USA - Lighting & Electronics is using a new programme offered by the LDI show as a way to give back to the industry and they are issuing a challenge to all LDI exhibitors to follow in their steps.

LDI is offering a small rebate to exhibitors for every client that registers, using the exhibitor's unique code, attends the show held in Orlando, Florida 20-22 November, and verifies on site. Lighting & Electronics has embarked on an active PR campaign encouraging their customers to attend and have announced they will be donating their entire rebate to Behind the Scenes.

Maryalyce Merritt of Lighting & Electronics commented, "Too many of our colleagues are experiencing challenges to support themselves and their families. They have had to find more creative ways to pay the bills and provide for their basic needs. The L&E family has decided to take a proactive stand to help meet

UK - Reflecting its increased focus and investment in the entertainment lighting market, Philips will demonstrate its much-expanded portfolio of solutions for entertainment, touring and themed environments. Uniting the strengths of acquired brands Color Kinetics, Vari-Lite, Strand and Selecon, Philips has evolved beyond specialty entertainment lamps to deliver integrated solutions that combine new technologies with sophisticated control and ease-of-use for wide-ranging entertainment applications.

With the proliferation of new lighting technologies in entertainment - from television and film to theatre productions, concerts and themed restaurants - Philips "recognises the needs of designers who require end-to-end solutions to achieve unique designs and effects". As a result, the company assembled a product portfolio that now encompasses everything from lamps and luminai

UK - Defying the economic gloom-mongers PLASA09 opened its doors this morning with registrations matching last year's record breaking total of 15,000 - a sure sign that this year's show is going to be as high energy as ever.

There will be more for visitors to see, as more new exhibitors have signed up for the show at Earls Court, bringing the total of new and returning exhibitors to over 50. The education and learning programme has also been expanded with two audio-related masterclasses from previous Gottelier Award winners, Tony Andrews of Funktion One and John Stadius of Soundtracs/DiGiCo.

Another new addition to the Show is the Supply2.gov.uk Lounge, a central feature area giving exhibitors and visitors the chance to get advice from Supply2.gov.uk - the portal which helps SMEs gain access to public sector contract opportunities, typically worth up to £100,000.

Anoth

UK - Lightfactor announced its exclusive UK and Irish dealership agreement for lighting products from Italian manufacturer D.T.S. at PLASA09 in London this morning, Sunday 13 September.

Says Lightfactor's Peter Coles: "We wanted to team up with a progressive thinking partner that could offer a full, innovative, high quality range of LED, moving light, theatrical range of luminaires and PAR cans for the entertainment and architectural sectors - and D.T.S. is the perfect choice."

Lightfactor has a long history of success with distributing premium brands and cutting edge technology, and has been at the forefront of the moving light market in the UK since its inception.

Coles said at the press launch in Earls Court 1 that Lightfactor will also be appointing a series of sub-distributors for selected D.T.S. product groups.

Based on the east coast of Italy near the comm

UK - Dataton is putting Watchout version 4.1 through its paces at the PLASA show. This latest upgrade introduces numerous creativity enhancements, such as blending modes, travelling matte masking, keyer functions and several new effects. It is a free upgrade for version four users.

Dataton Watchout is a leading tool for the creation of high-impact shows in the events and entertainment industries. Watchout allows users to combine multiple projectors or other display devices with standard computer and network technology to create impressive presentations of virtually any size. The system utilises the full resolution of the display devices to create high quality imagery, in any array. The new features in version 4.1, being demonstrated at PLASA09, give even more creative power to the show designer and producer, the company says.

Key features of version 4.1 include Blend Modes - i

UK - Entertainment lifting specialists Hoist UK supplied a custom performer flying winch system to rigging specialists Over The Top for the recent Boyzone tour.

The winch is used during the tour to fly dancers above the stage, then used for the encore to fly all five members of Boyzone to the 'B' stage and then back to the main stage.

Paul Jordan, director of Hoist UK comments, "The winch is a custom version of our popular range of pilewind winches and in its fully built condition it has ten rope drums spanning over seven metres. It is manufactured in modules housed in one metre custom sections of 52cm truss with each module containing two rope drums.

Tony Dickson, fellow director of Hoist UK adds, "Each of the drum modules are then linked using a drive shaft to the next module, and then to a central module containing the geared motor assembly. The winch is capable

UK - Northern Irish lighting rental company Production Services Ireland enjoyed a massively busy Bank Holiday weekend, servicing three major events in the province.

The first was a one-off gig by New York's the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in St George's Market, Belfast; the second was the three-day Belsonic Festival staged at Customs House Square, central Belfast; and the third was Live at the Castle, in Carrickfergus.

PSI supplied all lighting for this show, which was promoted by CDC Leisure and completely sold out. They worked to a spec from the band's lighting designer Lucas Cotterman.

The rig consisted of a front and back truss loaded with PARs used to provide all the basic stage washes, which were augmented with beams-work, effects and texturing from 14 moving lights - six Robe ColorWash 700E ATs and eight Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs. Eight PixelPARs were added, attached to floo

UK - LumenRadio has announced the launch and immediate availability of CRMX Nova at PLASA09 (13-16 September, Earls Court, London). The company says that CRMX Nova "redefines reliability and fidelity in wireless DMX & RDM distribution and is the first smart and adaptive wireless product range for the Entertainment and Architainment industries".

The company goes on to say that CRMX Nova offers "the same robustness as cables, but with the convenience, flexibility and low installation costs of wireless".

According to LumenRadio, key innovations and advantages in CRMX Nova include Automated Cognitive Coexistence, which ensures the signal is not disturbed by, nor disturbs, other wireless systems; Fidelity - ensuring the DMX frame output is always identical to the frame input; ErrorCorrection, in which advanced algorithms recreate corrupt or lost radio packets, w

UK - At 4pm today (Sunday 13 September), Artistic Licence will be holding the official launch of four new products at PLASA09 on stand 1-E32. Aimed to further the ease with which systems can be programmed and integrated, all four products are DIN-Rail mounted and thus suitable for permanent, architectural or display installations.

Sign-Control is a DMX512 playback system aimed at simple to sophisticated room control applications. It can be controlled by 14 buttons, a real time clock, RS232 and an external trigger. Features include three pages of eight memories along with one page of six sequences. Each memory or sequence contains all 512 channels.

Two-Play is a two-universe record and playback DMX controller. Capable of hours of show playback and with remote triggering options, Two-Play is designed as a control solution for small to medium size installations.

Art-Relay is de

UK - DiGiCo unveiled the latest addition to its digital mixing range at PLASA09 in London yesterday - the SD8-24. The small-footprint console measures under one metre in length, with no reduction in functionality or the number of inputs and outputs.

DiGiCo SD8, launched at PLASA show last year, was an instant hit for the manufacturer, with record numbers sold since its launch. Now, DiGiCo believes it has once again produced a product to suit the industry's changing needs. "A lot of our customers in the corporate world were hard hit at the start of the credit crunch," says James Gordon, DiGiCo's managing director. "Recently, they've been telling us that work is starting to come back. This is great news and we wanted to do something to address the needs of the rejuvenating market. Designing a smaller footprint SD8, but without reducing any of its features, seemed th

UK - Tannoy is proud to be exhibiting on Stand 1-L39 at PLASA09, the UK's leading professional audio and lighting expo, in partnership with Red Square Audio, the exclusive UK distributor of Tannoy's VQ Live.

As well as demonstrating the VQ Live system, designed for the rental/hire sound market, Tannoy are also be exhibiting the latest developments in the successful VQ Series installation range. Initially launched early last year, VQ Series has been expanded with the addition of 6 new devices (each available in passive or VNET powered) including new mid-high MH and down-firing DF enclosures with a variety of horn formats including 40 deg conical, 60 x 40 degree and 90 x 50 degree.

These new modules offer the systems designer an extremely flexible set of tools with which to build tightly packed compact arrays for a multitude of applications ranging from small to very large scale

UK - Gareth Collyer has been appointed as Nexo's new sales manager for the UK and Ireland, spearheading a new distribution programme.

Nexo is exhibiting at PLASA in its own right for the first time in nearly 20 years, marking the recent strategic move away from third-party distribution to direct manufacturer support for the UK market. As Nexo's regional manager, Gareth Collyer will take charge of a network of elite dealers, with a brief to expand and consolidate Nexo's profile in the UK and Eire.

Collyer is well-known to the pro-audio industry, having spent the last four years bringing Harman's professional brands to the UK's installation and tour sound markets. He has an extensive track record, having spent his formative years in sales and market development with Bose UK and Lamba plc. He joined Harman Pro UK in 2005, where his career trajectory through the company and its pr

UK - XMOS announced today (Monday) that it will provide support for Gigabit Ethernet AVB networking. The XMOS Gigabit endpoint implementation supports AVB applications including high speed streaming of up to 72 channels of audio traffic over Ethernet to networked electronic devices.

As demonstrated at PLASA09, the XMOS Ethernet AVB solution consists of XCore event-driven processors, open source AVB software, application notes, prototyping board schematics, gerber files and documentation with general availability planned for Q4 2009. XMOS AVB systems are programmed in C using freely available development tools, providing unmatched design flexibility.

XMOS provides a cost-effective way for designers to implement Ethernet AVB with professional levels of quality of service. Applications that are enabled with XMOS AVB products range from consumer audio equipment such as home theatr

UK - The digiLED team has brought its latest LED display surface, digiTILE to the live events and fixed installation markets.

The digiTILE range is officially launched at PLASA09 although it is already in production for clients in the UK, Norway, Belgium, France, Lebanon and Austria, with more prestigious projects in the pipeline.

The digiTILE range uses a standard mechanical platform for all pixel pitches. Each tile is 400mm wide, 300mm high and 82mm deep making it the slimmest conventional LED product on the market today (although digiFLEX from the same manufacturer is only 7mm deep).

The digiTILE housing is moulded using a high pressure injected reinforced polymer contributing to the low weight of 23kg per square metre for indoor and 28kg for outdoor products. Each tile is capable of front or rear access for service and can quickly be installed into a digiFRAME, measuring

Polished Performance - Sir David Attenborough brought the 115th BBC Proms season to a close on Saturday night by playing a floor polisher as a musical instrument. Sir David was joined on stage at the Royal Albert Hall in London by pianist Stephen Hough on the vacuum cleaner. Comedian Rory Bremner also took part in the performance of Sir Malcolm Arnold's piece A Grand, Grand Overture. The eight-minute work has parts for two other vacuum cleaners, four rifles, an organ a and full orchestra.

For the first time, the Proms finale was screened via satellite to cinemas on every continent of the world. The BBC said the two-month classical music festival had been the most successful yet with a 32% increase in under-16s attending. Proms director Roger Wright said the event had included "outstanding and inspiring music-making".

Goodnight Vienna - The tribute conce

UK - Crown yesterday announced the latest update to its Macro-Tech i series of amplifiers, featuring increased power and new dual port capability. Comprised of three models, the MA-5000i, MA-9000i, and MA-12000i, the Macro-Tech i series features Class-I circuitry, which delivers greater power while reducing the amplifier's weight by more than half.

The new Macro-Tech i series also features dual-port capability. An additional network port now allows a user to daisy chain the network control down the rack of amplifiers instead of having to run a separate cable from a switch to each individual amplifier.

"The professional sound reinforcement community knows what to expect from the Macro-Tech i series. They are getting the best sounding, most reliable analogue power amplifier in the world. The best just got better with these updates. The upgraded power and features reflect t

UK - In a break from its traditional base, Optocore, the worldwide pioneer of digital optical fibre network systems, has unveiled what it calls as "a revolutionary new technology" at the PLASA Show in London.

Receiving its worldwide launch at PLASA09 (13-16 September, Earls Court), SANE (Synchronous Audio Network plus Ethernet), is a new digital audio networking protocol using ring network topology: it claims to offer the first fully-synchronous Cat5 network solution for streaming uninterrupted media in real time.

This new low cost and high efficiency system, based on proven Optocore technology, has evolved from the German company's new AD/DA X6R and V3R converters launched earlier this year; these offer split AES-EBU ports, sample rate conversion up to 192kHz, and five different card options.

SANE offers a unique solution, the company says: it transports recognise

UK - Soundcraft is releasing a range of small multipurpose mixers, some with integral digital FX, bearing the name of the Notepad series. The new Notepad 102, 124 and 124 FX models boast Soundcraft audio performance with the acclaimed GB30 mic preamp and EQ technology in a compact and solid chassis.

Each 124 model has four mono mic/line inputs while the Notepad 102 has two mono mic/line inputs. All models boast four stereo line inputs, and suit a very wide range of applications where simple yet high-quality mixing is required, such as in home recording, small band/cabaret PA systems, AV presentation systems, small broadcast edit suites, educational environments and general contracting.

The Notepad 124FX also has an integral digital effects processor which has a feed from every input and over 100 effects, including a pink noise and test setting. The FX control can also be used

UK - Orbital Sound has unveiled its latest training programme to take place in October, focusing on practical sound techniques for theatre with hands-on, application-based training. Scheduled to run on 26-27 October, Developing Sound Skills for Theatre is intended primarily for students wanting to extend their operational expertise in theatre sound, and will take place at Orbital's purpose-built 225m2 seminar facility in Brixton, south London.

The course is free of charge, offering students the opportunity to benefit from a wide cross-section of technical disciplines, including communications, networking, loudspeaker system set-up and control, and mixing practices.

The course will be led by Orbital's training manager, Theo Holloway, who explained the rationale behind the autumn training programme, "The popularity of our annual courses underlines the appetite among

USA - Audinate reports that its Dante networking solution was used on the Oasis tour and multiple live events at Hyde Park in London by Britannia Row. Taking advantage of the low latency offered by Audinate's Dante, high quality audio was distributed around the network at these events using the newest addition of Dante enabled products - breakout boxes from XTA.

Dante offers a complete networking solution and provides users a no-hassle, self-configuring digital audio networking experience using standard Internet Protocols over 100Mb and/or Gigabit Ethernet.

The NXBoB8 and NXBoB16 breakout boxes from XTA with 8 and 16 output channels respectively leverage the tight synchronization and very low latency offered in Dante. The breakout boxes easily connect to other Dante-enabled devices such as processors or mixing consoles over either 100Mb or 1 Gigabit Ethernet.

"Dante was

UK - Based acoustically on the AKG Blue Line Series, the Architectural Microphone Series (AMS) allows users to customize the microphone by easily adjusting the length of the gooseneck module as well as selecting various designs for the shape of the capsule housing unit. The self-designed microphone can be personalized with any colour as well as a shiny gold, chrome or a nickel finish for professional settings. In total, the entire microphone series are available in more than 6,840 customizable settings.

Beside the three different polar patterns to match different room acoustics, the AMS showcases a diverse range of capabilities, such as flat frequency response for acoustic performance, gold sputtered ultra-low mass diaphragms, switchable bass cut filter and preattenuation pad. The series also offers an extremely high resistance to RF interference for extended versatility.

Addi

UK - Eat To The Beat has rounded off a festival filled summer with a successful and sunny Bestival on the Isle of Wight.

This is the first year that ETTB has catered for the production team and artists at the event, but the island was familiar territory for Anne Crawford, ETTB's team leader, who said: "The Isle of Wight is a great place to source local ingredients, from meat, the world champion Isle of Wight Blue cheese, to sweetcorn straight from the farm adjacent to the festival. Fresh ingredients make for tastier food and a reduced carbon footprint for the catering operation."

DJ Rob da Bank started Bestival six years ago, with just 2,000 people on site. This sixth Bestival attracted a capacity audience of 45,000, with production management undertaken by Loudsound, who's Festival Director Jim King commented, "Having Eat To The Beat join o

USA - Exhibiting at the PLASA09 exhibition in London, Italian manufacturer RCF has announced the appointment of Frank Loyko as President of RCF USA Inc. In his new position, Loyko will be responsible for defining and directing all US sales and operations for RCF and dB Technologies.

One of the founding members of loudspeaker manufacturer EAW, Loyko has more than 30 years of professional audio sales experience. Most recently, Loyko served as Director of Live Sound Sales for Avid Technologies / Digidesign and, prior to that, as senior vice-president of sales at Loud Technologies Inc.

Arturo Vicari, managing director of RCF Group commented: "Frank has a very solid track record for building professional audio brands and is extremely successful in leading high-performance sales teams. He has broad experience in all aspects of live sound sales as well as extensive connections w

Hungary - Pleasing 390,000 people is a difficult task. It is especially challenging when many of those people are musicians. At Budapest's 17th annual, five-day Sziget Festival, audio engineers not only kept 200 performances on 15 stages running smoothly but they kept headliners like Faith No More, Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, and Placebo more than happy.

"The Sziget system exceeded my expectations of what Meyer Sound speakers are capable of," said Ian Nelson, Placebo's sound engineer. "In fact, I found that I needed to do an almost unheard of act: turn the subs down. I've worked with most of the current speaker systems over the 2009 festival season. Mixing on Milo (line array loudspeakers) again cemented our decision to carry a Meyer system on our forthcoming autumn arena tour, again."

A critical component to making this high-stakes festival run smoothly i

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