USA - Set in the pastoral 'Spirit of Suwannee Music Park' and featuring 15 different yoga and meditation sessions on topics ranging from breath work and mantras to the flow arts of hoop and poi, the Aura Music & Arts Festival is one of the most mellow events on the music fest calendar.

Organisers of the annual gathering, which began in 2010, wanted to convey this uplifting mood on stage. The Design Oasis team helped them do just that, in part by using the MVP 12 LED video panel and COLORado 1-Tri IP LED wash from Chauvet Professional to frame their performance stage with a lush variet

UK - Showforce has opened a dedicated office in Glasgow ahead of the Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup this Summer. Amongst the services that the Glasgow operation will provide are event, site and seating crew, overlay support, qualified plant operators and specialist labour.

The office will deal with enquiries and bookings along with recruitment, training and accreditation to ensure that their usual high standards of service are maintained.

Showforce's operations director Chris Martelly explains, "We have already secured a contract with a leading power provider and have a numbe

USA - Pro audio brand Aphex is currently in its 40th year of business and plans to celebrate its 40th anniversary in grand style next year. On the way to this milestone, Aphex continues to grow and expand its focus on developing new DSP technologies with the goal of putting these into Aphex Pro and Prosumer products, as well as into a variety of products made by OEM licensees.

Aphex is in the midst of expanding into critical markets beyond Pro Audio to augment its business and offerings, with technology geared to assistive listening; speech recognition; and prosumer recording, podcast

USA - Music City held its annual Grammy Block Party with lighting provided by Bandit Lites. The private event for members of The Recording Academy was held at Owen Bradley Park and included performances by Chris Young, Kacey Musgraves and Martina McBride. Two-time Grammy award winner Jim Lauderdale hosted while cast members of ABC's Nashville mingled with the crowd and even performed on stage.

Lighting designer Mike Marcario utilised Martin MAC 2000 Washes for the downstage front wash, along with Martin Mac Auras and GRN Batten 3-36's for the mid and upstage bars. He also included 8-l

UK - XL Video is again providing full video production - including projection, LED screens, media server control and full camera / PPU package - to the critically acclaimed Arcade Fire Reflektor world tour, for which set and visuals have been carefully sculpted by show designer Richard Stembridge.

The band are well known for their penchant for the experimental, the off-beat and for embracing creative challenges. Stembridge worked on the last tour, The Suburbs in 2011 as video designer and has now taken on the role of show designer with great enthusiasm.

XL Video's proj

USA - Cadac is once again participating in the Broadway Sound Master Classes but for the first time in the guise of its new US & Canada division, headed up by general manager Paul Morini. Cadacs presence is in association with its US theatre sound consultant Tom Benson of RF Productions.

Commenting on Cadac's ongoing commitment to the event, Morini states, "Cadac has been synonymous with epic theatre productions since the introduction of amplification to the genre. Major innovations like the J-Type console and SAM automation led the industry for a decade. Now the Cadac CDC eight

India - New Indian jamming studio, A Square, has installed an Allen & Heath GLD digital mixing system. Situated in the capital of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, the studio is the first digital audio studio to be opened by company, Jam Pad, designed to provide teaching facilities for aspiring musicians and also acts as a hub for bands and musicians to meet and network.

The studio is based around a GLD-80 mixer along with the GLD-AR2412 audio rack, set up to enable live jamming and studio recording on DAW, using the mixer's M-Dante card.

Mr. Saumyasheel, audio studio manager, says, "I c

UK - AEG, Kilimanjaro, Live Nation, Loudsound, Metropolis and SJM will put Star Events' Active Roof Technology (ART) to the test at festival sites this summer, ahead of the HSE's proposed changes to the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations.

Based on Kinesys Libra components, ART monitors every production point rigged to a stage roof, ensuring the show stays safely in step with the structure's load capacity.

Roger Barrett, technical & commercial director at Star Events, comments, "By building the system into the roof supports rather than interfering with festival riggi

UK - Students at London's Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance have used an Avolites Sapphire Touch and Tiger Touch II to stage a concert as part of a specialist module on lighting design for live music.

The students opted to take 'The Concert Lighting Project', offered in addition to their theatre lighting design courses at the college by Rose Bruford programme director and lighting designer Hansjorg Schmidt.

Avolites' head of training Amy Schofield visited Rose Bruford to demo the Sapphire Touch and Tiger Touch II consoles, with specific lighting design for live music tu

UK - POLARaudio has responded to the fresh demands placed upon the company by the recent acquisition of new exclusive brands. In particular, Loud Technologies' brands Mackie and Ampeg have significantly increased volumes in the MI side of the business. In anticipation of this increased traffic, POLARaudio moved swiftly towards an internal restructuring that could "more efficiently accommodate the fast-growing nature of the company".

The creation of two distinct divisions within the business, one for MI customers and one for Installation customers along the lines of an approx

Belgium - LumenRadio and Controllux have confirmed a partnership where Controllux will now distribute LumenRadio's wireless lighting controls products in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Commenting on the partnership, LumenRadio's sales & marketing manager Jessica Björk says, "We are delighted to partner with Controllux, a company that shares our strong commitment to providing the best technology, the best support and stands by their customers all the way. Controllux are also a highly respected company within their territories. Their extensive experience both in live productions and inst

South Africa - LD Renaldo van den Berg and production manager Victor Vermaak from Johannesburg based design and technical production specialist AV Unlimited created a spectacular lighting scheme utilising Robe moving lights for the South African leg of the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone launch.

The VIP gala dinner event was staged in a special Super Dome structure built by In2structures and erected adjacent to the Wanderers Cricket Stadium in Illovo, Johannesburg. AV Unlimited was brought on-board to create the technical production design by event producers Mela Events, and Robe moving

USA - PLASA will host the Behind the Scenes Happy Hour, a pre-LDI party with music, food and drinks from 6pm-8pm on Thursday, 20 November 2014 at The Las Vegas Hotel.

The goal of Behind the Scenes Happy Hour is not only to throw a great party but also to raise money for Behind the Scenes, which provides financial support to entertainment technology professionals when they are ill or injured or to their surviving family members. Funds are granted which can be used towards medical care, basic living costs and funeral expenses. Behind the Scenes, an initiative of the PLASA Foundation (fo

UK - Much to the relief of many a discerning punter, there are some artists who simply do not need the bling that blights so many stage show these days. Gary Barlow is certainly one; his recent outing, an exercise in restraint, saw him sell out 17 arenas around the UK with a presentation that was all about class and refinement.

"Before the tour we did a one off with Gary at Westminster Hall in London where there is a curved house stage," explained Production Manager Chris Vaughan. "Lighting designer Tim Routledge and I got together with Kim Gavin our show director after

UK - The State and Orpheum Theatres in Minneapolis, part of the Historic Theatre Group/Broadway Across America have installed Lycian 1295 ELT followspots. A total of 7 were sold by Monkey Wrench Productions, serving the Twin Cities.

According to the Orpheum's Head Electrician Bill Devins: "Lycian 1295s are considered the theatrical industry standard. We are a Broadway touring house, and are happy to have a product that touring and local personnel will be both be familiar with and be bright enough at 3Kw with our other gear."

Seth Scott of Monkey Wrench Productions says: &q

Turkey - Clay Paky has announced a partnership with Asimetrik Sound, Light and Display Systems. The Turkish company, which specializes in the marketing and installation of technology and systems for show, corporate and architectural environments, said it was delighted to forge a partnership that involves marketing and providing technical assistance for all Clay Paky products.

Asimetrik is based in Ankara and Istanbul and can count on a close network of partners throughout Turkey, with branches in Antalya and Izmir.

This partnership replaces the previous contract between Clay Paky an

Germany - Fohhn Audio's Focus Modular electronically steerable line array systems will ensure that audiences at the Redoutensaal Erlangen don't miss a word during the 32nd Bavarian Theatre Festival (32. Bayerischen Theatertage). The Redoutensaal is one of many venues for the 16-day annual festival, which celebrates the quality and diversity of Bavarian theatre culture.

Fohhn Audio has supported the festival by providing a Focus Modular system comprising two FM-400 low-mid and two FM-100 high-frequency modules. The flagship modular systems, featuring state-of-the-art beam steering tech

Australia - Robe is supporting UK based light artist and creative director of Dark Art London, Simon Brockwell at the 2014 Vivid Festival of Music, Light & Ideas in Sydney, Australia, in the realisation of his bold and innovative light sculpture, Sky Flower.

Robe is working in close collaboration with its Australian distributor The ULA Group and leading Australian Robe rental partner Elite Sound & Lighting from Canberra to supply and coordinate the equipment for Simon's interactive installation which can be experienced live between 23 May and 9 June.

Sky Flower is one of two install

Australia - TDC - The Technical Direction Company is deploying the full range of its professional and technical expertise in providing core technology and services to Destination NSW for the sixth annual Vivid Sydney festival.

Running from 23 May to 9 June, Vivid Sydney is a celebration of light, music and ideas that will see the centre of New South Wales' vibrant capital transformed by a series of state-of-the-art visual and creative art installations.

"This is our third year of working with Destination NSW on Vivid Sydney, providing a huge range of technologies including 3D m

Recently held in London at the CocknBull Gallery, Tripping the Light Fantastic was a multi-sensory gallery installation by the artist Rupert Newman. Curated by Aretha Campbell, the exhibition showcased Newman's geometric, kinetic and colourful projection artworks complemented by soundscapes created by Sarah Warne, a film and arts composer signed to Faber Music. The sonic elements of the show were played through a pair of Genelec 8040s.

Rupert Newman is known for his painting and textiles pieces as well as event installations. His work focuses on the relationship between light and surfaces an

The Netherlands - With immediate effect, dealers in the Benelux territory can get the full range of Audient products from M Works, from the flagship ASP8024 right through to the latest additions to the range: USB interface - iD22 and 8-channel mic pre and ADC - ASP880.

Sales manager Okke van Dijk is very pleased at the agreement. "Audient is a great brand with passion for designing excellent sounding products. With their expertise and deep understanding of demands in the pro audio market, the people at Audient know how to create the right quality and product mix," he says.

USA - Devoted 311 fans swarmed to New Orleans this year for the ultimate celebratory concert experience on 11March, better known as 311 Day. Showcasing a culmination of eleven albums, including their most recent studio album released earlier this year, titled Stereolithic, Martin Professional Atomic 3000 DMX strobes (10) and M6 lighting console were deployed by Joe Paradise, lighting designer.

311, an American rock band from Omaha, Nebraska formed in 1988, created 311 Day in 2000 when the band played 47 songs straight. Since then, the band has consistently increased its set lis

UK - Adlib's busy audio division renewed their working relationship with Las Vegas alt rockers Panic! At The Disco for their recent UK and European live shows. This dates back to 2006 when Adlib hooked up with them for the first time in Manchester. The Liverpool based technical production company have worked with the band on their various UK shows ever since.

Tour manager / tour director Tony Marino, production manager / FOH engineer Spencer Jones and monitor engineer Jeremy "Spud" Groshong returned to the UK to share more stories and good service from Adlib.

They took a C

Australia - The annual Entech & Entech Connect Riggers' Forum has secured Australia's Pollard Productions as a key sponsor for the first time, further enhancing the programme's reputation as the only one of its type in the Asia-Pacific region.

The two day programme, which offers attendees to the opportunity to workshop with key industry leaders whilst exploring and debating this specialist section of the industry, will take place on the 23 -24 July at the at the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne Australia.

James D Ring, managing director of Pollard Productions said, "Pollard

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