Finland - Valokaivo, a difficult-to-translate Finnish word for 'Light Well', is also the name of an interactive light installation located in the central market square of the Finnish town, Lahti. Valokaivo is essentially an array of skyward-facing lights, illuminating when passersby step on different sections of the protective glass panel. Such an interactive installation required the participation of several specialty organizations and components from high-quality manufacturers, including Martin Professional lighting elements.

The installation was designed by Studio Lux Nova and Marjut Kauppinen. Studiotec supplied the Martin VC-Dots for the media surface and the reActor Media server. The Invisible developed the interactive digital content and installed the IP camera motion track

South Africa - Blood Brothers, South Africa's first supergroup, is a project featuring 10 of the country's best known musicians and rock heroes, who recently played a special one-off concert to a hugely enthusiastic 3500 capacity audience at Johannesburg's Carnival City Big Top venue.

Lighting - almost entirely Robe, a mix of Pointes, MMX Spots, LEDWash 600s and 300s, LEDBeam 100s and PARFect 100s - was designed and operated by Magz Schoeman, head of lighting at the busy venue.

Magz was very excited when the opportunity arose to light such a high profile event, and put substantial energy and detail into designing the rig for the occasion.

A pre-production meeting revealed who was in the band. Magz had already worked with some of the individual bands involved, and learned that the set would be three hours long and be a mix of the greatest and best loved hits of the key bands

UK - Every year Newham Council hosts Under the Stars; a free, four day music festival for those living in the borough of Newham, with the aim of bringing the community together. This year it took place on 13-16 August at Central Park, East Ham and featured a wide range of artists. Following White Light's work with Newham Council last month on The Mayor's Newham Show, the complete production solution specialist was once again on hand to provide all of the lighting and rigging support for this occasion.

Now in its 16th year, this year's Under the Stars was the biggest one yet. The line-up featured chart-toppers Maxi Priest, Aswad and Hot Chocolate along with children from Newham's Every Child a Musician programme who took to the stage to entertain the crowd. There was also a performance by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra who performed a classical music set. Over 60,000 attended t

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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.

UK - West Midlands based technical production and solutions specialist Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) has made its first purchases in a major new round of investment in Panasonic laser projectors.

A fleet of 24 new projectors will comprise 12 each of two models, the PT-RZ670 single chip 6500 lumen and the PT-RZ 12K 3-chip 12000 lumen machines.

"The idea is to replace the older stock of conventional bulb-lightsource Panasonic projectors completely," explains CPL MD Matthew Boyse.

"We need to keep constantly moving with the technology alongside offering our clients the best and most appropriate options for all of their projects" continues Max, highlighting the fact that the new machines also draw less power and are essentially more eco-friendly.

As most events are now under pressure to prove - and improve - their carbon footprints, this is set to become

UK - Lights, Camera, Action has announced the appointment of Spencer Newbury as international business development manager.

Spencer joins the team bringing a wealth of knowledge of the film, TV and broadcast industry and will help to develop international markets covering Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Working as a lighting technician for 25 years, Spencer has travelled globally advising on his specialty, lighting car commercials for advertising in studio or location. In the last seven years, he developed business for Litepanels in the EMEA and APAC Regions.

Nick Shapley, managing director commented, "Spencer is a well respected figure and we're excited he has decided to join our team. With his extensive knowledge of international markets we're looking forward to building up our current customer base and bring the many brands and products we represent to th

USA - Intensity is the name of the game at American Ninja Warriors. More of an athletic event than a reality show, the popular NBC programme, which is perennially number one in its time slot, treats its 6m viewers to a breathtaking display of physical power, quickness and dexterity. Lighting director Edward Motts brought forth similar qualities in the searing lightshow he created for the 2015 edition of the program, using Next NXT-1 and Nexus LED fixtures from CHAUVET Professional provided by Aspect Lighting.

Taking place at the USS Iowa battleship museum as a salute to the armed forces, the summer 2015 American Ninja Warriors set featured a daunting obstacle course made of gleaming aluminium truss. Accenting the imposing image of the course were a collection of Nexus 4x4 LED panels and Nexus 4x1 LED strips.

Motts positioned two rows of four Nexus 4x4 panels acro

USA - When The End Times tour kicked-off at the Concord Pavilion in California, it was the first official tour for the Smashing Pumpkins following the release of their latest album Monuments To An Elegy.

As the long-time tour lighting designer, Lawrence Upton of UV Lighting was once again designing the lighting rig for the alternative rock band, and the co-headlining line-up with Marilyn Manson presented a set of challenges. Working with tour lighting provider DPS, Upton created a festival-type lighting rig complete with 24 VL4000 Spot luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite to give himself the creative freedom needed to surpass those challenges.

"Anytime you do a co-headlining tour you ramp things up a lot and as you get closer to the event people start to add more and more production elements," began Upton. "In the production design, we ended up with seven la

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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

Denmark - UK artist and Quincy Jones protégé Jacob Collier is only 20 years old yet his undoubted talent as a musician and singer has already earned him the epithets of 'jazz's new prodigy' and 'jazz music's new messiah' from some heavy-weight music reviewers.

Currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music, Collier recently embarked on a project with Ben Bloomberg, a PhD graduate student at the MIT Media Lab, to find new ways to multitrack live music. As a fan of the brand, Bloomberg chose to use DPA microphones. These included the versatile d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphone, which was used to capture drums, percussion, melodica and piano; a d:dicate 4011 Cardioid Microphone for drum overheads and a d:fine 4088 Headset Microphone, which Collier wore throughout his performance.

Bloomberg and Collier's collaboration dates from the beginning of 2015 when Bloomberg

UK - The Barn on the Farm is one of the growing number of independent events that now populate the summer festival calendar. Since 2010, the event has grown year on year and now presents a broad spectrum of up and coming artists on multiple stages with pro-audio systems and professional lighting rigs. Lighting designer, Bryan Leitch was approached to submit design proposals for all three stages.

"My design was originally produced with a narrow beam LED unit in mind but then, quite by chance, I saw the Ayrton MagicDot R fixtures in action online and decided to contact Ambersphere Solutions straight away for more information. Lee House from Technical Sales was my consistent point of contact from then on."

"The festival's chosen vendor was Colour Sound Experiment," continues Leitch, "and between us we replaced my original choice with MagicDot-R units and

UK - Founded in 1989, Killik & Co is a private client stockbroker and wealth manager based in London. Its head office is housed on Grosvenor Street, Mayfair in a Grade II listed building that was formerly the Japanese Embassy.

The main meeting room at Killik & Co's Mayfair office, known as The Music Room, is a sumptuous, wood-paneled space which hosts a variety of events from seminars and presentations to regular lunchtime briefings and meetings

Over recent times the company's technical support department had been upgrading certain software elements of its IT infrastructure such as going from Microsoft Lync 2010 to 2013 and concluded that in a world of unified communications, its existing AV provision was not adequate. Killik & Co's senior support analyst, Henry Selzer, followed up an earlier speculative contact with Audiologic with a firm interest in upgrading the audio provi

Switzerland / Germany - In June, German metal band Heaven Shall Burn used a barrage of effects from 36 Elation Professional Sniper 2R multi-effect lights to get the crowd going at Switzerland's biggest rock festival, the Greenfield Festival, then did the same in July at the With Full Force Festival in Germany.

Austrian-based rental and production company MartinKames.com, who worked with several bands at the two festivals, has worked with Heaven Shall Burn on their shows worldwide since 2008 and provided floor package lighting and stage effect lighting for the band at both Greenfield and With Full Force.

"The speed of the Sniper was the most crucial aspect of the Heaven Shall Burn rig," stated Nadine Horitani, head of events & sales at MartinKames.com. "The effect possibilities combined with the large quantity of fixtures made for a one-of-a-kind lightshow. Heave

South Africa - For many Land Rover enthusiasts, it was difficult to swallow the lump in their throat as they sat around the camp fire with Kingsley Holgate, a humanitarian and modern day explorer at the Landy Festival South Africa 2015, held on the 22 and 23 August at Soetdoring Vakansieplaas in Vereeniging.

Kingsley 'Greybeard' Holgate chatted around the fire. EPH Productions contributed to the setting by creating an intimate look using six Robe Robin 600s, two Martin 401s and control on a grandMA Lite. "We used the Robins, positioned on truss totems, to light the trees and to imitate the fire, creating warmth and ambience in the bush," said Andre Westraad from EPH Productions.

Kingsley has ventured through every country on the African continent and talked about his upcoming Heart of Africa Expedition, which is said to be his toughest exhibition yet. The aim is to r

USA - Set to open fall 2015, Vault 634 will be a premier location for first-class private events in the revitalized heart of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Its building was erected in 1911 for Lehigh Valley Trust, Allentown's biggest bank at the time. It has a Greco-Roman façade complete with ornate lion heads and an interior that bespeaks the bank's prestige at the time of its construction. Gold-leafed crown molding, a Victorian stained glass ceiling, marble flooring, Tiffany glass lamps, four massive stainless steel vaults, and six stunning murals all serve as highlights in an altogether distinguished interior.

Vault 634's owner has invested $3m in renovations that will ready the space for weddings, parties, fundraisers, and the like for up to 250 people while preserving the building's rich history. As part of that renovation, integration firm Sage Technologies (Mount Joy, Pennsylv

Portugal - This month, NEXT-proaudio is introducing a new paint shop at its factory, making it possible to customise the colour of each speaker according the RAL library.

It will be possible for the customer to choose the colour of the wood as well as the colour of the grill and metal parts. Clients can choose from more than 45.000 possible colour combinations.

According to NEXT-proaudio's assistant manager André Correia, "The strategy of the company is to provide to the customers a unique product for a unique solution, having 45369 possible combinations. This makes the speaker an exclusive product for each person.

"This colour customization service will be able for all series (Touring, Portable and Installation) making the sound system more discreet or flashy depending on the desired application."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Lift Turn Move based in Bromborough, Wirral, has already shown a commitment to training future engineers and this is set to continue with the announcement from director, John Jones, that they are training three apprentices this year; Joshua Baines, Brandon Gillam and Liam Shone.

Josh joins Brandon in the work shop as the second apprentice currently being trained in the LTM workshop. Brandon and Joshua are studying for an apprenticeship in Mechanical Manufacturing which will involve one and a half days of tuition at a local college to learn essential theory and 3 and a half days a week working in the hoist assembly area to develop their practical skills. They will both spend time in the warehouse receiving product training, dispatching goods and observing the other engineers at work.

Liam is joining as a sales office trainee. Liam will be studying for an apprenticeship in

Columbia - D.A.S. Audio recently held a series of training seminars in Colombia as part of its ongoing commitment to provide sound professionals with training in D.A.S. technology. Led by D.A.S. technicians for South America and the Caribbean Roberto Almodovar and Ramón Franco, the seminars held in Medellín, Bogotá and Cali were attended by a record number of Colombian sound professionals eager to learn more about D.A.S Audio's sound solutions.

The first seminar, held in Medellín, was organized in collaboration with local distributor Coaxial & Digital Music and attended by roughly 150 professional audio technicians and operators.

Local company Cyan Eventos Medellín handled the technical production for the seminar, which featured a training course on the DASnet remote monitoring and management system as well as the EASE Focus acoustic simulation and modelling software.

T

South Africa - Live performances, dj sessions, break dancing, art, film, fashion - the Back to the City Festival in the Johannesburg neighbourhood of Newtown is a celebration of local and South African artistic expression. Live performances - boasting a star-studded line-up of local artists and headlined by internationally acclaimed hip hop rappers ONYX - entertained throughout the day on the main stage, where D.A.S. Audio systems ensured that flawless sound was delivered for the 19,000 fans who poured into the inner city venue for the day-long event.

Event organizers called in Johannesburg-based sound reinforcement company Complete Event Solutions (CES) to design and install the sound solution for the main stage. The team was faced with the challenge of designing a system that could ensure powerful yet precise sound for the range of performances that took to the stage over the

UK - At their joint booth at BPM 2015 (booth G109), Electro-Voice and Dynacord will be presenting the latest additions to their portfolios of loudspeakers, amplifiers, digital sound processing and mixing consoles.

Electro-Voice will celebrate the BPM premiere of its EKX loudspeaker family, which be displayed alongside the Electro-Voice ETX Powered Loudspeaker family as well as ZxA1, ZLX and ELX loudspeakers. Dynacord will present the Xa2-PRO system in Birmingham for the first time. Also showcased will be the brand's Vertical Array system, AXM 12A monitor as well as the PM502, PowerMate and CMS mixers.

The EKX series is the newest member of the Electro-Voice portable loudspeaker family, and combines legendary EV sound quality and reliability with the latest technology - all in a lightweight, compact package suitable for a wide range of sound reinforcement scenarios, including m

USA - PLASA's Technical Standards Programme has announced two actions to widen the programme's benefits in the entertainment industry.

The first is a new standard, one that will help performers and performance venue designers; the second is a programme to extend the benefits of the TSP to other organizations in the entertainment and special events industry.

The first is the publication of a new standard, ANSI E1.55 - 2015, Standard for Theatrical Makeup Mirror Lighting, which was developed at the request of Actors' Equity Association to help their members. The standard was approved by ANSI's Board of Standards Review on 25 August and published two days later, on 27 August.

The lighting market's move away from incandescent lamps has complicated the job of providing good makeup mirror lighting. ANSI E1.55 helps clarify what good makeup mirror lighting is by describing the topo

Canada - Lawo, the German manufacturer of broadcast audio, video and IP networking equipment, has provided all audio integration and distribution systems for support of the international feed of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

The main mix was provided with a 48 fader Lawo mc²66 console and a secondary console, a Lawo mc²56 with 32 faders, handled sub mix duties for over 40 ambient microphones used to bring the action from the field to the broadcast centre.

In addition to the main and secondary mix consoles, Lawo provided five DALLIS Stageboxes and a Nova73 router to manage over 1900 redundant crosspoints utilized to gather and distribute audio feeds including over 496 record tracks, 256 channels of RAVENNA (AoIP) and over 880 channels of MADI audio. Fiber tie-lines were used to connect 256 audio channels between the Nova73 and each console, as

UK - Sennheiser CEOs Daniel and Dr. Andreas Sennheiser presented the world with its first glimpse of the audio specialist's next milestone product at an exclusive event at London's Central Hall Westminster. Themed Reshaping Excellence, the celebration of sound and innovation marked Sennheiser's 70th anniversary year and featured a concert performed to an audience of 1,200 guests by the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie orchestra and Grammy Award-winning artist Imogen Heap.

At London's Central Hall Westminster, Sennheiser's selected guests had the opportunity to experience the company's products, which have shaped the industry and received a private viewing of solutions and technologies never before shown to the public. "Sennheiser has had seven decades at the cutting edge of audio by defining the gold standard of what is possible. With Reshaping Excellence we are an

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