Germany - Green Hippo has named technology supplier Cast as its distribution partner in Germany.
Effective 1 October, Hagen-based Cast will manage the exclusive distribution of the Green Hippo’s product line throughout the country.
Heinz Siller, CEO of Cast, comments: “Green Hippo is going to be a perfect round up to our mission to offer professional products to the creative cloud in our markets.”
James Roth, head of sales and marketing at Green Hippo, adds: "The rate of growth that the company is experiencing as a whole, but particularly in Germany, necessitates our appointing the very best commercial partner in the territory, Cast. Hippotizer is being specified on so many new shows and events and we look forward to working with Cast to maximise the opport

UK - Stage Electrics has welcomed a new apprentice to its buying team in Jemma Dove.
Previously studying A-Level business, Dove will be working at Stage Electrics’ HQ five days a week alongside studying for a qualification in business administration.
She comments: “I am eager to get into the world of work. I am looking forward to the opportunity to further develop my professional skills in such a great company.”
The apprentice will report directly to Stage Electrics’ head of procurement, David Friend.
He comments: “Holding over £1.2m in sales stock here at Stage Electrics, the buying department have seen continuous growth over the last few years. We are pleased to welcome Jemma to the team, to help manage stock. We have recently had one apprentice in our department who graduated to a full-time roll here. Employing a team member through an apprenti

UK - DJ Eric Prydz’s HOLO show returned from the future this summer, wowing EDM disciples with holographic technology and magical 3D FX. It was the latest development in a long line of Prydz performances which take media server processing and power to the limits of possibility - and seemingly, beyond.
Avolites’ Ai servers were at the core of the video system. “We’ve been using Ai for 10 years for Eric Prydz’s shows - it’s the only system which combines unparalleled throughput and quality with live triggering capabilities,” says Dave Green, Ai programmer and technical director for RES. “There are other systems out there which are great at one or the other of these capabilities, but not all three.
“The Eric Prydz show is live, every time. There are never any pre-sequenced elements, so live control is critical. Also, the super high resolutions and frame
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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

Italy - Since its launch last year, production sound company Soundfish has been involved in productions ranging from Italia's Got Talent and The Apprentice to The Great Italian Bake Off and MasterChef Italy.
The company’s team work on both studio and ENG programs, using a vast array of Wisycom professional RF solutions to achieve an ideal sound. Chosen by Soundfish's trio of principals, Matteo Olivari, Giacomo Avanza and Daniele Turi, who each worked as freelancers for more than 15 years, Wisycom has been the company's go-to option for RF on all of its productions. So much so that the team has a Wisycom arsenal that includes nearly every solution, with transmitters, receivers, antennas and more.
"We always plan out our productions around our RF, and Wisycom is the backbone of our system," says Olivari. "The MCR42 is modular with both sta

Australia - Staged annually for the last 14 years, Queensland’s Creative Generation (CGEN) event was the biggest yet, with almost 2,000 schoolchildren being given the opportunity to perform in a professional environment on an enormous arena stage measuring 20mx 18m, with a 38m x 6m rear projection screen behind it.
Content delivery and projection mapping specialists IKONIX - who are based on Australia’s Gold Coast - were asked to help deliver the desired wow factor for the fifth successive year.
At the heart of the solution they created were two Avolites RX8 Ai media servers to deliver images to the rear screen, and two additional units controlling projection onto the stage. Equally central to their vision of the production were Notch real time content generation and BlackTrax real time tracking system, the latter provided by Atlanta-based Visional Productions, an

USA - Fans who catch AFI on the current Mourning In Amerika tour as they open for Rise Against have no doubt what the multi-platinum band’s initials stand for. Slamming the stage with the power of a thunderbolt, and burning through their songs with reckless abandon, the iconoclastic quartet seems to be driven by some internal combustible force, or “A Fire Inside”.
Matching that fire with light is an intense, sometimes foreboding and fast-moving Kelsey Gonzalez and Cort Lawrence-designed lightshow that utilises a rig supplied by Premier Global Productions. Gonzalez, who is also lighting director on the tour, works through a set list that varies each night (she has over 90 songs programmed) to reflect the music with ever-changing patterns and colours. Helping in this endeavour are the eight Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures in her rig.
“We have

Philippines - Intellismart Technology recently upgraded Seda’s Vertis North hotel with a flexible networked audio system by Harman Professional Solutions.
Operating nine hotels throughout the Philippines, Seda Hotels are designed to offer quality accommodations in a high-energy central location within an Ayala Land master-planned mixed-used development. A fusion of function and art, each hotel provides modern comforts and conveniences combined with the best of Filipino hospitality.
Located in the up and coming lifestyle and business hub in Quezon City and a few steps away from two major malls in the city, Seda Vertis North boasts 438 guest rooms, a 450-capacity ballroom, five meeting rooms, extensive lunch and dinner buffets, a roofdeck bar, pool bar, spa, fully-equipped fitness centre, swimming pool and a Presidential Suite.
The hotel’s public address sys

USA - Slamhammer recently deployed a full complement of Martin by Harman lighting fixtures to illuminate three nights of musical performances by major headlining artists at the 2018 X Games in Minneapolis.
The X Games is an annual sports competition produced by ESPN that brings together the best athletes in skateboarding, BMX, motocross, snowboarding, inline skating and more. The 2018 Summer X Games were held at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, a with three nights of official concerts at the 8,400-capacity Minneapolis Armory.
In order to provide stunning visuals and immersive lighting for headlining performances by Ice Cube, Zedd and Kaskade, ESPN hired live production company Slamhammer to deploy a world-class lighting rig on the Geico Music Stage at the Armory. Slamhammer selected a full complement of Martin lighting fixtures for their versatile features, relia

Spain - The visual design for popular chart-topping Spanish singer and musician Pablo Alborán’s current Prometo tour has been created by LD Chus Fernandez working closely with artistic director Salva Alborán. It is a fine-tuned fusion of lighting, video and automation that brings a diverse look to the show, which will be on the road for at least a year on this, Alborán’s fourth studio album cycle.
Chus chose to work with Robe moving lights, picking 40 x MegaPointes, 48 x Spiiders and 32 x BMFL WashBeams as the work-horses of the rig, all supplied by rental company Fluge.
It is Chus’ second year as LD, lighting director and operator for Alborán, and he and Salva - who also creates the video content - worked out numerous multi-level ideas and looks to ensure that all the different visual elements had their chance to shine.
With a large upstage 4.8m

UK - The BBC Proms is one of the most British of musical institutions. Founded over a century ago, it is an eight-week summer season of concerts, predominantly held at the Royal Albert Hall (RAH), with Cadogan Hall hosting chamber music, and Proms in the Park events held across the UK on The Last Night of the Proms. For this year’s series, Delta Live deployed L-ISA Hyperreal Sound, giving the system its Proms debut and audiences an intensely real audio experience.
Delta Live’s association with The Proms stretches back nearly two decades with Sound by Design, now incorporated into the Delta group, first working on the events in 2000. Delta account director Stephen Hughes has worked on every season since 2004, has an intimate knowledge of the Royal Albert Hall, and has deployed many a standard stereo system there.
This is not the first time L-ISA has been dep

Hungary - The Lamantin Jazz Fest draws over 3,000 jazz fans and musicians to the city of Szombathely near Hungary’s western border with Austria. For the past seven years, Penna-Poor, a Budapest-based distributor and integrator has provided sound reinforcement equipment for the festival.
“The Lamantin Jazz Festival celebrated its nineteenth year in June 2018,” explained Peter Danko CEO and owner of Penna-Poor. “As in the past, we were invited to provide the PA systems for the event through our partner, Mr. Laszlo Valik, who served as the chief sound engineer. The organsiers’ mission is to get the people in and around Szombathely to know and love jazz and to make the genre accessible. Now nineteen years on, Lamantin has grown into a prestigious week-long festival complemented by the annual Lamantin Improvisation Camp. It's the most complex jazz event in Hungary and

UK - Equipment hire software companies Current RMS and InspHire have been acquired by integrated ERP solutions provider Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS).
The deals will allow KCS to strengthen its presence within the rental industry. InspHire and Current RMS will operate as independent business units within KCS, under their existing management teams.
Current RMS will remain tailored to the needs of the AV, production and events industries. InspHire, which supplies software to companies that rent heavy plant and construction vehicles, will be backed to expand into the US market. 
Chris Branson, managing director of Current RMS, comments: “I’m delighted that a company as prestigious and well regarded as KCS Group has chosen to invest in Current RMS. We’ve achieved so much in the four years since we launched and through this acquisition we’ve now got th

UK - Tickets for the upcoming Paul MacCallum benefit concert can now be purchased via Eventbrite only, the organisers have said.
MacCallum, who founded PLASA member company Wembley Loudspeaker, has been confined to a hospice due to suffering with an advanced form of multiple system atrophy. He was the bass player for Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band and was also known as ‘The Womble’ from his days as Uncle Bulgaria in Mike Batt’s original Wombles. The entertainment industry has rallied to help fund his medical expenses through buying tickets to the charity event, taking place on 29 October at the O2 Academy Islington.
Follow this link to buy t

UK - Trussing manufacturer MILOS racked up another “overwhelmingly positive reception” at this year’s PLASA Show. With a selection of products from their extensive range of truss on display in the Area Four Industries UK stand, the company showcased the quality of their products and spoke with visitors about the many structural solutions they deliver for a wide array of projects.
Making its world debut was the new S10 deck from Xstage, sporting a light-weight, improved profile design, new cube lock leg attachment system (for both round and square legs), and hexagrip anti-slip surface. From the comments and praise received at the show, the future of the S10 certainly looks bright, says the company.
(Jim Evans)

UK - Current RMS treated PLASA 2018 visitors to an exclusive look into some of the upcoming developments in the equipment rental management software.
The company said the show was ‘a great success’ for the team, who were offering visitors live demos of Current RMS on its stand, built by Red Peak Design.
The team demonstrated how the software can manage an entire rental cycle, from updating booking details to viewing accurate kit availability, allocating resources like crew and transport, and drawing up quotations.
Visitors to the stand were also given a sneak peek at Current RMS’s upcoming Automatic Costing and Purchasing modules, to be released in the coming weeks. These new modules will automatically pull through additional costs onto a job, including sub rents, freelance costs and any purchases. Users will also be able to create purchase orders to send

China - Hanyuan Lake, a new venue in the Shaanxi Province, has recently invested in an Allen & Heath dLive mixing system for their performances, including their regular production (organised by the Beijing FengShangShiJi Culture Media Company) of The Legend of Han Dynasty.
Purchased through local distributors, EZPro Intl, the set-up comprises a dLive S5000 paired with a DM64 MixRack and Dante card for virtual soundcheck. Zhao Yangyang (main sound engineer at Hanyuan), comments: “dLive has an incredibly intuitive interface and its simple operation makes it easy and quick to learn. The integrated redundancy in dLive S Class hardware brings high reliability and safety to the system.”
Yangyang adds: “dLive processing is extremely powerful, the system is very flexible and supports Dante, Waves and other audio network option cards. The integrated FX and pres

South Africa - The SOS Charity Fund, an initiative by DWR Distribution, supported the two-day Inspired2Unite Mega Masterclass Bootcamp hosted at the GrandWest casino on 2-3 July.
Over 350 young people were mentored and attended a programme, which was a combination of life coaching sessions alongside performance masterclass workshops in music, vocals and dance.
A counselling and mentorship project saw people over the age of 19 who had been through the Inspired Stages programme demonstrate leadership and role model qualities to those attending the bootcamp. SOS donated R10 000 to these volunteers.
Workshops were presented by special guests and artists in South Africa including Rudi Smit, international jazz funk / hip hop choreographer and dancer from Cape Town, talented pianist Garth Tavares, performer Sophia Vorster, Cape Flats saxophonist, Donveno Prins, life coa

UK - Working alongside Paul Evans and the team at technical production company 808 Create, LED Creative assisted in upgrading the scenic installation at The Jonathan Ross Show.
Having relocated to the recently revamped Television Centre in London’s White City, scenic designer Rudi Thackray’s vibrant ‘London city scape’ design has been faithfully recreated for this 13th season of the ITV series.
To assist with the refresh, the LED Creative crew installed the company’s Sigma 60 across the stage ‘header’, whilst also adding subtle accents and detailed highlights to the scenic elements.
Behind the scenes, precise, intelligent control over the installation is provided using LC Byte Controllers. These newly upgraded, in-house designed units easily handle up to 300 pixels per output or up to 2400 pixels across an eight-output unit, making them ideal

UK - New York post-hardcore band Glassjaw rocketed to success in 2000 and has had a strong European following ever since, especially in the UK. Following the release last December of their first full length album since 2002, Material Control, the band returned to the UK this summer, playing a much-anticipated show at London’s O2 Academy Brixton on 18 August.
Lighting designer for a short run of European dates was Hayden Borgars (Night Flight Orchestra, The Pineapple Thief, et al.), who had an Elation lighting rig of 12 Platinum Beam Extreme beam lights and 12 Platinum Wash ZFX Pro LED moving head washes at his disposal for Glassjaw’s Academy Brixton show.
Rooted in the intensity of the New York hardcore scene, Glassjaw are notorious for their exciting live shows and aggressive performance style. Their music is experimental and multi-stylistic, powerful and

France - Paris-based AV supplier MATCHevent has extended its stock of ROE Visual LED panels by adding over 400 Black Pearl BP2 LED panels.
The new panels will be used fir a number of events this autumn, says the French company.
Jean-François Lienard, founding partner of MATCHevent, comments: “The Black Pearl LED panels have a great track record in the rental market and are regarded as the best product in the market. That alone would be a reason to select ROE Visual as LED supplier. On top of that, the quality and unmatched service we get from ROE Visual makes the investment worth it.
“ROE Visual serves us both with technical support when needed and swift delivery. [The company] stocks its products in vast quantities in Europe, so we can always trust we’re served for last-minute projects.”
MATCHevent offers AV technical services for various events

Mexico - Community Professional Loudspeakers and its Mexican distributor Ampere Manufacturas Electrónicas sa de CV held a product training event and evening party to celebrate 25 years of business partnership.
Attended by dealers from across the country, the event was also the official launch of Community’s IV6 modular vertical array in Mexico and was attended by the company’s president and founder Bruce Howze, Christine Howze, CEO Steve Johnson, director of technical services Dave Howden and Latin America sales manager Steve Goodwin.
Jaime Celis, director general, Ampere Manufacturas Electrónicas, comments: “We are very proud to represent Community in Mexico, a brand that combines genuine engineering and innovation. Community continuously sets new standards in loudspeaker technology and the reliability of their products is outstanding. We have thoroughly enjoy

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