Europe - DirectOut named Audiosales (Italy) as Distributor of the Year during the company’s recent Insider event. DirectOut also recognised the exceptional performances of tm stagetec systems (Australia) with the award Rookie of the Year award, while Lawo BVBA (Netherlands) took the Prodigy of the Year accolade. Jan Ehrlich, CEO of DirectOut, states: “Our cooperation with Audiosales has constantly developed over the past 10 years and we appreciate Audiosales’ professional performance in service and support across the pro audio and broadcast segments in Italy. It’s another success story and this award expresses a well-deserved acknowledgement for their great job.” Marco Alterini, sales director of Audiosales adds, “Receiving this award is of great satisfaction for us, not only because of a great year, but also because it is the tangible proof of what kind of
Finland - The Finnish Sports Museum housed at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki has recently re-opened to the public with a completely revitalised permanent exhibition after extensive renovations closed the venue for five years. The new exhibitions celebrate Finnish sport using the best of what modern technology has to offer, including a Genelec Smart IP audio solution. All audio, video and control technology was supplied by AV integration specialists Studiotec Oy, with AV and sound design by building services engineering experts, Granlund Oy. Granlund’s Aki Päivärinne and Timo Muurinen were responsible for the AV design. “Our aim was to put the visitor in the middle of the action, to make them feel as if they are really there,” says Päivärinne. “It’s hard to think of any sport where sound is not a crucial part of the experience. Sounds from various sports
USA - LEA Professional has announced a partnership with Polaris Controls to serve the company’s growing customer base in Latin America and the Caribbean. With both organisations led by teams of recognised industry veterans, the partnership will seek to further enhance LEA Professional’s growing customer base in these international markets. Polaris Controls has been operating in the pro audio industry for over a decade. Co-founder Ariel Enrique Gutiérrez comments, “The AV industry across all verticals is changing and it is imperative that companies move with that change. LEA Professional is agile and dynamic and can easily respond to the changes in the market, not to mention their solutions are intuitive, easy to use and built with integrators in mind. “LEA understands the importance of customer care and engaging with your audience via digital tools. They are n
UK - Polar has been appointed as the UK and Ireland distributor for AMX, a part of Harman Professional Solutions. AMX is dedicated to integrating AV solutions for an IT World, solving the complexity of managing technology ‘with reliable, consistent and scalable systems comprising control and automation, system-wide switching and AV signal distribution, digital signage and technology management’. AMX systems are deployed worldwide in conference rooms, homes, classrooms, network operation/command centres, hotels, entertainment venues and broadcast facilities. AMX is dedicated to integrating AV solutions for an IT World, solving the complexity of managing technology with ‘reliable, consistent and scalable systems comprising control and automation, system-wide switching and AV signal distribution, digital signage and technology management’. AMX systems are deployed
UK - #WeMakeEvents, the campaign to support the live entertainment sector during the COVID crisis, is hosting an online Speakeasy from Monday 30 November to Friday 8 January. This new virtual space will deliver skills workshops, support sessions for finance and wellbeing, ‘fireside chats’ with some of the industry’s greats, and plenty of entertainment. All industry professionals are invited to join in and connect with colleagues during what will likely be a difficult festive period for many. The Speakeasy will run regular quizzes, webinars, Q&A clinics and training sessions, and will host a forum on Discord which will be open at all hours for people to seek and share advice. On the agenda is a highly anticipated live conversation between former Cirque du Soleil artists Laura-Ann Chong and Andy Buchanan, advice on motivation through these difficult times, pl
France - The Georges-Pompidou Cultural Centre in Vincennes near Paris will be the first venue in France to be equipped with an Arthur followspot, the latest addition to Robert Juliat's range of LED followspots. With nearly 800 events a year, the town of Vincennes offers a rich cultural life and has three venues with quality facilities, including the Georges-Pompidou Cultural Centre. The 525-seat venue hosts many shows throughout the year during the cultural season, including music, theatre, dance, comedy and shows for younger audiences. The Cultural Centre wanted to replace its 1200W HMI RJ Korrigan followspots and was looking for an LED model. "It was important for us to play the safety card in regard to quality and, of course, the feedback we had on the Robert Juliat luminaires. In addition, I personally consider LED equipment to be the future of our technical profes
UK - Following the success of the Backup Pumpkin Challenge, which ran for its second year this Halloween, the technical entertainment charity has announced the launch of the Backup Christmas Challenge. The challenge will see members of the creative and technical entertainment industries battle it out in a number of categories to see who can reign supreme and put their lighting, design and comedy skills to the test. The categories are: ● Best Exterior House Xmas Design ● Best Xmas Tree Design ● Best Xmas Pet Outfit ● Best Gingerbread Design ● Cheesiest/Funniest Xmas Jumper The winners will be decided by an esteemed panel of judges from Backup, the ALD and the ASD. The competition is completely free to enter but those wishing to donate to Backup
Doorstepping - Actors Maria Friedman and Adrian Der Gregorian have launched a new production company to take the West End to the nation’s doorsteps. Backed by theatre figures including Cameron Mackintosh, Nica Burns and Sonia Friedman, well as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group, Doorstep Productions will stage personalised performances from hit shows, in full costume, on streets, driveways and in gardens across the UK. It is promising a "song-and-dance spectacle" featuring up to six performers, with audiences able to choose songs and scenes from shows including Les Misérables, Mary Poppins, The Phantom of the Opera and Dreamgirls. The company will also be offering a Dickensian carol singing experience over the festive period. Alongside Der Gregorian, who is her husband, Friedman has assembled a group of West End actors, si
Sweden - CT Northern Europe which has offices across Sweden, Norway and Denmark has become an L-Acoustics certified provider for the event market. “I have been working with the L-Acoustics brand since 1995 and have seen the advantage of dealing with such a reputable company,” says CT’s business unit manager, Ola Bigélius. “I have always believed in developing a close connection with our suppliers. Becoming an official L-Acoustics certified provider corresponds perfectly with this objective.” A long-term benefit of being an L-Acoustics partner is the training programme offered by L-Acoustics. CT’s new technicians will benefit from the technical knowledge of the manufacturer, allowing CT Northern Europe to maintain high service standards within the team. “Adding Ola and the Creative Technology team in Scandinavia to the network of L-Acoustics partn
Argentina - Buenos Aries-based Sophya Acosta Lighting Design Studio recently embarked on a project to highlight the plight of local venues affected by the ‘cultural emergency’ resulting from restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project, entitled Espectador-Luz (Spectator-Light) set out to demonstrate how new protocols approved by state agencies – such as social distancing measures and the proposal to limit audience numbers to 30% of capacity – ignore the needs of small and medium-sized venues with limited space. Batons of white light were placed in auditoria around the city to highlight the lack of spectators, shows and life. Venues taking part in the project included La Gloria Espacio Teatral, El Excéntrico de la 18, and Teatro Anfitrion. “Until the beginning of the year we’d considered these theatrical spaces our second home. When we
UK - disguise has recognised the need to take learning online. Users can now access the company’s full complement of training courses directly from a new online learning management system (LMS), free to anyone looking to upskill in any of the disguise workflows and disciplines. The launch of the online platform coincides with disguise’s decision to extend the free licence for their Designer software until June 2021 in an initiative to extend learning opportunities to all. The disguise training team has redesigned the entire training programme, in order to facilitate remote and flexible learning. The new programme will split each major course up into two parts; one taught online on the new system, and the second, more practical part, carried out in-person. The programme will allow students to test their knowledge on specialist disguise equipment, and students will also ha
South Africa - grandMA training is in full swing, with numerous grandMA3 Basic Training days taking place in Johannesburg and a grandMA2 Basic Training course recently hosted in Durban. The workshops, all presented free of charge, form part of the official MA University training programme. Whilst there are currently only a few grandMA3 consoles in South Africa, it has not stopped lighting designers and technicians from keeping up to date with the latest trends and technology. DWR Distribution’s Jannie de Jager has orchestrated and presented grandMA3 Basic Training in Johannesburg, where three workshops took place in November (including a workshop dedicated to the UJ Theatre crew), and a date has been pencilled in to host the Jo'burg Theatre at the sta
India - Responding to growing regional demand, ClearOne has bolstered its sales network throughout India with the appointment of its newest distribution partner, Trustech Audio Visual Solution LLP. “ClearOne represents innovative AV industry leadership with their full portfolio of solutions,” said Hardik Shah, co-founder and director of Trustech. “Our partners’ needs vary widely, and we know we can count on the reliability of ClearOne solutions and their commitment to providing the customer support our clients require. We know we can support any type of installation with confidence.” “As the breadth of ClearOne solutions continues to expand, we are tasked with finding those outstanding distribution partners around the globe with the history and industry knowledge upon which customers can rely,” said ClearOne chair and CEO Zee Hakimoglu. “Trustech stand
South Africa - tvONE, manufacturer of video conversion and AV signal distribution technology, has appointed DWR Distribution as a new distributor for tvONE and Magenta brand products in South Africa. DWR Distribution offers full technical solutions for the entertainment, broadcast, architectural, and commercial markets in Africa. The company’s current band offering also includes Green Hippo, which is a sister company to tvONE. DWR will distribute a full range tvONE and Magenta products, including video wall processors, scalers and switchers, multi-window processors, signal extenders, matrix routers, distribution amplifiers, racking solutions, and more. This is an exciting acquisition for our company,” comments Robert Izzett, director and head of sales at DWR. “While we look forward to utilising the extensive product range in studios, which includes all the
UK - Unprecedented line-up of world-renowned photographers donate prints of iconic music artists to raise money for Stagehand’s COVID-19 Crew Relief fund. Over 100 iconic prints of renowned music artists taken by globally celebrated photographers including Rankin, Tony McGee and Jill Furmanovsky are now on sale. Available for £95 each, the sale represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of music history, with many of the prints usually unavailable to buy. 100% of proceeds go to Stagehand - the only UK charity specifically dedicated to providing hardship funding for live music crews who have fallen on tough times. Available from today for a limited four-week period, expect a mix of established photography names, from Gerry Mankovitz and Pooneh Ghana to Adrian Boot and Ki Pharaoh. The eclectic range of artists represented in the photographs inc
UK - “If you’re planning to create atmospheric effects, these are the entertainment industry’s go to products,” states television and film lighting hire company, Limelite Lighting about the MDG fog and haze generators in its inventory. Located in Goudhurst, Kent, within easy reach of television studios in London and Maidstone, Limelite has been an advocate of MDG haze generators since it was founded in 2007. Directors Ed Railton and Matthew Mountier, both with long-standing freelance careers in theatre touring and television lighting respectively, purchased 10 MDG Atmosphere haze generators at the outset and are still using the same machines 13 years later. “We both had extensive experience of MDG through our freelance careers and knew them to be the best,” says Railton. “We liked the level of control, the fineness of the haze and the smooth, even disper
Denmark - Kinovox is the latest distributor to join the Powersoft family in the Scandinavian region. Founded in 1943 and based just outside of Copenhagen, Kinovox began as a rental staging distributor, before expanding over the years to include broadcast, retail, and digital visual recording products. Today, the company is a dominant supplier of high-quality pro-audio products and offers a vast support system for its clientele. “We have always been aware of Powersoft, as its phenomenal products have always been prominent in the market - for very good reason,” said Jesper Kirkegaard Jensen, co-owner of Kinovox Scandinavia. “When the opportunity came up to work with Powersoft, we knew we couldn’t pass it up and immediately accepted.” The company has an intricate understanding of the professional AV market in Denmark, and its future, of which it says is f
Australia - Jands, Australia’s largest theatre and audio visual technology distribution company, celebrates 50 years of continual ownership on Friday, 27 November, capping five decades that closely tracks the history of live production and indeed, Australian rock’n’roll. Starting with some psychedelic lights in the basement of their parents’ home, Brothers David and Paul Mulholland were soon joined by school friend, (the late) Eric Robinson and went on to buy the fledgling J and S Research Electronics on 27 November 1970. The business took off as live music boomed from the straight-laced 1960s and solid state technology took hold, allowing louder, larger amplifiers. Column PA systems gave way to horn loaded systems derived from cinemas while swirling psychedelic liquid lightshows were replaced with stage lighting systems. Jands built all their equipment - incl
Onerous Restrictions - Theatres have criticised new restrictions planned for December, claiming they are “more onerous” than previous ones and will have major financial ramifications for the sector. Prime minister Boris Johnson announced a new three-tier system that will come into play when lockdown ends on 2 December, and the system will be "made tougher" than before. This includes a requirement for indoor entertainment venues to close in Tier 3, meaning theatres in these areas will be prevented from reopening to audiences next week. In Tiers 1 and 2, public attendance at performances is limited to whichever is lower, 50% capacity or 1,000 people indoors. The London Palladium is due to start performances of Pantoland in December. LW Theatres chief executive Rebecca Kane Burton said the new measures are more “onerous than they were before” and demanded
USA - Two key players in the conferencing audio market have joined forces. Shure has acquired California-based Midas Technology, also known as Stem Audio, which specialises in providing a suite of products including table, ceiling and wall microphones as well as loudspeakers, control interfaces and hubs. With the acquisition of Stem Audio, Shure will be able to further expand and diversify its solution offering for organisations of all sizes, while Stem Audio will benefit from the global infrastructure and support capabilities that Shure provides. “We both believe in ecosystems. Working together, we aim to provide customers with better options to deploy great audio in more spaces, more cost effectively, and more quickly,” said Chris Schyvnick, president and CEO, Shure. “Shure and Stem Audio understand the importance of good quality audio and taking care of custom
UK - GoboPlus.com has partnered with Rosco to bring to market a new range of gobos in support of our technical entertainment charity, Backup. Designed by Exactly13 LTD and exclusively licensed to GoboPlus.com, the new gobo designs are all inspired by elements of the Backup logo and are a practical addition to GoboPlus.com’s existing Backup logo gobos and the expanding range of charity gobos available from GoboPlus.com. The new range comprises 15 aerial, breakup and texture designs, each of which will generate a £3 donation to Backup for every glass gobo sold and £1 for every metal gobo. Paul de Ville, CEO of GoboPlus.com, explains the reasoning behind the initiative: “The aim is to create a legacy income stream for Backup which stretches far into the future, beyond current troubles, and to emphasise the importance of continued support for those in need within our
Germany - Top executives from d&b audiotechnik, the Royal Albert Hall, Audiotonix and Live Nation recently came together to address the future of shared entertainment experiences at the ‘Horizons Summit: Entertainment, Technology and Beyond.’ The virtual panel discussed the effect the pandemic has had on the live events industry and how shared entertainment experiences might look in the future. The discussion, led by journalist and author, Dan Daley, included Amnon Harman, Group CEO d&b audiotechnik; Jackie Wilgar, senior vice-president Live Nation; Craig Hassall, CEO Royal Albert Hall, and James Gordon, CEO Audiotonix. The Summit addressed common partner and customer concerns as well as industry trends including: the pivots required to keep live entertainment companies alive; the future of drive-in and virtual concerts; government support during the
USA - There is a special joy the production team at Life Challenge Church, Odessa, Texas, takes in putting together Sunday morning children’s services. Creative spirits run a little more freely, and new ideas are explored more deeply in a bid to make bible stories come to life for young worshippers. “The kids service gives us an opportunity to go a little more outside the box,” said Gabriel Loera, technical director at Life Challenge Church. “We do more immersive and moving fixtures and contrasting colours across the crowd. We use more upbeat and themed EP backgrounds during the full service rather than just during worship. The kids really respond well to the full immersive environments.” On 18 October, the church gave adult worshippers the opportunity to channel the childhood imagination that resides inside them with a Sunday Nights Kid Service, an event tha
UK - Vestel Visual Solutions reports that it has been selected by Reading Football Club as its official visual technology partner. Vestel’s digital signage, interactive screens and video walls have been deployed throughout the club’s training complex at Bearwood Park in order to support a number of activities, ranging from tactical analysis to providing players with fitness and nutritional advice. The new Bearwood Park facility is home to Reading FC’s men’s and women’s first teams, young professionals (Under-23s and Under-18s) and Academy players from ages 8 to 18. It also houses the coaching staff and management team, alongside a significant proportion of the club’s administrative staff. Reading FC has now equipped the facility with Vestel’s screens to digitally enhance areas such as the yoga room and first team gym, the media room - which includes an i
