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16 July 2024

Freelance Protection - Entertainment union BECTU has written to new culture secretary Lisa Nandy urging her to protect freelancers and the self-employed. The union also urges the culture secretary to champion equality and diversity in the arts. The letter from BECTU head Philippa Childs congratulated Nandy on Labour’s landslide general election victory and subsequent appointment, before calling on the new government to deliver its pre-election promises for the creative industries.

Starmer’s new government must secure a new deal for freelancers and the self-employed, who make up 28% of the creative workforce but currently lack many of the rights afforded to employees, Childs said. BECTU suggested "modernised protections and entitlements" for the freelance workforce "as part of a broader reform package on the legislative and institutional landscape on work

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15 July 2024

USA - Blink-182 are treating fans to LED-focused, in-the-round arena shows on their current One More Time Tour. Each show is packed with lights, pyrotechnics, and fireworks as well as LED screens and staging powered by tvONE's Green Hippo brand of Hippotizer Media Servers.  

Two flagship Tierra+ MK2 Media Servers from Green Hippo, which are now distributed by ACT Entertainment in North America, took centre stage to drive four large LED screens rigged in a square formation above the performance area. Made up of ROE CB8 LED panels, these enabled optimal viewing from all sides, no matter where each audience member was positioned.  

The content displayed was a mix of rendered content, IMAG, Notch Effects, and on-board Hippotizer effects with all content created by LA-based production design company TrasK House. TrasK House also desi

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15 July 2024

UK - Serious Stages unveiled its new Stellar concert and festival stage at a series of concerts presented by Festival Republic, at Crystal Palace Park, 5-7 July.

The new Stellar stage was designed and manufactured by the experienced team at Serious Stages Wells headquarters,

Serious Stages operations manager Abbey Thomas states: “The concept for the Stellar stage was born out of clients' feedback, who identified their requirements for a medium-range flat-roof version of the Company's larger TZ Tower stages. From initial designs created by our in-house CAD/technical team, components were manufactured in our Wells workshop, before Stellar made its first appearance in London.

“Our investment in this new system, along with the new video towers we produced for Download Festival, underpins our ongoing commitment to help our clients deliver outd

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15 July 2024

Saudi Arabia - When facilitating a massive broadcast and live sporting event like the Next Gen ATP tennis finals, play cannot be interrupted for any reason. DirectOut’s PRODIGY.MP ensured that the event stayed on air, without the possibility of failure due to lost signal.

Marco Galizia, technical director for Next Gen ATP Finals, insists that DirectOut hardware and audio solutions are the only way to secure total peace of mind, as he discovered when utilising two PRODIGY.MP at the final of the tennis tournament for the superstars of tomorrow, held in Jeddah at the end of last year.

DirectOut’s PRODIGY.MP is designed to provide flexible I/O, dual network audio and sample rate conversions. The FPGA-based, low-latency processing provides Matrix Mixers, summing busses and channel processing. With its seamless I/O structure including network convergen

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15 July 2024

UK - Established for more than 15 years, Lancashire PA Hire is a supplier of audio systems for a wide range of events both locally and nationally. Festivals, gigs, weddings, corporates, parties, and mobile DJs are all catered for.

Over a year ago, Lancashire PA Hire took the decision to upgrade its large event system, and decided to invest in HK Audio products as owner Darryl Fraser explains:

“To begin we had invested in six HK Audio L4000 subs and four Linear 5 LTS tops. They proved to be a real success, taking us through 2023 and enabling us to comfortably cover shows of 800+ audiences. The only minor gripe we had with the system was a lack of control, but we got round this issue with our Allen & Heath SQ5 desk.

“Then at the end of 2023 we spoke to Andy Taylor from SoVeryAPT who mentioned that HK Audio were releasing MKII versions o

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15 July 2024

Albania - On 27 June, production house Kuadr Events hosted the highly anticipated Alpha Show III, the largest hip-hop event ever staged in Albania, at the newly upgraded Air Albania Stadium in Tirana.

The production featured a 360-degree stage design, offering an immersive experience with impressive audio and lighting that captivated the audience and set a new standard for live performances in the region.

Rental provider, ASLV [Albanian Sound, Lighting & Video], was behind the audio setup, deploying a comprehensive 360-degree stadium-filling system with 90 Outline GTO C-12, 16 Superfly, 28 Mantas 28, 12 GTO-SUBs, and 80 DBS 18-2 sub-bass enclosures.

The entire system was powered by Outline GTA-Series amplifiers, with part of the GTO-series loudspeakers supplied by Gigant Sound Letus through a collaboration within Outline’s rental networ

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15 July 2024

USA - Building on the success of Elation’s SixBar series, Elation has introduced the SIX+ BAR series.

The SIX+ BAR represents an innovative line of creative IP65-rated LED batten solutions that ‘harmonises the latest in LED colour technology with versatile design for greater artistic expression’. The SIX+ BAR offers more output, a broader colour spectrum and an overall superior quality of light.

Equipped with 20W RGB+Lime+Amber+UV LEDs and boasting an impressive CRI of 93, the SIX+ BAR offers an array of colours. Its meticulously engineered optical system ensures even light distribution, and the proprietary RGBLA+UV engine delivers high-fidelity whites and intense primaries with no colour fringing. Extra-large 50 mm lenses make it suitable for direct view applications and individual cell control opens up for a myriad of design possibilities.

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12 July 2024

UK - Girls Aloud are back on the road for the first time in 11 years, with their Girls Aloud Show tour, creatively directed by Beth Honan and lit by Peter Barnes.

Lighting, video, automation and rigging equipment – including some new innovations – and crew are all supplied by PRG UK to Production North, whose Iain Whitehead is overseeing all related technical production elements for the first leg of the tour that plays UK and Irish arenas including five sold out nights at London’s O2.

PRG UK’s account manager Yvonne Donnelly is co-ordinating everything. Yvonne stated, “It’s been an absolute pleasure collaborating with Iain and the creative team again on this groundbreaking tour for PRG, showcasing our newly developed RollCat tracking system alongside some of our tried and tested proprietary Icon range and with Ground Control running our n

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12 July 2024

France - Those who walked down the Place de la Cathédrale during a recent three-day festival, were reminded of this each night when they passed the six-century-old  Strasbourg Cathedral. The towering (32.6m high) church enchanted all with its intimate flow of colours and movement that played out on its surface.

The emotions aroused by the building’s visual dance was done without music, as the city elected not to map the cathedral’s lighting. For Daniel Knipper, the designer who created this powerful panorama, working without music, was, in many respects, a liberating thing. “It enabled me to find a freedom of rhythm, and therefore to propose pauses that really allow the facade to be seen in way that is impossible in a 12-minute mapped show.

“Interestingly, my first years on the Cathedral were without music!” continued Knipper.

“

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12 July 2024

UK - XTA and MC² amplification, enjoyed a strong presence at Glastonbury 2024, with a number of audio suppliers choosing the brands’ robust and ultra-dependable units for what can be a challenging environment.

At the Glade Stage, which featured a lineup of high-profile artists, Stefan Imhof of Audio Plus deployed XTA’s DPA100 to power a Funktion One front of house system and monitors. A total of 17 DPA100 powered the Funktion One Vero, Vero VX, F124 subs, front-fills and side-fills, with a further 12 units powering the monitors, all controlled via Globcon XTA MC² Edition control software.

The West Holt Stage was a magnet for festival-goers seeking an eclectic array of sets from artists from around the globe. RG Jones in collaboration with 22live delivered all the audio for the stage, with Paul Hatt of CS audio providing 48 channels of splits vi

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12 July 2024

UAE - The multi award winning Matilda The Musical paid a flying visit to Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena in June. This was the first time that the production, which has won over 101 international awards had ever been staged in an arena venue, so production manager Matt Towell was pleased to have Unusual Rigging & Engineering (URE) on board to ensure everything went according to plan.

“The show is pretty much a carbon copy of the West End production,” explained Matt. “However, due to the difficulties of some of the venues, we chose to put all the scenery on a ground support truss. Emily Egleton, design engineer at Unusual in the UK drew all the ground support plans for us and we also carried out a test build at Unusual’s HQ in Bugbrooke, Northampton. We then liaised with the team in the UAE, and once stage size and location were established

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12 July 2024

Japan - Kani is a city located in the south-central Gifu Prefecture of Japan. With a population of approximately 100,000 residents, Kani is known for the multitude of golf courses in the eastern part of the city, which collectively cover almost 10% of the city’s land. At the heart of the city lies the Kani City Cultural Creation Centre. The venue was built to present civic activities, including large-scale performances that involve local talent, community-building workshops, and nurturing performing artists and community arts workers.

The main theatre of the Kani City Cultural Creation Centre is designed primarily for live theatrical performances with an acoustic reflection pattern that has a short reverberation time of about 1.6 seconds.

In early 2024, the venue hosted an event in which contemporary dance was performed to an orchestral accompanime

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12 July 2024

USA - Nicknamed the Queen City, Charlotte is one of the 25 largest cities in the U.S. and the largest city in North Carolina. Home to more than 10 Fortune 1000 companies, including Bank of America, Lowe's, and Duke Energy, Charlotte is also home to the University of North Carolina Charlotte campus (UNC Charlotte).

A public research university of 30,000 students, UNC Charlotte’s athletic team’s nickname is the 49ers, indicative of the fact that UNC Charlotte (then Charlotte College) was saved from permanent closure in 1949. The mascot is, aptly, ‘Norm the Niner’, a gold miner.

UNC Charlotte's Division I FCS football team kicked off in 2013. The team plays at Jerry Richardson Stadium, which holds approximately 15,000 people and can be expanded to up to 40,000 people.

As a result of the football team’s immediate success, the football p

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11 July 2024

Japan - Three prominent companies specialising in various facets of the AV industry in Japan have joined forces to form GizaGiza, a commercial distribution company dedicated to representing 1 Sound as their exclusive distributor in Japan. With its headquarters strategically located in Shibuya, Tokyo, GizaGiza brings together ‘decades of expertise in audio design, installation, and comprehensive support and system maintenance services’.

GizaGiza has integrated 1 Sound loudspeakers into several high-profile installations and events in Japan and is ready to start audio demonstrations showcasing the full spectrum of 1 Sound’s catalogue.

Commenting on the collaboration, GizaGiza stated, “There is a growing demand in Japan for superior sonic quality, meticulously engineered loudspeakers. The sonic excellence and design fit with the needs of the mar

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11 July 2024

Italy/USA - K-array has announced the expansion and renovation of both its Italian and USA headquarters. These state-of-the-art facilities, featuring the latest KSCAPE RAIL and RAIL S technology, showcase the brand’s lighting and audio solutions.

“By integrating advanced design elements and cutting-edge technology, we have created an environment that fosters creativity and collaboration,” says Alex Tatini, K-array CEO. “The new spaces enhance our research and development capabilities and embody the K-array spirit of ingenuity and quality.”

At the Italian headquarters, nestled in the heart of the Tuscan countryside just outside Florence, the upgrade was focused on the brand’s R&D, software, mechanical, electrical and audio research departments. The new pavilion, comprised of two floors, has been completely renovated to encompass the ex

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11 July 2024

USA - Global creative and production studio Raw Cereal creates immersive live experiences for some of the world’s best-known artists including country music stars whose Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson, thrilling fans with Raw Cereal-designed shows that include Elation Rayzor series lights.

Founded in 2022 by Cort Lawrence and Anders Rahm, Raw Cereal is a comprehensive creative studio based in Los Angeles, specialising in production, show, stage, lighting, and content design for some of the best productions worldwide. In the business for over a decade, Cort and Anders have worked with top acts like J Balvin, Kid Cudi, Machine Gun Kelly, All Time Low and Matchbox Twenty, as well as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Beyoncé and Coldplay.

"We see ourselves as a global agency, delivering creativity to clients worldwide," Cort Lawrence commented. “We

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11 July 2024

USA - The US Olympic Swimming Team Trials, which took place from 15-23 June, were held for the first time ever in an NFL stadium - Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis, home of the Colts football team - instead of at the CHI Health Centre Omaha, the Nebraska arena where they had taken place ahead of four consecutive previous Olympics qualifying trials. The nine-day event was predicted to generate over $100m of economic impact locally, according to the Indiana Sports Corp.

The stadium venue, which would be able to seat 30,000 after the construction of two Olympic-sized pools over the football field, more than twice the number the earlier arena could accommodate, presented significant live-sound challenges for the event, which was also broadcast on NBC Sports.

A DiGiCo SD12-96 console - supported by DiGiCo SD-Racks and SD-MiNi Racks connected via

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11 July 2024

The Netherlands - ParkCity Live 2024 impressed visitors with spectacular stage designs and lighting displays, thanks to the creative efforts of Wesley Houben from None Of The Above and Rob Debets from Prismatic Lighting who carried out this project on behalf of SLF Group Rental & Sales.

Held in Heerlen, this year's festival featured performances from Level 42, Di-rect, Chef'Special, Joost, Paul Elstak, Brennan Heart and many more.

The Mainstage, a highlight of the festival, was brought to life by the design of Wesley Houben. Assisting him was Rob Debets, who played a crucial role as system technician.

Central to the Mainstage design were 66 Showtec Stage Blinder FLEX Blaze fixtures. These powerful LED stage blinders added intense bursts of light with traditional tungsten dimming, creating dramatic visual effects that captivated the audien

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11 July 2024

Europe - Amadeus and Holophonix have installed a 34-speaker system with Holophonix spatial control into the Royal Theatre of Namur in Belgium. The concept was to offer the listening audience the best sound possible from every seat in the Italian-style theatre, using Holophonix spatial sound technology and discreetly placed speakers without breaking the architectural theme of the ornate theatre.

“The previous sound system essentially consisted of two pairs of L-Acoustics Arcs installed on two DV-Sub speakers mounted on the stage frame, plus a few delays to open up the less well-served areas of the balconies,” says Patrice Dhautcourt, sound department manager at the Royal Theatre of Namur.

“The venue is a magnificent, listed Italian-style theatre, restored at great expense during a project that lasted from 1994 to 1998 – gilt in every corner, v

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11 July 2024

UK - Supported with funding from Creative UK and in partnership with iMAG Displays, Bristol-based Distortion Studios is the first permanent Virtual Production studio in the South-West of England.

The innovative 200m² facility is part of Distortion Creative Group Limited, which includes Studio Giggle and Distortion Productions. The studio uses Brompton LED processing to power its ROE Visual LED volume.

Distortion Creative Group has a long-standing partnership with iMAG. Together, they have delivered various projects for clients such as OVO Energy and CVC Capital Partners.

“When the group decided to launch a specialist virtual production studio, which is the only one in Bristol and the only permanent setup available west of Reading, we approached iMAG to partner with us on the project to supply the LED wall and Brompton Technology LED proces