UK - PSCo Rental appointed Rowena Wilks as rental account manager. She joins the company after four successful years at Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce, where she was responsible for dealing with business advice and membership.

Lisa Wardle, rental manager of PSCo Rental, comments, "I am delighted to welcome Rowena to the rental business. As our portfolio of leading technologies continues to grow, it is vital that we continue to deliver the high standards of service and support that our customers expect, and she has the skills and experience to further drive these improvements."

(Jim Evans)

Germany - On the 22 March, D.T.S. held its third D.T.S. Excellence Awards dinner.

The ceremony, which took place at the Tryp hotel in Frankfurt during ProLight&Sound, started with a choreographed rendition of the 'Mission impossible' theme, that ended with the clear statement "Mission accomplished!", whilst highlighting the brand new JACK and NICK NRG high-power compact moving heads, introduced by D.T.S at Prolight&Sound.

Silvano Latteo, D.T.S president, and Franco Zaghini, VP of sales, awarded the Excellence Awards 2012 to the company's most successful dealers and to the best installations, concerts and events staged with D.T.S. products over the last 12 months.

Prizes were awarded to the following categories: Buildings; Theme Parks; Sport Venues; Clubs; Events; Concerts; Theatres; Televisions; Musicals; and also Best Distributors and Best Turnover Increase.

(Cl

UK - Creative & Cultural Skills, Arts Council England, and Nesta have joined forces to commission new, independent research into the influence of the subsidised theatre on commercial theatre, with a view to gaining a greater understanding of the role of public investment in the arts.

The survey will track the careers of people in the industry, and the talent that has emerged from it, in order to better understand the impact that public investment in the theatre sector makes.

The aim is to collect the views of a range of theatre professionals currently or previously working in the sector, as well as those who have aspired to do so, on how their careers have developed. The wider the range of participants, the more valuable the research will be, and the more we will know about the success story of British Theatre.

TBR and BOP Consulting, who developed the survey, will also unde

UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) and the Stage Management Association (SMA) will hold this spring's Production Managers Forum (PMF) meeting - open to all - at the forthcoming PLASA Focus, Leeds, on Tuesday 17 April at 11.30am, in the Royal Armouries Bury Theatre.

Founded in 2000, the PMF was created as a joint venture between the two associations, in recognition that there was no organisation dedicated to the specific needs of the production manager.

Since then, the PMF has held three to four meetings a year, on various subjects ranging from International carnets to greener productions.

This latest meeting is presented as part of the PLASA Focus seminar programme. It will concentrate on the ABTT's Technical Access Passport Scheme (TAP) - launched at last year's ABTT Theatre Show - and the range of possible benefits this unifying card scheme offers t

Jim Marshall Remembered - Guitar amp innovator Jim Marshall, dubbed 'the Father of Loud' for creating kit used by some of rock's biggest names, has died aged 88 and the industry has been paying tribute. A statement posted on the company's website called him a "legendary man", adding, "In addition to the creation of the amps, chosen by countless guitar heroes and game changing bands, Jim was also an incredibly humble and generous man who, over the past several decades, has quietly donated many millions of pounds to worthy causes."

Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash tweeted, "The news of Jim Marshall passing is deeply saddening. R & R will never be the same w/out him. But, his amps will live on FOREVER!"

Motley Crue bass player Nikki Sixx also paid tribute on Twitter, saying Marshall was "responsible for some of the greatest audio moments in

Brazil - The beginning of February saw AP Security being asked to represent the UK on a trade mission to Rio de Janeiro, the host city of the 2016 Olympics. General manager, Andy Stevens, was lucky enough to be AP's representative and, whilst there, met with senior members of the Rio Organising Committee, as well as all three levels of Government.

"Rio will stage an incredible Games," says an impressed Stevens. "The country's passion for carnival and celebration will see to that and, with the iconic backdrop of Copacabana Beach, Sugarloaf Mountain and the legendary Maracana Stadium all supplemented by a brand new Olympic Park, it will certainly bring Rio to the world."

Referring to the 2012 Games, he added, "There is a huge amount to which Rio is firmly looking towards London to learn and understand. Rio's private security industry operates very differ

UK/USA - London-based theatre design consultancy Charcoalblue's work is making waves on both sides of the 'pond' as the multi-award winning transformation of the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres wins the prestigious USITT 2012 Architecture Honour Award.

In 2007 Charcoalblue saw two of its previous projects, London's Young Vic and The Unicorn Theatre, receive USITT Merit awards.

For the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST), Charcoalblue consultants worked in close collaboration with project architects Bennetts Associates and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) project team to transform the now critically acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. RSC artistic director, Michael Boyd has since described it as, "a miracle of a space that combines the epic and the intimate ... it's quite extraordinary."

Charcoalblue provided complete design and planning con

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributors of Neutrik for the past 20 years has been appointed as the distributor for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries which include the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

"Neutrik connectors are an essential part in any audio, video, lighting and communication system," commented Chicco Hiranandani, business development manager at NMK. "Their connectors can be found across the region in large infrastructure projects, mid-sized facilities to small venues. Ensuring availability, providing technical knowledge and keeping momentum is our focus as newly appointed regional distributors."

"Our first action as the new regional distributors is hosting a dedicated OpticalCon training event in May to educate the market about their fibreoptic solutions. We re

UK - Visitor registration for PLASA Focus: Leeds 2012 closes at 5pm today. Don't miss out, register for your free visitor badge today and experience the largest get-together of entertainment technology professionals in the North.

Registration is free, choose from 20 free seminars and meet 130 exhibitors across two sold-out halls. Plus, who says there's no such thing as a free lunch? Free lunch will be served from 1pm on both days of the event.

PLASA Focus: Leeds 2012 takes place at The Royal Armouries in Leeds on Tuesday 17 & Wednesday 18 April. Don't miss the essential industry event for the North of England. A full run down of the products, the seminars and the people can be found on the website, alongside visitor registration:

(Claire Beeson)

UK - inspHire will be demonstrating its award winning, easy to use, Hire Management Solutions, at Scotland's leading Construction and Plant exhibition, ScotPlant 2012, on 27-28 April.

inspHire's hire management software boasts a modern interface, full of easy to use features which has helped over 900 single and multi-depot companies worldwide grow and increase profitability. Dedicated to continual product development, inspHire will be demonstrating latest features including new user-friendly Hire Management Dashboards on stand D10 in the Pavilion.

inspHire Dashboards provide key, real time information in a simple, easy to read graphical format for all different areas of the business.

(Jim Evans)

USA - More than 60 Chauvet Professional fixtures make their big-screen debut in Tyler Perry's new romantic drama, Good Deeds.

Southeast Staging set up the runway and brought in lighting for the design team's 'Club Riot' scene. To light the scene, Bob Daniel, president and chief executive officer of Southeast Staging recommended COLORado Tour fixtures because of their on-camera capability as well as their efficiency, powerful output and precise colour temperature settings.

"We chose the COLORado Tour series because they are the brightest and most versatile lights in their class," Daniel said. "We dialled in the exact temperature needed for film and they performed flawlessly on camera. Each light did everything it said it would do."

To light the translucent 40ft runway, Daniel and his team placed 12 COLORado 1 Tour and 18 COLORado 1 VW Tour wash ligh

UK - James Harden is that latest addition to the ELP production staff. He joins ELP from Panalux where he was a project manager looking after broadcast and events clients.

"This is an excellent addition to our team" comments acting MD Dave Keighley. "James has over 30 years experience in the industry across all the various production sectors ELP work in including TV, music, corporate, sport and fashion shows. "

Harden grew up in South Africa and that's where he first worked in the entertainment industry. "I was a road manager for various bands, lighting designer for everything from Opera to Raves and everything in between. I was also a technical director for various shows including fashion shows, corporate launches and various tours," he says.

He came to the UK to expand his career and worked at Bandit Lites for eight years. He worked through th

USA - Audio-Technica is introducing its new System 8 VHF wireless systems. Featuring stackable, contemporary styling, Audio-Technica's System 8 Wireless Systems are designed for reliable performance, easy setup and clear, natural sound quality at affordable price points.

Available in handheld, headworn, guitar, lavalier and body-pack configurations, these single-channel, fixed-frequency systems are available in three travelling VHF frequencies (169.505, 170.245 and 171.905).

The System 8 units offer reliable performance and durable construction. Features include an advanced dipole antenna system for extended operating range; Power, RF and AF Peak indicators; Volume control, ¼" output jack and user-adjustable squelch; rugged unidirectional dynamic element on handheld microphone/transmitter; variable microphone trim control and multi-colour battery/power indicator (with AA

South Africa - Cape Town-based SMD Technical purchased Robe Robin 300s at the end of last year, which have gone out on almost every job since, including Johnny Clegg, Locnville and Radio Kalahari Orkes.

"I think that the regular lighting, staging and sound aspects of the Cape Town market is saturated with highly competitive businesses, and tend to operate with a more rock 'n roll approach, whilst the specially engineered/ bespoke side is unsaturated and far more complex in its requirements," said David Harris from SMD. "We find that our clients are leaning towards more design-orientated technical equipment, i.e. smaller, less visual, more powerful speakers, and more creative, intelligent and decadent decor lighting."

With this in mind, SMD purchased six Robin 300s at the end of last year. "We felt that the Robin 300s were better suited for our events d

UK - Entec's sound division again supplied a powerful d&b system to the 2012 Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) shows at London's Royal Albert Hall (RAH), taking the opportunity to use the new d&b V-Series speakers as part of the main system for the high profile event.

Entec has supplied audio to TCT at Albert Hall since it started 12 years ago, and for the last four years, the system has been designed and overseen by Liam Halpin for the west London based rental company. Entec has used d&b on TCT for all 12 years, ever since it became their first-choice rental brand.

The RAH event involves installing a high quality and very flexible audio system - to deal with a vast array of musical styles and genres - this year from Paul McCartney to Florence + The Machine, plus a raft of top comedians - into one of the most acoustically demanding spaces for amplified performance, to ensure that all

China - At close of day two of InfoComm China 2012, attendance at the show was 14,868, representing a 39% increase over its previous showing in 2011. Final attendance at close of the three-day exhibition is expected to breach 16,000, a record turnout in the history of the show.

The 30 sessions of the InfoComm China Summit education programme also attracted a record attendance of 1,550 delegates, more than double that of last year.

The organizers have already announced that the 2013 show will expand to Halls 5 and 6 next year to cater to the additional demand for space, not just from existing exhibitors but many others that have visited the show and indicated their intent to join next year's event.

(Jim Evans)

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has announced the appointment of four new members of staff, as well as a number of role changes within the company, in order to service the needs of its growing customer base.

These changes are part of the AC-ET's philosophy of continuing to reinvest in, and further develop its business, to ensure that customers and suppliers continue to receive the highest levels of service and support, says the company.

James Bawn has taken on the joint role of technical sales manager and Chroma-Q global brand manager.

Having served as AC-ET's Northern technical sales manager for the last five years, Bawn will now provide support for both the Leeds and High Wycombe offices. He will oversee the technical sales department.

As Chroma-Q global brand manager, he will oversee the introduction of new Chroma-Q product launches to the international mar

USA - PLASA Focus: Nashville 2012 is set to welcome a raft of new exhibitors as the two-day event continues to grow, with over 20 companies now committed to taking part and as many applications being processed. The event takes place 11-12 July, at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, TN, and is the first of its kind to be held in the region.

Confirmed exhibitors include: Barbizon, IATSE, Seachanger, Hive/Interspace, Show Sage, Ultratec, LynTec, Nicolaudie America Inc., Thern Stage Equipment, Coolux, Doug Fleenor Design, Chauvet, Robe, High End Systems, White Light, Creative Stage Lighting, Mainstage Theatrical Supply, Martin Professional and TMB.

PLASA Focus' much talked about 'new style' event brings new products out to regional areas, providing free networking and learning opportunities for regional entertainment-tech communities. Those involved will also have the unique oppo

UK - Wireless Solution Sweden AB is on the road again, this time heading for PLASA Focus: Leeds with new products and some innovative advancements to their W-DMX product range.

In addition to demonstrating their new product advancements, Wireless Solution will also be holding a seminar on Wednesday, 18 April from 1:00-1:45 in the Wellington Room covering Wireless Controls with RDM and Ethernet Advantages. The seminar will be hosted by Ben Darrington and is appropriate for lighting operators, lighting designers, installers, rental and stage managers.

The company has been working on a completely new software platform since October 2011 that is prepared for future hardware functions as well as many new features and updated functions. The W-DMX G4S software platform includes:

A much improved adaptive frequency hopping algorithm that improves the plug and play use in crowded radi

Sweden - The award-winning wysiwyg previsualization suite from CAST Software of Toronto, Canada played a key role in the recent Melodifestivalen 2012. This is the annual Swedish song contest that determines Sweden's song to be internationally represented in the Eurovision Song Contest. This year's Melodifestivalen began 4 February 4 and the Finals were held at the Globe Arena in Stockholm on 10 March.

Lighting designer Fredrik Jönsson used wysiwyg for the lighting of 32 songs from all over Sweden, with a total of six live broadcasts by SVT (Swedish Television) from Växjö, Gothenburg, Leksand, and Malmö, a second chance head-to-head in Nyköping and the final 10 duelling at the finals in Stockholm. Pre-programming was done in Jönsson's office, Eyebrow Designs AB, in Stockholm starting in December.

"I use wysiwyg to design the rig and simulate the camera shots so I can

Canada - Apex has appointed Gerr Audio as its distributor for Canada. Gerr Audio was established nearly 30 years ago in Brockville, Ontario.

"Apex is well-established as a manufacturer of the highest quality signal processors," says Gerr Audio president Bob Snelgrove.

"The Intelli-X2 processors set a new benchmark for quality in the live entertainment industry and now the new Intelli-Z2 series is bringing that quality to the installed audio market. We are very pleased that we can now supply Apex's level of quality to the Canadian market."

(Jim Evans)

Russia - Green Hippo are making a substantial push into the Russian market with their recent sale of ten Hippotizer HD media servers to Big Screen Service in Russia.

Head of sales, Samantha Bailey, comments, "Big Screen Service are an important contact for us in Russia. They are involved in some major projects and we are very excited to have them on board as professional Hippotizer users in this area."

Based in Moscow, Big Screen Service was formed in 2001 and is a leading rental supplier of video display systems. The company deals with LED products, video projection and media servers and works with a range of TV channels, concert halls and venues as well as production companies to provide rental solutions in Russia.

Evgeny Marinichev of Big Screen Service explains, "Green Hippo's media servers fit perfectly into our current product range. The main advantage o

UK - To support the logistics for an expected 1,000km of cable, distributed across 39 venues in seven different locations, generator rental operator Aggreko has selected Le Mark's custom printed heat shrink cable labels.

The heat shrink labels will be custom printed with Aggreko's unique code system, allowing them to instantly scan the label to see cable details including size, length and stock quantity, hugely increasing the accuracy in distribution at one of the UK's most challenging events.

Le Mark's Leanne Baker says, "It's a huge achievement to be part of the 2012 Olympics. We've worked with Aggreko on a number of occasions with other printed products but this is by far the most exciting. We're really looking forward to seeing everything up and running at the opening ceremony."

(Jim Evans)

USA - This year marks a milestone for High End Systems. As of February 2012, High End Systems has been selling digital lighting products for 10 years.

The industry's largest portfolio of digital lighting currently includes the DL.3, DL.3F, DML-1200 w/Axon, Axon Media Server, Arena View System and the all new DLV. In celebration of the decade, High End Systems is offering special promotions on all digital lighting products.

High End Systems continues to grow as a leader in the digital lighting market with the release of the DLV Digital Light in early 2012. This new, small unit retains most of thec apabilities of the full sized DL.3, yet at a smaller size and reduced cost.

"As an innovative company, we are pleased to be the leader in digital lighting," said Richard Belliveau, High End Systems CTO. "The ability to manipulate light without mechanical devices is ve

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