France - With the new Kipstadium, Kipsta, a brand owned by Decathlon, has inaugurated a new way of playing a team sport. More than just a sports complex, Kipstadium was designed by Kipsta as a "user's observation centre", a place where amateur and professional athletes can interact with Kipsta staff, both to receive technical advice and to share exercise habits and needs. Everyone can participate in the creation and optimization of Kipsta products, while the renowned sports brand can improve the quality of its creations adapting them to the real needs of the end users according to their feedback.

Spanning over 45,000 m² equipped with 20 indoor and outdoor courts and pitches and a 900 m2 Kipsta store, Kipstadium allows sports lovers of every age and ability to practice i

USA - To expand its touring rental business, DBS Audio Systems, Inc. of Coatesville, Penn. has invested in a Meyer Sound Lyon linear sound reinforcement system in advance of a busy summer concert season.

"Lyon has won accolades from major artists and respected engineers and will give us an excellent position in the touring market," says Dave Brotman, DBS president. "The time is right for the upgrade, and we're excited to be the first rental company in the tri-state area to offer the most advanced loudspeaker technology available."

The system comprises 16 Lyon-M main and eight Lyon-W wide-coverage line array loudspeakers, in addition to six 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements. A Galileo Callisto loudspeaker management system with Galileo Callisto 616 array processors provides system drive and alignment.

In the next few months, the system is already sla

Italy - For EXPO 2015, hosted by Milan in Italy from 1 May until 31 October 2015, ACT lighting design was commissioned by Balich Worldwide Shows to create and develop the visual & lighting design of an iconic installationTree of Life / Albero della Vita.

The project was designed by Marco Balich and studio Gioforma, artistic director of the Italian Pavilion of Expo 2015. Balich was inspired by the drawing Michelangelo Buonarroti created for the piazza del Campidoglio in Rome. The structure was built by Orgoglio Brescia. Koert Vermeulen joined the creative team as Lighting Designer & Director of Mise-en-Scene.

The tree with its vertical, symbolic gesture is both an Italian and international icon representing nature as a source of life, but also symbolizing the many roots and metaphorical branches of the Italian excellence. This iconic structure symbolically offers its se

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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

UK - Allen & Heath has launched the Xone:43, a classic 4 + 1 channel analogue DJ mixer with a host of enhanced features, including the legendary Xone filters, X:FX routing, 3 band EQ, VCA faders, and adjustable crossfader.

At the heart of the mixer is the renowned analogue Voltage Control Filter (VCF) system offering HPF, BPF, LPF, frequency sweep and 'mild to wild' resonance control. The Xone:43's intuitive and simple to use X:FX feature provides a single control per channel over the send/return to work with external FX units. X:FX can also be routed to the Xone filter to add layers of FX and filtering.

In addition to the four phono/line channels, Xone:43 features a flexible mic / aux input with XLR and phono connectors and 2-band EQ for tonal balance. The replaceable crossfader has three curve settings and is also compatible with Innofader for enhanced scratch performance.

Germany - Robe goes Large at the 2015 Prolight+Sound expo in Frankfurt with an expanded booth and lots of action, showcasing 10 new products on Stands B51 and B61 in Hall 11.0.

These include the BMFL Blade - the next fixture in Robe's new signature Bright Multi-Functional Luminaire (BMFL) range, which joins the successful BMFL Spot, launched six months ago.

The latest additions to the DL range include the DL7S Profile, DL4X Spot, DL4S Profile and the DL4F Wash; there are two new versions of Robe's ParFect LED PAR fixture, a new LED batten fixture, the CycBar 15 as well as a brand new LED moving light spot fixture - VIVA.

Robe prepares to rock the LED strobe market with its innovative and powerful Strobe (pronounced stro-bay to rhyme with Robe). The Strobe from Robe brings the ultimate flash factor to any show or event!

In addition to these 10 exciting and diverse products,

Singapore - K-Pop singer and songwriter Taeyang recently played a show in Singapore with a lighting rig containing 30 x Robe BMFL Spots moving lights, supplied by leading rental company Showtec.

The Lighting designer, Mr. Juhyun Kim of Lite Factory in Korea, used them to replace another product for the show which was staged at the 6000 capacity Singapore Expo.

It was the first time Juhyun had used BMFL Spots and the lights were positioned above the stage and on side podiums, and used to flood the stage in white - incorporating the artists and his dancers - and also used for tight-spotting of Taeyang, as well as for beaming out into the audience and filling the space with aerial 'bursts' and other effects.

A full sized grandMA2 lighting console was used to run the show's lighting.

Taeyang's Singapore show followed another highly successful performance in Kuala Lumpur Malays

Canada - When Canadian alt-rock heroes The Tragically Hip put together a 2015 North American tour supporting the deluxe reissue of their 1992 studio classic, Fully Completely, the band's longtime audio provider, Solotech, made the decision to carry an audio system based entirely on L-Acoustics' K2 line array system.

"The Hip," as they are known to their legion of north-of-the-border fans, are touring behind the re-release of one of their biggest records, and the trek has been a "big deal" with staging that includes projection screens extending into areas normally reserved for the main PA hangs. This added to weight considerations that made the system design an even greater challenge than usual.

Jamie Howieson, well known for his work with Mumford & Sons among others, has been the Solotech systems engineer on the tour and discusses his thinking in put

France - The world-renowned flagship exhibit of Paris' National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), The Grand Gallery of Evolution, celebrated its 20-year anniversary by updating its lighting system that was originally implemented in 1994. The Gallery's centrepiece, which recreates the natural environment of the African Savanna with a caravan of animals, uses a sound and light show to recreate day/night cycles of the Savanna.

With outdated technology, high power consumption and the show playing twice a day for the past 15 years, the old system was in desperate need of an upgrade. To help revitalize the visitor experience, the MNHN brought in Martin Professional and over 200 Martin Tripix fixtures were installed throughout the gallery.

The MNHN wanted the lighting and sound to help create a sense of movement to the animals and Martin then developed a solution for the three main a

USA - A new whitepaper, titled The Three Pillars of Audio Networking sheds light on the critically important, but often overlooked elements that make up a complete audio networking solution. This whitepaper examines the roles played by solution execution, support, and product availability in delivering real-world interoperability. The report, written by Audinate, references parallels in the recent history of digital technology to shed light upon the factors that drive usage and compatibility.

The whitepaper provides new insights regarding: The tools OEMs, installation contractors and end users need to easily implement and deploy networked audio solutions; The importance of product development and support in the success of audio networking; Key factors that drive a broad ecosystem of compatible products, and The role played by underlying standards such as TCP/IP and AES67.

UK - Boston-based lighting designer Jeff Maker has utilised Avolites' Sapphire Touch consoles to control 'epic' looks, both pre-programmed and on the fly, for All Time Low's recent UK arena tour.

Co-headlining with You Me At Six, the American pop punks played such major venues as the Manchester Phones 4u Arena, and London's O2 and Wembley Arena.

Maker specified a powerful rig which included Clay Paky Mythos, Showline SL NITRO 510C and Robe BMFL fixtures, all controlled by an Avolites Sapphire Touch, alongside a second Sapphire Touch as backup.

Maker also used two Avolites Sapphire Touch consoles on the Wembley show. For the 'enhanced' Wembley performance, Maker worked with Video Design, RES and the band's camera director Richard Shipman to specify two Avolites Ai S4 media servers, with the second Sapphire Touch triggering media and effects from the S4.

"I've been usin

USA - Market of Choice is a regional grocery chain offering conventional, natural, organic, and health conscious products at nine locations in Oregon. Its large, modern stores include grocery, café and wine sections and emphasize high-quality background music to create a pleasant atmosphere for shoppers. The stores also require clear, intelligible voice paging for customer service.

Pro Sound and Video of Eugene, Oregon designed and installed the audio system for the newest Market of Choice location in Beaverton, Oregon.

Pro Sound's Anthony March says the stores are well-designed and attractive but different areas have different ceiling heights and ambient noise can vary significantly with location and with time of day.

March chose Community's D Series and C Series loudspeakers to provide high-quality audio throughout the store. Community DP6 pendant loudspeakers cover

UK - The current joint UK HQ for Studiomaster and Carlsbro sales distribution and service is expanding to take on the role of a northern European logistics centre for the two marques. Studiomaster and Carlsbro product development and engineering will remain at the Milton Keynes site.

With the move, the Milton Keynes HQ will now directly supply retailers and resellers in Great Britain and most of mainland northern Europe. Sales agents are already appointed for France and Benelux, with appointments for Germany and Austria to follow imminently.

Current distributor agreements for existing distribution in Europe, including in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Eire, Norway, Poland, Hungry and Slovenia, for both Studiomaster and Carlsbro, are to remain in effect and will not be included in the new centralized arrangements for other territories.

Speaking on the announcement of the new logisti

UK - The 2015 Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) has launched and submissions are already coming in for Television and Concert Touring and Events.

This year marks the eighth KOI Awards, which celebrates the creative talents of international lighting and digital content designers working in the UK in the sectors of TV, Theatre and Concert Touring and Events.

With a new award category in Concert Touring and Events for smaller club venues, this year's KOI will widen its reach to celebrate LDs from all stages and scales of touring. Concert Touring and Events is also welcoming a new member of the judging panel in the form of Total Production International magazine editor, Kelly Murray.

Submissions are open for the Television and Concert Touring and Events categories and shows performed or broadcast between 1 August 2014 and 31 July 2015 in the UK are eligible. As with pre

Europe - Designed to work in conjunction with its revolutionary uTrack 24 24 track live recorder/player, Cymatic Audio has announced the release of the uRemote app.

Available as either an OS X or Windows application for the Apple App Store, uRemote allows you to control all functions of the uTrack 24 wirelessly, using your iPhone, iPad, tablet or laptop/desktop computer.

Cymatic Audio has been taking note of all feedback and constructive input over the past few months in order to bring this to the market, which is sure to make using the uTrack 24 even easier and more intuitive for the operator.

In order to get the uRemote app up and running, make sure you update your uTrack 24 to the latest 2469 version firmware from www.cymaticaudio.com/downloads.

(Jim Evans)

Germany - At Frankfurt this year, Pan Acoustics will feature the Dante option for Pan Beam series, Pan Speaker series and Pan Powerline.

The Dante option offers some interesting features: for example, Pan Beam columns can be operated with two independent audio streams with a sampling frequency of up to 192 kHz. The priority circuit in the Pan Beam columns allows automatic switchover of the audio source, for instance switching between programme and announcement signals.

Pan Acoustics' Dante option provides a primary and secondary port, which can be used in redundant or daisy-chain mode. The latter enables other compatible Dante devices, such as a digital stagebox, to be added into the network. Pan Beam models can be set and monitored via the Dante audio network (directivity, EQ, delay, etc) Switching presets, saved in the Pan Beam column speakers, is also possible.

The Pan Sp

Germany - Panasonic will present a 3D video mapping, on a scale model of the Bucharest Palace of Parliament, at Prolight+Sound 2015 in Frankfurt.

Using the newly launched DZ21K Evo series and the all new PT-DZ780, Panasonic will recreate a 3D video mapping projection used to celebrate the 555th anniversary of Bucharest, on the façade of Ceausescu's People's Palace.

The DZ21K2 Evo maintains the 20,000 lumens brightness of the original DZ21K, but features extended lamp life, lower operating noise, improved image clarity and connection, thanks to DIGITAL LINKTM compatibility and two 3G-SDI inputs.

"The projection mapping we'll have on our stand, delivered by our new flagship projector is incredibly impressive. It illustrates perfectly how scalable our projection solutions for rental and staging are," said Jan Markus Jahn, European director of visual system solutions

Denmark - Pascal A/S, manufacturer of high power pro audio OEM amplifier modules, has appointed Aage Hejgaard as key account manager. The appointment and creation of the new position, is in direct response to the continuing growing rate of expansion of the company's business.

Hejgaard joins Pascal with a 15 year career in sales, marketing and business development roles within the IT and digital signage industries.

Welcoming Hejgaard to the company, sales director Peter Frentz said, "We are experiencing a increasing rate of growth in both sales and customers which has required us to look to appoint someone especially skilled in customer orientated business development."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Stage Electrics' hire department has announced a Product Showcase at its Bristol headquarters to give customers an opportunity to try out some of the latest in professional audio, lighting and video technology.

The event is being held on Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th April. Products being put through their paces include: Clay Paky Mythos & Sharpy Wash, Martin Professional MAC Quantum Profile &

MAC Aura XB, the Roland V-800HD vision mixer, L'Acoustics ARCS Wide & Focus system, as well Yamaha and DiGiCo audio consoles plus two new lighting consoles; the Zero 88 FLX and the MA dot2.

Business development manager Mark Burnett commented: "We have made some significant investments in the Stage Electrics hire inventory in the last few months and customers have been asking for an opportunity to get their hands on the equipment and really put it through its paces. The aim of

UK - Two years on from laying the foundation stone, Derby Arena was officially opened to the public on Friday 20 March complete with a sizeable d&b audiotechnik T-Series sound system supplied by Orbital Sound. The new venue incorporates a 250m indoor cycle track - only the fifth of its kind to open in the UK - as well as being designed to stage large cultural events, exhibitions, product launches and conferences, with a seated capacity of up to 3500 and up to 5000 capacity seated and standing.

Derby Arena is a key addition to the city's sporting and cultural facilities, taking the lead as Derbyshire's largest venue. In its capacity as an event venue it comes under the responsibility of Derby LIVE, the Council's entertainment arm, which is responsible for managing all of the venues and outdoor events.

Headed up by production and technical manager Gareth Chell, Derby LIVE was gi

UK - Neg Earth has announced that the company remains operational following the fire which devastated its Park Royal warehouse during the early hours of Thursday 2 April.

A statement issued by the company says:

As you may be already be aware, Neg Earth Lights Ltd's building in Western Road, NW10 was subject to extensive fire damage in the early hours of Thursday 2nd April 2015.

Fortunately, no one was hurt and despite the damage, you can be assured that Neg Earth Lights remains operational.

Email and phone contact details are unchanged.

If you have any questions please contact Lindsey Markham at lindsey@negearth.co.uk or on 07557 430908 in the first instance.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support, good wishes and offers of assistance which have been truly appreciat

USA - On Wednesday 13 May 2015 at the Cinespace Chicago Film Studios Ballroom on the west side of downtown Chicago, DPA Microphones, Lectrosonics and Sound Devices will host the Sound Summit, Chicago (www.thesoundsummit.org/chicago), the second of many being planned throughout the US as an informal mixing and discussion event for the audio community.

These three manufacturers are on the cutting edge of professional location audio capture, with leading products commonly used in the field, including DPA's d:screet 4061 and 4071 Miniature Microphones, d:screet Necklace Microphone and d:dicate 4017B Shotgun Microphone; Lectrosonics' new L Series units, SSM 'Super Slight' micro transmitter and SR Series receivers with SuperSlot compatibility; Sound Devices 688 Field Production Mixer with SL-6 SuperSlot accessory and the 970 64-Track Dante and MADI Audio Recorder.

The event will be

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