UK - Following the success of FBT UK's first demonstration day, held in Purfleet, Essex in January, the company has announced a second event, this time to be held over two days, at Studio 001, Langthwaite Business Park, South Kirby, Wakefield, to showcase its speaker systems and associated products.

The event is being staged on Tuesday 23 February and Wednesday 24 February 2016 and comprises a full day session with a morning seminar, lunch, and an afternoon 'hands-on' workshop. Doors Open at 10am and visitors are invited to choose either the Tuesday or Wednesday events.

Products on demonstration will include the FBT Muse 2-way line array system, which features dual 10" custom Low Frequency drivers and dual 1" B&C high frequency drivers in birch ply cabinets. The dual 10" drivers offer great low frequency performance from this very compact design. The system has been massiv

Germany - Guang Jian Gao, designer-in-chief and art director at the Chinese National Centre of Performing Arts in Beijing, will present a keynote lecture at this year's Prolight+Sound exhibition (Frankfurt, Germany, 5-8 April 2016). The lecture will be held on Thursday, 7 April at 15.30.

"Products and subjects relating to theatre and stage technology have gained greatly in significance for Prolight+Sound. Therefore, I am particularly pleased that, with this lecture by Guang Jian Gao, we can also present a special highlight for trade visitors from this segment at this year's fair", says Prolight+Sound Director Michael Biwer. "Our special thanks go to Florian von Hofen, CTO of Rouge AVE, who made contact with Guang Jian Gao and went to great lengths to make this extraordinary highlight possible."

China's leading stage designer, Gao has been honoured many times for his work a

UK - RH Consulting has announced its biannual count of networked audio products. These results have become the benchmark for understanding the trends in adoption of networked audio.

Every networked audio product on the market was counted, with the assistance of representatives of each protocol's alliances - Audinate, MNA, RAVENNA and AVnu.

This year's count shows Dante increasing its dominance and significant increases from

RAVENNA. AVnu has a reduction in ProAV sector licensees and there is a reduction in the number of available AVB products.

The stats reveal the following:

For the first time the total number of networked audio products exceeds 1000.

Dante has 275 manufacturer licensees and 108 of those actually shipping product.

RAVENNA has 45 manufacturer licensees and 12 of those actually shipping product.

AVnu has 23 manufacturer licensees and

Germany - Dry hire company, Niclen Moving Lights Systems GmbH, has added Elation Professional Cuepix Series LED blinders and Colour Pendant colour-changing LED luminaires to its inventory of rental stock.

. Housing two and four long-life 100W warm white 3,200K COB LEDs respectively, they provide a bright, high-density output that mimics the look of an incandescent source.

"I really like the flexibility of the Cuepix Blinders," stated Niclen CEO Bodo Valasik. "They are excellent white light audience blinders with a high CRI but can also be used permanently full-on so have use for tradeshows or other applications where a wide beam angle floodlight is required. It's also easy to mount two Cuepix WW4 Blinders together to make an 8-light audience blinder."

Marc Librecht, sales & marketing manager for Elation Europe, added, "We are very pleased that Niclen has chosen to add

USA - Pollstar has awarded Bandit Lites the honour of Lighting Company of the Year at the 27th Annual Pollstar Industry Awards. Actor and comedian Gary Owen hosted the event which took place 12 February in San Francisco at the Marriott Marquis and celebrated all aspects of the entertainment industry, from venues to festivals and touring artists.

Bandit Chair and founder, Michael T. Strickland accepted the award, acknowledging the win as a shared success with Bandit's employees and clients. "We are again very humbled to be honoured by our peers in the industry. We credit this win to our phenomenal staff and to our wonder clients, without which we would not be where we are. We promise to work harder every day to deliver the world's finest people, service and gear in order that our clients shine as bright as they possibly can."

This honour marks the 24th 'Lighting Company of

UK - The fast growing HSL Group has confirmed that its inventory of SGM G-Spot IP65-rated LED moving heads has now topped 100 units - in addition to the many low-profile SGM architectural LED fixtures in its hire fleet.

After investing in an initial batch of 40 to enable them to undertake projects at high profile locations such as Alton Towers, a further 60-plus units were requisitioned for use on the top of the London O2 Arena during the recent Rugby World Cup - at the request of Projection Artworks. Here they memorably delivered the flower effects onto a 'canvas' in support of the English rose - an O2 sponsored project, claimed to be the world's largest projection in terms of light output (totalling 1.42million lumens).

HSL's managing director Simon Stuart recognised that G-Spot, attached to the O2's masts, would comfortably withstand all weathers over the seven-week per

USA - UK-based production design company, Okulus, chose a bank of 40 Ayrton MagicBlade-R fixtures to back the up-and-coming American rock band, PVRIS, on their first-ever televised appearance. The band appeared in January on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, the longest-running late night chat show on America's ABC television network, where they were watched by over 2m viewers.

PVRIS may still be in its infancy, but the band recognized the significance of this prime exposure, and were keen to invest time in ensuring their appearance was memorable. They turned to Okulus' lighting designers and programmers, James Scott and Louis Oliver, to bring their ideas to life.

Scott and Oliver decided the unique appearance and reliability of Ayrton's MagicBlade-R fixtures were a sure-fire way to achieve this and used them as a dynamic backdrop to the band's equally dynamic performanc

Germany - Around 18 months before Stage|Set|Scenery (20 to 22 June 2017) is due to open its doors, bookings are high for places at the international trade show and congress for theatre, film and event technology. Already, 56 per cent of the available floor space has been taken. Compared to 2015, exhibitors have increased the size of their stands by an average six per cent, a positive sign for the show 2017, say the organisers.

Currently, exhibitors from 11 countries - Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Serbia, the UK and the USA have registered to take part.

The signs are that the stage technology section will be well represented again at Stage|Set|Scenery 2017. Hall 21 is almost completely booked and Hall 22 is already filling up. Major machine and systems manufacturers, among them Bosch Rexroth AG, SBS B

UAE - Maestra Group has provided a complete turnkey technical solution to the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Saeed Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan (SMK) Emeriti Ladies Tennis Tournament in Abu Dhabi for the second consecutive year. The competition was staged in a private residence in the city.

Central to this year's event was a 23m x 5m 10mm outdoor LED video wall provided by Maestra and run on the company's new Dataton 6 Watchout servers which were linked with Hawk-Eye Innovations software to provide real-time game feedback, analysis and results to spectators.

Maestra designed and produced a range of custom video content that played during the opening of the tournament each evening.

Inside a private pool-house also on the property, Maestra provided a further 6 x 6mm LED screens running from a separate Watchout Server. This was used to show stunning visuals and more custom content around on

Egypt - More than 300 LED and discharge fixtures from PR Lighting graced the for the inaugural opening of the 22nd 2016 African Handball Cup of Nations Championship, which took place over 10 days at the end of January.

They were deployed by the Chinese manufacturer's Egyptian partner, Hi-Lights, to meet an inspired concept by Ahmed Arafa, considered the best designer / operator in Egypt.

Hi-Lights themselves are the country's largest service provider (and one of the biggest throughout the Middle East). They were awarded the contract by the Egyptian Handball Federation & Ministry of Youth and Sports to provide the lighting, sound, video projection and LED screens.

One of several international companies working for the client, their appointment was based on their creativity and quality of service and production over 25 years' experience.

To illustrate a united 'Afric

UK - An audio system supplied by pro audio specialists, The Warehouse Sound Services, hit all the right notes at the inaugural Celtic Connections on Campus concert series produced by Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) this month.

The world's largest Celtic music festival, Celtic Connections saw Glasgow play host to 2,100 artists and 300 events across 20 venues last month. This year, as part of the festival, more than 500 people enjoyed four days of live music performances at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU).

More than 500 people enjoyed the four days of live music performances at the GCU campus, as part of the world's largest Celtic music festival.

GCU Audio Technology and Audio Systems Engineering students used a system provided by The Warehouse at the free concert series which featured up-and-coming talent drawn from Scotland's universities, colleges and schools.

South Africa - Wild & Marr, distributors for Harman Professional audio products in South Africa, will be hosting a free one-day workshop on all the latest techniques and workflows that Soundcraft Vi Digital Consoles can provide in today's Live, Broadcast and Theatre environments. This will be held on 3 March 2016 at MGG Productions, Marlboro, Johannesburg.

It will be hosted by Harman senior application engineer for tour sound, Ed Jackson. The course is open to audio industry professionals on a reservation basis, including sound engineers, broadcast, events, theatre, houses of worship, rental, installation and production companies.

Practical topics will be covered in the workshop including: Vi basic operations and patching, How to best accommodate visiting engineers, Troubleshooting, Show Management, Copying, pasting and the use of library functions and Vi local rack, stage

USA - The Long Reach Long Riders and Behind the Scenes will host their annual fundraising raffle at the USITT Conference in Salt Lake City 117-19 March. This year's raffle will celebrate the 13th Anniversary of the Long Reach Long Riders annual charity motorcycle ride. The Riders have raised over half a million dollars for charity in their years of touring some of the country's most beautiful areas.

The Behind the Scenes Boutique will also be open for business during the show featuring an assortment of great Behind the Scenes swag and the famous Long Reach Long Rider T-shirts and kazoos.

Tickets for the raffle are an affordable $5 each or five for $20 and can be purchased at the Behind the Scenes booth throughout the show. Winning tickets for nine regular prizes and one grand prize will be drawn at 1pm on Saturday, the final day of Stage Expo.

The prizes, provided by t

UK - Last month, famous landmarks across London were completely transformed with extravagant and colourful lighting displays. These were part of Lumiere London - a free lighting festival which took place across some of the capital's most iconic spaces. As the complete production solution specialist, White Light was called upon to provide the lighting support for several of the installations.

Taking place from 14 - 17 January, Lumiere London was produced by Artichoke and supported by the Mayor of London. The range of spectacular displays included the lighting of Westminster Abbey, a purpose-built Garden of Light in Leicester Square and even images of A-list actors projected onto BAFTA's headquarters.

With its strong reputation in lighting across various markets, WL was contracted by Unusual Services and White Productions on behalf of Artichoke to provide its support.

Do

UK - Novus Leisure has carried out a major upgrade to its multi-room Sway Bar in London Holborn's fashionable Great Queen Street, imbuing it with a cool New York vibe.

Of the venue's five rooms, three were earmarked for a major technical and design overhaul as part of the £1m refurbishment, and Middlesex Sound & Light (MSL) specified Martin Audio's new CDD (Coaxial Differential Dispersion) installation range of loudspeakers in each. The spaces concerned were the now sophisticated basement Cocktail Bar (previously Crystal Bar) and Club Room (a conversion of the former Groovy Wonderland), as well as the Ground Floor Bar and Kitchen upstairs. MSL also installed new lighting.

Novus Leisure project manager, Graeme Sutherland, says that the aim was to bring a traditional 1980s style disco into the modern age and give the venue greater flexibility, with the ability to host

USA - The North American International Auto Show held each January in Detroit steers the upcoming year for global car sales. The primary goal of every manufacturer at the show is to create focus and impact for the latest models, ensuring the world is geared up and ready for the latest and greatest from each brand.

Creating the cohesive vision this year for Fiat Chrysler Auto's booth, designed and built by George P Johnson Experience Marketing, James Klein Events were brought in to curate the show production. This featured a spectacular hourly 'Superstorm' that saw each of the Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Alfa Romeo, Mopar, Chrysler and Fiat brands 'takeover' the entire stand with hundreds of moving lights, dozens of HD video pixel-mapped elements and "awesome surround sound scores".

James engaged Michigan-based Sound Reality Corp. who incorporated the much sought-after dynamic audio

USA - Powersoft delivered the audio to a crowd of 71,088 gathered for Super Bowl 50 at Levi's Stadium last week, with over 120 of its K10 high-performance power amplifiers and eight custom subwoofers featuring Powersoft M-System drivers. The pre-game and halftime entertainment portions of the event - powered solely by Powersoft amplifiers - featured energetic performances by Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars, and reached no less than 111.9m viewers worldwide.

Elite audio services supplier, ATK Audiotek, provided system integration and audio services for the landmark event, creating an agile audio solution that consisted of 18 mobile speaker carts - each equipped with JBL VT4889 line array elements, JBL VT4880A subwoofers and Powersoft K10 amplifiers. The speaker carts were rolled onto the field for the pre-game, halftime and post-game portions of the event.

Grammy Awards - Taylor Swift's 1989 won the album of the year award at this year's Grammys in Los Angeles last night. The singer - who is the first woman to win the award twice - also won best pop vocal album and best music video for her track Bad Blood. Rapper Kendrick Lamar won the most prizes on the night with five awards.

Ed Sheeran also won his first two Grammys for song of the year and best pop solo performance for his number one hit Thinking Out Loud. Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars won two awards for their hit Uptown Funk, including record of the year, while Meghan Trainor was named best new artist. Muse won best rock album for Drones, and Tony Bennett collected his 18th Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album.

There were also a number of acts who gave tribute performances - Lady Gaga sang a medley of David Bowie songs, Jackson Bro

Germany - Swedish lighting designer, Palle Palmé provided an imaginative lighting design for a pre-Christmas season at Stockholm's famed Berns Salonger - using exclusively LED fixtures from the GLP impression catalogue.

The Motown Featuring Afro-Dite revue is one of the Dr

The Netherlands - JBL Professional will be holding a two day JBL Intellivox training close to the JBL/Duran Audio R&D and manufacturing facility in Zaltbommel, The Netherlands on Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 March 2016

The training course will cover all the basics required to get started with JBL Intellivox. In addition to this there will be demonstrations of a wide range of JBL Intellivox and JBL AXYS products as well as a factory tour.

To receive additional details about the event and to receive a registration form, contact Anja Stapper (Anja.Stapper@harman.com) who will be co-ordinating the registrations for the event.

(Jim Evans)

Germany - Movie Park Germany is a film and amusement park in Kirchhellen that offers visitors a taste of Hollywood through a host of rides, shows and attractions including functioning movie studios. Popular since opening in the late '90s, the park is divided into five areas, each with its own character and collection of attractions. In one of the most popular areas, Hollywood Street Set, multi-functional Elation Platinum SBX fixtures have been installed to add an extra layer of excitement to a 4-D cinema experience based on the animated movie Ice Age: No Time for Nuts.

The 3D film Ice Age: No Time for Nuts takes visitors through a sensory experience that includes physical effects in synchronization with the film such as shaking seats or wind effects. Eight Platinum SBX hybrid moving head fixtures installed in the cinema's ceiling project film-supporting special e

UK - This week the Current RMS Team is celebrating hitting the 1,000-user mark with close to 700 rental businesses worldwide now relying on the system to manage their hire processes.

Launched just 15 months ago, Current has experienced rapid growth, illustrating the need for AV, lighting and production hire businesses to be able to work on the move, raise quotes on the fly, check stock availability and generate invoices from any device and location.

"Current has been so well received across the UK and we are now seeing significant growth across USA, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East - that's the beauty of the cloud, businesses can sign up within 60 seconds online and receive the same level of support from us, no matter where in the world they are," says business manager Lisa Kenward.

Since launch, Current has heavily invested resource in development, building

USA - True variety shows have all but disappeared from American television, but if anyone can revive the genre it's Neil Patrick Harris who headlined the eight-episode Best Time Ever live variety series on NBC. Lighting designer Matt Ford of Magic Lantern Creations in Woodland Hills, California selected Clay Paky Mythos fixtures for the rig.

Featuring live performances, mini game show segments, sing-a-longs and pre-recorded pranks, "It was incredibly important to have a rig that was extremely flexible because it was a live variety show," Ford explains. "On most reality competition shows there is a lot more predictability, but Best Time Ever had a lot of unknown variables that you had to adjust to on the fly. We had to react to whatever was thrown at us. Most of the acts were new, things were shot from many different angles and one time we had to reblock a couch s

The Netherlands - The first four-day Integrated Systems Europe exhibition came to a close on 12 February with a final count of 65,686 registered attendees. This represents a 6,338 (10.7%) increase on the 2015 edition and officially positions ISE as the world's largest AV and systems integration tradeshow.

"The volume of attendee traffic and its spread over the four days confirms our belief that the extra day was necessary and that it adds value for visitors and exhibitors," stated Integrated Systems Events managing director, Mike Blackman. "I'm delighted to say that the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and I would like to thank everyone who attended and contributed."

With 1,103 of the world's leading AV manufacturers and service companies filling the RAI's exhibitions halls, visitors had the opportunity to view the latest products and technologies. Members of the

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