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16 July 2025

Italy - Event technology specialists, Agorà, won the European tender for the construction of an audio and video distribution system, intended for the 2025 Jubilee celebrations in St. Peter's Square, Rome.

Following the death of His Holiness Pope Francis, the system was also used for the solemn funeral, the proclamation of Habemus Papam and the subsequent inauguration events of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, with an estimated participation of between 60,000 and 150,000 people.

In the tender notice, the customer expressly requested visually discreet solutions for both the support structures and the audio system, indicating the K-array Firenze KH7 loudspeaker as a specific reference. The installation, which remained operational for almost two months, served two main areas.

Zone 1 included Via della Conciliazione, Piazza Pia, Piazza Pio XII

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16 July 2025

Germany - Perched dramatically 454m high in Germany's Harz Mountains, the historic Harzer Bergtheater is an open-air cultural landmark facing extraordinary operational challenges due to its exposed mountain environment. Following a comprehensive five-year renovation, the venue's new management aimed to attract high-calibre performers and expand their summer programming, requiring a professional sound solution to replace previous rental systems.

The venue presented two formidable obstacles: extraordinarily steep audience seating demanding precise coverage, and strict safety regulations requiring complete removal of the main sound system nightly due to unpredictable mountain weather conditions.

"The venue presents a truly unique situation," explains Alexander Schad, CEO of session-pro, an L-Acoustics certified partner who collaborated with consultant M

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16 July 2025

France - The Rockstore has been the beating heart of the live music scene in the French city of Montpellier ever since 1986 when Level 42 played to a sold-out crowd at this club on its opening night.

More than 4,500 concerts later and Rockstore now takes the music outside into the Occitanie summer sunshine with Club Peyrou at Le Peyrou, usually a peaceful location for picnickers and promenaders but, on June 28th, the site of an electro and funk festival for 3,500 people.

The local branch of production technology specialists Texen rigged the stage with Nexo Geo M12 for a diverse lineup including DJ sets from French music duo Polo & Pan and Dabeull.

“We flew main left and right line arrays of 11 x Geo M12 with adjacent hangs of six MSUB18, plus six Nexo STM S118 subs on the ground for additional LF impact,” reports Texen’s Nicolas Bel

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16 July 2025

USA - The near-20,000-capacity Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio features the world’s first installation of GLP’s Mad Maxx CW LED fat-beam searchlights. This will give the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team and Cleveland Monsters ice hockey team, who share the facility, a dynamic rock’n’roll-style environment to enhance the matchday experience.

The Mad Maxx units were specified by production designer Eric Wade, creative director and vice-president of Dallas, Texas-based Crossfade Design.

Billed as the first true fat-beam LED fixture, with a massive 750mm beam diameter, Mad Maxx’s wide light output matches the beam’s diameter, which is adjustable by a virtual iris, while the colour wheel provides an extra layer of animation. This gives the fixture an imposing presence.

Crossfade had serviced the Rocket Arena for around a decade, and

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16 July 2025

Vietnam - Harman Professional Solutions, in collaboration with AV integration partner Ba Sao Audio, recently deployed – in Ho Chi Minh City – one of the region’s first large-scale spatial audio deployments for live theatre.

The production CHÀO celebrates Vietnamese heritage through traditional music, narrative design and immersive technologies, all powered by a fully integrated Harman Professional Solutions system across the brand portfolio, including JBL Professional, FLUX::, BSS, and others.

Conceived by Nguyễn Khắc Anh, CEO of Ba Sao Investment, with technical direction by Vũ Hữu Thắng, CHÀO reimagines Vietnamese heritage through a compelling fusion of traditional music, dynamic visuals, and immersive sound design. The performance features an original orchestral suite with 30 traditional Vietnamese instruments, s

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16 July 2025

Finland - A destination for beer aficionados, the OLVI Foundation Brewery Museum offers an opportunity to delve into the history and traditions of Finnish beer brewing. Located in Iisalmi – which also happens to be the home of loudspeaker manufacturer Genelec – this is Finland’s only brewery museum open to the public.

At its heart is a new immersive installation titled The Spirit of OLVI. Built into a custom-designed five-sided space, it invites visitors into a multi-sensory experience that uses light, image, vibration, and spatial sound to explore the 145-year history of Finland’s last major independent brewery. The system behind it is entirely bespoke – and is powered by a sophisticated Genelec loudspeaker setup.

Janne Lankinen, COO of Finnish integrator 4business, led the technical design of the museum alongside creative partner

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16 July 2025

Canada - Kramer has ‘revolutionised’ teaching and learning at John Abbott College in Quebec, bringing all-new connected capabilities and possibilities to classrooms using a range of advanced AV over IP solutions.

In response to a rapidly growing student population and limited campus space, the new dynamic classroom complex, led by Canadian integration partner AVI-SPL in collaboration with Kramer, delivers scalable, flexible and user-friendly learning environments.

With a campus area of 1,600 acres, John Abbott College is an English-language public college located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, near the western tip of the Island of Montreal. Faced with the daunting challenge of creating additional teaching space without undertaking a major construction project, the college took a modular approach to increase classroom capacity.

Completed in j

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15 July 2025

France - changeNOW, the European sustainability summit, presents an audio engineer's ultimate challenge: 20 simultaneous performance zones operating across Paris's reverberant Grand Palais. The three-day event hosts 40,000 attendees from 140 countries in a format that combines international conferences with live artistic performances.

Six main stages plus 14 additional performance areas must function simultaneously throughout the event, creating massive sound spill challenges in the glass-domed venue. Previous editions relied on headphone systems to solve the interference problem, but this isolated audience members in individual audio bubbles.

This year, changeNOW and events agency Moma Event - led by production director Catherine Durand and technical director Olivier Duraton - challenged Fleik, their audio partner to eliminate those headphones entir

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15 July 2025

Italy - Cesare Cremonini, one of Italy’s most prominent artists, with a solo career spanning more than 20 years, is currently on tour with a lighting design featuring Ayrton Mamba and Cobra laser-sourced lighting fixtures.

The Cremonini LIVE25 tour comprises 13 sold-out shows in some of Italy’s largest stadiums, with multiple dates across cities including Rome, Milan, Bologna and Bari.

Mamo Pozzoli, the tour’s lighting designer and a long-time Cesare collaborator, created a powerful and innovative lighting plot characterised by multiple moving circular structures and a strong focus on graphic fixtures.

Set within this vast design, dominated by a massive ultra-wide LED wall, Mamo carefully selected and positioned a number of high-performance beam units, namely 16 Ayrton Mamba and 48 Ayrton Cobra fixtures, all of which are situat

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15 July 2025

Singapore - Martin Professional’s MAC Viper XIP lighting fixtures made their debut theatrical performance at this year’s Shakespeare in the Park Singapore, bringing a bold and atmospheric visual dimension to the critically acclaimed production of Macbeth. Held under the stars at Fort Canning Green, the event marked a milestone in outdoor theatrical lighting with the debut of Martin’s weatherproof moving head fixtures in a major Southeast Asian theatrical production.

Presented by Singapore Repertory Theatre, Macbeth ran more than 20 performances between 7 May and 1 June, 2025. The production drew thousands of attendees over its run, reaffirming Shakespeare in the Park’s status as a cultural highlight in Singapore’s arts calendar.

This isn’t Martin’s first foray into Shakespeare in the Park. In

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15 July 2025

Brazil - Companhia de Luz is a busy rental and production company based in Rio de Janeiro, which is headed by lighting designer / DoP Arthur Farinon and this year is celebrating its 40th year since being founded by Arthur’s father, Juarez, in 1985.

The company has invested steadily in Robe moving lights for some years, starting with LEDWash 600s over 10 years ago, which they needed at the time to service both live and television projects, and these have since been added to with LEDWash 1200s, LEDBeam 150s, Pointes, BMFLS, RoboSpots, and most recently, iFortes.

Arthur explained that they are “big fans” of Robe and now have nearly 400 Robe products in rental stock, which are in constant use. They are utilised on Arthur’s own design projects plus numerous others that Companhia de Luz services as a premium quality rental partner.

Juarez F

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15 July 2025

UK - Venue Cymru, North Wales’ largest and most versatile performance venue, has completed a transformative upgrade to its lighting infrastructure, partnering with White Light, a d&b solutions company, to deliver a future-ready, energy-efficient solution that meets the demands of modern touring productions, local performances, and broadcast events alike.

The project, part one funded by Arts Council Wales, and part two funded by the Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns initiative, marks a significant step forward for the council-run venue, which hosts everything from West End touring shows and opera to conferences and TV recordings.

With original fixtures dating back to the venue’s opening in 1994, the need for a modern, flexible lighting system was clear. “We’re a multi-purpose venue with a very busy programme,” comments Steve Cridge

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15 July 2025

Norway - Perched atop the historic Folketeater Building in Oslo, Byens Tak is an event space that offers stunning panoramic views of the cityscape, fjords, and surrounding forests. Once known as Stratos, this 12th-floor venue has long been a hub for cultural and social gatherings.

When Rodeo Architects took over the space, they envisioned a venue that blended modern functionality with its rich historical character. To achieve this, they needed a dynamic audio solution that could deliver quality sound while preserving the venue’s aesthetic integrity. That’s where Renkus-Heinz came in.

Byens Tak is a versatile space, hosting everything from corporate events and conferences to concerts, club nights, and private celebrations. The venue’s architectural heritage presented a set of challenges for audio installation. With its long, narrow layout and in

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15 July 2025

UK - As the first higher education facility in the UK to bring an esports broadcast course to market, the University of Staffordshire offers students professional-level training in state-of-the-art facilities.

The spaces provided to students at the University’s Stoke-on-Trent campus include a 60-seater esports arena, two broadcast galleries and well-equipped studio. Created as part of a recent multi-million pound expansion project, the facility can be run in parallel (with one gallery linked to the arena and the other to the studio), or as one large production suite.

Digital Garage (UK integrator and supplier) partnered with Audio-Technica on the audio components of the esports broadcast facilities. This was delivered via network solutions, including eight channels of Audio-Technica 3000 Series Digital wireless and two Allen & Heath Avantis dig

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15 July 2025

UK - Ian Livie Lighting, the Birmingham-based lighting rental company with over four decades of industry experience, has made a substantial investment in Martin's new MAC Aura Raven XIP fixtures, from exclusive UK distributor, Live Technology. The investment, the first rental inventory of Ravens in stock in the UK, marks a strategic shift for the company with its investment in future-proof technology.

Founded by Ian Livie in the 1980s, the company began as a small operation selling DJ lighting equipment. Over the years, the company evolved from a one-man-and-van operation into a respected rental house, working with major touring artists including Joe Bonamassa, Missy Elliott, and Robert Plant, as well as providing lighting for architectural projects and festivals across the UK.

The company's journey through the industry's evolution has given Livie in

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15 July 2025

UK - Martin Audio’s Blackline Series of affordable professional loudspeakers has been available for over 25 years.

BlacklineQ provides ‘a comprehensive reimagining’ of this series. The nine-strong product range comprises improved passive two-way point source loudspeakers, all-new column speakers and a suite of subwoofers. The entire series features intelligent design details, making it equally at home in portable or install applications, such as portable sound reinforcement for live sound, theatre, DJs and corporate events; unobtrusive stage monitoring; and permanent installation in clubs, hospitality venues, conference rooms and houses of worship.

In sync with Martin Audio’s design philosophy, BlacklineQ extolls the virtue of meticulous driver design to deliver improved coverage, consistency and control. For the first time in its class, both

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15 July 2025

UK - Celestion has introduced the Truvox 1225, a new 12-inch mid-bass driver offering ‘exceptional performance at a highly competitive price point’.

Designed for two- and three-way sound reinforcement systems, the Truvox 1225 is available through retailers, making it an option for DIY builders or as a drop-in replacement/upgrade to rejuvenate overworked PA set-ups, by restoring the energy, richness and emotional impact of the mid-bass-frequency domain. The driver will also be available as standard to manufacturers, direct from Celestion, in OEM quantities.

With a continuous power handling of 600 watts and a rated, high-sensitivity efficiency of 96dB, the Truvox 1225 will provide "years of unwavering service in high-powered full-range systems in small or medium-sized venues".

Several aspects of the Truvox 1225’s construction contribute t

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15 July 2025

Sponsorship - A ban on sponsors with links to fossil fuels could put "incredibly important organisations" in danger, the parliamentary under-secretary for energy has warned. During a government debate about a proposed tobacco-style ban on adverts and sponsors with links to fossil fuels, another minister claimed that environmental activists forcing corporate sponsors to withdraw their support from cultural events was "madness" in a landscape where funding is sparse.

Other MPs, however, demanded that the government show courage by banning the practice, with many labelling it an urgent issue of public health. The debate was brought to parliament by a petition that calls for a tobacco-style ban on fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship, which has gained more than 110,000 signatures to date. Proposing it to the government, Liberal Democrat MP Roz Savage said tha

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14 July 2025

World - The latest issue of LSi is out now, and can be read online for free here.

‘90s music has seen a resurgence in popularity of late. Just look at the current Oasis reunion tour, and high-charting new albums by the likes of Pulp, Suede and more. Another ‘90s heavyweight enjoying the limelight once more is this month’s cover star, Robbie Williams. Currently on this road with the Britpop Tour, Robbie’s energetic, ambitious show features a giant, articulated rocket structure – and a complex lighting and sound set-up. Phil Ward catches up with the crew for his report.

Also inside, Ian Cullen gets the production scoop on The Great Gatsby, and we bring you a r

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14 July 2025

China - Rightway Audio Consultants (RAC) has been appointed Optocore distributor for China, Hong Kong and Macau. This marks a strategic elevation of the existing reseller partnership between the two companies, which has flourished for a number of years.

“It was a mutual decision to deepen cooperation, which aligns with the long-term mutual benefits sought by both parties,” stated marketing director, Nan Hu. “This will create broader synergies in the future.”

Hong Kong-based RAC has immediately set up a programme of Optocore demos and training for its customers and partners. However, it has long been familiar with the German fibre company’s tech as Eric Liew, RAC’s product director, explains: “We have successfully deployed Optocore in large-scale projects in the past, such as the Tianjin Grand Theatre – as far back as 2018/2019.”