Asia Pacific - QSC has strengthened its presence in the Asia Pacific market, recruiting two experienced audio professionals to help consolidate the company's market profile in the region.

With immediate effect, Sebastian Chong takes on the role of product specialist, Asia Pacific Region, while David Fuller joins the team as sales manager for the territory.

Before joining QSC as a product application specialist, Sebastian Chong worked as a technical sales manager with Architectural Audio in Singapore for six years, a company recognised as a leading distributor of installed DSP products in Asia.

"I have been seeking an opportunity to take my experience in installed audio to a regional scale and the position at QSC is a perfect match," he says. "QSC is recognised worldwide as an industry leader, and I'm ready to achieve strong company growth with its exciting pro

USA - Patrick Finn, a dealer project manager with J. R. Clancy, has passed the exam in the Entertainment Technician Certification Programme (ETCP) for Theatre Rigging. Finn is now an ETCP-certified rigging professional, the fourth on the Clancy staff to become certified.

The certification indicates expert proficiency in the use of counterweight, mechanical, and hydraulic systems installed in theatres. ETCP riggers also understand the health and safety issues involved in the use of theatre rigging, as well as Occupational Health and Safety Association (OSHA) requirements for the use, maintenance and inspection of rigging.

Finn came to Clancy in 2009. Previously he worked with Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut; Virginia Opera Company in Norfolk; Ohio Light Opera in Wooster, Ohio; and City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most recently, he served as a consu

UK - True to its longstanding tradition as a DJ-centric company, American DJ Europe has tapped a well-respected DJ to be the area sales manager of its southern UK sales district. The company named the Simon Fletcher to this position after an extensive search of possible candidates.

Fletcher will be responsible for looking after the sales of the American DJ family of products in his region. As part of his job, he will be visiting dealers on a regular basis and building relationships with them. He will also be interacting with the DJ community in the UK at shows and events, and soliciting feedback on how the company's products can best meet their needs.

An amateur DJ since the age of 13, Fletcher worked as a sales executive for a number of international companies in the UK until eight years ago, when he left to pursue his DJ-ing career. As a DJ, Fletcher has worked at some of th

France - L-Acoustics has appointed Marc Bénard to the newly-created role of technical support manager, amplified controllers. This new position reinforces the L-Acoustics technical support department which now is divided into three areas of expertise: fixed installation market, rental market, amplified controllers and LA Network Manager products.

Bénard joins the company with 10 years' experience in pro audio industry, working mainly in digital product management and technical support. His new role will be to educate and support touring and fixed installation clients in the use of L-Acoustics' amplified controllers and LA Network Manager.

"I am proud to be part of L-Acoustics, whose talented team continues to innovate in the development of the best-sounding professional sound reinforcement solutions," comments Bénard. "I am thrilled to embra

UK - Hawthorns has announced the addition of Nigel March to its business development team. Nigel has over 30 years' experience in the theatre and live events industry, specialising in AV programming and large format projection. He previously worked as head of production at the Royal Festival Hall before moving abroad to sunnier climes where he continued in production management for events and fiestas. Since returning to the UK recently he has focused on LEDs and media servers.

Nigel comments: "I'm thrilled to join Hawthorns. I believe they are the industry's best-kept secret, with excellent crew and an incredible portfolio of kit, and will do everything I can to make sure the secret is well and truly out of the bag!"

(Lee Baldock)

France - Innovason, French manufacturer of live digital mixing consoles, has announced the appointment of Marcel Babazadeh to the position of international sales director.

Philipp Lawo, CEO of the Lawo Group which has a majority shareholding in Innovason, is pleased to welcome Babazadeh to the Innovason team: "Marcel has extensive experience in audio hardware sales; his commercial success with leading companies in our industry provides irrefutable evidence of this", he says. "I was particularly impressed with his excellent relationship with users, pre- and post-sales support, and his thorough product knowledge."

Prior to taking over the Innovason sales operation, Babazadeh was sales director for digital mixing consoles in the European and South American markets, as well as Sales Tonmeister for an internationally known company in the professional audio indus

UK - Scott Anderson has been appointed as senior operations executive for Showsec's Scotland area office. Responsible for the overall operational management of the area, he will also focus on the continued expansion of Showsec's Scottish client base, developing new and existing relationships.

Anderson previously worked for Showsec from 1997 to 2002. Since then, he has worked in business development and client relationship management.

Says Anderson, "The company and the industry has progressed massively and I am returning to a far more professional, customer focused organisation already enjoying success in Scotland. I look forward to being part of the team that builds on the huge potential for a security company with Showsec's values and operational excellence."

(Jim Evans)

UK - AC-ET has appointed industry veteran, Keith Hartley, as Northern service technician for the company's new Technical Services department in its Leeds office. The appointment is part of an overall expansion of its servicing facilities, which also includes increasing the existing servicing area of its High Wycombe office by over 50% and a doubling in size of its separate rigging motors servicing area.

This is in response to a major growth in AC-ET's servicing business to support the increasing range of product brands it stocks, as well as meeting customers' existing equipment needs. Despite 2009's challenging market conditions, the company has maintained its track record of trading profitably for over 40 years without any redundancies, and is currently enjoying a growth rate of over 10%.

As well as offering servicing and repair for many leading brands it stocks, AC-ET is an

UK - After 18 years at the forefront of Midas and Klark Teknik, David Cooper has announced that he has left the company to form David Cooper Consulting.

The philosophy of David Cooper Consulting is to provide focused, long term sales and brand management services to an exclusive number of pro audio manufacturers. The select few that the new enterprise will go into partnership with will benefit from the company's strategic approach to brand management as well as its extensive global network of relationships built up over a generation.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to be in a position to now offer my services to other manufacturers," says Cooper. "Fronting Midas' exceptional sales and marketing team for nearly 20 years has been an honour and a pleasure but over the last few months I've had a strong desire to be in charge of my own destiny. At Midas, we've had some good

USA - J. R. Clancy has announced the appointment of Jim Crooks as the company's vice president, sales. He starts in his new Syracuse-based position on 10 May.

Crooks brings more than three decades of industry experience to J. R. Clancy. For the last 17 years, he has worked for a single group of entertainment lighting, dimming and energy management companies. In 1993, he joined Portland-based Entertainment Technology (ET) as their western regional manager and vice president, marketing. ET was acquired by Stamford based ROSCO Laboratories and later sold to a conglomerate called Genlyte. In 2007, Genlyte was acquired by Philips. Within the Philips Lighting group, Crooks has held several positions with Lightolier, Entertainment Technology, Vari-lite and other Philips-owned brands.

"Jim is a well-known figure in the entertainment technology industry, and we are fortunate to br

Belgium - PixLED has announced Bart Van der Beken as its new general manager.

Van der Beken has over 10 years of knowledge and experience in the LED industry, working for market leaders including Barco N.V and Element Labs, and brings with him a network of contacts from across the major EMEA and APAC rental and staging companies.

Van der Beken has a huge energy and enthusiasm for the technology and all its possibilities, and also for the industry in general. He is very positive about expanding PixLED's business in all sectors, and in taking the company forward over the coming years, which will include imaginative and proactive marketing campaigns.

He states, "I am very honoured to be taking up this exciting new challenge, and immediately accepted the post after seeing the wide and refreshing new range of ultra lightweight PixLED LED products. There is a great future her

UK - Cavendish Corporate Finance LLP, the advisor to sellers of businesses has recently appointed Joe Stelzer as a partner. Stelzer has a specialist expertise in the lighting sector and can also offer an insight into the company sale process having worked as both client and advisor.

Stelzer will also be focusing on the technology, defence & aerospace sectors and also dealing with family controlled businesses.

On graduating, Stelzer began his career by starting a software republishing firm before merging this business with his family engineering firm where, as chief executive, he used this foundation to build a broad based industrial technology group comprising nanotechnology, defence & aerospace, lighting controls and energy management companies. The business was floated in 2004 on AIM as Polaron plc.

In late 2006, Stelzer appointed Cavendish to sell Polaron and the company

Switzerland - Merging Technologies, makers of the Pyramix digital audio workstation and VCube video playback platform have announced the appointment of Pierre Laporte to the position of sales manager, where he will be responsible for worldwide sales across the entire range of Merging products.

Laporte is no stranger to Merging's product line, having been managing director of the company's French distributor Diversity for 15 years. While there, he was instrumental in introducing the VCube video player to the French post-production market, overseeing the installation of 50 networked VCubes at one post facility alone (Dubbing Brothers in Paris). The position with Merging's head office in Switzerland gives him wider responsibilities. "The challenge for me now, using my experience working for a distributor in one territory, is to build on Merging's distributor network around the

USA - Bosch Security Systems Communications Systems Division has announced that Brian Divine has assumed the role of sr. product marketing manager, communications.

Divine joins Bosch with considerable industry and leadership experience, most recently from the Crown Audio Division of Harman International Industries, where he served as marketing director for installed sound and touring. In his new position, Divine will develop and implement marketing strategies for Bosch's ProSound brands in the Americas region, including Electro-Voice, and will act as the focal point for the voice of the customer in this market segment.

The Communications Division product marketing managers will report directly to Divine who will report to Daniel Gundlach, VP marketing - Americas.

John F. Anderson has assumed the role of product marketing manager, Intercom. Anderson will support the Americas

Norway/UK - Norway's projectiondesign has recruited Matt Horwood as regional manager for the UK and Ireland. Horwood will be based in the UK office and work with Iain Ambler to build on the company's success into the specialist market and add focus to the Pro AV channel.

Horwood arrives at projectiondesign from Epson UK, where he had led a sales team covering specialist resellers and end users in the AV channel. Prior to that, he spent five years working in sales for the Pro AV reseller Reflex.

"I wanted to focus specifically on the AV channel and am very taken by the 'value add' and 'high quality' specialisms that are key components of projectiondesign's established brand," comments Horwood. "The company has significant growth plans and a strong foundation on which to build them, so the challenge is extremely attractive."

Chris Axford, director of intern

UK - Lighting rental company HSL's busy project management team has been boosted with the arrival of Dave Singleton. He has previously worked with Kave Theatre Services in Sussex and also as a freelance production and project manager.

Singleton had worked for HSL whilst freelancing, which proved a fruitful experience for both parties ostensibly leading to this permanent appointment.

He says, "I am really excited to be onboard. I was always impressed by HSL's work ethic, their total dedication to providing the very best client service and support through investing in the latest technology and employing amazing crews for whom nothing is too much effort."

Singleton will remain located in Sussex, giving Blackburn based HSL an additional point of contact for Southern-based operations.

HSL's Mike Oates comments, "We're all looking forward to working with Dave, he

UK - With the conference line-up for the Audio Engineering Society's 128th Convention in London now confirmed, some distinguished guests are beginning to make their way to London for the associated conferences (22-25 May) and exhibition (23-25 May), both of which are taking place this year at the Novotel Convention Centre in Hammersmith.

Japanese music technology research scientist and gifted public speaker Masataka Goto has now been confirmed as the Keynote Speaker at the Convention's opening ceremony on 22 May, and the Convention's final day will be graced by an appearance from Sir George Martin CBE, who will be accepting an Honorary Membership from the AES before introducing one of the afternoon seminars on the final day of the Convention.

"The AES is delighted to present George Martin with this award," comments AES executive director Roger Furness. "The rank

UK - Lighting industry veteran Guy Merchant has returned to Multi-Lite (UK) after a short period of time working for a Scottish lighting distributor. In his new position as sales manager he is now responsible for acquisitions, customer relationship and customer service to lighting professionals not only but emphasized in the entertainment industry.

Guy Merchant and his team will be at the at ABTT show in London next month (Lindley Hall Stand 7.)

(Jim Evans)

UK - HHB Communications has announced the appointment of Jonathan Darby as product support specialist. He has worked at post-production facilities in London, Dublin and New York where he honed his specialist skills in production, Pro Tools HD, Avid, Final Cut Pro, video and audio encoding and digital hardware.

"I've known HHB for a long time as a customer," comments Darby, "and have always been impressed with the service culture and depth of technical knowledge that runs throughout the company. Now I¹m looking forward to adding my experience to the mix, providing product support to HHB¹s many broadcast and post customers."

(Jim Evans)

Germany - Late during the evening of 17 May 2010, only a few days after his 98th birthday, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Fritz Sennheiser, audio pioneer and founder of today's Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG, passed away. The audio industry has lost a huge figure, not only in terms of his technical expertise but also in terms of his humanity.

Through his company Prof. Dr. Fritz Sennheiser had a crucial influence on the development of sound transmission technolo¬gies and was instrumental in forging many ground-breaking developments in electro¬acoustics and transmission technologies. Under his guidance the first shotgun microphones and open headphones were created and he oversaw important developments in wireless radio and infra-red transmission.

It was completely natural for Fritz Sennheiser to give his developers the "creative and technical freedom" they required. His humanit

UK - Audio-technology-for-post specialists Scrub, a division of HHB Communications, has announced the appointment of Ben Scully to its Soho-based team. Scully will operate in a technical sales capacity, providing advice and support at all stages of the sales process from initial consultation and advice, through system configuration, to installation and training.

A Music Technology graduate of the London College of Music and Media, Scully joins Scrub with a background in custom-building computer systems for audio and video production ­ initially with Carillon Audio and, more recently, with Synergy Computers. This experience, combined with full training by Digidesign in Pro Tools HD support, equips Scully for his new role.

Scrub sales manager Tina Wallace says, "Scrub has a hard-earned reputation in the post-production community as the people to talk to about audio technol

UK - Sennheiser UK has appointed veteran Front of House engineer Dave Wooster to the role of live sound specialist. This newly formed position is the result of the company identifying the value of employing a live sound professional with first class knowledge and up-to-date field experience to work alongside its customers.

"My aim is to demonstrate Sennheiser UK's live sound solutions, provide ongoing support and backup and further develop how this range of products' fit in the current marketplace," says Wooster, whose live sound engineering credits include Van Morrison, Gary Moore and, most recently, Leona Lewis.

"Sennheiser's own products are well known for their excellent quality and the third party brands it distributes have been carefully chosen to compliment this. DAS loudspeakers, for example, have some extremely innovative features and sit at a great pri

UK - Cooper Controls has announced the appointment of Sarah Burridge as customer service manager for Cooper Controls. In this newly created role, Burridge will be responsible for all customer service activities including quotations, order processing, and customer returns functions for the iLight architectural and Zero 88 entertainment brands.

Burridge has a background of over 20 years of professional experience in high service, customer focused environments as diverse as retail and contract delivery in the construction industry.

"I am really excited about this new role" said Burridge. "Cooper Controls is a well respected company with an excellent portfolio of loyal customers and a good service record. As and our customers grow we also have to look to drive our support services to the next level in customer satisfaction. My key priorities for the future will incl

UK - Integrator IVC Media has announced a new focus for its management team. John Smith who joined IVC at the start of 2010, as sales director, will take over as managing director and Ray Harding, former IVC MD, will step up to the role of chairman from 1 June. In addition, the company is creating Operations, Commercial and Sales divisions to allow services to be tailored even more closely to customer requirements.

"IVC works with some of the world's leading organisations in the field of IT, AV and broadcast installations," saysohn Smith, managing director of IVC Media. "This is an exciting time at IVC and in the past few months we have developed a clear strategy for the company moving forward and have now put in place a simple structure to allow the team to focus fully on tailoring our offering to particular customers' requirements.

"There have been some r

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