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14 March 2016

Maestra London has a new office and warehouse premises at the high-profile riverside Royal Arsenal development and has made an initial half a million pound investment in new technology, which has included the purchase of premium brand audio and video equipment.

A full-time staff of 10, plus Justin makes the company immediately operational from 4 January 2016, with further equipment and personnel to be announced in the New Year.

Combined with the resources of the Dubai office - headed by Thomas Clements - this will establish Maestra as an international creative production resource based in two vibrant international cities, with a reach that f

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14 March 2016

With a busy end-of-year schedule ahead in the theatre, operations supervisor Simon Mai was looking for ways to create unique stage effects and looks quickly and easily. Adding a media server to the GECC's arsenal looked like a solution, but choosing the right product was the challenge.

Graeme Hicks of Entertainment Production Supplies provided Simon with a Green Hippo Amba to evaluate, and the GECC liked what they saw. "Simon and the crew are using

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14 March 2016

Rental company GL events Audiovisual was tasked as supplier of lighting, while also being an official partner of the light festival. "We were very surprised and honoured to be the only company selected for this year's edition. Both the project and the site has worked wonders in our favour," says project manager Frédéric Fuentes.

Together with lighting designer Daniel Knipper, the two men used solely SGM LED lighting equipment for the show. A mix

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14 March 2016

"This is not just a case of it being a large and acoustically unfriendly space," explains CSD President Doug Hood. "In some ways it was closer to a new-construction project than a typical renovation, but the nature of the construction limited what could be done. The site was originally a manufacturing facility, so it was a large and almost completely open environment. Things like support beams are central to the

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14 March 2016

Creating an ever interesting, evolving and innovative lightshow is LD Johnny Thinggaard Lydiksen from CMY, based in Arhuus, who has worked with the band since 2013. He loves Robe's Pointes and BMFLs - among other fixtures.

Both types of fixture have been at the heart of the various versions of the lighting design to stem from Johnny's central concept, which was created to be flexible and scalable.

Underpinning the aesthetic was the goal to make the band look powerful and dramatic for which "Darkness and timing is a key" explained Johnny.

Pointes first appeared on the Carpark North lighting rig in summer 2014 when Johnny specified 40 to

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14 March 2016

First was Wisconsin, where 19 buses were brought in to transport 800 people from Middleton and Mazomanie to fill 10 screens at a local cinema. An exhilarating buzz permeated the rumbling buses as employees, many adorned in Star Wars costumes, chattered about their hopes and expectations.

"I've been waiting for this movie since before I was born," said Mike Tarman, a lifelong Star Wars enthusiast from ETC's marketing department. "I've kept my expectations in check, but I'm feeling something I've not felt since." Tarman, an aspiring filmmaker, helped create a Star Wars-themed video to announce the company outing at ETC

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14 March 2016

Home to more than 110m people - 18m of them alone in the capital city of Mumbai - Maharashtra is India's third largest state and is located in the western region of the country. Going forward AWAN will work with sub-distributor Miyakawa Drives & Controls Pvt Ltd to optimize the reach of the Symetrix range in this pivotal area.

Established in 1999, Miyakawa Drives & Controls has matured into one of India's most in-demand distributors and importers of pro-audio products and control technology. Alongside Symetrix, its distribution portfolio includes Belden, Neutrik, Community Professional,

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14 March 2016

The decision on which fixtures to specify was not taken lightly: it took around a year of testing and discussions before deciding on 84 Desire D60XTI Studio HD fixtures, controlled by an ETC Unison Paradigm system. Says Flashlight Sales' lighting sales manager Bas van Schelven, "In such a prestigious venue, maintaining its famously superb acoustics was a huge concern for the staff and performers. So even though the XTI fixtures were designed for external use, we specified them since they have no fans to make a noise."

Other tests included making sure the orchestra and choir members could easily read their music sheets under an unfamiliar light; and

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14 March 2016

With one of the largest prize packages ever offered in a new artist competition, Music City Big Break founder and producer David Bell worked alongside co-founder and producer John C. Davis to bring together a production that could capture the full attention of artists, managers, agents, and music fans everywhere. Needing a reliable production partner to assist them in creating a lighting and video atmosphere ready to take on such a competition, they called upon Elite Multimedia to bring in the most expansive production rig the Mercy Lounge has ever experienced.

"As an entertainment consultant, I am close with the management team at Mercy Lounge where they host the mus

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14 March 2016

Ward has extensive sales and business management experience in the pro audio industry. His previous roles have included regional sales manager with Allen & Heath, sales director UK with Stanton Group and senior sales manager, HPRO EMEA Central, with Harman International.

"I am excited to be joining Community at such an important time in the company's growth and development internationally," said Ward. "With such a strong product offering specifically focused across the commercial and engineered installed sound verticals, there is a huge amount of potential to offer customers the right solutions and support they need."

Ward continued, "With a lot of manufacturing still on site in the US, everyone

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14 March 2016

The Z-Series of Venue Zone Mixer from Cloud Electronics, first introduced to the market in 2005, is established as a reliable solution for multi-zone audio applications in hospitality, leisure, retail and commercial markets. The Z-Series offers simple, intuitive control for end-users and straight forward installation for system integrators but with flexibility to provide independent zone source/volume selection per zone, paging per zone and independent remote input options per zone, all from a reliable, tried and tested analogue design.

The new MK4 versions have been developed directly as a result of listening to existing installers and system integrators and adding features to improve this already popular model. Whilst the familiar front-panel remains almost untouched, the back-

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14 March 2016

Changing settings from switched to dimmed power, or vice versa, can be done locally with the cabinet's user-friendly interface, while remote configurations are possible with integrated Remote Device Management (RDM) functionality. Customers can also expand the cabinet's capabilities by adding DIN-rail accessories - such as Ethernet, Echo Control Stations or Mosaic Show Controllers - for added system functionality.

ColorSource ThruPower is a solution for transitioning lighting systems between tungsten and LED on a daily or weekly basis. &q

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14 March 2016

"I am very happy to see that, after 10 years, over 90% of the original certified technicians have chosen to renew again. This shows a huge commitment to the industry, and confidence in the programme." said Tim Hansen, ETCP council chair.

ETCP currently has a total of 2,141 certified technicians, with 29 people who hold all three certifications: Rigger - Arena, Rigger - Theatre and Entertainment Electrician

ETCP would like to c

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14 March 2016

Francis, part of creative visual design and programming collective MIRRAD, produced a lighting design for the short but popular and much anticipated UK tour which followed on from summer festival work. A completely new live show concept was evolved for this, with production based on the Brixton Academy gig and adaptable to fit the other venues.

The band plays instrumental music, taking samples from classic public service information films, archival footage and propaganda material to (in their own words) "teach lessons of the past through music of the future" with a satirical and humorous edge.

Visuals are fundamental to the performance, and wi

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer John Lucksinger focused his attention for the evening on that quintessential tower which utilised Martin Atomic strobes, Aryton Magic Panels, and Robe cycfx 8s being controlled by a MA2 console networked with a MA NPU.

With the event now needing two stages to accommodate the seven musical guests, Lucksinger found he could simply not be in two places at once, and after designing the lighting for the Music City stage, he handed the controls to Bandit l

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14 March 2016

Tom joins Peerless-AV from one of the major global LFD brands where he held various business development and product management positions within the LFD division; most recently focusing on interactive and professional display products.

"Peerless-AV has worked hard to position itself as a market leader and now is an ideal time to join as the company is experiencing strong growth and the biggest ever ISE is around the corner," said Tom Fenton. "I look forward to working with my new team to develop both the UK and export sides of the business even further in 2016."

Based at Peerless-AV's European Headquarters in Watford, UK, To

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer Shaniel Laloo of Sounds Ideal (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) used the STRIKEs 4s and a collection of Legend 230SR Beam moving fixtures to engage the massive crowd at the celebration. The high output of both fixtures was essential to the designer achieving this goal, given the large size of the outdoor uMhlathuze Multi-Purpose Sports Complex, where the festival performances took place -- and the size of the crowd, estimated at 40 000.

"The STRIKEs are nice for eye candy e

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14 March 2016

It Was 25 Years Ago - On Christmas Day 1990, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau (in collaboration with CERN) communicated between a web browser and a webserver for the first time - thus the world's first website went live.

Honours List - The music world is repre

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14 March 2016

A full-service provider for the entertainment industry, FACE was formed in 2010 to supply audio, lighting and video hardware, software and services.

"d3 and FACE share a lot of the same values - We both believe in innovation through technology," says Karel De Piere, CEO of FACE. "d3's solutions are a great addition to our existing portfolio and fit right into our catalogue of professional solutions. We are confident that both parties will benefit from this new partnership, and we look forward to working with d3. With our established sales and installation team we expect to create some

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14 March 2016

Local distributor Georges Toutounji, CEO of Scen-The comments: "The Voice, which premiered the first season in January 2015 and is currently in production for a second season is such a global brand that it needs very little introduction. The exciting part is showing people how limitless the system is, and then seeing how they use it on their shows. We have seen a lot of young adopters and now setting the standard in Wireless DMX transmission in the Croatian market. This was exactly the case with HRT."

For The Voice, a Blackbo