London welcomed 2024 with its biggest ever New Year’s Eve fireworks, lights and drone show on the banks of the Thames River. Lighting Designer Tim Routledge returned for a second year to light the giant London Eye ferris wheel choosing laser-source Claypaky Skylos fixtures to deliver beam effects from each of the Eye’s 32 pods. The festivities featured more than 12,000 fireworks, 600 drones, 430 lights and a varied soundtrack of songs and voice-over clips. Attending the huge party were 100,000 lucky ticketholders while millions around the world watched on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Neg Earth supplied the Skylos…
Author: Alicia Pollitt
MCS Rental Software announced its achievement of becoming a carbon-neutral business, marking a significant milestone in the company’s commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility. By calculating greenhouse gas emissions, MCS Rental Software gained a thorough understanding of its environmental impact, laying the groundwork for strategic initiatives to minimise and offset these emissions. MCS Rental Software has implemented innovative solutions to reduce carbon emissions within the equipment rental industry. The company has demonstrated its proactive approach through a series of initiatives, including paperless processes, enhancing asset utilisation, and empowering hire businesses to lower their CO2 emissions. Guy van der Knaap, MCS…
Production Futures has announced that TALKS, a feature of the organisation’s ON TOUR events, is to be developed as a podcast and YouTube platform. The new format will feature a series of live-streamed, recorded discussions with a variety of production industry experts covering a range of topics, all of which will be designed to provide a valuable resource for young people interested in careers in the sector. The initiative will be launched on 12 March when Lighting Designer Tim Routledge will join a Q&A session chaired by Production Futures’ Hannah Eakins in an online session from 11.00 GMT, broadcast from…
The Amsterdam Music Festival is the biggest electronic dance music event of Amsterdam Dance Event which takes over the city annually each October. AMF’s immense popularity in its first year saw it move from the RAI Amsterdam to the 40,000 capacity Amsterdam ArenA (now the Johan Cruiiff ArenA). Lighting designer, and owner of The Art of Light, André Beekmans chose Ayrton Cobra, Huracán Profile and Ghibli fixtures to light the 2023 edition, the lineup of which consisted of EDM royalty Afrojack, Armin van Buuren, Charlotte de Witte, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Headhunterz, James Hype, Purple Disco Machine and Vini…
11 February saw the first Super Bowl played in Las Vegas and the largest audience ever to watch the game on a Spanish-language television network. Over two and a quarter million viewers tuned in to Univision’s Super Bowl broadcast to watch the Chiefs top the San Francisco 49ers. To mark the occasion the popular Spanish language network staged a lively pre-game celebration at Caesars Palace at the centre of the festivities was a performance by Puerto Rican rapper and singer Myke Towers, which was broadcast on “Televisa,” Univision’s Sports Special for the Super Bowl. The production design by Rene Garcia…
Dizzee Rascal, performed his Mercury Music Prize-winning album, ‘Boy in Da Corner’, to loyal fans with help from Eighth Day Sound. Working with Production Manager Tommy Sheals-Barrett of Back On Your Heads, the tour hit UK arenas following a comeback at London’s O2. Commenting on the importance of choosing the right vendors, Sheals-Barrett noted: “This job can be hard enough without worrying about whether you’re in safe hands, supplier-wise. You get the best out of the artist (and the artist’s crew) when they have confidence in a production supplier.” Choosing Eighth Day Sound and mixing Dizzee is FOH Engineer Wayne…
The Toyota Country Music festival culminated in the televised Golden Guitar Awards which celebrated Australian country music. Sydney-based Live Event Services has been providing production for the past ten Golden Guitar Award ceremonies. “When I arrive in Tamworth before bump-in, the wall of heat smacks me in the face,” commented Colin Baldwin, Managing Director of Live Event Services. “I think of my colleagues from Eclipse at the park in the city bumping in for day and night shows in this heat and I’m grateful we work in TRECC!” Most of the Live Event Services crew make the five-hour drive from…
Hypersonic Fest was a one-day experimental event organized by Hypersonic Lab in Hong Kong, aimed at inviting people to enjoy the talents of 37 diverse Christian artists and music bands from Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia. The festival was staged at Kowloon Bay International Trade & Exhibition Centre and featured four action-packed stages of live music performance. Production equipment for the Main Stage including lighting was supplied by the MPHK Group and Project Managed by Raymond Wong, working closely with LD Kei Lui who utilised a grandMA3 full-size console, a decision taken jointly between the LD and…
HARMAN Professional Solutions partnered with Headliner Magazine to replace the Pioneer Club’s ageing live sound system with a supercharged JBL Professional SRX Series sound reinforcement system just in time for a headlining performance by Rudimental. In addition to housing a historic music venue and the UK’s oldest indoor skatepark, the Pioneer Club is a registered UK charity, and has a long history of helping young people, stretching back to re-housing displaced children during World War Two. Enter Shikari saw an opportunity to reinvest in the community that gave them their earliest opportunities. Following discussions with Headliner Magazine CEO Paul Watson,…
Rock-it Cargo issued and processed the first US digital ATA Carnet (eATA Carnet) for a time-critical hand-carry shipment for the TPi Awards – ferrying two very special packages from John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, US to London Heathrow Airport in the UK where TPi Editor, Stew Hume was on hand to collect. This eATA Carnet was used to ship two special Sennheiser microphones, designed by Emmy Award-winning Costume Designer, Perry Meek, that where then used at the TPi Awards at Evolution London. The microphones were hand-carried to the UK by Rock-it and will be returned to the…
Prolight + Sound emphasised an expanded ProAudio offering for the 2024 show. Among other things, visitors can look forward to a 3000 m² Performance + Production Hub, new attractions, a programme of specialist lectures and the return of exhibitors. The focus will be on live and concert sound reinforcement as well as studio and broadcast solutions. Companies will be demonstrating sound reinforcement systems under realistic conditions on the outdoor exhibition area. There will also be an extensive supporting programme covering a wide range of current and future-oriented topics. The ProAudio sector at Prolight + Sound 2024 offers some highlights. One…
Joni Mitchell’s historic GRAMMY Awards performance, featuring Brandi Carlile, Jacob Collier, Blake Mills, Allison Russell, Lucius and SistaStrings, was captured with a variety of Sennheiser microphones, including Carlile and Mitchell’s own custom gold SKM 6000 handheld transmitters with Neumann KK 205 condenser capsules. Mitchell has won ten GRAMMY Awards since taking home her first in 1970, for her second album, Clouds. Prior to the broadcast she won her latest GRAMMY, for Best Folk Album, for Joni Mitchell at Newport, a live recording from the 2022 Newport Folk Festival, an event she first played in 1967. Mitchell accepted the award with…
PRG Apprentices build, equip and run every element of Production Futures TALKS Stage at Fly By Nite ON TOUR event. Production Futures recently staged another successful ON TOUR event at Fly By Nite Studios in Redditch. Young people from across the Midlands were able to connect with representatives of Production Futures’ brand partners to explore paid work opportunities and free training across the sector. A feature of the event was the presence of a team of apprentices from Global Production Specialists, PRG. With 38 locations in 29 countries across six continents, PRG specialises in lighting, audio, video, rigging, automation, digital…
KISS recently ended their iconic live performance career with a final concert at Madison Square Garden, complete with its live production featuring Martin MAC Ultra Performance and Wash lighting fixtures by HARMAN Professional Solutions. In 2019, KISS embarked on the multi-year End of the Road World Tour but was derailed in early 2020 by the global COVID-19 pandemic. The End of the Road World Tour resumed in 2023 with hundreds of dates all over the world, culminating in KISS’s last concert ever at Madison Square Garden on 2 December 2023. KISS once again turned to longtime Production Manager Robert Long…
Rogier Trok joins the Avolites international team as Sales and Technical Key Account Manager for mainland Europe, where he will be based in the Netherlands, and overseeing and co-ordinating with the pan-European distribution network there. His work will include assisting distributors with sales and demonstrations as well as console and media server training, he commented, “The users of these great products are always smiling!” Rogier brings onboard 20 years of rental company experience as a lighting technician, lighting designer and project manager. He also worked at Avolites’ Dutch distributor, Fairlight, providing console and media server training, garnering valuable experience related…
d&b audiotechnik has appointed Robb Allan, a Sound Engineer and Product Designer, as Principal Product Manager for d&b Soundscape. Allan joins the team led by d&b’s Vice President of Immersive, Al McKinna, reinforcing the company‘s dedication to the advancement of immersive audio technologies. With an extensive career in professional audio spanning touring, studio and television, Allan brings expertise to his new role. His experience includes working with artists such as Radiohead, Massive Attack, Groove Armada and Coldplay, as well as being a key contributor to product development initiatives at digital mixing console manufacturer Avid. “Robb is a well-known figure in…
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations always draw big festive crowds and for the 2023/24 event, Claypaky Skylos and Xtylos Aqua fixtures played key roles in the midnight moment when all eyes turned to Edinburgh Castle. Unique Assembly produced Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 2023/24 for Edinburgh Council and Event Scotland. The four-day program ushering in the new year included internationally acclaimed ABBA sensations Björn Again, headlining the Night Afore Disco Party and the New Year’s Revels birling an all-night cèilidh and live band party. Princes Street and Princes Street Gardens hosted some 50,000 party-goers at the world-famous Street Party and Concert in the Gardens, where…
Lightware Visual Engineering shared highlights of its presence at ISE 2024 held earlier this month in Barcelona, culminating in the prestigious Best of Show Award for its Taurus UCX-4×3-HCM40 Dual Screen Solution. The Lightware stand experienced unprecedented visitor traffic, engaging with customers representing 76 diverse nationalities throughout the show. Notable guests included Mike Blackman, Managing Director of ISE, who visited the Lightware stand accompanied by Gergely Vida, CEO of Lightware. To mark its 25-year milestone, the company embarked on a rebranding journey, unveiling its new logo and reaffirming its goals and beliefs at ISE 2024. Throughout the exhibition, Lightware demonstrated…
