29 July 2014

The Week in Lighting & Sound

A Man from the Future - The Pet Shop Boys unveiled their latest work, a tribute to wartime codebreaker Alan Turing, at the first of this year's Late Night Proms. The 50-minute 'musical biography' featured an excerpt from Gordon Brown's public 2009 apology for Turing's 1952 conviction for homosexual activity. Narrated by Juliet Stevenson, A Man from the Future received a standing ovation at London's Royal Albert Hall. Chrissie Hynde also performed alongside Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe themselves. Back to the Future - ... More >>

Blackout's busy summer of music

UK - As Britain basks in the soaring temperatures of a sizzling two-week heat-wave, draping and rigging specialist Blackout is also on a high following a jam-packed summer of live music events. Warming things up, Blackout was commissioned to deliver a special show opening for Kasabian's headline slots at Glastonbury festival and homecoming gig Summer Solstice. The company utilised its new 12m roller screens which were specially adapted to allow them to be installed horizontally in the roof of both the 40m Summer Solstice stage and ... More >>

ETC Source Four Minis in offline art gallery

Australia - #THEARTHUNTER was an 'offline' temporary art gallery experience from iconic website The Cool Hunter, created and produced by The Artistry. The Earth Hunter was a collaboration with Jaguar to launch the brand's first AWD concept car, the C-X17. The space was 'found', designed and the creative concept executed, complete with delicate artworks, in less than three weeks. Showtime Productions were called upon to design and install the gallery lighting, deciding to purchase 36 ETC Source Four Mini fixtures for the project. "... More >>

Leo powers back-to-back heavy metal festivals

Scandinavia - Supporting heavy metal festivals STHLM Fields and Sonisphere not only took tremendous sonic power, but also an intelligently designed loudspeaker rigging system built for mission-critical circumstances. For the festivals' headliners Metallica, Slayer, and Mastodon, Starlight built a massive Meyer Sound Leo linear large-scale sound reinforcement system with close to 200 loudspeakers. Within 24 hours, the system was flown and tuned for action for the two productions located 500 km from each other. Both produced by Live ... More >>

Chauvet Professional in the Great Room

UK - The Grosvenor House hotel Great Room in London, one of the largest ballrooms in Europe, has hosted so many high-profile events that it's become a familiar sight on BBC news reports. Standing out in such a glitzy venue is no easy task, but that's exactly what a recent awards ceremony did thanks to some inspired pixel mapping by Storm Events using the EPIX 2.0 strip and EPIX 2.0 bar from Chauvet Professional. "Everyone wants an event at Grosvenor House to be special, because there is such a rich tradition here," said Andy White, ... More >>

ETCP launches further web-based rigging exams

UK - The Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) will launch a new version of the practice exams for the Rigger - Arena and Rigger - Theatre Certifications this summer. Both new practice exams will be accessible beginning 31 July, 2014. These versions are an entirely new set of questions and are available in addition to the practice exams that were created in 2009. Riggers preparing to take the ETCP exams have found the practice versions an extremely valuable tool for self-assessment. The web-based practice exams consist ... More >>

Amadeus, SSL and Sonic Emotion in jazz special

France - Amadeus, based in France, manufacturer of high-end sound reinforcement systems and custom studio speakers, collaborated with Solid State Logic consoles and Sonic Emotion, with their '3D sound' Wave 1 processor, on a special outdoor event 28 - 29 June - Palais en Jazz located at the Imperial Palace Compiegne, a royal residence built for Louis XV and restored by Napoleon located in northern France. The event featured Amadeus' PMX, Diva and Maestro speaker systems, delivering a Hi-Fi sound to the outdoor audience who enjoyed ... More >>

grandMA2 rocks on with Hedwig

USA - Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the unconventional rock musical that recently captured four Tony Awards, may not be your grandma's Broadway show, but its use of grandMA2 lighting consoles keeps the edgy production on track at the Belasco Theatre. Hedwig and the Angry Inch is John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's gender-bending musical tale of life, love and a botched operation. It won Tonys for its star, Neil Patrick Harris; co-star Lena Hall; and lighting designer Kevin Adams - Adams's fourth win. The play also ... More >>

Goa's Café Mambo upgrades D.A.S. sound system

India - Just steps from Calangute beach, Café Mambo holds one of the top spots on Goa's world-famous club scene. Located on the bustling Tito's Lane, Café Mambo has made a name for itself by playing host to a variety of national and international DJs with a different theme -from hip hop and house to techno and retro- every night of the week. Café Mambo is one of a clutch of venues owned by brothers David and Ricardo De Sousa, who are no strangers to quality sound: Café Mambo has relied on D.A.S. professional ... More >>

Lancelot gallops into Cologne's Lanxess Arena

Germany - Robert Juliat's Lancelot followspots have been chosen to illuminate yet another prestigious international venue. The Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany has acquired four of these titans of the Robert Juliat followspot portfolio. The 20,000-seat Lanxess Arena offers top class facilities as one of Europe's largest and most modern multi-functional indoor arenas and is equipped with the latest technology which now includes the 4000W HTI Lancelot long-throw followspots. "We chose the RJ Lancelot products because we were not ... More >>

Nexo STM lands at Munich Airport

Germany - Nexo's new M28 compact line array modules, recently added to the STM Series, have made a debut appearance in Munich with new owner Limelight GmbH. Limelight joins an existing and busy network of Nexo STM users in Germany with an order for 24x STM M28 modules, together with six STM B112 bass cabinets and six STM S118 subbass cabinets, plus Nexo Universal Amp Racks (NUARs) featuring NXAMP4x4s to power the system. M28's first public performance was at the annual party for all employees of Munich Airport, an entertainment for 4000 ... More >>

Williams swings both ways on Brilliant Stages

UK - Brilliant Stages continues its long-standing relationship Robbie Williams and the ever-inventive Ray Winkler and Ric Lipson of Stufish by its collaboration on the design and fabrication of the stage set for Williams' Swing Both Ways tour. The dazzling arena tour has seen Williams promote his new album across Europe from April to July, culminating in four dates at London's O2 arena, before it travels to Australia in September. The Stufish stage is lavish and multi-layered, transforming in appearance from an Art-Deco hotel, to ... More >>

Community reinforces Diggerland experience

USA - Diggerland is a construction-themed adventure park with four locations in the UK and a new Diggerland USA park in West Berlin, New Jersey which opened in June, 2014. Visitors can ride on and operate construction machinery, play arcade games and hold birthday parties at the park. Diggerland USA's large 14-acre site, with varying ambient noise levels and its combination of outdoor, indoor and covered open-air areas, presented challenges to Spellcaster Productions of Hammonton, New Jersey who designed and installed the park's audio ... More >>

Clay Paky on TV's Keep Your Light Shining

Germany - An impressive array of Clay Paky fixtures recently took centre stage, or rather nine stages, on the new interactive talent show, Keep Your Light Shining, which claims, "You should never hide your talent in the dark". The show debuted on German Pro7 television with lighting designer Jerry Appelt using lighting as one of the main components of this clever show. The programme showcases talented young contestants who take turns singing a song in brief intervals. It uses dramatic lighting to emphasize the importance of each ... More >>

Tele-Ponto supports Brazil's big year with Optocore

Brazil - If one country has been defined by the celebration of 2014 then it has been Brazil. Already famous for its carnivals this summer it exploded into life by hosting the FIFA World Cup. With the potential requirement for sophisticated point-to-point communication systems, broadcast service companies like Tele-Ponto started casting the net for solutions, and it was not long before Optocore came under their radar. "Tele-Ponto had been looking for a solution to integrate with our RTS intercom systems and [RTS senior support engineer] ... More >>

SGM G-Spot goes NorthSide

Denmark - NorthSide Festival held its fifth consecutive summer event in Aarhus, maintaining its successful growth with a record music budget, more square feet than ever before and new activities for the 35,000 visitors. Another newcomer to NorthSide this year was SGM's G-Spot moving head, proudly striking its beams high, and painting the city sky. Four of these new moving heads were placed as centrepieces on top of the highest containers in the area to draw the attention. This particular area is the festival's recreational site, ... More >>

Elation Lighting upgrade for South Point casino

USA - One of the most successful off-the-Strip venues in Las Vegas, South Point Hotel and Casino is captivating guests at its ultra-busy Showroom and is doing it with an economical dynamic lighting package from Elation Professional that includes LED pixel mapping effects. Operating from the southwest Las Vegas valley, South Point features amenities like an equestrian arena, 64-lane bowling centreand the most convention centre space off the Strip. South Point also operates a busy 400-seat Showroom facility that features headliner ... More >>

Armin brings Intense tour to South Africa

South Africa - With a start in November 2013 in Amsterdam, Armin Only Intense will continue its journey to over 20 destinations to all corners of the world, from America to Australia to Africa and to Moscow. The concept and vision of this world tour is inspired by Armin's latest album, Intense. Armin Only is a concept that started in the early days of Armin's career. Since the first editions in the early millennium years, the show has grown and come to life. Armin explains, "Unlike today, now that it's all based on short sets and ... More >>

Fineline lights Warwick Castle spectacular

UK - Bristol based lighting and visuals rental specialist Fineline supplied lighting, LED side screens complete with new bespoke supporting structures and an IMAG camera package for Warwick Castle's 1100th Anniversary Summer Proms Spectacular - a music, fireworks and pyro extravaganza to celebrate the founding of the Castle. The Medieval castle standing today was developed from an original built by William the Conqueror in 1068. The two day Summer Proms event saw 8500 people enjoy Paul Weller rocking the house on the Friday night ... More >>

Red Dot bestows design award on d&b D80

Germany - The Design Zentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen in Essen, Germany, has been recognising design innovation since 1955. This was rebranded the Red Dot Award: Product Design at the start of the new millennium. Function, environmental impact and the degree of innovation are just some of the evaluation criteria. As the years ticked by it has evolved into a leading international product award: for 2014 no less than 400 international experts discussed and evaluated 4815 submissions from 53 countries. The jury only bestows the award on the ... More >>

SPL Phonitor mini starts shipping

Germany - The newest member in the SPL Phonitor family, the Phonitor mini, is now available in stores. The Phonitor mini features at its core the exact same 120-volt technology as the Phonitor2, the brand's flagship headphones amplifier, which provides for superior technical specifications and a premium-quality sound. At the same time, the unique Phonitor Matrix enables an authentic music reproduction with headphones. According to SPL, the Phonitor mini can be used in any situation and environment where there is a need for professional ... More >>