Sweden - All Musik based in Skara, is the first rental company in Sweden to take delivery of Robe's VIVA LED spotlight, a fixture which will service their eclectic array of clients covering corporate shows, smaller music festivals and niche events.

The VIVAs are the latest Robe purchase for All Musik which is run by Alf Kjellson, former drummer and big music aficionado who has been in the industry for 37 years - all his working life he emphasises! He founded the company in 1996 and they have been at the current 12,000sq.m warehouse on the outskirts of picturesque Skara since 2012. One of Sweden's oldest cities, it is known for its ecclesiastical and educational history.

The new VIVAs, delivered by Robe's Swedish distributor, Bellalite, join All Musik's existing 12 x DLX Spots from the DL Series and 20 LEDWash 600s which are all constantly working.

Alf first invested in

UK - Artistic Licence, inventor of Art-Net and expert in lighting control, is hosting a dedicated Art-Net stand at this year's PLASA London show. This exciting new initiative - entitled Art-Net 4 Zone (Stand R71) - is supported by PLASA and LSi and seeks to provide expert education and training on the use of Art-Net and related protocols.

Thanks to the support of similar-minded sponsor companies, Artistic's formidable expertise will be complemented by a range of technical experts who are giving their time to make the event a success.

Throughout the first two days of the show (Sunday 18th & Monday 19th September), invited speakers will give 15-minute technical briefings on a range of relevant topics. The line-up has now been confirmed as follows:

Sunday 18 September:

11.00 - Wayne Howell (Artistic Licence) - Introduction to Art-Net 4

12.00 - Geoff Archenh

France - Award winning theme park Puy du Fou located in the Vendée region of western France has invested in Robe's DL series LED moving lights, with eight DL7Ss and 18 x DL4Ss, which are being utilized to light their innovative new show Le Dernier Panache, an immersive fusion of theatre and cinema being staged in their new 19m Euro Le Thé

Mexico - Responding to the rapidly increasing demand for its lighting and trussing products in Mexico, Chauvet has opened a new office, warehouse, service centre and showroom in Lerma, just west of the nation's capital.

Located close to major highway and rail transit channels, the spacious new facility will house an extensive inventory of Chauvet Professional, Iluminarc and Chauvet DJ lighting fixtures, as well truss from the company's TRUSST division.

"The new facility in Lerma represents an important step in our global expansion plans," said Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. "Working closely with our network of dealers and distributors, Chauvet has been fortunate to build up a very loyal following among Mexican customers for our professional, architectural and DJ products. By expanding our capabilities to sell and service our wide range of products, the new facility will a

New Zealand - Tuesday 30 August 2016 was a significant date in the 26- year history of Show Technology.

The date was the official opening of the Show Technology New Zealand office in Auckland with managing director Emmanuel Ziino welcomed officially onto the land in a P?whiri - a M?ori welcoming ceremony involving speeches, dancing, and singing performed by a local school 'Kapa Haka' group. The P?whiri concluded with a Hongi, a traditional M?ori greeting done by pressing one's nose and forehead (at the same time) to another person at an encounter.

"It was an absolute honour to be welcomed onto the land by their chief," commented Emmanuel. "The P?whiri welcomed us (the owners) and our guests (the future users) during a dedication of the building."

The evening was an industry event attended by invited guests who make up the cream of the professional lighting industry in

USA - ESTA's Behind the Scenes Happy Hour returns for its third year as the biggest pre-LDI party in a new location at the Embassy Suites Las Vegas (3600 Paradise Road). Tickets are on sale for the event on Thursday, 20 October from 6pm-8pm. Advance tickets are $60 a person at behindthescenescharity.com/btshh, and tickets will be available at the door for $75 a person.

The Behind the Scenes Happy Hour features an open bar, hors d'oeuvres and music with all proceeds going to benefit the Behind the Scenes charity, the only industry charity that provides grants to ill or injured entertainment technician professionals. Since its beginning in 2014, the Behind the Scenes Happy Hour has raised over $120,000 in sponsorships and ticket sales.

A limited number of sponsorship opportunities are still available. Interested sponsors are encouraged to find out more information by visitin

The Netherlands - For the first time in Europe, Yamaha and Steinberg are showing their implementation of Dolby Atmoswith Nuendo and Nuage at IBC 2016 in Amsterdam this week.

The latest update to Yamaha's state-of-the-art Nuage hardware controller system has brought full support for Steinberg Nuendo 7.1, a fully-fledged post-production system supporting different immersive sound formats. Using the Nuage console and Dante-based audio hardware, a connection to Dolby's rendering and mastering unit allows for easy and flexible content creation for object-based cinema sound, bringing Nuage up to speed with today's fastest-growing immersive surround formats.

Yamaha is providing hands-on demonstrations of the system throughout IBC 2016, on Stand 8.A69.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Bandit Lites has once again increased its touring inventory with even more gear, this time adding Elation's ACL 360i.

Jake Tickle, Bandit Lites director of technical services, praised the ACL 360i as a great compliment to the entire ACL 360 Series. "The included optional 10 and 45 degree frost are great options expanding the use of the ACL 360i," he said. "This fixture is the definition of power in numbers. I feel we have only touched the surface of how creative we can be with the Elation ACL 360i."

The fixtures were recently out on American rock band Shinedown's Carnival of Madness tour, where lighting designer Sooner Routhier used them for accent and back lighting, placed behind Plexiglas. "You do not know that they are there, and then when they come on, they pop through to give more depth to the stage," explained lighting director Carter Fulghum before adding, "I

South Africa - In search of a solution that would cater for their AV needs, a server with multiple output points and one which would accommodate both small and large events, Johannesburg based Solid Rock Event Technical has taken ownership of a new ArKaos Studio Server.

The story began at Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt earlier this year, when Nick Britz from DWR Distribution introduced Solid Rock's Keith Mac Intyre (founder) and Rolley Maphosa (audio engineer) to the ArKaos team. "From what I understand, within half an hour of Rolley seeing the system for the first time, he was already mapping spheres and cubes with the product" explained Andrew Temblett, business development manager at Solid Rock. "So I think the marriage was made there, and when Keith came back to Johannesburg we started looking at the software available on-line. It seemed a very simple solution that would be

USA - After 20 years of performing, 16m records sold worldwide, and eight Top 40 albums to their credit, Hanson have branched out into other endeavours.

This includes forming a company to make their own craft beer, MMMhops, a play on their smash hit MMMBop. No word on whether or not the group's suds were served at Brews and BBQ, an annual Labor Day gala at Rockford Speedway, but Hanson showed that even though they may have a few fingers in other ventures, their heart and soul are still planted firmly in music.

The group delivered a nonstop high octane performance at the speedway turned festival site. Keeping pace with Hanson step for upbeat step during Brews and BBQ was a fast moving eye-searing lightshow anchored by 20 Intimidator fixtures from Chauvet DJ.

Lighting designers Jeff Hinton of 815 productions and Jared Borchardt of JBE, Inc. teamed up for this prod

UK - Cambridge Live has announced at its Annual General Meeting that it is taking over the running of the e-Luminate Cambridge Festival.

e-Luminate joins Cambridge Live's portfolio of events, giving the Festival a stable footing for the future, helping it to thrive and ensuring its growth and development in coming years.

e-Luminate Cambridge Festival was founded in 2012 by Alessandra Caggiano and Hugh Parnell. They wanted to create a festival of light which would bring together the two sides of the city, uniting its technological talent with its cultural and artistic vivacity. Each year, residents and visitors discover the richness and diversity of Cambridge's iconic buildings and public spaces through a range of light installations, family activities, talks and concerts.

Cambridge Live and e-Luminate recognised that they have a shared vision for arts and culture in th

South Africa - Enchanting audiences year after year, the FNB Starlight Pop Opera was hosted at the Chris Saunders Park, Umhlanga in KwaZulu Natal on 6 and 7 August. Headliner Patrizio Buanne, the Neapolitan-Austrian baritone singer, songwriter and producer, along with local South African artists such as Arno Carstens, were accompanied by the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra.

The event is a gift from First National Bank to their top 1,500 clients where all service providers rise to the occasion to provide an extraordinary evening. For the fifth consecutive year, EPH Production supplied the full technical, while lighting designer Johan Ferreira from BF Production Services created tender moments on a grandMA2 light.

The lighting rig consisted of 10 x Robe Pointe, 18 x Robin 600 LEDWash, 12 x Robin 1000 LEDBeam, 10 x Robin 100 LEDBeam, 24 Clay Paky Sharpy and six MAC 401 Dual LED wa

Costa Rica - The Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica, the country's historically and culturally significant national theatre located right in the heart of capital San Jose has made its first purchase of Robe moving lights, choosing the LED DLS Profile.

This important move was instigated by the theatre's technical director, Claudio Schifanni and the eight DLS Profile units were delivered by Mas Musica also based in San Jose, which is a Robe distributor in Costa Rica.

The theatre is both a producing and a receiving house, and stages at least three shows a week. They wanted a 'best quality' LED moving light product and started looking at Robe's DL range which has been specially developed for theatre and performance applications.

They wanted powerful fixtures with lower power consumption and absolutely no compromises in the quality of light output if it was an LED source. They a

Korea / USA - API has announced a new partnership with Korea-based distributor Dasan, headquartered in Seoul. Founded in 1999, Dasan has been providing innovative media solutions for recording studios, concert halls, religious institutions, and sports facilities, among others, for over 15 years.

"We are proud to partner with such a distinguished and experienced distributor," said API managing director Gordon Smart. "Dasan is dedicated to providing only the best professional audio equipment, and we're extremely pleased to join forces with a distributor whose values align with ours."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Since making their first investment in Powersoft's X Series amplifier technology earlier this year Orbital Sound has seen them graduate from driving the sound during the pantomime season to full touring duty on the hit musical, Chicago, where they have partnered with the company's new Flare Audio X2 Compact Vertical Point Source Array loudspeaker system.

Chicago has been touring provincial theatres for the first time in four years, and according to Orbital director of sales, Andy Simmons, it has proved a compelling combination. The system was specified by leading theatre sound designer Rick Clarke, who passed away so tragically last month, and whose association with the production dates all the way back to 1998.

Orbital's new Powersoft X8 8-channel amplifiers provide the touring production with 32 channels of amplification in just 8U, and Rick commented

USA - The Audio Engineering Society (AES) East Coast convention in 2017 will be co-located with NAB Show New York at the Javits Convention Centre in New York City, event organizers have announced.

The AES annual fall USA Convention will be held 18-21 October, 2017 and NAB Show New York will be held 18-19 October, 2017. The adjacent location of these events creates the most comprehensive and largest media and entertainment event held on the East Coast with over 600 exhibitors, say the organisers.

"Audio is the expertise of the AES, and NAB Show New York highlights expertise in video and content distribution. For today's media professionals, it makes perfect sense for these two events to take place side-by-side, complementing each other's missions, benefiting each other's memberships and increasing the opportunities for all attendees," said Bob Moses, executive director, Aud

Germany - GLP's mighty X4 Atom, the latest addition to its popular X4 range, enjoyed its German television premier in the best possible way - when Thomas Gerdon selected 116 of the compact fixtures, containing the same high output quad color LED source common to the entire X4 range, for a new prime time series.

They were used to light up the Capitol Theatre in Offenbach in front of an audience of 400 for a Saturday night series on the RTL network called Mein Bestes Jahr - a retrospective in which Germany's top comedians showcase the best and weirdest moments of their own favourite year.

The versatile Gerdon has worked extensively with RTL, and with some of the country's favourite comedians such as Mario Barth, regularly sourcing GLP LED solutions from Felix Sandmann at PRG.

It was Sandmann who accompanied Gerdon on the first site meeting to this old theatre with

Germany - Shure has been recognized as a 2016 Global Excellence Award winner by the Global Presence Alliance (GPA). As a reflection of the leading audio, visual, and UC manufacturers and vendors, the annual Global Excellence Awards honour the vendors that exhibit the highest level of commitment to delivering superior experiences to GPA members and global customers. Shure joined the GPA's Accredited Vendor Program in January 2016.

"As a newer member of the Accredited Vendor Program, we take enormous pride in this recognition, especially given our continued dedication to providing top-notch products and services worldwide," said Brian Woodland, senior director of global business development at Shure. "The alliance's focus on providing consistent, high-level services to its esteemed client roster aligns nicely with Shure's legacy of providing AV technology to our global customers

New Zealand - Specialists in sound, lighting, AV and live streaming, New Zealand's Lampros Sound, recently invested in a dLive digital mixing system to add to its hire stock. The new system comprises the flagship S7000 Surface and DM64 MixRack.

Based in Wellington, Lampros' warehouse contains a number of other mixers from the Allen & Heath range, including a GLD-112 digital mixer, an iLive-T112 Surface with iDR-64 MixRack, a Qu-16 compact digital mixer, and an assortment of ZED compact analogue mixers.

The new dLive system was purchased in preparation for the ARISE Conference, one of New Zealand's largest Christian gatherings, which hosts in excess of 6,000 attendees from 300 churches across New Zealand over the three-day event. Two additional dLive systems were sub-hired to supplement Lampros' stock for this event and provide a consistent user experience for the client.

Italy - Preparations for Showlight 2017 are hotting up as the first speakers for this quadrennial event are announced.

With the Papers Committee continuing to sift through a swathe of submissions, details of the first speakers for Showlight 2017 in Florence are coming to light. The programme promises to be as fascinating as ever with the following international lighting specialists the first to sign up:

Aldo Visentin will share some of his experiences over many years of touring with, and lighting for, Maestro Andrea Bocelli.

Lighting designer Colin Ball will show how he uses theatre and film lighting techniques to light many buildings, including the Tower of London and the Palace of Westminster.

Declan Randall will tell of his experience of acting as set and projection designer, in addition to lighting designer, for an original production of Sister Act in Jo

UK - The Tara Theatre, in Earlsfield, south west London, is a contemporary Asian-inspired theatre space. Opening to the public in autumn 2016, the venue, which includes the only permanent earth floor theatre in the country, will be home to world classics, new plays and plays for children - all produced by established and emerging artists.

Architecturally, Tara Theatre is a fusion of East and West and features an intimate 100-seat auditorium, a studio for rehearsals and small events and an outdoor patio walled by railway sleepers.

Designing the technical theatre installations for the new venue was Theatreplan. Mathew Smethurst-Evans, partner at Theatreplan, explained, "The brief for the redevelopment of the Tara Theatre was to provide a new adaptable theatre space with a rehearsal room, along with relevant back of house facilities and a foyer.

"One unusual challenge on

UK - Martin Audio was in carnival mood, masquerading among the 70-plus exotic floats and sound stages through three miles of Notting Hill's streets, during the traditional August Bank Holiday event.

MLA partner LSH Events this year increased its activity level with Martin Audio's award-winning system, adding the highly influential Colours/TriniPosse float to that of their long-term client, the Flamingo Arts Carnival Charity.

"Colours saw the MLA Compact/MLA Mini rig we did last year and approached us to work with them this year - and provide wireless connectivity between the trucks," explained LSH Events project & logistics manager, Eli Saunders-Deutsch. "They are serious about their audio and wanted to move into line array technology."

He said that the event is becoming more competitive. "In the yard where we rig and on the road there were systems from other major com

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