Details
UAE - Home to 1,200 retail businesses and covering 1.1m square miles, The Dubai Mall is the world's largest shopping and entertainment destination to date, according to the Construction Week website. To provide intelligible yet discreet background music for shoppers, 939 Meyer Sound MM-4XP self-powered loudspeakers have been installed. Dubai-based Mediatech Design Group (MDG) designed the system, with Abu Dhabi-based Systech Middle East handling installation and integration.

"MDG has successfully specified Meyer Sound products on a number of projects in the past where performance was critical, so it was logical for us to consider them again for The Dubai Mall," says Ged King, CEO and founder of MDG, a company with extensive experience in shopping mall AV design installat

Details
Belgium - Luc Peumans of Belgian creative design practice Painting With Light produced the full visual design - set, lighting and video - for Music Hall Events' striking new production of Grease which recently played shows in Brussels and Antwerp.

Peumans worked in close collaboration with the ceative director Bart Colby-Doerfler with whom he had also worked on the Holiday On Ice Speed show in 2012, and together they developed the concept for this highly visual, contemporary version of Grease.

The idea was to take Grease into the 21st century offering up a really rock 'n' roll version of the classic 1950's high school musical romance, complete with lots of cars, action, energy and excitement. The show also involved some elaborate props, and all elements of the production had to be made tourable for potential work in the future.

Technical Production was i

Details
UK - Trade-only visual specialist PSCo has announced the signing of an exclusive distribution agreement with Absen Optoelectronics, a market leading Chinese manufacturer of LED displays. The partnership unites the expertise and experience of both companies to offer customers in the UK access to the very latest LED displays with a dedicated local service centre and in-house technical support for both rental and fixed installations.

Stuart Holmes, CEO of PSCo, said, "We have reviewed a number of different LED manufacturers, asked our partners for their feedback and researched the market in which we operate, ensuring we can offer the right solution for our customers. Our criteria was simple; we needed a partner that produces the latest high resolution LED products for both rental and fixed installation at a very competitive price, with a strong investment in R&D to ensure inno

featured content

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

Details
UK - Michael Starr, Satchel, Lexxi Foxx and Stix Zadinia, collectively known as Steel Panther, launched their new album with a bang as they kicked it off with a sold out European tour, March 2014. The success of the spandex-clad 80's rockers continues to soar, they are now currently touring in the US. PRG supported them along the way.

Production manager Gary Crosniak and lighting designer Ali Pike toured through mainland Europe with a PRG supplied floor package of GLP X4s and RZ 120s. This grew into a full-scale production with a full lighting rig and complete video and camera system as they hit the UK on their S.T.D world tour, with award winning Video Director Chris Keating joining them for the ride.

"PRG came to play when I needed them the most," comments Gary, "they put together an affordable package that we dragged through the all of Europe, that looked ama

Details
USA - Mixing multiple wedges and in-ear mixes for a large band with a dynamic musical set requires a flexible console that can quickly be operated manually. For this reason, an SSL Live console is on the road with iconic Latin rocker Carlos Santana, whose perennial monitor engineer, Brian Montgomery, is using it to mix both stereo wedges for Carlos and IEMs for his band. Following last winter's residency at Mandalay Bay's House of Blues (HoB), Santana has been globetrotting, making stops at the Dubai Jazz Festival, Johannesburg's FNB Stadium, Cape Town's Grand Arena and the New Orleans Jazz Festival as part of its Corazon tour. Carlos and his crew will then join Rod Stewart for The Voice, The Guitar, The Songs tour this spring and summer.

Carlos is the winner of nine Grammy Awards - the most for a single project - for Supernatural, which revitalized his career, leading to

Details
The Netherlands - With Yamaha's CL series digital mixing consoles well-established in the professional audio and broadcast industries, an increasing number of educational establishments are specifying them to give students the most up-to-date hands-on experience. Amsterdam School of the Arts is the latest example.

Amsterdam School of the Arts comprises six educational facilities offering graduate and postgraduate level courses: the Academy of Fine Art in Education, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Netherlands Film Academy, Reinwardt Academy, Amsterdam Academy of Architecture and de Theaterschool.

The latter offers courses ranging from scenography, directing and vocal performance to production and stage management. Theaterschool's Department of Technical Theatre Arts recently purchased a Yamaha CL system to replace a previously-installed Yamaha DM1000 mixer.

Duivendrecht-based A

Details
USA - Bandit Lites continued its charitable giving with Red, White & Rock: an Evening of Music benefitting the American Red Cross. The event, which featured a performance by country music super star Sara Evans, was held 24 April at Scripps Networks Interactive headquarters. Bandit's director of philanthropy, Allison Burchett was the event chair this year following being on the Red White & Rock committee last year.

"Since it is named red, white and rock, I really wanted to step it up this year musically, and I think we nailed it," explained Allison Burchett.

The event, whose funds all stay local to the Knoxville area, took place at a television studio at Scripps Networks Interactive, home to HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, and the Travel channel.

Lighting designer Giff Swart utilized the wide array of house lights, and then added White Spandex truss socks and White

Details
The Netherlands - In the Noord Holland city of Alkmaar cheese is the driving force behind the local economy. As one of the oldest cheese markets in the country, Alkmaar is especially proud of its heritage.

Thousands of visitors descend on the Waagplein (Weighing Square) to take in the delights of the four hundred year old market, held every Friday morning during the summer months. Exactly the right spot for a venue offering all day food and night time club entertainment to establish itself. A decision as sharp, in fact, as a really ripe wedge of aged Gouda.

On the western side of the ancient square is Mojo's, boasting a vintage façade that has not altered in decades but hiding a modern interior of glass and steel within. After hearing a d&b audiotechnik Q-Series system in a local club where he was particularly struck by the directional accuracy of the loudspeakers as well as

Details
UK - Specialist electrical contractor, The Technical Department, has recently moved to larger offices in Guildford, Surrey and has strengthened their team by appointing two new technical managers.

Jerry Singleton, MD, comments, "Our move to larger premises brings together under one roof our office staff, warehouse facilities and workshop, allowing us to have instant access to the equipment and respond to requests for dry hire immediately. In addition, we are delighted with the appointment of both Jeff Jones and Phil King who bring to the team a great depth of knowledge and experience.

"Our installation of the pixels in the stadium at the London 2012 Olympics raised our profile considerably and we are continuing to see the benefits of this. We are particularly proud to have provided the generators and electrical services at G8 in 2013."

The Technical Department

Details
UK - Leading polymer specialist, igus UK, will be exhibiting its innovative range of cable management systems, flexible cables and bearings solutions for the theatre industry at the ABTT Show in London next month. Visitors to the igus stand will also see live demonstrations of its solutions as well as meet industry experts.

igus supplies a wide range of energy chains for the theatre and entertainment industry, enabling theatre technicians to easily manage cables, and the company's compact energy chains have proven particularly popular in lifts, stages and lighting rigs. The reliable energy chain solutions include unsupported or gliding energy chains for horizontal energy supply, hanging and standing chains for vertical energy supply, as well as special solutions for rotating or retracting motion.

At this year's show, igus will be showcasing its innovative e-spool - a new gener

Details
France - The former auditoria of the Cinematheque Francaise have been transformed into Yoyo, a new space in the famous Parisian arts complex, the Palais de Tokyo. With a capacity of 300 seats (500 standing) in the largest room, Yoyo will be able to host conferences, concerts, fashion shows, parties and film screenings. This private-hire space also features Nexo's Geo S12 line array system paired with LS18 subs, the first to be installed in Paris.

The loudspeakers for the new Yoyo space are not the first to be installed in the Palais de Tokyo. In early 2013, the installation company Nanolink fitted a Geo S8 compact line array into the übercool Monsieur Bleu restaurant and bar. With its 7m height, the venue was able to accommodate Nexo CD12 subbass cabinets in the ceiling. GEO S12 cabinets were installed outside on the famous terrace, with its enviable view of the Eiffel Tower.

Details
UK - Hot on the heels of its UK debut at PLASA Focus: Leeds, Chauvet Professional has announced a day of hands-on introduction to launch the groundbreaking Chauvet Professional Rogue range of fixtures, to be held at the Leighton Buzzard premises of Leisuretec Distribution, on Tuesday, 13 May, 2014.

The four models of the Rogue series comprise two power output levels of moving head spot fixtures and moving beam luminaires. Chauvet Europe General Manager, Michael Brooksbank, illustrates, "Rogue is unique in offering such outstanding performance with so many features for its price. Rogue will allow designers on a limited budget to create some very intense, high-impact designs with crisp beams, bright colours, aerial effects and split colours that may have been out of reach to them in the past because the budget wasn't there."

Rogue R1 Spot is powered by a 140W LED for a

Details
UK - SSE Audio Group has appointed Peter Codron as sales & installations manager, based at the company's London office and warehouse in Park Royal.

This appointment strengthens the Group's London operations, ensuring that customers in London and the South East are fully served. Peter has worked in the audio industry for all his career, first in the rentals business, before developing his own successful recording studio in the '90s. He then moved into the sales side of the industry, where he has worked for the last decade at Entec.

In his new role, Peter will represent SSE and Wigwam Acoustics in the capital and will help to strengthen the company's position as a d&b audiotechnik sales partner - a brand that Peter has considerable experience with. SSE is already well established in the capital as an audio installations company, but the business has recently been looking to expa

Details
Spain - Having worked with many European venues and festivals such as SONAR, Intermusic and Sonimag , freelance sound engineer Julian Zafra has decades worth of experience in the business of sound.

Collaborating with artists on areas such as design and installation, Zafra's years of experience means that these days, he has no trouble in identifying the right gear to fit the latest job. When he was recently tasked with working on the Milano jazz club installation project in Barcelona, he could think of only one loudspeaker brand that would meet the high expectations of the job at hand.

The Milano Jazz Club is famous throughout the city and Spain as a whole, and is one of the most prestigious music venues for Jazz aficionados in the Catalan region and beyond. For a live music venue such as this, sound is everything, and can define the venue's reputation, as well as that of the p

Details
UK - The Technical Theatre Awards, which celebrates the outstanding achievements of people working behind the scenes, has launched its 2014 'bigger, better, brighter' event with a call for sponsors and nominations.

The TTAs debuted at PLASA 2013 at London's ExCel to credit the often unsung heroes working backstage to make theatre magic happen.

With the guidance of TTA co-creators Ian Taylor and Olivia Dermot Walsh the event attracted immediate support from some of the biggest names and companies in the industry, including Philips Entertainment, PRG, and Triple E, all of which are sponsoring awards again in 2014.

"The idea of the TTA awards is to highlight the work and effort of the people behind the scenes who are so often overlooked," says Ian Taylor. "I think it's important to recognise and acknowledge the diverse talents of backstage workers in all their gu

Details
UK - Backstage Academy in Wakefield has a few places remaining on its Event Safety Passport (SPA) course this Monday 12 May.

The one-day training course is designed to provide those working in the live events industry with an awareness of health and safety issues whilst on site. Upon completion of the course delegates are issued with a passport style ID card, which is a nationally recognised qualification that proves the individual's competence regarding best practice and improves their employability.

The Safety Passport Scheme was designed by the Safety Pass Alliance (SPA) and the Production Services Association (PSA) to provide employers with a benchmark to measure an employee or freelancer's basic knowledge of health and safety. Backstage Academy is an accredited trainer for the Safety Pass Alliance.

(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - The Music Faculty at the University of Oxford and leading audio specialist Sennheiser UK have announced the first Oxford/Sennheiser Electronic Music Prize [OSEMP]. OSEMP has been developed as an annual event to help promote innovative and communicative electronic music composition in the UK.

Sennheiser, known for their long-standing support of various educational bodies, have provided generous prizes for first, second and third place. Finalists will be notified in October 2014 and will then be invited to take part in the OSEMP showcase event in Oxford on 8 November 2014, with the three winners being announced at the conclusion of the concert, partly on the basis of their performances.

Finalists will also receive a vinyl copy of patten's Estille Naiant, kindly donated by Warp Records.

Confirmed jury panel members for the event include notable electro-acoustic composers,

Details
South Africa - MGG Productions has an envious history of supplying both state-of-the-art equipment for sound, lighting, video and staging, and technical services to the broadest range of entertainment disciplines. Earlier this year, it took delivery of South Africa's first DiGiCo SD Ten console from DiGiCo's South African distributor Tadco, adding to its existing SD11.

Apart from DiGiCo's sonic performance and features, the International acceptability, software upgrades, service and back up made the SD Ten an easy choice, and MGG quickly put it to work doing two gigs back-to-back at the Metro FM Awards and Discovery Leadership Awards.

The Metro FM Awards saw the SD Ten at the Front of House position, operated by Adriaan van der Walt, with MGG's Fanie Pieterse as system tech. The console was connected to an SD-Rack via fibre with a DiGiCo Little Blue Box used to connect to a D-

Details
UK - UK-based technical solutions and video specialist Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) kicked off 2014 with a busy schedule and a proactive programme of shopping which sees major investments in new projectors, screens, cameras, media servers, sound and lighting equipment to help facilitate an expected busy year ahead.

The purchases include premium brands like Avolites, Barco, Clay Paky, Clearcom, d&b, ETC, Panasonic and Yamaha.

CPL's MD Matthew Boyse explains that a robust start to the year included a series of bold procurements which were "A mix of completely new purchases and others that give us the latest versions of popular and favourite items".

Stocks of Panasonic projectors have been boosted, together with those of Sony HXC100 broadcast quality HD cameras and Samsung LED screens / monitors.

There's been an all-round increase in demand for specialist project

Details
South Africa - When the Youth Theatre Project, an innovative by PANSA, kicked off with a script writers course at the start of this year in the Eastern Cape, it was the start of a long list of other workshops, presented free of charge, to young people between the ages of 15 and 25.

The next upcoming course, a two day seminar on lighting, will be presented by David Limbert and Dave Whitehouse of DWR Distribution on 17 and 18 May 2014 at the Savoy Theatre in Adcockvale.

"A lot of work has gone into this project," said David Limbert, who is the head of the Eastern Cape Branch of the Performing Arts Network of South Africa (PASA) and who came up with this incentive which is funded by Africalia, a Belgium based theatre development organisation. "It could not have happened without lots and lots of people giving up their time and energy to make it possible. This is not

Details
UK - Projection specialists Projection Artworks has worked with the Lift Agency to produce an electrifying video-mapping show for the launch of Mark Cavendish's collaboration with cycling brand Specialized, following the launch of his CVNDSH brand last summer.

The 90-second show - which was custom-designed to fit the unique architecture of the Yard in Shoreditch - was the centrepiece of a press event unveiling the cycling star's exclusive line of high-performance activewear and cycling accessories. It centred around six arch-shaped alcoves surrounding the audience and featured bespoke 3D sound design, immersing VIPs and press in the fast-paced world of CVNDSH.

Like Cavendish, the range is built for speed, so the projection featured blue-screen footage of him cycling at top speed and lightning-fast tracelines in his signature emerald green. It also included hero shots of the ra

Page 3154 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .