Details
UK - For the first time in its 150-year history, the Royal Albert Hall will play host to a special concert behind closed doors. For the event, which will mark the VE Day 75th anniversary on Bank Holiday, Friday 8 May, international Mezzo Soprano Katherine Jenkins OBE will perform on the Royal Albert Hall stage to an empty auditorium. The half-hour concert will be streamed to audiences around the world via YouTube at 6pm BST and is the first performance of the #RoyalAlbertHome series to come from the Hall itself. It follows on from the singer’s successful at home lockdown concerts which have amassed over 2 million streams to-date.
This unique concert is made possible by funding from the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as part of #LondonTogether, and will be introduced with a vid

Details
Europe - On 27 April, L-Acoustics sales manager Tim McCall set out on a journey to ride 2000km from L-Acoustics headquarters in Marcoussis, France, to each of the companies in the group. He will return to Marcoussis on 11 May, in time for when the French Government is due to lift some of the current lockdown restrictions.
“The live production business has been hit hard by COVID-19, and individuals in this industry even harder. So to help our global crew family, I will be riding my bike on a trainer (so as not to break strict French lockdown laws),” says McCall. “My virtual route will start at L-Acoustics HQ in Marcoussis before going on to Keskatel and then Wenden, Germany and on to the L-ISA HQ in Highgate, London before heading south and back to Amboise, France before heading home to Marcoussis - a trip of around 2,000km and around 8,000m of climbing.”
McCal

Details
UK - Long-time ETC employee Mark White has announced his retirement from the company after nearly 20 years of service.
White has worked in theatre since 1985 and was part of a team of theatre consultants at the Royal Opera House before he joined ETC Europe in October 2000, taking on the role of sales manager for the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
He has remained at ETC since and his most recent position was regional sales manager, Ireland & UK Rigging, a role in which White focussed on progressing ETC’s stage machinery offering across the UK as well as growing the business in Ireland. Following his departure, Jeremy Roberts will take on those duties.
White comments: “ETC has been a fine company to work for. I am retiring at a time of new and exciting product development in the company, which will keep ETC in pole position as the go-to suppliers of enter
featured content

Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

Details
USA - Atlona will launch AtlonaComm 20, a month-long virtual tradeshow experience beginning 1 June on Atlona’s website. The online event will offer a schedule of product offerings, training and education experiences, and personalised meeting opportunities for customers, partners and other visitors.
AtlonaComm 20 represents Atlona’s proactive response to COVID-19-related event disruption, including the cancellation of InfoComm 2020, as well as general business travel and in-person sales visits. Atlona hatched its plans for an online event back in early March as the magnitude of the rapidly-evolving health crisis unfurled.
“We wanted to provide guests with a tradeshow experience that closely resembles the experience of being there,” says Ilya Khayn, CEO of Atlona. “We took a proactive approach in creating a virtual, interactive event to share our latest innovat

Details
USA - Harman Professional Solutions has introduced zoom lens accessories for the Martin ELP family of ellipsoidal LED light fixtures.
Martin ELP Zoom Lenses broaden the functionality of ELP CL and WW LED ellipsoidal lights with two industry-standard beam ranges and two housing colours.
Their six-lens design promises “stunning optics, providing the ultrabright output, unmatched flat projection and crisp focus of a static lens with the speed and flexibility of a zoom lens”. The lenses feature a mechanical anti-slip locking mechanism and a convenient service hatch for easy lens cleaning and maintenance. A gobo/accessory gate accommodates A/B-size gobos, and a colour gel frame is included.
“Martin ELP LED ellipsoid fixtures are famous for their unrivalled luminance, output and light quality,” comments Mark Buss, product manager, entertainment lighting, Harman

Details
The Netherlands Highlite International BV has launched its latest campaign, The Power Of Entertainment with publication of an updated catalogue, numerous activities and various product launches. One of these product launches concerns Showtec’s latest addition: the ACT series.
With the ACT series, Showtec offers a range of compact entry-level luminaires with a high-class finish and high CRI levels. Due to their size and output they are well equipped for a wide range of applications and venues but also offer a lot of advantages for the rental business.
The ACT series consists of five different models. It starts off with a 20WW and a 50WW Fresnel version which come complete with matching barndoors, followed by a 60 RGBW PC unit, a 50WW Profile spot and an Flood 80 RGBW.
All, except the 20WW version, are controllable via 3p DMX, have easy to handle rotary kn

Details
USA - Ordinarily at this time of year, Nicolas ‘Murph’ Murphy, the owner of Murphy’s Production Services in Midvale, UT, is busy touring with The Piano Guys, Wax Tailor or some other client. Not in 2020.
With live shows put on hold, Murph embarked on his own ‘world tour’, all without leaving the friendly and safe confines of his Salt Lake City suburb. Rather than simply livestreaming a band and calling it a day, he created a virtual tour package, complete with posters, virtual backstage passes and even donates his time with a weekly streaming service: Social Antidote.
The looks he’s created for his COVID-19 World Tour are also good replicas of the real thing, using eight “lazy universes”, a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console and a ChamSys SnakeSys R8 Artnet to DMX Node 5 for each of its weekly broadcasts.
“Not being able to go ou

Details
USA - During an extensive career mixing audio for live sports, Fred Aldous has earned over 20 Emmy awards and a spot in the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He currently works as a lead mixer and audio consultant for FOX Sports, managing live audio for a variety of broadcasts, including professional football and racing. Improving viewers’ sound experience over time has necessitated a shift to a Dante-enabled digital workflow powered by products from Studio Technologies.
“I need to balance all the nuances of the broadcast and create a sound image that captures the narrative of the game, all in a way that’s pleasant to the viewer,” says Aldous. “I use several Studio Technologies products, all of which have been extremely reliable and instrumental to our broadcasts.”
Aldous said moving from an analogue to digital workflow has been “tremendous”, especially

Details
UK - As an experienced production video engineer, Steven Jackson of InFocusAV creates video management and playback solutions for clients in touring theatre, musicals, conferences and installations, both at home in the UK and internationally. He is as well-versed in the nuts and bolts of creative video as anyone in the business - and for much of his career, the Hippotizer platform has been an essential part of his professional toolkit.
“At secondary school I was always involved in music performance. We had a fantastic teacher who brought in a PC and recording equipment to class. I started to use it and that put me on the path I’m on now,” says Steven, recalling his first tastes of entertainment technology.
At university, Steven studied Music Technology while working for a local sound and lighting company servicing a wide range of events. He encountered Max/MSP so

Details
Ireland - To celebrate Galway’s status as European Capital of Culture, Finnish light artist Kari Kola was commissioned to turn the beautiful Connemara Mountains emerald green and sapphire blue. The result - a massive artwork called Savage Beauty, with Lough Na Fuaiche in the foreground - owed its success to around 900 lighting fixtures, many from the GLP catalogue.
With the illuminated area spanning 500 hectares (measuring around 6.5km wide and 700m high), this vast canvas is believed to be one of the biggest light art projects ever created.
Kari Kola had originally been approached by Galway 2020’s creative director, Helen Marriage, back in February 2019. The artist recalled: “Helen knew that I was working on really large-scale projects, with light and nature, and so she called me up.”
Two months later he was in the Emerald Isle for the first time

Details
USA - Shortly following his Beerbongs & Bentleys tour, which wrapped up in August of last year after more than 100 shows around the globe, Post Malone took only a brief three-week hiatus from the road before heading back out on the 38-date autumn Runaway Tour in support of Hollywood’s Bleeding, his third full-length album, released on 6 September.
The second leg of that North American trek picked back up in early February and carried Malone through most of his 22 additional dates before 2020’s global pandemic put live touring on hold in March. However, although much of the material performed on the Runaway Tour was new since Beerbongs & Bentleys, one element that remained constant throughout was the use of an L-Acoustics K1/K2 loudspeaker system supplied and deployed by Detroit-based provider Thunder Audio.
The standard PA

Details
UK - PLASA is calling for UK-based entertainment industry professionals from all sectors to write to their local MP highlighting the challenges the industry has faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The action forms part of the #EventsForTheFuture initiative, launched by the ABTT, PSA, PLASA, SOLT and UK Theatre, which aims to increase the visibility of the events and entertainment industries and campaign for further support.
To make it simple to contact their local representative, the organisations have created four letter templates suitable for businesses, employees, freelancers, and one-person limited companies. The templates are freely available to download on each association’s websites – head over to www.plasa.org/coronavirus-mp-letter-templates to downl

Details
Missouri Breaks - Missouri is the first US state to resume live events. The latest measure was included in Gov. Mike Parson’s Show Me Strong recovery plan, which also outlines how the state’s economy will begin reopening this week, Billboard reports. Large events and gatherings are no longer forbidden; residents will be able to attend concerts and go to movie theatres and stadiums, where “seating shall be spaced out according to social distancing requirements”.
A Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services rep explained that concerts don’t have to follow the same capacity guidance as retail businesses. Still, concertgoers must remain at least six feet from each other. “There are currently no limitations on social gatherings as long as necessary precautions are taken and six feet of distance can be maintained between individuals and/or families

Details
China - Following the launch of Aqua LED 1700 Framing, PR Lighting has announced another new shutter blade device, the XRLED 3000-W Framing.
This new addition to the XRLED moving head series features the latest advanced 1200W white LED light source. In addition to its complete range of spotlight effects and features, the fixture’s four sets of framing blades offer “endless rotation, different size and shaped graphics, and a curtain effect in a module designed and patented by PR Lighting”.
This bright and powerful spot, which is suitable for any type of project, comes in two versions. The 6500K, 70 CRI, 55000 lumen version is suitable for concerts, major events and exhibitions while the 5600K 92 CRI 41000 lumen spot has been designed specifically for theatres, TV studios and corporate events.
Thanks to the design of the LED engine cooling system, the noise l

Details
Finland - Genelec is to donate a percentage of every sale of its new RAW loudspeaker range to the Audio Engineering Society (AES), for the remainder of this year. Additionally, Genelec will be funding 10 one-year AES memberships for those individuals whose lives have been impacted by the Covid-19 crisis.
Genelec managing director Siamak Naghian comments: “To us, the AES represents the only serious forum for the development of audio, and the work it does for our industry is invaluable. In its pursuit of excellence and dedication to raising the bar in the industry, it is without equal, and our approaches have much in common. We will do everything we can to help the Society through the ongoing crisis, and this donation is just one way of showing our support and appreciation for this much-loved institution.”
Genelec will donate a percentage of each global RAW sale to

Details
USA - Obsidian Control Systems is presenting a two-part live webinar series, Onyx on Set, to show how Obsidian’s Onyx lighting control platform is utilised in motion picture and television settings.
Hosted by Obsidian Control Systems product manager Matthias Hinrichs, the series airs 7 and 14 May and will include in-depth discussion and expert advice from professional film and TV programmers Chris Chalk and Phil Shearer, both of IATSE Local 728 in Los Angeles, along with programming specialist Tommy Sullivan of North Carolina.
Part 1 will take place on 7 May, 10:00-11:30am PT and comprise a round table discussion exploring how lighting programmers on motion picture and television sets utilise ONYX on a daily basis and how the lighting platform supports them in thi

Details
USA - St. Petersburg-based CP Communications has completed the systems integration of a custom-designed streaming media studio and control room that enables The Ironman Group - a Tampa-based sports event management company - to deliver live coverage of its branded multi-sport and marathon events over-the-top (OTT) via its website and Facebook Watch.
Owned by the Chinese Wanda Sports Group, The Ironman Group produces more than 235 race events across 55 countries worldwide. These include the Ironman Triathlon, which combines swimming, biking, and running into a single long-distance contest; the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series and more.
“With this new multipurpose facility, Ironman can now produce live video coverage of events remotely over IP, saving travel and crew costs for a faster ROI,” said Kurt Heitmann, CEO, CP Communications. “Bonded cellular - one

Details
USA - Sound designer Bill Chesley just got himself an EVO 4 audio interface for his new home studio space, where he continues to work on commercials for Walmart, Fedex, Nike and Guinness.
He decided to organise things ahead of the stay-at-home order announcement in New York State. “I’m in pretty close proximity to my actual studio, but thought I’d get a home set-up going in these unpredictable times,” he explains.
He co-runs the award-winning sound design collective, Henryboy with his wife, Kate Gibson where he uses an Audient iD22 audio interface. When considering a studio in their Brooklyn apartment, he was mindful of how much space he had to play with. “I gravitated towards EVO 4 because of its small footprint - it packs a lot of punch in a small space.” Which is exactly what he has to do now, with their multi-million dollar clients relying on them to co

Details
USA - As many broadcast stations are operating in a work-from-home environment amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, TSL Products has altered its R&D roadmap for the short term to meet the current needs of the industry.
Since TSL’s acquisition of DNF Controls in April 2019, the US team based out of Northridge, CA, has remained focused on the developing and supporting the Flex Control Network and range of Universal Control Panels.
“We have many customers across the United States who use our Flex Control Network for critical production and playout in news-based Hub and Spoke systems that connect network stations. Due to heightened demands in remote broadcasts, we recently altered our R&D to service our Flex customers and assist them in response to the pandemic,” says Fred Scott, regional sales manager U.S. at TSL and former sales director for DNF Controls.

Details
Latvia - With a warehouse full of touring gear grounded by Covid 19, Latvian rental company, 3S SIA quickly transformed its Riga headquarters into a fully equipped livestream performance space, including Allen & Heath dLive and Avantis systems.
Created in partnership with local broadcaster, TVNET, the resulting 3S Lockdown Sessions have reached tens of thousands of isolating music fans each week since they debuted in March, with livestreamed performances by popular artists including Latvian Blues Band, Aminata, Samanta Tina, Lauris Valters, Ozols, Indygo and Riga Reggae.
When devising a mixing system for the sessions, the 3S team did not have to look any further than its own extensive Allen & Heath inventory, which includes four dLive systems. A dLive S7000 Surface was paired up with a DM64 MixRack to mix the broadcast, with a gigaACE split enabling conn

Details
USA - With its gritty industrial warehouse looks, The Temple in Greensburg offered a powerfully evocative setting for SxWxP when the doom metal band was looking to shoot a video for its new song Cup of Sorrows. Only one thing was missing: a punchy, production level lighting rig. The band decided to transport their own lights from their Louisville base to this small Indiana town 90 miles away.
As a metal musician himself, Doug Taylor, manager of The Temple, was impressed not only with SxWxP’s growling performance, but also by the way their lightshow generated a volcanic eruption of visual energy that swept over the whole club. “This experience made us realise that we needed to replace our 25W party bulbs with a real lighting system,” explains Taylor, whose brother owns the club.
Convinced as he was by what he saw at the 23 February video shoot, Taylor embar
Page 628 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .