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UK - Each year, as the Salvation Army gears up for one of its busiest annual periods, the Christian charity puts on a special Christmas carol concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. This year's sold-out, multi-artist event saw production company b+h relying on Yamaha and Dante.

Although brass bands tend to feature heavily in the Salvation Army stereotype, the Christmas carol concert features a range of different performers. This year's event took place on 24 November with a cast numbering over 150 - including choirs, a contemporary praise band, readings and a guest performance by prominent supporter Shakin' Stevens.

"It's a traditional carol concert, but on a grand - and far more technically complex - scale," says Sam Lynam, business development and project manager at b+h. "A

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The Netherlands - 2016 marked the 20th year Britannia Row Productions has supplied audio services to the MTV European Music Awards. Rotterdam's Ahoy provided the setting for the event.

Project manager Lez Dwight explains the set up. "This year we had three stages side by side, straddling the Ahoy at 40 degrees playing to two thirds of a full house. It was an overwhelmingly L-Acoustics K2 rig with four main hangs. We used Kara for a few fills and flew most of the KS28 subs; in fact, we only had four of the subs on the floor.

"For control, we had two Digico SD5s FoH along with an SD10 for the presenters and two SD7s on stage for monitors. Two acts bought their own consoles as they had complex internal patch set-ups and they were integrated into our overall patch and splits system. Our team included Colin Pink who coordinated the essential 'live to broadcast' interface, while

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Europe - Folk balladeer Passenger is on tour in support of his latest album, Young as the Morning, Old as the Sea. For sound reinforcement, he is relying on support from a Meyer Sound Leo Family system provided by UK audio hire company Major Tom Ltd.

The majority of shows are in large auditoriums and smaller arenas, where the system employs main hangs of 34 Leopard line array loudspeakers with bass support from eight 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements.

For the largest venue of the tour, Amsterdam's 17,000-capacity Ziggo Dome, the main hangs comprised 12 Leo and six Lyon line array loudspeakers, with the Leopard loudspeakers re-configured as side hangs. Completing the Meyer Sound roster are four M'elodie line array loudspeakers, four JM-1P arrayable loudspeakers, four UPA-1P loudspeakers, and two Galileo processors.

FOH engineer and production manager Simon

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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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Sweden - Robe moving lights continue their run on high profile theatre shows worldwide, with the new Phantom of the Opera production in Stockholm utilizing DL7S and DL4S Profiles and DL4F washes - from the DL LED range - plus Pointes and ColorStrobes, over 50 fixtures in total.

The Really Useful Group (RUG) licensed production of the Andrew Lloyd-Webber blockbusting musical has just opened and is scheduled to play the 1650 capacity Cirkusteatern arena for a year, for which the Robe lights were specified by associate lighting designer, Mike Odam.

Mike's history with Phantom dates back to 1986 when he was the production LX on the original stage adaptation in London along with Howard Eaton, and they helped facilitate Andy Bridge's highly memorable Tony Award winning lighting design for the show's opening at Her Majesty's Theatre. Stockholm was Mike's 58th Pha

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Portugal - The long-standing relationship between Martin Audio MD Dom Harter, and the highly-experienced Carlos Cunha, who runs Portuguese distribution company Boomerang, has resulted in the Oeiras-based company being awarded territorial distributorship.

After a long career in pro audio Carlos formed Boomerang at the end of 2008, adding Martin Audio to a portfolio that also includes SGM Lighting.

"I started negotiating with Martin Audio about two years ago and the whole process sped up when Dom joined the company," he said. "Martin Audio's range of products covers almost all segments that a speaker manufacturer can, with exceptional high quality.

"The main advantage we have is the fact that we only need to focus on two brands as opposed to other distributors that have 10 or more. We can implement an individual strategy and so it is vitally important to have such a well

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No Surprise - Reports from the US suggest Donald Trump is struggling to find A-list stars to perform at his inauguration. When President Barack Obama was inaugurated in 2009, he was serenaded by Beyonce and Aretha Franklin. During his stay in the White House, he's had audiences with the likes of Rihanna, James Taylor and Kendrick Lamar.

According to US news website The Wrap, Trump's inaugural committee is scrambling to find stars who are willing to play at his swearing in ceremony on 20 January 2017.

"They're calling managers, agents, everyone in town to see who they can get and it's been problematic," an unnamed source told the site. Grammy-winner John Legend, who has been a guest of the Obamas several times, says he is "not surprised at all". "Creative people tend to reject bigotry and hate," he told the BBC. "We tend to be more liberal-minded. When we see somebod

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USA - The DW Chorus from Elation Professional is a new series of white-light LED batten wash lights with variable white colour temperature control. Useful for floodlighting surfaces and stages in even washes of dynamic light, a broad range of white color shades combines with the versatility of four different model choices to offer the ultimate in white light flexibility.

Available in 1' (0.3m), 2' (0.6m), 4' (1.2m), and 6' (1.8m) lengths, DW Chorus fixtures use long-life individual 3W cool white / warm white Lumi LEDs for variable white colour temperature range control from 2,700K white tungsten to 6,700K cool white. Hue, saturation and intensity of each LED are individually controllable while LED group control allows for even further design possibilities.

Suitable for linear effects as well, a selection of variable dimming curves is provided for faster programming and a s

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The Netherlands - QMotion will be raising the blind control standards with QiS at ISE 2017, a ZigBee operated two-way wireless control solution for the company's range of motorised Roller Shades. Visitors to stand 1-M80 will be able to witness this breakthrough technology up close and speak to QMotion technical advisors about how it can benefit their current and future projects.

With QMotion QiS ZigBee operated blinds, installers are able to integrate blind control seamlessly into a whole house or single room automation system, whilst simultaneously receiving accurate feedback on shade positioning for improved performance, remote monitoring and maintenance.

Utilising ZigBee HA 1.2, QiS is easy to set up, configure and integrate with all compatible devices in a Control4 home automation system. Drivers are also available for easy integration with Vantage, Crestron, Savant, U

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The Netherlands - Biamp Systems and Shure Incorporated have announced integrated compatibility between Biamp Tesira audio processors and software and Shure Microflex Advance array microphones with Steerable Coverage.

With the release of Biamp's new Tesira software and hardware at ISE in February 2017, it will be possible to interact with the Dante-enabled Shure MXA910 ceiling array microphone and control signal levels within the Tesira software. This will enable system integrators to deliver flexible, fully-digital audio solutions that meet the complex needs of their clients while reducing installation and setup time.

"We're excited to come together with an industry leader like Shure in an effort to streamline the integration of our products," shared Graeme Harrison, executive vice president of marketing for Biamp Systems. "Both companies value customer feedback and levera

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The Netherlands - Analog Way is exhibiting at ISE 2017 in Amsterdam from February 5-9, 2017, on stand 3-C95. During the show, the company will showcase a new set of optional interfaces for the VIO 4K, including features able to support 4K60 4:4:4. The new optional modules also offer the possibility of benefiting from up to 9 inputs and 3 independent-scaled outputs, including two in 4K60 4:4:4, along with the capability to input/output up to 8 audio channels from/to a Dante audio network.

Through a new set of expansion modules, the VIO 4K goes beyond its conversion capabilities to become the first multi-format converter that simultaneously supports 4K60 4:4:4, DisplayPort 1.2 and 12G-SDI. AV professionals are now free to choose how they would like to equip their VIO 4K depending on the interfaces and features they really need.

Designed to provide flexibility, the VIO 4K str

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World - Underground electronic music duo, Dusky are steadily building a cult following as they play sold out dates, taking in numerous venues in the UK, North America and continental Europe.

Double Knight of Illumination winner, Will Potts designed the visual element of the show, with assistance from lighting director Adam Power. Will said, "Designing a rig which fits into numerous venues was the main consideration for this project. I chose to leave the physical design work flexible and in Adam's hands for the shows. He knows what each fixture has to achieve, so it's up to him to use the spaces and characteristics of each venue to the design's advantage. Having such a flexible approach is the most economical way of scaling the show up and down."

Will and Adam knew exactly what they wanted to achieve with the design, and were open to discussion on which products and process

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UK - Freelance recording and concert engineer, Gavin Tempany has bought himself a couple of Audient USB audio interfaces, iD22 and iD4. The latter - and smaller, more portable of the two - has already become a fixture in his mobile gig bag.

Finding himself busy doing monitors for Will Young and David Gilmour, some high profile, one-off shows with Britannia Row Productions, including FOH at Children in Need Rocks at the Albert Hall, Centrepoint foundation charity event at Kensington Palace and the Evening Standard Theatre awards over the last few months, it's a surprise that he's had time for his studio projects.

Yet the bus powered iD4 with its versatile feature set was built for life on the road. "We've been working on a record for a new pop artist at the studio for a while now, and I had some time before shows and days off to do some editing and pre-mixing in the hotel r

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UK - Working closely with scenic designer Sarah Milton, illumination specialists LED Creative has supplied their Alpha 60 RGB system to help keep the vibrant set for ITN's The Agenda, clearly defined and looking sharp.

Lighting director Dave Evans has used plenty of strong colours to complement the set with high contrasts and clean lines to keep the viewer free from distraction and focussed on the discussion.

The LED Creative Alpha 60 RGB system, paired with the company's silent running BIT1200 controllers, has been cleverly combined with the clean architectural lines of the set pieces, to add intense illumination along its edging to provide a modernistic neon glow.

Flexibility is at the heart of the design as the show will broadcast from a selection of studios around the London area, with the layout changing weekly. The set and the lighting therefore need to be

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USA - In partnership with NAMM, Audinate will conduct multiple training sessions at the 2017 NAMM show about Dante, the industry-leading audio networking solution.

The NAMM Show annual conference will be held in Anaheim, California at the Anaheim Convention Centre. Starting on Thursday 19 January, Mark Frink will moderate a Tec Track Master Class called Dante: Practical Uses in Live Sound and Recording. In this 45-minute panel discussion, representatives from Yamaha, Shure, Focusrite and Mackie will talk about how they use Dante in their products. They will also feature real-world applications that involve their Dante-enabled equipment, as well as Audinate software including Dante Virtual Soundcard and Dante Via. As an added bonus, a free copy of Dante Virtual Soundcard will be given to everyone attending the panel discussion. This session will be held at the Convention

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South Africa - When Menlyn Main Central Square in Pretoria wanted a Christmas tree to coincide with the festive season they had little idea that a seed of imagination would bud into a 1.6 ton steel artistic structure - which would now be permanent feature all year round - and which would bring much delight to visitors at the shopping mall.

In front of the huge tree, created from steel squares with a strong African influence, is a red mailbox for donations. Each time a person approaches the mailbox, the tree comes to life.

The designer of the tree is Marcelle Gunter. "Our client had an idea of what they wanted," said Marcelle. "I showed them a previous tree sculpture I had made and they initially wanted to add solar lights to the branches." As the project went on, and without knowing how he would implement the plan, Marcelle had an idea. 'What if he could create something w

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Russia - Lighting designer Marina Larikova dubbed Claypaky fixtures as "the best creative devices" after using 125 of the leading Italian brand's moving heads and strobes in her lighting design for cutting-edge electronic dance music (EDM) festival Alfa Future People, Russia.

With global audiences of 50,000, the two-day festival celebrates the latest in EDM and consumer technology. Larikova worked with video designer Yury Vorontsov and set designer Shlyamin Pavel to bring alive the festival's nine-storey high main stage. A giant female cyborg set piece complete with heart-shaped DJ booth provided the focal point of the main stage, where world famous DJs Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike played headline sets.

"I needed versatile lighting tools to maintain a diverse range of looks and keep the audience absorbed in the performances," says Larikova. "Alfa Future People celebrates inno

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USA - Broadcast live on MSNBC, the fifth annual Global Citizen Festival (GCF) took over New York City's Central Park in late-September for a star-studded concert that featured headliners Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Ellie Goulding, Metallica, Demi Lovato, Major Lazer and many others sharing their voices and music to help reduce world hunger, poverty and other pandemic social issues.

Firehouse Productions once again served as the concert sound provider for GCF and this year switched over to an L-Acoustics K1/K2 PA system for the stage on the Great Lawn, where the 60,000 concert-goers in attendance also got to see guest appearances by Usher, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Yandel, Yusuf/Cat Stevens and Coldplay's Chris Martin, creative director and curator of the festival, which is organized by the Global Poverty Project.

According to Firehouse system tech Jamie Pollock, "I had not do

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Mexico - Too Motions is a family run entertainment industry automation and motion control specialist based in Mexico City which has invested heavily in Kinesys products.

Currently they are the only enterprise in the county offering a full rental service in this specialist field to a wide variety of clients in the worlds of corporate activations, music concerts and tours.

The company was founded in 2011 and is headed and owned by Gustavo Jiminez, whose brother Hector works as international business development manager.

The pair originally got into show business - like many in Mexico where music is such a huge part of the culture - through Hector's Junior High School band Steel Hawk.

Gustavo's career as a pyro designer and firer to the stars took off - it was all quite improvised back in the 1990s as it was extremely difficult to import explosives into Mexico - but h

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UK - For nearly 200 years, the site of the Royal Court Theatre has been at the heart of Liverpool culture. Having played host to artists such as Oasis, David Bowie and R.E.M to performers such as Lawrence Olivier, Vivien Leigh and even hosting Dame Judi Dench's acting debut the venue has a prestigious heritage and needed an audio upgrade to match.

Owing much to the growing prominence of KV2 Audio products within the Theatre industry, KV2 can now add the Royal Court to its ever-expanding roster of high quality theatres relying on KV2 products.

Liverpool's awarding of the 2008 Capital of Culture sparked a revival for the Royal Court. Having been used as a comedy club for a period of time the Royal Court Trust wanted to "upgrade, conserve and restore the valuable cultural asset in the heart of the city" and the theatre began producing a unique style of Theatre for Liverpool a

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USA - Biamp Systems, a leading provider of innovative, networked media systems, today announced that Steve Metzger, president and CEO, is stepping down and Matt Czyzewski, COO, is designated his successor effective January 1, 2017. Steve is leaving to relocate his family back to his beloved Southeast.

During Steve's seven years of leadership, Biamp has grown significantly, and has introduced a wide range of groundbreaking and award-winning product families and services. With a stalwart focus on people, quality, and service, he leaves Biamp in Matt's capable hands well-positioned for continued innovation and growth.

"Biamp is, without question, the best company I could have ever hoped to be associated with, much less lead. It is full of smart, caring, and hardworking people who are laser-focused on the customer experience," shared Steve Metzger, president and CEO, Biamp Sys

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