Merlijn Van Veen's Low Frequency Control primer, proving particularly popular.
With the first day of the show completed, there is a definite air of optimism around Olympia, particularly from the audio fraternity. We talked to some returning exhibitors and some first timers to see exactly what it is that is making this such a positive experience for them.
"PLASA needs people from the audio industry to get behind it," says SFL
Introduced by PLASA's managing director Peter Heath, the seminar will include Dante Level 1 and 2 training from Audinate's Kieran Walsh, live table-top displays and a session on deploying Dante networks in live events from Liam Halpin.
"Audinate is pleased to co-present this day of seminars in cooperation with PLASA," says Kieran. "Attendees will receive training that will help in taking the Dante Certified exams, discover how some of the la
Of particular interest on its stand this year are the Showtec LED Sunstrip Lamp GU10, Infinity Chimp 300 and Infinity iS-400 440W LED-spot with CMY.
More than 60,000 Showtec LED Sunstrip Lamp GU10 have been sold since the Sunstrip Active was launched - the equivalent of 600,000 halogen lamps.
"As LED technology becomes more advanced, it's now possible to replace the Sunstrip halogen lamps with an LED variant
Visitors can also find the new seven-colour Platinum Seven LED wash luminaire, plus the TVL CYC RGBW cyc wash fixture, the Sniper Pro (an upgrade of the PLASA Award-winning Sniper 2R with three times the power) and the Protron 3K Color, a high-power 40,000 lumen LED colour strobe.
Elation's line of creative high-res LED display panels, the EVHD Series, comes in three pixel pitches (2.8mm, 3.9mm and 5.9mm). EVHD modules are curveable, to meet a wider range of creative applications and feature a fanless design with complete fron
The innovative approach taken to design and operation has led to a faultless installation in Tennessee, completed by BellaTEX Inc. & Ty Prewitt sent this independent report:
"I have nothing but good things to say about the LivePipe product. It offers significant and unique advantages - & showed us it will work in very difficult situations.
"LivePipe was not only the best solution in this case, but its cost was on par or lower than other options. I believe it's appeal will be broad. It can be exceptionally quick to install. Since it doesn't include hoisting a 150Kg motor, 'quick' actually has some validity.
"The assembly and installation process is significantly simpler than any other products I've encountered. The heaviest section was
Newly appointed d&b sales partner SFL Group can be found on stand V60, where d&b's DS10 Audio network bridge will be shown, alongside other points of interest from the company's portfolio. Also exhibiting is d&b sales partner SSE/Wigwam, at stand J20, where visitors can find hands-on introductions to d&b's NoizCalc, the far field noise immission modelling software and the new QSC plug-in Q-SYS. NoizCalc is also up for a PLASA Award for Innovation (and don't forget you can see all this year's nominated product upstairs at the Innovation Gallery).
d&b GB is also playing key roles in a number of new PLASA Show attractions this year. For those thirsting for audio networking tech
Drawing attention are MagicPanel-FX - an exciting new multi-function luminaire with 5 x 5 array of squared lenses on its front face producing a variety of 2D and 3D effects, which builds on the creative potential of its predecessors in the MagicPanel family - and MagicBurst, which is not only Ayrton's first strobe but the industry's first high-power graphic LED strobe, offering continuous rotation on both axes. Its 384 x 384mm squared face has 3,840 high-output white LEDs grouped into an 8 x 8 matrix - great for arrays. Wit
The company is also featuring one of its most versatile fixtures, the Rogue R1 FX-B, which has five individually controllably heads, each with infinite rotation of both pan and tilt, and its new Maverick series which launched in April of this year. Maverick is Chauvet Professional's latest power-packed series of tour grade moving head fixtures featuring the MK2 Wash, MK2 Spot, and MK1 Hybrid.
"We are thrilled to be returning to PLASA as a Gold Sponsor this year," said Michael Brooksbank General Manager of Chauvet Europe. "The response to a number of our latest fixtures, including the Maverick s
The interactive zone features a maze of exciting and thought-provoking experiments in audio, lighting and visual wonders. Simple, entertaining and educational each experiment proves a concept, or demonstrates a principle to wow the user with a little bit of science.
There's virtual reality and prisms, experiments on perception and even a 'Brain Transfer Machine'!
The experiments end with 'Lens through
Named in memory of Tony Gottelier, the renowned industry innovator and commentator who passed away in 2006, the annual Gottelier Award aims to recognise those product developers who have made significant long-term contributions to the advancement of entertainment, presentation or installation technology - whether in audio, lighting, rigging, staging, or any other related field.
The competition was tough, with this year's nominees being Chris Cronin, founder of Total Solutions Group (TSG), Artistic Licence founder Wayne Howell, Dr Christian Heil founder of L-Acoustics, Masaaki 'Mick' Okabayashi, head of Yamaha's digital mixing console development team, Yvan Péard, co-founder of Ayrton, The Strand Lighting R&D team, 1960s-1980s, led by Marin Moore and later
Managing director, Keith Wrigley told LSi: "LED lighting PCB applications represents over 70% of our business turnover and the experience we have with thermal management of high power LED devices and specialist materials is directly applicable to the PLASA audience and co-exhibitors."
Audio application circuit board d K6s also require the very highest quality, connectivity and aesthetic appearance to match the aspirational nature of high-end equipment, and Momentum have a growing number of pro-audio and control system customers including other PLASA exhibitors who encouraged Momentum to attend the show.
"The results so far have been hugely encouraging and we have alre
A recent re-brand was part of a consolidation of Hawthorn's business interests following the purchase of Anagram Production Services and Rex Howard Drapes, both now firmly under the new banner of Hawthorn and has allowed them to simplify the company structure ahead of their 30th anniversary in the events industry, in February of 2017.
"PLASA is a good show for us to reach a multitude of different sectors and we catch up with an amazing number of people over the 3 days of the show," says Martin. "Our approach to exhibiting is a little different. We don't have an
The Awards garner a huge amount of respect because they are independently and impartially judged by an invited team of industry experts.
To win an Award for Innovation, a nominated product had to satisfy the chairman of judges that it met the criteria for Innovation by clearly showing that it demonstrates a new style of thinking; improves technical practice; introduces new technology, new materials or new techniques; includes patents or unique intellectual property; offers a new commercial advantage, or improves safety.
The judges awarded all eight troph
Keith Holland, RS chairman, said, "We are again keeping with the ever popular residential format familiar with RS conferences, which encourages valuable and sociable networking between attendees. We have taken RS to Manchester in the past, which resulted in excellent contributions from Salford and Manchester Universities, among others, and this time we are hoping for something similar from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR)
The well-attended ceremony saw almost 500 professionals come together to celebrate the achievements of lighting and video designers working on shows across the UK.
The event was hosted by Australian actor, television presenter and comedian Mark Little. The winners have been revealed as:
THEATRE
The ETC Award for Dance: Michael Hulls for Conceal | Reveal, Russell Maliphant Company, Sadler's Wells
The Hawthorn Award for Musicals: Mark Henderson for Sunset Boulevard, English National Opera
The Robert Juliat Award for Opera: Joachim Klein for Saul, Glyndebourne Festival
The Elation Professional Award for Plays: Jan
The German company carried on where they left off at this year's NAB Show, where the new Route66 AutoRouter picked up a prestigious award. Supporting DiGiCo, as well as standalone Optocore systems it closes the ring automatically once a mobile stagebox is added or removed from the system
"Many clients and distributors were talking about this product," said managing director, Tine Helmle. "They love the device and the stand was buzzing."
Also shown for the very first time was the new Route66 40/40, and a highly successful press launch formed the hub of the five-day show. Presented by BroaMan technical director Marc Brunke, the international press audience was enrapt as he explained th
Clay Paky presented its products at their best, at a large booth in the Ambersphere village, through a demo-show programmed by lighting designer Alex Mildenhall, operator on TV show X-Factor.
The Clay Paky Scenius Profile won the PLASA Award for Innovation. The judges said "This product's innovation reaches from the lamp and reflector all the way through the optical path."
The Scenius Profile was not the only acclaimed product at the Clay Paky booth. Visitors and the award judges themselves showed great interest in the Shar-Bar, a movin
The just launched Spiider LED wash beam luminaire was the visual centrepiece of the stand, with 42 Spiiders arranged on a scenic 'super-web' web at the heart of a spectacular lightshow that ran every hour.
Just launched globally on the internet via the trending 'Spiiders all over the web' video three days before the show, it was the hot product of the expo!
The super-web was neatly concealed behind drapes that transformed the stand into a theatrical space to show off Robe's other highlighted products which included the new Halo pixel ring, the all-LED DL series and
Their FreeSpeak II wireless, HelixNet partyline and Eclipse digital matrix systems have formed the backbone of major events like Hillsong Conference and the Queensland and Victorian Schools Spectaculars, ensuring these massive gigs and their live broadcasts run without a hitch.
Taking over Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena and most of its neighbouring venues in Olympic Park, Hillsong Conference was a four-day gathering of more than 30,000 faithful, with all of the production requirements of a massive arena show. Gearhouse Broadcast supplied and operated the comms system, which used 50 FreeSpeak II 1.9GHz beltpacks, one HMS-4X HelixNet main station running 12 HBP-2X
The event, which was this year hosted by Australian actor and TV presenter Mark Little, has become a highlight in the lighting and video design world, providing a platform to recognise the hard work and boundless creativity demonstrated in the industry. With over 500 lighting and video professionals attending the award ceremony, the pressure was on for Hawthorn to deliver a spectacular production, with their lighting designer Chris Green taking up the gauntlet.
Producing a lighting d
"We believe in investing time and energy to nurture the skills and enthusiasm for our industry from the next generation of technicians, designers and producers," observes MD Shaun Pearce, whose company Pearce Hire has an established intern programme with local college PRC (Peterborough Regional College).
"We have a long-held commitment at Pearce Hire to engage with those students studying at PRC, offering internships with us, which often leads to seasonal or even full time employment of those students who really shine and have a passion for the work we do. Getting involved with Production Futures, and supporting t
The sweet summertime mood that enveloped fans at the historic ballpark on 9 and 10 September came not from baseball, but from a memorable concert by country music superstar Jason Aldean and special guest Kid Rock.
Contributing to the freewheeling atmosphere was a fast-moving high intensity lightshow created by Keith Hoagland that featured a floor package of Chauvet Professional Rogue RH1 Hybrid moving hybrid fixtures supplied by Bandit Lites.
"We added the floor package, because we felt that the Rogue Hybrids would be an excellent complement to the other fixtures on our rig," said Ho
For the second consecutive year, Powersoft partner Barowski AG provided sound reinforcement for the main stage, situated on the Hauptmarkt in front of the city's main town hall, bidding successfully for the contract, issued by organisers, the City of Nuremberg.
Billed as "Germany's largest world music festival", and attracting more than 200,000 visitors over the three days, for its 41st edition, Bardentreffen focused on a variety of music from around the globe under the theme Sounds of the Islands.
Barowski AG had first fielded their X8 racks for the 2015 edition, but according to Michael Barowski, chairman of the board, they increased their inventory for this
Madrid-based PRG Spain was responsible for the audiovisual production for the festival's three main stages and incorporated Elation Professional's Cuepix Panel LED matrices into the design for Stage Three, a 10,000-capacity stage located inside the main tennis court arena.
"The Mad Cool Festival has been one of our biggest productions this summer with 98 staff from PRG Spain, one full day of set-up and another of lighting, video and sound rehearsals prior to the three days of concerts," said PRG's Francisco 'Pako' Palazon, head of production and lighting design for the three main sta
