Over the past six months, two German production companies have been working together to simultaneously keep their creative juices flowing during the COVID-19 pandemic-inflicted hiatus on in-person events and lift the production value of livestreams. The Wharf is the latest in a series of three increasingly ambitious dedicated livestream studios that they have created using primarily ADJ lighting and video equipment. The spaces latest project combines a series of eye-catching 3D cubes, lined with ADJ Pixie Strip pixel-mapped LED fixtures, and a water tank, illuminated by ADJ Hydro Series IP65-rated moving heads, to create a truly stunning visual backdrop for…
Author: Jacob Waite
Refusing to be hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, producer Yigal Roos has fully embraced being shut in his Amsterdam studio by starting a weekly live music stream from his studio via Instagram, YouTube and Twitch. Under the name Ascension Music, he produces an array of electronic music and has developed a unique way of incorporating an Audient ASP4816 desk into his live mixes. “The console basically allows me to connect everything and use my outboard effect sends live on the fly,” he explained. “I really use the mixing desk as an instrument. I do volume automations using faders, I do…
Elation Professional’s artistic power luminaire, the Artiste Mondrian, takes centre stage on the 6 May edition of the Elation Coffee Break. Filling out the top of Elation Professional’s Artiste LED moving head series, the Mondrian LED Profile FX partners alongside and uses the same technology as the Artiste Monet and Artiste Rembrandt, including Elation’s exclusive seven-flag SpectraColor colour mixing system, and endless and continuous rotational framing system. Join Alistair Smyth and Frederik Afif live on 6 May at 11AM (CEST). Tune in at www.facebook.com/ELATION.Pro.Europe/live/. No registration is required. Optimised for extreme output of 51,000 lumens and housing an all-inclusive FX…
Ayrton MiniPanel-FX, Huracán-X and Karif LED lighting fixtures will form a major part of the lighting design for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest 2021, which takes place at the Ahoy Arena, Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Lighting Designer, Henk-Jan van Beek of Light-H-Art design has chosen significant numbers of each fixture for the main ambient and effects lighting for this annual music extravaganza. The full requirement of Ayrton fixtures – 386 in total – will be supplied by Eurovision 2021’s lighting, audio and rigging supplier, Ampco Flashlight. The stage design for Eurovision 2021 by Florian Wieder is being kept under wraps…
Integrated Systems Events has confirmed the cancellation of its forthcoming Munich and Amsterdam events, citing new government regulations regarding COVID-19 in both regions as the primary reason. In a statement, Integrated Systems Events Managing Director, Mike Blackman said: “We have today made the decision to cancel the ISE events planned for Munich and Amsterdam. While we have had good support from both exhibitors and visitors who wanted to get together at a local event, new government regulations regarding COVID-19 in both Germany and the Netherlands have meant that we are unable to guarantee being able to proceed with these two…
We are now just a few weeks away from the long-awaited return of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), held this year at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam on 18 to 20 and 22 May 2021 and organised by the EBU. Osram, parent company of Claypaky, will be the official lighting partner of the ESC 2021 and, as in past years, will contribute to the event by illuminating a key building in the city of Rotterdam. Claypaky itself will be represented by an outstanding complement of 481 Xtylos, luminaires equipped with a tailor-made laser source and boasting super-concentrated beams of coloured…
HOF has welcomed Elektrovat as new distribution partner in Serbia and the Balkan region. Elektrovat is well known for its expertise in the fields of stage lighting and mechanics for theatre, television, and film studios. Elektrovat Manager of the Stage Mechanics and Lighting Department, Branko Jovanović, said: “We are known as trusted partner when it comes to demanding projects using the state of the art equipment of renowned manufacturers. Absolute commitment and the ability to meet diverse and most delicate technical client requests are our greatest advantage. Having the trussing and lighting products from HOF now in our portfolio is…
L-Acoustics has revamped the workflow of spatial audio content creation with the creation of a new L-ISA Studio software suite and upgraded L-ISA engine. Built with sound designers and mixing engineers in mind, L-ISA Studio is designed for countless creative, immersive audio experiences. Immediately available for download, it takes the power and versatility of the concert-proven L‑ISA technology and puts it into the hands of sound creators, allowing them to formulate multidimensional audio wherever and whenever they are ready to create. “L-ISA Studio grants all sound creators the ability to conceive, create, iterate and experience their work in 3D audio,”…
With social-distancing measures beginning to relax and venues beginning to open their doors again, Russian acoustic-rock band Affinage have embarked on a tour of their homeland to support the release of their latest studio album. For much of the tour the band relied on their compact dLive CDM32 MixRack with a laptop running dLive Director software, but when the tour rolled into the prestigious Izvestiнa Hall in Moscow in late February, local hire company Jamtech were called upon to supply the sound and lighting equipment for the flagship show. “The band have a busy touring schedule that takes them across…
Martin Audio has been honoured with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation for its Wavefront Precision optimised line arrays. Martin Audio is one of 205 organisations in the UK to be recognised with a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise. Employing over 60 people, Martin Audio is celebrating its 50th year in designing and manufacturing world class professional loudspeaker systems. The Wavefront Precision family of optimised line arrays was the first passive systems to be able to set the independent coverage goals for three key parameters: Audience Area – where sound distribution should be even with respect to volume and…
Lighting Designer, Hans Shoop utilised Robe BMFL Spots, Spikies and a RoboSpot system controlling three BMFL Follow Spots, among other lights, supplied by Upstaging to create as much normalcy as possible for Todd Rundgren’s Clearly Human Virtual Tour. Alex Skowron had been the production designer on Rundgren’s 2004 Liars tour. When he heard about the project, he reached out to the production team headed by Production / Tour Manager and Monitor Engineer, Paul Froula to get involved in the Clearly Human Virtual Tour. Skowron recalled the mission to make the space appear nondescript and neutral so the audience could think they…
PMC has strengthened its corporate structure so that it is better placed to deal with ongoing expansion. For the first time in its 30 year history PMC now has a formal board structure, with owner and founder Peter Thomas acting as chairman and former Group Finance Director Jeff Willcocks confirmed as CEO. Also on the board – and reflecting the fact that PMC remains a family owned business – are Thomas’s son Oliver Thomas, who is now Commercial Director, and Tom Loader, son of PMC’s co-founder Adrian Loader, who is Operations Director. “PMC is expanding fast and it is not…
Philadelphia-based LD, Lenny Sasso has designed shows for the likes of Thrice, Circa Survive, and Atreyu. When he isn’t running a lighting console, he’s playing thunderous riffs on the bass guitar and creating sounds on the synthesiser for the indie band, June Divided. Recently, when the band recorded a pair of music videos on the Ruby Stage at Squeek Lights, Sasso was on the receiving end of the LD-musician relationship. He wasn’t worried though, familiar as he was with the talents of Steve Kosiba, who created dynamic, camera-friendly lightshow for both videos, one of which premiered on the website of…
Backstage Academy has been recognised for its regional service across education and the live events sector after it claimed top spot for three categories at this year’s virtual Educate North Awards. The annual Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of further and higher education institutions across the region, recognising best practice and excellence in the educational sector. Offering degrees, short courses and bespoke training in the live events industry, the South-Kirby-based institution achieved recognition from judges across three categories: the Student Experience Award, the Employer Engagement Award and Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Academy’s Chairman and Founder, Adrian Brooks. Rachel Nicholson, the…
To mark his album release, singer-songwriter David Vidano embarked on a small concert, observing COVID-19 health and safety guidelines, in the rehearsal hall of TTL Event Solutions in his hometown Ochtrup, Germany. Lighting Designer, Jens Hillenkötter, assumed the role of DoP, and for the first time deployed the GLP Creative Lights 1 Plus (Creative Light1 Plus) that he had been eager to use. Some 40 pieces of the compact, flexible LED fixtures augmented the artist’s set. “These were still field test devices because the Creative Light1 Plus were not yet available,” he said. “I recognised the creative potential of Creative…
VDC Trading and Van Damme cabling supported Norwegian musicians and technicians at the 2020 rendition of Osafestivalen. Under normal circumstances, the festival’s concerts are spread out over several smaller, intimate venues around the city centre. However, social distancing guidelines meant the festival had to be consolidated and held in one larger location with ample space for the audience and performers to spread out. A local gymnastics hall was chosen for this purpose – a small TV set and streaming production studio was built in the foyer of the hall to accommodate a hybrid live/online stage and the main stage was…
Blackmagic Design technology has been instrumental in allowing the creators behind ReaktLive.com to stream performances direct to audiences amid the COVID-19 crisis. Based out of the former EMI/Abbey Road Stockholm studio, the live content experience has built its live video capabilities around the Blackmagic URSA Min Pro 12K, URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 and Micro Studio Camera 4K with the support of Scandinavian Photo. Priding itself on delivering cinematic content live, the full service streaming studio and broadcast company features a clever studio design with six small, discreet cameras on robotic rails and jibs, reveals co founder Nicolas Notini. “The…
Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has revamped Polymotion Chat – an automated camera control software to provide new tiered access points to its ground-breaking technology. Polymotion Chat Studio, Polymotion Chat Broadcast and the entry level Polymotion Chat Pro, now provide a range of options covering use cases from the live events sector up to national broadcasters, and between one to six camera operation. Polymotion Chat uses a specially-developed computer vision engine to track subjects using PTZ cameras or robotic pan/tilt heads. The system is always available and provides reliable and consistent shots, allowing, at the entry-level, non-video professionals to focus…
