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Swift Sales - After just four days, Taylor Swift sold more albums in the US than any other artist this year. The star's sixth album, Reputation, sold 1.04m copies in the US over its first four days on release, says Billboard magazine.
That puts her ahead of 2017's previous biggest-seller, Ed Sheeran's ÷, which has shifted 919,000 copies to date. Reputation also becomes Swift's fourth album to sell a million copies in the space of a week, following 1989, Red and Speak Now. In fact, only she and Adele have sold a million copies of any album in a seven-day frame since 2012.
Extended Role - Edinburgh International Festival has extended director Fergus Linehan's contract for an extra three years, meaning that he will run the festival until at least August 2022. Linehan joined EIF in 2013, directing his first festival

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UK - The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD)’s latest event took place at the Arts Theatre, courtesy of Chauvet and White Light, suppliers of the event’s lighting. ALD Members were invited to see cult rock musical The Toxic Avenger and to hear from the show's lighting designer, Nic Farman, and programmer / production electrician, Clancy Flynn.
Over the summer, events have included an evening with Ambersphere at London’s National Theatre, alongside insight tours to the West End’s latest rock musical, Bat Out of Hell Olivier Award-winning Jesus Christ Superstar at London’s Regent’s Park Open Air theatre, and to 42nd Street at the Drury Lane theatre.
Matt Cowles, Ambersphere’s technical sales manager, stresses the importance of meeting ALD members in this environment. “For us at Ambersphere, the chance to chat with technici

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Hungary - A range of Mojo Barriers aluminium crowd safety barriers are now based in Budapest with the announcement of a new Mojo distributor giving convenient, cost effective barrier rental for festival organisers and tours coming to Eastern Europe.
A stock of Mojo Barriers will be permanently located in Budapest for rental and it has already been hired out to create the front of stage barrier for the Gorillaz concert, in Budapest, Papp Laszlo Arena.
Mojo’s project and touring manager Stanley Jilesen states: “With the expanding live events market in Hungary and Eastern Europe, Mojo Barriers is proud to support organisers with local resource to help keep their events safe. Having worked with Sziget Festival for several years we are delighted to work with the innovators in this region pushing for higher standards.”
The new Hungarian distributorship is the co

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South Africa - Robe Lighting showcased its MegaPointe moving head in South Africa in November.
The launch was attended by the company’s international sales director Harry von den Stemmen and product manager Ondrej Hegar, who presented the product in Johannesburg and Cape Town, while DWR Distribution also hosted a launch event in Durban.
Von den Stemmen says: “Industry professionals are raving about the feature packed, ultra-compact yet extremely powerful light and the quality of the product. I see the same evolution coming for the South African market, and there have been enthusiastic reactions and comments to its recent launch, like everywhere else.”
Hegar agrees: “The fixtures have been really well received across the globe and we have had positive feedback on the unit. Already specified on a huge amount of shows and tours in the upcoming year, the Mega

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Ireland - Galway-based stage lighting equipment supplier Cue One Ireland has invested in the Chroma-Q Color Force II luminaire for servicing its theatrical and corporate events clients.
Cue One Ireland wanted to replace its existing battens and dimmable fluorescents stock with an all-in-one fixture and after looking at various colour-mixing battens on the market, Cue One Ireland's managing director Kieran Cooney placed an order for eight Color Force II 48 battens.
"We chose the Color Force II for the quality of light and colours produced, particularly its ability to achieve difficult pastels,” he reports. “The end results stood out against a number of other cycs and battens that we looked at."
Since investing in the fixtures, Cue One Ireland has supplied them for a number of high-profile theatrical and corporate events.
Kieran adds: "The Color Force I

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USA - Clair Brothers has appointed two new distibutors - Rocketerias in Mexico and VTècnics in Spain - to its growing international distribution network.
Rocketerias and VTècnics will sell and distribute all Clair Brothers products across the two markets.
Rocketerias owner Alejandro Barbosa Calderon comments: “Clair Brothers is a great brand, everybody knows it, and the sky’s the limit. So, joining with them is a powerful complement to our mission to deliver on the promise of offering the kinds of products our customers can be proud to own.”
“Clair Brothers has been a good friend to VTècnics, referring us many times to new customers,” states VTècnics production manager Josep Maria Serra. “When the timing and opportunity for real professional growth in the industry presented itself, we recognised the immediate need to be more competitive in the mar

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Europe - Community Professional Loudspeakers has appointed DV2 as its distributor in Belgium, Luxembourg and France.
Effective immediately, DV2 Belux has become Community’s exclusive distributor in Belgium and Luxembourg, while DV2 France will be the American brand’s French distributor from 2 January 2018.
DV2 France was founded in 1997 by Didier Dal Fitto and Guy Vignet and is distributing a range of pro audio brands in France, including Adamson, Lab.Gruppen, Lake, MDC, XTA, Tannoy, WaveCapture and DiGiCo. In 2014 DV2 opened its office in Belgium to serve the Belgium and Luxembourg markets.
Community’s EMEA sales manager, Jamie Ward, comments: “DV2 is a major player in France and Belux and this partnership will substantially strengthen our distribution in these key European markets. Although it brings two markets under one company, DV2’s separate offi

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USA - In 1997, race car driver Geoff Bodine put the pedal to the metal and reached 197.479 miles per hour on the famed Atlanta Motor Speedway. No-one has ever equalled that speed on the big course since, but the action was probably even more blistering on the weekend of 22-24 September, as nearly 100,000 fans descended on the site for the Imagine Festival.
Nowhere was the action hotter than on the Inferno stage, where Deadmau5, Flux Pavilion, The Floozies and other stars jammed under the intense output of Chauvet Professional Rogue fixtures supplied by 4Life Entertainment.
Designed by Incendia, with consultation provided by 4Life Entertainment, the stage featured eight Rogue R2 Spot, 16 Rogue R2 Beam and 24 Rogue R1 Wash fixtures. Drawing on the output of these fixtures, the rig provided an eye-popping level of brightness that blended well with the incessant pyr

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Italy - K-array's held its global distributor meeting on 25-27 October at the K-hall in San Piero a Sieve, Italy to discuss the latest strategies for 2018, including soon-to-be-launched new products.
There were 62 guests from over 30 countries visiting the small Tuscan town in the Mugello countryside where the event was held. A networking and a loudspeaker assembly teambuilding challenge were the first initiatives of the evening on Wednesday, followed by dinner and a jam session.
The plenary session kicked off early the next day with the theme Changing Perspective introduced by astronaut and aviator Maurizio Cheli who participated as mission specialist in the 1996 STS-75 Tethered Satellite mission with NASA.
After a recap of sales figures presented by Alessandro Tatini, co-founder and president of R&D, the day’s agenda dived into strategic planning

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USA - Cleveland-based Eighth Day Sound has officially joined Adamson Systems Engineering’s sales network on the back of significant installations at the corporate headquarters of a US-based Fortune 500 company and the University of Buffalo.
Eighth Day Sound has also provided Adamson loudspeaker systems for tours by major artists like Shawn Mendes, The 1975, and Nick Cave, as well as events including Drake’s OVO Fest and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ sold-out 2017 dates in Dublin, Ireland, while the company’s director (touring services) Owen Orzack was instrumental in introducing Adamson’s compact S-Series loudspeakers to the touring market.
Jack Boessneck, executive vice president of Eighth Day Sound, says: “Adamson’s reputation in the live sound industry is second to none. We’ve enjoyed a very rewarding relationship with them on the touring side of our busine

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USA - The 51st Annual Country Music Association (CMA) Awards brought together some of the biggest names in country music for an evening of memorable performances which was broadcast on ABC to 14.3m viewers.
Sennheiser microphones and wireless systems were present throughout the broadcast, which was reportedly the channel’s most-viewed Wednesday night programme in three years.
Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley hosted the evening, both speaking and singing through a Sennheiser SKM 5200 handheld transmitter and MD 5235 capsule combination - all running through a Sennheiser 3732-II receiver. Underwood also received a nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year.
After an understated a cappella rendition of Amazing Grace by Eric Church, Lady Antebellum and a bevy of other performers joined Darius Rucker for a rendition of erstwhile Hootie and the Blowfish hit <

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UAE - Following the great success of last year, Apart and Community have scheduled another Middle East seminar. 
The event will take place on day one of Infocomm MEA, Tuesday, 5 December 2017 at 4pm local time at the Crowne Plaza Dubai.
During this exclusive event held by Audioprof Group International, Community Professional Loudspeakers will discuss how to design sound systems for challenging and highly reverberant acoustic spaces and the benefits of using horn loaded systems.
Apart Audio will focus on their new MASKC loudspeaker and MA mixing amplifier ranges and how these products can offer an enormous time-gain during installation.
The event will allow hands and ears-on with a range of products from both brands dedicated to the professional audio installation market, along with presentations from key staff from t

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UK - Rental company Impact Production Services (IPS) has reported “unprecedented demand” for the ProLights StudioCOB Plus LED par.
The company says the LED par has been “hugely popular across a wide range of events ranging from outdoor live music concerts to film premieres and corporate functions in high end hotels”.
IPS’ Tom Warden commented: “They have been consistently popular with customers since we started adding them to our hire stock – we keep ordering more and still can't keep up with the demand for them.”
IPS purchased its stock from ProLights’ UK dealer A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd (AC-ET), including the StudioCOB Plus Full Colour and StudioCOB Plus Daylight White models.
Steven Moseley, from IPS’ lighting department, said: “There has been an ever increasing demand from our clients for an LED fixture with a single beam

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Poland - Alcons Audio has recently added a new territory to its global spread of users, with Polish event production company Offstage using its QR, QM and VR series pro-ribbon systems on a wide range of events. Two of the most recent have been corporate orchestral concerts in the Baltic resort of Sopot.
Based in Łęgowo near Gdansk, Offstage provides concert sound, lighting and staging services for national and international clients. In September, its Alcons pro-ribbon loudspeakers were used for a corporate event at the Sheraton Hotel in Sopot where the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot and guest performers entertained guests in the hotel’s Baltic Panorama Ballroom.
For the orchestral concert, Offstage used L-R arrays of an Alcons QR24 modular line-source array column and QM24 LMF array extension, plus VR8 compact versatile monitors as frontfills. The syst

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USA - Austin-based cinema Alamo Drafthouse recently upgraded its Highball location with an Allen & Heath Qu-24 digital mixer and its Barrel O’ Fun location with a Qu-24 mixer and an AR-2412 AudioRack.
A/V manager Steve Sanders said: “The Highball was using an older mixer in their remodelled space. So, I did a lot of research. The reviews said that the Allen & Heath Qu Series is the easiest digital board to use, especially if you’re coming from an analogue background. So, I rented one from Rock n Roll Rentals and took it home for a few days. With the Allen & Heath videos, it was easy to understand and, as I got to know the mixer, I really liked it. So, we bought one for the Highball and another for the Barrel O’ Fun.”
Sanders saves a Qu-24 scene for bands who play at the Highball regularly. “When they come in, I just recall their scene,” he sai

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USA - Global manufacturer of video and signal distribution technology ZeeVee has launched a new website and logo as it marks 10 years in business.
Bob Michaels, CEO for ZeeVee, says: “2017 marks an important milestone for our company. ZeeVee has long been a trusted brand and a symbol of quality and ease of use. Today, those attributes continue to be the driving force in our innovation and engineering best practices. Throughout this past decade we have been working to lead the industry and develop new distribution platforms that leverage standards-based technology.
“From being the first to introduce an RF encoder/modulator approved for use by DIRECTV, Dish and other cable and satellite providers, to launching the first uncompressed 4K AV over IP distribution solution, we are committed to providing customers innovative and easy to use solutions.
“The AV lands

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USA - After producing the US Open Squash Championships in Philadelphia for seven years, IMS Technology Services noticed a distinct improvement in the audio quality after switching to Martin Audio CDD-LIVE speakers for this year’s event.
IMS director of audio Chris Leonard comments: “We definitely upgraded the speaker coverage with the Martin Audio CDD-LIVE 12’s and 8’s. They had a major impact on the environment with their low-end extension and consistent wide coverage. There’s no good place to put subs at this event, so having a speaker with the low-end power of the CDD-LIVE series really helped us out with adding excitement to the audio quality and coverage. This was the seventh year we’ve done this event and by far the best sounding one yet.”
The Championships take place at Drexel University’s Daskalakis Athletic Centre with a custom ASB glass squas

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UK - J&C Joel has won the Exporter of the Year category at the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards held at Grosvenor House in London on 14 November (Tuesday).
The Sowerby Bridge-based firm, which is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of flame retardant fabrics, drapery and stage engineering solutions, was praised by the judges for the pace of their international growth, the range of countries they cover and their strategy of offering of a range of value-added services suited for both their UK and overseas clients.
J&C Joel’s CEO, James Wheelwright, said: “We are extremely proud and honoured to have won this award, we weren’t expecting it as we were up against some really strong businesses. In recent years we have invested heavily in our export infrastructure; opening new offices overseas and expanding our operations to ensure we are offering the

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Germany - It has been 500 years since Martin Luther sparked the Reformation and the German city of Worms, which played a central role in the movement, has been marking the event throughout the year. From 27 October to 1 November, a Ecumenical Bridge of Light was cast between the city’s St. Peter’s Cathedral and the Luther Church using Elation Professional Proteus Hybrid moving heads.
Lighting designer Thomas Gerdon was contacted by the city to connect the lofty Catholic Cathedral with the Protestant Luther Church in a bridge of light intended to express the bond between Catholics and Protestants. “Even though they are separate religions, they are still connected by the Christian faith,” Gerdon says of the reason behind the project. “The bridge of light was meant to visualize this connection as a symbolic meeting of the two great faiths in partnership.”

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UK - Hawthorn is once again heading out on tour with 80s new wave group OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark). The company will be supplying lighting & crew to the band as they take their The Punishment of Luxury Tour around the UK and Europe.
The band, which has sold over 40m records worldwide, is returning to the stage in support of their 13th studio album The Punishment of Luxury. Having kicked off at Liverpool Empire on 29 October, the tour will run through to 8 December, closing at the Les Docks, Lausanne, Switzerland.
The concert touring division at Hawthorn is supplying lighting to specification for the performances, including Clay Paky Sharpy and Sharpy Wash, Robe BMFL Spot and Ayrton Magic Blade-R fixtures. Hawthorn is also providing rigging, drapes, dimmers and distro, as well as supplying two lighting crew for the performances.
Mi

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UK - The new owner of SWX will work with local and national promoters to bring more live music to the Bristol club.
Electric Group, which also runs Electric Brixton, completed a deal for SWX last month, recognising “the performance potential in its outstanding atmosphere, production and sightlines”.
With Ticketweb providing box office and marketing support, Electric Group will manage the SWX live diary from Brixton under head of music Mike Weller’s direction.
Weller has been working with the SWX team to further refine the venue’s live set-up, technically and commercially.
Dominic Madden, Electric Group co-founder, comments: “We operate with an independent mindset, shaping an easy and collaborative culture for promoters to embrace SWX with as few financial strings attached as possible.
“Having invested substantially to make the venue pro

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Czech Republic - Perhaps one of the most unusual cultural buildings in Europe, the airship at DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague appears to float above the surrounding buildings. For those that venture inside it, a Yamaha audio system proves that the sound.
Named after fictional traveller Gulliver, the 42m long, 120-capacity steel and wood airship features a zeppelin-shaped structure on top and is a permanent space for lectures, exhibitions, screening and other cultural events.
The venue features an AV system specified and installed by Martin Vondrášek of the Prague-based AVT Group. The audio system comprises four Yamaha VXS5W speakers arrayed along each side of the ‘body’, powered by an XMV8140 multi-channel amplifier, with signal distribution and processing by an Yamaha MTX5-D matrix processor.
Audio inputs come from wireless microphones, a

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USA - Set against the striking backdrop of the Hollywood Hills with its famed Hollywood sign, the Hollywood Bowl is the summer home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The Bowl has also been the winner of 13 consecutive Pollstar Awards for Outstanding Outdoor Venue since 2004, which was coincidentally the same year that L-Acoustics was selected to help maintain the audio excellence at the venue, first with V-DOSC, then with the 2013 installation of the only K1 system currently installed in a North American venue.
Just prior to the 2017 season, the Hollywood Bowl furthered its pursuit of sonic excellence with the acquisition of 18 AVB-ready L-Acoustics LA12X and 10 LA4X amplified controllers, all sold and installed by Rat Sound. With this addition of 28 new LA Series amplified controllers, the Hollywood Bowl has completely refreshed and updated its power infrastructure, fu

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Sweden - Harman Professional Solutions has announced that Septon Electronic is taking over the distribution of AMX solutions in Sweden.
The agreement applies to the full range of AMX product categories, with Septon Electronic set to focus on local sales and support of video control solutions while Harman Professional will concentrate on creating synergies between the audio, video and lighting segments of the business.
“We are pleased about this agreement,” said Fredrik Barnö, channel manager, Harman Professional Solutions. “Septon Electronic has been the Swedish distributor of Harman Professional’s audio portfolio for many years, and with their extensive market reach and thorough industry know-how, we have a strong partner on our side.”
"AMX is established in the absolute premium segment, whereas Septon Electronic as a distributor is known for our broa
  1. PLASA Focus returns to Glasgow with over 80 brands and industry-leading programme
  2. The Week in Light & Sound
  3. Colour Sound finds Common Ground at the O2
  4. Capital Sound invests in SSL and Avid Venue
  5. JBL arrays reinforce Umbria Jazz Festival
  6. Celine Dion in the frame with Ayrton
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