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The Netherlands - Over the course of their 20-year career, Dutch rock stalwarts Racoon have woven their way through an array of evocative sounds, being as comfortable collaborating with Armin van Buuren on a trance version of one of their hits as they are performing with the London Chamber Orchestra.
Reflecting the multi-faceted style of Racoon in light calls for a design that can convey a wide range of moods in a clear, but subtle fashion. Erwin van Lokeren, the band’s long-time lighting designer, is accomplishing this feat on the band’s Fall ’18 tour with a lightshow that (like his client’s music) is at once straightforward and complex. An indispensable tool in helping van Lokeren achieve this is his ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 console.
“I have been Racoon’s desig

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UK - Stage Electrics has won a contract to supply production lighting and AV solutions to Croydon’s Fairfield Halls as a part of the venue’s highly anticipated redevelopment.
Working with the Contractor, Vinci Construction, and the theatre consultant, Sound Space Vision, the Stage Electrics team, will be starting on site this month. “Stage Electrics has a long-standing relationship with this venue,” comments Richard Phare, Stage Electrics regional commercial manager. “I was personally involved with Fairfield’s last technical refurbishment over 20 years ago. It’s fantastic that Stage Electrics can, again, play a part in this venue’s continuous development.”
The Stage Electrics team are completing works within the venue’s three main performance spaces; the 1800-seat Concert Hall, the 750-seat Ashcroft Theatre and the Arnhem Gallery - plus a new multi

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UK - British rock band Simple Minds is still thrilling crowds with its larger-than-life sound. The band has been out on an epic world tour, selling out venues wherever it goes and supporting its latest album, Walk Between Worlds. The band's FOH engineer Oliver Gerard, and monitor engineer Mike Gibbard, have both chosen SSL Live consoles for the tour.
Even though Simple Minds is touring a new album, it would never neglect the classic songs, and this has probably been one of the biggest challenges for Gerard, Gibbard, and their gear. "I have to cope with music from the late 70s, through the 80s and the 90s rock and roll stadium thing, and on to now," says Gerard. "I try to recreate the true sounds of those moments because everyone knows those songs in certain colours."
Gerard has been working with the band for over 10 years, so he has built an extensive range of b
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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

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Europe - “When the call came to make a Michael Jackson show, I knew immediately: that's exactly what I wanted,” says lighting designer Marcus Krömer
"Beat it! is a show inspired by the life and career of Michael Jackson, from his first steps with the Jackson 5 until his death,” he said. “The entire production is characterised by great respect for the artist and his work, but at the same time is not a tribute-show. Rather, we wanted to present his show and his music in a modern context, but still remain authentic,” states Krömer, outlining the idea behind the production.
Also, the fact that this could not be achieved without a large slice of rock 'n roll was made clear to the Beat It! team. "Paul Happ, our programmer, and I worked a lot with his music and found so many details and little things that we all wanted to work out,” the designer ad

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UK - Entec Sound & Light has now purchased the freehold of its warehousing and office buildings in Northolt, Middlesex, its location since January 1991.
The company was nearing the end of its lease agreement in Northolt and had visited more than 60 potential facilities in a bid to relocate. However, Entec says “it was clear that no other property was able to offer the comprehensive range of facilities” already available at its current home, which is also situated close to Heathrow, with convenient links to central London and the rest of the UK via the M25, M40, M4 and M3.
Nick Pendleton, Entec’s chairman, comments: “This is an important milestone for Entec - after 50 years, we finally have complete control of our own premises. This purchase follows almost a year of looking at all the options. Good access, security, warehouse size and expansion opportunities

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USA - Lectrosonics has announced a major firmware update for their Duet digital wireless monitor IEM/IFB system, V2.0. The 2.0 Firmware update includes a host of new features and improvements that are the result of valuable customer input, including improved audio quality, shortcuts on the front panel to assist in quick setup, a volume lock and additional flexibility in setting the audio gain and limiter functions. With the new update, users can now do a front panel IR sync operation and similarly turn on or off the RF transmission without requiring access to the menus.
Added flexibility to the M2R receiver audio setup now includes an option for negative gain on the limiter screen, allowing adjustment to the maximum gain available, for instances where artists may be using extra sensitive earphones. The limiter screen now also features a meter showing the amount of gain reduc

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USA - Elation Professional has merged hybrid with high-intensity in the latest luminaire in the company’s Protron line of strobe lights. Elation has introduced the Protron Eclypse, a high-powered and highly versatile hybrid LED luminaire that can function as a blinder, strobe, wash light or an effect light.
With 96 10W RGBW LEDs that produce 37,000lm of power, the Protron Eclypse offers a full spectrum of colour options, including high-impact white light, for a barrage of coloured or white light effects possibilities. The fixture projects light at a 31° beam angle with strobe intensity, duration, rate and FX all controllable.
The Protron Eclypse comes in a robust housing for durable on-the-road use. Versatile rigging options include an adjustable/removable yoke bracket with three-position mounting holes, ¼ turn omega bracket, and integrated interlocking pins for e

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Ukraine - A digitally controlled Electro-Voice and Dynacord sound system has improved audio quality at Kharkiv National University, one of Ukraine’s three major higher learning institutions. Powered by award-winning L Series amplifiers, the new installation exceeds audience coverage and sound pressure level requirements with fewer amplifiers than the previous system.
To meet the client’s brief of providing powerful and intelligible sound reproduction in the University’s events hall, systems integrator M-Art had to overcome the acoustic challenges of a high ceiling and numerous reflective surfaces, including a balcony at the rear end.
Following a detailed acoustic analysis of the room, M-Art and Electro-Voice partner SoundHouse Pro looked to the high sound pressure level and tightly focused dispersion of Electro-Voice Expandable Vertical Array (EVA) to solve the r

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South Africa - DWR Distribution worked with UJ Arts & Culture to offer practical training to students interested in working back stage on productions.
“UJ Arts & Culture's partnership with DWR grants us access to valuable professional skills and knowledge we would otherwise not be able to make available to our crew and students interested in developing these niche skills,” comments Pieter Jacobs, head of UJ Arts & Cultural. “The results speak for itself with some students now being able to work on our productions as junior technicians, which in the long-term will also benefit the industry."
The aim of the course was to create a basic, hands-on introduction to lighting and audio, and was targeted at students from the University of Johannesburg. The students are involved with theatre as an extra mural activity and participate in shows and festivals.

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USA - The sun broke through the clouds on Easter Sunday, setting a bright, uplifting mood outside for the opening of the new worship centre at Christ Fellowship church in Port St.Lucie, Florida.
Stepping inside the building, one of eleven Christ Fellowship campuses, worshippers encountered a sleek and spacious room with a curved thrust stage, two-tiered auditorium seating, three IMAG LED video panels, a larger wall centre stage and two smaller units to either side of it. Surrounding the larger panel and located at other positions around the stage was a collection of 161 Chauvet Professional LED fixtures, supplied by Mankin Media Systems.
Although the 161 lighting fixtures may not have been obvious to most people entering the worship centre on Easter Sunday, once services started they transformed the room, creating an immersive field of colour and light that engaged eve

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Columbia - Bogota’s landmark 14,000 capacity Movistar Arena (originally built in 1973 and previously known as the Coliseo Cubierto El Campín) is in the final stages of a two-year renovation and complete refurbishment which will see it re-open with state-of-the-art facilities to stage multiple sporting and entertainment events.
Robe moving lights will be part of the house lighting rig which is being provided by Medellin based rental company Linea Estrategica, and this will include 60 x BMFL Spots, 60 x MegaPointes and 84 x Spiider wash-beam moving lights.
Linea Estrategica owner and CEO Conrado Santamaria explained that the company tendered to be the full technical supplier - they are also providing audio, video and rigging - and won the contract which will be administered as a long-term rental over the next three years.
Conrado explains that it was a straightf

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Germany - The Adam Hall Group held its Event.Tech Days networking event to present the latest innovations from its solutions portfolio.
The international manufacturer and distributor of event technology welcomed 50 customers and 80 participants at the company’s HQ in Neu-Anspach (near Frankfurt) on 21-22 November, where rental industry experts could see products from Adam Hall brands including LD Systems, Cameo Light, and Gravity.
Additionally, in a format coined “Tech Talks”, the rental professionals were subsequently invited to openly discuss and exchange their insights, ideas and views surrounding the future of the event technology industry with the Group’s product management and R&D teams.
The Event.Tech Days were rounded off by an evening event in cooperation with BMW that included networking, dining and drinks, live music, as well as the Germa

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UK - Avolites’ lighting and video integration software, Synergy, debuted on Gary Numan’s Savage tour in November.
The flagship performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall saw the British synth-rocker’s dramatic end-of-days video content emerge from LED screens into the 3D space as the multitude of GLP and Vari-Lite fixtures pixel-matched its colour and effects.
Creative designer Luke Edwards’ two Avolites Sapphire Touch consoles and dual Avolites Ai Q3 media servers were loaded with the new Synergy software.
“Synergy is the future and as a designer it’s making me very excited,” says Edwards. “It’s not just lights anymore. In fact, the term ‘lighting designer’ is one day going to be a thing of the past - Synergy integrates lighting and video so beautifully, so simply, so powerfully, that ‘multimedia designer’ is the new thing. It

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Europe - Swiss AV solutions manufacturer Merging Technologies has announced new distribution deals for its professional product range in Northern Europe.
The company has appointed Nordic Pro Audio in Denmark and AV Marketing Finland in Finland.
Nordic Pro Audio’s Frank Grønbæk (product specialist - live and studio) and Allan Holmberg (product specialist - field recording and broadcast) will be responsible for increasing sales across the market sectors addressed by Pyramix, Ovation, ANEMAN and networked audio interfaces Horus and Hapi.
Meanwhile in Finland, the appointment of AV Marketing will see Jyrki Mäkinen support the Swiss brand.
Chris Hollebone, Merging’s sales and marketing manager, comments: “These two appointments are symptomatic of the changes we see in the market we serve. From time to time we find that existing sales partners are out o

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UK - White Light has appointed Stuart Porter as Hog 4 product manager. Porter has worked extensively in London’s West End as an associate lighting designer and lighting programmer.
He comments: “I am delighted to be joining WL. I am fully aware of the company’s reputation as a leading supplier of lighting equipment, having drawn on them myself for over three decades. This feels like a natural progression for me and I’ve been delighted with the immediate response by both the company and customers alike.”
He adds: “As an experienced programmer, I’ve learnt my trade on the Hog range, having worked extensively on the Hog 2 for theatre shows, along with events such as the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, so will be able to bring that knowledge seamlessly across to the Hog 4 platform. It’s a really exciting time for Hog under the new ownership of ETC and it

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Germany - Despite strong gusts of wind in cold and rainy weather conditions, around 600,000 people celebrated German Unity Day in Berlin that featured several event stages and the worldwide debut of two Milos Steel PA towers.
The motto for the celebration was Only with you and consisted of numerous events that took place at historically significant sites in the city. A highlight of the three-day celebration was the Citizens' Festival at the Brandenburg Gate, which included a concert and fireworks display. With artists such as Nena, Namika and The BossHoss, freedom, tolerance and cultural diversity were celebrated.
The company responsible for putting together the stage areas was Germany’s Black Box Music.
An advantage that Black Box Music brings to the table is their own fleet of vehicles, workshops, case building, and other services like tailoring and pa

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South Africa - DWR Distribution recently hosted L-Acoustics training to ensure that all current and new Kara users were up to standard and internationally certified.
Tony Szabo, head of applications for touring at L-Acoustics, presented the two-day course; the theory was hosted at DWR in Johannesburg, while the practical session took place at the premises of rental company Eventech.
“L-Acoustics has always insisted on training on the line source array systems, to ensure that there is a high and consistent standard throughout the world,” comments Richard Smith of DWR.”
The training seminar in South Africa, which was limited to invited users of Kara and potential users, consisted of two modules. The first module was System Fundamentals which covered Soundvision 3D modelling software and amplified controllers, including LA Network Manager software. The secon

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UK - Eaton’s Zero 88 lighting control brand is ramping up its free training opportunities in 2019 - open for all those utilising lighting consoles running ZerOS architecture - as part of a wider comprehensive product support programme.
This is as a direct result of an increase in the number of active ZerOS users in the UK, which has doubled in the last 12 months.
The trend reflects the success of the FLX series of powerful, flexible and affordable lighting consoles – the FLX and FLX S24 and S48 - which have enjoyed popularity especially for small-to-medium applications running rigs with some moving lights and a quantity of LED fixtures together with conventionals.
Zero 88 has always been known for its commitment for training. In 2018, well over 500 individuals benefitted from this which including regular dedicated sessions at Eaton’s bases in Cwmbran, Wales

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Israel - KLANG, 3D in-ear mixing technologies specialist, has reported the partnership with its recently-appointed Israeli distributor AEM of Tel Aviv has already reaping rewards.
AEM, which was appointed by KLANG earlier this year, has been promoting the brand through a series of seminars and product demonstrations, including discussions on best-practice for in-ear monitor mixing.
This autumn, Shalom Hanoch and Matti Caspi took their show The Main Thing is The Songs on a tour of the country, with a KLANG system.
Shalom Hanoch sums up his feelings: “The KLANG system is a new era in hearing the stage. Everything feels so precise and deep that I can hear every note without disturbing my vocal - how on earth have we worked without it for so long?”
The tour was sold out and high demand has seen further performances added for later in the year.

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China - Clockenflap is one of Asia's largest multi-genre music festivals held annually in Hong Kong. Now 10 years old, the festival is a firm favourite in the region, with its extensive programme of music, art, film and other activities.
In addition to a line-up of internationally renowned artistes - which this year included Erykah Badu, David Byrne, Khalid, Roni Size, Interpol, Caribou, Anpu and The Vaccines - the festival also offers a platform to local talent, helping them reach a wider audience.
For the 2018 edition of the festival (9-11 November), the main (Harbourflap) stage and second stage were managed by Alto Stage Management, who called in Davide Linzi of Mister X Service as audio system designer for both and FOH engineer for the main stage (assisting productions with their own sound engineer).
Linzi explains why he took Outline’s Newton multi-sour

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Europe - Having recently completed a major tour of the US, platinum recording artist Hozier has just hit European shores to continue his run of successful sold-out shows in support of his Nina Cried Power EP, with FOH engineer Steve Pattison behind an Allen & Heath dLive mixing system.
Supplied by Adlib, the set-up includes a dLive S7000 surface fitted with both Waves and Dante cards for virtual soundcheck and live multitrack recording. Additionally, a dLive DM64 MixRack fitted with a superMADI card is placed at FOH, which is used to feed broadcast multitrack during festival shows.
“dLive was chosen primarily for its sound quality but also for its reliability and flexibility. Pretty much anything you’ll ever need is on there and the FX and processing are ever expanding with each firmware release,” comments Pattison.
Pattison continues: “FX and
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