Details

28 October 2024

Australia - TDC (Technical Direction Company) has been awarded Production Company of the Year and Event Supplier of the Year at the 2024 Australian Event Awards and Symposium held on Wednesday, 23 October 2024 at Le Montage, Sydney.

"We are deeply honoured to receive these awards," said Michael Hassett, managing director at TDC. "This recognition by the industry and judging panel reflects the passion, creativity, and dedication of our team, who continuously push the boundaries of what is possible in the event space. Every project we deliver is a collaboration with talented individuals – our clients, partners, and incredible crew – who make the impossible possible."

This year, TDC has led ambitious and high-profile projects like Dream Circus at Luna Park, which won the award for Best Achievement in Design with Artists in Motion utilising advanced

Details

28 October 2024

UK - University of the Arts London (UAL) and Sony have partnered on a specialist Virtual Production (VP) research stage, housed within the Fashion Textiles and Technology Institute (FTTI) at UAL’s new East Bank campus in London. This features a Crystal LED wall powered by Brompton Technology’s advanced LED processing.

The East Bank campus is set to become a hub for research, innovation, creativity, and learning, driving collaboration between world-leading universities, cultural institutions, industry experts, and local communities. The VP stage will play a key role in advancing transdisciplinary, practice-led research in Virtual Production (VP) and XR textiles and dress, offering a dynamic environment for experimentation and creative exploration.

The studio is equipped with a seamless horseshoe-shaped Sony Crystal LED display that has a total siz

Details

28 October 2024

Slovakia - Independent broadcast company, TV Markíza has recently installed a Leyard TVF video wall in the news studio and Leyard CarbonLight CLI and CLI Flex screens in The Morning Show studio. The fine pitch LED displays add functionality and flexibility to the 24-hour, multi-use studios, allowing TV Markíza to switch effortlessly between news, weather or morning chat show layouts.

Leyard’s association with the broadcaster dates back to 2017, when three Leyard TVH series video walls were installed for the news studio. Leyard was then chosen as the supplier for the studio’s 2019 expansion, but the project was delayed due to the pandemic, with the installation of the Good Morning studio completing at the end of 2020.

“A key factor was that Leyard’s European manufacturing facility and head office is in Slov

Details

28 October 2024

India - Powersoft’s Mezzo, Duecanali and Quattrocanali amplifiers, complemented by its new Verso gateway device and monitored via the MyUniverso cloud platform, are at the heart of a sound system delivering multi-zone audio for both background music and live sound at Bellandur Social in Bangalore.

Housed within an oval-shaped glass dome, Bellandur Social is a hub for entertainment where patrons can enjoy fine dining under a canopy of natural light during the day and a high-energy nightclub at night. The 54th Social establishment by Impresario Hospitality, headed by Riyaaz Amlani, Bellandur Social is inspired by nature and aims to create the feeling of a “garden city” within its walls.

Designed to accommodate 1,500 patrons across three floors, Bellandur Social needed high-quality, powerful audio across multiple zones, including a DJ area at fron

Details

25 October 2024

Ukraine - The Jam Factory is a new contemporary art centre and a collaborative community event space, set in a reimagined Neo-Gothic former distillery and one time jam factory in picturesque Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine.

All technical elements – lighting, sound, video, trussing, cable infrastructure, automation and the control systems – for the main auditorium and performance area were supplied by Dnipro-based Sound House, one of Robe’s Ukrainian distributors, with Robe LEDWash 300s and ParFect 150s on the lighting rig.

Sound House won the tender and undertook the technical design, specification, installation, commissioning and delivery of all Jam Factory’s technical production components.

The Jam Factory project started in 2015 when the then derelict building was acquired by the organisation of cultural entrepreneur, Har

Details

25 October 2024

USA - Lighting designer Whitney Hoversten is shaping the visual spectacle of Bruno Mars’ shows using Elation Proteus series lighting. From his eight-year residency at Park MGM in Las Vegas to selling out stadiums worldwide, Hoversten has employed the IP-rated Proteus lighting to enhance and complement the global superstar’s performances.

This year began with seven sold-out shows at the Tokyo Dome in Japan, followed by performances in Mexico, Asia, the grand opening of LA’s new Intuit Dome, and regular dates at his Las Vegas residency. He played in Brazil this fall with a record-setting number of shows and will wrap up the year back in Vegas.

Hoversten has been along for the ride for nearly eight years and his position has evolved. Today, he wears many hats including production designer and describes this year’s journey as less of a tour and m

Details

25 October 2024

USA - Matthieu Larivee and the team at Luz Studio designed Jason Aldean’s 24-city Highway Desperado tour, which concluded on 5 October at Georgia’s Macon Amphitheatre.

Appreciating that the lower parts of the stage are where most eyeballs (and most cell phones) are focused, they strove to make this area as fan and camera friendly as possible by incorporating multi-level fascia risers into their design.

“The risers were the start of the design,” said Larivee. “I wanted to focus on the lower part of crowd POV. This is where people are mainly watching, and this is the main background of the pictures on social media. This is especially true on amphitheatre tours where it’s hard to manage haze. Therefore, the lower part of the stage is where we get more impact with the artist.”

To ensure that this area popped for the live au

Details

25 October 2024

Poland - Sound engineer Robert Czyżewicz, celebrated for his innovative approach to sound in cinema, has once again delivered with his work on the Polish film Znachor, known to English-speaking audiences as Forgotten Love. Utilising DPA microphones, Czyżewicz crafted a soundscape that brings viewers closer to the world on screen, enhancing the film’s atmosphere and emotional depth.

“Sound is a medium that makes the picture more realistic and brings it closer to the viewers,” says Czyżewicz. “It defines the film’s place, time and mood, allowing the audience to fully immerse themselves in the story.”

The engineer first discovered DPA microphones in 1995 and began using them shortly thereafter. Since then, Czyżewicz has expanded his collection. “I am consistently impressed by DPA’s natural sound and versatility,”

Details

25 October 2024

USA - Watson Wu specialises in recording car engines, weapons fire, aircraft, power tools, explosions, and other high-SPL sources. With credits ranging from feature films like Baby Driver to megahit video games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Assassin’s Creed, he has become an industry leader in this niche of sound design.

His work must be precise, not only because the extreme levels can damage microphones, but also due to the complexity of taking a sound that would be painful to experience in person and making it listenable in a media context – without diluting its dramatic impact. Wu relies on a single device for this task: the SPDR (Stereo Portable Digital Recorder) from Lectrosonics.

Asked to describe his job, Wu begins: “As Lectrosonics users go, I suppose I’m a little different because I’m not a mix

Details

25 October 2024

Mexico - Malak XR Production Studios commissioned Evoke Studios to collaborate with the prominent Mexican TV station TV Azteca. Together, their aim was to ‘gamify’ the station’s weekly two-minute updates on poll results during the broadcasts of the 2024 Mexican election.

Harnessing a global team of skilled project managers, illustrators, animators, texturisers, and programmers, Evoke Studios created four multi-level, yet challenging, gamified worlds. Here avatars of the presidential candidates competed with one another for poll position.

With multiple creatives working on the project, one of the challenges the Evoke Studios team faced was to ensure continuity of style across all the backgrounds and assets.

“This outcome relies on comprehensive prep work, research, and clear and concise communications,” explains creative technologist

Details

25 October 2024

UK - TSL has taken a sustainable approach in refreshing one of its key fixtures. Instead of replacing the VL2600, they’ve opted for a smart upgrade by replacing the LED engines.

Sam Tamplin, managing director, shared: “We’ve often been frustrated with the short lifecycle of products from some manufacturers. A fixture barely gains traction in the market before a new version or a near-identical update is introduced.

“When Vari-Lite presented the VL2600 SE upgrade path, it struck us as an innovative step toward sustainability. Lighting designers already love the VL2600, so offering the same fixture with a 25% boost in brightness, allowing it to compete with newer models, was an easy decision."

The upgrade increases output to over 23,750 lumens, while maintaining the same size, weight, power consumption, and the exceptional feature set th

Details

25 October 2024

USA - Bandit Lites has announced the promotion of Andrew Ellis to project manager. Ellis brings considerable knowledge of hands-on touring experience to this position, where he will plan, direct, and coordinate with Bandit’s clients to ensure the goals and objectives are accomplished within defined budget and time frames.

Bandit Lites’ Jake Tickle hired Ellis as a freelance lighting technician in 2018 before he joined full time in 2021. While at Bandit, Ellis served as a tech and crew chief on several tours including Rob Thomas, Alanis Morissette, Shinedown, Jason Aldean, Breaking Benjamin, Stick Figure and The Marley Brothers.

“Andrew has continually shown an appetite to learn more and be better, not only better himself, but by bringing ideas that will better our company and our process,” said Tickle. “He tackles every challenge head on. I

Details

24 October 2024

Singapore - Prodigy.MX and .MP units were chosen by Showtec International to deliver the spectacular National Day Parade celebrations from the heart of Singapore’s downtown area.

Independence Day festivities are held in the Padang, Malay for ‘field’, outside the former City Hall, and the site has special historical significance, being the venue for the inauguration of Yusof Ishak and many National Day Parades.

Singapore celebrated its 59th anniversary this year with traditional displays from the military, flypasts and many extraordinary performances. The events were broadcast live, streamed online and displayed on large screens across Singapore. There were fireworks displays and a host of supporting events to mark the occasion.

To ensure the event was not only heard by the people present, but also all those watching remotely, the team f

Details

24 October 2024

USA - Award-winning Indian playback superstar Javid Ali sings songs in many languages, from Tamil and Urdu, to Bengali, in addition to Hindi.

On his recent shows in the New York area, Ali’s two-hour and thirty-minute concert featured a light show created by Roosevelt Dsouza with a rig anchored by 20 Colorado PXL Curve12 and 16 Color Strike M fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Arranged on a straight line across the downstage deck, the Colorado motorised battens played a variety of roles in the design. At times, they were used to direct intense colourful beams upward in a diagonal line that effectively blocked the upstage area from view. The effect was to create a sense that Ali was closer to the audience, engendering a sense of intimacy between the singer and his fans.

At other times, the Colorado PXL Curve12 projected distinct columns of c

Details

24 October 2024

UK - Nexo’s compact and cost-effective Geo M Series delivers flexibility to hard-working rental companies required to cover a large range of events with little downtime between them.

One such company is Oxfordshire-based Event Production Services, which has seen a busy summer deploying its Geo M inventory on a variety of jobs all over its home UK county and beyond.

Four stages at the 25th anniversary Truck Festival at Hill Farm in Steventon were rigged this year by EPS, with Geo M12 and Nexo MSUB18s in service on stages 4 and 5, hosting everything from comedy to rock bands and each covering an audience of approximately 2,000 people.

“We got lots of compliments at Truck Festival from artists and audience alike, including people saying that these were the best-sounding stages on the site,” reports EPS managing director Robert Nisbet. “G

Details

24 October 2024

UK - Moving from his original shop in Hanwell, West London, Jim Marshall took over the current Milton Keynes factory site in 1966. A few steps away from the main building was the social club, now repurposed as the Marshall Studio complex. Adam Beer joined the company in October 2020 as studio manager and oversaw the whole refurbishment project, designing the studio, then, a few years later, turning the disused theatre into a live venue.

“Marshall reached out when they decided to make their own recording studio for the Marshall Record Label artists,” Beer recalls. “The opportunity to build something from scratch was exciting. I chose how the space sounded, filling it with the best equipment available, but as a former live engineer, it was the theatre that really caught my attention. That part of the project was on the back burner for a while, but we had

Details

24 October 2024

UK - Video Design has announced the sudden and unexpected passing of its managing director, Alex Leinster on 22 October. The company remains open for business with Alex’s father, Paul Leinster, taking over day-to-day control.

An initial statement from Video Design reads: “It is with great sadness that we are letting you know that Alex Leinster, managing director of Video Design died suddenly and unexpectedly yesterday, 22 October. Alex will be greatly missed by all who knew him - family, friends, colleagues, business partners and all those he knew in the events industry.”

Bedfordshire-based rental company Video Design was founded by Alex in 2015 and has gone on to provide services for large-scale arena tours by the likes of Take That, Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Tears for Fears, Gorillaz, Stormzy and Bring Me the Horizon.

Paul Leinster can be r

Details

24 October 2024

France - Known for its sandy beaches and warm climate, on the north-eastern Brittany coast, Dinard welcomed the fourth edition of Dinard Opening, a festival that celebrates English and Irish music. Held between 4-10 August, the festival featured artists such as Emilie Rose Bry, Izo Fitzroy, Rum Buffalo, Mick Flannery & Susan O'Neill and The Stranglers.

Dinard’s history with the UK dates back to the 19th century when the seaside commune was the favourite destination for British aristocrats. Now dubbed as the “most British of French towns”, Dinard was a fitting location for a festival dedicated to British music and culture.

Festival goers enjoyed music in various locations around the city, including a public park, Anglican Church, theatre, auditorium, as well as forecourt of the Port-Brenton manor. Behind the scenes, an APG sound system, desi

Details

24 October 2024

USA - Las Vegas-based independent lighting designer Gregg Maltby used an array of Ayrton fixtures and a pair of grandMA3 light consoles for Peter Frampton’s The Positively Thankful Tour, which led up to his induction ceremony at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in October. Ayrton and MA Lighting products are exclusively distributed in North America by ACT Entertainment.

OSA International in Nashville was the lighting vendor for the tour, a role they played for Frampton’s 2023 North American tour, which Maltby also designed.

“I had used Ayrton fixtures before and knew they’d be really bulletproof on the four legs of this tour,” says Maltby. “We were playing theatres, arenas and some outdoor sheds and had just two trusses up and downstage and fixtures on the floor, so we could use the rig everywhere we went. There wasn’t a lot of

Details

24 October 2024

USA - On their current Good Together Tour, the multi-genre band Lake Street Dive uses varied contrasts to make every show impactful and memorable. Audiences experience diverse colour palettes, striking staging and special effects elements, intriguing lyrical themes and an overall attitude that the quintet has described as “joyful rebellion”.

“One of the things the band kept saying during the lead-up to this tour, was that it’s a ‘joyful rebellion’,” lighting director Andrew Froehlich explained. “The album is also all about that feeling: there’s joy, but a little bit of sourness in there. Everything kind of sucks sometimes, but we’re here, we’re living, we’re breathing, so let’s make it better, together.”

From his spot at front of house, Froehlich makes deft and artful use of contrast to enhance the impact of every