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USA - When ACM Award-nominee Eric Paslay hits the stage, the Texas redhead is a charismatic performer and a potent vocalist. Recently setting out on his latest tour across the United States, the crew behind him is working night after night to bring the biggest show possible through a new design by lighting designer Mike Marcario and production manager Norwood Wood.

To create the show needed, the production team called upon longtime tour provider Elite Multimedia who not only provided a gear list filled with the latest lighting technology, but also developed a custom set cart design to carry it all along the way.

"To really help us get the music out to the fans, we wanted to come up with a completely new lighting design for this tour," began Wood. "We've been fortunate to have this crew together for a while now and it's really great to see everything tailored around Eric as

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USA - Before appearing at the Webster Bank Arena for his Valentine's Day concert, Marc Anthony made a stop to receive the keys to Connecticut's largest city. Like many of the honours bestowed on the multi- Grammy winner since he launched his career in 1988, the keys presented by Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim were in recognition not just of Anthony's musical achievements, but also of his well-known humanitarian work.

As Mayor Ganim and the fans who would fill the 10,000-seat arena later that evening appreciated, the artist performing on Valentine's Day in their city was one whose impact extends far beyond the concert stage. This point was vividly and dramatically illustrated at the very start of Anthony's show by an artful lighting display created by the superstar's production manager Roly Garbalosa and designer Alex Soto using Nexus Aw 7x7 panels from Chauvet Professional.

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USA - The appropriately named Independence Bowl has been played every year since 1976 (the United States Bicentennial) and has become a much-anticipated staple of the end-of-year bowl season. Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana hosts the contest, which currently pits an AAC conference favourite against an ACC conference favourite.

The stadium holds 63,000 fans and is routinely packed to capacity on the big day. The stadium's owners ripped out the sound system in anticipation of the 2015 game, and YESCO Electronics replaced it with two Danley Jericho Horns, a Danley BC-415 subwoofer, and several Danley SH-96 loudspeakers for fill.

"We replaced their old scoreboard with new state-of-the-art scoreboard technology, and the 20-year-old sound system had to go with it," explained Marty Masewicz, a YESCO A/V systems engineer who operates out of the company's Logan, Utah

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USA - With its festive ceiling canopy of 1,300 'twinkle lamps', Phillippe Auditorium - the centrepiece of Indiana Wesleyan University's Phillippe Performing Arts Centre (PPAC) - is a visually striking venue. But what audiences have been most dazzled with recently is the 1,150-seat proscenium theatre's sound, thanks to SineWave Audio, Inc.'s recent installation of an L-Acoustics Kara(i) and Kiva loudspeaker system supplied by certified provider Mid-America Sound.

First dedicated in 1996, the $9m PPAC is home to IWU's music and theatre departments and serves as the cultural centre of the university, hosting concerts, recitals, theatre, lectures, youth conferences and more. And although the facility boasts one of Indiana's most prestigious architectural design awards, it was widely felt that Phillippe Auditorium's original sound system - designed as a distributed speech reinforce

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UK - Beyond the Fence is a landmark piece of theatre, being the first musical ever to be conceived and crafted entirely by computer. The show has been modelled on a study of the most successful hit musicals and features a talented cast performing alongside computer-generated material. It is currently running at the Arts Theatre in London's West End until 5 March. White Light provided the equipment for this production.

Set in 1982, Beyond the Fence tells the story of Mary and her daughter George who are part of a group of women camped at Greenham Common, committed to stopping the arrival of US cruise missiles at the nearby airbase. However, when the pair are threatened with separation, Mary finds an unlikely alliance in US airman Jim Meadow. She must then choose between doing what is best for her daughter and staying true to her ideals...

The Lighting designer

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UK - Adele scooping four awards and Lorde's David Bowie tribute may have grabbed the popular headlines at this year's Mastercard BRIT Awards, but Sennheiser was making news of its own, supporting the event for the 14th consecutive year and helping to make the first nominee announcement from space a reality.

Held on 24 February at London's O2 Arena and broadcast nationwide live to an audience of over two million, the BRITs saw Sennheiser's Phil Cummings (Artist Relations) and Andy Lillywhite (Customer Development and Application Engineer) working together to support the event's artists and technical production company Britannia Row Productions.

In technical terms the undoubtable 'stars of the show' were Sennheiser's wireless microphones and wireless monitoring systems. Sennheiser equipment was used by all eight performing acts, presenters Ant and Dec, for all the acceptance

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Norway - Setting flight near Tromso, in Norway, Spanish acro pilot Horacio Llorens was challenged by Red Bull to experience the Northern Lights from the sky under his paragliding wing. He accepted this mission and decided to face near-freezing temperatures of -15 degree Celsius. On his back he carried a Thor200 paramotor with some impressive 200cc power. "The machine gave me the chance to climb whenever I wanted - or get out of trouble if I needed to," said the pilot.

Contributing to nature's impressive lighting design were two W-DMX Whitebox F-1 units, requested by Spanish technical manager Ram

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Lebanon - Rental firm QDB, recently purchased Allen & Heath's dLive digital mixing system to add to its hire stock, making it the first PA company in the country to invest in the new system.

Supplied by Seebeck Audio through Allen & Heath's distributor, PAXT, the system comprised the flagship S7000 Control Surface and DM64 MixRack fitted with a Waves networking card.

"We were in need of a large format digital console, and after a long and extensive search we were introduced to the dLive system by Seebeck Audio. Like any sound company, our main concern is sound quality and Allen & Heath deliver that quality effortlessly," says Mr Samer Atallah, general manager/sound engineer at QDB.

"The first thing I noticed about the system is that the build quality is amazing - it's rock solid. The surface design is great, giving a feeling of control when you stand in front of it. Ma

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Switzerland - One Training Centres is an expanding chain of Swiss fitness facilities which offers a wide range of group and solo activities. Yamaha audio systems help to keep the class participants working hard.

There are currently nine centres in operation, with three more in development. Activities range from yoga, Pilates and gymnastics to aerobics, spinning, running and weights. Keeping participants pumped up and enthused during activities are a pair of Yamaha audio systems.

The audio systems for the Baar centre, near Lucerne, were supplied by Soundhouse Musicservice AG. In the Group Fitness room a Yamaha MTX3 matrix mixer, handles inputs from iPod, CD player and wireless headsets for the instructors. Audio is output to four IF2108 full range loudspeakers and two IS1118 subs, via P7000S amplifiers. In the Spinning room an MTX3 with DCP1V4S control panel feeds audio fro

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Europe - The Wider Spectrum Group (WSG) met with Andrus Ansip, the European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, yesterday to urge support for creative producers and distributors of European cultural content in upcoming EU legislation on the UHF frequencies.

Commenting on the outcome of the meeting WSG's Alan March said, "Europe's creators of content are a global success story that rely heavily on ultra-high frequencies (UHF spectrum). Some of these frequencies have been promised to the mobile sector [the 700 MHz Band], but European content creation and distribution, along with associated jobs are at risk without a fair and sustainable transition plan, coherent with the introduction of technologies for an improved TV experience.

"Some Member States will need until the end of 2022 to achieve the transition out of 700MHz - and long term guarantees for the

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UK - Traction Sound has provided a bespoke 40" sub woofer for Audint as part of a recent project from Toby Heys and Steve Goodman (Kode9) that explores the boundary between art and weaponry. The pair behind Audint have a strong pedigree in sonic manipulation - Toby Heys covered the "utilisation of waveforms as weapons" in his PhD and is also a research fellow at the Manchester Institute for Research & Innovation at the Manchester School of Art. Steve Goodman is most famous as dubstep artist Kode9 and for running Hyperdub records, and also has a PhD and has published a book on Sonic Warfare.

Audint utilises infrasound and ultrasound to investigate how we perceive soundscapes. Infrasound are frequencies below human hearing and ultrasound are those above it. Audint do this in the context of both military and civil applications. Their hardware already included ultrasonic loudspeak

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USA - Tim Ottley, lighting director for Asbury United Methodist Church, Tulsa, is a great advocate of ArKaos MediaMaster PRO which he uses on an ArKaos PRO Stadium Server to create his stunning environment projection mapping within the interior of the church.

Following on from the success of the Easter presentation last year, Ottley is already planning more superb visuals to enhance the upcoming Easter celebrations.

"Environmental projection in church is such a leap forward from the more usual form of presentations on a screen or series of screens," says Ottley. "Before we started using projection mapping, we used a centre screen and two white curtains either side to show our visuals, but this looked boxy and square, and gave the congregation a passive experience, rather like watching television.

"But church is not a passive environment. It is a gathering place which b

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UK - American pop-punk fusion band All Time Low toured five of Britain's biggest arenas in February, stunning fans with a bigger, brighter and more powerful lighting show by Jeff Maker using his Avolites Sapphire Touch console.

All Time Low scored a UK number one album in 2015 with Future Hearts, elevating them to arena status with legions of new fans. Their long time lighting designer Maker responded by conceiving a sense of the design "being alive, to achieve the ultimate engaging experience for the audience".

"I've been using Avolites consoles for 10 years and I've been using the Sapphire Touch since 2014," says Maker. "I absolutely love the console. The set list function puts the playbacks I need at my fingertips and I love how exact and sensitive the touch screens are. It's easy to update any attribute on the fly, it's extremely user friendly, and easy to progr

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USA - It was Nashville's turn to host the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend, and the four-day event in Music City was packed with enough star power on and off the ice to excite thousands of hockey fans. Morris, formerly known as Morris Light and Sound, was charged with conceptualizing and executing the audio and lighting installations and providing 24/7 production management at five venues during the weekend. Morris deployed grandMA2 consoles at three of the locations.

Matt Geasey, visuals department manager at Morris, and his team oversaw the lighting design, 3D rendering and equipment specifications for multiple activities. For the free IntelliCentrics Outdoor Concert Series, part of the Bridgestone Winter Park venue in front of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, he selected 90 x Clay Paky Mythos and 30 x Sharpy Wash 330 for the Honda Stage.

Big & Rich kicked off t

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Ukraine - More than 200 Clay Paky fixtures have delivered an extraordinary light show at one of the Ukraine's biggest televised events of 2015, The M1 Music Awards.

The event, which took place at the Palais des Sports in Kiev and was produced by the M1 Music Channel, saw a large gala-style concert with performances from the country's biggest pop stars.

Lighting designer Maksym Balashov of leading rental operation ALIGHT specified an extensive package of Clay Paky fixtures for the show and awards ceremony, including 162 x Sharpys and 24 x A.leda B-EYE K20s.

"The Clay Paky Sharpy, which has already become a legend for me thanks to its intense brightness and speed, remains a staple fixture for me in the creation of any light show," says Balashov. "When it comes to the B-EYE K20, the overall design and fantastic technical features allow me to achieve looks that would be im

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USA - In celebration of World Hearing Day 2016, hearing wellness expert Sensaphonics reached out to a star-studded array of musicians to help raise awareness of the importance of hearing health among online fans. Participating artists included Coldplay, Maroon 5, Dave Matthews Band, Lisa Loeb, OK Go, The Lumineers, and Umphrey's McGee. Their social media posts on Twitter and Facebook used #HearingDay and #RespectYourEars hashtags along with hearing-related messages.

Building momentum from Sensaphonics' artist outreach, World Hearing Day messages went out to an audience estimated at over 60m people. Tracking activity throughout the day, Sensaphonics documented over 15,000 likes and 2,000 shares/re-tweets from artist posts alone. Additional musicians, sound engineers, audiologists, and organizations like Audio Engineering Society joined in, with fans liking and sharing, thus ext

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Russia - Nestled in the central square of Izhevsk, Russia, the Tchaikovsky State Theatre of Opera and Ballet recently underwent a massive renovation in preparation for the 175th anniversary of Tchaikovsky's birth. For nearly two years, the theatre was closed for the upgrade, which included a modern makeover of its stage technology, conducted by ETC dealer Imlight. Last year, the theatre reopened with a new ETC lighting system.

A large portion of the theatre's repertoire consists of iconic Tchaikovsky works, such as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Eugene Onegin, Iolanta and The Queen of Spades. Just before the grand reopening of the theatre, the facility was renamed in honour of Tchaikovsky, who was born in what is now the Udmurt Republic, where Izhevsk is located. "It would have been a shame to have given the old theatre th

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UK - PLASA is pleased to announce the launch of its new National Event Lifting Certificate (NELC), with the support of the National Rigging Advisory Group (NRAG) and key industry sponsors including the BBC, White Light and Britannia Row.

The official NELC launch took place on Thursday 3 March at the International Live Music Conference Production Meeting at the Copthorne Hotel, Kensington, London, with PLASA's NRC Manager Paul Riddiford introducing the new certification scheme to those present.

NELC has been created to meet the needs of those who already work in the industry in disciplines other than Rigging, such as Lighting, Sound, Video or Scenery etc, who are called upon to carry out occasional Rigging tasks including lifting operations as part of their duties. It is also suitable for individuals wishing to be assessed for their skills within Rigging, without undertakin

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Talent Search - Arts Council England chief executive Darren Henley has spoken out about the need for the arts and culture sector to attract talent from all backgrounds if it is to thrive in the long-term. Giving the keynote speech at the Creative and Cultural Skills National Conference 2016, at the Backstage Centre in Thurrock, Henley said he embraced apprenticeships as a way of opening up routes into the arts.

"We need an emphasis on diversity in its widest sense, across barriers of race, diversity and socio-economic disadvantage. We need greater diversity because it will create a just, fair and strong society and because a society that's equipped for the future makes use of all of its talent, wherever it emerges."

He credited the Creative Employment Programme, a £15 million fund delivered by the National Skills Academy to support the creation of traineeships, forma

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Italy - After Le voci di dentro, the Servillo brothers have chosen the Teatro Bellini to bring their latest creation, La Parola Canta, to Naples. It is a concert, a recital and a festival - skilfully illuminated by Clay Paky - made up of music, poetry and songs which celebrate Naples: the eternal magic of its living tradition, and the importance of the fusion of different epochs and the widest possible participation in culture.

The show reveals an inexhaustible imagination and poetic richness, which generates and feeds Peppe and Toni Servillo's extraordinary theatrical creativity.

Toni and Peppe Servillo reinterpret tradition with a jazz, folk and pop slant, also thanks to the valuable and charming musical support of the Solis String Quartet. They take the audience on an extraordinary voyage through Neapolitan theatrical culture: a journey made up of imagination and creati

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Germany - Full-service production company satis&fy and lighting manufacturer Elation Professional will be holding an Innovation Day on 31 March at the satis&fy facility in Karben, Germany, just outside Frankfurt. This will an opportunity for lighting professionals to demo Elation's latest lighting innovations, including the award-winning Platinum FLX and Emotion digital light, as well as preview upcoming Prolight & Sound launch products.

satis&fy recently added Elation's multi-functional Platinum FLX hybrid moving head and Emotion moving head digital light to its inventory and Innovation Day will give local rental companies, lighting designers and other interested lighting professionals the chance to demo these two exciting lighting innovations. Innovation Day attendees will also be the first anywhere to get a sneak peek at some of Elation's upcoming Prolight+Sound launch prod

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France - Nexo fielded a stellar team of different loudspeaker models for one of the most prestigious sporting trophies in France, the Leaders Cup, which is organised by the LNB (Ligue Nationale de Basketball) and staged at the Disney Events Arena at Disneyland Paris.

In an arena packed with nearly 5000 spectators, the final eight teams of France's premier basketball league competed for the Leaders Cup in a high-octane environment, complete with dazzling lighting effects, high SPL concert sound and half-time entertainment from dancers and cheerleaders.

To mark this highlight of their calendar, the Ligue Nationale has announced the signing of a technical sponsorship deal with Nexo, which will see Nexo systems widely used in professional basketball throughout France. As explained by Alain Beral, president of the LNB, "sound is an integral part of the experience offered to our

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UK - The new £4.5m Leicester Community Sports Arena - a joint venture project between Britain's oldest professional basketball club (Leicester Riders), Leicester City Council and Leicester College - opened at the end of January, with the 2,400-capacity audience treated to quality sound exclusively from Martin Audio's new CDD installation series.

Twelve of the CDD15 (15") loudspeakers were specified and installed by local sound and lighting integrators, MBSL.

Mark Broadhead's technical company was brought in just two weeks before the venue's inauguration when it was discovered that while the six 100V line speakers, specified by another party, might have been sufficient for voice evacuation, it was certainly not up to delivering American style razzmatazz, complete with cheerleaders, in the arena on match days.

With nearly 30 years' experience under their belts, and

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