Brompton at LDI

Brompton Technology’s Dynamic Calibration was one of the most talked about new technologies at last year’s LDI Show, with more than 300 existing and potential customers from around the world passing through the door of its showcase room.

The company is now bringing this technology to Europe for the first time at ISE 2020 in Amsterdam. At this exhibition Brompton will be present on its largest ever trade show stand, where it will host regular public presentations of Dynamic Calibration and Brompton HDR. It is also launching the new Tessera S8 LED processor, and will have three of its ever-popular demo stations ready to show visitors exactly what a difference the Brompton processor family can make to the end result on-panel.

Tessera S8

Dynamic Calibration is a ground-breaking new technology that enables LED panels to achieve a higher brightness and wider colour gamut than is possible with legacy calibration techniques, while maintaining uniformity. Dynamic Calibration is the enabling technology for Brompton HDR, as well as new, performance-enhancing features such as PureTone and ThermaCal.

The main demo screen at ISE will comprise of 98 panels of ROE Diamond 2.6 provided by Brompton partner 80six. These are not new panels and come from a working rental stock, calibrated with Brompton’s revolutionary Hydra camera which gives them a new lease of life and unleashes the full brightness and saturation of their LEDs.

How does it work?

“Commonly used calibration methods achieve uniformity by sacrificing both brightness and colour gamut, forcing every LED to match the dimmest and palest LEDs in the entire screen. Once calibrated, this is used for all content over the entire life of the panel,” explains Brompton’s CTO Chris Deighton. “However, with ever-increasing demand for better image quality without increased cost, such sacrifices in performance can no longer be justified.”

Fig1: The Hydra measurement and analysis system is one of the key elements of Brompton Technology’s Dynamic Calibration

To benefit from Dynamic Calibration an LED panel must be fitted with a Brompton Tessera R2 receiver card and needs to be measured using Hydra – an advanced measurement system custom-designed for LED panels and exclusive to Brompton Technology (Fig1). The R2 Receiver Card may be plugged into an SO-DIMM socket, a form-factor first pioneered by Brompton and now provided in many LED panels (Fig2).

Fig2: The Tessera R2 reception card, one of the elements of Dynamic Calibration, plugs into a SO-DIMM connector integrated into each LED panel.

“Dynamic Calibration is a flexible approach that uses the immense parallel computing power of the R2’s Dynamic Engine to process incoming video in an entirely new and innovative way,” says Deighton. “Before making any decisions, the Dynamic Engine gathers a vast array of data, including the incoming video pixels, the video signal’s metadata, Dynamic Calibration metadata, the precise capabilities of each individual LED and the user’s preferences for how the image should be displayed.” (Fig 3)

All this extra information is processed in real-time, with no added latency, to intelligently determine the best possible way to drive each LED. Areas of the image where peak brightness is the most important visual aspect will make full use of the LEDs’ peak brightness. Areas requiring extreme saturation will make full use of the LEDs’ maximum colour gamut. But all this is achieved without needlessly sacrificing uniformity across the rest of the image.

Fig3: Dynamic Calibration Concept

The result of this unique approach is a huge step forward in visual performance. Brighter whites, higher contrast ratios, more saturated colours, and true-to-life colour accuracy deliver a previously unattainable level of image depth and realism. Lifelike colour and brightness without the compromises inherent to legacy calibration.

The dynamic nature of the system means the desired brightness, primary colours and white point are all fully user-adjustable. What would previously have required a lengthy and expensive recalibration process can now be done at any time from the simple new DynaCal user interface on any Tessera processor, with changes seamlessly reflected in real-time on the screen – even during a live event.

Zebra indicators can be enabled to highlight areas of the image that are trying to drive the LEDs beyond their peak brightness (Fig 4) or colour gamut (Fig 5), allowing rapid fine-tuning of screen performance based on the content, viewing environment and user preferences.

Fig4: Activated zebras showing areas where brightness is likely to be excessive and may cause LED saturation.

Fig5: Activated zebras showing picture areas that are likely to go out of the color range provided by the LEDs.

Colour accuracy is managed throughout the entire system. Even with no user configuration, colours are perfectly balanced, skin-tones look natural and content looks just the way its author intended.

Dynamic Calibration is not just for brand new LED panels, it also allows existing panels using the Tessera R2 card to be given a new lease of life and it is supported by all Tessera processors as a free software upgrade.

Impressive Dynamic Calibration-enabled features

Using Dynamic Calibration measurement, analysis and correction capacities as well as computing power and high precision – high number of bits for colour encoding and computing – provided by the R2 receiver card, two powerful LED screen behaviour improvement features have been developed and were also introduced at LDI 2019; ThermaCal and PureTone.

ThermaCal

LEDs are affected by temperature and all tend to be a bit less bright as they get hotter. But the scale of this effect varies between colours, with red LEDs most strongly affected: heat a red LED by 10 degrees and its output typically drops by 10%.

Fig6: Thermal gradients on two LED panels and their origins (simulation).

Because of this difference in effect between LED colours, areas that are hotter or colder than the temperature the panel was calibrated at can show a colour shift. What is more, panels often heat up more in the centre than round their edges, which can lead to unsightly thermal patterns that mark out individual panels in the wall (Fig 6-7).

Fig7: Thermal gradients in a video wall made up of 48 LED panels.

ThermaCal compensates for these effects and gives the user control of how much compensation is required based on the panel temperature and environment. It does this by both separating thermal effects from the optical calibration and by profiling each panel type to understand in detail its thermal characteristics for a smooth, panel-specific correction. The amount of correction can be adjusted dynamically, even during a show, to account for changes in temperature over time.

PureTone

Fig8: Linearity curves of R, G, B LEDs. Red LEDs exhibit a significantly different behavior, likely to cause a cyan dominant in the low brightness parts of pictures.

LEDs and their driver chips are not perfectly linear, meaning that when asked to output a particular brightness they may not accurately achieve it. It is common for the red, green and blue LEDs to have different behavior (Fig 8), meaning that many panel types show a colour cast in darker greys or when using the panels at low brightness levels.

Most content has dark as well as light areas, so this non-linearity is a real problem that means you may not be getting accurate colours (Fig 9-10) and true neutral greys (Fig 11). It is also a common reason why different panels that appear to be matched when displaying full brightness test patterns are obviously unmatched when displaying real content with darker areas.

Fig9: Picture displayed with PureTone correction activated.

Fig10: Picture displayed without correction (simulation). Significant color drifts in low brightness areas are due to the differences in RGB LED non-linearities.

Fig11: Gray scale LED screen Response (simulation). Above: native response, below, PureTone corrected response

Previously, it has been difficult or even impossible to correct for this non-linear behaviour, but now PureTone builds on Brompton’s new Dynamic Calibration technology to enable each panel type to be profiled in order to compensate for the non-linearities ensuring true, clean, accurate colours and neutral greys at all brightnesses. This is particularly important for film and broadcast work, where screens are often run at much lower brightness to match camera exposures, and maintaining neutral colour output is critical to looking good on camera.

PureTone depends on Dark Magic – which improves the quality of the image or video showing on LED panels when they are operating at less than maximum brightness – for additional effective bit depth in order to make very small fractional adjustments to the output drive levels. It also works alongside ThermaCal. Both ThermaCal and PureTone are exclusive to Brompton R2-based panels that are enabled for Dynamic Calibration.

More on the BromptonTechnology website

In Moscow for performances of The Worker and Kolkhoz Woman a comic opera by Pavel Kaplevich which stunned and amazed critics and the crowds alike during performances at the Zaryadye Concert Hall, Astera’s wireless LED Titan Tubes helped the action to come alive onstage.

The opera is dedicated to the history of one Russia’s most famous monuments The Worker and Kolkhoz Woman, a 24.5-metre-high sculpture by Vera Mukhina, renowned globally as an example of socialist realism and art deco. Two figures – male and female – are leaning forward holding a hammer and sickle above their heads.
The work was designed for the Soviet Pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris and was subsequently moved to Moscow. It is instantly recognizable as a powerful Soviet-era symbol.
2019 marks the 130th anniversary of Vera Mukhina’s birthday and the 80th anniversary of the monument’s ‘home’ at the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh) in Moscow.

In the opera version, Worker and the Kolkhoz Woman come to life as two real workers who get packed up and sent to Paris for the Fair, where they reassume their poses and engage in a series of bizarre and surreal adventures and encounters … including with Marlene Dietrich and Pablo Picasso.

Lighting designer Alexander Krasnolutsky created a distinctive look and style for the show utilizing a conventional lighting rig, LED screens and the 60 x Astera Titan Tubes that were a central element to the performance.
Alexander explained that he could not work with traditional beam lights as the Zaryadye Concert Hall itself has high ambient light levels and the use of haze is prohibited, so lighting designers cannot use popular techniques like beam technology.
However, contending with such challenging conditions plus the LED screens upstage, he saw nothing but new possibilities … which fired him up to take a different path in maximizing the scenic background created with the Titan Tubes.

“The Titans conveyed the mood of the moment as well as highlighting the images of specific characters throughout the opera,” he explained. The Titan Tubes were placed inside a black cabinet mounted about 2 metres off the floor which wrapped around the back and two sides of the stage in an arc.
The black cabinet provided maximum contrast and gave the impression the Tubes were floating in the air! Inside the cabinet, the Titan Tubes were fixed equidistant to each other, resulting in a broad strip of bright, colourful, symmetrically positioned vertical lines. This striking geometry worked brilliantly as a visual treatment.

Alexander worked closely with video designer Ilya Shagalov to create overall moods and ambience as the different scenes unfolded. Ilya set the general tones while Alexander worked on lighting the many details in each scene and also on drawing in the audience and making the viewing experience more immersive.
“Using the Titan Tubes in this way solved several issues,” he explained. “The units are very bright and don’t get lost in the luminosity of the screens. They provide another layer and dimension of visuality … and sometimes I even had to dial them down!”
Prior to working on this production Alexander had used Titan Tubes on various projects and loved all the features and the general versatility.

He appreciates the high CRI and “great range of colour temperatures” which also make them ideal for television and film applications. He thinks the colour palette produced by a combination of the RGB + Amber and Mint LEDs is “beautiful”, and this was very handy in setting some unique backgrounds to accent parts of the plot.

The bright blue sky of Paris was continued by pale blue Titan Tube lines; different colour white stripes reflected the monochrome gloominess of the Nazi era during World War II. The Titan Tubes also supported the figurative red lights of the Kremlin walls and even the goldish orange shimmering of the ruby stars – all of these detailed effects were fluid and effortless using the fixtures.

Alexander notes that the “well-thought-out functionality” and battery power supply of the Tubes is a great tribute to the practical and realistic thinking of Astera’s product developers, and having the option of both battery or wired operation doesn’t compromise the brightness and quality of the light in any way. “Even during a show or event lasting several hours, when the battery charge is lower, the tubes don’t deteriorate, and for this production they performed flawlessly just as we planned.”

The Worker and Kolkhoz Woman received rave reviews for its excellent cast including Sergey Mazaev as Stalin and the legendary Ilze Liepa who brilliantly delivered the Marlene-Picasso dance sequence in a human split-screen style.

More information on the Astera website

NEXO is pleased to announce the appointment of a new Sales and Marketing Director. Gareth Collyer steps up to this international role, after nearly 11 years as NEXO’s UK Sales Manager.

Collyer has worked with some of the best-known loudspeaker brands in the industry, including Bose and JBL, in a long career which has taken him from DJ to respected partner for the UK’s top audio consultants and system integrators.

He has played the central role in establishing NEXO’s direct sales operation in the UK, which is now one of the most successful and high-profile sectors of the company’s international business. Amongst other recent achievements, he has been instrumental in NEXO’s success in large-format sporting venues, including the Etihad Stadium for Manchester City FC, Wimbledon championship tennis, Croke Park in Dublin, and Headingley Stadium in Leeds.

“I’m pleased to be asked to take on this challenge,” says Collyer. “Today’s high-end sound reinforcement business is very different to the one I had when I started work with NEXO. Manufacturers have to assume more responsibility than ever before, in terms of software and processing solutions as well as engineering support for the design and implementation of increasingly sophisticated systems.
We need to connect directly and meaningfully with our customers in every market, offering genuine two-way communication in order to improve our products and services. NEXO has a formidable global network of distribution partners, expert production companies and top AV consultants, and I look forward to working with them all and expanding my horizons.”

NEXO CEO Jean Mullor had this to add. “The NEXO sales line-up has been transformed over the last few months.With Gareth at the helm as Sales and Marketing Director, we are looking forward to presenting a new NEXO in the coming decade.”

More on the Nexo website

Photo by Eliza Wilmot

Lighting designer Jacob Gowler was delighted to use Robe’s new T1 Profiles and LEDBeam 150s for the first time on a Cambridge Theatre Company (CTC) production of the crime-and-passion fuelled musical Chicago (High School Edition), staged over six performances in the 337-seat Great Hall at The Leys School in central Cambridge, UK.

photo by Eliza Wilmot

CTC was founded in 2015 by Louis Ling to offer a range of opportunities for performers – young and old – to participate in high-quality theatre, and it now performs to over 9000 people annually. Since 2017, CTC has developed its focus on the youth community, and by working with professional directors, LDs, choreographers and musical directors, enables its young performers to experience unique opportunities to develop their skills.

Jacob Gowler

For this production, the professionals were Jacob, director Chris Cuming, Set and Costume designer Frankie Gerrard and Sound designer Nick Hall. It was the first time that CTC had worked with a professional lighting and set designer as part of the creative team.

Jacob is a freelance LD and programmer. He lives in Cambridge and lights a lot of musicals and opera, all over UK including programming at high-profile seasons like Opera Holland Park, and was asked onboard for this project by Louis Ling.

Jacob specified the Robe elements, which were supplied by rental company CEG and used in conjunction with the Great Hall’s mainly LED-based house lighting rig. Chicago was the first time Jacob has utilised either of these Robe fixtures in his work and in fact it was his first full show with an all-Robe moving light rig.

And … he was impressed with the results!

The production brought a modern twist to Ebb & Bob Fosse’s timeless classic, presented as a cabaret-style show with a raised platform onstage for the 9-piece orchestra and the letters C – H – I – C – A – G – O spelt out as part of the main set, built into jail bars or on coat stand styled pieces of scenery with which the cast interacted.

photo by ElizaWilmot

These scenic props were moved to create the different jail cells, so the lighting had to follow this reworking of the locations and also create offices, courtrooms and a plethora of other locations as well as capture all the drama romance, thrills and spills of the narrative.
Of the seven T1 Profiles, five were in the overhead rig, three for backlight and two as a top light over the set following its V shape. Two more were positioned out front in the house, all in high positions.
Two LEDBeam 150s were rigged on the circle rail and two in the ‘under slip’ positions beneath the circle balcony – their small size was ideal for this position. The LEDBeam 150s were all fitted with ‘egg crate’ LCDs for greater directionality as they also had to cover acting that took place in the audience.

photo by Eliza Wilmot

The T1s were arguably “the most important” luminaires on the rig as “overhead profiles can make or break a musical,” stated Jacob, and for this particular show, there were a lot more live moves than a traditional production of the piece.
“The T1s allowed us to finesse the timings in great detail and this was absolutely key to creating the overall aesthetic for this show,” he explaining that he made plenty of use of the focus pulling features to accentuate lines, questioning and word exchanges in the courtroom scenes.

The nature of the production saw scenes ‘morphing’ from one to another and here the design followed utilising live moves. Jacob used live moves in the shutter and colour modules to shift the spaces from offices upstage to press reporters commentating from the downstage extremes. “The zero-second snap was absolutely vital at certain points,” he elucidated, “and the speed of the T1 meant this was absolutely instantaneous”. The LED electronic dimming was great as for achieving these true snaps!

In “We Both Reached for The Gun”, he wanted to pull focus for each line of speech to either Billy Flynn miming Roxie Hart or to the reporters asking ‘Roxie’ questions. The process consumed 60 cues in 4 minutes of song, so having the true snaps was “a great tool to keep the show looking punchy!”

photo by Frankie Gerrard

He reckons the dimming – carefully developed and refined by Robe is “the best” of any LED fixture he has used to date, and, like many, he loves the absence of white ‘fringing’. He used the T1’s full colour range. Some scenes like the prison needed to be cool with pastel tones, while warmer looks were needed for the office interiors and the romantic musical moments.
He also appreciated the brightness and the way both T1s and LEDBeam 150s punched relentlessly through the rest of the rig, even in the darkest and densest colours. One scene was lit in dark blue with the animation wheel and a gobo inserted … and it still punched through.

Photo by Frankie Gerrard

It was a haze-heavy production, so the quality optical systems in both fixture types helped them slice through the atmosphere. He also took advantage of the excellent variety of warm and cold whites possible with the T1s …
“I think I used pretty much every feature of the fixture,” he concluded, adding, “Robe say it was designed for theatre … and you can tell it IS!” The LEDBeam 150s he thinks are “cracking – small, quick and excellent”.

They were used as key lights in some scenes, and as a small wash light in tricky positions as well as for face light and low-level highlighting and lowlighting. Being able to drop them into a colour or a shade of white at any time was another benefit.

The high circle LEDBeam 150s lit the pros arch for preset which was something new Jacob tried, and it was well-received. During the number “When Velma Takes The Stand” they were handy for working across the auditorium as the cast moved into the stalls to deliver the number.
As a programmer as well as a designer, Jacob states it was “a dream” to programme the T1s and LEDBeam 150s on the theatre’s ETC console. The moving lights worked exceptionally hard on the rig with over 400 cues created in an intense two and a half days, after which Jacob says he will “definitely” be using them again.

For more product and general info, check the Robe website or call + 420 571 751 510

The CLF Poseidon is a powerful outdoor beam fixture that has been developed for smooth CMY color mixing. Based on the successful CLF Aorun, the Poseidon comes with a fast and accurate feature set including a double prism, gobo wheel, animation section and frost.

The 190mm wide lens and unique optics allow big mid-air effects with a bright and punchy beam, delivered by a 400W light source. Colors can be mixed smoothly by using the CMY wheels and a fixed color wheel is also available.

The elegantly shaped, IP65 rated, housing is equipped with specially designed motors enabling fast pan and tilt movements. A bright O-LED screen offers easy access to on-board settings, even in bright environments. All-in all, the Poseidon is the fastest and most powerful outdoor beam in its class.

The CLF Poseidon is directly available. More information can be found on the CLF Lighting website

ETC is now shipping a full family of high-quality white light LED luminaires for the 230V market. With an impressive lumen-per-watt output, Source 4WRD 230V is available in both warm and cold white arrays.

The two new PARs, Source 4WRD PAR and PARNel fitted as standard with the Source 4WRD led source.

The warm white 80CRI and 90CRI (Gallery) arrays are ideal for theatres and other venues where tungsten fixtures have been the favorite for years.

While the cool white 90CRI (Daylight Gallery) array is ideal for industrial trade shows and other live events where the coolest and brightest white light is desired.

Both arrays are available in four different form factors including Source 4WRD Spot, PAR, PARNel, and a non-destructive LED retrofit for your existing Source Four fixtures.

ETC’s PAR and PARNel fixtures get a modern upgrade with the added benefits of LEDs and more than 10000 lumens of output. All existing Source Four PAR lenses and accessories are compatible with these LED fixtures.

Featuring a patented wave-lens design and easy focusing knob, the Source 4WRD PARNel lets you quickly access a range of 25º-45º – a smooth, soft, symmetrical field that you can spot or flood as needed.

The Source 4WRD relamping module…

… And its internal LED source.

If you have Source Four incandescent fixtures in your inventory and want to retrofit them to LED, Source 4WRD is your best option. Source 4WRD reuses 89% of the existing fixture, considerably reduces power consumption, and eliminates the need for relamping. Use all existing Source Four accessories on the full Source 4WRD fixtures.

14 secondes is required to change the module.

Source 4WRD is as bright, or in many cases, brighter than your long life HPL lamps, but at a fraction of the power draw.
And with an L70 rating of 45,000 hours, these fixtures will be around for years.

More product information on the ETC Connect website

DiGiCo unveiled at NAMM 2020 the new DMI-KLANG, an immersive in-ear mixing expansion FPGA processing card that can be mounted directly into DiGiCo consoles, equipped with DMI slots.

The New DMI-Klang FPGA card.

KLANG’s acclaimed immersive in-ear mixing systems make spatial and transparent in-ear monitoring possible.
With lower listening levels – on average up to 6dB less – it eliminates the feeling of isolation associated with a normal in-ear stereo mix and offers less fatigue.
Its applications range from personal mixing for touring monitor engineers to spatial mixing for recording studio sessions.

The DMI-KLANG follows in the footsteps of the KLANG:fabrik. “This is the first hardware product since KLANG and DiGiCo joined forces,” says DiGiCo’s General Manager, Austin Freshwater. “We took KLANG:fabrik’s immersive in-ear mixing core and rebuilt it with today’s latest FPGA technology. With one device, we can now deliver immersive mixes of 64 inputs for 16 musicians. This is the highest input count of any KLANG product to date. And the best thing is, we were able to bring the processing latency down to a quarter of a millisecond.”

The DMI-Klang processing card hosted inside Quantum 3 38, the latest DiGiCo desk.

The DMI-KLANG connects directly to DiGiCo consoles’ internal audio stream without any additional hardware I/O or overhead. This makes it possible to route any audio channel from the console to the DMI-KLANG and return the immersive mix to the Aux merge input.

Via the DiGiCo KLANG console link, monitor engineers can stay in their usual mixing workflow, use snapshots, faders and knobs, but with all the benefits of immersive in-ear mixing. This makes it the perfect companion for any monitor engineer who needs to deliver the ultimate 3D mix for their artist.

Pascal Dietrich

“The DMI-KLANG is just the beginning of a new line of products,” says KLANG’s co-founder Pascal Dietrich.
“Together with the DiGiCo OrangeBox and the many I/O expansion cards available today, we can now interface with almost any professional digital mixing console.”

The 3D view and actual rendering of the audio as shown by the Klang:app.

Available DMI cards offer MADI (TP, BNC), Optocore, Dante and many other digital formats. Additionally by utilising the KLANG:app, personal mixing can be done on tablet, smartphone, or PC/Mac.

More on Klang website

Since 2016 Vienna State Opera with its chief sound engineer, Athanasios Rovakis, started investigating the possibility of moving its audio and video distribution to fiber and after purchasing Optocore units, invested this year in a complete BroaMan architecture.

The Opera being under a preservation order, the fiber is the way to go…

At first, the Opera House modernised its audio system, purchasing a network fiber solution based around Optocore X6R-FX analogue devices and M8 MADI switch to bring together additional signal sources from distant places in the house, and to share signals for broadcasting. Looking to expand their communications outreach, by the following year they were considering further options provided by Optocore’s partner company BroaMan.

A rather busy yet up to date Control Room thanks to the BroaMan Repeat48 tunnelling fiber intrastructure.

This resulted in them purchasing a point-to-point set of Mux22 multi-signal transmission devices, with the new FrameSync8 board.
Offering a superior upgrade to traditional frame sync technologies it allowed sync distribution together with eight video channels, IP and serial data.

But the upgrade path was far from complete, and this year the State Opera invested in a complete BroaMan architecture, with a system based on 10 Repeat48WDM, which provide five point-to-point transport systems with 12 video channels, each transported on a single duplex fiber; a Repeat48 electrical-optical media converter, with six SDI-In and six SDI-Out; and six compact Repeat8-NANO to convert SDI to and from fiber. In a fairly unique deployment, all video is transported on multimode fiber.

When designing the system Mr. Rovakis had quickly realised that BroaMan devices were essential, as in view of the extreme transmission distances in the vast building copper was not an option, and fiber the only viable solution.
“The audio control room has been steadily upgraded over the past 70 years, with devices from many generations and manufacturers — all with their own unique formats, connections and protocols,” he said. “It is a major challenge for any new device that gets installed as it has to work with the old ones. But BroaMan’s Repeat48’s brings a complete tunnelling to the entire Opera.”

Another view of the Control Room with the legendary walnut touch of the Yamaha’s big desks, like this Rivage PM10.

He added that since the Opera is under a preservation order, new cables are difficult and expensive—therefore they have to work with a limited amount of space, channels and bandwidth. “This made multiplexing basically the only viable option.”

Athanasios Rovakis said he had full confidence in specifying the BroaMan solution since the Optocore-BroaMan platform had been rock solid since first being installed in 2016.
He also saw its many advantages over similar systems. “In contrast to others, the Repeat48 has no boot-up time, which is vital for events with little prep time, and there is zero latency which is equally important.”

Concluded BroaMan’s Technical Sales Manager, Maciek Janiszewski, “We have recently noticed huge interest in our solutions for the installation market, specifically in concert halls and theatres. These venues require ultra-fast fiber transport with high flexibility, and lower channel count than in broadcast.
“The BroaMan portfolio fits very well in that regard, offering simple and cost-efficient, yet extremely reliable solutions. The Vienna State Opera video system is based on point-to-point multichannel fiber transport between different locations in the building, and the Repeat48 family is a perfect match for that.”

For further information visit Broaman website

Carola, a Swedish singer and songwriter has been one of Sweden’s popular performers since the early 1980s, her range of albums over the time encompass pop and disco to hymns and folk music.

Photo Karin Törnblom

She’s just played 12 sold-out festive shows at the Slottsladan (Castle Barn) in Steninge Slottsby, around 35km north of Stockholm with special Christmas lighting designed by Danne Persson of Roxy Lighting and including a selection of Robe moving lights – 18 x MegaPointes, 8 x T1 Profiles, six BMFL Spots and one RoboSpot system. The venue is newly refurbished. The old barn was ‘discovered’ by Carola when she relocated to Steninge Slottsby a couple of years ago and it became her dream to perform there.

The space is 60 metres long, 20 metres wide and dates to 1900. It’s now adjacent to a collection of retail outlets and restaurants which have been built more recently. Construction company Gelba thought restoring the barn was a great idea and started rebuilding it – tastefully – specifically as a performance venue in 2018. The goal was to retain all the old world ‘barn-like’ charm, and with creative use of contemporary materials like Plexiglass, insulation, and modern heating, offer some cool 21st-century event production facilities.

Photo Karin Törnblom

In December 2018, Carola played seven shows at the newly opened Slottsladan which sold out immediately. The shows were so universally popular that this year she doubled the number of gigs to 14 and recorded “Carola’s Advent”, a 4-part TV series for Sweden’s TV3 channel.
Danne has worked with the artist on several occasions during one-off shows, festivals, and telecasts, but this was their first full-scale artist / designer production collaboration.

They decided on no video elements for the shows, so the visual impact and atmosphere was all down to lighting and set. The set was designed by Carola herself including a 12 x 8 stage with a 5-piece band on stage right and a 12-person choir on stage left on risers. Stairs led from the stage to a 25-metre-long 40cm high runway going right out into the audience.
Danne and Carola discussed mood boards. “We wanted a warm CTO feeling at the start of the show and Carola was adamant about emphasizing the warm, cosy and inclusive feeling of the barn,” he explained. They decided to keep the back wall of the barn as the backdrop, so Danne could wash it with colours and gobo texturing or just let it provide ‘relief’ for a variety of moods.

They added tungsten effect rope lights and LED candles to the set plus some vintage camping lantern with flame-effect LED bulbs which were carried by the choir as they entered. Flying is limited so lighting rental company Scenteknik AVL from Uppsala built two ground supported box trusses 16 metres wide by 9 high, with 9 metres of headroom – that were cleverly concealed behind the Barn’s structural wooden beams.

Photo Karin Törnblom

The first was over the stage and this was rigged with 12 of the MegaPointes on the upstage most truss with three MegaPointes on each of the two upstage legs.
In the middle of the back truss, a T1 Profile was positioned and linked into the RoboSpot system for back follow-spot style lighting. MegaPointes were chosen for rear lighting and for their beams and gobos which provided the main effects lighting for the whole show.

On the second box truss over the catwalk, the T1 Profiles rigged on the front section were used for general downstage washes, and on the next truss back was a T1 Profile also linked to the RoboSpot system, with a RoboSpot remote camera beside it providing line-of-sight view to the stage for both T1 Profile follow spots.
A one-metre long truss was flown above the bleacher seating complete with a T1 ‘front array’ at the end of the catwalk, covering the areas that the follow spots could not reach. All the T1s were picked for front light and follow spotting duties for multiple reasons, including their excellent tungsten emulation, which was fundamental to recreating the warm ‘classic’ ambience required.

Upstage on the floor were the six BMFL Spots. Their main function was to project gobos onto the back wall and engage in aerial beam work. Scenteknik AVL had newly invested in the T1 Profiles. They wanted a new LED profile and narrowed it down to two brands. After Danne saw the T1 at Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt he added them to his initial lighting designs for these shows and this helped convince the company to choose the Robe option.
“The T1 fulfilled and totally exceeded my every expectation after Frankfurt,” enthused Danne having just completed the run of shows! He especially likes the zoom and the white colour correction plus the big front lens and the fact that it makes a nice eye candy as a backlight. “The optics are great, and it works brilliantly with the RoboSpot system,” he adds – and is also really looking forward to working with T1s on a television project. The RoboSpot BaseStation was located at FOH.

Photo Karin Törnblom

The operator had control of zoom and tilt to adjust the back light, and the rest of the parameters, including dimmer, were controlled by Danne’s grandMA3 light console, which ran all the Robes and some other lights including LED washes, LED PARs, LED floods and some conventional static profiles.
He had specifically wanted a remote follow spot system that had handles for the operator – like a camera stand – rather than a mouse, as he believes it’s more intuitive with the body flow and therefore easier to make smooth and fluid physical movements this way.

Danne was pleased with how the lighting worked for these shows – especially the gobo projections onto the back wall of the barn to emphasise its unique ambience. He and the other production crew all received many compliments from audiences each night after the shows.
He enjoyed being part of a ”great” team which included Jonas Hessel of Scenteknik AVL who was crew chief and looked after dimmers, RoboSpot operator John Nilsson, stage manager Timmie Malmberg and project manager Lotta Bjurenstedt-Waern.

For more product and general info, check the Robe website

©Andre Beekmans

Visual design studio Tenfeet’s longstanding relationship with Dutch rockers BLØF resulted in some dazzling effects as the much-loved band played two sell-out gigs at Rotterdam’s 16,000-capacity AHOY Arena.

©Andre Beekmans

Tenfeet video programmer Pim Elberse specified and supplied two Hippotizer Boreal+ Media Servers – one main and the second as a full live backup machine – to handle pre-made content mixed with multiple effects and live feed blend.
The content ranged from sweeping landscapes to computer-graphics, lyrics and pictures.

©Andre Beekmans

“We needed a system that could cope with various live feeds and feed a variety of content that was mixed with live, as well as control an SDI-matrix with 10 cameras on stage surrounding the band,” explains Elberse. “The Boreal+ provided total flexibility in combination with our Hog4 lighting console.”

©Andre Beekmans

BLØF’s stage was only 10 metres wide despite the large venue. It was designed for an intimate feel.
The stage floor was transparent, with lighting fixtures beaming up from underneath. Behind the band was a large LED screen, rising from the stage to a height of 16 metres – almost to the ceiling.
At each side of the stage, multiple trusses supported the lighting and worked in collaboration with an LED strip around the LED wall to enhance the sense of height.

©Andre Beekmans

“The staging and rigging structure gave us the freedom to create unique looks for every song, and unite set, light and video,” Elberse continues.

“During shows, besides running the programmed cues, I’m always controlling content and effects to integrate the video with the show and make it more dynamic and intense.

With the Boreal+ machines and Hippotizer, it’s quick to program multiple cues for each song and adjust and control in real-time.

©Andre Beekmans

“In addition, it’s easy to build your own personalities, to design what you want to control in Hippo and how. And because it’s so simple to make the ZooKeeper interface look how you want it, it all gives you a very flexible and clear view of what you are programming and playing back.”
Working alongside Elberse was stage design and video content creator Bart van Rooy of BigVis; lighting designer Patrick Kramer; and lighting operator Andre Beekmans from Art of Light. BLØF played the duo of gigs to celebrate 25 years of hits in their homeland.

©Andre Beekmans

More on Hippotizer website

CODA Audio USA announces that Sound Decision Productions of Muskego, Wisconsin servicing regional clients in Milwaukee, Illinois and Michigan, has chosen to add an AiRAY system to its inventory consisting of 20 x AiRAY boxes and 12 x SCP subs.

CODA Audio USA is excited to announce that SDP Event of Muskego, Wisconsin, has chosen to add an AiRAY system to its inventory. SDP Event has taken delivery of 20 x AiRAY boxes and 12 x SCP subs. A family run company with impeccable credentials, SDP Event has been in business for more than twenty five years, servicing regional clients in Milwaukee, Illinois and Michigan, as well as undertaking national tours in support of a wide variety of artists.

CEO and Head of Systems Engineering, Mark Hartzell’s first experience of CODA was trialling a HOPS8 system on a handful shows in October, before witnessing AiRAY for the first time at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago on the Fantasia tour in November. Mark then took the opportunity to trial 6 AiRAY enclosures and 4 SCV subs, as he describes:

AiRAY : 2 x 12” Nd woofers, 2 x coaxial 6” DPP Double Diaphragm Planar wave drivers, bi-amped, 40 kg and 148 dB SPL Max…

“We were hopeful that what we were going to hear lived up to the science that appeared so impressive on paper. It made sense and after hearing the products in action, we were believers! After doing some in-depth analysis and comparisons to our current brand’s models, we were even more amazed.
At the Fantasia show we were really just focused on the AiRAY tops – budget restrictions meant that we had not intended to buy any subs on the initial purchase – but after hearing how tight and defined the sub information was, we realized that we had to get a complete system.”
SDP Event had been looking for a turn-key, rider friendly, high quality system that could cover everything from smaller corporate events to arena shows. Upon discovering that AiRAY matched the weight of their small line array box but had a higher output than their large line array box, the decision to invest was easy.

Mark Hartzell continues: “We do a lot of summer festivals with an SL 100 stage, where we are limited to flying 6 of our smaller boxes per side due to weight. Sometimes the promoter will use these small stages in front of a few thousand people and that really stretches the output of our current boxes.
Having the CODA system now means that without using another flying solution – or a bigger stage at greater expense – we can use 6 AiRAY per side and get much more output. As far as being rider friendly goes, I’m confident that the more people hear and mix on it, CODA will rapidly become a favorite.”

CODA USA Managing Director Luke Jenks.

CODA USA Managing Director, Luke Jenks, adds: “Sales of our systems for both the touring and fixed installation markets continue to grow in the US. SDP Event’s investment in AiRAY offers yet more firm evidence that an increasing number of forward-thinking audio professionals are switching on to the advantages of our next generation technology. Every indication suggests that 2020 will be another very special year for the CODA Audio family.”

More on the Coda Audio website

Since 2016, a dedicated research team was formed at ETC to work on future technology and product to improve fixture specialised in light for use on camera. The findings from this study on color perception come together in the family of fos/4 panel lights, now available from ETC.

Each of the three panel sizes (small, medium, and large) deliver brightness in two array options..

The Lustr X8 array incorporate a deep red LED to its mix that enrich the spectrum by enhancing skin tones and giving new depth to blues, greens, and ambers.

The Daylight HDR is a tunable white light array that, using a calculated selection of LEDs from the X8 color system, produce a natural warmth when rendering skin tones and is optimized for output in cooler temperatures.

These soft lights offer a shocking level of brightness, and selectable CCT between 1,900 – 10,450 K. All without compromising on color quality. The full-color screen and tactile encoders on the user interface were designed with the cinematic workflow in mind. fos/4 gives nuanced color control from the full-spectrum color picker within the UI, letting you choose how you mix each color.

Use the Tune function to choose brightest, best spectral, or a hybrid of the two. Save your customized color palette to one of the many programmable presets. The industrial design of the fos/4 panel is ergonomic.
Features include the Griprail, a bracket that acts as a mounting location for the fixture as well as for the numerous accessories found on a shoot. Handles that double as safety cable locations, rounded corners, and an industrial gray finish add to the visual appeal without compromising functionality.

Product presentation video

Additional features include NFC configuration from your mobile device, Multiverse Wireless control from your console using City Theatrical’s Multiverse transmitter, and a suite of effects that you’d come to expect from a fixture of this caliber including emergency lights, beacon, camera flash, and party. And like all ETC products, fos/4 Panels are made in the United States, come with an impressive fixture warranty and a customer support promise.

Learn more about fos/4 and how it’s changing the way you light for camera at Studio ETC Connect

3 live events are going to happen around the world in early February 2020. Register here to see the product closely.

With the help of Kinetic Lighting and Elation Professional’s theatrical-grade Artiste DaVinci™ LED moving head, The historic Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, California, near Long Beach, an opulent art deco venue, is moving into a new era of performance.

Photo by George Simian; San Pedro City Ballet production of “The Nutcracker”

Wdlcoming visitors since 1931, the 1500-seat gem features a vaudeville-size proscenium stage with T-guided fly system that makes it a great place for concerts, dance performances, multimedia presentations, film screenings or any cultural event.

In recent years renovation to restore the theatre has been done including a lighting upgrade with the latest in a series of on-going improvements. Kinetic Lighting collaborated with the Warner Grand and the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs to transform the theatre from a conventional lighting to a completely LED-based system, assisted by Victor Prudeaux, Master Electrician at the theatre.

Photo by George Simian

Looking for a technical sophistication of a contemporary performing arts venue while maintaining its historic integrity, a highlight of the new lighting package are Artiste DaVinci LED moving heads, full-featured spot luminaires and the first moving lights the theatre has ever owned.
Kinetic Lighting has been working with the Warner Grand Theatre on the project since October of 2018, assisting with site visits, demos, quoting, and the specs of equipment. “The theatre wanted an all LED upgrade to be up to date with technology and be able to provide renters top-of-the-line, industry standard equipment,” stated Kinetic Lighting’s Laura Green.

“They were looking for an LED source moving light with color-mixing and great gobo options, something that was lightweight and compact and the Artiste DaVinci met all the requirements. It provides stunningly bright and saturated colors and can be used for specials, gobo washes, effect lights, etc. They are versatile enough to be used for everything from theatre and dance to concerts and film shoots.”

Photo by George Simian

Spread across box booms, the deck and overhead electrics, the award-winning DaVinci is an energy efficient CMY and graphics luminaire with a 300W LED engine and 7° to 48° motorized zoom that powers out over 12,000 lumens. “They will be able to make more artistic choices now that they have not only the functionality of moving lights, but color-changing and gobo options that they didn’t have before.
They don’t have to dedicate static fixtures to specials for certain colors/gobos anymore,” says Green, adding, “They are thrilled with the results and so happy to have these new fixtures.”

Kinetic Lighting project organised the install, designed a plot, installed, prepped, addressed and programmed the new lights, and provided training on the new fixtures. Other new fixtures in the upgrade include ellipsoidals, battens, par lights and followspots – all LED based – along with a new lighting console.
The LED upgrade has allowed the theatre to cut its power costs dramatically while realizing savings on both labor and lamp costs. The upgrade to color-changing fixtures has eliminated the need to cut and use gels and the new moving lights allow fewer lights to be hung for specials.

Photo by George Simian

The overhaul also means that clients booking events at the venue no longer need to bring in their own rental gear to insure the use of top-end technology. And for shoots, the new fixtures are all camera ready. “The lighting has brought a new life to our venue and we’re extremely grateful,” sums up the Warner Grand Theatre’s technical director Mark King Sr.

The lighting upgrade was completed in late November with a San Pedro City Ballet performance of “The Nutcracker” this past holiday season the first performance using the new gear.

More information on the Elation Lighting website