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18 September 2025

UK/USA - A custom INFiLED LED wall, based on the company’s lightweight AR Series for rental-staging applications, is delivering artistic, high‑contrast visuals for Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the stage prequel to Netflix TV phenomenon Stranger Things.

Delivered in partnership with Blue‑i Theatre Technology and creative studio 59 Productions, the AR-Series wall integrates seamlessly with the production’s physical scenery, heightening its otherworldly, myth‑driven storytelling, and has been specified for both the London West End production and the Broadway run.

Blue‑i Theatre Technology, led by Ed Cooper, collaborated with 59 Productions to realise a visual language that feels cinematic yet unmistakably theatrical, with imagery that would vanish into the stage picture rather than reading as a conventional ‘screen

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18 September 2025

USA - Dave Quinn is lighting designer for Dark Star Orchestra, the Grateful Dead tribute band that has been touring globally for the past 25 years and has performed with original Dead members Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann.

Like the band his client celebrates, Quinn tends to follow a minimalistic path that leads him to some endlessly deep and transformative possibilities that are anything but ‘simple’. This was evident from the moment the band kicked off their recently completed 21-city summer tour at Portland, Maine’s Thompson’s Point.

Working with a rig featuring 20 Chauvet Professional fixtures and no video wall at the sprawling venue, he conjured up some powerfully intriguing looks that drew people further into his client’s magical musical mix.

Dipping into his big creative bag of nuanced tricks, Quinn altered the appearance and

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17 September 2025

India - HK Audio has appointed Hi-Tech Audio Video Systems as its new exclusive distributor for India. With the agreement in place, the new distribution partner already has stock of HK Audio equipment to cater to the country’s bustling live events and fixed installation markets.

Based in the city of Noida in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state, Hi-Tech Audio Video Systems Pvt has more than 25 years of experience in the professional AV market serving customers across the country. As a first stage in the new partnership, the distributor has already visited HK Audio’s St Wendel HQ to receive Cosmo training and to visit the production facilities.

“We are extremely excited to partner with and represent an audio giant – HK Audio – offering a huge range of products from the economical Portable Sound range to Concert level products,” says Mani

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17 September 2025

Italy - This summer, Italy’s festival circuit became the stage for some of the world’s leading artists, many of whom performed multiple stops on dBTechnologies VIO sound systems. From historic piazzas to coastal stages, from forested parks to sun-drenched southern landscapes, the country’s premier festivals delivered a series of international performances powered by the VIO Series.

One of the first major stops was in Bari, where the Locus Festival 2025 featured an international line-up including Nile Rodgers & Chic, Mogwai, Morrissey, Robert Plant, and Nick Cave. Bass Culture provided the sound production, continuing a collaboration that has grown alongside the festival’s rising prestige, deploying a VIO system built around L212 line arrays with S218 subwoofers in flyable configuration and L1610 front-fills. The system delivered consiste

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17 September 2025

UK - Longborough Festival Opera in the Cotswolds is renowned for its intimate setting, visionary programming, and commitment to artistic excellence. This season featured four ambitious new productions: Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dido and Aeneas, Pelléas et Mélisande, and Wahnfried: The Birth of the Wagner Cult.

Working in close collaboration with lighting designer Peter Small, the festival marked a significant milestone this year, as he became the first designer to light the entire season, bringing a unified creative vision to a diverse repertoire. Peter then approached White Light (WL), a d&b solutions company, to supply his lighting rig for the full season.

Peter’s approach was rooted in delivering quality and consistency across a technically demanding schedule. Each production presented different

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17 September 2025

UAE - Established in 1992 and headquartered in Dubai, Sound On Stage Events is led by managing director and sound engineer Rawad Saad. A loyal DiGiCo user for over 15 years, Saad shares why Echoes of a Golden Era – part of the Beiteddine Art Festival in July 2025 – was a natural choice for Sound On Stage’s newest purchase of a DiGiCo Quantum 326.

“Throughout the time that Sound On Stage Events has been using DiGiCo consoles, we’ve experienced the remarkable evolution in both the technology and audio quality,” he says. “DiGiCo continues to set new standards in the industry, and we proudly rely on its systems for our most demanding productions.”

Delivering the purchase was 7Hertz, DiGiCo distributor for the Middle East and Gulf Regions. Having enjoyed a close relationship for many years, Sound On Stage Events and 7Hert

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17 September 2025

Germany - The much-anticipated world premiere of the new Audi Q3 took place on 16 June at the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt, where lighting designer Chris Moylan of Sunrise Studios delivered a striking design using Elation’s Proteus and Pulse series fixtures, a look that matched the buzz of the premiere.

The unveiling, staged outdoors on the Audi Piazza, blended architectural elements with high-impact visual effects, creating a fittingly vibrant atmosphere for guests, employees, and media. Featuring a centre stage area encircled by a driving track with a ‘container city’ in each corner, the audience viewed the reveal from each side, as well as from the centre facing outwards. Moylan created a lighting concept that both framed the open-air architecture and delivered the spectacle necessary to showcase Audi’s latest models, with the new Q3 being the centrep

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17 September 2025

Canada - The University of Toronto Scarborough, established in 1964, is one of the top-ranked universities in Canada. The institution prides itself on finding new ways to create environments in which students can thrive, and their recently built Sam Ibrahim Building is central to this ethos.

The expansive, five-storey building houses lecture halls, faculty offices, collaboration spaces and more. Six ‘feature’ lecture theatres were central to the development: Conveyor, Cave, Keystone, Collaboratorium, Cloud, and the flagship Arrow Group Innovation Hall (formerly known as the Campfire), which features a 360°-seating arrangement. These modern, individually designed spaces all came with the same important audio challenge: the need for outstanding coherence and crystal-clear speech from professors.

To address the task, the university partnered with C

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17 September 2025

USA - Masque Sound once again played a pivotal role in this year’s Spoleto Festival USA, one of the nation’s premier performing arts festivals. The company provided an extensive audio package that elevated performances across Charleston’s historic venues. The renowned 17-day festival showcases world-class opera, theatre, dance and music each spring, transforming Charleston into a hub of international artistry.

Serving as one of the festival’s partners for more than two decades, Masque Sound supplied full audio systems for 10 venues, which was the largest footprint to date for the festival. This year featured three major sites powered by KV2 Audio loudspeakers, including the Cistern Yard, Emmett Robinson Theatre and Festival Hall.

Preston Dunnavant, Spoleto Festival’s lead audio engineer and sales & support engineer at Autograph

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17 September 2025

UK - PK Sound, the robotic line array company, has welcomed pro audio industry veteran Mike Case to its team in the role of director of global network & partnerships. Based in the UK, Case brings a strong history of establishing new technologies and advancing industry-leading brands to the Calgary-based manufacturer.

“PK Sound has developed the most exciting and relevant new technology I’ve seen in years, with the power to significantly change the way people work in this industry,” says Case. “Not only do PK’s robotic systems deliver better acoustic performance than conventional line arrays; they also save time and money thanks to a truly new and innovative feature set. This is a young, talented, and passionate team full of exciting potential and I look forward to realising that together with our partner network.”

Case played a pivota

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17 September 2025

South Africa - Mediatech Africa has confirmed that co-owner Simon Robinson has returned full-time as exhibition director to steer the show’s comeback edition, 1–3 July 2026 at Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit & International Convention Centre, Johannesburg.

Robinson launched Mediatech in 2001 at the Sandton Convention Centre and has guided its growth into Africa’s cornerstone event for professional AV, broadcast, production, staging, lighting, and display technology. During the show’s six-year hiatus, he kept close to the market – project-managing large-scale productions and events, and serving as business development manager at one of SA’s big AV distributors.

“Stepping out of the organiser role for a season let me see the industry from other angles,” says Robinson. “Running projects on the ground and spending time

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16 September 2025

Spain - Right in the heart of Schinkenstraße and just a few steps from the sea sits Bierkönig – a true Playa de Palma institution for almost 40 years. Located directly in the popular nightlife district, this beer garden and live performance venue spans more than 5,000sq.m and has become a meeting point for lovers of German music, culture, and atmosphere from morning until late at night. With daily live performances and DJ sets featuring everything from German pop to Schlager music, the venue demands a professional sound system capable of delivering consistent, high-quality audio throughout its sprawling interior space.

A major renovation to Bierkönig's 1,250sq.m main hall, Neuer Bereich, which began in late 2024, included a complete audio system overhaul. This main performance space, hosting up to 2,000 guests nightly, had long suffered from an audio sy

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16 September 2025

UK - When production manager Martyn Sands needed creative rigging and automation solutions for Jamie Lloyd’s Evita at The London Palladium, he turned to Unusual Rigging. Running for just 12 weeks over the summer and closing to positive reviews on 6 September, the show’s aesthetic demanded bespoke engineering across both front-of-house and over stage areas – much of it installed in a Grade II* listed venue with strict constraints and no room for error.

“As soon as I get the designs from lighting, sound and set, I give Unusual a call,” said Martyn. “What we’re trying to create on stage doesn’t always line up with what’s already in the building – and even if the infrastructure is there, it might not have the load capacity. Jamie’s productions always have weight to them, visually and physically, so we need to get ahead of that earl

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16 September 2025

South Africa - DWR Distribution officially opened the Aubrey Ndaba Training Centre on 5 September with a ribbon-cutting ceremony honouring the late industry legend. Aubrey Ndaba’s family attended as special guests, making the day especially meaningful.

Training has always been at the heart of DWR, and as it has become a regular part of the company, a revamped training room and new dining area were created. Naming it after Aubrey, who passed away in May 2024, was a natural choice. A long-time friend and mentor, Aubrey inspired countless young technicians and had a true passion for sharing knowledge.

The event included heartfelt tributes from Duncan and Bruce Riley and Eazy Moeketsi, while delegates on DWR’s Network Training course and the DWR and Install Crew teams joined the celebration.

DWR extends thanks to Debbie Buchanan, the DWR team

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16 September 2025

Czech Republic - Czech rental company High Lite Touring supplied 50 x Robe MegaPointe moving lights for the main Love Stage at the 2025 Beats for Love festival, currently the largest electronic dance music festival in central Europe, staged annually at Ostrava in the Czech Republic at the former Dolní Vítkovice steelworks.

This year’s event saw a diverse line-up creating some high energy in this setting, steeped in industrial atmosphere.

The Love Stage design was a tightly co-ordinated collab between the festival’s creative team and High Lite Touring, with a lighting design by Václav Olšar from High Lite Touring. Impressive décor and multiple LED screens were integrated into this visual environment, providing a spectacular centrepiece for the event.

When it came to lighting, there was some input from visiting artists, but V

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16 September 2025

Germany - At jazzopen stuttgart 2025, Naostage's K System tracked the performers in real-time on the main stage. Seamlessly integrated with d&b Soundscape, it enabled precise spatialisation of sound objects, synchronised with the performers' movements.

While the K System's light tracking capabilities had already been widely used at numerous European festivals this summer – from the Manchester International Festival in the UK to Art Rock, Poupet, Solidays, Main Square, Les Vieilles Charrues, and Roi Arthur music festivals in France – jazzopen stuttgart marked a key milestone by leveraging the full potential of the K System to offer the audience a groundbreaking spatial audio experience.

At the request of d&b audiotechnik, the Dutch company So-light BV orchestr

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16 September 2025

Poland - The Pol’and’Rock Festival, created by Jerzy Owsiak – also the driving force behind the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP) – has become a symbol of community, music, and humanitarian commitment. What began as a thank-you to volunteers has grown into one of Europe’s largest open-air music events, attracting hundreds of thousands each summer to the airfield in Czaplinek.

The 31st edition, held 31 July - 2 August, once again demanded extraordinary technical resources. Audio delivery for an audience of this scale is no small feat, and the task was entrusted to GigantSound - Letus, Europe’s largest Outline GTO inventory holder. Their choice underlined a long-standing confidence in Outline’s technology.

Jurek ‘Gigant’ Taborowski and his tech team managed the festival’s sound throughout, deliv

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16 September 2025

USA - Fuse Technical Group has become the first customer in the Americas to invest in Disguise’s GX 3+ media server. With an order of 50 units – representing a third of all available stock worldwide – Fuse will own the largest GX 3+ fleet on the planet.

This move reflects the company’s ambition to make Fuse the number-one production technology provider in the world. Already the largest Disguise inventory holder globally and the only US-based Disguise certified solution partner (CSP), Fuse is doubling down on this mission with an expansion that will see it deliver even more complex and visually ambitious shows across every entertainment vertical.

Fuse operates from multiple offices and service centres across North America, supplying the technical backbone for some of the best-known productions of recent years – from global tours for Imagine

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16 September 2025

USA - The Martin Audio / TiMax series of roadshows moves to Massachusetts for its next US open day, which will take place on 28 October, with separate presentations and product demonstrations at 11am and 2pm. Hosting the event this time are Charles River Studios (Studio A), based at 495 Turnpike St. Canton, MA 02021.

The US team will be on hand to present and talk to attendees about upcoming projects and the attributes and potential applications. They will demonstrate Martin Audio FlexPoint, Torus constant curvature and Wavefront Precision optimised line arrays, as well as TiMax immersive audio solutions.

Pride of place will go to Martin Audio’s new BlacklineQ. This series is a reimagining of the Blackline range that ‘delivers improved passive two-way point source loudspeakers, all-new column speakers and a suite of subwoofers’. The entire seri

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16 September 2025

UK - URSA is well known in the film and TV industries, with a decade of experience in developing comfortable and robust solutions for body worn technology. In 2025, the company celebrates 10 years of trading with its new products specifically designed to address the special needs of theatre. The Tracker Pouch is an integral part of the range and was developed in collaboration with key zactrack team members.

Based in Austria, zactrack develops automated tracking solutions for a wide range of applications. Its mini, SMART, and PRO product lines provide precise tracking for lighting, audio, video, and camera systems. Outputting data in familiar formats such as DMX, OSC, and PSN, zactrack ensures pinpoint accuracy with low-latency performance across all major network protocols.

The Tracker Pouches are made for all zactrack trackers and are sold in packs