Rational Acoustics has announced the appointment of Michael Smithers as Director of Research and Development. In addition to his role with Rational Acoustics, Smithers serves as Principal of Eclipse Audio, the creator of FIR Designer and other widely adopted DSP development tools used across the professional audio industry. Smithers brings over two decades of experience in audio signal processing, measurement and electroacoustics. He spent 25 years with Dolby Laboratories in senior research roles, contributing to technologies spanning perceptual audio coding, audio watermarking, loudness measurement, automotive audio, and cinema systems, including Dolby Atmos. His work has been recognised with two Technical…
Author: Alicia Pollitt
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) was involved in a flurry of activity in 2025, launching its Hearing Rocks initiative, emphasising its speaker series with industry experts, awarding its fifth annual scholarship to deserving students studying professional audio, and ushering in a shift in the organisation’s leadership. To help provide resources and education to battle noise-induced hearing loss, PAMA launched its Hearing Rocks initiative in 2025. According to the Centres for Disease Control, nearly one in four U.S. adults aged 20–69 years show evidence of noise-induced hearing loss, and for audio professionals, the risk can be much higher. This initiative…
Mediteran Produkcija is a successful full production company based in the lively Croatian seaport of Split. Mediteran works nationwide, around the Balkans region and in other parts of Europe and is an independent, family-owned company run by Denis and Marina Pletikosa. Over the last nine years, they have invested steadily in Robe moving lights. A major influence in bringing Robe onboard as a brand of choice was lighting designer Marko Balić, who has now been working full-time at Mediteran for eleven years, after leaving the construction industry for the glitz, glamour, and equally hard graft of show and event lighting.…
For over two decades, ILIOS Productions has been a key part of the live events community in Austin, TX, transforming spaces and audience experiences with a vast range of lighting and video design, as well as event production services across a diverse client portfolio. Now, with the backing of parent company Clair Global, LD Systems, a Houston-based premier provider of audio, video, and lighting for event production and installed technology solutions, is welcoming ILIOS Productions to the team, marking the group’s fourth location in Texas. ILIOS Productions will now operate under the LD Systems brand. LD Systems will further resource…
Drawn to the Light has announced the appointment of two familiar collaborators to our full-time studio team. Pete Bird since August following his graduation from LIPA. Bird was named Lighting Newcomer of the Year 2023 at the Breakthrough Talent Awards, recognising his early impact within the industry. Prior to graduating, he gained experience working within lighting teams on major productions including The BRIT Awards and the Eurovision Song Contest. Since joining DTTL, he has contributed across a wide range of projects, including development work with Imagination for McLaren Automotive, progressing from drafting support into a broader studio associate role. Rae…
David Labuskes, CEO of AVIXA, has announced his plans to retire at the end of 2026, after leading a transformative era for the association that began in 2012. During his time with AVIXA, Labuskes recognised and encouraged the evolution of the audiovisual industry from one that offers products and systems toward an industry and profession that delivers integrated experiences that connect people to people and in so doing, transforms the world. During his tenure, the industry expanded to include experiential designers, content creators, IT companies, and users of AV solutions across a growing cross section of markets. This led to the…
For the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Peacock Theatre, longtime account manager for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Mark Dittmar once again turned to JBL Professional. He led the deployment of a full JBL VTX system powered by Crown amplifiers to support a five-hour live production featuring dozens of artists, collaborations and extended speeches. The ceremony, which has relied on JBL since 2000, required a setup capable of delivering high-volume musical performances alongside 30- to 40-minute speeches with consistent clarity for the in-person audience and for the live broadcast stream. The production…
Motor Stage Automation (MSA) supplied a complete automation system to the recent Lewis Capaldi tour – comprising 6 custom pantographs and a special Austrian curtain, all running on 500 kg V-MOTION 40E drives and controlled via a Moveket “EXPERT” console. The automation elements were integrated into the show by Cassius Creative, led by Squib (Chris Swain) and Dan Hill, the production designers (set & lighting), who were working closely with creative director Beki Mari. As soon as production manager Nick Lawrie confirmed MSA as the automation supplier, their project manager Jimmy Johnson started the prep with the production’s automation crew…
Eurotruss has announced the expansion of its executive leadership team with the appointment of Eddie Slotboom as CEO of the Structures & Stages division, effective January 2026. This strategic step reinforces Eurotruss’ ambitions for continued international growth and further strengthens its position as a global leader in high-end roof, staging and truss solutions. Slotboom is a highly respected professional within the international entertainment and events industry. With senior leadership roles at renowned companies such as Stageco and Mojo Rental, and related work experience at other established truss manufacturers, he brings decades of experience and in-depth expertise. His career spans the full…
Elation’s European office has announced the return of The Elation Coffee Break, a Facebook Livestream series that takes an up-close look at some of the company’s most popular products and product families. Each episode goes beyond spec sheets and standard product overviews, sharing practical tips and tricks that lighting professionals can directly apply in real-world scenarios. The sessions are open to everyone and include live questions from viewers. Hosted by Elation’s Alistair Smyth and Frederik Afif, the first episode will stream live on Thursday, 8 January, at 11 :00 a.m. CET on Elation Europe’s Facebook page. No registration is required.…
Seether covered the full gamut of intense moods that have made them icons on their most recent 24-city coheadline tour with Daughtry, and helping them achieve those moods was an Austin Zangi lightshow run on a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium Console. “All of the songs have their own feel and vibe,” said Zangi, who programmed his cue stacked show on his MagicQ MQ250M Stadium console using Capture as his visualizer. “My initial setlist and design was to build the show up gradually, using more lights as things progressed.” Zangi started by immersing the stage with deep shadowy looks. “My artists like…
Blink 182’s Missionary Impossible tour played across North America in 2025, with a bespoke comms package from Clair Global. The tour ended in Las Vegas as part of the ‘When We Were Young’ festival following headline arena and amphitheatre shows. Comms Engineer Andrew Hua supported the busy production team, managing pivotal communications throughout its duration. “This production has some big components that require synchronicity between all departments, which is where comms becomes a vital part of tour safety,” he began. “Our Production Manager Jimi Storey is very hands-on with all the different elements such as moving set pieces. He’s constantly talking…
OneRepublic’s Escape to Europe continues into 2026. Accompanying the band are Justin Ripley at the front of house position and Chris Marinaccio at the monitor position. Both engineers are using Quantum 338s, supplied by Spectrum Sound in Nashville. Ripley has been with the band for many years and, as he explains, the scale and variety of the band’s touring schedule will keep him coming back to DiGiCo, whatever the venue. “For OneRepublic, the choice to use DiGiCo is predicated on reliably sourcing them everywhere,” he expanded. “The neutral sound of the console, and the fact that the components hold up…
UK lighting and visual control manufacturer Avolites enjoyed a brilliant LDI expo in Las Vegas, seizing the opportunity to showcase its new and highly portable D3 series of control consoles, together with other popular products like the D9 and D7 lighting consoles, and the versatile Q-Series media servers. The show was noticeably busy for Avo – A Robe Business – whose stand was part of the Robe Village development and close to the main Robe lighting booth. Plenty of new and potential customers rocked up, together with existing ones, plus others already involved in the Avo community. The first two…
Robe lighting enjoyed the 2025 LDI expo in Las Vegas by launching five exciting new products in its versatile T-Series, the T10 Profile – available with rapid-change objective system for PC and Fresnel options, together with the T3 PC and T3 Fresnel – the latter being added to the just-launched T3 Profile. The independent Czech Republic lighting manufacturer also showcased five other recently launched products for the first time at a US trade show – the SVOPATT Classic,PowerDolly, the iPAINTE LTM, the high-power multispectral T3 Profile, and Robe’s WTF! multifunctional strobe / wash / blinder. Enjoying a busy show and…
The fourth edition of Japan’s LuckyFes ’25 took place over the holiday weekend (9-11 August 2025) at Hitachinaka City’s Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki. Hosted by Ibaraki Broadcasting Corporation, LuckyFM, and BARKS, LuckyFes ’25 is Asia’s largest theme park-style festival, presenting itself as ‘A Celebration of Music, Food and Art’. Four stages, set amongst Hitachi Seaside Park’s verdant surroundings, play host to a diverse range of music genres including pop, rock, hip-hop, anime songs and K-Pop, where over 70 of Japan’s most prominent artists entertained tens of thousands of festival goers over the course of three days. Lighting designer, Anderson…
Returning to the nation’s stages with a new production spanning Zéniths and arenas across France, David Hallyday is performing to audiences of between 3,000 and 6,000 people each night. Blending energetic pop-rock, modern electro textures and intimate ballads, the show places high demands on clarity, control and dynamic range. To deliver the precision required for this repertoire, Front-of-House engineer and mixer Stéphane Plisson, supported by MAWIP, selected a full L-Acoustics K Series concert sound system, supplied by Potar, continuing a partnership that stretches back nearly four decades. Plisson’s association with the Hallyday family spans many years, including his role mixing Johnny Hallyday’s Flashback Tour in 2006. Personally approached by David for this new…
ISE 2026 will see Yamaha highlighting its position as one of the live and installed sound markets’ most innovative brands, showcasing many new and updated products, as well as solutions which help to unlock all the potential of sound. Exhibiting at Booth 3F100, Yamaha is showing a new generation of products as part of its Commercial Installation Solutions ecosystem. These will include new audio networking, processing, amplification and control products, along with a focus on the significantly updated ProVisionaire programming and control software suite. Also being showcased is Yamaha’s revolutionary automated Voice Lift setup technology for conferencing and education, while…
