USA - The creative forces of Blue Man Group (BMG) have been working for two years to bring an all-new production to the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. This international entertainment phenomenon - one of many adaptations around the globe from Berlin to Boston -comprises a trio of blue men and an electrifying combination of music and inventive technology celebrating the intersection of art and apparatus. The show, co-created with world-renowned 3-D designer Michael Curry, adds a few new elements to the mix: instruments (including Percussipede, a musical centipede of percussion instruments), a six-piece band and a Showbot robot character.

One of the casino's interior theatres was gutted for BMG's new Vegas home and its audio team descended on the space to build out the

China - The 1912 blocks of the trendy Nanjing, China are draped in history and modern luxuries. The year 1912 is known as one of the most bustling and prosperous periods in the history of Nanjing and the district carries over the historical and nostalgic background in its architecture and layout. Built around the Presidential Palace, the commercial buildings still carry characteristics of the Republic of China over a century later. Nanjing's popularity is rooted in its vibrant nightlife, trendy shops and restaurants.

Club Enzo is the latest addition to the popular strip and this new 9500ft² club is considered the flagship venue of the Nanjing Trendsetter Entertainment Management Co brand. The club was designed and architecturally constructed with high calibre dance music in mind. Adamson products were chosen due to their effectiveness and performance, and installed as a distrib

UK - As part of the company's international expansion strategy, Northern Light has announced the appointment of Terry Abbs.

Abbs will be responsible for Northern Light's international business development activities and has many years' experience of successfully implementing global sales strategies for the entertainment technology sector.

Abbs commented, "It's great to have joined Northern Light at this exciting time for the company and I'm looking forward to working closely with the team to develop and expand our international business strategy. I have known Northern Light for many years, both as a partner and a competitor, and it is a company I have always respected as being highly professional and committed to delivering quality and innovation with conscience."

Colin Cuthbert, managing director of Northern Light, concluded, "I'm delighted that we have secur

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Sweden - Pro Audio industry veteran Doug Green has launched a new consultancy to provide strategic business development and sales channel support - with a focus on the installed sound market - for manufacturers and distributors in the professional audio industry. DGC Worldwide, as the name suggests, will provide these services across international regions, on a customized as-needed basis.

"In launching DGCW, I can now leverage the wide array of experiences I have gained in the fundamental business domains of the international pro audio business for clients in every market. I intend to support my clients in growing and strengthening their sales organizations, penetrating new geographic and vertical markets, and succeeding with new products - affordably and efficiently," said Green.

With over 25 years of experience in pro audio sales, installation and business developm

UK - Later this month, entertainment lighting specialist White Light will showcase the latest lighting and effects solutions for film and television at the BVE Expo, which moves to ExCel London for this year's event on 26-28 February.

Exhibiting for the third consecutive year, White Light sees the BVE Expo as an opportunity to bring its comprehensive selection of products and services to the broadcast and TV industries. "It is important for us to support industry professionals with the right tools for the job," says sales director Peter Threadgold, "The BVE Expo gives us a great opportunity to share our newest lighting technologies and hear feedback directly from customers."

On stand AA15, White Light will display products from Altman, Arri, Coemar, CORE Lighting, Galaxia Electronics, Look Solutions, PR Lighting, Prism Projection, Robert Juliat and Rosco.

UK - Christie has published and released The Book of Shapes - a 'coffee table' style book "showcasing projects around the globe that are redefining the use of display technology in everything from retail stores to museums and corporate spaces".

A free download as an interactive iPad app, PDF, or hard copy, the book explores how Christie MicroTiles have allowed architects and designers to introduce inventive, irregular shapes into projects where video, motion graphics and interactive content are applied.

The release of The Book of Shapes: International Design Inspirations Featuring Christie MicroTiles coincided with Christie's largest ever presence at the Integrated Systems Europe trade show in Amsterdam and comes on the third anniversary of the market release of Christie MicroTiles.

The Book of Shapes app features MicroTiles installations from

UK - Star Events Group Ltd has signed a preferred supplier agreement with R.C Robinson Haulage Ltd. These two long standing Bedfordshire based companies have been working together over the past year and chose to formalise what has been a very successful relationship between them for some time. This agreement coincides with significant changes introduced by Cheryl Bowden the new logistics manager at Star Events Group.

After 25 years of running their own trucks, Star Events have made the switch to subcontracting all of their haulage in order to introduce cost savings and efficiencies. Bowden says, "I'm really pleased to have found a local supplier with a strong fleet of vehicles, which not only do the job but look the part too. Robinsons have proved themselves to be extremely professional offering consistently high standards of service over the past year and we're all looking

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Case Study: Hans Zimmer Live

When award winning film composer Hans Zimmer brought his smash-hit tour Hans Zimmer Live to North America fall 2024, the show's audio team sought out to bring infrafrequency bass to the show to add new depth to the show's audio experience. The team chose Danley Sound Labs.

USA - Bandit Lites reports that it is lighting Barry Manilow's return to Broadway. After more than two decades, Manilow brings his l collection of hits to the St. James Theatre on Broadway. Opening night for Manilow on Broadway was Tuesday, 29 January 2013 and the show will run until 2 March.

Lighting designer Seth Jackson worked diligently with Manilow to create an elegant and polished environment for the intimacy of a Broadway house. While some lighting designers could be daunted by the compact environment, Jackson adapted his design to fit the traditional venue with legs, borders and proscenium.

"Cues can have more subtly and precision, colour choices can read much clearer, and the kind of looks and focus choices you make are much more contained," said Jackson of the smaller space. "We did our best in the process to forego the 'usuals' of the concert look and

UK - XL Events supplied Haymarket Exhibitions with LED screens, projection, camera systems, control and crew for their annual fashion event, Clothes Show Live.

The event took place over five days at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre in December, with top designers and fashion retailers showing the hottest upcoming trends.

The central point of the exhibition was the Suzuki Fashion Theatre, a catwalk show that ran several times daily and featured more than 40 models and dancers.

For the catwalk show, XL Events supplied a 4.5m wide by 5.4m high LED screen located centrally at the rear of the stage. This was formed from 120 tiles of lightweight Pixled FX-11.

The LED screen was flanked either side by scenic projection using double stacks of Barco FLM HD 20 projectors, managed by chief projectionist Chris Johnson.

Built into the end of the main runway was an LED floor, u

UK - One Direction performed from a stunning sloping stage designed and built by LS-Live for the band's video game themed sets on ITV's X Factor final at the end of 2012. The hit talent show culminated in a live final at Manchester Central with the boyband as special guests.

The production team was keen to raise the tempo of the show by producing a stage set that would differentiate the band's performance from the contestants, whilst fitting seamlessly in to the existing production at the venue.

Production manager on the job, Kenny Underwood of Cheeky Rascal Productions, is a long-standing client of LS-Live's. He contacted the company direct to bring to life the designs of Stufish's Ray Winkler, in just one week. The 3m wide by 12m long stage, which sloped up to a height of 2.5m, had to be assembled and roll on the stage in just three minutes.

LS-Live custom built a s

Canada - The North American premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Wizard of Oz was set for the new year at Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre, where a pair of grandMA2s is now on hand to control lighting and video for the new musical.

A.C.T Lighting Canada, in Toronto, supplied the grandMA2s to programmer Joe Allegro of Artistic Illuminations. Hugh Vanstone is the show's lighting designer.

"The show was originally on grandMA 'series 1', but we decided to move all the lighting and video to grandMA2 when the show was remounted in Toronto," says Allegro. "The decision was based on the length of the show commitment: eight months in Toronto and then on tour. In terms of hardware, the grandMA2 is a new platform and very solid; 99 percent of the information from the original production has come across."

Allegro is particularly pleased with the grandMA2's perfor

UAE - Following the success of the inaugural Dynamic Events Conference in 2012, Mondiale Publishing has announced an expanded, and enhanced conference and networking platform for 2013.

In addition to the introduction of an expanded two-day conference, allowing for more debate, keynote speeches and networking, the conference organisers have announced a new location - The Jumeirah Emirates Tower Hotel in Dubai, UAE.

Taking place on 10-11 March 2013, the Dynamic Events Conference is aimked at those involved in the production, delivery and broadcast of global one-off events.

This year's confirmed speakers at Dynamic Events 2013 include Piers Shepherd, Sakchin Bessette, Marc Schneider, Tim Dunn, Dave Crump, Scott Willsallen, Jerry Appelt and Hamish Hamilton. The conference is being sponsored by an array of companies including Sennheiser, Clay Paky, Martin Professional, Optocore,

USA - Syncrolite has announced the appointment of respected industry veteran David Keighley as Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, effective from 1 January this year. Jack Calmes - founder of the company in 1984 - continues as President/CEO but with a view to gradually hand over the reins as he plans for his eventual retirement.

Keighley has relocated from the UK to Syncrolite's headquarters on Royal Lane, Dallas, to lead ongoing global efforts with the Syncrolite staff and crew. Jimmy Page heads the live event side of rental and sales, while Keighley will also concentrate on live events with heavy focus on the architectural and sports lighting markets.

As part of the new business model, Syncrolite has also gained a new private equity partner, Hall Capital Partners, based in Oklahoma. "With the backing of Hall Capital, we can continue to develop and impr

Denmark - Once confined to concert venues and festival stages, popular music is increasingly found in the halls of academia. Newly equipped with a variety of Meyer Sound wide-coverage loudspeakers, the Rhythmic Music Conservatory (Rytmisk Musikkonservatorium or RMC) in Copenhagen has been at the forefront of contemporary music education since it was established in 1986. Today RMC offers coursework in music performance, music education, music and movement education, sound technology, music management, and songwriting.

With a direct connection to the Danish Ministry of Culture, the RMC prides itself on high standards and has consistently maintained an audio inventory to match. For its latest upgrade of the concert hall, EBB-consult outlined an exacting tender process, obliging companies to propose a loudspeaker configuration able to satisfy two distinct objectives.

"Firstly

Germany - Rental company Sound Linear, based in northern Westfalia, has completed a diverse run of shows with its new Nexo STM modular line array PA, after taking delivery of the first system in Germany from Nexo distributor audiovation.

"We saw the possibilities of STM immediately," says Sound Linear's Kalle Hogrefe. "Its modularity allows us to use different components of the system separately, making it suitable for large and small events alike. And we can use it for a whole range of different music, from classical events, through to singer/songwriters and rock and roll."

In a very short time, Sound Linear has already deployed its STM system for a variety of events and tours, including dates with British bands from the 1970s on their reunion tour Sweet, Smokie, Showaddywaddy and Boney M.

"At this stage, we'd only taken delivery of the M46 Main and

UK - Allen & Heath has updated its GLD digital mixing system firmware to V1.1, adding a range of enhancements including support for the forthcoming GLD iPad app and ME personal mixing system, new Graphic EQ emulations, and customer requested additions to Scene management functionality.

V1.1 will support full integration with Allen & Heath's newly-launched ME personal mixing system, allowing connection of the ME-1 personal mixer or ME-U connection hub to GLD's AR2412 monitor port. This enables the automatic transfer of channel naming information from GLD to the ME system for quick and easy system setup.The firmware update also supports the new GLD Remote iPad app, which will allow wireless remote control of all mixes in GLD.

All GLD mix outputs now benefit from a choice of four Graphic EQ emulations with accurate modelling algorithms: classic 1/3rd octave Constant-Q, industry s

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd's Audio division recently supplied the University of Cumbria with a quantity of channel 38 compliant Sennheiser wireless microphone and in-ear monitoring systems for their busy Performing Arts and Media courses.

By 31 December 2012 all production industry wireless radio microphone and IEM system users were required by law to switch to the new UK wide channel 38 (606-614 MHz) frequencies in the UK.

Understanding the importance of the digital switchover, University of Cumbria's senior sound technician, Brian Brooks was keen to ensure the University complied with the new regulations. He therefore approached A.C. Audio, who provide a comprehensive digital switchover help and advice service for anyone in need of assistance.

Having successfully used Sennheiser radio microphones at the University for a number of years, Brian was natu

UK - Pharos Architectural Controls has announced that Mark de Gruyter has joined the company as senior sales manager responsible for the EMEA region.

Chris Hunt, managing director of Pharos, said, "Mark's years of sales experience will be invaluable in helping to develop our client base and his appointment ensures we can respond quickly and effectively to the needs of our customers in these territories."

Previously representing Element Labs, Vari*Lite/PRG, High End Systems and most recently Kinesys, de Gruyter commented, "It's a busy and exciting time of growth at Pharos and this is a great opportunity to be part of the continued development of the brand and technology. I'm pleased to be working alongside a familiar group of clever and inspiring industry professionals and look forward to building upon relationships with existing and new clients and helping the c

USA - The need and importance of accurately assessing the point loads of substantial touring rigs is gaining momentum. With several articles published in the trade press at the end of last year, it was refreshing to see this crucial safety issue receive public airing. To underscore the significance of the issue, Load Cell Rental, who only last November announced its formal arrival in the marketplace, has now made a major move to improve and expand the range of tools available to concerned riggers and promoters.

"When we first looked at the rationale behind a weighing service for large complex touring systems, it was clear that a significant number of measuring devices would be needed to adequately fulfil the needs of the industry," said Load Cell Rental founder, Richard Young. "Our initial investment was for 60 two ton load cells from Motion Labs. Now, we've just

USA - Adamson brought in the New Year with a big bang. Scheduled for 3-4 January 2013, Adamson joined forces with Sound Image to attract local and national engineers, production and hire companies, as well as a large group of the World's top FOH Engineers were flown in from all over the US to attend the Adamson Energia demo.

The event was held at the Fellowship Church at Two Rivers in Nashville, TN. It was hosted by Jesse Adamson and Matt Gunn from Adamson Systems and Everett Lybolt and Dave Shadoan from Sound Image. Andrew Dowling, Rob Zombie Systems Engineer, did the system design, setup, and provided a complete rigging overview.

"Having used the E15 system on 3 tours, I wanted to share my excitement about the Energia system and the incredible power and pure audio quality with other engineers in a peer to peer environment" Joel Lonky, Rob Zombie FOH Engineer commen

USA - FocusTrack, the leading lighting documentation software, recently helped Blue Man Group document Kevin Adam's lighting design for the Group's new Las Vegas production, performing now at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino.

The show marked the debut of FocusTrack's new support for MA Lighting's grandMA2 console, which received its first beta test on the show and came through it with flying colours.

"Joel Silver, the associate lighting designer on the show, has just the worst timing - or perhaps a very pioneering spirit," comments FocusTrack's creator, Rob Halliday. "Back in 2007 he got in touch wanting to use FocusTrack with the Eos console on Young Frankenstein; the show became the first to use FocusTrack with an Eos. Now here he was again, asking to use FocusTrack with a grandMA2 - something we were in the process of doing, but certainly weren't done

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