France - Celebrating its 30th year, Les Victoires de la Musique is France's most prestigious annual awards ceremony, akin to the Grammy and BRIT Awards, and is broadcast live from the 5,000 seat Le Zénith arena in Paris.

The nearly four-hour show, in which the French Music industry recognises the year's top recording artists, featured performances by David Guetta, Brigitte, Jean Louis Aubert and Christine and the Queens, among others, who were all supported by a full orchestra. For this year's live performances and broadcast, the ceremony's audio crew turned to four SSL Live L5

USA - Established in 1985, Pro Tech Marketing is a professional manufacturers' representative firm supporting AV integrators, system design firms and end users in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and the Western panhandle of Texas including El Paso. The firm offers product and system design training, product demonstrations and sales support and has warehouse facilities in both Louisville (Denver area) and Tempe, Arizona.

Pro Tech's success in the AV industry comes in large part from its emphasis on building lasting relationships and its tradition of on-site product demos a

Australia - TDC - Technical Direction Company - has announced a pioneering partnership with the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), which will see TDC provide expertise, guidance and support to the next generation of Australia's artists, technical theatre designers and practitioners.

Through this partnership, TDC will give NIDA students access to expert training and the latest cutting-edge stage and live performance technology including LED screens, large-scale projections, videos and broadcast camera systems.

Michael Hassett, managing director, TDC, said: "As one of Aus

UK - The Oxford Union has for many years been a forum for high class debating, both competitively and otherwise. In fact the Debating Society's Chamber been described as "the world's most prestigious" - having hosted speakers including President Ronald Reagan, Mother Teresa, Senator Bobby Kennedy, Michael Jackson and the Dalai Lama.

The Union, founded in 1823, is Britain's second oldest Debating Union. The Chamber itself was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1878, and today it has a Grade II* listing. With a seating capacity of 450, for the first time it recently took deliver

Slovakia - Bratislava-based rental company Q-99, has expanded its already extensive stock of Robe moving lights with the purchase of 24 of the new BMFL Spot multi-functional moving lights. The company is headed by Martin Kubanka, who is also one of the country's leading lighting designers and a leading practitioner in European television and special event lighting and visuals.

Kubanka first saw the BMFL in action during Robe's BMFL World Tour roadshows after its launch in September. "The technical parameters were so impressive," he says, "- the speed of the fixture, the

Italy - Wireless Solution Sweden has appointed Music & Lights as the exclusive distributor of W-DMX for the Italian market.

Wireless Solution has worked with Music & Lights for years, as OEM W-DMX systems are already installed in several products in the Music & Lights portfolio, including projectors by Prolights and ArchWork. "W-DMX has been recognized as a standard of high reliability and quality for professional performance and demanding environments," the manufacturer says.

Fabio Sorabella, CEO of Music & Lights, states: "It has been proven that Wireless Solution T

USA - A new contemporary live entertainment venue, Livewire, opened recently in Scottsdale, Arizona, outfitted with a large, professional lighting and video system from Elation Professional supplied by Elation dealer Fyxx Entertainment.

Located in the heart of Scottsdale's Entertainment District, Livewire is Arizona's newest premier concert and performance space, playing host to a spectrum of national touring acts (Jeff Bridges, The English Beat, Boyz II Men) and up-and-coming local bands all supported by state-of-the-art sound, lighting and production.

Designed from the ground up f

UK - Le Maitre is supporting Punchdrunk Enrichment in Against Captain's Orders: A Journey into the Uncharted - an adventure on the high seas of maritime history at the National Maritime Museum.

In an exclusive first for the museum industry, the National Maritime Museum is collaborating with Punchdrunk Enrichment to take six to 12-year olds and their families on the adventure of a lifetime. Against Captain's Orders combines the National Maritime Museum's wealth of maritime history and artefacts with Punchdrunk Enrichment's innovative practice and commitment to creating ca

UK - SPIE has been appointed principal contractor of the £2m, A55 Pen Y Clip tunnel refurbishment. SPIE will be working with Philips Lighting to introduce LED lighting technology into the tunnel which is expected to reduce energy and emissions by up to 50%.

The scope of work involves the design, supply and installation of the A55 Pen Y Clip Tunnel LED lighting scheme and infrastructure upgrades. This includes the electrical and mechanical services, covering the installation of the 900m linear support grid and containment, fitting the LED linear base and boost lighting system alo

USA - Live production company L3 Productions was hired by a corporate client to build a themed night club environment for a large holiday party for 1,400 people and turned to Elation Professional lighting and video products to fulfill the brief, including Elation's new EMAG4 LED panel for graphics, playback and live video.

Held in December at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa in Huntington Beach, California, L3 Productions handled the entire creative production for the event including CAD, decor, lighting design, stage design, audio, video, DJ stage build and live broa

UK - London's Sadler's Wells Theatre stages a richly diverse range of national and international collaborations. In 2013 Sadler's Wells embarked on a comprehensive upgrading of its infrastructure and technology, to improve both front of house and backstage environments in its 1568-seater main auditorium. Renowned theatre consultant Roger Spence was placed in charge of the project and engaged a team comprising designer Graham Large of Chapman BDSP, integrators Stage Electrics and lighting manufacturers GDS.

GDS was invited to supply a comprehensive, low-energy, LED house-lighting syste

Germany - The International Film Festival (Berlinale) is one of the most important events for the international film industry and is at the same time the largest public cinematic festival in the world. The 65th Berlinale enthused hundreds of thousands of spectators with some 400 films in 52 venues. Dutch loudspeaker manufacturer Alcons Audio supplied its pro-ribbon sound system for the Berlinale Palast (Berlinale Palace).

Each year, since the Berlinale of 2000, the Stage Entertainment Theater am Potsdamer Platz, which is actually a musical theatre, is transformed into the main venue o

UK - There is little than can compare to the sheer joy of listening to the assembled voices of several thousand youngsters singing their hearts out. In motivational terms alone, what Young Voices does for the primary school age children of the UK is sensational; to be planted front stage centre in one of the UK arenas and perform in front of an equally large audience is a memory most of them will carry for the rest of their lives. How do we know this?

Arthur Mazzer who works for Britannia Row Productions Ltd (Britrow), the company that has provided the sound system for these events si

South Africa - A star studded line up including Bok van Blerk, Theuns Jordaan, Jay du Plessis, BlackByrd, Elvis Blue, Claire Johnston from Mango Groove, Peter Mitchell, PJ Cruz and Martin Bester (Jacaranda FM) showcased at Carnival City's Big Top Arena on 27-28 February after running in London. With 70 Robe fixtures, the Big Top Arena was brought to life with effects and colour.

Carnival City was the main in-house technical supplier for the main PA, rigging, staging and lighting equipment. MGG Productions provided the back line, monitor and main sound desk.

Lighting designer Magz Sc

UK - In a busy year where some seriously talented and influential artists are hitting the road, Adlib is audio supplier for The Script's new No Sound Without Silence world tour which has kicked off in the UK and Europe in great style.

It's the fourth album campaign on which the Liverpool based company has worked with the popular Irish rock band, alongside production manager Bob O'Brien and tour manager Quinner, supplying the audio system and crew to work with engineers Richy Nicholson (FOH) and Paul 'Mini' Moore on monitors.

Adlib's crew is led by crew chief Marc Peers who is also c

Spain - As Barcelona hosted the biggest mobile industry show in the world in March, Orbital Sound's conference and events team moved into action with a high profile corporate event organised by global creative agency Imagination.

Staged at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, the project involved a VIP evening's entertainment hosted by the MWC's headline sponsor, a major Chinese telecoms manufacturer. The project involved over 100 performers, taking part in an extravaganza that included flamenco dancers, hip hop, a 50-piece orchestra, and a full choir across three central stages, as

Israel - Popular Israeli singer, songwriter and musician Yehuda Poliker played a high profile concert at the 2500 capacity Charles Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv, a show that came alive with Robe BMFL Spots and a 90 per cent Robe lighting rig supplied by Argaman Systems.

The lighting was designed by Eyal Tavori - the artist's long term LD - and operated by lighting director Tsafi Dagan, who has also worked with Poliker for several years. The artist is constantly busy engaging in live performances and reaching out to the many fans and followers of his amazing 30 year entertainment ind

Germany - Sennheiser presented a further milestone in the development of its company facilities and invited guests from politics, business and entertainment to its Innovation Campus.

With floor space of around 7,000sq.m, the Innovation Campus provides plenty of room for cross-functional teams to carry out projects in the development and marketing of audio solutions. The ground floor of the state-of-the-art building even accommodates a theatre and Germany's first Sennheiser Flagship Store, which enables customers to gain hands-on experience of the brand and its products.

"With o

USA / Sweden - NEP Group Inc. (NEP) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Mediatec Group (Mediatec) from the current owners. Financial terms were not disclosed. This transaction will bring one of Europe's largest outside broadcast and video display solutions providers into NEP's growing worldwide network of brands.

NEP is a leading worldwide provider of outsourced solutions to the broadcast and live event industries, offering technical services for outside broadcast, studio production, video display, host broadcasting and post production. Headquartered in in the United St

UAE - Sennheiser and Delta Sound recently collaborated to ensure the success of Drake's debut concert in the Middle East by providing him with the latest Digital 9000 wireless system which was used for all hand held microphones at the show. In addition to providing a memorable audio experience for the over 16,000 fans who attended the concert at the Dubai International Stadium on the 14th of March, 2015, the Digital 9000 managed to hugely impress both the house engineer, Demetrius Moore and the show's monitor engineer, Sean Sturge.

International superstars performing to sell out audie

USA - Elevation Church in North Carolina has used Jands' flagship Vista L5 console to provide powerful control for a major concert show held at the nearby Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte - attended by nearly 13,000 people.

Elevation's in-house lighting designer, Andy Bentley, specified the Jands Vista L5 for the concert show.

He commented, "The Vista (v2) software allowed us to do things in just minutes that would've taken hours on other desks. The effects engine was awesome to work with. The ability to stack multiple parameters in the same effect helped us create some rea

UAE - Clay Paky has recently opened a technical service centre in Dubai in order to provide all Clay Paky customers in Gulf countries with support and assistance. The office is manned by specialized professional technicians, under the guidance of Gordon Carr, who has recently obtained a certificate from Clay Paky for attending an intensive specialization course in Clay Paky product support.

The technicians can travel through the Gulf Area and provide assistance at the customer's request for Clay Paky products both under and out of warranty.

The office is coordinated by Egor Popovski

USA - Danley Sound Labs has appointed three master distributors: Danley Europe, headed by Marko Lönngren in Finland, Danley Asia, headed by Nicholas Loe in Singapore, and Danley Australia, headed by Steve Anderson in New South Wales. The master distributors provide Danley with the needed infrastructure to speed delivery, service, and support to all of its international customers.

Danley will be at Musikmesse - Pro Light & Sound in Frankfurt, Germany, and (in addition to the usual trade show functions) will be seeking other international distributors who wish to partner with them. Dan

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