Europe - Cardigans' frontwoman, Nina Persson, recently completed a solo tour of Europe and the USA travelling with an Allen & Heath GLD-80 digital mixer to manage FOH and monitor sound.

Supplied by Swedish PA company, Parashoot, which recently invested in the GLD-80, the mixer is supplemented with an AR2412 remote IO rack and additional AR84. Together with one roll of Cat 5e and the mics set, the whole audio touring kit packs into four Pelicases.

"I like the new ideas and easy layout of the GLD-80," comments engineer, Oscar Soederland."It's very simple and quick to setup, and has all the greatness of iLive, such as dynamics, EQ and the killer FX, combined with great speed and sharpness. GLD is also very roadworthy with a thick steel shell, quality screen, nice har

Japan - The Takarazuka Revue is a Japanese all-female musical theatre troupe based in Japan's Hyogo Prefecture - and founded a century ago by Ichizo Kobayashi, president of Hankyu Railways.

Following a tradition of bringing musical masterpieces to the stage, the latest 'Cosmos' revue troupe has revisited of The Rose of Versailles, which was first turned into a major hit by the Theatre back in 1974, to help celebrate its landmark year. And a Martin Audio MLA Mini PA system was on hand to assist.

The multi-cellular loudspeaker array was specified by Woody Land, the rental company that supports the Takaraduka Musical, to help reinforce the historic grand romance between Count Axel de Fersen and French Queen Marie-Antoinette in a magnificent production.

Woody Land, who recently purchased the MLA Mini system, ground-stacked eight cabinets above two MSX subwoofers, on each

UK - With entries for the inaugural Festival Supplier Awards (FSAs) now coming in thick and fast, organiser A.M.P. Events has announced a strong line-up of high profile festival organisers will judge submissions.

Cairing the expert panel is Nic Howden, a journalist with over 12 years' experience covering UK and Europe's largest festivals. Joining him will be Lee House, senior events manager for Coventry City Council and production lead for the Godiva Festival, UK's largest, free to attend, festival; Dan Craig, head of operations at Loudsound, event director for Field Day and operations director at Barclaycard Presents British Summer Time and Hannah Farnham, Live Nation's head of production and events (UK) Music.

Howden commented, "I'm delighted to be chairing the judging panel for the inaugural Festival Supplier Awards, there's a refreshingly singular focus to the FSAs in

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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.

Italy - Outline Butterfly and Mantas loudspeaker systems amplified the voice of Pope Francis on the occasion of the Holy Mass celebrated on the Plain of Sibari before a crowd of 250,000 worshippers.

A stage 50m by 25m was erected for the event, along with the installation of four maxi-screens, 200 chemical toilets and 20 km of barriers. The "stalls" had seating for 35,000. The area to be covered by the audio system measured 650m by 250m and the sound reinforcement system installed was manufactured by Outline - to be precise a rig comprising 56 Butterfly modules, 24 Mantas modules and 24 Subtech 218 to boost the low frequencies.

In the vicinity of the Papal chair, two Outline DVS 8, two stage monitor H.A.R.D. 212 and two H.A.R.D. 115 speakers were installed. The choir had other H.A.R.D. 212 monitors at its disposal, while Tripla, Doppia and DVS 10 enclosures covered o

UK - ETC's UK dealers have now installed over 28,000 Sensor power control channels across central London, making ETC the most popular choice in the capital. If all the modules were stacked on top of one another, they would reach 980m, making them significantly taller than the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa - practically Lilliputian at just 820m - whose nightly strobe light shows are controlled by an ETC Congo control system.

The latest recipient of Sensor is the Prince Edward Theatre on Old Compton Street. The theatre's dimmers were last updated in 1993, and were due for renewal in time for the hit production of Miss Saigon. In keeping with other theatres in the Delfont Mackintosh group, which The Prince Edward is part of, five ETC Sensor3 power-control racks fitted with 240 modules, including ThruPower modules, were specified and installed. That gives a

USA - New York's Radio City Music Hall saw the commencement of the 68th annual Tony Awards on Sunday 8 June 2014, with a flamboyant Hugh Jackman hosting the show and a live broadcast televised on US network CBS.

The Tony Awards are a place of recognition for achievements in Broadway productions over the past season and this year's ceremony saw an array of shows from Aladdin, Hedwig and the angry inch, The Glass Menagerie and A Raisin in the Sun to Les Miserables, Of Mice and Men as well as Rocky. With such a wide line-up the 15 Musical Tony Awards went to seven different musicals while the 11 Play Tony Awards went to six different plays.

This year's show was programmed and operated by highly experienced Hippotizer expert Peter Vincent Acken who designed a set-up using a total of 192 layers running over more than 48 DMX universes

UK - Proving last year that London's controversial Hyde Park festival site could be protected from noise leakage into the surrounding neighbourhood by deploying Martin Audio's MLA technology, promoters AEG Live adopted a similar solution for this year's Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park festival - but with significant enhancements.

While Capital Sound, again deployed MLA and MLA Compact to guarantee coherent site coverage, Martin Audio's R&D director, Jason Baird, was determined that new optimisations would enable them to eke out as much as an additional 3dB at front-of-house without increasing offsite pollution.

As a result, 102dB(A) was achieved for McBusted, with 73dB(A) recorded offsite, comfortably within the maximum allowable of 75dB(A), while both Tom Jones (during his more strident numbers) and Black Sabbath nudged 103dB(A).

Baird explained that the

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OPUS X4 PROFILE – the most powerful LED moving head from Cameo to date

The OPUS® X4 PROFILE is the new flagship model from Cameo and is among the most powerful LED moving heads on the market. Equipped with a 1,400-watt LED white light engine, this spot profile moving head produces an enormous light output of 50,000 lm, providing powerful spot and gobo projections on even the largest stages and much more.
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USA - As the curtain rose on the 2014 summer season of The Public Theater's free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, Masque Sound was once again on-hand to offer its support to one of New York City's most beloved traditions, providing custom audio equipment packages for this year's line-up, as well as for The Public's array of other shows and events hosted throughout the year.

The Public Theatre boasts several expansive venues, including its landmark downtown home on Astor Place, which houses five theatres plus Joe's Pub; the Delacorte Theatrein Central Park, home to its free Shakespeare in the Park; and the Mobile Unit, which tours Shakespearean productions for underserved audiences throughout New York City's five boroughs.

Recently named audio supervisor of the famed establishment, Corrine Livingston manages upwards of 20 plus shows and producti

UK - Lighting specialist White Light has recently supplied production solutions for the George Benson 2014 UK Tour. The Grammy Award winning artist performed some of his greatest hits including Give Me the Night and Turn Your Love Around during the tour which visited venues across the UK during June of 2014. The tour made stops in Glasgow, Manchester, London and Bournemouth.

White Light provided a complete lighting package for the tour, which was designed by LD Simon Tutchener. He described his approach to lighting the tour:

"I wanted to include a lot of colour and texture into the lighting. This was my third George Benson tour, so I was able to incorporate my previous experience and knowledge into this tour and have some fun with it."

The lighting rig is based around a core of Martin Professional fixtures - namely the MAC Viper Profile - while also i

UK - Lighting designer Steven Bewley is using a primarily Clay Paky rig to light renowned trip-hop trio London Grammar during the band's current UK tour.

The delicate lighting design created by the Newcastle-based designer weaves the band's haunting music into a web of theatrical glamour and is already earning itself industry praise.

"The brief from the band was that they wanted every song to look different," explains Bewley. "So the creative concept for the lighting design came from the idea of merging looks from a TV show, a stage show and a gig. We wanted to create a real mix - there's some old-style lighting mixed with video as well some new styles layered with some cutting edge LED technology."

During the past six months Bewley has worked with the band on their UK and American tours, deciding to change up the rig during this current UK tour by specif

Italy - Superstar singer / songwriter Vasco Rossi staged seven stadium shows in Rome and Milan this summer playing to over 400,000 fans, complete with a lightshow to match the occasion designed by his long term LD, Giovanni Pinna.

Pinna used 68 Robe Robin LEDBeam 100s which were used as specials and for highlighting the ebullient audiences that flocked to see Rossi whose controversial and hugely successful career has spanned four decades, spawned 27 albums and several spats with authority. He is one of the great Italian showmen who is passionate about his performances and famous for his live interaction and very strong bonds with the crowds when onstage.

For these shows Pinna took the set design by Gioforma based on the album artwork as his starting point for lighting. The stage was custom designed for the show and he crammed every available centimetre with lighting fixtures -

Japan - UK event and installed audio specialists Out Board has appointed S.C. Alliance Inc as its new Japanese distributor for TiMax2 SoundHub audio showcontrol matrix and TiMax Tracker performer tracking system.

SCA hosted a TiMax workshop in Tokyo where Out Board director Robin Whittaker presented and demonstrated the principles of TiMax delay-based Source-Oriented Reinforcement (SOR). Delegates learnt how variable audio localisation could be applied to wireless vocal mics using the TiMax2 SoundHub dynamic delay matrix, and how this could be automated via continuous control by Out Board's market-leading TiMax Tracker performer tracking system.

TiMax2 SoundHub's sound effects and playback server capabilities were also demonstrated using multiple atmos and spot effects played off the units internal hard drive, with looping, editing, volume profiling, delay panning and synchron

The Netherlands - Fresh from blowing minds at the Lightening in a Bottle festival and its successful debut in Miami for MMW, Pure Groove has announced that it will be providing the sound for Amsterdam's Lost in a Moment. Featuring acts such as Dixon, Ame (DJ), Howling (live), David August, Gerd Janson, KiNK (live), and Baikal, Pure Groove's future sound technology is "perfect to take the crowd on their sonic journey," says the company.

Pure Groove recently partnered with Danley Sound Labs, to create a series of sound systems targeted at nightlife and music industries. Possessing over 25 years' of festival and nightclub production experience, Pure Groove Systems are ideal partners for Danley's foray into the music world, and will be installing Danley's award-winning audio technology in the nightclub, concert and festival arenas.

Danley holds 13 Aerospace

Future-proof Theatre - The Chichister Festival, one of the largest theatres in southern England has officially reopened after a £22m revamp. The first play in the main 1,300-seat auditorium is a new production of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, starring Rupert Everett as Salieri and Joshua McGuire as Mozart. Artistic director Jonathan Church said the theatre had been "future-proofed" for audiences for the next 50 years. "This building wasn't built by a politician or the Arts Council," Church said. "It was built by local people - and that engagement has been what enabled us to celebrate 50 years."

Change Of Plan - Microsoft's plan to compete with Netflix and Amazon by producing its own TV shows has come to an early end, as the firm announces 18,000 job cuts. Xbox Entertainment Studio will close by the end of the year, Xbox chief Phil Spe

UK - Sonisphere Festival made a triumphant return to the UK in July, celebrating 40 years of rock music at Knebworth Park. Co-headlining the Bohemia stage, alternative metal band Therapy? played their 1995 classic album Infernal Love, accompanied by a stunning light show featuring a selection of fixtures from Chauvet Professional and trussing structures from TRUSST, backed by Chauvet.

Lighting designer Pete Davies prepared an impactful yet compact, tour-friendly package, primed for easy transportation across Europe for a series of festivals. Low-energy LED fixtures were the natural choice for both Davies and the band, keen to minimise their carbon footprint, without compromising the quality of the audience experience.

The creative solution incorporated eight TRUSST truss uprights, in a combination of 1m and 2m lengths, each with a Chauvet DJ SlimPAR QUAD 6 IRC at its ba

China - PR Lighting's initial brief when planning its new LED Studio 3205D was to develop a fixture purpose-designed for lighting up large scale automobile shows around the world. But with its inherent power, derived from a single 500W LED source, coupled with a stable colour temperature and high CRI, its high specification makes it applicable to any large-scale application - particularly TV studios, theatre, commercial and multi-functional situations.

In addition to its two available colour temperatures it also boasts enviable energy levels, with luminous flux measurements of 9000 lumens (43°) and 17500 lumens (71°), with its CRI of 90 further enhancing the vivid colours.

The LED Studio 3205D contains a 0-100% linearly adjustable DMX dimmer, linear motorised zoom and electronic strobe, with flexible beam angle from 43°-71° further boosting its versatility.

H

UK - Cadac Audio US and Canada has secured premises for its sales, distribution and service operations in Hoboken NJ.

The new premises, looking out across the Manhattan skyline, will house Cadac's new North American division's sales, distribution and service operations, headed up by general manager Paul Morini. Currently under refurbishment, the new HQ will come "online" by the end of August.

At the same time the company has announced the appointment of industry veteran console engineer Mitch Mortenson as technical support manager. Mitch is a renowned pro audio industry personality in the US, having spent some 20 years in the industry, in recording studio and sound touring engineering, and technical sales, including nine years in front line technical support roles for Midas consoles in North America.

Welcoming Mortenson, Morini, who worked alongside Mortenson at Mi

UK - MilTec (UK) Ltd and Ninetwentyfive Productions are holding an open day on Wednesday 20 August at: The Burrell Theatre, Trennick Lane, Truro, Cornwall TR1 1TH.

On show will be the successful Blakite range of speakers along with the new GBA series of ClassD, amplifiers with on-board signal processing. All production and installation companies along with club and bar owners are invited. Doors open at 10 am and the day will run until 4pm. For more information regarding the event contact Peter Maddison on 07961 838469 or Swenson Kearey at Ninetwentyfive Productions on 07886 131346.

(Jim Evans)

USA - On 9 June, the Galen Centre in Los Angeles became the centre of the gaming universe as Xbox held a global briefing for media and Xbox fans at the annual video game show, E3. Broadcast live on Spike TV and on the Internet, some 140 Elation ELAR Q1 colour changing Par lights supplied by Illumination Dynamics made their debut in the elaborate stage set.

The Microsoft Xbox 2014 media briefing is used as a platform to launch new games, as well as take a look at previously announced games. Lighting design for the event was handled by Emanuel Treeson of NYXdesign, who specializes in creating immersive experiences with light and has been designing projects for Xbox since the launch of the Xbox 360 in 2005.

"For Xbox, I wanted a narrow beam fixture that could be placed in an expansive array but one where the LEDs are more spaced out than a typical Elation ELAR panel," h

USA - University Christian Church (UCC), located on the campus of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, recently upgraded its sound reinforcement system with Tannoy column line array loudspeakers.

Curt Taipale, owner of Taipale Media Systems (TMS), headquartered in Allen, Texas was tasked with designing the new system. He worked closely with SAV, a Plano-based system integration company that handled the installation.

"The existing sound reinforcement system was more than 20 years old," explains Taipale. "I worked alongside Media & Technical Coordinator Jack Stewart to nurse it along for a time but it soon became clear that we needed to make an upgrade."

The traditional cruciform design of the sanctuary has seating in the main sanctuary along with upper and lower seating in side transept areas. The last pew on the main floor is 120ft from the ma

UK - The successful, high-powered and influential partnership between Yamaha in association with Jazzwise, the All-Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group, PPL, and 606 Club continues into a record eighth year providing funding, performance and recording opportunities to the cream of young jazz musicians, nominated for special consideration by the Heads of Jazz at the UK's leading conservatoires/universities.

This year's jazz scholars to benefit from the scheme received their awards at the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group's annual 'Summer Jazz' event in association with music licensing company PPL on Thursday 17 July at Portcullis House, Westminster.

The 2014 Yamaha Jazz Scholars had the opportunity to perform their own compositions live in front of an audience of Members of Parliament and esteemed delegates from the UK jazz world and music industry. On the

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