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Robe iSpiiders for Big Brother South Africa

The series was recorded at the Red Pepper Studios in Linden, Johannesburg (photo: Louise Stickland)

Details: 02 August 2022

South Africa - Blond Productions supplies technical production for a slew of popular reality TV shows which have included several iterations of Big Brother over the years. There was much anticipation this year when the South African version – Big Brother Mzansi – returned for the first time since 2016 produced by Red Pepper and broadcast on Mzansi Magic.
Blond’s Ryan Lombard (head of the show lighting department) designed and operated the lighting, working closely with a new set design created by Michael Gill, and several of his go-to Robe moving lights including Esprites, LEDWash 300s and six of Blond Productions’ new iSpiiders.
Blond made this initial purchase of 12 x iSpiiders for I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here (Germany) which w

ARRI received an Engineering Emmy for its SkyPanel family of LED softlights in 2021

Television Academy honours ARRI with Emmy

Details: 01 August 2022

USA - For ARRI’s contributions to the industry, the company will receive the Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award at the 74th Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards.
ARRI receives the award for its more than a century of designing and manufacturing camera and lighting systems as well as its development of systemic technological solutions and service networks for a worldwide complex of film, broadcast, and media industries.
Named after Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of the first fully working all-electronic television system and receiver, the Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award is a non-competitive award presented by the Television Academy as part of the Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards. Since 2003, this prestigious accolade has honoured “an agency, company, or institution whose contributions over time have signific

The tour represented a welcome opportunity to roll out some big, bold looks (photo: JP/Sharyn Angers)

Chauvet supports Jason Aldean summer tour

Details: 01 August 2022

USA - “I’m ready to get back out and feel the nights come alive,” Jason Aldean said when announcing this summer’s 34-city Rock N’ Roll Cowboy tour. The country music superstar’s lighting designer, Keith Hoagland, knew just how he felt. After two years of contending with COVID lockdowns and restrictions, both were ready to spread their creative wings and fly.
From Hoagland’s perspective, the tour represented a welcome opportunity to roll out some big, bold looks with new tools, such as the Chauvet Professional Color STRIKE M motorised strobe/wash and STRIKE Array, which like the rest of the lighting rig, were supplied by Bandit Lites.
“We really wanted to come at this tour from a new direction,” said Hoagland of CKP Lighting. “The Luz Studio team did a great job developing this scenic concept mainly driven by video. Manager Chris Parr, project manage

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.

Balaton Sound 2022 (photo: Louise Stickland)

Robe makes Colossal impact at Balaton Sound

Details: 01 August 2022

Hungary - The infectious beats of EDM music fused with the vibrance of festival culture returned to the picturesque shores of Lake Balaton at Zamárdi (AKA The Hungarian Sea) with the 2022 Balaton Sound event which was completely sold out. An impressive line-up included Martin Garrix, Alesso, Marshmello, Sven Väth and many more international artists performing across multiple stages.
Robe moving lights had a big presence on the main stage with over 200 fixtures in a high impact production design created by LD Mark Kontra and delivered by Budapest-based rental company, Colossal LTD.
Apart from the Main Stage, there was even more of a Robe buzz on site this year as the brand’s own Show Truck rocked up – fresh from a four-date tour in Switzerland – and became an integral part of the backstage village. The Show Truck’s tent extension provided a hub for the media

Chauvet launches Maverick Storm series

Details: 01 August 2022

USA - Chauvet has announced a new generation of IP65 rated moving heads: the Maverick Storm 2 BeamWash, Maverick Storm 4 Profile and Maverick Storm 2 Profile. Maverick Storm 2 BeamWash is the first available, and its intensely bright and versatility makes it ‘powerful enough to excel at even the largest stadium and amphitheatre applications’.
“Our company has been increasing our commitment to developing IP65 solutions that stand out for being way more than weatherproof, including our Maverick Storm series,” said Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. “With the class-leading weight and versatility of the new Maverick Storm 2 BeamWash we’ve taken this category to the next level.”
In addition to its bright output of close to 10,000 lumens, the new fixture, which features 19 50-watt RGBW LEDs in its centre pixel array, and an outer ring of 0.2-watt RGB LEDs, offers

LTM names Robert Price general manager

Details: 01 August 2022

UK - Lift Turn Move (LTM) has promoted Robert Price to general manager of the Wirral-based supplier of lifting and rigging equipment to the industrial and entertainment markets.
Price, previously head of sales, will lead ongoing growth of the business, following the 2018 acquisition by GIS AG, the Swiss electric chain hoist and light crane manufacturer. LTM distributes the full range of GIS hoists, control systems, material handling equipment and components. The company will name a replacement head of sales, who will join a team of 12 employees, in due course.
Price, who has been at the company since 2019, is continuing a second spell at LTM, having originally joined in 2011 and leaving three years later to explore other opportunities. An experienced industry professional, Price started out at Pfaff-Silberblau in 1998, where he sold GIS hoists so his association with G

These shops add vlocal industry expertise, plus well serviced inventory, to Christie Lites’ network across the USA, Canada, and UK

Christie Lites opens Seattle and Nashville shops

Details: 01 August 2022

USA - Christie Lites has announced the opening of new strategic locations in Seattle and Nashville, USA. These shops add valuable local industry expertise, plus a diverse and well serviced inventory, to Christie Lites’ existing network across the USA, Canada, and the UK.
Christie Lites CEO, Huntly Christie, says: “No one can deny that it has been a tough couple of years for the entertainment industry. Almost every business in the sector has had to make some very painful tactical decisions to survive, including Christie Lites. However, I am delighted to say that 2022 is seeing a phenomenal upturn in productivity, prompting us to add these two strategic new locations. Nashville is an epicentre for the music industry and the Seattle shop will bolster Christie Lites’ support for the Pacific Northwest and demonstrate a commitment to key local clients.
“Seattle and N

BikeFest Spain 2025 - Join the ride!

BikeFest Spain is set to return for its fourth consecutive year, inviting cyclists from across the industry to join the 360km ride towards ISE in Barcelona. From 31 January to 2 February 2025, riders will again rally in Valencia, cycling along the Mediterranean coast in support of industry causes.
For more information and to sign up, visit: www.joinbikefest.com

The system was successfully tested in September 2021 at the Palace’s opening event

L-Acoustics gives versatility to Konopacki Palace

Details: 01 August 2022

Poland - Erected in the 19th century at the request of Ksawery Konopacki, the Konopacki Palace is located on Strzelecka Street in the heart of Warsaw's bohemian Praga district, known as Nowa Praga (New Praga).
After major reconstruction works on this Neo-Renaissance style building, the Konopacki Palace finally re-opened its doors as the second home of Praga Cultural Centre in September last year. It offers its auditorium, gallery and outdoor terrace for various functions including music concerts, art and an open-air cinema. Such versatility of events required an equally flexible sound system, with L-Acoustics Polish distributor, Audio Plus, delivering Syva, X Series and A Series systems to one of Warsaw’s newest cultural sites.
The diverse genre of events at the Konopacki Palace required a tailored sound system that would keep up with the ever-changing roster of ent

VGD Project CEO Igor Verkholat and marketing manager Natalia Petrukhina

Ayrton appoints VGD Project distributor for Latvia and Estonia

Details: 01 August 2022

Latvia - Ayrton has announced VGD Project SIA of Riga, Latvia as its newest distributor. With immediate effect, VGD Project will exclusively represent Ayrton in Latvia and Estonia.
VDG Project was founded in 2013 as the certified provider distributor and training centre for L-Acoustics in Baltic States where it is responsible for the territories of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Uzbekistan.
The company then looked to extend its offering to include professional lighting and turned to Ayrton’s comprehensive product line to fulfil this promise: “Our goal is to represent only one manufacturer in each market segment,” explains VGD Project’s CEO, Igor Verkholat. “In this way we can be sure to supply a complete service for both the pro-audio and pro-lighting markets, and Ayrton fits into our philosophy very well.”

Il Volo at Montreal’s Teatro Leonardo DaVinci

Chauvet lights Il Volo private show

Details: 29 July 2022

Canada - Gil Perron lit a special, private show by the award-winning Italian trio Il Volo at Montreal’s Teatro Leonardo DaVinci. Although rigging was a lot easier at this beautiful facility, the design team had to be much more mindful of load capacity.
This was “sort of a big deal” for Perron, given his penchant for grouping fixtures in clusters to create unique multi-directional light angles. “It’s kind of my thing; I like clumping fixtures in groups of three and then layering them vertically and horizontally,” he said. “This is tougher on a fly system than on truss, but it’s well worth the effort. Doing this, I can use colour theory to create either triadic or analogic colour complementariness.
“Working with another proponent of colour theory, our programmer/operator Guy Laflamme, made this a lot of fun - you pick the primary and then, as if by magi

Ricky Martin’s monitor engineer, César Benítez, seated at his DiGiCo Quantum5 console

KLANG:konductor offers options for Ricky Martin

Details: 29 July 2022

USA - Last year, César Benítez Seilhamer became a fan of KLANG’s approach to immersive in-ear monitor mixing on a co-headlining tour with Latino superstars Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, using a DMI-KLANG card mounted into one of the slots on the back panel of his DiGiCo Quantum5 console.
And the shows keep getting bigger - Martin is doing a series of one-off orchestral dates this year, including two recent nights at the Hollywood Bowl with the 100-plus-member Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in July - but Benítez has a new way to keep up with that, as well as giving the artists and musicians the most effective sonic environments possible on stage.
His solution is the new KLANG:konductor immersive in-ear mixing processor. Able to deliver 16 immersive mixes and process 128 input signals at up to 96kHz at an astonishing internal latency of less than 0.25ms, th

After another successful edition of ParkCity Live, the organisers have already set the dates for 2023

Infinity fixtures light ParkCity Live main stage

Details: 29 July 2022

The Netherlands - Heerlen hosted the 10th edition of ParkCity Live on 16 and 17 July 2022. Headliners on the main stage on Saturday night were BLØF and Limburg legends Rowwen Héze, while Sunday night ended with performances from Danny Vera, Anouk and renowned Dutch DJ duo Lucas & Steve. The main stage featured lighting provided by Ampco Flashlight Group, while spectacular lighting effects for the tented dance area were provided by SLF Group.
ParkCity Live is an event that's gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2010 and this edition welcomed around 35,000 festival goers over the course of two days.
For the main stage, 24 iFX-640 effect moving heads by Infinity were used. These versatile light fixtures ensured that the main stage was illuminated with an ever-changing variety of colourful light effects.
For the tented dance area, SLF Group us

Frameless opens on 7 October 2022 and tickets are on sale now

Panasonic backs Frameless immersive experience

Details: 29 July 2022

UK - London's first permanent digital immersive arts experience, Frameless, will be opening in October in the heart of London’s West End. Frameless has partnered with projection technology provider, Panasonic, who will use the venue as their global flagship showcasing their projection technologies and large format displays. Creative Technology, have also been brought on board to deliver integration services for all video systems across the attraction.
Using over 50 of Panasonic’s 3-Chip DLP laser projectors, the art projections inside the attraction will be delivered by 479m pixels and 1m lumens of brightness and colour, to give ‘a truly stunning image’ quality across all four immersive galleries as well as a fifth gallery dedicated to corporate and educational events.
A second layer of audio immersion is achieved by 360-degree surround sound played over 158 l

Howard Page (left) and Austrian Audio CEO Martin Seidl

Sting performs in Eisenstadt with Austrian Audio

Details: 29 July 2022

Austria - Sting visited Eisenstadt during his My Songs Tour and performed on 15 July in the grounds of the Esterházy Palace Park in Vienna. With him on tour were Austrian Audio mics. Since all Austrian Audio mics are hand-made in Vienna, it’s an actual homecoming for the OD505, CC8 & OC818 mics, used on backing vocals and guitar amps.
Sting: My Songs is a special performance featuring the 17-time Grammy Award winner's best-loved songs, like Englishman in New York, Fields Of Gold, Every Breath You Take, Roxanne and Message In A Bottle and many more. Sting performs live, accompanied by an electric rock ensemble consisting of: Dominic Miller (guitar), Zack Jones (drums), Rufus Miller (guitar), Sting (bass), Kevon Webster (keyboards), Shane Sager (harmonica) with Melissa Musique and Gene Noble (backing vocals).
Sting’s FOH engine

Basel Train Station is a primary hub for travel throughout Europe

R-H delivers clarity to Basel Train Station

Details: 29 July 2022

Europe - Located at the intersection of France, Germany and Switzerland, the Basel Train Station (Basel SBB) in Basel, Switzerland is a primary hub for travel throughout Europe and is often regarded as Europe’s busiest international train station. With high background and travel noise compounded with highly reflective ceiling and walls, announcements were hard to understand, resulting in traveller confusion, missed trains and unnecessary congestion throughout the station. To combat the acoustic challenges Basel SBB faced, Renkus-Heinz Iconyx Compact loudspeakers were installed to aid in delivering intelligible announcements for passengers and staff.
Travellers are inundated with a wide range of sights and sounds as they pass through any busy transportation hub: arrival, boarding and departure announcements, safety and security information, marketing and services messaging

The Sherwood Court stage featured a massive canvas of LED screens

Hippotizer Tierra+ feeds Electric Forest visuals

Details: 29 July 2022

USA - Michigan’s much-anticipated Electric Forest Festival returned for 2022 with an expertly curated line up of EDM stars, jam bands, dubstep heroes and multiple other genres.
On the Sherwood Court stage, a massive 7056x2864 canvas of LED screens made up of 180m2 of Roe MC7 and 150m2 of YesTech MG7 featured visuals created by Observatory and powered by Hippotizer Tierra+ MK2 Media Servers.
Notable on the Sherwood Court stage were US ‘heaven trap’ DJ duo Slander, bass-heavy Mersiv, and ‘chillwave’ pioneer Toto y Moi. Observatory’s brief was to create the scenic visual content for the Sherwood Court stage’s proscenium arch LED screens, and the upstage LED screen when there wasn’t a guest VJ or content supplied with the performer. The team was commissioned by Electric Forest organisers Insomniac events and Leisure Expert Group, on the back of a successful

Meyer Sound also returned to Montreux at full force for its 36th year as a strategic partner

Meyer Sound reinforces Montreux Jazz Festival

Details: 29 July 2022

Switzerland - During the first two weeks of July, legions of music lovers again descended on the shores of Lake Geneva for the Montreux Jazz Festival, which returned this summer.
Meyer Sound also returned to Montreux at full force for its 36th year as a strategic partner and official sound provider, supporting the festival with nearly 300 loudspeakers deployed across 12 venues, indoors and out, large and small.
Most of the festival’s headliner concerts are presented in the 4,000-seat Auditorium Stravinski, and this year the venue also had the distinction of hosting the first indoor concerts to be reinforced by Meyer Sound’s new system, the Panther large-format linear line array loudspeaker.
“It was pure joy to mix on Panther,” said festival sound coordinator Martin Reich of audioconsulting ag, who also served as FOH engineer for Westerman and Gregory Port

Kinly reappoints Vel Johnson MD for USA

Details: 28 July 2022

USA - AV systems integrator and remote collaboration service provider Kinly has announced the reappointment of Vel Johnson as its managing director for the US.
Johnson returns as Kinly’s US MD, having originally relinquished the position in December 2021 as part of his semi-retirement plans, after three years.
Based in Kinly’s Cedar Knolls (NJ) corporate office – one of four on the east coast (Fort Lauderdale, Washington, New York) – Vel was inspired to return to Kinly following positive discussions with newly appointed CEO, Tom Martin, who revealed his growth and expansion plans for the company in the US market.
Vel, leading the US team, will now develop and execute ‘a more business and culturally aligned go-to-market strategy to mirror that deployed in Kinly’s other global markets’ including Europe.
Tom Martin, CEO at Kinly, comments: “W

The Moving Light Assistant application will run on both Apple Mac OSX (Intel only) and Microsoft Windows

City Theatrical's Moving Light Assistant available

Details: 28 July 2022

UK - City Theatrical's Moving Light Assistant is an application designed to document both the physical setup and programming information for moving light rigs commonly used in the entertainment industry.
The software offers a spreadsheet view to show the configuration (lenses, lamps, menu options etc.) of moving light fixtures in your production's rig, to save you time and keep your project organized. It also allows you to design and edit moving light gobo, colour, and effect wheel loads, import console reports from leading lighting consoles, and much more, depending on the needs of your unique project.
The Moving Light Assistant application will run on both Apple Mac OSX (Intel only) and Microsoft Windows operating systems.
Moving Light Assistant software is full of useful features for lighting professionals. Additional features include the ability view cue list

The white MAUI 44 G2 integrates seamlessly into modern and open visual settings

LD Systems presents MAUI 44 G2 in white

Details: 28 July 2022

Germany - With the MAUI 44 G2, introduced in 2020, LD Systems established the MAUI Series in the professional sound reinforcement sector. Since then, the German manufacturer’s most powerful column PA system has proven its versatility in clubs, at festivals, and at corporate events across the world. Now, LD Systems is again expanding the application possibilities of the MAUI 44 G2 – and is launching the column PA in a white colour version.
With the white colour version of the MAUI 44 G2, LD Systems is responding to numerous requests from MAUI users worldwide. Technically identical to the black version, the white MAUI 44 G2 integrates seamlessly into modern and open visual settings – from weddings to corporate events and more.
“Time and again, we’ve received inquiries and photos from MAUI users asking for a white MAUI 44 G2, or showing us how they’ve converte

Hollyland, specialises in wireless communication

AV Distribution reinforces portfolio with Hollyland

Details: 28 July 2022

South Africa - AV Distribution, the dedicated distribution division of the Stage Audio Works Group headquartered in Midrand, South Africa, has announced an exclusive distribution agreement with Hollyland, specialists in wireless communication.
Established in 2013, Hollyland’s wireless solutions are expressly designed for wireless audio and video transmissions and wireless intercom systems for real-time team communication. The product range includes affordable solutions for wireless video broadcast, monitoring and live streaming in addition to wireless microphones and intercom on the audio side, plus a host of accessories.
According to AV Distribution general manager, Ashley Coleman, Hollyland is a valuable addition to the brand portfolio. “Hollyland products combine versatility with innovation and a refreshingly robust build quality,” she notes. “Suited to a wi

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Case Study: Hans Zimmer Live

BikeFest Spain 2025 - Join the ride!

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