Business

Details

14 March 2016

The show, which was held in Detroit in January, showcased jaw-dropping exhibits, production and concept vehicles and exciting, fun-filled attractions. Among the displays was Volkswagen's eye-catching stand with 44m wide, custom made Phantom 30 frames set up in an arc on each side of a high resolution video wall.

Designer and technical coordinator Ulrich Schmidt-Kalteich of Lightidee, Germany, specified the Phantom because of its transparency, brightness and static possibilities. He says: "The client's brief stated high brightness and transparency from both sides - front and back - with a clean, architecturally unobtrusive outfit. In order to soften the image for people close-up, we placed a voile fabric in fron

Details

14 March 2016

Over 400 clients, suppliers and staff joined the company to celebrate in Hawthorns' recently acquired third warehouse, which had been transformed into a nightclub party venue for the evening. Following the acquisition of this new unit, Hawthorns' Leicester head office now exceeds 100,000sq.ft, with further mezzanines planned for the spring.

MD Martin Hawthorn commented: "I wanted to take the opportunity to thank our customers and 110 full-time staff for helping to keep the business going over the years by making it our best party yet. It was also a fantastic opportunity for staff from all three of the Hawthorn offices to meet up and put a face to a name. I'm not sure where the last 21 years have gone, but I'm already lo

Details

14 March 2016

The roof was erected in Thuwal, a small village on the Red Sea coast to the north of Jeddah, and was the setting for a foundation stone laying ceremony to launch KAUST - the SR10 billion King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud himself laid the cornerstone. The occasion was marked with a groundbreaking ceremony. KAUST is intended to help Saudi Arabia have a world-class independent scientific research centre that acts as a scientific base and a driving force for the national economy.

Serious was

Details

14 March 2016

The Gearhouse set-up for Elton John in Newlands was the biggest line array PA ever used in South Africa. Main left and right was 12 a side V-DOSC with two dV-DOSC down-fills and six KUDO side as outer hangs. Delays were on Gearhouse's TFL V-Towers with nine KUDO on each and outer delays, also on towers, of nine dV-DOSC a side. An additional four dV-DOSC were deployed as front- fills.

Ofer Lapid, MD of Gearhouse SA, heard the new PA for the first time in CT. Speaking at the show he said, "Even as a lighting guy I know when I hear excellent sound because the hairs on my arms stand on end. This is what happened when I heard the V-DOSC at Newlands. I am very happy with the purchase."

The Elton John crew then moved to Durban for another outdoor s

Details

14 March 2016

Adam Pastorek, president of Martin distributor Adam A Syn s.r.o., together with director Peter Nunez, set designer Marek Holly and chief cameraman Vlado Valko, decided on a modern set design featuring the Martin LC Series LED video screens.

Dominating the set design upstage centre was a large LED video wall consisting of 28 LC 2140 panels vertically divided so they could open for competitors to enter the stage. It was the LC Series' versatility and light weight that allowed for this entrance "gate" to be realized. Stage right and left were more LC Series pane

Details

14 March 2016

Ame Strong, Rosco's colour filter product manager says, "I am impressed at how easy it is to apply for a grant by simply downloading an Application from the website and also how quickly the grant applications are reviewed. It is wonderful that our industry is helping colleagues with doctor bills, health insurance payments, saving homes, and putting food on the table, as well as helping widows when they are suddenly alone. And I'm proud that Rosco's commitment is a gift that will continue far int

Details

14 March 2016

Handling tour production is Eighth Day Sound, who supplied the D5 consoles at FOH and monitors, along with d&b J- and Q-Series line arrays and subs, and Dolby Lake drives.

"I went online and got their standalone software and programmed my own console before I even sat in front of it," Colby raves. "I immediately fell in love with the struc

Details

14 March 2016

The Avini Hall is a 1,700-seat, multipurpose theatre and is the centrepiece of the Iranian capital's Bahman Culture Club. Not only is the Avini home to the Tehran Symphony Orchestra but it also hosts a wide variety of productions from musicals, plays and concerts to seminars and live TV and radio shows.

To meet the demands of this broad range of performances, the board of directors at the Bahman Culture Club decided to upgrade the sound system. Following a shoot-out between the main loudspeaker brands in Iran, Foujan Loudspeakers was chosen to supply a four-way, P Series system and was installed by their installation division.

MC2 Audio's T2000 and T4-250 amplifiers power the Foujan Loudspeakers at FOH, front-fi

Details

14 March 2016

"It did not take long for me to find my way around the control surface - it is very intuitive," comments monitor engineer, David Copin. "I love the precision of the EQ, the quality of the effects, and the surface ergonomics, which allow me to make adjustments without having to consult the touch screen."

Accompanied by the house orchestra, the band comprised 10 singers and five musicians performing on bass, guitars, drums, keyboard and accordion. Using an iDR10 mix rack with iLive-144 surface, L'Art Scene provided eight line stereo in-ear and eight line mono in-ear and wedge feeds.

"iLive is great for monitor a

Details

14 March 2016

Scotaudio technical director, Andy Greig, commented: "We needed loudspeakers that were aesthetically pleasing and could cope with the high humidity environment whilst delivering a solid and accurate reproduction in an acoustically live room - the Community I/O8 was a perfect choice. For some of the children who will use this facility, sound is one of the main senses they use to explore their environment, and we needed the best

Details

14 March 2016

"On the one hand, you have to provide even coverage to all 45,000 spectators attending the races, but on the other, you must avoid interfering with the efforts of colleagues to provide TV and radio coverage to those following the event from the comfort of their homes. And then there's t

Details

14 March 2016

Such is the demand for the R16 that the new panels were immediately put to work on the national annual celebration in Singapore, the Chingay Parade, which took place in February. JM Rental was appointed as the official LED Screen Partner for the iconic event, supplying a turnkey solution from technical support through media production. The key elements were the two 12.24m (W) x 9.12m (H) screens where the 30 Chingay Parade sponsors broadcast their bran

Details

14 March 2016

Dan Omerod is the live video director. Show director is Tim Byrne, the set has been designed by Iain Whitehouse from Production North and production manager is Sarah Hollis. The tour is being project managed for XL by Jo Beirne and Phil Mercer, and is one of a number of shows they are working on this spring for Leeds-based Production North in conjunction with Blink TV.

Phil Mercer adds, "As screen supplier for the recent ITV series it's been a good challenge for XL to adapt the system for touring whilst still maintaining the overall scale, variety and quality of the original TV studio based design."

Similar to the TV show, X-Factor Live is fast-paced and involves l

Details

14 March 2016

This year's theme was Wild at Heart. Bandit CEO, Michael T. Strickland and wife, Nicole Strickland co-chaired the event, which included silent and live auctions, and dancing to live music.

Lighting designer Steve Hoover chose to use Martin MAC 2000 Washes, Profiles and Performances, MAC 600s, MAC 300s, Vari*Lite 3500 Washes, Vari*Lite 3000 Spots,Coemar LED PARs, Color Kinetics 4 ft. iColor Accents and Bliss lights to light the event. Lighting was controlled by a Whole Hog II.

(Jim Evans)

Details

14 March 2016

With seven musicians on stage (drums, bass, percussion, two guitarists and two keyboard players), sequencer tracks and the five girls plus spares, the show is running around 109 inputs, including VT feeds and talkback mics.

Monitor engineer Matt Napier is using two D5s, one for the band and one for the girls, with both the musicians and Spice Girls using Ultimate ears UE7s with Sennheiser G2 IEMs, plus flown d&b C4 side-fills for the dancers.

"I decided to use two D5s as I wanted to be able to approach the in ear mixes for the girls in a different way to those for the musicians," he says. "The band all have a relatively conventional in ear mix, with minimum EQ and compression. For the girls, on the other hand, I

Details

14 March 2016

XTA DP224s managed the majority of the Adamson loudspeaker system used on the French leg of the tour. The main loudspeaker system consisted of 16 Adamson Y10 speakers - two racks, each containing a DP224, provided system control for eight cabinets apiece. DP224s also featured in the slave racks used for the Adamson T21 subs, as well as for the ground-stacked loudspeakers that consisted of eight Y10s. Eight Adamson SpekTrix and four SpekTrix bass were used as out-fills, once again managed by DP224s. And for lipfills, four SpekTrix were

Details

14 March 2016

Nottingham-based design and installation company OneBigStar has rejuvenated the venue for its owners Great Northern Inns.

Although OneBigStar has subsequently provided AV and lighting systems to other venues in the Great Northern Inns portfolio, the Southbank Bar was their first collaboration. An extensive refurbishment at the end of last year has produced an impressive video network of 12 HD plasma screens plus two large drop-down projection screens.

The screens are complemented by 12 Electro-Voice ZX1 full-range loudspeakers. "On a match day, this venue is absolutely packed with people," explains Simon Taylor of OneBi

Details

14 March 2016

Promoted by MCD, Ireland's National Music Awards have been held annually since 2001, and is held at the 7000-capacity RDS Simmonscourt pavilion in Dublin. The show was televised by RTÉ in a special programme directed by Niamh White.

CAVS have many years experience handling similar large-scale events for the Awards' production company, Diffusion Events, and have rigged many shows at the venue. For this event their crew included Brian Moran (head technician) and Malcolm MacDonald, on main stage, while in the media centres and VIP rooms were Neil Whelan, Austin Agnew, Jeff Doolin and Eoin Devitt.

"Fr

Details

14 March 2016

Presented by DHL, the event took place at the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theatre in December and was telecast to over 33 million homes throughout the United States and Latin America.

Because this award show was a high profile production, the team at Paradigm Production Services relied on the most dependable lighting products most certain to create a visual presentation that would be as dynamic to the studio audience as it was on screen.

"The Stagebar 54s were very effective," said Jorge Valdez of Paradigm Production Services. "They were a pleasure to work with." The Stagebars were located upstage and betw

Details

14 March 2016

Video For Lampies

A.C.'s Glyn O'Donoghue chairs a panel of industry experts to discuss the practical solutions for lighting and video hybrid systems. Featuring Mats Karlsson, Nigel Sadler and Lee House.

Moray McMillin - Live Sound Engineering - Helpful Tips From The School Of Life

Details to be confirmed.

Andy Lenthall - It's All Going Green

The drive towards low carbon, energy efficient, sustainable events continues. Whether the pressure comes from bands, legislation, your conscience or your client

Details

14 March 2016

Jim Dalia of Frequency Music comments: "You get what you pay for. Whether for portable or fixed install applications, the value in these Dynacord systems literally speaks for itself, night after night. You can hear the difference, that these are specifically designed as high quality solutions for small-to-medium entertainment installations like this. From the streamlined enclosures to the state of the art components inside, they sound superb and they're built to last-that's where their value lies."

A combination of D-Lite Sub 115 and Variline VL262 speakers are proving Dalia's point at Yabbas, a high

Details

14 March 2016

Andre Gilbert, president of Orion Software comments: "I am very proud to receive this prestigious award on behalf of our development team who have worked hard to create great software! Being voted as the most innovative Rental Software in the industry encourages us to stri

Details

14 March 2016

Blinding Light invested in a new Litec trussing system for the ice rink project, which was supplied by AC Lighting. With it they built a 32 x 32m box truss on a 7m high, eight-legged ground support system to surround the 30 x 30m ice rink. The rink is installed at the O2 for four months, taking advantage of the huge popularity of ice skating during the winter months.

Blinding Light's Patrick Stacey designed the rig for the ice. It had to be dynamic and flexible, and account for the fact that the rink is effectively operating in a daylight zone of the O2 for the majority of

Details

14 March 2016

"We have experienced a strong and consistent level of business growth due to the high demand for Meyer Sound products and services - our business has more than doubled in size over the last two years and we've increased our staff accordingly," says Jim Sides, managing director of Meyer Sound Germany. "We are elated to have the opportunity to move into a facility that is ideally suited, both in its location and amenities, to help us better serve our expanded base of customers and support our continuing growth and success in the German and Scandinavian markets."

The new location i