USA - On 20 March, 2015 the awards for the second annual ASTC/USITT Venue Renovation Challenge were presented in Cincinnati, Ohio at the 55th annual USITT Conference and Expo. The Renovation Challenge was created to give student USITT members an opportunity to work with a practicing ASTC theatre consultant and to stretch their skills and knowledge by developing a scope of work for the improvement of an existing performance venue and present it, as they would in the real world to a client, at an USITT Panel with a live audience.

The members of the Yale University team were Jeong Sik Yoo and Mitchell Cramond with Gene Leitermann serving as ASTC mentor with Matt Welander as faculty advisor. The Yale University team selected their subject to be the University Theatre at Yale.

The me

Korea - NEXT-proaudio has confirmed Avix Tech as its new Korean distribution partner following this year's Proligh+Sound in Frankfurt. Having founded the company 30 years ago, CEO Antonio Correia announced his satisfaction with the appointment made at the company's Rio Tinto headquarters in Portugal on the eve of the exhibition.

"Avix Tech is a very high profile supplier in Korea working closely with systems integrators, broadcasters and consultants," explained Mr Antonio Correia. "With our product portfolio, we see great potential in the Korean house of worship market."

"We supply and install full A/V systems to mid-sized churches and venues such as performing arts centres. Having visited the factory in Portugal, I was convinced that NEXT-proaudio creates unique solutions for our customers. In addition to manufacturing extremely powerful loudspeaker s

USA - A range of microphones from Audio-Technica was again selected by the audio professionals lending their talents to the recent 30th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio.

A highlight of the show was the segment honouring soul legend Bill Withers, who made a rare appearance and an even rarer on-stage performance at the event. R&B singer John Legend and Hall of Fame member Stevie Wonder each performed in this segment using Audio-Technica's 5000 Series UHF Wireless System with AEW-T5400a handheld microphones/transmitters. Wonder performed Ain't No Sunshine, followed by Legend's performance of Use Me and both singing Lean on Me.

The backline mic complement of Audio-Technica wired microphones included AT4050 multi-pattern condenser microphones used for drum overheads and bass; AT4050ST stereo condenser microphone used for audience

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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.

Opera on the Road - Opera is to be toured to theatres around the UK by a new production company that aims to bring more diverse audiences to the genre. HighTime has been founded by Felicity Green and Benjamin Hamilton, who met while studying at the University of Warwick, and is aimed at staging productions for people who would otherwise not have access to opera. Its first production, supported by Arts Council England, will be Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, in a new translation by Kit Hesketh-Harvey. It will run at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, with plans to tour the show around the UK next year, engaging young people from each location to perform in the chorus.

Green Day - Amelia Lily will star in a new London production of Green Day musical American Idiot. The X Factor runner-up, who is currently starring in a tour of Joseph and the Amazi

USA - Fort Lauderdale-based lighting and video rental company Paradigm Lighting once again delivered a fabulous production, lighting design and kit for the Live Stage at this year's Ultra Music Festival in Miami, with Robe Pointes and MMX Spots at its core.

Paradigm's owner and founder Jorge Valdez has been involved in lighting this stage at the US's premier EDM extravaganza for the last 12 years. The Live stage, located at the 7500 seat outdoor Klipsch Amphitheatre at Bayfront Park, was a major hotspot of the event, and hosted up to eight live artists a day for three days. This year included jaw-dropping sets from Krewella, Netsky, Kygo, Porter Robinson, Bassnectar, Royksopp and Chromeo.

Jorge received a brief of what the organizers wanted to see in terms of a visual concept - Paradigm also supplied video for the Live Stage - and then oversaw its technical realization, which

UK - The recent gala evening for Alice's Adventures Underground saw team White Light venture down the rabbit hole for Les Enfants Terribles' extraordinary new show, nestled deep in the Waterloo Vaults.

Now open for a strictly limited season, the multi-sensory production fuses puppetry, story-telling, music and spectacle with stage technology for an immersive experience. Inviting intimate groups to choose their own adventure, different interactive elements re-create memorable scenes from Lewis Carol's novel, which has just celebrated its 150th anniversary.

The White Light team led by Gary O'Donnell - hire coordinator, worked closely alongside Paul Walmsley - chief electrician for the project, utilising our inventory to fulfil the extensive kit requirements. The design incorporated eight different rooms, all with an entirely bespoke set-up and experience within. Fully net

Germany - Optocore celebrated a 'triumphant return' to Prolight+Sound this year by successfully premiering its new MADI multi-interface switches and bridges.

Launching the new M8 (with four MADI ports) and M12 (eight MADI ports) to the world's press, Optocore founder Marc Brunke told the rapt gathering why they had prioritised the MADI standard. "Throughout the years there have been many voices that believed MADI would not survive the increased number of network protocols," he said. "However, we have observed the complete opposite - MADI is the easiest and most popular multi-channel protocol, and is built into almost any professional equipment."

With only a single cable connection needed to create a MADI-based system it is little wonder that the feedback at the stand was so positive - particularly as the company's DD2FR-FX and DD4MR-FX MADI devices are amon

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USA - At the sold out Invasion Del Corrido concert at the Staples Centre, keeping pace with the swirling passion, colour and intensity of the music on stage was a dynamic lighting design created by LD Brandon Dunning of Visions Lighting. At the heart of Dunning's design was a series of truss structures energized by bright pixel mapped Nexus 4 x4 LED panels from Chauvet Professional.

Dunning used 20 of the Nexus panels controlled with an ArKaos LED Mapper. (He ran the rig using a grandMA 2 Light console.) Eight of the Nexus panels were hung inside a 30' x 25' upstage circular truss structure. The other 12 Nexus units were arranged three each on the four 10' truss towers that accented the stage.

By displaying pixel mapped breakout patterns on the Nexus panels and varying the intensity of their output (he ran a mixture of 110v and 208v), Dunning was able to reflect the diverse ra

USA - Yard House restaurants combine a wide selection of "made-from-scratch" menu items, over 100 craft beers, ales and lagers and high-energy classic rock music to create an exciting atmosphere for casual or group dining, happy hour and holiday celebrations.

No Static Pro Audio of Burbank, California designed and installed the audio and video systems for the newest Yard House which opened in Kansas City in April 2015.

Eugene Gordon, No Static's CEO says, "The restaurant's brand image has a focus on classic rock so the owners want really high-quality foreground music that can get loud without sounding harsh. This is our 59th Yard House installation," he continued, "and we've standardized on Community loudspeakers to meet that challenge."

For Yard House locations with outdoor patio dining, No Static installs Community W Series for both the indoor

USA - It is the hope of every museum to help make history come alive, and with an 11,000 year old history as rich as the Cherokee nation, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian had no shortage of inspiration. In 1998, Visual Terrain, Inc. designed lighting for the newly renovated space, and was awarded the IESNA's prestigious Edwin F. Guth Memorial Award for Interior Lighting Design.

In 2014, the museum called when they could no longer get parts for the 1998 dimming and control system. Upon visiting the museum, Visual Terrain CEO Lisa Passamonte Green noted, "They had started to upgrade to LEDs, but it was early technology, and the light output and colour consistency was not what we can achieve with the newest sources. The museum was darker, and our original design was no longer evident.

"It's rare we get an opportunity to completely re-do a project that we did many years

USA - With spectacular staging, big-screen displays, theatrical lighting, all-encompassing sound and close to 20,000 spectators at every event, this year's Passion Conference - Passion 2015 - looked more like a major rock concert than a religious event. But the Passion 2015 event is actually three full days of music, inspirational speeches, video, lights and stagecraft designed to bring 18 to 25 year olds closer to Jesus Christ.

An annual event since 1997, the Passion Tour has grown exponentially, with this year's conference presenting three separate events this winter to sold-out crowds at Philips Arena in Atlanta over the course of two weekends, and the Toyota Centre in Houston. The Houston event was also streamed over the Internet, allowing roughly 40,000 more viewers to virtually attend this high profile, influential Christian event.

Passion 2015 leveraged world-class stag

USA - The University of Alabama at Birmingham has made a long-term investment in the self-powered Meyer Sound Lyon linear sound reinforcement system. Installed in the 1,330-seat Jemison Concert Hall at the school's Alys Stephens Performing Arts Centre (ASC), Lyon provides impeccable clarity and headroom for lectures and concerts ranging from classical and jazz to pop, rock, gospel, and reggae.

"To meet artists' riders and put on shows that consistently satisfy audiences, we simply couldn't do better than the Lyon system," states Adam Stermer, technical director for the ASC. "And knowing that we wouldn't be getting a new system for perhaps 15 years, we wanted one that was well-received and incorporated the very latest technology."

Designed to maintain distortion-free levels of 110 dB SPL at any seat, the new system is anchored by two main arrays of seven Lyo

UK - Local authorities around the UK, faced with providing an ever increasing number of services from diminishing budgets, have been introduced to an elegant integrated 'one button' webcasting and audio/videoconference facility by Jon Hunnisett of technology specialists, Sound Advice PA Installation Ltd.

In designing a system that enables separate video and audio streams to be combined, councils can engage more with their constituents by allowing sessions to be web-streamed and viewed over the internet.

At the heart of his solution is RCF's intuitive Forum 9000 digital conferencing and voting system, and Sound Advice has now built up a portfolio of 14 councils who have been eager to adopt this platform.

It was the versatility of the system that first caught the attention of Jeremy Luckett, Business Analyst at Wiltshire Council Unitary Authority, after five councils had been

Belgium - Earlier this year, Elation partner Fratuer near Antwerp, Belgium, supplied and installed a new Elation lighting package in Red&Blue, the city's largest gay club and the biggest in Belgium. Red&Blue, which has stood as a pioneering nightclub in Antwerp for more than 17 years, hosts crowds of partygoers each night, as well as a slew of parties throughout the year. The club sought to create a new experience for its customers and chose to upgrade its existing lighting system.

"Together with Frateur and Red&Blue management, we started out with some drawings to get our thoughts and demands for the lighting down on paper," commented Tim Torfs, who manages the club together with Nourdin Bens. "After several brainstorm sessions we came up with a fantastic idea, which Frateur then put into action. It resulted in the magnificent piece of lighting design we have tod

UK - Long-term supporters of PLASA Focus in Leeds, Martin Audio returns to the Royal Armouries (Booth # N-C19) on 12-13 May where it will dedicate its stand to the UK premier of the new CDD installation series (which received its global launch in Frankfurt last month).

Combining distinctive curved enclosures with unique Coaxial Differential Dispersion technology, the series is designed to deliver class-leading performance, fidelity and coverage consistency to most install applications via six two-way full-range coaxial systems - ranging from the micro CDD5 to the powerful CDD15. These are complemented by a range of high-performance subwoofers.

The company will also be participating in the seminar programme, in the Wellington Room on both days (between 11:30 - 12:15) under the title The Shape of Things to Come.

Martin Audio product support engineer Robin Dibble will be

Germany - ArKaos PRO enjoyed a spectacularly successful show at Prolight+Sound, Frankfurt with its stand constantly awash with new and existing customers eager to see the company's latest developments.

The stand's complex projection surfaces were a perfect foil to illustrate the capabilities of ArKaos PRO's Kling-Net, the protocol driving its LEDMaster LED show control, and the latest version of ArKaos PRO MediaMaster software.

Visitors to the stand were also able to witness for themselves the technical wizardry and simple operation of ArKaos PRO LEDMaster - an all-in-one solution which delivers LED show control in three easy steps. Designed to work in conjunction with ArKaos PRO's Kling-Net protocol, LEDMaster adds a layer of intelligence to any LED device by automatically recognising and configuring it to make it ready for mapping. Scenes can be triggered live, automatically

Switzerland - With the new BeamBar Series, Laserworld launches a low price solution in the product range of single beam fan projection laser bars.

The Laserworld BeamBar units are available in red, green and blue and have 10 laser apertures. At each aperture, one laser beam is emitted. Fine adjustment screws at the front panel allow for easy beam alignment such as making all beams exit the bar parallel or in a certain angle. Each of the 10 laser sources can be switched via standard DMX512, so the BeamBar can easily be integrated to existing lighting setups. It uses 13 DMX channels for control.

The Laserworld BeamBar units are suitable for fixed installations, on stage, or for mobile use. Several bars combined bars makeoffer many design possibilities, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

USA - At NAB 2015, Shure unveiled its new BRH50M Premium Dual-Sided Broadcast Headset. The BRH50M introduces a modern design for on-camera use and premium sound quality, suitable for broadcast and media production professionals at every level, says the company. Lightweight, comfortable, and durable, with superior audio quality, the Shure BRH50M is constructed to meet the demanding needs of professional users throughout the broadcast industry.

Designing an on-camera product is a bit of a balancing act," said Matt Engstrom, category director for wired products at Shure. "Although on-camera aesthetic appeal is certainly a critical factor, it was important to develop a product that looked great on-camera without sacrificing sound quality, comfort, or durability. After extensive testing with the NFL and NBA, we're confident the BRH50M delivers on all four of those factors,

UK - Peerless-AV has announced the expansion of its customer support team with new sales administration and business development hires to enhance trade and logistics processes, and ultimately customer experience.

Reuben Dayan has been appointed sales administrator for UK and Europe's German speaking countries (DACH region). David Pelletier has been appointed business development representative for France and Spain. Both are based in Peerless-AV's European Headquarters, supporting the local sales team in their respective regions.

Gordon Dutch, managing director, Peerless-AV, commented, "We welcome Reuben and David to our expanding team. Their appointments emphasise our ongoing commitment to always-there customer service with team members that are experienced, multi-lingual professionals, dedicated to identifying and resolving diverse and often complex client needs."

USA - Pretty much anywhere in the world, state funded school budgets are tight, so most cannot frequently upgrade technology; and when they do invest in classrooms, gyms or theatres, they have to make the right choice since they'll be using it for years to come.

When Nevada's Clark County School District needed to upgrade its aging theatre equipment, the district - which spans 9,000 square miles and includes Las Vegas - chose ETC Ion lighting desks to bring its 37 theatres into the 21st century.

An Ion is now in all 35 Clark County High School theatres and its performing arts high school and middle school. Many of these high schools were built somewhere between 1992 and 2005. When each was built, it had a state-of-the-art performing arts space, says Gary Sessa, a teacher in the district as well as the theatre taskforce chair for secondary fine arts in the Clark County School D

Germany - Entertainment motion control systems expert XLNT Advanced Technologies enjoyed a busy and successful Prolight+Sound show in Frankfurt with the launch of CyberHoist II, the second generation of the world's first intelligent, variable speed chain hoist.

The system has been designed for heavy-duty, worldwide touring and large-scale events. Already proven to be an instant hit with safety conscious professionals across the world, it went out on several productions immediately after initial customers took delivery. Amongst those was the Linkin Park tour, where it delivered fast and precise automation of the arena show's moving elements.

"We were delighted to have Ingo Koenzen, show operator for the recent Linkin Park tour, on stand with us at ProLight," says XLNT's Director of Sales and Marketing Marc van der Wel. "He, along with Sebastian Habrechtsmeier, Cy

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