History
Vintage Hair
THEATRE Vintage Hair by Cat Strom. The first Australian production of Hair was staged 50 years ago at the Metro Theatre, in Sydney’s Kings Cross on 4 June 1969. Produced by Harry M Miller, it was well-reviewed despite a minor hitch at the premiere when the auditorium had to be evacuated because of a bomb…
Read MoreHolograms – A User’s Guide to Blowing Minds
TECHNOLOGY Holograms – A User’s Guide to Blowing Minds From CX Magazine – August 2017 Whether you call it a ‘hologram’ or the ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ illusion, projecting video that looks three-dimensional on-stage is now part of the production repertoire. While the technique was first described in the 16th century and popularised in the 19th, we now…
Read MoreRadio Microphones or “How Did I Get Stuck With This Job!”
HISTORY The following item appeared in Connections Magazine, March 1999, p.42, followed by a wireless systems Buyers Guide and Radio Spectrum Guide for Australia. View the Feature in full here (PDF) Radio Microphones (Sub-titled “How Did I Get Stuck With This Job!”) by John Matheson. I learned a lot of tricks in those early years, and every…
Read MoreThe World Before Digital Pixels
PIXELS The World Before Digital Pixels by Simon Byrne. Before DVI, HDMI, SDI and Video over IP, we operated strictly in an analogue world. All video signals and displays were analogue. We didn’t talk pixels. We were more interested in “horizontal scan rate”, cable, distribution and amplifier bandwidth, as well as voltage loss…
Read MoreThe Grand Piano (and the sound engineer)
Resource Series The Grand Piano (and the sound engineer) by Alan Mourant. Originally published in CX13 – March/April 2005. The Grand Piano is an amazing instrument to see and hear. No other instrument is capable of producing its frequencies, tone or dynamics. With strings spread wide across 5 to 6 feet of iron frame, when…
Read MoreBlowing Up (It Wasn’t Just Pyro)
TOURING Blowing Up (It Wasn’t Just Pyro) by Julius Grafton. The things that went wrong resonate same as the golden moments. Gold when everyone is happy, the show is sold out, sounds and looks great, and money flows where intended. But the sticky brown moments are our great test and they could come hard…
Read MoreBogota To Caracas, 1992
TOURING Bogota To Caracas, 1992 by Roderick van Gelder. In 1992 Sydney Dance Company performed ‘Some Rooms’ in Bogota and Caracas as part of a world tour. I was the production manager and lighting designer. The challenge was to get the sets for ‘Some Rooms’ from Bogota to Caracas on a 3 day turn-around.…
Read MoreHistory – Braithwaite: Tour Sells Out
History We have covered a lot of touring productions since 1990. Here’s a story about Daryl Braithwaite’s The Horses tour from Channels magazine, September 1991. Braithwaite: Tour Sells Out by Julius Grafton. When Daryl Braithwaite sold out three nights at Sydney’s State Theatre during May; his crew were relieved. After all, three nights…
Read MoreHistory – 47 Years of Jands Lighting Control 1971-2018
HISTORY 47 Years of Jands Lighting Control – A history of products from 1971 until 2018 by Julius Grafton. Since 1971, there’s been non-stop research and development of new lighting consoles by JANDS in Sydney. “In the early seventies, most concerts were in the daytime”, says JANDS director David Mulholland. “We were doing sound, but…
Read MorePL+S 2019: The ‘Vintage Concert Audio Show’
Retro-sound and analogue warmth: at the coming Prolight + Sound and Musikmesse (Frankfurt from 2 to 5 April 2019), visitors will have the opportunity to see and hear milestones of four decades of concert PA systems at the first ever ‘Vintage Concert Audio Show’. Over 200 exhibits on a special-show area in Forum.0 will present…
Read MoreHistory: Talkback Systems Compared (1999)
HISTORY: 20+ YEARS AGO In July 1999 Andy Ciddor conducted a comparison of available talkback systems as part of his regular lighting column in Connections Magazine (CX’s predecessor). BTW, this edition also incorporated the first edition of PresenTech dedicated solely to the AV industry… Reading note: the resuscitated article includes a few endnotes and possible text conversion snaffoos Talkback…
Read MoreHistory: Communications – A “How To” (2009)
HISTORY: 10+ YEARS AGO In June 2009 we ran a “How To” on communication systems that discussed basic principles and some advanced broadcast applications, including technology current in the market at the time. Communications – A “How To” by Jimmy Den Ouden. We all know a functional comms system is one of the most…
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