UK - beyerdynamic GB Ltd has announced that as from PLASA07 (9-12 September) they are sole UK distributor for MC² Audio. Due to MC² Audio's alignment with sister company XTA electronics, beyerdynamic can now offer a more complete audio solution, the company says.

beyerdynamic managing director John Midgley said: "The introduction of MC2 amplifiers alongside the XTA range of signal processors means that we can now offer an unbeatable combination for any live or installed application. The coming together of these two brands which are synonymous with the very best in world class audio and innovation makes our future look very exciting."

MC² Audio managing director, Ian McCarthy said: "We are really excited about this appointment as our UK sales definitely need a fresh approach. I am delighted that John and beyer are taking this over in the UK as I feel that cust

USA - Bandit Lites recently worked with the University of Tennessee Athletics Department and Host Communications/The Vol Network to host the first-ever Big Orange Blast.

The free community-wide pep rally kicked-off the 2007 UT home football season. Festivities featured performances by Bandit's own public relations manager, Kimberly Ainge in addition to Waycross and Jason D. Williams. Tennessee head football coach, Phillip Fulmer and select members of the Tennessee football team also participated with the Pride of the Southland Marching Band, UT cheerleaders and Smokey.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Star Events Group has launched its new website (www.stareventsgroup.com) that offers "a host of new and unique features that will make choosing a Star Events Group stage or service even easier than before".

Features include 'Stage Choosing Wizard' which allows the visitor to quickly and simply determine which stage will suit a particular event by choosing options from the drop down menus. The Stage Comparator compares all the main technical specifications and other useful information of any, or all, of Star Events Group's range of stages, while the Gallery shows what can be achieved with each staging line.

Users with Login codes can get access to all the documents pertaining to a particular event. Star Events Group can host this service on request and the service will soon extend to venues that it operates in on a contract basis.

There is also a Useful Links s

UK - You can drive right through St John's Town of Dalry almost before you have finished saying its name. Yet this picturesque town in southwest Scotland now offers a range and quality of live performance which puts much larger places in the shade.

Local resident Mark Stoves invited Maltbury to advise on the staging as part of a major refurbishment plan. MD Philip Sparkes made a site visit to view the hall and a Metrodeck package was agreed on which offered a wide range of stage and tiering layouts for the space.

After only a few months the hall is buzzing with activity once again. As Mark Stoves says: "Since purchasing the Metrodeck, the Hall has seen a significant increase in the number and variety of new events and its success has exceeded all expectations."

Then, shortly before Christmas, Jenny Harvie of local Dalry School saw a performance at the hall and like

UK - Projected Image Digital (PID) has supplied, installed programmed and commissioned a stunning live video artwork in the atrium of Edinburgh College of Art's Evolution House building. The customised system comprises four Catalyst DL1 moving head projectors, two special Catalyst digital media servers and a Pharos LPC2 DMX controller.

Originally constructed as multipurpose offices, the building was recently acquired by the College and now houses its main library, several art studios and administration.

New York-based architect/designer Shashi Caan of the Shashi Caan Collective - and a former ECA graduate - was asked to design an interactive public artwork for the new building that would create a special ambience and imbibe the space with meaning.

Utilising different elements of projected art - stills, video and animations - created by the students, offered the opportunity f

Belgium - AED Rent has become the first European customer for QSC Audio's new PowerLight 3 Class D amplifier. The Belgian company this month confirmed an initial investment in 80 top-of-the-range PL380's as it upgrades its rental stock.

AED Rent specialises in providing dry-rental support to production and rental companies (rather than end users); although sharing its early history with QSC's territorial distributors, AED bvba, the two companies today operate independently, though co-operatively, under separate ownership.

Managing director of AED Rent, Eddy van Nuffel, says that the new amplifier was earmarked for purchase as soon as it was announced, and they began beta-testing back in March. "We conducted listening tests and the amplifier sounded extremely musical, with impressive Class D efficiency right across the frequency spectrum," Eddy van Nuffield reports.

USA - A revamped sound exhibit of the Detroit Science Center has seen the installation of Chauvet COLORtubes EQ by DJS Commercial. The LED tubes offer the possibility of mounting a real-time sound frequency visualiser. As a result, visitors in the experimental room view and show off the sound they create. Each tube can be addressed to respond to a different frequency, from bass to treble, in the pulsating manner of a graphic equaliser on a stereo. DJS Commercial hung 28 of them horizontally encased in a window, so that they can be seen flashing from outside the Jam Room, throughout the centre.

Next, designers turned their attention to the room itself. Exhibit facilities manager Ed Gorczyk wanted to give it a "high tech" feel. The 15sq.ft room was set up like a Saturday Night Live stage of the Seventies, with a huge, slowly whirling fan set into the wall behind m

UK - HSL supplied and co-ordinated lighting and sound production and 40 crew covering all 10 arenas at Creamfields 2007 for producers Loudsound Events. This, the largest Creamfields event to date featured a host of international DJ's and bands including main stage double headliners Groove Armada and the Chemical Brothers, and was the second at their new site in Daresbury near Warrington.

It's the sixth year that HSL has supplied technical production to the UK's best-known dance event. They brought ML Executives onboard as their audio partners to deal with all-things sonic, and all departments worked closely with event production manager Lee Charteris.

HSL's on site co-ordinator was Ian Stevens, He collaborated with project manager Mike Oates who oversaw all the paperwork, advance logistics and prep.

Two dedicated HSL crew chiefs - Dave Jolly and Jonny Harper were appointed,

UK - Sonic Distribution recently celebrated five years in the business and has just acquired a new 5,500sq.ft distribution and warehousing facility and offices.

Sonic MD James Young comments: "It's been an amazing five years. In that short time we've been able to pick and choose leading brands to offer producers and musicians the ultimate solution from the ground up, no matter what their experience or set-ups, from bedroom studios right up to Real World studios.

"With our free loan service and Studio Sonic, we also offer the easiest ways for people to try before they buy. And with the new website, new lines and a brand new office complex we can only go from strength to strength. Here's to the next five years."

(Jim Evans)

UK - After mixing Van Morrison for two consecutive years at the Montreux Jazz Festival on the house Digidesign Venue system, John Willis now has a system of his own.

In fact Production House, the Belfast-based company set up back in 1995, had already made the decision to purchase by the time the sound engineer arrived at this year's event on Lake Geneva - for which Digidesign were again a major sponsor. Placing an order with Digidesign resellers, Marquee Audio, he admits "I'd had my heart set on it."

The order included a complete Venue D Show System with Sidecar extender and FOH, Stage Rack, DSP and HDx cards. At the same time Production House purchased a second digital multicore system.

The company has been buying from Marquee Audio since its inception - commencing with an L'Acoustics dV-DOSC rig. "While we may not be their biggest customer we have always enj

UK - Allen & Heath chose the recent PLASA Show (9-12 September, Earls Court, London) to acknowledge the individual achievements of its international partners, with the presentation of the annual distributor awards.

The most prestigious accolade was presented to Audio-Technica in Germany, which was declared 'Distributor of the Year'. The award recognises the best overall performance by an international distributor during Allen & Heath's 2007 fiscal year, and was presented to the company's product manager, Markus Sinsel, by Allen & Heath's sales director, Bob Goleniowski, at a ceremonial dinner hosted during the show.

Konsbud Audio in Poland received the award for 'Most Improved Territory in Europe', Stagecraft Intl in The Philippines was awarded 'Most Improved Territory in Asia', and 'Most Improved Territory in The Americas' went to Sonotec in Peru.

"We are extremely ple

UK - The Klark Teknik business unit of Telex Communications UK confirmed at PLASA07 that it has purchased the assets of the SuperMAC and HyperMAC audio networking business previously operated by Sony Oxford, a division of Sony United Kingdom, effective September 2007. The assets include all the SuperMAC and HyperMAC technology implementations currently available from Sony Oxford.

SuperMAC technology is the basis of Audio Engineering Society standard AES50-2005: AES standard for digital audio engineering - High-resolution multichannel audio interconnection.

Klark Teknik will promote the use of AES50, SuperMAC and HyperMAC and license the use of the technology. Support for existing licensees will transfer from Sony Oxford to Klark Teknik. Compliance with the Audio Engineering Society patent policy will be unaffected. Klark Teknik will additionally seek standardisation for the Hy

USA - American Idol's successful North American tour commenced in July in Sunrise, Florida and runs until 23 September, when the tour closes in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Lighting designer Alex Reardon worked with Upstaging to meet the various artistic demands of the show. The tour features the TV show American Idol's "Final 10" contestants with the design process beginning, by necessity, long before the finalists were chosen. Thus Reardon had to design the show based on themes rather than personalities.

Furthermore, without knowing who the performers were, a certain "talent contingency" existed, placing even greater demands on the tour's production aspects. Reardon specified a Kinesys motor control system to move the show's lighting rig during the show, providing added design flexibility and also some unique effects.

"With a limited bu

UK - Specialist pro audio resellers Marquee Audio is taking on the UK distribution of Vienna-based AV Digital's product portfolio, with immediate effect.

The appointment was confirmed by the manufacturer's business development manager, Claus Renner, at PLASA07, where Marquee was presenting the digital Variodyn D1 system.

AV Digital was created in the year 2000 out of the former AV-TS division of Siemens Austria, who have accumulated widespread knowledge of highly complex sound systems, especially in the field of public address and conference technology, over a long period of time.

The Variodyn D1 allows processing, distribution and permanent control of near limitless functions and tasks. The system modules, each with its own DSP, can be connected via Ethernet and standard cabling, while existing local area networks may be shared. At the same time the processing capacity of t

UK - To celebrate 800 years to the day since King John signed the first charter which created the city of Liverpool, the city arranged some pretty serious events for Tuesday 28 August. Following a weekend of street parties, the big birthday itself began with a lunchtime pageant featuring 800 people in costume representing Liverpool's icons, past and present, and the day culminated in a 20-minute firework display at the Pier Head.

Event Design Logistics, which specialises in outdoor event design, site and production management, worked closely with Liverpool City Council to make this finale event go like clockwork. The display, supplied by Fantastic Fireworks, was set to the music of Liverpool's finest composers and included 'hit' firework sequences from past events.

Adding an additional layer to the fireworks were 12 B52 5kW Syncrolite searchlights at the Pier Head, plus two fo

UK - PLASA 07, the first PLASA Show managed in-house by PLASA Events, has been judged an 'outstanding success' by exhibitors and visitors alike - with a large number of this year's exhibitors already confirming their intention to return to the show in 2008. The show featured over 500 new product launches and attracted over 50 new exhibitors.

With the show floor packed on Monday morning, PLASA Events also announced its acquisition of the A.C. Lighting North trade show, bringing the PLASA Events' team's expertise and drive to this fast-growing event for the north of the UK.

PLASA 07's radical new layout saw an easy-to-navigate, one-floor event occupy both Earls Court 1 and 2, combined with lower noise limits and a smoke-free atmosphere - plus exhibitors' determination to make the most of the new opportunities with brand new stand designs. The massive growth in innovative video a

UK - Bristol-based fabrication specialists Fineline designed and built several specially customised items for Muse's summer stadium shows for Production Manager Chris Vaughan of The Production Office.

Among the projects was fitting a Kawai MP8 electronic grand piano into the shell of a classic instrument. The classic piano, also made by Kawai, was shipped directly to Fineline's warehouse in Bristol from the factory in Japan with no keys or strings. Liaising closely with Muse backline technician Des Broadbery, Fineline's Dave Harris then took delivery of a Kawai MP8 electronic grand piano, which had to be fitted inside the original.

The grand piano was carefully inserted into Fineline's 5-axis router, where the key bay was machined into the correct shape to receive the MP8 keyboard. The MP8 was then stripped right down to its component parts and mounted correctly into the grand

UK - Le Maitre chose the recent PLASA Show in London to celebrate the company's 30th birthday. Company directors Rick Wilson and Karen Haddon were joined by members of the media and industry luminaries to help them celebrate their great achievement.

In a short address, Wilson gave praise to all those people, past and present, who had helped them on the way: "Le Maitre has benefited from a great deal of help from both the industry and the media," he said. Karen Haddon added: "It's hard to believe that from such small beginnings, Le Maitre is now such an established international brand."

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Recently formed Scattered Media has announced the launch of its second exhibition - evenTech Ireland 2008 which is scheduled for 18-19 November, 2008, at the RDS, Dublin.

Scattered Media's Darren Brechin says: "As with other regions, the scope of development in Ireland now presents the perfect opportunity for the evenTech Ireland forum and similarly, the event will give a well-timed boost to the Irish entertainment and installation technology industry."

The launch of evenTech Ireland 2008 closely follows the announcement of evenTech Scotland 2008 - scheduled for 20-21 February, 2008 at the Marriott Hotel, Glasgow.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Wireless Solution Sweden announced the winners of their Outstanding EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Asia) Dealer Award during PLASA 07.

Lightpower of Germany and Leifull Light & Sound of China won the Dealer award, and Golden Sea from China was recognised as an Outstanding OEM Dealer. The winners were awarded with a special limited-edition GoldBox, custom made by Wireless Solution in celebration of W-DMX BlackBox unit number 10,000. The awards were given in a special ceremony held at the Wireless Solution booth.

"We are so grateful to have the support of such strong dealers in Europe and Asia," said Niclas Arvidsson, international sales manager and founder of Wireless Solution. "We wanted to share the celebration of our 10,000th unit by recognising those dealers who have helped make this possible."

(Jim Evans)

UK - CUK Audio has been awarded Audica Professional Distributor of the Year 2006/2007, with a presentation that took place at PLASA07.

Launched just one year ago at PLASA06, Audica Professional reports exceptional growth in its first year and its MICROseries audio systems for background music and commercial AV are now distributed in over 25 countries worldwide. The company chose to celebrate its first anniversary by giving an award for the distributor that has shown the highest level of market development.

Derek West, sales director of Audica Professional, presented the award to CUK Audio's MD, Stuart Thomson, sales manager Alan Lochhead and general manager Stuart Cunningham. On giving the award, which will now be made annually, West commented that business development, service and support were all given equal consideration when making the choice of the winner.

Glasgow-based

UK - "One day I was working on Starlight Express in Edinburgh, the next I was in hospital with the prospect of being unable to work for many weeks." Chris Luscombe is a freelance production electrician, who is now singing the praises of Light Relief for its support during an extremely lean time.

The injury wasn't even work related - Chris was walking down some steps when he twisted his ankle, to be told in hospital that he had both fractured and dislocated it. Initially he was told he wouldn't be able to work for five to six weeks, but he soon found out that his job meant he would actually be off work for 14 weeks. Chris's wife works for him, looking after the administration side of the business, so no work meant no income at all.

Chris said: "We have two young children, a mortgage, lease on a car - all the usual trappings - so it was all a real shock. I

UK -QSC Audio announced the appointment of three new territorial distributors - covering Germany, HUngary and Thailand - during a press conference at PLASA 07.

Shure Distribution GmbH is QSC's new distributor in Germany. Greg McLagan, vice president global sales at QSC Audio, commented, "We were looking for a partner sharing our passion for sound and performance, being dedicated to QSC and our products. We are very happy having found exactly this partner in Shure Distribution."

Shure Distribution's newly-appointed product manager for QSC, Marcus Bäumler, responded: "We see the complete line of products as having huge potential in the German market. Over the years QSC has put together a very competitive portfolio of products, all of which have a convincing set of features and strong benefits for customers and users in Germany."

QSC Audio has appointed Int

Italy - For the debut of the new 500 (a car that made history in Italy and Europe in post-war times), Fiat did it in the big way. After a long wait, on the 4th of July the new compact car was revealed within the spectacular "Welcome 500" live show. For the first time ever, a new car model was presented to a worldwide audience (via streaming web, a major Italian TV network and maxiscreens in the largest squares in Turin) live from the Murazzi alongside the river Po.

Coemar was there with 50 Wash Flex, 50 Spot Extreme and 24 ParLite Led. And on the next two days the show was staged a further 30 Italian cities, too.

(Jim Evans)

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