USA - Las Vegas-based Show & Design Group (SDG) has made its first investment in Ayrton lighting fixtures with the purchase of 24 Diablo S units. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton products in North America.
SDG offers live event production and lighting rentals; a complete trucking division, SDG Logistics, Inc., is targeted at expedited entertainment logistics.
“The purchase of 24 Diablo S fixtures is our introduction to Ayrton, although we have been aware of the brand since they launched MagicPanels,” says project manager, Lew Aronoff. “Our core business is trade shows and corporate theatre, and we’ve seen Diablos become very prevalent in the cross-rental market. Our B2B partners run short of 20K lumen fixtures on a regular basis, so we decided to invest in Diablos since we needed more fixtures of that size. Their size and weight-to-output ratio really attracted us to the unit.”
Ayrton Diablo is a compact, versatile and feature-rich 300W profile luminaire. Featuring an output of 19,000 lumens, framing shutters, rotating gobos and an iris, the Diablo is remarkably lightweight at just 48 pounds.
“We expect our acquisition of Diablos will open us up to more live entertainment work, as well,” says Aronoff. “The current plan is to add about 100 Diablos to our inventory within the year. As we get into more markets that specify the use of particular fixtures we’re also considering adding Ayrton Perseo Beams, Huracans and the new laser-source Cobras.”
Aronoff expects SDG’s Diablos to make their d

USA - Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty’s musical comedy Seussical, based on the works of the famed Dr. Seuss, is filled with an abundance of exuberant characters, from Yertle the Turtle and Gertrude McFuzz, to Sour Kangaroo and the Wickersham Brothers, The Cat in the Hat, and The Grinch.
Lighting such colourful characters is fun! Ask Christopher Robin, who used layered effects and a variety of light angles to bring them and their imaginative costumes to life at a recent West Hempfield High School production of the play.
“This was just a really enjoyable experience,” said Robin. “The costumes were magnificent, and the set was beautifully painted. Within the set itself, the whole spectrum of colour was used. The giant story book on stage gave me free reign to use any colour to capture the palette on the pages of Dr. Seuss’s many children books.”
Helping Robin create this colour-scape was a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures that included 10 COLORado 72 Battens and four Maverick Storm 1 Wash units.
Robin originally wanted to place his RGBWA strip lights near the Cyc, but limited pipes and positions for rear projections, which created by Jesse Madden, made it necessary for him to locate the fixtures on a pipe about five-feet downstage from the Cyc.
“This wasn’t ideal, and I was nervous of how they were going to play, but I was pleasantly surprised,” said Robbins. “I actually was able to use the COLORados as face lights and lighting the Cyc, which was actually Dr. Seuss’s Story Book painted upstage. The behav

ALC NetworX, developer of the Ravenna Audio-over-IP technology has welcomed Peavey to the Ravenna community. Under its Commercial Audio brand, Peavey offers an entire range of products from the microphone to the loudspeaker, and every link in the signal chain in between.
Under the Ravenna partnership, Peavey has developed sNET - a single IP-based network infrastructure technology which will work at the core of their future MediaMatrix products. sNET is based on Ravenna, the broadcast industry’s de facto AoIP standard, featuring low latency, fully synchronised signal transparency and highest reliability - all while ensuring broad interoperability through its compatibility with AES67 and SMPTE ST 2110 standards.
According to Peavey Commercial Audio general manager, Shayne Thomas, joining the Ravenna community was a natural move. “Adopting Ravenna is part of our vision and roadmap to remain on the cutting edge of real-time network audio streaming ensuring the highest level of lossless audio quality within MediaMatrix and Crest Audio products,” he remarks. “With a proven track record of near on 30 years and industry-wide recognition as a pioneer in the development of cutting-edge digital signal processing technologies it is only fitting that we integrate Ravenna as part of the supported audio protocols in conjunction with MediaMatrix sNET - AES67 audio streaming, control and monitoring over Ethernet.”
Andreas Hildebrand, Ravenna evangelist at ALC NetworX, comments: “Peavey, with its Commercial Audio branch, is a world-leading manufacturer of netw

UK - This year, Black Skull Creative, in collaboration with its sister company Black Skull Studio and Marvin Dietmann, was entrusted with the task of creating nine distinct country performances for this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool.
From content design and choreography to production design and stage direction, Black Skull Creative covered all aspects of creative direction and production from ideation to completion.
"As the co-creative director of nine Eurovision countries, overseeing such a massive task was undeniably challenging,” says Ross Nicholson of Black Skull Creative. “However, it was also an immensely rewarding experience. Eurovision provided a platform for untapped creativity and we, at Black Skull Creative, seized that opportunity to infuse our creatives with a sense of boundless imagination and fun.
“The Eurovision stage became a canvas on which we could push artistic boundaries, connect with our audiences across the globe and celebrate the sheer power of music and performance.”
In addition to this, Dan Shipton - one of the co-founders of Black Skull Creative - undertook the enormous role of creatively directing the main show of Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Shipton was tasked with creating a rich and authentic blend of British and Ukrainian culture.
"I was truly honoured to be appointed as lead creative director for Eurovision 2023 by BBC Studios," said Shipton. "Our aim was to create a show that celebrates the rich heritage of both British and Ukrainian cultures. Through a seamless marriage of artis

UK - Through a mix of live performances and puppetry, The Peter Rabbit Easter Adventure is an immersive theatrical experience that brings to life the stories and characters of Beatrix Potter.
Taking place at London’s Covent Garden, audiences are transported back in time as they help Beatrix herself rescue Jemima Paddle-Duck from the clutches of Mr McGregor, with the help of Benjamin Bunny and Peter Rabbit. The show features a lighting design by Sean Gleason who approached White Light (WL) to supply his lighting equipment.
When it came to lighting the show, Sean comments: “My role on The Peter Rabbit Easter Adventure was mainly to bring found and adapted spaces to life, help set the scene, as well as bring focus to certain moments. The play has a mix of actors interacting with puppets and puppeteers so light needed to play a large role in not only creating magical settings but also helping to distract and hide what we didn’t want the audience to see.”
As this show was set in Covent Garden as opposed to a more traditional theatre space, did this change Sean’s approach to the project? He explains: “My creative approach was pretty much the same. The play had previously been set at Blenheim Palace so the framework to the design was already in place, but the location and settings on this occasion were completely different and this obviously influenced my process.
“For this latest version, the full creative team, including our writer Callum Finlay, were all back in the room, which resulted in the piece continuously evolvin

Canada - AVL Media Groupand Wharfedale Pro have extended their distribution agreement to now include Canada. The change is with immediate effect.
The agreement, which was previously exclusive to the USA, now makes AVL Media Group the authorised distributor for Wharfedale Pro products throughout North America. As a result of this expansion, customers in Canada will now benefit from improved technical support, training, and product availability.
The AVL and Wharfedale Pro teams will showcase their latest offerings at the upcoming InfoComm Show in Orlando, Florida from 14-16 June.

Europe - As of 1 July 2023, QSC will take over direct distribution for all QSC Pro Audio portfolio in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. This approach will give QSC Pro Audio customers “unrivalled access and support” from the recently opened European Service Centre in the QSC Netherlands office, says the company.
Algam will remain responsible for the distribution of QSC Pro Audio in France and the Nordics. “We would like to thank Algam for their support in distributing the QSC Pro Audio portfolio in Benelux and look forward to our continued partnership in France (including Maghreb) and the Nordics,” says Perry Celia, vice president, global sales and service, QSC Pro Audio.

USA - Last fall, Darkroom Creative enlisted Elation Smarty Hybrid moving heads on Walker Hayes' Glad You’re Here Tour as a multifunctional workhorse on the country star’s first headlining arena tour. Currently out on his follow-up Duck Buck Tour, the design firm has again turned to the compact moving head as the only hard-edged fixture in the rig.
“It met all the needs and continues to carry far more of a workload than you think a fixture of that size could accomplish,” stated Seth Jackson, partner at Darkroom Creative, of the CMY colour-mixing hybrid moving head. Darkroom Creative is again handling lighting design, set design, video production and content for the 2023 outing with lighting supply by Bandit Lites.
Limited in both crew and truck space on last fall’s tour, the set and lighting rig for Glad You’re Here was understandably restricted. Now, however, it was “time to do a show”. Following consultation with management, Seth says it was clear that they didn’t want to limit themselves to a single environment. “This time it had to keep evolving.”
Duck Buck includes much more production, including multiple screen surfaces and an upgraded lighting approach that brings the audience completely into the show. Nate Alves, Seth’s partner at Darkroom Creative, was tasked with creating a different 3D visual environment for each song, including moment-to-moment changes to I-Mag, “to keep things moving and present a much larger stage picture than was actually there.”
Seth and Nate enhanced the rig to add impactful effec

USA - The ESTA Control Protocols Plugfest, the event where manufacturers and developers test their lighting products for interoperability, is scheduled to take place from 5-8 October 2023 at the Marriott Dallas/Fort Worth in Westlake, Texas. This is the 19th instance of this informal testing laboratory. Attendance is free for both ESTA members and non-members.
In response to feedback from last year’s event, the Control Protocols Working Group (CPWG) and Plugfest organisers have announced that Plugfest 2023 will expand from three days to four days. The CPWG’s task group meeting schedule now provides additional time for evening Plugfest activities.
ESTA’s Plugfest is an opportunity to connect your lighting products with those of other manufacturers to test and resolve compatibility challenges. Attendees from around the world bring controllers, intelligent lights, control protocol analysers, and other network-connected components to improve their product experiences.
An informal kick-off presentation will be given each morning at 9am. First-time attendees are especially encouraged to attend this orientation event. Event Information is available at http://tsp.esta.org/tsp/news/plugfest.html

UK - Tim Routledge, lighting designer for Eurovision Song Contest 2023, utilised a large complement of 194 x Claypaky Sharpy-X-Frames, 126 x Scenius Unicos, 40 x Hy B-EYE K25s, 12 x Sharpy Plus Aqua and 12 x ReflectXions to illuminate the set, whose embracing design had special significance this year.
The ESC took place in Liverpool after Ukraine, the winner of the 2022 contest, was unable to meet the demands of hosting the 2023 event. The three live shows, two semi-finals and the grand finale, were presented by British and Ukrainian hosts and featured 37 participating countries.
The stage design by New York set designer Julio Himede was based on “the principles of togetherness, celebration and community”, a sentiment with poignancy considering international solidarity with Ukraine. The stage was 450 sq.m and featured 220sq.m of independently rotating LED screens and more than 700 LED floor tiles.
"The X-Frames were used in the main architectural look of the show - the huge scenic arms designed by Julio Himede that extended out into the audience as a ‘hug’ to the world,” explains Tim Routledge. “This was one of my most important lighting positions to give the show dynamic and mind-bending architectures of light and extend the look of the show right down the arena in a volume of light beams. From tight beam curved architectures to the most stunning rainbow look for a major part of the show, the X Frames gave us a bold and colorful punch."
A completely hybrid, multi-function fixture, the Sharpy-X-Frame delivers beam effects and act

Italy - Following his success in the United States and Europe, Diodato, winner of the Sanremo Festival 2020, returns to Italy for a tour that will take him around Italian clubs for the whole of summer 2023. The singer-songwriter has already performed in famous clubs in Turin, Milan, Padua and Bologna, where his new single If You Want Me, the soundtrack to Diabolik - Ginko all'attack! was hugely successful.
The performances were illuminated by lighting designer Andrea ‘Bobo’ Amadei, who opted for 10 Ayrton Diablo S fixtures, six of which were positioned on vertical trusses as backlight and four positioned on the musicians' platforms.
“After a very interesting meeting in Molpass I was struck by Diablo’s optics and its internal effects and I decided to use them for the first time,” says Amadei.
“The concept of the tour was an imaginary garden with seven LED panels on stage carrying images of flowers. The Ayrton Diablo S had the ability, thanks to the internal effects and the great brightness, to make everything magical. Being positioned essentially against the light, they managed to create a great contrast to the LED panels, while two Diablo delivered light and effects to the artist in his central position.
“The moment of greatest effect was that of the acoustic solo, in which I envisaged the use of all the Diablos against the light with the aid of gobos and a prism with slow rotations. Thanks to the optics and the CMY system I was able to create colours that I’ve been unable to obtain in the past and I will certainl

Australia - Taking place from mid-February to early March, WorldPride is a global LGBTQIA+ festival that has been staged since 2000, with cities vying to be chosen as the host. Licensed by InterPride, this year's WorldPride took place in Sydney, making it the first-ever host city in the Southern Hemisphere.
The event showcased more than 200 celebrations of queerness and diversity on the world stage, which included the popular Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) events. A range of other festival events were also on offer including arts, sports, theatre, concerts, parties, and First Nations programming.
Notable performers such as Kylie Minogue, Kelly Rowland, MUNA, and Charli XCX graced the stage. Novatech Creative Event Technology, one of Australia's leading audio-visual production companies, supported the festival by providing an LED screen setup that was powered by Brompton LED processing.
“We were elated to receive an invitation from SUBVRT to be involved with the production of three of WorldPride's major events in Sydney,” says Novatech’s tech lead, Nik Carr. “Given the worldwide recognition of WorldPride as one of the largest LGBTQIA+ festivals, this was an extraordinary opportunity for us. Furthermore, the festival's first-ever southern hemisphere iteration added to our excitement, making it an honour to support such significant event on our home turf.”
The Novatech team played a pivotal role in three flagship events held at the Domain in Sydney: the Sydney WorldPride Opening Concert; the Domain Dance Party; and the Closi

Australia - Located in Chippendale’s Central Park Mall, Fortress Sydney is a gamer’s haven. The expansive new site now holds the title of largest esports complex in the Southern Hemisphere, drawing crowds as a modern entertainment mecca. Housing a slew of colourful arcades, streaming booths, a themed tavern, sci-fi inspired bar, PC LAN lounge and a colossal custom-designed esports arena, Fortress Sydney has been designed from the ground up as the unparalleled capitol of the city’s gaming community.
Sponsored by high-end PC gaming titan Alienware, Fortress is by nature, a hub for the tech-savvy. Packed with a myriad of elite gaming PCs, peripherals and addressable lighting, the word ‘performance’ was on the lips of every supplier involved in the project. Faced with providing a loudspeaker solution befitting of such a technological pedigree, The Avit Group selected Nexo’s P15 point source system for the Alienware Arena.
The Avit Group’s operations manager, Adrian Davis, outlines Avit’s role in realising the venue’s grand vision: “For the Fortress esports project, we were given the brief to create a dynamic, immersive, and technologically advanced AV system, which sits somewhere between an entertainment venue and a broadcast studio.
“The vision was to set a new benchmark for esports venues not only in Australia but across the globe. It was essential to provide seamless and high-quality audio experiences that would engage audiences, whether they were on-site or connecting digitally. Our goal was to ensure that the AV infrastructure

UK - SLX has announced that applications are now open for its 2023/24 Lighting Programme. SLX’s Lighting Programme exists to nurture creativity, drive collaboration, build connections and break down the barriers that prevent new talent from entering into the industry.
Built upon SLX’s Student Bursary scheme, this programme provides hands-on training, exclusive workshops delivered by leading manufacturers and exposure to on-site client projects with industry professionals. Now in its fourth year, the Lighting Programme provides students with an even deeper understanding of the technical aspects around event lighting, production and operations.
As part of the programme, students also gain access to a like-minded community of professionals comprising this year's cohorts, and also established specialists from within the industry. With networking set as a key pillar of the programme, students will be able to take full advantage of SLX's extensive industry connections, opening doors to potential placements and freelance opportunities; thus, providing students with an even richer learning experience whilst setting the stage for long-term professional success and growth.
Led under the guidance of SLX business development manager, Ruari Cormack, and dry hire manager, Katy Lowe, students will have the opportunity to work alongside SLX's experienced and knowledgeable team of professionals, who will provide guidance and support throughout the programme and into the start of their careers.
“We are extremely delighted to announce that our 2023 Light

UAE - Expanding its reach into the Middle East, Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) has announced GSL Professional as its newest distributor in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region as well as Egypt.
“We are thrilled about our partnership with EAW,” says Fouad Fowzi, CEO of GSL Professional. “EAW's combination of innovative design, strong customer relationships, ongoing product development and commitment to quality and performance will be key to its success in this highly competitive market. Together, we will continue to deliver exceptional sound solutions to our clients in the GCC region and Egypt.”
Further investing in EAW’s regional customers, GSL offers a dedicated service centre located in Dubai to support clients and ensure a satisfactory after-sales experience. The centre handles a variety of maintenance, repair and support services. Additional support can be found through GSL’s product specialists, who offer on-site assistance that stems from a thorough knowledge of EAW and extensive industry experience.
“Welcoming GSL Professional as our newest distributor is an exciting venture for EAW,” says T.J. Smith, president of EAW. “GSL provides only the highest level of technical, marketing, service and sales support, for both consultants and integrators, as well as venue operators, engineers, end-users and more. We look forward to creating a strong and enduring partnership that will bring more opportunity to our GCC-region customers.”

Columbia - Martin Audio has announced the appointment of Avcom Colombia as its new distributor for that territory. Negotiations with CEO, Camilo Aranguren, first began with Martin Audio - along with sister company Optimal Audio -at the ISE Show in Barcelona at the beginning of this year.
“We were already a partner of [Martin Audio parent company] Focusrite in Colombia, and know the technical advances Martin Audio has made,” stated Mr. Aranguren. “We have a strong position in the entertainment technology industry and knew the brand would be a perfect addition to our distribution portfolio."
The Avcom CEO comments: “Martin Audio is a ‘green field’ as far as Colombia is concerned. The brand is known but the opportunity to develop it is huge. The business model is beneficial for both parties.”
In particular, he predicts Wavefront Precision optimised line arrays, as well as the Torus family, will be subject to most interest and sees immediate synergies with other brands the company represents, particularly Avid, Robe, MDG and Luminex.
In terms of priorities, the rental and installation sectors will assume equal focus. “Rental has great potential over the next 12 months, and the Martin Audio offering is strong. For the installation market houses of worship, live venues and theatres will be our primary targets.” Ancillary marketing into the corporate and education markets will be handled by Avcom Colombia’s Enterprise team.
The organisation is already in the process of certification training for its techs and sound engineer

Australia - At Vivid Sydney 2023, visitors will be able to discover, a whole new way of experiencing immersive, super-sized light and animations with their own personalised cinematic quality audio’.
The Cinewav innovation, means spectators can fully appreciate the aural design of Vivid Sydney artworks from anywhere: on the water, from across the harbour, from the top of a building and more.
Cinewav is a patented technology that allows users to listen to a clear, crisp soundtrack on their smartphone in-sync with a public show.
For Lighting of the Sails: Life Enlivened 2023 by John Olsen and Curiious at Sydney Opera House, Fabio Nardo, creative director at creative technologist Curiious comments, “Curiious are always exploring new trends in immersive communications. Large-scale animations tend to be purely visual. Cinewav gives us even greater creative freedom so that visitors can intimately experience the art in a sensitive and more immersive way.”
Cinewav has worked with local expert suppliers such as TDC - Technical Direction Company, The Electric Canvas and The P.A. People, to integrate its app into many spectacular light installations at Vivid Sydney 2023. All visitors must do is to download the Cinewav app to their smart phone from Apple, Google Play or Huawei AppGallery, get the audio ticket and press ‘Play’- and remember to bring earphones/headphones!
Vivid Sydney's Festival director, Gill Minervini, said that Cinewav's technology would help bring the activations and installations to life along the 8.5km Lig

South Africa - DWR Distribution has expand its AV offering to include converters, rack mount modules and signal processors from Theatrixx Technologies.
While Theatrixx offers a wide range of products, DWR looks forward to selling and promoting its innovative and highly popular hardware based xPressCue media player, their video converters available as ruggedized standalone units or rack mountable modules, and of course working with Erik Guertin, the territory manager for Theatrixx Technologies.
“Given the importance of signal flow, we decided to bring in these units because of their stability, how robust they are, and because a lot relies on them,” commented Bruce Riley, who heads technical support and the workshop at DWR. “This is a very important piece of equipment and one often overlooked. It eliminates the need for unreliable IEC connectors and 12 Volt jack power supply connectors as the units plug in directly with truecon plugs and have ‘loop throughs’ to link power to each other. In addition, the rack mount units have built-in redundancy power.”
DWR currently has Theatrixx standalone converters, as well as rack modular converters in stock, with the product range overseen by Dylan Jones, who is happy to demonstrate the units to anyone interested. “We will be selling both the Theatrixx rack mount modules and their standalone equivalent,” said Dylan. “The standalone converter is a unit that allows the AV conversion of a signal type example HDMI to DVI, STI to HDMI or fibre converters.
“The guys from Theatrixx have been gr

UK - This year’s BRIT Awards featured performances from renowned artists such as Stormzy, Lizzo, Lewis Capaldi, Wet Leg, Sam Smith, and Kim Petras. Hosted by the comedian Mo Gilligan, the event's big winner was undoubtedly Harry Styles, who clinched four major awards, including the coveted Album of the Year, Pop/R&B Act, Song of the Year, and Artist of the Year.
DiGiCo consoles, a regular fixture at the BRIT Awards, supplied by Britannia Row Productions (Brit Row) delivered reliability and audio quality, ensuring every performance was heard with crystal clarity.
Brit Row, a Clair Global-owned company was responsible for delivering a comprehensive audio package for the event. Under the direction of Brit Row director, Lez Dwight, and account executive Tom Brown, the team supplied an array of equipment, including a DiGiCo control package, RF management, and a crew to manage the audio system.
All consoles used during the main show were DiGiCo, with three Quantum 7s, two of which were deployed for monitors and one for FOH, two SD12s dedicated to presenters and winners at FOH, and an SD11 functioning as the comms/shout link console. The show's complex audio system also featured multiple SD Racks and a pair of Orange Boxes, further attesting to the exceptional quality and versatility of the DiGiCo consoles.
Brit Row’s head of engineering - event support, Josh Lloyd, designed the system and handled the house band mixes, with Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Seargent and Marty Harrison on monitors. Supporting him was key team member Chris Coxhead, who handl

Argentina - AV equipment supplier Macaio Argentina provided rental company Buenos Aires Live Show (BALS) with 42 Claypaky Scenius Unico and 48 Claypaky Sharpy Plus, which were deployed at the Masters of Rock 2023 heavy metal music festival held at Parque Roca in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 28 April.
Masters of Rock was headlined by KISS, Deep Purple, Scorpions and Helloween, with local act Horcas opening. As Masters of Rock is an international festival, the local adaptation was in the charge of LD Gaspar Potocnik, who was hired by the local production company Ake Music. The technical structure was provided by BALS.
“For this festival the lighting proposals were adapted by unifying the ceiling and stage while adapting to each act,” says Marco Alejandro Fressone from communications and marketing at Macaio. “KISS as the closing main band added their own ceiling pods with some extra lighting and scenery.”
The Sharpy Plus fixtures were chosen for their colours and effects. “Their colour wheel with multiple dichroic filters create different hues and shades while their high-intensity narrow beam was a key factor for an application of this size,” notes BALS business manager Hugo Mossi. “On the other hand, the optics and versatility of Scenius Unico made the fixture a perfect match for this kind of show. We’ve been using them for a while with outstanding results.”
According to Mossi, “Claypaky lights always deliver exceptional light output, precise beam control and impressive colour mixing capabilities. The combination of high-qual

Belgium - Run by four generations of the same family, bicycle shop Emrin has been in existence since 1908. Located in Flemish Brabant, the shop has a proud history of delivering exceptional customer service and remains passionate about matching the right bike to the right rider. This principle has seen the business thrive and grow to encompass every aspect of the cycling world, from sales and leasing to repair and maintenance, clothing, accessories and bike-fitting measurement.
Such is the popularity of the shop, that in 2022, Emrin took the decision to move to brand new premises. Designed by architects Mossoux Architecten, the new, high-tech, ultra-modern store has more than 700sqm of floor space and comprises a sales unit, mechanics unit, maintenance unit, high-end race bicycles unit, basement storage and offices.
The importance in a modern retail space, particularly one that fosters a close sense of community, of providing the right in-store atmosphere, has been demonstrated time and again. With this in mind, the Emrin team chose to equip its new premises with a high-quality Pioneer Pro Audio sound system to match the store’s concept, both technically and aesthetically.
Prior to the move to new premises, Emrin had arranged for Iwan Fol of specialists FOL Sound, Light and Vision, and Joeri Verholen of Pioneer Pro Audio, to present a short demonstration of CM-Series commercial audio loudspeakers at its old store. Having established their suitability for the project, installation then took place across the new store’s three large areas, on the g

Spain - With a career that spans three decades, and having topped the country’s national album chart nine times, Sergio Dalma is one of Spain’s best-selling recording artists. Last year saw him tour his latest album, Alegria (Joy), throughout Spain and South America. Spanish rental company Use Sonido supplied DiGiCo Quantum consoles at both the front of house and monitor positions, purchased from DiGiCo’s Spanish distributor, RMS Pro Audio.
“We started working with Sergio Dalma over 15 years ago,” says Use, Use Sonido’s owner. “We have worked on many tours with him, always using DiGiCo consoles at front of house, and more recently we have them at the monitor world, too.”
Originally, the company had SD7 and SD10 consoles in its inventory, which it relied on for many years, but recently decided to upgrade to an SD Quantum 7, adding the Quantum 338 as soon as it became available to replace its SD10s, ensuring it has the most up-to-date DiGiCo products in its rental stock.
The consoles immediately went out with Sergio Dalma, the SD Quantum 7 taking up the front of house position, manned by FOH engineer Oscar Vinader, and the Quantum 338 with Alberto Cid on monitors.
“Whenever we invest in a new console, we make sure the engineers who are going to use them are fully trained on them, and we’ve had great support from DiGiCo and RMS ProAudio for this,” Use continues. “Once everything is explained - the graphic environment, the layout of the menus, the ergonomics of the encoders, etc., - it makes them really easy

UK - For over twenty years, Hotcam has supported the broadcast and television industry with multi-camera and audio equipment hire, technical management, engineering and crewing services.
Hotcam’s reputation is built around its ability to provide bespoke flypack and engineering solutions, whether that be for complex studio rigs or international multi camera productions. Previous projects have included transforming a prestigious, working London hotel, The Langham, into a multi camera studio for Netflix’s “5* Chef”, and Coach trip, a uniquely complex tech brief whereby a touring coach is fitted out as a mobile fixed rig for several months.
In January, Hotcam deployed its flypack services to The Palladium for the record of ITV’s flagship Saturday entertainment show, Britain’s Got Talent. In this case, the engineering team chose to build the audio solution solely around the Shure Axient Digital system, the first year that a single-manufacturer digital radio microphone system has been used.
Hotcam is constantly on the lookout for new products to remain at the very cutting edge of technology, enabling them to facilitate their clients’ needs to the highest of standards. They wanted to upgrade their high-end analogue radio microphones to digital ones for some time after the 700MHz sell-off. A top-notch system was required, with a wide frequency bandwidth, great range, great audio quality and great functionality, and last year they upgraded the entire radio microphone system to Shure Axient Digital.
Peter Green, managing director at Ho