UK - Robert Juliat has announced the appointment of Sound Technology as its new exclusive distributor for the UK (England, Scotland and Wales), with effect from 25 April 2023. Expanding its dedicated lighting division, Sound Technology, a Midwich Group company, will exclusively distribute and promote the full range of Robert Juliat lighting equipment. François Juliat, managing director of Robert Juliat, comments, “We are very proud to welcome Sound Technology in the RJ family circle. We are confident they will provide our UK customers with a high level of expertise, as well as comprehensive technical training and after-sales support.” “The Sound Technology team is proud to welcome Robert Juliat aboard. Robert Juliat is the perfect addition to our current portfolio, allowing us to provide a full package in all areas of the industry from live, touring and in
Germany - Ayrton is revealing a number of new products at Prolight+Sound 2023 in Frankfurt (Hall 12.0 Stand D74). The lighter the machine, the more versatile it can be. Weighing only 28.5kg, Rivale Profile has been designed to push limits and is Ayrton’s most versatile luminaire to date. Equipped with a 160mm frontal lens and a brand new 450W high-efficiency LED module, calibrated at 6500K with a luminous flux of 27,000 lumens, Rivale Profile can produce an ultra-intensive beam of 4° - close to that of Ayrton’s famous "LT" versions – with a 13:1 zoom ratio and a zoom range of 4° to 52°. A new high-definition progressive CMY colour mixing system allows a perfect reproduction of pastel colours. A variable Deep RED channel optimizes the colour rendering index at low levels and offers a progressive red with a high level of saturation for specific needs. A
USA - A total of 2.48m guests turned out at NRG Stadium for The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, over half of them (1.36m) paid to attend the live concerts it offered by stars ranging from Jason Aldean and Brad Paisley, to The Chainsmokers and New Kids on the Block. Then there were also the 2.8m carnival riders, and some 215,000 Barbeque contest guests. Lighting this massive and diverse affair was a tall order; and it was one that the LD Systems production services team met with help from a versatile and powerful rig that featured hundreds of Chauvet Professional fixtures, from the COLORado 3 Solo units that highlighted the iconic rodeo announcer’s booth, to the 66 STRIKE 1 blinders that filled the massive stadium concert venue with crowd-engaging audience lighting. “Our goal was to have a lot of flexibility from day to day without sacrificing output,” said LD S
Australia - Equitana is a four-day equine extravaganza staged every two years at Melbourne Showground, celebrating the spirit and passion of Australian equestrians and the integral place that horses play in Australian hearts, minds, history, culture, and society. The last such event was in 2018 as the 2020 one was canned due to Covid, so this year, organisers GTR Events brought it back bigger, better, and more brilliant than before! Lighting designer and technical producer for the event Marcus Pugh specified Robe Esprites and MegaPointes as primary moving lights on his lighting scheme for the 2022 Mane Event, an entertainment spectacle staged on the Mane Stage of the Grand Pavilion venue. This all-action night for all horse lovers showcased multiple horse-based and related skills and featured numerous breeds and equine performers! The Mane Event was prese
World - Depeche Mode are back touring in a big way with their Momento Mori world tour with lighting design by Jason Baeri and lighting supply by 4Wall. Elation lighting features in Baeri’s design, including three fixtures from the award-winning Artiste series of LED movers - Monet, Mondrian and Rembrandt - along with Elation’s new Proteus Rayzor Blade. The Momento Mori tour, which is out in support of their newly released album of the same name, kicked off on 23 March in Sacramento, California, marking their first tour in five years. The European leg begins 16 May in Amsterdam with a North American fall leg set to launch in September. Baeri has support from Joe Bay, who serves as associate lighting designer and lighting programmer, while Sarah Parker is out operating the show as lighting director. His first outing with Depeche Mode, the designer says talks with t
Europe - Founded in 1975 and reinvented in 2009, SGM Light has pushed the limits of the professional LED lighting industry towards a more powerful, flexible, and efficient product design approach. The company is now re-organising its operations in Germany and Austria. “Germany and Austria have always been core markets for SGM Light products and SGM Deutschland as our exclusive distributor has done an extraordinary job over the years,” says SGM. “But as our product line evolves to meet the needs of entertainment and fixed installations, so must our route to market. Therefore, to further strengthen and streamline our efforts to support customers in Germany, SGM Light now has a direct to market setup. “This makes Germany even more of a priority by handling the market with direct to factory support while increasing flexibility of sale to all customers.” Thi
Ireland - Dublin's National Concert Hall is a renowned and prestigious venue that showcases a diverse range of musical performances, from the National Symphony Orchestra and Choir to up-and-coming artists. In an effort to enhance the experience for both performers and audiences, the Concert Hall partnered with Cine-Electric to revamp its lighting system. Prolights was chosen to provide a stunning visual display for all who attended. Illuminating the National Concert Hall posed several challenges and finding the right fixture was a priority. A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland provided demo fixtures of the Prolights EclProfile FW TU that were tested on-site for an extended period. This ensured they met the Concert Hall's requirements. The fixtures were chosen for their high lumen output, quality of whites (3200K) and a high CRI >98 that provides more
The Netherlands - Unlimited Vision & Sound is a full production event rental company based in Den Bosch, capital of the North Brabant area and a renowned beauty spot. Owner and CEO Pascal van Engelen, started the business in the 1990s whilst studying electronics at the local university, initially supplying his own DJ shows and party sets. After he graduated in 2000, he was enjoying the industry so much, that he decided to make it a more serious enterprise, adding several corporate clients and events to the portfolio, with the idea of providing the full technical package. Clients liked his energy and attitude, so Unlimited Vision & Sound grew steadily and sensibly during this time. The company earned a great reputation for being creative, delivering excellent value and investing in quality technology, and the full-time team is currently 15 people, all retained
Belgium - Since recent reviews of the Nerdland Festival in Wachtebeke, building on the enthusiasm of nerds of all ages, were universally positive, it was decided a spectacular show at the Lotto Arena in Antwerp would be next. Featuring captivating presentations on scientific wonders, and a captivating visual spectacle, the Nerdland for Small Nerds show provided entertainment for young and old alike. A significant contribution to the visual aspect of the show was the vivid and dynamic lighting design by Yann Windey that made use of 68 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Splendit. “For the past few years, I have been closely involved creatively and technically with projects by Working Class Heroes, so this was a project I looked forward to working on,” said Windey, owner of WNDY. “The hosts of the session in the Lotto Arena, Lieven Scheire and Hetty Helsmoort
Germany - Claypaky will feature a number of newly-released products at this year’s Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt this week, including first showings of Skylos and Sharpy-X-Spot. The Skylos is a-versatile and weather-resistant fixture, billed as ‘much more than just a classic searchlight’. The Skylos offers dense, solid beams of light and ever-greater light output. It fits a custom 300W white light laser source, which provides a parallel, uniform beam. The beam pours out from a large 300mm front lens, specifically designed in Claypaky’s R&D department and it is uniform and parallel, with no visible hotspots. The beam angle can be adjusted from 0.5° to 5°. Also making its world debut is Arolla Aqua, Claypaky's top-of-the-range weather-resistant light. It is a workhorse with IP66 rating and technical and construction features which were ‘once unimaginable fo
UK - A newly-formed entity, 3LR Group, will combine the operations of 3LR Lighting in the UK and 3LR Design in the USA into a multi-faceted international service provider. Announced by co-founders Josh Allen and Matt Lloyd, the new group will encompass both these distinct but complementary businesses under a single umbrella. At the same time, the group has announced that Josh Allen is relocating from the USA to further develop the group’s range of services as its UK-based global director of design. Named for the recently discovered third light receptor in the inner eye – responsible for our circadian clock and other non-visual responses to light – 3LR Design started as a design consultancy in the USA, formed by Allen 2016. It was followed by Lloyd opening 3LR Lighting – as a UK-based rep agency and brand manager – in 2019. 3LR Design is a brand agnosti
USA - ETC’s flagship Eos lighting control family grows more powerful with every free software release. Eos v3.2 - the latest major update brings powerful tools to quickly adjust fixture-, device- and session-level settings, as well as ‘massive expansions’ in the Augment3d programming environment. As modern lighting systems grow to encompass more and more controllers and devices, easy access to network configuration controls is paramount. Eos v3.2 brings several key settings from the shell into the Eos application proper, allowing them to be saved in the show file and adjusted in real time without leaving your session or stopping output. Device settings are also now stored in profiles within the show file, allowing you to bind devices for quicker configuration. With the template file feature, easily starting from a known point is as simple as starting a new show.
Germany - Australian power and lighting control specialist LSC Control Systems will launch a new product at PL+S. Visitors to the booth will be able to view Nexen - a fully featured 4-port, DINrail-mounting ethernet/DMX node - for the first time. This five-module wide DIN unit is housed in a robust UL94-VO rated ABS plastic body, and offers 10/100MB autosensing RJ45 ethernet, four individually isolated DMX512A ports (RJ45) with configurable RDM and HTP merge per port, and optional RJ45 or hard-wired connector options. Each port can be configured as Input or Output, with RDM enabled or disabled, and configuration can be carried out via LSC’s HOUSTON X software. Powered by PoE or 9-24V DC, the unit gives clear indication of power, network connection, network speed, port mode and signal present. Other features include compatibility with Art-Net (1, 2, 3 and 4), sACN, DM
Germany - CAST Group of Companies is set to introduce BlackTrax-One or BT-1 in Frankfurt. This real-time tracking solution is designed for all sorts of single-tracking integration needs, with its portability, affordability, customisation options, and expandable features. BT-1 is a compact tracking system powerhouse re-engineered to bring big show effects and automation to smaller production budgets. It packs the same precision and control capabilities as the original BT System, in an easily portable kit, and is available at a price point within reach for most production companies, says CAST. BT-1 improves market access to tracking technology for small to medium size projects such as corporate events, theatrical shows, television productions, concerts, VR experiences, and theme parks. “We are extremely proud of BlackTrax’ BT-1 product," said Stuart Green, CEO
Germany - DTS Lighting has launched Tenore and Soprano, billed as ‘the ultimate addition to DTS’s family of conventional LED projectors’. Tenore and Soprano are the result of a careful research and development work conducted over the past year by DTS. Their release aims to reflect the new way of doing business of the Italian company, giving priority to listening to the market and giving value to the Made in Italy brand. These new fixtures enter the DTS portfolio renewing and completing the whole range of conventional spot and ellipsoidal projectors, says the company. The release includes over 30 variations that ‘guarantee maximum choice all-around any project’. Engineered and developed in Italy, both series come in two different power rating and five source variants. With the Tenore line, comprising spot/flood fixtures, all projectors can be equipped w
USA - Designer Lenny Sasso, who has worked for a number of popular metal and alternative bands, finds that his creations become more powerful, and better reflect the music of his clients, when he threads the needle between lightness and darkness. “It’s funny, I got into this business because I love light, but as time’s gone on, I’ve found myself being more drawn to using darkness as a design tool,” said Sasso. “Playing with shadows makes the darker moments feel darker, and the brighter ones feel brighter.” Sasso has been balancing these opposite forces to conjure up some edgy and deeply evocative looks for UnderOath, on the Grammy-nominated band’s current 24-city Blind Obedience Tour. Keeping his front lighting “to an absolute minimum” and sticking with monochromatic or basic two-toned colour schemes, Sasso is endowing the stage with a broodi
Italy - The recent production of Le Maschere (The Masks), an opera by Pietro Mascagni written as an homage to Rossini and the Italian opera buffa and commedia dell’arte traditions, at the Fondazione Teatro Goldoni in Livorno, Italy proved a major success. The production was lit by lighting designer and chief electrician at the Goldoni, Michele Rombolini who, since his youth, has been amazed by the ability to change emotions through the different uses of light, and fascinated by its power of artistic expression. "This was the first time I have actually used Ayrton lights, although I have been lucky enough to see these fixtures on a few occasions in the last two years at some of the theatres I work with," says Rombolini. "The first thing that struck me about the Ayrton fixtures was the quality of the light and colour. “When my staff and I thought
USA - Last summer, eight of ADJ’s flagship Focus Profile automated luminaires were utilised heavily by Lighting Designer Jamie Roderick for the Wisconsin premiere of The Hunchback of Notre Dame by former Styx frontman Dennis DeYoung. The musical was staged by Skylight Music Theatre at the Cabot Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and featured an impressive production that employed gobo projections from the Focus Profiles extensively to recreate the atmospheric interior of the famous cathedral. Based on Victor Hugo’s Gothic novel of the same name, Dennis DeYoung wrote his musical adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in the ‘90s and it debuted in Nashville at the Tennessee Performing Arts Centre’s Polk theatre in 1996. It was well received by audiences, generated positive reviews, and was set to transfer to Broadway, however illness meant that Denn
UK - London-based lighting designer Rajiv Pattani, formerly senior technician at the Bush Theatre, recently deployed a pair of the new compact Martin ERA 150 Wash fixtures for the production of Kim Davies’s play Smoke at the Southwark Playhouse. In search of ‘the perfect super-compact yet high performing wash fixture’, Rajiv discovered the Martin ERA 150 Wash. “I was interested in finding the next new compact fixture, suitable for low-ceiling, tight theatre applications that would deliver great colour balance and a wide zoom range.” he explains. Co-directors Polina Kalinina and Júlia Levai presented Smoke in the round, with an abstract non-naturalistic design by set designer Sami Fendall for the kitchen in which the play is set. Acting as the main colour wash the ERA 150’s were able to successfully bring the LD’s concept for the intense d
Europe - Full-service video and lighting company 4Wall Europe continues its expansion of equipment dedicated to the broadcast world with purchase of Elation Professional’s KL Fresnel 6 FC PO and KL Fresnel 8 FC PO lighting fixtures, both pole-operable units optimised for the specific requirements of on-camera productions. Darren Poultney, managing director EMEA at 4Wall Europe, commented on the investment: “With their outstanding performance, versatility and reliability, the new KL Fresnel fixtures are the perfect solution to support the growing demand for high-quality lighting in broadcast projects, from commercials and TV shows to film production, product reveals and corporate events. “Whether we're working on location or in the studio, the KL Fresnel FC POs deliver amazing results, giving us the flexibility to adapt to any situation and create stunning visual
Germany - Architectural LED lighting manufacturer Anolis will showcase its newest products at the Prolight + Sound expo in Frankfurt next week, highlighting new innovations across all three of its current key ranges - Ambiane, Calumma and Eminere. Anolis is on Stand D23 in Hall 12.1, adjacent to the main Robe booth. The full Eminere range is now available with new optics, and as either multichip (MC) or single chip light sources, a feature highlighted for the first time at Frankfurt. Anolis’ Eminere range builds on the success of the original ArcLine Outdoor fixtures, offering precision optics and available in four sizes and models, so perfect for a wide range of exterior and interior applications like flood lighting, wall grazing or washing and general accent lighting. Anolis’ Calumma range currently offers five different sized fixtures utilising high effic
Germany - Artistic Licence will highlight some of its recent and popular technologies on Stand D25 in Hall 12.1. The close proximity to both Robe and Anolis underlines the synergy existing between all three companies and brands, and the high footfall to these booths should ensure plenty of additional exposure for Artistic Licence’s lighting control innovations. Five key products from each of Artistic Licence’s main product ranges will be highlighted - sunDial quad, candlePower octo, railSplit uno, Commissioner multi and rackLynx octo. PLASA Innovation Award winning DMX512/RDM controlled 4-channel sundial quad, 1kW total, mains-powered trailing edge dimmer has become a best seller for theatres, cinemas and venues swapping from halogen to LED lighting as it eliminates the flickering in some bulb ranges with high resolution 8-bit or 14-bit control, scene playb
USA - Among the most watched and anticipated entertainment and broadcast moments of the year - the Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show - saw superstar Rhianna rock back to live performance at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, USA, in a showstopping performance accompanied by a slick, elegant and super-epic production. The set was defined by seven flying platforms on which the artist and dancers started the show, mirrored on the pitch below by a striking red runway dancefloor where the action shifted for the latter half of the 12-minute segment. Choreographed by Parris Goebel, this piece of art was lit by Al Gurdon, who has sprinkled his magic on the event for several years, with cameras directed by the legendary Hamish Hamilton. Al needed to ensure that all performers on the moving platforms were evenly and consistently lit for the whole time as w
Germany - LMP Lichttechnik, distribution partner for Follow-Me, has been working to support the sales of the new scalable Follow-Me Track-iT system which is now available in Germany with both design and production companies Essen-based Rocketchris, and Virtual&Live in the Munich region. Both companies have become avid users of Follow-Me 3D as their go-to follow-spot system. Christian Glatthor, owner of Rocketchris has been using Follow-Me since the beginning of Follow-Me 3D and the LMP Partnership with Follow-Me. Well known to the Follow-Me team, Chris’ invaluable knowledge of Follow-Me has often been used for testing of beta features and also strength testing for Follow-Me Track-iT for outdoor production use. He uses Follow-Me widely across his companies work, for design, rental and operation. Recently Follow-Me 3D SIX Systems were used by Rocketchris, de
