UK - With their main theatre building in darkness during a two year, £22m refurbishment project, Chichester Festival Theatre have turned to event production company Entourage Live to oversee the construction and delivery of their temporary theatre-in-a-tent venue for the summer of 2013.

The state-of-the-art 1,400 seat venue has been built to provide an alternative space whilst the main theatre building is redeveloped as part of the Chichester Festival Theatre 'RENEW' project.

The Theatre in the Park venue plays host to Cameron Mackintosh's Barnum. "This is a great project to be involved with" commented Entourage Live managing director Andy Bartlett. "It's key that we work with all parties and stakeholders on a project of this size. We're working with

UK - Over the last few months several high profile venues have adopted the National Rigging Certificate as it becomes the clearest way of benchmarking the skills and experience of riggers in the entertainment industry. The importance of this for venues and producers is being recognised and now ACC Liverpool, the NIA, LG Arena, Phones 4U Arena Manchester, Manchester Central and NEC have become full endorsing venues, while ExCeL London has committed to supporting the NRC and is working toward full endorsement.

"The endorsement by venues of qualifications such as this will help to further improve competency and safety standards across the industry. The NRC is another step towards meeting the rigging industry's aspirations of consistently high levels of competence and safety," says Nicky Norman, senior production and technical manager, ACC Liverpool, home to BT Convention

UK - Respected lighting designer Rob Sinclair is using Clay Paky's compact yet super bright Sharpy Wash 330 as the workhorse fixture for the lighting of the visuals-led Pet Shop Boys Electric World Tour.

The new Sharpy Wash luminaire - a 330W washlight with the luminous efficiency, graphic and optical performance of a 1000W fixture - is providing a lightweight yet powerful solution for Sinclair as the tour travels from America to Europe and the Far East.

"We specified the Sharpy Washes because I needed an extremely bright workhorse light that was small enough to travel with us on the numerous plane journeys around the world," says Sinclair. "They're working great, and we're very happy with them."

The tour is projection-focussed, jam-packed with dynamic visuals throughout, which are beamed onto an enormous Venetian blind-style screen. This requires

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South Africa - In March earlier this year, Kilowatt AV raised R35 000 for the charity Songo, besides supplying the full technical support, at The Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour.

"Every year Kilowatt AV chooses to back a charity," commented Dillon Jearey, managing director at Kilowatt AV. "We feel that by doing this we can add significant value with cash and services donations. We look for charities that do not facilitate basic life needs but rather focus on inspiring people and helping them get excited about life and the awesome opportunities it presents. For the last two years we have supported Songo, a charity that uses cycling to inspire and uplift a community."

Kilowatt AV's main drive for their charity is entering a team into the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle tour and then raising money through suppliers and other friendly companies. DWR Distribution w

UK - Howard Smart has joined Turbosound as senior technical support specialist. Having started his pro audio career with Sussex-based Blue Box Company and worked with many of the UK's top production companies, Smart has a wealth of experience of both national and international concert touring spanning more than 20 years. Learning much of his audio engineering skills at the sharp end of the electronic dance music boom of the 90s, he quickly progressed to become a freelance engineer for Capital Sound, SSE, Entec, RG Jones and Audile.

, Smart was instrumental in taking Leftfield's seminal dance music studio albums on the road in 1996 and again in 2000, and has mixed monitors for Ian Brown, Moloko, Tata Young, Ed Harcourt, Massive Attack, Apollo 440 and Badly Drawn Boy.

Latterly, Smart was project manager and systems engineer for new rental company and early adopter of Turbosound'

UK - Azule Finance, a leading expert in finance, leasing and solutions for the lighting and audio markets, will be exhibiting at PLASA for the first time this year. Azule has seen unprecedented demand in the lighting and sound industry in the past 12 months, having financed over £1 million of kit in 2013 for the festival circuit alone, and PLASA 2013 gives the company the opportunity to showcase the financing solutions it has to offer.

Gavin Scott, sales director at Azule commented on the significance of Azule's inaugural presence at the show: "Having become a member of PLASA earlier this year, it was a natural step for us to attend the event with a greater physical presence to increase our visibility within the industry. PLASA's well established as a landmark event for the live sound and lighting sectors, which are key markets for us. Our decision to exhibit this yea

Philippines - Cadac has announced the appointment of Stagecraft International Trading Group in Manila as its regional distributor for the Philippines. The UK mixing console manufacturer is also making its debut appearance at the PALMM Philippines exhibition with its new distributor this month.

In addition to exhibiting its complete new console range on the Stagecraft International stand, Cadac's International sales manager, Ben Milson will be making daily mainstage presentations on the CDC four, CDC eight and LIVE1 consoles in the main exhibition hall.

Ahead of the PALMM exhibition, Ben Milson will also be hosting CDC four and CDC eight training days with Stagecraft International, on the 12 and 13 August. The first day will be at the Stagecraft International's HQ; 312 AB Sandoval Bldg., Cor. Oranbo Drive, Shaw Blvd. Pasig City Philippines, Zip 1603. The second, with Stagecraft

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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.

UK - Stage Electrics has recently completed an important sale from leading British audio manufacturer EM Acoustics to ACC Liverpool.

Located in Liverpool city centre, ACC Liverpool is an award-winning building. Within it is the BT Convention Centre, which houses a 1,350 seat auditorium, 18 break-out rooms and 3,725 m2 of exhibition space, and the 11,000-capacity Echo Arena. Both are interlinked by a central galleria.

When ACC Liverpool decided it was time to update its existing audio system within the BT convention Centre, their technical staff turned to Stage Electrics.

Nicky Norman, senior production and technical manager at ACC Liverpool worked closely with Stage Electrics' business development manager Rob Beamer to find the ideal solution.

"Since becoming a dealer for EM Acoustics we have been holding demo days around the country and inviting our customers to come

Europe - Frank Ocean, has just completed a tour of Europe with an Allen & Heath iLive digital system at FOH. Requested by engineer, Dave McDonald, who has toured using iLive with Adele, AIR, and Florence & the Machine, the iLive system comprises an iLive-112 Control Surface with 8 in, 24 out, RAB2 ACE, connected to a modular iDR10 MixRack with 56 in, 24 out, RAB2 ACE and Dante. There was an analogue split between the iLive and monitor console.

"I've been with Frank for 14 months now, starting off with club shows where there was a different console and different PA every night. For the tour, I'm travelling with an iLive-112 and iDR10 - my favourite mixer, which is flexible for what we're doing. We are using 64 channels, as on stage there is everything from modular synths to old EV1 bass guitars to concert drums, so it's quite a challenge," says McDonald. "Combined

Czech Republic - Clay Paky's bright yet compact Alpha Spot HPE 700s and Alpha Wash 700s alongside its beam shaper Alpha Profile 1500s are being used to light the pop idols of tomorrow on the Czech and Slovak Nova TV show SuperStar.

Clay Paky's distributor, Pro JGS Light, Sound and Video, based in the Slovakian capital Bratislava, supplied the fixtures to Prague based production company Media Pro Pictures, which used them on Prague's Barandov Studio's SuperStar production - a joint Czech and Slovak production aiming to discover the countries next big singing sensation. The show was broadcast on popular Czech TV channel, Nova TV.

In total Pro JGS supplied 40 high-speed, graphic effects-ready Alpha Profile 1500s, 20 Alpha Spot HPE 700s featuring an array of optical and graphic devices, and 20 extremely high luminous efficiency Alpha Wash 700s.

Julius Szaraz from J

UK - When Tim Carter, technical team leader at the University of Westminster's department of Media, Art and Design, was asked for his input on a new entrance forum at the Harrow campus, he immediately brought Doughty Engineering on board to help make his vision a reality.

Having met Doughty Engineering at the Broadcast Video Expo (BVE) last year, Carter realised that of all the companies he'd considered for this project, Doughty was most evidently able to meet his brief for the new multi million pound space.

The new entrance to the department is just one aspect of the University's major redevelopment to make the Harrow Campus a world-class environment for students, with state-of-the-art facilities, new and improved social and learning spaces and an enhanced sense of community for students and staff. Harrow is also working to become a more sustainable site with reduced environm

USA - Chad Kuney of award-winning lighting design and AV production studio Full Spectrum specified four Robe ColorSpot 250 AT moving lights to illuminate the interactive Shark Bay Ray Dive Theatre at Newport Aquarium, just outside Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Theatre measures 30 x 48ft, has a 23ft high ceiling and is popular with aquarium guests staging a variety of dive-based shows for an audience of around 150. It is also used as an events space. It features one of the largest water tanks in the aquarium, the central focal point of which is a visible viewing area of 17 x 9ft.

The four ColorSpot 250 ATs are rigged off the ceiling grid at the back of the theatre. It's a challenging space which entailed the use of custom brackets so they can be suspended below several large air ducts.

This gives an ideal angle for them to be pointed all around the space and also to light and project

South Africa - The sounds of the American trio, Chevelle, recently hit South Africa. Chevelle had plans to play at local festival Oppikoppi in 2011, but due to obligations to finish their record, they had to cancel. Keeping their promise to come back, fans were delighted to welcome them to Johannesburg and Cape Town.

In Cape Town the show was hosted at the Grand Arena at GrandWest on Friday, 31 May 2013. Rental Company, Ultra Event Technical Solutions, had the use of the Grand Arena's in-house sound and lighting but also supplied additional lighting fixtures, and were responsible for the technical and support.

Yasheen Abdullah from Ultra Events did research on Chevelle to ensure he could recreate their lighting style. "I had a tool, the grandMA2 light, which made my life easier," said Abdullah. "It helped me to make the show as good as it was." Abdullah fel

Belgium - The new Ghelamco Arena in Gent - new home to football team KAA Gent has just opened in a blaze of glory, complete with a cutting-edge media façade on all four sides and a spectacular exterior architectural lighting scheme designed by leading European creative visual design practice, Painting With Light.

Genk-based Paining With Light was asked by Philips Lighting Solutions to propose a complete scheme with bespoke control solution for specialist visuals in certain areas of the new venue. Their concept was chosen by the project's chief developer Paul Gheysen, CEO of Ghelamco.

Led by Luc Peumans, the PWL team utilised their cross disciplinary experiences in the worlds of entertainment and rock 'n' roll and their penchant for stylish building lighting to deliver a spectacular result in a very short timescale ... of just under two months.

"It was a fantastic proje

UK - The first deployment of JBL's new all-weather AWC stadium speakers has taken place at one of the oldest professional football clubs in the UK.

The 125-year-old Preston North End (PNE) has relied on the services of public address specialists TG Baker to keep its audio fit for purpose for nearly two decades.

When it came to upgrading the 8,100 capacity Sir Tom Finney stand - built in 1995 at a cost of £4.4m - they saw the opportunity to debut the new AWC129.

Project manager Jason Longworth recalled, "We were sent a couple of speakers for evaluation by [Harman Professional UK & Eire distributors] Sound Technology and we put them through their paces and really liked them." The AWC129 itself is a compact, coaxial-driver, 2-way, highly weather-resistant (IP56) full-range loudspeaker which is designed for speech and music.

Faced with installing these as part

India - TC Group has implemented a definitive plan for sustained growth in the Indian market with the opening of a new office in Noida, India, and a significant appointment to its technical sales team.

Binny Sharma has been appointed as the company's technical sales and support manager for India. Based at the new India office in Noida, Binny will be responsible for providing application and technical support to Tannoy, Lab.gruppen and Lake customers throughout the country.

Binny comes to TC Group with several years of experience in the pro audio industry, including six years in the field of AV systems integration. He has been part of the design and technical support departments in Bose and Bosch.

In his new post, Binny will assume the lead role in the region by providing design and project commissioning support for system integrators, as well organising technical seminars an

UK - ASVL Group has introduced the new QTX SG300 and SG350 Shotgun microphones which offer focused, long range sound pickup.

Powered from a single AA battery inside the microphone body with a 3-way switch for off, cardioids and hypercardioid polar response patterns. Each has a balanced output and is supplied with a 4m XLR lead.

Also supplied is a short XLR to 3.5mm jack lead, hot-shoe mount and foam windshield for location camera work. They are available in shotgun and long shotgun versions to cover a range of broadcast, stage and surveillance applications.

(Jim Evans)

Europe - Launched at Prolight + Sound 2013, the Kreios SL is the first LED spotlight from Osram with a high light output exceeding 3000 lumens. 'Excellent colour rendering, with a high CRI (colour rendering index) of 95 and a broad dimming range (5-100%) makes the Kreios SL an extremely versatile fixture', says the company.

It is currently the most powerful LED spotlight available on the market and has been designed for a broad range of illumination applications where a zoom able light source is preferred; in particular, for background lighting of TV and studio recordings.

Kreios SL replaces standard 100W to 250W halogen spotlight solutions and is an especially economic alternative for event, TV and studio experts. Its long lasting and high quality LEDs give a service life of up to 30,000 hours, therefore no relamping is required. Comparable halogen spotlights would usually ne

USA - Six new sessions have been added to PLASA Professional Development Programme taking place in Austin, a two-day programme of free educational seminars and workshops running alongside PLASA Focus: Austin, at the Palmer Events Centre, on 10-11 September, 2013.

The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the biggest and most technically advanced productions in the world. In Eurovision: Mega Production, Mega Budget, Mega Fun technical director Ola Melzig, a part-time Austinite, will discuss some of the triumphs, challenges, highpoints and low points of putting on this year's production which took place in Sweden.

Audio Engineer Rich Davis will present Audio Engineering for Live Performance - Across the Board. For the past decade Davis has been the sound man for Jimmy Buffett, and has previously worked with entertainers including Doc Severinsen's Big Band, Melissa Ethe

UK - Neets have announced its new exclusive distributor in the UK as Sahara Presentation Systems Plc.

Sahara Presentation Systems Plc is a trade only distributor and manufacturer of Audio Visual (AV) products including major brands as well as their own brands of audio solutions, mounting products, and more traditional presentation products including rail systems, dry wipe boards and notice boards.

The agreement, which sees Sahara distribute the full Neets portfolio means Sahara can offer a comprehensive range of control systems, connectivity and input panels predestined for classrooms, board rooms and conferencing facilities.

Shaun Marklew, sales and marketing director at Sahara says, "I am very pleased with the addition of Neets to our product portfolio adding great connectivity products and value for money for our resellers."

Carl Harper, screens and connectivi

Hungary - The Agora community and arts centre (Hungarian: A Vértes Agorája) in Tatabánya, Hungary, has been equipped with two Meyer Sound systems, supplied by Budapest-based Chromasound.

In the Agora theatre, Chromasound installed a permanent CQ-1 loudspeaker system to support small ensemble musical and theatrical performances. A separate mobile system, based on the Meyer Sound JM-1P arrayable loudspeaker, complements the CQ-1 system during rock concerts, and is also used for outdoor events. The upgrade at the Agora was part of a wider government initiative to upgrade Hungary's cultural facilities.

"The mobile system is capable of delivering a very high SPL, and the integration between the mobile and installed systems is easy to achieve," says Makkay Imre, director of Chromasound. "The outstanding quality of the Meyer Sound loudspeakers proved itself fr

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