To celebrate 10 years since the release of Maximo Park’s seminal debut studio album, A Certain Trigger in 2005, which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, lighting designer Olly Suckling created a giant illuminated M-A-X-I-M-O sign upstage on the group’s most recent tour, using 28 of Robe’s CycFX 8 LED battens. This high impact visual effect was part of Suckling’s first design for Maximo Park, for which he toured a neat and flexible floor package comprising 59 fixtures, 46 of which were Robe, all supplied by rental company R & M Productions from Stokesley, North Yorkshire. The Maximo letters…
Author: Stewart Hume
The global live production and concert touring industry’s biggest names assembled at the Battersea Evolution in London on 22 February to celebrate the TPi Awards 2016. The black tie ceremony and networking after party, which is run by Mondiale Publishing, home of TPi Magazine, honours the live event design and production world’s brightest stars and longest-serving influencers. Under the supervision of Production Manager, GoTo Live’s Ryan Esson and Production Assistant Daniel Jones – whose regular clients include Festival Number 6, Snowbombing and Parklife – the TPi Awards 2016 was a resounding success. This year’s technical event included a sound design…
When Abbas Ritscher set sail from Miami on Jam Cruise 14, he paid a little extra attention to the weather charts. “Every time we leave port, the captain always jokes that we ‘expect the weather,’” said the co-owner of The Design Oasis, who has served as the video designer on the popular seaborne music festival for the past five years. “On the previous cruise we got winds that were strong enough to force the cancelation of the night’s last act.” Ritscher’s experience gave him a renewed appreciation for the rugged durability of his Chauvet Professional MVP LED video panels. “When…
Powersoft delivered audio to a crowd of 71,088 gathered for Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium with over 120 of its K10 high-performance power amplifiers and eight custom subwoofers featuring Powersoft M-System drivers. The pre-game and halftime entertainment portions of the event – powered solely by Powersoft amplifiers – featured performances by Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars, and reached no less than 111.9 million viewers worldwide. Elite audio services supplier, ATK Audiotek, provided system integration and audio services for the landmark event, creating an agile audio solution that consisted of 18 mobile speaker carts – each equipped with JBL…
EDM artist Brillz chose a VUE Audiotechnik monitor system supplied by Zeo Brothers for his Twonk Di Nation tour. It features an all-star lineup, with rising festival trap artist Party Favor appearing on all dates and a rotating cast of support artists that includes Jackal, DOTCOM, Ghastly, LAXX, Kayzo, Party Thieves, Willy Joy, Y2K, Aryay, Dr. Fresch, and Infuze. “The monitor system is used in conjunction with various venue FOH systems,” said Dan Zeo, vice president of The Zeo Group. “We are traveling with a stereo monitor rig for the DJs consisting of eight VUE al-4s and four al-8SB subwoofers.” Carrying the monitor gear ensures that the DJs have…
Panasonic used ISE 2016 to launch the 28,000 lumens PT-RZ31K, the company’s first 3-Chip DLP SOLID SHINE laser phosphor projector series, especially designed for large venue applications. The projectors will be available from autumn 2016 in both WUXGA and SXGA+, each outputting 28,000 centre lumens, and offer continuous maintenance-free operation, low total cost of ownership, small cabinet and stunning picture quality. A new liquid cooling system also contributes to reliability and quiet operation. The range is compatible with existing Panasonic lenses for 3-Chip DLP projectors, allowing operators to share lenses between projectors in their inventories. Hartmut Kulessa, European Projector Marketing Manager…
In the wake of its 30th anniversary year, Stageco was proud to receive the Favourite Staging Company accolade at the TPi Awards 2016 on 22 February at Battersea Evolution, London. The event was hosted by comedian Russell Kane and attended by an audience of almost 1,400 people from across the live entertainment production industry. On an evening that marked the 15th edition of the TPi Awards, the ceremony climaxed with the coveted Outstanding Contribution Award, an honour bestowed on Stageco founder and President Hedwig De Meyer, much to his surprise and delight. David Rose, Managing Director of the category sponsor, Navigator…
An innovative new concept from ADJ, the Airstream DMX Bridge is a multi-signal Wi-Fi transmitter that enables the wireless in-depth control of multiple ADJ lighting effects from any iOS device via the game-changing Airstream DMX app. The new Airstream DMX Bridge from ADJ is the perfect wireless DMX control solution, allowing users to operate multiple ADJ fixtures from a distance of 2,500ft, without the hassle of extensive wiring or complicated DMX programming. Not only that, but users can achieve all of this from the screen of their smartphone or tablet, thanks to the arrival of a revolutionary app for iOS.…
Allen & Heath’s Qu-32 compact digital mixers were used throughout the recent Auckland Folk Festival, managing FOH and monitor sound for all three stages. The three stages comprised the Festival Stage, Mill Stage and new for 2016, the Village Stage. Selected by PA company, Sound and Light, Qu-32 mixers were installed at FOH and monitors on each stage, with AR2412 and AR84 racks for additional remote IO. “I have managed the folk festival for about 15 years. It requires 14 hours of mixing a day so reliability is key, which is why we have always used A&H mixers,” commented…
The £500,000 commitment is to bring next generation products and initiatives on stream ahead of a busy summer for Star Events. It will provide for PA/screen support towers that set new industry standards in minimising both footprint and sightline obstructions, substantial upgrades to the Orbit and VerTech stage ranges, and state-of-the-art health and safety equipment for the Star crews who build structures and the production teams that work on them. Less visible will be the enterprise and stock management systems that are coming on line to improve the accuracy of what Star sends to site and when. The money will…
d3 Technologies is pleased to welcome two new members to its marketing team: Nikita Bazalo as Marketing Manager and Matthew Drozd as Digital Designer. They come on board at the company’s London headquarters. d3’s growing marketing team will enable the company to expand its profile worldwide and increase its support for an international network of resellers, rental and training partners, and d3 studios. “From traditional advertising campaigns and brand development to innovative digital media engagement, Nikita’s track record and experience will continue to enhance d3’s international presence,” said Fernando Kufer, who joined d3 Technologies as General Manager in September 2015.…
West London based lighting and visuals rental company Colour Sound Experiment is supplying lighting equipment and crew to the current European tour by synthpop duo Hurts, with an innovative production design by Rob Sinclair. Colour Sound invested in 100 new Martin VDO Sceptron 10 LED battens for the tour for which lighting is being directed and operated on the road by Matt Arthur. Colour Sound’s Haydn Cruickshank explained: “We’ve supplied the last few Hurts tours, and you know that anything in which Rob is involved in is always going to look interesting! This is no exception.” Sinclair and the band’s…
UK-based production design company, Okulus, chose a bank of 40 Ayrton MagicBlade-R fixtures to back the up-and-coming US rock band, PVRIS, on their first-ever televised appearance. The band appeared in January on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, where they were watched by over 2 million viewers. PVRIS turned to Okulus’ lighting designers and programmers, James Scott and Louis Oliver, to bring their ideas to life. Scott and Oliver decided the unique appearance and reliability of Ayrton’s MagicBlade-R fixtures were a sure-fire way to achieve this and used them as a dynamic backdrop to the band’s equally dynamic performance. “We wanted to…
Germany’s largest dry hire company, Niclen Moving Lights Systems GmbH, has added Elation Professional Cuepix Series LED blinders and Colour Pendant colour-changing LED luminaires to its inventory of rental stock. The purchase includes both versions of Elation’s popular Cuepix Blinder – the Cuepix Blinder WW2 and Cuepix Blinder WW4. Housing two and four long-life 100W warm white 3,200K COB LEDs respectively, they provide a bright, high-density output that mimics the look of an incandescent source. Ideal for adding high-impact white light to stage productions, both fixtures feature individual pixel control as well as preprogrammed effects macros. “I really like the flexibility…
eclipse Staging Services has added a pre-visualisation suite, incorporating WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) into its service offering, further enhancing its clients’ experience when choosing and designing a technical package for their event. With this new facility, the client, video and lighting departments have the ability to visualise different looks in a virtual 3D environment and to determine the best methods for reaching their design goals. The ability to rough-in cue structure for the show in advance of arrival at the show venue saves time and production costs and is an invaluable tool to producers to pitch creative ideas…
Following the successful partnerships with the JW Marriott Hotel, Dubai and the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi, eclipse Venue Services has continued in the same progressive vein now managing in-house audio visual services for eight leading luxury hotels across the UAE. The new partnerships are with The Conrad Dubai, Palazzo Versace Dubai, Le Meridien Dubai Hotel and Conference Centre, the St. Regis Dubai, The Westin Dubai Al Habtoor City and W Dubai Al Habtoor City. eclipse will offer its unique 24/7 on-site sales and technical support. The partnership with eclipse Venue Services ensures that the property and its clients…
Lighting Designer Tom Kenny turned to Elation Professional’s new Platinum FLX hybrid moving head to light Pitbull’s New Year’s Revolution television special, broadcast live on Fox television to a nationwide audience on New Year’s Eve. This was Kenny’s first year doing the show and his first opportunity to use the award-winning Platinum FLX luminaire. “I’d been looking at Elation for quite a while and had the chance to use 60 Platinum Series fixtures on last year’s MTV European Music Awards show in Milan, which worked out really well. For the Pitbull New Year’s Eve show, they wanted more of a…
