Sound Devices has announced the launch of Astral Mini Plus, the latest iteration of the brand’s compact wireless transmitter bodypacks. The new Mini Plus wireless transmitter builds on the proven success of the original with a familiar ergonomic form factor and rugged performance while also adding longer battery life, extended tuning flexibility, IP67 water resistance, and improved usability features for faster setup times and operation. This makes Astral Mini Plus well-suited for challenging location sound, live music, and live theatre productions of any size or scope. Sound Devices Astral transmitters and receivers have become a favourite of location sound and…
Author: Alicia Pollitt
Shure has welcomed two new Vice Presidents and announced the appointment of a longtime Company officer to its Executive Staff. Phil McPhee has joined Shure as Vice President of Operations and Chief Supply Chain Officer. He will be a member of the Executive Staff. McPhee brings more than two decades of global leadership experience across operations, manufacturing, sourcing, and product-driven organizations in the pro and consumer audio industries. He has led complex, multi-site operations across North America, Europe, and Asia, with a strong track record of scaling global supply chains, strengthening operational excellence, and aligning manufacturing strategy with long-term business growth.…
NST Audio has announced the appointment of Contact Distribution as its distribution partner for Canada. Founded in 1988 Contact focus on professional audio and audio networking solutions, for large and small-scale installations, touring and live venues. Bill Coons, the Director of Sales and founder of the company, is proud of the support they offer: “We are a family affair, with my son Brandon handling central Canadian sales, my brother-in-law Scott on operations, and my partner of 52 years Linda (our CFO), handling finance and me! Being related brings its advantages – we always know what’s going on, but maybe…
NoNonsense Group has delivered a clear statement at the 2026 Event Production Awards, taking home the accolades of both the Legend Award and Best Staging Provider. Co-founder and director Liz Madden was recognised with the Legend Award, a reflection of more than three decades working at the sharp end of live event production. Madden’s contribution extends well beyond project delivery. As co-chair of the Production Services Association, she has played a consistent role in shaping industry standards, supporting workforce development and pushing for a more joined-up approach across suppliers. Over more than 20 years as a PSA member, including over…
Immersive audio specialist Areal has appointed POLAR as the official distributor for its entire professional audio portfolio in Great Britain. From its Belgium headquarters, Areal develops hardware and software that make immersive audio accessible in real-world live sound, installation, and content creation scenarios. The manufacturer’s Upmix Engine hardware converts stereo content into spatial audio in real time, providing venues and rental companies with an answer to the challenge of accommodating stereo performances on immersive systems. The company is also set to launch the SR1 spatial reference headphone, combining a quad-driver architecture in each earcup with Areal’s Acoustic Image Mapping technology,…
ADJ has announced its participation in MIR Expo 2026, taking place 12–14 April at the Rimini Expo Centre in Rimini, Italy. As a key gathering for lighting designers, rental companies, integrators, and entertainment technology professionals, the show offers an ideal platform for ADJ to connect with the Italian market and demonstrate its latest innovations. At this year’s event, ADJ will debut a range of exciting new fixtures to the Italian market and also showcase a selection of proven, popular products already widely adopted across the region. ADJ will introduce a lineup of new fixtures to the Italian market at the…
White Light (WL) supported lighting designer Matt Ladkin on Dance//Offline, The Manor LDN’s dynamic dance festival held at Indigo at The O2. As one of London’s leading dance studios, The Manor LDN has built a reputation for elevating training and performance opportunities for dancers of all levels. Their commitment to championing creativity and community has positioned them as a driving force in the capital’s dance culture, and this festival marks an ambitious extension of that mission. Based in Finsbury Park, The Manor LDN offers a broad programme of classes led by industry‑leading choreographers and performers. Following the success of their…
Over the past five years, DiGiCo’s Quantum 225 has proven itself as a powerful workhorse for live music venues, tours, festivals, theatres, houses of worship, and many other uses. Now, the compact mixing console has evolved with the introduction of the Quantum 225 DS. Featuring dual integral screens giving users expanded capabilities, this latest addition to the Quantum lineup represents a robust, festival-ready, and competitively-priced console. Whereas the standard Quantum 225 features a left-panel bracket to accommodate a channel or overview screen, KLANG:kontroller, or laptop, the Quantum 225 DS is equipped with two 17-inch, full-colour, daylight-bright TFT multitouch screens for enhanced workflow…
UK-based pro audio provider 22live has strengthened its wireless offering with a strategic investment in DPA Microphones’ new N-Series Digital Wireless System, reinforcing the company’s long-standing commitment to delivering premium audio solutions for touring, corporate and live event applications. As an official DPA dealer, the addition of N-Series marks a natural evolution for 22live’s services, allowing the company to offer a fully integrated DPA signal chain, from capsule to transmission. A recent UK tour with Dutty Moonshine Big Band provided an ideal proving ground for the new wireless system. “When we first encountered the N-Series, we were intrigued,” said Alex…
Lighting designer and programmer Valentin Nebati of TightLight enjoyed a busy 2025 working with several artists and projects, including as lighting director and operator for singer-songwriter and guitarist Jean-Louis Aubert’s acclaimed PAFINI concert series. This tour saw the superstar plus a full band play shows across France, Belgium and Switzerland, a mix of Zenith and arena venues, culminating in a massive finale at Paris’ La Défense Arena in December. Nebati chose to work with a grandMA3 control system for lighting and video control after joining Jean-Louis Aubert’s creative team in February 2025, where he was working closely with lighting and…
Renkus-Heinz has expanded its Tech Support operations with the latest addition of Tony Jacques as Applications Engineer. He will serve as a key technical resource for integrators, consultants, and end users, providing hands-on guidance and supporting the deployment of Renkus-Heinz solutions across a wide range of applications. Jacques’ audio background has taken him all over the world, working in a range of fields that have provided him with the expertise to strengthen the customer support of one of the world’s leading loudspeaker manufacturers. His career spans live sound, touring, installation, broadcast, and event production, giving him a comprehensive understanding of…
Elation is expanding its KL Key Light Series of LED Fresnel luminaires with the IP65-rated KL FRESNEL IP Series, bringing the familiar character of a true Fresnel to any environment. Available in weather-ready six-inch or eight-inch models with versatile design options, KL FRESNEL IP fixtures project soft-field light across the full colour spectrum. They meet the strict standards of light-critical, noise-sensitive venues such as broadcast studios and theatres. Built for any environment and engineered to simplify setup, each fixture uses an RGBMA engine combined with customised optics to enable precise colour reproduction across a stage or studio system from rich…
Ignacio Rosenberg stuck with some fixtures from the house rig at the BleauLive Theatre in Las Vegas in his light show for Marc Anthony’s first-ever Las Vegas residency. “This is an excellent venue and from the very beginning my idea was to maximise the existing inventory in the house for the residency,” said Rosenberg. “It seemed like a misuse of finances to take the theatre’s properly appointed rig and empty it to put in a different properly appointed rig! We also had to load our first show in on the day it was scheduled to run, so making that transition…
Point Source Audio’s CO-8WL lavalier microphone has proven itself as Poti Martin’s go-to choice for musical theatre. Since first adopting the Californian manufacturer’s microphones as his primary solution in 2020, he has used them on more than 2,500 productions across Europe. As a veteran sound designer with more than 30 years’ experience in musical theatre sound design, Martin knows that microphone choice plays a critical role in supporting the performance without drawing attention to the technology behind it. “In theatre, I hate seeing microphones,” said Martin. “I like microphones to be totally hidden. I love when people leave the show…
While in many Western countries’ New Year’s Eve TV concerts are produced in a more modest format, Poland continues its tradition of large-scale, high-impact live broadcasts. The most recent Sylwester z Dwójką celebration took place in Silesia in front of the iconic Arena Spodek in Katowice, continuing the legacy of Poland’s biggest televised New Year’s production. The outdoor stage hosted world-class artists, with Sting headlining the event. The scale of the production required an extensive technical setup. In total, the lighting rig consisted of 1,700 fixtures, 350 of which were GLP fixtures. These were supplied by ATM System, the company…
Thousands of aspiring young creatives descended on the Roundhouse on 9 March 2026 for Production Futures On Tour: London, a free event connecting the next generation with careers across the live events, music, broadcast, film and creative industries. Now in its second year at the iconic Camden venue, the event saw more than 4,500 young people register to attend, with stands, talks and networking spaces packed throughout the day. More than 70 industry and education partners were on site offering advice, insight and opportunities across a wide range of creative and technical roles. PF On Tour also saw over 200…
Montreux Jazz Festival has announced a new multi-year collaboration with Gravity Media, who will become the Festival’s Audio Visual Production Provider following a robust proposal process for a 3+2-year agreement. Gravity Media will work in close collaboration with Montreux Media Ventures (MMV), the Festival’s dedicated audiovisual production arm, to deliver world-class live and recorded coverage across the Festival’s stages, platforms and broadcast partners. Gravity Media succeeds RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse), the Swiss public broadcaster, who has worked with the Festival for the last five years and will remain a key Montreux Jazz Festival partner. 2026 marks the 60th edition of…
Adlib supplies CODA Audio VCA system for Jimmy Carr’s Laughs Funny U.K. arena tour. After selling more than a million tickets on his international ‘Terribly Funny 2.0’ tour in 2023, Jimmy Carr recently returned to the stage with Laughs Funny, a follow-up which began in the USA and continued throughout the UK and Europe. Liverpool-based events production specialists Adlib were engaged to supply audio for the UK leg of Laughs Funny, a series of ten arena dates where Carr performed two shows per day. Having regularly provided production for many of the leading lights of British comedy, including Russell Howard,…
