UK - Students and performers at theatre company Chickenshed will now be performing and rehearsing in newly refurbished spaces, thanks to Unusual Rigging which, as a long-term supporter of the company, has contributed to a much needed make-over at the venue.

Unusual has installed a new auditorium floor in The Rayne - Chickenshed's main performance theatre as well as donating a floating stage platform for this year's Christmas production, Adventure to Oz and all the rigging equipment required for the installation.

Frances Thomas, head of theatre management at Chickenshed commented, "We are delighted to be supported by such a prestigious company as Unusual and the changes they have made to our venue are massive. We are an inclusive theatre which means that we have some performers with varying access requirements, including impaired vision and mobility problems etc. Unu

Italy - The first tour in Italy to use Nexo's STM Series modular line array has enjoyed great success, with over 200,000 tickets sold. Aldo Giovanni e Giacomo are three well-known Italian comic performers, currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of their comedy career.

The 2016 tour, which also featured live orchestral music from the Good Fellas, was an important one for sound rental company Joint Rent, based in Ravenna. To service the extensive tour, the company invested in Nexo's STM Series modular line array, purchasing the new omnipurpose STM M28 cabinet to use as the main module alongside B112 bass and S118 sub modules.

"From the beginning, we believed in the potential of the M28 and the STM concept. For a tour like this, it was definitely the right PA product, offering complete modular assembly, very fast rigging and ease of set up," said Gianni Fantini, CEO of Jo

USA - With its 3,500 capacity, tiered seating and intimate design, The Myth Live Event Centre has earned a well-deserved reputation as a venue that provides big name artists with an opportunity to connect to fans. Prince enjoyed performing here; so too have rock icons like Counting Crows and ZZ Top.

Given its history, this suburban St. Paul music hall served as an ideal setting for a recent concert by Hardwell, the Big House star who elevated fan-artist connectivity to new heights this summer by creating a first-of-its-kind Facebook Messenger Bot that gives his 8.5m followers direct input into his weekly international radio programme.

Ryan Warffuel and Max Koehler of Antic Studios supported Hardwell's connectivity to his Myth Centre audience with an expansive video wall and floor package that featured products from Chauvet Professional. The pair used the company's P

UK - Blitz|GES, the audio visual provider to live events, has been selected as an official supplier to the UK tour of Sister Act.

The stage show is adapted from the award-winning film and stars Alexander Burke (X Factor) in the lead role with direction and choreography from Craig Revel-Horwood.

Blitz|GES worked with the production team behind Sister Act earlier this year, when they provided sound equipment for the tour of Tell Me on a Sunday.

"I always enjoy working with Blitz|GES," said Richard Brooker, sound designer to the Sister Act UK tour. "The team understands the requirements of modern touring and the way in which they assemble the equipment ensures that we keep to the demanding schedule for this tour. It is excellent to be working with the team again and I'm confident Sister Act will be a hit."

Chris Jordan, head of sound and th

UK - TiMax developers, Out Board, claim 'the busiest summer ever' following this year's prolific run of outdoor shows using the unique TiMax SoundHub spatialisation and TiMax Tracker performer tracking automation systems.

Kicking off at Erfurt Domfest, TiMax SoundHub and TiMax Tracker brought Tosca to glory with rental partners Neumann and Muller. Switching from the traditional to the ultra-modern, the next role for TiMax was at the opening ceremonies of Switzerland's ground-breaking, Gotthard Tunnel. With world leaders in attendance, Basel-based audiopool provided sound production and put TiMax Tracker to work imaginatively, but most atypically, as a visual cueing aid to manage audio localisation down the length of the elongated arena.

TiMax was specified in the most picturesque locations: Switzerland's large-scale Thunersee Festspiele with its stunning Swiss lakes

Switzerland - Merging Technologies has announced that Nicolas Sturmel has joined the company. He was previously project manager and head of research at Digigram, investigating future platforms and innovative solutions for audio and video broadcasting; a position he held from 2012.

During his time there, he was intimately involved with RAVENNA/AES67 projects, including a joint initiative with Merging Technologies to produce a comprehensive RAVENNA/AES67 management tool. This project was revealed at IBC in September with the view to gathering comment and technical input from interested partners in the wider Audio over IP community.

Mr Sturmel gained a Ph.D in signal processing and information technology from the University of Paris Sud Orsay. Prior to that, he was working in the music production world with a two-year spell as assistant sound engineer.

Nicolas remains pas

World - Within a two-week window, Area Four Industries was present at two important exhibitions on two continents - LDI in Las Vegas and Prolight & Sound Middle East in Dubai.

When LDI opened its doors on 21 October, 2016, the lighting and sound Industry was introduced to the newest force in truss and support structures: Area Four Industries America.

In addition to MILOS and LITEC truss being represented at the Area Four Industries America booth, the new 8:1 EXE-RISE hoists and EXE Load Cell from EXE Technology were on display.

Also making its debut in Las Vegas was the entire Area Four Industries America team. All members of the team were available to answer questions during the three-day show and included Franti Zykan (CEO), Tim Waterman (CFO), Carmen Saverese (business development manager) and Eric Lawrence (sales specialist).

Eight days after LDI closed its doo

South Africa - DWR Distribution is introducing CableJoG to the South African market. Based in the UK, CableJoG designs, manufactures and distributes a range of cable testers from eight test points in the case of the AudioJoG Pro 3 audio cable tester through to 1024 in the CableJoG 512 cable tester with the extra 512 adaptor.

Eddie Zych, founder, director and designer of CableJoG recalls initially meeting DWR's Robert Izzett at PLASA a couple of years ago. "I seem to remember Robert coming to the stand and giving me quite a hard time but then sharing a table at the Price of Wales pub," said Eddie.

"I'm sure it wasn't me giving Eddie a hard time on the stand," replied Robert. "I'd never to something like that, though sharing a beer does sounds more style."

Rob purchased a couple of testers for office use at DWR at the time and has subsequently had many customers asking f

UK - VDC Trading has announced the production of two new Cat cables following more than 12 months of development and three stages of production design.

The new cables; a Cat 7 TourCat and a Cat 6A flexible TourCat, represent an increase in the solid core and stranded copper cables for digital audio in both bandwidth and length of run. Both cables are rated to carry up to 10G even though the likely maximum load for a digital audio network is only 1 Gb.

The Van Damme 268-470-000 TourCat Cat 7 S/FTP solid conductor is a polyurethane (PUR) jacketed 0.56mm solid conductor cable with individually screened pairs and an 80% coverage overall braided screen. It has been tested to provide a proven Gigabit Ethernet connection at 105 metres

The Van Damme 268-466-000 TourCat Cat 6A S/FTP stranded conductor is a flexible PVC jacketed 26AWG stranded conductor cable with individually s

USA - Elation Professional's new series of IP-rated moving lights, Proteus, won an LDI Best Debuting Product Award at the recent LDI trade show in Las Vegas. Recognized for 'advancing IP weather protection in a quality automated fixture,' the Best Debuting Product accolade was presented at an awards ceremony on 24 October on the LDI show floor.

Proteus, which will be available for delivery in early 2017, proved to be a talking point at the show with the first two fixtures in the series, the Proteus Beam and Proteus Hybrid, drawing a steady stream of interest at the Elation LDI booth. They were also featured during live entertainment on the LDI Live Outside stage, where the fixtures featured in an industry party performance by the Swinging Johnsons.

On hand to receive the Best Debuting Product award were Elation Professional sales director Eric Loader and ADJ Group presiden

Germany - The Daimler AG booth was illuminated with the latest fixtures from GLP at the world's most important trade fair for commercial transport and logistics, which took place in Hannover in late September.

The world market leader in commercial vehicles presented 70 trucks, vans and buses from brands Mercedes-Benz, Fuso and Setra. The premieres were brought to life thanks to an impressive 144 GT-1 discharge lamp fixtures from GLP. And with more than 16,000 m² of exhibition space at their disposal, an additional 24 GLP impression X4 and 280 impression X4L were used to create a vibrant atmosphere on the stand.

rgb gmbh was entrusted with this extensive production task. In fact, they were responsible for the lighting design and technical planning, including rigging, for the entire exhibition stand. The technical service provider for the lighting and rigging was PRG from H

USA - Anew Communications Technology, Inc. (Anew C.T.), based in Centennial, CO, has been appointed the sales representative for VUE Audiotechnik in the Southwest region of the US. This territory covers California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.

Anew C.T. will handle VUE's entire range of products, from the compact integrator focused i-Class systems, through the Truextent Beryllium-based h-Class Premium Powered Systems and al-Class Scalable Line Arrays featuring Continuous Source Topology (CST).

"Anew C.T. is proud to be selected as the sales representative firm for VUE in the Southwest," says Nelson Brugh, president of Anew C.T. "There is great synergy with our current line of video and audio manufacturers, and VUE lets us offer our customers a range of unique, world class products! We're excited to have the opportunity to work with the VUE team, especial

Ghana - musicXchange Ghana, is an international nonprofit organization which provides a platform for local musicians in Ghana to showcase their talents while giving them the chance to positively impact their local communities. With the help of DPA microphones, Federico Masetti, CEO of musicXchange INC., is able to provide professional microphones to those who may never have the opportunity to use them.

"During my last year at the Berklee College of Music, I took a three-week trip to Ghana as part of a study abroad program, but also to follow my father's work in the country," says Masetti. "My father is a doctor and was working on a humanitarian project to help build a nonprofit hospital in Kumasi, Ghana. I wanted to find a way to further his efforts and utilize my passion for music to help the people of Ghana.

"That's where the idea of musicXchange first came about. musicX

Italy - The Holy Spirit complex in Porto Torres (Sassari) incorporates a church, several multi-purpose halls and a sports area on a total surface of over 8000 sq.m. The complex was constructed in 2016 as an important point of reference for the local community, at a total cost of of 2m euros.

A critical factor for the choice of sound reinforcement products was the architectural structure of the church: it is an open space, 36 m wide and 16.5 m deep, excluding the choir and chapel. There are no installation points, and the perimeter walls are the only anchor points available.

Two RCF VSA2050 columns have been installed on the side walls, plus one VSA1250 near the altar, to reinforce the front rows. Such a small number of products allows the integral coverage of the large space with its 36m width, thanks to the VSA columns' deep throw and 130° horizontal coverage.

VSA

UK - Stephen Daldry's multi-award winning production of An Inspector Calls has returned to the West End at the Playhouse Theatre. This now famous revival was first performed at the National Theatre in 1992 and has since won 19 major awards across the globe.

Lighting designer Rick Fisher has lit the production since its infancy and returns once again for this latest run. He approached White Light to provide the lighting equipment, which included the GLP impression X4 Bar 20s which the company has recently invested in.

An Inspector Calls is written by JB Priestley and tells the story of a family's dinner party being interrupted by the mysterious Inspector Goole who is investigating the death of a young woman. Rick comments, "What's great about An Inspector Calls is that it's still a brilliant production which resonates with a lot of audiences. Generation

South Africa - Comedian John Vlismas presented Revelations II - The Good Racist to a sold out audience for two consecutive nights at the Teatro at Montecasino in Fourways, Johannesburg. Sound Stylists supplied the full technical and were one of the sponsors of the event. The same set and gear was then used for the for the Savanna Comics' Choice Awards the following week.

John Vlismas is a stand-up comedian and the owner of Whacked Special Project, the producers of the Savanna Comics Choice Awards.

"Lighting the show was a bit of a challenge for me as I'd never done a comedian act before," admits lighting designer Sean Crawley. "When I spoke to John Vlismas prior to the event, asking him what his vision was for the show, he said he was aiming to combine rock and roll with theatrical twist. He enjoys beams, but also required clean looks, and essentially wanted the sta

UK - International image processing specialist Calibre has signed a global distribution and sales agreement with Stampede, the distributor of ProAV products and systems solutions. The appointment ensures that the entire range of Calibre HQUltra 4K presentation scalers and switchers will be available globally.

Calibre's in-house HQUltraFast switching technique allows the HQUltra range to typically switch between input channels in 0.25 seconds, with audio and video streaming features now available Calibre continues to provide best-in-class performance for its customers

Stampede has been a leader in ProAV distribution for nearly 20 years, with dedicated sales and account management teams based in Europe, Latin America, North America and Canada. The agreement was signed on 7 September 2016, so Stampede will now promote and sell Calibre's ProAV products globally, with emphasis

Taiwan - For a three-month showcase starting 7 December 2016 in Taipei City, AVATAR: Discover Pandora touring exhibition is based around the science and technology of the creatures and environments of James Cameron's highest grossing film, Avatar.

Zanim8tion provided the playback and programming using AV Stumpfl's Wings Vioso software suite. The project was fully supported by distribution partner, VIOSO.

As visitors explore the wildlife and landmarks of Pandora, each interactive video exhibit area will benefit from the video playback provided by Wings Vioso, each one remotely controlled with a hand held radio frequency transmitter by a live host presenter. Additionally, Zanim8tion has configured Wings Vioso to synchronize lighting and door controls within each room.

"AV Stumpfl's Wings was the ideal software to use because of its integrated show control elements and th

Spain - For the past nine years, Yamaha Music Europe has organised an annual system designers' conference. In 2007, the first conference attracted 30 delegates. This year over 120 gathered at the Valencia campus of Berklee College of Music, where they witnessed an exceptional cross-industry collaboration between Yamaha, Barco, Dolby and Unique Cinema Systems.

Hosted at the appropriately futuristic-looking Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Yamaha's annual system designers' conference is an opportunity for delegates to discuss ideas, technology and best practise with other audio professionals from throughout Europe.

The theme of this year's two-day conference was Multi-channel Audio for Entertainment and Professional Communication and, for the first time, it featured multiple manufacturers. As well as Yamaha, participating companies included Barco, Dolby Laboratories, Nexo, Rev

Thailand - A MILOS roof was used to cover a 52m wide stage for the Road to ULTRA electronic music festival in Bangkok, Thailand. The project used M390L (QTL) truss, which supported hundreds of video tiles, two 4x4x2m video screens, two 4x2x2m video screens, one 5 x 3m video screen, as well as additional lights and PA.

The client for the project was the Bangkok-based company One Systems Global Co., Ltd. Project Coordinators were Michal Zykan, Howard Chen, Vanessa Chompoo and the Milos Guangzhou Ltd. Team, who ensured extremely fast realization of the project.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Resurface is a new online marketplace, launched this week, which is tailored to the needs of companies and individuals using professional audio mixing technology.

Formed by Ben Nemes and Tim Hurrell, two audio industry professionals with over 50 years' combined experience, Resurface serves to connect buyers and sellers of audio consoles around the world. It also connects its audience to a wider collection of services, including a continuously-curated news feed tuned for its professional audio audience.

"After many years in this industry, we were very aware that - whilst digital systems have been an industry standard for over 20 years - the secondary market for this technology and all related services is so highly fragmented that it doesn't function" explains Tim Hurrell.

"All high-value equipment purchases represent assets that owners periodically want to upgrade,

Germany/Japan - Bosch Security Systems and Sony Corporation have signed a contract to establish a business partnership to collaborate in the development of innovative products and solutions in the field of video security applications.

Effective from the beginning of 2017, the two companies aim to combine their technological expertise to set new standards in high-resolution and low light video imaging. As part of the agreed partnership, Sony's video security customers in all markets except Japan will be served and supported by the sales and marketing organization of Bosch Security Systems. The partnership is subject to approval by the antitrust authorities.

Within the scope of the partnership, Sony will bring its leading expertise in video image quality and performance, while Bosch will add an extensive set of robust video analytics at the edge to interpret data as well as

The Netherlands - Belgian design practice Painting with Light has supplied lighting and video design for the Stage Entertainment tour of cult 1970s musical Hair which is currently touring the Netherlands.

Set in New York during the Vietnam War era in the midst of hippie counterculture, the sexual revolution and mind-expanding drug experimentalism, the storyline touches multiple race and class issues and asks leading and rhetorical questions about the futility of war and violence which are still as relevant today as they were 40 years ago.

These historically significant markers all provided multiple layers of rich visual material for Luc Peumans and his team which included associate and video content producer Michael Al Far to work with.

The production united the same creative team with whom Luc worked on 2015 hit The Bodyguard, and Painting with Light was

USA - Sponsored by High End Systems, the 2016 Hog Factor National Collegiate Lighting Show Programming Competition was held at the recent LDI exhibition in Las Vegas.

The contest was very close this year, with Webster University's team The Fauxtons ultimately winning the competition. The Fauxtons team of Josh Murphy, Natali Arco and Jon Ontiveros competed against The HOG Hushers from Carnegie Mellon University and Los Monos de Muerte from Southern Methodist University in the second annual contest. This year's First Prize included a Hog 4 console, a scholarship and a personal internship at High End Systems.

Once again, the contest was judged by a panel of lighting industry veterans; this year Jason Cain, Vickie Claiborne, Marc Lorenz and Patrick Dierson lent their expertise to the competition. Claiborne comments, "First off, all of the teams showed passion, talent and creat

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