UK - Baldwin Boxall will be demonstrating its new voice alarm - VIGIL3 - (and some of the company's most popular products) on the Plug & Socket stand (Q300) at Firex 2014 which takes place at London's ExCel, 17-19 June.

Says BB: "We hope you don't mind, but if you do visit our stand we are likely to ask you to dip your hand into your pocket for some loose change (or the paper stuff if you are feeling generous) to help us raise funds for RAFT (Restoration of Appearance and Function Trust): RAFT website."

Products on show will include the VIGIL3 voice alarm, a new touchscreen microphone, Omnicare EVC with touchscreen control and the new style Advance DRS, CARE2 EVC and VIGIL2 Eclipse3.

(Jim Evans)

USA - West Side Story, the timeless musical set in the Upper West Side neighbourhood of New York City that explores the rivalry between two gangs-the Jets and the Sharks-while drawing inspiration from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, was recently recorded by the San Francisco Symphony for release on SACD and digital download.

To be released on the SFS Media label in June 2014, the use of wireless microphones in the recording of this project is believed to be the first time this work has been captured in this fashion. Digital Hybrid Wireless technology from Rio Ranch, NM-based Lectrosonics was utilised.

San Francisco-based Jack Vad, whose pedigree includes over 200 commercial classical releases for prominent labels including BMG Classics, Nonesuch Records, and New Albion Records in addition to projects for SFS Media, serves as the producer / engineer of the San Fr

USA - The Zion Lutheran Church of Anoka, Minnesota, has installed an Allen & Heath GLD digital system following an expansion of the sanctuary and an upgrade to the audio system.

Originally built in the 1950's, the Church has recently grown to over 2500 congregants, presenting the need for expansion including an expanded sanctuary area, as well as an audio upgrade.

"The project had a lot of design challenges that added time to the build calendar," shares Jeff Geisler of EMI Audio, the AV design/build contractor for the project. Enter the implementation of an Allen & Heath GLD-80 mixing console as the centrepiece of an extensive audio upgrade.

"The ease of set up with the Allen & Heath GLD-80 helped us make up for lost time due to construction issues. Everything about Allen & Heath mixers and accessories worked as billed and are straightforward. Sometimes you ha

USA - Performers often win new fans when they appear on NBC's Today Show. Sometimes high-output LED panels do too. Such was the case recently when the Nexus 4 x 4 panel from Chauvet Professional was used for superstar Mariah Carey's performance on the Today Show.

Lighting designer Peter Greenbaum was planning on running halogen panels, when Drew DeCorleto, director of lighting production at World Stage (New York), asked him to consider the Nexus 4 x 4 LED panels instead. "On Drew's recommendation I tried the Nexus and was very pleased," said Greenbaum, who is now using the Nexus 4 x 4 throughout the Today Show's Toyota Concert Series. "My programmer, assistant LD Brian Davis, is also having a lot of fun with them."

In addition to being the lead lighting director for the Today Show, Greenbaum, (Illumination By Design, NY), has wor

UK - Entec is supplying lighting and sound for singer / songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ian Anderson's current UK concert tour. Anderson, best known as lead singer, flautist and acoustic guitarist for rock band Jethro Tull, is enjoying performing material from his latest and most successful solo album to date, Homo Erraticus.

It is Lighting designer Mark Wheatley's first full blown tour with Entec. The west London based rental specialist did supply extras for some shows on last year's Thick As A Brick tour and after that Wheatley was really keen to work with them again.

"Working with Entec is a brilliant experience - they have a great attitude towards work and people, the kit is excellent and I am very happy to use Entec any time."

The show is divided into two halves. The first is a performance of Homo Erraticus in its entirety, and the se

China - British manufacturer Audient has appointed Digime as the new distributor for its compact product range, including the USB interface, iD22 and the 8-channel mic pre and ADC, ASP880.

Fresh and fully energised after the recent PALM Expo 2014 in Beijing, Digime's COO Lenlo Zhu and his team are encouraged by the visitor response to the Audient range. Lenlo says of the iD22, "It's simply fantastic! It has that traditional, classic Audient console sound, with a British design style. A monitor, mixer and mic preamp all combined in one unit - it's a best buy!"

Audient's Simon Blackwood confirms, "Digime has built a strong presence in the pro audio market and is uniquely positioned to connect directly with our rapidly growing customer base in China. We couldn't be happier with the new partnership."

China distributor HX Audio will continue to look after Audi

UK - Huge events are the norm for Delta Sound but when faced with a major product launch in an aircraft hangar, additional challenges faced the sound design team.

Appointed by brand experience agency Jack Morton Worldwide, the size of the venue was not the only problem because significant movement was also involved, requiring 24 surround sound zones plus significant LFE. This was achieved with 12 powerful yet detailed point source speakers either side of the seating block and enough strategically placed subwoofers to thrill the audience. This system was mirrored on the other side of the 'catwalk' style staging to complete the 24 zones.

This was not something that could be easily managed with the existing portfolio of equipment, so the search began for something that could do the job. The Delta team had encountered Pyramix being used at the London Olympics in 2012 and wondered

Europe - New York-based Cellist Dane Johansen is embarking on The Walk to Fisterra, a 600-mile musical/walking journey along the Camino de Santiago, a popular pilgrimage route through France and Spain. Over the course of his six-week journey, which began 14 May, Johansen will stop at several of the 36 historic churches along the Ancient Roman footpath, where he will perform Bach's Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, while a team of filmmakers and music producers capture content for a stunning documentary about the pilgrimage.

To ensure the highest quality audio, sound engineer, Kyle Pyke, and Grammy Award-winner, Jesse Lewis, who is the music producer and co-sound engineer on the project, are using several pieces from DPA Microphones' product line.

Included in their audio arsenal are d:dicate 4007A Omnidirectional mics for location recording and a combination of d:dicat

UK - Utopium has invested in a range of new event lighting technologies with sustainable, creative benefits to clients.

Utopium's six figure investments have added significantly to the choice of modern LED lighting the company can offer event organisers and lighting designers.

Utopium's managing director Colin Bodenham comments, "Having listened to clients, applied our experience and researched recent product releases, we've added some revolutionary lights to our inventory. LED technology means improved sustainability and economy through reduced power consumption and being small means less transport and weight loading. The colours and output from these relatively small fittings are incredible and we are all looking forward to having less weight to rig in roofs or truss."

There are four key elements of the investment:

The cutting edge SGM P-5 Washlight and SGM X-5

UK - Sennheiser UK has announced further dates for its UK Sound Academy courses, which have proved extremely popular with professional sound engineers, students and others working within the audio industry.

The 'Basic Wireless Microphones and Monitoring' course, aimed towards achieving practical setup of small RF systems, will run on 25 June, 20 August and 28 October 2014, whilst the 'Wireless Mics and Monitoring - The Masterclass', for experienced engineers, will be launched later in the year.

"Feedback from previous students has been very positive," says Tim Sherratt, engineering & technical services manager at Sennheiser UK, who heads up the UK Sound Academy. "The combination of e-learning, tutoring and workshops seems to have worked well."

The Sound Academy's RF training package is accredited by InfoComm and successful participants of the course earn

USA - Coldplay recently held an intimate secret show to mark the release of their album Ghost Stories to the delight of the 800 lucky fans in attendance at Sony Studios Los Angeles. The spectacular event, recorded for a TV special and album bonus DVD, saw the band play a very special set, including a recital of the new album in its entirety for the first time.

Expertly directed by Ben Miles of Mixed Emotions London and engineered by Phil Haynes with Phil Johnston as Lead Projectionist both working for XL Video, the show featured 32 unique outputs from only five live Avolites Media Ai S8 systems. These, connected to a total of 46 Panasonic 20k projectors, and coupled with three floating backup servers, created a stunning visual environment.

"Avolites Media were very proud to supply our servers to XL Video for use on this special project," stated Avolites Media

Puerto Rico - Calle 13 is one of Latin America's most successful bands, having won 19 Latin Grammy Awards and two US Grammy Awards. Frequently controversial and with an eclectic musical style, Calle 13 has a devoted following and its current tour, which travels to South, Central and North America, as well as Europe and Asia, is filling stadiums, arenas and theatres everywhere it goes. Two DiGiCo SD8-24s are along for the ride.

Front of House engineer Luis Irizzary first worked with the band back in 2007 and 2008, and having returned to the Calle 13 fold in 2012, he has been working with the band since. His reasons for using the SD8-24 are two-fold: the channel count, "I use 58 mic inputs on 52 channels at Front of House, but the console is still not maxed out," he says; and its compact size.

"The Front of House and monitor console share one rack," Luis expl

South Africa - Award-winning set designer Michael Gill recently worked alongside lighting designers Joshua Cutts and Francois van der Merwe on South African TV studio Red Pepper's ambitious upgrade project, specifying the LED technology of Philips Selecon Studio Panels, SPX Zoomspot and PLcyc1 luminaires for three new prime time game shows.

Red Pepper's CEO Cecil Barry and facilities manager Marius Maritz joined forces with Gill, Cutts and van der Merwe to come up with a revolutionised set design and optimised LED lighting rig, including 14 x Philips Selecon Studio Panels, six Philips Selecon PLcyc1 luminaires and eight Philips Selecon SPX Zoomspot luminaires, supplied by DWR Distribution, for their studios in Linden, Melville and Braamfontein.

"I was very surprised with the Philips Selecon Studio Panels," said Maritz. "They perfectly lit the entire virtual rig,

UK - With beginning of June, Laserworld launched their new website with a new, modern design and a new shopping system. Their shop solution was improved to better fit the requirements of B2B commerce: New product data feeds were made available to distributors, which make it easy to integrate Laserworld products into online shops, customer management systems and accounting software via XML feed.

In addition to that, new categories were implemented, providing bundle and set suggestions - for retailer, that want to get an initial product setup for their shop, and for commercial customers, that search for ready-to-go bundles with software, cables, etc.

Alexander Pokorny, marketing manager at Laserworld comments, "We frequently got inquiries from customers that weren't sure how products could be compared best. That's why we decided to provide some standard setups, so customers

China - Located in the southern Guangdong province and bordering Macau, Zhuhai is a premier tourist hotspot in China. Recently, it is also the host to the Changlong International Circus Festival, of which the committee selected the Martin M6 Console to control and calibrate the lighting systems on and around the stage.

Local Martin distributor Guangzhou Dan-Pro Stage Equipment Co., Ltd recommended the console from a world-renowned brand not only to match the popularity of the venue, but also to provide a compelling experience to such a joyous event.

The Martin M6 console offers the most advanced visualization of lighting control, accommodating a wide product range from traditional fixtures to moving lights and even the most advanced media servers with ease. The setup for the festival features two M6 consoles of the 64 channel version, as well as eight Ether2DMX8 DMX routers.<

USA - A RoomMatch system from Bose Professional Systems was recently installed to solve the PA needs of Church of the Apostles, a mega-church in the Buckhead district of Atlanta. The installation was performed by Nashville-based firm CTS Audio, based on specifications arrived at in collaboration between CTS, church leadership and Bose personnel.

Interestingly, the church's media and communications director, Kevin Knox, was initially lukewarm on the idea of a Bose system in the sanctuary. He notes, "I just didn't associate the Bose brand with professional products." His mind was changed after he encountered a RoomMatch system demo at WFX. "[The system] had a real warmth that you don't usually get with a big PA system. It felt like it was right there in the room with you. I got the sense that it would be able to give us what we really needed: good intelligibility in

Brazil - Originally built for the World Cup in 1950, Brazil's iconic Maracana stadium will host many of the major matches in the FIFA World Cup 2014, including the final on 13 July, with audio managed by the stadium's GLD digital mixer from Allen & Heath.

Located in Rio de Janeiro, Maracana was closed for a three-year major renovation, reopening last year with a GLD-80 mixer at the heart of an EV sound system. Fitted with a Dante network card, the mixer controls audio distribution around the entire stadium through fibre optic cables.

"The main reason we chose GLD was because of Allen & Heath's fantastic sound quality, reliability and ease of use," explains Augusto Bergamim, sound manager and system programmer at the Maracana.

The stadium will host four group games and next round games, a quarter final game, and the final.

(Jim Evans)

Belgium - Show designer Ignace D'Haese from leading Belgian creative show and design practice Arf & Yes 'imagineered a fabulous production design' incorporating lighting, video and scenography for the 2014 live finals of the Voice van Vlaanderen (The Voice of Flanders), staged in the Kuipke (Velodrome) in Gent.

The lighting rig included 100 Robe moving lights - amongst others - and the much anticipated final was broadcast live on Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij (VTM) the main commercial channel in the Flemish region of Belgium, where five talented young artists battled it out to win the 2014 title.

Being in a position to design the full visual concept - as opposed to just lighting - for the show gave D'Haese a creative continuity that could be seamlessly applied at all levels.

His challenges included working in the 'found' space of the Kuipke which - exciting though site-spec

UK - The Technical Theatre Awards, which celebrates the outstanding achievements of people working behind the scenes, has announced the nominees for this year's event as voting officially opens.

63 individuals and venues are nominated across 18 awards covering all disciplines of technical theatre, ranging from achievements in Stage Management to Scenic Artistry, Wardrobe to Make-up & Wigs.

TTA creator Ian Taylor announced the opening of voting for the awards at the ABTT Theatre Show on Wednesday 11 June, taking to the Philips Entertainment stand at 13:15 to celebrate with gathered guests and press. To cast your vote, visit www.technicaltheatreawards.com/voting

According to the organisers, more than 1000 people have voted in the first 24 hours of voting going live. The winners will be announced at a special ceremony on Monday 6 October, during PLASA London at ExCel.

The TTA

The Netherlands - Thousands of schoolchildren are expected to visit a new 'ICER' innovation centre in the Dutch town of Ulft, which features a state-of-the-art educational hub transformed into different moods through vibrant colour-changes provided by Chroma-Q Inspire premium performance LED house lights.

ICER, which stands for Innovation, Creation, Education and Recreation, was founded by the local government, several schools, artists and local businesses to provide an innovation centre for young people and other visitors interested in the technical industry. Housed in an old factory, ICER has transformed the cavernous venue into an exciting, futuristic space. The centre is billed to be a thriving creative workspace where visitors will be provided with a broad spectrum of innovative workshops, ranging from brand new product presentations to such cutting-edge activities as 3D pr

UK - Biodiesel specialist, Midas, will provide power to the Hopkins Homes International Polo at Trinity Park, Ipswich this month, the Suffolk Agricultural Association has confirmed.

Paula Slater, Trinity Park's polo events manager, comments, "We were impressed with the Midas touch, its purist approach to sustainability and its flexibility. The company's comprehensive service gives us a quality solution to our energy needs and total peace of mind, which is crucial when delivering first class events."

Midas director, David Noble, said, "We're really excited to be managing the power at the Hopkins Homes International Polo. Trinity Park is a local site for us and we hope the contract will serve as stepping stone to supplying other events in the area."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Blumano Ltd is an engineering-based company headquartered in the UK and working internationally which has been launched to provide a whole range of specialist services, expertise and consultancy which is related to lifting and load-bearing equipment for stages and other areas of entertainment industry production.

The company is headed by two industry professionals - Cristiano Giavedoni and Amedeo Guizzi. They bring many years of experience and a vast knowledge of the professional entertainment industry to the equation as well as their respective individual areas, plus imagination and an innovative approach.

Amedeo is a structural, mechanical and materials engineer with extensive experience working for high profile live entertainment projects. He is a skilled performer flying project & technical manager and has been technical director for numerous live shows and festivals.

USA - Cerwin-Vega! Reports that its P-Series Professional PA system was an integral part of the audio setup for the prestigious New Music Seminar (NMS) in New York. Marking its second year in attendance at the event, the Cerwin-Vega! P-Series provided a natural sound for all NMS presentations and performances.

See Factor, the lighting and sound company for the conference, supplied a total of eight full P-Series setups - comprised of two P1500X Loudspeakers and a P1800SX Subwoofer each - for traditional PA arrangements, two additional P1500X Loudspeakers for monitor wedges and two 16-Channel CVM mixers.

"Before we moved to our current location at the iconic New Yorker Hotel, the entire conference was held at Webster Hall," explains Dave Lory, musical director for the event. "Since it's an acclaimed music venue that hosts world-famous musicians, we always relied o

Australia - When the Crown Spas complex in Melbourne decided to upgrade their audio systems, Digital Living, a Melbourne based AV integrator, was contracted to do the work. In the process, Digital Living helped Crown Spas save an estimated 15 to 20 percent on the project by installing a QSC Q-Sys Core 500i processor at the heart of the system. In addition to the cost-effective and powerful integrated Core 500i processor, the Crown Spas complex audio upgrade also utilises 22 QSC TSC-3 touchscreens and 15 QSC CX254 four-channel amplifiers.

The Crown complex, located on the south bank of the Yarra river, is renowned for incorporating one of the largest casinos in the world, as well as three hotels, luxury shopping facilities, several nightclubs, a cinema, various restaurants and two spas, including the five-star Crown Spas.

The brief for the new audio system required the routing

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