UK - The BBC has contracted Toby Alington and his team at Richmond Studios Productions to mix and record the live-to-air music performances from the Give It Up for Comic Relief show at Wembley Arena in London.

"We are delighted to be working on another big project with the BBC, and are proud to be involved with Comic Relief," says Alington.

Once again, the team will be working with this year's double BRIT Award winner, Emeli Sandé, along with other leading artists Kasabian, Noel Gallagher, Paloma Faith, Jessie J, Jake Bugg, Nicole Scherzinger, and Rizzle Kick

Hard Rock - Bruce Springsteen has agreed to return as a headline act at London's Hard Rock Calling festival despite organisers pulling the plug on his show last year after it over-ran. He will play again with The E Street Band at the event's new location at the Olympic Park this summer. Kasabian will also headline, playing their only UK festival. Other performers over the final weekend in June include Paul Weller, The Black Crowes and Klaxons.

Late Show - Teen pop idol Justin Bieber angered parents by emerging onstage for a concert at London's O2 Arena almost two hours late. Wh

USA - Denver Performing Arts Complex's Boettcher Concert Hall, home to the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, was built in 1978 as the first US symphony hall in the round. While the 2,634-seat performance space's unique layout continues to remain enduringly contemporary, the venue's previous PA system has not fared quite so well, recently prompting a full audio system retrofit that included an L-Acoustics amplifier and loudspeaker package.

The City of Denver hired South Norwalk, CT-based acoustician/consultant Akustiks to specify the new system, which features an exploded cluster design usi

Germany - Pro audio company Rain Age has added a further 10 Lab.gruppen PLM Series amplifiers to their extensive inventory, reaffirming the company's faith in the technology available from Lab.gruppen and Lake.

The company - based in Landsberg, Germany - has built up a well-respected reputation over the past 15 years, providing full service production capability to a large number and variety of events, from club concerts to large scale arena shows.

The new purchase of PLM Series amplifiers - which come integrated with Lake Processing - complements the company's existing stock of Lab

UK - Loughborough-based conference and event production company Event Engineering has recently upgraded its audio inventory to ensure that it continues to deliver the excellence that its high profile corporate clients demand. This new equipment has included a Yamaha CL series digital console.

Supplied by SSE Audio Group, Event Engineering invested in a CL3 console and Rio3224-D i/o unit after the company's operations manager, Jim Brown, attended a demonstration day at SSE's Redditch headquarters.

"We are convinced that the CL series will become the standard conference desk, due

Germany - With the launch of the new d:facto II Vocal Microphone, which will be on show for the first time in Europe at Prolight + Sound 2013 (Booth 8.B60), DPA Microphones has now broadened its range of products for the live stage.

In addition to use with the new wired DPA handle, the d:facto II provides singers and engineers with the added benefit of a state-of-the-art adapter system that allows for seamless integration with many professional wireless systems, says the company.

"The launch of the d:facto II Vocal Microphone is a major step for DPA as it means that we now have

South Africa - Stage Audio Works has opened a new regional operations office in Cape Town, in order to better handle clients located in both the Western and Eastern Cape regions. The new base will offer these clients a more direct link to Stage Audio Works' comprehensive turnkey product portfolio, the company says.

Stage Audio Works' territory manager, Jerome Gideon, said the company is "now well positioned to support [their] Western and Eastern Cape partners and customers and the new office is an exciting milestone for growth showing our investment and confidence in the future o

China - JoeCo has announced the appointment of Advanced Communication Equipment International Co. Ltd (ACE) as the new distributor for the BlackBox Recorder and Player in China, Hong Kong and Macau. Headquartered in Hong Kong, with regional offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, ACE has over 30 years of experience in distribution, consultancy and system integration. The company adds JoeCo's BlackBox family of multi-channel live audio recorders and players to an extensive portfolio of pro audio, AV and lighting products.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome ACE to our distrib

India - Turbosound's active/passive two-way TCS-122/64 speakers and TXD-218 dual 18" subwoofers have been installed in one of India's most prestigious private schools.

Three pairs of 60°h x 40°v dispersion TCS-122/64 are on FOH duties in St Helena's Girls School in Pune - dubbed 'the Oxford of the East' - and the second largest city in the Indian state of Maharashtra after Mumbai. Two pairs are affixed to each side of the stage in the school's impressive new auditorium, with a further pair centre stage to cater to the front rows.

In addition, two Turbosound TXD-218 dual

UK - Glastonbury Festival impresario Michael Eavis will be helping UK trade distributor Batmink Ltd celebrate its 30th Anniversary by holding an open forum Q & A session during Batmink's forthcoming week of free professional workshops and training (18-23 March)

These workshops are designed to provide useful 'hands on' experience and core skills and will be presented by some of the industry's foremost companies, says Batmink.

During the week, representatives from manufacturers such as Pioneer, Martin Audio, Cloud, Le Maitre, Shure, Audio Technica and Sennheiser will be conducting pre

Denmark - Following the completion last week of its acquisition of Martin Professional and the foundation of a lighting business unit within Harman Professional, Harman has announced two key promotions at the company which, says Harman president Blake Augsburger, will position the business unit for optimal development while capitalising on selective shared resources and relationships with Harman Professional.

With immediate effect, Lars Dige Knudsen is promoted to vice-president, general manager, Lighting Strategic Business Unit, "taking over from Martin's previous CEO, Christian

Germany - d3 Technologies will introduce their new d3 Release 11 software during Prolight + Sound 2013. Packed with new features specifically designed for complex multi-projector shows, d3 R11 will help you dramatically reduce on-site set-up times, and deliver a faster, smoother workflow from start to finish to give you confidence in the face of tight deadlines, says the company.

d3 R11 features QuickCal, a revolutionary new way to get your projectors lined up on site. Place virtual projectors in the stage simulator, drop reference points onto the 3d model of the projection surface, a

UK - More than 20 years after the late Whitney Houston was immortalized on the big screen with The Bodyguard, London's Adelphi Theatre is staging a musical production of the story, featuring a 151-cabinet Meyer Sound system based on the M'elodie and MINA line array loudspeakers.

The Bodyguard musical has abundant dynamic contrasts. They range from moments of hushed intimacy between the two lead characters to the goosebump-inducing show-stopping hits like I'm Your Baby Tonight and I Will Always Love You.

"The brief was to bring a filmic quality to the

UK - Renowned techno DJ and producer, Gayle San, has adopted the Xone:DB4 as her mixer of choice for touring and production work.

Gayle San started DJing 18 years ago with vinyl, then progressed to CDs, and most recently her set up is digital, originally based around the Xone: 4D and now the new Xone:DB4 mixer and Xone:K2 controller.

"I always choose A&H because every time I play on a Xone mixer at a club or a festival it never fails me. The sound is massive, open, and crystal - it's amazing!" explains San. "Not only can I travel lighter with my new set up but there a

Hong Kong - The Chinese New Year race meeting at the Hong Kong Jockey Club's Shatin racecourse is a key fixture in both the sporting and social calendar of China's special administrative region. The 2013 meeting saw Coda Audio's Airline LA8 system given a high profile, head-to-head trial against another system, with Coda emerging as the clear winner.

As well as the racing, the event featured a lavish opening ceremony at the racecourse's parade ring, featuring entertainment including performances by African and Chinese drummers, vocalists and the famous Chinese Lion dance. Wright Click

Japan - High End Systems' new flagship Hog 4 console made its debut in Japan when Kome Kome Club's Super Natural Carnival arena concert tour kicked off in early February. Formed in 1982, Kome Kome Club is widely recognized and revered as the only Japanese pop musical group to achieve commercial success by blending soul and funk musical styles.

Makoto Shimizu from Lighting Big1 is the tour's lighting designer. Shimizu witnessed the unveiling of the Hog 4 at the LDI 2012 exhibition, and was eager to specify the console for the Kome Kome Club tour. He comments, "I'd been eage

Germany - MC2 Audio will be attending ProLight + Sound 2013 with Atlantic Audio in Hall 8.0, Stand F60, majoring on installation amplification, with live demo systems of Ti Series components offering network audio output (Dante and Cobranet compatible) and signal processing, all controlled from the company's installation software application, iCore.

For studio owners and high-end systems, the latest 'no compromise, S Series will be on show. From their specially chosen Muse op-amps for the most transparent input stages, to their selected output

devices for the most accurate speaker d

Australia - The Arts Centre Gold Coast started in 1986 and after a change of name and some additions to the building, it remains as a major venue for the area of South East Queensland. Although located in Surfers Paradise you still need somewhere to go in the evening and with the 1139 seat Arts Theatre, two cinemas, the Arts Cafe, the Gold Coast City Gallery and other performance and function spaces, this is truly a hub of cultural life.

While it is a community based arts theatre, it hosts performances by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Ballet and the Queensland Oper

Germany - From 8-13 January, this season's Biathlon World Cup was contested in the Chiemgau Arena in Ruhpolding, Germany. During the five days of competition, some 70,000 spectators visited the village in Upper Bavaria to watch the world's elite biathletes in action.

For several years now, the Traunstein-based firm of Musik Mayer has been employed as general contractor whenever the Biathlon World Cup has visited Ruhpolding. They, in turn, commissioned MSE-Tontechnik GmbH of Stubenberg in Lower Bavaria to plan and implement the sound reinforcement for the main grandstand.

The main gr

USA - Kansas City, Missouri's World Revival Church, a 1,000-seat house-of-worship facility that ministers to a live congregation and broadcasts services globally, recently upgraded its sound system with components from Bose Professional Systems Division.

RoomMatch loudspeakers and PowerMatch amplifiers, along with other Bose products, were installed to deliver the clarity and intensity of the church's services. The challenge was to provide a system that could deliver uniform coverage, consistent volume levels and optimized sound at every seat, and by all accounts, the new Bose system

Belgium - The PARTS contemporary dance and performance school in Brussels has an international reach, holding auditions in countries around the world and accepting only the most talented students.

PARTS was founded in 1994 by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, one of the world's most prominent choreographers in contemporary dance, and Bernard Foccroulle, director of the Belgian national opera De Munt/ La Monnaie. It is closely allied to De Keersmaeker's dance company Rosa's and increasing dissatisfaction at the quality of the audio systems in two of the PARTS studios led to a better solution

USA - John D. Millett Hall on the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio is best recognised as home to the school's popular RedHawks basketball and volleyball teams. But the 9,200-capacity venue is also well known as the site for the school's commencement exercises, as well as concerts and other events from a list of guests as varied as Yo-Yo Ma, Beck, Bill Cosby, The Fray, O.A.R., Béla Fleck, Jay Leno and the Dalai Lama.

With the facility's aging distributed PA system struggling to even accommodate announcements at sporting events, the school hired Cincinnati-based L-Acous

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributors for Neutrik across the GCC (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait) as well as Iraq and Iran have recently supplied Dubai based production company Eclipse with OpticalCON fiber reels for their video department's requirements. Used for connectivity to LED walls, Eclipse can now reliably send fibre video signals over a portable and rugged medium over long distances for their various corporate shows and concerts in the United Arab Emirates.

"The feedback from Eclipse has been extremely positive," comment

UAE - Melody House, distributors of HK Audio speaker systems have recently supplied the Event Services division at the Dubai International Exhibition and Conference Centre with a large batch of PR:08A HK Audio speakers.

DIECC's Event Services division provides various audio, video and lighting services to clients at the center, which boasts the largest number of exhibition halls, conference and meeting rooms. The recent purchase will be used to bolster the equipment offering of their new conference rooms.

"DIECC have been using the PR:O Series since the beginning of the year,&q

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