Inspired by a summer of sport, Manchester Day 2024 was a vibrant one-day, action-packed event filled with free family-friendly fun including great music, dance, performance, acrobatics and a host of other interactive and audience participative events, all with a warm and enthusiastic street party atmosphere, staged in and around the city centre. Manchester-based audio specialist, tube uk, was asked to provide PA and sound systems for the four main stages, two of which were located in the Deansgate area, two at St Ann’s Square and one on Market Street, all major city centre positions. tube uk’s Melvyn Coote commented: “It…
Author: James Robertson
Working with Stageworx AV at Kemba Live, LD Matt King relished keeping pace with Kameron Marolowe’s multi-faceted, fast-moving show on the star’s recent tour, as he supported the music note-for-note with a versatile, high-powered lightshow that moved through a wide range of looks, from small beam effects to broad washes — and just about everything in between. Helping him accomplish this was a collection of 32 CHAUVET Professional fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment. Included in this mix were 18 Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-wash, 10 Maverick Storm 2 BeamWashes, and four COLORado PXL Bar 16 fixtures. “Kameron is a very…
Powersoft has appointed Mitch Rauch as its new sales director for the US market. With more than 20 years’ pro-AV channel management experience, Mitch’s expertise will be a major asset as Powersoft continues its growth in the United States. Rauch, formerly of Opticis, Vivitek and BenQ, among other well-known AV industry names, will be based in Powersoft’s US headquarters in Flanders, New Jersey. There, he will focus on driving growth in existing verticals while also exploring new opportunities for Powersoft’s patented, high-end audio technologies. “I’ve spent over two decades managing professional AV channels, and I see huge potential for growth…
JOYNED has announced that Morten Lave, former CEO of TC Applied Technologies and most recently principal of All Access Consulting, is joining the company as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) effective immediately. Lave will spearhead JOYNED’s R&D efforts, using his AVB/Milan software expertise to elevate the company’s audio networking solutions and drive innovation. Lave’s’ AVB/Milan software will now be integrated into JOYNED’s suite of offerings, providing a complete end-to-end solution – from endpoints to AVB switches – while remaining true to JOYNED’s commitment to open standards. This is a significant step in JOYNED’s mission to democratize network technology for the audio…
Elation proudly presents LIMELIGHT, a new generation of high-powered colour-mixing wash luminaires that redefine colour intensity and PAR light versatility. Engineered to astound with its exceptional output, LIMELIGHT delivers high-quality light with a wide colour spectrum and exceptional CRI, making it the perfect solution for a host of lighting applications. The LIMELIGHT PAR is a versatile workhorse fixture, ideal for even stage washes, side or front lighting, backlighting, and dramatic silhouette effects. It offers precision to accent scenery, sets, or specific areas of the stage for both functional and aesthetic lighting needs.` Available in two powerhouse configurations, LIMELIGHT PAR S…
Australian lighting designer Daniel ‘Gordo’ Gordon wanted to create a unique lighting ambience that was transportable and transposable anywhere around the globe for the ongoing Living Room Sessions world tour by indie folk rockers Angus & Julia Stone. He turned to 48 of Astera’s powerful and handy NYX Bulb products to help produce this smart, eye-catching, and highly individual aesthetic which packed neatly into a Pele case. The NYX Bulbs were purchased by the band for the tour and for future use. They pack into a bespoke moulded tray for transit which is fitted into a Pele type 1607 case, weighing…
INFiLED has introduced its ArmorLED Technology. This breakthrough technology boasts three to five times the thrust of standard LEDs, effectively mitigating the risks of damage during operation, installation, or transportation. ArmorLED Technology achieves this through four key techniques, including the M2/M4 LED, GOE Process, SMT Process, and optimised PCB Pad, culminating in a more resilient display solution. Traditional LEDs typically feature a four-pin configuration, but INFiLED’s ArmorLED leverages the M2 and M4 packaging designs, increasing the number of pins to 8 or more. This enhancement enlarges the soldering area, dramatically improving welding strength and boosting thrust by double. INFiLED addresses…
A variety of ADJ luminaires – including the new multifunctional IP65-rated Jolt Panel FXIP and flagship Focus Spot 7Z moving head spot – were utilized by local production company PLDS Showtechniek for the official King’s Day celebration in Emmen, the Netherlands. Throughout the day of celebrations, the ADJ-illuminated main stage featured a variety of musical performances from live bands, DJs and an orchestra, as well as an official appearance by king Willem-Alexander, much of which was broadcast on national TV. Every year, the Netherlands celebrates ‘Koningsdag’ (King’s Day’) on the birthday of their reigning monarch, which has been April 27th…
Tunes in the Dunes is the apt name given to an annual three-day festival on Perranporth Beach in Cornwall. Based nearby in Plymouth, Martin Audio partner Nub Sound this year provided the technical infrastructure, deploying their Wavefront Precision Compact (WPC), eight elements a side, which ensured headliners McFly (Friday), Craig David (Saturday) and Ocean Colour Scene (Sunday) could be heard to the max by crowds assembling on the beach as their music drifted out towards the Atlantic Ocean. On duty was Nub Sound Director of Operations and sound engineer Josh Small. He explained that in addition to the eight WPC…
“We are delighted to partner up with SeeSound for the distribution of zactrack in Spain.”, said Stephan Saremba, Managing Director for zactrack International. “With their wide product portfolio of audio, lighting and video solutions as well as an extremely passionate team of professionals in each market sector, we find SeeSound to be the right partner for us to bring fully automated tracking technology into the Spanish market. We are looking forward to work hand in hand with SeeSound, strengthen relationships with existing users and to expand into new markets. We are truly excited to continue to drive tracking solutions and…
RF Venue has introduced Spectrum Recorder, a compact and self-contained portable RF spectrum scanner that provides easy capture, storage and retrieval of RF spectrum data for simplified monitoring and optimization of wireless microphone and in-ear monitor systems. Spectrum Recorder continuously captures RF activity in the 400-700 MHz band, saving the data in its internal storage as time-stamped CSV files which can be retrieved directly via USB drive or accessed remotely over a local network. Spectrum Recorder can be directly connected to a wireless microphone antenna system to capture an RF environment snapshot for analysis and logging. Using its supplied whip…
Having been extensively demonstrated by the team at its UK distributor POLAR, following a launch that was delayed by the COVID–19 pandemic, the flagship Midas HD96 has wasted no time finding its way onto the inventories of leading rental companies. It’s clear that interest in the console was already strong, and when the POLAR team took it out as part of their Roadshow event in 2023, the response proved very positive. Not unexpectedly, Midas aficionado Rick Bailey of RMPA was one of the first to reach out to POLAR’s Nick Bellis, and a demo was swiftly arranged. The console found…
Four-time Grammy Award-winning guitar player and singer/songwriter Gary Clark, Jr. has embarked on the North American leg of his 2024 world tour with Claypaky Sharpy X-Frames and Midi-B FX fixtures filling the lighting rig. Lighting Designer John Adamo, who co-designed the show with Robert Fuller, selected the fixtures, which have been supplied by Bandit Lites the tour’s full-service lighting and effects provider. Both designers have long histories with Clark and previously have used Claypaky Sharpy Plus fixtures for his shows. The tour, in support of Clark’s new album, JPEG RAW, kicked off in Fort Worth, Texas on May 8 and…
Lightware Visual Engineering has been awarded the EcoVadis Bronze sustainability rating. This places the company in the top 35% of assessed businesses for sustainability performance and above the industry average. EcoVadis is a sustainability assessment platform designed to help companies measure and improve their sustainability performance. The company also enables the comparison and evaluation of sustainability practices among business partners and suppliers. EcoVadis assesses organisational performance based on numerous criteria, including respect for human rights, reduction of environmental impacts, and ethical business conduct across areas such as environmental protection and sustainable procurement. Lightware’s first Sustainability Report sets out the company’s…
The Olivier Awards 2024 took place on Sunday 14 April 2024 at the Royal Albert Hall, from where it was broadcast by ITV1, and streamed internationally on YouTube and by BritBox. It was presented by Emmy winner and multi-Olivier nominee Hannah Waddingham who opened the show, accompanied by the London Community Gospel Choir, with a powerhouse jazz performance of Anything Goes. Lighting designer Ben Cracknell, lighting the Olivier Awards for his 11th year, chose 78 Ayrton Perseo Profile fixtures, provided by White Light, as his work horse fixtures. He wanted to modernise and unify under one fixture type his previously…
Nothing But Thieves, were very happy with their touring set-up, but a ‘fly-in’ gig in South Korea changed everything. The in-house desk was a DiGiCo Quantum 338 and Gary Curtis, Front of House Engineer, knew as soon as he heard it that there was no going back, and once the band had heard his multi-track recordings, they agreed. The Quantum 338 is now their desk of choice at both the front of house and monitor positions. “We had been using another system for about seven years,” Curtis explained. “But when we heard the Quantum, we all knew it was really…
Perhaps the most transformative chapter in Burton Ishmael’s career came with the opportunity to work alongside Madonna. A chance encounter at Madison Square Garden set the stage for a collaboration that would push him to new heights, both creatively and professionally. As the front-of-house engineer for Madonna’s tour, Ishmael found himself at the helm of one of the largest concert audiences in history, a moment that underscored the culmination of years of hard work and dedication. His journey into the world of sound engineering is nothing short of a musical odyssey. Growing up in New York City, surrounded by the…
Finland’s biggest rap stars descended on the Nokia Arena in Tampere recently to treat more than 10,000 music lovers to a night of pumped up performance, with live action footage and pre-made content on an LED cube and wraparound ticker screens powered by tvONE’s Green Hippo brand of Hippotizer Media Servers. Organised by the international Rockstar Energy Drink brand in association with Def Agency and Warner Music Live, hot mic-slamming rappers including Ahti, Cledos and Elastinen played the in-the-round stage. This was dominated by a star-shaped overhead lighting truss and a 360-degree, a four-fascia LED cube, and a DJ booth…
