UK - PEL Music & Media has opened Tech Suite, a new demonstration facility at its offices in Northolt, North West London, to showcase what customers can achieve using its specialist extensive audio visual capabilities.

Tech Suite features one of the widest selections of videowalls in action in the UK, as well as single and multi-screen ensembles from NEC, Samsung and Sharp set up in a variety of example configurations to showcase the options available to customers. Chris Wilcox, PEL's Music & Media manager said: "Tech Suite is a great place to get a real feel for the possibilitie

USA - Sensaphonics has announced a Facebook giveaway. In celebration of May as Better Hearing Month, the company will award one winner with a pair of classic 2X-S custom earphones and a dB Check in-ear sound level meter.

"Better Hearing Month is the perfect time to show how the right equipment and expertise can contribute to healthy hearing, yet still deliver high-impact audio," says Sensaphonics founder and president, Mike Santucci. "We're committed to giving our customers both.

To enter, visit and like the Sensaphonics Facebook page, go to the giveaway post titled '

UK - The 2015 Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) has announced that it has added a brand new award in the Concert Touring and Events category.

The KOI Awards, which celebrates the creative talents of international lighting and digital content designers working in the UK, has added a 'Club' category, which will allow the Awards to widen its reach to celebrate LDs working at all scales of touring.

Proposed to the committee by KOI chairman of Concert Touring and Events Sarah Rushton-Read, the category was introduced in response to feedback from lighting designers working with new band

USA - The Hoover Dam, one of the top 10 engineering marvels of the world that sits high above the Colorado River on the border of Arizona and Nevada, was the chosen location for Freightliner to launch their new truck, the Freightliner Infinite Inspiration. Presented in front of a live audience perched high above on the Dam's observation deck, the event was also streamed to millions around the globe.

OSK Communications out of New York created "the big idea" and brought in NY production management specialists SIAM Productions to produce the overall event.. Creative Technology

Australia - The Australian Defence Forces Academy (ADFA) in Canberra has recently opened a new-build, state-of-the-art, 1200-seat auditorium to host conferences and presentations. The flexible space is constructed as a 160º arc, with sliding panels that allow it to be used either in combined mode or separated into two independent 800-seat and 400-seat venues.

The auditorium forms part of the redevelopment of ADFA - a partnership between the Australian Defence Force and the University of New South Wales - which provides training and education for future leaders of the country's Navy,

Spain / UAE - After Prolight+Sound 2015 in Frankfurt, Guil confirmed their new distributor in the United Arab Emirates as Echo Beats Electronics - a company with a long history in distribution and installation of pro audio and lighting products.

Guil products will now form part of their high end portfolio, with emphasis on their lifting towers for line arrays and modular platforms for stages.

"Guil is delighted to start working with such a prestigious company and we are sure our products will be well received in their extremely conscientious market where high performance, safet

World - Maroon 5 has kicked off its World Tour 2015 with 100 Clay Paky Mythos and 20 Sharpy Wash fixtures occupying a prominent place in the rig.

Maroon 5 launched its World Tour 2015 in Dallas on 16 February and will finish in Auckland, New Zealand in October. The tour is in support of the band's fifth album, V, which was released last year.

Roy Bennett, the production designer for the tour, has branded the stage with strong V motifs, inspired by the album artwork, incorporated into the trussing and transparent set pieces. Lighting and video create a dynamic, constant

USA - British rock band Queen have worked with several vocalists since the death of front man Freddie Mercury in 1991. On the most recent world tour, original band members Roger Taylor and Brian May recruited American Idol's Adam Lambert, whose flashy onstage presence was complemented by 97 Martin Professional MAC Viper AirFX lighting fixtures.

Lighting designer Rob Sinclair was approached in 2012 and asked to do lighting for the Queen Extravaganza, the official Queen tribute band. His work caught Queen + Adam Lambert's attention and they asked him to come and work for them on the upc

UK - The Easter week marked the 14th successful Sound Fundamentals for Theatre Training course at Orbital Sound, with more than 500 students now having passed through the comprehensive education programme. Sound Fundamentals for Theatre was fully booked again this year, with students coming from a cross-section of disciplines, including corporate sector technicians, freelance engineers, and drama schools.

With its content tightly focused on preparing technical theatre and theatre sound students for careers in live entertainment, the course combines essential theory with practical skil

UK - The largest annual fundraising event in the world, the 2015 London Marathon took place on Sunday 26 April with over 37,000 participants.

For the past five years, Hertfordshire-based Mr H Productions have supplied sound reinforcement at two points on the 26 mile route, one of which is right at the half way point.

"Every year seems to get better, we are placed at the half way mark, and entertain the cheering crowds as well as the participating runners." says Mr H Productions creative founder Andrew J Harvey. "This is very important, as the runners are given that ex

Italy - Named after a local Jesuit who was a former director of Vatican Radio, Cine Teatro Padre Giacomo Martegani is a community venue in the Italian commune of Cairate, Lombardy. A recent refurbishment has included the installation of a complete Yamaha audio system.

Run by a core of around 50 local volunteers of all ages, under the watchful eye of local pastor Don Basilio Mascetti and director of operations Fabrizio Ferrario, the 260-seat venue hosts theatrical performances, live music, dance, a film club, meetings and a range of other local events. Its core aim is to promote local

UK - Local authorities around the UK, faced with providing an ever increasing number of services from diminishing budgets, have been introduced to an elegant integrated 'one button' webcasting and audio/videoconference facility by Jon Hunnisett of technology specialists, Sound Advice PA Installation Ltd.

In designing a system that enables separate video and audio streams to be combined, councils can engage more with their constituents by allowing sessions to be web-streamed and viewed over the internet.

At the heart of his solution is RCF's intuitive Forum 9000 digital conferencing

Germany - With its new Meyer Sound CAL column array loudspeakers, the Grand Elysee Hotel in Hamburg, Germany can now provide clarity for both speech and music presentations in the Spiegelsaal (Mirror Room) while also solving a design challenge for the large and reflective space.

"With CAL, speech intelligibility at the far back of the full room is excellent," reports Stefan Gurr, head of event and communication technology for the Grand Elysee Hotel. "Guests have commented that it is very easy to understand the presenters. And with the additional subwoofers, the system i

The Philippines - In November, the Solaire Resort and Casino in the Philippines raised the curtain on a luxurious new performance venue, called The Theatre at Solaire. The fan-shaped, 1,760-seat music hall is equipped with ETC Sensor 3 power control, a Unison Paradigm architectural system and an Eos Ti entertainment lighting control system.

The Theatre at Solaire is the highlight of the Solaire Resort and Casino, and is considered to be the most advanced theatre in the Philippines. Its stage technology system was designed and specified by Coherent Design, a Las Vegas based theatrical

UK - Bob Carlton's cult high speed, hi-energy intergalactic musical romp - very loosely based on Fred M. Wilcox's classic 1956 sci-fi movie Forbidden Planet celebrates 25 years with a special UK theatre touring production.

Lighting designer Mark Dymock specified Robe moving lights to help create the vast array of special X Factor moments in the show, with 10 x Pointes, 12 x LEDWash 600s and 4 x LEDBeam 100s on the rig.

Mark originally lit the show two years ago at the Queen's Theatre in Hornchurch, Essex, and was asked back to keep the action moving on tour, with a chance to

USA - Chart-topping singer- songwriter Ariana Grande is storming the US on her current My Everything tour. Complete with a spectacular lighting design by Chris Kuroda, the tour includes 76 x Robe BMFL Spots and 78 x Pointes as the main moving lights.

The tour's stage / scenic concept was a triumvirate creative process evolved by Chris Kuroda, production manager Chris Gratton and stage designer Nick Demoura. Grande, on her first full production tour, was integrally involved with the process.

Chris Kuroda's starting point for the lighting was a 60ft wide LED video wall, centre stage t

UK - Last night was one of the biggest events in the TV industry calendar - the annual House of Fraser British Academy Television Awards.

Following a star studded award ceremony at Theatre Royal on Drury Lane, some of television's best known faces celebrated their nominations and award success at the Grosvenor House on Park Lane.

Appointed production company Light Motif delivered a striking setting for the after party in the famous Great Room inspired by the history of television.

Arriving on the 'House of Fraser pink carpet' guests were guided through to the great room where icon

UK - Lighting designer Steve Bewley has chosen to use some Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO 800s for experimental British rockers Enter Shikari's string of home-ground dates.

The genre bending four-piece played a range of venues from Portsmouth Pyramids to London's iconic Roundhouse. Positioning the Clay Paky fixtures, supplied by Neg Earth, on boxes on the floor to the rear of the stage, Bewley used them to give depth to his energetic design.

"I chose the Alpha Spot QWO 800s as I needed bright sharp beams to pierce through the metal framework that surrounds the band, creating silhouet

South Africa - The Royalty Soapie Awards, an acknowledgement of all the characters many South Africans welcome into their living rooms every evening, was hosted on 28 March 215 at the Durban ICC and broadcast on M-Net's Mzansi Magic.

For the very first time Hirezone supplied the full technical which included Robe lighting with control on an Avolites Tiger Touch, sound and AV, this being one of the their largest and most prestigious productions to date.

The Royalty Soapie Awards is the annual celebration for the TV soap industry in South Africa including everyone from celebrities and

USA - An epic romance set in the last days of Czarist Russia, Doctor Zhivago has opened at The Broadway Theatre with lighting design by Tony Award winner Howell Binkley. Conventional and moving lights, wind, fog, snow and fire effects for the sweeping new musical are controlled by grandMA2 light consoles.

Doctor Zhivago has been described as one of the most romantic stories of all time. The Broadway musical, based on the Nobel Prize-winning novel and Academy Award-winning motion picture, is directed by Tony Award-winner Des McAnuff. Doctor Zhivago reunites McAnuff

UK - A Scottish business, which supplies sound systems to the largest international live music, sporting and entertainment events, is celebrating 35 years in the business. Leading pro-audio provider The Warehouse Sound Services, whose clients have included, the BBC, Paramount Pictures, Edinburgh Festival Fireworks Concert, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, is now planning further expansion following a multi-million pound management buy-out.

The company which has supplied equipment to bands including Muse, Biffy Clyro and Simple Mind

UK - Oxford-based W E Audio has recently extended its inventory of MLA Compact and MLA Mini to meet the rising demand for this multiple awarding winning series across open air/festival applications, whilst increasing their system capabilities for large touring purposes.

W E Audio was the first rental partner in the UK to invest in MLA Compact back in 2013, and their most recent investment has included another 12 MLA Compact, bringing their stock to a total of 36 elements. In addition, the recent purchase also included four more DSX-F Flying double 18" subs and four MLX Hybrid dou

Europe - XLNT Advanced Technologies' new CyberHoist II made its touring debut with US nu-metal mega-stars Linkin Park when the band returned to head-banging basics on their sold out European tour, The Hunting Party.

Show designer Michael Fullman worked with event technology supplier, Black Box Music to transfer the show from the USA to Europe. As the show transitioned from the US specified automation system to XLNT's CyberHoist II for Europe, Fullman says he was keen to reinvigorate elements of the original design.

Black Box Music's Moritz Stockschläder worked closely with the prod

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