USA - Wisconsin’s Summerfest runs over 11 days in late June and early July each year. Over 700,000 people flock to Milwaukee’s Lake Michigan shoreline to watch more than 800 top artists and bands perform on a dozen stages, earning Summerfest its double-decade-running Guinness World Record title as The World’s Largest Music Festival.
The technical challenges behind providing sound reinforcement for such a massive event are numerous, but locally based Clearwing Productions - Summerfest’s long-time primary production partner - keeps the festival roaring like a well-tuned Harley-Davidson engine.
According to Clearwing Audio operations and logistics manager Jeff Schauer, a big part of that success has been the company’s now-five-year standardisation on DiGiCo

Thailand - One of Thailand’s largest financial institutions, the TMB (formerly the Thai Military Bank), has recently undergone an audio transformation of its multi-purpose auditorium, centred on an Allen & Heath dLive mixing system.
The seventh floor of TMB’s Bangkok headquarters houses the 500-seat auditorium, used for functions and meetings, interspersed with live performances. Due to the size and shape of the venue, a highly flexible and easy to use audio system was required. TMB enlisted the services of Allen & Heath’s Thai distributor, Sonos Libra (in conjunction with Multiline Professional), to deliver a solution.
The installation comprises a dLive C3500 surface, a DM0 MixRack fitted with a Dante card, four DX164-W wall-mounted expanders and an IP1 remote controller.
Located in a discrete control room positioned at the back of the auditorium,

Sweden - Summerburst is the biggest EDM festival in Sweden. The inaugural event was held in Stockholm back in 2011, and by the following year had also opened its doors in Gothenburg. Since then it has remained a two-city festival, both with a capacity of around 25,000.
Daniel Hellsten has worked closely with Summerburst since its inception, as production manager and designer. At the recent event at Gothenburg’s Ullevi Stadion he introduced GLP’s KNV Cubes for the first time as 25,000 came to see international DJs such as Tiësto, Alesso, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Tigerlily, Salvatore Ganacci and many others.
He positioned 24 of the KNV Cubes in the arc roof surrounding the DJ booth following a design conceived by himself and assistant designer, Tobias Borén.
Explaining the rationale behind his design, Hellsten said, “They were placed in a central po

Norway - Stavernfestivalen is a summer music festival that takes place in Stavern. It began on the town’s southern shoreline in 2001 as a one night, four band event with an audience of less than 200 and has subsequently grown over the years into a major three-day gathering, featuring an international line-up and attracting more than 30,000 people.
The 2019 line-up incorporated a wide range of music styles and featured leading international acts such as Swedish House Mafia, Travis Scott, Bastille and G-Eazy.
Oslo-based rental company G Production was engaged by the organisers to supply audio for the festival’s Club Stage as well as the VIP Stage and elected to deploy their new Pioneer Pro Audio XY-3B system, recently acquired from lNorwegian distributor First Audio.
John Moss of G Production added the system to his company’s inventory having been impressed

Cyprus - The Corinthian columned façade of Cyprus’ largest theatre, the Municipality Théâtre in Nicosia, reflects the island’s theatrical heritage, but like a good play, the 1,000-seat venue holds surprises. Stepping inside the classical building, visitors will encounter an advanced and very modern theatrical lighting system made up entirely of 150 Chauvet Professional LED fixtures.
Nicosia-base V Hypersound & Light, installed the lighting and audio systems in the building, which re-opened on 18 June after being closed for more than a decade. “This was a very big re-modelling project, the biggest one ever relating to theatre in our market,” said the company’s Kypros Shekkeri. “Regarding the theatrical lighting, the theatre management wanted to have an all-LED system in the building.
“We won the project by offering a complete solution of compact an
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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

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Italy - The harmonising elements of light and water came magically together at Toce Falls by Lake Maggiore in the Alps of northern Italy (Cascata del Toce) during an evocative light and music show designed by Pierre Gèlil. For a special event held 28-29 June, the designer turned to colour-changing Elation Paladin lighting effects to visually paint one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the region.
Gèlil, who also works as director of Teatro Maggiore in Verbania, was looking for a suitable product to illuminate the breathtaking but complex location. Seeking a watertight fixture that could put up with mist from the Falls as well as weather extremes, Elation’s Italian partner, Audio Effetti, proposed the Paladin, a versatile multi-functional LED wash light with high luminosity, chromatic performance and IP65 housing.
Sealed against water or dust ingress, the Pala

USA - Theatrical sound reinforcement and installation company Masque Sound has announced the launch of its Production Services division (MPS). The newly created division provides equipment rentals and production services for live and recorded events for clients outside of Masque Sound’s Broadway theatre productions business. MPS serves shorter term events such as concerts, TV shows, corporate presentations, galas and a range of special events.
The idea of creating MPS began when Masque Sounds’ Matt Dale and AJ Nittoli were providing production services and equipment for a Meyer Sound demonstration in South Carolina. In between system tunings, the duo discussed the possibility of Masque Sound providing services like these as a separate business entity. The concept took off from there, and it is becoming a major growth area for the company.
Masque’s Production Ser
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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

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Columbia - Teatro ABC de Bogota has added Claypaky Axcor Spot and Beam 300 fixtures to its rig to light musical and theatrical performances. Audio Concept de Colombia, S.A., Claypaky’s exclusive distributor in the region, advised on the purchase and provided technical support and service following the installation.
Teatro ABC opened in 2016 in northern Bogota as a multi-faceted cultural space; an extensive remodel in 2018 extended seating to almost 1,000 people and upgraded the technology deployed for a wide range of productions.
Lighting designer Dario Rodriguez, whose credits include working with Madonna, Metallica, U2’s 360 Tour and Cirque du Soleil, believed that Claypaky fixtures would optimise the flexible lighting design the venue requires.
“We went for a brand that could give us local support and new technology,” he says. “Claypaky’s Axcor li

The Netherlands - Dutch popstar, Marco Borsato, recently returned to Rotterdam’s De Kuip stadium for the first time in 15 years to host a five-date concert series featuring an ambitious lighting and video programme. The 50,000-capacity stadium was fitted with a massive 85 x 15m rear wall screen as the backdrop to Borsato’s band and featured an innovative display of lighting and augmented-reality (AR) video images.
Commissioned by Musica è and Mojo Concerts, Faber Audiovisuals supplied the LED screens, play-out, camera, and video facilities, with Visual Solutions and Malfmedia developing the AR and 3D video design, and disguise programming. Faber selected more than 1,000 square metres of ROE CB5 LED screens, four kilometres of ROE LED strips, and 21 cameras, with the strips managed by just seven Brompton Technology Tessera M2 LED processors.
“4000 strips is argu

UK - With today’s temperatures hitting around 104F in some areas of the UK - making it the hottest July day on record - St Ives-based Le Mark Group has come up with an inventive way for its production and warehouse operatives to keep cool: Utility kilts.
Stuart Gibbons, Le Mark’s MD comments: “It’s tough for our production team in this heat. I had seen utility kilts being worn by riggers and technicians in Las Vegas, Dubai and Scotland (of course), but thick woollen tartan can be hot. I was happy to offer these ‘supper cool’ and very well ventilated tough cotton utility kilts to all those operatives that wanted them - free of charge, of course!”
Gibbons continues: “Anything we can do to make life a little more comfortable for our production team, we are happy to offer.”
(LSi Online)

France - The Romanian Embassy was installed in the Palais de Béhague in Paris in 1939. Within its walls is a theatre, built in 1898, called the Byzantine Room, because of its largely Byzantine style decoration. This room can accommodate a variety of different events such as conferences, shows, parades, musical performances or theatre.
When Luca Luculescu the current ambassador, decided to give a second life to this abandoned theatre, he discussed options with Sébastien Collin, co-founder of DID Technology. The goal was to revive the theatre whilst modernising the facilities and developing a versatile solution that could adapt to any type of event that was organised.
For the stage element, eight Prolights Eclipse Fresnel units were selected in variable white along with eight Eclipse HD RGBA / Lime / Royal Blue.
The floor lighting concept incorporated eight Proli

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has provided Scottish Opera with a new surtitling system, utilising AlphaPIX2 by Prolights LED video panels.
Founded in 1962, Scottish Opera is Scotland’s national opera company and largest performing arts organisation. With a diverse annual season of productions embracing opera’s unique blend of music, singing and theatre, it is committed to making the art form available to the widest possible audience.
As well as performing its productions in mainstage and other venues across the country, Scottish Opera’s home is the Theatre Royal Glasgow, which last year celebrated its 150th year. Recently the Theatre Royal’s surtitling system was in need of an upgrade after 11 years of service.
Alex Reedijk, general director of Scottish Opera approached AC-ET to discuss alternatives. Chris Beardwell, technical sales execut

USA - Bandit Lites has announced the appointment of long-time Bandit Roth Edwards to the new position of director of operations. Roth has been at Bandit for 20 years and was most recently director of special operations.
Edwards came to Bandit from Grand Island, Nebraska with a keen understanding of the lighting business, a desire to learn more, and a passion second to none. From that point, Edwards quickly ascended the management ladder at Bandit and now sits in a lead role.
“You could never find a smarter, more dedicated person to have on your team or in the trench with you,” said Bandit chair Michael T. Strickland. “Roth has a relentless quest for knowledge and wants to get it right every time. There is no task he will not tackle, and he will always succeed. To add to that, his vast understanding of lighting technology and computer technology is simply stunni

USA - The team at WorldStage prides themselves in being “technology specialists at heart” and they have the track record to prove it, being among the earliest adapters of a long series of breakthroughs like moving LED fixtures. This summer, the innovative company took another step toward the future, when it added 50 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK3 Profile fixtures to its inventory.
“This is a new technology fixture,” said Terry Jackson, vice president, director of lighting at WorldStage. “We have been searching for a large LED fixture to upgrade some of the older 3K range units we own, and this is it. This will definitely replace several fixtures in our inventory, so we can continue to grow and deliver a better experience to our customers.
“We have already used these fixtures on the DRL/Formula E Kick-Off Party, and we have them ready for additional high

UK - As the contract for the Hyde Park festival site comes up for renewal, all involved in the production of Barclaycard presents British Summer Time can reflect on seven glorious years at a location that had previously been considered unworkable and unviable.
That promoters AEG Live have proven otherwise is due in no small part to the role of their technical contractors, including Capital Sound - whose deployment of the Martin Audio MLA multicellular loudspeaker array technology had proven under test conditions its ability to meet required propagation thresholds, both inside the bowl and beyond the perimeter.
Monitored by acoustics consultants Vanguardia, as it has been every year, MLA - optimised using Martin Audio’s proprietary advanced DISPLAY software - was equal to a wide range of performance over the two weekends - extending from Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion

Singapore - AVL Direct has been appointed for rental sales channels for dBTechnologies, part of the RCF Group, while Loud Technologies Asia continues with installation channels and service centre support.
Long-term dBTechnologies partner Loud Technologies Asia continues to service the installation and SI channels and officially takes on the service centre role for Singapore, while AVL Direct under the helm of Colin Oliveiro has been appointed to service the rental sales channels.
VIO, DVA and other touring boxes require very specialised expertise and a company familiar with the unique needs of the touring market and AVL Direct ticks all the boxes, says the company.
“We are happy to partner with a manufacturer that values long term relationships and considers the perception of the customers in the long term,” says Colin Quek, managing director for Loud Technol

USA - The Who are currently between legs of their 2019 Moving On! Tour, which finds them joined by a local orchestra in each city to present different takes on classics and deep cuts from their extensive catalogue. The Who are carrying a sizeable Adamson E-Series system provided by Cleveland, OH’s Eighth Day Sound.
Chris ‘Chopper’ Morrison, who shares FOH duties with The Who’s long-time engineer, Robert Collins, says that while this is the band’s first full outing to carry an Adamson system, the choice was informed by previous experiences with the E-Series on one-off and festival dates.
“We’ve done a few festivals in Europe the last few years and took note that, if it was an Adamson E-Series rig, it always sounded great. We never had to fiddle with the EQ or anything too much and Robert was always really happy,” the engineer reports. “I knew it would

UAE - German wireless LED lighting specialist Astera has appointed NMK Electronics to distribute its products in the GCC region. The company was founded in 1987 to focus on the professional audio, video and lighting industry. From modest beginnings in Sharjah, UEA, it has grown into a leading distributor of professional AV products and musical instruments throughout the Middle East and is now headquartered in Dubai.
Astera’s range of entertainment and architainment LED lighting has been used to illuminate numerous high profile and world-class events.
“Having simple and powerful control of complex lighting programmes and effects coupled with the portability of Astera means that lighting designers can focus on being creative without worrying about potential limitations like cables and rigging,” stated Darren Caithness, lighting business manager - NMK Electronics. <

Belgium – The highly anticipated Eric Prydz EPIC 6.0 Holosphere debuted at Belgium’s Tomorrowland Festival last weekend, with Eric performing inside a giant video-mapped, 3D transparent LED sphere.
The production was the latest in Prydz’s EPIC (Eric Prydz In Concert) series of visual spectaculars, realised by dream team, long term collaborators Liam Tomaszewski (Punkette), Ross Chapple (RCLD), Mark Calvert and Dave Green (RES) and Bryn Williams (Light Initiative) with the eight-metre-high Holosphere forming the centrepiece of the new design.
“EPIC 6.0 has been two years in the making, starting with conceptual sketches, through to putting together exactly the right team with the skills, know-how and passion to get the project off the ground, and now successfully delivering the show at Tomorrowland,” says Calvert, who has been working with Eric Prydz on the EPI

UK - Lighting and video rental specialist Colour Sound Experiment supplied stage and architectural lighting and LED screen to the 2019 Hampton Court Palace Festival, staged in the Tudor Courtyard of Hampton Court Palace in Richmond, Surrey.
A star-studded line-up for the 2019 season included Kylie Minogue, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Tears for Fears, The Jacksons, Jools Holland and many more.
The event was enjoyed by thousands who flocked to this unique venue to enjoy summer evenings picketing in the gardens and grounds before taking their seats for the evening concerts which ran over a three-week period in June.
Ensuring that everything ran like clockwork onstage was Jonny Gaskell, production manager and production lighting designer, who has worked for the festival for the last seven years. Jonny provides a production design for the stage and lights selected archi

USA - High End Systems has introduced the TurboRay automated luminaire. Offering “a classic retro look with its radial diffusers, TurboRay brings a distinctive appearance to any lighting design”.
High End Systems general manager Becky Koester comments, “We are thrilled to have TurboRay as the first entry back into fixture manufacturing in our Austin, Texas headquarters. The positive reactions we’ve had from lighting designers around the world has been staggering, and we’re very excited to bring this fixture to market.”
Automated lighting product manager Matt Stoner adds, “TurboRay is an awesome new look built on a classic style. Beyond its’ classic and volumetric face look, the fixture employs a powerful LED system with multiple types of colour control. TurboRay gives users a wealth of tools to make any stage more exciting.”
(Jim Evans)

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