UK - Birmingham-based NEC Group gave a presentation of what’s to come in the new Bradford Live venue, during an event at the National Museum of Science and Media. Formally the Bradford Odeon, the demolition work inside the building is now well under way, with many of the original art deco features revealed for the first time in over 40 years, as the concrete from the 1960s cinema structure is stripped out. The next stage of development will be the start of the renovation and restoration works, paving the way for a re-opening in the 2020/21 season. The venue will boast the renaissance of the 1930s ballroom, which will become a 750-person capacity space, for conferencing and banqueting, whilst the double height main auditorium will be reinstated as a 4,000-capacity live events venue. Phil Mead, NEC group chairman for the group’s arenas and ticketing company, s
USA - Entertainment technology industry veteran Nils Thorjussen has helped develop key lighting control solutions, including the Flying Pigs’ Wholehog lighting console and Elements Lab’s VersaTube LED tube. Now, he’s back as the CEO of drone show company Verge Aero. Thorjussen comments: “A lot of beautiful and outstanding work has already been done with drones in entertainment, but what’s lacking is a fully integrated system making it easy for designers to create and deploy their creative vision via hundreds of drones. For the past two years, I’ve been working with a team of former aerospace engineers to create a comprehensive control system with a straightforward programming interface, effects generation algorithms, full 3D visualisation, and automatic flight path calculation. “When my lighting friends ask me what I’m up to, I say I’m building Drone
USA - Obsidian Control Systems is showing a new data distribution range of products at InfoComm 2019. Netron encompasses Ethernet to DMX gateway, DMX splitter and DMX/RDM splitter solutions, supporting applications from live production and venue installations to architectural environments. The Netron range offers three Ethernet to DMX gateways, the rackmount 12-port EN12, the EN4, and the ultra-compact POE-powered EP4. All devices support sACN, Art-NET, RDM and offer web remote configuration, while internal presets for the most common uses offer plug-and-play deployments. Three variants of RDM splitter round out the range; two compact splitters with six XLR (RDM 6XL) or RJ45 (RDM645) connections, plus the RDM 10, an advanced ten-port dual-input splitter combined with a two Universe EtherDMX gateway. (Jim Evans)
USA - The LDI trade show is enhancing its offering this November with an emphasis on the next generation of design and technology, including AR/VR, drones, live for broadcast, and experiential design. Organisers say that these technologies and disciplines will shape the future of live events and are therefore placing LDI as the place to discover what’s hot and what’s next. More details on these new subjects will be unveiled once registration officially opens in July. The 32nd edition of this entertainment design and technology trade show and conference runs 18-24 November 2019 at the Las Vegas Convention Centre. “We’re excited to look to the next 30 years of LDI, developing the trade show into a multi-layered series of events where designers, programmers, technicians and other artisans can experience not only the best in live production today, but also
Europe - Yamaha has announced an upcoming upgrade to its iActive Field Control (AFC) acoustic enhancement system. AFC4, the fourth-generation system, features upgrades in DSP processing and hardware. Yamaha says that when combined with optimally placed microphones and loudspeakers, AFC4 operators can enhance or create any acoustic environment, even in an outdoor or roofless venue. “By combining our collective knowledge in these areas to develop the new AFC4 system, it is possible to create incredibly natural and immersive acoustic experiences for both audiences and performers,” comments Joe Rimstidt, systems design engineer at Yamaha’s Professional Audio division. “We look forward to the exciting possibilities that the future holds for the AFC4 acoustic enhancement system.” First released in 1985, Active Field Control was developed in response to the g
Germany - ETC is bringing a host of new products as it returns to Stage|Set|Scenery, the exhibition for theatre, film and entertainment technology, taking place at Messe Berlin from 18-20 June. The company will occupy three stands this year - 340 and 240 in Hall 20, and 301 in Hall 21. Showcasing its extensive range of lighting technology on stand 340, ETC will present Augment3d - its first integrated 3D programming environment. Live demonstrations of the Eos v3.0 tool will take place during the trade fair, displaying how users can control and design in a 3D space whilst interacting with their fixtures through augmented reality. Augment3d will be shown on the leading Eos Ti and Gio @5 consoles during the three-day exhibition. Further products on stand 340 will include the latest lighting fixtures and architectural systems. Relevé Spot is the first member of a ne
USA - Wireless intercom solutions manufacturer Radio Active Designs will host a daily Radio Spectrum Update & RF Best Practices presentation during this week’s InfoComm 2019. Taking place at 11am on stand 6161, the event will be presented by the company CTO James Stoffo. He comments: “As the TV repack and T-Mobile activation begins to wrap up, wireless microphone and intercom operators across the country are finding it particularly challenging to get their jobs done. The radio spectrum shuffle affects all aspects of American culture including live broadcasts, sporting events, houses of worship services and arts and entertainment productions.” Stoffo will also be presenting an hour-long seminar offered by InfoComm at 8:00am on Thursday, 13 June. This will cover wireless microphone use as well as a spectrum update and best practices. Radio Ac
UK - Nexo will present the Geo M12 mid-size line array in a real-world production environment as part of two roadshow events held in partnership with Yamaha this summer. Visitors will have the chance to get hands-on with the three-line array systems in the Geo M family: the new Geo 12, the Geo M10 mid-size line array, and the compact Geo M6.The Nexo system set-up will include the PM7 and PM10 Rivage digital consoles, running the Dante audio network. On 26 June, sound engineers, rental providers and audio installation professionals will get the chance to audition the full range of Geo M high-output line arrays in Birmingham’s Resorts World Arena. On 3 July, the location is The Mill Rehearsal Studio in Wimbledon, London. This purpose-built production studio has more than 400sq.m. of space, with a trim height of 6m for the line arrays. Nexo and Yamaha syste
USA - The Knight of Illumination Awards USA (KOI-USA) has announced that the 2019 ceremony and gala dinner will be held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Las Vegas. This, the second KOI-USA, follows last year's successful inaugural event, and will again take place during the LDI Conference and Tradeshow. The 2019 KOI-USA ceremony will be held in the 4,000-seater venue, The Joint, within the Hard Rock Hotel complex. Guests will enjoy a three-course dinner as the nominees and winners are announced in each category: Theatre, Live for Broadcast, and Concert Touring & Events. "We are thrilled to be moving KOI-USA to such an important entertainment venue," says David Johnson, managing director of LDI and co-organiser of KOI-USA. "The Joint allows us to grow the event, offering a wider canvas on which to showcase all of the talented nominees. It doesn't hurt that Hard Ro
USA - At Infocomm 2019, TiMax will showcase ‘an exhilarating sampler’ of TiMax immersive audio soundscapes along with panoramic and 3D spatialised music playback, in conjunction with a multi-channel immersive sound system of Renkus-Heinz compact, Dante-enabled active installation speakers. Dave Haydon and Duncan Crundwell from TiMax will present the immersive sampler regularly throughout each day and be available for detailed product and application discussions in Demo Room W221BC. There will also be updates on some of the latest TiMax innovations including the new HARDCore FPGA spatial processing engine for TiMax SoundHub, and the new TiMax TrackerD4 all-purpose performer stagetracking system. The TiMax SoundHub HARDCore FPGA delivers extended delay-matrix scalability and new levels of seamlessly transparent dynamic delay morphing. The power of the new platf
USA - d&b audiotechnik will announce the launch of a new product class of loudspeaker at InfoComm 2019. Suitable for a variety of mid-size applications, the new product will be on display at booth #6761 and demonstrated in the d&b demo room, W232AB. The recently announced B8/Bi8 subwoofers will also be found in the booth and in the d&b demo room as part of overall product demonstrations. The ultra-compact subs are approximately 6.7” high, low profile, the B8 maintains high performance to size ratio with a low frequency from 170 down to 43 Hz. The d&b Soundscape advances the capabilities of sound design over conventional systems in live environments through the use of object-based mixing, room emulation software and the system configuration processing of the DS100 engine. With Soundscape, the listener enjoys a true audio experience and clarity, creati
Israel - The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was hosted by Israel at the Expo Tel Aviv and boasted over 700 Ayrton fixtures in its massive lighting rig. Set designer, Florian Wieder, and Tel Aviv-based lighting designers, Ronen Najar and Dakar Azulay created individual looks for each of the 41 competing countries. Wieder’s stage design was based on triangles and the number 12 - important symbols for Israel - while Najar and Azulay chose a large number and variety of lighting fixtures which allowed them to create enough unique looks to handle a show of this size and diversity. Key to their enormous and extremely adaptable design were over 700 LED lighting fixtures from Ayrton. “Our main idea was to maintain the special stage design developed by Florian,” explains Najar. “We therefore chose to use a significant amount of Ayrton MagicBlades to create new geom
Europe - The Audio Engineering Society (AES) has announced that AES Vienna 2020, the 148th AES international pro audio convention, will be held on 25-28 May at the Austria Centre Vienna. Convention co-chairs are Piotr Majdak (senior researcher in acoustics at the Austrian Academy of Sciences’ Acoustics Research Institute) and Nadja Wallaszkovits (chief audio engineer for the Phonogrammarchiv sound archives of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and 2019 AES President), who will oversee the convention’s technical programme, exhibition and society functions, in conjunction with an assembled team of industry professionals, students and event partners and sponsors. For end users, researchers, educators and students, AES Vienna will be the place to commemorate the International Year of Sound and explore A World of Audio with audio professionals and peers from around
UK - PLASA has released the Lightning Guidance for Outdoor Events, a handbook that provides practical advice on managing lightning risk, crowd safety and the protection of temporary structures, electrical equipment and power systems. The guidance aims to assist those involved in the production and management of outdoor events in making informed decisions when faced with threats from lightning strikes. “The dangers of lightning are widely understood, however the level of threat at outdoor events where large crowds gather is often overlooked,” says PLASA in a statement. “This has been a growing concern due to the increase of outdoor events and number of people exposed.” To create the guidance, PLASA worked alongside The Event Safety Shop, Star Events Ltd, IMG, Omega Red Group, Aggreko, Ken Law Safety Ltd, BBC Safety, the Emergency Planning College,
UK - Tamworth-based events production company TechPro has promoted Henry Pratt to the role of project co-ordinator, to help meet growing demand for the firm’s specialist services. Adam Taylor, senior project manager, comments: “In his new role, Henry will primarily support our project managers with all aspects of the department’s work, ensuring flawless delivery of live events for our clients. It’s a development role within the business and offers a real opportunity for future progression within the growing team here at TechPro. Commenting on his promotion, Pratt says: “I recognise this is a great opportunity for me to learn from experienced, talented colleagues. I’m looking forward to getting to grips with interpreting the detailed client briefs we work to and specifying the required audio, visual, lighting and staging equipment.” (Jim Evans)
USA - AV Stumpfl will present its new AT64-SHIFT system for large mobile projection screens and the new PIXERA mini media server at this year's InfoComm in Orlando. With the AT64-SHIFT, it's possible to assemble a large mobile projection screen and to adjust its height in a matter of minutes, says the company. No extra measuring is needed to ensure that the frame is level, due to a clearly marked height scale. Based on the same principles as the T32-SHIFT, the AT64-SHIFT projection screen legs can be used for much larger mobile projection screens and are compatible with all mobile AV Stumpfl screen systems. Another highlight of AV Stumpfl's InfoComm booth will be the new PIXERA mini hardware. PIXERA mini is an ultra-compact media server, perfect for digital signage and multi-display applications. The PIXERA mini is a 1U and ½ 19“ product. Two PIXERA min
USA - Yamaha Commercial Audio will host two sessions as part of the AVIXA seminar programme at InfoComm 2019. Yamaha: Network Boot Camp for AV Professionals and Audio Insights in Hospitality and Retail will address key technical and business aspects of audio networking and installed audio systems. Addressing the technical aspects of networking and the decisions which need to be taken for installed audio systems in hospitality, retail and other public-facing environments, these sessions will be presented by senior product specialists Andy Cooper and Karl Christmas, both well-known faces from Yamaha’s Audioversity training programme. The seminars will be open to all InfoComm seminar and workshop package holders on a first-come, first -served basis, so advance registration is essential. “An important part of Yamaha’s training initiative is
India - Waves Audio will be presenting the eMotion LV1 digital mixing solution at the upcoming PALM Sound & Light Summit. The presentation will take place between 15.30-16.30 on 30 May (Thursday) at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Goregaon. The eMotion LV1 Live Mixer is modular and can be adjusted according to the user’s mixing and business requirements. Involved in the presentation will be Ravisankar Nadiyam (Waves regional sales manager), Pravin Muralidhar (FOH for Neha Kakkar and Jonita Gandhi) and Supratik Subramanian (FOH for MADBOY/MINK and The Fanculos). (Jim Evans)
UK - The deadline to nominate products for the Association of British Theatre Technicians’ (ABTT) awards is fast approaching, say the organisers. Bestowed by peers and industry experts each year at the ABTT Theatre Show in June, the awards - including Product Awards for Engineering, Sound, & Lighting and the award for Widget of the Year - are open to any company or individual whose products have been “substantially new” to the market during the last 12 months and are available for purchase, immediate delivery and use. An award for ABTT Theatre Show Stand of the Year is open to 2019 show exhibitors only. To be considered, the entries must be available for adjudication during the first day of the ABTT Theatre Show on 5 June (Wednesday) at London’s Alexa
Australia - Sydney-based event production and management company AGB Events has announced plans to expand, bringing its vision and talents to festivals, museums, cultural/heritage celebrations and other events and locations around the world. AGB Events was founded in 2006 by Anthony Bastic, who has spent decades in the entertainment and events industry, including as creative director for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games Live Sites and the recent Invictus Games Sydney 2018. Bastic is best known as curator of Destination NSW’s annual Vivid Light Sydney. “We specialise in imagining, producing and delivering cutting edge creative and cultural event concepts. AGB Events has a long track record of developing unique content that engages audiences in superb spectacles,” says Bastic, “and we plan to bring our extensive expertise and skills to organisations
USA - Visitors to InfoComm 2019 will be able to both see and hear the new Versarray Mk III and Versarray PRO compact line array systems from Crest Audio, plus a host of other Crest and PCA product in audio demo room W224A. Hour-long demos will be running every day at 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm. Attendees will also be able to see the products up close and meet the team to get advice on how a Crest/Peavey solution might suit their needs. The ‘headline act’ in the Crest demo room is the new Versarray Mk III which was first seen at NAMM in January. The system comprises the Versarray 112 Mk III passive ribbon tweeter line array element featuring a 12” Black Widow Neo series woofer combined with a neodymium-based Peavey ribbon tweeter, and its companion subwoofer, the dual 18” Versarray 218 Mk III. Designed to provide modular coverage of small to medium-sized venues, Ve
Germany - The latest EtherCAT Plug Fest welcomed 57 participants from eight countries and four continents. The event, conducted by the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) in cooperation with acontis technologies GmbH, was held in the middle of May in Ravensburg. Besides testing their own EtherCAT devices in a shared network with those of other manufacturers by using the EtherCAT Conformance Test Tool, the participants could exchange knowledge and ask for advice from the EtherCAT experts on-site. The different masters and lave products led to a balanced ratio of devices and real-life network conditions. Christoph Widmann, managing director at acontis technologies GmbH, comments: “The EtherCAT Plug Fests are the perfect opportunity to test devices and applications in a large network together with other manufacturers. For that reason, acontis has participated in many
Denmark - SPOT, an annual music festival in Aarhus showcasing up-and-coming Danish and Scandinavian talents, saw 300 artists and bands perform across 25 stages throughout the city. Lighting designer and programmer Heiða Kristín Ragnarsdóttir used a grandMA3 light console to run lighting on her stage, reserved for WILM (Women In Live Music) a European non-profit organisation that supports women working behind the scenes and backstage. For the first time, this stage was run by an all-female tech crew. Ragnarsdóttir reports: “The MA system is my first choice for everything from theatre to concerts. It is very important for me to be able to personalize the setup to fit my needs of the moment which the grandMA2 software does easily. It is highly reliable, has intuitive controls and a lot of flexibility in programming which makes it ideal for ‘busking’ festivals.
USA - The ESTA Control Protocols Plugfest organisers have announced today that an Introduction to RDMnet will be broadcast live on Sunday 21 July from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 P.M., CDT. This event is being offered free of charge to both ESTA and non-ESTA members. Officially known as E1.33, Entertainment Technology – (RDMnet) Message Transport and Management for ANSI E1.20 (RDM) compatible and similar devices over IP Networks, the RDMnet standard was recently approved by ESTA’s Control Protocols Working Group (CPWG) as a consensus standard and is now on track to obtain approval by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) later this summer. RDMnet is a generational step forward, extending the functionality of RDM to Ethernet networks. As draft standard testing began in the summer of 2018, we would expect to see products with RDMnet features to begin to appe
