USA - Southern rock band Widespread Panic returned to the road for their annual Halloween extravaganza with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. The 10-day tour treated the jam band's diehard fan base with both Widespread Panic's own psychedelic songs and covers including Black Sabbath's Paranoid (complete with a confetti cannon) that hadn't been played by the band since 1987.

Each show, long time lighting designer Paul Hoffman faces the daunting task of creating different looks for a band whose set list is famously decided at the last minute, while still putting out recognizable looks that jive with the music and theme of the show.

"I really do it pulling from a decade of experience lighting them - knowing the music beat-by-beat and note-by-note," Hoffman sai

The Netherlands - This year's MTV EMA Awards, held at Rotterdam's Ahoy Arena on 6 November, marked the 20th year that Britannia Row Productions has supplied the event's audio requirements.

In these two decades the show has presented them with any number of audio challenges, but the team, formerly led by the late Derrick Zieba and more recently by Colin Pink, has always delivered on all audio fronts. For the past 14 of those years, they have had the support of Sennheiser, both in terms of equipment and technical assistance.

With increasingly RF-heavy environments, the use of Sennheiser equipment, particularly products such as its flagship Digital 9000 Series, which was used by the presenters including US singer Bebe Reixa, has proved increasingly important.

Eight channels of Digital 9000 were on hand for the guest presenters and award acceptance speeches ("On top of the

USA - Music fans across the country continue to discover the sounds of R&B-tinged indie band Wet, who played dates across North America this fall using effects from Elation Professional colour-changing ACL 360 Bar battens as powerful visual accompaniment. Touring in support of their debut album Don't You, released earlier in the year, the Brooklyn-based trio plays an engaging and increasingly popular brand of music that mixes the genres of R&B, electronic, rock, and pop.

Wet's fall Don't You tour confirmed their increasing popularity with enthusiastic crowds and a string of sold out shows. Lighting design for the tour was by Erich Meitzner and James Bailey, who used the ACL 360 Bars to stunning effect by creating dense, seemingly impenetrable walls of light that fully complemented the band's special sound.

Their first outing with the band, Meitzner and Bailey, creat

Europe - Sennheiser is a member of Crestron's Integrated Partner Programme: Both vendors' products can be integrated seamlessly into a single ombined solution. Among the compatible products are the TeamConnect Wireless family of products, SpeechLine DW and ADN.

Data can be exchanged easily between systems, such as Sennheiser's conference solution ADN - here, because control commands are transmitted via TCP/IP, the audio conferencing system's central unit, the ADN CU1, can be connected effortlessly to one of Cestron's media controllers. For example, when the talk button on a docking station is pressed, the media controller interprets the transferred information and triggers functions, such as aligning a camera with a speaker.

This device communication naturally works in both directions, meaning that Sennheiser communication stations can accessed remotely via Crestron touch

UK - LTP Integration has officially announce a new partnership with Anolis UK.

Anolis is the architectural lighting division of Robe lighting and has offices in Australia, Czech Republic, Dubai, France, Russia, Singapore, Uruguay and the USA. Its UK operations are currently based in Northampton, with expansion plans set to incorporate a new site in London.

LTP Integration will provide design, integration, sales and support for interior and exterior architectural lighting schemes across the UK and Europe. The company now has access to the entire Anolis and Robe product range, offering distribution services into various core markets.

Anolis UK is exhibiting within the Lightspace Arena at Lux Live 2016 which takes place at ExCeL, London 23-24 November.

(Jim Evans)

Spain - Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Madrid is Spain's biannual style statement for the international fashion stage, and a forum in which Robert Juliat's Merlin followspot was able to work its magic.

Entrusted with its high-profile lighting design, Citylight S.L., a leading Madrid-based rental, sales and installation company, boosted its lighting inventory with the purchase of four Robert Juliat Merlin followspots to ensure the country's hottest fashion moments were bathed in light of the highest quality.

Citylight positioned the four Merlin spots front-of-house in the vast Feria de Madrid venue to cover the models as they paraded on the catwalk. "With throw distances of 30m to 40m, it was very clear we required the high quality afforded by the Merlins," Citylight stated.

Designed originally to endure the rigours of touring, the fully-featured Merlin followspots, supplie

USA - Meyer Sound Leo Family line arrays have been tapped to anchor the sound for some of the most talked-about new shows both on Broadway and heading out on national tours. New shows in New York include Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, the Cats revival and the annual holiday spectacular at the Radio City Music Hall. In addition, the tours of Fun Home and Finding Neverland are both carrying Leopard line array systems.

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 blazes into Broadway's Imperial Theatre this fall with multi-platinum recording artist Josh Groban in the role of Pierre. The production audaciously retains the show's original staging concept, with the audience inches away from the action, which takes place throughout the theatre. Sound designer Nicholas Pope devised an innovative loudspeaker configuration with multiple small

Italy - Twelve Robe BMFL WashBeams were utilised by artist and lighting designer Mariano de Tassis in an installation at the mausoleum of Italian patriot and Irredentist Cesare Battisti in Trento.

The installation was produced by Filmwork Factory to celebrate the centenary of the death of Battisti. The original idea of highlighting the mausoleum with 12 powerful beams shooting up into the night sky to match the 12 columns of the monument was Mariano's himself, pitched to the Municipality of Trento. He commissioned photographer Pierluigi Cattani Faggion to document the work.

The mausoleum is located on the top of Doss Hill in Trento and was designed by architect Ettore Fagiuoli and inaugurated in 1935. Its 12 columns are 15m high and follow a circumference of 75 metres. It is visible from all over the city and surrounding countryside.

The BMFLs were placed around the pe

featured content

The Many Looks of Zeo

Delivering ultimate brightness and unique looks, Zeo’s distinct face design is defined by a central LED monolith and four reflectors, backed by four RGBW engines. As a blinder or strobe, Zeo promises powerful impact with 30,000+ lumens. With its sheer brilliance and playful effects, Zeo is ready to amplify the energy on any stage.

UK - Battersea Dogs & Cats Home's annual Collars & Coats Gala Ball returned for its eighth year, with Hawthorn on hand to deliver full technical production for the star-studded event. Taking place at Battersea Evolution, a venue set in the grounds of Battersea Park, the creative technical production expert provided lighting, sound and video for the four-legged occasion.

To create the paw-fect atmosphere, Hawthorn used the event branding as inspiration to deliver a chic and stylish production design. With black and gold making up the key colours for the evening, 60 linear metres of custom black and gold drapes were incorporated into the main dining space, helping to develop the overall style of the event whilst also creating an intimate atmosphere for the 748 guests.

Wanting to create a completely different environment to previous years, Hawthorn used two truss circles with

Denmark - From recording the sound of Antarctic wind and saving a Gibson True Vintage guitar, to making movie magic in Hollywood and capturing the sound of termites at dawn in Africa - these were just some of the 700 plus stories received by DPA Microphones in response to its recent Tell Us Your Story competition.

The company asked customers to share stories about how they use microphones and offered a range of prizes, including a first prize of €2,500 (US$2,800) in DPA microphones and accessories.

"We were overwhelmed by the response and very surprised by the creativity of so many of our users," says Anne Berggrein, DPA's VP of marketing. "It was great fun hearing about the many different environments in which our mics have found themselves and the applications they have been used for. Picking a winner was hard because there were so many to choose from."

In th

Canada - KLANG:technologies has announced the appointment of GerrAudio Distribution Inc. as its distributor for Canada. GerrAudio is an established and respected Canadian distributor of professional audio equipment used in the live performance and broadcast industries. Its portfolio of premium brands includes DiGiCo, Clear-Com, DPA and Audio Precision.

KLANG:technologies innovative 3D personal monitor mixing system is a breakthrough development in in-ear monitoring which creates a natural and controllable spatial image around the musician, with a quality of sound that delivers new levels of accuracy and transparency.

"Our aim is to create the perfect in-ear monitor sound for musicians, enabling them to work with greater ease and focus on their performance", says KLANG:technologies' founder and marketing director, Dr. Pascal Dietrich. "Finding the right distributors that sh

Denmark - UK-based theatre, event and installed audio specialists Out Board has appointed Nordic Pro Audio ApS to distribute the TiMax SoundHub audio showcontrol spatial processors and TiMax Tracker performer tracking systems throughout Denmark.

An introduction came about via mutual associates at the prestige Royal Danish Theatre, who have used TiMax systems for many years and respected Nordic Pro Audio's high standards of technical support and passion for groundbreaking audio products.

Out Board's Dave Haydon and Nordic's Torben Aalykke sealed the deal on the company's stand at a busy Monitor Expo show, where Nordic also won an award for Best AV Dealer.

Nordic Pro Audio MD, Torben Aalykke, says, "We are very pleased to distribute the impressive TiMax range of products through Denmark. It is a product that has a great deal to offer theatres and AV installations here, a

Singapore - Italian pro-audio manufacturer Outline recently announced the latest addition to its international distribution network.

Singapore-based OneCircle LLP has been appointed as sole distributor for Singapore and Brunei and takes its place alongside over sixty Outline distributors on five continents.

Although helming a newly formed company, OneCircle's founder and managing partner Hikam Ali explains that he is more than familiar with Outline's product range, as he worked for Outline's previous distributor in Singapore.

OneCircle has decided to concentrate solely on Outline Audio, without compromising its standards handling other brands, and is therefore fully committed to solely promoting Outline.

He adds, "By demonstrating portable, live sound and fixed install systems in schools, places of worship and other venues, we're making sure the systems are being h

Off The Campaign Trail - While the American Music Awards is designed to celebrate the best in US music, many artists instead took the opportunity to comment on the election of Donald Trump. Green Day were perhaps the most vocal group on the night. During a pyrotechnic-filled performance, they turned their track Bang Bang into an anti-Trump song. President-elect Trump has previously declared himself a fan of the punk rock group's work, having seen their musical American Idiot and describing it as "excellent".

Sting took home a lifetime achievement award and his acceptance speech seemed to make reference to current affairs. Rock music is "perhaps America's greatest and most influential export," he said, before saying the genre has been "always open to all colours in the spirit of welcome and inclusion". He added, "A mixing of culture, of rhythm and passion is what

Denmark - Pascal has announced the launch of its new U-PRO Series amplifier module. A design uniquely optimized for self-powered portable PA systems and ultra-compact, high SPL loudspeakers for fixed installation applications; offering both single and asymmetrically rated two-way power channels.

The U-PRO series features unique dynamic power ratings due to its extremely high voltage rails, relative to its RMS power output. Resultantly, with RMS ratings of 280 W, it can deliver ultra-short bursts of 500 W RMS or 1000 W peak power; at a lower cost point than normal market expectations for such power capabilities, says the company. These are optimal performance characteristics for lightweight portable PA and ultra-compact, high output fixed install cabinet designs.

The U-PRO2 has a 280 W + 100 W two channel asymmetrical power rating for two-way loudspeaker cabinet designs, wh

USA - Blink-182 utilized an Eastern Acoustic Work's (EAW) Adaptive sound reinforcement system for their North American tour, which played sold out shows nationwide to promote their latest album, California. Camarillo, California-based Rat Sound provided sound reinforcement for the popular punk rock band, which they have done since the band's rise to fame in the early 1990s.

"Because we played a variety of venues from large clubs like The Joint in Las Vegas to amphitheatres and arenas, we needed to travel with a PA that was versatile and easily configured to cover any venue size," said Jason Decter, who has manned FOH for Blink-182 since 2009. "I have been involved with EAW's Adaptive system since it was introduced and felt it not only provided the sonic quality the tour demanded, but was flexible enough to adapt to different venues."

The Blink-182 tour inventory con

USA - A James Thomas Engineering 20.5" SuperTower system was used to construct a test stand at Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) in California for the return mission from Mars. The plates and gates of the tower system were employed to make all connections for the tower's different levels.

The test stand will be used to simulate the speeds of samples that have been jettisoned off Mars by the rover and returned to earth via an ascent rocket for detailed chemical and physical analysis. It is crucial that the re-entry system containing the returning samples do not fail upon impact and become contaminated with the earth's soil.

Use of the JTE tower allows JPL to gather as much real data as possible to ensure success of the mission. With the JTE tower, the current unit doesn't just experience free fall impact but also has a built-in accelerator so impact can be simulated in real

UK - Aurora Lighting supported lighting director Gurdip Mahal and gaffer James Tinsley on a brace of shows for Channel 4's Stand Up to Cancer.

Filmed in front of an audience at Central Hall, Westminster, the SU2C live event included appearances by Boy George, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and John Legend, for an evening of entertainment, all focused on raising awareness of the fight against cancer.

The LD, gaffer and crew made good use of an array of fixtures including almost 100 GLP X4 and SGM P-5 LED to add deep, vibrant colour washes throughout the grandiose interior of the Central Hall. Using a mix of the ultra-versatile Clay Paky Mythos, Vari-lite 1000TS and Martin MAC Viper Profile automated heads, the look was given a modern edge that contrasted perfectly against the majestic setting.

Shooting The Crystal Maze on location in London, the crew w

Portugal - TAC (The Audiovisual Company) in Portugal has upgraded its media presentation rooms and main stadium LED displays at FC Porto, Drag

The Netherlands - Dutch full service audio rental company Peak Audio has invested in two Solid State Logic L500 Plus live consoles to supply growing demand for SSL Live across Europe. SSL partner Audio Electronics Mattijsen (AEM) supplied the consoles.

Casper van Aalst, the managing director of Peak Audio says that they are simply responding to their customers' needs: "There are a lot of engineers talking about SSL," he explains. "So this is a great moment for us fulfil their wishes and buy the SSL Live consoles."

Peak Audio has been in the audio rental business for over 25 years and provides both full-service and dry-hire for broadcast entertainment shows, theatre, dance events, and music tours and concerts. "Our key business is audio," notes van Aalst. "We're proud of being the audio supplier for so many customers and we constantly strive to do everything we can to fulfi

Europe - Dutch symphonic metal band Delain are touring Europe this fall on a Moonbathers tour and using the versatile effects of Elation Professional's ACL 360 Bar LED battens to complement the big-hook metallic rock show.

Lighting designer on the tour is Nick van Balen, who was looking for a powerful multi-effect light to project a variety of looks and support the band's grandiose sound. "Dennis Bruynseels from Elation invited me to the Elation headquarters in Kerkrade (NL) to check out the ACL 360 Bar and I liked what I saw," he said. "I liked the effects you could get out of the 360 Bars and it was there that the idea was born to use them for this tour."

Delain came to prominence in the early 2000s as a prime example of symphonic metal with its hard-driving, Eurocore guitars and impassioned classical-style vocals, expertly done by Charlotte Wessels.

Nick uses 14 of

Latest Issue. . .