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11 June 2024

UK - Big Church Festival, Europe's largest Christian and gospel music event, made history this year by powering its main stage with green hydrogen for the first time.

Hosted on the Wiston Estate in West Sussex, this annual gathering brought together over 30,000 attendees from across the UK and beyond to worship alongside some of the world's most renowned Christian artists and the only emission from powering the headline acts was water.

Diesel generators, long used in the events industry, pose significant environmental and health risks due to their emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. By transitioning to green hydrogen power, Big Church Festival has taken a proactive step towards mitigating climate change, cutting air pollution, reducing noise and safeguarding the well-being both of event workers and of local communiti

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11 June 2024

USA - DPA Microphones and Wisycom have announced a strategic alliance in the United States. “Building on a history of close collaboration, with successful initiatives in marketing and product technology, both companies are dedicated to delivering high-end microphone and wireless solutions to audio professionals,” says a statement.

The partnership marks a significant step forward in aligning the strengths of the two brands while preserving their distinct identities. Consolidating operations under one roof at DPA Microphones’ existing corporate headquarters in Longmont, Colorado, enables the companies to efficiently leverage shared resources. The structure currently in place at the DPA facility allows Wisycom to benefit from an expanded service department, augmented customer support team and enhanced logistics infrastructure.

Sales and support ef

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11 June 2024

Vietnam - EM Acoustics has announced a new addition to its international sales and support network with the appointment of Danmon Asia as exclusive distributor for Vietnam.

The agreement covers EM Acoustics’ entire product portfolio which includes point source loudspeakers, line arrays, subwoofers, stage monitors and related electronics.

“Danmon Asia is renowned for its long experience and proven expertise in delivering high quality products and services across the entire media production and presentation sector,” comments Greg Clarke, brand manager at EM Acoustics. “We look forward to working with Bjarne and his colleagues in promoting our full spectrum of products and services to potential customers and system integrators throughout Vietnam.”  

“EM Acoustics products are globally recognised for pristine sound quality, robust c

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11 June 2024

Europe - Ayrton has launched Nando 502 Wash, the latest in Ayrton’s Multi Sources IP65 6 Series and a brilliant evolution of the successful NandoBeam range.

Nando 502 Wash is a compact IP65 luminaire, specially designed for mixed use stage lighting, both indoors and outdoors, and even in salty environments.

In the wash light category there are some luminaires that will make the audience feel pure emotion, and the new Nando 502 Wash delivers a wash effect with finesse.

Suited to stage lighting, this new LED source offers the advantage of better integration into the colour space and facilitates colour reproduction. Nando 502 Wash is fitted with 12 high-performance 40W LED sources with RGB-L additive colour synthesis and a proprietary optical system made up of a unique 210mm cluster in PMMA. This works in combination with 12 glass light-guides

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11 June 2024

UK - Britain’s Got Talent contestants battle it out each spring to reach the top spot - this year won by singer Sydnie Christmas, to the tune of £250,000 and a coveted place on the Royal Variety Performance. Viewers tune in at an average rate of 5-6m per episode, with the first episode watched by over 12mviewers, making BGT ITV’s biggest entertainment show this year.

2024 marks the third year television, broadcast and event lighting specialist, Version 2, has supplied the lighting, distribution, cabling, control equipment and supplementary truss for the series’ fun-filled auditions, all of which were filmed over two intense week-long sessions at the London Palladium and Manchester Lowry.

The series was lit again by award-winning lighting designer, David Bishop, who was happy that Version 2 won the tender process for the series once mo

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11 June 2024

USA - Linea Research will showcase selected models from its full spectrum of amplification products at this year’s InfoComm

Featured on stand C9241, the C Series and M Series - for live performance and installation requirements respectively - take centre stage. Linea’s C Series and M Series are each available as four or eight channel models and develop between 1,500 Watts and 5,000 Watts per channel (up to 10,000 Watts for a bridged pair) - of sustained power from each channel.

Linea Research’s other product ranges, including XiB4, ASC48 and System Engineer System Control Software, will also be presented on stand.

Following the recent news announcing Jeff Miranda as US sales manager for both Linea Research and Optimal Audio, Jeff will join sales and marketing manager in Las Vegas.

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11 June 2024

Spain - The Teatro Real in Madrid, winner of the International Opera Award for Best Opera House in the world, has acquired five Christie M 4K25 RGB pure laser projectors to enrich its opera, dance, concert, and recital programming with stunning visuals.

The Teatro Real was inaugurated in 1850 and is currently one of the great international centres of opera activity. The building is an architectural mixture with 28 boxes on different floors, in addition to eight prosceniums and the double-height Royal Box. The jewel of the theatre is its 1,472sq.m stage box which accommodates complex scenery changes, including multiple set design elements such as lighting and visuals on stage and in the orchestra pit.

The theatre acquired three Christie lamp-based 3DLP projectors nine years ago, and recently upgraded to more modern and efficient models with improved c

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11 June 2024

UK - Based in London’s West End, The Twist Museum is an immersive, interactive, multi-sensory attraction, set on a 15,000sq.ft site.

Challenging the visitor to explore the world of illusion, Twist - which stands for The Way I See Things - is a collaborative work of leading artists, psychologists, and neuroscientists.

The audio-visual integration was entrusted to London-based Crossover, who specified, installed, programmed and commissioned essential audio-visual equipment, for management and routing over a digital backbone.

Developed by multimedia artist Aristotle Roufanis, the Digital Mirror exhibit uses a camera and large format display to create an interactive ‘mirror’, distorting peoples’ reflections in real time. The Crossover team provided the displays, the audio system, and the back-end processing hardware, that manipul

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11 June 2024

Spain - The newly-renovated Santiago Bernabéu stadium lit up on 18 May with the Telefónica 100 Live spectacular. This celebration of Telefónica’s centenary brought together over 60,000 attendees for a night of music and technology.

The night was a symphony of light and sound, where renowned artists like Alejandro Sanz, Hombres G, and Ana Mena delivered vibrant performances. Each act was accompanied by a top-tier audiovisual display that transformed the event into an unparalleled sensory experience. The mastermind behind this impressive setup was lighting designer Caco García. Known for his creativity and attention to detail, Caco turned Telefónica 100 Live into ‘an unforgettable visual and emotional spectacle’.

“Creating a show perfect for Telefónica’s centenary and the magnificent Santiago Bernabéu was an exciting challenge,” comm

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11 June 2024

On The Campaign Trail - Academics and campaigners have warned that a Conservative Party election pledge to close "rip-off" degrees could damage the creative sector and access to the arts. Their concerns follow Rishi Sunak’s recent pledge that the Conservatives would scrap university degrees deemed to equip graduates with "poor" job prospects if his party was re-elected on 4 July.

The Conservative Party said that closing the "worst-performing" degrees could save more than £900 million by 2030, with the money set to fund 100,000 apprenticeships per year instead.  Although the government has not said which courses are threatened, campaigners and university lecturers have expressed concern that Sunak’s commitment would further damage arts education and, as a result, weaken the arts sector as a whole and make it "the sole preserve of the privileged".

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10 June 2024

Europe - Fulcrum Acoustic has announced the addition of CBK Group as exclusive distribution partner for the Nordics, covering Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. CBK will distribute the full catalogue of Fulcrum Acoustic and Fulcrum Immersive products across their territories.

Val Gilbert, director of business development for export at Fulcrum Acoustic, comments, “CBK is a fantastic partner for Fulcrum Acoustic in the Nordics. Our ambitions to develop a solutions-based business in the region are perfectly aligned, and the team at CBK have hit the ground running managing opportunities across their territories. The in-house skillset is exactly what we are looking for, and I look forward to expanding our reach in the region.”

Per Øystein Berglund, product manager audio at CBK Group, adds, “Fulcrum Acoustic is a fantastic addition to CBK Group

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10 June 2024

UK - The final show on the UK-EU leg of the Classic Tales of Yes tour at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall on 20 May featured an intricately textured Martin Dudley/Chris Davey light show that included 12 Chauvet Professional Rogue R2X Wash units from Martin’s Lights Ltd.

Early on in the 24-city tour, which began in April at Lisbon’s historic Sagres Campo Pequero concert hall, the design moved into a new more intense realm.

“At the start of the project, we were told that it would be a ‘no haze’ tour,” said Dudley. “Therefore, we knew that the lighting had to be about colour, pattern and texture, rather than beams of light and movement in the air. Many of our lighting designs are quite understated, and after the first couple of shows, the feedback from the band was that they wanted “more” of everything, so we went for it.”

The

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10 June 2024

USA – DirectOut has announced two additions to its growing family of audio solutions at InfoComm in Las Vegas this week.

Building on the flexible Prodigy series, Maven offers DirectOut’s powerful DSP engine in a compact 1RU platform, expanding the integration possibilities for sound engineers, system designers and AV professionals, whether in a fixed location, or on the move.

Maven delivers the same power as the Prodigy series and is fully compatible with the PRODIGY.MP, increasing flexibility while maintaining maximum reliability. Maven supports a variety of audio network formats including Dante, AVB/MILAN, Ravenna/AES67 and SoundGrid.

“With Maven, we can now offer the unlimited DSP feature-set, uncompromised reliability, and flexibility initially introduced by PRODIGY.MP on a smaller footprint of just 1RU,” says Jan Ehrlich CEO of D

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10 June 2024

USA - TAF USA has welcomed Carter Klute to its team as its new sales representative. Carter is responsible for contacting new customers in the United States and Central/South America, as well as providing timely and knowledgeable service to existing TAF USA customers.

Originally from the Midwest, Carter has now made New Smyrna Beach, Florida, his home and base for his activities with TAF USA.

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10 June 2024

USA - At InfoComm, Meyer Sound will unveil Ultra‑X80, a versatile point source loudspeaker that draws on both the acoustic lineage of the Ultra family, and technology innovations behind the Panther large-format linear line array loudspeaker to provide ‘unprecedented precision, power, and clarity in a compact, simple-to-deploy package’.

The Ultra-X80’s focus on frequency response, phase coherence, and fidelity enables it to pair with products in the Meyer Sound ecosystem, for seamless sound at any scale.

“With Ultra-X80, we are providing extraordinary power-to-size performance along with the kind of flexibility and simplicity of deployment that make a point source loudspeaker so versatile,” says Andy Davies, Meyer Sound’s director of product & services.

“With our Ultra family, we’ve proven where we can take our acoustic i

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10 June 2024

USA - The Obsidian Control Systems team heads to InfoComm with additions to its popular and award-winning Netron data distribution range, featuring a comprehensive line tailored for system integrators and fixed installations, plus ‘the world's first IP66-rated data distribution devices for live entertainment’.

Obsidian is showing a comprehensive line of Netron products in smart form factors optimised for system integrators and fixed installations. The entire range consists of 12 new ETL-approved devices to complete any project.

In stock and shipping is Netron’s first 8-Port 100W POE-managed network switch, the NS8. The NS8 features 10Gbps total switching capacity and VLAN (six groups, trunk, colour coded) LED colour feedback accessible with CLU software.

Also on display will be the EN12i, a 12-Universe EtherDMX node featuring field-inte

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10 June 2024

Venezuela - The chapel of Divina Misericordia is a new catholic house of worship located in the recreational area of the giant Arroz Mary food processing plant in Acarigua.

Architects were determined that the requirement for a high-quality sound system with impeccable speech intelligibility should make the lowest possible visual impact, so Nexo distributor Sun Music Pro proposed a Nexo system using ultra-compact ID and ePS Series speakers.

“In the first phase carried out in October 2023, a temporary black system was installed to allow the inauguration of the chapel and the celebration of masses while a custom-finished system was being prepared,” reports  Sun Music Pro commercial manager Valeska Grüber.

The finished installation includes a pair of Nexo ID84 column speakers with a central ePS10 at the front, all finished in a custom RAL c

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07 June 2024

UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) and British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM) has announced the launch of a resource dedicated to fostering good physical health for backstage practitioners in the theatre sector.

The initiative champions healthy practices for backstage workers in the theatre and live production sector, where over 70% of the workforce identify as freelance workers. The two organisations, which have been collaborating since 2018, launched an infographic at the ABTT Theatre Show in London on 6 June.

Drawing on the ABTT’s deep understanding of the sector and BAPAM’s clinical expertise in health and wellbeing, the infographic uses the mnemonic S.T.A.G.E. C.R.E.W. Each letter highlights key actions workers can take to maintain physical health and well-being and minimise the risk of injury or chr

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07 June 2024

Germany - PRG EMEA is adding to its extensive lighting technology line-up with investment in the new ORON H2, becoming one of the first customers worldwide to have the IP65 hybrid moving head with phosphor-laser engine in its portfolio.

"The ORON H2 is a laser moving head with unique lighting options," says Udo Willburger, CEO of PRG AG. "While working in close cooperation with Cameo, we were able to use our specialist market view to support the engineers throughout the various development stages and fully test the ORON H2 during extensive visits to the Adam Hall Group’s Experience Centre. Here we also had the opportunity to discuss all the details with lighting designers and product specialists from Cameo.

“With its IP65 rating, this moving head not only offers flexible deployment, but also reduces our operational costs. For us, the ORON H2 is a

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07 June 2024

UK - Singer/songwriter James Blunt’s production team relies on Skan PA Hire for additional sound reinforcement due to audience demand on James Blunt’s Who We Used To Be tour.

Tour and production manager Robert Hayden has worked with James Blunt since the singer first ventured into full time musicianship. He begins: “James and I started off doing little club shows around England before we went to mainland Europe where we played to even less people! When we returned, everything just took off for him, first with the single, and then the album.”

Following 2005’s You’re Beautiful from debut full length record Back To Bedlam there’s only ever been one audio supplier to help James’s sound reach audiences on tour. Robert continues: “I’ve used Skan since the beginning of needing production,” he explains. “The