The new Barco DML-1200 digital luminaire and projector, now with an onboard Axon media server.

AUSTIN, TX-Barco has added an Axon media server, complete with the latest software release, to their DML-1200 digital light and DLP-quality projector. One of the brightest digital lights on the market today with 12,000 field lumens, the DML-1200 was originally designed as a dual moving digital luminaire and high-quality video projector, offering unlimited image selection with the ability to seamlessly switch between video projection and light mode, cue by cue. The Axon provides lighting designers with a full complement of digital lighting features, including collage and curved surface support, warping and edge blending, and access to thousands of images. The new luminaire is designed to be a feature-rich, highly versatile tool that empowers lighting designers to produce a truly unique show for every event, client and purpose.

SyntheFX has released Luminair for iPad, a desktop-class multi-touch DMX lighting control app.

CINCINATI, OH—Synthe FX has released Luminair for iPad, its new desktop-class multi-touch DMX lighting control app for Apple’s iPad. Luminair uses the Art-Net protocol to transmit DMX data over Wi-Fi, giving users wireless control of color- mixable LED fixtures, dimmers, studio lighting, moving lights, media servers, and any other DMX enabled equipment.

A screen shot of Source Four Fixtures in the Source Four Savvy Section Plug-In Object for Vectorworks SpotLight.

BROOKLYN, NY—Joshua Benghiat Lighting Design has released of the Source Four Savvy Section Plug-In Object for Vectorworks SpotLight. The Source Four Savvy Section plug-in object eliminates the need to tweak dimensionally accurate 2D sections of an ETC Source Four or Source Four PAR, including the hanging angle, yoke, angle, clamp type and accessories. With this object, users no longer need to ungroup and rotate section symbols, or look for symbols of various components.

The Audio-Technica AT2021 Cardiod Condenser Mic

STOW, OH—Audio-Technica’s new AT2021 Cardioid Condenser Microphone is a low-profile condenser mic designed to offer an extended frequency response, high maximum SPL and wide dynamic range. The AT2021’s low-mass element is designed to provide excellent transient response. Corrosion-resistant contacts from the microphone’s gold-plated XLRM-type connector, in addition to the mic’s rugged design and construction, ensure consistent, reliable performance and durability for the user. The unit’s cardioid polar pattern rejects pickup of sounds from the sides and rear, improving isolation of the desired sound source.

The Elation Color Tone 50

LOS ANGELES-Elation Professional's Color Tone 50, a DMX-controllable LED color changer for staging, entertainment and architectural applications, utilizes the all-new 50-watt Philips Lexel LED module, a homogenized LED light source. Unlike previous RGB LED fixtures that produced colors by combining red, green and blue beams from different LED lamps, all of the Color Tone 50's color blending is done within its single Philips Lexel module, designed to result in superior colors and a whole spectrum of whites that are perfectly even and consistent in tone. The new technology is designed to eliminate issues than can sometimes occur with RGB mixing, such as uneven output, discoloration, and "halos" or rings around beam edges.

Figure 1 – Light Spectra

Why LEDs render color—and skin tones—the way they do. 

I've no doubt that, by now, everyone reading this article has used an LED (Light Emitting Diode)-based light source on stage. Chances are you will have used them to provide colored light for a backdrop or cyc, or perhaps as effects lighting, or as direct view lights on the edge of steps or flats. It's less likely, although you might have experimented, that you are using them as key lighting or performer lights. Why is that? One obvious reason until recently is that they weren't bright enough, but the pace of development in LED efficiency is so rapid that this is no longer true. I suspect the main reason is that you weren't completely happy with the way the light looks on performers faces, the skin tones don't always look quite right somehow. To understand why this is the case, and what's being done by developers and manufacturers to remedy the situation, we need to delve a little into the details of the light spectrum produced by LEDs and get a feel for both its advantages and disadvantages.

The new LED marquee on the Richmond CenterStage was one of the few modern touches the design team was able to make to the look of the theatre.

A look at the renovation of the Carpenter Theatre at the heart of the Richmond CenterStage Performing Arts Complex

Richmond CenterStage is a new arts center in downtown Richmond, Va. that’s truly community-based and boasts the renovated Carpenter Theatre at the heart of the complex. The Carpenter was originally the 1928 Loew’s Theatre with a rich Spanish Mission style designed by one of the great atmospheric architects of the day, John Eberson. It operated as a movie theatre until 1979 then underwent a renovation in 1983 when it was renamed the Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts. However the space still lacked the proper support needed to serve as the multi-function home for the city’s symphony, ballet and opera companies as well as accommodating other local producing organizations and touring productions. The Carpenter closed in 2004 for renovation and after a few stops and starts the newly renovated space reopened this past September. In addition to Broadway tours, the Carpenter Theatre is now the home for Richmond Symphony, Virginia Opera and the Richmond Ballet, all of which have very diverse needs of the performance space.

Sound design is a tricky beast—part engineering (mic choice and placement), part composition (writing new music) and part console jockey (designing SFX on a computer and mixing), a good design draws on all parts of the brain. Luckily for Matt Nielson, a Washington, D.C.-based sound designer, he was able to learn from the best as he worked as audio master in theatres in the metro-D.C. area. Now resident sound designer at the Round House Theatre in D.C., he stopped by TheatreFace.com in August to talk about skills, process and getting ahead. To read a transcript of the entire interview, head over to www.theatreface.com/mattnielson.

The Sennheiser SKM 5200-II has a switching bandwidth of up to 184 MHz and a

OLD LYME, CT-Audio specialist Sennheiser has released the second generation of its top-of-the-line wireless handheld transmitter, the SKM 5200-II. The SKM 5200-II provides sound engineers with expanded switching bandwidth of up to 184 MHz. A further highlight is "Low Intermodulation" mode, which increases the number of usable channels in crowded RF environments.

PHILADELPHIA-Stagestep Flooring Solutions has introduced Super Timestep, its newest flooring innovation offering the flexibility of a marley-type floor combined with the enhanced durability and wear of Timestep. The multi-purpose studio and tour flooring is designed for all styles of dance, including tap.

The new EC-20 LED panel from Martin Professional

AARHUS, Denmark-The EC-20 is a new generation LED panel by Martin Professional designed to combine the image quality and precision of conventional high resolution screens with the creativity and low weight of mesh type screens. The EC-20 features a 20 mm pixel pitch and delivers 4,000 nits of brightness. Designed for rapid setup and teardown in combination with maximum flexibility, color and brightness is calibrated for each individual pixel for maximum image quality.