Qatar - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises (NMK) team on the road just wrapped up the seminars in Oman and Qatar. Following last year's seminar series hosted across the region, the NMK team started its first round of the seminars in Muscat. Attendees learned about NMK's portfolio of products and discussed various scenarios and the challenges they are encountering in the industry.
The attendees had an opportunity to meet Eugene Novacek, the founder of American company ENCO and Andrea Granata from Shure MEA whose presentations and open discussions added value to the seminar itself.
For the Video Formats, Recording & Mixing presentation, NMK teamed up with Canon MEA and presented a complete solution utilising Canon video cameras. There were also user experiences shar
UK - WhatsOnStage offers a database of some 5,500 plus performances along with reviews, interviews, gossip, blogs and exclusive video content. Alongside this, each year the organisation hosts the WhatsOnStage Awards - in which the audience are the judges across all categories. With its origins in theatre, complete productions solution specialist White Light is once again sponsoring the event.
WL has previously sponsored the Awards Concert, where the available accolades include Best Actor in a Musical, Best Actress in a Musical, Best New Play and Best Lighting Design, which is sponsored by WL and whose previous recipients include Mark Henderson, Adam Silverman and Hugh Vanstone.
Hannah Longman, commercial manager at WhatsOnStage, comments, "We are extremely fortunate to have companies such as WL sponsor the Awards. It is through their support that such an eve
Spain - One of Barcelona's flagship night time hotspots, Razzmatazz, continues to innovate in order to stay among the region's top entertainment venues. A recent installation of Elation Professional Cuepix Panel LED matrices has added to the venue's visual possibilities, whether for a live music performance or a night of clubbing.
A myriad of artists have stepped onto the Razzmatazz stage over the years, including big names like Coldplay and Kanye West. Razzmatazz uses its 3700m2 of space and five distinct spaces in a variety of ways however. On weekends for example it transforms into a nightclub and its various rooms can be used to host parties, fashion shows, galas or virtually any event. The five separate spaces - Razz Club, the Loft, Pop Bar, Lolita and the Rex Room - can also function as one with the advantage of creating different ambiences at the same event.
The 4,000-c
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Strictly FX, Pushing Boundaries
Strictly FX was founded in 1996 by industry veterans Mark Grega and Ted Maccabee. Our expertise and knowledge of the world’s leading pyrotechnic, laser, and flame manufacturers allows us to curate astonishing live events. With over 500+ shows performed a year, there’s good chance you’ve seen some of our work!
USA - Syncrolite is pleased to announce the introduction of its newest product family member: the SyncroMITE Beam which offers "a new twist with revolutionary brightness in a compact integrated moving light that offers the advantages of a Xenon source in a traditional moving light sized package".
The SyncroMITE Beam outputs 97 CRI and narrow beams (3° native) in a convenient package ready to tour, install or hire into any application. The SyncroMITE Beam provides an extremely high center beam intensity (CBI) through a massive eleven inch output aperture. Other features include two color wheels designed to produce fully saturated single and mixed colors, a Gobo wheel, flag shutter for dousing and strobe effects, zoom lenses, beam diffusion, on-board auto-sensing power supply and much more.
The SyncroMITE Beam will make its first public appearance at LDI2015 at the
USA - Robe underlines the importance of the American market by announcing a major new product launch at the 2015 LDI expo in Las Vegas - the BMFL Wash and BMFL Wash XF (Extra Features).
There will also be a host of other exciting new products making their US debut at Booth 2521 at the Las Vegas Convention Centre 23 - 25 October.
BMFL Wash and BMFL Wash XF are the latest fixtures to be added to Robe's 'game-changing' BMFL range of luminaires. These are powerful workhorse wash lights, packed with innovative and creative features, says the company.
A large 200mm diameter front fresnel lens provides a high quality traditional wash output ranging from a punchy and tight 4.5° to a super-smooth 55°.
Custom interchangeable frost filters offer three grades - light, medium and heavy - giving an extremely subtle and natural 'soft touch'.
South Africa - Prosound Technical Director and South African Theatre stalwart, Mark Malherbe, has just completed the sound design for the second season of David Kramer's new musical Orpheus In Africa.
Prosound's Marketing Manager, Dominique Vermeulen, who attended the Preview evening comments: "An original homegrown musical is always a significant theatrical milestone, and this uber-talented cast and flawless technical and staging production, left me completely immersed in this remarkable story."
Mark and David's association goes back many years, as too does Prosound's partnership with Eastern Acoustics of Cape Town, who provided and installed the sound equipment. The Fugard Theatre is a special place for Prosound and it is noteworthy that this season begins in South Africa's Heritage week, emphasising Prosound's continuous commitment to South African art and
UK - Autograph Sales has recently supplied the Hull Truck theatre in Kingston upon Hull with a new sound system from EM Acoustics based around the HALO-C compact line array to replace an older EM Acoustics system that dated from the theatre's previous venue.
"Since our new venue was completed in 2009 we knew that our old sound system was no longer appropriate for the space," explained Hull Truck's technical manager, Amy Clarey. "Our theatre boasts quite a long thrust stage for its size [a three-sided stage that extends into the audience] which, whilst great for the audience, is a challenge for all aspects of theatre-making, especially sound. We therefore needed a system that would be able to handle this configuration and at the same time offer us as much flexibility as possible as our programme is extremely varied. Our aim was to invest in a new system that lives
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ETC Halcyon Silent
High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features.
USA - Described by Billboard as "trance music's most influential curator," Armin van Buuren has taken this branch of electronic music to new heights. The Dutch-born DJ's State of Trance podcast attracts over 25m listeners a week and is broadcast on 40-plus FM radio stations around the world.
As captivating as these broadcasts are, however, they're only preludes to the truly transformative trance experience of a van Buuren concert. This was clearly evident in late September at the House of Blues in Boston, where the Grammy-nominated artist served up a mesmerizing mix of music wrapped around an immersive lightshow. At the heart of it all was a towering video wall made of MVP Ta8 Curve SMD LED tiles from Chauvet Professional.
Image Production Services used 136 MVP Ta8 tiles, which have an 8.33 mm pixel pitch, to create the striking display. The majority of
USA - Fall Out Boy just wrapped The Boys of Zummer Tour co-headlining with Wiz Khalifa, and once again Clay Paky fixtures were along for the exciting cross-country ride. A.C.T Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky products in North America.
Robb Jibson of So Midwest, Inc. continued his relationship with the pop punk band, this time as production designer for the US amphitheatre tour. Fall Out Boy released its sixth studio album, American Beauty/American Psycho this year; it swiftly became the band's third #1 album.
An enthusiastic proponent of Clay Paky fixtures, Jibson specified 68 Mythos for the tour. Upstaging was the lighting vendor.
"I'm a fan of Clay Paky; they seem to really do things right," he declares. "I had demo'd Mythos but hadn't had a chance to use them just yet. The light is versatile enough I knew if we spec'd them we
France - With Paris Fashion week just ending, the historic Plaza Athénée Hotel in Paris debuted its new immersive speaker system install in their luxury Bar du Plaza Athénée featuring Amadeus loudspeakers.
The new speaker system is designed to create a fourth dimension in sound for its modern, comfortable and stylish surroundings. Designed by scenographer Etienne erard from Atelier A/V, the Amadeus system features 25 specially placed speakers including custom 'slim' versions of their ML 8 subwoofer under the bar's seating. The well-known French designer, Patrick Jouin, designed all the custom furniture for the bar. Some of the Paris Fashion Week festivities were held at the hotel, and the Bar du Plaza Athénée hosted celebrations for fashion luminaries and models with a sound quality to match the hotel's other gold-standard amenities.
UK - A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) has specified, supplied and installed cutting-edge performance lighting systems for two separate drama studios at Buckinghamshire New University's High Wycombe Campus.
Having previously supplied lighting systems for several other performance areas on the campus, the university approached ACSP to deliver solutions to meet their latest studio technical needs.
For the campus's main Drama Studio 1, which is utilised by a variety of performing arts courses, the brief was to enhance the existing conventional tungsten lighting system with a range of the very latest LED solutions, as well as upgrading the existing lighting console to cope with the new rig.
The university was keen to invest in LED technology, to help improve the campus's overall lighting and heating energy efficiency rating, and thus reduce their carbon footprint. In addition, they w
Spain / China - D.A.S. Audio has announced the launch of a new strategic project for China with the creation of AV Ganguan, a multi-brand distribution company of audio-visual products. D.A.S. Audio has appointed AV GGanguan as exclusive distributor of D.A.S. Audio products in China.
AV Ganguan emerges as a partnership between two of Europe's leading professional audio companies, D.A.S. Audio and Fluge. D.A.S. Audio is recognized worldwide as a manufacturer of high-level loudspeaker systems, power amplification and related audio processing equipment. Fluge is an internationally renowned specialist in sound, video and lighting design, full-service technical production and venue management. The combined experience of these two companies offers partners and customers in China technical expertise and specialized support.
AV Ganguan is headquartered in Shanghai and backed by an inte
South Korea - Rental company Communicator Madang was appointed to manage audio requirements for a recent production staged at Yonsei University in South Korea, selecting its GLD mixing system at FOH.
Comprising a GLD-80 digital mixer, with an AR2412 and two AR0804 audio racks, the system was installed for a production of Broadway musical, Urinetown, performed by the college student musical team in the university's 100th anniversary concert hall.
The 830 seat venue, also has a practice room, and a wide lobby, which can be utilised for various kinds of events as well.
"This type of musical performance requires many scene changes, so I needed a digital mixer that was capable of managing multiple scenes, available with immediate recall. I have been using GLD for more than two years, and it never fails, even when I use it at maximum capacity. Also, the system has wond
UK - Technical production expert, Hawthorn's install team has completed the installation of a new house light system for the Hawth Theatre in Crawley.
The specialist permanent installation team was tasked to replace over 200 tungsten fittings with the latest ArcSystem fittings from GDS; a once in a lifetime opportunity to upgrade the quality of the house lights at Hawth Theatre and reduce the ongoing maintenance and lamp replacement costs.
Crucially, the new fittings also deliver a reduction in electrical running costs. A mixture of Arch System MR16, Pro-Fixture 1 cell and Pro Cell 4 were used along with the new 24v Arc Lamps. Kev Sanderson, team leader at Hawthorn, and his expert team had a tight 10 day window to complete the changeover, but completed the task ahead of schedule.
Quentin Whitaker, the Hawth's technical manager, commented, "I am extremely happy with the
USA / Australia - Sensaphonics, the technology and hearing wellness specialist in personal monitoring, has announced the opening of its new Australian location, Sensaphonics AU in Melbourne. The new facility comprises corporate offices and a manufacturing lab, and is headed by managing director Ryota Tanaka. Operating under the brand philosophy of 'Softer & Safer', Sensaphonics AU is an independent organization, operating as a fully accredited affiliate of Sensaphonics, Inc.
"The music industry is growing very fast in Oceania and Asia right now," says Ryota Tanaka. "We know from experience that hearing loss will also be a growing problem in this part of the world. We opened this new office and lab to help meet the needs of musicians and music fans, representing the Sensaphonics approach - as the experts in safe sound."
UAE - Protec was delighted to support its client, SNAP, with lighting, video and rigging for the Games15 Middle East event, held at Dubai International Marine Club from 10-12 September 2015.
The premier gaming event in the region, hosted by ESL, saw more than 20,000 eager gaming fans brave soaring temperatures to watch global teams from ESL go head-to-head over three days, competing for the US$250,000 prize.
The Main Arena was rigged using Protec's EHD (extra heavy duty) ground support structure which held three LED screens rigged off the 18" sub-truss. The stage was considerably smaller than the arena shows that ESL regularly produces, so Protec took the challenge of making the stage look like an arena show for TV without the space of an arena. Protec's project manager Simon Travis explained: "The main issue was the width of the Main Arena rig. We had to make it sma
UK - System integrators Pure Audio Visual has been achieving increasing success with Martin Audio's discreet OmniLine micro array systems in university lecture and room multi-purpose facilities as its reputation spreads.
Pure AV systems specialist Colin Hasted has helped this award-winning system open up a vibrant new channel for a product that has traditionally been more prevalent in the HoW sector.
"Since receiving budget approvals, universities in the north west, in particular, have gone for this in a big way - adopting OmniLine through example," he says. "OmniLine has proved ideal for awkward, multi-purpose spaces with difficult acoustics, where a discreet solution is required. As a result, we have OmniLine in well over half of the north-west universities and all the Liverpool universities - with more to come.
The Netherlands - At the sold-out STRAF_WERK Festival, four Meyer Sound systems helped transform Amsterdam's Sportpark Riekerhaven into a playground for electronic music fans. Led by a Lyon linear sound reinforcement system, the systems were provided by Generations Light & Sound of 's-Gravenzande, the Netherlands.
"We heard several new systems through the course of last year, and the one that blew us away was Lyon," says Chris van Meer of Amsterdam-based Apenkooi, Inc., the music events company that produced STRAF_WERK. "For a dance music event organizer, sound is a critical element. We need a partner that we can depend on for consistent quality, and for us that partner has been Generations."
This is the second consecutive year that Generations has provided Lyon for STRAF_WERK. "When we first used the Lyonss last year the results were fantastic,"
UK - PAI has delivered an immersive audio-visual scheme at Nickleodeon's European flagship at 1 Leicester Square, London.
Positioned in the heart of one of the world's prime retail and tourism destinations, the store offers a platform to showcase the global entertainment brand and its internationally-recognised characters.
Appointed by SmartDesign Group, the South Wales-based systems integrator was tasked with installing an array of AV, sound, lighting, multimedia and interactive elements throughout the multi-level space.
The flagship is the UK's first following a new partnership between Nickelodeon Viacom Consumer Products and Entertainment Retail Enterprises. It boasts more than 40 digital displays, a range of short throw and glass projection, touchscreen technology and audio equipment.
Upon approaching the store eyes will be drawn to the striking landscape video wall be
UK - Each year, education organisation PiXL holds an awards ceremony that celebrates the significant achievements of students from all across the UK. This year, PiXL's Celebrating Success took place on 23 September at Central Hall Westminster. As production service partner at the historic venue, White Light provided the lighting, audio and video production support to help create what was a spectacular celebration.
PiXL provides over 1,500 schools with access to vibrant, purposeful conferences and networks of people, alongside resources, training schemes and development programmes. The organisation also gives opportunities and support to all young people, regardless of their background or ability, in order for them to achieve their potential - something which was highlighted at this year's Celebrating Success event.
The awards were presented by food-entrepreneur Levi Roots, whi
Germany - As part of Shure's strategic focus on providing innovative solutions in the A/V Conferencing and Integration market, the company has partnered with Polycom. Shure is working with Polycom SoundStructure, HDX, Group Series, and Vortex Solutions to connect wireless microphones to Polycom audio and video conferencing equipment.
Because Shure has satisfied Polycom's extensive interoperability requirements, it can brand Microflex Wireless as Polycom Ready. Polycom Ready solutions, including end-user devices, network devices, and software applications, are tested for interoperability with Polycom products and applications. When customers see solutions bearing the Polycom Ready badge, they know they've been proven to work with the world's leading open standards-based UC&C platform.
"We are very proud that the Microflex Wireless System has earned the Polycom Ready design