General

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14 March 2016

The Gottelier Masterclass will be presented, as is now established tradition, by last year's Gottelier Award winner - Alex Cooper from Midas Klark Teknik. Entitled Don't Just measure: Listen, the Masterclass will be an appreciation of the power of human perception and spatial awareness, and how they relate to audio - in particular, the fact that just because a piece of audio gear measures correctly does not necessarily mean it sounds good.

InfoComm International will host a seminar theatre dedicated to AV & Systems Integration. Topics over the dedi

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14 March 2016

5 Star's booth was maximised with some creative space management, displaying many products as well as incorporating a small seating and hospitality area.

Products on display included two 19" rack systems, finished in desert sand powder coated hardware and extrusions, plus a new concept in transit solutions - 'Euro-Crate'.

'Euro-Crate' is a simple transit solution enabling irregular shaped items to be transported in safety by using a shock-mounted internal baseboard and a matrix of adjustable tie-down shackles and ratchet straps. Intermediate 200 mm case sections are then inserted to the desired height

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14 March 2016

The aim is to create a forum for education and information-sharing between customers and anyone else in the audio world.

The community blogs and posts will focus on subjects that the audio community is passionate about, such as 5.1, loudness and networking, and on relevant technologies such as FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays).

Currently, Calrec is seeking contributions to the site from audio mix engineers with training advice, technical suggestions, on-the-job stories to tell, challenges to share, or questions. These can be writ

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14 March 2016

The suit alleges that the five companies used the 'American Audio' trademark in advertising and promoting audio products that were not made by or affiliated with either American DJ or its American Audio brand. According to American DJ, the five firms "intentionally, continuously and wrongfully advertised, distributed and/or sold audio equipment... using the American Audio® mark since 2009".

In addition to Wal-Mart Stores and DBL Distributing, the companies that are the subject of American DJ's legal action are V2GO Technology, American Audio Laborato

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14 March 2016

Based in London, Frost gained years of hands-on experience, as a crew member on live productions, and as an audio engineer in studios and clubs. She earned her BSc degree in Live Event Technology at the University of Glamorgan in Cardiff after two years at the University of Salford in Manchester, where she graduated from its HND Audio and Video Systems programme.

"I prefer the live experience to the studio," says Frost. "Outside the studio, we don't have the luxury of correcting a problem over and over again. There's nothing quite like the challenge of getting it right the first time, quickly."

CEO Colin Waters says, "Nothing is more important to TM

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14 March 2016

This will be the fourth Gottelier Award - named in memory of the former designer, developer and commentator Tony Gottelier (pictured), who died in 2006. The Award (sponsored by Lighting&Sound International magazine for which Tony Gottelier was a regular contributor for many years), aims to recognise those who have made a significant and sustained contribution to the development of entertainment technology. Former winners are Tony Andrews of Funktion One (2007), John Stadius of Soundtracs/DiGiCo (2008) and Alex Cooper of Klark Teknik and Midas (2009).

This year's nominees are, in no particular order:

Richard Cuthbert

Richard Cuthbe

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14 March 2016

Since making his Broadway debut in 1957 as the writer of West Side Story's lyrics, Sondheim has become one of the most popular and revered figures in musical theatre. A London revival of Into the Woods opens shortly at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, while L

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14 March 2016

"We are extremely excited to introduce the AVO-USB extender set," states Cameron Smith, Intelix sales and marketing manager. "Intelix has a long history providing USB extension solutions; however, the AVO-USB is the first product which combines an extremely compact form-factor with professional-grade performance. Most solutions trade size for quality - the smaller you get the worse the signal - this isn't the case with Intelix technology."

Prior to the AVO-USB, remote USB devices such as cameras, printers, scanners, keyboards, and mice were limited to only 16ft via direct USB cables or required expensive secondary network equipment. Using the AVO-USB, remote device

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14 March 2016

Nick Read, head of hire and events for Northern Light, says, "We're delighted and proud to be supporting this world renowned event in our home city of Edinburgh. We've been working with the Festival Fringe organisers to ensure that they benefit from our extensive experience in theatre, events, live music, opera and comedy and receive all the technical support they require. Northern Light is supplying lighting, sound and AV equipment and staging plus technical labour and advice for both festival organised events and vis

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14 March 2016

"I've worked in professional sound for over 30 years, and I don't think I've ever been in a more acoustically challenging room," says Nelson Hoyt of Virginia-based Onyx Engineering. "I think of it as the Taj Mahal's evil twin." Indeed, Hoyt reports that sound in the venue has been an ongoing problem for many years. "If you get 30 or 40 people talking in there, the sound just reverberates and the vol

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14 March 2016

Wireless microphones and other wireless equipment that uses channel 69 are being cleared from this part of the 800 MHz band. Countries across Europe are clearing these airwaves to make way for new services like next-generation mobile broadband. Citizens and consumers in the UK stand to significantly benefit from this, especially those that live in the countryside, where the roll-out of broadband and mobile services has been more challenging, say Ofcom.

In June last year Ofcom announced a replacement channel for those af

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14 March 2016

The Bristol Harbour Festival, now in its 39th year, is one of the largest UK free arts events, covering two miles of waterfront along the city centre's harbourside, with seven different performance areas.

Branding was created for the Queen Square and Millennium Square stages, which showcased a diverse selection of music and dance respectively. The Queen Square stage hosted the Friday night concert, officially opening the 2010 festival to an audience of more than 5,000, while the New York City Ballet made their debut performance in Bristol on the Millennium Square stage.

The scrims for the two stages were both made from Sunbab

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14 March 2016

The awards will provide public recognition for outstanding achievements in lighting design by UK based lighting designers, in a number of professional areas. At the same time, these awards will forge closer ties between the world of lighting design and the lighting Industry as a whole.

The awards for The Knight of the Illumination are nominated and judged by a panel of professional reviewers working in the specific categories, selected and coordinated entirely by STLD and ALD.

Television nominations

Light Entertainment

Mark Smithers for Mission 2110

Martin Kempton for Who Dares Wins

Lee Allen for Blue

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14 March 2016

Four new shows debuted at the maiden launch: Avalon, Cantare, It Takes Two and NYC. Another show on board is Garage Band, which is a re-run of a show that was debuted on the Ms Oosterdam last year.

The creative team for all five shows (which will run for approximately five years) includes show director John Charron at the helm

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14 March 2016

Mainland said ticket sales were strong and she was looking forward to a "successful" festival. She added, "We live in uncertain times. I think the thing about the Fringe is that it is an entirely open access arts festival. We don't decide who should take part in it. We don't decide how big it should be. We don't decide what the make-up should be. It will be interesting to see how it responds

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14 March 2016

Smoke Factory UK celebrates its first birthday at PLASA this year as they launched at PLASA 2009 as an exclusive distributor in the UK for the German made Smoke Factory range of Fog and Haze machines.

Smoke Factory UK hold stocks of spares and fluids and spare parts in its London warehouse for immediate despatch to any UK address.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

As we know, the Government and Ofcom have decided to clear TV bands 31-37 and 61-69 of all wireless microphones and similar technologies that operate on these frequencies. At the end of July, Communications Minister Ed Vaizey announced that the Government would be making a "significant contribution" to the replacement cost, but only for equipment that tunes to channel 69. Following on from this, Ofcom published a statement providing details on the compensation package, including eligibility criteria. Save Our Sound UK has since had time to digest the content and consult with stakeholders.

The SOS UK campaign has been successful in persuading the UK Government to take another major step towards addressing the needs of the PMSE community. Following the willingness of the authorities

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14 March 2016

Chaos' London based operation offers full production support, including equipment inventory and technical support.

Former head of European sales for Total Fabrications, Gary White has a broad production background, ranging from theatre, to television, to corporate conferences, to touring and finally founding his own full technical production company, creating live events for blue chip clients.

White comments, "This is a major investment for the company. There is no doubt that the market in the UK and Europe continues to grow. All of the core skills I acquired in the entertainmen

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14 March 2016

The IDA8 is based on the successful IDA4, which is well established in the market. Over the five years since IDA4 was launched, tens of thousands of units have been sold internationally. But technology and what users expect from equipment in the exacting PA/VA sector has changed, so work on a next generation version began 18 months ago, says the company.

With extended DSP memory and communications capability, the IDA8 is more technologically sophisticated than its predecessor but it is also easier to use and set up. Neil Voce, s

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14 March 2016

"MYC team has a solid competence technically as they often work with top artists and loudspeaker engineers in Asia. With the assistance from MYC, we will fully develop business in China and focus on both the installation and touring sectors," says Jürgen Freitag, managing director of Kling & Freitag.

"We had a lot of experience in the Chinese market and believe we can build a strong future with Kling & Freitag here," adds Jessie Chan, executive vice president of MYC Technology.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

"The D5 is my console of choice, I've been using DiGiCo for about five years and there's still no better digital console in my opinion," says Madigan. "I sometimes have to use other consoles on a one-off basis, but I always come back to my favourite because of its excellent sound quality and layout."

The tour is using a d&b J Line main system, with J-subs and B2s. Madigan sends left, right and sub outputs from the D5, from which sends for in, out and front fills are derived. All processing is done within the D5, except for Manley ELOP electro-optical limiters on vocal inserts and a Manley Variable Mu over the L-R outputs. "I

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14 March 2016

"We are very happy to have KSL Studio on board," says sales director Lionel Garraud. "Eastern Europe is a very exciting market at the moment and we need someone of the calibre of KSL to handle the growing demand for our products in Slovenia."

The appointment was finalised with some in-house training for the KSL Studio sales team at the Robert Juliat headquarters in Fresnoy-en-Thelle.

RJ product manager, Ludwig Lepage, provided two intensive days of training on all Robert Juliat products, including theatre and architectural spotlights, profile spots, followspots and the RJ dimmer range. Ludovic Machin and Sylvie Durosoy then concluded with comprehensive training in Robert Juliat's after-sales support.

The KSL Studio team of Dejan Zura, Bostj

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14 March 2016

Speaking of the appointment, Optocore sales and marketing director, Tine Helmle stated, "I feel we have found the perfect partner in Australia. PAT will concentrate its activities on Optocore's core markets, namely broadcast, permanent and live sound. We look forward to an extensive and successful period in this region together with Patrick and his team."

Owned by MD, Salloch and technology director Tony Fitzsimmons, PAT have spent the last 15 years providing Australian and New Zealand customers with technical solutions and enjoy a good reputation in

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14 March 2016

For the second year running, an iLive digital system was used to mix monitors at the Festival de Loup in Corbeyrier. The two day event is a celebration of everything Celtic, with Celtic food, folk tales, dance and music, featuring top Irish band, Grada, and top French band, Blackwater.

A modular iLive system, comprising an iDR10 MixRack and iLive-144 Control Surface, was employed by engineer, Roland Dupertuis, to manage musicians with a range of instruments from electric guitars and bass, to harps, mandolins, bagpipes and accordions.

"I have managed monitors for the festival for several years and decided to use A&H's digital system again this year," says Dupertuis. "As usual, iLive enabled fast set changeovers and was very simple