Prog Rock Returns - 2014 sees the 40th anniversary of the release of Rick Wakeman's landmark concept album, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth based on the novel by Jules Verne. Wakeman and The New World Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by The English Chamber Choir and the English Rock Ensemble, will celebrate this anniversary with "a dramatic, live presentation of this epochal, classical-rock crossover work" - the Journey To The Centre Of The Earth 2014 tour. "This is the start of a new Journey," says Wakeman, "the original score for the album had been lost for so many years, making any new performances impossible. but after it turned up without warning , we managed to restore it and add previously missing music that was not included in the ori

UK - Flightcase and loudspeaker component manufacturer and steel fabricator Penn Elcom has converted all the lighting fixtures in its St. Leonards-On-Sea, East Sussex, UK factory and offices to energy efficient, low carbon LED lightsources which have been supplied by CLD Distribution, also based in East Sussex.

The switch from metal halide to LED technology at the plant is saving Penn Elcom a whopping 70% in ongoing electricity running costs!

Based on a 253 day working year with the production lines running 24 hours a day. Penn - which distributes its products worldwide - was using around 272025 Kilowatt Hours (KWH) of electricity before the new installation, a figure that's now dramatically reduced to 68,006 KWH, representing a saving of over £18,000 year ... and nearly 100 tonnes of carbon.

Lamp specialist CLD Distribution offers a comprehensive and innovative range

USA - LightParts Inc. (www.lightparts.com), the first dedicated parts and repair source for entertainment lighting, is celebrating the ten year anniversary of the company's incorporation. LightParts was founded in January 2004 by Don Pugh and Robert Mokry as the worldwide support centre for High End Systems' legacy products such as Intellabeam and Emulator, but due to customer requests quickly expanded into circuit board repairs and parts sales for High End, Martin, Flying Pig, Jands, Vari-Lite, Element Labs, Strong, Coemar, Wybron, Elation and Clay Paky products.

LightParts now stocks over $1,000,000 of parts for immediate shipment, and employs ten full-time staff at their 6700sq.ft headquarters located in Austin, Texas, USA.

"Many of the world's largest and smallest lighting rental companies now depend on LightParts for the best parts prices and fastest PCB repairs avai

UK - Production agency Mobile Promotions has joined forces with corporate events specialist Lloyd Paul Events. Taking effect from 20 January, Lloyd Paul Events will be integrated within and become part of Mobile Promotions, with the complimentary portfolio of clients strengthening the conference and incentive travel side of the company.

Both sharing legacies in the events industry of over 20 years, the two companies will work as one to grow all sides of the business, from brand engagement activities, roadshows and stunts to award, conference and event production, with an enhanced focus on overseas incentive travel for 2014.

Paul Lloyd will join the team as event director, and he comments, "When you meet the Mobile Promotions team you are instantly struck by the passion they exude for their clients, which is something that we very much have in common. We pride ourselves on

USA - While others around the world may have been watching a ball drop at midnight, those at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta were bathed in beams of light as Widespread Panic performed to thousands. Bandit Lites provided the lighting for both Widespread Panic's annual Toys for Tots concert and the New Year's Eve concert a day later.

Lighting designer Paul Hoffman created the design using the band's fall touring rig with "embellishments". Two long curved trusses stretched out over the audience to give the lighting more reach as well as accommodate the special effects like pyro and confetti.

Equipment included Vari*Lite 3000 Spots, Clay Paky Sharpys, GLP X4S's, Martin MAC 101s, Bandit 5x5s, Bandit GRN Pars, GrandMA2 Consoles, a 60" mirror-ball, and 2-lights. Additional video equipment included a video screen of Mirage Panels and Maxedia video servers.

"

Canada - When Canada's largest airline, Air Canada, decided to relocate its Systems Operation Control (SOC) Centre to a new site outside Toronto, the company knew it needed to include modern technologies that would enable its employees to learn, work and collaborate easier and more efficiently than ever before. To do this, the forward-looking airline hired AV and IT integrator, Advanced.

According to Advanced co-president David Weatherhead, "Air Canada wanted to provide its employees with modern technological tools that would enhance productivity, simplify staff education, and accelerate collaboration. We worked with Thor Hoff, the IT project manager of the SOC relocation, to design professional AV systems for 13 rooms that are now being used for meetings, conferences, collaboration and training. By making it easy for staff members to share ideas, make presentations and man

UK - Blitz has added Andy Johnston to its workforce in the capacity of business development Manager.

Blitz has achieved five successive years of growth, with significant investment in both technology and project management talent, ensuring their service offering is at the highest level. With 15 years' experience in the events industry, most recently at MCL London, Andy brings a wealth of experience to the team; he will be ensuring the promotion of Blitz's increasing portfolio of services, and their expanding range of technologies unique to the events sector, says the company.

Sales director, Graham Pope commented, "In a world of technology, people make the difference and I am sure Andy will complement our existing team perfectly and become an integral part of our continued success."

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Apollo Design Technology has announced the appointment of Charlotte Heaston as marketing director. In this role, Heaston will be responsible for the development and execution of the business's marketing and communication strategies. This position will report directly to the president of the company, Joel Nichols.

Prior to joining Apollo Design Technology, Heaston worked for Lincoln Financial Group for 25 years in various marketing and communication roles including brand, product and sales development.

"We are thrilled to have Charlotte on board at Apollo. She comes to us with a very strong marketing background and has an innate ability to manage projects and deliver results with a can-do attitude. I am confident she will enjoy working in our unique industry." Nichols said.

"I am excited to work with an incredibly talented and energetic team at Apollo Des

Canada - CAST BlackTrax reports that Paul Braile has joined their team as a BlackTrax expert effective 1 January 2014.

On the heels of multiple awards and mega productions including Eurovision and Trinity Fellowship Church, CAST BlackTrax is receiving a growing number of questions from creative designers and production executives about production pros/cons, and cost savings. Answering them requires the specialized knowledge from a been-there-done-that industry pro. Paul Braile comes with more than 20 years of industry experience and has worked on productions from Glee and the Super Bowl to Broadway and the CBS Thanksgiving Day Parade. He is also arguably the nation's top subject matter expert on automated follow spot tracking systems, says the company.

Braile says, "Today the industry is turning to new technology for reducing production costs and better return in terms of

UK - Tascam has announced the CD-200iL - a cost-effective professional-grade CD player equipped with an iPod dock with both 30-pin and Lightning connectors to play files directly from an Apple iPod or iPhone. With its rugged construction and ability to playback CD from its front-loading mechanism, the CD-200iL is designed for professional contractor applications where a simple yet rugged solution is required.

In addition to its Apple iDevice connections, the CD-200iL features Tascam's esteemed CD-5020A CD transport to provide quiet playback, smooth loading, longevity and anti-shock memory. The unit can also play back MP3 and WAV files from data CDs and display ID3 tags and CD-Text. A 3.5mm stereo line input on the front panel allows for the convenient connection of non-Apple mobile devices whilst the rear-mounted stereo line RCA, coaxial and optical audio outputs provide all of

UK/USA - Allen & Heath will launch the Xone:23, a 2-channel DJ mixer at NAMM 2014. The new mixer is "packed with pro features that would normally be found in the booth of a top-rated club", including an enhanced version of the legendary Xone filter with resonance control, VCA faders, three band total kill EQ, illuminated switches, crossfader curve selector, with styling inspired by the flagship Xone:DB4.

At the heart of the mixer is the analogue Voltage Control Filter (VCF) system offering Low-Pass and High-Pass filters, frequency sweep and 'mild to wild' resonance control. There is also an FX loop to connect to third party FX units, which route back in through the filter system.

The two stereo channels feature independent level controls for each input enabling up to four stereo sources to be simultaneously routed to the mix, as well as the dedicated send and return

Australia - Planetshakers City Church at the Dallas Brooks Centre in downtown Melbourne lives up to its name in many different ways. A vibrant and growing church, Planetshakers is home to world-renowned contemporary praise and worship music. The powerful evangelical message led by Pastors Russell and Sam Evans is now driven home by a sound system that would shame many a touring rock band.

"We have an expanding congregation and a venue that can accommodate two thousand, two hundred across the stalls and two balconies," explained production director, Dan Cornwell. "To deliver a clear, accurate spoken word was a priority; the utmost intelligibility is a necessity. The dynamic nature of our services has a major musical component, this demands high SPLs and because of our expanding numbers we stage multiple services, so the system needs to be able to cope with regular

USA - As an open space to accommodate community events and recreational activities, Tom Hanafan River's Edge Park sits on the Missouri River, creating a border between Council Bluffs, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska. Artist Dan Corson recently designed a massive light show for the park, complete with complex characters and simple, intuitive interactive games that spans across the park's five acres. Martin Professional light fixtures were installed by Bandit Lites to illuminate the artist's vision.

Inspired by European baroque knot gardens, the ever-changing light environment showcases choreographed sequences and patterns every half hour. Additionally the piece interacts with visitors via thermal cameras and analytics program to track and "play" a series of simple, intuitive and fun games. The motions of park visitors can control the lighting and allow participants to be track

Italy - Andrea Taglia, live sound engineer for the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, is a huge fan of DPA Microphones and rates them as the most technically advanced and sonically transparent microphones on the market. It is therefore no surprise that Taglia personally owns a selection of DPA Microphones and regularly sources additional units whenever he is on tour with Bocelli, says DPA.

"I've been using DPA Microphones for many years and bought my first stereo d:dicate 4006 recording microphone when it was still known by the old Bruel & Kjaer name," says Taglia. "I first became familiar with the DPA brand when I was using the company's miniature microphones on singers in musical productions. I eventually began using them on instruments as well, which gave me great results. I'm now a huge fan and have bought quite a few for my own microphone collection, including the

Australia - Video display experts, Technical Direction Company (TDC) supplied all video technology elements for the 27th ARIA Awards held at The Star, Sydney, Australia on 1 December 2013.

The ARIA Awards are the official awards of the Australian Record Industry Association attended by an audience of over 4,000. The event was broadcast live on Channel 9's GO! with performances from many Australian artists including Birds of Tokyo, Bliss n Eso and Tame Impala as well as special guest appearances from Alicia Keys and Lorde.

The ceremony was produced by Michael Long and Vicki Gerrans. Set design was by Kim Buddee. Stunning screen graphics were produced and operated by Rod Morris.

TDC supplied custom automated rolling screens with ultra-bright 26K HD projectors, that not only provided a uniform, succinct and clean look according to the set design but also acted as a mask

UK - The Institute of Professional Sound (IPS) has announced further details of its post-production orientated 2014 Training Weekend, which takes place in the English Midlands over the weekend of 7-9 February, 2014. The venue for the expanded event is now the Woodland Grange Conference Centre (www.woodlandgrange.com), on the northern outskirts of Warwick and Leamington Spa.

Speakers from the cream of the UK-based post-production industry have now been finalised. Dennis Weinreich and Conor Mackey will be opening the weekend with a look at workstation-based post-production workflows. Veteran film and TV sound editor Chris Roberts (Alien Vs Predator, Episodes, Foyle's War) then leads a seminar on dialogue editing, and Bernard O'Reilly (Death Of A President, Andrew Marr's History of the World) and David Humphries (Hustle, Shameless) close Saturday

UK / The Netherlands - i-Power (UK) Limited is a new company founded by four directors who have a combined knowledge of 120 years in the audio and electronics systems market: Janet Dean, Ray Morrison, Peter Alberry-King and Kevin Tester of Penton UK have long experience of marketing and distribution and a vast array of worldwide contacts.

Janet Dean explains: "Back in 2009 we had identified the potential for an internet protocol (IP) product range to service a new and expanding market place within the Audio industry. During our investigation of IP-based technology we had many starts and stops, but eventually we identified a UK manufacturer who met the high specification and product portfolio we had been looking for and were interested to explore the possibility of a mutual business opportunity between us."

The partnership began in 2013 and has allowed i-Power (UK) Lt

USA - InfoComm International's latest standard, ANSI/INFOCOMM 10-2013, Audiovisual Systems Performance Verification, has been approved by ANSI, a private, non-profit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment systems.

ANSI/INFOCOMM 10-2013, Audiovisual Systems Performance Verification provides a comprehensive, systematic, and practical approach to verifying performance of AV systems. This standard will provide practitioners the ability to produce a verifiable evaluation of the audiovisual system based on quality assurance, testing, and acceptance, and will ensure the system conforms to the owners' operational needs, as established in the system/project documentation. A one-page overview can be found at infocomm.org/standards.

"Through the development of this standard, InfoComm has achieved its goal of establi

Norway - Solid State Logic has appointed Bary Sales AS as its Live console distributor in Norway. Bary, which has long been a leader in the rental market, is setting up a new sales division with the SSL Live as its centrepiece product offering.

"As a brand new sales company, Bary Sales couldn't ask for a better brand than Solid State Logic to kick start the new division," says Marius Ryen, co-owner of Bary AS. "SSL immediately puts a high-quality stamp on our young organization, and sets the benchmark for our work and distributions. SSL has a very strong trademark in the world of music production, and this reputation is also widely recognized in the live industry. To be trusted to represent the innovation and legacy of the SSL brand in the Live market is a thrilling task."

"We are very excited to add Bary Sales, which is a young, dynamic and growing co

USA - The eNode Series from Elation Professional is a new line of professional Art-Net to DMX routers consisting of the eNode 8 Pro and eNode 4. With the growth of pixel mapping and with multiple DMX universes a standard practice in lighting systems today, Elation answers the need for a powerful yet affordable Art-Net to DMX node solution, says the company.

The eNode 8 Pro is an eight-universe Ethernet to DMX interface for use with Art-Net compatible DMX control systems. It is ideal for large pixel mapped DMX systems and is compatible with most popular pixel mapping software controllers. This 19" rack-mount unit features two Neutrik Etherccon connectors for input and thru, eight 5-pin Neutrik data connectors and PowerCON connection.

The eNode 4 is a compact four-universe Ethernet to DMX interface ideal for hanging in truss or remote areas of installations. For use with Ar

The Netherlands - AV Networking World conference, to be held in Amsterdam on 4 February 2014, has announced its line-up of panel speakers for the informative networking educational event. Participants will be eligible to receive four InfoComm CTS RU credits.

Sponsors include Allen & Heath, Attero Tech, Audinate, Bosch, Bose, BSS Audio, Focusrite RedNet, Harman, Nexo, Open Access, Peavey Commercial Audio, Shure, Soundcraft, Stewart Audio, Symetrix, TC Group, 2N Telecommunications, and Yamaha Commercial Audio. This free all-day event will be held at the Amsterdam Holiday Inn near the RAI Convention Center.

The conference features over 20 panellists from industry design consultants, installation contractors, networking experts, plus major professional audio equipment manufacturers. In addition to the broad spectrum of informative panel discussions and presentations, a major inter

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