Republic of the Congo - Robe's BMFL Blade fixture continues to be a popular choice for designers of large scale ceremonies and events needing some serious power and effect - the latest being the opening ceremony of the 2015 All Africa Games in Brazzerville, Republic of the Congo (République du Congo).

French based creative event production designers Concept K were brought on-board by the With Up agency and commissioned to create the event's lighting and visual design - which also included eye-catching projections onto the field-of-play at the 60,000 capacity Stade Municipal de Kintele venue.

The overall event production company was Richard Attias & Associates. Jérome Pasteur was the chief project manager for With Up and the OC show was directed by Fanny Moreau.

As soon as the job was confirmed, Concept K started thinking about the best lights to realize their d

Japan - Martin Audio Japan has announced the appointment of a new MLA partner in the form of a collaboration between Sound Office and MSS.

Based in Ehime Prefecture, Sound Office and MSS have jointly purchased MLA System 30, comprising of 18 MLA boxes, two MLD Downfill and 10 MLX subs.

President of Sound Office, Mr.Fujiwara said, "We needed to upgrade our sound system, and of course we considered several brands as part of that process. MLA was a strong contender but it's a big commitment too. Sound Office and MSS are located in a small province of Japan and we both wanted to have the newest system, so we had a meeting with the president of MSS, Mr. Miyauchi, and finally we decided to purchase the MLA system together."

President of MSS, Mr.Miyauchi concurred. "I totally agreed when Mr.Fujiwara came to us with the idea of jointly purchasing MLA because we shared

USA - Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, is a historic cinema turned performance venue that has stood as a testament to the diversity of entertainment, as well as the resilience of the area, since 1928. After partnering with promotional entertainment company AEG Live in 2007, Royal Oak Music Theatre (ROMT) has become one of the Detroit area's preeminent venues, hosting a steady stream of live performances from Alabama Shakes to Skrillex, the band Perry to Social Distortion, as well as a wide variety of other events.

ROMT recently sought to upgrade its lighting system in order to make it more attractive to a variety of clients and chose to go with Elation LED fixtures for the progressive benefits they provide like greater reliability, less maintenance and increased energy efficiency, all of which translates into a lower cost of ownership.

Brad

UK - The Royal Armouries is Britain's national museum of arms and armour and one of the most important museums of its type in the world, receiving nearly 2m visitors a year. The Leeds site of The Royal Armouries is a multi-million pound purpose-built museum built to house a large part of the national collection of arms and armour, displaying over 8500 objects throughout six stunning galleries.

Operating within the Leeds museum, Royal Armouries International plc is established as one of the country's leading providers of corporate hospitality and event management, helping make the venue the ideal destination for a conference, exhibition, product launch, awards dinner, fashion show or banquet, offering clients a unique opportunity to entertain amongst one of the World's greatest museum collections.

With Royal Armouries International already relying on a sizable inventory of HK A

UK - Stand-up comedy has a long association with Martin Audio flagship PA systems, and over the years has helped support artists of the calibre of Jack Dee, Lee Evans ... and more recently Kevin Bridges and Michael McIntyre.

Pro audio rental specialists, Capital Sound have featured constantly in these Off The Kerb productions, and one reason for Martin Audio being specified so repeatedly has been the patronage of FOH sound engineer, Phil Tame - who has long been a fan of their flagship line arrays.

"I initially used the W8LC with Lee Evans - and still like it a lot," he said, as the production of Michael McIntyre's Happy & Glorious tour loaded into the O2 Arena for a seven-night residency. "But MLA is something else. I first used it on a comedy gala and also with Lee Evans and was blown away. So with this tour I knew exactly what I was taking on, and it's lived

UK - When the drama facility at Elgin High School in Moray, Scotland, underwent refurbishment earlier this year, Jock Wallace, installations manager at Edinburgh based Black Light was asked to devise a way of providing raised and lower lighting within the studios. With cost and ease of use being significant factors, Jock turned to Doughty Engineering to build a bespoke solution.

Jock explained, "Having worked with the team at Doughty on several other educational projects, I had no hesitation in recommending them to FES Facilities Management, our client who was in charge of the refurbishment."

He continued, "Having looked at various other options, the Doughty Lighting Hoist ticked all the boxes - well priced and designed with the end user in mind. It also has the option of single phase power which made sense for this specific application, saving us time and money

USA - Country Music Association Male Vocalist of the Year Jason Aldean has taken an incredible journey in his decade-old career. It's an odyssey that has seen him go from having his pickup truck repossessed (an experience he recounts in his song Crazy Town), to climbing to the top of the Nashville scene with 14 Number One singles and the record for the most first day downloads of a country song on Spotify.

Keith Hoagland, lighting designer and director for Aldean's Burn It Down tour, understands this feeling quite well. Hoagland had his rig all set for the tour when he was introduced to the Rogue RH1 Hybrid from Chauvet Professional.

Hoagland changed his rig and added 90 Rogue RH1 Hybrids supplied by Bandit Lites. He flew the moving fixtures around his entire aerial system, which was made up of diagonally arranged truss over both sides of the stage as well as centre sta

UK - The Assembly Hall Theatre in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2014 and is currently implementing a £1.4m refurbishment programme. An integral part of the venue improvements includes the purchase of a new sound system focused on d&b audiotechnik Q-series loudspeakers, supplied by Orbital Sound.

The Assembly Hall's new sound system comprises 16 d&b audiotechnik Q1 loudspeakers, two Q7 centre-fills, six E6 units as front-fills, plus Q-subs and B2 subs, powered by d&b D12 amplifiers.

Mikey Powell, Assembly Hall technical manager, commented, "We secured funding to upgrade our existing loudspeaker system. The budget was limited, but we needed to ensure value for money whilst not compromising sound quality. Jay (James Christie) evaluated the systems available and recommended Orbital Sound as a provider."

James Christie, sound technician

On The Campaign Trail - Aerosmith's Steven Tyler has asked Donald Trump to stop using his band's song Dream On on the campaign trail. The singer's lawyers have sent a cease-and-desist letter, saying the use of the song "gives a false impression" he endorses Mr Trump's presidential bid. The politician has been playing the power ballad all summer, even air-drumming to it at a rally in Las Vegas. Tyler, who is a registered Republican, says it is not a "personal" issue but one of permission and copyright.

It is the third time a musician has confronted Trump about using their songs to promote his presidential bid. When the businessman announced his candidacy, his campaign played Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World - a song that contains the lyrics "He's just a rich old man / He never cared for anyone". Young, a well-known liberal, demand

UK - Aurora Lighting Hire has returned to the studio with LD Chris Rigby for premier BBC music show, Later... with Jools Holland.

Recorded in front of a live audience at the Maidstone Studios, Later is serious about its music and key consideration is given to the lighting throughout all aspects of the production.

With the studio audience instructed to wear dark clothing so not to detract from the performance, the brief for the show is to allow the music to speak for itself and for the lighting to subtly complement, rather than overpower the musical content.

To achieve the range of looks required to accompany the eclectic mix of artists and musical styles, Aurora has provided LD Chris Rigby with a range of automated heads and a selection of LEDs that allow the versatility to illuminate both the 'floating' set pieces and the stage floor, whether it be large scale

UK - With its glass pyramid structure having welcomed everyone from Muse to Coldplay through the years, the Portsmouth Pyramids has been an regular stop on the UK touring band circuit. Its proud musical pedigree notwithstanding, however, the Pyramids leads something of a double life today. When it isn't rocking as a concert venue on weekends, it's serving as a leisure centre during the week.

This multi-functionality makes the facility more valuable to its community, but it also creates a challenge when lighting concerts. Local company GLS Lighting has met this challenge with some help from Chauvet Professional's Rogue Series of moving fixtures.

"It isn't practical to have a fixed concert house rig here, because the building functions as a leisure centre on weekdays," said Ian Turner of GLS Lighting, who was tasked with providing the venue with a new concert lighting

Kazakhstan - Aiming to bring a 'taste of Vegas' to Kyzylorda in Kazakhstan, the Aray Club was recently equipped with a NEXT-proaudio sound reinforcement system, distributed by the manufacturer's Kazakhstan distributor Sound Light Systems.

Fast becoming Kyzylorda's ultimate lifestyle party destination, Aray Club in southern Kazakhstan will regularly feature top notch entertainment whilst redefining the standards of luxury clubbing with more than 300 seats, an Kazakhstanunique contemporary musical and lighting equipment, a huge dynamic dancing, delicious food and drinks, and of course the show programme with participation of international singers.

The audio experience is powered by Sound Light Systems using the NEXT LA series as well as PFA Series speakers.

The Aray Club is equipped with a NEXT-proaudio sound system, comprising eight LA122 and 4 LAs218 as the main system and 1

Finland - Lighting and set designer Mikki Kunttu has used an array of Clay Paky Mythos and A.leda B-EYE K20 fixtures to create a truly stunning lighting design for a production of symphonic poem Kullervo at the Finnish National Opera.

Composed by Finnish national composer Jean Sibelius and first performed in Helsinki in 1892, the opera is based on the character of Kullervo in the epic poem Kalevala. A dance element choreographed by Tero Saarinen and performed by the Finnish National Ballet was added to this 2015 production, which celebrated 150 years since the birth of Sibelius. Kunttu specified 52 x Mythos and 48 x B-EYEs from Bright Finland for key lighting in the piece.

"The brightness of the Mythos fixtures was undoubtedly the most important quality in the visual picture of the production," says Kunttu. "They delivered the final incredible punc

Germany - . Both show's audio systems were supplied by Bottrop, West Central Germany-based TDA Söhne Mannheims, founded in Mannheim in 1995, celebrated their 20th anniversary this summer with two sold out shows in their hometownRental, with a DiGiCo SD5 at Front of House and two SD7s for monitors.

Roger Wagener has known the band for over a decade and has manned the FOH position for Söhne Mannheims for the last two and half years, using the SD5 from the moment it was available.

"I use an SD5 with the Waves package on board," he says. "It's an amazing workhorse! DiGiCo has been my first choice since I did my first show with a D5 back in 2005 and I have done hundreds of shows with them since.

"The SD7 is the ultimate monitor desk. We used two at monitors because we had to split band and singers pretty much 50:50 (there are 21 of them in total) in order to

Poland - The sea port of Gdansk, the European Solidarity Centre (ESC) is a museum and library named after the famous trade union and civil resistance movement of communist Eastern Europe. Built at a cost of 80m Euros and designed by Polish firm FORT Architects, the building exterior is manufactured from rust-coloured sheet metal to deliberately evoke the hulls of the ships that were built at the city's shipyard - the hub of the Solidarity movement. This simple exterior contrasts with the interior which features much state-of-the-art interactive technology, including loudspeakers from Genelec.

The company tasked with supplying and installing the audio system for the permanent exhibition was Konsbud Audio. One of the main requirements of the audio system design brief was that the system should be effective from an audio performance point of view, while also being discreet in appea

Denmark - Loudspeaker manufacturer Dynaudio has announced that, from 1November 2015, it will be distributing its industry-leading studio monitors from its headquarters in Skanderborg, Denmark.

Dynaudio Professional products have been distributed by TC Group since 1999. Following the April acquisition of TC Group by Music Group, Dynaudio has taken the opportunity to restructure its distribution operation. As a result, the company has chosen to take its distribution operation in-house.

Ole Jensen, who has been working closely with Dynaudio from within TC Group since the original distribution agreement was signed, has moved to Dynaudio and will continue to be the main contact for distribution.

"We have enjoyed a long and mutually rewarding relationship with TC Group. The parting is amicable and we wish them every success in the future," says Claus Rasmussen, sales dir

The Netherlands - Highlite International BV has extended its distributor network into Asia and the USA over recent months. Graham Eales joins the company from Philips Entertainment to head up Highlite Asia, while Malcolm Burlow moves on, after six years as sales director for Highlite International UK and Ireland, to set up and run Highlite International USA.

Graham and Malcolm share over 40 years of experience within the Sound and Lighting industry. Graham Eales, based in Hong Kong, will be expanding Highlite's Business into New Zealand, Australia and Asia. Graham will oversee product quality control with Highlite's manufacturing suppliers in Asia next to his commercial activities. Patrick Herveille (vice-president of Highlite International) said: "It's very important for us to have a base in Asia, so we can liaise closer and quicker with our Asian suppliers. We also found

Qatar - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises (NMK) team on the road just wrapped up the seminars in Oman and Qatar. Following last year's seminar series hosted across the region, the NMK team started its first round of the seminars in Muscat. Attendees learned about NMK's portfolio of products and discussed various scenarios and the challenges they are encountering in the industry.

The attendees had an opportunity to meet Eugene Novacek, the founder of American company ENCO and Andrea Granata from Shure MEA whose presentations and open discussions added value to the seminar itself.

For the Video Formats, Recording & Mixing presentation, NMK teamed up with Canon MEA and presented a complete solution utilising Canon video cameras. There were also user experiences shared with the attendees as the Royal Opera House Muscat discussed its use of Shure's Axient.

"W

UK - WhatsOnStage offers a database of some 5,500 plus performances along with reviews, interviews, gossip, blogs and exclusive video content. Alongside this, each year the organisation hosts the WhatsOnStage Awards - in which the audience are the judges across all categories. With its origins in theatre, complete productions solution specialist White Light is once again sponsoring the event.

WL has previously sponsored the Awards Concert, where the available accolades include Best Actor in a Musical, Best Actress in a Musical, Best New Play and Best Lighting Design, which is sponsored by WL and whose previous recipients include Mark Henderson, Adam Silverman and Hugh Vanstone.

Hannah Longman, commercial manager at WhatsOnStage, comments, "We are extremely fortunate to have companies such as WL sponsor the Awards. It is through their support that such an eve

Spain - One of Barcelona's flagship night time hotspots, Razzmatazz, continues to innovate in order to stay among the region's top entertainment venues. A recent installation of Elation Professional Cuepix Panel LED matrices has added to the venue's visual possibilities, whether for a live music performance or a night of clubbing.

A myriad of artists have stepped onto the Razzmatazz stage over the years, including big names like Coldplay and Kanye West. Razzmatazz uses its 3700m2 of space and five distinct spaces in a variety of ways however. On weekends for example it transforms into a nightclub and its various rooms can be used to host parties, fashion shows, galas or virtually any event. The five separate spaces - Razz Club, the Loft, Pop Bar, Lolita and the Rex Room - can also function as one with the advantage of creating different ambiences at the same event.

The 4,000-c

South Africa - Prosound Technical Director and South African Theatre stalwart, Mark Malherbe, has just completed the sound design for the second season of David Kramer's new musical Orpheus In Africa.

Prosound's Marketing Manager, Dominique Vermeulen, who attended the Preview evening comments: "An original homegrown musical is always a significant theatrical milestone, and this uber-talented cast and flawless technical and staging production, left me completely immersed in this remarkable story."

Mark and David's association goes back many years, as too does Prosound's partnership with Eastern Acoustics of Cape Town, who provided and installed the sound equipment. The Fugard Theatre is a special place for Prosound and it is noteworthy that this season begins in South Africa's Heritage week, emphasising Prosound's continuous commitment to South African art and

UK - Autograph Sales has recently supplied the Hull Truck theatre in Kingston upon Hull with a new sound system from EM Acoustics based around the HALO-C compact line array to replace an older EM Acoustics system that dated from the theatre's previous venue.

"Since our new venue was completed in 2009 we knew that our old sound system was no longer appropriate for the space," explained Hull Truck's technical manager, Amy Clarey. "Our theatre boasts quite a long thrust stage for its size [a three-sided stage that extends into the audience] which, whilst great for the audience, is a challenge for all aspects of theatre-making, especially sound. We therefore needed a system that would be able to handle this configuration and at the same time offer us as much flexibility as possible as our programme is extremely varied. Our aim was to invest in a new system that lives

USA - Described by Billboard as "trance music's most influential curator," Armin van Buuren has taken this branch of electronic music to new heights. The Dutch-born DJ's State of Trance podcast attracts over 25m listeners a week and is broadcast on 40-plus FM radio stations around the world.

As captivating as these broadcasts are, however, they're only preludes to the truly transformative trance experience of a van Buuren concert. This was clearly evident in late September at the House of Blues in Boston, where the Grammy-nominated artist served up a mesmerizing mix of music wrapped around an immersive lightshow. At the heart of it all was a towering video wall made of MVP Ta8 Curve SMD LED tiles from Chauvet Professional.

Image Production Services used 136 MVP Ta8 tiles, which have an 8.33 mm pixel pitch, to create the striking display. The majority of

USA - Fall Out Boy just wrapped The Boys of Zummer Tour co-headlining with Wiz Khalifa, and once again Clay Paky fixtures were along for the exciting cross-country ride. A.C.T Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky products in North America.

Robb Jibson of So Midwest, Inc. continued his relationship with the pop punk band, this time as production designer for the US amphitheatre tour. Fall Out Boy released its sixth studio album, American Beauty/American Psycho this year; it swiftly became the band's third #1 album.

An enthusiastic proponent of Clay Paky fixtures, Jibson specified 68 Mythos for the tour. Upstaging was the lighting vendor.

"I'm a fan of Clay Paky; they seem to really do things right," he declares. "I had demo'd Mythos but hadn't had a chance to use them just yet. The light is versatile enough I knew if we spec'd them we

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