UK - January and early February saw Britannia Row Productions start the year in robust, if slightly inverted fashion. “Within two weeks of the Christmas break we had three arena tours out and one of the UK’s most exciting acts, Jorja Smith playing festivals,” explains sales director Lez Dwight. “The clue is in the word ‘festivals’, no-one is playing festivals in the frosty Northern hemisphere right now, but along with Jorja at the festivals, Mumford & Sons and Phil Collins have all visited arenas in Australia and New Zealand.” While the balmy reaches of the Antipodes are seeing most of the action, Brit Row is not neglecting the UK market. “We are supplying system and support for Cirque du Soleil’s annual visit to the Royal Albert Hall and we are already gearing up for the Brit Awards which has quite a fundamental new look this year.” But it’s
UK - Yamaha Commercial Audio and London’s SW19 Studios are joining forces in mid-March to host a two-day Welcome to the World of Rivage event. Taking place on 7-8 March at SW19 Studios in Wimbledon, it comprises a free series of technical training seminars which offer professional and aspiring sound engineers an opportunity to get up close and personal with Yamaha’s Rivage PM7 and PM10 digital mixing systems. Day 1 will focus on showcasing Rivage PM7 as the solution for reliable sound for live venue and festival engineers, sculpting audio for today’s touring bands. Yamaha product specialists and SW19 staff will be on hand to deliver an overview of the system, highlighting key features and demonstrating its applications in a rehearsal environment. Day 2 offers opportunities for those with some experience of Rivage and/or those who want to delve deep into t
USA - Behind the Scenes reports that Gray Matter Visual has become a Pledge-a-Service Partner by pledging to donate a percentage of their design fees to the charity. Gray Matter Visual is a lighting and production design firm working on corporate and special events, concerts, television, benefits, and more. Founded in 2010 by Brendan Gray and based in Brooklyn, New York, GMV works with clients all over the US and beyond to realise their visions. Brendan Gray, principal designer and president, states: “I became aware of the Pledge-a-Service programme through fellow designer (and friend) Herrick Goldman's involvement. Joining sounded like a great idea, but one that sat on the back burner for a while. The recent sudden loss of a friend and colleague prompted me to take action. I hope that other designers and business owners will follow suit and support this worthy cause."
UK - Edinburgh Castle and the medieval Old Town offered a magnificent backdrop to Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebration for thousands of revellers who welcomed the new year immersed in a city centre-wide high quality pro audio installation. In collaboration with the sound designer Dan Jones, Catalyst Event Production Services was tasked with specifying, installing and operating a sound solution for much of the event that would envelope partygoers, leading them to "a complete d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker, amplification and R1 control software solution". UK-based live entertainment company Underbelly, which has produced the event on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council since 2017, bills Edinburgh’s Hogmanay as “one of the biggest celebrations in the world”. The famed Street Party showcased Scottish and European musicians, street theatre artists, dancers, choir
UK - Industry charity Backup has revealed a busy fundraising schedule for 2019. First in a line-up of events is the inaugural Bikefest, kicking off on 18 May with a day of two-wheeled action and fun for all levels of riders. There will be a 100km ride through the Sussex and Surrey countryside, which will take in much of the famed Olympic and Prudential Ride London-Surrey 100 route, including Leith Hill, the highest point in Surrey, and the famous Box Hill Zig Zag. “Whether you’re riding as an individual, with friends or as a company Peloton, this will be a great day out to sport your finest padded shorts, have an excuse to shave those legs and pack as many bananas in your cycling top as possible,” says Backup. The event will also feature a 50km route across the Surrey countryside, past a number of isotonic watering holes en route to allow riders to
UK - Free registration is now open for PLASA Focus Leeds, PLASA has reported. The sold-out event, taking place at Leeds' Royal Armouries Museum on 14-15 May, will feature 120 exhibitors and is ideal for professionals working across live events, concert touring, production, performing arts and installation. Present will be lighting companies including Elation, Robe and Philips Entertainment Lighting; pro audio firms including d&b audiotechnik, Funktion-One and Shure; and rigging, staging and production specialists including Area Four Industries, Gerriets, Hawthorn and J&C Joel. The trade show will also welcome several new exhibitors, including loudspeaker manufacturer Wharfdale Pro Audio and US sound masking company, Cambridge S
UK - With less than two weeks until ISCEx 2019, the Institute of Sound and Communications Engineers has announced a number of new exhibitors, including Shure UK, Sennheiser, Sound Network, Ambient System and Source Distribution, have signed up to the event alongside the 31 manufacturers and distributors who had already confirmed their presence. This means this will be the event with the highest number of exhibitors yet, says ISCE. Taking place on Wednesday, 6 Marchat Coombe Abbey Hotel, Binley, Warwickshire, ISCEx 2019 provides networking and learning opportunities. Leading audio manufacturers and distributors are on hand in the exhibition zone, whilst a programme of informative seminars is held in separate conference rooms throughout the day. ISCEx 2019 is open to members and non-members of the ISCE. Entry is completely free of charge and promises to be an opportunity
UK - TechPro, a lighting, video and sound services provider for live events, has given new responsibilities to its event services director, Mike Foyle. Foyle, who joined TechPro in 2012 as a project manager, had previously covered all aspects of marketing and communication, but with a focus on video production and live events. He will now solely focus on improving the company’s communication and collaboration with its clients. Foyle comments: “This is a new role designed to help us engage better with our clients and understand more fully what they hope to achieve from their events, which will determine how best TechPro supports each production.” TechPro managing director, Mark Stokes, adds: “The significant growth we have achieved in recent years has been driven in large part by our commitment to the flawless delivery of live events, regardless of size or complexity.
UK - Event production specialists Light Fantastic Production Services has introduced four new members to the team at its Borehamwood offices. Working across a number of different areas, the addition of Gareth Shippen, Angela DiTomaso, Leo Neilson and Svetoslav ‘Slavi’ Nikolov strengthens the range of creative production and technical support services provided by the company. Taking the role of scenic project manager, Gareth is a scenic arts graduate with extensive experience in all aspects of the creative set building and prop making process. Angela joins the production engineering department as video engineer, providing technical support to the diverse range of projects serviced by LFPS. A keen follower of new technology, Angela is highly experienced in both creative video design and systems engineering. Strengthening the operations team, Slavi and Leo join
UK - Martin Audio has announced a new series of open days, taking place on 19-21 March at the company’s High Wycombe HQ. Martin Audio will showcase the full line-up of Wavefront Precision line arrays, including the new WPL, while the subwoofers will be headed by the new cardioid SXC118 and SXH218. In addition, there will be point source BlacklineX and XD Series with VIA amplifiers and DX4.0 controller, the self-powered point source CDD-LIVE and a selection of LE and XE stage monitors. 3D immersive Sound Adventures in partnership with Astro Spatial Audio, demonstrate wide stereo imaging. Dom Harter, Martin Audio managing director, comments: “Coming off a high at ISE 2019 earlier this month, this will provide a further opportunity for rental companies, sound engineers, system integrators and installation specialists to increase their understanding of our system
The Netherlands - German fibre network associates Optocore and BroaMan combined their resources at the recent ISE 2019 expo in Amsterdam as part of the portfolio of brands distributed in the Benelux by the Ampco Flashlight Group. The stand was busy as it was visited by both recognised customers from the integration, event and broadcast sectors as well as newcomers seeking further information. Optocore showcased its new Festival Box, reporting high interest from both distributors and rental companies. The Festival Box allows all protocols to tunnel over the same fibre, with hot-swappable SFP optical module transceivers providing different conversion options to add massive savings in time and cabling to multi-act festival bills. As applications engineering manager, Maciek Janiszewski says: “While festival sound engineers can transport whatever signal protocol th
The Netherlands - ISE 2019 saw LED video processor manufacturer Brompton Technology showcase its new Tessera Processor Software for the 4K SX40 processor, demonstrating its enhanced feature set that follows the easy-to-use style of its intuitive user interface, as well as giving its customers a preview of its forthcoming HDR capabilities. The SX40, Brompton Technology’s highest-ever capacity processor, offers support for full 4K screens at 60Hz with 12 bits per colour output, a zero-latency up/down scaler that matches the source to the screen, plus all of Tessera’s industry-leading processing features such as ChromaTune colour correction, On Screen Colour Adjustment (OSCA), and more. By updating the SX40 to the latest software, users can now access a suite of handy new features such as Panel On Screen Display (OSD), Processor Redundancy, 90 degree rotation and Chin
USA - The Long Reach Long Riders and Behind the Scenes will host their annual fundraising raffle at the USITT Conference on 21-23 March in Louisville, KY. This year’s raffle will celebrate the 16th anniversary of the Long Reach Long Riders annual charity motorcycle ride. The Riders, who have raised over $500,000 for charity in their years of touring, will be riding 7-13 July on the Altimeter Tour through the Colorado Rockies. The prizes, provided by generous donors, are: Grand Prize, Spotlight with Renderworks from Vectorworks; Ghostlight from Altman Rentals; American Express Gift Card from Barbizon; Prostar 300lb capacity 115V, 10ft lift with chain bag from CM-ET; Event Safety Summit 2019 Registration from the Event Safety Alliance; Nespresso CitiZ Espresso Machine with Aeroccino Milk Frother from IA Stage; Stagehands Dream Kit from Monkey Wrench Productions; $250 G
UK - Attracting over 1000 attendees, the Women in Data conference features addresses from high-profile speakers plus a range of supporting events. Held within the grand surroundings of Central Hall Westminster, London, the event included presentations, development sessions and an exhibition, designed to inspire the WiD community. Technical production specialists LFPS collaborated closely with the client and production manager Dave Parker to design the look and feel of the entire event. Providing a complete production package covering both equipment and logistics, LFPS supplied lighting, audio, video, rigging and staging. Working to precise schedules beginning with a 6pm time slot for overnight load-in and build, the team were ready for rehearsal at 6am, with everything in place ready for doors open at 9am. Commenting on working with LFPS, WiD co-founder Roisin Mc
Saudi Arabia - Golf’s European Tour made history this year when it took its tournament to Saudi Arabi for the first time in its 47 years. The event took place at the Royal Greens golf course in King Abdullah Economic City on 31 January and ran until 3 February. Creative Technology (CT) were on hand to deliver all video aspects of this event on behalf of clients European Tour and IMG. CT’s head of sport, Steven Purkess explains: “CT was contracted to design, engineer and fabricate eight bespoke LED structures, a big departure from the standard scaffold support structures traditionally used at golf events. “The complete design and engineering service provided by CT not only included the design for each LED structure but also the foundations. The physical structure fabrication process was split across the CT group, and once delivered to site CT also instal
UK - Video solutions specialist Production AV will be on Stand I2E at the Event Production Show at London Olympia on 26 and 27 February to showcase the Agile Arc Lite PTZ camera integration solution from leading media server company disguise. Based in Cheltenham, Production AV has been at the forefront of AV innovation for 14 years. It is inviting visitors to get hands-on with the new disguise and Agile kit at the show. In February, disguise launched the latest version of its award-winning software, used to design, sequence and control live shows and experiences. Version r15.2 now includes integrations with Agile Remote Cameras’ range of PTZ cameras, enabling live video feeds from the discreet PTZ cameras to be used as part of the visuals on impressive live events. “We’re thrilled to demo just what disguise’s new Agile integration protocol can do in
UK - East of England Arena Events Centre (EEAEC) has announced a collaboration with Pearce Hire. The EEAEC is one of the UK’s top event venues, hosting over 300 events, conferences and meetings a year. The multi-purpose events complex sboasts over 9,000sq.m of indoor space and over 250 acres of outside space. With significant and ongoing investment in the venue and its infrastructure, the venue has appointed Pearce Hire as a preferred contractor working throughout the complex. “With our HQ based in Peterborough we are ideally placed geographically to offer an outstanding level of service and support to the venue, to the organisers putting on events at the venue, and to the exhibitors at all the major trade and consumer exhibitions which take place here throughout the year,” observes Shaun Pearce, managing director, Pearce Hire. “Having provided services for man
The Netherlands - Building on its expertise, Christie continues to deliver end-to-end solutions for visual experiences coupled with service and support. For the first time, stand visitors will experience the new Christie MicroTiles. The Christie D4K40-RGB pure laser 3DLP projector will make its European debut at ISE. The Christie APS Series, launched in January, is being shown for the first time at a public show. The new 3LCD laser projector will be located in Zone 8. Featuring an efficient laser illumination system and patented optical light path design that uses only one motor, the APS Series provides up to 20,000 hours of reliable, maintenance-free operation at an extremely low cost of ownership. Christie has partnered with Da-Lite, which will provide the screens for the Christie stand while both the LANG AG and SDVoE stands are demonstrating interoperabilit
The Netherlands - OCA Alliance, the AV trade association formed to promote awareness, implementation and development of the AES70 open network control standard, is once again fulfilling its mission at ISE, supporting the release of the latest revision of the standard. The result of several years of collaborative work within the OCA Alliance and the AES, AES70-2018 is an evolutionary upgrade to the original AES70-2015 standard. The revision provides a number of new and improved features The new standards documents are available from the AES Standards site. Links to the relevant AES pages are on the Developer Resources page of OCA Alliance Technical Site, while more details on the 2018 changes may be found on the OCA Alliance website. Key to the OCA Alliance’s mission is supporting developers become more familiar with the AES70 standard, providing assistance in i
The Netherlands - Next-proaudio has announced the launch of LA26, a compact modular line source with a long throw capability. The LA26 is a two-way, full range passive line array cabinet housing two 6.5" neodymium flat diaphragm drivers located in the side walls of the HF Oblate Spheroidal Waveguide, a 2" diaphragm HF neodymium driver and a passive network crossover presenting a nominal input impedance of 16Ω. A fast and easy three-point auto-locking rigging mechanism is integrated for easy build of ground stacked or flown systems. The new technology waveguide and co-planar transducer configuration, generates precisely coherent wavefronts uniformly spread in the horizontal plane (105°) and precisely coupled in the vertical plane without sacrificing HF presence in the far field, further eliminating the low-mid lobbing normally associated with two-way line source syst
USA - Audio Video Lighting Innovations (AVLI) has upgraded the pool deck sound systems for two Miami Beach luxury hotels, the Mondrian South Beach and Shelborne South Beach, with Martin Audio CDD systems. Discussing the projects, AVLI’s James Reed reports: “With the Mondrian South Beach pool deck, which faces the bay, we had to solve the problem of noise reflecting off nearby neighbouring residences. The hotel’s original sound system was somewhat underpowered and they were getting a lot of noise complaints from neighbours because the DJ would take a speaker and try to blast it across the pool, which caused all kinds of problems. “So they called us in to solve the offsite noise problem, which we did very effectively by installing 10 CDD10-WR’s per side on the column system encircling the pool that supports the awning. We positioned each speaker on a column ab
USA - Ahead of last week’s NAMM Show in Anaheim, the ADJ group of companies opened its LA-based global headquarters for a dealer event on 23 January. With lighting and sound demos, hands-on product training as well as a free lunch, the event offered ADJ customers an exclusive preview of the new products to be launched at NAMM and also allowed the company to show appreciation to its hard-working in-house staff and on-the-road sales team. Visitors had the opportunity to see seven new ADJ products before they were officially unveiled at NAMM as well as receive an introduction to ADJ Group’s recently acquired Eliminator Lighing series. An audio demo space was also setup to allow customers to hear the brand new Avante Audio AS8 compact column speaker system and the innovative new Imperio versatile mini array system. A new lightshow was also unveiled at the company’s
Europe - Typhoon is ER’s newest product, a CO2-free confetti blower designed to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emitted in the industry. Typhoon is not only a ‘greener’ product but is compact, stackable, easy to control, adjustable and versatile, says the company. Typhoon’s adaptable design allows it to not only be rigged on top of truss but also flown, allowing for huge confetti hits at large-scale events. Typhoon works via a set of powerful but silent fans, which push confetti out through a specially-designed tunnel, and a controllable-hopper evenly distributes it. David Holmes, ER’s technical manager who designed Typhoon, comments: “I love the finished product. The brief from ER’s co-founder and director, Ryan Hagan, was to build a confetti blower that would be able to run on electricity, without using the harmful greenhouse gas, and we hav
USA - This month’s NAMM Show is the first public outing for Nexo’s new Geo M12 line array, a flagship addition to the successful Geo M family of sound reinforcement systems by the French manufacturer. ‘The Big Twelve’, as Nexo calls the kit, will make its performing debut on the NAMM Yamaha Grand Plaza Stage in Anaheim. Sharing the same aesthetic design and sonic signatures as the other models in the Geo M Series, the Geo M12 offers ‘flexibility, coverage and superb sonic performance in a thoroughly modern package’. Launched together with the MSUB18 companion subbass cabinet, the Geo M12 is aimed primarily at the mid-size rental company, although its competitive pricing will make it a popular investment for all types of user, from corporate presentation to live performance venues to houses of worship, says the company. “The Big Twelve is a logical complem
