USA - Michael Abbott, audio coordinator for the Grammy Awards, specified 12 Austrian Audio OC818 microphones to be used as overhead microphones on the artist drum kits during the 62nd annual Grammy Awards, which was broadcast live from Staples Centre in Los Angeles on 26 January.
“The broadcast music mix engineers came back to me after the broadcast, commenting on how the microphones provided additional tonal response and spatial coherence to the overall drum kit mix,” comments Abbott.
Hosted by Alicia Keys, the 62nd Awards featured live performances – including Old Town Road All-Stars, which featured nominees Billy Ray Cyrus and Lil Nas X, who were joined by BTS, Diplo, Mason Ramsey, and Nas.
Other artists performing on the night included first-time nominees

Denmark - At the beginning of 2019, full-service Danish rental company Nordic Rentals experienced a growing demand from the concert touring and broadcast markets. As a result, the company opted to increase its mixing console inventory. Already a long-standing DiGiCo user having invested in the original D5 Live, D1 and, more recently, SD8s and SD9s, Nordic Rentals took the decision to add more of the manufacturer’s products to its stock.
“Our work in both touring and television has increased dramatically, but we were also seeing a growing demand from international artists doing fly-in shows on festivals in Denmark and Norway,” explains Martin Nørbæk, Nordic Rentals’ senior sales & project manager. “As we operate on an international level, and part of our strategic plan is to be the leader in our business in Denmark and Norway in regards to service, support an

Austria - From February, Windows 10 will be used for the entire Pixera server product line, AV Stumpfl has announced.
In addition to the latest security updates, servers with Windows 10 will also be delivered with many pre-installed tools and drivers. The engine GUI will also be replaced by Pixera Hub, a new toolset that will offer additional features, such as Autostart Manager and Pixera Version Selector.
"With our new and customised Windows 10 systems, we are choosing a technological path that will not only provide our customers with future security updates, we are also offering them more freedom on their media servers in conjunction with utilities that facilitate a better workflow," says the company in a statement.
The installation of the operating system will be via a USB stick, where all necessary drivers and software packs will be included. Customers, who

Council Strategy - Arts Council England has unveiled the strategy that will guide its work over the next decade, aiming to address what it says are “momentous” sector-wide challenges that include inequality of opportunity and a widespread lack of diversity. There is particular emphasis on communities and young people in the document, published this week, which lists the Arts Council’s priorities for its work and the organisations it will fund between now and 2030.
Entitled Let’s Create, its contents are broadly similar to the draft document published by the Arts Council last year. It is based around a vision that by 2030, England will be a country “transformed by its culture” and “in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish”.
No Show - Madonna pulled out of the first London show of her Madame X tour, sp

Singapore - Generation AV, which represents Martin Audio in the APAC countries, has recruited Tony Sawyer as senior APAC applications manager. A significant addition to the team, Sawyer spent 11 years at Bosch Communications/Electro-Voice/Dynacord, and was most recently at Vue Audiotechnik in Manila.
Generation AV founder David McKinney, who has known Sawyer for 20 years, sees the appointment as a major boost to the company’s growth. “We started talks a few months ago and decided now was the right time to get him onboard,” explains McKinney.
Based in the Philippines, Sawyer’s role is to work closely with all distributors in Asia Pacific, providing project design support, training on new and existing products, supporting major touring events and carrying out product/system training across the region. He will focus on bringing Martin Audio factory training events
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

The Netherlands - CLF Lighting has launched CLF Poseidon, a powerful outdoor beam fixture that has been developed for smooth CMY colour mixing.
Based on the successful CLF Aorun, Poseidon comes with a fast and accurate feature set including a double prism, gobo wheel, animation section and frost. The 190mm wide lens and optics allow big mid-air effects with a bright and punchy beam, delivered by a 400W light source. Colours can be mixed smoothly by using the CMY wheels and a fixed colour wheel is also available.
The IP65-rated housing is equipped with specially designed motors enabling fast pan and tilt movements. A bright O-LED screen offers easy access to on-board settings, even in bright environments.
(Jim Evans)

The Netherlands - Italian amplifier manufacturer Powersoft will celebrate its 25th year in business at the upcoming ISE 2020.
Over the course of its history, Powersoft has been credited with a number of technological innovations and industry firsts. Just a year into its life, in 1996, the company had already mastered designing and developing the then first commercially-viable Class D amplifier, which was able to deliver consistently reliable, high-power levels. This technological breakthrough on switch mode amplification also helped the company earn a coveted reputation on green power and efficiency, making it Powersoft’s trademark to this day.
In the intervening years, the company continued to push the envelope, always conscious of making consistent, efficient, and intuitive products. This resulted in a number of new products and technologies that have since become
featured content

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.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

USA - Fans, who turned out for Anthony Hamilton’s three-date Florida swing in late December, finished 2019 with a bang. In addition to seeing the Grammy-winning R&B artist perform his hits, they got to enjoy a stellar cast of supporting artists, featuring Ja Rule, K Michelle and Joe.
Each act was supported by a punchy Josh Lawson lightshow that delivered its searing visuals with help from six Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Profile fixtures supplied by Apogee Productions of Longwood, Florida.
“I approached each act differently as Ja Rule is classic hard-hitting rap, Joe is a more laid-back version of R&B, and K Michelle is an artist who tells a lot of stories of her past relationships,” says Lawson. “Since the three stops made in Florida were at arenas, it gave me more stage space to play with than I have at my normal club shows. I took advantage of

USA - Wayne State College is a mid-sized public school in rural Wayne, Nebraska. The college’s theatre arts degree programme provides its students with three performance venues housed in the Lied Performing Arts Centre.
At 675 seats, the Ramsey Theatre is the largest of the three, but until recently, the quality of its sound reinforcement system was not commensurate with the quality of the programme. Local AV integration company Adams Production Services recently designed and installed a Danley Sound Labs system that delivers “vastly superior intelligibility and impact at a fraction of the former system’s size”.
“Last year, I updated the PA system in Wayne State College’s gymnasium with six Danley OS80 loudspeakers, and they loved the improvement,” explains Brian Adams, owner of Adams Production Services. “They showed me the system in the Ramsey Theatr

UK - Lighting designer James Scott specified 96 impression X4 Bar 20 battens from GLP when London-based rapper / producer AJ Tracey played two shows at Alexandra Palace recently.
The gigs were the culmination of a long year in which Scott, director of multi-disciplinary creative design studio Suluko, had been an essential part of the artist’s creative team, headed by Tawbox. AJ Tracey toured first the UK Academy circuit followed by the festival season, with a simple floor package.
Lighting inventory for the tour had been supplied by Siyan but when it came to the Ally Pally shows production manager Joel Stanley awarded the project to Neg Earth.
The creative for the show was devised by Tawbox, who designed the screen layout and the concept of AJ performing in the round. “This was a specific show design for Ally Pally,” explains Scott. “The concept of the sh

UK - Music producer George Moorey likes to weave a little historical magic into his recordings, by taking his mobile setup - which now includes an Audient iD14 audio interface - into some of the ancient buildings of his adopted home. Capturing the spirit of the city in the form of samples, he showcases them in a surprising variety of genres including choral, classical, folk, hip-hop, electronica, grime and rock.
His most recent project is a prolific songwriting collaboration with fellow musician and lyricist, Shane Young, called The Powdered Earth. The first single Hold Your Breath is released on 31 January and incorporates piano samples he’s been recording all around the city.
Moorey says: “Piano is crucial to the sound of The Powdered Earth. The parts are simple and repetitive, so I record them as MIDI using

UK - Established over 60 years ago, Belfast-based Niavac has grown steadily to become one of Northern Ireland’s most successful systems integrators, covering the corporate, healthcare, hospitality and education sectors. The acquisition of audio company Loft Sound in 2016 expanded Niavac’s portfolio into the live event industry, a business which is proving every bit as successful.
The company has invested in a Yamaha Rivage PM7 digital mixing system to continue its commitment to high quality service and it has already been out on tour.
“We used Yamaha digital mixers from the beginning,” says Loft Sound’s Steve Corr, who became Niavac events manager at the time of the acquisition. “Our first mixer was an LS9 and our inventory went on to include M7CL, PM5D, all three CL series mixers and smaller analogue boards for conference work.”
He continues: “We

UK -There is limited time to secure your place at a free industry event dedicated to the changes to the off-payroll working rules (known as IR35).
Co-hosted by PLASA and the MIA, Get your business ready for IR35 is taking place this Thursday, 30 January, at the Victory Services Club in London.
The event is relevant to large business owners and freelancers / contractors alike and will see HR expert Nicky Gleadow (MD, The HR Point) explain how the changes to the IR35 legislation will impact employers and off-payroll workers. There will also be complimentary food alongside plenty of networking time with fellow professionals, says PLASA.
IR35 is a piece of UK government legislation that aims to determine whether a worker is an employee or an off-payroll contractor, ensurin

UK - White Light has supplied the lighting for You Stupid Darkness!, which recently opened at the Southwark Playhouse in London.
Presented by Paines Plough and Theatre Royal Plymouth, You Stupid Darkness! is a new play set within the Brightline Call Centre. It focusses on four colleagues who try to keep their lives together whilst the outside world falls apart.
The lighting designer on the show is Peter Small, who comments: “My brief for this production was that it shouldn’t feel ‘lit’; meaning I wanted it to feel as natural as possible to the audience. The concept was that you had sort of peeled the wall off this strange office and were peering in from a dark place, somewhat ‘fly on the wall’. This concept meant working closely with set designer Amy Jane Cook and adding in masking which would allow me to drop the rig very low and hide it away

USA - The ninth annual iHeart Radio Music Festival landed in the Nevada desert with stars including Alicia Keys, Miley Cyrus and Green Day. The event, held at the T-Mobile arena, was broadcast live on FOX, complete with energetic sets and an array of musical talent. Green Hippo was at the iHeart of all things visual, with Boreal+ Media Servers powering pre-made content.
Jason Rudolph was at the helm as screens producer, using the in-built Hippotizer toolkit to manipulate content to fit each artist’s performance, in front of two ‘SuperWall’ LED screens, one on each side of the stage.
“We used four Boreal+ servers, as two redundant systems - an A and a B system for the A and B screens,” explains Rudolph. “Each main server was doing four outputs to drive all the content for the show. Everything feeds into two linked E2 frames to get onto the screen and allow

Thailand - Since their debut album in 2001, Potato have steadily grown to become one of the most admired Thai rock bands, attracting a strong following among teenagers in South East Asia.
Their latest two Potato Magic Hours concerts were a testament to their popularity, with thousands of fans coming together to enjoy the band’s performances at the Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani, with an L-Acoustics K1/K2 system helping to bring the magic to life and ‘kick out the jams’ at the second largest exhibition and convention venue in Asia.
For Potato Magic Hours, Thai AV rental partner MediaVision (1994) Co was chosen to deploy the PA system. The venue presented the team with challenges from the outset.
“Even though the venue is very popular with concerts and live shows, the acoustics were our major concern,” says MediaVision chief system engine

Italy - Audio engineer Paolo Calza has joined Outline in the role of pro applications engineer and Outline array trainer.
Calza graduated from Rome’s Saint Louis College of Music as a sound engineer and MIDI programmer and later from the University of Ferrara as a technician specialised in acoustics.
He has collaborated with numerous companies in the pro-audio sector as a technical consultant. Over the last 10 years, he has also concentrated on the acoustic design of loudspeaker systems. Calza has considerable experience in the live music field, working regularly on large events and national and international festivals.
He states: “I consider every new venture as a steep path to be ‘climbed’ to achieve new goals. I hope to be able to offer my support and experience to Outline, its distributors and its clients worldwide, and manage to communicate them with

UK - Sound Technology, the distributor of Martin by Harman in the UK, is holding a Martin ERA Performance showcase event at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden on 17 February.
The event will run from 11am to 4pm and will see the complete ERA Performance range on demo.
Sound Technology has also announced the immediate shipping of the Martin ERA 400 Performance CLD. The ERA 400 is the first of the ERA Performance series, announced at LDI in November, to become available, with the remainder of range which consists of the warm white version of the ERA 400, the ERA 600 Performance and ERA 800 Performance - the brightest moving profile fixture in Martin's history - arriving in February.
The 10,000lm ERA 400 Performance CLD features a 300W 6,500K LED light engine, and in common with the entire ERA Performance range, has crisp optics with a flat field, CMY c

USA - Obsidian Control Systems’ complete line-up of Netron data distribution products is now in stock and ready to ship from the company’s US and European warehouses.
Netron is a comprehensive range of DMX splitters and ethernet to DMX gateways, supporting applications from live production and venue installations to architectural environments. All Netron products can be configured through either the internal OLED screen and encoder, or the integrated web menu system, which works from PC, Mac and any mobile device.
The Netron range offers three Ethernet to DMX gateways and three RDM splitters.
The EN12 is a powerful, high-density Ethernet to DMX gateway with 12 RDM compatible ports. The EN4 is a powerful Ethernet to DMX gateway with four RDM-compatible ports. Designed for live production and installations with a rugged housing and high-performance processing,

USA - Chauvet Professional has released the Ovation CYC 1 FC.
Debuted at LDI 2019, the fixture can be positioned unobtrusively on the stage and in the broadcast studio. With an illuminance of 173lx at 5m, the CYC 1 FC ensures a wide, smooth coverage area, often allowing larger backdrops to be fully illuminated only from the ground, without the need for downlighting. Since its light source is so near the ground, it can wash backdrops without dark dead areas at the lower end.
The CYC 1 FC can also a foot light, fill light and side light in a wide variety of applications. When the fixture serves as a foot light, its in built shutter can serve as a glare shield, in addition to being used to adjust the light’s throw. An integrated kick stand adds to the fixture’s versatility.
Drawing on Ovation’s award-winning RGBAL colour-mixing technology, the CYC 1 FC produc

South Korea - In common with many older houses of worship, modern expectations have meant that the audio quality of sermons in the 1936-built Changsin Church in the Gangnam district of Seoul, South Korea was no longer good enough. A replacement sound reinforcement system was needed and, after a direct comparison with systems from other major manufacturers, an Alcons Audio LR14 pro-ribbon system was chosen by the church.
The church formed a committee which appointed Jang Young-wook, a church sound engineer and executive director of the Korean Church Acoustics Association, as the project consultant. He contacted the representatives of eight leading audio system manufacturers and asked them to participate in a briefing to be held at the church.
The companies included audio contractor Sky Sound, based in the city of Daegu, which had previously worked with Alcons Audio’s

Latest Issue. . .