Europe/USA - With fellow General Device Type Format (GDTF) founders MA Lighting and Robe Lighting, global design and BIM software provider Vectorworks has revealed several updates to GDTF - the standard for describing the hierarchical and logical structure and controls of any type of controllable device in the lighting and entertainment industry.
The GDTF file format has continued to evolve with input and involvement from manufacturers across the globe and critical feedback from its many adopters, resulting in a newly published update to DIN SPEC 15800:2021.
“Receiving recognition in the form of a published update to DIN SPEC 15800:2021 is a testament to the continued evolution and success of GDTF,” comments Vectorworks CEO, Dr. Biplab Sarkar. “The necessary work

UK - Live music venue, Rock City in Nottingham boosted its house lighting rig for October this year - a busy period including some lively university Freshers Week events - with a rig of 60 Robe moving lights, with extras supplied via rental and production company Zeal.
Rock City’s lead project lighting designer Will Brown explained that with the post Covid re-opening of live shows, they wanted to make a big impression, especially to make up for last year when everything had to be cancelled!
Will designed lighting to cover an array of events, from popular bands to heaving club nights, as people from all over the city celebrated being able to congregate, have fun together and enjoy live music again.
While many bands will bring their own productions and floor packages, historically for crew the venue is famous for band productions loading out while the disco is

Europe - This month sees LED lighting solutions manufacturer Ayrton celebrate its 20th anniversary.
“When Ayrton was created, we didn't know at the time, but we were going to revolutionize the world of lighting with a totally disruptive concept, digital lighting,” says Ayrton founder, Yvan Péard. “Over the past 20 years we have created more than 70 extraordinary digital luminaires that are as innovative as they are effective. We are very proud of our achievements and the way we continue to lead the way, pushing technology and design to the limits. This year we are celebrating 20 years of passion, creation and design; 20 years of working with the world's greatest lighting designers, who have placed their trust in us to make the tools they want to use; 20 years of innovation to bring the wildest projects to life.”
Péard first brought Ayrton to life in 2001, nam
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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 - Spotrack has appointed Apex Technologies as its exclusive North American distributor.
Liam Feeney, CEO of Spotrack, explains: “When you take into account the far-reaching knowledge and experience of the Apex team, it’s easy to understand why we are so excited by the prospect of working with them in the United States. The North American market already has a highly distinguished Spotrack client base, and there is huge demand for our products into other market verticals. We are confident that we have found the perfect partner to help release the full potential of Spotrack for the benefit of the US entertainment production community.”
Bill Morris, general manager at Apex Technologies, adds: “Spotrack has developed some incredible technologies for follow-spot control that we haven’t seen here in the American market. The ability to interface with fixtures an

Europe - A new F-Drive accessory is now available, simplifying installation and vastly increasing compatibility with third-party LED fixtures. The B-Box4 uses the RJ45 output of an F-Drive card to position up to four channels of Molex, terminal, or RJ45 connections at any location in your installation.
With the addition of B-Box, the F-Drive LED power system offers more flexibility to meet each facility’s installation needs. Whether using third-party or ETC-manufactured fixtures, specifiers can simplify the wiring required to connect to the F-Drive unit.
F-Drive is a modular, centralized solution for controlling LED luminaires. With easy access to swappable driver cards and power supplies, all critical components are readily accessible for maintenance and updates. F-Drive is available as an R12 rack-mounted solution or a W1 wall-mounted solution.
A variety o

USA - When The Fennec, Birmingham’s new music venue opened for business, ownership called upon long time audio engineer Michael Panepento, owner of Alabama Music & Audio Supervision, to create and install “an unrivalled sound experience” at the new Parkside District hot spot. Panepento found the solution The Fennec management was looking for with a PA system featuring various loudspeakers, subwoofers and stage monitors from Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW).
The Fennec is a two-story venue, with the main restaurant and event space on the first floor and a dedicated private event space that can be rented out on the second. The design of the building did present some challenges to Panepento that were solved with the combination of products from EAW, including the RSX Series, RS Series, RL Series and VF Series PA components.
“We needed to use point source speakers

UK - Video technology rental company and technical creative production specialists, 80six, recently hosted a series of virtual production Discovery Days at its new virtual production studio facility in Slough.
The events were staged in response to the growing appetite for information about virtual production technology and techniques, and allowed those in attendance to gain insights into the world of virtual production. Directors of photography, film and TV producers, cinematographers, and representatives of production and post production houses, all took advantage of the opportunity to explore the workflow and real-time technologies required to power both live and on-set productions.
3LR Lighting Ltd, representative for international manufacturers of architectural, film, entertainment and broadcast lighting and control, was an event partner, alongside ROE Visual, Brom
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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.

Romania - A Kinesys Apex automation system with new Kinesys Vector control console was used to create kinetic effects created with six 7m diameter motion-controlled trussing circles each rigged with 10 moving lights above the audience of the Galaxy Stage at the 2021 Untold Festival staged in the BT Arena venue at Cluj-Napoca.
The Kinesys system and services were supplied by Denmark-based automation specialist Motor Stage Automation to ABT Motion Rigs, with the system design and specification developed by Adrian Visenoiu, rigging manager for six of the seven stages at this years’ event, and Motor Stage Automation’s Blake McNally.
The Galaxy Stage presented a strong line-up of techno talent - Charlotte de Witte, Paul Kalkbrenner, Nina Kravitz, Amelie Lens, Tale of Us, Seth Troxler, and many, more over the three days.
The initial Galaxy stage design with a big

Austria - Located close to The Graben, one of Vienna’s most famous streets, renowned architect Matteo Thun created the design and atmosphere of Bar Campari, Campari Austria’s flagship location. An Alcons Audio pro-ribbon system delivers the audio.
Bar Campari is owned by Peter Friese, of Vienna’s Zum Schwarzen Kameel (The Black Camel), one of the city’s highest profile restaurants.
The owners contacted Wolfgang Sauter, founder of Vienna-based systems integrator Pro Performance, with a brief for an audio system that had to deliver quality sound, performance and reliability. It also had to blend in with Bar Campari’s décor, which is based on the lively aesthetics of Italian cafés and the graphics designed by futurist artist Fortunato Depero for Campari in the first half of the 20th century.
As well as sound quality, containment was also important, as t

USA - Lighting designer Jeff Croiter and set designer Beowulf Boritt engendered the connection between actors and audience in their work for the current (and fourth) iteration of Freestyle Love Supreme at Broadway’s Booth Theatre by creating an immersive atmosphere that enveloped both the stage and the venue itself.
“We want to have a club-like look and feel throughout the theatre as the audience enters,” said Croiter, who was also responsible for lighting the three previous productions of the show. “At times throughout the show, it’s important to be able to have a connection between the audience and stage.”
Helping Croiter accomplish this is a collection of Chauvet Professional COLORado 1 Solo and COLORado 2 Solo fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment. The RGBW washes connect to the audience, the moment people begin to enter the theatre.
Dra

Europe - ETC’s Eos Family of lighting controllers is known for providing comprehensive, finely tuned control for lighting rigs of all sizes. Now, with the release of Eos v3.1 – the latest major software update for the platform – that control becomes even more customisable to suit any programming style or show. Eos v3.1 is all about you, with new tools that help you set up your workspaces – programming, 3D-visualized, and physical – just the way you want them, says ETC.
In a fast-paced show environment, you need quick access to all your content. In Eos v3.1, Custom Direct Selects now support thousands of custom target lists, which you can populate with channels, groups, palettes, scenes, and more – along with new navigation tools to help you page quickly between them. A new icon library lets you add images to both Direct Selects and Magic Sheets so that you can id

Spain - Pixotope has appointed Sergio Cardenas as their regional sales manager for Southern Europe.
A specialist in real-time graphics, virtual studios, and virtual reality solutions, Sergio’s previous experience includes roles at companies such as Orad Hi-Tech Systems and Avid Technology.
Sergio comments, “Pixotope’s ground-breaking mixed reality and virtual production solutions are leading the market, and I’m really excited to help drive this moment of growth. I’ve been following their technology for a while now and look forward to being part of a team that is pioneering virtual production, providing broadcasters with the tools needed to deliver the most demanding live productions in the world.”
This new hire aligns with Pixotope’s growth plans for 2022, which include a number of projects in Southern Europe.

UK - Last month, Sonosphere started the next chapter in its journey to bring all areas of immersive audio to the live, studio and broadcast markets by completing a management buyout which sees existing director, Jamie Gosney, joined by Duncan Bell, a familiar name in the audio industry.
Sonosphere’s mission has always been to make immersive audio accessible to the industry at large. Over the past 18 months it has been part of the 5G Festival (part of the DCMS 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme (5GTT). This project aims to utilise the 5G network to revolutionise the live music industry, creating new commercial opportunities for arts and entertainment, and giving artists and audiences new ways to interact with each other.
“I became a shareholder and director of Sonosphere last year and I could see the huge potential the company had,” says Gosney. “When the opportun

USA - Lectrosonics has announced that their Wireless Designer frequency coordination and RF system management software for Mac or PC is now updated for use with the DCR822 dual-channel portable digital receiver.
This will allow DCR822 users to monitor all channels in operation, change settings, initiate infrared data transfers, manage frequency groups, scan the local RF spectrum, and calculate system operating frequencies using the Frequency Coordination Engine. Wireless Designer Versions 2.0.30 for macOS and 2.0.34 for Windows are now available with these features for the 822.
The DCR822 receiver offers a versatile feature set in a compact, dual-channel design for field and location production. This receiver is compatible with Lectrosonics mono and stereo digital transmitters and is backward compatible with Digital Hybrid Wireless transmitters.
The unit tunes ac

USA - The new IP65 rated COLORado PXL Bar 16 and COLORado PXL Bar 8 from Chauvet Professional deliver a wide range of performance features, such as seamless pixel pitch between fixtures and fast, smooth motorized tilts up to 200ﹾ whether used indoors or out.
“We developed this fixture in response to customers who wanted a motorized IP65 rated batten that could be used outdoors at remote broadcast sites, festivals, and amphitheaters, as well as at indoor applications,” said Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. “This versatility translates into a faster ROI for our customers.”
The COLORado PXL Bar16 has features that will expand creative possibilities for lighting designers, such as its 60ﹾ, 180ﹾ and 200ﹾ motorized tilt range options. Other examples are the 5.8ﹾ to 48.8ﹾ zoom range of its 16 45-watt RGBW LEDs, and its two zones of control for pulsing effe

USA - A Martin Audio MLA Compact loudspeaker array system was chosen by partners, North Carolina-based RMB Audio, when locally based Duke University’s Spring and Fall 2020 graduation was postponed until a time of greater health safety. That time was determined to be 26 September 2021 - when undergraduates, graduates and professional school class members (and their families) were invited to participate in the delayed celebration.
The stage was set up with the imposing Duke Chapel - an English Gothic 210ft-tall structure in the centre of campus - as the backdrop. Student seating started downstage and extended back 300 ft. Large trees, with low branches 13ft above the ground, occupied the corners of the audience seating, making it necessary to project sound in a slice to pass beneath the foliage to focus on the audience. “MLA Compact is capable of providing focused sound to

Germany - In September, the International Motor Show (IAA), the world's largest trade show for passenger cars, took place for the first time in Munich as a new concept, IAA Mobility, focused on future-oriented mobility. TLD Planungsgruppe was responsible for the lighting design, among other things, for the Mercedes-Benz presence and chose Elation KL series luminaires as the lighting solution.
The Mercedes-Benz stand was an impressively staged space spread across 3,000sq.m with a total of eight vehicle premieres and the auto manufacturer's electromobility portfolio presented to the specialist audience. "With the new IAA mobility concept at the Munich location, the focus was on solutions on the way to climate neutrality, which also included implementing the manufacturer's presence as sustainably as possible," reports project manager and lighting designer Alexander Orkisch from

USA - To complement the immersive video content featured on Porter Robinson’s Nurture Live Tour, Ben Coker designed and programmed a sophisticated lighting rig featuring Martin Professional MAC Ultra Performance and MAC Aura PXL fixtures controlled by a P3-50 system controller, all provided by Christie Lites.
Porter Robinson is an electronic musician and DJ who was nominated for the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, named MTVu’s Artist of the Year in 2015 and listed among DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs for seven consecutive years. After releasing his second album Nurture in April 2021, Robinson embarked on a nationwide tour with stops in 22 states.
Featuring multiple video walls and a video floor displaying synchronized visual content ranging from abstract animated sequences to picturesque nature scenes, the Nurture Live Tour required a lighting rig to com

Spain - Artists touring to Spain will no longer need visas for short-term engagements in a dramatic change to the current onerous rules. The change follows months of work from LIVE and the Association for British Orchestras (ABO), working alongside Spanish counterparts Asociación Promotores Musicales.
The development represents a significant boost for the sector which has, as a result of Brexit and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, seen European touring become more expensive, more complicated, and more difficult to execute.
Visas have been a significant issue for Spain which, despite representing the fifth largest live music market in the world, posed the most costly and complicated visa application process across the bloc for artists looking to travel for short-term work.
Until now, artists and their promoters have had to make applications for short-term vi

USA - Strand has announced new capabilities for the Vision.Net Gateway that offer DMX connectivity as well as RDM management and dynamic DMX snapshotting without needing a separate lighting console.
“As LED architectural lighting has become more advanced and architectural luminaires with DMX and RDM have become available, the integration of these fixtures and the entertainment lighting system has become more common and more complex,” explains Jon Hole, global product manager, Strand and Zero 88 Controls and Systems at Signify.
“That’s why we are introducing the Strand Vision.Net 4-Port DMX Interface Gateway Module, an expansion module for the Vision.Net Gateway that allows users to control DMX/RDM luminaires from Vision.Net. We’re also adding basic RDM management into the Vision.Net Gateway as well as dynamic snapshotting that brings more movement and textur

USA - Reaffirming its support for the industry and confidence in its future, Chauvet Professional has announced its plans for a high-profile presence at LDI. The company’s stand (2041) has been designed around the theme Depends on Your Perspective LIGHT and will be showcasing IP65-rated and broadcast lighting fixtures.
Featured in this collection of innovations will be the new Maverick Force series of moving fixtures; the Color STRIKE M, an IP65 rated strobe/wash with two white light tubes surrounded by a colour-mixing, pixel-mappable face; and the onAir IP soft light panels, which recently made their debut on the TBS network’s broadcast of the National League Championship Series.
In addition to its product introductions, Chauvet Professional will be hosting educational sessions on Friday and Saturday betw

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