UK - ETC has expanded its partnership with fellow lighting manufacturer GDS by acquiring its ArcSystem, BlueSystem and CueSystem product lines.
Under the new agreement, ETC will assume the global manufacturing and distribution responsibilities for ArcSystem, BlueSystem and CueSystem from August 2019.
David Lincecum, ETC vice-president of marketing, comments: “ETC plans to expand our work in architectural lighting throughout the world, and bringing these GDS products under the ETC banner is the leading edge of that strategy. We look forward to assisting customers around the world in their migration to architectural LED lighting. GDS have designed great products and we are pleased to take them over in 2019.”
Richard Cuthbert, GDS managing director, adds: "Following this new agreement together, we will see GDS move forward into a new, exciting stage of expansion. We are, as a company, more focused than ever before to bring new problem-solving products to our customers. We look forward to working with ETC in the future combining our technical expertise for the benefit of the industry."
Prior to this agreement, ETC and GDS had already been in a partnership where the American company had been manufacturing and selling the ArcSystem and BlueSystem products in North and South America since 2015. Until the latest deal takes place, customers should continue to use the existing GDS sales channels. ETC and GDS will continue to develop and service the for customers around the world.
ArcSystem is an award-winning range of modular, efficien

Nigeria - DWR Distribution recently joined with Livespot Productions to present a free two-day lighting workshop in Ikeja, GRA in Lagos.
The DWR team included Jannie de Jager and Michael Taylor-Broderick who presented the training, along with Duncan Riley, Kyle Robson and JP de Vernon, who were eager to be part of the adventure.
Topics covered included the objectives of stage lighting, controllable properties of light, light and colour theory, setting up and designing a lighting system, reading lighting plots and fault-finding.
“I loved the attitude of the attendees,” says Michael Taylor-Broderick. “They came thirsty for knowledge and were deeply invested in the training. I was humbled by their sense of gratitude towards us for the sharing of our knowledge. There is huge potential in the entertainment industry in Nigeria and I believe the industry, as a whole, have yet to realise what these capabilities are… I believe they are boundless.”
The experience was echoed by Jannie de Jager. “There is an incredible desire for information by the people of Nigeria,” he said. “I have never had a workshop with so much involvement and feedback from the trainees. The questions asked were good and extremely relevant to their situation and at times I had to think a little before answering! This enthusiastic involvement helped to steer the course in a direction that was pertinent to meet their needs.”
(Jim Evans)

USA - Located in Melborne, Florida, Church at Viera holds four modern worship services in two different venues each week using Allen & Heath dLive, GLD and SQ Series mixers for FOH and streaming broadcast and a ME-1 Personal Mixing System for monitoring.
Production director Eli Higginbotham, alongside technical director Brock West, leads Church at Viera’s production team. “We had an older digital mixer with reliability issues,” says Brock. “So, when I came on board, I looked for a replacement. We considered several brands but there wasn’t another console in the same class and price range as the dLive.”
The church has standardised on Allen & Heath digital mixers for FOH, broadcast and their Youth Centre. “The architecture is very similar so it’s easy to train a volunteer to mix in one space and then move them to another,” says Eli.
Church at Viera’s dLive includes an S7000 Surface and DM64 MixRack both located at FOH. Two DX168 Expanders accept sources on stage. Wireless mic receivers, audio from video and Ableton Live tracks connect to the DM64 at FOH. An SQ-6 Digital Mixer serves the church’s Youth Centre supplemented by an AR2412 AudioRack. A GLD-112 Digital Mixer mixes streaming broadcast for the church’s website. Dante cards in each mixer implement audio networking throughout the church’s systems.
Twelve ME-1 Personal Mixers with a ME-U Hub are what Brock and Eli describe as “a killer rig” monitoring system. Six ME-1s, located backstage, feed wireless IEM’s for vocalists who can adjust their mix du

UK - With the festive season now upon us, theatre stages up and down the country are being filled with dames, beanstalks, flying carpets and glass slippers. White Light is once again suppyling a range of pantomimes this Christmas.
Pantomimes are many venues’ biggest production of the year, with these classic childhood stories often starring household names. An all-time favourite is Aladdin and, this year, WL is supplying several versions of the show, including one at Hackney Empire which is lit by David Howe. He comments: “Hackney Empire’s Aladdin evolved a lot in the rehearsal process, with a lot new music being written specifically for this production. My brief, as ever, was to enhance the whole look of the show and help the audience focus on each story-telling moment.”
WL is also supplying Aladdin in Cambridge, Crawley, Norwich, Yeovil and Swindon, with the Wyvern Theatre production starring EastEnders’ Adam Woodyatt. The lighting programmer for the show is Eden Thornton, who comments: “I’ve now worked on ten pantos over the last six years. They can often be hard work as you’re trying to create a big show in what’s not a great amount of time. That said, it’s very exhilarating. It’s also important to have a good team around you as well as the services of a reliable hire company; hence we try and use WL whenever we can.”
Other popular titles that WL is supplying include Snow White in Bolton and Malvern, along with The Wizard of Oz at the Birmingham Rep and Bolton Octagon. Cinderella is goin

Kuwait - In a move that has significantly enhanced the meeting and conferencing experience of its corporate customers, the Sheraton Kuwait has upgraded to the latest wireless conferencing system from Sennheiser.
Implemented across the property’s two large ballroom-style conference facilities as well as its many meeting rooms of varied sizes, the audio specialist’s ADN-W system delivers crystal clear audio conferencing with the convenience of flexible and secure wireless connectivity.
Intuitiveness and customer satisfaction were priorities as Eng. Mohamed Monieb, maintenance manager at Sheraton Kuwait explains: “Our hotel’s world-class facilities meet the needs of very large to extremely intimate gatherings and the wireless conferencing system allows the equipment to also be ‘right-sized’ exactly as per customer requirements.”
Beneficial for Eng. Monieb and his team has been the system’s ability to eliminate the RF interference issues that plagued the microphone system they had previously utilised.
“Prior to selecting Sennheiser, we conducted a test between ADN-W, our existing system and another manufacturer’s solution and this not only demonstrated vastly superior sound quality, but also convincingly addressed our concerns around interference,” he explained. It is the ADN-W’s ability to hop between frequencies in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz ranges that makes this performance possible.
Robust and reliable wireless connectivity was also assured through the direct involvement of Sennheiser’s team in the design and deploy

Indonesia - The Indonesian Choice Awards 5.0 NET, presented by the NET TV Network, aimed at families and youth audiences, is one of the leading entertainment events in the country.
“For an entertainment and music event of this magnitude and size,” explains Sadat Effendy, technical director at Total Audio, the company that produced the show, “there is only one sound system we had to consider. That’s Clair Brothers. The Indonesian market loves Clair Brothers speakers because they always deliver.”
This event always coincides with, and marks the anniversary of, the NET TV Network. This year is its fifth anniversary and the Indonesian Choice Awards show did not disappoint. Performing for an audience of 9,000, local and international musical acts filled out the evening of awards and tributes for the best in movies and music.
Effendy says: “An event of this proportion is always challenging, especially with regard to the PA, when trying to create a coherent sound acoustically.”
Wayne Grosser, managing director, Clair Brothers Australia and sound design consultant for the award show, elaborates: “I advised the production team that if too much delay was put on the main PA, the sound will not be coherent with the stage noise. The result can be unwanted slap delay, and that’s no good. So, in order to prevent that, I suggested a change to the layout of the side PA to assure timing with the main PA. The solution was the alignment of four Clair Brothers i212 8-cabinet line arrays.”
The event’s main speaker system was a combination

UK - For International Day of Persons with Disabilities, also known as #Purplelightup, installation company CSR Lighting illuminated various of Microsoft’s UK internal offices as well as the exterior of their Reading office. For these eye-catching purple illuminations, CSR Lighting decided to use SGM fixtures.
“We have continued to invest and specify SGM products as they work for us in every environment we visit,” says Gary Willn from CSR Lighting.
“To allow the client to get the most from the #Purplelightup, we used SGM’s G-Profile Turbo to frame the client’s logo on the front of the building in the pure white available from the Turbo. We have had G-Profiles in hire since their launch and it made total sense to go with the new Turbo version of the fixture to have the extra light output from the same sized fixture,” says Willn. “The building was lit overnight, so as the staff arrived the next morning, they had the full impact of the installation. As expected from SGM, every fixture ran faultlessly.”
The exterior of the distinctive Microsoft office block was lit with six of the powerful P-10 lights using Elliptical lenses to give a rich punch to the purple colour across the entire building.
“The P-10 gave us a powerful output from a small footprint, without having the area scattered with lighting across the front of the building. This saved the client valuable parking spaces, which worked for us and the client,” explains Willn.
The big weather changes during this installation was no issue to the IP classified fixture

South Africa - Comic-Con Africa, a three-day event showcasing comic books, science fiction/fantasy related film and TV, as well as similar popular arts, was hosted for the very first time in South Africa at the Kyalami International Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg. MGG was appointed as the main technical supplier for the sold-out event, enjoyed by over 45 000 superheroes, villains and sidekicks.
Geeks, gamers and superheroes were spoilt for choice with an enormous exhibition area and were enthralled by gaming panel discussions, cosplay contests and a chance to rub shoulders with celebrities like Travis Fimmel of Vikings fame.
MGG meticulously executed the technical setup for Comic-Con Africa, that included a main stage, four pre-screening rooms, two VS gaming areas, kids’ entertainment area, an MTN outdoor stage which included a VIP and screening area, and lastly, audio for both multiple exhibition floors and the food zone. Professional gear was utilised all round, which included Robe and Claypaky lighting fixtures, Prolyte trussing, Absen LED screens, L-Acoustics PA and DiGiCo audio consoles that both amplified and magnified an exhilarating event.
“Getting these shows and putting them together really excites me,” said Timothy Templeton, MGG’s technical production manager for Comic-Con Africa. “For me, 80% of an event depends on pre-production planning. This is also where you rely on the crew, and we would not have been able to accomplish, what I feel was a professional and seamlessly executed event, without them. The crew are

USA - E-sports - the world of competitive video gaming - has become an international phenomenon, with millions of fans watching both in person and on Internet livestreams, rooting for players that might take home millions of dollars in winnings. Where better to build a premium Esports venue than in the gaming capital of the world - Las Vegas?
That’s what Allied Esports International set out to do, with a new venue in the Luxor Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. “Our mission was to build a turnkey infrastructure to do many different live events, as well as produce content in a style and quality that meets or exceeds current broadcast standards,” says Drew Ohlmeyer, head of content, Allied Esports International and Esports Arena Las Vegas. To repurpose a former nightclub space, Allied hired CBT Systems to design and build an A/V system tailored for high-availability streaming video broadcasts.
Darrel Wenhardt, president & CEO of CBT Systems, knew from the start that the space’s previous audio system was insufficient for the demands of Esports. CBT chose a Lawo mc²36 console for front-of-house duties, and a second mc²36 to power the streaming broadcast production control room.
“We’ve worked extensively with Lawo, who have developed consoles specifically for these types of challenges,” explains Wenhardt. “[They] are used around the world to manage major global events including sports, live performance and networked production infrastructures. Lawo was an easy and obvious choice and provided exactly what was needed, while also being able

USA - On Sunday 30 September at Pine Trails Park, the Actions for Change Food and Music Festival Fundraiser took place. Born out of the tragedy of the 14 February Stoneman Douglas shooting in Parkland, FL, its goals were to provide healing by bringing love, light, and hope through the arts, register people to vote, raise national awareness about gun violence, and raise funds for organizations committed to helping all our nation’s youth.
There was a good mix of speeches in addition to both live and recorded music to keep the action going and, to ensure the best audio performance, a loudspeaker system drawn from the Aero Series 2, Action, Road, and UX catalogues of DAS Audio was utilised.
Dynamic Productions USA of Orangeburg, NY, a full-service events production company, was contracted to handle the sound reinforcement requirements for the festival. Brian Rosenblum, the company’s president and CEO comments: “As an outdoor event with an audience of approximately 3,500 people, it was crucial that we provide a setup that not only had the ability to deliver both a high level of speech intelligibility and solid music reproduction, we had to ensure even coverage throughout the area.
“To accomplish this, we deployed a sound system consisting of DAS Audio Aero 40 active, 3-way line array enclosures, Aero 20A active compact line array enclosures, Action 12A point source loudspeakers, along with UX-218 and UX-221 subwoofers.”
The primary setup involved ten Aero 40 enclosures per the left and right sides - flown on motors from truss. For front-f

USA - While many churches struggle to attract new members or keep current ones, Cascade Hills Church in Columbus, Georgia, has found success by keeping things fresh and presenting church as more than just an hour-a-week event to endure. With the knowledge that AV and dynamic lighting systems can positively impact the overall worship experience, Cascade Hills chose a flexible Elation stage lighting system to raise its profile and help grow its ministry.
Cascade Hills personnel called on local Columbus-based Absolute Audio Systems for a lighting solution that would enhance both the live and broadcast aspects of their worship services. “Cascade Hills is an active church that was in need of a lighting upgrade so they could improve the look of their weekly services and TV broadcasts, as well as special events like musical performances,” explains Todd Buckner, owner of Absolute Audio Systems.
The Absolute Audio team identified what production technology changes to undertake and delivered a dynamic lighting rig that complements the wide variety of events the church presents in its main sanctuary each week. “We did comparisons in the venue with various products and they chose an Elation lighting package because, simply put, they looked the best.”
The lighting upgrade in the 2500-seat main sanctuary, which came on the heels of a video, camera and house lighting upgrade late in 2017, consists of eight Platinum Beam 5R Extreme moving head beam lights, nine Chorus Line 16 LED battens, and 4 Fuze Wash Z350 single source PAR moving head luminaires. The

USA - d&b audiotechnik will unveil a new addition to its SL-Series line array family – the KSL – at the NAMM show in California from 24 January 2019.
The KSL System is a smaller sibling of its big sister, GSL, and brings the benefits of d&b’s SL lineage, including full range broadband directivity, extended LF response and advanced rigging options in an accessible size and performance package.
KSL is designed for sound reinforcement needs of any genre, mobile or installed, from large scale arenas, stadiums and festivals to medium scale applications such as clubs, theatres, houses of worship and performing arts venues.
KSL and GSL work independently or as perfect playmates; an ideal match in terms of tonality, headroom, coverage, planning and deployment infrastructure.
Werner ‘Vier’ Bayer from d&b Product Management comments: “The SL-Series is the latest step in d&b‘s continuing obsession with directivity control, acoustical performance and optimal workflow. The industry and the environment in which we operate is constantly evolving and this means our systems are meaningful only when they deliver value to our customers and their clients. Premium acoustical performance for the highest quality listening experience is but one dimension.”
“As with all new developments it’s essential we understand what technicians have in mind when they’re working,” adds Matthias Christner, head of R&D acoustics at d&b. “These challenges become the vision, something that we can shape with our own instincts an

Canada - Solotech has named Daniel Méjean as vice-president (strategic sourcing) effective 14 January 2019.
In this new position under the direction of Nicolas Lavoie, chief financial officer, Méjean will actively contribute to the performance of the rapidly growing sourcing department as a key player in strategic planning, as well as long and short-term alliance building with suppliers and partner.
Méjean has over 20 years of experience in strategic sourcing management and direction in large-scale companies.
(Jim Evans)

UK - Adlib was back on the road with pop rockers 5 Seconds of Summer - fresh from winning the 2018 ARIA Award for ‘Best Australian Live Act’ - supplying a Coda sound system, monitors and an Adlib crew to work alongside the band’s engineers Phil Gornell (FOH) and Pavan Grewall (monitors).
Richy Nicholson project managed for Adlib, Sam Proctor was the systems engineer on the road and he worked alongside Marc Peers - another talented Adlib engineer - who co-ordinated all things in monitor world.
Phil and Adlib have worked together before on several previous tours including All Time Low and Bring Me The Horizon; the Liverpool based company has been his preferred equipment supplier for the UK and Europe since around 2010.
The decision to spec Coda was a joint one made by Phil, Richy and the Adlib team. Adlib has used it very successfully on numerous tours, events and installations covering various genres of performance - from comedy to rock - and it has proved especially appropriate in theatre style environments.
Phil was very happy to go with that, as he needed something “flexible and easily scalable whatever the situation” to deal with the differences in venue size and shape.
The Coda speakers are extremely light and easy to rig, so they were a practical solution, and their sonic excellence has been proven many times over.
The main hangs were Coda AiRAY. A total of 28 were carried on the tour giving 14-a-side for the largest configurations, plus up to four Coda ViRAY downs per side.
For in, out and front-fills, there

UK - River Audio has installed a new Martin Audio WPM line array in the main hall at Plymouth University.
The university wanted to replace its small vocal PA in this location with an upgraded system that would be suitable not only for speech but also music and drama performance. When a delegation of the University’s AV technicians attended a live sound training course with the local Base Sound, to improve their mixing capabilities, they were introduced to Martin Audio’s signature sound, and were immediately impressed.
After reviewing various systems they opted for the WPM line array and chose Base Sound sister company, River Audio, to supply and install six of the WPM tops, flown each side of the proscenium, with and a pair of WX218 subs on the ground, all running from a pair of Martin Audio iKon 8-channel amps.
As the two clusters are trimmed around 6m from the ground, they have also installed five Martin Audio CDD6’s, running in mono, on the front of the stage, to deliver infill clarity for those sat underneath the main clusters.
According to River Audio’s owner, Howard Williams, it had been an easy decision to recommend Martin Audio. “I have used their equipment since 1995 both for live events and on installs and have always liked their
broad range of live and installation products. I also use Martin Audio to teach live sound engineering on, and it has now become my speaker of choice for installations. “
The university is delighted with the sound quality and coverage of the system and is enjoying using if for both pres

Europe - Every buyer of a ShowNET Ethernet Interface for laser control now receives Laserworld Showeditor for free. The professional laser show control software Laserworld Showeditor is suitable for live laser control as well as for timeline programming complete laser shows. It already comes with 250 free laser shows. It is possible to create own logos, texts or graphics and use the tracing tool to convert pixel pictures to laser compatible files.
The Laserworld ShowNET interface is a LAN interface, so no long ILDA cables are required any more. It has a built-in SD-card that ILDA frames and animations can be loaded to. The contents on the SD card as well as the pre-set patterns can be remotely triggered via DMX (16 bit X+Y axis resolution) or can run stand alone in automatic operation. ILDA Streaming is supported, too.
Laserworld Showeditor can be used for creating logos, texts or animations to be used with the ShowNET interface (ILDA export), but it’s also possible to directly live output with Laserworld Showeditor through the ShowNET LAN interface.
(Jim Evans)

UK - The festive season is well underway and Triple E has gone underwater to provide a magical window display in the centre of the West End.
You wouldn’t usually associate Shaftesbury Avenue with a yacht-chandler, but Arthur Beale has been situated here for over 400 years. Traditionally known for manufacturing ropes for ships, climbers and explorers the company often takes advantage of their central London location to supply the local West End theatres with specialist rigging.
Under the leadership of Alasdair Flint, a theatrical chandler who also has a passion for sailing, the company has revived itself in recent years to provide rigging and ropes to the theatre sector alongside their more traditional sailing business. And each Christmas the company draws on this theatrical side and puts on a window display to rival any other shop in Bloomsbury or the West End!
Triple E has worked in collaboration with Alasdair Flint to provide a magical underwater themed display based around 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. As a leading provider of drape and scenery tracking to the theatre sector, Triple E has frequently been known to provide tracks to support other well-known West End retail emporiums such as Harrods and Selfridges with their ‘wow factor’ window displays.
Triple E was charged with specifying and building a chain track system to allow the aquatic life in the window display to be in continual motion. Chain Track is Triple E’s proprietary tracking system and was perfect for the very precise and continuous movement of scenic element

South Africa - Gearhouse Splitbeam, the South African theatre equipment rental company, has invested in 53 new ProLyft Aetos motors and three Aetos 24 way remote controllers to keep up with demand of upcoming theatre productions. The company was established by Alistair Kilbee and Ofer Lapid in 2010, who realised the challenges of long-term rentals and who wanted to provide the best professional gear at the best possible prices to their clients.
“We have sent the 53 new Aetos motors, along with 47 of our existing stock - a total of 100 Aetos motors - to the Philippines where they will begin a world tour,” explains Alistair Kilbee, managing director. “I will be joining the production in Manila in January 2019 as technical director, but will not be touring with the show, only flying in for load in / load outs as required.”
In addition, Splitbeam has invested in Eilon load cells. “The Eilon load cells are crucial in monitoring your load weights while lifting to ensure an even distribution of weight between motors. The great thing about the wireless Eilon system that we purchased is that the cells can be monitored continuously in real time via an iPad. This particular production has a complex rigging system, so the load cells will help to ensure the safety of the performers and longevity of our Aetos Motors.”
Splitbeam has been involved in a number of international touring productions such as Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Evita and The Sound of Music.
“It is not always easy competing with the equipment requirem

Europe - “I wanted a bit of additional craziness going on behind the band,” says Prodigy lighting and set designer Tim Fawkes. He is utilising eight Kinesys Elevation motors to move four special 4m long lighting trusses up and down, just upstage of the band, for the current European leg of their No Tourists tour.
The four pods in their home position made up two apex shapes to blend in with the rest of the structural trussing design. Each one is lined with four Martin Sceptron LED battens, five GLP JDC1 strobes, four Robe MegaPointe moving lights, four Showtec Sunstrips and five old-skool PAR cans with CP60 bulbs for a classic ‘ACL’ look.
All lighting and rigging equipment is being supplied by Blackburn based rental company HSL.
Having these pods automated on the Kinesys motors using a Vector controller enabled Tim to add lots of extra dynamics to the mayhem.
Another recently completed HSL tour utilising Kinesys featured an elegant and slick show design by Andy Hurst.
Andy’s design featured two identical large LED screens - one upstage and one downstage. The downstage one moved up and down on four Kinesys points controlled by Kinesys’ flexible and straightforward Vector software.
Summer and early autumn saw the Chemical Brothers on the road completing a hectic festival schedule followed by a week of high-profile headline shows, complete with another visual experience created by show designers Adam Smith and Marcus Lyall.
The fully integrated Chemical Brothers lighting and video show featured a large LED scr

UK - POLAR has announced the appointment of Andrew Plunkett to the post of business development manager for public address/voice alarm. Andrew joins POLAR after 15 years at TG Baker where he gained wide-ranging experience in the design and distribution of public address, voice reinforcement and voice evacuation equipment.
An experienced project manager, Andrew has worked across diverse markets including industrial, leisure, education and most recently, on large-scale stadium installations and joins POLAR to develop this area of its business. As well as liaising with new and existing customers, Andrew’s system design expertise will help introduce the commercial ranges in POLAR’s portfolio to organisations whose core business is not necessarily focused on audio installation alone.
Stuart Leader, director of POLAR Integrated Solutions, comments: “It’s clear that Andrew’s know-how in this field mark him out as an excellent asset to POLAR. We continue to grow our business and expand a formidable range of expertise across our team, enabling us to provide the very highest levels of support to our customers.”
(Jim Evans)