As lighting manufacturers continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in luminaire technology, the practical application of that technology falls upon the designers and technicians.

Le Robe Esprite

With many different lighting designs and a myriad of applications worldwide, not all designs require the same characteristics from fixtures in their rigs. While a studio lighting design may require one fixture attribute, a concert touring design may require another. In these instances where specific performance capabilities must be available, it is the cooperative relationship between designer and manufacturer which plays a critical role in the overall success of a design.

“This really goes back to the fundamentals of lighting design and what it is that lighting designers truly want,” began John Featherstone, Lightswitch Partner and Principal. “For a lot of applications, the quest for a long time has been for the flattest field possible. If you are lighting scenery, doing gobo projections or want a nice, fat beam of light in the air, a flat beam field is optimal. Conversely, there are also a lot of applications where you really want a distinct 2:1 aspect ratio peak field.”

Understanding the contrast between a lighting application that requires a peak beam field and one that demands a flat beam field is crucial in the fundamentals of design. Knowing exactly when and where to deploy fixtures that will give you the ideal beam field necessary allows a designer to create the most advantageous visual experience.

Lorsqu’on fusionne les champs lumineux de deux projecteurs à répartition uniforme, comme l’Esprite, la luminosité double à l’intersection des deux faisceaux.

“Based on the simple law of physics, if you’re creating adjacent areas of light on the stage and you have a perfectly flat field, you will have light doubling where those areas overlap,” continued John. “This then produces a very uneven, or a difficult to make even, light distribution.

On the other hand, if you have a 2:1 center edge to beam fall-off, when you overlap the edges of those beams, you get the same amount of light where the two beams intersect as you get in the middle of one.” “Looking at the various lighting designs which a designer may be asked to create, in 90% of cases, a nice flat field is exactly what we want as it’s sort of the gold standard for optical distribution,” added John.

“However, when we are using automated fixtures to do a stage wash, we really want a peak field so that we don’t get any light doubling. This is something that has been the Achilles heel of any kind of moving light, especially for theatrical and television lighting. On a concert tour where you have artists moving about the stage, it’s not a necessity, but if you are doing a TV shoot, theatrical production or a corporate event, it is absolutely critical to achieve an even stage wash.”

Les même projections de l’Esprite, avec introduction de l’optique Hot-Spot et frost. Le champ fusionné reste uniforme à l’intersection des deux faisceaux, ce qui convient mieux pour éclairer une scène, par exemple pour une prise de vue.

“Traditionally with moving lights, an even stage wash has been accomplished by using a fixture model that only does a peak beam field or one which offers an interchangeable peak beam reflector for arc sources,” admitted John. “The challenge with this is the amount of work behind it as you have to dissemble the light in the shop creating inventory management challenges, and anything that costs money to the shop, costs money to the show.”
Seeing the need for fixtures that could provide designers with both the peak beam field and the flat beam field desired, automated lighting manufacturers have struggled to develop an ideal solution. Wanting a better option in lighting technology, he knew he would need to work collaboratively with a trusted lighting manufacturer. As the Czech Republic-based Robe Lighting was introducing its latest automated LED luminaire, the team at Lightswitch took this opportunity to see if they could make the solution a reality.

“Josef Valchar, CEO and co-founder of Robe Lighting, asked us about our wish list during an evaluation of an early prototype of the current generation LED Profile luminaire” explained John. “In true designer fashion, we said we would like a fixture that could produce a flat field when we wanted it, and then also a peak field when we needed it. Essentially, we wanted to have our cake and eat it too.” Unbeknownst to John, Josef not only heard this request, but he decided to act upon it as well.

Believing in the importance of providing designers with the fixture choices that will truly impact their designs, Josef worked with the Robe optical design engineers and created an innovative Hot-Spot Lens System for the ESPRITE™ and T1 Series of LED profiles. The new lens system accessory was also successfully tested in previous generation Robe LED profiles, and will continue to be implemented in future product releases when applicable.

John Featherstone, directeur et associé de Lightswitch.

“To our delight, Josef took our request and developed a Hot-Spot optical device which fits perfectly into one of the rotating gobo wheel slots of the new ESPRITE™ and offers designers the option to literally have a drop-in peak field reflector,” said John.

“Now when we are doing a corporate event and lighting the stage with the fixtures for key light, we can have a peak field distribution, but if we are creating an entertainment design or want to use gobos with the same fixture, we can drop that peak field reflector out and get a nice, flat field beam distribution.”

The new Robe Lighting ESPRITE™ LED is a fully featured automated luminaire that has a fast-change, low-cost, transferable light engine which ingeniously solves the problem of performance longevity for white source LED luminaires.
The TE™ 650W white LED source produces 27,000 lumens and a piercing 85,000 lux at 5 meters, and the patent pending Hot-Spot Lens system allows designers to move from a flat field beam to a 6:1 ratio hot-spot beam giving uniform intensity when overlaying beam edges.

“To the best of my knowledge, the ESPRITE™ LED now is the only fixture on the market which offers this type of functionality and doesn’t make the peak beam reflector an after-market decision,” continued John. “From a designer’s perspective, having the opportunity for the ESPRITE™ to come with this device gives us the ability to pick and choose the type of beam field distribution ideal for the lighting design and for any type of utilization and maximum flexibility.”

“During the design phase of all our Robe and Anolis luminaires, we often seek to enlist the input of lighting designers, dealers and distributors worldwide,” explained Josef. “We understand that they are the creative minds who will be applying the technology behind our innovative line of lighting solutions, and we must always try and provide the tools necessary to achieve and exceed their own expectations.”
“Some in the industry who feel there is an adversarial relationship between designers and manufacturers,” concluded John. “Our philosophy at Lightswitch has always been that the relationship is symbiotic as we cannot excel at what we do without manufacturers excelling at what they do!

“One of the things that we enjoy about Robe is the opportunity to be heard early in the product development arc, and in our experience, Robe always asks about our needs. While we understand that not everything we suggest will be included, what is clear is that Robe is very interested in listening to the design community, and it’s very advantageous to have such an open forum to interface with a manufacturer about what we and our clients are needing in the field.”

For more info check the Robe website

Rising high over the flatland at the mouth of the Manitowoc River as it flows into Lake Michigan, the Briess Grain Tower has served a familiar landmark for sailors and townspeople for generations. On the night of Friday April 10, the venerable structure offered another kind of hope and reassurance.

From 7:45 to 11 pm, it glowed brilliantly in blue against the clear, dark sky as a show of solidarity and support for the healthcare workers and front-liners who have stood as tall as any tower during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local businesses, The Wharf Manitowoc, Powerhouse Productions, LLC and Brennan Seehafer Productions, came up with the idea of lighting the tower, along with another landmark, the decommissioned WWII submarine, USS Cobia, to honor these too-often-unsung heroes.
“They are making great sacrifices to ensure that things continue to function during the pandemic, and this is a way for our community to say thanks,” said Brennan Seehafer, who owns The Wharf Manitowoc, a popular seasonal music venue next to the grain tower.

Providing the richly colored light for the display was a collection of CHAUVET Professional Rogue fixtures supplied by Powerhouse Productions. Brandon Zinn, owner of the lighting company, used four Rogue R2X Beam and six Rogue R2X Wash fixtures to achieve the powerfully moving effect.
Zinn positioned the six wash units on the ground about 75-feet from the tower, arranging them so each side of the structure was bathed in light. To light the submarine, he relied on the four beam fixtures, positioned across the river from the vessel, about 300-feet away. In both cases, the fixtures had ample throw distance to do the job.

“The two things that stand out to me about the Rogues are their versatility and power,” said Zinn. “When we went to light the submarine, I was a little worried about the blue showing up against the dark vessel. Using the blue with a frost filter and prism, I worried that it might not be super impressive with all the filters. But once we did that shot across the river the units completely impressed me.”

Both 27-year old business owners, Seehafer and Zinn say that they feel like the workers they honored make them optimistic about the future. “The selfless healthcare workers who are on the frontlines are true heroes, so are all the first responders, and truckers,” remarked Seehafer. “The act of lighting up a city in blue is a small, but highly visible, way to express our thanks for what they’re doing to ensure that all of us have a brighter tomorrow.”

According to the experts, the name Manitowoc is derived from the Native American term for “dwelling of the Great Spirit.” The name seems very appropriate for the spirit that was on display in this tightknit community on this clear April night.

More info on Chauvet Professional Products

The Coronavirus pandemic has already seen many examples of those in the entertainment technology and production industry putting their skills and resources to good use – from morale raising actions to physical contributions and manufacturing items to aid the massive efforts worldwide to contain the spread of infection.
In normal times, S-Group in France is a busy full production and rental operation with four regional bases and a HQ in Alès, north of Nimes in the South of France, and this time of year they’d have an average of 20 tours on the road as well as servicing numerous long term rentals …

protective visors supplied free of charge by S Group

However, with the live show and event Industry at a complete standstill … S-Group’s manufacturing division has instead energised its 3D printing capabilities assist in producing protective visors for workers engaged in the various frontline healthcare and first response services.
S-Group founder and owner Leon Van Empel explained that the schedule of the manufacturing facility – part of the HQ building – is usually led by the company’s internal engineering office as their workload includes the design and build of custom stage, set and scenery pieces and props plus other bespoke elements for shows and events.
They have CNC machinery, water / laser cutting, welding, assembly and electronics integration plus textile and plastic works at their disposal, plus the 3D Printing, which is used either directly for customer requirements or for internal development projects.

S Groupe produces the visor mask headband.

The protective mask / visor project all started when Leon was looking at the Facebook page of Visiere Solidaire, a citizen supported network for the manufacturer of protective visors for care givers and public officials.

The organisation was reaching out to companies with 3D printing facilities, asking if they could assist in making this vital kit which is badly needed by those working in close contact and proximity to people including those who have tested positive for the virus. “We were extremely keen to try and help the enormous efforts and sacrifices being made by those on the front line … and immediately offered the services of our 3D printing” explained Leon.
S-Group has a Fused Deposition Modelling printer which was bespoke designed and built for the company by IT manager, Thibaut Pral. He downloaded into the printer software one of the .stl files developed and made available free of charge by the designers of the Newshield group of the Newshield group.The printer uses PET-G filament for both good flexibility and an excellent resistance to decontaminating chemicals.

A local Facebook group allocates “orders” to those companies or individuals in the area who have offered the 3D printing manufacturing services. These companies supply their machines and the thermoplastic material required – in S-Group’s case to make the main part of the shield that attaches to the head – while other local suppliers – linked through the same page – produce the clear plastic sheets for the visor fronts.

When the visor fronts arrive at S-Group, They assemble the complete visors, working within the social distancing rules and wearing full protective PPE. The completed assembled masks, and a user manual explaining how to make a decontaminant utilizing diluted bleach are given a final clean with bleach solution before being collected, a task also managed via the Facebook page who then also arranges their distribution.

S Group also provides the final assembly.

This is free to those who have requested the equipment. Primarily delivered to healthcare workers including freelance nurses, dental surgeons as well as shop employees and others involved in the food supply chain.

“We are extremely proud that our employees are prepared to do this and put our temporarily unused company resources to good use during the crisis producing this much-needed essential equipment.”
The shortage of essential PPE equipment has been a well-documented issue and is a common thread in many countries in the thick of battling Covid-19, which is straining healthcare services worldwide. France is one of the worst hit countries in mainland Europe, along with Italy and Spain.

Looking forward to the future, Leon is keeping positive and envisioning a time when “We can reunite our fantastic team and restart the premium services we offer to our customers” … which will also entail getting the 1000 plus Robe moving lights back on the road on a dynamic mix of productions and installations.

Astera’s reporting team were on-the-ground in Australia and caught up with the action at D1 Studios in Sydney in February … just before the Coronavirus pandemic forced much of the world into lockdowns and social dispatching as part of massive efforts to delay the spread.

D1 Studios in Marrickville, Sydney is a busy facility that is aimed for photo and video shoots, commercials and promos. It’s owner and manager is Harry Dakanalis, an enterprising and charismatic individual with a fund of industry experience and penchant for lateral thinking and doing things differently!

Harry Dakanalis

Harry also worked as a stuntman and stunt coordinator for many years, cutting his teeth working on numerous feature films and commercials. When he’s not been jumping out of helicopters and spectacularly crashing cars in amazing locations across Australia and around the world … his other company D2 Motion has developed a unique highly accurate robotic motion-controlled camera system.

This can produce breath-taking, gravity-defying camera angles, aspects and footage for more standard studio stunt effects … extremely quickly and efficiently.
Harry has also recently invested in 64 x Astera Titan Tube LED battens for the studio which are part of the specialist light box set up that D1 offers its clients.
The Titans are attached to a 9-metre-wide by 5-metre-deep motorised box truss that forms the light box, and they provide a dynamic, flexible and ready-to-use lighting system for any scenario.

Run wired with data via ArtNet from a laptop, the Titans are controlled via D2 Motion’s proprietary software developed by Daniel Miller specifically for the studio and this light box application.
The light box was evolved to create a comprehensive overhead lighting set up – particularly for car commercials – with a high degree of granular control that can give the impression of light shifting in each frame and simulating movement.

Harry Dakanalis on the left with Daniel Miller.

No one had enabled this technique on such a large scale before, so when it came to choosing the light sources to make it happen, Harry and Daniel looked extensively and carefully at the options.
They found many companies reluctant to give them samples with which to experiment, but that all changed when they contacted ULA Group, Astera’s Australian distributor. Their proactive team are hugely enthusiastic about Astera products and they were happy to provide some Titans immediately.
When they did a like-for-like comparison with the other frequently used industry LED tubes … the Astera’s were 40% brighter!
“We needed a fixture that could match the colour temperature of other light sources as well as give the very precise control so we could create waves, patterns and beautifully finessed flowing kinetic effects,” explained Harry.

Harry and Daniel decided on Astera, and these granular effects are further refined utilising their custom software to achieve minute precision. However, Harry also thinks the Astera App is great for controlling smaller numbers of tubes on location.
When the Asteras arrived they were installed on the light box complete with a large custom seamless silk diffuser … and were ready for business which has been constant.
Clients like Audi, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, Suzuki and many others have all shot materials in the studio utilising the robotic camera system and Asteras. They also have motion-controlled car turntables and other accessories available … making D1 the first purpose-built fully automated car studio in the world.

D1 Studio is designed to allow crews to get great results in days rather than weeks. Especially in commercials, time is always tight and pressured, so the quicker a setup can be completed, the better. D1’s light box and automation equipment dispenses with the need for complicated rigging in dusty roofs to get lights and other kit in the right places.

In less than a year, some of the leading talents from the world of TV, film and commercial production have worked there – lighting cameramen, camera operators, DOPs and directors – which has resulted in a bounce in sales for Astera as everyone has been amazed by the quality and performance of the Titans!
Although it wasn’t a key consideration in the planning, another positive consequence of getting the Titans installed has been reducing the studio’s power bill vastly … by nearly 75% in fact, which is impressive!

Keeping ahead of the game is one of Harry’s passions and – among other brainstorms – he and Daniel are already looking into designing solar-powered generators to power the robotic camera system … with a view to be able to run the studio off the grid for periods.
There are also plans to roll out the successful D1 formula in other cities … so watch this space!

For more information check the Astera website

Strand has announced the new Coda LED Cyc and Aurora LED Strip luminaires featuring the RGBALC color mixing system and SmartColor Control system first seen on the recently announced Vari-Lite VL5LED WASH.
The new fixtures bring a wide range of rich, easily controllable color options to footlight, graze, and cyclorama applications, and are part of a full range of theatrical luminaires announced today by Strand aimed at theatres, houses of worship, TV and film studios, and other performance spaces.

The new Strand Coda cyc fixture and Aurora strip luminaires merge modern lighting technology with the color depth and control simplicity of traditional incandescent luminaires.
The full color fixtures use an RGBALC (red, green, blue, amber, lime and cyan) color mixing system for a wide mixable color spectrum, but thanks to the innovative SmartColor Control system, the luminaires can be easily controlled with traditional CYM + CTO controls.

“While built-in color mixing provides more flexibility than traditional gels, the programming of these fixtures has grown increasingly complex, as wider color spectrums make control extremely DMX channel heavy,” explains Martin Palmer, Senior Product Manager, Vari-Lite and Strand Luminaires at Signify.

“The new SmartColor Control system allows designers to use more flexible LED color mixing engines to achieve the same deep colors they were able to obtain with gels, but without making it harder to program their production.”

The Strand Aurora LED Strip is available in both a 4-cell and 12-cell version. With pixel control of each cell, it’s easy to create split colors or gradients, making it perfect for applications of any size, from graze or cyc lighting to set piece illumination, foot lighting, and more. The new Coda LED Cyc also supports natural split colors with built-in two-zone control. Both fixtures have a fanless design, making them ideal for quiet environments.

For television applications, the new luminaires also offer camera-ready features such as adjustable frequency to exceed camera frame rates and green-magenta color shift for color correction.

“The Coda LED and Aurora LED fixtures are excellent additions to the new Strand theatrical luminaire series,” says Fernand Pereira, Global Head of Marketing and Product Management, Vari-Lite and Strand at Signify. “With beautiful colors and powerful features targeting applications such as theatre and television, these new fixtures demonstrate the innovation and quality of light that has made Strand beloved by lighting designers for generations.”

The new Strand luminaires will be available in May.

And more information on Strand website

Dear L-Acoustics Family,

Just like you, the past few weeks have challenged us in almost every way imaginable. Through it all, our resolve is intact and we remain united and committed to keeping you informed, and our mission to shape the future of sound remains steadfast.
Since our last update, we have some important developments to share with you:

For a look at our teams working together (safely!) on site, at home and with you, we’ve prepared a short video that you can view:

Let us stay strong, healthy and hopeful. After the silence… together, we will raise the roof!

Sincerely, The L-Acoustics Team

ETC is launching a new commercial LED systems with the announcement of two new product fami-lies designed to work cohesively together. ArcSystem Navis is a line of LED luminaires featuring pristine light as well as a modular design for smooth installations.
For centralized LED power controls, F-Drive is a new system offering an intuitive design with customizable output cards. Together, Navis and F-Drive make one adaptable and robust LED system for any space.

The Navis line of luminaires prioritizes ease of installation, hassle-free maintenance, in-field custom-ization, and beautiful light with high-grade TIR optics and stepless dimming. The fixtures are availa-ble in multiple color temperature options ranging from 2700 K to 5000 K as well as an RGBW color-mixing option.
A 3000 K Fade to Warm variant is also available providing an intimate, warm light at lower intensity levels, often preferred in hospitality environments.

In the field, aesthetic changes can be made in seconds with various magnetic trim plates, clip-in optical accessories, and twist-and-click beam angle lenses.

The recessed Navis 100 offers a small form factor at only 100 mm high with three wind-down clamps catering to ceiling thicknesses from 0.5 to 20 mm.
Any Navis 100 can be transformed into a Surface Cylinder or Pendant solution by sliding it into the purpose-designed hardware accessories.

In addition, an optional wall wash accessory is available, instantly transforming the Navis 100 into a luminaire capable of providing a smooth blanket of light for a wall or corridor application.

F-Drive LED power control

The F-Drive LED power control solution is optimized for seamless use with ArcSystem Navis lumi-naires, as well as third-party fixture applications. F-Drive provides an accessible hub for all the critical components controlling an LED system utilizing familiar category type cable with RJ45 connections. Depending on a facility’s needs, the F-Drive family includes both an R12 rack-mount option and a W1 wall-mount option.

The R12 option features 12 slots for swappable output cards with four channels of power output each. The mix-and-match driver cards are compatible with a variety of LED fixtures, including constant current and constant voltage loads.
The cards are hot-swappable, so changes can be made while maintaining power for the rest of the LED system. F-Drive R12 is compact, using just 3U of rack space, providing power and data support for up to 48 individually controllable Navis 100 luminaires.

The introduction of Navis and F-Drive delivers both elegant luminaires and sophisticated power controls for one comprehensive LED system.

To learn more, please go to ETC website

Or get a hands-on overview of these new solutions during ETC’s live webinar recorded version of the 21st of April available with the link here

The AES has launched a fundraising campaign to ensure the Society’s continued operation through the crisis. The goal of the initiative is to raise $500,000 USD by June 1.

In an appeal to AES stakeholders, AES President Agnieszka Roginska acknowledged that many AES members, and many among the Society’s manufacturer and service provider partners, are facing their own challenges in this time of global upheaval. “Others,” said Roginska in her letter, “may be in a more stable position and able to once again contribute to the Society. If it is within your ability, may we ask that you make a financial contribution to help see your AES through these unprecedented times?”

AES President Agnieszka Roginska

Since the launch of the campaign, numerous individuals have renewed their memberships, choosing in some cases to extend their membership by several years as an investment in the Society and in their personal future in the industry. Campaign-specific contributions ranging from $5 to $4,500 USD have been made, totaling more than $23,000 USD. “The AES is extremely grateful for all contributions,” said Roginska.

Audio Engineering Society members and partners have a unique perspective on the benefits the Society brings to individuals for career advancement and to the audio industry as a whole. From the AES’s crucial Standards work, the promotion of audio research, the development of milestone events to education spanning the breadth of audio technology and its application, the Society has led the industry forward for more than 70 years.

Though the AES operates on a lean budget for an organization of its size, its small but dedicated staff and its volunteer leadership are tirelessly working to shepherd the Society through this generation-defining crisis, investigating myriad possible sources of sustaining income while exploring new initiatives to continue its mission and provide timely and relevant member benefits.

Every program and activity the Society is involved in, depends on member support. “Donations may be made on the AES website www.aes.org or via your PayPal account https://paypal.com (use PayPal’s “Send” function to route your donation directly to [email protected]). No donation is too small.
As a special thank you, the AES will recognize individuals making contributions of $400 USD with a three-month Sustaining Member status; at $500 USD, contributing individuals will receive sustaining member status through December 2020.
As a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, donations to AES by U.S. taxpayers are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Individuals and companies can also gift a membership to colleagues or friends facing economic challenges through the AES Gift Membership program.

“Working together, the AES will persevere,” proclaims Roginska. “We appreciate your thoughtful consideration of this request. Visit AES.org to find out more about what the Audio Engineering Society has to offer and for ways that you can Listen, Learn and Connect with audio peers and pros around the world.”

The long-awaited BLAST Pro Series Global Final, one of the highlights of the booming international e-sports market, was hosted in the Kingdom of Bahrain in December 2019, with Green Hippo’s Hippotizer Media Servers looking after the complex playback requirements.
The event, an action-packed first-person shooter tournament spanning two days, attracted gaming fans from around the world to the 7,000-seat Isa Sports City Arena. Working directly for the tournament organisers, Copenhagen-based specialist 4K Projects supplied all of the Hippotizers and AV equipment for the fast-paced event.

Copenhagen-based 4K projects provided Hippotizer Boreal+ and Amba+ Media Servers to manage the complex playback requirements for the BLAST Pro Series. ©Mikkel_Samuelsen

Project Manager Mikkel Samuelsen oversaw the project, along with operators Kasper Lange and Balder Thorrud. Lange was in charge of lighting, video and design, whilst Thorrud set up and operated the Hippotizer Media Servers.
The Green Hippo package consisted of three Boreal+ units, two of which ran content for all the main LED screens while the third served as a back-up. In addition to this, one Hippotizer Amba+ unit was used to feed auxiliary displays around the arena, including digital signage, scoreboards and TV monitors.

4k Projects’ Hippotizer and signal system set-up included a NewTek NC1 I/O Module for converting SDI (Serial Digital Interface) to NDI (Network Device Interface), plus a complete 10GB Network for distributing NDI data between servers and preview positions.
The Bahrain show was the last of seven BLAST shows worldwide for which 4K Projects provided their expertise during 2019. The Hippotizer set-up for each was similar, says Samuelsen, but the main challenge for this event was the vast array of inputs required for the Hippo Servers.

©Mikkel_Samuelsen

“On a full show we have 12 live inputs with a combination of direct 3G SDI in 59.95Hz progressive inputs and NDI sources,” explains Samuelsen. “A typical tournament has three games running simultaneously, which we then input and distribute to all the LED screens.” There were 15 screens in total, not including the arena’s scoreboards and LED signage ribbons, measuring 450sq.m in total.

The video content was designed by BLAST and Danish media company Timeline. All the video playback was programmed and executed on a GrandMA2 console in order to keep in sync with the show’s lighting.
Thanks to the versatility and reliability of the Hippotizers, 4K Projects was able to input live game data, including player stats provided by Danish company TV Graphics, and feeds from the player cams, for each of the 30 competitors. “We input all the live tournament graphics which displayed the standings and results from all the matches throughout the day,” he says.

©Mikkel Samuelsen

4K Projects have been working on the BLAST shows since its conception in 2017 by Danish e-sports company RFRSH. In 2019, they successfully completed BLAST shows in Copenhagen, Sao Paulo, Miami, Madrid, Moscow and Los Angeles, using Hippotizer Media Servers at every one.

More information on Green Hippo website

The content blocks will offer a natural progression of subject matter, providing attendees both practical knowledge for honing skills as well case studies for reference. The instructors will review specialty tools that cover a diverse set of solutions across all industry verticals.
The education team also welcomes attendees to choose from an à la carte menu to create every other Friday “On Demand” programming via a weekly poll through the Meyer Sound Users Community Facebook group.
Later in the spring, special guests, including Meyer Sound CEO John Meyer, will be invited to join and lead some of the discussions.

John Mac Mahon

“Education has always been a pillar of the holistic Meyer Sound core brand philosophy of sharing knowledge. Recent events have put the spotlight on the importance of offering our public training not just with in-person seminars but via online platforms,” says John McMahon, Meyer Sound Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Our global team was quick to respond to the need by curating an informative and engaging program.”

The webinars are organized by weekly content chapters kicking off with the Meyer Sound Precision Toolset and introduction to MAPP XT, introduction to Compass control software and ULTRA Series, intermediate Compass and IntelligentDC technology, and advanced Compass and digital steerable CAL column loudspeakers round out the first month.

The team will continue the established format of Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays in English led by Merlijn van Veen, Meyer Sound Senior Technical Support and Education Specialist. Tuesday and Thursday session will be in Spanish with the first session featuring Oscar Barrientos, Meyer Sound Technical Services Manager, Latin America.

Merlijn van Veen

Oscar Barrientos

For easy access to these popular course offerings, simply click on the Zoom link to join the English sessions at the scheduled times

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Meyer Sound Mexico will host a Spanish language session at the same time. To join, simply click the Spanish-language Zoom link at the scheduled times

Sessions run approximately one hour, are free and no registration required. Upcoming training sessions are listed in the Meyer Sound events calendar.

The webinars are recorded and archived on YouTube

French ‘prince of darkness’ was a 2019 Coachella sensation and was followed by a major tour. After a breathtaking stage set at Coachella last April, French record producer and DJ Gesaffelstein created a blueprint for the huge Against the Night, Across the Time US tour that was to follow towards the end of the year.

La scénographie de Gesaffelstein à Coachella à tracé la route de la tournée américaine. @Pierre Claude

Installed behind the artist was a 32ft high monolith covered entirely in Vantablack, a fragile material known 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 present for the first time in a live performance context.

Show producer, Matthias Leullier, from Live Nation France, collaborate alongside LD Pierre Claude to turn the concept into reality, the latter in turn dipping into his GLP toolbox.
He specified 54 x JDC1, hybrid strobes as the main fixtures (running them mostly in SPix Pro Mode4, using 62 DMX channels). Two lines of 12 JDC1 on the floor surrounded the artist, with a 24 JDC1 tower behind the Vantablack, and a further six hybrid strobes on a truss. Meanwhile on the floor were 12 GLP impression X4 Bar 20s run in full pixel mode.

Leullier said, “The main idea behind Gesaffelstein’s set was to create a memorable experience with a super-black monolith able to challenge the audience’s depth and spatial perception. The artist appears to ‘float’ against the Vantablack monolith, a mesmerizing two-dimensional black void.

© Frazer Harrison

During the performance, this also separates into two vertical halves exposing a high-resolution LED display combined with a complex light show including heavy strobes, the contrast of all the bright lights and the super dark material creating an extremely intense visual experience for spectators.” And it is GLP’s unique JDC1 which delivered this heavy strobing for the EDM artist who is colloquially known as ‘the prince of darkness’.

Pierre Claude first started designing light for Gesaffelstein back in 2013 when part of the Parisian agency Franz & Fritz, who had been touring with the artist for some time. “I was very glad that he called me back me at the end of 2018 for the preparation of his new live show,” he stated. “His music and his universe are very dark.”

“White light is mainly used for his live shows,” Pierre explained, “and this makes it possible to bring out the black; the silences make it a very theatrical spectacle and it pushes the limits of my creativity to work without colour and use the Vantablack as the centrepiece for this tour.” Painting the Vantablack represented the longest and most complicated period of the design.
Pierre Claude admits that he reflected at length on how best to treat the lighting. “The idea was to highlight elements that absorbed everything, not to be lit directly. For an artist dressed and helmeted in black, the lighting needed to be theatrical and intense… a nightmare because in normal productions the set design is an added value, whereas here, the challenge was to make it disappear.”
After the success of Coachella, making the rig ‘tourable’ became the most challenging part of the project. It was conceived in four layers: two Vantablack Monolith sections 32 ft high on Kinesys motion control and two LED screen sections also on Kinesys; the other sections comprised a 32ft high LED Warm white screen, a GLP JDC1 tower comprising 24 of the hybrid strobes, with a massive floor package and DJ booth on a rolling riser containing lighting.

Système Motion Control Kinesys du monolithe.

For the tour a further mid-stage lighting truss was included in front of the Monolith, working with PRG Projects. In terms of scalability, they retained the same width to guarantee the set movements but with variable height (since it is divisible in 4ft sections).
Harking back to the 2013 tour Pierre Claude wanted to retain the emblematic beams. “But I also wanted to add something extreme which emphasised the width but also the immense height of the set and which would be used as back light.”

For the floor and the tower the JDC1 was an obvious selection, he said. “I needed a machine that could tilt, but at the same time form a single huge linear strobe by placing the individual units next to each other.
“The show is very minimalist, and I am careful not to use different fixtures at the same time. The JDC1 doubles the capacities of a conventional strobe, effectively with two machines in one … giving 1152 pixels in all! It was definitely the ideal product to use as the strobe tower revealed the immensity of the monolith and gave the impression of a black hole.”

At first the lighting designer had been reluctant to use GLP’s impression X4 Bars in the design; he had just finished the tour of Phoenix, in which PRG Projects were also involved. The X4 Bar had been the main fixture in this set and he admits he was looking to change.
“But it has clearly become my favourite fixture and so I returned to this solution. It helped to mitigate places that were too dark when the monolith was open, and helped to bring a different aspect of the design.

Les JDC1 au sol à contre forment une ligne de strobes puissante.

“The idea of moving the set with Kinesys [motion control] is untypical for EDM-type shows; we wanted to offer different looks but 75% of the movements are not visible during the black cues—the idea was to confuse the minds of the audience by revealing a different look when the light returned.
“As for the video, we had LED screens but no visuals as such, just gradients or solid colours. The X4 Bars were the perfect products to reveal the few visible movements and I used them in 88-channel mode to allow individual pixel mapping.”
In summary he said: “Obviously the JDC1 and X4 Bars have now become my standard; their reliability is incredible, and after using 66 machines over 20 shows we didn’t once need to call on a spare.”

Paying tribute to the artist’s manager, Manu Barron, producer Matthias Leullier, tour director Lara Scheidt, lighting assistant Vincent Leroy, and crew, Stephen Rose and Conner Ostrowski, Pierre Claude confirms that the conclusion of the tour certainly hasn’t marked the end of the road for this set design. Several headline spots at festivals in the US next summer have already been announced along with a single date in France next October at the AccorHotels Arena.

“We are already working on this show and we will be introducing a lot of additional JDC1 for this show,” Pierre promises.

More information on GLP Fixtures

L-Acoustics offers freely available education initiatives, including three new White Papers, AES scientific articles and daily webinars on his website, and help maintain connection with partners and users.

In line with its ongoing commitment to scientific research and the advancement of the audio industry, L-Acoustics today announced the release of three new White Papers: Measurement Quality at Low Frequencies, Measurement Quality at High Frequencies and Optimum Measurement Locations for Loudspeaker System Equalization, all available for download on the L-Acoustics website.

Etienne Corteel

“Our White Papers have been conceived in a condensed format, and are published on our website and social media channels, in order to reach the widest possible audience,” says Etienne Corteel, Director of Education & Scientific Outreach at L-Acoustics.
“They are formatted to present our rigorous scientific research in a user-friendly way, and represent our commitment to the wide acceptance of science-based sound design principles.”

At the same time, L-Acoustics has made its entire catalogue of AES scientific articles available for download free of charge for the first time. This includes recent subjects such as Optimum Measurement Locations for Large-Scale Loudspeaker System Tuning Based on First-Order Reflections Analysis and On the Efficiency of Flown vs. Ground Stacked Subwoofer Configurations, through to its landmark AES article, Wavefront Sculpture Technolgy.

L-Acoustics has a long and consistent track record of educational outreach. Last year, its teams conducted 700 days of training, 200 of which were completed at recently established L-Acoustics Authorized Training Centers in partnership with key Certified Providers. Six thousand certificates were granted to more than 2,000 trainees via these programs, which took place in 60 countries around the globe.

This commitment to educational outreach was immediately adapted to the current situation when, on March 17, L-Acoustics Application, Education, Marketing and Commuincations teams worked together to create a program of daily online webinars, aimed to help industry members update and sharpen skills on L-Acoustics products and tools.

Hosted at 5pm Paris time / 8am Los Angeles time every weekday, the webinars cover categories like Education, but also Application Case Studies, Product & Technology Outreach and Conversation with the Pros, featuring guest speakers. The calendar of upcoming webinars can be found on the L-Acoustics website and all completed sessions are made available on YouTube to watch at leisure.

“As with our traditional training, the webinars are conducted by expert professionals, selected for their skills and experience in the audio industry. This will allow our users to utilize this time of forced hiatus to expand their knowledge on the L-Acoustics workflow,” adds Corteel. “Until we can again offer our traditional training and L-Acoustics accreditation programs, we wanted to allow L-Acoustics users worldwide to have access to a free online resource.”

The White Papers and all existing AES publications are accessible from the L-Acoustics white paper

Check the webinar calendar at L-Acoustics Upcoming Events

Past sessions can be found on youtube with the link here

Tony-award winning LD Tyler Micoleau casts versatile IP65 moving head for multiple roles in open-air Public Theater production. At the end of its regular season of Shakespeare in the Park, New York’s Public Theater stages an open-air production at Central Park’s 1,800-seat open-air Delacorte Theater.
This past season, the glorious story of Hercules was presented, a theatrical pageant brought to life by some 200 performers with an enchanting lighting design by Tony-award winning lighting designer Tyler Micoleau. The designer turned to Elation Professional’s multi-use Proteus Hybrid™ luminaire to provide visual impact in the outdoor environment.

Micoleau had worked on two Shakespeare shows in Central Park earlier in the summer, but it was a very different plot he knew he needed for Hercules. “The musical Hercules, in a theater as large as the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, required (pun intended) very muscular lighting approaches,” he comments.

“The Elation Proteus Hybrid provided just that muscle. In 2-degree beam mode, the Proteus fixtures gave me the powerful concentrated beams I needed to create beam architecture above the stage and the five 28-foot Grecian columns of the set. We were bouncing light off of the clouds passing by; it was crazy. We joked that we needed to alert air-traffic control to warn passing helicopters and small planes.”

Alex Brandt, lighting supervisor at The Public, worked with Micoleau on what gear to use on the production. He states, “Because it’s The Public Works show and it’s such a short run, we don’t have a huge budget to add in new fixtures.
Set Designer Dane Laffrey had produced renderings that included finger-like air effect elements from upstage that Director Lear deBessonet liked the look of.
We wanted to make that happen but none of the equipment we had in the Park could accomplish that as we didn’t have weatherproof gear and really didn’t want to put fixtures in bubbles, which is an eye sore. Tyler and I knew that we needed to find a bright instrument that was IP65 rated with enough of a zoom to really get those columns of light coming up from behind the stage.”

Consequently, Micoleau and Brandt demoed the Proteus Hybrid one mid-summer night in Central Park after one of the Shakespeare productions. “I spoke with John Dunn [Elation National Sales Manager] about what we could try out to have more IP-rated fixtures for this coming summer, so it was a good opportunity to try the Proteus out,” Brandt said. “We looked at it against a bunch of different units from various companies and liked what we saw.”

Micoleau chose the Proteus and placed seven of the IP65 arc-source units atop a goalpost for light architecture above and behind the Delacorte stage.
Used throughout the show, the multi-functional beam / spot / wash units with 23,000 lumens of power and zoomable in all modes fulfilled several roles beam and air effects from upstage, character highlights (costume design by Andrea Hood,) and backlight wash when actors entered the stage from upstage stairs. The Proteus fixtures were supplied through Christie Lites, who served as The Public’s intelligent lighting vendor for the summer.

Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public show each summer at the Delacorte Theater includes a handful of equity actors who perform alongside amateurs from different community groups, a deliberate blurring of the line between professional artists and community members.
The enthusiastic, feel-good Hercules received rave reviews and the Delacorte Theater was packed during its August 31 to September 8 run. Assistant lighting supervisor Michael Bateman served as production electrician on the show.

More on the Elation website

Topics covered include Sound System Design courses for line array systems, subwoofer alignment and tuning, design of controlled directivity systems in difficult environments, design of EN54 voice alarm systems, and many others. Viewers and students will also have the opportunity to ask questions via a chat window during each live stream.

Seats for these webinars are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Once the seat limit is reached, attendees will see a message that the classroom is full. Attendees who are unable to attend can then subscribe to the next session available.

Lucio Boiardi Serri

These webinars are already part of our Audio Academy educational program. RCF has renewed the program to guarantee the best possible service to customers during this unique moment in our history.
“In addition to the webinars, which are open to all, we also provide customer support in the digital world. We will also publish numerous tutorials on RCF products in addition to the many already available with guidelines, usage tips, and tricks of the trade”, says Lucio Boiardi Serri, coordinator of the Pro-Live section of Audio Academy.

“Electroacoustics is a complex topic that needs to be studied thoroughly before applying to the field. The mission of the RCF Audio Academy is to improve the technical ability of our customers and provide training to use our products in the most optimal way. A time period like this is an opportunity to be seized.”

The list of courses is available with the link here

More info on the RCF website

Barbee Boys are a Japanese rock band and the first Japanese group to perform at the Nippon Budokan. They announced a solo ‘comeback’ concert at the Yoyogi National Stadium 1st Gymnasium, exactly a decade after that Budokan show, whith MSI and Martin MLA.

The Yoyogi National Stadium 1st Gymnasium.

MSI Japan had the honour of being asked to provide the sound production and Bun Hote, who has been supporting artistes from the Office Augasta stable (which includes Kyoko, a member of the Barbee Boys), was charged with mixing the sound.
Respected for his ability as a system tech as well as a FOH engineer, he chose Martin Audio’s award-winning MLA as his favoured PA. His solution was to adopt a unique approach to his system design, to achieve consistency throughout the challenging arena and unite the entire audience.

Bun Hote’s Martin MLA design.

On each side of the stage, three arrays were hung from a single H-shaped truss tower, all facing in different directions. The main array consisted of 13 MLA cabinets and a single MLD downfill cabinet. The side array was pointing 45 degrees outside of the main array and comprised nine MLA and an MLD.
Another array was aiming 90 degrees outside of the main array and consisted of five MLA and two MLD downfill boxes. A further array of six MLX subwoofers (with a pair facing backwards to create cardioid directivity) was hung from the same tower.

Bun Hote described his design philosophy: “First of all, we had little time for set-up, starting at midnight when the load-out of the last show had finished. The H-shaped tower was reused from the previous show, just changing the location of the motor. In Yoyogi National 1st Gymnasium, it is necessary to build stand-alone towers from the ground, as the roof weight is strictly regulated. After considering those factors, this location plan seemed to be the best.”

In Yoyogi National 1st Gymnasium, with the usage of the end-stage, there is a wall at the far side consisting of main arrays rather than audience seating, he explained. “Instead there were more audience seats in the direction that the side arrays would be pointing.
With so many people expected, the production teams decided they would keep the audience area also for the side of the stage. However, we were unable to shift the side arrays too much as this would contribute to the wide area of the seating where the main arrays could not aim, avoiding reflection from the back wall. As a result, we needed one more array to cover the area just beside the stage.”

The 12 MLX subs, 8 facing the audience and 4 flipped backwards.

There is an additional line of subwoofers stacked in front of the stage, besides the rigged subwoofers. Eight MLX subwoofers were aligned horizontally, while the four MLXs were stacked separately onto the subwoofer line, aiming behind in a cardioid broadside subwoofer array arc.
As for MLA he cited its superior sound and “amazing” long throw capability. “I couldn’t have achieved this show without MLA. MLA will have unlimited capability when you plan it correctly and with our increased knowledge, experience and new approach to system design we have achieved a much more flexible result, meeting the demands of the client, the variety of music and artists’ considerations.”

More on Martin Audio website