UK - Avolites has announced the UK release of its new online learning hub for holistic training on its Titan and Ai software platforms. The online courses are designed to teach or re-enforce the theory behind using Titan and Ai. The platform offers seven courses to work on from home, with more in-depth, hands on training courses available at one of Avolites in-person Academy sites. The courses are designed so that users can start applying their knowledge directly to a real life example they may be tasked with in a real world environment, as well as build on their current level of proficiency. Plans are in place to release the leaning hub across other geographies later in the year, when translation of the courses is completed. In this initial phase, the hub is only accessible to UK residents. The courses allow users to pick their own path to further their knowledg
USA - Obsidian Control Systems’ practice of providing valuable educational resources to lighting designers and programmers continues with the release of a series of 13 training videos covering the NX4 lighting console and Onyx lighting control platform. A training video series covering the compact NX2 lighting controller will be available soon. The NX4 training series, hosted by David Henry of Learn Stage Lighting, condenses over two hours of content into short, segmented videos to watch at your own pace. Console trainings usually come with a hefty fee, making these complimentary videos consieable value. The NX4 training series is available at https://obsidiancontrol.com/training_videos. Topics covered include: Introduction to NX4, Patching Fixtures, Setting Up Groups, Working in the 2D Plan, Controlling Lights, Creating Presets, Recording Cues, Using Pixel Mapped V
USA - Christie has announced the launch of the new Christie Mirage SST-6P, a dual-head 18,000 lumen, 4K, 6-primary 3D RGB pure laser projection system that the company claims delivers twice the onscreen brightness of traditional colour-comb 30,000-lumen lamp-based 3D projection systems for bright, colourful, and detailed 3D images for venues including theme parks, attractions and giant screen dome theatres. The 6-Primary (6P) 3D dual-projector system uses two sets of RGB laser primaries with slightly off-set wavelengths: one for the right eye, and one for the left. Reusable passive 3D glasses filter different wavelengths and direct the light to the correct eye, with no shuttering, for a natural and comfortable 3D visual experience. The result is a projection system that is 90% efficient at projecting light onto the screen, and white-screen compatible for blending the multi-p
USA - Back in July, Mike Cristella, owner of Live Wire Productions, and Bob Sallade, who owns Sound Track Production Services, based in Hammonton, NJ, pooled their resources and expertise in lighting and sound to create Wired Studios, a 30‘ x 20‘ space that would allow customers of both companies to reach people during the lockdown with livestreams. “It became apparent to Bob and me and that the pandemic wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so we got together to create this space in our warehouse,” said Cristella. “The space isn’t the largest in the world, but we outfitted it with excellent sound and lighting gear as well as cameras so our customers could produce livestreams and video recordings that would reflect well on them.” In terms of lighting, Wired Studios packs an intense punch with a high-output and versatile rig anchored by Chauvet Professiona
Germany - For the presentation of the new e-tron GT, Ingolstadt-based car manufacturer Audi staged a special demonstration at the Munich Zenith. The world premiere of the ‘electric spearhead of the four rings’, as it was termed, took place in February with two digital events; a cinematic intro, using spectacular lighting technology, was produced in advance at the Munich Zenith, and developed by LD Raphaël Demonthy. Demonthy, who has focussed entirely on lighting design and programming over the past 10 years, regularly realises his own design projects, but is also happy to make his talent available to other designers as an associate designer or operator. As part of the world premiere of the new Audi e-tron GT, a reveal trailer had to be produced. For this purpose, a driving circuit was installed in the Zenith Munich, which was constructed exclusively from light ele
The Netherlands - Highlite International BV has introduced the Display Series of indoor fixtures for professional architectural applications. Switchable between 3000 K and 6000 K, the dimmable LED sources offer a high CRI. This makes them suitable for lighting galleries, art, and other colour sensitive subjects and locations. Artecta’s latest range of indoor lighting fixtures, the Artecta Display Series is intended for highlighting objects and locations where high appeal is paramount, such as museums and galleries, lighting art and paintings. The compact fixtures offer a high CRI (>92), which helps the original colour tones to come through. They are switchable between 3000 K and 6000 K colour temperatures and can be dimmed manually to adjust the output intensity to the desired ambiance. The Display Series offers solutions for a gamut of applications with a range o
Estonia - Out of chaos and confusion, creativity often emerges. Such was the case last year, when René Jõhve and his team at CuuClub set out to design the stage for Estonia’s 2021 Eurovision pre-selection programme. “We had a design ready, but there was a great deal of uncertainty in the air, because no one was clear about what would happen with the pandemic,” recalls Jõhve. “New issues kept emerging during our planning process. At one point, there was the possibility that the preselection semi-finals would have to fit into a TV studio with the finals being moved to an arena. So, we had to change our plans last minute to create a design that would work in both settings.” Accounting for all these issues, Jõhve molded his ideas into an adaptable, all-encompassing stage design that created an array of different looks for artists competing in this year’s Es
UK - Live in Leith is a series of PPV (pay-per-view) digital gigs recorded at the Leith Theatre, Edinburgh, combining some of the best rising star music talent in Scotland with spectacular production values – including Robe moving lights – which were used for two of the three initial set of broadcasts. The four featured artists – two per gig – were lit by two of Scotland’s leading lighting designers, Grant Anderson and Sam Jones. Featured acts were Ransom FA and Nova Scotia the Truth, Lucia and The Best Boys and The Ninth Wave. The gigs are presented by BBC Radio Scotland DJ Vic Galloway and were produced by Lynn Morrison and Callum Jones for the Leith Theatre Trust. The six (in total) recordings were also the first fully in-house productions staged since the venue reopened in 2017 and will be streamed via Dice TV on three consecutive Saturday nights in Mar
UK - Calibre UK is giving integration and audio-visual professionals an intensive online preview of the soon-to-be announced Calibre LEDFusionPro, billed as ‘a flagship All-in-One direct-view LED display solution’. LEDFusionPro will be officially launched in May 2021 in the Asia-Pacific region and offers ‘an entirely new way to design, prepare and deliver content within hours’. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, 30 March 2021 at 09:00am GMT. It will give participants: an overview of the direct-view international LED market and opportunities; detailed information about the All-in-One direct-view LED concept; and, a preview of the LEDFusionPro advanced features and benefits. “As a leading display and image processing technology creator, Calibre UK continually invests in future-forward technologies for high display quality and optimum performance,” said
USA - Solotech has announced the completion of the acquisition of Nashville-based Morris Light & Sound. Martin Tremblay, president and CEO, Solotech, comments, “Our joint capabilities enable us to significantly strengthen our footprint in the US, and much more in Nashville, to the benefit of all our clients. It also provides assurance of our unrivalled readiness to our clients in the live productions industry, signals our enhanced ability to offer compelling innovative services and solutions when activities resume after the global crisis ends. We continue to grow based on long-term relationships and delivery excellence to propel our footprint locally, nationally and globally.” Solotech will leverage its current systems integration experts and resources in the area and all over the United States, as they already design, develop and integrate some of the most adv
Norway - From the outside, the sleek, new Åsane Kulturhus multi-use civic centre in Bergen projects an image of engineering excellence. This impression is reinforced throughout the spacious structure, including in its 540sq.m Culture Hal where the engineering and design team created accurate acoustics. Audiences attending performances at the hall are able to enjoy the audio experience exactly as that team intended them to, thanks in large measure to an all-LED lighting rig anchored by seven Chauvet Professional Maverick Silens 2 Profile fixtures. “Silence was essential to the concept of the culture hall with its excellent, fine-tuned acoustics,” said Petter Norby of Rubicon, which installed the fixtures at the centre and continues to serve the centre along with the Chauvet Professional’s Norwegian distributor, Scandec. “Eliminating noise as much as possible fr
“We cannot deny with our culture what we declare with our message,” the multi-campus Bridge Church proclaims on its website. The culture and message of this church are both evident in Bridge Worship, a collection of contemporary praise music EPs written by members of its congregation to reflect their voices and experiences. Growing out of a Song Writing Days programme started by church worship staff and volunteers just a few years ago, the EP series has already passed over one million Spotify streams from 76 countries. Recently, Bridge Worship reached another milestone with the release of Attention, a music video performed by a mixture of staff and volunteers. “Everyone you see on this video is a worship volunteer or church staff member, many of whom recorded the music and vocal parts of the song, and consequently the video has an authentic, high
Germany - publitec has added the Christie Griffyn 4K32-RGB high-performance projector from Christie to its rental fleet. The Griffyn 4K32-RGB is Christie’s first projector to offer new digital convergence to give users the ability to select red, green, or blue individually and adjust each colour by remote control, for easy picture-perfect image alignment that saves time and money. In addition, the Griffyn 4K32-RGB has an integrated metal frame, which makes it possible to mount the projector in the rental area without separate rigging accessories. Jens Richter, publitec managing director, comments: “The Christie Griffyn was a convincing winner in a direct shoot-out with comparable projectors from other manufacturers. In particular, in terms of brightness, colour space, sound level and price, we could see clear advantages for our customers. It will replace the popul
UK - ETC dealer Black Light has supplied new High End Systems gear through the ETC Rent programme for Leith Theatre’s latest venture in Edinburgh: Live in Leith. Live in Leith will be taking place at the Leith Theatre from 20 March with musical performances from different artists being broadcast live in a series of digital gigs. The performances will be lit by 24 TurboRay fixtures which were supplied by Black Light who act as an official rental hub for the ETC Rent programme. The automated fixtures are a part of the High End Systems’ Effects family and are designed not only for wash and aerial effects, but as a powerful hard edge beam with special pixel-mapping effects. Field project coordinator at ETC, Matt Cowles, comments: “ETC Rent gives local venues, rental companies and creative designers access to some of the latest fixtures from ETC
UK - Architectural LED lighting specialist Anolis was approached by Robert Parker of the Historic Houses Association to assist in the specification of a replacement lighting scheme to illuminate the front of Knebworth House, a Grade II listed Tudor stately home in Hertfordshire, dating to the 13th century. Today the house is still a home for its ancestral Lytton family as well as being open to the public. Its features include extensive landscaped gardens, it is also a well-known open-air venue for major rock and pop concerts as well as being a popular event space and location for film and TV shoots. The lighting brief, recalls Anolis account and project manager Simon Gooding, was to upgrade the previous sodium lighting - probably dating back to the 1980s - with a sustainable, low maintenance, modern and cool alternative. Simon assessed their needs, surveyed the s
World - Showlight has announced the first sponsors of Virtual Showlight, the one-day online event taking place on 25 May. Planned in celebration of the enduringly popular quadrennial lighting conference and networking event that was due to take place this May in France, Virtual Showlight aims to bring lighting professionals together online for a day of engaging papers, discussions, networking opportunities and break-out sessions from the comfort of their own homes. Sponsors of the event so far include headline sponsor Robert Juliat, plus ACT Lighting Inc, Altman, ARRI, Ayrton, Claypaky, Copper Candle, ETC, Robe and Vectorworks. Virtual Showlight is also supported by media partner LSi, and by LSA. “Sponsorship of Virtual Showlight offers a unique opportunity for sponsors to connect with clients and industry colleagues whom they have not seen for many months,
Italy - Pro lighting company Zalight has appointed Luca Di Donato as business development manager. “To face future challenges the best way, I will have a great friend and one of the best Italian professionals, Luca Di Donato, by my side, comments Zalight owner Graziano Zanini. “Luca has a deep knowledge of the professional market both in the entertainment and architectural fields, due to the many years he spent as commercial manager for companies of international standing. I am sure that together we will bring Zalight to a higher level of diffusion and competitiveness on the Italian market." "I share with Graziano mutual esteem and identity of views,” says Luca Di Donato. "I’m going to bring my contribution to make Zalight grow and make it evolve into a modern marketing-oriented company following the current path, in which the customer has always been at the ve
Europe - ETC is hosting an online event on 30-31 March to launch two new theatrical fixtures. This event is open to the public and starts at 16:00 CEST/15:00 BST (09:00 CDT) with a keynote message from David Lincecum, VP of marketing. Immediately following the keynote, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from Tony-nominated Broadway lighting designer, Justin Townsend, on the impacts of LED on lighting design. Additional sessions over the next 24 hours include product demos and Q&A with the development team, and a series of classes that focus on incorporating technology into your theatrical workflow to increase efficiency and productivity. Much of the content will be presented in multiple languages (English, French and German) and multiple time zones around the world making this a genuinely international launch event. Visit
Europe - Robe has introduced the LEDBeam 350, a 6,000lm variant of its popular LEDBeam 150, which delivers “even more punch and presence for those wanting crystal clear beams and beautifully rich colour washes”. The new fixture has retained and built on all the features of the LEDBeam 150, including a zoom range of 3.8 to 60° and innovative lens coating technology which keeps the lenses clearer and scratch-free. Anti-static properties further reduce dust collecting on the lens, and the latest coating treatment brings countless additional benefits like lengthening the intervals needed between cleaning and enhancing the light output. More advanced technology includes CPulse, Robe’s acclaimed Pulse Width Modulation control system that removes any on-screen camera flicker, making the LEDBeam 350 a match for the most advanced HD and UHD camera systems, says R
USA - Darren Lussier and his team at Image Production Services in Shrewsbury, MA responded to the lockdown’s impact on their live event business by launching the Image Theatre Virtual Venue. Rather than converting a small space of their warehouse into a production studio, however, Lussier and his team built two complete sets outfitted with over 40 Chauvet Professional fixtures as well as a large LED wall, plus three high-definition cameras and four high DEPTZ cameras. They also became a production partner of Stellar Tickets, an online streaming platform owned by Goldstar, which allows them to sell tickets to a large audience. “If you’re going to start something, you should be fully committed to doing it in the best possible way,” said Lussier. “Even during this pandemic, our clients are still looking for ways to reach people. We figured that we’d have a bet
USA - Hope Fellowship Church in Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas, made a recent purchase of Obsidian NX4 and NX Wing lighting controllers and runs the intuitive Onyx platform across the ministry’s four campuses. Mark Ellis, production development director at the church, is a past user of M-PC lighting control software but made the smooth transition to the Onyx platform when Hope Fellowship upgraded their lighting control system. “When I first came to the church they were using a Martin M1 console with M-PC software,” says Ellis, who has been with the church for the past eight years. “When it was time to upgrade to something new, I was looking for something user-friendly that all my volunteers knew. We looked at other consoles but they were more than what we wanted to pay and overly complicated. The Obsidian gear was a great value plus it let me keep familiarity wi
USA - Martin by Harman has unveiled the Martin MAC Ultra Series with two “extremely bright” new workhorse stage lights – the MAC Ultra Performance and MAC Ultra Wash. Featuring high lumen output across the zoom range, a new framing system, high-definition optics and low noise levels, the MAC Ultra family is ideal for concert and touring productions as well as noise-sensitive broadcast and theatre applications. With high output a key design pillar, the MAC Ultra Series is powered by a 1,150W, 6000K proprietary LED light engine, Martin’s brightest to-date. It gives the MAC Ultra Wash the ability to project 63,500 lumens of output and the MAC Ultra Performance, 46,500 lumens. In addition, with higher red content and better daylight balance, the fixtures produce rich, vivid colours and more natural skin-tones, says the company. Key features of the MAC Ultra
UK - EF Infection Control, a part of the EF Group, has announced the availability of a new solution to help ensure the safety of attendees at tradeshows and other major indoor events as industries worldwide move towards post-lockdown operation. EF has partnered with infection and virus control specialists Aeret UK to develop the service Sanitise 360. Sanitise 360’s technology delivers a non-toxic atomised mist that kills 99.99% of bacteria and viruses that are airborne as well as on surfaces including Hepatitis, COVID-19, CoV2, SARS, MRSA plus fungi and mould that are associated with a variety of infections and allergies. Unlike most fogging systems, it is claimed to be completely safe to use around electronic equipment and has been engineered to leave no chemical residue behind in any of its applications. Undisturbed surfaces can remain protected for anything up t
USA - "For us, every single one of our songs got big in a different way," Adam Met, one of the three multi-instrumental brothers who make up AJR told an interviewer. Creativity is one of the things that makes AJR a delight to work for, according to their lighting designer Ezra Donellan. Another is their seemingly inexhaustible supply of energy. Both were on full display in January on Squeek Lights’ Ruby Stage, when after performing their hit Bang on The Late, Late Show with James Corden, the band forged ahead and recorded a video of their new song Way Less Said, supporting by a lightshow featuring the Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 BeamWash. “One of most impressive things about this band is their ability to keep a high level of energy under all circumstances,” says Donellan. “We were all excited to be able to perform Bang for James Co
