USA - Country Music Association Male Vocalist of the Year Jason Aldean has taken an incredible journey in his decade-old career. It's an odyssey that has seen him go from having his pickup truck repossessed (an experience he recounts in his song Crazy Town), to climbing to the top of the Nashville scene with 14 Number One singles and the record for the most first day downloads of a country song on Spotify.

Keith Hoagland, lighting designer and director for Aldean's Burn It Down tour, understands this feeling quite well. Hoagland had his rig all set for the tour when he was introduced to the Rogue RH1 Hybrid from Chauvet Professional.

Hoagland changed his rig and added 90 Rogue RH1 Hybrids supplied by Bandit Lites. He flew the moving fixtures around his entire aerial system, which was made up of diagonally arranged truss over both sides of the stage as well as centre sta

UK - The Assembly Hall Theatre in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2014 and is currently implementing a £1.4m refurbishment programme. An integral part of the venue improvements includes the purchase of a new sound system focused on d&b audiotechnik Q-series loudspeakers, supplied by Orbital Sound.

The Assembly Hall's new sound system comprises 16 d&b audiotechnik Q1 loudspeakers, two Q7 centre-fills, six E6 units as front-fills, plus Q-subs and B2 subs, powered by d&b D12 amplifiers.

Mikey Powell, Assembly Hall technical manager, commented, "We secured funding to upgrade our existing loudspeaker system. The budget was limited, but we needed to ensure value for money whilst not compromising sound quality. Jay (James Christie) evaluated the systems available and recommended Orbital Sound as a provider."

James Christie, sound technician

On The Campaign Trail - Aerosmith's Steven Tyler has asked Donald Trump to stop using his band's song Dream On on the campaign trail. The singer's lawyers have sent a cease-and-desist letter, saying the use of the song "gives a false impression" he endorses Mr Trump's presidential bid. The politician has been playing the power ballad all summer, even air-drumming to it at a rally in Las Vegas. Tyler, who is a registered Republican, says it is not a "personal" issue but one of permission and copyright.

It is the third time a musician has confronted Trump about using their songs to promote his presidential bid. When the businessman announced his candidacy, his campaign played Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World - a song that contains the lyrics "He's just a rich old man / He never cared for anyone". Young, a well-known liberal, demand

UK - Aurora Lighting Hire has returned to the studio with LD Chris Rigby for premier BBC music show, Later... with Jools Holland.

Recorded in front of a live audience at the Maidstone Studios, Later is serious about its music and key consideration is given to the lighting throughout all aspects of the production.

With the studio audience instructed to wear dark clothing so not to detract from the performance, the brief for the show is to allow the music to speak for itself and for the lighting to subtly complement, rather than overpower the musical content.

To achieve the range of looks required to accompany the eclectic mix of artists and musical styles, Aurora has provided LD Chris Rigby with a range of automated heads and a selection of LEDs that allow the versatility to illuminate both the 'floating' set pieces and the stage floor, whether it be large scale

UK - With its glass pyramid structure having welcomed everyone from Muse to Coldplay through the years, the Portsmouth Pyramids has been an regular stop on the UK touring band circuit. Its proud musical pedigree notwithstanding, however, the Pyramids leads something of a double life today. When it isn't rocking as a concert venue on weekends, it's serving as a leisure centre during the week.

This multi-functionality makes the facility more valuable to its community, but it also creates a challenge when lighting concerts. Local company GLS Lighting has met this challenge with some help from Chauvet Professional's Rogue Series of moving fixtures.

"It isn't practical to have a fixed concert house rig here, because the building functions as a leisure centre on weekdays," said Ian Turner of GLS Lighting, who was tasked with providing the venue with a new concert lighting

Kazakhstan - Aiming to bring a 'taste of Vegas' to Kyzylorda in Kazakhstan, the Aray Club was recently equipped with a NEXT-proaudio sound reinforcement system, distributed by the manufacturer's Kazakhstan distributor Sound Light Systems.

Fast becoming Kyzylorda's ultimate lifestyle party destination, Aray Club in southern Kazakhstan will regularly feature top notch entertainment whilst redefining the standards of luxury clubbing with more than 300 seats, an Kazakhstanunique contemporary musical and lighting equipment, a huge dynamic dancing, delicious food and drinks, and of course the show programme with participation of international singers.

The audio experience is powered by Sound Light Systems using the NEXT LA series as well as PFA Series speakers.

The Aray Club is equipped with a NEXT-proaudio sound system, comprising eight LA122 and 4 LAs218 as the main system and 1

Finland - Lighting and set designer Mikki Kunttu has used an array of Clay Paky Mythos and A.leda B-EYE K20 fixtures to create a truly stunning lighting design for a production of symphonic poem Kullervo at the Finnish National Opera.

Composed by Finnish national composer Jean Sibelius and first performed in Helsinki in 1892, the opera is based on the character of Kullervo in the epic poem Kalevala. A dance element choreographed by Tero Saarinen and performed by the Finnish National Ballet was added to this 2015 production, which celebrated 150 years since the birth of Sibelius. Kunttu specified 52 x Mythos and 48 x B-EYEs from Bright Finland for key lighting in the piece.

"The brightness of the Mythos fixtures was undoubtedly the most important quality in the visual picture of the production," says Kunttu. "They delivered the final incredible punc

Germany - . Both show's audio systems were supplied by Bottrop, West Central Germany-based TDA Söhne Mannheims, founded in Mannheim in 1995, celebrated their 20th anniversary this summer with two sold out shows in their hometownRental, with a DiGiCo SD5 at Front of House and two SD7s for monitors.

Roger Wagener has known the band for over a decade and has manned the FOH position for Söhne Mannheims for the last two and half years, using the SD5 from the moment it was available.

"I use an SD5 with the Waves package on board," he says. "It's an amazing workhorse! DiGiCo has been my first choice since I did my first show with a D5 back in 2005 and I have done hundreds of shows with them since.

"The SD7 is the ultimate monitor desk. We used two at monitors because we had to split band and singers pretty much 50:50 (there are 21 of them in total) in order to

Poland - The sea port of Gdansk, the European Solidarity Centre (ESC) is a museum and library named after the famous trade union and civil resistance movement of communist Eastern Europe. Built at a cost of 80m Euros and designed by Polish firm FORT Architects, the building exterior is manufactured from rust-coloured sheet metal to deliberately evoke the hulls of the ships that were built at the city's shipyard - the hub of the Solidarity movement. This simple exterior contrasts with the interior which features much state-of-the-art interactive technology, including loudspeakers from Genelec.

The company tasked with supplying and installing the audio system for the permanent exhibition was Konsbud Audio. One of the main requirements of the audio system design brief was that the system should be effective from an audio performance point of view, while also being discreet in appea

Denmark - Loudspeaker manufacturer Dynaudio has announced that, from 1November 2015, it will be distributing its industry-leading studio monitors from its headquarters in Skanderborg, Denmark.

Dynaudio Professional products have been distributed by TC Group since 1999. Following the April acquisition of TC Group by Music Group, Dynaudio has taken the opportunity to restructure its distribution operation. As a result, the company has chosen to take its distribution operation in-house.

Ole Jensen, who has been working closely with Dynaudio from within TC Group since the original distribution agreement was signed, has moved to Dynaudio and will continue to be the main contact for distribution.

"We have enjoyed a long and mutually rewarding relationship with TC Group. The parting is amicable and we wish them every success in the future," says Claus Rasmussen, sales dir

The Netherlands - Highlite International BV has extended its distributor network into Asia and the USA over recent months. Graham Eales joins the company from Philips Entertainment to head up Highlite Asia, while Malcolm Burlow moves on, after six years as sales director for Highlite International UK and Ireland, to set up and run Highlite International USA.

Graham and Malcolm share over 40 years of experience within the Sound and Lighting industry. Graham Eales, based in Hong Kong, will be expanding Highlite's Business into New Zealand, Australia and Asia. Graham will oversee product quality control with Highlite's manufacturing suppliers in Asia next to his commercial activities. Patrick Herveille (vice-president of Highlite International) said: "It's very important for us to have a base in Asia, so we can liaise closer and quicker with our Asian suppliers. We also found

Qatar - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises (NMK) team on the road just wrapped up the seminars in Oman and Qatar. Following last year's seminar series hosted across the region, the NMK team started its first round of the seminars in Muscat. Attendees learned about NMK's portfolio of products and discussed various scenarios and the challenges they are encountering in the industry.

The attendees had an opportunity to meet Eugene Novacek, the founder of American company ENCO and Andrea Granata from Shure MEA whose presentations and open discussions added value to the seminar itself.

For the Video Formats, Recording & Mixing presentation, NMK teamed up with Canon MEA and presented a complete solution utilising Canon video cameras. There were also user experiences shared with the attendees as the Royal Opera House Muscat discussed its use of Shure's Axient.

"W

UK - WhatsOnStage offers a database of some 5,500 plus performances along with reviews, interviews, gossip, blogs and exclusive video content. Alongside this, each year the organisation hosts the WhatsOnStage Awards - in which the audience are the judges across all categories. With its origins in theatre, complete productions solution specialist White Light is once again sponsoring the event.

WL has previously sponsored the Awards Concert, where the available accolades include Best Actor in a Musical, Best Actress in a Musical, Best New Play and Best Lighting Design, which is sponsored by WL and whose previous recipients include Mark Henderson, Adam Silverman and Hugh Vanstone.

Hannah Longman, commercial manager at WhatsOnStage, comments, "We are extremely fortunate to have companies such as WL sponsor the Awards. It is through their support that such an eve

Spain - One of Barcelona's flagship night time hotspots, Razzmatazz, continues to innovate in order to stay among the region's top entertainment venues. A recent installation of Elation Professional Cuepix Panel LED matrices has added to the venue's visual possibilities, whether for a live music performance or a night of clubbing.

A myriad of artists have stepped onto the Razzmatazz stage over the years, including big names like Coldplay and Kanye West. Razzmatazz uses its 3700m2 of space and five distinct spaces in a variety of ways however. On weekends for example it transforms into a nightclub and its various rooms can be used to host parties, fashion shows, galas or virtually any event. The five separate spaces - Razz Club, the Loft, Pop Bar, Lolita and the Rex Room - can also function as one with the advantage of creating different ambiences at the same event.

The 4,000-c

South Africa - Prosound Technical Director and South African Theatre stalwart, Mark Malherbe, has just completed the sound design for the second season of David Kramer's new musical Orpheus In Africa.

Prosound's Marketing Manager, Dominique Vermeulen, who attended the Preview evening comments: "An original homegrown musical is always a significant theatrical milestone, and this uber-talented cast and flawless technical and staging production, left me completely immersed in this remarkable story."

Mark and David's association goes back many years, as too does Prosound's partnership with Eastern Acoustics of Cape Town, who provided and installed the sound equipment. The Fugard Theatre is a special place for Prosound and it is noteworthy that this season begins in South Africa's Heritage week, emphasising Prosound's continuous commitment to South African art and

UK - Autograph Sales has recently supplied the Hull Truck theatre in Kingston upon Hull with a new sound system from EM Acoustics based around the HALO-C compact line array to replace an older EM Acoustics system that dated from the theatre's previous venue.

"Since our new venue was completed in 2009 we knew that our old sound system was no longer appropriate for the space," explained Hull Truck's technical manager, Amy Clarey. "Our theatre boasts quite a long thrust stage for its size [a three-sided stage that extends into the audience] which, whilst great for the audience, is a challenge for all aspects of theatre-making, especially sound. We therefore needed a system that would be able to handle this configuration and at the same time offer us as much flexibility as possible as our programme is extremely varied. Our aim was to invest in a new system that lives

USA - Described by Billboard as "trance music's most influential curator," Armin van Buuren has taken this branch of electronic music to new heights. The Dutch-born DJ's State of Trance podcast attracts over 25m listeners a week and is broadcast on 40-plus FM radio stations around the world.

As captivating as these broadcasts are, however, they're only preludes to the truly transformative trance experience of a van Buuren concert. This was clearly evident in late September at the House of Blues in Boston, where the Grammy-nominated artist served up a mesmerizing mix of music wrapped around an immersive lightshow. At the heart of it all was a towering video wall made of MVP Ta8 Curve SMD LED tiles from Chauvet Professional.

Image Production Services used 136 MVP Ta8 tiles, which have an 8.33 mm pixel pitch, to create the striking display. The majority of

USA - Fall Out Boy just wrapped The Boys of Zummer Tour co-headlining with Wiz Khalifa, and once again Clay Paky fixtures were along for the exciting cross-country ride. A.C.T Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky products in North America.

Robb Jibson of So Midwest, Inc. continued his relationship with the pop punk band, this time as production designer for the US amphitheatre tour. Fall Out Boy released its sixth studio album, American Beauty/American Psycho this year; it swiftly became the band's third #1 album.

An enthusiastic proponent of Clay Paky fixtures, Jibson specified 68 Mythos for the tour. Upstaging was the lighting vendor.

"I'm a fan of Clay Paky; they seem to really do things right," he declares. "I had demo'd Mythos but hadn't had a chance to use them just yet. The light is versatile enough I knew if we spec'd them we

France - With Paris Fashion week just ending, the historic Plaza Athénée Hotel in Paris debuted its new immersive speaker system install in their luxury Bar du Plaza Athénée featuring Amadeus loudspeakers.

The new speaker system is designed to create a fourth dimension in sound for its modern, comfortable and stylish surroundings. Designed by scenographer Etienne erard from Atelier A/V, the Amadeus system features 25 specially placed speakers including custom 'slim' versions of their ML 8 subwoofer under the bar's seating. The well-known French designer, Patrick Jouin, designed all the custom furniture for the bar. Some of the Paris Fashion Week festivities were held at the hotel, and the Bar du Plaza Athénée hosted celebrations for fashion luminaries and models with a sound quality to match the hotel's other gold-standard amenities.

G

UK - A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) has specified, supplied and installed cutting-edge performance lighting systems for two separate drama studios at Buckinghamshire New University's High Wycombe Campus.

Having previously supplied lighting systems for several other performance areas on the campus, the university approached ACSP to deliver solutions to meet their latest studio technical needs.

For the campus's main Drama Studio 1, which is utilised by a variety of performing arts courses, the brief was to enhance the existing conventional tungsten lighting system with a range of the very latest LED solutions, as well as upgrading the existing lighting console to cope with the new rig.

The university was keen to invest in LED technology, to help improve the campus's overall lighting and heating energy efficiency rating, and thus reduce their carbon footprint. In addition, they w

Spain / China - D.A.S. Audio has announced the launch of a new strategic project for China with the creation of AV Ganguan, a multi-brand distribution company of audio-visual products. D.A.S. Audio has appointed AV GGanguan as exclusive distributor of D.A.S. Audio products in China.

AV Ganguan emerges as a partnership between two of Europe's leading professional audio companies, D.A.S. Audio and Fluge. D.A.S. Audio is recognized worldwide as a manufacturer of high-level loudspeaker systems, power amplification and related audio processing equipment. Fluge is an internationally renowned specialist in sound, video and lighting design, full-service technical production and venue management. The combined experience of these two companies offers partners and customers in China technical expertise and specialized support.

AV Ganguan is headquartered in Shanghai and backed by an inte

South Korea - Rental company Communicator Madang was appointed to manage audio requirements for a recent production staged at Yonsei University in South Korea, selecting its GLD mixing system at FOH.

Comprising a GLD-80 digital mixer, with an AR2412 and two AR0804 audio racks, the system was installed for a production of Broadway musical, Urinetown, performed by the college student musical team in the university's 100th anniversary concert hall.

The 830 seat venue, also has a practice room, and a wide lobby, which can be utilised for various kinds of events as well.

"This type of musical performance requires many scene changes, so I needed a digital mixer that was capable of managing multiple scenes, available with immediate recall. I have been using GLD for more than two years, and it never fails, even when I use it at maximum capacity. Also, the system has wond

UK - Technical production expert, Hawthorn's install team has completed the installation of a new house light system for the Hawth Theatre in Crawley.

The specialist permanent installation team was tasked to replace over 200 tungsten fittings with the latest ArcSystem fittings from GDS; a once in a lifetime opportunity to upgrade the quality of the house lights at Hawth Theatre and reduce the ongoing maintenance and lamp replacement costs.

Crucially, the new fittings also deliver a reduction in electrical running costs. A mixture of Arch System MR16, Pro-Fixture 1 cell and Pro Cell 4 were used along with the new 24v Arc Lamps. Kev Sanderson, team leader at Hawthorn, and his expert team had a tight 10 day window to complete the changeover, but completed the task ahead of schedule.

Quentin Whitaker, the Hawth's technical manager, commented, "I am extremely happy with the

USA / Australia - Sensaphonics, the technology and hearing wellness specialist in personal monitoring, has announced the opening of its new Australian location, Sensaphonics AU in Melbourne. The new facility comprises corporate offices and a manufacturing lab, and is headed by managing director Ryota Tanaka. Operating under the brand philosophy of 'Softer & Safer', Sensaphonics AU is an independent organization, operating as a fully accredited affiliate of Sensaphonics, Inc.

"The music industry is growing very fast in Oceania and Asia right now," says Ryota Tanaka. "We know from experience that hearing loss will also be a growing problem in this part of the world. We opened this new office and lab to help meet the needs of musicians and music fans, representing the Sensaphonics approach - as the experts in safe sound."

Originally an employee of Sensaphonics

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