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Europe - English indie rock band alt-J headed out last June on their Relaxer tour in support of their latest album. The trio performed in Europe, North America and Asia through to February 2018, with an L‑Acoustics K Series rig providing consistency of sound across diverse venues.
The system was supplied by the rental arm of Rat Sound Systems, whose association with alt‑J started in 2015 and the company has been their worldwide audio supplier ever since. With a couple of years touring with the band under their belts, FOH engineer Lance Reynolds, monitor engineer Brett Heet, systems engineer Tom Worley are fully versed in the requirements of a show that plays in vast spaces, such as the Olympiahalle Munich or Hallenstadion in Zurich and outdoor venues such as Red Roc

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Northern Lights - The Kaiser Chiefs, Postman Pat and Turner Prize-winning artist Lubaina Himid are all on the line-up for the Great Exhibition of the North, which will take place this summer. The 11-week festival will celebrate "great art, culture, design and innovation from the north of England". Staged in Newcastle and Gateshead, it will be paid for with £5m from the government's Northern Powerhouse fund. After the opening ceremony on 22 June, the event will run until 9 September.
It will begin with performances by the Kaiser Chiefs and poet Lemn Sissay and will feature what's said to be the UK's largest water sculpture - an 80m-long fountain - on the River Tyne. On the opening weekend, members of the public will be invited to join in with wandering groups of dancers, while three choirs will make their way through the cities. John Lennon's last piano and the original Post

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France - APG has announced the appointment of Alexis Reymond as sales engineer for Western France and the UK. Based at the company's HQ in Nantes, Alexis will be in charge of business development for both regions, as well as providing consultancy and technical support.
With a strong background as a sound engineer for live events in France and abroad, Alexis also worked for many years as an audio consultant and auditor for the design of loudspeakers, providing sonic insight and expertise to public institutions and Houses of Worship.
Alexis comments, “France’s Western region has very strong growth potential and already benefits from an active pool of users and a well-established partner network. A number of recent prestigious installations combined with satisfied end users are an excellent starting point for our growth in this region, allowing us to strengthen our pa
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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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France - Airstar has announced the release of Bulbs, the company’s latest lighting balloons.
The inspiration behind Bulbs came from Pierre Chabert, president and director of innovation at Airstar. The Bulbs are named after great inventors and are inspired by vintage bulb shapes appreciated by the general public and the Airstar network.
“The event market constantly needs to renew itself to provide new ideas and solutions for its customers and the general public”, explains Airstar sales director, Xavier Ponson. “Traditional light bulbs are popular shapes that you can find in most design stores and interior decoration outlets nowadays. We believe it can have a similar success for events, so we decided to turn it into an Airstar innovation.”
With their original shapes, Bulbs replicate giant models of traditional bulbs. Available in eight different shapes an

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UK - Singer-songwriter Duo Lipa, who recently performed at the BRIT Awards, has enjoyed a strong 2017.
For a year and a half, FOH engineer Will Nicholson and monitor man Alex Cerutti have used their DiGiCo SD5 and SD12 consoles respectively.
Nicholson, who has a previous working relationship with the artist's production manager, Pete Abbott, says: “We worked together on Icona Pop, and a couple of smaller artists; also, [musical director] William Bowerman is a friend of mine, so when Pete gave me a shout to see if I was interested, I was keen to get involved.”
Nicholson has been a DiGiCo user for five years and says the scalability of the SD range is ideal for his FOH workflow.
“Modern pop touring is often characterised by two significant factors: time and budget,” he explains. “Whilst I haven’t had to make use of the smallest surfaces in the [

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South Africa - Singer songwriter Jesse Clegg recently completed his traditional national December acoustic tour, which utilised Martin Audio’s MLA Mini.
The system was introduced to him by Audiosure, Martin Audio’s South African distributor, with whom he has enjoyed a close relationship in recent years, since they first introduced him to a mixing desk. When he and long-term sound engineer, Verny Scholtz, saw the need for a compact, portable, high quality PA Audiosure jumped in.
Alison Taman, general manager of Audiosure, knew right away that Martin Audio’s MLA Mini would the right fit for Jesse’s tour. The locations ranged from open-air botanical gardens to intimate lounges and only the MLA has the power, control and portability to pull off every situation without compromise.
“As the distributors for Martin Audio in South Africa, we are thrilled that a

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South Africa - The Ultra South Africa music festival took place in February over two legs, visiting the Cape Town Stadium on 9 February and the Expo Centre in Nasrec, Johannesburg on 10 February.
Supplying the full technical for the Ultra events, Gearhouse Group was going into the production raincoats. For the Johannesburg leg of the tour, Gearhouse invested in 128 Selbyguard Rainroof covers and bases, along with 12 Selbyguard Air Domes from DWR Distribution. To transport these items, a further 11 Dolly Rainroofs and 2 Dolly Airdomes were bought.
The Gearhouse team was spot on in its predictions about the rain and utilised 128 bases with Rainroof covers (64 medium and 64 extra-large) and the preplanning really paid off - in JHB not a single fixture went down this year.
Setting up the Selbyguard covers is simple and is really like rigging a standard moving light.

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South Africa - DWR is presenting Prolyte Campus, a Prolyte Group training initiative, with guest speaker Ruud de Deugd from Prolyte on 13-16 March.
Prolyte Campus offers a complete programme of learning activities to create awareness on the safe use of Prolyte products.
(Jim Evans)

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UK - The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) has upgraded its lighting fleet, adding seven new Martin by Harman MAC Encore Performance moving heads to its shared stock.
Commissioned by Paul Halgarth, lecturer in lighting, electrics and programming at LIPA, and supplied by Martin by Harman dealer Stage Electrics, the new fixtures will enable students on the Theatre and Performance Design and Technology degree courses to access the latest technology.
Halgarth says: “We always need the latest technology and we pride ourselves in having industry standard equipment. It’s vital as students can go from our course straight into employment.
“I specifically wanted units with framing shutters because we didn't have any,” he continues. “Stage [Electrics] were extremely helpful and I looked at all the leading [competitive] brands as well as the Martin M

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UK - Thanks to songs such as You Raise Me Up and Have I Told You Lately, Russell Watson’s blend of classical opera and catchy pop has succeeded. On the road recently with Watson’s latest tour was LD Ollie Wilkinson of Arranpaul LTD, who treated Watson’s show to an all-encompassing visual spectacle with a selection of Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Wash fixtures.
Wanting to provide a stunning set of visuals for the Manchester-born opera singer, Wilkinson worked together with Production Manager Dan Tiley to produce a show of grandiose measures. To provide illumination for one of the defining features of the stage - a wraparound curtain behind the band - Wilkinson utilised the 19 (15W) RGBW quad-LEDs of the Rogue fixtures to excellent effect.
“I wanted to wash the entire backdrop with colour,” commented Wilkinson. “The saturated colours of the Rog

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USA - When Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas presented its annual The Gift of Christmas show in December 2017 design collaborators UVLD took control to a new level employing Claypaky Scenius Profiles and Mythos2 fixtures for the spectacular, 90-minute multimedia production.
The production featured Santa and his workshop in Act One, a choral interlude in Act Two and a living nativity in Act Three. This season, new music and a new script opened the show; two-thirds of the lighting cues occurred in Act One and five days were devoted to programming them.
“In the past we’ve had 10 or 12 dedicated follow spots to cover people flying and various audience activities,” says UVLD lighting designer Matt Webb. “We discovered a new follow spot system and decided to give it a shot. It allowed us to utilise moving lights as follow spots.”
“We could

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USA - US entertainment laser projectors manufacturer X-Laser has become an official dealer of Avolites lighting control hardware in the United States.
At LDI 2017, the company worked with the Avolites team on a setup which featured Avolites lighting consoles used to demonstrate and unveil the X-Laser Mercury laser control system.
Adam Raugh, president of X-Laser USA, says: “The team at Avolites were extremely helpful both on site at LDI and especially in the run up to the show while we were finalizing the necessary fixture profiles as we prepared the launch of our Mercury laser control system. Now that we’re on board with Avolites, we can provide our clients turn-key laser fixture packages including projectors equipped with our Mercury laser control interface, as well as powerful Avolites control hardware that’s pre-loaded with our laser fixture profiles.”

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USA - The Admiral Theatre, an art deco movie house in Bremerton, Washington, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.
The Admiral Theatre Foundation, which helped renovate the venue in the 1990s, raised $1.2m and recently completed upgrades to its infrastructure and sound reinforcement system, adding 11 new Clair Brothers 1AM+ and 1.5AM+ powered monitors.
"Performers these days are looking for hi-fi sound in their monitors. The days of a simple 'horn-in-your-face' are gone," said Andrew Saylor, production manager for the Admiral Theatre, who also plays the role of Audio 1, house system tech, and frequent FOH mixer.
"In our search for new monitors, we wanted something that could handle volume while still remaining punchy, transparent, and bright. We demoed a lot of different top-name manufacturers, and the Clair Brothers 1AM+ and 1.5AM+ powered monitors stoo

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UK - Dutch architect Francine Houben, the creative director of mecanoo architecten has been announced as the first keynote speaker of the International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference 2018 to be held on London on 3-5 June.
Houben has gained international acclaim for her work on theatres, museums and libraries to neighbourhoods, housing and parks, with each design founded on the observation of people, location, culture and climate. She holds Honorary Fellowships of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and was granted lifelong membership of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.
Booking for ITEAC 2018 is now open and as interest to attend the conference has been very strong, those wishing to attend are urged

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UK - Graham Murray has been appointed to take charge of international business development and channel management for JoeCo, with a remit to deepen the UK manufacturer's ties into key export markets.
Having previously worked extensively in both Asia and the Middle East, Murray brings more than 35 years of industry experience and expertise to his new role. He is described by JoeCo founder and managing director Joe Bull as "a world-class audio professional with a reputation to match his considerable experience".
A well-known figure within the global audio community, he most recently held the position of sales director, EMEA for the Harman Pro brand, Studer, while in the past he has served in leadership positions for brands including Calrec, Fairlight and AMS Neve.
As part of his new remit, Murray will spearhead international sales delivering increased visibility a

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USA - Rock band Avenged Sevenfold has been busy with its latest world arena tour, following the release of the group's most recent album, The Stage.
FOH engineer Bob Strakele - also known for his work with The War on Drugs, Awolnation, Papa Roach, and James, amongst others - has been with them at every stop, and chose the Solid State Logic L500 Plus live console for mixing duties. Audio kit on the tour has been supplied by Solotech.
On this tour, Strakele has around 48 inputs from stage, with about 23 of those accounted for on the drum kit. The rest of the set includes bass, two electric guitars, two acoustics, plus five vocal mics. According to Strakele, the main sonic challenge arises from the sheer size of the tour venues, so clarity is a priority: "With double kick drums and blazing fast songs, it might be hard to keep it punchy - keep it together... So I'm

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UK - Broadcast and event lighting specialists Version 2 has continued its investment into its power distribution equipment offerings.
Version 2 prides itself on being at the forefront of technology and innovation with its power distribution systems. The company offers monitoring that utilises its propriety SMARTdistro technology.
The company once again turned to its manufacturing partners SES (Entertainment Services) who have built the companies entire distribution inventory since its inception. The design process was led by Sam Crook, Version 2’s technical director who collaborated with SES managing director Mark Cooper on the specification of the latest units.
SES’s Mark Cooper commented: “SES loves working with companies like Version 2; they come to us with a clear outline of what they want both technically and physically, but still allow us to build th

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Thailand - Com 7, a technology retail chain, has relocated its headquarters to a new six-story office building in Bangkok. AV integrator Mahajak Development selected an end-to-end Harman networked audio solution consisting of JBL speakers, Crown amplifiers, Soundcraft mixers, BSS audio processors and AMX control systems to create a multi-zone AV system for the conference and training rooms.
Pongsakorn Kanchanachayphoom, project director, says: “Harman solutions incorporate the latest advances in technology with seamless integration, allowing us to achieve their goals and install a conference audio system that delivers consistent intelligibility and advanced networking capabilities.”
Mahajak outfitted Com 7’s conference and training rooms with JBL LSR305 two-way studio monitors and Control 25-1 compact speakers. Mahajak also installed Control 14C/T full-range cei

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Belgium - Luc Peumans and the team from Painting with Light created a lighting design and supplied media servers for the production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid staged by Marmalade Content at Flanders Expo in Ghent, Belgium.
Luc had worked in the same role on Marmalade’s 2016 Beauty and the Beast productio and was delighted to be reunited with set designer Stefan Haudenhuyse and director Frank Van Laecke, with whom he collaborated on 14-18, a Spectacular Musical. The technical director was Bart De Coensel from The Production Box.
The creative process began with a brain-storming session between Luc and the producers, Frank and Stefan, from which this basic aesthetic framework emerged and Luc started to develop the lighting concepts.
An underlining theme was to make it properly ‘spectacular’ in both impact and presence, so the audienc

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Canada - Solotech has been awarded the contract to provide and install a new speaker system at the National Arts Centre (NAC) as part of the Centre’s $225m Production Renewal and Architectural Rejuvenation Project.
The equipment, including d&b audiotechnik production equipment and loudspeaker systems, will be installed in the NAC’s three largest performance halls: Southam Hall, the Babs Asper Theatre and the Azrieli Studio.
(Jim Evans)

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China - The Mr. Future Music Festival brought nearly 40,000 fans to Wuhan, China to enjoy an impressive line-up of hip-hop and electronic artists in front of an interactive set design.
Sharing the massive stage with the acts were over 100 Adamson loudspeakers supplied and supported by the company’s exclusive Chinese distributor Real Music.
“Mr. Future is a unique and innovative event that brings people from all kinds of different circles together,” begins Real Music owner Zhen “Richie” Wang. “Of course, music is the central component, and Club Muse, the organiser, chose an Adamson system to ensure every single ticketholder had a powerful and exciting experience that exceeded their expectations.”
The substantial system included main reinforcement from arrays of 15 Adamson E15 three-way, true line source enclosures per side. Because the unique stage d
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