Taiwan - For a three-month showcase starting 7 December 2016 in Taipei City, AVATAR: Discover Pandora touring exhibition is based around the science and technology of the creatures and environments of James Cameron's highest grossing film, Avatar.

Zanim8tion provided the playback and programming using AV Stumpfl's Wings Vioso software suite. The project was fully supported by distribution partner, VIOSO.

As visitors explore the wildlife and landmarks of Pandora, each interactive video exhibit area will benefit from the video playback provided by Wings Vioso, each one remotely controlled with a hand held radio frequency transmitter by a live host presenter. Additionally, Zanim8tion has configured Wings Vioso to synchronize lighting and door controls within each room.

"AV Stumpfl's Wings was the ideal software to use because of its integrated show control elements and th

Spain - For the past nine years, Yamaha Music Europe has organised an annual system designers' conference. In 2007, the first conference attracted 30 delegates. This year over 120 gathered at the Valencia campus of Berklee College of Music, where they witnessed an exceptional cross-industry collaboration between Yamaha, Barco, Dolby and Unique Cinema Systems.

Hosted at the appropriately futuristic-looking Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Yamaha's annual system designers' conference is an opportunity for delegates to discuss ideas, technology and best practise with other audio professionals from throughout Europe.

The theme of this year's two-day conference was Multi-channel Audio for Entertainment and Professional Communication and, for the first time, it featured multiple manufacturers. As well as Yamaha, participating companies included Barco, Dolby Laboratories, Nexo, Rev

Thailand - A MILOS roof was used to cover a 52m wide stage for the Road to ULTRA electronic music festival in Bangkok, Thailand. The project used M390L (QTL) truss, which supported hundreds of video tiles, two 4x4x2m video screens, two 4x2x2m video screens, one 5 x 3m video screen, as well as additional lights and PA.

The client for the project was the Bangkok-based company One Systems Global Co., Ltd. Project Coordinators were Michal Zykan, Howard Chen, Vanessa Chompoo and the Milos Guangzhou Ltd. Team, who ensured extremely fast realization of the project.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Resurface is a new online marketplace, launched this week, which is tailored to the needs of companies and individuals using professional audio mixing technology.

Formed by Ben Nemes and Tim Hurrell, two audio industry professionals with over 50 years' combined experience, Resurface serves to connect buyers and sellers of audio consoles around the world. It also connects its audience to a wider collection of services, including a continuously-curated news feed tuned for its professional audio audience.

"After many years in this industry, we were very aware that - whilst digital systems have been an industry standard for over 20 years - the secondary market for this technology and all related services is so highly fragmented that it doesn't function" explains Tim Hurrell.

"All high-value equipment purchases represent assets that owners periodically want to upgrade,

Germany/Japan - Bosch Security Systems and Sony Corporation have signed a contract to establish a business partnership to collaborate in the development of innovative products and solutions in the field of video security applications.

Effective from the beginning of 2017, the two companies aim to combine their technological expertise to set new standards in high-resolution and low light video imaging. As part of the agreed partnership, Sony's video security customers in all markets except Japan will be served and supported by the sales and marketing organization of Bosch Security Systems. The partnership is subject to approval by the antitrust authorities.

Within the scope of the partnership, Sony will bring its leading expertise in video image quality and performance, while Bosch will add an extensive set of robust video analytics at the edge to interpret data as well as

The Netherlands - Belgian design practice Painting with Light has supplied lighting and video design for the Stage Entertainment tour of cult 1970s musical Hair which is currently touring the Netherlands.

Set in New York during the Vietnam War era in the midst of hippie counterculture, the sexual revolution and mind-expanding drug experimentalism, the storyline touches multiple race and class issues and asks leading and rhetorical questions about the futility of war and violence which are still as relevant today as they were 40 years ago.

These historically significant markers all provided multiple layers of rich visual material for Luc Peumans and his team which included associate and video content producer Michael Al Far to work with.

The production united the same creative team with whom Luc worked on 2015 hit The Bodyguard, and Painting with Light was

USA - Sponsored by High End Systems, the 2016 Hog Factor National Collegiate Lighting Show Programming Competition was held at the recent LDI exhibition in Las Vegas.

The contest was very close this year, with Webster University's team The Fauxtons ultimately winning the competition. The Fauxtons team of Josh Murphy, Natali Arco and Jon Ontiveros competed against The HOG Hushers from Carnegie Mellon University and Los Monos de Muerte from Southern Methodist University in the second annual contest. This year's First Prize included a Hog 4 console, a scholarship and a personal internship at High End Systems.

Once again, the contest was judged by a panel of lighting industry veterans; this year Jason Cain, Vickie Claiborne, Marc Lorenz and Patrick Dierson lent their expertise to the competition. Claiborne comments, "First off, all of the teams showed passion, talent and creat

USA - Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) has appointed Jim Bobel to the position of North US sales engineer, effective immediately. The announcement was made by Jim Newhouse, EAW's North American director of sales. In his new position, Bobel will be responsible for managing all EAW sales in the Northern US States from the Dakotas to Kansas and across to the East Coast.

"Having watched Jim in his previous positions, I have always respected his relationship building and customer focus," explains Newhouse. "His ability to grow new business and lead has set him apart from his peers. We are proud to have him join our team."

Bobel began his career working for Guitar Center where he climbed the ranks to general manager. Shortly thereafter he spent time as a manufacturers rep and in manufacturing sales. During that time he gained valuable experience about the market that is sure to bene

UK - Lighting controls expert, Artistic Licence, is preparing to showcase some new products at this year's Lux Live, taking place 23-24 November at the Excel centre, London.

The emphasis this year is on lighting controllers and DALI products, including the first outing for daliGate quad - a new product that converts Ethernet to four circuits of DALI.

To see some of the products in action, visit the Artistic Licence stand (P30) for a demonstration of lighting effects control.

The matisse range includes a number of panel mount lighting controllers with button or slider controls.

A DMX lighting controller with illuminated buttons, programmable via a laptop. Control 512 channels, create scenes or sequences; features a handy lamp library.

Similar to dmxLs512, but featuring illuminated sliders. Optional grand master control, scene/sequence playback, LTP for colour co

USA - Chauvet Professional's Rogue series continues to roll, packing an ever-more powerful (and brighter) punch with the addition of the new Rogue R3 Wash. Featuring 37 15-watt RGBW LEDS, this ruggedly designed moving wash, delivers an intense output of 21,000 lux at 5 meters when operating at 12? zoom.

The latest member of the Rogue family is loaded with performance features that reflect the needs of touring, rental and permanent install applications. "We developed the Rogue R3 Wash to be a complete design tool," said Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. "Aside from its very bright output and smooth colour mixing, it is also an extremely versatile fixture in terms of dimming, pixel mapping and programming options."

Exemplifying this versatility is the Rogue R3 Wash's dimming capabilities. The fixture has six distinct dimming modes to cover a wide range of design options. Smoot

USA - Audinate, creator of the industry-leading audio networking technology Dante, has announced the immediate availability of the Dante Analogue Output Module, a complete, small form factor PCB that allows for rapid development of Dante-to-analogue endpoints. Manufacturers can use this module in a variety of small footprint enclosures with appropriate analogue connectors to rapidly bring finished products to market.

The Dante Analogue Output Module supports one RJ45 Dante input, and one or two balanced analog outputs. The module can receive audio channels from a Dante network and provide studio-quality, low-latency audio via balanced output connectors to analogue audio equipment.

Any audio available on the Dante network can be routed via the outputs to an amplifier, powered speaker, mixing console, digital signal processor (DSP), or other analog audio device. Adapters (fo

Germany - Sennheiser has announced a new addition to its Professional Wireless Range: The upcoming Digital 6000 Series of radio microphones will "bring outstanding audio quality and rock-solid RF wireless transmission to demanding live productions".

The series uses the same long-range mode and proprietary Sennheiser Digital Audio Codec as the Digital 9000, Sennheiser's top-of-the-range wireless series. Comprising a two-channel receiver in two different versions, a bodypack and a handheld transmitter as well as a rack-mount 19" charging unit, the Digital 6000 Series will be available from March 2017.

"With Digital 6000, we have brought the key benefits of our benchmark Digital 9000 system to a two-channel receiver and associated handheld and bodypack transmitters. The series is an ideal choice for touring and rental companies, theatre and musical productions, broadcasting,

Germany - Midas' flagship PRO X console has been honoured as the sound engineers' ultimate mixing system of choice at Framus & Warwick Concert Hall, which sees the PRO X take centre stage in a state-of-the-art equipment specification.

Opened in the summer of 2014 as a 300-capacity event hall, the original Framus & Warwick Music Hall has firmly established itself on the itineraries of global touring bands. Having earned its place in the cultural life of the Vogtlandkreis in eastern Germany, the venue has gradually come to outgrow its capacity.

In search for only the highest quality equipment for a brand new, larger capacity Concert Hall, Marco Kuhnmunch of thomann Audio Professionell has been planning the whole Framus &Warwick Concert Hall in detail and has specified the system to meet the demands of a range of technically diverse sounds for a multitude of bands.

"Midas

UK - UK-based broadcast company Arena TV has upgraded their OB van fleet with Lawo's VSM taking a key role as its overall control system.

The major task and benefit of using the VSM system is that - even though the technology under the hood is being used for the first time - the workflow for the operators in the OB van is the same as that of a "standard" OB van. The VSM system creates a familiar workflow for users, and is the only control system on the market that is able to work in a fully IP-based environment as well as with other third-party equipment.

The OB van - named OBX and already being used for live production of English Premier League football - can multicast in SD, HD and UHD. UHD content can be produced in High Dynamic Range (HDR) concurrent with legacy feeds in Standard Dynamic Range (SDR). A second, almost identical truck named OBY is also already in service

UAE - Maestra Dubai's operation is expanding and has moved to a new warehouse facility in the Dubai Investment Park (DIP) area - more than doubling their workspace.

This follows a strong start to the year by the Dubai team led by Tom Clements. The company now has 18 full time staff with more joining shortly and 2016 has seen major investments in new sound, lighting, rigging and video equipment in response to this buoyance, in turn creating a need for more room for further streamline.

"Dedicated prep bays will assist in the overall speed and efficiency at which we can put productions out the door," explained Tom, "which will make a huge difference to the practical day-to-day operations. We're still right in the commercial centre of the city with excellent transport access and all the other advantages of a prime business location."

Tom also reveals that a new highly expe

Korea - The Holy Flames Methodist Church in Pangyo city, Korea, recently completed construction of its 1,850 capacity main chapel, and selected Allen & Heath's dLive digital mixing system at FOH.

"We wanted a digital mixer but I had my reservations about digital preamp performance. However, during a demo of the dLive system, I was very impressed by its preamp quality and intuitive user interface. Also, we can enjoy the benefits of future firmware updates," explains Pastor Yoonha Kim.

Supplied by distributor, Samasound, the system comprises an S3000 Surface with DM48 MixRack. The system manages a diverse worship programme, which includes a musical Friday evening service and three services on Sundays ranging from the traditional, involving a 60-strong choir with piano and organ accompaniment, to a youth service with 12 singers and a band, comprising saxophone, guitar, bass,

USA - Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw recently wrapped a tour with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. The Grammy nominated artist travelled across the country on a three month, 50+ show excursion that showcased both his popular hits and newest album, Something Worth Saving.

Lighting designer Mat Gass built a look that saved on space put still offered a great output with a functional floor package. "Bandit had everything I was looking for," he said, "There was no subs, no trying to steer me to another fixture and everything was packaged with space in mind."

Bandit's exclusive GRNLite Bars illuminated an Austrian style back drop with crinkle taffeta in silver grey, while six Bandit GoGo truss towers adorned with GLP X4S units and a CuePix WW2 LED blinder lined the stage. Robe Pointes were placed between the rolling base plates and around

UK - The Natural History Museum has commended the work of Blitz|GES after a successful Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards ceremony.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, owned and organised by the Natural History Museum, provides a showcase for the world's very best nature photography. One of the most prestigious photographic competitions of its kind, it attracts thousands of entries from nearly 100 countries.

Celebrating its 52nd year in 2016, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year series includes a major exhibition at the museum and a worldwide tour of more than 60 cities in the UK and across the world.

Blitz|GES was appointed to deliver a full suite of event production services including set design and build, lighting, video, sound and on-screen graphics.

Alice Beer, filming and events manager at The Natural History Museum said, "We're really p

USA - Over four decades of use, Nicholls State University's Mary and Al Danos Theater in Thibodaux, Louisiana, had only seen modest upgrades and equipment replacements since it first opened in 1969. But following an extensive renovation to the venue's seating, flooring, rigging, stage, lighting, and A/V components, the theatre has been brought into the 21st century. And with it, a new world of artistic possibilities has opened for the university and its theatre and music departments.

A collaboration between Theatre Projects, architect Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, and acoustician Jaffe Holden, the $6.7 million renovation of Talbot Hall addressed not only upgrades and modernization of the Danos Theater, but also improvements to the campus TV studio, radio station, several classrooms, and other communications department facilities located in the hall.

Improvements to the Danos Theater

Australia - Merivale is a large, fast-growing Australian hospitality operator with a number of high-profile pubs, bars and restaurants, mainly in the Sydney area.

The business is run by Justin Hemmes, who takes a very personal and hands-on interest in the audio; thus when The Newport was added to the portfolio this year, he and Merivale's AV Manager, Glenn Rayner were only likely to specify the best - and this included Martin Audio's new CDD (Coaxial Differential Dispersion) series and MLA (Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array).

Formerly known as the Newport Arms, the venue is a large shore-line pub with an al fresco garden area that looks out over the water.

Setting out the sound design rationale, Glenn Rayner explained, "We looked at the existing audio at The Newport and quickly established that the only way we'd get the sort of clarity and coverage we required was to ha

UAE - The newly-opened Dubai Water Canal is an extension of Deira Creek, linking Business Bay to the Arabic Gulf.

A Usd 550m project, the Dubai Water Canal comprises one shopping centre, four hotels, 450 restaurants, luxury housing, walkways and cycle paths. The Canal is 2.9 Km long, starting from Business Bay down to the Gulf through Safa Park and Jumeirah. The width ranges from 80mto 120m. The navigable canal is crossed by 12m high bridges.

One of the main visual attractions of the complex is the giant 160 m water feature of the Sheikh Zayed Dubai, a technical marvel that at night turns the bridge into a waterfall shining with the eye-catching magic of dynamic colour lighting.

For a project of this scale and complexity, the choice of the technical partner could only fall on Magical Water Fountains company, specializing in top level water feature projects realized all

UK - The hugely successful PLASA Focus Glasgow, returns to the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) on 18-19 January, 2017, bringing with it an expanded programme of seminars, panel sessions, console training and equipment demonstrations to sit alongside the ever-popular Riggers Forum.

"This is an important year for PLASA and for the Scottish live events sector," says PLASA's events director, Chris Toulmin, "we hope our continued investment in the Scottish market, through our Focus events and its seminar programme will reflect and support the Scottish government and VisitScotland's recently unveiled ten-year strategy to grow this sector."

Taking place across both days of the show, highlights on day one will include: Panel sessions led by audio journalist Phil Ward, who presents Is Point Source Fighting Back? an exploration of the varied applications of p

USA - Wenger Corporation of Owatonna, MN, a global provider serving the performing arts, music education, and athletic segments, has acquired the assets of SECOA, Inc. of Champlin, MN. Wenger, and its subsidiary J.R. Clancy, already provide a superior value proposition featuring the broadest array of quality solutions for the performing arts industry.

"Our strategy is focused on providing superior customer solutions and driving growth in each of our market segments," states Chris Simpson, president and CEO of Wenger Corporation. "The addition of SECOA builds on the momentum we are driving with the J.R. Clancy and Wenger brands to offer the most comprehensive integrated project solutions in the performing arts market.

"This acquisition further complements our integrating manufacturing model by bringing on board some of the key talent who have executed a similar model very s

Japan - Two new live venues were recently opened in Toyko - at Sarugakucho, Shibuya. One is the live venue, Space Odd, while the other is the nightclub, Sankeys TYO, which takes its name from the original venue in Manchester UK, which later set up in Ibiza. The unusual feature is that both Space Odd and Sankeys TYO are located at the same place and are equipped with a cutting-edge Martin Audio loudspeaker system.

Naoki Shimizu, CEO of Creativeman Productions Co. Ltd. takes up the story. A well-known organizer of Japanese music festivals such as Summer Sonic, he had heard about the impending closure of the previous nightclub and decided to develop a permanent location for his company to showcase live entertainment for the first time.

He approached MSI Japan to supply the sound system and Takashi 'Kon' Imaoka from Martin Audio distributor Audio Brains was placed in charge of

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