It’s every singer/songwriter’s dream to have that one opportunity, that one chance to show the world why their original songs and natural talent warrant a record deal. On Thursday, May 30, Bravo’s Platinum Hit premieres on TV screens across the nation featuring a variety of HARMAN’s AKG microphones for contestants to utilize while writing, recording and performing original works for weekly challenges, working towards the final goal of a $100,000 cash prize, a publishing deal with Sony and BMI Songwriter’s The Writing Camp and a recording deal with RCZ/Jive. 

Its easy to hide behind a wall of superlatives, bigger, heavier, brighter, bolder, sharper; and for Creative Technology this years' Eurovision Song Contest was all those things and more; but it's the little details that put the polish on this project. "The spectacular creative design from Florian Wieder and Jerry Appelt stretched us in places we'd never been stretched before," said head of CT's Dusseldorf Office, Alex Klaus, and the man responsible for running the project.

Feel Your Heart Beat: the show followed on TV screens by an audience of around 120 million people on 14 May was one of superlatives. The competitors from 25 countries pulled out all the stops to try and win the 56th Eurovision Song Contest. With great technical efforts, German broadcaster NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) had transformed the Düsseldorf football stadium into a gigantic TV studio for around 36,000 viewers on behalf of the hosting broadcasting association ARD. And, for the 24th time, the event organisers relied on Sennheiser for the artists’ microphones and monitor systems.

The organizers of this year's Eurovision Song Contest, EBU and NDR, used a comprehensive fiber-based MediorNet system from Riedel Communications to distribute video, audio and communications signals at the event. Riedel, one of the leading manufacturers of real-time networks for HD video, audio and communications, installed a versatile system comprising of MediorNet, RockNet, Artist and Performer components, turning the former football stadium into a 15,000 square meter TV broadcast studio.

The Eurovision Song Contest is the world’s biggest non-sporting live TV event and a strong household name among hundreds of millions of people in Europe. Every year, 100 to 125 million people in over 45 countries watch the televised competition. Famous former participants include Julio Iglesias, Olivia Newton-John, Céline Dion, ABBA, Johnny Logan, Alla Pugacheva, Secret Garden, Philip Kirkorov, t.A.T.u., Lordi and Patricia Kaas.

The Eurovision Song Contest recently completed its 56th year, held at Düsseldorf Arena, marking the show’s first return to Germany since 1983. The production today is as well known for its technical achievements as for its lavish and sometimes unusual brand of musical performances. Nevertheless, Eurovision still intrigues audiences worldwide.

Veteran concert sound supplier Soundcheck of Manila provided a massive HARMAN JBL VERTEC® line array system for Justin Bieber’s recent concert at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds, the country’s premier venue for large-scale events. The show, part of Bieber’s “My World” tour which has spanned the globe since kicking off in June 2010, drew a total of 70,000 fans.

Can you have a personal relationship with a digital mixing console? Michael Abbott seems to believe so. Abbott, who has provided audio engineering for iconic shows including the finale of “Survivor,” “The Voice” and “X Factor,” as well as the annual Grammy and CMA Music awards broadcasts, and has been entrusted to mix the audio for several critical American Presidential debate broadcasts, has been close to HARMAN’s Studer Vista 8 Digital Live Production Console since its introduction six years ago.

From unicycling Moldovan fairies to transparent Italian pianos and Irish twins in giant shoulder pads, the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest delivered a feast of everything that one would expect from this most famous televised event. With widespread agreement that musically it was also the best for some years, more than 20 Yamaha digital mixing consoles helped to ensure that the sound matched the spectacle.

By order of BRAINPOOL TV GmbH, acting on behalf of the NDR, Creative Technology was the chosen media technology partner and realized the largest and state-of-the-art TV set with a stunning LED installation on stage for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in the Düsseldorf arena.

The FALCON® FLOWER made quite an impression at the 56th Eurovision Song Contest recently held at Düsseldorf Arena in Germany. The show is known for making technical leaps and bounds and this year marked the biggest Eurovision in history with regards to lighting equipment and live audience. Germany had not hosted the show since 1983 but when Lena Meyer-Landrut won Eurovision 2010 in Norway with her song “Satellite”, Germany was determined to show the world how a show should be done...big.

American Idol is the country’s most-watched TV series, and has been the number one show for six years in a row, thanks to its blend of stars in the making, audience participation and the often-unpredictable reactions of celebrity judges Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. For American Idol’s 2011 season, wrapping up this week, the main house PA and dialogue system has included a total of 300 JBL Professional loudspeakers, including VERTEC® line arrays and Control® Contractor loudspeakers, ensuring the contestants and judges are clearly heard no matter how loudly the audience cheers the performers.

The Donaufestival is an Austrian festival of music and performance that takes place each April on the River Danube in Krems, in the state of Lower Austria. Promoted by the NOE Festival-Ges for the past two decades, the festival showcases a wide range of artistry — from avant-garde rock, performance art and electronica.

The coolux Widget Designer 3.0 PRO was used at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest to control the three DVI-matrixes (32x32, 16x16, 8x8). In case of unforseen circumstances, the Widget Designer could also have been used to easily change over to VPU backup systems.

At this year’s Ultra Music Festival, grandMA2 full-size consoles were the dominant control solution on the Main Stage. The 13th annual Ultra Music Festival (UMF) held its first-ever three-day event at Miami’s Bicentennial Park drawing more than 100,000 people to the celebration of electronic music.