Canada - Audient has achieved a milestone with the sale of its 500th ASP8024 console, installed in a studio in rural British Columbia this year. Up and running in early autumn, studio owner, engineer/producer Rob Dewar is already reaping the benefits of his 36-channel desk.

"It has provided a centralised input rig and return buss matrix, which has made my mostly single-handed recording and production work here much easier in terms of flow," he says.

"I have set up my most-used inputs (my drum kit mics, four mic'ed guitar amps in booths, an M/S mic pair for acoustic guitars, a direct-patched bass, etc) on a semi-permanent basis, and I have built a rolling mobile remote control rig for the DAW, and a set of satellite headphone 'pods', so most of the time, I can just move into position, arm some tracks and let 'er rip, when inspiration strikes, without any serious

UK - Wicked, the award-winning musical that tells the untold story of the Witches of Oz, has taken to the road for its first UK and Ireland tour kicking off in Manchester and winding its spellbinding way around the British Isles and Ireland well into 2015.

No stranger to the show, Creative Technology's (CT) seven-year relationship with Wicked's successful West End tenure at the Apollo Victoria Theatre is continuing with the Show's touring side in providing video projection and a full replay system for the supporting imagery.

Supplying Wicked UK Tour Productions two Panasonic PTDZ133 projectors, both of which are positioned at the front of the Circle and aimed at the stage, CT is also providing main and back up Catalyst Media Servers to output the video to the projectors. CT's project engineer Chris Higgins assisted projection designer Elaine J McCarthy and her productio

UK - The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester has invested in a new Eos-family lighting system, with two ETC Eos Titanium (Ti) desks at the helm, and an Ion console and a Remote Processor Unit for backup.

Richard Owen, head of lighting at the Royal Exchange, was one of the major decision makers for the purchase. He says, "We were looking for something that had a lot of future proofing, so it would still be working well in 20 years' time, and could handle a lot of intelligent fixtures. We asked the opinions of many of the incoming lighting directors who come to work here, with the overwhelming strength of opinion that ETC - and in particular the Eos line - is becoming the industry standard."

The Royal Exchange has four permanent board operators, plus freelancers who come in every so often to assist when necessary. All of them will need to operate the main desk and the

UK - Aylesbury Buckinghamshire LED screen and visuals specialists EMTO has specified and supplied LED screen solutions to two high profile club installations in central London - Amika in South Molton Street and Egg at Kings Cross.

Both clubs are radically different in vibe and demographic. Amika attracts a trend setting and sometimes celebrity crowd who like to hang out on one of central London's most opulent and fashionable streets; while the charismatic raw industrial chic of Egg attracts a young crowd who love the music, mixology and magic created by of some the best DJs and performers on the EDM scene.

Both venues approached EMTO's Wes Matthews because they wanted high quality LED technology installed with some flourish, design and purpose rather than just for the sake of it!

When the installation at Amika received the green light, they wanted it in immediately, so Matth

USA - XL Video UK and US operation XL Video Inc. combined resources and expertise to provide LED screens, Catalyst control and crew, plus a dynamic high production value video design to impress followers of the Christ For All Nations (CFaN) Ministry for two shows staged in the Amway Centre in Orlando, Florida.

CFaN is led by the high profile internationally known Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, renowned for his gospel missions throughout Africa. According to his website, Bonnke has personally preached to over 120m people and led 72m in the prayer to salvation.

XL Video UK's project manager Paul 'Macca' McCauley was approached by CFaN's UK/US based technical production manager Paul 'Boyo' Manuel to provide something different and innovative in terms of video reinforcement for the shows and a system design - developed in conjunction with TAIT - that would not only WOW the crowds, bu

Italy - Record numbers attended the arena for Gianni Morandi's concert on 7 and 8 October. The show was announced several months earlier and was a sell-out. There was plenty of room for thrills and his songs, which have become veritable Italian music classics since the 1960s. There was also room for memories, shared with his friend Raffaella Carrà, and even time for an unintentional comic duet with Fiorello, who played the stooge and stole the show during the monologue. A series of other guests loved by Italians also took the stage.

Gianni Morandi enthralled the audience with his simplicity, his contact and direct relationship with them, and his desire to talk and be talked about without any self-praise. His music still moves children, parents and grandparents.

Even the Clay Paky lighting rig involved record numbers: Massimo Pascucci, lighting director for Mediaset, installed

Rock Honours - Heavy metal stars Black Sabbath triumphed at this year's Classic Rock Roll of Honour, picking up three prizes including the living legend award. The Birmingham band also won album of the year for 13 and event of the year, after 13 topped album charts worldwide and scored them their biggest US hit. Previous living legend winners include ZZ top, Jimmy Page and Iggy Pop. Following their Hyde Park live shows and a Glastonbury headline set this summer The Rolling Stones were named band of the year, while best new band went to The Temperance Movement.

.Low Key - The French government presented singer Bob Dylan with the country's highest award, the Legion of Honour, in a brief ceremony in Paris. Presenting him with the award, Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti said he was a hero for young people hungry for justice and independence. After the speech,

UK - LumenRadio and their long time OEM partner LITE worked together with Philips Lighting and Balfour Beatty Living Places to create a beautiful new lighting as a part of the redevelopment project for Coventry called "Broadgate Redevelopment Coventry.

Philips Lighting along with their value added partner LITE, specified a large system of Philips iColorGraze, Philips iColorBurst and Philips iColorBlast luminaries to wash the full expanse of the buildings and surrounded environment with intense, bright blasts of color. LITE also chose to specify a system of LumenRadio CRMX Nova transmitter and receivers to reliable control the lighting on the buildings facade, balcony railways and the Godiva Statue.

Using the CRMX technology in this installation provided a large number of advantages to both the installer and the buildings/statue themselves; notably ease of installation

Australia - For the first time in a decade at an Australian trade exhibition Entech Connect will have a Live Audio Zone. This live audio demonstration area will showcase some of the finest talent and finely tuned speaker systems in the market. With a number of sessions across two days and several audio brands already locked in.

This feature is a first for the Australian industry and will be a programmed audio segment dedicated to the demonstration of loudspeakers and will provide visitors the chance to listen to products in a real-world environment.

"A live audio demonstration zone is something that has been missing from industry trade events. We want attendees to not only have the opportunity to view products, but also to experience their sound capabilities first hand," commented Stephen Dallimore, Entech Connect event manager.

Visitors will be able to experience

UK- Sennheiser UK has presented its first annual scholarship award to Buckinghamshire New University Audio and Music Production student, Bradley Rolling.

The scholarship is presented to students based on their academic performance in the first year and is part of an education partnership agreement between the University in High Wycombe and Sennheiser.

It was presented following interviews between five shortlisted students and Phil Cummings, Sennheiser's marketing projects manager.

The award included a cheque for £1,500, along with a Neumann TLM 103 microphone, and a pair of 25th anniversary Sennheiser HD25 headphones.

Bradley said, "The money will be really useful as I have plans to set up my own music production and mixing business and develop a website for it.

"The professional kit from Sennheiser and Neumann will be great for both my degree work and fo

Argentina - Lighting designer Carlos Gaber used 10 Robe LEDBeam 100s and four Robe CityFlex 48s, together with other luminaires for a special event to launch the solo career of local artist Lali Espósito, at La Trastienda club in Buenos Aires.

Carlos marked several positions on the stage where Lali had to stand 'on her marks' during her performance to create some great theatrical scenes and effects. He also consulted both the choreographer and the costume designer whilst programming the lighting to ensure all elements of the show were in sync. Although there were other fixed and moving lights on the rig, the Robin LEDBeam 100s and CityFlex 48s were right at the core of the action.

Four of the Robin LEDBeam 100s were hung on a central truss and the other six were positioned vertically - three each side of an LED screen.

The CityFlex 48s were used downstage as footlights with

France / Italy - SSL has started to roll out its commercial distribution network for the live sector. Distribution for the SSL Live console in France will be handled by SSL France with Juke Box Ltd as the official SSL Live dealer. The console will be distributed in Italy by Cablateam.

"SSL has been established for a long time in both France and Italy," says Philippe Guerinet, director of international sales for SSL. "We have been working closely for many years with Giovanni Blasi in Italy and JB Lierre in France for our music products, so the SSL Live was a natural addition to their portfolios. The conclusion of some of the first commercial sales in these territories is clear evidence that we are on the right track."

"Continuing the very successful cooperation between our two companies over the past 10 years, we are delighted to embark on a new adventu

Germany - A massive rig of almost 900 Clay Paky fixtures has been utilised to track and illuminate a fleet of BMW's latest car designs for a series of dynamic and fast-paced shows held during the Frankfurt Motor Show 2013.

The ambitious lighting production - headed by Martin Kuhn and Berlin's NIYU media project - utilised a vast array of Clay Paky's latest fixtures, including 115 Alpha Wash 1500s, 24 Alpha Spot 1500s, 25 Alpha Profile 1500s, 18 Alpha Beam 1500s, 28 Sharpys, 8 Sharpys Washes, 131 QWO 800 STs, 28 Alpha Wash 700s, and 504 A.leda Wash K10s.

One main requirement for the lighting design was to be able to dynamically highlight the cars driving around the track. The 504 K10s multicolour RGBW LEDs delivered a full range of vivid colours as well as excellent shades of white. Equipped with a motorised and fully controllable 14°-70° - the fixtures were placed at e

Australia - The Sydney Opera House has recently installed four Robert Juliat Cyrano 2500W HMI follow spots into the Joan Sutherland Theatre (formerly known as the Opera Theatre) in which the Australian Ballet and Opera Australia reside.

The two resident companies had begun to require more output as the previous follow spots could not keep up with the lighting rigs which were continually getting brighter. The Cyrano, with its narrow beam angle suited to long throw distances and unique dimmer shutter, was the obvious choice of replacement.

Normally a follow spot position is located at the back of the auditorium with a traditional follow spot stand but at this venue the follow spot position is actually built into the roof with the lamps mounted on the floor of the Theatres ceiling.

"This presented us with a major issue in getting the operator low enough to operate the Cyra

UK - This year, Fleetwood Mac have been on a major tour of the USA and Europe that encompasses the large arena-size venues with the likes of Jones Beach in Wantagh, NY, the beachside theatre that can require some creative planning from a production team to load-in a full show rig. At the time of writing, the fourteen date leg of the tour in Australia and New Zealand has been cancelled to allow bassist and founder member, John McVie to receive treatment for cancer.

Not for the first time, Chaos Visual Productions supplied the production with the video hardware. As lighting designer, Paul 'Arlo' Guthrie remarks, "Video features in almost the entire set so getting the balance between lighting content and IMAG was crucial. Incorporating video successfully is always something of a balancing act. I feel we have brought a modern look to the visuals without distracting from what ha

USA - Twenty-four Ayrton MagicPanel 602 LED lighting fixtures were used to spectacular effect by lighting designer, Bryan Barancik, at the Opening Ceremony of the 2013 US Open tennis tournament this summer.

The Opening Ceremony, which took place in the 22,500-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium at New York's Flushing Meadows, was lit by Christien Methot. It featured an explosive performance of Are You Gonna Go My Way from Lenny Kravitz who brought in LD Bryan Barancik to design the lighting for his performance.

Barancik chose to relate his design back to the song's iconic music video. The original video, which is still considered outstanding 20 years after it was first released, featured an enormous overhead matrix of light bulbs. Barancik wanted to incorporate a similar aesthetic into the show to tie in with the anniversary of the song. He chose Ayrton MagicPanel fixtures as the

World - When Selena Gomez discussed the ambience she wanted to create onstage for her Stars Dance world tour with artistic director Seth Jackson, she described elegance and style, replete with a touch of classical, shimmering 'star quality' reminiscent of the mystique of Hollywood's golden era.

This was the creative starting point for the acclaimed and highly visual tour production that has evolved, the results of the talent and imagination of a serious creative 'dream team' comprising Seth Jackson, also the show's production designer, lighting designer Nathan W Scheuer and video director Brent Sandrock, together with lighting director David 'Fuji' Covertino at the core.

Jackson and Scheuer specified over 80 of Robe's newest moving lights to be the hub of the lighting action, which were purchased by the tour's US lighting vendors Bandit Lites when it kicked off in Augus

UK - As Academy Music Group (AMG) explores new technology to complement existing in-house production across its venue estate, O2 Academy Leeds welcomes investment from the Group, with brand new, state of the art LED panels.

The 42 LedGo EQ HR Silan 6mm lightweight LED Black Face panels (each 488mm x 732mm) are seamless and easy to build and dramatically transform the stage, in horizontal or vertical designs, in high definition.

"We have seen more in the way of LED video coming through our venues with touring productions over the last year, so it's important we remain at the forefront of new technology, ensuring we are offering promoters the most attractive production facilities. We are the only venue in Leeds to now offer a full stage LED screen in house as part of the existing rental package. A video wall can provide the most exciting backdrop as well as video-based elem

Belgium - The annual Les Francofolies summer music festival, held in Spa, Belgium, promotes francophone music and attracts hundreds of thousands of fans over a five-day span. Arto, a Brussels-based production company, handled the festival's production and lighting design, which consisted exclusively of Harman's Martin Professional lighting fixtures. As an integral part of the system Arto deployed 28 Martin MAC Viper Profile moving head fixtures, in addition to several other Martin luminaires.

"I chose to work with the MAC Viper Profiles for many reasons," stated lighting designer Gilles Mathieu. "The colours are very nice. The red especially is a real primary red. The speed and range of the zoom is excellent and it only draws five amps of power. Logistically speaking the Vipers were really simple to hang and we were also able to place them on the floor when necess

UK - Selfridges welcomed Londoners and visitors alike to Oxford Street last week for a spectacular Christmas celebration event which included high profile performances and a 'Destination Christmas' countdown, as well as the switch on of Oxford Street's annual Christmas light decorations.

The event brought in a crowd of thousands, with performances by popular artists Jessie J, Conor Maynard, and James Arthur. Selfridges entrusted entertainment lighting specialist White Light with providing lighting equipment, design, and support for the evening. Creative production company setWorks oversaw the production of the project, which involved transforming Selfridges' prominent Oxford St façade into a full scale live performance space including trussing and staging for the Destination Christmas performers.

"We had the Destination Christmas materials from Selfridges Graphics team a

UK - Turbosound, headquartered at Partridge Green in Sussex, announced today it is relocating to new premises. The trigger for the move was the imminent expiry of the lease on their existing headquarters. As a result of this decision, Turbosound's manufacturing will move to premises owned by Music Group in Kidderminster, which serves as Midas and Klark Teknik's UK manufacturing facility and Music Group's European Care Centre.

Turbosound's research and development activities will relocate to Music Group's research facility in Manchester, which houses over 60 engineers responsible for Midas and Klark Teknik research and development. Existing staff have been offered the opportunity to relocate to the new premises.

Nigel Beaumont, senior vice president professional division commented, "I am very excited about the future of our professional division and Turbosound is an integr

Germany - Water played a leading role at Wolfsburg's Autostadt theme park this summer. The pinnacle of this year's stagings was the water shows, the world's largest of their kind, which the Autostadt produced and choreographed on its own.

Around 350 water systems producing more than 70m-high fountains, more than 130 flame generators producing up to 15m high flames, seven LED screens, eleven full-colour 25 Watt lasers, 20 green laser scanners, plus new light and sound concepts were employed at this year's shows.

Technical implementation of the project was assigned to a team whose collaboration had proven its worth in staging the annual shows for the last few years. Included among the collaborators were the firms of Aquatique Show for the water systems, Leyendecker for the lighting, tarm Showlaser for the laser systems, Entertainment Technology Concepts for the video equipment,

UK - Luminar Leisure enlisted the expertise of Lighting Systems UK's John Richardson - who turned to lighting and video manufacturers Chauvet Europe, supplied by Glastonbury-based Batmink Distribution - to realise its ambitions for the innovative entertainment enhancement initiative The Big Night Out.

The concept was to make one Saturday night per month, at each club within the Luminar estate, different from other weekends. With the Diagio brands soon on board and keen to support a night out that would 'wow' customers and set Luminar apart from the competition, the brief encompassed not only dancers, giveaways and drinks promotions but also substantial extra production and stage sets.

The project was driven by Luminar Group's head of marketing and central operations, Tim Howard, designed and project-managed by lighting designer and Luminar club technician, John Richardson and

USA - Lighting Designer Sean Agosta-Bidleman of Prysm Enterprises chose 96 Chroma-Q Color Force Compact LED fixtures to illuminate the spectacular 100 ft high Library Tower permanent installation at the University of Hawaii's new West Oahu campus.

Prysm Enterprises - a consulting and design/build firm that Creates Solutions for light, technology and production - was brought on-board by the Hawaii State Foundation for Culture and The Arts as project lighting consultants to illuminate the tower's stunning glass architecture, which was designed by Kauai based artist, Carol Bennett.

Sean and his team collaborated closely with Carol to achieve the desired lighting outcome that was the result of taking a theatrical approach to architectural illumination. The tower has become a visual centrepiece on campus, turning the heads of staff, students and visitors alike with its magnificent

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