Belgium - On Saturday 9 May, Belgium based ASL provided a Sound Projects Dreamline sound reinforcement system to the European Parliament and other Institutions who opened their doors to the general public to celebrate Europe Day in a festive way.

The day's main music performances and speeches were held at the main square in front of the entrance.

"These are the projects where the Dreamlines prove to be unbeatable," says Peter Ellegeest (engineer ASL). "Events like this are about many things but not about sound reinforcement. Intelligibility and HI fidelity music should simply be there. Inconspicuous, up and ready to play in minutes rather than hours, predictable coverage, predictable sound quality. It proved all easy work with the Dreamline."

The programme also included concerts, guided tours, exhibitions, debates, meetings with MEPs and EC Commissioners,

UK - 'Disruption agency' TBWA developed a floating house brand activation for accommodation marketplace Airbnb, to celebrate new rules on short-term lets in London, and event producer Andy Ashton called on Star Events for the delivery.

With no available barge capable of providing the required 'foundations' for a two-bedroom house, replete with kitchen, living room, bathroom and garden, Star Events built a bespoke floating structure, which was licensed by the Port of London Authority.

Star came to the event via a wave of other waterborne showcases, Jaguar and Cortana among them, and worked with regular collaborators, including Setsquare Staging and Livett's Launches, to bring it to fruition.

Taken from order to completion in just four weeks, the project was launched on the River Thames and sailed straight into a celebration of media coverage on Monday 18 May.

Star Events' p

USA - ZZ Top may be nearing 50 years together, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group shows no signs of slowing down as they continue selling out shows across all of North America. Bandit Lites provided the lighting package for ZZ Top in a design made to match the band's rock sound.

Lighting designer Gabe Hodge built on the previous year's design which consisted of 18 lamp bars with six GRN LED pars per bar, six Color Kinetics Colorblaze 72 LED strip lights, and eight Elation CUEPIX WW2 Blinders which replaced the four GRN 8-lite moles.

"I knew that I wasn't going to use the colour features on the 8-lite, and I also wanted more fixtures to spread out amongst the rig," said Hodge. "I was able to get eight of the Elations, and I really liked the way they updated the design."

The GRN Pars and Elation Blinders were spread out across the downstage, mid stage

UK - Following the success of last year's annual conference, accounting specialists Tax Assist again turned to Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) to deliver full technical production and design - sound, lighting, video, rigging and staging - for their 2015 event, which had the added resonance of also being their 20th anniversary.

The format of the show in the Caernarfon Suite at Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, south Wales, was a conference and presentation during the day, with the room transformed in a rapid 60 minute turnaround between 6 and 7pm to a gala dinner and party.

Entertainment featured magic from Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee and live music Bjorn Again.

The CPL team was led by Lee Gruszeckyj, who created a stylish design based around the exceptionally tight timescale involved - an intense 24 hours of activity.

"Central to the design was it being achievable in

USA - The Floyd Central High School in Floyds Knobs, Indiana, production of Mary Poppins performed beneath a new professional lighting rig of Elation Professional fixtures, received top reviews.

Floyd Central's new Elation lighting rig, purchased from Phoenix Lighting of Louisville, Kentucky, was part of a recent school lighting renovation and Mary Poppins was the first show to have the new gear available.

Floyd Central High School's director of theatre arts, Robbie Steiner, produced and directed the production and also designed the scenery. Concerned a couple of years ago about the quality of their theatre's lighting, he approached school administrators to see what could be done to begin upgrading their outdated system.

"Our school auditorium was constructed in 1981 and the bulk of the fixtures we were using were from that time period," he says. &quo

Europe - Two more rental houses have placed orders for the new Meyer Sound Leopard linear sound reinforcement system: Eenorm Facilitair of the Netherlands and Hurricane Sound & Light of Slovakia.

Only recently announced at Prolight + Sound, the Leopard line array loudspeaker and its accompanying 900-LFC low-frequency control element are the smallest and most versatile members of Meyer Sound's flagship Leo family.

"After listening to the Leopard system, I was not only surprised but shocked," recalls Martin Štefanek, managing director of Hurricane. "I couldn't believe a system so small and lightweight would have such enormous power and brilliant sound - not to mention the simplicity of the rigging and connections."

For Eenorm Facilitair, flexibility and sonic performance are key to the purchase decision. "We were stunned at the sound quality of Leopar

UK - Lighting hire and technical event production specialists Blue Parrot have joined Martin Professional's UK dealer network, adding 12 new Martin MAC Quantum Profile moving heads to their Edinburgh-based hire stock.

The Quantum Profiles are the latest addition to Blue Parrot's large moving light inventory which includes 30 MAC Aura washes, 24 MAC 101 units and a mixture of the flagship MAC Viper series of products: Profile, Performance and Wash DX models.

"We've had a great experience with our Martin MAC Aura and MAC 101 fixtures over the last few years," says Dave Morris, head of hires, Blue Parrot. "They're reliable and versatile lights in diverse applications, so it makes sense for us to invest in the Quantum Profile to continue offering the latest and best equipment to our production and dry hire customers."

A number of high-profile technical produc

Theatre Report - Musical theatre accounts for more than half of all box office income despite comprising just 15% of all productions staged, a report has suggested. Full findings from the British Theatre Repertoire report shows that musical theatre shows made up just 15% of all productions staged in 2013, with plays forming 72%. In total, 2,196 shows were assessed, of which 329 were musicals. The report was published by the British Theatre Consortium in conjunction with the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre.

Motown Magic - Motown the Musical is to open in the West End. The musical, which premiered on Broadway in 2013, will begin previews at the Shaftesbury Theatre in February 2016. The show had initially been planned to run at the Dominion Theatre. Featuring more than 50 Motown tracks, the musical tells the story behind the record label's success.

Motown f

UK - Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance is one of the UK's top specialist higher education institutions delivering education in single subject - Theatre Training. The College runs an annual symposium designed to further expand the knowledge and skill sets of its students and KV2 Audio were delighted to be involved with this year's Offstage, Onstage and Beyond event.

One of the College's key aims is to expose their students to a wide range of ideas and concepts relating to the various courses offered.

KV2 Audio's involvement in the week-long symposium began with a seminar to students from the BA (Hons) Performance Sound (Live Design and Engineering) course, members of the in-house technical team as well as a selection of people with a general interest in high quality audio systems.

The 300-seat Rose Theatre hosted the seminar beginning with a presentation

Canada - There's nothing reckless about a willingness to explore, as the current Bryan Adams tour is discovering. "If there's one enduring thing with the way Jody Perpick deals with his responsibility for Bryan's front of house mix, it's his willingness to keep exploring new technologies."

Rob Nevalainen, who said this only last month, has many good reasons to celebrate Perpick's sense of adventure. "A little over a year ago my company Gearforce needed to invest in a good medium size PA system. What were the choices? There weren't too many large US audio companies close to the Canadian border, so the field was open. We first looked at the d&b audiotechnik V-Series not long after it came out. We liked it immediately for its natural sound and its great power to weight ratio." Not that he made a purchase straight away. But to understand why he eventually did, it

UK - Lighting designer Conleth White asked leading Irish technical production and rental company Just Lite to supply lighting for the Irish premier of Titanic Dance which was staged at the Millennium Forum Theatre in Derry.

The new production - due to tour in 2016 - has a narrative based around the world's most famous cruise liner, from its beginning at the famous Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, to its tragic end at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Conleth was given an open book when it came to the lighting design. He's been using Robe's Pointes frequently for lighting musicals and likes to integrate the myriad of beam options possible using these fixtures into the choreography, and this proved "A great opportunity to do the same with an Irish dance show".

For Titanic Dance, he utilised 24 Pointes, 12 600E Spots, 12 ColorWash 1200E ATs, fo

USA / Europe - Tom Kenny, production and lighting designer for the current The Who Hits 50! North American/European tour, has been designing for The Who, as well as Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey's regular solo productions, since 1990.

Kenny has used Chauvet Professional's Nexus panels on a number of his projects since the company first brought him some demo versions to try out. "I've used the Nexus products on a lot of my shows and always wanted to use them on The Who," says Kenny. "They have some very cool effects inside. They give me a great effect; they're very bright; and they can light the whole arena. They're just very powerful and they give lots of different variations."

For this tour, because it was the band's hits, Kenny wanted to go for a clean rock look. "Since I use a lot of the Nexus panels on my other projects, I knew for this design t

UK - Renowned engineer David Loudoun and his company DMZ Live have an impressive list of recording credits to their names, including Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Spotify, One Direction and EMI Records. One of the company's latest projects was the recording of Celebrating Jon Lord at the Royal Albert Hall at the beginning of April, where a Bel Digital MADI monitor was deployed for ultimate confidence

Held in memory of ex-Deep Purple keyboard player Jon Lord, Celebrating Jon Lord at the Royal Albert Hall featured performances from many of his friends and band mates. The resulting album, for which DMZ Live recorded and mixed all versions, has subsequently reached number one in the Music Video charts (Blu-Ray and DVD) in four countries.

DMZ Live's high spec digital recording mobile was used for the recording stage at the Royal Albert Hall, with the premix done at the comp

UK - AED Distribution UK has enjoyed the intimate, lively and focused environment of PLASA Focus Leeds for the past three years and the 2015 show last week once again met the expectations of this favoured show. Spread across two separate stands, the new enlarged AED Distribution UK Team enjoyed a busy two days discussing the strong portfolio of bAV products now offered in the UK, all underpinned by the range of AED solutions.

The main stand was home to the lighting and rigging offering from AED Distribution that includes High End Systems, Prolyte, Columbus McKinnon, SRS Light Design, Swisson, AV Stumpfl, Doughty, Verlinde (Stagemaker) and MediaLas.

Prominent were the latest stage lighting luminaires from High End Systems under the LED RISING Banner, including the SolaSpot Pro 1500 with its 400w White LED engine providing a staggering 20,000 Lumens output and the Shapeshifter C

USA - For the first time since moving into a large sanctuary space a decade ago, congregants of Clinton Frame Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana are experiencing the exhilarating power of congregational singing, thanks to a new Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system.

Constellation not only restores the sense of a unified worshipping community that was present in their previous smaller church, but by engaging different presets, it also adds acoustic "life" to the spoken word and energizes both the worship team and the rest of the congregation.

Constellation gives venues the ability to modify their room acoustics at the press of a button, allowing them to host a wide range of events and provide the acoustics most appropriate for them. For houses of worship like Clinton Frame, Constellation offers the ideal sonic characteristics for congregants to feel immersed in t

UK - Four times Latin Grammy nominated producer and mixer Andy Bradfield has completed a complete upgrade of his studio in London's Parsons Green which he calls Studio A. In recent years Andy has carved a remarkable niche being the 'go to guy' for both high end pop and rock acts as well as crossover acts and movie and gaming soundtracks.

Having begun his career at the legendary Olympic and Townhouse studios, it made sense for Andy to turn to ex Olympic maintenance engineer Paul Wilkes for the installation of the upgrade.

He explained: "Paul did a great job and recommended we used Van Damme blue series cable almost exclusively because of its reliability and suppleness when running it around corners and tight turns. The studio is based around a Pro Tools HDX system with Xmon software and I use an Icon 24 mixing surface which suits me and the way I work. Originally the Icon

Poland - The Audio Engineering Society held its highly-successful 138th Audio Engineering Society Convention at the Sofitel Victoria Hotel in Warsaw, Poland, 7-10 May, 2015.

This first-ever AES Convention to be held in Poland was co-chaired by Bozena Kostek and Umberto Zanghieri, and featured a keynote address by ORF (Austrian TV) sound engineer Florian Camerer, as well as the Heyser Memorial lecture given by Genelec Chairman Dr. Ilpo Martikainen.

Other highlights included the popular Project Studio Expo stage, several unique Tech Tours of local Polish audio production facilities, and a wall-to-wall exhibition area, where attendees were given a first-hand look into the latest professional audio equipment and services from leading manufacturers.

Additionally, as part of the Tech Programme events, the Best Peer-Reviewed Paper Award was presented to Frank Schultz, Florian Strau

Spain - The Cafe Teatro La Cerdanya near Barcelona, is an exceptional restaurant, combining traditional and international cuisine, a cocktail bar and a theatre. In order to guarantee quality sound and lighting for all locations, different LD Systems, Cameo Light and Audac products were installed.

In the restaurant, accommodating about 100 people, elegant and discreet Audac ceiling speakers have been chosen to provide an elegant and subtle sound. After visiting the restaurant, guests are invited to make their way to the cocktail bar where they can round off the evening on comfortable couches, with good music and classic drinks.

To make good music sound even better, four LDEB82A loudspeakers from the Stinger series were combined with two Stinger Sub 12A G2 subwoofers. Six Cameo Flat Par Cans Tri 3W IR provide the perfect lighting. In the Private Dinner Room, audio systems from L

UK - Following the highly successful January launch of Adlib's Scottish office which is headed by Graham Cochrane, the company staged two technology based open days at the Glasgow O2 Academy live music venue, showcasing some of the latest innovations available from premium brand partners including L-Acoustics, Soundcraft, DPA Microphones and SSL.

A wide selection of industry professionals from across the installation, live, rental sectors as well as engineers and production managers came to check out the action.

Adlib Director John Hughes explained that the open days were planned in particular to focus on installation and sales potential, and how offering turnkey solutions with leading brands can have a huge impact on assisting venues in being more competitive and attracting new business. He was delighted with the response and turnout as well as the support from the manufactur

UAE - Robe continued its international trade show strategy at the Dubai International Conference & Exhibition Centre for PALME Middle East 2015, with the company presenting their largest booth to date at this show - and also the biggest booth on the show floor.

Robe's general manager for the Middle East, Elie Battah, and his team were joined by Robe International's Nathan Wan and Steve Eastham for the build period, and together they constructed the impressive stand which featured a special Lightshow, designed and programmed by Nathan.

As with other recent Robe exhibition stands, this proved a real magnet in attracting people as well as creating a great buzz and a talking point around the show floor.

Robe also partnered with three dynamic complimentary visual effect companies at PALME ME this year - LPS Lasersysteme from Germany, MagicFX from The Netherlands and fog / haze ex

Scandinavia - As a result of ongoing expansion, SGM A/S has established a new subsidiary - SGM Nordic AB. This follows the increasing demand for products, projects, service and coordination across the Nordic Region, namely Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

SGM Nordic ab is located in Gothenburg, Sweden with warehousing and central administration, but also includes branches in Norway, Finland and Denmark. Heading SGM Nordic are SGM veterans Mikael Uddh and Steen Geertsen teaming up with well-known industry specialists around the region.

Mikael Uddh explains: "Multiple projects and increased communication on dealer and designer level, including cross boarder coordination, require an organisation that has a deeper regional insight, thus improving operational matters. Therefore, we have set up SGM Nordic."

Peter Johansen, CEO o

UK - No Making Your Mind Up! was necessary for EW Productions Ltd - the business arm of charity alternative-teaching organisation, Entertainment Workshops - when they were asked to manage the production of a 30-date UK tour for 80s group and Eurovision winners, Cheryl, Jay & Mike Formerly Of Bucks Fizz.

Indeed it was a chance for recently graduated Entertainment Workshops' apprentice, Phil Smith, to exercise his potential by designing and engineering the live shows for the wide spectrum of venues throughout the tour. Under the guiding eye of MD Paul Byrne, Smith specified lighting fixtures from Prolight Concepts new eLumen8 range as, having trained previously with the units, he knew them to be compact, bright, responsive and efficient.

The specification led Prolight Concepts Ltd, who work closely with EW and also support the Entertainment Workshops charity, to supply th

Brazil - Leading Brazilian production company, Mix 2 Go, selected its modular iLive system to record the 20th anniversary concert for renowned singer, Ivete Sangalo.

"I chose iLive simply because it sounds amazing! To mix 128 live channels is not an easy task but the network options of the system are very reliable for live and broadcast work, and iLive has an awesome workflow with the capacity we need for a recording of this magnitude," explains OB engineer, Beto Neves.

The system captured 128 recording channels and 16 channels from the video recording, including both audio and video feeds. The iLive-144 surface was installed in Mix2Go's OB truck, whilst an iDR-64 and an iDR10 rack were located in the hall. iLive was complemented by Focusrite units and RTS intercoms, all connected with optical fibre

The musical director could speak from within the OB Truck directly

UK - Award-winning temporary event power provider Power Logistics has secured a three-year contract to deliver the New Forest & Hampshire County Show with a site-wide power solution for their event.

The contract includes the provision of all generators, electrical equipment, distribution boards and cabling for the show and a complete project management solution. In addition they will also be supplying lighting for around the site and within temporary structures, from tower lights to fluorescents. This is the first time that the New Forest & Hampshire County Show has used one company to provide all their requirements and Power Logistics were chosen because of their impressive track record at large scale events.

Mike Whitehouse, Power Logistics' managing director said: "Power Logistics is honoured to have been chosen to support such a long-standing and highly respected even

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