USA - Three new sessions have been added to the PLASA Focus: Austin 2013 Professional Development Programme, a two-day programme of free educational seminars and workshops running alongside PLASA Focus: Austin, at the Palmer Events Centre, on 10-11 September, 2013.

In Lights, Camera, Tracking! Paul Braile, a representative from CAST, will demonstrate BlackTrax, a revolutionary technology solution which takes production into the twenty-first century. By integrating lighting, audio, multimedia and video with one comprehensive tracking solution, BlackTrax delivers precise 3D and 6D positioning in real time. This session will take place at 1.30pm on both Tuesday, September 10 and Wednesday 11 September.

De-Mystifying Audio will be presented by d&b audiotechnik on Tuesd

UK - Hastings-based Wilson Process Systems (WPS) is squarely addressing the fast growing LED lighting market with the installation of the first assembly line in the UK that can assemble boards up to 1.3m long fully automatically. WPS has invested £500,000 to set up the line.

The upgraded WPS line can manufacture boards up to 1.3m long x 0.6m wide, for the growing opportunity in LED lighting, retail displays and digital signage. It is the first line in the country that can manufacture such long boards fully automatically, including the critical screen printing stage. According to WPS, the line will also be used to manufacture boards of more standard dimensions. The investment increases WPS assembly capacity to 140,000 components per hour.

Commenting, joint managing director Tim Wilson said, "This investment supports our continuing growth. Customers find that we can m

China - D.A.S. Audio, supported by distributor for China, Hong Kong and Macau, Acton Audio & Musical Instruments (Shanghai), hosted a dealer gathering and technical workshop in Beijing, China, on 8 June 2013 for more than 100 dealers and customers from all over the country.

The event coincided with Palm Expo 2013 and showcased the latest models introduced in the Chinese market. For Eduardo Lopez, sales manager for China, "This event was the perfect opportunity to gather a lot of the new dealers we have in the country now, thanks to the remarkable work Acton Audio & Musical Instruments is doing. For them it was the ideal opportunity to learn about D.A.S. history and the technology behind our products, with a special focus on the components used in our speaker systems, from cone transducers to compression drivers, designed and manufactured in Spain."

Ron Koh, D.A.S. Au

featured content

LD Systems ICOA PRO series – high-performance coaxial PA speakers for professional demands

The popular ICOA PA systems have been further developed to include two active full-range coaxial speakers – ICOA PRO 12 A and ICOA PRO 15 A – as well as the active 21″ bass-reflex PA subwoofer ICOA PRO SUB 21 A. With its professional features and high output power, the ICOA PRO series is aimed at ambitious bands, musicians and DJs as well as hire companies and commercial customers looking for a compact, robust and powerful PA sound system. The ICOA PRO series is rounded off with modern connection and control options via Bluetooth 5.1 and the specially developed ICOA PRO app, for use on smartphones and tablets.

ld-systems.com/icoapro

UK - SES has launched its new website. The new website is "a much more in depth look at the work that SES are able to achieve, and an update of all our new products".

The site is much more interactive and provides the user an easier path to finding the product they require. With a latest news section, company profile, testimonials and much more, the website is now a comprehensive guide to the power distribution manufacturer. The site is also ready to accept a company webshop, which will be released later in the year.

(Jim Evans)

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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

UK - The first music festival to be promoted by an industry technical production company - Chilfest by Universal Event Productions (UEP) - was "a resounding success".

Music fans enjoyed two days of entertainment. The pop themed Friday night was headlined by Little Mix, The Lovable Rogues, Heather Small and others, followed by the best of the eighties on the Saturday - Tony Hadley, Rick Astley, Howard Jones, Midge Ure, Hazel O'Connor and Carol Decker.

All of this was delivered complete with the very highest in production values by UEP who supplied sound, lighting and video equipment and design.

UEP's Steve Butcher - who came up with the ambitious idea to celebrate the Tring based company's 15th birthday - was "completely blown away" with the response and the outcome.

"We set out to do something special to celebrate an important company landmark and

Australia - Indie pop duo/couple Matt & Kim who hail from Brooklyn, New York, have just toured Australia as part of the Groovin' The Moo festival. Lighting designer Ian Lyles uses a Jands Vista L5 console for the arena, club and theatre shows that the band play in America and so when he found out that he would be visiting Australia, Lyles made calling into Jands HQ a priority. He was particularly keen to see the Vista M1 and S1 consoles.

"We were interested in trying out the Vista S1 as we're thinking of buying an M1 or S1 for our small Catalyst rig in the US," said Lyles. "We run bullet security cameras as iMag along with content running on Resolume from our playbacks rack. I was also intrigued to see if I could run a larger show, such as an arena show, on a smaller console like the Vista S1."

Jands kindly lent Ian a Vista S1 console for the Groovin' The M

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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.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

July - The beginning of July saw Sennheiser UK hold its 18th Sennheiser Challenge Trophy golf day at Mill Ride golf course, Ascot with over 70 invited guests taking part.

A morning nine-hole Texas Scramble was followed by an 18-hole individual stableford competition won by Bihesh Patel of Pinnerton Video Systems Ltd.

The day's golf was followed by an evening charity dinner, raising donations for The Caron Keating Foundation, set-up to help many cancer charities in the UK. Caron's mother Gloria Hunniford attended the dinner and thanked guests for their support.

In total the Sennheiser Challenge Trophy raised £16,500 for The Caron Keating Foundation as well as additional £3,000 for the Diabetes UK charity.

Commenting on the day, Steve Dalton, director of marketing for Sennheiser UK said, "This was a great day, blessed by excellent weather. Everyone had a ter

Turkey - Istanbul-based event engineering company Phantom has supplied a team of Clay Paky Alpha, A.Leda, and Sharpy fixtures to light the 2013 Mediterranean Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Eighteen months of preparation culminated in the Opening Ceremony of the 17th Mediterranean Games in Mersin, Turkey on Thursday 20 June. Lighting designer Jean-François Bonnement from Paris-based visual arts company Concept K, specified more than 400 Clay Paky fixtures to realise his dramatic design, included Alpha Profile 1500, Alpha Spot HPE 1500, Alpha Wash 1500, Alpha Profile 700, Alpha Spot HPE 700, Alpha Wash 700, Sharpys, A.leda Wash K10 and A.leda Wash K5.

"We chose to use Clay Paky fixtures because they are the only ones that can provide a balanced range of high powered luminaires such as the Alpha 1500 range," comments LD, Jean-François Bonnement. "We needed

USA - Tim Dorwart, CEO of Community Professional Loudspeakers, passed away on 15 July 2013.

Dorwart became Community's CEO in March of this year and led the company through its introduction of several important new products at InfoComm. Dorwart's previous roles included director and VP positions with Bose Corporation and DMX Music. Since 2007, he had led the Stanton Group through a successful turnaround as their CEO.

Dorwart came to Community from Gibson Guitar Corporation where he held the position of general manager, pro audio and guided the integration of Stanton Group assets to form Gibson's new Pro Audio Division.

Bruce Howze, Community's President, said, "We are deeply saddened by Tim's death. We mourn the loss of our chief executive and a good friend and we extend our most sincere condolences to his wife and family."

A memorial service will be held on Satu

New Zealand - Dream Solutions has announced the release of its highly successful LightFactory controls software.

Version 2.12 expands LightFactory into the mobile space with the addition of an all new iPad remote. This latest version also brings more exciting new features like a visual timecode editor designed to make programming shows faster and more streamlined, says the company.

This release is a free upgrade for existing version 2 users and "continues the reputation that LightFactory is the most versatile software based lighting control system on the market".

(Jim Evans)

USA - Special Event Services (SES) deployed an immense Outline GTO-based sound system for the 2013 Justin Moore Outlaws Like Me concert tour, presented at major arenas and concert venues across the country.

With Outline's exclusive OpenArray 3D Simulation Software, SES employed the company's integrated flying hardware system to achieve audience coverage and uniform, sterling sound quality at each stop. This setup was elemental to delivering the excitement of Justin Moore's performances for both his heavy country rock hits and emotional ballads.

"The most significant aspect of the Outline system that we used for Justin Moore is that it replicates everything I give it without coloration," says Jeff Oliver, front-of-house engineer for Justin Moore. "Every stage source, from all the guitar amps and microphones, to the drum kit and Justin's vocals, are faithfu

USA - In Hollywood, entrepreneurial brothers Jonnie and Mark Houston are reinventing the nightlife scene from bottle service nightclubs to cocktail-focused themed venues. They currently operate a number of nightspots including the Cuban rum bar-themed La Descarga, the atmospheric Paris-themed Pour Vous and the Hollywood Piano Bar.

Their latest incarnation is No Vacancy, paying homage to Old Hollywood with a historic renovation of what the bar once was - a Victorian period house built in the early 1900s.

While other venue concepts have been inspired by trips abroad, No Vacancy is closer to the hearts of the twin brothers who grew up in the neighbourhood.

"We restored the house as much as we could and brought it back to life with every little detail from the knobs to the antique wallpapers from the 1930s," notes brother Mark in a recent interview. "The redesign

UK - It is with sadness that the Association of Lighting Designers has announced the death of Andy Collier, the editor of the Association's Focus magazine and long standing member of the Executive Committee.

Andy passed away suddenly on Friday 12th July on his way to an ALD Executive meeting, where he was due to discuss the next issue of Focus and the ALD website, both projects that Andy was intimately involved in.

Andy joined the Executive in October 1995, and filled several key positions starting as Associate Member Representative, then as Corporate Member Representative, before excelling in the role of editor for Focus, re-generating it as a full colour magazine that led from the front page with its pictorial content as well as the grammatically incorrect tag line that he judged each article submission by: "More Art, Less Tools", a direct response from the members

Australia - Chart topping Australian singer/songwriter Guy Sebastian is using Robe moving lights on his 47-date Get Along Australian tour, the latest stage in his impressive career, which has been nothing less than supersonic since winning the first Australian Idol back in 2003.

The tour's lighting and visuals design has been created by Bruce Ramus, and lighting director / operator on the road is Simon 'Junior' Johnson. The lighting and video equipment is being provided by Melbourne based Powa Productions.

Ramus has worked with Sebastian for about two years. He was given an open brief to come up with a flexible and dynamic scheme to help make the show rock on this one, the start of the live campaign to promote Sebastian's latest number one album 'Armageddon' which is already double platinum!

Ramus had used Robe moving lights on the last two of Sebastian's tours

UK - Two Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing systems managed FOH and monitors for a special performance by the band, People's String Foundation, held at the Minack open-air theatre in Cornwall to mark a forthcoming album launch.

The 12-strong band debuted all tracks from its new album, due for release this summer, accompanied by a ten-piece orchestra.

"Positioned on a cliff top, the open-air amphitheatre was a logistical challenge, requiring a mixer that would fit with the rest of the PA in a van small enough to negotiate the narrow lanes leading to the venue but could also handle the 50 plus channel count," comments FOH engineer, Tommy Williams.

An iLive-T80 surface with iDR-48 MixRack was selected at monitors, expanded with an xDR-16 to handle the microphones from the string section. The xDR expander had an M-MADI card fitted for multi-track recording of the show

UK - The eyes of the western world were on the Northern Ireland town of Enniskillen in mid-June, as its Lough Erne golf resort hosted the 39th annual G8 summit. As the heads of eight of the world's largest economies met to discuss 'trade, transparency and tax', Yamaha digital mixers ensured that not a word was missed.

With eight of the world's most powerful leaders involved - including Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, Vladimir Putin and David Cameron - media interest was exceptionally high. Satisfying a demanding brief was Delta Sound, who chose exclusively Yamaha digital mixing consoles to fulfil the summit's audio requirements.

Contracted by CTN Communications, Delta's experience of working at the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles and the 2009 G20 meeting of global finance ministers and central bank governors made them the ideal choice. Project manager Mark Sawyer

UK - PLASA London 2013 will feature more than 30 companies that did not exhibit in 2012, including Pioneer, Samsung and Sony, while many existing exhibitors have taken bigger stand space than last year. PLASA London takes place at the ExCeL Centre, London from 6-9 October 2013.

Jennie Barratt, show manager, PLASA London 2013, comments, "PLASA London delivers an attractive proposition to exhibitors, with over 12,000 high quality visitors who are eager to see the latest technology and are in a position of purchasing influence. We are pleased to welcome both new and returning exhibitors, from the industry giants to smaller yet innovative brands, many of whom have new products to present during the show."

Alex Barrand, audio specialist at Pioneersays, "We are returning to PLASA after a few years' hiatus as it is the ideal platform from which to launch our new Profes

Venezuela - Caracas-based PROmontaje has taken delivery of a Meyer Sound Leo linear large-scale reinforcement system, the first to be available in Latin America. The new system was initially deployed at the Vive Movistar Festival in Caracas this summer.

"We have been using Meyer Sound Milo and Mica line arrays with great success," says Pablo Bonilla, the managing director of PROmontaje. "Now, with Leo, we will be Venezuela's leading provider of large-scale audio production for big concerts, festivals, major sporting competitions and large-scale corporate, governmental, and cultural events."

PROmontaje's new Leo system comprises 30 LEO-M line array loudspeakers, 18 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements, a Galileo Callisto loudspeaker management system with four Galileo Callisto array processors and a Galileo 616 AES processor. The system was purchased thro

Germany - Sennheiser's evolution microphones are among the most popular stage microphones altogether - and now, the audio specialist is presenting a series of short tutorial videos on how to get the best out of them.

With the help of these videos, even newcomers can perfectly mike and record their music and polish their performance, says the company. In addition to the most important product features, the short tutorials also provide many useful tips on positioning the microphones at an instrument and help vocalists to choose the ideal mike. The video clips cover the evolution 600, 800 and 900 series

In the rehearsal room and on stage, filmmaker Geert Verdickt - himself a musician and vocalist in a band - explains the individual microphones and shows how they can best reproduce the sound of each instrument or voice, respectively.

Oliver Ohrndorf, marketing manager MI for Sen

UK - Philips Vari-Lite's VL3500 Washes once more provided the backbone of Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage's versatile house-lighting rig.

Designed by Andy 'Fraggle' Porter and supplied by Neg Earth the rig had to accommodate a plethora of very different artists along with three headline acts, each of which played a single night of the festival, and each to record audiences.

"I knew I needed something powerful and reliable," comments Porter. "I also wanted a fixture that I knew was familiar to all the incoming LDs and that would provide the feature set for each of the very different lighting designs they wanted to deliver. Obviously many of the supporting acts are playing in daylight, so we needed something that would cut through on a sunny day! Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash and VL3500 Spots are ideal for this as they are super bright, extremely reliable and robust in all ki

South Africa - Clear-Com is featuring its Eclipse HX-Delta Matrix Frame at Mediatech Africa 2013 (Jasco Group, Stand G21). The HX-Delta brings the high capacity of Clear-Com's larger matrices to a compact, cost-effective 3RU frame. This smaller frame offers IP or fiber connectivity as well as seamless integration with wireless and third-party devices without external interface frames.

The size of the Eclipse HX-Delta makes it well suited for applications where space is limited but advanced connectivity is required, such as with OB trucks and smaller studios. The Eclipse HX-Delta system also has a new connection paradigm for larger venues, such as multi-level studios. Due to its small size and lower cost, HX-Delta gives users the option of building a distributed matrix system with frames in multiple areas of a facility. This new solution features a more flexible workflow and perm

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