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
UK - Specialist hire and events business, SLX, has been sold by the Stage Electrics Group in a transaction led by the existing chief executive Alastair Currie. All staff will transfer as part of the transaction which completed on Friday 11 October 2019. Alastair Currie says, “Two years ago I joined SLX and at the time had no idea what an amazing business I would find. SLX is brimming with some of the most knowledgeable, talented, passionate and dedicated individuals I’ve ever come across. From delivering on incredible West End productions and national tours to utterly unique corporate events as well as being in house providers at nationally recognised top tier venues, I couldn’t be prouder of the work we do. “There is still an incredible untapped opportunity and I’m confident our plans for significant investment in the latest lighting products and furth
The Netherlands - Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is an all-encompassing platform for electronic music, combining as it does a festival, conferences and a cultural playground that extends across the city for five days. ADE features more than 1000 events in 200 venues, attracts in the region of 400,000 visitors and includes live performances from more than 2500 artists. The festival is supplemented by talks, hardware presentations, exhibitions, promotions and interactive events. It would be hard to conceive of a more important event in the global electronic dance music calendar. ADE has once again partnered with Pioneer Pro-Audio, who will be supplying sound systems for a number of official event venues, including the ADE Zen Space, an oasis in which visitors to the event can unwind, relax and gather their thoughts. Located in the 600-year-old Waalse Kerk church, Zen Space will f
UAE - Lucid Technologies is showcasing the systems behind its art, on Stand 4B24 at this week’s ProLight+Sound Middle East exhibition. Lucid Technologies’ recent presence in the Middle East has assured the success of vividly impressive projects such as the Saudi Arabia National Day projection at Samba Bank. With the company’s projection mapping expertise behind the event, the inherent difficulties of projection on to glass was meticulously overcome. Two facades of the vast 40-storey building in the new King Abdullah Financial District of Riyadh were rendered ablaze with colourful and flowing imagery for the celebration. Lucid Technologies has a number of projects underway in the region and more on the horizon in the Middle East. The company will demonstrate the capabilities of BlackTrax for the tracking of both lighting and video, with a system driven by the comp
Europe - Mega Audio GmbH has named MusicNetwork AG distributor for the UNiKA Pro range for Switzerland. The UNiKA Pro Dante range comprises the NBB-04R, 96KHz 4-channel receiver, NBB-04T 96KHz 4-channel transmitter, the flagship 192KHz NBB-1616 16-channel I/O and the new NBB-0202 2-in / 2-out transceiver. Specifications include 24dBu max input or output level, uncompressed 24-bit PCM encoding and programmable mic pre-amplifiers with 132dB dynamic range. MusicNetwork’s Franco Stuppia, comments: “I received test samples of the NBB-04R and NBB-04T earlier this year and was very impressed with the sound, build quality and ease of use. The full range of UNiKA Pro is now in stock at MusicNetwork, including the NBB-1616 and the new NBB-0202.” Burkhard Elsner, CEO at Mega Audio adds, “It is great to be working with Franco and his team to promote the UNiKA Pro bra
Morocco – Entertainment company EcmaPro who specialise in the distribution of fixtures and products specifically for the entertainment industry has joined the Prolights distributor network. EcmaPro Systems centre their business around providing quality Italian brands for the world of professional entertainment, in particular audio, lights and accessories. In addition to this, EcmaPro also offers LED technology for the architainment sectors including facilitating architectural illumination or interiors or whole environments. Federico Colella, sales manager for EcmaPro states, “The fixtures that leave the Prolights factory are consistently innovative, reliable and robust, and use the very best that technology has to offer in this industry. We are so excited to be working with Prolights and proud to be part of the network.” Prolights international sales manag
USA - The Knight of Illumination USA Awards (KOI-USA) ceremony and gala dinner return to Las Vegas this November, championing the work of local and international lighting and video designers across the United States. The Awards cover leading design work in the sectors of Theatre, Live for Broadcast, and Concert Touring & Events. The KOI-USA Concert Touring & Event judging panel, led by judging chair and lighting designer John Featherstone, consisted of content director for Live Design Marian Sandberg, tour director and choreographer Barry Lather, designer and cofounder of sculpture design company HYBYCOZO, Yelena Filipchuk, tour manager Angie Warner, and director of production company Upstaging Inc, John Huddleston. The Concert Touring & Events Shortlist has been revealed as: The MA Lighting Award for Club Lighting Sean Burke for Robbie W
For The Record - Adele's 21 is the UK's best-selling album of the 21st Century, selling more than five million copies since 2011. The record, which features the hits Rolling In The Deep and Someone Like You, is more than a million copies ahead of the second biggest-seller, Amy Winehouse's Back To Black. Adele also takes third place in the chart, with her most recent record, 25. The century's 40 biggest albums were revealed on Radio 2's Pick of the Pops, as part of National Album Day. Ed Sheeran appears in the top five twice too, while other artists in the top 20 include Coldplay, Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga and Scissor Sisters. Leading Role - Sebastian Cater has been appointed head of UK Theatre, replacing Cassie Chadderton. Cater will lead the organisation and also hold the role of workforce development, joining the
UK - Power Logistics’ pledge at the start of the year to deliver power monitoring at every project it undertook in 2019 has proved a success throughout this summer. Implementing its bespoke power monitoring system at numerous festivals and outdoor events, the company says it has delivered sustainable power solutions that have resulted in fuel bills consistently being reduced by 20% or more, along with significant carbon emission savings. A bespoke power monitoring system was been devised and developed by Power Logistics’ in-house research and development team. This has proved to have a significant impact on an event’s carbon footprint; reducing fuel consumption and often the number and size of generators required onsite which in turn leads to cost efficiencies, says the company. A key addition to the system is the utilisation of QR codes which are placed on eve
