UK - Allen & Heath's dLive digital mixing system is currently being employed by front of house engineer Steve Pattison on Wet Wet Wet's UK headline tour, which recently included a date at London's O2 arena.

Supplied by SSE Hire for the tour, the flagship dLive S7000 control surface is partnered with Allen & Heath's DM64 MixRack to handle an on-stage line-up that comprises the Scottish four-piece's traditional backline, multiple vocals and horn section. As a longstanding fan of Allen & Heath's iLive system, Pattison's decision to rely on dLive for the tour was an easy one to make...

"It really feels like dLive is a step on from the iLive system that I've enjoyed using with various artists over the years," says Pattison (whose CV includes a five-year stint with Amy Winehouse, Ellie Goulding, Texas, Glasvegas and Royksopp). "It's very fast to use, despite the amount of contro

Norway Oslo Opera House frequently hosts events that need sound reinforcement - and it needs a loudspeaker system that's up to the task. To deliver the best possible listening experience for discerning audiences, the venue has installed a flexible solution from d&b audiotechnik.

With regard to acoustic excellence, buildings don't come much more impressive than the Oslo Opera House, home of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. The acoustics at this stunning, waterside building are so good that no amplification at all is required for opera performances. Here, the design is literally all about sound, from the interior spaces and the shapes of the walls and stage, to the materials used for construction.

Although the acoustics at the opera house are world class, there are plenty of occasions when a loudspeaker system is needed. Often, recorded music is used in ballet produc

UAE - The Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), appointed live communication specialist People as the event management agency for the vast 2016 Qasr Al Hosn festival, which took place February 3 to 13, 2016 in Abu Dhabi. Manchester UK based dbn Lighting was commissioned by People, to provide lighting design and on-site lighting direction service.

The festival narrates the ongoing conservation of Abu Dhabi's most historic fort, and through a series of highly interactive elements, hosted a celebratory programme to reinstate the Qasr Al Hosn site as the cultural heart of Abu Dhabi.

Qasr Al Hosn, which has stood as the symbolic birthplace of the Emirate and home to Abu Dhabi's ruling Al Nahyan family, is undergoing a comprehensive process of preservation, restoration and rehabilitation.

Based around the historic Qasr Al Hosn Fort, the Qasr Al Hosn Festival

USA - With increasingly specialized recording programmes springing up throughout the country, Lebanon Valley College, (LVC), Annville, PA, sets itself apart by combining a traditional liberal arts based education with a "professionally oriented" Audio & Music Production Programme, a formula that has been successful for the school's students since the late 1980s.

Students in the Audio & Music Production Programme study music, studio recording, mastering, electronic music, audio for digital media, live sound, game audio, and more. Graduates have gone on to work in recording studios, live sound, broadcast, game audio, retail, and performance with leading creative companies such as The Hit Factory, DreamWorks Animation, ESPN, Insomniac Games, Sony, Universal Music Group, Disney, and even the Ringling Brother Circus.

In order to meet the demands of training students for a diver

Finland - When the Finnish National Opera (FNO) was given the rare opportunity to stage a completely original production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, it took the opportunity to stage a show that wowed audiences with its sheer scale. However, the audio system installed at the Helsinki Opera House could not match sound designers Sakke Kiiskis and Stanley L

UK - British singer and X Factor winner Leona Lewis toured the UK in February and March with an elegant lighting show designed by Jamie Thompson and controlled by Avolites Sapphire Touch and Tiger Touch II consoles.

Thompson's brief for the tour, which visited 13 cities across England, Wales and Scotland, was to create an intimate show pushing the focus on to Leona and her band as they performed new material and her internationally bestselling back catalogue.

The Sapphire Touch was used as the main console, networked via Titan v9's Multi-User feature to a backup Tiger Touch II.

"Multi-User is incredibly easy to set up and offers some great features, like being able to use the backup as a satellite console, which becomes especially useful when working in theatres where sightlines at FOH can potentially be an issue when programming," says Thompson. "Other than tha

USA - Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee has installed one of the largest Meyer Sound Leopard linear sound reinforcement systems to date in its 12,500-seat Donald L. Tucker Civic Centre. Known to locals as 'The Tuck', the multipurpose arena serves as the home court for the FSU Seminoles men's and women's basketball teams, and also hosts a yearlong schedule of other sports, convocations, concerts, special events, and graduation ceremonies.

"Overall, there's been a tremendous improvement in intelligibility," says Bruce Jones, FSU's sound engineer for the venue. "Leopard handles speech and music far better than the old system, by leaps and bounds. I've heard nothing but compliments from announcers, coaches, and officials at the scoring table. And after the last commencement, I was told the sound was the best it's ever been."

FSU officials found a solution to the po

UK - Following its acclaimed, 11-year run in the West End, and multiple award-winning appearances in New York, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Holland and on tour around the USA, the smash hit Billy Elliot: The Musical is now embarking on its first ever UK tour. Having worked on the show throughout its London run, White Light has been called upon once again to provide its services to the touring production.

Based on the hit 2000 film, Billy Elliot: The Musical is set in a northern mining town during the 1984/5 miners' strike. It tells the story of young Billy, who discovers a love of dance then fights to make his dream of becoming a ballet dancer a reality. The musical has a score by Elton John, with book and lyrics by Lee Hall and direction by Stephen Daldry.

Lighting designer Rick Fisher is responsible for the lighting of the show once again, with his desig

Mexico - The Mexican market is growing for Robe thanks to the energy and efforts of its exclusive distributor, Vari Internacional based in Mexico City.

One of their new customers is Medio Angular, a rental company based in the Las Aguilas area of DF (Mexico City), run by Juan Pablo Guzman (aka Paul) which has recently bought Pointes and LEDWash 300s.

When you rock up to Medio Angular's office - it looks like an ordinary roller shutter garage door on a quiet residential street - full of leafy trees and cool cars. The other side of the door is a large landscaped garden with terraces and full of lush foliage, alcoves for sitting and contemplating, amidst colourful flowers and funky furniture, with a recording studio and several offices flowing with contemporary chic.

This is the pastoral and inspirational working environment that Paul has created for the offices that admi

UK - The Theatres Trust has welcomed changes to the Permitted Development Order (England) as developers now need to address noise impacts before undertaking an office to residential conversion near an existing theatre or live music venue.

From 06 April 2016 local planning authorities will have to consider noise impacts on new residents from existing businesses, under an amended permitted development right that allows offices to be converted to residential use, without the need to obtain planning permission.

The amended Order means developers will now need to seek prior approval from the local planning authority that any noise mitigation measures proposed are suitable to ensure that nearby theatres are protected before a change of use from an office to residential building can be carried out.

Theatres Trust said, "The Trust welcomes the changes to the Permitted Developm

Germany - At the Prolight + Sound 2016 exhibition in Frankfurt (5-8 April), ETC is marking the 40th anniversary of the company's founding with a new stand concept across four different stands.

To mark the 40th year of the company's existence, ETC will be represented at the Prolight + Sound show at the beginning of April, on all four days of the trade fair, on four stands in close proximity.

On the central, main stand (E51), visitors to the exhibition will find control consoles from the Eos and Cobalt families, including their respective Programming Wings. It will also have the Source Four LED system that features three different arrays - Lustr for colours, Daylight HD for cool daylight and Tungsten HD for warm incandescent light. The range is completed by a wide variety of attachments, including fixed focus and zoom lens tubes and both Fresnel and CYC adapters. And making

UK - Northumbrian folk experimentalists The Unthanks have been using DPA microphones in their live performances after being introduced to the company's product range by their engineer, Joel Borkin. For capturing The Unthanks' performances, Borkin likes to use DPA's d:vote Instrument Microphones, d:dicate 4011 Cardioid Microphones, d:dicate 2011C Microphones and d:facto Handheld Microphones.

Working under the title jBsound, Borkin is front of house and monitor engineer for various artists around the UK. "We recently used a selection of DPA microphones on The Unthanks' headline showcase collaboration with Lau at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall," says Borkin. "The microphones were a joy to work with. Nothing comes close to the precision and clarity of DPA; they are a must for this band."

Well-known for juxtaposing traditional, folkloric storyte

UK - Named after HRH Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh, the Princes Hall is a multi-purpose civic venue with a national reputation. For many throughout the UK, however, the 600-seat theatre in the heart of Aldershot is best known for its successful pantomime run each Christmas. There was no "happily ever after" ending in sight, though, for the facility's aging lighting rig - at least not until a collection of affordable Chauvet fixtures came to the rescue.

Now with the new LED technology available it was definitely time for a refresh. The Princes Hall was built in 1972, and the lighting rig had only a few upgrades in the past few years. This year, the venue took the major step to upgrade its lighting system and turned to equipment supply specialist Stage Electrics. Despite a limited budget, Stage Electrics was able to supply a comprehensive lighting rig, including 10 Rogue

USA - Holo-Gauze, the 3D display solution for hologram effects, has created a 20x9m installation for an augmented reality style launch of Team Speedo, the swimwear and swim accessory manufacturer's line-up of 200 super star swimmers from the UK, US, France and Spain. The New York launch brought together 24 Team Speedo athletes to promote Speedo's Fastskin LZR Racer X suit, incorporating the swimwear manufacturer's most advanced swimwear technology to date.

To introduce Team Speedo, a film charting the success of each individual athlete was projected onto the huge Holo-Gauze display installation, while the 24 champion swimmers were positioned at various heights, unseen, behind the display. Then an augmented reality style grid and info graphics (name, initials, Olympic team) were projected onto the screen, as each athlete was revealed, one by one, through the near-invisible gauz

USA - Lighting designer Bob Barnhart, a veteran of Super Bowl Halftime Shows, chose Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K20s and gold Sharpys to help light the milestone Super Bowl 50 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Super Bowl Halftime Shows always come with challenges, and the daylight-into-sunset timing of this year's entertainment made it "much more complex from a lighting standpoint," Barnhart notes. "We had fewer fixtures than normally because of the ambient sun and the small portion of stadium lights we used."

It was Barnhart's lighting design goal "to bring the kaleidoscopic colour from the LED floor on the Coldplay main stage into the entire stadium. That was the centrepiece of the creative approach: to make the stadium part of the show. That's why we did a colourful card stunt with the fans and placed Color Bloc IIs on the railings. With a daylight Halftime Show

UK - Pulse PA in Poole, Total Sound Solutions in Swansea and Fabtronic in Northampton are now taking delivery of new Nexo STM modular line array systems for their rental inventories.

Together with Sound of Music in Derby, the rental houses have identified the new STM M28 'omnipurpose' cabinet as a game-changer for their own businesses, as well as enabling a cross-hire network that allows each STM owner to service projects ranging from 500 people at a club event to medium-sized festivals by pooling Nexo STM resources.

At Pulse PA in Poole, Ralph Walsh says that the arrival of the all-purpose two-way M28 cabinet has delivered new benefits for his rental business, starting with time-saving.

"I've configured my system in four ground-stacks, set up on four dollies each with a STM S118 sub-bass cabinet, a STM B112 bass unit and two STM M28 main modules. Prepped in the wareho

South Africa - Technical production and solutions specialist Solid Rock Event Technical working for Blue Platinum Events, provided the full technical production - lighting, sound and large format video projection - for a massive son et lumi

USA- At the Polynesian Cultural Centre (PCC) in Hawaii, Richard Sidal operates as theatrical computer system analyst, handling all computerised lighting systems as well as maintenance, installations and programming of some of the shows. Currently, he is also working on upgrades for the theatres and Luau venues, which includes a comprehensive fixture replacement that started last year.

After experiencing a lot of issues and constant breakdowns and repairs of their 1200 W spots, despite the fact that they were placed under protective domes, PCC decided it was time to renew the lighting rig. Situated close to the sea, Sidal is well aware of the challenges of the site.

"We are an outdoor venue and very close to the sea. Sea breeze carries a lot of salt and moisture ruining all metal parts as well as high humidity. Plus, the show uses lots of flames and the oil residue goes rig

USA - Following a "rapid increase" in demand for Void Acoustics products in North America, the British sound system manufacturer has set up a base of operations in the USA. The move follows the recent signing of a network of system integrators and distributors throughout North America who will now be able to receive stock almost immediately.

Void Acoustics is in the process of implementing strategic international expansion plans and is rapidly expanding its global distribution network as there is significant worldwide demand for both their touring and installation products. Void has also hired long-time ally, sound engineer and system integrator Nathan Short to oversee all things technical in North America.

"After representing Void in North America and some exotic places around the globe for eight years now, this is a natural and beneficial move for everyone," says Short.

Benelux - Arkaos PRO has appointed Controllux BV as its new, exclusive distributor for the Benelux countries. The agreement, reached in February 2016, gives Controllux exclusive distribution of the full ArKaos PRO portfolio of professional media servers and software across the Netherlands and Belgium.

Controllux is a leading distributor of professional lighting equipment and handles a large range of well-regarded industry brands from its offices in the Netherlands and Belgium. The company will be responsible for promoting the ArKaos brand across its wide remit of theatre, broadcast, film, entertainment and architectural markets.

"The Controllux portfolio, with all its brands and its disciplines, is a perfect match for the ArKaos PRO products," says Bram de Clerck of Controllux BVBA. "Our team and myself are looking forward to this new challenge and aim to become an interes

UK - Hungry Horse pub and family value restaurant chain, operating more than 200 family value pubs in the UK, recently chose Bolton based AV integration company TVC Technology Solutions to provide a complete audio visual solution for its Rotherham Riverside public house in readiness for the UEFA Euro 2016 football tournament in France, starting in the Summer of 2016.

To encourage patrons to stay longer and enjoy the summer experience, Hungry Horse has invested in a number of large LED screen solutions alongside a distributed audio system to allow zonal control of the audio and visual systems, including the provision of screens and audio in dining booths and outside in the garden/patio areas.

TVC Technology Solutions, a family business established in the mid 90's by Jim Brown and his two sons Matthew and Daniel is part of the TVD Group. Growing rapidly and with the agility

Mexico - Lighting designer Dave Maxwell has been involved in Luis Miguel shows since 2008 and for a string of recent sold out dates at Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City used 60 Elation ACL 360 Matrix moving panel LED effect lights to complement the Latin American music icon's show.

On his current 2016 tour, Maxwell serves as show designer, handling all creative and visual aspects of the show including set design, content, video and lighting. Lighting and video vendor for the shows was Serpro Productiones, one of the biggest rental houses in northern Mexico. Elation's Mexican partner ADIMSA sold the Elation fixtures to Serpro and provided them with support on the tour.

"I had been using some other LED panels and was offered the chance to switch to the ACL 360 Matrix by Serpro for a run of shows at the Auditorio in Mexico City and very much liked them," Maxwell comments. "Ty

USA - Chapman University students and faculty and the Orange, California community can look forward to a new era of cultural and educational opportunities with the 19 March opening of the 88,000sq.ft Marybelle and Sebastian P. Musco Centre for the Arts.

Located at the gateway to the university, the new $82m arts centre - designed by architect Pfeiffer Partners in collaboration with Theatre Projects, acoustician Nagata Acoustics, and AV consultant Sonitus - gives Chapman University a characteristic architectural icon designed to meet the needs of their award-winning Conservatory of Music, and the Departments of Music and Theatre.

The building features the 1,044-seat Julianne Argyros Orchestra Hall, a remarkable and versatile multipurpose theatre. Theatre Projects worked with the design team to create an intimate auditorium - with a mezzanine, side boxes, and two levels of b

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