UK - Chroma-Q will celebrate its 15th year as a producer of premium performance LED lighting products by showing several new innovations for the first time at BSC Expo 2019, Battersea Evolution, London, 1-2 February.
Chroma-Q has been a pioneer in the development of LED lighting for entertainment applications since launching the Color Block DB4 in 2004. The brand's latest generation of film & broadcast lighting solutions utilises Chroma-Q's proprietary homogenised optics, colour management and dimming technologies - drawing upon 15 years of LED expertise - to deliver a superior quality of light output and colour consistency.
The Brute Force powerful new, LED alternative to traditional light sources such as a quarter ‘Wendy Light’, will be making a big impact this year. Capable of delivering up to 140,000 lumens and drawing just 15 amps @ 240V, the larger Brute Force 6 is a versatile, controllable fixture that could change users' approach to lighting.
Making its BSC debut, the new Studio Force II high intensity, tuneable white LED wash batten delivers variable colour temperature, plus/minus green shift control, and can produce deep saturated colours when needed.
Widely adopted by major film and television companies, the award-winning Space Force LED space/soft light combines a powerful output with tuneable white control in a lightweight, internally ballasted design featuring low heat convection cooling.
Also showing at BSC for the first time, the Vista 3 by Chroma-Q lighting & media control system provides simple, visually-ba

USA - The world-renowned Nitro Circus features Travis Pastrana and his friends travelling around the world riding dirt bikes, base jumping and performing stunts - and this has led the event onto several TV series, a 3D feature film and major arena tours.
GLP’s automated heads have featured on this production since the days when veteran Australian LD Francesco Calvi was specifying their fixtures. Current LD Nico Riot is another strong advocate of GLP. Incredibly he joined the tour in September 2018, at the same time as Matt Doherty - whom he served with on the Marilyn Manson tour - was about to join Nitro Circus for the US run. And the fact that the 40-strong troupe was seeking a new LD at the same time sounded the cue for Nico’s arrival.
The LD admits to having had no idea of what to expect. “Previous designs were working well, truss wise, so I kept the same rig plot and added the fixtures I needed,” he said. “After looking to create a new design, I realised that this was the only thing that would work for the show because of the constraints - and the fact that you have to work around tracks, cameras angles and video screens.”
His main challenge was that he needed to light the show for different perspectives simultaneously - the audience’s, the athletes’ and the cameras. “360 vision for everyone,” as he put it. “I try to avoid casting any shadows on the tracks for the athletes, and the same for the cameras. Plus the audience needs to see everything without being blinded.” And with massive ramps, trying to light everything fro

South Korea - The Korean K-Pop phenomenon celebrates itself every year at the Golden Disc Awards, staged in Seoul. Audio production provider for seven years, Way Audio has found the means to tame the huge space that is the Gocheok Sky Dome, using a large modular PA system, the STM Series from Nexo.
2018 saw K-POP take the USA by storm, as boyband BTS filled baseball stadia in Los Angeles and New York, as well as European capitals, with their loyal fanbase known as the Army.
Every January, this musical genre holds its own awards ceremony; the Golden Disk Awards event featured performances by many of its big names: BTS, EXO, Twice, Red Velvet, Black Pink, Momoland and Mamamoo, among others. The domed baseball stadium houses 25,000 K-Pop fans, and the show is broadcast live by JTBC.
The Sky Dome is one of Korea’s largest indoor venues, and the largest-capacity stadium. Designed to evoke the shape and movement dynamic of a baseball, the structure presents huge acoustic challenges for sound reinforcement. However, local production rental house Way Audio has serviced many large concert events at Gocheok, with Yun Cheol Lee tailoring his system designs to perform perfectly in the huge stadium.
“The reverberation time and reflections created inside the venue, with its high roof, cause a lot of problems for visiting audio rental companies,” explains James Lee, MD of AWorks, distributor of Nexo sound reinforcement equipment in South Korea. “Do Gil Kim and Joon Ho Kang are also key members of a Way Audio team that has more experience than anyone

USA - This winter, Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Ghost of Christmas Eve tour celebrated 20 years on the road. Described by the Washington Post as “an arena-rock juggernaut”, the pathbreaking band’s blitz tour included 33 states and 106 shows in just 46 days, an achievement by any measure for musicians, machines, and mankind.
Credit for such positive press goes to production/lighting designer Bryan Hartley, director of youring and production Elliot Saltzman, and the entire TSO production team. The production incorporated 140 total meters of FloppyFlex Digital RGBW LED neon encircling seven, three-meter diameter, moving trusses.
“FloppyFlex was the perfect solution,” says Bryan Hartley. “I was looking for a product I could wrap around my seven circular trusses over the stage; I needed a super-bright, neon-looking product that was flexible and reliable. FloppyFlex gave me the precise look I needed for my design. I was very happy with FloppyFlex and received many compliments on the overall look as well as the product.”
“Two complete sets of the ‘pixelated’ digital FloppyFlex were provided,” adds Rusty Wingfield of PRG, “one each for the East and West Coast legs of the tour. That’s 280 meters total, all of which we received with connectors pre-installed by TMB, all driven by FloppyDrive Digital portable DMX control drivers.”
(Jim Evans)

UK - Billed as the glorious finale to the Flat Season, QIPCO British Champions Day brings together leading jockeys, horses, trainers and owners from Europe and beyond for one of the most prestigious fixtures in the UK sporting calendar.
As a grand finale to the proceedings, the 2018 event closed with a suitably grand after party for over 5000 guests. The event was staged within a giant Igloo domed roof structure provided by Fews Marquees which was built on the lawn directly adjacent to the main grandstand at Ascot Racecourse. The party featured performances from House of Angels, Ella Eyre and culminated in an epic DJ set from Jax Jones.
Working on behalf of clients Generate Events, Light Fantastic provided full technical support to the show, including lighting, audio, video, staging and rigging along with design and fabrication of a host of bespoke scenic elements.
Andrew Maxted, project manager at LFPS remarked, “Our clients presented us with a really exciting brief for the event, which included a giant ‘boom box’ as the central theme. With this in mind, we created a high impact stage and lighting design to look like a huge ‘retro portable stereo’ incorporating all the old-school controls you’d expect, plus the all-important client branding.”
The team installed a number of overhead trusses to support all production elements including lighting, audio, LED wall and scenic elements. Lighting trusses housed a mixture of the company’s Robe MegaPointe, LEDBeam 150 and LEDWash 600 fixtures, plus Clay Paky Stormy strobes for added spa

Germany - On 13 October, 2018, Mercedes-Platz in Berlin, a new mixed-use area that complements Mercedes-Benz Arena, was ceremoniously opened with a multi-media show that incorporated lighting effects from Elation’s popular IP65-rated Proteus Hybrid luminaires. With its mixture of deluxe cinema, restaurants, hotels, a concert hall and other entertainment offerings, the square is being celebrated as one of the city’s newest hotspots.
General service provider TSE AG was commissioned with implementation of the show with company specialist lighting planner Klaus Graewert relying on more than 30 weatherproof Proteus Hybrid fixtures to generate dynamic lighting effects. Between noon and 6 pm, the audience was able to enjoy an extensive stage program with various live bands, but the highlight of the evening came shortly before 8 pm with a multimedia show of lighting, video and sound elements, along with water effects and a pyrotechnic finale.
With 12 Proteus lights positioned on the roof of the Mercedes-Benz Arena and another 20 units distributed across the square, powerful beams of light added to the impressive setting and attracted a lot of attention. "The Proteus Hybrid is great! I've used it many times now,” said LD Chris Moylan. "It's the first truly powerful IP65 beam on the market. The units make it easy for me to realize sensational beam shows in places where I would otherwise spend a lot of effort and would have to install less attractive and above all expensive weather protection devices.”
TSE rented the Proteus fixtures from Motion GmbH

France - Between eight and nine million people walk through the doors of the Musée du Louvre (aka The Louvre) every year. Anyone lighting a private event within its walls has to operate on a tight setup schedule. This is one reason why Martin Symul and his team at MSL (Sprimont, Belgium) elected to light a recent gala at the home of the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and other great works of art with Chauvet Professional WELL Fit up-lighting fixtures.
“I know the product quite well,” said Symul. “The WELL Fit is interesting because it is an autonomous stand-alone fixture with no ground wiring – better for safety -- and it does not require much installation time. Doing an event at a venue like this one, you are not given much time for installation. We arrived on the site Tuesday afternoon, only two hours before the arrival of guests.”
Despite the short setup time, guests who arrived at the event (a 60th anniversary celebration for the DEF Network group of fire prevention companies) were treated to a stunning and stylishly designed setting for their gala. This was evident to them as soon as they entered the reception area via a spiral staircase and encountered a vista of richly saturated blue light from 90 WELL Fit fixtures.
“We positioned the WELL Fit uplights in the mezzanine and in the reception area to set an elegant mood with uplighting,” said Symul. “The fixtures were static. They did not change colors. We went with a single shade of very attractive blue that matched the client’s logo, and used it to colorize columns and walls th

USA - QSC has announced the expanded role of Brands on Stage as its Latin American distribution partner for the company’s Live Sound division. Brands on Stage will now manage the QSC live sound portfolio throughout Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay, enabling new QSC brand-growth opportunities with Latin American channel partners and their customers.
“We are very excited to be part of the QSC family. Our work philosophies are 100% aligned. For many years, Brands on Stage have continually strived to keep improving ourselves and today we have our reward – the honour of carrying the flag of QSC and its representation throughout Latin America,” says Guillermo Promesti, principal of Brands on Stage.
“We have plans to offer educational seminars and product presentations throughout the region for our customers, to share QSC’s amazing portfolio of products, such as the TouchMix compact digital mixers and the K.2 Series,” Promesti adds.
“Brands on Stage has been with QSC for many years and is a collaborative partner in every sense”, adds Gina Bergmann, Sr. director of sales for Canada/Latin America/Asia Pacific, QSC Live Sound. “With their proven results, reputation for customer service and education throughout the Latin America, we’re excited to see the fruits of their efforts in this expanded regional role.”
(Jim Evans)

USA - UK-based EM Acoustics is making its first appearance at the upcoming NAMM show in Anaheim this month. The loudspeaker manufacturer is participating in the Loudspeaker System Showcase held in the Anaheim Convention Centre Arena and can be found at Booth #18600 in the pro audio hall.
“The loudspeaker system showcase – which provides attendees with the opportunity to listen to an assortment of loudspeaker systems – is the ideal venue to make our NAMM debut,” explains Ed Kinsella, director, EM Acoustics. “During the showcase we are pleased to demonstrate the ultra-compact HALO-C line array as well as the self-powered ESP Series. HALO-C has already found its way into numerous performing arts venues, theatres and churches across Europe and we are confident it will have the same impact in the States. The ESP Series is equally at home as a portable system or distributed in larger spaces, providing unusual fidelity from a small enclosure.
“The self-powered ESP-8 is small enough to be discreet in use, yet has an output that defies its size,” adds Kinsella. “The onboard amplification and DSP package make the compact loudspeaker completely self-contained. The ESP-8 – or the ESP-12 for that matter – when paired with the ESP-15S subwoofer, is ideal for small front-of-house duties to speech reinforcement, front fill or compact stage monitoring. I think listeners will be impressed with both demonstrations.”
The companion ESP-15S is a compact, versatile self-powered subwoofer, designed to complement the ESP-8 and ESP-12 self-powered loud

The Netherlands - Launching at ISE, the new ZoneMix from ARX Systems is a multi-channel mic/line zone mixer that has been designed to cope with the variety of audio sources found on multimedia devices today. This product is both intuitive and user friendly and features Wireless audio, USB and MiniJack inputs, 2 Mic/Line inputs, stereo line input, and Zone 1 and 2 Stereo Master level controls, says the company.
Packed with inputs, outputs and control features in a compact 1RU unit, the ZoneMix offers a Wireless audio receiver, a USB connector and MiniJack inputs - each with their own individual level controls. Each Microphone channel on the ZoneMix has a Balanced low noise mic input plus individual gain and level controls. The mic input can be switched to be a Line input as required and the stereo line Iinput 3/4 has a rear panel input trim control, as well as front panel output level controls.
There are also zone 1 and 2 stereo master level controls and the zone 1 and 2 stereo master output XLR connectors can be switched to mono if required (using rear panel switches).
(Jim Evans)

UK - Allen & Heath has appointed Markus Sinsel as the mixing console company’s new sales director.
Sinsel joins Allen & Heath from its Germany, Spain and Great Britain distributor, Audio-Technica Europe, where he held the role of Allen & Heath brand manager. Allen & Heath’s managing director, Rob Clark commented, “Markus has been part of the Allen & Heath family for the past 17 years and has a truly exceptional understanding of both our products and our customers. I cannot imagine a more qualified individual to drive our continued growth in cooperation with our distribution partners.”
Markus Sinsel added, “Allen & Heath has been a central element of my professional life, first as an audio engineer, then working with the great team at Audio-Technica Europe to develop the brand in Germany and the UK. I am looking forward to building relationships with distribution partners around the world and working with them to provide excellent service to the customers who put their trust in Allen & Heath.”
“Being the distribution partner responsible for three strategic sales regions for the Allen & Heath brand (Germany, Spain and Great Britain)” comments Robert Morgan-Males, CEO of Audio-Technica Europe, “efficient and strong relationship is always the key success factor between manufacturer and distributor. While of course we’re disappointed to see Markus Sinsel depart after many years of service to the Audio-Technica German market, his consummate knowledge of the Allen & Heath brand, the European customer

USA - Wireless touring professional Ike Zimbel will provide introduction and training for both Professional Wireless IAS software and the Radio Active Designs UV-1G wireless intercom system during AES@NAMM. The one-hour training sessions will be held at the Anaheim Hilton Hotel’s NAMM U Education Centre, adjacent to a brand-new pro-audio exhibit space. The RAD and IAS sessions will take place on Thursday 24 January and Saturday 26 January at the Anaheim Hilton.
Professional Wireless’ Intermodulation Analysis System (IAS) software is the industry standard frequency coordination software that has been used on every major sporting and broadcast event since its inception. Radio Active Designs UV-1G wireless intercom system operates primarily in the VHF band clearing valuable UHF bandwidth for other systems.
Zimbel will demonstrate the system from base station to belt pack. Topics covered will include Analog RF transmission scheme, best practices for set-up and deployment, using the GUI to program bases and belts, "Scene" memory in belt packs and why the UV-1G makes the most sense for your intercom inventory.
“Available UHF bandwidth is being reduced to just (at most) 150MHz making spectral efficiency of paramount importance,” adds Zimbel. “With the very small footprint of the UV-1G UHF transmit frequencies and the fact that the belt packs operate in the relatively open VHF band (also with a very small RF footprint), the UV-1G is the best choice for large intercom intensive events, small "dry hire" rentals and everything in between.”
Zi

Turkey - One of Istanbul’s largest nightclubs, the latest in the group of Jolly Joker venues, is making a big impact on the city’s entertainment scene, thanks to a high-specification Nexo STM Series modular line array installed by Alkor and Yamaha Music Europe Turkey.
The Jolly Joker Vadistanbul has been opened by Hakan Polat, İbrahim Sayın and Ahmet Çelenk, a new addition to a collection of clubs spread all across Turkey. The 2,000-capacity club has a large stage, and plays host to a busy rota of popular Turkish artists.
Installation company Alkor collaborated closely with Yamaha Music Europe Turkey to present a Nexo proposal to Hakan Polat and the Jolly Joker’s audio engineer Eren Öztürk. After a live demo, they selected the Nexo STM Series modular line array system, with Nexo’s 45 N-12 line monitors on-stage, from a competitive tender, citing the system’s power, clarity and ease of use as the reasons for their choice.
“The angle of coverage from the compact 45N-12 monitors played a big part in the decision,” said Eren Öztürk. “I pointed the microphone towards the monitor, as most singers do, and no feedback squeal came out of the 45 N-12.”
The main flown PA uses, each side, three cabinets of STM M28 omnipurpose module with 90 degree dispersion and two cabinets of M28 with 120 degree dispersion. At the top of the arrays are two STM B112 bass modules, and below, are six a side STM S118 subs, running in cardioid configuration. Four of Nexo’s super-compact ID24 cabinets are used as front-fills.
Stage monitori

The Netherlands - Almost 100 CLF Lighting fixtures were deployed during Game On at the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven.
The show was part of light art festival GLOW and was designed by TWOFIFTYK, an all-round creative agency which creates imagineering concepts. After consulting The Art of Light, technical production company 4AV chose the CLF Aorun beam as key fixture.
After using them during the 2017 edition of the Amsterdam Music Festival, lighting designer Andre Beekmans likes the Aorun. “I like the speed of the fixture. Especially the colour, gobo and prism effects are really fast. Besides that, the light output is awesome for large scale shows like this.”
The CLF Aoruns were placed in four lines of 24 fixtures, all accompanied by a square LED tile. All lighting fixtures were supplied by leading Dutch dry-hire company Rent-All.
(Jim Evans)

USA - Country music star Dylan Scott recently organised a charity concert for kids in his home town of Sterlington, Louisiana, and used an all Elation lighting rig along with ADJ video panels to light the event. Extreme Lighting & Sound (ELS) of Nashville, Tennessee, supplied the lighting and video gear for the inaugural event.
Bayou Stock, held 17 November at the Sterlington Sports Complex, featured performances by Mark Chestnut, Morgan Evans, Lainey Wilson and others, not to mention Dylan Scott himself, and raised $30,000 to buy presents for underprivileged kids this Christmas.
ELS was brought in to turnkey the lighting portion of the show, including design and supply of all lighting, which consisted of 17 Platinum HFX hybrid moving heads, eight Colour Chorus 48 LED battens, eight Fuze Wash Z120 LED wash lights, six compact Rayzor 360Z beam moving effects, 15 Cuepix WW2 Blinders, six Protron 3K LED strobes, and eight SixPar 200 LED Par lights.
Dylan Scott is one of ELS’s main clients, having fabricated and built a floor package for his 2018 tour. “This is actually the last of 114 shows this year that it has been on the road,” states ELS president Austin Grundberg, who designed and programmed the lighting for the Bayou Stock event and ran the show for all of the artists.
Designed as a festival rig, Grundberg says he knew he would be using it for all the bands but also took into account Dylan's floor package, which he also wanted to complement. Pivotal to the design were the Colour Chorus battens, which the designer hung vertically

Columbia - Among the most important things to keep in mind when running a lightshow, believes Milton de la Cruz, is “to know your key moments”. The Jamundí, Colombia-based LD had more than a few dramatic high points to light in December when working the annual main show of Ensálsate, a Salsa Caleña cabaret with over 80 artists on stage, a live orchestra, 500 colourful costume changes, and a nonstop flow of breathtaking dance moves.
Helping de la Cruz reflect this choreographed panorama in light at Bogota’s Teatro Colsubsidio was a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Spot and COLORdash Par-Quad 18 fixtures. “Few things are more important than knowing your show’s peaks,” he said. “I focus very hard on having an appreciation of the key moments and highlighting the stage and the artists during them. Fixtures that are fast and bright like the Rogues and COLORdashes help me be responsive to the key moments.”
Flying six Rogue R2 Spot fixtures on midstage truss, de la Cruz relied on them for downlighting dancers and creating a sense of space on stage. By creating columns of light on stage, he not only was able to highlight individual performers, he also added depth to the stage and established an “architecture” that accentuated the sensuous movements of the salsa dancers.
The colour-rendering capabilities of the Rogue R2 Spot, which has two color wheels, split colour capabilities and continuous variable speed scrolling, helped de la Cruz reflect different peaks in the cabaret’s performance. Working in conjunction with washes

USA - Amidst the thousands of celebrations happening world-wide for the 2018-2019 roll over, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) played a special Great Gatsby themed party in the super-plush lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Dallas, which required diligent lighting to produce the correct ambience.
Randy Cline of Time Matters Entertainment, based in Plano just north of Dallas, was the event’s technical producer, coordinating all the staging elements, and working for communications agency Wheelhouse Marketing & PR. He asked lighting designer Eric Wade of Crossfade Design to create a dramatically different lighting scheme to set the scene and a stylish tone for a classy evening of fun and music.
Challenged for power and lighting positions in and around the lobby, powerful LED light sources were the only way to go, so Eric selected Robe LEDBeam 150s and DL7S Profiles as his main fixtures.
This was also a one-off presentation in that there was no conventional stage, instead, the 16 NOJO musicians were positioned in the lobby, all on the deck, with a dancefloor and a VIP area set up immediately in front of the orchestra, near the bar entrance.
In response, Eric deployed lights wherever he could fit them. Fixtures were ensconced around the floor, on the PA stacks, secreted behind couches, tables, and even around the hotel’s front desk!
“I like to take a truck load of lights and design onsite to cover all bases on these type of shows” he explained. “I took the ‘Grip Truck Theory’ quite literally and then just had my guys gr

USA - LA-based ADJ Products has acquired Eliminator Lighting in a bid to broaden its product range. All existing Eliminator Lighting fixtures are now available from ADJ USA, whilst ADJ Mexico will distribute the brand in Mexico.
ADJ dealers will now be able to purchase Eliminator products alongside equipment from ADJ Lighting, American Audio and Avante Audio, allowing for consolidated orders to minimise shipping costs. To welcome Eliminator Lighting to its new home at ADJ Products, its to be re-branded with a sleek new logo.
Eliminator Lighting’s long-serving product manager, Albert Paredes, will stay with the company. Paredes has extensive experience in the lighting industry and is no stranger to ADJ, having worked in the company’s Service Department for many years prior to moving to Eliminator.
New products will continue to be added to the brand’s catalogue, continuing its focus on providing affordable lighting and special effect products to event professionals that offer unbeatable value.
President of the ADJ Group of Companies Toby Velazquez comments: “This is an exciting development for ADJ Products as Eliminator Lighting has a great range of value DJ products that fit into our diverse network of customers. It also means that the ADJ Group’s product catalogue now covers every type of application and budget; ranging from Eliminator Lighting at entry level, to ADJ covering the mid-market and Elation Professional serving top-end theatrical and touring productions.”
(Jim Evans)

UK - Martin Audio has announced its latest optimised line array, adding to the popular Wavefront Precision Series with the Longbow edition.
Wavefront Precision Longbow (WPL) brings this high performance, optimisation, flexibility and control to large-scale touring and installation applications. Designed as a complete system with external iKON multi-channel amplifiers, automated DISPLAY optimisation software and VU-NET control platform, WPL provides financial accessibility to the higher echelons of touring and install sound - from stadium concert and outdoor festivals to arena and House of Worship installations.
The complete system philosophy guarantees that WPL arrays perform predictably and effortlessly to their design maximum, as well as ensuring that they are
Dom Harter, managing director, comments: “Martin Audio enjoyed a record sales year in 2018 and we will strive hard to continue this trend in 2019. WPL is a compelling proposition combining superlative sound, optimisation and control with quick deployment and trucking efficiency, all in an affordable package that we believe will delight customers. Importantly, this is also a shipping product with the first systems having already been delivered to two new US customers and we have taken orders for more systems around the world.
“Details of all these customer acquisitions will be announced in due course, but suffice to say, this is a system ready now for the new touring season alongside many installation opportunities.”
(Jim Evans)

USA - The Audio Engineering Society has announced the appointment of Colleen Harper as the Society’s executive director, effective 21 January 2019.
“Our executive committee's challenge has been to find an individual with deep and broad organizational management, direct prior experience within professional membership organizations, and a unique skill set that combines operational expertise, marketing skills and team leadership capabilities,” revealed David Scheirman, the Society's president for the 2017-2018 term of office.
“The Society's executive director search team has selected Colleen Harper from a field of exceptionally well-qualified candidates. Our entire AES Board of Governors looks forward to working closely with Colleen from day one in her new position at the Society's world headquarters office in New York City.”
Most recently, as the Chief Operating Officer and Interim Chief Executive Officer for the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN), Harper notably led the implementation of strategic goals to drive both short- and long-term growth and sustainability for the $6m organisation, led organisational budgeting, managed ASPEN’s signature annual conference and led the expansion and enhancement of membership service and growth, exemplifying her talent and capabilities.
“I am thrilled to join the AES team,” shares Harper, “and look forward to leading the organization as we continue our work of uniting and educating audio engineers, creative artists, scientists, and students from all over the wo

UK - Allen & Heath has made two key international appointments as part of a wider expansion of its fast-growing installation team.
Based in Europe, Martijn Verkerk has been appointed as installation product manager. Tasked with ensuring Allen & Heath’s installation products meet the rapidly evolving needs of the market, Verkerk has been working with networked audio since 1999 and has extensive hands-on experience, having previously worked in technical sales for Crestron Benelux and for Allen & Heath’s Netherlands distributor, Ampco Flashlight.
Working out of Allen & Heath’s US headquarters, Brian McGovern has been appointed as commercial audio business development for North America. McGovern has an extensive install and commercial audio background, having held positions at Yamaha and Roland Professional, designing and implementing audio systems.
Managing director Rob Clark comments: “Many installation specialists are excited about the solutions Allen & Heath is offering for education, worship, leisure, cultural and corporate installations. As we continue to develop this part of our business, we’re very pleased to be adding key personnel of the calibre of Martijn and Brian to our growing team, in order to serve the needs of the increasing numbers of integrators and consultants who are choosing to benefit from the innovative solutions we offer.”
(Jim Evans)

Ireland - Thousands of people witnessed Dublin’s New Year Festival with a light show that illuminated the landmark Custom House and River Liffey. Lighting designer Matthew Kilmurry, of Kilmurry Design, controlled the spectacular effects using two Avolites Tiger Touch II consoles.
More than 40,000 people enjoyed the New Year’s celebrations in Dublin, with millions watching live TV coverage of the ‘Midnight Moment’. This was billed as a ‘dazzling lighting spectacle’ featuring a ‘thrilling choreography of lasers and aqua beams’.
“My brief for the event was to light up the sky and surrounding areas of Custom House Quay in Dublin city centre. The lighting needed to be dynamic, original and totally in-sync with the six-minute music piece that played at midnight,” says Kilmurry. “I pre-programmed to timecode, using Capture and a Tiger Touch II at home before the event - there were about 300 cues in six minutes.
“I was really impressed with the timecode features in Avolites’ Titan operating system - the timecode learning really saved me so much time, and the fact you can run infinite cue lists from the same timecode input. I had around eight cue lists running consecutively and over 300 cues and every time the timecode playback system triggered the show ran flawlessly.
“The Key Frame Shape generator is also incredibly powerful, especially when you have 80 movers lined up along a river, you can get some really beautiful effects.”
Both Tiger Touch II consoles were supplied by Production Services Ireland, with Ciaran

UK - As one of the UK’s premiere performance venues, the National Theatre (NT) presents a wide-ranging programme. In 2018 a new permanent structure for corporate and other events was added to the roof space known as The Deck. A flexible audio system based on the Yamaha MRX7-D matrix processor has been installed, thanks partly to the unit’s success in providing show relay throughout the NT’s three theatres and other spaces.
Previously occupied by a pavilion-like tented structure, The Deck’s views across the River Thames to the City of London make it a popular rental space for corporate gatherings, product launches, parties and weddings. Last year, the NT redeveloped the space by installing a bespoke permanent structure with state of the art sound and lighting. The audio solution is based on the Yamaha MRX7-D, with control via an iPad running a custom-designed ProVisionaire Touch interface.
The NT has relied on Yamaha equipment for audio processing and routing for many years. Ten years after they were first installed, several DME series digital mixing engines are still reliably working at various locations, while MRX7-Ds on a Dante network play a key role in show relay and audio routing throughout the NT’s complex of three theatres, studios, foyer, bookshop, restaurants and bars.
“There is an MRX7-D in the central control room and one each in the Olivier, Lyttelton and Dorfman theatres, all installed to provide a flexible and reliable system for show relay,” says Dom Bilkey, the NT’s head of sound and video.
Controlled by both iP

UK - Illumination specialist LED Creative supported Projection Artworks on a festive installation project at Luton Airport.
Housed in the easyJet hanger and featuring a sequence of scintillating visual projections, mapped across an easyJet Airbus A320, the magical performance was choreographed to sync with a contemporary reworking of Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
Created by a team of 10 lighting designers and artists, the spectacle incorporated an array of stunning lighting effects, illuminated props and festive themed scenic elements that included over 1.5 miles of coloured lights used to add colour and sparkle throughout the venue.
Working with Pete Boatfield at Projection Artworks, LED Creative provided a selection of their Sigma Pulse Wands paired with BYTE, the company’s state of the art controller units developed specifically to work in unison with their Sigma product range to allow maximum artistic control with minimum programming time.
Having been allocated just 24 hours to complete the festive transformation, the plug-and-play Sigma system was an ultra-convenient solution for adding dynamic colour and movement to the installation.
LED Creative’s Tim Rees says: “It has been a pleasure to have helped create such an incredible live performance. The team have worked their magic over every aspect of the installation and the end result has been simply amazing.”
Staged in front of an invited audience made up of airport staff and their families along with local school children, the festive surprise wa