Europe - Ayrton’s ultra-compact MiniPanelFX unit was exhibited for the first time in mainland Europe at Prolight+Sound 2018 last month. First launched at PLASA 2017 in London, MiniPanel-FX is a diminutive version of the MagicPanel-FX, and the first Ayrton product to undergo a miniaturisation process. This multi-function luminaire may be small in dimensions but it is mighty in output, with a zoom spread of 3.6° to 53°. MiniPanel-FX is fitted with four of Ayrton’s 65mm square lenses arranged in a neat 2 x 2 configuration to form an extremely powerful beam and wash light with immense creative possibilities. Its four 35W RGBW multi-chip LED emitters are paired with a high-efficiency optical system to deliver up to 2,400 lumens from only 200W power consumption. Sophisticated 4-colour mixing and high CRI readings gives “an incredible range of colours from pastels an
UK - Keeping up with a hectic workload being experienced across all companies, Blackburn based lighting and video rental specialist the HSL Group has again increased its investment spend to keep up to speed with the newest technologies. “This will help service ongoing and upcoming projects across all sectors - rental & staging, theatre, television, sporting events and concert touring. The rapid pace at which the technology is changing and the fact we want to keep ahead of the game is driving this, together with an increase in demand. It’s vital that we can continue offering our clients the very best options for all of their shows, events and creative projects,” commented HSL’s Simon Stuart. Fixtures like the.Robe MegaPointe and the Martin MAC Encore have really made their mark, together with products from GLP, SGM and Vari*lite. Other top brands on the re
USA – For nearly two decades, ETC’s LDI Student Sponsorship has given students a way to gain experience, make connections and launch a career, and to attend the LDI tradeshow with all expenses paid. Applications for this year’s Sponsorship are available at www.etcconnect.com/LDISponsorship, and due by 8 June 2018. ETC’s LDI Student Sponsorship includes roundtrip airfare to the LDI tradeshow, which will be 19 to 21 October this year, along with hotel accommodation, all meals, a full conference pass, a student reception to meet people in the industry, and exclusive ETC swag. Students in their final year of undergraduate study, graduate students, and students from outside of North America who are studying at the university level at the time of the LDI show, and who are studying lighting design, theatre technology, stage machinery, or closely related fields, are eligible
Europe - In the field of outdoor event and broadcast production, adverse climate and other environmental conditions can impact negatively on the performance of equipment and the ultimate quality of production work. Environmentally sealed connectors are in great demand for heavy-duty and harsh environment applications with entertainment equipment like PA systems, lighting, signage and LED screens. So, for critical production applications, in the most challenging conditions, there is now a range of resilient and reliable solutions, in the shape of Neutrik’s new TOP product range. The new series includes the powerCON TRUE1, etherCON and XLR products, which have been certified in accordance with IEC 61076-2-103, IEC 60320, UL 1977 and UL 498, and which now also meet the requirements for outdoor use and UV resistance as laid out in UL50E. “It is now possible to
USA - A complete Avolites light and video integration system featuring the brand's latest Arena lighting console and two Ai R4 Media servers, was used to drive the lighting and video content for the 21st annual D.I.C.E Awards, held at the Mandalay Bay hotel, Las Vegas. The D.I.C.E (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Awards celebrates the latest innovations in interactive entertainment in the video gaming industry. For its 2018 edition, the event's long-term lighting designer Joshua Schultz worked alongside Andre Huff, director of Limelite Design, who were tasked to deliver a light and video presentation within a set design of clean, structural lines to accompany the awards ceremony. "Chris Wu from Hatch, one of the awards' production partners, let me run with the design this year," says Schultz. "I took a lot of my inspiration from the intro video to the Awards,
USA - Providing an appropriately intense visual backdrop for The National on its current global tour in support of its seventh album, Sleep Well Beast, is a 13-universe Michael Brown-designed lightshow that is being run with a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console. The Nashville-based LD, who has been a ChamSys user since 2009, selected the MQ500 for this tour because the power and versatility of the console, particularly its effects engine, allow him to pull together diverse visual elements to match his client’s distinctive sound. “The National are a unique band,” said Brown. “Their music and performances can vary from very intimate textural moments to all-out eruption. Their front man Matt Berninger embodies the escapism of a true performer. He can go from contemplative to this madman on stage amidst the dense backdrop of a mixed meter ballad and compl
USA - An early practitioner of Trip Hop, Bonobo was among the British DJs that influenced the course of electronic music in the 1990s. Later, he pushed the genre in a new, softer direction by blending his sound with elements of jazz and Hindu music. More recently, Bonobo has been at the forefront of the trend among DJs to work with bands, as he’s done on his tour in support of his Top Ten album Migration. Backed by his band, Bonobo has created a more atmospheric sound that blends his jagged synths with instrumentation. In keeping with this expanded sound, the visual backdrop at his live shows, which is created with projection video, has become more about storytelling. Supporting this new look at Bonobo’s 23 March appearance at San Francisco’s Midway music hall was an engaging lightshow created by Bryce Cherpelis of 12BC Pro that was anchored by a collection of
Slovenia - Cankarjev Dom – Slovenia’s leading cultural and congress centre - has added Robe Spiiders, plus more BMFLs Blades and CycFX8s to its already extensive stock of Robe moving lights which also includes Pointes. They now have around 150 units. The largest of five performance venues in the Cankarjev Dom complex is the 1650 capacity Concert Hall and in addition to these are the foyers and two galleries and conference rooms also used for events. It’s both a co-producing and a receiving house staging a wide variety of shows, events all year round, from opera to dance, popular music to choral, orchestra to drama and everything in between. Some venues and spaces are also hired out for corporate events and conferences. Each venue has its own lighting rig and all of them need dynamic and flexible lighting to deal with the diverse programming, however some kit is a
Mexico - Ganesha Producciones is one of the latest rental and production companies in Mexico to invest in Robe Spiider LED wash beams, which were recently delivered by distributor Showco and much anticipated by owner Gerardo Hernández and his team. The company was founded in 1996 by Gerardo and is based in central Mexico City. They are involved in technical production for many prestigious cultural events including government organised and sponsored shows and expositions, and also supply lighting, video and sound to corporates, music concerts and other shows. The company also has an architectural lighting division. Gerardo has kept Ganesha tightly focussed on its core business. There are currently 20 full-time employees and they work with up to 80 regular freelance designers and technicians during the busy periods. Gerardo has been a loyal Showco client for some
UK - The #SaveStageLighting campaign continues to gain momentum, following a busy open-forum event held today (11 May) at The National Theatre in London. The event was a chance for those involved in entertainment lighting to learn more about the proposed 2020 EU Lighting Regulations, and the impact they will have on every level of the industry, from lighting designers and end users, to manufacturers, suppliers and installers. Under the proposed new legislation, due to come into effect on 1 September 2020, there will be a minimum efficiency of 85 lumens per watt and a maximum standby power of 0.5W on all light sources (lamps or self-contained fixtures) to be sold in the EU. The result would be that most of the light sources used for entertainment lighting - from tungsten to even the newest LED fixtures - would not meet the regulations. At today’s event, key figu
USA - Old Dominion has emerged as one of the hottest bands in country music, a fact recently confirmed by a 2018 Academy of Country Music Award as Vocal Group of the Year. The band’s 2018 Happy Endings tour kicked off 1 February and played dates in North America, the UK, Ireland and Australia through mid-March. Full service production company Morris Light & Sound of Nashville, Tennessee, supplied the lighting for the tour, a large rig that included Elation Professional Chorus Line 16 LED pixel bar luminaires used to line the mid-stage and upstage, as well as Cuepix Blinder WW2 white light LED blinders in the overhead truss and on the back wall. Lighting design was by Travis Shirley. David Haskell, president of Morris, commented, “The Chorus Line 16 has great performance with a good zoom function and the reliability is fantastic. The brightness of the LE
Mexico - As is the tradition each year, Musbi AC (Music in the Bicentennial A.C), combined with the Ministry of Culture of the Mexican Federal Government, Hermes Music Foundation, Performers of Mexico and the Single Union of Music Workers, to stage the International Jazz Festival. Now in its eighth edition, it took as its setting the emblematic Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City. Over the course of three days, the bill featured Mexican and international musicians, who presented different styles of jazz to create an extremely rich and varied show. The opening day saw performances by Waldo Madera Quintet, Javier Nandayapa Fusion Cuatro and Roberto Aymes y su Música. The following day Héctor Infanzón Orchestra, Marco Morel Guitarra Octet and Dannah Garay Quartet appeared. And on the final day, Bob Sands & ChuchoLópez H. Big Band, Los Bronces and Jean Paul Bideau
Bahamas - Heralded as the largest single-phase resort in the Caribbean Islands, Baha Mar offers a choice of three celebrated hotels, a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course, and a collection of lounges, spas, and restaurants. All surrounded by a stunning ocean view casino, the developers of the project also wanted to create Nassau’s premiere nightlife destination, complete with a state-of the-art DJ booth, sound, lighting and video system. Working with the David Harvey at Harvey Marshall Berling Associates (HMBA), the production design inside the upscale nightclub at the Bond now includes a high-resolution video experience with FLEXLite LED from PixelFLEX, installed by the A/V integration firm Think Simple. “When we were approached by HMBA about assisting with the LED video installation at the Bond, we hoped to give the space something that no other nightclub in the
UK - Stage Electrics has been awarded the £2m technical contract to provide the infrastructure for production lighting, sound reinforcement and audio-visual services for the new £83.7m International Conference Centre Wales (ICCW). Set in the Coldra Woods just outside Newport, the ICCW is a joint venture between the Welsh Government and Celtic Manor Resort. The project features a state-of-the-art auditorium, main exhibition hall with capacity for around 5,000 delegates and associated meeting room as well as breakout facilities and will be capable of staging major party-political conferences. Being built by John Sisk & Son and scheduled to open in July 2019, it will be the largest facility of its kind in Wales and the South West of England. Stage Electrics has been working on the project since 2016 to develop the schemes and ensure allocated budgets are met. It wil
Europe - Elation Professional B.V. has announced that lighting control specialist Menno Appelhof has joined the company with the aim of growing the M-Series brand of lighting controllers in the European market. Elation acquired the M-Series range of entertainment lighting controllers from Harman Professional in March. Menno has been a lighting console specialist since 2004 and has developed a wealth of relationships and valuable experience since joining the entertainment technology industry in the early 1990s. His position at Elation encompasses maintaining contact with the current M-Series customer base while growing the M-Series network of users and partners in Europe. He is a familiar face in the lighting controller milieu and comes to Elation from a similar position at Fairlight, the Dutch sound and lighting company that also distributes the M-Series. "After worki
World - The G3 2018 world tour needed three different designs for its three distinctive guitarists. Production designer/lighting designer Alastair Watson - who is also the production manager - had a tight budget and a one-truck space constraint. One rig had to do it all. So he specified 16 High End Systems SolaHyBeam 1000s, a hybrid LED fixture offering spot, wash, and animation effects - effectively giving him three lights in one. He supplemented with more HES products including six HEX LED arrays and two HES Axon media servers for displaying visual content, all controlled with a Full Boar 4 console and wing. HyBeams and HEX are the “meat and bones” of the rig for this three-and-a-half hour show, Watson says. “Phil Collen of Def Leppard is performing his Delta blues, John Petrucci is doing his prog metal melodic instrumental set, and then Joe Satriani does an ho
The Netherlands - Over 2.5 million spectators have visited the TheaterHangaar to see Soldaat van Oranje - The Musical since its debut in 2010. The longest-running performance in the history of Dutch theatre, the show tells the story of World War II resistance fighter Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema. Audiences are treated to a multi-sensory, immersive experience at this unique venue, as they sit in comfortable movie-theatre seats in the auditorium that rotate from scene to scene. The different sets feature an array of special scenic elements that includes parts of an actual airport runway, a beach with real sand and water, two fully functional motorcycles, and a 1940s vintage Dakota C46 airplane. Adding to the transformative experience is the theatre’s newly re-imagined lighting system that features Chauvet Professional Ovation B-2805FC and Ovation B-565FC colour-mixi
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd (AC-ET) has agreed to provide technical equipment and run training courses for live events industry education provider Backstage Academy. The partnership is part of a long-term strategy to offer Academy students the most up-to-date practical experience through AC-ET’s latest technologies from brands including ProLights, Chroma-Q, Green Hippo and BroadWeigh. Jonathan Walters, AC-ET's UK sales director, comments: "We are delighted to be able to support up and coming generations of backstage technicians and creative people. The future of the industry is all about fostering the talent of tomorrow and letting them use the technologies behind today's live events productions. “The partnership will give the Backstage Academy's students access to the latest LED lighting from popular brands such as Chroma-Q and ProLights, indust
Ireland - Entertainment equipment supplier A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has launched a new sister company, A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland. Registered in Dublin, the Irish branch will be helmed by County Limerick-based MD Aaron Cripps, who previously acted as AC-ET's representative for Ireland and has also worked as an account manager in the international sales division of AC-ET. AC-ET’s managing director Phill Capstick comments: "I'm delighted that Aaron will be heading up A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland. With his extensive local experience and contacts, and strong relationships with key suppliers, he is well equipped to oversee the development of A.C.'s Irish business." Cripps adds: "I am really looking forward to building the A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ireland business. The company has access to a fantastic portfolio of cutti
UK - The PLASA Lighting Protocols Plugfest 2018, held recently at London Gatwick, was hailed a “huge success”, with attendance numbers up on previous Plugfest events and more protocols added to the programme. Plugfest offers manufacturers of lighting products an opportunity to test the interoperability of their products with other equipment. It’s the only event of its kind in Europe where product engineers and software developers can test and debug, improve connectivity and ensure the reliability of lighting products. Manufacturers from across Europe were in attendance including ARRI, Artistic Licence, ChamSys, Company NA, Eaton, eldoLED, ETC, Howard Eaton Lighting, JESE, Lamp & Pencil, LSS GmbH, LumenRadio AB, Robert Juliat, Rod Boyce, Swisson, TMB, Wireless Solutions and Volksoper Wien GmbH. Protocols discussed at the event included Art-Net, DALI, DMX
UK - Milton Keynes-based IPS announced an updated look at the recent PLASA Focus Leeds, in preparation for what is set to be company’s busiest summer yet. IPS now employs a total of 35 full time staff, and with a further four staff joining for the summer season. IPS is a well-established operation, known by many for its large hire stock of LiteDeck staging and outdoor roof structures, alongside technical equipment hire ranges. However, when starting the process of redeveloping the company website, it quickly become apparent that some customers referred to the company as Impact, some as Impact Productions and many other variants. After much discussion, and despite the original IPS logo being on literally thousands of items, the decision was made to refresh the logo, and adjust the company name accordingly. This process has also lead to the three key areas of the busin
Germany - For St Patrick's Day celebrations in Rudolstadt, Germany, event technology service provider LB-TEC was tasked with illuminating the famous Heidecksburg castle in the Irish national colour of green and chose powerful Elation Professional Paladin lighting fixtures for the job. LB-TEC has illuminated the city’s residential palace for years and has always used a large amount of LED washes, fixtures that had to be installed with cumbersome weatherproof protection. This solution was not only relatively expensive but also very time consuming. For the St. Patrick’s Day illumination, the company opted for a more practical solution and invested in eight Elation IP65-rated Paladin wash/blinder/strobe lights. "We chose Elation's Paladin because it's a weatherproof light with high output and attractive zoom range. On top of that, the price/performance ratio was conv
UK - A recent theatre project involving 160 primary school children is convincingly demonstrating the power of the arts to inspire young people to greater learning. Into Opera are on a mission to get more people into opera, and their children’s opera and education project offers children a unique introduction to the art form of opera and all that it encompasses. At the heart of this imaginative project lies A King's Ransom, a children's opera written by classical composer Patrick Hawes. Supporting this reimagined tale of Robin Hood is a subtle, yet powerful, lighting design by Johanna Town that features a collection of Maverick and Rogue moving fixtures from Chauvet Professional. Plans are now afoot to develop A King’s Ransom into a national education project, hoping to engage and inspire more children up and down the country, due to the success of it
Jordan - Nearly 400 Robe ParFect S1s LED luminaires have been deployed at the newly-opened Royal Tank Museum in Amman, Jordan, illuminating 110 x battle-worn tanks from a century of wars in the Middle East and other more distant conflicts. The lighting was specified by Amman-based AV and IT integration solutions specialist AKTCO. The project was led by Nidal Khalifeh (CEO), George Boury (project manager), and Duaa’ Khraim (design engineer) from AKTCO who worked closely with Elie Battah, from Robe Middle East, to coordinate the supply of ParFects to this high-profile installation. The futuristic museum building was designed by Zaid Daoud Architects. The 20,000sq.m space is divided into 12 halls showcasing the exhibits, which include illustrations of historic battles in Syria, Jerusalem and Jordan, complete with an audioscape of gunfire, roaring diesel engines and emot
