UK - Event production and audio-visual Installation company, Spotlight Sound has announced that Ashton Gold will join the team as account manager.
Ashton comes to Spotlight Sound from The Lion Inn in Boreham where she was the event planner.
“I will be fundamental in liaising between the client and technicians from the planning to execution of their event,” says Ashton. “My role means that the technicians can fully concentrate on the production of the event and I can make sure everything else runs smoothly.”
Sam Dimond, director of Spotlight Sound adds: “We’re really pleased to welcome Ashton onto the team. Her experience in planning and running events will be fundamental to the ongoing success and growth of Spotlight Sound.”
Spotlight Sound produces a spread of events including the Willow Ball and London Football Awards. Last year they prov

UK - Based on the novel by Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray - adapted and directed by multi award-winning Kip Williams, artistic director of the acclaimed Sydney Theatre Company - tells this classic story through an explosive interplay of live performance and video.
It recently opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and stars Sarah Snook, who plays 26 roles. It features a lighting design by Nick Schlieper who approached White Light (WL), a d&b solutions company, to provide the lighting equipment.
Whilst there have been several stage adaptations of The Picture of Dorian Gray over the years, it’s the first time that this version, which premiered four years ago at the Roslyn Packer Theatre in Sydney, has played overseas. Nick, who also lit the original Australian production, explains: “Although I’ve always been familiar with the novel, I have

Spain - Media group Mediaset España has revamped the news studios of its free-to-air TV channels Telecinco and Cuatro with Alfalite’s LED screens. Integrator Datos Media has been in charge of the sale and commissioning of the 844 LED panels supplied with Alfalite’s ORIM technology.
“We are very proud to have participated in this huge project,” says Luis Garrido, executive director of Alfalite. “We would like to express our gratitude to Mediaset España's engineering team and Datos Media for trusting us. We deeply appreciate the collaboration and the opportunity to contribute to the joint success of this project.”
In the case of Telecinco (the most watched free-to-air TV channel in Spain), the channel has completely transformed its news set with 210sq.m of Alfalite LED screens, artificial intelligence and mobile camera solutions, making it one of the most a

Australia - Creative Technology Australia and New Zealand opted for Data Strategy’s QC-Check to address three main needs in terms of product inspection: socapex cable testing, the safe inspection of twin-frame distribution boards, and the ability to set up the specific testing processes needed to be carried out by anyone in the warehouse.
Maintenance manager, Myles Barlow, explained that the company’s highest priority was to be able to test multipin connectors such as Socapex three-phase cables, as “there’s just no safe way to test them”.
In addition, he found that “standard PAT testers fail products that have lots of internal relay, control voltages and several limit points. They see it as a dead short when there’s actually not a problem”. So without, QC-Check there was no effective way of PAT testing products like twin-frame distribution boards or oth

Germany - A 4K CarbonLight VX LED screen from Leyard Europe forms the heart of a new inspirational and educational exhibition at the headquarters of the European Molecular Biology Lab (EMBL), a laboratory for research into life sciences, which explains and celebrates its work to better understand the building blocks of all life on Earth.
The World of Molecular Biology exhibition occupies 800 sqm of the double-height atrium of the EMBL headquarters in Heidelberg and tells the story of life through 45 AV exhibits comprising a mix of audiovisual, virtual reality, interactive and tactile elements, grouped into three zones, themed The Spirit of EMBL, Life is Amazing and Seeing is Understanding.
The star of the exhibition, called the Wall of Wonder, is the 1.9 mm pixel pitch, 8m by 4m Leyard CarbonLight VX 1.9mm 4K LED screen, with content via a 7thSense media server and PIX

UK - PLASA is running an industry-wide survey on sustainability. The association aims to understand how and if companies across the entertainment technology sector are tackling the important issue of sustainability and carbon reduction.
The survey was launched during the Member Business Forum on Sustainability and Carbon Reduction, which took place in London on 18 January 2024. However, the survey is now open to the wider industry until 29 March, in partnership with #WeMakeEvents, LSi, LIVE and PEARLE.
Even though there are no current legal requirements in the UK to implement such plans, PLASA recognises the importance of sustainability across the industry and the need for support. Therefore, the association is now conducting research to understand the current position of the industry. The data will help to inform the activities of the association, as well as future in

Europe - Absen has strategically bolstered its European team with the addition of four individuals. Joining the team are:
Darren Jackson, UK business development manager, AbsenLive: Bringing 14 years of management and business development experience, Jackson will spearhead AbsenLive, a dedicated brand category catering to the high-end rental & staging and virtual production/XR stage segments. His expertise will be instrumental in shaping Absen's strategy and capitalising on the evolving LED display market.
River Harper-Boyce, marketing specialist: River's proven marketing and event expertise, honed during her successful tenure with Absen's long-standing partner PSCO, aligns with Absen's commitment to enhancing brand visibility through effective communication strategies.
Max Hedayat, strategic business development manager, DACH region: A seasoned sales and

Australia - Hosted at The Hordern Pavilion in the heart of Sydney, last year’s B&T Awards revolved around the theme ‘Embrace the Extra-Ordinary’, with 40 categories presented during the night. Collaborating with their client, The Misfits Media Co., for whom Audio Visual Events (AVE) has been the preferred production partner for five years, a sophisticated LED structure powered by Brompton Technology’s Tessera LED processors was orchestrated.
“Before the B&T Awards, we assisted The Misfits team with their internal B&T & Travel Weekly programmes and agency event work,” explains Paul Keating, director at AVE. “The brief for this year’s event, encompassing the client's mood board, event styling, and content, featured dark backgrounds and vibrant colours. This was a perfect fit for utilising LED, allowing for deep, dark colours and contrasting vibr

USA - InfoComm 2024, the largest trade show focused on pro AV in North America, set for 8-14 June at the Las Vegas Convention Centre has officially opened registration.
“InfoComm 2024 is the destination to bring together the pro AV industry - from manufacturers to integrators, dealers to end-users - to connect with each other, learn about the latest trends, and explore the newest technology,” said David Labuskes, chief executive officer of AVIXA, producer of InfoComm. “In a continuously evolving industry in a forever-evolving world, it’s critical for industry professionals to keep learning and challenging the status quo to bring forth solutions that make a difference.”
“We are excited to open registration for InfoComm 2024 and eagerly await the return to Las Vegas, a city that epitomises the heartbeat of the pro AV industry, pulsating with technology innova

Germany - The FlexDistro rack has been developed to meet the frequently changing requirements in the event and touring sector.
Designed for quick and easy swapping of modules, the Indu-Electric FlexDistro can be equipped for the specific requirements of any project or production in an instant.
Each module has up to 24 channels, and each channel is protected with its own 30 mA RCBO (RCD/RCCB). The list of standard features includes a network-capable meter, USB port, mains indicator, switchable LED strips and utility outlets.

Norway - Absen, has partnered with Czech sports software company, Goal Sport, to provide high-performance screens at the home of professional Norwegian ice hockey team, Stavanger Oilers.
The Stavanger Oilers, a team in Norway's top ice hockey division, the Fjordkraftligaen, sought to upgrade the outdated centre cube display at the DNM Arena, its home stadium and training ground in Stavanger. The arena, with a capacity of 4,500 spectators for ice hockey matches, and 6,000 for other events, needed a modern, visually appealing display to enhance the fan experience.
Goal Sport, an international AV integrator with expertise in LED screen technology, was tasked with delivering a turnkey installation for the new central visual display. The company chose LED manufacturer Absen to supply the screens for the project. The Absen K3 Plus was specified for its lightweight and flat

USA - Brentwood Baptist Church was officially constituted on Easter Sunday 1969 in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, Tennessee. In the past half a century, it has grown to nine campuses around the region and has consistently averaged over 5,000 worshipers in weekly on-campus attendance, along with an estimated 4,000 additional online viewers.
The current main campus’ church was built in 2002 and had a few updates along the way, but last May it completed a complete refresh of the sanctuary’s audio, video, and lighting systems, in concert with leading AVL systems integrator Diversified. And the finishing touch on the updated audio infrastructure is a new KLANG:konductor, the most powerful and versatile immersive in-ear mixing processor ever.
“We had a few periodic updates to the systems over the years, such as going from analogue to digital audio and upgrading ou

Finland - The celebrated LUX Helsinki light festival took place at venues across the Finnish capital during January, with a highlight being the specially created projection mapped visual display onto the intricate façade of the National Gallery Ateneum.
The looping, five-hour graphic animations formed a large, 8,000px-wide canvas and were projected by six Barco UDX 4K32 projectors and driven by Green Hippo Hippotizer Montane+ RTX and Karst+ Media Servers.
The festival was staged by Events Helsinki, which brought in Capital AV to deliver technical production and visual consultancy for the Ateneum projections. In temperatures plummeting to minus 20 Celsius, the Capital AV team set up a warm trailer next to FOH position and the three projector towers. The animation work was designed by Katri Tikkanen and commissioned to celebrate the 60th anniversary of famous Finnish c

UK - Audio consultancy RH Consulting (RHC) has been counting networked audio products and licensees since 2013 to chart the adoption and evolution of audio networking in the pro audio, AV and broadcast markets.
The 2024 edition of this report on Networked Audio Products, which has meanwhile extended to cover audio, video and control products, is available now and confirms the growing strength of AES67, Ravenna and ST 2110 and the dominance of Dante and NDI standards.
In the dynamic landscape of networked AV, the 12th instalment of the report reveals a significant surge in overall adoption, with a total of 6,013 products from 602 brands. This comprehensive analysis, building on 12 years of audio research and three years of video data, sheds light on emerging trends and market dynamics.
“A milestone has been reached with over 6000 networked AV products on the

UK - PLASA Focus Leeds is gearing up for another successful year at the Royal Armouries from 14-15 May 2024, and you can now register for your free entry badge.
Attracting over 2,000 visitors, the popular regional event is known for connecting professionals with lead names in the entertainment technology industry across two friendly days of networking and discovery.
Boasting a fully booked show floor, PLASA Focus Leeds will feature 150+ brands in pro audio, AV, lighting, rigging, and staging. Attendees will have the chance to closely examine new products and engage in face-to-face discussions with potential suppliers.
Lighting professionals can look forward to meeting Ambersphere, Avolites, ChamSys, Chauvet Professional, Entedi, ETC, GLP UK, Prolight, Robe UK, TMB, and Vari-Lite.
Top quality pro audio is also on offer from Audio-Technica, Bose Professiona

Europe - CONTRIK showed a comprehensive range of new Power Multicore solutions for the first time at ISE; offering the professional AV and lighting, and broadcast and film location production sectors a wide range of power connectivity solutions from new multicore cable and stringer box series, optimising power cabling costs and complexity in the field.
The new range of Power Strip Multicore ‘stringer boxes’ launched at ISE, comprises six models with Harting E16 connectors, providing for 6 channel single phase breakout, or breakout and daisy chaining, on Neutrik powerCONTRUE1 TOP or Schuko Type F connectors.
Models are designated as offering either ‘X’ (Xtreme protection) or ‘XO’ (Xtreme Outdoor protection). ‘X’ providing high mechanical (IK) protection and ‘XO’ high mechanical (IK) and high environmental protection, allowing for the seamless connect

Italy - Forged nearly four decades ago as a congress equipment supplier, STS Communication has since transformed into a full-service provider, delivering technical expertise and equipment for corporate and special events, music tours, exhibitions, brand activations, broadcast TV, as well as fashion and retail projects.
As a member of the PRG Alliance, the company stands as one of Italy's pioneers in deploying Virtual Production, prominently featured in two multifunctional STStudios: CR49 and Studio1D, both powered by Brompton Technology LED processing.
“Aimed at cinematic virtual productions, CR49 features a comprehensive setup, including a camera tracking system, media servers for background plate playout, render nodes for Unreal Engine photorealistic 3D content, and a highly skilled crew,” says Alessandro Rosani, chief technology officer at STS Communication.

Germany - Take That joined a host of German and international popstars who performed on Germany’s Your Songs TV show recently, each with their own large LED screen visual backdrop driven by Green Hippo Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers.
Billed as a celebration of popular music, Your Songs sees well-known artists sing one of their most successful tracks while enveloped in visuals and accompanied by a live orchestra. The LED Main Wall measured 16m x 5m at 4096 x 1280 pixels, while an 8m x 2.5m LED ‘Talk Wall’ displayed secondary graphics. A series of ‘gardenfence’ LED strips surrounded the stage, pumping out 12300 x 1450 pixels of graphics.
The data-heavy visuals were designed by Saskia Olma and Vlad Befus of LUPIXX. “Every artist got the video content individually designed just for them,” they said. “This year was the second time [broa

Japan - Developed as a toolkit to create natural, harmonious, enveloping, and emotionally engaging listening experiences for rooms of all sizes, from small live music venues to large-scale halls, d&b Soundscape has undergone international tours, and has featured in world-renowned musicals, festivals, and concerts.
Most recently, the technology was showcased at Japan’s 2023 Inter BEE tradeshow, integrating not only the German loudspeaker and amplifier manufacturer’s audio solution, but equally cutting-edge video processing from Brompton Technology to deliver an ultra-realistic immersive experience for show visitors.
As part of the demo setup, the d&b team used a 14m x 2.5m LED vision wall, composed of 140 ROE Visual LED panels powered by a Brompton’s 4K Tessera SX40 LED processor and disguise media servers, supplied by key Japanese AV rental company, Audio

USA - Biamp has announced that its line of Parlé all-in-one video and audio-conferencing bars are now certified for Zoom Rooms.
The Zoom certified Parlé bars offer peace of mind and security to integrators, installers, information technology personnel, and end users, assuring them that the product is validated to work seamlessly within the rigorous standards of the Zoom Rooms unified communication (UC) platform and provide extraordinary 4K video and audio-conferencing experiences in small-to-medium sized Zoom Rooms.
The Parlé family of conferencing bars includes the Parlé VBC 2500 video conferencing bar and the Parlé ABC 2500 audio conferencing bar, as well as the Parlé VBC 2500a and Parlé ABC 2500a conferencing bars that include a discrete output for Assistive Listening Systems.
“Enabling seamless collaboration between offices, remote workers, and tho

UK - London-based creative agency Treatment Studio has been awarded Media Content Creator of the Year at the 2024 Parnelli Awards for U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere. The 22nd annual Parnelli Awards took place at the Anaheim Convention Centre on 26 January during NAMM 2024, recognising those who demonstrated outstanding work in their fields.
Along with their work with U2 over the past 40 years, Treatment Studio’s impressive portfolio of projects also include Elton John’s headline performance at Glastonbury Festival 2023, Adele’s residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and the Reframe: The Residency Exhibition at The Southbank Centre London.
Willie Williams, co-founder at Treatment said: “For a company that originated in London, to win this US award two years in a row is very gratifying. Thank you all.”
Sam Pattinson, c

UK - Rise, the advocacy group for gender diversity in the broadcast media technology sector, has announced its 2024 global mentoring programme.
This year's mentoring initiative will span the UK, Europe, ANZ, APAC, India, and North America, aligning with Rise's mission of fostering inclusivity and diversity in the industry on a global scale. The 2024 activity will build on the successful delivery of two mentoring programmes in 2023, which supported 125 mentees globally.
Each regional cohort will follow a shared agenda, with the incorporation of tailored enhancements to ensure its relevance to the unique dynamics of the local territory. The schedule will feature a combination of scheduled masterclasses and networking events, as well as the inclusion of responsive content based on feedback from participants. The participants will also have the opportunity to connect with

Spain - Visitors to Brompton’s stand 3A750 in Multi-Technology Hall 3 will experience different zones, each highlighting key features tailored to Touring & Live Events, Broadcast, Fine Pixel Pitch Installation, and Virtual ProductionAdditionally, there will be an exclusive preview of its upcoming Gen 3 8K processing range
The Touring & Live Events demo zone will feature an Absen PL1.9 LED wall, allowing attendees to experience the latest Tessera hardware and software solutions, which have long been the industry choice for providing a reliable and robust toolkit for live events and touring productions, offering easy setup and limitless creative possibilities.
Moving to the Fine Pixel Pitch zone, a Leyard ultra-fine 0.9mm pixel pitch LED screen will demonstrate Brompton’s suitability for fixed installation fine pitch applications, such as corporate meeting ro

UK - 4Wall UK has welcomed industry veteran Graham Miller to the team as a director of live events. Graham, who has been working in the events industry for over 30 years, joins 4Wall’s Aylesbury location to focus on delivering live events to major concert tours and festivals across the UK and Europe.
Graham started his career in Scotland in audio-visual services, before moving to London to work on bigger shows. After working as a video engineer full-time in London, Graham worked as a freelance touring video engineer for 10 years working with several major touring artists.
Prior to joining 4Wall, Graham worked as a full-time project manager before taking on the role of head of music and entertainment at Creative Technology.
Graham says of his new role: “I am excited to join 4 Wall, it is a dynamic progressive company with a vision to take the live music and t

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