Argentina / Italy - Italian audio manufacturer dBTechnologies has appointed Todomusica S.A. as exclusive distributor for its full product range in Argentina. Founded by current owner/CEO Rafael Pedace, Todomusica started life 26 years ago as a small retail store and has since grown into a leading distributor in both the pro audio and musical instruments sectors.

"We are very proud to be working with dBTechnologies," says Pedace, who has headed up the Argentinian company since its inception. "It's not 'just another brand' to us. dBTechnologies is renowned for its quality, it boasts great technological innovation and retails at competitive prices. These - along with its aggressive marketing campaign - are exactly the tools we need to give the brand a very solid positi

UK / France - Robert Juliat's new Aledin LED theatrical zoom profile spot was recognised with an Innovation Award from the judges at PLASA 2010. Aledin, the world's first LED generic profile, was created to fill the gap in the market for a high output, low wattage LED alternative to conventional tungsten and discharge profile fixtures, the company says.

"It has been possible for some time to replace every other lighting fixture - washlights, cyclights, striplights and moving heads - with LED alternatives," explains Robert Juliat sales director, Lionel Garraud. "The only fixture that could not be replaced was a generic profile - until now."

Aledin's 85W LED light source generates an output of 4500 lumens presenting, for the first time, a viable LED profile for venues wishing to reduce their carbon footprint without reducing their technical performance qualit

Canada / Belgium - Montreal-based SC Media Technologies, a division of Soundcraft Canada, has formed an agreement with Barco to exclusively handle its Barco/High End Systems lighting equipment and mid-market 'Elements' LED products. SC Media will provide local support of sales, marketing, service and parts for Canada-based rental and staging partners and integrators for these solutions.

SC Media is providing support through its national sales and dedicated project management teams, expanding its personnel to fulfil the anticipated increase in business from Barco sales and service. The company has a rich foundation in pro audio which will be well complimented by the expansion into Barco's professional video displays. The company also offers creative financing solutions to assist customers in procuring the full range of audio/video products.

"We are very proud of this new p

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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

USA / Italy - A.C.T Lighting has announced its appointment as a distributor for Clay Paky products in the US and in the English-speaking areas of Canada. The announcement was made at the PLASA 2010 show, held in London 12-15 September. A.C.T Lighting will offer the same client-centric service and support for the lighting manufacturer as it has been known for with its other product lines, including MA Lighting's grandMA consoles.

Pio Nahum, Clay Paky's commercial and marketing director comments: "This new appointment will make the Clay Paky range of products more accessible to our North American customers. With offices in New York and Los Angeles, A.C.T Lighting is a leading importer and distributor of cutting-edge lighting products and provides superior customer support and service."

"We are proud to become part of the Clay Paky family and this is a very excitin

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies has acquired the entertainment business of Primarc as part of an ongoing expansion programme that will merge the two companies' entertainment lighting businesses and enable Primarc to focus predominately on the specialist lamps market.

From 1 October, Primarc will relocate to AC-ET's international sales office and warehouse operation in High Wycombe, allowing the company to benefit from AC-ET's infrastructure and logistics.

Primarc's Bob Peach and Kevin Everett will then join AC-ET's UK sales team. With access to both companies' entertainment lighting stockholdings and product sales teams, this will provide Primarc and AC-ET customers with even greater choice and availability whilst continuing to deliver the same high standard of service and support.

Primarc will focus on its specialist lamps business, with particular emphasis on growing

Mexico - For the celebrations to mark 200 years since Mexico's independence from Spain (and 100 years since the revolution), Sebastian Corkidi's event staging company, Simply Professional, were at the centre of activity.

Specialists in producing outdoor events on a large scale, the company was commissioned to provide the technical infrastructure for the massive $60 million Government-run event at the imposing Zocalo main square in Mexico City. This featured a display of aerial acrobatics (choreographed by Ric Birch), fireworks, rock music and parades, attended by tens of thousands of people.

Having worked with PR Lighting fixtures for the past six years he knew that lighting designer Victor Zapatero would find everything he needed to bring the concept to life, from within Simply Professional's inventory.

Zapatero used 24 of PR Lighting's Century Color 2500s to colour wash th

UK - Following on from a successful run at The Lyric in Hammersmith, the Duke of York's theatre on St Martins' Lane in London is currently playing host to Ghost Stories - a spine-chilling production which has been shocking audiences since June.

The production, written by Jeremy Dyson (of League of Gentlemen fame) and Andy Nyman, co-creator of Derren Brown's television and stage productions, features a series of different ghost stories, brought to life by stage, lighting and sound effects.

Audio plays a major role in the production, with sound designer Nick Manning creating effects for the audience right from the moment they step into the foyer. Distributed systems throughout the venue provide atmospheric effects throughout bars, corridors and in the auditorium itself - with pre-show tension building from a combination of moody lighting, the sound of dripping wate

Germany - dBTechnologies Deutschland celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, coinciding with the completion of a new 500sq.m showroom at its Cologne-based offices, where the team and some 220 visitors were able to toast the company's first decade, at a party concluding its annual distributor convention recently.

Founded in the year 2000 by three people with a vision that the brand should be made available to a wider audience, dBTechnologies Deutschland was set up as a daughter company of Italian AEB Industriale. For over 25 years dBTechnologies has been a force in both wireless and modern audio technology, and the German sales company has grown from its humble beginnings at the turn of the millenium, to employing 35 people and serving many European countries.

"I'm extremly proud of our development over the past 10 years," says managing director Michael Herweg. &qu

Macau - After five years in development and HK$2bn spent to create and produce The House of Dancing Water, the spectacular extravaganza has opened at City of Dreams, Macau. Produced and directed by Franco Dragone, the production - the world's largest water-based show - is housed in a 1,985-seat theatre designed by Theatre Projects Consultants. Theatre Projects has been integrally involved in the design of the project with Pei Partnership Architects and producer Franco Dragone Entertainment Group.

At 160ft in diameter and 26ft deep, the theatre features the world's largest commercial pool, holding 3.7m gallons of water. Eight 10-ton hydraulic elevators allow the conversion of the 65ft diameter centre performance area from water to a solid floor, and high-speed overhead winches move performers and scenery through space in a 3-D visual ballet.

Theatre Projects played a cen

UK - Joining the project management team at Unusual Rigging is Mark Priestley, who takes on responsibility for the company's capital projects. Previously with consultants Charcoal Blue, Priestley has over 25 years' experience of theatre design, particularly stage engineering and technical systems, much of it gained during 19 years at the National Theatre. His work there included the design and production management of the rigging and automation aspects for productions such as His Dark Materials, Under Milk Wood, Pravda and Anything Goes.

Alan Jacobi, managing director of Unusual Rigging, says, "We've worked with Mark on many occasions over the years and his understanding and knowledge of technical theatre adds even greater strength to our team. His experience enables us now to broaden our design and consultancy services to clients who do not have

France - French loudspeaker manufacturer APG has announced the appointment of Philippe Pelmelle to the position of business development manager with effect from 1 September. The move is part of a larger restructuring and strengthening exercise within APG that began last year with the hiring of Xavier Pion to handle international sales and marketing, and was continued this year with the promotion of Mathieu Delquignes to the position of product manager.

Pelmelle's role will be to develop APG's business in France; that is, to increase market share and to put in place and nurture the networks of APG technical specialists, rental and sales partners that will make this possible. Sales development will be focused on the new generation products such as Uniline, SMX15, DX12 & DX15, and TB Subs with particular emphasis on the live market.

Xavier Pion comments, "I am in the fortuna

The Netherlands - Ateis Europe has announced that Edwin Haak has been appointed as its new managing director. Based at the company's headquarters in Rotterdam, Haak is looking forward to further strengthening the company's position in the European PA/VA market and building on its recent programme of expansion.

Haak brings 17 years of experience in the telecom and datacom sectors to Ateis. His knowledge of the IT market will be invaluable in combining IP interactivity and control with established integrated audio networking technologies, which are key to Ateis' on-going product development.

Haak plans to get the Ateis message out to the marketplace not just through its network of distribution and technology partners but also by using regular product training sessions combined with dedicated technical systems support.

"I'm really thrilled to be working with such a forward

Denmark - The Martin MAC 101 is a small, super light and simple LED moving head wash light. It features a tight and very bright beam, rapid movement and calibrated colours with a low price tag that allows for revolutionary set, stage and decorative lighting designs, says the company.

Utilising cost-efficient, high-volume production and featuring an ultra-compact design that promotes use in larger quantities, the MAC 101 is suitable for easy-to-produce, high-impact looks like large wall matrices or as a dynamic replacement for static PAR cans.

Even in smaller numbers the MAC 101 is a highly effective and versatile wash light, useful for visual effect in a wide variety of applications like concerts, events, exhibitions, clubs, television studios, bars, restaurants and more.

The MAC 101 consumes a low 125 watts of power (0.6 A @ 230V / 1.2 A @ 110V), saving on energy and elimin

USA - Utilizing an extensive array of JBL ControlContractor loudspeakers, A/V integration firm CCS Presentation Systems recently completed the audio system installation at Talking Stick Resort, located in Scottsdale, Arizona.

CCS was tasked with ensuring each sound 'zone' of the 240,000sq.ft of gaming, 50,000sq.ft 22-room conference centre and 13,000sq.ft spa, was perfectly equipped and able to overcome multiple surface types, ceiling heights and the noise of more than 800 slot machines and eager customers filling the areas. Concentrating mainly on the casino floor, conference centre and other common areas, CSS concluded JBL offered the solutions for the variety of challenging audio environments.

"When we initially examined the different rooms and surfaces, we thought we would have to go with several vendors to make it all come alive," said Rod Andrewson, manager of

UK - The Enchanted Forest, the outdoor sound and light show at Faskally Wood in Highland Perthshire, has appointed Northern Light to produce this year's light show: Force of Nature.

The show, which has been designed by award winning lighting designer Simon Wilkinson and has an original sound score composed by Ronnie McConnell, takes The Enchanted Forest back to its roots as a spectacular son et lumière.

Derek Allan, chairman of the Enchanted Forest commented, "This year we've endeavoured to approach the design of the show a little differently than in the past. Instead of entrusting the outcome to a single company, we've brought together a team of experts and artists in lighting design and sound design, who are working with one of Scotland's most reputable lighting companies to make their vision become a reality.

"The effect will be a more natu

UK - XL Video UK supplied video equipment and crew for the Help for Heroes gig in Twickenham Stadium, Surrey, including LED for a massive scenic 'H' feature that set the visual scene, along with a full IMAG/camera/HD PPU package.

The live BBC telecast saw a much publicised reunion between Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow of Take That onstage for the first time in 15 years, and the star-studded line up also included Tom Jones, Alesha Dixon, Alexandra Burke, Katherine Jenkins, James Blunt, Enrique Iglesias, The Saturdays, Pixie Lott and many others including the band of the Coldstream Guards.

Chris Saunders project managed for XL and also designed and spec'd the show's production video elements. He comments, "It was a hugely prestigious event to be involved with for an excellent cause. The H was a very ambitious set piece to construct and needed precision and immense

UK / The Netherlands - PLASA 2010 saw the announcement of the merger of two of the strongest names in the trussing and staging industry; Prolyte Products Group, based in the Netherlands, and UK-based Litestructures. The new, merged company will operate under the banner of Prolyte Products Group.

From an operational point of view, the Wakefield office will be run by managing director Lee Brooks who will benefit from a strengthened management team to enhance the sales and distribution in the UK market across all brands. The Wakefield office will also be responsible for running a group-wide custom projects division. All bulk manufacturing will be handled by the group's two European plants, and global distribution will be managed from Prolyte Products Group HQ in Leek in the Netherlands.

"We are thrilled by the new opportunities at hand," states Fokko Smeding the new Gro

Spain / USA - Creative Stage Lighting has been appointed the exclusive distributor of VMB Towerlift products in North America. The NY-based company will be offering sales, service, and support for the full range of VMB lift products.

VMB offers a total of 14 different lift models. The introduction of the TL-A Line Array lifts has attracted a lot of interest in the US with the product offering a practical solution for companies looking to set up a line array quickly and easily and above all safely.

Ben Sinclair, VMB's export manager commented, "We have been discussing distribution with Creative Stage Lighting for a while now. Interest for VMB lifts in North America has been increasing dramatically. We are delighted that Creative Stage Lighting will now be officially carrying them in North America. VMB lifts offer many special features and we are looking forward to demonstr

UK / Spain - Clockaudio signed one of its most important international distribution partners at PLASA 2010, agreeing exclusive representation in Spain with Seesound.

Seesound's MD Nacho Alberdi met with Clockaudio MD Jim Hallington and international sales Rod Geary at the PLASA show in London to finalise contracts. Clock's range of high-performance microphones and DSP solutions will now be added to Seesound's portfolio of pro audio brands, alongside DigiDesign, Adamson and Powersoft.

Nacho Alberdi explains that Seesound has been targeting Spain's installation sector, looking for the best manufacturers and brands on the international scene. "We presented Clockaudio with our immediate and future plans, and they understood that we intend to be a very serious player in this market, from conference and AV business to court rooms and other traditional install work. Clockaudio i

UK - Le Mark's portable roll-out retail display flooring was specially selected for the major lifestyle retailer, The Conran Shop on London's Fulham Road.

"Le Mark Floors are so easy to use, they make the difference between a 'standard' shop window display and one of completely different professional character and finished appearance. The way the floor wipes clean is brilliant, scuffs are easily removed and the durability of the floor is outstanding," says Mark Gibbons of Le Mark Group.

"This is the second time The Conran Shop have used Le Mark's flooring for their retail displays, the first looked just as visually stunning, really 'setting' the products on show."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Creative & Cultural Skills (CCSkills) is undertaking a major review of the National Occupational Standards (NOS) for technical theatre. Alex Hitchcock, training development manager at Stage Technologies with two decades of training and automation programming under his belt, has written and collated the draft version of the automation NOS for technical theatre, in consultation with other industry stakeholders, and as part of the NOS development working group.

These NOS modules are now available on the CCSKills website and industry professionals are being actively encouraged to provide initial comment and consultations. "It is vitally important," says Hitchcock, 'that the modules are reviewed and commented on by as many individuals, automation professionals and interested parties as possible, to ensure that the NOS become a relevant tool for all employees and employ

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