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24 May 2024

UK - Absen made its debut at the Media Production & Technology Show (MPTS), where the company showcased its innovative AbsenLive capabilities.

Absen demonstrated its extensive AbsenLive production technology with floor, wall, and ceiling installations, all of which suitable for rentals or permanent setups in live events, virtual production, and xR stages.

Exploring the AbsenLive product portfolio, Absen's stand featured a main screen that utilised the PR1.9, a virtual production specialist product.

A ceiling screen showcased the PR3.9, while the floor utilised the Mars series' MR2.5, suitable for live events and VP/xR. A side screen featuring the SA2.6 completed the immersive experience. In a dedicated demo area, attendees got the chance to get hands-on with Absen products.

Solutions from across the AbsenLive portfolio were on dis

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23 May 2024

UK - Neumann has announced An Evening's Conversation Around Spatial Audio, hosted in partnership with Dolby at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA). Taking place on Monday, 3 June, this event promises an engaging exploration into the future of sound, bringing together top industry professionals for a night of insights and networking.

Guests will hear from leading experts in the field, including Mike Hillier, Dolby Atmos & mastering engineer at Metropolis Studios, Kurt Martinez, head Dolby Atmos mix engineer at Dean St Studios, and Myles Clarke, senior music engineer at Dolby Laboratories. Their interactive sessions will help you understand how spatial audio is evolving and keep you at the forefront of the technology.

Attendees will have the opportunity to delve deeper into the world of spatial audio through interactive Q&

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23 May 2024

Denmark - Motor Stage Automation (MSA), has made a substantial investment – over 100 pieces – in equipment from industry leading brand Moveket, comprising 125 Kg and 500 Kg Moveket VMK-S C1 variable speed silent hoists, 125 Kilo Moveket VMW-S high speed winches, Moveket I-Motion Expert-T III and I-Motion Basic control consoles, together with Moveket V-Motion Drives – both E40 and E75 units.

This was supplied to MSA via Danish distributor Matrix Sales and has been added to MSA’s rental stock to help meet current trends and demands in the busy and wonderful world of performance automation.

“Moveket is a premium name in automation, their products are known for their quality and versatility, and as MSA is a truly independent business dedicated to delivering the very best and most innovative solutions for our clients, it is important to have thi

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23 May 2024

USA - Elation lighting has long been a staple of Coachella shows, and this year’s edition of Southern California’s premier music festival was no exception, with the event awash in Elation lighting technology. The newly revamped Sahara Tent, an anchor of the festival’s electrifying atmosphere, was adorned with over 950 Elation lights, while Elation gear also graced the Main Stage, Quasar Stage, and Outdoor Theatre.

Coachella delivered yet another diverse and eclectic experience across two weekends in April, featuring 147 acts across eight stages. Todd Roberts, of Production Design Works, spearheaded the production and lighting design for the Sahara Tent, incorporating a myriad of Elation lighting fixtures supplied by Aspect Lighting.

Roberts is a Coachella production original, having worked the festival since its inception. Shifting from the Out

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23 May 2024

USA - Empowered by X-Laser fixtures and Mercury Laser Control firmware, Ben Jarrett of Squeek Lights in Sayreville, N.J. designed the lighting for metalcore band Beartooth on their 2024 North American tour.

“In our early design meetings, Caleb [Shomo, lead singer for Beartooth] talked about bringing an arena-style show to smaller and mid-sized venues,” Jarrett said. “Whether that night’s stop was at a 3,000-capacity theatre or a 900-capacity club, he wanted every show to come at you and feel like it was taking place in a much larger setting.”

To accomplish this, Jarrett and the Squeek Lights team knew the Beartooth stage had to generate immense lighting output to provide that big arena feel from a smaller footprint. The band wanted numerous special effects as part of the design, and lasers played a major part in creating those big, impactfu

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23 May 2024

Europe - Showtec has added four new models to its ACT series that now includes a number of fresnel, ellipsoidal, par and flood lights. Like the existing models, the new Par 200 W RGBAL, Par 200 W CW/WW, Par 200 W UV and Flood 200 RGBAL are designed for use in theatres, on stages and even at business events.

The new models strengthen the ACT series by adding three new pars and one flood light to the range. Each one is equipped with a powerful 200 W LED designed for a specific purpose. In keeping with rest of the ACT series, accurate colour rendering, manual control options, optimised beam angles and silent operation are features of the new models.

The Par 200 W RGBAL is a versatile indoor spotlight with an RGBAL LED light source that is capable of producing a wide range of colours. In addition to control via DMX, manual control is possible using the o

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23 May 2024

UK - Despite having a population of less than 5000, the North Yorkshire town of Malton enjoys top quality music, comedy and touring theatre shows at its much-loved local venue and community hub The Milton Rooms.

First built in the early 1800s, the venue is now run as a not-for-profit organisation by an active team of volunteers and features a 300-seat main theatre space with a new, world-class Nexo sound system supplied by Nexo distributors A.C. Entertainment Technologies, in collaboration with installers North Star Engineers.

After an independent assessment concluded the venue needed expert advice to overcome its poor acoustics, AC-ET calculated the best options for the new sound system using Nexo's NS-1 acoustic prediction software, which enables users to configure their speaker placement in any venue setup, and then predict the optimal sound cover

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23 May 2024

USA - The Detroit Lions held a reveal event for their new uniforms at their Ford Field home, drawing thousands of fans. The same stage was also used for the Detroit Lions NFL Draft Party. Both events were executed flawlessly, thanks to the dedicated effort and teamwork of 4Wall Entertainment’s Detroit crew.

Led by VP of live events Joe Leahy, the 4Wall team of Kareem Harris, Gary McGarity, Ross Zhang, Xavier Williamson, Jason Dunk, Robert McGoldrick, Jon Sogoian, Johnny Pike, Michael Gallacher, Brian Lavender, Tommy Minkowski, Joshua Ruhlman, and Rahul Samuel set a stylish, upbeat tone for the reveal event.

Helping them in this effort were 113 Chauvet Professional fixtures, including 14 Maverick MK3 Washes, 48 COLORado PXL Bar 16 motorized battens, 14 Color STRIKE M strobe-washes, 14 STRIKE Array 4 blinders, 20 EPIX Strip IP one-meter linear units,

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23 May 2024

USA - EAW will debut its new SBX118F 1 x 18″ powered arrayable subwoofer at  InfoComm 2024 in Las Vegas. This new subwoofer can be used to enhance any EAW full-range enclosure and is designed to rig directly to the popular NTX Series of professional solution products. With SBX118F, the NTX series offers rider-ready performance fit for touring productions and high-end installed applications, says the company.

“SBX118F brings emotion and impact to any performance,” says TJ Smith, president of EAW. “Designed to support all EAW's professional systems, including ADAPTive, SBX118F is an essential element of our catalogue. SBX118F’s rigging interfaces directly to the NTX210L line array enclosure, increasing the number of applications and adding deployment flexibility to the already successful NTX series.”  

The SBX118F is a high-output, mid-s

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23 May 2024

Europe – Sommer Cable has introduced the new 32-core SC-Elephant SPM3215 loudspeaker cable, specially developed for use in professional large-scale sound reinforcement systems. Its main application lies in the connection between line array speakers and the latest generation of 16-channel amplifiers whereby each speaker is individually addressed.

The cable is suited as a reliable connection solution for (PA/sound systems or large sound reinforcement systems such as the L-series from L'Acoustics. An individual combination of the cores also makes it possible to run smaller sound systems. The SC-Elephant SPM3215 can also be used as a control cable for machine and robot control.

With its torsion-free stranding, the cable ensures a reliable performance, while its compact diameter of just 20,3 mm makes installation considerably easier. Owing to its fine-w

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23 May 2024

USA - “Pretty much any time the church staff calls me up and asks if we can do this or can we do that, the answer I can always give them is, ‘Yes!’” says Parker Gann, system engineer at MessengerAVL, the Conyers, Georgia-based integration firm that designed and installed a new audio upgrade for Church Unlimited.

The Corpus Christi, Texas campus of the non-denominational, evangelical, multi-site church, which seats over 1,500 worshipers and is also its broadcast centre, completed a major audio systems upgrade in February in which MessengerAVL installed a KLANG:konductor immersive in-ear monitor mixing system routed through a new DiGiCo Quantum338 front-of-house console.

A Quantum225 desk, used as the church’s new broadcast console, was also part of the upgrade package. “It’s their largest campus and their flagship campus, and now it’s

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23 May 2024

USA - Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors recently wrapped a run promoting their latest album, Strangers No More. With deep Tennessee roots, the band is now no stranger to working with neighbours Bandit Lites, who provided lighting designer Dominic Hickman a package consisting of Elation Smarty Hybrids, Martin VDO Atomic Bolds and Robe Spikie fixtures.

Hickman drew inspiration from classic theatre shows, balancing the same timeless, dramatic ambiance with modern technology to transform the stage where past meets the present.

“A lot of Drew’s big hits in the show are a CTO colour,” said Hickman. “I believe white was only used for two songs (and for just a chorus), but I loved being able to capture the warmth of stages on big songs then with the slower songs bring it down to cool tones. With the set of songs, colour was the pictures in Drew

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22 May 2024

UK - LIVE (Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment), which represents 16 live music industry organisations has launched a comprehensive survey of freelance professionals working in the UK live music sector.

Produced in partnership with Handle Freelance Solutions, The Back Lounge and UK LIVE Event Freelancers Forum, Powered by Freelancers - The Live Music Edition 2024 was commissioned to help understand and identify the changes required to improve the experience of the freelancers who are crucial to the success of the live music industry.

Over 1,280 live music freelancers contributed to this survey with 87% of respondents stating that “freelance work provides my primary income”.

The UK’s live music industry generated £5.2bn in 2022 and the summer of 2023 showcased a post-pandemic resurgence for much of the sector, despit

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22 May 2024

UK - It is 10 years since Backup headed to Daytona Sandown Park for the first ever KartFest, and every year it got bigger and better. Last year the event was re-named and re-imagined as the Backup Village Fete. Fun and games for everyone abounded and a record amount of money was raised for Backup to continue its good work.

This year’s village Fete takes place on 11 July at Daytona and is proving very popular with more and more companies getting involved and joining the biggest industry day out there is. With the focus on the fete, there are many options for companies and individuals attending. You can buy single day passes through to fete stall pitches or, for the ultimate in turn up and go, a VIP ‘Manor house’ package with everything already built including a VIP bar, DJ and located right in the middle of the action. 

The Backup Parish Counci

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22 May 2024

China - UK-based Linea Research has strengthened its global presence with a series of key, strategic distribution appointments.

As Prolight + Sound Guangzhou prepares to open its doors, Linea Research has announced Guangzhou Guidance as its distributor for China. Guangzhou Guidance will manage the Linea Research product ranges across mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

The team at Guangzhou Guidance, headed by Rico Xu, will take responsibility for the full spectrum of Linea Research products in the region, from the M Series amplifiers for touring to the C Series for installation, through the XiB4 range of four-channel DSP amplifiers to Linea’s Advanced System Controller, the ASC48.

Guangzhou Guidance’s Rico Xu, said, “We are very pleased to begin the sales and technical service partnership with Linea Research with exhibition of the pro

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22 May 2024

USA - Renkus-Heinz has announced two new team members. Joe Kaveney assumes the role of industrial engineering manager and Andrew Gizara joins as electrical engineer. 

Kaveney’s career spans from earning a US patent in the solar industry to implementing approved processes in the aerospace sector. Alongside his professional accomplishments, Kaveney's lifelong passion for music includes playing instruments, producing live events, and building interactive art installations. 

“I feel extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to leverage my passion for music and sound with my professional experience in process design and efficiency,” says Kaveney. “It is my pleasure to assist with the industrialization of our business by establishing a robust fabrication process with an optimized supply chain – ultimately resulting in a truly lossless pro-aud

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22 May 2024

USA - City Theatrical now offers three standard beam control accessories designed to fit Martin Lighting’s MAC Viper XIP lighting fixture, which includes the MAC Viper XIP Follow Spot Handle, MAC Viper XIP Concentric Ring, and MAC Viper XIP Hexcel Louver.

These three beam control accessories were developed based on City Theatrical’s understanding of the unique accessory needs of lighting professionals, and the high demand for this moving light fixture in the market. City Theatrical currently offers 40+ styles of beam control accessories for 15 different Martin Lighting moving light fixtures, which are available through the City Theatrical dealer network.

City Theatrical’s engineers and craftspeople design and create lighting accessories, like the new MAC Viper XIP Follow Spot Handle (P/N 2815), based on working with designers and manufacturers

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22 May 2024

USA - K-array will return to InfoComm this year in Las Vegas. The K-array group, which encompasses the brands of K-array, KGEAR and KSCAPE will be represented by the K-array USA team at the show. This year, the addition of a dedicated K-array sound room, running in parallel to the existing on-booth demo room, will allow visitors to experience the brand’s larger installation solutions and those for live events.

“We’re excited to turn up the volume at this year’s InfoComm and allow the public to experience a great range of products from across the K-array ecosystem,” says Rusty Waite, president of K-array USA. “It’s been a few years since we had a larger sound room separate from the booth at the show, so we’re looking forward to guiding the demos and highlighting some of the larger K-array products whilst receiving real-time feedback from liste

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22 May 2024

USA - Obsidian Control Systems has introduced a comprehensive range of data distribution products under the Netron series, tailored for system integrators and fixed installations. These products prioritise reliability and performance and help in the management of complex networked lighting systems.

The Netron Integration Series has been created to integrate flawlessly with the ONYX lighting control platform yet is compatible with all other manufacturers’ lighting control systems, making it a universal solution for a multitude of setups.

The initial products in the series are available now, with more solutions set to debut soon.

Netron EP1 This compact device functions as an Ethernet to DMX gateway, featuring a single RDM-compatible port. Designed for effortless integration into single-gang wall mounts, trusses, or standalone setups, it offe

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22 May 2024

UK - Distortion Studios, specialists in virtual production, recently opened the doors of its new Bristol-based studio, backed by an in-house team of immersive digital arts specialists. The space, home to a cutting-edge studio stage complete with the latest and most trusted virtual production technology, can be utilised by anyone looking to shoot virtual production content, as well as serving as a training and community hub.

 “At Distortion Studios, we want to play a part in upskilling the next generation of industry professionals locally,” remarks Nick Diacre, technical director at Distortion Studios. “So, we’re looking to invite technical people in and run training in the space, alongside the usual studio hire. Remaining technologically agnostic was therefore important to us.”  

Diacre first encountered SP by Stage Precision in the soft