The 2016 Miss South Africa was staged at Carnival City, Johannesburg, with this year’s theme having a robust feel as lighting and creative designer, Joshua Cutts, made use of negative space and aimed to create a production that had the distinct flavour of a music awards event. With the winning formula of the previous year’s beauty pageant, the same technical team were contracted for the second consecutive year to ensure a dream occasion. Sun International contracted Sic Entertainment to produce the televised show, which in turn brought in Dream Sets to cater for the technical, and Visual Frontier for the…
Author: dbell
In what has been the largest broadcast project for Sennheiser in the Middle East, Al Jazeera, the Doha-based broadcast giant, has used cutting-edge wireless microphone and in-ear monitoring systems at its studios in Qatar. The deployment enables Al Jazeera to deliver crystal clear audio for its viewers and will now serve as the standard template for all the broadcaster‘s major studios across the globe including those in London, Washington DC and the Balkans. A highlight of the project was the use of Sennheiser’s flagship Digital 9000, an all-digital wireless system that can transmit completely uncompressed audio, artefact-free and with superb…
Straightpoint has named marine lifting and rigging specialist Anchor Industries as a distributor of its force measurement, load monitoring and suspended weighing load cell equipment in South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Cape Town-headquartered Anchor provides engineering services and equipment for marine and lifting to local and international clients. It also has facilities in Durban, Nelspruit, Johannesburg (all South Africa) and, further northeast, Pemba in Mozambique. Dale Hutcheson, Managing Director of Anchor Industries, said: “We are excited to announce the addition of another world-class brand to our product range. Unlike other load cells available on the market, the…
Ampere Event Technology is the latest Cape Town based rental and technical production company to invest in Robe Pointe moving lights, adding eight fixtures to its hire stock. Entering the offices of the industrial unit in Paarden Eiland, you immediately realise it’s a creative and vibrant environment with funky interior designs and imaginative environmental lighting. In addition to supplying full technical production – sound, lighting, video, staging and rigging – there’s also a full scenic division, plus Ampere has its own show design team. Ampere has an open policy when it comes to brands, and the Pointes are its first Robe purchase, delivered via…
Audio Engineer Mickey Beck has been with Josh Groban for 12 years and Chris ‘Cookie’ Hoff has been with him for three years. They recently came to South Africa on the Stages tour where they worked on two DiGiCo SD10 consoles with Waves and two 2SD Racks. The tour was held recently in Johannesburg (Ticketpro Dome), Durban (ICC Durban Arena) and in Cape Town (Grand Arena, GrandWest) with the full technical production supplied by Gearhouse South Africa. The main reason they chose DiGiCo consoles for the Josh Groban ‘Stages’ tour was its scalability with a cohesive UI throughout the model range. Beck…
There are a few select jazz festivals that make it on to the resumes of virtually every legendary artist in this timeless musical genre. South Africa’s International Cape Town Jazz Festival is high on that list. Tickets for the world’s fourth largest jazz festival invariably sell out in a heartbeat, as aficionados from around the world descend on this famous seaside city every year to hear the sweet sounds of artist like Herbie Hancock and Jack DeJohnette. For local residents unable to attend the acclaimed festival, its organisers put on a Free Jazz Concert in Green Market Square. Featuring some…
The Cape Town leg of Starlight Classics, produced by Rand Merchant Bank and production by Jam Events, was hosted at the Vergelegen Wine Estate in Somerset West on 11 and 12 March. This is one of Lighting Designer Joshua Cutts’ favourite shows and he worked in close collaboration with fellow designer Christopher Bolton from Keystone. Technical elements supplied by Gearhouse Group included the main stage and venue lighting, structures, sets, rigging and power as well as the centre LED Screen. “This is the fourth year that I have been involved in Starlight Classics as the lighting designer, and it has…
Next Robe Generation (NRG) is a new initiative launched by Robe UK, offering future lighting professionals the chance to meet other like-minded individuals and access a whole range of interactive social networking and educational opportunities. It will encompass forums for discussion and the exchange of ideas, product open days and mentoring by leading practitioners and activists in the dynamic world of performance lighting and visuals … among many other activities. Robe is currently working with six participating universities and colleges – RADA, Rose Bruford, Central School of Speech & Drama, LAMDA, Mountview and the University of South Wales – with…
Following the success of the 2015 series of technical seminars, the eclipse Group organised another round for the 2016 students covering the basics of lighting, audio, video, rigging, power, special effects, lasers and health and safety. Taking place over two weeks at the eclipse warehouses in Dubai Investments Park, the heads of each department spent two hours with the students giving them an introduction to their discipline through theory and practical demonstrations. Highlights from the seminars include a spectacular special effects and laser show from Flair SFX & Production’s General Manager Sameer Rahman, a demonstration of the preparation needed to…
In a demonstration of its growing popularity among musicians in the region, Sennheiser has received the endorsement of Svengali, a band whose energetic live performances and music, have been provoking powerful reactions all over the region, and Gaya, a UAE-based independent singer-songwriter. The widely varying musical styles of these two artists highlight the versatility of Sennheiser’s solutions and its brand appeal within the region. While Sennheiser is the brand of choice for a long list of industry megastars, the brand has been equally committed to supporting the local music community. “Our regional team is highly active on Facebook, Twitter…
