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18 February 2025

Australia - Originally opened in 1930 as a movie theatre, the Plaza Hotel in Sydney has undergone many iterations over the years. Featuring a striking Spanish mission-style façade, under the ownership of the Winchester Hotel Group, with creative direction from Sarah and Ryan Maloney, the theatre has been revitalised.

The operation now boasts six distinct areas (including a revived, classic 1930s theatre). Ryan Maloney conceived Level One as a nightclub inspired by Ibiza – recognised around the world for a top-tier sound, lighting and videowall infrastructure that would attract international DJs and performers.

The installation project was awarded to Brendon Fava from Xcite Audio Visual, and the sound – chosen to fulfil the brief of a premium product line that would meet international rider specifications – came from Martin Audio.

The m

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18 February 2025

Spain - Robe and its associated businesses enjoyed a busy ISE 2025, presenting their largest stand to date, launching two new products – the iStrobe and the iEsprite LTL – and showing a range of other new technologies, as well as staging a high-octane one-person live show with gravity-challenging acrobat Oskar Skrypko.

Robe CEO Josef Valchar commented: “ISE has definitely established itself as a major European trade show for lighting manufacturers and has made great efforts to ensure we can present our products in the right environment. That’s why we launched innovative new tech there this year – with fantastic results. We look forward to 2026 already – with big plans!”

Visitors from all over the world from every sector visited the stand, and many also visited the nearby EES/Earpro (Robe’s Spanish and Portuguese distributor)

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18 February 2025

Manchester Calling - Manchester’s cultural sector has bounced back post-pandemic and generated more than £342m last year for the city, a report has revealed. The Annual Culture Impact Survey, presented to the Manchester City Council’s Economy and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee last week, declared that the figure amounted to a "very good" return on the investment of council money in culture.

According to the report, Manchester City Council invested £23.1m in arts, culture and libraries in 2023-24, which helped leverage a further £159.2m from other private, public and other funding streams during the same year. It said this represented an overall economic boost to the city of more than £342m, an amount deemed to demonstrate a post-pandemic recovery. The report also revealed that footfall at Manchester’s cultural venues stands at 93% of its

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17 February 2025

India - A wide array of Claypaky fixtures illuminated the Kolkata and Bangalore (Bengaluru) concerts on Sunidhi Chauhan’s ongoing I Am Home tour. Lighting designer Jasangat Sonpal selected 72 Claypaky Sharpy X Frames for both venues and added 32 HY B-EYE K25, 24 Tambora Batten Square, 48 Tambora Flash, 14 Sinfonya Profiles and two ReflectXion fixtures for the Kolkata show.

Sunidhi Chauhan is one of India’s most loved playback singers, or ghost singers, whose pre-recorded songs are dubbed into motion picture soundtracks replacing the actors’ voices. She is a celebrated performer in her own right, known for her vocal range and versatility and recording in multiple languages.

Her I Am Home tour celebrates the idea of home through music, nostalgia and Chauhan’s dynamic stage presence. The Bangalore show last October was the firs

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17 February 2025

UK - In its 12th year, the Association of Motion Picture Sound (AMPS) winners’ presentation for Excellence in Sound for a Feature Film 2025 took place at a reception at Warner Bros De Lane Lea, with Dune: Part Two receiving the award.

Gareth John AMPS and Ron Bartlett were present to receive their polished bronze AMPS trophies from chair Andrew Wilson, in the company of AMPS members including Award Group leader and three-time Academy Award nominee Graham Hartstone. Tom Harrison, Martin Kwok, Richard King, Doug Hemphill were unable to attend but will be sent their awards.

Upon accepting the award Ron Bartlett said: “We couldn’t be more pleased because it is from sound professionals. To be honoured by them means a lot, it is from people we know and work with. It is a great honour.”

During the reception, Andy Nelson als

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17 February 2025

USA - The 19,000-seat Enterprise Center, home of the St. Louis Blues hockey team, has consistently ranked as one of the top drawing concert arenas in the USA. Last month it "transformed into a honky-tonk" for Cody Johnson’s Leather Deluxe Tour which is playing arenas throughout North America, Australia and the UK, between now and the end of the summer.

Moving right along with Johnson's lively music and charismatic stage persona, while enhancing the good-time atmosphere, is a high-energy Richard ‘Wookie’ Whitley lighting design, complete with bold fast-moving aerial effects, a compelling video wall backdrop, and a generous helping of immersive audience lighting that makes it easy for the crowd to join the party.

Helping Wookie with the latter are 34 Strike Array fixtures from Chauvet Professional, which, like the rest of the rig, are su

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17 February 2025

UK - "We didn't know what to expect," Those Damn Crows frontman Shane Greenhall told an interviewer about the band's first ever UK headline show on 14 December. The answer for Greenhall and everyone else who packed Cardiff's Utilita Arena was obvious.

From the moment Those Damn Crows took the stage and ripped into a full throttle rendition of Who Did It, the hometown crowd screamed with delight at the top of their lungs. The crescendo got even more intense as the concert progressed, reaching new heights on the third song Man On Fire when pyro effects glowed throughout the stage.

Fresh off their wildly successful EU tour, the Welsh rockers from Bridgend were back home, and the celebratory atmosphere couldn't have been more electric. Underscoring the energy on stage and reflecting the music was a production and lighting design by Gary

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17 February 2025

Dominican Republic - The Hilton Garden Inn La Romana in the Dominican Republic epitomises a romantic destination. Located steps away from sun-kissed beaches and the renowned crystal-clear water of the Caribbean, it’s a slice of paradise for locals and visitors alike.

The 5,000sq.m property has 130 rooms and features a swimming pool, two outdoor bars, a restaurant, a gym, and event and meeting spaces for social and corporate celebrations. The hotel wanted to implement an audio system that matched the splendour of its natural surroundings and chose Connect Series amplifiers from LEA Professional.

Hotel staff contacted local integration firm Symantel to design a robust audio distribution system for the hotel’s common areas and meeting rooms. The hotel wanted background music with local zone control for specific areas like the bars and restaurant. Sy

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17 February 2025

Spain - Production Futures enjoyed a successful debut at ISE, where it was part of the Fast Forward Friday takeover of the Live Events Stage. Providing an inspiring focus for young people on networking, training, and career growth in the live event technology and broadcast sectors, the Production Futures takeover promoted a day of learning, targeted at helping to develop the skills and confidence to meet career challenges head-on.

Hannah Eakins of Production Futures saw the organisation’s first appearance at ISE as a very important milestone in taking its message to a global audience:

“Throughout the day, we invited special guests from all corners of the industry to give the ISE audience an insight into the world of training and work opportunities within live event and broadcast production, whilst simultaneously raising the profile of ne

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17 February 2025

USA - Biamp has announced that its Parlé VBC 2800 Conferencing Bar and Vidi 280 Conferencing Camera are now certified for Zoom Rooms. The Parlé VBC 2800 is a high-performance all-in-one video bar with upgraded camera optics ideal for all meeting spaces up to and including large rooms.

The Parlé VBC 2800 features a dual camera system with 120° horizontal field of view and up to 16x digital zoom with a 50-megapixel image sensor, offering enhanced field of vision and clearer digital zoom. The Vidi 280 features this same camera technology in a compact electronic pan-tilt-zoom (ePTZ) conference room camera, capturing crisp detail at farther distances.

“Enabling seamless, high-quality video collaboration between multiple locations, in meeting spaces of all types and sizes, is essential for creating an effective, productive work environment,” said J

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17 February 2025

Spain - With an enlarged booth, innovative new products and a sustainable trade fair presence, GLP began a promising year at ISE 2025.

“Both the quality and quantity of visitors were exceptionally high at ISE this year,” confirms Udo Künzler, GLP CEO. “Our booth was noticeably extremely busy on all days, and visitors were particularly impressed by some of our products.”

Two new products in particular, developed with quality and cost-effectiveness in mind, were extremely well received. These were the GLP Wild Bar 16, a motorised LED tilt bar with IP65 protection rating, and the JDC Burst 1, the weatherproof successor to the popular JDC1 hybrid strobe, with massively increased colour performance.

The Fusion EXO Hybrid 40, a versatile, weatherproof moving head with 380W white light LED, 135mm front lens and a zoom range of 3.8° to 46°

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17 February 2025

Spain - Robert Juliat was very happy with its presence at ISE 2025, enjoying a busy show with a good international range of visitors, all of whom gave universally positive responses to RJ’s new LED followspot, profile and Fresnel solutions.

The new 420W LED-source Lexie followspot (1176) received its official launch at the show with RJ reporting a great response from visitors: “The feedback was that Lexie’s robust construction and compact size makes it easy to handle and operate, as well as to transport,” says Séverine Zucchiatti, RJ’s communications manager. “Plus, despite its compact size, Lexie has a surprisingly powerful output delivering approximately 15,000 lumens with a crisp 6,500K cool white source, and an optical range, both of which make it a versatile LED solution for all small to medium size venues

“It really is a plug-and

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17 February 2025

Spain - Prominently positioned within the multi-technology zone, Absen unveiled its latest LED innovations which cater to a diverse range of display applications. Working in partnership with a range of its leading industry eco-system partners, Absen showcased a digital art installation in collaboration with visual artist Refik Anadol, versatile conference room solutions and creative commercial displays.

This year’s stand-out feature for Absen was the captivating digital art collaboration California Landscapes with Refik Anadol. Drawing the crowds, this engaging piece showcased an experimentation of the Stable Diffusion model, representing one of the most advanced technologies in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) for image generation. The AI data painting of the Californian landscape was displayed on Absen’s largest MicroLED offering at t

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17 February 2025

USA - DPA Microphones has welcomed Nicholas ‘Nick’ Mariano and Vincent ‘Vince’ Divine to the U.S. sales and marketing teams, respectively. Mariano will serve as the regional sales manager for the mid-south region, while Divine joins as content creator and marketing admin.  

“The addition of Nick and Vince to our team will further strengthen our position as a renowned leader in the professional audio industry,” says Chris Spahr, vice-president of sales and marketing, DPA Microphones and Wisycom USA. “They both bring experience, knowledge and skills that will benefit the company. We look forward to witnessing their contributions to DPA and Wisycom as we continue to reinforce our commitment to the industry.”

Mariano will develop and execute sales strategies to aid in pushing forth the presence of DPA Microphones and Wisycom in Texas, O

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14 February 2025

USA - The 67th Grammy Awards staged at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles wasn’t just about celebrating the biggest names in music, it was also an opportunity to show solidarity and support for the Los Angeles community, which is still recovering from the devastating fires in January.

The audio production teams worked diligently to provide an extraordinary, transparent audio experience with the support of Shure wireless systems, including 46 channels of Shure Axient Digital microphones, 24 channels of PSM 1000 in-ear monitoring systems with 150 receiver packs, and a channel of Axient Digital PSM Digital In-Ear Monitor System used for host Trevor Noah’s IFB (interruptible foldback).

“Shure has been supporting the Grammy Awards for over 40 years, ensuring the audio quality is clear and reliable, and helping artists sound their best for the broad

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14 February 2025

Argentina - Wisycom has announced a new distribution agreement with Equaphon. With this agreement, Equaphon expands its offerings in Argentina and Uruguay by providing wireless solutions from Wisycom.

“We have followed the evolution of Wisycom in recent years, and we firmly believe in the brand’s innovation,” says Carlos Maiocchi, general manager of Equaphon. “Everything that Wisycom manufactures is of a high technological and innovative level, and we are confident our customers will find value in these solutions. In particular, we see an enormous opportunity for Wisycom in the broadcast, cinematography, theatre and live sound sectors in Argentina and Uruguay.” 

Equaphon is a professional audio solutions company with more than 50 years of experience in the industry. Founded in 1973 by Maiocchi, then a young electronic engineering student w

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14 February 2025

UK - Distributor and audio solutions provider Audiologic marks 20 years in the AV business with expansion into new facilities as well as additional staff to support continued growth plans.

The Harlow-based company recently completed its move into a new purpose-fitted 6,400 sq.ft facility at Harlow Innovation Park, not far from its existing site (where its logistical hub will remain). The new location will provide a fit-for-purpose home for Audiologic’s growing commercial and customer-facing teams as well as a new Learning Space training and product experience suite, dedicated conference room and smaller meeting and huddle spaces.

The new training room is fitted out with Q-Sys backend including Seervision camera automation, Fohhn loudspeakers and a range of in-ceiling array microphones from leading brands including Shure, Sennheiser and Yamaha. The

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14 February 2025

Saudi Arabia - Set to become the world’s tallest building, at a height of over 1k, construction of the Jeddah Tower (formerly known as the Kingdom Tower) in Saudi Arabia recommenced recently following a six-year hiatus.

To celebrate, the portion of the structure that had already been completed (approximately one third of the planned height) was illuminated for three weeks last September, which also coincided with the 94th Saudi National Day. Creating a true spectacular, the building was adorned with 60 ADJ Hydro Beam X12 moving head fixtures, which were used to fill the night sky with piercing aerial effects that could be seen from a distance of 5k.

Located to the north of Jeddah, the new tower is planned as the centrepiece of the Jeddah Economic City project, a substantial development of both commercial and residential real estate. The vision of S

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14 February 2025

UK - Lighting designer Andy Webb specified Robe moving lights to be at the heart of his lighting designs for two high-profile pantomime shows, The Further Adventures of Peter Pan staged at the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury and Sleeping Beauty at the Festival Theatre in Malvern – two of 11 pantos presented this season by UK Productions.

As the proliferation of mad characters, slapstick comedy, innuendo and humour flowed, so did the illumination, together – literally – with some cast members in Aylesbury, as the action and fun drew heavily on a series of spectacular flying gags – both onstage behind a drop-down projection screen, and out into the audience.

At Aylesbury, the infrastructure needed to make this happen meant a few production compromises, and the lighting department lost several ‘standard’ positions in this 1,

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14 February 2025

Germany - The Adam Hall Group has successfully completed its Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) verification. In doing so, the global event technology manufacturer, which is headquartered in Neu-Anspach, Hesse, is making its commitment to sustainable business measurable and transparent. This verification requires the company to disclose environmentally relevant activities and data and to go above and beyond the requirements mandated by environmental law.

Following nearly a year of the internal working group, spearheaded by CEO Alexander Pietschmann, working hard and planning, the Adam Hall Group has been officially certified in accordance with EMAS since autumn 2024. Thanks to this verification, the Group is now a crucial step closer to its major corporate goal: the development of a well-founded sustainability strategy for the Adam Hall Group.

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