UK - PLASA Events has revealed the first details of AudioLab 2013, the hotly anticipated new attraction that will see the creation of a new pro audio arena, theatre and interactive lab.

Taking place at ExCeL London for the first time at PLASA London from 6-9 October 2013, the AudioLab Arena is a purpose-built space for large-format loudspeaker demonstrations, shoot-outs of club sound and PA systems, and private exclusive demo rooms.

The new AudioLab Theatre is an audio school with three expert classes; Live Sound, Installed Sound and The Sound Business.

The third new attraction is AudioLab Interactive, a myth-busting laboratory where visitors can see live experiments on a range of pro audio equipment. Created in conjunction with audio consultancy, RH Consulting, AudioLab Inter

UK - Lighting and visuals rental specialist Colour Sound Experiment kicked off what's set to be a spectacularly busy 2013 summer season, with a weekend supplying lighting to major festivals and two high profile EDM events plus a plethora of specials packages for specific artists performing around Europe ... as well as a major corporate event.

The festivals were Run To The Sun in Newquay, Cornwall; Field Day and As One in The Park at Victoria Park, Hackney, east London; We are FSTVL, a brand new 15,000 capacity dance music festival at Damyn's Hall Aerodrome in Upminster, Essex ... and down on the Brixton frontline at the O2 Academy, offering the best of drum 'n' bass, was Hospitality.

Over 700 moving lights were deployed by CSE across the weekend - mix of Robe, Martin, Clay Paky and GLP plus others - together with around 200 strobes and an eclectic bunch of other effects

UK - The Anvil Concert Hall in Basingstoke, Hampshire is something of a regional gem that serves the leafy southern Home Counties. With performances that range from stand-up comics like Jack Dee, through to the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davies and Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells 'For Two', the in-house lighting system needs to flexible to say the least. The venue has been designed to transform into various configurations: as an orchestral concert hall it has 1400 seats and when it becomes a theatre with a proscenium arch, an open stage or a flat floor extended stage it can accommodate up to 1150.

Ian Jones is head of technical services at Anvil Arts says: "When we made the decision to purchase Clay Paky and MA Lighting products, our primary aim was to raise the bar for our house production lighting and take the first steps toward future proofing th

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UK/USA - Manchester based, Lumonic Ltd, the designers and manufacturers of the ilumo range of LED lights have confirmed StageLight as distributors. StageLight, which is based in the mid-south of the USA, became distributors following a successful launch of ilumo LED fixtures at the USITT conference in March.

Mike Edwards, Director of Lumonic Ltd comments, "We are delighted that Jerome Dunn, president of StageLight, has chosen to take our products in the US. StageLight is a long-established, very successful company with four branches in three states in the mid-south of America. They pride themselves on their service and desire to offer new technology, allowing their customers to stay ahead of the game. This exciting development for both parties coupled with our new product development plans fits beautifully with StageLight's future business aspirations. We look forward to a

UK - Bose has announced the appointment of Kevin McNally to the role of UK Engineered Sound project manager, with effect from Monday 10 June.

In his new role, McNally will focus on developing Bose visibility and presence in major projects within the theatre, arena and large indoor venue market, and will be working with Bose Engineered Sound pro partners who are active within this field.

After three years with Martin Audio, McNally is looking forward to developing project opportunities for the new Bose RoomMatch arrays, says the company.

Belgium - Barco has expanded its successful HDX family of three-chip DLP projectors with a new member. The HDX-W20 FLEX shares the on-board image processing, compact design, easy servicing, and preview mode features with its W12, W14 and W18 cousins, but offers a light output of 20,000 lumens.

Additionally, the HDX-W20 FLEX will be standard equipped with the light-on-demand option, which gives rental companies the flexibility to tune their projector's light output to the specific needs of their customer's event. Barco will unveil the new HDX-W20 FLEX projector at InfoComm, from 12 to 14 June. The HDX-W20 FLEX will be commercially available as of mid-July.

"By adding this fourth member to our high-performance HDX series of large venue projectors, we satisfy customer requirements for more brightness out of a compact projector model," says Alexis Skatchkoff, product man

France - Ayrton's latest products to hit the market are the new MagicPanel 602, NandoBeam 302 and MADesign luminaires.

"Our new products generated a fantastic amount of interest at Prolight and Sound 2013 which turned out to be the best trade show ever for Ayrton," says Ayrton's export manager, Valère Huart-Gyors. "Word is spreading as Ayrton develops as a company with more and more distributors across the world. It is not so common to be innovative in this industry and people like our unique concepts and projectors like the RollaPix, VersaPix and MagicPanel. MagicPanel 602 is really an eye catching projector which many lighting designers and rental companies are extremely keen to use.

"For the show we used a bank of 25 MagicPanels on the rear wall of the stand alongside 65 Nandobeams, and a floor constructed of 126 DreamPanel Floor HD18 tiles. The lightin

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Case Study: Hans Zimmer Live

When award winning film composer Hans Zimmer brought his smash-hit tour Hans Zimmer Live to North America fall 2024, the show's audio team sought out to bring infrafrequency bass to the show to add new depth to the show's audio experience. The team chose Danley Sound Labs.

USA - Outline introduced the new GTO C-12 Line Source Array Speaker System to the North American market at InfoComm 2013 (Booth 109). The GTO C-12 is completely derived from Outline's larger-format, dual-15-inch GTO cabinet introduced in 2011, generating output power surpassed only by its larger sibling from an enclosure that is physically smaller and 30 percent lighter. From arenas to 500-seat theatres, the GTO C-12 is equally at home delivering maximum thunder for a rock concert or providing crystal-clear sound for a spoken-word performance, says the company.

"InfoComm attendees are welcome to stop by our booth to see the GTO C-12 and to join in our 40th anniversary celebration," says Tom Bensen, senior vice president and managing director of Outline North America. "We engineered the GTO C-12 speciflcally to deliver high SPL with a sonic accuracy rivaling a reco

UK - The Knight of Illumination Awards 2013, organised by Clay Paky, ALD, STLD and Ambersphere Solutions, has announced this year's sponsors as Chroma-Q, Hawthorn, MA Lighting, Robert Juliat, OSRAM, and XL Video.

"Over the past six years, the Knight Of Illumination Awards have become much coveted and respected amongst UK lighting professionals," says Glyn O'Donoghue from Ambersphere Solutions. "The prestigious nature of these awards are truly reflected by the high calibre of our generous sponsors this year."

For six years the KOI Awards has celebrated outstanding achievements in British lighting design in the sectors of TV, Theatre, and new for this year: Concert Touring and Events (previously titled 'Rock'). And this year it is even better than ever. In recognition of the huge creative impact video now has on show design KOI has launched a new category acr

France - Manchester- based lighting, visual and rigging specialists dbn Lighting delivered the lighting design and equipment for clients Medex-Media at EuroPCR, a medical exhibition and symposium held at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.

An inventive approach was needed due to the overall height restrictions imposed on exhibitors and the limited rigging permissible (5Kg per point!) for lighting and other flown elements. This was provided by dbn's unflappable Nigel Walker.

An environment was created offering two seminar rooms to accommodate up to 20 delegates and three meeting rooms for groups of up to six people. These spaces radiated off a central 'social' area where delegates could mingle and enjoy refreshments in a calm, chilled atmosphere.

Walker used 25mm conduit as the hung lighting bars, and specified Chroma-Q ColorForce 12s LED units fitted with Lee 216 diffusion as

Germany - Niethammer, as well as Rainbow Colour Changers and Major are now distributed worldwide by Premier Lighting Product International. Michael Althaus, managing director of PLP International commented, "We are very excited to have with Niethammer, a well respected manufacturer in our portfolio, delivering high quality products that are strengthening and complementing our international distribution approach with a clear focus on theatres."

Niethammer offers profile spots in the 1kW, 2kW and 2,5kW class. The profile spots of the 1kW and 2kW class are also available as silent (without fan) versions - making them a suitable choice for noise sensitive projects. All Niethammer products have proven themselves on the market for years and are especially popular in theatres.

Rainbow is known worldwide as the synonym for the classic colour changer. Rainbow Colour Changers

South Africa - Keystone Productions were awarded the role of production company, and MGG Productions as technical supplier, for the Nestle Conference and Gala Awards, held in two different venues at Champagne Sports Resort which is surrounded by majestic mountains in central Drakensberg. With over thirty presentations, each with a unique theme, lighting could not take a back seat and included Clay Paky at a function where video predominantly featured.

This was the first time Nestle, which produces various prominent consumable products, hosted a single event for the entire company. It was aptly attended by a thousand employees who lodged at Champagne Sports Resort and nearby surrounds for the three day conference.

"It was a massively long project," said Christopher Bolton from Keystone Productions, who was appointed the position by client Dithatha Productions. Keyston

Estonia - Robe's Estonian distributor E&T Ltd has completed the largest supply to date of Robe moving lights for a theatre installation.

Over 200 fixtures have been delivered to the Vanemuine Teater in Tartu, Estonia's lively second city and the country's cultural and intellectual hub.

The deal - part of a much wider programme in which Robe luminaires have been supplied to all eight of Estonia's state supported theatres as part of a major national lighting upgrade - involves a mix of LEDWash 1200, 600 and 300s, MMX Spots, DLX Spots and ROBIN 600 and 300E Spot and Washes.

Vanemuine, Estonia's oldest theatre founded in 1870 by an amateur acting and singing organisation and named after the Estonian god of music and poetry, has three separate venues - The Big House, the Small House and the Harbour Teater (Sadamateater).

For many years, it has built a reputation for being at th

Argentina - ARX Systems has announced the appointment of Buenos Aires based Equaphon as their distributor for Argentina.

ARX managing director Colin Park said, "Equaphon are a well-known and established company in the Argentinean professional audio industry and have added ARX to a distribution portfolio that includes other leading manufacturers including DiGiCo, Powersoft, Beyerdynamic, STS Touring Series, Genelec, B&C Speakers and XILICA.

"ARX is looking forward to working with all the Equaphon team, they're very enthusiastic about the possibilities for the ARX product range amongst their extensive client base throughout Argentina."

(Jim Evans)

France - Bruno Garros has taken on the role of executive VP of global sales and business development at APG. He has also significantly increased the share capital of the company and taken a 25% shareholding in the business.

With some 25 years' experience of implementing sales and marketing strategies within large industrial groups, Garros has spent the last 15 years in high-ranking positions within the Martin Professional group. He spent ten years at the helm of Martin France before moving on to occupy the role of VP of distributor sales for Martin Professional worldwide.

"I've had 15 wonderful years at Martin Professional, but it was time for me to move on. I was ready for new challenges and new horizons," said Garros. "I've known the APG team for many years now, as the brand was at one point distributed by Martin France, so I've been keeping an eye on their pr

USA - The Logo Channel's NewNowNext (NNN) Awards celebrate the most fantastic aspects of pop culture in music, television, film, web, fashion, and just about everything in between. Produced in Hollywood, CA, inside the historic Henry Fonda Theatre, the annual awards ceremony is lively, fun and energetic. When LD Tom Kenny was asked to oversee the lighting design he leapt at the opportunity to create a complementary lighting rig full of Vari-Lite luminaires, including the new VL3015LT Spot from Philips Vari-Lite.

"I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to use the new VL3015LT Spot on the NNN Awards," began Kenny. "For the show we needed a bright, fun and classy look so amongst my usual Vari-Lite fixtures, I also designed 12 of the VL3015LT Spots into the plot. While we were initially excited about their high intensity and beautiful color palette, the zoom cap

Germany - With more than 100 years of tradition behind it, the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus is among the largest and most important theatres operating in the German speaking countries.

Since 1970 it has been located in the Bernhard Peacock building at Gustaf-Gründgens space where it was spectacularly designed by architect Bernhard Pfau. The sculptural structure boasts curvaceous lines, is staggered in height, is divided into a large house (with 760 seats) and a small house with up to 200 seats. It also contains the 'Young Schauspielhaus Dusseldorf-Rath', with separate 300 and 100 seat theatre spaces.

Designed "to respond to the challenges of a globalized world" at the same time it hosts local artists and institutions as well as other art forms including dance, experimental music and the visual arts.

To keep up to date with modern technical requirements the theatre r

UK - The seventh series of Britain's Got Talent culminated on Saturday 8 June with a stunning live show from Fountain Studios, presented by Ant and Dec for ITV.

Having supported the show since its creation in 2007, PRG worked with the production team, where this year's final dominated the ratings and attracted more than 13m viewers. Adding to the excitement, Simon Cowell was pelted with eggs by a suspected former BGT contestant.

The show was won by Hungarian shadow-dance troupe Attraction who performed a British themed routine including Land of Hope and Glory and the voice of Winston Churchill, and will get the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance.

PRG's senior account manager Kelly Cornfield collaborated closely with lighting designer Dave Davey to supply a lighting design that skillfully worked sympathetically with the strong LED set desi

USA - British lighting console manufacturer Avolites has signed an exclusive distribution deal with New York-based Group One Professional Audio and Lighting.

"This is a fantastic arrangement for Avolites," explains Koy Neminathan, sales director at Avolites. "It will enable Avolites to extend its product reach into the US market whilst being able to service already existing US clients more efficiently, obviously we are delighted."

Avolites' decision to partner with Group One Ltd was based on the US company's extensive industry experience as well as the opportunity for Avolites to be part of Group One's rapidly expanding lighting division.

"This is a great day for Avolites, Group One and the lighting industry," continues Avolites' managing director Steve Warren. "Jack Kelly and the team at Group One share our vision of growth in the USA driv

Spain - When the Ushuaia Ibiza Beach Hotel planned their opening party for the 2013 season, they brought in French production company High Scream, to make the 12-hour party as memorable as possible.

High Scream's Romain Pissenem already had a strong relationship with XL Video, and from there, both Romain and XL's Ian Woodall began to develop an idea for a projection mapped onto the hotel's 30m x 20m swimming pool, which would become the largest ever projection screen to date in Ibiza.

To achieve a bright and visible projection, the team needed to make the pool opaque without adding a solid cover over the top. Half a million white ping pong balls were put to use - floating on the surface of the water - and creating a suitable canvas for the projections.

XL Video's team, under Ian Woodall, supplied four of their new Barco HDF-W26 projectors to create the vibrant images on the

South Africa - Robert Juliat has announced that DWR Distribution cc has joined the Robert Juliat distributor family.

From 1 June 2013, DWR has assumed responsibility for sales activity across South Africa, promoting and supporting the full range of Robert Juliat lighting equipment.

"It is a privilege for us to be associated with Robert Juliat and the fantastic people who make up their team," commented Duncan Riley from DWR Distribution. "This appointment allows us to offer one of the best brands in the entertainment industry to our clients."

The Robert Juliat followspots will officially be launched by DWR at Mediatech. This is the official technology trade fair for Africa and will be hosted in Johannesburg from 17 to 19 July 2013.

These followspots will also be used on a followspot training course titled The Art of Followspotting, during Mediatec

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