Lighting designer/director, Brian Jenkins of Flicker Designs, who has worked with Maroon 5 for nine years, specified two of MDG’s, dual haze and fog generators – aptly named, theONE – for the band’s 2020 tour before it was postponed due to the pandemic.
After an 18-month enforced break, the tour resumed last summer with the band visiting many of North America’s largest outdoor amphitheatres playing to 15,000 – 30,000 capacity crowds.

Photo Steve Jennings

Rehearsals for the 8-week tour, which was in support of the band’s seventh studio album, Jordi, started in late July with the first show slated for 10th August 2021 at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn Washington. The final date took place in October at the Concord Pavilion, Concord California.

Jenkins chose theONE for both its versatility and powerful output capabilities: “We specifically needed a hefty, high-output unit for the outdoor amphitheatre shows. And theONE’s ability to produce both haze and fog is a great feature for touring. We kept the haze mode constantly running and used the fog mode frequently throughout the shows.”

Producing both fog and haze from a single generator, theONE is capable of generating 308 hours of haze and 20 hours of fog. It is specifically designed to give maximum, non-stop hours of haze/fog, and automatically refills its internal fluid reservoir from an external 20L (5.3 US gallons) container of MDG neutral fluid as required, so is perfect for filling those big venues.

The controllable output provided ideal coverage to accentuate the multitude of beam looks, strobes, lasers and heavy colour saturation that were a signature of Jenkins’ design during Maroon 5’s high energy songs, and equally perfect for the gentler colours used on the slower tempos, all in all, brilliantly visualizing the post-apocalyptic theme of the revamped show.

theONE generators travelled in their specifically designed touring cradles which made deployment and transportation a breeze: “We used them upstage left and right and with those touring cradles they simply rolled-in and rolled-out! Easy!”

Exceeding PLASA rigging standards, theONE’s touring cradle is designed for rigging, rolling and stacking and sized to fit standard trucks and containers. They are built to withstand the rigours of touring and contain everything that’s needed in a single, transportable unit: theONE, its fan, a convenient tool drawer, MDG’s own 20L (5.3 US gallon) fluid container and, uniquely, all known sizes of 9kg (20lb) CO2 or N2 gas bottle.

Photo Steve Jennings

Jenkins added, “the MDG units are really tour friendly – we carried a spare unit just in case, but normally used this when visiting larger venues or when the wind was crazy! Because the units create such a fine haze and atmosphere, I try to spec them for most of the shows that I do – it’s honestly a fantastic product.”

theONE generators were supplied for the tour by Upstaging with support from account rep, John Huddleston. The tour’s production manager was Alan Hornall and its crew chief was Michael Green.

For more information on MDG’s theONE dual haze and fog generator and all MDG fog, low fog and haze products, visit www.mdgfog.com

RCF presents the 10th edition of the Sound Engineering University Course, which will be held from May to October 2022. From the roots of electroacoustics to the complete design of live audio projects based on real case studies, the course is developed on 105 hours of e-learning lessons and hands-on at RCF facilities in Italy with the best experts.
Deadline for submission – April 6th.

The primary goal is to provide engineers with specific knowledge of state-of-the-art technologies related to sound, transducers and speaker systems and their applications in the professional market. An international reference project carried out by RCF engineers will be used as a studying guideline to be followed during the course.

Organized in modules, the course takes the participants through the basis of electro-acoustics components like transducers, amplifiers and digital processors till the design of a complete audio project based on a real case study.

All technical contents provided in this University course will be completed by the direct experience of RCF laboratories. The course is organized by the Department of Sciences and Methods for Engineering of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, in collaboration with RCF.

More information on:

– Department of Sciences and Methods for Engineering
– University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy
– RCF SpA, via Raffaello 13, Reggio Emilia, Italy
– Sound Engineering Course Tenth Edition May-October 2022

ETC is pleased to introduce Cyberlight LED, a moving mirror fixture born from industry feedback and built in Austin, Texas.
Cyberlight LED is a new moving head luminaires which competes with other fixtures in a variety of uses including high-speed pan / tilt movement and the ability to hide lighting fixtures in permanent installations.

Customers with existing mirror fixtures in the themed entertainment market and elsewhere can retrofit those products with Cyberlight LED for more energy-efficient operation and service.
The 470 W Bright White LED engine and the high-quality optical system delivers 12,750 field lumens with 90+ CRI for superior color rendering capabilities.

A full complement of features are included on Cyberlight LED for creative design possibilities, including color mixing plus color wheel, dual rotating pattern wheels, zoom, focus, iris, prism, and diffusion.

Automated Lighting Product Manager Matt Stoner commented, “The lighting industry has been approaching us for years regarding an LED version of the Cyberlight. We took this opportunity to bring the entire fixture up to date with modern automated luminaire technology.  By introducing a smaller gate size, we have provided a fixture with a much broader feature set, wider zoom range, and encoded pan and tilt system. In addition, the fixture includes a transferable LED engine, and a maintenance design that prioritizes longevity and precision.”

Themed Environment Specialist Scott O’Donnell said, “The super-fast speed of the Cyberlight is beyond any other fixture in the market. And since you can neatly stow the fixture away in the décor, Cyberlight is exactly the kind of light needed to create a dazzling themed environment. What an awesome fixture!”

For more information on Cyberlight LED

Ayrton is very happy to announce the appointment of Nikolay Berenok as its new brand ambassador, with immediate effect. Co-founder of the visualising software company, Light Converse Ltd., Berenok brings a wealth of industry experience and contacts to Ayrton.

Nicolay Berenok

His new role entails making use of his extensive network and superb recognition to drive interest in the Ayrton brand, and to support the work of its global sales team.
“I’m really happy and excited to take on this new role,” says Berenok. “It’s a great honour and opportunity to become part of the wonderful Ayrton team and a company with such a great history and reputation.”

“We are excited to welcome Nick to the Ayrton family,” says Ayrton’s global sales director, Michael Althaus. “This is a new role within the company and we are very excited about its potential – which is showing itself already. Nick is extremely knowledgeable across all sectors of our market and we anticipate he will be very busy!”

Visit Nikolay Berenok and all the international Ayrton team at Prolight+Sound, Frankfurt (26-29 April. Hall 12.0 Stand D74 & D75.)

More information on Ayrton and its full range of LED lighting can be found at www.ayrton.eu

On 12 February 2022, the Academy of Film Arts and Film Sciences presented the best Spanish films of the year at the 36th Goya Awards. The award ceremony, which is broadcast on television and streamed live from Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, brought together the who’s who of the Spanish film scene and was lit up by over 130 Cameo moving heads.

Adisar Media from the Mediapro Group, in collaboration with lighting designer Iñaki Irastorza, was responsible for the lighting technology implementation.

Overall, 24 Cameo Opus X Profile Moving Heads were used as front lights, which, with their light output of 33,000 lm and >90 CRI value, were the ideal choice of front light.

Irastorza also used a total of 48 Cameo Opus H5 Beam Spot Wash Hybrid Moving Heads, supplemented by 16 Cameo Evos W7 Led Wash Moving Heads, while 24 Cameo Opus X Wash Moving Heads provided the basic lighting for the award show.

In choosing Cameo, Irastorza and Adisar Media set an example for the Spanish event technology industry.
And, following on from the resounding success of the moving heads from the Adam Hall Group’s lighting technology brand at the Goya Awards, Adisar Media is already planning to use Cameo at future TV and major events.

Further information on:

– adisar.com
– mediapro.tv
– cameolight.com
– adamhall.com
– event.tech

LD Howard Hudson commends their linear power, colour and intensity. Six years after working at Leicester’s Curve Theatre for the premiere of the new musical The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, lighting designer Howard Hudson has returned to the venue to light the new production of A Chorus Line. Both shows have made heavy use of GLP’s award-winning LED moving heads.

The LD notes that the iconic musical changed Broadway in the 1970s but that it was time “to look at the piece through slightly more contemporary eyes.”

He explains: “Grace Smart’s design is beautifully simple. It embraces the large, cavernous Curve stage and allows us to fully utilise their extraordinary technical capabilities and automated flying system.

Everything overhead is electric, and we rig along the side cages of the stage, the fly floor gantries, above the grid and even into the dock at the back. The overhead bars spend the show coming in and out to break up the space for particular moments, and the lights are very much on show.”

To exemplify this, he has deployed 18 of GLP’s impression FR10 Bars, each of which contains 10 sources of 60W RGBW LEDs. He has positioned 10 above the chorus line itself to form a vertical ‘sheet’ of light from a steep angle just above the heads of the company. “Zoomed down, even at 9m trim, the intensity of light and colour they give is fantastic.

FR10

But when brought in at 2.5m they really do pop. We also use the cell control to do swipes back and forth across the line at times, and use their tilts individually for more uptempo moments,” says Hudson.

The remaining eight FR10s form a curtain of light upstage on a shortened truss, which moves constantly through the show, and can drop all the way to the floor.
This creates a wall of backlight “gridded as high as possible, since they will fly at nearly 20m, really enhancing the scale of the space,” he continues.

Hudson had first seen a prototype of the impression FR10 at Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt a couple of years back and was immediately impressed with the large lens, punch and colour. “I remember thinking at the time what a great fixture that could be,” he says.

“The X4 Bars, which we had all come to love, had offered designers a new look unlike any other fixture. And the possibility to have that, but with a thicker source and even more punch, was always going to be a winner. The ability to individually zoom each cell also offers a completely new way of thinking about a light curtain.”

A Chorus Line provided the perfect opportunity to test them. “I always knew this show would require a linear feel,” explains Hudson. “The FR10s had just been released, and I discovered they were available.”
Hudson couldn’t be more effusive about his decision to use the impression FR10, and sees it becoming a staple in future theatre productions. “It’s such a joy to have units which can join so closely, to really make that line of light,” he concludes. “I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to spec them again on my next show, where appropriate.”

The inventory was supplied by Christie Lites. The head of lighting at the theatre is Jonny Laidlow and the programmer was David Hately.

For more info about GLP, you can visit the GLP website

Lighting director Nick Chang is one of the dedicated ones. Not only has he been on the road with the Kane Brown tour for the last four months, handling lighting on shows across America on the country-pop stars “Blessed and Free Tour,” the touring schedule allows him to travel back to his hometown of Nashville where he oversees lighting for services and other events at Church of the City.

On staff at the church since March of 2021, Nick was called on to light Church of the City’s 2021 Christmas services and specified a rig of Elation Artiste Mondrian and Artiste Monet LED moving heads, as well as Platinum Seven wash fixtures, all rented through Elite Multimedia.

Five services

Nick has been contracting with Church of the City since 2020 and handled a Christmas project for them that year. This year, the church held five Christmas services – two on December 23 and three on December 24 – in their 3000-seat auditorium at their main campus in Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville. Nick co-designed lighting for the services with Church of the City Production Manager Jori Johnson. Nick also handled the lighting programming.

Nick says that the goal was to be entertaining and engaging in the early segments of the service, then to slow it down to focus on the message.
“We like to have fun and engage with the crowd for the first 13 minutes of the service with 5 or 6 songs then move into slower moments with worship songs before moving into the sermon,” he explains.

“At the end is a beautiful Silent Night moment with a nativity scene, candle lighting, and kids in angel outfits. I utilized the rig we had to make it feel as though you were outside and it was nighttime with stars in the sky. It’s a touching way to end the service.”

Mondrian – intensity to intimate

At Nick’s disposal were 20 Artiste Mondrian moving heads, an LED profile FX luminaire with full design package, SpectraColor color mixing system, large 226mm lens, and over 51,000 lumens of power. Ten fixtures worked from an upstage truss with ten positioned downstage.
“I wanted the intensity with beams and gobos but I also wanted to be able to use them at 5 or 10 percent to get nice eye candy looks on stage from that big lens,” Nick said. “I could use the upstage fixtures as a wash zoomed out to cover the stage in a red or blue or white, and use the downstage fixtures as a profile with gobos – or vice versa. They were really versatile. I found that they did all roles very well.”

Nick used the Mondrians throughout the service and describes two impactful but very different looks to illustrate their flexibility. “There is one moment, a drum breakdown, where I put them all at a 3-degree beam shooting throughout the room and at 51,000 lumens that was pretty powerful.
At another moment, I used two fixtures to downlight in white a cello and vocalist for an intimate acoustic part of the experience while the other 18 fixtures washed the stage.” In another stirring scene, he used four Mondrians to silhouette from above the manger as a bright light coming from the sky with star gobo used at just 10% intensity.

Artiste Monet

Working with the Mondrians from a floor position were 18 Artiste Monets, Elation’s award-winning 45,000-lumen LED Profile with SpectraColor and complete FX system.
“I used them for everything from a wash to a profile and really used every feature of them that I could.
What was nice about having the Mondrians and Monets together, because they’re so bright with zoom I could use them for everything from slow wash moments to beams everywhere to profile looks with a spinning gobo.”

SpectraColor

Nick says he also enjoyed the SpectraColor color mixing, a proprietary 7-flag system that combines CMY with seamlessly adjustable RGB flags and variable CTO that is found in both fixtures.
“I was very impressed with the saturated blues and reds we got out of them. With a lot of fixtures you’ll lose some of that color after 40 or 50 feet but I could shoot a saturated red with the Mondrians from the stage to the back of the house and up to the balcony and it stayed consistent all the way through.
One of my favorite looks was opening up to a lavender blue, a saturated dark color on the stage. I normally use a lot of intensity on that but with these, I didn’t have to and our cameras picked it up nicely for the live stream.”

Live stream enhancement

According to Nick, Video Director Ryan Smith enjoyed having the Mondrian’s on the stage as well. “A lot of time they’re not only looking for white on the stage but are looking for other eye candy that the camera can pick up visually,” he says. “Ryan commented that with the fat lens on stage and being able to see the gobo on the lens, with the fixture running at 5-10%, it added a lot to the live stream.”

Additional to the package were eight Platinum Seven LED wash fixtures, seven on each side of the stage that Nick used for sidelight, eye candy and occasional fat beam looks. “I wanted something I could do pixel looks with using the different rings of pixels without having to spend a lot of time laying it out and programming,” he said. “It was super simple to use the preprogrammed pixel macros while adding the effects that we wanted.
Also, the eye candy looks looked great with that big face.” Besides adding to the big wash moments, Nick would sometimes use the single pixel in the middle of the fixture as a shooting star across the stage.

Blown away

Nick reports that the church was thrilled with the services and that church personnel, including show producer Sarah Bible, were blown away with how everything looked. “I was blown away as well,” he confirms. “Based on the ability to use them as a wash, beam or profile, these are some of my new favorite fixtures.”

All of the Elation gear for the Church of the City Christmas services was supplied and supported by Elite Multimedia Productions of Nashville with account management by Kenny Mason. “Kenny made sure we were taken care of and we felt very supported the entire time.” Elite also provided Andrew Hunt as a lighting tech.

Nick Chang is looking forward to wrapping up the “Blessed and Free Tour” and moving towards planning Church of the City’s Easter Services to continue a busy year.

For more information, you can visit www.elationlighting.com

Located in the cosmopolitan port city of Seville, Cartuja Center CITE has emerged as one of Spain’s premier destinations for meetings, events, and the performing arts. The expansive complex houses multiple venues of all sizes, but the leading attraction for major concerts and theatrical events is the Main Hall, now fully equipped with more than 300 Meyer Sound loudspeakers.

48 Leopard and two five-each cardioid arrays of 900-LFC.

The main front system is based around five LEOPARD® line arrays while scores of smaller loudspeakers are distributed laterally and overhead throughout the auditorium to accommodate the Constellation® acoustic system and Spacemap® Go spatial sound design and live mixing tool. According to Alvaro Elena of RMS Proaudio, Meyer Sound’s Spanish distributor, it is the most extensive and sophisticated Meyer Sound system on the Iberian Peninsula.

Alvaro Elena of RMS Proaudio.

With flexible seating accommodating more than 3,500 people in its largest configuration, the Main Hall can be optimized both physically and acoustically for an extraordinarily wide range of events.
“They are hosting all kinds of shows and meetings here,” says Elena, “from classical music to pop and rock, cinema showings and corporate events. You could have a classical concert in the afternoon and a rock concert that evening with no acoustic shell to construct and disassemble.”

When Cartuja Center CITE was still in the early planning stages, RMS Proaudio was consulted on what was then to be a standard reinforcement system, with acoustical variations accomplished by moving physical panels. At that time, the Constellation solution was introduced, demonstrating a drastic reduction in costs along with greater acoustical flexibility and lower long-term labor costs through elimination of a heavy and cumbersome stage shell.

The silver wires hanging from the ceiling are microphones that Constellation needs to detect ambient acoustics.

The main reinforcement system, expanded to five arrays for Spacemap Go’s panoramic placement effects, comprises a total of 48 LEOPARD line array loudspeakers with deep bass from dual, five-each cardioid arrays of 900-LFC™ low-frequency control elements flown behind the far left and right LEOPARD arrays. Two ULTRA-X40™ and six UPM-1P™ loudspeakers are deployed as fills, with drive, optimization, and Spacemap Go dynamic effects provided by seven GALAXY™ Network Platforms.

Meyer Sound Leopard

900-LFC

ULTRA-X40

UPM-1P

For the side, rear, and overhead spatial sound effects, and to create the Constellation acoustical environment desired for the event, more than 240 additional loudspeakers have been installed around and over the audience, including Stella-4C, Stella-8C, MM-4XP™, UPM-1P, UPJunior full-range loudspeakers, HMS-10™ surround loudspeakers, and M1D-Sub subwoofers. A total of 66 miniature microphones are installed for sensing the ambient acoustics, with 34 in the auditorium, 16 onstage, and 16 in the orchestra pit.

As with all Constellation systems, the one at Cartuja Center CITE had the inherent capability to create discrete spatial sound movements using the original Spacemap feature in the CueStation™ software. However, in 2021 the system was further upgraded to the more user-friendly, iPad-based Spacemap Go spatial sound design and live mixing tool.

Luis González, director of Cartuja Center CITE.

The quality and flexibility of the Meyer Sound systems has realized both artistic and financial returns, according to Luis González, director of Cartuja Center CITE. “The excellence of our equipment as well as our service is central to our strategic marketing,” he says. “Audio is one of the most important elements since we see it as an important differentiating factor.

In that respect, Constellation already has proven its value with classical music concerts and even with operas. We have had the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville and the Baroque Orchestra of Seville present concerts here. Despite some understandable initial skepticism, they expressed their full satisfaction. As Constellation becomes better known throughout Spain, we expect the clear advantages will help attract other types of shows, such as musicals, as well as corporate events.”

Spacemap Go capability is a recent addition, but González sees it as also holding great promise. “We are the principal host venue for the Alhambra Monkey Week Festival, which allowed us a unique opportunity to showcase both Constellation and Spacemap Go to key people in the Spanish independent music industry. They showed great interest in the operation of these technologies, adding to the number of shows offering to use this space. That will undoubtedly translate into increased income in the future.”

Cartuja Center CITE was built by the SGAE foundation and is managed by the EULEN Culture division of the EULEN Group, based in Spain but with operations in 14 countries.
True to its founding mission — SGAE is the Spanish acronym for General Society of Authors and Publishers — the Center also hosts a Vocational Center that offers specialized training in technology fields related to entertainment and the performing arts.

More information on the Meyer Sound website

Essex-based rock band Nothing But Thieves recently completed a UK headline tour, with experienced LD Sam Tozer (of Vision Factory) masterminding their stage look, having been brought in to create a new style. He was working alongside lighting director Ryan Dennett and production manager Andrew Sweeney.

“We wanted to create a show that matched the new art direction of the latest album,” he explains. “We used elements of the set to create a clean look and add dynamics to the performance, with the lighting being revealed progressively throughout the set.”
For this he turned to 30 of GLP’s super-bright FR10 battens, explaining, “We wanted to create an industrial look onstage, and these units, which are bigger [than the X4 Bar 20 he used previously] did just that.”

The FR10 Bar contains 10 sources, each with a high-output 60W RGBW LED that colour matches with the entire GLP X4 and FR series of fixtures. Each individual source features smooth, full-range colour mixing with strong, punchy output from a homogenised Fresnel lens. Along with individual colour control, the FR10 Bar contains a series of built-in colour macros and a large reference of industry standard colour filters.

Tozer had first been exposed to the FR10 at the Glitterbox live stream from the Royal Albert Hall. After using GLP’s award-winning impression X4 Bar 20 on previous productions, he said: “I could definitely see a set role for these.”

Aside from their sheer output, Sam Tozer has other reasons for favouring the FR10. “The narrowness of the beam allows me to create pixel-shaped beams across the stage, without worrying about them being blown out,” he explains.

Also in the rig are a large quantity of JDC1, GLP’s hybrid strobe, which are used to surround the set and band, with Christie Lites the lighting vendors.

Piloting and programming the show was the band’s long-term collaborator, Ryan Dennett, who had also co-designed the opening show at Birmingham Academy.
Sam Tozer now moves onto a succession of what he describes as other major projects. “There is some big stuff happening soon, and it will feature a lot of GLP products,” he promises.

More information on the GLP website

When a theme park reports a record number of visitors in times of the Covid-19 pandemic, there must be something special going on. Moreover, when the park has seen virtually no visitors from neighboring Norway this year. For Fårup Sommerland in the Danish town of Fårup, the answer is: Lysfald.
The temporary outdoor light installation marked the end of the park season and attracted more than 82,000 visitors in the week from October 18 to 24. To make Lysfald (German: Lichtfall) a reality after sunset, the integrator responsible, Profox, relied on more than 200 spotlights from Cameo.

Control via W-DMX

Every day from 5:30 p.m., 120 ZENIT W300 and 24 ZENIT W600 Outdoor LED Wash Lights were turned on at Fårup Sommerland, accompanied by 72 DROP B4 outdoor uplights as well as eight Q-SPOT 40I outdoor spots.
With an outdoor area of around 55 football fields, Profox was looking exclusively for fixtures that could be controlled from a central point via W-DMX.

While the ZENIT W300s were used to illuminate the large rides and trees, the ZENIT W600s made an impression by providing wide-area illumination of the forest areas.

“The W600s are so powerful that we can illuminate huge areas with just a few units.”explains Rasmus Stoltenberg, Profox

Cameo ZENIT W300

Cameo Zenit W600

The long way and a special task

The DROP B4 uplights covered several kilometres along the walkways and the train track, and were also used for lighting trees and building facades. The Q-SPOT 40i spots had a special task and illuminated objects from a long distance. “Thanks to their compact size, we were able to place the spots out of sight in a wide variety of locations – even where space was extremely limited,” says Rasmus Stoltenberg from Profox.

Profox has been expanding its cameo stock systematically for years – and invested once again for a project of this magnitude. “For the Lysfald project, we bought around 150 new Cameo spotlights. For us, the build quality is a key factor. All fixtures are extremely durable and also impress with their high light quality at a price that no competitor can keep up with,” says Simon Aagaard, Managing Director of Profox.

“Lysfald is already one of our best and most successful events ever.“ said Niels Jørgen Jensen, Director Fårup Sommerland (source of quotation: migogaalborg.dk)

New heights

With the Lysfald project, Fårup Sommerland’s long-standing collaboration with Profox has reached its current climax. In the highly creative LED light provided by the Cameo wash and spot lights, not only the theme park with its opened rides, but also the surrounding forest shows itself from a completely new, magical perspective.

More information:

– faarupsommerland.dk
– profox.dk
– cameolight.com
– adamhall.com
– event.tech

A special edition of BBC’s The One Show in Glasgow for the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference was broadcast live from the foyer of the BBC Scotland building on the banks of the River Clyde, featuring an eye-catching set designed by Ali Mills and constructed from recycled materials … which was lit using Astera’s new AX9 PowerPARs.

Lighting designer and director Richard Jarrett chose the fixtures – the first time he had used the AX9 product – supplied by Quay Light, also Glasgow based, which has the largest stock of Astera luminaires in Scotland, all supplied via UK distributor Ambersphere Solutions.

The set comprised three circular discs which needed front lighting and three metal structures making up the show’s logo letters, which were filled with plastic bottles, computer bits, shoes, and other recyclable elements, all of which needed ‘through’ lighting.

“The beauty of all the Astera ranges is their flexibility,” stated Richard, who has used most of the other Astera products – AX5s, AX10s, the new AX2s, the tiny AX3 Light Drops and more recently the new PixelBricks which he loves – in the course of his work as part of BBC Scotland’s resident lighting team. He has also recently used 80 x NYX bulbs on a studio show.

“It’s become a major ‘go-to’ product,” he confirmed. “You can put them anywhere, including places that are difficult to light, and the battery operation and battery life is perfect for us.” He likes the vivid colour reproduction across all the Astera ranges, and the intensity of the AX9s in particular for this application. He also notes that the excellent CT whites mean the same fixtures can be used for lighting faces and people as well as sets and other objects.

He adds that the AX9s have all the power of the AX10 “in a very compact and beautifully designed housing – the amount of punch for the small size of the fixture is impressive.”
All lighting for The One Show was controlled via a grandMA2 console.

Astera developed the AX9, launched earlier this year, as a high-intensity, rock-solid, all-purpose everyday LED lighting fixture including their acclaimed battery operation, wireless control, and quality engineering.
Richard first saw Astera luminaires in action in early 2020 on the set of the acclaimed crime drama series Vigil – where large quantities of Titan Tubes were also supplied by Quay Light. Taken with what he saw, he started specifying Astera where appropriate for different shows he was lighting.

He recalls a recent News Climate Special broadcast that was lit using Astera AX5s and AX10s, which, if using conventional lighting would have taken days to manage the power and data cabling logistics … but using Astera fixtures, everything was rigged and ready to go in 20 minutes!

He also deployed AX9s for an edition of Newsnight where a section of the show was staged outside on the BBC Scotland veranda. The director wanted some colour in the background … and AX9s were the ideal solution, bright, quick and simple to rig and with a highly effective result.
Having lighting fixtures like this to hand is hugely time saving for a busy broadcast operation like the BBC, and a supplier like Quay Light being based locally is another great asset.

For more info about Astera LED, you can visit astera-led.com

Lighting and rigging equipment and services specialists, TSL, has a diverse portfolio of clients across the live events industry. With an impressive remit that encompasses music, theatre, corporate, sporting and e-sport events, the need for reliable, versatile lighting fixtures to handle this varied field of activity is paramount.

“Last year, when we looked to evaluate and increase our range of outdoor profiles, we were intent on investing in LED fixtures which were robust and flexible enough to cope with the many demands we put upon our equipment,” explains TSL director, Loz Wilcox.
“We were looking for a fixture which could support our clients on their exterior lighting projects. We tried out options from several manufacturers and chose Perseo above all others for a number of reasons. It’s a great feature-packed fixture, with all the things you’d expect from that range and size of fixture and, to me, it feels like the IP65-rating is just an added bonus! We view it as a light that can do everything, which can be spec’d on any show, not just outside events.”

60 Perseo Profile fixtures were purchased from Ambersphere Solutions, Ayrton’s exclusive distributor in the UK, following a demonstration from Ambersphere’s managing director, Glyn O’Donoghue. Fifty of the IP65-rated fixtures were immediately put to use by lighting designer, Adam Povey, on a high-profile, themed woodland walk in the north of England.

“The event ran from October to January in the worst of weathers, during which time we had only one swap out,” says Wilcox. “Considering the usual attrition rates for IP65-rated fixtures, this is unprecedented and we are very impressed. Perseo is fantastically reliable – so the crew love them too as no-one wants to keep returning to fixtures rigged outside in the cold and wet!”

TSL has also used its new Perseo Profiles on other themed woodland walks, including that at Leonardslee Gardens, and for exterior gobo projections for the Blue Paradox immersive event at Exhibition London, and the ice rinks at Silverstone and Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland. “The Perseos have already been busy fixtures for us and can turn their skills to anything,” confirms Wilcox.

Ayrton Perseo Profile

It is not just TSL’s own team who have been impressed by Perseo. “We have had great feedback from so many designers and technicians – everyone who has used them has been universally positive about Perseo.
They love its reliability, the flat field and great output, the fact they are feature packed, and the gobos and shuttering systems which work really well.
It’s a pretty comprehensive list. Now the winter season is drawing to a close, we are finding lighting designers, who have seen what Perseo can do, are keen to bring it into their indoor work.

“By choosing Perseo we have acquired a light that works for us for the full 12 months of the year, not only with a great deal of functionality, but as an extremely useable, versatile addition to our rental stock for designers all year round.

“Ambersphere did a great job in getting us such a quantity at short notice at the height of the pandemic’s global shipping difficulties. Glyn and the whole team at Ambersphere have always given us great service through the craziest deadlines and the weirdest requests, always finding a solution.
Having Ayrton’s Matt Hallard on hand was also a bonus. Knowing that the manufacturer has a rep in the UK who is part of that team, in conjunction with the service and support we get from Ambersphere, is an unbeatable formula and we feel well supported at every level.”

More information on the IP65-rated Ayrton Perseo Profile and Perseo Beam, and Ayrton’s full range of LED lighting can be found at www.ayrton.eu

The Novelty-Magnum-Dushow Group is pleased to announce the integration of the BBS company in the big Novelty Family.

Backline pioneer in France and founded in 1982 by Pascal Graticola, sound engineer and music passionate, BBS has the largest new and vintage European stock for rent.

The Montreux Jazz Festival BBS…stock !

Enriched by the teams and expertise of BBS in the service of music for tours, concerts, TV sets, festivals, studio sessions, show cases, filming and events, Novelty-Magnum-Dushow Group continues its development to meet the expectations of French and international artists through its agencies in Paris, Bordeaux, Cannes, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Toulouse, Valence, Barcelona, Brusels, Dubaï, Dammam, London, Madrid, Marrakech, Monaco et Riyad.

BBS and its team will now be attached to Novelty under the unchanged leadership of Pascal Graticola with Olivier Hagneré General Manager and Jacques de La Guillonnière President.

It’s important to highlight the quality and the commitment of the current teams who will continue to offer their expertise from their office and their stock now based in Longjumeau at Novelty Paris.

“ This connection is a great opportunity for us to support the artists, festivals, TV productions and events in a more complete way, just as we will bring this new job and our know-how to the companies of Novelty-Magnum-Dushow Group.

Pascal Graticola

We share the same values and the same quality requirements. I am convinced that we will achieve great projects together” says Pascal Graticola, Director of BBS.

• Pascal Graticola [email protected]
• Guillaume Delbost Sales man [email protected]

More information on the BBS website and on the Novelty Group website

Dear Reality releases latest monitoring plugin dearVR MIX to turn any professional studio headphones into an ideal stereo mixing environment with a compensation feature, supporting the 44 most used studio headphones and 3 virtual reference stereo mix rooms

– Plugin for headphone mixing suited for all professional studio headphones
– New Spatial Headphone Compensation feature, supporting the 44 most used professional studio headphones
– 3 virtual reference stereo mix rooms with 4 selectable loudspeaker positions
– 6 additional, non-studio listening environments

With dearVR MIX, immersive audio expert Dear Reality is bringing its iconic room virtualization to the stereo world. The dearVR MIX AAX/VST3/AU plugin turns any professional studio headphones into an ideal stereo mixing environment, placing the user in the sweet spot of carefully designed mix rooms – all through spatial audio technology.

Christian Sander, CEO of Dear Reality

With dearVR MIX and the built-in Spatial Headphone Compensation (SHC) feature, audio producers, artists and content creators can ensure that their stereo productions translate reliably to any sound system – regardless of production type or music genre.

Whether you’re in the studio or on the road, dearVR MIX lets you create outstanding sound experiences and assess positions, stereo width, reverb, and low-end frequencies with total reliability, anytime and anywhere.

“When developing dearVR MIX, it was all about creating ultimate virtual acoustic environments for headphone mixing,” says Christian Sander, CEO of Dear Reality. “All the experience we have gained in the field of spatial audio comes together in one stellar plugin. dearVR MIX puts this technology in the hands of everyone.”

One of the rooms where you can recognize Neumann virtual speakers and a number of settings to recreate your * ideal * studio. Be careful not to move them too much …

The plugin offers three world-class reference mix rooms with four selectable mono and stereo loudspeaker positions. Furthermore, each mix room can be adapted to the user’s taste by controlling the amount of diffusion and setting the perfect balance between overall coloration and localization based on the patented Clarity algorithm from Sennheiser AMBEO.

A choice of six emblematic and very different places where music could be played.

dearVR MIX also lets users easily and accurately monitor their production in six non-studio acoustic environments, such as a car or a club – all without leaving the workstation.
Together with dearVR MIX, Dear Reality is also introducing its Spatial Headphone Compensation (SHC) feature to all dearVR virtual monitoring plugins.

Some of the 44 headphones taking advantage of a specific preset.

The unique technology adapts the 44 most used professional studio headphones to the virtual mixing room, enabling a model-independent and stable simulation of a perfect acoustic environment.

“By carefully compensating for the sound characteristics of individual headphones, dearVR MIX ensures the best binaural playback experience with the highest degree of out-of-head localization,” explains Christian Sander.
Each model has been carefully optimized by Dear Reality and expert mastering engineers to create a target frequency curve that perfectly matches the room virtualization.

Dear Reality offers a free 14-day trial at www.dear-reality.com

And you can watch the dearVR MIX video: