"Although the event takes place every year, there is always something new and special," says Thomas Szvetecz, freelance sound engineer and head of the Scalaria sound department for the past four years. "It has everything, including a flying opera with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and, this year, the world premiere of Harold Faltermeyer's Flying Bulls Anthem, featuring Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens.
"I always use Yamaha mixing consoles f
Weber and programmer/co-lighting director Dave Hill manned two grandMA2 full-size consoles, networked together, for the tour. "We love them", says Weber. "I handled the key lighting on one console and Dave ran the bulk of the system off the other." Both men are veteran Stones lighting directors with Hill hav
All the primary British fashion Council (BFC) runway collections across the three show days took place in the basement of Victoria House, a warehouse space complete with original exposed features like pipework and ventilation plant. The place was whited out for the event as part of a high-impact scenic design by Bacchus.
Gray lit it as a fully multi-purpose area which was also used for several static presentations in addition to the catwalk shows, emphasising 'slick and cool' as the desired ambience.
The main technical challenge was in creating around 25 new rigging points in the ceiling and walls so mini-beam trusses could be installed in exactly the correc
After a successful show with the new Pointe, just previously used on the MTV Upfront Presentation in New York, Kenny specified the multi-functional fixture for the CMT Music Awards.
This was the fifth year that Kenny has designed lighting for the CMT Music Awards, a live show, broadcast on CMT (Country Music Television) and attended by a live audience in a venue with a capacity of 15,000 people.
The creative team included lighting director and programmer Michael Appel, lighting programmer David 'Fuji' Convertino, scenic designer Anne Brahic, video content p
Sean Caie, HOD for lighting at the Grand Arena was asked to step in as lighting designer by his boss and technical entertainment manager, Gavin Taylor. "I was a bit hesitant," admitted Caie. He knew that he had a big show coming up a couple of days directly after Snoop Dogg and there was a level of expectancy for that. "I was concerned that I could not give both parties my full attention. I care about what my shows look like and wanted
Since then the company has expanded massively, and today supplies the latest technology - including Martin Audio's premium W8L Longbow line array - to the largest venues across the entire Middle East.
Famous acts he has serviced include Pussycat dolls, Gorillaz, Bryan Adams, Snow Patrol, Guns N' Roses, Sting, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Shakira - plus some of the world's leading DJ's such as Armin Van Buuren, Carl Cox, Paul Van Dyk, Tiesto and David Guetta.
It was as a club DJ that he encountered Martin Audio for the first time. "I preferred it over all sound systems in the market due to its loud and clear performance,"
Staged in the MediaCityUK Piazza, the series of events are planned around the summer's major sporting events, and recently featured the Women's European Football Championships. A comprehensive technical solution was provided by the Blitz team, featuring all-weather staging and audio systems, and IP rated power distribution for the entire site to cover every eventuality. Video support included a miniature HD outside broadcast system, enabling relay of VT, off-air and live camera images to MediaCity's big screen.
John Crompton, project manager for Blitz Manchester, commented, "Delivering the perfect solution required careful consultation with all parties involved, including the FA and the
Jennie Barratt, show manager, PLASA London 2013, said, "The Knights of illumination Awards have become an integral part of PLASA London, and we're delighted that the organisers have brought the awards to ExCeL where the Platinum Suite promises to deliver a suitably glittering and glamorous atmosphere. We have many of the world's most creative lighting designers here in the UK and PLASA London is proud to help celebrate their incredible work."
The awards, which are supported by PLASA, are organised by The Society of Telev
Taking place in Wymeswold, Leicestershire, the festival which has grown in size and popularity year on year, presents the best in tribute bands and local music with over 100 performances on four stages over the May Bank Holiday weekend. For the first time the 2013 event added an 80's theme on the Saturday night including performances by Howard Jones, ABC, The Christians and Heaven 17.
"Having used RSG products for the past few years at Glastonbudget and also us
Attendance far surpassed the organisers' initial expectations, with attendees travelling to Murfreesboro from 25 U.S. states and 12 countries, including Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The event also for the first time included a significant focus on live sound as a component of a pro audio education curriculum, a fact underscored by the event's keynote address delivered by Bob McCarthy, senior education consultant at Meyer Sound, who gave an informative and entertaining presentation on the history of the live sound indus
Houston's LD Systems once again served as the primary audio, video and lighting provider for FPSF 2013 and supplied production gear and services for the festival's four primary stages. This year, however, the company chose to deploy L-Acoustics K1 systems on the two largest stages, Mars and Saturn.
FPSF' Mars stage featured night-closing performances from EDM superstars Bassnectar and Calvin Harris preceded by a broad spectrum of musical artists like Of Monste
Citylight lighting designer Julián Perez's lighting design includes an abundance of Martin products including MAC III Profile, MAC 2000 Profile and Wash, MAC TW1, MAC 600 NT, MAC 550, MAC 250 Krypton, MAC 250 Wash and MAC 250 Beam luminaires, as well as Martin Stagebar 54 L battens and Atomic 3000 strobes. The upcoming 2013 season will also incorporate more than 30 of Martin's new Rush Strobe 1 5x5 effect lights.
Perez has been espec
The video element of the design is all supplied by Chaos Visual Productions - eight screens of differing sizes are arranged in a classically Normandale asymmetric form. "Although the optimum height for this rig is 50ft there are occasions when that can be reduced to 15ft. I also had to bear in mind that, on a festival stage, our rig could only occupy the last 10ft of the upstage area to allow other
Gavin Scott, sales director at Azule commented on the significance of Azule's inaugural presence at the show: "Having become a member of PLASA earlier this year, it was a natural step for us to attend the event with a greater physical presence to increase our visibility within the industry. PLASA's well established as a landmark event for the live sound and lighting sectors, which are key markets for us. Our decision to exhibit this yea
The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the biggest and most technically advanced productions in the world. In Eurovision: Mega Production, Mega Budget, Mega Fun technical director Ola Melzig, a part-time Austinite, will discuss some of the triumphs, challenges, highpoints and low points of putting on this year's production which took place in Sweden.
Audio Engineer Rich Davis will present Audio Engineering for Live Performance - Across the Board. For the past decade Davis has been the sound man for Jimmy Buffett, and has previously worked with entertainers including Doc Severinsen's Big Band, Melissa Ethe
For the second year, the Platinum Sponsor is Robe Lighting, the Czech manufacturer of innovative, high quality moving lights and digital lighting products for the professional entertainment & leisure, architectural and themed environment industries. Josef Valchar, general manager, Robe Lighting said, "Our company philosophy is centred around working as closely as possible with our business partners and end users, listening to their needs, thoughts and wishes in order to understand their markets. PLASA London is an essential event for us as it provides the ideal opportunity to meet many of them in pe
Born out of the event sector and launched to the market in January 2013, uTRAC is currently working with companies Aikens Promotions and Knight Rigging Services. The software has become integral to ensuring events runs smoothly, allowing clients to stay on top of the essential back office administration involved with assigning staff to jobs, greatly reducing errors and hassle. uTRAC streamlines all the financial and administrative functions including wages reports, client invoices, and business reporting.
Ronan Moore, managing director at uTRAC started out as crew member at Event Services Ireland (ESI) before launching uTRAC as an independent
The touring version has a steel case, PowerCon in and out, 5-pin XLR in and out and an M10 mounting point. Optional extras include a hinged mounting bracket and a flush mounting adaptor for building into flat sets. The idea behind the product is to allow small and medium sized companies to produce effective pixel effects on a budget and using standard cabling.
Other pixelmap products on display (Stand F10) will include the 3D-Tube, the successful Batten2 LED batten and the EPW2 and EPW 3 moving heads, recently seen at Glastonbury.
(Jim Evans)
Figures show that there was a total of unique 4,705 visitors to ENTECH 2013 and an all over attendance of 5,469 including revisits.
ENTECH has delivered a 17% increase on interstate visitors, an overall 5% increase on the previous show with 7% increase of visitors coming back for second look during the three days.
ENTECH event manager Stephen Dallimore said, "We are delighted to see the industry turn out in its thousands over the three days and not only see all the new technology on display, attend seminars and networking functions but really embrace the ENTECH/SMPTE collocation, which has been a huge success with exhibitors of both shows seeing the positive impact on visitor numbers again."
Almost 1,000 visit
The new range was designed by Miltec and is manufactured in the UK using custom drivers supplied by Fane. All seven models are made from birch ply and finished in high quality black or white paint.
The range consists of three full range speakers and four subs. The three tops have 8", 10" and 12" drivers with 1.7" compression drivers. The sound is very clean and detailed, making them suitable for conference and theatre as well as schools, live music and clubs. Features include a 35 degree wedge angle, optional rubber feet, flying points, PowerDrive bracket mounting points and a pole socket.
The subs are all front loaded and available in 12",15", 2x 15" and 2x 18" formats. The sound is warm and deep but very controlled. The
5 Star will also have British Touring Car Racing driver, reigning Air Asia Renault Clio Cup Champion and UK motorsport rising star Jack Goff on the stand for three of the four days of the exhibition (He's racing on the Sunday). Jack - sponsored by some of the industry's highest profile companies and brands - will be providing support for the Speed Challenge
The booth features a new stand - designed and built by the 5 Star Group - to showcase their top products and coincide with the exciting move of PLASA - the UK's premier entertainment technology showcase - to a new venue this year.
5 Star's Speed Challenge was initially inaugurated at PLASA back in 2006 to celebrate 5 Star's landmark 25th anniversary. By po
In addition to this, Entec created a bespoke light sculpture - Fish - as the centrepiece of a selection of curated art works on display in the forested areas of the site. Fish was in located in The Pond and featured a three dimensional work made from Chinese metal fish each individually outlined with LED strips and hung off curved trussing sections.
Illuminating these general art display areas so the works can be enjoyed after dark is a major part of the Festival's lighting brief.
In addition to getting arty this year, Entec provided lighting equipment and designers for three main performance
The latest exhibitors to sign up include Aeson Event Technologies, Apollo, Drape Kings, Intelligent Lighting Services, SECOA, SHS Global and Texas Motion Picture Alliance. They will share the show floor with other industry leaders including A.C.T Lighting, Avolites, CAST Software, Chauvet Lighting, Clay Paky, d&b audiotechnik, DiGiCo, Elation, Link, Martin Professional, Robe Lighting, Rosco, TMB and Tomcat.
On Tuesday, 10 September, a cocktail reception will be held on the show floor from 5.00pm unt
The PLASA Show is regarded as a major international launch-pad for new products. During its history, it has seen hundreds of product innovations introduced to the market - a trend which we expect to see continued at the 2013 event. The PLASA Awards for Innovation aim to emphasise this focus on true innovation. The procedure for entry ensures that all nominated products are vetted to show that they offer something new to the industry:
"The PLASA Awards for Innovation recognise products which advance the industry by demonstrating a new style of thinking, improving technical practice or taking a key step forward in terms of safety."
All successfully vetted products are judged a
