Business

Details
Luxembourg - Trussing and staging systems manufacturer SIXTY82 has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Codex Events.
With immediate effect, Codex will be SIXTY82´s exclusive partner responsible for the distribution of the full SIXTY82 product range in Luxembourg, which enables, SIXTY82 to guarantee full distribution coverage to its Luxembourgian customers.
“We look forward to working with a company of Codex’ standing, and our partnership will help meet increased local demand for technical know-how from experienced people,” says SIXTY82 executive account manager, Date Jonkman. “We believe that Codex is well positioned to further develop our existing customer base and that with their market presence and sales support network, together we can make a real impact,” says SIXTY82 CEO, Fokko Smeding.
Patrick Risch, CEO of Codex, comments:

Details
The Netherlands - OCA Alliance, the AV trade association formed to promote awareness, implementation and development of the AES70 open network control standard, is once again fulfilling its mission at ISE, supporting the release of the latest revision of the standard.
The result of several years of collaborative work within the OCA Alliance and the AES, AES70-2018 is an evolutionary upgrade to the original AES70-2015 standard. The revision provides a number of new and improved features
The new standards documents are available from the AES Standards site. Links to the relevant AES pages are on the Developer Resources page of OCA Alliance Technical Site, while more details on the 2018 changes may be found on the OCA Alliance website.
Key to the OCA Alliance’s mission is supporting developers become more familiar with the AES70 standard, providing assistance in i

Details
UK - Following the sale of its ArcSystem, BlueSystem and CueSystem lighting products to ETC, Bristol-based GDS has announced it is launching a number of new product lines in the coming months.
No timeline has yet been specified, although the company has expanded and restructured its operations to support the new releases and meet the anticipated market demand. The new products will target the entertainment market and the broader architectural sector.
To ensure a smooth transition, GDS will also continue to manufacture the ArcSystem, BluesSystem and Cue-System ranges until 31 July, with ETC taking over the global manufacturing and distribution responsibilities for the lines in August.
Managing director Richard Cuthbert comments: “GDS is immensely proud to have developed and introduced many cutting-edge technologies over the years. We brought ArcSystem through f

Details
South Africa - DWR Distribution is holding a Waves training course in Johannesburg on 18 February and in Cape Town on 21 February.
Presented by Eran Ben Zur, a live product specialist at Waves Audio and an experienced FOH engineer, the sessions will feature discussions on Waves Live, Sound Grid Network, V9 vs V10, Multi Rack, Plugins, eMotion LV1, Tips and Tricks and Q&A.
The course will be hosted at the DWR premises in Johannesburg and Cape Town. For more information, visit the DWR website.
(Jim Evans)

Details
The Netherlands - Avnu Alliance has announced new members and ecosystem tools, while manufacturer members plan to demonstrate and showcase new Milan-ready products at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2019.
Milan is a standards-based, user-driven deterministic network protocol for professional media, that assures devices will work together at new levels of convenience, reliability and functionality. Created and maintained by members of the Avnu Alliance, Milan is billed as the first tangible solution for promising deterministic, reliable, and future-proof delivery of networked media. Milan combines the technical benefits of the AVB standard with pro AV market-defined device requirements at both the network and the application layer for media streams, formats, clocking and redundancy.
“Members of Milan have been diligently working behind the scenes for the last six mont

Details
USA - Orlando-headquartered Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) has expanded operations to Nashville. The announcement was made by general manager Jim Van Winkle.
“We have experienced tremendous growth and success out of our Orlando office with customers located across the country,” explains Van Winkle. “Considering the number of current customers and partners we have in the Nashville area we thought it was time to have a dedicated team in the area for product support and services.”
The Nashville office will be headed up by RF technicians Ryan Stotts and Cody Heimann. Stotts began working in professional audio in 2001 at Sound Great Enterprises, Inc. in Ohio providing audio, communication and wireless equipment for the Magic of David Copperfield. In 2006 he was out with the U.S. tour of Stomp as FOH engineer. From there he worked with Spectrum Sound and

Details
Record Takings - West End theatres enjoyed record box office takings of £766m in 2018, up 8.6% compared with the previous year. This was driven by ticket sales for musicals such as Hamilton, with revenue from the genre increasing by 15.4% in 2017 to £504m. The average ticket price paid for musicals was £53.27. A recent survey by The Stage revealed that the average top-price ticket for a musical in 2018 cost £153.54.
As well as having the highest box office revenue since records began, West End theatres also had record audience attendances of 15.5m, up 3%. However, while audiences for musicals were up, attendance for West End plays dropped by 6.5%.
Commenting on the figures, SOLT president Kenny Wax says: “London’s world-leading theatre industry is attracting larger audiences than ever after another record year. Increasingly, people seem to want t

Details
South Africa - The South African Roadies Association (SARA) has invested in an Absen D3V indoor/outdoor LED screen consisting of 150 panels and a Green Hippo Karst+ Media Server from local distributor DWR Distribution.
SARA - a non-profit training organisation based in Newtown, Johannesburg – acts to provide students with skills across lighting, audio, staging, power, rigging, AV and production specialties through a hands-on training and tutoring programme.
Freddie Nyathela is the heart behind SARA and he has fought to get the programme off the ground. Students with limited resources are given the opportunity to join the entertainment industry and many reputable technicians have passed through his establishment.
The investment of a new Absen D3V screen and Green Hippo Karst+ was funded by the National Lotteries Commission (the NLC).
Nyathela explains:

Details
Australia - Wireless LED lighting manufacturer Astera LED has announced the ULA Group as its exclusive Australian and New Zealand distributor.
Established in 1992, the ULA Group is one of Australia and New Zealand’s best known professional lighting and visual solution providers, supplying a wide range of architecture, entertainment and digital LED solutions.
Sebastian Bückle, Astera’s sales and marketing director, comments: “I see huge potential in the Australian and New Zealand markets, which are highly developed, innovative in approach and growing fast, so we sought a partner that is progressive in thinking and approach with a great reputation for quality and well connected with a diverse and interesting client base. ULA Group ticked all the boxes! They have a huge energy and are highly motivated to push Astera products to the top across multiple markets.”

Details
UK - Polar has been appointed as the exclusive UK distributor for Colorado-based Ultimate Support. The US manufacturer offers a comprehensive product range that encompasses support stands, hardware and accessories for every conceivable type of music industry application, as well as studio furniture and acoustic treatments.
Polar managing director, John Midgley, comments: “Ultimate Support is a high-quality brand manufacturing truly exceptional products, and we are delighted to be strengthening our range with this partnership. The intellectual property contained within the Ultimate Support portfolio speaks volumes for the ingenuity and design expertise behind every stand and workstation. The value and breadth of available solutions for applications throughout the MI, studio, rental and installation markets is clear to see and we’re looking forward to introducing Polar cus

Details
USA - Ahead of last week’s NAMM Show in Anaheim, the ADJ group of companies opened its LA-based global headquarters for a dealer event on 23 January. With lighting and sound demos, hands-on product training as well as a free lunch, the event offered ADJ customers an exclusive preview of the new products to be launched at NAMM and also allowed the company to show appreciation to its hard-working in-house staff and on-the-road sales team.
Visitors had the opportunity to see seven new ADJ products before they were officially unveiled at NAMM as well as receive an introduction to ADJ Group’s recently acquired Eliminator Lighing series. An audio demo space was also setup to allow customers to hear the brand new Avante Audio AS8 compact column speaker system and the innovative new Imperio versatile mini array system.
A new lightshow was also unveiled at the company’s

Details
UK - Cardiff-based events specialist 11th Hour recently took possession of additional warehouse premises to cope with the demands of its continued expansion. Its 6,000sq.ft of space will be assigned to 11th Hour’s growing festive ice-rink operations, allowing the entire inventory of rink apparatus to be stored independently, close to its principal Cardiff Bay operations base.
Growing demand for its ice rink services in 2018 saw 11th Hour install new rinks in Swansea, Caerphilly Castle and Aberystwyth, adding to its established Cardiff, Celtic Manor and Bargoed sites. More locations are expected to be brought onstream in 2019.
Business development manager Jason Venables comments: “We’re conscious of always trying to remain ahead of the curve at 11th Hour. It’s important to ensure that our processes and logistics remain up to speed in the face of ever-growing de

Details
UK - The ALD has launched a fundraising campaign “to adequately compensate” the team behind its Save Stage Lighting campaign.
The fundraising campaign was launched at the ALD’s annual Lighting Lunch in December in support of the work of Rob Halliday, Robbie Butler and Paule Constable, who also received ALD lifetime memberships and a standing ovation from the attendees.
The volunteer trio shouldered ‘unprecedented workload’ last year to highlight the dangers to the entertainment lighting industry posed by the EU’s proposed Ecodesign regulations, catapulting the issues on to the radars and priority lists of lighting professionals, manufacturers, producers, venue managements and politicians.
The trio also pushed the #SaveStageLighting cause into the public eye via an online petition reco

Details
Mexico - Mexico State-based technical production company Kona has invested in Robe MegaPointes and Spiiders.
The company was founded in 2012 by Andres Marroquin, who previously ran PRG Mexico / Ocesa. The operation provides sound, lighting, video, rigging and staging for a diversity of events.
The company’s Robe MegaPointes and Spiiders inventory currently stands at 26 of each and is set to increase soon, says Kona.
Marroquin comments: “The market here in Mexico can be extremely volatile, so as a smaller company we need to think smart and be flexible.”
He sees significant potential in the county, which he regards as ‘emerging’, being strategically located between two major oceans, a gateway to the economic powerhouse of Latin America and enjoying a lively healthy musical interchange with the US. “Mexico is in a unique position and our industry

Details
USA - San Diego-based Pacific AV has joined the EM Acoustics North America sales team. The announcement was made by EM Acoustics operations director Mike Wheeler.
“Pacific AV has the experience and knowledge to help us expand our user base in the States,” explains Wheeler. “Scott and his team have strong relationships with a large network of key contractors, consultants and rental companies. They bring a lot to the table and we’re glad to have them on board.”
Principal Scott Wrege started Pacific AV in 2006. Since then the company has received numerous awards, from outstanding achievement to rep of the year, for their sales efforts in southern California and southern Nevada.
“Our goal is to not only be a valued resource to our customers, but to introduce them to products that solve their specific audio system challenges,” Wrege adds. “We do our b

Details
USA - Bandit Lites team members gathered in Nashville for the company’s annual general meeting to mark the past year’s achievements and strategise for the upcoming year.
The company awarded staff with significant anniversaries or those who have demonstrated excellence in service.
In a special ceremony, Bandit chair Michael T. Strickland lauded Leonard Cox, the company’s first employee to retire. Cox served in the military prior to joining Bandit Lites 25 years ago and has proved invaluable to the company serving most recently as the director of logistics and safety.
“Leonard came to Bandit in 1993 and has been a true friend and invaluable part of all things facility related,” said Strickland. “Leonard led us in many areas for 25 great years and we will sorely miss him. He is going to enjoy a much-deserved retirement! Thank you Leonard and have a bla

Details
Night Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight has accepted an invitation to perform the Star Spangled Banner at this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, which is being held in her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia on 3 February. It was confirmed this week that the halftime show will be performed by Maroon 5, with rappers Travis Scott and Big Boi supporting.
There has been criticism directed at some black artists for failing to show solidarity with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kapaernick, who has been without a club since 2016 after “taking a knee” during the performance of the anthem in protest against racial injustices. Artists including Rihanna and Cardi B reportedly turned down the show, traditionally seen as a massive opportunity for artists to be seen by a TV audience of hundreds of millions.
Gladys is now facing similar criticism but, in a statement

Details
UK - Sister companies Shooting Partners and Anna Valley have merged under the Anna Valley brand, which has been redesigned to represent a broader service offering and modern style. A new, responsive website has also been created to support the new brand.
The two companies were subsidiaries of the Shooting Partners Group, which launched in 1989 as a camera-hire business and expanded to include AV technology, with the acquisition of Anna Valley in 2000. This announcement comes three years after the Shooting Partners Group underwent a management buyout and follows considerable business growth in existing and new markets. As well as establishing a new AV integration business unit and significantly increasing their rental business year-on-year, in 2017 the group also purchased live event specialists, Matrix UK Solutions which remains unaffected by this re-brand.
The decis

Details
Canada/USA - Christie Lites has made a major commitment to Kinesys automation with the purchase of Elevation Liftket 500kg chain hoists as their flagship automation products going forward – both 200V and 400V systems - for North America and Europe.
The initial investment has also included Kinesys LibraCELL load monitoring and Mentor 4 E-Stop aggregators to provide a full Kinesys safety architecture as well as the powerful and flexible Kinesys Vector control.
This will be available to clients worldwide throughout all of Christie’s 13 shops.
The move coincides with the appointment of Mark ‘The Drifter’ Desloges to head up Christie’s new Automated Motion Control & Rigging division, established to co-ordinate this specialist area of technical production.
Extensive specialist Kinesys training will be implemented for all Christie crew working on the

Details
USA - Panduit Corp has acquired global AV manufacturer Atlona. 
As part of the acquisition, the Atlona team will join Panduit’s Enterprise business group. Atlona will continue to serve its customers from its global headquarters in San Jose, California for all sales, customer support, and training related inquiries.
“Atlona has been at the forefront in developing cutting-edge AV technology that embraces the full potential of the convergence of AV and network infrastructure,” explains Dennis Renaud, president and CEO of Panduit. “Their industry-leading solutions complement Panduit’s extensive physical infrastructure portfolio, which will allow us to offer customers a quality end-to-end solution as they move to increasingly complex network infrastructure systems.”
Ilya Khayn, Atlona CEO adds, “There are strong synergies between our companies including

Details
UK - Chroma-Q will celebrate its 15th year as a producer of premium performance LED lighting products by showing several new innovations for the first time at BSC Expo 2019, Battersea Evolution, London, 1-2 February.
Chroma-Q has been a pioneer in the development of LED lighting for entertainment applications since launching the Color Block DB4 in 2004. The brand's latest generation of film & broadcast lighting solutions utilises Chroma-Q's proprietary homogenised optics, colour management and dimming technologies - drawing upon 15 years of LED expertise - to deliver a superior quality of light output and colour consistency.
The Brute Force powerful new, LED alternative to traditional light sources such as a quarter ‘Wendy Light’, will be making a big impact this year. Capable of delivering up to 140,000 lumens and drawing just 15 amps @ 240V, the larger Brute

Details
UK - Question Session will return with a full programme across two Glasgow city centre venues on 8 February. The Lighthouse on Mitchell Lane will host this year’s daytime conference, followed by a live music event at The Old Hairdressers on Renfield Lane.
Now in its fourth year, this free conference offers a comprehensive, tailored programme of workshops, seminars and panels featuring prominent professionals from all areas of the music industry.
Focused on innovation, education and exploring current issues, Question Session 2019 is organised by music business students of New College Lanarkshire to enable delegates to connect, share knowledge and create new opportunities with established industry practitioners; initiating discussion, and exposing new talent.
Topics for Question Session 2019 panels and seminars will include the following: Releasing your mu

Details
Europe - Eurotruss is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month. Martin Kuyper, company founder, states; “I am extremely proud and grateful for all the love and support I received from great people, partners, and users during this incredible Eurotruss journey. Together with all of them, we have built a world leading brand representing not only high-quality truss and stages but also an amazing team of dynamic people who, on a daily base, do great work for our users and partners.
“It all started in a small barn in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Today our truss finds its way into 97 countries, represented by 40 distributors, three Eurotruss sales offices and three factories including Total Structures, leading brand in the USA. A lot happened since that 17th of January 1994, but it flew by and the journey has been full of energy, joy, and happiness. I feel blessed.
“

Details
Thailand - Allen & Heath has announced the appointment of Sonos Libra as its exclusive distributor in Thailand.
Sonos Libra has a strong presence as a pro audio distributor in SE Asia and already represents the Allen & Heath brand in Vietnam. With an experienced team they have quickly garnered a reputation for first-class service and customer support. Allen & Heath’s comprehensive product portfolio allows Sonos Libra to fully address a broad range of market segments, from audio installations through to the most demanding touring applications.
Markus Sinsel, sales director at Allen & Heath, says: “We are very pleased to be working with the Sonos Libra team in Thailand. They are a young, dynamic company who have rapidly built an impressive standing in the region. We are looking forward to continuing to work together to further strengthen the brand.
  1. Harman appoints distributor for Turkey
  2. Professional Wireless training at NAMM
  3. QSC appoints Brands on Stage in Latin America
  4. Penn Elcom upgrades and expands latch line
  5. Rational Acoustics relocates and expands
  6. ADJ acquires Eliminator Lighting
Page 238 of 1813

Latest Issue. . .

PLASA Media Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 4111709 - VAT Number GB 762 5913 14
PLASA Media Ltd, Redoubt House, 1 Edward Road, Eastbourne, BN23 8AS, UK Tel: +44 (0)1323 524120

 

login