UK - FIX8Group's virtual events, broadcast and connectivity centre is fully operational for business.
Known as The Hub, it is located at FIX8Group's facility in Greater Manchester and has been designed to enable virtual and hybrid events, shows or presentations to be produced entirely under one roof. Inside, The Hub offers a studio, gallery and master control room, along with competent technical operators.
With all of the technology, systems, processes and talent in one building, The Hub facilitates on-site as well as full remote event production, including capacity for managing signals from broadcast locations worldwide, says the company.
FIX8Group soft-launched The Hub in late summer, enabling a number of virtual events to be successfully generated an

UK - Britannia Row Productions has supplied a varied array of projects in theatre, TV and radio while utilising COVID-safe procedures.
From a high-profile fashion event in a socially distanced venue with an army of masked crew, to working in sparse TV studios and on-air radio broadcasts, sound rental company Britannia Row Productions has maintained COVID-safe working practices during the pandemic.
Freelance sound engineer Scott Maxwell was touring with deep house DJ and producer Jax Jones when COVID cancellations saw his calendar fall apart. After months without pushing his faders, Autumn finally kicked off a run of new shows. A theatre production in Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre was his first foray into socially distant events.
The theatre partnered with Stage2View to present a selection of West End and Broadway musicals and plays, allowing for a cinematic

Germany - d&b audiotechnik has partnered with Gareth Owen Sound to launch En-Snap cue automation software, a significant step in advancing the application of the immersive sound experience that is Soundscape.
Since its launch in 2018, d&b Soundscape has provided audiences worldwide with an immersive audio reality that shapes deep and intense connections between audiences and artists. "En-Snap allows for even more efficient and seamless Soundscape integration within the wider entertainment technology ecosystem," the company says.
Developed by Gareth Owen Sound for d&b Soundscape, d&b is working in cooperation with the renowned sound designer and his team to make the powerful En-Snap tool available free-of-charge to registered d&b Soundscape customers and users.
Owen has already used Soundscape and an early version of the En-Snap tool to bring
featured content

Strictly FX, Pushing Boundaries

Strictly FX was founded in 1996 by industry veterans Mark Grega and Ted Maccabee. Our expertise and knowledge of the world’s leading pyrotechnic, laser, and flame manufacturers allows us to curate astonishing live events. With over 500+ shows performed a year, there’s good chance you’ve seen some of our work!

Germany - MA Lighting has answered user pleas for solutions that connect grandMA3 lighting control systems with existing visualisation platforms with the introduction of grandMA3 viz-key.
grandMA3 viz-key provides a stable and safe connectivity between third-party visualisation tools and grandMA3 lighting control systems, says the manufacturer. Users can simply connect the grandMA3 viz-key with the visualisation computer and the new tool will enable all necessary parameters for visualisation.
All compatible third-party manufacturers are MA-Net3 members on the network and can visualize all granted parameters instantly. grandMA3 viz-key also enables all non-granted parameters for visualization.
MA Lighting has reached agreements with several visualisation solution manufactures to co-develop an integration between the grandMA3 viz-key and their specific pre-vis pro

USA - Harman Professional Solutions has announced that Martin P3 System Controller Software Version 5.2.0 is now available as a free update for the entire family of Martin P3 System Controllers.
Martin P3 System Controller Software Version 5.2.0 comes with a range of new features and improvements that benefit newer products such as the MAC Aura PXL and VDO Atomic Dot, as well as long-time Martin favorites like VDO Sceptron, VDO Fatron and Exterior PixLine.
New features include: P3 Switch: Instantly toggle individual fixtures between video control and DMX control; PixelMap Input: Receive PixelMap input from a lighting desk for up to 128 universes, drive fixtures with a video feed from a media server or dynamically switch between the two; Art-Net to P3 Bridge: Create an Art-Net to P3 Bridge using the PixelMap Input functionality to visualize lighting designs in realtime.

UK - The exterior of the Southampton Mayflower Theatre brings an extra dazzle of warmth and vitality to a usually busy city centre, illuminated with an Anolis lighting scheme which was installed by Lighting Technology Projects (LTP).
Built in 1928, the venue is a Grade II listed building with a prominent central location and seating capacity of 2300, making it the largest theatre in the South of England.
Anolis products were recommended for the architectural installation to the theatre’s Chief LX Neil Kingston and their head of technical operations, Rachel Fox, by several people, including those running the O2 Guildhall, another leading Southampton live performance venue - which is also externally lit with Anolis - as well as by contacts at cruise company Carnival UK which is headquartered in the city.
With these references, Kingston was confident that Anolis

USA - Kalahari Resorts & Conventions is known for its waterparks, family-friendly vacations, and comprehensive meeting and events facilities. Kalahari is also known for effectively tying all these uses together through a unified experience. This is done with curation of custom artwork from African artisans, music sourced from across Africa, and top-of-the-line technology and entertainment.
“Every Kalahari location is different,” says Rebecca Fuchs, senior design consultant with Conference Technologies Inc. “Kalahari has made it a point to create an authentic and impressive experience at every location within a resort. That includes everything from the art and souvenirs, to the water temperature, to the AV they use.”
Conference Technologies Inc. recently completed a full integration of the newest Kalahari resort in Round Rock, Texas. And for many locations o
featured content

ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

USA - Zach Williams was out on a solo, headlining tour when the COVID pandemic began to peak. Though the remaining shows for the year were cancelled, Williams still yearned for the live stage and delivering his gift of song to fans. The Christian country/rock star, together with Big Daddy Weave, organised the Drive-In Theater Tour.
Though social distancing protocols required smaller crews, which also meant less gear on stage, Williams’ FOH and monitor engineers were in agreement that the DPA d:facto and 2028 Vocal Microphones were key to the performances.
“We had one 20x24 SL100 mobile stage, definitely smaller than what we’re used to, and all of the attendees would park and stay in or near their car,” explains Carson Brannock, monitor engineer for Zach Williams. “I didn’t even realise there were this many drive-in theatres still operating in the country,

UK - Shure and The VoiceOver Network have announced a collaboration to support the evolving voiceover industry.
Shure and The VoiceOver Network will help to “bring the industry together by offering the best advice, training, events and on audio best practice within a friendly and supportive environment”.
The collaboration includes educational programmes and workshops, social media giveaways and competitions, The collaboration will kickstart with social media giveaway to win an MV7 and a 3h online workshop. (Twitter @NetworkVO / @Shure).
The VoiceOver Network began in July 2013 when Rachael Naylor started organising small meetups with a few other voiceover friends. “I started out as a voiceover artist over 12 years ago. Like a lot of people, I felt very comfortable in front of the microphone and have always enjoyed talking, so being a voiceover artist was th

France - Nestled 50km southeast of Paris in Maincy, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is famous for its beautiful gardens dating back to the 17th century and its place as the largest private estate listed as a historical monument. For the last 15 years, the estate has hosted a Christmas show, named Vaux-le-Vicomte’s illuminations, which sends guests on a festive exploration around the 100-acre grounds. In the previous two years, the estate has featured video mapping in its celebrations, and ends the event with a projection on the front of the Château.
This year, the team behind the expansive illuminations, French integrator and rental stager BS Technology, chose to rely on Digital Projection’s M-Vision Laser 21000 WU for the projection mapping of Vaux-le-Vicomte’s façade.
“Digital Projection’s recent ground-breaking technologies, like the remote laser

UK - West End theatres must once again close their doors as London moves into the highest tier of COVID-19 restrictions from midnight tonight (Tuesday 15/12). Many shows – including Pantoland at the Palladium, Six and Les Miserables: The Staged Concert – had only just opened and were following strict COVID-safe measures.
The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) said the move would cause “catastrophic financial difficulties" for venues, producers and thousands of workers.”
Andrew Lloyd Webber issued a statement saying: “I feel devastated for all those in theatre who have tried so hard to provide entertainment for the Christmas season. Theatres have worked tirelessly to make themselves as COVID-safe as possible. It does seem arbitrary and unfair that people can jostle uncontrolled in crowded shops yet orderly socially-distanced theatre-going is banne

Freelance Support - Freelancers in financial need because of tighter restrictions around the UK are being offered support through the Theatre Artists Fund, which has had a boost from Arts Council England. ACE, supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has previously contributed £1m to the fund, and has now put in additional money, although the amount has not been disclosed.
The fund is administered by the Society of London Theatre’s sister charity Theatre Development Trust and will be looking to support freelancers who were not eligible to apply for grants in the recent funding round, but are now in financial need due to working in a Tier 3 area. SOLT said the Theatre Artists Fund would be contacting producers and theatres that have had to cancel or postpone productions in Tier 3 areas to seek details of affected individuals. Grants of £1,000 to

Europe - Coda Audio has announced the addition of a new Application Examples section to its website. The section has been specifically designed to provide detailed insights into which elements of the Coda Audio range will best suit any given scenario. Utilising Coda’s proprietary system prediction software, System Optimiser, the examples show typical deployments of Coda Audio loudspeaker systems in their natural habitat, identifying which system components work most effectively in which environments, and graphically displaying the results that can be expected.
Coda Audio’s global director of marketing, David Webster comments: “It’s one thing looking through at brochure-style presentations at the specifications of loudspeaker systems, but it can often be difficult to gauge which elements best suit a given scenario. The application examples now available on our website

UK - Scientists at the University of Bath have developed a quick and easy approach for capturing 360° VR photography without using expensive specialist cameras. The system uses a commercially available 360° camera on a rotating selfie stick to capture video footage and create an immersive VR experience.
Virtual reality headsets are becoming increasingly popular for gaming, and with the global pandemic restricting our ability to travel, this system could also be a cheap and easy way to create virtual tours for tourist destinations.
Conventional 360° photography stitches together thousands of shots as you move around one spot. However, it doesn’t retain depth perception, so the scene is distorted and the images look flat.
Whilst state-of-the-art VR photography, which includes depth perception, is available to professional photographers, it requires expensive e

UK - SLX Hire and Events, a Bristol-based technical event supplier, has designed and installed over a dozen festive events across the UK already this winter from Swanage to Scotland.
Says Alastair Currie, CEO of SLX, “This year has been beyond challenging for the event industry, but we were lucky enough to have maintained, or in some cases procured, winter project contracts. These are mainly outdoor events, where a wonderful immersive light trail is installed to bring a bit of magic to those who visit – and importantly revenue to historic buildings and estates who have had a similarly difficult year.
“When the second lockdown was announced, we were slightly anxious about what that would mean for these projects – including the Trains project that sees five heritage steam railway lines and the trains illuminated for immersive rides across the Christmas pe

USA - When Arizona Sound Productions was hired to provide video and sound production for a string of boxing matches across the US, they found themselves with new protocols, different challenges, and time to kill.
“Working this year has been interesting to say the least,” said Jared Jasinski, owner and lead engineer for Arizona Sound Productions [AZSP] based in Phoenix. “With COVID restrictions we’ve been forced to be more creative and think outside the box. We’ve had opportunities to create something different for viewers at home, without an audience we can put a boxing ring anywhere [outdoors] and make it look great on camera.”
On 15 August, 2020, AZSP set the stage in Oklahoma, making boxing history with what has been called the “street fight” concept. AZSP clients’ Holden Productions and Matchroom Boxing dropped a boxing match in the middle of down

Australia - The National Rugby League Dally M Awards gives kudos to the top players from the premiership season in an annual awards ceremony. Whilst there was no red carpet and certainly no shimmering frocks in sight this year, the awards show amazed its viewers by transforming into a live to air broadcast xR production, brought to life by Big Picture and held at the Fox Sports studios in Sydney.
Brompton Technology’s 4K Tessera SX40 LED processor was a crucial element in the multi camera xR workflow, offering reliable timing and consistency of image at this high-profile event.
“Big Picture has a long-standing relationship with Fox Sports, providing LED and other services to its studio and broadcast projects,” says Josh Moffat, business development at Big Picture. “When their team approached us about the Dally M Awards, we were both thrilled and honoured by the

UK - For Adam King, Shakespeare’s Macbeth was a welcome opportunity to jump back into lighting design after seven months of being idled by the pandemic. “My work calendar for the entire year was wiped out because of the lockdown,” said King. “I missed doing the thing I love.”
Eager to get involved in theatre, King approached Mountview Drama School and asked if he could be of any use lighting shows for livestreams, pointing out that he had experience in lighting for theatre and as well as the camera. Much to his delight, Mountview responded by offering him the opportunity to light a series of shows starting with Macbeth.
“This show was a new experience,” recalls King. “There were only eight people in the theatre due to social distancing, so our main audience was online. We did three days of normal tech rehearsals and then three days of came


Italy - Luxury car manufacturer Maserati launched the MC20, the first super sports car of its Trident brand, in an event format powered by disguise xR.
Milan-based Feelrouge Worldwide Shows staged a two-day hybrid event held at the Autodromo di Modena race-track, and broadcast live around the world. The setting included a huge open-air, installation stage with 630 square meters of LED video screens on three different axes, which hosted a series of anamorphic visual effects and augmented and mixed reality content, powered by three disguise gx 2c media servers.
The visual narrative was complemented by a live performance, light show, sound system and original soundtrack. A fleet of 50 Maserati cars from across the years were showcased in the grandstand, creating an evocative drive-in theatre setting for over 500 live guests, accommodated in socially distanced sea

Portugal - The Cultural and Congress Centre (CCC), the leading performance and conference venue in Caldas da Rainha, has announced it is one of the first venues in Portugal to acquire specific technical equipment to sanitise its performance and public spaces, by installing new, fully-certified UV products from GoldenSea UV in an effort to ensure maximum safety for its spectators, artists and employees.
The CCC has invested in two types of GSUV sterilization and disinfection products, after careful consultation with Portuguese distributor, NAN of Lisbon. The venue procured four units of UVL150, a high-powered mobile UV lighting fixture for the sterilization of large interior spaces. These are rigged on stands and therefore easily transported to any desired location within the CCC’s auditoria and performances spaces. The resident team also chose a compact UV4C-H ultraviolet

USA - Thousands gathered on Washington’s National Mall in late September for a 12-hour-long event dubbed The Day of Return, a national and global day of prayer and repentance. The Return movement states its aim as being “an end-time movement with one purpose – the return to God, individually, corporately, nationally, globally, and the end-goal of world revival”.
Speakers such as Jonathan Cahn, Dr. James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Ann Graham Lotz, Alveda King, Kevin Jessip and many more could be heard both inside and beyond the fenced-in ticketed area.
MHA Audio provided Martin Audio’s MLA sound system. The main hang consisted of 11 MLA elements plus an MLD Downfill per side, with 18 MLX subwoofers arranged in a broadside cardioid array. “We were only covering 150ft because it was a small compound, but we also had to cover the crowds outside the compound,” exp

Latest Issue. . .