Planning Ahead - The Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival could become a permanent fixture, if plans are backed. Festival organisers currently have rolling temporary planning permission but want it to become permanent. It would mean that as well as the festival, it would allow use of the land, on the Somerset site, throughout the year for parties and camping. But local residents are concerned it would change the land from a working farm to a festival and camping site.
The permission would also allow the "permanent regularisation" of the Pyramid Stage, along with a building currently used for storage and recycling, and the allocation of land to accommodate the temporary festival workforce. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the festival would still be subject to its official licence. So even if planning permission were granted, it would still need

UK - New professional training which provides the latest guidance on the In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment (ISITEE) – including why the term ‘PAT Testing’ should now be considered a thing of the past – has been announced.
Presented by James Eade, expert on electrical power safety for entertainment environments, the popular JET 2377 courses will be available in Bristol on 15-16 February and again on 17-18 May 2023.
The course brings attendees up to date with the important changes introduced by the revised 5th edition of the IET Code of Practice on In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment, written by James himself. Among the major developments that everyone should be aware of is that what was commonly called ‘PAT testing’ – the process of inspection and checks on equipment while in-service – is now out of da

Spain - A new feature for ISE 2023 which opened in Barcelona this morning, the Audio Demo Rooms in Hall 8 will showcase the latest innovations from leading audio brands.
Exhibiting brands including AED Group, Coda Audio, d&b audiotechnik, Holoplot, Martin Audio, Pioneer PRO AUDIO and Void Acoustics will provide rotational live demos throughout each day, including an exclusive guest appearance with Coda Audio from French electro musician and composer, Jean-Michel Jarre.
The launch of the Audio Demo Rooms follows a period when ISE worked closely with a group of leading audio companies to conceptualise and produce this exciting new show floor feature. Each demo room has been specifically tailored to the requirements of each manufacturer, ensuring optimal listening conditions for visitors.
Mike Blackman, ISE managing director, comments, “We are delighted that w

UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) has announced the launch of the Make A Difference conference, an annual proactive conference day committed to finding solutions to current industry issues. The conference will be more than simply talking and will ask attendees to commit to taking action and developing strategies to achieve solutions for the issues discussed.
The first conference will be held on Friday 21 April 2023 in the Ambassadors Lounge, Lyceum Theatre, 21 Wellington Street, London WC2E 7RQ with thanks to Ambassador Theatre Group for their support of this event. The theme for this year’s discussion is Solving our industry’s recruitment & retention crisis.
The conference has been developed to continue the joined-up thinking that is happening in the many ABTT seminars which are convened throughout the year and at the ABTT Thea

Spain - BikeFest returned to Spain last week, cycling over 360km towards ISE in Barcelona, and so far has raised an astonishing £40,000 for industry charities Backup Tech, Music Support and Stagehand along the way.
The now annual event has garnered huge support from across the live AV and events industry, in both the UK and Spain. Organised by #WeMakeEvents, PLASA and AFIAL, the 2023 edition of BikeFest Spain was proudly sponsored by Ayrton, AVIXA, d&b Group, EARPRO, Fantek, ISE, SOJC and Total Solutions Group.
Piers Shepperd, Backup Tech Chair, Technical Director of Wonder Works, and BikeFest member, says, “I’ve been amazed by the widespread support for BikeFest and Backup Tech, as well as our fellow industry charities Music Support and Stagehand. It's been a delight - making new friends, and catching up with old ones, but most importantly riding in a way

UK - Newark-based Ampetronic has been presented with its 2022 Queen’s Award for Enterprise for excellence in International Trade.
Employing 50 people Ampetronic has been trading since 1987, its mission is to bring intelligible sound into the lives of people with hearing loss by improving the quality of installed hearing access equipment. The company produces a wide range of electronic products for hearing accessibility, primarily Audio Induction Loop Systems that can deliver sound direct to hearing aid users.
On being presented with the award by The Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire - Sir John Peace, MD of Ampetronic Julian Pieters, commented: “We are honoured to receive the award today, made especially poignant following the death of Her Majesty last year. I am delighted that our customers and the team at Ampetronic were able to sustain a significant level of gro

USA - To better serve its customers in the New York City and New Jersey area, Renkus-Heinz has announced manufacturers’ representative Audio Associates will be taking over the key territory.
Audio Associates has been a leading manufacturers’ representative firm in the AV, professional audio, system integration, sports and government market sectors since its founding in 1981. Audio Associates has been representing Renkus-Heinz in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, including Washington D.C., Maryland, Eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Virginia, since 2020.
“After being a part of Renkus-Heinz’s success over the past two years in the Mid-Atlantic, I believe we are well positioned to take on the New York Metro territory,” said Joe Blacker, owner of Audio Associates. “We have always enjoyed our established relationships within the consulta

Austria - Ayrton has announced the appointment of K24 Technik & Vertrieb GmbH as its new exclusive distributor for Austria with immediate effect.
K24 Technik, which celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2023, is a respected sales and distribution company that carries a number of quality lighting and audio brands and services a wide range of rental companies, theatres and broadcast companies across Austria.
Managing Director, Johannes Stummer, chose Ayrton to fulfil his requirement for a versatile, reliable lighting brand to add to their portfolio.
“Following solid research and many recommendations from our clients, we found Ayrton to be the most creative and innovative products on the market,” he says. “We had received many positive accounts of Ayrton products and found so many of our clients to be very interested in using them. Once they heard K24 was to

Spain - ISE 2023 sees Creative Technology officially unveil its systems integration division to the market.
“Creative Technology is well-known for its spectacular productions in the world of live events, but even though our work in the systems integration market has been happening for some time now and is equally impressive, so far it has been much less visible to the market,” says Dave Crump, CEO at CT EME. “ISE offers us an ideal platform to highlight exactly what we can do.”
Attending ISE alongside CT SI will be NEP Integrated Solutions, to highlight the multiple markets the group supports and the vast technical solutions it provides globally.
CT SI has completed multiple projects in immersive and experiential venues as well as sports, corporate, high end residential, retail broadcast/XR and studios. The CT SI stand will showcase some of the company’

UAE - To address its rapidly expanding Middle Eastern market, Chauvet has entered into an agreement with Dubai-based AV distributor NMK Electronics.
NMK is now the distributor of Chauvet Professional, Chauvet DJ and Illuminarc products in the UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
“We’re very excited about our relationship with NMK,” said Stéphane Gressier, ‘Sebi’ Romero, and our senior BDM for this region, Goran Doncic, at NMK’s Dubai training session. NMK’s commitment to excellence and passion for service reminded all three of us of the philosophy that has guided the growth of Chauvet. We’re looking forward to building an extraordinarily strong relationship with NMK as we grow together.”
Schalk Botha, brand manager at NMK, adds, “Chauvet carries 33 years’ worth of heritage and experience,” he said. “We are thrilled to add

UK - Tech LED, the UK’s trusted supplier of LED lighting solutions for installation and live events, has announced the addition of Lumos Controls to its distribution portfolio to support the precise and automated control of its current architectural lighting ranges within the building design space. At a time when energy efficiency tops every agenda, Lumos Controls provides a simple-to-retrofit, complete solution for any enterprise looking to fully control its energy landscape.
Tech LED’s Gordon Addison, comments: “Lumos Controls are future-ready with unique software that will lead the way in the market. Crucially, Lumos is a green and energy efficient solution, providing real-time information wirelessly, to ensure building and energy management is efficient and simple. For customers looking for a simple and effective solution to control energy use, Lumos products are e

UK - Event Power Ltd, one of Ireland’s leading electrical hire companies supplying temporary power to major sports, festivals and state-run events, has invested in Data Strategy’s QC-Check workstation so that in the company’s busy warehouse, safety is an integrated part of the daily process.
With its power and cable inventory in constant demand, the company required a system to facilitate control of the stringent record-keeping associated with certified testing of distro and cable, as well as one that offered on-demand reporting.
Taking the advice of global temporary power specialists, Aggreko, who currently rely on more than ten QC-Check workstations to inspect the integrity of their power distribution units and cables in use at high-profile international events such as the recent Commonwealth Games, Event Power invested in a QC-Check workstation which included

New Theatre - Southwark Playhouse Elephant has become the latest theatre to open in London. The 310-seat venue in Elephant and Castle, the sister venue to Southwark Playhouse Borough, is the fruition of an idea first conceived in 2006. Among its first shows are Bermondsey Revolution, which opens on Thursday, and The Walworth Farce on 17 February.
Artistic director Chris Smyrnios said: "It's a great feeling to come to the end of the journey and to be at the beginning of a new one. Because of the regeneration, we've always been renting places and never really had a place of our own. Finally, we're in a building which is where we can set our roots, it'll be our forever home and it'll be a great place to be able to serve the community but also put on world-class theatre by new and emerging theatre practitioners."
At Risk - The King's Theatre in Edinbur

UK - A player within the global AV industry over a number of years, Greg Jeffreys has announced the decision to separate his consulting practice from the core manufacturing and distribution business, Visual Displays Ltd (VDL).
Greg Jeffreys Consulting Ltd (GJC) will therefore now function as a stand-alone business. And while VDL will continue to specialise in high specification displays, Jeffreys will build on a career that has seen him fulfil a number of volunteer leadership roles within the world of AV, rising to become the first non-American president of AVIXA (known then as InfoComm). Having either led or co-written various AVIXA displays-related standards, he is coming to the end of three years’ leadership of the Association’s standards body.
GJC will separate these consulting specialisms away from his other interests and at the same time meet the increasing

UK - Audio-Technica has announced a new distribution agreement with Massachusetts-based RF Venue, which will see the company represent the wireless essentials brand across EMEA from 31 January 2023.
Offering a wide variety of wireless mic and IEM antenna, combiner and band-pass filter products, RF Venue is relied on for everything from HOW and fixed installations to touring and other event applications, with a reputation built on more than 10 000 projects since its inception in 2011.
Alexandra Bischof, Audio-Technica marketing manager EMEA commercial audio said, “We’re delighted to be representing RF Venue throughout EMEA – the company’s portfolio allows us to offer customers an increasing range of wireless solutions alongside our own systems. Their track record of delivering excellent value, efficient problem-solving technology is a great fit for Audio-Technic

Spain - 22 live event and AV professionals are ready to cycle up to 390km from Valencia to ISE in Barcelona this weekend. Together as the BikeFest team, they are raising vital funds for industry charities Backup Tech, Music Support and Stagehand.
Organised by #WeMakeEvents, PLASA and AFIAL, BikeFest Spain is in its second year. Last year’s debut saw a team of 10 head toward the empty Fira de Barcelona exhibition centre, where ISE should have been taking place, poignantly showcasing the impacted live events sector.
However, this year’s BikeFest will head towards a thriving trade event – but not before taking in the stunning Mediterranean coastline. 18 members of the team cycle the entire route over three days, with the remaining four joining for the final 95km on the last day. The team represents the span of the live sector, including companies such as Bishopsou

UK - Martin Audio has announced its partnership with the recently-formed 22live pro-audio service provider.
In so doing it reunites the company with hire director, Paul Timmins - part of an experienced team that also includes MD Spencer Beard and commercial director, Alex Penn. They are joined by technical director, Simon Gladstone, operations director, Stefan Phillips and finance director, Ian Bidmead.
Driven by Timmins, who has enjoyed a long relationship with Martin Audio, the company has confirmed a large investment in Martin Audio’s advanced control and array technology. This enabled them to make an immediate impact in 2022, supporting the Sigur Rós global tour with the manufacturer’s Wavefront Precision system and Torus scaled for arenas, and the Australian Pink Floyd Show UK, with Wavefront Precision and Torus scaled for theatres up to small arenas. Both ba

Europe - Lang AG, one of Europe’s leading visual presentation technology dry-hire businesses has announced a major investment in Panasonic’s new RQ25K Series, for 100 units of the 3-Chip DLP projectors with up to 20,000lm brightness and 4K resolution.
“This significant investment, and extension of our more than 30-year relationship with Panasonic, will help our customers meet today’s industry challenges,” said Tobias Lang, CEO at Lang AG. “The Panasonic RQ25K Projector Series delivers next generation visual technology that wows the crowds with the latest and greatest image quality, streamlines workflows to enable fast and effective set-up and control and delivers unrivalled reliability.”
Lang AG chose the new Series, available in December, because it offers a number of important advantages to its rental users. The RQ25K is 40% smaller and 35% lighter than

Spain - Adam Hall has announced the creation of Adam Hall Integrated Systems – a new business vertical dedicated to serving the installed AVL market sector.
With its own product team headed up by Gabriel Alonso Calvillo, Adam Hall Integrated Systems will act as a resource for AVL professionals – be they consultants, integrators and even end users – to find and specify the products they need for their projects. All Adam Hall installation-friendly products are brought under one roof and application experts are on hand to offers expert advice and support at every stage of the project, from tendering to system design through to training and commissioning.
“We have been working on the development of our integrated systems portfolio for a few years now; and with the new solutions we are presenting at ISE, I am proud to claim that we can offer a comprehensive product

Creative Warning - Government complacency risks jeopardising the future of the creative industries, a report from the House of Lords has warned, as it called out an "indifference to the sector’s potential". The report from the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee follows an inquiry into the future challenges of the creative industries, which heard evidence from sectors including the performing arts, film, TV, gaming and music.
It warns of missed opportunities among senior government figures to recognise the sector’s commercial potential and makes a series of recommendations to support the future of the creative industries, including that the Department for Education must "address the decline in people taking creative GCSEs". This has been an ongoing concern in the creative sector, which has repeatedly warned that the English Baccalaureate is side-lining t


USA - ESTA has announced approval of three standards by ANSI's Board of Standards Review.
ANSI E1.37-1 - 2012 (R2022), Additional Message Sets for ANSI E1.20 (RDM) -- Part 1 is part of the E1.37 project and provides additional get/set parameter messages (PIDs). Most of the messages in this document are intended for use with entertainment lighting dimming systems. These additional messages allow access to configuration parameters commonly found in many theatrical dimming systems.
ANSI ES1.18, Event Safety – Rigging, provides minimum requirements and general guidelines to assist an event organizer or producer regarding the suspension of equipment and materials that are used in the technical production of organised events. It addresses the general requirements for design, planning, installation, set-up, removal, and operation of rigging activities.

India - PXL Media, a specialist in large format LED screen rentals, recently forayed into the professional touring audio domain by adding Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision (WPL) line array to its inventory. In so doing, they have become India’s first WPL users.
A production house known across South India for its prowess in LED screens, PXL Media launched SXL - a division centred around providing exceptional touring audio systems to audiences. “Together with VXL (Video) and LXL (Lights) we can provide a complete solution to our customers,” says Pratheesh Michael, CEO, PXL Media. This purchase also helps Pixel Media make its mark as a significant player in the touring industry in Kerala, one of the fastest growing events and touring markets in India. “We will quickly expand into all of South India soon,” promises Pratheesh.
“PXL Media believes in investing

Spain - In just two weeks’ time, Creative Technology EME’s CEO, Dave Crump, will once again be donning his Lycra, with other fellow industry personnel and setting off on BikeFest.
Covering almost 400km along the Mediterranean coastline, Dave and around 20 industry peers, will take on this impressive ride raising vital funds for industry charities, Backup Tech, Music Support, and Stagehand.
Starting in Valencia on 27 January, the team will cycle 140km on day one to Peñiscola, followed by 130km on day two to Tarragona, and a final 95km on day three to Barcelona, finishing at Barcelona Fira on 29 January to mark the start of ISE 2023.
“As those who know me know, I’m an occasional cyclist, and a huge supporter or Backup and the work done by ‘We Make Events’ during and since the pandemic. This will be a tough but amazing journey,” he says, “but I am s

India - Light Craft & Sound, a leading lighting supplier for the film and TV industry, has recently purchased one hundred Prolights EclPanel TWC, 10 EclPanel TWCXL and 10 combined Astra Wash19Pix and 37Pix moving lights to their rental fleet.
Light Craft is a multidisciplinary creative studio based in Mumbai that works with leading channels in India like Start TV, Sony, Zee TV, Viacom, and many others, and leading Bollywood productions like Dharma Production, Yash Raj Films, and others.
Mr. Arjun Singh, managing director of Light Craft & Sound, explained his decision to invest in Prolights: “We were impressed with the colour calibration and its colour precision across the entire range of soft lights.” Singh added: “These are great key-selling points of Prolights' fixtures. Their colour and light output are similar to other leading manufacturers of soft li

Latest Issue. . .

Save
Cookies user preferences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline
Advertisement
If you accept, the ads on the page will be adapted to your preferences.
Google Ad
Accept
Decline