UK - For Harvey von Strode, feline-in-chief at Somerset's Strode Theatre, "the impawtence of high quality sound is impussible to overestimate". So the installation of a new Yamaha and Nexo audio system has been a real claws for celebration.

Opened in 1963 and funded by the Clark Foundation, the 343 seat theatre and cinema is a part of Strode College at Street, near Glastonbury. Acting both as a key community and educational resource, the theatre promotes a mixed programme of live professional and amateur stage productions, as well as mainstream and arthouse films alongside live and recorded transmissions of opera, ballet and theatre.

As a senior member of staff, Harvey was on hand while Dominic Sandford - the theatre's technician and projectionist - explained how the n

UK - White Light has recently invested in two new pieces of equipment that reflect the company's recent expansion as well as further cement its reputation as a leading production supplier: the Martin MAC Aura XB and the Prolyte S36PRA truss.

Dave Isherwood, White Light's hire and technical director, comments, "It's fantastic that we are able to invest in such ground-breaking equipment. As we continue to work on highly technical and innovative projects, we need the resources which can help make these a reality. Both the Martin MAC Aura XB and Prolyte S36PRA truss reflect the high standards which the company implements and we can now use them on various projects to ensure that each one achieves its maximum potential."

The Martin MAC Aura XB has already been used on several events in which White Light has provided the lighting support. Whether this was the recent Glamou

Italy - Genelec has appointed PRASE as its Italian distributor for AV-Install and home audio products. MidiWare will continue to distribute Genelec's professional line of products.

Located in Noventa di Piave near to Venice, PRASE has been operating for more than 20 years as an AV distributor.The firm constantly updates the professional training of its technical staff, allowing them to transfer their knowledge to the market, ensuring added value for its customers.

Jarmo Masko, international sales manager for Genelec said, "This company is full of energy, with an enthusiastic team lead by the Prase brothers, Alberto and Ennio. They have highly skilled personnel as well as their own R&D in order to match the future needs of skills to maintain various applications and systems, from railway stations to home theatres. We believe they have the dedication and enthusiasm required

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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 - Since premiering with a flourish of sequins and feathers in Sydney back in April 2014, Strictly Ballroom the Musical has been touring Australia, currently residing at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne.

The musical is produced by the original creative team behind the classic 1992 film, including director and co-writer, Baz Luhrmann and set and costume designer, Catherine Martin.

Lighting designer for the production is Hugh Vanstone who was keen to specify the GLP impression X4 into the show, describing them as "tremendously useful" and declaring himself to be a big fan. Consequently there are 19 impression X4 fixtures in the lighting design, primarily rigged low. Some act as footlights, some are in low FOH box boom/ashtray positions and some are on the tops of each of the roving booms used throughout the show.

The impression X4 is principally used fo

UK - Lighting designer Andrew Voller has released a new update of his Moving Light Assistant software. Moving Light Assistant is an application designed to document both the physical setup and programming information for moving light rigs commonly used in the entertainment industry, and is used by lighting designers, associates, programmers, and lighting technicians.

The key feature additions and improvements that have been added in version 1.2 include:

- Reconciliation between Preset Documentation data and console data. This makes it easier to add only new presets (and also only if they are actually used), add channels added to a existing preset, show or remove deleted channels or presets and also indicate if a channel or preset is actually used.

- Preset Documentation Priorities. Presets can now be assigned a priority. It is then possible to sort and filter by priority.

UK - Pro audio and acoustics consultancy NoiseBoys Technologies, based in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, have set sail to Norway with Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, after installing a new sound and lighting system in the show lounge on board its flagship, Balmoral. They have also provided full training and support to the technical team on board.

Whilst on board, NoiseBoys also assisted with an event that made history for the cruise line when, on 28th July 2015, all four ships owned by Fred. Olsen - the Balmoral, Braemar, Black Watch and Boudicca - united in the port of Bergen on the same day. This was the first time ever that the whole Fred. Olsen fleet has come together, and NoiseBoys were on hand to advise and arrange power distribution for the celebrations and activities taking place on the quayside that day.

NoiseBoys won the contract to supply and install the new lighting and so

UK - Building on a longstanding relationship with Clarion Events, Arena has been awarded a further three years providing temporary structures to the Home and Gift Fair held in Harrogate.

The event, held annually in July, has long since outgrown the extensive facilities provided by the Harrogate International Centre, and this year Arena delivered 6,000sq.m of infrastructure in the grounds of the adjacent Majestic Hotel.

Arena installed four structures this year and to maximise the site footprint one area was supplied with a double deck facility. This created additional space and improved visitor experience by offering guests more undercover catering facilities. Arena Structures also managed all the power and climate control systems inside the temporary venues and the sub-structure bases on this undulating site.

Simon Marsh, Arena Structures' account director commented, "

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BikeFest Spain 2025 - Join the ride!

BikeFest Spain is set to return for its fourth consecutive year, inviting cyclists from across the industry to join the 360km ride towards ISE in Barcelona. From 31 January to 2 February 2025, riders will again rally in Valencia, cycling along the Mediterranean coast in support of industry causes.
For more information and to sign up, visit: www.joinbikefest.com

Europe - Rock band, Ash is currently on tour supporting the release of their latest album, Kablammo! with Allen & Heath's ultra-compact Qu-Pac digital mixer managing monitor sound.

For some time, the band had been considering the need to replace the old analogue mixer and the existing multi-track recorder.

"I told Tim the singer about the Qu-Pac mixer and that it did playback too, and he said it was a no brainer," says FOH engineer, Alan 'Hagos' Haggarty.

"Before this tour we were using an analogue mixer running a multitrack recorder for playback, all of which required a monster rack. Qu is basically doing the job of three different bits of kit as Tim also had a compressor in the old rack for his vocals but that's no longer needed either," explains Ash's drummer and monitor engineer, Rick McMurray. "Now that we have Qu-Pac, we can fit our in-e

UK - Harman Professional UK and Ireland distributor Sound Technology has further strengthened its position over the Irish Sea by announcing a major sale of a JBL VTX system to McCusker Pro-Audio in Northern Ireland. The sale was facilitated by Sound Technology's Irish sub-distributor, Reynolds of Raphoe.

The family run sales, hire and installation house, based in Co. Armagh, upgraded its front line fleet with JBL's new VTX V20 system - maintaining a relationship with the Northridge-based manufacturer extending back a number of years.

Director Barry McCusker, who fronts the business with his brother Colin and father Enda, confirmed the purchase of a rig comprising 24 x VTX V20 dual 10" line array elements; eight VTX G28 ground-stacked dual 18" subwoofers and four VTX S25 dual 15" arrayable sub-woofers.

The VTX Series is a result of JBL's continued effort to del

Europe - AC/DC have embarked on their Rock or Bust stadium tour. A raw, industrial production design by Ray Winkler of Stufish is complimented by an equally inspired and dramatic rock lightshow created by Patrick Woodroffe of Woodroffe Bassett Design (WBD) - with a little help from 39 x Robe BMFLs.

The BMFL Spots are in three key locations on the stage. The first batch of fixtures are rigged on an upstage arch of trussing - the arch and ten trussing 'fingers' are an integral set element - where they are equally spaced apart and utilised for massive beams and powerful breakup / gobo looks.

The next position is far upstage on the floor behind the 'chicken run' which is an up-and-over riser on which the band whizz about. These BMFLs are the primary fixtures in the reveal of the famous AC/DC cannons that emerge ominously at the start of For Those about to Rock (We Salute You)

UK - With Phase 3 of its seminar sessions finalised, PLASA Show reveals content that is both informative and a little out of the ordinary. From audio as art and colour changing lights, to safety - both electrical and aural - and the importance of apprenticeships, PLASA continues to cover key issues for the entertainment technology industry.

"It's art, not plant hire." These words from Tony Andrews, founder of loudspeaker manufacturer Funktion One, will ring true with sound designers and engineers around the world. Having spent his life exploring the higher possibilities in audio, Tony is well placed to discuss his statement further in the 'audio moment', the chosen subject for his Audio and Consciousness session at this year's PLASA Show, where he will doubtless take an audio path less travelled while considering the difference between hearing and listening.

T

USA - Building 24, a live entertainment and club venue located inside The Works, a large indoor entertainment facility in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, has enjoyed the benefits of an Elation lighting system since being installed in 2010. Five years on, the venue was looking to upgrade and add to their lighting system and again chose the Elation brand.

Elation dealer Aurora Sound & Light Design which has sold Elation lighting rigs to such prestigious venues in Philadelphia as SoundGarden Hall and Rumor nightclub, was called in to design the new lighting system, which would marry new Elation lighting fixtures with the venue's existing Elation lights.

"We supplied the new lighting equipment, did the design and programming, and educated the venue staff on how to install the equipment," says Ian Hoffer, president of Aurora, who also explains that the venue wasn't getting the

UK - West Midlands lighting and sound reinforcement company Pacific Sound & Light has been increasing its inventory of Shure equipment in recent months to supply a number of live music tours in the UK.

For the past few years, they have been using PSM900 in-ear monitoring on the live tours for the Drifters, and began working with the Ultimate Eagles tribute band two years ago (currently, the band are on a successful European tour). Now the company has also been asked to handle the forthcoming UK 2015 dates for the official Blues Brothers touring band. For this project, Pacific are turning to ULX-D wireless mics, and have expanded their existing complement of eight channels of ULX-D to 12.

"We've always used Shure mics, even before I set up Pacific," explains the company's managing director Paul Duffy. "With the arrival of in-ears, we began advocating their use to

UK - Britannia Row Productions Training has announced the launch of a brand new website detailing the range of courses it now offers from its base in Twickenham.

The new site offers a more visual and informative view of the activities of the Training operation, complete with testimonials from students of its intensive 12-week Live Sound Technology Course. To offer more flexibility in its training opportunities, Britannia Row has now developed some new courses for 2015 based on the core elements of its 12 week course.

Live Sound Basic PA Course: A 2-day course on the basics of setting up small PA systems. Taught over two consecutive weekends, the course covers a simple PA system from A-Z in the first day and a half, with the final afternoon spent hands-on, including mixing using multi-track playback machines. Live Sound Fundamentals: A 15 x 1-day modular course t

Europe - The rise of LED luminaires is changing the way that lighting designers are able to think about colour. As Source Four LED Series 2 and other luminaires increasingly replace gelled incandescent lights, rigs may be streamlined, but design opportunities and complexities continue grow exponentially. When any hue can be mixed at any moment and different LED mixes of the same colour can achieve different onstage effects, designers and programmers may find themselves oversaturated with colour choices.

ETC's latest Eos family software update addresses these challenges head on, providing "unprecedented colour control options and a wide range of new features" that allow users to adapt their workflows for an evolving art form.

The new update provides an extensive toolbox for quick, easy colour mixing and selection. Want to adjust the colour of your sidelight? Use one o

Canada - For lighting designers looking to switch to wysiwyg lighting design and previsualization software for special projects, CAST Group has announced the introduction of wysiwyg Design and Perform three and six months leases.

Created specifically for production professionals wanting to use an all-inclusive production design tool, wysiwyg Design Suite offers a customized 3D CAD application with the most complete equipment libraries in the market, realtime lighting design simulation, rendering engines and an integrated paperwork database. wysiwyg Design allows users to explore their designs in a virtual environment and use the available tools to create lighting concepts and proposals

Taking the foundations of wysiwyg Design, wysiwyg Perform is an all-inclusive end-to-end solution that offers an additional simulation component. Console, media server or compatible offline edit

USA - Symetrix has launched three new products allowing integrators to quickly and easily add extra inputs and outputs to their SymNet DSP systems.

The first, Symetrix xIn 4, is an audio input expander for SymNet Dante-scalable systems featuring four mic/line inputs with +48 VDC phantom power. Likewise, Symetrix xOut 4 is an audio output expander featuring four line outputs, designed to capitalise on the surplus processing power of a SymNet Edge or Radius DSP to bring overall system costs down.

The third new device, Symetrix xIO 4x4, is an audio input/output expander for SymNet systems sporting four mic/line inputs, including +48 DVC phantom power, and four line outputs.

All three devices are configured using SymNet Composer software, thereby eliminating any requirement for hardware DIP switches, front panel menus or third-party software. Featuring the industry-leading perfo

UK - Adlib's working relationship with the touring version of multi award-winning mega-successful sitcom Mrs Brown's Boys hits the 15 year mark this year, with the Liverpool based company providing full technical production - sound, lighting and video - for the various legs of the 2015 arena tour, scheduled to conclude in December, plus a live DVD shoot in September.

Adlib also made a major investment in new Absen high definition LED screen, Sony broadcast cameras and Prolyte pre-rigged trussing in time for the first leg of the tour in the spring.

LED video screen has replaced the projection systems of previous tours this year taking everything up a level, complete with 252 panels of the new 3mm Absen A3 screen.

The lighting, sound and video production were all based around the new 2015 set designed by Frankie & Brian.

The entire production is tailor-made to suit ea

France - Honeywell has announced the availability of Fix-A-Fit, a comprehensive new guide to properly selecting, fitting and using industrial earplugs. The Fix-A-Fit guide is a free 12-page training resource that will help anyone responsible for safeguarding workers' hearing against noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) which, according to the World Health Organisation, could affect as many as 1.1bn people under the age of 35 worldwide.

"Considering the popularity of earplugs as a form of hearing protection across many industries, it is surprising how many employers still believe that making two or three types of large earplugs available in different colours constitutes offering a variety of solutions," said Brad Witt, director of hearing conservation at Honeywell Safety Products. "One size does not fit all however, and failure to ensure a proper fit will not only giv

USA - The one million motorists who traverse the Miami Dade Expressway (MDX) every year share one common concern: they want to get to where they're going quickly and safely. To help them do this, the MDX authority is constantly enhancing its network of roads by doing things like installing open road tolling gantries that read vehicle license plates and passes, thereby avoiding the stop-and-go issues created at traditional toll plazas. At one such gantry, MDX went beyond its usual practical traffic control and safety mission to offer motorists an additional aesthetic benefit with help from a collection of Iluminarc fixtures installed by Barbizon Lighting Company.

Resembling an aircraft wing, the impressive gantry and pylon toll structure spans 10 lanes of one of the busiest sections of the MDX system, the 15.4-mile State Route 836, referred to by locals as the 'Dolphin Expressway

UK - Named in memory of Tony Gottelier, the renowned industry innovator and commentator who passed away in 2006, the annual Gottelier Award aims to recognise those product developers who have made significant long-term contributions to the advancement of entertainment, presentation or installation technology - whether in audio, lighting, rigging, staging, or any other related field.

Sadly, the 2014 Award was presented posthumously, by the unanimous agreement of his fellow nominees, to Pasquale Quadri, the founder of Clay Paky and an admired innovator for 40 years, who passed away shortly before the 2014 show. This year, his fellow nominees will again stand in the shortlist. The nominees for 2015 are:

Richard Belliveau

As one of the co-founders of Texas-based lighting manufacturer High End Systems, and still leading the company's product developments today, Belliveau h

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