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USA - NAB has announced the cancellation of the upcoming NAB Show 2021, which was due to take place in Las Vegas from 9-13 October. The annual convention/exhibition, which in 2019 reported attendance of 91,000, is one of the largest events on the calendar for broadcasters and their technology providers. In recent weeks, the show had suffered exhibitor withdrawals - including Sony and Canon - due to the spread of the delta variant of COVID in the US, with the organisers opting to scrap the in-person event in favour of offering select virtual sessions through its Amplify portal.
“For more than a year, we have worked tirelessly to bring our industry together safely in Las Vegas at NAB Show," say the organisers in a statement. "Unfortunately, the pandemic and surge of the delta

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UK - Martin Audio returned to its open days for the first time in two years, following the easing of Covid restrictions, which also included both a legacy product walkthrough and a party in nearby Marlow to honour the company’s 50th anniversary.
The sessions adhered closely to all Covid guidelines, including tests on entrance, and at the end, MD Dom Harter gave a heartfelt appreciation to the audience. “It’s the first time many have been back in a room of loudspeakers for 18 months,” he said. “We are extremely grateful for everyone’s time and attendance - our industry will never be tested like this again.”
Ninety minutes earlier he had opened proceedings with a background about company founder Dave Martin, emphasising that “his vision and many of his principles continue to be followed today”. Guests had already been able to enjoy a museum like walkthr

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UK - Moving and LED lighting manufacturer Robe enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm of industry professionals reconnecting in person at the 2021 PLASA Show in London Olympia last week.
Robe took the opportunity to showcase a raft of recently-launched products, returning to the show as the headline sponsor as in previous years. This underlined the brand’s confidence in the UK market moving forward and ramping up generally, and in PLASA Show as a strategic point of convergence for key players. The Robe stand comprised a large meeting area out front and a substantial demo area ‘back-of-house’ proved a streamlined hub for meeting, networking, and in-depth product-related discussions and demonstrations.
A timecoded lightshow utilising the newest products was based on a mixtape of West End production numbers. There was a heavy emphasis on the previewed T11 Profile fixtur
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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

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UK - Calibre UK is now shipping the flagship Calibre LEDFusion Pro screen management solution.
Announced in April, the all-in-one screens are available in 130-inch or 163-inch sizes and are sold either as a stand-alone unit (A130C-15 and A163C-09) or a multi-system solution for advanced screen management (W236CF-15 and W260CF-15). LEDFusion Pro brings advanced operational features, energy saving and installation benefits.
“Calibre LEDFusion Pro was introduced earlier this year incorporating the feedback received from our integration partners for a more complete, sustainable and future-proof system that could be expanded without limits,” explained Steve Su, general manager at Calibre UK.
New product demo sites in Dallas, USA and Hannover, Germany will open in Q4, 2021.

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USA - When the time came for Colorado’s St Andrew United Methodist Church to evaluate the effectiveness of its installed sound system, it encountered a problem that will be familiar to houses of worship all over the world.
While the style of worship practised at the church had changed over the years to fully embrace musical celebration including live performances and playback, the aging sound system was no longer fit for purpose, having been originally designed for more traditional spoken word sermons. Determined to transform not just the sound quality but the overall experience of the congregation, the church’s leadership began the search for a solution.
The new system needed to deliver audio quality and flexibility without requiring any major construction changes to the church itself - a challenge that was given to regional systems integrator Equalized Production

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Namibia - Located amid the African bush not far from Namibia’s capital Windhoek lies The Midgard Country Estate, one of O&L Leisure’s retreats. The estate, self-described as “a paradise where the earth rises again, fertile and green” appeals to a variety of potential customers, possessing 46 newly decorated bedrooms, a bar, two swimming pools and a host of other leisure facilities.
Midgard’s audio-visual technology required an update, ensuring that guests are entertained, and conferences run seamlessly. Stage Audio Works’ Namibian office was responsible for AV design and integration, most recently providing a comprehensive turnkey Audac-based distributed audio system for the restaurant and bar area.
SAW Namibia has been involved with the Midgard Estate since 2020 when they were first called in to update the AV systems in Midgard’s conference venues.

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UK - The Ford Ranger has been used in virtually every conceivable application since it first appeared in 1983, especially when modified into the more muscular ‘Ironhide’ variety. Now it can add another item to its list of incarnations: DJ stand.
Capitalising on the growing popularity of this American vehicle in the UK (its sales there increased by 76-percent between 2015 and 2020), Welsh performer DJ Weekesey joined forces with ASG Audio Visual to shoot a promotional video from the back of a black modified Ranger Ironhide.
Laying down the signature mixes that have made him one of the region’s top club artists, Weekesey put on a dynamic four-minute show, using the truck itself as a stand. “It was a 4.5- ton DJ booth,” says ASG’s director Scott Cooper. “The video not only served to highlight Weekesey’s talent, it also drew on the image of the Ironhide to

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USA – One of the newest and brightest hubs for Houston’s performing arts scene, The Gordy, has equipped its three theatre spaces with stage lighting technology from Vari-Lite and Strand.
Designed by architects Gensler and theatre consultants Charcoalblue, The Gordy is named for philanthropists Russell and Glenda Gordy, and home to performing arts producer Stages. Its three intimate theatre spaces - the 252-seat Sterling Stage, the 220-seat Lester and Sue Smith Stage, and the 134-seat Rochelle and Max Levit Stage - provide settings for a variety of live theatre experiences.
“For lighting, flexibility was key, alongside quality of light output, a deep colour range and smooth dimming resolution,” said The Gordy’s technical director, Joel Burkholder, who chose over 300 Vari-Lite and Strand fixtures, including 200 tungsten-source SPX ellipsoidals.
“We love

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The Netherlands - Construction is underway and progress being made to build a new children’s transitional care unit in Amsterdam, showcasing how the AV community has come together to support the project with donations of product, time and services. In a joint venture between ISE, its co-owners CEDIA and AVIXA, and generous contributors from the industry, The Jeroen Pit House will be furnished with a state-of-the-art entertainment space for chronically ill children and their families to enjoy.
The Jeroen Pit House, which is being built within the grounds of the Emma Children’s Hospital, will make the difficult transition from hospital to home easier, safer and steadier for chronically ill children and their families.
Over 30 AV brands have committed to providing services and product for free to develop the media space, which will include a sensory room and home cin

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UK - With 4,500 miles clocked up on the rental van and 350 engineers, end users, customers and rental companies seen in 29 days across 27 locations, the 2021 DiGiCo and KLANG roadshow has completed its run.
The DiGiCo team toured the UK with a DiGiCo Quantum 338, Quantum 225, SD12 and a KLANG Immersive Personal Monitor package, as well as showcasing the KLANG:vokal immersive processor and the new KLANG:kontroller. Stopping at various rental companies, venues and customers along the way, the team provided two three-hour sessions a day offering a closer look at the new consoles and refreshers on the SD-Range with the company’s experts.
“When our world slowly started to come back, we began to get an increasing number of requests from engineers to pop into our HQ in Surrey for some refresher training, so we thought ‘why don’t we come to them instead?’, which is

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France - Audio developer and manufacturer Amadeus has installed an immersive sound system for Le Préau, the National Drama Centre in Normandy-Vire. The newly-designed solution utilises a three-speaker ‘antenna’ system, controlled by the company’s Holophonix spatial sound processor, and offers much higher accuracy of sound localization for the audience in the theatre environment.
Le Préau has a mission of artistic creation, dissemination of these creations in regional and national territories, and artist-in-residence programsme. The Centre has been directed by Lucie Berelowitsch since 1 January 2019.
In France, National Drama Centers (NDCs) are emblematic institutions of the dramatic decentralization policy pursued by the State for 70 years - the first five centres were created between 1946 and 1952.
“Le Préau is a place of creation and sharing, with a

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Insurance Fears - Further guidance about the government’s recently announced insurance scheme for live events has been released, which experts have warned “confirms all the worst fears producers had”. The scheme, which will run until September next year, has been criticised for being too narrow in scope to apply to most theatre productions as well as prohibitively expensive.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has published an outline of the rules for the £750m scheme, prompting concerns that it will not help most theatre producers, who face ongoing risks of disruption, cancellation and closure. The guidance confirms that productions are protected only when they have been forced to cancel, abandon, relocate or postpone as a "direct result" of the introduction of new or amended COVID-19 laws.
This means that cancellations caused by self-isolation

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UK - Optimal Audio has announced the appointment of Raf Willems as head of sales and channel marketing EMEA.
Willems' 20-year career in the industry began in residential audio sales in his native Belgium, before a move into the commercial audio sector with Apart Audio where he progressed through a variety of roles to become sales and marketing director. Following Biamp’s acquisition of Apart, Willems became head of business development for Europe with additional responsibility for managing Biamp’s retail and hospitality team.
“It’s so rare in our industry to get the chance to be involved in developing a new brand from its inception,” says Willems. “I’m passionate about commercial audio so I honestly consider this to be something of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Everything I’ve seen and understood about the launch of Optimal Audio indicates that th

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France - Ayrton has appointed Fabian de Brücker to its sales team. De Brücker joins Ayrton as regional sales manager for all French-speaking countries and regions with effect from 1 September 2021. Brücker’s new role includes responsibility for maintaining a high level of designer relations, as well as promoting and supporting the Ayrton brand across these regions.
Fabian brings a wealth of industry experience having worked with many major lighting brands for over 25 years. He has built an extensive network among lighting professionals, but has developed a particularly close relationship with Ayrton.
“Fabian has always been a great advocate of the Ayrton brand since his days working with Axente, so his joining us is a huge bonus,” says Ayrton’s global sales director, Michael Althaus. “His years of experience means Fabian has super-strong designer relation

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Italy - RCF has introduced two powered portable speakers. The TT 515-A speaker and TT 808-AS subwoofer are intended for high-powered portable and installed professional applications where size and weight are critical factors. This approach combines the advantages of RCF TT+ technology such as controlled dispersion, clarity, high-power, multiple rigging accessories, weather protection, and RDNET software connection for real-time management with recallable pre-sets.
TT 515-A is a 127 dB speaker that fits in the palm of your hand and can be used as a main speaker system, or to supplement a larger system, a 3D/immersive sound system, or high-quality installations. The transducer configuration of the TT 515-A pairs two symmetrical custom-loaded 5" cone drivers to a rotatable CMD waveguide surrounding a titanium 1.75" high-frequency compression driver, all powered by a two-channe

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USA - The final touches are being put on the new studio facilities at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Featuring a 24-channel Audient ASP8024-HE with Dual Layer Control (DLC) in its classroom-sized control room, Recording Studio 381 is a fully stocked, 96-track (64 analog, 32 Dante), surround-capable recording facility.
When choosing the console for the Music Technology programme, assistant professor of music technology, Seth Shafer was determined that his students should have a fully-featured tracking and mixing experience. “They should have the opportunity to experience an analogue inline console with sufficient bus outs, plenty of auxiliary sends and a lot of insert options,” he explains. “On the other hand, the DLC control surface allows them to work in the box with convenient hands-on control.”
During his extensive research, Seth discovered that Audie

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UK - The high-profile owners of new £20m penthouse suites at London’s Battersea Power Station have been playing second fiddle to a breeding pair of peregrine falcons.
As part of the Grade II-listed building’s £9bn regeneration project it was stipulated that a new tower had to be erected to replace the original chimneys, the natural habitat of these birds of prey who have been nesting there for 13 years.
Martin Audio long-term partners Rossco was introduced to the project by Simon Woodward of Polar Bear Live at the inception. As an acoustics consultant and event technical provider, MD Ross Sharples has provided audio support since the original confirmation of the Malaysian Consortium bid back in 2013.
“We are fully qualified when considering the impact of sound on the environment,” he said. And this includes the falcons’ wellbeing, where a 1-min calibr

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UK - Astera’s PixelBrick won a 2021 PLASA Award for Innovation – one of two lighting products out of the six 2021 winners selected from 29 entries – as the PLASA entertainment technology trade show returned to Olympia after a pandemic forced absence in 2020.
The judges commented, “this is not just another battery uplighter, but a well-engineered and thought-out lighting system augmented with a wide set of accessories.” They felt it would allow designers a greater degree of creativity in an assortment of lighting applications.
PixelBrick has been carefully crafted by Astera’s R ‘n’ D team and is designed for concerts, events, filming, or broadcast scenarios. It can also be utilised as a compact, light (1.1kg) and exceptionally handy up-lighter or hung anywhere and become a universal light for accenting and texturing buildings or facades. For exterior us

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UK - After many months of forced closure due to COVID restrictions, the Chichester Festival Theatre (CFT) has burst back onto the scene with Daniel Evans’s revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, South Pacific.
CFT is one of the UK’s leading producing theatres, regularly selling out the 1300-seat auditorium and transferring plays and musicals into London’s West End. The Grade II listed venue recently underwent an extensive renovation project followed by by a comprehensive audio upgrade to an EM Acoustics sound system in 2019. This has since been upgraded again to feature EM Acoustics’ flagship award-winning R10 loudspeaker and the medium format HALO-B line array system.
“It was all a bit piecemeal following the renovation, but having replaced our existing outer delay line with EM Acoustics EMS-61s and added EMS-51 front-fills, we wanted to upd

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USA - It may well go down as one of the most moving live music moments never seen. At the conclusion of the We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert, after a bountiful feast of big looks, New York’s own Paul Simon was to take the stage to sing The Boxer, lit only by a soft tungsten glow.
It would have been a very special scene, notes Tom Kenny, lighting designer for the start-studded Central Park show, one that he, like some 80m TV viewers who tuned into the concert, would have loved to have seen had the show not been called off early due to lighting strikes associated with the approaching tropical storm Henri.
In addition to cancelling Simon’s performance, the weather washed out appearances by Bruce Springsteen, Cynthia Erivo, Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, Maluma and The Killers among others. Still, there was much about the evening to celebrate. Over hal

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The Netherlands - Schouwburg Kunstmin is a theatre and performing arts venue in the Dordrecht, which has invested in Robe’s T1 Profile LED moving lights.
The sale - delivered by Robe’s Benelux distributor Controllux - was just before the pandemic shut down the industry in March 2020, and with re-opening now on the horizon, the theatre is looking to add more T1s to the inventory to replace their aging 2Ks on the FOH bridge with an LED source.
Head of lighting Bart Meester and head of technical and facilities Martijn Lohuis were both involved in this latest Robe investment. Bart has been head of lighting at the venue for 15 years.
It followed another set of T1s, LEDWash 300+s and LEDBeam 150s purchased in 2019 for M3, a fully flexible ‘bare floor’ performance space just up the road at Energiehuis, a reimagined old power station building now dedicated to cul
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