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USA- Since its introduction in 1993, Student Life has been running inter-denominational Christian summer camps and conferences for young people. The camps travel with a production team striving to set the stage which will foster an environment of worship and praise.

To create these worship environments, director of production Jake Brantley understands that the gear chosen must have the ability to adapt to several locations across the country, so he once again turned to Nashville-based tour provider Elite Multimedia to help him create a cohesive and modular lighting, audio and video production design.

"Each Student Life Camp lasts one week with both morning and evening worship services, so at a typical camp our production crew will run eight services," began Brantley. "One of the most challenging aspects about putting the designs together is that we have to be modular becau

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USA - With the US elections intensifying, The Democratic National Convention took place in July, while SGM fixtures lit up landmarks and historical monuments in the host city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Lighting Practice of Philadelphia was approached by Amtrak to highlight the 30th Street Station during the DNC 2016 event. The Lighting Practice commissioned Starlite Productions of New Jersey to form a collaboration in order to create a lighting spectacle.

Furthermore, the Centre City District of Philadelphia commissioned the team to light up the iconic clock tower of Philadelphia's City Hall - equally for the duration of the DNC.

The initial brief for the 30th Street Station project entailed lighting up the large windows on the east and west side of the station but the scope elaborated to include the east portico, which is highly visible from the city center. A

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China - Foster and Partners have refurbished the business and first class lounges at Chep Lap Kok, Hong Kong International Airport. This is the home of Cathay Pacific and the new upgraded lounges make a clear statement - "this is how we treat travellers in our home port, the best airport in the world".

The new lounges are not opulent. They are smart, elegant spaces devoid of superfluous distractions that are irrelevant to the guests. There is everything you need and nothing you do not.

The signature theme in all of the lounges is the ceiling to floor glass feature wall illuminated by LED lighting found at the reception and within the overall space. The reception walls are neutral white. The inner wall changes colour, subtly.

Hong Kong International Airport is full to capacity. There is not a millimetre to spare in the lounge and any additional elements will compete wit

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South Africa - DWR Distribution welcomed the founder of ArKaos, Marco Hinic and colleague Benjamin Bauwens to South Africa for the very first time in August. They visited clients in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town and also presented training at DWR's offices.

"Although we have worked remotely with DWR for a few years now, it was our first physical contact with South Africa," said Marco. "I had a feeling that we were in for a nice surprise and indeed we were overwhelmed by the warm welcome and hand of friendship from everyone. I was thrilled I could take a day at the end of the trip to explore the beauty of Cape Town. All we can think of is now is when can we plan to come back."

A day's training was hosted in Johannesburg and presented by Benjamin Bauwens and Marco and both were encouraged by the good attendance. "I took a group picture of everyone to bring back to our o

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USA - Far from being just another event space, Community Courtyard has a history and aesthetic reaching back to 1850. It was then that a carriage works and livery stable laid its foundation in Plattsburg, Missouri. In the century that followed, the lovely brick building became a roller skate factory, a car dealership, and a cabinetry shop, but in the 1980s it fell into disrepair.

Inspired by its beauty and cultural significance, a local non-profit raised the funds necessary to turn it into a community event space. After two years of extensive renovations, Community Courtyard opened in the late 1990s. Until this year however, users had to bring their own sound reinforcement systems to their events. Kansas City A/V integration firm Advanced Sound & Communication changed that with a system centred on an Ashly Audio Pema 4250.70 combo Protea matrix digital processor and four-chann

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USA - Barco and High End Systems, a Barco company, are providing their AV solutions to help create a mind-blowing visual spectacular for rap artist and songwriter Drake's current North America concert tour. The company is part of a team led by world-renowned lighting designer Guy Pavelo and tour director Steve Kidd of GP-SK Design & Production.

Now traveling across the United States, the Drake Summer Sixteen tour represents a massive undertaking in audiovisual theatrics, with the design and programming expertly directed by Pavelo and GP-SK. The artist came to the table with some highly imaginative show elements in mind, requiring a mammoth production effort: an expansive stage and set design, an 86' curved video wall, and a Kinetic system comprising hundreds of custom LED spheres.

Pavelo specified a significant amount of Barco and High End Systems gear to augment the exten

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USA - The Frendly Gathering in Windham, VT is to music festivals what the nearby Ben & Jerry's company is to ice cream makers: iconoclastic, slightly eccentric, wildly creative and flower child sweet. How else to describe a music festival started by two champion snowboarders to commemorate Frends Crew, a group formed to take the ego out of the sport? (Hence the removal of the "I" from the word friends.)

Along with morning yoga and skateboarding, the festival features nonstop performances from bands covering the gamut of rock, jam, reggae and bluegrass styles. This year a total of 26 acts, including Big Gigantic and Smooth Antics, took to the stage at Timber Ridge, an old ski resort tucked in the Green Mountains. They were backed by a lightshow that featured a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures and an impressive video wall created by Tristan Rudat using the company's P

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USA - This year, Adele made a welcome return to the stage with 25, her first arena tour, which received rave reviews during its European leg. Now travelling round the US, the tour's much anticipated nature, and Adele's status as one of the world's favourite artists, prescribed a production with values that aim for nothing less than perfection - right across the board. In audio world, that aim is aided by the use of DiGiCo SD7 mixing consoles, which are situated at both the Front of House and monitor positions.

Front of House engineer Dave Bracey has been using DiGiCo consoles since the company first started manufacturing 14 years ago but is new to the Adele crew. Whilst Joe Campbell at monitors is new to the desks, he has been working with Adele since her 21 tour. Both are happy that they have all the right tools for the job.

"For me, DiGiCos are the only properly engineer

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Europe - German rock legends The Scorpions celebrate 50 glorious years of being ultimate heroes of heavy metal. 2015 actually marked the anniversary of their formation and they continue to tour.

Associate LD and lighting operator Manfred Nikitser from MANIK Show Lighting, Vienna, is running the lighting for the current touring schedule together with Rainer Becker. The summer shows are a mix of festival and own-headliners, 90% of the time using local productions matched as closely as possible to their generic spec.

Robe's BMFL Spots are among a number of primary moving light fixtures on the rider that Manfred is happy to accept from local vendors.

The biggest challenge of the current leg of the tour - with all the lighting, rigging and LED provided locally - is the need for good pre-production and advancing to still make a show happen in countries with radically differe

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UK - In 2011, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds released their debut album and embarked on an understated tour of theatre sized venues. Since then the band hasn't stopped and 2016 has seen it embark on a world tour, with an L-Acoustics audio system provided by Britannia Row Productions.

Unsurprisingly, the size of the venues has increased, with the latest tour including six UK arena dates, the tour concluding with a final show at the Brixton O2 Academy in September. Front of House engineer, Dan Lewis, has enjoyed a long working relationship with Gallagher, having worked with him since 2002.

"My relationship with Noel started as system tech for Oasis, after which I became their Front of House engineer," says Dan. "Since then I've been FOH engineer for both Noel's High Flying Birds and Beady Eye. I started using L-Acoustics with Beady Eye in 2011 and have used it ever since

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Europe - Connectivity specialists DirectOut has announced that they have entered into a SoundGrid licensing partnership with Waves Audio. The collaboration has led to the development of a new device with a SoundGrid and MADI interface that will be unveiled at IBC in Amsterdam this month.

SoundGrid is an audio-over-Ethernet networking and processing technology developed by Waves offering extremely low latency, high channel count audio processing. Running on standard Intel CPUs and 1Gbps Ethernet networks, SoundGrid uses standard computers, switches and servers and integrates easily with analog and digital mixing consoles. Real-time audio processing is performed on standard Intel-based plugin servers running a Waves-customized version of the rock-solid Linux platform, making it an ideal solution for studio facilities, live sound, broadcast, post-production and more.

"SoundGr

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Hungary - Renowned Hungarian dance group, Experidance, recently purchased two Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing systems to manage audio requirements for their national touring shows.

Experidance's repertoire includes musicals, live orchestral events and theatre productions, and the team was looking for an ultra-flexible digital mixing system to replace the incumbent FOH and monitor consoles. After evaluation, they selected two dLive systems, comprising S5000 and S7000 Surfaces, with DM32 and DM48 MixRacks. Experidance's touring PA also includes an L-Acoustics Line Array system and a wide selection of premium microphones.

In most scenarios, the company is using the system as a traditional FOH and monitor split via ACE for big orchestra shows, but the system is also versatile, and can be installed in different locations functioning as two separate FOH mixing systems, using

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UK - The splendid and ornate surroundings of the Blackpool Tower Ballroom were recently home to the Lancaster University Student's Union 2016 graduation ball, an evening marked by celebration and reflection.

Lighting designer Oliver Wilkinson contributed to the festive mood, creating a memorable and colourful lightshow that was anchored by 10 Rogue R1 Spot and 22 Q-Wash 560Z-LED moving fixtures from Chauvet Professional, as well as six MotionOrbs and 12 PiXPar 24 par fixtures from its sister company Chauvet DJ.

Having designed the LUSU grad ball twice previously, Wilkinson - who is a fulltime designer and chief LX for local production company Arranpaul - understands the expectations of the students all too well. "From previous years, I know that these students want to go out with a bang," commented Wilkinson. "For this reason I needed to create the most impressive lighting

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Malta - The walled Cittadella, situated on the Island of Gozo, next to Malta, has recently undergone a major revamp through two restoration and rehabilitation projects co-financed by the European Union.

International creative design and AV installation company, Sarner, has been instrumental in bringing 2000 years of Gozo's history to life with a visually captivating and immersive journey in an all-embracing visitor experience located within the historical walls of the island.

The island of Gozo is rich in history and natural beauty, resources which, woven in with local customs and traditions, were key factors in creating this new tourist attraction. Being greener, less densely populated and urbanised than Malta, Gozo boasts an idyllic lifestyle that draws inspiration from its unique island setting and Sarner's brief was to convert and restore the city's disused reservoirs

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USA - Bandit Lites has opened its newest office in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the office focusing primarily on fixed installation projects.

"Because of our proximity to North Carolina, we had already done a number of projects in the area, so the opening of our office simply makes it easier to continue those relationships and support those projects," explained Chris Barbee, Bandit's national director of sales.

Senior system integrator Andrew Fisher, who joined the Bandit Lites sales team in 2013, brings his extensive knowledge of both lighting design and system installations to the growing Charlotte market.

Bandit also recently hired Emily Eudy as the installation project manager. Eudy's background in theatre lighting design and her decade in the industry working at Barbizon and Rosco LA makes her an invaluable addition to the team, where she will be assisting with

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UK - Taking place every two years, the Farnborough International Air Show - Europe's largest outdoor exhibition - is the aerospace and defence industries' opportunity to highlight the latest innovations in civilian and military aircraft to international customers, the media and the public.

With this major trade exhibition and public air shows running throughout the week, the Farnborough Airshow hosts over 100,000 people who travel to see everything from the mammoth 440-passenger Airbus to the Red Arrows. The tradeshow element of the Airshow included 1500 exhibitors, 73,000 trade visits and $124 billion worth of orders and commitments.

Two years ago, QSC's Q-Sys audio networking system controlled the PA/VA at the show. For 2016, the Shure Systems Group UK worked with Show Hire to provide a more extensive Q-Sys network with more QSC infrastructure throughout the event, allow

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Mexico - Just opened, My Way has become one of the most prestigious clubs in Mexico City, and a reference for the sophisticated level of audio, video and lighting systems installed.

The My Way project undertaken by Ricardo Flores, director of Leds4Skys company, integrates five zones - the bar, the 'cube', the disco, the terraces and the VIP area, each with its own distinct 'personality' and specific lighting equipment.

A wide range of DTS moving heads is used in the dynamic lighting of the main areas - 30 JACK are fixed to the wall along the perimeter of the so-called 'cube' and allow to create with their projections a series of luminous geometries of great effectiveness.

Twenty-three MAX and 10 NICK NRG 1201, hanging above the discotheque, colour the entire area and the dancefloor below.

(Jim Evans)

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UAE - Generating onscreen images of sharks and creating the illusion that they are swimming with real fish in an aquarium is a serious AV challenge.

BrightSign and Dubai-based system integrator DigiComm met this challenge with the completion of the new Shark Week exhibit at Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo.

Using nearly 91 screens driven by 42 BrightSign players, DigiComm combined digital technology with a living aquarium to create for visitors the experience of swimming among Great White Sharks and other large fish without the actual fish being present. The experience was created by Emaar Entertainment, the leisure and entertainment subsidiary of Emaar Properties, and Discovery Consumer Products, in association with OSN, the region's leading pay-TV network.

Paul Hamilton, general manager and curator of Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo, said, "At Dubai Aquarium & Underwa

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The Netherlands - When the local zoo in Emmen, the Netherlands, closed at the end of 2015 it wasn't long before animal lovers in the area had a renewed and even better animal theme park to visit. Inspired by Disney's Animal Kingdom and SeaWorld Orlando, Wildlands Adventure Zoo opened its doors on 25 March, 2016 as the area's new must-visit theme attraction.

Emmen's former zoo required a complete renovation so Wildlands contacted leading theming company Jora Entertainment to develop modern storytelling themed areas and the entertainment technology systems needed to help bring them to life. An important aspect was dynamic, decorative lighting schemes that could live up to the standard of its mentor attractions across the Atlantic.

Jora Entertainment subsequently developed a sensory scheme for the various themed areas of the newly built park, installing lighting, sound and sp

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UK - GearSource Europe has completed the relocation of its European office to the historic Horton Kirby Paper Mills in South Darenth, UK.

The office and warehouse functions are now located in what was once known as Building 25 in the original 1820's mill complex - in the shadow of the Grade II listed chimney, a local landmark alongside the railway viaduct, that spans the delightful Darent Valley.

"The increase in space provides better warehousing facilities, offering greater diversity in the type and quantity of equipment we can stock to serve our clients - our previous location was unable to handle the growth we have experienced," said managing director, Garry Nelsson. "And the new location, situated just off the M20 and M25, makes access easy."

GearSource Europe's new address is: The Studio at the Mill, Esparto Way, South Darenth, Kent, DA4 9FF, UK.

(Jim Evans)

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Russia - VUE Audiotechnik has announced the latest addition to its growing global network, VUE Audiotechnik Russia, a new company to provide sales, distribution, marketing and technical support for VUE products throughout the region. VUE Russia's office is open and has already supplied technical design support for major installation projects as well as support for VUE loudspeaker rental applications.

VUE Russia will provide local customers full access to VUE's US, Asian and German staff, products and technical offerings that include high definition network ready loudspeakers and line array systems, and system integration tools. The office will offer all VUE branded products in Russia, as well as Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

Nikolai Vorobev, brand manager for Russia and CIS will head the VU

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Hungary - A key component of Capital Sound's busy summer festival schedule is the annual visits to Hungary, where they provide technical infrastructure for the Sziget Organisation at three major gatherings.

For several years they have serviced the back-to-back four-day Volt rock festival in Sopron, before trucking the equipment two and a half hours south east from the Austrian border to Balaton Sound, which takes place on the beach of Zam

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Spain - Wholesaler Monacor Iberia, which supplies professionals in the field of security and event equipment, has taken on the exclusive distribution of GLP products in Spain, with immediate effect.

GLP managing director, Udo K

  1. Dataton expands European partnership network
  2. PLASA 2016: GLP brings inventive solutions to London
  3. DiGiCo desks in control at World Youth Day
  4. Osram solutions for G20 Summit in Hangzhou
  5. Hawthorn on the road with Sister Act
  6. MLA moves 500,000 Taiwanese on the beach
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