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.

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

The Netherlands - Lawo announced at this week's IBC in Amsterdam the appointment of L P Systems as its distributor for Poland.

"The selection and appointment of an appropriate partner for Lawo's rapidly expanding IP portfolio is a strategically critical process," comments Charles Rowden, Lawo's European sales director. "After thorough research and careful consideration, I'm delighted to confirm our partnership with L P Systems for Poland's increasingly sophisticated IP technology markets."

"We are confident that IP-based products will define the future landscape of broadcast technology investment," observes L P Systems director Jaroslaw Kierkowski. "And with Lawo's leading position in the industry, we relish this opportunity to work closely alongside one of the world leading brands."

(Jim Evans)

Poland - UK theatre, event and installed audio specialists Out Board has appointed Polsound as its new Polish distributor for the TiMax SoundHub audio showcontrol matrix and TiMax Tracker performer tracking systems.

The team at Polsound is headed up by sales & marketing director Pawe? Danikiewicz with dedicated support from TiMax application specialist, Krzysztof Polesi?ski, an experienced sound designer and systems engineer in his own right.

Polesi?ski stated, "TiMax is a totally unique sound automation system and it cannot be compared to anything else. At Polsound we understand TiMax SoundHub and TiMax Tracker, and how it will bring the best sound arrangements for our customers across Poland. I see a very promising future for the range with Polsound."

Out Board director Dave Haydon commented, "We are excited to welcome Polsound's support for TiMax in Poland, they hav

Fighting Talk - Culture minister Matt Hancock has pledged to improve access to the creative industries and build a stronger relationship between technology and culture, as he sets out his main priorities for the role. Hancock, who succeeded Ed Vaizey in the position in July, also said he would fight to ensure government support for arts and culture in his first keynote speech as minister.

Delivered in front of an audience of creative industry professionals, Hancock used his first speech to set out his three main priorities, which he described as "backing success, access and synthesis". After praising the creative industries as "absolutely central to our post-Brexit future", Hancock said he would "fight to ensure that the creative and digital industries are at the heart of this government's industrial strategy." The minister went on to pledge that creative sector tax reliefs wo

UK - Mark Sawyer has joined Matrix as a project manager. Having initially trained as a back of house op in a music studio, then moving his way into PA in 1995 as a warehouse casual, he worked his way up to become a senior project manager at Delta.

During Mark's time at Delta he project-managed some of their high profile projects including HM The Queen's 90th Birthday celebration at Windsor, Lumiere London as well as numerous high profile commemorative events in the UK and Europe. He was also part of the London 2012 & Glasgow 2014 Olympic/Commonwealth Games audio delivery team.

Mark has an extensive, varied and detailed knowledge of sound and intricate complex PA systems.

(Jim Evans)

World - The Shure SM58, the world's most popular microphone, has been a foundational and formidable part of live performance for more than 50 years. To celebrate and honour five decades of the renowned sound, design, and durability of this iconic mic, Shure is announcing the introduction of a 50th Anniversary model, along with a variety of initiatives to engage and inspire loyal SM58 fans of all ages around the world.

Planned activities include: charitable auction of specially-designed SM58 artist editions; a comprehensive, multi-lingual website packed with historical information, artist photos, videos, and fan stories; customer engagement activities, including the ability for fans to share their experiences and memorable moments on social media and through a video project submission

The SM58-50A Limited Edition microphone touts all of the award-winning characteristics and

Europe - Yamaha has announced that it will successively update Dante products to support the AES audio-over-IP interoperability standard, allowing Yamaha products equipped with Dante networking capability to communicate with Ravenna and other audio networks via AES67.

Beginning with the CL series digital mixing consoles, introduced in 2012, Yamaha has included Audinate's Dante audio networking solution in digital mixers, signal processors, power amplifiers and other pro audio devices, significantly contributing to the growth of audio networking throughout the industry. As of September 2016, a total of 24 Yamaha products offer Dante networking capability.

AES67 is an audio-over-IP interoperability standard established by the Audio Engineering Society (AES) in September 2013. The Ravenna network by ALC NetworX is AES67 compatible and upcoming AES67 compatibility has been ann

USA - The Lost DayClub at Tiki Island, NY, is a large, outdoor dance club with a pool-party ambience. The club hosts private parties as well as nightly entertainment and features a swimming pool, a Tiki bar and a central area used for special events and dancing. A major club renovation in 2016 included a new distributed audio system featuring Community R Series and I Series loudspeakers.

JD Systems, Inc. of Staten Island, NY designed and installed the Lost DayClub's new audio system. JD Systems' owner Jak Daragiati says the club's previous audio system had uneven coverage and they had received noise complaints from neighbours. "The loudspeakers were just thrown all over the place and nothing was delayed," he said. "It was a real mess." As far as audio quality, Daragiati says, "Tiki wanted to host events with well-known DJs. But the DJs refused to come because of the sound."

World - For more than a quarter century, Celine Dion has captivated millions worldwide with music that reaches straight for the heart. On her recent arena-scale tour of French-speaking lands on both sides of the Atlantic, Dion relied on a Meyer Sound Leo Family reinforcement system to provide an intimate connection with audiences despite the vast scale of tour's four arenas.

Once again, the system was provided by Dion's long-time audio reinforcement supplier, Solotech of Montreal. At every one of the sold-out shows, her loyal fans were enthralled by the direct connection they felt with Dion and her music. Tour FOH engineer Denis Savage and system designer/engineer Francois 'Frankie' Desjardin made certain the Leo Family system made every single person feel like Dion was talking directly to him or her.

"When you looked at the IMAG screens and listened to the system, everyth

Poland - Krakow-based PA company, FS Audio, invested in an Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing system to manage its busy summer events schedule. Comprising a S5000 Control Surface with DM64 MixRack, the new system was first employed to manage monitors at Krakow's renowned Wianki festival.

Staged in Krakow's main square, the Wianki festival traditionally celebrates the Summer Solstice, attracting approximately 160,000 people to watch performances by dozens of popular national artists.

FS Audio's monitor engineer for the event, Erwin Legutko, commented,"dLive is a great desk for every monitor engineer. It has a really well designed, clear patching system, which makes it easy to react quickly under difficult conditions. As a previous iLive user, I have to admit that dLive has made huge progress. I highly recommend it."

(Jim Evans)

UK - With one of the largest single-level auditoria in London, and the oldest permanent outdoor theatre in the UK, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (OAT) has played host to Martin Audio's W8LM Mini Line Array over the last five years.

Autograph Sound designer Nick Lidster has specified it there as the OAT amplify all their shows, and the summer season finale is always a full scale musical. When it came to the recent six-week run of the new production of Jesus Christ Superstar, under the direction of Timothy Sheader, he knew that with sell-out audiences of 1250 expected every night in the fan-shaped auditorium, he needed something that would emulate the classic rock sound that had characterised the original album, featuring Deep Purple's Ian Gillan in the lead role, 46 years ago.

"I was concerned that while the traditional musicals we do at Regent's Park sound great us

USA - One could say that Tuacahn Centre for the Arts, the 42,000sq.ft arts centre, located in the mouth of Utah's Padre Canyon, is steady as a rock. Not surprising since it's located adjacent to the Snow Canyon State Park and features a canyon carved from the red and white Navajo sandstone in the state's Red Mountains.

Tuacahn offers theatregoers a unique experience: the facility, completed in 1995, includes a 1,920-seat outdoor amphitheatre, 328-seat indoor theatre, black box theatre, dance studio and more. But what its lengthy show season, which includes two or three productions on the amphitheatre stage, also offers is great sound.

For the last 10 years, that was assured by an L-Acoustics dV-DOSC sound system. Beginning this year, Tuacahn entered its next decade with sound from a newly installed L-Acoustics Kara line array system. Installed in April by Poll Sound, which

Belgium - For the third year in a row, Turbosound's Flex Array has been the weapon of choice for Rock Werchter's Jupiler House of The Bull Stage. Held annually, 150,000 festival goers from all corners of the world descend in the quiet village of Werchter, Belgium for four days to see and hear some of music's greatest acts.

Celebrating its 40th year this year, Rock Werchter hosted a party like no other with rock, pop and dance acts spread across three stages; the Main Stage, the Barn Stage and Klub C, with the unofficial fourth stage and Turbosound's favourite, the Jupiler House of The Bull Stage.

Responsible for blasting out club music at the Jupiler Stage was the largest Turbosound rental company in the Benelux, Splendit who have been taking care of music festivals all summer long with Werchter an annual date in the diary.

"For nine years we have taken care of the Jup

Brazil - Just as they had at London 2012 - and many other spectacular Games ceremonies before - Norwest Productions took their extensive Optocore fibre network system to Rio for this year's Summer Olympics.

The Australian-based large event specialists were contracted to Cerim

USA - The Behind the Scenes Foundation has announced the Fred Foster Scholarship Fund. Board members had long been seeking a way to honour Fred's innumerable contributions to our industry and, in particular, his unwavering support of the charity since its inception.

The purpose of the fund is to assist the children of Behind the Scenes grant recipients with continuing their education which may otherwise be in jeopardy due to their family's current financial situation. BTS frequently assists individuals whose children are unable to remain in school because the family can no longer afford tuition.

The BTS Grants Review Committee will be responsible for identifying appropriate candidates from among the families of grant recipients and awarding the scholarships which may be used for any accredited post-secondary education program or vocational training.

Rick Rudolph, chair

UK - PLASA opened the doors of Olympia this morning with a sense of anticipation. And it wasn't disappointed. It seems that answering the industry call to relocate back to the PLASA Show's original turf has payed dividends.

"It was encouraging to see so many people arrive for the very beginning of the show," says PLASA managing director Peter Heath. "PLASA's emphasis is where it should be, creating opportunities that will lead to sustained growth for our commercial divisions, leading back into the membership through increased activities and initiatives. The relocation to West London, and the move to a September date, as well as an enhanced seminar programme, more interactive showcases and technical workshops are all part of this, and were very much driven by member feedback. Early indications are that it's working."

So what is in store for day one? As well as a host of inn

UK - Today at PLASA, Zoe Milton from the Association of Sound Designers (ASD) presents Pin The Mic On The Actor, a session that has previously featured in the PLASA Show Seminar Programme and received such a good response that she has been asked to run it again.

During the session, Zoe will give a practical demonstration of wireless mic dressing - how to hide them, dress them, colour them, make them work with long hair, short hair, glasses, hats, wigs, or on someone who is completely nude. Putting the over the ear, under the ear, in the hair, on the cheek, hip, groin, small of the back. Whether the mic is micropore, Transpor, Tegaderm, Hapla band or Zinc Oxide, this seminar will look at the many different options for mounting a mic and transmitter on an actor.

The session takes place in the Audio and AV Theatre on Sunday 18th September from 15:15 - 16:00

To get your

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd. (AC-ET), a leading one-stop provider of professional equipment to the entertainment industry, will showcase a selection of the very latest technology solutions available from their vast portfolio of over 200 leading brands, in their large exhibition zone (main stand E30) at PLASA 2016 - Olympia, London, UK, 18th - 20th September.

Staff from the company's dedicated Lighting sales division - which supplies any aspect of your stage, theatre, or architectural lighting system - will be present to demonstrate the latest lighting solutions from brands including Chroma-Q, Jands, ProLights, Spotlight, LumenRadio, Luminex and Tourflex Cabling, amongst others.

The company's dedicated Film & TV sales division - which offers a comprehensive one-stop inventory of lighting, control and grip solutions for film, television, studio and locati

UK - At PLASA 2016, Yamaha Commercial Audio and Nexo are demonstrating the seamless connectivity of their products. The jointly-hosted stand J10 features a unique, zoned design which showcases a range of scaled audio solutions - from the smallest room to the biggest stadium. A significant feature is a comprehensive Dante network, allowing staff to demonstrate the ease with which Yamaha and Nexo products can be seamlessly networked to provide complete, easily managed system solutions of any size.

The stand will feature a significant new Yamaha product, alongside the flagship RIVAGE PM10 and CL/QL series digital mixers, the Commercial installation Solutions (CIS) series of processors, mixers, amplifiers and loudspeakers, plus a range of input and output options.

Key Nexo products on show will include the ID Series (ID24 and S110 sub), GEO M6 compact line array and DTD amplif

UK - Taking place at PLASA Show, the Essential Dante Training seminar, sponsored by a number of leading audio technology companies, including Audinate, Focusrite, Solid State Logic, Roland, Yamaha and XTA, has been designed to give a great opportunity to gain a greater insight into Dante Audio Networking Technology, which has become the de-facto standard in connecting uncompressed, highly synchronous, low-latency audio network devices.

Introduced by PLASA's managing director Peter Heath, the seminar will include Dante Level 1 and 2 training from Audinate's Kieran Walsh, live table-top displays and a session on deploying Dante networks in live events from Liam Halpin.

"Audinate is pleased to co-present this day of seminars in cooperation with PLASA," says Kieran. "Attendees will receive training that will help in taking the Dante Certified exams, discover how some of the la

UK - d&b audiotechnik will be hard to miss at PLASA 2016, with plenty of opportunity for visitors to view the company's latest sound innovations, and to meet and chat with experts from the d&b GB team.

Newly appointed d&b sales partner SFL Group can be found on stand V60, where d&b's DS10 Audio network bridge will be shown, alongside other points of interest from the company's portfolio. Also exhibiting is d&b sales partner SSE/Wigwam, at stand J20, where visitors can find hands-on introductions to d&b's NoizCalc, the far field noise immission modelling software and the new QSC plug-in Q-SYS. NoizCalc is also up for a PLASA Award for Innovation (and don't forget you can see all this year's nominated product upstairs at the Innovation Gallery).

d&b GB is also playing key roles in a number of new PLASA Show attractions this year. For those thirsting for audio networking tech

UK - Adamson Systems Engineering is exhibiting at PLASA 2016, partnering with The Warehouse Sound Services Ltd. The booth features S10, S119, e-Racks, Point and Point Concentric speaker systems. They will be located on Booth T10.

James Oliver Adamson's director of marketing and sales, Jasper Ravesteijn European sales manager and Thomas Vestergaurd senior applications engineer will be joined at PLASA by Craig Buckley and Justin Frost who will represent The Warehouse North and South.

Adamson Systems Engineering has been on a high technology roll over the past few years. The jump kicked off with its flagship E-Series E15 large-format line array system, with its twin 15-inch neodymium woofers flanking the innovative E-Capsule section housing the mid/high components: two 7-inch Kevlar cone mid drivers and two 1.5-inch exit compression drivers mounted on a Co-Linear Drive Module

UK - In recent years, audio installations at Central Hall Westminster, Westminster Abbey and the QEII Conference Centre have seen Yamaha become a key presence in one of London's most important and influential areas. That role has seen a further significant boost in 2016, with a second - much larger and more complex - project at Central Hall.

Offering the largest conference and events space in central London, Central Hall Westminster (CHW) features a 2,400-capacity auditorium (the Great Hall) and a number of other rooms and spaces in the stunning Grade II-listed building, which together host over 700 corporate and (regularly televised) public events every year. It is also a vital resource for many important events which take place nearby. As well as hosting events and breakout sessions from the Palace of Westminster, CHW is regularly used as a media hub for major Parliamentary

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