CAST Group of Companies announced the appointment of Nicholas Lau as Product Manager for BlackTrax and Jose Fernandez as Assistant Product Manager. Nicholas Lau brings a unique blend of technical expertise and a deep understanding of the product. Lau’s journey with CAST started in 2018, and he has since played a role in the delivery of large-scale productions, internal testing, and client technical support. “The intelligence ingrained within the core of BlackTrax provides ample room for growth. Given the ongoing advancements in tracking and automation technology, coupled with the scalability and reliability inherent in BlackTrax, we find ourselves in an…
Author: Alicia Pollitt
LMG Touring announced its expansion into London. With a track record of supporting thousands of tours, concerts, and festivals, LMG Touring & Entertainment is the point of contact for all things technical. LMG Touring is a full-service Audio, Video and Lighting with over 175 million dollars in inventory supporting artists such as J Cole, Paramore, Childish Gambino, Ariana Grande, Noah Kahan, Volbeat, Train, Lauv, and many more. Craig Mitchell, Managing Director of LMG Touring, commented, “Our entry into London perfectly aligns with our commitment to serving clients on a global scale. Many of our clients tour globally and opening in…
HARMAN Professional Solutions announced its Martin ERA 700 Performance IP, an LED-based profile fixture, designed for permanent outdoor entertainment use, to complete Martin’s ERA family of fixtures. The ERA 700 Performance IP is engineered to withstand extreme environmental conditions, making it suitable for larger outdoor shows, rental applications, and architainment installations. Despite its 26,000 lumens power, the ERA 700 Performance IP stands at a compact height of only 759mm and weighs below 40kg. The ERA 700 Performance IP can operate in a wide range of temperatures and boasts C5M marine-grade salinity protection which shields the fixture against harsh elements. Its…
L-Acoustics hosted a destruction event to mark the disposal of counterfeit speakers recently seized following a judgment by the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, which ordered Se7ven Sounds Music to pay damages of $5 million US dollars to L-Acoustics and granted L-Acoustics the right to destroy the 136 counterfeit professional speakers confiscated during the investigation. L-Acoustics invited local rental partners to destroy several counterfeit speakers, subwoofers, and amplified controllers before delivering them to an independent sustainability firm that will recover and repurpose the fake products’ raw materials. “This event allowed our partners whose businesses were…
The 2023 Lollapalooza Berlin event at Olympiapark utilised a major Robe moving light installation, with almost 500 Robe fixtures – over 75 on the Alternative Stage, over 125 on Main Stage North and over 250 on Main Stage South, plus some on Perry’s stage. Lighting production was delivered to the Main Stage North by rental specialists TSE, Main Stage South by Media Resource Group (MRG), Alternative Stage by Sound Projekt (SPS) and Parry’s stage by Colour Sound Experiment. Robe’s ‘On the Road’ show truck was also on-site, located backstage left at Main Stage North, as for the first time at…
Vectorworks announced the release of its second update for the Vectorworks 2024 product line, delivering an array of performance improvements aimed at enhancing the overall quality of the product line. Update 2 delivers additional quality and performance improvements to entertainment professionals’ workflows. Improved cable tools make editing and modifying cables and cable routes more reliable. For Vision users, this update brings more support for GDTF files. providing compatibility with gLTF/glb-backed GDTF files, and GDTF-based conventional fixtures can be focused and saved directly within the Vision platform. This update is available to download for all currently released English-based versions of Vectorworks…
The three-day Summer Well event recently celebrated its 12th edition, utilising GLP lighting fixtures. Production manager, Vlad Darieis a confessed fan of GLP lighting fixtures, runs Film Location. So impressed was he when the JDC1 hybrid strobe first came out that he decided to invest personally for smaller shows he was producing, later adding FUSION Stick FS16 Z, followed by FUSION X-PAR 12Z and impression FR1. JDC1 in particular had caught his eye when he noticed a rider insisting that “no substitute product was permitted”. “The JDC1 is a benchmark, and I always expect to see this as a mandatory…
Lighting professionals are invited to Elation Booth #1342 ON December 3-5 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Highlights include the IP66-rated Proteus Hybrid MAX, the Proteus Odeon, and the Proteus Radius. New in Elation’s popular Fuze series is the Fuze Teatro, a fully automated yet fanless framing fixture for silent operation. New luminaires in the sought-after KL “Key Light” series will also be highlighted, including the KL CYC cyclorama/set/wall wash along with the all-in-one KL Spot IP, a fully automated static ellipsoidal fixture with zoom. Elation will be launching two new series of Par colour changers, the Six+ Par, an…
Ireland-based Lighting and Production Designer, Steven Douglas selected Claypaky Volero Wave fixtures and the Panify solution for Hozier’s Unreal Unearth Tour. Douglas took on his current role with Hozier for the artist’s previous album cycle. He was given a lot of creative latitude with the new show although Hozier was “heavily involved in how it looks since he’s quite artistic himself,” commented Douglas. The album’s theme is based around Dante’s nine circles of Hell, he noted: “We knew we wanted a moment in the show where we invert the entire stage and go underground so we have an automated truss…
The FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN SILVER LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX Opening Ceremony presented by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) was created and executive produced by Brian Burke Creative, along with stage architects STUFISH Entertainment Architects and lighting designer Tom Sutherland. The opening ceremony kicked off Grand Prix weekend with performances by musical artists, including Andra Day, Bishop Briggs, J Balvin, Journey, Keith Urban, Steve Aoki, Thirty Seconds to Mars, will.i.am, Kylie Minogue and more. The Las Vegas Grand Prix tapped entertainment visionary Brian Burke from Brian Burke Creative to help create the opening ceremony to life. “I have…
Munsick’s sound team was bolstered by the addition of a dedicated monitor engineer after they transitioned to a pair of DiGiCo Quantum225 consoles, supplied by Clair Global. Seth Hewson was Munsick’s initial FOH Engineer when the artist’s burgeoning career was still using what Hewson describes as a “Clair ‘band-in-a-box’” with a 32-input mixer and Shure PSM 1000 in-ears packaged together. “Ian and the band mixed their own ears using the app on their iPhones, with no monitor engineer,” he recalled. “I worked with Clair Global on the Quantum225 spec and we introduced the consoles at rehearsals back in March of…
Dodd Technologies has invested in 16 Claypaky Skylos laser-source searchlights. “We had several upcoming shows that needed outdoor fixtures capable of drawing people’s attention from miles away,” commented Andy Meggenhofen, Senior Vice President and Account Manager at Dodd Technologies. “There really hadn’t been anything new in searchlights since carbon arcs; nothing filled the bill for us that was compact and easy to handle until we saw Skylos.” He noted that Claypaky’s George Masek “is very good about keeping us abreast of new products and how they can help us solve problems and create art. Once he showed us Skylos and…
“ffp is the most creative pyro company I’ve ever worked with,” stated Morgan Wallen’s Production Manager Chad Guy. “Their proprietary special effects are second to none, and they are global leaders in their craft,” Guy noted. “I was a fan, long before we worked together. ffp is the preeminent pyro company in concert touring globally.” Patrick Murphy has worked with ffp extensively as well. “My initial experience with ffp was in 2013. Motley Crue was doing a residency in Las Vegas and production was looking for a different approach to pyro. Since then, I have worked with them on Motley…
ROE Visual will participate LDI 2023 at booth #877. Attendees can expect a large Topaz wall as centerstage, Graphite (GP 2.6), Carbon 5 MKII (CB5 MKII), Vanish (V8T), and ROE Strips. The LED video walls utilise Brompton Technology processing and are driven by disguise vx 2 and 2×4 pro media servers. The stage portion of the design incorporated Black Marble (BM2) panels powered by Megapixel processing. Another first for the North American team, SMPTE2110 will be utilised for the flooring via Megapixel’s HELIOS processor. The lighting is being provided by Elation Professional. www.roevisual.com
Some 80 Proteus Maximus, 18 Proteus Excalibur, 84 DTW Blinder 700 IP and 80 DTW Blinder 350 IP luminaires from Elation, were all used by the lighting design team at Paradox Production and Design and 4Wall Entertainment, led by 4Wall Account Executive and Production Manager, Dallas Gaspar. Gaspar commented on the opportunity to be involved in such a monumental event: “It was amazing! I grew up listening to AC/DC and Metallica so it was a great full-circle moment for me to help design the stage that those bands signed off on and played on. I was awestruck by the production…
Robe Lighting France will now coordinate sales and technical support for the Avolites brand throughout the French territory, starting from 13 November 2023. Bruno Garros, general manager of Robe Lighting France, commented: “Firstly I’d like to thank the teams at previous Avolites distributor Algam for their professionalism throughout the transition period. Going forward, this is a fantastic opportunity for us to work with a truly iconic lighting and control brand with a reputation for quality, ingenuity and accessibility, and this level of vertical development has always been part of Robe France’s overall strategy since its establishment in 2015.” He continued,:”Similar…
Among the highlights of the Bière à Lille week-long festival this year was Nuit du BAL, an electro-pop show headlined by Martin Solveig which relied on CHAUVET Professional fixtures supplied by Alive Group and designed by Valentin Lemarquier. Lemarquier created bold looks that reflected the music and personality of each artist. Among the fixtures in his rig were 14 STRIKE Array 2 blinders that provided dramatic exclamation points of light throughout the evening. “With the red shift function, this is truly the best product on the market in this category,” Lemarquier said of the two-pod IP65-rated fixture. “It is reliable…
Kicking off its 2024 platform of events beginning with The NAMM Show, 25-28 January in Anaheim, California, which will feature more than 200 industry and educational sessions for NAMM member communities. “The 2024 NAMM Show will reconnect the global music industry and rock on every level, from our music stages, to educational and industry programs, to incredible exhibitors on the show floor,” said John Mlynczak, NAMM president and CEO. “The NAMM Show will continue to provide critical platforms and industry innovations that will drive growth to create a better future for the next generation of music industry leaders.” NAMM U…
