UK - The spectacular large format projections that have graced Edinburgh Castle for the last 11 years creating a dramatic and dynamic backdrop for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo season have just become brighter and even more visible with a new video projection system specified by digital artist Ross Ashton from The Projection Studio.

The 12 x Panasonic PT-DW17K2 projectors have been purchased by the Tattoo and are running for the first time during the 2016 programme which launched last week showcasing another exciting and eclectic mix of military pageantry, music, dance, technical wizardry and special effects which will enthral audiences from all over the globe.

The increase in brightness and clarity compared to the PIGI film projectors which had served the event for the last 11 years is substantial.

As Ross explains, "When the Tattoo first explored the medium of

South Africa - DWR Distribution welcomed the founder of ArKaos, Marco Hinic and colleague Benjamin Bauwens to South Africa for the very first time in August. They visited clients in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town and also presented training at DWR's offices.

"Although we have worked remotely with DWR for a few years now, it was our first physical contact with South Africa," said Marco. "I had a feeling that we were in for a nice surprise and indeed we were overwhelmed by the warm welcome and hand of friendship from everyone. I was thrilled I could take a day at the end of the trip to explore the beauty of Cape Town. All we can think of is now is when can we plan to come back."

A day's training was hosted in Johannesburg and presented by Benjamin Bauwens and Marco and both were encouraged by the good attendance. "I took a group picture of everyone to bring back to our o

USA - Barco and High End Systems, a Barco company, are providing their AV solutions to help create a mind-blowing visual spectacular for rap artist and songwriter Drake's current North America concert tour. The company is part of a team led by world-renowned lighting designer Guy Pavelo and tour director Steve Kidd of GP-SK Design & Production.

Now traveling across the United States, the Drake Summer Sixteen tour represents a massive undertaking in audiovisual theatrics, with the design and programming expertly directed by Pavelo and GP-SK. The artist came to the table with some highly imaginative show elements in mind, requiring a mammoth production effort: an expansive stage and set design, an 86' curved video wall, and a Kinetic system comprising hundreds of custom LED spheres.

Pavelo specified a significant amount of Barco and High End Systems gear to augment the exten

UK - Shepperton-based Marquee AV is expanding its production and theatre lighting operations with the appointment of Paul Barker, who brings substantial technical experience of lighting systems and control to his new position as project manager.

Senior project manager, Rob Whitaker explained, "Main contractors and venue operators alike are increasingly looking for a single provider for the complete package of audio, video and lighting. With the integration of technologies and the infrastructures now being designed into many venues, this is also a logical progression.

"Whilst this is something Marquee has always provided, we have also partnered with lighting specialists on larger projects. Bringing Paul on board now expands our capability to handle projects of any size or complexity completely in-house."

Paul Barker continued, "I'm really pleased to be joining Marquee A

Malta - The walled Cittadella, situated on the Island of Gozo, next to Malta, has recently undergone a major revamp through two restoration and rehabilitation projects co-financed by the European Union.

International creative design and AV installation company, Sarner, has been instrumental in bringing 2000 years of Gozo's history to life with a visually captivating and immersive journey in an all-embracing visitor experience located within the historical walls of the island.

The island of Gozo is rich in history and natural beauty, resources which, woven in with local customs and traditions, were key factors in creating this new tourist attraction. Being greener, less densely populated and urbanised than Malta, Gozo boasts an idyllic lifestyle that draws inspiration from its unique island setting and Sarner's brief was to convert and restore the city's disused reservoirs

UAE - Generating onscreen images of sharks and creating the illusion that they are swimming with real fish in an aquarium is a serious AV challenge.

BrightSign and Dubai-based system integrator DigiComm met this challenge with the completion of the new Shark Week exhibit at Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo.

Using nearly 91 screens driven by 42 BrightSign players, DigiComm combined digital technology with a living aquarium to create for visitors the experience of swimming among Great White Sharks and other large fish without the actual fish being present. The experience was created by Emaar Entertainment, the leisure and entertainment subsidiary of Emaar Properties, and Discovery Consumer Products, in association with OSN, the region's leading pay-TV network.

Paul Hamilton, general manager and curator of Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo, said, "At Dubai Aquarium & Underwa

Europe - Dataton has announced the appointment of COMM-TEC as the Dataton premium partner for Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovenia. COMM-TEC joins Dataton's established network of partners, promoting the brand and supporting customers worldwide.

"Dataton aims to broaden market access in this part of Europe. With COMM-TEC as a strong and experienced partner in Value Added Distribution, Dataton will strengthen its position sustainably, just as we have done in Spain and Portugal with IberCOMM-TEC," says Michael Engstr

Germany - Absen will be presenting "a new revolutionary indoor rental LED display solution" on 20-21 September 2016 in their European headquarters in R

USA - AIMS has announced that it has achieved the milestone of signing up over 50 member companies in only nine months. With the simultaneous induction of Axon and Ross Video at the end of August, the alliance expanded the number of its member companies to 51.

Recent months has seen the continuing steady growth of alliance membership, with 13 new member companies joining in July and August alone.

Commenting on the milestone of surpassing 50 member companies, AIMS chairman Michael Cronk said, "Since the founding of AIMS last December, we have experienced a rapid rate of growth in our membership. This reflects a wide and increasing awareness that a common, open standards based approach to IP Interoperability is the best way forward."

Axon designs and markets high quality broadcast equipment for the conversion, processing, routing and compliance recording of audio and vid

UK - There is something completely different about to happen at PLASA 2016... A new experiment, The Exploratorium, is a maze where the participants show off both their technical expertise and their imaginations.

The simple, interactive, entertaining and educational experiments contained within The Exploratorium prove a concept, demonstrate a principle and wow visitors with a bit of science. There will be axe heads and horns, Virtual Reality and prisms, experiments on perception and even a 'Brain Transfer Machine'.

One highlight of The Exploratorium is The Sideshow, a bit of virtual and magical fun, hosted by Ryan Metcalfe from PreeVue, producers of photo-realistic 3D models for theatre productions and live events using the latest CAD and VR technology. "This is a fantastic opportunity for us to be able to demonstrate this brand new technology in a way that allows vi

USA - EMC Corporation has joined AIMS, aligning itself with the vision of an open standards approach that broadcast and media companies can use to move from legacy SDI systems to a virtualized, IP-based future - quickly and profitably.

The U.S. multinational corporation is a market-leader in data storage systems, and a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations; delivering information technology as a service (ITaaS), cloud computing, and management and storage of big data.

Commenting for AIMS, Chairman Michael Cronk stated, "There is considerable significance in a global IT corporation like EMC aligning itself with the open standards approach to the transition to IP workflows in television and video production. Storage plays an important role in production and playout workflows that are undergoing the transition to all-IP file-

UK - Entertainment engineering specialist WIcreations was asked to create an innovative solution for the current Massive Attack tour.

The video design, created by United Visual Artists (UVA) - needed a full horizontal section in the middle of a 14.4m wide by 6m high flown Roe MC7 LED screen - to protrude from the rest of the surface by half a metre.

This was to make specific text statements, facts and figures being displayed really stand out.

Massive Attack are known for their political conviction, raw, visceral lyrics, provocative subject matter and dedication to producing cerebral and thought-provoking shows exposing official lies, twists and economies of the truth ... wrapping it up in an entertaining and emotive live experience.

Their specific text-orientated video content has become a unique aesthetic signature for their performances, and making the lines of t

UK - A huge display featuring Christie award-winning Boxer 4K30 projectors was the impressive visual centre-piece of the Co-op's AGM in Manchester. Spanning a full 55m in width and 8m in height delivering stunning HD images and video during the event, the curved display was designed and installed by AtoV, an integration company specialising in live events.

The 2016 Co-op AGM was a particularly special occasion as it saw the launch of their brand identity including a revamp for its traditional logo as they go 'Back to being Co-op'. The event bought together 700 members from across the organisation's various business areas, and was held in Manchester's vast Central Station conference centre (MCR Central).

AtoV has a long-standing relationship with the Co-op, and Jim Hadfield, one of the company's engineers, has been working on the Co-op's AGMs for 18 years. As he relates, fo

UK - As soon as the Starlit Dance Floor Systems landed at Prolight Concepts' HQ, many were instantly shipped out to the company's customers including 'Light The Way', who have already used the system for two events, with many more pencilled in over the coming weeks. One of the installations was for a wedding organised by Kudos Music, a leading Asian Wedding and Events company.

Light The Way, a leading dry hire company, has expanded into wet hire with the purchase of a 20ft x 20ft White Starlit Dance Floor System. The LEDJ portable, Starlit systems have been designed to offer rental companies, installers and users alike the flexibility to create different sized dance floors.

John Edwards of Light The Way comments: "With the immediate success of the dance floor system we will be looking to purchase another four in the next six months".

With interlocking panels and cool w

UK - Disclosure, the sibling electronic music duo from Surrey, UK, continue to work hard as they take their Caracal tour around the world. The Disclosure show returned to the UK last month, when the band headlined the Reading and Leeds festivals, before heading off to South America.

Show and lighting designer Will Potts has been with them every step of the way as the tour stopped off at venues and festivals in North and South America, Japan, Australia, Korea, mainland Europe and the UK. PRG XL Video's lighting account manager Roy Hunt and video account manager Paul McCauley take care of the band's event technology needs as they stride around the world, performing sell-out shows and whipping audiences into a Disclosure frenzy.

We caught up with double Knight of Illumination winner Will Potts when Disclosure played three sought-after nights at London's Alexandra Palace at th

USA - With over 90 years of combined experience, Crescent Events is a premier event management company which produces live events nationwide from their offices in Charlotte, NC and Oxnard, CA.

Dedicated to providing exceptional service, technical expertise and a high level of creativity, Crescent Events recently made a decision to bolster their rental inventory with an LED video system that would allow them to offer their clients a complete live event production package. Through this acquisition of the award-winning FLEXCurve 6mm LED video system, Nashville-based PixelFLEX has announced Crescent Events as its newest production rental partner.

"At Crescent Events we have been working with LED video for a few years now and we have begun seeing more of our clients asking about the creative stage design possibilities LED video can create," began Chris Gerhart, Crescent Events

South Africa - In search of a solution that would cater for their AV needs, a server with multiple output points and one which would accommodate both small and large events, Johannesburg based Solid Rock Event Technical has taken ownership of a new ArKaos Studio Server.

The story began at Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt earlier this year, when Nick Britz from DWR Distribution introduced Solid Rock's Keith Mac Intyre (founder) and Rolley Maphosa (audio engineer) to the ArKaos team. "From what I understand, within half an hour of Rolley seeing the system for the first time, he was already mapping spheres and cubes with the product" explained Andrew Temblett, business development manager at Solid Rock. "So I think the marriage was made there, and when Keith came back to Johannesburg we started looking at the software available on-line. It seemed a very simple solution that would be

Korea / USA - API has announced a new partnership with Korea-based distributor Dasan, headquartered in Seoul. Founded in 1999, Dasan has been providing innovative media solutions for recording studios, concert halls, religious institutions, and sports facilities, among others, for over 15 years.

"We are proud to partner with such a distinguished and experienced distributor," said API managing director Gordon Smart. "Dasan is dedicated to providing only the best professional audio equipment, and we're extremely pleased to join forces with a distributor whose values align with ours."

(Jim Evans)

UK - AV distributor CIE are at it again, as its HDBaseTEAM charity cycle team embark on another truly 'Massif' marathon cycle challenge. This September, the CIE team will cycle 500 miles through France in just three days. Much of the route will be following the 2016 Tour de France stages 3, 4 and 5, beginning at the Channel port of Saint-Malo, through Normandy to the Loire Valley, before rising towards the Massif Central and finishing at Clermont-Ferrand.

The team, which is made up of CIE directors and members of the AV sales and technical support team, will take on their ninth annual challenge this year in an endeavour to hit their 2016 fundraising target of £7000. The money raised will support Cancer Research, the British Heart Foundation and local charity the Saving Lives Helipad Appeal, based in CIE's HQ town of Nottingham. To date, the CIE HDBaseTEAM has raised in e

UK - PLASA opened the doors of Olympia this morning with a sense of anticipation. And it wasn't disappointed. It seems that answering the industry call to relocate back to the PLASA Show's original turf has payed dividends.

"It was encouraging to see so many people arrive for the very beginning of the show," says PLASA managing director Peter Heath. "PLASA's emphasis is where it should be, creating opportunities that will lead to sustained growth for our commercial divisions, leading back into the membership through increased activities and initiatives. The relocation to West London, and the move to a September date, as well as an enhanced seminar programme, more interactive showcases and technical workshops are all part of this, and were very much driven by member feedback. Early indications are that it's working."

So what is in store for day one? As well as a host of inn

UK - Today at PLASA, James Gosney, Head of Installed Sound at Stage Electrics and Emma Bigg, AV Architect at Octavius RE will look at the important questions to ask when designing an Audio Visual Installation.

"A good, well-designed and installed audio system should last a venue at least 20 years," says James. "However, there are too many times where I'm called in to design a new audio system for a venue, simply because the original one wasn't designed and installed properly. The aim of this session is to save you, time, money and heartache."

James and Emma will take you through the necessary steps to ensure your system design and installation exceeds your customer's expectations and highlight the potential pitfalls along the way. Based on a wide variety of real life experiences, with examples of good and bad practice this seminar will give you the tools to ensure the best

UK - Taking place at PLASA Show, the Essential Dante Training seminar, sponsored by a number of leading audio technology companies, including Audinate, Focusrite, Solid State Logic, Roland, Yamaha and XTA, has been designed to give a great opportunity to gain a greater insight into Dante Audio Networking Technology, which has become the de-facto standard in connecting uncompressed, highly synchronous, low-latency audio network devices.

Introduced by PLASA's managing director Peter Heath, the seminar will include Dante Level 1 and 2 training from Audinate's Kieran Walsh, live table-top displays and a session on deploying Dante networks in live events from Liam Halpin.

"Audinate is pleased to co-present this day of seminars in cooperation with PLASA," says Kieran. "Attendees will receive training that will help in taking the Dante Certified exams, discover how some of the la

Latest Issue. . .

Save
Cookies user preferences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline
Advertisement
If you accept, the ads on the page will be adapted to your preferences.
Google Ad
Accept
Decline