Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

Details
USA - If LA had a town square it would be Grand Park, 12 beautifully manicured acres in the middle of America's second largest city, where Angelenos gather to celebrate festivals and special occasions.

Not surprisingly, thousands of people from throughout Southern California decked for the most part in lavish red, white and blue stream into the park every Fourth of July to take in the city's largest rooftop fireworks display. This year, in addition to the pyrotechnics, a collection of 20 Next NXT-1 panels from CHAUVET Professional also tickled the eyeballs with an intensely bright and fast moving lighting display.

Kinetic Lighting of Glendale, CA positioned the moving LED panels on the truss structure at one of Grand Park's two music stages. Powered by 25 pixel-mappable RGBW LED

Details
Germany - Engineering and automation specialist WIcreations designed and built the six moving video pods which are the major structural element of the current Herbert Grönemeyer tour, which features another innovative and interesting stage design by Gunther Hecker of Cue Design.

Grönemeyer's music and message for this tour is straightforward and uncomplicated, so Gunther's design was based on the Bauhausian principals of simplicity with clean lines and clear definition, all the time keeping the understated - and sometimes reluctant superstar - as the focus onstage.

The six pods (in the full rig format) are initially in their 'home position' in the roof and move to various different looks throughout the show - completely changing the dynamics of the stage space and also creating an impressive high-impact wow factor. The first time they come into their full vertical positions

Details
UK - Calibre has launched its latest major innovation utilizing award-winning HQUltra single-channel 4K presentation switching performance technology.

The powerful HQView770 scaler-switcher utilizes in-house developed virtual-ASIC video processing technology that provides three functions in one product.

In Projection Mode, HQUltraWarp offers real-time adjustable 4K warp & blend for fast easy screen calibration.

In LED mode, HQUltra provides extremely powerful LED-optimized 4K scaling with a pixel-accurate algorithm that preserves image detail even with significant downscale, a key requirement for driving LED videowalls with good quality images.

In Presentation mode, HQUltraFast gives the user unprecedented switching speeds, changing visually instantly between input channels in 0.25 seconds. HQUltra technology promises to dramatically change current video scaling and switch

City Theatrical - Banner - July 2025

Details
Europe - British electronica trio Years and Years are touring summer festivals and venues with an ingenious bespoke LED strip screen mapped by an Avolites Ai Infinity EX8 server.

The concept for the LED screen was the idea of Years and Years lighting designer Chris 'Squib' Swain. It reflects the cover artwork for the band's debut album Communion, with coloured branches of LED strips intersecting at different angles from a central 'Y' shape.

Years and Years have played some of the summer's biggest festivals, including Glastonbury, BST in Hyde Park, and T in the Park.

London-based controllable LED specialists Light Initiative created the screen. It is freestanding at almost 5m high and constructed in sections of LED which makes it easy to install, dismantle, and travelwith short festival turnarounds in mind.

"Avolites' Ai Infinity EX8 can take an LTC timecode inp

Details
USA - Located in scenic Columbia, the University of Missouri (MIZZOU) is the Show Me State's flagship public university, with over 35,000 students. In their free time, those students hang out in the MU Student Centre, which offers numerous dining options, a bookstore, a games area, retail outlets, a bank, and countless places to relax and catch up with friends. In addition, it houses university offices.

Recently, A/V integration firm TSI Global Companies, based in St. Charles, Missouri, designed and installed a comprehensive music playback, paging, and sound masking system for the student centre. The new system covers all three floors via 18 zones from a centralized location, but because TSI used Ashly Audio network- and CobraNet-ready multi-channel amplifiers, it required only minimal cabling.

"There were a few spaces, such as the bookstore and a few of the other retail

Details
UK - The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London is now opening its spaces for any company, charity or private individual to hire. To celebrate this significant occasion, it hosted a launch event on 15 July which showcased many of the impressive spaces it has available. The gallery enlisted White Light as the sole technical supplier for the evening's production requirements.

By allowing companies the option to hire without corporate memberships, this means that the National Gallery is opening up its Central London spaces to a wider range of clients than ever before. Alicia Earls, White Light's business development manager, comments: "The National Gallery is such a historic and renowned venue so this is a really exciting development. It will see more organisations use their amazing spaces and, as a result, ensure that the events they host will be elevated by taking plac

Details
Australia - In live theatre, communication between the stage manager, sound and lighting operators, stage hands, fly crew and all the other people behind-the-scenes that bring a show to life is paramount. In an environment where half a second can mean the difference between an audience crying or laughing, it's absolutely vital that the command to 'go' on cue comes through clean and clear.

Ben Lightowlers, head of sound at Sydney Theatre Company's Wharf Theatres, had been looking for almost two years for a digital replacement for their aging wireless comms system, but kept coming up against the recurring problems of sound quality and digital signal latency. "There were teething problems in digital wireless technology," he related. "Latency was a problem across many brands, and the audio quality just wasn't there. Latency was particularly troubling; if there's someo

Details
USA - Tom Kenny is used to designing amazing, eye-catching lightshows for high profile TV events and loves a good challenge, so making the 2015 Country Music Television (CMT Music) Awards in Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN, look "out of this world" really energized his creative spirit.

Tom worked in close collaboration with a creative team including production designer Anne Brahic and art director Aaron Black. He was also assisted by over 250 Robe moving lights.

With some of the most popular country music stars taking the stage for the event plus a series of sometimes unexpected collaborations, the show was kick started with a full on DJ Zedd / Lady Antebellum set.

The CMTs present a series of fan-voted awards for country music videos and television performances, broadcast live on the CMT network with voting administered via CMT's website.

This year Tom chose 93

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

Details
USA - Luke Bryan's concerts are no-holds-barred productions. From the massive PA system to the secondary stage out in the audience, every aspect is designed to create a memorable experience. For Bryan, the key to delivering a consistently flawless performance is the monitor mix. For that, he chooses the Sensaphonics 2MAX.

Monitor engineer Ed Janiszewski has been mixing for Luke Bryan since 2008. From Bryan's time playing honky-tonks to today's massive stadium and festival gigs, the 2MAX has been a constant for both. "We're huge fans of Sensaphonics," says Ed. "The sound quality of the 2MAX is outstanding, and they are the most comfortable in-ears out there. Luke never wants to go on stage without them, and I feel the same way."

Another key benefit for Bryan is the high isolation of Sensaphonics all-silicone construction. "Luke does part of his set on a

Details
UK - Sennheiser's 2015 charity golf day, held at the beginning of July each year to raise money for the Caron Keating Foundation, was another resounding success after customers, suppliers and friends took to the green at Bearwood Lakes Golf Club in Berkshire.

Eighty golfers teed up for a bit of friendly competition to raise money for the foundation, which provides a range of support services for cancer patients and their families, and over 90 arrived for dinner, a charity auction, and entertainment hosted by Russ Williams.

The day involved a range of events that included a long putt challenge, a game of heads and tails and the infamous raffle, giving participants plenty of opportunity to showcase their skill, or luck, while raising money for a superb and worthwhile charity.

Three customers - Autograph, Rocom and European Wealth, Sennheiser's benefits providers, sponsored hol

Details
UK - Once again Green Hippo were invited down to Worthy Farm in Somerset by our compatriots at Bryte Design to join the John Peel Stage production team for this year's Glastonbury Festival.

This was the first Glastonbury visit for Hippotizer V4. For the production on the John Peel Stage, Hippotizer V4 drove video on nine vertical columns of LED, supplied by Vortex Hire along with their Hippotizer V4 Karst.

"After our recent investment into Hippotizer V4 we were excited to test drive our Karst Server at Glastonbury on the John Peel stage." said Matt Gourd of Vortex Hire

"Knowing that many of the acts would be broadcast live, we needed a stable media server solution to show content on our custom stealth LED screen setup. The LED strips were used as an eye-catching backdrop to this year's bands/artists and was received well by all."

For the eighth year run

Details
UK - Continuing its work on Pointless, the popular game show created by Remarkable Television, part of the Endemol Shine Group, XL Video has created a new version of the show's LED scoreboard.

For the latest Pointless recordings, filmed at the BBC's Elstree Television Studios, the production team asked XL Video to create a new rigging solution for the show's central LED scoreboard.

To create greater efficiency in the set-building process, the new rigging system aimed to substantially reduce the build time for the scoreboard tower. XL Video's TV and film manager, Jeff Bailey worked with XL's specialist LED team in Oostende, Belgium, to specify the new tower support design.

The three-section custom metal column, fabricated by Shapes in Belgium, enabled the Barco NX6 LED to be pre-loaded into the curved scoreboard at XL's warehouse, along with the matching base se

Details
UK - IR TV in HD: that's the basic premise of Kasabian's headline festival appearances. "The band wanted to present something special for T in the Park and the V festivals," says Alex Leinster from Video Design. "This is a big undertaking for a festival performance, the screen positioned upstage centre is a full 18m wide by nine tall but it's what goes on it that stands out."

The function of the screen is three-fold, director Luke Collins cuts some straightforward IMAG from two cameras in the pit and runs some distinct content. "The band adopted a written motif for the latest album 48:13," he says, "and continue that theme in the content on screen with key words associated with the lyrics. Then there is the interactive module, which is really dynamic."

Developed as an add-on for D3 media servers, the Demolition interactive module

Details
UK - A range of ProLights fixtures recently provided lighting for the glamorous British Racing Drivers' Club's (BRDC) annual British Grand Prix party at Silverstone racing circuit. Staged every year as part of the F1 British Grand Prix weekend, this legendary occasion attracts high-profile members and personalities from the world of motorsport.

On outdoor duties was the ProLights Solar IP65 washlight. Used to light the exterior of the buildings and marquee, it extended the ambience of the event into the outdoor spaces. With its powerful output and fantastic colour range, the Solar is perfect for bringing large outdoor spaces to life.

The Solars were really put to the test, operating throughout one of the hottest July daytime temperatures of recent times, as well as heavy overnight thunderstorms.

To welcome leading lights of the motorsport world, the ProLights Ruby beamlight

Details
Italy - During one of his recent pastoral visits nearer to "home", globetrotting Pope Francis celebrated mass before a congregation of approximately 60,000 in Naples' Piazza del Plebiscito. The event was also followed by crowds on nine mega-screens installed in other parts of the city.

Sound reinforcement for the event (featuring a 200-strong choir and a 35-member orchestra), was provided by Dee Jay Service and featured an all-Outline set-up.

The system comprised 40 Butterfly modules (a main system with eight-module left and right main hangs and a pair of delay towers, each with twelve enclosures). A pair of DBS18-2 subwoofers were installed under each of the four arrays and four Doppia systems were used on front-fill and out-fill chores. The monitor set-up featured two DVS 8, positioned alongside the Pope's chair, and a H.A.R.D. 115 for side-fill purposes at each co

Details
UK - Opened by filmmaker Danny Boyle at the end of May, Manchester's new £25m arts complex, HOME, is the largest of its kind outside London. Billed as the cultural jewel in the crown of the 'Northern Powerhouse', HOME is a merger of Manchester's much-loved Cornerhouse cinemas and art gallery and the Library theatre.

The building houses two performance venues - a 500-seat theatre and a 150-seat flexible studio space - as well as five cinema screens, gallery space for contemporary art exhibitions, a café bar and a restaurant. Leading technical systems integrators, Stage Electrics, were responsible for supplying full stage engineering, stage lighting and audio systems for the main theatre including a complete theatre sound system from British manufacturer, EM Acoustics.

For HOME's Sound supervisor, Paul Gregory, the choice of EM Acoustics for the main theatre was vir

Details
South Africa - Robe was right at the centre of the buzz at the 2015 Mediatech Africa expo in Johannesburg last week, taking their own stand space for the first time alongside that of distributor DWR.

With over 8000 visitor pre-registrations - and a significant number of additional walk-ups over the three days, together with an increase in internationals attending the show - the biennial exhibition for entertainment technology moved up several notches. A host of leading brands, companies and industry associated academies packed the exhibition floor at the Coca Cola Dome in Northgate. This was supported with a full programme of related technical and creative seminars and presentations.

Robe's CEO Josef Valchar commented, "We have enjoyed great success in South Africa working closely with DWR, and this year, we felt it was time to further endorse the show and underline the i

Details
China Crisis - The cancellation of two Maroon 5 concerts in China has been linked to a band member tweeting the Dalai Lama to wish him happy birthday. The US group were due to play Shanghai and Beijing in September, but the shows were pulled last week. Promoters Live Nation did not specify a reason for the cancellations. However, a tweet by keyboard player Jesse Carmichael, which has since been deleted, has been blamed for angering Chinese authorities.

Several artists have fallen foul of authorities in Beijing for publicly supporting the Tibetan religious leader who has been exiled since 1959 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Icelandic singer Bjork was criticised after calling for Tibet's independence during a 2008 show in Shanghai while Oasis were reportedly forced to cancel shows in China after Noel Gallagher performed at a Free Tibet concert in New York. In 2011, ro

Details
Spain - Amate Audio hosted its international distributor convention last month, over three days and across a number of spectacular locations in the Catalan countryside around its Terrassa HQ, outside of Barcelona. This was the company's first official event as Amate Audio, following the rebranding of its trading marque from Master Audio at the end of last year.

Around 20 representatives from 13 international distributors, from as far afield as China, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Greece, Turkey, France, Denmark and Nigeria, attended the summit, which, over the first two days, was held primarily in the idyllic surroundings of the Hotel & Conference Centre in the grounds of the ancient monastery of Món Sant Benet.

Following the welcoming of the guests by founder and CEO Juan Amate, day one saw corporate presentations by vice president and

Details
Germany - This was the fifth time PUR, Germany's biggest band, has performed at 55,000 seat Veltins Arena, each time in-the-round, and each time with a different PA system. "This is a highly reverberant space," explains system technician Frank Müller, "and we have tried many different PA systems and configurations. This time, with the d&b V-Series, and using the new ArrayProcessing feature in ArrayCalc, we achieved absolutely the best result ever."

"To work a room this size with throw distances up to 105m without a delay system, and to do it well, you need to address the typical shortcomings of any line array system, whatever the brand," says d&b Product Manager, Werner 'Vier' Bayer. "For example the low/mids tend to be concentrated in the first twenty metres and muddy the overall tonal balance. Similarly, the spectral balance and intelligibil

Details
The Netherlands - Monitoring specialist Bel Digital will launching "the world's first Dante audio monitor" at IBC 2015, the BM-A1-64Dante, which provides audible monitoring as well as visual signal strength indication.

Designed to provide a simple and effective way of monitoring the audio present in Dante networks, the BM-A1-64Dante provides a visual indication of signal strength on all 64 selected Dante channels. Each individual channel can also be audibly monitored, or the operator can combine up to 16 channels to provide a unique stereo monitor mix.

An on-board matrix enables access to 512 audio sources using Dante Controller software, with the audio present at the front panel mounted speakers also available via balanced analogue (2 x XLR) and AES/EBU (1 x XLR) outputs.

Housed in a rugged, compact 1U rack chassis, the BM-A1-64Dante features a redundant power sup

Page 3334 of 3427
LSi 40th sponsors - Large MPU - July-Aug

Latest Issue. . .