UK - Forty years ago this October, the new National Theatre building opened on London's South Bank. It housed three theatres, production workshops, rehearsal rooms and all the state-of-the art technology you'd expect in a new world-class venue. It was also home to a new kind of lighting control capable of dealing with the National's 800 plus dimmers, moving lights, colour changers, projectors and more. Specified by theatre consultant Richard Pilbrow and partner Dick Brett, Lightboard offered a wealth of powerful tools for mixing and balancing lighting, creating cues with complex timing and overlapping fades. At best it was considered only borderline possible with the technology of the day - but with a mix of clever planning and cunning engineering by Rank Strand's development team, the project was realised.

The recent recovery of an original Lightboard by the Backstage Heritag

UK - As the most widely supported ethernet lighting protocol in the industry, Art-Net has arguably come of age with the release of version 4, which is timed to coincide with the PLASA show.

Artistic Licence is well known as the inventor of Art-Net and a leading expert in lighting control, and as such is the perfect host for PLASA 2016's dedicated Art-Net Zone. This exciting new initiative - on Stand R71, on the show's upper level - is supported by PLASA and LSi magazine and aims to provide expert education and training on the use of Art-Net and related protocols.

The Art-Net Zone promises to be a hub of activity, with many of the industry's most knowledgeable experts in ethernet and DMX/RDM lighting control on hand to provide one-on-one training, mini-seminars and practical product advice in an 'Art-Fest' session. Visitors will find Wayne Howell & Fraser Connolly (Artistic

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd. (AC-ET), a leading one-stop provider of professional equipment to the entertainment industry, will showcase a selection of the very latest technology solutions available from their vast portfolio of over 200 leading brands, in their large exhibition zone (main stand E30) at PLASA 2016 - Olympia, London, UK, 18th - 20th September.

Staff from the company's dedicated Lighting sales division - which supplies any aspect of your stage, theatre, or architectural lighting system - will be present to demonstrate the latest lighting solutions from brands including Chroma-Q, Jands, ProLights, Spotlight, LumenRadio, Luminex and Tourflex Cabling, amongst others.

The company's dedicated Film & TV sales division - which offers a comprehensive one-stop inventory of lighting, control and grip solutions for film, television, studio and locati

UK - At PLASA 2016, Yamaha Commercial Audio and Nexo are demonstrating the seamless connectivity of their products. The jointly-hosted stand J10 features a unique, zoned design which showcases a range of scaled audio solutions - from the smallest room to the biggest stadium. A significant feature is a comprehensive Dante network, allowing staff to demonstrate the ease with which Yamaha and Nexo products can be seamlessly networked to provide complete, easily managed system solutions of any size.

The stand will feature a significant new Yamaha product, alongside the flagship RIVAGE PM10 and CL/QL series digital mixers, the Commercial installation Solutions (CIS) series of processors, mixers, amplifiers and loudspeakers, plus a range of input and output options.

Key Nexo products on show will include the ID Series (ID24 and S110 sub), GEO M6 compact line array and DTD amplif

UK - Immediately following the launch of Spiider, PLASA 2016 Platinum Sponsor, Robe, is set to show this latest, innovative product at PLASA 2016. Spiider builds on the extreme success of Robe's best-selling 'industry standard' LEDWash series with a completely new concept and optics.

"Spiider is really something special which everybody will love!" says Robe's CEO Josef Valchar. "Forty-two Spiiders will be in action on the Robe booth - which is an absolute 'must-see'!"

As well as Spiider, Robe will be showing Halo and the Viva LED.

Halo is a special bespoke new Robe LED 'pixel technology' device, which can be used to transform PAR cans and add other dimensions to stage and TV sets, whilst the Viva LED is a moving light that has driven the introduction of a CMY version of this small, punchy workhorse fixture.

"PLASA is an important show," continues Josef. "We recogni

UK - Audio is higher on the agenda at this year's PLASA Show. There is an increase in representation from manufacturers, whether exhibiting in their own right, or in partnership with their dealers and distributors; within the seminar programme with sessions such as Pin the Mic on the Actor, AV Installation Strategy for Venue Owners and Beyond Surround - immersive sound techniques; and educational events like Audinate's Dante Training Programme and

Merlijn Van Veen's Low Frequency Control primer, proving particularly popular.

With the first day of the show completed, there is a definite air of optimism around Olympia, particularly from the audio fraternity. We talked to some returning exhibitors and some first timers to see exactly what it is that is making this such a positive experience for them.

"PLASA needs people from the audio industry to get behind it," says SFL

UK - Taking place at PLASA Show, the Essential Dante Training seminar, sponsored by a number of leading audio technology companies, including Audinate, Focusrite, Solid State Logic, Roland, Yamaha and XTA, has been designed to give a great opportunity to gain a greater insight into Dante Audio Networking Technology, which has become the de-facto standard in connecting uncompressed, highly synchronous, low-latency audio network devices.

Introduced by PLASA's managing director Peter Heath, the seminar will include Dante Level 1 and 2 training from Audinate's Kieran Walsh, live table-top displays and a session on deploying Dante networks in live events from Liam Halpin.

"Audinate is pleased to co-present this day of seminars in cooperation with PLASA," says Kieran. "Attendees will receive training that will help in taking the Dante Certified exams, discover how some of the la

UK - Netherlands-based Highlite International was founded in the 1990s and has since grown to be one of Europe's leading suppliers of show equipment and a worldwide distributor of light and sound equipment. What started as one container of show equipment has grown into a company that supplies products to over 70 countries and employs a workforce of over 150. Its brands are Showtec light, DAP audio, Infinity light, DMT LED-screens and Artecta architectural lighting.

Of particular interest on its stand this year are the Showtec LED Sunstrip Lamp GU10, Infinity Chimp 300 and Infinity iS-400 440W LED-spot with CMY.

More than 60,000 Showtec LED Sunstrip Lamp GU10 have been sold since the Sunstrip Active was launched - the equivalent of 600,000 halogen lamps.

"As LED technology becomes more advanced, it's now possible to replace the Sunstrip halogen lamps with an LED variant

UK - Announcing an unprecedented line-up of new, cutting-edge, entertainment lighting innovations at the PLASA Show this year, Elation Professional can be found on Stand C40. The company's bumper line-up includes the new Fuze Series of dynamic LED wash lights, the ZCL Series of high-output LED effects, and the DTW Series of variable white LED lights.

Visitors can also find the new seven-colour Platinum Seven LED wash luminaire, plus the TVL CYC RGBW cyc wash fixture, the Sniper Pro (an upgrade of the PLASA Award-winning Sniper 2R with three times the power) and the Protron 3K Color, a high-power 40,000 lumen LED colour strobe.

Elation's line of creative high-res LED display panels, the EVHD Series, comes in three pixel pitches (2.8mm, 3.9mm and 5.9mm). EVHD modules are curveable, to meet a wider range of creative applications and feature a fanless design with complete fron

UK - Hoffend LivePipe hoists - Engineering Product of the Year at the 2016 ABTT Trade Show - are on the Hall Stage PLASA stand N40.

The innovative approach taken to design and operation has led to a faultless installation in Tennessee, completed by BellaTEX Inc. & Ty Prewitt sent this independent report:

"I have nothing but good things to say about the LivePipe product. It offers significant and unique advantages - & showed us it will work in very difficult situations.

"LivePipe was not only the best solution in this case, but its cost was on par or lower than other options. I believe it's appeal will be broad. It can be exceptionally quick to install. Since it doesn't include hoisting a 150Kg motor, 'quick' actually has some validity.

"The assembly and installation process is significantly simpler than any other products I've encountered. The heaviest section was

UK - d&b audiotechnik will be hard to miss at PLASA 2016, with plenty of opportunity for visitors to view the company's latest sound innovations, and to meet and chat with experts from the d&b GB team.

Newly appointed d&b sales partner SFL Group can be found on stand V60, where d&b's DS10 Audio network bridge will be shown, alongside other points of interest from the company's portfolio. Also exhibiting is d&b sales partner SSE/Wigwam, at stand J20, where visitors can find hands-on introductions to d&b's NoizCalc, the far field noise immission modelling software and the new QSC plug-in Q-SYS. NoizCalc is also up for a PLASA Award for Innovation (and don't forget you can see all this year's nominated product upstairs at the Innovation Gallery).

d&b GB is also playing key roles in a number of new PLASA Show attractions this year. For those thirsting for audio networking tech

UK - Ayrton has built a deserved reputation as a maker of original, eye-catching and well-engineered lighting effects - and has introduced a multitude of new products in 2016, many of which can be seen for the first time in London at PLASA. You can see them on stand L30, where the French innovator can be found alongside UK distributor Ambersphere Solutions.

Drawing attention are MagicPanel-FX - an exciting new multi-function luminaire with 5 x 5 array of squared lenses on its front face producing a variety of 2D and 3D effects, which builds on the creative potential of its predecessors in the MagicPanel family - and MagicBurst, which is not only Ayrton's first strobe but the industry's first high-power graphic LED strobe, offering continuous rotation on both axes. Its 384 x 384mm squared face has 3,840 high-output white LEDs grouped into an 8 x 8 matrix - great for arrays. Wit

UK - PLASA Gold Sponsor, Chauvet Professional, has chosen PLASA 2016 launch its new Ovation E-260WW IP ellipsoidal, which has taken the 750W HPL output of the Ovation E-260WW (which is currently the brightest LED ellipsoidal on the market) and has housed it in an IP65 rated housing.

The company is also featuring one of its most versatile fixtures, the Rogue R1 FX-B, which has five individually controllably heads, each with infinite rotation of both pan and tilt, and its new Maverick series which launched in April of this year. Maverick is Chauvet Professional's latest power-packed series of tour grade moving head fixtures featuring the MK2 Wash, MK2 Spot, and MK1 Hybrid.

"We are thrilled to be returning to PLASA as a Gold Sponsor this year," said Michael Brooksbank General Manager of Chauvet Europe. "The response to a number of our latest fixtures, including the Maverick s

UK - Developed by Soulsound, PLASA's first foray into the world of interactive visualisation has been an immersive experience for everyone who has gone along to the installation on the upper gallery at London Olympia. Headline sponsor NRG Lighting Community (Next Robe Generation) with participation from: Funktion-One, University of Derby, d&b, KLANG, preeVue, Limbic Productions and Barco; additional sponsors: ZEROdb Live, Genius Bros, J&C Joel, Sound Directions and tvONE.

The interactive zone features a maze of exciting and thought-provoking experiments in audio, lighting and visual wonders. Simple, entertaining and educational each experiment proves a concept, or demonstrates a principle to wow the user with a little bit of science.

There's virtual reality and prisms, experiments on perception and even a 'Brain Transfer Machine'!

The experiments end with 'Lens through

UK - This year's prestigious Gottelier Award was won by Anne Valentino, Senior Controls Product Manager at ETC.

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.

The competition was tough, with this year's nominees being Chris Cronin, founder of Total Solutions Group (TSG), Artistic Licence founder Wayne Howell, Dr Christian Heil founder of L-Acoustics, Masaaki 'Mick' Okabayashi, head of Yamaha's digital mixing console development team, Yvan Péard, co-founder of Ayrton, The Strand Lighting R&D team, 1960s-1980s, led by Marin Moore and later

UK - For the first time, Momentum Circuits have introduced audio & lighting application circuit board manufacturing to the PLASA Show to reflect their expertise and experience gained within these sectors.

Managing director, Keith Wrigley told LSi: "LED lighting PCB applications represents over 70% of our business turnover and the experience we have with thermal management of high power LED devices and specialist materials is directly applicable to the PLASA audience and co-exhibitors."

Audio application circuit board d K6s also require the very highest quality, connectivity and aesthetic appearance to match the aspirational nature of high-end equipment, and Momentum have a growing number of pro-audio and control system customers including other PLASA exhibitors who encouraged Momentum to attend the show.

"The results so far have been hugely encouraging and we have alre

UK - It's always nice to meet up with Martin Hawthorn, Managing Director of recently re-branded Hawthorn as it usually means an informal chat over a cup of coffee and some of his wife Lynn's excellent baking. This time was no different and gave us an opportunity to talk about recent developments within the business.

A recent re-brand was part of a consolidation of Hawthorn's business interests following the purchase of Anagram Production Services and Rex Howard Drapes, both now firmly under the new banner of Hawthorn and has allowed them to simplify the company structure ahead of their 30th anniversary in the events industry, in February of 2017.

"PLASA is a good show for us to reach a multitude of different sectors and we catch up with an amazing number of people over the 3 days of the show," says Martin. "Our approach to exhibiting is a little different. We don't have an

UK - Sponsored by Velta, the 2016 PLASA Awards for Innovation took place in the Apex Room at the end of an extremely busy Monday at this year's PLASA Show. Hosted by PLASA's new managing director Peter Heath and presented by PLASA Chairman Ed Pagett, the awards aim to recognise and reward outstanding new product ideas.

The Awards garner a huge amount of respect because they are independently and impartially judged by an invited team of industry experts.

To win an Award for Innovation, a nominated product had to satisfy the chairman of judges that it met the criteria for Innovation by clearly showing that it demonstrates a new style of thinking; improves technical practice; introduces new technology, new materials or new techniques; includes patents or unique intellectual property; offers a new commercial advantage, or improves safety.

The judges awarded all eight troph

UK - Reproduced Sound (RS) takes residence in November 2016 at Southampton, home to not one but two universities involved in acoustics teaching and research. Dates for the diary are Tuesday 15 to Thursday 17 November, with two full days of papers and presentations on the Wednesday and Thursday and a workshop on virtual audio on the Tuesday evening. The conference venue and hotel will be the Holiday Inn, right on the Southampton waterfront.

Keith Holland, RS chairman, said, "We are again keeping with the ever popular residential format familiar with RS conferences, which encourages valuable and sociable networking between attendees. We have taken RS to Manchester in the past, which resulted in excellent contributions from Salford and Manchester Universities, among others, and this time we are hoping for something similar from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR)

UK - Lighting and video content design ceremony Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) announced the winners of the 9th edition during a prestigious ceremony at London's Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith on Sunday 18 September.

The well-attended ceremony saw almost 500 professionals come together to celebrate the achievements of lighting and video designers working on shows across the UK.

The event was hosted by Australian actor, television presenter and comedian Mark Little. The winners have been revealed as:

THEATRE

The ETC Award for Dance: Michael Hulls for Conceal | Reveal, Russell Maliphant Company, Sadler's Wells

The Hawthorn Award for Musicals: Mark Henderson for Sunset Boulevard, English National Opera

The Robert Juliat Award for Opera: Joachim Klein for Saul, Glyndebourne Festival

The Elation Professional Award for Plays: Jan

The Netherlands - At this year's IBC 2016, BroaMan found the perfect platform from which to springboard its new Route66 family of routers into the broadcast markets and associated sectors.

The German company carried on where they left off at this year's NAB Show, where the new Route66 AutoRouter picked up a prestigious award. Supporting DiGiCo, as well as standalone Optocore systems it closes the ring automatically once a mobile stagebox is added or removed from the system

"Many clients and distributors were talking about this product," said managing director, Tine Helmle. "They love the device and the stand was buzzing."

Also shown for the very first time was the new Route66 40/40, and a highly successful press launch formed the hub of the five-day show. Presented by BroaMan technical director Marc Brunke, the international press audience was enrapt as he explained th

UK - "The Clay Paky lights at PLASA 2016 were captivating and successful," said Pio Nahum, Clay Paky CEO, when he got back from the London show, which has returned to Olympia. The industry met the stylish revival of the show very warmly with the participation of numerous visitors and skilled professionals from all over the world.

Clay Paky presented its products at their best, at a large booth in the Ambersphere village, through a demo-show programmed by lighting designer Alex Mildenhall, operator on TV show X-Factor.

The Clay Paky Scenius Profile won the PLASA Award for Innovation. The judges said "This product's innovation reaches from the lamp and reflector all the way through the optical path."

The Scenius Profile was not the only acclaimed product at the Clay Paky booth. Visitors and the award judges themselves showed great interest in the Shar-Bar, a movin

UK - Robe's high impact London themed stand - complete with genuine vintage London bus - was right at the core of the 2016 PLASA exhibition in London where it caught the eyes of visitors and provided a lively and invigorating environment to showcase the latest technology from the Czech lighting manufacturer.

The just launched Spiider LED wash beam luminaire was the visual centrepiece of the stand, with 42 Spiiders arranged on a scenic 'super-web' web at the heart of a spectacular lightshow that ran every hour.

Just launched globally on the internet via the trending 'Spiiders all over the web' video three days before the show, it was the hot product of the expo!

The super-web was neatly concealed behind drapes that transformed the stand into a theatrical space to show off Robe's other highlighted products which included the new Halo pixel ring, the all-LED DL series and

Australia - Gearhouse Broadcast's event communications division has covered comms requirements for some of Australia's biggest live events in 2016, relying on Clear-Com products to get the job done quickly and reliably.

Their FreeSpeak II wireless, HelixNet partyline and Eclipse digital matrix systems have formed the backbone of major events like Hillsong Conference and the Queensland and Victorian Schools Spectaculars, ensuring these massive gigs and their live broadcasts run without a hitch.

Taking over Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena and most of its neighbouring venues in Olympic Park, Hillsong Conference was a four-day gathering of more than 30,000 faithful, with all of the production requirements of a massive arena show. Gearhouse Broadcast supplied and operated the comms system, which used 50 FreeSpeak II 1.9GHz beltpacks, one HMS-4X HelixNet main station running 12 HBP-2X

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