Business

As well as a buzzing show floor, ISE 2015 also offered visitors a wide range of personal development and training programmes.

ISE 2015 is confirmed as a record breaker

Details: 14 March 2016

The Netherlands - After announcing in December that Integrated Systems Europe 2015 would be the last three-day event before a move to four days in 2016, attendance at this year's show comprehensively demonstrated why ISE has made the move to expand the duration of the exhibition.

In what was Europe's largest ever AV and systems integration exhibition 59,350 registered attendees came to the show between 10-12 February at the Amsterdam, RAI. This represents an increase of 8,347 registered attendees (16.4%) on ISE 2014.

"The volume of attendance confirmed ISE's position as the destination of choice for anyone involved in professional AV and systems integration," said Mike Blackman, Integrated Systems Events managing director. "In addition to the ongoing attendance success story," he continued, "the announcement that ISE has entered into a joint venture wi

lenny Kravitz at Wembley (photo: Jessica Gilbert)

GLP X4 impressions strut their stuff with Lenny Kravitz

Details: 14 March 2016

Europe - The well-proven design team of Steven Cohen and his associate Bryan Barancik, have again pooled their creative energies to conceive an ever changing scenography for the Lenny Kravitz Strut tour.

The two designers repeated the magic they had introduced for the earlier 2011 tour, but this time making the centrepiece an automated retro-style overhead sphere, with unfolding petals revealing the light sources, redolent of the global 'superdiscos' of the 1990s.

To animate this mechanical sculpture - which was expertly fabricated by Tait Towers - they populated it with a total of 12 GLP impression X4 XL, 16 impression X4 and 32 impression X4 S; the inventory was supplied by Philadelphia based rental company, Atomic Lighting, and this was the first time the new X4 XL had been specified in North America (albeit for a European Tour).

The GLP platform is entirely familiar to b

https://www.claypaky.it/products/ultimo-hybrid/

The church's large stage, which bustles with energy during services

Chauvet adds dynamism to McAllen Baptist Temple

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - The Baptist Temple of McAllen,TX opens its doors and hearts to all. This much is evident in the welcoming section of its website, which declares, "We are teachers, lawyers, bookbinders, skateboarders, painters, musicians, and bikers..." It's also plain to see on the church's large stage, which bustles with energy during services, thanks in part to its dynamic band and singers, as well as the vivid light from a plethora of Chauvet Professional fixtures, including six Rogue R1 Spot moving heads.

"This is a very contemporary and dynamic house of worship," said Doug Hood, president of Custom Sound Designs (Fort Wayne, IN), which designed and installed the church's all-Chauvet lighting rig. "There's a lot happening on the stage at this church, such as line array speakers, environmental projection, and video projection - so we had to work the lighting pl

Martin Ramrath, head of satis&fy's audio department, will be handling Nexo sales

Satis&fy appointed Nexo distributor

Details: 14 March 2016

Germany - Nexo has announced the appointment of satis&fy, one of Europe's leading full service companies for event production, as a new distributor in Germany. The two companies have been working together since satis&fy invested heavily last year in Nexo STM modular line array systems as well as the latest compact line array Geo M6.

"We've been increasing our sales business over the last few years," explains Martin Ramrath, head of satis&fy's audio department, who will be handling Nexo sales. "To be true to what we're doing, as well as to the market, we are only selling those products that we've tested successfully in our rental business. As we believe in Nexo as a good partner and manufacturer of high end technology, it's the next logical step to also represent their products. Nexo's ranges have many applications across a lot of different market segments. Besides

Event Concept has recently expanded to include their own R&D facility

LumenRadio and Event Concept in OEM partnership

Details: 14 March 2016

UK / Sweden - LumenRadio has confirmed another OEM partnership - this time with London based Event Concept. Event Concept is an accredited production supplier to some of London's most sought after venues. They have recently expanded to include their own R&D facility to meet the demands of their partners who often have unique needs to place directional lighting in historically significant buildings.

Event Concept have already put this partnership to work and launched their first in-house designed fixture - the Concept 6 SD, the next step in wireless battery light technology. Developed to meet a host of new applications for battery lighting, Event Concept senior hire manager, Stephen McGuinness, comments, "We have just commissioned the second batch of 200 units as the lamp has been so well received by both our own designers and other major designers in the industry. We have h

The investment is part of a major overall upgrade of the national slalom slope, financed by the Norwegian government

Hafjell ski centre upgrades with Community

Details: 14 March 2016

Norway - Hajfell is hosting the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships this winter and, with the original sound system installed 20 years ago for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics, the Hafjell Nationalanlegg decided a new system was required. The investment is part of a major overall upgrade of the national slalom slope, financed by the Norwegian government.

Hafjell is located just north of Lillehammer and is one of Norway's largest ski areas, with a starting point 1030m above sea level and a vertical drop of 835m. During the Winter Olympics in 1994 it was the venue for the slalom and giant slalom events and is the now the national arena and training facility for these disciplines. Following the Olympics, the resort was further developed and currently consists of 30 trails serviced by a cable car, three chair lifts and 11 ski lifts. Hafjell and its co-owned neighbouring venue t

For five weeks, the dark evenings of Sweden are transformed into beautiful lighting installations around the town

W-DMX featured in Lights in Alingsas

Details: 14 March 2016

Sweden - W-DMX by Wireless Solution once again played an important role in the recent Lights in Alingsaas event in Sweden. The event is Northern Europe's largest lighting workshop in public spaces, attracting more than 85,000 visitors every year.

Beginning in the year 2000, leading lighting designers and companies have been invited to Alingsas to demonstrate their expertise, network and hold workshops. For five weeks, the dark evenings of Sweden are transformed into beautiful lighting installations around the town.

It started in 1999 when students from HDK, Jönköping University and Gothenburg University gathered in Alingsas to experiment with different lighting designs for public buildings. The following year, the municipality entered into agreements with the Professional Lighting Designers' Association - PLDA, who have brought the international world of lighting design to A

The lighting was conceptualised and programmed by Mauritz Jacobs of Dream Sets

Afrikaans is Groot success across South Africa

Details: 14 March 2016

South Africa - Within just six hours of ticket sales opening, the Pretoria leg of Afrikaans is Groot was sold out. The Cape Town leg followed suit with its three performances selling out by the end of that day.

With the calibre of such artists as Juanita Du Plessis, Theuns Jordaan, Steve Hofmeyr, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Bok van Blerk, Robbie Wessels, Lianie May, Karlien van Jaarsveld, Jay, Riana Nel, Jannie Moolman, Arno Jordaan, Jak de Priester, Corlea Botha, EDEN, Dewald Wasserfall and more, the show promised to be a hit.

Featuring this amount of talent meant that the set and production for both the Moreleta Park Church Auditorium and the Grand Arena, GrandWest, had to be on point. Designed by Michael Gill and built by Gearhouse SDS, the set was the perfect balance of light and metal finishes. With concentric circles and strips of light built into the stage, the focus was drawn

Even and intelligible audio coverage is possible in sonically challenging spaces

Aspen Ridge church adds clarity with Meyer Sound

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - At Aspen Ridge Church in Evergreen, Colo., steerable Meyer Sound CAL 32 column array loudspeakers cut through a reverberant room to bring exceptional music and speech clarity for the congregants. The result shows that even and intelligible audio coverage is possible in sonically challenging spaces when acoustical treatment is not an option.

"I've been blown away by the sound quality, and since our worship space doubles as a gymnasium during the week, I'm extremely impressed by the way the CAL directs sound right where the people are, and not on the walls and ceiling," states Kerry Cox, the church's associate pastor of worship arts. "We wanted to make the room sound right, and CAL really fits the bill. I was also happy to replace the old cluster with the sleek CAL loudspeakers, which really cleaned up the look of the stage."

The new system was designed

DWR's Amanda Bell with Jacobus Myburgh from Gravity Training

Safety training course at DWR

Details: 14 March 2016

South Africa - DWR Distribution is hosting its first Fall Arrest and Basic Training, presented by Jacobus Myburgh from Gravity Training in Johannesburg. The three day training kicks off today and ends on 20 February.

With a background in the hospitality industry, having managed hotels and venues both locally and internationally, Myburgh can relate to the events and entertainment market. When a new door opened for him to join Gravity Training, he received extensive training on rope access, rigging, climbing with a harness and safety.

The aim is to train technicians, riggers and all those who work on elevated platforms with the tools required to conduct a possible rescue. Subjects covered include falls and fall factors, shock absorbing lanyards, connectors, helmets, anchors, slings and wire strops, work positioning lanyards, rescue and practical training.

The three day course,

Bring Me the Horizon recently played London's SSE Arena

Jands Vista L5 on the horizon over Wembley

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Lighting designer, Ben Inskip selected Jands' flagship Vista L5 console to control his technically ambitious design for British metalcore band, Bring Me the Horizon, who recently played London's SSE Arena, Wembley.

Ben has had success for some time touring on Bring Me the Horizon's (BMTH) shows with a portable Vista setup consisting of S1 & M1 wings, combined with a Macbook Air, but selected the Jands Vista L5 for this particular arena performance, which was the band's biggest show to date.

In addition to having plenty of computing power to deal with the demands of today's largest shows, the Vista L5's sleek design is dominated by a stunning 21 inch High Definition Wacom tablet that provides a crisp, detailed image of the same Vista v2 software that is used across the entire Vista console family.

"Having used an L5 on some previous Australian shows, I really got to

Forty-eight Sharpys illuminated the trees and created aerial patterns for the show (photo: Benjamin Roy)

Clay Paky Mythos debut in Morton Arboretum event

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - Once again suburban Chicago was aglow with the holiday spirit as Illumination: The Lights at The Morton Arboretum opened for its annual run, 21 November to 3 January. Visitors to The Arboretum followed a magical one-mile paved path lined by trees that shone with LEDs and responded to touch and sound. Clay Paky Sharpys and new Clay Paky Mythos fixtures - the first in the U.S. - housed in Igloo domes provided innovative lighting effects for the one-of-a-kind holiday display.

The Morton Arboretum was founded in 1922 by Morton Salt magnate Joy Morton whose father inaugurated Arbor Day in the U.S. The annual Illumination event features stunning lighting effects along a one-mile outdoor path through the trees and offers opportunities for visitors to interact with the trees to change the colour and intensity of the lights.

Intelligent Lighting Creations (ILC) in C

Elation Professional's award-winning Sniper multi-effect light was used extensively throughout the show

Elation Sniper targets the UR Experience tour

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - Usher kicked off his current The UR Experience tour in November with Elation Professional's award-winning Sniper multi-effect light used extensively throughout the show as a key accent element including laser simulation. The Sniper, Elation's new beam, scanner and laser simulator in one, and a PLASA Innovation Award winner, has been used on a growing number of shows and special events since its launch last October, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Working from upstage automated ladders, one of the reasons lighting designer and show director Eric Wade says he turned to the high-energy hybrid effect was for its intensity and brightness when compared to the overall rig. Powered by the new 132W Philips MSD Platinum 2R lamp, the Sniper delivers 45,010 lux @ 16.4' (5m), enough to hold its weight among bigger lights.

Associate LD Eric Marchwinski and assistant LD Jason Winfree both

The National Military Museum (NMM) is the largest of its kind in Europe

Philips Selecon solution for National Military Museum

Details: 14 March 2016

The Netherlands - King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands has opened a prestigious new cultural and historical institution at The Netherlands' former Soesterberg air base. The National Military Museum (NMM) is the largest of its kind in Europe and displays the significance of The Netherlands' armed forces in the past, present and future, with an array of Philips Selecon luminaires lighting the majority of the exhibits.

Amsterdam-based agency Rapenburg Plaza was in charge of the lighting design, AV and control systems for the entire Museum, choosing 42 x Philips Selecon PLcyc1, 12 x PLprofile1 RGBW and 269 x PLfresnel1 RGBW luminaires for key lighting in six of the museum's themed halls.

"The concept for the space is that each of the halls are interactive and follow a storyline," says lighting designer and Rapenburg Plaza partner Pelle Herfst. "We selected Selec

University officials recently decided it was time to upgrade the eight-sided building with new sound and video systems

EAW upgrades sound at Kansas Octagon of Doom

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - The Fred Bramlage Coliseum, commonly referred to as 'The Octagon of Doom', is a 12,528-seat multi-purpose arena that is home to the men's and women's basketball teams for Kansas State University.

University officials recently decided it was time to upgrade the eight-sided building with new sound and video systems that are in line with state of the art technology. System design company Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams (WJHW) specified a new sound reinforcement system that features EAW QX Series loudspeakers. Promedia UltraSound, located in Martinez, California handled the installation.

"The existing system was an old, large-format, horn-based, scoreboard cluster that had long outlived its usefulness," explains Mark Graham, WJHW. "The goal was to increase the fan experience with higher quality audio and an upgraded center-hung scoreboard and video prese

The 500-year-old Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge

Illuminate Design lights Cambridge Church

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Illuminate Design worked with the E-luminate festival and Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge to provide lighting for the church as part of the week-long festival.

Lighting designer Malgosia Rozycka put together a complementary plan to light the 500-year-old church using a mix of warm and cold tones with the aim to bring out the different architectural features of the building. Ben Payne from Illuminate Design took Malgosia's design concepts for the festival and worked them into a scheme that was achievable for the week long period of the festival.

As one of the festival's key points was sustainability and energy efficiency, Payne chose 16 RGBW led fixtures as the main form of lighting - with a number of small GU10 and LED Tape fixtures to highlight the various building features. The total running power for the whole lighting project was no more than 75 watts.

The festi

Sixty episodes of Two Tribes are being filmed at the BBC Studios in Elstree for broadcast this year on BBC2. (photo: Alison Barclay)

Second Two Tribes series uses XL Video projection

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Series 2 of the Endemol UK/Remarkable TV show Two Tribes, hosted by Richard Osman, is using projection from XL Video.

Working with production designer, Dominic Tolfts, and production manager, Jessica Enderby, XL Video's film & TV manager, Jeff Bailey specified one of XL's high brightness Barco HD20 projectors along with a Repro H projection screen to create the main question screen for the centre of the Two Tribes set.

The Barco unit provides sufficient output to ensure good visual clarity amongst the studio lighting, and Bailey once again selected a Repro H screen surface to avoid hotspots which can be picked up by broadcast cameras.

The question screen is central to Two Tribes, displaying questions asked by the presenter, Richard Osman, which discover what players have in common, and determine the teams for the game.

Jeff Bailey comments: "It's gr

The Bay Area office is located in Livermore and features 3,000sq.ft of office and warehouse space

Electrosonic opens office in San Francisco Bay Area

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - Electrosonic has opened a new office in the San Francisco Bay Area, which will support Electrosonic clients in the region and serve as a resource for new business development. The Bay Area office is located in Livermore and features 3,000sq.ft of office and warehouse space.

"We are very excited to announce the opening of our new San Francisco Bay Area location," says Jim Bowie, president of the Electrosonic Group. "Over the last few years, Electrosonic has steadily increased the number of our Bay Area clients. This office will support them, keep pace with their evolving needs and help us grow in the region."

The Livermore location is a full-service office providing Bay Area businesses with complete solutions, including audio-visual design consulting, systems integration and operational support.

"Opening our office in the Bay Area allows us to k

CMT's live Ultimate Kickoff Party was staged in the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Centre in Dallas

Clay Paky Mythos fixtures make US TV debut

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - CMT's live Ultimate Kickoff Party launched the first College Football Playoffs with a glittering show, which also marked the US TV debut of Clay Paky's new Mythos fixtures, a highly-advanced hybrid light which serves as a 470-watt spotlight and an extraordinary beam light.

Production designer/lighting designer Mike Swinford obtained 146 Mythos fixtures from Nashville-based Morris Light & Sound, which offers a large inventory of the new lights. As a spot, Mythos has an outstanding large beam and zoom optimized for focusing; as a beam light it remains parallel for its entire length even at great distances. Mythos is smooth, fast and very quiet with a completely redesigned indexed visual effects disc.

Swinford and Morris Light & Sound president and CEO David Haskell were introduced to Mythos when A.C.T Lighting vice president of sales and marketing Brian Dowd invited them t

CBeebies Land is an immersive experience for children and young families

First UK Green Hippo AViary magpi for Alton Towers

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd.'s Video division has supplied the first Green Hippo AViary magpi video playback solution in the UK to Alton Towers Resort, to drive the visual and interactive displays in their popular CBeebies Land - one of the theme park's newest attractions.

Home to a range of themed rides and live entertainment, CBeebies Land is an immersive experience for children and young families. The five-acre site within Alton Towers Resort offers opportunities for kids to interact with some of their favourite characters and TV shows. In addition to rides, CBeebies Land includes play areas, live experiences and character appearances designed to inspire and educate.

Green Hippo's AViary Video Tools range was launched to much acclaim last year, and represents a new approach to realtime high-resolution video playback and control. Drawing upon the manufac

The Endymion project starts with a series of 45ft floats which linked together to form a parade train that roll through New Orleans

Chauvet Professional on parade for Mardi Gras

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - The Krewe of Endymion Parade, started at City Park and Orleans Avenues in New Orleans, and from there took visitors on a journey that figuratively at least reached far beyond the confines of the Crescent City. Built around the theme Fantastic Voyages, the largest and most legendary of New Orleans' Mardi Gras parades, featured floats depicting 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Gulliver's Travels and other tales of transcendent journeys. Accenting it all, along with 2,650 masked revellers tossing beads to the crowds are video Panels from Chauvet Professional and Geyser RGB Foggers from its sister company Chauvet DJ.

"Chauvet products are a key part of our design," said Ray Ziegler of RZI Lighting (New Orleans), which does most of the lighting and special effects lighting for Endymion. "Being in New Orleans at Mardi Gras, the Endymion floats ha

This was her first headline tour and it visited a selection of venues including theatres and concert halls (photo: Louise Stickland)

HSL shares the Power of Love with Sam Bailey

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - HSL supplied lighting equipment and crew to the current UK tour by X-Factor winner Sam Bailey, who followed up her 2013 win and subsequent Christmas number one with her chart topping Power of Love debut album in spring last year.

This was her first headline tour and it visited a selection of venues including theatres and concert halls, with an eye-catching lighting and set design by Andy Hurst.

Andy's aesthetic for the stage was based on classical theatrical / cabaret club looks with a contemporary twist.

A sumptuous red Austrian drape upstage was paired with matching truss borders and riser skirts, which provided a great setting for Bailey's lively stage presentation which blends pop, soul, cabaret and a bit of rock in an entertaining set full of crowd pleasers for her fans.

The lighting rig needed to be flexible and adaptable to fit into the variety of differ

Stanislas Boivin-Champeaux, Sound Directions UK; Jon Paul Boucher, Ashly Audio.; Francisco Lorenzo, Sound Directions; Christophe Palluat de Besset, Sound Directions France; Mark Wentling, Ashly Audio; Jessica Colombain, Sound Directions France; Mike van d

Sound Directions appointed UK distributor for Ashly Audio

Details: 14 March 2016

USA / UK - Ashly Audio has announced the appointment of Sound Directions as its exclusive distributor in the United Kingdom. The Chessington, Surrey-based company will distribute Ashly's entire line of products, including Ashly's networked multi-channel amplifiers, Protea DSP-equipped amplifiers, and customizable user interfaces, such as Ashly's iPad app.

Stanislas Boivin-Champeaux founded Sound Directions in 1998. "From the very start, we've worked closely with our customers to demystify the vast array of technologies that are available in the installed A/V market," he said. "When it benefits our clients, we happily design and programme systems that work flawlessly under the pressures and challenges of the real world. We've seen countless systems designed by others that left end-users with a system that they did not understand and could not operate. We go the ext

Federico Sainz (BALS CEO), Daniel Lema, MD of Robe Argentinian distributor TSD Group, Daniel Bordino (BALS technical services manager) and Hugo Mossi, (BALS commercial manager) (photo: Louise Stickland)

BALS gets to the Pointe with Robe

Details: 14 March 2016

Argentina - BALS - Buenos Aires Live Show - one of the best known rental and production companies in Argentina, specializing in sound and lighting for large shows, concerts, festivals and tours, recently purchased their first Robe Pointes.

The company was founded in 1992 and occupies a large warehouse space in the Caseros area of Buenos Aires city, with around 17 full time employees and around 40 regular freelance technicians and engineers.

BALS also works in other parts of Latin America, most notably Paraguay and Uruguay, and they service the technical requirements worldwide for acclaimed live art / performance troupe Fuerza Bruta. They supply around 200 shows / tours / projects a year and also look after some high profile installations including the busy Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires.

The fixtures were delivered by Robe's Argentinian distributor, TSD Group. The fact that

Page 1672 of 1790

Business

Latest Issue. . .