UK - In response to a recent increase in demand, Stage Electrics has decided to invest in a fifth manufacturing workshop. The already busy manufacturing function assembles a range of products including internally wired lighting bars, facility panels, equipment racks, mains and low voltage cables as well as standard and bespoke stage management desks.

This change in demand has prompted the decision to move the process nearer to the components stock, which will allow the team to cut their current production time by 15% and support the manufacturing department's effort of hitting their operational targets with greater ease.

Head of manufacturing, Richard Thompson comments: "The existing workshops are at maximum capacity therefore this new infrastructure is vital to the busy manufacturing process we have here at Stage Electrics. Much of the £1.5m that the department tur

Canada - Winnipeg's striking new Canadian Museum for Human Rights explores the universal concept of human rights with a special emphasis on Canada.

Electrosonic was contracted to do the audio-visual design of the museum's 11 galleries, and subsequently the company directed the AV equipment installation working with local partner Advance Pro. The museum features theatres, interactive touchscreen stations, projections on a digital canvas and hundreds of video clips.

Eleven media partners were involved in the build-out requiring considerable technical coordination by Electrosonic. The company worked closely with SH Acoustics, LLC of Milford, Connecticut, on the museum's audio elements.

The project posed a number of challenges due to the building's architectural profile, which was designed by US architect Antoine Predock, working with Winnipeg's Architecture 49. Designed to move

Germany - After the operator of the Dresden theatre Wechselbad der Gefühle (Rollercoaster of Emotions) ceased operations in May 2014, TW.O GmbH took over the business of the operation, rebamed Boulevard Theatre Dresden. After a four-month renovation, operations in the listed building started again in September 2014.

In addition to the complete redesign of the auditorium, there were also heavy investments in the modernization of the stage and the entire theatre technology. Dutch manufacturer Alcons Audio pro-ribbon solutions were chosen for sound reinforcement.

"After many advisory discussions with sound engineers and other competent professionals, we organized test setups with different systems. The impressive performance of the Alcons systems and the professionalism of Event-net GmbH made it an easy decision", said Dan Becker, one of the directors of TW.O GmbH.

A

Czech Republic - German production house Showem is the latest company to invest in a Nexo STM M28 system, which made its inaugural appearance at the new Skoda Superb launch. Both the car and the modular line array system were unveiled at the Forum Karlin auditorium in Prague, where a stunning new symphony was premiered to 500 invited media guests.

The symphony, performed by a 50-piece orchestra, was written to symbolise a new era for the 120-year-old Czech car manufacturer, and this fresh approach extended to the choice of sound system used at the launch. Showem's technical production manager, Dieter Mantzel, wanted to mark the occasion with a different PA system to those typically used for new car launches, and Nexo STM was the number one choice.

"We'd been waiting for Nexo's new M28 modular line array, and this was the perfect opportunity to purchase it," says Show

UK - To coincide with National Apprenticeship week, Skills Minister Nick Boles has announced that hundreds more top employers have joined the government's successful Trailblazers programme to design high quality apprenticeships in everything from renewable energy to video games. Within that group are 13 PSA member employers, led by PRG UK, who have been approved to develop an apprenticeship for Live Event Technicians - a role that, according to many employers, has not been successfully catered for by current apprenticeship models.

The Trailblazer scheme will help employers decide training content, means of delivery and methods of assessment, all designed to meet their needs and deliver relevant skills.

John McEvoy, head of production for PRG UK, said: "As suppliers to the live events industry we wholeheartedly support the idea of apprenticeships being developed by employe

UK - A lighting project for Stansted Airport designed by Morgan Sindall Professional Services (MSPS), the multidisciplinary design and engineering firm, working with lighting manufacturer OSRAM has been nominated for a prestigious Lighting Design Award.

The nomination for the Low Carbon category marks the second accolade for MSPS' electrical engineering team in three years.

To win the highly-competitive Low Carbon award, a project must demonstrate significant energy savings through excellence and innovation in terms of design, equipment or technique.

The project was for Stansted's 306m undercroft. The brief was to optimise lighting levels with improved controls that could vary illuminance levels, to reduce maintenance costs, and future proof the system so that it could be updated or integrated with other building management systems when required.

Daniel Eggington principal

UK - Baldwin Boxall reports that Professional Sound Consultancy Ltd has reached Customer Gold Status level. Working closely with Baldwin Boxall for over a decade, Professional Sound Consultancy has gained an exceptional knowledge of the company's systems and products. The Gold Status reinforces the commitment between the two companies to promote, build, install and maintain systems of high quality with exceptional service.

Professional Sound Consultancy Ltd was formed by Katie Bradford and Stephanie France in 2003. The company takes great pride in its staff and employs top quality designers, engineers and project managers from the industry. Specialising in designing, installing and maintaining voice alarm and public address systems they have some of the largest and most prestigious sites in the UK on their portfolio.

Professional Sound Consultancy's reputation has grown over t

Spain - With 85,000 people attending over the course of the four days, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the world's largest exhibition for the mobile phone industry. Held annually in Barcelona within the purpose-built arena Fira Gran Via, the MWC is renowned as the industry's forum for launching major technological breakthroughs.

Creative Technology (CT) has supplied various exhibitors at this event over the last nine years with the London office providing most of the equipment used. As CT Spain has heavily invested in new equipment, the 2015 event involved a much larger contribution from CT Europe's resources, as well as an increased number of exhibitor stands being delivered.

CT provided services for six international clients with equipment including LED, touchscreens, audio systems, and media servers. One of the most challenging was a gala dinner held in the Museu Naciona

UK - Brit rockers You Me At Six have stormed through the UK this month on their first ever arena tour. Lighting designer Louis Oliver of Okulus chose an array of Clay Paky's newest product, the award-winning Mythos, for his vibrant show design.

Co-headlining with pop punk foursome All Time Low, the band played such venues as Cardiff Motorpoint Arena and London's O2. For this run of major shows, Oliver used his design for the band's Cavalier Youth touring campaign. However, he scaled it up with more dramatic looks, using 27 of the super powerful Mythos supplied by Zig Zag Lighting.

"For the arena tour, we just made everything bigger and grander," says Oliver. "The video screen behind them has expanded so when we started looking at the fixture choices for the run we had to keep this in mind. Having fixtures that could not only complement the content but cut throug

UK - The new addition to Nexo's STM modular line array series, the compact M28, has been installed in La Belle Angele nightclub in Edinburgh.

Nexo has had a long history with the live music venue, which opened in 1992. For a decade, the original Nexo SI 2000 system provided sound for live acts including Oasis, The Libertines and Radiohead. Destroyed in 2002 by a fire which ravaged the Cowgate area of the city, the club's owner, Hafid Mahboubi, has fought a long and hard battle to have it rebuilt.

"After 13 years it was a great feeling to be able to return to the venue we built and bring it back to life," says George Macdonald, who worked as club promoter, resident DJ and technician at the club until the fateful fire. "I was lucky enough to be trained on the original Nexo system, and I have many fond memories of what we achieved with it. I ended up taking co-owne

USA - Barry Manilow has taken to the stage for his One Last Time Tour with Bandit Lites providing the lighting. In what is being hailed as his grand finale (or at least a goodbye to a full production touring show) Manilow brings his epic catalogue of hits from his 40+ year career to the adoring masses.

Back in 1998, Seth Jackson was told he was 'filling in for a guy' and now jokes, "I don't know when that guy is coming back!" "Over the years I moved from lighting director to lighting and set designer, production designer, and now I'm the show's creative director and production designer," he said. "We've been around the world a few times, spent seven years in Las Vegas residency, and now I guess we've got One Last Time."

Planning for the tour started back in October with conversations between Manilow and Jackson starting with a blank drawing board

UAE - Lighthouse is one of the most successful and prolific lighting and production design practices in Dubai. Headed by Terry Miranda and his brother Steve, Lighthouse is busy continuously through the thriving events season in the UAE, and also works in other parts of the Middle East.

The Mirandas founded the company 10 years ago in 2003, initially with Terry as an LD and since then have evolved into a complete turnkey design and production house with a reputation for imagination and flair.

Lighthouse invested in Robe products immediately after they set up, and have stayed with the brand. They now have over 250 Robe units of various types which are used almost exclusively to facilitate their own shows.

The kit ranges from the most recent CycFX 8s, MMX WashBeams, Robin Beam 300s and PARfects - to older products like the ColorMix 240, ColorSpot and ColorWash 575 and 1200E ATs

Europe - Continuing their long-term working relationship, XL Video have supplied a compact and versatile projection package for DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist's Renegades of Rhythm European tour.

XL Video project manager, Jay Mobbs-Beal worked with manager & production manager, Jamal Chalabi, to create the video specification for the tour.

The shows, which spanned across Europe from the UK over to Estonia and Lithuania, featured a projection backdrop flown behind the DJ booth. With varying venue sizes, XL Video supplied two different screen types for the tour - one 4.8m wide by 2.7m high, and a smaller 4.3m x 2.4m screen.

For the projection, XL Video supplied two Panasonic PT-DZ 10k projectors, one live and one backup, and a 0.8 lens and 0.36 short throw lens which were alternated dependent on venue and screen size. XL are also supplying the 0.36 lens for the continuation of the

The Day the Music Died - The Music Producers Guild is backing a campaign to ensure that songwriters get a larger share of royalty income generated by digital music sales. Spearheaded by the British Association of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) and entitled The Day the Music Died, this initiative will focus on the role and importance of songwriters and composers in the digital music industry. It will press for three key actions - a 50/50 split of gross digital royalty income, the removal of auto-predictive search functionality in search engines, which point people to illegal content and a push for all digital advertising income to be paid to creators for all usage.

BASCA is also asking for more transparency around digital deals and is calling for improved regulation of illegal content on search engines, plus the easier removal of infringing websites and apps. P

South Africa - Durban in South Africa once again came alive with the buzz and the excitement of the 2015 Metro FM Awards, with Robe BMFL Spots taking centre stage - as part of a rig of nearly 150 Robe moving lights - for a stunning stage presentation at the Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre.

Staged for the third consecutive year right in the heart of the city, attended by 4000 enthusiastic guests and VIPs, the massive evening organised by one of the country's leading radio stations was broadcast live on national channel SABC1 and saw the presentation of 20 coveted awards and nine special live performance collaborations.

Co-ordinating all the technical elements was Dream Sets. Their Project manager was Robert Hoey, who was also working on the event for the third year for event producers, Blue Moon. Lighting designer Francois van der Merwe from the Wizardry Group wa

Czech Republic - Often hailed as the 'Czech Pink Floyd', progressive rock legends Stromboli have played a special one-off sold out show at Prague's O2 Arena to celebrate their 30th anniversary, with lighting and set designer Radek Havlicek choosing to use an array of Clay Paky fixtures to complement his impressive volcano-themed set.

Havlicek, of design agency and rental operation Pink Panther, worked alongside his colleague Petr 'Panki' Volek to choose 50 x Clay Paky A.leda Wash K10, 20 x Sharpy, 12 x Alpha Beam 1500, 24 x Alpha Spot 1200 and 12 x Shotlight Wash fixtures for the vibrant and immersive design, which was centred upon a vast volcano set piece to represent the band's name.

"We rigged some of the Clay Paky fixtures on ringed trussing around the volcano," explains Havlicek. "We positioned 14 of the K10s, which we used for vibrant washes of colour, on

UK - As one of the few UK partners selected to join the new Soundcraft Vi network, Liverpool-based Adlib has been consolidating its growing fleet of VI6 and Vi3000 consoles - for rental, sales and installation.

Confirms director Dave Kay, "The Soundcraft Vi series remains our first choice of console in view of its simplicity, reliability and usability. We provide regular training for potential users, backed up by a great service and support team."

Despite making an immediate commitment to the company's new Vi3000 hybrid - investing heavily for both sales and rental stock - he emphasises that the Vi6 shows no sign of letting up, even after eight years.

"This is because the software and feature set has evolved over the years, making it still very much a current product which continues to be specified," he says. "In 2015 we have already had the consoles

UK - Warner Music UK has chosen the reliability and quality of the Chauvet Professional PVP S7 LED video panels for showcasing the latest music videos at their West End offices in London's Kensington Borough.

The 3-by-2m screen, consisting of 24 individual PVP S7 panels, was installed to project content visible from the high street over 500m away, by Emiror Research, a team of specialist audio consultants who pride themselves on creative and innovative electronic installations.

The company attends to the audio and electronic installation needs of Chappell Music and Atlantic Records amongst other prestige clients. The screen forms the public part of a larger installation of screens throughout the property. Run via the proprietary Chauvet VIP drivers, through a HD Kramer switching and matrixing system, the screen updates an older Barco product.

Emiror Research CEO, Giles Smith

Denmark - When the specifiers of the aesthetically stunning new build Musikkens Hus (House of Music) in the northern Danish city of Aalborg were planning the venue in 2009, they filled it with some 250 traditional tungsten Source Four fixtures. Although by the time the venue opened, the rig seemed outdated, with the help of ETC's Danish distributor Bico, the venue nevertheless ended up with the most up to date lighting products on the market, including ETC Gio control, Sensor3 power control and over 50 ETC LED fixtures.

The project was first specified - and budgets allocated - when LED fixtures were still in their infancy and would not have been relied upon as a venue's main house lighting; tungsten was still in charge. So in 2013, in order to help the 20,000 sq m venue plan for the future, Bico's project manager Søren Jørgensen worked closely with venue consultant

Germany - Jazz and pop star, Roger Cicero and his band have been on tour throughout Germany and Austria promoting his latest CD, Was Immer Auch Kommt.

Lighting, sound and stage design, were of the highest quality to complement Cicero's superior mix of swing jazz.

The prime service provider Soundhouse commissioned the company Big Mama Production from Hannover for the implementation of the lighting. The rig featured semi-circular segments of staggered truss, with PR Lighting fixtures much in evidence.

Among the effects used by lighting designer Fabian Kuhn was a selection of XR200 Beam and XLED 590 as well as some powerful XL5000 series spots, which were provided by Focon Showtechnic, PR Lighting's German distributor

Jens Ottenhus from the German distributor Focon Showtechnic says, "PR Lighting fixtures are finding their way increasingly into professional rental

UK - Entertainment Workshops (EW), the Rye-based education facility providing essential alternative education in creative media and production arts for students of school-age - has been highly commended in the Micro Business Award category of the Apprenticeships 4 England 2015 Training Provider & Apprentice Employer Awards.

Operations Manager, Paul Byrne, received the award on behalf of the Sussex charity, which was one of seven small businesses shortlisted as finalists for the category.

Also in attendance was EW employee/apprentice, Phil Smith, who recently completed his level three apprenticeship in Live Events & Promotions. He said, "I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the team at EW to achieve this apprenticeship, the constant support and encouragement has been invaluable"

David Byrne, Chairman said: "It's fantastic to have another great award to add to

UK - Instantly memorable and clearly identifiable as emphatically live for reasons best forgotten, this year's Brit Awards proved the best yet for audio providers Britannia Row Productions Ltd (Britrow). "Every year we reflect on the show and make adjustments to improve the following year," said Britrow's Josh Lloyd who mixed FoH for all but Royal Blood. "You can always make improvements, that's part of the legacy that Derrick Zieba left for us. This year some new equipment added some genuine enhancement."

The essential dilemma of The Brits hasn't changed, the unrelenting demands of the camera lens dictate that sightlines shall always be clear so audio is rigged as high as possible, while down on the floor sit the assembled masses of the recording industry who know what good sound means and expect nothing less.

"We updated this year's PA design drawing

Bulgaria - Arena Sozòpol is one of the four venues that will host the 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. Completed in plenty of time for the championship, the 4,000 seat stadium has undergone full reconstruction with new grandstands and amenities.

Sozòpol is an attractive ancient seaside town located 35 km south of Bulgaria's second largest city, Burgas, on the beautiful Black Sea Coast. It is one of the country's major seaside resorts, internationally known for the Apollonia art and film festival.

Burgas based Pro Audio Ltd was commissioned to design and install the audio for the new stadium. Stanislav Petrov, managing director of Pro Audio explained their design, "High intelligibility, even coverage and good sound levels with headroom were all main criteria, so Community's R Series were the natural first choice. Their accurate dispersion also avoids unnecessary

Singapore - VUE Audiotechnik has announced the appointment of Global Market Management as its APAC sales representative. The company's CEO Bardy Hayes will oversee new sales opportunities from Global Market's California office, while Singapore-based Alex Schloesser will lead the technical support for current and future customers in the region.

"We have been following VUE Audiotechnik's progress with great enthusiasm since its launch," says Hayes. "We are very pleased to become the sales representative for this exciting brand of loudspeakers. We have never before encountered such swift worldwide acceptance for a new professional audio brand, particularly loudspeakers. I have personally known the co-founders for many years and their combined experience and reputation, along with the wide portfolio of products they have developed, has quickly catapulted them to the u

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