Events

Details

14 March 2016

Engagement is seen as the key word at conferences and events today, as audiences become more discerning in the fast paced world of technology. Organisers looking for new and innovative ways of keeping audiences engaged can see the newest solutions here, with on-the-spot demonstrations and advice from one of the UK's leading creative technical teams.

Midlands Conference Tech Expo takes place at the CBSO Centre, Berkley Street, Birmingham B1 2LF on 3 September from 9.00am to 3.00pm.

The event will allow visitors to experience the sheer impact of the latest high resolution LED display technology first hand, plus much more.

Saville event manager Vicky Fennell says, "Organisers looking to make a BIG impression at the

Details

14 March 2016

A number of new effects - some of which are being previewed or the first time - will dominate the China International Exhibition Centre (CIEC), where they line up alongside more than 1,000 other exhibitors.

The only products that will previously have been seen by visitors are the XR 330 Framing and XR 470 Beam - both previewed at the Chinese GET Show back in April.

The XR 330 Framing is the latest in the XR 330 family. This high output (12,300 lumens) moving head has adopted PR patented technology, combining advanced 330 watts lamp technology with superb optical system. The framing system consists of four framing blades that can all individually adjusted +30° while the entire system can rotate 90°. Lightweight (at just 22.5kg) it also has an impressively f

Details

14 March 2016

"It's art, not plant hire." These words from Tony Andrews, founder of loudspeaker manufacturer Funktion One, will ring true with sound designers and engineers around the world. Having spent his life exploring the higher possibilities in audio, Tony is well placed to discuss his statement further in the 'audio moment', the chosen subject for his Audio and Consciousness session at this year's PLASA Show, where he will doubtless take an audio path less travelled while considering the difference between hearing and listening.

T

Details

14 March 2016

Sadly, the 2014 Award was presented posthumously, by the unanimous agreement of his fellow nominees, to Pasquale Quadri, the founder of Clay Paky and an admired innovator for 40 years, who passed away shortly before the 2014 show. This year, his fellow nominees will again stand in the shortlist. The nominees for 2015 are:

Richard Belliveau

As one of the co-founders of Texas-based lighting manufacturer High End Systems, and still leading the company's product developments today, Belliveau h

Details

14 March 2016

"Following the success of last year's PLASA, we are excited to be showcasing so many new technologies from our rental and sales portfolio for system integrators and live events partners," says Stuart Holmes, managing director of PSCo. "We will have new technologies across mu

Details

14 March 2016

Joining valued partner and leading lighting supplier for South Africa DWR Distribution on stand, Philips exhibited the award-winning new Vari-Lite VL4000 Series, industry-standard Strand Lighting NEO and 500ML Consoles and the Showline SL NITRO 510 and 510C LED strobes.

The DWR team reported a high level of interest in the Philips range, with Nick Britz, product manager for the stand, saying, "The SL NITRO 510 strobe is extremely popular in South Africa, thanks to its versatility - it acts as both a flood and strobe light and can be pixel mapped. We saw a lot of people coming up to discuss its wide range of features and wanting to see a demo."

Mart

Details

14 March 2016

Other events included Jamfest - which took place in Echo Arena - and support for the city's Rock 'n' Roll Liverpool Marathon, making it the busiest summer period since the venue opened in 2008.

Nicky Norman, senior production and technical manager, said: "We provided production for a series of conference, entertainment and sporting events during the summer which is

Details

14 March 2016

Organised by the ALD, STLD, The Fifth Estate Ltd and Clay Paky and now in its eighth year, the KOI Awards is a celebration of the creative talents of international lighting and digital content designers working in the UK across TV, theatre and concert touring and events.

The theatre shortlist is the first to be revealed, after a panel of senior critics from national newspapers deliberated over the finest lighting and video work from the categories of Dance, Musicals, Opera and Plays. The shortlist is as follows:

Dance - Lucy Carter for Woolf Works, Royal Ballet, Howard Harrison for Edward Scissorhands, Theatre Royal, Plymouth, Sadler's Wells

Details

14 March 2016

Unusual Rigging is confirmed as the conference's Platinum sponsor for the third consecutive year, while Outback Rigging makes a welcome return as Gold sponsor.

"Rigging is an essential aspect of almost every event but, as productions increase in scale, size and complexity, so do the consequences of getting it wrong," says Alan Jacobi, managing director at Unusual Rigging. "Unusual Rigging wholeheartedly supports conferences such as this. It's imperative that we, as an industry, keep the debate fresh in order t

Details

14 March 2016

Presented by multi award winning theatre and opera designer Paule Constable and large-scale arena spectacular lighting designer Durham Marenghi, both sessions were quickly over-subscribed from the moment they were announced and two further sessions were quickly scheduled to absorb the overflow.

Constable, who is also associate director of the National Theatre, London, talked passionately about her preferred collaborative approach to the design process and illustrated this with images of her recent designs for shows including the award winning Warhorse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

In contrast, Marenghi focused on t

Details

14 March 2016

Paper topics this year include timely subjects ranging from Audio Education and Forensic Audio, to Cinema Sound, Sound Reinforcement, Spatial Audio and more. Tutorial topics are slated to include Interactive Music: Past, Present and Future, Main Microphone Techniques for 2.0 and 5.1, Listening Tests - Understanding the Basic Concepts and other in-depth topics of interest. Additional topics in the Workshop series will include Low Frequency Behaviour in

Details

14 March 2016

This year, the event attracted over 7400 key players from 20 African countries, with over 50% of respondents to visitor surveys at the event reporting they make buying decisions for their organisations, and over 26% saying they influence buying decisions. Crucially, nearly 1,000 of the organisations represented have a technology spend of over R1 million a year, and 94 of them have a spend exceeding R50 million annually, say the organisers.

"Mediatech Africa presents the only opportunity for major players in these niche sectors to view and assess the latest broadcast and entertainment technologies on home ground," says Simon Robinson, publisher and managing editor at Mediatech Africa eve

Details

14 March 2016

In light of the above and after 17 years as PLASA's chief executive officer, Matthew Griffiths has decided that now is the right time to step aside which would help kick start and facilitate a fresh set of ideas and approaches needed for the next chapter in PLASA's dev

Details

14 March 2016

APWPT is an international not-for-profit organisation that represents users and manufacturers of wireless production tools, so called SAB/SAP or PMSE - wireless microphones, cameras and effect control. Sennheiser Group is a founding member of APWPT and supports the organization in its worldwide engagement.

PMSE is the generic term which covers an extensive range of wireless production tools used for art, culture, conferences, trade fairs, entertainment applications, educat

Details

14 March 2016

This award is to highlight an individual within any role of the Automation Department. The individuals nominated for this award are people that have made an outstanding contribution and effort to a show/event or in general over the years. This person should be renowned for their dedication and effort to this discipline and respected among the technical theatre community. The nominees for 2015 are David Greatex, The Twins FX, Richard Willcox and Musa Halimeh.

"We are delighted to be sponsoring the award again this year." says Rigging Team director, Adam Searle. "Everyone behind the scenes works tirelessly to realise the ideas of the 'creatives' and in the pas

Details

14 March 2016

Every day dealers, manufacturers, specifiers and end-users need to work through this channel to acquire products in systems integration and theatrical systems. Often times this channel is overwhelming and confusing. Our panel of experts will break down the pieces and explain how the system can successfully work together for all participants in the channel.

The panel is made up of industry veterans from all points in the channel. Bill Groener, general manager of systems at 4Wall Entertainment will serve as moderator. Dealers will be represented by Bill Price, director of systems at Barbizon Lighting Company and Paul Vincent, founder and president of Vincent Lighting Systems. Brian Coddington, control

Details

14 March 2016

The Awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of lighting and, as of last year, video designers working on shows in the UK.

The Concert Touring and Events judging panel, who were joined this year by new recruits Financial Times arts pages journalist David Cheal and editor of live event technology publication Total Production International Kelly Murray, deliberated over what they described as an 'incredibly high standard' of entries this year before reaching a decision.

The Concert Touring and Events shortlist is as follows:

Arena - Jamie Thompson for The Script, LeRoy Bennett for Lady Gaga and Rob Sinclair for Kylie Minogue

Club - Liam Tully for James Bay, S

Details

14 March 2016

PLASA Show 2015 takes place at London's ExCel from 4th - 6th October. From 1st September to 3rd October visitors can pre-register for £10, meaning doing so before the end of the free period can make a significant saving. On site entry will cost £25.

"The show will feature over 300 brands, covering all production di

Details

14 March 2016

The company's main draw for the show, which is geared towards professionals engaged in the creation, management and delivery of entertainment and news content, are set to be the Source Four LED Series 2 Tungsten HD and Daylight HD fixtures. Specially designed to produce the best quality white light in cool (4000-6500K) or warm (2700-4500K) ranges, each is tuned for high definition use, eliminating any on-camera flicker. They have already been installed at a range of studios worldwide, including Israel's Channel 1 news studio in Jerusalem, where the technical staff and presenters were impressed by the flicker-free performance, low heat and impressive light output.

Alongside the two white light engines on the stand, the full-colour, high pow

Details

14 March 2016

Electro-Voice will celebrate the BPM premiere of its EKX loudspeaker family, which be displayed alongside the Electro-Voice ETX Powered Loudspeaker family as well as ZxA1, ZLX and ELX loudspeakers. Dynacord will present the Xa2-PRO system in Birmingham for the first time. Also showcased will be the brand's Vertical Array system, AXM 12A monitor as well as the PM502, PowerMate and CMS mixers.

The EKX series is the newest member of the Electro-Voice portable loudspeaker family, and combines legendary EV sound quality and reliability with the latest technology - all in a lightweight, compact package suitable for a wide range of sound reinforcement scenarios, including m

Details

14 March 2016

Featuring over 300 brands, with many showing new products and services, a major new initiative for this year sees PLASA Show adopting the successful 'Focus' model of a sector-specific, zoned layout, which will facilitate easier networking and make navigation around the show much easier than in previous years.

By the beginning of September, pre-registration data for PLASA Show 2015 was tracking at 10% up year on year over the past two shows, with 62% of those registered being either final decision makers or equipment specifiers. In addition visitors from 94 countries have pre-registered, against those from 74 countries who attended in 2014.

"When PLASA Show move

Details

14 March 2016

On display are a selection of products from their wide portfolio of leading technology brands, including the extensive ProLights lighting and LED video screen ranges; the award-winning Jands lighting control solutions; Green Hippo Hippotizer V4 media servers; Allen & Heath audio consoles; and Dynamic Audio Device, Nexo and RCF loudspeakers.

Staff from each of the company's specialist product divisions are on hand to discuss the requirements and to provide demonstrations and advice.

(Jim Evans)

Details

14 March 2016

HHB is also debuting the Roland V-1200HD 2 M/E video switcher. Featuring a new hybrid engine that combines a 4:2:2 / 2 M/E switcher with a 4:4:4/10-bit multi-format processor presentation switcher, V-1200HD offers multi-format flexibility with a choice of additional audio and video options using the Roland X

Details

14 March 2016

"This year, we have invited some of our key equipment suppliers to join us on the stand and I'm delighted to announce that Avid, d&b audiotechnik, DiGiCo and L-Acoustics have all agreed to display some of their latest products with us," commented SSE Sales Director, Alex Penn.

Avid will feature the VENUE S6L; d&b audiotechnik will have some of their new install and touring amplifier products; DiGiCo will be demonstrating the S21; and L-Acoustics will feature the X Series.

In addition, microphone and wireless specialist Sennheiser will be represen