USA - A collection of new par washes and atmospheric effects designed to offer cost-effective design solutions for the event lighting market will be displayed at the Chauvet DJ booth #1415 at LDI 2017. Covering a range of colour options, the new Eve units include the 130W tri-colour Eve P-130, the 140W variable white Eve P-140 and the 150W ultraviolet Eve P-150 UV. The three new Eve units have a bright, flicker-free output that makes them well-suited for events of all sizes. All the fixtures are fan free and silent for use in video recording applications. “We’re excited about the level of output and versatility that our new Eve fixtures are offering to the event market,” said Chauvet DJ senior product manager Allan Reiss. “Visitors to our LDI booth will be very pleased not only with the performance but also the flexibility of these fixtures.” Along with
UK - Technology with Heart was the theme of Jaguar and Land Rover's inaugural Tech Fest which took place at Central Saint Martins in London in September. Organised by London-based creative agency Imagination, the event explored how technology contributes to the auto industry and was packed full of innovative displays which demonstrated how technology is being used to make a positive difference. Jay Plomer, senior production manager, Imagination commented: "The venue for this event is a fantastic space but it is a listed building and right from the start we were told that it would not be possible to install any fixing points in to the walls and ceiling. This posed the challenge of how to light all exhibits in a big area within the space – and so we brought Unusual Rigging on board to help us solve that problem." Paul Rhodes, senior rigging supervisor, Un
UK - Since Pyrojunkies first dipped their toes into the world of MA control they have been busy servicing the needs of productions such as Bros, Jason Derulo, the Diversity Genesis Tour, the Ghost European Tour, the Kaiser Chiefs, Stormzy at Brixton Academy and the Capital FM Summertime Ball. “We have been using an MA dot2 console to control our effects for a while and been really impressed by what the system offered us in terms of programming and creating new profiles,” opens Pyrojunkies’ sales and project manager, James Priddle. “By the time we took the Kaiser Chiefs’ system out we were confident that we had found the console that was perfect for our unique requirements. For that tour, we hired a dot2-XLF as a final test before we took the plunge and ordered a dot2 Core from Ambersphere Solutions. ‘We worked very closely with Thor André and the rest of
Taiwan - Winly Engineering & Trading was tasked with designing and supplying an L-Acoustics system for the 28th Golden Melody Awards (GMAs), the Chinese speaking territories’ highly-regarded music awards. Winly, who has worked on the GMAs from its first edition, designed and prepared a lighting system to cope with the venue’s deep, narrow configuration, basing its design on L-Acoustics K1, K2, Kara and SB28. “A big challenge for the system design was the shape of the venue, its limited rigging possibilities and the fact that the production requested no fill system in front of the stage,” says Winly’s president and production manager for the event, Andy Chen. “With the help of L-Acoustics’ Alvin Koh, we made an initial design of the system with L-Acoustics 3D acoustical simulation programme, Soundvision, to provide us with the optimum result.”
South Africa - Philips Lighting's latest lighting fixtures are playing a key role in the current series of South Africa's TV talent contest Idols. The LED-based Philips VLZ Profile are enabling more finely colour-balanced television pictures for the latest series. Produced by Mzansi Magic channel 161 DSTV, Idols is currently in its 13th season. The lighting designer, for the seventh consecutive year, is Joshua Cutts, one of South Africa's leading practitioners of the art of lighting entertainment shows for television. For this year's run, Cutts, along with director/executive producer Gavin Wratten, wanted to build on the show's highly successful 12th season by further enhancing the set and lighting design. "I was looking for two things," says Cutts, "a strong, iconic backlight and a strong profile with framing capability for my keylight. It was al
USA - SRae Productions and Clear All Visuals were responsible for the video & lighting production design for Lady Antebellum’s world tour. Matt Geasy of Clear All Visuals specified two separate setups, each with a pair of Hippotizer Boreal Media Servers. Both setups were used to feed the LED screens and each one was triggered depending on the performer, switching between two or three outputs. During the global event, the SRae team ran Hippotizer in conjunction with an automation system. The Kinesys motor control system fed PSN data to the servers, so that they could live-track the screen positions in real-time. The end-result was the content tracking of the screens as they moved throughout the show. For Lady Antebellum’s automated screens, the system provided information regarding the vertical position of the two motors for each truss. This was a challeng
Poland - Polish TV production company ATM has been adding Robe products to its inventory of lighting equipment in recent years. The company initially invested in LEDWash 800s (for Euro 2012 held jointly in Poland and Ukraine) as well as LEDWash 1200s and, most recently, 50 Spikies. The lights are also used to service ATM’s own productions and are available as part of the assorted technical packages offered to other production companies booking the studios. ATM’s first purchase of LEDWashes was for 26 pieces, delivered by Robes Polish distributor Prolight, and from that moment forward the TV production company has only invested in Robe LED washes - it now has over 100 LEDWash 800s in stock. The Spikies were purchased last year after ATM representatives saw the fixture at the 2016 Prolight+Sound Expo where it was launched. The Spikes have been in high
UK - The Howl Scream Park made its annual return to Mead Open Farm for 13 ‘nights of terror’ in October, where the likes of Topper the Clown and Grandma Lycanthrope waited to greet you with rotting arms. FunFear is a team of experienced engineers, technicians and designers who specialise in creating Halloween attractions and for the past three years, they have been in charge of turning the much-loved family farm into a land of torment and nightmare. There were five haunts to be explored at The Howl including Toppers Twister, The Shed, Hotel de Basquervilles, Squealers Yard and the House of Hounds. In each maze you could expect to encounter impressive audio, lighting and special effects, along with a legion of terrifying actors which combine to create an immersive experience where you were the bait. The maze with the highest “sca
South Africa - DWR Distribution provided new lighting installation for the annual Christian Revival Church (CRC) Dreamweek Explosion conference held simultaneously in Bloemfontein and Pretoria in October. Phase 1 of the upgrade saw CRC Bloemfontein’s Main Auditorium receive a huge facelift. The 5 000-seater Auditorium situated in the South of Bloemfontein was extended to accommodate an additional 1 200 people. The ceiling was removed, air conditioning installed, and a new 24m wide stage, more than double the size of the original stage, was built. The DWR team, headed by Robert Izzett, installed Prolyte H40V trussing above the revamped stage onto which both the church’s existing lighting fixtures and the new LED power saving units comprising of 18 Robe Spiiders, six Robe Pointes and 28 LED Parcans for audience wash were hung. An 8 Port Node was added to the MA syste
UK - Stormzy’s Gang Signs and Prayers tour was extensively lit with Ayrton fixtures. Lighting designer Steve Bewley opted for an Ayrton-laden specification for each incarnation of Stormzy’s show, which visited various academy venues this year before concluding with two Brixton Academy gigs. “There were 38 MagicPanel-R units and 10 MagicBurst on my list. The UK and Ireland shows were all of a decent size, Brixton Academy has a capacity of nearly 5,000 and then we had various festival variations and a special rig for Glastonbury. Altogether, there were six different designs but the Ayrton fixture choices were always central to the show. Their dynamic look is not something that can be replicated and they were versatile enough to adapt to all the different venues and configurations. “For the academy shows, we stripped out the house rigs to make it enti
UK - Leisuretec has become the new UK trade distributor for ADJ. Mike Henden, Leisuretec's managing director, comments: “Distributing ADJ is an exciting new prospect for us. Their products are smart, easy to use and have a very competitive price point. We appreciate that the choice we provide our customers is essential when they’re specifying for their clients. “ADJ is a high-quality yet affordable lighting solution that our customers can offer their clients when faced with challenges like tight budgets and niche applications. We believe we’re a consolidated source for our customers and our new partnership with ADJ emphasises that strength. “Expect strong stock holding, technical support, training events and efficient delivery across the ADJ range. We will also host ADJ training events in the TecZone for those who want to grow their knowledge on the br
UK - Gooee’s Neil Salt has been named managing director ahead of the company’s European launch at LuxLive 2017 to be held on 15-16 November at Excel London. The MD will support the UK/European team from the company’s new offices in Paddington. Gooee provides space and occupancy analytics, wireless lighting control and beacon networking for the smart building industry. It was co-founded in 2014 by Salt, Andrew Johnson and Simon Coombes. Johnson says: “With 18 years’ experience in the lighting industry, Neil’s expertise in delivering products into the built environment, combined with his experience in marketing and technology, make him a valuable addition to the team in this next phase of Gooee’s growth and deployment.” In the last three years Gooee has been building a data and analytics platform and has signed up over 50 lighting and building co
UK - Cardiff-based events specialists 11th Hour were stage and lighting suppliers for the 2017 Steelhouse Festival, held in July near Ebbw Vale, South Wales. 11th Hour, who had previously worked at Steelhouse in a limited capacity, saw their responsibilities expanded and enjoyed a highly productive if rather damp week. Max Rhead, promoter and co-organiser of Steelhouse Festival takes up the story: "We teamed up with 11th Hour to provide the power solutions for the Steelhouse Festival back in 2016. We were incredibly impressed with their knowledge and professionalism as well as the quality of the equipment that they supplied. So, when the requirement for a new stage and lighting supplier presented itself for 2017, we immediately contacted director Andy Hopkins and the boys to expand t
The Netherlands - Eindhoven live music venue De Effenaar has recently updated its lighting rig with Robe fixtures. De Effenaar hosts around 20 gigs a month across its two halls with capacity of 1300 and 400. Former house lighting specialist Yoeri van Leersum specified 12 x DL7S Profiles, 12 x DL4X spots and four DL4F fresnels, together with 42 x Robe PARFect RGBW LED PARs. These were added to their existing stock of Robe MMX spots, DLF Washes, 600E spots and 300E Spots, LEDWash 300s and LEDBeam 100s. House technician Sven de Hoog explains: “We also wanted to make a statement with the DL7Ss,” confirmed Sven, “As far as we are aware, we’re the first music venue in the Netherlands to have the DL7 series in house and possibly in Benelux - and it’s always good to lead the way!” The DL7Ss are in action in the large hall while the DL4X and DL4Fs are earmarke
USA - Chauvet Professional’s Ovation series is taking the colour mixing magic of its RGBA-Lime LED system to new places. At the upcoming LDI show, the company will be debuting the industry’s first full-colour RGBAL Fresnel and house light fixtures. Joining them at the Ovation booth (1415) will be other new products, including a variable white Fresnel and ellipsoidal. Leading the way are the Ovation F-915FC, a high-output Fresnel with a motorized zoom that has a 30°-73° field angle, and the Ovation F-55FC, a 3-inch “inkie” Fresnel for short throw applications. Both fixtures feature Ovation’s RGBAL colour mixing system that allows them to render an endless spectrum of colours, from subtle pastels to punchy saturates. Virtually silent, the two fixtures are designed for theatrical and broadcast applications. Other features shared by the two new Fresnels are 16-bit d
USA - A new tile has been added to ETC’s Unison Mosaic family, the new Touchscreen interface. The 4.3-inch (10.9cm) screen can be added to any Mosaic system running Mosaic software 2.4 or later, giving users a new option for monitoring and control over their installation with virtual faders, buttons, colour pickers and more. “With the same user interface capabilities as the Tessera Controller the new Mosaic Touchscreen provides a simple way in for users to customise access to their Mosaic system,” says Bryan Palmer, architectural market manager at ETC. “This addition provides a fully-configurable interface at a lower price point, making the dynamic control system approachable for anyone.” The Mosaic Touchscreen is modelled on the existing Tessera interface, which gives users a full controller feature set and also address output. The new Touchscreen removes th
UK - Returning from a 25-year haitus, Matt and Luke Goss - Bros - headlined two shows at London’s O2 Arena, giving a fresh airing to their back catalogue of 80s pop hits. Working alongside Jamie Thompson and David Cohen at innovative show and lighting design outfit MIRRAD, the team at VER London provided the crew with an extensive LED, video, lighting and camera package to help build the suitably vibrant installation. Featuring a 6m upstage wall created using over 160sq.m of Everbrighten 15mm LED, angled for added depth, the performance area was stepped front to back across two levels. The band were positioned directly below the screens on the first ‘step’, overlooking the main stage floor, with the drum riser rigged centre stage. VER provided over 200 lighting fixtures, rigged using 400ft of HUD trussing in a double halo configuration with a classic mirro
UK - White Light has provided the lighting equipment for the UK tour of Flashdance – The Musical. Based on the Paramount Pictures Film, the musical tells the story of 18-year-old Alex who dreams of attending the prestigious Shipley Dance Academy and becoming a professional dancer. Yet when a romance complicates her ambitions, she harnesses this to drive her dream. Flashdance – The Musical is being produced by the award-winning Selladoor Productions and features a lighting design by Mark Howland. He comments: “Having never actually seen the film, this allowed me to approach the piece with a completely fresh perspective as though it were a new piece. The show is very rooted within 80’s music so I was keen to push some of the bold 80s colours which are largely associated with the music videos and concerts of that time. We also keep a lot of the ligh
Middle East - Elation Professional has appointed Venutech Audiovisual & Lighting Systems as its exclusive distributor in the Middle East. Venuetech has been a providing professional products and services to the entertainment industry in the Middle East since 2003. Headed by one of the Middle East market’s most experienced operators, Nour Assafiri, Venuetech’s team of industry professionals is focused on all aspects of the audio, video and lighting market, from sales to technical support. “The major target has always been to be able to provide a complete solution for our clientele, therefore we see Elation as the missing piece of the puzzle,” says Assafiri. “We believe that our experience in entertainment lighting along with Elation’s strength and reputation, as well as their continuous production of innovative products, will open doors for a strong re
Canada - Audiovisual specialist Creativ Nation used the SGM IP65-rated P-5 LED to illuminate a construction crane used to build a 30-storey tower. Creativ Nation’s Martin Berthiaume says: “My client wanted to put promotional emphasis on his new real estate project under construction - a 30-story retirement tower, the highest in Canada.” The company faced extensive challenges to illuminate the structures without hindering the construction and SGM’s wireless DMX technology provided versatility without compromising the functionality of the wash light. Berthiaume explained: “Our first challenge was to limit the installation of wiring so as not to obstruct the various mechanisms of the crane from a height of 200ft. With the help of the wireless DMX technology of SGM, we were able to carry out this mandate with brilliance.” Power consumption and ou
Italy - Street festival of light art RGB Light Experience – Roma Glocal Brightness is back in Rome this week. The event, which attracted 60,000 visitors last year, is spanning across a 4km stretch from Pigneto to Torpignattara. From 27-29 October, public and private spaces will be lit through 19 original and site-specific artworks realised by important and emerging artists under the artistic direction of Diego Labonia and the technical supervision of Chiara Martinelli. The artists involved are: S+C Studio, Maria Saggese and Children of Darklight, Gianluca Del Gobbo/FLxER, Andrea Daly and Federico Cecchi, Simone Palma and Diego Labonia, Fulminate, Massimo Rizzuto, MediaMash Studio, Vj Alice, Tommaso Rinaldi/High Files, Marco Amedani, RGB Light Experience/CNR, Massimo Desiato, La mia paura è Bianca, Elisa Mancini. Those involved with the workshops and me
USA - Marc Wasserman has been having a rollicking good time lighting red-hot comedian Nick Cannon’s Wild ‘N Out tour. The New York-based designer is also getting an up-close look at the talented stars from the tour’s namesake hit MTV programme. “The show is fantastic,” said Wasserman, the owner of 3 With 1 Grab Productions. “We have comedians like Rip Michaels, Emmanuel Hudson, DC Young Fly, Conceited, Matt Rife, Justina Valentine, Karlous Miller and Chico Bean. Plus, I get to work with some of the best hip-hop artists around.” Wasserman is working with his tried-and-true Rogue R2 Spot fixtures from Chauvet Professional on the tour, something that he feels has been key to keeping his good times rolling. “My Rogue R2 Spots are my go-to moving light,” he said. “I can’t say enough good things about these versatile movers. Some of mine have bee
UK - Cardiff-based event and project management specialist 11th Hour has recruited three new full-time team members to help meet growing demand for its services. Project manager Kirstie Evans joins from Cardiff Council's events team where she gained a wide variety of production experience. A graduate of The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Kirstie also has experience in TV and film production management. She is joined by assistant project manager, Pete Morgan who studied Live Event Technology at The University of Glamorgan before gaining experience working as a senior technician in television technology supply, as well as freelancing in the wider events industry. In an increasingly busy warehouse, Sarah Everson takes on the role of assistant warehouse manager. With a degree in Music Technology, Sarah was apprenticed at The Wales Millennium Centre where she
USA - The Global Leadership Summit is a live HD broadcast that is simulcast to more than 600 satellite locations around the globe. On 10-11 August, Relevant Audio Visual provided production for a Global Leadership Summit satellite site in Wichita, Kansas, the third largest satellite site in the country, and turned to inspirational lighting from Elation Professional to liven up the environment. “In past years, there’s been little thought put into lighting this satellite location,” explains Brandon Deibler, creative director and project designer at Relevant Audio Visual (RAV). “Traditionally, there’s been a very flat, non-dimensional look to the room. It needed a more energetic, inspiring look to complement their message so we freshened it up with effects and colour from Elation lighting.” It didn’t help that the
