South Africa - This year's Rocking the Daisies - which coincided with the festival's tenth birthday - was the biggest and best year yet. It was the fifth time that Kilowatt AV saw involvement in the festival, this year being commissioned to conceptualise, design and fully execute four of the eight stages (where they incorporated Avolites Ai technology and Robe fixtures) as well as multiple activation areas.

Rocking the Daisies was held at the start of October at the Cloof Wine Estate in Darling, under an hour's drive from Cape Town, and included a line up of international and local musical acts, camping, relaxing and good food. In fact the owners never suspected that what started off, as a small festival on their tranquil grounds, would turn into one of the most popular annual mus

Sweden - Hyrljudet is a fast-growing technical production and rental company based in Goteborg, founded in 2005 by Kristoffer Jansson.

Literally translated, the name means 'Sound Rental', but Hyrljudet supplies complete production packages - incorporating design, sound, lighting and video - to a variety of concert tours, music events and corporate clients, with a special interest in the creative and atmospheric engineering of clubs and parties through exciting and challenging visual elements.

The most recent equipment investment has been in 24 of Robe's Pointe multi-purpose fixtures, which have gone to work over the summer in the two largest of the three separate summer club venues that Hyrljudet is servicing with equipment and crew.

"The Pointe is a good lightweight, medium-sized fixture with great cross-rental potential," comments Kristoffer, "Looking at the

USA - In a ceremony at the Las Vegas Convention Centrelast week during the LDI 2015 tradeshow, Live Design recognised the new ProPlex EZ-LAN Unity 20 with an LDI 2015 Best Debuting Product of the Year Award.

ProPlex's EZ-LAN makes managing today's complex show networking easier and accessible for everyone. These simple to operate yet powerful managed Gigabit Ethernet switches distribute up to four discrete networks - e.g. lighting, audio, content, server, console, communications, etc. - quickly, effortlessly, and simultaneously. Users untrained in the complexities of managed networking can easily isolate networks and access and change VLAN assignments with one button.

"Managed Ethernet switches are very complicated to use," explains TMB product specialist, Ashley Simper. "The ability to distribute up to four discrete networks with a single button makes life easi

USA - The 139th AES Convention in NYC saw Genelec unveil the new flagship 1236 Smart Active Monitoring (SAM) Main Monitor System. The 1236 and its individually calibrated 3U-high Remote Amplifier Module RAM-XL provide the highest performance possible in a large format, flush-mounted main monitoring system, says the company. The new design is based on the high-efficiency proprietary double-18-inch bass driver design of Genelec's 1036.

The 1236's frequency response extends from 17 Hz to 26 kHz and it is capable of delivering 130 dB SPL referred to 1 metre through a combination of modern digital signal processing and efficient Class D amplifiers, providing 2 x 1000 W, 800 W, and 400 W of short-term power into woofer, midrange and tweeter channels, respectively. The H 960 x W 1180 x D 650 mm (37 ¾ x 46 ½ x 25 5/8 in) enclosure features two 18-inch high-linearity woofers, two Genel

USA - After many years of requests for an API line amp, the company has announced that the 535-LA Line Amplifier is the newest addition to the 500 Series collection. Modelled after API's console-based 325 booster cards, the 535 can both amplify and attenuate incoming and outgoing signals for ultimate flexibility - all while providing API's trademark API warmth and tone.

The 535 is useful anywhere signal levels need adjusting such as inputs from keyboards, audio playback devices, or from mic preamps or audio processing devices that do not have their own level control, says the company. The 535 excels at adding warmth to digital signals such as DAW outputs, and features an LED clip indicator.

The 535-LA also includes a balanced input, a polarity switch, a 20dB pad for incoming signal attenuation and a three position toggle switch, which allows for different output gain levels fr

USA - Japanese Broadcaster NHK has fielded a new OB truck in the US market fitted with Lawo technology and designed specifically to capture major US sports events and deliver a high-quality audio experience to its viewers back home.

The new mobile unit is the first RAVENNA-based truck in the US, utilizing Lawo's newest dual-fader mc²56XT mixing console. The console provides a 64 fader surface in an audio booth with only 84 inches of linear space. It accommodates 288 DSP paths with 8,192 x 8,192 audio routing capability and three DALLIS I/O stageboxes in a redundant configuration.

The RAVENNA technology fully supports AES67 and offers a proven solution for critical broadcasting operations. In addition, the truck is capable of up to 22.2 surround sound as a potential audio delivery format for the network. In a long-standing cooperative effort between NHK and Lawo, the two compa

UK - Pro audio provider The Warehouse Sound Services is teaming up with Audio-Technica, the UK distributor for Allen & Heath to showcase their digital mixing system, dLive.

A free demonstration will take place at Warehouse Sound's Glasgow Branch on 11 November. The Warehouse is the only Scottish supplier of the Allen & Heath dLive desks so the event will provide members of the live audio an opportunity to see the system in action.

The showcase will be hosted by Audio-Technica's Ben Hammond (FOH Engineer for Ugly Kid Joe, You Me At Six, Devin Townsend Project, Skid Row, While She Sleeps, We Are The Ocean). Hammond will spearhead dLive training and demonstration for The Warehouse Sound's UK customers and engineers providing industry professionals with in-depth training, demonstration and support.

Hammond comments, "The new dLive mixing system is an exciting new developmen

UK - The opening ceremony of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, conceived and executed by Take That's creative director Kim Gavin firmly focussed the attention of the world's TV cameras on the contest in uncompromising terms.

"I'm really pleased with what we did at Twickenham Stadium," said production manager Steve Nolan of Chromatic Productions Ltd, who were contracted to manage the event. "We put 14 truck-loads of gear on the field without damaging the turf. When the opening ceremony was over it took just nine minutes and 26 seconds to clear the ground so the teams could enter for the warm-up. That's all down to planning, and Tom Brown from Britannia Row Productions Ltd (Britrow) who provided all the audio infra-structure in the stadium and to broadcast, was highly instrumental in realising that plan."

"The pitch system was relatively straight forward,"

UK - dbn Lighting from Manchester recently designed and supplied lighting equipment to two innovative site-specific shows in Hull created by outdoor arts and performance specialists Walk The Plank, in their role as artistic directors of Hull Freedom festival - a diverse mix of arts, music and cultural events staged over three days in and around the city of Hull.

dbn is a regular collaborator with Walk The Plank, known for their 'out-of-the-box' approach and imaginative, eye-catching public art presentations which challenge, engage and appeal to wide and diverse audiences.

dbn's Stephen Page and Nick Walton lit the two one-off shows which formed two of the main spectacular set pieces for the festival.

Using the River Hull as the narrator, Voices of Freedom , the opening night spectacular took place along its banks in between the Scale Lane Swing Bridge and Myton A63 Ro

UK - HSL is supplying lighting equipment for the popular Bill Kenwright production of The Glenn Miller Story, currently touring the UK tour with veteran entertainer Tommy Steel in the lead role. The show features a lighting design by top theatre LD, Nick Richings.

HSL's John Slevin is project managing with Emma Nolan and comments: "We're really proud to be involved in this production, it looks and sounds great and is really engaging audiences old and young."

The action takes everyone back to the early days of Glenn Miller's career, his passion for music and the development of his distinctive and complex swing sound.

The lighting plot utilises seven over-stage LX bars and features a wide variety of lighting fixtures including over 60 moving lights. Forty of these are from Robe's DL LED series -luminaires especially built for theatre applications - which were

Australia - Melbourne hire company Resolution X is the first company in the world to purchase the new Martin RUSH MH 6 Wash, the moving head based on the popular RUSH PAR 2 RGBW Zoom, utilizing the same LED engine and zoom system.

"Res X has over 120 Martin MAC Aura yet however many we purchase, they are never in the factory as everyone wants them from theatre to TV to events," remarked Tim Hall, managing director of Resolution X. "For quite some time, we have realised that an Aura is actually too bright in a lot of the applications we have been using them. So as soon Show Technology and Martin told us about the Rush MH6 we knew we wanted them. It allows us to provide a more cost effective option for our clients without compromising on quality. Another bonus is that the optics match both the MAC Aura and the Rush PAR Zoom."

Designed for night venues and liv

UK - Theatre Projects has appointed theatre consultant and international auditorium acoustic designer Rob Harris as a key consultant.

The move marks a significant strengthening of Theatre Projects' acoustic and theatre design team, as the company embarks on a number of high profile design projects worldwide.

Harris's impressive 35-year career as an acoustics specialist has seen him amass a plethora of prestigious design credits for cherished performing arts buildings including: Bridgewater Hall, Manchester; City Recital Hall, Sydney; Kilden konsertsal, Kristiansand; Bord Gâis Energy Theatre, Dublin and Kings Place, London.

Specifically, Harris is renowned for his acoustic design for some of the world's most iconic opera houses. These include collaborations with TP on both Glyndebourne Opera House and Oslo Opera House. In addition he has led on the Copenhagen Opera House, t

South Africa - The Calibre LEDView530 scaler/switcher is now available from Penmac, live event, staging and multimedia specialists, based in Randburg, South Africa.

"The LEDView530 has a strong feature set, unrivalled functionality and competitive edge. It is the perfect tool for switching, scaling and processing video wall content and has performed extremely well in projects we have been involved with," explains Malcolm Finlay, managing director at Penmac. "The LEDView530 is supported by our experienced technical experts who are available to demonstrate the LEDView530 technology as required."

The LEDView530 is a multi-input scaler/switcher that is designed for combining HD and SD video sources on to LED video walls. Four-sided picture edge Features also include genlock capability and low latency.

Pauline Brooksbank, managing director at Calibre adds: &qu

UK - Equally versatile in both portable and installed system configurations, and with its four channels delivering up to 5,000W, neatly packed into 1U weighing just over 7kg (16lb), Martin Audio's new MA5.0Q is billed as a flexible, cost-effective solution for small to medium sound systems.

Benefitting from core technologies found in Martin Audio's flagship amplifiers, the MA5.0Q sets a class standard in efficiency, leading to low power consumption, and consequently to substantial cost savings on electricity - all in an eco-friendly way. Minimum heat dissipation makes the MA5.0Q suitable for hot or otherwise challenging environments.

The target markets for the new amplifier include stage monitoring, hotels, restaurants and bars, visitor attractions, houses of worship, auditoriums, educational facilities, live sound and night clubs.

(Jim Evans)

USA - The 2015 edition of LDI revealed a lively market, and was yet another success for the Clay Paky. In addition to gaining the visitors' approval for its new products, Clay Paky also won two significant international awards.

Clay Paky's innovative new scanner the Spheriscan won the LDI Best Debuting Product award "for making the scanner fixture relevant again and moving the state of the art in reflected beam fixtures by several orders of magnitude". Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky's sales manager for the Americas, and Ben Saltzman, president & CEO of ACT Lighting, accepted the award from Marian Sandberg, content director of Live Design and LDI.

Pio Nahum, Clay Paky's CEO, commented: "We are truly satisfied the market has appreciated the effort we have made to re-invent the scanner using the latest technology. A moving mirror can still be very useful owing to i

USA - Impact Youth Camp in San Antonio is a two-week long church retreat that attracts high school and middle school students from churches from all over Texas. Over 1200 students attend, participating in group seminars, praise and worship.

The organisers of the event turned to DiTech AV of El Campo, TX to handle the lighting, audio and video design and production - and powerful fixtures from PR Lighting formed a major part of the lighting inventory.

The production has grown substantially since Paul Guthrie, owner of DiTech AV became involved with the event 10 years ago. This year they exceeded expectations and challenged themselves with a design that departed from anything they had done in the past.

Guthrie worked with his LD Dan Brunson to conceive the design. With the stage being so large, the biggest challenge was creating an intimate feel to the space, without losing it

USA - It was a capacity crowd at Rupp Arena 16 October, as the University of Kentucky's Wildcats took the court for their annual Big Blue Madness. The exhibition basketball game marks the first 'official' practice, and consists of grand spectacles, lasers, fireworks and stunning lighting provided by Bandit Lites. Bandit has provided the lighting for Big Blue Madness since 2011, and every year the team works to outdo the year before, with this year being no different.

Lighting designer Aaron Swetland worked to create a design that both filled the massive stadium and light the basketball court. The result was an enormous eight point star design with circle truss nestled in the middle covered in hundreds of moving lights.

"When you do a concert, you do 60 by 40 area, but Big Blue is huge, so we used a ton of wash fixtures like VL 3500 washes over the court to give a big fat

USA - Revamping major sports facilities and bringing them up-to-date now almost invariably involves a comprehensive review of the audio processing configuration so that it can cope with both current and future requirements. Providing the spring training home of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics since earlier this year, the Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona, is no exception - and as the result of its latest upgrade, now features an extensive Symetrix DSP infrastructure.

Minneapolis, MN-based Parsons Technologies systems engineer Mark Schultz, "The main objectives were to provide a quality audio upgrade and stay within the budget of Oakland Athletics. In terms of processing, we also needed to select equipment that would complement and support the Dante network being implemented throughout the site. After evaluating several possible scenarios, we determined that using t

USA - The new Gannon Recreation and Wellness Centre features nearly 52,000sq.ft of subdivided indoor space for year-round athletic, recreation and fitness activities, and is equipped with loudspeaker systems drawn from the catalogue of D.A.S. Audio.

Erie, PA-based Grisé Audio Visual Center, Inc., a design / build AV integration firm that also has a live events division, was contracted to design and install the new sound system at The Gannon Recreation and Wellness Centre. Greg Hardner, the company's sales & production manager, designed the sound reinforcement system, which included 69 D.A.S. Audio CL-6TB ceiling speakers, 22 Factor 8T loudspeakers, and 10 Arco 4T loudspeakers. He discussed the project and his fondness for D.A.S. Audio.

"The decision to install a sound system throughout the facility was approved with only six weeks of construction remaining before t

Greece - 360 event agency from Greece looked no further than Austrian engineering experts AV Stumpfl to meet its requirement for a 4m high by 30m wide Curve screen for presentations at an international conference of a Fortune 500 client that was held in Athens and attended by 500 participants from 28 countries.

"We turned to AV Stumpfl as the number one company to handle a project of this scale," explains Apostolos Papadopoulos, managing director at 360 event agency.

For this project, the AV Stumpfl Curve screen needed to be incorporated into futuristic architecture and design of the presentation. The screen was made to measure for its application and delivered ahead of schedule. 360 event agency integrated with five Barco HDX-W20 high-definition projectors and content was edge-blended onto the screen alongside state-of-the-art acoustic and video conferencing technol

UK - Hawthorn has been awarded the contract to supply lighting and video equipment for the New Order European Tour, which kicks off in Paris on 4 November.

Hawthorn has strengthened its position in the concert tour sector this year after supplying equipment for a series of prestigious European wide arena and theatre shows for high-profile music artists including Mark Knopfler, Squeeze, The Charlatans, Steven Wilson and Status Quo.

For the New Order shows, the Concert Touring division in Hawthorn is drawing upon its extensive range of hire equipment, supplying lighting to specification, including Martin MAC Viper Profile and Wash DX, Clay Paky Sharpy, Clay Paky Stormy and Robe BMFL fixtures, as well as providing the video element, which includes Glux 10mm LED panels. Hawthorn is also supplying rigging and drapes.

Mick Freer, concert touring manager at Hawthorn, said, "Ne

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