UK - Doughty Engineering has appointed Candice Robinson as the newest member of its UK sales team. Candice joins Doughty with a wealth of experience, previously working in sales for Honeywell and as head of administration in the dispatch department at Kondor.

Speaking of Candice's appointment, Laurence Dyer, Doughty's sales and customer services manager, said, "In the short time that Candice has been with us, her enthusiasm, efficiency and initiative has been impressive. She took the reins on day one and has demonstrated excellent customer service skills, and a good technical know-how. Candice will be a real asset to the UK sales team and to our customers too."

Candice, who will deal with all UK orders, customer queries, invoicing and dispatching, said, "Although

UK - SSL Live UK dealer, HD Pro Audio, is holding a series of workshop sessions for the SSL Live L500 and L300 consoles in conjunction with Home, Manchester's new contemporary arts centre opening in May 2015.

The sessions will be held from 10:00am each day on 27 and 28 January 2015 at Number One, First Street, Manchester M15 4FN. They will focus on a range of functional aspects of the consoles with experts on hand to provide professional guidance and advice.

"These events are the perfect way for engineers to get hands on experience whilst simultaneously having product specialists there to answer questions", comments HD Pro's Andy Huffer, "Attendees will experience the streamlined workflow of these consoles as well as the new standard they set for live audio quality."

Places for the sessions are limited, so anyone interested in attending should contact e-m

USA - A Jands Vista system was used to control the lighting & visual media elements for Texas-based WaterTower Theatre's spectacular production of Bonnie and Clyde.

Founded in 1996, the multi award-winning WaterTower Theatre is a not-for-profit professional theatre company in Addison, Texas. It produces six main stage shows each season in its flexible, state-of-the-art facility, which is part of the Addison Theatre Centre.

The Centre already owned two Jands Vista consoles - the ultra-compact M1, and the original Vista T2 model, but recently added the range's flagship L5 console to their inventory.

Dan Schoedel of FullStageProductions.com, who was the lighting designer for Bonnie and Clyde, comments, "We actually upgraded from our existing Jands Vista T2 to the L5 during the show run. This is one thing that I love about the Vista line - the fact that the so

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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 - Founded in 2005, Tech Solutions and Sales is an AV manufacturers' representative company covering the states of Indiana and Kentucky.

Owner Dave Fellabaum and associate William Stewart have many years of experience as reps and integrators in the AV business. Both Fellabaum and Stewart have extensive sales and design experience in commercial audio, educational, house of worship and other AV market areas. From this background Tech Solutions and Sales has built a representative firm that emphasizes great customer service and builds lasting relationships with the AV integrators, engineers, acoustical consultants and end users in their territory.

"We can consult on system design," said Fellabaum, "and, because we understand the nuts and bolts of the integration business, we can help our dealers close their sales and bring in a profit on their jobs." Fellab

Dominican Republic - On 18 October 18th at the Centre Court of the Hotel Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Club, Puerto Rican reggaeton singer/songwriter/producer and actor Daddy Yankee performed his version of urban music to an enthusiastic audience of approximately 18,000 people.

The Centre Court is one big outdoor performance venue, so when the crowds approach the maximum 20,000 person capacity - as they did for the Daddy Yankee concert - a serious sound reinforcement system is required. To ensure the music had all the power it needed, a sizeable assortment of loudspeakers drawn from the Aero Series 2 and Road catalogues of Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio were placed into service.

Dominican Republic-based Enlab, a technical production services company specializing in audio, lighting, video, and staging for concerts, tours, and special events, was contracted to handle sound rei

UK - An Optocore fibre distribution system has been specified by Theatre Projects Consultants (TPC) and installed by Northern Light at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre's (EICC) new Lennox Suite, with the venue's £30m expansion. The new fibre routing matrix is in keeping with the requirement of the new multi-purpose suite to transport a number of different signal protocols within a flexible environment.

The new suite, measuring 1600sq.m, represents a multi-level expansion of the existing EICC, complete with a glass atrium and additional event spaces. This versatile auditorium contains a reconfigurable moving floor, which rapidly transforms the space from a flat floor to a fully raked auditorium, as well as making it operational in both arena and tiered cabaret modes, so that a variety of events can be hosted. It can also be split into a total of three rooms or

Italy - Dolce and Gabbana is a widely known Italian fashion worldwide firm. The headquarters of the firm, located just a few minutes from the historical centre of Milan, in Viale Piave, were recently renovated. The complex, consisting of three parallel buildings overs a total area of 10.000m², a showroom with the latest clothes, their central offices, a restaurant and common areas.

For this project, the company in charge of the installation chose the Neo Series of loudspeakers developed by Work Pro. The reasons was significant: these loudspeakers blend in with the architectural and decor style selected by the customer, a project based on open spaces where mainly crystal and GRC panels are employed.

Neo loudspeakers unify a high quality sound with an elegant design. Its ease of integration in all kinds of decorations and structures along with its power and small size make thes

UK - Sennheiser UK is always keen to support new talent. Part of this commitment is a long relationship with the Faculty of Music at the University of Oxford, which recently held the final of a new competition for original composition. Sennheiser supported the project with prizes for the winners, while a K-array audio system was used for the performances.

Sennheiser's work with the University has included support for the Oxford Surround Composition and Research studio (OSCaR) - a bespoke, state-of-the-art electronic music studio, which opened last year.

This year, the company sponsored the Oxford/Sennheiser Electronic Music Prize (OSEMP), a competition set up by the University to highlight the increasing importance of electronic music in its teaching and research programmes. Also supported by Warp Records, the aim of the national competition was to find the most innovative new

Australia - Lighting designer and long-term ArKaos advocate, Francesco Calvi, turned to ArKaos MediaMaster Pro yet again to deliver the creative visuals for the 11th season of Big Brother Australia 2014, the popular reality television series.

The Big Brother House was located at Dreamworld on Australia's Gold Coast, from where the live shows, hosted by Sonia Kruger, were broadcast weekly over three months by the Nine Network, before culminating in a grand finale in December.

In a now-traditional move, Calvi used ArKaos MediaMaster Pro software to stream the creative visual effects and video content onto 180 C14 VuePix LED Screens. The screens, which were supplied by The Technical Direction Company (TDC), were hung in columns around the walls of the TV studio, surrounding the audience as well as the Big Brother eye, to form a main stay of the Big Brother set.

Th

UK - Tony Award winning tenor Alfie Boe completed a very successful UK arena tour just before Christmas with video designed by Stuart Merser of Vis-A-Vis Video and the camera / projection package supplied by XL Video.

Stuart was asked by Boe's new management company Vector Management to direct the live video on the strength of his intricate and powerful work for Il Divo.

Over time, he has developed a distinctive visual aesthetic which works extremely well with this classical / musical theatre / pop crossover genre of music and style of performance, and ahead of this tour, he talked extensively with Alfie himself and the tour's Production Director Dave Nelson, before presenting a series of ideas for how video might work in a live concert context.

It was already decided that there would be no LED screens or onstage video, so the idea was that IMAG combined with some carefully

Bahamas - New Year's Eve revellers often have cold weather and sometimes snow to contend with when they celebrate. Not so for guests who welcomed 2015 at the Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas. Surrounded by crystal blue waters, clear skies and a NYE temperature in the comfortable 70s, Paradise Island more than lives up to its name. Still, Atlantis Resort didn't become world-famous just because of its natural amenities; the popular destination also offers an array of activities, dining and entertainment options, which on New Year's Eve included a stellar party that featured a high-impact lightshow designed by Kinetic Lighting.

Lighting designer James Schipper of Kinetic Lighting used 22 Nexus 4x4 LED panels from Chauvet Professional to create an impressive downstage array that served as a backdrop for a live show that include dancing, acrobatic and musical performances. The Nexu

UK - Robert Juliat lighting fixtures have been spotted covering all angles of the stage from front to back at Chichester Festival Theatre in recent months.

The new production of Gypsy (see Lighting & Sound International December 2014), which transfers soon to London's Savoy Theatre, employed four Robert Juliat Le Cin'k Fresnels, each fitted with 5000W tungsten lamp bases, in Mark Henderson's flexible lighting design. Hired from White Light for the season, these helped to cover a busy stage with multiple areas of focus, including three moving trucks.

"We find Le Cin'k to be brighter and slightly narrower than the 5kW units we previously used which, in their rigged position, is good because control is important in a thrust space," says the Festival Theatre's head of lighting, Sam Garner-Gibbons. "Being a completely exposed rig, unit size is critical

World - Las Vegas rockers The Killers played several exciting headline festival shows with Clay Paky Sharpys, A.leda B-EYEs and SuperSharpys delivering colossal lighting effects as part of, as The Telegraph describes, 'a fittingly over-the-top display of lights, fireworks and explosions.'

Lighting designer Steven Douglas specified 36 Sharpys, supplied by NegEarth, after using them extensively on the The Killers' previous tours.

"If you're looking for something that's going to be big and impactful, the first thing that comes to mind is the Clay Paky Sharpy," says Douglas. "They are the obvious choice for me as I've used them consistently in my designs for the last two years. They're great, reliable, compact lights that really pack a punch - everyone knows how good they are."

Douglas rigged the Sharpys to create a huge wall of light behind the band, in plac

Mexico - Flightcase, speaker cabinet and 19 inch racking solutions specialist Penn-Elcom has announced the opening of a new fully operational manufacturing facility in Tijuana, Mexico.

It is part of the company's planned expansion following robust trading worldwide in recent years, and the strategic location in Mexico's bustling Baja financial and industrial centre will benefit both Penn's Latin American and US markets with even quicker and more efficient delivery times and product options.

Penn Elcom Mexico will be headed up by MD Javier Haro with Frank McCourt heading up the sales effort. Javier has a manufacturing background owning businesses both in Tijuana and in San Diego, California. Frank's career with Penn Elcom stretches back an impressive 32 years, working for Penn both in the UK and in the USA. He has very close links with all Penn's OEM clients. They will be assis

UK - Liverpool based technical production, lighting, sound and AV specialist Adlib has announced the opening of a new Scottish office that will be based at the very heart of Scotland's buzzing entertainment industry ... in Glasgow city centre.

This is a direct response to the steady general overall increase in Adlib's work in Scotland in recent years, and also specifically to service and support several important new contracts won by the company's Installations & Sales division.

The new office will be headed up by Graham Cochrane, a well-known tour and production manager in Scotland and internationally. His regular work includes production managing at the high profile T In The Park festival, and he was also involved as a PM for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Adlib MD Andy Dockerty's personal working friendship with Graham stretches back many years.

Andy comments, "

Italy - Avolites has announced that its range of lighting and Ai video and multimedia control technologies will be distributed in Italy by Music & Lights.

"We are confident that the appointment Music & Lights as our distributor is our most effective step to ensure our continued growth in the Italian market," says Avolites managing director, Steve Warren. "We are extremely impressed with the potential of Music & Lights and CEO Fabio Sorabella's highly effective team are enthusiastic, dynamic and focused on growth."

Warren's words are echoed by Avolites sales director, Koy Neminathan. "Music & Lights have proved that they are capable of providing excellent service training and support, both pre and post-sale. Avolites have invested in the development of new and unique features for both lighting and video control and it is of the upmost importance that we

Archive Campaign - The British Library has launched a campaign to raise £40m to digitise the country's sound archive of more than six million recordings. The library said around two million of these are fragile and rare recordings. These are at risk of being lost due to physical degradation and the disappearance of the technology to play them, the library said. The archive, which includes the voice of Florence Nightingale, is held on more than 40 formats. These include wax cylinders, lacquer discs, cassette players, reel-to-reel tapes and minidiscs.

The UK Sound Archive includes recordings of local accents and dialects used to monitor the evolution of the English language and sounds of rare or extinct wildlife. It also includes full recordings of theatre productions going back 40 years, including the opening night of Hamlet in the Old Vic, starring Peter O'Toole and

Singapore - Creative Technology (CT) has announced the recruitment of Tom Casey to its Asia Pacific operation on 12 January 2015.

Tom will join CT's Singapore business as Project Manager reporting directly to managing director Chris Burke and will cover the Asia Pacific region.

An Australian citizen, Tom has previously worked in the UK, the Middle East, Australia and Singapore and is well versed in the business culture of the Asia Pacific region.

(Jim Evans)

USA - When the fourth biennial Stand Up to Cancer special aired in the US and Canada, it raised more than $109m for its groundbreaking collaborative research efforts. Some 60 Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures were deployed for the event.

More than three dozen broadcast and cable networks in the US and Canada telecast Stand Up to Cancer. The show, staged at LA's Dolby Theatre, featured celebrity guests, music by Lupe Fiasco, Jennifer Hudson and Common, The Who, the Dave Matthews Band, and Ariana Grande, and inspiring stories about patients who have benefited from the research supported by the organization. Atomic Lighting of Lititz, Pennsylvania provided the Clay Paky fixtures.

"This show really means a lot to me," says Brad Hafer, vice president of account management, at Atomic Lighting. "Stand Up to Cancer is about something real - it's not just do

UK - Electrosonic has promoted Bryan Hinckley to head of the worldwide entertainment business, which includes the museum, theme park, visitor centre and retail markets. The post was previously held by Chris Conte, who was recently named head of the new US Business Development team.

Hinckley has been managing Electrosonic's themed environments and attractions business in the US, where he was responsible for maintaining and growing the business as well as managing and supporting its US-based sales team.

"Bryan's promotion to lead the entertainment business comes at a very exciting time for Electrosonic and for the AV market as a whole," says Jim Bowie, president of Electrosonic Group. "As one of our key talents, Bryan is assuming new responsibilities at which I believe he will excel and help move the company forward."

Hinckley says, "As Chris Conte mov

The Netherlands - Green Hippo has released Hippotizer Version 4 which saw its official launch at LDI in Las Vegas in November 2014. At ISE 2015 the company will be showcasing the new systems to the European market.

Every V4 system features front panel indication of system status, removable hard drives as part of the STRATA Caddy System, all Solid State Drives as standard and the latest graphics technology to deliver unmatched performance.

The powerhouse of the range, Hippotizer Taiga redefines the possibilities within a single media server. Featuring 6x Display Port 1.2 or 6x DVI Dual Link outputs, Hippotizer Taiga can drive at least three x 4K displays at full frame rate. Taiga uses the newest generation of server-class computer hardware to deliver unrivalled performance, and includes brand new feature components such as SHAPE, the 3D modelling software and the 3D Visualiser,

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