Australia - Lexair Entertainment has announced that it has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Elation Professional for Australia and New Zealand.

Alex Mair, managing director of Lexair Entertainment, comments, "Elation is a very strong and exciting brand to add to Lexair's portfolio. Sitting alongside High End Systems, Green Hippo and TMB, the Elation product family fits within our vision to offer entertainment lighting customers in the region a much wider breadth of quality products, offering the 'one stop shop solution' our customers expect in the current market. We are very excited and proud that Elation has chosen us as a long term partner in Oceania, and we look forward to bringing their extensive, high quality product range to our customers, delivere

UK - For more than 25 years, the charity Children on the Edge has helped marginalised and forgotten children living on the edge of their societies. Working in partnership with local communities, they create safe, friendly environments to ensure that those who may possibly be ignored receive the childhood they deserve. The organisation is constantly looking to raise funds to support its work and recently held a fundraising evening as part of Chichester Festival Theatre's Winter Season. With its strong reputation in theatre, along with its frequent charity work, White Light was asked to provide its support on this occasion.

The fundraiser, entitled Spotlight on the Edge, was held on Sunday 24 January at the Festival Theatre, Chichester. The evening featured a colourful array of music, songs and dance, with all of the proceeds going directly to the work of Children on the E

UK - The family business of ASG Stage Products Ltd. has been sold; hence the current directors Stan, Marion and Paul McFerran will no longer be involved, effective from close of business on Friday 12 February 2016. The new owners will retain the ASG name, personnel and premises, so for suppliers and clients, most business will continue as normal.

Says a statement, "The company has been purchased by one of our primary suppliers and installation partners, Daniel Slade, managing director of Lighting Controlled, together with other investors. They will focus on the well-established name, customer base and 43-year history of ASG to further develop the scope and complementary services offered by the combined companies.

ASG has been successful over many years, but the time is now right for the present directors to move on, allowing ASG to progress and grow with a new dynamic m

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ETC Ministar

ETC introduces the High End Systems Ministar, a game-changer in our automated lighting product line. Ministar brings exceptional versatility and performance at an affordable price point; with a compact footprint, punchy output, and a professional feature set, Ministar fits the spec and budget for small to medium-sized venues.

UK - Hastings-based LED lighting specialist CLD - part of the Penn Elcom Group - has supplied Osram Colormix Protect Flex IP67 rated LED tape, complete with drivers to a spectacular swimming pool lighting installation at a private residence in Northamptonshire.

This was specified by CLD's Nigel Howes and Razvan Vasiliu in close conjunction with Keith McCormack of KM Specialist Electrical Services from Banbury, Oxfordshire, who delivered all the electrical installation elements including lighting control design, specification and installation of the project.

The new pool area is designed by architect Juliet Colman from Towcester, Northamptonshire. It has involved the complete refurbishment of an existing building the construction for which was undertaken by RC Spencer building contractors.

The Colormix Flex is ensconced in a series of recessed ceiling coves around the styl

UK - Cable specialists VDC Trading have recently supplied essential cabling assemblies to Paul Hatt at CS Audio for the 2016 Massive Attack Tour.

Paul explains, "I've worked with Massive Attack for the past few years mixing monitors, and also supplied equipment for their 2014 festival tour via my company, CS Audio. VDC Trading manufactured a new 64 channel splitter and line system for that tour, which I was very happy with.

"I was invited to work with the group again for the current European tour, for which again CS Audio are providing the monitor system & stage package.

I felt the time was right this time to invest in a new multicore system, and so approached Adam Jafrabati at VDC to assist with this."

The band is visiting a wide variety of venues on this leg of the tour, using house PAs in the smaller places and bringing in PA for the bigger rooms, and

UK/USA - After 25 years of working at Allen & Heath and being an integral part of their Xone DJ division, Andy Rigby-Jones left the company in 2014 and partnered with Richie Hawtin to combine their expertise and vision to create new innovative instruments for the DJ and electronic music market.

Over the past two years, the pair have been developing and testing their first prototype of an instrument that they feel is missing from the professional segment of the market. Assessed at various leading worldwide events including ENTER.Ibiza, Glastonbury Festival and the BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix in Los Angeles last month, the first prototype has already seen a number of iterations and is nearing completion.

At the recent NAMM show (Anaheim, California), the pair revealed their PLAYdifferently brand, a partnership with the Audiotonix group, known for their strength in audio engineer

The Netherlands - German connectivity specialists, DirectOut, will be presenting a number of updates to their existing product range at ISE 2016. All updates are available for download from the DirectOut website at www.directout.eu

The first is updated firmware for DirectOut's MONTONE.42 MADI-to-AoIP bridge based on RAVENNA audio networking technology. Fully AES67 compliant, the device is equipped with four MADI and two gigabit network ports. The new firmware supports 32 RAVENNA/AES67 compliant multicast streams. Up to 256 channels are available per stream and up to 256 channels are possible, making MONTONE.42 a highly versatile link for broadcast, live sound and studio applications.

New firmware is available for the M.1K2 scalable 16-port MADI router. M.1K2 offers a powerful routing matrix for up to 1024 x 1024 audio channels that fills the gap effectively between small-sca

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Strictly FX Highlights

Strictly FX was founded in 1996 by industry veterans Mark Grega and Ted Maccabee. Our expertise and knowledge of the world’s leading pyrotechnic, laser, and flame manufacturers allows us to curate astonishing live events. With over 500+ shows performed a year, there’s good chance you’ve seen some of our work!

UK - CP Electronics has announced the launch of its first range of smartphone apps which will enable contractors and end users alike to control their lighting remotely.

Suitable for infrared-enabled mobile phones working on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and above, the UHS7 and UHS5 apps will replicate the functionality of their handset counterparts. Broadly, users will be able to raise and lower lighting levels, turn lights on and off and select scenes - all from a smartphone.

Available from Google Play Store, the intuitive user interface also provides information around basic programming and installation of CP Electronics' infrared enabled devices. Consistent with CP's mission to deliver sustainable, energy-efficient lighting controls solutions to the market, the two new apps allow for the possibility of energy and cost savings by granting customers complete control over their lig

UK - FBT UK has announced the launch of a new addition to the FBT Vertus range, the CLA active, portable line array system. Featuring high quality B&C neodymium drivers in steel reinforced birch ply housings and driven by advanced Class-D amplification, the Vertus CLA system offers a stylish, highly versatile, easy to use line array for demanding applications.

The new system is built around the CLA406A, a metal braced, birch ply enclosed line array column housing four custom 6.5" (165mm) woofers and a 1.5" (35mm) large format B&C neodymium compression driver with a 2.5" (64mm) voice coil - the combination operating across a frequency range of 65Hz-20kHz. The specially designed waveguide has a horizontal dispersion of 100° and 25° vertical. The height dimension of the waveguide allows excellent vertical control.

Powering the CLA406A is a convection cool

UK / UAE - London- and Dubai-based Maestra Group, specialist in premium event production, design and solutions, has made a large investment in new sound, AV and lighting equipment for 2016, which follows the launch of the new Maestra London office on 4 January.

This is to ensure the London office hit the ground running as business has, as anticipated been brisk in the first weeks of the year, and also to consolidate and boost the production resources available in Dubai.

SMaestra London has spent around half a million pounds on sound and AV technology which includes a range of d&bs Y, T and E series speakers complete with associated rigging accessories for all the flying and ground-stacking options, plus their new D20 proprietary amplifiers and Y-SUBS.

A selection of Sennheiser 2000 range of wireless radio mics join the audio inventory together with DPA headset mics and se

Norway - VUE Audiotechnik has confirmed the expansion of avon lydinstallasjon (AS) to exclusive distributor for the Nordic countries for all VUE Audiotechnik product lines.

Having established and maintained a strong presence for VUE in Norway for the past several years, avon's distribution of VUE products will now stretch to include Sweden; Denmark, including Greenland and the Faroe Islands; Iceland; and Finland, including the Åland Islands, directly and with the help of local vendors.

"Part of avon's expansion plan includes increasing VUE's presence in the rental market," says Edgar Andraa Lien, co-founder, avon. "Our goal is to help VUE command the same respect in that market segment as the other well-established brands."

To help further avon's successes they recently brought Thomas Züllich on-board. "Züllich previously spent many years as CE

Italy - The Classical Ballet Moscow recently completed an extensive tour of Italy and Sicily featuring an emotive lighting design programmed on a Philips Strand Lighting NEO Lighting Control Console.

The company performed The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty in cities including Florence, Milan and Palermo over 36 consecutive days.

Lighting designer and technical director Evgeniy Toma utilized the NEO's intuitive interface and timesaving features to provide him with quick and easy access to all of the fixtures in the rig, which ranged from 60 to 110 over the course of the tour.

"I was really impressed by the flexibility of the NEO console," says Toma. "There are different ways to achieve what you want with it, which is ideal for both an experienced lighting designer and a beginner."

With the tour moving to a different ve

Australia - Indoor 'hardstyle' festival Knockout Circuz returned to iconic Sydney venue The Hordern Pavilion at the end of last year, with lighting designer Arian Yeganeh creating a spectacular eight-hour light show using Clay Paky Mythos, Stormy and Sharpy fixtures.

Promoted by organisers Hard Styles United (HSU) as "one of the most spectacular and intense indoor rave arenas [we] have ever created" with "hours of lasers, spectacular lighting shows and crystal clear audio", Knockout Circuz saw a line-up of such international artists as Technoboy and Bioweapon.

Leading event supplier Newtone Entertainment supplied 24 Sharpys, along with 24 Mythos and 13 Stormy CC strobes partially sub hired from Chameleon Touring Systems, to the massive underground rave.

"HSU wanted us to create an underground circus world, with a different theme and look for every

Mexico - One of Mexico's major full technical production and rental companies, Audio Systems del Norte based in Monterrey, capital and largest city of the north eastern state of Nuevo León, has invested in its first Robe moving lights - 24 x Pointes.

Mexico is a rapidly expanding market for Robe, largely due to the efforts of distributor Vari Internacional, and the Pointe with its true multi-functionality is one of the most popular products right now.

Robe's reporting team rocked-up in Monterrey and interviewed Audio Systems' sales manager Franco Cinquini, who has been with the company since it was started in 1993 by Carlos Escoto.

Audio Systems provides lighting, sound, video, rigging, staging and power to a wide selection of concert tours - including international artists - cultural performances, music shows and parties / social events. They are particularly strong in

USA - Sound reinforcement systems from Bay Area audio innovator Meyer Sound played a supporting role in Super Bowl 50 festivities, the biggest Super Bowl week ever celebrated and one that the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee calls "uniquely Bay Area".

In their quest to make the game-day sound for this Super Bowl the best ever, NFL production leaders tapped Meyer Sound to help enhance the 7 February experience between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos. Meyer Sound's technical team worked with ATK Audiotek of Valencia, Calif. to rig SB-1 parabolic long-throw sound beams and SB-3F sound field synthesis loudspeakers at Levi's Stadium, ensuring that the full house in the upper deck can enjoy game day.

Meyer Sound solutions could also be found enhancing the fan experience at many of the Bay Area events leading up to Super Bowl 50. The company's top-of-the-line Leo

The Netherlands - Italian loudspeaker manufacturer Outline showcases a selection of point source and line array loudspeaker lines and an interactive loudspeaker measurement display at ISE 2016 Amsterdam this week..

The new ultra-compact, high power Vegas 24 is designed for balcony-fill, front-fill and delay applications.

The Stadia 100 LA installation loudspeaker series combines key principles of cylindrical line-sources with several patented Outline technologies to deliver versatile and powerful solutions for stadiums, theme parks, arenas, large churches, transportation and sporting facilities. With three models to choose from, the 100° wide loudspeaker comes in 10°, 20° and 30° vertical patterns. High SPL can be delivered cost effectively with pinpoint accuracy. Stadia maximizes the signal to noise ratio in reverberant environments.

Outline's measurement

USA - A winter storm couldn't stop the prestigious 24th Annual Trumpet Awards which celebrates and honours African American achievers and those who support the African American experience.

, and honours accomplishments in diverse fields including law, medicine, business, politics, the Arts, civil rights, sports, entrepreneurship, entertainment and other careers.

Hosted by actress Nia Long and actor Mike Epps, the honourees of this year's Trumpet Awards included EVP and COO of General Motors Alicia Boler-Davis, Former Secretary of Labour Alexis M. Herman, Chancellor of Wayne Community College Dr. Curtis L. Ivery, HRH Princess Masmah Bint Saud, R&B singer Ne-Yo, film and television producer Will Packer and legendary actor George Wallace. TBandit Lites provided the lighting package for the event which took place 23 January at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centrehe African Ame

USA - As part of an ongoing project to upgrade its technical infrastructure, Northside Christian Church in New Albany, Indiana, has recently purchased an SSL L300 live console.

Founded in a small basement in 1970, Northside has gone from strength to strength, now serving over 5000 people each weekend. Ted W. Roberts, administrator at the church, provides oversight of technical infrastructure, drawing on his own extensive, high-end live sound and touring experience. Most recently, Roberts helped specify the new console: "It's very different when you work with only one or two key department heads and then everybody else is a volunteer," says Roberts. "They have to be set up for success. If you don't provide the right tools for the job, the volunteers can't enjoy it because they sense imminent failure all the time."

When Roberts came to Northside five years

World Beater - The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has awarded Adele its global artist of the year prize in recognition of her "simply phenomenal" success. Adele's achievement is particularly notable as her third album 25 was not released until late November. It went on to become the fastest selling album in British history. It sold more than 800,000 copies in its first week and with the album kept off streaming sites, its chart success was entirely made up of physical and download sales.

The second biggest selling artist of 2015 was Ed Sheeran - despite him not releasing a studio album during the course of the year. The IFPI says its top 10 chart is the only music industry ranking to accurately capture the worldwide popularity of artists across physical formats, downloads and streams.

Early Bath - Coldplay played to an es

USA - Apollo Design Technology, Inc. has announced the appointment of Aaron Creps as a production technician. In this role, Creps is responsible for the assembly and testing of mechanical and electronic subassemblies and products including precision calibration. He will also provide technical assistance to internal personnel and customers.

"Aaron brings great technical skills and a strong mechanical background to the Apollo team," said Mr. Joel Nichols, president of Apollo Design. Prior to joining Apollo Design Technology, Creps worked at Fort Wayne Nissan in the service department. He holds a Technical Certificate from Universal Technical Institute. "I'm excited to join Apollo," said Creps. "It's a great opportunity to grow my mechanical and technical skills while working with a fun group of people."

(Jim Evans)

Germany/UK - Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. has announced the retirement of Paul Whiting, president of strategic collaborations. A familiar face in the audio industry, Paul leaves Sennheiser enjoying a much higher profile in the professional audio, consumer and integrated systems industries than it did when he joined the company more than 25 years ago.

Paul began his career with Sennheiser in 1990, after 15 years with former UK partner Hayden Laboratories, which saw him establish a Sennheiser pro-audio network in the UK and head the company's professional division as sales and marketing manager.

On joining Sennheiser he helped establish Sennheiser UK as a wholly owned subsidiary and, as managing director, oversaw the company's continued UK expansion. His exceptional technical and organisational skills saw him being promoted to vice-president North West Europe. In 2007, he

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