USA - Kino Flo, the manufacturer of lighting for film and television has announced a strategic partnership with Element Labs. The partnership is designed to bring intelligent LED lighting into the professional lighting industry.
Element Labs' Kelvin Technology Series LED-based lighting system will be available for rent through Kino Flo in September 2007.
"By combining Element Labs' advancement in LED technology with Kino Flo's industry experience we look forward to developing tools that will further advance the art of filmmaking," says Kino Flo president and founder, Frieder Hochheim.
The Kelvin Technology Series represents a major advancement in the application of LEDs to create intelligent, controllable lighting, says the company. It provides variable colour temperature and maintains a colour rendering index (CRI) of 95 between 3200 K and 6500 K. It also offers digital gelling, the ability to dial in a desired theatrical gel, and the option to save, recall, and clone a series of lighting parameters.
"Element Labs is honoured to be partnering with the leader in film and television lighting," says Nils Thorjussen, CEO and president of Element Labs. "Cinematographers and gaffers look to Kino Flo for state-of-the-art technology and Element Labs is proud to contribute its cutting-edge LED innovation to their product offering."
(Jim Evans)
UK - Leading theatre figures have been eager to endorse the first Performing Arts Technical Training Handbook, published by Entertainment Technology Press working in conjunction with the Association of British Theatre Technicians.
As an Association, the ABTT is supporting current national initiatives for training and participating in the consultative process with Creative & Cultural Skills, the Sector Skills Council for Advertising, Crafts, Cultural Heritage, Design, Music, Performing, Literary and Visual Arts.
With recent stories in the press of a predicted shortfall of trained technicians in the future, the ABTT sees this book as "the perfect tool to encourage and inspire a new generation to enter the profession. It will also help those already working in the industry to identify how they will continue their professional development."
The Performing Arts Technical Training Handbook is a useful and practical resource for people today, who are interested in pursuing a career backstage or who are, as yet, unaware of the huge range of vocational opportunities the entertainment industry has to offer, says ABTT.
The Handbook gives comprehensive details of various courses at over 100 universities and colleges across the UK and acknowledges every major contributor working in the training arena.
Rosemary Squire, president of the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) says, "This Handbook is an invaluable resource for anyone wishing to work in the theatre industry. Ambassador Theatre Group fully supports any initiative to drive forward recrui
Germany - ETC's new Eos lighting control system has won the Showtech 2007 trade show's Product Award for Lighting and Projection. This award is the second such honour for the Eos, which took the Product of the Year Award for debuting product when the desk was introduced last autumn at LDI. But the Showtech award is the first ever European award for an ETC desk and marks ETC's strong presence in the European entertainment lighting market, says the company.
ETC's CEO Fred Foster, who accepted the trophy at the Showtech ceremony, says, "We are extremely proud to have Eos recognised in the German market by this award. Eos will be a very powerful tool for the lighting designers and lighting programmers in theatres, television studios and events."
(JIm Evans)
UK - Dave Ball, technical sales manager of LMC Audio Systems' Birmingham branch, had the unusual task of fulfilling a long-established client's request - having been instructed by the client's accountant to go out and spend his profits from a very successful previous years touring the UK.
Rob McCulloch leader of the four-piece band Magic Bullitz, who tour the UK regularly providing live entertainment for private events and productions, decided to improve the quality and ability of his already impressive PA system.
McCulloch comments, "I was not dissatisfied with the performance of my existing system and did not imagine that much improvement was possible, I thought I already had the best, what I was really looking for was to reduce size, weight and even other things like AC power consumption as well as saving time on set-up and sound checking.
"Having a long established business relationship with Dave Ball at LMC he was my first point of contact so when Dave immediately recommended the KV2 Audio product I was intrigued but also disbelieving of what Dave was telling me it could do." Accordingly Ball set up a demonstration for McCulloch with Andy Austin-Brown of KV2 Audio using a simple system of two EX12 active speakers combined with two EX2.2 active bass modules.
The EX12 implements the 3" NVPD large format compression driver found in KV2's flagship VHD range of products. Phase alignment, equalisation and speaker protection are all integrated into the EX12's amplifier module.
"Initial listening immediately dispelled my original disbe
USA - Element Labs released its new line of flexible LED video screens, Helix at the InfoComm exhibition in Anaheim, California.Helix products can bend, wrap, drape, and fold to conform to even the most unusual designs, says the company. Both of the debuting Helix products, Helix G75 and Helix H75, offer a pixel pitch of 75mm and carry significant IP ratings.
"Our customers have been telling us they need more flexible, IP-rated products for both touring and installations," says Rich Pierceall, sales and marketing director. "We feel the Helix product line answers that need with a wide variety of features at attractive price points."
Helix G75's ultra-thin grid construction provides the flexibility of a curtain-like screen with the geometric stability of a rigid product. Modules, each four pixels wide by 32 pixels long, can link together to create large displays. Helix G75's weather-resistant design (IP 65) makes it suitable for both interior and exterior applications.
Durable and lightweight, Helix G75 screens quickly roll up for shipping and unroll for rapid deployment. There are two rigging options available with Helix G75. A linked version allows a screen to be top hung for temporary installation. A cabled version allows a screen to be tensioned for permanent installation.
Helix H75 is daylight visible and fully submersible, making it suitable for challenging projects. With an IP rating of 68, this durable system can withstand high temperatures and prolonged ultraviolet exposure. Helix H75 incorporates individually-lensed red, green, and
USA - To help commercial audio consultants, integrators, and installers to more easily manage the installation of CobraNet networks, Cirrus Logic has launched CobraNet Discovery. A software tool that runs on Microsoft Windows operating systems, CobraNet Discovery identifies and displays all CobraNet devices on a network, allowing for real-time monitoring and display of useful data to maintain the health and status of CobraNet devices.
CobraNet technology is the global de facto standard for transporting uncompressed, high-definition audio through standard Ethernet networks. Built upon the effective use of standard Ethernet network infrastructure by CobraNet networks, the Discovery software operates from any authorised PC connected to a CobraNet network, eliminating the need to be physically located with the networked audio gear that can often be spread across rooms, buildings or miles, or in secured equipment spaces.
In addition, CobraNet Discovery allows for the easy monitoring and configuration of key CobraNet parameters on any manufacturer's CobraNet-enabled product. These parameters control audio routing within the CobraNet network, including transport latency, sample rates, sample size, channels per bundle and transmission modes, such as unicast, multi-unicast or multicast.
"This is another demonstration of Cirrus Logic's commitment to providing audio consultants, integrators, installers, IT administrators and OEMs with a robust set of tools and features to support rapid, predictable installation, commissioning and maintenance of digital audio networks
UK - Bandit Lites UK supplied full lighting production, video projection package and touring crew for INXS' recent UK tour. Working closely with lighting designer, Sean 'Motley' Hackett, Bandit Lites' Lester Cobrin was asked on board to support Hackett's design.
Cobrin comments, "It's the first time I have worked with Motley and production manager, Paul 'Kenno' Kennedy. It has been a breath of fresh air to work with two people that are so efficient and good at communicating. It has been a pleasure to work with them on this project."
Lighting technicians, Nigel Julian and Martin Garnish were hired to look after the system while on the road.
Hackett is based in Australia and has worked on and off with INXS for the last 14 years, fairly constantly for the last 11. He describes the current tour (ongoing since the start of 2006) as "an evolution" in terms of lighting aesthetics, which started with some initial input from drummer, Jon Farriss. From there, the two of them produced the stage design concept.
"I have taken creative references from every INXS LD since 1983" says Hackett, adding that it has been a great show to work on - not only does he know it and the band really well, but there's also been plenty of creative freedom.
The lighting rig for the UK leg of the tour was based around three trusses - front, mid and back, and on an average stage size of 40 - 45ft wide by 30ft deep - with variation and flexibility to go in either direction as needed. The Barco 8K video projector was rigged off the front truss, primarily used for
Canada - Color Kinetics has announced that its LED lighting technology will dynamically transform the world's tallest freestanding tower, the CN Tower in Toronto. The installation will be unveiled to the public in a lighting ceremony beginning at sunset on June 28.
CN Tower stands 1,815ft tall and is considered an engineering wonder of the modern world. For nearly a decade the Tower was minimally lit in an effort to conserve energy while awaiting a better long-term lighting solution.
Following extensive evaluation, a Color Kinetics system was chosen to visually transform the Tower's appearance while reducing energy consumption and maintenance requirements at the same time. According to preliminary operation, the Tower will consume less energy when fully illuminated by LED fixtures than it did when only partially illuminated by conventional sources.
"The CN Tower is widely regarded as the iconic symbol of tourism for Toronto, Ontario and Canada, and we are thrilled to further distinguish its presence against the evening skyline," said Jack Robinson, chief operating officer, CN Tower. "It was paramount for us to achieve an energy-efficient, sustainable lighting installation for Canada's National Tower, and Color Kinetics' LED-based system proved the ideal choice. Our landmark will have a visually striking, modern new look to serve as a beacon of tourism and of our city."
The project called for approximately 1,300 LED-based fixtures to be installed within the Tower's elevator shafts, projecting light all the way to its antenna mast. Each fixt
Romania - Kristal Glam Club in Bucharest, recently voted Rumania's best club for the fourth year running, has extended its 20,000-watt Dynacord alpha concept sound system (originally installed at the end of 2004).
The alpha system and spectacular optical attractions - including a state-of-the-art laser show and no fewer than 17 video screens prompted DJ Luciano, in a recent interview with the scene magazine De Bug, to credit the club, which can accommodate up to 1,500 guests at a time, with leading the world-wide techno revival.
(Jim Evans)
France - Nexo has reversed the audio industry's widespread trend for off-shore manufacturing and opened a new purpose-built corporate headquarters, which will house all its management and manufacturing operations, in Plailly, just 15km NE of the Charles de Gaulle international airport in Paris.
For the last 27 years, Nexo has been located in a facility in nearby Roissy, a campus-style operation which was the result of two decades of expansion across a large section of a suburban North Paris industrial park. In 2004, plans were prepared for the construction of a new facility, which began in late 2005.
Nexo's Plailly headquarters has taken its design criteria from industrial ergonomics, placing special emphasis on manufacturing process and quality control. Nexo founders Eric Vincenot and Micky Johnson have expressed total satisfaction with the new premises, and director general Denis Baudier says of the move, "This couldn't have come at a better time. With exceptional sales growth from the Geo D and S12 Series product launches during the last 18 months, we desperately needed increased production capacity." Tri-directional expansion options are also integrated into Nexo's new HQ design, so continued growth can be easily implemented.
(Jim Evans)
Portugal - Duran Audio has announced the opening of Duran Audio Iberia. The Iberia office will be responsible for sales and support of AXYS products in both Spain and Portugal from its base in Porto.
Sandra Serrano, formerly sales manager for Caius Technologies, has been responsible for the setting up of the company in partnership with Duran Audio BV and will taken on the role of managing director of Duran Audio Iberia.
"Previously there had been an AXYS presence in Portugal with many high profile projects having been completed," says Serrano. "However, Spain was a completely new market for AYXS products and technologies which presented many exciting opportunities. So, my idea was to create a structure that was 100% dedicated to AXYS products; offering the highest level of pre and post sales support, which is essential when distributing such high technology products.
"AYXS as a loudspeaker brand is rather unique as it covers so many different market areas from road tunnels to opera house and just about everywhere in between. We believe that the 'dedicated distribution' approach to the Iberia market will ensure that we can maximise our opportunities in each of these market areas, one of the most important issues to the development of the business."
(Jim Evans)
UK - Stage Electrics' Technical Training courses are proving so popular the company are receiving international interest and due to demand the company has scheduled a series of public open courses in Cork.
The Cork Opera House has recently used Stage Electrics' expertise to train its staff and now will be hosting the open courses at the end of August.
Course schedules include: Moving Light Masterclass and Advanced Strand Desk Programming. The Cork Opera House is also the first venue to host the newly developed Stage Flying & Rigging course. This course covers counterweight flying, single & double purchase, traditional hemp flying and rope craft together with LOLER principles and legislation, rigging, truss and motors.
Sara Alarabi, training manager for Stage Electrics, says: "I am delighted that we are expanding beyond the UK and are now running our popular technical theatre training courses in The Republic of Ireland. We have recently had delegates on our courses from Spain, Holland and Pakistan and we've had enquiries from as far afield as The UAE and China."
(Jim Evans)
UK - Gobo manufacturer Projected Image has invested in new metal etching machinery. This is designed to make the process even quicker and more efficient whilst allowing an increase in output. It is also in response to a massive growth in the demand for gobos in general which has been experienced by PI over the last year, says the company.
The centerpiece of the new kit is the spray etch machine, which has been specifically designed for PI's requirements. It is a fully conveyorised system. The exposed and developed metal plates pass through a double-sided spray-etching chamber where the required images are etched through the metal surfaces. The plates are then washed, stripped of photo resist and cleaned.
PI's Jim Douglas says: "We are best known for our glass gobo work, in particular our expertise in custom colour gobos. However, the general increase in business over the last two years has seen a large rise in demand for custom work and in supplying our new and expanded catalogue range. To ensure that PI maintains its reputation for the fastest turnarounds and the highest quality gobos - the time was right to make the purchase."
(Jim Evans)
UK - A spiritual event was probably the perfect setting for the type of 'baptism of fire' that awaited FOH engineer Dave Hopkinson at the NEC Arena, where Christ for all Nations (CfaN) held its two-day Full Flame Fire conference and UK launch of its new DVD series.
The evangelistic movement, founded by Reinhard Bonnke in 1974, generally stages events in Africa, where audiences ranging in size from 100,000-1.6 million gather.
A long-time live sound veteran, Hopkinson can generally be found behind an analogue mixing board. But when CfaN's technical manager Derek Murray suggested using one of Wigwam's five Digidesign Venue systems, the FOH man needed to reshape his thinking.
"Christian events are not like a normal rock show when you know there's a set list and set time. With something like this anything can happen - sometimes it's entirely spontaneous, and the prospect of using a new sound desk was an additional concern," he admits.
But the Wigwam support team kicked in, and inside an hour Dave Hopkinson experienced his own spiritual awakening, as he piloted the Digidesign Venue D-Show. While Wigwam's Alex Hadjigeorgiou talked him through the mute groups, Billy Ellison demonstrated the ease of routing and patching via the central display; Nick Warren added further assistance.
"It was an obvious decision to use the Venue, since we were using Pro Tools and needed to arrange splits to the monitors and to God TV," qualified Hadjigeorgiou.
With HDx cards installed in the FOH rack, Hopkinson was ready to go, hooking up the Venue to two P
Croatia - A total of 112 digiLED d11R modules added spectacular visual impact to a concert for Croatia's top selling singer Thompson. Supplied and installed by Atman, Croatia's leading AV rental company, the eight columns of modules formed an impressive backdrop for the 60,000 fans at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb.
Croatian national television broadcast the show live via 13 cameras operating throughout the stadium. The screens displayed live broadcast together with video clips from a Maxedia video server. Signals from the video server and cameras were managed by a Vista Spyder 344 processor and Analog Way Eventix seamless switcher / scaler.
A total of 112 modules were built into eight columns across the giant stage. The d11R fast rig modules made installation and de-rig an easy task for the one day event.
"This latest event was a great success; the concert producers were delighted with the result and impact of the digiLED d11R screen," says Darko Ljutak, Atman managing director.
(Jim Evans)
Russia - Cornered Audio Systems has announced the appointment of IBERI as exclusive distributor for Russia. Established in 1996, IBERI works with more than 60 dealers and contractors throughout Russia, servicing a wide range of venues such as retail shops, café's, lounges, clubs, restaurants, fitness and sport centres.
Eugene Vertyachikh, IBERI project manager, comments: "We saw Cornered at PLASA and at the Frankfurt fair, and became interested because of the discrete and innovative design. When we tested the products here in Russia, they actually exceeded our expectations and we are pleased that we can now provide our design conscious customers with a loud, clean and compact installation speaker system."
Hans V. Madsen, founder of Cornered Audio Systems states: "Russia is to my opinion the most interesting market in Europe at the moment. IBERI have a strong presence in the part of the installation market that we focus on, and Cornered is a perfect fit to their innovative product portfolio. In addition the IBERI team set very high demands to the sound quality in their installations and as such we believe we have found the perfect partner for Russia".
(Jim Evans)
USA - Musician, composer and arranger Herman Burney has purchased a DPA 4052 compact omnidirectional mic which he regularly uses on his double bass. Burney has even gone to the ingenious length of suspending it between the bridge feet by the judicious use of rubber bands, where it picks up the entire range of the bass.
"This, for me, is what I particularly like about my DPA 4052 - its ability to pick up my instrument's entire range," he says. "It is compact, it is affordable, it's easy to use, and it sounds great! I'm now planning to extend its use to my cello."
Burney was introduced to the DPA 4052 by a sound engineer at a festival in Brae, Ireland. "I was playing there with Rene Marie and we were all blown away by how full the bass sounded, in both the house and the monitors," he continues. "I immediately inquired about the microphone, contacted DPA, and the rest is history."
Since purchasing his DPA 4052 from DPA's US office, Burney has used it for numerous studio and live recordings. "One engineer was recording me on a live concert for National Public Radio and ran from behind the curtain to see why my bass sounded so good." He also played the 2006 Jazz Cruise on the MS Oosterdam, where DPA mics were used exclusively for all 75 musicians playing on four different stages during its week-long voyage down the Mexican coastline.
(Jim Evans)
UK - Mendip District Council has stated that, despite challenging weather conditions, it is very pleased to date with the overall management of this year's Glastonbury Festival. The key issue this year has been the increased numbers, and the council feels that this has been managed well.
Charles Uzzell, council business manager for planning and environment, said: "The extra numbers seem to have been effectively managed. We will be reviewing this post event with the organisers but we certainly have no significant concerns at this stage.
"We have noticed however that many of the camp sites were very full so this is something we may need to pick up on after the festival. The ground conditions have clearly been testing but we have been working with the organisers to ensure that this doesn't affect the management."
He added, "For us the most significant breach of the licensing conditions was the over-run on the Other Stage on Friday night (Bjork). This is a concern and we will be investigating the matter fully with organisers and the police."
In March, Mendip District Council granted a four-year licence for the festival, which included an increase in attendees from 150,000 to 177,500, on a larger site with new campsite and entertainment areas.
During the festival the council monitors that the licence conditions are being adhered to. It also takes on an enforcement role regarding health and safety on-site, including food safety, water supply, crowd / noise / traffic management and litter. The council also works very closely with organiser
UK - The PLASA TRO (Technical Reource Office) was in attendance at Ofcom for the announcement of its amended proposals on the long-term supply of radio spectrum for the users of wireless microphones and similar equipment, which claims to make provision for the continued use of radio microphones by the entertainment industry.
The move follows the strenuous efforts of BEIRG, the British Entertainment Industry Radio Group, to alert Ofcom to the threat its plans pose to the future of the UK's entertainment industry, and its campaign to highlight the RF requirements of the PMSE (Programme Making and Special Events) sector.
Ofcom's original proposals were set out in the Digital Dividend Review (DDR) consultation, published in December 2006. In response to the DDR consultation, BEIRG made strong recommendations to Ofcom outlining its concerns about the proposals, including the inability of the disparate members of the PMSE sector to successfully bid for spectrum against global multinational media and communications businesses.
Among the latest proposals, Ofcom states that spectrum could be awarded to a band manager with the incentives and expertise to manage the spectrum efficiently for wireless microphone users and others. The consultation sets out a number of options for achieving this. These include holding a 'beauty contest', or comparative selection process, in which Ofcom chooses an organisation to manage the use of the spectrum for these and other users. The plan is that the licensee would pay fees reflecting the amount of spectrum they use, and have incentives
World - Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland, better known as The Police, are on tour again - after 24 years. The three are performing worldwide gigs; over 1,770,000 tickets have been sold to date.
Lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe and associated lighting designer and also light programmer, Danny Nolan have given the show a touch of old-style and new, to show, how the band appeared before and presently. To manage this task they relied on two grandMA full-size, four MA mediaPCs running grandMA video software and five MA NSPs.
The stage was constructed virtually with the software grandMA 3D. "It gave us the opportunity, to work with the complete stage view," explained Daniel Ridano of MA Lighting who accompanied the setup and programming phase. He also helped install the sophisticated network. MA-Net is used for data distribution during the show.
The stage was designed to show the band in a contemporary setting with unobstructed views all around them. A simple oval forms the platform which is echoed by an oval truss above the stage. Three Toshiba HD LED screens are mounted above the stage. They display different media content all triggered by grandMA video. Video director Kevin Williams is selecting the live feeds, imagery and videos. The lighting rig includes Little Big Lites, Coemar Infinity washes, Robe 2500 profiles, MAC 700 profiles and MAC 250 washes.
Upstaging Inc. supplied the lighting equipment. Screenworks delivered the LED video screens, William Francis is the tour manager, Charlie Hernandez works as production manager and co-set des
UK - Fans of the White Stripes arriving at Hyde Park (by either entrance) to see the band headline the Wireless Festival on 14 June 14 were in for an unexpected treat.
For Jack and Meg White's latest album Icky Thump received the best form of promotion when the cover was simultaneously exploded across Marble Arch (at the north end of the Park) and Constitution Arch at the south.
Sensing a great promotional opportunity, the band's label, XL Recordings, contacted the concert division of PSL Events. Guerrilla projection specialist Pod Bluman was equal to the challenge, commandeering a couple of powerful 7k xenon slide projectors to display the images for the duration of the White Stripes'set and into the early hours of the morning.
"It was a complete success," said Bluman. "Fans were queuing up to have their pictures taken in front of the arches, with the cover providing a huge backdrop. Although I have projected onto these buildings in the past, I have never done both arches simultaneously in conjunction with an event in Hyde Park."
(Jim Evans)
UK - Procon Event Engineering, international leading technical service provider, has founded a subsidiary in London. Morten Carlsson and Christian Möller are managing directors of the new subsidiary which is being run by Claire Copeland in her role as branch manager.
Copeland brings with her a number of years experience of the industry having worked as a sales and account manager for companies such as White Light and Richard Martin Lighting. Copeland says of her post: "This is an exciting opportunity to work with such a well known and respected company in their latest venture. I am looking forward to working with the Procon team as we move forward into the UK market."
As a technical full service supplier Procon Event Engineering provides the media, entertainment and event industries. With subsidiaries and partners, Procon is represented worldwide, renting lighting, sound and video technology for events and TV productions.
Procon was - amongst others - the technical supplier for the Olympic Games 2000 and 2004, the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens and the Doha Asian Games 2006.
(Jim Evans)
Singapore - Robe ColorSpot 170 ATs and Robe DMX 1024 and 512 controllers have been specified and supplied to an installation in the Island Ballroom of the new Amara Sanctuary Resort Hotel on Sentosa Island, Singapore.
The $60 million project is the Amara group's first resort development. The hotel features two ballrooms, seven meeting rooms and 91 deluxe rooms geared to business travellers and family visitors.
The 38 white Robe fixtures are the first phase of a lighting scheme designed by Hong Kong-based Gerard Lee of Light Directions, who was brought onboard as a lighting consultant for the ballroom. His brief was that the ballroom should be able to cater for 'virtually any event'.
The fixtures were supplied to installers Foster AV by Louis Teo of Robe South East Asia, and will be followed by a further delivery of 24 ColorSpot 170 ATs on the completion of phase 2 of the lighting.
(Jim Evans)
UK - Set designer Dominic Tolfts and lighting designer Dave Davey used 384sq.m of Chroma-Q Color Web 250 for the set of last week's prime time ITV1 entertainment show Britain's Got Talent.
The show aired for nine consecutive nights up to the final on 17 June, was created by X Factor mogul Simon Cowell and presented by the Ant & Dec.
The show was produced by talkbackTHAMES, FreemantleMedia group and SyCo TV for ITV. Set design was by Dominic Tolfts. Lighting and video design was by Dave Davey, assisted by programmers Russell Grubiak and Bill Peachment.
Tolfts commented, "We didn't want to use an effects backdrop which was just another square box. In addition, because the main stage area and two smaller outer stages were a curved shape, we wanted something which we could mould around them - something you couldn't do with most other LED products. The Color Web's flexible design was therefore perfect for this."
LED Lighting and Video Consultant Simon Deary was approached to source the Color Web and chose rental company Richard Martin Lighting. Summarising the use of Color Web, Deary commented, "The Color Web is an effective, dynamic lighting product that uses video, but can be adaptable through DMX to be controlled through a lighting desk. We need something that is a lighting product as well as a video product, to be able to change things effectively."
(Jim Evans)