Lebanon - Founded as a small audio hire company in 1985 by audiophile Roger Bou Farhat, Loud N Clear initially set out to provide professional audio solutions for club nights across Lebanon, along with servicing small to mid-scale events and concerts.

Since then the company has expanded massively, and today supplies the latest technology - including Martin Audio's premium W8L Longbow line array - to the largest venues across the entire Middle East.

Famous acts he has serviced include Pussycat dolls, Gorillaz, Bryan Adams, Snow Patrol, Guns N' Roses, Sting, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Shakira - plus some of the world's leading DJ's such as Armin Van Buuren, Carl Cox, Paul Van Dyk, Tiesto and David Guetta.

It was as a club DJ that he encountered Martin Audio for the first time. "I preferred it over all sound systems in the market due to its loud and clear performance,"

USA - At the National WWII Museum in downtown New Orleans, the US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Centre now relies on the Meyer Sound CAL column array loudspeaker to tackle the acoustic challenges in its massive vaulted pavilion. Using CAL's beam-steering technology, New Orleans-based JBA Consulting Engineers has created a system that delivers highly intelligible music and speech while tailoring coverage for the audience size at an event.

The US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Centre is a 36,000sq.ft angular edifice dominated by a five-story, steel-and-glass atrium which houses six wartime aircraft suspended in frozen flight, including a B-17 Flying Fortress. Despite the acoustical hazards posed by surfaces of glass and concrete, the CAL loudspeakers allow the museum to direct exceptional audio clarity to the audience for almost daily programmes of lectures, video screenings, and mus

UK - Blitz North is supporting the BBC in delivering their Summer in the City programme, a season of sport, fun and family entertainment aimed to promote becoming active in sports.

Staged in the MediaCityUK Piazza, the series of events are planned around the summer's major sporting events, and recently featured the Women's European Football Championships. A comprehensive technical solution was provided by the Blitz team, featuring all-weather staging and audio systems, and IP rated power distribution for the entire site to cover every eventuality. Video support included a miniature HD outside broadcast system, enabling relay of VT, off-air and live camera images to MediaCity's big screen.

John Crompton, project manager for Blitz Manchester, commented, "Delivering the perfect solution required careful consultation with all parties involved, including the FA and the

UK - Long-standing Rick Wakeman FOH engineer Ian Barfoot recently used an Allen & Heath iLive mixing system to deliver the complex 'orchestra and rock group' performance of Wakeman's Ultimate Experience shows at The Centaur in Cheltenham.

More than 100 artists - from Wakeman's own English Rock Ensemble, the Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra and the Gloucester Cathedral Choir - performed music from Wakeman's best-loved albums including The Myths And Legends of King Arthur, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth and The Six Wives Of Henry VIII.

"I've been using Allen & Heath iLive systems since they were introduced," explains Barfoot, "the whole system is truly modular and configurable, so I can have whatever I need at my fingertips at all times. The sonic performance is exceptional and the onboard effects are absolutely stunning - Allen & Heat

UK - West London UK-based lighting and sound rental company Entec continues its long and productive 20 year working relationship with British band Blur, supplying lighting and sound equipment for the band's current tour.

This year, Blur embarked on a 30 plus date world tour which has seen the band play to fans around the globe, including dates across Asia, Europe, South America, as well as a headline slot at the Coachella Festival in California, with more dates to be announced.

Entec's Sound department is supplying a monitor and control system for the band's summer shows, working with Blur's engineers Matt Butcher (FOH) and Dave Guerin (monitors), while Entec Lighting is providing a festival specials package to Lighting Designer Dave Byars.

A Midas PRO9 FOH console was specified by Butcher and also at FOH Entec supplied a Midas DN9650 network bridge that allows him to do a m

UK - He has been called "light magician" by Tony Chambers, Editor of Wallpaper magazine, and worked with major organisations and significant artists such as Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney, Louis Vuitton, Elton John, Beyoncé and Sting. When the light magician, Tupac Martir, together with Panalux were working on the presentation for the new ground breaking presentation of Nierka, in the Peacock Theatre in London, they decided to once again go wireless with LumenRadio's CRMX products.

"Since technology was an essential part of the performance, we created a scene in which the characters on stage lit up the space with LEDs that had been embedded in the costumes", says Tupac Martir, creative director.

All LEDs as well as the LumenRadio CRMX receivers were powered by batteries, which were placed in the costumes so that

USA - Celebrating a nearly 100-year history as a venue for live entertainment, the Varsity Theatre is a Minneapolis landmark. Originally built for vaudeville in 1915, the theatre featured a compact auditorium that inspired the nickname 'The Dinky' and later led to the surrounding neighbourhood - today a hive of restaurants, bars and venues on the north side of the University of Minnesota's East Bank campus - being dubbed 'Dinkytown'.

The venue was upgraded and expanded in the 1930s into a 900-seat Art Deco standout, which it remains today. In its present life the Varsity features stunning new interior lighting and architectural design details, and hosts an eclectic variety of events, including national touring acts (KT Tunstall, The Fray, Goo Goo Dolls, Imogen Heap, Suzanne Vega, etc.), local music, live theatre and special events such as weddings, fundraisers and corporate even

USA - Constructed in 1969, the old City Hall building in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma had sat vacant for many years. Many residents and city officials wanted it torn down, but thanks to the vision of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and developer TOCH LLC, the 11-story structure has been given new life as the Aloft Tulsa Downtown Hotel.

Not only is this once-destined-for-the-wrecking-ball site now a thriving 180-room hotel that caters to urban, tech-savvy travellers, it has actually become a defining landmark in the city's skyscape. This is in large part due to the Elation Professional Level Q7 IP LED pars that encircle its roof, changing colours and sending washes of light down its columns, creating a nightly visual display that has become a rainbow-like beacon for locals and visitors alike.

The Level Q7 IP lights were installed on the building's exterior by Omni Lighting

Switzerland - Schertler, Swiss manufacturer of contact microphones and compact acoustic amplification systems, expands into new territories with the appointment of more international distributors.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia will now be represented by Luko servis, spol s.r.o based in Velká Hle?sebe. For Israel, Guitar Studio in Karmiel is named as the new distributor. Weissenberg of New Taipei City will distribute Schertler products in Taiwan. A new distributor is also announced for Greece, with Athens-based MixVox Distribution now representing the brand.

"We are really pleased to be setting up distribution in more territories and would like to welcome all our new representatives" says Drago Dujak, Schertler's international sales manager. "With an expanding product range, it's important for us to reach as many customers as possible and offer the best possib

UK - Nominations close at the end of July for the sixth annual Knight of Illumination Awards, which recognise and reward the outstanding creative achievements of lighting designers working on productions in the UK. In keeping with tradition, the award ceremony will take place on the opening night of PLASA London 2013, 6 October 2013, at ExCeL London.

Jennie Barratt, show manager, PLASA London 2013, said, "The Knights of illumination Awards have become an integral part of PLASA London, and we're delighted that the organisers have brought the awards to ExCeL where the Platinum Suite promises to deliver a suitably glittering and glamorous atmosphere. We have many of the world's most creative lighting designers here in the UK and PLASA London is proud to help celebrate their incredible work."

The awards, which are supported by PLASA, are organised by The Society of Telev

Asia - Apex Audio has made a significant step in the Asian pro audio market by appointing two new distributors, bringing to 34 the number of countries worldwide where sound professionals can purchase the company's advanced audio products.

Established nearly 20 years ago, New Delhi-based White Eagle International (India) supplies products for prestigious audio-visual projects, with a full consultancy, installation and maintenance service. The company prides itself on supplying the best products to clients ranging from bars and clubs through to cinemas, shopping malls and stadia, making it a the perfect partner to help Apex reach further into the rapidly expanding Indian market.

"I have been aware of the growing reputation of Apex in the region and was really impressed with the products on offer, especially the class-leading Intelli-Series of system processors," says W

Spain / Japan - 2013 marks 400 years since the first official diplomatic relations were established between Spain and Japan. To celebrate, both countries are staging a number of events over the coming year. The first of these was an inaugural gala, held in Madrid on 11 June, where Yamaha digital mixers were a highly appropriate choice.

The Embassy Keicho was an official Japanese delegation which stopped in a number of European countries between 1613 and 1620. An important landmark in Hispano-Nippon relations, the quadricentennial celebrations include a range of cultural, political, economic and technical exchange events taking place in different parts of Japan and Spain.

Featuring Yamaha CL5 and CL1 digital mixing consoles, together with two R-series i/o units, the inaugural gala was performed in the presence of His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan and Their Ro

USA - Recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's largest music festival for the past 15 consecutive years, Milwaukee's Summerfest knows how to throw a party. With over 700 national and regional acts performing on 11 stages - this year's 'Big Gig' at Henry W. Maier Festival Park on the city's Lake Michigan shoreline drew more than 840,000 visitors over its 11-day run in late June and early July.

To handle audio production duties for this year's 46th annual bash, Milwaukee World Festival, the non-profit organisation that runs the event, once again turned to local provider Clearwing Productions, which specified the use of more than 340 L-Acoustics loudspeaker enclosures for FOH throughout the grounds.

According to Bryan Baumgardner, Clearwing audio operations/logistics manager, eight of Summerfest's nine largest stages - including the 25,000-capacity Marcus Amphitheater

UK - LS-Live was the facility of choice for both production rehearsals and staging rental for four headline acts at the Glastonbury Festival.

Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal, HURTS and Chase & Status all performed headline shows with production support from the stage & set, equipment rental and studio complex based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

The rental company welcomed Glastonbury's Friday night headliners Arctic Monkeys to the 17,664 sq.ft rehearsal studio for six days full pre-production in June where the band and crew made use of the 14 en-suite bedrooms on site to work round the clock.

Production manager Ian Calder oversaw the production build, which incorporated two huge letters 'A' and 'M' clad in LED lighting on stage, to represent the band's name, part of a show that frontman Alex Turner later hailed as "one of the best gigs we've ever done".

LS-Live was

UK - Production manager Kevin Hopgood has been working with Mark Knopfler since 2006 and has developed a strong relationship with Paul Crockford, Knopfler's manager and his team. With Hopgood's recent move to SW19, it was a logical step for the newly formed production company to take on the logistics of Knopfler's current tour.

"Most people on the tour, including Paul's team of Lauren Sass and Bree Ishikawa have been working with Mark for many years; they're great people to work with and Mark has such a good work ethic," says Hopgood. "We're doing 71 shows over four months during this tour, which started in mid April and will finish at the end of July, with around five or six shows a week, most of which are back to backs. We do a residency at the RAH for six days, which normally falls in the middle of the run."

The current tough economic climate means that

Mexico - When last year Liverpool, Mexico's largest department store chain, opened its flagship unit in Villahermosa, some 63 x PR-8800 LED fixtures (each containing 108 x 3W RGB LED's) were used to wash the building.

Now the Chinese manufacturer's Mexican distributors, Hermes Music, have confirmed that an even greater number of PR Lighting's LED sources have been deployed at the larger Liverpool store in Puebla, which was recently remodelled. And this time Hermes have specified 104 of the super bright XPar 390 spots to bring the building to life after dark.

Each RGB head contains 90 x 3W LEDs (24 each of RGB and 18 white) with full colour mixing and linear CTO. Critically, it also has a beam angle of 14° and field angle of 28°.

Explaining the choice, Hermes Music's lighting specialist, Ricardo Segura de la Cruz, said the decision was based on space and the need for

Bulgaria - Clubbers in the Bulgarian city of Razgrad have been treated to a new kind of experience which is one of a kind.

The innovative Soho Club bears an exclusive interior design, conceived by the renowned professional design team from Goev Studio. In complete synchrony with the complex concept of the club is the music, which is soft during daytime, and challenging and edgy after dark as the venue metamorphoses from coffee and food bar into a full-on night club.

Forming the bond in this unconventional combination is the sound quality of Martin Audio's premium architectural AQ system, with the atmosphere further enhanced by the impressive lighting as Soho stages a tight schedule of events.

This programme itself varies depending on the climate. For example, as the weather grows warmer, Soho offers a summer garden (and children's corner for the club's youngest visitors). Fo

UK - The golden era of Disco, which started in 1970s Manhattan, has now been recaptured by Charlie Gilkes and Duncan Stirling (of Inception Group) in a Soho basement. Renowned for their innovative concepts, Disco is a revival of this important nightlife idiom and features choreographed routines from singers and dancers, as well as nightly live performances from musicians.

Helping to bring this heavily themed venue to life with some inspired LED and discharge lighting that recreates the zeitgeist is the Sound Division Group. Said their MD, David Graham, "LED wasn't even around back in the '70s but the way in which we have mixed it with beam and flower FX represents the idiom sympathetically."

Design wise, Disco showcases a cool and quirky interior, featuring entire walls of retro televisions beaming out music videos and a nostalgic collection of iconic images of revel

UK - Looking to create a new stage ambience for country legend Toby Keith, long-time LD Seth Jackson has become the first production designer to use GLP's new impression X4S LED wash light.

He has specified 83 of the compact 'S' fixtures, which introduce a new level of functionality, incorporating RGBW homogenous colour mixing, a 7 to 50 degree zoom range and high output level within a smaller footprint than the original X4. Supplied by Bandit Lites, they dominate the set for Keith's current Hammer Down tour.

Jackson had been seeking a fixture with the ability to travel in the new Bandit GoGo Truss, a modified version of the 20.5" standard truss, developed by Dizzy Gosnell and Mike Golden (hence 'GoGo'). "We needed the lights to sit in the centre of the truss and keep our vertical towers centred with weight," he explains. "GoGo allows the lights to s

Australia - Coda Audio Services recently traded up from their Shure PSM 600 to Shure PSM 1000 personal monitor systems (10 transmitting devices and 14 receivers), a move described by managing director Michael Wilkie as more than advantageous.

"We went from a non-flexible frequency situation to one where you can switch everything around and select whatever frequency you want," he added. "The diversity system is very good and means you're much less likely to get drop outs on stage. The PSM 600's had that HA and HB etc so it was complicated from an inventory point of view - you could accidently send out the wrong transmitter for the receiver - whereas now everything is the same so you're just hiring out a system."

The ability to do point to point wireless signal linking set up was a major drawcard for Wilkie as Coda do many outdoor festivals.

"One of th

UK - The reactivated Radiophonic Workshop (RWS) has enlisted Behringer's X32 Digital Mixing Console and Eurolive Active loudspeakers for a series of upcoming high-profile electronic music events.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of BBC Television's Doctor Who - an institution that the Radiophonic Workshop's extraordinary music helped propel into the consciousness of the British public. To celebrate both the return of RWS and the anniversary of Doctor Who, the RWS joined a 200-strong cast of musicians for the BBC Doctor Who Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall in July. The concert, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, will also be shown on BBC television in November as part of the Doctor Who anniversary celebrations.

The RWS will also be curating and headlining a mini-festival celebrating the Workshop's legacy and their return to the stage at the London Roundhouse in

USA - GLP US Inc., the Americas office of German manufacturer GLP, has launched a new updated and redesigned website at www.germanlightproducts.com

Responsible for the distribution and support of GLP products across North and South America, the new GLP US website features extensive information on the other brands that the company distributes, including the full range of Cosmic Truss structure and support products, the G-LEC range of creative video products, and the Scenex Lighting range of LED based scenic lighting elements.

The fresh new design of the website features an extensive download section for each product, along with a large selection of photos and videos across the site showing a wide variety of product applications.

(Jim Evans)

USA / UK - TAIT has announced the acquisition of Stage Technologies and Delstar Engineering. A statement from TAIT says: "This acquisition sees the merger of the world's market leaders in the field of automation, staging and engineering for the live entertainment industry. The enhanced capacity of the groups provides the ability to offer unrivalled technology and expertise across the globe from locations on the East and West coasts of America, Belgium, Macau, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, China and Australia.

"The increased breadth and depth of the company will provide clients with an extensive palette of cutting edge technologies, which will include eChameleon, Navigator, F:Light, Sculptor toolkit for 3ds Max, plus a comprehensive range of winches and staging solutions for concert touring, theatre, corporate events, film and television and permanent installations.&qu

UK - Lighting rental companies Fineline and GLS were among the first two on the UK mainland to receive delivery of Robe's new Pointe fixtures.

Southampton based GLS took 24 and Bristol-based Fineline took 12 units in this initial delivery ... which was co-ordinated by Ian W Brown of Robe UK.

However Fineline's fixtures also went directly from Robe to GLS - and straight out on their first cross-hire - on European shows for the Flaming Lips, with lighting designed by Eric Cathcart.

After that, they finally found their way to Fineline where they went out again on the Eden Sessions staged at The Eden Project in Cornwall for which Fineline was contracted to supply lighting and rigging for the first year.

Fineline's Rob Sangwell comments, "We are delighted with the Pointes. They are small, bright and really versatile units that do a whole load more than the nearest competit

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