UAE - Momentum is growing for Dynamic Events 2013 as global interest rises and delegates book the last remaining places for the conference. Dynamic Events takes place in Dubai on 10-11 March.

Delegate numbers are rising and include representation from all over the world including Australia, Dubai, France, Qatar, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK, say the organisers. Delegate places are still available and there is time to book either a full conference pass, a day pass or a seat at the gala dinner.

The line up of speakers from around the world includes Piers Shepperd, Hamish Hamilton, Dave Crump, Sakchin Bessette, Tim Dunn and David Atkins.

The organisers have confirmed H.E. Laila Mohammed Suhail as the gala dinner keynote speaker.

Another speaker at the conference is Ma

UAE - Mandylights lighting designers Richard Neville and Alex Grierson spent a month in Dubai as lighting designers for Dubai's New Year's Eve celebrations. The 25- minute show took place around the centre of Dubai in front of the Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building. Using some 350 intelligent fixtures, the pair illuminated the Burj, lake and surrounding precinct which played host to 15 individual performer stages and a massive 210m long seamless projection screen.

The show's narrative was based on the important natural and cultural elements of the world and how they all come together. The show was first performed on New Year's Eve preceeding the midnight fireworks for a site wide audience of 1.7m people and accompanied live by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. The show then played twice nightly throughout January for the many daily visitors to the new heart of Dubai.

USA - Bandit Lites recently redesigned the lighting at the Bayou Music Centre in Houston, Texas. The space, which opened in 1997, has hosted talent ranging from Etta James and James Brown to Fall Out Boy and The Killers.

The venue's existing house grid did not lend itself to many lighting or house ambiance options, as it held mercury vapour fixtures with gel attached and was both too big and heavy to articulate. Additionally, the stage system was a modest 120k rig and in need of an update. Bandit gutted the entire stage and house lighting systems from rigging down, and in five days, installed a completely new, dynamic lighting system.

"The idea going in was to remove this structure and replace it with something we could use to transform the room for various events," explained Bandit's Roth Edwards. "They can lower the truss grid to close in the space and make it

UK - Richard Martin Lighting (RML) has confirmed that they are officially LAMDA's principle lighting partner.

''RML understand that LAMDA students are the future of our Industry and so it is imperative that they are given the tools to develop to the best of their abilities and shown the best and most recent in moving light technology. It is also a great privilege to be involved with such a prestigious institution such as LAMDA,'' says Steve Wells, operations manager, RML.

As part of this partnership RML will provide lights for their performances/productions, donate equipment for training, offer work placements throughout the year and Play Days for the students to come to our demo room and gain practical experience with things such as LED products. Such a hands on approach and opportunity compliment the ethos of LAMDA.

Rob Young, Course Director at LAMDA comments, "LAMDA

Belgium / UK - Audac has appointed Audiologic as the exclusive distributor for the Audac brand in the UK market.

The official agreement for the complete Audac product range was confirmed at the ISE show 2013. Mark Asselberghs, export manager for Audac said, "It is very important for us that our brand is well represented to customers, and our products deserve the professional knowledge and expert support that Audiologic can provide. As a well established and trusted distributor in the UK audio install market, award winning Audiologic is the natural choice for a long term partnership with Audac."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Toby Alington and his highly experienced team at Richmond Studios Productions are introducing the latest Online Mastering service to their website. With an exclusive third off all purchases until 31 March, Richmond Studios Mastering will be offering its clients "a truly professional and affordable service".

As a multi-award-winning audio producer and mixer, with over 30 years' of experience in the audio industry, Alington will bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to RSP's Online Mastering service.

Alington's most recent accomplishment was the BRIT Awards 2013. It was his 19th year recording the show, live-to air, with 7.5m UK viewers tuning in - the best overnight rating since 2003. All eight artists' songs, each mixed live by Alington, went straight to iTunes for download. For the past 11 years, Alington has worked on the MTV EMAs and other large annual mu

The Netherlands - When two of the Netherlands biggest orchestras relocated to a new rehearsal and performance space this year, they needed a high performance vocal PA system which would provide exceptional sound quality, but not detract aesthetically from the historic building. Yamaha DXR12 loudspeakers provided the solution.

Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest (the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, or NedPhO) and Nederlands Kamerorkest (Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, or NKO) work closely together, between them playing to audiences of over 200,000 people in Holland and other countries every year.

Deeply involved in the country's cultural and social environment, under the name NedPhO GO! musicians also perform in classrooms and hospitals, community centres and other leisure facilities. The aim is to bring high quality music to those who are unable to attend concerts, incl

Spain - The multi award-winning Christie MicroTiles display solution was firmly to the fore throughout the 27th Goya Awards ceremony held recently at the Auditorium Hotel in Madrid. There were two T-shaped stands on stage where the winners received their prizes and gave their speeches - each made up of five MicroTiles modules.

In fact, the idea of using MicroTiles actually came from the Spanish Film Academy itself. It specifically asked Elenco Audiovisión, the company commissioned with supplying the audiovisual equipment for the prize-giving ceremony, to use MicroTiles. The two displays received the signal from the mobile unit broadcasting the event.

"MicroTiles are ideal for creative displays because you can put them together in any shape or size imaginable. And afterwards you can reshuffle them into completely new designs", says Marcos Fernández, Christie sales d

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UK - The BBC has contracted Toby Alington and his team at Richmond Studios Productions to mix and record the live-to-air music performances from the Give It Up for Comic Relief show at Wembley Arena in London.

"We are delighted to be working on another big project with the BBC, and are proud to be involved with Comic Relief," says Alington.

Once again, the team will be working with this year's double BRIT Award winner, Emeli Sandé, along with other leading artists Kasabian, Noel Gallagher, Paloma Faith, Jessie J, Jake Bugg, Nicole Scherzinger, and Rizzle Kicks. Russell Brand will be hosting the show, and he will be joined by comedians Simon Amstell, Noel Fielding, Frankie Boyle, John Bishop, Jimmy Carr, Jason Manford, Doc Brown, and Eddie Izzard.

Using Floating Earth's state-of-the-art audio OB truck and SSL mixing desk, taking nearly 200 live feeds f

USA - San Diego State University's School of Theatre, TV & Film has acquired three Robert Juliat Lucy followspots for the Don Powell Theatre on campus. The fixtures were purchased from Acey Decy Lighting in San Fernando, California.

An intimate venue with a relatively large stage, the Don Powell Theatre will deploy the new followspots on the last production of the school's 2012-2013 season, the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music which opens in April. SDSU has a reputation for excellence in theatre arts offering undergraduate and graduate degrees.

"We just installed three Lucy followspots with heavy duty yokes flipping the yokes to the top and hanging the spots in our front of house beam position where they now fit perfectly," says Peter Nordyke, with SDSU's School of Theatre, TV & Film. "They are not that much bigger than a traditional zoom ERS

China - Hong Kong's leading TV Station, Television Broadcast Limited (TVB), has recently made a major investment in GLP's impression Spot One for its studios.

TVB's headquarters, which is also the largest commercial television production centre in Asia, houses 22 production studios, collectively known as TVB City.

Under a new management initiative to reduce the carbon footprint of the company, TVB's engineering department, headed by Mr. Ko Cheuk Wai, had the challenging task of finding an LED solution to replace their existing discharge lamp automated lighting system.

Their research process was comprehensive and technically thorough, to ensure that their final decision would meet the studio's requirements for the next generation of automated lighting.

Present at the tests was Michael Münz, general manager of GLP Asia, who commented, "The technical tests took place at

The Netherlands - Shrek The Musical, which has enjoyed an extended three-month run at the Amsterdam RAI Theatre, has been playing regularly to full houses in the 1750-capacity venue.

Giving increased realism to the friendly green ogre has been SGM's new P-5 Washlight, from the inventory of lighting rental company, Focus Amsterdam.

The technical production specialists were invited by theatre producers Albert Verlinde Entertainment to provide lighting equipment - and just as they have for one of the promoters' other musicals, Annie, found the P-5 to provide a compelling solution.

Focus account manager, Marijn Muilenburg, said that although the show producers had purchased the rights to Shrek from Dreamworks, there was enough creative freedom in the agreement for them to introduce complete new décor, light and costumes.

He explained, "About on

Australia - Canberra Theatre Centre is Canberra's premier performing arts venue, providing world class performing arts and entertainment to the people of Canberra and surrounding regions. The main venue is the 1,244 seat Canberra Theatre which up until late last year was home to over 120 rather ancient Strand Patt. 23 - last manufactured in 1983!

"I believe it may have been the largest operational rig of Patt. 23's in the country," said Andrew Tweedie, head of lighting at Canberra Theatre Centre. "But they were getting harder and harder to maintain, especially as you couldn't find spare parts, and were not as punchy as they should have been."

A decision was made to replace the Patt. 23's with the main criteria being that the replacement had to be the same size as the space they would be housed in is very small. Canberra's Sound Advice recommended the ETC So

UK - Lighting in a lift is usually fairly unforgiving, but a new show proves that it can be so much better - provided the lift is as big as a stage.

Lighting designer Andrew Voller used ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires to light Lift at the Soho Theatre, a musical by Craig Adams and Ian Watson, which explores the feelings and thoughts of eight strangers who happen to be in a lift together.

Voller was first introduced to the Source Four LED by the Layers of Light demonstration at the ETC PLASA stand in September. During the presentation, ETC's Tom Littrell explained how different types of fixtures - such as LEDs and incandescents -- can seamlessly work together, then demonstrated the power and versatility of ETC's newest lighting product, the Source Four LED.

"As I had no experience of the units before," says Voller, "I opted to use them as my backli

South Africa - The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has made its first ever moving light purchase - investing in Robe Robin 300 and 600 LEDWashes plus 300E and 600E Spots - a total of 41 units.

The sale was co-ordinated by Johannesburg based TV lighting rental and design specialist Blackmotion, with the Robe units all delivered by South African distributor DWR as part of a major technical upgrade by SABC's lighting department.

Blackmotion's MD Kagiso Tiro Daystar Moima (KG) explains that they were approached in 2012 through a tendered process when the SABC's in-house lighting directors set up a team to research into the best purchase options for the broadcaster.

SABC was about to embark on a full commissioning schedule of LE and variety programmes, so it made commercial sense ahead of this to purchase the lights required for these shows ... rather than renting i

UK / USA - By Design Day, the annual fundraising day for Light Relief in the UK and Behind the Scenes in the US and Canada, takes place this year on Wednesday 24 April on both sides of the Atlantic.

One of the main fundraising events for these charities, By Design Day focuses attention on the various ways that individuals can support these two organisations which are dedicated solely to assisting entertainment technology professionals in need. Fundraising can be a personal donation or through an organised collection. Many designers support the day by voluntarily giving a day's royalties to one or both of these charities. Light Relief assists those involved in the UK lighting industry while Behind the Scenes aids professionals based in the US and Canada working in any area of the entertainment technology industry.

By Design Day 2013 has the full backing of a host of award-winni

Hard Rock - Bruce Springsteen has agreed to return as a headline act at London's Hard Rock Calling festival despite organisers pulling the plug on his show last year after it over-ran. He will play again with The E Street Band at the event's new location at the Olympic Park this summer. Kasabian will also headline, playing their only UK festival. Other performers over the final weekend in June include Paul Weller, The Black Crowes and Klaxons.

Late Show - Teen pop idol Justin Bieber angered parents by emerging onstage for a concert at London's O2 Arena almost two hours late. While the 19-year-old singer's young fans were kept waiting, frantic parents converged on the venue expecting to pick up their children. It follows reports Bieber's gig in Nottingham on Saturday also began late. Fans tweeting from inside the O2 said there were boos from some in the crowd almost an hou

UK - South London-based technical solutions provider Presentation Rentals (PR) supplied lighting, audio, projection and crew to the British Film Museum for the 2013 Evening Standard British Film Awards. Staged in the Debating Chamber of London County Hall (LCH), the event is the only ceremony dedicated exclusively to British and Irish cinematic talent.

It is the first time that PR has been involved in the event. They are the preferred technical supplier for the London Film Museum and service the organisation's requirements both at County Hall and for their Covent Garden venue.

PR's Luke Edwards created a lighting and visuals design for the evening, which was co-ordinated for the company by project manager Jeff McLaughlin.

The main Awards took place in the debating chamber, already a hugely atmospheric octagonal room with heavy wood panelling, stone pillars and many stunning

USA - Denver Performing Arts Complex's Boettcher Concert Hall, home to the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, was built in 1978 as the first US symphony hall in the round. While the 2,634-seat performance space's unique layout continues to remain enduringly contemporary, the venue's previous PA system has not fared quite so well, recently prompting a full audio system retrofit that included an L-Acoustics amplifier and loudspeaker package.

The City of Denver hired South Norwalk, CT-based acoustician/consultant Akustiks to specify the new system, which features an exploded cluster design using ARCS II and Kiva loudspeaker lines. Supplied by AVDB Group, the system was installed by Steve Kuberski and Mark Herron at Mood Media (formerly known as Muzak).

The primary PA is comprised of four horizontal arrays of ARCS II - a cluster of six constant curvature cabinets pointing toward the mai

UK - A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) Ltd. returned as the headline sponsor for the 2012 National Railway Museum's (NRM) annual student lighting competition, Locos in a Different Light held in York, UK.

The competition, which is now in its fourth year, invites students who are studying lighting courses from institutions all over the UK to design, install and implement theatrical lighting schemes for the museum's many historic locomotive displays in their prestigious 'Great Hall'.

ACSP played an integral role in the event, supplying a range of leading entertainment technology equipment, as well as providing first line technical support and product training for students participating in the competition.

As well as their access to a huge range of entertainment technology brands, ACSP also have extensive experience supplying industry-standard technical facilities and lighting

Denmark - Martin Professional has recently made available version 3.0.0 software for the award-winning family of P3 System Controllers for LED screens and creative video. Software version 3.0.0 brings a collection of new features to the P3-100, P3-200 and P3-PC System Controllers.

Support for Martin's VC-Series of creative LED video products (VC-Grid, VC-Strip and VC-Dot) driven by the P3 PowerPort 1500 has now been integrated and the Video Input section has been improved.

The Video Input Wizard now adjusts all scaling and viewport settings by itself and the preview on the P3's screen is now rendered when no fixtures are connected, making pre-programming and setup even easier.

Many more features and improvements such as automatic resolution detection, a 'Highlight Fixture' and 'Mixed Resolution Layout Wizard' are making their debut.

(Jim Evans)

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