China - China has been focusing on enriching its cultural landscape in recent years and the recently opened 50,000sq.ft Xiaguang Grand Theatre & Performing Arts Centre in Shijiazhuang is a shining example of this.
The complex, put together at a total cost of RMB380m (48.5m euros), includes a 1,200-seat theatre, a more intimate 600-seat multipurpose hall, a rehearsal hall, teaching rooms and offices. The theme for the building’s design is “creating harmony through spirit and song”, and it instantly became a landmark in the Hebei provincial capital.
Tasked with meeting the project’s desire for a world-class sound system, Beijing Pacific Budee and Shaanxi Lanyu Audio Video Technology teamed up to meet the demands. The choice was clear; Martin Audio’s line of

USA - Harman Professional Solutions has opened the Harman Experience Centre in Los Angeles. The facility joins a worldwide network of Harman Professional Solutions Experience Centres in Singapore, China and soon in London, designed to demonstrate how Harman solutions address customer needs across multiple vertical markets.
The new 15,000sq.ft. multi-functional facility showcases Hartman Professional Solutions product solutions in a variety of entertainment and enterprise market applications. The Experience Centre demonstrates the integration of brands including JBL Professional, AKG Acoustics, AMX, BSS Audio, Crown International, dbx Professional, DigiTech, Lexicon Pro, Martin, Soundcraft and Studer.
“With the opening of our flagship Experience Centre, we are bringing the Harman Professional Solution proposition to life while giving visitors a glimpse into the inves

USA - City Theatrical demonstrated their innovative technology by presenting the first live broadcast of nine universes of wireless DMX using a single transmitter. This demonstration was made to a live audience of over 100 lighting professionals at LDI 2017 in Las Vegas.
The demo was part of a seminar featuring Multiverse wireless DMX/RDM technology entitled, How Advances In Wireless DMX Will Change The Way We Do Lighting. The seminar was led by City Theatrical founder and president, Gary Fails, and showcased the company’s vision of a future of wireless lighting control.
The Multiverse family of wireless DMX/RDM products gives lighting users a new range of options for performing their lighting tasks more easily than ever, while producing less disruptive radio energy than ever. City Theatrical’s vision of the new lighting world is one in which every DMX devic

USA - UK automation and motion control manufacturer Kinesys enjoyed a busy and successful LDI exhibition in Las Vegas. It was the first time that the brand has hosted its own booth at the show, reflecting a growth in business in North and South America and Canada.
The three-day event kicked off to a great start with Kinesys’ new Apex motion control system being presented with a 2017 PLSN Gold Star Product Award for Best New Motion Device.
The Apex system incorporates the best of Kinesys’ extensive experience working with variable speed chain hoists, and the result is the pinnacle of chain hoist technology.
David Bond, head of Kinesys’ USA operation commented, “It was a great move to come to Las Vegas this year. It has been a fantastic LDI show, meeting and engaging with many of our current contacts and making lots of new ones. There’s been a real mix o

Columbia - When Pope Francis visited South America in September, full service Colombian rental company, Línea Estrategica, provided the audio system for his visit to Colombia, where over a million faithful braved rain and fog for the pontiff’s outdoor mass, held on the Olaya Herrera Airport in the city of Medellin, the third stop on his five-day visit to the country.
Ensuring even coverage across the site, which stretched to one kilometre in length and 200m in width, required meticulous planning and a vast L-Acoustics system that totalled over 300 cabinets.
Linea Estrategica used L-Acoustics proprietary 3D sound system design programme, Soundvision, to devise a system of 24 distributed arrays along the runway, each comprising 12 K2 topped with a K1-SB sub, plus five arrays of 10 Kara.
This relatively simple set-up required throws of no more than 80-90m which,

Australia - As part of Hobart’s annual Dark Mofo festival, the Red Bull Music Academy returned to present an industrial-scale, transcendental warehouse rave titled Transliminal.
Held in Hobart City Hall, the event showcased the dark, electronic underbelly of the subterranean club scene, and featured a stunning light show by audio-visual artist Robin Fox. Known for his mesmeric, future-forward, laser-driven light installations, Robin collaborated with Melbourne’s Additive Lighting who designed, pre-visualised and operated a disorientating and atmospheric light installation for the late-night music venue.
“Robin had been approached by Dark Mofo to create a very streamlined, dark and moody nightclub,” commented Tom Wright of Additive. “Robin is a laser artist, but he soon realized the project was more suited to a lighting installation.
“He

South Africa - In mid-October 2017, South African audiences enjoyed the return of the celebrated musical production of Evita – seen for the first time on South African stages since the 1980’s. After its premiere at the Montecasino Teatro in Johannesburg the production will be at Cape Town’s Artscape Theatre, before embarking on an Asian tour.
The creative team has striven to create a faithful recreation of the original West End production in all aspects – from the direction, choreography and musical direction to the building and creation of set, wardrobe and props. But while remaining true to the original, there is a great deal that has been updated technically, to make the current production a spectacular theatrical experience.
An extensive lighting rig, and state-of-the-art PA system recreate the imagery and feel of the original, coupled with projectio

USA - How many gigs can a 19-piece rockabilly band do in 48 days? The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s 14th Annual Christmas Rocks Tour is on a 35-date tour from 10 November to 28 December, which will be followed by concerts in Japan early next year. Highlighting the set is a 12-foot high marquee featuring 172 IMS Mk2 RGBW lamps.
“The IMS LED lamps are very easy to address,” says Joe Golden of Gallagher Staging. “They are extremely bright, with rich, warm colours and are extremely durable – a must for a rapid-moving tour such as this one. Driven by two IMS Universe Drive DIN Rail units, conveniently mounted in the set, the IMS lamps work seamlessly with incandescent lamps on a 3-channel chase. With so many load-ins and strikes in a short time, the reliability of IMS was as much a consideration as its versatility. The clients are extremely happy with the results. We
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UK - Lighting rental production company Lite Alternative has added the multi award-winning Chroma-Q Color Force II LED batten to its stockholding - using the fixture on a number of high-profile European concert tours and events to date.
The Color Force II was central to lighting designer, Steve Baird's scheme for the 16-date European leg of the Day Breaks tour for nine-time Grammy-winning American singer-songwriter, Norah Jones . Playing to various sized venues and outdoor festivals, Color Force II 48 units were placed on the floor to uplight a huge white voile cyclorama in subtle pastel colours - providing the perfect visual backdrop in texture and mood for each song.
In addition, during an 18-date European tour by American alternative rock band, Interpol to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their acclaimed debut album,Turn on the Bright Lights Color Fo

USA - Media serving and display technology company 7thSense Design delivered updated video technology for the 2017 production of the Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes, presented by Chase.
The full system technology upgrade has transformed the world’s largest proscenium theatre and has enabled video content to be displayed on all eight of the venue’s proscenium arches. 7thSense has provided video systems for Radio City since 2011.
A total of 34 7thSense Infinity Media Servers output two channels each of single mode fibre 12G-SDI at 4096 x 2160 60fps 10-bit 4:2:2 resolution, into an Evertz EQX 12G fibre router and EMX multi-viewer system, offering A-B source redundancy with clean switching and monitoring before heading out to facility fibre distribution.
For the first time ever, digital projections extend from the stage to all eight

Finland - Kenneth Greve’s ballet production Land of Kalevala is currently being staged at the Finnish National Opera, with set, projection and lighting designed by Mikki Kunttu (profiled in LSi November).
The performance focuses on milestones in Finland’s history and incorporates a combination of diverse art forms.
For lighting control, Kunttu used the opera’s grandMA2 system and an MA 3D system for previsualisation.
“I always work with grandMA2 because the console plays a very central role in the process of transforming the production from design to reality,” said Kunttu. “grandMA2 helps me to concentrate on the creative elements of the show, right through from the stage rehearsals to opening ni

Dominican Republic - Luxury resort Luxury Bahía Príncipe Fantasia needed excellent design skills along with reliable luminaires for a permanent light installation.
Located at the heart of the Caribbean and focused on providing entertainment experiences, the resort turned to Javier Álvarez’ Madrid-based installation company Capicúa to create ‘magical’ lightshows.
“With the Dominican Republic’s challenging weather conditions of constant humidity and severe rain, we had to use SGM luminaires,” said Álvarez.
Faced with a job to transform this luxury resort into a hub for shows and international artists, lighting designer Manuel Vicente chose a mix between architectural fantasy spaces, show lighting, and video mapping. Especially thrilled about the versatile P-5 POI, Vicente and Álvarez were able to mount a magical fairytale light installation for th

UK - Technical solutions provider Stage Electrics is hosting a theatre and broadcast equipment showcase on Wednesday, 10 January, at the SS Great Britain in Bristol.
Company representatives will be joined by a host of suppliers and manufacturers, including Philips Vari*Lite, Philips Showline, Strand Broadcast Lighting, Sennheiser, Prolyte, DiGiCo, EM Acoustics, Le Maitre, Swisson, Magic FX, GSL Power, Altair, GDS, Roland, RC4 Wireless and Rosco, who will be exhibiting and demonstrating some of their latest products.
On show will be the latest moving, lights, sound desks, speakers, video mixers, radio microphones, house lighting systems, power distribution, talk back equipment and some exclusive prototypes of new products.
The event is open from 2pm until 8pm, with a bar in the evening and a pyrotechnics demonstration at 6pm. Registration is free and if register

South Africa - The industry has been paying its respects to Richard Blamire, the owner of Cape Staging who died tragically in a motorbike accident on 8 November.
Richard, who lived in Bergvliet, Cape Town, was well-known in the South African events industry having previously worked at Gearhouse, Sound Harmonics and was a close collaborator with Dream Sets. For Sean Hoey of Dream Sets, Richard was one of his best friends. They shared a keen interest in all things mechanical and a love for their craft and family (and Border Collies). With an eye for detail and a creative flair, Richard was able to produce beautiful pieces for events, sometimes even furniture that you would only dream of having in your home.
He was greatly loved by his two sons and his wife, Lynne Poulsen Blamire, a pianist, singer, music composer, songwriter, programmer and arranger.
DWR Distribut

UK - Allen & Heath has announced the availability of the latest ProFactory channel libraries for its Qu series digital mixers. Following successful collaborations with Shure, Sennheiser and Audio Technica, the new presets cover a range of popular sE Electronics microphones, including the V3, V7, VR, 4400a and RNR1.
ProFactory Mic Presets offer engineers of all abilities an ideal starting point to get the best possible sound quickly and easily. The team at Allen & Heath worked closely with sound engineer Frederik Brandt Jakobsen at sE Electronics who developed the optimal settings for each microphone and instrument combination.
“Convenience is key. On-board effects and snapshots are mandatory characteristics of today’s digital consoles. Allen & Heath have taken this one step further with the addition of ProFactory Presets to their Qu series,” says Toni

Japan - Martin Audio Japan (MAJ) recently took part in the Inter BEE exhibition at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba City, launching their premier WPC line array, along with iKON iK42 4-channel power amp and SX218 dual driver subs. The expo, which started in 1960, has increased exhibitors and visitors year-on-year, and this year visitors numbered 40,000 in total, with 1,000 companies taking part.
This time around, MAJ expanded on last year’s booth size, and presented WPC at the SR Line Array Speaker Demo, giving visitors first-hand experience. MAJ also welcomed from the UK Dom Harter, MD of Martin Audio, introducing him to the Japanese market at the same time.
With a new collection that in addition to WPC and iKON amplifiers, also included WPM, along with XE500, XE300 and two of the LE wedge monitors, their booth was packed with visitors throughout the entire three days. A

UK - Engage Works, the full service creative technology agency, reports that it worked behind the scenes with Landsec, the UK’s largest listed commercial property company and owner of London’s Piccadilly Lights, to create an innovative charitable campaign, #PiccadillyOn, to mark the build up to the switching on of the famous Light’s on 26 October, following nine months of renovation work.
The #PiccadillyOn campaign was devised by Engage Works for Landsec, with the intention of creating a community spirit ahead of the launch, whilst raising money and ‘bringing colour to life’ in aid of Barnardo’s – the UK’s largest children’s charity and Landsec’s national charity partner for 2017.
Launched on 15 September, #PiccadillyOn invited people from around the world to sponsor a unique colour ‘chip’ for a minimum donation of £2. Th

Europe - Lighting designer James O'Neill and video designer Mark Cunniffe combined their extensive skills with the latest technology from Avolites to provide the production design for the current tour by Irish pop-rock band, Picture This.
With O'Neill controlling his lighting rig with his tried-and-trusted Avolites Arena console, and the video content run through Avolites Ai media server operated by Tim Hornung, the band's European tour is showcasing the cutting edge of light and video control.
O'Neill, who was responsible for both set and lighting design, created a raised performance area backed, flanked and fronted in LED screen. The production's wraparound surfaces featured a mixture of rich video content developed through a close collaboration between the band, Cunniffe and Tom Readdy of Yes Please Productions.
"Looking at the stage head-on or from an angle

UK - For the second year in succession, AvensysLive provided a Martin Audio MLA Compact PA for the Lingfield Park Resort Fireworks Display in Surrey, marking the beginning of a new three-year contract with the site.
The company’s operations manager, Angus Galloway, confirmed that they had specified MLA Compact as best fit for purpose for the event, and will continue to deploy it at the site in future. Stating his reasons, he said, “It meant we could use the Display software to ensure audio levels outside the audience area were kept to a minimum. We also love the power, sound and clarity that MLA Compact provides.”
The service company fielded 16 x MLA Compact elements and eight WS218X subwoofers, rigged in four stacks, each comprising four MLA Compact and a pair of WS218X. The stacks were placed on LiteDeck decking system at 1.2m in height, evenly spread along th

UK - Stage Electrics has supplied a custom-built Stage Management desk to The Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton. Located in the heart of the midlands, Wolverhampton’s oldest running theatre, The Grand presents a wide range of major touring productions every year. After their stage management desk of 20 years was no longer suitable for their needs, Ray Tizzard of The Grand, turned to industry experts Stage Electrics for a custom designed replacement.
Stage Electrics’ Paul Lucas, liaised with The Grand to establish the requirements of their new Stage Management desk. Once specifications and drawings were signed off and an inspection of the existing infrastructure was undertaken, the Stage Electrics in-house team then went into production of the desk.
The facilities of the desk are a Theatre Cue 16 channel cue light master station, 12 individually addressable cue light ou

Austria - In late September, 145 audio professionals from throughout Europe headed for the Austrian Alps, as Yamaha hosted its sixth annual System Designers Conference in the stunning location of the Scalaria Conference Centre, St Wolfgang.
Featuring workshops and lectures on a wide variety of topics, it was a truly international gathering, attracting audio professionals from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE and the UK.
Participants could have been forgiven for being distracted by the stunning views from the conference centre, located on the shores of the picturesque Wolfgangsee. However all of the seminars hosted in the eight conference rooms were delivered to fully attentive

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