Germany - LumenRadio will debut "the smallest wireless DMX solution ever seen" at Frankfurt's Prolight+Sound this week.

Available exclusively from LumenRadio, the patent protected CRMXchip is the world's first wireless DMX ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) solution. By using the latest in chip technologies, LumenRadio has managed to reduce the size of a wireless DMX receiver to that of less than a fingernail.

With the 6x6mm CRMXchip, manufacturers can for the first time fully integrate a multi functional wireless DMX receiver into high volume products where cost and size are prioritized without compromising quality or performance. Built on the award-winning CRMX technology, the patent protected CRMXchip is fully compatible with all existing LumenRadio products.

"LumenRadio's CRMXchip is an industry first - a compact, developer friendly chip which

Germany - British pro-audio manufacturer, Audient will be using this year's Musikmesse to showcase ASP880, eight-channel microphone preamplifier and ADC, the first product to be released since Simon Blackwood's acquisition of the company at the end of 2013.

ASP880 features eight of Audient's renowned console mic pres, two JFET D.I instrument inputs, pristine converter technology, variable impedance and variable high pass filters, all part of a versatile feature set neatly packaged in a 1U rack mount unit.

Chief technical officer Tom Waterman explains, "Listening to feedback from Audient users has been essential. As a result, we worked closely with David Dearden to develop a brand new eight channel mic pre combined with the latest Burr-Brown converter technology to ensure the best sound quality throughout.

"ASP880 is the perfect front end to any DAW system" say

Sweden - Having been declared European Capital of Culture 2014 all eyes now turn to the city of Umeå in Sweden. Lumination of Sweden was put in charge of the technical production for the inauguration ceremony, and brought in 36 SGM P-5 wash lights to create the right atmosphere and colour large outdoor spaces for this opening winter weekend of the cultural year. This incorporated the shows, Burning Snow and Lit City.

Burning Snow was performed on the ice of the Umeå River and involved a team of 70 people from Lumination of Sweden, PRG, Lunatx, Groundfloor Production and ARS Electronica along with local volunteers and performers. Meanwhile, Lit City took place at a central location in the city, for a weekend of art and lighting in a snowy and icy environment. This project called upon 30 technicians from Lumination of Sweden.

Lighting designer, T

UK - Three of Universal's newest signings, Sons & Lovers, Eliza & The Bear and Fred Page, have just completed The Satellite Tour with an SSL Live console, supplied by HD Pro Audio.

Production for the 14 date UK tour was handled by Cato Music. Cato's FOH engineer, Jim King, needed a console to meet the tours specific requirements, which included a large number of outputs. He discussed the options with HD Pro's Andy Huffer and decided the SSL Live more than met all the tour's needs. Although new, its ease of operation also required only half a day's training for King to operate with confidence. "When new consoles go on tour we expect a few phone calls regarding operation," commented Huffer, "But we didn't get any on this tour thanks to a good engineer and the logic of the interface that SSL has designed for the Live

"It's a truly suburb console," said Ki

UK - Lighting designer Nick Gray once again brought his imagination and flair to the mix for London Fashion Week AW14, designing lighting for the main BFC showspace at Somerset house which featured up to eight premium shows per day plus a number of interesting and high profile 'offsite' shows.

These included Jasper Conran at the Saatchi Gallery, Julien Macdonald at the Royal Courts of Justice, Roksanda at the Old Sorting Office, New Oxford Street and Anya Hindmarch at Old Billingsgate Market.

Gray brings his distinctive crossover style to the world of fashion show - a dynamic mix of rock 'n roll attitude, industrial chic and a hint of adventure! He particularly enjoys the challenges of working in found spaces 'offsite' and lighting shows in new and different ways that still ensure everyone gets the results they need.

In the main showspace, Marios Schwab and Vivienne Westwood

Russia - Within the newly constructed 42,500 capacity Fisht Olympic Stadium in the developing Russian city of Sochi, the XXII Olympic Winter Games drew to an end with the spectacular closing ceremony.

Just as he had done at the Opening extravaganza 16 days earlier, audio director Scott Willsallen (of Auditoria) designed the technological infrastructure, placing all the transmission on a 24-node Optocore dual redundant ring and working with two different creative teams to fulfil different objectives.

The formal operatic and cultural Opening Ceremony display, creatively designed by Konstantin Ernst and directed by Andrei Boltenko, made way for the more party atmosphere of the Closing Ceremony, directed by Italian Daniele Finzi Pasca. Featuring nearly 800 performers and representing hundreds of years of Russian history, it was an exacting task.

Italy had played a key role this

USA - Metallica will expand its touring inventory with 76 units of the new MJF-210 stage monitor from Meyer Sound. The lightest self-powered stage monitor in the company's product line, the MJF-210 was developed to the exacting demands presented by the Metallica production team. The band's new monitors will first be used on its South American tour this spring.

Bringing the sonic performance of the MJF-212A stage monitor to a more compact package, the MJF-210 is the direct result of a collaborative effort between Meyer Sound and its customers in the field. Looking for a new solution to meet a series of on-stage reinforcement requirements, including weight, footprint, power, and clarity, the Metallica team turned to Meyer Sound. The team, including Dan Braun, show director, along with monitor engineer Bob Cowan and assistant monitor engineer Adam Correia, subsequently took part in

UK - The Theatres Trust's eighth annual conference, 'Community Theatres' is open for bookings. This important annual theatre industry event takes place on Monday 28 April 2014 at the City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds.

Conference 14 looks at what makes a community theatre. As new 'Community Rights' give people more of a say on running their local communities, this year's conference considers the role local groups increasingly play as providers of theatres and spaces for theatre.

The conference will look at an inventive range of capital projects and solutions used to secure the future of theatres. These include listing theatres as Assets of Community Value, taking on Community Asset Transfers and raising funds through Community Shares and the Lottery.

Mhora Samuel, director of The Theatres Trust says, "We've brought together an exciting range of contributors to share the

USA - Free registration is open now for PLASA Focus: Baltimore 2014. This will be the first PLASA Focus event to take place in the Mid-Atlantic region, taking place on Thursday 8 May and Friday 9 May, 2014 at the Reitz Arena, Loyola University, Maryland.

Companies already signed up to exhibit at the show include; Philips Entertainment, Chauvet Professional, Ultratec, 4Wall, James Thomas Engineering, ETC, Elation Professional, Barbizon, Apollo, GLP, Creative Stage Lighting, Altman, Enttec, Harrington Hoists, Drape Kings, Le Maitre, Rosco and TMB, among many others. With many other applications currently being processed, companies interested in exhibiting are advised to move quickly to secure their spot.

Running alongside the show is the highly acclaimed PLASA Professional Development Programme which offers two-days of free educational seminars and workshops. The program feature

Germany - At ProLight+Sound, Dynaudio Professional unveiled a new AIR Control application for Mac and PC, allowing users to carry out advanced calibration and alignment of their AIR monitoring system. The software provides access to advanced tools and features inside AIR monitors and subwoofers including timing and SPL calibration and parametric EQs for each monitor. Air Control allows users to define and store custom setups and presets with selective parameter locking, and a special measurement mode provides EQ line signal out from selected monitors.

"AIR Control will be available as a free download, and we are very excited to offer our current and future AIR users the advantages of this intuitive software that easily and intuitively unlocks all the power of their AIR monitor systems." says Fred Speckeen, global business manager for Dynaudio Professional.

"AIR

Germany - At Prolight+Sound, Studiomaster featured its new Venture Series high performance ultra-compact professional reinforcement cabinets for the first time in Europe.

Available in both active and passive variants, and represents outstanding performance and value for money.

Director of R&D, Paul Belcher, states, "The performance and quality of the Venture Series matches any 1000 watt compact PA speaker currently available, and at a very competitive price. We engaged in a long testing programme in developing the final design, and the resultant performance of the range has far exceeded our original design objectives. The sound quality is exceptional for such a compact and light weight cabinet."

Venture comprises 12 inch and 15 inch 2-way cabinets, and a matched 18 inch sub; available in both 1000 watt active and passive models. The premium compact speaker series i

Germany - At ProLight+Sound, Dynaudio Professional unveiled a new AIR Control application for Mac and PC, allowing users to carry out advanced calibration and alignment of their AIR monitoring system. The software provides access to advanced tools and features inside AIR monitors and subwoofers including timing and SPL calibration and parametric EQs for each monitor. Air Control allows users to define and store custom setups and presets with selective parameter locking, and a special measurement mode provides EQ line signal out from selected monitors.

"AIR Control will be available as a free download, and we are very excited to offer our current and future AIR users the advantages of this intuitive software that easily and intuitively unlocks all the power of their AIR monitor systems." says Fred Speckeen, global business manager for Dynaudio Professional.

"AIR

Germany - Philips Showline premiered the SL NITRO 510C today at Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt last week. The unit features full RGBW capabilities within the same compact fixture as the SL NITRO 510, while maintaining similar output, multiple zone control and continuous-on abilities.

"The SL NITRO 510C is a cutting-edge RGBW LED strobe luminaire that delivers intense bursts of coloured and white light and dynamic effects," says Philips Entertainment lighting product manager, Brad Schiller. "The tightly packed array of 264 high power fixed white LEDs and 264 RGB LEDs ensures maximum output for both traditional white effects and an almost infinite choice of colour with full field and even distribution across 120º. The rugged construction, Showline standard LCD menu system, continuous-on operation and lower power consumption guarantee the SL NITRO 510C is the perfect s

Germany - Since April 2013, several loudspeaker series from Electro-Voice have been certified compliant with EN 54-24, the section of the European standard for fire detection and voice alarm systems that applies specifically to loudspeakers. The following Electro-Voice loudspeakers systems are certified to conform with EN54-24: Sx600 series two-way loudspeakers; EVF-1122S front-loaded systems; EVH-1152D horn-loaded systems; and Zx1i series two-way loudspeakers.

Now, Bosch Communication Systems, owner of the Electro-Voice and Dynacord loudspeaker brands, has announced that it has further expanded its portfolio of EN54-certified equipment.

"We noted a trend in the market towards combined fire warning and voice alarm systems," says Oliver Sahm, director application design with Bosch Communications Systems. "With the certification of our Dynacord Promatrix 8000 syst

France - Following the worldwide success of its flagship K1 touring PA system, L-Acoustics has launched the new K2 system which, the company says, "offers K1 performance in a rescaled package". Pitched as a replacement for the company's successful V-DOSC system, the K2 system's flexibility makes it suited to both permanent installation and touring applications, from theatre to stadium productions. The main system components are the K2 full-range element, with Panflex horizontal steering, operating from 35Hz to 20kHz; the K1-SB low-frequency element, reinforcing LF contour down to 30Hz or LF throw down to 35Hz; the

SB28 low-frequency element, extending the operating bandwidth down to 25Hz; and the LA4X/LA8 amplified controllers or LA-RAK, touring rack fitted with three LA8s.

With its 3-way quad-amplified design, K2 has "an exceptional ability to perform in many a

Germany - Cadac launched its MegaCOMMS System Network at last week's Prolight+Sound exhibition in Frankfurt. Built on the company's proprietary digital audio protocol and based around the MC CDC Router, MegaCOMMS System Network incorporates the CDC I/O 6448 and CDC I/O 3216 stage boxes, and the MC MADI Bridge and MC Dante Bridge, allowing the configuration of large-scale digital audio networks of up to 3072 audio channels.

Cadac's proprietary protocol offers advanced performance advantages over current systems, with superior bandwidth and latency, supporting 256 bi-directional channels of 96kHz 24bit audio, along with all control data and clock synchronisation, on co-axial cable with runs of up to 150 meters (492 feet). MegaCOMMS networks have only 0.2 milliseconds of delay per link, so even after several links in the network there is negligible aggregated latency. An extensive

Germany - While the launch of the QL series digital mixing consoles was the headline event of Yamaha's presence at ProLight+Sound 2014, there were many more of the company's state of the art audio solutions on display.

Yamaha showcased the brand new R Remote, a software solution which allows engineers to control the head amps of R Series i/o units from a Windows PC. Already used on at least one touring production, R Remote opens up many new possibilities for audio engineers in both the touring and installation markets.

The full range of CL series digital mixing consoles was on show, including the Rio3224-D, Rio1608-D, and Ri8-D i/o units and a range of mini YGDAI interface cards. CL consoles also featured in a major Nexo, Audinate and Yamaha demonstration which took place throughout ProLight+Sound in the adjacent Frankfurt Festhalle.

Now featuring in many significant install

Italy - In a break from its traditional loudspeaker roots, RCF unveiled its new L-PAD range of high performance audio mixers this month at Frankfurt's Prolight+Sound exhibition.

RCF has been producing components such as compression drivers and woofers since 1949 and its own complete speaker systems for over 30 years, but has only now decided to move into the mixer market with the creation of a new dedicated division. The establishment of the 'RCF Mixer Division' represents an important strategic move and considerable investment in R&D. According to RCF chairman, Arturo Vicari, the models introduced in Frankfurt are just the first step in a much wider development plan, and the beginning of next year will herald the arrival of several innovative digital models, he promises.

"To successfully enter a crowded market it requires us to be able to offer advantages and a different

Germany - Leader Light, a Slovak manufacturer of LED lighting and LED technology, last week attended ProLight+Sound 2014 where visitors could find the company's whole product range on display. One of the most interesting products on show from Leader Light was the LED cyclorama which consists of 72 LEDs with input power of only 200W. "The luminaire is specially designed as backstage area lighting for theatres, television studios, concerts and studios and is compatible with DMX 512," says the company.

"With a lifetime of 75.000 hours, the big advantage of the cyclorama LL stage CYC is its availability in five light colour versions and the possibility of custom-modification for any colour combinations," adds Leader Light.

Leader Light will next be at Light + Building 2014 in Frankfurt, Germany on stand number 4.1 F51.

Germany - In Frankfurt, Lawo presented the mirroring of two mc² consoles - a requirement especially useful in theatre applications. This allows an mc² console to be located in the auditorium to prepare and fine-tune the mix during rehearsals.

This is the ideal position to do the mix since it is where the audience is sitting, and it enables the mix engineer to be in close contact with the actors. The console settings are mirrored to a console in the control room, where the show mix is handled without disturbing the audience - and with the first console removed, the seats in the auditorium can be taken by paying visitors.

(Jim Evans)

Germany - Backstage Academy says a lack of industry training provision in countries outside of the UK - and particularly outside of Europe - has resulted in a number of enquiries for overseas courses.

The Academy runs degree courses and short courses that cover the variety of creative and technical skills needed to work backstage in live events production. Based at state-of-the-art facilities in Wakefield, North UK, it also offers custom training programmes for entertainment industry professionals seeking to boost their knowledge or career prospects, with training in rigging, event safety, temporary electrical systems, stage pyrotechnics and much more.

The Academy launched to a European and global audience at the Prolight+Sound show in Frankfurt last week.

Said PR & marketing manager Rachel Esson, "In the first two days of the show we took enquiries for training from pr

Germany - Robe once again enjoyed a massively busy and successful Prolight+Sound exhibition at the Messe in Frankfurt ... launching a selection of new innovations and presenting another eye-catching lightshow on the booth in Hall 11, which attracted huge numbers of visitors to the stand and created a buzz which resonated throughout the entire trade show.

Other highlights involved the inventive Robin MiniMe winning the Prolight+Sound International Press Award (PIPA) for 'Lights FX' [sic], and for the second year, the Robe team was joined on the stand for one day by Czech MotoGP rider Karel Abraham and his bike. Robe is one of the sponsors of the 2014 season.

Robe's CEO Josef Valchar says, "The show was fantastic! It is currently the best of its type in Europe for attracting quality international and leading professional visitors, and is a great showcase for our brand."

Germany - Presented for the first time at ProLight+Sound, Frankfurt and offering power, speed and flexibility, Shapeshifter is the new, innovative light from High End Systems. Designed by Richard Belliveau and featuring 126 high-powered LEDs with custom lensing, the fixture produces an "incredible beam of light, making this the industry's brightest LED fixture," says High End. Two versions are available: the Shapeshifter C1 (RGB) and the Shapeshifter W1 (White), with the C1 outputting 24,000 RGB lumens and the W1 an incredible 27,000 lumens.

Seven independently controlled modules housed in one moving fixture create a multitude of highly defined beams coming together to form an amazing array of effects from the bold to the subtle.

"All elements of the fixture are lightning fast giving the designer the largest palette of creative options available, all from one fi

Germany - Philips Strand Lighting has launched what it calls "a new chapter in the evolution of control" in the form of the new NEO expandable control system. The sleek and modern NEO is designed to make a strong statement of Strand Lighting's commitment to creating forward-thinking, powerful consoles catering for the needs of the most demanding lighting design projects, the company says.

"We are incredibly excited about the NEO console, which heralds a new era for Strand Lighting as the company celebrates its 100th anniversary of lighting control," says Pete Borchetta, Philips Entertainment product marketing manager. "NEO offers the ability to seize the light, to grab, move, change, position, colour and motivate your lighting design simply and effectively. NEO is the closest that a designer can get to actually touching the light."

NEO includes an

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