Australia - Situated on Australia's Sunshine Coast, The Events Centre is regarded as the area's premier performing arts and conference centre, and recently underwent an audio upgrade including the installation of Allen & Heath's flagship dLive digital mixing system.

The Events Centre has two theatres and dining spaces for over 1,000 patrons, and is the largest function centre on the coast with fine dining, high tech staging and presentation equipment for large and small dining events, award nights, conferences, theatre and special events, as well as an exciting annual program of entertainment and cultural events.

"The Centre had auditioned most of the big name consoles and we had pretty much decided on the way forward when dLive came into the picture. Once we heard it the wh

Switzerland - Throughout 2016, Yamaha's flagship RIVAGE PM10 digital mixing console has been seen on an increasing number of events and tours, giving engineers the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the state-of-the-art system. In late July it was specified by Swiss rental company Hyperson SA for Paléo Festival Nyon - Switzerland's biggest music festival - where it was the star of a show which also featured several other Yamaha digital mixers.

Established in 1972, Hyperson SA is one of mainland Europe's major technical production companies. It has been supplying audio equipment to the Paléo Festival since 1978. "Yamaha consoles are suitable for a very wide range of applications and everyone knows them. That's incredibly useful for festivals, because a lot of bands have show files and it's very easy to accommodate guest engineers. For example many artists

USA - Prior to Major League Baseball's 2016 All-Star Game on 12 July at Petco Park in San Diego, an All-Star Game FanFest took place the week leading up to the annual Midsummer Classic. One of the FanFest's most popular events was the MLB All-Star Bash where top acts Akon, Fall Out Boy and DJ Vice performed beneath a lighting rig that included Platinum Series moving heads, ACL Bar 360 LED effect lights and Colour Chorus Series LED battens from Elation Professional.

Held on 10 July at the Sails Pavilion at the San Diego Convention Centre, Aspect Lighting of Southern California, managed by owner Sid Khera, supplied the lighting and truss structure for the event. Lighting design was by Phil Shearer of lighting and production design company Shearer Entertainment with Aspect Lighting's Larry Doerr providing creative design and layout input. Lighting design assistance was from Nick

USA - Music critics sometimes struggle to describe the sound of CLASSIXX, a production duo made up of childhood friends Michael David and Tyler Blake that achieved widespread acclaim in the early 2000s as remixers for groups like Phoenix and Yacht. Going beyond standard banger-style electronic music, the twosome deliver a blend of house, funk and indie influences into their work - all while managing to sound captivatingly retro without being sentimental.

Lighting designer Noah Sharp captured the intricate spirit of CLASSIXX's music in light at the recent album release show for their much-anticipated second LP Faraway Reach, which was held at the historic 800-seat El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. A key part of Sharp's design was the retro uplighting looks he created with the Rogue R1 Wash from Chauvet Professional.

Sharp used six Rogue R1 Washes in his floor package, c

USA / China - Making their first visit to China, Meyer Sound co-founders John and Helen Meyer will attend the PALM China 2016 Expo in Beijing this September to emphasize the company's commitment to serving the Asia-Pacific region with leading-edge professional audio technologies. The Meyers will meet with key customers, consultants, experts and the audio trade press. In addition, company CEO John Meyer will address the annual conference of the China Entertainment Technology Association on 31 August.

The two founders' first-time visit to China is in response to increasing demand for the company's advanced technologies as evidenced by high-profile installations throughout the country. "China has become the world leader in creating imaginative, large-scale entertainment spectaculars," observes John Meyer. "These are among the largest and most sophisticated audio systems anywhere,

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UK - Drapes, special effects specialist S+H Technical was asked by creative production design practice Scott Callaghan Art Production, run by Sid Scott & Alison Callaghan in Cardiff to provide large quantities of their RGB LED starcloth to the high profile National Eisteddfod of Wales, this year staged in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire.

Set designer Sid Scott worked closely with lighting designer Nigel Catmur on crafting the aesthetic for the main hub of the event, the Pafiliwn, an 1800 capacity theatre space which hosts various live performances, competitions and the main crowning ceremonies held throughout the week-long event.

This year for the first time the Pafiliwn was staged in a new venue - a 60m long by 40m deep pavilion structure from staging specialist Neptunus Structures, based on their fully insulated Evolution II temporary building system and featuring around 9m o

Singapore - LD Mac Chan was part of the team led by creative director Beatrice Chia who made every Singaporean burst with pride on their 2016 National Day Parade (NDP) and this year, for the first time, the event was staged at the new National Stadium. With a live audience of 50,000, a TV audience of around 5m plus a few more million tuning in to the live internet stream, there was plenty of pressure on everyone to deliver.

Mac needed to fill the vast space of the National Stadium with light and chose 500 of Robe's powerful and versatile BMFL luminaires as the main moving lights - 400 BMFL Blades and 100 BMFL Spots - all rigged on trusses flown in the stadium roof and supplied by leading Singapore rental company, Showtec Communications Pte. Ltd.

The theme of this year's NDP looked forward to the future and the next 50 years of Singapore - having just celebrated the foundat

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Switzerland - After almost 17 years of construction, the grand opening of the Gothard Base Tunnel was celebrated on 1 June with more than 1000 guests.

Winkler Multi Media Events, one of the leading Swiss event service providers, was responsible for equipping the production of theatre director Volker Hesse. Once again, Winkler used Rock Solid Technologies' RockSwitch in order to secure the four light control desks.

"For many years, we have been trustng in our RockSwitches as a backup solution," says Roni Huber, project manager at Winkler. "Being a responsible event service provider, we have to ensure that everything is running as smoothly as possible, not just on stage but also behind the scenes, even in the worst possible case.

"In the light control field, the RockSwitch allows us to obtain the required security. It is definitely a very useful device that should not be

UK - Philips Lighting reports that 40 Philips Showline SL NITRO 510C LED strobes delivered maximum impact on chart-topping British DJ Wilkinson's packed out live performance at Manchester's Parklife festival.

Following on from his live shows at more than 20 venues around Europe, the drum and bass giant has embarked on a string of festival dates. One of the first stops was Parklife, with Wilkinson performing his live show on the Sunday of the Heaton Park takeover.

Lighting designer James Baker of Creative Video Design chose the Philips SL NITRO 510C strobes as part of his dynamic yet flexible floor package. With tight festival timescales and a small amount of space for storage backstage, Baker comments that the compact dimensions yet stunning output of the Philips SL NITRO 510C made it ideal:

"We needed a fixture that was light and had low power consumption but would al

UK - C venues is back at the Edinburgh Fringe for its 25th year, creating and curating more than 20 theatre, performance and exhibition spaces at pop-up venues in and around the city centre. This year, C venues' visiting designers and technicians are using some of the latest products from ETC for a vibrant and packed programme of theatre, circus, cabaret, musicals, dance, comedy and children's shows.

"ETC has been supporting C venues for a number of years, allowing us to improve the capability of our venues and exposing ETC products to young, up-and-coming theatre companies and technicians," says Richard Williamson, head of production, C venues. "ETC has a long reputation for producing well-built, reliable equipment and providing an exceptional level of technical support; and we are thrilled to be using the new ETC ColorSource consoles and lanterns.

"The consoles are a gre

UK - The judging panel of the Knight of Illumination Awards 2016 Concert Touring and Events category has announced its shortlisted designers for the highly-anticipated ceremony next month at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith.

The panel, led by new Chairperson for this year Coral Cooper, is made up of deputy editor of Lighting&Sound International magazine Claire Beeson, head of lighting design at creative agency Imagination Jonny Milmer, editor of Total Production International magazine Kelly Murray and formally-trained lighting designer and experienced video content creator Miguel Ribeiro. Beeson, Milmer and Ribeiro are also new to the process for 2016.

"The incredibly high standard of entries for the KOI Awards Concert Touring and Events category made selecting a shortlist a real challenge," says Claire Beeson. "It's been an honour to witness the vast and varied array of wo

Australia - The USB DI Plus is ARX's new 'second generation' USB DI, and the first with dual mode audio input interface - digital and analogue - two DIs in one.

"ARX released our first USB DI back in 2007 and the unit has become an industry standard for USB - analogue audio conversion," says ARX managing director, Colin Park.

"Recently, we've been looking at where and how ARX's USB DIs are being used, and concluded that along with USB enabled devices, some users also stored their audio playback material on tablet devices, phones and iPads which have no direct USB digital outputs, and that interfacing these devices outputs reliably with the professional world of balanced audio can be a problem.

"At ARX we concluded that our new second generation 'USB DI Plus' should offer users a 'one box - dual mode' solution to both their USB digital and analogue audio interface needs

USA - X-Laser has completely redesigned and re-engineered their most popular entry-level laser system, the Mobile Beat. The result is the all-new Mobile Beat Mirage. As X-Laser USA's ninth generation of the Mobile Beat, the Mobile Beat Mirage presents a versatile yet accessible system for creating sharp graphics and vividly colourful beam shows.

"We looked at the feedback we received from mobile entertainers using previous versions of the Mobile Beat, and took that into consideration when designing the Mirage," Adam Raugh, X-Laser's president, said. "Our product development team knocked it out of the park and jam-packed as many quality features and components into the Mirage as possible, while maintaining a sharp focus on keeping the unit affordable for anyone looking for a great 'starter' laser."

The components to which Raugh refers include precision 30K graphics scanners

USA - Bandit Lites recently added the new Chauvet Rogue R1 FX-B to its massive touring inventory, making Bandit the first in the world to take these fixtures out on tour.

"Building on the popular automated pixel mappable batten category of fixtures currently in the market place, Chauvet found a way to make it unique to them," explained Bandit's director of technical services Jake Tickle. "The ability to individually tilt each of the five LED cells enables countless creative ways to use the fixture."

The Rogue R1 FX-B can currently be seen on Shinedown's Carnival of Madness tour (lighting design by Sooner Routhier, lighting director Carter Fulghum), which is currently crisscrossing the nation, and country music heartthrob Chris Lane (lighting design by Andy Knighton).

"Creatively, its limits are endless," finished Tickle. "From pixel mapping, to a miniature automated AC

UK - Working with the Cambridge Live Trust and their production manager, Andrew Keightly, PRG XL Video has continued its long-running relationship with the Cambridge Folk Festival.

Each year the festival takes place in Cherry Hinton, Cambridge UK, and attracts the very best folk music artists from around the world. The festival site includes a range of stages arranged around a central area where many audience members choose to sit.

This year, the main stage tent saw performances from artists including Christy Moore, Gogol Bordello, Imelda May, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Glen Hansard. Ensuring the audiences had a great view of the main stage performances, two LED screens, each 3.6 x 2.4m, were located either side of the entrance to the tent.

PRG XL Video senior account manager, Paul Wood, specified ROE Visual MC-7T Blackface LED for the screens. The product is IP65 rate

Australia - In the heart of the central business district of Melbourne lies the popular Spice Market bar, ultra lounge and nightclub. Offering an eclectic programme of DJs, live performances, and award-winning food against a stunning backdrop of Indo-Asian design, the chic nightspot draws a diverse cross section of people.

Recently, in hopes of continuing their longstanding success, owners Geremy and Dean Lucas decided to update and renovate their establishment, whilst adding a new dynamic visual spice. Designer Sohail e. Najafi of Najafi Design Group, helped them accomplish this goal with a new comprehensive theatrical and effect lighting system that featured approximately 30,000 pixel-mapped LEDs and DMX-controlled flying automation, all supported by Chauvet DJ Intimidator Spot LED 350 moving fixtures.

Najafi was initially faced with a couple of significant challenges wh

France - DesignScene, a UK and US based creative design and production specialist in live events, was recently commissioned by Lighthouse Creative Works, NYC, to design, realise and deliver an innovative and technical production for an exclusive party for Live Nation at the 2016 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

The Lions event is an all-action global event renowned as the largest gathering of worldwide advertising professionals, designers, digital innovators and marketers.

The DesignScene team of 21, led by Attila Keskin delivered an environment for key influencers and movers-and-shakers who were in town for the Lions.

The party event culminated in a special acoustic performance by Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl in a truly magical setting.

DesignScene also created two different innovative and highly visual 'cabana' meeting environments for Live Nation (

Japan - One of the biggest music festivals in Japan, Rock In Japan Festival 2016, took place recently at the Hitachi Seaside Park, in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Japan. Organized by Rockin'On magazine, over two weekends in August, it featured seven stages. Martin Audio's premium MLA Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array was installed on its main Grass Stage, as well as other featured stages, such as Park Stage, and Sound of Forest, courtesy of MSI Japan.

More than 200 leading artists took part in an event in which each of the four days was sold out well in advance.

Grass Stage included three types of audience area. The Standing Zone was for watching the bands from closer to the stage, a 'Sheet Zone", where those watching can spread the sheet and at the furthest point a Tent Zone where crowds can sit directly on the grass and pitch parasols.

Thanks to the MLA's high degree o

USA - Nashville once again held one of the largest Independence Day events in the country, as even with a dismal forecast, event organizers for Let Freedom Sing July 4 in Music City estimated than somewhere between 125,000 to 150,000 turned out to honour the nation's birthday along the river front.

Bandit Lites once again worked with Chris Lisle Lighting Designs to provide lighting for the celebration. In the eight years he has been involved with the event, production manager Chris Lisle has seen the event grow to three active stages across six city blocks.

"This event has become a destination event for tourism, so we are excited for that growth," said Lisle. "Nashville is the "it" city right now and with that comes an increase in residents and tourist. It is our objective each year to out-do the last - whether that be size of shells used in the firework show to the

UK - MDG's theONE, the award-winning, touring dual haze and fog generator, has been bought by Liverpool-based Adlib to strengthen its 'complete package' offering to production managers and lighting designers.

No sooner had theONE atmospheric generator arrived, it immediately joined American blues rocker, Joe Bonamassa, as he toured the UK and Europe this summer paying tribute to three of the legends of the British Blues, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Post tour, theONE will feature at various prestigious events Adlib is involved in after the summer festival season.

For Adlib's lighting & video general manager, Mike Docksey, theONE was the only choice. He explains, "We felt it was the most suitable product on the market with a good reputation to add to our armoury for large scale live events. As we constantly grow our inventory and the scale of events which we unde

Ecuador - An Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing system was employed for monitor and live recording duties at the recent anniversary concert of Ecuador's renowned singing star, Paulina Tamayo. Hosted at Quito's Ruminahui Colluseum, the concert marked the singer's 45-year career, and was attended by 14,000 people. Ronny Lopez from rental company, Maxi Audio, selected the dLive system to manage monitors and the multitrack recording feed for a live DVD production. The technical specifications were 52 input channels, 26 outputs for wedges and in-ears and the possibility to record everything on multitrack. "I started looking at the options and dLive won hands down," explains Lopez. An S7000 Surface with a DM64 MixRack were selected, fitted with a Dante network card. "This was the first time Ihad used dLive and I was very impressed. For me, the stand out features are the 96 kHz pro

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