South Korea - Nothing But Thieves were very happy with their touring set-up, but a ‘fly-in’ gig in South Korea changed everything. The in-house desk was a DiGiCo Quantum 338 and Gary Curtis, front of house engineer, knew as soon as he heard it that there was no going back, and once the band had heard his multi-track recordings, they agreed.

The Quantum 338 is now their desk of choice at both the front of house and monitor positions. “We had been using another system for about seven years,” Curtis explains. “But when we heard the Quantum, we all knew it was really good. I was able to do a recording of the sound check, so we could A-B it. The other console was great, but the DiGiCo is completely different.”

David Ruffle, monitor engineer, was

Indonesia - Void Acoustics has appointed PT Electro Audio Engineering as its new, exclusive distribution partner for Indonesia.

Founded in 2009, PT Electro delivers professional audio solutions for premium hospitality clientele in Indonesia. It provides its customers with a holistic service that includes sound system design and consultancy, product demonstrations, design & build services, and extensive after-sales support.

Wilson Buana, president director of PT Electro Audio Engineering, states, "Partnering with Void Acoustics allows us to introduce premium audio solutions filled with top-notch innovation and extraordinary design aesthetics to Indonesian consumers. This partnership propels us to new heights in the Indonesian market, enabling us to compete aggressively with industry competitors."

This partnership marks the next stage of Vo

Slovakia - For almost half a century, Jean Michel Jarre has pushed the boundaries of studio production and live performance.

Jarre’s most recent appearance saw him take to the stage in the Slovakian capital Bratislava to perform his Bridge From the Future show in front of 100,000. The gig opened STARMUS, a science and music festival founded by Queen guitarist Brian May and astrophysicist Dr Garik Israelian, with the aim of uniting science, art, and music to explore critical questions about the future of the planet.

For what would be an audio tour-de-force involving additional contributions from Brian May, the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and a 19-strong chorus form the Slovak Philharmonic Choir, delivered from the largest stage ever constructed in Slovakia, Jean Michel Jarre specified a Coda Audio system to meet the challenge.

Exp

UK - The Olivier Awards 2024 took place on Sunday 14 April 2024 at the Royal Albert Hall, from where it was broadcast by ITV1, and streamed internationally on YouTube and by BritBox. It was presented by Emmy winner and multi-Olivier nominee Hannah Waddingham who opened the show, accompanied by the London Community Gospel Choir, with a performance of Anything Goes.

The three-hour long Awards show was interspersed with performances from the casts of West End musical theatre including Hadestown, Sunset Boulevard, Operation Mincemeat, and Guys and Dolls.

Lighting designer Ben Cracknell, lighting the Olivier Awards for his 11th year, chose 78 Ayrton Perseo Profile fixtures, provided by White Light, as his work horse fixtures. He wanted to modernise and unify under one fixture type his previously mixed rig, so h

France - Poised at the gateway to the Champagne vineyards, Châlons-en-Champagne is steeped in heritage and culture, blending history with innovation. Its cathedrals and gothic architecture house a vibrant creative community. Le Capitole en Champagne's multi-purpose venue showcases creativity, serving the community with events ranging from one-person shows to live music and musicals in a versatile space. Opened in 2012 and managed by S-Pass TSE group, the modular space can hold 3,600 in a mix of seated and standing audiences.

In 2023, faced with an expanding lineup of events, Le Capitole en Champagne updated the existing audio system, aiming for top-tier sound quality and versatility to meet diverse demands. Julien Dejonckeere, technical director at S-Pass TSE, which manages the venue, specified an L-Acoustics professional audio system and contacted local ce

UK - Currently running at the Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End, Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder! is an award-winning musical comedy which follows Kathy & Stella – hosts of Hull’s least successful true crime podcast. However, when their favourite author is killed, the pair find themselves thrust into a thrilling whodunnit of their own.

The show features a lighting design by Peter Small who approached White Light (WL), a d&b solutions company, to supply his rig, having previously done so for the show’s Bristol and Manchester run. For the London production, an addition to the rig included the Macula remote follow-spot System – distributed in the UK by Sound Technology - making the show the first in West End history to use this technology.

Kathy & Stella arrived in London following its previous sell-out r

Finland - Mikki Kunttu brought Richard Wagner’s epic Der Ring des Nibelungen, also known as the Ring tetralogy, to a conclusion at the Finnish National Opera with the performance of the monumental, nearly six-hour-long Götterdämmerung featuring Claypaky Xtylos, the world’s first laser-based beam lighting fixture.

The first instalment of The Ring Cycle, Das Rheingold, was performed at the Finnish National Opera in August and September 2019. The Covid pandemic delayed the second opera, Die Walkure, until autumn 2022, with performances of Siegfried following in March and April 2023. Over these past years, The Ring played to full houses. Its visual aspect and direction, the Orchestra of the Finnish National Opera, and the soloists’ world-class singing have been acclaimed by audiences

USA - The David H. Koch Theatre, nestled in the heart of Lincoln Centre and renowned for its dedication to dance, has recently undergone a transformative technological upgrade. In a collaborative effort with Clear-Com, the theatre has revamped its wireless intercom, and installed all new panels to enhance communication efficiency.

Originally constructed in 1964 as the New York State Theatre, the venue was designed by the esteemed architect Philip Johnson. Over the years, it has played a pivotal role in the cultural landscape of New York, serving as the home to the New York City Ballet and hosting various other theatrical performances, including classic Broadway musical revivals. Most recently, the 2024 Tony Awards were held at the theatre, utilising Clear-Com's advanced communication systems to ensure a smooth and successful event.

In a generous comm

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UK - PLASA Show, the UK’s international event for live entertainment technology, will take up residence under the roof of Olympia London once again from 1-3 September 2024.

Free registration is now open, providing 5,000+ visitors unlimited access to 200+ global brands, a packed educational programme, and endless opportunities to get up close and hands on with the latest generation of professional products.

Featuring a who’s-who of the live sector, the vibrant show floor is 10% bigger than last year, with exhibitors still signing up for stands. PLASA Show welcomes back Robe as headline sponsor, along with an impressive raft of manufacturers, distributors, and service providers. 

Lighting professionals can meet all the big names, including Beamz, Chauvet Professional, Claypaky, ETC, GLP, Goboplus, Highlite International, Prolight, Lumos Li

UK - We are sad to announce the death of Mick McManus, who has died at the age of 73. Although he left the sound and lighting industry many years ago, Mick was among the founding fathers of what became known as the disco industry, during his time as a director of pyro and effects giants, Le Maitre.

Jerry Gilbert writes, “An outrageous, larger than life character Mick generally kept the first generation of disco troops upbeat with his non-stop volley of jokes.

Like so many, Mick started as a DJ with Roger Squire’s agency, where he was booked out as ‘Barry Martin’ to avoid confusion with the popular wrestler of the same name. He first came into contact with sound and light manufacturers during his time at Wing Disco Centre in Bromley, the popular retailer.

He also ran Croydon-based Tulip Music with his colleague and lifelong fr

UK - Keane20, Hope and Fears, was the hotly anticipated tour from Keane, celebrating 20 years since their debut album was released in 2004. The tour continues with festival dates around the world over the summer.

For Philip Harvey at the front of house position and Hannah Brodrick on monitors, it was important the set-up was as streamlined as possible, so using DiGiCo consoles for shared stage racking was essential. Utilising KLANG for immersive mixes kept the monitor footprint compact, while at front of house, the integration of Quantum’s onboard technologies ensured the workflow was efficient and consistent across all venues.

Harvey is an engineer with over 25 years of experience touring. For the Keane20 tour the brief was clear: working within the ethos of a striped back, clean-lined stage design, the sound set-up needed to justify every centime

Poland - Sixty million pixels of content is being driven to 18 HD projectors and three LED screens as part of an immersive installation at the Bieszczady Cultural Heritage Centre, with tvONE's Green Hippo Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers at the core of the visuals. More than 200GB of animated graphics are being handled by the Boreal+ MK2s in a show designed to educate, inform and entertain.

The Centre, called Bieszczadzkie Centrum Dziedzictwa Kulturowego in Polish, is located in the southeast town of Ustrzyki Dolne. Its multimedia rooms, exhibition zones, and concert hall have been constructed in an old refinery, offering ample space for the AV show, which takes visitors into a virtual reality space to tell stories about multiculturalism, the richness of nature, and economic development. The room in which the project is installed measures 15 x 15m.

Europe - Lighting designer Andre Beekmans from design studio The Art of Light buckled up for hardcore techno rave action with Scooter on their Thirty Rough & Dirty tour celebrating 30 years of dance music!

Andre’s technical rider specifies several Robe moving lights – 78 x Pointes, 45 x Spiiders, 82 x Tetra2s and three Fortes used as follow spots on a remote follow system – all picked for their speed, functionality, and robustness for a genre of music that seriously challenges the build quality of any piece of lighting kit!

Andre – whose clients include Armin van Buuren, Afrojack and a string of other high profile dance artists – started working with Scooter in 2022 on a stadium tour of German-speaking countries.

One of Andre’s starting points for Thirty, Rough & Dirty’s production lighting design was M

France - The latest edition of ibis RockCorps returned recently with a major gig at Paris’s Accor Arena, featuring the triple bill of Macklemore, Franglish and Rosinia. The concept of the event is that anyone giving four hours of their time as a civic project volunteer in the French capital is eligible for tickets to this free concert.

Martin Audio partner, production company 22live, tendered and won the contract, having worked for the show’s producers CC-Lab in the past.

However, 22live director Paul Timmins was aware that to service a gig economically within the Eurozone would require a marriage of careful logistics and high-octane sound - knowing that working in Europe post-Brexit poses a bureaucratic nightmare of Kafkaesque proportions.

He rationalised that by flying Martin Audio’s large format Wavefront Precision W

UK - The new Coyote Ugly Saloon in Bristol is bringing a slice of the Big Apple to south-west England with a high-energy audio installation powered by Powersoft T Series amplifiers.

Inspired by the original Coyote Ugly bar in New York, immortalised in the cult 2000 film Coyote Ugly, the first UK Coyote Ugly Saloon opened its doors in 2016 and instantly proved popular in Liverpool and Birmingham. The newest venue, which also has sister bars in London, Cardiff and Swansea is located on Bristol’s Bordeaux Quay, with long-time integration partner Spartan Audio Visual adding the audio muscle.

“We’ve worked with the UK franchise owner for a long time and understand a lot about how they like to work in order to deliver maximum value without compromising the overall AV product,” explains Dave Morgan, Spartan Audio Visual’s sales and instal

USA - Renkus-Heinz has announced the appointment of a new manufacturer’s representative for the states of Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan - C. L. Pugh & Associates.

Joe Fustolo, Eastern regional sales manager at Renkus-Heinz, comments, "I am very excited to bring on C.L. Pugh as our new representative. Their reputation from KY to MI is second to none for customer service and support. We here at Renkus-Heinz are constantly striving to improve and adapt to today’s ever-changing environment, and C.L. Pugh has a great hand on the heartbeat of their territory. I know we will do great things together.”

Bob Tevs, president of C.L. Pugh & Associates, adds, "We are excited and proud at C.L. Pugh & Associates to be representing Renkus-Heinz in our territory. The product line fits in very well with the

USA - Guitarist and singer/songwriter Gary Clark Jr. is out on his Hyperwave tour in support of his most recent album, JPEGRAW. Bandit Lites provided the lighting for the North American dates, which covered nearly every type of venue, from mobile stages to Red Rocks to Radio City. When assembling the scalable lighting system, designers John Adamo and Robert Fuller took inspiration directly from Clark Jr.’s music.

“We really wanted to try and pay respect to the sonic diversity and range we felt was such a standout feature of the project,” explained Adamo. “We wanted the lighting design to try and reflect what we heard in the music: A combination of strong, defined layers that stand strong in their own right but really shine when woven together.”

The modular rig had a baseline width of 41’ that would need to compress inward or even have ent

UK - Wharfedale Pro has announced the release of a significant update to its popular MP Series amplifier range. Designed for the most extreme operating environments, the updated MKII models build on the hard-working reputation of this reliable, high-performance product series.  

“Our MP Series analogue amps have been used and abused by customers around the world for decades,” explains Peter Peck, marketing manager at Wharfedale Pro. “Often found in the most extreme working environments, MP series have earned their reputation as a real ‘tank’ of amplification, but updated component and technological advances now allow us to make some practical improvements.”

By optimising component selection and refining the chassis design, the updated MP amplifiers now deliver increased power output and have improved damping factors to control loudspeak

Economic Boost - The UK's newest film and TV studios have fully opened. Shinfield Studios near Reading, boasts 18 sound stages, including two of the biggest in the country at 43,000 sq ft and has already attracted major feature films and TV series. Situated alongside the M4 motorway, the site was given the go-ahead by planners in 2021 and has opened in stages over the past two years.

Its US owners say the studios should provide an economic boost with major films typically requiring productions crews of three to 500, including skilled technicians and craftspeople. The studios have already played host to the latest Ghostbusters film where one of the sound stages was turned into a New York street, complete with the iconic firehouse.

It has also been providing a site for home grown productions. Occupying one of the sound stages at the moment is a film of

UK - Take That’s This Life world tour takes in arenas and stadiums with audio design, equipment delivery and crew from Skan, a Clair Global brand. Led by tour director Chris Vaughan and production manager Wez Wearing, Take That still attract multi-generational fans in their tens of thousands per night.

Now a three-piece comprising Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald, FOH engineer Gary Bradshaw has had the same objective since their inception in 1993: “I must get the show to sound as close to the records possible, it’s what their fans expect. With the live band, the arrangements are different, but the overall sound needs to be similar. Mike Stevens, our musical director, is very good at arranging the music, and the musicians are brilliant.”

Gary has used DiGiCo desks since they came to market, this time taking an SD7 Quantum out.

UK - As we approach the UK General Election on 4 July, The Power of Events is eager to understand the key event industry issues influencing #EVENTPROFS at the ballots. “We believe your audience can significantly contribute to this crucial discussion by engaging with us on the Event Industry Insight App,” says the group.

“From Monday 24 June to Friday 28 June, The Power of Events is conducting a lightning-fast pulse check on the Events Industry Insight App as part of our ongoing testing of the app - it will take less than a minute to complete. The insights gathered will help understand the priorities and concerns impacting the UK Events Industry and will be shared publicly on Monday 1 July.

“By promoting this pulse check, you will be helping the industry gain a strong understanding of the issues most influencing event professionals and their o

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