USA - Lighting designer Preston Hoffman created a dynamic and flexible production lighting design for the 2015 Summer Camp Festival staged at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, Illinois. His stage, the Moonshine Stage, was based primarily around 16 x Robe BMFL Spots and 10 x Robe Pointe moving lights.

It was the second time that Boston-based Preston, also LD for headlining jam band moe. had worked at the four day event. The lighting equipment was supplied by Chicago-based Performance Lighting, a recent investor in BMFLs and Pointes.

A major challenge for the Moonshine Stage lighting design was that any equipment - trussing, set, lighting, etc. - had to be rigged off two roof beams with limited weight loading that were part of the semi-permanent stage's structure. Similar to the

USA - Hundreds of Elation lighting fixtures were used again this year on Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas, North America's largest dance music festival, with the latest incarnation of the electronic rave taking place 19-21 June at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Lighting supply companies Visions Lighting, AG Production Services, Felix Lighting and Pro Systems all supplied Elation gear to the Vegas version of EDC with many of this year's awe-inspiring lighting and stage looks again by SJ Lighting.

With over 400,000 attendees for the three-day event, producers Insomniac brought in some of the world's biggest EDM artists and production talent to supply the heart-thumping atmosphere. Elation products wowed massive crowds on Stage 7 (Pro Systems), Bass Pod (Visions Lighting), Circuit Grounds (AG Lighting) and Cosmic Meadow (Felix Lighting) stages with several of Elation's newest lum

UK - Allen & Heath's modular iLive digital mixing system was employed to manage FOH for the recent production of Pete Townshend's Classic Quadrophenia, taking place at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

A classical reworking of The Who's 1970s album, Townshend's production featured the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Oriana Choir, and guest singers Billy Idol, Phil Daniels and Alfie Boe.

"The brief was to emulate the Quadrophenia studio album, and provide clean, open sound, so I knew I had to choose iLive because it fits the bill exactly - it has a very open, clean sound, great audio processing, is super flexible, networkable, and is customisable so I can make it work for me, rather than the other way round. With an 80-strong orchestra, 90-strong choir and various guest celebrity singers, there was a lot going on, so iLive is just what I needed,"

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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.

Sweden - Melodifestivalen is Sweden's national contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest, where their winner candidate is found. For the stage setup, lighting designer, Fredrik Jönsson implemented both X-5 strobes and P-5 wash lights. Jönsson here explains the effects he wished to achieve using these two specific types of LED fixtures from SGM:

"The X-5s were scattered around the lighting rig downstage to add glitter and bursts that would penetrate the air through the set and give more energy in the camera shots. We mainly used the segment feature with fast randomly chases to add that extra razzmatazz during choruses and such.

"The P-5s were brought in for a specific act to be used as a strong colour signature and as uplight through a glass floor for a custom made transparent podium. They were purely used in a strong and vibrant red that became a very strong sign

UK - American rapper Kanye West's headline gig at this year's Glastonbury Festival has gone viral due to the incredible 792-strong PAR can rig controlled by 16 Avolites ART2000 48 way 16A dimmers and 2 Avolites Power Cubes.

Lighting experts, Elstree Light & Power (ELP) supplied the rig and the dimmers for the huge rectangular array of PAR cans, which moved up and down during West's set as 135,000 revellers watched in awe at the Pyramid Stage.

ELP's Chris Rand oversaw the delivery of the kit, reporting directly to Kanye West's 'people'.

"Avolites is the preferred dimmer supplier for ELP, and we've been a long time fan of Avolites kit with a large stock of Avolites ART2000 dimmers and Power Cubes," says Chris Rand. "We came in rather late on this project and immediately turned to in-house Avolites dimmers - we regard them as the industry standard for robust, rel

Germany - With new opening times, a new hall layout and a new "Education and Associations" area, it's all-change for Prolight+Sound 2016. Taking place at Messe Frankfurt from 5 to 8 April 2016, the exhibition is moving to the eastern part of the expansive venue. Here it will occupy six halls, two outdoor arenas, a new indoor arena and a new, bigger outdoor area all targeting specific themes.

Organisers comment: "At last year's event more than 900 exhibitors welcomed over 42,000 visitors to their booths. In 2016, we are moving to the east of the Frankfurt Exhibition Centre in order to accommodate our increase in size. Prolight+Sound is the perfect industry forum for face-to face discussions and for developing your business networks. Benefit, too, from the synergies of the parallel Musikmesse and meet the right target groups for you."

Within the framework of

USA - Following the completion of the 2015 cycle of PLASA Focus events in Orlando and Kansas City, a full review was undertaken to ascertain the progress and success of the PLASA events produced in the North American market over the last 4 years. While some progress had been achieved over this period it was decided that significant change was necessary to create an event that better satisfied the business needs of the exhibitors, creating a profitable event for all those involved.

To fully explore and understand the changes necessary the decision of the PLASA Governing Body and the PLASA Executive Management has been to take a hiatus from producing new events in 2016.

Christopher Toulmin, PLASA's Director of the Events Division comments: "Despite considerable financial investment from PLASA and a great deal of hard work from the various members of the events team in the U

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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

USA - Meyer Marketing, based in Wellington, Florida, iselebrating its 30th year in business in 2015. Its staff includes founder Larry Meyer, Larry Boscarino, Garrett Meyer, Sherry Halecki and Daniel Orr.

President Larry Meyer emphasized the importance of building strong relationships with integrators and consultants through regular on-site business meetings, product demos and sales and applications support. He commented, "Community is a great company and we are very pleased to represent their products to our integrators and consultants. Community is a great fit with our company and I'm excited about growing their brand and sales in Florida."

Steve Young, Community's director, North American sales, added, "Meyer Marketing's reputation for great service and strong support along with their complementary, integrator focused line card will help us achieve Community's

Belgium - Following the success of their three-Michelin-starred restaurant Oud Sluis, chefs Sergio Herman and Nick Bril wanted to create a completely new experience for diners: The Jane Antwerp. The Jane serves a mix of fine dining and music in a relaxed atmosphere, set against the backdrop of a stunningly renovated church.

Opened in 2014, The Jane has two areas. Downstairs is a high-end restaurant for 75 people, while upstairs is a 38-seater bar area where guests can share food, enjoy cocktails and listen to local and international DJs. Later in the evening diners can move upstairs to enjoy a pre-clubbing vibe and The Jane also hosts special events where big-name DJs play to the whole venue.

The Jane team had a clear idea of the kind of sound they needed, as Bril explains: "We wanted the music to be like a waterfall - with more intensity upstairs, yet diners downstairs s

USA - The 2015 FIRST Championship pitted 900 international youth teams against each other in an exciting, weekend-long event at the end of April. Using robots they had designed, built and programmed themselves, each team competed in a series of qualifying rounds focused on this year's theme Recycle Rush.

Staged across five venues, the championship's main events were held at the Edward Jones Dome, home of the St. Louis Rams. New Orleans-based entertainment design and production firm, Solomon Group, was asked to light not only the ceremonies and competitions, but also the concert that capped off the weekend - which it did successfully with the help of Martin Professional's versatile lighting fixtures.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) hosts several events throughout the year that target elementary and high school students. The annual champi

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) provided effects lighting and video projection for the British Racing Drivers' Club's (BRDC) annual British Grand Prix party at Silverstone racing circuit.

Staged every year - within the grounds of the BRDC Farm - as part of the F1 British Grand Prix weekend, the occasion attracts high-profile members and personalities from the world of motorsport. The main party on Saturday night is held in aid of Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and features an auction of motor racing memorabilia and experiences.

AC-ET, who are a Patron of the British Racing Drivers' Club's Rising Stars Programme, supplied indoor and outdoor effects lighting systems featuring nearly 200 fixtures - including some of the very latest LED technologies from Chroma-Q, ProLights and GLP. The company's in-house production manager, Andy Walne Smith, oversaw the project.

"O

USA - The World Armenian Entertainment Awards took place 9 May at the Agua Caliente Resort and Casino in Palm Springs, California, and although only in its second year, the star-studded gala is already being touted as one of the best yearly events in Southern California. Video and lighting production technology for the event, which included the supply of Elation Beam series fixtures, was handled by Hi Energy Production for the second year running.

Based just north of LA in Chatsworth, Hi Energy Production manages both rental and installation applications. Company head, Vic Antonyan, conceived the stage and lighting design for the awards show and specified the Elation gear. Lighting programming was done by Esteban De La Torre-Alva who also handled pre-visualization drawings for the event using Elation's Capture Argo Extended edition lighting design software.

In order to create

UK - The London FolkFest 2015 recently took place at The Bedford in Balham. It was the fifth year for this boutique festival, which has grown into a four-day event with more than 50 acts playing across three stages all under one roof.

This year, The Bedford worked closely with Shure Distribution to provide a whole range of microphones and DI's that could cover every kind of voice and instrument.

Head engineer, Phil Davidson said, "The beta98a was a stand out for me. Its external preamp design makes the microphone very small, so no matter where it was placed, it was completely unobtrusive for both the musicians and the audience. The inherent design, coupled with the incredible sound quality, made it an invaluable tool, and throughout our four day festival, I used it on a huge range of instruments, including acoustic guitars, drums, accordions and cellos."

When it ca

UAE - MobileConnect from audio specialist Sennheiser provides live audio streaming to mobile devices for the very first time. The universal system uses a Wi-Fi connection to stream lip-sync audio content to the user's smartphone, which has an app that instantly converts it into a mobile receiver. Applications are unlimited: whether it is in a theatre, a museum, a sports stadium or a company - MobileConnect can be quickly and easily installed and is also cost-efficient in use.

"Smartphone penetration figures in the Middle East exceed the global average making this an ideal market for this solution. For companies, it is an extremely cost effective means of connecting with their audience and also exploits the fact that users are far more comfortable leveraging their own devices as has been proven by the BYOD trend," said Mig Cardamone, director of sales and marketing at S

USA - The Bay Community Church Malbis campus in Daphne, Alabama illuminates the lives of its congregants in many ways, including through contemporary worship services in a new 1,500-seat worship centre. Eight Clay Paky Mythos fixtures - the first installed in a house of worship - and eight A.leda B-EYE K10 fixtures from ESB Group do their part to light up the weekly services.

The interdenominational Bay Community Church holds a Saturday evening and two Sunday morning services - which are live streamed on the Internet - at its Malbis campus, plus entertaining First Wednesday events known for their high production values. The church also has campuses in Mobile and Foley, Alabama.

ESB Group of Springville, Alabama designed and installed the AV components of the new worship centre. ESB designs and builds unique media experiences from start to finish using leading-edge audio, video

USA - With winners chosen by the fans, the K-LOVE Fan Awards brings together the biggest names in Christian music, sports, books and movies. Held at the Grand Ole Opry House, the annual awards show is produced by Go Live Productions and each year has grown in both size and popularity. Production manager and show director Scott Moore strives to capture the spiritual significance of the evening through a dynamic yet functional lighting and video package which was supplied by Elite Multimedia.

"I've been involved with the K-LOVE Fan Awards since its inception three years ago and the design process for the show is all about function as opposed to form," began Moore. "There are a lot of specifics that we have to accommodate such as the production schedule of the Grand Ole Opry that we must work around, the artistic desires of the 20 bands that will be performing, , and

USA - "The responsibility of protecting audiences, crew and gear falls to the production and promoters," says Rich Barr, experienced production manager. "Keeping everyone safe has to be a priority. Unfortunately, there is very little support in place to help large, outdoor events do this efficiently."

Barr, with his intricate understanding of production, together with Mike Chapman, meteorologist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, have created Perfect Storm. Designed to educate, advise, and implement weather safety procedures for any live event, their team is dedicated to changing the way the entertainment industry approaches weather.

Perfect Storm offers a direct approach to the needs of each client. With radar coverage around the world, a tactical weather strategy is created for accurate, down to the minute weather warnings. Providing summari

UK - Possibly the most memorable black tie event in any given student's time during university, the final graduation ball fuses triumph with reflection in one memorable - alcohol consumption permitting - evening. With all eyes fixed upon the stage for an evening of presentations, awards and performances, for one night only the pressure is on the university to give a fond farewell to its graduating students.

When Lancaster University - one of the UK's top 10 universities - approached local event management and production specialists Arranpaul Audio with the task of supplying, designing and executing the 2015 graduation ball, Head of Lighting for Arranpaul and LD for the ball Oliver Wilkinson were all too keen to utilise Arranpaul Audio's vast array of Chauvet lighting, particularly the new Next NXT-1 moving RGBW LED panels from Chauvet Professional.

"I have always been a C

UK - RF experts Wisycom and Lectrosonics joined forces with mixer maestros Sound Devices. The end result is a synergy of up to six channels of wireless microphone receiver and the very latest in portable mixer/recorder technology.

Wisycom have updated their firmware (v3.5) on the popular MCR42S receiver to allow collaboration and seamless use with Sound Devices new 688 mixer/recorder and its SL-6 SuperSlot power and RF distribution accessory. With the addition of the 688 mixer/recorder and SL-6 accessory, the MCR42 can use 2 analog channels or digital AES3 managed and monitored by the SuperSlot to use all its advanced features including the ability to select the most suitable frequencies over a wide spectrum. The MCR42S / Sound Devices 688 partnership brings an array of versatility and possibilities for users including audio mixing, recording and wireless receiver control all fr

UK - Controllable LED specialist and design/manufacturing house Light Initiative (LI) is the creative force behind the bespoke LED structured screen on band of the moment Years and Years' UK tour and summer festival dates.

Commissioned by the band's lighting designer Squib Swain, the screen is based on the vibrant album artwork for their debut offering Communion. The striking image comprises lines branching and intersecting at different angles from a central 'Y' shape.

"As the album artwork is such a strong visual image, it was fairly obvious we had to create some sort of 3D version of it for the live shows," says Squib. "Light Initiative created a unique set piece that turned my vision into a reality. It makes such an impact with the crowd."

Light Initiative expanded the album cover outwards and extrapolated the lines to create a wider screen that

UK - The Brindley is a theatre and arts centre located in Runcorn, Cheshire on the banks of the River Mersey and is the main centre for arts and entertainment for the borough of Halton which covers the twin towns of Runcorn and Widnes.

The Brindley's success can in large measure be attributed to the innovative, forward-thinking ethos of its team. In 2014, in keeping with its dynamic approach, its management team took the decision to address a number of technical issues at the theatre that required attention. At the top of its agenda was the theatre's tired and increasingly unreliable house lighting system. A few years before, to its great satisfaction, the theatre had replaced its backstage blues lights with GDS BluesSystem and following a meeting at The PLASA Show, invited GDS to design a house lighting system that would resolve all its issues. Northern Stage Services (now Nati

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