USA - The 51st Annual Country Music Association (CMA) Awards brought together some of the biggest names in country music for an evening of memorable performances which was broadcast on ABC to 14.3m viewers.
Sennheiser microphones and wireless systems were present throughout the broadcast, which was reportedly the channel’s most-viewed Wednesday night programme in three years.
Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley hosted the evening, both speaking and singing through a Sennheiser SKM 5200 handheld transmitter and MD 5235 capsule combination - all running through a Sennheiser 3732-II receiver. Underwood also received a nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year.
After an understated a cappella rendition of Amazing Grace by Eric Church, Lady Antebellum and a bevy of other performers joined Darius Rucker for a rendition of erstwhile Hootie and the Blowfish hit <

Poland - Alcons Audio has recently added a new territory to its global spread of users, with Polish event production company Offstage using its QR, QM and VR series pro-ribbon systems on a wide range of events. Two of the most recent have been corporate orchestral concerts in the Baltic resort of Sopot.
Based in Łęgowo near Gdansk, Offstage provides concert sound, lighting and staging services for national and international clients. In September, its Alcons pro-ribbon loudspeakers were used for a corporate event at the Sheraton Hotel in Sopot where the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot and guest performers entertained guests in the hotel’s Baltic Panorama Ballroom.
For the orchestral concert, Offstage used L-R arrays of an Alcons QR24 modular line-source array column and QM24 LMF array extension, plus VR8 compact versatile monitors as frontfills. The syst

USA - After producing the US Open Squash Championships in Philadelphia for seven years, IMS Technology Services noticed a distinct improvement in the audio quality after switching to Martin Audio CDD-LIVE speakers for this year’s event.
IMS director of audio Chris Leonard comments: “We definitely upgraded the speaker coverage with the Martin Audio CDD-LIVE 12’s and 8’s. They had a major impact on the environment with their low-end extension and consistent wide coverage. There’s no good place to put subs at this event, so having a speaker with the low-end power of the CDD-LIVE series really helped us out with adding excitement to the audio quality and coverage. This was the seventh year we’ve done this event and by far the best sounding one yet.”
The Championships take place at Drexel University’s Daskalakis Athletic Centre with a custom ASB glass squas

USA - SGM will launch the G-Spot Turbo at LDI to mark the start of a new series of IP65-rated LED moving heads that will eventually include a Spot, a Profile, a Wash, and a narrow Wash-Beam.
The G- Spot Turbo is based on an optimised additive colour mixing to match the highest demands of colour rendering and total output. The IP65 rating and the integrated patented dehumidifier in the fixtures ensures perfect inner cleanness and no accumulation of externally induced particles and liquids on internal optics and light sources, such as smoke fluid, dust, dirt, airborne pollution and humidity on internal optics, gobos, or the light source unit. The patented SGM dehumidification, not only removes humidity, but also prevents oxidation and condensation, which can lead to corrosion.
The G-Spot Turbo is a solution for those in need of a powerful LED moving head with good chro

USA - ETC’s booth at LDI 2017 will be awash in colour as the new ColorSource CYC luminaire makes its debut at the Las Vegas Convention Centre. From 17-19 November, visitors to booth #2773 can demo the new fixture – a compact, affordable five-colour LED cyclorama light that specialises in smooth washes and rich colour – and see its optics in action on the booth’s cyc.
Among the other products making their first appearance at LDI are the Ion Xe and Ion Xe 20 consoles, which update the compact Eos family desk with backlit keyboards, increased output, and the option of built-in faders. LDI attendees can also see new varieties of the Irideon FPZ architectural luminaire.
ETC will present talks and events throughout the show. On Friday morning, Jim Uphoff will introduce the ColorSource CYC to the hungry attendees of the New Technology Breakfast in Room N112. On Saturd

USA - When MTV’s TRL returned to the air on 2 October, after a nine-year hiatus, it represented a homecoming of sorts for Mike Grabowski of the Lighting Design Group. Having worked on the star-studded programme in the final years of its original run, Grabowski was familiar with the challenges of lighting a live show with a mix of artists and programming formats. He also knew first-hand how to work within the parameters of MTV’s Times Square studio.
Based on this experience, Grabowski was focused on building his new TRL design around a moving fixture that could not only create a continuous stream of vibrant visuals, but also looked good on camera in its own right. He was looking for a light that fit this bill, when his phone started ringing. At the other end of the line were friends and associates with voice and text messages about the new Maverick MK Pyxis from Ch

Europe - Gary Numan is on tour promoting his his 21st album, Savage (Songs from A Broken World), with Luke Edwards of Cue Design working on his lighting design.
Edwards has been Numan’s lighting and visual designer for the last four years keeping everything looking fresh and interesting onstage and for this tour, he specified 36 x Robe moving lights for the touring package with 18 x Spiider LED wash beams and 18 x of the new LEDBeam 150s.
The artist initially gets involved in the style of the stage design when planning a tour, then leaves Luke to bring his own touches of lighting magic to the table.
For this one they wanted to include a video element and make the show look as awesome as possible, all the time reinforcing the album themes based on the blending of Western and Eastern cultures in a post-apocalyptic world, arid and desertified by global warm

Poland - Tommex Żebrowscy Sp. J. has recently completed the design and installation of the audio systems for the new water sports facility - Zatoka Sportu - at the Academic Sports and Teaching Centre of the Technical University of Łódz.
Tommex designed the main pool area system using EN 54-24 certified loudspeakers. Twenty-three Community R2-94Z-EN are used for the 1,700 capacity spectator grandstand, with a further five R1-66Z-EN covering the pool itself. The system’s control room houses a Dynacord CMS 1000-3 mixer and the Community DSPEC226 digital loudspeaker processor.
Marcin Zimny, the commercial director of Tommex, explained the sound system: “With high humidity and difficult acoustics, we chose Community R Series loudspeakers. Their extreme all-weather ability can handle the humidity long-term and their accurate coverage patterns enabled us to design the

UK - Hawthorn is once again heading out on tour with 80s new wave group OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark). The company will be supplying lighting & crew to the band as they take their The Punishment of Luxury Tour around the UK and Europe.
The band, which has sold over 40m records worldwide, is returning to the stage in support of their 13th studio album The Punishment of Luxury. Having kicked off at Liverpool Empire on 29 October, the tour will run through to 8 December, closing at the Les Docks, Lausanne, Switzerland.
The concert touring division at Hawthorn is supplying lighting to specification for the performances, including Clay Paky Sharpy and Sharpy Wash, Robe BMFL Spot and Ayrton Magic Blade-R fixtures. Hawthorn is also providing rigging, drapes, dimmers and distro, as well as supplying two lighting crew for the performances.
Mi

Czech Republic - Perhaps one of the most unusual cultural buildings in Europe, the airship at DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague appears to float above the surrounding buildings. For those that venture inside it, a Yamaha audio system proves that the sound.
Named after fictional traveller Gulliver, the 42m long, 120-capacity steel and wood airship features a zeppelin-shaped structure on top and is a permanent space for lectures, exhibitions, screening and other cultural events.
The venue features an AV system specified and installed by Martin Vondrášek of the Prague-based AVT Group. The audio system comprises four Yamaha VXS5W speakers arrayed along each side of the ‘body’, powered by an XMV8140 multi-channel amplifier, with signal distribution and processing by an Yamaha MTX5-D matrix processor.
Audio inputs come from wireless microphones, a

USA - Set against the striking backdrop of the Hollywood Hills with its famed Hollywood sign, the Hollywood Bowl is the summer home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The Bowl has also been the winner of 13 consecutive Pollstar Awards for Outstanding Outdoor Venue since 2004, which was coincidentally the same year that L-Acoustics was selected to help maintain the audio excellence at the venue, first with V-DOSC, then with the 2013 installation of the only K1 system currently installed in a North American venue.
Just prior to the 2017 season, the Hollywood Bowl furthered its pursuit of sonic excellence with the acquisition of 18 AVB-ready L-Acoustics LA12X and 10 LA4X amplified controllers, all sold and installed by Rat Sound. With this addition of 28 new LA Series amplified controllers, the Hollywood Bowl has completely refreshed and updated its power infrastructure, fu

The Netherlands - LD André Beekmans from The Art of Light deployed 170 CLF Aorun beams during the 2017 edition of the Amsterdam Music Festival headlined by Armin van Buuren, Hardwell, David Guetta, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike.
Together with design studio 250K, Beekmans designed a square stage in which the Aoruns were placed in different matrixes. Beekmans says: “I really like the double prism of the Aorun. Besides that, the colors are very useful. Guest LD’s were also very happy with the impact of the Aorun beam.”
In the center of each square filled with Aoruns were placed four Ares fixtures, or 60 in total. All Ares fixtures were used without diffusors in order to get the punchy effect of the 21° beam angle.
Beekmans frequently uses the Ares for their light output. “The CLF Ares is one of the best options on the market as it comes to output with sat

UK - Lighting and visuals rental specialist Colour Sound Experiment delivered lighting and video equipment for Neil Marsh’s show design for popular alt.trance aficionados Above & Beyond at London’s O2 Arena.
The one-off show was effectively a soft album launch for their new Common Ground work and comes ahead of an extensive 2018 tour which will kick off in the US.
Neil took the base elements of the design for this show from their recent AGBT250 show at the Gorge Amphitheatre, near Seattle in Washington State. The band host a weekly two hour radio show - Group Therapy Radio – and celebrate every 50 radio shows with a large ‘ABGT’ live event staged in a different county each time.
As a one-off, Neil’s philosophy was to take a lighting and video design concept that he knew worked very successfully and keep things straightforward given t

Europe - This summer’s Celine Dion LIVE 2017 tour, in support of her Encore un soir album, took the Canadian songstress on a 25-date tour of Europe in her first major tour for eight years.
Dion’s lighting designer of 28 years, Yves Aucoin, put together a lighting design that featured 24 Ayrton MagicPanel-R fixtures.
He says: “Celine takes her craft – and her audiences – seriously, and we spent a long time carefully listening to every song in her repertoire before choosing which she would perform and how they should look. Her collaboration with the design team comes in the early stages of a tour, after which point she concentrates on her performance and leaves us to our work on the visuals. She performs 26 songs in the show but selected 48 in total, switching between French and English from city to city.
“On a tour of this scale, with venues t

USA - A portable church setup designed to go in and out of a middle school gym every weekend, Preston Trail McKinney required streamlined equipment for its audio, video, lighting, staging and furniture setups. Martin Audio Wavefront Precision Mini (WPM) was specified to address the venue’s limitations.
As described by Clark senior design consultant Peter Fitton: “The church is transported into a middle school gymnasium with a 16ft. x 32ft. stage, a 40ft. rear lighting truss upstage and lighting trusses on both sides of the auditorium about midway through the house that provide front light for the stage and house lighting for the audience area. The video system includes a video playback server, a switcher, an 11ft. tall x 14ft. wide screen in the centre and a 13,000-lumen projector in the back of the room. The school provides seating for 300-350 congregants.
“For

Denmark - Musikhuset Aarhus – also known as Aarhus Concert Hall – in Aarhus, Denmark, is the latest in a number of high profile theatre venues in Scandinavia to invest in Robe, with a substantial purchase of 78 x Spiider LED wash beam fixtures.
These are primarily designated for use in their main hall where they will be “workhorse fixtures” explained head of lighting Ole Nielsen.
Located right in the centre of Denmark’s second city, Musikhuset is a major music venue and features five principal auditoriums - a 1600-capacity Stor Sal (Main Hall); the 1200-seater Symfonisk Sal (Symphonic Hall); the Lille Sal (Small Hall) with capacity of 300, the Rytmisk Sal (Rhythmic Hall) a flexible space that can accommodate 500 seated or 1000 standing, and where most of the rock and electronic music shows are staged. The Kammermusiksalen hosts chamber music recitals.
I

USA - Entertainment solutions company High Output decorated Boston’s City Hall Plaza using Elation Professional IP65-rated lighting for this year’s HUBweek festival.
With over 200 speakers, 150 events and 130 artists, the annual civic event brought together creatives in technology, science and art to foster innovation in the area.
Held on 12-15 October, HUBweek 2017 saw a different format than in previous years. Whereas a variety of sites around town have played host to past festivals, this year the festival was centrally located on Boston’s City Hall Plaza, dubbed The HUB. Designed in collaboration with design firm CBT, The HUB featured six geodesic domes, which housed talks, performances, and other interactive experiences, while a scattering of shipping containers were used to house events and art.
High Output provided all production suppor

UK - Brighton-based band Fickle Friends is using a DiGiCo console on their current tour.
The band, who have been making waves across the UK since 2013, were signed by Polydor without even releasing a full-length album yet.
FOH engineer Calum Mordue of Patchwork London, who supplies the audio equipment for the tour, has been working with the band for the past 17 months and has picked the DiGiCo S21 console.
“I chose the S21 because of the compact size, channel count and processing power,” he says. “Being able to get 48 input channels across 16 stereo outputs from a console which is less than a meter wide is phenomenal. More importantly, it sounds like a DiGiGo; as good as a big boy SD7 The FX are great, too.”
Calum has really been able to put the S21 through its paces with Fickle Friends, as their requirements change from show to show.
“We r

Australia - Sydney-based DJW Projects has become the first company in the Southern Hemisphere to install Powersoft’s new Quattrocanali 4-channel amplifiers.
The company installed four Quattrocanali 4804 (1200W pc/8 ohms) that power 16 channels of the 12” Void Venu 12 system subwoofers at the new Prince Hotel in Kirrawee, southern Sydney, for the Feros Group. The amplifiers were supplied by distributors PAVT (Production Audio Video Technology).
Launched at ISE this year, Quattrocanali 4804 features the patented SRM (Smart Rails Management) technology, allowing the efficiency of the system to be maximised and power consumption to be drastically reduced at any load and usage condition. Quattrocanali features the lowest thermal dissipation in the industry, reducing the need for external cooling devices.
It certainly ticked all the boxes for DJW Projects designer,

UK - Lighting and visual designer Andy Hurst created a collage of lighting, lasers, set and video for Chase & Status sold-out show at London’s Brixton Academy.
This was the band’s second live appearance in the UK this year after headlining the Lovebox Festival, for which lighting equipment and crew was supplied by HSL, who have been associated with the band for several years.
Andy took the base elements of this show from his design for Lovebox, which he re-scaled and re-worked to fit the Academy’s stage.
A key to delivering the full-on audio and visual onslaught that was needed to accompany the vibrancy and energy of the music is having multiple visual layers and aspects that can complement, contrast and be juxtaposed.
These can then be ‘played’ live and flowed with the rhythm and the action happening onstage, applying these visual elements

UK - eLumen8 LED battens were used during the boxing match at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff that saw British boxer Anthony Joshua retain his WBA ‘super’, IBF heavyweight and IBO heavyweight titles.
Joshua was illuminated by 24 of the eLumen8 LED Tour Batten TW as he made his ring entrance through the tunnel, with his initials ‘AJ’ in flames at the end of it.
Andrew Jeffrey, managing director of the Prolight Concept Group, says: “The second model in the eLumen8 Tour Batten Series is the TW (Tuneable White) which features a newly designed combination of LEDs with specially designed collimators and specifically written software to emulate the dimming curve and colour temperature shift of a dimmed halogen lamp. Industry standard chassis dimensions allow the battens to easily fit into flight cases already in circulation for the halogen versions, so when upgr

Mongolia - ITC Solutions has installed a complete audio system by Harman Professional Solutions at Holiday Inn Ulaanbaatar.
The newly opened four-star Holiday Inn Ulaanbaatar hired ITC Solutions to install an end-to-end Harman audio solution made up of solutions by JBL, Crown, Soundcraft, dbx and AKG.
Ramesh Jayaraman, VP & GM, Harman Professional Solutions, APAC, said: “Harman Professional Solutions is privileged to be a part of Holiday Inn Ulaanbaatar. We’re thrilled to see our solutions integrated in the first and only IHG hotel in Mongolia. We thank our partner ITC Solutions for their faith in Harman and dedication to customer service.”
ITC Solutions faced a major challenge during the installation as building construction had begun before the audio system was designed. Fortunately, Harman offered a comprehensive variety of flexible solutions to acc

USA - “Why would you light a bridge with moving fixtures?” Tracey Dear heard this question on more than one occasion when he specified Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Washes to bathe Chicago’s Clark Street and Dearborn Street Bridges in a vibrant purple for the Susan G. Komen Ignite the Fight fundraiser to aid cancer research. For Dear, the answer revolved around a single word - “flexibility”.
“Some people wondered why I would want movers on a static focus,” said Dear, the owner of Chicago-based Dear Productions. “However, I learned from past experience that in a project like this, you may need to change things quickly. When that happens, there may not be the time to make your adjustments with static fixtures. Sure enough, on the night of this fundraiser we got a call from the Coast Guard telling us that we had to reposition our lights because of the glare on t

Germany - HK Audio has introduced the new generation of its Lucas NANO family of portable stereo PA systems.
New for November 2017 are the NANO 302, NANO 305 FX and NANO 605 FX, joining the already available 608i and 602 models.
The Lucas NANO family is now made up of five individual models across two power classes. A range of different features and options means there is a NANO to suit any need or application, says the company.
Each model includes an active subwoofer that delivers huge amounts of low end. The subwoofer powers the two fist-sized satellites which, when not in use, are stored within the subwoofer itself.
The all-new Lucas NANO 605 FX is an all-rounder, suited for anyone from musicians and bands to DJs and public speakers and features five inputs, built-in reverb effects and Bluetooth audio streaming.
For musicians, DJs and entertainer

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