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UK - Chart-topping DJ/producer Avicii performed live arena shows during his biggest worldwide tour to date with a stage set hired from LS-Live.

Promoting his new album True, which includes hit sensation Wake Me Up, Avicii wanted an on stage production that would have maximum impact in the arena environments, such as Manchester Phones 4U Arena and London's Earls Court.

Production manager Robin Scott is a long-standing client of LS-Live's and he turned to the Wakefield company once again to supply a DJ booth stage set.

Speaking to TPi Magazine Robin Scott said, "We set out to produce a slick and efficient production that we could put in and easily take out of venues on a daily basis, making sure that the end result gave the audience an experience to really remember.

"In order to do this, I needed very reliable tour vendors that I'd worked extensively

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UK - Norfolk based KV2 Audio installer Saturn AV have completed a permanent installation in an events marquee at The Ivy House Hotel, Oulton Broad, Suffolk.

The marquee required a discreet solution for both DJ playback and live band reinforcement that needed to adhere to strict noise regulations regarding SPL. To tackle these issues a distributed system was chosen to achieve maximum coverage at lower SPLs.

Having completed successful installations using KV2's passive ESD Series Saturn AV director Olly Smith had no hesitation in returning to the product range.

Eighteen KV2 Audio two-way 6" ESD 6's were distributed around the marquee and were chosen because of their small profile design that offers an amazing full range output. The wide yet controlled 100 x 100 degree dispersion covered the large area whilst reducing the projection of sound beyond the required distance.

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France - Exactly two years after Nexo first showed its STM Series modular line array system to the world, the company hosted its first-ever owners' conference. A richly international crowd from 16 countries made the trip to Paris, representing 22 of the first rental companies to adopt Nexo's new flagship PA technology. The group included five brand-new system owners, yet to be announced, from Germany, USA, Canada, India and China.

Nexo's Concert Sound team encouraged the STM owners to share their successes with the system in all kinds of musical applications, from simple acoustic jazz concerts to one of the USA's top-grossing concert tours (Kenny Chesney). With owners reporting on several events attracting upwards of 120,000, STM is justifying NEXO's claims that it will perform as a large-format system as well as scale down for smaller, more intimate shows.

After Nexo technica

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World - Multi-award winning lighting and show designers Jamie Thompson and Bryan Leitch are utilising the unbeatable brightness of the Clay Paky Sharpy to illuminate Brit rockers Bastille on their worldwide tour.

Thompson and Leitch, directors of production design company Mirrad, turned to the Clay Paky Sharpy when looking for a powerful and lightweight beam fixture for the show's effects floor package.

Taking inspiration from the band's triangular logo, Thompson designed a geometric set using lights and angled video screens with the show's lighting package provided by global hire outfit PRG. The creative effort resulted in a perspective-bending stage design that gives the impression of big arena-style looks on small stadium-sized stages.

"We wanted the stage to almost explode out," explains Thompson. "Therefore we used everyone's favourite - the Sharpy - to g

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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 installations. "In addition, we needed a self-powered system that could provide high-quality audio from

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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)

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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,

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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-

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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

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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

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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

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Italy - After the release of his latest album entitled Mondovisione, Luciano Ligabue left on a tour of Italy consisting of a series of live concerts. They are hosted in several different types of structure ranging from low capacity provincial indoor stadiums to huge spacious big city stadiums, with a possible future extension abroad. The events are structured in two completely different ways for obvious reasons, which are technically adapted to the needs of these two almost diametrically opposite types of venue.

He has just concluded the first leg in small town venues (named Piccole Città after an old song by Luciano). It consisted of a series of concerts that were in some ways "back-to-basics". It was a way of re-establishing a more direct contact between the artist and his audience, and it was no coincidence that day one of the tour took place in Correggio.

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Denmark - As Europe braced itself for the annual spectacle that is Eurovision Song Contest, DPA Microphones played a key part in this musical extravaganza by providing the company's d:screet Supercardioid Miniature Podium Microphones in the official press room.

Bent Iversen, key account manager for leading Scandinavian PA company, DPA Soundco (which, despite the similar name, is not affiliated with DPA Microphones), is the main sound technician for the press room. He feels that DPA Microphones' new podium microphones are ideally suited for the job and for the room acoustics.

"We installed 20 d:screet Podium Microphones, which were specified by broadcast rental company Best Broadcast Hire (BBH)," explains Iversen. "These are positioned on the press table where they are mounted on K&M table bases. Most of the people taking part in the press panels are musicians wh

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