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14 March 2016

The Danish owned import and wholesale company was appointed Studiomaster distributor in Denmark in 2009. It's success for the brand in that territory has led to its appointment in Sweden where it also operates. The new agreement was signed by SC Sound CEO Lars Bruun Jensen and Studiomaster International Sales Manager K.M. Malik, at this year's Prolight+Sound exhibition.

Commenting for Studiomaster, Malik stated: "Partnering with SC Sound in Denmark has been a great success for Studiomaster. We have seen tremendous growth in our business in year one and two, and year three is on course for a furt

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14 March 2016

The one-year foundation degree, which is the only one of its kind in the UK, focuses on the artistic, creative and practical use of technology for live events.

According to Creative & Cultural Skills, the Sector Skills Council for creative and cultural industries, by 2017 there will be a need for 30,000 skilled backstage and offstage technical theatre staff to support live events. The Backstage Academy is aiming to train students who can help meet this demand.

Students will gain hands-on experience at the Backstage Academy thanks to its base at the LS-Live Studios in South Kirkby, Wakefield. LS-Live is one of the largest purpose-built rehearsal facilities in Europe and has hosted some of the world's biggest music stars, including Lady Gaga,

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14 March 2016

"We designed the system installation in house," explained production manager Kevin 'Kenny' Taylor. "We have three venues here, the Pavillion Theatre, Corn Exchange, and the Dome concert hall; and effectively we're a d&b audiotechnik house having our own selection of C4s, C7s and some MAX cabinets. For the Foyer the d&b E-Series looked ideal and so it has proved."

Occupying the Concert Hall frontage, the foyer bar is a wide but shallow room, 25m across, 10m deep, with a 12m ceiling height. "The roof is glass, hence the light airy feel," said Taylor, "and has quite a bouncy f

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14 March 2016

One of the VeniceFs has been supplied to Coldplay, providing audio splits for recording throughout their summer festival run. Two of the consoles are being used at the Hampton Court Festival and a further two at the Isle of Wight, both in June. After using the VeniceF for Bryan Adams' solo performance at the Hampton Court Festival, the artist's FOH engineer Jody Perpick, a long time Midas user, said, "I was very happy with the sound and features of this small console; it's nice to know you don't have to take out an XL4 to mix only a couple of inputs."

"We bought the VeniceF's as they offer great sonic quality, affordable prices and great packaging, as well as providing flexibility for our dry hire customers," says Wigwam's

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14 March 2016

Seth Jackson has designed tours for two decades for Don Henley, Jason Mraz, Hilary Duff, Melissa Etheridge, American Idols Live, Barry Manilow, Carrie Underwood, and Toby Keith, to name a few. He's also a two-time Parnelli Award winner, and has received the Illuminating Engineering Society?s Award of Distinction.

Derek McLane is one of today's most sought after designers, with designs seen on Broadway in this year's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Anything Goes revivals on Broadway. His design for 33 Variations won him a Tony Award, and his Ragtime and Pajama Game revivals each earned Tony nominations.

Jim Youmans has design

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14 March 2016

Perez joins TC Group International (TCGI) - the sales organisation of the brands' parent company TC Group - after a long and varied career in pro-audio, having worked with some of the leading distributors and companies in the industry. In 1989, he worked with national manufacturer Audio Stars, before moving to EARPRO as area sales manager in the mid-90s. He then became electroacoustics systems designer and audio consultant at Pyramid Audio, sister service company to EARPRO.

Most recently, Perez has helped build the Lab.gruppen, Lake and Tannoy brands in Spain through long-time regional distributor Pro3.

"I am e

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14 March 2016

"Backline Rentals have had their digital console for a while and although digital consoles are convenient, the lack of a digital snake can sometimes hamper the overall production of the show," commented Moswain Antao, Roland video specialist.

"With the new system, Backline can ensure their signal quality is protected and the best part is that the snake can be used with any console, analogue or digital. So truly an investment with long term returns.&quo

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14 March 2016

The Palacio de los Deportes is one of the reference fields of Spanish basketball. It is the home of Unicaja Málaga Team (League Champion in 2006, Cup Champion in 2005 and 3rd in Euroliga in 2007).

The stadium owners decided that whilst expanding the stadium to more than 11,000 seats, which is an audience area of over 5,500m2, they would resolve the historic issue of poor intelligibility (0.44 STI) with the PA system.

Genuix Audio's technical team supported by Duran Audio Iberia, opted for a centralised sound system, one focussed around the score board. Using four AXYS DS1608 which not only have the ability to offer over 98dB (continuous) evenly ac

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14 March 2016

Its purpose is to "provide a 360° jumbo tron view above the poker table, just as you would find in any sport venue," said Justin Garrone of Innovative Show Design (ISD). Illuminated with bright LED lights, the structure features a wraparound row of EVLED Video Panels from Elation Professional to provide added special effects.

The truss structure is one of many innovative design and lighting concept

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14 March 2016

Based in the village of Eversley near Reading, Wavelength service productions throughout the UK (and into Europe) - and thus transportation becomes a major factor. The weight and economy advantages of an active, matched system, with all the processing onboard, was too good to resist, according to Tom Chennells.

The Wavelength MD has been an RCF customer for nearly two years, having been introduced to the brand through the retail shop in which he has an interest, RSD Music. The company already runs RCF 905ASs and ART 722As - and on smaller corporate jobs know they can use their 905 active 15" bass bins with TT08 tops.

The decision to back the brand followed the recent merger of Wavelength Entertainments with Yes Events Ltd. "This produc

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14 March 2016

The Rocket Man's 2011 touring schedule is taking in the UK, Europe, Asia, Canada and the US, before settling in Las Vegas for a month-long residency, after which it's off to Russia, the Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand and Asia again.

The shows feature Elton's five-piece backing band plus backing vocalists. In addition, a pair of cellists - Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser - have been added for the current run of dates and percussionist Ray Cooper joins the ensemble for the Vegas shows.

One thing that has not changed from previous tours is the Yamaha mixing consoles at the front of house and monitor positions, a PM5000 and PM1D, manned by M

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14 March 2016

Gary Maguire of StudioSpares commented: "Studiospares deals with a large number of installation companies on a daily basis. We wanted a premium speaker line to complement our value range, so we can offer our installer base a solution based on budget. Having looked at many different brands, the Ohm speaker range ticked all the right boxes". Gareth Coleman of Ohm, who has been instrumental in setting up the partnership, said: "Studiospares has a long-standing reputation in the industry for providing great customer service as well as having a great team of technically

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14 March 2016

The spotlight of last year's event was focused on the Ambra Night location in San Teodoro, whose technical setup was designed by Quadra Luce & Design, the same company that installed its resident sound reinforcement system featuring Proel Edge speakers.

Sunandbass confirmed the quality and the versatility of Ambra Night's sound systems which adjusted well to the percussive musical genre. Quadra Luce & Design were asked by the festival's organizers and influential to provide an additional, higher SPL sound system for a second dance floor and decided to specify a Turbosound Aspect system.

The system features four Turbosound Aspect TA-500tpoint source 3-way tri-amped full range loudspeakers, four T

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14 March 2016

With a pay-per-view broadcast to 35 countries and an in house audience of over 70,000, WrestleMania is serious sports entertainment. Produced by WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), the yearly show has become the pinnacle event in sports entertainment.

Long time production designer for WWE is Jason Robinson who taps into his years of experience to light WWE events year long. Robinson works with WWE executive producer Kevin Dunn on design and themes for WrestleMania events with this year's look less thematic and more from the world of high tech.

Playing a major role in this year's set design were Martin Professional LC

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14 March 2016

Newsboys FOH mixer John O'Neal comments: "We are pretty particular about sound, right down to the microphones in our workbox. [Monitor engineer] Jeff Nolte and I began discussing our desire for some new microphones. Primarily, we wanted to go in a different direction with our drum kit - we had been using the same cardioid dynamic instrument mics on our toms and snare drum for the last six or seven years. The old mics weren't broken, so it wasn't like we had to ma

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14 March 2016

One Big Weekend saw 51 live bands and 25 DJ sets play across four stages to 40,000 people on each day. Sennheiser UK's support team of Andy Lillywhite and Mark Saunders - a familiar sight at festivals throughout the UK - were on hand to lend technical assistance and expertise to Britannia Row and Adlib Audio, who respectively provided the audio equipment for the Main and In New Music We Trust (INMWT) stages.

The event saw a key milestone in the run up to the Channel 69 to 38 frequency switchover - the

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14 March 2016

It will become a meeting place where educational and training programs can be held on a regular basis, complementing the existing workshops, seminars and training courses that the d&b partners frequently run throughout the country.

Gaelle Poullavec who runs the office, Juanma da Cassus who is in charge of the support and service and manager David Roselló say they are looking forward to having this new facility where they can not only extend a bigger w

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14 March 2016

Half-price online registration offers visitors the chance to not only save money but to avoid the registration queues and receive regular updates from PLASA Events about new product launches, the expanding seminar programme and new show features.

With 50% of all PLASA 2011 exhibitors based internationally, it's the best opportunity to see all the industry's big names under one roof - plus several names that are new or returning for PLASA 2011 - including Batmink, Capture Sweden, Eclipse Iluminación y Sonido, S., Focusrite, Lydrommet, RGGLED and State Automation.

In addition to new products, an expanded seminar programme and interactive feature areas, t

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14 March 2016

When Willie Williams, lighting designer for U2's 360 Tour, wanted to incorporate the space shuttle Endeavour's Mission Commander Mark Kelly singing "A Beautiful Day" lyrics into U2 concert footage for their show in Seattle, Washington on 5 June, he called James 'Winky' Fairorth at Tait Towers, in Lititz, Pennsylvania. Tait Towers, who provided the staging for the ground?breaking 360 Tour, has been collaborating with U2 on projects since the mid?1980s. In terms of knowledge and speed, Williams knew Tait was a great ally.

Fairorth, upon agreeing to be a part of this one?of?a?kind opportunity, told Williams, "Only if we can talk to roc

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14 March 2016

Chris Kempton's lighting specification relies on a wide and varied selection of equipment including a range of Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700s, Alpha Wash 1200s and Alpha Wash 700s.

In use for the first time was a new chrome version of the Alpha Beam 700. Developed for TV sets and interiors, the shiny chrome finish is designed to help the luminaire become less visible to the eye by reflecting light and blending into its surrounding environment.

The Alpha Beam 700 has become one of the most popular tools for television lighting work in the UK and abroad.

(Jim

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14 March 2016

"You'd be extremely hard-pressed to find another fixture on the market right now that produces this much raw output from a head this compact," said one of the judges. "The Sharpy's speed comes close to rivalling that of its moving mirror predecessors."

Another judge said that the Sharpy's output "can stand up in outdoor venues against much larger-scale fixtures."

The awards were presented at a ceremony in New York on 24 May 2011, following the Broadway Lighting Master Classes, held annually by Live Design magazine.

Clay Paky's Francesco Romagnoli and A.C.T. Lighting's Bob Gordon were on hand to receive the prize from Liv

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14 March 2016

Held for the past few years at the Bercy in Paris, this year the Nuit de la Saint-Patrick show moved to the Musikhall in Rennes. The5000-capacity venue witnessed performances by over 100 artists in a show that lasted for over three hours, the concert being so popular that the Saturday evening show was repeated the following afternoon.

Combining traditional and contemporary performers, both amateur and professional, changeover

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14 March 2016

"In July we record our new album and then after that we will tour solidly until the end of the year on trains, buses and planes," said Troy Kemp. "Whatever we have to do to get our band all over Australia - it never stops. So we're really stoked that Jands are helping us out with our audio gear, in fact we couldn't be happier."

The duo was delighted to receive Shure ULX wireless guitar systems which have allowed them much more freedom onstage - something that is a huge benefit for such dynamic and active performers.

"The freedom to move onstage is amazing as you're not stuck with a 20ft guitar lead," commented Kemp. "We jump around quite a bit and I spin around every now and then so if I h

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14 March 2016

On-Off, a long time Midas analogue customer, was chosen to provide both the sound system and the engineers. The18 bands played for just five and half hours, making the timing of the whole evening crucial, and this was a large factor in selecting the Midas digital technology. The setup was manned by On-Off's team of professionals, who managed to achieve an impressive changeover time of just three minutes between acts.

"It was an obvious choice to use our PRO6s as in addition to being able to cope with an event of this complexity,