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Innovative venue design company Studio Three Sixty launches at ABTT

Studio Three Sixty designs and builds a new kind of temporary venue . . . Visit them on stand F17 at the ABTT Theatre Show this week.

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Award-winning designer Lucy Osborne, internationally acclaimed lighting designer Emma Chapman and lighting specialist and designer Howard Eaton are officially launching their innovative new venue design company Studio Three Sixty at the ABTT Theatre Show this week.

Studio Three Sixty designs and builds a new kind of temporary venue, using the latest technology to create beautiful spaces bursting with versatility.

The story began with Roundabout - a very special commission from new writing theatre company Paines Plough to design and build the world's first Plug and Play Theatre. Roundabout went on to win The Stage Awards 'Theatre Building of the Year 2015'.

Studio Three Sixty was founded by Osborne, Chapman and Eaton to design more temporary venues using the ideas and tech

Taking place between 3rd and 6th July, this year's route starts in Scarborough.

The First Night Riders charity ride embarks in July

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - This year's First Night Riders charity motorbike and classic car tour of British theatres, which raises money for The Theatrical Guild's (TTG) vital work, takes to the roads on Friday 3rd July.

This year marks the sixth year that some of the theatre industry's biggest movers and shakers zoom together for a weekend aimed at raising awareness and much-needed funds to help TTG support Backstage and FOH staff in need. Established in 1891, TTG is dedicated to looking after theatre personnel who, due to a variety of circumstances need welfare advice, counselling, educational sponsorship and many other forms of help.

The charity has many supporters in the industry, including Dara O'Briain who is also a Trustee of The Theatres Trust.

Taking place between 3rd and 6th July, this year's route starts in Scarborough and visits the Spa Theatre & Grand Hall and The Stephen Joseph Thea

The Week in Lighting & Sound

Details: 14 March 2016

Fair Pay - Apple Music reversed its payment policy, a day after the singer Taylor Swift said she was refusing to allow the company to stream her album 1989. In an open letter to Apple, Swift said she was withholding the record as she was unhappy with the three-month free trial offered to subscribers. Now Apple says it will pay artists for music streamed during trial periods. Swift had said the plan was "unfair", arguing Apple had the money to cover the cost. "I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company. "We don't ask you for free iPhones. Please don't ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation."

Olympic Achievement - The International Olympic Committee will receive an award at IBC2015 for its work on conserving and managing its audiovisual archives. The awar

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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.

An optional MADI card will make Hapi into an AES67 to MADI converter

Merging Technologies' Hapi sales top 400 mark

Details: 14 March 2016

Switzerland - Merging Technologies reports that sales of its Hapi Networked Audio Interface have topped 400 in 11 months; rapidly catching its father, the Horus with sales in excess of 600 since 2012. Both units are fully AES67 compliant but with the added features and functionality afforded by Ravenna.

Hapi is no lightweight except for its compact 1U form factor. In addition to having the Ravenna I/O count, eight AES/EBU plus eight ADAT or two SPDIF is standard. An optional MADI card will make Hapi into an AES67 to MADI converter with one slot left for analogue I/O.

You don't have to be a Pyramix user or a Ravenna enthusiast to enjoy the advanced features that Hapi offers. The CoreAudio and ASIO drivers allow any DAW to connect to the RAVENNA network and the superior I/O performance can become part of whatever DAW set up is used. Pro Tools user and Lady Gaga engineer, Dave Ru

The team incorporated 20,000 video-mapped LEDs into the outfits with 5,500 on singer Bianca's dress alone

Light Initiative creates wearable LED for Eurovision

Details: 14 March 2016

Austria - UK entry's Electro Velvet's LED costumes for Eurovision 2015 featured a bespoke design by LED specialists Light Initiative.

"We were approached by creative director Dan Shipton and the BBC Eurovision team to help make Electro Velvet stand out during this year's performances," says Bryn Williams, creative director of Light Initiative.

Working alongside costume designer Frank Strachan and his costume maker Natascha Stolle, the team incorporated 20,000 video-mapped LEDs into the outfits with 5,500 on singer Bianca's dress alone. Unlike many incarnations of this idea seen in the past, the costume team's clever design 'seamlessly' assimilated the LED into the costumes, along with the fabric, glittering sequins and tassels, with no detriment to the overall aesthetic.

"It was of paramount importance that the costumes be beautiful," says Williams. "

The theatre space has been created within the Grade II listed 19th Century St Luke's Moravian Church

Audio Light Systems deliver for Bedford theatre

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - The new 300 seat Quarry Theatre in Bedford has opened to wide acclaim. Audio Light Systems were contracted to provide rigging, audio, AV & lighting in the space which has been created within the Grade II listed 19th Century St Luke's Moravian Church.

Working to a Theatre Plan specification Audio Light Systems installed a Slingco grid, BJ Designs suspension systems, Doughty Engineering IWBs & facility panels, ETC lanterns, Christie projectors, Zero 88 control and dimmers, Yamaha & EM acoustics sound equipment among other manufacturers.

"This is a truly impressive and well thought-out space, that has come together very well. The ability of Audio Light Systems to install the entire technical infrastructure really helps with synergy of a space like this," says Trevor Cross MD Audio light Systems.

(Jim Evans)

A view of Amway Plaza's screening room, designed to deliver clarity of sound and picture to Seoul's Gangseo district

Symetrix Jupiter DSPs deployed at Seoul complex

Details: 14 March 2016

South Korea - The quality and capacity of South Korea's hotel, shopping, seminar and conferencing facilities is increasingly highly-regarded on an international level. Leading operator Amway Korea has been a significant contributor to this upward trajectory for many years, and with the recent addition of a Plaza complex in the Gangseo District of Seoul it now has 14 multi-use sites to its credit throughout the country.

AV distributor and installer Sound Solution was engaged to provide suitably reliable and robust audio processing and distribution for Amway Plaza Gangseo, covering multiple seminar rooms and conference spaces. "The principal requirement for this project was to create an optimal acoustical environment by high quality digital audio processing, and it was this need that led us to consider the use of DSPs from Symetrix - a brand that we have used successfully on

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The opening celebrations took place at the Passage de Retz, the art gallery located at the entrance of Theatre Project new studios

Theatre Projects opens Paris office

Details: 14 March 2016

France - Theatre Projects opened its new Paris office last Thursday 18 June at the Passage de Retz, the art gallery located at the entrance of Theatre Project new studios. Guests from the Parisian cultural and architectural scene attended.

The new studio in Le Marais District of Paris is also the base for two respected acoustic designers who have joined Theatre Projects Paris.

Seb Jouan Victoria and Chavez Thielemann will work with the rest of Theatre Projects' consultants on theatre design projects internationally. They will also provide standalone acoustic design services to architects designing sophisticated performance and entertainment spaces.

They are already working on several projects including the new Yves Saint-Laurent museum in Marrakech, the new Abu Dhabi District Lyric Theatre, the Weltmuseum in Vienna, The Casino de Paris and Folies Bergères in Paris, the next

Vortex Events takes Hippotizer to Glastonbury

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Vortex Events' Matt Gourd and Iain Rendle have a combined knowledge of over 20 years in the events industry. Their company provides both dry rental of all their equipment as well as full production support for everything from musical productions, TV shows and dance events to touring productions, festivals and corporate events.

Having recently purchased a Hippotizer V4 Karst media server, Vortex Events will be putting it to the test immediately on the John Peel stage at Glastonbury this coming week.

Matt Gourd, "We looked at many different media servers and having used a wide range onsite for events, it was easy to see that the V4 range was one step ahead in many ways. These include the value for money and great support they offer. The Karst will help us realise some complicated mapping projects and visualise them at the design stage. This means we can easily translat

Howard completed a successful UK arena tour with dates at London's Alexandra Palace, Birmingham's NIA, Glasgow's SSE Hydro and Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena

L-Acoustics reinforces Ben Howard tour

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Singer-songwriter Ben Howard's UK tour is keeping rental company Nitelites on its toes; with a band full of studio engineers, there really is no room for error. "It's good for us, because it keeps us sharp," says Nitelites' director Andy Magee, who has chosen a substantial L-Acoustics system to deliver the quality of audio his artists demand."

Following his sold out UK tour in November and December, taking in venues such as London's Brixton Academy and Manchester's O2 Apollo, Howard completed a successful UK arena tour in April, with three nights at London's Alexandra Palace, Birmingham's NIA, Glasgow's SSE Hydro and Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena on the schedule.

The team at Nitelites met with tour production manager Chris Pollard, and it was agreed that an L-Acoustics K2 system would satisfy the criteria for nearly all the venues on the December tour.

Fun Home used ETC Eos Ti control and Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr fixtures (photo: © Joan Marcus, courtesy O&M Co)

ETC at home on Tony Award-nominated musical

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - With strong reviews, word-of-mouth recommendations, and 12 Tony Award nominations, the musical Fun Home appears to be right at home on Broadway. Based on an autobiographical graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, it is an unusual show - a delicate, rather than big and flashy musical - according to lighting designer Ben Stanton, who found himself with a low-tech show in need of high-tech lighting.

Stanton uses shifting pockets of light to follow the action from scene to scene, defining rooms of different shapes and sizes as furniture appears and disappears through a complex series of traps. Using an ETC Eos Ti lighting desk, programmer Alex Fogel built a low-res pixel map encompassing the whole stage, with each lighting area as a separate pixel. By applying a gradient to the intensity parameter of the area lights, he was able to smoothly drag focus around the playing area,

This avant-garde piece followed Maniutiu's minimalist style, using very little scenery to create a provocative production (photo: Joseph Forehand)

Martin effects bring UCI production alive

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - University of California, Irvine's (UCI) Claire Trevor School of the Arts presented The Electra Project, famed Romanian director Mihai Maniutiu's reimagining of the classic Electra story.

This avant-garde piece followed Maniutiu's minimalist style, using very little scenery to create a provocative production. Under Maniutiu's direction, lighting designer Martha Carter and scenic designer Morgan Price brought this story to life. Carter used Martin Professional's atmospheric effects to play on the audience's emotions as the titular character battles through her story. They used UCI's existing JEM Glaciator X-Stream and paired it with a JEM Ready 365 hazer which Martin loaned to the students to help fill out their production.

The initial planning started with only a 15-page script and notes from Maniutiu to have minimal scenery. While Carter and Price had their work

Fox calls on Nexus for New York ad event

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - Standing out is always important in the world of television, but never more so than during Upfront's Week, an annual event that sees networks pitch their upcoming programmes to potential sponsors.

For the Fox Broadcasting Company this meant renting the historic Beacon Theatre on Broadway, and bringing in a bevy of stars like Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny of The X-Files fame, Lea Michele, Jamie Lee Curtis, and a musical performance by the award-winning cast of Empire, Jennifer Hudson and dancers from the cast of Grease Live! to entertain guests. Adding a dramatic visual element to the high-profile proceedings were two giant video screens set off by the striking light of over 60 Nexus 4x4 panels from Chauvet Professional.

Lighting designers James Schipper and Rachel Miller of Kinetic Lighting (Los Angeles) worked with scenic designer Anton Goss t

Against Captains Orders: A Journey into the Uncharted (photo: Paul J Cochrane)

White Light immersed in new theatre projects

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Having already worked with a wide variety of different organisations and venues this year, White Light has provided its services on yet another immersive piece of theatre - the world premiere of Heartbreak Hotel at The Jetty, Greenwich. Produced by Managing Mayhem and Zebedee Productions, Heartbreak Hotel opened at The Jetty on 11 June with White Light acting as a production partner.

The show sees The Jetty, which formerly served as a coal-unloading point for Blackwall Point Power Station, transformed into a purpose built structure which allows audience members to check into what is a unique experience.

Prior to the recent popularity of immersive theatre productions, White Light had already established strong working relationships with companies such as Punchdrunk. Their most recent project, the co-production with the National Maritime Museum entitled Aga

JBL's AM5212 and 5215 were specified to define the required coverage patterns

Harman solution for Manchester Met's union building

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Adlib has carried out a sound and lighting installation for Manchester Met Student Union (MMU's) new SU Hall - designing a flexible and integrated Harman Professional solution for a multitude of audio reinforcement duties.

Adlib was awarded the contract for the new £10m MMU SU Building, which is situated adjacent to the Union's Salutation pub, based on their design recommendations, and the relationship that has developed since the company first started supporting MMU with equipment rental and sales.

Overseen by Adlib's Ian Nelson, the design concept is aimed to maximise multiple use of a building involving a bar, multipurpose entertainment space, admin offices, a shop, café and conferencing facilities. The system will cater for student union events, from comedy and club nights though to conferences and exhibitions, and be able to cope with numerous room layou

The Roundabout Theatre Company's production of <I>On The Twentieth Century

RC4Magic on track on Broadway

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - Big musical numbers, whimsical props, flashy dance sequences - all are key parts of any Broadway musical, and the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of On The Twentieth Century delivers all of these. From the moment the show curtain goes up, RC4Magic Series 3 Wireless DMX and Dimming takes centre stage, supporting a Tony award winning show that was also nominated for four Drama Desk Awards, nine Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Drama League Awards.

"Almost every piece of scenery in this show uses wireless dimming, along with several props, most of which have multiple fixtures requiring wireless dimming," says Brian Maiuri, production electrician at the American Airlines Theatre. "And the show's main scenic element is a life-sized train automated on a free spinning turtle that transports the train up and downstage as well as left to right. Th

Pacific views - The Manchester Grand Hyatt

Manchester Grand Hyatt tunes Into Symetrix

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - The Manchester Grand Hyatt is Southern California's largest hotel. Its 125,000sq.ft of flexible ballrooms and breakout rooms remain booked without pause. However, that tight schedule, while a blessing in every other respect, became the principle challenge in an extensive renovation of the hotel's AV system. Due to their ease of programming, cost effectiveness and complete flexibility when expanding via Dante, San Diego-based Audio Associates chose a number of Symetrix SymNet Radius 12x8 open architecture networked DSPs and affordable SymNet xIn 12 and SymNet xOut 12 I/O expanders as the audio heart of Manchester Grand Hyatt's new AV system.

"This is a large, multi-phase project," explained Eric Evans, sales engineer at Audio Associates. "Most of the system is up and running, but as the work expands to other floors and other areas, we will be installing more

Helen Marenghi will support FIX8's existing project managers across all current and future events

FIX8Group appoints project coordinator

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Event technical delivery expert FIX8Group has appointed Helen Marenghi as project coordinator.

Helen's role will be predominantly to support FIX8's existing project managers across all current and future events/projects and other company related work. It will also involve implementing and managing various operational processes and software that will help the company manage its time and equipment more efficiently as the company continues its rapid growth.

Helen brings a wealth of experience to FIX8. Her recent roles have included senior events manager at Cuffe and Taylor Ltd and working on prestigious shows such as the Rod Stewart Tour 2014 and Lytham Proms Festival. She has also worked as assistant video and graphics producer for WorldWide Shows (WWS) on the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Closing and Paralympic Opening Ceremonies and lighting and content viewing room assistant

Claire Gilligan takes on the role of operations manager

Claire Gilligan joins Rigging Team

Details: 14 March 2016

UK - Since its launch in 2010, Rigging Team has gone from strength to strength. To continue to build on this they have appointed Claire Gilligan in the role of operations manager.

Claire has many years technical and administrative experience in the entertainment world and brings a wealth of knowledge to the role. She'll soon have the opportunity to put her logistics skills to good use as the company will shortly move to larger premises.

Director Adam Searle says, "I knew that we needed to expand our team and when the opportunity to work with Claire arose, I took it. She had been recommended to me and her skill set coupled with a friendly personality fitted perfectly with our needs for an operations manager. I am delighted she is joining Rigging Team."

Claire comments, "I'm thrilled and excited to be involved in the next chapter of Rigging Team. Our new premise

The VDO Sceptron is one of the most versatile and touring friendly LED video solutions available

Martin Professional VDO Sceptron 10 now shipping

Details: 14 March 2016

Denmark - Martin Professional has confirmed the shipping of its VDO Sceptron LED video fixture with 10 mm pixel pitch. Martin's VDO Sceptron family is a line of outdoor-rated LED video fixtures for the touring and rental market.

"The feedback we received on the VDO Sceptron has been truly amazing," said Wouter Verlinden, product manager for LED Video, Martin Professional. "It seems people have been waiting for this kind of product, and really appreciate its versatility. It can be used as a lighting fixture or an LED video element, and can be combined into many different looks."

With an extensive range of field-exchangeable optical accessories that offer a wide variety of looks, the VDO Sceptron is one of the most versatile and touring friendly LED Video solutions available. The VDO Sceptron's optical accessories-including diffusers in various shapes and len

The Emotion is a plug and play DMX moving light just like a traditional moving light yet houses an on-board media server

Elation enters digital lighting market with Emotion

Details: 14 March 2016

USA - Elation Professional has launched Emotion, a digital moving light that marks the company's entry into the digital lighting market. A joint project between Elation Professional and High End Systems, the Emotion is a compact yet powerful moving head digital luminaire "that brings to the market the latest in next generation digital lighting technology, pioneered and proven by High End Systems".

The Emotion is a plug and play DMX moving light just like a traditional moving light yet houses an on-board media server. Think of it as a moving light with 100s of digital gobo patterns and animation effects with a projection quality that allows for use in a wide range of professional stage, studio, theatrical, club and event applications.

This moving head digital light houses a built-in content library that includes the entire Elation gobo catalogue with royalty-free digi