World - Chroma-Q is offering free Vista by Chroma-Q lighting and media control training. Aware and saddened by the current market situation, they will be hosting weekly webinars to help you develop your knowledge and skills, from the comfort of your own home. Says the company, “Understanding the importance to continue to support loyal clients and to continue education in the wake of cancelled events and one-to-one meetings, last week Chroma-Q hosted the first round of one-hour Vista 3 webinars, with an overwhelming 260 attendees. Each session ran twice, once each in BST and CDT time zones, making the training accessible to a wider audience.” “Nurturing and developing the skills of our new and existing customers is so important to us. During a time where people may be unable to get on with their ‘usual’ jobs, we wanted to provide learning opportunities that w
USA - As Covid-19 impacts almost every aspect of the entertainment industry, ETCP Certified Technicians, with support of the IATSE (The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees), are stepping up to put their expertise and available equipment to good use. Michael Barnes, IATSE international vice-president and business agent for Local 8 said, “This is spreading way too quickly, and we felt like we have to do something to help. If you are helping you can’t feel helpless, and that is not where we want to be. IATSE Locals across the country are contacting governors state-by-state to offer their expertise in the installation of temporary structures to assist in the development of emergency field hospitals for Covid-19.” Barnes continued, “I sincerely believe the model that is traditionally deployed in situations like this can be drastically improved upon
UK - LW Theatres has committed to paying all staff – including those employed on a show-by-show basis – and has confirmed no redundancies are currently planned while the coronavirus outbreak continues. In related news, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals are to be screened on a new YouTube channel called The Shows Must Go On. Lloyd Webber sent an email to staff in which he acknowledged “how very difficult it is to be denied the ability to be together, not only with our theatre community, but more importantly with many of our loved ones” at this time. Rebecca Kane Burton, chief executive of LW Theatres, also wrote to all staff outlining the company’s plans for the foreseeable future. “Our priority is to steer our staff and the company through these unprecedented times, so that we can continue to serve customers and provide jobs in the West End for
UK - A team of entertainment technology professionals have joined forces to form People Powered UK in a bid to help relieve the pressures of the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative was started by LDs Katharine Williams and Jono Kenyon and has so far amassed 915 members and counting from across the entertainment and live event industries. Williams previously worked on Crew for Calais, a project that saw event professionals build shelters for refugees, whilst Kenyon has first-hand insight into the pressures of the UK’s health service thanks to his partner, an ITU worker. A statement from People Powered UK says: “People who usually work at venues such as the London Roundhouse and provide production services to festivals are working together across the entire UK. They’re using skills and ingenuity honed building festival infrastructure to provide structu
UK - PLASA, the Professional Lighting And Sound Association, has urged businesses and individuals to get in touch with more evidence on how the ongoing COVID-19 crisis is affecting their operations. The information is sought by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and will help the Treasury to better understand the devastating impact the situation is having on the events industry. To gather the evidence, The Events Industry Forum - of which PLASA is a member - has created a survey, which can be completed here until 5pm on Tuesday, 7 April. "We are working hard alongside other industry associations and organisations to ensure the voice of our industry is heard," says PLASA in a statement. "We hope that through this work we can secure measures already gifted to leisure and hospitality to be extended to events and the events supply chain." (LS
UK - The country may be on lockdown, but one sound designer has found a way to teleport listeners straight into the heart of London. Will Cohen, co-founder of the String and Tins collective and the person behind the Silent London project, visited some of London's most popular destinations to capture their soundscapes before the UK lockdown took place. He used a binaural microphone technique to capture the sound of each place - from Leicester Square and Covent Garden to Charing Cross and Oxford Circus - to create a 360-degree soundscape that everyone can now immerse themselves in from home. “In the final days before London was shut-down, I made sound recordings of areas that I care about as a Londoner," he explains. "From documenting spots that I skated at as a teenager, through to areas I have worked in - I wanted to see what familiar sounds still resonated at
Germany - In cooperation with the Sennheiser SoundAcademy, Neumann will be offering detailed webinars on the basics of microphone technology over the coming weeks. In three one-hour sessions, trainer John McGregor will discuss all important aspects of Neumann studio microphones: Starting with the most important theoretical principles, through practical tips and application hints, to product care and maintenance. The first session will be available on Friday, 3 April at three different times (8.30, 13.30 and 18.00 CET). The other two sessions will follow on 17 and 24 April. All webinars will be presented in English. Interested parties can register at: https://www.neumann.com/webinars For an overview of all the free Sennheiser SoundAcademy webinars on offer, please visit https://www.sennheiser.com/webinars Neumann has also created a new hashtag #AtHomeWithNe
Germany - The ARRI Academy has announced the launch of a new course designed for all levels of lighting and video production professionals. Lighting Systems Control with Richard Cadena is an 11-part video course that serves as a guide to get you up and running with digital lighting control, using DMX, RDM, Wireless DMX, and ethernet-based networks. The series consists of short, informative videos with classes ranging in length from five minutes to 34 minutes. Course attendees will gain a working knowledge of standard and emerging technologies and will be trained on the latest lighting technology. The complete list of classes is as follows: DMX, Building DMX network, Troubleshooting DMX network, RDM, Wireless DMX, Intro to ethernet-based networking, Testing ethernet-based networks: PING and IPCONGIF commands, Art-Net, sACN, Consoles, and ARRI LED Ecosystem. The s
China - Chinese industry is now back to work following the COVID-19 crisis, and Guangzhou-based PR Lighting marked the start of a new month by putting out a statement reassuring their global reseller and customer base that it is once again business as usual. China was the first country to register the outbreak of the coronavirus (on 31 December, 2019) and while production remained temporarily idle throughout the country during lockdown, PR Lighting used the first quarter of the new year not only to fine tune new products already under development but to make some strategic changes to their global sales infrastructure. “PR Lighting is back running 100% as normal,” confirmed company president, Dave Liang. “Our technical and marketing departments are fully operational, and production and shipment are back on schedule. We would like to thank everyone for their patien
Canada/USA - Audac has announced a partnership with Canadian based A.C. ProMedia as the new exclusive distributor of their audio solutions in North America. A.C. ProMedia offers a wide range of multimedia solutions aimed at the fixed installation and architainment markets, through consultants, design groups and systems integration channels. They will be managing the sales, distribution and service of the complete Audac product line in North America from their offices in Toronto. Following the agreement, A.C. ProMedia has appointed Sarah Lima to take Audac under her wing. “We are excited to introduce the Audac family of audio products to the North American market,” says Lima. “These high quality products have proved to be a reliable solution around the world, and with their Audac Touch you have an out-of-the-box application for UCI configuration. It allows you to
On The Dark Side - Andrew Lloyd Webber has warned that theatres are likely to remain closed until the end of September. He said forecasts that venues may be able to reopen in June were “ridiculous”. “The industry says theatres reopen 7 June. My opinion? Optimistic. Ridiculous. I think this peaks in June, and theatres remain closed until end of September. He told New York publication Page Six: “We need these places, many [of which] are old, [to be as] safe as possible. In South Korea, they take everyone’s temperature. We’ll self-clean handles, wipe doors, utilise every safety measure. People won’t wish to crowd into small clustered seats again. But we must reopen. Some, with leftover money to spend, need the theatre.” Lloyd Webber’s next show is Cinderella, which is due to open later this year at London’s Gillian Lynne Theatre. The Soci
Europe - One of Audac’s key values is to create a personal connection between one another and being part of something more than a business relationship. To keep realising these goals in these challenging times, Audac has launched its new education platform Users will be able to follow various live webinars on the education platform. These interactive live experiences presented by an Audac expert offer the chance to get to know the brand and its solutions. During the webinars, viewers can use a chat function to ask questions that will be answered directly by an Audac representative in the chat. Audac doesn’t see the live webinars as just a temporary solution to bridge these difficult times. Instead, the audio manufacturer looks at it as a long-term strategy to trigger leads and partners in a different way. Another way to start learning is via the online trai
China - In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, PR Lighting this month reached out to its global customer base, with a letter of reassurance. Joint senior sales managers, Lawrence Mao and Bruce Tian issued the following message: “With the world currently living through the worst crisis of our generation, we at PR Lighting are striving to do everything we can to mitigate the severe impact on our industry and are here to help our customers and partners in every way possible. “As you know, the Coronavirus has spread quickly, and after living with this for nearly two months we were able to return to work on 20 February after lockdown restrictions were lifted. “We responded quickly to make up for lost time, and by the beginning of March everything was back to normal - production, R&D, sales and marketing. In fact we have been able to bring to fruition n
USA - LiteGear and Blue Planet Lighting, have found creative ways to provide employment and support Behind the Scenes, which continues to provide grants to entertainment technology professionals who are seriously ill or injured and to develop the new Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Initiative. LiteGear, a BTS Pledge-a-Product partner, has launched their Donate, Support and Save programme which includes donating N95 masks, reminding their customers that every purchase of a LiteMat Kit supports Behind the Scenes, and offering weekly specials on some of their most popular products. Considered an essential business in California because they service the media industry, LiteGear has been able to keep their staff employed and is working hard to continue their ongoing support for Behind the Scenes. Blue Planet Lighting wanted to do something to help all the freela
USA - Sensaphonics, specialist in personal monitoring and hearing wellness, is offering free email consultation with founder and president Dr. Michael Santucci for music industry professionals during the company’s COVID-19 lockdown. Each day during April, Dr. Santucci will reply personally to hearing health questions from pro audio and music industry workers who are side-lined during the coronavirus pandemic. Questions can be submitted at: sensaphonicsaudiologist@gmail.com. These will be private consultations, so questions and topics can be specific and personal. Emails will go directly to Dr. Santucci, who will reply directly and confidentially. No emails or responses will be published or made public. Availability is on a first-come/first-served basis. Dr. Santucci has committed to spending multiple hours per day on this project, and will respond to as many
South Africa - Blond Productions, based in Midrand, Johannesburg, a rental company specialising in the TV and film sector, like everyone, is grappling to survive under a national lockdown in which productions and businesses have shut down completely. Blond’s owner and MD Christiaan Ballot has retained all his full-time staff and wants to look after everyone as best as possible, which is challenging given the scenario, involving some creative thinking to try and make “the best” out of a grave situation. Something that immediately sprung to the minds of Ballot and Blond’s head of show lighting Ryan Lombard was to utilise the enforced ‘down’ time to engage the staff in various technical training. “While we all wish this was over, it has presented the perfect opportunity to do all those things we never get time for around the office,” Ballot declared.
USA - All Together Now, the online concert event helping the City of Los Angeles during the coronavirus pandemic, has been rescheduled for 25 April. The concert, organised by Rock Cellar Productions, in association with the Get Together Foundation is set to be a major and significant relief effort to help Angelenos cope with the severe restrictions imposed on everyone during this dangerous and uncertain time of the novel coronavirus crisis. The show, previously planned for 18 April, will be broadcast through Alert the Globe (www.alerttheglobe.com) and available free to anyone who wants to see it. The concert will feature an array of singers, songwriters, musicians, actors, authors, comedians, and celebrities of all sorts “coming together to perform and send positive messages out to the City of Los Angeles and the world”. A growing list of prominent en
Italy - Powersoft has committed to continue its online training drive with a pair of hour-long Deva webinars that will take place on Wednesday, 15 April at 14:00 (CEST) and 18:00 (CEST). The sessions will be led by Powersoft’s Deva unit sales manager, Cosimo Cecchi, and used to demonstrate all of the functionalities that make Deva “such a powerful safety device for modern towns, cities and companies”. Cecchi will walk attendees through all of Deva’s features such as facial recognition, queue countering, and SOS and public warning messaging – all abilities that have proven the product to be eminently useful, particularly in recent weeks, as the multimedia device proved vitally important to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic in Italy. Town and city councils such as Bergamo, Soresina in Lombardia (northern Italy), and Scandicci (Florence) originally installed
Europe - The Ravenna Educational Webinar series launches next week and all interested parties are invited to attend. The first session, hosted by Ravenna evangelist, Andreas Hildebrand of ALC NetworX, takes place on Tuesday 14 April at 15:00 CET. Entitled Ravenna and its relationship to AES67 and ST2110, it is scheduled to last around 50 minutes with time for questions and discussion afterwards. Registration is via the trade shows and events page on the Ravenna website. Seats are limited to 100 per session and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. This first session is deliberately designed to be fairly broad-spectrum, offering a brief history of audio networking in general, why Ravenna was developed in the first place and leading onto the more recent developments of AES67 and ST2110 and how they relate to Ravenna. “For those of yo
Europe - In response to’ unprecedented demand’, Nexo is making some of its most popular training and education programmes available online. Starting last week, Nexo’s Engineering Support team is using its popular Facebook channel to present e-learning sessions, part of Yamaha’s extensive Audioversity tuition resource. Led by Nexo’s primary training instructor Nicolas Poitrenaud, the presenting team includes Nexo engineers from all over the world, who will work in four different languages (English, Spanish, French and German). All tutorials are free and open to any interested party: no special knowledge of Nexo equipment is required. “We’ve carefully considered these sessions so that they will also interest engineers and venue owners/operators who may not yet be familiar with NEXO systems,” explains Poitrenaud. “We are confident that these Facebook Live sess
USA - Less than one month after announcing an effort to raise money to provide relief to eligible freelance professionals affected by the coronavirus pandemic due to event cancellations, the Roadie Rescue Campaign reports that the campaign has raised close to $70,000 in donations to date, both through direct contributions to the GoFundMe campaign started in its name and to a special Show Makers Symposium fund set up in the name of the Roadie Rescue Campaign. The contribution milestone was achieved by major contributions from three donors. Kim and Tom Scholz, multi-instrumentalist founder of the American rock band, Boston, made a $50,000 campaign contribution to Roadie Rescue managed by Show Makers Symposium. Take1 Insurance made a $10,000 contribution directly to the GoFundMe campaign. The goal of the campaign is to raise $250,000 in donations to provide relief to eligible
USA - Prolyte Group has announced details of its future operation in North America. Prolyte will now be part of the Area Four Industries Direct America offices in Knoxville and Thousand Oaks, allowing both inventory and offices to be closer to customers on both coasts. Area Four Industries Direct America East and West are now distribution outlets for Prolyte products in North America, and will be supporting existing Prolyte customers and distributors from those locations. Prolyte’s management structure has also changed, with Prolyte’s former general sales manager Keith Bohn joining the Area Four Industries Direct America team to serve as business development director for the Prolyte brand. Bohn will be working closely with Area Four Industries America vice-president Adrian Forbes-Black, who will also handle sales of Prolyte products. The Prolyte product range
UK - Genelec has appointed Audiologic to handle distribution of the brand’s growing AV loudspeaker range throughout the UK. Source Distribution will continue to distribute Genelec’s full range of studio products and systems. Based in Harlow, Essex, Audiologic offers a range of services, including system design, site surveys, help with tenders and much more. Audiologic MD, Andy Lewis, comments: “We see this as a unique opportunity for us. As a company, we feel that it’s very important to put the right products into the right place. In other words, quality first. Genelec’s philosophy perfectly matches our own in that regard - they are a high end, aspirational brand that we are very proud to represent in the UK. “Genelec fits wonderfully into the work we are doing in the corporate world and we see many further opportunities in hospital
India - Audac has announced a partnership with Sennheiser, as its exclusive distributor in the Indian market. Sennheiser will manage the sales, distribution and service of the complete Audac product line in India where they are headquartered in Gurugram, with branches in Mumbai and Bangalore. The Sennheiser team in India provides a large range of audio equipment from multiple audio brands which now will be supported by the experience and products of Audac. ‘This is an exciting partnership for us and will further help us to strengthen our distribution network. At Sennheiser, we believe in providing the best offerings to all our customers. Collaborating with Audac provides us with the platform to share our passion for innovative audio solutions with like-minded companies,” says Vipin Pungalia, director- professional. “Sennheiser has one of the largest sal
