UK - London's Sadler's Wells Theatre stages a richly diverse range of national and international collaborations. In 2013 Sadler's Wells embarked on a comprehensive upgrading of its infrastructure and technology, to improve both front of house and backstage environments in its 1568-seater main auditorium. Renowned theatre consultant Roger Spence was placed in charge of the project and engaged a team comprising designer Graham Large of Chapman BDSP, integrators Stage Electrics and lighting manufacturers GDS.

GDS was invited to supply a comprehensive, low-energy, LED house-lighting system to cater for virtually every functional and architectural demand. This was to include everything from panel lighting at the front of the circle, to row-end markers, emergency lighting, emergency exi

Germany - The International Film Festival (Berlinale) is one of the most important events for the international film industry and is at the same time the largest public cinematic festival in the world. The 65th Berlinale enthused hundreds of thousands of spectators with some 400 films in 52 venues. Dutch loudspeaker manufacturer Alcons Audio supplied its pro-ribbon sound system for the Berlinale Palast (Berlinale Palace).

Each year, since the Berlinale of 2000, the Stage Entertainment Theater am Potsdamer Platz, which is actually a musical theatre, is transformed into the main venue of the Berlinale: the 1,600 seated Berlinale Palast. Here the glamorous gala opening with an international star cast takes place, as well as the premieres of the competition films. In addition, the Berlinale Palast is the setting for the award ceremony of the Golden and Silver Bears.

For the Berlin

UK - There is little than can compare to the sheer joy of listening to the assembled voices of several thousand youngsters singing their hearts out. In motivational terms alone, what Young Voices does for the primary school age children of the UK is sensational; to be planted front stage centre in one of the UK arenas and perform in front of an equally large audience is a memory most of them will carry for the rest of their lives. How do we know this?

Arthur Mazzer who works for Britannia Row Productions Ltd (Britrow), the company that has provided the sound system for these events since their inception, was once one of those early choristers. "We all like music," he said, "I don't think you can work in this industry unless you love it, and for me singing was what started me off. In that sense Young Voices was a magical experience."

Astute readers will also

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South Africa - A star studded line up including Bok van Blerk, Theuns Jordaan, Jay du Plessis, BlackByrd, Elvis Blue, Claire Johnston from Mango Groove, Peter Mitchell, PJ Cruz and Martin Bester (Jacaranda FM) showcased at Carnival City's Big Top Arena on 27-28 February after running in London. With 70 Robe fixtures, the Big Top Arena was brought to life with effects and colour.

Carnival City was the main in-house technical supplier for the main PA, rigging, staging and lighting equipment. MGG Productions provided the back line, monitor and main sound desk.

Lighting designer Magz Schoeman from Carnival focused on creating a fully washed stage and literally painted with lights.

"The Robin 600LEDWash and Robin 300 LEDWash really made it easy to create a pretty picture and enriched the mood," said Magz.

Six super-fast Robe Pointes created sharp beams and the show al

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UK - In a busy year where some seriously talented and influential artists are hitting the road, Adlib is audio supplier for The Script's new No Sound Without Silence world tour which has kicked off in the UK and Europe in great style.

It's the fourth album campaign on which the Liverpool based company has worked with the popular Irish rock band, alongside production manager Bob O'Brien and tour manager Quinner, supplying the audio system and crew to work with engineers Richy Nicholson (FOH) and Paul 'Mini' Moore on monitors.

Adlib's crew is led by crew chief Marc Peers who is also co-ordinating monitor world, with Tony Szabo KSE as the systems engineer, charged with the dextrous task of fine tuning a perfect system every day whatever the venue or surroundings, delivering continuity and sonic confidence to Richy's rich animated mix.

They are joined by Adlib's Michael Flaherty

Spain - As Barcelona hosted the biggest mobile industry show in the world in March, Orbital Sound's conference and events team moved into action with a high profile corporate event organised by global creative agency Imagination.

Staged at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, the project involved a VIP evening's entertainment hosted by the MWC's headline sponsor, a major Chinese telecoms manufacturer. The project involved over 100 performers, taking part in an extravaganza that included flamenco dancers, hip hop, a 50-piece orchestra, and a full choir across three central stages, as well as in the balcony space - performed in front of an invited audience of some 1200.

The inspiration of Imagination's head of sound design John Del' Nero, the show sound was supervised by Seb Frost, and involved a technical crew of seven from Orbital Sound, under events director Eric Simpson. F

Israel - Popular Israeli singer, songwriter and musician Yehuda Poliker played a high profile concert at the 2500 capacity Charles Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv, a show that came alive with Robe BMFL Spots and a 90 per cent Robe lighting rig supplied by Argaman Systems.

The lighting was designed by Eyal Tavori - the artist's long term LD - and operated by lighting director Tsafi Dagan, who has also worked with Poliker for several years. The artist is constantly busy engaging in live performances and reaching out to the many fans and followers of his amazing 30 year entertainment industry career.

A 50m semi-circular truss was flown above and around the stage - opening at the front, with lighting rigged on this and on the auditorium's house bars.

Originally Robe's ColorSpot 2500E ATs were spec'd on his ongoing tour, however as soon as BMFL Spots became available - part of a

UK - Allen & Heath has released a major firmware upgrade for its Qu series of compact digital mixers, paired with key enhancements to the Qu-Pad and Qu-You apps.

V1.7 ArcLight firmware now allows up to two iPads running Qu-Pad to be connected to a Qu mixer at the same time. New features in Qu-Pad include saving and recall of processing and FX libraries, a third custom layer for easy access to any combination of inputs, mixes, DCAs, Mute Groups or SoftKeys, full control over key FX parameters, the ability to store and recall scenes, plus access to the mixer SoftKeys. Master PEQ, GEQ and compressor settings have been added to the Qu-You personal monitoring app, allowing performers further control over their own mixes.

V1.7 ArcLight also makes a channel Ducker available on all channels, inputs and stereo groups, adding to Qu's appeal in applications such as conferencing, educatio

Germany - Sennheiser presented a further milestone in the development of its company facilities and invited guests from politics, business and entertainment to its Innovation Campus.

With floor space of around 7,000sq.m, the Innovation Campus provides plenty of room for cross-functional teams to carry out projects in the development and marketing of audio solutions. The ground floor of the state-of-the-art building even accommodates a theatre and Germany's first Sennheiser Flagship Store, which enables customers to gain hands-on experience of the brand and its products.

"With our new Innovation Campus, Sennheiser now has the biggest and most modern centre for innovation in the entire audio industry," explained CEO Dr. Andreas Sennheiser. "We have created the space to develop innovations that are targeted even more directly at the customer. This is apparent not o

USA / Sweden - NEP Group Inc. (NEP) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Mediatec Group (Mediatec) from the current owners. Financial terms were not disclosed. This transaction will bring one of Europe's largest outside broadcast and video display solutions providers into NEP's growing worldwide network of brands.

NEP is a leading worldwide provider of outsourced solutions to the broadcast and live event industries, offering technical services for outside broadcast, studio production, video display, host broadcasting and post production. Headquartered in in the United States, NEP has offices in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Dubai and Australia. The acquisition of Mediatec will expand its reach across Europe, and add greatly to their worldwide pool of resources.

"Mediatec is truly a leader in the broadcast and live events industries in Europe, and we are

UK - Fulcrum Projects is launching its unique cable management flooring system to the live events and exhibition sectors. The unique low profile system brings a new approach to cable management for expo environments and temporary events of all kinds, offering complete flexibility and access when it comes to underfloor cabling for power and data. Fulcrum's Infofloor complements company's existing extensive range of power distribution equipment and adds another element to Fulcrum's long standing status as a leading provider of technical services for live events.

At just 50mm high, Fulcrum's cable management floor is a unique grid system with channels to house the cables which can be accessed at any time; meaning different disciplines can work alongside each other during the build and break down and changes can be made in positioning of technical equipment and furniture.

UAE - Sennheiser and Delta Sound recently collaborated to ensure the success of Drake's debut concert in the Middle East by providing him with the latest Digital 9000 wireless system which was used for all hand held microphones at the show. In addition to providing a memorable audio experience for the over 16,000 fans who attended the concert at the Dubai International Stadium on the 14th of March, 2015, the Digital 9000 managed to hugely impress both the house engineer, Demetrius Moore and the show's monitor engineer, Sean Sturge.

International superstars performing to sell out audiences have become a regular feature in the region in recent years and Delta Sound has played a lead role in supplying equipment for many of these concerts. "Having Sennheiser in the region is an absolute bonus for Delta Sound. As an extensive rental stockist of Sennheiser's RF and cabled product

USA - Elevation Church in North Carolina has used Jands' flagship Vista L5 console to provide powerful control for a major concert show held at the nearby Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte - attended by nearly 13,000 people.

Elevation's in-house lighting designer, Andy Bentley, specified the Jands Vista L5 for the concert show.

He commented, "The Vista (v2) software allowed us to do things in just minutes that would've taken hours on other desks. The effects engine was awesome to work with. The ability to stack multiple parameters in the same effect helped us create some really unique and energetic moments. The interface also made working with the almost 600 pixels of the B-EYEs painless."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Three new trustees have been appointed to industry charity Behind the Scenes UK, joining the board of trustees led by chairman John Simpson. Their combined expertise and reputation are set to help promote awareness of the charity within the industry as well as enabling greater representation across its different sectors.

Sue Dunford is currently head of production for entertainment for ITV Studios UK, responsible for the delivery of over 1250 hours of television a year. Having started her career at the BBC, Sue worked in production management across various genres. She joined ITV in 2001 as head of production for arts. Since then she has been head of production for all the non-scripted departments within ITV production, managing large teams in both Manchester and London.

Tom King began work as event manager at the Royal Albert Hall in 2006, working on a host of shows, inc

UAE - Clay Paky has recently opened a technical service centre in Dubai in order to provide all Clay Paky customers in Gulf countries with support and assistance. The office is manned by specialized professional technicians, under the guidance of Gordon Carr, who has recently obtained a certificate from Clay Paky for attending an intensive specialization course in Clay Paky product support.

The technicians can travel through the Gulf Area and provide assistance at the customer's request for Clay Paky products both under and out of warranty.

The office is coordinated by Egor Popovski, Clay Paky resident manager in Dubai, who has been working with the Italian company since 2000.

Alberico D'Amato, Clay Paky head of sales, said, "We hope this service will help make our technical assistance even more rapid and competent. We have a lot of customers in the Gulf region and we w

USA - Danley Sound Labs has appointed three master distributors: Danley Europe, headed by Marko Lönngren in Finland, Danley Asia, headed by Nicholas Loe in Singapore, and Danley Australia, headed by Steve Anderson in New South Wales. The master distributors provide Danley with the needed infrastructure to speed delivery, service, and support to all of its international customers.

Danley will be at Musikmesse - Pro Light & Sound in Frankfurt, Germany, and (in addition to the usual trade show functions) will be seeking other international distributors who wish to partner with them. Danley will be exhibiting indoors at Hall 8.0 M90 and outdoors at the F 13.0 A01 Concert Sound Area.

"In order to better serve our customers outside of the Americas, we have set up full sales, service, and support centres in the form of master distributors," explained Jonathan 'JP' Parker,

Thailand - W-DMX by Wireless Solution recently played a starring role for one of Thailand's most visual celebrations - the King's Birthday. To celebrate, Bangkok created a month-long display of decorative lighting along the banks of the Chao Phraya River and along the Rama VIII Bridge. Time Code Light Sound of Bangkok worked with Wireless Solution to achieve the lighting on one of the most prominent displays.

Thai people and tourists flocked to Bangkok to admire the beautiful light show this year, focused on seven parts along Chao Phraya River entitled The Spectacular Light Show: The Royal Kingdom with different lighting displays. The Rama VIII Bridge was named The Capital of Light.

For the bridge, which was the grandest of the seven displays, this beautiful landmark was awash with light. The Rama VIII Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge crossing the Chao Phraya Rive

Czech Republic - Sono Centrum in Brno, the Czech Republic's bustling second city, is the brainchild of local entrepreneur Jiri Stopl and is a vibrant live music club, a hotel and a cutting-edge restaurant all on the same site, bringing a new concept in entertainment and style to the city, the Czech Republic and indeed, central Europe.

Stopl, who also owns the Sono Music Studio in Prague, is a big music aficionado and wanted to bring a fresh new venue onto the gig circuit. He decided the easiest way to do this was to build his own ...

Once the decision was made, he wanted it to offer only the very best production values - so Robe moving lights and L-Acoustics audio were specified for the main stage.

The eye-catching modernist building was designed by forward-thinking architect Frantisek Smedek and resembles a PA speaker cone from the outside - a large white globe pinched betw

UK - Drapes, starcloth, LED and visual effects specialist S+H Technical Services recently supplied its 12 mm medium definition Glux LED screen to 10cc's recent UK tour, as specified by video and visuals designer Ian Holmes of Essex based XIVIX.

The band, including original member Graham Gouldman, have achieved considerable commercial and creative success and acclaim in a career stretching back to the 1970s and have just completed the first leg of an ongoing tour. Ian provided the video concept and design working closely with current lighting director Tigger (Russell Matthews).

They needed a versatile set up and flexible equipment that could multi-task to compliment the wide range of styles - from art house rock to pure pop - embraced by the band throughout the set.

Gouldman was particularly keen to get another original band member - Kevin Godley - to perform on one song via

UK - Four of Robe's Cyclone - LED wash light with an inbuilt DMX-controlled fan - fixtures were in action on the most recent gigs The Kaiser Chiefs, which were the final dates of a UK arena tour that saw the band ride high on the success of their fifth studio album Education, Education, Education & War.

The stage visuality was a carefully crafted collaboration by show designer Rob Sinclair and lighting designer Ali Pike, both of whom have worked for the band since 2013. The four Cyclones were supplied to the tour by special effects specialist BPM-SFX.

The four Cyclones were positioned two per side on the downstage edges of the stage. Rob explains that the band wanted to make some big statements in the arenas, and with a limited number of shows, they needed to "Be clever" with how they utilised the lighting fixtures.

Looking for a different and innovative 're

UK - Entec was involved in a recent collaboration with The Gig Company as technical production partner for An Evening With Suggs and Friends, an intimate action-packed showcase staged in the Woolwich Suite at the Emirates Stadium which raised over £130,000 for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Hosted by Suggs and Stephen Kelly the gala dinner evening included an auction which was presented by Charles Hanson plus incendiary performances from Rudimental and Madness together with a house band comprising top session musicians.

Entec took care of all aspects of the lighting, sound and staging design and realisation, which was project managed on site for them by Matt Arthur working closely with Noreen O'Riordan and Mark 'Magic' Ellis Cope in Entec's west London base.

Jenny Johnson and Viva McPherson of The Gig Company comment, "It is wonderful working with Entec - as well as

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