Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

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UK - Recently launched UK manufacturer Optimal Audio has announced the appointment of distributors in China, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.
Optimal Audio, part of the Focusrite Group, manufactures a one-stop solution of control, amplification and loudspeakers for small to medium sized commercial installations, with a focus on supporting multi-zoned venues.
Newly established Guangzhou Guidance will distribute the brand in China. With team members who have considerable experience of the Chinese audio industry, the Guangzhou-based company has quickly established a dealer network across the country, and sees big potential in promoting Optimal Audio to the education and conference sector, as well as the broader markets of hospitality and retail.
In Thailand, Bangkok

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USA - AV signal distribution developer tvONE has announced that that its CORIOmaster video wall processor range can now be controlled by Biamp’s Neets product line, thanks to some driver innovations from Biamp’s new family of AV control systems.
tvONE approached Biamp with a view to enhancing integration between products that would harness the simple UI of the Neets product line to control basic functionality of the powerful CORIOmaster processors. Biamp responded with new drivers for Neets control panels that operate the CORIOmaster family of products simply, efficiently and intuitively. The new drivers enable commands including on/off, source select, and preset recall. The drivers are generic and can be used on all future applications where Neets control products and CORIOmaster products are used.
“There are benefits for both tvONE and Biamp here, and we’re

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UK - Sonosphere, in conjunction with Metropolis Studios, has created a new mix room at its home, the Power House, Chiswick, London. The Munro Acoustics-designed, Dolby certified studio has a centrally located mix position, with comprehensive immersive audio monitoring designed to cater for all surround formats. The control room pursues an ambitious and flexible new ‘hub studio’ approach.
“The plan was to make the studio as versatile as possible,” states Sonosphere commercial director Jamie Gosney. “We started out looking at building a room for podcasting and immersive content creation for games and other VR simulations. However, in terms of the music market, Dolby Atmos is very much the standard. So we decided to ‘have our cake and eat it’, and build a room to fully meet the Atmos specifications: an immersive monitoring environment capable of 11.1.8 Dolby Atmos
Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

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UK - Bradford-based Pro Audio Systems has announced the recruitment of Peter Butler and Callum Hall to the posts of business development director and audio sales respectively. For more than 30 years, Pro Audio Systems has supplied professional audio for sales, hire and installation, offering bespoke system design and comprehensive technical support to a wide variety of clients. As the company emerges from the turbulence of the Coronavirus pandemic, demand for its services remains stronger than ever.
Peter Butler joins as business development director in a role dedicated to improving efficiency and profitability, identifying new opportunities in the marketplace, and addressing potentially beneficial additions to the company’s portfolio. Peter began his career in a retail position at JSG music in Bingley. Moving into audio sales and hire at The Music Company (TMC), he enjoye

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Belgium - Those who participated in a recent online event organised by the Belgian Building Research Institute in Brussels to discuss the direction of their industry should be very positive about what lay ahead. The very site where the event was recorded provided them with plenty of good reasons to be optimistic.
That site was Gare Maritime, a 114-year-old former railroad freight station that has been transformed into a modern 40,000sq.m mixed-use, environmentally sustainable, urban hub with integrated work and event spaces, retail stores and a food hall.
Within the building was a transparent dome where the actual video production took place. Suggested by D-Dream to client AV Image, the sleek structure projects a smart, forward-looking image that reflects well on the theme of the online event.
Contributing to the futuristic aura of the dome are four Maverick MK2
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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 - Global event specialist, The Spendlove Group has announced the launch of THE Production TEAM. The new company will combine the skills and expertise that exist within the group to deliver a global event recruitment business.
Launched as the event industry makes a welcome return, THE Production TEAM will offer ‘a myriad of recruitment services to event management companies, venues and production houses operating within film & TV, events and theatre’. Offering complete transparency for both clients and freelancers with competitive rates of pay, all candidates will be vetted, pre-qualified and selected to fill job vacancies globally.
For UK clients interested in its contract recruitment services THE Production TEAM will renumerate employees, including sickness and holiday payments. This will also be the case in the Middle East, but the company will also faci

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UK - Having enjoyed a friendly business relationship for some time, Artistic Licence and Global Design Solutions (GDS) have announced that they will be working together more closely following the appointment of GDS as VAR for Artistic Licence products in the UK.
Bristol based lighting solutions provider, GDS, has over 15 years of experience working with architectural buildings and venues. With a focus on the use of innovative products to bring the best of LED lighting to new spaces, the company's interests are closely aligned with those of Artistic Licence.
GDS managing director Richard Cuthbert comments, "We find ourselves increasingly specifying Artistic Licence products. We are working through a lot of commercial projects where the AL range is really helping us provide some great solutions. It's pleasing that we can continue our support for Artistic Licence as a va
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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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Hardest Hit - Music, performing and visual arts has been the creative sector hardest hit by the pandemic – losing 80,000 jobs and an estimated £4bn in gross value added for the UK economy, according to new data.
Before the pandemic, music, performing and visual arts contributed £10.6bn in GVA and employed 314,000 people. However, new data from Oxford Economics, published in a report by the Creative UK Group, estimates that these sectors have lost 39% of GVA, equating to a loss of £4bn to the UK economy. According to the report, music, performing and visual arts have also lost 26% of jobs – 80,000 – due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The creative industries as a whole – made up of nine sub-sectors also including film, tv, video, radio and photography; design; architecture; and museums, galleries and libraries – are estimated to have lost nearly £12bn in GVA, wi

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Germany - Wireless LED lighting specialist Astera has launched the AX9 PowerPAR, billed as ‘a high-intensity, rock-solid, all-purpose everyday LED lighting fixture with all the advantages of Astera, including battery operation, wireless control, and quality engineering’.
AX9 is the ‘big brother’ of Astera’s successful AX5 TriplePAR. AX9 is bigger, brighter and benefits from all Astera’s latest innovations, like the Titan LED engine, an optimised bracket with Airline Track, a Titan-style keypad for fast and easy local control and direct control via the versatile AsteraApp.
Effectively it is a three-in-one solution. Offering a wireless PAR light source that can also be run as a wired PAR for longer-term installations and an elegant up-lighter, with the fixture’s 105 Watt output offering over 3000 Lumens of beautifully homogenised light.
Being wireles

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UK - When the regulatory moment arrived for Data Strategy’s QC-Check customer, Universal Pixels, to inspect its StageSmarts power distribution systems, QC-Check’s comprehensive RCD inspection process was implemented with an unexpected outcome.
Universal Pixels, takes a robust approach to electrical safety, relying upon Data Strategy’s QC-Check to inspect its electrical inventory to a level of integrity beyond that required statutorily. The company also favours StageSmarts power distribution systems, which incorporate new technological safety and protection systems.
When a safety indicator of the StageSmarts system conflicted with QC-Check causing a test fail, the two suppliers got together to provide an effective solution.
The answer to the issue was an update to the StageSmarts safety feature included in its power distribution systems with the change integ

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Poland - A new restaurant in the Polish capital of Warsaw has been equipped throughout with Martin Audio BlacklineX series loudspeakers.
The system was supplied by Phono Media, Martin Audio’s Polish distributor, and installed by High Shine, run by Jakub Ołdak, with whom they have worked closely for many years. The entire AV project was under the specification of AV system designer, Michał Malczyński.
SLA Warsaw is situated right in the heart of the city, and combines restaurant, nightclub (with dancefloor) and cocktail bar. Hence a potent sound system was required as part of an advanced AV solution that would cater for several different scenarios.
“This is an extremely interesting space, with a design which transfers guests from the centre of the city into the heart of the jungle,” say Phono Media. “The most important requirement from the investor was

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UK - Ready to Drop is a new sound art installation conceived and created by Orlando Gough and John Del ‘Nero. Inspired by the thousand twangling instruments that hummed around Caliban’s ears in The Tempest, it will be presented at the Brighton Beach Basketball Court over seven nights from 20 - 26 August.
Whilst walking together through Gough’s hometown last year, the two were struck by the energy, joy, competition, and communication of the court and its users, from basketball players to roller skaters. Ready to Drop is their response to this poetry in sound, field recordings of the collective sounds made by people at play on the basketball court and those of the adjacent dingy stand, the wind and the sea, combined with original composition.
The hour-long sound installation will be played on a continuous loop each night, filling the air with

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UK - Audiologic worked together with Sound Source AV to deliver a sound system upgrade at the Stockton Parish Church that delivers a well-balanced and personal audio experience for all its attendees.
Built in 1712, Stockton Parish Church prides itself on being a diverse, lively and charismatic church with its attendees and community set at the heart of everything they strive to deliver, led by Minister Mark Miller.
As with many historic and complex buildings, delivering an exceptional audio experience is somewhat a challenge. Stockton Parish Church as a project was no different. With its previous set up, the church suffered audio which was non-uniform throughout the listening area and speech intelligibility was poor due to the acoustics of the space. A level of uniformity was required to ensure all attendees received the same listening experience, no matter where they

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Europe - ISE @ London marked the final stop for ISE Live and Online, a series of events created to ‘bring the AV community together and look towards building a brighter future’.
Mike Blackman, managing director of Integrated Systems Events, said: “It’s been an incredibly challenging 18 months for events. Thankfully, at ISE, we have an amazing team and like so many in our industry, we wanted to keep pushing forward. I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved with ISE Live & Online – 3,000 in-person visitors to the live events and the debut of ISE Digital a rich content resource which will remain accessible for months to come – it’s not been an easy ride, but we did it and we did it for the right reasons.”
ISE @ London welcomed visitors across two days to experience in-person networking in a safe environment and feedback has been positive.

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Japan - Twenty years ago, the city of Kumagaya in Saitama Prefecture opened its Cultural & Creative Centre to offer cultural entertainment to locals and tourists. The centre is named Sakura MATE – Sakura, for the cherry blossoms, which are the symbol of Kumagaya, and MATE, for Music, Art, Theatre and Expression.
For two decades, Sakura MATE has hosted a diverse mixture of various traditional and contemporary performances using a sound system that, more and more, became inadequate for the venue. The city turned to Sigma Communications to recommend a sound system upgrade, which took place over three years.
The centre boasts an open-air Wind Theatre, a small Moon Hall, and the principal Sun Hall, which seats a thousand people in its shoebox-shaped auditorium. The multi-story space was built with side and rear balconies to create a sense of unity between performers a

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New Zealand - Six60 became the first ever band to play Auckland’s Eden Park stadium in a landmark show in front of 50,000 wildly enthusiastic fans.
Show and lighting designer Ben Dalgleish from Human Person designed a high impact lighting show fitting for the occasion – utilising over 200 Robe moving lights – helping to create a spectacular and stand-out event that was also televised live.
Six60 hit the road with a dynamic new show back in January, one of a handful of artists in the world able to do so at the time, and the Eden Park performance was the culmination of that tour.
The pressure was on to create a production design – which included over 550m of LED screen – in just five weeks from the show being confirmed to the gates opening to allow fans onto the hallowed turf of New Zealand’s biggest sports stadium. Production manager Leon Dalton did a

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UK - On Saturday 4 September, a group of industry professionals will band together for BikeFest, a fundraising bike ride from SFL’s headquarters in Reading to PLASA Show at Olympia London. BikeFest aims to raise funds for industry charities and mark the return of live events and entertainment following 18 months of unparalled challenge. 

The organisers of BikeFest are calling for fellow cyclists to sign up and follow them on one of two routes: a relaxed 40-mile ride direct to London via flat roads and cycle paths, or a more strenuous 80-mile ride traversing the Surrey Hills. The two routes will cater for all levels of cyclists, from casual and commuting cyclists to serious road bikers. London-based cyclists are also invited to join for the last leg through the capital. 

All money raised will go

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USA - ClearOne has announced the market introduction of its new Versa Mediabar, the company’s first professional quality all-in-one audio and video capture device that combines the ‘simplicity of a soundbar with the power of ClearOne’s intelligent audio capture and 4K camera technologies’.
According to ClearOne chair and CEO Zee Hakimoglu, the Versa Mediabar provides high-quality visual collaboration, audio conferencing, and UC applications from a single integrated device, offering the simplest solution available for offices, conference rooms and home offices with virtually no setup required.
“The number one thing we hear from dealers and customers is that they need video conferencing equipment that looks and sounds excellent but also works right away, every time, without training or troubleshooting. That’s exactly what the Versa Mediabar delivers,” Haki

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USA -bStudio Technologies has announced two new party-line (PL) intercom kits that utilise Dante Audio-over-IP networking. These new kits allow customers to purchase a bundle of Studio Technologies intercom products at a reduced price point.
The Party-Line Intercom Kit 1 (DPL-KIT-01) includes a Model 5421 Dante Intercom Audio Engine and four Model 372A Intercom Beltpacks. Party-Line Intercom Kit 2 (DPL-KIT-02) again includes a Model 5421 Dante Intercom Audio Engine but with four Model 373A Intercom Beltpacks. These new offerings enable personnel to easily implement a high-performance, Dante-enabled PL intercom system in fixed and mobile broadcast facilities, post-production studios, commercial and educational theatre environments, industrial, and general entertainment applications.
“We’re pleased to offer our customers a cost-effective means of implementing a small

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Israel - The city of Ashdod, one of Israel’s largest international cruise and cargo ports and southern Israel’s only outlet to the Mediterranean, through which much of the country’s citrus crop is exported, hosts a number of industries and a petrol refinery, but excavations have traced this vibrant city’s roots back to the 17th century BC.
Funded by the city’s municipality, Ashdod recently launched Ashdod Lights, a tour enabling visitors to walk round five key locations hosting high-impact AV art installations, including video art projections on buildings and water screens, projection mapping, lighting and laser effects and holograms.
Tel Aviv-headquartered pro audio company Gidron Levitan, Italian manufacturer Outline’s Israeli distributor, was commissioned to provide the audio systems for this high-profile project and company owner, sound engineer and mu

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Europe - Appropriately on Europe Day, the European Parliament held the opening ceremony for its 2021 Conference on the Future of Europe entitled The Future is in Your Hands. This theme was clearly reflected in the event’s setting, the modern hemicycle of the European Parliament Building in Strasbourg.
Accentuating the architectural features of these surroundings, while also adding a warm, inviting touch to the proceedings, was a Dimi Theuwissen lighting design that featured a collection of Chauvet Professional Maverick and COLORado fixtures supplied by Splendit.
Theuwissen, of Hasselt, Belgium-based ID2Q, was retained by DB Video to light the conference, which included a limited number of socially distant live guests, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who delivered the opening remarks, as well as online participants.
“COVID influenced everyt
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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
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