Belgium - Barco and AED Studios, part of AED group, have officially inaugurated 'Barco Virtual World', a virtual experience events hall at the site of AED Studios in Lint, Belgium. The 1.000sq.m hall is equipped with 10 of Barco's high-brightness HDX-W20 projectors and a 90m long screen - the largest in the Benelux region - to provide an immersive virtual experience in full HD.

A longstanding customer of Barco, the AED group purchased the renowned Eurocam Mediacenter in 2013, renaming it AED Studios. The 55,000sq.m site is home to an extensive range of film studios (45sq.m < 3000sq.m), each offering an enormous array of multifunctional possibilities. "The studios perfectly complement our rental, sales, repair, logistics and leasing businesses," says Glen Roggeman, CEO of AED Studios. "When buying the studios, we immediately dreamt of converting one of the halls in

Sweden - One of Sweden's largest 'theatre show restaurants', Rondo, has upgraded its house lighting system to Chroma-Q Inspire premium performance, energy-efficient LED house lights, to transform the feel and atmosphere of the popular venue.

Situated in Scandinavia's biggest theme park, Liseberg, in the city of Gothenburg, Rondo stages high-class after-dinner entertainment shows and has featured performances from some of Sweden's leading musicians. One of the country's most historic show venues, around six million happy guests have danced, dined and celebrated here since Rondo opened sixty-five years ago. The venue is renowned for its glamour and exquisite dining experience.

Rondo wanted to upgrade their conventional tungsten house lights with a more modern and energy-efficient LED system, as well as offering an extra immersive dimension to their performances.

The existing s

UK - London-based RTS Communications recently added the Roland VR-50HD AV Mixer to their hire stock, with the unit going straight out the door to local production house Pink Banana Studios.

RTS purchased the VR-50HD from Leisuretec Distribution, who as distributors of professional audio and video products directly to trade customers, hold stock of Roland Systems Group (RSG) products including the VR-50HD. The sale was facilitated by Chris Webster from RSG who had received the initial VR-50HD enquiry from Pink Banana Studios and had demonstrated the streaming and live production features to them.

RTS is an established supplier of audiovisual, IPTV and videoconferencing services to both the public and private sector. With a number of high profile corporate and government clients, the projects that RTS are involved in include the live broadcast of government press conferences and

USA - Following the success of his 2011 EPIC 1.0 tour, Eric Prydz knew his EPIC (Eric Prydz In Concert) 2.0 shows had to raise the stakes of EDM visuals, and therefore collaborated again with show designers, technical specialists & content creators Immersive to realise a world-class audio/visual sensation.

Hailed by the world's press as an example of boundary-pushing design, London and New York-based show designer Immersive created an enormous set incorporating LED screens rather than projection surfaces, lasers, holograms, smoke machines and other visual effects.

Reviewing the show, the LA Times praised EPIC 2.0 for "raising the stakes for how artists present dance music live, in ways unique to their own aesthetic"; LA Music Blog commented, "The seamless marriage of deft live mixing and visual spectacle was magical to behold; I can only hope this

UK - Qdos Event Hire, was appointed to provide cabins, luxury toilets and waste tanks to the BRIT Awards for the third year in succession.

The contract was awarded by Brit Awards Production Ltd and saw Qdos supply their cabins for use as production offices and hospitality areas for backstage and the after-show party. They also supplied a range of their luxury toilets to support the existing facilities in-house at the venue. In addition they to installing tanks for catering waste.

The 2014 BRIT Awards, widely regarded as the biggest event in the British music industry's calendar, was held on 19 February 2014, held at The O2 Arena in London, with James Corden presenting. Big winners on the night included the Arctic Monkeys and One Direction.

Nigel Brice, CEO, Qdos Event Hire said, "This is the third year that we have been involved with the BRIT Awards and I'm delighted to

Australia - Since Perth's Concert and Corporate Productions (CCPWA to their friends) purchased their Jands Vista L5 they've barely had the pleasure of its company. And it's that kind of that kind of immediate return on investment that really makes a production company happy. Sean McKernan, general manager of CCPWA, couldn't be happier with its absence. "We got it mid-September and we only had it in our warehouse for 12 hours before it went out on its first tour!"

After purchase from Jands, the L5 flew into Perth to be prepped by the CCPWA crew, and soon turned around and was put a plane to Brisbane, where it kicked off on UK metal band Bring Me The Horizon's national tour. As that tour finished up, the desk went straight over to US rockers Fall Out Boy for another lap of the nation.

"It was a good month and half before it came back" Sean continued, 'and it'

UK - 'Juke box' musicals based on the songs of iconic performers continue to enjoy huge popularity in the UK. Ben Elton's Tonight's The Night - The Rod Stewart Musical is currently on a major tour of provincial venues, with a Yamaha CL5 digital console ensuring that the audio production is plain sailing.

Originally staged in London a decade ago, this is the show's second UK tour. Sound designer Rory Madden of RM Sound Design specified a Yamaha PM1D for the 2006 tour, so this time out a CL5 was the obvious choice.

The CL5, a Rio3224-D and two Rio1608-D i/o units were supplied by Orbital Sound, with associate sound designer Jon Sealey operating the show.

"The advantages of both a console and multicore which are much easier to handle are obvious, especially on an intensive tour where there is just six hours for the get in and soundcheck," he says. "The CL5

Belgium - Glenn Roggeman (CEO AED group) cut the ribbon for the opening of the AED studios in the presence of numerous prominent guests from the political as well as corporate scene.

In August 2013, the Eurocam Media Centre - formerly known as the Alfacam Studios, changed ownership after the acquisition by the AED group.

On 1 October, Glenn Roggeman officially started phase 1 of his master plan, "the update" of the studios. During the last five months, neither cost nor effort was spared for this prestigious project. Today, many waste containers, renovations and innovations later, determined entrepreneurship already shows its result.

Sixteen studios, of which five have been fully fitted with the most recent lighting-, sound- and video equipment, having as target audience, the TV- and event industry.

Seven Studios were equipped with Technical ceilings (Trusses and

UK - XL Video reports the creation of a new 'Centre of Excellence' for media servers and control systems. The team, whose expertise will be available to clients of XL Video worldwide, will be led by Christian Dickens, media server and control systems manager at XL Video UK.

Christian, who has recently joined XL Video, has almost 20 years experience in audio-visual technology. For the last six years, he has specialised in the field of projection mapping and media servers, and it is this expertise that makes him the ideal leader for XL's new team. Before joining XL, Christian's projects included projection mapping Nokia's Secret Room at Mobile World Congress 2013 and Veuve Cliquot's interactive display at Selfridges London.

"Joining the XL Video team is an amazing opportunity," commented Christian. "I am excited about being a part of the 'Centre of Excellence' and

The Netherlands - Yamaha's R-Remote software was only launched a few weeks ago, but it has already made an impact on audiences in the Netherlands, where a short tour by Holland Baroque Society found it "indispensible".

Holland Baroque Society is a collective which is not only keeps baroque music contemporary and frequently performed, but works with musicians from other genres to create innovative performances, albeit with baroque always as the starting point.

Early February saw one of these ground-breaking projects bring the inspiration of 18th century French composer Jean Philippe Rameau and 20th century Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel together on stage, fusing the similarities of music composed 200 years apart into something new.

The four-date tour took place on consecutive days from 6-9 February, with performances in Groningen, Utrecht, Leiden and Den Haa

Belgium - Barco and AED Studios, part of audiovisual specialist AED group, officially inaugurated Barco Virtual World, a virtual experience events hall at the site of AED Studios in Lint, Belgium.

The 1.000sq.m hall is equipped with ten of Barco's high-brightness HDX-W20 projectors and a 90-meter long screen - the largest in the Benelux - to provide an immersive virtual experience in full HD. As a technical partner of Barco Virtual World, Barco is happy to help AED Studios to push the limits of projection and corporate event infrastructure to create a unique experience for AED's customers.

A longstanding customer of Barco, the AED group purchased the renowned Eurocam Mediacenter in 2013, renaming it AED Studios. The 55,000sq.m site is home to an extensive range of film studios (45sq.m < 3000sq.m), each offering an enormous array of multifunctional possibilities.

"The st

Russia - Moscow-based AV company, Proton Centre, specified six Allen & Heath rackmount Qu-16 digital mixers to be installed in the Main Media Centre at Sochi's Olympic Park during the recent Olympic Games in Russia.

The Main Media Centre catered for more than 2000 members of the international media accredited to cover the Competition, and more than 6000 television and radio broadcasters from around the world.

Proton Centre designed the AV system and supervised installation works, whilst its partner company, Sochi-based Tomlux+, completed the sound and video installation on site. The Qu-16s were supplied by Allen & Heath's Russian distributor, MixArt.

The Media Centre's AV systems were based around the Qu-16 mixers, which were selected for their ability to provide the wide functionality and flexibility needed to complete various tasks, and meet the diverse requirements of the

USA - TMB and AC Power Distribution have celebrated the delivery of the 1,000th ProPower Rack Panel Distribution (RPD) system. The latest ProPower RPD rack was handed over at a special ceremony at TMB's global headquarters earlier this month.

"Our sale of the 1,000th RPD system comes as TMB's ProPower brand continues to enjoy increasing popularity with entertainment and live event professionals worldwide," says TMB sales manager, Stephanie Kilburg. "Continuously enhanced to maintain its quality advantage, ProPower RPD remains the most reliable, versatile (and good looking!) power distro out there. We look forward to continuing to grow our long-standing and successful partnership with AC Power."

"ProPower RPD offers the finest dollar-for-performance ratio available," adds James Davey of AC Power Distribution. "The fact that TMB has supplied th

UK - High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire-based cross rental facility Dry Hire Lighting has invested in a substantial quantity of new Robe moving lights to boost their available hire stock of Robe fixtures, making them one of the largest rental stockists of Robe fixtures in the UK.

The new purchase comprises of a mix of Robe Robin Pointes, Robin LEDWash 600s and Robin LEDBeam 100s.

Dry Hire Lighting made the move due to an increased demand generally across all sectors for all of Robe products which are appearing with increasing frequency on specifications for concert tours, theatres shows, TV series' as well as special, corporate and industrial events and presentations.

"We have the largest rental stocks of the Pointe in the UK and it is definitely the fixture of the year right now," says Dry Hire Lighting's Rob Merrilees, "It's being used on numerous productions and

UK - West London-based rental company Entec's Sound division renewed its long term acquaintance with Bedales School, supplying a d&b sound system and crew for their annual Rock Concert event, staged in the 340 capacity Olivier Theatre on the school's picturesque campus in Hampshire.

Bedales was founded in 1893 by the innovative educator and author John Bradley with the aim of being profoundly different from other public schools of the day. Putting the key elements of the child's education, welfare and happiness right at the core of its values, Bedales continues to be one of the most sought after educational experiences in the UK, encouraging independent thinking and inquisitive minds to flourish.

Entec's relationship as a technical partner started 10 years ago with the very first Bedales Rock Concert via the company's long association with legendary rockers The Who, when guita

Czech Republic - Robe has renewed its sponsorship of Czech MotoGP racer Karel Abraham for the 2014 Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix.

Abraham kicks off the 2014 season with a brand new Honda bike and lots of positive attitude.

Says Robe s.r.o CEO Josef Valchar, "Supporting Karel in the Moto GP was a great success for us last year! It provides an exhilarating international event that can be enjoyed worldwide by everyone and a great opportunity for us to offer hospitality and a special experience to our clients and friends."

Last year Abraham had some bad luck and had to drop out of the competition after a nasty shoulder injury for which he is still receiving treatment.

Right now he comments, "The most important thing is that I enjoy racing again ... and I am sure the rest will follow." He has just turned 24 and is already a veteran of his tenth M

France - La Chaine parlementaire (The parliamentary channel) is a French television network responsible for broadcasting activity from the National Assembly of France (LCP) and the Senate of France (Public Senat) - made available through TNT digital terrestrial television.

Created in 1999 at the request of the National Assembly of France to broadcast initially twice a week on France 3, by the following year it had also encompassed the Senate of France. Today it broadcasts 24 hours from the Assembly followed by 24 hours from the Senate having obtained its own TNT frequency. This makes high demands on the transmission facilities.

Last year, production needed to improve the bi-directional communication infrastructure, and Philippe Delépine, sales engineer at Audiopole, undertook a site survey before providing a solution based around BroaMan/Optocore network components.

&

UK - Stage Technologies has supplied a stage engineering system for the newly reopened Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, UK. The system is based on a specification designed by Charcoal Blue consultants and the Everyman Trust that focuses on flexibility and future expansion. This combined both automated and non-powered engineering applications spread throughout the fly tower, thrust grids, and at stage level with a completely re-configurable and removable staging and seating rostra.

Stage Technologies was hired by main contractor Gilbert Ash. The automation system utilises a Nomad Control Desk and a Wireless Solo to control a flying system comprising BigTow fly bar winches and sidebar winches; TipTow Point Hoists (TTPH) with swivelling gimbal pulleys; and variable speed positioning chain hoists (CH:i). Hardware was installed to enable the TTPH and CH:i to be moved between Thrust and

UK - X Factor winner James Arthur has gone on to sell more than 2.5m copies of debut single Impossible and see his first, eponymously-titled album enter the charts just one place off the top spot in November 2013.

For Arthur's recent solo headline tour, front of house engineer Darren Mullis employed a variety of Audio-Technica microphones - including an AE5400 cardioid condenser, AE6100 hypercardioid dynamic and AE2500 dual-element cardioid dynamic/condenser - on both vocals and backline.

"When we went into rehearsals with James we had numerous microphones to try for different applications," Mullis explains, "and we quickly settled on an Audio-Technica AE5400 for James vocal and AE6100s for backing vocals. The AE5400 is a great fit for James and its top-end dips at about 5-6k which helps get rid of sibilance. Rejection from those microphones is great, whi

UK - Since 1988, The Australian Pink Floyd Show has been taking the 'tribute act' concept to extremes by bringing the aural and visual spectacle of Pink Floyd's live shows to enthusiastic audiences around the world. The band's current European tour includes a month of UK dates, which start in mid February, for which Capital Sound Hire is providing the audio system.

The tour's venues are a mixture of theatre and arenas, so Capital is supplying a flexible Martin Audio MLA system, comprising MLA, MLAc and WS218x subs with LM front-fills. FOH sound mixed by Jonathan Brooks on a DiGiCo SD8, whilst monitors comprise a comprehensive package of Sennheiser G3 IEMs and Martin LE1500 floor monitors, mixed by Matt Coton on a DiGiCo SD10.

The Capital Sound crew includes MLA technician Marty Beath and monitor techs Robin Conway and Bheki Phakathi sharing duties over the tour's four legs.

USA - Louisville, Kentucky, is known for its festivals and special events and the city's annual Light Up Louisville event between Thanksgiving and New Year's is one of its most popular. Elation Platinum Beam 15R Pro moving heads and IP-65 rated ELAR 108 PAR RGBW lights were used for the 2013 edition, which included an extra component, 40 Nights of Lights that featured light projection and a nightly light show set to music.

Designed to bring more citizens and visitors downtown to celebrate the season, Light Up Louisville is a four-block festival of lights and this season included two 15-minute timecoded on-street light shows set to Christmas music. The light shows played each of the 40 nights with colour projection onto trees, street lights and buildings all adding to the festive atmosphere.

Axxis, Inc. of Louisville was responsible for the entire productio

USA - Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers were given a dazzling backdrop to their performances at the Super Bowl XLVIII Half Time show at the MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, on 2 February by Bob Barnhart's spectacular lighting.

Barnhart, of Full Flood, LA, incorporated 220 Ayrton MagicPanel 602 fixtures into his design to enhance the vibrancy and dynamism of the performances on stage.

The MagicPanel fixtures were arrayed in two massive, raked banks which flanked the performance area and served to extend the visual impact of the stage within the massive 82,500-seat stadium. The MagicPanel banks were arranged in two 'chevron' shapes which were mounted on custom-made risers that rose from 4" at the front of the stage to 11" at the back with each row staggered to sit 6" (15cm) higher than the one in front.

At Mars' request, the show was to replicate an atmosphe

Australia - Having regularly used Optocore products for events requiring custom audio distribution, Australian rental staging company, Novatech Creative Event Technology, has now gone further.

The company first adopted Optocore systems back in 2012. According to project manager (audio), James Sacca, "At the time we were looking for a solution that would transport multiple channels of audio as sends and returns. Due to the nature of the particular event, we also needed something that could be quickly cabled after a series of road closures.

The multimode fibre made this an easy task. We were more than happy with the reliability and performance that Optocore products offered and our system design engineers have continued to utilise Optocore products ever since."

Most recently they have purchased a series of X6R-FX converters, equipped with AES I/O, to move up from ana

UK - Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway returned to TV screens on Saturday 22 February with the promise of a daring and dangerous head to head challenge for the stars of the show. Entitled Men on a Ledge, the terrified twosome (one of whom has a real fear of heights), were escorted outside onto the ITV studio roof and prepared to take part in a race from the top of the 90m high ITV tower down to the ground.

The stunt was planned and executed by Unusual Rigging's technical director Robin Elias, who explained, "Men on a Ledge is the latest in a list of Ant and Dec challenges we've worked on. We were presented with a 'wish list' by the show's producer about five weeks ago, outlining his vision for the challenge. It was our job to find a solution and design the systems to enable it to happen."

From the beginning of the project, Robin knew there would be

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