Details
UK - Westlife are back after a seven-and-a-half-year hiatus, with a new production for the 20 Tour ahead of their much-anticipated new album, Spectrum.
One hundred and forty-eight Robe MegaPointes were prominent on the touring lighting rig - specified by lighting designer Tom Sutherland.
The first leg of the tour culminated in two sold out nights at Dublin’s Croke Park stadium playing to 170,000 fans. The gig was streamed live to cinemas worldwide.
Tom Sutherland of DX7 Design is part of a new creative team. He was asked onboard by show producer / director Brian Burke, and the two combined forces to create the production design that is supporting Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan on the 20 Tour.
The performance space is defined by

Details
USA - Using unfamiliar gear can often present challenging situations for recording professionals. But taking that leap into the unknown can also lead to new experiences that help you to develop better quality recording solutions. This is something that producer and engineer Siegfreid Meier experienced when recording a new live album for punk icons, Face To Face, using the JoeCo Blackbox BBR64-Dante recorder as part of his setup for the first time.
The 250-capacity venue of Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, NYC, presented a challenge for Meier’s usual recording set-up. “The stage at the venue is tiny – there’s barely enough room for the band and their gear,” he explains. “I did a little bit of research beforehand and I thought the long runs of Dante would probably be the best way to record the show without leaving all of my gear on the stage.”
With this decision ma

Details
Russia - A&T Trade and Music Trade have deployed Martin Audio’s WPL PA on the main stage of the Zolotoy Gorod eco park, one of the largest country parks in Russia, located near the city of Tula.
The park operates year round and welcomes guests from all over the world. Music Trade, A&T Trade’s Tula-based partner, were requested to design a sound system that would serve artists all summer long.
The main stage of the Zolotoy Gorod presents a multi-genre line-up featuring artists for pop, folk, orchestra, rock, electronic and theatrical performances. "We needed a universal speaker system that would sound great for any challenge,” says Sergey Bobrov, owner of Music Trade.
The scalable resolution of WPL offers greatly improved coverage consistency and control compared to a standard line array and provides a flexible pathway to advanced array control.
featured content

Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

Details
UK - Stage Electrics has been appointed as the UK distributor of Ultratec Special Effects, a large-format pyrotechnic effects manufacturer.
Stage Electrics has already invested £10,000 worth of initial stock and will be stocking a range of large venue pyrotechnics from the company. “We believe having a comprehensive range of Ultratec on the shelf in the UK is what our customers need to support their shows. We’ve chosen a range of stock, including a variety of professional mines, comets and gerbs from 20ft to 200ft,” comments Paul Roughton, national sales manager at Stage Electrics.
“We are looking forward to working alongside Ultratec and building a strong partnership,” continued Anna Western, sales director of Stage Electrics.
(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - The 2019 UK edition of the art and music festival WOMAD once again featured the d&b Soundscape, delivering an enhanced live sound experience that equally served the dynamic range of programme, the touring front of house engineers, the artists, and the musically inquisitive audiences.
The WOMAD d&b Soundscape stage line up featured some of the most inspiring artists and performances of this year’s festival, including the acoustic mastery of Saving Grace featuring Robert Plant, drum and bass DJ LTJ Bukem, Kenya’s Muthoni Drummer Queen, and Roosevelt Collier, whose blues, rock and gospel sound was described as ‘dirty funk swampy grime’.
The d&b Soundscape stage is the result of a relationship between Real World Records - the music label owned by the founder of WOMAD, Peter Gabriel - and the d&b team. Born from a mutual ambition to enhance the

Details
Saudi Arabia - The inaugural edition of Jeddah World Fest on July 18 took place in the grounds of King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah, and attracted a sell-out crowd of almost 40,000. This was the largest music festival held in Saudi. Protec delivered an extensive audio, lighting and rigging package for their client The Manual on behalf of Roqu Media.
This event ties in with Vision 2030, a progressive plan which sees the country open up as an entertainment destination and relax some of its stricter laws around events. With the country’s General Entertainment Authority set to inject upwards of an estimated $60bn into the sector over the next decade, Jeddah World Fest is the first of many events which will fuel the AV and events sector in the Middle East.
Featured artists included Janet Jackson, 50 Cent, Chris Brown, Liam Payne, Steve Aoki, Tyga, Future, R3wire and Varsk

Details
UK - The upcoming PLASA Show (15-17 September, London Olympia) will enjoy "huge support" from the pro audio industry, with more brands debuting at the tradeshow and an increased number of live demos also taking place, PLASA has announced.
Among the companies supporting the show are L-Acoustics, Coda Audio, d&b audiotechnik and Void Acoustics. The PLASA Show has also doubled the amount of audio demonstrations on offer with the inclusion of three Audio Lounges and a new live feature, Stage to Studio, held in association with Sound on Sound and Headliner magazines.
PLASA MD Peter Heath comments: “PLASA has worked hard over the past few years to make the show an essential destination for all things audio. As a result, we are confident that this year’s show will inspire professionals working across the audio industry.”
Among the brands

Details
UK - Following the announcement of their partnership with DTS earlier this year, GDS has appointed Hallam Smith as a product manager for the Italian brand.
Hallam will be working exclusively on promoting DTS products to the UK market. With almost a decade of lighting experience behind him, he started out helping with concerts and shows at university, leveraging that into freelance work and eventually a role at Cambridge-based lighting company Pulsar, where he worked in product management and technical sales support, while also gaining valuable experience in lighting design and programming installations.
Smith says: “DTS are already well recognised in Europe and they have some fantastic products. What we want to do is get the word out and to really make DTS products a key pa

Details
Italy - Summer 2019 sees the latest edition of the Jova Beach Party. Inspired and headlined by Italian singer, songwriter and rapper Lorenzo Cherubini (Jovanotti), the infamous travelling ‘festival village’ is mid-way through its summer-long tour armed with over 100 Prolights fixtures.
The travelling Jova Beach Party festival is spending July and August making its way from the south, stopping at 15 beach locations until it reaches the summit of Plan de Corones, hosting festivals as they go. Jova Beach Party will welcome over 63 international acts, DJs and artists from around the world. From riviera to riviera, the main stage is set to entertain visitors from evening to night. With such a vast space available, the festival village includes children’s’ play areas, sees people sunbathing, swimming in the sea, and has frequently featured as a travelling wedding venue.

Details
USA - Professional AV systems integrator Sound Designs has completed the design of a new sound system for St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Hockessin, Delaware. With roots that can be traced back to the 1700s, the current church was built in the 1960s with transepts forming its T-shaped layout and wooden pews facing a centre sanctuary stage area. With a large congregation, the church holds two daily mass services and six weekend services.
A number of contractors were invited to bid for the project, with Sound Designs’ Community E Series solution being chosen as the preferred design. John Dezell from Sound Designs explains: “Some proposed hanging array loudspeakers, but this would have disrupted the visual aesthetics of the space and blocked views of the recently installed stained glass windows. With a high, beamed ceiling and reflective surfaces we needed a s

Details
Argentina - PR Lighting fixtures were out in force when a group of associates and event planners known as the Burkina took over the Zarate Yacht Club on the outskirts of Buenos Aires to celebrate the country’s annual Friendship Day.
The ensuing ‘Fiesta Burkina’ saw 3,000 people revel under the lighting to the music of well-known DJs such as Mariano Trocca and Federico Prieto - part of an advanced production that was masterminded by local sound and light technology specialists, Caio Sonido.
The venue, located on the coast of the Parana River is familiar to Caio Sonido, as it is here that they produce their annual end of-year party (on 31 December) when more than 6,000 people join in the festivities. The company has been providing all infrastructure, including LED screens, staging and structural effects, to the Yacht Club for events stretching back more than 25 yea

Details
Canada - Time seemed to stand still at the Centre Vidéotron, Quebec City, on 25 May, as French-Canadian stars from the 1960s and 70s performed at La Tournée des Idoles. The artists were supported by a light show designed by Andre Langevin, with help from programmer Francis Guitard and systems tech Jerome Guitard.
Anchoring the rig, which was supplied by LSM were 36 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK3 Profile fixtures. The new high output (51,000 source lumens) profile fixture was selected by LSM after extensive research.
“This is the first of what will be many shows for us with the MK3,” says Gil Perron, the resident lighting designer for LSM. “We compared six other units to this fixture before choosing it for our inventory. As a rental company with a wide range of clients and projects, it was important for LSM to choose a lighting instrument that would be

Details
UK - AV solutions rental company Video Design has reported a busy summer, including work on high-profile tours and festivals.
“We started the summer run casually with a really successful tour for Rita Ora in May,” reports company head Alex Leinster. “Then mid June and production manager, Steve Voudouris asked us to support a quick sweep through the UK arenas plus a couple of shows on the continent for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Nice camera package, large rear screen full of lovely content - no dramas. And things soon hotted up.”
Leinster continues: “Stormzy commanded the stage at Glastonbury, supported by the outstanding vision of creative director, Chris ‘Bronkski’ Jablonski fused with LD Tim Routledge’s lighting. Production manager, Joel Stanley pulled it all together at extremely short notice, and yes, we sweated some bullets assembling the diverse elements of

Details
UK - Green Hippo welcomed 18 of its most advanced Hippotizer practitioners to its latest UK ‘super user’ event in July.
A regular fixture in the Green Hippo diary, the event was hosted at the Leeds office of Hippotizer dealer A.C. Entertainment Technologies, giving the product team an opportunity to bring these leading Hippotizer experts up to date with the latest features, developments and initiatives. Additionally, it provides a forum for the exchange of highly-informed feedback and ideas from those working most closely with Green Hippo’s technology in a broad array of show environments.
“We run these events every six months or so,” says Tom Etra, senior technical sales manager at Green Hippo. “They are incredibly useful, both for us and our users. They’re an open forum for discussion and feedback with users who know our products inside and out.
H

Details
UK - A respected sound engineer will record and mix live performers to demonstrate the intricacies of mixing and capturing live sound as part of a new initiative at the upcoming PLASA Show (15-17 September, Olympia London).
Running from 3pm on Sunday 15 September, and Monday, 16 September, Stage to Studio - organised by PLASA alongside Sound On Sound and Headliner Magazine - will feature Simon Todkill, chief engineer at London’s Miloco Studios, who has worked with the likes of Kanye West, Matt Corby, Hiatus Kaiyote, Charli XCX, Movement and The Griswolds.
Todkill will offer advice on his techniques, microphone choices and placements, step-by-step mix decisions, as well as insight on how to maximise multi-track recordings.
After the sessions, the audio stem files will be made available to the audience and a competition will launch, inviting people t

Details
UK - Mark Ronson’s ‘Broken Heart’ visual and lighting design concept was initiated by his creative director Jed Skrzypczak and is a combination of two mirrored silver heart set pieces which wrap the DJ booth, coupled with integrated lighting that is co-designed by award winning LD Tim Routledge and Ben Cash from Flare Lighting.
Framing these scenic pieces are four ‘half heart’ lighting props, graceful curved metal stems each rigged with 21 equidistantly-spaced Astera AX3 Light Drop wireless LED fixtures - 84 in total.
The artist wanted something eye-catching and cool to go match the music – a largely fluid set, carefully crafted for each show, with some centrepiece anthems and other parts inspired by the magic and vibe of the moment.
He wanted the lighting and the look to be theatrical and dramatic as well as different from a ‘standard’ electro

Details
India - Powersoft has named Preeti Trading Corporation (PTC) its distributor for South West India.
The company supports various commercial projects in the region, with its core customer base consisting of small and medium-sized enterprises that sell and install audio equipment for use in commercial, governmental, corporate and public buildings.
“India is an extremely important market for Powersoft,” says Varun Mahesh Jagger, Powersoft’s Europe, India and Africa account manager, distribution. “We see great potential there for strong and consistent growth across all verticals. PTC has been appointed to reinforce that vision. It has a strong dealer network, and a consistent record of moving with the times. We see them as a partner who has taken and continues to take risks in order to come out on top.”
Kammal Dhingreja, chairman managing director at PTC, ad

Details
Greece - Effective today (5 August), Sirius Sound & Lighting Systems is the exclusive distributor of RCF for Greece.
A newly-established company, Sirius Sound will seek to create “a solid and long-term business relationship with its customers and support a nationwide network.” The company is also focused on training and seminars in Italy through the RCF Audio Academy, where targeted seminars are conducted by specialists.
RCF sales manager Massimo Bruni, comments: “We selected Sirius Sound in view of the high technical qualification of their managers, which will help RCF consolidate its primary role in the Greek market.”
Sirius Sound & Lighting Systems sales manager Giannelos emphasises the importance of collaboration with a specialised team of experienced AV engineers in being able to provide high-quality technological solutions using RCF tools.

Details
USA - Elation sale representative companies RL Wilson & Associates and JLH Marketing have hired Grant Geiselman as a product specialist. He will assist both firms with product demos and overall knowledge of all Elation Professional product lines.
Geiselman, who has been involved in the entertainment technology industry since the age of 13, has developed a comprehensive technical skill set that includes lighting design, programming, networking, software development and more. Most recently working as a freelance designer and programmer, he has extensive experience working on lighting and video design projects across Southern California.
(Jim Evans)

Details
Europe - Area Four Industries has released a four-minute video dedicated to the Ultimate Hinge from Milos.
The product, an aluminium and steel truss that allows for up and down and side-to-side movements of truss spans, features a high-strength lifting eye for connection with electric hoists or lifting points.
In the video, Area Four Industries technical director Norbert Tripp explains the design of the Ultimate Hinge, its feature set, loading capacity factors and the self-balancing act it achieves when attached to truss spans.
It can be viewed on www.a4i.tv/2019/07/30/milos-ultimate-hinge.
(Jim Evans)

Details
USA - Audinate has announced the availability Dante Controller 4.2.3 with Dante Updater, a new feature that makes it easy to update firmware in Dante devices.
Firmware files are hosted by Audinate so they are always up-to-date. Dante Updater allows product manufacturers to more easily bring critical updates to customers by making them available directly in Dante Controller with one-click installation.
Dante Updater continues Dante Controller’s famed ease of use, automatically discovering and associating updates with connected devices in a clear, unambiguous interface, says the company. Now customers can take full advantage of new Dante features and capabilities without hunting for product-specific installers and can deploy updates to an entire system at once.
“Dante Updater is a win-win for Dante users and manufacturers alike,” says Neil Philips, product ma
Page 740 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .