UK - Adlib was the audio supplier for the Giant Spectacular show staged in Liverpool, produced by the street and outdoor theatre company Royal de Luxe.
The extravaganza attracted an estimated 1.3m people to the city centre over the weekend of 4-7 October to see this tale of epic proportions, and the fate of the much-loved oversized marionette puppets unfold. Characters comprised The Explorer, the Little Boy Giant, his dog Xolo, and a surprise appearance by the Little Girl, who re-entered the story on the Sunday for the finale.
It was the third Liverpool Giant Spectacular, and having delivered the previous events in 2012 and 2014 so successfully, Adlib was commissioned by production manager Stu Stalker of Event Design Co (EDC) and Royal De Luxe’s production manager Jeff Havart to provide audio.
Adlib provided on-board sound systems mounted to the s

South Africa - Encounter Christian Church is a 600-seat church based on the second floor of a shopping centre in Centurion, South Africa. While looking for solutions to expand on their current audio system, the church met up with DWR Distribution, who recommended Quest and DiGiCo to accommodate the growing ministry and worship team.
Positioned on the second floor of a shopping centre in a residential area, the sound levels had to be considered. “We replaced the entire sound system with the Quest range of loudspeakers and amplifiers,” explains Kyle Robson from DWR. “The existing audio console was upgraded to a DiGiCo S21 and the full install was complete within a day. The system was designed to focus audio coverage on the audience so that the spill out of the building was minimised. Since the new system has been installed there hasn’t been a complaint from the neighb

Iceland - AV equipment supplier HljóðX recently deployed Harman Professional Solutions audio systems and lighting solutions at Iceland's Secret Solstice music festival, including a JBL VTX line array system, Crown amplifiers, Soundcraft digital mixing consoles and Martin lighting fixtures.
Held in Reykjavík during a period of 24-hour sunlight in the Arctic Circle, the annual music festival features non-stop performances across four outdoor stages and an indoor club venue. Festival organisers hired HljóðX to provide sound and lighting systems for all five venues that could accommodate the festival‘s diverse line-up of high profile artists, including Slayer, Gucci Mane, Bonnie Tyler and Steve Aoki. HljóðX outfitted each stage with JBL VTX V-Series line array loudspeakers, Crown I-tech amplifiers, Soundcraft mixers and Martin lighting fixtures.
“The event envir

UK - Production Services Ireland (PSI) capped a busy Halloween period by supplying technical infrastructure and support for Belfast City Council's Halloween Monster Mash and Samhain Live Halloween TV special, which was filmed in Derry/Londonderry.
PSI specialises in lighting, rigging, audio and video - for sale and hire. In the build-up to Halloween, the company also supplied riggers for the visiting U2 and ELO productions at Belfast’s SSE Arena, and full technical production for Harlem Gospel Choir at the Ulster Hall and a major public event in Lisburn.
Monster Mash afforded PSI an opportunity to deploy its Adamson PA inventory, which the company acquired in April when it became a certified reseller and rental partner. It also supplied lighting, video, rigging and staging for the themed event that welcomed thousands of people to the Titanic Slipways.
Sound re

UK/USA - Stereophonics released their 10th album last year, Scream Above the Sounds, which comes almost 20 years after the Welsh rockers first stormed the BRITs back in 1998 and won the award for British Breakthrough Act. The band's longevity speaks for itself: eight million albums sold in the UK alone, six number one records, a BRIT Award, three Kerrang! Awards, a pair of Q Awards, and 40 singles to their name.
On the road, Harm Schopman is looking after frontman Kelly Jones and co. from side-stage using his trusted DiGiCo console, supplied by rental company Capital Sound.
Although in charge of monitors for this tour, Harm has been responsible for various roles on numerous touring productions.
“On Stereophonics, I originally looked after [FOH engineer] Dave Roden as the systems tech, mostly on the arena tours,” Harm explains. “It's only in the last

Italy - Powersoft has chosen Audiosales Entertainment Solutions to distribute its networked multimedia system Deva in Italy.
Audiosales has been distributing Powersoft amplifiers in Italy since 2015 and has spoken of its immense pride in bringing what it calls “one of the most innovative Powersoft solutions” to the Italian market.
"There’s an increasing number of system integrators and installers who need to bring true innovations to their customers,” comments Stefano Rocchi, managing director of Audiosales. “We are sure that these companies will immediately appreciate the enormous possibilities of such an innovative and, in many ways, revolutionary tool."
He adds: "Personally, I am thrilled by the idea of presenting our customers with a solution that is already recognised all over the world and appreciated for its versatility. We know all about the q

Spain - Adamson Systems Engineering and its Spanish distributor SeeSound have welcomed SBA Radical Sound as the latest E-Series rental partner in the country.
SBA CEO Ramón Fernández comments: “We decided to invest in Adamson’s E-Series ahead of a very busy festival season. We needed a system that sounds great, rigs easily, and will satisfy the rider requirements of the biggest touring acts, no questions asked. The E-Series checked every box, and having Adamson and SeeSound behind us for support means we can confidently service even the most demanding applications.”
SBA Radical Sound’s new E-Series system is comprised of 24 E15 three-way, true line source enclosures along with a complement of 16 E219 subwoofers, and the company didn’t waste any time getting it out for some major events.
SBA Radical Sound, with support from COBRA sound light and ZL Pro

USA - As part of the LA-based Legends Football League, the Nashville Knights are a 7-on-7, tackle football team that incorporated into the league in 2018. Playing their inaugural season in the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, the Knights wanted to offer an in-game experience that would create a lasting connection with their fans.
Needing to supplement the production gear inside the multi-purpose event venue, the Knights worked with Elite Multimedia Productions who oversaw a complete game-day audio, video and lighting design.
“We try to design our in-game experience to be similar to what they do in the NFL to heighten the experience for our fans and provide a deeper connection to the action on the field,” says Candice Leisengang, operations manager. “When we started looking for production companies, we really needed someone who had the ability to do live audio, ca

UK - Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall recently saw an Allen & Heath SQ-6 digital mixer installed to deliver the audio content of a significant work by Cuban artist and activist Tania Bruguera.
The piece (the title of which is an ever-increasing figure reflecting the number of people who migrated from one country to another last year, added to by the number of migrant deaths recorded so far this year) involves both a large heat-sensitive floor and sound design by electronic artist Steve Goodman (Kode9).
By using body heat and working with other visitors, a hidden portrait of Yousef - a young Syrian who left his home country to travel to London - is revealed beneath the floor while low-frequency sounds fill the space with an unsettling energy. In a small room nearby an organic compound in the air induces tears and provokes what Bruguera describes as “forced empathy”

UK - Film and TV crewing specialist Studioforce was appointed by Shiver, an arm of ITV Studios, to support the delivery of this year’s Pride of Britain Awards.
The event was held at the Grosvenor House Hotel on 29 October and Studioforce provided stage hands, lighting technicians, carpenters, scenic supervisors, scenic artists and followspot operators.
The company worked closely with Shiver’s freelance production designer Paul Houston, supplying a team of experienced freelancers to work alongside the lighting and set design teams to create the Pride of Britain Awards’ set and backdrop.
The tight timeframe presented the Studioforce crew with its largest challenge. With just 48 hours to complete the entire project, from unloading the first piece of equipment from the truck and building the set, to running the show, completing the de-rig and the last truck le

USA - Honouring the intentions of composer Leonard Bernstein, the artistic director of the Brevard Music Centre Summer Music Festival, Keith Lockhart, set himself a task: to capture the pioneering spirit of a classic performance in a contemporary environment. Composed for the 1971 inauguration of the Kennedy Centre, Bernstein’s Mass created an entirely new kind of liturgy in both its content and technology - using quadraphonic sound.
“Keith is a renowned conductor, not least as principal conductor of the Boston Pops. He had performed the Bernstein Mass once before and wanted the audience to have that quad sound experience as Bernstein had originally intended,” explains sound engineer Brady Hislop of Iris Design.
“That’s all very well but the Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium is a semi-outdoor space not designed for amplified music. Roofed to provide

USA - The Franklin Theatre first opened as a cinema in the summer of 1937, when moviegoers could see a double feature and cap the evening with an ice cream sundae on a Norman Rockwell-esque Main Street. 70 years later, the theatre underwent an $8m renovation and reopened in 2011 as the premier music and event venue in Franklin, a suburb of Nashville that is home to nearly as many musicians as Music City itself is.
Seven years later, the venue has installed a DiGiCo SD12 digital console at front of house. Paired with a D2-Rack, the desk was supplied and installed in mid-August by Dan Heins of Clair Solutions, completing the Franklin Theatre’s renaissance as the entertainment centre of the city, drawing headline artists from Nashville, nationally and globally.
“Although our previous digital console has served us well since the theatre reopened, it had definitely reac

USA - The recent AES New York 2018 Convention saw over 300 brands of audio equipment manufacturers and service providers showcased alongside a wealth of free events.
Held on 17-20 October at the Javits Centre in New York City, the education and peer networking event once again proved an invaluable resource for audio engineers, producers, students and other audio professionals. Meyer Sound co-founder John Meyer was the Richard C. Heyser distinguished lecturer.
John Monitto, Meyer Sound's director of business development and sales manager, Northeast, says: “This past AES convention drew some of the top audio professionals who we value as a manufacturer. The convention was well attended by those professionals who visited the exhibit booths, demo rooms and the workshop sessions. Meyer Sound featured a two-channel and 5.1 listening room with our newly patented Bluehorn S

Spain - Nexo’s STM Series made a special kind of debut in Spain as audio production company BTM Sound in Girona completed its first events with PA systems featuring its newly-purchased STM M46 main cabinets.
An early adopter of Nexo’s modular line array concept and design, BTM Sound initially set up its STM Series in 2014 using the smaller STM M28 double-8” cabinet as the main module, pairing them with the STM B112 bass and S118 subs. Last year, the company increased its cabinet count by adding M28 cabinets in both 90° and 120° versions.
After four successful years serving the Costa Brava’s most high-profile events, such as Festival de Portoferrada and Festival Castell de Peralada, BTM has expanded its STM inventory with a number of new STM M46 cabinets, purchased specifically for Girona’s big annual music event, the Fires de Girona.
Headlined

UK - When Capital Sound successfully responded to a tender document issued by production manager Simon Barrington (Sibar Production & Design) for the ECS Season 5 finals, Capital project manager, Robin Conway won the bid by proposing Martin Audio’s MLA loudspeaker array. “Such a hi-tech event as ECS required an equally hi-tech loudspeaker solution,” he rationalised.
That was back in June at the SSE Arena, when the venue, reduced to half size for the preliminary round, was serviced by two single hangs of 11 MLA enclosures. September saw the organisers of ECS, FACEIT, present the 13th CS:GO Major, the FACEIT Major, which saw the full arena filled for four days with online gaming enthusiasts all fixated on the 50m wide screen (and six repeater screens), so a different approach was needed. This time two hangs of 11 MLA elements (including two MLD Downfill boxes) were a

India - Studio Care recently installed a complete Harman Professional Solutions audio system in the Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Auditorium at Guru Nanak College.
Inaugurated by President Shri Ram Nath Kovind on the school’s 42nd annual convocation day, the 7,200sq.ft auditorium houses 900 seats and is used for various student activities, cultural programmes, convocation and other ceremonies. In order to deliver clear and even audio coverage throughout the facility, Studio Care deployed an end-to-end Harman Professional audio solution made up of JBL Professional speakers, Crown amplification, BSS signal processors, Soundcraft digital mixing consoles and AKG microphones.
“This is a fairly large auditorium, and the client wanted a state-of-the-art audio system that could deliver clear and uniform coverage,” said Mr. S. Kangayan, owner, Studio Care. “We chose Harman

Greece - The new Athens Marriott on Syggrou Avenue has been created by an impressive renovation of the former Metropolitan Athens Hotel. The hotel is located opposite the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre, a cultural complex that houses the National Library of Greece and the National Opera, and the hotel’s roof top bar overlooks the Acropolis, the Aegean Sea and the Opera. Five-star rated and with 385 guest and executive rooms, the Marriott is now one of the largest and most luxurious hotels in Athens.
In addition to its guest rooms and dining, spa and fitness facilities, the Athens Marriott has eight multi-function event rooms. With a combined space of more than 1,000m2 and a capacity of around 1,000 persons, these rooms provide for both business and social events.
As part of the renovation, the specialist integrator ABAS was commissioned to design and ins

UK - The UK entertainment technology industry is valued at £1.28bn in 2017/18 and its value is predicted to grow over the next five years, according to a new research report by PLASA.
The study - said by PLASA to be 'the most comprehensive study of the entire entertainment technology industry in many years' - is available to download from plasa.org. It delves into each market sector’s performance and also looks at the effects of macro-environment trends and employment.
According to the findings, all sectors have experienced growth, particularly AV and audio, which represent 38% and 27% of the market share respectively. AV is currently valued at £490m and has an increasing presence in many sectors including architectural and retail. Audio is valued at £340m due to its

The Netherlands - ROE Visual has appointed Emmanuel Pezant to the role of technical sales support.
An experienced LED technician, Pezant has worked as a video technician for over 15 years. Pezant has worked as LED and video technician for notable partners in the French market.
“Combining his practical skills with a commercial flair, Pezant will support our French speaking clientele in both their commercial needs as well as the occasional technical support. We are very pleased to have him joining our team,” states Auke Meijer, operations & sales director for ROE Visual Europe.
(Jim Evans)

USA - Bose Professional has released Bose Array Tool, a new AV system design software with intuitive workflow.
Users can trial loudspeaker models, placements, and coverage formations to best match the needs of the venue. The software also provides drawing tools to manipulate room surfaces and loudspeakers dynamically and allows for visualising the speakers’ coverage effect in near realtime.
Once designed, ordering lists, rigging, and array information can be exported for ease of work on site. Version 1.0 only supports designing with Panaray MSA12X, but Bose is adding more models in future releases.
Trevor Donarski, product line manager at Bose Professional, comments: “It was important to us that the software have almost no learning curve. It’s made to help system designers identify optimal loudspeakers and ideal placement with less effort, in less time. O

USA - Audio-Technica has agreed with RF Venue to distribute its antennas, RF signal distribution systems and spectrum analysis tools in North America, effective 1 November.
As part of the contract, A-T will offer RF Venue’s Diversity Fin Antenna and DISTRO4 antenna distributor as primary accessories for the 3000 and 5000 Series wireless systems. Current RF Venue dealers may continue to source products directly from RF Venue, says the company.
Chris Regan, RF Venue president comments: “We are excited to bring RF Venue products directly to Audio-Technica customers in North America. The Diversity Fin antenna, DISTRO4, and other RF accessories are the perfect match for the new 3000 and 5000 series wireless microphone systems from Audio-Technica. This agreement allows us to service and grow our existing authorised dealers, as well as introduce RF Venue products to Audio

USA - Finger Lakes Community College has expanded their API console selection with the commissioning of an automated 32 channel 1608 console. The school is also equipped with a 48-channel Vision console and another 32-channel 1608 console.
"We had a digital console in one of our rooms that we needed to replace. For our other rooms we had bought a Vision, a 1608, and then an expander for that console," says FLCC's recording studio manager, Bob Potter. "The 1608 is a killer console for our first room, so when it was time to do this room we decided to go back to the analogue world from the digital console. I think this was a step up and a smart move for us."
With the initial purchase of the Vision console working out so well for FLCC, Potter wanted to fill his other rooms with a similar sound. He says that the students who have made the transition from digital to analogue

USA - Justin Timberlake is currently on his sixth world tour, Man Of The Woods. His two live sound engineers, Andy Meyer and Paul Klimson, both rely on DiGiCo consoles supplied by Clair Global.
“The SD7 offers an input count, flexibility, and sonic clarity that is unsurpassed by other platforms,” opens Meyer, whose DiGiCo SD7 console is receiving 200 input paths at FOH, with 138 outputs. “I’ve got snapshots for changes that I want to make, and I fire it all off of time code. I used to do it manually, and I have foot switches to do it, just in case.”
The snapshots are starting points, Meyer explains, as throughout the performance he's making slight adjustments: “I don’t EQ the system, I let the system be the system, and I fix it in snapshots. If there’s a frequency bugging you, you find out what it is, and then you put a snapshot in to clean it

Thailand - Mahajak Development recently updated Phrarajasatta Pavilion’s aging sound system with a full-on sound reinforcement solution by Harman Professional Solutions.
Built in 1993, Phrarajasatta Pavilion is an addition to Wat Pathum Wanaram, a mid-19th century Buddhist temple in Bangkok. Religious devotees and general public alike use Phrarajasatta Pavilion as a sacred place to conduct daily Buddhist activities, including worship, meditation and dharma practice. After 25 years of service, temple leaders hired audio integrator Mahajak Development to replace their rapidly aging sound system with a complete networked sound system, comprised of solutions by JBL, Crown, dbx and Soundcraft.
“Houses of worship like Wat Pathum Wanaram require premium audio solutions to provide guests and members of the community with immersive worship experiences,” says Pongsakorn

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