USA - Critics have lavishly praised Lana Del Rey's three-plus-octave vocal range and emotive delivery, but within the context of a band on a big stage, the task of ensuring that every sultry whisper is heard can present its share of challenges. Escondido, California-based touring sound provider Sound Image tapped the right tool for the trek: L-Acoustics' K1.

Currently out on her North American Endless Summer tour, along with opener Courtney Love, Del Rey is wowing fans in sheds each night on a K1 main loudspeaker system, with K2 out-fill arrays flown as needed in wider venues.

It's a sizable rig - one well suited to a big band and a rising star on her first headlining tour. But while L-Acoustics' K1 can certainly whomp with the best of them, this system is equally adept at treading lightly, never missing a note nor losing the emotion of a song.

"This is my first time to

Czech Republic - Sixteen teams, 64 games, 17 days, and a record-breaking crowd of nearly 750,000 - high-flying Nexo Geo S12-ST loudspeakers in Prague's O2 Arena provided a quality audio experience for the Ice Hockey World Championship, won by Canada.

The event was another great success for the O2 Arena and its newly-installed Nexo PA/VA systems, following the finals of the Federation Cup in 2014, and this year's European Athletics Indoor Championships.

Flown from the central 'cube' above the ice rink, the Geo S12-ST system, supplied and installed by MusicData, uses a total of 84 x line-array cabinets, with 24 x RS18 subs. Chosen for their long-throw capability, the compact two-way ST cabinets have been developed from the standard Geo S12 design offering the high SPL and enhanced speech intelligibility required for stadium and arena applications.

The 24x RS18 subs - also flow

UK - RSH Audio recently supplied equipment for two high-profile events held within a few days of each other in London. The XL Recordings & Young Turks present event on Monday 18 May and the Arsenal FC Foundation's Night to Inspire on Thursday 21 May both demanded high quality sound, which was delivered by RSH Audio, using Funktion-One loudspeakers.

The company's director, Joe Haycocks, is launching an offshoot called Event Technics, to cover the projects for which he is production manager, as well as supplier. This was the case for XL Recordings & Young Turks present (Event Technics' fifth project), for which it provided all of the entertainment technology. This included full-HD projection mapping, Robe and GLP lighting fixtures and the sound equipment - supplied by RSH Audio via Event Technics.

XL Recordings & Young Turks hosted two stages at The S

UK / USA - How do you turn common but necessary stage gear into an integral part of the set design? Lighting designer Steven Douglas solved the dilemma by creatively mounting Solaris LED Mozarts, the versatile pixel-mapping RGBW fixtures, on key equipment for The Killers lead singer Brandon Flowers' Desired Effects tour.

"We mounted Mozarts on the downstage edge of Brandon's floor monitors," explains Douglas, "as well as attaching them to mic stands and the back line. We used iPad holders to rotate them into a diamond orientation."

Douglas adds, "After using the Solaris LED Flares for The Killers, I heard about the Mozarts and tried them on a shoot for the new Guitar Hero Live video game. I like the superior quality of light and their compact size - we can put them pretty much anywhere!"

The European leg of the tour ends this month, followed by

The Netherlands - Elation Europe will be holding another round of its popular PRO Service Days at its European Headquarter office in Kerkrade, The Netherlands. This is an oportunity to gain hands-on knowledge of Elation products and lighting professionals are encouraged to register while there is still space.

Elation invites technicians and all interested service professionals to PRO Service Days to be held 21 July (beginner) and 22 (advanced). July's PRO Service Days will focus on providing in-depth technical knowledge of Elation's most popular products with a detailed look at technological construction while covering important service guidelines.

A 30€ hospitality fee covers food and drinks and registration is required. There is only room for 15 participants each day so early registration is recommended.

(Jim Evans)

Ukraine - When the American Christian rock band Kutless from Portland, Oregon, visited Odessa in Ukraine on 23 May, more than 3,500 people showed up to enjoy a high-energy rock show. The concert took place in Molodaya Gvardiya amphitheatre, where the modern worship band performed songs from their latest 2014 album Glory.

Odessa-based rental company, Grand Master, was brought in as technical partner of this event, providing stage, light, sound and special effects as well as control of light and sound. Previously acquired rental stock from SGM's distributor ART-R was put to use, when implementing no less than 20 x SixPack blinders, six X-5 LED strobes and 16 x Idea Moving LED 300 to ensure a special atmosphere to accompany the band's performance.

General director and owner of ART-R, Mr. Sergey Rusnak, informs, "I would like to emphasize that this dynamic lighting sho

UK - Conference and events specialist Saville Audio Visual is responding to increasing demands for its AV facilities and staging services in the UK and overseas. At their conference facilities hub in Leeds, the company has invested in extra workspace, new jobs and major additions to its stock of audio, lighting and display technology - already one of the largest in the UK.

Prompted by a record trading year and £40m turnover for 2014, the company has taken on a third building in Leeds, expanding its important Central Resource Unit. The growing CRU team supports Saville's national network of AV hire branches with a large stock of staging and display technology plus a highly skilled team of creative designers and technicians.

The company's confidence in the live events industry is reflected in a significant new commitment to sustainable LED technology, including large forma

South Korea - The Busan Exhibition and Convention Centre(BEXCO) has dramatically extended the versatility of its exhibition space with the installation of two steerable Meyer Sound CAL 32 column array loudspeakers. Formerly suited only for hosting floor exhibits, the room can now accommodate a variety of meetings, lectures, presentations, and performances that demand controlled coverage and highly intelligible audio reinforcement for both speech and music. CAL will be demonstrated live at InfoComm 2015 in the Meyer Sound demo room 203A.

Prior to the renovation, the large open space of Hall 5A had a reverberation time in excess of eight seconds at 1 kHz. With acoustic treatment of the walls reducing reverberation to a more manageable 2.7 seconds, CAL has proven to be a far superior solution compared to its former ceiling system.

"With its precise beam steering technology,

Spain - The ability of Roland video products to adapt in a multi format live environment was recently put to the test at the L.E.V Festival in Gijón, Spain. This multi venue festival (L.E.V. stands for Laboratorio de Electrónica Visual or, in English, Laboratory of Visual Electronics) forms a part of the International Festival of Audiovisual Creation, now in its ninth year. The festival is internationally renowned for pushing audiovisual boundaries based on four themes: the natural synergy between image and sound, the live presentation, the relationship established between audience, artist connection and public space, and the new artistic trends.

The Roland XS-84H multi format AV matrix switcher operated as the main 'hub' for the numerous visual configurations for live performances on the main stage in the Laboral Theatre throughout the festival. The XS-84H was used to control

USA - Lighting designer Mike Lurz provided the artists with the various looks needed for their individual performances at the M3 Rock Festival, utilising VL4000 BeamWash and VL4000 Spot luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite.

"I've been involved with the M3 Rock Festival since 2009 and putting the design together for this type of event is actually two parts," began Lurz. "First, we use the Merriweather Pavilion house rig to give the bands as many lighting options as possible with profile and wash fixtures, colours, patterns, etc. Then, for this particular genre of music, we need to look at providing a lot of contrast and movement to make the rig look big through the layering of beams. To accomplish this, versatility in your lighting instruments is essential and that's where the VL4000 BeamWash and VL4000 Spot luminaires truly excel."

As Lurz began to put togethe

UK - On Tuesday 2 June, the leading names in fashion, film, music and television gathered at Berkeley Square Gardens in London for this year's Glamour Awards. Hosted by Claudia Winkleman, the awards ceremony honours the most extraordinary and inspirational women working across a variety of fields. Now in its twelfth year, the annual star-studded event continues to grow in prominence and White Light was once again approached by Timebased Events to provide lighting for the occasion.

This year was the third time in which White Light has worked on the event, collaborating closely with Timebased Events who organised proceedings. Katy Haile, client services director at Timebased Events, states: "The Glamour Awards expect a high quality level of service and we are constantly pushing ourselves in an attempt to make them the best they can possibly be. As it is important for us to ac

Australia - TDC, Technical Direction Company, returned to Vivid Sydney from 22 May to 8 June 2015. With an opening weekend attended by more than a quarter of a million people, TDC provided video expertise in cutting edge mapping techniques and key video technology across an unprecedented 10km distance as the 18-day festival expanded into new Chatswood and Central Park precincts.

Anthony Bastic, Vivid light curator says: "Vivid Sydney placed art into the hands of the public, giving visitors a visually triumphant feast of artistic and technical innovation."

Vivid Sydney is probably the world's largest festival of light, music and ideas and is owned and managed by Destination NSW, the NSW Government's Tourism and Major Events agency.

Michael Hassett, managing director of TDC, said: "We've worked with Destination NSW on Vivid Sydney for four years now, and it is s

UK - Adlib supplied full technical production - lighting, projection and audio - for the recent John Barrowman Raise Me Up UK tour which saw the multi-talented entertainer take his musicality combined with personal stories, into a mix of theatres, concert halls and arenas around the country. Steve Rayment once again headed up the tour as production manager.

It is the sixth JB tour in which Adlib has been involved. The first one was in 2008, and once again, the Liverpool based company won the business because they could offer all the resources and flexibility of a single source technical solution, making the package cost-effective as well as efficient to their client.

A Coda ViRAY system was chosen by FOH engineer Walter Jaquiss. He was one of the first engineers to take its predecessor LA12 out on the previous two JB tours and wanted a similar sound but in a smaller mor

France - A total of 13 Roland M-48 Personal Mixers have been specified by renowned sound designer Thomas Strebel for use in the acclaimed production of The Fearless Vampire Killers at the Mogador Theatre in Paris. This new production of the musical comedy by Oscar winning director Roman Polanski is an adaptation of his 1967 movie of the same name. The musical has been produced in a number of European cities since it debuted in 1997, but this version marks the first time it has been staged in Paris, where the 81-year-old Polanski resides.

Supplied to the theatre by sound, lighting and video specialists DuShow, the Roland M-48 Personal Mixers are used by the orchestra in the pit and enable each musician to control exactly what they want to listen to during their performances. All musicians, plus the musical director, have their own M-48 with each individual monitor mix set

Germany - On 9 June at Stage|Set|Scenery 2015 in Berlin, an award presentation took place to honour the winners of the competition presented by the Theatre Architecture Commission (TAC) of the International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians (OISTAT) and the winner of the Weltenbauer Award presented by Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft (DTHG).

The Weltenbauer Award honours the most accomplished technical realisation of an artistic challenge in the context of a stage performance, show or event production. Yesterday evening, for the first time, the presentation took place at Stage|Set|Scenery. Katharina Thalbach gave the introductory speech.

Orpheus steigt herab, a production by Münchner Kammerspiele was the winner of the Weltenbauer Award which was received by Fabian Iberl, deputy manager and manager of Special Construction. The jury

UK - Panasonic has announced a long-term corporate partnership with Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), the independent charity which manages six former Royal residences in the UK. The partnership brings Panasonic the opportunity to showcase its latest technologies, while enabling HRP to provide an improved visitor experience for its customers, the manufacturer says.

The first joint initiative saw 12 Panasonic high brightness projectors used as part of the 500th anniversary celebrations at Hampton Court Palace. A 22-minute projected artwork, which told the architectural and cultural history of the palace, played for three nights over the Easter weekend.

Panasonic laser projectors are being used in a new exhibition in the palace, bringing animation to Hampton Court's stories. A total of eight projectors have also been installed within the Tower of London jewel house, helping to inter

USA - Firehouse Productions once again relied on DPA Microphones for the recent 2015 Tony Awards, held at New York City's Radio City Music Hall and broadcast live on CBS. The audio team used a variety of DPA d:screet 4061 Omnidirectional and d:fine 4088 Directional Headset Microphones to capture the vocals of the production's performers, including co-hosts Kristen Chenoweth and Alan Cumming. A number of the 4061s were also used in the orchestra pit. In addition, singer Josh Groban's audio team selected DPA's d:dicate 4011ES Cardioid Microphones for his performance, which was accompanied by a piano.

For the last several years, Firehouse Productions has used DPA microphones for the sound quality and ability to keep up with the demanding, rigorous rehearsals and live performances, while effortlessly blending in with the various costumes. As part of the production process, each show

UK - Lighting and production designer Will Potts has chosen to use an array of Clay Paky fixtures for quadruple Grammy-award winning artist Sam Smith's In The Lonely Hour UK tour.

For his stripped back yet stylish design described by The Standard as 'spectacular lighting', Potts specified six Clay Paky B-EYEs, 12 Sharpys and 22 Sharpy Wash 330s from PRG. The tour covered such venues as the 02 Academy Brixton and Manchester's 02 Apollo.

"We wanted the show design to be simple and classy because Sam's the focal point the whole time, so it's key here to reinforce that and not over-embellish," explains Potts. "The original design was built for enormous arenas on the previous North American run so we have scaled that back while still making use of the full space with layers. As some of Sam's tracks are delicately intimate and others are more full and bo

UK - VER UK has hosted a series of open days to present the latest in available 4K technology, spanning indoor and outdoor high resolution screens as well as the latest products in 4K projection and broadcast technology.

The first two-day showcase was hosted in the modern event facilities of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), for which VER traditionally provides support for RADA's in house productions and has a long-standing association.

A further event was hosted at VER UK's London facility, by the VER Dry Hire team. Scott Russell, Ellie Johnson and Lucy Taylor welcomed UK and European customers to demonstrations of the latest in Video Technology available for hire.

Director of European sales, Adrian Offord, commented, "VER continually strives to be at the forefront of new technology. We look forward to holding these showcase events frequently demonstrating the

Kuwait - Middle East lighting and sound company iLight of Dubai was called on to provide lighting, sound and stage design for this year's Hala Febrayer Festival and turned to Elation Professional lighting and LED video equipment to light performances by top Arabic artists.

Some 80,000 tourists converge on Kuwait in March to attend the annual Hala Febrayer Festival, a month-long event featuring cultural activities and entertainment that includes live television performances by some of the region's most popular singers. The most watched live TV show of the year in the Middle East, Hala Febrayer consists of five concerts over five nights with three artists performing each night. Produced by entertainment and production company Rotana Audio Visual, this year's show, broadcast on Rotana TV and held at the Kuwait Ice Skating Rink, was postponed until March due to the death of King Abd

Canada - Rational Acoustics has appointed GerrAudio as the exclusive distributor for all Rational Acoustics and Smaart branded products in Canada.

For over 30 years, GerrAudio has been a leading distributor of professional audio equipment for the live performance and broadcast industries, with a product portfolio including DigiCo, Outline, DPA, Audio Precision and Apex.

"GerrAudio has been involved in measuring and aligning sound systems in live performance spaces for four decades," says Bob Snelgrove, president of GerrAudio. "It has been our pleasure to have been involved with Smaart from its inception, and we are proud to have seen it evolve into the advanced, powerful and industry-leading instrument that it is today. Our job going forward is to ensure that new and seasoned Smaart owners alike receive the opportunity to be properly introduced to the host of so

Poland - Located adjacent to the Centennial Hall in Wroclaw, Afrykarium is an attraction that shows the different ecosystems associated with some of Africa's aquatic environments. Nineteen aquariums and pools, with a capacity of nearly 15m litres of water, are incorporated into the large complex which combines a three storey 9000sq.m building with 7500sq.m of external grounds.

Each zone is designed to represent an African region and combine the environment and wildlife of that area. Regions included are the beaches and coral reefs of the Red Sea, the river Nile, the land of the Great Rift Valley, the Mozambique Channel, the beaches of the Namibia's Skeleton Coast and the jungle of the Congo Basin.

Afrykarium is now home to a vast array of native African wildlife, living within their natural flora and fauna. In addition to serving as an attraction with great educational value,

Germany - The Meyer Sound Leopard and 900-LFC linear sound reinforcement system recently made its live concert debut at Germany's Moers Festival. The Leopard system significantly enhanced the audience experience as it transformed the venue from a large reverberant hall into an intimate club venue.

All performances took place in the 1,500-capacity Festivalhalle Moers, where the patent-pending Leopard and the 900-LFC delivered clear audio despite the challenges present in the reverberant space, according to Gerhard Veeck, technical director for the Moers Festival. "Leopard brought the audience closer to the stage, giving the hall the intimacy of a club. This transformation is exactly what we aim for when we bring this type of music to a big stage."

Leopard's quick deployment made a strong impression on Björn Wiesehöfer, systems engineer for Overath-based contour, pro

UAE - Wireless Solution Sweden has announced its newest distributor of W-DMX products, ProCom ME Audio & Lighting System Trading LLC, with distribution in Middle East. The partnership was finalised during the PALME Middle East show in May.

Wireless Solution joins a well-respected group of products represented by ProCom including Clay Paky, Avolites, Eurotruss, Antari, Philips Showline, and Philips Selecon.

ProCom CEO Raja Harfouche said, "W-DMX from Wireless Solution Sweden is number one in Wireless lighting control, we work with the best and to choice was simple to make."

Niclas Arvidsson, CEO of Wireless Solution added, "ProCom Middle East is the best distributor in the region with great focus on customer service and fast delivery."

(Jim Evans)

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