USA - Busy booths, packed seminars and a raft of new product launches firmly established PLASA Focus as an unmissable industry event for Texas. A total of 820 attendees, including exhibitors, headed to the Renaissance Austin to see over 50 brands launch dozens of new products and enjoy Focus's trademark informal, friendly atmosphere.

Among the new products making their debuts at Focus Austin were: the MAC III AirFX luminaire and M2GO and M2PC consoles, launched by Martin Professional; along with the DLV Digital Light, and TechnoArc automated luminaire, both from High End Systems.

The Professional Development Program was a major attraction with substantial audiences for sessions that ranged from Demystifying Audio to Austin City Limits Live!.

CEO of PLASA Matthew Griffiths, commented, "Exhibitors have been enthusing about the high quality of visitors and th

UK - PLASA Focus: Leeds will be the first UK show that MT Pro has taken a stand at as the distribution arm of MilTec(UK).

"We welcome all existing and new clients onto our stand where we will be showing several new audio and lighting products from our MT Audio and LED Head ranges of products," the company says. These include a new 8-channel amplifier, new 1U mixers, zoners and a digital processor, along with battery-powered units and one of the first wash/profile LED moving heads in the one unit from the company's LED Head range.

MT Pro - Stand S-C7

(Claire Beeson)

UK - 4HM has launched a new MADI to multi-format AES audio converter called the MA64. The MA64 provides simultaneous 32 x AES/EBU and AES3-id pair outputs, offers multiple synchronisation options and is Dolby compatible.

Also new from 4HM are two rack-mounted breakout boxes. The BOB/O-32 provides a means to break out two DB25 connectors to 16 AES/EBU pairs on 3 pin XLR connectors. The BOB/I-32 does the reverse and permits 16 AES/EBU pairs on 3 pin XLRs to be routed to two DB25 connectors.

MA64 is a compact and convenient 1U MADI converter designed specifically for broadcast and production applications. Accepting both optical and coaxial MADI, the MA64 simultaneously makes 32 pairs of balanced AES/EBU and unbalanced AES3-id available for interconnection to broadcast routers, audio consoles or any other AES equipped devices.

Comprehensive synchronisation options including word

Germany - As Renkus-Heinz celebrates a productive ISE, the company is gearing up for an even busier ProLight+Sound 2012 in Frankfurt.

ISE 2012 saw the first European showing of the new IconyxICR-MkII digitally steerable installation loudspeaker, with its innovative new triple tweeter design. "We now have a complete, equally spaced, array of high frequency devices extending the whole length of the array" comments Rik Kirby, VP sales and marketing. "This gives the new, fourth generation, column even better steering ability, reduced side lobes, and greater fidelity."

Equipped with RHAON (Renkus-Heinz Audio Operations Network) the ICR-II series is available in 8, 16, 24 and 32 driver formats, enabling sophisticated large-scale coverage of even the most imposing spaces. Typical applications will be cathedrals, airports, train stations and other large, acoustical

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises have recently been appointed as distributors for Rycote in the Middle East.

"Rycote is the industry standard for news, TV, film and recording industry professionals when it comes to microphone windshields and microphone suspension systems," commented Chicco Hiranandani, business development manager at NMK.

He added, "with brands like Shure and Sound Devices that cater to the same market, the Rycote range of products now allow us to provide a complete solution to the client base. We look forward to growing our business in the broadcast and production segment."

(Jim Evans)

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributors of Roland Professional in the Middle East have recently supplied the V1600HD to Dubai based Liquid Productions. A live video production company working on a number of high profile events in the region, Liquid Productions purchased the Roland V1600HD after a demonstration by NMK's Roland specialist Moswain Antao. The HD vision mixer was immediately used for the BBC Good Food Middle East Awards 2012 held in Dubai.

"Liquid Productions have been working on SD for several years but due to market needs they realized that they had to quickly upgrade to HD and were looking for a flexible yet cost effective solution," commented Moswain Antao, Roland product specialist at NMK.

He adds, "the V1600HD gives them an all-in-one solution for any live event as it is multi-format, is HD and most importantly, si

USA - Houston Ballet Centre for Dance, a striking steel-and-glass architectural edifice designed by the world-renowned Gensler architectural firm opened in 2011 as the largest dance arts facility of its kind in the United States. It is also one of the most technologically advanced, with the entire six-story structure wired into a dedicated digital AV network that connects to more than 20 video screens and 68 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers spread throughout the building's nine rehearsal studios, 175-seat performance space, lobby areas, and conference rooms.

"It's an absolutely stunning facility in every respect," observes Bill Schuermann, senior design consultant at HFP Acoustical, the Houston-based firm charged with acoustics, noise control, and AV systems. "That said, the cutting-edge architecture created acoustically difficult spaces which, when combined

South Africa - A Midas PRO2 was used for monitors in partnership with a Midas PRO9 at FOH by leading sub-Saharan Africa pro-audio company, Johannesburg-based Prosound, for the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress (ANC). The weekend-long live music event took place at Loch Logan Park, Bloemfontein.

"It was our first opportunity to hook up a PRO2 and PRO9 in this way, and it's a dream set-up," says Prosound's Mark Malherbe, who has been a Midas user for some 30 years. "You get all the benefits of the individual Midas digital consoles - great sound, great ergonomics and exceptional versatility - and when you team them together, the operation is seamless."

The event, which attracted a capacity crowd of some 30,000, certainly demanded the highest technical and operational standards with a multi-artist and multi-DJ line-up, headlined

UK - The cream of the UK music production industry gathered once again at the Café De Paris in Central London for the annual Music Producers Guild awards.

Shure Distribution UK has been a key supporter of the awards since their inception in 2009 - in fact, the awards handed out to the winners are fully working, gold-painted Shure 55SH microphones. (The original design of these classic mics was released as the Shure 55A way back in 1939, and, in its 55S form, was famously used by Elvis and Frank Sinatra in the 1950s).

This year, Shure Distribution was involved in sponsoring two of the awards: Live Production of the Year, sponsored by Shure itself, and Mastering Engineer of the Year, which was sponsored by Radial Engineering, whose products are distributed by Shure in the UK. London-based Mastering Engineer Mandy Parnell picked up this award, which was presented to her by

Australia - Gearhouse Broadcast recently purchased 52 Bel Digital Audio 3G HD compatible BM-A1-2SHD audio monitors/de-embedders and used them in their HD coverage of the 2012 Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne.

Gearhouse Broadcast provides the technical facilities as the host broadcaster for Channel 7 which includes TV coverage from seven courts plus the World Feed and Channel 7's unilateral facilities. They also provide uni-lateral facilities to ESPN and Tennis Channel from the USA and facilities to tennis Australia for their delivery to various platforms. The newly purchased 1RU units where used together with their current stock of the 2RU Bel boxes to provide all the audio monitoring in the entire facility.

The BM-A1-2SHD is a 1U two channel audio monitor that de-embeds and permits the monitoring of the audio content of 3G, HD and SD SDI bitstreams but crucial

UK - Pro Light Concepts Ltd is a rapidly expanding supplier of innovative lighting and sound equipment to the entertainment industry. At PLASA Focus: Leeds, staff will be on hand to discuss the products available from Pro Light's office and distribution centre in Lancashire for worldwide dispatch.

The stand will also feature many new products, including the LED Quad colour Q Color and Color Storm LED Battens along with the Xperior Platinum 5R Spot from iSolution. Many other new items from eLumen8 will be launched at PLASA Focus including fixtures specifically designed for theatre, stage and T.V.

Pro Light Concepts - Stand S-D12

(Claire Beeson)

Germany - Guano Apes have just completed Bel Air, their second successful tour since reforming in 2009, and the decision by Front of House engineer Ingo Thürauf to specify a Coda Audio Airline loudspeaker system meant they delivered an audio clarity and punch that did their fiery brand of rock'n'roll true justice.

Supplied by Ambion GmbH, who provided full technical requirements for the tour, the system comprised a Coda Audio Airline LA12 three-way line array, augmented with high output sensor controlled SCP two18" and SC8 four 18" subwoofers, with Airline LA8 two-way compact line array cabinets as front/side-fill.

Thürauf had previously worked with both Ambion and Coda systems. "Coda line array systems offer a very exact reproduction, which made me specify the LA12 system for this tour," he says. "The powerful sensor controlled subwoofers in

USA - This year's Grammy Awards event, hosted by LL Cool J, celebrating music's biggest night, went down in history as the second highest rated telecast since the show's inception in 1959. It was a phenomenal undertaking showcasing nearly 30 diverse musical performances on multiple indoor and outdoor stages, along with a very last minute tribute celebrating the late Whitney Houston.

The most highly anticipated performance of the evening arrived when Adele took the stage to perform Rolling in the Deep. Her favourite nickel-finish Sennheiser SKM 2000-XP wireless handheld transmitter with MMK 965-1 capsule conveyed her voice to the adoring crowd. Dave McDonald, Adele's front-of-house engineer, said, "It's a great microphone. We started using it just after the Brit Awards in February of last year, and she's loved it ever since. Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the equip

UK - This week, thousands of participants will turn out for the Perform 2012 theatre conference in London. Attendees will participate in seminars, network with other professionals, and get advice from over 50 exhibitors. This Friday, Women in Stage Entertainment, a leading networking and professional development organisation, will be hosting a seminar to engage young women considering a career in the entertainment industry.

Created by co-founders Paule Constable and Sarah Rushton-Read, WiSE aims to increase the visibility of women in the stage entertainment industry, and provides a dynamic forum for members to share information, opportunities and support. This year WiSE is taking on more educational initiatives to inspire young women to enter technical theatre.

The seminar, held at 12:30pm on Friday, is just the start for WiSE. It will feature women currently working in the in

UAE - Melody House, distributors of DPA microphones, have recently supplied a range of the 4099V microphones to the Event Services division at the Dubai International Exhibition and Conference Centre. The division, which provides various audio, video and lighting services to clients at the centre, has invested in the microphones to support their various entertainment events

"With the violin mount included with the 4099V, the DIECC have purchased the best violin microphone in the market however by just adding any of the other available mounts, the same microphone can be used for numerous other applications making it a great return on investment," commented Amrith Verghese, DPA product specialist at Melody House.

(Jim Evans)

Benelux - Midas Consoles Benelux reports a healthy first wave of PRO2 and PRO2C sales, with systems going into rental, worship installation, touring and TV production applications.

The first PRO2 into the region went to Boerema Geluidstechniek whose owners, Ton Boerema and audio engineer Auke Meijer, decided to invest in a system due to its audio quality and the broad take up of Midas digital.

The Free Baptist Church Bethel based in Drachten, NL, has become the first installation into a place of worship for the system worldwide. Supplied by John van Zeist from Hecla Professional AV systems, the PRO2 will be used by Bethel technicians for weekend services with an average of several thousand Free Baptists each Sunday, and was chosen for its sonic quality and ease of use.

A total of three systems - a PRO2 and a PRO2C - have gone to Amsterdam-based rental company Peak Audio. Own

Fair Play - Radiohead have linked up with a site which allows fans to sell tickets for their forthcoming UK tour to other fans at face value. The band said tickets sold via their fan club will be exchangeable via the Ticket Trust if a fan can no longer go. It follows a Channel 4 documentary highlighting gig promoters selling tickets on secondary ticketing websites for inflated prices. They added, "The band's enjoyment of their own shows has been marred by the knowledge that a great many of their fans have been obliged to pay well over face value for their tickets." Fans will be limited to purchasing two tickets via the fan club, with names registered, and photo ID required for entry, "to ensure fans are treated fairly". Tickets will still be available to buy from other ticketing websites.

Old News - Engelbert Humperdinck is to represent the UK at this

UK - Bel Digital Audio has launched enhanced versions of several of their confidence audio and audio/video monitors. The new units include 2, 4, 8 and 16 channel versions and all feature updated firmware and redesigned front panels, emphasising Bel's continued dedication to delivering a simple, intuitive and speedily adjustable control surface.

The updated audio and video monitor range features models in 1U and 2U versions with up to 16 ultra-reliable, high-resolution multi colour bargraphs. Each device auto-detects the signal sources with models available for all video 'flavours' up to and including 3G HD and options with a variety of Dolby decoding.

The BM-A2-E16SHD is a 2U audio monitor, capable of monitoring 3G/HD/SD video and multi-channel audio sources. This model provides a pair of auto-detecting 3G/HD/SD SDI inputs and accepts eight analogue audio inputs and eight AES-

Sweden - Barix is exclusively providing IP audio decoding solutions to Music in Brands for the delivery of unique music programming to retail stories and other public areas. The company uses Barix for both direct audio streaming and store-and-forward solutions in businesses around Sweden, providing flexible, low-cost play-out solutions for in-store campaigns.

Based in Stockholm, Music in Brands creates musical identities for brands through audio, designing specialty programs that match the business and its customers. The company produces a custom radio station for each business, building unique playlists that update regularly to keep programming fresh and store environments lively.

"Music is a very important piece of the shopper experience, and we want to play music that matches the environment without repeating the same songs over and over," said Anders Svensson, pr

Germany - Green-GO caused excitement at both PLASA in London and LDI in Orlando where it debuted in 2011, and it is expected to have the same impact this year on the stand of CAST GmbH, in Hall 9, E71 at ProLight+Sound in Frankfurt.

Following their success at PLASA 2011 by winning an Innovation Award, ELC Lighting's Green-GO digital show communications system designer Joost van Eenbergen and sales manager Silvio Cibien went on to win a second award at LDI in Orlando: the LDI 2011 'Best Debuting Product of the Year' award in the sound category.

Silvio Cibien said, "Although Green-GO can be considered an audio product, its main feature is that it uses any standard Ethernet lighting network, so it is really an extension of our comprehensive ELC networking product range that will be on show at Frankfurt."

Green-GO is a new style of intercom system that provides high qu

Germany - Following the strategic partnership set up last year with intercom solutions provider Clear-Com, which saw the launch of the V3R-FX-Intercom and X6R-FX-Intercom, Optocore has taken a further step towards making the Optocore system more flexible with intercom transport by developing a similar network intercom solution for RTS.

The V3R-FX-Intercom for RTS and X6R-FX-Intercom for RTS interfaces are a result of cooperation with the leading intercom manufacturer.

Based on Optocore's V3R-FX / X6R-FX1U series architecture the devices are equipped with standard RJ45 interfaces, which make cabling simple and cost-efficient. As a result of creating an intercom version based on these converters, the new intercom devices are also Line-In and Line-Out converters.

Said Optocore support engineer Maciek Janiszewski, "The difference between this and the Clear-Com interface is

UK / Germany - Monacor has introduced a new lectern range comprising SPEECH-100, SPEECH-200 & SPEECH-500. These professional lecterns with integrated wireless amplifier systems offer great sound quality, volume capability and convenience, says the company.

The SPEECH-100 with 50W of power turns any area of PA application into an auditorium all by itself. It can also be integrated into any existing surroundings, whenever a temporary or permanent talking point is required. The integrated amplifier and the speaker technology not only allow for voice transmissions, but can also be used for music reproductions such as dubbings, films or presentations. Simply plug-in a gooseneck microphone and/or connect a signal source, switch on and it's ready to use.

The SPEECH-200 is more powerful (100W), with more features and is easier to transport due to integrated castors. The column has two

UK - Moonlite Productions has recently purchased a Roland V-1600HD Multi Format Video Switcher and is already using it for the production of all of its high end corporate events. The Bucks based company has over 25 years experience in staging, rigging, sound, lighting and AV - and has been a dedicated user of Roland equipment including the V-440HD Video switcher, and prior to that, a number of Edirol products.

When their existing client, Star TV, approached Moonlite technical manager Matt Vallis to take care of the production of a large corporate awards dinner at the prestigious Westminster Park Plaza in LondonVallis chose the V-1600HD because of its ability to run dual outputs. For the live event, Vallis used the V-1600HD to switch between two Apple MacBook Pro's running at 1080p into four projectors - both of them running dual screen.

"The V-1600HD is a sensible solutio

UK - Electrosonic has announced the promotion of James Sharp to account manager for corporate solutions. Sharp joined Electrosonic's Edinburgh office in 2005 taking on the position of internal sales support. During his six years with the company, Sharp has worked within the corporate, entertainment and operations teams in both a sales and technical capacity.

Colin Lemmings, vice president of corporate solutions commented, "James has been and continues to play an instrumental role in the success of the corporate solutions team. Having worked in both sales and technical roles throughout his career, James has developed a thorough understanding of the business and the aptitude to design systems and support packages to meet our clients' requirements."

(Jim Evans)

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