The Netherlands - A prominent player in the world of LED displays and audio-visual productions as well as part of the NEP Worldwide Network, Faber Audiovisuals, hosted a virtual production demo at Amsterdam Studios at the end of February.
As part of the event, Brompton Technology was invited to present its HDR (High Dynamic Range) solution on LED screens set up as greenscreen replacements for film and TV. Enabled by Brompton’s Dynamic Calibration technology, HDR delivers images that appear ‘perceptibly sharper, more vivid, detailed and lifelike’.
Though the use of LED screens in film has been slowly increasing over the past decade, the advances in resolution, brightness and colour range (HDR) coupled with the growing affordability of these technologies in the last

Singapore - Ctrl Fre@k’s Jeffrey Yue has drawn upon his extensive know-how plus creative AV technology including TiMax SoundHub spatial audio servers - to realise a five-act multimedia extravaganza within century-old Fort Canning, to commemorate Singapore’s 200-year milestone.
From Singapore to Singaporean: The bicentennial Experience is a one-hour immersive, multi-sensory journey that charts Singapore’s 500-year history prior to the British arrival in 1819 and onwards to the present day. As technical consultant and systems designer for audio, video, lighting and multimedia control aspects of the exhibit, Ctrl Fre@k’s remit was to integrate the work of numerous design agencies and creative consultants into a unified whole using the most sophisticated technologies, with TiMax SoundHub in the frame to facilitate a cohesive audio journey.
The temporary exhi

Germany - The Kulturzelt is an annual music festival in Kassel that has run since 1987. It began life in a former circus tent, before progressing to its current location in a temporary, self-supporting concert hall constructed in 2010.
The specially designed, circular plexiglass structure covers an area of 860sqm and accommodates 900 visitors. Kulturzelt is now a strongly established event in the German festival calendar.
Events production specialist Ambion of Kaufungen has supported Kulturzelt with a full production since 2004 and was once again asked to supply the audio for the 2019 edition. The company took the opportunity to install a brand-new Coda Audio N-Ray system. N-Ray is Coda’s latest ultra-compact line array.
Ambion were involved in pre-launch trials of N-Ray, and having experienced its power and quality, had no hesitation in deploying the beta syst

Germany - When Circus Flic Flac rolled into town at Westfalenhalle, Dortmund for its ninth annual Christmas show, it brought with it a 1,200-capacity circus tent, an array of human-only artistes and an Ayrton lighting arrangement by lighting designer, Christopher Rostalski, from CR-Lichtdesign in Soest.
Rostalski chose to work with the latest Ayrton products to create his design in this setting, employing 20 Khamsin-S profile spots, 20 Bora-S washlights and 10 MiniBurst graphic strobe fixtures, all of which were supplied by Stefan Kniess at B + B Veranstaltungstechnik in Dortmund.
Circus Flic Flac was needing powerful lighting for the inside of this dark and dramatic performance setting and the Ayrton fixtures had features that suited this environment. “We really liked the fact that Khamsin and Bora both have the Ayrton 100% framing system which are perfect for an a

Japan - Barbee Boys are a five-piece Japanese rock band who were particularly popular in 1980’s. The first Japanese group to perform at the Nippon Budokan, they disbanded in 1992, much to the disappointment of their young generation of fans.
This turned to excitement when they suddenly announced a ‘comeback’ concert at the Yoyogi National Stadium 1st Gymnasium on 13 January - exactly a decade after that Budokan show - sending these same fans into raptures.
MSI Japan was asked to provide the sound production and Bun Hote, who has been supporting artistes from the Office Augasta stable (which includes Kyoko, a member of the Barbee Boys), was charged with mixing the sound. Known for his ability as a system tech as well as a FOH engineer, he chose Martin Audio’s MLA as his favoured PA.
His solution was to adopt a different approach to his system design, to
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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. 

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UK - Bristol-based production technology house Enlightened has made a significant investment in its audio rental inventory, adding Nexo’s P+ Series compact point source loudspeakers, together with L15 sub bass cabinets, and new NXAMP4x2Mk2 amplifiers.
Enlightened is a one-stop shop for lighting, audio, video and staging solutions, for hire, sale, production, repair or permanent installation. Audio specialist Matt Shelbourn explains: “Enlightened has had Nexo’s popular PS series in rental stock for over 10 years. Over that time, they have proven to be reliable boxes that are popular with our clients. For these reasons, we chose to invest again in the Nexo brand.
“Nexo has a reputation for making speakers that pack high SPL into small-format boxes and that is fundamentally one of the big attractions in the new P12. The dual-concentric design means the boxes are s

UK - Over the last 25 years The Brook in Southampton has established itself as one of the favourite independent music venues in the south of England. The venue has developed this reputation by putting audience and artist experience as its top priorities, and this has been seen again with a completely new sound system from TW AUDiO.
Opened by founder Bryn Lewis in 1994 as a 300-capacity music venue, The Brook has a long history of supporting original music and has welcomed many artists at every stage of their career to its intimate stage. The venue had sported the same second-hand sound system since its opening, even after the capacity doubled to 600 in 2004. However, after 25 years of service this system was starting to feel the strain.
“It had become a little bit like running a car with a classic engine where you have to drive it carefully and look after it,” says
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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

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USA - To update his original 2008 lighting design for a modern touring production of Dreamgirls, lighting designer Ken Billington chose the LED-based VLZ fixtures from Vari-Lite. After seeing a demo of the VLZ fixtures, he was satisfied with them as the luminaire that would reproduce the look and feel of his original Vari-Lite rig.
Billington specified 32 VLZ Wash, 22 VLZ Spot and 12 VLZ Profile fixtures to form the show’s entire overhead lighting rig. “The fixtures are bright,” he says, “in fact a bit too bright! We run them at 50-70% most of the time. When you fade the LED, there is no beam degradation, which you would see if there was a shutter dimming a discharge fixture.”
A key aim for this production was recreating the original colour palette, which the VLZs matched well. “The colours are really clear, clean colours that don’t muddy the beam

UK - White Light has provided the lighting equipment for the UK tour of Ghost Stories, having also supplied its recent West End run at the Ambassadors Theatre (see LSi March).
Written by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, Ghost Stories has been terrifying theatregoers for over a decade. The show invites audience members to enter a nightmarish world, full of thrilling twists and turns, where their deepest fears and most disturbing thoughts are imagined live on stage.
The lighting designer for the show is James Farncombe, who comments: “What was clear from the outset was that the design needed to be as much about the absence of light as much as anything else.

UK - Solotech has expanded its global operation by extending its video department into the UK and has opened new offices in central London.
As part of Solotech’s expansion strategy in the UK, the company has appointed Ian Woodall as director of video, and Paul McCauley as video business development manager in the UK and European markets.
Ian ‘Woody’ Woodall has worked at XL Video as sales director and has also been a freelancer, designing and building AV systems in European venues and as a touring video engineer on projects including Nile Rodgers and Chic who have been with Cher for the past year.
Meanwhile, Paul ‘Macca’ McCauley has extensive experience in the both the live events and integration industries.
Woody comments: “We decided that it was important to build on the huge reputation of Solotech for video in Canada and the US and theref

Europe - Three further exhibitors have announced they won't be attending this year's Prolight+Sound (PL+S) tradeshow. Loudspeaker manufacturer Adamson Systems Engineering, ionage GmbH - the company behind Madrix - and LED solutions manufacturer Roe Visual have all pulled out of the Frankfurt-based event. The tradeshow, which was due to take place at the end of March, was postponed to 26-29 May due to coronavirus fears.
The three companies have joined a growing list of exhibitors who have formally withdrawn from the annual fair. As of today, these are Adam Hall, Allen & Heath, d&b audiotechnik, ETC, High End Systems, JB Lighting, L-Acoustics, Martin Audio, Nexo, Vari-Lite and Strand, and Yamaha Music Europe. "Unfortunately, we cannot participate in Prolight+Sound this year", comments Madrix sales manager, Christian Hertel. "This was not an easy decision for us at all.

UK - PMC owner and chairman Peter Thomas has assumed the role of manager director, following Tim Ireland’s departure from the British loudspeaker manufacturer.
“We would like to thank Tim for his endeavours and wish him well for the future,” he says. “During his two years with PMC, he has overseen some great changes and steered a steady course, keeping our objectives clearly in focus while upholding the values of our brand.
“I am very pleased to be back at the helm and once again be in closer contact with our business partners around the world. It is an exciting time for PMC with the launch of globally significant professional projects and the 25i series hi-fi speakers, and we have plans for several new initiatives that will guarantee we remain at the forefront of the market for innovation, engineering and superb quality.”

USA - Lighting designer David Grill has returned to GLP’s lighting portfolio to stage a new production of Michael Pink’s 1996 ballet Dracula, a reimagining of Bram Stoker’s horror classic story, at the Civic Centre Music Hall in Oklahoma City. This was presented by the Oklahoma City Ballet.
“The production is rented to ballet companies throughout the world, and at each venue I lay out the line sets and adapt the show to whatever I find there,” says the LD, explaining the background. “[GLP impression X4s] are among fixtures that remain constant and the rest change depending on venue.” He believes that the production plays better in theatres where the architecture is either more ornate or with darker woods, rather than the light grey ones that pull focus from the stage.
However, with the latest transfer, fixture availability forced him to replace the

USA - Alcons Audio gave the LR24 mid-size line array system its official introduction to the US touring market at Post 43, the Hollywood base of the American Legion. Inviting an array of top mixing talent to ‘test-drive’ the LR24 system and experience WYMIWYG - What You Mix Is What You Get - the system drew widespread praise.
Described by its veterans as “that much more showbiz” than any other American Legion post, Post 43 was an appropriate location for the LR24 event. Two years ago, the completion of a comprehensive restoration transformed it into a 500-seat movie theatre and live venue, complete with an Alcons pro-ribbon sound system. According to Levi Joos, proprietor of installer Stay On Screen, it transformed Post 43 into “one of the best-sounding rooms in town”.
The two-day LR24 event featured a system comprising eight units per side, with six BC543

South Africa - Lighting designer Marius Coetzee was asked by Johannesburg -based technical production company AV and Beyond to create a vibrant visual ambience for the 2019 FNB (First National Bank) Innovators Awards, staged in Hall 5 of the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg.
Over 100 Robe moving lights helped him produce spectacular lighting including AV and Beyond’s new Esprite LED Profiles, the first in South Africa, which arrived on site just in time to be added to the rig.
The event recognises and celebrates the efforts, contributions and ideas of the innovators within the company. All recipients work for FNB Bank and received awards based on multiple elements, including flair, imagination and ability to think creatively and out-of-the-box in formulating solutions and instigating good working practices.
With the focus on ‘innovation

Belgium - After decades of civic campaigning, the residents of Deinze near Ghent recently achieved a long- awaited dream when the €10m Leietheater opened. Located in the town centre, the theatre creates an immediate impression from the outside with its minimalist architecture. Inside, its multifaceted, modern productions are supported by a collection of Chauvet Professional Ovation fixtures specified by the theatre itself, and supplied by Sotesa.
The task of fitting a modern lighting rig for the 500-capacity theatre fell to the theatre's head of technology, Jef Donné. Having previously used Chauvet Professional fixtures in the live event sector, Donné was well aware of the advantages that the Ovation fixtures.
"Being able to create our rig from scratch allowed us to harness the advantages associated with the Ovation's LED technology, which essentially gave us the

Switzerland - An Allen & Heath dLive mixing system set the rink alight for ice-skating gala, Art on Ice, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this month with a series of shows taking place across Zurich, Lausanne, Basel and Davos.
Combining live performances from internationally acclaimed artists, world-class dancers and figure-skaters, including the 2018 Gold Olympic medallist Alina Zagitova, Art on Ice offers “a unique and immersive storytelling experience”.
Produced by Swiss AV production company, Habegger AG (and with Session Pro helping to supply gear), the full setup featured a dLive S7000 paired with a DM64 MixRack, fitted with a superMADI card for multi-track recording and a Waves V3 card for external plugins.
Operated by long-time A&H user and FOH engineer, Sascha Kohl, dLive was used to handle all sources including the musici

UK - Wicked, winner of multiple Tony, Drama Desk and Grammy awards, has become a Broadway staple, poised to celebrate its 17th year on the Great White Way in October at its home at the Gershwin Theatre. The show’s nearly half-dozen licensed touring versions have drawn almost as many award accolades.
The latest touring edition of the show is scheduled to hit 15 cities, from Baltimore to Vancouver. These shows put the musical’s songs through a new DiGiCo Quantum 7T console. Purchased through Milwaukee-based Clearwing Productions, the compact audio desk features DiGiCo’s sophisticated theatre software, a package designed specifically to meet the demands of theatrical workflows, with features such as an auto update system, aliases, the players tool and a VCA programming map.
“We spent the better part of two years planning the upgrade for the touring show, an

Poland - Tommex Żebrowscy Sp. J. (Tommex) has been appointed Polish distributor for RCF’s installed sound, commercial audio and voice alarm EN54 product lines.
Tommex’ commercial director, Marcin Zimny, explains that the move resulted from changes in the ownership structure and distribution strategy of their existing long-term loudspeaker partner. “This meant we were looking for a new partner with a high-quality installation range, that could complement our portfolio; RCF provided a great opportunity and was an exact match.
“The combination of 70 years of RCF history with 30 years of Tommex provided a compelling partnership”, he adds.
RCF international sales manager, Luca Ombrati, comments: “We were one of the few brands able to fill all the missing product lines in Tommex’s product portfolio. After negotiation I accepted their proposal because

Europe - Area Four Industries has created The Rigging Commandos, a rigging & trussing team with a mission to “elevate event engineering & safety practices in the entertainment industry through continuous education programmes”.
Made up of six team members, the Rigging Commandos will use their knowledge and practical experience in a series of rigging & trussing videos, which will be produced throughout the year and released to on Area Four's video channel A4i.tv.
Members of the Rigging Commandos team were chosen not only for their knowledge and experience in entertainment production, but also for their ability to communicate directly with riggers and technicians, says the company.
Eric Porter, British rigging consultant and head Rigging Commando, leads the group. Norbert Tripp, German structural engineer and Area Four Industries’ technical directo

Europe - At ISE 2020, Void Acoustics showcased the latest additions to the Bias and Air ranges.
The Bias Q1 joins the Bias family of Void Acoustics amplifiers. It is a four channel DSP+Dante amplifier and has been adapted with smaller dimensions and is lighter in weight than the Bias Q5. Whilst operating from the same amplifier platform the Bias Q1 is still durable and maintains the impressive sound quality which end users have come to expect from Void Acoustics. It is multi-application and designed for use in bars, clubs, for corporate and live music venues as well as large-scale outdoor events and touring.
The Airten V3 release is the latest addition to the Void Acoustics Air Series. Having made significant enhancements to the futuristic-styled composite loudspeaker, the Airten V3 offers improved performance and is built for the exacting demands of high-end venue op

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