Christie Lites has welcomed Mark Burnett as a new Rentals Representative. Burnett will be based out of Christie Lites’ Coventry, UK headquarters and will focus on developing market share in theatrical rentals. He will also be working closely with the growing team of CL representatives on both sides of the Atlantic. Christie Lites CEO, Huntly Christie commented: “As a pivotal member of the Christie Lites team, Mark will support the company’s UK and North American clients to strengthen our growth directive across our 10 multi-office network locations. Mark’s 20 years of experience in the UK rental market, and the strong relationships…
Author: Jacob Waite
Michael Adenau has handed over the management of MA Lighting Technology, heralding a generational change. His successors are Gerhard Krude, already a long-time Managing Director, and newly appointed Managing Director, Alexander Schneider. Schneider has been with the company for many years and was instrumental in the development of the latest console generation, grandMA3. Adenau will remain with the company as a shareholder and will provide advice and support to his colleagues. Thus, despite all the changes, the company, founded in 1983, focuses on continuity and will keep on concentrating on the development of professional hardware and software for the lighting…
Spartan Crew has revealed its recent expansion into the Midlands, with the launch of a new regional hub based in Birmingham. Led by Commercial Director, Paz Brennan, this dynamic move aims to target the thriving nationwide exhibition and entertainment market beyond the reach of its London HQ. Staff are currently being appointed for the new office, conveniently located moments from Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, less than 1.5 miles from New Street Station. The Steward Street office will follow a similar blueprint to Spartan Crew’s London headquarters, incorporating a comprehensive crew training area as part of the facility. This allows us to…
Canberra-based Elite Event Technology – which is considered one of Australia’s leading rental and production companies – has made a new investment in 16 Robe MegaPointe moving lights for general stock, which join the sixteen that they already owned, purchased when the product was launched in 2018. “MegaPointe is a go-to lighting fixture for so many entertainment and corporate event scenarios,” commented EET’s Darren Russell. “It is highly versatile, so we knew it was a solid investment with a good ROI, and that the kit will be busy all the time,” he stated, adding “it’s a great all-purpose fixture with…
Lighting Designer, Paul Normandale, who, like St. Vincent, has a penchant for imaginative risk taking recently designed the set and lighting for the singer-songwriter’s Daddy’s Home Tour. The creative duo sought to maximise scenic, practical and effects light sources for the floor lighting rig, which was based around a 16ft diameter revolve stage built by All Access Staging. The touring lighting set package was installed underneath the top lighting at each venue and facilitated the fluid dramatic theatrical style scene changes and backdrops supporting the show’s dynamics and narrative. Running wirelessly, 13 Titan Tubes were a perfect solution for a…
It’s been two long years, but it’s time to pull on your racing suits, don your helmets and get back behind the wheel for the industry’s favourite get together, Karfest 2022, which takes place on 7 July at Daytona Sandown Park. “Kartfest has always been an amazing event,” said Backup’s Lee Dennison. “We’ve missed the fun of getting together with our industry friends, and the thrills and spills of the teams battling it out for the coveted Kartfest Champions title, so we’re delighted to announce its return.” Kartfest is a vital fundraiser for Backup. The charity has been a lifeline…
Ollie Wilkinson could have been forgiven if, at times, he felt as if he were being pulled in as many directions as “Doc,” leader of the Seven Dwarfs, when he was putting together the lighting rig for the Panto performance of this Brothers Grimm fairytale turned Disney classic at the iconic Grand Theatre. “I took on many hats with this project,” said Wilkinson. “One of the first was to prep the equipment at Arranpaul’s warehouse for the show, and coordinate with the venue regarding the rigging and weight of the equipment that was being flown on their mother grid. My…
Matrox Video has appointed David Jones as the company’s new Vice President of Engineering. As part of his new post, Jones will be responsible for providing leadership to the hardware and software engineering teams, shaping the company’s strategic vision, and growing a first-class team to pioneer the next generation of video innovations. Jones brings over 35 years of industry experience to Matrox Video, having held leadership positions at broadcast and entertainment companies such as Autodesk, Grass Valley, LANDR Audio, and LVL Studio and product leadership roles at cloud-based enterprises such as Averna, Element AI, and Lightspeed. “Matrox Video is delighted…
Production Futures kicked off the first leg of its 2022 UK tour in Manchester at the Depot Mayfield with hospitality courtesy of Escape to Freight Island. Students and freelancers across all disciplines of entertainment and production industries attended to take advantage of the training workshops, networking and career opportunities. The event saw Sennheiser, ChamSys, CHAUVET Professional, Vectorworks and Interfacio run equipment training, CAD, audio and lighting design and career workshops. While industry panels ran throughout the day, covering various topics from how to enter to industry, and overcoming obstacles to the latest real-time technology, TV production careers, and diversity issues. Despite Production…
Universal Audio has launched UAD Spark, a new subscription service that puts UAD plug‑ins and new instruments into the hands of music creators worldwide. This evolving collection runs natively on Mac ($19.99/month), with Windows coming this fall. “Right from our start in 2001, UAD plug-ins have been about recreating the authentic, inspiring sounds of classic studio and music gear,” said Bill Putnam Jr., UA’s founder and CEO. “With UAD Spark, we’re able to extend that vision, and bring professional UA sound home for everyone.” UAD Spark features UA’s most popular plug‑in emulations of legendary recording studio hardware, running natively for…
Considered by its developers as the ‘world’s first verified crewing platform’, Entourage Pro (EP) has launched its free to use freelance production crew resource. Partnered by some of the biggest manufacturers of production technology – such as Robe, Avolites, Yamaha, d&b audiotechnik, MDG, Chainmaster and Marshall – EP is a bespoke online network of verified crew that has already secured thousands of members from over 60 countries around the world. The service connects and sources freelance production crew, and underpins traditional word-of-mouth methods for finding work and sourcing crew. Initial uptake has been exceptional and is being extended by EP’s…
disguise has launched its latest software release, r21, unlocking improved functionality of its Designer software interface and RenderStream workflows, as well as introducing new tools for managing colour workflows. The release promises enhanced performance of the disguise software for productions across all of disguise’s wide-reaching industry applications, from live shows to virtual productions, broadcasts and fixed installations. Developed throughout the last 20 years as a pioneering solution to previsualise and deliver show stopping concert visuals for some of the world’s biggest artists, disguise has always held its community of users, customers and partners at the heart of its development pipeline.…
Haivision Systems and Grass Valley have formed a partnership that provides media producers with a solution for contributing high-quality, low latency, and synchronised multi-camera SRT video streams into the GV AMPP (Agile Media Processing Platform), the cloud-based technology platform that underlies the GV Media Universe Alliance. To provide customers with a single commercial contact, Grass Valley will resell and integrate Haivision products, including Makito X4 video encoders and decoders and the Haivision Hub video networking service. Makito X4 Encoder enables synchronous multi-stream live video contribution to the GV AMPP cloud production platform, while Haivision Hub supports remote management of contribution encoders…
This year’s Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area was an inflection point for the event’s signature halftime spectacular. It was to be the first time that all of the music performers were hip-hop artists, reflecting a shift that has taken place over the last decade that has seen the genre come to dominate popular music sales, charts, and culture. One thing that has remained a constant, though, was the event’s reliance on DiGiCo as ATK Audiotek, now a Clair Global company, once again deployed four SD5 mixing consoles to handle the complex and high-profile production.…
Following the successful launch of its SPACE HUB Immersive Processor at the recent Tonmeistertagung exhibition in Düsseldorf, CODA Audio has announced the creation of new dedicated ‘Immersive Audio’ facilities at the company’s headquarters in Hannover. The new demo rooms, the ‘Auditorium’ and the ‘White Room’, which will allow CODA to communicate the technology and philosophy of SPACE HUB, are designed to allow visitors a hands-on experience of the technology. The new spaces complement CODA’s existing ‘Showroom’, which is used for the demonstration of conventional systems. With its advanced spatial audio algorithms for positioning and moving sound objects, SPACE HUB, the…
Production Designer, Owen Pritchard-Smith used multiples of GLP impression X4 Bar 20 battens and JDC1 hybrid strobes for several rescheduled UK shows on Dermot Kennedy’s recent Better Days live campaign. “Two of the Ally Pally shows were rescheduled from last year, and then a third date was added,” he explained. “We also did shows in Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast, and a couple of festivals.” Returning to the same winning combination he had taken out with the artist when they first started working together three years ago, the GLP fixtures again formed the “absolute core” of a rig that was embellished…
PTZOptics has expanded its distribution partnership with the Midwich Group into the UK and Ireland. UK-based Midwich and Ireland-based Square One will offer the full range of PTZOptics products, including those from sister brands HuddleCamHD and TallyLights. This partnership expands PTZOptics’s relationship with the Midwich Group, the global distributor of AV products that includes Midwich, Square One, and Starin, a current distribution partner for PTZOptics in North America. “It’s been amazing to see, in less than a decade, the growth of PTZOptics into a truly international brand,” said Will Golde, Director of Channel Development for PTZOptics. “Midwich Group is the…
Continued development of the Italian company’s patented WFIR filter design results in even greater EQ resolution, while other updates extend the unit’s capabilities, compatibility and control options. As Newton continues to rewrite the rulebook for advanced sound system signal processing, the latest updates to the Dashboard application (software v1.9.4 and firmware v0.97) include enhancements to the functionality of WFIR filters, the addition of GPIO port control and extended compatibility for the latest Apple Mac computers. Of particular interest to companies who already deploy Newton on some of the world’s largest festivals is the further development of its unique WFIR (Warped…
