USA - Elation Professional's new EPT6IP high-resolution LED display panels played a key role at NY CityFest with Luis Palau, a free outdoor concert held 11 July on the Great Lawn in New York's Central Park. Boston-based rental and production company Audio Spectrum Inc. provided all of the LED video screens and staging for the event, some 280 EPT6IP panels in all, some of which were sub-rented from Elation dealer Gemini Light, Sound & Video. Lighting design for the event was by Gordon Painter and Kevin Shaw.

The Elation EPT6IP panels were used for large stage wing portrait walls on each side of the stage, as well as on delay towers, to show live video and graphics throughout the show. Each wing was eight panels wide and 14 panels tall (16' wide x 30' high) with each delay tower seven panels wide and four panels tall (15' wide x 9' high).

"There were approximately 60,000 at

UK - White Light provided the production support on the Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of An Icon evening held at the National Portrait Gallery in Central London.

Taking place on 21 July, the evening allowed invited guests an exclusive viewing of the popular summer exhibition Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of An Icon. With support from the Audrey Hepburn Estate, this fascinating series of photos illustrates the life of actress and fashion icon Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993). Prior to the showing, there was an innovative drinks and canapé menu held by Table Talks; with the evening also allowing the gallery to both utilise and showcase their unique spaces.

Madolyn Grove, senior events manager at the National Portrait Gallery, comments, "This was a fantastic evening for the gallery. Not only did it allow us to invite key contacts to privately view the exhibition, but

USA - A popular choice for conventions and exhibitions with nearly 190,000sq.ft of space, Wisconsin Centre in Milwaukee remains one of the state's most popular destinations for large-scale business gatherings. But times and technologies change, and in recent years there had been a growing recognition that the original audio processing infrastructure was approaching the end of its natural lifespan.

The need to prevent potentially costly downtime due to equipment failure was the final prompt for venue owner and operator Wisconsin CentreDistrict (WCD) to enlist locally-based Metro Sound & Video to specify and install a replacement for the existing DSP and paging set-up, as well as some ageing amplifiers and mixers. "Both WCD and we felt that it would be best to replace the entire system head-end now as opposed to when disaster strikes," says Metro Sound & Video director o

USA - More than 150,000 people turned out for what the city of Nashville hailed as the largest Fourth of July firework show in the country. Bandit Lites provided the lighting for Music City July 4th: Let Freedom Sing! where Martina McBride, Missy Ekko and the Nashville Symphony Orchestra performed.

Since the design process began long before the headliners were announced, lighting designer Chris Lisle knew to keep the look 'fixture neutral' while still keeping in mind the needs of the orchestra. "I try to lay out the rig in a way where the headliner will be able to come in and make something happen with a mixture of spot, wash, and beam fixtures," said Lisle.

The design this year consisted of six 'fingers' running upstage to downstage with alternating spot and wash fixtures on each of them. Additionally, several VersaTube frames had Sharpys above them to give h

UK - Bristol-based lighting and video rental specialist Fineline enjoyed another Sessions season at the Eden Project in Cornwall, providing production lighting, LED screen, trussing and rigging for the 2015 Eden Sessions - seven high profile concerts with a diverse line up including Elton John (two shows), Paolo Nutini, Paloma Faith, Motorhead, The Stranglers, Spandau Ballet and Ben Howard.

The Fineline team led by Rob Sangwell, were delighted to be back at this very special location for the third consecutive year, and once again worked closely with the Sessions events' production manager Andy Cotton and his team from TAO Productions.

Using the Eden Project's eye-catching crescent shaped tensile structure as a roof for the stage, Fineline made some additional modifications to the ingenious hybrid part-flown-part-ground-supported system they have developed to facilitate the 17m

Belgium - As part of the 2015 UNESCO International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015), a cornucopia of educational events and installations are taking place around the world in a bid to raise global awareness about how light-based technologies promote sustainable development in energy, education, agriculture and health. Discover the Power of Light - a co-production with B-Phot, the photonics research group of the Vrije Universiteit of Brussels (VUB) - is one such event currently taking place in Brussels, Belgium with the aim of educating and entertaining international crowds of all ages.

Tasked with illuminating the experiential installation, Belgian install specialists Soundfield selected 12 Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Washes to enrich the visual experience of the exhibition, involving an immersive 270° projection installation with video created

USA / Denmark - Harman International, owner of Martin Professional, has announced its intention to relocate Martin's lighting production facility, currently in Frederikshavn, Denmark, to Hungary. Martin's smoke machine factory in the UK would not be affected by the relocation.

Opened in 2002, Martin's Frederikshavn facility was known throughout the industry as Martin's 'Happy Factory' - a sophisticated model of the ultra-efficient, intelligent, automated, staff-friendly industrial operation.

Lars Dige Knudsen, VP and general manager of Martin, says: "It has been some very tough considerations given Martin's history in this community and the goodwill we have enjoyed with our outstanding employees. Still, it was a necessary one to improve our leading position in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Importantly, the Martin Headquarters will remain in Aarhus and will beco

UK - "The DiGiCo SD7 has been my companion for the last 18 months and I wouldn't change it for anything," says Chris Marsh, Front of House engineer for Ed Sheeran.

A pretty strong statement, but with Ed just completing a short, but hugely successful, run of gigs at London's Wembley Stadium and Croke Park in Dublin, selling out every date and playing to a total audience of over 400,000, Chris had to be sure he was working with the best tools for the job. For him, an essential element is his SD7.

Chris has been a DiGiCo advocate for many years, but the SD7, used in conjunction with an SD-Mini Rack on stage, is now his favourite. "The pre amps are incredibly natural, they really sound musical," he says. "There's so much you can do with Dynamic EQ and Compression; the need for additional outboard is negated by the power within the console itself. As long a

USA / UK - To combat theft, an epidemic that annually costs the motion picture/television industry millions, PLASA has introduced Rental Guard, an enhanced alert system and missing equipment database consisting of three distinct tools.

The Rental Guard Database and Notification Module allows anyone to report stolen equipment and receive notifications of recent thefts at no charge. Companies or individuals buying, selling or servicing equipment can quickly check serial numbers to determine if equipment has been reported missing or stolen.

New customer Inquiries allow PLASA members to solicit information about potential customers from PLASA's international membership to help determine credit worthiness or legitimacy. The Questionable Customer Alert notifies recipients when a PLASA member suspects that a potential customer may not be a legitimate renter. Use of the New Customer I

Korea - Korea's high-profile World DJ Festival is another stellar live event making good use of Nexo's STM Series modular line array systems. The annual EDM festival is held in the Song-Am sports complex stadium in Chuncheon City, and this year was headlined by French DJ Justice.

Now one of the biggest outdoor events in Asia, the festival lasts two days, running until 4am with a capacity of 90,000 EDM fans. The event was previously held in Yang-Pyeong, but moved to Song-Am stadium in the famous nature and leisure resort of Gangwon province for the first time.

Rental company Way Audio is the regular audio service provider for the World DJ festival, and once again chose to deploy a large Nexo STM Series PA, using main arrays of 18 x STM M46 mains and 18 x STM B112 bass cabinets per side, together with 16 x S118 subbass flown behind each main array.

Spectacular stage monitoring

USA - Los Angeles based Felix Lighting invested in 60 of Robe's BMFL moving lights - 48 BMFL Spots and 12 BMFL Blades - for their busy rental stock.

The fixtures were immediately deployed on the kineticFIELD main stage at the 2015 Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) in Las Vegas, and at the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara for the West Coast leg of the Grateful Dead's landmark Fare Thee Well shows.

Felix, established in 1991 when president, Dave McKinnon was still studying at San Diego State University, supplies full service lighting and video production to a diverse mix of high profile festivals, concerts, as well as corporates and special events.

The BMFL purchase follows investments in Robe Pointes and CycFX 8 fixtures in the last 18 months. "We needed a bright fixture to meet the top specs out there," commented Dave adding that BMFLs are "very bright, very f

Indonesia - Befitting a country that has the largest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia is home to an extensive network of mosques both old and new. In one of the latest additions to the country's worship community, the Masjid Raya Pontianak mosque in Pontianak, west of Kalimantan, was officially opened by President Joko Widodo in January 2015 - and among its many features is an impressively high-end audio installation.

Jakarta-based AV supplier and installer PT Gracia Auvindo was enlisted to ensure that prayers and meetings in the new facility could be heard as clearly as possible. As a long-term Symetrix system user, PT Gracia Auvindo director Adi Widjaya was aware that one of their DSPs would provide the simple yet robust audio processing and distribution required throughout the 3,600sq.m site.

"We created a four-zone section in the salat (prayer) area as well a

USA - Bandit Lites is providing the lighting for rising country star, Tyler Farr on his summer tour. The Missouri-native is out promoting his sophomore album, Suffer in Peace, in between touring with friend and fellow Bandit client, Jason Aldean.

Lighting director Larry Foote utilized Bandit's GRNWashes, GLP X4S's, Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes and a Grand MA Command wing to light the 'Redneck Crazy' singer. "With this being a smaller rig, I try to get the most out of every light," said Foote. "I use the X4S in the extended mode and mostly have them zoomed all the way in, unless I'm using them for solos/ wash moments. The zoom range is great for this fixture, especially with using the single center LED you can get some cool effects.

"The Atomic 3000 is one of my favourite fixtures of all time. It is just a great strobe and I use them a lot as crowd blin

UK - Manchester based lighting and visual specialists dbn, working for two of their regular clients - the Warehouse Project (WHP) and the biennial Manchester International festival (MIF) - supplied lighting and visuals to 10x10 Day & Night, two special nights energised with 12 hours of non-stop pumping music, top DJs and live music plus the very best dance vibes to mark 10 years in the city for both MIF and WHP!

Staged in the historic Mayfield Depot, a charismatic 'found space' and site of the former Manchester Mayfield railway station, active as a passenger terminal from 1910 to the 1960s after which it became a warehouse and parcels depot. Since the 1980s it's been completely closed and derelict - until resurrection as an entertainment venue for the 2013 MIF.

WHP - whose regular venue is just the other side of the railway tracks in a car park beneath Piccadilly Station - too

UK - As the summer season of massive shows and festivals progresses with audiences treated to the spectacle of hugely complex lighting rigs packed full of the latest in moving light technology, it is easy to forget the less sexy, less eye-catching fixtures that simply do a job and do it brilliantly.

Step up the Clay Paky GlowUp. A deceivingly simple design of 4 x 10w LEDs that functions equally well, whatever the chosen orientation is powered by a built-in lightweight lithium battery that can absorb 2000 charge cycles without loss of capacity.

Ambersphere Solutions have recently supplied a large number of units to Blitz Communications, thereby doubling their previous stock level. Andy Mahaffey, head of lighting at Blitz, explains the rationale, "From almost the first moment we stocked the GlowUps it became apparent that we needed to purchase more as our existing stock was

UK - On 25 July 2015, the Tate Modern in London hosted a very special one day event in their Turbine Hall.

As part of the Turbine Festival 2015, video designer, Icarus Wilson-Wright, was asked to transform the Turbine Hall with a new look for the event. To support this, he asked d3 Technologies, XL Video, and Barco to assist in realising the project.

One of the most striking features of the Turbine Hall is its height - 35m at its tallest - and in order to create a new look for the event, Wilson-Wright aimed to change the shape of the room.

Using dozens of fire-retardant paper strips, up to 25m in length, rigged from near the hall's glass roof light, Wilson-Wright filled the ceiling space with a combination of coloured lighting and subtle projection which changed throughout the day.

In total 10,000m of paper strips were used to change the look and feel of the room. Two Barc

UK - Interest surrounding Avolites' newest lighting console, the live control focused Arena, has been gathering momentum after a number of festival appearances, including at Somerset House's Summer Series for acts including Angus & Julia Stone.

Set in the noted London landmark, Summer Series featured a diverse and impressive line-up of headline artists alongside hotly tipped emerging acts. As house desk for the 11-day series of performances, Arena was used by the likes of folk duo Angus & Julia Stone LD Toby Hoggarth, while George Ezra, lit by John Barker, also employed an Avolites set-up.

The Arena combines the popular interface of the Tiger Touch II with more live control than ever before.

Alongside its vibrant main display, Arena's second touch screen provides an additional workspace window, also labelling the adjacent macro buttons and rotary pots. These fully assignable

UK - For Harvey von Strode, feline-in-chief at Somerset's Strode Theatre, "the impawtence of high quality sound is impussible to overestimate". So the installation of a new Yamaha and Nexo audio system has been a real claws for celebration.

Opened in 1963 and funded by the Clark Foundation, the 343 seat theatre and cinema is a part of Strode College at Street, near Glastonbury. Acting both as a key community and educational resource, the theatre promotes a mixed programme of live professional and amateur stage productions, as well as mainstream and arthouse films alongside live and recorded transmissions of opera, ballet and theatre.

As a senior member of staff, Harvey was on hand while Dominic Sandford - the theatre's technician and projectionist - explained how the new audio system came to be installed.

"The theatre's audio system needed completely updating,

UK - White Light has recently invested in two new pieces of equipment that reflect the company's recent expansion as well as further cement its reputation as a leading production supplier: the Martin MAC Aura XB and the Prolyte S36PRA truss.

Dave Isherwood, White Light's hire and technical director, comments, "It's fantastic that we are able to invest in such ground-breaking equipment. As we continue to work on highly technical and innovative projects, we need the resources which can help make these a reality. Both the Martin MAC Aura XB and Prolyte S36PRA truss reflect the high standards which the company implements and we can now use them on various projects to ensure that each one achieves its maximum potential."

The Martin MAC Aura XB has already been used on several events in which White Light has provided the lighting support. Whether this was the recent Glamou

Italy - Genelec has appointed PRASE as its Italian distributor for AV-Install and home audio products. MidiWare will continue to distribute Genelec's professional line of products.

Located in Noventa di Piave near to Venice, PRASE has been operating for more than 20 years as an AV distributor.The firm constantly updates the professional training of its technical staff, allowing them to transfer their knowledge to the market, ensuring added value for its customers.

Jarmo Masko, international sales manager for Genelec said, "This company is full of energy, with an enthusiastic team lead by the Prase brothers, Alberto and Ennio. They have highly skilled personnel as well as their own R&D in order to match the future needs of skills to maintain various applications and systems, from railway stations to home theatres. We believe they have the dedication and enthusiasm required

Germany - Since premiering with a flourish of sequins and feathers in Sydney back in April 2014, Strictly Ballroom the Musical has been touring Australia, currently residing at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne.

The musical is produced by the original creative team behind the classic 1992 film, including director and co-writer, Baz Luhrmann and set and costume designer, Catherine Martin.

Lighting designer for the production is Hugh Vanstone who was keen to specify the GLP impression X4 into the show, describing them as "tremendously useful" and declaring himself to be a big fan. Consequently there are 19 impression X4 fixtures in the lighting design, primarily rigged low. Some act as footlights, some are in low FOH box boom/ashtray positions and some are on the tops of each of the roving booms used throughout the show.

The impression X4 is principally used fo

UK - Pro audio and acoustics consultancy NoiseBoys Technologies, based in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, have set sail to Norway with Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, after installing a new sound and lighting system in the show lounge on board its flagship, Balmoral. They have also provided full training and support to the technical team on board.

Whilst on board, NoiseBoys also assisted with an event that made history for the cruise line when, on 28th July 2015, all four ships owned by Fred. Olsen - the Balmoral, Braemar, Black Watch and Boudicca - united in the port of Bergen on the same day. This was the first time ever that the whole Fred. Olsen fleet has come together, and NoiseBoys were on hand to advise and arrange power distribution for the celebrations and activities taking place on the quayside that day.

NoiseBoys won the contract to supply and install the new lighting and so

UK - Building on a longstanding relationship with Clarion Events, Arena has been awarded a further three years providing temporary structures to the Home and Gift Fair held in Harrogate.

The event, held annually in July, has long since outgrown the extensive facilities provided by the Harrogate International Centre, and this year Arena delivered 6,000sq.m of infrastructure in the grounds of the adjacent Majestic Hotel.

Arena installed four structures this year and to maximise the site footprint one area was supplied with a double deck facility. This created additional space and improved visitor experience by offering guests more undercover catering facilities. Arena Structures also managed all the power and climate control systems inside the temporary venues and the sub-structure bases on this undulating site.

Simon Marsh, Arena Structures' account director commented, "

Europe - Rock band, Ash is currently on tour supporting the release of their latest album, Kablammo! with Allen & Heath's ultra-compact Qu-Pac digital mixer managing monitor sound.

For some time, the band had been considering the need to replace the old analogue mixer and the existing multi-track recorder.

"I told Tim the singer about the Qu-Pac mixer and that it did playback too, and he said it was a no brainer," says FOH engineer, Alan 'Hagos' Haggarty.

"Before this tour we were using an analogue mixer running a multitrack recorder for playback, all of which required a monster rack. Qu is basically doing the job of three different bits of kit as Tim also had a compressor in the old rack for his vocals but that's no longer needed either," explains Ash's drummer and monitor engineer, Rick McMurray. "Now that we have Qu-Pac, we can fit our in-e

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