The Netherlands - Zodiac The Musical is a new musical produced by Peet Nieuwenhuijsen, directed by William Spaaij and staged at the Koepelgevangenis, a former prison in Breda, which provides the backdrop to this entertaining piece set in 2031 and focussed on a number of human, political and environmental issues.
Lighting designer Marc Heinz was among a team working under the technical production umbrella of Unlimited Productions – also based in Breda – helping to deliver this new work.
He and technical production manager Michiel van der Zijde – representing Unlimited Productions together with Jeffrey Kranen and Luc Huisman – also designed the set, and Marc specified 32 of Robe’s recently launched new T2 Profile fixture for the project, together with 50

USA - As the Times Square ball drop is for New Year’s Eve, and The Tournament of Roses Parade for New Year’s Day, the Boston Pops 4th July Spectacular has become an indelible part of Independence Day celebrations across the USA. Even a temporary change of venue couldn’t diminish the power of this association.
Although it was moved 130 miles from its traditional home at the Hatch Memorial Shell on the banks of the Charles River to the Koussevitzky Music Shed in Tanglewood this year as a safety precaution against COVID, the nationally televised concert was as rousing as ever, as it helped millions across the country celebrate the American spirit past, present, and future.
Contributing to the experience for those in attendance at Tanglewood, and the millions more watching on television and via livestream was a lighting design by Michael Berger, anchored by over 270

UK - Live music venue The Boileroom has been an EM Acoustics system user for over a decade. They’ve just taken delivery of a new flagship Reference Series R10 system.
When the team at The Boileroom were producing a live streamed show with Newton Faulker at Guildford’s Holy Trinity Church earlier this month, EM Acoustics were stepped in and supported the venue and show. The show was covered by a pair of R10 3-way precision passive point source loudspeakers, with ST-215 subwoofers underneath. Monitoring was handled by a pair of M-C15 coaxial stage monitors, with DQ20 advanced system amplifiers driving everything.
"The Boileroom is our local grass roots music venue, who have used our products successfully for over a decade,” says Mike Wheeler, EM Acoustics’ co-founder and operations director. “They had already decided to upgrade to a system based around R10s for

Switzerland - The Montreux Jazz Festival has launched its 55th edition which runs until 17 July, with Meyer Sound returning for its 35th year as a strategic partner and official sound provider. Although scaled back with fewer venues and lower capacities to meet local health and safety guidelines, the long-established Swiss festival nevertheless promises a new audience experience as the principal venue moves outdoors to the scenic shoreline of Lake Geneva.
“This year we reimagined the festival to adapt to the times,” says Marco Güntensperger, production manager for the festival. “It was a major challenge, so it was great to again collaborate with our long-time partner, Meyer Sound. Their team was instrumental in finding the best audio solutions, such as at the new Lake Stage, to ensure a great experience for artists and fans alike.”
The Meyer Sound system at th

The Netherlands - Highlite International has expanded the Showtec Phantom series with a 250-watt LED spot moving head for indoor venues.
The Phantom 250 Spot is equipped with six metal gobos and one bi-rotating glass gobo plus open. It has two prisms (5-facet linear and 6-facet circular) and two frost filters, which are placed together on one wheel and are addressed via one DMX channel. Two colour wheels with seven colours plus white are also incorporated.
The second colour wheel is equipped with three correction filters: CTB (Colour Temperature Blue), CTO (Colour Temperature Orange) and ½ CTO, so every colour can be modified with three shades. Motorised zoom and focus functions, allow everything from a sharp, focussed beam to a wide, soft wash effect, manual and DMX control, W-DMX as an option, and Quicklock brackets, complete this powerful moving head.
Despite

Belgium - Jonas Weyn of Art & Yes and his team demonstrated recently created a new lighting and set design for Campus Cup, a popular game show that has teams of college students match wits and knowledge against one another.
Now in its third series, Campus Cup has moved from Canvas TV to the more highly watched Eén channel. To mark the move, production company Woestijnvis asked Arf & Yes, which has worked on the show from the beginning, to come up with a new look while keeping a consistent theme with previous seasons.
Weyn and the Arf & Yes team, which includes lighting director Dirk Declercq and lighting operator Jarmo De Blaeij, obliged with a design featuring Chauvet Professional ÉPIX fixtures.
Last season, they created a stunning back drop for the show by arranging 140 ÉPIX Strip Tour and 19 ÉPIX Strip Tour 50 RGB linear lights in

Guatemala - The Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala City, also known by its abbreviated name UFM, is one of the top universities in Latin America. For 50 years, UFM has been ardently following its mission of teaching and disseminating the ethical, legal and economic principles of a society of free and responsible individuals. The university is the original founder of the ITA scholarship programme which identifies the most highly qualified and motivated students among Guatemala’s poorest and makes it possible for them to earn a life-changing UFM degree.
Recently, the university’s IT and AV team worked with installer Farei to deploy Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2 (TCC2) microphones in 52 of its classrooms and various faculty auditoriums.
Whilst the plans for getting a new professional audio system had been in place for several years, the pandemic acted as

Australia - Location sound recordist Christopher MacGregor became the first customer to embrace Point Source Audio's Lavalier Switch Kit, a two-in-one lavalier and on-ear miking tool kit. Its value became instantly apparent with the included Embrace earmount put straight to work miking an active TV host of an Australian gardening show.
"The gardening host I work with is often performing quite physical tasks so for some years, I've been concealing the microphone into his mop of curly hair using wig and hair clips," explains MacGregor. "This takes time and often requires readjusting throughout the shoot. So when the Point Source Audio Lavalier Switch Kit became available, I thought, 'that's going to make life so much easier.' I've probably got a dozen different methods of mounting lav mics and this has added another great option."
The kit delivers the company's best-sel
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Australia - When popular Australian Hotel and Resort, The Beachcomber, decided to completely gut and upgrade their entire audio system ahead of their busy season, local supplier Pro Sound and Lighting called on LEA Professional to amplify and transform the space.
The Beachcomber Hotel & Resort, or as the locals call it 'The Beachie' is a waterfront destination located in the heart of the Central Coast, Toukley. The resort sits between two Great Lakes and the Pacific Ocean with nearly 100m of lake frontage and its own private pier. The sprawling complex was recently relaunched as a 4-star, 80-room resort offering multiple indoor and outdoor facilities.
To carry out the extensive renovation work, the resort relied on local production company Pro Sound and Lighting to provide a new audio system for the resort's gaming and sports bar, DJ area, outdoor area and hotel lo

Poland - Michal Hyra could have been forgiven if he wondered what else could go wrong. Chosen to light the grand finale of the two-month long celebration of Tryptyk powstańczy - pamięć ziemi, which marked 100th anniversary of the Third Silesian Uprising, he found his rehearsal time for the on 25 June event severely curtailed by unrelenting rain.
Despite this issue, Hyra was able to create a captivating lighting design that engrossed the large crowd gathered in Byton’s historic Market Square as well as those watching the livestream of one of the most important events in Poland.
His smooth colour changes and seamless transitions flowed naturally with the traditional Polish folk dancers on stage. Later in the evening, when the initial performers were replaced by a rock band, he created a tour-like show.
Helping Hyra accomplish this feat was the ChamSys Magic M

France - Paris La Défense Arena is a 40,000 capacity, multi-purpose indoor arena located just west of the Paris city centre. Opened in December 2017, the venue takes advantage of the “multiuse” component of its design. It has played host to The Rolling Stones, Kendrick Lamar, and Paul McCartney. It hosts rugby union fixtures for France’s national team, and is the home stadium of Racing 92, a rugby union team competing in the Top 14.
The commitment to a multiuse venue requires a unified audio system that sounds great for live performance, offers intelligibility in the spoken word, and can be relied upon in the event of an emergency. The system needs to adhere, without compromise, to EN54 - a set of stringent European life safety product standards required by law, that dictate the performance criteria for a life safety audio system, which is to be used in the event of a

UK - Optimal Audio, part of the Focusrite Group, will hold it’s first open day at its UK HQ in High Wycombe on 9 September.
The company, which is Focusrite Group’s seventh brand, was launched in April and offers a host of control, amplification and loudspeakers for small to medium sized commercial installations.
At the open day, guests will be able to see demonstrations of the company’s controller, amplifier and loudspeaker offering, and see first-hand how it works to deliver simple-to-install sound systems that are easily operated by anyone, not just engineers.
There will be three sessions, held at 09:30, 12:30 and 15:30 respectively. Each demo will be capped at 40 visitors, allocated on a first come, first served basis. A supplementary ‘waiting room’ registration will be in place that can be utilised in the event that a registered visitor is unable to

Singapore - Martin Audio and Generation AV have announced the appointment of Spectrum Audio Visual as the distributor for Martin Audio products in Singapore, focusing on the installation sector.
Spectrum Audio Visual will focus on the installation market in Singapore. Generation AV and Martin Audio will continue to support entertainment and touring partners directly where required.
Wayne Soo, general manager of Spectrum, comments: “Being recognised by Martin Audio as their business partner, and trusting us to grow the business in the Singapore market, is something that excites the whole Spectrum team. Our MD Mr. Vincent Chua and I are really relishing this long-term business relationship.”
David Wong, sales director for Generation AV and Martin Audio, adds: “We are very pleased to welcome Spectrum Audio Visual as our new partner in Singapore. Their energy

The Netherlands - Highlite International has extended the Showtec Phanton line of high-end lighting fixtures. The Phantom 12R Hybrid has recently been added to the series as the most powerful fixture yet.
The Phantom 12R Hybrid is a versatile hybrid moving head with a 300-watt discharge lamp that produces up to 8600 lumens. It is equipped with motorised zoom, generating a beam angle from 2.2° to 48.8°, focus, frost, and strobe function. Two overlapping prisms of eight and 24 facets can be used simultaneously, creating very dynamic projections.
Together with the motorised zoom and/or prism, a metal gobo wheel with 17 static gobos and a second gobo wheel with eight removable, rotating glass gobos plus open, it is possible to create numerous unique gobo morphing effects. A colour wheel with 12 dichroic colours plus white provides the necessary lively colours. Although i

Europe - ALC NetworX has confirmed British pro audio tools and interface experts, Nixer Pro Audio, as the latest Ravenna partner.
Based in Dunstable, Nixer Pro Audio specialises in the design and development of professional AoIP monitoring, mixing and diagnostics solutions. Founder and CEO Nick Fletcher has an impressive pedigree in product design and development, having spent over 30 years designing and building equipment, including over a decade as director of R&D at Cadac.
“We already have a number of products built on the Dante protocol, but our new RL Series (launched in June) was specifically designed to have Ravenna capability in response to requests from customers within the broadcast market,” explains Fletcher.
RL Series is a range of 1U rack-mounted AoIP mixing and monitoring units available in 64, 128, 192 and 256-channel versions, c

USA - The 2021 Behind the Scenes Holiday Cards are on sale now at the BTS Boutique. It’s important to let family, friends and colleagues know you are thinking of them and these unique holiday cards say it perfectly. They are also a personal and inexpensive way for a company to keep in touch with its customers and let them know “We are here and you are important to us”.
Sending a BTS holiday card helps spread the word about the charity and lets your recipients know you are supporting industry colleagues who are ill or injured as well as the BTS Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Initiative.
Cards are available in a variety of options: card packs of 10 with a standard greeting, personalized cards with a company logo and custom message, and electronic cards in multiple file formats and an array of price points starting at just $20.
This year’s cards featu

El Salvador - San Miguel-based Electronica 2001, with seven branches across the country, has been at the forefront of El Salvador’s entertainment technology industry for the past 35 years. Most recently, it has invested in Central America’s first DiGiCo Quantum 7.
“For many years, DiGiCo has been the benchmark in professional audio consoles,” says the company’s sales manager, Eduardo Gomez. “As a service company, we need to be at the cutting edge to address the demands of both producers and engineers who specify the best consoles for their shows.
“DiGiCo’s range of products is the first choice on most technical riders. Our philosophy has always been to work with the best in the industry and owning DiGiCo consoles has allowed us to provide the equipment necessary to do any world-class show here in El Salvador.”
“We are very proud to be part of

South Africa - The Foschini Group (TFG) is a South African JSE-listed retail clothing group headquartered in Cape Town. Recently, TFG announced that they were opening a new store in Canal Walk shopping centre, Cape Town, which required a visual overhaul. Stage Audio Works provided two large Pixel Plus LED digital signage screens outside each entrance of the store, supplied and installed by digital communications specialists, AVT.
Working with the integrator, SAW specified two Pixel Plus Xcell-I Lite screens, each measuring 3.2m wide and 1.95m high, to match the location, visibility and the budget of the client. The purpose of these screens is to clearly communicate the brand’s clothing line and image, consequently driving traffic into the store. SAW also designed and manufactured custom wall-mount brackets brackets.
The screens were specified with a pixel pitch of P4

USA - Lighting and video designer Tony Caporale was at the visual helm for the new Triller boxing and music event in Atlanta, harnessing the punch and power of Hippotizer Boreal+ Media Servers to drive a host of LED screens at the city’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Music heavyweights including Snoop Dogg, Justin Bieber and Diplo joined boxing big-timers Jake Paul and Ben Askren for the event, which took the US by storm.
A pay-per-view audience of more than 1.5m watched as the fights were interjected by pop performances, with each requiring a feast of visual delights to match the action. The boxing ring area had two portrait LED video screens for fighter entrances, a single LED video wall above the announcer booth, with another LED screen used as a fascia for Diplo’s DJ booth. The performance stage had five screens.
“This was a lot of video, right?” says Capora

France - Playmodes is utilising 15 Claypaky Sharpys to illuminate its immersive installation Exo, part of the Constellations 2021 international digital art festival in Metz, France, running from 1 July 1 to 4 September.
The Barcelona-based Playmodes collective works with tailor-made technologies mixing creativity, software and hardware to create immersive installations, projection mapping, architectural lighting, digital scenography, audiovisual instruments and sound design.
Exo is presented with the support of Vinci Construction France and staged inside the Temple Neuf, a Protestant church in Metz. It explores the structures of language and communication by using light and sound as an audiovisual language.
“With Exo we’ve tried to experiment with how a new form of life, which is audiovisual, might communicate: Basically we’re talking

USA - The Scottish Rite Theatre (‘The Scotty’) in Peoria, Illinois, was built in 1925 as a Masonic cathedral. Recently, the Gothic-styled building underwent a $5m-plus renovation and now offers downtown Peoria a modern performance and event venue. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Scotty encompasses an 800-seat theatre, luminous stained-glass windows, a lower-level ballroom with capacity for 300 people, and more than 10,000ft of usable space, as well as a full basement kitchen and banquet facility. And it now boasts an L-Acoustics Syva sound system installed there earlier this year by the Chicago office of integrator Creative Technology.
“Syva was the perfect solution for audio reinforcement at the Scotty,” says Greg Moore, installations project manager for creative technology. “It had to sound great, which it does, but it also had to disappe

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