Russia - Every year, farmers, milk lovers and music fans flock to Ufa - the dairy capital of Russia - to celebrate the Milk Music Festival. Festivalgoers can learn about the dairy industry, interact with farm animals, take a spin on amusement park rides, and - of course - enjoy locally sourced dairy products. One of the biggest draws to the festival is an open air stage featuring folk singing, dancing and musical groups. This year, the lighting for the performances was controlled by an ETC Cobalt 20 desk.

The Cobalt console was supplied by Kilowatt Rentals and Staging, who thought the desk's exceptional busking capabilities would be perfect for the Milk Media Festival. It controlled a rig full of moving lights, LED luminaires, audience blinders and strobe lights.

The festival was the first time that lighting designer Yan Prokofyev had used a Cobalt desk. ETC console trainer Vl

France - Created and directed by Roman Polanski, the theatre production of Bal de Vampires has an impressive 16-year track record, reaching over one million viewers in 12 countries. Currently playing in Paris at the Mogador Theatre, sound design for the rock-based musical production is in the deft and award winning hands of Tom Strebel and the team from Basel-based audiopool.

For Strebel, the greatest focus had to be on the intelligibility of the speech, as in his words, the production is "a very dynamic show, with a big rather than a very loud sound and as such, we needed plenty of low end and headroom to get the energy we wanted. Dance of the Vampires is very cleverly written with good songs and orchestrations, and very dense arrangements that nevertheless allow enough room to put in the vocals. Clarity was a priority, and a lot of work was done by the creat

UK - XL Video supplied LED screens, projection screens, media servers and screen management for the National Television Awards 2015.

The live ITV1 television broadcast show, produced by Indigo Television and hosted by Dermot O'Leary, took place at London's O2 Arena. It included a tribute to Coronation Street star Anne Kirkbride, and a special recognition award for Doctor Who and Broadchurch actor, David Tennant.

This is the 11th consecutive year XL Video, and project manager, Paul Wood, has supplied the video production for the awards.

This year's design, created by set designer Chris Webster, incorporated 102m2 of XL's high definition ROE MC-7T 7mm Black-face LED as the main screen for the show, along with six Banner screens formed from XL's innovative MC-18T 18mm Hybrid LED.

The Hybrid banners were situated amongst the scenic elements either side of

France - On the banks of the River Seine, between the bridges Pont de la Concorde and Passerelle de Solférino, and close to Musée d'Orsay, lies a part of Paris that is always buzzing with pedestrians, day and night, and known as Berges de Seine. In this urban centre, Mairie de Paris (Paris City Hall) organised a special Christmas lighting installation, which ran from mid-December until the end of January.

Lighting designers from LightLab were looking for a solution evoking a permanent vertical flow, to create a special 'city life' impression. They introduced rental company, Lumière et Son, who last year brought the Hermès flagship store at Champs Elysées to life during Christmas using LB-100 LED Balls from SGM. Their suggestion to create a 3D graphic volume to inspire city movements was met with great enthusiasm by the client.

Lumière et Son prepared a

UK - Registration for the fifth European RDM and sACN Developers Conference and Plugfest is now open.

The event will run Wednesday 22nd, Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th April 2015, in the UK, at Gatwick Manor, London Road at Lowfield Heath, just south of Gatwick Airport.

The Developers Conference provides a European forum for manufacturers, designers, consultants and prospective users to discuss and learn about the various control protocol standards emanating from the PLASA Technical Standards program, and aims to ensure that the adoption of these new standards achieves desired levels of interoperability and reliability.

Conference sessions will cover the use and implementation of the published RDM, sACN and ACN standards, together with other projects in the current PLASA Technical Standards Program such as "E1.33 : RDMnet".

The "Plugfest" is a hands-on o

UK - Cable specialists VDC Trading has announced a new facility from its Fibre Optic Lab. As well as opticalCON connectors the industry established Van Damme Tourlight cable is available terminated with 2-channel and 4-channel HMA connectors.

HMA assemblies, benefiting from Stratos expanded beam technology, are available on the Van Damme Tourlight 50/125 OM3 multimode in two or four port form. They utilise a hermaphroditic interconnection meaning they connect freely with each other and alignment is no longer such a crucial factor. Designed for use in the field including military applications, The HMA connectors are ruggedly designed and quickly field repairable should the need arise.

VDC Trading CEO Niall Holden explained, "We have been delighted with our progress in the field of fibre optic cable. Our Van Damme Tourlight range has been a huge success, we beat our first y

UAE - Melody House, sole distributor of Primacoustic in the Middle East, has recently supplied the Centre for Musical Arts (CMA) with a complete acoustic solution providing the school with four London 12 room kits and thirty 2" broadband panels.

The London 12 room kit is designed for rooms that measure between 100 to 200sq.ft the London 12 employs a variant of the popular live-end, dead-end LEDE concept whereby the source end of the room is fitted with increased absorption while the receive end of the room is left more lively to retain a sense of air and space.

CMA is a non profit making organisation with a vision to develop and enhance the existing musical community initially in Dubai, but more importantly to make the musical experience available to the wider audience through its teaching programmes, concerts, recitals and workshops. CMA is one of only seven recognised e

UK - School Stage, the performing arts installation company offering exclusive provision to schools, colleges and universities - recently completed a project using Chauvet Professional fixtures to add colour and 'wow' factor to a multi-functional assembly hall in the newly built Lees Brook Community School in Chaddesden, Derby.

The new school building was commissioned by the Education Funding Agency (EFA) because, in direct contrast to the high standard of teaching, the school buildings were in poor shape - described by officials as being in the worst condition in the city.

However, no provision had been included for sound and lighting systems in the multi-functional assembly hall or drama studio. With the budget already stretched and sensing this was a real opportunity to create the hall as a spectacular performance space, the school's former head teacher came out of retireme

USA - When you have only one trailer for a high-profile tour, every fixture you load into it had better count. Butch Allen, the 2014 Parnelli Award Lighting Designer of the Year who has toured with a long list of superstars from Van Halen and Jennifer Lopez to Metallica and Usher, demonstrated this principle in stunning fashion recently when he created a maximum "bang for the inch" rig for the sold-out Dancing With The Stars Live! tour.

"We had to fit everything - and I mean everything -- from costumes and props to the show's famous mirror balls into a single trailer for this tour," said Allen. "Ray Woodbury of RK Diversified Entertainment did an amazing job helping me put together a rig that delivered all the lighting punch we needed, while not taking up an inordinate amount of space in the trailer."

The "workhorse" of this rig,

USA - Together with the rest of the community, St. Mary's Catholic Church and Elementary School in Joplin, Missouri has faced the difficult, but heartening, task of rebuilding after one of the worst tornados on record destroyed its buildings in 2011. The church and school relocated southwest of the city, where it has more room to comfortably accommodate a larger congregation and a larger student body.

Although unwelcomed, the school capitalized on the opportunity to build new infrastructure, including a multipurpose cafeteria with a flexible sound reinforcement system. A cost-effective, multi-channel Ashly Pema 4250.70 network Protea matrix processor combined with a four-channel amplifier delivers the flexibility that allows even non-technical staff to set the system up using Ashly neWR-5 remote controls.

David Walters, president and principal consultant at Diversified Design

Hungary - The new Audi Arena Gyor, described as "the newest and most modern hall in Hungary", has been equipped with a major RCF system.

According to the Italian company's Hungarian distributor, Chromasound Ltd, this 5,500 capacity multifunctional sports hall is without comparison when it comes to speech intelligibility - thanks largely to the work undertaken by their integration partner, G-Sound Ltd.

Jozsef Gricz was their system designer, working in cooperation with Laszlo Suto, and they specified 40 Acustica C5212-96 two way full range enclosures, with narrow 90° x 60° coverage pattern. These surround the sports field on all four sides in 20 clusters of two, hung from above. The speakers are faced on the upper (fixed) and lower (mobile) part of the audience area - with the underneath enclosures installed horizontally with rotated horns, on unique designed

UK - Peerless-AV has announced its collaboration with TD Maverick Europe, commencing 1 February 2015. Under the agreement, the specialised AV distributor will be offering a core selection of Peerless-AV mounts and solutions to its reseller base across EMEA, encompassing France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

Adam Dent, director of international sales, Peerless-AV Europe, commented, "Signing this agreement with TD Maverick Europe is a significant and exciting development for Peerless-AV Europe. Whilst we will remain fully committed to our existing channel partners, signing TD Maverick Europe gives us entrance into a number of important new territories, customers and channels we previously were unable to cater for. We are very much looking forward to working with them in 201

Australia - Melbourne Airport welcomes over 30m travellers each year, with that number set to grow over the next few years. A team of visionaries at APAM (Australia Pacific Airports Melbourne) decided that these travellers, and those who come to greet them, deserved a better experience.

LumenRadio's long-term OEM partner, ENTTEC together with Mint Lighting Design, was brought on-board to provide custom lighting solution to realize the vision and design proposed for Melbourne Airport.

Mint Lighting Design and ENTTEC transformed the forecourt and main terminal façade with a dynamic lighting installation. The project has 12 individual sites programmed as one to create an intricate, synchronized light show with more than 40,000 pixels requiring 57 universes of control. The project involved more than 2,140 individual components.

In order to distribute DMX data to the difficult l

Denmark - Danish hip-hop artist L.O.C. became the latest artist to tour with Meyer Sound Leo-M and Lyon linear line array loudspeakers. Named the R°dt Lys Tour (Red Light Tour), the production was mixed by Mads Stærke, one of Scandinavia's most in-demand FOH engineers.

"With Leo and Lyon, I know the system will respond musically, so I just let the voices and the instruments do their thing and use much less EQ," says Stærke, who has worked with L.O.C. for the past seven years. "This system allows me to mix musically, and not technically."

The touring system comprised 20 Lyon-M main line array loudspeakers, with four Lyon-W wide-coverage line array loudspeakers as down-fill and four UPA-1P loudspeakers as additional fill. In some of the larger venues, 16 Leo-M line array loudspeakers anchored the main system. Ten 1100-LFC low-frequency control el

USA - New York/San Francisco-based content creation/production company Bodega's Emmy award-winning creative director Haley Geffen teamed up with NBC Sports Group and NBC Sports VP creative director/director Tripp Dixon and visual effects studio Rodeo FX to create the high-energy opening for Super Bowl XLIX. The opening, featuring Carrie Underwood in a virtual Phoenix stadium, set the stage for the matchup between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks at Arizona's University of Phoenix Stadium.

Having collaborated on the Sunday Night Football open for three consecutive seasons, the Bodega team was well poised to intensify the energy and glitz for Super Bowl XLIX. Geffen and Dixon led a three-day shoot, months in advance of the big game, to capture Underwood's performance that glamorized the Super Bowl.

Bodega worked closely with Rodeo FX to enhance the stage visuals

UK - Reproduced Sound 2015, the 31st in the annual series organised by the Institute of Acoustics, takes place at Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, 10-12 November.

The theme this year is Playing with Fire: sound for art, entertainment and emergency purposes, which will concentrate on all aspects of electroacoustics for live events, including music, theatres and sports in auditoria, festivals and stadia.

Suggested topics for papers include: Live Sound - Intelligibility; Venue Safety and Crowd Management; Measurement & Evaluation; Audio System Design; Loudspeakers and Microphones; Case Studies; Acoustics of Venues; Environmental Noise Control of Events.

Offers of papers on any electroacoustics topic will also be considered for the programme.

Please send your abstract (150 words) for papers plus a short biography of up to 150 words to linda.canty

USA - When it comes to big stages, there are few with as many operational complexities as the annual Super Bowl. Months before knowing which teams will play in the game, teams of production experts are busy planning all of the technical aspects of the event. This year the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl played on consecutive weekends at the same stadium, adding to the logistics issues. Having worked with the Super Bowl decor teams since 2005, Dall Brown knows as well as anyone about the challenges of this year's event at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

Wireless Spectrum Challenges

NFL Frequency Coordination - controlling who uses which radio frequencies, when, and for what purposes - is carefully planned and enforced. This is to accommodate varied technical requirements of everything from hundreds of two way radios, wireless microphones and cameras, to ticket processing and

Half Time News - Katy Perry used a giant tiger, Lenny Kravitz and backing dancers dressed as sharks to wow the crowds with her Super Bowl half-time performance. The singer rattled through a medley of hits during a 12-minute concert that also included a guest appearance from rapper Missy Elliott. It ended with Perry singing Firework as actual pyrotechnics exploded above her. According to The Guardian, the result was a "high-octane show [as] notable for its surreal camp as for its tunes". The New York Times said she "held her own, navigating a handful of her smashes and three wardrobe changes in a performance that resisted bad mood". "Even if you weren't a fan of Perry's music, you had to be impressed with her spectacle," agreed USA Today.

Stage Awards - The Young Vic and Park theatres in London, Southampton's Nuffie

France - L-Acoustics sound systems have a reputation for electrifying the biggest live entertainment crowds the world over. From the Sochi Olympics to the 400,000-strong crowd at Tomorrowland, audiences the world over have experienced the power and precision of an L-Acoustics sound system.

So when it comes to kitting out intimate live entertainment venues, many owners and managers are surprised to realise that L-Acoustics solutions can also perfectly fit both acoustical and budgetary needs of their spaces. Olivier Inizan, L-Acoustics account manager, responsible for fixed installations projects throughout France, regularly works with small venues to create sound systems perfectly tailored for high SPL in compact to medium-sized venues.

A number of venues have already been convinced by the L-Acoustics ARCS WIFO line source combination, and the feedback from users is very positi

UK - SGM's award-winning LED technology can be found in a diverse range of applications around the world - with its eye-catching 3D pixel tubes typically found zipping across dancefloor ceilings.

But in a completely unique deployment, 68 of the LT-200 2m tubes now form a pulsating sculpture in a brain science institute. This is at the heart of designer Bob Crowley's set for the new Tom Stoppard play, The Hard Problem at the Dorfman Theatre, part of the National Theatre on London's South Bank.

It was a YouTube video of a spinning cube that first set Crowley's creative juices flowing, and faced with the task of emulating this effect in order to represent brain pulses, the theatre's lighting operations manager, Marc Williams and control supervisor, Daniel Murfin tracked down SGM's 3D pixel tubes after visiting the PLASA Show, and seeing them displayed on the website of Madrix LED

Germany - Deutscher Medienpreis - German Media Prize - is an award that has been given annually since 1992 by Media Control, a company for market statistics, to honour public figures.

A jury consisting of chief editors of leading newspapers and magazines decide on the winner with previous recipients having included Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, Dalai Lama, Bono and George Clooney, and the event itself is high profile affair with specially invited guests. This year's recipient was Juergen Loew, the coach of the German national football team, in recognition not only of his role in their World Cup victory but also his leadership style, and as an ambassador of a modern and cosmopolitan Germany.

AE Sound & Light GmbH provide production duties, and in former years they have provided coverage with Martin Audio's W8LM Mini Line Array. But owing to the provision of a larger video scree

South Africa - Johannesburg-based DWR Distribution will be hosting Avolites training sessions this month, with a one-day Titan One training session on 24 February, followed by a three-day Basic to Advanced course from 25-27 February. The training will be presented by DWR's Gareth Chambers.

Nick Britz from DWR comments: "Gareth Chambers hosts regular training sessions which are well received by the industry. He has a great knowledge on lighting and control, having formally worked in the rental market. He is also very passionate about sharing this knowledge."

The Titan One DMX USB Dongle allows the user to output one line of DMX with the full functionality of Avolites Titan Software. Users are able to access powerful features such as Pixelmapper, Quicksketch, Media Clip Select, Attribute Control-Blades and ShapeGenerator. Titan One allows unlimited usage providing unin

China - Billed as the world's first indoor movie theme park, the highly-anticipated Wuhan Movie Theme Park in the Chinese city of Wuhan - four hours by rail from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou - has now opened its doors with Delta Media Server solutions powering huge displays inside three of the six digital theatre 'dark-ride' experiences.

The $690m three-storey theme park owned by Dalian Wanda Group - the Chinese conglomerate that controls the AMC cinema chain in North America - has six state-of-the-art immersive and multi-dimensional movie ride experiences which operators claim make it the first indoor movie theme park in the world. Theatres are spread over 100,000sq.m and include a 5D theatre, 4D theatre, Interactive Theatre, Space Theatre, Flying Theatre and an Experience Theatre.

Designed by Mark Fisher, creative art director behind the Beijing Olympic ceremonies, the Lo

South Korea - Psy, a global viral superstar, recently played four sold-out shows at Seoul's 14,000-capacity Olympic Park Gymnastics Arena. Dubbed All Night Stand, the hometown shows were powered by a Meyer Sound Leo linear large-scale sound reinforcement system.

"The extended headroom and linear output characteristic of Leo is huge with Psy's music," says Park Dong Won, the singer's veteran FOH engineer. "The highs were smooth and natural, even when we pushed the levels, and the dispersion meant uniform coverage for every seat. I'm not just confident in specifying LEO, but also proud to use it."

The system comprised dual main arrays, each with 15 Leo-M line array loudspeakers flown over two Lyon-W wide-coverage line array loudspeakers as down fill. Twenty-four 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements were arranged in a directional array, with seven Mi

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