France - Award-winning French attraction Puy du Fou has become the world's first theme park to introduce a drone fleet with embedded intelligence to enhance the visitor experience.

France's second most-visited theme park (after Disneyland Paris) allows visitors to witness history being brought to life through over 60 shows - from the Vikings and Knights of the Round Table, to Richelieu's Musketeers and Gallo-Roman gladiator games.

The park's flagship show Cinéscénie - which, at over 23 hectares is also the world's largest night show - provides a look through the ages and utilises the latest advances in technology and artistry. It was for this show that the drone technology was created.

Nicolas de Villiers, President, Puy du Fou, says: "The team was searching

Egypt - TIU opened its doors in November 2014, unveiling a new nightlife concept from three of Egypt's best-known operators and promoters. The new venue, which resides where Tamarai once stood, has brought a new direction to one of Cairo's most famous night time locations. With an emphasis on quality and with a desire to create the city's best clubbing experience, TIU's owners opted for a Funktion-One sound system.

Tamarai was one of the most well known venues in Egypt. It was admired for its glamour and exclusivity but as Egypt's political landscape took a seismic shift, the appetite for such attributes naturally subsided. Tamarai's owners, Ayman Baky and Ahmed Beltagy, in keeping with the general mood in the country, plotted new beginnings. The partners teamed up with Ahmed Ganzoury of ByGanz Events and drawing from a formidable pool of knowledge and expertise, the trio create

UK - Lighting designer Ewan Cameron joins an increasing list of LDs to specify Robe's new BMFL Spots. He caught the BMFL fever on UK rockers Status Quo's most recent 'Status Quo Live 2014' tour.

Status Quo's distinctive 'boogie rock' sound has earned them over 60 chart hits and a Brit Award for 'Outstanding Contribution to Music' in a career spanning 45 years. They are still going strong, with more energy than ever, delighting their very loyal original fanbase as well as at least two generations of new - and equally enthusiastic - younger Quo fans.

Ewan took over the LD slot at the end of 2013 when Quo's previous LD - almost as legendary as the band - Patrick Marks - decided to retire after 25 years in the 'hot seat'.

When it came to creating a lighting design for this tour, Ewan wanted to retain a continuity with some of the classic Quo aesthetics that Pat had evolved over

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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.

The Netherlands - Opened in 1887, Amsterdam's Koninklijk Theater Carré (Royal Theatre Carré) has played host to circuses, vaudeville, one-man shows, revues, plays, operas, operettas and musicals. Completely renovated in 2004, the venue has continued hosting a wide range of events to the present day. The ongoing demand meant a major upgrade of its audio system became necessary, with a Yamaha CL digital mixing system the chosen solution.

With a lot of main productions now running in the theatre for longer periods than before, the management wanted the flexibility to host smaller morning or afternoon productions on the front of the stage. This would allow two or more events to be run on each day - the main part of the stage containing the set for the evening's production being unused during the day.

"Koninklijk Theater Carré is one of Amsterdam's most fa

USA - Audinate is taking its successful Dante AV Networking World events on the road to six North America cites. These free, full-day events are geared toward anyone involved with the design and installation of networked audio systems, including design consultants, system integrators and sound engineers. The interactive sessions will introduce attendees to the benefits of Dante and audio over IP networking, showcase example Dante installations, and feature of a full afternoon of hands-on training.

The events are co-sponsored by Audio-Technica, Bose, ClearOne, Focusrite, Presonus, Shure, Symetrix, and Yamaha, and will feature products from these manufacturers during the hands-on training sessions and in a dedicated demonstration room. Participants to AVNW may also earn four CTS InfoComm RU credits.

The winter/spring sessions are scheduled for the following locations and dates:<

Sri Lanka - ARX's MSX series audio splitters featured prominently in the audio system for Pope Francis's recent overwhelmingly successful visit to Sri Lanka.

Mr Chaminda De Mel at Panadura based Creative Entertainment Pvt Ltd supplied the Audio System for the sea-front Mass in Colombo where in front of a reported crowd of over 1m people, Pope Francis canonised Sri Lanka's first Saint 17th Century missionary Joseph Vaz.

ARX's managing director Colin Park comments, "The supply and sale was arranged in late 2014 by ARX's Sri Lankan representative Mr Mohan Jayasuriya. Audio contractor Creative Entertainment utilised four units of MSX 32 TALL Active and one unit of MSX 48 Passive Mic / Line Splitters.

"The ARX splitters were used for broadcast & microphone splitting and for the signal distribution to the sound reinforcement system(s) providing an extensive area of cover

EMEA - Scala has appointed Mike Gopal as area sales consultant for the Middle East and Turkey. Reporting to Damon Crowhurst, VP, EMEA, Gopal started in January, 2015. He will be responsible for building on and further expanding Scala's digital signage position in this expanding market.

With deep experience in the AV sector through his years at AMX, and more recently working with ESCO Singapore, Mike joins Scala from WOW Vision where he served as the regional sales manager - GCC & Africa.

"I am very pleased that I was able to convince Mike to join us, and lead our growth in this strategic market," said Damon Crowhurst, VP EMEA. "His extensive local knowledge, complemented by his in-depth knowledge of all things AV and digital signage will ensure our local customers are able to have the highest quality of service and sales support.

"Scala has a great reputa

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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.
www.cameolight.com

The Netherlands - Eurotruss developed a new Tunnel Roof in the most economic and popular size of 12x10m. This Tunnel Roof carries great features like an impressive free clearance of ~8m, an integrated cantilever of ladder truss and a clamped on keder tent profile for its canopy that guarantees full closing and allows full flexibility in depth by adding or taking off one or more arched segments.

"The best feature is that the tunnel roof is built out of standard HD34 Box Truss and still carries an impressive load bearing capacity of 2100kg on multiple point loads or 3300kg on divided load," the company says. Eurotruss also says it will soon announce the 'big brother' of this Tunnel Roof, made with HD44.

The first tunnel Roof has been supplied to Five's International in Romania, who used it for a successful Christmas Show in the old centre of Bucharest. Five's Internati

Australia - Rental provider Gearhouse Broadcast has rolled in nine Lawo mc2-56 audio mixing consoles, 21 x Lawo V__pro8 video processor units and a Nova73 HD router for the broadcast of the first big international sports event of 2015 - the Australian Open tennis tournament.

Traditionally, the tournament attracts the tennis elite to the 30 tennis courts in Melbourne Park where, from 11 o'clock in the morning till late at night, they fight each other for the prestige of victory and the €2.1m prize money that awaits the winners of the singles games. The finals will take place on 1 February in the Rod Laver Arena in front of an audience of 14,820 tennis fans.

Lawo staff went down under in order to support Gearhouse Broadcast in setting up and commissioning the Lawo systems. Of the nine mc²56 consoles, five are networked via a Nova73 HD to provide sound feeds for host broadcaste

UK - GDS, alongside project partners Haworth Tompkins Architects, Charcoalblue, White Light and Skelly and Couch, were closely involved in the refurbishment of the Chichester Festival Theatre in Sussex.

In refurbishing Chichester, it was essential to preserve the magic and warmth that had cast a spell over audiences for years, whilst at the same time replacing outdated and unsustainable technology. GDS was to address all aspects of auditorium and backstage lighting. The catenary lighting above the thrust stage at Chichester Festival Theatre lies at its very heart and soul and its upgrading, without any loss of original character, was crucial to the entire project.

GDS's award-winning LED ArcSystem was installed for all aspects of house lighting, including emergency lights (around 200 fixtures in total). In this case fully wired and dimming seamlessly from 100% to zero, this aw

Spain - D.A.S. has launched the Event M210A, a three-way stage monitor in a double 10" "dual-band" configuration. The dual-band configuration permits the twin 10" loudspeakers to work in tandem for maximum power at low frequencies.

Above the low frequency range, the advanced digital signal processing allows the 10" speakers to operate independently in specific frequency ranges, eliminating off-axis interference between the drivers to maintain optimal polar and frequency response characteristics throughout the low and low-mid operating ranges.

The D.A.S. loudspeaker units have been teamed up with a single M-60 compression driver attached to a new, asymmetric waveguide. The purpose-designed unit offers a 20º Up-30º Down vertical coverage for precise pattern control in the artist's listening area.

The Event M210A wedge is powered by an advanced, three

USA - PLASA Focus: Orlando 2015 begins 17 February, and pre-registration is already hitting record-breaking numbers for attendance. Thanks to a showfloor filled with industry leaders, and the best industry professionals hosting educational seminars, pre-registration numbers are over 25% higher than PLASA Focus: Orlando 2013.

With numbers expected to increase significantly over the next three weeks, PLASA Focus is off to a great start for 2015. "We are thrilled to see such high numbers for pre-registration so far. The high quality of our exhibitors and talented panellists are proving to be of interest to attendees, and that's what we strive for with PLASA Focus tradeshows," said Laura Hoepker, sales executive for PLASA Events.

From 17-18 February at the Rosen Plaza Hotel, attendees can visit with over 60 regional and national companies, network with representatives, s

The Netherlands - UK-based 7thSense Design has announced the newer, faster and more powerful configuration of its Delta Infinity Media Server with the release of Infinity III, and will be showcasing the technology at this year's ISE in Amsterdam.

Infinity III delivers uncompressed 3GB/S playback capable of powering 8K 60p, or true 8K (8K x 4K) 30p displays as a single-box configuration.

Built to support a broad range of applications requiring a high quality image source matched to a particular display, the technology plays native uncompressed video with full timeline control, warp, blend, full dome, and abstract mesh screen modes. Infinity III promises solid playback for high performance and complex projection environments including multi-channel full domes, digital signage installations, video walls and visitor attractions.

The company, with offices in Sussex, England and M

Australia - Light Tonight has launched on YouTube as a video news magazine for the English speaking professional lighting industry worldwide. The show runs less than 30 minutes, is "fast paced and loaded with news, reviews, interviews, techniques and equipment".

Produced by CX Network, the show caps 25 years industry publishing experience for the network which until now has produced publications and internet TV in Australia.

"When we started CX-TV in 2010, YouTube had a seven minute clip limit and was standard definition," CX chief Julius Grafton said.

CX Network established several successful internet TV shows, including Gearbox, CXtra and most recently The Hump. They have been broadly viewed on the website cx-tv.com and are specific to the Australian market, whereas Light-Tonight is intentionally global.

A team of presenters from

Germany - New Year's Eve on the Fan Meile in Berlin is the biggest Sylvester party in Europe, attracting well over a million visitors to the street party in front of the Brandenburg Gate. National and international performers on three stages put on a spectacular show that was broadcast live by ZDF. For several years, regular audio provider Auvisign has used Nexo PA systems for this prestigious event - this time, it was an occasion to push the new STM M28 modular line array into the limelight.

Taking everyone into 2015, the massive Sylvester party was attended by 1.2m visitors, entertained by Tony Christie, Katherine Jenkins, Annett Louisan, Howard Carpendale, Tokio Hotel, David Garrett and David Hasselhoff! As every year, it was enabled by key players Wohlthat Entertainment GmbH (production), auvisign GmbH (sound company) and Steel United Group (technical direction), reportingto

UK - XL Video supplied impressive 100ft widescreen projection and an IMAG camera system for the final three week arena tour of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

XL Video's project manager was Paul Wood. He and XL have delivered the live video solution for all previous touring versions of Jeff Wayne's epic creation since its inception in 2006. Each time the video elements have become more prominent and dramatic in impact as the Martian invasion goose steps across the 'human' world.

Paul states, "It's been a great experience working on all the TWOTW shows and seeing the application of video grow along with the evolution of the whole show. It's a real case of the latest technologies being used wisely and appropriately to bring a classic story - still extremely relevant today - to life, ensuring that the presentation stays relevant and stimulating."<

UK - Following a triumphant UK and European arena tour in 2012, Live Nation and SJM Concerts announced that the tour of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of The Worlds would return for the sixth and final time in late 2014, and RG Jones Sound Engineering were once again on duty.

'The New Generation' as it is now known, played to packed arenas throughout the UK and Northern Europe this winter but the tried and trusted team of Simon Honywill, FOH engineer, sound production company RG Jones, and Martin Audio's full catalogue of MLA (Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array) components were once again on hand to create the soundscape.

Conducted by Jeff Wayne, the most ambitious production yet featured Liam Neeson in 3D holography, Jason Donovan as Parson Nathaniel, Westlife's Brian McFadden as The Sung Thoughts of The Journalist, X Factor 2005 winner Shayne Ward as the Artill

UK - A series of music insert packages with Welsh singing sensation Caryl Parry Jones and her band were recorded on the grounds of the St Donats Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, in South Wales recently. The Caryl inserts were recorded and packaged to be inserted into a variety of transmissions and programmes shared across BBC Wales and S4C broadcast. Boom Pictures and Alfresco TV produced the Caryl series, which engaged their regular lighting director Steff Jones onto the project.

As the packages were to be used and to be fitted in a multitude of formats and programmes, the brief was to keep it simple, and to create a "stripped back" cozy look, which was also unbranded.

The set consisted of a simple four towers of Barco Mistrip, rigged vertically, with even spacing between each. The Mistrip had been used to create low resolution abstract moving graphics in the

India - Audio Design has become one of the largest and most respected sound rental companies in India, providing audio solutions locally across India and internationally. The company provides a full range of high end staging solutions including sound, lighting and video equipment as well as stage structures for some of the biggest concerts and festivals in India and employs more than 100 professionals. Underlining its dedication to excellence is Audio Design's recent investment in a substantial L-Acoustics K2 loudspeaker system.

Audio Design has been the preferred technical supplier to some of the most well known Indian and international artists, including Bryan Adams, Lady Gaga, David Guetta, Hardwell, Martin Garrix, Tiesto and Guns & Roses.

"Audio Design has grown into one of India's top touring live sound reinforcement companies," states Audio Design director, Mr.

The Netherlands - At the upcoming Integrated Systems Europe show (ISE) in Amsterdam, visitors to the Shure stand C90 in Hall 3 will have the opportunity to experience established Shure technologies including the RF microphone system for conferencing audio applications, Microflex Wireless, plus the digital wireless microphone systems ULX-D and QLX-D.

Additionally, DIS's DDS 5900 and DIS DCS 6000 discussion and conferencing systems will be on show, together with the newly introduced DIS CP 7890 camera control system, which can be used in conjunction with a DDS 5900 or DCS 6000 system to remotely control up to four networked cameras. The control app for the CP7890 system, which is compatible with Apple iOS devices and now also Android, will also be shown during ISE.

Shure will also be presenting its product-related software solutions emphasising functionality and ease of use. Vis

Slovenia - Europe's first installation of the new Nexo Geo M6 line array can be found by a peaceful park on the shore of a Slovenian lake. In the Bled Festival Hall, the compact Geo M6 arrays look down on a venue originally built for grandmasters to play a World Chess Championship.

Bled has a long tradition of congress, and its elegant Festival Hall has hosted scientific and professional meetings, corporate and economic summits, and sporting and musical events. In its principal hall, capacity 500, MK Light Sound has just installed the Geo M6.

Dean Karov of MK Light Sound explains that his company impressed the venue management with the suggestion of a small array sound reinforcement solution which would be unobtrustive but offer smooth even coverage in the hall.

"We were asked to supply a system that would offer high speech intelligibility, even coverage and enough powe

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