Mexico - Legendary LD Jonathan Smeeton was at the sound:check Xpo in Mexico City to 'present and be presented'. On the 'present' part, Smeeton gave a lighting seminar sponsored by Elation Professional to a standing room-only crowd at the large Mexican show. Later, he was presented with sound:check's 2013 Technical Achievement Award for lighting.

"This was the 12th of the sound:check Xpo Awards. It's the only event in México where engineers from the show business industry are awarded for their professional achievements in different segments such as audio, video, lighting, staging," said Jorge Urbano, CEO of sound:check Magazine. "Jonathan Smeeton was chosen because of his long professional career inside the lighting industry and because he still been in force designing for today top artists... Jonathan is a nice example for everyone in the show busine

UK - Lumonic Ltd , designer and manufacturer of LED lights under the ilumo brand have moved.

Mike Edwards, Director at Lumonic says, "Our expansion as a business over the last year has allowed us to search for and find premises that are now much more suited to our needs. Our new premises are more than four times the size and afford all the requirements that we wanted to best serve the needs of our business and customers. We are excited about the move."

The new address is: Lumonic Ltd, ilumo House, Broadoak Business Park C5, Ashburton Road West, Trafford Park, Manchester M17 1RW. Telephone numbers and email addresses remain the same.

(Jim Evans)

Australia - The AUD$135.8m redevelopment of Hamer Hall was part of a larger revitalisation project for Arts Centre Melbourne and the first step in the Southbank Cultural Precinct Redevelopment plan. The project was overseen by theatre consultants Schuler Shook, and designed by architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall.

The heritage listed Arts Centre Melbourne is the largest and busiest performing arts complex in the southern hemisphere; Hamer Hall is the concert hall within the centre. Home to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Hamer Hall also hosts a wide variety of performance events throughout the year, from theatre to rock and roll.

Jands supplied much of the venue's lighting including 20 Vari-Lite VLX's, 28 ETC Desire D40 Vivid LED Pars, and over 50 ETC Source Fours.

Adrian Sterritt, head of lighting at the Melbourne venue, says his team chose the VLX Wash luminaires followin

USA - When Holland, Michigan's Central Wesleyan Church celebrated its 115th anniversary and paid off the mortgage on its current worship centre, the church's leadership team immediately knew what their first project should be: acoustic treatments and a new sound system for their 2,800-seat, fan-shaped main sanctuary. After a careful search for the right systems consultant, the church hired Dallas-based Acoustic Dimensions, which created an equipment specification for the space built on L-Acoustics' Kudo platform.

According to Central Wesleyan facilities manager Dwayne Dreyer, the church knew what system it liked almost from the very start. "Our technical director, Paul VanDyke, audio engineers Justin Dreyer and Michael Nieboer, and I went down to Dallas to visit with Ryan Knox and Steve Reed at Acoustic Dimensions, and they took us to half a dozen sites that they had engine

USA - New Orleans' latest traditional jazz venue, the Little Gem Saloon, recently celebrated its rebirth and grand opening with Outline. The Little Gem Saloon has installed Outline's loudspeaker and iMode networking and control technology at its two-floor facility, designed to give patrons the feel of an old-world, traditional jazz-style setting. Outline's iMode-based sound system provides the venue a crystal-clear, transparent sonic foundation for delivering authentic live jazz.

Located at the head of New Orleans' famed 'Jazz Alley' on the 400 block of South Rampart Street, the Little Gem Saloon has been resurrected on the site of its original 1903 location. Jazz historians unanimously agree that no other single location is more significant to the founding and evolution of jazz than the Little Gem Saloon.

"When I was approached to provide a sound design for the Little Ge

UK - An Allen & Heath digital iLive system was employed by Scottish sound hire company Ward-Steedsy Audio for the recent Red Bull Chasers cycle event in Edinburgh.

The event posed several challenges as there was a need for three PA systems with local inputs at each system mixed and distributed to all three systems simultaneously.

The solution was to locate an iLive-R72 surface at the start line, a MixRack half way up the hill and a second rack at the finish line. Local inputs at the surface included audio feed from the video playback, the start-line MC's microphone and audio inputs for the start signal. The surface also handled outputs to the OB truck and outputs to the start line PA system.

Half way up the hill, connected via 120m of Cat5 the first MixRack had local inputs from the Red Bull DJ truck, together with outputs for the second PA system adjacent to the DJ truck, a

UK - Baldwin Boxall is celebrating 30 years and, as part of this, visitors to their exhibition stand this year at Firex 2013 (13-16 May, NEC Birmingham, Hall 3 H10) will be able to sup a special brew of Bumble Bee (an exclusive ale from Harveys, Sussex). "

Be sure to check the label on the bottle - we are sure you will recognise some familiar faces! You may even recognise the buildings even though they are in disguise as a beehive!" says the company.

(Jim Evans)

UK - QED fielded no fewer than 19 Christie high-end projectors to meet one of their most complex projection-mapping challenges ever for BBC's Red Nose Day.

The 25th edition of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day 'Funny For Money' TV broadcast has so far raised a record amount of £75m for charities in the UK and Africa and was watched by millions of people across the UK.

Brought in by content creators, Framestore Labs, and working in the main studio at London's BBC Television Centre, QED fielded their front line armoury of Christie high-brightness 3-chip DLP projectors, including eight Roadster WU20K-J WUXGA DLP projectors, six Roadster HD20K-J HD projectors and five WU12K-M WUXGA projectors.

Said QED director, Paul Wigfield, "From our previous work for BBC there were no doubts about our ability to deliver such a complex technical project, but the big guarantee that we nee

The Netherlands - Penn Elcom GmbH has acquired Netherlands-based flightcase manufacturer Flightware BV in an amicable agreement which will "strengthen and diversify The Penn Elcom Group's flight case product design capabilities and ranges yet further".

The agreement was reached between Thomas Mostert CEO of Penn Elcom GmbH, the distribution arm of the Penn Elcom Group in Continental Europe, and Marcel Vlot, MD of Flightware, who is now planning to leave the industry to pursue other interests.

Roger Willems, chairman of the Penn Elcom Group comments, "Marcel is delighted that his business has been delivered into good hands, and that the innovation and standing that he's built up over the last 30 years of dedication to the industry will be continued."

He adds that Flightware's history of producing high quality hardware and accessories for flightcase constru

Korea - Dongseo University's Sohyang Arts Centre is the newest and most technically advanced performing arts venue in Busan, the second-largest city in South Korea. Outfitted with a Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system and sound reinforcement system, the theatre is sonically suited to host a spectrum of events ranging from musical theatre to orchestral and rock concerts.

According to the AV systems integrator for the project, the current primary use of the venue is for musical theatre. However, Song Dae-young, general director of the Sohyang Arts Centre, insisted in planning that the hall acoustics and sound system be able to handle a wide variety of events. In light of that requirement, Constellation was a logical solution for the space.

The Constellation system at Sohyang is designed to create ambient acoustic environments ranging from an intimate chamber music hall to

Canada - After 12 studio albums, numerous international concerts, and developing the well earned reputation as 'one of the premiere bands in Canadian music history', Blue Rodeo kicked off 2013 with their celebratory 25 Years tour.

Playing theatres and small arenas around Canada, the production needed a show pack that could adjust to a range of audience sizes, while still remaining manageable for a relatively small crew. With the help of Apex Sound & Light, in Toronto, Blue Rodeo was able to keep the entire show to only one truck. Apex account manager Chris James was especially impressed, commenting, "It's almost unheard of to have an arena show with audio, video, lighting and 15 ft of backline all in one 53 ft trailer. Especially as an easy pack, and not a total nightmare."

With smooth load-ins, usually running less than three hours, and even faster load-outs, Blue R

USA - For the eighth year in a row, CAST Software has sponsored the USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology) Southwest Student Design Competition, an annual event which recognises young talent in the categories of Lighting, Sound, Set and Costume Design, Stage Management and Scenic Technology.

Each year, CAST bestows the winner of the Lighting Design category with an educational wysiwyg license, and announces that this year's winner is University of Oklahoma student, Leahe Knott, who scooped the prize for her work on Peter Oswald's translation of Friedrich Schiller's play, Mary Stuart. In a review of the production for the University's Routes website, Laurel Dix noted, "The purity and subtlety of Leahe Knott's lighting draws out each brilliant bit of colour from Lloyd Cracknell's sumptuous costumes."

Knott herself explains: "The story of Mar

UK - Now in its third year, Sennheiser UK's series of roadshows is aimed at the systems integration and professional audio markets. It is steadily increasing in popularity with pre-registration at an unprecedented level for 2013.

Once again using stately homes as a backdrop, Sennheiser will host three events during May and June. The first is once is again at Edinburgh's Hopetoun House on 21 May, followed by Carlton Towers in Yorkshire on 23 May then finally Knebworth House, Hertfordshire on 5 June.

The roadshows offer an educational and informative series of seminars and hands on workshops, playing an integral part in helping Sennheiser's customers achieve more from their working relationships and equipment, as well as offering support around the third-party brands that the company distributes.

"Each year we look at the issues that are affecting the industry and how we

USA - When the alternative rock band Neon Trees first burst onto the music scene, the four member band had no idea how quickly their lives would change. In February 2013, the group launched their most expansive North American tour opening for Maroon 5, with multiple tour dates across the globe set to follow immediately after.

As the production team prepared to bring the group's latest album Picture Show to life, lighting designer Matt Guminski would be inheriting part of the largest moving light rig they had ever used and they would capitalize on this by using the power and performance of the VL880 Spot luminaire from Philips Vari-Lite.

"I've been out with Neon Trees since May of last year when I joined them during the middle of their previous tour," began Guminski. "On that tour we really only had a ground package with small moving lights and strobes but

South Africa - Alistair Kilbee, managing director of Gearhouse Splitbeam, is proving over and over again that South Africa has what it takes to offer a technical solution for international Broadway production; the latest being Jersey Boys.

This multi-award winning musical is currently running at the Teatro at Montecasino, Johannesburg before opening at the Artscape, Cape Town, on 19 June 2013.

"I work extensively for Showtime Management productions, the SA Producer for Jersey Boys, on most of their productions," said Kilbee. "Showtime started talking about Jersey Boys three years ago... keep in mind that shows of this scale are always a couple of years in the making."

Kilbee kicked off Jersey Boys in Singapore in November 2012 and, over the 11 week run, the production received rave reviews. The performances in Johannesburg are enjoyin

Ireland - The University of Limerick is one of Ireland's most renowned educational establishments and enjoys a high reputation throughout Europe. As well as numerous lecture halls and seminar rooms, the facilities include a 1,000-seater auditorium, the University Concert Hall, which caters to a wide variety of needs. During the day, it is used for lectures, but in the evening it serves as a concert hall offering a diverse programme, with rock bands occupying the stage one day and classical orchestras and choirs the next, followed in time by a mix of folk musicians, jazzmen and chamber ensembles.

Such a wide spectrum places considerable demands on the sound reinforcement system - demands that the previous system was unable to meet. Something altogether more flexible was required, which is why those responsible decided in advance of the celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of

USA - Belmont University's annual Best of the Best Showcase honoured Bandit Lites with the 2013 Robert E. Mulloy Award of Excellence. The event took place on Saturday, 13 April in the Curb Event Centre and was hosted by the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business. Brent Barrett, Bandits' business development officer, accepted the award on behalf of Bandit Lites.

Wesley Bulla, Dean of the Curb College stated, "Bob Mulloy loved creating opportunities for students to experience the music industry first hand through programs like our showcase series. Today, this program has become a rich tradition on Belmont's campus. Without the partnership with Bandit Lites, our students would not have the chance to produce the high-calibre shows we've seen over the past 10 years.

"These partners have not just loaned equipment for shows, the professionals from Bandit have

Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden AB's W-DMX is currently on tour with Beyoncé for the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. Pyro, confetti, fire, CO2 and laser effects company Strictly FX is charged with all special effects for the tour and uses the W-DMX BlackBox F-1 along with two Booster B-1000 2.45GHz antenna boosters for a particular confetti sequence in the show.

John Lyons of Strictly FX explains, "We have four confetti blowers in a truss over the crowd. At the end of the song 1 + 1, Beyoncé flies over the crowd from the main stage to the satellite stage. As she flies, she leaves a trail of gold Mylar confetti behind to give a 'pixie dust' look. The confetti canons are controlled wirelessly with the W-DMX BlackBox, making the installation fast, easy and reliable. Due to the location, it just make sense to go with wireless DMX, and 120VAC is suppli

USA - Clay Paky lighting got glowing reviews at the 15th annual Ultra Music Festival (UMF) in Miami's Bayfront Park where they added to the pulsating excitement generated by fans, DJs and electronic musicians under the tent-like Carl Cox Mega Structure.

This year's UMF was the first two-weekend, six-day event in festival history and the most successful to date drawing over 330,000 electronic dance music fans. Over 200 DJs and electronic musicians and emerging artists performed each weekend.

UMF also scored another first with the public debut of the Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330 in the US. Fifty Sharpy Wash fixtures were featured in the innovative Cox Mega Structure, which was purpose-built for the high-energy festival to showcase DJs and artists on stage and shelter legions of dancing fans. Stephen Lieberman of SJ Lighting designed the Mega Structure with lighting and build by AG

New Zealand - LumenRadio has announced the appointment of Kenderdine Electrical as their distribution partner for New Zealand. Kenderdine Electrical will offer the full product range of LumenRadio's CRMX products focusing on solutions designed for the theatre, live entertainment, studio and broadcast markets.

Kenderdine Electrical is one of the largest distributors in New Zealand with many years track record of distributing top brands such as Martin, Robert Juliat, Philips Selecon, Philips Strand Lighting and Osram.

"We are very excited to be working with LumenRadio", says Ruthe Kenderdine at Kenderdine Electrical. "We believe LumenRadio's innovate and reliable products are a perfect complement to our current product portfolio. With the CRMX products, we can provide turnkey solutions to all our clients. Everyone in our team looks forward to bring the CRMX brand

USA - Lighting designer Taylor Price needed a highly versatile yet compact and bright spot fixture for the large variety of venue types that American country music's Eli Young Band is playing on their current US tour. He found it in the Martin MAC Viper Profile, which he has teamed with another award-winning Martin fixture, the MAC Aura.

"I didn't want the small narrow-beamed fixture that is a one trick pony and way over used these days," states Taylor, who also wears the hats of lighting director, programmer and technician on the tour. "I chose the Viper for several reasons. Because of the wide variety of shows we are doing - headlining and support, clubs, theatres, sheds, festivals, and arenas - I wanted a fixture that was very versatile. I wanted something that is bright, but smaller than most of the 1200 W fixtures on the market because of our limited trailer

Belgium / Japan - ArKaos has announced that it has signed an agreement with Dirigent Corporation Japan for the exclusive distribution of the ArKaos GrandVJ product range.

"We are very excited about this new collaboration with Dirigent," says ArKaos business development manager, Agnes Wojewoda. "Dirigent has been established for a very long time and is ideally placed to bring our GrandVJ range to the Japanese music market. The team is very eager to start distributing our products, organizing workshops and product training and is in an excellent position to offer full and reliable after-sales support."

"We, Dirigent, have conducted our business in the field of musical instruments, software and DJ equipment in Japan for 24 years," says Dirigent's sales manager, Fukashi Nakaya. "Now we are greatly excited to make this collaboration with the world

UK - In partnership since 1970, one of the longest in the industry, Phil Brunker and Neil Rice, founding directors and shareholders of Optikinetics Ltd, have recently passed ownership of this world renowned UK manufacturer to Rob Stitcher.

Brunker and Rice will continue to serve OPTI as consultants to ensure a smooth transition and customer continuity.

Said Neil Rice, "I am delighted we have found Rob, whose experience in business management will, I'm sure, re-energise and re-focus our future.

"The recent introduction of LED projectors has revitalised that side of our business whilst Trilite continues to be the de facto brand in the exhibition sector."

(Jim Evans)

UAE - Melody House, distributors of HK Audio speaker systems have recently supplied Dubai-based rental firm Abacus Rentals with another ConTour Array system from HK Audio. The rental firm decided on the second purchase after experiencing the power, flexibility and clarity of their existing system.

"Abacus Rentals are expanding their inventory to meet the needs of their growing customer base," commented Sai Prasad, HK Audio product specialist at Melody House. "With their second ConTour Array system, they can either meet the needs of large events or split the system to handle two smaller events."

(Jim Evans)

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