UK - Aurora Lighting Hire has returned to the studio with award winning lighting director Chris Rigby for the new series of Alan Carr Chatty Man.

Recorded in front of a live audience at the ITV London Studios, Chris has used a variety of light sources across the stage to compliment the stylishly decadent set. Versatility is key throughout the installation, with proceedings staying clear and bright in Alan's sofa area, whilst the audience also remain illuminated. Additionally, a 'rock and roll' approach has been taken to lighting up the weekly musical performances.

To help keep things looking suitably glamorous, Aurora supplied an extensive LED package which has been integrated throughout the interview area. Pulsar Chromabatten 300 and Chromastrip X3s have also been incorporated to light up the set pieces, with Martin Aura Wash units hung overhead to provide additional w

Spain - The prestigious CERES Awards Ceremony takes place each year in the stunning Roman Theatre of Mérida in Spain - a 2000 year old Roman venue still being used for live theatre productions.

Roland ProAV products have been supporting the event for the past three years but this year was the first time that a full Roland setup was specified with the new M-5000C controlling the monitors and the M-5000 at the heart as the FOH console. The Mérida Theatre has been home to the Festival de Mérida (Festival of Classical Theatre of Mérida) since 1933, the oldest of its kind celebrated in Spain. For the fourth year the CERES Award Ceremony took place at Mérida at the end of the run of ten summer productions at the theatre with the awards presented to those involved.

Mixing the live theatre production, broadcasting live for Spanish television and mixi

South Africa - A theatrical performance of song and dance infused with African emotion and humour, made Elixir the Musical an absolute delight. The show opened in Mamelodi Community Hall on 19 August, to a large audience who experienced musical theatre in their own community hall.

The official opening was at the Breytenbach Theatre in Sunnyside on the 26 August and formed part of Tshwane University of Technology's Hello Community Theatre Arts Festival, sponsored by City of Tshwane, National Arts Council, Breytenbach Theatre, Blond Productions, MJ Event Gear, Blackmotion, DWR Distribution, Production Projects and 93.6 Tshwane FM.

TUT's Breytenbach Theatre in-house lighting equipment was utilised for the performance and included nine Robe Robin 600LEDWash, two Robe ColorSpot 250, 22 Longman LED PARs, Philips Selecon Pacific Followspot, six Philips Selecon SPX Profiles. Th

Ghana - Lincoln Community School in the Ghanaian capital of Accra has taken delivery of a new dot2 core console, which will be used to control LED lighting in their multi-purpose hall, which is utilised for various sporting activities as well as to stage productions and general events.

Lincoln's high school drama and film studies teacher Iain Cowieson was searching for a company to deliver and install a new lighting system for the hall, and discovered DWR Distribution, MA Lighting's South African distributor, based in Johannesburg, on the internet. DWR technical African sales representative Johnny Scholtz just happened to be in Accra working on another project when the office received the call, so was able to visit immediately and access the situation.

He met Iain and the school's chief procurement officer Anthony Quainoo, who discussed their needs and invited him to propose a

UK - Bristol-based technical solutions company Fineline provided lighting for four main music performance areas at the 2015 Somersault festival, a five day extravaganza of music, fun, food, discussion, debate and outdoor adventure located amidst the heart of South West England, in the picturesque environs of Castle Hill country estate near the north Devon coastline.

It was the second year that Fineline has been involved as a production supplier, following their very successful introduction to the event last year via Andy Cotton of TAO Productions. This year, the scope of their work was lighting the Main Stage, The Communion Stage, the Forrest Party non-stop dance experience and the Bandstand.

The Main Stage was 15m wide and housed in a tensile structure with no room to build a ground support system, so a grid had to be constructed between a triangular structure upstage and a b

UK - TSG Policing's first major contract saw the company play a pivotal part in keeping the 600-acre, 200,000 capacity Great Dorset Steam Fair safe this month.

Brought in by the event's operations director, Julian Hubbuck, late in the planning process, TSG built a fast, fluid relationship with Dorset Police. The company's skill set, developed by a former senior training officer for the Met, clearly distinguished its role from conventional show security.

Over the Steam Fair's five days, TSG worked on a number of operations with the local force, cutting the event's impact on core policing off-site and serving as a testament to its capacity to deliver a viable, cost-efficient policing alternative.

Julian Hubbuck comments, "I was looking for enhanced response cover and TSG provided a very competent, highly trained solution."

TSG director, David Boswell, says, "M

Italy - Since its debut edition in 1997, Brescia Summer Festival has hosted artists of the calibre of David Bowie, Joe Cocker, Elton John, Bob Dylan and Neil Young. This year's headliners at the event, staged in Piazza della Loggia, the Italian city's picturesque Renaissance square, were Billy Idol, Van Morrison and Anastacia, in Italy on a leg of her Resurrection World Tour.

As all the other artists on the programme, the Chicago-born singer, with her unmistakable raunchy voice, used an Outline sound system, put at her disposal by local rental firm Cipiesse, founded in 1979.

Festival audio chief Giancarlo Paladini, explains, "The PA was made up of nine Outline GTO C-12 modules per side plus three Outline Mantas on down-fill chores for the front rows of seats, which were close to the stage. We used eight DBS 18-2 subs per side, and four LIPF 082 on front-fill duty.

"

Albania - After an extensive refurbishment, Folie Terrace, the largest nightclub in Albania by capacity, has reopened with several new features including a retractable roof and a new lighting, video and audio solution provided by Harman Professional. Developed and Installed by Albanian Harman distributor, Prosound, the refurbishment comprises of a brand new interior, including over 5,150 lighting and video components from Martin Professional and a complete sound system from JBL Professional.

With a capacity of 1,500 people, Folie Terrace is one of the largest and most popular nightclub/live music venues in the Albanian capital city of Tirana. One of the club's special features is a retractable roof, which can convert the club into an open space or close it off to contain the noise levels to adhere to downtown Tirana's strict noise ordinances. In early 2015, Prosound was contacte

South Africa - Wired Media is a Durban, South Africa based AV rental and production company focussed on bringing the very best production values to a range of corporate events and presentations.

The company was founded 10 years ago by Clint Stevenson, who originally concentrated on audio and AV. As it became successful and busy, Clint realised that a key to maintaining this was to offer his clients a full package including lighting, and so started looking at purchasing some specific elements of lighting.

Wired Media has most recently invested in Robe's Pointes, miniPointes and MiniMe fixtures - all supplied by SA distributor DWR.

The four Pointes were the first Robe purchase, shortly after the unit was launched in 2013. These proved a great hit with everyone, so he followed up buying the four miniPointes and two MiniMes this year.

The miniPointe is a favourite already. 'It

The Netherlands - Pro Media Connect has been appointed by British pro audio manufacturer, Audient as exclusive distribution partner for the Benelux markets. The company will manage all sales, service and marketing for Audient's full product range of mixing consoles, audio interfaces and preamps - with immediate effect.

Leon Padmos heads up the newly created distribution company. He explains, "The people behind Pro Media Connect are well known as successful sales and marketers in the pro audio business. This team was instrumental in the growth of Audient's business in the past and looks forward to continuing on this upward trajectory. In order to be a successful sales team, we need to have outstanding products and with Audient, we see great products with huge potential for the future."

Audient's Simon Blackwood adds, "The last 18 months have seen our business gro

Canada - Community has announced the appointment of CM Tech Group as its sales representative for Canada beginning 1 October.

CM Tech Group is a professional collaborative of three well respected Canadian independent manufactures' representatives: Connect West Marketing, covering Western Canada, BG Media Solutions Inc. for Central Canada and MM Technologie, for support of Eastern Canada. With this combination, CM Tech Group provides national coverage for a uniform line card of well-respected professional AV brands across all Canadian provinces.

"CM Tech is extremely pleased to represent Community, a brand with an outstanding reputation for innovation and quality," said Bryan Guidolin of CM Tech Group. "While Community has already enjoyed considerable success in Canada, we believe there remains tremendous potential, particularly in large or acoustically challengi

Italy - Allen & Heath has devised a new distribution strategy in Italy, recruiting Exhibo S.p.A. to manage the brand's installation, touring, rental and broadcast sales portfolio, and enabling existing partner, EKO Music Group, to focus on growth in the MI and retail sector.

"Allen & Heath's product portfolio is renowned for being diverse, covering the whole spectrum of audio mixers from pro touring to home studio and DJ. The strategic decision to split representation into two channels will enable our partner companies to expand the brand's reach in the specialist areas where they excel, and service our customers comprehensively," comments Allen & Heath's area European business development manager, Fred Cresson.

Based in Milan, Exhibo will offer a selected range of products such as dLive, GLD and Qu to professional users, while EKO, renowned specialists in MI, will b

UK - The London Club and Bar Awards, an event celebrating the city's nightlife industry, featured an array of fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Now in its twenty-second year, the awards recognise the biggest achievements by members of the club and nightlife industry within the past twelve months, awarding gongs in 13 categories, including Best Club, Best Bar and Best Party. Having supplied the event for several years previously, London-based Halo was once again tasked with supplying this year's event, which took place at the Intercontinental Hotel. Halo called upon their extensive roster of Chauvet fixtures to create a show worthy of its legacy.

In order to create that classic showbiz look for the event, Halo owner and LD for the awards Yann Guenancia embraced an assortment of Chauvet Professional fixtures, including 10 Legend 330SR Spots, eight Legend 412 moving washes, nin

USA - The summer of festivals continues for Bandit Lites with LouFest, St. Louis's two day music festival. With record breaking attendance of 25,000 both days, and a line-up that included Hozier, The Avett Brothers, Ludacris, Young the Giant, Umphrey's McGee and Billy Idol, LouFest continued its rise as one of the can't miss weekends in live music.

Bandit Lites worked with design firm 3SRcreative to provide the festival lighting for all four stages including the main stage which consisted of a Tyler Truss rig containing VL 3000 Spots, VL 3500 Spots, VL 3500 Washes, Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes, Thomas 8 Lite Moles and Clay Paky Sharpys in groups of four.

"The Clay Paky Sharpy groups served as intelligent ACL bars in a way, but provided great eyecandy with their tight beam and high illumination output," said Carter Harris, one of Bandit's crew chiefs at LouFest.

For t

UK - Arcadia's awesome new immersive spectacular Metamorphosis came alive in a city centre setting for the first time last weekend in Queen Square Bristol, where together with the Lords of Lightening and an array of breath-taking aerial stunts the 30 minute mixed-media show united the energies and experimental spirit of rave and physical theatre with some impressive technical wizardry.

London based lighting and visuals rental company Colour Sound Experiment renewed their excellent working relationship with Arcadia, providing lighting for the 12m high three-legged spider built out of industrial scrap metal. This invigorating project was co-ordinated for Colour Sound by Haydn Cruickshank (H) and Arcadia's technical production manager, Tim Smith, with Stu Barr looking after all the Colour Sound elements on site, working alongside four Arcadia technicians.

Says H: "We

UK - Hit BBC show Mrs Brown's Boys has spent much of 2015 on a major UK and Ireland arena tour, with residencies in 12 cities. Although the roots of Brendan O'Carroll's sitcom lay in a theatre production as far back as 1999, the size of venues on the current tour has meant that production company Adlib has had to deploy a major Coda Audio system.

Taking in arenas in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Dublin, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield, the How Now Mrs Brown Cow tour is running from March through to December. Adlib has been working with O'Carroll and his team for many years and has used Coda systems on previous tours, so they knew it was the right choice for the current shows.

The entire production is tailor-made to suit each arena, ensuring that audiences always enjoy the optimum performance. Because of this, the

USA - They say you can find anything you want in Las Vegas. Adventure Combat Ops, one of the city's newest attractions, falls into that category. Located in a 77,000sq.ft former warehouse just off the famed Strip, this venue serves up a two-hour adrenaline rush of non-stop action by enlisting customers to battle an invading army of zombies in a realistic urban warfare setting.

The experience is, as its promotional literature proclaims, a "full sensory immersion". A big part of that immersive sensation is created by an army of LED fixtures from Chauvet Professional, deftly deployed by Steve Hansel of XS Entertainment LLC.

Hansel has installed eight Strike 882 high-output blinders, three Amhaze II water-based haze machines, four Atmos voluminous fog machines and eight Vesuvio RGBA water based foggers with LED lights throughout the sprawling urban battle zone that makes

USA - Dedicated to the celebration and preservation of American motorsports, World of Speed in Wilsonville, OR, is an educational museum featuring 53,000sq.ft of historic race cars, racing boats and motorcycles that tell the story of America's motorsports culture.

The museum's many exhibits and hands-on educational programs make good use of modern AV technology. Four 80-inch video screens with racing videos and music greet visitors at the museum entrance. A 150ft by 30ft video wall, entitled Zero to 1000 MPH, presents an exciting AV history of the world land speed records set at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

A Wall of Sound display, featuring classic guitars and vintage phonograph equipment, recalls the rock music songs that accompanied 1960s 'muscle cars'.

Delta AV of Gresham, Oregon designed and installed World of Speed's AV systems. Delta's Dave Garlett says th

Spain - A three day festival divided into distinct Day and Night programmes, Sónar features much electronic and experimental music, alongside more contemporary offerings from the likes of Duran Duran and the Chemical Brothers, or the current vogue for EDM artists such as Skrillex and DJ Fresh.

The fact that Sónar Day's main stage plays within the confines of what appears to be a fortress, surrounded as it is by high walls, presents a distinct challenge for Barcelona based sound provider Tour Serveis.

"This was why the moment we realized the potential of d&b's new ArrayProcessing tool we wanted to use it here," said system technician Josan Bravo. The technical director of the festival Pedri González supported Bravo's enthusiasm, "The location for our festival is ideal for a city venue in terms of infrastructure, transport, and public comfort and safety, but th

UK - Capital Sound's big weekend at Hyde Park, which traditionally brings the curtain down on the festival season, saw Proms In the Park link up live with the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, while similar events took place in Belfast, Swansea and Glasgow.

The sound company has now become accustomed to rigging its flagship Martin Audio MLA at the London site, mitigating its historic problems with offsite noise escape; working for promoters Festival Republic for the second year they were probably anticipating an easy ride following the successful system induction in 2014.

But 48 hours before the event the BBC decided to install two 'interview' tepees in the Guest Hospitality enclosure - a stone's throw from the right PA hangs and out-fills - and requested the sound to be steered away from this area in order that artist interviews between acts could go live to a

South Korea - The economy in South Korea is growing and so is the demand for entertainment technologies. In response, The Laserworld Group has opened an office there. Based in Daejeon in the centre of South Korea, Laserworld Korea handles sales in the area as well as providing local show laser light services.

"Especially high quality, high power show laser light systems of European manufacturing are in demand" says Peter Jeong, managing director of Laserworld Korea. "We definitely know of the demand for quality products in our country and thus see great potential for products of the Laserworld Group of any product series."

(Jim Evan)

UK - Singer songwriter Charli XCX has publically stated that she experiences sound-to-colour synaesthesia and 'sees' music in colours - so it was not a complete surprise to show designer Rob Sinclair and lighting designer Greg Hill when she requested coloured smoke for her current tour. Prominent smoke is also in tune with the 'horror prom' theme of the current live show.

Rob immediately knew the solution - Robe Cyclones - having used them very successfully on the Kaiser Chiefs' tour last year.

Greg, who is out on the road LD'ing the tour, has been working with the innovative and interesting Charli XCX since 2014, and Rob came on board in early 2015 as show designer. Some elements of the show look were already in place, including a set of false scenic Orange amps which are up-lit very effectively with LEDs, so Rob then chose lighting fixtures and positions to evolve the aesthe

UK - Sound for art, entertainment and emergency purposes will be the focus of this year's Reproduced Sound conference. Entitled Playing with Fire: sound for art, entertainment and emergency purposes, it will be held at the Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire from 10-12 November.

Keith Holland, RS chairman, said, "The programme includes a wide variety of interesting papers, from practitioners, consultants and academics, along with a number of workshops and demos.

"We are particularly delighted to welcome Siegfried Linkwitz to the conference to receive the Peter Barnett Award, and look forward to the return of John Watkinson who is speaking after the conference dinner. The papers cover many aspects of sound reinforcement, PAVA systems, sound quality, measurement, modelling and cinema sound and there will be an 'Anti-Workshop' on cautionary ta

UK - PLASA has announced the first of its nominees for the 2015 Awards for Innovation, which recognise and reward new product ideas. Nominated products should meet at least one of the Awards' criteria for 'Innovation' - to offer a new style of thinking, an improvement in existing technical practice, a new or improved aid to safety, a new commercial advantage, use new patents or unique intellectual property, or introduce new technology, materials or manufacturing techniques.

The final assessment of those claims will take place at the PLASA Show, where an independent panel of industry experts will judge the entries, based on the strength of their innovation alone. Respected for their impartiality, the panel will hear a five-minute presentation from each of the nominees, and have the opportunity for questions and answers, before making their final selections.

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