Switzerland - Thunerseespiele this year featured a world first for TiMax when its SOR audio localisation was used to track Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet performed in a massive half-pipe with a cast of BMX stunt bikers and skateboarders. Billed locally as Romeo and Julia, the ultra-modernised tale of love and tragedy set amidst the legendary feud between Montagues and Capulets was more Upper West Side than romantic Verona.

One actor noted the peculiarity of spouting classical prose whilst risking life and limb hurtling up an 8m high ramp, but such outlandish production concepts are nothing new to Thun's vast open-air lakeside amphitheatre, which has previously staged lavish productions such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Titanic and Aida. Since 2009

Russia - Lighting designer Roman Stolyarov has used a wide range of Clay Paky fixtures to create stunning lighting looks in celebration of global cosmetic company Oriflame's annual awards ceremony and banquet, which saw over 3000 employees attend.

Leading technical production house MAX'N'MAX created the concept for the event which was called Banquet of Oriflame Directors: What Dreams May Come and took place at Moscow's Gostiniy Dvor.

MAX'N'MAX designed an ultra-wide stage with dynamic LED screens at the end of the venue's large hall. To complement this, the team worked with Stolyarov to specify an impressive rig of 34 x Alpha Spot 1500 HPE, 28 x Sharpy Wash 330, 50 x Sharpys, 81 x Shotlight Wash and 24 x Stormy CC fixtures from Arlecchino Group.

"As the venue has a glass roof and part of the event happened during the day, we needed fixtures that would still perfo

UK - Orbital Sound added a new innovation for this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the Gilded Balloon, supplying a Flare Audio X2A Compact Vertical Point Source Array system, complemented by the Q18 sub bass units. Marking its 22nd consecutive year at the Festival, Orbital Sound was once again responsible for supplying and installing the extensive line-up of high-end audio and communications equipment across Gilded Balloon's nine venues, with David Bartholomeusz at the helm.

For Gilded Balloon's 30th Festival year, Teviot Row House's rapid transformation from the University of Edinburgh's SU into a high octane multi-venue facility was overseen this year by newly-appointed head of sound Sean Quinn, building on his previous experience as sound operator in the main 350-seat Debating Hall.

For 2015, Sean and David elected to specify a brand new system for the Night Club, intro

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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.

Sweden - Mats Karlsson, an industry veteran with a string of successful products and positions with several major companies, has started Intendor - a product innovation consultancy.

"My mission is to help companies get ahead of their competition by helping them create useful, innovative, and differentiated products. Anyone who has visited a trade show in recent years can testify to the fact that you have to look long and hard to find something really new. As the competition heats up and product life cycles gets shorter, companies are becoming painfully aware of the need to innovate in order to stay competitive and profitable. But only a few know how to do it, Karlsson shares."

"After bringing successful products to life at several leading companies, I am now making my skills and experiences available to those who wants to succeed using true competitive advantage

Sweden - The Stadsteater in Borås - about 60km west of Gothenburg - is one of a number of high profile city theatre and cultural centres in the country which has invested in Robe moving lights.

The purchase of 19 LEDWash 800s currently sees 10 installed in the 500 capacity main house, with nine in the smaller 100 capacity studio space. The Stadsteater is located in a large facility - together with the culture centre and library - built in 1976 and featuring some classic 1970s retro architecture and décor.

They wanted to replace some of their colour scrollers explains Lighting Technician and house LD Michael Dimle - and are absolutely delighted with the results of the LEDWashes. The Stadsteater had some previous experience with Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs bought in 2008, and the reliability of these was one of the reasons they looked to Robe again.

Michael also works for

USA - The Bay Area-based band Primus is touring North America with a Meyer Sound LYON linear sound reinforcement system to deliver its quirky, bass-driven brand of alternative rock. Described by FOH engineer Jason Mills as a "really fast" system with plenty of punch, the LYON configuration is provided byPro Media/UltraSound of Martinez, California.

"LYON is a very snappy box," says Mills, who works triple duty as FOH engineer, production manager, and system tech. "It's responsive, punchy and clear. The fans have noticed, too - I'm getting more compliments after shows than ever before."

The full system for the tour includes 24 LYON-M main and 4 LYON-W wide-coverage line array loudspeakers, 12 700-HP subwoofers, and four UPJ-1P loudspeakers as front fills. Two CQ-2 and four MSL-4 loudspeakers are deployed as needed for corner front and out fill, whi

Turkey - It is a matter of fact that the human ear brain mechanism is a highly sophisticated system capable of identifying where sound comes from with amazing accuracy. Using this information, with even the slightest difference in loudness, the brain can clearly identify the change and thus locate direction. "This in essence was the challenge presented by the requirements for a new sound system in the Turkish Parliament building Ankara," explained Tayfun Konuralp of Atempo, Turkey's leading provider of professional audio.

"With a requirement for a major improvement in intelligibility over the previous installation made in 1996 as a given, the desire was added for any member of the Parliament to be able to easily identify who was speaking and from where, even during the most heated of debates."

Konuralp heads up Atempo's Ankara office. "We first became

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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

Azerbaijan - Audiences were left enthralled and entranced by two dazzling opening and closing ceremonies staged in the National Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the first European Games - which saw Belgian based engineering specialist WIcreations involved in making some key elements of these innovative shows come alive.

WIcreations was approached directly by California based production company FiveCurrents who produced the Ceremonies. WI's team was led by Yves Vervloet and worked closely with FiveCurrents' senior technical director Nick Eltis.

The Heist-op-den-Berg based company was tasked with helping create some major visual moments, including the magic (flying) carpet during the opening ceremony, and design and construction of three performer stages for the closing ceremony, complete with a Temple of Fire rising up from beneath the largest one.

"It was a fantastic ev

UK / USA - To support the introduction of the world's fastest HQUltra switching scaling technology and its rapid growth, Calibre has appointed George Koumis as technical business development manager with focus on Calibre's OEM business and sales channels in the Americas.

Koumis is based out of Sacramento, California, USA and will focus on building OEM relationships. Koumis started his professional career in design engineering of video scan convertor boards at General Electric. He also has 20 years' experience working for Barco in business development, design engineering and product management for image processing technology including at Folsom.

Koumis enthuses: "I am excited to join Calibre due to the new breakthrough HQUltra fast switching technology. I'm looking forward to securing new relationships with OEM partners and to develop the business."

Tim Brooksbank,

USA - Shure has announced that Motiv digital products, a new microphone line "suited for individuals looking to capture high-quality audio for vocal/acoustic recording, podcasts, YouTube videos, field recording, and more", are now shipping.

The easy to use Motiv products include four new Apple MFi (made for iPhone, iPod, iPad) certified devices, including three condenser microphones and a sleek digital audio interface that can connect directly to any iOS device without additional adapters or connection kits. In addition, the MVL, an omnidirectional condenser lavalier microphone, is part of the MOTIV family.

Shure MOTIV digital microphones, as well as the digital interface, feature user-selectable DSP preset modes to ensure great sound no matter the application. Designed to support digital-recording users seeking better audio quality, MOTIV's preset modes - speech, si

Canada - Robe BMFL Spots and Blades were an integral element of the lighting scheme designed by Pierre Marleau of Orange Frog Productions Inc. for the Grandstand concert stage at the 2015 Calgary Exhibition & Stampede, arguably the world's most famous rodeo, exhibition and festival held annually in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Pierre, based in the same city, has been a lighting professional for over 25 years, starting his career in the world of theatre and musicals, with which he has toured worldwide. He's been lighting the Stampede's Grandstand Show for the last 19 years which sees a line-up of international artists play in front of 20,000 people nightly for 10 days plus a preview evening.

The lighting equipment was supplied in collaboration with BML Blackbird of Secuacus, New Jersey and Stagelite from Winnipeg, Canada working a joint venture initiative project, managed by VP of

South Africa - Showgroup used four Robe BMFLs for Rocking the Koppies, an intimate event hosted on a farm in Potchefstroom. Control was on an Avolites Tiger Touch II. "This was a private function for a fiftieth birthday party and included performances by Prime Circle, Just Jinjer and Mean Mr Mustard," said Andries Liebenberg from Showgroup, lighting designer at the celebration.

Showgroup was the technical supplier and incorporated a Prolyte Roof Structure used for the stage, 16 Robe Robin 300s and four Robe BMFLs. Other lighting included six Martin MAC 600s, 30 Stage Color 48, 24 Longman LED Cans, 20 Longman Colourme 11, stage battens, 12 Parcans and six Source 4 Profiles.

"The BMFL is an amazing light," said Andries. He has since hired the units regularly from MJ Event Gear, usually four at a time, even incorporating them into smaller indoor shows.<

USA - Often, the owners of a club will select a name for their establishment, because it sounds good - or sells more beverages - but in the case of Passion, the multi-level mega club at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino, there is real heat behind the bright moniker. The 15,000sq.ft club pulsates with passion from 10pm to 6 am Fridays and Saturdays, with non-stop simultaneous performances at its three DJ booths and the visual treats served up by 184 pixel mapped ÉPIX Strip 2.0 linear fixtures and other products from Chauvet Professional.

Opened on 1 December, 2004, Passion quickly established itself as a serious player in South Florida's buzzing club scene, making waves by booking talent like Lady Gaga and DJ Pauly D, as well as international EDM stars such as Dash Berlin and Latin sensations like Grammy-nominated Farruko. Still the club's owners have never been ones to rest o

Canada - The famed annual Calgary Stampede just concluded another successful season attracting over one million visitors to the 10-day event. A combination rodeo-exhibition-festival, the largest fair in Canada also featured a nightly Grandstand Show, which was illuminated by Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures.

Pierre Marleau of Orange Frog Productions Inc was the lighting and production designer for the grandstand show, a role he's fulfilled for the last 19 years. "It's an old-style review, a big outdoor mega-spectacle," he says. "It's got acrobats, circus acts, video, pyro, fireworks. It's one of the more complex projects we do." He obtained the Sharpy fixtures from a new joint venture between BML Blackbird of Secaucus, NJ and Stage Lite Manitoba Ltd. in Winnipeg, which combines a 30-year reputation for serving clients in the northeastern US with a professional team

Mexico - Mexican rock band Maná has earned four Grammy Awards, seven Latin Grammy Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards Latin America, six Premios Juventud awards, fourteen Billboard Latin Music Awards and fifteen Premios Lo Nuestro awards. The band's sound is inspired by Pop Rock, Latin Pop, Calypso, Reggae and Ska music genres. Recently the band started its new world tour 'Cama Incendiada' with a lighting design by Alain Corthout.

The tour used a grandMA2 full-size and a grandMA2 light consoles, two MA NPU (Network Processing Units) and eight MA 8Port Nodes for lighting control of over 200 Clay Paky moving lights.

"Versatility, robustness and reliability are the main reasons I'm using a grandMA2", explained lighting programmer and operator Menga Cruz. "Versatility is needed because of the various ways in which we work with the system on shows. We have two users

UK - British loudspeaker manufacturer, EM Acoustics has announced new products in the wake of the inauguration of their new R&D facility, headed by the M-C12 and M-C15 12 and 15" coaxial monitor speakers and the EPX-8 self-powered 8" compact loudspeaker.

The EPX-8 is essentially an updated, self-powered version of the EMS-81X compact, powerful 8-inch loudspeaker. Featuring EM Acoustics' signature passive crossover for unprecedented frequency and phase response, a rotatable horn for flexible dispersion options and a variety of swift, safe rigging options, the EPX-8 also includes a state-of-the-art Class D amplification package with integral stand-alone DSP for true plug-and-play operation. Typical applications range from small FoH duties to front fill and compact stage monitoring.

Whilst the EPX-8 is a logical extension of an existing line, the M-C12/15 monitors repre

Media Pressure - The producers of forthcoming musical Elf will introduce a £30 ticket band after bowing to "overwhelming public and social media demand" for more affordable tickets. The show, which runs for 10 weeks over Christmas at the West End's Dominion Theatre, has been criticised for its ticket prices, which rise as high as £240 for a top price seat.

The producers said that strong sales on more expensive seats allowed them to offer a limited number of £30 tickets throughout the run. "The producers acknowledge the show and the West End itself should not exclude families or anyone who cannot afford the higher priced seats, and have therefore used the incredible sales on the higher prices tickets to offset the cost of the new lower priced seats being introduced at all performances," a statement said.

Under Pressure - Foo F

UK - Pioneer DJ has announced the forthcoming HDJ-700 headphones, which, the company says, "look good and sound superb". Inspired by Pioneer DJ's top-flight headphones, the robust, fully enclosed HDJ-700s are fine-tuned to reproduce rich, clear mid to low frequencies for monitoring dance music. Features include durable and replaceable cables (1.2-metre coiled and 1-metre straight); soft ear cups for a comfortable fit; rotatable right earpiece up to 60 degrees; tough, durable build.

The HDJ-700s are available from October 2015.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Flashlight Ltd, a leading UK supplier of lighting equipment to the broadcast, motion picture and theatre industries, has announced the opening of a London sales office and warehouse, headed up by sales executive Gordon Smith.

The new location will also provide showroom and demonstration facilities. Due to the rapid expansion of their southern client base and operations, the company feels the new location will better serve the demands of local rental and sales clients.

The new location will provide sales and support for the company's expanding range of leading lighting products - stocking the brands the company has become renowned for supplying, such as ARRI, Manfrotto and KinoFlo. The company will still have its headquarters at the existing location in Manchester.

Flashlight directors Andy Dodd and Rob Williamson commented: "We're delighted to open a London office;

The Netherlands - Doughty Engineering will be debuting its new Studio Frame at this year's IBC show.

Visitors to Hall 11, Stand number 11.A60 will be able to find out more about the kit, designed to assist small studio spaces eliminate clutter on the ground caused by lighting and trailing cables. The modular system can be easily constructed to suit most spaces and offers a safe working load that is adequate to support most modern day lighting with the addition of pantographs and bars.

Mark Chorley, design engineer said, "The Doughty Studio frame really is ideal for use in studios where space is of a premium. It started life as many of our product ranges do, as a bespoke piece of kit for the animation department at Staffordshire University. The course's specialist technical instructor was looking for a way to enable his students to move more freely around their sets and so

UK - ArKaos PRO, pioneers in interactive video technologies, invite you to attend a unique event taking place this September in London, at the home of its UK distributor, White Light, on Tuesday 15 September.

During a full day of presentations and through ongoing displays, ArKaos PRO will demonstrate the latest version of its MediaMaster software, which has consistently remained at the forefront of the industry's creative projection and LED applications, the company says.

MediaMaster 4.2 now adds an integrated Cue Player for reliable, accurate playback of visual sequences, and 4K support, which enables three layers of 4K video to be played on servers with a Core i7 processor. With the help of the ArKaos PRO's technical staff present on site, learn how to quickly achieve complex projections and find out how to trigger your show from a lighting desk or how to build a quick cue s

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