Australia - TDC, Technical Direction Company, returned to Vivid Sydney from 22 May to 8 June 2015. With an opening weekend attended by more than a quarter of a million people, TDC provided video expertise in cutting edge mapping techniques and key video technology across an unprecedented 10km distance as the 18-day festival expanded into new Chatswood and Central Park precincts.

Anthony Bastic, Vivid light curator says: "Vivid Sydney placed art into the hands of the public, giving visitors a visually triumphant feast of artistic and technical innovation."

Vivid Sydney is probably the world's largest festival of light, music and ideas and is owned and managed by Destination NSW, the NSW Government's Tourism and Major Events agency.

Michael Hassett, managing director o

UK - Adlib supplied full technical production - lighting, projection and audio - for the recent John Barrowman Raise Me Up UK tour which saw the multi-talented entertainer take his musicality combined with personal stories, into a mix of theatres, concert halls and arenas around the country. Steve Rayment once again headed up the tour as production manager.

It is the sixth JB tour in which Adlib has been involved. The first one was in 2008, and once again, the Liverpool based company won the business because they could offer all the resources and flexibility of a single source technical solution, making the package cost-effective as well as efficient to their client.

A Coda ViRAY system was chosen by FOH engineer Walter Jaquiss. He was one of the first engineers to take its predecessor LA12 out on the previous two JB tours and wanted a similar sound but in a smaller mor

France - A total of 13 Roland M-48 Personal Mixers have been specified by renowned sound designer Thomas Strebel for use in the acclaimed production of The Fearless Vampire Killers at the Mogador Theatre in Paris. This new production of the musical comedy by Oscar winning director Roman Polanski is an adaptation of his 1967 movie of the same name. The musical has been produced in a number of European cities since it debuted in 1997, but this version marks the first time it has been staged in Paris, where the 81-year-old Polanski resides.

Supplied to the theatre by sound, lighting and video specialists DuShow, the Roland M-48 Personal Mixers are used by the orchestra in the pit and enable each musician to control exactly what they want to listen to during their performances. All musicians, plus the musical director, have their own M-48 with each individual monitor mix set

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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 - Ashly Audio is now shipping Dante digital media networking solution with all their nXe, nXp, Pema and NE Series networkable amplifiers and signal processors. With as many as 42 amplifier configurations, from 125 to 3000 watts per channel, Ashly products cover a wide range of power options and feature settings to appeal to all integrators who want seamless audio integration from within a broader network system.

This past year has been a major growth year for the company - expanding amplifier families and continuing to dedicate their efforts towards expanding software development and achieving better integration. With low latency, robust synchronisation, I/O scalability, and simplicity of installation via standard IT technology, Dante has significantly enhanced the power and value of Ashly's networkable amplifiers line and select signal processors.

"Our team is commit

Germany - On 9 June at Stage|Set|Scenery 2015 in Berlin, an award presentation took place to honour the winners of the competition presented by the Theatre Architecture Commission (TAC) of the International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians (OISTAT) and the winner of the Weltenbauer Award presented by Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft (DTHG).

The Weltenbauer Award honours the most accomplished technical realisation of an artistic challenge in the context of a stage performance, show or event production. Yesterday evening, for the first time, the presentation took place at Stage|Set|Scenery. Katharina Thalbach gave the introductory speech.

Orpheus steigt herab, a production by Münchner Kammerspiele was the winner of the Weltenbauer Award which was received by Fabian Iberl, deputy manager and manager of Special Construction. The jury

UK - Panasonic has announced a long-term corporate partnership with Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), the independent charity which manages six former Royal residences in the UK. The partnership brings Panasonic the opportunity to showcase its latest technologies, while enabling HRP to provide an improved visitor experience for its customers, the manufacturer says.

The first joint initiative saw 12 Panasonic high brightness projectors used as part of the 500th anniversary celebrations at Hampton Court Palace. A 22-minute projected artwork, which told the architectural and cultural history of the palace, played for three nights over the Easter weekend.

Panasonic laser projectors are being used in a new exhibition in the palace, bringing animation to Hampton Court's stories. A total of eight projectors have also been installed within the Tower of London jewel house, helping to inter

USA - Firehouse Productions once again relied on DPA Microphones for the recent 2015 Tony Awards, held at New York City's Radio City Music Hall and broadcast live on CBS. The audio team used a variety of DPA d:screet 4061 Omnidirectional and d:fine 4088 Directional Headset Microphones to capture the vocals of the production's performers, including co-hosts Kristen Chenoweth and Alan Cumming. A number of the 4061s were also used in the orchestra pit. In addition, singer Josh Groban's audio team selected DPA's d:dicate 4011ES Cardioid Microphones for his performance, which was accompanied by a piano.

For the last several years, Firehouse Productions has used DPA microphones for the sound quality and ability to keep up with the demanding, rigorous rehearsals and live performances, while effortlessly blending in with the various costumes. As part of the production process, each show

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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

UK - Lighting and video now go hand in hand when conceiving a concept for a show, so consoles need to speak easily and fluently with video servers - as MA Lighting have long recognised.

London-based d3 Technologies, creator of the trusted d3 platform, the integrated video production suite, has chosen an MA onPC command wing purely for the purpose of trying and testing new developments in d3. As director Ash Nehru explains: "Although d3 supports control by any of the lighting desks on the market, we opted for the grandMA2 command wing through Ambersphere Solutions for a very simple reason: it is the desk of choice for so many. It's the console that we encounter most frequently on large shows so it just made total sense for us to support it."

Currently d3 are using the grandMA2 command wing to test a new feature. "d3 has historically been a timeline-controlled sys

UK - Lighting and production designer Will Potts has chosen to use an array of Clay Paky fixtures for quadruple Grammy-award winning artist Sam Smith's In The Lonely Hour UK tour.

For his stripped back yet stylish design described by The Standard as 'spectacular lighting', Potts specified six Clay Paky B-EYEs, 12 Sharpys and 22 Sharpy Wash 330s from PRG. The tour covered such venues as the 02 Academy Brixton and Manchester's 02 Apollo.

"We wanted the show design to be simple and classy because Sam's the focal point the whole time, so it's key here to reinforce that and not over-embellish," explains Potts. "The original design was built for enormous arenas on the previous North American run so we have scaled that back while still making use of the full space with layers. As some of Sam's tracks are delicately intimate and others are more full and bo

UK - VER UK has hosted a series of open days to present the latest in available 4K technology, spanning indoor and outdoor high resolution screens as well as the latest products in 4K projection and broadcast technology.

The first two-day showcase was hosted in the modern event facilities of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), for which VER traditionally provides support for RADA's in house productions and has a long-standing association.

A further event was hosted at VER UK's London facility, by the VER Dry Hire team. Scott Russell, Ellie Johnson and Lucy Taylor welcomed UK and European customers to demonstrations of the latest in Video Technology available for hire.

Director of European sales, Adrian Offord, commented, "VER continually strives to be at the forefront of new technology. We look forward to holding these showcase events frequently demonstrating the

Kuwait - Middle East lighting and sound company iLight of Dubai was called on to provide lighting, sound and stage design for this year's Hala Febrayer Festival and turned to Elation Professional lighting and LED video equipment to light performances by top Arabic artists.

Some 80,000 tourists converge on Kuwait in March to attend the annual Hala Febrayer Festival, a month-long event featuring cultural activities and entertainment that includes live television performances by some of the region's most popular singers. The most watched live TV show of the year in the Middle East, Hala Febrayer consists of five concerts over five nights with three artists performing each night. Produced by entertainment and production company Rotana Audio Visual, this year's show, broadcast on Rotana TV and held at the Kuwait Ice Skating Rink, was postponed until March due to the death of King Abd

Canada - Rational Acoustics has appointed GerrAudio as the exclusive distributor for all Rational Acoustics and Smaart branded products in Canada.

For over 30 years, GerrAudio has been a leading distributor of professional audio equipment for the live performance and broadcast industries, with a product portfolio including DigiCo, Outline, DPA, Audio Precision and Apex.

"GerrAudio has been involved in measuring and aligning sound systems in live performance spaces for four decades," says Bob Snelgrove, president of GerrAudio. "It has been our pleasure to have been involved with Smaart from its inception, and we are proud to have seen it evolve into the advanced, powerful and industry-leading instrument that it is today. Our job going forward is to ensure that new and seasoned Smaart owners alike receive the opportunity to be properly introduced to the host of so

Poland - Located adjacent to the Centennial Hall in Wroclaw, Afrykarium is an attraction that shows the different ecosystems associated with some of Africa's aquatic environments. Nineteen aquariums and pools, with a capacity of nearly 15m litres of water, are incorporated into the large complex which combines a three storey 9000sq.m building with 7500sq.m of external grounds.

Each zone is designed to represent an African region and combine the environment and wildlife of that area. Regions included are the beaches and coral reefs of the Red Sea, the river Nile, the land of the Great Rift Valley, the Mozambique Channel, the beaches of the Namibia's Skeleton Coast and the jungle of the Congo Basin.

Afrykarium is now home to a vast array of native African wildlife, living within their natural flora and fauna. In addition to serving as an attraction with great educational value,

Germany - The Meyer Sound Leopard and 900-LFC linear sound reinforcement system recently made its live concert debut at Germany's Moers Festival. The Leopard system significantly enhanced the audience experience as it transformed the venue from a large reverberant hall into an intimate club venue.

All performances took place in the 1,500-capacity Festivalhalle Moers, where the patent-pending Leopard and the 900-LFC delivered clear audio despite the challenges present in the reverberant space, according to Gerhard Veeck, technical director for the Moers Festival. "Leopard brought the audience closer to the stage, giving the hall the intimacy of a club. This transformation is exactly what we aim for when we bring this type of music to a big stage."

Leopard's quick deployment made a strong impression on Björn Wiesehöfer, systems engineer for Overath-based contour, pro

UAE - Wireless Solution Sweden has announced its newest distributor of W-DMX products, ProCom ME Audio & Lighting System Trading LLC, with distribution in Middle East. The partnership was finalised during the PALME Middle East show in May.

Wireless Solution joins a well-respected group of products represented by ProCom including Clay Paky, Avolites, Eurotruss, Antari, Philips Showline, and Philips Selecon.

ProCom CEO Raja Harfouche said, "W-DMX from Wireless Solution Sweden is number one in Wireless lighting control, we work with the best and to choice was simple to make."

Niclas Arvidsson, CEO of Wireless Solution added, "ProCom Middle East is the best distributor in the region with great focus on customer service and fast delivery."

(Jim Evans)

Germany - Show designer Gunter Hecker brought a flourish of industrial style to the lighting, video and stage environment that he created for the latest tour by German superstar Herbert Grönemeyer, prolific singer, composer, musician and actor and one of Germany's most successful ever recording artists.

Once again Gunter worked closely with Marc Lorenz as his lighting director and technology integration specialist, and together they brought a unique look and energy to the show with a centerpiece comprising six automated pods containing video screens and a total of 96 Robe Pointes.

These can move on multiple axes into a variety of positions, and completely transform the shape and feel of the performance space.

Gunter and Marc often use Robe products for their work, the last time being earlier in the year, for the 2014/15 tour by rappers Die Fantastischen Vier for which they

The Philippines - The importance of the Philippines to the global financial industries requires little introduction at this point - nor the corresponding need for superlative hotel and conferencing facilities. Located in the heart of Manila's economic district, the New World Makati Hotel is acutely aware of the need to maintain a high-level technical spec, in which context it recently instigated an upgrade project to guarantee fast and flexible audio distribution to multiple areas of the hotel.

Locally-based AV and lighting systems specialist Systech Lighting & Controls had undertaken a previous AV upgrade project at the hotel. For its latest engagement, the firm was invited to propose an audio processing and distribution infrastructure to cover the primary ballroom, several meeting spaces, a limited number of guest bedrooms, and various hallway areas. The need for reliability w

Germany - The opening night usually decides how successful a play will be. In the case of Stage|Set|Scenery 2015 the debut can be summarised as follows: satisfied exhibitors, enthusiastic trade visitors, high-ranking political figures and a substantial international appeal, say the organisers.

From Tuesday, 9 to Thursday, 11 June 2015 over 6,000 trade visitors came to find out about the latest trends in event technology from 270 exhibitors representing 24 countries at the Berlin convention. Attendees represented planning, architecture, film, event services, stage, lighting, sound, video and media technology, make-up, costume and stage-set design, acoustics, studio, exhibition and museum technology.

Besides Prof. Monika Grütters, State Minister for Culture and the Media, Brigitte Zypries, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy and Tim Ren

UK - As a wave of consolidation passes through the video sector of the concert industry a new contender has emerged. Currently engaged on the Take That tour, Video Design founded by industry veteran Alex Leinster is already contracted for the Heaton Park 'Parklife' festival in Manchester and the series of concerts that fills the summer months in Hyde Park, London.

Leinster laid out the fundamentals of Video Design's operation. "We have already been investing in new camera gear, all Sony HD, and new PPU's built to our own specification with the latest Karrera K-Frame switchers from Grass Valley, Kaleido Miranda multi-viewers and d3 video servers. It's been nice to re-package to 2015 standards, Take That for example always demands systems that go in fast and easy; no small consideration when we are providing 220sq.m of 9mm LED.

"Speed is a given when working on Chris V

USA - The 67th annual Parsons Benefit fundraiser-fashion show took place at the River Pavilion at Manhattan's Jacob Javits Convention Centre. A multi-faceted lightshow energized the runway during this prestigious event, thanks in no small measure to a collection of Chauvet Professional Next NXT-1 panels provided by WorldStage.

Lighting designer Shawn Kaufman of CS Lighting arranged 44 of the moving LED panels on the sides of the runway to heighten the visual impact of the fashion show and benefit dinner, which raises money to support scholarships at the New School which has served as an incubator for many famous fashion designers at the start of their careers. The New York-based LD used the intensely bright moving fixtures to accent the models on stage, change looks to fit the varied moods of the show and create aerial effects that dazzled the audience, which included A-list fas

UK - Working with producers Vision Nine Arts & Entertainment, XL Video supplied a multi-channel camera system and video projection for the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular UK live concert tour.

The tour, which showcases the compositions of Murray Gold for the much-loved TV show includes the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and performers from the BBC National Chorus of Wales, conducted by Ben Foster.

Hosted by Peter Davidson, who played the fifth Doctor, the tour includes live appearances from an array of Doctor Who monsters including Daleks, Cybermen, and the Ood.

The show design aims to immerse the audience via the music, coupled with the big screen footage of Doctor Who, and live action appearances by a multitude of monsters in the arena. To help achieve this across a variety of large-scale venues, XL Video supplied a video projection system and accompanying cameras, which

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