UK - An Optocore fibre distribution system has been specified by Theatre Projects Consultants (TPC) and installed by Northern Light at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre's (EICC) new Lennox Suite, with the venue's £30m expansion. The new fibre routing matrix is in keeping with the requirement of the new multi-purpose suite to transport a number of different signal protocols within a flexible environment.

The new suite, measuring 1600sq.m, represents a multi-level expansion of the existing EICC, complete with a glass atrium and additional event spaces. This versatile auditorium contains a reconfigurable moving floor, which rapidly transforms the space from a flat floor to a fully raked auditorium, as well as making it operational in both arena and tiered cabaret modes, so that a variety of events can be hosted. It can also be split into a total of three rooms or

Italy - Dolce and Gabbana is a widely known Italian fashion worldwide firm. The headquarters of the firm, located just a few minutes from the historical centre of Milan, in Viale Piave, were recently renovated. The complex, consisting of three parallel buildings overs a total area of 10.000m², a showroom with the latest clothes, their central offices, a restaurant and common areas.

For this project, the company in charge of the installation chose the Neo Series of loudspeakers developed by Work Pro. The reasons was significant: these loudspeakers blend in with the architectural and decor style selected by the customer, a project based on open spaces where mainly crystal and GRC panels are employed.

Neo loudspeakers unify a high quality sound with an elegant design. Its ease of integration in all kinds of decorations and structures along with its power and small size make thes

UK - Sennheiser UK is always keen to support new talent. Part of this commitment is a long relationship with the Faculty of Music at the University of Oxford, which recently held the final of a new competition for original composition. Sennheiser supported the project with prizes for the winners, while a K-array audio system was used for the performances.

Sennheiser's work with the University has included support for the Oxford Surround Composition and Research studio (OSCaR) - a bespoke, state-of-the-art electronic music studio, which opened last year.

This year, the company sponsored the Oxford/Sennheiser Electronic Music Prize (OSEMP), a competition set up by the University to highlight the increasing importance of electronic music in its teaching and research programmes. Also supported by Warp Records, the aim of the national competition was to find the most innovative new

Australia - Lighting designer and long-term ArKaos advocate, Francesco Calvi, turned to ArKaos MediaMaster Pro yet again to deliver the creative visuals for the 11th season of Big Brother Australia 2014, the popular reality television series.

The Big Brother House was located at Dreamworld on Australia's Gold Coast, from where the live shows, hosted by Sonia Kruger, were broadcast weekly over three months by the Nine Network, before culminating in a grand finale in December.

In a now-traditional move, Calvi used ArKaos MediaMaster Pro software to stream the creative visual effects and video content onto 180 C14 VuePix LED Screens. The screens, which were supplied by The Technical Direction Company (TDC), were hung in columns around the walls of the TV studio, surrounding the audience as well as the Big Brother eye, to form a main stay of the Big Brother set.

Th

UK - Tony Award winning tenor Alfie Boe completed a very successful UK arena tour just before Christmas with video designed by Stuart Merser of Vis-A-Vis Video and the camera / projection package supplied by XL Video.

Stuart was asked by Boe's new management company Vector Management to direct the live video on the strength of his intricate and powerful work for Il Divo.

Over time, he has developed a distinctive visual aesthetic which works extremely well with this classical / musical theatre / pop crossover genre of music and style of performance, and ahead of this tour, he talked extensively with Alfie himself and the tour's Production Director Dave Nelson, before presenting a series of ideas for how video might work in a live concert context.

It was already decided that there would be no LED screens or onstage video, so the idea was that IMAG combined with some carefully

Bahamas - New Year's Eve revellers often have cold weather and sometimes snow to contend with when they celebrate. Not so for guests who welcomed 2015 at the Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas. Surrounded by crystal blue waters, clear skies and a NYE temperature in the comfortable 70s, Paradise Island more than lives up to its name. Still, Atlantis Resort didn't become world-famous just because of its natural amenities; the popular destination also offers an array of activities, dining and entertainment options, which on New Year's Eve included a stellar party that featured a high-impact lightshow designed by Kinetic Lighting.

Lighting designer James Schipper of Kinetic Lighting used 22 Nexus 4x4 LED panels from Chauvet Professional to create an impressive downstage array that served as a backdrop for a live show that include dancing, acrobatic and musical performances. The Nexu

UK - Robert Juliat lighting fixtures have been spotted covering all angles of the stage from front to back at Chichester Festival Theatre in recent months.

The new production of Gypsy (see Lighting & Sound International December 2014), which transfers soon to London's Savoy Theatre, employed four Robert Juliat Le Cin'k Fresnels, each fitted with 5000W tungsten lamp bases, in Mark Henderson's flexible lighting design. Hired from White Light for the season, these helped to cover a busy stage with multiple areas of focus, including three moving trucks.

"We find Le Cin'k to be brighter and slightly narrower than the 5kW units we previously used which, in their rigged position, is good because control is important in a thrust space," says the Festival Theatre's head of lighting, Sam Garner-Gibbons. "Being a completely exposed rig, unit size is critical

World - Las Vegas rockers The Killers played several exciting headline festival shows with Clay Paky Sharpys, A.leda B-EYEs and SuperSharpys delivering colossal lighting effects as part of, as The Telegraph describes, 'a fittingly over-the-top display of lights, fireworks and explosions.'

Lighting designer Steven Douglas specified 36 Sharpys, supplied by NegEarth, after using them extensively on the The Killers' previous tours.

"If you're looking for something that's going to be big and impactful, the first thing that comes to mind is the Clay Paky Sharpy," says Douglas. "They are the obvious choice for me as I've used them consistently in my designs for the last two years. They're great, reliable, compact lights that really pack a punch - everyone knows how good they are."

Douglas rigged the Sharpys to create a huge wall of light behind the band, in plac

Mexico - Flightcase, speaker cabinet and 19 inch racking solutions specialist Penn-Elcom has announced the opening of a new fully operational manufacturing facility in Tijuana, Mexico.

It is part of the company's planned expansion following robust trading worldwide in recent years, and the strategic location in Mexico's bustling Baja financial and industrial centre will benefit both Penn's Latin American and US markets with even quicker and more efficient delivery times and product options.

Penn Elcom Mexico will be headed up by MD Javier Haro with Frank McCourt heading up the sales effort. Javier has a manufacturing background owning businesses both in Tijuana and in San Diego, California. Frank's career with Penn Elcom stretches back an impressive 32 years, working for Penn both in the UK and in the USA. He has very close links with all Penn's OEM clients. They will be assis

UK - Liverpool based technical production, lighting, sound and AV specialist Adlib has announced the opening of a new Scottish office that will be based at the very heart of Scotland's buzzing entertainment industry ... in Glasgow city centre.

This is a direct response to the steady general overall increase in Adlib's work in Scotland in recent years, and also specifically to service and support several important new contracts won by the company's Installations & Sales division.

The new office will be headed up by Graham Cochrane, a well-known tour and production manager in Scotland and internationally. His regular work includes production managing at the high profile T In The Park festival, and he was also involved as a PM for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Adlib MD Andy Dockerty's personal working friendship with Graham stretches back many years.

Andy comments, "

Italy - Avolites has announced that its range of lighting and Ai video and multimedia control technologies will be distributed in Italy by Music & Lights.

"We are confident that the appointment Music & Lights as our distributor is our most effective step to ensure our continued growth in the Italian market," says Avolites managing director, Steve Warren. "We are extremely impressed with the potential of Music & Lights and CEO Fabio Sorabella's highly effective team are enthusiastic, dynamic and focused on growth."

Warren's words are echoed by Avolites sales director, Koy Neminathan. "Music & Lights have proved that they are capable of providing excellent service training and support, both pre and post-sale. Avolites have invested in the development of new and unique features for both lighting and video control and it is of the upmost importance that we

Archive Campaign - The British Library has launched a campaign to raise £40m to digitise the country's sound archive of more than six million recordings. The library said around two million of these are fragile and rare recordings. These are at risk of being lost due to physical degradation and the disappearance of the technology to play them, the library said. The archive, which includes the voice of Florence Nightingale, is held on more than 40 formats. These include wax cylinders, lacquer discs, cassette players, reel-to-reel tapes and minidiscs.

The UK Sound Archive includes recordings of local accents and dialects used to monitor the evolution of the English language and sounds of rare or extinct wildlife. It also includes full recordings of theatre productions going back 40 years, including the opening night of Hamlet in the Old Vic, starring Peter O'Toole and

USA - When the fourth biennial Stand Up to Cancer special aired in the US and Canada, it raised more than $109m for its groundbreaking collaborative research efforts. Some 60 Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures were deployed for the event.

More than three dozen broadcast and cable networks in the US and Canada telecast Stand Up to Cancer. The show, staged at LA's Dolby Theatre, featured celebrity guests, music by Lupe Fiasco, Jennifer Hudson and Common, The Who, the Dave Matthews Band, and Ariana Grande, and inspiring stories about patients who have benefited from the research supported by the organization. Atomic Lighting of Lititz, Pennsylvania provided the Clay Paky fixtures.

"This show really means a lot to me," says Brad Hafer, vice president of account management, at Atomic Lighting. "Stand Up to Cancer is about something real - it's not just do

UK - Lighting director Howard Harrison has used ETC's Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr fixtures for the City of Angels musical at The Donmar Warehouse, in London's Covent Garden.

The musical depicts a 1940s Hollywood writer working on a film noir thriller; the play switches between gritty, black and white film scenes, and the real writer and his friends, shown in bright, vivid full colour.

"This is the first time the show has been revived," says Harrison, "and one of the biggest challenges was performing it in the 250-capacity space - we needed flexibility of colour without using too many fixtures. I'd heard about Source Four LED Series 2, but had never used them, and despite not having the time or resources to do any kind of tests or shootouts, I was keen to give them a try. They turned out to be exactly the right thing."

The colour changing abiliti

France - Czech Republic based lighting manufacturer Robe Lighting s.r.o. has announced the launch of a new wholly-owned subsidiary, Robe Lighting France S.A.S, which will be headquartered in Paris.

Robe Lighting France S.A.S. will be headed up by two senior managers. Managing director Bruno Garros, a familiar face in the world of the French professional entertainment lighting market takes the helm of the French operation alongside Elie Battah, who as business development manager for France, will spearhead the parent company's business plan.

The new subsidiary is part of Robe Lighting s.r.o.'s planned medium-term expansion strategy, and follows robust trading worldwide in recent years.

Robe Lighting France joins four other highly successful fully Robe-owned operations worldwide - in the UK, USA, UAE and Singapore.

Also responsible for Robe Lighting France will be Ingo Dombr

The Netherlands - For the fifth consecutive year, Dante's AV Networking World series of informative presentations and hands-on workshops will be held Monday, 9 February 2015 at the Amsterdam Holiday Inn near the RAI Convention Centre.

The free all-day event will feature presentations, training workshops and interactive panel discussions led by industry design consultants, AV installation contractors and IT networking experts. The event will also feature a major interoperability networking demonstration of Dante-enabled products and systems, several of which are debuting at ISE from the industry's leading audio manufacturers.

Twenty-five leading audio equipment manufacturers are co-sponsoring this year's conference including Ashly, AtteroTech, audio-technica, Bosch, Bose, BSS, Crest Audio, Delec, Focusrite/RedNet, Harman Professional, Lab.gruppen, Lake, Nexo, NTP, Peavey Commer

USA - The Newport Performing Arts Centre (PAC) in Oregon has recently installed a Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system in its 398-seat Alice Silverman Theatre. With the upgrade, the venue joins the likes of Moscow's Svetlanov Hall, The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Centre, and more than 50 other prestigious venues that rely on the variable acoustics of Constellation to deliver an extraordinary live experience.

"The result of Constellation is subtly but fundamentally transformative for both audience and performer," says David Ogden Stiers, resident conductor for the Newport Symphony Orchestra (NSO), who has more than 20 years of experience at the PAC. "We have gone from an okay performance space to an actual, audible concert hall. Frankly, I was sceptical about the system at first - but am now totally won over."

The proposal of the Constellation solutio

Singapore - Taking inspiration from a swarm of butterflies in mid-flight, a group of students from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) developed the Flights of Fancy display for the 2014 Singapore Night Festival.

The installation, which was the culmination of the University's 10-week Urban Lighting course, used the Singapore National Design Centre's expansive space to bring a true on-of-a-kind experience to life with help from Martin Professional Exterior 400 LED lighting fixtures.

Throughout the University's Urban Lighting course, students learned about the effects of both natural and artificial light on space as well as fundamental design concepts. The students then had the opportunity to develop an installation for the Singapore Night Festival as part of their final course project and according to the SUTD student team leader, Kenickie Cher Jia Jun,

UAE - Abacus is an equipment rental and technical production company based in Dubai which is active on the live events scene. Founded five years ago initially as an AV supplier by Vimal Kumar, Abacus is headquartered in the Al Qoz 1 business district of Dubai.

Its lighting division was started two years ago with an immediate investment in Robe moving lights with the purchase of 16 x MMX Spots and 16 x LEDWash 1200s

Director of sales, Nidheesh Hari explains that Abacus provides full production for conferences, exhibitions, product launches - large and small - award ceremonies, and small to medium music concerts, offering including lighting, audio and video. They can offer design services or work with the client's own design team and concepts - depending on the set up.

They assessed all the options carefully before choosing Robe, and also sought advice from other industry prof

UK - Sussex-based architectural, commercial and industrial LED lighting manufacturer CLD Distribution has joined Recolight to help encourage customers to dispose responsibly their outgoing incandescent bulbs, tungsten halogen lamps, T8 fluorescent and other discharge lightsources ... as they are being replaced by new, more energy efficient and cost saving LED and other lighting schemes.

"We want to make the recycling of old lighting fixtures as straightforward and cost-effective as possible, especially for those who are investing in our Comus range of LED lighting," explains CLD chair Nigel Howes.

Recolight was set up by and for the commercial lighting industry to maximize the recycling of all lighting kit relevant to the 2006 WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronics Equipment) regulations.

It provides a comprehensive recycling infrastructure across the UK for the di

UK - The Dear GIRL Tour is the ongoing debut concert tour by American singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams. Williams kicked off the tour in Manchester, England, with a full Adamson sound reinforcement system.

The European tour was spearheaded by Sound Image out of Escondido, California, with UK-based Wigwam providing the Adamson PA.

Kyle Hamilton, FOH engineer for Williams, specifically chose the Adamson Energia line arrays to support performances at major arenas throughout Europe.

"They asked me what PA I preferred when we were preparing for the tour and I immediately chose Adamson - it's the system I always wanted to tour with," explains Hamilton. "I couldn't let that type of opportunity go by, it was definitely Adamson."

The main PA consists of left-right line arrays each made up of 15 E15 and three E12 enclosures. Out-fill is provided by two more lin

UK - Last year, international auctioneer Phillips moved from their Victoria premises to a new purpose-designed headquarters in London's prestigious Berkeley Square. The move represents another important step in the evolution and growth of the business.

As part of the move they commissioned two new high-spec gallery spaces. Following a comprehensive study of other manufacturers' products they turned to Dedo Weigert Film GmbH, Munich to supply state-of-the-art lighting fittings.

The innovative lighting system was specified in-house by Phillips gallery manager Ian Bell, working closely with Ossie Jung of Prolight Direct. The fittings were customised by Dedo and delivered and installed on time and on budget.

Thirty years as a gaffer in TV and film meant Ossie knew all about the unparalleled engineering, flexibility and quality offered by Dedo film and TV products. "It was a

UK - Dance music magazine DJ Mag yesterday announced the results of its Best of Britain Awards, with first place in the Best Small Club category going to Audio in Brighton, beating venues such as Stealth in Nottingham and Corsica Studios in London to the prize.

Over the course of the summer of 2014 several promoters hired in Traction rigs for events where they required a superior sound to what was already installed, and the manager Robbie Whishaw and then owner John Holland were won over by the high clarity, big bass and high SPLs achieved from very few boxes. Discussions began to have new systems installed on both floors ready for Audio's 10th Anniversary celebrations on 12 September.

Before it was Audio, the venue was called The Escape and ruled Brighton's nightlife for 20 years. It's basement saw names such as The Stone Roses, Carl Cox, Fatboy Slim and Daft Punk grac

USA - Ward Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Northville, Michigan, has a long history in the Detroit metro area and now a recent lighting upgrade to Elation Professional LED fixtures is heightening the worship experience.

In 2013, in an on-going effort to reach out to more people and at different levels, Ward began to offer four different worship styles in three different venues, all on the same campus. When a contemporary service was launched, Bryan Guelzo was brought in as part of a full A/V renovation.

"When the current building was built about 15 years ago, no one had dreamed that Ward would be holding a contemporary service, let alone shoot HD video, Imag and stream services online," stated Bryan, who has worked as Ward's full-time AVL engineer since July of 2014, working alongside Austin Germain (director of production for worship), Billy Petty (director of wo

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