Business

Details

14 March 2016

London Transport Museum won the 2008 Permanent Exhibition Award for its New Permanent Galleries - and was also shortlisted for the Educational Initiative, Use of Technology and Classic Awards.

Vertigo undertook a variety of projects at the museum in preparation for its reopening in November 2007. Vertigo's chief rigger Matt Davies managed on-site projects that ranged from erecting the structural steel frame for the combined exhibition structure in the Museum's main display space, to suspending artifacts at high level inc

Details

14 March 2016

The Africa Day festival is a free annual event held in the Trafalgar Square and celebrates the contribution of London's African communities to the capital, including African arts, theatre, live music, food, stalls and crafts. The event was this year headlined by Manu Dibango, with a host of other artists including Bassekou Kouyate, Emmanuel Jal, Kanda Bongo Man and Gina Yashere.

Sunbaba provided seven custom-made full colour Ultramesh panels, with Keder and Eyelet finishing to brand the Star Events Group Morbit stage for the event, working with their extensive library of stage specifications to ensure the branded fitted perfectly for event organisers Bliss Events Management Ltd.

Technical director Trevor Booth explai

Details

14 March 2016

"The Jonas Brothers' Look Me In The Eyes tour started as a theatre tour then blew up and became a sold-out arena tour," notes John LaBriola who served as the tour's lighting director and programmer as well as lighting, set and video designer. "Initially there was going to be a modest amount of video and LEDs and not many other lights, then the show got bigger and added movers and additional LED panels.

"The goal was to make it video-heavy with a big, industrial look. When you look at the stage the main thing you see are the LED walls." LaBriola tapped two grandMAs for lighting and video con

Details

14 March 2016

The GE Edison Award competition, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, is open to those lighting professionals who creatively employ significant use of GE light sources (lamps and/or LEDs) in a lighting design project completed during the previous calendar year.

Situated on a promontory overlooking the Pentagon, the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol, the Air Force Memorial takes its place among the capital city's key monuments. Lighting is critical in establishing the nighttime identity of each of these structures. Soaring t

Details

14 March 2016

"The first few months of 2008 saw the Live Event safety passport grow from a good idea to a scheme that is gaining acceptance across the whole back-stage production area," said Andy Lenthall, general manager of the Production Services Association which represents companies and contractors in the live entertainment industry.

"With safety passport holders now numbering 1,000, and candidates spread across all disciplines at all levels, the PSA is confident that both the concept and course content deliver real benefits in terms of safety awareness."

Lenthall said that many major suppliers were now delivering safety passport courses to their in-house staff, with many insisting that sub-contractors should also hold safety passports

Details

14 March 2016

Of particular interest to visitors, the company says, was its new ATCS-60 infra-red conference system. Making an exclusive pre-launch appearance on the roadshow prior to its official unveiling at InfoComm 08 in Las Vegas on 18-20 June, the ATCS-60 drew praise from both trade and press attendees for its "flexibility, ease of use and keen UK pricing", say Audio-Technica.

Key features of the ATCS-60 (comprising the ATCS-C60 master control unit, ATCS-M60 mic unit, ATCS-A60 antenna unit and ATCS-B60 battery charger) include secure wireless conferencing - the result of using IR technology; self-contained M60 mic units with built-in speaker, negating the need for e

Details

14 March 2016

With three floors in Reading trading on 7,000sq.ft, and giving them a combined capacity in excess of 600 people, the company brought in Redgates as the main contractor, Julian Taylor of Taylor Design Associates to reconceive the interior, and SSE Audio Group to design a networked sound solution, using Martin Audio components. The result is a vibrant new infrastructure geared up for a long duty cycle, and unrecognisable from its days as The Fez.

Faced with specifying a system that on the one hand could reproduce hi-fi background music from midday onwards, and high-energy Hed Kandi nights for th

Details

14 March 2016

The consoles have been installed in the Palace's concert hall, the largest in the country, which hosts a wide range of events from pop and rock through to orchestral performances, opera, ballet and theatre. The 56 channel H3000 is being used at front of house, and is paired with the H4000 - again a 56 channel version - for monitors.

To complement the purchase of the consoles, the Palace has also invested in seven Klark Teknik DN370 graphic EQs and 1248 Plus mic splitters.

"The Midas consoles met all our venue's requirements for new analogue mixers," says the Palace of the Republic's sound engineer Ivan Barovsky. "The user interface and sound quality are second to none. This, coupled with the wide range of featu

Details

14 March 2016

Beneath the extensive production facilities of the Southampton Solent University's new 200-seater venue Studio C, lightweight Cat 5e cables are distributing up to 40 channels of high-quality 24-bit/96kHz audio between stage and recording studio, TV studio, and either or both of two discrete PA systems. Although it holds all the audio together, the RSS Digital Snake remains out of sight and out of mind, only visible at the point of source connection, where there is a 32x8 modular stagebox.

SSU's Studio C is an ambitious concept; a former lecture theatre which has been converted into a multi-purpose live space, it aims to provide training and performance facilities f

Details

14 March 2016

"The client's brief," says Private Drama Events director Adam Blackwood, "was for a glamorous, spectacular awards dinner with a knockout theatrical element, and the Science Museum was chosen to align the theme of space exploration with people who had done extraordinary things for the company's customers."

After a reception in the museum's Exploring Space gallery, guests made their way upstairs past a flashing runway and into a recreation of the Houston NASA Mission Control Centre, starring a life-sized

Details

14 March 2016

Many product developments will be on show, across all disciplines of lighting, audio, rigging, staging and accessories.

On the lighting front, Selecon will showcase its new 80V Power Supply with direct DMX control, while ETC will highlight products that offer low cost of ownership and sustainable solutions. PRG Europe will highlight its products and services.

Zero 88 will demonstrate its new version 3 software for its Leap Frog 48 & 96 consoles and its Jester ML series. Stage Electrics will premiere the QMaxz 575 moving head, which they say offers cost effectivity and high performance as the latest addition to its expansive rental fleet.

TMB will showcase the multi-award winning Blues System comprising t

Details

14 March 2016

The rig - all supplied by leading Slovakian rental company Q-99 - also included 24 Robe ColorMix 575AT fixtures and 26 Robe LEDWash 136LT and LEDWash196 LT blinders.

Kubanka's brief was to provide a glamorous show - extra special for the 10th anniversary of the Slovakian Miss Universe event - that looked equally as good on camera as it did for the live audience. It was broadcast live on STV 1, Slovakia's primary TV channel.

The moving lights were hung off a series of trusses in the roof and also spread out across the floor and set which was designed by Michael Kland.

In the air, positioned on approximately 180m of trussing installed for the show, were 40 Robe ColorSpot 1200E ATs,

Details

14 March 2016

A mix of lighting designers, operators, video technicians and other professionals in the lighting, video and special events industries spent two days at DLU, listening to case studies, practising techniques, and networking over coffee and lunches. A Thursday evening event included a live band and a party at London's Sway Bar.

Keynote speakers included Peter Canning, Scott Chmielewski, Raoul Simpson, Hugh Davies-Webb and Rolf Wenzel, who shared case studies, new techniques and guidance through specific exercises such

Details

14 March 2016

The Business Centre will also be open to exhibitors and trade visitors of Prolight + Sound, which is held parallel to the Musikmesse. The International Musikmesse in Frankfurt am Main will be held from 1 to 4 April 2009.

(Jim Evans)

Details

14 March 2016

Guitar tech Bill Mayes additionally chose Shure UHF-R wireless for Prince's guitar. "The reliability and easy-to-use system makes this the only choice," Mayes said following the show. "Especially when there is no room for excuses."

(Jim Evans)

Details

14 March 2016

Keeping the system compact was a primary objective for Sullivan. The Venue system allows him to reduce the need for outboard analogue processing in favour of TDM plug-ins. And when combined with Pro Tools|HD, the D-Show Profile provides Sullivan with access to studio-quality production tools that allow him to achieve album-quality mixes from venue to venue on a nightly basis.

"On this tour, I have a very small simple setup," he explains. "When my production manager saw my rig he asked, 'When does the rest of it arrive?' But the bonus is, with the Venue [D-Show] Profile, my favourite plug-in

Details

14 March 2016

This followed on from Adlib's work with the band on the last UK arena tour at the end of 2007. Adlib's FOH systems engineers were Tony Szabo and Dave Kay. They undertook their first Elland Road site visit in February - the Leeds United Football Club ground is not commonly used as a concert venue. They measured it up and created a 3D model using SoundVision and EASE software which also highlighted specific issues like coverage and delay sightlines.

The main front hangs consisted of 16 JBL VT4889s a side, along with 14 VT4880A subs flown right next to them.

The house right side hang was 14 VT4889s firing into the low seating stand on that side. On hou

Details

14 March 2016

For Lavigne's latest North American trek, in support of The Best Damn Album, Yakabuski and Orlando-based sound reinforcement provider LMG have chosen to return to an L-Acoustics V-Dosc and dV-Dosc loudspeaker system - this time supplementing the rig with the manufacturer's Kudo enclosures and new LA8 amplified controllers.

"We have 15 V-Dosc with three dV-Dosc down-speakers per side as mains, and then 10 Kudo a side as side- arrays," Yakabuski explains. "We've also gone back to using a centre sub cluster, which has prove

Details

14 March 2016

Thus, on 10 and 11 May this year, four separate stages and thousands of music fans descended on Mote Park, in the Kent county town of Maidstone, to enjoy a bill headlined by Madonna. But more true to the traditional Roadshow ethos was the Outdoor Stage, which featured a range of DJ performances and a large Turbosound Aspect PA system.

Headlined by Fatboy Slim and Zane Lowe respectively, the Saturday and Sunday bills on the Outdoor Stage featured a wide cross-section of DJ talent - of both the musical and radio prese

Details

14 March 2016

Best wishes to John Steven who has left Sennheiser UK. Having been director of marketing for the past eight years, he leaves to start and run his own company, John Steven PR. He will continue working with Sennheiser UK on a freelance basis on various special projects, including assisting general manager Phil Massey with the company's ongoing involvement with the National Film and Television S

Details

14 March 2016

"I have been a theatrical technician for 10 years and have used a wide variety of followspots at venues all over the country," notes Owen Moldow, lead electrician at the Guthrie. "When I started working at the Guthrie Theater in 2007 I got to use Robert Juliat Topaze and Manon for the first time, and I was floored. I've never seen a followspot so bright or that had such nice action. They are incredibly easy to use and maintain; I never thought that I would actually look forward to using a followspot."

When the Guthrie isn't utilizing the followspots, it len

Details

14 March 2016

The popular programme, presented by maverick Italian TV personality Carlo Conti and produced by Magnolia Productions sees non-celebrity contestants from all types of backgrounds and careers compete to become singing stars. It is recorded at RAI's Studio De Paolis in Rome, and lighting equipment was supplied by Rome based rental house, DI & DI Lighting.

For I Fuoriclasse, the moving lights - over 200 in total, along with 300 white light sources, were all mounted on aluminium trussing that followed the lines of the eye-catching set, designed by Marco Calzavara. The ColorWash 575E ATs were rigged behind the set and used for colouring and texturing

Details

14 March 2016

The Awards were presented on 7 May at Church House in Westminster by journalist and broadcaster Simon Calder. The exhibition ran from September 2007 to April 2008, becoming the British Museum's most successful temporary exhibition for 30 years, with over 850,000 visitors.It featured the largest group of important objects relating to the First Emperor ever to be loaned abroad by the Museum of the Terracotta Army and the Cultural Relics Bureau of Shaanxi Province in Xi'an, China. It was housed in the Reading Room at the heart of the Museum which was temporarily converted by exhibition designers Metaphor in con

Details

14 March 2016

The National Skills Academy aims to significantly help to reduce skills gaps and shortages in backstage and off-stage skills. The NSA business plan, supported by PLASA and over 120 leading employers from theatre and live music, sets out in detail an ambitious vision to provide world-class training for the world's greatest stages. Working together with employers, freelancers, colleges and training-providers throughout the country, the NSA will deliver industry-endorsed training for young people and professionals. A proposed new state-of-the-art training facility in Thurrock, Thames Gateway, will pr