UK - Damon Crisp's DAC Pro-Media Ltd has proved that even in recessionary times expansion is possible when the portfolio of products - and the markets they are aimed at - are carefully considered.

Following a period of sustained growth in the Audio Visual, Installation, Education and Commercial sectors - as well as his traditional heartland of MI/DJ - Crisp has announced a relocation of his operation to a new 3600 sq. ft warehouse in Surrey, the recruitment of a further sales rep and addition of a key brand to his burgeoning portfolio.

Explaining the underlying reasons, he states, &

Japan - Turbosound has selected Sound House to handle distribution, customer support and service for its loudspeaker systems in Japan. The two companies already have a well-established relationship, with Sound House serving as a major distributor of parent Music Group's Behringer-branded MI products.

Sound House sales manager Kotaro Suzuki commented, "We are proud to become an official distributor for Turbosound in Japan. We will put all our effort into making Turbosound a well known name in music circles throughout Japan."

"We are delighted to be working with Japan's

On The Fringe - The largest arts festival in the world, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe has got underway.The 2013 Fringe programme features 45,464 performances of 2,871 shows in a total of 273 venues across the city.

Family Affair - A Merseyside festival organiser has said he is "over the moon about getting not one but three" of reggae legend Bob Marley's sons to play. Liverpool International Music Festival's Yaw Owusu said it was a "real coup" to have Damien, Stephen and Julian Marley at the event. The brothers will appear at the Sefton Park event as p

UK - Azule Finance, a leading expert in finance, leasing and solutions for the lighting and audio markets, will be exhibiting at PLASA for the first time this year. Azule has seen unprecedented demand in the lighting and sound industry in the past 12 months, having financed over £1 million of kit in 2013 for the festival circuit alone, and PLASA 2013 gives the company the opportunity to showcase the financing solutions it has to offer.

Gavin Scott, sales director at Azule commented on the significance of Azule's inaugural presence at the show: "Having become a member of PLA

UK - PLASA London 2013 has confirmed that Robe Lighting, Martin Professional Lighting, Clay Paky and Roland will sponsor this year's show. Over 12,000 people have already registered to attend PLASA London 2013, which takes place at the ExCeL Centre, London from 6-9 October 2013.

For the second year, the Platinum Sponsor is Robe Lighting, the Czech manufacturer of innovative, high quality moving lights and digital lighting products for the professional entertainment & leisure, architectural and themed environment industries. Josef Valchar, general manager, Robe Lighting said, "Our

UK - Adding to the growing list of new exhibitors at PLASA this year is uTRAC, an online scheduler and workforce management software aimed at providers of short term labour onto projects in live events, security, hospitality and catering.

Born out of the event sector and launched to the market in January 2013, uTRAC is currently working with companies Aikens Promotions and Knight Rigging Services. The software has become integral to ensuring events runs smoothly, allowing clients to stay on top of the essential back office administration involved with assigning staff to jobs, greatly

Sony Withdraws - Sony has dropped its sponsorship of the annual Radio Academy awards after 32 years. The ceremony, seen as the radio equivalent of the Baftas, has presented awards to the likes of Chris Evans, Sir Terry Wogan and Christian O'Connell. This year John Humphrys took home the journalism award for his grilling of former BBC boss George Entwistle over the Jimmy Savile scandal. Sony said it was time to "move on" but gave no other reason for its decision.

The organisers of the event said it would be renamed The Radio Academy Awards and that a new sponsor will be annou

UK - The Beacon Arts Centre, opened in January 2013, is one of the finest new arts venues in the UK. It replaces the Greenock Arts Guild Theatre, which served the area well for more than 65 years.

The Beacon is situated at Customhouse Quay in Greenock, overlooking the River Clyde estuary, with stunning views towards the hills of Argyll and Dunbartonshire. The infrastructure of the new Centre has been carefully designed to accommodate the widest possible variety of uses, comprising as it does, a 500 seat theatre, a black box studio space, three large rehearsal rooms, as well as a bistr

UK - LSi Online has learned the sad news of the death of Derrick Saunders, for many years one of the best-known figures in the UK's professional lighting industry. Derrick passed away on Friday 16 August after a long illness. As sales and marketing director of Pulsar Light of Cambridge, Derrick was a familiar figure from 1970 through until his retirement from the company in 2000. Even in retirement, he remained actively involved with family business Adda Super Cases, alongside his wife Monica.

Derrick's funeral will be on 30 August at St. Andrews Church, Oakington, Cambridgeshire, CB2

In The Open - A new performing arts consortium formed from six outer-London venues has been launched to tour large-scale outdoor productions within the venues' resident boroughs. The Albany theatre in Deptford, Artsdepot in Barnet and Millfield Arts Centre in Enfield have joined forces with Watermans in Hounslow, Harrow Arts Centre and Tara Arts in Wandsworth to create Circulate, the new consortium. Arts Council England has provided the group with a three-year grant of around £500,000 from its strategic touring programme, which aims to bring more shows to areas in the UK with limi

UK - Entertainment industry training centre Backstage Academy will be launching a new one-year Top Up Degree in Live Events Production at its Wakefield facility in late September (subject to validation).

The Top Up year is focused on management and will provide insight into the key issues involved in the strategic management of large events, festivals and venues.

The course will provide a progression route for students who have successfully completed the Academy's Foundation Degree in Live Events Production, or other related level 5 qualifications.

It will also be suitable for peo

UK - PLASA Events has announced the launch of the 2013 PLASA Awards for Innovation, which will be presented in the new AudioLab Arena during PLASA London at ExCeL on Monday 7 October at 6.00pm.

The PLASA Show is regarded as a major international launch-pad for new products. During its history, it has seen hundreds of product innovations introduced to the market - a trend which we expect to see continued at the 2013 event. The PLASA Awards for Innovation aim to emphasise this focus on true innovation. The procedure for entry ensures that all nominated products are vetted to show that t

Fringe Figures - Ticket sales at this year's Edinburgh Fringe are up by an estimated 5%, according to its organisers. The Fringe Society said more than 1,943,000 tickets were issued, with some shows still to have their final performance. It follows a slight drop in ticket sales last year caused by a clash with the Olympics being held in London. Many individual venues are reporting even higher increases, with established venues up between 20% and 30%.

The 2013 programme for the Fringe, the biggest arts festival in the world, featured 45,464 performances of 2,871 shows at a total of 273

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

The shortlist of nominees is generated from invited suggestions from a panel consisting of PLASA team members, PLASA Regional Board & Governing Body members, regular contributors to LSi and LSA magazines, and past winners o

USA - Following the introduction of their successful HOG4 range of lighting consoles at LDI 2012, High End Systems has chosen the PLASA Focus trade show, held in Austin Texas, to debut Version 2.0 of the Hog software. Along with the new software, High End will also be showing the Solawash 19 and Solawash 37 products representing the newest automated fixture offering.

Version 2.0 software represents a major leap forward in the Hog 4 line of products with a whole host of new features such as media integration with CITP, fixture gobo and colour thumbnails, DMX test, ArtNet merge, and FX

UK - Students at Wakefield's Backstage Academy have gained hands-on experience with a variety of today's lighting technology thanks to the growing support from lighting professionals, manufacturers and rental companies.

There are 52 students currently studying the training academy's16-month Foundation Degree in Live Events Production, which was independently written in collaboration with industry practitioners, (validated by The University of Bolton) and places emphasis on practical experience.

The month-long Lighting Module teaches students about the theory and art of lighting, bas

Thanks to its flexibility, Focusrite's RedNet technology is being implemented in an amazingly diverse range of applications. From single-unit laptop recording setups to multi-room studio environments, RedNet is a great-sounding, hassle-free and incredibly versatile audio interface system. One of the most innovative RedNet applications is as part of the digital audio systems that run most front-of-house (FOH) PA systems on large tours the world over. One such implementation is in the FOH rig of The Killers' world tour, where a RedNet 1 eight-channel A-D/D-A and RedNet 4 eight-channel mic preamp

Elton Honoured - Sir Elton John has won the first ever Brits Icon award, in a gala concert which marked his stage return after surgery for appendicitis. The musician was presented with the prize by Rod Stewart, who described him as "the second-best rock singer ever". Sir Elton said he was "flattered" by the award, given to artists who have had a "lasting impact" on UK culture.

Speaking to Dermot O'Leary on stage during Monday's show at the Palladium, he added: "It's been a hell of a summer. I'm glad to be rid of the appendix - it was a pesky little b

UK - PLASA London 2013, which takes place at ExCeL London from 6-9 October 2013, is proud to reveal the first audio sessions in its hotly anticipated Professional Development Programme. The packed programme offers four days of free sessions that give visitors a glimpse of the technology behind the world's most spectacular live shows and most talked about events and venues.

All sessions in the audio streams are presented by leading experts in audio technology, with separate programmes on Live Sound and Installed Sound in the new AudioLab Theatre, and a pro audio laboratory - AudioLab I

UK - The organisers of PLASA London 2013, which takes place at ExCeL London from 6-9 October 2013, have revealed the first entertainment lighting and stage technology sessions in its hotly anticipated Professional Development Programme. The packed programme offers four days of free sessions that give visitors a glimpse of the technology behind the world's most spectacular live shows, and most talked about events and venues.

All sessions in these streams are presented by leading experts in entertainment technology, with two new theatres dealing exclusively in entertainment lighting and

USA - With less than a week until the doors open at PLASA Focus: Austin, taking place at the Palmer Events Center, on 10-11 September, 2013, exhibitors have been busy releasing details about the products they will have on display at their booths.

Martin Professional will have two new products on their booth; the MAC Viper Quadray and the Jem Ready 365 Hazer. The MAC Viper Quadray, the latest addition to the award-winning MAC Viper family of moving heads, allows for the projection of one, two, three or four individually-controllable rays of light. The Jem Ready 365 Hazer uses advanced

USA - PLASA has announced eight finalists in the sixth annual Rock Our World Awards, to be presented at the PLASA Cocktail & Awards Reception at LDI 2013. The Rock Our World Awards were created to honour ground-breaking achievement by PLASA members and to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of the technology and the designer or integrator who applies it in a real world environment.

The finalists for the sixth annual Rock Our World Awards are:

GBLOCK - Gallagher Staging and Productions, Inc.

GCT (Guy Cable Tensioner) - Tomcat USA.

Mbox Extreme Media Server as

Gabe Kubanda thinks big. A singer-songwriter by trade, he is constantly working to expand his exposure through creative ideas. In 2011, he was cast in the "Rock N' Roll Fantasy Camp" reality show on VH1 Classics. This year, he co-founded the Epic Proportions Tour, a new concept in promotion. Kubanda and two other unsigned artists, Lost In Atlantis and School Boy Humor, played 15 dates at military bases, high schools and colleges throughout the summer. When planning the tour, the new Line 6® StageSource™ L3t loudspeakers played a key role.

"Epic Proportions is a new a

Latest Issue. . .