Business

Details
Indonesia - As part of a major AV refurbishment, Bethany Salatiga Church has become one of the first Indonesian houses of worship to install Allen & Heath's dLive digital mixing system, along with a ME personal monitoring system.

Located in the city of Salatiga in Semarang, Indonesia, the large capacity Church needed a system to manage FOH and monitors in the main sanctuary, which hosts several different traditional, modern and youth services each day, as well as broadcast feeds for its radio station.

"The church had the opportunity to update its AV equipment, and after much research, dLive came out on top," explains member of Bethany's technical staff, Samuel Aderiel Susanto. "Our church has been using a GL3300 every day for the past 13 years without any problems, so we know A&H is reliable. With the demands of a growing church community, dLive's digital features ensure w

Details
UK - PRG XL Video, the UK operation of Production Resource Group, has announced a significant investment with Area Four Industries UK to upgrade its hoist stock with EXE Rise units.

In a continuing commitment to update its inventory with the latest rigging, lighting, and video technology, PRG XL Video has chosen the EXE Rise range of chain hoists to update its rental offering.

During the development of the Rise hoists, PRG XL Video worked with Area Four Industries UK to give feedback on the design and specifications. The selection of the EXE Rise units followed extensive evaluation of different hoists by a team of PRG XL Video's rigging experts including Chris Walker, account director, Q Willis, head of rigging services, and Richard Gorrod, head of event services.

The units are the new 8:1 EXE Rise Chain Hoists, which are both CE and LOLER (Lifting Operations Lifting E

Details
USA / Europe - At 82 years young, singer, recording artist and frontman of The Four Seasons Frankie Valli is still playing live and touring two weekends a month for most of the year - with Robe as the first choice of moving light on the rider. Valli has had multiple chart-topping singles and albums throughout a six-decade career and has also been inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

Los Angeles-based Dean Egnater is lighting designer and tour manager and has been working for Valli for 15 years since originally being hired for a three-week period in 2001. Their touring schedule includes a variety of venues encompassing theatres and arenas which are always sold-out, and for which the largest version of their lighting plot includes around 46-48 moving luminaires - Ideally an equal split between profiles and washes.

Dean has been using Robe fixtures for at least 10 ye

Details
Sweden - Barco was the technical event supplier for the Eurovision Song Contest. During the semi-finals and finals in Stockholm, a full stack of high-brightness Barco projectors, 10 of which are equipped with Barco's High End Systems' MMS-200 moving mirror systems, and Barco's E2 screen management system helped create the audiovisual experience in crisp, clear detail.

The stage of the 2016 edition has been described as "rock 'n roll meets Eurovision". Through its highly-defined scenography with straight lines, strong perspectives and a background in different geometrical patterns, the set-up enabled dramatic effects and optical illusions, and gave each performance a different look.

Barco provided a total of 13 HDQ-2K40 projectors - complete with XLD 2.8-5.5 lenses - through its rental partner Mediatec. Ten of the HDQ-2K40 projectors - four flown on an FOH truss and six sta

Details
India - Music has announced the appointment of Alphatec Audio Video Pvt Ltd as the exclusive distributor for Lab Gruppen, Lake and Tannoy, adding to the company's successful relationship with fellow Music brands Midas, Klark-Teknik, Turbosound, Behringer and Begera.

The deal sees Alphatec Audio Video Pvt Ltd, located in Kolkata, become the primary contact for all eight brands in the country and now offers exclusive access to LAB GRUPPEN and LAKE amplification and processing products along with TANNOY's high performance professional loudspeakers.

Mr Mayank Gaurav, director of sales (installed) for Alphatec Audio Vide, commented: "Tannoy and Lab Gruppen are amongst the most recognised brands in the Indian pro audio industry. They have diverse applications in both the install and tour markets. We are very glad to be given this opportunity to represent such globally recognised

Details
UK - The Warehouse has become a distributor of NEXO professional sound reinforcement products in the UK.

Founded in 1980 to provide sales, hire and operation of pro sound equipment in Scotland, the company has extended its reach from Edinburgh and Glasgow to a new Manchester location, bringing its blue-chip brand portfolio and specialist expertise into the north of England.

Company directors Derek Blair and Janet Murray joined Gareth Collyer, sales manager of Nexo UK, for a symbolic contract signing at the PLS Show in Frankfurt last month, swiftly following up with an opening order for classic Nexo PS Series cabinets and a quantity of the new super-compact ID Series multi-application loudspeakers. The popular compact GEO M6 line array is also scheduled for delivery.

"I am delighted to secure a partnership with the most respected sales and distribution company in Scotla

Details
Spectacular Eurovision 2016 - Saturday night saw the spectacular grand final of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), broadcast live around the world to an estimated 200 million-plus people from Stockholm's Globen Arena. As the world's largest live broadcast of a music production, Eurovision's production standards were bigger and better than ever this year.

The technical production, steered once again by Technical Director Ola Melzig (this being his 12th Eurovision production) featured many of the same design and technical team who worked together on Eurovision when it was held in Malm

Details
Slovakia - KV2's new VHD5.0 Large Format Concert System was successfully applied for three sell out concerts in Bratislava for the country's leading singer, Lucie B

Details
South Africa - Audio Engineer Mickey Beck has been with Josh Groban for 12 years and Chris 'cookie, Hoff has been with Josh for three years. They recently came to South Africa on the Stages tour where they worked on two DiGiCo SD10 consoles with waves and two 2SD Racks.

The Stages Tour took in Johannesburg (Ticketpro Dome), Durban (ICC Durban Arena) and i Cape Town (Grand Arena, GrandWest) with the full technical supplied by Gearhouse South Africa.

"The main reason we have chosen DiGiCo consoles for the Josh Groban Stages tour was its scalability with a cohesive UI throughout the model range. There is no typical Josh Groban configuration. A show may be just Josh with piano or a trio which adds a guitar," said Beck "There have been shows where Josh has sung with an orchestra or orchestra and full electric band. We needed a console line that would allow us to move our work u

Details
USA - Three-time and reigning Male Vocalist of the Year at the ACM Awards, Jason Aldean, is currently on tour across America, having completed the Australian leg, with his We Were Here tour, named after his single Gonna Know We Were Here.

Lighting designer, Mike Swinford, of UpLate Design Inc, was intent on bringing a fresh new look to the country singer's headline tour, using modern technology and new lighting tools to achieve an inspirational design that would be very different from what Aldean was accustomed to. Included in his design are a plethora of lighting fixtures from Ayrton that include MagicDot-R, MagicRing-R9, IntelliPix-R and the award-winning MagicBlade-R.

"We wanted a departure from the very large 'rock' lighting look that we had last year," explains Swinford. "We started the current tour with a new set based upon many diamond shapes, with diamond-sh

Details
UK - When popular, multi award-winning folk band Bellowhead embarked on their farewell tour, their FOH engineer Andy Bell opted for Soundcraft's new Vi7000, eager to try it for the first time.

The respected engineer and record producer, working in the folk genre, was already familiar with the topology of Soundcraft's earlier Vi6, and with his work doubling between that of a live and studio engineer, he knew the benefits of having a full suite of plug-in options at his disposal - and although he considered other options, he was aware that Soundcraft's dedicated Realtime Rack engine runs Universal Audio plug-ins.

This would give him the versatility for keeping the rollicking sound from a theatrical 11-piece traditional band, playing a mix of traditional dance tunes, folk songs and shanties, with their acoustic instrumentation fresh.

The inventory was provided by BCS Audi

Details
UK - Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur recently staged the first full UK performance of their new project, Junun, at the London Barbican with FOH engineer, Gavin McComb selecting Allen & Heath's dLive system to manage the diverse audio requirements.

Heralded as "a powerful coming together of Eastern and Western musical traditions", Junun comprises compositions performed by Ben Tzur and the nine-piece Rajasthan Express band, with Greenwood adding electronic elements.

"Having used iLive for many years, this was my first opportunity to use A&H's new dLive system," explains McComb. "The Junun act is a big sound with Indian drums, brass, guitars, harmonium, percussion and lots of vocals. For this gig there were 11 musicians on stage with a lot of open mics.

"There was a fantastic range of instrumentation to manage but these guys ca

Details
UK - Suspend your disbelief for a moment and imagine a concert performance that travels through Wagner's Ring Cycle to a string quartet by Mozart by way of the Nine Inch Nails. In terms of dynamic range, contrast in styles and instrumentation, this flimsy analogy only begins to describe the complexity of what is being undertaken on the current concert tour by Hans Zimmer.

While younger audiences will know Zimmer for his many super hero movie scores, most recently Batman V Superman, he has never-the-less inhabited our ears since the early eighties. First gaining attention, in the UK at least, for his work on My beautiful Laundrette, Zimmer has never neglected the human condition: Rainman, Thelma and Louise and more recently Twelve Years a Slave all pay testament to his sensitivity and diversity. To make possible a live rendition of such variet

Details
UK - The Jamie Lloyd Company has built a reputation for creating innovative and energetic revivals of classic texts. Their most recent reinvention was Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, which recently opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End. In one of the most anticipated shows of the year, it stars Game of Thrones' Kit Harington and WL has been called upon to provide the lighting equipment.

Doctor Faustus tells the story of Faustus who makes a pact with the Devil, selling his soul in return for the ability to perform anything he desires through the power of black magic. This 400-year-old play has been given a modern rewrite by Colin Teevan, who has transported it into a celebrity-obsessed society of greed and instant gratification.

The lighting designer for the show is Jon Clark, who previously worked with the Jamie Lloyd Company on last

Details
UK - The 32nd Reproduced Sound Conference (Southampton,15-17 November 2016) will focus on all aspects of electroacoustics for cinema, TV and the internet.

Papers are invited on all electroacoustic topics including the following: Cinema Sound, Live Sound, Audio System Design, Case Studies, Environmental Noise Control of Events, Audio/Visual Timing, Intelligibility, Measurement & Evaluation, Loudspeakers and Microphones, Acoustics of Venues.

Offers of papers on any electro-acoustics topic will be considered for the programme.

Abstracts (150 words) for papers plus a short biography of up to 150 words may be sent to linda.canty@ioa.org.uk by Friday 20 May 2016. Final written papers for the Proceedings must be submitted by Friday 30 September 2016.

(Jim Evans)

Details
South Africa - Shure and South African distributor Wild & Marr have announced the Shure Masterclass event that will take place during the week of 30 May to 3 June 2016. This will be held at the APSO Training Facility in Isando, Johannesburg.

The masterclasses will be presented by staff from the Shure MEA office and will include certified sales and technical application training of Shure's new audio solution for AV conferencing - Microflex Advance.

Sessions are open to audio industry professionals, systems integrators, AV professionals and their associated sales teams.

"After a successful event last year, we are excited to welcome the Shure MEA team back in 2016," says Andrew Sorrill who is sales and marketing manager for Shure distributors Wild & Marr. "Shure have a number of new products that we would like to introduce to the market and highlight how flexible they are

Details
USA - In addition to demonstrating its latest products and technologies at InfoComm 2016, audio manufacturer Powersoft [Booth C11505] announced three dedicated training sessions that will occur during the trade show - each focused on the use of Powersoft amplification in audio system design and voice alarm systems. Below is more information in each session and information on how to register.

"Once again, Powersoft is offering comprehensive training and demonstration sessions at InfoComm for both our existing user base and those who may be new to our products and software," commented Francesco Fanicchi, head of brand and communications for Powersoft.

"We are pleased to work with InfoComm and Audinate on these training sessions to help integrators and end-users become more familiar with how Powersoft works seamlessly within Dante-based environments. We encourage all InfoComm

Details
UK - In a special event for PLASA members to be held on 24 May, the RSC will be providing an immersive backstage tour covering the transformation of Elizabeth Scott's iconic 1932 cinema-style Royal Shakespeare Theatre into a definitive new environment for performing the works of Shakespeare.

This was a major construction programme and Stage Electrics were involved on-site in the realisation of this transformation for over four years working to the design brief created by Charcoalblue (theatre consultants), Buro Happold (engineers) and Bennetts Associates (architects).

This project was a huge collaborative effort with a number of different contributors all handpicked by the RSC. More recently, Stage Electrics have been engaged by RSC in a technical refit of The Other Place, a space created to house the company while their main theatre was being transformed. The RSC technica

Details
New Zealand - Popular vocal trio Sol3 Mio recently completed a very successful national tour which was lit by Joel Stanners using 16 x Robe BMFL Spots as the main hard edged fixtures. These were supplied by leading NZ lighting and production rental company Oceania from Auckland.

Joel has worked with the trio - classically trained brothers Pene and Amital Pati and their cousin Moses MacKay - for the last two years, and this was a completely new design involving a greater LED screen element than previously, together with more lighting. Set and video was designed by Pak Peacock and included a thrust stage that dropped to reveal three different levels - plus various height risers onstage to make the environment more off-beat and interesting.

Joel first listened intently to the music to get a feel for the flow and rhythm of the set and then started designing the lighting which

Details
Norway - Norway is the first European country with permanent installations of the compact Meyer Sound Leopard linear sound reinforcement system.

Leopard's remarkable flexibility and versatility made it the choice for two very different venues. The 1,200-seat Grand Hall at Studentersamfundet (Student Society) in Trondheim uses Leopard to support community events such as theatrical performances and conferences, while the Leopard system at Oslo's 650-capacity Vulkan Arena primarily powers hard rock shows.

"When we first saw Leopard we were amazed by its size," reports Torgeir Aadland, project consultant for audio renovations at the Grand Hall. "It was easily one of the smallest in its class, and we had some concern about it performing to our standards. But Leopard has provided excellent sound quality even at the highest levels, and gives us even horizontal coverage - it's eve

Details
UK - Discover the new Hog 4 Family from High End Systems during a unique Test Drive event in the heart of the London's West End (Theatres Trust, Tuesday 24 May), presented by AED Distribution, master distributor of High End Systems in the UK.

On Tuesday 24th of May, from 10.30am - 5pm at the Theatres Trust offices on Charing Cross Road, London, AED present a unique opportunity to get one-on-one with the family of Hog 4 consoles, including ithe Hog 4, Full Boar 4, Road Hog 4 and Hoglet 4. Product specialists will be on-hand to guide you through what's new and to answer any questions you may have.

To attend, please email Alexander Lemahieu at office@aeddistribution.co.uk

(LSi Online)

Details
USA - Last year Aaron Watson made history when his album The Underdog debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. It marked the first time that an LP that was self-released, as well as independently distributed and promoted, accomplished that extraordinary feat. Despite this commercial success (26,000 copies of the album were sold the first week), the Amarillo, Texas-born singer and his band have remained true to their deeply rooted home values, both in the flavor of their music and their lifestyle.

In keeping with their basic sensibilities, the band is traveling in a single trailer while touring in support of their hit record. Packed on board are a collection of Rogue R1 Wash and R1 Spot fixtures from Chauvet Professional, supplied by 4Wall Entertainment Lighting.

"The Rogues deliver the punch we want," said Erich Meitzner, production designer

Details
China - With theme-park experiences growing day by day and new digital tools developing fast, interactivity is transforming lighting designs in modern theme parks. Planet J, located at the Sands Cotai Central in Macau, has put together a number of trendsetting interactive elements and a sophisticated lighting-control system - including ETC Selador Desire luminaires, Source Four LED fixtures, and Unison Mosaic and Paradigm architectural systems - to provide visitors with the world's first live-action role-play theme park.

"The lighting will change as players interact with their surroundings," says Derek Warrick, lighting and systems-design manager from StandardVision, the company that designed and specified the lighting system for the Planet J project. "This means a lot of programming and interaction between computer systems. It also means that the park will look different from

Details
UK - The grid is full, but there are still plenty of ways to join in the fun and raise much needed funds at the annual Behind The Scenes charity Kartfest.

Taking place on 16 June at Daytona Sandown Park in Esher, Surrey, the Behind the Scenes Kartfest will see a total of 32 teams test their endurance in three hours of non-stop racing, with a prize for the fastest lap, sponsored by Medialease, followed by an exciting - and amusing - F1-style pit stop challenge.

This year, there's extra entertainment for racers and non-racers alike, including coverage of the day's England v Wales EURO 2016 match, live music from up and coming artists, who are donating their time to play after the race as the sun goes down a Mediterranean-style BBQ and a raffle, which features some great prizes.

"We're absolutely delighted that we've sold out so far in advance of the day," says White Ligh

  1. EAW Redline in the round with Patti LaBelle
  2. Hamilton brings Alcons to Broadway
  3. Satis&fy invests in Elation LED battens
  4. Mexico's Paragon Tower takes W-DMX
  5. Evergreen State installs Rupert Neve console
  6. Lawo partners with 3IT Innovation Centre
Page 366 of 1813

Latest Issue. . .