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Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UK - York-based Rock-Tech prides itself on being a comprehensive, one-stop solution for all the technical needs of today's houses of worship. As well as equipment supply and installation, the company's service includes free training seminars to help worship staff get the best from their equipment. This year Rock-Tech has teamed up with Yamaha to deliver training on QL and TF mixing consoles at venues across the UK.

Thanks to the continual improvements in live and installed audio technology, as general audience expectations rise, those in houses of worship do so in parallel. Rock-Tech's training helps to ensure that users not only get the best from their mixing console, but the entire signal chain from performer to loudspeaker.

"Our course aims to give church sound technicians a solid grounding in how sound works and how to solve common problems. Feedback, unexplained buzze

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Finland - Newly established Finnish theatre sound consultancy Wavemark has recently specified and installed a complete TiMax audio showcontrol package into the Finnish National Opera (FNO), as part of a new audio system designed and implemented by Wavemark's Santu Sipila. The TiMax2 SoundHub audio spatialisation processor and TiMax Tracker automation system were sourced through established Finnish TiMax distributor, Electro Waves, for a major audio refurbishment of the venue's main auditorium.

The FNO is the only professional opera company in Finland, tracing its history back to 1911 - though the Ballet was founded later in 1922. The Opera's fortunes have flourished alongside those of the country itself, though for decades the company occupied the tiny Alexander Theatre, in 1993 it moved to its own purpose-built Opera House as soon as it was finally inaugurated. The main audit

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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USA - The Long Reach Long Riders (LRLR) celebrated their upcoming ride through the Desert Southwest with a raffle and live auction to benefit Behind the Scenes during the USITT Conference in Salt Lake City last week. Sales of raffle tickets, some key donations, and sales of BTS and LRLR-branded swag raised over $15,000 for the charity. The LRLR 2016 ride, dubbed the Radioactive Ride, starts on 4 June in Las Cruces, NM. The riders cover all their own expenses so everything they raise goes to the charity. Sponsor a rider today at www.behindthescenescharity.org/lrlr.

Festivities led off with the traditional kazoo parade led by Bill Sapsis and many of the LRLR. Following the parade, students representing the USITT Chapter at Penn State University made their annual presentation of proceeds from their ongoing fundraising activities and Pledge-a-Product partners A.C.T Lighting (dot2

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USA - Ultra Miami 2016, a major U.S. EDM event staged along Bayfront Park in downtown Miami, attracted over 150,000 music fans and party people for three days of festive enjoyment with some of the best dance sounds on the planet. This year, Robe BMFL and Pointe moving lights were prominent on three major stages - the Main Stage, the Live Stage and the Carl Cox & Friends Arena - all helping create visually stunning environments.

The production design for Carl Cox & Friends, and the Worldwide Stage was created by Steve Lieberman of SJ Lighting. Contracted directly by Ultra, Steve was also the lighting designer for the main stage, where he collaborated closely with creative director Richard Milstein and production manager Ray Steinman to develop a unique Ultra concept that also took into account the requirements and specs of all the headliners - a veritable Who's Who of EDM A-lis

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Spanish Stroll - The Rolling Stones performed in front of hundreds of thousands of jubilant Cubans, delivering a historic concert in a country that once considered the band's music subversive. Coming two days after Barack Obama finished the first trip to Cuba by a US president in nearly 90 years, Friday night's free gig in Havana cemented the communist-run island's opening to the world.

The veteran rockers started their first-ever show in Cuba with Jumpin' Jack Flash, a song recorded in 1968 when Cuban rock fans were secretly sharing pirated vinyl records and risked being sent to rural work brigades to cure "ideological deviation".

"We know that years back it was hard to hear our music in Cuba, but here we are playing. I also think the times are changing," singer Mick Jagger said to a roar from the crowd. Jagger spoke in Spanish throughout of the 18-song show of hit

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USA - KLANG:technologies GmbH of Aachen, Germany has recently appointed Group One Ltd of Farmingdale, New York to serve as its exclusive product distributor for the US and Puerto Rico. The announcement comes from KLANG:technologies founder and chief marketing officer Pascal Dietrich.

"Group One is the perfect distribution partner for KLANG in the States," says Dietrich. "In addition to having one of the industry's most active and effective sales and marketing teams, they have a deep knowledge base and highly attentive support effort for all of the products they represent. That's why Group One has such an extensive network of top acts, engineers, houses of worship and AV consultants using their brands' products; they're literally everywhere that quality sound matters."

Group One President Jack Kelly agrees: "We have deep relationships with both engineers and rental companie

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Poland - Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2016 has yet again set a new all-time high in viewership and engagement, it was the biggest eSports event in ESL history.

The finals of the tenth Intel Extreme Masters season were seen by more than 34m unique viewers - a staggering 32% increase on last year. The three-day main event itself saw 113,000 fans stream into the Spodek arena and IEM Expo, with the finals of each Intel Extreme Masters tournament taking place in front of 10,000 fans in the sold-out stadium.

The ESL relied on the experience of Aram for the planning, design and technical production of all five stages including the giant main stage and also 11 trade fair booths. Aram was responsible for the concepts and the complete technical and set designs of all stages including rental of lighting, multimedia, scenic, audio, trussing, rigging as well as custom made automation

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UK - Lighting and visuals specialist HSL is supplying lighting and production rigging for the recently opened theatrical staging of Jeff Wayne's 1978 cult album War of the Worlds at the Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road, London, produced by Bill Kenwright.

The work is based on HG Wells' 1879 novel about a Martian invasion and has the additional resonance of being played completely with a mix of orchestral and electronic musicians conducted by Wayne himself.

Directed by Bob Tomson, it boasts a star studded cast and is narrated by Liam Neeson - who appears via video - and an equally talented technical and creative team includes lighting designed by Tim Oliver and set by Ric Lipson for Stufish.

HSL's John Slevin, project managing the account, comments, "We're extremely proud to be supporting this production for the first time in the West End. The design is vib

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USA - Ultra Music Festival once again took over Bayfront Park in Downtown Miami to celebrate the conclusion of the annual Winter Music Conference and kick off the summer electronic dance music festival scene with seven stages and some of the biggest DJ's in the EDM circuit. For the fifth year running, AG Production Services was called upon to provide its massive dome structure for two of the stages at Ultra.

"For the past five years, we have provided what has become a staple at music festivals and larger outdoor events, our Mini-Mega Structure for the Carl Cox & Friends Stage at Ultra Music Festival," says AG Production Services president Andrew Gumper. "A scaled down version of the Mini-Mega Structure, which was used on the Worldwide Stage has also become a staple. Both structures use the same trussing and rigging materials and are highly configurable while still providing im

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USA - A variety of Audio-Technica 40 Series broadcast & production microphones and M-Series headphones have been used to both capture and deliver a remarkable sonic and visual art installation in Times Square, New York City.

From 1 April, Soundwalk Collective, an international sound collective based in New York and Berlin, will present Jungle-Iized: A Conversation With Nature - a month-long interactive multi-sensory art installation that will transform Times Square and transport over half a million visitors daily to the heart of the Amazon.

Presented in partnership with David de Rothschild, The Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC), Times Square Arts, Audio-Technica and CXA+ART, the immersive installation includes a participatory audio experience and an interactive video, to encourage a conversation with nature and to heighten awareness of the environmental impa

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UK - David Graham technical director of the National Student Drama Festival approached All Access Staging and Productions once again this year to sponsor the festival. "In previous years we had t-shirts made for the attendees to wear, this year we decided that we would provide everyone with a pair of dirty rigger gloves with the All Access logo on," says Matthew Bull, sales and marketing manager. "Everyone was delighted with them, helping to ensure they had the appropriate PPE for their daily fit ups."

This year All Access Staging and Productions also gave a talk and training session as part of the daily workshops open to all at the festival. "Everyone who came went away knowing the company a little better and gained some practical knowledge," comments Bull. "I feel it is important that we can pass on some free training to people starting off in the industry, giving them confi

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USA - Grammy-award winning hip-hop and R&B artist CeeLo Green recently completed an eleven-city Love Train tour celebrating the release of his new album Heart Blanche.

Although past performances featured a full acoustic band, CeeLo wanted to "pull it back" for this tour and, for these audiences he performed with just a sax and flute player, a percussionist and a DJ. However, the simplicity of CeeLo's stage masked a complex production with music ranging from hip-hop to jazz and a sophisticated audio system using an Allen & Heath dLive S5000 mixer and DM48 MixRack.

Art Merriweather, CeeLo's front-of-house and monitor engineer used wireless mics for CeeLo and all three backup vocalists and connected the sax player's pedal board, the percussionist's feeds and the DJ via direct inputs to the DM48 MixRack on stage.

Merriweather mixed and grouped these sources into as many as

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Slovakia - Engineers from KV2 Audio are putting the company's VHD5.0 large format concert system through extensive testing in preparation for its first major public performance. The system will be used for two sell out concerts in Bratislava, Slovakia for one of the country's leading performers Lucie B

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Austria - Nexo's STM Series modular line array design has been tested in -15°C temperatures and delivered winning results for Austria's volksmusik superstar Andreas Gabalier.

Now one of the most successful performers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Gabalier was the headline act at the WinterParty concert, held in Seefeld in the Tyrolean Alps in Austria. The show presented new challenges for the WinterParty's rental company Rental Pro Austria; an increase in the audience size and a new stage position to accommodate it.

To service the larger event, Rental Pro Austria teamed up with its Czech Republic partner Rental Pro EU, pooling their inventories of Nexo STM line array elements necessary for the large and wide outdoor venue.

"Last year, we used STM but the system was configured only with M46 main cabinets and S118 sub-bass modules because the venue was smaller

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UK - Set in 1960's Yorkshire, Heartbeat is one of the most successful dramas ever to be screened on British television. With 18 series and 372 episodes, the show was regularly watched by more than 14m viewers and spawned two spin-off series.

Now, for the first-time ever, this iconic show is being adapted into a stage production that will visit several venues across the UK. White Light is providing the lighting equipment for this world premiere which has now opened at the Blackpool Grand Theatre.

Originally broadcast on ITV1, Heartbeat is set in the fictional village of Aidensfield and focuses on the local police force having to deal with the day-to-day events of living in a rural community.

The stage version of the show is being produced by David Graham Entertainment Limited. Managing director David Graham comments, "We have lots of experience in adapting

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South Africa - DiGiCo has announced the appointment of DWR Distribution PTY as its exclusive distributor for South Africa from April 2016.

Founded in 2006, DWR has built a reputation in the South African market for supplying predominantly lighting products. The company has grown rapidly adopting a work ethic with a motto of "it's all about the people", which ties in with DiGiCo's own philosophy. DWR provides a complete service from concept through to installation and commissioning, but more importantly great after sales service, all from a highly motivated and experienced team. As a result, it has an impressive list of brands in its portfolio.

"I was truly honored to receive a phone call from Ian Staddon from DiGiCo, who was on the search for a new representative for his product in South Africa," said Duncan Riley of DWR. "I am really excited about this, and so is the whol

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UK - In the wake of his successful Right Here album, released back in the Autumn, former Westlife star Shane Filan and his band recently embarked on a successful theatre tour, with a set list that mixed old Westlife favourites with new material.

It also reunited husband and wife sound engineering team of Chris Pyne (FOH) and Becky Pell (monitors) - metaphorically linked by 100 metres of cable - the former mixing the house sound on a Martin Audio MLA Compact System 36.

The two had previously worked together with Kylie Minogue, Anastasia, Il Divo and the original Westlife before Chris took up his position at Martin Audio as Asia Pacific product support engineer.

In the meantime he had picked up the mantle with some of Filan's solo dates in South East Asia, while his wife has continued to work with the artist for the past six years.

But as a representative for

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UK - Thousands of fundraisers from across the UK flocked to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to run, swim or cycle to raise money for Sport Relief, 20 March 2016.

Blackout worked alongside Progress Productions to supply and install two Prolyte H30V PA towers in the Sport Relief Event Village, from which loudspeaker clusters were hung, to update spectators on fundraising efforts and event updates throughout the day. Truss was also supplied to construct the south gantry providing a VIP walk-in entrance to the Sport Relief Event Village.

Participants were challenged to walk or run a one, three or six-mile route around the London venue for the Sport Relief Mile. The event, led by celebrities including Danny Dyer and Radio 1's Greg James, attracted over 10,000 athletes.

Blackout director, Kevin Monks said, "With a short lead time it was paramount the load-in happened swiftly an

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The Netherlands - Playing around 180 shows a year, Dutch covers band Anderkovver (Another Cover) is a popular attraction at clubs, parties, corporate events and as a support act to higher profile artists. When the band's analogue mixer recently failed they decided to make a long-term investment in the form of a Yamaha CL3 digital console and R-series i/o units.

Formed by Raymond Weysters (bass/vocals) and Roger Damoiseaux (guitar/vocals), Anderkovver performs music of many different styles with, as the band says, "a touch of humour and a dash of chaos". With a large and varied repertoire, the band needed a mixing console that could adapt quickly to changes in the set list, as well as to the different styles of music that they play.

Run as a full-time concern, the band owns all its own equipment and transport, including full lighting and sound rigs. Raymond and the band's f

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UK - Manchester-based audio specialist tube UK limited has installed a comprehensive new d&b sound system with Midas and Yamaha control into the popular 800 capacity site comprising bar, lounge and live music venue Gorilla which is right at the heart of Manchester, UK's vibrant nightlife.

Approaching its fifth year as one of the city's best loved venues and celebrating its past connections as the 'Green Room' theatre space, Gorilla has been adapted as a live music, performance and DJ platform.

A diverse mix of entertainment also includes cult film screenings and award-winning underground comedy. It's a favourite bespoke hire and party location as well as being among the best trending city bars and restaurants. This versatility has helped generate a lively mixed vibe for everyone with an interest in food, band and DJ culture, multimedia and the arts.

tube UK's team, led

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USA - At USITT in Salt Lake City, Fred Foster, CEO of ETC, presented a cheque for $19,259.35 to Behind the Scenes, which reflected ongoing proceeds from sales of ETC's iRFR and aRFR (Radio Focus Remote) applications for iOS and Android devices.

This amount brought the total donated from the apps to just over a quarter of a million dollars, a number that overwhelms everyone involved. When first launched, it was unimaginable that these apps, developed by ETC software engineers Chris Mizerak and Anders Ekvall, would bring so much help and hope to our colleagues in need.

Upon presenting the cheque, Fred commented, "We're once again humbled by our customers' generosity. As we celebrate ETC's 40th anniversary and reflect on our history, we continue to be proud of the impact that the funds from the iRFR and aRFR sales have made over the years in the lives of those supported by BT

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Italy - British laser production company - ER Productions - put together the world's biggest laser show in Milan, Italy, for the release of Samsung's Galaxy S7. The event took place in the beginning of March 2016 and it featured more than 220 lasers and 80 fog, haze and smoke machines, across six remote locations. Four of the remote locations was controlled by W-DMX WhiteBox F-1 units.

Andrew Turner, project manager and designer of this show, chose Wireless Solution from the start: "We had other wireless equipment on other shows but the experience so far hasn't been the greatest - often these systems crash when suddenly you get 10,000 people in a venue, minutes before the show. We talked to Wireless Solution during the planning stage for this show to understand the differences between systems. It was the first time we worked with Wireless Solution."

David Ferraz, internati

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UK - Following on from last year's highly acclaimed event, Letters Live returned to the Freemason's Hall in Central London in mid-March for its second run of shows.

Letters Live celebrates the art of letter-writing, and features a variety of well-known actors, personalities and performers, reading interesting and significant correspondence, both modern, and from history.

This year's shows supported a number of literacy charities and organisations including First Story, as well as providing some much needed profile for Help Refugees UK, which supports people fleeing from conflict in their home countries.

For the show production, PRG XL Video worked with production consultancy NP+Co, and their creative director Nigel Peters, and production manager Kahren Williams, to supply high brightness video projection inside the historic Freemason's Hall.

The intri

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Denmark - Building on its 15-year relationship with Roskilde Festival, Mojo Barriers has secured a further three-year contract to ensure artist and audience safety throughout the eight-day event.

Roskilde Festival is one of Europe's most established large festivals, taking place in Denmark from 25 June- 2 July 2016, with Mojo Barriers once again supplying its barrier configuration. This pen system splits the front of stage area into four pens, which are emptied between the bands, allowing organisers to control the number of people in the front of stage areas and divides the audience to prevent large crowd surges.

As well as the barriers, Mojo Barriers will also supply its proprietary Line Up Gates to enable Roskilde to operate its unique entry system, allowing organisers to control the flow rate into all the pens and give the security staff an effective monitoring system.<

  1. Kristoffer Nielsen adds Robe sparkle to theatres
  2. QSC appoints Exhibo as distribution partner in Italy
  3. Blue Man Group upgrades with Allen & Heath
  4. Historic Union Chapel installs Soundcraft Vi3000
  5. Optocore delivers for South Asian Games
  6. Polish stadium refurbishes with Community
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