News

LOS ANGELES – VER (Video Equipment Rentals), one of the top A/V rental companies in North America, with locations in North America and Europe, recently purchased an extensive Optocore fibre optic audio system in its ongoing commitment to provide their customers with leading edge technological solutions. The first use of the system was for the recent MTV Video Music Awards, staged in Los Angeles at the Forum in conjunction with ATK Audiotek, the incumbent audio production company supplying PA and broadcast feeds to the recording mobiles. Jeff Peterson, VMA Project Manager for ATK, is pictured here.

NASHVILLE, TN – This year’s ride has been dubbed “Cruzin’ the Ozarks, The Dozenth’ Year.” Riders will gather in Nashville, Tennessee, ride down the bucolic Natchez Trace toward the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas and Missouri and then circle back and pass through the Land Between the Lakes on their return to Nashville. The route will feature day rides venturing deep into the Ozarks, departing from picturesque Petit Jean State Park. Experienced riders know these roads as some of the best riding in the country, including the ‘Pig Trail Parkway’, ‘Ozark Dragon’, and the ‘Arkansas Grand Canyon’.

IRVINE, CA – LD Jason Bullock of Infinity Point Design has been using Ayrton lighting fixtures to Wiz Khalifa’s Under the Influence of Music Tour this year. Under the Influence of Music is an annual event which brings up-and-coming hip-hop artists to venues across America. Bullock was among the first to use Ayrton’s MagicPanel 602 last year and has returned to it this year, incorporating 48 of the units in his design. To these he has added Ayrton’s newly released Radical Series, employing 36 MagicBlade-R linear fixtures and 12 MagicRing-R9 fixtures.

WORCESTER, MA – Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but when it comes to lighting beauty pageants, getting things right means adhering to an exacting set of standards. So say Darren and Tyler Lussier, who speak from experience.  Aside from lighting concerts and major league sporting events in New York and New England, their company, Image Production Services, has become a beauty pageant maven, illuminating no fewer than six state segments of Miss USA in 2014. The setup for the most recent event for Miss Maryland is shown here.

FLOWER MOUND, TX – Valley Creek Church recently upgraded the lighting in its 1,400-seat Flower Mound auditorium by installing more than 120 Chroma-Q Inspire LED house lights. Church leaders had sought an immersive environment during its worship services. Summit Integrated Systems worked with Dallas-based project consultants, Idibri, who recommended the Inspire fixture and provided a layout guide for them within the auditorium.

NEW YORK – The Lighting Design Group recently lit CNBC’s 25th anniversary celebration at Rose Hall in The Time Warner Building. The event involved lighting three different rooms for dinner, drinks and entertainment.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – The set of the new The Rich Eisen Show sports show uses a variety of Elation lighting equipment including DW Series and TVL Series professional white light LED fixtures. “I wanted a variety of professional white light and other dynamic lighting and Elation was able to give me all the flavors I needed,” said LD Victor Fable.

SAN BERNADINO, CA — Slipknot headlined its own musical festival, Knotfest, on Oct 24-26 at the San Manuel Amphitheater and then kicked off their Prepare for Hell world tour. LD Trevor Ahlstrand specified Elation Professional’s new hybrid Platinum SBX luminaire and Elation Cuepix Blinders for both rigs. The design also included a video centerpiece made up of Elation EPT9IP LED video panels.

VANCOUVER – Electric Aura Projects designed the 102nd Grey Cup Halftime Show, starring Imagine Dragons, who rocked the Canadian Football League’s championship game Nov. 30 at the BC Place in Vancouver. This was the fifth consecutive year of Grey Cup halftime shows for production designer Robert Sondergaard and his Vancouver-based Electric Aura team. They knew the drill: they had five frenetic minutes to set up the stage; the band had 14 minutes to perform; and it all had to clear the field in three minutes.

LOS ANGELES – For the “No Class Tour” featuring rap artist Machine Gun Kelly, a.k.a. MGK, LD Alex Kay used a rig supplied by 4Wall Los Angeles that included Nexus 4×4 panels from Chauvet Professional. Kay’s design had a total of four 10-foot and two 5-foot truss towers positioned upstage to focus attention on MGK and his band. Each tall tower supported a pair of Nexus panels. Limp Bizkit co-headlined the tour.