UK - With thousands of performers taking to hundreds of stages across the city, this year’s Edinburgh Festival and Fringe proved to be the busiest ever for full technical production provider Hawthorn, who supplied equipment to performances across both festivals.
Having headed to Edinburgh for their 29th festival season, this year saw Hawthorn provide lighting, rigging and power distribution to the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF).
The International Festival presents a programme featuring performers and ensembles from the worlds of dance, opera, music and theatre. Hawthorn was tasked with providing equipment to an array of performances in Festival Theatre, Kings Theatre, Lyceum Theatre, The Studio and Usher Hall as well as providing kit to the opening ceremony whi

UK - Claypaky has appointed A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) as its distributor for the UK, while AC-ET sister company A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland has become Claypaky's distributor in the Republic of Ireland.
The agreement came into effect on 1 September.
Marcus Graser, designated CEO of Claypaky, comments: "We are honoured by AC-ET’s decision to dedicate special resources and commitment to the distribution of our products. The collaboration between our two companies started back in the '70s, but this new agreement - based on a shared vision of a more modern relationship - marks a decisive change that everyone will benefit from."
Jonathan Walters, AC-ET’s UK sales & purchasing director, remarks: "We are delighted to be working with Claypaky. The brand has been a leader in stage lighting for decades, producing some of the world’s m

UK - Brompton Technology has announced the expansion of its customer facing team with the additions of Dries Vermeulen as business development manager (Europe), and Chris Grandin as technical support manager.
Vermeulen, a familiar face in the LED industry from his days at Barco, VER and ROE Visual, brings a wealth of experience in a technical and commercial capacity. He will be based in Belgium, positioning him to be in close contact with Brompton customers throughout Europe.
Grandin, who has relocated from South Africa, has most recently held the positions of group technical advisor for the Gearhouse Group of companies and technical services supervisor at Christie Digital Systems. He brings over two decades of expertise in the field of live entertainment and events, providing technical solutions and backup for creative staging ideas at events reaching audiences from u

UK - Audio Evolution has announced the appointment of Peter Russell to the position of audio project manager. The recently launched sister-company to global video specialists pixl evolution will benefit from Russell’s experience of the corporate and theatre markets. During a 20-year career with another major supplier, he has worked on a host of high-profile musical theatre tours, as well project managing major events across the UK, European and the US.
Company director Guy Vellacott comments: “Peter is exactly the right person to take on the project management role at audio evolution. We’ve made significant investments in high quality hardware, including d&b, Shure, Denon, Yamaha and Clear-Com and we couldn’t be placing it in safer hands. Peter has an impressive track record managing all aspects of audio in high-profile, high pressure environments and his skills

UK - High End Systems has introduced the newest member of the Sola Series, the SolaWash 1000 automated luminaire. SolaWash 1000 is available in two versions; either with an Ultra-Bright engine producing 20,000 field lumens or a High CRI Engine featuring incredibly accurate colour rendering.
The fixture includes a full framing shutter system, CMY/CTO linear colour mixing system, a seven plus open position replaceable colour wheel, iris and dual Linear Frost systems for medium and heavy frost. Sharp edge focus performs throughout the entire 12° - 55° zoom range. A TM-30 Filter boosts the Ultra-Bright engine to 85+ CRI.
Automated lighting product manager Matt Stoner comments: “The SolaWash 1000 offers an elegant feature set for our users. Whether you are using the fixture as an Ultra-Bright wash light with framing, a high CRI key light for face lighting or even a wid
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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. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

USA - Audinate has announced version 1.1 of Dante Domain Manager. This update to Dante Domain Manager brings key improvements and new features to users and integrators: new flexible installation options, improved email alerts and notifications, support for SMPTE 2110 devices and secure access to LDAP and SMTP servers, says the company.
Dante Domain Manager is software that gives integrators, AV specialists and IT managers the ability to better manage Dante AV networks by creating groupings of Dante devices called ‘domains’ - which are zones of products. It enables administrators to secure their systems with user level authentication by domain and to scale their installations by supporting Dante audio across routed IP networks with multiple subnets. Administrators looking to route audio between studios, buildings or even across entire campuses may now do so regardless of

UK - Communications solutions specialist, Surfhire, has provided essential services for UK Athletics (UKA), the governing body of athletics in the UK, for the 10th consecutive year.
Responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as its athletes, their development, and athletics officials, the UKA hosts a programme of key events throughout the British summer.
For the 2019 season, Surfhire deployed a considerable amount of kit, including walkie talkies, matrix intercom, commentator systems and extensive networking services across six events.
The comms, radios and networking infrastructure - with comms for the UK Athletics Sport Presentation being run by head of comms, Paul Carter - is a multi-faceted operation. A central control area and several remote locations, as well as interfacing to the host broadcaster, The BBC, all come un
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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.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

Hungary - This year’s annual seven-day-long Sziget Festival on Hajógyári Island, north of Budapest, was the event’s biggest yet, breaking attendance records on the day that Ed Sheeran appeared.
Capital Sound, the event’s long-standing main stage sound reinforcement supplier, now has the logistics down to a fine art, hauling Martin Audio’s MLA loudspeaker array family across Europe in a two-truck arrangement and ‘topping up’ with assistance from Hungarian-based MLA partner, BG Event. The latter, in turn, provided its own Martin Audio inventory for two dedicated EDM dance stages.
Both partners were equal to the demands of this event which last year alone saw an aggregated 565,000 visit the picturesque location on the Danube.
Capital account manager Robin Conway comments: “This year, we made changes to the field delays on main stage and upgraded the

Belgium - Throughout the summer Pioneer Pro Audio XY-Series systems have appeared at a host of festivals across Europe. For the most part the systems have been used at leading electronic music events but from time to time, XY Series has stepped outside the traditional festival model into something completely different.
As well as an immersive three-day arts and music event, the Horst Festival extends to a two-month long exhibition which features in-situ art installations in public spaces. This year the exhibition was based on the ASIAT site in Vilvoorde, north of Brussels, a former military base complete with six hectares of urban space, 20 warehouses within a maze of corridors and two huge cooling towers. It was inside one of these towers that artist Emeka Ogboh placed his renowned installation The Way Earthly Things Are Going and KAGE Audio deployed Pioneer Pro Audi

USA - Growing up in northeastern Louisiana, country star Tim McGraw was familiar with the kind of hot, humid night he encountered when he took the House of Power Stadium stage as the headliner presented by Orange Motorsports and Entertainment and House of Power Production at the at the Orange County Fairgrounds. On stage, McGraw relied on his team, including long-time lighting designer Patrick Brannon, to bring the kind of production associated with a multi-Grammy winning icon.
Although the House of Power Stadium stage was not nearly as large as many that McGraw performs on, Brannon was able to give him comfortably familiar production-style looks with help from a rig that featured a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures, including the new Maverick MK3 Profile, supplied by Dynamic Productions.
“When I design for a full production tour, it’s exactly that. The t

Canada - Hit reality TV Show Big Brother Canada wrapped up its seventh season in early May, with an Allen & Heath dLive mixing system handling audio for the live studio audience segments.
For this season, the production team turned to AV and entertainment technology company, Solotech, to assist in upgrading the audio console. Working with Allen & Heath’s Canadian partners Erikson Pro, Solotech’s full set-up featured a dLive S5000 surface, paired with a DM64 MixRack, fitted with superMADI and Dante networking cards.
“For the past few years, we’d been using an older model console that had a larger footprint and less features, so this year provided a good opportunity to upgrade to dLive,” adds Phil Hornung (audio technical advisor - live productions at Solotech). “Erikson Pro, a division of Jam Industries, provided support that exceeded expect

UK - Cineworld Eastbourne has become Europe’s first all-RGB laser cineplex after opting for Christie RealLaser technology. The UK cinema’s eight auditoriums have all been fitted with Christie’s CP2315-RGB and CP2320-RGB offerings. Christie RGB laser projection systems have also been installed at a brace of other UK Cineworld-owned locations, further demonstrating the exhibitor’s commitment to RGB laser technology.
“We’re delighted to offer our customers a fantastic visual cinematic experience with Christie RealLaser technology, which has become known for its excellent performance and reliability,” says Kiril Enikov, head of technical for Cineworld. “We aim to provide the best place to watch a movie, and by investing in the latest high performance technologies, we feel we are continuing to deliver on this goal.”
The CP2315-RGB and CP2320-RGB give exhib

South Africa - DWR Distribution’s SOS Charity Fund is once again supporting the Hilton Arts Festival to be held from the 13-15 September at the Hilton College in Hilton, KwaZulu Natal.
The sponsorship includes bussing 30 children from the local community to the festival, and in addition, contributing R10,000 towards the production Cellist with Rabies.
“I have been involved with Hilton Arts Festival for over 20 years and it’s always such an honour to work with Sue Clarence, her team, and Black Coffee, the technical supplier of the event,” comments Michael Taylor-Broderick of DWR Distribution and the SOS. “DWR Distribution always looks forward to the festival, supporting our products used on the show, and more importantly, seeing the artistic talent South Africa has to offer.”
(Jim Evans)

UK - Carnival UK has selected Point Source Audio microphones as their new fleet-wide standard for all their onboard productions, supplied by Point Source Audio’s UK distributor, Autograph Sales & Installations.
The decision to standardise on Point Source Audio (PSA) was led by Dave Cowell, lead sound designer and programmer for Carnival UK. Point Source Audio’s body-worn microphones will support the fleet’s performance venues which are in use a standard 15-hours a day, 365 days a year.
Carnival UK (which incorporates Cunard Cruise Line and P&O Cruises UK) is part of Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest leisure travel company, with a cruise fleet of 102 ships operating in North America, England, Europe and Australia.
“The cruising industry is one of the harshest environments for product delivery I have worked in. When microphones

UK - Independent rigging specialist Rigging Team has announced the appointment of Matthew Millward to the role of technical manager at its Stevenage headquarters.
Working with some of the industry’s leading rental providers and as key crew on a host of major international tours, Millward’s experience encompasses a diverse variety of roles from in-house technician through to touring production manager on large scale arena shows.
Adam Searle, Rigging Team director, says: “Matt brings with him over two decades of real-world experience in rigging, technical theatre and technical management. This wide-ranging understanding of our business will ensure he remains an enduring member of our team.”
(Jim Evans)

UK - Artistic Licence will show its latest DMX512-to-DALI conversion product, DMXtoDALI quad.
With support for DALI DT8 (colour), DMXtoDALI quad is specified for the new generation of DALI products coming to market.
Artistic Licence has extensive experience in DMX512 and DALI interconversion. Its popular DIN rail solution, Rail-DMX-DALI, was launched several years ago to serve customers needing to add DALI fixtures to DMX based lighting control systems.
With the continued growth of the crossover market, Rail-DMX-DALI is still very much in demand. However, the recent introduction of DALI DT8 (colour control) means that this product is not compatible with the very latest DALI technology.
Artistic Licence redesigned Rail-DMX-DALI to incorporate the new standard, and to implement major product upgrades that greatly improve the performance and user experience.

Czech Republic - Robe has unveiled Esprite, the company's new LED moving head.
The luminaire, which incorporates a new type of LED light source and outputs 27,000 lumens, is set to debut at the upcoming PLASA Show (15-17 September, London Olympia).
Designed as an LED replacement for discharge fixtures, Esprite is the first in a new series of Robe luminaires to feature the company’s 650W WTE (White Transferrable Engine) white LED light source, a replaceable/transferable engine that promises to eradicate issues such as unpredictable lifecycles and other performance inconsistencies.
The LED module also holds a host of data in addition to date, serial number and usage, which can be accessed via a free mobile app.
Other design features in Esprite include a new cooling system that removes any airflow over the optics

Germany - Udo Lindenberg, one of Germany’s most enduring rock stars, is back on the road with Live 2019, another trademark spectacular touring production. This time around, lighting designer Günter Jäckle has included 22 VL6000 Beams from Vari-Lite in his touring rig.
Described by Jäckle as, “like a rock and roll circus, revue, craziness, freak-show, rock show”, an Udo Lindenberg performance is a busy visual extravaganza, with up to 50 performers on stage. To deal with all this activity, Jäckle balances theatrical lighting techniques with supercharged rock and roll show lighting. “The first thing for me is to be a director,” he says, “to allow the audience to see what they should see, and not what they should not.”
Discussing his design priorities, he says, “The star must be in the foreground - not the lightshow. Also, we don’t make effects becau

UK - The historic headquarters of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has completed a full AV system upgrade, with 10 channels of Shure’s ULX-D Digital Wireless installed and deployed, along with a selection of Shure’s high-end headset, lapel and gooseneck microphones.
This first phase is part of an ambitious four-year plan to improve the overall audio at RIBA, commenced with the expandable 284-400-seat auditorium and took three months to complete.
Established in 1834, RIBA is situated at 66 Portland Place, Marylebone, London, which is a Grade II listed building. The organisation is the professional body for UK architects, founded for the advancement of architecture, supporting its members and introducing new people to the world of creative architectural design.
Work on the project began with consultation between RIBA’s in-house AV team, AV sp

Europe - German rock band Rammstein have just finished their European stadium tour, with Claypaky HY B-EYE K25, Scenius Unico, Mythos 2 and Sharpy lighting fixtures, selected by lighting designers Ronald Greil and Patrick Woodroffe of Woodroffe Bassett Design, accompanying the show across the continent. Neg Earth Lights was the lighting vendor.
Rammstein began the stadium tour in Germany in May and wrapped in Vienna in August. The band will resume the tour next spring.
“Our brief was to keep the lighting in line with the Rammstein aesthetics built over 25 years of touring,” says Greil, who marked his first time working with the band. “It wasn’t just another pop or rock show; it was more like a rock opera, all perfectly staged. We kept the focus on the band creating the canvas for them to perform on, which featured unique staging and architecture, a rig with ove

Belgium - tvONE reports that CORIOmaster has been chosen by custom motion graphic creators Prismax to drive more than 1000sq.m of video walls at Tomorrowland, one of the world’s biggest dance music festivals held in Boom in Belgium each summer. The units were supplied by Belgian reseller, Intronics, and will be used by Prismax at other large events.
Prismax selected CORIOmaster from tvONE as it is a flexible video wall processor that allowed its designers to achieve striking visual effects. Ruben Gorissen, owner of Prismax says, “tvONE’s CORIOmaster video wall processor was chosen as it offers an efficient approach for building video wall systems. The CORIOmaster is modular, scalable and easy to use which makes it an ideal solution for the vast video walls at Tomorrowland. Eight years ago you had to use different cables for each set, nowadays everything is fixed toget

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