At the start of 2020, SSE Audio and its sister companies, Wigwam, Capital Sound and BCS Audio (part of the Solotech Group) in the UK were preparing for another record-breaking year. Spring and summer tours were booked with artists ranging from Stormzy to Frankie Valli, with audiences totalling nearly four million people. In addition, over 60 festivals and outdoor events were booked for audiences totalling a further six million people – that was until the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. Formed in 1976, SSE Audio has grown rapidly over the last decade, to become one of the largest…
Author: Jacob Waite
As the lockdown came into force due to the COVID-19 pandemic, owners of Strategic Hospitality needed to think fast in order to continue meeting the needs of the community around them, so they worked with Elite Multimedia Productions who designed and created their Carpool Cinema outdoor event design. “Our goal at Pinewood has always been to create a space where people can spend their entire day,” began Jordan Farrell, Strategic Hospitality Director of Communications. “When the shutdowns occurred, we temporarily closed all of our Strategic Hospitality locations and then took the time to decide what would be the best for…
Although the Tribeca Drive-In has been a signature feature of the famed Tribeca Film Festival for 20 years, the annual event takes on special relevance in this summer of COVID-19. WorldStage provided AV support to producer Overland Entertainment to ensure that audiences at the Tribeca Drive-In venue at Nickerson Beach, Long Island enjoy a premium experience. The Nickerson Beach Drive-In is open from July 2 to August 2, Thursday through Sunday. It premiered with the Hulu Original Film and breakout hit, Palm Springs, and offers an eclectic line up of audience favourites from music-themed features (Selena, The Bodyguard) and sports…
Harlequin Floors has launched its new manufacturing plant and distribution centre in Liège to better fulfil its European clients’ needs. In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has also grown its team in the DACH market by appointing Sander Resnik as a new Commercial Director in Berlin. The new 2,000 sq m plant based in Liège will manufacture the Harlequin Liberty sprung floor panels and will ensure an even faster service for our European clients, especially those in the events industry where a rapid turnaround on orders is a prerequisite and will be even more important to help rebuild…
PROLIGHTS products gave light to the amazing tour called “Pocztówka z Polski Tour’ 20” (“Postcards from Poland 20”) held by of one of the most popular Polish rap artist: Taco Hemingway. Gwidon Wydrzyński, Lighting Designer at Źle i Tanio realised an impactful set-up. “Because of the spread of COVID-19, we played just half of the tour. Nevertheless, shows took place in Warsaw, Kracow, Opole, Katowice and Rzeszów, and Taco Hemingway played in really big venues, like Warsaw’s Torwar and Katowice’s MCK, but not only- as well in big clubs like Studio, in Cracow.” To light up the stage and the…
MA Lighting has rolled out grandMA3 Software Release Version 1.2.0.2 on the MA webpage. The new grandMA3 Software Release Version 1.2 aims to deliver a lot of new and exciting features, plenty of them focused for the theatre style programming, like MIB (Move in Black) with various possibilities or direct Track Sheet Editing. There are a lot more features also for concert touring style programming, like Shuffle Selection including repeating the same shuffle or shift values. MA Lighting also offer webinars, where we will take you through the exciting new features and improvements that we have made in the grandMA3 1.2.0.2.…
Powerful Thinking, the outdoor events sustainable energy working group, has restructured to provide specialist sustainable energy advice to live events, appointing a new Chair and Project Lead Tim Benson, heading up a new-look board, within the Vision: 2025 sustainable events knowledge hub. Powerful Thinking is a not-for-profit working group, whose mission is to provide the outdoor events industry with inspiration, resources and technical support to enable a transition from carbon intensive temporary power provision to lower impact solutions. Tim Benson stated: “I am delighted to be working with this diverse team of industry experts. We are going to focus on…
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced a wide variety of music shows online. Unfortunately, it’s also resulted in a wide variety of sonic quality; much of it less than desirable. However, Erik Rogers and Paris Visone set out to improve that with Hellooo TV, a weekly streamed music performance event that is designed as a proper concert. Performances are shot live at a soundstage at Special Events Services’ (SES) facility in Nashville, with each live audio mix streamed as a set with only minimal editing and colour correction while using the same audio platforms these artists used when they were on…
CHAUVET Professional has added a new feature to its Maverick, Rogue and Ovation fixtures: the peace of mind of an extended warranty. The new warranty is for three years on all indoor rated fixtures within the ranges and five years on their LED engines. All qualifying products purchased since 1 January 2020 are covered by the extended warranty. These include the silent Maverick Silens 2 Profile, the powerful Maverick MK3 Profile, Rogue R3X Wash and all Ovation fixtures. Complete details, along with a list of covered fixtures covered by the warranty, can be found on the CHAUVET Professional website. “Given…
Analog Way announces the release of a major software update for the LivePremier range of 4K/8K multi-screen presentation systems and videowall processors. The LivePremier software version 2 includes dozens of new features and major enhancements for all Aquilon systems, including innovative real-time SDR/HDR conversion, boosted input and output capabilities, improved multiviewer and auxiliary functionalities, an even more intuitive and efficient Web RCS user interface, and much more. With this major update of the processing engine, all LivePremier systems are now compatible with the BT.2020 Wide Colour Gamut (WCG) as well as the HDR10 and HLG standards. But more importantly, they…
Sony has announced the newest professional projector, the VPL-GTZ380, enhancing the company’s lineup of powerful native 4K (4096×2160) SXRD models to include its highest brightness, 10,000 lumen model. Ideal for a wide range of corporate, entertainment and simulation applications, the VPL-GTZ380 combines outstanding contrast, brightness, high dynamic range and resolution with a wide colour gamut to offer an unmatched visual experience in any distance and lighting condition. The flagship projector provides installation flexibility and enables quiet operation by incorporating cutting-edge technology into a small form factor. “In a few short years, our SXRD lineup of 4K projectors have become the…
Marshall Electronics has joined forces with high-end pan/tilt head designer BR Remote, to design and build a micro P/T head, the CV-PT-HEAD, for Marshall miniature cameras. The new P/T head is compatible with all Marshall 500 series cameras including the CV503, CV503-WP, CV506, CV506-H12, CV565 and CV566. “BR Remote makes very high-tech remote heads for film and television, and this collaboration leverages the strengths of both companies to create a really unique miniature camera pan/tilt head solution,” says Tod Musgrave, Director of Cameras at Marshall Electronics. “The team at BR Remote were very easy to work with and we are…
Harry Parslow, Managing Director of TourLife, who provide support services for the touring and live entertainment industry, has been shortlisted for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year category at the 2020 Great British Entrepreneur Awards for the South West region. The Great British Entrepreneur Awards – which will be held on 23 September via a virtual ceremony for the first time – has shortlisted 550 entrepreneurs and 433 businesses across eight regions in 15 categories, including Creative Industries, Disruptor, Scale-Up and Young. Launched in 2012, the Great British Entrepreneur Awards have celebrated and championed the entrepreneurs behind some of Britain’s…
“Our goal is to prep our inventory and staff so as soon as things are ready to start up again, we can hit the ground running,” stated Premier Entertainment Group President and Owner, Dave Guiler about a recent acquisition of Elation Fuze SFX LED moving head luminaires. “That was the goal behind the purchase, to get things together easily and quickly so when this is over we don’t have to worry about any missing pieces.” Located in Dothan, Alabama, in the southeast corner of the state, Premier Entertainment Group recently acquired 20 Fuze SFX Spot FX fixtures along with other…
Continuing to offer impactful online training materials and provide industry professionals a platform to share its expertise, HARMAN Professional Solutions has announced the addition of 12 free Live Workshops available for registration. The new workshops, scheduled through August, feature lighting or audio experts who have extensive industry knowledge and experience working with various artists such as 3 Doors Down, Bob Seger, Guns N’ Roses, Gwen Stefani, Iron Maiden, Jay-Z, Josh Groban, Journey, Justin Bieber, Linkin Park, Matchbox Twenty, Mötley Crüe, Ricky Martin, Shania Twain, Stormzy, Styx, Travis Scott, Van Halen, will.i.am and many more. The workshops open for registration include:…
disguise xR technology (Extended Reality) has helped deliver the virtual edition of the ‘Sapphire Now’ conference, hosted by worldwide enterprise application software company SAP, who offer tools to enable easier virtual working for users. The 2020 global conference aimed to deliver the important message that a resilient response can drive a sustainable and profitable future to its workforce, customers and partners who, for this year, were a remote audience of thousands. Creative innovators, Purple have been involved with SAP’s annual live conference for many years, and innovation was certainly required for the 2020 virtual event. Purple designed a video stream…
Astera LED sales have been rocking in Australia since the brand was fully introduced there at the start of 2019, with several leading lighting rental companies investing – one of which is Elite Event Technology based in Canberra, ACT. Headed by owner and founder Darren Russell, Elite Event Technology typically supplies a full production package – lighting, audio, video rigging and staging – to its clients, embracing all sectors of the industry, from music events to corporates and industrials, TV and theatre productions. Last year, Elite Event Technology purchased 96 Astera LED AX1 PixelTubes in kits of eight, supplied by…
Like many individuals passionate about the live events and performance industry, Philip French of Aldershot, UK-based rental and technical production company Peachy Productions was badly missing shows, gigs, and the camaraderie of delivering live events. He decided to proactively do something about it, and with the support of the Surrey Event Professionals headed by Hannah Sheppard – which includes some of Surrey’s finest live event experts – the Peachy Playhouse was born. It offers two weeks of dynamic, socially distanced, drive-in, COVID-19 compliant live entertainment, encompassing comedy, music, film and children’s shows designed to appeal to all sectors of the…
