Germany - New Year's Eve in Berlin! Silvester is one of the largest New Year's Eve parties in the world, attracting around one million people to the city's famous Brandenburg Gate to hear international stars on a variety of show stages, and of course to see the fireworks display.

For several years, Berlin-based rental company artecom Veranstaltungs GmbH has favoured Nexo systems for this event, which involves long throws over the 1.5 km 'party mile', very large crowds and extensive networking demands. To ring in 2014, artecom chose to put Nexo's new modular line array, the STM Series, onto the main stage at Platz de 18.Marz in front of the Brandenburg Gate, using Nexo geo D and Geo S systems for the other two stages and for delays.

Twenty four sets of Nexo STM were used for the main stage PA, comprising 24x M46 Main and 24x B112 Bass cabinets flown left and right, with 24x S11

USA - For the Unity Church of The Hills in Austin, Texas, a new sound system was way overdue. The church congregation has grown over the years to now require three services on Sunday with different musical styles and audio mixes required in each.

"We had a flying junkyard, a traditional array of a bunch of boxes. Add to this, our worship sanctuary has a lot of floor to ceiling glass windows so there was a limit to our volume levels due to the reverberation," says Jeff Sarich, sound engineer for the Church.

When it came time to make a decision on which mixers to acquire, Sarich and his team were already leaning toward a pair of Allen & Heath consoles.

"We read a lot of articles in Church production publications and online in blogs and forums. You hear the same thing over and again about Allen & Heath consoles: amazing sound, lots of features and great pricing,&

UK - Drapes and rigging specialist Blackout returned to Olympia creating a large pristine arena for the London International Horse Show, 16 - 22 December 2013.

For the 12th consecutive year, Blackout worked with organisers Innovent to transform the venue for the prestigious equestrian event. The team utilised 2,500sqm of drapes to enclose the ground floor auditorium and create the entrance tunnels to the seating blocks.

The brand presence of sponsors was maximised through a wall of advertising on the outside of the arena for which the team constructed framework scaffolding to attach the banner wrap.

Chris Brain, installations director at Blackout, commented, "We also installed a backdrop of starcloth above the main competitor tunnel which we used to enhance the iconic golden galloping horse statue.

"Our draping package enables us to completely enclose an area for

UK - The Institute of Acoustics this year celebrates the its 30th consecutive Reproduced Sound conference and exhibition on 14-15 October at Birmingham NEC. Organised by the Electroacoustic Group of the Institute of Acoustics in collaboration with ABTT, AES, APRS & ISCE, this year's event coincides with the Institute of Acoustics' 40th Anniversary.

Part of the UK's Institute of Acoustics annual conference programme, Reproduced Sound is the IOA's longest running conference; it is well known for its balance of papers on theoretical and practical developments. Says IoA, "We encourage you to be part of this special event and invite you to submit papers on: Perception and Quality, Intelligibility, Measurement, Loudspeakers and Microphones, Room Acoustics and Audio Technologies. All papers on the above topics will be considered. Offers of presentations or posters on any electroac

Italy - Audio-Technica Europe and SISME have announced the formation of a new division dedicated to the distribution of Audio-Technica professional products in Italy. The division, part of SISME, will begin operations on 20 January 2014.

Following an extensive analysis of the Italian professional audio marketplace, Audio-Technica Europe's senior management team identified a need to establish a new approach in terms of distribution within a territory that, along with other Mediterranean countries, has been affected by issues such as the economic downturn.

Taking these issues along with the 'globalisation' of the European marketplace by large corporations and the cross-border activities of on-line retailers into account, a review of the business models that have survived for the past 30 years is now inevitable.

Both the Audio-Technica Europe and SISME management teams share a

UK - Flare Audio Limited, the award-winning British loudspeaker technology company, has announced the appointment of leading UK pro audio supplier Orbital Sound as its exclusive distributor for the UK and Irish markets.

Commenting for Flare Audio, MD Kristin Hanson said, "Our two companies have complementary backgrounds - live touring, entertainment installations, studios and events - making for an extremely powerful combination. At Flare Audio, we are introducing what is essentially a new approach to sound reinforcement, making the choice of our first major distributor absolutely key. We were looking for a company that would embrace new ideas and relish the prospect of bringing real innovation to the marketplace, while always putting the customer first. Orbital Sound has an outstanding reputation on all counts, and represents the ideal match for us."

Orbital Sound w

Benelux - Coda Audio has announced the appointment of Viladco bvba as its new distributor for the Benelux region. Headed by Hans Engelen, the appointment of Viladco ensures seamless continuity of service for Coda customers.

Hans is very familiar to Coda users throughout Europe, having been a specialist for the company's audio systems for several years. An audio engineer for over 20 years, he formed Viladco with his business partner Peter van Meensel and is very excited about the company being awarded the Coda distributorship.

"Coda is always seeking new challenges, looking to make new advances and works tirelessly to deliver the best sound reinforcement products," he says. "The company and its users are also like a real family, which is a great thing to be a part of."

As well as distributing the product and offering after-sales service, as an experienced

Austria - Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of additional commercial distribution partners for the SSL Live console with TSAMM as its distributor in Austria and AudioMonde for Hungary.

"As an SSL distributor for many years, we had the opportunity to be involved in many discussions regarding what would be needed in a live console of the 21st century, to cover both touring and theatre applications," says Mario Reithofer, owner of TSAMM. "We visited with SSL several times in the last three years both in Vienna and the U.K., but even I did not expect something so perfect right from the start. The Show Control System and the almost non-existent audio latency has blown us away."

"I have personally been representing SSL in Hungary for more than 15 years," says Peter Csillag, owner of AudioMonde. "When I established my own company, Audi

USA - American singer-songwriter Amos Lee has been on the road promoting his fifth studio album, Mountains of Sorrow, Rivers of Song with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. The tour began 21 September in New York and wrapped its first leg 30 November in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Lighting designer Morgan Leek wanted to illuminate the folk artist by "creating a classic feeling show: clean, minimal and refined".

"I felt that the more common LED fixtures on the market were not appropriate for the aesthetic we were shooting for," explained Leek, "so I set out to find a US vendor that could supply some great fixtures that I had come across in Europe the previous year, but had not seen a lot of on the road. This led me to Bandit, and a rig that suited our needs perfectly.

"We ended up taking out eight GLP Spot One and 16 GLP X4S. These fix

UK - From January 2014 ASPEC members will be operating under the umbrella of PLASA, the international trade association serving the entertainment technology industries, as full members of that organisation and acting as a special interest group that continues to focus on the needs of the film, television and broadcast community.

Members of ASPEC will benefit greatly from PLASA's knowledge, experience and resources. ASPEC will be working closely with PLASA's Production Equipment Rental Group (PERG), its counterpart group based in North America, discussing and sharing common rental issues which affect all those involved in the sector. It will be the beginning of a new and exciting chapter.

ASPEC has operated in its present format since 1994, comprising many of the UK's facilities companies in the film, television and broadcast industries. It will continue to be a leader in the k

Estonia - LumenRadio continues the expansion of their global distribution network with the announcement of E&T as distributor for the CRMX brand in Estonia.

Based in Tallin, E&T is a leading distributor for the entertainment industry in Estonia, with brands such as Robe and Chamsys already part of their portfolio. Founded in 1991, E&T started out as a lighting distribution company for concerts, tours and festivals, but soon realized the need for more products and services. Today, E&T works with different rental companies in Estonia including Event Center and RGB Baltic. They have been appointed lighting supplier to some of the most prestigious projects in Estonia, Birgitta Festival is one example.

Olev Luhaäär, manager at E&T comments, "LumenRadio have a stellar reputation within the entertainment industry. Their CRMX product range is the most reliable wireless products

Vietnam - LA212x line array system from Next-proaudio formed the sound reinforcement system for Heineken NYE 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City. The equipment was provided by Pro AVL Group - Next-proaudio's distributor in Vietnam.

The system turned the Heineken New Year Countdown show into a serious party for a crowd of 15.000 people at Crescent Lake, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City on the last day of 2013.

The design included 16 elements of LA212X line array full-size hung in two lines as traditional configuration, 12 elements of LAS218 subwoofers were configured in a combination of L/R and on the centre.

According to Lan Ho, from Skyline, who coordinated the event, "The show went beyond expectations with an excellent sound system."

Tran Nhu Noi, technical director from Pro AVL Group, said, "We are very proud to be Next-proaudio's distributor and particularly proud of t

UK - Lighting designer Paul Smith from Edge of Blue Design wanted to make an impression with the lighting for UK singer / songwriter Conor Maynard who opened on the recent Will.i.Am tour.. and chose Robe Pointes and LEDWash 600s to help achieve his goal.

Paul Normandale's visual design for Will.i.Am was very projection orientated and as such there was also not a massive amount of kit available to light the support act, so the obvious solution was to tour a festival style floor specials package to light Conor's set and make him look individual and different without giving any of the game away!

Paul spec'd eight Pointes - which he was using for the first time - together with 26 x LEDWash 600s which were supplied by UK rental company, Siyan.

Paul comments, "I was keen to try out The Pointe as - having used a competitor beam product for over a year - I wanted a change and t

Norway - Porsgrunn videregående skole has recently upgraded its main auditorium with a new Community sound system installed by IT, communication and AV specialists, Netsolution AS.

Porsgrunn is an upper secondary school in Norway located in the coastal town of Porsgrunn in Telemark County, 150 km southwest of the country's capital, Oslo. The school is one of Telemark County's largest high schools with a total of 1150 students and 160+ employees. Its multipurpose auditorium contains tiered seating for 180 persons and the sound system was required to be suitable for speech, live music and film.

The system was designed by Bj°rn Fjeld of Norsk Lydteknikk AS, who has designed many similar multipurpose systems for educational and commercial establishments across Norway.

"I use Community VERIS2 loudspeakers for such applications," explained Fjeld. "They provide

USA - Barco teamed up with Velocity Productions to create a series of dynamic video walls to engage a new generation of patrons with immersive spiritual programming.

Bringing a 197-year-old religious institution into modern times to attract young, urban followers is no small task. But, American Bible Society's high-profile location at 61st/Broadway in New York City offered a prime opportunity to create an inviting, visually thought-provoking "third space" to inspire local youth with the Bible.

Barco and Velocity outfitted the newly redesigned atrium and gathering spots with 22 OverView NSL-4621 LCD displays in various configurations, presenting spiritual imagery and videos, live media streaming, signage for upcoming events and services, and more.

"When we began the design process, our goal was to create a warm, welcoming space that was intriguing and presented

UK - "Chaos Visual Productions have supplied me with the perfect combination of great equipment and a fabulous crew - I simply can't fault them - everything has been efficient and stress free since we started rehearsals - they really know how to look after a jet lagged lighting designer! Any problems simply get solved: for example, our main screen won't fit in a couple of the venues on this tour but scaling everything down to fit is no problem." Straight talking Texan, Eric Wade, is currently at the helm of Californian band, Maroon 5 as designer of lights, video, stage, set, FX - in fact pretty much everything except sound.

"Although this is not a long tour, we are going large, very large on this," continues Wade. "This outing is really fulfilling commitments from last year that were disrupted by Adam Levine's involvement with The Voice in the USA

USA - Event production company, Majic Productions, has expanded its stock portfolio with Qu-16 and GLD-80 digital mixers from Allen & Heath.

At the age of 12, Mike Jurken started running his own DJ business, and 14 years later is president and CEO of Majic Productions, a major player in the event production world, running 1000 events a year with a client roster including Fortune 500 companies ranging from Harley-Davidson to Northwestern Mutual, as well as high profile non-profits such as The Boys & Girls Clubs of America and The American Red Cross.

The real proving ground for any audio gear is in the weekly, month in and month out park concerts, hotel conferences and other ongoing special events. A FOH audio engineer faces a diversity of challenges at outdoor events that are very different from the challenges found in a hotel conference room or poolside for a raucous fundraise

The Netherlands - A massive dance festival in the Dutch town of Breda featuring big name DJs has raised the roof of the 2,500-seat Chasse Theatre with powerful pure beam effects using Clay Paky Sharpys.

Rental house Looijmans Showequipment supplied the Sharpys to the debut Dance Festival Breda.

"The Sharpy's enormous light output and fast movement has created a new standard in moving lights" says Eduard Looijmans from Looijmans Showequipment. "We've stocked Sharpy for more than two years now, and the market is still buzzing with desire to utilise their amazing features in stage designs."

For the dance event - which featured Dutch superstar DJs including Funkerman and Gregor Salto - lighting designer Joep van Oosterhout rigged 14 Sharpys to an electronic flybar system surrounding the DJ booth.

"I've been impressed with the Sharpy since the fi

UK - Rose Bruford College has an enviable reputation in the fields of theatre and performance. Initially established as a centre for training drama teachers by actress and teacher Rose Bruford in 1951, the college expanded in 1976 to offer the first UK Honours Degree in professional acting and theatre practice.

Today, the College based in Sidcup, Kent, delivers degree courses across the whole spectrum of theatre including a three-year BA (Hons) in Creative Lighting Control. Rachel Nicholson is programme director for the course and responsible for the design and management of the curriculum.

"The Creative Lighting Control course was created in response to the industry demand for specialist lighting and video programmers and technicians," explains Nicholson. "So it is a given that we need to invest in the most up to date and widely used control systems if we are t

Germany - PR Lighting is planning a major launch at this year's Prolight+Sound Show in Frankfurt for Spot and Beam versions of its new XR 1000 moving head.

The fully automated system, housing an Osram HTI 1000 W/PS 1000W metal halide lamp, will receive its world debut.

Housed in an IP20, high temperature engineered plastic chassis, the fixture boasts several advantages over competitive models. For example it is brighter than a conventional 1200W discharge lamp, and with a weight of just 31kg it is both lighter, and smaller, than its market rivals, says the company.

Highlights of the powerful feature-set are seven rotating gobos and seven fixed gobos; a three-fact prism, soft frost and fire effect wheel, and a linear zoom with range of 9°-47°.

Other features include: 2800K-6500K linearly adjustable colour temperature; smooth CYM colour mixing system, plus CTO with m

Europe - Luc Peumans from Belgian creative lighting design practice Painting With Light sprinkled his fair share of fairy dust whilst crafting a provocative and emotive lighting design for the Music Hall Events arena production of Peter Pan.

The show is characterized by an all-action narrative that includes free flying (wireless courtesy of a massive sub-stage wind turbine), dramatic visual effects, pyro and stunning fully 3D mapped digital scenery.

Peumans has worked on many previous projects for the producers, and once again he has imagineered a careful mix of spectacle and visual style to match the vibe, energy and magic of the show.

The concept for this version of Peter Pan was developed by creative director Luc Petit and Music Hall's Geert Allaert. Peuman's brief was to provide epic arena style lighting to suit and highlight the action within the fast flow

UK - Models in Vogue's annual fashion extravaganza in Manchester, Fashion Night Out, were set in motion on the catwalk by four travelators from LS-Live, which were hired by Maynineteen Entertainment and Events Ltd for the fashion show production at Manchester Arndale. The event involved the city's luxury shops and brands like Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, H&M and Mulberry, and was attended by fashion VIPs and designers.

LS-Live's staging equipment rental stock at its headquarters in Wakefield includes a large number of automation machines, from travelators and scissor lifts to turntables and toasters, so they can quickly respond to hire orders. The machines can also be built into their standard stage decking for a seamless look.

Said Ibrar Haque, Maynineteen production manager, "We would like to express our thanks for all the hard work that you and your team put in t

Singapore - Robe Lighting is kicking off 2014 with the launch of a new Asia Pacific office in Singapore. This is part of the Czech Republic based moving light manufacturer's planned medium term expansion strategy.

It will be an advanced, resource-efficient sales and distribution point for all Robe and Anolis LED brand distributors and customers in the geographical regions between India and Australia / New Zealand on the Indian Ocean side, and China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea in the western Pacific.

This will enable quicker and more streamlined communications and access between Robe's full sales and support network in the region as well as strengthening Anolis's presence in the architectural segment.

Robe Asia Pacific (RAP) will be headed by sales director for Asia Edwwerth Lai and technical operations director Desmond Kwan, both well known and respected industry 'movers & shak

UK - XL Video supplied wide-screen projection including some of its new Panasonic 20K projectors, Catalyst control, a four camera / PPU package and crew for the very successful Wet Wet Wet UK arena tour in December - their first full tour since 2007.

The Band's manager Dougie Souness and production manager Pete Bell approached XL to assist with realising a production design created in conjunction with lighting designer Martin Nicholas and consultant Miguel Ribeiro, who worked closely with the band on the creation of content.

At the heart of this was an 80ft wide rear projection screen gently curved - cyclorama style - by two end-wings angled at around 15 degrees.

They wanted the video system to be as flexible as possible, and to be able to switch playback content and IMAG camera footage between the main screen and two side screens.

XL's project manager was Paul 'Macca' McC

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