UK - In August, Nigerian Afro-fusion star Burna Boy’s Twice As Tall event was the first in the London O2 Arena’s Welcome Back Show series of live concerts. Sold out with fans hungry for live entertainment, Yamaha Rivage PM10 digital mixing systems helped deliver a much-anticipated, impressive live production.
2021 has been a highly successful year for Burna Boy, winning a Grammy Award for his 2020 Billboard-topping album Twice As Tall, Artiste of the Year at the Global Music Awards Africa and Best International Act at the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards. He headed to the O2 Arena with a spectacular show, arriving in a flying saucer and spending much of the performance on a stage projection, surrounded by the audience on three sides.
With music blen

UK - A new dance festival called Electric Woodlands took place recently in the idyllic grounds of Bygrave Farm in Baldock. Three bespoke stages, set in lush green landscapes, and a hidden forest provided the backdrop to a who's who of drum & bass, house and bass exponents over an 11-hour period.
Capital Sound, part of the Solotech UK Group, equipped all three stages with PA, the two largest fitted out with premium Martin Audio systems.
The service providers had been introduced to the event by Alex Anderson, a production manager with whom they had worked previously. Capital senior project manager, Martin Connolly reports, “We were then contacted and initially asked to quote on the main stage before extending this to the other two stages.”
The crew worked alongside the event’s main production manager, Catherine Bates, observing sound thresholds set by F1

UK - Green Hippo’s flagship Hippotizer Tierra+ MK2 Media Server took centre stage to drive visuals at the James Bond No Time To Die world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall.
Richard Bagshaw from UK-based live events video playback and content creators Digital Insanity took the helm at the star-studded film launch on the famous red carpet steps, harnessing the power of a Tierra+ MK2 with the serial number 001 (for premiere purposes, of course. 007 was otherwise engaged).
TV viewers and those lucky enough to attend the premiere arrived on the red carpet surrounded by 14 LED screens, forming giant cubes to display Bond teasers, clips and graphics. Digital Insanity supplied content creation and video playback services for the red carpet event and also supplied content for the press junket, entrance tunnel and the after movie drinks reception.
“I’ve been

USA - Italian professional lighting brand DTS will attend LDI for the first time since 2016 when the show returns to Las Vegas in November.
DTS had announced an exclusive partnership with American distribution company Apex technologies in July 2021, marking its official return to the American market. Members of both companies will be attending the event.
DTS will be stationed at booth 2748 and will showcase its latest wash moving head Alchemy 7, designed to meet the everchanging needs of theatre and television. A range of projectors from DTS’s entertainment line will also be at the exhibition like Synergy 7, profile moving head whose output reaches up to 55,000 lumen.
Carmen Savarese, international sales manager at DTS comments, “We’re very glad to be able to attend this year as our company’s return to the United States marks the start of a new chapter

France - Extending spatial processing to a wider range of productions and venues, L-Acoustics has introduced the next generation of its 3D audio processing engine, L-ISA Processor II. The new processor offers users more power, performance and flexibility, and is available in four different output configurations through a one-time, tiered license fee.
Similar to its predecessor, L-ISA Processor II is a hardware solution that provides advanced object-based mixing for the most demanding immersive audio productions. While both units offer control of spatial audio processing and virtual acoustics for up to 96 audio objects based on speaker positioning information and mixing parameters - including pan, width, distance, elevation, and aux send - the new L-ISA Processor II doubles the original unit’s potential output count of 64 up to 128 outputs for greater power and versatility
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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. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

USA - Additional methods to control the colour output of light sources have been added to the DALI-2 certification programme, which is operated by the DALI Alliance. DALI-2 certification is built on open, international standards and is focused on device interoperability, backed by independent verification of test results.
The DALI Alliance has added DALI-2 tests for LED drivers and other control gear that use two colour types, known as RGBWAF and xy. These DALI-2 options are now available alongside colour type Tc (widely known as tunable white).
Colour type RGBWAF allows simple control of up to six individual channels of colour (red, green, blue, white, amber and free colour). For more sophisticated control, colour type xy allows precise and repeatable selection of the colour coordinates from the CIE colour space chromaticity diagram. Colour type Tc allows control of t

USA - Avnu Alliance has introduced a new Milan Advanced Certification Programme for ‘faster, more convenient, and less expensive testing and certification of professional audio video (AV) end devices for its members’. The programme introduces a significantly enhanced certification management system, new pre-certification validation test tools, and global access to test houses around the world.
Milan is a standards-based, user-driven deterministic network protocol for professional media, that through certification, assures devices will work together at new levels of convenience, reliability, and functionality. To guarantee interoperability amongst Milan devices from various manufacturers, Avnu’s new Milan Advanced Certification Programme ‘delivers robust test plans and scripts that are performed at independent authorised certification labs around the world to ensure
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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.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

USA - On their recent 19-city tour, PVRIS’ free flowing music took flight against the richly textured background of a Lenny Sasso lighting design that mirrored the passion and complexity of the band’s performance. Moving from ambers to bold reds, and soft washes to intense strobing and sweeps, Sasso’s lightshow stayed with the varied and deeply felt emotions of the music every step of the way.
A critical piece of Sasso’s rig were the 28 CHAUVET Professional F6 IP linear video strips that dominated the centre stage. Supplied by Sonus Productions of Moorestown, NJ, the strips were arranged vertically along two upstage rows of 10-units each, with the remaining eight fixtures flanking the drum and bass risers.
Feeding the strips content from Resolume, Sasso used them to set a variety of moods on stage. “I used a combination of prebuilt Resolume packs, plus a few

Israel - Israel Railways’ (ISR) CEO frequently holds critical internal management meetings and external meetings with Israeli government departments and authorities. Therefore, to enable its CEO to conduct efficient and productive business meetings from his office, ISR turned to ClearOne for an AV solution that would fully meet the requirements of the CEO and his meeting room.
“We needed to find a solution for the CEO’s office that delivered superior levels of audio and video quality which, at the same time, is intuitive and easy to use,” opens Aric Ben-Zuk, VP of sales for DM Engineering, the creative technology solutions provider leading this integration. “A key requirement for ISR was that participants, regardless of their location, would be able to concentrate on the content of their meetings without having to worry about the underlying technology.”
Hav

Australia - To provide quality sound across a wide field of coverage for the Transmoto Endura dirt bike races, CMI Music & Audio and Be Productions deployed JBL Professional Eon One Compact speakers.
Transmoto organises team-based endurance events in a relaxed and fun atmosphere for everyday dirt biking enthusiasts, staged on remote locations with challenging but safe off-road loops that combine grass tracks and bush trails. The Transmoto Enduros consists of eight- and 12-hour endurance races for amateur riders taking place on dedicated tracks in rural areas across Australia.
With racers often spread out in outdoor campsites, Transmoto officials needed an audio system for announcements and communication with wide enough coverage to reach every racer and compete with the sounds of motorcycles and weather conditions. To meet these requirements, Be Productions consult

USA - The North American leg of An Evening with Michael Bublé tour resumed in August, with 23 shows in A-level arenas through late October. The tour continues to rely on a Meyer Sound reinforcement system as provided by global production company Solotech, and once again the massive system is deployed in a novel ‘dual hybrid’ configuration comprising both typical end-stage arrays as well as centre-hung arrays over the B-stage that essentially function as an in-the-round system.
What’s new this time around is the introduction of the Spacemap Go spatial sound design and live mixing tool, which transparently tracks Bublé’s voice as he strolls between the two stages, maintaining precise aural localisation at all seats with synchronised, incremental changes in level and delay across multiple loudspeaker arrays.
“We came up with the basic solution late in 2

USA - Brompton Technology has announced its expansion into the US with a new office in Burbank, California. The new facility reflects Brompton’s continued growth in the US market thanks to demand for high-end virtual production setups and television.
Brompton’s regional technical manager Sean Sheridan will lead the new US outpost. Sheridan joined Brompton in 2018 and has played an instrumental role in the company’s success in the US, expanding the customer base in all areas and helping drive development of new Tessera software features specifically geared toward virtual production as demand increased. He will continue to drive new customer growth and technical development, with the office as a home base for demos and training.
“I’m thrilled to expand our international presence as Brompton now has footprints on three continents - North America, Europe, and Asi

Europe - The Ecodesign regulations are now applicable to all EU member states after the rules came into force this September.
The new regulations include hard-fought exemptions for certain stage and studio lights - these are high-output and point-source (discharge) lights; high-power LEDs with high-colour rendering; high-power LEDs with adaptive colour temperature; specific scenic tungsten sources; high-power LEDs with gate (typically used in moving lights with white light source); colour-tuneable light sources (as used in RGB+ LED spotlights), plus an exemption from the standby power requirements for specialist entertainment lighting fixtures.
The revised regulations have been welcomed by the European Entertainment Ecodesign Coalition, the European-wide group of associations representing the entertainment, lighting design, live performance and film/TV sectors.

Devastating Impact - One in three jobs in the British music industry were lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from trade body UK Music. The research said there were 69,000 fewer jobs in music in 2020 than in 2019 - a drop of 35% - due to the "devastating impact" of coronavirus. UK Music said the industry had been hit "especially hard" by the virus.
Musicians themselves as well as people working in venues and recording studios were particularly affected, it said. Live music revenues collapsed by around 90% in 2020, according to the UK Music report, titled This Is Music 2021, which is published today. "The music creators and live music sectors experienced the greatest decline - the majority of those working in the industry are self-employed, and they have been hit especially hard by COVID-19," it said.
In The Docks - Plans have been rev

South Africa - Tiger’s Milk is a popular kitchen/bar that is part of the Life & Brand portfolio, a group that runs a variety of bars, bistros and restaurants across South Africa. For this project, a new establishment located in the Johannesburg suburb of Bedfordview required a zoned audio solution to handle BGM playback throughout the premises which blended with Tiger’s Milk’s characteristic black interior.
Timelines were tight as the work needed to be finished in time for the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and re-opening of the hospitality industry in South Africa. The job was originally procured by Output AV, who specified and purchased the Audac equipment, before sub-contracting K2 Innovate for the actual integration. All the hardware was supplied by Stage Audio Works (SAW), Audac’s South African distributor.
The Audac system covers a total of seven dis

UK - Bluesound Professional has announced an installation of its B400S 4-zone network music player across online car retailer’s customer centres.
The challenge was to create an environment where sound would enhance the ambiance of every customer centre, with uniform controllability and compliance with the legal requirements of the PRS music licence.
London-based integrator Nucleus AV turned to Bluesound Professional for a scalable audio solution.
The installation team worked closely with Cazoo to create a bespoke system that was both practical (in some locations, Nucleus AV would be retrofitting existing loudspeakers and amplifiers) and future-proof.
Nucleus AV, working with Bluesound Professional sub-distributor OneAV, outfitted each Cazoo customer centre with a single Bluesound Professional B400S 4-zone network music player. This commercial grade netwo

Denmark - One of Denmark’s longest standing suppliers of light and sound equipment, DLT in Glostrup, has installed the architectural façade lighting for Danish Bank Sparekassen Sjælland-Fyn’s office in Holbæk.
DLT’s vision was to create a luminous framework that compliments the building's architecture, whilst simultaneously creating a lively ambiance on the waterfront. To achieve this, DLT has utilised 40 units of Showtec’s Candela Pix 50, creating an ambiance near the waterline that is visible from both the city and much of the Holbæk Fjord.
Showtec’s Candela Pix 50 can create the full spectrum of light, enabling the building to be lit in any desired colour or even multiple colours. This enables Sparekassen Sjælland-Fyn to alter the appearance of their exterior as desired, for instance during national holidays or sports matches. The waterproof outdoor l

UK - Cleanfeed reports that Birmingham City University has integrated Cleanfeed across its broadcast studio facilities.
As with the entire industry, BCU was required to find a way of adapting to remote working during the pandemic.
Cleanfeed was used by all students over the lockdown period on courses such as Media Production, Media and Communication, Journalism and Sound Engineering and Production. The tool allowed students to deliver professional recordings, broadcasts and media interviews which was crucial to their learning and development.
Peter Crowther, senior technician, Radio and Broadcast Journalism, comments: “I was recommended to Cleanfeed by industry contacts and former colleagues at the BBC and quickly realised the benefits for our students who weren’t able to be on campus. The students liked the service so much over the lockdown learning period t

Portugal - Infinity Furion S401 Spots, iW-1915 RGBW wash moving heads, and Showtec Helix S5000 Q4 RGBW LED wash fixtures were successfully deployed at outside locations during a summer festival in the Algarve in the southern region of Portugal.
Geopalcos is a biannual event that aims to connect art, science and nature in the Geopark territory in the Algarve. Artists and scientists are challenged to combine their skills and expertise, and take nature lovers to discover art and science, lead art aficionados through nature and the paths of knowledge, and have the audience relate to their knowledge with the natural and artificially created beauties of their surroundings.
On 10 occasions between 29 May and 12 September, at different locations, the public is invited to participate in dialogues between tradition and creativity/innovation, to wander and (re)discover Portuguese

UK - Surfhire deployed a full-service complex comms package to the boutique Henley Festival held on the Berkshire bank of the River Thames.
After an unprecedented delay due to the pandemic, the Henley Festival of Music and Arts, famed for its strict black tie dress code, finally returned for a 2021event. With performances from Madness, James Blunt, and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, the five-day show had to deliver with perfect ambience.
In order to keep the event running as smoothly as possible – despite some of the site’s particular idiosyncrasies - production manager John Harris brought Surfhire, part of Britannia Row Productions, back once again to provide radios, internet backhaul, and site-wide network services for the festival.
“Surfhire have been involved for 12 years, but the role has expanded and contracted as time has gone on,” explains Surfhire’s Si

UK - Organisers of the annual Leeds Castle Concert, worked tirelessly to reschedule this year’s event, featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, following the easing of restrictions - staging it later than normal, on 4 September.
Leeds Castle is amongst the many long-standing clients that have relied upon RG Jones Sound Engineering for decades. In the case of this site, the company has been providing sound systems since the very first show way back in the early 80’s. It’s a tricky site to cover well, and for the highly popular concert fielded a classic system of its own - Martin Audio’s original MLA - to overcome the coverage challenges.
Although this historic Castle site in Kent is isolated, imposing no restrictions on sound levels, the contouring leaves much to be desired from an acoustician’s perspective, with a steep hill on which many of the crowds up

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