Italy - Holoplot’s audio solutions are now available through partner company Leading Technologies, the immersive sound specialist has announced. Founded in 1978, Monza-based Leading Technologies is a pro AV specialist with decades of experience in sectors including theatre, concert arenas and retail. Leading Technologies has spent time over the last few months becoming familiar with the benefits of Holoplot systems, and a team from the company attended a three-day training event at Holoplot’s Berlin base. Danilo Meroni, live division manager and audio technical support, and Mauro Lavazza, installation division manager, at Leading Technologies, described the training event as “wonderful” and said that their team was delighted to encounter “very knowledgeable technical and commercial staff, and to have the chance to explore the potential and technical cap
UK - New research, carried out by Bournemouth University for the Events Industry Forum, has revealed that outdoor events have been much undervalued for the contribution they make to the UK economy, both locally and nationally, with a Gross Value of over £30 billion and providing employment for some 589,000 people. The research, funded by sales of the Purple Guide, is thought to be the first comprehensive study of the market to be undertaken. Its findings were introduced to key industry players at an event at the House of Commons on 24 October. In 2018, the year which was the focus of the study, over 140 million people attended outdoor events according to the researchers, ranging from music festivals to fairs and steam rallies. The good news for the industry is that 84% of those attendees were satisfied with the way events are run, and the majority of interviewees fe
Europe - Belgium-based entertainment technology engineering and automation specialist WIcreations has acquired the assets of Swedish advanced technology manufacturer, Visual act Scandinavia AB, effective immediately. The terms of the deal include all the IP, source coding, patents, etc., related to Visual act’s computerised control systems designed for all types of automated machinery - on, over or below the stage - for events, installations and venues. The move makes independently owned and operated WIcreations the largest automation rental provider in Europe. Hans Willems, CEO of WIcreations, comments: “This hugely exciting opportunity will assist our planned medium-term growth and allow us to develop even more dynamic and all-encompassing automation solutions for a wider range of clients, including full touring packages. “WIcreations has been usin
Germany - Genelec has opened an Experience Centre in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. The new demonstration facility features a 27sq.m ‘listening room’ and allows the company to showcase its range of studio monitors and AV and home audio loudspeakers. This is Genelec’s third Experience Centre, joining existing facilities in London and Bangalore. It will be overseen by Genelec’s regional business development manager, Eric Horstmann. “We’ve set out to create the perfect independent listening environment for end-users,” comments Horstmann, “and Genelec resellers in both Germany and the surrounding regions, so whether it’s for demonstrations, training, regional launches or special events, the Berlin Experience Centre will become a major hub for Genelec activity in mainland Europe - and will support the efforts of our distributors and resellers in a very
USA - The organising committee of the 2019 Knight of Illumination Awards USA (KOI-USA) has announced the third and final shortlist for this year's awards. KOI-USA honours the talents and achievements of lighting and video designers for their work across the United States in the sectors of Theatre, Concert Touring & Events, and Live for Broadcast. The judging panel in the Live for Broadcast category have reviewed this year's submissions and selected the final shortlist of nominees, which is as follows: The Vari-Lite Award for Awards Show Jon Kusner for Billboard Music Awards 2019 Jon Kusner for CMA Awards 2018 Tom Sutherland for People's Choice Awards 2018 The Green Hippo Award for Digital Content Trevor Burk for CMA Awards 2018 Yussef Cole, Michelle Higa Fox, Jorge Peschiera & Marc Janowitz for Patriot Act
South Africa - DWR Distribution is inviting interested parties and companies to attend an L-Acoustics demo on Tuesday, 29 October in Durban. Taking place at the Glenridge Church in Stamford Hill, the free event will run between 12:00 and 15:00, with a focus on the L-Acoustics Kiva II and the A15 (Wide & Focus). Those wishing to attend should register at dwrdistribution.co.za/register/l-acousticsdurban.
USA - Under the banner Inspire, professional audio’s annual family reunion returned to New York City’s Javits Center for four October days where inspiration was abundant as leading audio innovators shared their knowledge and experience alongside gear designed to spark creativity and imagination while enhancing productivity. “The programme rocked, and the exhibits were packed with people. Everyone was very excited to be there,” shares Agnieszka Roginska, AES New York 2019 co-chair and AES president-elect. “No time in AES’s history has seen a more diverse, innovative and forward-looking programme.” Convention co-chair and AES Secretary Valerie Tyler elaborates: “We expanded the comprehensive technical programme to include more genres, a broader range of new technologies and a wider breadth of voices than ever before.” “We’re so proud of the
USA - Global design and BIM software provider Vectorworks has announced open registration for its fifth Vectorworks Design Summit. From 22-24 April 2020 in San Diego, California at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, design professionals, educators and students in the architecture, landscape and entertainment industries will have the opportunity to attend industry workshops, product training for all levels of expertise, keynotes, networking opportunities and a customer appreciation party. “This is our first time hosting the Design Summit on the West Coast, and we look forward to the networking opportunities, training workshops and events we’ve planned for attendees in beautiful San Diego,” comments Vectorworks director of channel operations, Tara Grant. “With the resort’s numerous activities and this year’s speakers, we know everyone will have the perfect
USA - With just less than a month to go until LDI 2019, organisers have announced they expect record attendance and participation in this year’s events. LDI runs from 18-24 November at the Las Vegas Convention Centre, starting with the LDInstitute and LDIntensives sessions and LiveXperience Symposium, culminating in the exhibit hall tradeshow from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 November. “We’re thrilled that this year’s LDI Show looks set to be the most well-attended yet, bringing the global live production community from over 80 countries to Las Vegas to share ideas, exhibit and do business,” says LDI's managing director, David Johnson. “Our registration process shows us that people are coming from a wide range of international live and broadcast venues - festivals, corporate events, theatre, concerts, clubs, theme parks, architainment, and houses of worship. LDI
UK - Event production and hire company 10 Out Of 10 is celebrating 30 years in business. Formed by RADA graduate and tutor Paul Need in 1989 with the core idea of offering 10 key services to the entertainment industry, 10 Out Of 10 now works across a wide range of live events, from conferences and exhibitions to theatre, film and television. The company achieved success with its online store, which covered lighting and sound equipment, rigging equipment, staging consumables and more. The acquisition of Drax Lighting, a leading specialist supplier of event and promotional lighting hire equipment, in 2016 further increased 10 Out Of 10’s inventory. The acquisition enabled the company to strengthen its presence outside the capital, making use of the Drax Lighting office in Dunstable. In more recent years the company has set its sights on enhancing its event production
UK - Projection Artworks has rebranded to Pixel Artworks to reflect the company’s expanding use of pixel-based display technology. Tom Burch, managing director of Pixel Artworks, comments: “For over a decade, our pioneering creative, technical and delivery expertise has grown alongside the incredible advances in pixel-based display technology. For years we’ve been telling clients’ stories through the best medium for that project, whether that be OLED, lighting design, LED or projection mapping. It’s time our name reflects this. “Our clients used to come to us when the nights grew darker and people thought of projection, now our talented team of nearly 50 people across two continents can design virtually limitless concepts that excite, explain and inspire in any environment - from digital out-of-home to giant airport activations, to choreographed live shows
UK - Entertainment Technology Partners Europe (ETP Europe) has acquired UK-based video and audio technology companies Pixl Evolution Limited and Audio Evolution Limited. The two companies will retain their individual identities whilst gaining access to ETP’s resources. “These are the first two companies to join ETP Europe’s portfolio and are perfectly aligned with our existing brands in the US and our ongoing global strategy,” comments Paul Hutton, ETP Europe president. “Pixl Evolution and Audio Evolution are young businesses that have attracted a wealth of industry talent and have made an impression on the events market in a short amount of time. They will continue to operate as independent companies and now have access to significant investment opportunities plus ETP’s global technical inventory and support structure. This platform will enable the businesses to
UK - Milton Keynes-based hire company IPS has announced that hire stock of the new SGM G-7 BeaSt fixture will be available in early November. This new addition to the SGM G-7 range will combine a collimated beam effect with a high output strobe. Powered by LED Engines and packed in a compact IP65 rated moving head design, these fixtures will fit lots of design requirements. Following a recent series of significant investments in IP rated fixtures, IPS MD James Mason was particularly impressed after seeing the fixtures, saying, “These units are seriously bright, and can create massive looks from a comparatively small unit – it is almost hard to believe it is LED.” The fixtures represent a further commitment to the SGM brand, with whom IPS has a well-established relationship. The fixtures will join existing SGM products stocked by IPS including the G-Spot Turbo and
Spain - AV distributor Earpro and LED manufacturer Absen are due to celebrate the first anniversary of their official distribution partnership in Spain, Portugal and Andorra. The milestone comes at the same time as the official opening of Earpro’s new showroom in Madrid, featuring a 200sqm dedicated experience centre. Earpro, which is part of the Midwich Group, offers a dedicated local service centre and in-house technical support for both rental and fixed installations. Earpro will also be offering technical training to customers from November 2019. Luis Miguel Batuecas, visual media business manager of Earpro, says: "With Absen, we always feel confident that we are offering our resellers and rental companies a top-quality LED solution. We have been very impressed by Absen’s commitment to supporting us with our customers’ local requirements, which includes a f
Turkey - Prolights has announced that distribution and project engineering company A+SF has joined the international distribution network. A+SF - now the largest AVL company in Turkey, was the result of a merger between two leading AVL companies in Turkey: Asimetrik and SF. By working in all vertical markets and different market segments, A+SF have been highly successful in providing solutions from small scale events through to world class projects. A+SF have spent years developing solid relationships and a strong reputation throughout Turkey. Paolo Albani, international sales manager for Prolights, comments, “I have known both Asimetrik and SF for years and have always been impressed by their reputations throughout the market and the calibre of project they would get involved in. Now that they have joined forces, I am sure that they are the perfect partner for Prol
USA - The Knight of Illumination Awards USA (KOI-USA), which celebrates the creative talents of local and international lighting and video designers across the United States, has revealed the nominees for the 2019 Theatre category shortlist, following long deliberation by the judging panel. Dance critic Lauren Warnecke of the Chicago Tribune led the Theatre judging panel in her new role as panel chair. She was joined by journalist, dancer and founder of Black Dance Magazine, Norma Porter; critic and performing arts editor for the Independent (KC), Paul Horsley; editor in chief of Arts and Culture Texas, Nancy Wozny; theatre critic for Chicago Tribune, Chris Jones; lighting designer Clifton Taylor; and dance critic for Eye on the Arts, Celia Ipiotis. The 2019 KOI-USA theatre shortlist is as follows: The Notch Award for
Lead Guitar - Some of the biggest names in rock and roll including Sir Paul McCartney, Robert Plant, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Steve Winwood, Mark Knopfler, Pete Townshend, Albert Lee, David Gilmour, Joe Brown, Richard Thompson and Dave Pegg have signed a guitar to be auctioned in honour of stroke victim Jerry Donahue. In 2016, American guitarist Jerry Donahue suffered a catastrophic stroke, almost certainly ending his career as one of the world’s finest folk-rock guitarists. The former Fairport Convention, Fotheringay and Hellecasters guitarist, was regarded by the music media as an extremely talented musician with an extraordinary technical approach to string bending. “To have so many famous signatures on this guitar is a fantastic achievement,” says close friend Dave Pegg, bassist in Fairport convention. “We know that the guitar will raise many t
Portugal - For its 2019 international distribution meeting in Porto, NEXT-proaudio welcomed over 70 international distribution partners, dealers, customers and designers from 18 countries. This event started with a welcome dinner on 14 October. This was followed by a factory tour, demo presentation on the demo room and LA26 official presentation. Demos of LA212x, LA122.v2, LA122A and LAm114xA were staged at Multiusos de Guimaraes, a leading arena for international concerts on the north of Portugal. On 16 October, everybody was welcomed on the NEXT-proaudio facilities again where Powersoft started the day with Armonia presentation based on N-rak (The power rack solution using Powersoft X8 amplifiers). After this, Antonio Correia, R&D director and NEXT-proaudio owner presented the manufacturer’s own software (Soundware, Audio Tool and AST).
South Africa - Audinate and its local partner, Stage Audio Works, are offering free certified Dante Level 3 training courses in South Africa at the end of October. The two-day courses will be lead by Audinate’s Kieran Walsh and will take place in the distributor’s Johannesburg and Cape Town offices on 29-30 October and 31 October – 1 November respectively. Dante Level 3 training is an advanced level course aimed at those who have already been using the networking protocol and want to gain more insight and knowledge in setting up and managing larger Dante-enabled systems. Building on what has already been learnt in previous Dante training sessions, the Level 3 course delves deeper into various advanced networking concepts, mixed-use networks, networking best practices and troubleshooting techniques. “Dante is the networking protocol of choice for audio professi
UK – Event production services provider, Ingram AV is one of the first UK rental companies to stock Claypaky’s Mini-B LED beam light - supplied by distributor, A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET). Based in the North East of England, Ingram AV offers equipment hire and full technical event production services for live, corporate and architectural events. Ingram AV has recently made a significant investment in cutting-edge equipment for its rapidly expanding new lighting department, which joins an extensive audio-visual catalogue. Following increasing requests from customers for a small, bright wash fixture, Ingram AV’s Reed Ingram Weir contacted AC-ET’s Northern sales office. Lighting sales manager, Ben Steppenbeck and Benjamin Taylor in the external sales team visited Reed to provide a demo of the Claypaky Mini B. Reed commented: “I was rea
Singapore - Technical production company, J5 Productions of Singapore, has recently invested in 24 Ayrton Diablo-S 300W LED profile fixtures for its rental stock. The powerful little lighting fixtures were purchased earlier this year from Ayrton’s exclusive distributor for Singapore, Total Solution Marketing Pte Ltd., following a successful demonstration Designed specifically for stage applications, Diablo-S is equipped with a monochromatic LED light source calibrated at 7000K that can generate up to 19,000 lumens. At just over 21kg Diablo is the smallest, lightest and most efficient luminaire of its category. J5 Productions specialises in AVL event-related broadcast and media equipment rental across Asia. Its operators and technical engineers are dedicated to providing the highest technical consultancy services, utilising a variety of systems, for international even
Indonesia - The integration of immersive display solutions into the world of enterprise conferencing and collaborative working was a key theme for Calibre at AV Week Jakarta. The event ran from 9-11 October at Kasablanka Hall, Jakarta. Calibre teamed up with its new local partner V2 Indonesia based in Jakarta to showcase a host of innovations. A smart meeting room collaboration solution utilised the Calibre 130-inch all-in-one LED Wall integrated with the Calibre 4K QuadVision scaler-switcher and multiviewer for management of 4K @ 60 4:4:4 video and HDMI bandwidth of 600MHz using sources from webcam, a notebook computer, media player, an interactive flat panel display and powerful collaboration software. The result was an immersive, intuitive, and cutting-edge user experience. Visitors could try and test out the robust capabilities of each product. Calibre
USA - Global design and BIM software provider Vectorworks continues to support the next generation of designers, naming Kristopher Clemson winner of the 2019 Richard Diehl Award, the grand prize for the Vectorworks Design Scholarship. With over 1,600 submissions, scholarships were awarded to 20 student projects from the architecture, entertainment, landscape and interior design industries. Winners included both individual and group submissions. The winning project, The Octagon submitted by Clemson, a recent graduate of Full Sail University and founder of Bifröst Lighting, focuses on lighting design, Vision and MA 3D renderings. Clemson used Vision alongside Vectorworks Spotlight to help with previsualization and implementing MA lighting on a PC. “It is an incredible honour to receive this scholarship and to be the first entertainment winner of the Richa
USA - Registration is now open for the 2020 New World Rigging Symposium taking place 31 March – 1 April in Houston, TX in conjunction with the USITT Conference and Stage Expo. The event provides an opportunity for riggers and those interested in the entertainment rigging industry to network, discuss current issues and new technologies, and help shape the future of the industry. A complete schedule, session descriptions and a link to register are available at www.esta.org/nwrs. Over the two days participants will be given a range of opportunities to further their technical knowledge in sessions covering video wall rigging, automation and motorization, and tension grids. They’ll keep up to date with codes and standards, have some of their most pressing questions answered by structural engineers, and learn about rigging for cinema and performer flying. Jeanette Farme
