Germany - DPA Microphones announced at Prolight + Sound 2012 the launch of its handheld d:facto vocal microphone.

In the d:facto vocal mic, DPA has "pooled its years of expertise and resources to bring an eagerly awaited, high quality vocal condenser mic to the market". Bridging the gap between live performance and studio recording, d:facto offers extraordinarily natural sound, high separation and extreme SPL handling, says the company.

d:facto is equally at home in sound reinforcement and recording applications. In common with all DPA mics, d:facto features superior gain before feedback, while the inbuilt 3-step pop protection grid effectively removes unwanted noise.

"For many years the market has been requesting that the high sound quality of DPA's legendary 4011 mic be available for live performance," says DPA's CEO Christian Poulsen. "As a result

At PLASA Focus: Leeds 2012, Theatre Consultants Charcoalblue have brought together some of the key players to reveal how this £4.9 million project came to fruition. Charcoalblue Project Manager Jon Woodley, along with Peter Hall of Sansome Hall Architects, David Wilmore representing Theatresearch and Mark Priestley from Unusual Rigging will all be presenting their perspectives on how the collaborative restoration of the Newcastle Theatre Royal was achieved.

The Theatre has been part of the fabric of Newcastle city centre since 1837. A Grade 1 Listed Building, it features what is generally regarded as the finest theatre façade in the UK combined with a fine 1901 auditorium designed by one of the great theatre architects, Frank Matcham, after the original interior had been destroyed by fire in 1899. This cultural legacy must have presented quite a daunting task to the team.

South Africa - Dream Sets provided the full technical supply and sets for the successful Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Joburg, presented by African Fashion International (AFI) at Hyde Park Shopping Centre's roof top, where a 120m marquee was raised, held from 7 - 10 March 2012. The Philips Selecon SPXs did a sterling job.

For the fifth consecutive year, Mauritz Jacobs from Dream Sets oversaw the project and was also the lighting designer of this spectacular event which included 20 fashion shows, over 25 designers and elaborate set changes on two fashion ramps.

"This is probably one of the hardest weeks of the year," commented Jacobs. "There are set changes between every show and these are major changes! The one show will be white and an hour later the ramp will be red." The shows are about 20minutes long and there's a show every hour.

The set-up started on 4

Australia - Gladstone Entertainment Centre, the city's premier live entertainment venue showcasing local, national and international artists, has taken delivery of six Vari*Lite VL3500 Spot luminaires from Philips Vari*Lite to keep their existing VL500 Washes company.

"We have been very happy with our VL500 fixtures which have proven to be rock-solid," commented Troy Everett, manager performing arts at GEC. "I love the colour that you can only get out of a tungsten unit and the unique VL500 colour system. However when deciding on the new fixtures I had a look at a wide variety of lighting fixtures but the VL3500 Spot was the clear winner for me.

"I love that all Vari*Lite fixtures seem to deliver beautiful colours and that the gobos are always sharp and crisp," he added. "In fact the colour mixing in Vari*Lite fixtures is so good there really is n

UK - Ambersphere's regional tour of the UK continues in March and April with two headline appearances - at the Black Light Open day in Scotland, and at PLASA Focus in Leeds.

These showcase exhibitions follow hot on the heels of the South-East roadshow that Ambersphere held recently in Brighton.

The Black Light Open Day, which is Scotland's largest gathering of lighting industry professionals, is taking place at Black Light's HQ in Edinburgh on Friday 30 and Saturday 31 March, and will be the first opportunity for those North of the Border to get a close up look at the new products on offer from Clay Paky and MA Lighting.

"It's really exciting to get on the road with the dazzling array of new products that Clay Paky and MA Lighting have recently brought to market," says Glyn O'Donoghue, managing director of Ambersphere.

"With a number of regional exhibitions

UK - Following news last week of record visitor registrations of over 1,000 in just two days, it seems that exhibitors are equally eager to confirm their places before space runs out. Although the available exhibition space is the same 3,000sq.m as the three rooms at the Royal Horticultural Halls, the new venue is a single exhibition area on two levels with all facilities together in the same space.

Show director Roger Fox said, "I am so pleased that the exhibitors have responded so positively to our determination to make the ABTT 2012 Theatre Show an immediate success in its new home. Visitor registrations continue to be buoyant and we have a growing waiting list of would be exhibitors. The signs are very good for a bumper event."

Close to 100 exhibitors will be offering a wealth of products, services and advice to practitioners, designers and technicians involved i

UK - More than 2000 professionals from the North of England's entertainment and installation technology communities have registered to attend PLASA Focus: Leeds 2012, taking place at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, on Tuesday 17 & Wednesday 18 April. Organisers PLASA Events are attributing this year's stronger-than-ever pre-show figures to the record number of new products on show, a flurry of first-time exhibitors, and the event's well-loved, friendly format.

Joining 130 exhibitors across two sold-out halls will be 20 new exhibitors, including audio, video and lighting installers TMC Ltd; audio manufacturer Electro-Voice; laser system specialists Laserworld AG; audio manufacturers KV2 Audio; audio contractors FBT Audio; designers and manufacturers of modular stages and portable sound and light systems, Unistage Ltd; and audio sales, rentals, and integrated installations company,

UK - Rigging Services will be conducting live demonstrations of the features, benefits and changes to its online shop RSDirect from its stand RA-C14 at PLASA Focus.

Rigging Services was one of the first companies in the event industry to offer online services from the mid 1990s. Re-branded as RSDirect, the shop site does far more than just allow an online transaction.

"Offering the option to buy online is essential for an industry that is nomadic and working 24 hours a day 7 days a week," states Paul Fulcher, director of Rigging Services. "However we feel that the client needs far more than a simple shop site, which is why the re-launched site is packed with extra features".

A simple click from the home page www.riggingservices.co.uk takes a browser directly into the shop.

Working easily with either a PC, laptop or smart phone the site is very simple to

Frankfurt Figures - Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound attracted a total of 2,388 exhibitors from 55 countries (2011: 2,380 exhibitors from 54 countries) and around 110,000 visitors from 120 countries (2011: 109,002 visitors from 124 countries).

"Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound 2012 have further strengthened their position. Both, visitors and exhibitors highly appreciated and rated Musikmesse and Prolight + Sound and are in confident mood for orders and business", said Detlef Braun, member of the executive board Messe Frankfurt.

Blowin' In The Wind - Bob Dylan, Peter Gabrieland Suede are the headline acts for Vince Power's Hop Farm Music Festival 2012. The festival will have four music stages this year including a comedy stage, Camp Acoustic stage and Buskers Boulevard as well as "more new, exciting additions to be announced in due course"

UK - Leisuretec are excited to be exhibiting at PLASA Focus: Leeds for the second year running following on from the company's success last year.

"Established for 22 years and with our strong foundation, we have the distribution power to ensure we are sourcing the best products in commercial sound, lighting, visual and special effects at the best prices, which translates to greater value for our trade customers," says the company.

The Leisuretec name is synonymous with quality products and at this year's PLASA Focus the company will represent over 70 prestigious brands spanning many market sectors including installed sound, presentation and live entertainment.

"We can offer the choice and flexibility essential to your business whether you are an installer, reseller, hire or events company or other trade professional. Since last year we have added several new f

UK - Stage Electrics will be exhibiting on stand RA-18 at this year's PLASA Focus which is taking place on 17-18 April in the Royal Armouries, Leeds.

Stage Electrics will be showing an array of audio products from EM Acoustics. The company has recently become the UK dealer for this leading independent British loudspeakers manufacturer. EM Acoustics loudspeakers are often found in West End productions and on shows on Broadway. Installation versions can be found in venues as diverse as The National Theatre, Westfield Shopping Centre and The Eisenhower Hall (USA).

Other products being displayed on Stage Electrics stand this year is a display of Prolyte Trussing, the new ELC Green Go communication systems, the company's custom built Table Top Stage Managers Desk, Interspace Theatre Cue, Altair Wired & Wireless Communication System, DiGiCo's SD11 console, Pulsar's latest model of t

UK - Rigging Services has announced its latest growth plans; these include a new location in west London and a re-location of its Birmingham branch to a new site "four times its previous size".

The latest and fourth location of Rigging Services is based at Pinewood Studios. Although supplying its services across the entire event industry, not only within TV & Film, there is a good synergy with Rigging Services and other complimentary services also operating from Pinewood.

"We are really pleased to be a part of the Pinewood community and look forward to working amongst like minded individuals," states Bob Dean - national sales manager.

From this new location Rigging Services can offer a quicker, cost effective and more local service to its clients on the west side of London. This site also allows quicker links to its other locations in the Midlands and Nor

Germany - Innovason has reported a highly successful PL+S show 2012. The focus this year was the revelation of the latest box of tricks that has been integrated into Innovason's flagship Eclipse GT digital console: named for the 'all-gifted' figure of Greek mythology, Pandora is a new way of panning that provides audibly better results across the listening field than traditional stereo panning, says the company.

Tonmeister and renowned classical sound engineer, Carsten Kummel, explains, "The problem with traditional panning is the loss of signal on one side when you pan to the other. To resolve this, some people choose to mix in mono, but this isn't really a viable solution, especially for complex shows where you are dealing with anything from 80 to 100 channels. So, I started playing around with delay and seeing if I could achieve better results that way.

"I went aw

UK - The Schools' Theatre Support Group (STSG) held their third, and largest to date, conference last month, sponsored by White Light and Charcoalblue. The successful event was attended by technicians and managers from several schools around the country.

Starting with a backstage visit to the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, the conference, held at Rugby School in Warwickshire, included workshops by White Light, Stage Electrics and Charcoalblue Theatre Consultants. Other exhibitors included AC Entertainment Technologies, Theatre-in-a-Box, and Tophex TheatreCom.

The STSG is a small, but established network of professional theatre technicians and managers working in UK school theatres. The biennial conference (with plans to become an annual event from next year) is the main focus of the Group, bringing together its members with suppliers and leading industry practitio

Germany - Last week's ProLight+Sound show was the busiest ever for Doughty Engineering, reports sales director Julian Chiverton. "It was the first time we'd had our own, rather than a shared, stand and the response was tremendous. We were incredibly busy the whole exhibition, with visitors from as far afield as Japan and Russia, and a lot of new contacts to follow up."

Doughty also reports that a lot of interest was shown in its new Baby Quick Trigger clamp. Intended for use on smaller truss sizes, this clamp is adjustable to diameters from 25mm up to 38mm and will be on show for the first time in the UK at PLASA Focus Leeds.

(Jim Evans)

UK - JoeCo and UK distributor MSL Professional head to PLASA Focus for the first time showing the latest additions to the BlackBox range of 1U multi-channel recorders and players, including the new BBR64-Dante Recorder which was unveiled at the recent Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt.

The BBR64-Dante is the result of JoeCo's collaboration with Audinate, creators of the award-winning Dante digital media networking solution. The original BBR-Dante system was released in 2011 and was able to record up to 32 channels of audio from a Dante network. The new BBR64-Dante now doubles that track count to 64, while still occupying just one rack unit of space. The recorder connects to any Dante-enabled network device from a range of console and converter manufacturers. In addition to recording 64 channels at standard sample rates, it can also record eight channels of analogue alongside 56 chan

UK - PLASA Focus Leeds will be the launching point for several new in-house developments from ShowTex.

The Acoustic Baffle from ShowTex proves ecology and noise level control can go hand in hand. The new acoustic fabric panels are made from 100% recycled material compressed together to optimize sound conditions. The Acoustic Baffle comes in two sizes and can be installed modularly for extra flexibility. By combining the two standard formats, nearly any height or area can be covered. The Acoustic Baffle can be installed as a ceiling lining or around curves and corners. Custom formats and /or colours are available by request. The panels are finished off with Velcro for connecting together easily and can be used for temporary and fixed installations.

Another development is the TMC 1000 track motor. A compact version of the ShowTex TMC track motor; it's designed for smaller theatr

UK - WirelessLED has chosen PLASA Focus to launch the full production model of SMARTe, its revolutionary compact wireless LED system.

It has been six months of hard work since the pre-production model was shown at PLASA last September but it has been worth the wait. Concentrating on feedback from individuals and companies across the entertainment industry WirelessLED has refined the original design.

A switch from Lithium Polymer to Lithium Ion battery technology has not only increased life but also shortened recharge time. New Osram OSLON LED emitters have increased brightness by around 15% and a new lens from Carclo Optics has significantly enhanced the colour mix.

Other refinements include a captive M10 for mounting via hook clamp or half coupler, two captive M6 which accept the RAM Mount ball system, two safety bond points and a general tweak and tidy up of the overall ca

UK - Avolites will be accompanied by Avolites Media at PLASA Focus: Leeds on stand RA-B10 to offer visitors a selection of lighting and video solutions. On show will be the Sapphire Touch with a preview of Titan Version 6 as well as Avolites Media's introduction of the Sapphire Media control surface and Ai Infinity Server.

The Sapphire Touch, Avolites top-of-the-range stage lighting control console, integrates Avolites comprehensive Titan V6 operating system as well as offering dual touch screen monitors for an enhanced workflow. Designed for large scale arena tours the Sapphire Touch has been developed for efficient and smooth automated playback operation with the introduction of 45 motorised faders and Tricolour optical trackball functionality and delivers a unique Saturn ring, giving X, Y, Z axis to ensure simultaneous control. This popular new console from Avolites Ltd. also

UK - Ambersphere Solutions, the exclusive distributor for MA Lighting products into the UK, reports that it has been overwhelmed by demand for the recently launched MA onPC command wing.

The MA onPC command wing is the latest addition to the MA Lighting family and offers a powerful, efficient mobile option to operating the grandMA2 control system in even the most challenging environments.

"When we first saw the MA onPC command wing we knew it was going to be a hit, and we were thrilled by the opportunities it was going to open up for us' says Philip Norfolk, sales director for Ambersphere.

"Being able to gain access to the superior MA technology, but at an affordable price tag, allows us to speak to customers who previously thought MA was out of their reach. But it is absolutely not," continues Norfolk.

"This product is so versatile - it can act as a st

UK - PLASA Focus Leeds will be a first for the d&b GB office, who will be at the show to introduce the E4 and E5,the latest teenyweeny additions to the time honoured E-Series, from their Black range.

Alongside these elegant little loudspeakers will be a selection of products picked from the White range. The4S and 5S are equally small loudspeakers, designed for visual and acoustical integration into fixed applications.

Oran Burns and Steve Jones from the d&b GB Education and Application Support team will be offering visitors the chance to attend two seminars as part of the show's free Professional Development Programme.

On Tuesday 17 April, Can you hear me at the Back? presented by Oran Burns, will explore how to get the sound you've lovingly nurtured through the console to every seat in the house. On Wednesday 18 April, Steve Jones will look at what methods can be use

UK - Belgium's ADB Lighting will exhibit at PLASA Focus: Leeds, for the first time in its own right, on on Stand S-D1.

ADB will show some of its latest lighting and lighting control systems, including the UK preview of its new LED Powered Profile Spotlight.

Based on the proven concept of the Europe 1kW Condenser Profile, the new LED Profile was first shown at JTSE, SIEL and ProLight+Sound. With final design enhancements and extensive road testing in progress, the full product range launch is planned for September 2012. The first two products in the LED range will be a Theatre Fresnel and a Profile spotlight with the equivalent beam power of a 1kW halogen spotlight.

Also on show will be the latest ALC4-2 modular multi-purpose luminaire with its range of reflectors and barndoors, and the Freedom lighting control desk, with a host of software enhancements that extend the consol

UK - PLASA Focus Leeds will see Philips Vari-Lite show-off its latest forward-looking developments in automated lighting technology.

A warm welcome is promised to entertainment professionals visiting Stand S-C15, where they can shoot the lighting breeze while familiarizing themselves with the recently launched, compact, efficient and cost effective range of luminaires: the VL440, VL770 and VL880. In addition Vari-Lite will be showing off the VLX3 LED moving head.

Conceived from the union of Vari-Lite creative engineering vision and the company's understanding of lighting designer's needs, this range of luminaires provide the LD with a comprehensive palette of creative lighting tools in an efficient and compact unit.

All are loaded with the kind of powerful Vari-Lite features important to a lighting designer. Between them they can service any size of venue or production and e

UK - Artistic Licence Engineering will be using PLASA Focus as a platform from which to launch a plethora of new products. Two new product ranges (Rack Pack and Zone Control) have been developed for release at the show alongside a new splitter and a modular advancement in the Multichrome Range.

The latest addition to Artistic Licence's Rack Pack range, dVnet is a digital video to network converter housed in a 19-inch rack case. It is aimed at retail and architectural applications where a media facade or any pixilated display is to be controlled by video without the complexity of a media server.

dVnet is all a light artist needs to convert their video creation - or any HDMI source - to light. Configuration is simplicity itself, with less than ten mouse clicks required to render video to a media wall.

dVnet can also playback video clips loaded onto its internal hard drive, eit

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