Edinburgh Rocks - A spectacular light display on the side of Edinburgh Castle marked the opening of the city's International Festival. Dubbed Deep Time, the event, soundtracked by Glasgow post-rock band Mogwai, saw the landmark used as a canvas for animated projections taking in 350 million years of history. A planned live stream of the event malfunctioned, but spectators hailed the event as an "amazing spectacle". A viewing arena was created on Castle Terrace for the show, which marked the start of Standard Life's three-year sponsorship of the Edinburgh International Festival.

Deep Time was developed by 59 Productions with academics from Edinburgh University and will also look at the work of renowned Edinburgh scientist James Hutton (1726-1797), often referred to

USA - JBL Professional has announced the immediate availability of the new JBL HiQnet Performance Manager 2.1 software update, offering powerful new tools for measuring and tuning live sound reinforcement systems.

Performance Manager version 2.1 integrates Rational Acoustics' Smaart acoustic testing and measurement software directly into the Performance Manager workflow, providing audio technicians and engineers with unprecedented access to measurement information - all delivered over the network in real-time.

"We are pleased to collaborate with Rational Acoustics to integrate industry-leading Smaart technology directly within our software platform, which now includes extremely powerful measurement integration for seamless measuring and tuning operations," said George Georgallis, product manager, tour sound systems, Harman Professional Solutions.

"With version 2.1, rea

UK - Sound recordist Simon Bysshe and costumier Laura Smith have combined their knowledge and expertise to create URSA Straps, a range of low profile body worn straps designed to conceal radio microphone transmitters.

Officially launched this month and now available in the UK and Europe, URSA Straps are made from a specially developed bonded fabric that is ultra-slim and provides excellent stretch, comfort and breathability. Each strap incorporates a pouch to keep the transmitter locked in place and a cable pocket for managing excess microphone cable. URSA Straps are available in black, beige and brown skin tone colours and can be worn around the ankle, thigh or waist.

Bysshe and Smith developed URSA Straps after listening to numerous artists express discomfort while wearing radio mic straps. Traditional thick neoprene or elastic straps can irritate the skin, become soaked

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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

Germany - Southern Germany's Beatparade Empfingen at the A81 continues to attract thousands of fans. This year marked the event's 17th anniversary. In 2013 and 2014 four of the showtrucks were equipped with sound systems from ProAudio Technology. In 2015 a fifth one was added, which was loaded with the VT20 System for this year.

Another VT20 System was employed on the main stage. For this, the event organisers chose a VT20 Grand Venue setup of 2 x 6 VT20s, 2 x 4 VS18Fs and 16 VS18s as infra-array on the ground. The nearfield was covered by two TX20 tops. The PA was calibrated fast, yet precisely, the company says.

Four of the five trucks were equipped with the tried and tested HT16 horn-loaded tops plus SW18 and SW28 subwoofers. MT10 and MT12 multi-purpose loudspeakers were used as DJ monitors and for the truck sound.

(Jim Evans)

UAE - The technical genius of Protec, working with its client and creative production agency HQ Creative, helped to kick off the fourth annual Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament with a spectacular opening ceremony. For the very first time, the ceremony was hosted by NASO, a 40cm high, walking and talking robot.

It entertained the crowd alongside a variety of exciting acts, such as acrobats on hoverboards, a Futsal game in the dark and a special performance from the Lords of Lightning. Lords of Lightning performed magical acts with lightning thanks to the electrical wizardry of tesla coils, which produce high voltage, low-current and high-frequency alternating currents. The spectacle of two wizards battling each other atop two 2.2m high towers is one that thrilled audiences and warped their minds.

Protec deployed BlackTrax to track 16 performers and a moving platform, where NAS

UK - Harman Professional's leading pro audio brands dominated the Big Top Stage for the first time at this year's Standon Calling festival in North Hertfordshire. The fast growing boutique event, which began as a birthday barbecue for founder Alex Trenchard in 2001 before becoming a single-stage, one-day live music event in 2004, has since grown exponentially. Today it occupies the picturesque Standon Lordship site, where Suede, Kelis and Jess Glynne were the main stage headliners.

Dominating the landscape, the vibrant red and white canvas of the Big Top, which was largely used for electronic dance and other diverse acts, could be seen for miles around. Here the line-up included Goldie MBE, Greg Wilson, Theo Parrish, Joey Negro, as well as rising talent Gold Panda, Luke Abbott the Mercury Prize nominated Ghostpoet.

Glasgow-based Alive Sound are the traditional sound system

Italy - Well over 220 Shure wired and wireless microphones, including the Shure SM58 and SM57 as well as ULX-D wireless microphone systems, were amongst the live gear making the dream of over a thousand volunteer musicians a reality on 24 July 2016 in Cesena, Italy.

In May 2015, a small band of fans of the US rock group the Foo Fighters from Cesena, in the central Italian state of Romagna, decided that they were fed up with travelling long distances to see their favourite band every time they toured. The Foo Fighters hadn't played in Romagna since 1997, and had no plans to return.

Led by Fabio Zaffagnini, the friends decided to stage a live performance of the Foo Fighters song Learn To Fly. The plan was to have 1000 musicians playing simultaneously, film the performance, and send the video to the band in a bid to convince them to add Cesena to their next tour.

A

USA - A recent building makeover for Ride Along 2 turned the second-floor rotunda of Georgia's historic and stately capital building into an edgy Miami nightclub, complete with a well-stocked bar, chic guests, VIP sofas and lavish mood lighting, provided by Freedom Par Quad-5 fixtures from Chauvet DJ.

"You would have had a hard time recognizing the rotunda if you saw it during filming; the transformation was amazing," said Noah Hammer, owner of Full Circle Lighting & Productions (Atlanta), which supplied the club lighting for the Ice Cube and Kevin Hart comedy. "The colourizing that was done with the Freedom Par Quad-5s was instrumental in creating the scene."

Hammer, who has supplied lighting for numerous movie and TV projects, got involved in Ride Along 2 after receiving a phone call from the film's gaffer. "We're known for the work we've done on film, so w

USA - When the smash hit musical Hamilton made its highly anticipated Broadway debut at the Richard Rodgers Theatre last year, sound designer Nevin Steinberg knew he was part of something special. Today, as Hamilton gets ready to celebrate its one-year anniversary on Broadway, Steinberg continues to rely on a selection of predominantly DPA microphones to bring the sold-out audiences to their feet each night.

Steinberg has been a part of the show since the beginning. "I was invited to begin working with the creative team when the show was still doing readings and workshops in 2014, and through its critically acclaimed sold-out run at the Public Theatre," says Steinberg. "The show is not new to me even though it's relatively new to Broadway. Lin-Manuel and many members of the creative team were people I worked with on In The Heights about eight years ago, so

Germany - The final leg of German superstar Herbert Gr

UK / Ireland - Two additional d&b Electroacoustics seminars will be held in London and Dublin in September. These events will take place on Wednesday 7 at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and on Wednesday 14 at The Leeson Lounge in Dublin. With only wait list spaces currently available on the d&b seminar and workshop programme in Gloucestershire, these extra sessions are a chance to secure a place at this valued industry event.

For 16 years the seminar has focused on 'achieving intelligibility' by better understanding the principles of electroacoustics for sound system design and engineering. Questions will be asked such as: how does sound propagate? and how do sound waves combine? The d&b team, together with partner in Ireland MOSCO, will provide informative, straightforward answers in a lighthearted way, with plenty of practical experiments and demonst

Singapore - The Singapore National Day Parade (NDP) is a national ceremony held on 9 August 9, Singapore's National Day. This year's theme, Building Our Singapore of Tomorrow inspired the Singapore Armoured Regiment, organising the event, to create a Sky City for its show. ShowTex was involved in building this Sky City representing the future development of Singapore.

ShowTex Hong Kong supplied 15 large set pieces, shaped like buildings, making up the Sky City to represent Singapore's vision for 2065. Of the 15 buildings, 10 were futuristic buildings, measuring up to 35m high and five of them illustrated existing landmark buildings of the Singapore skyline. Each had a footprint of about 5m by 5m.

This large scale project was a major undertaking for which ShowTex tackled multiple challenges. One of the main concerns was the lead time given to design, engineer and man

Portugal / Iran - Portuguese manufacturer NEXT-proaudio has announced the appointment of Kish Pishgaman Co., as the company's exclusive distributor in Iran and Iraq.

Based in Tehran, Kish Pishgaman was founded in 1991 and is one of the pioneers of professional sound and light design, installation and commissioning services in Iran. "We are proud to be associated with NEXT-proaudio, and excited to be working together," said Mr. Farhad Amirsaeedi, Kish Pishgaman's commercial advisor.

"We are truly pleased to welcome Kish Pishgaman to our team," added Sergio Pinto, Next-proaudio's sales manager. "They are a very professional company that offers high quality solutions to the market with an unparalleled support in the professional segment. With our product portfolio, we see great potentials in Iran installation market. This is another step for continuing growth in Middle East's

UK - The Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) Theatre judging panel has announced its eagerly anticipated shortlist for this year's ceremony, which will take place at London's iconic Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith on Sunday 18 September.

Now in its 9th year, the KOI Awards is a celebration of the creative talents of international lighting and digital content designers working in the UK across TV, theatre and concert touring and events. The Knight of Illumination Awards is organised by revered lighting designer Durham Marenghi and his partner Jennie, prestigious industry organisations the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) and the Society of Television Lighting and Design (STLD) and content creation, communications and events agency The Fifth Estate Ltd.

The Theatre shortlist is the first to be revealed, after a panel of senior critics from national newspapers and magazine

UK - Yamaha Commercial Audio and Nexo will be demonstrating the seamless connectivity of their products at PLASA 2016, which takes place at London's Olympia from 18-20 September.

The jointly-hosted stand J10 features a unique, zoned design which showcases a range of scaled audio solutions - from the smallest room to the biggest stadium. A significant feature is a comprehensive Dante network, allowing staff to demonstrate the ease with which Yamaha and Nexo products can be seamlessly networked to provide complete, easily managed system solutions of any size.

The stand will feature a significant new Yamaha product, alongside the flagship RIVAGE PM10 and CL/QL series digital mixers, the Commercial installation Solutions (CIS) series of processors, mixers, amplifiers and loudspeakers, plus a range of input and output options.

Key Nexo products on show will include the ID S

UK - Evans Audio Visual Staging has invested in new LED displays, compact speakers and laser projectors, August 2016.

Part of the company's ongoing investment strategy has seen Evans bolster its already extensive product inventory to expand its rental stock and offer event organisers improved energy efficiency, the latest technology and enhanced performance.

This new investment includes the addition of Panasonic PT-RZ12k 3chip DLP laser projectors with WUXGA 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution. Not only do these offer reduced power consumption, but they produce exceptional picture quality with sharp images and vibrant colours. Evans has also bolstered its stock with new Samsung DM65E 65 inch LED displays, along with Nexo ID24s compact speakers, which can be used as part of a full-range system, or as a single unit in difficult spaces.

Reg Evans from Evans Audio Visual Staging

South Africa - Ten years ago, Kevin Glover, owner of Johannesburg-based rental company Sound Stylists, visited Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt. Almost immediately after, he made his first DiGiCo purchase - a D5 Live. Since then, Kevin has enjoyed an on-going journey with DiGiCo, who are now represented in South Africa by DWR Distribution.

Kevin first started looking for a new control desk in 2006. "I was introduced to the guys from DiGiCo at Frankfurt," he says. "We already had digital mixing consoles, but were looking for something bigger, as many shows we were doing were over the 100 channel mark."

After looking at a number of different products, Kevin decided that DiGiCo made the most sense. "I had talked to colleagues in the industry from around the world, and I could also tell what the larger tours were using by reading reports in the industry magazines," he recalls. "D

Germany - Elation Professional's ACL 360 Matrix moving head panel showed its versatility on the tenth edition of the re:publica Conference in Berlin, Europe's most popular conference on internet and society which took place 2-4 May 2-4 at historic Station-Berlin in the heart of the German capital.

The ACL 360 Matrix fixtures were used for a variety of purposes including background lighting for the stage, backlighting for camera and special effect lettering. They were also used to add decorative ambient fill lighting to the room. TSE AG of Berlin provided the rigging, sound and lighting for the event, including the Elation ACL 360 Matrix fixtures, which were used for the opening show. Lighting design was by Klaus Graewert.

The versatile 5 x 5 LED panel moving head houses 15W RGBW multi-chip LEDs and features continuous 360° rotation, a dense 4-degree beam from each lens

UK - Continuing their longstanding relationship with the Ricoh Women's British Open, Arena Structures once again provided temporary event structures for the Championship, which this year took place at the prestigious Woburn Golf Club, 28-31 July.

Arena Structures, project manager Matt Clark comments, "This being my first project delivered since joining the company, I am delighted to have joined a team that took the same pride and attention to detail when delivering 25,0000sq.m of event structures at The Open, as they do sporting events with smaller infrastructure needs. It is inspiring to see Arena Structures go above and beyond to support every client, regardless of size, to deliver installations of the highest standards and bespoke creativity, maximising the impact for both the event and sponsor brands."

A total of 5,000sq.m of temporary structures was installed, includi

USA - This year's COPA America Centenario soccer tournament, held in North America for the very first time, featured unforgettable opening and closing ceremonies held at Levi Stadium, Santa Clara, CA, and MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ respectively. Ceremony show producers FiveCurrents (5C) relied upon Radio Active Designs UV-1G wireless intercom systems to provide the production crew with flawless communication during both ceremonies.

As with many large sporting events, it took more than one team to pull off a seamless event. While Five Currents produced the opening and closing ceremonies, the broadcast was covered by Broadcast Services Group (BSG), a full service production company that specializes in packaging live sports events. BSG in turn hired Professional Wireless Services (PWS) to provide frequency coordination services for the 34-game tournament.

Ike Zimbel

Europe - Maxin10sity, the Hungarian projection mapping specialist, has firmly established itself as the expert in the innovative videomapping space, having recently delivered two show-stopping projects for prestigious client Audi to mark the launch of its very latest models.

Commissioned by technical planning and show direction specialist Niyu, Maxin10sity brought its skill and expertise to Audi's Late Light Show - an exclusive videomapping event for Audi employees and the community surrounding its Ingolstadt, Germany HQ with a spectacular 10-minute show running every evening over six days from 25-30 May 2016.

The Late Light Show set the stage for the world premiere unveiling of the Audi A5/S5 Coupe, which was celebrated with a further bespoke five-minute mapping; a visual representation of the evolution of the Audi Coupe from its inception through to the brand new models.

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