UK - PLASA Show has just announced its seminar and workshop programme which will run at Olympia London from 4-6 September. Sponsored by Vectorworks, the programme is packed with technical talks, creative presentations, and industry panels – each with a firm eye on the future of live events and entertainment.
Pre-registered visitors can take advantage of the free-to-attend programme across all three days of the show. The first wave of programme sessions is now available to view on the PLASA Show website. Read on for initial highlights:
Plenty of PLASA-hosted business sessions will run, helping you understand the latest legislation changes. These include EcoDesign and RoHS with PLASA and ETC, Stop changing channels; radio spectrum with BEIRG, Brexit update with PL

UK - On stand B34 at this year’s PLASA Show, TechLED’s will showcase the latest must-have effects lighting ranges from Abstract Lighting alongside the innovative Desk Dough product that enables a projector to act as an intelligent lighting fixture. TechLED specialises in the supply of robust and reliable effects lighting products for the price-conscious installer or rental company.
The TechLED stand will platform the attention-grabbing Candi Blox unit from Abstract. Candi Blox delivers one of the most sought after looks of the moment via a five-by-five array of high performance, mix-at-source, multi-chip LEDs. Configured as a central array of 25 LEDs with an edge halo effect surround featuring a further 20 LEDs, Abstract’s Candi Blox is a 200mm x 192mm ‘square’, IP-20-rated, RBGW LED lighting system. Precision manufactured in the UK, the Blox is robust as well as e

UK - Exhibiting at this year’s PLASA Show (4-6 September, Olympia London) on stand D3, Data Strategy will demonstrate their cable and electrical safety workhorse, the QC-Check workstation, as well as some of the QC-Check’s most popular add-on modules, including VeriCal, PowerCheck LOLER inspection and SimplyPATS integration software.
Embedded as part of the warehouse process – with integration realised for most equipment hire software - Data Strategy’s QC-Check provides practical safety inspection solutions that allow hire companies and venues to simply fulfil statutory requirements (including PAT testing). Simply put, QC-Check ensures electrical appliances and equipment are always safe to use.
As a networked, multi-user application that controls Out Board’s PAT-4 (single or 3-phase in 16A, 32A & 125A ratings) to deliver PAT, CABLE and RCD testing requir
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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 – Like some ancient deity of the underworld, Quintillian Speakers are shrouded in mystery. Even readers engrossed in the Vaxis 2 story, from which they sprang, know little about this ancient race of beings, other than that they are made of energy, and can turn up anywhere - even at this summer’s Coheed and Cambria tour across North America.
The band’s frontman Claudio Sanchez conjured up these ‘enigmatic entities’ as part of The Amory Wars, an ongoing series of science fiction comic books and novels he created. His vision is brought to life on the group’s current tour, not just through its thematic music, but also by a commanding 27ft tall inflatable rendition of a Quintillian Speaker.
Animating this impressive figure on the tour, and endowing it with a distinct persona, while also reflecting its power to transmit energy, is a bold and colourful

Europe - It’s less than 10 months until Showlight 2023 and preparations are gathering pace for this premier networking event. This will be the first in-person Showlight for six years and excitement is building rapidly as plans are made and diaries blocked out.
Exhibitor stand bookings are underway with many confirmations already in place. The first exhibitors will be announced in the coming weeks. Those who wish to exhibit should contact John Allen at the soonest opportunity as places are limited and allocated on a first come, first served basis. Don’t miss your chance to be an integral part of Showlight 2023!
There are plenty of opportunities to become a Showlight sponsor – whether you choose to exhibit or not. Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsorships exist alongside specific sponsorship for aspects such as hospitality, transport, welcome drinks, speakers or student

Thailand – As large-scale live shows begin to return to delight fans across Asia Pacific, one of the region’s biggest stars recently wrapped up two sold-out concerts and fan meets at Bangkok’s Impact Arena.
California-born Mark Tuan made his mark on the K-Pop genre with superstar boyband Got7 and has since confirmed his place as a multidimensional celebrity recognised internationally as a rapper, singer, songwriter, and model. The multi-purpose Impact Arena - which includes a convention centre that can be used for sporting events, conferences, and concerts - was chosen for Mark Tuan to perform and meet with more than 10,000 fans over two nights.
Bangkok-based 4nologue promoted the event. They turned to local audio-visual provider PM Center Co’s team of audio professionals to deploy pristine tour-level sound in the largest concert venue in Thailand. “Our first

USA - When Coldplay performed a sold-out show in Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena last October, lighting designer Sooner Routhier of Sooner Rae Creative used 64 Claypaky Xtylos luminaires that dazzled the audience. The fixtures were the centrepiece of her design for the show that ringed a massive circular truss mounted over the stage.
The stand-alone concert, presented by Amazon Music and live streamed worldwide on Amazon, was part of a global promotional tour of single shows in support of the band’s ninth studio album, Music of the Spheres.
For the ambitious Seattle show, Routhier and her team “essentially created a full-size arena production for a 20-plus-camera, global live broadcast with three days on site and five days of previs,” she points out. “It really does come down to the team; it’s a massive collaborative effort to get something like that
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BikeFest Spain 2025 - Join the ride!

BikeFest Spain is set to return for its fourth consecutive year, inviting cyclists from across the industry to join the 360km ride towards ISE in Barcelona. From 31 January to 2 February 2025, riders will again rally in Valencia, cycling along the Mediterranean coast in support of industry causes.
For more information and to sign up, visit: www.joinbikefest.com

USA - QSC has announced the promotion of Ronda Ross to vice-president of human resources. Ross replaces Vicki Arnold who has retired after leading HR for 16 years.
“First, we’d like to thank Vicki for all she has done for QSC, LLC. Her contributions in building our HR team and capabilities have been immeasurable and we appreciate the dedication and care she has always given the organization and our employees,” says Joe Pham, chairman of the board and CEO, QSC, LLC. “We are thrilled to have Ronda fulfil this position as she has already made such a large impact over the last five years by delivering many improvements and laying a solid foundation to support the growth of our organisation.”
Ross joined QSC, LLC in 2017 as director of HR operations and promoted to senior director human resources in 2021 where she focused on advancing the strategic partnerships be

Ireland - A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland (AC-ET Ireland) turned to Doughty Engineering when they were contracted by Dublin Business School (DBS) to deliver a new studio space to enhance its extensive suite of programmes. DBS has evolved over the years, expanding its offerings to meet the demands of various sectors, offering subjects in business, law, finance, computing, media, arts, psychology, and social science.
To create a modern studio with the latest technologies, AC-ET Ireland specified and supplied a number of leading technology brands for the project, including Six-Track from Doughty Engineering. “Once we knew that track and drapes were part of the client’s brief, it was a no brainer for us to specify Doughty products,” explained Aaron Cripps, AC-ET Ireland’s managing director.
“We know that Doughty kit is consistently reliable and that the t

UK - CPL co-ordinated and delivered staging, sound, video, lighting and other associated BTS (behind the scenes) infrastructure to Tropic Fest, a two-day festival style event staged in the grounds of the historic Chillington Hall in Staffordshire.
CPL was working for production company Pandora Events and their end client, Tropic Skincare with a team led by Lee Gruszeckyj. They asked Star Events onboard to supply the 15m orbit stage on which all the performance action took place.
The sound, lighting and video production design was based on the requirements of several artist riders from a lively line-up that included acts like Rob da Bank, Our Girl G, Queenz, Mr Motivator, Air Guitar Band, Magic of Marley, Twinnie, the Strictly Come Dancing Band with headliners Gok Wan, Bjorn Again and the Ministry of Sound Disco. This mixed line up meant that flexibility was essential

Europe - After hanging up his bass guitar from his time in bands like Kix and Wrathchild America, Brad Divens has been the Front of House engineer for a range of major artists, including Linkin Park, Cyndi Lauper, Garbage, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band and Mötley Crüe. This summer he mixed major European shows for Enrique Iglesias where, since switching to a Yamaha Rivage PM digital mixing system, he was able to bid a final farewell to years of touring with outboard racks.
Like all experienced engineers, Brad cut his teeth on analogue mixers. Since, he has used various digital systems, but it was when friend and fellow engineer Frank Scamalone recommended the Yamaha Rivage PM series that Brad properly took the plunge.
“I knew that I wanted to do something different and Frank kept telling me ‘Look Brad, just plug an SM58 into it and listen to your voice, th

USA - Rental house Main Light has added Elation Professional’s new Fuze MAX Spot LED moving head to its growing inventory of lighting products. The full-colour-spectrum automated LED Spot fixture is currently in stock and available to rent across all Main Light locations.
“The Fuze MAX series of fixtures helps fill a gap that has existed in the LED engine fixture types,” stated Randy Mullican, CEO at Main Light. “The customer feedback has been extremely positive in the short time the fixtures have been on the market.” Dave Pretz, Main Light national asset manager, adds, “The high CRI on the Fuze MAX series makes it a great fixture for on-camera applications which need high quality lighting, and the price point provides a cost-effective option to add to our rental inventory.”
First seen at the USITT show in March and shipping since April, the Fuze MAX Spot

Columbia - Reggaeton superstar Maluma sold out Medellin’s Atanasio Girardot stadium for a homecoming show that was as spectacular as it was popular, complete with lightshow created by Alain Corthout using over 200 Robe moving lights.
Alain is already working on the artist’s ongoing US & Latin American tour with runs until November 2022, so for this special concert complete with a 22-camera shoot streaming via Amazon Music, he substantially upscaled set and lighting. It was also the first time that Maluma has staged such a big show in his lively and significant hometown.
Amplifying the touring set and lighting, Alain specified 125 x Robe MegaPointes, 80 x Spiider wash beams, 32 x Tetra2 LED battens, 28 x ColorStrobes and eight BMFL WashBeams for the in-the-round show.
A massive ground supported roof / stage system with 23m of trim height was installed i

UK - The Smile embarked on their first ever UK and European tour with audio support from Britannia Row Productions.
The band – comprised of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner – chose a selection of intimate venues for their debut tour, which meant that house PA systems were the order of the day, and the Brit Row control package would take on a lot of the heavy lifting.
FOH Engineer Mikko Gordon has worked with The Smile’s frontman, Thom Yorke, for 10 years both live and in the studio, most recently serving as engineer for the band’s debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention.
“It felt natural for me to be the one to take this show out into the world,” says Mikko. “We spent some time at Rak Studios for production rehearsals and this allowed me to create my mix in a controlled environment. I used

USA - Franklin Music Hall on Philadelphia’s North 7th Street first opened its doors in 1995 as Electric Factory, the second incarnation of a bygone local ’60s/’70s venue. The new 2,500-capacity venue quickly emerged as one of the city’s prime destinations for artists spanning genres from rock to punk to noise to dance, and its popularity sparked the warehouse-style music-venue trend, becoming the model for clubs across the nation.
The venue was eventually acquired by AEG in September 2018 and took on its current moniker, with AEG’s regional partner The Bowery Presents producing shows there by artists like Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Greta Van Fleet, MGMT, and Matt and Kim.
Now, Franklin Music Hall has turned yet another corner with its recent installation of an L-Acoustics K2 loudspeaker system, which has pumped up the volume for its most current raft of touring

Europe - DPA Microphones is showcasing its latest microphone offerings, designed to meet the growing needs of the entertainment and media markets, at IBC 2022.
Focusing on the needs of film and TV productions, DPA is highlighting its 4097 CORE Micro Shotgun Microphone, which can also serve as a boom mic for broadcast applications. Two important mic solutions ideal for televised live event productions, the 4466 CORE Omnidirectional and 4488 CORE Directional Headset Microphones and the 4055 Kick Drum Mic, will also be featured on the show floor.
Featuring the same sonic qualities as the brand’s other supercardioid microphones, the 4097 CORE Micro Shotgun Microphone has been optimised to pick up speech from a distance. Initially designed for plant miking applications, it is ideal for small spaces because of its compact footprint and clear audio pickup. Used in combinati

Europe - Following on from its successful range of LED bars introduced last year, Claypaky has now expanded the Tambora family further and introduces Tambora Flash. It is able to act simultaneously as a strobe, wash and blinder, specifically designed with a modular approach for use in a linear array, to offer new creative opportunities to lighting designers.
The strobe section is based on two strips of powerful white LEDs and a large beam angle aperture, capable of bringing a real impact of light into the show.
The blinder and the wash functions are obtained thanks to four large central RGBWW LED reflectors of 100W each, individually controllable in each function through the Advanced Layers Management. The presence of Warm White LEDs allows the typical "warm" effect typical of blinders. However, the blinder effect can also be obtained by using coloured LEDs, for a more

USA - Built as a hotel in 1865, the Haywood House in Jefferson, Texas, has served as a grand hotel, a local history museum and a personal residence. Today, the historic Haywood House is an upscale Euro-American restaurant and cocktail bar.
Owners Teresa and Alan Ponder purchased Haywood House in 2020 and have been updating and renovating the building's infrastructure, including the installation of a new state-of-the-art, facility-wide sound system from AtlasIED, featuring the company's Strategically Hidden Speakers and Atmosphere audio control platform.
Michael Chism, account manager at Visual Techniques (VTI-TX), was the point person for the historical Haywood House sound system project. Based in Longview, Texas, VTI-TX is an AV systems integration firm providing a range of products and solutions, including high-quality audio and control systems, visual presentation a

UK - London’s 02 Intercontinental Hotel recently hosted the World Procurement Awards. Organisers of the event, which celebrates the achievements of companies and individuals involved in the procurement supply chain, wanted to endow it with a “rock vibe” to reflect the bold convention-challenging attitude that drives that industry. Helping to convey this mood was a dynamic production and lighting design by Pytch that emulated the look and feel of rock shows throughout the venue.
The design team created one of the largest scale of productions the 02 has ever seen. This required a complex rigging system, incorporating a large mother grid and a kinesys based motor system to accommodate unique angled automated diamond LED wall. There were also over 400 panels of LED for the stage set. The size and scope of the production meant that load in and load out were challenging, wit

The Netherlands - The Nederlands Blazers Ensemble Nieuwjaarsconcert - performed on-stage before an audience and broadcasted by NPO 2 on New Year’s Day - is a pivotal event in the Dutch cultural calendar, ringing in the New Year for countless viewers. The 2022 edition marked the concert’s 50th iteration, which paid tribute to legendary singers Nina Simone and Maria Callas. To create immersive and riveting visuals suitable for such a milestone, veteran lighting designer Henk-Jan van Beek and the Light-H-Art team selected the Martin MAC Ultra Performance as the lighting fixture of choice.
“I had already seen and played with the MAC Ultra Performance, and so I knew it was something I wanted to have,” said van Beek. “It’s since become my de-facto workhorse - it’s easy to set up, zooming into an iris effect is fast and elegant. Because it’s so bright, the fixture

UK - Sennheiser has been an essential part of Ed Sheeran’s touring inventory since the start of his career, with his long-time production company, Major Tom, providing Sennheiser’s flagship Digital 9000 system for him in recent years. Now on a tour that takes in some of the biggest venues in the world, including London’s Wembley Stadium, the Stade De France in Paris, the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, New Zealand’s Eden Park and Sydney’s Accor Stadium, and with a show that has expanded significantly from his ‘one man and a guitar days’, a switch has been made to Sennheiser’s Digital 6000.
“Digital 6000 delivers the same sonic excellence, but with added flexibility,” says RF engineer Dave White. “The 9000 Series served us incredibly well, but with large shows on multiple nights with a band and the addition of guest artists, we needed some extra flexibility

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