USA - Victor Zeiser of Squeek Lights is using Elation Professional’s new DARTZ 360 LED moving head along with Elation Protron 3K Color LED strobes to support the diverse sounds of hardcore rock band Beartooth on their current North American tour. The headlining tour, in support of the band’s new studio album Disease, kicked in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and plays a packed schedule of dates, concluding in Columbus, Ohio, next month.
Zeiser, who first met the hardcore rockers when they were an opening act for one of his other clients, Silverstein, and had put together a small timecoded show for the Ohio-based group’s last headliner tour, was well familiar with the band. So when Beartooth frontman Caleb Shomo and company came looking for a designer for their fall Disease tour, Zeiser jumped at the opportunity. “The band wanted to get more serious about their

Norway - Covering an area of 150 acres of wild Nordic terrain, Kristiansand Dyrepark and amusement park is one of Norway`s favourite visitor attractions and its favourite show is Kaptein Sabeltann (Captain Sabertooth). This year, the zoo decided to up the specification for audio on the show and has invested in a DiGiCo SD9 and S21, which have helped to address its complex signal distribution, an issue that its engineers say was easily solved with the DiGiCo system.
Kaptein Sabeltannis one of Norway’s most popular children’s characters and has been captivating audiences through stage, film, television, cartoons and books. The show has been performed at Kristianzand Zoo since it was first written in the early 1990s and, in 1994, won a Formoe a Spellemann prize, the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy Awards, for Captain Sabertooth and the Treasure in Luna Bay.

UK - Nuffield Southampton Theatres (NST) is one of the UK’s leading professional theatre companies. Their success, both nationally and internationally, has enabled the company to open a second venue in the new, £28m Studio 144 development in the centre of Southampton.
Whilst the core of NST’s work remains traditional theatre, the new venue, NST City, aims to bring wider cultural to Southampton by offering more in the way of music, cinema and even circus as well as classic theatre. When it came to equipping the new venue, theatre consultants, Arup, specified a wide range of EM Acoustics’ ubiquitous EMS Series loudspeakers across the three performance spaces.
NST’s head of sound, Jon Roache, wasn’t involved in the specification process, but was pleased with the choice of EM Acoustics. “I’d been using and dealing with EM for a fair while in a previous job,

Croatia - The Istrian National Theatre is located in the medieval port city of Pula on the Istrian peninsula in Croatia and is one of the most important cultural institutions in the region, renowned for the quality and innovation of its productions.
It has a 720-seat main auditorium and they produce around 10 new works per year, mainly drama or modern dance, plus one children’s production. The original building dates back to 1871 when the theatre opened. It was reconstructed in 1918 and extensive further restoration and upgrade work was undertaken in 1989 including the installation of a new fly tower, which made it capable of staging far more ambitious productions.
Recently, the theatre has invested in Robe moving lights – following a growing trend for theatres not just to look for more flexible and adaptable options, but also to look at LED and other long-term ene

UK - After a successful year of headline festival slots and TV appearances, Rob Broderick, a.k.a. Abandoman recently embarked upon a sell-out tour to take his comedy hip-hop around the UK. Like his multi-talented client, LD Robbie Butler also went outside the box to create something original. Helping him in this endeavour were 21 Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 FX-B and 21 Maverick MK Pyxis fixtures.
Although lighting for a live music venue tour, Butler followed his client’s wishes and created the kind of “stadium looks” more commonly associated with large rock concerts.
“Rob (Abandoman) is a big fan of Kanye West, so he wanted the show to rival a Kanye concert in terms of production value,” commented Butler. “All this had to be achieved on a modest budget, and the show had to be able to turn around within the space of a half hour, so there were significant

Canada - Lighting designer Robert Sondergaard of Electric Aura Projects and Solotech recently deployed Martin by Harman VDO Sceptron10 LED lighting fixtures to create a dynamic and innovative stage design for Toronto’s Veld Music Festival.
Now in its seventh year, the annual EDM and hip-hop music festival was held in Toronto’s Downsview Park. The line-up featured Marshmello, Martin Garrix, DJ Snake, Benny Benassi, Lil Yachty and more. Each year the festival strives to create an ambitious and eye-catching stage design, and this year they wanted to incorporate the VELD logo as a dynamic centrepiece.
Festival organisers hired production and lighting designer Robert Sondergaard, who collaborated with video and sound provider Solotech to create an ambitious design using Martin VDO Sceptron10 LED Fixtures and custom-fabricated set pieces.
“The big thing they wa

UK - Monitor engineer Gavin Tempany has been out on tour Kylie Minogue. He has chosen a Solid State Logic L500 Plus for the shows, supplied by UK tour and events company Capital Sound Hire.
Kylie's latest world tour follows the release of her new album, Golden. It's a project heavily influenced by the Nashville country scene, which follows through onto the stage via set, costume, and narrative in a typically theatrical set. Kylie is joined on stage by five musicians and two backing singers, and all are supported at monitor world by experienced engineer Gavin Tempany (Dave Gilmour, Hans Zimmer, Will Young, OMD) and a Solid State Logic 500 Plus console.
While Tempany describes the 50 or so instrument and vocal inputs from show as "not too much compared to my usual madness", the aesthetics and design of the show have created a few side challenges. First, the moni

Argentina - Microphones from Audio-Technica are being used to capture both live and broadcast audio at Youth Olympics Games, taking place now in Buenos Aires.
The Youth Olympic Games, held every two years (Winter and Summer games staggered in years opposite the adult games), are an international multi-sport event organised by the International Olympic Committee. Buenos Aires 2018 is the scenario for 32 sports and 36 disciplines.
A wide selection of Audio-Technica microphones are being employed, including BP4071 Line + Gradient (Shotgun) Condenser Microphones, BP4073 Line + Gradient (Shotgun) Condenser Microphones, AT899 Subminiature Omnidirectional Condenser Lavalier Microphones and BP4001 Cardioid Dynamic Microphones (handheld, for interviews).
“We are pleased to be participating in the technical setup at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games,” stated Audio-

UK - The Palace Theatre in Redditch has invested in Prloights LED fixtures, to reduce its running costs further and improve its in-house lighting rig.
The theatre, which first opened in 1913, went through a refurbishment in 2005 as part of a process to make the venue more energy-efficient. To help meet its target of an ‘A’ rating for energy efficiency, it worked with Andy Mahaffey, external sales at A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd (AC-ET), to choose the right fixtures.
After looking at a range of options, the majority of the stage lighting has been upgraded to Prolights fixtures, including LUMA700 and DIAMOND7 LED moving lights, StudioCOB FC LED PARs, plus Eclipse Full Colour LED Profiles and Eclipse Tuneable White LED Fresnels.
Theatre manager, Tim Mackrill has been impressed with the new fixtures. He commented: “The Prolights fixtures offer an excelle

UK - As the temperatures soared to record levels, Adlib’s Glasgow based Scottish operation has enjoyed a busy and proactive summer supplying a full complement of technical services - lighting, sound and video - to a number of high profile events including the Glasgow and Edinburgh Summer Sessions, Rewind Festival’s Scottish date at Scone Palace plus sound and lighting to the 2018 TRNSMT festival on Glasgow Green.
This reflects a healthy schedule of locally based business for the company who opened their Scottish operation in 2016. Adlib has worked carefully and conscientiously to expand this offering technical services and equipment that are new to the region, in the process collaborating with a network of partners, promoters and other Scottish companies.
For Summer Sessions, two completely different sound and lighting systems were supplied.

Cambodia - Situated in the heart of Phnom Penh lies Cambodia’s Nagaworld complex. One of South East Asia’s most awe-inspiring, multi-purpose facilities, housing a world-class casino, a five-star hotel and one of the country’s biggest theatres, Nagaworld caters for all. DiGiCo consoles have found themselves at the centre of this huge operation, with two SD7s now a permanent fixture for the Naba Theatre contained within the complex.
Placed at both FOH and monitor positions and connected via Optocore, the SD7s have quickly become an integral part of the theatre’s set up.
“There are 56 channels of inputs at the stage area that cater for all the shows that the theatre is currently doing,” Nick Chua of Showtec Group, who supplied the consoles, explains. “More inputs can be taken from the SD-Mini Rack, FOH desk and the stage SD7 inputs if needed. Overall, the

USA - Stone Sour may be the opening act on the U.S. leg of Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tours 2 tour, but the American hard rock band is making an impression with the help of lighting designer Scott Warner and a dynamic wall of colour.
On the road since late August with The Prince of Darkness, Stone Sour has made a serious opening act impact with a “huge wall of overwhelming colour” made up of multifunctional Elation Professional Paladin LED effect lights supplied by Bandit Lites.
“I knew coming into this tour that I didn’t have access to LEDs and with Stone Sour I need to have my colours flash quickly,” said Warner, who also serves as the tour’s lighting director/programmer. “I could’ve done a pod of small moving heads, but with the amount of fixtures the Ozzy tour was giving me, who’d see them? So I took the original pod idea that was used on o

UK - Allen & Heath has unveiled a suite of feature enhancements, designed to make its SQ mixers” the perfect compact monitor consoles”.
SQ firmware V1.3 adds a Listen bus, enabling the engineer to patch PAFL to an IEM system, stereo nearfield monitors or a mono listen wedge, with the option to control the Listen level with the master fader. Engineers can enjoy easy communication between FoH and Monitors, thanks to the addition of an External Input to PAFL.
V1.3 firmware dovetails with the new SLink card, opening up new possibilities for FOH / monitor splits and remote I/O, or combinations of either of these with a ME personal monitoring system. Digital splits are further facilitated by new tie lines, connecting input and output sockets without running through SQ’s processing.
“Space for monitor desks is often super-tight, so we’re seeing a lot of SQ

UK - For nearly 70 years, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has delighted visitors with a spectacular display of music and fireworks from the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle. Throughout that time, the show has been seen by thousands of people and has never been cancelled due to inclement weather.
In recent years, DPA microphones have a played a key part in delivering the sound for the show. Sound designer Sebastian Frost, who has worked on this event for 23 years, specified a vast selection of d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones, d:screet 4061 Miniature Microphones and d:fine 4066 Headset Microphones incorporating the new CORE by DPA amplifier technology. In total, more than 110 DPA microphones were deployed across a wide range of musicians and performers, including a Malawian choir.
“My main task is to amplify lots of different elements and not just the musicians,”

UK - An Audient ASP8024 Heritage Edition is now installed at the new recording studio in LIPA Sixth Form College, Liverpool, where sound technician, John Kershaw - a LIPA graduate himself, therefore fully conversant with Audient products - is very pleased at its arrival. “It is our hope that tech students from LIPA Sixth Form will graduate and gain a place at LIPA HE to study on the Sound Tech degree programme. Having already used the ASP8024-HE in college, they should feel right at home with LIPA’s studios housing two original ASP8024s,” he says.
With a variety of courses on offer including Sound Technology and Music, the studio is already enjoying heavy footfall. “We take in around 15 sound technology students every academic year, who will spend most of their time between the recording studio, Mac lab and theatre. All our music students will complete a recording mo

Germany - In January 2017, the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie was ceremoniously opened featuring a stunning building design by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. This marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the Hanseatic city's landmarks. Just one year later, the Elbphilharmonie has secured its place among the world's top concert halls and has become a must for every traveller to the city. In the 2017/2018 season, almost 900,000 visitors attended around 700 events.
However, the building not only has a striking architecture plus two concert halls (Large and Small Hall) as well as a 244-room hotel and 45 exclusive private apartments under its roof - it is also equipped with professional technology in all areas - including MA Lighting solutions.
Mike Neumann, master of event technology (lighting technology) at the Elbphilharmonie, explains: "The Great H

The Netherlands - Amsterdam’s Oranjebloesem electronic dance music festival is one of the city’s biggest parties. It takes place on Koningsdag [King's Day] in The Netherlands, which is celebrated on 27 April every year with a national holiday, heralding the summer season.
“We positioned Oranjebloesem as an alternative to the more traditional King's Day festivities and it’s now one of the major house events in Amsterdam,” says Ridder Haspels, co-owner of the city’s events outfit Chasing the HiHat, which organises the festival.
Oranjebloesem 2018 was attended by 20,000 people across four stages at Blijburg aan Zee, Amsterdam’s beach destination located just outside of the city centre. It offers underground music lovers an attractive alternative to clubbing in the downtown area, with sandy beaches and spectacular views. However, it is c

UK - The National Eisteddfod of Wales takes place annually during the first week in August at a different location. This year’s renewal took place in Cardiff Bay where more than 160,000 people attended the event, enjoying a richly diverse programme centred on the arts.
Featuring music and literary competitions, lectures, meetings, gigs, trade stands and stalls, drama productions, street theatre and gastronomy, the National Eisteddfod has it all. In its customary format, the event is located on a single field site, with adjacent camping but this year, owing to its urban location, the organisers chose a number of venues around the Cardiff Bay area in which to host its constituent parts, with campsites situated in a park location around four miles away.
Cardiff-based events specialist 11th Hour has been a regular supplier to the Eisteddfod in the past and this year pro

Germany - On 20 July, the Parookaville music festival in Weeze opened its doors for the fourth year for three days of electronic and house music delivered by some of the biggest DJs of the genre such as David Guetta, Zedd, Armin van Buuren, and Hardwell. With 80,000 in attendance, Parookaville again sold out to retain its status as the country’s largest EDM festival.
The main stage with its spectacular set and attention to detail was among the largest festival stages in Europe at over 200m wide. Enhancing the set-up and expanding the visual impact even further were 160 Proteus Hybrid moving heads, Elation’s full-featured IP65 luminaire, which lined the downstage edge with more fixtures spread across the setup.
On site as general technical service provider was POOLgroup and as the skies tend to open up at Parookaville POOLgroup lighting designer Robert Sommer put h

USA - Influential New York music venue My Father’s Place has been equipped with a Danley Sound Labs sound reinforcement system as it reopened in the Roslyn Hotel ballroom on Long Island.
The venue played a critical role in the New York music scene of the 1970s and 1980s, helping to launch the careers of scores of musicians including Tom Petty, Tom Waits, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Hall & Oats, 38 Special, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Meat Loaf, John Prine, Charlie Daniels, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Runaways, The Ramones, Blondie, Blue Öyster Cult, Rush, Iggy and The Stooges, Lou Reed, The Talking Heads, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Police and Emmylou Harris.
The new My Father’s Place is set up as a 200-seat supper club, a twist that harkens back to an era that massively predates the original venue and gives it a new sheen. The original owner, Michael

Italy - “Life takes interesting turns,” says Andrea Muzzin at the close of the Empoli Beat Festival. In 2002, Muzzin was an avid fan of Sum41. “I played their album Does This Look Infected? over and over again,” says the video and lighting technician at Fumasoli Audio & Light Rental. Fast forward 16 years, and Muzzin finds himself involved in supporting the Juno Award-winning band as they made an encore appearance at this three-day celebration of music and art in a Tuscan village outside Florence.
Muzzin wasn’t the only one feeling good vibes during the Empoli Beat Festival. Fans packed leafy Serravalle Park outside the city for the festival, which featured acts like Motta, Cosmo and Canova. Supporting Sum41 and the other artists on the main stage was a rig designed by Marco Difebo that was anchored by a collection of Chauvet Professional Maverick fixtur

USA - At the Sight & Sound Theatres in Branson, Missouri and Strasburg, Pennsylvania, you’re invited to experience an action-packed musical stage adventure that takes you on “a miraculous journey alongside the most famous person to ever walk the earth and the everyday people whose lives he changed forever”. This is the story of Jesus, brought to life as a stage production in two separate venues.
The productions involve A 45-member cast, a zoo’s worth of live animals and more, plus one of the largest LED screens ever used in theatrical production (100’ x 30’), and a Clair Brothers surround sound extravaganza including C8 line arrays, CS218 cardioid subwoofer arrays and a growing collection of monitors.
Gary Parke, audio integrator at Sight & Sound, explains: “The venues are almost the same except for one big difference. The control rooms at Strasbu

South Korea - IGodswill Church in Seoul has recently invested in an Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing system and ME personal monitoring system for its Sunday services and weekly festival events.
With no permanent building, worshippers travel to a local high school auditorium for the church’s Sunday service. The church holds three services each weekend, which are split based on musical styles; the first service features classical performances, while the second delivers 80’s pop and the third, rock. As such, the church required a versatile and easy to set up audio solution that delivered high quality sound for a wide variety of material.
Supplied by Sama Sound, the set-up includes a dLive S7000 at FOH, accompanied by a DX32 expander, Dante card and DM48 MixRack (mounted on stage). Taechan Moon (sound engineer at the church), comments: “dLive's user interface a

UK - Filmed live on location within a West London high rise apartment block, the new reality show pits a mix of characters against each other in a bid to win a popularity contest whilst interacting exclusively through a specially designed, voice-activated social media platform known as The Circle.
Working with lighting designer James Tinsley, electrician Adam Mitchell and their team, Aurora has provided an array of equipment and infrastructure to assist in building the show’s look, created by production designer, Sally Lock.
The installation features a range of LED and practical fixtures used extensively throughout the room interiors. With over 100 fixed rig cameras in place, the set-up has been carefully designed to be functional whilst remaining unobtrusive to both the contestants and viewers alike. The team’s mix of LED, festoon and practical fixtures add

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