Australia - LSC Lighting Systems has appointed Jeff Morgan as its new regional sales manager for Australia. Morgan has over 25 years’ experience in the lighting and entertainment industry, having worked as a lighting systems technician, electrician and technical support officer as well as in sales and installation roles. In the past decade, he managed Lots of Watts Central Coast in New South Wales, specialising in lighting and audio sales and developing bespoke projects for local schools and churches.
In his role at LSC, Morgan will provide technical sales, training and dealer support in Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales.
“I am delighted to have Jeff join LSC,” says Gary Pritchard, managing director at LSC. “His experience and knowledge of the industry and the fact that he has specified, installed and used LSC products for many years will not only make him an outstanding addition to our team, but our customers will also benefit greatly from his experience.”
(Jim Evans)

UK - Event production specialists Light Fantastic Production Services partnered with Limited Edition Event Design to provide the main stage and a complete after party installation for the world premiere of Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody at the SSE Wembley Arena.
LFPS created a bespoke circular stage finished in gold mirror to complement the premiere’s signature purple carpet. The stage was a focal point for the evening, hosting live interviews with the movie’s cast and crew along with members of Queen.
For the star-studded aftershow, LFPS transformed Wembley Stadium’s Three Lions Bar into a rock'n'oll themed party space for 1,000 guests.
To help build the look, the team used Portman’s newly released P2 Hexaline fixtures in the lobby. A curved gallery, lined with individually lit costumes and large-scale production stills from the movie was formed at the entrance. Here, LFPS installed a mixture of Robe LEDBeam 150 and ProLights Studiocob fixtures that greeted arriving guests with dynamic movement and colour.
In the main party area, LFPS deployed 170 of their new Chauvet WELL Fit wireless LED uplighters, 110 of these being used to great effect to create grand sweeps of colour along the vast glass and steel wall that looks out over Wembley. Adding regal gold highlights to the mix, Robe Patt 2013 fixtures were cleverly positioned throughout the area, their elegantly retro looks perfectly complementing the styling of the event.
Lighting was controlled using a Chamsys MQ100 console with various Wireless Solutions transceivers t

USA - The Queen of Country Pop’s Shania Now 2018 tour is using a large complement of Claypaky Mythos2 and Scenius Unico fixtures to enhance the show’s dazzling visual palette. ACT Lighting is the exclusive distributor of Claypaky lighting in North America.
Shania Now takes multi-Grammy winner Shania Twain across North America and to South America and Europe this fall before culminating in a swing through Oceania prior to Christmas. Twain has sold over 100m records making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and among the best-selling music artists of all time. Last year she released her fifth studio album and her first in 15 years, entitled Now.
The production features 48 Claypaky Mythos2 and 80 Scenius Unico fixtures. “The Unicos are the main workhorse of the lighting rig: They provide key light, back light and floor lighting,” explains creative director and production designer Rob Sinclair. “The Mythos2 are hung on upstage torms and side ‘cakes’ to provide fill and big-picture looks during the show.”
He notes that the lighting design for the tour “needed to be big, flexible and rectilinear to match the video cubes” which comprise the core of the show’s visual canvas. Five 12-foot moving video cubes, covered with a total of 18 LED surfaces, continually reconfigure and recombine during the show to create an ever-changing environment for Twain, the band and the dancers. “It was hugely complex to rehearse as the stage reconfigures for every song.”
Sinclair adds, “We also nee

Ireland - With a burgeoning Irish music scene and ever-increasing demand for rider-friendly consoles, Murt Whelan, owner of named Murt Whelan Sound, invested in DiGiCo.
He chose an SD12 as his first console from the brand. But later also added an SD10.
“Investing in DiGiCo has worked very well for us,” says Whelan. “Ever since we took delivery the SD12, it’s been our busiest console and has been pretty much constantly out on hire, either for shows we’re working on or for dry hire to other rental companies. It’s been out with Irish bands Gavin James Walking on Cars and Picture This, on the Féile Classical Festival, Independence Festival in Cork and for the Trinity Summer Series in Dublin.”
As the only SD12 in Ireland, the console has proved exceptionally popular prompting Whelan to take delivery of a SD10 at the beginning of September.
He continues: “We immediately had several enquires for sub-rental for the SD10, and it’s also booked to go out regularly for the next year, which is exactly how you want it to be. The market for DiGiCo in Ireland is growing very rapidly and the SD12 and SD10 have given us a very definite advantage.”
Whelan purchased both consoles through SSE and, despite this being the company’s first experience with DiGiCo, they have not required training on the consoles.
“We just spent some time with the SD12 in the warehouse,” he says. “I did a show on it myself, having only spent an hour with it in the warehouse. I found it really easy to get around. Both DiGiCo and SSE offer amazing

India - Munro Acoustics recently outfitted The Urban Foundry’s new location in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar neighbourhood with an end-to-end Harman audio system.
With several locations in Mumbai and Pune in India’s Maharashtra state, The Urban Foundry is a bar and eatery with an industrial aesthetic that incorporates brick, metal and glass materials. The Foundry’s new location features a performance area for live music, but the highly reflective surfaces in the restaurant made it difficult to control the sound. In order to solve this challenge, management hired acoustic consultancy firm Munro Acoustics to design and install an end-to-end Harman Professional audio system comprised of JBL loudspeakers, Crown amplifiers and a Soundcraft mixer.
“We wanted our new location in Pune to be different from the others, so we added a performance space for live music,” said Kishore Shetty, general manager of operations for The Urban Foundry. “This presented a challenge, as we had to ensure quality sound for performances while retaining our signature industrial design. We chose to work with Harman Professional Solutions and Munro Acoustics because they understood our situation better than anyone else. The service was great, the process quick and it was our easiest installation yet. The sound quality here has exceeded my expectations.”
The Munro Acoustics team selected two full-range JBL AM7215 15” 2-way loudspeakers for the main array, supplemented by six JBL AC16 ultra-compact 6” speakers as side-fills. JBL ASB6118 subwoofers with 18” Super Vented

Belgium - Developed and engineered in Belgium, Lucenti “brings innovation to the high-speed entertainment lighting industry”. “With power line communication, we saw an opportunity to take festoon lighting to the next level,” say Yoeri Renders and Olivier Leirs who have been developing and testing for the past years to get the Lucenti bulbs durable and the protocols flawless. “By sending the data to control the bulbs over the power line, we reduce cabling. Standard socket wiring can be used to make lines of up to 250 meters long with 128 individually addressable bulbs.”
The flagship bulb called the Pearl has RGB coloured LEDs in the base and a dimmable LED filament. Each channel is individually adjustable through the controller. With the app you can opt for plug and play, or connect your DMX (wired or wireless) lighting console and integrate it with the rest of your lighting.
The Lucenti team have “managed to create a rugged and intuitive controller that lasts at the rough environments of event venues or production sites”. With its IP67 resistance both bulbs and controller can be used outdoors. More shapes will be added to the Vinci collection soon to give lighting designers more options.
(Jim Evans)

Denmark - Copenhagen’s magnificent Østre Gasværk Teater in the city’s Østerbro district is housed in a former gas holder once part of the old Eastern Gasworks complex, built in 1878 and designed by Martin Nyrop, also the architect of Copenhagen City Hall.
The venue has functioned as a performance space since the 1970s, however in the last year an extensive technical refit and major rigging upgrade has involved the installation of a completely new free-standing steel grid internal structure, together with a Kinesys automation system – featuring the latest Kinesys Apex chain hoists and DigiHoist control.
The theatre started off presenting alternative dance works and hosting concerts and fashion shows as well as gripping dramas. Over the years the production requirements have become steadily more complex and ambitious.
In 2016, the Østre Gasværk Theatre merged with another major cultural institution, the Republique Theatre, and Emmet Feigenberg was appointed artistic director, moving everything into a new era.
With this came - finally - the realisation that the old flying facilities were no longer realistically serviceable to stage modern productions, so with the writing on the wall, outgoing artistic director Pia Jette Hansen, the board of the building’s management company and previous production manager Frank Beck started a campaign to secure funding to make some radical changes, explained Østre Gasværk’s head of lighting Brian Njie and head of stage Jacob Frederiksen.
As a listed building and a much-loved landmark of Co

Europe - ER Productions has been working with the Chemical Brothers for a number of years, creating laser visuals worthy of the duo’s heady electronic shows. This year saw the pair appear at various festivals and venues across Europe and ER was on board for the ride once again, and this time bringing some exciting SFX into the mix.
Chemical Brothers Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons have spent nearly 30 years bringing big beat tunes to their fan base of dance and rock fans. The 2018 Chems live tour began in June, at Rockhal, Luxemburg, in June, and concludes at Corona Capital, Mexico City, this month.
The show design was to be a combination of mesmerising visuals, and ER Productions worked with production manager, James Baseley, stage manager Toby Dennis, touring lighting designer, Thomas Deschandel, and show designers, Marcus Lyall and Adam Smith to deliver another phenomenal show. The set’s visual highlights included huge LED screens, showing their signature array of 3D characters, an incredible strobe light wall, and the appearance of the four-metre tall robots, affectionately nicknamed George and Mildred, created by Specialz.
As part of the theatrical and immersive experience, ER’s lasers had an important part to play, and included a number of carefully-planned and perfectly executed cues. ER’s lasers created a stunning atmosphere during tracks Chemical Beats, Hey Boy Hey Girl, Surface to Air and for the encore Got Glint, using 18 Kinekts, (eight positioned along the downstage edge, eight upstage, and two located be

UK - Franki McDade is the lighting designer behind the show that has been supporting Swedish duo First Aid Kit’s world tour, which kicked off in January when their Ruins album dropped. The tour has just completed its latest UK leg, with lighting and video equipment supplied by Colour Sound Experiment.
Colour Sound has provided lighting and crew for previous tours with the band, this being their largest and most comprehensive to date in terms of production.
Colour Sound’s Haydn Cruickshank (H) comments: “I have known Franki since she first started her professional career – she worked hard and was an extremely good and conscientious lighting technician. She’s always had a great flair for imagination, so it’s fantastic to see her creative star rising and evolving. We were really happy to be working with her on this in the UK and Europe.”
In terms of design, this is one of Franki’s largest tours to date. On the video side, she collaborated with Paul ‘Pablo’ Beckett and the team from Bryte who produced the content to her brief, which included extensive input from First Aid Kit themselves, Johanna and Klara Söderberg.
This UK tour culminated in two sold-out shows at London’s Brixton Academy, and a production design that was evolved from a version used on the Swedish tour earlier in the year which played similar sized venues.
Projection was important on this tour. Film is a strong source of inspiration for Joanna and Klara, they take a keen interest, and much of the footage has a textured and cinematic feel presen

Belgium - A designer boutique hotel in the heart of Ghent is finding value in Dante Audio IP networking from Audinate for the business and entertainment needs of its guests. Designed and integrated by Belgian systems integration firm Round Group Audiovisual Engineering, the Dante network delivers high-quality background music in the hotel's atmospheric 1898 The Post cocktail lounge, as well as delivering pristine audio to all points, including audio support for presentations, meetings and events in a large multi-function room.
1898 The Post is a new venture from Zannier Hotels in Ghent that opened this past summer. Located in the upper two floors of Ghent’s old post office building, the hotel offers 38 guest rooms and public spaces that complement the building’s late 19th century architecture. Round Group was hired to provide a “very high-end sound system” for The Cobbler, the hotel’s cocktail bar and social hub, along with reception and other public areas of the hotel. The company was soon after provided with an opportunity to extend the system to support AV needs for the multi-function space.
“This was a ground-up reconstruction with new walls, new flooring, restored wood and new electrical systems, which gave us complete freedom to design and specify an audio-visual solution that would complement the cozy and relaxed atmosphere,” says Marc Bauwens, senior engineering & associate, Round Group Audiovisual Engineering. “We wanted a system that blended into the architecture, and they certainly didn’t want visible wires and big black

South Africa - DWR Distribution will now be the sole distributor for Audix Microphones in South Africa.
Audix has been a well-known name in professional music for over three decades, with acclaimed international artists using its microphones, including Willie Nelson, Todd Sucherman of Styx, and Morgan Beatbox.
“Over the past two years, our company has seen tremendous growth in the audio products we offer to the industry,” comments Robert Izzett from DWR. “The one thing we did not have were microphones. Audix is one of the leading brands across the globe, and what makes the company special and approachable is their passion for the end user. By investing in research and development over the past thirty years, and listening to their customers’ needs and requests, Audix has developed innovative and performance driven microphones.”
“We are excited to have DWR represent Audix in South Africa”, adds Cindy Bigeh, interim VP Sales for Audix. “DWR Distribution represents a wide variety of products to several industries and a wealth of clients. From lighting to theatre, schools to places of worship and even restaurants, including installation and service, DWR can meet the needs of most any customer. DWR also hosts trainings as they are focused on supporting their clients.”
(Jim Evans)

Europe - Highlite International will attend this year’s edition of JTSE, 27 and 28 November in Dock Pullman at Porte de la Chapelle, Paris.
Highlite will present a selection of product innovations from their brands Infinity, Showtec and DAP Audio. The Infinity family with the Chimp Tourpack, the Furion series and Signature range will have its own dedicated stand. Showtec is represented, amongst others, by the Helix 5000, the battery operated Eventspot 1600 Q4 and the Candela Pix 50 outdoor light bar. Dap Audio will have the Celestion powered Odin line array present.
At JTSE this year Highlite occupies two booths showing their current developments in the entertainment business.
Infinity will show the Furion Series, very fast and powerful LED-based moving heads, equipped with Wireless DMX. The Infinity wash lights iW-740 and iW-1240 will be present as well. With a zoom range of 4.5° - 36°, these moving heads can be used both as a washlight or as a powerful LED beam. The Infinity Signature LED based theatre spots which have been designed and developed in collaboration with world renowned theatre spot manufacturer Robert Juliat can be found at the Infinity stand as well.
The Infinity Chimp Tourpack completes the presentation. Regarding the Infinity Chimp light controllers, at the Highlite Academy beginners and advanced users are instructed on how to get the best out of each unit. The Highlite Academy found a strong partner in Oliverdy (booth 18), a true knowledge centre and certified training organization
Showtec offers the Vintage Blaz

Canada - Looking at the 50,000sq.ft complex that is Metalworks just west of downtown Toronto in Mississauga, it’s hard to imagine that it came from relatively modest roots. Starting out as a private studio, the company has now grown into a multi-faceted operation that includes a large commercial studio, production school, and live sound provider with a major investment in L-Acoustics loudspeaker systems, including its most recent addition of a full K2 system.
In 2005, Metalworks Studios bought out a pair of live sound companies and launched Metalworks Production Group (MPG), a full-service production house. One of the companies that it purchased was already an L-Acoustics rental network partner, making MPG an L-Acoustics house from the very beginning. “We started with approximately 50 V-DOSC and 100 dV-DOSC right out of the gate,” says Metalworks owner Gil Moore, who is perhaps better known as the drummer and co-lead singer for the Canadian rock band Triumph, which has 27 platinum or gold awards in the USA and Canada to its credit.
Moore calls his company’s extensive investment in L-Acoustics products a “strategic advantage” for three reasons: “The first is that L-Acoustics speakers are consistently one of the top choices on every rider we see. As a business owner, that’s one less stress because I know that I’m not going to have to worry about that top status changing.”
MPG’s inventory of L-Acoustics is extensive. “We have 120 Kara, 32 K2, and we've just added several LA12X-equipped LA-RAK II amplified controller racks and 1

USA - The North American premiere of the musical Tinga Tinga Tales in October featured seven Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures. These lights, along with 13 Maverick MK2 Wash units and eight COLORado 2-Quad Zooms, supplied by WorldStage, were part of a Herrick Goldman lighting design for the show at Manhattan’s New Victory Theatre
“The MK2 Spots provided the strong beams of the chromatic rainbow when the children in the audience discover how the Chameleon character gets his colours,” said Goldman, who positioned the 440W moving LED fixtures on the second electric. “They enabled us to shift Chameleon’s moods rapidly, which helped tell his magical tale. The MK2 Spots also played heavily in Tortoise’s Rasta rap, with a call and response with the audience. Overall, the spots help to highlight performers in a variety of dramatic ways.”
Goldman was familiar with lighting the performers at the New Victory production of the musical, having worked the world premiere of the musical (which is based on the famous children’s cartoon series of the same name), when it made its world debut at the Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi earlier in the fall.
“My friends at the New Victory Theatre recommended me to the producer of Tinga Tinga Tales for the show in Kenya,” says Goldman. “Based on my previous relationships and work at the New Victory Theatre, as well as my international design experience, they thought I would be a good fit. So, I had the extreme pleasure of designing the show on two very diverse continents.

Europe - Prolyte Group presented its distributor awards at its bi-annual networking event for distributors.
The Partner Immersion Event was held at Prolyte’s International Training Centre in Emsdetten, Germany to bring together distributors from all over the world.
To thank partners for “the trust, support and contribution to the Prolyte brand”, Prolyte Group presented the following awards to their distributors:
Platinum Award ProlyteStructures: AED Distribution; Platinum Award StageDex: AED Distribution; Platinum Award StageDex: Bellalite; Platinum Award ProlyteStructures: Cast C.Adolph & RST Distribution; Platinum Award ProLyft: DWR Distribution; Platinum Award ProLyft: Huss Licht & Ton; Platinum Award StageDex: Stage Electrics: Project of the Year Award: DP Music; Project of the Year Award: EES - Entertainment Equipment Supplies; Consistent Development Award: Electro Waves; Best Newcomer Award: Huss Licht & Ton.
Regional Development Award: Stage Electrics; Prolyte Campus Award: Controllux; Prolyte Campus Award: Prolight; Strategic Growth Award: AC Lighting; Brand Ambassador Award - Special Contribution: Bart de Smet; Brand Ambassador Award - Special Contribution: Jan Siemons: Brand Ambassador Award - Special Contribution: Robert Winters.
“Investing in our partners for a long-standing relationship is a priority,” says Lambert Bouwmeester, Prolyte’s chief executive officer. Prolyte Group also presented the Distributor Awards which recognise Prolyte Group’s outstanding distribution partners based on sales perfo

UK - Edinburgh-based DM Audio is the latest company to join the Adamson rental partner network, having recently purchased a S10 line array system from Edinburgh certified re-seller, Live Systems.
The system consists of S10 line array loudspeakers with S119 subs powered by Lab Gruppen PLM20K44 amplifiers together with a full rigging package.
Dino Martino, director of DM Audio, comments: “We had been looking for a new line array system for some time and had evaluated all of the alternatives currently on the market for function, sound quality, rider-friendliness and value. We trialled Adamson line array systems on some of the events that we supplied over the summer and the S-Series really stood out for us as the best system for our client base, with exceptional sound quality, well thought-out rigging and amazing coverage. Another important factor for us is the aftercare backup and we know we can rely on Live Systems and the UK distributor The Warehouse to deliver this.”
Steve Robb, managing director at Live Systems adds: “DM Audio has been providing sound equipment and production services to the Scottish market for over 20 years. I have known Dino and his team for a significant amount of this time and know that they are very particular when it comes to choosing new equipment. Any such investment must therefore demonstrate a strong return on investment while also ensuring a clear performance benefit for their customers. We are delighted that they have chosen to make the move to Adamson which further strengthens the rental partner network.”

UK - Art and artistry appear fundamental to a live performance by Bon Iver. For lighting designer Michael Brown this is reflected in the reliance on white light, shade and contrast. With that in mind, when the band asked production manager James Dean to prospect for an IMAG system, he sought more than just good technology.
“Although it’s not the first time we’ve used video for the live show (we have had video walls for content before now) it is the first time we’ve thought about using a full camera package for IMAG. We knew we would be playing bigger rooms and we wanted the audience to have the best experience possible. One of the great things Video Design offered that many others didn’t was a range of robotic cameras. Not having camera operators intruding on stage is important to the band and their stage performance.”
Dean took a four camera PPU from Video Design, three Bradley robotics and a long lens operated camera for out front, plus two screens and laser projectors. “Video Design have done a nice job for the band; we have four cameras and, as far as the band and the show is concerned, it’s as if they don’t exist.
“This was new to us,” Dean continues, “And once we got the equipment and saw how it looked it became apparent that we had positioned the screens too far above the performance area. They were almost a distraction. Paul Eggerton, our video director suggested bringing them closer in and lower, practically alongside the performance area, something they were able to do for us quickly and easily. It means the audienc

USA - Opened in 1892, Ryman Auditorium in Nashville is best known as the home of the Grand Ole Opry radio broadcast between 1943 and 1974. Its age and cultural significance led to its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
In partnership with Opry Entertainment Group, JBL, and Yamaha, AV integration company Clair Solutions recently completed a significant overhaul of the Ryman’s sound reinforcement system, which required a lot of upfront due diligence and testing, sensitivity to the venue’s historic interior, and a deft installation to work around the Ryman’s packed calendar.
“We installed the Ryman’s previous sound reinforcement system over a dozen years ago,” says Dan Heins, regional vice president at Clair Solutions. “It was a first-generation JBL VerTec system that served them well, but loudspeaker, amplifier, and DSP technology has come a long way since then. We’ve maintained a close relationship in the interim. The folks at Opry Entertainment Group are really passionate about great sound, and they wanted to be sure that they would be getting the very best system for the space.”
JBL’s new VTX Series A12 System rose to the top, but the Ryman engineers wanted to hear the system in-place before fully committing to the installation. Clair Solutions developed an EASE model and optimized a design in collaboration with JBL engineers Raul Gonzalez and Nicholas Mourn. JBL provided an entire demo system that Clair Solutions put in place on temporary lifts. “It was a real proof-of-concept,” Heins explains.

UK - Live events creative solutions specialist, Production Bureau (Pb) has invested in 20 Spotlight FresneLED 200 warm white universal dimming luminaires for use on client events during the busy autumn season.
Production Bureau has been providing technical solutions, installations, AV equipment and services to the live events and exhibitions & display sectors for over 30 years, with projects ranging from international conferences to small-scale roadshows.
Dave Morgan, Pb's technical resources manager, required a versatile and low-energy LED Fresnel that could be used across various types of shows and events, so contacted Bob Allen in the UK lighting sales team of professional equipment re-seller AC-ET.
Morgan comments: "At Pb we are continuously investing in new technologies to ensure we remain at the forefront of the industry, so we can deliver the best possible creative experience for our clients."
After discussing Dave's technical requirements and budget, Bob recommended the Spotlight FresneLED range of luminaires from the brand's award-winning Green Line product range.
He comments: "Spotlight has a long history of developing quality Fresnel solutions, and has spent many years perfecting its own LED technologies to be able to deliver performance which is comparable to conventional tungsten fixtures, yet offers significant reductions in energy consumption."
(Jim Evans)

UK - The end-of-season fireworks display at Legoland Windsor Resort is one of the resort’s most anticipated events on the calendar. Six shows are held over three weekends during late October and early November, with this year’s Legoland Heroes extravaganza, deemed the most spectacular and ambitious yet.
Sound designer Dave Shepherd has been looking after the sound for the fireworks display since 2003. This year, following the demos held at LH2 in June, he opted to try out the recently launched HALO Arena large format line array system from EM Acoustics.
Shepherd explains that a large percentage of the park is covered with dedicated sound systems for the fireworks display, which is not without its challenges: “There are multiple viewing areas populated with buildings and trees that we need to work around. We also have fairly tight noise restrictions due to the proximity of local residents to the park’s boundary,” says Shepherd. “The largest viewing area of the park is Miniland where the public can be up to 170m away from the sound system, but due to the topology of this area, it’s impossible to set up delay systems meaning that the coverage has to come entirely from the main Left/Right line arrays.
“It’s therefore key for me to use a system with properly controlled dispersion and excellent rear rejection characteristics so that I can put the sound where I need it and not cause a nuisance for the neighbours. Having heard the HALO-A system at EM’s LH2 demo this summer and been very impressed, I was keen to try it out, partic