USA - ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd have teamed up since the summer of 2011 to deliver maximum rock n roll to legions of fans across the US. Bandit Lites has served as illumination vendor on the sold out package, which continues into 2012.

Designers Steve Owens and Chris Stuba combined their ideas and delivered a system that was large and afforded each act a separate and distinct look. VL 3000 Spots, VL 3500 Washes, GLP Volkslichts, Martin 301's, Atomic Strobes, 2 Lites, 8 Lites, Source 4 Lekos and ACL's all were brought into play on the show. Stuba used a Grand MA console while Owens preferred a Maxxyz Plus.

The show is a combination of LED technology with the new moving lights from Martin and GLP with the tried and true VL's, strobes and such. Owens and Stuba worked many days at t

USA - For the past four months pop rock band Train has been out on a double headed tour of North America, alongside Maroon 5. Always on the lookout for new products and equipment, Train's lighting designer Brock Hogan wanted a wall of light at the front of the set while at the same time creating an entrance for the band from the centre piece.

Brock discussed his ideas with Craig Mitchell at LMG Touring, who took up the challenge to find a low resolution video product that allowed the band and crew to walk through it. When Brock was shown G LEC's Solaris+, he knew he'd found the right product.

Brock says, "I wanted to position the wall of light at the front of the set so that backline techs would be hidden from the audience, yet able to see their musicians. My idea was to keep the look simple for this particular show and Solaris+ allowed me to select subtle single layers o

UK - Abbey Road Studios' new Studio 52 is "wired for perfect sound", boasting all-Van Damme cables and connectors, supplied by VDC Trading. The install follows hard on the heels of an all-Van Damme cabling refit at Abbey Road's Studio 2.

The former production room has been transformed into a studio and is home to Abbey Road's newly purchased SSL Duality SE console. The studio has been created in line with all of the studio spaces at Abbey Road to fully accommodate the recently launched Abbey Road Online Mixing service.

Along with the Duality, Studio 52 is equipped with a Pro Tools 10 Native HD system with extensive plug-ins, a selection of classic analogue outboard gear and B&W and ADAM monitoring. The studio selected Van Damme cables and connectors, distributed exclusively by VDC Trading, to provide reliable connectivity and high quality signal transmission.

Van D

UK - BASCA (British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors) has announced a partnership with JAMES (Joint Audio Media Education Support), the organisation which accredits higher and further education music and audio-related courses. BASCA will be joining the Association of Professional Recording Services, The Music Producers Guild and the UK Screen Association, who are already represented by JAMES.

JAMES will be expanding its scheme to music performance courses throughout late 2011/12 and BASCA will assist this process by providing professional songwriters to help with the assessment of song writing modules.

It has been confirmed that professional songwriters/composers Tim Fraser, Megg Nicol and David Stoll - all of whom sit on BASCA executive boards - will take part in the scheme.

BASCA COO Vick Bain says, "Working with JAMES on accreditation is just the sort of

USA - Following their success at this year's PLASA in London by winning an Innovation Award, ELC Lighting's Green-GO digital show communications system designer Joost van Eenbergen and sales manager Silvio Cibien have returned from LDI in Orlando with a second award: the LDI 2011 Best Debuting Product of the Year award in the sound category.

Silvio Cibien said, "After winning the PLASA Innovation award in London we were delighted to pick up another award in the USA. We have attended every LDI since we started the company back in 1998, but this has been the best one for us. There was great interest in Green-GO, especially after we won the award, and because of this we started signing up regional distributors in the USA on the booth."

Green-GO is a new intercom system that provides high quality digital voice communications, as well as optional and messages with cue li

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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. 

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UK - The Institute of Broadcast Sound (IBS), the industry body founded in 1977 to represent professionals working in the field of audio for broadcast, is to rename itself The Institute of Professional Sound. The change will take effect from 1 January, 2012.

The new name for the IBS reflects the shifts in the audio and broadcast industries over the last 34 years, and also the changes in the Institute's own membership and working practices, says the organisation. Where once sound people working in broadcast had staff jobs with the BBC, ITV or independent local radio, most IBS members are now freelancers. Of necessity, the Institute's members also now tend to operate in more than one field in the audio industry; for example, they may work on radio ads one day and a TV sound dub the next, while a location sound recordist might work on TV dramas, documentaries, corporate video or liv

USA - When composer Joseph Bertolozzi and sound engineer Ron Kuhnke chose Tannoy Di 8DCs for an outdoor, site-specific art installation on the Franklin D. Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge, they knew the speakers were going to take some punishment from the elements.

While he knew the speakers would have to function in some fairly nasty weather, he never expected they'd have to stand up to a storm like Irene. "It rains, it gets cold, but we actually take the speakers down from 31 October to 1 April," he says, "because conditions on the bridge in winter are like being in the North Atlantic."

First conceived in 2004, Bertolozzi's Bridge Music is composed exclusively from sounds created using a variety of mallets to strike the bridge's guardrails, girders, spindles and ropes - virtually every possible surface with the exception of the road - essentially transf

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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.

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UK - In the fifth annual International Series match at Wembley Stadium in, the Chicago Bears enjoyed a successful trip back to the UK by beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-18. A crowd of almost 77,000 enjoyed all the traditional glitz and glamour of American football, including pre-game shows from the GooGoo Dolls, Noah Stewart and Katherine Jenkins.

Britannia Row Productions deployed an extensive Outline loudspeaker system, comprising 12 arrays of Butterfly, each stacked four high on a pair of Outline Subtech subwoofers, to handle sound reinforcement for both the various entertainments and the in-match commentary.

The project was headed up by Britannia Row's Dan Orchard, with Kieran Walsh supervising radio, Sergiy Zitnikov handling speaker technician duties and Stefan Krista managing the stage audio for the pre-match entertainment. An additional four BRP technicians dealt wi

China - UK-based Studiomaster and Carlsbro exhibited at Music China this year, unveiling several new and improved product ranges. Immediately after the exhibition, both companies hosted a joint international distributor conference at the Ningbo HQ of their Soundking Group parent company, south of Shanghai.

Studiomaster and Carlsbro exhibited together with their national distributor Highsun Audio, showing new products, including first sight of the new Carlsbro VAC series valve guitar combo and an electronic drum kit, as well as newly revamped and uprated Stingray, Sherwood and Colt amplifier series.

International sales director Andrew Bishop stated, "Carlsbro VAC is the first series in a range of amplification which meets requirements, advised to us by our international distributors, for affordable, high performance backline amps. The styling, specification and tone of the

UK - Recent developments and expansion at LS-Live have seen the company invest in a new website.

Over the past year, LS-Live has grown to become a one-stop-shop resource for the staging and rehearsal needs of any event, with the largest stock of staging equipment in the UK and an expanded rehearsal facility.

"The re-design of our online portal reflects the various services and capabilities that our company offers to the world of live event production and entertainment," said general manager Ben Brooks.

The website, www.ls-live.com, allows visitors to easily navigate between the four main areas of the business: Studio; Staging Structures; Set Construction; and Equipment Rental.

"Following the sale of aluminium truss manufacturing brand Litestructures to Dutch company Prolyte last year, and the subsequent re-branding of our studio and staging rental business f

Europe - Eclectic British musician, Patrick Wolf, has embarked on another European tour with a Dante-enabled Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system managing both FOH and monitors, supported by PA company, Britannia Row.

FOH Engineer, Fabrizio Piazzini, selected an iDR10 MixRack for monitors, digitally split using Dante to an iDR-16 for FOH, with an iLive-144 Control Surface at FOH and iLive-80 for monitors. A third MixRack, an iDR0, will provide the I/O for live recording via the Dante network, controlled from FOH. No additional hardware is required as Audinate's Dante virtual soundcard is installed on laptops to run multi-track recording software, Reaper.

"Patrick has a very elaborate style, so it's great the iLive system has a lot of headroom and you can really drive the inputs. Even if he goes nuts and plays really hard, it's not going to start distorting. With othe

UK - Liverpool-based Adlib's audio division supplied an L-Acoustics K1 sound system and crew for The Specials most recent tour.

It was Adlib's second Specials tour and the first for monitor systems engineer Marc Peers who jumped at the opportunity to be onboard. "It's an absolute privilege to get to work with one of the best and most original bands of that era," he enthuses.

With up to 13 musicians and performers onstage at peak times, monitor world was quite frenetic. Peers was working alongside Specials monitor engineer Pete Abbott, who has been with them since 2009, like Adlib, coming onboard via tour manager Mike Darling.

Adlib supplied 16 d&b M2 wedges, powered by D12 amplifiers, which handled a total of 12 mixes. Lynval Golding, Neville Staple and the flute player used IEMs, together with the string section so a mix of Sennheiser G3 supplied by ADLIB and G2 o

UAE - Martin Professional's award-winning MAC Aura wash light is quickly finding its way into lighting rental company inventories around the world. As a leading supplier to the event production industry in the Middle East - and following a visit to the PLASA trade show in London - Dubai-based Eclipse Staging Services has made an investment in the new Aura which won a PLASA Award for Innovation.

Darren Hodge, Eclipse Dubai's GM, who made the decision to purchase the lighting fixtures, says, "Eclipse has been very happy with the Martin MAC 301s; they are constantly in use by our team and requested by clients for their versatility. I was very impressed with the new Aura light and had no hesitation in being the first company in the region to add these units to our extensive lighting stock. They have just arrived and are already being used by our team at the Live Nation DXB Beac

France - Adamson Systems Engineering has announced the addition of MPM France to the list of Project Energia beta partners. France is a key European territory for Adamson, with more than 30 vendors carrying the Y-Axis and SpekTrix series.

Brock Adamson, president and CEO of Adamson Systems Engineering, comments, "MPM has been a strong partner for many years. They are a dynamic organisation working on regional and international work. With more than 500 Adamson cabinets in their inventory, we could not ask of a better partner to lead the way with Project Energia in France. We look forward to their input as Energia progresses."

Marc Morosini, director general of MPM visited Canada last autumn to listen to one of the first finished prototypes of the E15 system. Morosini comments on Project Energia, "This system offers more power than any other cabinet, in a smaller

USA - PLASA Focus: Austin welcomes a raft of new exhibitors as the two-day event expands its floor plan yet again. The new style of regional event, to be held 22-23 February 22-23, 2012 at the Renaissance Austin, Texas, has doubled its footprint in the past week, with over 25 companies committed to taking part and as many applications being processed.

Joining confirmed exhibitors ETC, Barbizon, Philips Color Kinetics, Doug Fleenor Design, Strong Entertainment Lighting, Chauvet, A.C.T Lighting, Global Design Solutions, CommuniLux Productions, GLP German Light Products, Daktronics Rigging, Total Structures, Arri, Rosco, Rose Brand, Robe, High End Systems, Secoa and Clay Paky, amongst others, are new exhibitors; Elation, White Light, LSC, James Thomas Engineering, Creative Stage Lighting, Inlight Gobos, Mainstage Theatrical Supply, Martin Professional and TMB.

PLASA Focus' much t

UK - With the live music industry heading indoors for the winter, Yamaha UK has had time to reflect on the company's most successful summer yet. As well as the major events like Glastonbury, T In The Park and many others, Yamaha technology allows many smaller productions to take place outdoors. Christchurch-based CPS Group used the company's equipment to provide a highly innovative audio system at a series of orchestral shows.CPS Group and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra spent several weekends staging seven outdoor shows at Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight, Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge, Meyrick Park in Bournemouth and Broadlands House, Romsey. All featured a Classical Prom, with the latter three venues adding a second night titled Symphonic Disco, featuring West End artists performing numbers from shows such as Mamma Mia and Saturday Night Fever.&quo

UK - Powered by the Roland V-Mixing System and billed as A Night of Power and Romance, the recent performance at the Birmingham Symphony Hall by The Enid promised to be both technically and musically challenging for the musicians and audience alike.

Taking on the task of providing the audio equipment for a show which included more than 80 instruments, Simon Kenning and Phil Palmer from Roland Systems Group took full advantage of the flexibility of the V-Mixing System.

For the performance, which needed to be recorded as well as having many live considerations, they chose two M-480 Live Mixing Consoles in cascade mode, one S-4000 Rack with 40 inputs, 10 M-48 Live Personal Mixers for the band, conductor and organist and two of the new R-1000 Audio Recorders to do synchronized 80 track recording in 24bit 48kHz. Abbey Road provided a digital split from their recording truck

USA - Barco teamed up with Clair Brothers Audio Systems to provide Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas with an upgraded, turnkey video system built around its latest FSN presentation system and FLM HD20 DLP projectors.

When Watermark Community Church decided to relocate to a new, larger facility to accommodate its growing congregation, it seized upon an opportunity to upgrade and expand its audio visual platform with the latest technologies. The church desired a more robust, flexible system featuring today's advanced capabilities in video, audio and lighting.

Clair Brothers' understanding of modern technical worship environments was a critical factor in developing a plan that would fulfill the church's desire to inspire its members with thoughtful media support for its sermons. Barco was the clear choice for executing their vision, meeting their needs with two of its f

Germany - IOSONO, a provider of spatial audio systems and Berlin-based AFMG, creators of EASE, the industry-standard for simulation of room acoustics, recently teamed up to develop a new approach to making virtual acoustical environments audible.

"Architects, their clients, engineers or even movie sound designers will enter into a new world of possibilities to engulf listeners in the sound of a virtual surrounding," says Frank Melchior, CTO at IOSONO.

"Just imagine that a number of listeners can all enjoy an identical acoustical experience at the same time, no matter where in the room they are sitting," adds Stefan Feistel, manager of AFMG. "Architects will hold their presentations not only with a slideshow of photo-realistic pictures but talking live within the acoustical situation of the room simulated in EASE. Designs of concert halls, cinemas, soun

UK - Sysco AV has been awarded the contract for the detailed design and development of the entire audio visual system requirements for the new Mary Rose Museum, currently under construction in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

At a total project cost of £35 million, the new attraction is due to open in late 2012, 30 years after the nation watched as the hull of the 450-year old Tudor warship was lifted from the Solent. Visitors will be enticed with the promise of being able to look into the glass hotbox where the final stages of the 30-year conservation process of the ship are taking place. Alongside this, there will be the opportunity to view a huge array of previously unseen personal, domestic and military artefacts. In 2016, the final phase of conservation will be complete and with the glass removed, visitors will be able to pass through the viewing galleries containing the

USA - Audica Professional has announced that it has gained UL approval for its MICROseries loudspeakers. The approvals include UL1480 and UL2043 for the MICROdot ceiling loudspeaker and UL1480 for the MICROpoint and MICROline on-wall loudspeakers. The MICROzone and MICROplus electronics are cTUVus approved.

"At this year's Infocomm the interest in Audica Professional from contractors was excellent," commented Audica Professional's sales director, Derek West, "They appreciated the styling and audio quality, but it was clear that UL approvals were needed before the product was going to be specified on a larger scale and in most public buildings. We have a great distributor, with TC Group Americas, and now with North American approvals we are confident that we will see significant growth in the American markets".

Audica Professional's MICROseries offers audio

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