UK - LiteSwitch is a control interface, conceived with one aim - operational simplicity. Allowing control of up to 96DMX channels and 60 lighting scenes, LiteSwitch can be programmed to create and manage complex lighting environments, yet access to them is so simple; at the touch of a single button.

Additional features such as daylight sensing, PIR (Person In Room) and calendar triggers are all included in the compactLiteSwitch package, ensuring total control of the lighting environment with simplicity. LiteSwitch is designed and manufactured in the UK by Litestructures, and is available through a network of approved distributors.

LiteSwitch is launched at the ARC Show, Earls Court 2, London , this week.

(Jim Evans)

Germany - The Trade Fair Tower in the heart of Frankfurt Main is considered one of the most exclusive and attractive venues in the Rhein-Main region. With eight meeting rooms, two lounges and a bistro, the Trade Fair Tower offers plenty of room for the most diverse events: conferences, roadshows, , main assemblies, incentive events, or after-work parties.

Since the beginning of 2008 PDM Light & Sound has been the official technical supplier to the Frankfurt Trade Fair Tower Service GmbH. PDM manages the existing audio-visual technology already installed in the building, and provides additional equipment and professional support as the need arises.

"We're happy that the Frankfurt Trade Fair Tower Service has chosen us to be their long-term partner," states Fred Jung, managing director of PDM Light & Sound. And Carsten Krause, sales manager for HK Audio Concert Sound a

The Netherlands - Mojo Barriers provided the crowd safety infrastructure required for the Dutch premiere of Valkyrie, the new film starring Tom Cruise. Cruise, who is known for his enthusiasm for greeting fans, often spending one or two hours on the red carpet outside film premieres, required the most robust safety measures for his appearance at Holland's Pathé Tuschinski Cinema, Amsterdam.

Mojo Barriers supplied 30m of aluminium barrier following a specific request for their product to achieve the highest standards of security and crowd safety. The Hollywood star met Dutch fans, signing signatures and constantly reaching over the barrier to shake hands, while crowds remained comfortable in spite of the high turnout.

"The comfort and safety of both the actors and the public was paramount to the organisers of the Valkyrie launch," says Patrick Jordan, ma

USA - Lighting for a concert video shoot featuring Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana performing eight songs to be aired in the promotion of her upcoming album release and mega-hit Disney Channel series was designed by Lee Rose of Design Partners.

Held outdoors before a live - and very vocal - audience at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, CA, the concert was performed on a full stage set created by Tom McPhillips of Atomic Design . One of Rose's lighting challenges was to add excitement to four pieces of scenery used to surround video columns on the stage. "Tom (McPhillips) had come up with a set design that included four video columns," said Rose. "The surround to each column was a piece of scenery that looked kind of lonely."

Wanting to tie this scenery into the show's colour and movement, Rose positioned six Impression LED moving heads from Elation Pr

UK - PLASA's forthcoming AGM and Members Lunch is expected to attract a strong turnout in June, on the back of another influential year for the organisation.

PLASA's momentum is certainly growing: its membership base is expanding, its range of services is strengthening and its member networking events are increasing, making the AGM and Members Lunch an important event at which members can come together to discuss solutions and approaches to the current situation.

PLASA is highly active at an industry-level too: its political policy continues to give the entertainment and installation technology sectors a strong profile in Government circles and the organisation is about to announce the next stage in its skills strategy, focusing on the development of a portfolio of qualifications designed to enhance the skills-base of the sector.

It is also just a few months away from the la

The Netherlands - Alcons reports a very successful ISE show. Playing on home-turf, many international clients and interested potentials, among which of course many Dutch, stopped-by the stand. Highlights were the CR1 3-way ultra-compact AV / Digital Cinema sound system and the LR7 micro pro-ribbon line-array.

MD Tom Back states: "We participated at ISE three years ago and the attendance and importance of the show has grown significantly, also for us as a sound system manufacturer. The response from our visitors was very positive, although most of them mentioned that they would like to see a more "focused" show lay-out, with a concentrated pro-audio section, making their visit more efficient. Other than that, great show, good meets and leads."

(Jim Evans)

USA - North Carolina-based Stewart Sound first became involved with a Barack Obama's election trail last September and since then have provided impressive sound for several important events.

"It all started with a call from Atlas Group in Raleigh NC," says Stewart Sound's founder Chad Stewart. "Atlas is an event specialist and we've done several things with them since that first call. They needed a PA system for a Democrat Presidential campaign event in Greensboro. Obama was on the election trail at the time, and this was a public event for about 15,000 people.

"We put in a PA composed entirely of d&b audiotechnik Q-Series Q1 loudspeakers. After the event Atlas came to us and said it was the first time at one of these events that they hadn't heard a single complaint; not one heckler in the audience said they couldn't hear what was being said."

By the

UK - Leading UK lighting rental company HSL has made a substantial investment in Robe's new Digital Series products - including 6 DigitalSpot 7000DTs and 36 REDWash 3-192s along with 16 REDBlinder 2-96's - primarily for the Pussycat Dolls' European Doll Domination tour, for which they were specified by LD Scott Warner.

HSL is supplying all lighting equipment and crew for the tour which also includes 60 Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 2500E AT moving lights, 40 Martin Professional Atomic strobes, a 12 way Kinesys automation system with Vector control plus over 60 motors and rigging. HSL also designed and commissioned several pieces of custom metalwork that were fabricated by TFL for the tour which is project managed for them by Mike Oates.

The slick, high-energy show is a colourful and fluid amalgam of classic pop lighting with plenty of attitude and dynamics. Warner makes

UK - British mixer manufacturer, Allen & Heath, has chosen the forthcoming ProLight & Sound show in Frankfurt to unveil a new addition to their portfolio. For the first time in 15 years, Allen & Heath has designed a broadcast console, which will be introduced from the ZED range of small-format USB mixers.

Allen & Heath will also be introducing updates to the new iLive-T Series compact digital mixing system, which can now interface with popular networking standards such as EtherSound, ADAT and Aviom.

The new Xone:22 2-channel analogue DJ mixer will be shown for the first time in Europe, and the increasingly popular ZED-R16 Firewire recording mixer will also be generating interest. Mixers from the whole Xone DJ range will be displayed, including the :D Series of MIDI controllers, and there will be a cross section of mixers from the ZED, MixWizard, GL, iDR and iLive ranges.

See

Germany - The Berlin microphone manufacturer will be offering trade fair visitors a programme of short seminars with expert moderators. The seminars, 40 in total, focusing on 10 different topics, will deal not only with general questions concerning the use of microphones in the studio and on stage but also with special topics such as the amplification of choirs, the creation of band demos, the use of digital microphones in home recording studios, voice training for various musical styles, optimal monitoring, and measures for improving room acoustics.

Seminars will be held on all four days of the trade fair, from 9:45 am to 6:00 pm. The complete programme with all of the information concerning the seminar topics and moderators can be found at www.neumann.com. Participation is free of charge, and no preregistration is required, however those who come early will get the best seats,

UK - With just 10 weeks to go, the first PLASA Focus event has grown to fill two halls at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, on Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th April 2009 - and has announced its first, comprehensive, seminar programme.

To ensure the show is as valuable as it can be for busy visitors, a packed two-day seminar programme in a purpose built auditorium will cover a broad array of topics, including health and safety, rigging, sustainability and more.

Six seminars have so far been confirmed (with two more still to be announced). These cover 'Tallescopes - Friend or Foe?', 'PPE for Working At Height - Clearing The Mist' and 'The Theatres Trust - Open Forum' (Tuesday 28th); and 'Sustainable Events - Making BS8901 Work For You', 'Freelancing In The Industry' and 'Regulatory Reform - Fire Safety' (Wednesday 29th).

All seminars are free to attend and tackle a wide spectrum o

The Netherlands - www.event1001.com is a new international industry portal and search guide for organisers and suppliers of events, congresses and incentives.

"Now that Event1001 is live, organisers and suppliers of events, congresses and incentives can actively experience for themselves how clearly and easily this search guide works," says a spokesman. "Event1001 is a platform where companies worldwide can be found easily on the map and can make use of each other's services.

As of now, suppliers and organization bureaus from the events sector throughout the world can register themselves and publish their profiles on the site.

The profiles of the participating companies and organisations are detailed, conveniently arranged and much useful information. The search function is completely free of charge to the user. With a simple search query, anyone wishing to se

Germany - The live concerts in the Agora Marquee in the central piazza at the Frankfurt Messe have for years been a feature of the Musikmesse/Prolight&Sound trade fair in Frankfurt. After a number of successful years with the Real Groove Band - along with star guests such as Haddaway, Bobby Kimball and most recently T.M. Stevens - Electro-Voice, Dynacord, Midas and Klark Teknik have secured the services in 2009 of guitarist Steve Lukather.

The session musician and Toto guitarist will be performing with his band three times a day from 1-4 April. "We're proud to be bringing, in the shape of Steve Lukather, a genuine legend to Frankfurt. The Agora Marquee promises to be packed," says Robert Pletz, head of marketing of the business unit communications systems of Bosch Security Systems.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Link, a leading manufacturer and distributor of products specifically designed to solve wiring and connectivity problems within the entertainment arena, will exhibit its DGlink digital audio distribution system at the Prolight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt (1-4 April 2009).

Link, the first manufacturer to introduce printed circuit board based modular snakes and stageboxes over a decade ago, is now introducing the first hybrid multi-protocol enabled modular digital snake system.

The primary objective of DGlink is to offer a solution that will replace, or integrate with, traditional audio distribution systems (analoguee and digital) during live applications, utilizing one or multiple, digital transport protocol standards over Cat 5 or 6 cables. The DGlink modular touring grade digital audio distribution snake (48 kHz/24-bit), is designed for live applications leveraging the

UK - TOA returns to Frankfurt's Prolight & Sound this year with "the most comprehensive range of commercial audio solutions it has ever presented at the show".

Brett Downing, sales & marketing director, TOA Corporation (UK), comments, "Prolight + Sound is our number one tradeshow for Europe and this year we have a whopping 150sq.m stand on which to showcase our products. We expect to attract many new customers with our offering and, just as importantly, to link up with existing dealers and distributors, from markets as far afield as Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and the Middle East."

Among the new products on offer are the VM-3000 PA/VA System and the SX-2000 Audio Management System, both of which made their debut at February's Integrated Systems Europe show in Amsterdam. Designed for small to medium-sized and multi-site projects respecti

UK / Germany - Having celebrated its 50th anniversary in the music industry in 2008, Fane is ready to announce its largest launch of new products for many years, to be unveiled at the Frankfurt ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany, (1-4 2009).

Fane International Limited has announced the launch of two new Colossus drivers handling 1000 and 1500W (AES) respectively and the Sovereign range consisting of 17 new models from 6.5" to 18" designed for a broad spectrum of sound reinforcement situations comprehensively covering midrange, full range, bass-mid and dedicated bass applications.

Director Mark Barnes says: "2009 represents an important year in the development of Fane and our continuing impetus in the international market. After spending a year in research and development, the timing of our product launch could not be better. In the current climate i

USA - J. R. Clancy will present the Promote Safe Sets session at the USITT Conference and Stage Expo 20 March. The session lays out a plan to keep your rigging systems in good shape by following three simple steps: train, inspect, and maintain. Although the session focuses on rigging, the techniques can be used for all types of safety training.

"As we take on more complex productions, and add new equipment to our theatres, we need to look at how this affects backstage safety," said Tom Young, vice-president of marketing for J. R. Clancy. "With changing technology, regular training on new equipment and safety procedures is essential, maintenance requirements change, and inspections become more important than ever. Our panel discussion will cover how training, inspection, and maintenance fit into every theatre's backstage safety plan."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Registration is open for Showlight 09 which takes place from 16-19 May at BBC Scotland's new headquarters in Glasgow. Further details and registration forms are available at the web address below.

Speakers will include Haris Zambarloukos, Mamma Mia! (the movie); Angus Farquhar, The Storr Project; Iain Ruxton, Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi; Bernie Davis, The Royal Variety Performance; Paul Collison, Beijing Olympics and Roberto Schaeffer, ASC, Quantum of Solace.As well as listening to the speakers, Showlight delegates get the opportunity to talk to them - over coffee, lunch and tea and at the Conference Dinner. The visits programme includes Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, City Halls, the Philips factory at Hamilton, The House for an Art Lover, not one, but two distilleries, and Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama.

Showlight sponsors include Martin Profession

France - For its third edition, the Dimension 3 forum will take place in Seine-saint-Denis, a region that strongly supports 3D research and production. From 2-4 June 2009, Dimension 3 is inviting professionals from the cinema, TV, video games, entertainment, communication and training industries to "one of the most important events of the 3D industry in the world".

Staged in the Centre National de la Danse in Pantin near Paris, this event will evaluate the maturity of the creation and visualization solutions dedicated to the 3D images and their application programmes. This year, a space for the 3D production promotion will be added to the Dimension 3 professional exhibition area. Added to those areas dedicated to professionals, Dimension 3 Immersion, an area for the visual experimentations, will be open to a broader audience.

60 international experts will be gathered

UK - The Directors of Batmink Ltd, one of the UK's largest distributors of sound and lighting equipment, are looking forward to the inaugural PLASA Focus show (Leeds, UK, 28-29 April 2009). Sales director Grant Thomas explains why Batmink are so enthusiastic about the new show: "As wholesale distributors, we often find that visitors to the trade shows are there primarily to familiarise themselves with new products, rather than to establish contacts and suppliers for these goods. At PLASA Focus, the emphasis is more on networking and developing new business relationships which may well prove more successful for a wholesale distributor such as ourselves. PLASA's own figures indicate that 70% of pre-registered visitors didn't attend the PLASA show in London, so this is also an excellent opportunity to meet new potential clients who may not be aware of our products or services.&q

USA - The NSCA Business and Leadership Conference, sponsored by InfoComm International, concluded with positive discussions on resolutions, ideas and new strategies to handle business management in today's uncertain economy.

Commercial electronic systems integrators were encouraged by the overwhelming sense of community they experienced during this year's event. At a time when negative news and concerns surrounding economic stability consume staff at every level from business managers to technicians, conference attendees discovered staffing strategies, financial fixes and creative marketing methods at the event held last week in Phoenix, Arizona.

In addition to general sessions, a variety of networking events and social opportunities allowed attendees to discuss first hand their daily challenges and what works for them. Special guest, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), shared in

UK - Yet more exhibitors, including Orbital Sound, UK Rigging, Cerwin Vega, Sylvania, CoNi, Lighting Effects Distribution, Northern Light, Schnick-Schnack Systems and Sound Technology have now signed up for PLASA Focus Leeds - 28 - 29 April at the Royal Armouries.

The event will feature a packed two-day seminar programme in a purpose built auditorium which will cover a broad array of topics, including advice for freelancers, how to produce sustainable events and the issues facing regional theatres in the economic downturn.

Seminars are to be presented by leading industry associations including ISCE, Theatres Trust, ABTT, PLASA and the Sustainable Events Group.

As many seminars are close to selling out it is important to register now to secure your seat.

With pre-registered visitor figures now at 1,400, the first PLASA Focus event looks set to be a major success for all inv

UK - CoNi - a leading supplier of high-quality lighting, sound and audio-visual equipment to the leisure industry - will be present at PLASA Focus Leeds this April 28 - 29.

Also a major rental house, supplying lighting solutions to tours such as Lee Evans, Live @ The Apollo, Will Young and the forthcoming Michael McIntyre tour just to name a few, the company has direct accounts with some of the world's leading brands in all areas of the entertainment business and aims to supply "leading products at competitive prices,"

"We stock the latest in intelligent lighting technology from Martin Professional, industry standard lighting desks from Avolites coupled with an extensive range of generic lighting and effects. We also stock an extensive range of trussing, rigging and staging, again using industry standard names such as James Thomas and Tomcat," say the compa

Germany -, Prolyte will debut four new products at ProLight&Sound in Frankfurt.

Prolyte Space Roof is a a modular roof system; Prolyft Mark IIIis the latest version of the Prolyft hoist; Prolyft Controllers are a new range of high-end but affordable controllers, and there will also be more in the Prolyft Rigging hardware line.

Also on display will be established Prolyte trussing products and Stage DEX.

(Jim Evans)

Latest Issue. . .