UK - In an industry that can sometimes be a slave to technology and budgets, it is always reassuring to be reminded that the entertainment business is primarily still driven by the people and the relationships that are forged over years of mutual experience and respect.

When asked how Chaos Visual Productions UK were selected to provide the video element of Alison Moyet's latest live performances, tour manager Bob Ward doesn't hesitate, "Over the years I've developed a close working relationship with John Wiseman, president and CEO of Chaos in the USA. The story of John flying to Beyoncé rehearsals from vacation in Hawaii and landing in sub-zero temperatures in Saskatoon in nothing more than Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt is an image that will always endure! It cl

Slovenia - Accordionist Jure Tori is using DPA Microphones' d:vote 4099 Instrument Mics to bring extra energy and quality to the sound he achieves on stage. The internationally acclaimed musician recently bought two d:votes from DPA's Slovenian distributor, Sonus, and is now using them for all of his live performances.

A charismatic musician, Tori has performed on stage all over the world, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with other musicians, such as Austrian double bass player Ewald Oberleitner and guitarist Ariel Cubria. He also plays as part of the group Orlek and recently established the Tori Trio with Oberleitner and percussionist Ganesh Anandan.

"When you're playing an accordion, the whole body is involved," says Tori says. "Therefore, I need mics that enable me to move and express myself without limitations. With the DPA d:vote 4099 Instrument

UK - Harting has expanded its Han B industrial connector product portfolio with the addition of Han Hood Link: a new locking system that speeds cable-to-cable connection by allowing the connection of two standard Harting 16B hoods while simultaneously achieving an IP 65 degree of protection.

A key feature of the new connection is that it is made from a resistant elastomer which provides optimum protection against external mechanical forces, as well as good resistance to oils and gases. When used in conjunction with a specially contoured design, it achieves locking and sealing in a single action. As a result, housings can be quickly assembled and disassembled with minimal effort - all without tools.

A further product variant also permits housings to be locked together with both bulkhead and surface mounted housings.

This type of simple and robust locking element is particular

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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.

Germany - Christie recently received the first ever PIPA Award for the Christie D4K2560 DLP 4K projector with TruLife electronics at Prolight + Sound 2014 in Frankfurt.

For the past 15 years the Musik Media Verlag publishing house in Germany has organised the highly regarded Musikmesse International Press Award (MIPA), which honours the outstanding products for the music industry. Following on from the success of MIPA and to celebrate its 15th year, Musik Media decided to create the Prolight + Sound International Press Award (PIPA) for the first time. PIPA is an award that recognises the best products in the professional audio and video industry, and is voted for by a global community of over 100 trade journalists working in the Pro-AV industry.

Nominated in the Video / Projection Devices category, the Christie D4K2560 with TruLife electronics won the award.

The award-winnin

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) will showcase a selection of the very latest lighting, audio, rigging and video solutions available from their vast portfolio of premium brands - on stand N-E02 at PLASA Focus: Leeds this week.

Sales teams from AC-ET's four specialist product divisions will be on hand to demonstrate and discuss the latest technologies from leading marques which AC-ET are the exclusive UK dealer for, as well as over 200 leading brands available for immediate despatch from the company's multi-million pound inventory.

UK-exclusive brands on show from AC-ET's Lighting division include various Chroma-Q, Spotlight and Mole-Richardson LED entertainment & broadcast lighting solutions; Jands' innovative Vista lighting & media control solutions range and award-winning Stage CL lighting console 'made for LEDs'; GLP's Impression Spot One, X4/X4S & Volkslicht LE

UK - John Hornby Skewes & Co Ltd, the UK and Eire trade distributors for top award winning pro-audio brands such as HK Audio, Lab Gruppen, Lake, LA Audio, Cymatic, Lewitt and Ear Bombz are once again displaying a range of these products at the PLASA Focus Show at The Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds this week.

On show will be the brand new HK Audio Lucas Nano 600, the big brother to the already hugely popular Lucas Nano 300 but featuring twice the power output with the same portability and easy assembly, and the latest addition to the Pulsar range the PL110FA active cabinet with 10" speaker.

Vienna-based microphone specialists Lewitt will be giving a sneak preview of two new models. Described as the "world's quietest studio condenser microphone" the LCT550 boasts 0 dB-A Self Noise, whilst the DGT650 digital recording tool provides multitude of direct USB recording

UK - Leisuretec Distribution are gearing up for another successful show at PLASA Focus Leeds. This will be the fourth year the Bedfordshire-based distributor has exhibited at the entertainment technology event.

Visitors to the Leisuretec stand (N-CO3) will have the opportunity to meet their highly motivated and knowledgeable team, with a combined experience in the industry of over 120 years covering commercial audio, lighting, video and special effects to the trade only. Their stand design will allow you to take a journey from the brands they can offer you, the strengths of Team Leisuretec, their newly created events facility: 'The TecZone' and finally, discovering the company's user-friendly e-commerce website, which has "everything in one space".

Managing director, Cliff Dounting commented, "PLASA Focus has a special 'feel good' factor and a personality of its

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OPUS X4 PROFILE – the most powerful LED moving head from Cameo to date

The OPUS® X4 PROFILE is the new flagship model from Cameo and is among the most powerful LED moving heads on the market. Equipped with a 1,400-watt LED white light engine, this spot profile moving head produces an enormous light output of 50,000 lm, providing powerful spot and gobo projections on even the largest stages and much more.
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UK - New and existing products from Shure and QSC, exclusively distributed in the UK & Ireland by Shure Distribution UK (SDUK), will be showcased by four key SDUK partners at this year's PLASA Focus at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds this week.

RF and pro audio sales specialists Amber Sound (Stand N-D03) will be demonstrating Shure's flagship Axient wireless microphone systems for mission-critical applications, while LMC Audio Systems (Stand N-C28) will demonstrate Shure's industry-standard UHF-R, GLX-D, and ULX-D systems. Meanwhile, SSE Audio Group (Stand N-E05) and Impact Products (Stand N-C18) will take visitors through the technology and operational benefits of QSC's Q-Sys networked audio management system.

In addition, on the second day of PLASA Focus, Wednesday 30 April, SDUK, in association with on-line live and studio sound engineering community Soulsound, will pre

Australia - The MLC Centre, rising 67 floors above Martin Place in Sydney, Australia, was designed by renowned Australia Architect Harry Seidler. The MLC Centre has become an iconic Sydney landmark since the building - ahead of its time in its design - was opened in 1976.

Today, the complex - jointly owned by The GPT Group and Queensland Investment Corporation - includes a major commercial office tower, a retail precinct, and the Theatre Royal. The building over recent years has suffered from external degradation and a project worth 300m dollars was undertaken to fix it.

The building owners approached Australian artist Mathew Johnson to create a light art installation on the scaffolding, gantry and a joining buildings. D.T.S. Australia provided Mathew with a lighting design, cabling and control solution. A range of D.T.S. LED projectors - including Delta 8 B, FOS Power bars, T

UAE - Most High Productions, a Dubai-based AV rental and installation provider, has purchased the Meyer Sound Lyon linear sound reinforcement system and become the first supplier of the new system in the Middle East.

Closed during the Prolight + Sound 2014 trade show in Frankfurt, the sale includes 24 Lyon linear line array loudspeakers, 12 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements, a Galileo Callisto loudspeaker management system, and four of the new MJF-210 stage monitors.

"I had the opportunity to experience the exceptional headroom and coverage of the Lyon system at a demo and I was blown away," says Avril Rodrigues, general manager of Most High Productions. "Our company has long been successful in the high-end corporate event business, and in recent years, we have been getting more requests for medium to large concerts of all genres. This new Lyon system is s

UK - The live dance action at the heart of the newly released British movie Cuban Fury directed by James Griffiths and starring Nick Frost was given additional visual dynamics by S+H Technical Support's Video Floor product.

Thirty-six panels of the Video Floor were delivered and installed as a dancefloor surface at north London venue Koko by S+H for production company Awesome Effects. All the riveting salsa sequences were filmed there over the course of a week.

The floor brought colour, animation and plenty of WOW factors to the party, and is clearly visible in the scenes as the film reaches a crescendo.

Says S+H's Terry Murtha, "It's fantastic that our product was chosen for its part in the film ... it's great to have a bit of glamour in the house! The floor did a great job in adding excitement and bringing a whole new layer of depth to the filming."

The

Qatar - Showforce has won a prestigious four-year contract with leading event agency, Sports & Entertainment Solutions FZ LLC, the company licensed by Feld Entertainment for the next five years to deliver Disney Live! and Disney On Ice in the Middle East.

The relationship began with Disney Live! Mickey's Music Festival in February and March in which Showforce supplied a host of event staff, crew and skilled labour to the exciting new stage show.

The hugely successful Disney Live! Mickey's Music Festival featured an all-star line-up of more than 25 Disney character and featured video projection of the frenzy backstage which spilled onto the stage before Mickey Mouse welcomed guests to the concert tour and a range of entertainment including hip hop and reggae beats, acrobatics, flying carpets and magical transformations and underwater displays.

With

UK - Panasonic has launched a rain, dust and sunlight resistant Full-HD LED display for the outdoor digital signage market.

The high brightness TH-47LFX60 is aimed at quick service restaurants and a variety of leisure and retail settings, which require digital signage to be durable through varying weather conditions.

The model has Direct-LED backlight at 2,000 cd/m2, ensuring easy reading even in direct sunlight; while the exceptionally wide viewing angle makes the display even more visually powerful.

Tom Gibson, Panasonic marketing manager said, "The TH-47LFX60 is an ideal visual solution for outdoor interactive applications and complements the existing Panasonic offering in outdoor displays such as the 1000 cd/m2 TH-47LFX6.

"The TH-47LFX60 has an air-cooling system that automatically suppresses any temperature rises in the LED panel caused by direct sunlight ex

UK - Utopium has launched new sister company Utopium Rigging as part of an ongoing strategy to expand its specialist services ready for this year's summer events.

Utopium Rigging will be headed by director Ian Evans along with a team of event riggers with over 20 years' experience. Utopium's extended rigging services will offer venue managers, promoters and event organisers with qualified professionals, the latest rigging equipment and knowledge to construct anything from simple 3m flown truss to full bespoke ground support structures.

Ian Evans commented, "We have launched Utopium Rigging in response to increasing requests from clients for specialist services. Safety is paramount in every aspect in our work; we make sure each member of the team is fully trained to work at heights and complete work to the highest industry standards.

"In addition to event and venue

The Netherlands - Elation Europe has strengthened its European team with three new hires - Frans Schilte, Patrick Strunk and Ute Kerkow - all of whom started at Elation's European headquarter building in Kerkrade, Holland, on 1 April.

Frans Schilte joins Elation's in-house sales department with the primary responsibility of reinforcing and supporting Elation's European sales effort. Frans was self-employed before joining Elation, touring the last 27 years with all types of shows from theatre to big rock shows. His nearly three decades in the industry includes experience in clubs, theatres and live events where he has fulfilled roles as lighting operator/designer, crew chief, stage manager and production manager. He also worked as technical supervisor for Stageco and has worked with some of the biggest bands in the world including the Rolling Stones, U2, AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen

UK - SGM LT-100 and LT-200 LED pixel tubes were deployed in an unusual context, when London Contemporary Voices (LCV), one of London's leading non-traditional choirs, staged its Reflections concert at the 18th century Church of St. John-at-Hackney in London.

Working to a production design by Ali Abbas and Keny Ega-Bourgeois, lighting designer Owen Pritchard-Smith, of Spirit Design, sourced a number of the 3D graphic tubes from the inventory of Chris Morgan's Blueprint Events to create a ring of shimmering light from the sticks, which are loaded with LEDs, each individually addressable.

LCV had wanted to present a special stage set for the 300 people who attended, including Bat For Lashes member Ben Christophers and BBC Sound of 2014 nominee Luke Sital-Singh. While the choir performed a number of original arrangements of different songs, vocal percussion and beats were p

UK - Veteran producer & mix engineer Chris Kimsey recently completed three days in London's boutique Kore Studios, recording the winners of Shure Europe's 2013 Call For Legends unsigned bands competition, Fingertrap.

The Welsh four-piece were selected as the competition winners from a total of 240 bands from 31 different countries, and used their winning session time wisely, managing to track and mix three new songs. During the sessions, Chris Kimsey also experimented with some new Shure microphones, particularly enjoying the KSM313 bi-directional ribbon mic.

"As with all my recordings, I tried a few mics to find the perfect sound, and ended up using the KSM313 mic on guitars and on vocals. It sounded outstanding on guitar, giving a 'full-fat' sound but with a top end not normally heard from a ribbon. It was also the preferred choice on most of the vocal recordings, sound

QSC Audio Products has announced that Ray van Straten has been promoted to vice president of QSC Professional, the newly formed business unit which will serve customers in the retail, rental, production and distribution (box sales) segments. In his new role, van Straten will be responsible for guiding the direction of the business unit, utilizing his vast experience in sales, marketing, product management, channel management and strategy to grow and unify the QSC brand in the business segments served.

QSC Professional will work together with the newly-formed QSC Systems and QSC Cinema Business Units to serve the company's customers worldwide. QSC Systems will focus on serving customers in the Integrated Systems business, and will be headed by Joe Pham, QSC President and CEO who will serve as its interim VP. The new QSC Cinema Business Unit will be headed by existing unit head Barry Fer

Australia - Leading production designer LeRoy Bennett and lighting visionary Peter Johansen will become reunited in July this year - down under.

Responsible for specifying what was eventually more than 500 of SGM's game-changng X-5 white strobes on Beyoncé's The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in 2013 - his unforgettable strobe dominated 'Wall of Inferno' creating one of the brightest stage displays ever - Bennett heads the line-up of speakers at Entech Connect, Australia's evergreen trade and technology show.

The conceptualiser, who has worked with many of the world's top artistes, will be discussing his personal philosophy of design on the opening morning of Entech Connect, which takes place at the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne (23-24 July).

SGM will also be heavily involved in collateral events, sponsoring the Visitor Network Evening partnership, while Pe

Sweden - Friends Arena, the home of Sweden's national football team, is Scandinavia's largest indoor arena and can accommodate up to 65,000 people for concerts, sports matches, and other events. Located in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Arenastaden in Stockholm, the arena is considered the centrepiece of an area surrounded by new residential, shopping, and commercial buildings.

Tyréns, one of Sweden's leading urban planning consultancies, was brought in to develop a lighting plan for the various areas around the arena, including the surrounding streets, bus terminals, ramps, roundabouts, squares, lifts, and stairs. The company installed a range of coloured lighting including Martin Professional Tripix 300 LED strips to create different effects and visual attraction.

Faced with strict budget constraints and the need for a retrofitted solution, Tyréns had to dev

Germany - The 136th Audio Engineering Society Conventionopened today with healthy attendance at the Estrel Hotel and Convention Centre in Berlin.

Offering a wide variety of Technical Programme events, manufacturer exhibitions, the Project Studio Expo, and more, the 136th AES Convention brings attendees the latest in professional audio innovations, as well as networking and educational opportunities with leaders in the industry.

Additionally, AES executive director, Bob Moses, made the announcement that next year's European AES Convention will take place in Warsaw, Poland (Spring 2015) taking advantage of its burgeoning audio industry and growing base of audio engineers, producers and music aficionados.

(Jim Evans)

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