Brazil - GloboSat's new TV OB truck is producing live broadcasts from World Cup matches played in the Maracana stadium, in Rio de Janeiro. The vehicle, which was completed just in time for this year's event, is Brazil's first 4k OB truck, and is fitted with audio equipment from Lawo and state-of-the-art Ravenna IP networking technology.

At the heart of the audio control room is a latest-generation 48-fader Lawo mc²56 - which is both compact and powerful. The interfacing to the outside world is taken care of by a DALLIS I/O system in the truck and two DALLIS stageboxes (with port redundancy) that are linked via Ravenna. The console's integrated Lawo Plugin Server allows seamless integration of plugin effects that can be recalled with stored snapshots.

Gabriel Thomazini, sound engineer in Rio on the GloboSat OB truck, reports on his work with Lawo, "We have had good result

France - Airstar, a world leader in advanced lighting solutions for the event industry, was recently called on to animate the iconic and majestic nave of the Grand Palais in Paris with dramatic lighting of the 23rd edition of the Tour Auto Optic 2ooo. They were contacted by Peter Auto, the company responsible for some of the most prestigious classic car events in Europe.

Over 5,000 visitors queued up to admire 250 classic racing cars registered for the race which recalled the golden age of BMW, Ford, Porsche and Jaguar to name a few. 15 lighting balloons from Airstar's Lunix range were deployed and used for various purposes including decoration, space filling, lighting and signage.

With a diameter ranging between 2 and 2.5m, all 15 balloons were inflated with helium and contained a couple of 1kW halogen lamps, with one exception: a gigantic 10m wide balloon suspended in the mi

UK - Earlier this year Green Hippo welcomed Vincent Steenhoek for a placement with its Hippotizer Product and Testing Department.

During his time at Green Hippo, Vincent attended Basic and Advanced HippoSchool training and was a great help within the department, working on testing and demo machines, and got to grips with Hippotizer in no time at all.

With his end-of-year exhibition in the pipeline, Vincent chose to use a HippoCritter media server to realize his vision and idea for the project. "And he was kind enough to give us a little profile of himself and his work after the exhibition," says the company. "In recent years this industry has seen the emergence of several amazing young talents, and Vincent will be joining the ranks of a number of very accomplished new-comers. With his portfolio growing, we are sure he will be involved with some amazing projects

Italy - Clay Paky lights stood godfather to Roby Facchinetti's tour. While awaiting the Pooh's 50th anniversary next year, Roby is doing the first solo tour of his career to support his album Ma che Vita la Mia (What a life I've had). The preview tour, which consisted of a few important shows in May, was an introduction to the tour itself, which will take place in the summer and autumn.

Crico Fabi, the Pooh's long-standing lighting designer, was a must for these events: "After all these years, Roby Facchinetti and I understand each other instantly. I am very happy I took part in this 'intimate tour', so to speak, where Roby performed alone in front of his audience for the first time."

Clay Paky was technical sponsor of the tour. The lights included Sharpy Washes, Sharpy Beams, A.leda Wash K20s, A.leda B-EYE K20s and Alpha Spot HPE 700s. "I used the A.leda

Sweden - Audio Concept, a Stockholm based audio retailer, has recently opened the doors to its newly refurbished showroom in the centre of the city. At 456sq.m this remarkable showroom is not only one of the largest specialist shops in Europe devoted to high end audio, but also one of the most original and creative. Amongst the range of audio equipment showcased is a 15.2 surround sound demo system that features Genelec G Series loudspeakers and an Illusonic IAP 16 processor.

Audio Concept offers a complete audio system service from initial consultation and planning, through to installation. Robert Grubstad of Audio Concept has been working with Genelec monitors for many years and was well aware of their potential as residential loudspeakers as well as for multichannel purposes:

"When we chose the Illusonic IAP 16, a unique multichannel processor, we knew we would need a

UK - The Professional Footballer's Association got its celebrations of this year's World Cup off to a great start by hosting a charity dinner on London's South Bank. Sennheiser UK - the PFA's official audio supplier - provided a Digital 9000 Series wireless microphone system for an evening that raised thousands of pounds for charity.

The dinner, which took place at the Riverbank Park Plaza, was attended by a number of World Cup legends, including 1966 winner George Cohen and other former England players, as well as the evening's host Alan Shearer. Featuring Brazilian-themed entertainment and a silent auction, in all the evening raised over £54,000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Sennheiser UK supplied eight channels of Digital 9000 Series microphones to the event, including six handheld and two lapel mics, which were used by Shearer and for the silent auction.

Sennheiser

Spain - For another year running D.A.S. professional sound systems were on hand to provide sound reinforcement at Valencia's recent 40 POP concert. This legendary event, sponsored by the Cadena Ser radio network, has been held for over 25 years and has become a must-attend concert in the Mediterranean city, drawing tens of thousands of fans with a stellar line-up of musicians which this year included Pablo López, El Viaje de Elliot and Antonio Orozco.

The concert was held at the Agora esplanade next to the Hemisféric building at Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences, an unbeatable open-air setting where over 20,000 fans gathered for an evening of great music. As in years past, an array of D.A.S. systems were rolled out for this popular event, with 32 D.A.S. Aero 50 line array systems rigged for the main system. Two linear formations of 16 Aero 50s each were flown on eithe

USA - Following The Killers' wildly successful 2013 Battle Born world tour, performing in 50 countries and headlining arenas on six continents - including a sold-out Wembley Stadium show for which they wrote The Wembley Song - the Las Vegas-based phenomenon is back on the road this summer in support of their Direct Hits compilation. With appearances at North American and UK music festivals, the band's FOH engineer, Kenny Kaiser, is delivering their chart toppers with help from the new SSL Live console.

Kaiser works for Delicate Productions of Camarillo, California, serving as PA tech or system tech for Selena Gomez, Train and as monitor tech and crew chief for The Foo Fighters, among others. After moving to the Killers' camp last year, he took over the helm for their 2014 tour. However, Kaiser was not fond of their previous FOH console and knew instantly that he'd need to

Germany - At the World Cup Dome electronic dance music (EDM) festival in Frankfurt, a Meyer Sound Leo linear large-scale sound reinforcement system was selected for main-stage headliners Pet Shop Boys, David Guetta, Steve Aoki, and Tiësto.

With this latest deployment at the Commerzbank-Arena, the Meyer Sound Leo family of line array products continues its busy summer of EDM events, having recently powered the Mayday Festival in Germany and Soenda Festival in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

"Leo is strikingly elegant in appearance and relatively compact, particularly considering how it can project very clear sound over a considerable distance," says Holger Schwark, FOH engineer for the Pet Shop Boys.

Supplied and configured by POOLgroup of Emsdetten, Germany, the system featured dual main hangs of 14 Leo-M line array loudspeakers each, with two Mica line array loudspeake

UK - Creative producers Fuel Theatre have embarked on an adventurous project with the tour of their latest theatrical production, The Roof with lighting supplied by Stage Electrics. The Roof is a highly creative large outdoor production that has been created, produced and choreographed by artists Requardt & Rosenberg, commissioned by LIFT Festival and presented in association with the National Theatre, London.

Through three-dimensional sound, delivered via wireless headphones, this one-hour futuristic production transports its audience into the head of an avatar, who is a reluctant hero desperate to stay alive. The story is revealed using a blend of free running and contemporary dance by performers in a fast paced mix of death-defying acrobatics and choreography; all within a 360?purpose built arena. With an overall circumference of 100m, the arena is built with ei

USA - The National September 11 Memorial & Museum has opened in the footprints of the World Trade Centre in Lower Manhattan. Electrosonic provided the audio-visual systems for the museum, which is primarily located about 70ft below ground and offers a moving visitor experience.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is an educational and historical institution honouring victims of both the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 1993 bombing, while examining 9/11 and its continued global significance. The museum building was designed by Davis Brody Bond, LLP with exhibit designs by Thinc Design and Layman Design. It is accessed by an entry pavilion designed by Snohetta.

Bob Haroutunian of PPI Consulting was the audio-visual systems designer for the museum and education center. Arup was the designer for the Pavilion Auditorium. The majority of the content was provided by Local Proj

USA - The last in the line of a legendary dynasty: Space Shuttle Atlantis, is now housed at the Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Centre, forming the centrepiece of its own 90,000sq.ft, $100m exhibit. The attraction was designed by PGAV Destinations, installed by Electrosonic and incorporates a pair of TiMax SoundHub audio showcontrol matrix systems to add immersive 3D spatialisation to a high-end multimedia history charting 33 missions of Atlantis, including maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope and the building of the International Space Station.

Visitors enter through a full-scale vertical replica of Atlantis's external tank and two solid rocket boosters, which tower 15-stories above the three-story exhibit building. Visitors are corralled through a learning area to wait for the start of the pre-show which describes the role Atlantis played in the Space Shuttle Program and how

UK - Leading European flightcase manufacturer 5 Star Cases supplied 250 lightweight flight cases complete with padded and semi-rigid bags to live video rental and production specialist Creative Technology (CT).

These are being used to house a variety of different monitors and screens that are in active service on major events and broadcast projects. The order comprised casing for 110 x 42 inch screens, 90 x 32 inch screens and 50 x 22 inch screens.

The cases were delivered in just a few days from the Cambridgeshire based manufacturer, while its specialist bag making facility - which has just been expanded to meet increased demands - was kept busy for around three weeks, as the bags are all individually hand-made and finished to order.

The cases and bags were purchased to refresh a whole raft of the protective cases and packaging for CT's television projects. They will be put

UK - With the first half of 2014 coming to an end, AED Distribution UK prepares for the summer season by offering one last HOG4 training session. The training is the last one for now out of a total of 10 trainings held from January to July and is open for lighting designers, lighting operators and live visual designers and operators.

AED Distribution as the master distributor for High End Systems in the UK, was committed to offer a training schedule of regular HOG 4 Trainings at various locations. Looking back to the first half of 2014, the company is pleased about the 10 different trainings with a total of around 75 lighting professionals trained. A full complement of HOG4 Family consoles were provided each time with whom the participants could get hands-on with. Each person was able to enjoy their own console for the free two-day course under the expert guidance of Colin Wood,

UK - The Seekers have recently brought their arena tour to the UK, trusting entertainment lighting specialist White Light to supply lighting solutions and production support for the 15 date tour. The artists, who have sold more than 60m records worldwide, returned to the UK with their Golden Jubilee Tour, marking 50 years since the group first performed in the country.

The tour comes as part of a wave of increased concert touring bookings for White Light, with the company also recently supplying lighting for artists such as Barry Manilow, Johnny Mathis, Gareth Malone, Wet Wet Wet, and Paramore.

For The Seekers Golden Jubilee Tour, White Light worked with lighting designer Simon Tutchener who specified the show's lighting plan. "Every artist or group has their own style, which I try to incorporate into the lighting design," he said of his approach. Tutchener's career

Austria - Nexo has appointed a new distributor to represent its complete product line in Austria. Luxson GmbH is based in Wels, distributing a variety of entertainment technology products including ChamSys showcontrol systems, ELC networking devices and Green Go intercom products. The company, owned by Roman Hauser, is also a dealer for Martin lighting, Yamaha professional audio and Camco power amps.

"Nexo is pleased to welcome Luxson to the distributor family," said Nexo sales director Denis Baudier. "Over the years, Austria has become one of our most successful territories where we have a dominant market share, so Luxson will be continuing a strong Nexo tradition. This is also an exciting era for NEXO as we see our modular line array the STM Series making significant inroads into the European rental scene, and we start production of new high-performance compact

Italy - Made in Sud' (now in its fourth season) is an entertainment programme made in Naples CPTV, broadcast by RAI. The 2014 edition has proven once again a television event of high technical level, thanks to the production choices that have raised the show from the typical 'comedy' format to a big-budget show, with the characteristics of a prime-time program.

Following the success of previous editions, Sandro Carotenuto was confirmed for the third time director of photography of Made in Sud.

Carotenuto decided to use the DTS moving heads - NRG 1201 and above all the Raptors - in a 'spectacular' way.

The fixtures were installed both on stage and in the stalls area; their projections have become one of the most recognizable elements of the show.

Many features of the Raptor were considered very attractive in television use: the high luminous efficiency; the ei

Italy - With horse racing taking place over considerable distances, much of the action takes place where it is difficult for spectators to clearly see what is happening. LED screens greatly enhance the thrill of the 'sport of kings' for its followers, which is why a Lighthouse Technologies' LED screen has recently been installed at the Capanelle Ippodromo horse racing course in the Italian capital, Rome.

An ever-increasing number of racecourse owners are installing LED screens to bring punters closer to the action, as well as making information like the latest betting odds available to all. Lighthouse has been at the forefront of this trend, with installations at Kempton Park in the UK, Wuha in China, San Rossore in Italy and others in place for a number of years, as well as a more recent installation at Canterbury Park in Minnesota, USA.

Joining this prestigious group is Capa

Romania - It shows some ambition when a young company takes delivery of its first full size line array, completes system training for its technicians, then nine days later loads into a festival main stage with their new PA.

Ovidiu Grunca who owns Set Up Company, the Romanian PA provider in question, was unrepentant. "This was for an audience of ten thousand with two days of full on performance. A mix of mainstream and dance, with a little rock and metal on the side, Blaj Alive is one of Romania's most popular new born festivals. You might think us foolish, but we had good reason to feel confident we could pull this off." And pull it off they did.

The Blaj Alive line-up included international artists such as headliners Seether and AWOL Nation, mixed with the likes of Vunk, one of Romania's most successful pop bands with a career stretching back to 1999, and Zdob si Zd

UK - Broadcast audio specialist Red TX has joined Europe's leading live recording initiative Remote Recording Network. Whilst contributing to managing and engineering music and broadcast assignments on a global and cost-effective basis, RRN offers bespoke solutions that cater for all kinds of transmission, recording, mixing, mastering, duplication and publishing.

Remote Recording Network GmbH had last year joined forces with Dutch mobile recording company Eurosound bv and had integrated the German 'RemoteTaxi' enterprise to establish the initial 'Network'.

Peter Brandt, head of Remote Recording Network and a man with over 30 years' experience of recording and mixing international rock, pop, jazz, and classical artists, says, "Bringing Red TX into RRN will benefit our European customers by giving them access to a fully digital truck based in Europe that can handle high-end

UK - Founded in 1887, the London College of Music has been a part of the University of West London since 1991. Today it has one of the largest music technology departments of any European educational institution, spread across two sites in Ealing, West London. Over the last few years the College has undergone an extensive building and refurbishment programme, headed by technical manager, Richard Liggins, who is responsible for studio facility design and technical development of the department's facilities. Today, UWL's London College of Music has installed the world's largest RedNet installation, featuring 42 RedNet units.

LCM had used Pro Tools as its primary music recording platform for several years, but with the arrival of Pro Tools 11, the college decided to look into moving over to HDX systems. Although integrating all-Avid systems would have been technically straightforwa

UK - Creative lighting designer Nick Gray of Renegade created a spectacular show for Kasabian's incendiary homecoming gig in Victoria Park, Leicester, UK, realising a long-term dream of playing in front of 50,000 fans as their latest album 48:13 rocketed to number one in the UK charts.

Gray worked in close collaboration with the band's creative director & show designer Aitor Throup on the project which included over 500 lighting fixtures and a large 22m x 11m upstage 9 mm pitch white Winvision LED screen which made up a complete white box lighting and visual environment. Band founder, guitarist and vocalist Serge Pizzorno was also intimately involved in the whole design concept and look of the show.

The show was staged a week ahead of Kasabian's headline appearance at the 2014 Glastonbury festival. Staged on the summer solstice, it was the realisation of a long term dre

Germany - Collaborating closely with communication agency The Outlook Creative Group, XL Video supplied video, lighting, sound and associated rigging for a large conference and gala dinner event at the Sheraton Hotel, Frankfurt Airport for one of the world's leading medical device companies.

The event was project managed on site for XL by Bill Hughes and for Outlook by their head of events, Iain Liddiard. It was designed by Outlook and attended by around 750 of the client's top executives and sales teams within the EMEA & Canada region.

The gala dinner took place on the first night in the hotel's Congress Centre and the room then had to be transformed into the main plenary and conference session for the following day.

XL's crew also rigged sound and lighting systems for the evening after-party in the Skyloft at the hotel.

XL and Outlook have worked together for about 11 ye

UK - Eve will provide 140km of barriers to the Tour de France Grand Départ across the three UK legs, from Leeds to Harrogate, York to Sheffield and Cambridge to London.

Mark Fisher, senior account manager at Eve, comments, "Our teams are well versed in top tier cycling events, having worked on the London 2012 Road Races and the 2007 Grand Départ, so we're really looking forward to it."

As an official supplier to London 2012, Eve delivered and installed all the crowd control barriers for the Olympic road events.

The company has invested a record £14m to add to its already market-leading stocks since, and new kit will be roadside for the Grand Départ contracts with WRG Live and Innovision.

Eve barriers will keep cyclists and fans safe as the Tour passes through Yorkshire towns such as Harewood, Otley and Skipton, Elland, Huddersfield and

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