When French record producer and DJ Gesaffelstein launched his stage set at Coachella last April it created a blueprint for the huge Against the Night, Across the Time US tour that was to follow towards the end of the year. Positioned behind the artist was a 32ft high monolith covered entirely in Vantablack, a fragile material reported to deliver the world’s blackest black, erasing any visible features on a 3D surface and making objects very disorienting for the brain. The UK-designed material was being used for the first time in a live performance context. Show producer, Matthias Leullier, from Live…
Author: TPi
RCF UK has appointed Tom Martin to the role of UK technical sales/support. He will be responsible for supporting all RCF dealers, south of the M62. Dean Davoile, UK sales director, commented: “As RCF continues to grow we needed to find someone that was capable of supporting our dealers and demonstrating across all our product ranges. Tom is that person; with his extensive experience in Live, Installed and AV applications, he fits the bill perfectly.” Martin added: “I am looking forward to getting my teeth into the RCF product lines and working with some great people, both in the UK…
As part of a restructuring program to accommodate continuing growth, Meyer Sound has promoted two managers to key high-level management positions. Amy Luley has been named Director of U.S. Sales Operations and Mary Molnar has been appointed Technical Services Manager, Americas. Both will be reporting to Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing John McMahon. In her new position, Luley now assumes direct responsibility for managing Meyer Sound’s team of 15 sales managers and sales engineers throughout the United States. Account management, dealer contracts and dealer relationships will be under her direction. “We are transitioning to a new structure, moving…
American progressive metal band Periphery recently wrapped the Hail Stan: US Tour 2020 with a lighting system supplied by Bandit Lites. Named for their album, PERIPHERY IV: HAIL STAN, this album is the first release of the band’s own 3Dot Recordings label and follows their 2017 Grammy nomination for “Best Metal Performance.” “I wanted to create a show that was able to be hard-hitting with the band’s complex rhythmic syncopations but could also change at the drop of a hat to be a more traditional ‘giant rock and roll chorus’ for the more melody centred tracks,” explained Lighting Designer Travis…
Area Four Industries Direct UK is very proud to welcome one of the UK’s most experienced and respected entertainment industry suppliers to the EXE Technology family – Entec Sound & Light. Established in 1968, Entec is the original sound & lighting production rental company that specialises in equipment rentals, sales and installations for leading live events across the British isles. At the end of 2019, Entec purchased their first round of EXE Rise 1000kg D8+ low voltage hoists and then came back for a second helping in 2020. When asked about what led to his choice of investing in EXE…
LD Robert Henderson captured the swirling passions of West Side Story with a flowing, richly textured and vividly coloured lighting design that belied the circumstances surrounding its creation. “The way things unfolded, I didn’t have much time on this one,” said Henderson. “I had only a day for plotting and had to build a variety of looks within that time. However, I enjoy a challenge, and West Side Story is one of my favourite musicals of all time, so I was able to draw on my existing knowledge of the score to provide the emotional punches required by the show.”…
Elation is offering a pendant version in its Fuze series of high performance, high-value LED luminaires. Now available is the colour-changing Fuze Pendant LED wash light, an energy-efficient intelligent downlighting fixture that provides powerful illumination for a variety of house and area lighting applications. With its flexible design, this pendant light is at home in permanent installs as well as any temporary application like tradeshows, exhibitions and corporate events. Housing a full spectrum 230W LED array, the Fuze Pendant produces vibrant colours while providing high CRI variable white tones to flood space in hues of colour or functionally wash a…
Celestion has added two new bass speaker impulse responses, the BN15-400X and BL10-100X, to their collection of Bass Impulse Responses. The new Bass IRs, along with the complete collection of other authentic Celestion bass and guitar speaker tones, is available for audition and download at CelestionPlus. The Celestion BN15-400X has often been a go-to bass speaker for those looking for a thunderous low-end performance. For those looking for a warm bass tone that never sacrifices punch, this speaker is purpose-built to command the bottom line with a driving, rhythmic thump. The Celestion BL10-100X is built for bass without compromise –…
Mid-America Sound Corporation, one of the largest full-service concert and event production companies in the US, has invested in Ayrton GHIBLI, Khamsin and NandoBeam S6 fixtures for the company’s inventory and for client installations and added grandMA3 units to its console roster. Ayrton and MA Lighting products are both distributed exclusively in North America by ACT Lighting. Greenfield, Indiana-based Mid-America Sound has more than 40 years of experience in sound, lighting, rigging, roofs, staging and backline. The company made its first acquisition of Ayrton fixtures in two rounds in 2018 when it was in the market for more framing fixtures…
Broadcast on Fox to an international televised audience of more than 100 million, this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show was held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL. While the performance itself only lasted approximately 14 minutes, the preparation was immense and technical execution flawless. According to numbers released by Fox network, this year’s Halftime Show reached more viewers than the game itself – with a total of 104.1 million people tuning in from around the world. Sennheiser’s Digital 6000 wireless system was the microphone of choice for headline performer Shakira as well as her special guest, Bad Bunny,…
Penn Elcom has announced that RGB Communications will be distributing its full range of ingenious 19-inch racking enclosures and associated accessories. RGB is a well-known technical ‘value add’ distributor that was established in 1991 and is based in Berkshire. The company supplies several carefully selected premium product lines and brands to a wide variety of clients such as AV and custom installers and rental and staging companies throughout the UK and Ireland. Penn Elcom offers multiple “excellent” solutions for AV markets and their 19-inch ranges “perfectly complement RGB’s existing product portfolios” in both residential and commercial sectors confirmed their MD,…
Reflecting the raw, unsettling power and complexity of Anna Meredith’s music in light is no easy undertaking, especially when one must contend with limited time, space and budget. But that’s precisely what Simon Horn did, when Meredith appeared at London’s progressive EartH, with help from a collection of CHAUVET DJ fixtures. “For a one-off show with minimal space, power draw, and load-in time, I need something that could be set up quickly and easily, yet still allow me to create the kind of immersive looks that would support this artist’s exciting music,’ said Horn, of Purple Lighting. “I also knew…
Reflecting continued rapid growth in the North American marketplace for its real-time communications and signal networking solutions, Riedel Communications has promoted Dave Caulwell to the newly created position of North American Channel Manager from his previous role as Business Development Manager for the Eastern U.S. He will report to Rich Zabel, Vice President of Sales for Riedel Communications North America. Caulwell has more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of event technology and production, with a heavy background in video production. Prior to joining Riedel in 2016 as Business Development Manager, he held both technical and managerial roles…
Green Hippo’s Hippotizer Media Servers were chosen by video director Jay Baker of Creative Video Design to drive the visuals for Spotify Presents: Who We Be Live 2019. Performed live at the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, the Spotify show was part of its award-winning series of events featuring the UK and Ireland’s leading Rap, Grime, R&B and Afrobeat line-ups. Creative design and production were by leading UK marketing agency, Amplify, working closely with event promoter SJM Concerts. Creative Video Design was brought into the project by Production Box, led by Mike Oates. While the venue’s exterior was used as…
For Marillion’s orchestral UK tour dates in November, lighting designer Yenz Nyholm chose the remarkable light output and colour mixing ability of the VL2600 Wash fixture from Vari-Lite, a Signify entertainment lighting brand. The Marillion With Friends From The Orchestra tour saw the band joined by a string quartet, In Praise Of Folly, plus Emma Hainan on flute and Sam Morris on French horn. Culminating in two nights at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall, the tour coincided with the British band’s 40th anniversary and the 30th anniversary of Steve Hogarth as its lead singer. Nyholm’s challenge was to deliver the required…
German singer/songwriter Lena Meyer-Landrut’s Only Love tour of 12 dates took the band through small to medium-sized halls in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Designer JoJo Tillmann developed a reduced set with a scalable lighting design for single-trailer transportation mainly using fixtures from the GLP catalogue. Although there were four musicians, two backing vocalists and two dancers on stage, alongside the singer herself, the show was not conceived to be ‘over-staged’. “I designed the set on a very stripped-down basis,” reported OPUS award winner Tillmann. “Apart from a small ramp leading up to a platform, there were no set building elements…
Heil Sound has introduced its new PR 37 professional microphone. Designed with the vocalist in mind, the PR 37 produces natural, articulate sound over a wide frequency range. Its excellent upper mid-range response has been designed to cut through a mix whether live or in the studio. It features a 1.5 diameter dynamic element that is mounted in a rugged housing to reduce handling noise. The PR 37 has a frequency response from 50 to 18,000 Hz and output level of -51 dB at 1000 Hz. The PR 37 joins an already impressive lineup of vocal microphones from Heil Sound,…
BishopSound, the Yorkshire-based PA specialist, has announced a brand-new addition to its range of highly affordable point source PA speakers – the 1,000-Watt RMS Active Delta Dual 15 with DSP Part of BishopSound’s recently announced move to all-plywood construction for its DELTA range of speakers, the 1,000 Watt Delta Dual 15 active is designed for a tough life on the road, being constructed from 18mm (13 ply) birch marine plywood painted with four coats of textured jet black PU paint. Reinforcing the new enclosure’s strength, the grille has been doubled in thickness compared with previous models and is recessed to…
