Belgium - A fusion of pop and classical music from the world’s greatest composers, Night of the Proms (NOTP.com) is one of Europe’s biggest annually organised indoor events.
With the 2022 edition including Amy Macdonald, Kool & the Gang, Bart Peeters, Axelle Red and Fine Fleur, the Antwerp Philharmonic Orchestra (AOP) and house band, NotP Backbone, the audio for this complex and demanding show was skilfully executed by a highly experienced team, who have relied on the quality, flexibility and reliability of DiGiCo consoles for many years, along with a KLANG immersive in-ear monitoring system for 2022, all supplied by PRG Belgium.
At front of house, Tom Vuerstaek, who also designs the audio system, took care of the final mix on a DiGiCo Quantum 7 and Philippe Bosm

Singapore - The latest edition of the world’s largest e-sports championship, Dota 2’s The International 2022, was held in Singapore at the end of last year and attracted 67.74m hours of worldwide viewing.
Singapore-based system integration company, Cgangs International Pte, partnered with the game’s developer, Valve, to create a Brompton Technology-powered virtual production set, used during the filming of the opening video and teaser campaign featuring the top four participating teams.
Cgangs was introduced to Valve via PGL, a renowned esports tournament organiser, to provide its cutting-edge virtual production services for the event.
"Our primary objective was to construct a temporary virtual production setup for Valve's pre-match and opening campaign," says Cgangs' director of strategic partnerships & business development, Alvin Lim. "These were used

World - Touring in support of fifth studio album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language, The 1975 turned to Eighth Day Sound.
“We’re collectively trying to make this the best-sounding show in any room that we go into, regardless of whether it's an acoustically or architecturally challenging one,” says FOH engineer, Lee McMahon.
Ready to react within the 112 input mix on his DiGiCo Quantum SD7, the nuances of the band’s live sound are driven by each band member - and can change at any moment.
“It's certainly the most complex show I've ever worked on, and I want that attention to detail to come across. It’s part sound reinforcement, part sound design, all audience/band interaction. When you have a two-hour long show, you have to manage everything down to the precise SPL exposure, so I really want to push and pull on the audience’s reactions and wh
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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

Mexico - Powersoft has announced NTX Distribution as its new distributor and service centre for Mexico.
NTX Distribution was established in 2013 with a mission to distribute top-quality brands within the custom electronics industry, with a focus on innovating with the products it distributes to offer an effective solution to be a reliable company to its customers. Providing a range of audio and video products, NTX Distribution has been working with many audio brands with international prestige, such as Lightware, 1 Sound, Renkus-Heinz, M&K, Martin Audio and Optimal Audio.
“We are very proud to be Powersoft’s representatives in Mexico. Powersoft is a great complement to our existing brands, providing complete AV solutions to our integrators for a wide array of applications,” says Edgar Alvarez, manager, and spokesperson for NTX Distribution.
The new di

UK - Now celebrating its 21st year of business, British loudspeaker manufacturer EM Acoustics will be returning to the Royal Armouries this May for the 2023 edition of PLASA Focus Leeds. EM Acoustics will be taking full advantage of the northern edition of the UK’s largest entertainment technology show to unveil the new, ultra-compact R5 loudspeaker. The R5 joins EM’s flagship Reference Series of low profile, ultra-high quality full range point source loudspeakers possessing extraordinarily flat frequency and phase responses.
“The R Series has proved spectacularly popular. A smaller box is a logical and welcome addition, in response to phenomenal customer demand,” says EM Acoustics brand manager, Greg Clarke. “As with the rest of the Reference family, the R5 offers high-quality point-source audio, exceptional headroom and wonderful musicality. The smaller form of t

Stream On - The success of artists like Taylor Swift and BTS helped global music revenues rise to $26.6bn (£21.7bn) last year, the highest level since records began in the 1990s. The growth was largely driven by streaming, which now accounts for 67% of the industry's earnings. Last year, 589m people paid for a subscription, said trade body the IFPI, up from 523m in 2021.
But labels say income could be higher, and are pushing for prices to rise. "It would help if music subscription pricing could reflect the realities of inflation," said Simon Robson, president of international markets for Warner Music.
The UK's largest streaming service, Spotify, hasn't increased its prices since launching in 2009, with an individual subscription set at £9.99. Most of its competitors maintain a similar pricing structure. Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl recently suggested that the US rat

France - The recent robotics exhibition at the Eurexpo Lyon in France saw the use of 20x Prolights Astra Wash19Pix and 24x Astra Wash7Pix lighting fixtures, at the FANUC stand, a Japanese automation company.
Camille Roblin, technical director at Toulouse-based events company SAS Melomane, commented: "I think Prolights is a wonderful brand with a great quality of fixtures. The Astra Wash19Pix has a powerful wash output, and the pixel ring give it some unique effects. I love their products, and it's great to see it being adopted more and more in France.”
The Astra Wash19Pix is a 19x40W RGBW moving wash light with 4°-54° zoom, pixel control and pixel ring. The Astra Wash7Pix has similar features but with 7x40W LEDs, and built in a compact form, providing silent operation, smooth and fast movements.
Over the past year, Prolights has launched several moving light

Bulgaria - Nova Broadcasting Group recently opened an ultra-modern studio complex of nearly 17,000sq.m in Sofia. To provide professional illumination in the new facility’s multiple studios, Nova Broadcasting Group worked with Elation distributor Luminis on a broadcast-optimised lighting solution.
Nova Broadcasting Group is one of the biggest multi-platform media and technology companies in Bulgaria, part of United Group, Southeast Europe’s leading telecom and media operator. The new facility, designed for high-quality television and radio production of international standards, features five television studios, four radio studios, spacious equipment rooms, editing rooms and newsroom. The capacity of the new studio complex allows Nova Broadcasting Group to produce impactful content using the latest technologies.
Luminis worked with a local lighting designer on the s

UK - Optimal Audio has announced the release of an all access WebApp Desktop Demo mode.
WebApp is the digital backbone of Optimal Audio’s ecosystem of controllers, amplifiers and loudspeakers providing a system integrator with the ability to configure an entire system of multiples zones in a venue, while presenting the end user with an intuitive and simple interface to control the sound system. Now, for the first time, anyone can experience both the simplicity and power of WebApp without the need for a Zone hardware unit.
The Desktop Demo, available on PC and Mac, offers a fully interactive experience of the intuitive nature of WebApp, and allows users to build confidence and familiarise themselves with this powerful tool.
Jamie Gomez, marketing manager commented: “One of the first things I recognised on joining was that if we could get the WebApp out to as

USA - Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) will be showcasing its complete range of line array solutions throughout the 2023 NAMM Show (Demo Booth 17221). The company is putting a spotlight on its newest offerings, including the KF210 2-way 2 X 10″ Line Array and the NTX210L Active 2-way 2 X 10″ Line Array, as well as the AC6 2-way Full Range ADAPTive Column Loudspeaker, with regular demonstrations throughout the show. These new products include both powered and passive options.
“Our goal is to never dictate to audio professionals what products or technologies they need to use, but to instead create tools that help them do their job and please their clients,” says TJ Smith, president of EAW. “The addition of KF210, NTX210L and AC6 to EAW’s broad catalogue offer exactly that: powered and passive solutions ideal for productions with small crews up to stadium-sized events.

UK - Headstock Group has announced the recruitment of Vincenzo Borrelli as business development manager for its HH brand. Vincenzo takes responsibility for the expansion of the distributor base for HH products across Europe, along with the ongoing development of domestic sales to the UK network.
James Laney, CEO for Headstock Group, comments: “We are very excited to have Vince working with us. His experience, knowledge and skill will certainly be a big asset to the growth of HH.”
Vincenzo adds: “I am really looking forward to the exciting challenge of increasing the HH profile and developing the distributor network across the regions.”
Ian Wright, director of international sales, says, “HH sales have continued to develop rapidly around the world over the past year. During the pandemic we took the chance to develop many new HH products and as things hav

UK - Event crewing specialist Showforce has announced that Becky Meers has been promoted to the role of head of operations UK & Europe. Becky will oversee the account management, crew management and operations functions for Showforce’s UK and European business.
Having joined Showforce’s Liverpool office in 2010 as an account handler, over the last few years, she has ran point on some of Showforce’s largest accounts and projects including Creamfields North and South, Cannes Lions, Glastonbury, Platinum Jubilee and The 150th Open.
The announcement follows the news that the company’s Liverpool office has been expanded as so many international events head to the city this year. The Showforce team is readying itself for a busy period as Eurovision fever grows and the build for the 151st Open beginning. Showforce’s Liverpool office has built an excellent reput

USA - For the creative team involved in designing the production for Daddy Yankee’s La Ultima Vuelta tour, the brief was quite simple, you create something “fit for a king”.
This was the directive that production designer Rodrigo Proal of Darmah Studios received when he was asked to work on the Puerto Rican born superstar’s 84-date official retirement tour of North and South America, which concluded with a January show in San Juan.
Proal, joined by a gifted and inspired creative team, didn’t disappoint either; the production they collaborated on, with its bold, vibrant colours, intense aerial effects, beautiful scenic elements, and evocative video content created by screens director Bianca Moncada, did justice to the career of the singer who is credited with coining the term ‘reggaeton’ and whose 2004 party favourite Gasolnina introduced modern Lat

UK - The natural sound of Point Source Audio’s SERIES8 CO-8WL omnidirectional microphones is helping the audio team at Kings Place enhance the sound for a variety of events. The central London venue hosts a wide range of events every day, from corporate presentations to live music and recording sessions. The new microphones are put to use daily across a wide range of these applications.
“The adventure with Point Source Audio started out with us looking for some new lav mics,” recalls Gerardo Marrone, audio & recording manager at Kings Place Music Foundation. “We had always used a different brand in the past, but we decided to try something else through our long-term supplier, Autograph Sound. We were looking for something that could work just as well but be more contained within the budget. They sent us a lot of options from various brands and quite a few models

New Zealand - Auckland based Spot-Light Systems – now part of the NEP Live Group – is among New Zealand’s leading lighting live show and event rental companies, and one that has continued to invest in Robe moving lights as the country emerged from the pandemic, adding 24 x MegaPointes, 12 x Tarrantulas to their existing fleets, and for the first time, 20 x Esprites joined the inventory.
While New Zealand managed – via strict quarantine and travel restorations – to keep Covid cases to a minimum, full-scale and capacity shows and live events did not properly re-start until several months into 2022, when things became busy, related Spot-Light Systems’ head of lighting, Matt Tong, and this is what drove these latest Robe purchases.
Business and enthusiasm for the arts, performance and events is now surpassing 2019 levels as promoters, organisations and event or

UK - Harris Academy based in St Johns Wood, London, is a high achieving secondary school that promotes creativity and academic scholarship. Keeping up with the latest technologies, Harris Academy upgraded their audio system including an installation of over 100 speakers and new cabling infrastructure to achieve an automatically timed class bell system and music at class change over time.
Following a site survey, specialists in audio visual design and integration, Excite AV had scoped a design proposal for the project that would deliver on the brief, in a very time pressured environment.
Gareth Thomas, Director at Excite Audio Visual LTD comments: “Working alongside the academic calendar meant this was very much a time critical project. Within two weeks of the site survey and proposal we were on to installation during the half term holiday, having the new system up a

UK - For nearly a decade, Martin Audio partner, Manchester-based VME, has been providing PA for major boxing events in the nation’s arenas, on an accelerating basis.
Starting out with an inventory of 48 MLA multicellular loudspeaker array enclosures, such has been the demand from this sector that the rental fleet has now more than doubled, and this month the rental company announced that it has increased its inventory of MLA family products to over 100. This makes VME one of the largest MLA rental stagers in the UK.
Explaining the underlying reason, operations manager Aaron Harvey-Holt says that this is in recognition of the fact that his company is now servicing over 40 events a year for TV transmission through Sky Sports, BT Sports and DAZN - all in major UK venues such as Wembley Stadium, Wembley OVO Arena, The O2 Arena, Cardiff International Arena and Manchester

UAE - Unusual Rigging & Engineering was the rigger of choice for IDEX – the largest defence exhibition in the Middle East – when it took place at ADNEC in Abu Dhabi last month. The show attracted over 130,000 visitors from 65 countries, with more than 1350 exhibitors across 165,000sq.m of space.
For such a prestigious and sizeable event, David McKean, head of mains and rigging services at ADNEC, brought Unusual Rigging on board to assist the venue rigging team in the installation and management of rigged items throughout all 15 halls for the event.
David commented: “The Unusual team works with us numerous times each year and are well versed in our expectations. This year there were over 100 stands, and Unusual received rigging plans from the rigging manager for each individual stand. From this they were required to mark out and provide both primary and secon

France - Recently renovated, the new Eurosport France set said goodbye to conventional fixtures to make way for the latest generation of LED luminaires. The compact and versatile Lonestar from ETC was the automated fixture of choice for Eurosport’s technical team and the lighting company Ar'Krys.
The main filming location at Eurosport France is a physical set with a large 20sq.m LED wall as a backdrop. Despite its 45sq.m of usable surface, it has everything you’d expect of a larger set, and can accommodate up to six presenters, columnists, and guests on the three benches and a standing position. Overhead, a grid of wash lights enables different colour combinations. It is complemented by 20 Lonestar fixtures, intended primarily for lighting the talent and effectively rendering skin tones.
The luminaires were carefully selected by Baptiste Arnaud-Benaïs and Georges

Australia - In the nine years between their 2013 debut album Atlas and now, Grammy Award-winning group Rüfüs Du Sol has undergone one name change, received three ARIA certifications – two platinum and one gold - for their style of house, electronica, and alternative dance music. Multi-citied continental tours have been the norm for the three-piece outfit.
Recently, Rüfüs Du Sol wrapped up an Australia-New Zealand tour of eight shows performed in four territories for over 30,000 people. For the concerts in Adelaide and Perth, tour promoters Fuzzy Entertainment chose L-Acoustics certified rental partner Novatech to supply sound, visual, lighting and communication solutions for the outdoor sites. The Novatech team’s open communication and collaborative style have made the company a returning partner for the band and mix engineer Cam Trewin.
Novatech was ta

Spain - K-array has announced a partnership with AdagioPRO, the audiovisual distributor in Southern Europe.
AdagioPRO, located in Barcelona, is well-known for its representation of innovative solutions in the AV market, with a strong focus on AV install and live events business verticals. As a part of this partnership, AdagioPRO will represent K-array's complete portfolio of solutions in Spain. This includes K-array and also KGEAR and KSCAPE, two of K-array's recent product lines. The AdagioPRO team will also provide dedicated support and training to ensure customers receive the highest level of service.
"We are thrilled to partner with AdagioPRO to bring our state-of-the-art audio solutions to the Spanish market," said Pablo Manoukian, LATAM and Spain area sales manager. "Their commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction aligns perfectly with our values, and we

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