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Russia - An Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing system recently managed a special concert in the Philharmonic Hall of Astrakhan, in the southern region of Russia.

The system, consisting of an S5000 Control Surface and DM48 MixRack, was equipped with Dante, Waves and MADI network cards, and managed both FOH and monitor sound, as well as providing a multi-channel recording.

The concert was performed by Makhov's Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments, named after its first artistic director and conductor, Vyacheslav Makhov. Based in Astrakhan, the orchestra tours musical festivals all around the country, and staged a special home coming performance.

Leonid Butakov, conductor of the orchestra, said: "dLive has an amazing sound! It is unbelievably soft and velvet smooth. I was so comfortable working on stage that I didn't even notice when our performance was over. I've never

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USA - After their 'difficult second album' hit the number one spot in the UK, US, and Canada, you could say that The Lumineers have officially gone global with Cleopatra. The critically acclaimed, two-time Grammy-nominated folk trio from Colorado are currently selling out venues across the US and Europe. Keeping everything sweet at side of stage is Brad Galvin, mixing monitors on his trusted DiGiCo SD5.

The Lumineers are Wesley Schultz, Neyla Pekarek, and Jeremiah Caleb Fraites - and their music is making serious waves all over the globe. Playing intimate, fan-friendly venues has, says Brad, been a real treat to witness.

"It's a real breakthrough, as there's always serious pressure with album number two, but they've knocked it out the park in my opinion, and the fans seem to love it," says Brad, who first became acquainted with The Lumineers while working with the D

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Iran / Jordan - As a part of 'Sound Academy', an ongoing set of roadshows across the Middle East, Sennheiser has successfully conducted two events in Iran and Jordan, in collaboration with its partners Ertebat Co. and Advanced Solutions respectively.

While both events were conducted in May and followed a two-day format, the roadshow in Iran was tailored to end-users and focused on Sennheiser's Audio for Video and Business Communications product ranges while the event in Jordan had a split focus on microphone technologies and RF management for rental companies and installers, and Business Communications solutions for end users and consultants.

Commenting on the importance of conducting such events, Mostafa Ghamari, brand development manager at Ertebat Co. said, "I believe that at this moment, the presence of well-known companies like Sennheiser beside their distributors in

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UK - Blue-i, a supplier of video projection, high-resolution displays and audio and lighting to the live events industry, has received a seven-figure equity investment from Enterprise Ventures Growth Fund to help fuel its expansion.

A provider of technical staging for TV, West End theatre shows and high-profile events, the company's recent activities have included supporting the launch of the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign and the Olivier Awards. It is also a preferred supplier for venues including the Camden Roundhouse, the o2 Arena, the Saatchi Gallery and the Royal Airforce Museum in London.

Founded in 2002 by Ian Riley, Lee Bradshaw and Stevie Warne, Blue-i employs 21 staff at offices in Leeds and Hemel Hempstead. The investment will allow it to expand its team and further develop its innovative technology. Lee Bradshaw will now become MD and Stevie Warne technica

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USA - Garth Brooks continues his Man Against Machine tour which started in fall 2014 and has been delighting his massive and loyal fan base. The rock/country superstar is known for his exciting live shows and connection with his audiences, as well as for taking a very active interest in his production and stage presentation.

The pressure is on for lighting designer Dave 'Gig' Butzler to keep the lighting rig constantly evolving to ensure that Brooks' extended touring campaigns are constantly fresh and interesting for his enthusiastic public. Introducing Robe BMFL Spots to the visual equation was the latest 'upgrade'. This move has enabled him to harness the power, throw distances and effects of the BMFL Spots to boost the impact of the lightshow even further. 44 BMFL Spots replaced the previous hard-edged spot moving fixture of choice, and these are being supplied by Ga

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UK - From the moment Adele shattered her four-year silence with Hello (January 2016), the first single in YouTube history to reach one billion views, the high production values of the subsequent sell-out tour were a foregone conclusion. The Adele Live 2016 tour production is all about staging Adele with her strong personality, witty stories and strong vocal range - but not centre-stage, rather across two stages - and with her sound inexorably linked to her presence.

A TiMax SoundHub-S32 audio show control matrix, specified by system engineer Ulf Oeckel and purchased by sound provider Black Box Music, was employed for this fundamentally simple but vital task.

The main stage PA was comprised of main L/R, side L/R, rear L/R, subwoofers and front-fill feeds, and four channels of mono'd front and rear main hangs and front-fills for the B stage. TiMax doubles up these 12

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Belgium - The Dunk! Festival is one of Belgium's fastest growing independent festivals, organized by a team of passionate music loving volunteers with a sustainable and DIY ethos. The festival acts as an extension of the independent record label, Dunk! Records, and as such serves as a platform for its bands to perform to thousands of post rock and post metal fans.

Tasked with creating a dynamic lighting concept for the main stage, LD Frederick Heerinckx of BlackBoxDesign specified 42 Chauvet Professional Nexus 7x7 panels, incorporating the fixture's classic tungsten looks and pixel mapping capabilities into the overall visual aesthetic of the stage.

"I wanted to create big looks for the Dunk! Main stage. My concept was to recreate the rock 'n' roll feel of the old par can tungsten fixtures, while incorporating new technical features like pixel mapping into the mix," commen

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Ireland - Global flightcase hardware and premium 19" racking manufacturer Penn Elcom is launching Penn Elcom Ireland, a new all-encompassing facility and operation which will spearhead expansion in a growing market and be headed by the charismatic Rory Winston.

Penn Elcom chairman and founder Roger Willems stated: "The Irish pro entertainment industry market shows definitive signs of recovering from the economic dip, there are many installations and other projects happening and flourishing! It's been our intention to open a base there for some time, but then circumstances converged to make this a really opportune time."

These circumstances include Rory becoming available to run Penn Elcom Ireland and also the 7000sq.ft warehouse facility in south County Dublin coming on-stream, so with these two plusses, Roger activated the plan. Stock of Penn's extensive standard flightca

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UK - Bringing a wide range of global experts together to share their insight and experience, the renowned programme of seminars will again be a feature of the 2016 PLASA Show, which takes place from 18-20 September at London's Olympia. The first tranche of seminar sessions has just been announced, featuring a diverse array of fascinating and thought-provoking subjects.

PLASA Show's first year at Olympia sees the show showcasing the latest technology in Olympia's National Hall and the Gallery floor above, with the two seminar theatres, product demos and interactive showcases also situated on the Gallery floor.

As always, every session at the PLASA 2016 Seminar Programme is free-to-attend, with subjects including audio, lighting, AV, staging and business skills being covered. The first 15 have been confirmed and include the return of LSI journalist Phil Ward's popular panel

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Glastonbury Live Tribute - Oxfam is to honour MP Jo Cox and her "tireless" work supporting migrants and refugees, with an album recorded live at Glastonbury this weekend. Artists including Muse, Sigur Ros, The Last Shadow Puppets, Chvrches and Coldplay have confirmed they will contribute songs to Oxfam Presents: Stand As One - Live at Glastonbury 2016, which will raise money for asylum seekers.

The charity said the project was part of its campaign to pressure world leaders to welcome more refugees during what it described as the most serious crisis since the Second World War. Oxfam GB chief executive Mark Goldring said the album would be made in memory of the Batley and Spen MP, a former Oxfam activist, who was killed in Birstall on 16 June as she left a constituency surgery.

Orlando Benefit - A benefit concert is being organised to raise money for the victim

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UK - The Feeling FOH engineer Jon Sword has had been touring the band with a Cadac CDC six console on their recent Jeff Lynne's ELO arena support slot.

Sword has been The Feeling's FOH man almost from the outset, bonding with them 10 year ago, at their inception and sharing a love of great sounding pro audio gear. "They're a band who are very into sound, they're proper audio buffs. They can all mix, they can all produce and they can play each other's instruments. So it is either the best gig you have had, or it's the worst, it happens to be the best."

Sword, who toured 10cc last year with the larger Cadac CDC eight, was excited at the prospect of going out with the new CDC six which was coupled with a CDC I/O 6448 stage box. As well as the arena support dates, the CDC six was taken out, with the smaller CDC I/O 3216 stage box, on promo gigs for the bands eponymously titled

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UK - Built on the site of a Benedictine monastery founded in 792AD, St Mary's Church in Hitchin dates back to the 14th century in its current form. But despite its long history, the building's sound system is required to perform to modern standards, and a recent improvement program (carried out by church audio specialists DM Music) saw an array of Audio-Technica microphones and an Allen & Heath Qu-Pac digital mixer installed in place of an outdated radio mic set-up.

From the outset, the clergy at St Mary's requested a solution that moved towards more fixed, hard-wired microphones for ease of use, with six Audio-Technica ES195S cardioid condenser gooseneck microphones and a pair of U891RX cardioid condenser boundary mics employed to enable the clergy to conduct services from a number of different locations, with each microphone having a simple, illuminated on/off switch.

Wi

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UK - Ipswich-based MGC Lighting Group is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. The company was incorporated by Wallace Greig on 21 June 1976 as McCormick Greig Company, initially as a worldwide distributor for GE Lighting. The company was renamed in 1980 to MGC Lamps Ltd and has recently rebranded as MGC Lighting Group.

Initially MGC distributed stage/studio lamps, however it now covers many area of specialist lighting including healthcare, purification, airfield as well as stage/studio.

Managing director James Greig comments, "The last 40 years has seen MGC transform from a small start in stage/studio to becoming a global leader, developing into medical and purification. We have a strong base in UK and now Spain, along with exporting to more than 90 countries. I would like to thank all of our customers, our suppliers and especially to all the people who have worked

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Sweden - Nexo's STM Series has been winning new fans in Sweden, where three rental companies have added modular line array to their inventories. Ljud & Ljus Control I Sundsvall, based on the east coast of the country, has added STM M28 main cabinets to its stock of Nexo, and Musiklagret in Bor

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USA - The recent opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Hollywood is the latest in a series of high-profile projects by the systems division of 4Wall Lighting.

Despite a track record that includes installations at the Venetian, Palazzo and Cosmopolitan hotels, Las Vegas CityCenter and CBN TV studios, the company is still better known for rentals and used equipment sales. "It has taken nearly 20 years for us to be an overnight sensation in the installation market," says systems and design general manager Bill Groener. The Las Vegas team, headed by senior project manager Buddy Pope with John Fernandez and CAD specialist Shaun Blue, has worked together for over 15 years.

Built on the site of the old Universal Amphitheatre, the California attraction follows successful openings in Japan and Orlando. "Meeting the tight schedule set by Universal wa

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UK - Working with Entertainment Industries, Blackout was entrusted to supply the James Bond-themed Diamonds Are Forever Gala at Stoke Park, in celebration of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Diamond Anniversary, on 9 June.

Blackout's director Kevin Monks and his eight-strong team were called upon to help transform Stoke Park's indoor tennis courts into an entertainment venue fit to host glittering performances from Sir Tom Jones and Laura Mvula.

With a complex build in a challenging indoor venue with limited roof loading capabilities, Blackout designed and supplied a James Thomas ground supported super truss grid for over the stage plus an additional truss goalpost for hanging the upstage LED screen supplied by PRG XL. The truss grid also provided support to lighting from PRG XL and sound equipment supplied by Britannia Row.

The team supplied and installed over 50 motors

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Australia - Prism Sound's inspirational Mic to Monitor educational seminars will make their first visit to Australia this year as part of an extensive tour programme that takes place on three continents.

Targeted at music production students, hobbyists and professionals, Mic to Monitor aims to dispel the many myths surrounding the recording process. The events answer those all-important questions such as what makes great gear great, what does it take to become a successful and in demand audio engineer, how do recording professionals tackle different aspects of their productions and how is a hit sound achieved?

Each seminar features presentations from recording professionals who will answer audience questions on recording techniques. There are also presentations from the pro audio equipment manufacturers that are supporting various events, including monitor brand Amphion an

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USA - Front of House sound engineer Gabriel Fajardo takes pride in providing his artists with pristine and natural vocal sounds. When Grammy award-winning reggaeton artist Nicky Jam takes the stage to sold-out crowds across the world, Fajardo relies on the d:facto Handheld Microphone from DPA Microphones.

Fajardo's first experience with DPA Microphones was about four years ago while working on a project with Colombian Airlines. He was working with DPA's d:fine 88 Directional Headset Microphone, and was blown away by its frequency response and dynamic range.

At the end of 2015, Fajardo was talking with his friend and colleague John Buitrago about which microphone would be the best option to use for a vocalist who has a habit of covering the capsule with his hand. Buitrago put Fajardo in touch with DPA to facilitate a mic demo and Fajardo was immediately drawn to the fantast

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UK - "The plan was always for two shows, but the whole thing was put together in just four weeks, Keith Woods at Live Nation had his work cut out getting licences sorted." Alex Leinster of Video Design emphasises just how tight the two celebratory concerts by Kasabian staged at Leicester City FC's home stadium proved to be. "That last minute aspect is one reason why I was there and ran it myself. Kasabian and their management organisation are a really nice bunch of people to work with and these shows deserved some special attention."

The two shows took place on 28 and 29 May, playing to 30,000 people each night. At that time of year, the concert was largely in daylight, but that didn't stop the band investing in a full production presentation. "We put in a four-camera pack and two 8mm daylight LED screens for the band's long time video director Paul Eggerton," explains Leinste

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Europe - The veteran French rock band Les Insus and Danish pop singer Christopher have a common denominator: the two diverse European acts have each relied on the power and clarity of Meyer Sound Leo Family systems for their recent tours.

A hard-driving rock quartet formed by members of the legendary group Telephone, Les Insus is touring major arenas throughout France with its Leo Family rig throughout the year.

"I was able to choose any system I wanted for this tour, and Leo was an obvious choice," says Bob Coke, FOH engineer for Les Insus. "It has a very coherent and powerful signature in the lower frequencies, and a sweet high end. The generous and precise low-mids translate a potent, physical musical experience to the audience. Even when playing relatively quiet, LEO still sounds energetic.

"The system is really in-your-face in a non-aggressive, dynamic way, regard

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UK - RCF UK has announced the appointment of SigNET (AC) as its specialist distributor in the UK for the DXT 3000 Emergency Evacuation System.

In addition to the Italian manufacturer's EN 54-16 certified DXT 3000, SigNET will also be able to offer sales of RCF's associated EN 54 certified voice alarm products into the fire alarm and security systems market within the UK. These are being shown for the first time on stand G140 at FIREX International 2016 this week (London ExCeL, 21-23 June).

The DXT 3000 system integrates amplification, control, routing, line monitoring and power supply in a compact, wall-mounted cabinet for single- or multi-zone applications. A wall-mounted emergency microphone and controller are also available, as is a desk-mounted paging microphone.

States RCF's Phil Price, "SigNET is well known for its AFILS hearing loop systems but also has a strong

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USA - Founded in 1863, Third Baptist Church, Alexandria, VA, constructed its historic current structure in 1903. Recently, the church completed a major interior renovation with a dramatic new appearance and a modern audio system.

AV/COM Integrators of Severn, Maryland designed and installed Third Baptist's new audio system. AV/COM sales/system engineer Chris Green knew that Third Baptist's worship services mixed traditional elements with a modern music style so the church would need an audio system capable of both clear, intelligible speech and high-quality music production. Green also spoke with the church's architect, John J. Recny of Helbing Lipp Recny Architects and the church's construction manager, Harry J. Thompson of Metropolitan Facilities Solutions, and learned that the church wanted close visual integration of the audio system with the interior design envisioned by

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USA - E11even Nightclub in downtown Miami attracts an impressive number of top DJs and other dance music artists, especially around Winter Music Conference time. The profusion of EDM, hip hop and house music talent has been even more marked since the two-story club expanded by opening a rooftop dance and chill area that recently received a lighting upgrade from iDesign Productions that included Elation Professional lighting fixtures.

E11even opened in 2014 as a 24/7 club with a sophisticated atmosphere. New lighting for the rooftop, an open area with dance floor, sofa seating and views of downtown Miami, was completed early in 2016 and has invigorated the space as a place to linger. The truss above the rooftop dance floor holds an atmosphere-generating rig that includes Elation Platinum HFX moving heads, Sniper multi-effect lights, SixPar 200 LED PAR lights and Protron 3K stro

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UK - Smalltown America Studio (STA) in Derry regularly showcases acts from across the UK and Ireland with their series of Live @ STA events.

"The bands play live on the floor in our 1600sq ft live room," confirms studio engineer, Caol

  1. W-DMX at the Maritime Museum in Sydney
  2. Jands Vista L5 controls Al Burda Arts Awards
  3. Blond shines at Clash of the Choirs
  4. Chauvet creates intense atmosphere at Cream event
  5. Aurora live at Wembley for EU Debate
  6. The Sound Summit Toronto set for July
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