Scott Joliffe is the owner of Full Focus Marketing based out of Hopatcong, New Jersey. Scott brings with him extensive experience in the pro lighting and DJ industries and has specialized as a representative for companies such as The Healy Group where he worked as a Manufacturer Representative and BDS marketing as a Sales Representative. “Scott brings a great knowledge of the markets he is covering and his lighting and audio background is the perfect fit for VenueMagic,” Says Barry Seiden, National Sales Manager for VenueMagic.
Visit the VenueMagic Store for contact information and a map of representatives and sales locations.
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VenueMagic at DJ Expo 2010
Entertainment Sciences Group Inc, makers of VenueMagic, the industry’s most innovative DJ Lighting software, announced today the debut of their new products at DJ Expo, August 16-19, 2010 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, NJ. The VenueMagic team, together with Mainline Pro Lighting and Sound, will be there showing off our newest release of VenueMagic DMX+AV edition. There will be hands-on demonstrations at the booth for everyone to come and give VenueMagic a try and experience the DMX lighting and show control revolution come to life! Check us out at booth 1112!
VenueMagic at the ADJA, in LA
Studio City, California – VenueMagic teamed up with the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Disc Jockey Association for a special showing and product demonstration of the new VenueMagic DMX+AV, which is now available for purchase. The Presentation for ADJA was the first time that VenueMagic has shown off the new product before it was released, VenueMagic DMX+AV. Representatives from Entertainment Sciences Group, Inc were on hand to give several demonstrations of VenueMagic DMX+AV’s Video and Audio editing features that lets you sync up with your lighting effects as well as the easy, drag and drop technology used to make an intuitive, user friendly interface. At the end of the meeting there was a raffle drawing, for which, VenueMagic supplied the raffle prize of a USB DMX interface. Special thanks go out to Danno Metoyer, the Chapter President, and all other chapter members for inviting us to show them the wonders of what is VenueMagic.VenueMagic Featured in Mobile Beat
Head on down to your favorite DJ store and pick up the latest edition of Mobile Beat Magazine. Author, Mike Jefferson of Mobile Beat Magazine reviews VenueMagic’s already available VenueMagic 2.1 Classic in an article appearing in the recently released July 2010 edition of Mobile Beat Magazine.
The Article entitled, “Musical Lights and Magic” highlights VenueMagic’s Show Control and lighting control capability. This timeline based DMX software “allows you to not only control the lighting for your particular performance, but also lets you layer specific lighting effects over a specific song – something new to this industry” says Mr. Jefferson.
Mobile Beat Magazine has been bringing news, product reviews and industry tips to mobile DJ’s and VJ’s since 1991. Mobile Beat publishes a magazine available through subscription and newsstands. There are also online properties such as the blog-driven MobileBeat.com website and their Facebook and Twitter pages that bring up-to-date news and information to the DJ on the go.
To see the article from Mobile Beat, click here.
ESG Hires New Sales Manager
Mr. Seiden brings with him nearly 30 years of experience in the lighting and show control industry with experience most recently as the Vice President of Sales for ColorKey of Atlanta, Ga. Mr. Seiden also spent time with Dynamic Productions, Gem Sound, Guitar Center, Ness Lighting and also pioneered his own venture, Metro Tek.
“We are all very excited about working with Barry,” says Don Nolan, President of Entertainment Sciences Group, Inc. “He’s a veteran in the lighting industry and has a strong understanding of the people and what their needs are. We know that VenueMagic is something that the industry has wanted and needed for a long time– DMX lighting software that is easy to use and very different from anything else out there. Barry Seiden is just the man we need to get the word out.”
Mr. Seiden will be spearheading the effort to increase distribution of VenueMagic as well as organize tradeshows, conventions and coordinate sales representatives. Of joining the VenueMagic team, Mr. Seiden said, “Venue magic is a unique software package that the industry will really benefit from and I’m excited to bring it to the forefront of the market for everyone to see and use.”
VenueMagic is an exciting new solution to the Show Control market. VenueMagic allows you to create spectacular light-shows with precisely synchronized audio, visual and DMX lighting using a powerful, yet easy to use graphical timeline based editor. VenueMagic provides it’s user the ability to create fully editable audio tracks and video’s and synchronize them with DMX Lighting, as well as any other type of effects, perfect for Stage Lighting, Club Lighting or Thematic Lighting, whatever the Venue, no matter the size or style. No other DMX software comes close.
“We are all very excited about working with Barry,” says Don Nolan, President of Entertainment Sciences Group, Inc. “He’s a veteran in the lighting industry and has a strong understanding of the people and what their needs are. We know that VenueMagic is something that the industry has wanted and needed for a long time– DMX lighting software that is easy to use and very different from anything else out there. Barry Seiden is just the man we need to get the word out.”
Mr. Seiden will be spearheading the effort to increase distribution of VenueMagic as well as organize tradeshows, conventions and coordinate sales representatives. Of joining the VenueMagic team, Mr. Seiden said, “Venue magic is a unique software package that the industry will really benefit from and I’m excited to bring it to the forefront of the market for everyone to see and use.”
VenueMagic is an exciting new solution to the Show Control market. VenueMagic allows you to create spectacular light-shows with precisely synchronized audio, visual and DMX lighting using a powerful, yet easy to use graphical timeline based editor. VenueMagic provides it’s user the ability to create fully editable audio tracks and video’s and synchronize them with DMX Lighting, as well as any other type of effects, perfect for Stage Lighting, Club Lighting or Thematic Lighting, whatever the Venue, no matter the size or style. No other DMX software comes close.
VenueMagic for Theater and Stage Lighting
Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:50 | Written by Donald Nolan | 
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| | It’s early Friday evening and I’m sitting at the back of a large dimly lit hall. Across the hall a colorfully painted stage is packed with people frantically running back and forth as lightning flashes and thunder claps, all carefully synchronized to an intensely dynamic soundtrack.
It’s rehearsal night for our church pageant, and I have been asked to manage music, audio effects and lighting. Laid-out on the folding table before me is my laptop, a Logitech joystick, and a Behringer DMX controller that I’m actually using as a MIDI slider console. My right hand carefully grips the joystick while I gently push it to the right to keep our follow spot trained on the principle performer as she stumbles through her lines. My left hand is making small movements to the sliders on the Behringer console as I make minor adjustments to balance the music and sound effects levels. Another slider adjusts the intensity of the lightning.
At the directors signal, I press a cue button on the console and the chaos stops. As the house slowly lights fade up, the director walks back to speak with me.
“Can we make those last lightning flashes happen about two seconds earlier?” she asks.
I quick jiggle of my mouse and the star field screen saver on my laptop is replaced with a multi-track timeline representing the audio and lighting cues of this particular scene. I select four clips on the timeline and drag them to a new location in their respective tracks. Then I move the timeline cursor to back about 10 seconds and hit play. The stage immediately jumps to life. The two lightning flashes trigger right on cue followed by a precisely timed thunder crash. The director nods her approval and heads back up toward the stage. The whole exchange takes about twenty seconds.
“Let’s take it at the top of page sixteen, she shouts.”
I’m on it. I right click at the top of the timeline, choose the marker I want—Page 16—and hit play. The show goes on.
You might be tempted to think that it was quite a feat getting the audio system, DMX lighting control, slider console and joystick to work together the way we did. If you thought that, you’d be wrong. In fact, it was all handled through one easy to use software package called VenueMagic.
The key to VenueMagic’s effectiveness at stage lighting for theater, concerts and other live performances is the ease at which you can change things on the fly. This includes minor (or even major) changes to audio and lighting during rehearsals as well as on-the-fly adjustments of light and audio levels. VenueMagic’s graphical timeline editor lets you put together precisely synchronized audio and lighting. You can cue any number of timelines simultaneously in the background, or in up to ten levels of foreground.
When I design a scene, I generally start with one timeline for ambient background sound effects and simple lighting. If a scene calls for a slow transition between night and day, this is where I’ll put it. VenueMagic has a library of special built-in lamp effects (a.k.a. “macros”) that simplify commonly needed effects. Of these effects, called “Sunrise”, will automatically control an RGB lamp fixture through all of the color hues of a sunrise. All I need to do is drag it into the timeline where I want it.
If a scene has one or more musical numbers, I give them each their own timeline so that I can cue them manually. These timelines will include the music and all of the synchronized stage lighting effects associated with it.
Hard effects like lightning & thunder, explosions, door knocks, phone rings, etc… are each placed in their own foreground timelines so that I can cue them manually as well.
VenueMagic timelines are divided into multiple audio and lighting effect tracks (there are also event tracks, but that’s a topic for another time). Building a timeline is simply a matter of dragging audio and lamp effect clips and putting them into the proper tracks. Audio tracks are mixed together during playback as are lighting effect tracks. Each track also has its own slider that lets me control audio and lamp levels on-the-fly for each individual track.
Even though VenueMagic gives me a virtual console of sliders and cue buttons, I actually prefer the feel of a real console—in this case, my Behringer Eurolight LC2412. VenueMagic will let you control cues and audio/lamp levels for timelines using any MIDI or DMX console. It will also let you plug in up to 15 joysticks (like the kind used in video games). I used my Logitech cordless stick to control the follow spot.
VenueMagic’s price is low compared to most DMX software used for theater lighting, and verylow compared to those that do audio as well, and yet it includes powerful features that are not found in any other. At $547 (add $50 for the optional DMX interface box) VenueMagic is ideal for community theaters, colleges, schools, churches—any venue where quality performances are expected, but budget is an issue. Theater lighting design and control does not have to be complicated or expensive.
The opening night of our church play is just a few weeks away. As is always the case, there will be a lot of adjustments made to dialog, props, costumes, choreography and of course, sound and lighting. For my part, I know that sound and lighting changes will not be a problem. I also have confidence that, on opening night, my little part of this production will be dynamic, spectacular, and will come off without a hitch. I’m using VenueMagic.
Support Added for MyDMX and DASLight
So now, to all of you who were wondering what to do with those old, unemployed DMX interface boxes gathering dust on your shelf…Blow off the dust and put ’em back to work!
VenueMagic 2.1 Official Release Announcement
VenueMagic’s unique timeline approach to lighting control makes it easy to synchronize audio and lighting effects, by letting you see them “side-by-side” on a timeline. Drag and drop multiple layers of audio and lamp effect clips and line them up in tracks on a timeline. The DMX channel router lets you adjust DMX levels on-the-fly (while timelines are running) using your favorite MIDI or DMX console. Or you can use VenueMagic’s Virtual Control Surface, a unlimited set of programmable sliders that work well with both mouse and touchscreens. A set of programmable cue buttons can be used to run timelines instantly with a click, or a touch. These capabilites makes VenueMagic ideal software for controlling stage lighting and audio, DJ lightshows, nightclubs lighting, and Halloween haunted house control. VenueMagic 2.1 is offered at an introductory price of $347 for download, or $397 including the VM-USBDMX-01 DMX adaptor.