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24 June 2024

UK - Take That’s This Life world tour takes in arenas and stadiums with audio design, equipment delivery and crew from Skan, a Clair Global brand. Led by tour director Chris Vaughan and production manager Wez Wearing, Take That still attract multi-generational fans in their tens of thousands per night.

Now a three-piece comprising Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald, FOH engineer Gary Bradshaw has had the same objective since their inception in 1993: “I must get the show to sound as close to the records possible, it’s what their fans expect. With the live band, the arrangements are different, but the overall sound needs to be similar. Mike Stevens, our musical director, is very good at arranging the music, and the musicians are brilliant.”

Gary has used DiGiCo desks since they came to market, this time taking an SD7 Quantum out.

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24 June 2024

UK - As we approach the UK General Election on 4 July, The Power of Events is eager to understand the key event industry issues influencing #EVENTPROFS at the ballots. “We believe your audience can significantly contribute to this crucial discussion by engaging with us on the Event Industry Insight App,” says the group.

“From Monday 24 June to Friday 28 June, The Power of Events is conducting a lightning-fast pulse check on the Events Industry Insight App as part of our ongoing testing of the app - it will take less than a minute to complete. The insights gathered will help understand the priorities and concerns impacting the UK Events Industry and will be shared publicly on Monday 1 July.

“By promoting this pulse check, you will be helping the industry gain a strong understanding of the issues most influencing event professionals and their o

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24 June 2024

India - Australian manufacturer LSC Control Systems has appointed Integrated Entertainment Solutions (IES) as its distributor for India. The latest addition to LSC’s international sales network, IES will provide full support and service for all of the company’s advanced power management and lighting control systems across the country.

Mumbai-based IES has 28 years’ experience as a distribution and trading company, serving the fields of intelligent lighting, pro sound and control systems. It is the sole distributor for a strong portfolio of leading entertainment production brands, including Robe, Avolites, LumenRadio, Madrix, Ashly and Pangolin, among others. It also provides turnkey solutions from concept and design, through to supply, installation and maintenance for intelligent lighting and pro sound applications in a wide range of entertainment and

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24 June 2024

USA - Lighting designer Tom Kenny utilised Elation lighting for both the indoor and outdoor stages at the 2024 CMT Music Awards earlier this spring. The lighting package, supplied by 4Wall, included Proteus Excalibur, Artiste Mondrian, and Dartz 360 luminaires, among other fixtures.

Broadcast live from the Moody Centre on the University of Texas campus in Austin, performances took place inside and on an outdoor stage in front of the University of Texas Tower. Lighting direction for the indoor show was by Felix Peralta, David ‘Fuji’ Convertino, and Michelle Griesmer, with Han Henze and Matt Piercy handling lighting direction on the outdoor stage. Production design was by Anne Brahic, her 15th year working the awards show.

Kenny was in his 12th year designing for the CMTs and his experience and proven approach are integral to the successful team ef

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24 June 2024

USA - The architectural design of the Insomniac Events Electric Daisy Festival’s bassPOD stage is impressive by any measure. With a 65ft high trim and a width of approximately 250-feet, it is clearly massive. But there is more than size to this impressive metallic structure designed by Stufish Studios. With its shapes and forms extending in every direction, and at multiple levels, it presents a labyrinth of possibilities, inviting all who look at it to let their imaginations run wild along its myriad paths.

Erik Mahowald spent countless hours delving into every nuance of this stage design long before it was ever constructed. He was tasked with making it come alive and accenting all its compelling power with light.

“Once we received the architectural design from Stufish Studios, my team and I closely evaluated the size and material of the structur

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24 June 2024

USA - In 2024, rockers 311 from Omaha, Nebraska, celebrate 34 years as one of America’s most popular indie bands with a massive ‘cult following’. The band celebrates biennially with a ‘311 Day’ concert event - two nights of ‘unapologetic 311-core music’. Since 2018, this has been staged at The Park Theatre at Park MGM, Las Vegas.

Lighting designer Bobby Grey of Notan Creative has been working as their production designer since 2018. But before then, he had completed his first ever 311 tour as a fresh-faced fresh out of school lighting tech, back in the day when Joe Paradise was pushing the buttons.

The 2024 event featured a completely new production design – which will be followed up by a heavy touring schedule – and Bobby took the opportunity to spec nearly 200 Robe moving lights – a mix of Fortes, Esprites, Tetra2s and MegaPoint

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21 June 2024

USA - Sphere Entertainment has announced that Sphere will celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Exosphere’s first illumination on 4 July with an all-new Exosphere content and audio experience – the Sphere Fourth of July Celebration presented by Verizon.

The Sphere Fourth of July Celebration will also mark the launch of two new features of the Exosphere experience: XO Stream presented by Verizon – an official livestream of the Exosphere that will be available 24/7 on thesphere.com, and XO Audio – custom audio synced to content on the Exosphere that will be audible both onsite within Sphere’s property and online via XO Stream.

Earlier in the evening, Sphere will honour the Las Vegas-based student artists who participated in the Sphere XO Student Design Challenge with a special pre-show ceremony

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21 June 2024

USA - EAW has announced its new certification programme: a collection of online courses aiming to expand public knowledge of EAW Loudspeakers and technologies used across each series. These modular trainings, available now at https://education.eaw.com, include courses on ADAPTive Systems, the AC6 Column Loudspeaker and Resolution Software, and will expand to cover additional products and systems in the EAW catalogue.

“As part of this training, students will learn more than just how to use EAW technology,” explains Bryan DiFabio, technical training manager for EAW. “We cover why this technology exists and how it helps customers achieve optimal results. Understanding these two concepts makes for a better user experience.”

EAW has launched three new online courses. The first, ADAPTive Level 1 Training, explains the ADAPTive algorithm and takes a

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21 June 2024

USA - LD Systems has invested in 26 Ayrton Rivale Profiles. LD Systems has two main divisions, event production services and audio-visual systems integration, and is headquartered in Houston, Texas with a second location operating in San Antonio.  ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America.

The purchase marks the first by LD Systems in the current Ayrton product line; the company already has Ayrton WildBeam effects lights. The acquisition, the first IP-rated profile fixture for LD Systems, will be used for its own production work and be available to rental clients.

The IP65-rated Ayrton Rivale Profile is a projector that delivers creativity, subtlety and power – the most versatile fixture created by Ayrton to date. It offers unprecedented performance for its size and weight and features continuous rotation o

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21 June 2024

Denmark - The new Lion Productions show Cinderella the Musical (Askepot the Musical in Danish) premiered at the Tivolis Koncertsal, København, (Tivoli Concert Hall, Copenhagen) and is being followed by an ongoing national tour.

Motor Stage Automation (MSA) has provided two elements of automation equipment for this acclaimed production – MRD750 7.5m double revolve comprising a 5m centre circle and a 2.5m outer ring, plus two tracking video screens on a rear truss.

All of this is being operated via a Kinesys Vector control console, programmed by Lion Productions’ head of automation, Erik Mølgaard Jensen, at the start of the tour. A touring operator runs the automation day-to-day, with Erik also overseeing the moves to different venues.

The MRD750 high gloss surfaced revolve is in constant motion throughout the performanc

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21 June 2024

Norway - The newly launched Grandeur is the sixth luxury ship to come from Regent Seven Seas Cruises. With 10 decks that can host up to 744 guests, the cruise ship promises a deluxe vacation experience with beautiful design throughout. The ship landed on many ETC solutions to outfit its lighting plot.

Filling many roles on the vessel, Travis McHale shared his experience working with ETC. Part of Travis’s responsibilities includes working as a contractor for Norwegian Cruise Lines, designing the light plot, producing paperwork, and creating the layout of all the networking, as well as specifying the equipment. Additionally, for Norwegian Creative Studios, he was the lighting designer and programmer for most of the production shows on board.

This is the third vessel in the class of ship. Prior to Grandeur, Travis worked on the second ship with a Gio

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21 June 2024

USA - Paul Maloof says he’s the kind of person who loves a challenge. He’s also always open to new experiences. He’s getting his share of both with indie icons Say Anything on their 27-city Is A Real Boy 20th Anniversary Tour.

Although they’ve recorded nine albums, in addition to appearing in films and on network TV shows over the past two decades, the popular six-member band has never carried their own LD with them on tour. For his part, Maloof, though admiring their music, was not very familiar with Say Anything’s songs.

“From the get-go, I knew that this was going to be a show of firsts for all of us,” said Maloof. “I started building a show file based on the album track listing and was not very confident it was going to be successful. I decided to take on the challenge of busking the show. It seems to have been the right choice.

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21 June 2024

USA - LEA Professional has announced the launch of the Connect Series Touch wall controller which joins the company’s extensive technology catalogue.

The Connect Series Touch is a wall-mounted touch-enabled control panel designed for simple and intuitive control of LEA Connect Series amplifiers. The controller is PoE-powered for easy installation and can be used for individual zone or group control. Primary features include source selection, volume adjustment, and the ability to mute - all by zone or group. The controller features a colour touchscreen with a rotary knob and is available in black and white versions. Additionally, the Connect Series Touch is fully configurable, for any group or zone configuration up to 100 amplifiers, providing ultimate control from one device.

The wall controller enhances LEA Professional’s Network Connect series

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20 June 2024

Europe - DirectOut has announced the expansion of its partnership with Audmax. While Audmax has been a distributor of DirectOut audio solutions in Hungary for more than a decade, the two companies are now extending their cooperation to additional territories in Central and Eastern Europe, including Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Under the leadership of managing director Krisztian Varga, the agreement solidifies Audmax as DirectOut's primary distribution hub for Central and Eastern Europe.

Commenting on the partnership, Krisztian Varga says: "We are thrilled to deepen our relationship with DirectOut. Having worked closely with them since their early days, we understand the value they bring to the professional audio industry. With our established network and expertise in the region, we are committed to providing exceptional support

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20 June 2024

Sweden - CAST Group of Companies has announced its exclusive partnership with Intersonic AB, taking BlackTrax’s real-time tracking technology to the Swedish market.

Per Anderhagen, sales director at Intersonic, comments, "We are delighted to join forces with BlackTrax, a global leader in real-time tracking technology. As the exclusive distributor in Sweden, Intersonic is dedicated to providing unparalleled support and expertise to our clients, enabling them to leverage the full potential of BlackTrax in their productions."

David Ferraz, international business development manager at CAST, adds, "We are thrilled to welcome Intersonic to our growing network of distributors. With their deep industry knowledge and commitment to customer satisfaction, Intersonic is well-equipped to drive the adoption of BlackTrax technology in Sweden."

"We are ea

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20 June 2024

USA - Country superstar Thomas Rhett’s tour is hitting US arenas and festivals with an “awesome” lighting and visual show driven by tvONE's Green Hippo brand of Hippotizer Media Servers.

A vast LED screen is constructed in each venue behind a wall of lighting fixtures, which are rigged on a scaffolding-style structure. Wrapping around the top of the stage, mirroring the thrust, a series of LED panels add height and drama. For each show, creative designer Alec Takahashi of BKD plays with depth, texture and layering to create what he describes as a “sense of wonder” with video surfaces.

Two Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers – one as main, one as backup – are being used to provide the processing power, programming ease and eye-candy effects, with a Hippotizer Karst+ MK2 at FOH for HippoNet access.

“To create this show we utili

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20 June 2024

UK - A Thameside location in the well-heeled town of Marlow is the setting for Tom Kerridge’s firmly established Pub in the Park festival.

Thiis is more of a four-day community event than a festival - complete with stages, pop-ups and a line-up of top chefs, mingling with the DJs and artists of the calibre of Van Morrison, Paloma Faith, Busted and Example, while the array of DJs ranged from Judge Jules to Gok Wan via Vernon Kay.

Martin Audio partner SWG Events have a had a long history with the event, this year bringing their flagship WPL line array to main stage. The rental company will also be providing a turnkey solution for the other three Pub in the Park events, in Chiswick, St Albans and Reigate.

In Marlow, they populated the stage with hangs of 10 WPL enclosures a side, with four of the smaller Wavefront Precision WPS arrays providin

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20 June 2024

UK - Forty years in the business have seen Nils Edstrom cover the full range of audio engineering duties. Having started life as a performing musician, Nils moved into studio engineering, where he amassed credits on more than a hundred and fifty commercially released albums. After that, itchy feet took him out on the road as a freelance touring engineer, a role he occupies to this day alongside his gig as an educator at South and City College (SCCB) in Digbeth, Birmingham.

Nils has enjoyed a plethora of career highlights, not least of which was the Easy Star Allstars performance of Dub Side of the Moon on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, next to the Lovell Telescope at Bluedot Festival. Punjabtronix at Washington’s Kennedy Centre, Maximo Park at Kendall Calling, and a series of TEDGlobal events, are further examples of Nils’ versatility. He is a

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20 June 2024

USA - Elation supported the British Music Embassy (BME) stage at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and music festival in Austin, Texas. Partnering with the Academy of Live Technology at Production Park, Elation lighting was used to illuminate the stage and artists while serving as a valuable training ground for the next generation of lighting technicians and operators.

The BME stage is a high-profile platform at the renowned festival and is run on behalf of the UK Government International Department for Business and Trade. It provides a valuable showcase for the UK's best emerging acts and has played host to a number of artists who went on to global fame such as Amy Winehouse, Sam Fender, The 1975, and more.

As an ongoing partner of the Academy of Live Technology, and Production Park, Elation was pleased to supply 18 Proteus Lucius,

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20 June 2024

UK - Flipside AV recently installed an Optimal Audio Zone 4 and ZonePad to control three audio zones at a modern café, bar and hotel called Bang in Wells in Wells-next-the-Sea on the North Norfolk Coast.

Zone 4 is a zonal audio controller with DSP providing everything required in a single compact unit to become the beating heart of an efficient, high-quality multi-zoned commercial sound system and features 4 line and 2 mic inputs plus 2 HDMI inputs for TV and video sound. It allows the installer to independently allocate sources across four configurable zones, such as a lobby, bar or restaurant, and each zone can be configured to do precisely what is required using the intuitive WebApp. This includes EQs, speaker presets, structured time of day routines and so much more.

In the case of Bang, Zone 4 was installed to control audio for three zones and