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USA - DPA microphones is embarking on a ‘house of worship tour’ to share practical tips on how to achieve good sound in any sanctuary.
Company representatives will visit Washington (9 October) and Charlotte (23 October) in a bid to educate attendees on the best practices on mic’ing drums and vocals, and teach them how to solve any microphone challenge. DPA’s entire line of microphones, including its sub-miniature line of d:screet and d:fine lavalier and headset microphones, will also be on display.
Christopher Spahr, VP of sales and marketing, comments: “DPA is an ideal solution for mic’ing worship leaders, speakers, singers and instrumentalists as well as live streaming or broadcasting sermons. The first leg of the tour allows us to travel to regional churches to educate how professionals about our solutions and how our mics can help worship services deliv

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Europe - Harman Professional Solutions is extending its distribution agreement with Fairlight to include tour audio solutions in Benelux.
Fairlight was initially appointed to distribute lighting brand Martin by Harman in the region. Under the new agreement, the Dutch company will also distribute Harman’s full range of tour audio products, including JBL, Crown, Soundcraft, dbx and BSS.
Scott Aslett, regional director at Harman Professional Solutions (Northwest Europe), comments: “We are delighted to extend Fairlight’s distribution rights to Harman audio brands. We already have a strong established partnership with Fairlight, and given their prominence in the touring industry, this expansion of our partnership will support the great demand for Harman solutions and yield improved service to our customers in the Benelux region.”
Michael Arntz, general manage

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Germany - Green Hippo has named technology supplier Cast as its distribution partner in Germany.
Effective 1 October, Hagen-based Cast will manage the exclusive distribution of the Green Hippo’s product line throughout the country.
Heinz Siller, CEO of Cast, comments: “Green Hippo is going to be a perfect round up to our mission to offer professional products to the creative cloud in our markets.”
James Roth, head of sales and marketing at Green Hippo, adds: "The rate of growth that the company is experiencing as a whole, but particularly in Germany, necessitates our appointing the very best commercial partner in the territory, Cast. Hippotizer is being specified on so many new shows and events and we look forward to working with Cast to maximise the opportunities that are being placed before us."
(Jim Evans)

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UK - Equipment hire software companies Current RMS and InspHire have been acquired by integrated ERP solutions provider Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS).
The deals will allow KCS to strengthen its presence within the rental industry. InspHire and Current RMS will operate as independent business units within KCS, under their existing management teams.
Current RMS will remain tailored to the needs of the AV, production and events industries. InspHire, which supplies software to companies that rent heavy plant and construction vehicles, will be backed to expand into the US market. 
Chris Branson, managing director of Current RMS, comments: “I’m delighted that a company as prestigious and well regarded as KCS Group has chosen to invest in Current RMS. We’ve achieved so much in the four years since we launched and through this acquisition we’ve now got th

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South Africa - The SOS Charity Fund, an initiative by DWR Distribution, supported the two-day Inspired2Unite Mega Masterclass Bootcamp hosted at the GrandWest casino on 2-3 July.
Over 350 young people were mentored and attended a programme, which was a combination of life coaching sessions alongside performance masterclass workshops in music, vocals and dance.
A counselling and mentorship project saw people over the age of 19 who had been through the Inspired Stages programme demonstrate leadership and role model qualities to those attending the bootcamp. SOS donated R10 000 to these volunteers.
Workshops were presented by special guests and artists in South Africa including Rudi Smit, international jazz funk / hip hop choreographer and dancer from Cape Town, talented pianist Garth Tavares, performer Sophia Vorster, Cape Flats saxophonist, Donveno Prins, life coa

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France - Paris-based AV supplier MATCHevent has extended its stock of ROE Visual LED panels by adding over 400 Black Pearl BP2 LED panels.
The new panels will be used fir a number of events this autumn, says the French company.
Jean-François Lienard, founding partner of MATCHevent, comments: “The Black Pearl LED panels have a great track record in the rental market and are regarded as the best product in the market. That alone would be a reason to select ROE Visual as LED supplier. On top of that, the quality and unmatched service we get from ROE Visual makes the investment worth it.
“ROE Visual serves us both with technical support when needed and swift delivery. [The company] stocks its products in vast quantities in Europe, so we can always trust we’re served for last-minute projects.”
MATCHevent offers AV technical services for various events

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Mexico - Community Professional Loudspeakers and its Mexican distributor Ampere Manufacturas Electrónicas sa de CV held a product training event and evening party to celebrate 25 years of business partnership.
Attended by dealers from across the country, the event was also the official launch of Community’s IV6 modular vertical array in Mexico and was attended by the company’s president and founder Bruce Howze, Christine Howze, CEO Steve Johnson, director of technical services Dave Howden and Latin America sales manager Steve Goodwin.
Jaime Celis, director general, Ampere Manufacturas Electrónicas, comments: “We are very proud to represent Community in Mexico, a brand that combines genuine engineering and innovation. Community continuously sets new standards in loudspeaker technology and the reliability of their products is outstanding. We have thoroughly enjoy

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UK - A special benefit concert is being held for musician and loudspeaker manufacturer, Paul MacCallum at the O2 Academy Islington, on October 29th.
The popular bass player, who was diagnosed with an advanced form of Multiple System Atrophy some years ago, was not only the brainchild behind PLASA member company Wembley Loudspeaker, but also bass player with Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band, and other major names.
In addition to playing their own set, Zoot will provide the rhythm section for guest musicians who will appear on the night.
Affectionately known as ‘The Womble’ from his days as Uncle Bulgaria in Mike Batt’s original Wombles, MacCallum has also played in many bands during his career including those of Helen Shapiro and Billy Fury.
Sadly, Paul MacCallum is now confined to a hospice, and all proceeds from the event will go towards funding his med

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Canada - To support and grow its rapidly expanding user base, global design and BIM software solutions provider Vectorworks has opened a new corporate office in Canada.
To facilitate this new office, Vectorworks has acquired Resolve Software Solutions and the assets of Paxar Technologies Corp, both long-time distributors of Vectorworks software. The Vectorworks Canada office is located in Vancouver and led by Geoff McBeath, former director of Resolve Software Solutions, who has more than 20 years of experience in Vectorworks support, training and sales.
“The opening of a Vectorworks office in Canada will allow us to better serve our growing community of users in North America, offering improved resources and a direct connection with our product development team,” said Vectorworks CEO Dr. Biplab Sarkar. “Geoff McBeath has provided significant contributions to the

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India - K-array has confirmed the newest member of the K-family, ISD India. The newly-formed network partner will be responsible for the sales and service of the K-array brand throughout the entire country.
ISD (Italian Sound Design) is a specialised distribution chain of K-array and has been conceived with the aim of servicing major markets through an independent sales development approach. The launch of ISD India follows this new strategy that was put into motion earlier this year with the establishment of K-array China and ISD Japan.
ISD India is run by Sawan Nichani, Sameer Nichani and Sidharth Dham and their team and offers easy access to K-array products and services to the pro audio industry. The newly-formed, but experienced group will aim to bring the K-array brand to the forefront in India.
K-array has high expectations for their partner in this larg

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UK - EI Live!, the trade show for the AV and automation industry, is spreading its wings and moving to a new venue in 2019, as well as embracing new industry sectors in an expanded format.
In 2019 EI Live! will expand to incorporate the commercial AV and automation, and electrical contracting sectors.
The show will also move to the Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre, a new venue in the South East of England.
The Residential, Commercial and Electrical zones will have “something for everyone working in the industry; whether they’re directly installing smart building technology, or working in related fields such as architects, interior designers, developers or specifiers”.
New for 2019: The commercial AV and automation sectors will play a major part in the newly-updated EI Live! trade show. For the first time, technologies cov

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USA - ANSI E1.60 – 2018, Guidelines for the Use of Raked Stages in Live Performance Environments, was approved by ANSI's Board of Standards Review on Friday, 21 September, and published on Monday, 24 September. It can be downloaded at no cost from the ESTA TSP website at http://tsp.esta.org/freestandards.
The no-cost download is made possible by the sponsorship of ProSight Specialty Insurance. It may be purchased for $40 from ANSI and IHS at https://webstore.ansi.org/ and https://global.ihs.com/ respectively.
ANSI E1.60 offers guidance for the use of raked stages in live performance environments to mitigate the risks for the protection of actors and technicians. The guidance offered is fundamentally a risk assessment/risk reduction approach, with a process outlined and suggestions offered on what must, should, or might be done to control the risk.
(Jim E

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USA - Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2018, Showstopper is America’s largest and longest-running dance competition. Taking place across regional events in almost every state, and culminating in a series of large national finals, it provides dancers of all ages the opportunity to experience big stage competition with full on professional production.
And, for the event’s anniversary year, this production has been taken to another level thanks to an investment in 136 ADJ AV6X LED video panels that made their debut at the recent series of national finals.
Showstopper was founded in 1978 and has grown into a vast national competition that attracts teams and individuals of all ages from dance studios right across the US. Throughout the year over 100,000 dancers compete in front of professional judges at 45 regionals – taking place across the country from Fe

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UK - Martin Audio capitalised on its successful marketing formula by hosting three open days (split into five two-hour presentation sessions) at their HQ in High Wycombe, to coincide with this year’s PLASA Show in London.
“The timing was perfect,” said MD Dom Harter. “Not only were many of our partners and customers already in town but it gave us the perfect opportunity to showcase, and in some cases give world premieres to nine new products.”
Harter himself kicked off proceedings, introducing all four models in the new high-performance VIA amplifier range - designed to partner all Martin Audio systems beneath the Wavefront Precision line arrays, and in particular the new ADORN series as well as CDD and O-Line.
Attendees didn't have long to wait before sampling Martin Audio’s signature sound, in the shape of the ADORN on-wall speakers. “The market

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Thailand - Rental house Media Vision Co has recently taken delivery of the region’s first L-Acoustics K1 KX Standard system, which includes the recently shipped P1 processor, KS28, and LA-RAK II. Managing director Thanaruch Hongskule, aka Joe, cites the acquisition as the best choice for long-term investment for the company.
“Media Vision already holds an extensive range of loudspeakers, but with business increasing it needed to expand on this,” explains Tanapat ‘Tony’ Mongkolkosol from Vision One, L-Acoustics’ certified provider distributor for the region. “To maintain its position as the number one rental provider for the region, a solution that matches international artists’ riders and can meet the demands of Thailand’s burgeoning EDM market was required. K1 fulfils both these requirements and would allow Media Vision to service the shows that comes thro

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USA - As show lighting and video professionals prepare for the inaugural Knight of Illumination Awards USA (KOI-USA), to be held in Las Vegas on Saturday, 20 October, 2018, the organisers have revealed the shortlist.
Following the launch of KOI-USA back in April, nominations were received from across the US and around the world. Nominations fall into three categories - Theatre, Live for Broadcast, and Concert Touring & Events - and the shortlist includes some of the world's best-known names in lighting and video design:
Concert Touring & Events: LeRoy Bennett, Bob Bonniol, Gabriel Coutu-Dumont, Ben Dalgleish, Patrick Dierson, Cory FitzGerald, Bryan Hartley, Sarah Landau, Francis Laporte, Matthieu Larivée, Robert Long, Nico Riot, Sooner Routhier, Rob Sinclair, Tom Sutherland, Jim Tetlow, and Andi Watson.
Live for Broadcast: Yves Bélanger,

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UK - PLASA has said the 2018 edition of the PLASA Show has been ‘the busiest and most vibrant’ show since it moved to London Olympia in 2016.
PLASA 2018, which took place on 16-18 September, saw a 4% increase in visitors with a palpable atmosphere that was reminiscent of its popular Earls Court days. The show welcomed a stream of exhibitors and attendees from around the world, primed to explore the leading edge of live entertainment technology.
The expo also confirmed its importance for networking and trade, with 63% of visitors being final decision makers or specifiers, and a quarter being business owners, managers and directors.
Jonathan Walters, UK sales and purchasing director from A.C Entertainment Technologies comments: “This third year back in West London has really confirmed PLASA’s decision to relocate to Olympia, each show here has worked consi

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Take That Back - Take That have announced a greatest hits tour to mark their 30th anniversary next year. Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen will kick off their UK arena tour in April with two shows at Sheffield's FlyDSA Arena. They will go on to play in Glasgow, their home city of Manchester, and six dates at London's O2 Arena. The tour will also see them perform in Dublin, Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Southampton, Bristol City, Norwich, Middlesbrough and Huddersfield.
A new Take That album, Odyssey, is also being released on 23 November. It will feature 27 tracks spanning three decades of the band's history, as well as three new songs.
Training Opportunities - Lighting designer Paule Constable has called on theatres to provide more training opportunities for emerging designers. Constable was speaking at The Stage Debut Awards 2018, where she p

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UK - The Alan Turing Imaginarium is a flexible event space in the BBC’s Dock House at Media City, Salford. It is used for conferences, meetings and as a presentation and studio space from which to broadcast coverage on events such as the recent Winter Olympics and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Stage Electrics was contracted to install a lighting grid that would be able to meet the needs of such a multipurpose space.
“The grid and all its elements were carefully considered to make sure they were both aesthetically pleasing and in keeping with the room,” explains Stage Electrics project manager, Matthew Addison. “For the times when the room is not being used as a studio, a simple infrastructure of distributed production lighting power and DMX was installed to support event and mood lighting.”
The design had to take into account the shape of the room, which is

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UK - Manchester-based technical production supplier Sterling Event Group has invested in Sennheiser’s Digital 6000 series to enhance its audio offering.
The investment, including EM 6000 digital 2-channel receivers, SKM 6000 handheld transmitters with MD 9235 capsules, SK 6000 beltpacks and L 6000 charging stations, will allow Sterling to “future-proof its inventory and offer clients a digital solution”. Sterling has also added additional Sennheiser 2000 Series IEMs to its stock.
Ben Marshall, head of audio at Sterling, comments: “With increased restrictions on available spectrum for radio microphones and in ear monitors we needed a solution to give us the channels we require even in the most challenging RF environments. By utilising Sennheiser Digital 6000 which is intermodulation free we can place frequencies in an equidistant frequency grid to maximise chan

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UK - The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) has now announced its Sponsored Student Scheme for 2019 is open for applications.
The scheme offers students who have not previously been members of the ALD to enjoy free ALD membership until the end of March 2020.
Student members benefit from the increased opportunity to network with lighting and video production professionals at insightful events organised by the ALD, such as their monthly members’ socials and visits to shows and theatres.
Member benefits for students also include complimentary copies of the ALD magazine, Focus, as well as full access to the ALD web site and the members’ own micro-site. Members also receive a 25% discount on the monthly or annual premium subscription fee for Mandy.com.
Rory Beaton, of the ALD student and awards sub-committees, comments: “The ALD’s sponsored studen

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UK - For the past four years, the Lightpower Collection has toured worldwide with In the Eye of the Rock ’n’ Roll Hurricane, an exhibition which shows the body of work from acclaimed rock ‘n’ roll photographer, Neal Preston. In it are more than 70 of his iconic pictures: legendary album covers, views behind the scenes, moments that made history - the essence of rock ’n’ roll and concert touring that has dominated out industry since the late '60s.
Neal Preston’s fine art prints are highly sought after by collectors worldwide, and Lightpower Collection donates all proceeds from the sale of prints and merchandise to Behind the Scenes and Backup - two technical entertainment charities that provide relief for event technicians in need.
At PLASA 2018, the Lightpower Collection was proud to be able to donate another £10,000 to Backup. The donati

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Norway - Ayrton has appointed Bary AS as its exclusive distributor for Norway.
Bary AS is one of Norway’s largest suppliers of technical solutions and equipment for concerts, festivals, events and other productions with many years of experience and expertise.
Jerad Garza, Ayrton international sales manager, comments: “Bary is made up of passionate professionals whose ambition for excellence appear in their every undertaking. We embrace their values and love their energy, which make Bary and Ayrton a great fit. We’re excited to have Bary AS join the Ayrton family.”
Morten Bakke, business development manager for Bary AS, adds: “We are delighted to start our journey as Norwegian distributor of Ayrton. This is the result of three months of intense effort from our development, sales and lighting departments during which time we thoroughly researched the lig

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Europe - Audio-Technica has agreed to distribute Martin Audio in Germany, effective 1 October.
The audio brand’s official distributor will be Audio Technica Germany, which also distributes Allen & Heath and Clear-Com. The new distributor will be responsible for sales in both the installation and rental staging channels. It has appointed Tobi Franzgrothe, who has long experience with Martin Audio after working with the manufacturer’s previous distributor, as brand manager.
Matthias ‘Mex’ Exner, general manager of Audio-Technica Germany, comments: “It’s a case of two great brands joining forces to create an outstanding offering in both these sectors. Martin Audio comfortably bridges the gap between our great mics and wireless systems, through the A&H consoles, to the audience’s ears.”
Bradley Watson, Martin Audio EMEA sales manager, adds:
  1. Monitor City joins the Adamson network
  2. Brompton Technology achieves Tech Track ranking
  3. J&C Joel launches Setting the Stage Fund
  4. SVC appointed Clair Brothers distributor for Argentina
  5. Knight of Illumination 2018 winners announced
  6. Pristine Moods invests in MA, DiGiCo desks
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