Europe - GearSource Europe has spent months duplicating their listing process from a desktop based application to a Mobile App for iOS and Android based devices. At the same time, the company has simplified the overall listing process and made it easier for both their first time sellers and power-users alike to list products quickly and without the wires.

This isn't another shopping app - this is a fast and easy tool that allows GearSource Europe users to better manage their gear inventories on the web site, says the company.

Clients no longer have to wait until they get back to the office to list their gear. Now they can list right on location as soon as a show or event is finished. In fact, the GearSource Europe Listing App doesn't even require a WiFi connection in order to create listings. Added listings will be retained in the device cache and will automatically sync to Ge

UK - Independent Studio Services will be exhibiting for the third year running at ABTT where it will be showcasing its range of services and products (Stand 108 Orange Hall).

Specialising in the design, supply and installation of stage engineering systems and offering inspection and preventative maintenance services, the Independent Studio Services' team will be on hand to discuss customers' upcoming projects and how they can be best serviced - be it an install or inspection, or a full design and implementation package.

As exclusive distributors for Tüchler, Independent Studio Services will be exhibiting the Tüchler Stage Platform Zoom 1200.

Milos Structural Systems representatives will also be present to speak with clients about their truss requirements for theatre, studio, exhibition or retail, all of which are also stocked by Independent Studio Services in the UK.

Ind

UK - Leading polymer specialist, igus UK, will be exhibiting its new e-spool energy-chain for the theatre industry for the first time at the ABTT Show in London. Visitors to igus' stand (139) will also see live demonstrations of its high performance energy chains and cable management solutions and meet industry experts.

e-spool is a next generation compact cable management system that has been designed in response to customer demand for a solution that is more flexible than traditional cable drums. It enables users to guide many different cable and hose types, for example power, BUS, data and even fibre optics, in one single compact system.

The innovative e-spool is easy to install and robust, providing cables reliably in any direction for travels of up to 14m. Users can now benefit from a system that provides reliable operation for a wide range of lifting and moving applicati

UK - When photographer John Aldred needed a reflective floor that could withstand wear and tear from the animals he was photographing, he discovered that Harlequin Hi-Shine vinyl display floor let his subjects shine.

Aldred spent weeks testing samples from various manufacturers to find a solution that was portable and sufficiently robust without compromising on shine - Harlequin Hi-Shine met all his needs from the very start.

"The more I work with it the more it impresses me. It's had no problems with big dogs jumping around on it, nor 5ft long, 40lb lizards with razor sharp claws, and is extremely easy to keep clean. If a more durable, more cost effective, effortless to maintain, glossier and portable surface exists, I've certainly never heard of it."

As the striking vinyl display flooring choice for television sets, high-profile entertainment, fashion shows, conc

France - Manchester- based lighting, visual and rigging specialists dbn Lighting delivered the lighting design and equipment for clients Medex-Media at EuroPCR, a medical exhibition and symposium held at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.

An inventive approach was needed due to the overall height restrictions imposed on exhibitors and the limited rigging permissible (5Kg per point!) for lighting and other flown elements. This was provided by dbn's unflappable Nigel Walker.

An environment was created offering two seminar rooms to accommodate up to 20 delegates and three meeting rooms for groups of up to six people. These spaces radiated off a central 'social' area where delegates could mingle and enjoy refreshments in a calm, chilled atmosphere.

Walker used 25mm conduit as the hung lighting bars, and specified Chroma-Q ColorForce 12s LED units fitted with Lee 216 diffusion as

UK - West London-based rental company Entec Sound & Light supplied lighting, rigging and crew for Paloma Faith's recent high profile one-off show at London's O2 Arena, preceded by warm ups at Liverpool Empire and Bournemouth BIC, once again working with lighting designer Tony Austin and the production team led by tour manager Neil Brighouse.

Entec's Noreen O'Riordan and Adam Stevenson project managed the massive one-off, which followed Faith's spring 2013 theatre tour, this time with an enlarged stage set and a more substantial lighting rig.

The O2 show required a completely new lighting design with versatility and flexibility at the core of the concept. The warm up shows utilised a smaller lighting rig, so only at the O2 did Austin have his full rig for the first time, adding extra pressures to the day.

An expanded version of Josh Grace's striking mirrored and gold palm lea

UK - Doughty Engineering unveiled the latest addition to its catalogue of products - a motorised lectern -at this year's ABTT show, as well as its new and stronger range of truss adaptors.

The motorised lectern is fully DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) compliant, leading many visitors to the stand to try it out 'for size'! Designed and manufactured in the UK, the black powder coated steel lectern is supplied with a reading light and fitted with anti-vibration/noise dampening microphone mounts to ensure a clear, concise sound from the user.

Mark Chorley, design engineer at Doughty Engineering said, "The motorised height adjustment makes this lectern suitable for universal use, whether it's young children in a school setting, wheelchair users or adults of different heights - not forgetting the problems faced by very tall people too. Changing height from its lowest settin

UK - Continuing a long-standing relationship with the Rod Stewart team, that spans nearly three decades, Tait was eager to produce customised staging elements for the artist's widely- anticipated Live the Life tour. Working alongside set designer Paul Staples, production manager Lars Brogaard and lighting designer Mark Payne, the team integrated Tait's fully-optimised stock assets into the set design.

Tait supplied six custom Periaktos, which are positioned on the mainstage and manually rotated throughout the performance. Each of the three-sided Periaktos contained a multi-faceted mirror face, a 12mm CT Flyer video screen and a grill-plated surface backlit with LED PAR fixtures.

Tait's automated helical trussing provides one of the main, artistic focal points of the set design. Powered by Tait's Nav Hoist system and hung from 10 half-ton chain hoists, the elements featu

UK / Germany - Due to the challenge of exhibiting at two trade shows within just a few days of other Maltbury had to put ABTT on hold for the first time in order to exhibit at ShowTech in Berlin next week.

"It was a difficult decision, we love exhibiting at ABTT" explains Philip Sparkes, MD of Maltbury Staging Ltd, "However after a successful year with our work for LOCOG and the development of our new seating and staging systems, we were enticed to ShowTech for the European launch of our new range to the international market."

ShowTech is taking place at the Messe Berlin in Germany on 18-20 June 2013.

In 2012 Maltbury worked on half of the Olympic sports with standard and bespoke products, most notably the weightlifting stage and unique weightlifting back wall. Maltbury has also worked on bespoke products for Tilted Productions (an internationally touring

UK - Harlequin Floors have released a new guide to architects highlighting the best practice for dance floor selection. The guide aims to help architects ask the right questions to ensure the needs, safety and health of dancers are considered when choosing flooring.

With a growing interest in the provision of spaces suitable for dance - for professional performance and rehearsal, private dance schools and throughout the education sector - there is increasing focus towards specifying dance floors that meet both performance aspirations as well as conforming to health and safety requirements. As world leaders in advanced technology flooring for dance and the performing arts, the release of the Specifying dance floors, a guide for architects by Harlequin Floors aims to aid architects in selecting floors that meet both of these criteria.

As no standards currently exist which

UK - Championship water skier Jeremy (Jez) Harford commissioned 5 Star cases to design and build a custom lightweight flightcase for his slalom skis, to ensure that they can safely be transported overseas for training and competitions - without costing a small fortune in excess baggage!

Packing the skis for travel has always been a challenge explains Jez, and it was time to move permanently on from bubble-wrap, soft bags and keeping fingers crossed that they arrived in one piece ... to something more serious!

Water skis are constructed from hollow fiberglass resin materials which are brittle on the outside and a fall onto concrete, even from a short distance, can damage a ski beyond repair, so protection during transport is imperative.

UK based Jeremy was recommended to 5 Star, where he met Keith Sykes and the design team, who listened to his requirements and set to work to

UK - Unusual Rigging has forged a working relationship with Dutch company DTS2 (Dutch Theatre Systems) to introduce a new line of automation systems to the UK market.

DTS2 manufactures and installs a complete range of winch, hoist and control technology. In an announcement made at this year's ABTT show in London, the two companies have joined forces to provide permanent installations in new build and refurbished theatrical, event and exhibition venues.

Speaking about the collaboration at the show Mark Priestley, capital projects manager for Unusual, said, "This development is an extremely exciting step for Unusual, as it allows us to broaden our range of services in the installation and capital projects sector to enhance our stage engineering offer. None of our installations are off-the-shelf: rather, using DTS2's outstanding control technology, we will add the Unusual 'm

UK - Independent Studio Services reports that the company enjoyed a 'fantastic, busy, vibrant' ABTT 2013.

"The visitor reaction to the products on our stand was fantastic," says CEO Simon Caldwell. "The Zoom Stage 200 went down very well, powered only by a standard power drill. The diea was acknowledged to be brilliant and highly practical."

ABTT put Independent Studio Serrvics on the map as UK distributors for Milos and Tuchler.

"The truss systems and staging from Milos and Tuchler are being requested more and more in the UK and we are happy that this trend was reinforced by the obvious interest they generated on the stand," says Caldwell.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Le Maitre effects were on full view this past weekend at major festivals around the UK.

The Killers were the headline act at the Isle of Wight Festival where Le Maitre effects included 25' Silver Mines; Mortar Hits; 30' Silver Comets with tail; Flash Reports;1x25' Silver Gerbs; 30x20' Silver Cascades; 30' Red Comets'; 25' Red & Purple Mines; Blue & Purple 30' Comets with tail; 25' Gold Glitter Mines; and 30 Air Canons.

In addition, Mines, Gerbs, Mortar Hits, Flash Reports, Flame Projectors were also going off at the Download Festival for Iron Maiden and Airbourne.

Le Maitre were working in collaboration with Pyrotek Special Effects Inc.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Pro Audio Stash's range of European manufactured tour grade Comus musical instrument cables is now available through the US office in Austin, Texas.

The cable is engineered to suit all high-end touring applications and is suitable for those working in the professional live entertainment industry as well as for AV and custom installations of all types.

The US branch will be stocking cables from the Comus' ranges for speakers, instruments and microphones.

Comus features include flexible and durable jacket compounds which remain supple even in sub-zero temperatures! The whole cable construction is designed so that the cables are resistant to kinks and twisting, making them ultimately easy and adaptable to work with.

The jackets are tough, but easy to strip for quick, easy and painless installation.

The cables also feature low capacitance and low dielectric insulation,

UK - Harlequin Reversible has brought long-lasting quality to the dance floor for Colne Bank School of Dancing. Despite being used for tap dancing, the style of dance that usually causes the most damage to flooring, Jenny Overton who runs the school is delighted to see that the vinyl flooring has not been damaged in the slightest.

Back in 1996, when Jenny Overton purchased Harlequin Reversible, she did not expect to enjoy such longevity. To make matters all the more impressive, Colne Bank School of Dancing only uses one side of the two-sided dance floor and it is still as functional and attractive as the day they took it home.

"We have a school of approximately 250 students doing ballet, modern theatre, tap and jazz from three years up to and including advanced. The 3m x 15m rolls have been rolled out, swept, stuck down, used and rolled away again, 5 days a week for the l

UK / Czech Republic - Last year the Milos Group became the world's largest manufacturer of modular aluminium truss and staging systems with the simultaneous acquisitions of TomCat in the USA and Litec in Italy.

The company now announces another recent addition to the Group - with the purchase of UK lighting / speaker stand and truss lift manufacturer Mobil Tech International.

For many years Mobil Tech has worked in close partnership with Milos in the distribution of OEM products within the entertainment industry, including the popular PAD, PAX & PAZ trussing ranges and accessories.

At present, Milos is in the process of transferring operations from Letchworth, Hertfordshire to be fully integrated within Milos UK's Design & Distribution Centre in Cambridgeshire.

The Mobil Tech range will be supplied as part of Milos's extensive portfolio, and it is planned that design and p

UK - The concert production industry has lost one of its most influential figures this week, with the death of the legendary concert stage designer, Mark Fisher.

Having been responsible for the design of most of the landmark touring stadium shows of the past three decades, Fisher occupied a unique position in the industry. He trained as an architect at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, graduating in 1971, and later, having already made his name in the world of concert design with his work on Pink Floyd's The Wall (1980), he teamed up with Jonathan Park to create the Fisher Park Partnership in 1984. The Mark Fisher Studio, Stufish, was founded in 1994.

Fisher's designs throughout this period encompass many of the largest, most innovative, most complex and most memorable touring concert productions of recent times. In addition to Pink Floyd,

UK - Backstage Academy has employed a new student ambassador to educate students across the UK and Europe about the career opportunities in live events production.

Dan Kelly is a former student from Backstage Academy's first Foundation Degree in Live Events Production. He joined the industry training company, based in Wakefield, at the end of the course and has been touring schools and colleges to provide students with an insight into working backstage.

Said Kelly: "Working with schools and colleges is very important for the sustainability of the UK's live events industry. Most students I speak to are unaware of the career opportunities available to them and even less aware of how they can get into the industry and progress once they are in it.

"Through my experience of the Foundation Degree, being tutored by industry professionals, and working both in the LS-Live

UK - Harting's new Han-Fast Lock PCB termination system provides simple solder-free push-fit single-wire connection to printed-circuit boards, greatly enhancing the ease and flexibility of power distribution for entertainment equipment such as lighting dimmers, power supplies and winch/hoist motor controllers.

User benefits include the fact that power-line terminations can be taken from any point on the printed-circuit board without the need for tracks to be extended to one specific connection area. As a result, costs are reduced because of the simplified design and savings in real estate. This approach also eliminates the possibility of concentrated "hot spots" and therefore allows higher currents to be handled.

The easy "push/click" Han-Fast Lock PCB termination fits securely in the standard plated-through hole with pad and can handle up to 60 A for discr

UK - The new Amanda Restell Academy of Dance Harlequin Activity sprung dance floor has helped to transform an antique shop in Leigh-on Sea, Essex, into cutting edge dance studios as part of the relocation of the Amanda Restell Academy of Dance - one of Essex's premier dancing schools.

Founded in 1994 with just two classes and six pupils, the Amanda Restell Academy of Dance has grown over the last 20 years and now schools more than 600 children from the age of two. As part of its expansion and to accommodate the growing student numbers, Amanda moved the academy to the former antiques shop at the 100 year old Elmworks Studios building.

During a complete renovation and modernisation programme to bring the new studios up to 21st century standards for safety and comfort, Amanda turned to Harlequin Floors for their expert advice.

Harlequin supplied over 150m2 of Harlequin Activity

UK - The BroadWeigh load monitoring system provides essential measurements of force to help operatives avoid overload of design parameters.

UK technology company Mantracourt Electronics has launched a new range of load monitoring equipment that targets the requirements of the entertainment industry.

Mantracourt's BroadWeigh system provides accurate, wireless, real-time load monitoring of stage equipment and has been designed to assist rigging professionals within the entertainment sector.

Central to the design of the system is a wireless shackle equipped with a high accuracy load pin that is able to report data wirelessly to a computer or a handheld display. The system is able to monitor multiple loads and trigger an alarm should a load exceed a preset parameter.

"BroadWeigh has been especially developed for riggers to provide simple, effective, accurate and easy to u

UK - Stage Technologies has provided an automation system for The Backstage Centre, which opened in Purfleet's High House Production Park in the spring of 2013. The Backstage Centre is to be used not only for rock and roll tour rehearsals, TV and film productions, and other professional projects, but it will also provide high calibre training for students working towards a career in technical theatre and the live music sector.

Stage Technologies has installed a fully integrated powered flying system including four flybar winches, a two line performer flying winch and four moveable point hoists with re-configurable rigging hardware for setting up complex 3D flying applications. Equipment is controlled using the latest Au:Tour equipment as well as an array of desks running eChameleon software.

Nikki Scott, managing director of Stage Technologies commented,"We are delighted

UK - LS-Live and Backstage Academy have joined the community benefit co-operative set up to restore the Grade II listed Unity Hall in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

The venue, which was a much used event space following its establishment as the Wakefield Co-operative headquarters in 1867, has been closed for the last decade.

Unity House Wakefield Limited formed in 2011 with the intention of raising funds to restore the building and turn it into a major music venue, conference centre and location for creative businesses.

The development team, led by director Chris Hill, raised £4m of funding to restore the structural elements of the venue, but its bid to the Arts Council for £300,000 to finish the interior of the building was declined.

Stage, set and studio company LS-Live, and its affiliated industry training centre Backstage Academy in South Kirkby, Wakefield, hav

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