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USA - Wohler Technologies of Hayward, CA in the San Francisco Bay Area has joined the rapidly growing ranks of the RAVENNA Partnership community. With over three decades' experience in in-rack audio monitoring technology, the company is now one of the leading lights in signal monitoring and correction solutions in multiple form factors for broadcast, motion picture and production facilities.

NAB sees the unveiling of Wohler's first RAVENNA/AES67-enabled products, the iAM-AUDIO monitoring device which offers AES67 decoding, metering and monitoring in a compact 1U package and a new AES67-enabled module for their flagship AMP2-16V audio monitoring and management platform.

According to Craig Newbury, Wohler VP sales & marketing, "As customers continue to migrate over to IP, the requirement to support technologies such as RAVENNA/AES67 in monitoring solutions, like our new iAM-

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USA - Audio-Technica ATH-M70x M-Series Professional Monitor Headphones have been used for both mixing and playback for a remarkable sonic and visual art installation in Times Square, New York City.

From 1 April, Soundwalk Collective, an international sound collective based in New York and Berlin, is presenting JUNGLE-IZED: A Conversation With Nature - a month-long interactive multi-sensory art installation that transforms Times Square and transport close to half a million visitors daily to the heart of the Amazon.

Presented in collaboration with David de Rothschild, The Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC), Times Square Arts, Audio-Technica, and CXA+ART, the immersive installation includes a participatory audio experience and an interactive video, to encourage a conversation with nature and to heighten awareness of the environmental impact of climate change.

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Denmark - Vejle Musikteater is the largest performing arts venue in the picturesque cultural hub of Vejle which sits at the head of the magnificent Vejle Fjord and the convergence of the Vejle and Grejs rivers in southeast Jutland, Denmark.

The venue has invested in over 50 Robe fixtures, including MMX Spots and LEDWash 600 moving lights and PARfect 100s in the last three years, a move instigated by Technical Manager Tor Futtrup.

Opened in 1993, the Musikteater has two main auditoriums, the Great Hall with 1,134 seats - and it can also be configured as a standing venue - and the Jacob Gade Hall which seats up to 300, plus an active programme of drama, large scale musicals, concerts and comedy productions.

It also hosts parties and special events, and the Musikteater crew facilitate technical production at the nearby Spectrum Conference and Sports Centre and for the ann

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USA - With over a decade long relationship, Sir Paul McCartney, once again, commissioned TAIT Towers, the company that supplies live staging equipment and scenic design for 19 of the top twenty highest grossing artists world tours including The Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, U2 and many more, to build a one of a kind stage and scenic set for his One on One Tour. McCartney will be performing a high-energy, high impact show by displaying a repertoire of his music catalogue supported by electrifying video animation, a moving stage and a collection of his personal photos.

Since McCartney's compelling Super Bowl XXXIX performance in 2005 where TAIT provided its artistic talent and staging experience, the two have worked closely together to continue executing the best audience experiences. Likewise, for the One on One tour, TAIT worked closely with McCartney's production manager and

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UK - The British Entertainment Industry Radio Group (BEIRG) urges Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) spectrum users to respond to an Ofcom consultation on funding for a possible compensation scheme for those affected by the clearance of the 700 MHz band (694-790 MHz).

On 31 March 2016 Ofcom issued a consultation document entitled Managing the effects of 700 MHz Clearance on PMSE and DTT viewers. It can be found here: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/700-clearance-cfi

The consultation is designed to ascertain the possible level of funding that will be needed to compensate PMSE users whose equipment will be left fully or partially redundant after the 700 MHz band is cleared of PMSE users.

Towards the bottom of the webpage listed above, there is a link to a 'PMSE Financial Questionnaire'. While the UK Government has not yet formally committed

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UK - The Salisbury Playhouse has recently brought down the curtain on a Myrtle Theatre Company production of Up Down Man by Brendan Murray. The lighting of this internationally acclaimed play was designed and programmed by award winning LD, Michael Straun. He chose to run the show on an MA Lighting dot2 Core console after attending one of the seminars run by exclusive UK distributors, Ambersphere Solutions.

Straun was keen to get a closer look at the MA dot2 console after his first brief encounter at a show in Sydney, Australia. "I didn't have time to have a proper 'play' to explore what it could really do so I grabbed the chance to attend one of the sessions offered by Ambersphere. It provided a good insight into the basics of the desk but the Ambersphere team were also on hand to answer more in-depth questions. However well you think you know a console you always lear

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UK - With a loyal fan base in the UK eager to see their favourite wrestler vie for ring dominance, American professional wrestling organization TNA Wrestling travelled to England earlier in the year for a series of arena shows dubbed the Maximum Impact 8 Tour. Elation Professional lighting fixtures have been staples on TNA Wrestling events in the UK recently with this year's lighting package predominately made up of Elation Platinum Beam 5R Extreme and Platinum Wash ZFX Pro moving heads.

This year's shows, which included an extra layer of emotion as they marked wrestling legend Kurt Angle's final bouts, were designed by Emmy Award-winning LD Jeff Bornstein with Ian Livie, whose production company has provided entertainment technology for TNA's UK shows for years, assisting with the design elements. Lighting operation was by Andre Huff.

Lighting designer/director Jeff Borns

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UK - Lifting, control and rigging specialist Lift-Turn-Move (LTM) supplied LoadGuard hoists to SSE Audio which were used for The Corrs tour. Four of the LTM team were invited by SSE Audio's Russell Holt to watch the load in at Liverpool Echo Arena. This was the first time behind the scenes for some of the team to see their gear in action. It has proved a very valuable experience, improving their understanding and product knowledge.

The attendees from LTM comprised of Clare Sheppard from Sales, Alison Marshall from Marketing and Jack Triggs from the Workshop. Jack Triggs stated, "Today has been extremely beneficial, I am based in the workshop building the hoists I have never had the opportunity to see what the hoists were used for in a concert, it gave me a great overview of how the hoists are used."

The LTM team enjoyed watching the rigging by SSE Audio's Perttu Korteniemi

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USA - Four years after masterminding the set design for Blake Shelton's first major tour, creative director Steve Cohen has been brought in again to unite lighting and video into a fluid stage set redolent of the artist's Oklahoma roots.

And once again he has dipped heavily into the LED catalogue of GLP to fulfill his requirements, sourcing over 200 of the German company's X4 Series fixtures from his regular vendor, Beame (formerly Atomic Lighting).

The set features 116 impression X4 along with 32 of the large X4 L (37 x 15W RGBW LEDs), punctuated by 60 of the tiny single source X4 Atoms.

The itinerary consists entirely of full size sports arenas, with a few country fairs built in. And with demand for tickets so high, the artist's manager, Narvel Blackstock, wanted to sell every arena seat possible, including those behind the stage Asked to produce "something cool" by

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Australia - Originally built in 1892 as a brewery and malting works, building in Southbank, Melbourne has been the home of the Malthouse Theatre since 1990, when Carlton and United Breweries donated the space for the creation and presentation of contemporary Australian theatre. Today, the thriving theatre presents mainly cabarets and musicals, but also plays, conferences and seminars.

In early 2016, the audio system at The Coopers Malthouse, which was over 10 years old, was due for a technical upgrade. The venue is run as a non-profit organisation, so budget was a major criterion in the choice of a system. The Coopers Malthouse consists of three theatres (with respective seating capacities of 500, 200 and 100), rehearsal studios, meeting rooms, a bar and a café. Seating configurations in each theatre change depending on the performance criteria, so the new system also n

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UK - Making the audience the focus of attention turns the usual aspect of arena events on its head, but then there was nothing 'usual' about WE Day at the SSE Arena, Wembley on 9 March. WE Day is an inspirational event, fusing the energy and enthusiasm of young people - in the words of the organizations' website - "to empower a new generation to shift the world from 'me' to 'we' - from a focus on the individual to the power of the community."

And it's that audience focus which immediately validates such noble sentiments as Jason McKinnon, who designs the event in collaboration with executive producer Lina Beaudin explained. "It is a pretty amazing event. The audience can't buy tickets; they earn their way into the arena by taking action on social issues that are important to them."

To put that in context, the young people that attended earned their place through participat

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UK - Arena Group was pivotal in supporting The Jockey Club's transformation of Aintree Racecourse for the 2016 Crabbie's Grand National with temporary event seating and structures. David Mullins trained Rule the World won the race and the £1m prize money.

Carl Pastor, The Jockey Club's operations director, states, "I view Arena as a partner, rather than a contractor: they are pro-active in suggesting ideas and helping us overcome problems, always in tune with our own brand values. The introduction of new features such as the Arena Deck viewing area in front of The Chair Pavilion and the double decker Owners and Trainers hospitality facility this year were great examples of the fantastic advances in the experience we were able to offer our guests."

Arena Group's Aintree installation came hot on the heels of a record breaking installation at Cheltenham Festival for The

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USA - Las Vegas-based with the purchase of eight variable speed chain hoists fitted with Kinesys Elevation 1+ drives, Kinesys Vector Software and eight Kinesys LibraCELL load measuring shackles, all delivered via the manufacturer's U.S. office in Atlanta.

Brent founded Alpine Rigging in 2011 and has been working out of the frenetic entertainment industry hub of Las Vegas since 2005. He's previously worked as a freelance rigger and automation specialist in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world, as well as extensively throughout North America.

Las Vegas was already replete with several major and well respected lighting, rigging and AV rental companies, so with Alpine Rigging, Brent wanted to offer something altogether different. He decided his unique selling point would be to concentrate on niche markets within the world of entertainment and prodAlpine Rigging, headed by

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Italy - Clonwerk Simposium recently equipped the Italian headquarters of Bosch in Milan with a customized sound reinforcement system from Dynacord and Electro-Voice (EV). The installed solution offers a combination of high speech intelligibility, powerful music reproduction and architecture-friendly aesthetics. Loudspeakers from the Dynacord Vertical Array family and the EV EVID series are installed in the auditorium and adjoining Galileo Room, as well as subwoofers, amplifiers, system control and touchpanels.

Over a century ago, Bosch opened its first sales office for Italy in Milan. Today the company has over 5,700 employees at 17 locations across the country. In time for the Expo World Fair 2015, Milan-based Clonwerk Simposium installed a new Dynacord and Electro-Voice sound system in the Bosch headquarters of Italy, which is located in the capital of Lombardy to this day.<

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Russia - Renowned sound engineer, Robert Biom, specified a dLive digital mixing as the FOH console for a national tour by popular Russian pop artist, Leonid Agutin.

As Agutin's long standing sound engineer, Robert Biom has previously used Allen & Heath's iLive system but has taken the new dLive system on the latest venture, which is visiting 25 cities and towns across Russia throughout February, March and April.

The system comprises an S7000 Control Surface with DM64 MixRack at FOH, with an iLive-T80 Control Surface and iDR-32 MixRack as the monitor system.

"After more than 20 gigs with dLive I can say that this system has an amazing sound and limitless functionality," comments Biom. "I believe that in every respect, from sound to appearance, it is equal to the best modern touring digital mixing systems but unlike most of them, dLive is also reasonably priced.

"The

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France - Robe BMFL Spot moving lights have been specified for France's Arlette Gruss Circus show which started its 2016 winter tour at the Place des Quinconces in Bordeaux.

Since 2009, the show has been staged in the 1500 seater 'Cathedral' tent venue, an impressive structure that features eight masts and is 83m long by 49m wide with 20m of headroom.

With those dimensions, they needed a spot fixture with some serious brightness. They also wanted a unit that was flexible and properly multi-purpose.

The 11 x BMFL Spots - replacing older 1500W series moving lights from another manufacturer - were delivered by leading French rental company Dushow after being chosen for the lighting rig by circus lighting designer Arthur Oudin.

Dushow has enjoyed a productive long term relationship with the circus as a technical supplier.

Arthur Oudin and Circus stage manager Julien

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UK - PLASA Focus Leeds returns to the Royal Armouries 10-11 May with its popular seminar programme offering a variety of thought provoking topics from leading organisations in the live entertainment technology industry. The two-day free to attend seminar programme will welcome inspirational and technical sessions from the likes of Soulsound, Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), BECTU and d&b audiotechnik.

This year, the ever-popular seminar programme offers practical guidance for industry professionals with early highlights including multiple sessions from Soulsound as Justin Grealy hosts A Sound Engineer's Guide to Guitars and Guitarists and Dug Gutherie (Soulsound / Surfing Cow) looks in-depth at Category Cables for Touring Applications. Steve Jones from d&b's Education and Application Support team will present Why Size Matters exploring how loudspea

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UK - Plenty of excitement surrounded the high profile re-launch of Virgin Radio on the DAB digital radio platform, with an exceptionally strong presentation team, a great music and entertainment policy and all the ingredients to repeat the ratings success it enjoyed in the nineties and noughties.

Event technical production specialist Maestra London was asked by live event and TV producers TBI Media to provide creative lighting for the inaugural broadcast which took place aboard a Virgin train running from Manchester to London. It was hosted by Virgin Radio presenters Edith Bowman and Matt Richardson complete with special live sets from a number of bands including The Feeling, Travis, Mystery Jets, Walking on Cars and Gavin James.

Maestra's Jack Jury designed the lighting and project managed this aspect for the east London based company. They rose to the challenges of insta

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UK - When the opportunity arose for PRG XL Video to support London's latest in-vogue theatre venue, Found111, and Emily Dobbs Productions' latest show, Bug, PRG XL Video quickly realised the potential of the space and talent connected to it and were delighted to come on board working with lighting designer Richard Howell lighting the play, as well as supplying a small, but versatile lighting package for the themed bar area.

Found111 is a pop-up theatre performance space run by Emily Dobbs Productions in the old Central St Martins School of Art & Design on Charing Cross Road. Emily explained her reason behind embarking upon such a project. "When the prospect of taking on an alternative space in the heart of the West End came along, what really attracted me to it was the chance to create a level of intimacy that is rare in the West End.

"A venue where the space become

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Germany - A permanently installed Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system at Hamburg's Stage Operettenhaus is currently supporting Love Never Dies ( Liebe Stirbt Nie), the musical sequel to the long-running The Phantom of the Opera. Lloyd Webber's longtime sound designer Mick Potter uses Constellation's acoustical effects throughout the show to optimize the aural experience for the audience.

"The Operettenhaus is a very dry sounding theatre, so we're using short reverb time presets throughout the show to add a beautiful, natural acoustic ambience to the room," says Potter. "We also use Constellation to enhance the drama by completely changing the acoustical space, like when we use longer reverb times for scenes in the phantom's lair and shorter ones for outdoor scenes."

In addition to transforming the theatre's acoustics to suit each scene, Constella

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UK - The UK premiere of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was big news throughout Europe. Setting an appropriately grand tone for this A-list event at London's Leicester Square, Impact Production Services, created the highest profile video installation in the company's history using a collection of PVP X6IP LED panels and pixel mapped ÉPIX Strip Tour LED fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Anchoring the dramatic design by IPS client Limited Edition Event Design was a massive video wall display. Lining the red carpet, the display was made of 14 individual 2m x 2m x 5m high Layher towers positioned in zig-zag formation; each tower sporting a 1.5m wide by 2.5m high matrix of Chauvet PVP X6IP panels. The panels displayed visual content and pictures of the various comic book figures in the film, in addition to Batman and Superman lettering.

"The 6.9mm pixel pitch

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USA - ETC has been a major donor to, supporter of, and participant in ESTA's Technical Standards Program since its inception. Now they've taken that support to an even higher level by becoming a Visionary Level Investor in Innovation with a pledge of $10,000 for each of the next five years.

Representatives of ETC were present at the very first meeting discussing the creation of the TSP and have always been active on TSP Working Groups. Steve Terry, ETC's vice president of research and development is also a long-time member and former chair of the Technical Standards Council and Maya Nigrosh, senior software engineer, is currently serving as co-chair of the Control Protocols Working Group.

Steve presented a cheque for the first instalment of their pledge at the recent USITT show to Technical Standards Council co-chair Mike Garl, commenting, "From ETC's point of view, the ES

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USA - Known for his ability to "routinely fill stadiums" (Las Vegas Sun), this year's ACM Entertainer of the Year Jason Aldean is having an incredible year, and it is only April. The multi-Platinum country music megastar will return to the road as his Six String Circus tour launches 19 May in Rogers, AR with a lighting package provided by longtime vendor Bandit Lites.

Stand out elements of Mike Swinford's lighting design include the massive MagicRing-R9 fixtures, MagicBlade-R and pods comprising of MagicDot-R's. Bandit recently added a massive quantity of these Ayrton fixtures to its touring inventory, fixtures that Swinford praises for their consistent output and precision. "I find them appealing because they are on the cutting edge of LED creative technology," said Swinford. "This gives us a fresh new approach to the design and a look that we had never been able to

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UK - A bright sunny April day saw the 6th Annual Behind the Scenes UK Charity Golf Day kick off in normal chaotic style. The morning started with all 20 teams having to pass the BTS Golf Academy before being let loose on a proper golf course with real balls. The teams had to negotiate the four crazy golf putt putt holes, swiftly followed by the driving range and 'nearest to the pin' challenge. This being a BTS Golf Day the challenges are never normal and these tasks involved the golf balls being replaced for marshmallows. Surprisingly some of the golfers chose to keep using the marshmallows on the main 18 holes as their game suddenly improved with straighter and longer shots!

A networking lunch was rounded off with final instruction from BTS Golf Day judge, jury and executioner, Lee Dennison. The teams departed to their holes and the game was afoot. Never one to let people enj

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