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Italy - Now in its 17th year, Italy's La Notte della Taranta (Night of Tarantula) is both the country's biggest music festival and its most important event dedicated to traditional culture. Three weeks of live concerts culminated in a huge show in the town of Melpignano, where four Yamaha CL and QL consoles weaved ancient and modern music seamlessly together.

The festival takes place throughout the Salento peninsula (the 'heel' of Italy) and is dedicated to the celebration of the region's folk music. 2014's festival featured 17 live shows on consecutive nights, each in a different town or village, with Salento music played in both the traditional style and fused with other types of music, including world, rock, jazz and classical.

Sound designer Cristiano Grassini of the Rooster Group chose two Yamaha CL5s, a CL1 and a QL1 to accommodate the varied line-up for the final show i

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USA - Headquartered in Madison, the Wisconsin Realtors Association (WRA) is 13,000 members strong and one of the largest trade organizations in the Badger State. Among the many services that it offers its members, continuing education is perhaps the most prominent.

Throughout most of its hundred-plus year history, members travelled to the WRA headquarters to keep current with seminars, workshops, and conferences, and its building contains flexible training and conference rooms to deliver those services. With the advent of modern telecommuting technologies, the WRA has sought to bring its continuing education to its members.

However, the staff's early experimentation with free web-based software and homespun AV technology proved frustrating on both ends due to poor audio and video quality. WRA hired Peak Systems Group of Reedsburg, Wisconsin to update their rooms with modern re

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Belgium - Splendit is a Belgian lighting and sound rental company based in Liedekerke and headed by Marijn Broeckaert, who has a great passion for the industry and is also an LD / programmer in his own right.

He formed the company in 2007 with the ambition of becoming a premium equipment supplier to top-end professional production markets, offering the highest standards of excellence.

Splendit has built up a reputation for servicing some of the leading TV shows and lighting designers. In the last years Marijn also consciously made the decision to start investing in Robe moving lights to further service his clients.

The Robes have all been delivered by Robe's Benelux distributors Controllux, whose Bram de Clerk co-ordinated the deal and pulled out all the stops to ensure that the first purchase of 36 x LEDWash 300s were delivered just two weeks later as they were required for

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UK - Two well-known figures of the pro audio industry, Barry Revels and Craig Lovell, have made a significant investment in Bel Digital Audio Ltd, resulting in the formation of the Bel Digital Group holding company.

The new holding company will also include British manufacturer 4HM Limited, which specializes in MADI related equipment for the professional audio, broadcast and live industries, allowing the merging the Bel and 4HM brands.

This combination results in a significant expansion of non-overlapping, yet complementary, products and will deliver the associated benefits to product development from significant investment in R&D and the adoption of new technologies.

The enhanced management team is excited by the opportunity afforded to take the well-respected Bel brand forward, with new products that will benefit wider market segments. The combined companies and their prod

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USA - As the East Coast's first Olympic-calibre BMX track, Novant Health BMX in Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA, offers national and world-level BMX racing events. In 2015, Novant will host the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup Finals. This race will serve as the main qualification event for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The track has both an amateur and an elite supercross start hill as well as a pump track and offers amateur events and training. These features are expected to help Novant attract a large sports-tourism crowd.

During the planning stages, the city of Rock Hill contacted Butch Bailey and Keith Ludlam of B&K Pro Audio and Lighting to design an audio system for the track. The city wanted clear voice paging and high-quality music covering the entire venue which extends over several acres.

To meet these needs, B&K designed a system using Community's R Series loudspeakers

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USA - California based sales and rental company Felix Lighting - headquartered in Los Angeles with a recently opened office in San Francisco - has added 40 x Robe Robin CycFX 8 moving LED batten fixtures to its rental stock, which also includes Robe Pointes.

The CycFx 8s were initially purchased for the Sunday Night Football introduction with Carrie Underwood on NBC, featuring lighting designed by Benoit Richard, and were part of a specification that also included 47 Pointes.

The new CycFX 8s are now part of Felix Lighting's rental stock where they are already proving popular.

Account representative Charlie Malings said, "We decided to purchase the CycFXs - as opposed to cross rent them for the event - based on research and what we are hearing on the industry grapevine. They are a welcome addition to our rental inventory and have been constantly in demand since they arr

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China - Elation Professional's new high-powered Platinum BX beam and hybrid Platinum SBX moving heads debuted in a big way on the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games held 16 August in Nanjing, China.

Lighting designer Sha Xiao Lan, who wowed the world with his lighting design for the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, awed spectators once again with a brilliant light show that incorporated 400 Platinum BX and SBX fixtures. Production company for the event was Beijing Fengshang Shiji Culture Art Co., Ltd.

Held at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre and televised around the globe, Sha Xiao Lan created a number of spectacular looks including one in which he placed 20 Platinum BX units in a huge scenic astronomical telescope, which illuminated the night sky and became an iconic element that stood out as one of the main highlights of the ev

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Switzerland - 2014 marks the sixth year that DiGiCo has sponsored the Montreux Jazz festival, supplying a wide selection of mixing consoles to all of the event's main venues. Just the place, then, for a Swiss audio company to invest in a new DiGiCo desk.

Based in Elsau-Räterschen, show-concept.ch is a production company that delivers a complete service for live corporate and entertainment events. The company has used DiGiCo's smaller consoles since 2010 but, with one eye on next year's festival season, felt it was the right time to invest in a major Front of House system.

"We have invested in our new flagship DiGiCo SD5, as well as being the first company in Switzerland to purchase a JBL VTX V20 line array. Together they mean we are very well equipped for both touring shows and the summer festival season," says Cyril Schmuki, audio/sales engineer at show-concept.ch<

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UK - On behalf of Glastonbury Festivals Ltd, the event production services company was responsible for overseeing all production aspects. A local crowd of over 5,000 enjoyed a stellar line up, as headliners the Foals were supported by Ella Eyre, and local up-and-coming band Fast Decline.

Introduced by Michael Eavis, the event serves as a thank you to Pilton village that lives with the disruption the main festival can bring, with all money raised given in grants to different local organisations.

Managing director of EnTEEtainment Ltd, Dick Tee said, "With the likes of Kasabian headlining in 2005 when it was held at the village hall playing fields, the popularity of the event quickly outgrew its former site, and moved to Worthy Farm in 2007. Drawing on our depth of knowledge of the site and long standing relationship with Glastonbury Festivals, we were brought in to provide

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UK - When it comes to the London premiere of the Marvel superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy, you know you're going to need a robust, reliable, and feature-rich console to control the lighting: step forward Luke Edwards and his Avolites Tiger Touch II.

Thousands of fans turned up at the capital's Empire Theatre in Leicester Square to see stars including Vin Diesel arrive on the red carpet and be interviewed on a specially created structure that boasted 20 x LED pixel tracks, amongst other fixtures.

Using the Tiger Touch II's pixel mapping feature, Edwards - who also works as touring LD for acts such as Gary Numan and Crystal Fighters - programmed a video-like look that wowed the crowds.

"Pixel mapper is a fast and effective way to achieve the 'wow' look when the budget doesn't cover media servers," says Edwards, who was working on behalf of Limited Edition

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Australia - Sydney based EventSound has added a Soundcraft Si Compact and a Si Performer 2 console to their inventory and managing director Keith Clarkson reports that they have both been "great!"

"As an ardent Soundcraft fan, I was eagerly looking forward to the release of the Compact and Performer series of digital consoles," he said. "These were the first digital consoles I knew how to operate without even turning them on, from just their layout. I like to think of them as the digital console for the analogue guy."

Keith's first gig out with the Soundcraft Si Compact was for Jennifer Hawkins' engagement party held at Palm Beach with live performances from Martini Club and guest performer Guy Sebastian.

"With such an intuitive layout it was easy to set up for FOH and monitor mixes," he added. "Straight away you feel comfortable

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Poland - Toru? is an important city on the Polish sports map and its status has recently been enhanced with the completion of the new $40m Toru? Sports Hall. The multi-sports venue has a capacity of 6,000, which can be expanded to 9,000 when required.

Marcin Zimny of Tommex ?ebrowscy Sp. J. was the system designer and project manager for the EN 54-24 certified audio system, which is also used for events information and entertainment. Tommex also provided system tuning and commissioning. Zimny commented, "The installation was handled by ?ód?-based IRBIS. They are a very professional company and did a great job installing the system to the highest standards; an important factor for ensuring quality and long term reliability."

Zimny discussed the system design, "Community R Series is always our first choice of loudspeakers for stadia and large scale sports venues

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Australia - The electro-acoustic challenges of traditional stone Christian churches are many. Originally designed to disperse the sound of choirs and organs while filling their vaulted spaces with light, they rarely interact well with modern microphones and loudspeakers.

In addition, their age and heritage status often makes incorporating wiring and any visibly modern technology physically and aesthetically difficult. Sydney's The P.A. People recently took on two separate church projects, the first of which faced all of these difficulties, while the second actively sought to exploit them to its advantage.

Built between 1861 and 1865, St Jude's in Sydney's Randwick is a reproduction of its English architect's own parish church, St. John's at Randwick in Gloucestershire. Feeling it's almost 150 years of continuous use, the parish recently embarked on a major project. "The w

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China / UK - Formula E, the new FIA fully-electric racing series, opened with its inaugural race in spectacular style this weekend in Beijing and Leeds-based FAL Systems has provided its full spectrum of systems integration services for the project. FAL was commissioned to build the system by Hayfisher Productions based in the West Midlands who have been contracted by Aurora Media to provide broadcast facilities for the new motorsport championship.

British systems integrator FAL Systems has announced the completion of a prestigious project to provide the complete 'Fly-Away' world feed broadcast facility for the new ten round all electric race series. Their brief was quite challenging in that not only were they to provide all means for acquiring all the audio and video for the transmission but that they were to do so in such a way as to have minimal environmental impact.

Andy U

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USA - ETC is committed to mentoring students who have an interest in lighting and stage technology. One way the company achieves this is through its annual LDI Student Sponsorship, where a select group of students is awarded an all expenses paid trip to the LDI tradeshow as a way to help launch their careers.

The students have the opportunity to go the behind the scenes with ETC, to learn about the latest technologies, and to network with some of the industry's key figures. The sponsorship also pairs the students with industry luminaries who serve as mentors, offering advice, inspiration and encouragement as they transition into the working world.

ETC is proud to announce the winners of this year's LDI Student Sponsorship:

Kristen Geisler is on her way to earning a master of fine arts in lighting design from the University of Tennessee. She holds a bachelor of art fro

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USA - Philips Vari-Lite reports that 4Wall Entertainment has made a significant investment in the new VL4000 Spot luminaire. With inventory now in stock at their five nationwide locations, 4Wall and Philips Vari-Lite continue their longtime partnership to provide high-quality automated lighting instruments that inspire designers and technicians to push the creative limits of their productions.

"Adding the versatile VL4000 Spot to our inventory was an easy decision" said Michael Cannon, 4Wall CEO. "Vari-Lite luminaires have been a staple of our inventory for many years now, and this newest addition to the line is a fixture we know our clients will be excited to use."

"One of the things I love most about this industry is the wonderful partnerships we are able to form such as the one we have with 4Wall," said Julie Smith, Philips Entertainment genera

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UK - London's Cadogan Hall is both the home of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a popular live music venue, hosting over 300 shows a year. A recent technical upgrade has seen its legacy of Yamaha mixing consoles continue, with the installation of a new CL3 system by Autograph Sales and Installations.

The upgrade was part of a project which saw the venue increase its capacity to 1000. An important part of this was moving the previous mix position from the middle of the Gallery to accommodate more seating.

"A new control booth was built at the back of the Gallery, above the new seating, which was a big improvement for lighting but not suitable for mixing sound," says Cadogan Hall production manager Harry Spillett. "We needed to reposition the mixing console at the back of the stalls for contemporary shows, but be able to easily remove it to regain the seats fo

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UK - Manchester based lighting and rigging company, dbn Lighting, is no stranger to SGM products. Historically their hire fleet has contained large quantities of the popular Palco 3 and Genio LED fixtures to service their wide roster.

Now the Manchester-based rental company has brought its range up to date by acquiring 24 of SGM's new P-5 low profile LED wash lights from SGM UK; the unit was designed to replace the Palco series, and bring the concept of the powerful IP65 rated wash light into the 21st century.

According to dbn director and lighting designer, Stephen Page, the purchase was not made without first carrying out a critical review of other comparable fixtures. "We reviewed and tested lots of alternatives but the P-5s were the best, and they will be suitable across the diverse range of projects we work on."

The fixture's output-to-consumption ratio reveal

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Italy - The historic Villa Cornér della Regina, which dates back to the 16th century, is surrounded by ancient grounds and a swimming pool. It has been completely restored to offer a warm unique atmosphere. The luxurious hotel Relais is a perfect place to spend your holidays, but also for weddings, business dinners, meetings and any other event that needs a special setting.

In July, the renowned textile manufacturing company Isko organized a big event at Villa Cornér, which included a show of next season's collections. Menabò, an all-round Forlì-based marketing and communications group, was asked to organize the event, which in turn called in SG Lighting for the lighting rig and design.

Menabò and SG Lighting have already worked successfully together at previous events, such as the illumination of the Castle of San Salvatore in Susegana, in the province of Tre

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Dubai - The multiple Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter Lady Gaga kicked off both Dubai's live event season and the European leg of her global tour, artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball last week. Promoted locally by AMI Live and ATW Live in association with Live Nation Global Touring, the concert took place at Meydan Racecourse on the 10th September and marked the artist's first visit to the Middle East.

eclipse Staging Services was selected to provide all lighting, video and primary and secondary power distribution, while audio was supplied by Delta Sound. Martin Lubach, General Manager of eclipse Staging Services comments: "We are immensely proud to have been selected as event technology supplier for such a landmark show, the fact that so much of the production was able to be serviced locally is a real testament to the local market's ability to compete on a global stage.&quo

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Europe - Belgium-based audio innovator Apex is continuing its expansion in the European market by appointing Main Gear Supply as the company's distributor for The Netherlands.

The move comes as part of Apex's strategy to further enhance its European network in response to an increase in demand for its innovative products, which are known for sonic excellence.

"We're incredibly excited about this deal and working closely with Main Gear Supply as we feel they can do a great job for us and our products in The Netherlands," says Paul Van Hees, managing director at Apex. "GiVa Audiovisual Technologies BVBA, parent company of Apex, is committed to developing new products and building strong partnerships with our distributors so that the market can benefit from our innovations in audio."

Van Hees formed the relationship with Main Gear Supply's managing director

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UK - The seventh Knight of Illumination Awards has once more seen record submissions for the title of outstanding lighting and video design in the sectors of TV, Theatre and Concert Touring and Events. Combined with the fact that industry sponsorship and support for the event is at an all time high, it's clear that the KOI 2014 will be the most coveted invite of the autumn season.

The KOI Awards, organised by Clay Paky alongside the Society of Television Lighting Designers (STLD), the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) and Ambersphere Solutions, will be held following the first day of the PLASA Show on the evening of Sunday 5 October at London's fabulous Art Deco Troxy Theatre.

Submissions for each sector are now closed and the shortlist of nominations for each of the sector categories have been agreed by the judging panels as follows:

Theatre Nominations:

Danc

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Volume Control - New regulations should be introduced to protect live music venues from possible closure following noise complaints, the Musicians' Union has said. At the Trades Union Congress conference this week, the union proposed a motion, which was passed, demanding the introduction of new regulations that would help put a stop to the "worrying trend of long-established music venues being forced to close after only one or two complaints from neighbours".

Increasing numbers of residential properties being built close to venues has resulted in noise abatement notices from local authorities, said the union. It is calling for a new 'agent of change principle' law that would mean property developers are obliged to soundproof their accommodation, rather than the venue being responsible for reducing potential noise disturbances.

John Smith, MU general secretary, said,

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South Korea - Adamson partner Alpha Sound was recently tapped to provide a substantial Adamson Energia sound reinforcement system for the AIA Real Life: NOW Festival held in Seoul, South Korea.

The two day festival took place at the Jamsil Olympic Stadium and featured pop icon and trend-setter Lady Gaga as the headliner the second night of the show. Other acts that performed during the festival included Psy, Miss Nine, Sidney Samson, Ivan Gough, Cazzette, twenty one pilots, Man With A Mission, Galaxy Express and Glen Check.

Both Sun Kim, technical support manager for Sound Solutions, Adamson's South Korean distributor and David Dohrmann, technical director Asia-Pacific (Adamson), were on site to assist with system design, set-up and tuning of the Adamson PA.

For the AIA Real Life: NOW Festival, the stadium was played sideways, ie. the stage was placed at the wide end of the

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