UK - When working as a lighting gaffer, David Oldroyd always struggled with the movement of kit in and out of location trucks especially on TV dramas with a small crew. The problem still bothered him when he took up his position as a rental agent with leading motion picture rental company Cinelease, so he began looking at ways of making the moving of kit easier.

David knew that with the varied kit used on each job, any solution would have to be adaptable and so sat down with Doughty's Dan Phillips to come up with a modular trolley system that could be easily adapted.

David explained, "I have always known Doughty to be an effective engineering grip company, so contacted Dan to see if it would be possible to figure something out between us. We drew up a few sketches which he

USA - Founded in 2005, the Rocky Mountain Classical Academy is a successful K-8 charter school in Colorado's second-largest city, Colorado Springs. However, RMCA was split between two locations until the recent completion of a $17m, 100,000sq.ft building to house all of its 1,000 students, with additional room to grow school enrolment by 33%.

The building is community-oriented, featuring lots of open areas and gathering spaces with an abundance of natural light. Among them are an adjacent gymnasium and auditorium. With a clever arrangement of movable partitions, the two facilities share a stage that can be used for a wide range of events. When unforeseen budgetary issues threatening the audio/video systems in both rooms, the school district hired local A/V integration firm Sight & Sound Technologies to engineer a fix that would preserve the hoped-for functionality and reliabilit

UK - SGM were again one of the major sponsors at the third e-Luminate Cambridge Festival - occupying two iconic sites, St John's College Tower and King's College Chapel, and bringing them to life with their powerful IP65-rated LED fixtures.

While Jack Beccegato from Zero Kb designed the set piece for King's College Chapel, Daniel Kirby from SGM UK created the concept for the St John's College Tower lighting. Six G-Spots were used by Beccegato to illuminate the front of the Chapel, while the St. John's Tower was animated with the stunning used or 11 P-5 RGBW wash lights.

Also playing a central role in the Festival was SGM customer, Hawthorn, under the coordination of the company's Cambridge based head of sales and marketing, Rachel Waterfield. Hawthorn also supplied all the power and rigging for the SGM lights.

The festival, co-founded by Alessandra Caggiano and Hugh Parnell

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Case Study: Hans Zimmer Live

When award winning film composer Hans Zimmer brought his smash-hit tour Hans Zimmer Live to North America fall 2024, the show's audio team sought out to bring infrafrequency bass to the show to add new depth to the show's audio experience. The team chose Danley Sound Labs.

UK - In support of their forthcoming second album, This Is All Yours, alt-J recently played a headline show at London's 20,000-capacity O2 Arena. For this show - the band's largest to date - XL Video supplied a bespoke LED screen and camera IMAG package.

Working with production manager, Bennie Brongers; lighting, video & rigging co-ordinator, Mike Oates; show designer, Jeremy Lechterman, and Jackson Gallagher from Fragment Nine, XL were tasked with supplying an LED screen solution for Jeremy's creative design.

XL Video utilised 270 tiles of their popular Pixled F-12 LED, along with 154 of XL's own custom touring frames to create horizontal strips of LED across the width of the O2 stage. The empty frame rows revealed lights including Showtec Sunstrips and other lights were attached to the spacers between the LED.

XL's Project Managers, Phil Mercer and Jay Mobbs-Beal, w

USA - EDM may appear like a lot of random flashing, but puts a lighting console through a stress test quite unlike any other. Without the luxury of a script or a set list, the EMD lighting designer has to create an infinite series of dramatic looks that match the feel of the music and support the strong video images that are another hallmark of the genre.

Tom Schneider, an ETC tech and console trainer in the company's Hollywood office, has designed and operated EDM shows since he was old enough to sneak out of the house to light raves in warehouses. He believes that Eos is the perfect tool for the job - "What really sets this console apart from other high end consoles is the effects engine. It's pretty cool. The effects engine is programmable to anything I could possibly want."

While big US events like Electronic Daisy Carnival, Electric Zoo and the Ultra Music Festi

USA - Some may say bigger is better when it comes to speakers, but in this case Avalon Hollywood's owner and audio expert John Lyons says, "It's a matter of being louder, cleaner and clearer."

The new system, which was unveiled during Grammy weekend at Hollywood's historic venue Avalon two weeks ago, features Powersoft's new M-Force technology - and is claimed to be the world's largest subwoofer club installation ever.

While other venues may opt for sound systems featuring a du jour brand, Avalon has its own namesake speaker series. No stranger to conceptualizing game changing speakers, owner John Lyons is an audio expert responsible for installing sound systems at some of the world's leading nightclubs.

Making this new speaker a realisation is a feat that Lyons and premier audio engineers at EAW and Powersoft have worked rigorously for two years to perfect. "

UAE - A new company, Broadcast Wireless Systems, has been established to offer expertise, agility and objective advice on specialist broadcast RF requirements and will make its debut at CABSAT 2015 in Dubai in March.

Formed by wireless experts Stuart Brown and Max Zaja, with more than 60 years' experience between them with the likes of Cobham, Link Research, Tandberg/Ericsson, Vislink and the BBC, Broadcast Wireless Systems now provides high-level sales, service and support of best-in-class wireless systems from a variety of manufacturers.

Broadcast Wireless Systems commercial director Stuart Brown said, "Our depth of experience means that we can design and implement bespoke wireless products and systems that precisely meet client needs for specific applications.

"New technologies now enable production teams to reliably reach places on land, sea or sky, limited onl

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OPUS X4 PROFILE – the most powerful LED moving head from Cameo to date

The OPUS® X4 PROFILE is the new flagship model from Cameo and is among the most powerful LED moving heads on the market. Equipped with a 1,400-watt LED white light engine, this spot profile moving head produces an enormous light output of 50,000 lm, providing powerful spot and gobo projections on even the largest stages and much more.
www.cameolight.com

USA - Entertainment lighting manufacturer High End Systems has announced that industry sales veteran Sean Hoey has returned to the Austin-based company as Eastern US sales manager. After working at High End Systems throughout the 1990s-2000s, Hoey enjoyed a successful tenure as a territory sales manager at Christie Digital Systems.

Hoey comments, "I am excited to be back at the company that was so instrumental in my career development in this industry. High End Systems is now in its third decade of creating cutting-edge products for lighting professionals, and I look forward to working with our client base - a mix of old friends and new faces - and introducing them to our latest technological innovations."

In other HES news, the company announced they have restructured their US sales team and efforts. Adam Camp will continue as Western US sales manager, while Hoey wi

South Africa - Wild & Marr, the South African distributor for Harman Professional, will be hosting two exciting Harman BSS Audio workshops in Johannesburg during March 2015. The workshops will be presented by Justin Hankey, Application Engineer for Networking and Installed Sound at Harman.

The target audience for the classes would primarily be AV Programmers and Systems Integrators as well as audio designers and anyone else in the professional audio industry that require a better understanding of Audio Architect, networked audio signal processors and digital audio networking protocols and systems.

The first workshop is an Introductory Course to HiQnet Audio Architect, which is the software platform that is used to configure, control and monitor BSS Audio Soundweb London and the Crown DriveCore Install Network Series.

Soundweb London is an award-winning product line of digita

USA - The second edition of PLASA Focus Orlando, the regional event for the live entertainment technology industry, has been branded a resounding success by both visitors and exhibitors alike. Attracting record numbers of attendees, the popular event offered networking opportunities and hosted many over-sold education sessions presented by top industry speakers including Richard Pilbrow - lighting designer, theatre design consultant and author and Jim Hutchison, customer engagement and education manager for Chauvet Professional.

Taking place on 17-18 February at the Rosen Plaza Hotel, PLASA Focus Orlando proved to be a vibrant networking hub for 64 live entertainment technology brands and more than 840 attendees. "This has been by far the best PLASA Focus event so far," said Geoffrey Platt, product training specialist at TMB. "We had steady, quality visitors each

UK - Clay Paky fixtures have delivered an epic rock show for metalcore five-piece Bring Me The Horizon's sold out date at the SSE Arena Wembley, with lighting designer Ben Inskip choosing them for their power and aerial effects.

The Sheffield-born group has recently been experimenting with video content, leading to the incorporation of a large upstage projection surface in the design for Wembley - their biggest show to date. To complement this, Inskip specified Clay Paky Sharpys, Alpha Beam 700s and Alpha Beam 300s from leading rental company Siyan.

"My aim was to create an interesting overhead truss layout that would work with the projection instead of fighting it," says Inskip. "I then used eight Sharpys on a downstage Chevron-shaped truss to create wide architectural looks that extended to the overhead set up. They were fantastic for creating some really inte

The Netherlands - AV technology pioneer Peerless-AV has announced its biggest year yet at ISE with o new mounts, stands and Emerging Technology products showcased on the stand, an increased number of European visitors, and a Best of Show award win for its innovative Twin Pole Modular Series product range.

Showcased to a European audience for the first time at ISE 2015, the award-winning Twin Pole Modular Series is designed to fit around twin columns, the components combine to fulfil multiple install requirements, from a single ceiling mounted display to an unlimited floor-to-ceiling video wall array in retail, transportation applications, control rooms screen arrays and leisure settings.

A major stand highlight was the announcement that Peerless-AV's Xtreme Outdoor Displays (42", 47" and 55") now have CE marking approval. The company has already seen phenomenal

The Netherlands - How to design the perfect audio solution in small & medium sized applications? Apart Audio has developed a digital tool to help and inspire every installer. There is no need any more to search for a product in a product catalogue. The new intuitive web based plug & play tool is starting from the customer needs and presents an entire audio solution for the specific customer requirements. Visit the Apart Audio website www.apart-audio.com to experience it yourself. A high quality audio solution is designed in no time.

On the Apart website (apart-audio.com) a Plug & Play section has been added where you can discover more than 50 audio solutions for the small and mid-sized fixed install market. It shows a variety of audio applications that gives the installer a quick answer on the following questions:

"Apart is aiming to become the installers' friend," s

UK - Housing a 1 x 36W tri-colour LED, the Liberty 1T36 battery uplighter from Prolight Concepts gives smooth colour mixing from rich saturated hues to subtle pastel shades.

These units have a rugged housing and feature a four push button LCD menu which allows for easy access to the functions including DMX, master/slave, sound active and stand alone. An optional 18° lens is included to further increase the fixtures applications.

Bernie Marsh, Prolight Concepts general manager said, "After several years of development, eLumen8 have launched this range of rugged battery operated uplighters. With no compromise on specification and features, there will be a suitable uplighter for many applications."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Source Distribution is hosting the world launch of several RØDE products and new Genelec loudspeakers at BVE 2015 in Lon don this week.

Source is making the exclusive world-wide launch and first public display of RØDE's new RØDE Link Digital Wireless System, NTG4 and NTG4+ shotgun microphones and the NTR ribbon microphone.

The RØDE Link Wireless system utilises 2.4GHz technology to provide a high-resolution 24-bit/44.1kHz digital audio signal at a range of up to 100 metres. The system consists of a number of receiver and transmitter options, and will be available in a number of kits targeting film, news gathering, presentation and stage use. The first kit to be available will be the Filmmaker Kit, which consists of a beltpack transmitter, an on-camera or beltpack receiver and RØDE's broadcast quality Lavalier microphone.

The NTG4 and N

Germany - Having updated the audio systems in its Ü2 and Ü3 radio OB trucks back in 2013, Bavarian public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) operates integrated systems of Lawo production and on-air products. At its Nuremberg Regional Studio, BR is now replacing another two aged OB vans (Ü1 and Ü2) with new vehicles that have a largely identical configuration.

Mixes of all kinds are handled by Lawo mc²66 consoles, providing the recording, sources and TB signals needed for large-scale live events using a sapphire mastercard-equipped DALLIS router frame. The different processes are visualized and operated by way of a multi-page graphical user interface with touchscreen operation. This is where the VisTool software provided by Lawo's radio tools portfolio comes into its own. For the playout - also in multichannel mode - it is possible to dock a sapphire console at any time.

UK - CPL brought more festive sparkle to an independent Bristol based energy supplier, when they delivered full technical production - video, sound, lighting and rigging - for their Christmas conference and party, again working for producers Bright.

The event was staged at Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol - a vast and charismatic former bottling factory now transformed into a lively film and TV studio facility. However, the actual area utilized for the party had not previously been used as an event space, so it was specially modified for the occasion.

CPL's crew of 12 were led by project manager Simon Haydon and they worked closely on site with Bright and set and stage builders, Flat Earth.

The event area was divided into two. The largest space, Room 2, was built as a plenary conference environment during the day for 400 delegates, and then completely transformed into a large,

Canada - Award-winning musical Once returned to Canada on 10 February to start a 111-day run at Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre. Having enjoyed a particularly successful stint in the city during the show's North American Tour in 2013, Once's producers decided to re-visit for an extended stay. Sound designer, Clive Goodwin, has created a new audio concept for the production that is, once again, formed around a Funktion-One sound system.

Set in modern day Dublin, Once is the story of a guy who gives up on his love of music and the girl who inspires him to dream again. The show is being performed by an all-Canadian cast of actor-musicians. A 63-day run was announced last year but demand for tickets, even before it opened, has seen that extend by almost seven-weeks.

Commenting on the production's continuing success, Goodwin says, "I think Once connect

USA - Seeking to provide exceptional audio quality for its diverse speech and music programmes, the Penn State Great Valley graduate school has recently installed a Meyer Sound Mina line array loudspeaker system in its 300-seat Warren V. Musser Auditorium.

"With Mina, we have future-proofed the room for any future needs," says Dave Brotman, president of Coatesville, Penn.-based DBS Audio Systems, which handled system design and integration. "Mina's clarity and coverage easily take care of all current speech requirements for educational uses and corporate conference rentals. Beyond that, the room is also ready for extremely high-quality music reinforcement, which allows it to double as an intimate performing arts venue."

Twin flown arrays of nine-each Mina loudspeakers seamlessly cover the steeply raked auditorium from front to back with a 500-HP subwoofer h

Canada - Elation Professional has announced that SF Marketing, Inc. has been appointed the exclusive Canadian distributor for Elation Professional products in Canada. SFM has been providing professional-quality products and services to the audio visual and live entertainment industries in Canada since 1978.

"As they say, timing is everything and as Elation's product range has expanded more into the pro-specification lighting professional market, now is the right time for us to find the right partners and sales team to push to the next level stated Eric Loader, director of sales for Elation Professional. "SFM is a well-respected distribution company with a long history of taking care of their customers with top-notch service / support and has the resources to help grow the business by offering inventory on demand and flexible financing terms allowing Elation customers t

UK - HHB Communications has been named RTW's distributor for the UK and Ireland with immediate effect.

RTW is a German professional audio manufacturer renowned for developing innovative instruments and technologies for visual audio monitoring in broadcast, production, post-production and quality control. A leader in loudness technology, RTW pioneered the development of audio monitoring and metering with the TouchMonitor range by incorporating a top-notch loudness system.

RTW continues to innovate in the field of loudness monitoring with the introduction of the Loudness Tools Masterclass plug-in. RTW CEO Andreas Tweitmann commented, "The DPP's adoption of EBU R128 loudness standards has made the UK a very important market for innovative audio loudness tools. HHB is the UK's leading authority on loudness technology and we are confident in their expertise to deliver the best

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