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USA - D&M Professional, the owner of Marantz Professional, Denon Professional and Denon DJ, announced at NAMM that it has entered into an agreement with JAM Industries, that its division Erikson Pro will now serve as the exclusive distributor of the D&M Professional brands in Canada.

The announcement was made by Paul Mathis, senior vice president, D&M Professional. Gerry Zegarra, formerly of D&M Professional Canada, will now serve as the main contact, working for Erikson Pro.

Christian Bouchard, VP Erikson Pro, stated, "We're honoured to be chosen by D&M Professional to distribute Denon Professional, Marantz Professional and Denon DJ Products in Canada. Additionally, we are glad to have Gerry join our organisation. His extensive knowledge, industry contacts and dedication to M.I./pro audio makes him a perfect fit for our organization."

"We are elated to be wor

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Welcome News - West End theatres enjoyed another record-breaking year in 2008 despite the economic downturn, figures reveal. The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) said box office takings increased by 3%, totalling more than £480m. Audiences were also up 1% on 2007, reaching 13.8m as musicals, plays and dance performances proved popular. SOLT said attendances weakened in the second half of the year as the economic crisis gathered momentum, but a strong Christmas period boosted the figures. "Last year was a record breaking year, we didn't expect to surpass it or match it," Nica Burns, president of SOLT, told the BBC News website.

"The bottom line is we have very good shows on, full of creative talent both on stage and backstage. It shows we really are the theatre capital of the world," she added. Ms Burns said that new shows including Zorro, Hair

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UK - Orbital Sound has announced details of this year's four-day course, Sound Training for Drama Students 200. The programme, which focuses on theatre sound, will run from 14-17 April at the company's HQ - in Brixton, south London.

Training will be geared toward preparing theatre sound students - and more advanced technical theatre students - for working in the industry. Students will be exposed to the full scope of disciplines involved, including application training from Yamaha and d&b Audiotechnik, specialist sessions on show control, radio microphones, video, communications and networking, and a chance to chat to industry-leading designers, engineers and technical specialists.

Orbital's training manager, Theo Holloway, says that traditionally, demand from drama schools for places on this course has been high. "Orbital Sound has been successfully running these

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UK - Power Logistics sent out a clear message to the mid-sized and smaller events market at The Event Show this January. With an expanded inventory and team in new premises, they can supply a total range of temporary power services.

While the company is known for working with festivals, international tours and major public events such as The Big Chill, V Festival, Queen and Liverpool's giant spider, 'La Machine', it was spreading the message that it can provide services to occasions of every size and style, including business events, local authority-run functions, private parties or charity fundraisers.

"No event is too big or too small for us," said Mike Whitehouse, Power Logistics' business development manager. "We welcome enquiries from organisers at every level of the market who need temporary power for their projects. We can do as little or as much as they

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Germany - Rental company Black Box Music has become a partner for the L-Acoustics K1/Kudo pilot programme in 2009, with managing director Thilo Goos signing up for the scheme in January.

Black Box's K1 Kudo system - the first to arrive in Germany - will ship in early spring, in time for this year's open-air season. The system will comprise 48 K1 line source cabinets, 24 K1-SB subs, 24 SB28 subs, 24 Kudo line source cabinets, 24 dV-DOSC compact line source enclosures and 75 LA8 amplified controllers installed in LA-RAKs.

Goos, who checked out K1 during the Nine Inch Nails US tour in late 2008, comments: "After many years' experience with V-DOSC, we see K1 becoming the new benchmark for arena systems. We are overwhelmed by the sound, especially the amount of low frequency generated by the flown elements. The new system approach, with LA8 amplified controllers sitting in uni

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Slovakia - In January, Slovakia became the latest EU country to embrace the Euro as its national currency, an occasion celebrated in style with a special live TV show broadcast on STV's Channel 1.

The event was staged at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava, and lit by lighting designer Martin Kubánka, using Robe moving lights. It was directed by Branislav Mišík, and saw Kubánka working closely with DoP Vladimír ?ur?anský and set designer Daniel Šichman on the event, which was produced for STV1 by Red House.

Attending VIPs included Slovakian Prime Minister Róbert Fico and President Ivan Gašparovi?, José Manuel Barosso, President of the European Commission and President of European Central Bank, Jean-Claud Trichet. They were joined by a host of other high ranking European politicians and leading bankers.

The Robe fixtures used were 18 ColorSpot 1200E ATs,

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UK - Audio consultancy and equipment supplier KMR Audio has supplied The University of Limerick in southern Ireland with a range of new equipment for its Centre for Computational Musicology and Computer Music.

The centre has recently added two new music studio suites and upgraded its already extensive facilities. These developments include two custom built undergraduate studios and the redevelopment of the main postgraduate suite.

The centre's director Jürgen Simpson said: "Throughout the development of the new studios, KMR proved to be an excellent partner, ensuring that we got the best possible balance between performance and value. Their advice and flexibility make them an ideal source for professional audio equipment."

KMR equipped the suite with a Digidesign HD3Accel Pro-Tools system configured with a D-Command ES 24 channel desk, two 192 I/O interfaces, and

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UK - National Boat Shows and its feature consultant Johnstone Events drew on the expertise of Arena Seating Special Structures division to provide bespoke structures for several attractions at the London International Boat Show this month.

From temporary harbours, to canoeing and miniature sail-boat pools, the division supplied the supporting structures which allowed nautical clients to let their imaginations run wild.

Working with Johnstone Events' Andy Johnstone, Arena Seating helped implement a new concept, the Suzuki Indoor Harbour, for Suzuki GB. This consisted of an indoor harbour built at London's ExCel to exhibit a range of motor launches and outboard engines. Arena Seating provided the substructure on which the exhibitors mounted their own branding and display. Special features added by the company included a ramp and several staircases, handrails plus the main, squar

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Croatia - L-Acoustics' Croatian distributor Dicroic has installed a number of sound systems into two new arenas in Croatia, built to host the 2009 World Men's Handball Championships.

The multifunctional state-of-the-art Spaladium Arena, with a seating capacity of 12,000, has opened in the centre of where it's expected to become the centre of important sporting, entertainment and business events, enabling Split to host events which were previously too large. To the west of the country in Porec, the Zatika Arena has also opened with an L-Acoustics system. This multi-purpose sports hall can seat 3,700.

Established in 1993, Dicroic - also located in Split - has become very active in Croatia and other former Yugoslavian territories, handling turnkey sales and installation of pro audio, video, multimedia and lighting equipment. Working closely with L-Acoustics' head of installation

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Germany - Qi - Eine Palast Phantasieis the latest show in the Berlin Friedrichstadt palace using W-DMX by Wireless Solution Sweden. On probably the largest stage on earth, the ensemble offers dance, ballet, energy-fuelled music and artistry in haute couture costumes in front of an elaborate stage set.

The 100 artists are supported by an experienced lighting crew supervised by Olaf Eichler, and the newest generation lighting equipment from Clay Paky, Vari*Lite, and MA Lighting - all controlled by W-DMX.

Five Wireless Solution W-DMX S-1 Transmitters and 10 W-DMX BlackBox R-512 Receivers are utilised for wireless DMX transmission. In total, the technical crew can control three grandMA full-size, one grandMA light, seven MA NSP, two MA 2Port Node on PC and five MA Digital Dimmer 12 x 2.3kVA. The network controls, among other fixtures, 14 Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 300, 13 Var

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UK - Premier League football team Stoke City's Britannia Stadium has installed a new scoreboard featuring a digiLED d11N screen.

Measuring eight modules wide by five high (8.448m x 5.28m), the 44.6m2 can be used to provide a wide range of other information to match-goers and generate further revenue for the club by being used for advertising.

"Using displayLED's modular and highly flexible digiSPORT software, we helped the club to devise a content package that includes score and player information, live half-time messages, web site content, goal replays when the match is being televised, footage of Stoke City's greatest moments to get the crowd going, advertising and a range of other things," says displayLED's Matt Hassock.

"One of the real beauties of the system is that it is all run from a standard, reasonably powerful PC running Windows Vista with a fast gr

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UK - A formal announcement was made yesterday by Mr Xianggui Wang, president and founder of the Soundking Group Company Limited of Ningbo, China, to confirm that it has acquired the assets, trademark and intellectual property of Cadac Electronics plc with immediate effect. Under the ownership of Soundking Group, all 25 Cadac employees are being retained, with R&D and production continuing to be based in the UK.

"I am personally delighted that I have been able to bring the world-famous Cadac brand and its outstanding products into the Soundking Group," says Wang. I am also extremely happy that we have been able to retain all Cadac employees and to protect their jobs in this time of economic uncertainty. The Cadac R&D team will form the European core of Soundking Group's global R&D effort, enabling us to draw on Cadac's high level of expertise in analogue and digital au

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Europe - D&M Installation (DMi) and Hawking Technology have signed an exclusive agreement for the distribution of the US manufacturer's CI networking products in Europe by DMi, with immediate effect. With the agreement, DMi now offers a professional range of network products to partner the new generation of AV signal source components from Denon, Marantz and Escient.

The Californian based company's product range includes Wireless Access Points, Gigabit switches and wireless security cameras. With the addition of selected Hawking Technology products and systems to the DMi portfolio, D&M Europe's dedicated CI division now offers integrated network solutions to interface with the latest Ethernet and WIFI network enabled products from Denon, Marantz and Escient, as well as with WiFi control systems like the Marantz RC9001 touch-screen universal remote control handset.

Commenting o

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The Netherlands - Anolis LED fixtures are providing a creative and practical lighting solution for six multi-functional rooms, three conference rooms, the hotel's restaurant, and the separate espresso bar, at the Figi Hotel, a fully integrated, conference and business facility in Zeist.

The Hotel approached Arnhem-based lighting supplier Relight when they wanted a change of lights for the six multifunctional rooms that double as bedrooms and conference suites - with the aid of a movable partition, foldaway beds, electric roll-down screen and beamers.

Relight in turn consulted Anolis distributor Controllux, whose Andras Pollé helped specify the fixtures and advise on how to design the installation to maximise the desired effect. The reason they chose Anolis was" due to the quality of the light output, in particular, by the SmartWhite fixtures, the compatibility with

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USA - Two Robert Juliat Victor 1800W followspots have been installed at the new Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Centre in New York City. The elaborate transformation of the world-famous Tully enclave of music, theatre, dance and film was part of a full renovation of all Lincoln Centre theatres. This massive project required the pick-up and refurbishment of 150 existing fixtures and included the purchase of a few new ones, including two Robert Juliat Victor followspots.

Consultant Fisher Dachs specified the product, which was purchased through Barbizon Lighting. The Hall's associate director of concert hall production Terence Larsen was thrilled to get the Victors for Tully Hall. "I'd taken one of my stagehands with me to see the Victor at Fisher Dachs," says Larsen. "I thought it was exactly what we needed for Alice Tully Hall, which reopens February '09."

(Jim E

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Poland - Eight F30 sx+ DLP projectors from projectiondesign were used to create two high-resolution animated panoramic displays directly on to the historic walls of Sanguszko Fortress in Poland's capital Warsaw for the 10th birthday event of Polish company, AT Media.

Polish live events specialist Moov More Video used the eight F30 sx+ projectors which were combined with Dataton WATCHOUT4 software to geometrically blend and correct images on to two 24m diameter cylindrical 120-degree panoramic surfaces. Each panoramic display produced a resolution of more than 5 Megapixels and formed part of a system that wowed AT Media staff and customers with a two-hour long animated programme in high definition.

Industry veteran Thierry Ollivier, regional sales manager for projectiondesign, says: "The unique way in which our projectors are integrated is testament to their durability, hi

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UK - Creating a fine balance between a teaching facility and a professional audio theatre is no easy feet. With the help of leading audio specialists Shure Distribution UK, The Royal Grammar School was able to transform the school venue into a professional sounding theatre that has become a huge hit for pupils and attracted professional artists from outside the school.

The new equipment, provided by Shure Distribution UK, has been installed following the theatre's first year of operation, which was originally designed for theatrical and classical orchestral events. The equipment had to be of a professional standard for hosting live rock and jazz concerts and portable enough for use in performances outside the school.

The new installation includes a PA system consisting of QSC's HPR 122I monitors, HPR 153I mid-high range speakers and HPR 181I sub woofers. The Shure DFR22 digita

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USA - The new building for the Booker T. Washington High School of Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, TX, features a theatre with automated rigging and control provided by J. R. Clancy.

Working with theatre consultant Encore Design Group and Dallas installing dealer StageLight, Clancy supplied a total of 24 PowerLift Automated Hoists: nine with 0-180 fpm variable speed and eight with 0-120 fpm variable speed, all with 1,250-pound capacity, for use with scenery, travellers and a portal tormentor; and seven with 2,000-pound capacity and a fixed speed of 20 fpm, for electrics and the orchestra shell.

In addition, Clancy provided a Zetex Plus fire safety curtain with a motorised line shaft hoist, for easy opening and closing during normal use. The line shaft is equipped with a hydraulic speed control to allow regulation of speed during an emergency descent. Zetex Plus fabric me

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China - Shure Incorporated reports that it has struck two further blows in the company's fight against counterfeiting as a result of close cooperation with Chinese authorities.

An investigation initiated by Shure in Futian District, Shenzhen, in mainland China led to a raid by the Shenzhen Administration for Industry and Commerce (AIC) on a wholesale shop, Sanze Electronics, in the Zhongdian Electronics and Technology Building on Huaqiang Road, and another at an associated warehouse.

"Counterfeiting is not just a problem for Shure," said Sandy LaMantia, Shure's president and CEO. "This is a serious issue that impacts our entire industry. Every brand of professional audio and consumer electronics is at risk because of this criminal activity. Shure continues to cooperate with other brands in joint actions and criminal prosecutions in China to present a united fron

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UK - Peacocks feathers, the twisted branches of trees and other non-traditional Christmas images have been projected onto the Grand Theatre in Blackpool over the past fourteen weeks by EMF Technology.

Stuart Roberts, of EMF confirms that it was a challenging brief, including the installation of a fully automated 7kw Hardware Xenon projector with slide changing system. The client, Blackpool City Council, required the projection to run for six hours per night, automatically switch on and off and reset without a live operator being present.

Drawings were completed for a custom made cabin, with bespoke cooling, ventilation, weatherproof and security features, so that the projector could be situated outdoors in some of Blackpool's most in-hospitable winter weather.

EMF designed and produced a specialist switching system to enable the smooth running of the projector and the automa

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UK - Music tutors at Preston College have torn up the timetables for 94 students in its Performing Arts Academy this week. The students will spend a fortnight working in mini-production units, in a move reminiscent of the hit film, School of Rock.They are tasked with project managing eight live band performances for the opening of the College's state-of-the-art Roland Music Academy. The official launch event takes place at the College's Park Campus on Moor Park Avenue, on the evening of February 10 with celebrity guests invited to attend.

Each project group is made up of students of mixed ages and abilities, including performing artists, music technologists and sound engineers. At the end of the fortnight, students will have to submit a detailed summary of their learning experiences to be eligible for credit towards their formal qualifications.

Dan Clarke, the Preston C

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USA - Bandit Lites is working with the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business again in 2009. This is the fourth consecutive year that Bandit will be providing equipment as well as assisting in the lighting design and direction for the six-concert showcase series.

The Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business Showcase Series is a student production run by Belmont University students. The students assist in all aspects of the showcase, from lighting and sound to stage design to the acts performing. As a result, students receive hands-on experience in concert production. The series of concerts represents a wide variety of genres including Christian, Urban/Pop, Country, Rock, and everything in between. There is also a final showcase featuring the Best of the Best.

Belmont student and Country Showcase producer, Erik Parker commented, "From personally bein

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UK - The Event Studio was founded in January 2009 by Jamie Simon, after recognising a gap in the events market for an independent and dedicated design & production agency that provided its clients with a flexible and dedicated partner, say the company.

Having spent 5 years at Impulse Events and risen to the position of event director, Jamie produced a wide range of corporate events for a plethora of clients; spanning from a Jewellery launch for Calvin Klein, summer party for TalkBack Thames, an 'around the world party' for 2500 employees of Lloyds TSB at Olympia, to producing 3 christmas party venues, catering for over 2500 guests, each Christmas season, culminating in winning 3 Silver Eventia Awards at the 2008 ceremony.

In addition to working with corporate and private clients, The Event Studio is well placed to partner with event management companies, venues, caterers and p

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USA - NSCA has announced the winners of its 2009 Excellence in Business Awards today: Copp Systems Integrator will receive the Strategic Advancement award; Sharp's Audio Visual is being honoured for its Marketing Strategies; Halco Life Safety Systems will be recognised for Project Development; Verrex Corporation is receiving the honour for its Growth Strategies; and Safeguard Security and Communications is the recipient of the Recurring Revenue award.

"Business owners and managers are all evaluating ways to run their companies more smoothly and cut costs," said Ray Bailey, president of Lone Star Communications and Business and Leadership Conference planning committee member. "These companies exemplify the strategies needed to ensure a growing and stable business during tough economic times."

Copp Systems Integrator was looking for additional ways to grow bu

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