Italy - Martin Professional has appointed Leading Technologies as the exclusive distributor of Martin products in Italy. Leading Technologies has been working with Harman since 1995 and this partnership will serve to enhance the sales, distribution and support of Martin Professional lighting solutions in the Italian market.

"The addition of Martin to our current portfolio of Harman Professional products allows us to provide an even more comprehensive array of audio/visual solutions to our customers," commented Marco Porro, vice president and CEO, Leading Technologies. "We are committed to bringing this expanded offering to new and existing customers while also ensuring they receive the same level of service and support that they always have from our team."

Co

Chile - The 55th edition of the world famous Vina del Mar International Song Festival in Chile was staged in the city of the same name in the Valparaíso region of Chile, with 48 of Robe's Robin Pointes onstage at the Quinta Vergara's amphitheatre.

The six-night event featured an array of local and international artists like Ricky Martin, Laura Pausini, La Ley, Ana Gabriel, Carlos Vives, Rod Stewart and many others.

Full lighting production, media server support, lighting design and realisation was provided - for the fourth consecutive year - by Santiago-based Producciones Órbita.

Spanish LD Luis Pastor has been in charge of lighting design at Vina del Mar since 2011 and explains that all the creative processes start at local TV channel Chilevisión, the Festival's official broadcaster for the last four years. This year, they wanted to emphasise the historic spirit of the f

UK - Calrec Audio has confirmed its acquisition by Electra Partners. Calrec will become a sister company to Allen & Heath, which Electra acquired last year.

"When we made our initial investment in the professional audio sector by supporting the buyout of Allen & Heath, Electra provided all of the new financing to ensure flexibility with respect to further acquisitions in the sector," said Alex Fortescue, chief investment partner of Electra Partners. "The acquisition of Calrec shows the benefits of this approach, and both companies are well-placed to accelerate growth as a result."

"We are delighted to have funded the acquisition of Calrec," said Charles Elkington, investment partner of Electra Partners. "Part of our investment strategy in the professional audio sector is to acquire additional businesses to create a group of market-leading pro

USA - Free registration is now open for the PLASA Focus: Baltimore 2014 Professional Development Programme, a two-day programme of free educational seminars and workshops, running alongside the PLASA Focus: Baltimore exhibition, at the Reitz Arena, Loyola University, Maryland, on 8-9 May, 2014.

The programme includes talks from some of the industry's leading talents who will discuss the latest trends, technologies and techniques, and is a unique opportunity for visitors to further develop their industry knowledge and take part in discussions.

Designer Maurice "Moe" Conn will discuss what skills a theatre technician needs to acquire for a successful career in Start Small, Go Big. Conn, who is technical director and designer at CCBC Cantonsville Centre for the Arts Theatre, recently won the award for Best Scenic Design at the Maryland Theatre Guide's Readers' Ch

Germany - ETC is celebrating after their most successful Prolight + Sound show ever. The staff on the stand - including people from ETC, their dealers and a number of freelancers - were kept very busy, helping hundreds of visitors wanting to catch up on the company's latest innovations.

ETC's fixtures product manager Jim Uphoff and his colleagues showed visitors the latest updates to the Source Four LED family - the Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr, which adds lime green emitters to the x7 Color System, ensuring the best spectral range and about twice the output of the Source Four LED Series 1. They also demoed the new Source Four Mini LED, which allows small-scale installations, such as puppet theatres, shops and museums to benefit from the powerful Source Four optics while also saving energy. A Gallery option with a high CRI value ensures that the best possible colour reproducti

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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

USA - City Theatrical will be demonstrating some innovative technology at USITT in Fort Worth, TX on 27-29 March, 2014 (Booth 909), including QolorFLEX Professional LED Light Tape, D Series LED Dimmers, and the SHoW Baby 5 wireless DMX transceiver.

Also being demonstrated is City Theatrical's complete line of SHoW DMX Neo wireless DMX products. City Theatrical's SHoW DMX is the wireless DMX of choice for lighting professionals on Broadway and West End shows, permanent entertainment installations, architectural landmarks, major music tours such as U2 and Madonna, and large scale events such as the opening ceremonies of the London Olympics.

City Theatrical will be a participant in USITT's Innovation Gallery & Stage, which is a showcase where new products will be displayed in a museum gallery environment where attendees can view them and learn about their uses. Gary Fails, presid

USA - Solid State Logic is continuing to build its US dealer network to support its new Live console with the appointment of Firehouse Productions in Red Hook, New York. A 2014 TEC Award winner for its support of Peter Gabriel's Back to Front tour, Firehouse provides sound reinforcement and complete sound systems for every aspect of live production, including high-profile television performances.

"We are excited to become a dealer for the new SSL Live console and to add it to our rental inventory," says Bryan Olson, owner/president of Firehouse Productions. "Where excellence and quality are concerned, we are sure this console is a powerful option."

"Firehouse Productions is a well-respected leader in live audio," says Jay Easley, SSL's vice president of Live consoles in the Americas. "Having them as part of the SSL Live network was ver

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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

Belgium - Genk based creative lighting practice Painting With Light (PWL) has designed a complete bespoke interior, exterior, foyer and house lighting scheme and control for the brand new 1400 seater luxury Plopsa Theatre, located at the Plopsaland de Panne theme park and business centre in West-Flanders, Belgium.

PWL also engaged in a consultancy role for the stage lighting specification and installation, and has a relationship with the park and its operators, The Plopsa Group, that dates back over a decade to when the Park was first opened in 2000.

The striking Plopsa Theatre foyer which occupies 13,000sq.m with over 12m of headroom is also used as a multi-purpose event space to accommodate anything from gala dinners to special presentations.

This expansive open area required lighting that was as flexible as possible to facilitate a myriad of different activities and uses.

UK - Successful Scotland-based pro audio specialists, The Warehouse, have become the latest members of EM Acoustics' growing UK dealer network. With offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh, The Warehouse offers high quality services in sales, rental and operation of pro audio equipment, and has been doing so for the last 35 years. The company will be supplying the full EM Acoustics product range including the Halo Compact line array system, and has already taken delivery of their first items of demo stock.

Given that The Warehouse already carries a number of well-established pro audio brands including loudspeaker equipment, it rather begged the question, "Why EM Acoustics?" The Warehouse sales director Derek Blair was categorical: "It's simply one of the most exciting product ranges we've heard in the last ten years," he stated. "The first model we listened to

Macedonia - LumenRadio's CRMX Nova products recently played a key role in the premiere show of The Eternal House which marked the opening of the new Macedonian National Theatre in Skopje.

The opening of the Macedonian National Theatre is one of the largest installations in the region ever, with over 760 dimming channels and over 500 conventional and 100 intelligent luminaries.

For the National theatre it was important to choose the right products, technology and quality. Since frame integrity and flawless radio transfer was an absolute requirement, the companies qualified for the prestigious assignment was LumenRadio and their distributor Svetlost Teatar. Svetlost Teatar who specializes in theatre and related technologies provided a CRMX Nova System containing four receivers and four transmitters.

Around 80 actors from various generations took part in the play written

Canada - Lawo North America Corp has announced that Applied Electronics Limited has joined Lawo's network of authorized resellers. The company will offer Lawo's full line of audio, video and AV-over-IP networking solutions.

Applied Electronics will market Lawo's premium quality mc² series audio consoles for sports and entertainment production as well as a full range of IP-based networking audio solutions for radio broadcasters, all supported by their award-winning routing technology. In addition, the company will be introducing Lawo's new V_line products, the V_pro8 multi-channel video processor and V_link4 for remote broadcast production, which features multiple user-selectable video codecs, accepts 3G/HD/SD-SDI and MADI I/O and provides a one-box solution for all the requirements of IP video and audio contribution.

"Applied Electronics Limited provides complete solutio

UK - Over the past year Audio Visual specialists Saville Audio Visual have continued to expand the hire inventories of several of their branches with KV2 Audio products.

Having initially invested in KV2 Audio back in 2004, Saville AV have come to rely on the performance of KV2 products within the AV field. With heavy emphasis on aesthetics, detail and clarity, KV2 products match up to Saville AV's requirements for sonic excellence at a reasonable price point.

The most recent investment came from the North East office who, following a very successful year were in a position to boost their existing KV2 inventory. Having run KV2's powered EX 10's for the last 8 years, the team were looking for the same high quality output, but from a lighter cabinet due to a high-profile regular contract which requires the units to be mounted from the roof.

The solution was found with KV2 Audio

UAE - The feature rich Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO 800s are providing a large part of the top-end lighting solution for Abu Dhabi's latest nightclub O1NE.

The middle-eastern 'super-club', designed to merge the latest AV, light and audio technology with super-luxe interior design for its VIP guests, has been lit by lighting designer Hiljo Stadt of Dutch lighting design company - The Lighting Dutchmen. Stadt worked in close association with Lebanese equipment house Wide Angle to meet the club's high-tech demands.

"For the lighting design of O1NE it was imperative that we had the best moving light fixtures available to us," explains Stadt. "We chose to use 28 x Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO-800s because we wanted a fast and accurate moving light head with versatile beam options. Clay Paky fixtures have proven their reliability and quality optics and the rich feature set on

UK - Leading facilities and rental company Presteigne Broadcast Hire has won a contract from BBC Sport to provide its on-location technical resources for its coverage of Formula One motorsport. The equipment, which includes the capabilities for live production and delivery as well as fast turnaround editing, packs into three containers for shipping in cargo aircraft.

The flyaway kit designed by Presteigne Broadcast Hire includes production control facilities to create the unilateral coverage, switching 15 feeds from the host broadcaster with three wireless cameras covering the presenters in the pits and paddock. Live production equipment also includes radio microphones and wireless in-ear monitoring for presenters.

Presteigne Broadcast Hire also provides a technical crew to support the team at each location.

"The big challenge for this project is that the kit has to be

USA - In keeping with its commitment to accurate and complete loudspeaker technical data, Community has opened a new, state-of-the-art indoor test facility at its factory in Chester, Pennsylvania USA. Designed by Charlie Hughes of Excelsior Audio and operated by senior measurement Technician, Hadi Sumoro, the new test facility enables loudspeaker measurements with unprecedented accuracy and precision.

With its indoor location, the new facility makes it possible to control temperature and humidity. It eliminates wind problems and minimizes interference from outside noise sources. This allows Community engineers to accurately measure complex loudspeaker data and to gather polar data in precise 1-degree resolution. Measurements are automated with an ELF robotic rotator system controlled by EASERA software.

The new test facility follows in the footsteps of a long tradition of loud

Europe - VDC Trading has announced the appointment of Leif Friestad as its new managing director. A multi-linguist originating from the south of Norway, Leif has held senior management roles at United Technologies Corporation, Johnson Controls, Lapp Group, a leader in industrial cabling with a turnover of 800 million pounds, and as CEO of Canford Audio.

Leif's new role is to oversee and assist the continuing growth of VDC and of the Van Damme brand in a number of markets as well as maintaining its position as a brand leader in the audio industry.

VDC Trading CEO Niall Holden commented, "Leif is of great value to the organisation as he has both International experience and an understanding of the electronics industries as well as professional audio. I believe he is ideally equipped to help me take VDC forward as we develop and expand our domestic, marine and international

USA - At this year's South By Southwest Music Festival held in Austin, TX, Allen & Heath digital consoles were used to stream the experience live to millions of fans around the world. One of the world's largest music conferences with 100+ music venues, Allen & Heath mixers managed the Festival's British Music Embassy, sponsored by the UK Trade and Investment Corporation, where over 40 UK bands played sets over a five-day run, and BBC Radio streamed live to the UK for the first time, and the Dell Computer Fader Fort.

"We had these two official venues using Allen & Heath consoles plus a dozen more unofficial South By Southwest venues using a variety of Allen & Heath mixers," states Michael Palmer VP of North American sales for Allen & Heath.

For the British Embassy series there was the challenge of lack of sound checks, plus the need to send the audio signal to the BBC

Czech Republic - A section of Prague's beautiful hilltop Letna Park area was transformed into an exciting and fun Olympic Park environment for the duration of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, complete with a lighting installation in key areas by Prague based technical production company AV Media, which included over 100 Robe moving lights.

Olympijsky Park Soci-Letna 2014 was also the first big event for Cesko Sportuje, an initiative launched by the Czech Olympic Committee to promote a healthy lifestyle especially for children.

AV Media is an official event technology supplier to the Czech Olympic Committee and Czech Olympic Team, and also supplied lighting, sound and AV to the acclaimed award-winning Czech Olympic House project during the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

The company also has over 160 Robe moving lights in its rental stock and is a big fan of the Czech manufacture

USA - Interactive light technology group, Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF), harnessed the sharp, high output features of 185 Clay Paky Sharpys to create a hard-hitting, high-impact real-time lightscape for U2's latest music video, which launched the band's new single Invisible on 4 February.

Previous to that a 60" cut down version was aired during the Superbowl, on 2 February 2014. This cut down video formed the basis of a commercial for the Bank Of America and supports Bono's charity, RED, an initiative launched to encourage business and consumer power to work together to eliminate AIDS in Africa.

MLF, with Juliette Larthe and Mark Logue of PRETTYBIRD, collaborated to create a stunning, cathedral-like, interactive 3D lighting and video architecture that directly translated the band and audience's movement into a striking video and light show.

Grammy Award winning f

UK / Russia - The Star Events Group team are back in the UK following a challenging build of their multi-level studio system in Sochi.

The 10 individual studios situated in the middle of the Olympic Coastal Cluster venues were of varying sizes and were used by many affiliated broadcasters of the games.

The structure was built of standard VerTech parts and was shipped at very short notice making the build schedule quite tight. Shortly into the build the Star team had to cope with a huge storm which damaged other parts of the Olympic infrastructure.

Project manager Gavin Scott was on site throughout the Games and commented that the structure was a very busy and lively place around the clock, with broadcasts going out to a wide range of time zones, many of which featured interviews with current and former athletes as well as Russian and international celebrities.

(Jim Evans)

Germany - - With the launch of the new X Series at ProLight + Sound 2014, Powersoft plans to change the landscape of the professional amplifier market once more.

Much more than a simple amplifier, the new series provides unmatched levels of versatility, flexibility and power without compromising on size, efficiency, audio quality and sheer elegance that has become Powersoft's modus operandi, says the company.

The Powersoft X Series mark a real evolution in pro-audio amplification, much as the seminal K Series did back in 1995 when technologies such as Power Factor Correction (PFC) and switch-mode amplification were introduced for the first time into the professional audio industry.

The Powersoft X Series represents the next step in the evolution of the power amplifier: the first amplifier that in reality is a system tool that integrates a large amount of functionality, gener

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