USA - Darkroom Creative, a fusion of ideas and production design from lighting and visual experts Seth Jackson and Nathan Alves, combined history, nostalgia, and reinvention in a blind pitch for the lighting and production design of the Doobie Brothers 50th Anniversary tour, which they won.
The tour was originally scheduled for 2020, was halted amid the initial pandemic shutdowns, and is now back on the road across North America.
The lighting design includes 92 Robe Spikie moving lights which play a key role in shaping the show’s aesthetic, which takes inspiration from a collage of classic stage lighting design gems emanating from the 1970s and 1980s, when the industry we know today was in its infancy.
Stylistically reminiscent of that era, there are no ca

UK - The last footsteps of the 101-mile fundraising mission known as A Light Walk were taken on Friday (24 September) as the five-day odyssey from The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford upon Avon to the National Theatre on London’s South Bank drew to a halt. The team behind A Light Walk, which includes Chauvet’s Sam Bowden and ALPD Lumiere working group members, Charlotte Burton and Tamykha Patterson, were quick to point out, however, that although the walk is complete, the fundraising continues.
The epic hike was undertaken to highlight the vital work of, as well as raise money for the ALPD Lumiere Scheme and industry charity Backup.
Whilst Bowden was the only wayfarer along the planned physical route, others walked an equal distance remotely. Remote walkers were ei

Singapore - BroaMan MUX22 fibre multiplexer and Repeat 48 3G/HD/SD-SDI Video/MADI fibre extender were provided by Total Solution Marketing (TSM), along with full-service support, for the recent Singapore National Day celebrations. The event this year was rescheduled by the Government from its traditional 9 August date to 21 August due to the increase in COVID-19 cases.
These interfaces were deployed by The Show Company Pte, the appointed vendor of the multimedia committee for this year’s National Day Parade. The fibre-based solutions were used between transmitters and receivers, across distances averaging 250m - over LC multimode fibre to three different camera locations.
This enabled all data to be transported over a single duplex fibre, thus reducing the number of the cables otherwise necessary over long distances. At the same time, it ensured extremely low latency
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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

India - Harman is taking strict legal action against manufacturers and distributors involved in producing and selling of counterfeit JBL products in India.
During a recent raid, Harman’s investigation team along with law enforcement officers, seized stocks of ‘spurious’ JBL consumer products from two mobile and accessories wholesalers in the city of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Similar raids were conducted in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal, where the team confiscated counterfeit JBL Professional speakers and other brand accessories from manufacturing units.
Harman has taken appropriate criminal action against these offenders and says it intends to continue such investigations to curb the manufacturing and selling of counterfeit products across India.
“Over the last 75 years, JBL’s range of consumer and professional products have earned consumer trust a

UK - The National Lottery’s Team GB Homecoming, staged at the SSE Arena, Wembley in August, saw Britain’s Olympic athletes honoured by some of the biggest names in music and entertainment during two hours of storytelling, live performances, and big screen content from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
With production led by Global Touring Office, the star-studded line up saw Rag’n’Bone Man (otherwise known as Rory Graham) open and close the event with a powerful audio control package supplied by Brit Row.
“I think any show post-pandemic has a certain electric feel about it, but this one was another level,” comments Rag’n’Bone Man’s FOH engineer, Rob Sadler. “To be part of the show welcoming back Team GB is a high accolade in anyone’s books, and the pre-show ambient noise of the crowd in the arena was welcoming to say the least.”
Rag'n'Bone Man

Italy - Prolights has made available nearly 200 Vectorworks symbols for most of its lighting fixtures, clamps and accessories, and will keep supporting the library development.
Sister company Protruss has also released a separate 3D library with over 650 symbols, including truss and rigging objects. The Protruss symbols include all the properties of objects required from Braceworks (a Vectorworks plugin) to run static calculation and loading reports.
“The recently added library represents an important asset to the entire LD community,” says Fabio Sorabella, managing director at Prolights. “Not only that but the announced file compatibility among Vectorworks, GDTF and MVR, and Unreal Engine really benefits designers and system engineers, innovating a new multi-platform workflow from parametric design to show pre-visualisation and presentation.”
The files c

UK - Architectural LED lighting specialist Anolis showcased its Ambiane range of interior lighting products at the 2021 PLASA Show at London’s Olympia Grand Hall, the first in-person UK industry trade show since pandemic restrictions were lifted.
The Anolis team was especially interested in meeting theatre consultants, venue managers and specifiers working in different types of auditoria.
“After long periods of lockdown and no tradeshows, PLASA Show in London was the perfect platform to reconnect, attracting a targeted visitor base which gave the team the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations with relevant buyers across the sector,” says the company.
Anolis used the occasion to highlight the indoor Ambiane range which is available in RGBW and CCT versions with multiple beam angles - suitable for FOH, back-of-house and any public space illumina
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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.

USA - Elation’s Proteus line of IP65-rated automated lighting has enjoyed worldwide success, with over 10,000 units now in the market. Three new Proteus products set for release this autumn.
“We’ve put years of extensive R&D work, market research and planning into developing this award-winning product line and are extremely proud that it has become the most specified line of IP65 automated lighting on the market,” states Eric Loader, Elation director of sales & marketing. “Our goal from the beginning was to give creative designers the freedom to design any project just the way they see fit regardless of weather or other factors and we delight every time we see them on a show or event.”
Set for release in November are the Proteus Excalibur, Proteus Rayzor Edge and Proteus Rayzor Blade.
The Proteus Excalibur is a long throw beam moving head with

Italy - Outline has launched its Architectural Series, a range of loudspeakers designed specifically to ‘enable integrators to meet the aesthetic and performance demands of architects, interior designers and clients who want the ultimate in discreet, high-performance audio systems’.
Comprising four loudspeakers (the Ai41 and Ai81 ultra-compact columns, the Charlie 4 cube and the dedicated AS6 micro-sub) plus a complementary selection of mounting accessories, the primary focus of the new range is on premium sound quality.
Despite their diminutive size, each of the mid-high modules delivers balanced audio, whether from playback or ‘live’, while the AS6 dedicated subwoofer provides low-frequency reinforcement ‘that totally belies its dimensions’. All four also produce maximum SPLs far in advance of what one might reasonably expect from such a design.

USA - The Sing! Global 2021 Getty Music Worship Conference this year took place at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena from 13-15 September. The event, hosted by Christian music power duo Keith and Kristyn Getty, perhaps best known as the writers/singers of In Christ Alone, brought together worship leaders, music directors, composers and others in the worship-production sector for four days of workshops, panels, and music.
For the fourth year in a row, Brentwood-based integrator CTS AVL was the audio and lighting systems provider for the event. However, this year, the company also took on the conference’s broadcast and audio-recording tasks. That called for a more comprehensive approach to infrastructure, for which CTS AVL constructed an all-DiGiCo architecture, consisting of three SD5 consoles for front of house, monitors and broadcast, and an SD12 96 desk for producti

UK - The newly launched Strand Electric Pattern 23M lantern from Pacific Lighting (HK) is a 1/3 scale replica of the original Strand Patt 23 Mk1 designed by aircraft designer, Morgan McLeod.
The fully working model has a 3W 3000K LED source and is available with a choice of telescopic stand, swivel arm wall bracket or ceiling/floor plate. The lantern can be connected to a USB phone power supply or computer, and the beam angle can be altered by moving the lens back and forward.
Hugh Chinnick, director of Pacific Lighting has spent several years researching and developing the Patt 23M (‘M’ stands for Mini) to perfect every detail of appearance and performance.
“For more than 20 years it has been my dream to produce a scale model of the Patt 23, one of the most iconic lanterns in British theatre lighting history,” he says.
“It has taken over four y

Austria - Austrian Audio has announced the first of a new line of instrumental microphones for use in the studio and on stage: the CC8. Integral to this new small diaphragm microphone is Austrian Audio’s OCC7 condenser capsule. Inspired by the CK1, this newly developed capsule ‘delivers all the benefits of that classic design updated to meet the demands of today’.
The capsule’s three-micron-thick gold-coated polyethylene napthalate (PEN) diaphragm is much more robust than conventional mylar alternatives, says the company. The OCC7’s filter fabric guarantees a constant broadband cancellation, resulting in outstanding cardioid characteristics with exceptional attenuation of sound coming from the sides and rear.
The CC8 can handle high sound pressure levels of up to 156 dB SPL without distorting.
Thanks to the built-in switchable attenuation of 0 dB, -10

Germany - With a capacity of 2,500 seats, the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden is considered Germany's largest opera and concert house. However, the huge concert hall is acoustically challenging. A recently installed Alcons QR24 pro-ribbon column speaker system is reliably mastering these challenges.
The project to replace the ageing sound reinforcement system of the Festspielhaus had been underway since 2017. The German-based theatre consultancy Walter Kottke Ingenieure GmbH were commissioned to do the job. The specialist in charge, Joachim Lindemann, reports: "The system was not only outdated, but also yielded rather sub-optimal results.
“Due to its size and wall surfaces, the hall creates a reverberation of more than two seconds. Great for concert performances but very problematic for sound reinforcement of any kind. The more sound energy you release into the room, t

USA - To create exciting, immersive visuals that highlighted Red Rocks Amphitheatre’s unique layout during the String Cheese Incident’s multi-night run, PHNTM Labs deployed a lighting rig featuring Martin Professional lighting fixtures, provided by Brown Note Productions.
Colorado-based jam band The String Cheese Incident returned to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre for the 45th time this past July to kick off their 2021 tour, marking the first full-capacity events at the venue in over a year.
Red Rocks’ geological architecture and storied history make performing there a major career milestone for many artists, with performers from The Beatles to Vulfpeck gracing the stage over the past 80 years. Because the venue’s steep seating arrangement means a majority of the audience is seated above the stage roof, Red Rocks has historically posed a challenge to lighting desi

UK - England’s Enlightened Lighting sparked up its stock of VL10 Beamwash and VL2600 Series luminaires from Vari-Lite for the Bath Festival Finale Weekend in August. One of the first major music festivals to take place in the UK after the pandemic lockdown, it saw favourites McFly, Scouting for Girls and Gabrielle perform alongside a host of big-name bands.
For Dave Thorpe of Enlightened this was the first time their newly purchased VL2600 Profile and Wash fixtures and VL10s had graced the stage of a busy festival. Therefore, he was keen to see how they performed and gauge the response from both festival lighting designer Nic Ayres and McFly’s visiting lighting designer, Chris Yeomans.
“It was a delight to use the VL2600 Wash and Profile fixtures and the VL10 Beamwash luminaires on this production,” says Ayres. “The colours are great - and although the fixtur

Germany - On 9 September, Gentleman was the star guest at the Strandkorb Open Air series of concerts at Berlin’s Hoppegarten venue. The reggae artist from Cologne and his band delighted around 2,000 fans who watched from the comfort of 1,000 two-seat beach chairs at the historic racecourse.
Wired and wireless microphones and IEM solutions from the Sennheiser portfolio are ubiquitous at concerts by Gentleman and his band. And by forming the first links in the audio signal chain, they play a key role in ensuring the live sound quality.
For his performances, lead vocalist Gentleman, aka Tilmann Otto, uses a Sennheiser SKM 6000 handheld transmitter fitted with an MM 435 microphone head.
At the Gentleman concert at Berlin’s Hoppegarten, a 19” rack was located directly next to the monitoring console set up at the side of the stage. The rack contained two Sennhe

USA - Tom Kenny wowed the crowd and cameras at the iHeart Radio Music Festival at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in mid-September with a big, but artfully balanced, lightshow that featured 124 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK3 Wash fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment.
Produced by Diversified Production Services, C2W, Firehouse Productions, All Access Staging & Productions, Inc., and Atomic, The iHeart Radio Music Festival is “a real hybrid,” notes Kenny. “It’s really a big TV special,” he said of the show, which was broadcast on the CW Network. “All the experienced LDs and creatives understand that this is not a festival in the usual sense of the word. It’s a huge party being filmed and aired for the enjoyment of millions of fans.”
With this in mind, Kenny used copious amounts of lighting, along with video elements to create an ebullient, fest

Denmark - Coinciding with Denmark’s ‘Freedom Day’ - the lifting of all the current coronavirus restrictions - in September, an innovative and popular production of Jesus Christ Superstar featuring the Danish Chamber Orchestra (Danmarks Underholdningsorkester) conducted by Andreas Vetö was staged at Copenhagen’s Royal Arena, complete with a spectacular lighting and stage design by Sune Verdier.
This version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘rock opera’ embraced the production genres of theatre and rock ‘n’ roll in staging and lighting.
The lighting included an all Robe moving light rig comprising nearly 150 luminaires - supplied together with audio equipment by Copenhagen-based European Tour Production (ETP).
Imposing three-tiered scaffolding decks accommodated the orchestra, while a 30m long 3m wide runway extended across the arena floor whic

UK - #WeMakeEvents, the campaign to amplify the voice of the live events supply chain, has now raised over half a million British pounds through fundraising efforts over the last 18 months, supporting charities which have helped industry professionals through the pandemic.
The milestone was reached during PLASA Show 2021, where #WeMakeEvents hosted a dedicated hub to promote wellbeing and mental health throughout the live sector which featured several industry charities and initiatives and welcomed a steady stream of visitors.
80% of the funds raised have gone directly to Backup, the campaign's chosen industry which supports professionals throughout the technical entertainment industry in times of ill health or financial need. In turn, Backup funnels vital funds to Acting For Others, Music Support, Stage Hand and Make It Blue UK, each one providing specially designed se

USA - Christie and the University of Waterloo’s Vision and Image Processing Lab are celebrating a new milestone – the development and productisation of the patented algorithm that drives the resolution enhancement of the new Christie M 4K25 RGB pure laser projector. This is the latest success between the institution and Christie, which together recently wrapped up a third, two-year research project.
The collaboration between the Vision and Image Processing Lab at the University of Waterloo and Christie began in 2013.
“Years ago, we wrote out a set of problems we’d like help with,” says Mark Lamm, senior product developer, advanced research and collaboration, Christie. “The group at the University of Waterloo works on vision and camera research, and more recently, machine learning. It was a match – we had problems and they had interest.”
Waterloo a

USA - Car dealership Porsche Austin’s top floor window display features 10 Porsche cars highlighted using SEVEN Batten 72 linear lights from Elation Professional.
Eric Bernstein of Intelligent Lighting Services (ILS) of Austin has worked with the dealership’s ownership group for about 20 years. On this latest project, he worked with Kirk Franceschini, managing partner at Hi Tech Motorcars (Porsche Austin Group), who was tasked with implementing a lighting system that would attract attention to the new dealership. The idea was to line 10 Porsche cars along a sixth-floor display window and illuminate them in high-quality lighting so they couldn’t be missed by the myriads of people who drive by the dealership each day.
Bernstein designed the sixth-floor look and specified 20 Elation SEVEN Batten 72 fixtures, 6ft colour-changing LED battens with 7-color multi-chip

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