UK - An Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system has been installed in the live studio of top UK radio station, XFM. Comprising an iLive-T112 and iDR-64 MixRack, the system is used to record visiting artists for pre-recorded sessions.

The MixRack is mounted in the studio's equipment rack so it can easily be patched to the studio tie lines and building's technical network. The iDR-64 is fitted with an M-DANTE module, and connected to a Mac which has Dante Virtual Soundcard and runs Apple Logic for recording. Mic preamp signals are sent pre-processing to the DAW. Additional Dante channels are used via the iLive patchbay inserts to access plug-ins in the DAW. The choice of Dante networking permitted the stage box to be taken to the roof terrace on occasions to record a session upstairs whilst mixing downstairs in isolation but with full control over Cat 5.

"The studio is bu

Spain - Significant recent growth in the sales of GDS LiteWare in North America have been closely followed by evidence that this most flexible of cutting-edge lighting technology is enjoying a similar increased uptake in Europe.

GDS' Spanish distributor, Entertainment Equipment Supplies (EES) reports that demand for LiteWare, notably from lighting designers connected with high-end events such as society weddings, has soared.

These battery powered, wireless LED fittings offer full RGB colour mixing with no heat. The range incorporates 'the original' LiteWare UL giving 40W of LED power, the LiteWare HO high output 80W version and the newest addition LiteWare Satellite which provides a hitherto unseen degree of flexibility. Its fittings incorporate a remote, fully-adjustable head with 360 degree pan and 180 degree tilt and an internally wired extendable pole that can elevate the

France - At the recent Main Square Festival in Arras, France, Paris-based rental house Dushow supplied Meyer Sound systems for both festival stages, including a Leo linear large-scale sound reinforcement system, and a Milo line array loudspeaker system. The three-day festival attracted a total crowd of approximately 100,000.

The Leo system on the festival's Main Stage supported headliners including Sting, Green Day, The Prodigy, and Indochine. With a maximum capacity of 30,000, the Main Stage field was fully covered by the LEO system's long-throw capabilities.

"This system's consistency of coverage and high output allowed us to avoid the need for delay towers, and to maintain sound integrity over the required distance of 110 meters," says Marc de Fouquières, general manager of Dushow. "Leo's excellent directivity also prevented conflict with audio from the seco

Switzerland - The Neuenburgersee in Estavayer-le-Lac in Switzerland is the all-year location for the Swatch Free4Style festival where the international elite of Freestyle-Motorcross (FMX), Wakeboard and Jetski come together.

The spectacular shows of the extreme athletes together with after show parties of distinguished DJs attract more than 25.000 visitors every year from Switzerland and France to the contemplative small town.

This year the native Mat Rebeaud, Levi Sherwood from New Zealand, Josh Sheehan and others performed exceptional, breath-taking FMX shows. The hazardous tricks require highest concentration and an absolute control of their bodies and machines. Also the disciplines Jetskiing and Wakeboarding with the award-winning Red Bull Team guaranteed drama.

The after-race parties belong to the stars of the Electro scene. Quentin Mosimann, Lucas Monème and Bad Nelso

UK - Producing over 100 shows each year, P&O Cruises' Headliners Theatre Company is a major player in the UK's performing arts industry. Its new Southampton training and rehearsal facility - The Academy - opened in June, with Yamaha DXR12 loudspeakers chosen to overcome the challenging acoustics of the large dance studios.

Headliners recruits over 200 new performers every year to sing and dance their way around the world onboard P&O Cruises ships. Before sailing, each cast rehearses for nine weeks, six days a week, a process which has been markedly improved by the opening of The Academy.

With a floor area of 1258m2 it is one of the largest dance rehearsal facilities in the country, but overcoming the acoustic challenges of the large, hard, flat surfaces was a key requirement for its audio system. Production executive Darren Harvey had been previously impressed by Yamaha's acti

UK - West London based lighting rental company Colour Sound Experiment (CSE) supplied lighting equipment, LED screen and crew to lighting designer Rich Gilson for the recent Die Antwoord (The Answer) show at London's Brixton Academy.

The South African Zef rap-ravers Ninja and Yolandi Vi$$er have a massive international cult following, a reputation for hugely energetic shows and visceral, raw, insightful - often controversial - videos that embrace numerous South African sub-cultures, all of which are self-directed.

Gilson has worked with them since last year. He designed the lighting for this latest three week UK and European tour based around the Brixton performance, where they brought in a full production.

He was extremely pleased when Colour Sound were also confirmed by promoter SJM to supply equipment for the gig, having worked with them on many previous occasions. "

Germany - Dr. Andreas Sennheiser and Daniel Sennheiser have just celebrated the beginning of construction of the Innovation Campus at company headquarters in Wennebostel (borough of Wedemark) with a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony. The Innovation Campus, which will cost around 20m Euros, will provide approximately 7,000sq.m of optimum, modern workspace for employees, as well as room for an events facility.

As stated by Dr. Andreas Sennheiser and Daniel Sennheiser, CEOs of Sennheiser electronic, "with the Innovation Campus we will have room to further develop Sennheiser's innovative company culture. Today we are laying the foundation for lots of creative ideas which will form the basis of future success." Construction work should be completed by the end of 2014.

On behalf of all shareholders and accompanied by family members Karin, Daniel, Alannah and Dinah Sennheise

UK - Black Light has brought full digital audio and high-quality stage lighting to a newly built primary school in Dundee. The £40k project saw the company's installation team work closely with the city's education department and with end-users at St Clements RC Primary. They developed and installed a cost-effective system that met the diverse needs of the busy school.

"The school needed a foolproof system that could meet a wide range of needs," said Jock Wallace, Black Light's head of installation manager. "To check that we had chosen the right equipment we did a detailed demonstration for Dundee City Council at our HQ in Edinburgh. By working so closely with the council we made sure that the school got the system they needed, that was fit for purpose and within budget."

At the heart of the school's new audio set-up is the QSC Q-Sys control system. T

UK - Audio-Technica was the victim of a robbery from its Leeds premises on 23 July, when a quantity of its 2000 Series wireless systems were stolen from a vehicle parked outside a warehouse facility.

The specific product in question is the ATW-2110AFEU system, produced for the EU. As such, the wireless system ships with EU power supplies.

Audio-Technica is advising retailers to be vigilant when purchasing 2000 Series wireless products and to be wary of approaches from parties not usually dealt with offering them for sale.

Audio-Technica's assistant marketing manager, Tom Harrold said, "The fact that the stolen systems have European power supplies will make them stand out in the market, so it should be easier for retailers to identify if they're being offered stolen goods.

"We're asking anyone who has information on the theft - or has been approached to purchase w

Denmark - The new Blue Planet in Kastrup, Denmark, is Europe's second largest aquarium. It has won accolades not only for its variety of marine life, but also for its striking whirlpool-inspired architecture and imaginative application of audio technology. To support an immersive undersea experience, more than 400 tracks of custom-recorded audio are mixed, timed, and processed through a Meyer Sound D-Mitri digital audio platform. The audio is then distributed to 57 self-powered Meyer Sound loudspeakers installed throughout the exhibit areas.

"In most aquariums the underwater experience remains apart and behind glass," says Arne Kvorning of exhibit designers Kvorning Design and Kommunikation. "At The Blue Planet, the underwater experience comes out and surrounds the audience, due in large part to the sound and lighting design."

Anders Jørgensenof Kast

Austria - One of Europe's most unusual air shows, the Scalaria Air Challenge takes place every July on Austria's Lake Wolfgang. Seaplanes and stunt flying are complemented by aircraft 'dancing' to live opera; live bands, fashion shows, DJs and more across several stages. The audio challenges of this event are considerable and this year, for the first time, a Yamaha CL5 was given the vital role of master console.

"Although the event takes place every year, there is always something new and special," says Thomas Szvetecz, freelance sound engineer and head of the Scalaria sound department for the past four years. "It has everything, including a flying opera with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and, this year, the world premiere of Harold Faltermeyer's Flying Bulls Anthem, featuring Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens.

"I always use Yamaha mixing consoles f

USA - The Rolling Stones have wrapped the US leg of their 50 & Counting world tour with grandMA2 consoles along for the still-wild ride. The Stones sell-out 50th anniversary tour is their first in six years. They opened the U.S. leg in LA and concluded their 18 dates in Washington, D.C. The band performed on a stage set featuring a giant set of psychedelic lips and a tongue-shaped walkway that riffed on their iconic logo. Patrick Woodroffe was the lighting designer and Ethan Weber the co-lighting director. Upstaging supplied the lighting equipment.

Weber and programmer/co-lighting director Dave Hill manned two grandMA2 full-size consoles, networked together, for the tour. "We love them", says Weber. "I handled the key lighting on one console and Dave ran the bulk of the system off the other." Both men are veteran Stones lighting directors with Hill hav

UK - Orbital Sound, the specialist supplier to the broadcast, theatre, event and entertainment markets, has just installed Clear-Com's advanced HelixNet networked partyline intercom system at the Royal Albert Hall, representing one of the first UK fixed installations for the revolutionary solution. Orbital is the sole UK distributor for the Clear-Com range of innovative communications systems.

A key feature of Orbital's system design for the Grade 1 listed building included using the existing infrastructure, as sales director Tom Byrne explains:

"Our challenge was to find a way of upgrading what was essentially a very out-of-date system within a competitive budget. The old wiring was up to 30 years old in places, complete with enough buzzes and hums to make the communications virtually unintelligible! It was clearly not an option to rip out the wiring infrastructure and r

UK - Lighting show designer Nick Gray of Renegade was back for his third London Collections - Men (LCM) SS14 fashion experience, where he lit the two main spaces at Victoria House and The Hospital Club in central London.

All the primary British fashion Council (BFC) runway collections across the three show days took place in the basement of Victoria House, a warehouse space complete with original exposed features like pipework and ventilation plant. The place was whited out for the event as part of a high-impact scenic design by Bacchus.

Gray lit it as a fully multi-purpose area which was also used for several static presentations in addition to the catwalk shows, emphasising 'slick and cool' as the desired ambience.

The main technical challenge was in creating around 25 new rigging points in the ceiling and walls so mini-beam trusses could be installed in exactly the correc

Slovakia - The latest project implemented by the Slovak company Leader Light is the illumination of the Customs Truck Centre in Holíç.

In the original lighting project for the space over the stands for refuelling, eight pieces of 250 W halogen discharge lamps were placed in the height 4.7 m. These luminaries were replaced with energy saving LED product - LL High Bay from Leader Light with total output power of 120 W. The advantage of these luminaries is the high energy saving and its ability to dim, that can be used during less exposed night time (e.g. 60 W). The average luminance of the lighting system is supposed to be more than 200 lux.

Part of the reconstruction were also the two shelters which served for the customs controls. Much halogen discharge lighting was replaced with only three pieces of energy saving LED luminaries - LL High Bay with output power of

USA - The term "mega church" might have been coined to describe Tulsa, Oklahoma's 12,000-member Church on the Move. At services, the church's message is delivered on a scale that rivals major rock concerts, with full-scale lighting, sound and video in a sanctuary that's bigger than many top music venues. The rock concert analogy is appropriate in more ways than one - the church's audio and video staff rent rather than purchase most of their lighting, giving them access to the latest Martin lighting gear to complement the church's Harman Professional sound system.

"We rent 90 percent of our lighting and it gives us the freedom to change frequently and try new ideas and technologies. We don't want to be left behind when the industry makes a major shift, " said Andrew Stone, Church on the Move's production manager and audio director. Renting also cuts down on th

UK - ITV's BAFTA award-winning Granada Reports recently relocated their studios into the UK's new MediaCityUK in Manchester. According to programme director Mike Sergeant, "The relocation of the ITV Granada Reports News Studio from its Quay Street site to the 4th floor of the Orange Tower in MediaCityUK presented a fantastic opportunity to feature the view over Salford Quays to the Lowry Theatre and the Imperial War Museum as an iconic backdrop to our regional news programme."

''Operationally this presented a number of technical difficulties" says project manager Dave Wyatt who stated that one of the major tasks was "figuring out a method to control the variable light levels outside relative to the lighting on the news set itself."

Rosco VIEW, a two-part window control system consisting of wide width polarizing panels installed on windows and a

UK - A.E.B. Industriale, the owner and manufacturer of the dBTechnologies brand, has announced the appointment of Glasgow-based CUK Audio as its exclusive dBTechnologies distributor in the UK. The appointment is part of the company's European strategy to move from direct sales to independent distributors, in all markets except Italy, Germany and BeNeLux.

Giovanni Barbieri, sales director of dBTechnologies worldwide, stated, "I'm very happy that we have CUK Audio on board, giving us a strong partner to provide our UK customers with the best service and support for dBTechnologies. I am thankful to David, Reuben and our former employees for the great job they did establishing dBTechnologies in the UK. CUK Audio is a young but well established and professional company that will continue to develop what has been achieved, ensuring our many customers of our continued support.&quo

Brazil - NEXT-proaudio has confirmed that Studio Brasil is now their exclusive distributor for the whole Brazilian market.

Studio Brasil is an established high-end electronics distribution company based in Sao Paulo.

Studio Brasil CEO, Manoel Rodrigues said, "We are very motivated and at the same time very optimistic about the success of this distribution, because we just got back from the factory after 1 week of training and checking all the sound systems and each production step, which greatly impressed us, because the end result is a flawless sound and high quality."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Staging and design professionals working in the entertainment industry have been passing on their knowledge to students on Backstage Academy's Foundation Degree in Live Events Production.

The 52 students currently taking the second annual degree course (validated by The University of Bolton) at the Wakefield training centre enjoyed training sessions, masterclasses and hands-on product demonstrations by leading companies and personnel during their month-long Staging Module.

General manager of Brilliant Stages, Tony Bowern, did his first ever educational talk. He explained: "I discussed the processes that we use to convert designers' dreams into reality involving project management, engineering, design, procurement and manufacturing. I feel it is important to pass on my knowledge of stage set building so it can give the Academy students a clear insight into what is req

UK - Black Light has been involved in two flagship projects under the Scottish Government £1.25bn Scotland's Schools for the Future Programme. The work saw the company provide and install a range of light, sound and stage equipment at Eastwood High School in East Renfrewshire and Lasswade High School in Midlothian.

The success of the projects shows that Black Light has the expertise to be involved in ground-breaking projects involving key decision makers in both government and education.

"The projects have been a great success and the schools are delighted with the equipment we installed," says Black Light's head of company development, Phil Haldane. Haldane explains that one of the key reasons for the project's success was that Black Light met with the end-users early on in the process. "We re-specified certain elements of the project in light of the feed

USA - The 2013 CMT Music Awards was staged at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee and featured a spectacular lighting design by Tom Kenny. The fan-voted awards show featured a rig which included 24 of Robe's newest moving light fixtures, the Pointe, along with a variety of Robe's other Robin series moving heads.

After a successful show with the new Pointe, just previously used on the MTV Upfront Presentation in New York, Kenny specified the multi-functional fixture for the CMT Music Awards.

This was the fifth year that Kenny has designed lighting for the CMT Music Awards, a live show, broadcast on CMT (Country Music Television) and attended by a live audience in a venue with a capacity of 15,000 people.

The creative team included lighting director and programmer Michael Appel, lighting programmer David 'Fuji' Convertino, scenic designer Anne Brahic, video content p

UK - Visitors to Sport Wales' Cardiff headquarters will be able to listen to sports commentaries without disturbing staff working nearby, thanks to the installation of innovative directional loudspeakers in the organisation's newly refurbished reception area.

The speakers are the first commercial product to be launched by the Ebbw Vale-based audio technology company ZonarSound and the Sport Wales installation is the first to be undertaken by the company.

Sport Wales, the organisation responsible for developing and promoting sporting activities in Wales, has adopted the technology to enable visitors to enjoy sports events - displayed on large screens in the waiting area - while others can work or use the telephone without distraction.

Based on technology pioneered by parent company Warwick Audio Technologies the speakers are flat and very thin, so they can be concealed within

South Africa - Hip-hop artist, Snoop Dogg aka Snoop Lion, earlier this year played at two concerts in South Africa. At the Ellis Park Indoor Arena in Johannesburg on 19 May and at the Grand Arena at the GrandWest Casino in Cape Town on 21 May. In Cape Town, lighting designer for the event, Sean Caie, worked on what he describes as a solid platform - the grandMA2 light - to create a show which surpassed the requested technical rider.

Sean Caie, HOD for lighting at the Grand Arena was asked to step in as lighting designer by his boss and technical entertainment manager, Gavin Taylor. "I was a bit hesitant," admitted Caie. He knew that he had a big show coming up a couple of days directly after Snoop Dogg and there was a level of expectancy for that. "I was concerned that I could not give both parties my full attention. I care about what my shows look like and wanted

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