UK - Nearly New AV (NNAV) has appointed Liam Norris as business manager. As of January 2013 he will take responsibility for business performance, strategy development, and buying and selling of the full NNAV portfolio.

Norris joins NNAV from PSCo Technical Distribution, and brings eight years of sales, marketing, business development and client networking experience in technology-focused industries such as AV, business communications and converged mobile voice and data solutions. His remit as NNAV business manager will include the support of trade partners to buy and sell all types of used AV equipment with a focus on the UK, Europe and US, as well as emerging markets, including United Arab Emirates (UAE), Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, Brazil and India.

"This is a

UK / Venezuela - Wisbech UK based 5 Star Cases has supplied a substantial quantity of cases to OB specialists Megahertz.

The cases form part of a shipment of eight vehicles that have been dispatched from Ely, Cambridgeshire based Megahertz to South American broadcaster, Vision Venezuela (ViVe), a government owned cultural broadcasting organisation.

The project comprised two complete Mercedes 2532 OB trucks and two 2532 Tender vehicles which carry all the flightcases containing the 'loose' gear, plus four further vehicles, two for satellite news gathering and two for production - all built on Toyota Land cruiser bases.

Megahertz has been using 5 Star for at least the last 10 years for its case requirements. Megahertz Production Manager, Bill O'Flynn comments, "5 Star are excellent, always reliable, the products are well made and quality engineered while the turnarounds a

Europe - The Nitro Circus Live show is an action fuelled performance led by Freestyle MotorX star Travis Pastrana. It features a star studded array of like minded friends who push the envelope of freestyle trickery. Recently the show was back touring Europe. Lighting designer Paul Collison relied on two grandMA2 light consoles to control the show's lighting.

Collison commented: "The biggest advantage of the grandMA2 platform on this project was the simplicity of the networking. Being able to have a control surface on the floor and one in the arena grandstand really helped manage the plotting. The show is viewed around 270° and covering the riders evenly from both sides on the ramps was of paramount importance. Having control surfaces on both sides of the arena also really helped with achieving this in the short timeframe. The show producers wanted a really simplistic lo

USA - Free registration is open now for PLASA Focus: Orlando 2013. The first PLASA Focus show to hit the Sunshine State, it will bring the world's latest entertainment technology to a local Florida audience, taking place on Wednesday 15 May and Thursday 16 May, 2013 at the Wyndham Orlando Resort, Florida.

Companies already signed up to exhibit at the show include Elation, Group One, CAST Software, A.C.T Lighting, Chauvet, Robe, Tomcat, SEAL, High End and TMB. With many other applications currently being processed, companies interested in exhibiting are advised to move quickly to secure their spot.

The show will play host to Florida's most talented production professionals and features game-changing technology, world-class speakers, live product demos, free training sessions and unparalleled networking opportunities.

Running alongside the exhibition is the Orlando edition of

Benelux - Italian loudspeaker manufacturer RCF has announced that it has appointed Electric Sound Benelux BV as distributor of its Commercial Audio, Installed Sound and Forum product lines in the Benelux region. Electric Sound will take over distribution of the lines - which include RCF's VSA and voice-evacuation products.

Lars Yoshiyama, RCF sales manager for Commercial Audio and Congress Systems, comments, "Electric Sound is a distributor with decades of history and we are very proud to be represented by such a renowned and successful company in this key European region."

Mr Yoshiyama concludes, "Electric Sound's breadth and depth of experience are such that as well as being a partner in RCF's distribution network, the company will become a valuable resource for our R&D programme, contributing unique insights that will allow us to develop and promote new produ

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Germany - Nearly 200 Robe moving lights added glamour, sparkle and dynamics to the lighting design by Manuel da Costa for The Voice of Germany (TVOG) 2012.

The popular talent show was produced by Schwartzkopff TV Productions GmbH & Co KG and Talpa Distribution B.V. and recorded in Am Studio 20 of Studio Berlin. It was broadcast on ProSieben and SAT.1, and featured a live audience of 1200.

Da Costa also lit the first TVOG series in 2011, for which he also used Robe fixtures at the heart of his design. He had a relatively open brief on lighting this one, and had to fulfil all the main criteria of a high profile TV show - being flexible enough to give each artist an individual look for their different performances and to ensure it worked well on camera and looked good to the studio audiences.

Also, there needed to be a visual harmony with Florian Wieder's impressive mode

UK - Cinimod Studio in conjunction with Prolyte Group's Special Projects Division, Litestructures, have delivered the most epic of public lighting installations to mark the highly anticipated launch of the Halo 4 Xbox 360 game.

Agency AKQA (acting on behalf of Microsoft/Xbox) commissioned Cinimod Studio to create this spectacular illuminated structure - based on the Halo 4 Glyph symbol - which would be one of the largest and brightest man-made structures to ever fly over a capital city.

Cinimod Studio turned to Litestructures to help bring their concept to life. The solution drew on Litestructures' experience of creating 'impossible' structures using aluminium components. To fulfil the brief, a selection of proprietary products from the Prolyte range were specified, including the main structure frame created from a combination of S36R truss straights and custom corners. The in

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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

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The Netherlands - Artistic Licence Engineering will be demonstrating dVnet, its innovative new digital video-to-network converter, at ISE 2013. Visitors to the stand (8-R232) are guaranteed an exciting visual display as dVnet drives Pixel Pad, the LED array product from Abstract, the company says.

The latest addition to ALE's Rack Pack range, dVnet is aimed squarely at retail and architectural applications in which a media facade or light sculpture is to be controlled by video, and the complexity of a media server is not required. dVnet is all a user needs to convert a video creation to light. The digital video input is in HDMI format. Configuration is simplicity itself, with less than ten mouse-clicks required to render video to a media wall.

dVnet can also play-back video clips manually loaded onto its internal hard drive, or via the incorporated play list manager which faci

Canada - Constructed in 1923-24 and designed by Montreal architect Joseph-Raoul Gariépy, who specialised in theatre and hospital projects, the Rialto was inspired by the Neo-baroque-style of the Paris Opera House. The Rialto Theatre is one of the most iconic buildings in Montreal, and is a former movie palace which today is designated as a 'National Historic Site' of Canada.

Today the main floor supports 708 people in standing mode, 450 people in theatre row seating, 350 in cabaret style seating. The newly opened balcony holds an additional 450 seated people.

Recent technical upgrades include a new Adamson SpekTrix loudspeaker system powered with Lab.gruppen PLM with Dolby Lake processing. In order to preserve the architectural beauty and clean sightlines, the ground stacked PA system is made up of four Spektrix 5 degree boxes mounted atop a double 18" cardioid Sub

UK - Flashlight Ltd has appointed David Manister to spearhead the company's business development plans. Manister brings with him nearly 14 years of experience within the professional lighting industry.

"I am extremely excited about working as part of the well-established team at Flashlight. The company has a fantastic reputation for providing excellent levels of customer service and support, things which are crucial to any business," says Manister.

Providing sales and distribution of a wide range of the latest lighting equipment and consumable from the industry's leading manufacturers from their base in Heywood, Greater Manchester, Flashlight Ltd has enjoyed significant success in the film, TV and theatre sectors.

"Flashlight are extremely pleased to have someone of David's calibre joining the company, he won't be the only addition in 2013 as we continue to gr

Denmark - It is with great sadness that LSi has learned that Troels Volver, a longtime figure of the entertainment lighting industry, has died at the age of 58.

A colourful character, known equally for salesmanship and his cheeky, humorous, bluntly honest (and occasionally profane) manner, Volver joined Martin Professional in 1994. His tenure as managing director of Martin Singapore, beginning in 1996, provided a showcase for his abilities. He took over Martin's US office in 1998, tripling sales there in the process.

Volver left Martin, and the lighting industry in 2005; he returned in 2011, joining SGM, the Italian lighting manufacturer, which had been purchased by Peter Johansen, the founder and former managing director of Martin Professional. At SGM, Volver served as export manager, North America and Asia Pacific.

Volver's years at Martin coincided with a period of transf

UK - Liverpool based rental specialist Adlib supplied lighting and audio for the most recent tour by vocal harmony group, The Overtones. The Higher tour played a variety of venues in a six week stint around the UK in the run up to Christmas, and resumes in Europe in early 2013.

Adlib's Alan Harrison was systems tech for all things audio, and ensured that Adlib's new Coda Audio ViRAY system was optimised to perfection daily for FOH engineer Mark Clement.

Ian Tomlinson designed the lighting and set for Adlib, with Neil Holloway taking it out on the road as lighting director, bringing a suave and a very cool look and feel to each performance as the band doo-wopped their way into the festive holiday.

This was the second tour outing for Adlib's new ViRAY system purchased shortly after its official launch in October, it follows the outstandingly good results that have been

The Netherlands - Dataton will "usher in a new era of innovation and creativity at the 2013 edition of Integrated Systems Europe". The company's latest products, marketed as additions to the Watchout suite of multi-display production and presentation software, will be showcased on Dataton's biggest ISE stand so far.

While the exact nature of the products to be showcased at ISE remains a closely guarded secret until the show opens its doors on 29 January, Fredrik Svahnberg, Dataton's marketing director, comments: "We have continued to update Watchout this year with new features such as 3D stereoscopic playback, live video streaming, interactivity, and multiple languages. What we are going to show at ISE marks the start of a major move forward."

On the first day of ISE 2013, Dataton will host a booth party at 17:00 on stand 7-K175 to celebrate its 40th year i

South America - Armenian symphony orchestra and choir Kohar has enjoyed remarkable success since it was formed 15 years ago. Performing across the world, the ensemble recently returned from a series of shows in South America, at which three Yamaha CL5 digital consoles starred.

With over 140 musicians, a choir, 12 solo singers and a dance troupe of 11 to accommodate, the shows required a flexible audio system with a large channel capacity and reliable connectivity, but which was easy to implement. Hamburg-based Pinguin Ing.Büro for Audio Production asked Arthur Koll from Yamaha Music Europe GmbH to act as the tour's live and broadcast audio consultant, supervising the system design and deployment for the elaborate show.

The system comprised one CL5 at the monitor position and two more at front of house - one doing submixes which were fed via Dante to the other two consoles. Th

USA - D.A.S. Audio will feature the new Convert 15A powered multifunction loudspeaker system with variable dispersion and the new SX-218A subwoofers as the main sound reinforcement system on the Venue Stage at Winter NAMM 2013 - located just outside the arena adjacent to Hall A. These new loudspeakers - part of D.A.S. Audio's Convert Series - will be central to all activities that take place on the stage. Equally notable, the company will introduce its new Aero 40 line array system.

At 4 PM on Thursday, 24 January - opening day of Winter NAMM 2013 - D.A.S. Audio will unveil the new Aero 40 line array system at its booth, #7101 (between Hall A and the Arena). Part of the Aero Series 2 product line, the new Aero 40 is a mid-size, powered line array system utilizing 12-inch and 6-inch transducers for the low and mid frequencies respectively plus dual compression drivers for the hig

USA - Improving safety conditions for technical staff members has always been a primary goal at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. When timing and budgets came together after the annual production of A Christmas Carol opened in November 2012, they called Sapsis Rigging, Inc.

Sapsis installed fall arrest equipment in both performance spaces at the Goodman - the 856-seat Albert Ivar Goodman Theatre's proscenium stage, and the flexible thrust-style stage in the (maximum) 450-seat Owen Bruner Goodman Theatre.

Daniel Porter, one of the ETCP-certified rigging professionals on the Sapsis staff, supervised the entire installation. He and his crew placed eight ProPlus horizontal lifelines on the Albert's catwalk, balcony rail, and loading bridge, as well as 36 ProPlus self-retracting lifelines (SRLs). These SRLs feature a dual inertia braking system, which stops a fall with minimal

UK - Viva Forever!, the musical based on the songs of the Spice Girls, had its World Premiere in London's West End on 11 December and has the audiences dancing in the aisles and happily humming the whole way home.

For Lighting Designer Howard Harrison, it has provided a glorious opportunity to juxtapose almost every conceivable genre of performance lighting in one show. Choosing to use two grandMA2 consoles to programme the lights and AV elements was a first for him. "The only restriction to programming with these consoles is your own imagination. As an end user, I have nothing but praise for the possibilities that the grandMA2 provides and that extends to the support we received from Ambersphere's sales director, Phil Norfolk, who has been incredibly helpful in facilitating all this. It's been a great experience - I get exactly what I want from the design."

M

Finland - Veturi shopping centre, Finland's sixth biggest shopping centre, was before its opening 13 September 2012 illuminated with new energy efficient and eye catching LED lighting.

LumenRadio's long-term Finnish distributor Sun Effects together with lighting designer Jari Vuorinen from Olof Granlund Oy, installed 82 Traxon Wall Washers and an e:cue control system with eight CRMX Slim receivers and one double universe CRMX Nova transmitter to light up a special oval-shaped suspended ceiling in the main corridors. Sun Effects also installed an extensive wireless CRMX system, containing one CRMX Slim and multiple CRMX Nova receivers on an advertisement tower located just right outside the shopping centre.

The barrier-free shopping centre is 48,000 m² and has stores from over 80 companies.

"A public project of this magnitude in the presence of thousands of visitors on

France - Working at the 'World's Largest Fashion Show' during Paris Fashion Week, event technical manager Bertrand de Saint Pern needed the right lighting for the extreme runway. As he says, "We fitted each of two lines of truss above the catwalk with 50 ETC Source Four Fresnel fixtures." Seven hundred models eventually graced the 50m stretch of catwalk, which was extended into the street for huge crowds to view.

The Source Four Fresnel combines ETC's HPL lamp technology with the special optics of a traditional Fresnel for far better light output and energy efficiencies than other-brand products. "We were impressed not only by the quality of the lighting provided but with the product itself," says Saint Pern. "It was immensely practical."

Working with ETC distributor Avab Transtechnik France, S Group of Paris installed the 100 ETC fixtures at the

Theatres of the Year - Shakespeare's Globe and Sheffield Theatres have been named as London theatre of the year and regional theatre of the year in The Stage 100 Awards 2013. Four other categories were also announced. The Union Theatre in Southwark won fringe theatre of the year, Glasgow-based A Play, A Pie and a Pint won producer of the year and ALRA North won school of the year.

Meanwhile, the Unsung Hero award returned this year with two winners. Anne McNulty was recognised for her work as casting director of the Donmar Warehouse, while Chris Isherman was recognised for his work as theatre manager at the West End's Duchess Theatre. The awards will be presented later this month.

Old Gold - Unpublished colour photographs of The Beatles during their first tour of the US are to be auctioned. The 65 slides include many stage shots, including George Harrison with his red R

Russia - In November of this year, American entertainer Jennifer Lopez gave performances in Moscow and St. Petersburg that won the hearts of Russians all over the country. Rental company Euroshow not only supplied all of the equipment for the concerts in both cities but gave lighting designer Sean Burke the chance to try out Martin Professional's new MAC Viper Profile.

For the show in St. Petersburg, Euroshow changed the preliminary specification to 1500 W MAC III Profiles and 1000 W MAC Viper Profiles (instead of 1200 W moving heads), as well as MAC 2000 Wash XBs and MAC Auras.

Burke got the chance to test the MAC Viper Profile for the first time, using them as main top beam effects and for side wash and audience work. He comments, "When we worked with Euroshow on the advance for the show they told me they had recently acquired some MAC Vipers. I'd not used them before b

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