UK - Simple Minds, one of the biggest pop-rock bands of the eighties, is back with their sixteenth studio album, Big Music. Simple Minds are currently in the middle of a major UK and European tour, Big Music + Greatest Hits 2015. FoH engineer Olivier Gerard (aka Gg) has been working with Simple Minds since 2009. One of the key elements of his system setup on this tour (and indeed many others) is his Intelli-X 2 48 loudspeaker processor and system management device from Apex.

"On tour you need to be both reliable and efficient," explained Gerard. "That means you need good tools. The Intelli-X 2 is the equivalent of the Swiss army knife for FoH engineers - in other words, it does everything, and does it well! It's great to have in any situation, but it r

UK - Electrosonic is hosting its third New Technology Day in Aberdeen which will provide visitors with an in-depth look at the latest audio-visual and collaboration solutions on the market for the corporate, oil & gas and control room industries. This free event will be held at The Chester Hotel in Aberdeen on 13 May.

This year's Technology Day will feature a new format where over 20 manufacturers will work together, integrating their technologies to demonstrate different 'room solutions' including a control room, a high end visualisation room, video conferencing cloud solutions, Lync, 4K collaboration, remote monitoring, and wireless collaboration and presentation. Each 'room solution' will show a selection of alternative technologies which can be used in that particular set-up to suit different budgets, room sizes or business objectives.

Confirmed suppliers include Adder Tec

Germany - Flightcase and loudspeaker component manufacturer Penn Elcom highlights its new Case Automation machine on stand D20 in Hall 9 at Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt this year, which is designed to assist case makers' operations become more efficient.

Case Automation has been designed and engineered to aid specific elements of the production process by speeding up some of the most difficult and challenging tasks associated with case making e.g. punching extrusion and others.

Penn Elcom's Case Automation system has a footprint of just one metre square and the machine costs around 10,000 Euros, depending on which sets of quick-change tools are selected from an array of available options.

Cutting 19 inch rack rails for example becomes extremely straightforward using Case Automation.

When doing this manually, the physical cutting is wasteful and long-winded as the rail has t

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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.

UK - At the end of April 2015, both Lighting&Sound International sales manager Barry Howse and sales executive Jane Cockburn will be leaving LSi after over twenty years of working with PLASA's members, advertisers and readers and exhibitors and visitors. LSi editor Lee Baldock comments: "On behalf of the entire PLASA Media team, I want to thank Barry and Jane for their many years of hard work and thousands of miles of travel undertaken in our cause. We will all miss them and wish them the very best in the future."

Barry Howse joined LSi in March of 1992 as Advertising Manager, then as Media Sales Manager. He also served on the PLASA Exhibitor Working Group. Jane joined in 1993 as LSi's sales coordinator, then Media Sales Executive and has also regularly provided valuable organisational support for a succession of Showlight events which Jane will continue to work on. Bo

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises has announced a series of seminars under the title Academy 4.0. The seminars will be held in Dubai during the months of May and June this year.

The training will take between one to three days depending on the particular brand. Attendees will have the opportunity not only to hear about the strong and successful brands, but also they will improve their knowledge and skills within different areas of professional audio and video market.

Confirmed dates are: Sound Devices, 6 May; DIS I, 10 - 11 May; DIS II, 12 May; Shure, 13 May; Rane, 17 May; ENCO, 18 May; Mackie / Neutrik, 19 May; Cloud, 25 May; SMAART, 1 - 3 June; Clear - Com, 7 - 9 June; Roland, 10 - 11 June; Midas, 14 - 16 June.

"This year the portfolio of the brands participating at Academy 4.0 is much larger than the one we hosted previous year. Recently launched produ

UK - With the outdoor season fast approaching, and local authorities across the country seeking to reduce noise pollution at key event sites, Kent-based Old Barn Audio has taken the enterprising and pre-emptive step of purchasing a 16-element MLA Compact system from Martin Audio to help meet the anticipated market demand.

Director Phil Clark says that given his company's own history with Martin Audio - coupled with an already existing demand this summer for a technology that is scientifically proven to eliminate off-site noise escape - the move was a logical one.

"We are not a rental company and have no intention of competing with rental partners. But having done research, and noted the extent to which production companies are cross hiring from each other on peak weekends, it is sensible to make more enclosures available on a dry hire basis. Along with the flying frames a

Germany - Philips' entertainment lighting brands Vari-Lite, Selecon and Strand, alongside product range Showline, will be unveiling a broad portfolio of exciting new creative tools for lighting designers at Prolight + Sound this month.

Following the success of the award-winning Vari-Lite VL4000 Spot comes the new VL4000 BeamWash, a luminaire that combines stunning wash capabilities with intense beam functionality and the ability to produce a powerful column of light.

Visitors will be able to see the VL4000 BeamWash in action at the dedicated Vari-Lite booth, in Hall 11, Stand D71, situated close to and operated by valued Philips distributor Lightpower.

"We're very much looking forward to showing off the brand new VL4000 BeamWash and the proven VL4000 Spot. These products are two of the highlights at the Lightpower village during this year's Prolight + Sound," says

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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

Germany - RC4 Wireless will be displaying a range of their RC4 Series 3 devices and technologies at Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt. This is the first RC4 European exhibition since winning the PLASA Award for Innovation at PLASA London last October.

Since the October release of these small and portable packages powered by batteries and controlled by wireless DMX, RC4 Series 3 devices have seen touring across Europe in Disney's Violetta Live!, and used extensively in the world premiere of An American in Paris at the Théatre du Chatelet, now opening on Broadway.

RC4 Series 3 wireless dimmers directly drive halogen lamps, LEDs, servo motors, relays, solenoids, and much more. RC4 technology seamlessly and transparently integrates into scenes and cues, indistinguishable from traditional wired fixtures. RC4 Series 3 devices provide a family of powerful features avai

USA - Leopard and the 900-LFC join Meyer Sound's flagship Leo family as its smallest and most versatile members. Boasting serious power-to-size ratio with ultra-low distortion, the patent-pending Leopard line array loudspeaker and the 900-LFC low-frequency control element­ offer an unprecedented level of clarity, power, precision, and ease of use, says the company.

With "state-of the-art design, groundbreaking engineering, and premium quality components", Leopard and 900-LFC are designed to create an exceptional listening experience across a wide variety of applications from rental to install and rock 'n' roll to classical.

"I've always followed my own path in this business, never satisfied until something is the best it can be," said John Meyer, founder and CEO of Meyer Sound. "With the Leo Family we set out to reduce distortion to the theoretical li

USA - The Portland Trail Blazers enjoy a passionate following among NBA fans, whether in the stands of their home court at Moda Centre, or listening to live radio streams over the air or online.

Recently, the franchise turned to LineQ, the chief distributor of Barix products in the United States, to improve the fan experience. The solution employs three Barix Instreamer IP audio devices to encode live game feeds into files for streaming over the Internet and to mobile devices. The streams additionally incorporate live closed-captioning for hearing-impaired fans.

Because they own rights to their broadcasts, the Trail Blazers can create an entire programme at Moda Center for distribution to their network of 30 radio affiliates throughout Oregon. The program not only includes broadcasts of all the games-both home and road-but also all commercial content, announcements, and pre- a

China - For the fifth year in succession PR Lighting were able to report a 100% positive reaction to their new product showcase at this year's GET Show 2015.

Held once again at the Poly World Trade Expo Center in Guangzhou, by Industry Association of South China Entertainment Equipment (SCEE), all the major Chinese lighting and audio manufacturers participated.

In fact, PR Lighting increased their presence by taking two large 108sq.m stands this year - one booth dedicated to professional lighting, the other strictly to entertainment lighting. Said sales director, Ernie Armas, "This not only demonstrated the strength of PR Lighting - by being able to show over 350 working units - but enabled visitors to see our products from a different perspective."

Aside from the busy footfall that dominated their stands during the four days of the show, the week effectively start

Poland - ARAM, Poland, was responsible for the design and technical production of largest gaming event in the world - the ninth edition of the World Final of the Intel Extreme Masters .

For the second year in a row, this event was held in Katowice, this time spread to two locations - Spodek and the newly built International Convention Centre. Event broke all records of audience and visitors.

The event lasted for a total of four days, and ARAM was responsible for the design and implementation.

"Work began many months before the show," says Michael Mrzyg?ocki. "We were responsible for the execution of the set design of projects for all three stages." The ARAM team worked closely with both the client and the executors, among others, Jack Van Daniels.

The resulting total of three scenes, including an impressive main stage with a total span of 60m, located i

USA - The Journey North Community Church near Brainerd, Minnesota has been steadily growing since its first service in 2004. That day, 130 people showed up to a rented room in the city's community centre, a space that would serve as the church's temporary home for many years.

Recently, Journey North acquired an old Lutheran church school building in nearby Baxter, Minnesota and set about the task of converting its reverberant gymnasium into a contemporary worship space.

Twin Cities-based Audio Video Electronics (AVE) assisted, repurposing old classroom acoustic tiles and using other low-cost ideas to give the worship space vastly improved acoustics and lighting. Importantly, AVE installed a Danley Sound Labs SH-96 for main coverage and two Danley SM-60Fs for side-fill. Danley's point source phase coherence maximized intelligibility and fidelity, and its tight pattern control k

USA - Before Enrique Iglesias set out to play some of the world's largest venues for his 2014 Sex and Love Tour he consulted Travis Shirley, his longtime creative director and show designer. To make the show's production elements specialized yet easy to replicate in any tour destination, Shirley deployed several classic lighting fixtures from Martin Professional and one new one - the MAC Quantum Profile.

Over the last decade, Shirley and Iglesias have done 12 tours together. The Sex and Love Tour was a first, however, in that Iglesias shared the role of headliner for some of the shows with Pitbull, which challenged Shirley to design a show concept that was distinctly Iglesias's style but could be augmented by Pitbull's creative team when necessary. Furthermore, the tour's far-reaching itineraries made local product availability a key concern.

"The show design that I sold

UK - Rock band Placebo continue their acclaimed Loud Like Love world tour which entered its third year after starting in September 2013, with lighting and visuals designed by Jvan Morandi of Placing Shadows Ltd. who brings his characteristic eye for style and flair to the imaginative equation.

For the first time, west London based rental company Colour Sound Experiment supplied lighting equipment and LED screens - for the latest section of the tour - which has just completed an extensive run through UK academy venues.

Jvan's original design concept has been adapted several times for the various legs of the tour, which have already included two full production runs and two festival seasons. This time it was modified again to fit the academy sized venues, retaining the raw, gritty aesthetic with lots of moody back-lighting and quirky video that has created such an interesting cr

Germany - GLP will present iadditions to its popular impression range of LED moving lights at this week's Prolight+Sound Show in Frankfurt (on booth #11.0, B17).

For the first time in Frankfurt, the German company will showcase its new impression X4 Bar 10 and impression X4 Bar 20 fixtures. Alongside these, GLP will be showing its very latest fixture to join the range, the fully pixel mapping impression X4 L, and also previewing its new impression X1 for the first time anywhere in the world.

GLP's new impression X4 Bar 10 and impression X4 Bar 20 - two high performance battens that offer flexibility across multiple applications - use high output RGBW LED's that are packed tightly to give a full batten of light.

The one metre long X4 Bar 20 uses 20 LED's, while 10 LED's feature in the shorter 50 cm X4 Bar 10. High quality optics ensure a smooth, homogenized output across the

The Netherlands - The Hard Dance electronic music event Masters of Hardcore celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2015 under the banner 20 Years of Rebellion. The 28 March event attracted an audience of 25,000 in the Brabanthallen in S'Hertogenbosch.

To celebrate this event in an appropriate way, the organizers decided to go for a massive laser show setup on four of the six stages, which meant that more than 16 high power lasers were set up on the main stage, and 16 more fired on the other floors.

Reliability as well as quality of the equipment is essential at such large scale productions. Laserfabrik did the laser show performance on all stages and decided to go for a massive laser setup of RTI NANO, RTI PIKO and RTI FEMTO show laser light systems.

The laser show control was executed with a combination of DSP controllers and grandMA2s, which triggered the pre-programmed

Germany - XLNT Advanced Technologies is launching the new CyberHoist II system at ProLight+Sound, Frankfurt in Hall 9.0, booth E88.

CyberHoist II is the second generation of the world's first intelligent, variable speed chain hoist specifically designed for heavy-duty, worldwide touring and large-scale events. The system has already proven to be an instant hit with safety conscious professionals across the world.

Designed and manufactured by entertainment motion control systems expert XLNT, CyberHoist II has - right after its release - been ordered by customers in Europe (Germany, Belgium, Finland, Georgia and The Netherlands) and Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Israel and Kazakhstan), with first performances on projects varying from Linkin Park's critically acclaimed dynamic set for the band's European tour to the recent KinKi Kids arena shows in Japan, to name but a few.

De

USA - Avid introduced the flagship Avid Venue | S6L live sound mixing system at NAB, featuring a modern, intuitive touch-based interface that "enables audio professionals to easily handle the largest, most complex tours and events". Thanks to tight integration with industry-standard Pro Tools, Avid Venue | S6L functions as the perfect front-end to the Avid MediaCentral Platform, billed as "the most fluid end-to-end media management and distribution platform in the industry".

Chris Gahagan, Avid's senior vice-president of Products and Technology comments: "In the ten years since we first introduced the Venue live sound mixing system, Avid has continued to be on the forefront of live sound innovation, and now we are setting an even higher benchmark with Venue | S6L."

"With Venue | S6L, Avid is poised to lead the market forward again with unprec

UK - Luminex Network Intelligence, the Belgium-based developer of Pro AV and lighting control data distribution equipment, will introduce its latest developments at Prolight+Sound 2015 in Frankfurt this week.

First up is the new Ethernet-DMX8 Truss MkII. This 8-port truss-mounted converter brings all the well-known features of a Luminex converter in a rugged and versatile form factor. Fitted with eight fully isolated DMX ports, and two Ethernet ports, the unit is designed as a solution for converting a high number of DMX channels, using the benefits of the powerful Luminex Ethernet-DMX engine.

Also on show will be a demo of the beta version of the upcoming 4.2.0 firmware for the Ethernet-DMX range. This beta includes the following new functionalities: Support for BlackTrax (Cast) protocol; Fade between sources for triggered control; Synced outputs.

In Hall 8, E0 Stand K37, t

Italy - Outline has announced the appointment of Luca Giaroli to the position of business development manager.

An accomplished and skilled marketing manager, Luca will focus his energy on expanding the company's global presence on all levels. He will be responsible for building sales, imaging and branding, as well as field training and education initiatives for all of Outline's professional sound reinforcement programs, and will report directly to the company's board of directors.

"My mission here is simple, although challenging - I will be hitting the road to meet with our distributors; engage current and new customers; speak with sound engineers and technicians; organize demos and high profile events to showcase our proprietary technologies; spend time with friends and fans of Outline to gain new perspectives and insights; and assess our competitors - in order to identi

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