UK - Part of University College London (UCL), The Bloomsbury Theatre works with students and researchers to ‘bring ground-breaking discoveries to the stage’. In 2018, 50 years after its first performance, the landmark Brutalist building reopened its doors following a major renovation project to update its main auditorium which now boasts more than 500 luxurious seats.
The final part of the renovation was the installation and commissioning of a significant EM Acoustics HALO-C PA system by theatre specialists, Autograph Sound.
Autograph’s Adam Broom explains: “There’s a bit of a back story here given that we in fact supplied the system before the renovation. As it made no sense to replace a system that had only just been replaced, it went into storage. Julian Bro

USA - To provide quality sound for the high-profile 2021 Billboard Music Awards, ATK Audiotek recently deployed a range of Harman Professional sound reinforcement solutions for indoor and outdoor stages at the Microsoft Theatre in Hollywood.
Since 1990, the Billboard Music Awards show (BBMAs) has honoured the music industry’s highest-charting artists, with this year featuring live performances by the Weeknd, Doja Cat, P!nk and Twenty One Pilots among many others.
Following an audience-free ceremony in 2020, this year’s BBMAs welcomed a crowd of more than 500 in the plaza outside of the Microsoft Theatre - one of the largest awards show audiences of the year thus far. Musical acts performed on a stage in front of the crowd, while nominees sat by the main awards stage nearby. Additionally, several performances took place inside the theatre.
Dick Clark Producti

UK - The Sustainability in Production Alliance (SiPA) is joining forces with four greener touring, live entertainment and events organisations at this year’s PLASA Show for an open panel discussion to explore how we can transform, together, to create a better future.
Entitled Becoming a Sustainable Industry - because this is a not a rehearsal, the event will take place at the PLASA Show Seminar Theatre at Olympia London at 15:30 on 6 September. It will bring together key sustainability experts from SiPA, TAIT, LIVE Green, the Tour Production Group, the Theatre Green Book and isla, who will share ways in which the industry can reduce emissions and become net zero by 2050.
The hour-long, deep-dive discussion will be moderated by Carol Scott, principal sustainability advocate at TAIT and SiPA, with panellists Evie Redfern, a third-year Theatre Production student

UK - The programme for PLASA Show 2021 has been unveiled, bringing a rich line-up of seminars and training sessions to the trade event that takes place on 5-7 September at Olympia London.
Sponsored by Vectorworks, the programme is set to deliver in-depth content on the future of live production, immersive product experiences and plenty of practical training, bringing skills and knowledge to the forefront of the show experience.
All sessions are free for pre-registered attendees (you can get your free entry pass by 31 August - find out more here), with details of the schedule available on the show website. More content will be added over the coming weeks, say the or

USA - After an 18-month Covid-caused hiatus, many of hip-hop’s biggest names played Rolling Loud at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium in late July.
Over 130 artists including ASAP Rocky, Travis Scott and Post Malone featured. Turning up the adrenalin level higher were bold light and video shows that drew on the big presence of powerful, flexible rigs created by Steve Lieberman and his team at SJ Lighting, including production manager Max Robin.
Known for his festival work, Lieberman was responsible for production design at the festival’s four stages (Cîroc, Audiomack, Monster Energy, and Dryp), as well the VIP area.
Providing abundant punch at the main Cîroc stage as well as at the second Audiomack stage were some 200 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK3 Wash, COLORado 1 Solo and COLORado 1 QS fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment. This firepower allowed LDs Ma

USA - Since 2008, the Rooster Walk Festival at Pops Farm has been a Memorial Day tradition in Martinsville, VA in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In addition to providing a boost to the local economy, it has raised money for a scholarship fund that donates musical instruments to schools and students.
Then Covid happened. Not only did the pandemic force the cancellation of the 2020 festival, it’s lingering effects also nixed this year’s planned Memorial Day event. Undeterred, Johnny Buck and William Baptist, the festival’s producers and their team, moved the event back a few weeks and served it up in a modified form as an outdoor concert by jam band heavyweights moe.#
Dubbed the ‘moe.Morial Show’, the two day, four-set performance featured nonstop improvisational blends of old and new rock. Jason Patsel went with the flow, supporting every twist and

UK - The first Christmas light trail to take place in Windsor Great Park is set for this winter. Windsor Great Park Illuminated will open on 18 November 2021 and run until 9 January 2022.
The experience is created and produced by global events and entertainment group IMG (Hampton Court Palace Festival, Natural History Museum Ice Rink, Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, Taste Festivals) and DEAG Entertainment Group / Christmas Garden Deutschland (creator of 15 light trails in Europe).
For the first time this winter, trees, paths and the Obelisk Pond within Windsor Great Park will be ‘awash with hundreds of thousands of lights, lasers, projections and holograms’.
Both celebrating and respecting the natural surroundings, and flora and fauna of the park, this very special light trail will feature colourful and brilliant light installations including floating water lili

UKThe Skylark Collective has announced Shure as headline partners for this year’s inaugural International Women’s Podcast Awards. The IWPA is an event ‘celebrating the very best female-led moments in podcasting of the last year, where recognition will be given to women in podcasting, both behind the mic and behind the scenes, who have created incredible audio moments and intimate listening experiences’.
Naomi Mellor, founder of the International Women’s Podcast Awards, said: “I am so excited to announce Shure as our headline partners for the awards. Their passion for creating great microphones and audio electronics has been recognised by podcasters the world over, making them a staple of the podcasting community. Their support for women and non-binary podcasters at the International Women’s Podcast Awards helps us provide an opportunity for women from all over
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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

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USA - The $85m Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, the new outdoor home of the San Diego Symphony, is located on the edge of San Diego Bay and in the heart of the city’s downtown.
Designed to complement the sails of the nearby San Diego Convention Centre, the concert shell is wrapped in a translucent flexible material that covers a generous 13,000sq.ft performance space for accommodating the full orchestra and guest artists. Depending on the event, audience capacities and setups are able to vary widely, from intimate two- and four-person table seating arrangements to standing crowds of up to 10,000.
‘The Shell’, as it has come to be known, features an immersive L-Acoustics PA system designed in Soundvision by Françcois ‘Frankie’ Desjardins of Solotech. Working in tandem with sound consultant Shawn Murphy, Solotech integrated the venue’s full AVL system.
“It

UK - Following its recent re-location to a larger premises, Stevenage based film, television and event rigging specialists Rigging Team has expanded its footprint, not only to accommodate a growing inventory, but to also provide space for a much needed, industry specific, training centre.
Rigging Team managing director, Adam Searle explains, “Training is something that we have been passionate about for many years – although there is no substitute for real-world experience, everyone can benefit from gaining additional knowledge or skills. The courses are designed specifically to suit our industry - whether it’s a specific discipline, or a bespoke combination of courses,”.
The new 2,600sq.ft Rigging Team Training Centre, located just 20 minutes from London by train, features a generous classroom and presentation space, along with a practical training area where

USA - After a storied career in the entertainment industry, ESTA’s membership manager, Frances Thompson, will be retiring at the end of 2021. For over two decades, she has been a vital force in the growth of the association and a galvanizing presence at trade shows and events.
In 1996, Frances was appointed to the ESTA Board of Directors, after being a part of the Business Resource Group for several years. She then served as manufacturer director until early 2000, when she was appointed as an affiliate director. Around 2001, Frances joined the ESTA staff and has since held several titles.
On her retirement, Frances remarked, “I will miss engaging with members and staff. We are irreverent, creative, resourceful, opinionated, and uproarious. But most of my family and friends are as well, so I will be happy.”
As her successor, ESTA has appointed Laura Hoepker

USA - Electro-Voice is expanding its portfolio of sound solutions for stadiums and sports venues with the global introduction of the MTS series of full-range, high-output, long-throw, point-source loudspeaker systems. Each MTS model is equipped with four 15" woofers and dual coaxial mid/high frequency compression drivers.
The system is capable of generating more than 151 dB peak SPL with exact directivity for very-long-throw applications.
The MTS series includes 16 different models. These are based on two standard three-way configurations (MTS-4153) with 60° x 40° or 40° x 30° coverage, and two cardioid configurations (MTS-6154) that provide the same coverage patterns with enhanced low-frequency directional control. The 60° x 40° models can deliver extremely high SPLs: 151dB peak (music) and 154dB peak (speech) down to 55Hz at -10 dB; the 40 x 30 models are capab

USA - When Orlando’s Discovery Church set out to build a new main broadcast campus, the overriding goal was to create a space that was comfortable and inspiring for in-person worship but also technically optimized for streaming of Sunday services and other special events.
Audio was a critical component in achieving the technical goals, and a keystone element of the solution is a reinforcement system based around Meyer Sound Leopard line array loudspeakers.
“We were looking for a major step up from the aging point source system at our old broadcast campus,” says Zack Howes, technical director at the new Sand Lake campus. “We wanted a system with higher output and greater intelligibility, and also rider-friendly. We wanted to up our own game at weekend services but also be ready for high-profile special events.”
Long before “groundbreaking” on the new

UK - Quay Light now owns several hundred Astera LED fixtures with the largest stock in Scotland, and Paul Bates, who has built a very successful career as a best boy in the film and television lighting sector, is now focusing full time on this business. He has been constantly busy throughout 2020 and 2021 as the pandemic has prompted a surge in demand for film, TV and video material.
Paul has enjoyed a successful career looking after the lighting needs and wishes of a host of leading DOPs and gaffers on set and on location, and for the last 10 years has owned an amount of innovative specialist lighting kit, carefully selected to help offer clients and their productions the best and most effective solutions.
The first Astera products that Paul purchased back in 2019 were a set of Titan tubes when he was best boy on TV drama The Nest with DOP Matt Gray. He saw Mat

Australia - When the family-owned Millett Group hospitality and tourism group opened Salty’s restaurant and bar, owner and operator Christian Millett wanted to create a venue that paid tribute to the history of surfing culture in Australia and Bondi Beach in particular.
Millett’s vision called for a more relaxed and fun environment with a serious PA system capable of handling it’s various audio needs. Millett turned to Pro Audio Video Technology (PAVT) who designed a custom audio system from Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) for the venue.
The Millett Group and PAVT have a long-standing history with EAW having installed EAW PA systems in the company’s various venues around the region for the past 10 years. “I have always been impressed with the quality and durability of EAW’s equipment,” says Millett. “Our venues operate seven days a week, year-round and our

USA - Laudio Technology recently outfitted the newly-opened Voodoo Bayou restaurant in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with JBL Professional, Crown and BSS audio solutions.
Presented by True Grit Hospitality Group, the organisation behind the successful Calaveras Cantina, Voodoo Bayou serves southern Cajun cuisine and cocktails in a vibrant atmosphere reminiscent of classic Louisiana architecture. The restaurant consists of a main first-floor dining room with a bar and stage for live performances, as well as a mezzanine level with a second bar overlooking the main dining area. Voodoo Bayou required a sophisticated audio system with a simple, portable control interface.
To achieve this, Laudio Technology equipped the restaurant with an assortment of JBL loudspeakers powered by Crown amplifiers and a BSS signal processor with the HiQnet Motion Control app for convenient iP

Iceland - British rental house TSL Lighting is now offering a range of VL2600 Profile and VL2600 WASH luminaires from Vari-Lite to provide customers with a powerful LED workhorse.
The Basingstoke-based company brought in the VL2600s for global video game developer Riot Games’ League of Legends esports tournament in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Lighting designer for the event, Mat Stovall, collaborated with TSL Lighting’s Dom Sheerman to source an LED lighting package that would suit his needs – a reliable, powerful workhorse fixture that would give him powerful wash and profile capabilities with consistency in discharge for both the in-house crowd and the live-stream cameras.
“The VL2600s were fantastic - bright, lovely color rendition, great color temperature control. It's nice to have a new workhorse,” says Stovall.
“This is the first time TSL Lighting

Germany - Waldbühne Rügen enchants visitors before a performance even begins on its stage. Nestled in the thickly wooded rolling hills on the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea, it creates a magical setting for fans to enjoy a diverse range of acts, from electronic music’s Thomas Lizzara and Pretty Pink, and rockers like Torfrock, to an array of other shows that even includes musicals.
The venue itself also presents an impressive sight, with its semi-circle of ascending seats cupped around a rectangular covered stage, an arrangement that helps create a cozy feeling for artists and fans alike. This sense of intimacy is strengthened even more by the open area in front of the stage, where fans can gather to dance or simply get a better look at their favourite performers.
Contributing to the atmosphere at Waldbühne Rügen is a truss-mounted LED video wall that runs a

Austria - Austrian Audio has announced two new microphones that bring their studio-quality microphone experience and technology to new handheld vocal mics that are designed for live performance.
The OC707 is a rugged vocal microphone with a die-cast body and true condenser technology for superior sound on stage. Developed and built in Vienna, the OC707 contains a small-diaphragm condenser capsule with a frequency response optimized for the human voice. The capsule is handmade in Austrian Audio’s facilities in Vienna. Its combination of low self-noise (19 dB SPL) and high sound pressure level (150 dB SPL) results in an impressive dynamic range, creating a vocal microphone that has all the important characteristics of a studio mic but can withstand the rigors of everyday stage use.
The OD505 is an active dynamic microphone that combines the advantages of a dynamic st

UK - ‘Sorry, was trying to find the mute button’ is a phrase heard all too often in meetings when users are unsure if the mute button is on the screen or microphone. To help resolve this persistent frustration, Shure is introducing its Microflex A400MB, a touch-sensitive Mute Button accessory that adds convenient audio mute functionality to the Microflex MX395-LED low-profile boundary microphones and MX405, MX410, and MX415 modular gooseneck microphones.
The A400MB installs like a washer between the microphone body and the table or lectern surface, hiding the circuitry underneath the surface. The mute function is easily programmed with onboard switches to provide complete flexibility and can be configured as momentary (push-to-talk or push-to-mute) or toggled (push-on, push-off). The A400MB Mute Button includes local mode as well as remote mode, making it easier for use

Japan - Berry Goodman’s Wedding Tour 2021 saw the one-man show visit wedding halls across Japan; these were seen as the appropriate settings for the release of his latest love song, There Can Be No Other Life. The plan was to move around 13 prefectures in a one-box van, loaded with musical instruments and PA equipment.
Therefore, the artist’s production management office, Arigato Music, set out to purchase a small PA, both for this purpose and for use as their own equipment.
The criteria, was that the PA rig needed to be easy to carry and fast to set up in any venue, so that Goodman could go live immediately. Since it also had to take into account the space constraints of each venue, a self-powered loudspeaker system, which displayed great sound quality, was the obvious solution. After reviewing their options, Martin Audio's Blackline XP12 was chosen.

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