Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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USA - After selecting Coemar lighting fixtures for alternative/funk party band 311's 2008 and 2009 tours, lighting designer/director Joe Paradise once again chose a complement of Coemar Infinity XLs and ACLs for the band's much-anticipated 2010 311 Day Concert.

The biennial event, which celebrates the band and salutes fans worldwide, was held at the Mandalay Bay Event Centre in Las Vegas on 11 March. The five-hour communal concert began in 2000 and has become a 311 tradition; this year fans could also tune into a live webcast.

"The show featured 68 songs, LED video and two laser tables; there was a lot of non-stop programming right up until the last minute," says Paradise who also programmed the concert and directed the video.

"I used 18 Infinity XLs as a wash on stage over the band instead of using a keylight," he explains. "I also used their effect

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USA - A new Anolis LED landscape lighting project has been completed in the newly renovated Town Point Park in the heart of the city of Norfolk, Virginia.

The 2.8 acre waterfront park was recently regenerated by the City of Norfolk in a project aimed at enhancing the experience of visitors and residents choosing to spend their leisure time downtown. Norfolk is replete with a selection of restaurants, vibrant night life, aesthetically appealing residential and commercial buildings, historical landmarks and museums, with Town Point Park right at its core.

It is located right in Chesapeake Bay on the Elizabeth River with panoramic views of the surrounding cities, and is also the home of frequent festivals, events and concerts produced by the city's busy event planning organisation, Norfolk FestEvents.

The City of Norfolk called in Blue Steel Lighting Design from Virginia

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UAE - The Ratsky in Dubai's Excelsior Creek recently installed a sound system from Dynacord.

Liberty Acoustics was entrusted with the task of performing the installation. Supported by Dynacord's's partners in the region, AVL, the team from Liberty Acoustics installed, for the first time in any Dubai club, a fully digital control platform. Its nerve centre is a P 64 Digital Audio Matrix Manager.

This network-capable and freely configurable audio system controller offers not only the live bands but also the DJs making guest appearances in the club a wide range of possibilities: the entire audio system is configurable, remote controlled and also supervised remotely by means of the IRIS-Net software. "It's the P 64 and IRIS-Net that does all the work in the club," says Liberty Acoustics MD Mark Legaspi. "The DSP system spares those responsible a great deal of time a

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USA - When Just George's, the sports bar connected to the Captain George's Seafood Restaurant in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, needed a way to let each booth control its own A/V content, they turned to Virginia Beach-based Fidelity Sound Reinforcement. Fidelity selected solutions from Xantech Corporation.

Mike Phillips, project manager and audio engineer at Fidelity, which did the system design and integration at the sports bar, chose the Xantech LM110RP Smartpad3 Single Gang Keypad Controller to enable the system to allow patrons at each booth in the lounge to control their own A/V content. In addition, the Xantech CSPLCD64 Commercial Touchscreen Display was also integrated into the system.

Fidelity Sound Reinforcement installed a dozen LM110 push-button controllers in the lounge, one at every booth. The LM110 offers those seated in the booth the ability to call up any ch

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USA - Barco reports that its Cyberlight 2.0 moving mirror lighting fixture is now on tour with acts including Alice In Chains, Bon Jovi, and John Mayer. Rooted in the legendary Cyberlight fixture of the 1990s, the Cyberlight 2.0 is a modern piece of engineering that merges power with speed and precision control. The Cyberlight 2.0's 30,000 lumens of pure light output is directed via an on-board high speed moving mirror with smooth motion at all speeds. Fixed and rotating Lithopatterns®, unique glass effects, and smooth CMY color mixing provide an infinite palette of colors and creative options for amazing lighting effects.

Mike Baldassari, production designer for the current Alice In Chains tour, Baldassari chose four Cyberlight 2.0's to backlight the four band members. By fitting the moving performers with tiny infrared trackers, the Cyberlight 2.0's can track the movement

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Cyprus - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises have sold MRG Rentals in Cyprus the country's second PRO6 Live Audio System. The company which already owns a Heritage 3000 analogue console from Midas has decided to move into the digital domain with the PRO6 as it offered them the audio quality they were familiar with but with the routing benefits of being digital.

"After the training session the engineers realized that a great bonus with the purchase of the PRO6 was how quickly the desk could be used as compared to other digital mixing consoles," commented marketing manager Richie Hiranandani. "The small as compared to the H3000 also means we are quicker on setup and tear down of shows."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - A grandMA2 full-size, a grandMA2 light and an MA NPU (Network Processing Unit) are on tour with the 2010 X-Factor Live arena show, which have been specified and are operated and owned by lighting designer Neil Trenell.

Trenell was asked to create a lighting and video design by the show's technical producers Production North. He worked closely with the show directors Annabel Hayden and Stacey Haynes.

When it came to visual control, "It was a completely logical choice as I know the system so well," he says. It's a large investment for an LD to make in consoles, but Trenell thinks it's one of his best moves ever, as he can always use his system of choice. This makes a big difference to how fast he can programme a show and consequently to how adventurous and imaginative he can be with the design.

The X-Factor Live lighting rig consists of five trusse

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USA - Nominations open 1 May 2010 for the third annual ESTA Rock Our World Awards, which recognise groundbreaking achievement by ESTA Members in new products, product applications, or projects. These awards were created to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of technology and the designer or integrator who applies the technology in a real world environment.

Contestants for the 2009 awards showcased a wide variety of new products and product applications from the simplest problem solver to complex uses of technology that extended the boundaries of the entertainment technology field. Project nominations showcased everything from the lighting of the Grand Mosque to the staging of the Democratic National Convention and highlighted the collaborative nature of our industry.

Nominations may be made by anyone in the industry, but an ESTA member must be involved as the de

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UK - Adam Hall has expand its growing product portfolio by becoming the exclusive UK distributor for Audac.

Audac is an audio manufacturer that offers a complete range of professional audio equipment including amplifiers, loudspeakers, microphones and more.

"The installation market is extremely important and Audac will be a perfect supplement to our existing range," says Adam Hall's general manager, Andrew Richardson.

Audac's export manager Mark Asselberghs adds, "We are proud to have a respected company like Adam Hall for our major markets within Europe. With their wide range of products they have the right customers for our products. Together with the support from Audac they will continue to flourish in the successful installation market."

(Jim Evans)

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UAE - Abu Dhabi hosted the first ever Ultimate Fighting Championship in the Middle East and the first in the open air - in front of 11,000 fans, a highly charged atmosphere and beneath a monster steel roof structure specially designed and built for the occasion by Al Laith Events Services.

Al Laith Events Services effectively delivered the entire stadium infrastructure - including all the seating grandstands - that was built to stage the event, juxtaposed with the futuristic backdrop of the new Ferrari World indoor theme park on Yas Island.

The production company was Flash Events. The roof design was developed by Serious Stages' chief designer, Dragan Kuzmanov. Jo Marshall project managed for Al Laith, the site manager for Flash Events was Malcolm McInnes and Flash's production manager was Lee Charteris.

Says Jo Marshall, "This was a very demanding event for us, and it

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Italy - For the first time in a museum setting an historical figure - Federico da Montefeltro - has been depicted full-size in a three dimensional holograph.

On 23 April, the permanent installation created by Paolo Buroni, and sponsored by the Umbria Superintendence for Architectural and Natural Heritage was inaugurated. The installation entitled At Federico's Court brings the court on the main floor of the Ducal Palace in Gubbio to life.

Under the artistic direction of Paolo Buroni, Federico da Montefeltro, played by renowned actor Giulio Base, comes to the life. Using StarkHologram, a new Italian technology, for the first time in a museum setting, an historical figure like Federico da Montefeltro is presented in a three dimensional, natural size holograph representation. The leader converses for 15 minutes with an angel.

Paolo Buroni reports, "My idea was to re

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USA - AVnu Alliance - an industry forum dedicated to promoting the adoption of the IEEE 802.1 AVB (Audio Video Bridging) standards and the related IEEE 1722 and 1733 for professional A/V, automotive and consumer applications - recently hosted its second PlugFest and added five new members. With these latest developments, the AVnu Alliance continues to expand the adoption of the non-proprietary AVB standards and advance interoperability among AVB-enabled networked products.

"The member PlugFests are key to moving the AVB technology from paper to practice," says Rick Kreifeldt, chairman of AVnu Alliance and vice president, systems architect at Harman International. "By implementing compliance test procedures to ensure AV devices work together, we continue our collaboration with member organizations to refine interoperability specifications and enhance the net

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UK - London post production house De Lane Lea has revealed details of its newly refurbished and redesigned facilities. The whole building has undergone a major refit following a devastating fire in July 2009 and re-opens soon.

Refurbished and modernised, the facility consists of Mixing Studios One, Two and Three, Studio Four an ADR studio, Studio Five, the TV Mixing Studio and Studio Six which is another ADR Studio.

At the heart of the facility is the flagship Studio One. Originally designed by Munro Acoustics, the Munro team as re-called after the fire to re-design and re-fit the facility.

Munro Acoustics director Andy Munro says, "Although the circumstances were unfortunate, this has been a great opportunity to bring the largest mixing theatre in Soho up to the highest standards with the acoustic modifications resulting in a tighter, more focused sound. This is one of

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France / UK - Analog Way, a leading designer and manufacturer of image converters and presentation switchers, has announced the opening of a new direct sales office in the UK.

Analog Way UK is a new direct sales office based in London and dedicated to the British market. As of May 2010, Analog Way UK will provide sales operations for Analog Way's lines of products for the territory, as well as training facilities and first level technical support.

The opening of Analog Way UK is in line with Analog Way's willingness to being closer to the regional market and attentive to customers' specific needs. Alexander Schöpff, EMEA sales director at Analog Way, explains: "We are glad to offer to our UK customers a direct and close sales relationship. As Analog Way keeps improving and developing its product range, our UK team is looking forward to supporting our customers by providi

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UK - AC-ET's Video division has supplied a Green Hippo HippoCritter portable media server to TSL for use on various high-profile UK corporate and worship events.

TSL managing director Sam Tamplin was looking to invest in the company's first media server, so attended an open day at A.C.'s UK headquarters showcasing the latest creative LED lighting and video technologies, and associated products. Tamplin was so impressed with the Green Hippo's interface and feature set that he purchased a HippoCritter after the event.

The media server was recently used at the UK sales conference of one of the largest global data analysis software providers to the banking sector. SFL Group, who provided projection, staging, sound and event management, contracted TSL to provide lighting equipment and video control for the event.

The conference featured daytime presentations and a guest speech by

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New Zealand - For the sound reinforcement professional, an outdoor concert featuring dub, funk, afrobeat and soul (as performed by The Black Seeds) and an indoor concert featuring acoustic guitar, vocals, and orchestra (as performed by the Topp Twins and the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra) are every bit as different from one another as apples and jackhammers. This is precisely what Auckland, NZ-based Edwards Sound Systems encountered on two recent projects. They both used the new Aero 12A line array system from D.A.S. Audio.

Edwards Sound - a full service sound, lighting and audio visual - recently took delivery of their new Aero 12A line array speakers, which are part of D.A.S. Audio's Aero Series 2 product line. These two very different projects were among the first applications for the company's new equipment.

Jonathan Hardie-Neil, managing director of Edwards Sound report

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UK - Grammy Award winning US producer/engineers and founding members of the METAlliance, Chuck Ainlay and George Massenburg, are to jointly host two recording masterclass seminars in London, directly after the forthcoming AES convention. The two-day sessions, to be held at British Grove Studios in West London on 26-29 May will cover aspects of the entire recording process: preproduction session planning, studio set-up for tracking, mic placement, overdubs, mixing, delivery, and archiving. They will also cover effective use of tools: microphones, analogue & digital equipment, outboard effects and plug-ins, in-the-box as well as analogue console mixing, plus detailed stereo & multichannel mixing techniques.

A live band will be present on the first day of each session. The plan is to make the whole event a very hands-on experience for everyone who attends. The event is being manage

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USA - One of the main elements of any live performance is the mixing console, but Memphis Train Revue, a 10-piece R&B/soul band based in Austin, Texas, and their engineer James Duvall have been successful with a new paradigm. The band's sound system is designed around Allen & Heath's iDR-32 MixRack connected to a laptop, eliminating the mixing console completely.

Memphis Train Revue is a high-energy show band that plays a lot of private events. "One of the things we specialize in is making things efficient and seamless for our clients. Everything we do can happen within the boundaries of the stage itself. Eliminating the mixing console frees up a significant amount of floor space, and that can be the difference in getting the gig, whether it's a club, theatre or ballroom," says James Duvall of Creative Engineering & Solutions in Austin, who does both the house and moni

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Thailand - A large Milos ground support system was utilised by Thailand based audio designers and manufacturers, P. Audio, for the high profile launch of the new Red Ant restaurant, a popular new eatery located near Bangkok's busy Suvarnabhumi airport.

The large 20 x 35m (internal stage size) structure was built from Milos's MR3 roofing product which was specially purchased by P. Audio for this occasion.

The total height of the completed structure was 15m, giving an impressive 12.5m of headroom, and a weight loading capacity of 17 tonnes for the hanging of lighting, sound and video production equipment. A full programme of entertainment took place on the stage to celebrate the opening night of Red Ant for the enjoyment of an invited audience.

All four sides of the structure can be covered by flame-proof side nets if desired, and the intention is that P. Audio will in the fut

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Global Music Sales - Sales of music slid by 7% around the world in 2009, new figures have revealed. But the music market in 13 countries, including the UK, grew during the past year, according to data released by recording industry body the IFPI. It added that global digital sales registered a strong increase across many markets in 2009. Susan Boyle's debut album was confirmed as the world's biggest seller of the year, shifting 8.3m copies. The Scottish star's performance was substantially up on 2008's world number one, Coldplay's Viva La Vida, which sold 6.8m. The Black Eyed Peas and Michael Jackson's This Is It followed Boyle in the rundown.

The IFPI also reported that countries which have the least stringent protection from music piracy, such as Spain and Canada, registered the most serious falls in official music sales. Improvements in anti-piracy measures in countrie

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USA - A new Avolites Pearl Expert is the lighting control console on the long awaited North American tour of Public Image Ltd. (PiL). Theatrical Media Services (TMS) of Omaha is supplying the Pearl Expert for the six-week tour, which kicked off in Los Angeles this month.

TMS has specialized in complete event production and state-of-the-art lighting for over 20 years. The company's principal partners have worked in entertainment production since the early Eighties. "The new Avo Pearl Expert is small with plenty of balls," says TMS vice-president, Mark Huber. "The new Titan software represents a real leap forward for Avo. PiL needed a desk with plenty of horsepower yet compact and reliable. The Pearl Expert fits the bill perfectly.

"Our new Pearl came from TMB, a supplier of ours since the early days," adds Huber. "Now TMB are the exclusive distribu

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UK - PLASA and L&SI magazine have joined forces with the technical team at The Centaur in Cheltenham to stage a three-day loudspeaker demonstration on Tuesday 18th, Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th May. The event, which PLASA and L&SI plan to be the first of many such product-led industry gatherings, will allow visitors to hear and compare a range of the world's leading professional PA systems designed for shows and events with up to 5000 audience capacity.

Over the course of three days, 12 leading manufacturers will gather at the 4000-capacity multi-purpose venue to demo' their systems. The Participants will include DAS Audio, EAW, Funktion-One, JBL, K-Array, KV2 Audio, Martin Audio, Meyer Sound, RCF, Renkus-Heinz and Tannoy.

Audio consultant Steve Jones of SJA has designed the demo format in consultation with the manufacturers involved, and will be on hand to ensure an even

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UK - PLASA Events confirms that PLASA Focus: Leeds 2010 has broken all records over the two days at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. Visitor attendance topped 1800 - an increase of nearly 30% on last year's launch event. Thirty-three first-time exhibitors at PLASA Focus meant the show was brimming with key industry players, bringing the total to over 130 exhibitors, with both halls sold out weeks in advance of the show.

A lengthy list of new products were on show, many representing their first UK appearance following international launches, including 15 new products by Martin Professional; the SADiE 6 LiVE system; the UK debut of RCF's VSA 2050 Digital Steerable Column; Audio-Technica's updated 2000, 3000, 4000 & 5000 wireless systems; Clay Paky's first LED screen product - the Mirage LED curtain display; Trantec's Channel 38-ready S6 wireless system; GDS's latest additions

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UK - Housed within an old brewery bottling plant building on one of the oldest streets in Norwich, The Waterfront is a popular 700-capacity venue hosting over 100 live music events every year since it opened in 1993. The venue is owned by the University of East Anglia student union, but is run as an independent business open to the general public, and open four or five nights per week.

The venue has always offered something of an in-house PA system for touring acts, but recently secured funds to upgrade or replace its existing outdated system. It was at this point that production manager Nic Morris and the venue's in-house engineer, Lavar Bullard, discovered Tannoy's new VQ Live system through an encounter with Paul Nicholson of Red Square Audio, who made the recommendation to arrange a demonstration.

The VQ Live system surpassed all expectations with clarity, headroom and sep

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Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
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