Spain - The stunning Terraza Kopa in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria recently installed a D.A.S. professional sound system. This modern venue, located on the ground floor of El Muelle shopping centre just steps from the Muelle de Santa Catalina cruise dock, boasts unbeatable views and a one-of-a-kind atmosphere. Décor, delicious cocktails and excellent music combine to make Terraza Kopa one of the top spots for a night out in the capital of Gran Canaria.

Outfitting the venue with clear yet robust sound was no small undertaking, requiring a system that could handle spaces designed for sipping on a cocktail and chatting with friends and others created for electrifying live performances. The owners called in local sound company Canarias Hipermusic to provide a comprehensive solutio

Finland - EM Acoustics reports that their Danish distribution partner, Alfa Audio, has expanded distribution into Finland. Juha Tamminen has been appointed to represent the brand exclusively throughout both territories.

Alfa Audio has been distributing EM Acoustics in Denmark since 2009. According to EM Acoustics' Mike Wheeler, the relationship has been a successful one. "Alfa Audio is probably the most successful pro audio distributor in Denmark with an impressive roster of brands. They have a pro-active approach to the market which matches our own philosophy perfectly, and they have done a good job for us in Denmark. I'm delighted that they are now going to be able to expand their activities into Finland now that Juha Tamminen is back in the saddle.

"Juha has in fact played a key role in the EM Acoustics/Alfa Audio relationship as it was he who introduced us to Alf

South Africa - A great time was had by all visitors to The Witness Hilton Arts Festival in KwaZulu Natal this year including a new visitor, the MA Lighting Dot 2, reports Dave Whitehouse from DWR Distribution.

With shows ranging from Watershed Live to the Baxter Theatre's production of Blue/Orange it was always going to be a challenge for the festival technical director, Michael Broderick, to supply the right equipment for such a diverse programme of events.

He appointed Durban based Black Coffee, headed by the irrepressible Brandon Bunyan, to take care of all the technical requirements. Add to this some top-notch freelancers, many of whom have been working at the festival for many years, and you have the smoothest running arts festival around.

Despite the very wet weather, usually a power nightmare for technicians, the festival ran without a mishap.

This all

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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.

South Korea - "The cost always has to be one of the decisive factors when one is contemplating a sound system installation," opens Jung Hawon, one of the elders in the Apgujung Kwanglim Church in Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea and chairman of the broadcasting department. "The opportunity to use the brand new specialized installation amplifiers, the 10D and the 30D, from d&b audiotechnik meant that the savings, when compared to other quotations, were more than persuasive."

That said, Hawon was very thorough when determining which system demonstration met with his congregation's approval. A group from the eighty thousand strong global worshippers were provided with a form of grading sheets so they could rate the three systems vying for the contract. The d&b V-Series system, augmented by some E8 loudspeakers and driven by the newly developed 30D and 10D amplifiers

UK / USA - To allow PLASA to refocus and concentrate on the needs of their respective membership bases, the PLASA Governing Body announces that PLASA's North American and European Union Regional Boards will end their cooperation agreement and return to functioning as separate associations.

A statement from PLASA reads: "This move will allow the associations to set strategic direction to meet their individual demands. It affords more focus of resources in each market toward the activities that are most relevant and pertinent to members and it will allow for more agility and decisiveness.

This in turn will foster the health of both organisations and protect their futures. As we did prior to the start of the cooperation agreement, the two associations will continue to work cooperatively on issues of common interest for the benefit of their members and the industry."

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USA - Fans of MCA Nashville recording artist Gary Allan have long been losing themselves inside his soulful, country music throughout his almost 20-year recording history. So when Allan set out on his latest nationwide tour, the production team wanted to make sure that the show behind the music matched the emotion onstage. To help make this vision a reality, lighting director and production manager Brandon Quisberg went back to trusted tour provider Elite Multimedia.

"This is my second year with the tour and this year we really wanted to move the audience with the music," began Quisberg. "While we wanted really big moments, we also wanted intimate and theatrical moments as well, and we needed the lighting to be a direct reflection of the emotion inside the lyrics to draw the audience in. Working with Elite Multimedia, they really listened to what we were trying to

UK - South London-based live event and technical solutions specialist PR Live has invested in its own LED screen surface, with an initial purchase of 120 panels of Absen A3 Pro 3.9mm pitch high definition product, complete with all necessary processing and rigging.

This is the first of a series of planned LED screen purchases which will expand the company's substantial video department which also currently features Christie high powered projectors, High end video switchers, processing and a selection of media servers.

PR Live's Justin Hammond comments, "LED screens are becoming increasingly prominent in the shows and events for which we design and supply equipment, so we are expanding the department. We wanted a premium multi-purpose product particularly to service our high-end corporate work ... and that was also ideal for our general music and live event based work.&quo

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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

UK - High End Systems will be exhibiting on stand E8 at the forthcoming PLASA 2015 at London's EXCEL.

Once again, it is all about LED, and for the first time in the UK will be the brand-new SolaWash Pro 2000 from High End Systems. SolaWash Pro 2000 is the next step in the bright white LED revolution from High End Systems. With an incredible output from a 600W LED source, there is now a wash light with no compromises.

The SolaWash Pro 2000 is the only LED wash light able to outshine 1500W metal halide units while using half the power and reducing maintenance intervals, operating costs and delivering unrivalled benefits for low cost of ownership. The fixture also comes with a two-year warranty as standard and is packed with CMY, variable CTO, 2 fixed colour wheels, framing, iris, 2 variable wash filters, a 5.5 to 55 degree zoom range and the ability to create stunning beam looks

UK - Zero 88 - Eaton's performance lighting control series - returns to the 2015 PLASA London expo show floor - on Stand E30 - at the ExCeL Centre with several exciting and innovative new products and releases.

PLASA will play a crucial 'next step' in the revolutionary new Zero 88 FLX lighting console's development.

Following its very successful launch earlier this year, Zero 88 launches a range of apps, upgrade options, accessories and feature enhancements designed to make FLX a truly powerful, versatile, durable, portable and extendable lighting control range.

Supporting up to eight universes over ArtNet or streaming ACN, FLX 8 brings 4096 channels of control with no patch limitations.

Zero 88 general manager David Catterall stated, "FLX is already setting new standards in lighting control with its intuitive capacitive touch screen interface, which makes the set up

UK - Lighting Resources who represent EHR­GEIZ, is presenting a world first, supplying its successful LED Helios 7B moving head with two compart­ments for lithium ion batteries from the international electrical tools manufacturer Makita.

Thanks to the double-battery so­lution, the Helios 7B beams are supplied with power in a redundant arrangement, which makes it pos­sible to remove and change one of the two batteries at any time. The batteries are then charged in the standard DC18RC quick charger from Makita.

Helios 7B creates serious beam effects, but can control each pixel in each colour separately, if required. Thanks to its small size, Helios 7B is extremely fast, but it can also go slowly. With its high-quality Osram LEDs including a lens developed in-house, Helios 7B is an ideal tool for professional applications and has been short listed for the Finals of the PLASA

UK - Allen & Heath has launched new Chrome Editions of its Qu series compact digital mixers to mark the launch of Qu v1.8 Chrome firmware in mid-October, which adds new features including Automatic Mic Mixing, a Spectrogram and additional monitor mixes.

Chrome Edition Qu-16, Qu-24 and Qu-32 mixers all feature the same high contrast metallic finish rotary controls and fader caps as the premium GLD Chrome series, providing optimal visibility in low lighting scenarios and enhanced tactile control.

The new Automatic Microphone Mixer (AMM) coming in v1.8 firmware helps the engineer to manage the levels of multiple mic inputs, ensuring that each speaker's contribution is heard, but with priority settings to establish an order of precedence, says the company. AMM is vital in applications such as conferences, meetings and panel discussions where a number of microphones are open at the

The Netherlands - Stagelight is a successful Dutch hire and events production company that has been consistently dominant in the corporate events market for many years. More recently, the company has been expanding and aiming for an equally strong share of the public events and tour sound sectors. Part of this strategy has been investment in high-end, flexible technology, both in sound and in lighting. This includes the recent purchase of four SSL Live consoles - three SSL Live L500 consoles and one SSL Live L300 console - from Audio Electronics Mattijsen (AEM).

Jacco van der Heijden, managing director of Stagelight said, "For us, SSL complemented our own strategy of always delivering to the highest possible standards: A global reputation for excellence, teamwork, and reliability are key to Stagelight operations. We had to find a brand that would fit with our high-quality i

UK - Fifteen special theatre industry events take place on The Theatres Trust's TheatreStage at PLASA Show 2015 from Sunday 4 to Tuesday 6 October at ExCel London.

The TheatreStage plays host to key organisations and associations in the theatre sector announcing their latest activities, making presentations and giving awards, including the Association of Lighting Designer's Michael Northen Award on Monday 5 October at 1.30pm.

The programme includes 15 presentations over three days from the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), Backstage Heritage Collection, Behind the Scenes UK, Production Managers' Forum, Society of Theatre Consultants, The Theatrical Guild, and ourselves, The Theatres Trust, the National Advisory Public Body for Theatres.

We're delighted that many academic institutions are also part of the line-up on th

Middle East - Trilogy has announced the appointment of Andrew Childs as business development manager for the Middle East. Childs arrives at Trilogy from Quantum where he was regional sales manager for the Middle East.

Trilogy sales director Ewan Johnston said, "With the launch of exciting new products, Trilogy is expanding its sales capability. The Middle East is a very important market for us and the addition of a local presence will enable us to better serve our customers and partners and take advantage of the significant growth in the region. I know Andrew will be just the right man to pursue and secure the many opportunities to accelerate Trilogy's growth in the Middle East."

Childs added, "Trilogy is a highly respected brand in the Middle East, and with so many compelling new product developments like the new VoiceFlow communication unit and Gemini II distr

UK - The unstoppable force of EDM, Eric Prydz, headlined his own 'Pryda' stage at Creamfields with another explosive visual performance powered by Avolites Ai servers and an Arena console.

London-based creative technology expert Realtime Environment Systems Ltd (RES) provided the Avolites Ai media server know-how for the performance, which was a completely new and bespoke set up for Creamfields.

"We designed a custom metal frame which surrounded Eric on the stage - we wanted to move away from just huge video shows which Eric has done lots of in the past, and design a stage that used set, lighting and video to give an illusion of depth," explains RES founder Mark Calvert.

More than 100 lighting fixtures were employed for the spectacle, including Clay Paky Sharpys, Robin LEDWash 600s, and various strobes, wash and blinders all supplied by Colour Sound Experiment. In

Ireland - Spanish tenor José Carreras and Welsh mezzo-soprano singer/songwriter Katherine Jenkins performed this summer with the City of Cork Symphony Orchestra in the city's Independent Park (previously Musgrave Park) rugby stadium.

For this high profile event, EQ Audio and Events, headquartered in Dublin, fielded an Outline rig featuring 12 Outline GTO C-12 per side for the main left and right hangs, chosen because a very consistent transparent sound was indispensable, with very even coverage and absolutely no coloration.

Outline Butterfly CDH-483 cabinets were fielded for fills. Out-fill hangs comprised 10 CDH-483s per side, with more of the same enclosures deployed behind the FOH platform. All the CDH-483s were powered by Outline T7 amps, whereas, for the first time, the GTO C-12s were powered by Powersoft's new X8 amplifiers.

Production manager Shay Hannon explai

UK - Controllable LED specialist Light Initiative and event technology expert FIX8Group will reveal their custom creations for the Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) ceremony this weekend.

The eighth KOI Awards is this Sunday, 4th October at London's glamorous art deco Troxy, organised by The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), The Society of Television & Lighting Design (STLD), The Fifth Estate Ltd and Clay Paky.

Light Initiative (LI) was asked to create the table centrepieces for the occasion, drawing on their talent for amazing LED designs.

"We wanted to add something special to the Knight of Illumination evening, something beautiful and subtle while celebrating the creativity of every lighting designer in the room," says LI's Bryn Williams. "These playful centrepieces can allow guests to create their own lighting states using a touch-activated interf

UK - Charcoalblue has created a new internship programme in partnership with the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). Aiming to develop theatrical design talent and broaden experience of the art and craft of theatre consultancy, Charcoalblue will be awarding three annual internships through this special link with LIPA over the next three years.

The internship award offers a paid position, and an introduction to all aspects of theatre consultancy, including auditorium design, technical systems and project management.

The first award winner, student Kathryn Nolan, has just started her placement in Charcoalblue's London Studio.

"Kathryn is already bringing her enthusiasm and great talent to our studio and challenging our thinking every day," says Charcoalblue's managing partner, Andy Hayles. "It's great to have her join our team. It was a delight to pr

China - Ocean Park Hong Kong is partnering with Meyer Sound to stage the 15th edition of Asia's largest Halloween-themed event. A Leopard linear sound reinforcement system and D-Mitri digital audio platform lead a lineup of Meyer Sound systems to bring sonic immersion and push the scare factor for the park's fear-loving guests.

"To bolster our iconic Halloween celebration on its 15th anniversary, we decided to elevate the scary experience to new heights for our guests by exploring different sound effect treatments," says Jacky Chan, technical manager of Ocean Park Hong Kong. "The project is challenging because we want to use sound to inspire an intense fear in our guests, independent of scary visuals. Meyer Sound's sophisticated D-Mitri platform, coupled with the company's experience with international performances in Broadway and Las Vegas, allow us to achieve ou

UK - The K-array loudspeaker system installed by Stage Electrics at the Royal Opera House is "so discrete it is almost invisible".

The installation is the result of an out of the blue phone call with an invitation to the opera in Verona for the Royal Opera House's head of sound, Steve Zissler.

"I was asked if there was anyone I knew that I'd like to take to Italy to see the opera and listen to some sound systems," says Jamie Gosney from Stage Electrics, who designed the system at the Royal Opera House. "I hadn't been at Stage Electrics very long, I didn't really know anyone then and I didn't even know the K-array products that well. But Dave Wooster, [now part of 2B Heard, K-array's new UK distributor], had already said that the K-array products were perfect for opera."

That particular trip was not to be, but it wasn't long after that Stage Elec

UK - Orbital Sound reports that UK specialist Event Light & Sound (ESL) has taken delivery of a sizeable new Nexo 45°N-12 Line Monitor system, investing in the innovative wedges to service its growing corporate and high-end event schedule. Supplied by Nexo's UK main dealer and service partner Orbital Sound, the system was selected after a comprehensive market review, with the 45°N-12 standing out for its unique design, innovative technology, and arrayability.

ESL was introduced to the 45°N-12s by one of its regular monitor engineers, Chris Wibberley, commenting, "I was offered the chance to try out the NEXO 45°N-12 monitors a couple of years ago. I have found them to be the loudest and clearest wedge I have ever used! I like the way they couple as pairs and also how narrow their pattern is, so you don't have one mix bleeding all over another?. A truly excell

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