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03 July 2024

Japan - Connected to the largest freshwater lake in Japan, Karahashi Deck in Otsu City is a multifunctional facility offering water sports, corporate training, education, and a glass-enclosed restaurant with a stunning view. Sitting on the banks of the Seta River, the new venue is operated by Biwako Rowing Club – an organisation that offers rowing classes to children with disabilities. The newly opened café and restaurant, La Cosso, offers a naturally serene environment, which is complemented by six 4020 installation loudspeakers from Genelec.

Alongside its water sports lessons and educational seminars, Karahashi Deck aims to provide employment support for people with disabilities, through work in the café, boat repairs and additional roles across the site. Genelec helped to provide a relaxing environment where people with and without disabilities can in

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03 July 2024

Portugal - Europalco orchestrated the 120th Anniversary Gala for Sport Lisboa e Benfica, the Portuguese football club. The event, known as the Cosme Damião Awards, was held at the MEO Arena in Lisbon and paid tribute to the rich history and achievements of the club, as well as the personalities who have contributed to its legacy.

The Cosme Damião Awards is a ceremony that recognises the achievements of Sport Lisboa e Benfica and pays tribute to Cosme Damião, one of the club's founding fathers. This annual event holds immense significance in the hearts of Benfica fans and the sporting community, as it commemorates the club's enduring legacy and honours its brightest stars.

The centrepiece of the gala was the 70m x 12m main screen, creatively designed to resemble the wings of the Benfica eagle, the club's symbol. Europalco used 12 Christie Boxer pro

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02 July 2024

France - Alain Corthout’s production design for Black Eyed Peas show at La Défense Arena in Paris reflected the music and stage persona of the LA band with a transcended visual panorama that wove light and video together in concentric patterns.

“The lighting and video concept aimed to create a seamless fusion of elements, utilizing expansive curves and circles to present a unified visual experience,” said Corthout. “By integrating concentric rims extending from the video screens, we sought to evoke a sense of grandeur and cohesion within the large venue setting.”

Using this canvas, Corthout unfolded a narrative over a show that spanned more than two hours and featured a 24-song set list. “The narrative of the show centred on encapsulating the joyous, ecstatic, party atmosphere synonymous with the Black Eyed Peas' music,” he explained.

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02 July 2024

Chile - MA Lighting International has announced MMT as new exclusive MA distribution partner in Chile. From this month, MMT will offer the entire MA Lighting product range, support & service for hardware and software, as well as training.

Stephan Saremba, managing director of MA Lighting International comments, “We are excited about joining forces with MMT to develop our brand in the Chilean market. Both companies have a clear focus on providing high-quality products, excellent customer service and solutions to address customer needs in the various markets we are active in.

“With the commitment and expertise of MMT a strong sales force present in many regions and a well-trained and dedicated technical service we are aiming to resume and strengthen relationships with existing MA users as well as to expand into new markets. We are delighted to

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02 July 2024

Spain/Chile - zactrack has announced new distributors for Spain and Chile – SeeSound and MMT respectively.

"We are delighted to partner up with SeeSound for the distribution of zactrack in Spain.”, says Stephan Saremba, managing director for zactrack International. “With their wide product portfolio of audio, lighting and video solutions as well as an extremely passionate team of professionals in each market sector, we find SeeSound to be the right partner for us to bring fully automated tracking technology into the Spanish market.

“We are looking forward to work hand in hand with SeeSound, strengthen relationships with existing users and to expand into new markets. We are truly excited to continue to drive tracking solutions and creative tools to our users in Spain."

Nacho Alberdi, CEO of Seesound adds, “The tracking system is some

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02 July 2024

Finland - The country’s biggest rap stars descended on the Nokia Arena in Tampere recently to treat more than 10,000 music lovers to a night of pumped-up performance, with live action footage and pre-made content on an LED cube and wraparound ticker screens powered by tvONE's Green Hippo brand of Hippotizer Media Servers.

Organised by the international Rockstar Energy Drink brand in association with Def Agency and Warner Music Live, rappers including Ahti, Cledos and Elastinen played the in-the-round stage. This was dominated by a star-shaped overhead lighting truss and a 360-degree, four-fascia LED cube, and a DJ booth and stage riser formed of ROE Black Pearl 3 screens. LED stars – the branding of Rockstar – were built from Sceptron linear fixtures and rigged throughout the arena and from the ceiling truss. All the lighting and Hippotizers were contr

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02 July 2024

UK - Pixl Evolution, provider of event technology and production services, has recently achieved ISO 27001 certification. This significant milestone underscores the company's dedication to ensuring the security and privacy of client data.

In today's digital events landscape, ensuring data security is crucial for both event organisers and their chosen suppliers. Pixl Evolution, who achieved the certification as part of the Entertainment Technology Partners (ETP) family of brands, is proud to be one of the few technical production companies to achieve ISO 27001 certification.

The ISO 27001 certification process is rigorous and demanding. It requires companies to establish a comprehensive framework for managing information security risks. This includes identifying vulnerabilities, implementing robust security controls, and maintaining a culture of secur

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02 July 2024

Greece - The country’s hospitality industry is gearing up for another busy summer, with operators increasingly upgrading to world-class sound systems as the importance of music and sound is recognised more and more as central to driving revenues in flexible venues for eating, drinking and dancing.

Athens-based Nexo distributor IMA Audio Lighting has been busy this year designing and installing Nexo systems in hospitality settings across the country.

With a vibrant and energetic atmosphere complete with music and dancing, the Barbarossa Restaurant occupies a prominent position on the waterside in the picturesque fishing village of Naoussa on the island of Paros.

A new installation of just six Nexo compact ID24 speakers with three IDS110 subs has given this venue what the owner describes as ‘the best sound on Paros’, with the versatility

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02 July 2024

UK - The annual Hay Festival returned from 23 May - 2 June to the picturesque town in Powys, Wales attracting over 250K visitors.

Founded in 1987, Hay Festival Global has grown into one of the most celebrated literary charities in the world and delivers events with authors, thought leaders and artists from around the globe. This spring’s edition in Hay-on-Wye featured 800 conversations and performances with diverse voices and genres including best-selling novelists, pioneering scientists, influential politicians, comedians, musicians and innovative artists.

Stage Sound Services based in Cardiff worked closely with the production team and provisioned all the technical equipment and installation to the seven venues located throughout the site. The Stage Sound Services team have worked directly with the charity’s in-house team for the last three yea

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02 July 2024

New Zealand - NW Group is New Zealand’s largest live event technology and full production – lighting, audio, and video – specialist in New Zealand, where it’s represented by the Oceania and Spyglass brands with bases in Auckland and Wellington on the North Island.

The company has recently invested in 24 new Robe Spiider LED wash beams which are added to their 56 x Robe BMFLs (32 x Spots and 24 x Blades), delivered via distributor, Jands New Zealand.

NW Group’s work encompasses arts, performance and entertainment shows, concert touring, all types of corporates, special projects and they are also service providers to some of the busiest venues including the New Zealand International Convention Centre in Auckland.

They were looking for value and solidly reliable LED wash beam that could be used in any environment explained head of ligh

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02 July 2024

UK - Tunes in the Dunes is the apt name given to an annual three-day festival on Perranporth Beach in Cornwall.

The festival has been running on the golden sands for 11 years, having sprung up from the live music events at the beachside Watering Hole.

Based nearby in Plymouth, Martin Audio partner Nub Sound this year provided the technical infrastructure, deploying their Wavefront Precision Compact (WPC), eight elements a side, which ensured headliners McFly (Friday), Craig David (Saturday) and Ocean Colour Scene (Sunday) could be heard to the max by crowds assembling on the beach as their music drifted out towards the Atlantic Ocean.

On duty was Nub Sound director of operations and sound engineer Josh Small. He explained that in addition to the eight WPC per side, a cardioid sub array of eight SXH218 in a castellated format, ensured rear rej

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02 July 2024

USA - The Terre Haute Casino Resort in Indiana just celebrated its grand opening with integrated 1 Sound loudspeakers. NV5, consulting and engineering firm, and American Sound and Electronics worked together to design and install various AV aspects in the resort. The 56,000sq.ft gaming floor has 1,000 slot machines, 50 table games, poker rooms, and a TwinSpires Sportsbook area.

For the central bar on the gaming floor, American Sound installed a 360º, dual-sided, LED video wall above the bar. Both teams together implemented 1 Sound loudspeakers for this bar where they would expect live music, live sporting event audio, and background music.

For this central bar, two of 1 Sound’s Contour CT28s were deployed in the ceiling paired with SUB310s. These three-way, constant directivity, horn-loaded, point sources provided the SPL and energy needed for the

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02 July 2024

Airport Music - Heathrow Airport has launched a live music stage. Based in Terminal 5, the first show featured performances from acoustic rock band China Bears, folk singer-songwriter The Halfway Kid and R'n'B artist Olivia Nelson.

Heathrow said those performing on the stage have "access to an audience bigger than Glastonbury", as it expects 30m passengers to travel through its terminals this summer. "The Heathrow Introducing stage isn't just about providing entertainment, it's about propelling careers to new heights," said Karoline Komolafe, of music events company Sofar Sounds, which has partnered with Heathrow. "It's a game-changer for those aiming to break into the industry, especially with festival season at its peak, offering exposure to execs travelling through.

Heathrow director of services Tonia Fielding said: "We're proud that we're providi

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01 July 2024

Germany - Just before the start of UEFA Euro 2024, Frankfurt, one of the 10 host cities, set the stage for four weeks of international football fever with a spectacular multimedia show. The show, a collaboration between bright! studios and spatial experiences agency Atelier Markgraph on behalf of Tourismus + Congress Frankfurt, transformed one of the city’s notable bridges over the Main River (Flößerbrücke) into a gigantic musical instrument. 

The bridge, covered in the colours of the 24 participating nations for the duration of the European Championship, became the centrepiece of the football world for the 25-minute show. Lighting designer Thomas Giegerich from bright! used 96 Proteus Excalibur, 48 Proteus Maximus and 48 of Elation’s new Pulse Bar L linear lighting solutions to visually bring the concept to life. Kaiser Showtechnik was responsible f

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01 July 2024

USA - After a successful unveiling at InfoComm 2024, LEA Professional is introducing advanced DSP versions of its Connect Series amplifiers. These amplifiers join the company's extensive technology catalogue.

The new advanced DSP versions of the Connect Series include 350-, 700-, and 1500-watt models with D-units providing Dante and AES67 connectivity. Available in two channel (CS352-ADSP, CS702-ADSP, CS352D-ADSP, CS702D-ADSP) and four channel (CS354-ADSP, CS704-ADSP, CS1504-ADSP, CS354D-ADSP, CS704D-ADSP, CS1504D-ADSP) offerings, each features 96kHz linear phase FIR crossover filters with 2048 taps per channel, four seconds of input delay, under 10-second power-on to audio when PoE is used, and FIR-based speaker tunings.

The new advanced DSP versions enhance LEA Professional’s Network Connect Series of professional amplifiers and companion Dante C

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01 July 2024

Denmark - Powersoft’s Unica amplifier platform is the backbone to recently refurbished screening rooms in Nordisk Film Cinemas’ Danish cinema Kinopalæet.

Nordisk Film Cinemas, a prominent cinema chain in the Scandinavia, recently refurbished two screening rooms in its Kinopalæet cinema, north of Copenhagen.

Kinopalæet turned to Powersoft Unica amplifiers in order to achieve a stable audio experience to its cinemagoers. Spearheading the rooms’ refurbishment was Jan Rasmussen, head of screen technology at Nordisk Film Cinemas: “The main factors in choosing audio equipment for cinema are quality, features and stability,” he says. “We prefer using networked sound in our cinemas because of the flexibility and cost efficiency and Powersoft fits perfect in all these categories.”

The refurbishment was done in two rooms, Screen 8 with

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01 July 2024

Australia - Adriano Candeloro is a founding director and technology guru at Sightline Productions – a busy and successful NSW-based AV and rental company that covers a range of corporate and B2B clients across Australia, New Zealand and much further afield with a variety of international work.

Joe Murray is also a founding director, and they and the team are all big fans of Astera, having first started hearing about the brand a few years back when the neon lighting look was very popular in Australia.

The first Astera products to arrive at Sightline were AX1 PixelTubes that joined the inventory in 2019, a figure that’s now jumped to over 50 fixtures.

In addition to these, they also have AX2 LED battens, AX3 LiteDrops, AX5 TriplePARs, AX9 PowerPARs, as well as the 2 metre Hyperion Tubes and the half metre Helios Tubes, totalling over 200 As

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01 July 2024

Germany - Neumann & Müller (N&M) is establishing a new logistics site at a freight transport centre in Augsburg. The company intends to use the location as a base for moving equipment to and from trade fair locations in the south and southwest of Germany as well as for serving recurring event productions in the region. The company is aiming to ‘boost its performance capability in its enterprise-wide logistics operations so that it can better meet the constantly growing demands placed on the various N&M business units’.

Setting up the new site in Augsburg will increase the number of logistics sites to three: up to now, Bochum and Leipzig have served as the main handling locations for a large part of the equipment. Measuring around 10,000 m², this new site can handle a similar capacity to the other two locations and will have two positive eff

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01 July 2024

USA - This year’s Bonnaroo festival was hot. During the three-day event, temperatures were consistently in the 90s (+30°C), sometimes reaching 100°F, with plenty of humidity and one thunderstorm thrown in.

These conditions made the covered This and That Tents welcome places to cool off. These shaded venues offered much more than more than thermal relief; they also served up “some of the best sets of the weekend”.

Anyone who caught Dashboard Confessional’s Superjam emo performance with a bevy of special guest stars on the This Tent Stage would readily agree with that assessment. So too would those captivated by Thundercat’s thunderous bass on the That Tent Stage. Throw in performances by GWAR, Eggy, Taking Back Sunday, Interpol, IDLES, and more, and there was plenty to get swept up by in the shade of the tents.

Adding to the energy

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01 July 2024

USA - Cloud Microphones has announced a new partnership with Eric Hollaway, celebrated bass vocalist, voice-over (VO) artist and social media sensation known as ‘thatbassvoice’.

Hollaway has captivated millions with his deep, resonant voice and versatile performances for household brands like ESPN, Mercedes-Benz, General Mills, the US Army and many more.

“Partnering with Cloud Microphones feels like a natural step forward in my musical journey," said Hollaway. "The clarity and warmth that the Cloud 44-A Ribbon mic brings to my vocals have impressed me, and the Cloudlifter has been an indispensable tool in my recording setup. I'm truly excited about what this partnership signifies for the future of my music and the quality I can bring to my fans."  

"Eric is a phenomenal talent and we're honoured to have him join the Cloud family," sta