Star Tribute - The life of David Bowie was celebrated with a tribute concert at a London chapel. Hundreds of fans packed out Islington's Grade I-listed Union Chapel to pay homage to the musician who died of cancer on 10 January. The service saw an eclectic mix of artists, including the Magic Numbers and ex-Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, perform the star's music.

Fans filled the small north London chapel as Bowie's best-known tunes, played by an organ, echoed around the hall. A huge screen showed images of the star in his many guises, before the part gig, part remembrance service kicked off with a rousing mass sing-along of Starman. Maggie Ronson, sister of late Bowie guitarist and collaborator Mick Ronson, was joined by The Featherz to sing Ziggy Stardust, paying

The Netherlands - During its yearly PIE event (Prolyte immersion event), which was held in Amsterdam from 10-12 January, Prolyte honoured its distributing network by handing out awards for highest turnover levels, non-turnover related achievements and awards for special contribution.

Starting on Sunday with a special dinner and party to celebrate its 25th anniversary year, the event started on a high note.

With over 110 persons attending, both key personnel and distributor representatives from all four corners of the globe, the atmosphere was lively and animated. Mixing dinner with award ceremonies, the night started professionally and progressed to a perfect networking event.

Over the course of the next two days the network was informed on product updates, marketing and sales strategies and the new Prolyte factory.

Feedback sessions on several topics gave all particip

UK - Over the past couple of years the iconic Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, home of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, has undergone a major £14.5m refurbishment. This has included the building of a brand new smaller-scale venue, Music Room, on which Stage Electrics and Northern Light worked closely together to supply and fit out, as well as being major contractors for the 1700-capacity main auditorium.

The project was split into two phases. Phase one focused on the main Hall whose 1939 art-deco style architecture has earned it Grade II*- listed status.

It included works to the auditorium, all public, front of house spaces, and backstage dressing rooms and warm-up areas.

Phase two was a new-build project including Music Room, for which Stage Electrics supplied the lighting, sound and staging equipment. Located at the rear of the main Hall, Music Room is a 16

France - Palais des Festivals, home to the Cannes Film Festival, is one of Europe's leading conference and entertainment venues. The building features five main auditoriums as well as numerous committee rooms and administrative offices.

The combination of Adamson and the Palais des Festivals began 15 years ago when the newly formed DV2 (Adamson's distributor in France) designed a sound reinforcement system featuring Adamson Y10 line arrays for the Auditorium Louis Lumiere. The system, which is still in use today, continues to receive compliments from those that perform in the space.

Recently DV2 was called upon to design another system for the Claude Debussy Theatre, the second largest theatre, with a seating capacity of 1,068. DV2 designed a system featuring the new Adamson S Series line arrays. Dushow, one of the biggest rental and installation companies in France, was res

UK - A new production of Harvey Granville Barker's play Waste is currently showing at The National's Lyttelton Theatre with smooth 'swipe' curtain movements utilising Triple E's Chaintrack, Unitrack and Unibeam systems.

The controversial play, which was famously banned by the censors when it was first written, tells the story of the ambitious independent politician Henry Trebell and his plans for a bill to disestablish the Church of England.

The National Theatre's deputy production manager Clíona Ní Mhocháin approached Triple E's managing director David Edelstein to assist with the track solutions.

"We needed a smooth, silent and reliable system to achieve a swipe motion to go from an empty stage to actors' preset," explains Ní Mhocháin. "We also wanted to create an aperture to suggest the outside world further upstage that could change size and

USA - Fast rising country star Justin Moore set a real challenge on his recent US tour, with venues ranging from state/county fairs up to 20,000-seat arena shows.

For production designer Sooner Routhier (of SRae Productions) and touring lighting director Aaron Luke it was a case of developing easily portable, truckable and scalable scenography that was quick to rig and derig.

Sooner also lights stages for Motley Crue to Bon Jovi and it was on a previous tour with the latter that she started using GLP's popular impression X4 heads, quickly sensing the speed of the fixture and the number of beam shapes that could be achieved using the pixel patterns. "I needed a good wash light to generate effects that would give each song a different look - and GLP impressions seemed to be the perfect fit."

And so she approached long-term vendor SES from North Carolina for a simi

World - American punk rockers Fall Out Boy are on a world tour in support of their American Beauty/American Psycho album with a perspective-bending lighting design by Robb Jibson using Clay Paky Mythos and A.leda B-EYE K20 fixtures.

Robb Jibson - who serves as lighting and show designer for the tour - is using the highly advanced beam and spot light hybrid, Mythos, for effects, backlight, in delay systems and even as follow spots. With them, he projects dynamic aerial effects out across the audience, creates collimated looks and washes areas with vibrant colour.

"Clay Paky has created a really bright fixture in the Mythos," says Jibson. "It has a small footprint that's easy on both weight and power consumption and there isn't a better optical system out there in my opinion. I think its best feature is the ability to have it in a 20° to 30° beam

Germany - Live production and rental company, Feedback Show Systems, has added a Solid State Logic L500 Plus live console to its audio inventory.

Feedback Show Systems is one of Germany's leading production and rental companies, with a solid reputation for excellence. The company offers a full range of production services to high-end musicals, touring shows, and corporate events, and also provides a comprehensive dry hire service.

Feedback's first project with the L500 at FOH was the touring version of Shrek - The Musical. The show involved more than 20 dancers, a large band, and over 130 different scenes. Feedback's managing director, Bernd Schmitz, commented, "Switching to the L500 was straightforward and fast. The console met all of the very complex functional requirements of the show, and the sonic improvement was obvious to everybody.

"We produce enc

UK - The fast expanding Botanist chain of music-led bar/restaurants, the brainchild of operators The New World Trading Company, recently opened its latest outlet in Marlow, Bucks.

Cheshire-based music consultants Genre Music, who have overseen all previous six Botanists (as well as the other venues in the operators' 12-strong portfolio), managed the installation of Martin Audio's new CDD installation range loudspeakers - specified on the recommendation of their sub-contractors F1 Sound Co.

Explained Genre Music MD, Steven Walter, "While we handle all the operators' music requirements and book their live acts, we bring in technical experts for the sound system installations, working in conjunction with several partner companies; in the south, this is F1 Sound Co."

The Whitstable-based pro-audio specialists, run by Matt Bate and Sam Liston, have long been fans of

USA - Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, Christian music's largest annual tour, has returned to the road with lighting provided by Bandit Lites. Artists this year include For King and Country, Matthew West, Crowder, Lauren Daigle, Red and Newsong.

Production manager Jerry Holcomb worked with Bandit's project manager Matt King and business development officer Brent Barrett to make the 360 degree stage lighting design a reality. "Brent and Matt always help me achieve my vision and design to actual workable rigging plots and fixture patch," said Holcomb. "We even set up a couple days at their Nashville location to pre-program and get ready for the tour."

"We appreciate the opportunity to work with Jerry each year from his initial concept through the finished product," said Barrett. "Jerry's temperament along with his experience and knowledge promote

UK - Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) delivered full production, including lighting, sound - featuring brand new d&b Y8s and V-SUBS - video and rigging to an impressive end of year party for technology designer / manufacturer Dyson - which was staged in the grounds of Bowood House in Wiltshire, where a large elegant Trispan marquee was giving a 45m deep and wide party space.

CPL have been the event's technical supplier for the last five years, and there's always an exciting and ambitious brief to be fulfilled from production company Bright. This year their production designer and technical manager was Nick Diacre who liaised closely with CPL's PM Mike Radford.

Luminescence was the theme of this year's event, putting a big emphasis on lighting and visual presentation and treatment of the whole environment.

CPL flew a 10m diameter circular truss in the middle of the m

USA - Multi Latin Grammy-winner Fonseca has been described as one of the easiest artists to like and one of the most difficult to categorize. Colombian born and educated at Boston's Berklee College of Music, the singer-guitarist, who now lives in Miami, began his career in rock. As he evolved as an artist, his music grew to include elements of Colombian 'Tropipop', as well as a variety of other sounds from ranchera to salsa and even classical.

Lighting designer Churry Lafuente reflects Fonseca's diverse musical message in light on the artist's current Conexión tour, thanks to some help from a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures provided by rental company Línea Estratégica.

Churry, who began designing for the international superstar almost three years ago during the Ilusión tour, created an intense, bright and very flexible rig for the multi-national tour, w

USA - Located in Houston, Texas, the Alley Theatre is a nationally recognized performing arts company that creates a wide range of innovative productions. Recently undergoing a $46.5m renovation which included improvements to the Hubbard Theatre, associate director for design Kevin Rigdon was asked to also serve as the principal designer for the project.

Working with theatrical consultants Bill Connor & Associates as well as Philips Strand Lighting aauthorized dealer StageLight, Rigdon was tasked with creating a more intimate relationship between the audience and the actors on stage, and he did so using 68 Showline SL PAR 155 ZOOM LED luminaires.

"During the renovation, we actually changed the configuration of the theatre which created two zones of house lighting, said Rigdon. "We were committed to using LED lighting technology for the power consumption and heat ad

Europe - The European Intellitix team attended the company's Europe 2016 conference in Groningen, NL, earlier this month, before attending Eurosonic Nooderslag.

Eric Janssen, Intellitix chief revenue officer, operating from the company's global head office chaired the three-day meeting, with a full day of product overview and software updates imparted by the company's chief product officer, Barna Jardany. Attending were representatives from the UK, Czech Republic, Scandinavia, France, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, with colleagues from Canada and Brazil.

Adding to operations manager Carl AH Martin's experience working across the European live events and venues sectors in the UK are Gavin Barnard, director of partnerships (UK Intellitix) and Gareth Deakin, director of business development (UK Intellitix). Gavin's eight years combined digital a

Germany - Post-production facility Rotor Film has installed a 69-loudspeaker Meyer Sound cinema system in its recently opened mixing stage - the largest in Europe that offers both Dolby Atmos and Auro-3D immersive surround sound technologies. Located in the Babelsberg 'Media City' complex in Potsdam, the room features one of the largest Meyer Sound cinema monitoring systems ever installed.

Before making the critical decision on loudspeakers, Rotor Film held intensive comparative listening tests, with participation by management, staff, and associated independent mixing engineers.

"We invited about 20 sound designers and freelance engineers as our guests to listen to a wide range of audio samples," says Christoph Engelke, technical director at Rotor Film. "Based on everyone's listening experiences, a Meyer Sound system was the clear choice for our two top manag

UK - Audio manufacturer Powersoft is sponsoring AV Academy, a comprehensive InfoComm Certified Specialist (CTS) training track organised by AV Magazine and RH Consulting. Topics covered include corporate AV, education AV and high performance sound.

AV Academy - a collection of intensive InfoComm certified courses - is designed to impart in-depth knowledge to audio professionals seeking to improve their system specification abilities for installations in the corporate AV, education AV and high-performance sound environments.

CTS accredited instructor Roland Hemming will lead classes through four InfoComm certified courses between 1 March and 13 April, 2016.. Hemming, who will be using premium products from Powersoft to help facilitate the training sessions, managed two of Europe's largest audio projects: the Millennium Dome and the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

&quo

UK/Netherlands - Christie has launched "the world's brightest 1DLP laser phosphor projector: the Christie HS Series" which, says the company, is not only the world's first 12,000 Lumen 1DLP laser phosphor projector but it also brings the industry amazing colour balance with a new proprietary solution, BoldColor Technology.

Featuring 'BoldColor Technology' for richer, more vivid colours, and a 3X colour wheel speed, the Christie D12HD-HS and Christie D12WU-HS respectively deliver HD and WUXGA resolution in a compact chassis that is the quietest 10,000+ lumens laser phosphor projector on the market.

Christie has developed BoldColor Technology that - through a combination of laser light source, optics, software - enables the HS Series produce excellent colours with exceptional colour balance. Building on the versatility of the H Series launched last year, the laser-ph

USA - American alternative rock band X Ambassadors are touring North America through March on their VHS tour using a fully MIDI-triggered lighting rig designed by Cour Design that includes Elation Professional SixPar 200 LED PAR colour changers and Platinum Beam 5R beam lights.

Cour Design handles production design, lighting programming and production coordination on the tour, their first time working with the band. "We met with their management team when we first started our business," stated Gordon Droitcour, co-founder and designer along with Erik Anderson at the Nashville-based design house that can take a project from napkin sketch to full production. "We had never heard of X Ambassadors but they've been one of our most exciting bands to date."

Cour Design specializes in intricate visual designs that literally run themselves. They have developed a sy

UK - The 32nd Reproduced Sound Conference, entitled Sound with Pictures - time is of the essence, will focus on all aspects of electroacoustics for cinema, TV and the internet. It will take place 15-17 November 2016 at the Holiday Inn, Herbert Walker Avenue, Southampton.

Papers may be submitted on all electroacoustic topics including the following: Cinema Sound, Live Sound, Audio System Design, Case Studies, Environmental Noise Control of Events, Audio/Visual Timing, Intelligibility, Measurement & Evaluation, Loudspeakers and Microphones, Acoustics of Venues.

Offers of papers on any electroacoustics topic will be considered for the programme.

Abstracts (150 words) for papers plus a short biography of up to 150 words may be sent to linda.canty@ioa.org.uk by Friday 20 May 2016. Final written papers for the Proceedings must be submitted by Friday 30 September 2016.

(Jim E

UK - Flashlight Ltd has announced it has been experiencing high demand and great feedback from customers on the ARRI Skypanel range since it started shipping in September. Both the Manchester and London offices are reporting extensive sales to broadcasters, rental companies and studios. With over 200 units sold so far the team are adding to their unprecedented numbers of ARRI LED L-Series sold.

Flashlight's Andy Dodd says: 'It has been phenomenal so far, although not surprising as it is a fantastic product. The technical aspects of the product, with its competitive price point is making it an attractive unit for many of our customers."

The BBC and ITV have been some of the first to invest in the new units, taking a large quantity of Skypanels to bolster their various studios. Andy has received nothing but positive feedback from staff there: "They offer everything u

Denmark - The Musikteater in Vejle, Denmark is a busy - primarily - receiving theatre with a 1200 capacity flexible main auditorium that can be fully seated in a traditional set up or have a standing configuration. The venue also hosts corporate and private events, and the technical team co-ordinate production for a month long outdoor summer entertainment season in the park. They additionally provide technical production for the nearby Spectrum Conference & Sports Centre, which is also run by the city.

Musikteater's investment in Kinesys products started around six years ago, explains technical manager Tor Futtrup, who has been working there for 13 years and initiated this move with a first purchase of 10 3.25 tonne Kinesys LibraCELL load measuring shackles and the Kinesys LibraBASIC system.

The Libra shackle pin is designed to work with the globally recognised Crosby safety

Latest Issue. . .

Save
Cookies user preferences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline
Advertisement
If you accept, the ads on the page will be adapted to your preferences.
Google Ad
Accept
Decline