General

Vivien wins Technology Watch Award!

Details: 14 March 2016

Canada - The Global Meetings and Incentive Exhibition (EIBTM) announced on 16 September that Vivien, Cast Software's Event Design application, is the winner of the EIBTM 2005 WorldWide Technology Watch award.

Vivien was judged by the following criteria: Innovation/Uniqueness, Impact on the Meetings Industry, and Completeness of Concept. This prestigious award includes a booth at the EIBTM 2005 show in Barcelona, Spain, where Cast Software can be found on stand D258 from 29 November - 1 December.

"We are honored that our software contribution to the event and meetings industry has been recognized by EIBTM. This award also suggests that our peers have great confidence in the direction we are heading and in our ability to provide extraordinary design solutions that meet the needs of event planners and designers," says Gilray Densham, president & CEO of Cast Software.

McFly's unusual rehearsal space

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - When chart-topping band McFly needed quick access to an outdoor space for an impromptu sound check, it was UK cable specialist VDC Trading that was able to provide the solution.

The company offered the band the use of its yard in North London to conduct the sound check, enabling them to perform in Covent Garden where they subsequently launched their new album, Wonderland.

Chris Hill, managing director of Wigwam Hire, which is handling sound for the band's forthcoming tour, says: "We were rehearsing at John Henry's for the tour, but when it was decided that the band would play in Covent Garden to launch their new album, we realized we needed somewhere outdoors to test the levels. I called my friends at VDC and they offered to lend us their yard. It worked brilliantly. If it hadn't been for VDC we'd have been stuck."

Niall Holden, VDC's managing director,

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A.C. Lighting Sponsors A1 Grand Prix

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - A.C. Lighting announced its status as an Official Sponsor of A1 Team Great Britain participating in the inaugural season of the A1 Grand Prix, the World Cup of Motor sport.

The unique concept, which is the brainchild of Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum, will bring together the two worlds of business and motor sport and see the national pride of at least eighty per cent of the world's population represented on the grid during the 12 race series.

A.C. will be using the sponsorship association to increase its overseas business derived from new or existing markets represented by the 24 other participating countries. A1GP is the ideal platform for the company to promote its brand and services on a global level, and provides a dynamic environment for sponsors and countries to network at a business-to-business level.

Phill Capstick, the company's sales director, commen

GearSource Europe is launched

Details: 14 March 2016

UK/Europe - Gear-Source, Inc announced the formation of a new office servicing the European Continent. GearSource Europe and the associated new website will be a close duplicate of the US based company, but the office will be based in the United Kingdom.

Marcel Fairbairn, president of Gear-Source, LLC says: "we have been searching for the ideal opportunity to expand our European business, and we have now found the ideal person to head it up. We are excited to move closer to our European clientele and also to locate new clients and vendors in this important market."

The MD for GearSource Europe is Garry Nelsson who has been involved in the entertainment industry since 1985. He began working in and around the television stations of the Middle East and most recently spent time with the Lighting Technology Group in west London. This is where Nelsson travelled extensivel

ESTA: Draft standards for Review

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - ESTA has announced that BSR E1.26, Entertainment Technology - Recommended Testing Methods and Values for Shock Absorption of Floors Used in Live Performance Venues, is available for public review until 7 December 2005. There is currently no recognized standard for measuring the energy absorption of theatre stage and rehearsal room floors, which can lead to disagreements about whether floors are too stiff or too flexible and difficulties in resolving these disagreements. Floors that are either can lead to performer injuries or excessive effort in performing dance or gymnastic movements. This draft standard is intended to ameliorate this lack of a recognized standard, say ESTA.

The public is invited to comment on the draft document, which is available here.

Besides commenting on whether

PLASA 2005: All about Business

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - The PLASA Show has again proved itself one of the most influential events in the industry calendar. Around 13,000 (subject to ABC audit) key industry people visited London in early September to participate in what is now the major international gathering-point for the entertainment, event and installation industries. The emphasis was very much on business, with exhibitors not only generating significant leads, but also reporting an unprecedented number of orders being placed.

As in previous years, the Show had a strong international profile with a third of exhibitors based outside the UK, and an increasing international visitor attendance, which is now nudging the 30% mark.

One of the key reasons for the Show's continued momentum is its focus on new developments and its ongoing investment in interactive feature areas, awards that recognize the best design work in the indu

Falconer launches podcast service

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - Industry writer and commentator Mike Falconer has launched a podcast service of audio recordings - Mike Falconer's Entertainment Technology World and Other Stories.

"The plan is to make a couple of articles available each month in an audio format," says Falconer. "Like the text archive I maintain on mikefalconer.net, the articles that will be part of the podcast will have been previously published; however, there may also be the occasional unpublished article." The individual MP3 files are also available for download from mikefalconer.net for users who do not wish to use the podcast.

Falconer has had articles published in industry trade magazines Lighting Dimensions, Lighting & Sound America, Lighting & Sound International and Projection Lights and Staging News.

Full details of Falconer's podcast and links to sever

RJS Electronics Limited

Details: 14 March 2016

Relative newcomer RJS Electronics, showed its new range of illuminated intelligent switches. The SKI range, from manufacturer RGB, are programmable LCD switches capable of showing up to four lines of text and available with various colour lenses. The two-year-old company now boasts a client list including Klark Teknik, AMS Neve and DiGiCo - not a bad line-up.

Supporting Role

Details: 14 March 2016

Marco van Beek's Supporting Role is a consultant and training service to the entertainment industry with a special expertise in areas such as H&S, CE standards, and IT in general. The company's latest offering, the irreverently-named 'Forget About IT', is a rental Server service with fully implemented back-up and support fora monthly fee.

Le Mark

Details: 14 March 2016

Le Mark's stand was dominated by an assortment of brightly coloured tapes including the new MagTape Extra, available in a variety of funky colours including baby pink, complete with extra adhesive qualities. The company also had the SetWare range of gloves and personal production accessories for techs and engineers including tool bags, rigger's belts and pouches.

Protonic

Details: 14 March 2016

PLASA 'stars of the show' are often found on the smaller, less attention-grabbing stands. One of these was the Windows-based rental management tool, Easyjob 3.0 from Protonic, demonstrations of which were in constant demand. From the initial inquiry, through a nine-stage process to the invoice/export stage, the software gives users a wide variety of customisable features which will ensure that jobs from the very simple to the very complex can be handled extremely efficiently. It's an application which appears to have every conceivable base covered for the equipment rental market.

Rubber Box

Details: 14 March 2016

A large, flightcased, 400A mains distro' dominated the stand of Rubber Box. The first time the company has attempted to mould something so large, the box was in prototype form but will be in production soon. Maintaining the usual Rubber Box ethos of double insulation, this box safely keeps all electrical connections one layer away from any of the penetrating pop rivets used to attach standard flightcase fittings like latches and handles. Also new to the range, the 185 is a 185mm wide breakout box, at this size capable of accommodating three-phase 32A in to 3 x 32 single-phase out, or 6 x 16A out.

Sunbaba Screens

Details: 14 March 2016

Sunbaba Screens is manufacturer and also distributor for the 'Austronet' brand which was highlighted at PLASA. It's a polyethylene material knitted into different grades and used for scrims and scenic applications of all types. For PA scrim work, there's a wide mesh option to let the sound permeate as much as possible. Austronet 204 is for projecting onto with light, while the white and grey versions are for lasering. Sunbaba showed digitally printed Austronet for the first time.

Rackz

Details: 14 March 2016

The distinctive maroon livery of Rackz stood out on the upper deck, where managing director Dave Roberts was showcasing the recently revamped Contractor series of 19" equipment racks, featuring bevelled edges and hinges which allow the doors to open through 180º. The Nexus line of lightweight, low-cost power amplifiers was also on show, providing 2 x 750W RMS at a mere 7kg and using HEXFET power amp stages.

Whotz Hot

Details: 14 March 2016

Judging by the way they were flying off the stand, this year's best small-but-groundbreaking product was the range of wrenches by New Zealand company Whotz Hot, claimed to be the first one-handed adjustable tool. Available in 100mm, 150mm, 200mm, 250mm and 400mm sizes, they come with a lifetime guarantee. The upfront Steve Dudson was doing a great sales job with his demonstrations. He admitted he'd expectinga quiet time, but the stand was busy throughout the entire show.

Seltron Components

Details: 14 March 2016

Seltron Components was proudly exhibiting its new collaboration with Eclectic Breaks - the Pro X Fade retro-fit crossfader. Unhappy with the quality of faders in many desks the company decided to make its own and the Pro X Fade was the result. Get your screwdrivers out!

Penn Fabrications

Details: 14 March 2016

Flight case and speaker fittings manufacturer Penn Fabrications showed a selection of its wares including the new polyurethane inserts for flight cases - the first one of which is for Martin Professional's MAC 250 Krypton moving light. This offers a snug fit and superlative protection for the contents of the case.

Amptown Cases

Details: 14 March 2016

Amptown Cases, one of Europe's leading flightcase manufacturers, was showing its wares alongside Wembley Loudspeaker.

5 Star Cases

Details: 14 March 2016

5 Star showcased its recent major investment into 3D modelling software, 'Solid Edge' from UGS. Demonstrated by Andy Stockdale, who has been implementing the system into the company's facilities, the main software capabilities include the fabrication of case fittings and hardware, case assemblies and photo-realistic rendering. Integration into other company facilities was also demonstrated, such as generation of production ready geometry for use with CNC machining systems. XpressReview, a free 'client-based' application was also shown. Keith Sykes, 5 Star's works director, said: "The interest shown by both new clients and existing customers in this new software was fantastic."

Cases on display at this year's show included a range of Robe Show Lighting moving head trunks, and a 'Special Projects' production console used for the Solid Edge demonstration and there was particular

Studiospares

Details: 14 March 2016

Studiospares arrived at PLASA with the imminent release of its new catalogue, which is due around the same time as L&SI goes to press. It will feature around 500 new lines supplementing, and in some cases replacing, the 4,000 already stocked. The company was also promoting its Esmono isolation booths: a flexible, expandable and cost-effective way of providing acoustic isolation for recording and rehearsal studios.

Buster Cases

Details: 14 March 2016

Most production professionals, musicians and DJs need at least one travel-worthy case for their equipment. Buster Cases takes this to the next level by offering a completely bespoke service, designing and building cases to your precise requirements. New for PLASA were self-contained gig boxes and DJ consoles which can be adapted to any requirement, while a wide selection of other sample cases were on show. Having built cases for clients including Oasis, Jamiroquai, Allen & Heath and Roland UK, the company was fielding a range of enquiries.

Lewden Electrical Industries

Details: 14 March 2016

Lewden Electrical Industries, winners of one of last year's PLASA Innovation Awards for its T-Line range of IP44 16A inline connectors, were showing a full range of products to come out of its East London manufacturing base at this years show. Other products on display included its Linebacker cable management and protection system and a range of distros.

Musicase

Details: 14 March 2016

Sales director Bob Ferns reported very brisk business at the Musicase stand, with the extensive range of Road Ready and Gig Skinz products attracting attention from audio professionals, musicians and DJs alike. The Road Ready range covers flightcases for every conceivable kind of audio equipment, while the expanding Gig Skinz series is an imaginative range of tough gig bags which feature compartments for audio equipment plus pockets for accessories. A range of new hard cases for Denon equipment was also on show.

Cable Jog

Details: 14 March 2016

Cable testers from Cable Jog are well-known, the company's latest audio cable tester was launched at PLASA last year and continues to be a good seller. The company will soon be announcing a new Italian distributor, having signed at deal at this year's show.

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