France - The eyes of the global gaming community were focused on the spectacular final of Riot Games’ League of Legends World Championship in November as teams battled to be crowned the 2019 winners.
An estimated 100m people live streamed the tournament, with a capacity 20,000 in attendance at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris. With due modesty, Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent described the final as “the biggest event in the history of esports”.
A grand opening ceremony kickstarted proceedings, with new projection technology simulating immersive holographs interacting with real-life singers and dancers.
TSL Lighting worked with production company Concom and lighting designers Arnold Serame of Serame Design and LeRoy Bennett of Seven Design Works to supply, delive

UAE - JoeCo is growing its reach in the Middle East thanks to a new distribution relationship with Provision AVL. The Dubai-based distributor will now represent the brand across the GCC region and follows hot on the heels of a similar deal with Boujikian Bros in Lebanon. The new relationships mean that the manufacturer has direct representatives in every territory across the Middle East.
“We had been looking for some time to find the right partners for JoeCo in Middle Eastern territories,” explains Graham Murray, business development at JoeCo. “We feel it is important to have strong partners and a local presence to promote and backup JoeCo equipment sales. Provision AVL can provide the facility to support local customers and effectively promote JoeCo solutions to the Middle Eastern markets. After spending a few days with Kevin and seeing him and his team in action, it

Germany - From 4-10 November, Berlin was transformed into an open-air exhibition and event venue as part of a large-scale festival. Used to illuminate a 150m long artistic Skynet along Straße des 17. Juni, as well as a large festival-ending stage show at Brandenburg Gate, were Elation weatherproof Proteus and Paladin series luminaires. celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
The city honoured the peaceful revolution of the autumn of 1989 with numerous exhibitions, events and art projects. One of the most interesting was a Skynet of approximately 120,000 ultra-light, partially reflective flags onto which 30,000 people from all over the world had inscribed with handwritten messages and memories of the events of 30 years ago. Installed on behalf of the Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH, the Skynet was the creation of Patrick Shearn and his team at the American
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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

Call to Arms - Industry leaders including National Theatre bosses Rufus Norris and Lisa Burger and Bristol Old Vic’s artistic director Tom Morris are calling on the sector to band together to fight for increased arts investment from a new government. They have issued the call to arms in an attempt to undo the effects of austerity-era cuts.
Their demands for increased arts funding from central government come alongside warnings that the regional theatre sector could “fall over” if support does not increase, and that the crisis facing organisations nationwide is “sharper and more acute” than has so far been publicly acknowledged.
As the UK prepares to head to the polls and with both Labour and the Conservatives promising a boost to public spending, theatre bosses have claimed now is the moment for a major policy shift around arts funding.
Morris said: “

UK - Production AV's concert touring services expansion is on track as the company appoints video and sound technician Nathan Dunbar as technical project manager.
Dunbar brings industry knowledge, experience and contacts in the sector, having worked on some of Europe’s largest AV projects including Glastonbury, UK-produced Hollywood movies and the MTV Europe Music Awards.
“We’re thrilled that Nathan has joined our growing team as Production AV looks to expand the scope of our projects and services in 2020,” says MD Pete McCrea. “His kit know-how, contacts and standing in our industry is an incredible asset to Production AV as we look to further strengthen our live music offering. We look forward to working with Nathan to achieve our goals in this next stage of growth.”
Dunbar comments: “I wanted to join a company where I could feel part of the famil

USA - ChamSys has become one of the first lighting console manufacturers to release software capable of importing GDTF personality files directly.
The company’s ChamSys MagicQ software is free to download for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It supports an output on up to 64 universes without additional hardware or dongles, making it an ideal test platform for GDTF.
In addition to importing the basic channel information from GDTF, the MagicQ inbuilt MagicVis 3D visualisation and plot views will automatically make use of 3D and 2D information provided in the GDTF files.
Demoed at LDI, ChamSys MagicQ software with the ability to import GDTF personality files received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic reception from all who saw it.
Chris Kennedy, ChamSys’ software director, comments: "ChamSys is a strong supporter of GDTF and the philosophy behind it. The entertai

Japan - Evidence of the increasing popularity of Calibre UK’s solutions, and of its rapidly growing network of partners, could be found at the recent Inter BEE (International Broadcast Equipment Exhibition) in Japan.
At the Makuhari Messe in Chiba City, Calibre’s range was present on the stands of two exhibitors - Techno House and ARK Ventures. Techno House distributes the HQPro1000 and LEDView scaler/switcher products, while AZBAY - of whom ARK Ventures is a customer - is responsible for sales of Calibre’s innovative All-in-One LED Display solution.
“The technology leadership built into our platforms is finding widespread acceptance in growing numbers of highly complex projects in a broad range of applications,” said Willy Tsai, managing director of Calibre UK. “End users and resellers alike are recognising that, when it comes to the collaborative enterpri

Robe equipment was chosen to be part of a new permanent multimedia spectacular, From Dusk to Dawn, which is projected onto the western slope of Masada Mountain near the Dead Sea in Israel.
The area is operated by Israel Nature and Parks, a government organisation that manages nature reserves and national parks across the country. This environment is also a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site.
Robe BMFL Blades and IP rated Robe ColorStrobes are now a main part of the light show designed by Eran Klein & Ben Alon from Cochavi & Klein light architects which supports the new large format (approx. 120m wide and 60m high) video images which are mapped onto the mountain’s rugged terrain.
The lighting supports the moving images and the narrative as it covers this vast canvass with a series of special lighting and effects, complete with a dramatic soundtrack

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has supplied Dynamic Audio Device (D.A.D.) loudspeakers to The Point venue in Eastleigh, to deliver high-fidelity performance for its annual programme of outdoor events and other offsite activities.
The Point attracts British & international artists in contemporary dance, theatre, comedy & film. In 2015 it became one of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations - recognising its cultural importance to the creative community.
Each year The Point’s outdoor pop-up live music, festival, cinema & family events are held in the venue’s grounds and nearby public spaces, bringing together the local and creative communities.
When the venue’s technical manager, Tim Slater was looking to invest in new PA loudspeakers for future outdoor events, he contacted Steve Eaton, sales executive in AC-ET’s

India - Although holding a degree in medicine, Dr. Rajesh Khade is the son of a professional musician and his passion for music and audio and desire to connect artists with their audiences eventually led to him becoming a sound engineer or, to be more precise, a system engineer and official Smaart Trainer in his home country of India.
In recent years, Khade’s work in the audio field has enabled him to build up considerable experience with major PA brands, worked as a system engineer for numerous events with major acts across India, as well as holding his own system engineering courses.
He became a Smaart Instructor in 2019 and hosts training sessions throughout India in English, Hindi and Marathi. This work brought him into contact with German system technician and Smaart Instructor Michael Häck, who introduced him to Outline’s new Newton processor, which he use

Denmark - Designed by award-winning architects Henning Larsen AS, Moesgaard Museum (MOMU) is one of Denmark’s leading attractions. Built into and rising up from the rolling hills overlooking Aarhus Bay, MOMU blends ancient artefacts with modern technology to bring the past alive.
The latest exhibition, Bound for disaster - Pompeii and Herculaneum, brings to life the events that unfolded around the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, killing an estimated 2,500 people. The sound design for this new audio-visual experience was created by exhibition soundscape specialist, Søren Bendixen of Audiotect, and is built entirely around Genelec’s new 4430 Smart IP loudspeakers. Combined with the scenography, video mapping and lighting, the soundscape immerses visitors in the pre-disaster atmosphere of the lively city of Pompeii, before leading them into the pos

Germany - WHU - Otto Bensheim School of Management is a business school with campuses in Vallendar/Koblenz and Düsseldorf serving over 1,500 students.
In recent years, this privately-funded university began investing in networked learning with a goal to record lectures using the latest AV and remote camera technology for the benefit of all its students.
A comprehensive Panopto system plus a Creston signal management and media control system were installed in the university’s lecture halls to provide quality video.
Having planned and installed the video recording systems for the lecture halls, the AV integrator specialists at SIGMA realised that voice transmission confronted them with a very challenging scenario.
“The client required a microphone solution across several lecture halls and seminar rooms. Students should be able to participate without nee

USA - Famed for his struggles with stage props, attempts to smuggle vegetables through airport security and a Big Bottom, former Spinal Tap bass guitarist Derek Smalls recently delighted fans by inviting them to ‘rock til you sit’ at Lukewarm Water Live, a one date tour of the US West Coast. Increasing age may have brought Derek a subtle change of hair colour but, with a Yamaha PM7 digital mixing system on monitors, he delivered the full majesty of rock.
Playing songs from his 2018 solo album Smalls Change (Meditations Upon Ageing) alongside classics by his former band (formerly known as Spinal Tap), Smalls - known to some as comedian Harry Shearer - invited a star-studded line-up to perform alongside him and a full symphony orchestra.
“This was the first time I mixed a show on Rivage PM7,” says monitor engineer Gabriele Nicotra, who has also work

China - Hangzhou, the capital of the Zhejiang province, is home to a new One Third club destination located in a former locomotive depot, another of the NOA’s Arc Group’s entertainment ventures.
The third in the chain (including one in Beijing), the 2,500-capacity dance venue, specialising in Hard style, has been equipped with Martin Audio’s MLA Multicellular Loudspeaker Array.
This was supplied to the Dutch creative team, Live Legends, and their creative director Daan Oomen by Martin Audio’s Chinese distributor, Sino Hui Feng, who worked hard to win the project with the Martin Audio bid to ensure One Third Hangzhou stands out in a competitive marketplace.
The One Third vibe is all about the story of an old locomotive factory that comes to life. Live Legends delivered all creative elements from concept to execution, including show production, interior and

South Africa - Richard Smith of DWR Distribution, an L-Acoustics authorised training centre, recently headed up L-Acoustics certified training for a group of technicians at the company’s offices in Johannesburg.
The two-day training course provides technicians with both the technical and practical skills and certification needed to operate a range of L-Acoustics professional sound systems.
Under the guidance of Richard Smith, who has served as a brand ambassador for L-Acoustics in Africa for over a decade, attendees are taught all that they need to know to operate L-Acoustics’ Kara, Kiva II and K2 professional audio system. Smith is a passionate and committed teacher and trainer and takes enormous pleasure in passing on his years of knowledge and experience to a new generation of L-Acoustics Certified Technicians.
“I have always loved teaching and try to t

UK - This year’s Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo undertook one of its biggest technological transformations to date (read more about this in the December issue of LSi, coming soon). For the first time in its history, the vast and complex event trusted its audio control to an audio tracking system, implementing the largest TiMax TrackerD4 precision stagetracking system yet, controlling a pair of Out Board’s TiMax SoundHub-S64 spatial audio processors featuring new HARDCore FPGA processing - all supplied by Wigwam Acoustics.
Since 2014, sound designer, Seb Frost, has overseen the execution of audio reinforcement for the event, in which a continuously moving cast of over 1000 military musicians march through Edinburgh Castle’s parade ground in increasingly complex configurations.
Frost claims, “TiMax TrackerD4 dramatically improved the accuracy and resolution of t

UK - Television lighting director Bernie Davis successfully trialled the new VL2600 Profile LED luminaire from Vari-Lite on the BBC Proms classical music festival this summer.
Staged through August and September at London’s Royal Albert Hall, the BBC Proms has an intense schedule, with concerts broadcast daily on BBC Radio and many performances recorded or broadcast live on BBC Television. With such time pressures, it’s essential for lighting fixtures to be reliable and versatile, but also quiet in operation and great-looking on camera.
“I was looking for a good, programmable profile spot that would be quiet enough for use on the Proms yet flexible enough to provide a high-quality light source with good zoom range, good shuttering on a flat field, and colour suitable for camera,” says Davis.
Having seen a demo of VL2600 Profile, Davis decided to trial the

Italy - After captivating the Stade De France in Paris and the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt, Rockin’1000 brought their That’s Live - No Borders, On Board tour to Italy, landing in Milan and hosting two special guests, Manuel Agnelli from Afterhours (joined by Rodrigo D’Erasmo), and Subsonica.
The band originally found fame on 26 July 2015 at the Ippodromo Park in Cesena, where the 1,000-piece band played Learn to Fly in an effort to convince Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl to perform live in Italy (which happened the following November). Since then, the Thousand have been organising concerts around the world.
The band’s latest appearance - an outdoor show at newly renovated Milano-Linate airport - required the combined audio firepower of Outline’s GTO system and Powersoft’s K and X Series amplifiers to match up to the sheer the size of the

Europe - The recent European tour by a-ha saw the introduction of 10-bit video into the world of concert touring (full production report coming up in LSi December, out later this week).
Content was produced by the band’s chosen video creative, Knut Helgeland and realised live by Icarus Wilson-Wright. Alex Leinster of Video Design, who oversaw the upscaling of technological standards, outlines the challenges: “There were three important issues to be addressed - how to render out Helgeland’s content in 10-bit; finding an LED screen that could accept the 10-bit source natively, and creating the backbone to transport and manage the data traffic flows.
“Icarus had obviously been thinking about this for some time,” he continues. “I think the content he saw being developed by Helgeland was so beautiful that he felt this was the ideal opportunity - that the result

USA - In addition to the 11 new lighting fixtures and LED video panels announced in the run-up to the event, ADJ used LDI 2019 to launch four extra products.
The Encore Profile Pro range is a new series of professional LED-powered ellipsoidal fixtures designed for theatrical, broadcast and performance environments. The Focus Spot 6Z and Focus Wash 400, meanwhile, are head luminaires that join the ranks of ADJ’s popular Focus Series.
The Focus Spot 6Z harnesses the power of a 300W cool white LED engine and pairs it with precision-engineered optics to create an impressively sharp and bright output. While still retaining a compact design, this is ADJ’s most feature-rich Focus Series moving head to date.
Bringing a dedicated wash luminaire to the Focus Series for the first time, the new Focus Wash 400 features a 400W HEX LED engine (red, green, blue, amber, cyan

USA - Claypaky launched a North America operation and enjoyed award success at the recent LDI tradeshow held in Las Vegas.
The company’s European and American team joined forces on the stand, designed in keeping with the ‘It's Real’ marketing campaign that marked the launch of the laser-source beam moving head, Xtylos, in North America. Dedicated demos took place every hour and visitors also saw the Mini-B, the HY B-EYE, the Axcor series fixtures; the Sharpy Plus, and three fixtures which made their world premieres - Sharpy Plus AQUA, ReflectXion and CloudIO.
Meanwhile, Xtylos took home two LDI Awards, winning the Best Debuting Product Award and the Best Advancement in Lamp Technology Award.
Claypaky CEO Marcus Graser comments: “We have invested a lot of resources in recent years, not just to create an innovative luminaire, but to conceive and develop a t

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