UK - Despite two multi-platinum selling albums, being a three time Grammy Award nominee, Ivor Novello and MOBO award winner and enjoying a public profile that most singers can only dream about, it took 2006 X Factor winner Leona Lewis until the summer of 2010 to embark on her first headline tour.

Monitor engineer Ant Carr did some promo work for Lewis earlier in the year and has previously worked for Syco, her management company, so he was ideally placed to get the best from the singer's voice in the array of arenas that the Labyrinth tour took in.

"This year Leon

UK - JoeCo Limited has confirmed a PLASA preview of its new Blackbox Player. Based on the Blackbox Recorder's's technology, the Blackbox Player is a dedicated 1U multi-channel device specifically designed for replaying backing tracks for live shows. Able to replay 24 channels of 24bit/96kHz audio, the player can be triggered with a footswitch or keyboard, or controlled via MIDI commands, giving the live engineer, musical director or artist full control of the show.

Audio for playback can be loaded onto a standard USB2 hard drive, or Flash RAM drive, from any workstation capable of cre

Denmark - Guitarist, composer and producer Henrik Andersen has chosen a DPA SMK4061 miniature stereo miking kit for the live debut of possibly the most advanced guitar in the instrument's history: the 52-stringed, three-neck Manzer Medusa.

The concept for the Medusa sprung from Andersen's success on the Indian classical scene and a desire to create a personal trademark encapsulating his musical identity. Accordingly, the Medusa features necks of a veena, sitar and conventional guitar.

"The sonic range and acoustic colours of the Manzer Medusa are fantastic and outstanding, so I

UK - Celestion has announced the appointment of Ken Weller in the newly created role of product marketing manager. Based at the company's headquarters in Ipswich, UK, Ken will take responsibility for Celestion's marketing function, with particular focus on professional audio product management.

"As the company continues to be successful, it's important that we invest in the right personnel to facilitate further growth" Commented Nigel Wood, Celestion managing director.

"Ken offers a wealth of experience and knowledge within the audio industry, and of loudspeakers in p

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies has confirmed its status as an official sponsor of the Jack Goff racing team for the 2010 ELF Renault Clio Cup with Michelin Championship.

For this year's Championship, Jack Goff is sponsored by several entertainment technology companies, including Avolites, Fibre Optic Systems, GLP, HSL Group, Litestructures, Pixel Range, Robe, Rope & Rigging and SES.

Jack Goff and his Renault Clio racing car will be appearing in the JG-Motorsport Lounge at PLASA 2010. Visitors to the lounge have a chance to enter a free prize draw to win an exclusive track day

UK - Electrovision reports that it has secured its continuing relationship with Behringer, after over 10 years of successful association with the German company.

A Behringer statement says, "Electrovision will now be authorised to service regional dealers in the European market who are not participating in the group's container programme with fulfilment of Behringer and Bugera product orders. The appointment marks a significant milestone in the existing relationship between the two companies."

Richard Fox, managing director of Electrovision, comments, "We have been fo

Austria - Tannoy's QFlex steerable array system has recently been specified to good effect in Austria, solving a long-standing intelligibility problem in a historic ballroom. Located in the town of Wiener Neustadt, 30 miles south of Vienna, the opulent classical ballroom is housed in a 350 year old building that began life in the 17th century as a church and then later home to the Mayor's Office following a long stint as a factory for most of the 19th century.

The building was then acquired for use by a local bank with a grand opening in 1898 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Emper

USA - Aviom's Pro16 personal mixing system is proving a big hit on Broadway, where it is being used as part of the monitoring setup by three of the season's hottest musicals - Promises, Promises, Come Fly Away, and La Cage aux Folles - to help the orchestra to stay on cue.

Promises, Promises, a musical adaptation of the hit 1960 Billy Wilder film, The Apartment, has the most traditional arrangement of the three shows, with a large orchestra playing in a pit near the stage. Production Resource Group (PRG) supplied Promises, Promises with its Av

USA - Renkus-Heinz has announced the appointment of Rik Kirby to the position of vice president of sales and marketing.

Kirby has been with Renkus-Heinz for five years, most recently as vice president of operations, and previously as national sales manager. A pro audio veteran, his resume includes stints at Turbosound and BSS Audio and before that several years as a live sound engineer. In his new position, he will be responsible for the direction and coordination of all sales and marketing activities, as well as overseeing product management, and supporting the company's growing appl

Switzerland - reports that Montreux-Oberland-Bernois Railways in Switzerland will become the first customer of the new Barix Annuncicom 155, a networked Audio over IP device specially designed for harsh everyday operation on railways, buses and ships. Barix partner Railtec Systems will exhibit a new panorama carriage with the device on the open-air grounds at the Innotrans show in Berlin, Germany, taking place September 21-24 at the Messe Berlin Exhibition Centre.

Railtec Systems, based in Switzerland, is currently outfitting 14 locomotives and railcars and about 60 passenger carriage

UK/USA - Blackbox Recorder manufacturer JoeCo and Audinate, creators of the Dante digital media networking solution, have announced the start of a collaboration which will see Dante technology incorporated into a range of Blackbox Recorder products.

JoeCo is the latest pro audio manufacturer to announce an incorporation of Dante technology, under licence, in its products. "Successful capture and play back of large amounts of audio data in different live situations depends on sample accurate synchronisation and low latency", comments managing director Joe Bull. "With BBR

France - L-Acoustics has announced that a new GLL (generic loudspeaker library) is now available for its WST systems, including Kiva, Arcs, Kudo and Kara. The development now provides complete compatibility between L-Acoustics Soundvision and AFMG's EASE software applications for acoustic source data, as well as for audience area.

The new GLL format allows quick insertion and setup of WST systems in EASE 4 system design software. The library provides true line source radiation patterns, and audience area data can be shared by both applications using import/export functions.

"We

UK - Orbital Sound has supplied a new sound system to the Hideaway jazz club, employing d&b audiotechnik E12 and E0 loudspeakers, and D6 power amplifiers. Specified by freelance sound engineer Cliff Scott, who was called in by the Hideaway for advice on upgrading an earlier system, the new installation is configured to provide consistent coverage throughout the club, with an accurate performance sympathetic to the club's genre.

Frances Strachan, Hideaway's creator and owner, comments, "You can't separate a successful live music venue from the quality of its sound system. By its n

Latvia - ARX, the Australian based pro audio manufacturer, has announced the appointment of Riga based SGS Sistemas Ltd as their new Distributor for Latvia.

ARX managing director Colin Park and SGS Sistemas's Normunds Eilands recently finalised the new distribution agreement following initial discussions at the Frankfurt Pro Light + Sound earlier in the year.

Colin Park comments, " SGS Sistemas is a well known and established distributor in the Latvian audio and lighting industry and at ARX we're excited that SGS Sistemas is introducing our USB DI Series products and the new US

UK - Sandown Park racecourse in Esher, Surrey was the venue for one of this year's biggest one-off music events in the south.

Surbiton's Hillcroft College, celebrating its 90th anniversary this year funded the venture, in a brave bid to raise urgent funds to fix the leaking roof, improve disabled access and carry out essential maintenance - spurred on by the collapse of £13m of Learning and Skills Council funding.

Working from the college, a team of just three people managed to secure some of music's top artists. Among the names who performed to a 14,000 crowd on 28 August wer

UK - Avid today introduced the M-Audio GSR active sound reinforcement speaker series for musicians and DJs who perform in small to mid-sized venues. Built from the ground up by the same engineering team behind the industry-leading M-Audio studio reference monitor line, the GSR series includes 10" and 12" full-range PA cabinets that deliver exceptional, professional-quality sound and an 18" subwoofer that offers extended bass reproduction for larger venues.

The GSR speakers are ergonomically designed and engineered with lightweight components for maximum portability. The

UK - UNioN is a system design philosophy which is being promoted by Yamaha Commercial Audio in Europe. Based on the company's corporate slogan Creating Kando Togetherit recognises that exciting music experiences can never come to life without people and technology working together. This philosophy is embedded, like a DNA, in all Yamaha CA products.

A UNioN network integrates Yamaha consoles and stage boxes with 3rd party devices to expand the possibilities of networking audio for live events.

Based on the Ethersound ES100 redundant ring topology, UNioN combines Yamaha compone

UK - Leading entertainment industry associations The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) and Women In Stage Entertainment (WISE), and the lighting charity Light Relief are present at this year's PLASA Show. The three organisations are sharing stand M-14; the stand is located immediately behind the White Light Zone in Earls Court 2.

WISE, an organisation established to address the representation of women in the entertainment technology sector, will step from their stand onto the White Light Stand from 4pm to 6pm each day to host Tea O-Clock. A WISE spokesman says, "Each

UK - At PLASA 2010, Allen & Heath has unveiled the GS-R24, an analogue console combined with a choice of interface modules, motorised faders for automated mixing, and MIDI controllers for tactile interfacing with software DAWs, all at "an attainable price point".

Based on the successful ZED-R16 Firewire recording mixer concept with influences from the classic GS3000, the GS-R24 is primarily aimed at project recording studios, although its flexible feature set lends the mixer to live sound applications requiring multi-channel recording, post production suites, and as a genera

UK - HSL supplied lighting, LED screens, rigging, staging, structures and power for the Sainsbury's UK Schools Games Opening Ceremony at Gateshead International Stadium. The Blackburn-based company was working for show production company Fast Track Events and also for Modular Projects who together delivered the show for end clients, the UK Youth Sport Trust. The ceremony was hosted by BBC Sports presenter Jill Douglas

HSL's Mike Docksey co-ordinated a masterpiece of planning which ensured that everything ran like clockwork on site, with Howard Dean production managing HSL's crew and l

UK - Positioned as the digital mixing solution for all sizes of sound company or user, the new Soundcraft Si Compact Series is billed as "a power-packed range of digital consoles that brings all the experience of Soundcraft's digital mixing platforms to a very affordable price level for tour sound, corporate event, house of worship and theatre applications, amongst others".

With full DSP functionality built-in to a small-footprint chassis, the Si Compact provides up to 40 inputs to mix in three frame sizes, the smallest of which is also rack-mountable. Motorized faders with

UK - TC Group International has announced the appointment of John Hornby Skewes & Co. as UK & ROI sub-distributors of Tannoy's VQ Live touring PA system.

JHS takes on responsibility for driving sales and promotion of the recently launched VQ Live range from 1 September.

"Since introducing VQ Live to the market earlier last year, Tannoy has, for the first time perhaps, a dedicated high-performance PA solution specifically aimed at live sound applications and we've been extremely encouraged and enthused by the early feedback," says Miguel Hadelich, TCGI's VP international sa

UK - Line 6, Inc., an industry leader in digital modeling technology for music production, is currently showcasing its new XD-V digital wireless microphone systems at PLASA 2010.

Line 6 digital wireless microphone systems offer a simple and effective alternative to conventional core TV band UHF wireless systems. XD-V systems operate in the 2.4GHz band, which permits worldwide license-free operation while delivering future-proof solutions from any further re-allocation of the core UHF spectrum to the pro audio user.

"Since its release, Line 6 digital wireless technology has rece

UK - Why look at a loudspeaker when you can listen to one, that's the message once again being sent out by Duran Audio at this year's PLASA Show. For the second year running, Duran Audio will have a demo room at PLASA where potential customers can listen to the products and discuss their merits with members of the Duran Audio team.

The company will be demonstrating products from its Scope, Source and Flex ranges. In addition to this, the flagship Intellivox products and the new range of Beam Shaping Subwoofers, which take low frequency control to another level, will also be on show.

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