UK - White Light has recently invested in two new pieces of equipment that reflect the company's recent expansion as well as further cement its reputation as a leading production supplier: the Martin MAC Aura XB and the Prolyte S36PRA truss.

Dave Isherwood, White Light's hire and technical director, comments, "It's fantastic that we are able to invest in such ground-breaking equipment. As we continue to work on highly technical and innovative projects, we need the resources which can help make these a reality. Both the Martin MAC Aura XB and Prolyte S36PRA truss reflect the high

Italy - Genelec has appointed PRASE as its Italian distributor for AV-Install and home audio products. MidiWare will continue to distribute Genelec's professional line of products.

Located in Noventa di Piave near to Venice, PRASE has been operating for more than 20 years as an AV distributor.The firm constantly updates the professional training of its technical staff, allowing them to transfer their knowledge to the market, ensuring added value for its customers.

Jarmo Masko, international sales manager for Genelec said, "This company is full of energy, with an enthusiastic te

Germany - Since premiering with a flourish of sequins and feathers in Sydney back in April 2014, Strictly Ballroom the Musical has been touring Australia, currently residing at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne.

The musical is produced by the original creative team behind the classic 1992 film, including director and co-writer, Baz Luhrmann and set and costume designer, Catherine Martin.

Lighting designer for the production is Hugh Vanstone who was keen to specify the GLP impression X4 into the show, describing them as "tremendously useful" and declaring himself to b

UK - Pro audio and acoustics consultancy NoiseBoys Technologies, based in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, have set sail to Norway with Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, after installing a new sound and lighting system in the show lounge on board its flagship, Balmoral. They have also provided full training and support to the technical team on board.

Whilst on board, NoiseBoys also assisted with an event that made history for the cruise line when, on 28th July 2015, all four ships owned by Fred. Olsen - the Balmoral, Braemar, Black Watch and Boudicca - united in the port of Bergen on the same day

UK - Building on a longstanding relationship with Clarion Events, Arena has been awarded a further three years providing temporary structures to the Home and Gift Fair held in Harrogate.

The event, held annually in July, has long since outgrown the extensive facilities provided by the Harrogate International Centre, and this year Arena delivered 6,000sq.m of infrastructure in the grounds of the adjacent Majestic Hotel.

Arena installed four structures this year and to maximise the site footprint one area was supplied with a double deck facility. This created additional space and impr

Europe - Rock band, Ash is currently on tour supporting the release of their latest album, Kablammo! with Allen & Heath's ultra-compact Qu-Pac digital mixer managing monitor sound.

For some time, the band had been considering the need to replace the old analogue mixer and the existing multi-track recorder.

"I told Tim the singer about the Qu-Pac mixer and that it did playback too, and he said it was a no brainer," says FOH engineer, Alan 'Hagos' Haggarty.

"Before this tour we were using an analogue mixer running a multitrack recorder for playback, all of whic

UK - Harman Professional UK and Ireland distributor Sound Technology has further strengthened its position over the Irish Sea by announcing a major sale of a JBL VTX system to McCusker Pro-Audio in Northern Ireland. The sale was facilitated by Sound Technology's Irish sub-distributor, Reynolds of Raphoe.

The family run sales, hire and installation house, based in Co. Armagh, upgraded its front line fleet with JBL's new VTX V20 system - maintaining a relationship with the Northridge-based manufacturer extending back a number of years.

Director Barry McCusker, who fronts the business

Europe - AC/DC have embarked on their Rock or Bust stadium tour. A raw, industrial production design by Ray Winkler of Stufish is complimented by an equally inspired and dramatic rock lightshow created by Patrick Woodroffe of Woodroffe Bassett Design (WBD) - with a little help from 39 x Robe BMFLs.

The BMFL Spots are in three key locations on the stage. The first batch of fixtures are rigged on an upstage arch of trussing - the arch and ten trussing 'fingers' are an integral set element - where they are equally spaced apart and utilised for massive beams and powerful breakup / gobo lo

UK - With Phase 3 of its seminar sessions finalised, PLASA Show reveals content that is both informative and a little out of the ordinary. From audio as art and colour changing lights, to safety - both electrical and aural - and the importance of apprenticeships, PLASA continues to cover key issues for the entertainment technology industry.

"It's art, not plant hire." These words from Tony Andrews, founder of loudspeaker manufacturer Funktion One, will ring true with sound designers and engineers around the world. Having spent his life exploring the higher possibilities in a

USA - Building 24, a live entertainment and club venue located inside The Works, a large indoor entertainment facility in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, has enjoyed the benefits of an Elation lighting system since being installed in 2010. Five years on, the venue was looking to upgrade and add to their lighting system and again chose the Elation brand.

Elation dealer Aurora Sound & Light Design which has sold Elation lighting rigs to such prestigious venues in Philadelphia as SoundGarden Hall and Rumor nightclub, was called in to design the new lighting system, which would marry new Elatio

UK - West Midlands lighting and sound reinforcement company Pacific Sound & Light has been increasing its inventory of Shure equipment in recent months to supply a number of live music tours in the UK.

For the past few years, they have been using PSM900 in-ear monitoring on the live tours for the Drifters, and began working with the Ultimate Eagles tribute band two years ago (currently, the band are on a successful European tour). Now the company has also been asked to handle the forthcoming UK 2015 dates for the official Blues Brothers touring band. For this project, Pacific are turn

UK - Britannia Row Productions Training has announced the launch of a brand new website detailing the range of courses it now offers from its base in Twickenham.

The new site offers a more visual and informative view of the activities of the Training operation, complete with testimonials from students of its intensive 12-week Live Sound Technology Course. To offer more flexibility in its training opportunities, Britannia Row has now developed some new courses for 2015 based on the core elements of its 12 week course.

Live Sound Basic PA Course: A 2-day course on the basics of

UK - Adlib's working relationship with the touring version of multi award-winning mega-successful sitcom Mrs Brown's Boys hits the 15 year mark this year, with the Liverpool based company providing full technical production - sound, lighting and video - for the various legs of the 2015 arena tour, scheduled to conclude in December, plus a live DVD shoot in September.

Adlib also made a major investment in new Absen high definition LED screen, Sony broadcast cameras and Prolyte pre-rigged trussing in time for the first leg of the tour in the spring.

LED video screen has replace

USA - The one million motorists who traverse the Miami Dade Expressway (MDX) every year share one common concern: they want to get to where they're going quickly and safely. To help them do this, the MDX authority is constantly enhancing its network of roads by doing things like installing open road tolling gantries that read vehicle license plates and passes, thereby avoiding the stop-and-go issues created at traditional toll plazas. At one such gantry, MDX went beyond its usual practical traffic control and safety mission to offer motorists an additional aesthetic benefit with help fr

UK - Named in memory of Tony Gottelier, the renowned industry innovator and commentator who passed away in 2006, the annual Gottelier Award aims to recognise those product developers who have made significant long-term contributions to the advancement of entertainment, presentation or installation technology - whether in audio, lighting, rigging, staging, or any other related field.

Sadly, the 2014 Award was presented posthumously, by the unanimous agreement of his fellow nominees, to Pasquale Quadri, the founder of Clay Paky and an admired innovator for 40 years, who passed away shor

Germany - Thomas Gerdon, lighting designer for one of Germany's most popular television shows, Verstehen sie Spass, used a substantial rig of Ayrton lighting fixtures to light the live broadcast from Munich's Bavaria Studios no 9 in April.

Verstehen sie Spass, a 'hidden camera' television series of two live and two recorded shows, features three musical acts within its format. The line-up for this particular evening included vintage German rockers, The Scorpions, Germany's 2015 Eurovision representative, Ann Sophie, and baritone crooner, Marc Marshall.

Gerdon chose 24

UK / Poland - Cadac has announced the appointment of Tommex, among the oldest most established audio companies in Poland, as its exclusive distributor for that territory.

The distributor agreement was signed immediately following Cadac's launch of its new CDC six console; a product for which Tommex envisages significant demand on its installation projects and amongst its customer base.

Tommex can trace its origins back to the difficult, pioneering Communist era of the 1970s, when founder Jan Tomasz Zebrowski founded a workshop to distribute and service Dynacord equipment in Poland.

Italy - Vasco Rossi completed his Live Kom 15 stadium tour in a blaze of glory with a production designed by the combined talents of set company Gioforma and long term lighting designer Giovanni Pinna, which also incorporated substantial video elements with screen content managed and controlled via grandMA2 light.

The edgy industrial stage aesthetic featured scenic video made up from Pixled's F-37 product, plus an epic IMAG video presence ensuring that everyone, even those at the back and to the sides of the stadiums, received a great view as well as those closer to the action.

The

UK - Richard Martin Lighting (RML) is currently working on a broad range of TV shows.

In It To Win It, the BBC National Lottery game show is back for another series. The show is now filmed in Pacific Quay, Glasgow. RML continues to supply the lights, in association with Tony Kennedy and TSL. Martin Kempton designs the lighting rig. This includes MAC 500's, VL1000TS, Chroma Banks, Chroma Panels, Sharpys, Pixel Par 90's, Alpha Wash 1200's and Pixel Brick kits.

Dermot Murnaghan is back to host another season of the teatime quiz show Eggheads. Lighting designer Martin Kemp

On The Fringe - The Edinburgh International and the Fringe festivals started together for the first time in 18 years. The festivals had been out of sync by one week since the fringe decided to begin a week earlier in 1998. Venues are reporting an increase in advance sales, with international festival sales up by 25%.

Number Crunching - The Edinburgh Festival Fringe in numbers: There will be 50,459 performances of 3,314 shows between 7 and 31 August; the number of shows is a 3.8% increase on last year's programme; acts from 49 countries are taking part in the festival, including

USA - After the success of its spring regional training events, Audinate has announced a fall schedule of Dante AV Networking World conferences throughout U.S., Europe, Middle East and Asia. These free all-day events are designed for anyone interested in audio networking, and will feature presentations, training workshops and interactive panel discussions led by industry experts.

The events are co-sponsored with 20 leading audio manufacturers, including Ashly, AtteroTech, Audinate, Audio Technica, Bose, ClearOne, Extron, Focusrite RedNet, Lectrosonics, NTP, RDL, Roland, Shure, SSL, St

South Africa - South Africa-based In Living Colour, established in the mid '90s by Gavin Buckle, recently invested in an Avolites Tiger Touch II and 12 x Robe Robin 300 LED Wash fixtures.

"Due to In Living Colour's position within the market where an equal amount of events and sub-rentals to other related companies are responsible for our sustained growth, we concentrate on investing in leading brands that are consistently sought after by international touring companies as well as local suppliers," commented Gavin Buckle. "Our lighting desks and fixtures are required to

UK - A state of the art welding machine is set to help Doughty Engineering keep up with increasing customer demand for its Modular Rigging System. Since the launch of the product range at the end of 2014, welders on the shop floor have been pushed to capacity to ensure orders are manufactured and shipped to schedule.

Mark Chorley said, "Little did we know when we launched the Modular Rigging System last autumn, just how popular it was going to be. We thought orders may decrease as time went by but on the contrary our workers have never been busier as word spreads and lighting des

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