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14 March 2016

For XL, it was the continuation of a long and fruitful relationship with Robbie Williams and his production team which stretches back over a decade. Video has always been an integral part of Robbie's live shows and his tours have blazed a trail for innovative, design-led applications of new video technology.

This was once again the case, making maximum impact at the O2 shows. The third show was broadcast live on Sky 1, and in other territories worldwide, and can now be seen on Sky's On-Demand service.

XL's project manager, Phil Mercer, worked closely with Robbie's long-term produ

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14 March 2016

Ahead of their shows in Manchester, production manager Tony Gittins wanted the crew to be up to speed with the latest health and safety considerations whilst working on a live event.

He booked all the crew onto the one-day course at the Academy, which is based at the LS-Live rehearsal studios in South Kirkby, West Yorkshire.

He said, "For the larger tours I do, I always send all the crew to do their Event Safety Passport because it raises their awareness of health and safety when they are working around the set.

"When we booked the production rehearsals for The Stone Roses at LS-Live, I was pleased to learn that the facility no

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14 March 2016

DPA Microphone's Russian distributor I.S.P.A arranged for Roman to test a DPA d:vote 4099G Instrument Microphone for Guitar, which proved to be exactly what he was looking for.

"I heard that Paco De Lucia's sound engineer rated DPA microphones very highly so on that basis I decided I had to try them out," Roman Miroshnichenko says. "I was in need of a really good microphone for my upcoming Jubilee concert with Larry Coryell so I spoke to Maxim Kupryakhin at I.S.P.A who arranged for me to try a d:vote 4099G clip mic. The concert was a great and important test-drive for the microphone and from t

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14 March 2016

The bar is the fifth to be opened by the growing chain and lighting once again plays a key role in providing mood and ambience.

Working closely with interior designers, Finch Design, PNLD have produced a dramatic scheme using some simple theatrical techniques and feature luminaires to create a dramatic and inviting space, whilst producing comfortable lighting to booths where customers can drink and relax.

The total expenditure on lighting, including controls, was just £6,500.00 including a lighting control system so the PNLD team had to be very creative with the details and resourceful with regards to the specification of luminaires. Head of practice, Paul Nulty explains, "It was an ambitious budget so we had to think laterally

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14 March 2016

ARX managing director Colin Park said, "Gidron Levitan is the new distribution company of Eytan Gidron, an old friend of ARX for many years. We're looking forward to working with Eytan and the Gidron Levitan team in Israel, they're enthusiastic about the possibilities for the ARX product range amongst their extensive client base."

Gidron Levitan adds ARX to a growing distribution product portfolio that includes Outline, Fulcrum Acoustic, Rational Acoustics, Earthworks and Apex.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Ashly Audio is one of the world's leading designer manufactures of high quality, high performance signal processor and power amplification solutions. Operating in the commercial and professional audio sectors, the company has achieved a steady growth both in its domestic and international markets. The appointment of TAU Audio is set to continue this trend in the Benelux region.

"It's our experience that Ashly's high performance line of audio electronic products works best when paired to high performance loudspeakers," says John Sexton, Ashly Audio's vice president of sales. "TAU's combination of SoundTube loudspeakers and Ashly amplifiers

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14 March 2016

Gilbert has released two albums of his own, and his songs have been recorded by Colt Ford and Jason Aldean.

A long-time client of Digital Console Rental, Gilbert asked company president Howard Jones to serve as his tour's lighting designer. Digital Console Rental is handling all of the audio, lighting, rigging and trucking for Hell on Wheels.

Jones chose eight Sharpys from his inventory deploying four in the truss and four wrapping around the top of the set. "We wanted to come up with something that was iconic to Brantley," he explains. "He's big into motorcycles and has a bad boy image. I had the idea to have the truss over the stage be a giant pair

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14 March 2016

Chart-topper Jake Bugg has been using one successfully on his concerts this year while Mercury Music Prize nominee Jessie Ware is also finding that the D7 capsule, in conjunction with the versatile DMS700 wireless system, is revealing new detail in her vocal register and enriching the artiste's timbre, according to FOH engineer and tour manager, Olly Long.

"It offers so much clarity and definition, particularly in the upper-mid register," he observes.

The sound engineer was introduced to AKG's latest mic and wireless technology at tour production company Cato Music when he was working with dubstep band Hadouken. "We were able to take out a DMS700 and D5 dynamic capsule - and the results were great," he appraised.

The band then went into the

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14 March 2016

The Yamaha CL series digital mixing consoles represent a new level of refinement. They offer an evolved experience in accessible mixing, plus sonic purity with sound shaping capabilities that will give the most imaginative engineer unprecedented creative freedom. The CL series embodies the leading standards in live sound in their most advanced, most expressive form.The three section fader layouts for efficient hands-on control, making the CL5 the ideal choice for a diverse spectrum of live sound systems.

A significant proportion of Stage Electrics total stock of £13m worth of hire equipment is devoted to audio equipment from leading manufacturers. Continued growth in live e

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14 March 2016

"We are honoured to have been appointed to distribute the prestigious Allen & Heath brand. In particular, we see a lot of potential for the digital products and look forward to professionally supporting these products as the brand grows in Taiwan," comments Douglas Chang, owner of Seapower Technology Co.

"We are very excited about this new relationship with Seapower. I've known Douglas for many years and I've been very impressed with his professionalism and his team's technical expertise. I look forward to a successful relationship," comments Bardy Hayes, director Global Market Management and Allen

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14 March 2016

"I have re-visited all the music," said Marenghi. "A new truss shape with a completely new lighting environment: total refreshment. The fact that Tim chose this moment to move from grandMA to grandMA2 seemed entirely logical; even if it was the first time he'd migrated a master show file from MA1 to MA2."

"I did ask him if he was comfortable w

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14 March 2016

Working for client Vision Nine (formerly known as Sports Vision) and with Robin Conway as Capital's project manager for the event, the line array tech and crew boss Marty Harrison deployed a Martin Audio LC system with 218 subs for the main stage, where Dave Poynter looked after FOH, Kevin Smith took up the monitor position and Duane Williams handle stage tech duties for sets from Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, DJ Shadow, Mark Ronson and Zane Lowe, amongst others. A smaller version of the system was sited adjacent to the ski jump, and a Meyer UPM system took care of the

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14 March 2016

Back in France, having built their formidable reputation on being brand-agnostic and supplying the

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14 March 2016

For its primary audio system, Onixeushas chosen Nexo's compact line array GeoS12, paired with RS18 subwoofers. The club has a main system of six Geo S1210 cabinets plus two Geo S1230s in left and right arrays (eight per side) and an out-fill system of three Geo S1230s per side. The six RS18 subs are arranged in the centre. The entire system is processed and amplified by 3 NXAMP4x4 TDControllers.

All the cabinets have been installed using Nexo's fixed rigging accessories.

Onixeus technical manager Raúl García Rodríguez reports that "T

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer Francisco 'Pincel' Gabriel designed an enormous cube suspended over the main arena floor for maximum visibility by the entire crowd without interfering with the rodeo activities or blocking any sightlines to the main stage for the evening concerts. The cube held LED screens accentuated with Robe moving lights to allow spectators to view the rodeo events up close.

Because of the location of the cube, high above the centre of the arena floor, W-DMX BlackBox F-1 was used as Transmitter and Receiver to deliver a reliab

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14 March 2016

The core impetus for this was the annual series of Sligo Live festivals, inaugurated eight years ago as a public-private initiative to promote the city of Sligo as both a musical centre and a tourist destination. The musical theme of the festival is based around folk, roots and indie, and is hosted by multiple pubs, bars and theatres in the city, the region's most populous area, a major tourist destination and former home to poet W B Yeats and Spike Milligan. The city i

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14 March 2016

Robe fixtures were an integral part of Selah Sue's show - her lighting designer Joris Vandamme used 12 x Robin 600 LEDWashes on floor stands as a 'specials' package, an idea also being tried out for upcoming shows. He also used eight Robe MMX Spots that have just been installed as part of a new lighting rig at Het Depot along with Robe Actor 600 units.

Additionally, the first of Robe's new MMX WashBeams in Belgium were made available for these Het Depot shows by special arrangement with Robe's Benelux distributor, Controllux.

Selah Sue's material embraces an eclectic mix of styles including soul, R'n'B, reggae and blues. Her rich, deep, raspy voice is ver

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14 March 2016

The Roland V-Mixing System was chosen for the tour by long term Eija Kantola tour technician, Mikko Kiviniemi, a freelance technician based in Helsinki, who works around 100 days a year with Eija Kantola and has been using Roland products since September 2011.

"I have used the RSG products for more than 120 shows - it is a reliable and great sounding system with reasonable FOH footprint," commented Mikko. "The overall workflow efficiency and surface layout is super

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14 March 2016

The AB features a 2000 capacity Main Room with full over-stage grid system and a 16m wide stage, plus a smaller club performance space. It is one of the most prominent live music and performance venues in Europe, featuring many high profile artists, staging over 300 live events a year and featuring around 500 bands which are enjoyed by over 300,000 people.

Around 90% of the artists visiting the AB use the in-house lighting system, and approximately 75% of these will bring their own LDs, so it is vital that they stay at the forefront of a constantly evolving world, and are able to offer all the latest technologies.

The decision to invest in Robe moving lights

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14 March 2016

This year the Durban ICC was named "Africa's number 1 meeting and conference centre" by the prestigious World Travel Awards, for the 11th time in 12 years. The ICC has welcomed kings, queens, presidents, actors, icons and entertainers and has hosted some of the biggest, most high profile conferences in the world.

The anniversary project's objective required event organisers to showcase the capacity, versatility and flexibility of the ICC to stage major international events

Makulu Events was awarded the tender to organise the event and with the ICC, invited a number of companies to propo

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14 March 2016

Bruce first heard the product range at PLASA Focus and was overwhelmed at the audio quality of the loudspeakers which incorporate the SDS horn and said, "After arranging a demonstration on site on behalf of AC Entertainment technologies and RW Salt we were so impressed by the clarity and throw for the size of these loudspeakers against other well respected manufacturer that we decided these were the right choice for the venue. The versatility of the speakers has no end, they can recreate soft male and female vocals beautifully right through to rock and roll, this will be a big help with all the variations of shows that the theatre brings in."

Paul Atherton of RW Salt, who d

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14 March 2016

Producing a range of shows, awards ceremonies and events, the 120 seat theatre is a fully equipped space with a flexible format, used by students on the Performing Arts and Technical Theatre courses.

Based only a few miles away, AWC contacted ACSP when looking for a wheelchair-friendly, flexible and safe method for their students to work on rigging technical production equipment at ground level.

The project was led for ACSP by project manager, Lance Bromhead, who worked closely with AWC's theatre technician, Jake Edmonds to provide a cost e

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14 March 2016

It's Farmer's first tour with Andre, asked on board by tour director John Proctor, although he has known CSE's Haydn Cruickshank for many years and worked with the company on several previous occasions. CSE was able to supply both lighting and video in a very competitive package.

The tour is visiting a variety of venues, taking in theatres, concert halls and arenas, so Farmer's rig is designed with innate adaptability to work in all of these spaces. Farmer's starting point was a basic concept from show producer Christian Storm of Mass Movement, which included some specific video treatments from which Farmer star

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14 March 2016

The brief for the new suite was to create a multipurpose studio complex suitable for C5 News, which uses Virtual Reality to generate the on air environment, ready to broadcast from mid-November.

With limited space, designing a system flexible enough to cover all eventualities was the design team's biggest challenge, as Antony Vine, project manager for installation company White Light, explains, "The studio has very limited head room and absolutely no space for a dimmer room. To overcome this problem we've used eS21 Dimmer Bars, with the Dimmers and Relays inbuilt. The modularity of the eS21 bar design is of particular importance as this