Details
UK - Culminating in a an innovative awards event, the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards' winners, including the best designed restaurant and the best designed bar, were announced and presented with their awards at Victoria House, London on 22 June.

In a bid to increase networking at its awards event the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards commissioned Cinimod Studio to create an effective and visually stimulating solution. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology was used to identify key visitors on the two 'networking pods' during the evening's proceedings.

The tags embedded in shortlisted designers and sponsors' name badges used radio signals to send their identity to antenna receivers. Projections then highlighted guests' key professional

Details
USA - Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 tour brings together the artist's urban edge, innovative video technology and live camera content creation that keeps screens director Drew Findley and video director Dirk Sanders on top of their game.

The city skyline video wall set, designed by UVA's Matt Clark, offers multiple video surfaces to create compelling imagery throughout the show but the real technical magic is in the complex video system. Sanders and Findley take full advantage of the capabilities afforded them by combining the Control Freak Encore DMX Bridge system with the PRG Mbox EXtreme v3 media server. Production Resource Group (PRG) provided a five-server system for the tour which has played arenas and stadiums around the around the world.

Sanders, who manages all the live camera feeds from backstage, explained the flow of the video system. "I am responsible for the ca

Details
UK - the Cubehenge installation at this year's Glastonbury festival proved popular, receiving rave reviews from web forums, blogs and even the Guardian newspaper. The full scale re-interpretation of Stonehenge, the famous stone circle, really came to life as the sun set and night closed in. Each cube was internally illuminated and individually controlled to provide a spectacular and rhythmic light show, complementing the acts performing in the Dance Village.

Cubehenge, the brainchild of Cubes Concept, was conceived last autumn with Glastonbury Festival in mind. Constructed using IBCs (1000 litre containers usually employed in the transportation of liquids), each cube was fitted with an LED colour changing unit supplied by UK distributor Batmink Ltd and was individually controlled via DMX using ChamSys MagicQ software and Mini Wing controller.

The 40m diameter installation cons

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
UK - Hawthorn recently assisted a major national youth organisation celebrate its100th birthday. Hawthorn's brief was to turn an overflow car park into an arena concert venue for 5,000 young people.

Hawthorn provided all technical and site services for the event including power, lighting, sound, staging and site services. During the event and licensing stages of the project, the team worked closely with the Venue and the Licensing Authority on both health and safety and noise restrictions.

Hawthorn's project manager, Chris Knight, commented, "It's great to be involved in this important Centenary event and see so many people have such a great time."

A total of eight acts performed, combined with a birthday address from the head of the organisation. Between the acts members of the organisation performed on the front of the stage whilst the rear was set for the next a

Details
Australia - The 'Logies' are the Australian TV industry's annual awards and for many years have been broadcast live in Australia by GTV9, part of the Nine Network of Australia. Named after John Logie Baird, the inventor of television, the event was again held at the Palladium Ballroom, Crown Towers in Melbourne with the 'Who's Who' of Australia's TV personalities in attendance.

This year's lighting design included 33 video screens spread around the room, being controlled by a total of nine Media Servers from both Green Hippo and Pandoras Box. LSC Clarity lighting and multimedia control system was chosen to control this major element of the show.

Having seen Clarity's ability to control Media Servers so easily, LD Rohan Thornton specified a control system based around a VX20 wing, a VX10 wing and Clarity software outputting four universes for control of all Media Servers on the

Details
UK - Maurice Marshal, MBE and co-founder of Stage Electrics, died on Saturday 10 July 2010 following a courageous fight against cancer, aged 76. A life-long passion for the technical side of theatre saw Maurice pursue a dual career as a partner in Stage Electrics and also as chief electrician at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter, where he launched the careers of a number of the country's top stage lighting designers and technicians. His services to drama and his commitment to training in theatre resulted in him being awarded an MBE in 2009.

Maurice co-founded Stage Electrics with David Whitehead in 1979, and the company has grown into an internationally trading business with a turnover of £27.5 million. Recently, with the onset of illness, Maurice has helped create the current management structure to ensure that the company continues to thrive without his guidance.

His lon

Details
UK - AC-ET's Audio division, recently selected as an accredited UK sub-distributor for Sound Technology's range of exclusive international brands, are holding a demo day for the Soundcraft Vi1 digital mixing console. The event will be held in conjunction with Soundcraft at AC-ET's Northern sales office in Leeds on Wednesday, 11 August 2010.

Attendees will receive a presentation and hands-on demonstration of the Soundcraft Vi1 digital console, covering key features such as the Vistonics user interface.

The day will also feature training and discussions into techniques and applications in live situations.

Details
Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden has announced the first batch of winners from their recent competition for fans of their Facebook group page.

"Although the contest was held last month, we've been focusing on our newest product line, so we postponed the drawing," says CEO Niclas Arvidsson, "We plan to hold regular competitions through the group site throughout the year, so people that join the group now still have future opportunities to win. It has turned out to be a fun and efficient way to communicate with our customers and users of W-DMX products so we want to encourage its growth and reward our members."

The winners are: Henrik Vaaben, Scott Peterson, Udo Thimm, Adam Moffat, Adis Spahic, Anne Sarmanne, Ashley Reeves, Audun Bull Hansen, Aziz Adilkhodjaev, Bo Thögersen, Broyden Mills, Charles A Versnel, Craig Beatson, Dalibor Golic, Erlwin de Gans, Gus

Details
UK - PLASA Events and The Theatres Trust have announced the first Ecovenue feature at this year's PLASA Show focusing on sustainable practices and technologies for theatres and performing arts venues.

PLASA 2010, which runs from the 12-15 September at Earls Court in London, is a major platform for the launch and promotion of innovative new ideas emerging across the event, entertainment and installation industries. The Theatres Trust's Ecovenue feature is a significant new addition to the event, designed to showcase the pioneering environmental efficiency practices being implemented across London venues.

The venues profiled in this uniquely designed 'theatrical' showcase are all participating in the Trust's European-funded Ecovenue project, designed to improve the environmental performance of 48 London theatres. Amongst those featured will be the Albany Theatre (Deptford), the

Details
USA - Synthe FX has announced the immediate release of Luminair for iPad, it's new desktop-class multi-touch DMX lighting control app for Apple's iPad. Luminair uses the Art-Net protocol to transmit DMX data over Wi-Fi, giving users wireless control of colour mixable LED fixtures, dimmers, studio lighting, moving lights, media servers, and any other DMX enabled equipment.

Luminair for iPad is billed as "a giant leap forward from its related iPhone version", and includes new features like instantly editable quick-touch cues, project-based draggable colour swatches, popup contextual controls, external keyboard support, and a user-configurable UI.

"Luminair for iPad is the result of over two and a half years of multi-touch development, and is one of the most exciting new products currently making waves in the entertainment and LED lighting markets", says compa

Details
Denmark - Martin Professional has appointed Jessica Allan as new business area manager - touring & production for Martin's Danish-based EMEA sales organization.

Having worked as a sales manager in the UK for the past seven years, in her new role Allan will primarily focus on identifying new trends, as well as expanding services and strengthening relationships with LDs and key customers European-wide, in one of the company's key market areas.

"For the past seven years I've been lucky enough to work with a great customer base within the UK, which has included numerous companies, venues and freelancers, many of whom have become lifelong friends," says Allan. "This new role will be a natural progression to do the same European-wide in a market area that I really enjoy working in. It is also perfect timing as we have launched a number of new and exciting products so

Details
The Netherlands - After more than 10 years' experience in their native Belgium, Plopsaland theme park operators Studio 100 have now successfully exported the concept, which includes Plopsa De Panne on the Belgian coast and Plopsa Indoors in Hasselt. Now the first Plopsaland indoor theme park has opened in Holland, with all audio equipment supplied by Ampco Belgium.

The latest construction in the city of Coevorden - situated in the north-east of Holland, and next to CenterParcs - took less than nine months to complete, a considerable achievement since the construction spans more than 10.000sq.m.

The attractions vary from roller coaster rides, turning frogs, carousel, boxcars to a disco featuring the popular girl band K3. Each day the park hosts a different live theatre show and each year they welcome some 400,000 visitors.

Ampco Belgium were again invited to mastermind the so

Details
USA - NASCAR races have evolved to include events beyond what happens on the track. Racing venues now offer a wide range of entertainment, including top national acts performing before the drivers start their engines.

At the legendary Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, a new audio system, featuring 101 Community R.5HPT loudspeakers and 50 R.5-SUB subwoofers, has raised the bar.

Chris Ogles of Oxford, AL-based Sound Solutions reports that a demo of the new system in September 2009 left quite an impression. "It made such an impact that the president of the speedway came to us right there on the spot during the demo and asked if they could have the system installed by the next race in November," he says.

Ogles, who has served on Talladega's track AV crew for five years, explains that the bandwidth of yesterday's horn loudspeakers limits their usefulness in

Details
Europe - Following the successful American, Australian & European legs of Muse's The Resistance tour, a further nine large-scale stadium dates have been added. Brilliant Stages created a completely new stage set for the stadium venues, based on the design concepts of Oli Metcalfe and Es Devin, with technical realisation by Malcolm Birkett, and produced by Chris Vaughan of The Production Office.

The stadium set consists of a 62m long video header, a suspended ceiling grid, a diamond shaped stage flanked by projection screens, drum riser fascias and on- and off-stage rear fascias, a tracking B stage with inset revolving scissor lift and tech bunkers and screamers.

The dominant feature is the video header which appears as a forced perspective ranging from 13.25m high downstage to 4.5m high upstage. Brilliant Stages' CAD team, managed by Kevin Edwards, devised the logistics

Details
Tour News - Ticket sales for major concert tours across North America have fallen to their lowest point since 2005, a US trade publication has said. During the first half of the year, the top 100 tours made a total of $965.5m (£636.2m), the lowest since 2005 when gross revenue was $730.9m (£481.6m). It marks a 17% decrease from the same period last year.

Pollstar magazine said an average of 6,951 tickets per show were sold, down 9% from the same period in 2009. The information comes just after it was announced that two weeks have been cut from the American Idol tour. Promoters Live Nation said eight shows by the Idol finalists, including winner Lee DeWyze and runner-up Crystal Bowersox, have been dropped. The Jonas Brothers, The Eagles, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, John Mayer and Limp Bizkit have all pulled summer dates in the US.

Influential Music

Details
USA - ETC Eos lighting control systems continue to be installed in theatres and venues across the USA.

The San Diego Opera upgraded to an ETC Eos system because the lighting team was looking for a system that could handle the number of scrollers they had acquired over time and could easily control moving lights when a show called for them.

Their control system consists of two Eos desks - one for the tech table and another on the network backstage - as well as an RVI (Remote Video Interface) and an RFR (Radio Focus Remote), allowing different members of their lighting staff to work throughout the theatre to programme shows. Chris Rynne, former resident lighting associate and lighting designer for the San Diego Opera, says, "I love the board. It's cleaner and more intuitive. It's easy to use for people who have theatre and integrated work. Eos makes it quick and easy to pai

Details
UK - Several of the UK's leading sound rental companies have been quick to add Soundcraft's new Vi1 digital console - the latest, and smallest addition to its Vi family - to their own touring inventories.

Soundcraft has taken the platform to another, more affordable level with the release of the Vi1, which inherits many of the key features of its larger siblings, including Soundcraft FaderGlow, four stereo Lexicon effects engines, BSS Audio graphic EQs on all output busses, and integral dynamics on all channels. The desk is also compatible with Vi2, Vi4 and Vi6 show files.

The Vi1 is Soundcraft's response to market demand for a lower-priced desk with these facilities, but still built around the Vistonics interface.

"It's a small-format desk with big format functionality," summarises Eddie Thomas of ETASound, currently in the midst of a major inventory overhaul. &qu

Details
USA - Philips Vari-Lite reports that the new VL550 Wash and Vl1100 ERS luminaires are now shipping. Updating the current VL500 Wash and VL1000 ERS luminaire models, the new VL550 and VL1100 series have undergone design enhancements to provide a more quiet and smooth operation, while maintaining the same power and performance of their predecessors. Plus, each series now offers a 315W ceramic discharge lamp model, demonstrating the Philips Vari-Lite commitment to being a market leader in eco-friendly lighting technology.

"As part of our responsibility to offer ongoing engineering improvements to all our product lines, we are excited to now be shipping the VL550 and VL1100 luminaires," stated Bob Schacherl, vice president of sales and marketing. "We feel that by introducing these latest improvements, we are ensuring the sustainability of the product lines and solidif

Details
UK - Stage Technologies has been recognised in two top business league tables published by the Sunday Times.

In September 2009, London-based Stage Technologies was listed number 52 in the ninth annual Sunday Times Tech Track 100, sponsored by Microsoft. Tech Track 100 ranks Britain's 100 fastest-growing private technology companies.

In a corroborating follow-up this month, the company has been picked out at number 48 in a new listing published on 11 July, International Track 100, which ranks Britain's private companies with the fastest-growing international sales, highlighting important contributions being made overseas.

Stage Technologies has strong regional presences in Las Vegas, where the company has been providing equipment for opera houses and educational performance venues as well as for high-technology, Vegas spectacular shows; Macau, where the c

Details
UK/USA - Magenta Research and True Colours are to co-host a day of training seminars launching the new Voyager Series to systems integrators, installers, resellers and end users in the UK Pro-AV, broadcasting and digital signage markets. The seminars will take place at The Runnymead Hotel in Egham on Monday 26 July.

Magenta's president and CEO Bob Michaels will be attending the event and will deliver an introductory note. Rob Muddiman, Magenta's European sales and marketing manager, will present the Voyager Fibre Optic Signal Distribution Platform to delegates.

"With the high frequency of change in connection types and the ever increasing integration of HDCP protected content into AV installations, the unprecedented functionality, flexibility, performance and cost of the Voyager series truly makes it the future of AV extension and matrix switching," says Muddiman.

Details
Poland - Mazowsze, Poland's national folk song and dance ensemble, has installed an Aviom Pro16 personal mixing system, an important element of the audio setup in its newly constructed theatre located at the European Regional and National Culture Promotion Centre in Karolin. Designed by Konsbud-Audio in Warsaw for the most demanding concerts and musical events, the Spectacle-Education Hall houses the Aviom Pro16 system, which has made difficult sound checks a thing of the past for engineers and Mazowsze musicians.

Mazowsze focuses on historical folk dances well-known throughout Poland. Its internationally famous performances, rich in Polish tradition, explore and define the identity and development of the country's culture. The colourful and creative costumes worn by the dancers complement the upbeat and often fast-paced music that, prior to the installation of the Aviom Pro16,

Page 2519 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .

PLASA Media Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 4111709 - VAT Number GB 762 5913 14
PLASA Media Ltd, Redoubt House, 1 Edward Road, Eastbourne, BN23 8AS, UK Tel: +44 (0)1323 524120

 

login