UK - Sennheiser UK has announced further dates for its UK Sound Academy courses, which have proved extremely popular with professional sound engineers, students and others working within the audio industry.

The 'Basic Wireless Microphones and Monitoring' course, aimed towards achieving practical setup of small RF systems, will run on 25 June, 20 August and 28 October 2014, whilst the 'Wireless Mics and Monitoring - The Masterclass', for experienced engineers, will be launched later in the year.

"Feedback from previous students has been very positive," says Tim Sherratt, engineering & technical services manager at Sennheiser UK, who heads up the UK Sound Academy. "The combination of e-learning, tutoring and workshops seems to have worked well."

The Sound Academy's RF training package is accredited by InfoComm and successful participants of the course earn

USA - Coldplay recently held an intimate secret show to mark the release of their album Ghost Stories to the delight of the 800 lucky fans in attendance at Sony Studios Los Angeles. The spectacular event, recorded for a TV special and album bonus DVD, saw the band play a very special set, including a recital of the new album in its entirety for the first time.

Expertly directed by Ben Miles of Mixed Emotions London and engineered by Phil Haynes with Phil Johnston as Lead Projectionist both working for XL Video, the show featured 32 unique outputs from only five live Avolites Media Ai S8 systems. These, connected to a total of 46 Panasonic 20k projectors, and coupled with three floating backup servers, created a stunning visual environment.

"Avolites Media were very proud to supply our servers to XL Video for use on this special project," stated Avolites Media

Puerto Rico - Calle 13 is one of Latin America's most successful bands, having won 19 Latin Grammy Awards and two US Grammy Awards. Frequently controversial and with an eclectic musical style, Calle 13 has a devoted following and its current tour, which travels to South, Central and North America, as well as Europe and Asia, is filling stadiums, arenas and theatres everywhere it goes. Two DiGiCo SD8-24s are along for the ride.

Front of House engineer Luis Irizzary first worked with the band back in 2007 and 2008, and having returned to the Calle 13 fold in 2012, he has been working with the band since. His reasons for using the SD8-24 are two-fold: the channel count, "I use 58 mic inputs on 52 channels at Front of House, but the console is still not maxed out," he says; and its compact size.

"The Front of House and monitor console share one rack," Luis expl

South Africa - Award-winning set designer Michael Gill recently worked alongside lighting designers Joshua Cutts and Francois van der Merwe on South African TV studio Red Pepper's ambitious upgrade project, specifying the LED technology of Philips Selecon Studio Panels, SPX Zoomspot and PLcyc1 luminaires for three new prime time game shows.

Red Pepper's CEO Cecil Barry and facilities manager Marius Maritz joined forces with Gill, Cutts and van der Merwe to come up with a revolutionised set design and optimised LED lighting rig, including 14 x Philips Selecon Studio Panels, six Philips Selecon PLcyc1 luminaires and eight Philips Selecon SPX Zoomspot luminaires, supplied by DWR Distribution, for their studios in Linden, Melville and Braamfontein.

"I was very surprised with the Philips Selecon Studio Panels," said Maritz. "They perfectly lit the entire virtual rig,

UK - With beginning of June, Laserworld launched their new website with a new, modern design and a new shopping system. Their shop solution was improved to better fit the requirements of B2B commerce: New product data feeds were made available to distributors, which make it easy to integrate Laserworld products into online shops, customer management systems and accounting software via XML feed.

In addition to that, new categories were implemented, providing bundle and set suggestions - for retailer, that want to get an initial product setup for their shop, and for commercial customers, that search for ready-to-go bundles with software, cables, etc.

Alexander Pokorny, marketing manager at Laserworld comments, "We frequently got inquiries from customers that weren't sure how products could be compared best. That's why we decided to provide some standard setups, so customers

China - Located in the southern Guangdong province and bordering Macau, Zhuhai is a premier tourist hotspot in China. Recently, it is also the host to the Changlong International Circus Festival, of which the committee selected the Martin M6 Console to control and calibrate the lighting systems on and around the stage.

Local Martin distributor Guangzhou Dan-Pro Stage Equipment Co., Ltd recommended the console from a world-renowned brand not only to match the popularity of the venue, but also to provide a compelling experience to such a joyous event.

The Martin M6 console offers the most advanced visualization of lighting control, accommodating a wide product range from traditional fixtures to moving lights and even the most advanced media servers with ease. The setup for the festival features two M6 consoles of the 64 channel version, as well as eight Ether2DMX8 DMX routers.<

USA - A RoomMatch system from Bose Professional Systems was recently installed to solve the PA needs of Church of the Apostles, a mega-church in the Buckhead district of Atlanta. The installation was performed by Nashville-based firm CTS Audio, based on specifications arrived at in collaboration between CTS, church leadership and Bose personnel.

Interestingly, the church's media and communications director, Kevin Knox, was initially lukewarm on the idea of a Bose system in the sanctuary. He notes, "I just didn't associate the Bose brand with professional products." His mind was changed after he encountered a RoomMatch system demo at WFX. "[The system] had a real warmth that you don't usually get with a big PA system. It felt like it was right there in the room with you. I got the sense that it would be able to give us what we really needed: good intelligibility in

Brazil - Originally built for the World Cup in 1950, Brazil's iconic Maracana stadium will host many of the major matches in the FIFA World Cup 2014, including the final on 13 July, with audio managed by the stadium's GLD digital mixer from Allen & Heath.

Located in Rio de Janeiro, Maracana was closed for a three-year major renovation, reopening last year with a GLD-80 mixer at the heart of an EV sound system. Fitted with a Dante network card, the mixer controls audio distribution around the entire stadium through fibre optic cables.

"The main reason we chose GLD was because of Allen & Heath's fantastic sound quality, reliability and ease of use," explains Augusto Bergamim, sound manager and system programmer at the Maracana.

The stadium will host four group games and next round games, a quarter final game, and the final.

(Jim Evans)

Belgium - Show designer Ignace D'Haese from leading Belgian creative show and design practice Arf & Yes 'imagineered a fabulous production design' incorporating lighting, video and scenography for the 2014 live finals of the Voice van Vlaanderen (The Voice of Flanders), staged in the Kuipke (Velodrome) in Gent.

The lighting rig included 100 Robe moving lights - amongst others - and the much anticipated final was broadcast live on Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij (VTM) the main commercial channel in the Flemish region of Belgium, where five talented young artists battled it out to win the 2014 title.

Being in a position to design the full visual concept - as opposed to just lighting - for the show gave D'Haese a creative continuity that could be seamlessly applied at all levels.

His challenges included working in the 'found' space of the Kuipke which - exciting though site-spec

UK - The Technical Theatre Awards, which celebrates the outstanding achievements of people working behind the scenes, has announced the nominees for this year's event as voting officially opens.

63 individuals and venues are nominated across 18 awards covering all disciplines of technical theatre, ranging from achievements in Stage Management to Scenic Artistry, Wardrobe to Make-up & Wigs.

TTA creator Ian Taylor announced the opening of voting for the awards at the ABTT Theatre Show on Wednesday 11 June, taking to the Philips Entertainment stand at 13:15 to celebrate with gathered guests and press. To cast your vote, visit www.technicaltheatreawards.com/voting

According to the organisers, more than 1000 people have voted in the first 24 hours of voting going live. The winners will be announced at a special ceremony on Monday 6 October, during PLASA London at ExCel.

The TTA

The Netherlands - Thousands of schoolchildren are expected to visit a new 'ICER' innovation centre in the Dutch town of Ulft, which features a state-of-the-art educational hub transformed into different moods through vibrant colour-changes provided by Chroma-Q Inspire premium performance LED house lights.

ICER, which stands for Innovation, Creation, Education and Recreation, was founded by the local government, several schools, artists and local businesses to provide an innovation centre for young people and other visitors interested in the technical industry. Housed in an old factory, ICER has transformed the cavernous venue into an exciting, futuristic space. The centre is billed to be a thriving creative workspace where visitors will be provided with a broad spectrum of innovative workshops, ranging from brand new product presentations to such cutting-edge activities as 3D pr

UK - Biodiesel specialist, Midas, will provide power to the Hopkins Homes International Polo at Trinity Park, Ipswich this month, the Suffolk Agricultural Association has confirmed.

Paula Slater, Trinity Park's polo events manager, comments, "We were impressed with the Midas touch, its purist approach to sustainability and its flexibility. The company's comprehensive service gives us a quality solution to our energy needs and total peace of mind, which is crucial when delivering first class events."

Midas director, David Noble, said, "We're really excited to be managing the power at the Hopkins Homes International Polo. Trinity Park is a local site for us and we hope the contract will serve as stepping stone to supplying other events in the area."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Blumano Ltd is an engineering-based company headquartered in the UK and working internationally which has been launched to provide a whole range of specialist services, expertise and consultancy which is related to lifting and load-bearing equipment for stages and other areas of entertainment industry production.

The company is headed by two industry professionals - Cristiano Giavedoni and Amedeo Guizzi. They bring many years of experience and a vast knowledge of the professional entertainment industry to the equation as well as their respective individual areas, plus imagination and an innovative approach.

Amedeo is a structural, mechanical and materials engineer with extensive experience working for high profile live entertainment projects. He is a skilled performer flying project & technical manager and has been technical director for numerous live shows and festivals.

USA - Cerwin-Vega! Reports that its P-Series Professional PA system was an integral part of the audio setup for the prestigious New Music Seminar (NMS) in New York. Marking its second year in attendance at the event, the Cerwin-Vega! P-Series provided a natural sound for all NMS presentations and performances.

See Factor, the lighting and sound company for the conference, supplied a total of eight full P-Series setups - comprised of two P1500X Loudspeakers and a P1800SX Subwoofer each - for traditional PA arrangements, two additional P1500X Loudspeakers for monitor wedges and two 16-Channel CVM mixers.

"Before we moved to our current location at the iconic New Yorker Hotel, the entire conference was held at Webster Hall," explains Dave Lory, musical director for the event. "Since it's an acclaimed music venue that hosts world-famous musicians, we always relied o

Australia - When the Crown Spas complex in Melbourne decided to upgrade their audio systems, Digital Living, a Melbourne based AV integrator, was contracted to do the work. In the process, Digital Living helped Crown Spas save an estimated 15 to 20 percent on the project by installing a QSC Q-Sys Core 500i processor at the heart of the system. In addition to the cost-effective and powerful integrated Core 500i processor, the Crown Spas complex audio upgrade also utilises 22 QSC TSC-3 touchscreens and 15 QSC CX254 four-channel amplifiers.

The Crown complex, located on the south bank of the Yarra river, is renowned for incorporating one of the largest casinos in the world, as well as three hotels, luxury shopping facilities, several nightclubs, a cinema, various restaurants and two spas, including the five-star Crown Spas.

The brief for the new audio system required the routing

UK - The partnership of Capital Sound and their Martin Audio MLA systems - both the full size and compact multi-cellular versions - are asserting themselves increasingly in the dance sector as the new festival season kicks in.

With top accounts ranging from Deadmau5 to Fatboy Slim already in their portfolio, the London based production/rental company was tasked with delivering sound for two growing, if quirky DJ events on the same May Bank Holiday weekend recently. We Are FSTVL in Upminster, Essex, and Run to the Sun at Newquay in Cornwall tested the mettle of their premium and award-winning Martin Audio PA systems - and once again they came through with flying colours.

Both also occupied challenging sites where sound containment was of paramount importance. We are FSTVL dance promoters Reece Miller, Nikki Gordon and David Winney, fired by the success of 2013's one-day event (

UK - For 10 years Sky has been sponsoring young people in schools by providing mentors from the top people in sport. Sky Sports Living for Sport is one of Sky's Bigger Picture initiatives. One of the new shows that has stemmed from this is Game Changers, a new sports show for kids, packed with a range of ideas and activities to help young people get involved in anything from athletics to zumba.

The show, which is filmed live, includes appearances from celebrity guests and athletes from all sorts of different sports, alongside fun tips and master classes from superstars.

Last week the show had its very own Awards, presenting winners of categories such as Student of the Year. Richard Martin Lighting (RML) provided Sky and the team with the lights for the event.

When LD Richard Bowles heard that we had recently taken stock of the Clay Paky A.Leda B-EYE K20, he jumped at

South Africa - All you need is Robe! This was the case for the Chinese Taikang Conference held on 23 April, where the Edwardian arches and high ceilings of the City Hall in Cape Town were lit in green by Robin DLX and DLS fixtures. The technical was supplied by CCPP and the show run on a grandMA2 Ultra Light.

Cape Town based CCPP Group) were the technical supplier for the Taikang Conference, an event attended by some 830 Chinese speaking delegates.

CCPP's founder, Clint Cawood, is all about getting the job done right. For this event, one of the client's requirements was creating an environmentally friendly or green event. This is right in line with how CCPP likes to operate.

He purchased 12 Robe Robin DLX fixtures, four Robe Robin DLS's and one grandMA2 Ultra Light from Bradley Bruchhausen who represents DWR Distribution in Cape Town.

"The end result spoke for itself,

The Netherlands - Wireless Solution Sweden AB's award-winning W-DMX was once again centre stage at one of the world's most popular holidays. Easter is undoubtedly a huge event in many parts of the world but The Netherlands did it justly with the 2014 production of The Passion.

The Passion is a musical play that tells the paasverhaal (Easter tale) in a new way, even revolutionary some say. This year, the third Passion was held in the major northern city of the Netherlands, Groningen. The big stage was at the Vismarkt, a square in the heart of town. Dutch actors play Jesus and his twelve disciples and the other important roles in the story.

Thousands of people attended the event, while a 6m long white, neon cross was carried from the soccer stadium of FC Groningen all the way to the square.

PRG EML Productions in Utrecht handled the lighting for the projec

UK - Nottingham Trent University's new Brackenhurst Campus Library, which supports study in animal, rural and environmental sciences was completed in August 2013 at a cost of £2.75m. This eco-friendly building was purpose-built to offer an exciting environment for learning and is richly resourced to achieve its goal. Part of the Brackenhurst facility is a soft-seated social area with an impressive media wall and it was into this area that POLARaudio and installers Roche Audio Visual, was invited to assist.

As one might expect, the media wall offers a variety of audio-visual content but its situation within the library precipitated a potential problem in the form of unwanted sound disturbing the surrounding areas. Traditional quiet study areas in libraries are sacrosanct but in any modern learning environment a media wall is considered a vital resource and so it was imperat

UK - Over 1000 visitors and industry experts attended the 2014 Rose Bruford College Graduate Exhibition and New Writing Season at the prestigious Bargehouse on London's South Bank from the 5-8 June.

The exhibition included work by over 100 upcoming graduates from the Sidcup based college's School of Design Management and Theatre Arts (DMTA), including; Costume Production, Creative Lighting Control, Lighting Design, Performance Sound, Scenic Arts, Theatre Design and Stage Management.

In addition to the Graduate Exhibition, students from the Acting and Actor Musicianship programmes collaborated with the School of DMTA to present the college's 'New Writing Season' with three new plays and productions; The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe , Perfect Boy by Lawrence Till (adapted from Frank Wedekind's Lulu) and The Litter by Matthew Dunster.<

Canada - HHB Communications Canada has announced its appointment as the full line product distributor for Merging Technologies in Canada. This appointment is effective 1 July, 2014. HHB Canada has established an excellent reputation for systems integration and sales as well as technical support and after sales service. The company is a significant supplier to the music, broadcast, post production and production markets in Canada.

Commenting on the appointment, Chris Hollebone, Merging's distribution sales manager stated, "HHB presents an excellent mix of direct sales and systems integration combined with a strong dealer network across Canada. The company has a good mix of brands that support rather than conflict with our own and has demonstrated that it has an excellent marketing plan. Merging products have been selling well in North America and we believe that HHB will acc

South Africa - Pretoria-based Benjamin Pro Audio has been named as the new distributor for Audient's compact product range, concentrating on the USB interface, iD22 and the 8-channel mic pre and ADC, ASP880.

CEO Jacob van der Westhuizen is definitely a fan of the British-made boxes. "The Audient units are amazing. The iD22 is an extremely affordable, stable and fantastic sounding unit, as is the ASP880," he says. "Audient makes high end converters and preamps (which equals a high end sound) available to our clients that always thought it was out of their league! Truly a step above any unit even remotely around that price range."

"The Audient brand joins an impressive line-up of products distributed by Benjamin Pro Audio," says Audient's sales & marketing director Luke Baldry. "Jacob van der Westhuizen and his team have shown great enthusiasm

South Africa - South African equipment rental and technical support house Kilowatt AV recently invested in the Avolites Ai Media Server EX series to power the country's first-ever choreographed 3D video-mapping experience.

The event, for global car manufacturer Nissan, integrated live dance with 3D virtual mapping technology to create a show that demonstrated the blurring of lines between human and virtual arts.

"Our scenic team designed a 24m wide 3D stage set that required the Ai Media Server to power three 14K HD Christie Projectors, which covered the area," explains Dillon Jearey, chief executive officer for Kilowatt AV. "The biggest challenge for us was that the deadline between content load-in and show production was incredibly tight. Thankfully, the Ai proved itself to be extremely versatile and reliable, handling the fast-tracked programming schedule wit

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