UK - Creative lighting and rental company Colour Sound Experiment kicked off a potentially record breaking summer festival season run by supplying lighting equipment and crew to four major festivals - Rockness in Inverness, the re-launched Glade in Norfolk, Get Loaded In The Park in Clapham, London, plus the VIP areas at the Isle of Wight Festival.

Some of Colour Sound's latest purchase of 32 GLP Spot One LED moving lights from A.C. Entertainment Technologies also had their first outing at Rockness.

For Rockness, Colour Sound produced a production lighting design for the main stage of this popular event staged on the shores of Scotland's most famous Loch, which was based on the spec's of the three headline acts - Kasabian (LD Nick Gray), The Chemical Brothers (LD Paul Normandale

UK - Lighting, control and dimming manufacturer ETC has reported "a great response" to its new and updated products at this year's ABTT show in London.

ETC's theme of Layers of Light struck a chord. Part of the stand was devoted to the new range of ETC luminaires, including the Selador Desire LED line, Source Four XT - specifically designed for external use - and Source Four Fresnel. ETC staff were on hand to demonstrate products.

ETC's new Selador Desire range allows users to experience the quality and power of ETC's x7 Color System in a PAR shaped housing. Desire is a selection of wash lights including Lustr+, Vivid, Fire, Ice and Studio variants which complement the linear Selador Classic LED range. Each is optimised for specific lighting needs.

Also new in ETC's lighting range is the Source Four Fresnel, which offers the controlled washlight and soft foc

UK - It is with great sadness that PLASA has announced to its members news of the death of Rob Lingfield, Chairman of PLASA's European Regional Board, who lost his fight against cancer on Sunday 19 June, at the age of 59.

A well-known and highly respected figure in the pro audio industry, Rob was most associated in recent years with UK manufacturer Martin Audio, where he was sales and marketing director - a role he left relatively recently, having helped guide the development and launch of the award-winning MLA system.

As is so often the case with leading pro audio figures, Rob did not start out in audio: he trained and qualified as a drama teacher before dabbling with work as a DJ, promoter, lighting designer and roadie - all of which led him to join forces with Malcolm Hill and start Hill Audio in the early 1980s. Hill Audio would go on to build the PA system for the world-f

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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

UK - Canadian electronic dance star, Deadmau5 was the latest artist to provide a workout for Martin Audio's Multicellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA), when he played to 26,000 people in London's Victoria Park - his first ever headline outdoor event and only English festival of 2011.

It was the second year of the London Electronic Dance Festival (LED) - and since Deadmau5 is a client of Capital Sound Hire, the London based sound production company were brought in by the consortium of promoters (Cream, Goldenvoice and Loudsound) seizing the opportunity to fire up the MLA system outdoors for the first time.

"We knew how the system sounded indoors, but I wanted to evaluate it outside, and see how it would fare in propagation tests," said Capital technical manager Ian Colville. "Thanks to the tight micro-control the system can be programmed to enable the sound to taper o

UK - Crestron has introduced a new line of energy-efficient high-power commercial amplifiers. Designed to meet the Energy Star certification requirements, the AMP Series amplifiers help meet energy savings objectives and green initiatives without sacrificing audio performance says the company. Each AMP Series amplifier is 100% Crestron designed, engineered, and manufactured.

Featuring a high-efficiency amp topology and low noise, low distortion performance, the AMP Series provides more headroom for powering larger rooms in lecture halls, sports bars, restaurants, auditoriums, retail spaces, hotel conference rooms or corporate boardrooms. Channel selectable for either 70V or 100V, any AMP can be used in both U.S. and international environments.

"The new AMP Series line offers a combination of amplification power, energy-efficiency and flexibility for a multitude of commerc

UAE - Harlequin's new AeroDeck sprung floor is now available through IBS Solutions. The lightweight modular panels, constructed from advanced engineering grade plastics, cuts the weight of a typical equivalent sprung floor by around 50% and eases transportation of panels in and out of venues, says the company.

The all new Harlequin AeroDeck panels dispense entirely with wood to produce a panel that is unaffected by moisture and suitable for use on outdoor productions. At the core of each panel is a patented structure sealed with a bonded GRP surface that provides inherent strength while being very light.

Edged by a framework manufactured from recycled polyurethane the tongue and grooved detail allows panels to interlock and be locked together using the patented Harlequin latching system. Standard panels are supplied in 2m x 1m or 1m x 1m sizes and incorporate a series of circu

USA - On 15 June at the InfoComm show in Orlando, Xantech presented Bensalem, Pennsylvania-based firm APA Music& Pictures with a special plaque commemorating the two-millionth installation of Xantech products and thanking them for their years of Xantech use.

The recent installation was performed at Mount Laurel, New Jersey's Twelve Thousand Building Conference Centre, housing training room and boardroom spaces for TD Bank. Xantech products, including the WIC1200Web Intelligent Controller and CWTC1010.4-inch Wireless Touch Controller, now form the foundation for the A/Vdistribution in several rooms in the building.

The ceremony was attended by APA's VP of sales and production Dave Pedemonti; Xantech president Graham Hallett; and Xantech director of business development Rick Seegull.

Pedemonti stated, "We are very proud to have completed Xantech's two-millionth installati

France - The festival Jazz Sous Les Pommiers takes place every year in Coutances, in the Manche department of Normandy, and has done since 1982, when the event was set up by Thierry Giard and Gerard Houssin.

Today, the eclectic line-up ranges from New Orleans jazz to electronic musicians, and from local artists and street performers to superstars. With 37,000 spectators breaking last year's attendance record the scene was set for this year when the event celebrated its 30th anniversary with the return of many artists who have previously played the festival, and a finale comprising a 'Crazy Parade' through the Coutances town centre.

With so many venues in use, an advanced network was required for the week-long festival, with appearances by Eric Bibb, Jamie Cullum, Charlie Musselwhite and Malted Milk.

This included an Optocore signal distribution system, provided by sound engi

UK - Download Festival became one of the first European festivals to be provided with a full Versarray 212 system as Peavey kitted out its Jagermeister stage from 10-12 June. Peavey will continue to provide the same rig to Jagermeister stages up and down the UK at a string of this year's major summer festivals.

Although the amount of boxes may vary depending on the size of individual stages, the core Peavey set-up comprises two hangs of Versarray 212 mid/high enclosures, with Versarray 218 subwoofers providing low frequency reinforcement beneath the stage. Crest CV-20 56 Premium and HP-Eight (40 frame) consoles are deployed for FOH and monitor work respectively; and all power is provided by Crest Pro 9200 and 7200 amplifiers.

Upcoming festivals include Sonisphere at Knebworth on 8-10 July, where The Defiled will headline the Jagermeister stage; Splendour Festival in Nottingham

UK - Comedian Dara O'Brian this week returns to BBC2 screens to host the tenth series of the topical panel show Mock The Week! The game is influenced by improvised topical stand-up comedians, with several rounds requiring players to deliver answers on unexpected subjects on the spur of the moment.

Richard Martin Lighting supports lighting designer Dave Davey's design. The design brief set out for Davey when he first joined the production, was to "make the set look colourful without spill onto Projection screens". To achieve this he opted for VL1000TS' "All hanging, focussed on to backing flats".

When asked about his choice of fixtures Dave said, "The VL100TS is the right tool to apply colour and texture to the Mock The Week! set to enhance all of the backings and the main desk."

(Jim Evans)

UK - The joint celebration between Northern Light and White Light to mark their fortieth anniversaries was enjoyed by hundreds of industry players on Wednesday 15 June.

Held during the ABTT Theatre Show, the party took place at a pub close to the exhibition venue and was well attended by the two companies' customers, suppliers and manufacturers alike.

John Simpson, White Light's chairman, said, "As we suspected, our industry pals were all too happy to have a drink or two provided for them to celebrate our fortieth birthdays! It was great to see so many customers and colleagues in one place, helping us to toast our four decades of success."

John Allen, director at Northern Light, added, "Having known John since we founded our respective companies in 1971, I very much enjoyed reminiscing about our early days and observing the next generation of the entertainment

Germany - At the 56th Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Final against a rig of over 5500 fixtures, lighting designer, Jerry Appelt, chose a total of 15 Robert Juliat followspots to pick out the performers against the dynamic set during the rehearsals, two semi-final shows and the all-important Final.

Six Robert Juliat Aramis 2500W HMI DMX and four Robert Juliat Lancelot 4000W HTI followspots highlighted the main performers from front of house positions during each number, with five Robert Juliat Victor 1800W MSR followspots used as backlight from truss seats suspended behind the stage.

The show needed followspots that were powerful enough to pick out the performers amid the quantity of light put out by over 2000 moving lights and vivid video backdrops. All the Robert Juliat followspots were provided by Cape Cross of Cologne.

(Jim Evans)

UK - PLASA's recent AGM and Members Lunch drew over 170 members and guests to Kings Place Concert Hall in London for a day focusing on developments since PLASA merged with ESTA and the wider issues of product copying, radio spectrum and Technical Standards.

The AGM featured presentations from PLASA's Acting Chair Ed Pagett, Treasurer Martin Hawthorn and CEO Matthew Griffiths, covering the early stages of the merger and operational and financial reviews of the past 12 months. In the year since the merger was first voted for by members, PLASA has restructured its membership, run new-style elections, introduced a more representative Governance structure with Regional Boards and an international Governing Body and launched new services and research projects.

Whilst the merger was a key focus of the day, it was not the only subject under discussion and in a lively Q&A session follo

Italy/USA - Outline has announced significant expansions to its corporate operations for 2011. The company has named Tom Bensen as senior vice president and managing director for its US subsidiary, Outline North America, LLC, and has hired Chris Hinds as European sales manager. It is expected that the experience both Bensen and Hinds bring to the company will positively impact market acceptance of Outline's new GTO Line Array speakers and iMode Intelligent Digital Loudspeaker Control Platform, says the company.

"We are verypleased to have found two exceptional people to move our company forward both in Europe and the US," says Giorgio Biffi, Outline CEO. "Tom Bensen has always represented manufacturers that are on the cutting edge of technology. Tom brings with him support for expanded sales of Outline products, very strong relationships, and a fully developed rep

Germany - Sennheiser electronic GmbH published its financial statement for the business year 2010 yesterday. The audio specialist has increased turnover to 468.2m Euros, compared to 389.9m Euros last year. This corresponds to an increase of 20.1% and is the largest turnover in the company's history.

Profit increased from 3.8m Euros (in 2009) to 22.6mEuros. Volker Bartels, spokesperson of Sennheiser's Executive Management Board, stated that "All product groups and all markets have contributed to this positive result." He added, "One of the important factors which contributed to this result was the revival of the professional side of our business and the highly positive growth at the end of the year, particularly in the consumer segment. Now we have to stabilise this dynamic growth and further expand our business."

The largest part of the company's turnover c

USA - To provide a comprehensive system for distributing of the audio signals and establishing a comms infrastructure at this year's Tony Awards the production companies Firehouse Productions and Audio Intercom Services provided a versatile solution. The system comprised RockNet digital audio network including Studer Vista 5 console integration, Artist digital matrix intercom and Performer digital partyline from Riedel Communications.

The 65th Tony Awards at the Beacon Theatre were broadcast live on CBS television. One of the major challenges of this year's ceremony was the new location as the event was moved from the Radio City Hall to the much smaller Beacon Theatre. This meant that the equipment that usually would have been installed next to the stage, now needed to be installed in trucks and tents outside the venue resulting in a more complex setup.

For providing the live

UK - Northern Light's ongoing 40th birthday celebrations continued at the ABTT Theatre Show with a raffle to win a bottle of 1971 vintage single malt whisky.

Many, many people entered the draw to be in with a chance of going home with the 1971 Speyside single malt from the Macallan distillery, but there could only be one winner.

At 4 pm on Thursday 16 June, PLASA's Ruth Rossington kindly did the honours and drew the winner - who was Anne Valentino, ETC's EOS product line manager.

(Jim Evans)

Spain - Ibiza Rocks is a summer-long festival of live music that has run annually since 2005. And this year Prolyte Group was commissioned to supply a branded version of its performance platform, LiteConsole, to create a striking visual impact as part of selected live shows and DJ sets. The newly crowned Ibiza Rocks Bar, where the LiteConsole will be based, is steeped in moments of Ibiza history.

As the original home of the Ibiza Rocks live gigs, it was largely responsible for reintroducing guitar based music to the island, and the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, Babyshambles, and Kaiser Chiefs have all performed on stage under the Ibiza Rocks banner. The list of DJs to grace the bar also reads like a who's who of dance music; Zane Lowe, Annie Mac, Calvin Harris, Doorly and Eddie Halliwell have all made regular appearances.

Ibiza Rocks approached Prolyte Group back in March

UK - Chroma-Q has launched the new Color Block Plus Replacement Engine for the Color Block DB4 LED fixture.

Designed to be fitted by authorised Chroma-Q service agents, the Color Block Plus Replacement Engine provides "a cost-effective alternative to replacing the whole Color Block DB4 fixture - so it's kind to the environment as well as users' budgets".

The Color Block Plus Replacement Engine utilises the latest generation of LED and optics, resulting in over two and a half times the output (750 lumens) of the original Color Block DB4 (290 lumens) when the internal switch is set to full power.

For maximum convenience, it also features a Color Block DB4 emulation mode, to simulate the lumen output of the original LED engine when used alongside other first generation fixtures.

London based hire company White Light is one of the first customers to take advantage of

USA - PLASA Events, an operating division of PLASA - the lead international membership body for those who supply technologies and services to the event, entertainment and installation industries has announced its first regional event in North America. PLASA Focus: Austin 2012 will be held 22-23 February, 2012 at the Renaissance Austin, Texas.

Modeled after the highly successful PLASA Focus: Leeds (UK), which recently broke previous attendance records in its third year, Focus: Austin will bring together members of the entertainment technology community to do business and network in a relaxed and friendly setting.

The two-day show will be reasonably priced for exhibitors and free to registered visitors. A unique hard wall booth package-including furniture, power and lighting-will level the playing field and give exhibitors a simple and affordable exhibiting experience. The show'

China/Sweden - LumenRadioreports that it is starting a CRMX wireless revolution campaign in China. After the successful launch of LumenRadio's CRMX at PALM Expo Beijing 2011, and with the completion of several prestigious government installations, the time has now come to bring CRMX to the larger and rapidly growing Chinese lighting market, states the company.

"CRMX has been recognised worldwide as the premium brand for wireless lighting controls, and has recently proven its superior reliability in the most challenging of installations," says Steven Cai at Leafun. We are proud to bring the benefits of the CRMX technology to the greater Chinese market. We have numerous new government and other high profile projects in the pipeline and will have three dedicated sales and support people working to drive the CRMX wireless revolution in China. We will also immediately start

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