LED manufacturer Astera’s first concern during the Coronavirus pandemic is that everyone stays safe, well and healthy. In addition to that, the Astera Academy has been launched in just a few days as a positive response to the crisis (link here).

Astera Academy is a new venture enabling interested parties, lighting and visual designers, DOPs, directors, gaffers, grips, engineers and techs of all types and from all sectors who are into creative and practical lighting – so they can utilize and maximize their time in self-isolation to learn cool new things!
The Astera Academy is doing its bit to help make the best out of the worldwide situation and assist the wonderfully creative and resourceful entertainment technology industry … to be ready to hit the ground running when life and business return to normal!

Jesper Sørensen who is presenting the webinar sessions of Astera.

We all know that the entertainment and production industry in all sectors has been hit hard by Covid-19. With almost all events cancelled, theatres closed, etc. … many venues have been stepping up to become makeshift hospitals and quarantine centers.
Some companies have been engaging in alternative activities to help fight the virus in any way possible, while others have been shutting and temporarily laying off staff … so, trying to stay inventive and inspired as we all stand strong together to come through this – has become something of a mission!

The Astera Academy offers free webinars allowing people to learn more about the AsteraApp and various Astera lighting fixtures. Topics will include subjects like Getting Started with the AsteraApp to discover its best tips, tricks and less well-known features, with additional topics to be added in the coming days.
Each webinar is streaming twice a day – to cater for Europe and Asia, with an afternoon session for the convenience of the Americas – and will last between 30 and 60 minutes. The broadcast is coming from Astera’s European HQ in Munich, and all times are listed as central European time zone (CET).

Astera’s Jesper Sørensen will be presenting the sessions. He has been doing this worldwide in the last months, and while that’s now not possible in person … his interesting and highly accessible style of knowledge transfer can be enjoyed online.

Astera’s Sales & Marketing Director Sebastian Bückle comments, “Exhibitions and customer visits used to be our most important tools to connect with the industry, but due to Covid-19 it will be online-only for some time! “This is a big adjustment for all of us, but we also see advantages as it is opening opportunities and paving the way towards new and invigorating operational methods.
“I believe more flexible home office options will be available in the future, together with increased video conferencing for meetings and discussions … even after things normalize.
“The Astera Academy will be continuing in the future! Now that we have established the platform, we love the possibilities of connecting with our existing community, reaching out to potential new users and in fact anyone who might be curious about the products.”

Interested parties can sign up and ask questions during the webinar, and if a live stream is missed, the videos can still be accessed later at Astera Academy. Meantime, Astera’s HQ in Munich and factory in China also remain open.

Stringent measures have been introduced to ensure all the workplaces and employees stay safe and that all the rules for social distancing are being strictly observed during the lock-down periods. This includes splitting the offices into small teams with separate entrances, while home office working has been implemented for all where this is safe and practical.

Repairs and other packages can go in and out as usual as Astera continues to provide technical – and moral – support to its distributors, dealers, end users and all collaborators and partners globally.
Most but not all of the worldwide service centers are open, and customers are being advised to check before sending something in. Telephone support should continue to be active in all countries, otherwise please contact Astera directly on Astera support

NAMM & ISE will have been the only major 2020 shows held before the Covid-19 outbreak. Respective managements have decided to cancel InfoComm and AES for the health and safety of exhibitors, attendees and staff.

InfoComm

“This was not a decision we made lightly but with careful consideration and as advised by public health authorities,” said AVIXA CEO Dave Labuskes, CTS, CAE, RCDD.
“Thankfully, we did not have to make it alone and are grateful to our InfoComm community, exhibitor advisory committee, education committees, and so many others who supported our desire to not jeopardize the livelihoods and long-term gains of the industry.
InfoComm is not just an AVIXA trade show, it is the industry’s show and it is important that we move forward to the benefit of the entire community.”

Labuskes continued: “InfoComm is the largest professional audiovisual trade show in North America and has always provided a one-of-a-kind experience for both its exhibitors and attendees. We knew that in today’s environment we could not fully deliver on those experiences and consequently could not move forward. More importantly, keeping the community safe and healthy is our highest priority; therefore, we are following the guidelines of public health authorities during the ongoing challenges posed by COVID-19.

“InfoComm show management is evaluating the best path forward for bringing the high caliber, engaging content that InfoComm has come to be known for, and we ask for stakeholders’ patience as we do so. We are committed to exploring all possible alternatives that will bring to light the engaging discussions, industry thought-leadership, product information and best-in-class education that our attendees have come to expect from the show.
“We are grateful for each member of our AV community, from exhibitors and attendees to partners and committees. It is their commitment to the industry that makes InfoComm a success year-over-year, not just in North America but at shows all around the globe. It is that passion that will drive new opportunities to support one another and a new view in 2021.”

InfoComm 2021 will happen June 12-18, 2021 (Saturday-Friday) at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

More on Infocomm website

AES

With the health and safety of our attendees, membership, exhibitors, and staff being of utmost concern during the global COVID-19 pandemic, and following weeks of discussions with the host Austria Center Vienna, the Audio Engineering Society has officially canceled the live, in-person components of the AES Vienna 2020 Convention scheduled for May.

AES leadership, the Convention organizing committee and headquarters staff members are working diligently to organize the logistics of a virtualization of the Convention technical program into an engaging, compelling, educational and productive online experience.

Details on the virtual Convention, which are being developed to include video presentations of Papers, Workshops, Tutorials, Tech Tours and other technical program content along with live- and forum-based dialog with presenters, will be shared as they become available. We appreciate your patience and understanding as the myriad of options and details are finalized.

More on AES website

Photo Beehive Courtesy The Art Of Light

Shanghai, a metropolis with a population of more than 24 million people, now has a new masterpiece Club Beehive. Two Eindhoven-based design companies were the geniuses behind its unique design: multidisciplinary design studio, 250K, created the Beehive concept and commissioned The Art of Light to come up with an equally stunning lighting design for this new club venue. The partnership follows a very successful first collaboration for Club Myst in Suzhou, west of Shanghai.

In keeping with the Beehive theme, Mees Bouman, 250K’s set designer, developed a concept based around a tornado of hexagon shapes arrayed in a honeycomb design. An organic, tree-shaped centrepiece is sited behind the DJ booth which, in turn, is flanked by curved LED screens. The honeycomb theme is repeated throughout the entire club interior as well as across the set design and décor. The honeycombs spread up and out above the dance floor, with moving, tilting chandeliers extending the depth and variety in the shape of the room.

Photo Beehive Courtesy The Art Of Light

As a company, The Art of Light designs, programs and performs next-level light shows for artists, festivals and corporate events all over the world, and its work for this club is no exception. In between the distinctive hexagons, Marco, The Art of Light’s lighting designer, decided to place a large number of Ayrton Khamsin-S, Bora-S and Mistral-S LED fixtures to add richness and variety to an already iconic design. “We chose the Ayrton fixtures because they all have an impressive LED-engine, great colours and a very complete gobo package,” he says.

Photo Beehive Courtesy The Art Of Light

Marco interspersed a total of 61 Ayrton Mistral-S spot luminaires between the hexagons to use as an effects spot, taking advantage of Mistral’s full package of colours and features.
“We chose the Mistral because it is small and intense,” says Marco. “It has a very high output, is fast and has enough features to create variations and looks for a whole night.”
Three Ayrton Bora-S wash fixtures were chosen as key lights for the DJ booth, lighting the headline acts from three positions. “Bora’s high output was needed to overcome and enhance the rest of the lighting effects and combat the output from the LED screens,” confirms Marco.

Photo Beehive Courtesy The Art Of Light

Finally, 23 Ayrton Khamsin-S profile spots were picked for décor and special effects lighting across the dance floor. “We used Khamsin as backlight from the floor and also placed some underneath the curved LED screen,” says Marco. “The high output, and wide/big zoom range of the fixtures gave us the capability of creating rich colours and beautiful gobo looks.”

Marco is an advocate of Ayrton fixtures in the nightclub market because of the comprehensive range of features each brings to his designs. “I really like the full range of Ayrton fixtures as they are all equipped with a good quality LED engine, which provide very neat, fresh, rich visual images and looks, and work specifically well for the look and feel within the dance scene.

“The whole range works both aesthetically and performance-wise. I like the consistency of the look and feel of the fixtures, which also keeps the rig looking really clean.” Club Beehive opened in November 2019 and plays host to top DJs from around the world.

Photo Beehive Courtesy The Art Of Light

For more information on Ayrton Khamsin-S, Bora-S and Mistral-S, and the full range of Ayrton LED lighting fixtures, visit the Ayrton website

Spanish lighting designer Joan Teixidó (known industry-wide as Teixi) used 30 x Astera AX3s ‘Lite Drops’ on the most recent tour for Spanish singer Alfred García, who played over 50 dates around Spain.

Photo by Roser Gamonal

Emerging from popular TV talent show Operación Triunfo, this was Alfred Garcia’s first full production tour to date and the first time that Teixi had worked with the artist, who headhunted him to be part of his creative team after the series’ 2017 season.
Alfred Garcia’s first studio album 1016 was released at the end of 2018 and shot straight to number 2 in the Spanish album charts, and the tour campaign to support it ran from February to November 2019.

Photo by Roser Gamonal

The lighting design was initially inspired by scenographer Lluis Danes’ set, and the brief was to bring a bit of extra ‘magical touch’ to the stage with the lighting. “From Earth to Mars” is one of Alfred Garcia’s biggest hits, so the aesthetic took a bit of a spacey and intergalactic direction.
A textured piano and matching risers onstage were a central part of the look, ideally lending themselves to being lit. Together with an upstage set piece constructed from metal plates, a spaceship-like appearance started to evolve. It was onto this metal surface … that the 30 x AX3s were magnetically fixed each day … in a 6 wide by 5 high matrix pattern.

Photo by Roser Gamonal

It was the idea of working with a back wall of light that had originally made Teixi choose AX3s … because the fixtures can simply be snapped on to the metal plates via their magnetic bases!
This neat, hugely practical genius design from Astera enabled the fixtures to be quickly and easily deployed to the correct places on the metal wall.

Teixi then mapped them and programmed a bunch of eye-catching dynamic effects via his lighting console using the wireless DMX option. “This was fantastic, especially at festivals with super-quick changeover times – no cables, no power, no fuss!” … they were ready to roll in minutes!

Photo by Roser Gamonal

The back wall was a core element of all the festival dates. While the top rigs changed sometimes dramatically from one event to another, the AX3 wall was a consistent part of the aesthetic. The lights were supplied by Arcoiris Lighting. AX3s anchored to set pieces were also used in 2019 for Mark Rosson’s European festival tour.

Teixi himself had used Astera products before, including AX1 Pixel Tubes on tripods for pop-rockers Maldita Nerea. While he didn’t use it for the actual show control on this Alfred Garcia tour, he thinks the Astera App is very practical and useful, especially to know the fixture status at any time and being able to tweak parameters like battery life and intensity equally for all products on the network.
The last concert of the Alfred Garcia tour was in Barcelona’s Sant Jordi Club when they added an LED video screen upstage and adapted the positioning of the metal plates / AX3s to surround that screen.

Photo by Roser Gamonal

Since then Teixi has used Astera products on other events including the XII GAUDÍ Awards Catalan’s version of The Oscars which was staged at Barcelona Convention Center where 22 x Titan Tubes were part of Laura Clos’ “CLOSCA” set design. He has also used them on numerous corporate and private brand shows and activations … and is generally a big fan of this innovative manufacturer.

More info on Astera website

Elation Professional’s European website has received a thorough makeover with a redesigned look that makes for a more engaging visual experience with more intuitive interaction. The website’s improved functionality and cleaner, uncluttered design makes it easier for visitors to find the information they need in a more visually appealing interface.

Another important step in Elation Europe’s continued rise in the European lighting market, the new website, still found at www.elationlighting.eu, is more reflective of the professional development and increased market presence the company has experienced over the past few years.
Elation Europe’s new-look website is easier to navigate and features an enlarged format with enhanced visual content. Compatible across multiple platforms/browsers with an adaptive screen size and design for phones and tablets, the new website makes essential information easier to access than ever.
Browse by product segment, or series, or jump directly to a specific product for a detailed look at features, specifications, images and videos. In addition, Elation’s extensive archive of reference stories are presented in a new and more appealing format.

To experience it for yourself and keep up with everything new at Elation in Europe, Visit Elation website

Phantom of the Opera has been an international phenomenon for more than 30 years. Now, the French concert version of the hit musical has debuted in Montreal and Quebec City where lighting designer Jean-Francois Couture, of Montreal’s La Boîte à Lumière, utilized grandMA3 full-size console for lighting control.

Copyright Pat Beaudry

The new production, featuring 20 singers and a 40-musician orchestra, enchanted audiences at the Théâtre St-Denis in Montreal and the Grand Théâtre de Québec. It was presented by Spectra Musique through a special arrangement with The Really Useful Group Ltd.
Couture has used grandMA lighting consoles for the last two decades. Phantom of the Opera was his first experience with the grandMA3, which he ran using grandMA3 software. The system was provided by Francis Giguère of Omnison, Montreal.

During the Christmas holiday Couture taught himself the grandMA3 “using the same process as when I switched from the grandMA to grandMA2: building the show, watching tutorials, using my WYSIWYG system,” he recalls. “When I learned the grandMA2 and could achieve everything I wanted with it, I realized the new model was pushing me creatively in different directions. The desk was taking me somewhere else. That’s the same feeling I had when I was programming Phantom of the Opera on the grandMA3.”

Copyright Pat Beaudry

While he experienced the same kind of learning curve as when he migrated to the grandMA2, Couture says, “overall, the new desk was not that difficult to learn. I did not have to rethink the whole process.” He especially likes the new grandMA3 hardware. “The way you can move the screens – wow! And the touchpads and keyboard are very ergonomic. It’s an amazing system.”
For the Phantom of the Opera productions, Couture controlled about 130 moving fixtures. “We had a lot of different fixtures for key lights, back lights, and scenic lights,” he explains. “There was a semi-transparent curtain that flew in and out with light projecting onto it to create set pieces.”

Couture notes that, “when you choose a new desk you accept that there will be some differences to learn. But when it came to show time, the console performed flawlessly. It was quite stable with no glitches.”
The lighting designer is honing his mastery of the grandMA3 with online courses at MA University. “There is more to learn before I take the grandMA3 out for its next show,” Couture says. “I know the grandMA3 will be part of my work for a long time to come.”

Copyright Pat Beaudry

A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor of MA Lighting in the US and Canada.

For more information on MA Lighting website

The Staatstheater Nürnberg is one of the largest multi-discipline theatres in Germany. Under the auspices of General Music Director Jens-Daniel Herzog, 600 employees in the opera, drama, ballet and concert divisions currently facilitate more than 750 performances per season for almost 300,000 visitors.
For the ballet Sacre directed by ballet director, Goyo Montero, the Staatstheater Nürnberg used Robert Juliat SpotMe for the first time, in conjunction with a Robert Juliat Victor followspot and Robert Juliat Maestro server.

Robert Juliat SpotMe is a 3D tracking tool for followspots and the only tracking device for performers on the market that puts the followspot operator in control by enabling ‘slave’ lighting fixtures to follow the movements of a followspot. Because movement is based on the position determined by the followspot, no cameras or sensors are necessary in the stage area, or on performers or objects.

Karl Wiedemann, Team Leader Lighting Opera, explains: “The requirement for this special production was to be able to control a ring of 40 moving lights hanging above the stage via a transmitter-receiver solution.
We wanted to be able to track a dancer automatically with the moving lights, so that he could be seen to ‘play’ with the light. The truss ring containing the spotlights was suspended from eight point hoists and could therefore tilt in all axes.

“In order to use tracking at different positions of the traverse circle, we divided the 40 moving lights into four groups and assigned them several 3D positions,” Wiedemann continues.
“We were able to control these groups via Robert Juliat’s SpotMe device. As an interface to our lighting console, we used the Robert Juliat Maestro Server, which translates the PosiStageNet (PSN) signals”.

Robert Juliat SpotMe consists of a server and special sensors for turning and tilting movements, which are mounted on the followspot or on the tripod.
Setting up SpotMe is quick and easy thanks to the sensors on the followspot and the server, which generates and transmits the high-quality position data via PosiStageNet (PSN) to suitable receivers.

PSN is an open positioning data output format used for capturing, tracking and relaying position data of moving objects on stages. It was developed in cooperation between the companies VYV and MA Lighting, which means that grandMA2 consoles can also process this PSN data directly.

The Robert Juliat Maestro server played a key role at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, as the lighting console was not PSN compatible. Maestro extends the capabilities of SpotMe by enabling it to operate with any DMX lighting control console, so the complementary dedicated server allowed real-time calculation of the movements of all the moving heads which were tracking the movements of the followspot.

SpotMe is suitable for all Robert Juliat Compact, Grand and Touring ranges of followspots, and can be easily delivered and retrofitted to all existing followspots.

Robert Juliat SpotMe was supplied to the Staatstheater Nürnberg by Lightpower, Robert Juliat’s exclusive distributor for Germany and Austria.

For full details visit Robert Juliat website

Designing lighting for the tour, which started early in 2019 and wrapped in October, was Sooner Routhier, her first lighting design for the band and her first experience using Proteus fixtures.
She commented, “We needed a strong IP65 rated fixture for the rainy, European, outdoor stadiums. They had to be a punchy hybrid beam to reach the high levels in the stadiums. We also needed a fixture that could handle all the intricacies of Muse’s music. This was my first experience with Proteus and they were the perfect fixture for our needs.”

Photo by Louise Stickland

Because you never know what Mother Nature has in store, playing outdoor stadium dates, no matter what time of year, is always a bit nerve-racking for concert touring technical and design personnel. On English rock band Muse’s acclaimed 2019 “Simulation Theory” world tour however some of that angst was eased by Elation Proteus Hybrid™ IP65 moving heads that were impervious to the wet European summer.

Muse travelled the world throughout 2019 in support of their late 2018 “Simulation Theory” release. Sci-fi thematic with 1980’s and video game inspiration, the tour’s artistic direction was by Jesse Lee Stout with lighting playing a major role in the show.
Routhier’s stimulating design carried out into the audience via a runway that connected to a B stage that allowed the band to engage with their audience. For the outdoor stadium shows, as well as a pair of London O2 arena video shoots, the immersive visual look was amplified with lines of Proteus Hybrid on both sides of the runway and encircling the B stage.

Photo by Louise Stickland

“Sure, we used them because of their badass IP rating but they were also good at accenting the intricacies of Muse’s music. I think my favorite moment was during the song Thought Contagion, where they were focused on the runway and the B stage to light the zombie dancers in eerie green light.
They were also used to create webs of laser-like light above the audience for Act IV – Ultraviolet. Another favorite look is when they formed a pyramid of beams above the B stage,” Routhier said. Worldwide lighting supply for the tour was by US rental company Upstaging.

Routhier and Aaron Luke programmed the show with Luke out on the road handling lighting direction and operation. “The Proteus Hybrids held up outstandingly well,” Luke added.
“We had a very wet summer in open stadiums all around Europe, and it was nice not having to worry about those fixtures.” With a reputation for energetic live performances and known as one of the world’s major stadium acts, “Simulation Theory” did not disappoint.

For more information check Elation website

In early March some of the world’s greatest artists came together to put on a benefit concert at London’s The O2 Arena to raise vital funds for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
Sir Tom Jones, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Tyler and Van Morrison were amongst a formidable line up that took to the stage performing their greatest hits, raising close to one million pounds for The Royal Marsden’s brand new treatment and research facility; the Oak Cancer Centre in Sutton, Surrey.

To complement the star-studded benefit, state-of-the-art video rental company Universal Pixels (UP) deployed Brompton Technology’s LED processing power to provide a visually stunning show. Tasked with realising the project, UP chose Brompton’s Tessera SX40 processor together with Tessera XD data distribution units to achieve the ambitious concept. UP provided 152.5m2 of INFiLED ER5 LED tiles, which comprised five upstage totem LED screens, the largest being 2.5m wide by 8m high, and two IMAG LED screens, each measuring 7.5m wide by 4.5m high.

photo by Richard Turner

Three Brompton 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors and three Tessera XD units were used to run all the panels, with two disguise gx 2c servers providing 4K video playback and seamless content delivery to all the screens. “We used one SX40 and one XD unit for the central upstage totems, as we needed the 4K canvas size,” explains UP’s Project Manager, Mark Strange.
“This came directly from the disguise servers.” “The Brompton interface is so intuitive,” he continues. “When sending the SX40s out with our crew I have the confidence that everything is going to work, and within the tight timelines that we have to meet when installing a show.”

The two other Tessera SX40s and XD units were used for the two IMAG screens, with camera director Dick Carruthers utilising Grass Valley camera control system so the two screens could show different content. The team also fed the disguise server into the PPU, so they could have playback onto the IMAG screens as well.
“We wanted to use the SX40s and XD units for the IMAGs to allow a direct SDI input from the PPU,” explains Strange. “By minimising the delay time and not going through any other processing, we were able to deliver the cleanest signal flow to get signal from the cameras to screen.”

With The O2 being one of the world’s busiest and largest music venues, some of the distances to the screens required UP to use the fibre links and have the processor at the FOH position, and the XD units local to the screen which helped to reduce the volume of the data cable runs.

Strange was full of praise for the UP team and Brompton’s processing technology: “It looked stunning, with Richard Turner’s visuals and Dick Carruthers’s sharp, yet seamless camera direction, plus reliable video processing from Brompton, we were always going to be in good hands. There was an amazing line up of legendary artists on stage – it really was a once in a lifetime show.”

The concert not only received awe-inspiring reviews, but also raised a significant amount of money for The Royal Marsden.
“Your team did a great job,” comments one of the evening’s organisers, Andrew Zweck, about UP’s commitment to delivering a first-class visual performance. “Big success. A really significant first-class event. Everyone involved is over the moon. Marsden will make close to £1m. Your input is sincerely appreciated.”

The Chauvet booth at ISE 2020.

At ISE, the stand Chauvet Professional was adorned with its new F6 Strip IP LED video module, rather designed for exterior use, thanks to its IP67 rating, and usable as live scenography element as well, and in combination with video screens.

The F6 Strip IP, LED video strip with a 6.9 mm pitch.

These 1 m long LED bars can be arranged end to end, side by side or at a certain angle and covered with a white or black filter, even when they are angled.

The male/female end-to-end assembly of two F6 Strip IP.

The assembly system of two angled F6 Strips.

A single cable provides simultaneously data and power supply.

They comprise 720 RGB LEDs arranged in 5 lines with a 6.9 mm pitch inserted in an aluminum profile.
The quite high contrast ratio of 5000:1 delivered by the 144 x 5 LED pixels ensures a nice video performance.
To achieve this, this model is fitted with a Novastar video card and 2-in-1 cable with both data and power supply.

Ben Virgo, Chauvet Professional EU Senior Pro Product Specialist, introduces this brand new F6 Strip IP LED video strip in video.

More information on the Chauvet website

During the last ISE 2020 held in Amsterdam, we’ve discovered Odin, a zoom LED PAR with RGB+Lime, the very first lighting fixture developed by CLF lighting.

Odin, the first lighting fixture developed by CLF Lighting.

Marketing manager Remco Pouwels and export Manager Martijn Gerards gaved us a presentation of this small IP 65 certified lighting fixture, offering 12 RGB LEDs + Lime. This last feature turns out to be very interesting.

Les prises protégées par capuchons pour les besoins du classement IP65.

As a reminder, where the RGB trio had difficulty reaching some colors of the spectrum located between red, green and blue, the lime succeeds in filling this void and perfecting the pastel shades and the stretching range of whites from 2500K to 10000K with an IRC greater than 90.

Picture of the different colors offered by the lighting fixture

Additionally, this LED PAR offers a zoom range from 11° to 50°. As the unit is IP 65 certified, it can be used for outdoor and indoor applications. The unit enables 4 different cooling modes, including two silent modes, which offer great versatility. The lighting fixture can be remotely controlled through DMX/RDM, W-DMX as an option, and offers 5 control modes, from 4 to 13 channels.

The 12 RGD+Lime LED and their optics.

CLF do not communicate the power of their LED chip, but announce a nominal consumption of 262W.
The manufacturer announces a 7525 Lux output at 5m with the tightest zoom angle.

The main menu and the navigation keys.

Odin offers 4 dimmer curves for a better dimming experience. Some of the parameters can be “parked” or “locked” from the device’s menu. This can come in handy for production companies who wish to avoid unsolicited changes.

Odin has been officially launched at ISE 2020, and is available for rental from Dutch rental company Rent ALL. The lighting fixture will be available for shipment starting April this year.

More information on CLF Lighting’s website

Gothenburg-based LumenRadio AB announces today the acquisition of Wireless Solution Sweden AB, together the two companies will become a market leader in wireless lighting controls for the Professional Lighting industry. Through the merger of the two Swedish tech companies, a player is formed with the strength to drive the wireless DMX market.

Both LumenRadio and Wireless Solution (previous a business area within Interlite AB) have contributed in transforming the lighting industry with their development of reliable wireless lighting control, which today is well known within the Film & Broadcast Lighting, Stage Lighting and Architectural Lighting industries. Both companies have long experience and expertise within wireless communication and engineering, and together they will be better equipped to meet with the future requirements from their customers.

Alexander Hellström, the CEO of LumenRadio is impressed by the technology and knowledge within Wireless Solution and says: “We are really excited about this! Together we will define the wireless standard for the future and with all the great technology and knowhow Wireless Solution has built up over the last two decades, we strongly believe that our existing and future customers will benefit from the combined offer.”
Alexander continues: “Professional Lighting is a high-stakes, no-nonsense business putting high pressure on suppliers to always deliver, something that Wireless Solution, under the dedicated leadership from Niclas Arvidsson, successfully has done over the last two decades.”

The combined business will have a yearly turnover of more than 10 Million euros and more than 50 employees with complementary products and solutions, addressing a bigger, more geographically diverse and non-overlapping customer base. The two brands will be run separately, maintaining their own market identity creating a firm belief that both customers and suppliers will benefit from the increased strength of this new entity.

“I am happy and positive that the Wireless Solution brand will continue to thrive within the new LumenRadio context.” says Interlite’s owner and CEO, Niclas Arvidsson and continues: “I think this merger is very good for our customers and the industry in general. The conditions for a truly global standard for wireless DMX are now in place.”

Southampton, UK-based lighting rental Liteup supplied lighting, video server and control plus rigging – 136 points including Kinesys automation – equipment for all technical departments for the recent UK and European leg of Björk’s ongoing Cornucopia tour, for which the dramatic lighting was a co-design by Bruno Poet and Richard White.

Bruno is well known as a theatre and opera LD and for his creative lighting for bands like avant-rockers Sigur Ros, also from Iceland. Richard White has worked for Björk as a programmer and lighting director on the road for the last six years, and together the two enjoyed a fantastic synergy that has produced some stunning lighting.

Photos by Santiago Felipe @santiagraphy

Björk is renowned for her beautiful, esoteric and uncompromising live productions built on visual and sonic experimentalism and taking performance into new and sometimes unnerving contexts. The focus of the Cornucopia show – initially produced as a series of one-off shows at new arts venue The Shed in New York, mid-2019 – was nature and the environment, touching on some of its frontline issues.

The visual starting point for Bruno and Richard’s lighting design was the breath-taking video content created by artist and designer Tobias Gremmler – with whom Björk has worked previously – together with Chiara Stephenson’s striking and intricate set designs.
Bruno and Richard both also really enjoyed working with show director, award-winning Argentinian filmmaker Lucretia Martel whose influence brought a cinematic perspective and its own distinctive spirit and rhythm to the show.

Liteup’s Account manager was Marc Callaghan, supported by project manager Dan Bunn. Marc stated, “We were extremely proud to be part of a ground-breaking production like this. The show looked fantastic and absolutely blew me away when I saw it. The production was very detailed and precise with all the elements both physically and artistically linked.”

Photos by Santiago Felipe @santiagraphy

Björk is heavily involved in all aspects of her live show productions and she wanted all the show’s visual elements to look and feel organic and to have a fluid synergy. The stage floor was modelled on mushroom heads complete with their complex gill structures on the underside, and opening / closing string curtains stage left, right and upstage centre together with a LED screen at the back all added perspective and texturing.

The lighting design brought a theatrical flourish to a concert stage and was also arranged in layers, offering the ability to change and shift the environment and to highlight and emphasise different areas separately or combined. At some points, the visuals took centre stage, and other times the video faded into the background while lighting and scenics took up the narrative, with the two medias working closely and complimentarily throughout.

Liteup provided 16 x Martin MAC Viper Performance and 37 x MAC Viper profiles for the main hard-edged moving lights, which were arranged on six over-stage and two FOH trusses, joined by 29 x GLP X4s as the primary wash lights.
Two Robe BMFL WashBeams running on a RoboSpot remote follow spotting system were positioned at FOH off to the sides which was to increase the subtlety of their impact on stage – the goal being that the artist should not even feel their presence.

The RoboSpots were a key element. “We always try and spot Björk from a very side-on angle which isn’t always possible when touring multiple venues,” stated Richard. Using this system allowed him to keep control of all the colour and intensity parameters from FOH making the artist’s key light much more ‘live’ and controllable, particularly for this show with layered projection surfaces and automated drapes.

Photos by Santiago Felipe @santiagraphy

Thirty-two GLP X4 Bar 10s and 20 x X4 Bar 20 LED battens were positioned on the over stage trusses in upstage and downstage rows. The staging concept is based around a ‘utopian planet’ and Bruno and Richard wanted to be able to create multiple sunrise and sunsets with stage-wide shifts of colour.
Both GLP JDC1 and SGM Q2 strobes had been used throughout all the shows, offering a wealth of different effects from the same unit. On this leg, Richard spec’d Q2s for the floor strobes and JDC1s for the overheads as they had swapped to a festival-style rolling stage with the floor units completely visible. The requirement was therefore for a small footprint strobed that absolutely kicked!

Twenty Astera AX3 ‘LightDrop’ battery powered LED ‘pucks’ were dotted around the stage providing a neat wireless up-lighting solution to highlight the mushroom gills and other set elements. “These were our footlights and sat on the stage set itself,” explained Richard. They wanted to achieve close angles and bring another dimension to the lighting but without cabling and fixing points.

Richard had used them before and knew they’d be “perfect for this job”. They could be charged during the load-in and simply positioned and focused before doors each day.
Two grandMA3 light consoles were supplied by Liteup for control with a disguise 4×4 pro media server for the playback video which was operated by Daniel Bond.
One of the biggest challenges for lighting was during the more ‘video-driven’ songs, where people and set had to be lit in complementary and subtle ways, and serious detail went into finding angles “to create our effect but avoid any of the projection surfaces”.

Photos by Santiago Felipe @santiagraphy

This was the primary reason they needed so many fixtures with framing shutters and at one point, lights had to be rigged on the curtain trusses themselves in order to light performers whilst sandwiched between multiple curtains.
The rigging detail comprised 136 motors from Liteup – a mix of quarter ton, half ton, 1-ton and 2-ton and including the five Kinesys vari-speed hoists – which were shared between lighting, audio and video departments, together with 143 metres of Litec PR60 pre-rigged truss. Head rigger Steve Belfield worked alongside Toby Lee.

Dan Bunn worked closely with Steve to work out multiple rigging solutions for a show that had to be millimetre accurate when it came to the positioning of all the elements each day. This included getting one of the truss structures re-engineered to achieve a result not possible with any off-the shelf-product.

The lighting crew chief was Aiden McCabe, Ryan Harrington oversaw dimmers and the lighting crew was completed by techs Simon Carus Wilson and Mick Stowe, all working directly for the production. All were chosen by Richard for the tour and most had worked with him and Bruno previously. They were picked for their experience with highly theatrical shows as well as music concerts … where attention to detail is crucial.
Overseeing everything on the road was production manager Peter van der Velde.

More info on Liteup website

SixEye is pleased to announce that ETC, one of the world’s leading events lighting technology manufacturers, has become a SixEye Connected manufacturer, with its Mosaic range of architectural lighting controllers the first in the company’s product portfolio to benefit from SixEye’s unified remote management platform.

SixEye provides a cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) solution, enabling best-in-class remote management of professional control devices. SixEye combines the management and control of products from multiple manufacturers into one portal, easily accessible in a web browser on desktop and mobile.

Systems integrators can have their own SixEye portal at their own domain. The portal carries the integrator’s own branding, allows them to invite end users into any project site in the portal, and grant them bespoke access with SixEye’s granular permissions.

Device management includes firmware and file upload, triggering, real time status, logs and more with encrypted network security maintained for peace of mind without any additional hardware or IT expertise. End users can use SixEye’s control panel, designed for mobile browsers, to perform actions across multiple devices in a project site at the touch of a button.
“We’re happy to offer SixEye functionality in our Unison Mosaic controllers, the premier system for transforming large scale buildings, attractions, or LED walls into eye-popping displays,” says Shawn Fernandez, product manager for Mosaic at ETC. “We have Mosaic controllers for every project, so it makes sense to let users access them from everywhere with SixEye.”

ETC joins Pathway Connectivity and Pharos Architectural Controls which are currently live on the platform and will benefit from SixEye’s latest features, including the ability to schedule tasks to run automatically.
“We are delighted that ETC has seen the value of the SixEye platform and is joining us as a Connected manufacturer,” says SixEye’s CEO, Simon Hicks. “For SixEye, having one of the world’s most respected lighting manufacturers on our platform is a leap towards becoming a standard for the remote management of professional control devices.”

ETC customers who want to take advantage of this feature should contact SixEye ([email protected]) for a demonstration of the available features and how to obtain a SixEye portal.

CLF Lighting Europe announced that TMB has been appointed CLF lighting fixtures’ exclusive distributor for the UK and Ireland.
Following a good reception of the brand “Nuri*Lites” in the US, now a broader range of CLF products LED Fixtures, Moving Heads, and Spectrum Series will be by offered by TMB UK under the banner “Nuri*Lites by CLF”. Customers will enjoy all the service and support they expect from TMB, as well as benefit from TMB’s wide range of related products.

CLF: Bram Adams, Martijn Gerards. TMB: Lauren Drinkwater, Tim Obermann, Nuri Waheishi, Anton Sanders, Adam Burton.

“We are extremely happy to offer CLF’s wide product range to our customers in the UK and Ireland,” says TMB’s EU Sales Manager, Tim Obermann. “Nuri*Lites by CLF represents a new range of LED Pars, bars, wall-washers, special effects lights, and moving heads, all of which complement our current product line-up. Customers will certainly benefit from this expanded product selection for many applications and every budget.”

TMB’s Lauren Drinkwater and Nuri Waheishi agree, “We can’t wait to show the products to all our friends and customers, who we are sure will immediately see all the benefits Nuri*Lites offer.”

Both CLF and TMB have a strong focus on the rental company market. CLF’s Export Manager, Martijn Gerards explains, “Rental is in our DNA and our product development and design will always have rental companies in mind. Our philosophy is to create products with consistent colours, fast return on investment, all with a ‘Never a Version 2’ approach.”

Find out more on CLF website and on TMB website