Poland - Audac has announced the appointment of ProAUDIO-AVT as its exclusive distributor for Poland. ProAUDIO-AVT has been operating in the audiovisual market for almost 30 years and has always been focused on high quality products, engineering and after sales services, both for live and install markets.
Tomasz Kwiecień, CEO, ProAUDIO-AVT said: "We want to offer a complete audio product range when we create audio-visual projects. And I believe Audac represents the highest quality available at a competitive price. The Polish audio market needs this kind of solutions and we are really looking forward to a successful cooperation."
Audac’s export manager, Mark Asselberghs, adds: “ProAUDIO-AVT is a well-established distributor who knows their market inside out. They un

UK - The north Bristol warehouse of lighting and rigging supplier Utopium has suffered a fire on the night of 21-22 May, destroying the entire lighting and rigging inventory, the company reports.
An investigation has been opened into the cause of the fire. The whole team are said to be devastated by the fire.
Utopium founder Colin Bodenham comments: “It is heart-breaking to see everything we have created destroyed in one devastating event. The main consolation is that nobody was hurt in the blaze. We are focused on fulfilling our commitments to clients approaching a busy summer season working with trusted partners in the industry. I am allowing myself a little time to grieve the loss of some treasured artefacts amassed over the years.”
More news is expected soon. 
(LSi Online)

UK - Peex, a new technology that enables interactive multi-channel mixing of live sound, has been unveiled.
Peex Live allows fans to tweak the live mix at a concert by transmitting an encrypted live audio feed split into five channels to the audience, which is picked up by Peerx rX, a wearable device attached to earphones. Fans can then adjust the five channels via Peex’s Bluetooth app, and the rX will blend their personal mix with the live sound.
The rX is provided with a set of earbuds but any set of 3.5mm-jack headphones can be used.
Peex, which is backed by Rocket Music Management, also launched a platform for performers - Peex Relive, where artists can sell audio downloads of past and future live shows in the company’s five-channel interactive audio format.
Graham Tull, chief technology officer and co-founder of Peex, comments: “We’re delighted
featured content

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

USA - After 21 years in the dark, the classic Grain Belt Beer sign is once again brightening the Minneapolis skyline. Built in 1941, the 50x40ft landmark was the largest free-standing signage in the region, but since 1996 the old incandescent lamps have been dark. A recent renovation by S.M.L. Electrical, supported by JTH Lighting, features over 1,000 Intelligent Marquee Systems (IMS) RGBW LED lamps.
"Pat and Sean Lawrance of S.M.L. Electrical approached us to find a colour changing, power line control solution,” explains Mike Steskal of JTH Lighting. “They wanted to use existing wiring and S14-style lamps to maintain the sign’s historic look. The system also had to handle the harsh Minnesota cold, which was amply proven last New Year’s Eve when fired up with the thermometer at -8 °F."
"Located 100ft above a river, you don’t want to be replacing lamps," says

USA - Matt Calabrese says he thrives on spontaneity. Good thing, too. As lighting designer for the increasingly popular and much travelled progressive funk jam band Kung Fu, his career has taken him on a wildly original, and thoroughly enjoyable, ride. Every show is a new adventure for the Connecticut-based LD, not just as a result of his client’s constantly changing set lists, but also because of the wide variety of venues where they perform.
“Designing for Kung Fu is a great experience, where things never repeat themselves,” said Calabrese, as he finished a gig with the band at the legendary Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY, where they opened for more. Helping him navigate his way through his long and winding tour schedule is his consistent and reliable ground package of Rogue R1 Spot and COLORdash Batten-Quad 12 fixtures from Chauvet Professional.
“The f

USA - After a severe storm flooded their sanctuary, Castle Hills Church of San Antonio, Texas, undertook a major rebuilding project and added a new AV system with an Allen & Heath dLive S Class Digital Mixing System at FOH and an ME-1 Personal Mixing System at monitors.
The church partnered with Skylark AV of Oklahoma City to design and install the new AV and lighting package and help them develop a masterplan for this project and future expansion.
Tim Vencil, Castle Hills, technical director, explains the church’s mixer choice: “We had been using a smaller digital mixer. But, for the new worship space, we needed more than just a bigger board. I wanted an ‘infrastructure’ that would support our in-ear system, our streaming broadcast and everything else in the room.”
After research and consultations with other engineers, Vencil chose the dLive S7000

USA - High End Systems lighting fixtures were riding high in the rig of RodeoHouston. with LD Nathan Brittain having specified 14 SolaSpot 1000s and 10 Sola HyBeam 2000s to meet his demands for lighting with an impactful kick, while reining in power consumption.
LD Systems provided the gear for the nightly concert series during February and March at Houston’s NRG Stadium.
After each day of bull riding and mutton busting, with horses, clowns and kids kicking up the dust, the self-propelled stage steered itself to the centre of the arena for the evening’s performance with top name acts. This year’s new concert stage - designed and fabricated by Tait, with support from LD Systems - unfolded like a flower, revealing its five-pointed star shape.
The stage used vertical motion control for the star point stage sections and its rotating centre stage section. Its

Italy - The AES Milan 144th International Convention, taking place 23-26 May, opened on Wednesday under this year’s theme of The Power of Sound.
AES executive director Bob Moses welcomed attendees and praised volunteers and staff during the opening ceremonies. He introduced AES president David Scheirman, who highlighted the attraction of the Milan region as a historically significant centre of technological innovation, led by visionaries including Leonardo Da Vinci and Marconi - such innovation continuing today with a concentration of professional audio manufacturers.
Scheirman said AES Conventions fulfil the AES’ mission of promoting advancements in the science and practice of professional audio, “bringing leading people and ideas together." 
As 2018 marks the 70th Anniversary of the Society, Scheirman reminded that in 1948, five individuals gat

USA - The ESTA Control Protocols Plugfest, the event that enables manufacturers and developers to test their lighting products for network interoperability, is scheduled to take place from 20-23 July at the D/FW Marriott Solana in Westlake, Texas.
Plugfest offers delegates an opportunity to connect their lighting product with those of other manufacturers to test and resolve network compatibility issues.
The event also offers a chance to take advantage of the knowledge and experience of the Control Protocols Working Group - one of the Technical Standards Program’s largest working groups. ESTA invites the industry to drop in and experience Plugfest.
Attendees can bring controllers, intelligent lights, control protocol analysers, and other network connected components. The event is open to both ESTA and non-ESTA members.
Full details are available at

USA - Late in 2016, research agency Gallup conducted a survey of jam band fans to determine the “approval ratings” of different groups. The Vermont-based quartet Twiddle earned the highest score, even edging out fellow Green Mountain State stars Phish. Although the first-place finish might have surprised some, it wasn’t particularly shocking to the legion of Twiddle fans that turn out to see the band play at festivals and music halls from Maine to California.
Twiddle has recorded upwards of 50 EPs as well as multiple studio albums, but for the band’s true fans the greatest pleasure comes from seeing them perform live. Joyfully blending reggae, funk and rock, with some spirited dashes of hi-def shred thrown in, the band takes fans on a carefree journey, where a delightful surprise seems to wait around every musical bend.
Adding to the magic at a recent Twiddle

USA - Updating the audio system in traditional churches to successfully host a wider variety of worship styles is a problem faced by many systems integrators. It’s a problem that Alcons Audio pro-ribbon systems are well-equipped to solve, as the latest in a number of recent US house of worship (HoW) installations proves.
Since the early 1990s, First Baptist Church in Thomasville, Georgia, has diversified from being a largely traditional HoW to hosting a much wider variety of events and has grown to serve a larger more diverse congregation as well as a variety of worship events and services.
The primary use of the audio system is on Sundays, which begin with a traditional service - featuring the church’s pipe organ, choir, piano and orchestral instruments - followed by a contemporary, praise and worship-style service with modern instrumentation, including drums, ele

USA - In 1946, more than 100 founding parishioners came together to build a community where families could worship as one, establishing the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Community. Built around a host of ministries that include a school, an early childhood centre, and various summer programmes, the sanctuary within the community is relied upon as part of the foundation for spiritual growth.
With an outdated lighting system which needed replacement, the church worked with the Houston-based manufacturers rep LESCO Lighting Technology who installed a bright and energy-efficient worship design using Chalice LED downlights and Pegasus LED Fresnels from Altman Lighting.
“This was our first time working with the congregation at St. Rose of Lima, and we were brought on to help them update their current house and stage lighting system to LED technology,” said Manuel Moran, LES

Nigeria - On a night filled with fun and ceremony, all underscored by an explosion of powerful music, Pepsi unveiled four of Nigeria’s foremost DJs as their ambassadors. The quartet of DJ Obi, DJ Cuppy, DJ Spinall and DJ Xclusive, considered to be A-list DJs rocking the Nigerian entertainment industry, brought their A-games to the Lituation Experience.
Artists such as Tekno, WizKid, Tiwa Savage, among others, came to perform with them on their set. There was also a special appearance onstage by the Big Brother Naija (BBNaija) Season 3 contestants.
Cytech World Communication was the tech company contracted to make this entire night happen. They supplied stage, lighting and audio, with the show set-up on two stages at each end of the venue.
On one side was the Main Stage for all the performances and at the other end, basically at the back of the venue, was

USA - QSC has announced the appointment of Aravind Yarlagadda as chief technology officer and executive vice-president (product development). He will oversee all aspects of product development for QSC.
Yarlagadda has over 25 years of product development experience and joins from Schneider Electric, where he held senior executive roles in product management, research and development, marketing, strategic partnerships and new business initiatives. He also held senior leadership roles at Invensys, Tyco and Quest Software.
Joe Pham, president and CEO of QSC, comments: “Over the past years, we have continued to make large investments into our product development organisation, and as a result, we now have a sizeable organisation poised for continued innovation. Aravind’s new role will allow us to organise product development as its own major function under one senior ex

UK - Martin Audio has announced the TH Series, comprising two high performance, all-horn, three-way systems in horizontally and vertically-formatted package.
Designed to complement the styling of its CDD and BlacklineX Series, the TH Series are suitable for nightclub and large-scale installations.
Dom Harter, managing director of Martin Audio, comments: “TH Series is an important addition to our growing portfolio, offering a high-powered solution with modern styling that will help continue our market share gains in the install market.”
THH is configured in a horizontal format while THV is its vertical counterpart. The driver complement in both systems has been engineered for exemplary performance in all bands.
The Hybrid low frequency section comprises a horn-loaded 15” (380mm)/4” (100mm) voice coil driver that is reflex-loaded to extend the LF ou

Europe - Former Baywatch and Knight Rider star David Hasselhoff recently toured Germany and Austria on his 30 Years Looking For Freedom tour, with a lighting rig that included effects from Elation Professional Chorus Line 8 and Lumina Matrix fixtures.
Audio, video and lighting for the tour, which ran 11 April to 4 May, was by Austrian-based rental and production company MartinKames.com with lighting design by company owner Martin Kames, who developed a special rapport with the television and music star.
Kames landed the job after sending Hasselhoff a 20-minute video in which he presented his company and his design ideas. “It took me half a year to finally reach him directly but after he saw the video he immediately called me and told me I’m on board so my perseverance paid off,” he explains. “It was a very unique experience to work with a

Portugal - Stage engineering specialist WIcreations supplied four of their heavy duty TP06 stage elevators to the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) production which was headed by technical directors Ola Melzig and Tobias Åburg.
The event, viewed by 200m across the globe, was staged at the Altice Arena in Lisbon.
The four TP06 lifts were installed under the stage which was part of the elaborate set designed by Florian Wieder, and were used for two of the 43 finalists, Austria’s third placed Cesár Sampson and Belarus contestant Alekseev.
The project was designed and co-ordinated for WI by Geert Stockmans and tech’d and looked after on site by Mateo Marastoni working alongside Robert Roos who was the production’s props and special staging co-ordinator.
One TP06 lift was positioned centrally beneath the stage and surrounded by the other three, all of

Germany - From 13-15 June 2018 the international trade show and conference for theatre, film and event technology will be represented at the Stage Technology Conference (BTT) of Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft (DTHG) at the Ostrapark in Dresden.
The BTT is an advanced training event organised by the theatre and event technology industry in German-speaking countries. A total of 84 companies will be represented there, including established family-run firms and innovative enterprises, ranging from small start-ups to major market leaders.
This year, the Stage Technology Conference is taking place for the 59th time. At the same time DTHG will be holding a ceremony to celebrate its 111th anniversary. Dr. Günter Winands, ministerial director and head of department at the government representative's Office for Cultural and Media Affairs, Marc Grandmontagne, managing d

The Netherlands - Cymatic Audio has launched a new website (www.cymaticaudio.com) and an online store. The move embraces a fresh new look for the company including a new logo, downloadable from the website as part of the online media kit.
The new website embodies a fully updated look and feel with responsive design that works on any platform. Accessibility has been improved, with special emphasis on customer support while an improved ‘where to buy’ section enables users to find their nearest dealer at a glance.
“I’m absolutely delighted with the new site,” comments Cymatic Audio sales & marketing manager, Conny Kensy. “It looks really attractive and it’s extremely easy to use. All of the user interfaces have been improved, and we have a really comprehensive ‘Community’ section where users can easily find all the support they need.”
(Jim E

USA - The Knight of Illumination Awards USA (KOI-USA) is now open for nominations.
The KOI Awards, launched in the USA in April, have been celebrating the achievements of lighting and video designers working in a range of entertainment genres in the UK for 10 years, with the first US edition set to coincide with LDI 2018 in Las Vegas.
Nominations for KOI USA are rolling in across all three categories - Theatre, Concert Touring & Events, and Live for Broadcast - with five awards in each category up for grabs. To be eligible for nomination, productions must have been performed or broadcast in the USA between 1 August 2017 and 31 July 2018.
In the UK, the organisers have reported “a record number of nominations” ahead of the 30 June deadline.

Visit the relevant website for more information on how to nominate:
KOI UK:

USA - Montreal-based Zero-Ohm will show MS-4R5, a two-input, two-output rack mounted system at InfoComm 2018. Meanwhile, the new MS-2R (2000W version) will debut at the Las Vegas-based event. The company’s Multispeaker system won a Best New Product Technology award at the Innovations Showcase at InfoComm 2017.

“Our primary product is well beyond the testing phase,” says co-founder George Dracopoulos. “There are existing installations that have been operational for over three years. Our technology already provides the key benefit of full range sound on major installs that far exceed the limitations of traditional 70V and 100V solutions. Building on the revolutionary design, that eliminates the need for transformers, we continue to push the frontiers of big sound with our plug-n-play system."

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