France - The recent robotics exhibition at the Eurexpo Lyon in France saw the use of 20x Prolights Astra Wash19Pix and 24x Astra Wash7Pix lighting fixtures, at the FANUC stand, a Japanese automation company.
Camille Roblin, technical director at Toulouse-based events company SAS Melomane, commented: "I think Prolights is a wonderful brand with a great quality of fixtures. The Astra Wash19Pix has a powerful wash output, and the pixel ring give it some unique effects. I love their products, and it's great to see it being adopted more and more in France.”
The Astra Wash19Pix is a 19x40W RGBW moving wash light with 4°-54° zoom, pixel control and pixel ring. The Astra Wash7Pix has similar features but with 7x40W LEDs, and built in a compact form, providing silent operation, smooth and fast movements.
Over the past year, Prolights has launched several moving lights in the Astra range, including the Astra Profile400 and the Astra Profile600IP.

Bulgaria - Nova Broadcasting Group recently opened an ultra-modern studio complex of nearly 17,000sq.m in Sofia. To provide professional illumination in the new facility’s multiple studios, Nova Broadcasting Group worked with Elation distributor Luminis on a broadcast-optimised lighting solution.
Nova Broadcasting Group is one of the biggest multi-platform media and technology companies in Bulgaria, part of United Group, Southeast Europe’s leading telecom and media operator. The new facility, designed for high-quality television and radio production of international standards, features five television studios, four radio studios, spacious equipment rooms, editing rooms and newsroom. The capacity of the new studio complex allows Nova Broadcasting Group to produce impactful content using the latest technologies.
Luminis worked with a local lighting designer on the specification and design of the system, which is made up of 202 KL Fresnel 8 FC, 20 KL Profile FC, 137 KL Panel, and 89 KL Panel XL fixtures, along with 36 Arena Zoom Q7IP. The lights are spread across a large 1000sq.m television studio plus two smaller studios of around 350sq.m each. Luminis installed the luminaires working with lighting personnel from Nova TV and programmed initial lighting scenes for the studio. Elation’s Bulgarian distributor, Pro Audio, works with Luminis to provide local support when needed.
Péter Rábay of Luminis, who worked closely on the project for 18 months, says that the studio required soft lights, profile luminaires and Fresnel lights that would work w

USA - For the creative team involved in designing the production for Daddy Yankee’s La Ultima Vuelta tour, the brief was quite simple, you create something “fit for a king”.
This was the directive that production designer Rodrigo Proal of Darmah Studios received when he was asked to work on the Puerto Rican born superstar’s 84-date official retirement tour of North and South America, which concluded with a January show in San Juan.
Proal, joined by a gifted and inspired creative team, didn’t disappoint either; the production they collaborated on, with its bold, vibrant colours, intense aerial effects, beautiful scenic elements, and evocative video content created by screens director Bianca Moncada, did justice to the career of the singer who is credited with coining the term ‘reggaeton’ and whose 2004 party favourite Gasolnina introduced modern Latin music to a wider audience.
“This was a special experience for all of us, one we’ll never forget,” said Felix Peralta, the tour’s lighting designer. “We all wanted to make this show fit for a king to honour an artist who ruled so brilliantly for so long.”
For Peralta, the concept behind La Ultima Vuelta (The Final Turn) began three years before the tour, when he joined the Darmah team and lighting designer John Daniels, a life-long friend and mentor, as the lighting director/programmer for Daddy Yankee’s 14-show residency in San Juan.
“As production designer, Rodrigo created a sleek and clean architectural structure for that residency,” said Peralta.

UK - The natural sound of Point Source Audio’s SERIES8 CO-8WL omnidirectional microphones is helping the audio team at Kings Place enhance the sound for a variety of events. The central London venue hosts a wide range of events every day, from corporate presentations to live music and recording sessions. The new microphones are put to use daily across a wide range of these applications.
“The adventure with Point Source Audio started out with us looking for some new lav mics,” recalls Gerardo Marrone, audio & recording manager at Kings Place Music Foundation. “We had always used a different brand in the past, but we decided to try something else through our long-term supplier, Autograph Sound. We were looking for something that could work just as well but be more contained within the budget. They sent us a lot of options from various brands and quite a few models from Point Source Audio.”
After going through and testing each of the options, Marrone decided to invest in the SERIES8 CO-8WL. The IP 57 rated waterproof lavalier microphone has a low-profile of 4 mm in diameter but delivers all of the high-performance characteristics that are expected from a larger format microphone. It delivers optimal gain before feedback and can handle 136 dB maximum SPL.
While the flexibility and feature set were important factors for the Kings Place team, it was the sound quality that really set the CO-8WL apart from the competition. “I fell in love with how natural the omni capsules were sounding for lavaliers,” says Marrone. “The less you stress

New Zealand - Auckland based Spot-Light Systems – now part of the NEP Live Group – is among New Zealand’s leading lighting live show and event rental companies, and one that has continued to invest in Robe moving lights as the country emerged from the pandemic, adding 24 x MegaPointes, 12 x Tarrantulas to their existing fleets, and for the first time, 20 x Esprites joined the inventory.
While New Zealand managed – via strict quarantine and travel restorations – to keep Covid cases to a minimum, full-scale and capacity shows and live events did not properly re-start until several months into 2022, when things became busy, related Spot-Light Systems’ head of lighting, Matt Tong, and this is what drove these latest Robe purchases.
Business and enthusiasm for the arts, performance and events is now surpassing 2019 levels as promoters, organisations and event organisers jostle to squeeze in shows that didn’t run for two years and accommodate the many new ones that the creative world imagined during that time. Touring has now re-started with a slew of national and international bands hitting the road, further fuelling the demand for production technology.
With nearly 400 Robe moving lights already onboard, Spotlight Systems returned to a brand they know and trust for a multipurpose LED profile type fixture, settling on the Esprites to join the mix of Robe BMFL Spots, BMFL Blades, MegaPointes, Tarrantulas, LEDWash 600s and LEDBeam 100s and 150s. It is currently the largest concentration of Robe moving lights in the country.
“Robe is u

UK - Harris Academy based in St Johns Wood, London, is a high achieving secondary school that promotes creativity and academic scholarship. Keeping up with the latest technologies, Harris Academy upgraded their audio system including an installation of over 100 speakers and new cabling infrastructure to achieve an automatically timed class bell system and music at class change over time.
Following a site survey, specialists in audio visual design and integration, Excite AV had scoped a design proposal for the project that would deliver on the brief, in a very time pressured environment.
Gareth Thomas, Director at Excite Audio Visual LTD comments: “Working alongside the academic calendar meant this was very much a time critical project. Within two weeks of the site survey and proposal we were on to installation during the half term holiday, having the new system up and running before the students returned. We used a team of five expert engineers to install and deliver on the project.
“A lot of enthusiasm and close working with the school maintenance team was key to success, with our team working flat-out to complete the installation and programming by the start of term. The whole project went smoothly and we are proud that the client is thrilled with the outcome.”
The equipment, installed in eight different zones throughout the school, included 52 pairs of Ecler IC6 2-way ceiling speakers for the indoor spaces, partnered with 3 pairs of Ecler eMOTUS5OD outdoor loudspeakers for the playground areas, powered by an Ecler eHSA4-150 amplifie

UK - For nearly a decade, Martin Audio partner, Manchester-based VME, has been providing PA for major boxing events in the nation’s arenas, on an accelerating basis.
Starting out with an inventory of 48 MLA multicellular loudspeaker array enclosures, such has been the demand from this sector that the rental fleet has now more than doubled, and this month the rental company announced that it has increased its inventory of MLA family products to over 100. This makes VME one of the largest MLA rental stagers in the UK.
Explaining the underlying reason, operations manager Aaron Harvey-Holt says that this is in recognition of the fact that his company is now servicing over 40 events a year for TV transmission through Sky Sports, BT Sports and DAZN - all in major UK venues such as Wembley Stadium, Wembley OVO Arena, The O2 Arena, Cardiff International Arena and Manchester AO Arena.
Events include the IBF World Heavyweight Championships - and bouts ranging from David Haye to Tyson Fury - to the more recent high-profile Misfits ‘crossover’ series which saw YouTube star KSI going head-to-head with FaZe Temper at OVO Arena, Wembley.
Rigging a system in the round is quite unlike reinforcing a conventional pros arch rock concert. For example, the PA fly position is normally set within a 7sq.m grid immediately above the ring and configuration can vary from hangs facing out on all four axes to distributed hangs and delays to ensure crowds of up to 20,000 have full intelligibility of all action - from the walk-in music to the National Anthem, DJ interv

UAE - Unusual Rigging & Engineering was the rigger of choice for IDEX – the largest defence exhibition in the Middle East – when it took place at ADNEC in Abu Dhabi last month. The show attracted over 130,000 visitors from 65 countries, with more than 1350 exhibitors across 165,000sq.m of space.
For such a prestigious and sizeable event, David McKean, head of mains and rigging services at ADNEC, brought Unusual Rigging on board to assist the venue rigging team in the installation and management of rigged items throughout all 15 halls for the event.
David commented: “The Unusual team works with us numerous times each year and are well versed in our expectations. This year there were over 100 stands, and Unusual received rigging plans from the rigging manager for each individual stand. From this they were required to mark out and provide both primary and secondary rigging.”
The quantity of kit required for IDEX was vast, with the crew installing several kilometres of truss, over 1200 rigging points and 500 motorised hoists. The build-up period was 21 days, with all works finished by lunchtime on the last day of build. As with all projects of this scale, challenges arose – mainly last-minute orders.
“I have to mention that the entire office team went above and beyond in providing equipment for us to install on exhibition stands at the shortest of notice,”, commented David. “And that’s what puts Unusual in a class above its competitors. Their flexibility and knowledge is second to none and you know that you get 100% support

Australia - In the nine years between their 2013 debut album Atlas and now, Grammy Award-winning group Rüfüs Du Sol has undergone one name change, received three ARIA certifications – two platinum and one gold - for their style of house, electronica, and alternative dance music. Multi-citied continental tours have been the norm for the three-piece outfit.
Recently, Rüfüs Du Sol wrapped up an Australia-New Zealand tour of eight shows performed in four territories for over 30,000 people. For the concerts in Adelaide and Perth, tour promoters Fuzzy Entertainment chose L-Acoustics certified rental partner Novatech to supply sound, visual, lighting and communication solutions for the outdoor sites. The Novatech team’s open communication and collaborative style have made the company a returning partner for the band and mix engineer Cam Trewin.
Novatech was tasked with designing a system that would provide optimal coverage to the vast open field audience area while also taking the neighbouring residential areas into consideration. “Of course, we needed to adhere to strict local council noise limits,” explains Matthew Ruggiero, technical project manager at Novatech. “But on the flip side, being in the wide space of an open field allowed my team and I to have complete control over speaker placement.”
“We were briefed on the shows before their tour began, which gave us ample time to create a system design and share it with the band’s management,” says Ruggiero. “Working with management and the team’s consultants, we fine-tune

UK - Smart technology and office design specialist Coodart relied on Shure Stem Ecosystem to transform the head office of one of Europe’s largest mineral producers. With new communications technologies playing a key part in the renovation, Coodart chose Shure’s flexible portfolio as the solution to bring high-quality audio into this major new project.
The Shure Stem Ecosystem, which was recently awarded the 2022 Global Enabling Technology Leadership Award by Frost & Sullivan, provides a fully customisable solution that integrates with other communication platforms such as Barco ClickShare and Huddly cameras. This is why a mix of Stem Ecosystem devices were chosen to fit in the space.
The solution included Stem table and ceiling speakers and microphones, combined with the Stem hub to connect all the devices together and complete the solution. Future flexibility provided by the system means that additional devices can simply be added at a later date, should the audio requirement change.
The system offers three different pickup patterns, so there was immediately a huge difference in audio quality, not only for everyone in the room but for those calling in remotely. Stem Ecosystem’s audio fencing also provides a ‘protective bubble’ around those speaking, blocking out any irrelevant noise and focusing the audio pickup solely on the conference room table.
Working closely with the client, Coodart used its expertise in creating modern workspaces to refurbish the company’s HQ, in which exceptional audio was critical. It was necessary

Israel - Contemporary multipurpose venue Gray in Modiin is filled with colour and atmosphere thanks to a versatile Robe LED moving light rig installed to enhance this new and lively 900-capacity entertainment space that opened in 2021. Managed and run by the municipality, it is popular and successful in offering a wide range of live music and performance shows in a supper club format.
The lighting, LED screen, trussing – including two elegant circles above the audience – and rigging was supplied and installed by Danor Theatre & Studio Systems working in conjunction with consultant Dror Herrenson, who assessed the requirements and compiled a tender based on a robust, practical, and flexible LED lighting system to cover a multiplicity of events.
Several companies bid on the tender, which was won by Danor with their specification of 12 x Robe VIVA CMYs and 12 x LEDWash 600 moving lights.
The LEDWashes are positioned on the front truss for a rich and full stage wash, and the VIVAs are the main over-stage fixture, rigged on three raked trusses, which enhances the depth of the performance space. Both fixture types were also chosen for their small size and because they worked well with the 6 x 3 metre upstage LED screen.
Once installed, the lighting rig was slightly redesigned by Ziv Limor to optimise the venue’s character and space, changing up the trussing angles and modifying the shape of the side trusses.
Says Danor’s Erez Hadar, “This is a great-looking installation as well as a really practical and value-added moving light

Canada - Hugo Angers, TV mixer and sound engineer and co-owner of Quebec-based Euphonie Sonorisation, has worked with a plethora of audio consoles throughout his career. However, since first operating a DiGiCo console in the mid-2010s, he has developed a strong affinity for their products and used them on many different shows and festivals.
During the summer of 2022, Angers purchased the company’s first DiGiCo Quantum 225 and has already utilised it at a Cajun Festival in Drummondville, opera shows in Montréal, and several corporate events. This summer, the Q225 will be used at a number of festivals.
The purchase of the DiGiCo Quantum 225 was prompted by Angers' experience mixing monitors on an SD10 for Belle et Bum, one of Quebec's longest-running live music shows. "I've been using the SD10 twice a week, every week, for two years, and I've learned a lot about DiGiCo on the show," he explains. “We’ve got three DiGiCo consoles - two SD10s, one for monitors and one for broadcast, and an SD8 at FOH, as well as three SD Racks with 56 inputs and 32 bit pre amp cards.”
The complexity of the show’s requirements, including those of the multiple artists performing on its three stages, demands flexibility and fluency. "When I started using DiGiCo for Belle et Bum, it was a game-changer," Angers notes. For this show, the ability to create a large number of mix presets has been a significant time-saver. "It's one of the biggest music TV shows in Quebec," he says. "The input and mix presets are a great tool because sometimes the artists

Curaçao - Everyone on this island country looks forward to the two-day Curaçao Carnival which consists of the Gran Marcha (The Grand Parade) and Marcha di Despedida (The Farewell March). People on the island being work on the carnival six months in advance. The event itself involves 6,000 participants and 1,500 ‘helpers’ who either play music or keep the beverages flowing.
The carnival’s parades snake through the streets of the island’s capital city, Willemstad.
Enhancing the vibrant atmosphere of the parade, each carnival group has at least one party trailer. Massive Production supplied and outfitted audio video and lights for 16 of these trailers. For some, the company went all out turning the vehicles into moving concert stages. Adding a level of bling to these 45ft ‘boombox trailers’ was a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures from Massive Productions’ own inventory.
Supporting the performances of the artists, and engaging the crowd as well as the dancers, was a lightshow created with Rogue R2 Beam, R2 Spot, and R2 Wash fixtures, EPIX Strip IP units, pixel mapped to coordinate with LED screens, and COLORado 1-Tri IP washes.
Given that the festival trailers took roughly six-hours to complete their journeys, the Massive Productions team was careful to outfit them with rigs that could create a variety of different looks. While the EPIX Strips were used to outline the trailers and give them defining architecture, and the COLORado units created a rainbow of colour washes that fit the mood of the moment, the Rogue movers w

India - Founded in 1940, Patna Women’s College was the first higher education facility of its kind to be opened in India’s Bihar state. The college recently invested in audio, video and lighting systems for its newly completed 2,500-seat Veronica Auditorium.
Following the successful completion of another project for Patna Women’s College, Punjab-based Soundxperts won the contract to supply a complete turnkey solution for the auditorium, including audio, video, lighting, control, acoustics, seating, and flooring. Soundxperts worked closely with professional audio distributor, Sun Infonet, which was able to supply leading brands for the crucial audio component of this prestigious project.
According to Soundxperts owner, Amninder Warraich, “Having the complete audio solution under one roof from renowned brands like Shure, Allen & Heath, Audiofocus, Quest Engineering and Meyer Sound, Sun Infonet is known for its commitment, timely delivery, technical support and after sales service”.
The Veronica Auditorium’s vast stage accommodates more than 350 performers and can be used for the full spectrum of live band performances, theatre shows, cultural events, video conferencing and cinema screenings. The main screen Samsung P4 active LED screen is the biggest of its kind, with switching provided by AMX. Four networked cameras and 14 smaller Samsung display screens were installed alongside the main screen and in the green room, VIP room, control room and main hall.
For the main PA system, Soundxperts installed eight Audiofocus ARES 8a li

Europe - Italian group Måneskin are rocking their way through Europe with their Loud Kids Tour Gets Louder shows, backed by a highly technological lighting system that can morph into multiple different shapes to convey story and structure. At the heart of the lighting rig are Vari-Lite VL10 BeamWash luminaires from Signify which are used to beam bright vivid colours and pastels onto the stage and as powerful followspots.
During each show, operators are manually utilising the pan and tilt functions on each of the VL10 BeamWash fixtures, highlighting each member of the band as well as washing the stage with dynamic lighting states. All the other parameters of the VL10 BeamWash are controlled by a lighting console, allowing the team to program the lighting in advance using timecode.
The lighting is the creation of Milan- and London-based lighting design company Blearred. “We chose to use the VL10s for several reasons,” says Blearred founder and Måneskin lighting designer, Jordan Babev. “Firstly, the long throw of the beam and the great output of the fixture make it an excellent choice for use in larger venues. We were blown away by the bright lighting output of the VL10s. Even in large venues, the fixtures are able to produce vivid, powerful beams of light.
“Secondly, the fixture is easy to handle when used as a followspot and they are relatively lightweight and easy to manoeuvre, which made it much simpler for our operators to follow the action on stage. The fixture is capable of producing a wide range of colours, including vivid, saturated

UK - disguise has announced that it has partnered with London’s Lightroom – a new home for spectacular artist-led experiences in King’s Cross – to power its inaugural art experience by David Hockney. Called David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away), the show was designed by 59 Productions, who used disguise’s end-to-end location-based experience solution for everything from pre-visualisation to show control and delivery.
With the venue only open for a month, it has already attracted an average count of over 2,000 visitors a day. David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) takes visitors on a journey through 60 years of the artist’s paintings, digital art and set designs through a 50-minute, large-scale projection show powered by seven disguise vx 4 servers.
In six themed chapters featuring an original score by American composer Nico Muhly and Hockney’s own commentary enabled by the UK’s first fixed Holoplot X1 Matrix Array sound system, Hockney reveals his creative process so visitors can look more closely, truly and joyously at his work.
“disguise is a platform we have been using as a studio for years, so when it came to specifying the hardware for the David Hockney experience, we considered disguise to be the benchmark when it comes to high-performance video playback and projection mapping,” says James Roxburgh, head of technical and production at 59 Productions.
59 Productions created the David Hockney experience using disguise’s advanced software solution Desi

USA - The Emmy and Tony-award winning Broadway producer Michael J. Moritz Jr. calls Broadway home, and it seems quite happy to call him a marquee resident. He is a co-producer for Hadestown, earning him a 2019 Tony Award for Best Musical, and most recently before that he won an Emmy for his audio work on From Broadway with Love: A Benefit for Orlando. Other tips of the accolade iceberg include a Tony nomination for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and On The Town, as well as collaborations with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Bernadette Peters. As muso and techie, he keeps his personal Lectrosonics M2 Duet kit - comprising M2T transmitters and M2R receivers - at arm’s reach.
“I’m usually the showrunner or producer or wearing the musical director hat - or all of them,” says Moritz of his role. But where production personnel that far “above the line” are usually passive customers of the sound department, Moritz is entirely hands-on. “I’m a total tech nerd, and that’s what sparked my interest in Lectrosonics.”
Given the live nature of much of Moritz’s work, the M2 Duet components’ ability to interface seamlessly to the Dante audio-over-Ethernet protocol was one of the first things that got his attention. “I work on a lot of live-switched TV broadcasts,” he explains. “Where [the M2 Duet system] has recently found a home in my production work is, because it has Dante, it can interface directly to anyone’s intercom frames. I patch the M2T units right into Dante, which can then bridge out to Telex or ClearCom

USA - Lighting designer Vin Pugliese recently lit a headliner hometown show for The Elovaters at the House of Blues Boston. Using a mixture of cue-to-cue programming and busking, Pugliese unfurled ‘an endless stream of evocative looks’ during the 90-minute show, each reflecting the reggae band’s music in a distinctive way.
Helping him do this was a collection of over 60 Chauvet Professional fixtures from the venue’s house rig, and the extensive ground package from his own company VFX Design Studio that he brought to the show.
“I brought my own ground support package to fill out the bottom half of the stage since the House of Blues Boston has a high trim height,” explained Pugliese. “Using a mixture of beams, spots, hybrids, washes, LED pars, LED battens, strobes, LED blinders, and other fixtures, I had the tools at my disposal to create a dynamic show where every song had a its own feel.”
Among these looks was a more literal one for the band’s hit song Wind On My Back, which Pugliese supported by creating a simple CTO lavender/cyan colour palette that fanned out over the stage as it was accented by the effects from a bubble machine.
“To me, it really set the tone for the song, which is warm and inviting,” he said. “The CTO side and back lighting expressed the lyrics “sun on my shoulder,” while the Lavender and Cyan wash reflected a vibrant yet calm sky. After a long year on the road for the band, they came home to a jam-packed hometown show, their biggest headlining show to date, and it was a beautiful commu

India - Mezzo, Powersoft’s flexible Mezzo 604 amplifier platform is driving the multi-zone background music system providing the soundtrack for Fig at Malcha, a new high-end dining experience in the heart of the Indian capital, Delhi.
Fig at Malcha is an ‘eco-contemporary’ café, bakery and bar offering all-day dining at Malcha Marg, near Chanakyapuri, New Delhi's historic diplomatic quarter. The second Fig restaurant, after the original destination in Gurgaon, Fig at Malcha combines Japanese design with Nordic lifestyle, featuring a curated menu based on local and seasonal produce from local farms, GMO-free meat and cage-free eggs. It is also home to a Parisian-style bakehouse that offers fresh breads, pastries and ‘farm-to-cup’ speciality coffee.
According to Gunbir Sing, founder and co-owner of BBW Distributors, for their second café the Fig team desired “warm, comforting, lush” audio – “more hi-fi than pro sound” – which would aesthetically complement the lighting, climate control and ventilation systems to offer patrons “a pleasurable aural experience while in the space. Based on our experience within the food & beverage domain, we consulted with them and came up with a wish list of sorts. While they needed a multi-zone system with audio in all the public areas, they wanted equipment visibility to be minimal.”
For BBW, the solution was a Powersoft Dynamic Music Distribution (DMD) system comprising two Mezzo amplifiers coupled with a WM Touch control panel. Designed to offer the same reliability, build quality and

UK - A new K-array sound system has been installed at Homerton College’s architect-designed dining hall as part of a multi-million pound extension to the Cambridge college’s campus.
Providing natural vocal reinforcement in the vaulted dining hall, the Vyper-KV52 line arrays complement the warm timber-panelled interior, blending into the strikingly modern architecture.
Originally founded in Homerton, East London, the college relocated to Cambridge in 1894 as a teaching college and only in 2010 became a full part of the University of Cambridge. The city’s newest college is also the most populous, with accommodation blocks housing upwards of 900 students, and had outgrown the original the timber clad neo-gothic Great Dining Hall which was no longer sufficient to cope with providing some 1,000 meals a day.
A new dining hall was commissioned early last year with a strong emphasis on design and sustainability and with a requirement for a modern AV facility for speeches and special events. Working alongside architects Fielden Fowles, main contractor Barnes Construction, and electrical contractor DPL, acoustic consultants Max Fordham modelled the acoustics of the 5,000m³ dining hall to evaluate reverberation and noise from diners, resulting in a brief for the engineering team at Winchester-based systems integrators Whitwam AVI, who specified compact K-array line arrays as the solution to fill the space.
An initial audio system design was prepared by Dave Wooster from K-array’s UK distributor 2B Heard who mapped the room using K-Framework acou

Taiwan - With offices in Taiwan and Australia, award-winning production house for film and television, Reno Studios, has created Taiwan’s latest pixel pitch virtual production facility.
Opened at the end of last year, it is located at the longest-running Taiwanese movie studio, Central Motion Picture Corporation (CMPC). Helping bring clients’ stories to the screen is Brompton Technology LED processing.
“In collaboration with partners, Reno Studios provides a one stop service for international shooting projects, with access to essential services such as scenery construction, camera rental, lighting post-production and sound processing,” says Peter Huang, general manager of Reno Studios.
Huang knows that image quality is one of the most important elements for virtual production, with LED panels and LED processors fundamentally determining whether image detail can be reproduced vividly on the LED wall. As a result, the team chose LED solutions from LED panel manufacturer, AUO Corporation, which has over 26 years’ experience in R&D and production of display technology, and Brompton Tessera SX40 4K LED processors to power the giant LED volume.
“Brompton is a leader in LED processing,” Huang adds. “Its Tessera software features such as Puretone, ThermaCal, Frame Remapping, ShutterSync, Extended Bit Depth, and Stacking, enable film directors to freely create any type of content and not be limited artistically. Additionally, the Tessera processors’ colour accuracy and smooth image display create the most ‘close-to-reality’ en

Germany - Chart topping rapper Kontra K avoids the “tough guy” persona that many other artists in this genre adopt, but, as the old saying goes, “looks can be deceiving”. Emerging from the mean streets of some of Berlin’s roughest neighbourhoods, the popular artist is busy being a bona fide martial arts expert and a boxing coach when he isn’t performing on stage.
These street creds notwithstanding, however, Kontra K takes a more positive uplifting approach in his music and live performances. True to his motto Towards The Sun, he manages to convey an uplifting message without losing any of the raw intensity that are so much a part of this past and personality.
Both sides of this complex artist were conveyed in a recent arena tour of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, not just in his music and stage presence, but also in an immersive and fast-moving light show designed by Gunther Hecker and run by Marcus Herzog on ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium console.
Anchored by a large centre stage video wall that display images of the star along with breakout patterns, Hecker’s design exuded upbeat energy with its bright overhead light creating crossing patterns. The colours chosen were also bright and bold, often displayed as vivid monochromatic shades of red.
Kontra K was always in the spotlight during the show as he transformed the stage with his powerful presence. Audience lighting from the overhead fixtures reinforced his strong connection to fans.
Running the elaborate eight-universe show with a deft touch, Herzog worked from

France - Home to the French rugby league team the Catalans Dragons, Stade Gilbert Brutus in Perpignan underwent a two-phase expansion in 2006 and 2010 to bring capacity up to 13,000 with three all-seater stands.
The southern French city is also home to the rugby union team USAP, whose home stadium Stade Aimé Giral is equipped with a Nexo Geo S12 sound system, installed by local AV technology specialists Sud Media System.
Impressed by the sound at their neighbour’s stadium, Stade Gilbert Brutus recently contracted Sud Media System to install a Nexo system at their ground, following a public tender process.
The choice of several prestigious sporting venues including Croke Park in Dublin, Optus Stadium in Perth, Japan’s Toyota Stadium and the French national stadium the Stade de France, Nexo’s Geo S12 has earned a reputation for performance, dependability and cost-efficiency.
The system at Stade Gilbert Brutus was designed by Nexo’s Engineering Support team using the company’s NS-1 system configuration software. An intuitive drag and drop interface includes all Nexo systems with measured speaker data processed along with complex mathematical data to predict SPL and delay coverage in three dimensions.
The Bonzoms Stand is covered by six clusters of three Geo S12, supplemented by six Nexo P10 point source loudspeakers covering the highest seats in the stand on a delay. Six clusters of four Geo S12 cover the West Stand and a further seven P10s cover the smallest stand, with amplification and processing provided by Nexo’s networka

China - Christie has announced that its high-performance 3DLP and 1DLP laser projectors are illuminating a new night-time tourist attraction at the picturesque Jiuge-Shangui scenic area in Zhangjiajie, a prefecture-level city in Hunan Province.
Inspired by stories in the Chu Ci poetry anthology by renowned ancient poet Qu Yuan, Jiuge-Shangui integrates the legends of Xiangxi with cultural heritage of the indigenous Tujia and Miao ethnic groups, as well as the natural beauty of Zhangjiajie to deliver a large-scale extravaganza.
Live performances staged across the scenic area spanning over 5 square kilometres are lit by close to a dozen Crimson WU31, DWU2022-HS and DWU1612-HS laser projectors supplied and installed by Christie’s trusted partner, Jianye Display.
“Jiuge-Shangui night-time spectacular is the first of its kind in the world and features majestic scenes set in natural landscapes such as mountains, forests, sinkholes, and karst caves,” said Zhongliang Li, technical director for southern China, Jianye Display. “As the first large-scale show in the post-pandemic era, we have pulled out all the stops to ensure that this massive outdoor spectacle is a great success. The Christie Crimson and HS Series laser projectors, with their rugged design, impeccable performance and dependability, are our preferred choice for this major endeavour.”
Housed in weatherproof enclosures overlooking the stage areas, the projectors deliver vibrant images at several performance venues that are interconnected via plank roads, incl