UK - Lake Processing is introducing a new standalone system processor, the LM 44 - which is being unveiled at the PLASA show in London this week.

The LM 44 is a powerful, full-featured digital audio processor based on the Lake Processing technology, which builds on the success of the LM 26, and marking another major step for the Lake brand under the stewardship of Sweden's Lab.gruppen.

Identical in many respects to the LM 26 Digital Audio Loudspeaker Processor, the LM 44 is distinguished primarily by a different input/output configuration. The LM 44 provides four analogue input and four analogue outputs, in contrast to the LM 26's 2-in/6-out. In addition, the LM 44 accommodates 8-in/8-out AES3 and 4-in/8-out Dante digital audio transport. The LM 44 benefits from the latest implementation of Lake's iconic 'Mesa EQ' configuration, utilising four Mesa modules, each with an indepe

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd has recently gained BS EN ISO9001:2008 certification - the internationally recognised quality management system standard - reflecting the importance the company places on continually improving customer satisfaction and complying with all relevant standards for the products and services it provides.

The ISO9001 certification continues AC-ET's investment in its staff and systems as part of the company's customer-focused ideology. In August, the British Standards Institution independently certified AC-ET after completing vigorous internal audits on procedure implementations required to meet the ISO9001 quality standard.

ISO9001 is a valuable asset to AC-ET, providing a model for enhancing customer satisfaction, achieving continual improvements to the company's performance and ensuring that it meets this high standard required by an

Siberia - The first Russian installation of QSC's advanced integrated Q-Sys network system has been carried out at the Nordic Ski Centre in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk.

A complete facility upgrade - which included the sound system - was required by the International Biathlon Union to conform with the latest technical requirements, and enable the Centre to host this year's 46th World Biathlon Championships.

Installation companies Avintel and High Tech Security were responsible for carrying out the technological upgrade, with QSC's proprietary Q-Sys audio signal processing and transmission components supplied by Mixart Distribution, their exclusive distributor in the Russian Federation.

The audio has been placed on a fully-redundant Q-Sys platform and comprises two Core 1000 64 x 64 hubs and 12 I/O Frame modules (with full redundancy provided in the back-up network in the even

The Netherlands - At IBC 2011 in Amsterdam, HHB Communications and Japanese cable manufacturer Mogami presented a cheque for £5,000 that will be donated to the Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal .

The donation is a result of the recent appointment of HHB as Mogami's exclusive distributor for the UK and Ireland. HHB pledged that it would donate 10 per cent of the proceeds from all Mogami cable sales made from the beginning of the partnership earlier this year up to the IBC 2011 trade show. HHB's large stock of Mogami cables and the popularity of the product have already made it possiblefor HHB to exceed £50,000 in sales and donate £5,000 to the Red Cross.

The cheque was presented by HHB MD Ian Jones and Mogami's president of sales Lew Hirabayashi during a press ceremony held on the first day of the show on the HHB stand.

"We are delighted to help our friend

Belgium/UK - Orbital Sound reports that its fast deployment of HME's 2-channel DX210 digital wireless communication system has rescued an escalating radio-frequency problem being encountered by the international production of We Will Rock You, which has just opened at the Stadsschouwburg in Antwerp, Belgium.

The show has used the same RF format for over a decade, with some 12 radio-comms channels, as well as numerous radio mic frequencies, but the reducing RF spectrum available across Europe - due to the growth of digital TV - meant that there was simply insufficient clear radio space available in Antwerp.

The sound for We Will Rock You - a Stage Entertainment production - is being supplied by Orbital Sound, with Orbital's Dan Bailey as production sound engineer, and Richard Sharratt the show's associate sound designer.

Tom Byrne, sales director at Orbital Soun

UAE - Melody House, distributors of HK Audio speaker systems in the United Arab Emirates has recently supplied 22 Premium PR:O stage monitor cabinets to Dubai based rental firm, SLS Productions. Established in the early 90's, SLS Productions' beginnings as a small sound and lighting production company were short lived as the business quickly transformed into a major rental firm serving an ever-growing and diverse client base.

"SLS Productions have been very happy with the performance of their new purchase," commented Dino Drimakis, business development manager at Melody House. "The compact size of the speakers are a great advantage as it allows them to be flexible for various events."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Following the release of their new album, I'm With You, the Chili Peppers' production team has said they are 'with Tait' for the extensive European tour kicking off on 7 October.

Tait Technologies has been awarded the contract to provide staging and automation elements for the forthcoming tour, with this leg spanning 11 countries and finishing in Madrid on 17 December.

The elements are being designed and manufactured in the Tait Towers US headquarters, where project manager James Erwin has liaised with lighting designers, set designers and video providers to co-ordinate the designs into tour-friendly items.

European CEO Frederic Opsomer said, "Tait Technologies will ensure that Tait's impeccable high standards are achieved throughout the tour. The company's expanding European capabilities will ensure optimum logistical delivery of the technical elements supp

Singapore - The largest light and water spectacular in South East Asia has opened on the doorstep of the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Using lasers, searchlights, LEDs, video projectors and giant water screens to create stunning visual effects, Wonder Full is a breathtaking 360-degree sensory experience portraying light and water creating Life, choreographed to an inspiring original score.

Wonder Full features new and exciting technology that took Laservision three years to develop and refine. A team consisting of 100 specialists in architectural, design, creative, musical, engineering, technical and IT resources was drawn from its Hong Kong, Australian and Singaporean offices.

Three massive water screens illuminated by high definition video projection and optically pumped full colour laser systems face the audience at the Event Plaza, Marina Bay Sands entertainme

UK - Allen & Heath has chosen the PLASA show in London to launch a Waves SoundGrid option module for the iLive digital mixing Series, which provides a low latency 64 channel bi-directional interface to SoundGrid. The new M-Waves module opens up the opportunity to use Waves' acclaimed SoundGrid plug-in processing and concurrent multi-track playback and recording.

Developed by Waves, SoundGrid is an Audio-over-Ethernet networking and processing technology for live applications. It provides an extremely low latency environment for high precision Waves audio processing using standard Gigabit Ethernet networks and an Intel-based server running a customised version of Linux. A separate standard Windows or Mac computer runs the MultiRack SoundGrid control application and GUI functions. An integrated Ethernet switch with two EtherCon and one RJ45 SoundGrid port is provided on the M-Wave

UK - Green arts organisation Julie's Bicycle has launched its new UK-wide Better Batteries campaign at PLASA 2011. The campaign aims to bring together the music and theatre industries in a drive to switch over to rechargeable battery systems, particularly for portable sound equipment, and increase the rate of recycling for both disposable and rechargeable batteries. Focused on venues and individual productions the campaign is backed by scientific research and case studies from commercial theatre productions which prove the reliability of the technology, environmental benefits and cash savings available.

The environmental benefits associated with using rechargeable batteries and recycling after use include less pressure on natural resources, less pollution from the manufacturing process, less waste created and less carbon emissions resulting from transport and distribution, due t

UK - The Backstage Academy is exhibiting in association with Jigsaw Systems at PLASA 2011, consolidating their new partnership.

Backstage Academy's training for the live events production and entertainment industries includes courses on Apple based software such as Logic and Final Cut.

Jigsaw Systems has been working with Backstage Academy as it has developed its course portfolio and invested in new technologies over the past two years. The two companies have now formalised their relationship, with Backstage Academy becoming Jigsaw's official training partner for their UK-wide business and professional customers.

Backstage Academy's Apple courses, which currently include Logic 101, Logic 301, Final Cut Pro 101, Final Cut Express 101, Final Cut Pro 300, Final Cut Pro X, Motion 101, Colour Correction 101, DVD Studio Pro, Soundtrack Pro, Intro to Apple Macs and iLife, will be d

South Africa - SGM has appointed South African importer Prosound, as its new distributor for Sub-Saharan Africa, with immediate effect.

It joins an already rich brand portfolio of globally-recognised sound and lighting companies - which includes SGM's parent company, RCF - and will be managed under Prosound's Theatre & Architectural Lighting (T&A Lighting) subsidiary.

T&A Lighting general manager Ian Blair stated, "We were particularly keen on SGM's newly-developed LED range, for both the architectural and entertainment markets; this will fill a gap in the product portfolio and at the same time offers great value for a highly professional range. With Peter Johansen heading up the R&D initiative at SGM we foresee some interesting times ahead."

With operational bases throughout South Africa, Prosound is no stranger to the Italian lighting company's catalogue. Set up

UK - Robert Lawrence Creative Solutions, one of the UK's leading event production support companies, recently installed Outline's Mantas and Butterfly line array at the 2011 British Grand Prix. The system was used in Vodafone's VIP area over the practice, qualifying and race days, including the live interviews with Lewis Hamilton & Jenson Button to a crowd of over 3000 supporters.

Lawrence Marchington, director of Robert Lawrence commented, "Our clients expect the highest level of quality and finish not only in appearance but also in sound. We have been using Outline equipment for over 10 years and it provides the reliability we need and an unparalleled audio quality. Our investment in a Mantas and Butterfly system was a logical addition to our already extensive range of Outline equipment, and one that will ensure we continue to offer the highest level of audio quality to o

UK - With preliminary visitor figures of over 12,000, showing a marginal increase over 2010 and strong international engagement from across the world, organisers PLASA Events are "delighted" with the positive feedback to this year's PLASA 2011, which has just closed its doors at Earls Court after a vibrant four days.

This year's event sets the scene for a strong return to Earls Court in 2012. Events Manager Sophie Atkinson commented: "Exhibitors have been enthusing about the high quality of visitors and the rate of sales enquiries, and with hundreds of new products being launched, there has been a great return on investment for them. We expect to see many back here at Earls Court next year."

Visitors also relished being first to get their hands on some of the industry's hottest new products. Over 500 products were launched at the show, including major new d

UK - With preliminary visitor figures of over 12,000, showing a marginal increase over 2010 and strong international engagement from across the world, organisers PLASA Events are "delighted" with the positive feedback to this year's PLASA 2011, which last week closed its doors at Earls Court after a vibrant four days.

This year's event sets the scene for a strong return to Earls Court in 2012. Events manager Sophie Atkinson commented: "Exhibitors have been enthusing about the high quality of visitors and the rate of sales enquiries, and with hundreds of new products being launched, there has been a great return on investment for them. We expect to see many back here at Earls Court next year."

Visitors also relished being first to get their hands on some of the industry's hottest new products. Over 500 products were launched at the show, including major new

Poll Toppers - Coldplay have been voted the best festival headliner of 2011, in an online poll conducted by BBC 6 Music. The band - who headlined Glastonbury and T In The Park - topped the survey with 22.7% of votes cast, breakfast show host Shaun Keaveny announced. US rock band The National came in second with 14.2%, while Muse were third with 13.9%.

Coldplay's drummer Will Champion told 6 Music playing festivals gave the band "a chance to win people over". He added, "There's also a strong possibility that people have already made their mind up about you - and no matter how well you play they're not going to be happy about it." Glastonbury, which also saw U2 and Beyonce play headline slots in June, is taking a fallow year in 2012.

In The Saleroom - The Beatles showed their support for the US civil rights movement by refusing to play in front of segr

UK - When ETC introduced its iRFR (Radio Focus Remote for iPhone and iPod Touch) two years ago, Luke Delwiche from ETC Tech Services in London suggested that the profits be shared between Light Relief and its US equivalent, Behind the Scenes. Little did his bosses realise just how much this would amount to.

At PLASA 2011, Delwiche presented Light Relief trustee Rick Fisher with a cheque for £12,458, collected over the previous 12 months. A similar amount of money will be presented to Behind the Scenes at the LDI show in October this year. These two cheques bring the total raised by the sale of the iRFR application to a staggering $86,000.

Delwiche was obviously delighted that his idea has paid off so handsomely, while CEO Fred Foster said,"One of the nicest aspects is that each individual who has found our iRFR to be a useful tool has helped raise this money. Chris

UK - PLASA Media has learned the sad news of the death of veteran live sound engineer Moray McMillin. Moray, a concert touring veteran and most recently EAW's Application Support Group Representative for the EMEA region, passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was 58.

Moray worked with many of rock's greatest acts over the past three decades, including Black Sabbath, Saxon, Ozzy Osbourne's solo outings, Motorhead, Dio, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Whitesnake - culminating in a 10-year spell as Deep Purple's front-of-house engineer.

An advocate of line array technology, Moray became one of the first certified V-DOSC engineers in the UK, and later, through the company's links with Deep Purple, he assisted German manufacturer HK Audio in the development of its COHEDRA system. Moray took the decision to leave his life on the road in 2004 and took a sales role with the HK

UK - Leading international agents and promoters John Giddings of Solo/Isle of Wight Festival, Stuart Galbraith of Kilimanjaro Live and Rob Hallett of AEG Live will be among the speakers at the LIVE UK Summit, set for 5-6 October in London.

Other speakers will include Free Trade Agency boss Paul Boswell, HMV/MAMA Group's Daryl Robinson and Academy Music Group's Carl Bathgate.

One particularly lively part of the conference programme will undoubtedly be the ticketing session, Selling The Show, following eBay-owned US resale giant StubHub's announcement that it's about to enter the UK, and the surprise takeover of See Tickets by French media conglomerate Vivendi.

"StubHub's arrival will significantly increase activity in the resale sector, especially in the battle for hearts and minds, and general endorsement of the concept," says Summit producer and Audience managing

Festival Funding - Edinburgh festival-goers could be asked to volunteer to pay extra for tickets in a bid to help raise money for the city to host major events. Jenny Dawe, Edinburgh City Council's leader, said a box to tick to add a "small percentage" could be added to online booking forms. She said she there was "generally no objection" if people knew the money was going to improve venues. Sales of tickets at this year's Edinburgh Fringe were up by 3% on 2010. According to figures released by the Fringe Society, 1,877,119 tickets were sold by its box office over the festival.

Olympic Countdown - The London Philharmonic Orchestra has finished recording more than 200 national anthems for the Olympic and Paralympic Games next year. The epic challenge took 52 recording hours at Abbey Road Studios and finished with Zimbabwe on Sunday. The orchestra had on

UK - Hawthorn Walling Systems has just celebrated its first birthday. Hawthorn Walling Systems designs and manufactures set, stand and display solutions for exhibitions, conferences and product launches.

The first year of trading has been "phenomenal", says the company. The bespoke in-house workshop has already been extended and the team has expandedsignificantly to meet ongoing demand for the Walling Systems product.

Hawthorn Walling Systems uses a patented tensioned fabric on an aluminium frame system to create seamless high resolution panels for the events and exhibition industry. The product is lightweight, modular, quick to build and easily re-brandable for road shows, multiple brands/languages and also helps clients to reduce their transport costs and enhance their eco credentials.

(Jim Evans)

Lecture Notes - Pete Townshend is to deliver the inaugural John Peel Lecture, in which he will assess the state of music in the internet age. The lecture, part of the Radio Festival in Salford at the end of this month, will become an annual event given by a different music figure every year. Townshend will ask how musicians can survive in the age of free downloads. The lecture, named in honour of legendary DJ Peel, who died in 2004, will be broadcast live on BBC 6 Music.

Townshend said he was "honoured" to be asked to deliver the address, adding that the former BBC Radio 1 DJ had introduced him to bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Undertones before they had signed record deals. "John didn't just listen to music, he played it on air and let his audience decide," the 66-year-old guitarist said. In his lecture, Townshend will pose the question: "C

World - PLASA members worldwide have begun voting in the Association's yearly elections, which commenced this week.

The month-long ballot, in which over 1,000 members participate, will decide places on PLASA's European and North American Regional Boards, together with a single seat on its over-arching Governing Body.

The two Regional Boards are still a relatively new concept for PLASA, having been formally launched at the start of 2011. Their role is to represent the interests of members affiliated to those regions, ensuring that PLASA offers strong on the ground support to members.

Both the North American and European Regional Boards are looking to fill a number of places for 2012. Following the death of the European Chair Rob Lingfield earlier this year, Ed Pagett of Panalux, who served as Vice Chair, is standing for the position of Chair. A number of representative positi

UK - CITC, located in the USA, has been in the forefront of manufacturing unique and exciting effects equipment for many years, and White Light is proud to announce their exclusive distributorship for the European community.

Their President, Gary Crawford, is well known for his work as a Special Effects Coordinator, and has worked on such movies as E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, 2010, Poltergeist, Halloween III, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and many more well known films, his first being Camelot. He is also the recipient of the 1997 LDI award for Best Atmospheric Effects for SnoBiz biodegradable snow. They offer a comprehensive selection of products including the popular Dream Teams which encompass larger areas for audience-participation.

Their most popular, the Little Blizzard Dream Team, was the original and first of its kind. It sends snow over a 24m X 15m area, and includ

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