UK - Rock Solid Technologies, one of the leading manufacturers of peripheral devices for Show Critical Equipment, now uses FIBERFOX EBC1502 connectors for its redundant fibreglass network switch "RockLink".

Jens Hillenkötter, CEO of Rock Solid Technologies comments: "With FIBERFOX we gained a new partner, who brings decades of experience in the field of fibreglass technology, is established in the market and who fully complies with our high expectations. Therefore, it was a logical decision for us to offer another RockLink version, which also withstands extreme conditions in the area of fibreglass."

The future collaboration is also viewed positively by Günter Bergmann, CEO of FIBERFOX: "We are delighted about the partnership with ROCK SOLID Technologies, a world-renown manufacturer of highly reliable equipment. That it was possible to convince Rock

UK - Crowds have flocked to see the Science Museum's Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age exhibit since it opened in September to rave reviews. How did 12 huge Russian spacecraft make their way to the first floor of the Science Museum in central London?

Suzanne Boothby, Cosmonauts Exhibition delivery manager said, "We brought Unusual Rigging on board at an early stage as the spacecraft and equipment on display are unique. We wanted the reassurance that Unusual bring with their understanding of both our objects and the limitations of the museum."

Unusual's Robin Elias flew out to Moscow to advise on the safest way to ensure the exhibits made their way to London unscathed. "Remember, these are huge spacecraft that play a massive part in space history. We can't just load them into the back of a lorry and hope for the best. We also had to consider just how we

UK - The second edition of PLASA Focus Glasgow 2016 held at the SECC will see 50% more exhibitors than the inaugural show in 2014. With new exhibitors recently announced including Bose, Hawthorn, Adlib and UK Rigging, PLASA Focus Glasgow promises to deliver innovative solutions to the Scottish market.

Visitor highlights include the chance to discover new and exciting products from over 60 brands in professional audio, AV, lighting, staging and rigging not to mention two days of free seminars and live demos. Industry leaders exhibiting at the show will include both manufacturers and distributors including big names such as Robe, RCF, Chauvet, Elation, Avolites, ETC, TMB and many more.

The recent announcement from VisitScotland shows intent to grow the events market in Scotland. The investment in a new ten-year 'collaborative strategy' to develop Scotland's 3.5 billion events

UK - A stunning field of fibre optic lights will pop up at two Birmingham city centre sites in the approach to Christmas. Residents, city-centre workers, Christmas shoppers and visitors to the city will be able to view and control a unique and interactive art installation.

Commissioned and presented by Birmingham Hippodrome Creative, British-Chinese artist Aowen Jin's new outdoor artwork Midlight invites people to create their own light displays. Through cutting-edge digital technology and social media interaction, the colours can be changed both with sound (music, singing, clapping etc) and via Twitter.

Midlight features thousands of LED lights with 90,000 colour variations which adjust so that no two experiences with the artwork are ever the same. The project is the first of its kind to include the participation of Birmingham's local Chinese community who liv

France - The Roland M-5000 Digital Mixing Console has been out on tour recently- mixing FOH on the 23 date Autour de la Guitare which brought together famous guitarists creating one 'super band' to perform at Zénith Arenas across France and Belgium. Led by French guitarist JF Lalanne, the Autour de la Guitare also included Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Christopher Cross, Johnny Clegg, Ron Thal, John Jorgenson, Axel Bauer, Paul Personne, Dan Ar Braz, Michael Jones, JM Ecay and Nono Krief.

Chosen as the FOH console by tour production company Silence!, the M-5000 was specified because of the console's intuitive workflow, flexible architecture and sound quality - plus the fact that so many features came in such a compact footprint.

FOH engineer, Manu Guiot (designer of the Notre Dame de Paris musical amongst other high profile projects) was at the helm

UK - The new Audient Studio has been unveiled to coincide with the start of the new term at the SSR headquarters in Manchester, where a 36 channel ASP8024 console with integrated patchbay and producer's desk now stands proudly at its heart.

SSR's technical director, Tom Aston reports, "Students have been overwhelmingly positive about the Audient ASP8024. They find it well laid out, spacious and logical." This year alone, some 120 students - including those studying for Music Production and Sound Engineering degrees - will get their hands on the console, giving it ample opportunity to prove its reputation for reliability and longevity.

"Having a producer's desk to the left of the master section has allowed us to locate the computer keyboard, mouse and DAW control surface in the centre of the stereo image, producing a much more ergonomic environment than before,

USA - It was a happy marriage made in metallic heaven, when We Came As Romans and All That Remains locked up for their full throttle Hard Drive Live Fallout Tour. Both bands hold each other in high esteem, telling the press that they were "ecstatic" to be playing together. Both also shared a mutual admiration for the eye-searing lighting design that LD Peter Therrien created using a collection of Nexus Aw 7x7 warm white LED panels and Legend moving heads from Chauvet Professional.

"You always like to get good feedback when you design," said Therrien of JDI Productions. "So all of us involved in this show were thrilled when the bands went out of their way to compliment us. Aaron Patrick for ATR and Bryan Campbell for WCAR both commented how happy they were with the package and how the lighting had added an impressive visual impact to their perform

Eagles Return - US rock band Eagles of Death Metal appeared on stage in Paris, less than a month after deadly attacks during their performance in the French capital. The band took to the stage to perform at the end of a U2 concert at the AccorHotels Arena. "They were robbed of their stage three weeks ago and we would like to offer them ours tonight," said singer Bono. Ninety of the 130 people who died in the 13 November attacks were killed at the concert at the Bataclan venue. Bono embraced Eagles of Death Metal singer Jesse Hughes ahead of an emotional joint rendition of Patti Smith's People Have The Power.

School of Rock - Broadway musical School of Rock, written by Downton Abbey's Julian Fellowes with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, has opened to mixed reviews. The show, which was a hit 2003 film starring Jack Black, is about a wannabe rock star

Denmark - The use of Panasonic AV technology has brought the prisoners and guards back to the corridors, detention blocks and cells of Faengslet Prison Museum in Horsens, Denmark.

From tussles between prisoners on the gangways, to the clanging of heavy cell doors, to the distinct smell of cannabis drifting down the cell block, the museum has so faithfully recreated the sights, sounds and smells of prison life that visitors feel the closure in 2006 never actually happened.

Central to the multi-sensory experience are the 56 Panasonic projectors, which help create shadows through the halls and the sight of heavy set prisoners in the toilet blocks.

The majority of these are Solid Shine laser projectors, including a total of 46 PT-RW330, 2 PT-RZ470 and PT-RZ475 projectors placed throughout the prison. Solid Shine projectors were chosen due to impressive brightness and contrast

USA - BSR E1.57, Recommendations to prevent falls on or off movable parade floats, movable stages, and similar moving platforms, has been published for public review at http://tsp.plasa.org/tsp/documents/public_review_docs.php.

It offers recommendations for steps to be taken to prevent falls by anyone (e.g., performers, technicians, politicians) on parade floats, movable stages, and similar moving platforms. Fall protection is needed, but this protection needs to be provided in a way that preserves the artistic intent of the moving float or platform. This document is being written to provide guidance on how to accomplish these two aims.

The draft standard is available now through 1 February 2016. On 2 February the review is over, and the links to the draft standard will disappear from the website.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Grammy-award winning musician, music producer and DJ Zedd (Anton Zaslavski) is playing out the later stages of his True Colors world tour, part of the campaign to promote his second studio album of the same name.

Lighting designer Stevie Hernandez examined how 64 Robe Pointes are integral to the design.

Zedd's much talked-about live show visuals are a collaboration between himself, Stevie as production designer, VJ Gabe Damast and tour manager Ken Floyd who also runs lasers and SFX for the performance. They have all worked with Zedd for three years and are his first production team.

The team enjoys a coherent and fluid visual chemistry and Zedd considers them his 'visual musicians', all bringing their own specific imaginative disciplines into the show.

While Zedd knows exactly the visual vibe he wants for each song, he encourages everyone's input. Different ideas

Taiwan - Taiwanese pop queen Jolin Tsai's new album Play was given the highest accolade by the Chinese music industry in 2015, winning Best Mandarin Album at the 26th Annual Pop Music Awards. Soon afterwards, her Play World Tour began and immediately became one of the hottest events of the year. After a highly successful three days in Taipei Arena, the tour visited the Chinese mainland.

The production spared nothing. Concert directors Travis and Stacyz, having worked with Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga, were brought in to create an unprecedented audio-visual feast, in turn bringing in the best teams from all over the world to give fans their most impressive production experience to date.

MSI Japan was in charge of the sound production and Martin Audio's award-winning MLA system was chosen for the Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou leg of the tour. With more than 3

UK - Pro audio equipment rental company, RSH Audio has recently invested in a significant upgrade to rental stock to serve their ever-increasing live and corporate workload.

Having received such a positive response to their initial Yamaha QL1 digital console investment which has successfully served their increasing sub-hire market demands, Joe Haycocks, director at RSH Audio was prompted to consider the suitability of the company's other assets for the demands of busy rental and production companies.

"I am keen to continue developing our sub-hire market work which we supply very effectively. With that in mind I looked to Yamaha CL and QL digital consoles and Shure QLX-D digital wireless systems for the solution", comments Haycocks. "On our own shows, we have found the Yamaha and Shure systems work brilliantly for both the live and corporate shows that we do.

UK - Popular indie rockers The Vaccines are on the road again continuing their English Graffiti album campaign, with lighting designed by Dan Williams and supplied by west London based Colour Sound Experiment.

The band toured earlier in the year, visiting some of the more off beat venues in the circuit, followed by some gigs over the summer and now this tour, which also plays a couple of arenas and for which Dan created a completely new design.

The new album is a departure from the punky, rocky attitude of the first two, moving into some darker and moodier territories and they wanted the musical evolution and depth of the new material to be reflected in the lighting and visuals.

In response, Dan has gone for multiple options for producing a wide array of strong moody looks with lots of variety and low side lighting that introduces intimacy and the idea of proximity

UK - When global hotel chain Radisson began planning the refurbishment of their Fire Lake Grill House and Cocktail Bar in Leeds they knew they wanted it have a great atmosphere. Situated on the Headrow in the heart of Leeds, the Radisson Blu restaurant is an ideal escape from the hustle and bustle, where guests enjoy refined dining in chic surroundings.

Reflex were approached by designers to provide a sound system solution that would complement the venue by providing high quality music. From a relaxed daytime atmosphere to a more sophisticated, livelier environment for the evenings and weekends, it had to meet a range of demands.

It was also vital that the system sounded great but was also simple to use requiring minimal management. Equally it was critical that the speakers did not detract from the stylish décor of the restaurant and bar.

When it comes to hospitali

Denmark - Handling over two million passengers each year from both regular and charter flights, Billund Airport is also one of Denmark's busiest international air cargo hubs. Recently the airport's management wanted to add high quality background music to the announcement/voice evacuation system in three of the airport's busiest areas, a difficult task to achieve without multiple types of loudspeaker. The Yamaha EN54-24 certified VXC4-VA proved master of the task.

Billund Airport was originally established in 1961 as a private airstrip by Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, head of The Lego Group, whose company is based in the nearby town of Billund. The current airport opened in 1964 and has been continually expanded and upgraded ever since. Owned by a group of the area's municipalities, today Billund Airport is the main airport for passengers in western Denmark and handles significan

Romania - A NEXT-proaudio system was recently used for Romania's National Day, a very special occasion to celebrate the union of three regions: Transylvania, Moldavia and Romania in 1918.

This celebration took place on Alba lulia for more than 15000 people with 1200 soldiers on parade, trucks and military equipment. Alba Iulia is a historic town and attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists annually. It is in the top three of the most beautiful and visited cities in Romania.

For this event, the challenge was to cover a distance of 200m, left and right of the main stage. It was basically a street with two lanes where soldiers paraded and sidewalks were located viewers (tourists).

"We like challenges, but in this case we have tried to primarily ensure the safety of the thousands people who attend to this event. We think for the organization was the most important even

UK - Dave Gilmour's 2015 world tour started in the UK in September this year and continues on to Madison Square Garden in April 2016. The guitarist and vocalist has already impressed fans and critics, drawing on nearly 50 years of Pink Floyd and solo work, with a prominent place reserved for his latest album, Rattle That Lock.

Gavin Tempany is the monitor engineer on the tour and he has chosen an SSL L500 Plus console, having already used it at Front of House on other high profile events. "I had the choice of a couple of consoles," he explains. "They were the only ones that would do the number of ins and outs I needed. I ended up using 186 wet audio paths, and 32 dry, so it was pretty hectic."

The L500 Plus can handle up to 256 audio paths (208 with full processing, and 48 dry), and up to 1008 inputs and outputs. Tempany's set-up on the Gilmour tou

UK - The main hub of the BBC's 2015 Children in Need telethon was again Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, where the marathon seven-hour live broadcast on BBC One united a glittering array of stars and a myriad of special collaborations all of which - along with thousands of activities taking place nationwide - helped raise £37m for the fundraising campaign.

Drapes, softs and special effects company S+H Technical supplied 350sq.m of its animation cloth and 50sq.m of its RGB Starcloth product to the event, which were an essential element of the spectacular production design created by Alex Craig.

Alex's studio set evoked fantasy images of both high-tech and retro fairground attractions and was based around multiple LED screens, surfaces and scenic decoration, with an impressive five-layered pros arch and many dramatic curves. It provided dynamic backdrops to the all acti

USA - The Behind the Scenes Happy Hour, hosted by PLASA, took place on Thursday, 22 October, from 6pm-8pm at the Westgate Las Vegas. Over 400 guests attended the event, and were able to network, relax and let loose before the start of LDI. Due to the generosity of the sponsors and attendees, PLASA was able to donate over $18,000 to the Behind the Scenes charity.

Event co-chair Steven Way of ALPS commented, "We were very pleased with the success of this event in achieving its two primary goals, creating a comfortable networking experience for our industry professionals and supporting Behind the Scenes. We look forward seeing everyone at next year's Happy Hour event prior to LDI."

A big thank you goes out to all of the sponsors of the Behind the Scenes Happy Hour: Executive: Altman Lighting; Platinum: 4Wall Entertainment, IATSE, Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc., Ultratec

USA - The Frank Gehry designed New World Center is not only a huge asset for New World Symphony audio fellows, it is also a world class performance space available for hire.

It would be a given that the designer of some of the world' best concert halls and a conductor with the stature and experience of Michael Tilson Thomas would make a fantastic design, but no corners have been cut in installing the latest media equipment to cover all requirements. The 756-seat Performance Hall and the smaller Sun Trust Pavilion are fully equipped for live performance and recording and share two multi-track surround capable control rooms. HD video recording and projection is also available for those hiring the spaces.

Originally set up to record 64 tracks at 24bit/48kHz, it became apparent that the majority of the major opera and concert venues had installed Pyramix and Horus/Hapi Networked

South Africa - Within 48 hours tickets for An Evening with Ed Kowalczyk - Throwing Copper Unplugged 20th Anniversary were sold out at Johannesburg's Carnival City and the Grand Arena at Grand West, Cape Town. AMP Events and Polo Jeans Co presented the four shows, two in each city.

"The aim was to make this production more personal and special for the fans," said lighting designer Sean Caie who is also head of lighting at the Grand Arena. He programmed on a grandMA2 Light.

There was no specification for the lighting design and Sean made use of the in-house gear in each venue which largely consisted of a Robe lighting rig, to create a warm look on stage.

"No additional gear was needed for the shows as there was great equipment in both venues," he said. "With tight deadlines and turn arounds, I had to programme a large portion of the show off-line. A

UK - SGM's low profile P-5 and P-2 IP65-rated wash lights have passed one of their biggest challenges ever - illuminating a synchronised 'crane dance' in front of 10,000 people on Bristol's harbourside.

Laura Kriefman, one of this year's Wired magazine Creative Fellows and a resident at the Pervasive Media Studio, approached Howard Eaton and Emma Chapman of Studio Three Sixty to design the lighting for her inaugural Crane Dance Bristol. With set designer Lucy Osborne the third member of the Studio Three Sixty team, this was their first project and it was an unqualified success.

Faced with sourcing equipment best fit for purpose on a limited budget, theatre lighting specialist Howard Eaton knew from previous experience that a combination of the ultra-energy efficient P-5 and P-2 heads would be the perfect complement to the 1km of LED ropelight that would be used to outline th

South Africa - MJ Event Gear used 12 of their Robe BMFLs at the MultiChoice Super Stars Year End event hosted at the Mosaïek church in Fairlands, Johannesburg. MJ have not looked back since purchasing the BMFLs and the fixtures have been booked out by other rental companies for various events around South Africa.

MJ worked with their client Edith Venter, and the lighting designer for the event was Gary Sam, a freelancer who programmed on a grandMA 2 Light.

"The evening consisted of two parts, a show and an after party," commented MJ's Theo Rood, project manager. "Prior to the show, staff from the MultiChoice Call Centre participated in auditions and a knock out system, something similar to an Idol's type competition. The top eight singers performed at the grand finale, hosted at the Teatro auditorium at the Mosaïek."

Gary Sam needed something that wo

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