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29 July 2024

Europe - ETC has announced the launch of season two of its podcast series, On Headset. Offering a glimpse into the fascinating realm of theatrical lighting design, this immersive audio experience invites listeners to join real-time programming sessions with renowned lighting designers as they craft the visual magic of major productions.

In season two, also known as The Paule Project, listeners will embark on an educational journey with internationally acclaimed lighting designer Paule Constable and programmer Will Frost, as they share lightly curated recordings of headset conversations during the tech rehearsals of the National Theatre's production of The Normal Heart. This i play, depicting the 1980s HIV/AIDS crisis in New York, serves as a perfect case study in theatrical lighting, providing valuable insights into the creative pr

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29 July 2024

Indonesia - Meyer Sound has announced a new distributor in the growing Indonesian market. PT Promedia Sejahtera Raya, a newly formed entity, will exclusively represent Meyer Sound in Indonesia, bringing their professional audio and cinema products to the region.

This new entity is a collaboration between PT Promedia Innovative Solution, a prominent player in Indonesia’s pro audio market, and Sejahtera Raya Group (Cinema 21), Indonesia’s largest cinema chain with 1,300 cinemas nationwide.

“We are excited to announce this new distributor in Indonesia,” says John McMahon, Meyer Sound’s senior vice president. “After meeting with Yosua and his team at InfoComm, we knew this partnership would be instrumental in expanding the Meyer Sound brand in this dynamic market. The road ahead will have many opportunities for product launches, demos, traini

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29 July 2024

USA - Located in the heart of Ocean Drive in Miami’s South Beach, the Palace Bar, renowned for its status within the LGBTQ+ community, has been serving up dining experiences for more than three decades. The venue recently went through a complete overhaul of its sound system, including 14 Powersoft amplifiers.

Since its first opening in 1988, the Palace Bar has built a nationwide reputation thanks to its exuberant drag brunches and live entertainment, with more than 1,500 guests visiting each weekend. With music serving as the lifeblood of the venue, the owner of Palace Bar, Tom Donall, was keen to improve the previous audio equipment with a sound system that would be capable of conveying the energy of the Palace Bar shows.

“Being one of the most well-known gay restaurant bars in the world and putting on a famous drag show, the sound and the clari

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29 July 2024

USA - Country music singer-songwriter Alexandra Kay is out on tour with a lighting system provided by Bandit Lites. With her 2023 release All I’ve Ever Known, Kay used her lyrics and powerful vocals to weave stories fans can relate to and identify with. In addition to the album debut at #1 on the iTunes Country Charts and #1 on the iTunes All Genre Chart, Kay is featured on Jelly Roll’s Leave the Light On single from the summer’s hottest blockbuster film, Twisters.

Lighting designer Corbin Alvae drew inspiration for the lighting from All I’ve Ever Known. “When I was working on this design, I had to go into her shoes and feel the emotions she was feeling. That’s when the concept came about: something hard hitting, but visually appealing that fit her style in a way that made her fans feel even more of the emotion

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29 July 2024

USA - Free Chapel Church, a contemporary Christian congregation based in Gainesville, Georgia, is redefining the worship experience with innovative audio solutions from EAW.

The flagship main campus in Gainesville boasts a comprehensive EAW setup, including Anya ADAPTive line arrays and EAW SB828P dual drive subwoofers, meticulously engineered to cater to the venue’s unique architectural nuances. Glenn Setchfield, the global audio director at Free Chapel Church, emphasised the importance of EAW’s ADAPTive technology in tailoring sound dispersion to optimise acoustics.

According to Setchfield, “Our main campus presents challenges due to its fan-shaped layout. The decision to implement EAW’s Anya line arrays was driven by the need for superior coverage and clarity. EAW’s ADAPTive technology empowers us to precisely direct sound, expanding hor

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26 July 2024

USA - Sonic Sphere is an ever-evolving concert hall for the 21st Century. Conceived in the tradition of German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Kugelauditorium, a nearly spherical concert hall built for the 1970 World Expo in Osaka, Sonic Sphere is the Brainchild of Ed Cooke, a British cognitive science expert and entrepreneur, sound architect Merijn Royaards, and engineering director Nicholas Christie.

Since 2021, Cooke and his team have built Sonic Spheres in France, UK, Mexico, and the United States, including Burning Man. Each time, the hall has grown bigger; the sphere at The Shed in New York City is the eleventh and most advanced sphere, after iterations of increasing size and technical sophistication.

The result is the first Sonic Sphere to be suspended in air, costing more than $2m. The infrastructure includes 1,178 steel struts, 3,500 yard

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26 July 2024

UK - HearAngel (a LimitEar company) and Sonical have announced a software licensing agreement to integrate the HearAngel smart hearing safeguarding solution into Sonical’s CosmOS operating system for headphones. This collaboration allows manufacturers using the Sonical platform to offer hearing safeguarding either as a standard feature or user option.

Stephen Wheatley, CEO of HearAngel, stated, “CosmOS is enabling the next generation of headphone platform, allowing for personalised and updated devices through downloadable cloud apps. The functionality needed from your headphones can now be changed anytime based on preferences and usage.”

Gary Spittle, CEO of Sonical, added, “Hearing safeguarding is increasingly important, with extended listening at high volumes potentially causing permanent hearing damage. HearAngel provides easy-to-use infor

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26 July 2024

South Africa - Designer Chris de Lancey from Immersive Show Technology was asked to create a stunning architectural lighting scheme for the Union Buildings in Pretoria, to help celebrate the recent South African presidential inauguration.

Chris chose to work with Robe Esprite moving lights and one of the new Robe iBOLTS, which were applied with great effect together with projection mapping of the South African flag onto the building.

Cyril Ramaphosa was inaugurated as South African president and leader of a national unity government made up of representatives from four major parties – the ANC (African National Congress), the DA (Democratic Alliance), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Patriotic Alliance (PA).

The final inauguration events are organised on a tight timescale once the actual election results are confirmed and certified

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26 July 2024

France - A ‘secret’ event on the roof of the Terminal One Building, Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport on 17 July was planned as part of Olympic Celebrations and live streamed via Amazon Music’s Twitch channel to huge audiences. The entire proceedings, from set-up to pack-down, were also recorded for a feature film to be aired later in the year. Tristan Mazire captured the whole event live, whilst mixing for the live stream and the roof-top audience of 2,000.

The specially created audience areas were filled with a mixture of invited guests and lucky Parisians who had won the chance to be there on the night via an event ticket lottery. There were live performances from Phoenix, AIR and Zaho de Sagazan, plus DJ sets from Etienne de Crecy and Inès Mélia. The event highlighted the role of the airport as a gateway to the summer’s festivities.

Mazir

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26 July 2024

USA - Close collaboration between a lighting and video team is always essential. Anyone who’s been a part of an arena show where lights and screens flow seamlessly together can appreciate that. But the fine points of this relationship take on an extra level of urgency when the sun starts setting on an outdoor broadcast production.

This point was driven home to Emmy Award winning lighting designer/director Jon Kusner on 6 June, when he lit the grand reopening of the Michigan Central Station, a 90-plus minute event that started in the early evening, and featured stars like Eminem, Diana Ross, Jack White, Big Sean and Jelly Roll, as the sky darkened.

The tallest railway station in the world when it opened in 1914, the 230ft-high Beaux-Arts building was abandoned in the 1980s; its decaying façade quickly becoming emblematic of urban decay. Today, its

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26 July 2024

Germany - Bremen-based Folk band Versengold have recently enjoyed their biggest tour ever. With a string of sold-out performances ahead of them, they knew their current sound set up would need upgrading. A more transparent monitor mix solution was required to allow them to re-engage with their larger audiences, plus a mix that would offer space to hear the bigger crowds, but not allow them to over-power the acoustic instruments which are key to their six-piece ensemble.

KLANG was their solution and the man behind implementing it successfully was Tjado de Vries. Choosing KLANG:konductor meant the band could enjoy effectively spaced monitor mixes while still maintaining the clarity they need to communicate with each other as they perform.

Since 2018, Versengold have been on a steep trajectory, both in terms of venue size and recognition. Going from a s

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26 July 2024

Europe - Chainmaster has announced a new partnership with menzi ebz, a leading Swiss company specialising in lighting and lighting control systems.

Marco Menzi, CEO of Menzi EBZ, comments, "We have been specialising in lighting and lighting control systems for many years. However, we lacked the right partners to enter the rigging business. We are extremely proud and excited to represent Chainmaster, the number one in Switzerland for chain hoists.

“We are also aware of the high standards Chainmaster and our customers expect in terms of consulting and support. Therefore, it is only logical that we will strengthen our team with product specialists and look forward to welcoming new employees to our team soon."

Benjamin Göldner, vice president stage of the Liftket Group, adds: "This partnership with menzi ebz is a significant step for Chainmast

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26 July 2024

UK - Plymouth Argyle FC recently hosted its first two-day concert weekend at its Home Park stadium. Run in conjunction with the local Depo nightclub, who also hosted the after parties, day one was EDM-oriented, and dubbed ALIVE at Argyle, followed by the more family-focused RELIVE at Argyle on the Sunday.

The two days were quite distinct in that while house music and drum and bass dominated the first day, with a Becky Hill DJ set, Bru-C, Ben Nicky and others, the following day saw heritage acts and radio DJ’s (including Gareth Gates, Five, Liberty X, Chris Moyles and Craig Charles).

Local production company, and Martin Audio partner, Nub Sound were brought in to provide technical infrastructure. Having worked with the promoters on various events at their nightclub, in addition to the PA, they also provided the stage structure and upstage video elem

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25 July 2024

UK - Following a near two-year break from touring, Elbow are taking their new album Audio Vertigo on the road with a Skan PA Hire audio package.

Operated by the band’s long-standing engineers, Danny Evans (FOH) and Julien Helme (monitors), the system features Avid VENUE S6L 24Cs at both ends, and a d&b audiotechnik GSL Series PA system design by Skan’s Scott Essen.

Tour and production manager, Tom Piper, comments: “We have a very long-standing relationship with Skan, who are the long term and very much preferred audio supplier for Elbow tours. They provide state-of-the-art systems and are super-efficient operationally, a pleasure to work with.”

Danny is both the band’s FOH and studio engineer. He comments: “There’s generally a lot more time pressure when working live. I don’t mix particularly loud, but I think tha

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25 July 2024

Benelux - LSC Control Systems has announced the appointment of Controllux as its new exclusive distribution partner for the Benelux region (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg). The Australian manufacturer, which was acquired by Czech Republic-based Robe earlier this year, has been designing and manufacturing innovative lighting and power control solutions for more than four decades.

Controllux is a long-established and well-respected presence in the Benelux region’s entertainment market. A full-system integrator and distributor, it represents a broad range of professional lighting brands including Robe, ETC, Astera, ARRI and Prolyte. Operating across the theatre, television & film, entertainment and architectural lighting markets, the company has become a one-stop source for professional lighting expertise and systems integration solutions.

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25 July 2024

Europe - Neg Earth Lights has announced their partnership with British Ukrainian Aid (BUA), a UK registered charity. As part of their ongoing commitment to giving back, Neg Earth will be donating a truck through the donation scheme to support the work of this charity.

Since it was permitted from 15 March, British Ukrainian Aid (BUA) is operating the donation scheme with Transport for London (TfL) to donate vehicles to Ukraine through the ULEZ programme, where they would be used for medical and humanitarian purposes.

“Whilst Neg Earth Lights is not eligible for the for the scrappage scheme, they have decided to purely donate a vehicle through the charity,” says the company. “The donated vehicle is a Renault 16T rigid truck, the first of its kind to be contributed through this scheme.

“Our truck’s journey so far has been an adventurou

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25 July 2024

UK - Shangri-La - a festival within a festival that is entirely dedicated to creativity, arts, and underground and independent culture - has been a special area at Glastonbury for many years now. It is where the NowHere stage is located and where fans of electronic music feel like they’re in a club. For the lighting set-up, designer James R. Dickson from Elixir Lighting opted to use the Cameo OTOS H5 and ZENIT W600 SMD.

“The NowHere stage is very different from the festival’s other stages. Everything here revolves around electronic music and creativity,” acknowledges James R. Dickson, who – together with his company Elixir Lighting - is responsible for the lighting design, operation, and provision of lighting technology on the medium-sized stage. “Our job was to create a nightclub in the middle of a green field. To do this, we put the lights on t

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25 July 2024

USA - At its Spring 2024 opening, Flyover in Chicago became the newest of Flyover Attractions’ immersive indoor flying rides, joining existing installations in Las Vegas; Vancouver, Canada; and Reykjavik, Iceland.

Located within Chicago’s landmark waterfront Navy Pier, the multi-sensory experience, which incorporates leading drone technologies along with impressive aerial shots and first-person narratives, showcases the city from perspectives never seen before. Flyover’s signature Chicago journey is shown on an impressive 65ft spherical screen with flight motion seats engineered to swoop, dip and turn, giving guests the feeling of flight. The attraction transports 61 guests at a time, with complete sensory immersion using wind, mist and scents, as fliers hang suspended.

The ride employs a massive number of audio sources, which are controlled an

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25 July 2024

Germany - Prolights products illuminate the Church of the Holy Spirit in Bielefeld, a modern octagonal structure with slender columns and coloured stained-glass windows, which has undergone a significant technological renovation.

This project aimed to improve and expand the media usage possibilities within the church, with a particular focus on the lighting setup. The new lighting, designed by the Schröder & Partner design studio under the guidance of project manager Jan Wöhning, introduced a versatile and innovative lighting system that enhances the architectural beauty and liturgical symbolism of the church.

“The church mainly had obsolete lighting technology, which we replaced with more modern LED technology, promoting energy efficiency. The church also asked us to emphasise the colours of the liturgical year (green, red, purple) through c

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25 July 2024

France - SoundPLAN, developer of noise simulation software, is exhibiting and presenting its latest research and software developments for noise prediction and control, including for open-air events, at Inter-Noise 2024.

This year, the annual international congress on noise control engineering takes place in Nantes, France from 25-29 August  at La Cité Nantes Congress Centre. Visitors can find out more about SoundPLAN’s comprehensive noise prediction software, including forthcoming updates, and its consulting services and expert noise reports by meeting the team at stand 54.

SoundPLAN is currently developing the next edition of its software for indoor and outdoor noise analysis, SoundPLANnoise. Designed for creating high-quality noise surveys, from standard investigations to special tasks, SoundPLANnoise version 9.1. incorporates a range of new f