UK - Hundreds of aspiring young engineers and roboticists took part in an exciting science and technology challenge at the University of the West of England in Bristol. The finals of the FIRST Lego League Challenge: Animal Allies were held in the university’s Exhibition and Conference Centre on Sunday 26 February.
Evans Audio Visual Staging teamed up with Utopium to supply sound and lighting to the event, which was part of a global Lego-based robotics contest, and featured tens of thousands of young people. For the sound installation, working with the in-house PA system Evans supported that by installing two Yamaha QL1’s with two channels of Shure ULXD radios on a Dante network. The Evans team connected the main competition space with the studio to allow the Institute of Engineering and Technology to stream the event live on YouTube.
Helping add to the interactive

Canada - The recently opened Banff Gondola Terminal represents quite literally a high point in lighting installations for ETC, writes Marshall Bissett. Perched on a mountain peak with an elevation of 2,281m, the four-storey structure gives visitors access to restaurants, bars, retail stores and stunning views of the Rocky Mountains.
Brewster Travel Canada, working with a team of subcontractors, completed the 3,251sq.m $26m reconstruction in 12 months. Video screens, reading panels and three-dimensional displays depict information of the park’s iconic flora and fauna, designed specifically to thrill and entertain the roughly 600,000 visitors who take the gondola annually, says Dave McKenna, president of Brewster Travel Canada.
Following a very “green” mandate from the end users, the entire facility uses ETC LED fixtures to create theatrical interior looks t

Nigeria - Two of Avolites' most popular lighting control consoles, Sapphire Touch and Tiger Touch II, were selected to deliver the multi-layered, diverse lighting for 15 of the best gospel music ministers from around the world during Nigeria's mammoth praise event The Experience 11: Revealing Jesus.
Reported to be 'Africa's largest concert', with revellers upwards of 500,000, The Experience has been running since 2006 and is produced by vibrant, multi-ethnic church, House on the Rock.
Stephen Davies of UK-based Subfrantic Production Services, longstanding technical supplier of the church's London branch, has been involved with the gospel extravaganza for the past four years. Each year he selects Avolites to handle the increasingly large lighting concept.
"Choosing Avolites to deliver The Experience's lighting is always an easy decision to make," says Davie

China - With the opening of the Yu Bar in Shunde, near Guangzhou, the entertainment scene in China sees a return of the mega club after many years. It features the debut installation in China of a Nexo STM Series modular line array system, chosen to position the Yu Bar at the top of the market.
The sheer size of the new venue is breathtaking, with a 15m ceiling height that allows its technical specifications to be fully achieved. “Too often in China, sound proofing is overlooked but not here,” says Michael Chow, marketing manager for Top Plot Int’l Ltd, Nexo’s distributor for China. “At Yu Bar, the ample height of the structure means that the PA system can be installed at the optimal height and position, without the usual compromises.”
In an installation designed and contracted by Nexo’s Guangzhou dealer Hertz Audio with Hong Zing Audio Equipment, aided b

China - A festival to mark the G20 Summit was held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou with an Allen & Heath dLive S Class mixing system managing the live performances.
Staged on the city’s vast West Lake, the event featured a symphony concert and gala designed by Chinese director, Zhang Yimou, who blended traditional Chinese music with Western classics.
The stage was immersed just below the surface of the lake to give the illusion that the performers are floating on water. The stage was divided into three main performance zones, and more than 500 performers were involved in the show.
The main mixing system comprised of a S7000 Surface with DM64 MixRack. Tao Zhang, audio system designer for the show, commented, “dLive is perfectly designed for live shows. For a high profile performance like this, we can’t afford to have any problems. dLive is reliable and i

USA - For one night late last month, the stretch of Broadway between Third Street and Olympic Boulevard in downtown LA, glittered just as brightly as its New York City counterpart, 2,831 miles to the east, as the City of Angels celebrated the third annual Night on Broadway Festival.
The dazzling lighting display that covered the seven-block area was created by Sohail e. Najafi of Najafi Design Group, supported by a team of nine lighting directors, using an impressive rig supplied by 4Wall Entertainment Lighting of Orange County, CA, for interior venues, and Aspect Lighting of Santa Fe Springs, CA, for exterior stages.
Unlike Manhattan’s Broadway, where the focus is on traditional theatrical stage shows, the Los Angeles event celebrated the rich tradition of this historic downtown neighbourhood with a music and art driven festival that took place inside most of its l

Poland - As the city of Wrocław in Poland prepared for The World Games in July 2017, the Wroclaw Investment Company settled the tender for the reconstruction and development of the swimming pools located at Wejherowska Street in the Northwest of the city.
Selected as one of the main aquatic venues for The World Games, the Wejherowska Street Pool will benefit the residents of Wroclaw after the Games, with its refurbishment of the existing outdoor swimming pool and the building of a brand new indoor venue. It has been described by the City of Wrocław as “probably the investment connected to The World Games 2017 that Wroclaw citizens are most looking forward to.”
Tommex Żebrowscy Sp. J. was commissioned to design and install the sound system for both the indoor and outdoor pools, together with the main hall, fitness club and gymnasium which are combined in the comp

Singapore - Singapore's 51st National Day Parade took place in August 2016 at the 55,000 seater Singapore Sports Hub, a venue notorious for its challenging acoustics as much as it is famous for its huge domed roof - the world's largest.
Well publicised sound issues have plagued concerts held at the venue and whilst the National Day Parade was not simply a gig, its magnificent spectacle leaned heavily on audio, lighting and video technology. On such an auspicious occasion, there was no room for sub-standard delivery. Highly experienced independent audio consultant Shah Tahir had overseen the design of the sound system for each of the previous eight Parades but this was the first at the relatively new Sports Hub. Overseen by the military, under whose auspices the event takes place, Tahir settled on CODA Audio's AiRAY system to deliver the necessary precision.
Arena-speci

USA - Located in the Gardenwalk shopping and entertainment district adjacent to the Disneyland Resort, the Rumba Room Live is one of the area’s newest nightclubs. Featuring two full bars, a coat check, a dance floor, several VIP sections, a stage for live bands, a DJ booth, and a smoking patio to name just a few of the amenities, the Rumba Room Live can host a variety of events with a capacity of 900 patrons.
To ensure the best possible audio for this vibrant and upscale venue, a sizeable assortment of loudspeakers drawn from the Event, Artec, and Action Series catalogues of Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio were deployed.
Props AV, LLC of Beaumont, CA, an AV design / build firm that also has a live events production division, was contracted to design and install the Rumba Room Live’s new sound reinforcement system. Using a sizeable assortment of line arrays, sub


Europe - Grammy-award-winning, nu metal band KoЯn embarks on a tour of mainland Europe in March, starting in Zurich and culminating in Slovakia in April, with a set that features Ayrton MagicPanel-R fixtures as the focal point of the lighting design. The 17-date tour follows on from North American and UK legs which were supplied by Morpheus Lights in the US and Neg Earth in the UK respectively, with Black Box of Germany assisting for the forthcoming Europe leg. KoЯn’s lighting designer, Thomas ‘Church’ Christmann, supplemented the North American tours with 20 Ayrton NandoBeam-S9 and 6 Ayrton MagicBlade-R fixtures for KoЯn’s sets in the Return of the Dreads & Nocturnal Underground tours.
Church designed his lighting to work in combination with a large, rectangular back video wall, by deploying 56 MagicPanel-R fixtures, complete with mirror kits, i

Sweden - Rally Sweden is the biggest recurring sports event in Sweden and a part of the FIA World Rally Championship. No less than approximately 100m TV viewers worldwide and 250,000 attending spectators followed the race that took place in the province of Värmland in the middle of Sweden from 9-12 February.
For the seventh year in a row, Jakob Larsson was the responsible lighting designer and production manager who ensured that the light settings were enhancing the settings the best way possible. For that purpose, he stocked up on SGM P-5 LED wash lights:
“I have a lot of experience with the P-5 and I knew it was the right lamp for the mission. I rented all that Woodlite had in stock which was about 110 pcs. If they have had more, I had rented more, as they were my first choice.”
He installed the P-5s at two different so-called Super Special Stages and als

Slovenia - PA company, ABC Professional Sound & Light, has invested in Allen & Heath’s S Class dLive digital mixing system, adding a S7000 Surface with DM48 MixRack to its hire stock.
ABC’s new system has already been used on a variety of events, such as the Triskel festival in Italy, Idrija Lace festival, concerts for Pinko Tomažič choir and the Komen wind orchestra, and tour dates with well-known Slovenian bands including Big Foot Mama, Vlado Kreslin and Kingston.
“dLive has a simple interface, and is equipped with Allen & Heath sound and build quality,” comments ABC’s owner, Bojan Dolgan. “The preamps sound natural, and the FX section is simply great with fabulous reverb, delays and compressors. We are planning to buy the smaller S3000 system for the other events. We love it!”
(Jim Evans)

USA - Composer Craig Bohmler was on a hiking trip through Arizona’s Tonto National Forest five years ago, when he came upon a small museum dedicated to Zane Grey, the prolific writer (64 novels and over 300 short stories) of American cowboy sagas.
Intrigued, Bohmler began reading Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage. Not long into the book, the composer envisioned turning the 1912 romantic story into an opera. His vision became a reality this March as The Arizona Opera premiered Riders of the Purple Sage, directed by Fenlon Lamb at Phoenix Symphony Hall.
Supporting the drama on stage and accenting its evocative scenic elements was a flexible and richly coloured lighting design by Greg Hirsch that included COLORado 2-Quad Zoom fixtures from Chauvet Professional. The resident lighting designer and director of production at The Arizona Opera, Hirsch position

Switzerland - For the tenth anniversary edition of the Swiss Music Awards in Zurich, lighting designers Thomas Gerdon and Nik Evers were tasked with lighting a colourful mix of live acts and chose Elation fixtures for the job, including Platinum FLX and Platinum HFX hybrid luminaires, along with Elation’s new Fuze Wash Z350 LED wash lights and ACL 360 Matrix LED moving head panels.
The awards show, which took place in Zurich’s Hallenstadion, is a tribute to national and international musicians in over 10 categories.
Gerdon, who lit the awards show for the first time, worked together with associate LD Nik Evers of stage/lighting design firm HELL Studio. Gerdon and the design team, which included stage designer Timo Martens from HELL Studio and content designer Roger Staub, were entrusted with creating a great atmosphere in the arena. Production company Habegger was

UK - Power Logistics has won a competitive tender that sees its contract to deliver comprehensive temporary electrical distribution services and generator provision to several of The Jockey Club’s most prestigious racecourses extended for a further three years.
Having already successfully provided electrical distribution services and generators for four and three years respectively, Power Logistics’ track record, high levels of service, investment in equipment and competitive pricing structure have resulted in the contract extension.
The contract encompasses generator hire, design, consultancy, installation, maintenance and de-rig for all The Jockey Club’s temporary power requirements. Power Logistics will continue to provide generators, cabling and distribution equipment and lighting solutions to service catering, trading, display and betting areas at many of

Germany - The Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin has once again been publicly acclaimed, for THE ONE Grand Show. On one of the biggest stages in the world, more than a hundred artists gave life to a show whose extravagant costumes were designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier.
The story revolves around an abandoned revue theatre, which is awakened from its deep sleep by an underground party. One of the party-goers gets lost in the magical aura of the venue, and the director of the former theatre brings back memories of the olden days. Past and present intermingle in a sort of daydream, and the young man is overcome by an ever-stronger feeling of nostalgia for one particular person (The One).
The show lighting was designed by Peter Morse, using - among other lights - 22 Alpha Spot HPE 1500s, 21 Alpha Profile 800 STs, 15 Alpha Spot HPE 300s, 17 Sharpy Wash 330s and 12 K-20 B-E

World - Star Events designed and built two completely new stages to accommodate Adele’s 2017 fully in the round stadium shows and the impeccable sound required by the tour, which is currently wowing critics and audiences across Australia.
Initial audio planning required eight hangs of V-Dosc K1 and K2, some 10m high, arranged facing outwards around the stage and a substantial sub-bass hang dead centre of the stage. However, for optimum results, the speakers had to be suspended 25m up.
With Adele wanting to be closely surrounded by audience in a genuine 3600 lay-out, there was no available real estate for all the usual control equipment. Tour production manager Richard Young conceived the idea of building the racks into two shipping containers that form the heart of a production area suspended high above the stage.
Required to suspend over 40 tons at 25m before

The Netherlands - Seven halls of Amsterdam’s RAI expo centre hosted an annual two-day event for a well-known brand. The technical production – lighting, audio, video, rigging and special FX - for all areas was delivered by Breda-based Unlimited Productions B.V., who sourced over 600 Robe moving lights for the occasion!
Several lighting designers were involved, working under the supervision of Unlimited Productions across the different areas with their own Bert Kelchtermans designing the general plenary session in Hall 8 for 7000 people.
Michel Suk lit the three food halls and two smaller presentation spaces, while André Beekmans from The Art of Light, well known for his work with EDM superstars like Armin van Buuren and Hardwell, plus renowned dance music LD Ronnie Santegoeds from 4Light put creativity and flair into ensuring the party area was a memorable and fun

China - German production company La Belle Musical saw in 2017 with a truly international production of Mozart! for Chinese fans of musical theatre at the Shanghai Culture Square, PRC.
The production, which combines high-tech contemporary scenography with period costumes, addresses the life and works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and features an advanced spatial sound design by award winning Swiss designer, Tom Strebel of audiopool.
The sound system was supplied entirely from Germany by Feedback Show Systems, who purchased a TiMax SoundHub audio delay-matrix processor to meet Strebel’s exacting spatial amplification system spec.
For Strebel, the inclusion of TiMax to sympathetically amplify a full company of radio-mic’d actors across a multi-channel distributed speaker system was a given. He explains that, “it is simply not satisfying without. I have u

World - Dutch DJ/producer, Armin van Buuren, selected Allen & Heath’s flagship DJ mixer, the Xone:DB4, as his mixer for the worldwide Armin Only Embrace tour.
The tour has been operating for the past nine months, with dates in the Netherlands, Spain, Bulgaria, China, Turkey, Mexico, Taiwan, Brazil, Australia and USA.
“I'm really impressed with the sound of the DB4. I love the separate FX per channel and their overall sound,” says Armin van Buuren. “The mixer is really flexible with routing of inputs, filters, EQ's and FX and that makes it possible to be extra creative. The D/A conversion is superb and it really gives my set some truly noticeable extra depth and dynamics. I was able to test the mixer in several big rooms with big PA systems and the difference with other mixers is just stunning.”
(Jim Evans)

World - Coldplay’s Head Full of Dreams tour will commence its Asian stadium leg later this month. The tour has already made history by selling out 100,000 seats in Singapore. At the same time, Kings of Leon is winding up their UK tour and heading for America. What do the Southern rockers from Nashville have in common with the cerebral London band, each heading to opposite ends of the globe? Paul Normandale of Lite Alternative Design is production designer for both tours and Solaris Flare is his LED fixture of choice.
“We’re using 96 Flares for Coldplay and 36 on Kings of Leon,” says Normandale. The genres are a little different but we found the Flares are quite ‘ecumenical,’ the perfect tool for any mood. On both shows we face the Flares toward the audience for maximum effect. We use them in all modes to create interest, occasionally zapping the crowd wit

USA - St. Paul and the Broken Bones, currently promoting their newest album, Sea of Noise, brought their soulful sound to the historic Ryman Auditorium for a two-night engagement with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites.
Lighting designer Chris Lisle sought to create an effective production package that harkened back to the old school looks of lighting. “For this design, I definitely wanted to think outside of the box and perhaps use a few fixtures that were a little more obscure,” Lisle explained.
“I also wanted the system to be conventional heavy with a lot of warm tungsten. With this, we used the Maxi Brute fixtures, SunStrips, and Scoops. I also found some “tubular ripples” that had not seen some action in a while and decided to add them to the rig. The BB7 units were meant to add some colour and punch throughout the songs as well. It was

Australia - Christian College is a primary-to-grade 12 independent school located over five campuses in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The school's Major Events team is responsible for the setup and operation of audio, visual and lighting for events as diverse as band performances at school and local venues, musical theatre productions, débutante balls, art shows and assemblies. When it came time for the school to invest in their own sound system, the Major Events team turned to Fulcrum Acoustic.
Christian College required a versatile, portable audio system capable of delivering high output and pristine clarity for their varied applications through compact enclosures easy for students and staff to handle and set up.
"Based on their familiarity with FA Portable systems I'd provided them over the past few years, Fulcrum became the logical choice for the school's portabl

UK - Working for event designer Jason Morais, the team from event production specialist Maestra London returned to the Freemasons Hall in London’s Covent Garden for the second year to ensure that the 2017 Warner Music Brit Awards after-show party was a success. Maestra delivered the full technical and creative production including supplying all the technical and scenic infrastructure – set, lighting, rigging, audio, all décor – including a myriad of bespoke designed items, carpeting, furniture, drapage and soft-goods.
With Jason’s vision, the team led by production designer Jenny Woollard, senior project manager Aisha Tarayan and technical managers Adam Jones and Edwin Higgins coordinated all elements right down to the colours, textures and styles permeating the rooms. This year the entrance was graced with a spectacular sculpture made from 30 silver helium filled s

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