USA - XL Video has introduced the new CEO for their US operation, headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

At an event in New York on Monday evening, Rene De Keyzer, XL's founder/president was introduced as the new head of XL Video Inc. De Keyzer, who started the company around the 1996 Atlanta Games, has already taken the reins in the Atlanta office, and is relocating there with his family.

Rene comments: "After many years leading the XL Video group of companies, I was happy to pass that role to Lucas Covers and to seek a new challenge within the group. Following our strategy review last year, it became clear that XL Video US needed renewed focus to develop the business in line with our strategy for growth, and I'm very excited to lead the charge in taking our US operations to the ne

UK - Baldwin Boxall's latest voice alarm development, VIGIL3 - will be previewing at this year's Firex International. This exhibition - part of the Protection & Management Series - will be held at The ExCeL London for the first time.

The new VIGIL3 will have many extra features and advantages with the same well-known quality and reliability expected from a Baldwin Boxall VIGIL voice alarm system. Benefits include: Ethernet backbone, IP interfacing, no traditional style routers, configuration options, limitless messages, inputs and outputs ... and more.

The Ethernet backbone network for VIGIL3 has the ability to carry up to 48 simultaneous audio channels, either via a dedicated network or fibre. With VIGIL3 you will be able to add abundant messages, inputs and outputs with IP interfacing as standard.

Traditional style routers will not be required on the system; instead there

South Africa - The Europe-based Knight of Illumination Awards, which celebrates outstanding achievements in lighting design, is expanding internationally with the launch of 'KOI South Africa' in 2015.

Knight of Illumination Awards organisers Pio Nahum and Davide Barbetta from Clay Paky, Jennie and Durham Marenghi, and The Fifth Estate's Sarah Rushton-Read announced that work is already in progress for next year's debut South Africa KOI Awards, which will run alongside the trade event Mediatech in Johannesburg.

Mediatech is scheduled for 15-17 July 2015 and the southern hemisphere event will run in addition to the existing London awards.

"Clay Paky is proud to have been at the forefront of creating the hugely successful Knight of Illumination Awards, which is now in its seventh year and ever growing," says Pio Nahum. "We feel the time is now right to launch a s

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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.
www.cameolight.com

UK - Elation Professional invites lighting professionals to PLASA Focus Leeds and Stand N-D32 for the opportunity to talk in depth with qualified Elation personnel and get an up-close look at Elation's line of versatile lighting solutions. Join the Elation team at the Royal Armouries at Clarence Dock in Leeds where the Elation staff will be happy to demo the latest products.

The EZ4 is a high-quality, 4mm pixel pitch LED video panel ideal when outstanding high-definition image quality is required. Colours display vivid, consistent and uniform, and a high density of blackface pixels ensures a clear and sharp picture. A brightness level of 1,200 Nits means the EZ4 performs well even in high ambient lighting conditions.

Platinum Wash 16R Pro: Featuring the new Platinum MSD 16R lamp from Philips (330W, 16,000 lumens), this versatile moving head functions as both a beam and wash lu

Korea - Allen & Heath's GLD digital mixing system, ME-1 personal monitor mixer and Qu-16 compact digital mixer were recently installed in a new building at Ulsan Galilee Church in South Korea.

Established for over 40 years, the new building comprises an 800-capacity main worship area, seminar rooms, library and café, for church members and the local community. Supplied by Allen & Heath's South Korean distributor, Sama ProSound Co.,Ltd, and installed by Daiyoung Sound, the church requested a separate monitor system for singers and band members, so director Joon-ho Choi of Daiyoung Sound, selected GLD and ME systems.

Mr. Choi selected the system due to its capability and flexibility to manage small or a large event.

"The combined GLD and ME was the most attractive option. The GLD's I/O remote audio racks mean the system is scalable to manage all requirements. The m

UK - White Light is increasingly being discovered by lighting designers working in the live music and concert touring fields - all attracted by the company's quality service, diverse range of lighting equipment, and friendly, helpful approach to getting the show on.

Amongst those opting to use White Light recently: lighting designer Martin Nicholas, who chose White Light to supply his rig for the UK tour of Wet Wet Wet together with special guests Blue. The bands played a 12-date tour across the UK and Ireland at the end of the year, starting in Dublin and ending at Glasgow's brand new SSE Hydro Arena.

Nicholas' rig included a wide selection of fixture types: Vari-Lite VL2500 Spots and VL2500 Washes, Coemar Infinity ACL-M beamlights, plus Martin Viper spotlights, which have proven to be an enormously popular addition to the White Light fleet over the last year, in demand by li

UK - At the end of March, Sennheiser UK and Tour Supply, suppliers of professional equipment to the touring industry, held two, two hour, entry-level RF training sessions, underlining both company's commitment to delivering top class equipment, support and education to their customers.

Run by Sennheiser UK's chief engineer Andrew Lillywhite, the sessions took place at Tour Supply's Manchester office and attracted technicians from every part of the concert touring industry and provided hints and tips on how to best set up and use wireless microphones, in-ear monitors, plus a round up of Sennheiser's current RF products.

"The sessions I attended were great," says Front of House engineer for Rodrguez Russ Miller. "It was well worth going purely for the amount of RF myths that were debunked, but to add to that the knowledge that will improve results in the field. It

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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.

UK - Audica Professional has announced the launch of its Median IC 125 and IC 165, two-way, full-range premium ceiling loudspeakers. The new loudspeakers are designed for applications where high fidelity audio quality is a primary requirement.

The open back design saves depth and weight for installations where a sealed enclosure (back-can) is not required. The 5-inch IC 125 and 6.5-inch IC165 have a sensitivity of 87dB/W/m, 40W power handling and their dispersion is 120 degrees -6dB at 6kHz. The IC 125 has a frequency response of 75Hz to 20kHz +/-3dB, with the larger IC 165 offering greater LF extension to 70Hz

Both models feature a swivel HF unit, to direct the sound to the required listening area, and incorporate a +3dB/flat/-3dB HF control to shape the frequency response for the application or room acoustics.

The loudspeakers are quick to install with swing out legs for s

USA - Bold, animated washes of colour are being used to add visual excitement to an ever-growing array of events and venues -- from corporate meetings and mid-size productions, to neighbourhood taverns and restaurants. Now Chauvet Professional is answering the demand for a mid-range multi-purpose high-power colour-mixing luminaire that's as fast, bright and electrifying as it is versatile and value-driven.

The company has introduced the Q-Wash 419Z LED, a high-output RGBW moving head wash fixture that provides the power and design tools to adapt to a wide range of projects - including a flexible 7°-25° zoom and zonal LED control -- yet also fits comfortably into the budgets of lighting pros and their clients.

Designed for the production, touring, theatre, nightclub, installation, corporate and rental markets, the Q-Wash 419Z LED will create attention-grabbing high-defi

UK - Avolites and Avolites Media have announced that teams from both brands will be demoing products being shown in the UK for the first time at PLASA Focus, Leeds, 29-30 April.

Avolites - on stand R-B10 - will be exhibiting the Sapphire Touch and new Wing, offering an additional 30 Motorised Faders and third hi res touch screen. The entire Titan range, two Titan Network Processor systems and the Tiger Touch II with Wireless Remote will also be available for demo and hands-on experience.

Avolites' Titan Mobile Fader Wing - which enables expansion of every Avolites Titan console, giving direct access to extra handy features - makes its UK debut.

Avolites Media - on stand R-A08 - will be showcasing Ai's video mapping capabilities, demoing interactive video controls using RFID, and discussing a number of high profile projects such as the recent Peter Pan theatre production, as

Italy - Elisa's L'anima vola (my soul flies) tour is a three-hour-plus marathon, during which the Italian singer-songwriter entertains her audience with the naturalness she has got us used to. It is a sort of long journey that covers all stages of her career, from her début in English and her victory at the Sanremo Music Festival, right up to her total conversion to the Italian language, which features throughout her latest CD.

Elisa is one of the few artists who love to supervise the whole design and creative process involved in artistic/musical projects. She came up with the original tour concept and then handed it over to a well-established creative team, consisting of lighting and show designer Mamo Pozzoli, set designer Igor Ronchese, and artistic director Mauro Simionato, with Edit Art in charge of the visual art.

The stage looks deceptively simple and uncluttered

Europe - 'Striking, stylish and slightly strange' are the words that established lighting designer Rob Sinclair uses to describe his eerie lighting design for musical duo Goldfrapp's latest tour. Similar words could also describe the effects that he gets from the Philips Showline SL NITRO 510 strobe luminaires, which Sinclair has specified to deliver cinematic, crisp, cross stage washes alongside stark, ice white strobe effects.

Inspired by the 'film noir' artistry of Goldfrapp's latest album Tales of Us, Sinclair's high contrast lighting design uses 10 x Philips Showline SL NITRO 510's to create unadulterated up-lit washes and acid-flash strobe effects that accompany some of the band's most haunting tracks.

"We worked hard to create a lighting design that would complement Alison Goldfrapp's double exposure photography, which is currently used as the artwork for th

The Show Goes On - AC/DC have said they will not retire following news that guitarist and founding member Malcolm Young is taking a break "due to ill health". It had been rumoured the Australian band would split after a career spanning more than 40 years. However, a statement on AC/DC's website confirmed: "The band will continue to make music."

The band are one of the highest-grossing rock acts of all time, selling more than 200m albums. A message on the band's website confirmed that Young would be taking a break after "forty years of life dedicated to AC/DC", but did not reveal details of his illness.

On Tape - One in 10 young people has bought a music cassette tape in the last month, a new survey done to coincide with Record Store Day suggests. The research suggests that physical formats are still more popular than digital downloads. In t

UK - Commissioned by the National Trust, designer Mike Blacker of East Grinstead- based Blacker Design was asked to mastermind a refurbishment plan for lighting in the museum area of Bateman's - for over 30 years from 1902, the home of author Rudyard Kipling, near Burwash in the Sussex Weald.

Bateman's is now dedicated to the memories of Kipling's life and work. When Blacker Design needed a neat, energy efficient lighting solution to complete the modernisation of a number of period exhibition display cases in one of the upstairs rooms ... they approached Hastings based lighting specialist CLD Distribution for assistance.

The collaboration saw CLD design and install a bespoke slimline warm white LED strip, made from Osram LEDs into each of the cabinets of varying sizes. This illuminates the contents in a fabulous crisp, clear high CRI lightsource that looks really natural and i

Belgium - Belgian-based automation and engineering specialists Wicreations supplied specialist flying and movement system for the recent Reverze event staged simultaneously at Antwerp's Sportpalais venue and the adjacent Lotto Arena, accommodating upwards of 20,000 hard dance music fans.

The event, produced by Bass Events is the largest indoor hardstyle event, and this year's theme was 'Guardians of Time'. The centrepiece of the set - designed by Peter Vervloesem for Amaze Productions - was a 4.5 by 4.5 by 5m high scenic clock.

This was required to move approximately 50m from backstage to the rear of the Sportpalais arena.

Peter contacted Wicreations in the early planning stages of the event. The two have collaborated on many previous projects - including several Reverzes - and Amaze asked WI to apply their engineering genius to make the giant timepiece fly.

The clock had

UK - As PLASA Focus: Leeds 2014 fast approaches, exhibitors are preparing to fill the show floor with the latest entertainment technology. Having grown its reputation over the last five years, the north of England edition of PLASA Focus has cemented its importance in the industry as a platform for building relationships and showcasing new products.

Chris Toulmin, director of PLASA Events, comments, "We're looking forward to welcoming exhibitors and visitors to both exhibition halls, as well as to the extensive seminar programme. The show is known for its vibrant atmosphere and with such a strong line-up of exhibitors, showcasing so many innovative products, we're certain that legacy will continue."

On Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 April, The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, UK will come alive with the latest audio, lighting, video and rigging technologies. With the sho

UK - The ETC's Source Four LED Series 2 luminaire, ETC Source Four Mini LED fixtures and ETC Nomad lighting control, along with SmartPack ThruPower products, are set feature at this year's PLASA Focus Leeds show (New Dock Hall, stand number C06).

The Source Four LED Series 2 fixture were first seen in public at Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt, where they got a great reception. ETC fixtures product manager Jim Uphoff and his colleagues were busy throughout the show giving demonstrations on the new luminaires and their incredible output. By adding lime green emitters, the gaps in the visual spectrum are evened out, which means that a greater range of colours and more powerful output are achievable.

The Source Four Mini LED is now available in addition to the tungsten version of the Source Four Mini and provides greater energy efficiency for lighting architectural details and in si

UK - After a successful call for papers and many suggestions and proposals, the Editorial Board of the International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference has confirmed over 30 topics for ITEAC 2014: The Future of Performance Spaces, 8-10 June, London.

Each day of the three-day event starts with a significant keynote address and concludes with a stimulating collective wrap up session. Between, the topics will run in three or four parallel streams, presented as lectures, quick fire sessions, specialised micro sessions and panel discussions.

David Staples, chair of the Editorial Board said, "Fine-tuning, developing and enriching the format of the three previous Conferences, has assisted with the Editorial Board's goal to create a lively animated challenging Conference Programme, with diverse views and opinions about theatres and their technology.

"As

Germany - When a venue with multiple spaces needs to update its audio system, nowadays a networked solution considerably enhances the usefulness and flexibility of the entire building. This is exactly what has happened in the German city of Velbert, where a Dante-based Yamaha/Nexo system has recently been installed.

Renowned for its long history of lock manufacturing, Velbert is located at the centre of Germany's industrial heartland, surrounded by the cities of Bochum, Dortmund, Duisberg, Dusseldorf, Essen and Wuppertal. Built in 1979, Forum Niederberg is the city's main venue for entertainment and business gatherings. With a theatre and congress hall adjacent to each other, the venue hosts live music, drama, comedy, dance, conferences, exhibitions, other corporate events and private parties.

By last year, Forum Niederberg's old, mainly analogue audio system was in serious ne

UK - As one of the UK's major trade distributors of professional audio, lighting, video and special effects, Leighton Buzzard-based Leisuretec invests considerable time in training, seminars, product demonstrations and meetings with both clients and suppliers. The company has recently opened the TecZone, a new in-house space to facilitate all these and more, with Yamaha's CIS series chosen for its 7.1 surround system.

The TecZone is a flexible, multi-purpose facility, designed so that seating and desks can be easily changed to facilitate different layouts, or removed completely for maximum floor area.

"We had a very good idea of what we wanted. Our designer came back with a few options which, after a couple of revisions, became the final specification of the room design, layout and so on," says Leisuretec managing director Cliff Dounting.

Leisuretec then worked clo

South Africa - DWR Distribution is to host an Avolites User Training Course for operators of Titan One, Titan Mobile and Tiger Touch consoles.

The three day course, from beginners to advanced training, will be presented by Nick Britz from DWR.

The dates are: Johannesburg (6 - 8 May), DWR, Block C, Unit 1, Kimbult Industrial Park, 9 Zeiss Road, Laserpark, Honeydew; Durban (13 - 15 May), Vineyard Church, 22 Salisbury Road, Durban, and Cape Town (20 - 22 May) DWR, Unit 74D, Platinum Junction Business Park, Marconi Beam, Milnerton, Cape Town.

Delegates are requested to bring their own console and a laptop. The cost is R2250.00 - delegates will be requested to pay a 50% deposit to secure their booking.

www.dwrdistribution.co.za

(Jim Evans)

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