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UK - Based on the book by James Hindman and with original music by Patrick Brady, Pete ‘n’ Keely is the story of a famous musical couple, now estranged, who are persuaded into doing a TV reunion.
The current production of Pete ‘n’ Keely at London’s Tristan Bates Theatre, produced by Wallflower Theatrical, and directed by Matthew Gould, includes a colourful glitzy set. Designed by Emily Bestow, it’s reminiscent of classic 60s American TV variety shows, featuring bright colours and a kitsch style.
Tasked with designing the lighting for the show, BRIT School alumni Mitchell Reeve explains how he became involved: “Matthew Gould and I have worked on a few productions together now. I first met him a year ago when I was asked to light I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It On The Road. As a lighting designer, it is vital to have a good

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Argentina - For the more than 90,000 fans who attended Lollapalooza Argentina 2017, the two-day festival served up a musical smorgasbord that satisfied their every taste. In addition to traditional Argentinian sounds like the highly danceable folk music of El Plan de la Mariposa, this South American version of Chicago’s famous Lollapalooza festival featured a rich mix of international superstars from EDM and alt rock, to metal and iconic pop rock on its four stages.
Metallica, The Chainsmokers, Rancid and The XX performed on day one, followed by The Stokes, The Weeknd, Martin Garrix and Duran the next day. Although the musical mix may have been a swirl of diverse voices, the festival’s grounds welcomed visitors with a unifying message, helped by a collection of 50 Chauvet Professional WELL Fit fixtures installed by Buenos Aires-based Descableados and supplied by NASH Ing

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Turkey - Turkey’s national horse racing TV channel has invested in a new audio system as part of a digital upgrade based around Allen & Heath’s dLive S Class and GLD mixing systems.
Established in 1950, Turkey Jockey’s Club (TJK) is based in Instanbul, founded and endorsed by the Ministry of Argriculture as the only official horse breeding and racing organisation in the country.
“We really needed to upgrade our current analogue mixing desk to improve total system latency, network audio options and expandable input/output options,” explains Mr. Nizamettin Korkmaz, sound director at TJK.
The dLive system comprises a S7000 Surface with DM48 MixRack fitted with a Dante network card, plus a DX32 expander rack for AES inputs and another one for AES outputs. The Club also has two GLD-80 mixers with AB168 Racks for smaller studios, which are also Dante-enab

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UK - Created as a space to “celebrate artistry and indulge the senses”, Spiritland’s bespoke sound system makes it one of London’s most exciting new venues. Combining café, bar and radio station with an in-depth musical programme seven days a week (already featuring the likes of guest DJs Jarvis Cocker, Andrew Weatherall and La Roux), Spiritland has quickly established itself as a paradise for lovers of music, from the aficionado to the curious.
A recent collaboration between Spiritland and Audio-Technica UK has seen a variety of the company’s brand product portfolio installed in the venue to help deliver the diverse offering of interviews, Q&A sessions, DJ sets, album playbacks and radio output.
The heart of Spiritland is its sound system, featuring a pair of Living Voice loudspeakers, valve amplification from Italian manufacturer Atelier du Triode and

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UAE - Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins tour continues. With sell out dates across the UK and in Zurich, the perfect nanny has just landed in the United Arab Emirates where the musical will play to a full house until 25 May.
Eighteen sea containers were loaded with set and stage equipment in order to bring the show to Dubai - except for the rigging and a truss frame for new front of house scenery, which has been supplied locally by Unusual Rigging and Engineering LLC.
Chris Boone, production manager on the show, explained: “The Dubai Opera House is a truly massive venue – bigger than anywhere else we’ve ever staged Mary Poppins. Because of this, we decided to have extra proscenium scenery – essentially creating a false proscenium - soI contacted Denis Bramhall at Unusual Rigging and Engineering LLC, who subsequently supplied all the rig

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India - St. John the Baptist, a Portuguese style Christian church situated in the Indian city of Thane, north of Mumbai, can trace its origins back 500 years. Having been declared a heritage site by UNESCO, it recently underwent a massive restoration project spanning 18 months, including a complete sound system upgrade.
The older system had consisted of multiple speakers that were spaced along the wall of the church, and neither provided suitable intelligibility nor venue coverage. With the extension to the church (enabling it to expand the congregation size to around 5,000 for Sunday mass), the parish priest had initially requested a demo from another vendor to provide coverage for the growing number of people.
“We were not very impressed with the sound,” admits Cleo Pereira, from Martin Audio partner Zoodio, who has been specifying the British brand for the past

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UAE - Shaking off the economic uncertainties that challenged companies in the Middle East in 2016, the regional audio visual (AV) market is once again showing steady growth, reports Sennheiser.
The company has announced a healthy 20% Year on Year (YoY) growth of its business-to-business (B2B) and prosumer segments driven by an increase in market confidence, greater demand for feature-rich, cost-effective solutions, and renewed investment in large projects within the region. The sectors that present the biggest opportunity to the AV industry include hospitality, retail, education, and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions).
“It’s no secret that 2016 was a challenging year for business in the Gulf region, but we are a little more optimistic this year, especially here in the UAE and in the verticals of broadcast, corporate AV and education,” said Mig

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USA - The long-anticipated introduction of Germany's Coda Audio to the United States market is here. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Coda Audio International, Coda Audio USA, staffed by American industry veterans, will introduce itself officially during this year’s Orlando show.
Coda Audio USA offers “a fresh alternative to the US pro audio market. Vastly experienced and with deep roots in Europe, Asia and The Middle East, Coda Audio combines these attributes with a formidable reputation for stunning sound, underpinned by revolutionary technologies and company stability. Coda USA’s mission is to bring this proven audio quality, performance and reliability to the US”.
Luke Jenks, managing director of Coda USA comments: “A scientific approach, brilliant engineers and an ongoing investment in cutting edge R&D make Coda Audio advanced systems possible. However

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Love Conquers All - The Portuguese are celebrating the fact that an intimate love ballad in their language conquered a Eurovision song contest audience for the first time. Salvador Sobral's success with Amar Pelos Dois (Love for Both of Us) has made him a national hero. Previously Portugal had never got above the sixth place that it reached in 1996.
It was a triumph for "brand Portugal", music journalist and advertising executive Manuel Falcao told the BBC. "The Portuguese language is present worldwide but sometimes it's hard for the national identity to make an impression, so for the brand this is very nice - people are very happy."
The timing was fortunate for Portugal, as the nation shows signs of recovery from the 2008 financial crisis and a massive bailout from its eurozone partners.
Pop-up Opera - Opera and theatre fans can bid

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Benelux - FACE has taken on the distribution of SSL broadcast consoles throughout Benelux and the SSL Live consoles in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Sam De Pauw, CCO of FACE comments: “The secret of SSL’s success is its dedication to great sound and its innovative approach to creating outstanding products with absolute power and ultimate flexibility. This entrepreneurship fits perfectly with FACE, so we’re very excited to add SSL Broadcast and SSL Live to our portfolio.”
FACE will distribute the Broadcast consoles in the Benelux area and will distribute the SSL Live consoles in Belgium and Luxembourg. SSL Live delivers outstanding performances in the most demanding applications in touring, installation, house of worship and theatre.
“We’re convinced of the synergy between live and broadcast for live sound TV events like the Eurovision Song Contest or Th

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North America - WE Day gives impassioned and empowered young people across Canada, the US, and the UK the opportunity to hear from global luminaries like Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Malala Yousafzai in between performances by major stars like Demi Lovato and Alicia Keys.
WE is an organisation that aims to empower young people to affect positive change in their local and global communities by adopting an inclusive, communal “we” mentality. WE Day is a physical manifestation of that mission, combining the energy and excitement of a live concert with education and inspiration delivered through shared stories of leadership and change.
It’s paramount that the arena full of amped-up youth can clearly hear every word of those messages, and thanks in large part to a substantial Adamson Systems Engineering loudspeaker system supplied by Cleveland, OH’s Eighth Day Sound,

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UK - The Princess Alexandra Auditorium is a stunning 750-seat performance venue based on the banks of the River Tees at Yarm School. The final piece of the jigsaw was to upgrade the sound system to one that matches the quality of the Civic Trust Award and RIBA Award winning auditorium.
The space is fully flexible with tiered retractable seating and hosts a varied and versatile programme of material – from school productions and lectures to touring bands and leading comedians.
The existing system was struggling to put across the clarity and detail needed for such work and the decision to audition a variety of loudspeaker brands was taken.
Steering away from the existing distributed speaker concept KV2 were brought in by Richmond based audio suppliers Sound Hire to show what could be achieved by a more simplified Left Right Point Source approach.
Dan

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South Africa - Ruud de Deugd visited Johannesburg to present the Prolyte Campus Workshop hosted by DWR Distribution from 14 to 17 March 2017. With his roots securely founded in the engineering office of Prolyte and trained as a mechanical engineer, Ruud has combined his expert engineering skills with the daily practice of rigging projects. For the second year running, he presented the hands-on Prolyte Campus Workshop in South Africa with the emphasis on safety which ended with a practical build-up session.
“There is a health and safety standard in South Africa as found in the South African Bureau of Standards titled SANS 10366 which is general and a guideline to Health and Safety at Events,” explained Ruud. “I believe this will evolve but at least it’s a good starting point. That said, the South African rental companies are not behind Europe in their knowledge and m

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Located in the city of Borås, 60 km East of Göteborg, the Borås Stadsteater is a municipality-owned theatre. Founded in 1964, it moved to its current building in 1975. A typical 1970s-style provincial venue, the theatre features a 500-capacity main auditorium with raked seating and a balcony. The main focus is conventional theatre for the most part reinforced by lavalier microphones, but the theatre also hosts musical productions and occasional concerts. The programme of events includes both in-house productions and visiting acts.
By 2016, the ageing PA system had become too small and outdated to meet the demands of modern audiences, so the management team worked with the local authority to find a solution. An Alcons LR7 system was installed, along with a new Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing system.
Borås Stadsteater’s head of sound, Tobias Walka, explained the ch

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Ireland - Prolyte Group distributor A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has recently shipped Verto truss to Light Source, the first company in Ireland to receive this product.
The Verto truss is based on a new principle of truss connection, where the sections are joined by a rotating coupler system, meaning a simple flick of the wrist will connect and lock the truss sections together. Installation is fast, silent and safe.
Managing director, Billy Mahedy and his team are delighted to be the first users in Ireland of the versatile Verto truss system.
With a long history in the industry, Billy knows how to value a truss system on its merits. Based out of Sandyford, Dublin, Light Source brings a wealth of experience to the custom installation market. They design and install solutions specific to their customer’s needs, always looking to improve and expand on

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Germany - Since 1975, audiences have flocked to the Freilichtbühne open air stage in Hamburg's Stadtpark each summer to enjoy an eclectic selection of music - including pop, rock, hip-hop, soul, singer/songwriters, children’s entertainers and much more. Production company Cobra Sound Light relies on Yamaha digital mixers to ensure each night’s programme is enjoyed without a hitch.
Cobra Sound Light has been the season’s technical production supplier since 1981. The season runs from May to September and features performances from high-profile international artists (including, in recent years, Lionel Richie, Simply Red, Wu Tang Clan, Imagine Dragons and, this year, Rag 'n' Bone Man, Norah Jones, Paramore and Alan Parsons), through well-known German performers (this season including Lotto King Karl, Philipp Poisel, Roland Kaiser and Deine Freunde) to local acts.
B

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UAE - Abu Dhabi’s annual Mother of the Nation (MOTN) festival is the UAE’s largest cultural celebration. For 10 days last month, over a kilometre of Abu Dhabi’s Corniche beach was the setting for workshops, exhibitions, dining, and entertainment.
A fully integrated A/V and lighting package was provided by Production Technology (Protec) of Dubai, whose careful planning and work was challenged before opening day by Mother Nature. Hurricane-force, 75 mph winds, with an accompanying torrential downpour, could have easily delayed the event, had it not been for Protec’s experienced crew and some quality, IP-rated gear, including 100 of the new, tough and resilient Nuri*Lites Hurricane LED fixtures.
“We used Nuri*Lites Hurricanes in the Happiness Zone of the festival, which also happened to be the most exposed area during the storm,” says Protec’s project manage

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USA - The history of Market Square in Knoxville, Tennessee stretches back to 1854, when it was first used by local farmers to sell their produce and wares, a use that continues today. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, its use was (and is) much more than a farm stand, however. Booker T. Washington, William Jennings Bryan, and Ronald Reagan all made speeches at Market Square. And musicians, from Duke Ellington to Steve Winwood, have long used its pedway and dedicated stage for performances.
In recent years, however, lacklustre sound quality from the stage put a damper on enthusiasm for concerts. Local A/V integration firm Stellar Vision and Sound fixed that problem with the design and installation of a stereo pair of Danley Sound Labs SH-96HO point-source loudspeakers, which now fill Market Square with colossal, reference-monitor quality sound.

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“During the early days of design discussions with the band and their management it became pretty obvious that the show design should be focused around the stunning video content created by Strangeloop Studios out in Chicago. So, as lighting designer, it was clear that I needed to choose fixtures that could hold their own with such dynamic company.” So declares Tom Campbell, LD for Zeds Dead, one of the biggest names on the EDM scene.
“Ayrton’s DreamPanel TMTwin and MagicPanel TM602 were the obvious choice,” continues Campbell. “My concept was to use fixtures, mapped in with the video content to ‘push’ the content out into the audience and through the band: the DreamPanel with its 8x8 matrix was exactly what was needed.”
The DreamPanelTwin is a hybrid luminaire with a modified MagicPanel on one side and a DreamPanel Shift on the other. This means it can alte

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Croatia - Prljavo Kazalište celebrate 40 years of hits and stardom with a world tour which kicked off with a show at the Spaladium Arena in Split, with lighting designed by Sven Kučinić of LumiLas LLC, who has worked for the band for the last six years and is also a big Robe advocate.
Sven again specified Robe fixtures to light this show, where the challenge was on to create a spectacular but scalable design to work for the whole of the upcoming tour which plays various sized venues and is scheduled to run for the rest of this landmark year in the band’s amazing career.
Sven had carte blanch to come up with cool, practical and spectacular ideas, although as always, budget was a consideration and the goal was to create something really impressive without busting the bank!
Known for his imagination, style and ingenuity, Sven produced another great looking resu

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USA - Here Lies Love is an immersive theatrical and musical experience. Produced by the Seattle Repertory Theatre with concept and lyrics by Talking Heads founder David Byrne who also wrote the music with British DJ Fatboy Slim, the show charts the life and times of former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, retracing her rise to power and subsequent descent into infamy and disgrace at the end of the People Power Revolution.
The show originally premiered Off-Broadway in 2013. Set within a dance club atmosphere, the disco-musical had no traditional seating and theatregoers mingled with the actors throughout the show. The Seattle production offers seating for those who’d like it in galleries surrounding the main floor area as well as standing-only room on the floor itself which features a central (moving) stage as well as the traditional proscenium stage.

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Having released Automaton - the band’s first album in seven years - at the end of March, Jamiroquai are soon to embark on a world tour of arenas and festivals. A Yamaha Rivage PM10 console will be mixing the front of house sound at every show, beneath the experienced fingers of engineer Rick Pope.
Rick has worked with the band and its frontman Jay Kay for 23 years, both live and in the studio, and with Yamaha digital consoles for almost as long. So he jumped at the chance to show the world what the company’s new flagship console can do.
“I grew up on the Yamaha PM1D and then the PM5D,” he says. “I have always liked the workflow and the way that Yamaha digital consoles have their own operating system from the ground up. It makes them incredibly stable - I’ve never had a single fault in the 20-odd years I’ve been using Yamaha digital boards, which you can

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Portugal - A new quality control programme has been implemented at NEXT-proaudio´s factory.
This new quality control philosophy implied great changes within the factory, with the implementation of inspection and structured testing on each stage of the entire production line, reducing the common fails on the final test at the end of the production line in more than 97%.
It starts with incoming materials and parts, which are subjected to thorough tests and evaluations to check the components before they are embedded in the product.
To monitor and control this new process, NEXT-proaudio has designed a custom software that “follows” each unit since the first stage of the production. The constant comparison with the standard, and an associated feedback loop confers a trustable error prevention for the future.
At the end of the line, each finished product pa

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Poland - One of Poland’s leading bands, Golec Orchestra, recently staged six concerts in the biggest halls across the country, travelling with two dLive S Class mixing system from Allen & Heath.
Rented from Konsbud Audio, the systems comprised two DM64 MixRacks with a S3000 at FOH for engineer, Damian Kubacki, and a S5000 for monitors, with engineer, Michal Mika.
”dLive is a great board. The huge capabilities of the system, and the number of available inputs and outputs allows you to manage really big artist events,” explains Michal Mika. “The ability to use a large number of built-in FX and dynamic processors eliminates extra outboard gear for wedge and in-ear monitoring, and the control surface is designed with great thought, and I am convinced that after 2 or 3 concerts, every engineer can use dLive without any problems.
“Finally, the number of e
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