USA - The Hollywood Bowl purchased a pair of DiGiCo SD7 digital mixing consoles - one for front-of-house, one for monitors - for its busy 2014 summer series of concerts, which came to a close in late September, enabling production staff to upgrade the operation of the installed PA system to 96 kHz resolution. This year's 15-week summer series, anchored by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, featured performances by major artists from all genres of music, including Gloria Estefan, Yo-Yo Ma, Elvis Costello, Herbie Hancock, Robyn, Steve Martin and a host of others.

The iconic 18,000-seat Hollywood Bowl may have been named Pollstar's best major outdoor concert venue for an unprecedented tenth consecutive year in early 2014, but the team behind its audio technology is not content to rest on

Switzerland - Schertler has announced the release of its new, re-engineered range of DYN contact microphones. The DYN P48 Series features a collection of fully balanced, active, dynamic models with Class A electronics. Benefitting from the latest developments in microphone technology, the DYN P48 Series now combines even better sound quality with a more elegant lightweight design and more user-friendly operation, says the company.

Schertler's original DYN Series was first introduced over 20 years ago, with the contact microphones quickly achieving recognition for their ability to enhance the natural sound quality and characteristics of a range of acoustic instruments. The new P48 Series retains the best features from these original models while incorporating state-of-the-art, in-house developed active filtering technology that has enabled each microphone to be precisely matched

Hungary - The Tokaj Festival Valley is part of a HUF 2 billion regeneration project designed to put the area of Tokaj-Hegyalja in Hungary firmly on the tourism and culture map. The complete transformation of the valley includes an open air theatre and stage, as well as a purpose built facility for cultural events, sports events and concerts aiming to boost visitors to the region and bring increased business to hotels, restaurants and local businesses. The long awaited grand opening ceremony took place recently, with Roland digital consoles, digital snakes and audio recorders playing an integral part in the live sound production.

The Festival Valley specified a reliable, flexible audio solution which could adapt to a variety of applications and configurations ranging from spoken word to theatre to rock concerts. Although part of a permanent installation, the equipment also needed

UK - Using more lights than ever before STL created a light show with a punch at this year's Leeds Castle Fireworks display. Dubbed one of the South East's largest fireworks displays outside London, the Leeds Castle event in Kent, with synchronised lighting and fireworks to music, has become a draw for thousands of spectators each year and 2014 was better than ever.

Based on the outskirts of Maidstone in Kent, STL has designed and installed lighting at the Leeds Castle Fireworks display for five consecutive years. The company's ability to create a dramatic light show to music that compliments fireworks has become widely recognised, hence STL regularly works with pyrotechnic experts, Alchemy, who develop the theme for the annual Leeds Castle event.

Despite the essential maintenance work taking place on the exterior of the ancient building, which requires a permanent scaffold an

UK - SES has announced the opening of its satellite office within Pinewood Studios. With the continued growth of sales to the film industry, SES has taken space within the studios to better serve the production companies within.

Holding a wide range of stock, SES are able to deliver within a very short time of receiving the order, or indeed , customers are able to collect directly. Production companies often require equipment at very short notice, so to have items available immediately will save time and money, and reduce stress.

SES has available from stock, a wide range of power distribution, cables, socapex products, DMX, Gaffer tape, cable ties and Cee form connectors. SES can be found in Block G, room 102.

(Jim Evans)

Qatar - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises (NMK) reports successful roadshow seminars in Doha and Oman.

The NMK Roadshow that took place in Doha, Qatar on 10 November 2014 and in Muscat, Oman on 18 November 2014 attracted a varied audience from systems integrators to end users. The attendees could choose to attend either morning session or afternoon sessions. The total number of the attendees reached 84.

NMK product specialists teamed up with the manufacturers' representatives to deliver the presentations and product demonstrations. Due to the variety of products on show, there was a chance for each attendee to experience gear from different parts of the industry and understand how complete turnkey solutions work. Several brands distributed by the company, namely HK Audio, Shure, Roland, Neutrik and Clear-Com were presented at the event.

The seminars are free of char

UK - Orbital Sound, the theatre, live sound and entertainment technology specialist, has announced the appointment of Andy Simmons to the post of director of sales. Joining Orbital in November, Andy brings over 25 years of international sales and marketing experience, gained within the pro-audio sector in association with many key brands, including Crest Audio, XTA Electronics, Peavey and KV2.

Andy will be fulfilling a strategic role at Orbital, working to develop the company's long-term sales plan, while making full use of the product-specialist expertise available within the organisation.

MD Chris Headlam comments, "At Orbital we have real passion for what we do and are always looking to add extra elements that enhance our service. With Andy's arrival we are focusing on how we innovate within the whole 'sales' field, on the basis that we are already a well-established a

USA - Lightwave International has announced a laser­based lighting fixture called Phenom to be released at LDI 2014 in Las Vegas this week.

The Phenom combines traditional lighting features with lasers' crisply­defined effects and vivid colours. The Phenom also boasts intrinsic audience­scanning safety, DMX control, an integrated media server, full­colour laser output, and a speedy moving head.

Intrinsic audience scanning safeguards are permanently calibrated by Lightwave International to ensure Phenoms are always audience safe at a minimum distance of 9.1m. No operator, hardware, or software error can defeat the intrinsic safety design once rigged. Any Phenom rigged 9.1m or more from the audience will always perform under the FDA CDRH regulated maximum permissible exposure.

The Phenom is the first moving head laser to implement intrinsic audience scanning safety, making

Belgium - Barco is to expand its projector portfolio with a cost-effective single-chip DLP projector producing 12,000 centre lumens light output. The brand-new RLS-W12 offers WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) resolution, extended warping and blending, and HDBaseT technology to provide video over a single Cat 5 cable.

This new projector is suitable for small- to medium-sized venues, and its optional rental frame makes it equally suited for the rental and staging market as well. The projector will be commercially available from December 2014 onwards.

"Our RLS-W12 projector is a smart choice for customers who are looking for a cost-effective projector that delivers the brightness needed for large screens," comments Richard Marples, strategic market director venues & hospitality at Barco. "Designed for fixed installation in museums, theaters and conference auditoriums, it's als

USA - Le Maitre is set to make several announcements at LDI this week, with new products right across the board from haze to flames to pyro.

LDI will see the unveiling of a brand new hazer - the EcoHazer, making a world first preview on Le Maitre's booth.

Le Maitre hazers are already known for their incredible output and low power consumption, not to mention the haze fluid which converts to produce the purest, most efficient and long lasting haze on the market. The new EcoHazer takes the environmental aspect even further and Le Maitre believes that it is the most energy efficient water-based hazer on the market today!

The EcoHazer consumes a low 100-150W, a rate that other haze units on the market with a similar output simply can't match, with many requiring up to 1500W - that's ten times the electrical energy! The EcoHazer uses a completely new heating system borne out of L

UK - CIE-Group has announced the appointment of Lloyd Wilson to the position of AV account manager, South East England. Lloyd is the latest recruit to join the award-winning CIE-Group team which is undergoing an expansion of its sales, technical and support operations to meet new demand. Lloyd joins from AVM where he was responsible for internal sales for the UK and Ireland.

"Having already had some dealings with the company, I was keen to join CIE-Group when the opportunity arose," comments Lloyd. "The 50thAnniversary year has made it an exciting time at CIE-Group, and it is also that clear through its range of brands and value added services, the company is offering something new for the AV integrator. I'm looking forward to spreading the word further."

"Lloyd has a wealth of AV industry knowledge and experience, plus a proven track record in relatio

Mexico - Coinciding with his stint as a coach on the fourth series of The Voice Mexico, Ricky Martin has been playing sell-out shows in Mexico, Chile and Argentina this autumn. DiGiCo helped to ensure that mix engineers 'Privet' Hedge and Steve May had the tools they needed to make the shows a success.

Most associated with global 1999 hit Livin' La Vida Loca, the Puerto Rican singer retains huge popularity in Spanish-speaking countries. Front of House engineer Privet and monitor man Steve used their usual DiGiCo SD7s on the Mexico shows, but the 'fly in' shows in Chile and Argentina meant they had to source consoles locally.

Privet and Steve are committed to using DiGiCo mixers, so the company's Fernando Delgado helped them to source SD8s in Chile and SD10s in Argentina.

"There is much talk in the business about which manufacturer's desks have the best sou

USA - Life Nightclub at the SLS Hotel and Casino on the north end of the Strip is Las Vegas's newest chic night spot and the latest nightclub to feature an Elation lighting package following this year's opening of Drai's Beach Club & Nightclub and the lighting upgrade at Marquee Nightclub.

SLS opened in August as the Strip's first major hotel-casino unveiling in four years. Located on the site of the legendary Rat-Pack era Sahara Hotel, Life is a multi-tiered club with a stadium style theatre design and 60ft-high ceiling. There is a good reason for that as the club occupies what used to be the Sahara Theatre and retains some of its original structure. Transformation from the legendary Sahara means the space includes special features like a catwalk system and theatrical rigging points for aerialists to perform.

Steve Lieberman and SJ Lighting have again delivered a first-class

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