UK - L-Acoustics introduced its new ARCS II constant curvature line source at PLASA 2011.

The ARCS II benefits from a design exploiting L-Acoustics' Wavefront Sculpture Technology in a constant curvature line source solution. Intended for medium to large rental productions, it delivers remarkable power, bandwidth and coherence, along with flexible and predictable coverage. It also offers the audience an incomparable listening experience featuring clarity, precision and impact, says the company.

The bi-amplified ARCS II enclosure is based on a two-way active design. It offers a number of improvements over the previous generation, primarily L-Acostics' K1 grade transducers for increased SPL (140 dB) and lower weight (50kg). It also features a new front grill for enhanced durabilit

USA - Award winning country music artist Clay Walker is now an official endorser of microphones from Audio-Technica. Since the beginning of this year, Walker and his backing vocalists have used A-T microphones during their touring performances across the US and Canada. He favours the A-T 5000 Series Frequency-agile True Diversity UHF Wireless system and AEW-T5400a handheld transmitter. And the A-T Artist Elite AE4100 Cardioid Dynamic Handheld Microphones are used to the same great effect by Walker's backup singers.

"Clay is a very dynamic singer, and he needs a microphone that he feels he can control easily, that makes the best use of his vocal dynamics," says Curt Walsh, Walker's bassist for the last 15 years and Bike Team Coordinator for Walker's personal non-profit charity, Band Against MS. "The Audio-Technica microphone gives Clay exactly that - total control.

Peru - This summer, a spectacular celebration at Peru's Machu Picchu commemorated American explorer Hiram Bingham's rediscovery of this awe-inspiring lost city 100 years ago. The ancient Inca citadel was sonically illuminated - for the first time ever - by a Meyer Sound reinforcement system that carried traditional, symphonic, and popular music to spectators gathered on the verdant mountainside terraces.

Implementing world-class production technology at Machu Picchu's remote location required extensive logistical planning, according to Andres Cuadros of Lima, Peru-based systems supplier dB LUX SAC.

First, Cuadros and business partner Guillermo Riera arranged to transport the sizeable production inventory - including 24 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers, a DiGiCo SD8 digital console, more than 100 lighting instruments, two lighting consoles, and four 200 kW generators - by

UK - Sam and Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up hits the TV screens this month. Richard Martin Lighting (RML) support LD Dave Gibbson on the show which is filmed at the BBC Television Centre and will be shown on CBBC at 6pm.

The lighting rig consists of Mini Scan 300s, MAC 500s, VL1000TSs, ChromaBanks, Chroma Strips, Pixel Par 90s, Alpha Beam 300s, Nova Flowers and 8-Lights. Additional extras are brought in each week to compliment the music numbers and help bring a new and different dimension every time.

(Jim Evans)

USA - The bird calls, primate howls and other noises coming from the Philips Park Zoo in Aurora, Illinois, are balanced with a new audio system that delivers news, exhibit information, and background music to some 200,000 visitors each year.

Chicago-based systems integration firm AST (Advanced Systems & Technologies) installed a 70-volt system with eight weatherproof Technomad advanced audio loudspeakers to provide intelligible voice and high-quality musical reproduction throughout all seven acres of the zoo. Seven Technomad Vernal loudspeakers discreetly cover the grounds, providing audio to visitors nearby the animal exhibits. One Technomad Vienna loudspeaker provides long-distance audio projection to patrons at the main entrance gate and visitor centre.

The compact Vernal and Vienna loudspeakers, mounted on various building eves, light poles, and fences, are part of a custo

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UAE - Melody House, distributors of Primacoustic is hosting two seminars on 15 September in Dubai. Conducted by Peter Janis, the president of Radial Engineering who also manufacture and sell Primacoustic products across the globe, the seminar will revolve around solving acoustic problems in studios, how to tune a room and remove excessive bass, how to deal with primary reflections, flutter echo and standing waves.

The first presentation will be held at the main office of Melody House in the morning and is open to consultants and integrators. While in the afternoon, home recording and production companies are invited to attend a second presentation at the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) in Knowledge Village.

"We look forward to welcoming Peter for the first time in the Middle East," commented Simon Short, Acoustics Specialist at Melody House. "This will be a gr

USA - Founded by renowned audio inventor Bob Carver and home automation pioneer Bob Farinelli, Bob Carver LLC "combines unconventional thinking with precision engineering to create innovative audio products that set new benchmarks in style and performance at affordable price points".

After working closely together for over five years at Sunfire, both gentlemen came out of retirement to join forces and found this new business in 2011.

"We are American Inventors with 75 years of design experience and 51 patents between us. We are committed to building the highest quality audio products in the USA. These products will deliver years of listening enjoyment and stand among the few of the greatest amplifiers ever designed." says Carver.

"I am thrilled to be partnering with Bob Carver on this new adventure. He continues to amaze me with his vast knowledge of

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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.

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UK - With preliminary visitor figures of over 12,000, showing a marginal increase over 2010 and strong international engagement from across the world, organisers PLASA Events are "delighted" with the positive feedback to this year's PLASA 2011, which has just closed its doors at Earls Court after a vibrant four days.

This year's event sets the scene for a strong return to Earls Court in 2012. Events Manager Sophie Atkinson commented: "Exhibitors have been enthusing about the high quality of visitors and the rate of sales enquiries, and with hundreds of new products being launched, there has been a great return on investment for them. We expect to see many back here at Earls Court next year."

Visitors also relished being first to get their hands on some of the industry's hottest new products. Over 500 products were launched at the show, including major new d

Croatia - Whole Nine Yards Productions were contracted in May to provide production & overlay services to Europe's premier bass music festival. The Outlook festival is geographically split between Fort Punta Christo (a 19th Century abandoned fort) and a working harbour that was especially cleared for the festival. Playing host to nine principal music stages and over 400 appearing artists the design, planning and coordination of the festival was a complex endeavour.

Technical director Ben Price was responsible for a crew of over 200 and charged with the planning, design, procurement and coordination of all overlay and technical infrastructure. The festival required technical equipment from over six different European counties and the impressive supplier roster included some of the industry's leading companies including NUSSLI, Aggreko, RG Jones and HSL.

Planning commenced in Ma

USA - Sensaphonics recently held its third Golden Circle seminar of 2011, teaching audiologists the specific skills and knowledge needed to work with musicians and audio engineers. The two-day, hands-on course is taught by Sensaphonics founder and president, Dr. Michael Santucci, and sound engineering consultant Thom Fiegle.

"Musicians are totally different from any other client an audiologist is likely to see," notes Santucci, "and they deserve more than just a 'goop shooter' to take ear impressions. Sensaphonics Golden Circle members are among the few who have the specialised expertise to serve these clients properly, combining their knowledge of safe listening and the requirements of live performance."

Those gaining their Golden Circle certification at the Golden Circle seminar in September include: Dr. Judith A. Curtin and Francis H. Curtin, BSEE, of AB

UK - Yamaha PM5Ds are a familiar sight on UK festival stages, nowhere more so than with Adlib Audio, long-term users who continue to invest in this digital mixing console. The company recently purchased two more for this year's summer season.

Liverpool-based Adlib invested in the PM5D shortly after its introduction and the console remains in the front line of the company's rental stock, with a number of LS9s also available for smaller shows.

"Nowadays the PM5D is very much a standard package for festival monitors," says Adlib hire manager Phil Stoker. "It is the ideal console for that role, being very popular with monitor engineers and very quick to change over from one artist to another. The high pressure environment of festivals needs equipment that users can work with quickly and intuitively. ThePM5D completely fulfils that need."

As usual, in 2011 Adl

Germany - K.M.E. reports a highly successful summer season for the K.M.E. Pano Line Array system. Rock am Denkmal (Rock at the Monument) in Hötensleben near Magdeburg featured Maggie Reilly, the Electric Light Orchestra performed by Phil Bates and the German rock band Bell, Book & Candle. Showtechnik from Magdeburg deployed the Pano system.

The arrays consisting of line source units QL 906 and down-fills QL 1215 were installed. The QCB 318 subs delivered silence behind the stage and powerful rock sound in front of the stage. The amplification was realised by digital amplifiers DA 428 and DA 230. Although the Showtechnik team is an experienced Pano user they were once again very satisfied with the system.

Company Dorn and Kannegießer Showtechnik GbR equipped a number of events in Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia - including Goitzsche in Flames, Sea in Flames and Classic Picnic - w

Japan / China - Martin Audio's new Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) has enjoyed instant success in the Far East - thanks to two large orders placed by newly-appointed distributors.

Both Beijing Pacific Budee Technology and Audio Brains, part of MSI Japan Holdings, were welcomed into the Martin Audio family at the recent Prolight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt.

Their response has been immediate, with Budee ordering a 36-enclosure MLA/MLX system to fulfil an order from Hong Kong rental company, Max Production Ltd. The system was immediately pressed into service at Hong Kong's AsiaWorld-Expo for the Japanese singer-songwriter, YUI, who was playing her first overseas live concert in front of 14,000 fans in the AsiaWorld-Arena.

MSI, Martin Audio's distributor in Japan, was the contractor for this event, and Max Production Ltd was the audio equipment supplier for the venue. &

UK - Avolites Media announced during the PLASA show formation of a strategic alliance with Immersive Ltd and is now sole manufacturer of a suite of products under the brand name Ai.

Immersive Ltd is a re-seller of the Ai system, integrating the Ai product range into their global business of design, animation, motion graphics and show production.

The Ai media server was showcased in the UK for the first time at PLASA 2011 with the aid of demonstrations and a show-reel presentation from a selection of Immersive productions which highlight the versatility and enormous potential of the Ai product range.

Avolites Media Ltd will release Ai media servers through the existing Avolites international distribution network. Meanwhile, Immersive Ltd will continue in its successful business of event production, experiential design and content creation for an expanding and diverse, high pr

UK - Tannoy, Lab.gruppen, Lake and White Acoustics have announced changes to the organisational structure within marketing and product management across the brands, as well as the formation of a new department to application assistance and education for all brands.

Michael Munch has been appointed to the role of VP of product management across the installation, touring, and residential market verticals. Munch joined TC Electronic in 2004, before moving to Lab.gruppen in 2006 where he enjoyed success as head of product management at Lab.gruppen and Lake.

Elsewhere, Tim Chapman has been appointed VP of marketing across all the installation and touring brands, covering the management of all marketing functions and personnel based in Coatbridge for the Tannoy, Lab.gruppen, Lake and White Acoustics brands. With a long career in audio including marketing roles at Meyer Sound, Crest

UK - Blackburn-based lighting rental company HSL supplied three trucks worth of lighting equipment to C venues for the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival - totalling around 650 generic lighting fixtures and 34 moving lights.

C venues is one of Edinburgh's leading independent venue producers, curating and hosting the Fringe's largest theatre-based programme, an eclectic mix of drama, dance, physical theatre, musicals, cabaret, circus and visual and performance art. Over 200 shows and events took place during the three-and-a-half week Festival period.

The kit was being deployed throughout C venues' 25 performance spaces at six venue locations, including bars, outdoor areas, found performance spaces and other non-conventional theatres,.

The project was managed for HSL by Mike Oates, working closely once again with C venues' production manager Richard Williamson and their head of te

Russia - The first week of August 2011 saw Green Hippo's head of Training Simon Harris give a three-day workshop at Moscow's Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, which was organised in conjunction with Green Hippo's new Russian distributor FMS Force Media Swiss AG.

Force Media are a management company representing several audiovisual and media organisations in Russia which range from online portals for audiovisual communities to educational and creative collectives. FMS Force Media pride themselves on their ambition to: "Promote creativity. From online portals that join communities virtually, to hardware products that run the largest stages internationally, Force Media Swiss's unique blend of management and strategy generates a demand for new media."

Green Hippo's workshops took place from 3-6 August and proved to be a great success, generating some

UK - With preliminary visitor figures of over 12,000, showing a marginal increase over 2010 and strong international engagement from across the world, organisers PLASA Events are "delighted" with the positive feedback to this year's PLASA 2011, which last week closed its doors at Earls Court after a vibrant four days.

This year's event sets the scene for a strong return to Earls Court in 2012. Events manager Sophie Atkinson commented: "Exhibitors have been enthusing about the high quality of visitors and the rate of sales enquiries, and with hundreds of new products being launched, there has been a great return on investment for them. We expect to see many back here at Earls Court next year."

Visitors also relished being first to get their hands on some of the industry's hottest new products. Over 500 products were launched at the show, including major new

UK - Lighting designer Nick Gray of Renegade - well known for his work in fashion and live music - has worked on many shows in strange and idiosyncratic places in his day - but a recent Kasabian gig for music video website Vevo broke new ground, staged aboard a disused Boeing 474 airliner which has lain abandoned at Buntingthorpe Aerodrome, Leicestershire, UK, for some years.

As soon as Gray got wind of the event - attended by some 160 lucky Vevo competition winners - he jumped at the challenge of lighting a very intimate space inside as well as the enormous industrial form of the 747's exterior, an iconic shape in aviation history. "It was the most amazing and totally atmospheric site-specific setting," he states, "And apart from that, lighting it required some serious imagination and lateral thinking".

The video - released as part of the new Vevo Prese

USA - The Gypsy Kings - credited with helping to bring the distinct sound and style of Rumba Catalana pop music to worldwide audiences - have just finished their latest US tour, with lighting designer Michael Sharon using his own Jands Vista I3 console for control.

Sharon, based on the US West Coast, is an independent lighting designer with a wide variety of clients. In addition to four years of designing for the Gypsy Kings, he has also designed a wide range of corporate shows for many different clients.

He first used a Jands Vista, on this occasion a T2, when he originally started working for the Gypsy Kings. This was provided by the lighting contractor at the time, PSI Production Services in Denver. He completely "fell in love" with the console and decided to purchase his own Vista I3 from Jands US distributor A.C. Lighting Inc. so that he never had to go back to

UK - PLASA 2011 turned out to be a highlight for MA Lighting and its co-exhibitors MAJOR and Rainbow Colour Changers. The new grandMA2 software release 2.4 received much praise.

MA Lighting's managing director Michael Althaus commented, "This year's PLASA was the ideal platform for our new distributor Ambersphere Solutions to position itself in the market and to convince with its total support approach. Next to this, the show underlined again the trust the market has in grandMA2.

"We received a lot of positive feedback on the console. Especially the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 has drawn much attention to our control and network solutions that proofed their reliability in this biggest TV-show of all times. Additionally introducing our software release 2.4 at PLASA gave us the opportunity to directly receive comments from our customers who were very content about this

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