Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

People

Details
UK - Caroline Moss, former pro audio journalist, editor and industry specialist, has joined Faith Communications, the independent PR and marketing consultancy set up a year ago by Aviva Ozin.

Ozin and Moss first worked together in the mid-eighties at Britannia Row, the recording and PA group owned by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. Since then both have gone on to amass more than three decades of industry experience between them, with Ozin holding PR and marketing posts with the Autograph group of companies and gaining experience in the recording sector with Harris Grant Associates. She also spent a two-year break from the industry as communications manager of a humanitarian aid organisation. Meanwhile, Moss moved into journalism, and has been assistant editor of Pro Sound News Europe, deputy editor of Studio Magazine and most recently editor of Pro Sound News Asia, as well as wri

Details
UK - Columbus McKinnon has announced the addition of Adrian Forbes-Black to its international sales team. Forbes-Black, who will be regional manager for Europe, was previously general manager at Tomcat UK, a distributor of Columbus McKinnon products. Ned Librock, vice-president of sales, commented: "The Lodestar chain hoist continues to be the theatrical market leader and we believe this appointment will further support our European distributors, customers and users."

Adrian will be based in the Wirral, UK and will be supported by Columbus McKinnon's UK and European-based subsidiaries.

(Lee Baldock)

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

Details
UK - The McKenzie Group has appointed David Laing as general manager of the Glasgow Academy. He joins the team from Queen Margaret Union at the University of Glasgow, where he set up and headed the Entertainments Department. In just over four years, Laing successfully increased the number of live gigs at the University, as well as promoting a number of key dance events and club nights.

The 2,500 capacity Glasgow Academy is the latest sister venue to be added to the expanding list of McKenzie Group venues, namely Brixton Academy (London) Bristol Academy, Birmingham Academy and London's Shepherd's Bush Empire - famous for staging events as diverse as Madonna and the Rolling Stones. Glasgow Academy will launch in March this year, and to date has confirmed live shows with Massive Attack (April 8th & 9th), Inspiral Carpets (April 2nd) and Sugababes (March 28th).

The McKenzie Group

Details
UK - XLFX, the UK-based pyrotechnic manufacturer, has appointed Graham Thomas as sales executive. Thomas will concentrate on export sales and business development. "It's a great opportunity for me to re-establish contact with many old friends in the industry," comments Thomas. "The response that XLFX received from the new products at both PLASA and LDI has been overwhelming, the quality of the engineering and simplicity of operation make the XLFX pyro system extremely innovative."

Martin Blake of XLFX added: "We are delighted to have someone of Graham's calibre onboard; he has a wealth of experience in global sales and can develop a really customer-friendly approach to making the XLFX product range easily available worldwide." The company's new pyro factory will be fully operational by the summer of this year and control equipment shipments will com

Details
France - L-Acoustics has appointed Gauthier Dalle and Stéphane Ecalle as new regional sales managers. The appointment is part of L-Acoustics' strategy to further strengthen its regional support for customers. Dalle and Ecalle will report directly to Michel Brouard, the company's international sales director.

Now in charge of sales at L-Acoustics for South and Central Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Indian regions, Dalle brings 10 years sales experience to the role, the last five within the pro audio industry, most recently with Innovason. Ecalle, meanwhile, has nine years experience within the pro audio sector, formerly working for both Yamaha and BSS USA. He will be responsible for the North European, Russian, Balkan, and both Central and Latin American markets.

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
UK - The Gus and Sheila Dudgeon memorial gathering, which takes place on 31 January 2003 at London's Abbey Road Studios, will also provide a platform for the formation of The Gus Dudgeon Recording Arts Foundation.

Record producer Gus Dudgeon and his wife died suddenly in a tragic accident in July 2002. The Foundation established in his name aims to promote awareness and understanding of the technical craft - particularly in analogue recording - and musicality that made him a producer of such significance. The Foundation will primarily be an educational trust dedicated to teaching recording techniques to a variety of students. The focus of the Foundation will be Reading College, where a Gus Dudgeon studio has already been established using an MCI console and various other pieces of vintage analogue equipment which once belonged to Gus. Provisional trustees for the Foundation incl

Details
UK - Tryka L.E.D. has been launched by Chris Rolph, formerly sales director of Coe-tech, to service the lighting market with a range of LED-based lighting products for the entertainment, leisure, commercial, retail and architectural market sectors.

"After considerable research, this new range of LED fixtures has been developed and is now in production offering many options and solutions," explained Rolph. "The company intends to lead the LED market by offering a range of fittings hitherto unavailable, and to produce new products driven by customer needs. Constant ongoing development will allow the technical boundaries to be pushed forward, and the LED lighting market will thrive and progress with Tryka LEDs, which will be used in many additional areas in the future."

All Tryka products use the Luxeon LED: this has high power output and allows the production

Details
USA - Color Kinetics Incorporated, the pioneer of intelligent LED-based illumination technologies, today announces the appointment of Chris Davis as vice-president of North American sales and Joopvan Aard as vice-president of international sales. Both Davis and van Aard bring a wealth of domestic and international sales, marketing and operational experience to help continue the growth of the company.

Davis brings over 25 years of experience in business development, sales, and strategic partnering in the high-tech, manufacturing automation, and software industries in the US and abroad. Prior to Color Kinetics, Davis held the Singapore-based position of managing director and President, Asia Pacific Operations, for Varta Batteries Private Ltd. He held sales and marketing positions with Schneider Automation, AEG Modicon, Automatix Inc, Pfizer Medical Systems and IBM.

Van Aard has

Details
UK - Following a comprehensive search for a qualified senior manager, Martin Professional has appointed Dave Caulfield as the new managing director of Martin Professional PLC. Caulfield has a long background in the electronic music industry, having worked in sales and marketing related positions for the Japanese companies Casio and Akai, among others, as well as American Emu Systems Inc both in the UK and in Europe.

Martin Professional President and CEO Kristian Kolding commented: "We are pleased to announce the hiring of Dave Caulfield as our new managing director in the UK. His proven track record and extensive experience in the electronic music industry will translate well to the automated lighting industry."

Dave, 55, was named to replace previous head of Martin UK, Claus Puggard, who stepped down as managing director last November. Soon to be relocating to the M

Details
UK - Pete Hughes has joined Canegreen as a full-time special projects manager following years on the road as a freelance engineer. Having started engineering bands 15 years ago, Pete has worked periodically with Canegreen for about 12 years, since when he has toured with the likes of David Byrne, 911, Stevie Wonder, Nanci Griffiths, Neil Finn, Patti Smith, King Crimson, Jethro Tull and most recently Toploader.

In addition to touring, Pete has also managed the sound for a number of large one-off events including The Prince's Trust's 'Party in the Park', Capital Xmas Live and Cambridge Folk Festival, along with stadium shows for The Corrs and Paul Weller as far afield as Japan.

Hughes will be based at Canegreen's North London premises, working alongside Yan Stile and Andrew Frengley. As well as overseeing some large projects this year, he will also be charged to ensure the effec

Details
UK - Newlands Technology Ltd, based on the Science Park of the University of Hull, has appointed Gary Orrell as its general manager for audio. Gary held a similar post with NXT, the flat panel loudspeaker technology company and prior to that, introduced Wharfedale Loudspeakers to the commercial/professional market in the late 80s and early 90s.

Newlands has recently introduced its first commercial audio product to the market, the Soundbug, an audio device, similar in shape to a PC mouse but slightly smaller; driven directly by a Walkman/Discman, it is attached to plane surfaces such as table tops or windows, transforming the whole surface into loudspeakers.

Newlands design and innovation work is based on magnetostriction - the process by which a material changes its shape in response to a magnetic field. Terfenol-D is a material that displays extreme magnetostrictive propertie

Details
USA - In late January, Brad Schiller departed High End Systems to pursue a freelance career as a lighting designer and programmer. With 15 years' experience in the lighting industry, and having spent six-and-a-half years with High End Systems, Schiller felt it was time to pursue further career objectives. He says: "I have enjoyed my years with High End and look forward to continued relationships with the company. However, I now plan to concentrate solely on my lighting design and programming goals."

Schiller's lighting design credits include of a wide variety of productions and installations including AT&T, The Smashing Pumpkins, and the Capitol of Puerto Rico. In addition, his programming skills have been utilized by many designers worldwide including for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the 1996 Academy Awards and numerous concerts, telev

Details
Europe - Rainer Weggen has been appointed European sales manager for DHA's products and services.Weggen has been DHA's International regional sales manager for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Eastern Bloc countries for more than two years, and now takes over the rest of Europe from Nigel Sadler, who will concentrate on Scene Change, DHA's new digital content company.

"Since joining, Rainer has been phenomenally successful in expanding our presence in Germany and the other countries he covered," says DHA's joint managing director, Diane Grant. "We are delighted that he will now be working across all of the European countries, representing our full range of products from gobos and moving effects to Digital Light Curtains."

"I'm looking forward to meeting all of Nigel's customers, and to introducing DHA's great products to many more people throughou

Details
USA - Ame Strong has been appointed product manager for colour filter products at Rosco Laboratories. She will be responsible for developing new filter products, as well as managing the existing product lines in this range. Those product lines include Roscolux and Supergel, both industry-wide standards in plastic colour filters. In addition, Strong will manage Rosco's Permacolor range of dichroic glass.

Strong comes to Rosco after a long stint as operations manager at Special FX Lighting. She is well-known throughout the lighting design community for her ability to match the needs of the designers with specialized colour filter products. In making the appointment Stan Miller, Rosco's president, said: "Ame is an excellent addition to the Rosco staff for two reasons. The first is her long experience and deep understanding of colour filter products. The second is her attitude

Details
UK - Andy Buck has returned to the iLight team after 18 months with Dimtek. Following the launch of iLight Ltd in 2001, Buck remained with the Dynalite brand, but has just returned to the iLight Group as UK sales manager.

His role will augment the UK sales force for iLight and enable him to build upon his already impressive list of clients. Buck has been personally involved in the lighting control aspects of many prestigious projects including Canary Wharf DLR station, The London Coliseum, Sheraton Casablanca, Millennium Dome, Hyatt Regency Mainz and the Hermitage Museum St Petersburg.

His extensive experience in both architectural and entertainment lighting will not only enable him to grow iLight's business but also develop the increasing opportunities for projects requiring both architectural and entertainment lighting control. Buck comments: "It's a pleasure to return

Details
UK - Jon Petts has joined Cambridge-based Pulsar as sales manager. Prior to his appointment Petts was briefly UK sales manager for Antari - an appointment that coincided with Coemar UK taking over the distribution of Antari's smoke machines in the UK. He is, however, better known for his time as international product manager for Jem, part of the Martin Professional Group. At Pulsar, Petts will be strengthening Pulsar's existing structure and developing its customer contact.

(Ruth Rossington)

Details
UK - Martin Capp has joined the board of Chameleon Audio as sales director, with a brief to raise the profile of the company's products globally. Capp brings with him a wealth of experience, gleaned from more than 20 years in the pro audio sector. Previous positions include sales and marketing manager for DDA, international sales manager for Audio Kinetics, UK sales manager for Tascam TEAC's professional division and, more recently, managing director of Expotus.

Chameleon Audio MD, Paul Houlden, comments: "I am delighted Martin is joining us. He has an excellent track record in the pro audio field and had already made inroads into the Asian market on our behalf while at Expotus."

Says Capp: "I'm looking forward to working with Paul to ensure these British-made amplifiers become established as a major name worldwide. My first priority is to increase awareness of

Details
UK - Slough-based lighting and sound sales specialist Stagetec has two new team members onboard - Rob Whitaker as project manager and Ken Poole as sales and marketing manager. The new appointments come in response to a dramatic increase in already-confirmed sales and installation projects for the company.

Whitaker, an experienced project manager in the pro sound and lighting industry, has recently been co-ordinating the installation of a wide range of systems into theatres and pubs for the Bourne Leisure Group. He also has extensive hands-on experience as a sound and lighting technician in venues nationwide. He'll be working within Stagetec's existing projects team, where he will also be assisting in the production of designs and proposals for new ventures.

Poole has a wealth of over 20 years' experience in sales, marketing and customer care. This will be invaluable for the pr

Details
USA - The Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA) has appointed David Taylor, director of project management at Theatre Projects Consultants, to its Board of Directors. A recent vacancy in the position of Affiliate Director allowed ESTA President Mike Wood to appoint David to the Board to fill the remaining two years of the vacated term.

Commenting on his appointment Taylor told us: "Theatre Projects are privileged to specify a huge amount of performance equipment for the US and world markets and we value our close relationships with manufacturers, suppliers and contractors - I look forward to contributing to the ESTA Board and supporting the mission of the diverse ESTA members to create a better, safer and more efficient entertainment market."

Taylor joined Theatre Projects in the UK in 1985, became a project leader in 1989, and a senior consultant

Details
UK - EAW has appointed Sean Martin as European technical sales manger. Martin, one of the UK's most experienced international sales people, claims that the reason he's been in the business for 23 years is because "I just can't seem to get out of it". During that time, he has worked for a number of loudspeaker companies including JBL, Turbosound, Tannoy, Canon and Court Acoustics where he started out as a projects engineer.

Martin commented on his appointment: "Although my recent roles have been in international sales, I look at each system from a technical perspective. Being a member of the Institute of Sound and Communications Engineers certainly helps that aim. I am absolutely delighted to be joining EAW, as it enables me to return to the touring sound market with one of the major loudspeaker brands. It also allows me to continue the relationship I have made wit

Details
USA - L-Acoustics US has made a further appointment this week with the addition of Michael MacDonald to the L-Acoustics US team in the role of sales and marketing consultant. Jeffrey Cox, L- Acoustics US CEO and general manager, told us: "Michael's 20-plus years of diverse pro audio experiences have given him a tremendous amount of insight into this industry, particularly with regard to the loudspeaker market," commented Cox. "We've also worked together successfully in the past, so when the opportunity recently arose to work with him again, I jumped at it."

During the early stages of L-Acoustics US - known then as Cox Audio Engineering - MacDonald consulted for Cox, providing information that was critical to the early growth of the company. Since that time, L-Acoustics US has evolved into one of the largest providers of touring systems in North America. This

Details
UK - A.C. Lighting Ltd has recently completed an exclusive six-week training programme for new trainee sales executives to join its UK and Export sales teams. Trainees have been given a comprehensive induction to the entertainment technology industry, from cables and connectors to state-of the-art lighting control consoles.

The intensive training programme was designed to provide considerable insight to all aspects of A.C. Lighting's business, from individual products through to hands-on exposure to the entire sales cycle. By drawing on specific product range expertise within A.C. Lighting, key employees imparted their valuable knowledge from years in the industry to create customized training modules. In addition, many of A.C. Lighting's suppliers were able to provide representatives for the programme, offering informative demonstration of the features and benefits that their c

Details
Canada - Following record sales growth in 2002, Pathway Connectivity has made another significant investment to further increase its ability to service the needs of its customers. Two new staff members have joined the company, each with a unique set of skills that will be visible to customers both in the near term and further down the road. Jon-Paul (JP) Bussoli will bolster technical support and Virginia Massey joins customer service.

JP is a graduate of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology with a shiny new Diploma in Electronics Engineering. He will complete intensive in-house training and industry orientation over the next two months, after which he will begin to handle entry-level support calls.

Virginia Massey met Kerri Parsons, Pathway's Customer Service Manager at a CITT conference last summer. They both hit it off and Kerri recommended her as an addition to the

Details
UK - Shuttlesound, the UK distribution subsidiary of Telex EVI, has announced the promotion of its sales manager Sean Maxwell to the position of director of sales. Maxwell, who joined the company as a sales rep five years ago, will now assume a key role in Shuttlesound's strategic planning and corporate development. He told us: "One of my main responsibilities will be the positioning of Shuttlesound, both in the marketplace we currently operate in but also in terms of exploring new market opportunities which can offer us fresh potential."

His remit will also include further streamlining of the Shuttlesound sales operation, ensuring greater coordination between the sales office in south London and its team of representatives on the road.

(Lee Baldock)

  1. New managing director at RG Jones
  2. David Jackson joins MTi Audio
  3. Mackie promotes Frank Loyko
  4. Richie Mickan joins LSC
  5. New Associate Partners for Lightswitch
  6. Ron Knell appointed Rosco sales manager
Page 93 of 191
Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
Sennheiser - MPU - June 2025

Latest Issue. . .