USA - Anyone who's ever been to an All That Remains concert knows that this band projects a larger than life image on stage with its fast and heavy death metal rifts, bouncing movements and audience interaction. LD Peter Therrien of JDI Productions has been doing the group's big persona justice on the its current Charming America tour with a lightshow that serves up huge helpings of brightness, colour and sweeping motions.

Unfortunately, the outsized performance of the band and its dazzling lightshow often take place on stages that are decidedly cramped for space. Therrien isn't worried though, because he's been able to conjure up big time lighting impact in even the tightest quarters thanks to some help from Legend moving fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

At every stop on the national Charming America Tour, the LD arranges a group of Legend 412 RGBW moving washes on the dow

Switzerland - Berner Münster was dedicated in the late Middle Ages to St. Vincent of Saragossa, and is the largest and most important late-medieval church in Switzerland. It was built in the Gothic style and was completed in the 19th century. It is recorded in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Berne-based Kilchenmann AG and distributor GoWild were awarded the contract for renovation of the sound system in the nave. Thirty-three passive Pan Beam PB 8-15 have been installed, chosen for their high speech intelligibility and unobtrusiveness.

The signal processing and distribution are Symetrix DSP's used with Dante modules. In addition to the equalization and time alignment, as well as management of all outputs (speakers, induction loop and recording) all input signals (microphones and players) are controlled mixed and sent to the appropriate destinations by the DSP's.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Broadway's latest hit musical Honeymoon In Vegas opened recently with two TiMax2 SoundHub-S48 audio showcontrol delay-matrix systems supplied with the new TiMax MADI-64 Ultimate MADI Interface port. Staged in New York's Nederlander Theatre, TiMax was specified by co-sound designer Scott Lehrer to provide signal distribution and delay-based on-stage localisation functions.

Channelling the sunshine and excess of the original Sin city, Honeymoon In Vegas was adapted by Andrew Bergman from his 1992 hit movie, complete with its original swinging score. The show originally opened over a year before it reached Broadway and has been chased by rave reviews since day one. The New York Times had it tipped from the start, claiming, "...[the show] has wrestled the neon mirage of its title into the solid, satisfying shape of a classic Broadway musica"l.

Lehrer

USA - Maroon 5 have begun their latest world tour in support of their chart-topping fifth studio album V, with lighting, visuals and stage design by Leroy Bennett.

The massive rig includes eight Robe BMFL Spot and 96 x CycFX 8 moving lights supplied by leading US rental company Upstaging, together with the rest of the lighting and rigging equipment package.

Bennett's creative starting point was that they wanted something totally different. With the distinctive 'V' of the album artwork as a base inspiration, the trussing and set architecture - including 19 (nine each side, one centre) eye-catching cascading Plexiglass columns upstage - was all evolved around the concept of conventional and inverted Vs.

Bennett's objective was also to present a set structure that made a strong statement in its own right, and that could be changed by being lit and textured with video sou

UK - They have been planning the project for two years, and the installation has taken two months, but now pro audio and acoustics consultancy NoiseBoys Technologies, based in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, provided the sound for the arrival of King Richard III at Leicester Cathedral this week, where thousands of visitors will attend services including his reinterment on Thursday.

NoiseBoys won the contract to supply and install the state- of-the-art sound system, after the discovery of King Richards's bones in a car park opposite the Cathedral by archaeologists in 2012, which sparked a massive refurbishment programme, including a complete overhaul of the Cathedral's AV system.

The loudspeakers include Pan Acoustics' unobtrusive Pan Beam steerable column arrays, with JBL CBT 50 columns in the side chapel areas. The control system is BSS Soundweb, and is designed to be very capab

UK - J&C Joel, one of the world's leading manufacturers of flame retardant fabrics and flooring for the entertainment and event industries, is celebrating after being recognised as Yorkshire's best Small/Medium Exporter.

As well as picking up the award at this year's Yorkshire Business Masters awards, J&C Joel has also been 'Made in Britain' accredited, further showing its dedication to providing UK manufactured goods worldwide.

Celebrating the success and achievements of businesses operating across the region, the Yorkshire Business Masters award, organised by TheBusinessDesk.com and presented by the BBC's Damian Johnson at Queen's Hotel in Leeds, further reiterates J&C Joel's global business success.

J&C Joel has been providing bespoke theatre curtains, drapes, canvasses, backdrops and stage engineering services for stage shows, events and exhibitions for more than 35 year

UK - Pixel Projects provided immersive retail solutions for the new Google shop within Currys PC World on Tottenham Court Road, London.

The Google shop-in-shop (SIS) officially launched Thursday 12 March and is selling Android phones, Chromebook laptops, and Chromecast TV service whilst offering visitors the opportunity to try out various interactive AV installations.

To provide a key focal point for the shop, AV integrator Pixel Projects installed a Portal (formally Liquid Galaxy) with software development partners End Point. The large scale panoramic display provides users with a truly immersive experience. Shop visitors can use a joystick mechanism to dive into any point of the earth, land or sea via Google maps.

For budding artists Pixel Projects also installed the Google Doodle wall, in close partnership with Deeplocal. The wall features a digital spray can, allowing us

UK - SGM is continuing to support Backstage Academy, the industry-led education centre in the north of England, in its bid to offer BA (Hons) degree courses within the events industry.

Linked to LS-Live, Europe's biggest production rehearsal arena complex, Backstage Academy's technical director, Gareth Welbourn, says the number of production courses has developed massively over the last four years and today they have 96 students attending them. "We now have a really good set of course modules and these have developed with the help of supporters like SGM."

The relationship between the two parties dates back to the PLASA Focus show in Leeds, several years ago when students helped SGM UK build their exhibition stand. "This got [SGM UK's] Dan Kirby and myself talking about ongoing support in the lighting and show control modules."

Welbourn immediately earmark

UK - One of the most exciting developments in the entertainment industry of the past few years is the demand for musical/theatrical entertainment as a prequel to high profile sporting events. There's little doubt that the Opening and Closing ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympics had a significant influence in popularising these occasions. BAFTA Award winning lighting designer, Tim Routledge has embraced this new genre with some gusto.

"Sports presentation, as it is known, is a fast growing industry with many sports upping their game to create an exciting pre-match experience for the fans, generating a great buzz and building anticipation. I was contacted by the Millennium Stadium, who I have worked with several times before, to create a dynamic light show for the pre-match entertainment at the opening match of the Six Nations Rugby Tournament."

The lighting rig was

Russia - Clay Paky has opened a Clay Paky Service Centre in Moscow, with the task of providing technical support to all CIS and former CIS nations. The office is run by Andrey Miroshnichenko and can count on three highly specialized technicians, who have recently attended an intensive specialization course in product support at Clay Paky. The same technicians will attend regular training courses to make sure customers receive up-to-the-minute expertise and all the necessary information regarding the latest products.

"The Technical Service Centre stocks a wide range of spare parts, purchased from Clay Paky, to ensure rapid competent support. The technicians can travel and provide on-site assistance at the customer's request for Clay Paky products both under and out of warranty," the company says.

The office is coordinated by Slawa Gartung, Clay Paky resident manager f

Germany - Funktion-One distributor, Thöne und Partner, has designed and installed a sound system for a new venue in Hannover. Club Kiste, which is the brainchild of Stefan Schreckenberger and his company ProEvent, offers an intimate clubbing environment for music-led events. Schreckenberger is a well-known promoter with more than 25-years of experience in the industry. Taking over the site once occupied by Club Engel 7, the new venue mixes natural and organic design elements with cutting-edge technology.

Thöne und Partner's Benedikt Koch comments, "We were approached in August 2014 by the owners, who asked us to be part of the planning team - specifically to supply and manage the design and implementation of the Funktion-One sound system. Due to a low ceiling height of 2.60m in certain areas, and the request for high impact and even coverage on the dancefloor, we deci

Hungary - Ayrton's dynamic MagicPanel-R and MagicBlade-R LED lighting fixtures formed key elements in Light Design Kft's lighting of the interactive singing contest Rising Star Hungary, the Grand Finale of which broke all ratings records in February 2015. The competition took place over three months and was broadcast on television networks across Hungary and the neighbouring countries.

The Ayrton fixtures were incorporated into a dazzling set of curved LED walls which displayed video content and abstract imagery throughout the show. Twenty-four MagicPanel-R and twenty-four MagicBlade-R luminaires were rigged between the LED walls where they served as a homogenous surface for video display as well as performing as standard moving head fixtures. Several of the Ayrton fixtures' on-board functions were then used to create a wide range of effects in keeping with the mapping an

Fame Academy - Sir Paul McCartney is to induct former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Starr is the last of The Beatles receive the musical honour. Sir Paul will usher in the 74-year-old at the 30th annual ceremony at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum next month. The Beatles are already in the hall as a group, as are John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison as solo artists. Other inductees will include Green Day, Lou Reed and Bill Withers.

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, Starr said it meant "recognition" of his work. He added: "And it means, finally, the four of us are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame even though we were the biggest pop group in the land."

Eagle Joe Walsh will perform some of Starr's music, while Withers' music will be performed by John Legend. It is not known if Withers, who quit

South Africa - Cuono Biviano, the owner of VuePix and also the managing director of the Australian based ULA Group visited DWR Distribution recently.

DWR Distribution is the official distributors of VuePix in South Africa. On his visit Cuono Biviano was able to meet up rental companies MGG Productions, Multi-Media Events, Fogtech, Black Motion and In Harmony Productions.

VuePix screens are becoming the centrepiece of events and the high-resolution screens are built to impress. "It's adding a new dimension to events and for DWR, it's not only about offering our clients a good product, but having the back up from Cuono and his team. That's what really makes the difference," commented Duncan Riley of DWR. " Needless to say, once Cuono's feet touched African soil, we were in for a treat with a lot of laughter and good times in the mix."

"It was an absolu

USA - Founded by former U.S. Navy SEALs, the BattleFrog Obstacle Race Series is an intense obstacle course race for all ages inspired by the challenges Navy SEALs face every day in training. BattleFrog transforms every race venue into a demanding obstacle course designed to test the strength, skill, and determination of any athlete.

On 28 February and 1 March, Miami area participants brave enough to take the challenge gave it their all on the BattleFrog 15K, BullFrog 5K, BullFrog Mile, and TadPole Dash 400M courses. Being able to clearly hear the instructions of the staff and others requires first-rate audio quality and, for this, sound reinforcement technology from Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio was placed into service.

Edwin 'Haviken Hayes' Guerra is the production coordinator for BattleFrog Series, Miami and director of operations for Kenote Entertainment of Hollywood,

USA - Christmas services this past December never sounded better at Second Baptist Church's 400,000sq.ft West Campus in Houston thanks to a recent audio system upgrade to two DiGiCo SD5 consoles. Installed by local HOW systems integrator Covenant Communications, the new consoles replace a pair of legacy DiGiCo D5 Live FOH and monitor desks for the church's 5,000-seat "in-the-round" worship centre, which also televises its lively services.

Second Baptist Global tech director Mark Sepulveda notes that after seven years of duty, the time had come to retire the previous consoles and make an upgrade. "The SD5s were chosen based on what our team thought were the best overall live audio consoles on the market that continued to give us superior audio with the DiGiCo brand, continued ease of hands-on functionality, easy firmware updates that will continue to add new featur

USA - In Oak Creek, WI, the Oak Creek Assembly of God recently produced the musical A Little Boys Prayer. Set in a small town but with over 200 performers in the show, technical director Nate Turner needed to create a lighting design that could take the congregation somewhere they have never been before. To do this, he needed both multi-faceted and powerful automated fixtures, so he worked with Clearwing Productions who provided him with VL4000 Spot and VL3000 Spot luminaires from Phillips Vari-Lite.

"The VL3500 Spot had been my go-to light for the last couple of years, but when I found out Clearwing had the VL4000 Spots, I was very excited to use them on this show," began Turner. "I first saw the VL4000 Spot at a Clearwing demo and I was immediately impressed by the brightness, but when you add in the extra gobo wheel and the framing shutters, it makes it

Germany - Keeping digital music files safe is the focus of a special panel being hosted by the Music Producers Guild at this year's Musikmesse/Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt.

Producers Tony Platt, Gareth Jones and Stevan Krakovic will take part in the event which aims to highlight the care that should be taken of recordings and session information, especially when an entire album's worth of creativity can now be contained on one memory stick.

"In the days of analogue recording, the tape box and track sheet logged all the important information, "Stevan Krakovic says "In this new digital age we have become very casual. Too many sessions are badly labelled and too much information goes unreported. Some people even entrust their valuable music to cheap hard drives without paying any attention to how accurately it has been copied. We really need to up our game and get

Fame Academy - Sir Paul McCartney is to induct former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Starr is the last of The Beatles receive the musical honour. Sir Paul will usher in the 74-year-old at the 30th annual ceremony at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum next month. The Beatles are already in the hall as a group, as are John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison as solo artists. Other inductees will include Green Day, Lou Reed and Bill Withers.

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, Starr said it meant "recognition" of his work. He added: "And it means, finally, the four of us are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame even though we were the biggest pop group in the land."

Eagle Joe Walsh will perform some of Starr's music, while Withers' music will be performed by John Legend. It is not known if Withers, who quit

USA - Shaping Sound, the contemporary dance company founded by Emmy-nominated choreographers Travis Wall, Nick Lazzarini, Teddy Forance, and dance visionary Kyle Robinson took their art to stages around the country to tell the story of a girl whose dreams take her on a journey through love, loss and life.

The performances featured numbers by some of the most respected dancers, whose collective work has appeared on American Idol, Glee, The Tony Awards, The Grammys, The Oscars, and The X-Factor and wrapped their 36 date tour in late February.

Seth Jackson and co-designer Nathan Scheuer worked to create a traditional dance plot with modern technology, and with lighting director Teresa Porterfield Fensler out on the road on her own, the designers selected an automated rig provided by Bandit Lites.

House pipes were used to hang the overhead fixtures and carri

Belgium - Lighting designer Jean-Jacques Marotte was the go-to guy for event agency DDMC, when they were tasked with the production and creation of the inauguration of the new railway tunnel in the north of Antwerp.

The tunnel interconnects the left and right banks of the Harbour of Antwerp, and the celebration took the form of a spectacular opening ceremony. The train arrived at the station with prominent Belgian ministers and VIPs on board to experience a live show with performers and lighting effects adding new dimensions to the outdoor railway environment.

PRG Belgium was the technical supplier of video, light, sound and rigging for this impressive project and Jean-Jacques Marotte put the equipment into perfect action.

"We started the installation one week in advance. It was extremely cold during the build-up period. These extreme weather circumstances were the reas

UK - Founder of the London Electronic Arts Festival (LEAF), Rob da Bank, has praised the sound generated at this year's event by Flare Audio's system.

A two-day cultural celebration of electronic music, art, technology and digital futurism, held at Tobacco Dock this March, the event attracted around 20,000 electronic music fans into the heart of London. Flare was selected as the event's only audio supplier.

"I was blown away almost quite literally by the sound quality that Flare provided for our LEAF festival," said Rob da Bank. "Whether it was a live act or DJ, or in a small room to a vast warehouse space, they delivered on every level and were supremely professional all weekend."

Flare Audio products provided sound for both the conference and live performances. Flare's V8C and V12C high SPL point source loudspeakers and flat panel SB18 bass delivered fo

UK - Robe lights were right there at the hub of the action for the UK's largest student show and the world's biggest Bhangra competition, Bhangra Showdown, which this year seriously upped the ante, moving to the SSE Arena, Wembley, London for the first time, reflecting the success and popularity of the event now in its eighth glorious year.

The show - organized by Imperial College Bhangra Society also featured its largest and most ambitious technical production to date to accompany the eight top student teams who strutted their talent in the battle for The UK's Best Student Bhangra Team.

Kudos AV, based in Middlesex, have sponsored the event for many years and this year were also the main technical production provider. With the move to the larger venue, they asked High Wycombe lighting rental company Siyan to supply some of the additional kit needed and also assist on t

Philippines - The Theatre at Solaire Resort and Casino has become the first venue in the Philippines to be equipped with a Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system. Designed and engineered from the outset to combine architectural and electronic acoustics, this luxurious new performance venue has since scheduled a mix of international and local music acts as well as Broadway musicals like Chicago and Singin' In the Rain.

"With Constellation, we can offer the optimum acoustical environment for any type of performance," says Shax Siasoco, technical director for the venue. "We have the most advanced theatre in the Philippines."

The complete theatre technology package was designed and specified by Las Vegas and Hong Kong-based Coherent Design, with principals David Starck and Kevin Potts working in consultation with the Singapore office of Aedas,

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