 million colors) the tiny Droplets could easily match every color from the other fixtures on stage.

On stage, Xilver also placed 12 red LED blinders, made up of 96 Luxeon LEDs, each saturated the stage with red light and strobed extremely fast during the final Dance event of the Kings celebrat

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Europe - Autograph Sound Recording has won the equipment supply contract for three new musical productions across Europe - Les Misérables at the Theater des Westens in Berlin and Mamma Mia! at Het Beatrix Theater in Utrecht, both of which open in September, and We Will Rock You, due to open at the Teatro Calderon in Madrid in November.

One of Autograph's longest-running success stories is its ongoing work on worldwide productions of Les Misérables. The show opened in the West End in December 1985 with a sound design by Autograph chairman Andrew Bruce, and since then the company has been involved in over 30 productions worldwide.Designing the Berlin production is Autograph sound designer Nick Lidster, who was part of the original sound department at The Palace Theatre. This is Lidster's first design of Les Misérables and his updated design no

PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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UK - The Victorian magnificence of Glasgow's City Chambers is one of nine important landmarks being spotlighted in the latest phase of the council's £2.6m lighting strategy. The three-year plan, launched in March last year, has already gone a long way towards achieving the council's aim of showcasing Glasgow to the world as a beautiful and vibrant 24-hour city.

A sophisticated combination of light fittings spectacularly illuminates the grand façade and sides of the City Chambers' original 1880s West Building which dominates George Square. Other newly illuminated structures include the George V Bridge over the Clyde, the main Killermont Street entrance of Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, St George's Tron Church in Nelson Mandela Place, the historic Tron Steeple in Trongate, and Drumchapel Water Tower.

The city's lighting strategy is being driven forward by council leader, Charles

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USA - Since taking the new Vari*Lite Series 3000 luminaires to the bottom of the ocean floor is not recommended, Broadway lighting designer Ken Billington did the next best thing - and used 17 of the VL3000 spot fixtures to create the illusion of aquatic acrobatics for 'Odyssea', which recently opened at Sea World in Orlando. The 25-minute show features aerial acts, contortionists, trampoline acts and a variety of other performers. All the movement is choreographed to give the impression that the performance is taking place underwater.

Billington needed an automated lighting package with a colour system to pull off the illusion. The VL3000 Spot luminaires allow him to create "water" to light the air and scenery. "Most of the activity is supposed to take place underwater," he explained. "So it was a challenge to be able to get water ripples that could cha

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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

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UK - It's all go for Bristol-based Stage Electrics with two of their eight branches moving to bigger and better premises. The company's London branch will begin construction of its new bespoke warehouse this month. The new 10,000sq.ft location on Long Lane will replace the Waterloo Road unit. As one of the largest suppliers of technical equipment to the West End and Touring theatre market, the new site will include a demonstrations area, dedicated hire inventory and an impressive range of consumables.

Stage Electrics Exeter is moving too, but not so soon. Having outgrown its Marsh Barton site, it will be relocating, 'just around the corner' to new premises in March next year. The 11,000sq.ft building will, in addition to housing the company's hire and sales kit, contain a custom-built demonstration area equipped with the latest lighting, audio, projection and control equipment.

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UK - Saturday 19 July 2003 saw the Millennium Dome spring to life once again, hosting the capital's Respect festival, held in commemoration of Stephen Lawrence, the teenager who was murdered in a racist attack in 1993. The venue was changed at the last moment due to the former venue being destroyed by a fire. However, the Dome proved to be the ideal replacement and London's Mayor Ken Livingston said that next year's event would be on an even larger scale, bringing this festival on a national level. The Dome saw over 30,000 people listening to music from Rap, Hip Hop, and pop over eight stages. Headlining the event was Hip Hop artist's Public Enemy and Gregory Isaacs.

The sound was handled by Will Power PA, with JBL VerTec VT4889s being flown eight aside of the main stage. Adlib Audio supplied their own 2 x 18" subs, stacked eight per side on the ground. Will Norton commente

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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

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USA - Kurt Doemelt recently joined Nautilus Entertainment Design as an associate lighting designer, AutoCAD specialist and project manager for both the live production and facility design divisions of the company. He is a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts and was most recently assistant lighting director for The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California.

Doemelt has a lot of experience having served as a lighting programmer for Princess Cruise Lines, a staff master electrician at The San Diego Repertory Theatre, a shipboard lighting technician and programmer for Carnival Cruise Lines, and a lighting designer for several San Diego theatres, including Asian American Repertory Theatre, New Village Arts, the Fritz Theatre, Euro Trash Productions, and McCaleb Dance.

NED principal consultant Jim Tetlow commented: "This year we are on track to design a

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USA - Mackie Designs Inc and Emagic Software and Hardware GmbH have announced an agreement to merge their audio control surface technologies. Under the terms of the agreement, future Mackie engineered control surfaces will include both Logic Control and Mackie Control, as well as Mackie's HUI protocol.

"Logic users represent one of the largest, most affluent creative communities in audio recording," commented Chris Adam, managing director of Emagic GmbH. "By merging the Mackie and Emagic control surface technologies, we will be providing current and future Emagic customers with one of the most versatile and powerful control surface platforms in the world."

Beginning next month, Mackie and Emagic will also release an upgrade that will allow both Mackie Control and Logic Control owners to take full advantage of the combined functionality. "The Mackie Co

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UK - Chester-based Lighting and Sound Services (LSS) has specialized in providing full production services for themed entertainment in the private and corporate sectors for over 20 years. This can include anything from large, themed corporate parties with entertainment from some of the top stars in show business to celebrity weddings or private parties. The company has recently invested in a multi-purpose Midas Legend console to enhance their inventory of PA equipment.

LSS directors Phil Johnson and Ian Preston say they were drawn to the Legend by its versatility. "The kinds of productions we stage are often short on real estate," said Johnson. "It's rare, for example, that we have room for a separate monitor desk, but yet the same production is likely to be very hungry in terms of sends required for delays or feeds for radio mics or in-ear monitors. The Legend wa

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UK - At the Good Employers Awards ceremony in London on 29 July, Soundcraft Ltd from Hertfordshire was presented with the overall winner award, after being nominated by Councillor Harpinder Singh of the London Borough of Greenwich.

The Good Employers Award is organized by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and is promoted by individual local government councillors who nominate their own full-time employers in recognition of being flexible with working arrangements, thereby assisting their employees in carrying out their roles as councillors. Held at Local Government House, in Westminster and sponsored by the Guardian newspaper, the event saw entries from as-far-a-field as South Tyneside and the South Downs.

Speaking about the Good Employers Award, the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, commented: "Councillors have a vital role to play in leadi

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UK - Creative sound and lighting installer CP Sound has installed four of its new colour-changing etched glass LED lighting panels into Bar Square, a trendy new social space in Camberley, Surrey. Bar Square's independent owners wanted 'something special' when it came to backlighting the bar of their contemporarily designed venue, and CP's new product was the ideal solution.

The company has developed the fixture specially for a diversity of day and night applications. It's a screen encased in a custom aluminium extrusion, supplied as a 10mm thick panel, and capable of unobtrusive integration into any environment. Made from laser etched acrylic or glass material, it's side-lit by DMX controllable LED strips that criss-cross the light across the screen surface. When the light is caught in the etchings, a prism effect directs it evenly across the panel fascia.

The panels in Bar Sq

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Germany - Behringer has announced the introduction of a Dolby 5.1 surround update for the Danalog DDX3216 digital console. The new surround update transforms the DDX3216 into a fully-fledged surround mixer with extensive control possibilities, say Behringer, and the software surround upgrade is available free of charge from the company's website.

The new software upgrade features include surround panning on the desired channel via a second PAN display page, live 'movements' of selected sound source (channels) through the surround space, storage of surround pan/automating via snapshot and dynamic automation and new MIDI control possibilities for expanded surround parameters on channels 1-32 and FX returns 1-8. The surround mix and conventional mix can be run simultaneously, while additional new update features such as 100 markers (previously 10) and an opportunity to activate the

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UK / Australia - Rory Dempster, the distinguished British lighting designer, has been diagnosed as having mesothelioma - a lung cancer disease associated with exposure to asbestos fibres. Since 1992 he has lived in Australia - a country which is leading the research into asbestos-related diseases - and his case is being investigated by the New South Wales Dust Diseases Board. The Board has confirmed that, since the disease takes an average of 30 years to produce symptoms, he is certain not to have contracted it in Australia.

The Board's enquiries suggest that the cause of his contracting mesothelioma was his close contact with asbestos curtains and borders - commonly used to provide heat separation between lanterns and scenery in British theatres during the fifties, sixties and early seventies. "As an assistant electrician in various London theatres at that time, I remember

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UK - Yamaha's 02R96 digital mixing desk was the choice of the production team for the BBC's popular children's TV serial, Byker Grove. "All the mixing for the show is done in-house," said freelance dubber/mixer, Paul Flitcroft, "and we wanted a desk that would work with Pro Tools v.6."

Consulting with pro-audio specialists Mediaspec of East Kilbride, the choice was between Yamaha's DM2000 or its 02R96. "In the end, the 02R96 won the day, principally because it suited the programme's needs precisely and was within budget," said Flitcroft. Used for remote and post-production mixing in conjunction with Pro Tools, the desk links together all three production rooms used on the programme.

Mediaspec carried out the installation, working with Steve Salem of independent film company Dean Films. Training and familiarization took place over two 'intensive' d

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UK - Max King and Jane Potts have joined the team at Leisuretec Distribution, in the newly created roles of accounts and administration managers. In addition to becoming the 'friendly faces' within the accounts department at the company, their roles will see them developing the administration processes to accommodate increasing levels of business growth - both in the short-term and in the future. Both King and Potts have over 30 years of accounts and customer service experience between them in various sectors, including logistics and manufacturing.

(Ruth Rossington)

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USA - Polar Focus has introduced the Rocker Zbeam - a new line array rigging system designed to simplify installation. Currently, with conventional rigging techniques, a two-motor rig is usually suspended from one dead hang point and a carefully bridled second point. The acoustic aim of the cluster and the coverage is dependent on the accuracy of the bridled rigging point, and in order to focus the system effectively, the bridled point may need to be adjusted several times. However, the Rocker Zbeam claims to solve this problem by using only two dead hang points. However, if bridles are used, then their accuracy is much less important. In either case, the cluster can be quickly rotated to achieve the desired horizontal angle.

The key component is a rocker beam that keeps the centre axis vertical at all times, even if the two supporting hoists are not running at the same speed o

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Australia - The long-awaited Federation Square, the new centre of cultural activity in Melbourne, is now officially open. Winning the tender to provide an audio infrastructure for the complex, contractor Rutledge Engineering selected BSS Soundweb as the DSP networking devices for several of the project areas. Rutledge senior project manager, Matt Edgcumbe, says Soundweb was preferred because of the ease with which it connects remote locations together.

A multimedia fibre and Cat 6 backbone provides the connectivity for a 9088iiMM and two 9088iiLL devices. The sound systems in the Plaza, and architecturally-challenging BMW Edge auditorium, are fed with audio from the scheduled multimedia system, which is then mixed with the local PA desk. Because the mixing desks are temporarily set up for events, the Soundweb also provides the ability for the client to connect several microphon

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UK - Mackie Designs Inc has recruited Dave Hartley to its sound reinforcement and installed sound division. He joins as Northern Area sales manager and will be based in the new UK office. Hartley began his career back in the late 1970s, working for Sound Advice Installations, pioneers at the time in the field of sound and lighting manufacture. He subsequently went on to work as a freelance engineer and installer for 10 years, and more recently has been working for Bose UK.

(Ruth Rossington)

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UK - E M Acoustics' new EMS-81 compact full range speakers were recently trialled in a production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, staged for the benefit of the UK charity, Hope and Homes for Children. The week-long production earlier this month was installed within a huge, thatched, tythe barn near Salisbury in Wiltshire.

The reflex loaded 8" and 1" compression driver cabinets were specified by sound designer Ian McDonald of Ivysound and flown unobtrusively from the building's massive oak beams to provide the smooth mid and top end response essential for realistic orchestral and choral reinforcement.

The sound design was complex in that unusually, the orchestra was located well behind the stage, and with a long thin 200-seat raked auditorium, the system needed careful dispersion control, multiple delays and brightening of the otherwise dead acoustic. This was achiev

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USA - Eastern Acoustic Works, a Mackie Designs Inc brand, has announced the introduction of a new web resource for members of its popular Acoustical Performance Partnership (APP) program.

Beginning immediately, the new APP web page makes it even easier for members to access valuable in-depth technical information and documentation including white papers, datasheets, user's guides, wizards, EASE data and software downloads.

While APP membership is not required to access the online materials, the free membership offers access to further technical information, and interaction with the EAW Application Support Group and Engineering departments.

(Ruth Rossington)

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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
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