Details

03 October 2025

Spain - Formerly known as Hotel Sofia, the transformation into the Grand Hyatt Barcelona has included the renovation of some of the five-star hotel’s most popular hospitality spaces, covering everywhere from the pool and terrace to the 19th floor rooftop restaurant. Sound quality and ease of use have been at the heart of the transformation, with loudspeakers from Electro-Voice and electronics from Dynacord central to the process.

The audio transformation started outside the hotel. “We began with the design of the pool and its bar creating a perimeter of outdoor speakers,” explains Mauricio Lombardi Gomez from Koala Projects SL, the company responsible for the installation. “The idea was to have exterior speakers taking into account the outdoor space but also having a bit of bass. We chose Electro-Voice speakers and Dynacord power amplifiers because o

Details

03 October 2025

UK - Unusual Industries has announced ‘a planned transition’ in its senior financial leadership. Mark Wylie has been appointed finance director, and will fully succeed Brian Rose, following his service in the role since 1988.

Brian will not be stepping away entirely. He will continue to support Unusual Rigging in an advisory capacity remaining as a director, providing strategic guidance and insight to the leadership team.

Mark joined Unusual Rigging in 2022 as part of the company’s structured succession planning strategy, designed to ensure continuity and stability across key leadership positions. Over the past few years, he has worked alongside Brian, gaining an understanding of the company’s operations and financial strategy, and preparing for this next step in his career.

Reflecting on the transition, Mark said: “I am honoured to

Details

03 October 2025

UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) presented playwright and director Sir Alan Ayckbourn with the ABTT Stephen Joseph Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of his ‘extraordinary contributions to theatre-in-the-round and his enduring impact on British theatre’.

The presentation took place at the Stephen Joseph Theatre (SJT) in Scarborough on 28 September, following a rehearsed reading of Ayckbourn’s play Relatively Speaking. This year marks the 70th anniversary of professional theatre-in-the-round - a movement Sir Alan has championed throughout his remarkable career.

The award was established by the ABTT’s Stephen Joseph Committee (SJC) to commemorate the legacy of Stephen Joseph - a founding member of the ABTT and one of the foremost pioneers of theatre-in-the-round in the UK. The honour is awarded to indi

Details

02 October 2025

USA - Elation Lighting has acquired the X-Laser brand and assets and launched X-Laser USA, a new independent company that will continue operating under the X-Laser name.

Founded in the US, X-Laser has become one of the most recognised high-powered entertainment laser manufacturers in North America. The company is known for its FDA-varianced safety systems, advanced optics, and engineering excellence.

X-Laser USA will operate from the X-Laser facility in Laurel, Maryland, led by general manager Adam Raugh, a 20-year engineering expert in laser manufacturing and regulatory compliance. The Maryland location, which serves as X-Laser’s R&D and production hub, will also serve as a US manufacturing site for select Elation products, as well as an East Coast service centre for Elation.

X-Laser’s professional laser series - both existing and fu

Details

02 October 2025

Europe/India - Lawo, developer of the Ravenna audio-over-IP technology, has confirmed Indian ProAV company Pope Professional Acoustics as the latest partner to join the Ravenna community.

Pope Professional, a key player in India’s ProAV industry, is known for its innovative range of audio solutions including loudspeakers, subwoofers, line arrays, amplifiers and digital signal processors. The company also offers comprehensive manufacturing, audio system design, installation and support, and has contributed to numerous high-profile projects across the country.

Mr. G. Parthasarathi, managing director of Pope Professional Acoustics comments: “We are delighted to join the Ravenna community. By adopting Ravenna into our product portfolio, we can deliver state-of-the-art audio-over-IP solutions to our customers, giving them the benefits of an open, stan

Details

02 October 2025

New Zealand - When Taieri Musical staged Jesus Christ Superstar at Dunedin’s Regent Theatre, a full JBL Professional sound system powered the rock opera with ‘clarity, impact and energy’.

The Regent Theatre, with its ornate baroque-revival interior and 1,600 seats is a landmark in its own right. But for sound engineers, its scale and architecture present a serious challenge to make sure every audience member hears every word and every note.

That task fell to the team from Strawberry who supplied the sound equipment, with system engineering led by Dave Bennet. “In a theatre like the Regent the challenge is covering all the seats while staying out of the sightlines,” Bennet explains. “You can’t just hang giant speaker arrays in front of the stage and those beautiful views. Instead, we used a mix of flown and ground-stacked arrays

Details

02 October 2025

France - Built in 1975 and previously known as Les Arènes de l'Agora, the Arènes de Grand Paris Sud has been transformed into a modern cultural and sporting destination following a comprehensive five-year, €35m renovation. Part of the ambitious Grand Paris project aimed at injecting new employment and cultural opportunities into the suburbs surrounding Paris, this striking contemporary venue now serves as the prominent cultural, concert and sports arena in the South of Paris, with capacity for up to 3,000 spectators.

The arena has quickly established itself as a multipurpose space, conceived as a flexible performance venue that regularly transforms from a seated theatre to a standing concert hall, sports venue, or central-stage e-sports arena. Most significantly, when the venue was commissioned as the official home of France's leading e-sports team, Karm

Details

02 October 2025

UK - Solotech has been servicing the South Facing Festival since the transformation of the dormant Crystal Palace Bowl in South London, back in 2021.

Promoted by Marcus Weedon, and with production duties back in the hands of Method Events (in the shape of Mia Barrett and Matt Hendry), Solotech again fielded Martin Audio’s WPL line array, which had last year replaced its long-serving forerunner, the MLA multicellular array.

Since this year’s programme leaned more heavily than previous years towards EDM and DJ-oriented acts - with Nile Rodgers & Chic, Basement Jaxx, Skepta and Busta Rhymes among the prominent acts (alongside Mogwai and Morcheeba) - Solotech account manager, David Preston, said that a diligent approach was required when it came to sound containment, in view of the dependence on sub bass. Thus, production was fortunate t

Details

02 October 2025

USA - Ericsson has upgraded its 300-seat auditorium at its North American headquarters in Plano, Texas, delivering ‘a seamless and professional presentation environment powered by tvONE and Green Hippo solutions’.

The project, led by the executive team at Audio Visual Dallas, replaced outdated projection and switching systems with modern technology designed to ensure flawless visuals for both in-person and remote audiences. Under the direction of Dave Pollock and Jason Nix, with support from operations manager Allie Stewart, Audio Visual Dallas managed the project from design and programming through installation and commissioning.

“Before upgrading, the auditorium housed a less-than-ideal setup,” explained Nix. “The main visual was a decade-old rear-projection screen supported by two 85” LCD displays. Presenters relied on small floor moni

Details

02 October 2025

USA - St. Mark Greek Orthodox Church in Boca Raton, FL has implemented a system upgrade led by pro audio and lighting equipment supplier Sound & Lighting Solutions. The project, which included the installation of an EAW ADAPTive sound system, resolved the church’s long-standing acoustic challenges while preserving the space’s architectural splendour.

For years, the sanctuary stood as a visually stunning and architecturally rich space, but it struggled with a persistent challenge: poor acoustics. Inconsistent sound coverage, harsh reflections and low speech intelligibility continually distracted from the worship experience.

“When I first visited the space, I recognised the severity of the issues,” said Jay Krause, owner of Sound & Lighting Solutions. “The answer came in the form of four EAW AC6 ADAPTive Column Loudspeakers. The syste

Details

02 October 2025

UK - LED Studio has announced the successful test flight of a drone-mounted LED curtain, ‘an ultra-lightweight, ultra-thin and highly transparent mesh display’. The trial highlights how airborne LED technology could reshape visual storytelling at events, live shows and cultural landmarks, says the company.

The LED curtain weighs just 1.2kg per square metre, with a slim mesh construction designed to reduce drone load and support stable flight. Engineered with up to 70% transparency and high wind permeability, the display performs reliably in outdoor, low-altitude conditions, maintaining both visual integrity and flight efficiency.

Modular by design, the system supports scalable configurations through multi-piece splicing. Standard screen sizes range from 2×4m up to 4×10m, offering flexibility for large-format displays. The mesh has a 50,000-hour

Details

01 October 2025

UK - DiGiCo has introduced its smallest and newest addition to the Quantum family - the Quantum112, a single-screen, 12-fader desk that is DiGiCo’s first true flypack mixer.

Designed to fit within a rugged and robust Peli Air 1637 case, the console, when packed, weighs only 23 kilos (50lbs), qualifying it as a standard checked bag option on most flights.

Based on the latest seventh-generation FPGAs, DiGiCo’s latest product offers 80 input channels with 24 aux/subgroup busses, LR/LCR master busses, and a 12x8 matrix, all with full channel processing. 12 control groups plus two solos are also available.

Sporting a 17”, 1000-nit, high-brightness multitouch screen with both a meterbridge and soft quick-select buttons for speedy and intuitive operation, the Quantum112 is additionally equipped with 18 individual TFT channel displays to provid

Details

01 October 2025

UK - A smartly executed production by Limited Edition Event Design helped create the glamour for the world premiere of Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning at London’s Leicester Square. For technical support and lighting, Limited Edition Event Design turned to its frequent collaborator, Milton Keynes-based IPS.

Helping to ensure that that the star-studded premiere was shown in the best light for the sizable live crowd, as well as for the many fans who watched broadcast and other media coverage of the event, IPS relied on 530+ Chauvet Professional fixtures and panels that were positioned throughout the site.

Included in this collection were over 460 REM 3IP LED video panels. Displaying evocative images from the film and its stars, the panels were positioned across a 50m main platform, as well as on-branding walls around a custom-built f

Details

01 October 2025

Germany - 100 ADJ fixtures were deployed by production companies Laserframe and Creative Sounds Veranstaltungstechnik across two stages at the recent Into The Madness festival in Zülpich.

Vizi Beam RX2 moving heads and Jolt Bar FXIP linear LED fixtures created the effects in the Core arena, while IP65-rated Hydro Beam X12 automated luminaires filled the night sky above the open-air Dunes stage.

Located within a huge ‘big top’ tent, the Core stage at Into The Madness festival 2025 was dedicated to Uptempo and Hardcore dance music. Working collaboratively, Laserframe and Creative Sounds Veranstaltungstechnik were responsible for the complete technical production of the area and pulled out all the stops to create a visual spectacular.

At the centre of the stage was an octagonal truss structure, flanked on each side by mirr

Details

01 October 2025

UK - Clear-Com’s IP Transceivers are rapidly gaining traction in the professional theatre world, being deployed for some of the most ambitious productions across London’s West End, Broadway, and international touring circuits. From Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Back to the Future, and MJ the Musical in London, to Shucked and & Juliet on US tours, major sound designers and technical teams are turning to Clear-Com.

At the heart of this growing adoption is the capability to support up to 10 FreeSpeak II digital wireless beltpacks per IP Transceiver.

“IP Transceivers are now our preferred transceiver for Arcadia Central Station,” said Russell Godwin of Gareth Owen Sound. The company supports an array of top-tier productions and plays a significant role in shaping technology expectations in the

Details

01 October 2025

USA - Five-time Tony Award-nominated lighting designer Ben Stanton chose 58 Ayrton Diablo S fixtures for Broadway’s Maybe Happy Ending, the South Korean musical about human-like helper-bots who forge a relationship.

Maybe Happy Ending premiered in Seoul in 2016 and has enjoyed many international runs before arriving at Broadway’s Belasco Theatre in September 2024. The production recently won six Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical with Stanton receiving a nomination for his lighting design.

Prior to Maybe Happy Ending, Stanton had used various Ayrton fixtures for concert touring but had not deployed them on theatre projects. For this show he needed “a very small, powerful fixture that could be a workhorse for the design” and Diablos filled the bill.

“I needed a light that would fit nicely

Details

01 October 2025

USA - For 17 days and nights each spring, the city of Charleston, South Carolina, welcomes hundreds of performers to fill its historic venues with art and culture. Spoleto Festival USA, the American counterpart to Italy’s Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, serves as a dynamic showcase for talent.

This performing arts event celebrates everything from theatre, opera, and dance to orchestral, jazz, and contemporary music. To bring these performances to life, KV2 Audio was selected as the official sound partner.

Having collaborated with the festival in previous years, sound design and audio specialists Autograph A2D returned to install the 2025 sound system. “We’ve been involved over the years through sound designer, Lew Mead,” says Preston Dunnavant, sound engineer at Autograph A2D. “In 2023, I took over from Lew as le

Details

01 October 2025

Europe - Drummer turned audio engineer Ross Rothero-Bourge heads up live mixing for The UK Drum Show and The Europe Drum Show, the music festival-meets-trade shows held in Liverpool and Friedrichshafen. He is also head studio engineer at Cube Recording in Cornwall.

Most recently, he’s been on tour with Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons. Ross has also worked with Tom Meighan, co-founder of high-energy British rockers Kasabian. His microphones of choice are the Audix D6 and D6X on kick and bass-centric sources, SCX25A as drum overheads, the OM7 handheld as vocal mic, and the PDX720 and PDX520 as versatile studio workhorses.

“I’ve just been out on the road with Phil Campbell, the guitarist from Motörhead,” says Ross. “Even after all these years, Phil has that unmistakable rock’n’roll presence, and the fans were loving e

Details

30 September 2025

Australia - Over 100 industry leaders, movers, shakers and influencers from Australia and New Zealand attended NIDA – The National Institute of Dramatic Art – in Sydney for an official launch event hosted by LSC: The New Home for Robe in ANZ, which represents Robe lighting sales in these key territories.

LSC Control Systems has appointed Darren McLanders as the Robe sales manager for ANZ, filling out a team that now represents a triumvirate of leading brands – Robe moving lights, LSC power and distribution, and Avolites visual control – with stock immediately available for the Australian and New Zealand markets.

Visitors enjoyed the chance to see and learn more about Robe’s latest technologies in a social and creative atmosphere.

They represented all sectors of the entertainment technology spectrum and included lighting and

Details

30 September 2025

Columbia - Karol G’s record-breaking Mañana Será Bonito stadium tour featured a high level of sonic precision thanks to front-of-house engineer John Buitrago. With months of travel and dozens of performances, the tour demanded not just accuracy, but resilience from the equipment it used. To account for these needs, a variety of solutions from DPA Microphones were chosen by Buitrago to capture the energy of the show without compromising the authenticity of the music.

The mic setup was as dynamic as the performance itself. Horns were outfitted with DPA 4099 Instrument Mics - high SPL models for the trumpet and sax and low SPL for the flute - to deliver crisp, isolated tones on a B-stage nearly 80ft from the main PA system, surrounded by the acoustical chaos and crowd energy of stadium reverberation in the massive venues, which hosted upwards of 10