UK - Scotland is well known as the 'home of Hogmanay' and its New Year celebrations are among the most high profile in the world. Underlining its long involvement with these prestigious events, Black Light played a key role the 2013/14 Hogmanay celebrations by providing lighting equipment to locations across the country.

"We have been heavily involved in Scotland's Hogmanay celebrations for many years," says Calder Sibbald, Black Light's head of hire and events. "This year was no different and we were delighted to work alongside Unique Events and other service providers such as Paragon Power Services to help Scotland welcome in the New Year in style."

The theme of the 2013/14 celebrations was Homecoming and Black Light supplied the equipment needed to bring this vision to life to the three key locations: Edinburgh, Stirling and Inverness. Working to

UK - Prominence Production Services has announced it will be showcasing its flagship fabric set solution, LIGHTset at this week's Event Production Show.

Launched in September last year, LIGHTset has been designed and manufactured in the UK to transform the way stage and set backdrops are created, representing substantial savings on crew and transport costs. The 'all in one' solution combines 3D printed images, creative lighting and crisp front or rear projection, and has already been seen at events in The Grove West London, Sandown Park Racecourse and across the UK on two extensive corporate roadshows.

Creative director, Phil Harlow and his team will further highlight LIGHTset's creative capabilities on stand H22 at the Event Production Show, where they plan to showcase a full size LIGHTset performing under "real" show conditions. Demonstrating its unique rear projec

Bratislava - Getting the razzmatazz right for any show requires imagination, flair and the application of technology - and for the mood setting sequence that precedes the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL)'s All Stars exhibition matches, this is almost as important as the actual ice hockey.

That's why leading Slovakian lighting designer Martin Kubanka decided to use 100 Robe Robin Pointes at the heart of his lighting rig for the recent East vs West KHL All Stars match at the Slovnaft Arena in Bratislava.

Kubanka's brief was to highlight the music and various mapped video projections appearing on the ice during the 22 minute pre-show multimedia son et lumiere. He created an atmospheric enhancement to the video that highlighted touches of Slovakian folklore and history while celebrating the firt time that Bratislave has hosted a KHL All Stars event.

The media interest in these ma

Germany - trust.rental has just increased its rental stock with six MA VPU plus MK2 (Video Processing Unit) and two MA VPU light and thereby enlarged its amount of MA Lighting products. The German service provider for media and control technology also offers service and training for all products in its rental stock. In the recent past the company was involved, together with its holding company trust.event engineering GmbH, in some well-known projects like the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev and X-Factor Pan Arabia in Beirut.

Marcus Plum and Sebastian Huwig, managing directors, decided in 2011 to rely on MA Lighting products. At the beginning of 2012, the company invested in the MA VPU MK1 to be able to offer all the required products for a modern FOH single-handed set up. Besides media servers and consoles, this also includes all additional peripheral media

Russia - Numerous products from Germany-based ChainMaster have been utilised for the XXIIth Winter Olympics currently being held in the Russian town of Sochi. ChainMaster has been active in Russia and the neighbouring states since 1998, and in 2004 opened ChainMaster Consulting Office Russia.

In addition to several smaller projects, ChainMaster's activities in Sochi have mainly centred on equipping the Bolshoy Ice Dome and the Iceberg Skating Palace, each of which is capable of accommodating up to 12,000 spectators. It is planned to stage the ice hockey matches in the Bolshoy Ice Dome and the artistic and short track ice skating events in the Iceberg Skating Palace.

In each of these arenas, ChainMaster equipment forms part of a variety of installations - most notably the system for raising and lowering the two giant video cubes. Here, safety was the paramount concern governing

Denmark - Martin Professional is offering global lighting designers a place in the race to become the hottest up-and-coming young lighting designer. To enter, captivated LD's can programme their ultimate show to a music track of their choice and submit a recording to the Martin Facebook contest page.

Apart from instant stardom, the winner will be awarded two prizes: a trip to Prolight+Sound 2014 in Frankfurt and the Martin M2GO controller. A second place winner receives the M2PC. Third place wins the Martin USB Duo DMX Interface.

During the contest friends, colleagues and other Facebook users can vote for their favourite shows. When the contest ends, the three shows with the most votes enter the final stage of the contest. A panel of judges, made up of last year's winner, Brad Helzer and Martin employees with field experience, Theis Wermuth and Paul Pelletier, will deliberate

Spain / Portugal - Cadac recently appointed Soinua Pro as its new distributor for Spain and Portugal. The appointment sees Cadac switch its distribution to the Basque based sound touring and installation specialist, headquartered precisely between Bilbao and San Sebastián.

Commenting on the decision to switch distribution to Soinua, Cadac brand development manager Richard Ferriday says, "It was a strategic decision in order to more effectively focus our distribution on the live production sector. This is where Soinua is especially strong, being heavily involved with sound touring and live event production throughout Spain."

Commenting for Soinua, general manager Jorge De La Torre states, "The aim of our company is not to carry an expansive range of brands but to have a highly select and complementary portfolio of products, chosen purely on the basis of quality.

Sweden - Two RedNet 2s are the perfect fit for a custom 27.2 surround sound production at GöteborgsOperan in Gothenburg, Sweden.

RedNet is being used for an increasing number of innovative audio applications where something special in terms of quality or performance is required. RedNet couples Focusrite's legendary conversion expertise - along with superbly transparent mic preamps and other studio-quality audio capabilities - with the tried and tested Dante Ethernet-based audio networking protocol to record, distribute and play back audio over IP.

Most recently RedNet solved a problem for Andreas Renhorn, chief sound engineer at the GöteborgsOperan in Gothenburg, Sweden, when he was tasked with playing back 32 channels of high-quality audio including feeding a custom 27.2 audio system in the Opera's modern riverside performance complex.

The production The World To Darkn

Australia - Soundbay Pty Ltd, trading as Store DJ, is pleased to announce its appointment as the exclusive importer and distributor for Allen & Heath's Xone DJ Series in Australia.

"Allen & Heath's reputation for uncompromising sound quality and innovation has made Xone the "DJ's DJ mixer", so it is natural that Xone should find a home at Store DJ, Australia's leading DJ retailer," comments Store DJ's Xone brand manager, Paul Bridge. "Allen & Heath's Xone DJ mixers are the only choice for many top-shelf DJs, including Richie Hawtin, Pete Tong, Andy C, John Digweed, and Booka Shade. Store DJ's management and staff are extremely excited to have the opportunity to bring these excellent products to Australia's DJ's and performers!"

Store DJ will continue the global development of the Xone brand not only through their own stores but through other key A

UK - The hit musical Wicked has hit the UK and Ireland touring circuit a sleeker and altogether more agile show with the help of wireless DMX products from RC4 Wireless and LumenRadio. The Wicked UK and Ireland tour is one of the biggest tours of its kind. Crucially, the brief was to retain the same production values and scale as the West End show, while scenically and technically making it easy to transport and more robust than ever before. Part of this particular design process has been to replace the complex cabling that fed moving scenic elements with a range of powerfully compact wireless DMX products from RC4 Wireless and LumenRadio.

Utilizing state-of-the-art LumenRadio CRMX technology, these products include RC4 LumenDim4 4-channel low voltage dimmers, RC4 LumenData receivers and the SuperNova software from LumenRadio.

Production scenic lighting electrici

USA - In a significant development for users of Audinate's Dante media networking technology, Symetrix has announced that the latest version of its popular SymNet Composer software will enable complete configuration of select Dante-enabled Symetrix, Attero Tech and Stewart Audio products.

Settings affecting I/O levels, routing and more will be defined with SymNet Composer 2.0, which gives customers the ability to consolidate operations on a single platform where three or more were previously required.

"As a result of the release, integrators will no longer need separate software packages for each manufacturer's product as well as Dante Controller," comments Trent Wagner, senior product manager at Symetrix. "Supported Dante-enabled products will appear side-by-side with Symetrix SymNet products in the Composer software and can be managed or configured identically

UK - London-based event design and production specialist Eclipse Presentations designed, produced, specified and co-ordinated all the technical production elements for a high profile gala dinner and awards event right at the hub of the 2014 Australia Day celebrations ... at the Australia House consulate in London.

Eclipse's team was led by project manager John Gibbons and technical project manager Jonathan Tingle, and the brief included the delivery of an attractive design plus lighting, video, audio, staging and rigging equipment as well as graphics, signage and branding.

One of the most notable challenges working at Australia House is the fact that it is the Australian Embassy in London. Another challenge is working within the constraints of the venue with all of the floors, walls and pillars made of beautiful marble.

The most notable highlight was seeing the project from

USA - Millions of viewers worldwide had their eyes on MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday, 2 February watching as the NFL's Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks battled it out for the title of Super Bowl XLVIII champion.

While the game itself left Denver fans a bit bored, the halftime show proved to be the most exciting part of the day. Super Bowl XLVIII was the most watched television programme in US history with 111.5m viewers while the halftime performance was the most watched in the history of the Super Bowl drawing in a record 115.3m viewers, passing the record 114m who watched Madonna perform two years earlier.

The Super Bowl Halftime Show has some of the most stringent requirements in the business. Setup occurs in front of a packed stadium and in this case nearly freezing conditions - all in just under a mere eight minutes. With this sort of timeline, pre-product

Education Initiative - The Musicians' Union has urged the government to do more to support music hubs, after a critical report from Ofsted claimed the publicly-funded initiative was largely failing. The union re-iterated its concern that the "completely unrealistic timeframe" set by the government to establish the hubs, combined with local authority funding cuts, had allowed the "postcode lottery" of provision in schools to worsen.

Funded by the Department for Education and administered through Arts Council England, the three-year £171 million programme was considered to be a major positive outcome of Darren Henley's 2011 review of music education in England.

However, Ofsted's report published in November said the hubs, funded from August 2012, had done little to improve the quality of music education from previous years and that the subject continued

USA - When Britney Spears' new Las Vegas revue Britney: Piece of Me opened at the end of last year, leading production designers Baz Halpin and Chris Nyfield of Silent House Productions invested it with a typically dynamic and versatile set.

Halpin, who boasts a veritable portfolio of global superstars among his credits, first started using SGM's groundbreaking XC-5 colour strobes last year on world arena tours with P!nk and Taylor Swift, as rental stagers PRG invested in inventory to meet the demand.

This time he confirms that he has deployed 40 of the LED strobes on the stage at Planet Hollywood Resort as the only strobe platform in the set.

Designed to highlight the pop diva's signature style and energy as she performs infectious dance hits alongside tracks from her eighth studio album, Britney Jean, the show will run for a minimum of two years and combines a high-

Germany - ProLight+Sound and Showtech will merge and take place concurrently in Frankfurt from now on. Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH, the organiser of Showtech, and Messe Düsseldorf reached an agreement to that effect.

The merger of both shows will create "the largest trade fair alliance for professional event technology in the areas audio, lighting, theatre and stage, media and image production, and system integration".

"The two international market leaders will contribute their globally renowned brands to this alliance of strength," says Hans-Joachim Erbel, CEO of Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH. Stephan Kurzawski, SVP of Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH, echoes this sentiment: "Industry leader meets industry leader in a move that executes the bundling of the market in just one trade fair venue so often demanded by both exhibitors and visitors.

Israel - A new reality TV series, Chef Games, has just made its debut on Israeli TV's Channel 2 with lighting designed by Dakar Azulay.

The show was recorded in Studio 5 of the Globus Group Studio complex in Jerusalem, produced by German based Constantine Entertainment, and lit with the help of Robe ROBIN MMX WashBeams and Robin LEDWash 1200s which were instrumental to Azulay's design.

The set featured a full kitchen on one side where the competitors created their culinary art, and this was connected via a conveyor belt to the restaurant / tasting area the other side. The food was dispatched to the tasting teams via the belt, so the judges were unaware of which chef had prepared which of the dishes!

Azulay decided to use the LEDWash 1200s for soft light on Chef Games, the first time he's used them for this application and context. He did this with the addition

Germany - Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund is the biggest football stadium in Germany and Ateis Europe's IDA8 is now playing a major role in ensuring that the upgraded audio system reaches all areas of the 80,720 capacity venue.

The stadium opened in 1974 as the Westfalenstadion and is home to Bundesliga football team Borussia Dortmund. While still referred to by its original name it is known officially as Signal Iduna Park after the Signal Iduna Group insurance company that has sponsored Borussia Dortmund since 2005 in a deal that runs until 2021.

Four new stands were built at Signal Iduna Park for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Germany. It can seat 65,718 fans for international games, with a mixture of seating and standing areas for home matches bringing it up to full capacity. Because of the growing need for a technical infrastructure to provide both voice alarm co

Denmark - Martin products took centre stage and attempted to outshine Mylène Farmer on her 2013 Timeless Tour in a hitherto unseen combination of conventional and creative LED video products. The tour management team worked with Alabama Media to create a state of the art stage design with Martin LED video products.

Martin Professional VC-Grids, VC-Strips, VC-Dots and EC-Panels were integrated into all possible elements of the stage. One of the spectacular details was a curtain made up of Martin VC-Dots. Other than working as a traditional curtain it was used both for effects and to display images.

All along the front edge of the stage, a number of VC-Grids were placed. VC-Strips and VC-Grids were also put on stairs and a piano for maximum visual impact. Other stage elements included eight large trapeziums full of VC-Grids and VC-Strips were flying around on stage during the s

The Netherlands - Bazelmans AVR, a Dutch AV rental company, has invested in the Meyer Sound LYON linear sound reinforcement system and become one of the first suppliers of the new product. The LYON sale, closed during the ISE 2014 trade show in Amsterdam, includes 40 LYON linear line array loudspeakers, 22 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements, and a Galileo Callisto loudspeaker management system, in addition to RMServers for loudspeaker monitoring.

Making its tradeshow debut at ISE 2014, LYON incorporates the technology of the LEO Family in a more flexible and compact package, and extends the advantages of highly linear self-powered systems to a larger range of venues and applications. LYON is available in two variants: the LYON-M main line array loudspeaker for main arrays, and the LYON-W wide-coverage line array loudspeaker for downfill and outfill applications.

"The

Italy - Loudspeaker manufacturer RCF SpA has announced the third edition of its sound engineering course, which is organised by the Department of Science and Methods for Engineering of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, in cooperation with RCF.

The course, which will be presented in English, will cover 120 hours over a five-week period, from Monday to Friday, beginning 5 May and ending 6 June 2014. The course will be located at the RCF Audio Academy premises, located in Reggio Emilia, Italy.

The primary goal of the course is to provide engineers with a specific knowledge of the state-of-the-art technologies related to sound, transducers and speaker systems and their applications in the professional market. The course is organised in modules progressing the basis of electro-acoustics components such as transducers, amplifiers and digital processors, to the design of a

Germany - Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, inventors of Cubase, ASIO and VST, is celebrating three decades of innovation and experience.

Thirty years ago, nearly to the day, Manfred Ruerup and Karl Steinberg founded the company that has become one of the world's largest manufacturers of music and audio software and hardware, with more than 1.5m users worldwide.

"Steinberg have a tradition of pioneering in new technologies that we can be proud of, and our wide network of accomplished engineers, musicians, producers and composers allows us to keep our fingers at the pulse of the industry," comments Frank Simmerlein, marketing director at Steinberg. "I've been a part of this company for a long time and it's wonderful to sense that the spirit of the early days, the constant desire to find new ideas and solutions, lives on."

Since 2005, the company is a whol

UK - 2012 UK X-Factor winner James Arthur has had a roller-coaster rise to stardom in the last 12 months, with his first full production tour kicking off two days into the new year complete with a stylish production and lighting design by Andy Hurst and lighting equipment supplied by Blackburn based HSL.

Hurst took the 'less is more' approach to lighting the Impossible singer's show, which he programmed during production rehearsals at Millennium Studios in Bedford, working a discreet jazz clubby vibe blended with urban edge in to the soul orientated show.

HSL's project manager Mike Oates comments, "Andy's design is classy and intelligent - and really shows off his skills at creating a theatrical style environment."

The stage visuals start with a sumptuous red velour drape upstage - supplied by EventServe Drapeage in Ireland - which sets the tone of the show, with t

UK - MilTec (UK) Ltd started the New Year celebrations by delivering their 1000th LEDHead Batten2 into UK rental stocks. The recipient of the 1000th unit is Push Hires Ltd, based in Eastbourne. Push Hires are part of Push Studios Ltd.

Steve Hubbard, Push Hire's production manager had seen the Batten2 being used on a variety of shows and was impressed with what he saw so he visited MilTec's stand at PLASA for a closer look. A full demo was then organised at the Push premises in Eastbourne, resulting in an order for 68 units.

Steve commented: "The Batten2 was chosen over rival products because it is bright, compact, robust and because the layout of the connectors makes it easy to set up for shows. It is obviously a well thought out and well designed product. Our first job with them will be at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, on a huge exhibition stand over 80m long.

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