USA - The Conga Room-LA Live isn’t photographed and videoed quite as often as the celebrities who frequent the nightlife, concert, and private event venue, but it comes very, very close.
Located directly across the street from the Staples Centre, the sleekly designed 1000-capacity multi-room site regularly hosts press conferences, after parties and other functions associated with major award shows like the Grammys, Emmys, X-Games, VMAs, and ESPYs, as well as film and album releases, all of which are press magnets. Lately, the photos and videos taken at the celebrity co-owned A-list venue are looking better than ever, thanks to the installation of 34 Chauvet Professional fixtures, supplied by RAT Sound and designed by Aaron Silvie.
“There has been a stunning improveme

UK - The Gatecrasher Classical club night landed at Sheffield City Hall in January, with dramatic lighting controlled by Avolites consoles.
Birmingham-based Stage Production provided the technical know-how for the laser and lighting spectacular, achieving that 'Gatecrasher feeling' by hitting the crowd with myriad effects. The team supplied all lighting, rigging, staging and technical production for the event and designed the light show.
Stage Production managing director Jordan Lake was production director/designer for the gig, working alongside Ben Butler as lighting director/designer. The duo used an Avolites Sapphire Touch and Tiger Touch II console with Fader Wing to control the ambitious production.
"Gatecrasher fans expect massive lighting shows and it was up to us to deliver," says Lake. "Gatecrasher has always understood that it takes more than a big-na

The Netherlands - One of Holland’s first installations of Nexo’s new Geo M10 mid-size line array has been completed in the Stadsgehoorzaal in Kampen, a classic 125-year old city theatre in the traditional Dutch style.
The plush red auditorium of the Stadsgehoorzaal, which seats 480, has just been equipped with a Nexo line array system in a L/C/R configuration, with Nexo’s super-compact ID Series loudspeakers for fills.
The design story starts with the theatre’s large central chandelier, which challenges most sound reinforcement system designs, obstructing sound from reaching the balcony. Bert Koenders, from Nexo distributor and installer Iemke Roos, worked closely with the theatre’s head of sound Larz Kemper and his installation team, coming up with a design which deployed small clusters of a pair of Nexo Geo M6 line array modules - these were ceiling-mounted
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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

USA - The XLNT CyberHoist IITM system by CyberMotion recently finished the US leg of Fall Out Boy’s Mania tour. Sixteen CyberHoist II Intelligent, variable-speed chain hoists and one MotionCue 3D console, plus two hoists spare and one console spare were rented to Fall Out Boy management for the 2017 autumn tour.
The hoists were used to float a B and C stage above the crowd with artists on top of them. The B-Stage consisted of a double layer, where the top was raised to reveal a secondary B-Stage with drum set and drummer on top. This bottom, or secondary B-Stage, would then grab onto the video skirt surrounding the B-Stage to lift the whole thing above the crowd.
The C-Stage was used as a three-sided iMag screen throughout the show and it landed during the show to create the C-Stage for the lead singer and bassist. This stage then raised over the crowd so the

Canada - The PA Shop Productions recently bolstered its rental inventory with an investment in Adamson Systems Engineering’s E-Series and S-Series loudspeakers.
The system saw plenty of action on major tours and music festivals in the latter half of 2017 and now, The PA Shop is ready for a jam-packed 2018, which includes the delivery of Adamson’s Applied Certification training at its headquarters from 26-27 February.
“We’d been back-and-forth with Jeremiah Karni, application engineer with Adamson, examining our options and putting several products through their paces in real-world applications,” shares The PA Shop’s vice president and production manager, Kyle Schroeyens. “Needless to say, we were blown away by their performance, but also by the care and service we received from the team at Adamson. That made it even clearer that we’d made the right deci

Japan - A&A Co, Vectorworks distributor in Japan, received a 2018 BCN Award in the CAD software.
The BCN Awards, organised by BCN Inc., aims to reward the best-selling vendors throughout the year for PC/digital consumer electronic products. The winners are selected based on the BCN ranking, which is calculated from daily POS data gathered from volume sellers in Japan.
A&A received the award for its 37.6 percent Japanese market share. Vectorworks outranked software providers Lilac System (27.3 percent market share) and Photron Limited (20.9 percent market share). Market share is based on statistics accumulated from 2,608 stores of 23 companies providing sales reports to BCN Co.
For 19 years, BCN Co. has collected the sales data of major domestic electric appliance mass merchandisers, personal computer specialty shops and net shops in Japan. Based on these

UK - AV provider Anna Valley provided the video technology used at the VO5 NME Awards 2018 at London’s O2 Academy Brixton on 14 February. Central to the event design created by Reality was a backdrop comprising multiple LED screens that changed configuration for each artist and award.
To support this year’s visual theme of The Glitch, which featured broken-up graphics and images, Anna Valley provided three on-stage video elements: the exploding banner - comprising three LED screens in staggered positions to display captions, logos and titles; the exploding main screen – made up of five LED screens that moved independently into different configurations to form the backdrop for the main acts; and the MiStrip Lattice Gateway - interlaced video poles used to create a gateway for artists and presenters to make their entrance.
Both the exploding banner and mai

UK - Once an essential stop on any self-respecting band’s UK tour, the Preston Guild Hall & Charter Theatre complex was threatened with demolition as recently as 2014. However, thanks to new owners The Rigby Group, it is currently undergoing a major upgrade programme. This has included the installation of a distributed audio system based on Yamaha processors and control.
The project covers the 2034-capacity Grand Hall, 780-capacity Charter Theatre and a range of restaurants and other facilities. In the most recent phase, Autograph Sales & Installations was asked to supply an unobtrusive but powerful multi-zone audio system for Level, a facility providing a wide range of entertainment and activities, including a multi-screen sports bar and nightclub.
Autograph’s Ben Tredwell worked closely with the venue’s technical manager James Hubbard, who was clear fro

UK - Gorillaz, the virtual band formed by Blur singer Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, was founded 20 years ago.
Since then, the project has continued to evolve, as has the size of the production - it is now all about the real players (and guest stars) rather than just the animation, and Albarn and co. are often more than 20-strong when they hit the road. With such a big show comes great sonic responsibility, all of which is in the hands of Matt Butcher at FOH and Dave Guerin at monitors, both of whom rely on DiGiCo for everything.
“I started with Damon [Albarn] after Parklife came out, so we go back a long way,” Butcher says. “Right at the beginning of the year, for pre-production, we wanted to not compromise on any of the audio - and that’s the way to go: don’t mess around, do it right. Because I’ve known Damon for so long, I can get quite involved

Ireland - Avolites has appointed A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) as its exclusive distributor in Ireland for its range of lighting control and dimming products.
AC-ET will be running a series of Avolites product demonstrations, road shows and hands-on training sessions in Ireland. They will also hold stock of core Avolites products ready for immediate despatch from their UK warehouses.
Aaron Cripps, AC-ET’s regional sales representative for Ireland, says: “Taking on the exclusive distribution of Avolites' lighting control & dimming solutions in this territory gives us the opportunity to focus further on providing first-class sales, service and support to what is a fantastic range of products.
“We’ve recently supplied Avolites consoles to venues such as INEC Killarney and the Cork Opera house, where their versatility and ease of operation means

The Netherlands - At the recent ISE show Work Pro unveiled the first devices to allow extensive app-based control over Bluetooth: updated versions of the company’s PA 100 MX installation amplifier and MD 82 AX auto-mixer.
The PA 100 MX is Work Pro’s half-rack, three-input 100W installation amplifier with two-line inputs and one mic input, a built-in feedback destroyer and a switchable low-impedance (4/8Ω) or 70/100V output. As well as adding Bluetooth control, the new PA 200 MX being showcased at ISE doubles the power output of the PA 100 MX to 200W while offering all of the features of the original.
The MD 82 AX MkII also retains all the functions of the original auto-mixer (auto-mixing with a selectable Target level and switchable phantom power for up to eight mic channels with full bass, mid and treble EQ, a four-level automatic feedback destroyer function, and

Europe - Yamaha has announced the addition of MG10XUF and MG12XUK mixing consoles to the popular MG Series line-up.
MG Series mixers are compact, easy-to-use solutions for small-to-medium scale event and live performance applications. Since being first introduced in 2003, they have become standard equipment at many venues, with refinements and upgrades continuing to expand their suitability for a wide spectrum of sound reinforcement situations. The sonic quality, design and reliability of the third-generation MG series (released in 2014) has enjoyed particular worldwide acclaim.
The new MG10XUF and MG12XUK models add broader choice to the popular 10 and 12 channel categories within the third-generation MG Series line-up. While the adoption of linear faders in the MG10XUF offers fine level control and direct visual feedback, the MG12XUK employs rotary controls which mea

The Netherlands - International creative design practice Painting with Light was commissioned by Panasonic to produce a high-impact multimedia live show for their booth at this year’s ISE expo at Amsterdam RAI.
In 2017, Painting with Light’s creative director Luc Peumans developed a show that featured simultaneous tracking and projecting onto multiple objects, resulting in a dynamic live performance piece that combined a number of cutting-edge technologies, illustrating their capabilities, together with the flexibility of Panasonic’s latest projectors.
This year, Luc received a brief from Panasonic’s European product marketing manager for projectors and visual solutions, Thomas Vertommen, who wanted to take it one step further and create a more graphical show that was even more technically ambitious.
Panasonic is continuously following live entertainment

Italy - The Audio Engineering Society has announced the membership of the organising committee for the 144th International AES Convention and Exposition, taking place in Milan, Italy, 23-26 May at the NH Hotel Milano Congress Centre.
Embracing this year’s theme - The Power of Sound - the convention will be co-chaired by Alberto Pinto (professor - CESMA, NUCT University, Stanford University) and Nadja Wallaszkovits (chief audio engineer - Phonogrammarchiv, Austrian Academy of Sciences and AES President-Elect), who have assembled a team of leading audio professionals to organize the events and presentations for Europe’s largest professional audio education, networking and gear exhibition of the year.
“Throughout their 70-year history,” says Wallaskovits, “AES conventions have gathered the foremost minds in audio to educate and connect with attendees. A

The Netherlands - The largest and busiest Integrated Systems Europe in its 15-year history drew record numbers of exhibitors and attendees from around the world for four days of business, education and networking at the RAI Amsterdam between 6-9 February.
The number of exhibitors totalled 1,296, of which 294 were exhibiting at ISE for the first time. Combined, they filled 53,000sq.m of exhibition floor space. Floor space already confirmed for ISE 2019 currently stands at 103% of the total booked for ISE 2018.
The number of registered visitors by the end of the show had reached 80,923, an increase of 10.3% on the 2017 edition. Over 30% of the total attendees were visiting ISE for the first time.
Mike Blackman, Integrated Systems Events managing director, comments: “It’s been a great show that has delivered on all fronts. I’m delighted to report that visito

USA - RMB Audio recently installed a Wavefront Precision Compact array in the Edenton Street United Methodist Church complex in Raleigh, North Carolina, adding to Martin Audio systems that already exist including MLA Mini, CDD and Ceiling Series speakers.
Working closely with Edenton’s technical consultant Dave Clemmer, Matt Johnson, Wayne Sowder, Rick Null and Tobias Cannady of RMB installed WPC enclosures and SX212 subs powered by iKON amplifiers in Kerr Hall, a new 500-seat worship area on the second floor of the block long structure in downtown Raleigh.
As described by RMB president Cooper Cannady, “The system was designed for a site called The Gathering that measures 80ft. deep by 80ft. wide and holds a variety of events for the millennial audience, which required a very aggressive sound system for the electric ‘praise’ bands.
“The church opted fo

USA - Bass-guitarist Victor Wooten’s Victor Wooten Trio performed recently at the Caribou Room, a new live music venue just outside Boulder, CO. Pushing his bass to its creative limits, as he moved from finger tapped melodies to thunderous slapping sections, Wooten took his audience on a musical journey that wove its way through blues, jazz, fusion, rock and other genres. Keeping pace with him note for note was a Tim Farquhar lighting design that featured Chauvet Professional Rogue and Chauvet DJ Intimidator fixtures.
“Victor Wooten is a great artist, so obviously my goal was to keep the centre of attention on him while still conveying emotions on stage with the lighting,” said Farquhar, who in addition to being a touring LD, is the house LD at the Caribou Room. “The Rogues and Intimidators were ideal in this regard, giving me the looks I wanted, without distractions

USA - Robert Nelson, production manager and monitor engineer for Blondie, updated his decades-old Clair Brothers wedges with the purchase of a dozen Clair Brothers 1AM+ 12-inch point source monitors.
Nelson, who’s got 40 years’ experience in live sound, explains his reasoning: “I do my best to stay on top of what they need and to try and make everything happen, within reason and the laws of physics. Compared to a lot of monitor engineers, I keep things simple. If I do any processing at all, it’s modest - there’s only so much that processing can achieve. The real weak link in most monitoring situations is the monitor wedges themselves, and all the crazy processing in the world can’t fix a lousy wedge.”
Nelson owns more than 20 Clair Brothers 12AM wedges that have served, and continue to serve, him and his clients well for 20 years. “For Blondie, I want

South Africa - A new Anolis LED lighting installation is helping to highlight the lush and beautiful foliage in Cascades Gardens, part of the five-star luxury Cascades Hotel property in Sun City, South Africa.
Cascades is right at the heart of the Sun City casino and entertainment complex, and Johannesburg-based creative agency Cinevation was commissioned by Sun International to reimagine some of the resort’s public areas, including the gardens, with a brief to make them more accessible and enjoyable to the public.
Cinevision proposed a phased creative lighting scheme starting with the 150m long pathway from the hotel to their ground floor restaurant Bocado. Up until this time, during the evening house, it had been bathed in almost total darkness. In turn, Cinevation asked lighting experts DWR to assist with the specification of fixtures and undertake the installati

South Korea - Gangneung Ice Arena was built for the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics as the venue for the figure skating and short track speed skating competitions. With a seating capacity is 12,000, the arena houses two 60m x 30m ice rinks for competition and training.
South Korean distributor Soundus was tasked with providing an appropriate audio solution and the company designed a system of Python-KP52 line arrays, chosen for maximum clarity and definition and ability to provide continuous, even coverage.
Equipped with Pure Array Technology (PAT), the Python has no crossover points in the voice range and no reflex ports. Only the closely-spaced, full-range 3" identical sound sources are responsible for the Python's true line array characteristics. It shows a perfect phase response both in the near and in the far fields making this compact column speaker the perfect

The Netherlands - For the fourth year, 4EVAC enjoyed a successful ISE with interest from across mainland Europe for its innovative systems: the COMPACT 500 and LoopDrive Fault Isolator Module (FIM).
Both systems set a precedent in line with today’s modern demands for installation efficiency as cost effective solutions either as stand-alone units or as a complementary integrated solution.
4EVAC also previewed its new IMPACT system at ISE 2018. Set to bring 4EVAC’s COMPACT 500 technology into a 19” rack mountable solution, the IMPACT expands the capacity of 4EVAC’s commitment to de-mystify VACIE (voice alarm control and indicating equipment) cleverly combining the SW6 DIN-rail zone extender modules.
The success of the COMPACT 500 lies in its compact footprint and modular design. It offers seamless integration as a ‘lean & mean’ solution that’s se

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