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Live in London - The first live acts for The BRITs 2018 have been confirmed: Ed Sheeran, Stormzy, Sam Smith and Dua Lipa will perform at the BRITs show on 21 February.
BRITs chairman Jason Iley said: “I’m very excited to confirm such a strong British line-up as our first four live acts for the main show in 2018: Ed Sheeran has had an exceptional year, across the world and we are thrilled to have him back on the show. Then we have previous Critics’ Choice winner Sam Smith returning to our stage following the incredible success of yet another No.1 album this year. Stormzy has had a phenomenal 2017, putting grime firmly on the map with his No. 1 album Gang Signs & Prayer and Dua Lipa has been the biggest British female breakthrough story of the year.”
West End Return - Chicago is to return to the West End next year following a five-year ab

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UK - Cymatic Audio has appointed Riverside Audio to handle the exclusive sales representation of all Cymatic products in the UK from 1 January 2018.
Riverside Audio is headed up by UK sales veteran Nick Longland, whose background in the MI and pro audio industry spans almost 20 years, including nearly 13 years with Sennheiser UK. During that time, he has gained an immense knowledge of the industry and built strong relationships with his customers.
Cymatic Audio CEO Arie van den Broek comments: “Nick’s experience and vast network of contacts in the UK across both MI and pro audio markets make him ideally placed to represent Cymatic products in the UK. His personal and personable approach and ‘rep firm’ business model are a perfect fit for us, and we are looking forward to a mutually profitable working relationship.”
Longland adds: “In setting up River

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USA - Katy Perry recently kicked off her Witness: The Tour in support of her eponymous new album, with Claypaky Scenius Unicos and Scenius Profiles prominent in the tour’s lighting rig.
The fixtures have been selected by the show’s producer and lighting designer, Baz Halpin of Silent House, who is using Claypaky’s Scenius range for the first time.
The stage design is dominated by a 130ft eye-shaped LED screen, and Halpin was given the brief to “create big, strong, powerful looks that would complement and work with the shape and power of the screen”.
To that end, he’s deploying 80 Scenius Unico and 50 Scenius Profile fixtures supplied by Upstaging. “Their power and versatility made them the perfect choice to stand up to the intense light coming from the LED screen,” says Halpin. “As we had 130ft lighting trusses with a single fixture type

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USA - Hughston Engineering, a provider of full-service solutions for events, trade shows, conventions and out-door events, presented its second cheque to Behind the Scenes at LDI, reflecting sales over the past year of their Male and Female SOCAPEX Cable Testers.
The Female Tester features an Edison input, rotary dial for each circuit, 20A circuit breaker, and 6 indicator lights. The Male Tester includes a continuity tester and 6 indicator lights. These products are made in-house by IATSE Local 16 employees and are rigorously tested to ensure the utmost quality.
Eddie Raymond of the BTS Foundation Board of Directors, stated upon accepting the cheque, “Hughston Engineering is one of the more generous companies in the business. Whether it’s supporting family, employees or the union, Lance can always be counted on to lend a hand when needed. Hughston Engineering’s

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Australia - Professional lighting distributor Show Technology opened a new facility in Port Melbourne on 6 December.
The new location is three times larger than the previous office and has enabled the company to adopt new service facilities as well as expand their stock holding in Melbourne.
Over 150 guests toured the new premises and could test lighting fixtures in the new showroom, including the latest offerings from Claypaky, Martin, and Ayrton.
“Having a showroom much bigger than the last has allowed us to put all the latest gear and gadgets on full display and when customers and partners come through the office they are able to get full demonstrations of what we have to offer as well as gain an experience,” said Emmanuel Ziino, managing director at Show Technology.
Melbourne branch manager Paul Nicolaou says: “I encourage all lighting profession

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Poland - To take advantage of new business opportunities in Poland, MultiDyne Fiber Optic Solutions has appointed Twenty4Seven as its exclusive in-country distribution and systems integration partner. Twenty4Seven will exclusively specify MultiDyne fibre optic solutions into its broadcast and commercial AV integration projects throughout the country.
Twenty4Seven specialises in customised solutions and services for broadcast and production systems in TV and radio facilities, houses of worship and live event venues, among other customers.
Twenty4Seven partner Jakub Antoszewski says: “Poland is a very technologically-advanced country, and the broadcast and commercial AV markets here are focused on top quality products and services,” said Antoszewski. “Twenty4Seven was founded by and remains comprised of experts from the broadcast industry, and we thoroughly unders

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Argentina - Tecnica Vidal is the largest rental and production company in the west of Argentina, and one of the top five in the country. Founded by Miguel Vidal in the 1980s, it is located in Rivadavia the centre north of Mendoza province, internationally renowned for its wine production.
The company has 20 full time employees and supplies the full range of technical production services, encompassing lighting, audio, video, staging, rigging and power, a ‘single-source’ solution business model that has proved very successful. Their specialist areas are concert touring, festivals, music shows and rental / staging, and they also have a healthy roster of corporate clients and event venues.
The first Robe investment was made in 2011 / 2012 when the brand was still emerging in Argentina. This was the first year of Robe’s partnership with Buenos Aires based TSD Group as

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USA - Atlona’s Launch & Learn series of educational events, launched this October, continues to help partners around the world to learn how the company’s latest products solve integration challenges, and align with today’s most important AV trends.
Last week Atlona held its first event for Latin America partners at its Silicon Valley HQ, flying in representatives from more than 20 dealers, distributors and systems integrators from Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. Hosted partners included Novotech, Anixter, Crambo Mexico, OOH Redes Digitales, Smartlife, Musitempo, Construcciones Acusticas, ISA Corporativo, Virtus Life, Serprotel Networks, M&D Asesores, Neuroservices Communications, Opentel, Teccom Seesa and Group de Negocios TSA.
Launch & Learn events offer two distinct educational tracks: Networked AV and Modern Meeting Sp

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India - Harman Professional Solutions recently partnered with Grammy Award-winning artist A.R. Rahman to produce The Sufi Route, India’s first folk, poetry and Sufi music festival.
Harman was the official technology partner of the concert, which was held on 18 November at Qutub Minar in New Delhi and featured a line-up comprising Javed Akhtar, Nooran Sisters, Hans Raj Hans, Mukhtiar Ali, Kamna Prasad Sood, Fouzia & Firoz, Dhruv Sangari and a Whirling Dervish ceremony from Turkey.
The Sufi Route and Harman partnered with The Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation to allow 35 students with hearing loss enjoy the show in support of the organisation’s A Billion Acts for Peace campaign. Students from the Centrum GRO Advanced Skill Training Centre for the Deaf heard the performances using four translators and vibrations from JBL speakers.
“Ha

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City of Culture - Coventry has been named UK City of Culture 2021. The city was announced as the next holder of the title on 7 December, and will become the third host city, after Derry/Londonderry in 2013 and Hull, which is UK City of Culture this year. It beat bids from Sunderland, Paisley, Stoke-on-Trent and Swansea to take the title, and has already set out plans that focus on youth and diversity in its proposals.
Each city was assessed over a number of months by an independent panel – chaired by television producer Phil Redmond – and set out the details of their plans to the judges when they visited each location. Coventry now has three years to prepare its year-long programme of activity, and will receive a £3m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to kick this off.
Arts minister John Glen congratulated Coventry on winning UK City of Culture 2021. He said:

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UK - Rental company Stage Sound Services (SSS) has recently invested in Sennheiser’s new Digital 6000 microphone system.
SSS chose the system for its sub-hire and its rider / specification friendliness as well as its environmental credentials bolstered by its rechargeable battery.
“We've been working with Sennheiser from the very start of the company, starting out with their wired microphones,” says SSS commercial manager, James Lewis. “A large proportion of our business is professional theatre, from small plays to full-scale musicals and, in recent years, our stock of Sennheiser and Neumann wired microphones has increased dramatically to accommodate these shows. Last year we started to add Sennheiser wireless into our rental stock, with the purchase of 32 channels of its SK 5212 system for the Funny Girl UK tour. Sennheiser is on many specs, so it wasn'

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USA - ESTA and USITT have announced the initial sponsors for the New World Rigging Symposium, taking place 13-14 March in conjunction with the USITT Conference and Stage Expo 2018 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Signing up as the Platinum Sponsor is Stage Rigging, Inc. a diversified theatrical rigging company that provides a full range of specialised rigging services on a global basis for tours, corporate and special events, and expositions. Chris Schmidt, vice president and general manager of Stage Rigging, states, “For over 40 years Stage Rigging has been an advocate of rigging standards and education, the New World Rigging Symposium is the perfect event for both.”
Gold Sponsors are ETC, offering a range of hoists and controls to accommodate the needs of any production space and budget, and J.R. Clancy, providing professional rigging solutions worldwide on thousand

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Germany - S.E.A. Vertrieb & Consulting will become the German distributor for Community Professional Loudspeakers from 1 January 2018.
The distributor exclusively markets a portfolio of 20 premium audio brands, offering solutions for recording studios, live events and fixed installations.
Heinz Bouwer, sales manager at S.E.A. Vertrieb & Consulting, comments: “We are delighted to join forces with Community and represent the company’s high-performance products in the German market. Community offers a comprehensive range of audio products with superior sound, excellent manufacturing quality and unique features, making the brand a perfect fit with our existing portfolio of installed sound products. We look forward to further developing Community in our territory and taking advantage of the synergy with more than 12 years of successful cooperation with its siste

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UK - PLASA Focus Glasgow, Scotland’s dedicated event for entertainment technology, has announced more seminars and workshops for the upcoming show at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) on 17-18 January 2018. This year's seminar programme will feature representatives from The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), Shure, the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC. It is free to register for the show, which brings international brands and expertise to regional professionals working in lighting, sound, AV, rigging and staging sectors. 
Adlib, one of the longest-established technical production companies in the UK, is set to bring big lighting and audio brands to the show, providing a hands-on experience. Newly-added seminars will focus on large-scale light and sound design, approa

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USA - Sales of Lex Products’s CineBox line resulted in a cheque presentation to Behind the Scene at the recent LDI Show as part of the BTS Pledge-a-Product Programme. These stackable and compact portable power distribution boxes featuring non-conductive, heavy-duty rubber enclosures are designed to withstand rugged conditions. They include a collapsible colour-coded handle for easy identification of input amperage ratings, flush mounted hydraulic magnetic breakers, LED indicators, and shock/impact resistant Lexan bumpers.
Upon presenting the cheque, Bob Luther, CEO Lex Products stated, “This programme is an opportunity to support people in our industry who are in need, through the products that they use. It is our pleasure to support the Behind the Scenes charity in this way.”
Todd Spencer, of the BTS Foundation Board of Directors, acknowledged the contribution

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UAE - Audio visual solutions provider Sonic Wave has struck a partnered with Sennheiser to distribute a range of wired and wireless microphones and studio headphones from the German manufacturer.
The company has stocked wired mics from Sennheiser’s Evolution range; professional headphones like the HD-25s; and Neumann studio monitors and select models from Neumann’s range of recording microphones.
The announcement coincides with the opening of Sonic Wave’s Dubai showroom yesterday (Sunday, 10 December), with Sennheiser demo units to be available for testing at the new premises from this Wednesday, 13 December.
Andrew Williams, managing director at Sonic Wave, says: “Clients in the UAE are demanding reliable high-quality products with world-class support. Sennheiser delivers on these requirements with a catalogue of products and models that supports a full

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USA - On the LDI show floor this year, ETC presented Behind the Scenes with a cheque for $24,873.84, representing this year’s proceeds from the company’s iRFR and aRFR focus remote applications. Since the launch of the iRFR in 2009, ETC’s mobile app sales have generated an impressive $322,825 in donations, helping the charity bring assistance to many ill or injured entertainment technology colleagues and their families.
The iRFR and aRFR mobile apps enable convenient, touchscreen-based remote control for Eos family consoles and controllers. ETC rolled out updated versions this year which enable mobile access to an even wider suite of control functions. You can learn more about the apps from the ETC website and download them from the iTunes or Google Play stores.
“I am proud that this programme has been such a success,” says ETC CEO Fred Foster. “It is impo

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Australia - From early next year, Jands will no longer represent Harman Professional Solutions in the Australia territory. Jands says this move is part of a strategic review of their business which commenced early in 2017 with the purpose of “developing a company structure and product strategy that will see Jands best positioned for the future”.
This process encompassed a companywide review of both Jands’ business strengths and the strengths of its key suppliers. As a result of this review, in July Jands began an internal restructure designed to “better align the organisation to the strategies and product roadmaps of its key suppliers”.
A company statement says, “Numerous new roles have been created, with many having already been filled, to further strengthen Jands’ reputation for education, training, product support and to improve the customer experienc

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USA - Control systems from ETC have been used in the majority of winning schemes at the 2018 Thea Awards, the US company has reported.
The awards recognise excellence within the themed entertainment industry and are organised by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA). Across the 2018 winners, ETC has had a hand in nine of the Thea Award-winning projects.
“We’re delighted for each of our partners recognised with a Thea Award, and congratulate the winners on their vision,” said Karl Haas, national sales manager for architecture at ETC. “These projects showcase ETC’s dedication to creating lighting system solutions that are powerful enough to control entire park lighting systems, and creative enough to fit in to these highly specialised environments.”
ETC’s Unison Paradigm and Mosaic lines, Sensor3 power dimming technology, Response data distribu

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UAE - Sennheiser, Dolby, Neumann and Lawo conducted a workshop dedicated to 3D audio to educate regional specialists on capturing, processing and mixing techniques.
Company representatives presented sessions on capturing sound in 3D, mixing, controlling and monitoring immersive sound formats, and establishing efficient encoding workflows for optimum results. Also included were listening sessions designed to expose attendees to audio content originally recorded in 3D as well as recordings up-mixed using Sennheiser's patented algorithm.
Attendees were also introduced to 3D and object based audio formats – Ambeo by Sennheiser and Dolby Atmos respectively. Sessions that were particularly well received included one on Mixing immersive sound formats, conducted by Lucas Zwicker, technical product manager audio production of Lawo and the session by Dolby presented by

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Charity Single - Rak-Su have been named the winners of the X Factor 2017. The Watford-based group beat Grace Davies in the final of the ITV singing competition - the first boy band to win since the show started in 2004. Rak-Su thanked viewers for voting for them, while their mentor Simon Cowell hailed them as "stars". Proceeds from Rak-Su's winners' single Dimelo will go to children's hospice charities Together For Short Lives and Shooting Star Chase.
Pearl Jam - Nearly a decade after last touring the capital, Pearl Jam have announced two London gigs. The band will play London's O2 Arena on the 18 and 19 June next year. Tickets for the shows will go on general sale at 11am on 8 December.
Lucky Dip - Plans have been announced for a new daily lottery for £10 Hamilton tickets. Members of the public can apply for a maximum of two £10 tickets p

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USA - ACT Lighting continued their support for Behind the Scenes with a $5,000 cheque presentation at LDI. The donation reflects proceeds from the sales of the dot2 series of lighting control solutions from MA Lighting.
The dot2 range consists of the lighting consoles: core, XL-F, XL-B; playback expansion wings: F-wing and B-wing; the Node4 1K network output node; onPC console software; and 3D visualization software. Designed for small and mid-sized projects and venues, dot2 offers advanced functionality with outstanding ease-of-use. Full tracking backup is available via plug and play networking. Learn more about the dot2 Series.
Upon presenting the check, Brian Dowd, vice president of sales for ACT Lighting stated, “The charitable work that Behind the Scenes does is very important to our industry, helping those in need when it counts. ACT is pleased to help this cau

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Europe - Yamaha has a strong focus on helping to train audio professionals of the future, whether via the company’s YCATS training programme or working with other companies and education providers. A new initiative with global education provider SAE Creative Media Institute has seen the company’s Nuage systems installed at SAE campuses in London, Milan, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Hannover, with more to follow.
Established in 1976, SAE is one of the world’s largest providers of audio education programmes. With more than 50 campuses in five regions, including six in Australia, the Institute offers government-accredited certificates, diplomas and bachelor programs across disciplines such as animation, film, design, games, business music and web/mobile.
Nuage is Yamaha´s advanced post-production controller system for Steinberg Nuendo, the professional DAW used for

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USA - Harman Professional Solutions has opened the Harman Experience Centre in Los Angeles. The facility joins a worldwide network of Harman Professional Solutions Experience Centres in Singapore, China and soon in London, designed to demonstrate how Harman solutions address customer needs across multiple vertical markets.
The new 15,000sq.ft. multi-functional facility showcases Hartman Professional Solutions product solutions in a variety of entertainment and enterprise market applications. The Experience Centre demonstrates the integration of brands including JBL Professional, AKG Acoustics, AMX, BSS Audio, Crown International, dbx Professional, DigiTech, Lexicon Pro, Martin, Soundcraft and Studer.
“With the opening of our flagship Experience Centre, we are bringing the Harman Professional Solution proposition to life while giving visitors a glimpse into the inves
  1. Stage Electrics announces January showcase
  2. New Stage Electrics desk for The Grand Theatre
  3. CCPP makes major Robe investment
  4. The Warehouse to host UHF RF spectrum seminar
  5. Sound Technology joins Midwich Group
  6. DPA acquires Sound Network and will launch German HQ
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