With summer being such a big time for festivals and live events, rAVe decided to focus June’s temperature check on the rental and staging market. Our first question for individuals in the rental and staging market was “What rental and staging market segments do you primarily serve?” The majority of respondents (48.6%) primarily serve the […]

The sun is shining, the weather is warm and you know what that means — festival season has begun! #AVtweeps love music and the equipment that helps our favorite artists bring that music to a live audience. So, in honor of festival season, we’re asking you to give us your thoughts on the rental and […]

The market for professional loudspeakers posted global revenues of nearly $3 billion in 2019, an increase of almost 7%, according to the latest professional loudspeaker industry report from Futuresource Consulting. One of the report’s key themes this year was the impact of COVID-19 and its significant effects on forecasts moving forward. The segment most affected […]

Well, change continues apace. I am a bit late in getting this article to rAVe, mostly because I am involved in my first national show since the coronavirus crisis began. And, believe me, things have changed. Now, a lot of people have predicted the decline of the rental and staging portion of the industry due […]

If you are one of my readers (thank you) or if you are one of the many people in the rental industry that I am constantly calling for advice, you know that I have spent most of the last 18 months designing and implementing an “experience center” for a global manufacturer. The experience center type […]

KanexPro released this week the 4K Quad Multiview 4X1 KVM Switch and the Multiview 4X1 KVM Switch. The Multiview KVM switches allow users to connect up to four sources (1080p or 4K resolutions) to a single display simultaneously while using a single mouse and keyboard. The 4K Quad Multiview 4X1 KVM Switch allows for the […]

NEC Display announced the launch of the MultiSync PA311D display this week. It’s a new 31-inch IPS wide color gamut display with a 4K (4096×2160) resolution. The PA311D provides accurate color due to each unit’s factory calibration. It features true 10-bit color with 14-bit 3D internal programmable lookup tables (LUT) for accuracy and supports all […]

AV Stumpfl released the new AT64-SHIFT system for large mobile projection screens and the new PIXERA media server software version 1.2 this week. With the AT64-SHIFT, it’s possible to assemble a sizeable mobile projection screen in minutes. One can also adjust its height in a matter of seconds. No extra measuring is needed to ensure […]

KRK Systems, part of the Gibson family of brands, introduced the CLASSIC 5 Professional Bi-amp Studio Monitors to its family of professional-grade monitor offerings. KRK’s CLASSIC 5 is a powered nearfield studio monitor and includes a bi-amped class A/B amplifier with a built-in automatic limiter and a low-resonance enclosure for minimized distortion and colorization. Additionally, […]

Waves Audio is now shipping Waves SuperRack, the plugin processing software for live sound and broadcast engineers. The Waves SuperRack plugin rack lets users run up to 128 audio channels through multiple instances of Waves plugins with near-zero latency and offers endless customization options that make it easy for users to tailor the application to […]

The Sony UWP-D series wireless microphones have begun shipping. The UWP-D21 wireless microphones are now available, with the UWP-D22 and UWP-D26 expected to ship in December. The Sony UWP-D series wireless systems offer support for Multi-Interface Shoe (MI shoe) and a new Digital Audio Interface. The UWP-D series enables direct digital audio interface and delivers […]

Today Mackie announces its latest entry into the portable PA market, the all-new SRM-Flex Portable Column PA System. Using a lightweight design, SRM Series sound quality, a six-channel digital mixer and wireless control and streaming, SRM-Flex is designed for all portable PA system applications. The modular design of SRM-Flex features a 10″ LF woofer in the molded cabinet […]

The BF121 is a subwoofer system featuring a single 12″ long-excursion woofer with double-spider suspension and 4″ voice-coil in a bass-reflex configuration. The direct-radiating woofer is mounted in a vented chamber, with large bass reflex port for excellent breathing capacity, increasing overall output while minimizing port-compression. The frequency range is tuned to a -3dB response […]

Da-Lite just debuted a new Fast-Fold Deluxe Screen System aimed at rental and staging applications. A new leg-to-frame locking mechanism accommodates a variety of user skill levels for intuitive and efficient set-up and tear-down. All parts are completely self-contained on the screen frame and leg, offering toolless convenience to the portable screen market. Fast-Fold Deluxe […]

Flex Rental Solutions announced that Flex5 Phone — its newly designed phone app — has been released to all customers. Flex5 is the company’s new HTML5 user interface and features a complete rewrite of Flex’s user interface and backend architecture. Flex5 will eventually replace Flex’s current Flash UI by adding a new desktop environment. Flex5 […]

Flex Rental Solutions has announced the Flex5 tablet, the new HTML5 redesign of its software for tablets. Flex5 is the company’s new HTML5 user interface and features a complete rewrite of Flex’s user interface and backend architecture. Flex5 will eventually replace Flex’s current Flash UI by adding phone accessibility along with a new desktop environment. […]

Over the last year or two, I have been reading with increasing frequency about AVaaS, or “Audio Visual as a Service.” In particular, I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the writings of my friend Gary Kayye. Gary is one of the best I have ever met at analyzing a product in our industry […]

I woke up early this morning to the news that there was a massive outbreak of influenza taking place in North America, and that it was of a particularly virulent type. This brought to mind my experience with the peerless health care system in Singapore. I was due to attend a pre-convention meeting. I arrived very […]

If you move back in history, the human race progresses from crude tool to artform along a predictable path. For instance, once humans learned to break rocks, that path began. We progressed from using the rocks to break each other to turning the broken rocks into crude tools and then to using the crude tools […]

Last month, I confessed to all of you that I really enjoy the holiday season. It seems that as the season approaches, all you remember about it are the good things. However, over the last couple of weeks, I have been reminded of a few of the negative sides of the holidays. For instance, today […]

EKTA, based in Ukraine, is introducing a new LED modules line aimed at both the rental and fixed applications. They will debut the modules at ISE 2017. Part of the new FrameLED Plus product line, the company will launch two models of LED display modules. The LVM 3P is a high-contrast outdoor LED module with […]

By Nick Voss Owner, Treffen Saint John It occurred to me this week that AV technicians experience the most fascinating lives. This is the best career choice anyone could make and if I had to go back I’d pursue a life in audiovisual and staging all over again. *** This past Sunday, I staged an […]

The founder of Atlanta-based Total AV, Stephen Baron Goot, 73, died earlier this month after an undisclosed surgery. As many of you know, Stephen Goot founded Total AV Services (TAVS) in 1973 and pioneered many of the techniques used by rental companies today, e.g. electronic inventory tracking, event product staging techniques and many of the […]

Last month, my column spoke about the changing role of the AV rental and staging company in the client’s technical universe. As I stated in the article, one of the things that I have always enjoyed about being in the rental industry was that we were a very early purveyor of new technologies. As such, […]

Epson today announced the US launch of the Pro L25000U installation laser projector – the world’s first 3LCD laser projector with 25,000 lumens of color brightness and 25,000 lumens of white brightness. As part of the new Pro L-Series laser projector line, the Pro L25000U integrates a sealed optical engine with laser-light source with an […]

Carbon Fiber has been used on racing bikes for years as it’s as it’s lighter than plastic but stronger than steel. Now, add an LED wall to that with Leyard’s new CarbonLight LED display solutions to that. It’s a family of flexible, lightweight displays uniquely constructed to meet a broad range of creative indoor and […]

Well, February has come around again and I am in the process of preparing for rAVe’s annual odyssey to the ISE show in sunny Amsterdam. As with any trip of this length (especially overseas), I begin with the technology items that I need to take with me for my podcasts, my videography, and my photography, […]

InfoComm International has released its 2015 Live Events Industry Insights Study. It is the first such report that InfoComm has produced specifically for the live-events market. This study of the global live-events industry, conducted by InfoComm and Acclaro Growth Partners, covers trends and dynamics from the perspective of pro-AV rental, staging and live-events service providers in the North American, European, […]

KWIPPED is a brand-new online platform built to help AV companies source and rent specialized equipment. The KWIPPED.com rental marketplace aggregates rental demand for specialized commercial equipment using proprietary technology to streamline sourcing from a global network of AV rental suppliers. KWIPPED facilitates the process of sourcing and managing AV equipment rentals, navigating rental availability, […]

EventCollab today announced it has launched the follow-up to its first released product, ShowBook. Providing a full event project management suite all in one online interface was the ultimate goal for the company, and that has been achieved today. The much-needed cloud-based solution will enable live event professionals to seamlessly collaborate with all event stakeholders […]

In our world, staging an event isn’t necessarily about putting someone on a stage for a performance, but the truth is that a large segment of our industry actually is doing exactly that. Although sometimes overlooked in the audiovisual industry, many AV professionals and much of the innovation for technology comes from the production and […]

Well, time for another article that makes me feel old. Believe me, I don’t do this on purpose. I usually do it because one of the young(er) people who works for me asks a question that prompts me to wax philosophical. I try to pretend that this makes me feel like an elder statesman, when […]