Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Renkus-Heinz - Banner - May 2025

Business

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USA - Constructed in 1969, the old City Hall building in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma had sat vacant for many years. Many residents and city officials wanted it torn down, but thanks to the vision of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and developer TOCH LLC, the 11-story structure has been given new life as the Aloft Tulsa Downtown Hotel.

Not only is this once-destined-for-the-wrecking-ball site now a thriving 180-room hotel that caters to urban, tech-savvy travellers, it has actually become a defining landmark in the city's skyscape. This is in large part due to the Elation Professional Level Q7 IP LED pars that encircle its roof, changing colours and sending washes of light down its columns, creating a nightly visual display that has become a rainbow-like beacon for locals and visitors alike.

The Level Q7 IP lights were installed on the building's exterior by Omni Lighting

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Switzerland - Schertler, Swiss manufacturer of contact microphones and compact acoustic amplification systems, expands into new territories with the appointment of more international distributors.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia will now be represented by Luko servis, spol s.r.o based in Velká Hle?sebe. For Israel, Guitar Studio in Karmiel is named as the new distributor. Weissenberg of New Taipei City will distribute Schertler products in Taiwan. A new distributor is also announced for Greece, with Athens-based MixVox Distribution now representing the brand.

"We are really pleased to be setting up distribution in more territories and would like to welcome all our new representatives" says Drago Dujak, Schertler's international sales manager. "With an expanding product range, it's important for us to reach as many customers as possible and offer the best possib

Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

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UK - Nominations close at the end of July for the sixth annual Knight of Illumination Awards, which recognise and reward the outstanding creative achievements of lighting designers working on productions in the UK. In keeping with tradition, the award ceremony will take place on the opening night of PLASA London 2013, 6 October 2013, at ExCeL London.

Jennie Barratt, show manager, PLASA London 2013, said, "The Knights of illumination Awards have become an integral part of PLASA London, and we're delighted that the organisers have brought the awards to ExCeL where the Platinum Suite promises to deliver a suitably glittering and glamorous atmosphere. We have many of the world's most creative lighting designers here in the UK and PLASA London is proud to help celebrate their incredible work."

The awards, which are supported by PLASA, are organised by The Society of Telev

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Asia - Apex Audio has made a significant step in the Asian pro audio market by appointing two new distributors, bringing to 34 the number of countries worldwide where sound professionals can purchase the company's advanced audio products.

Established nearly 20 years ago, New Delhi-based White Eagle International (India) supplies products for prestigious audio-visual projects, with a full consultancy, installation and maintenance service. The company prides itself on supplying the best products to clients ranging from bars and clubs through to cinemas, shopping malls and stadia, making it a the perfect partner to help Apex reach further into the rapidly expanding Indian market.

"I have been aware of the growing reputation of Apex in the region and was really impressed with the products on offer, especially the class-leading Intelli-Series of system processors," says W

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Spain / Japan - 2013 marks 400 years since the first official diplomatic relations were established between Spain and Japan. To celebrate, both countries are staging a number of events over the coming year. The first of these was an inaugural gala, held in Madrid on 11 June, where Yamaha digital mixers were a highly appropriate choice.

The Embassy Keicho was an official Japanese delegation which stopped in a number of European countries between 1613 and 1620. An important landmark in Hispano-Nippon relations, the quadricentennial celebrations include a range of cultural, political, economic and technical exchange events taking place in different parts of Japan and Spain.

Featuring Yamaha CL5 and CL1 digital mixing consoles, together with two R-series i/o units, the inaugural gala was performed in the presence of His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan and Their Ro

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USA - Recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's largest music festival for the past 15 consecutive years, Milwaukee's Summerfest knows how to throw a party. With over 700 national and regional acts performing on 11 stages - this year's 'Big Gig' at Henry W. Maier Festival Park on the city's Lake Michigan shoreline drew more than 840,000 visitors over its 11-day run in late June and early July.

To handle audio production duties for this year's 46th annual bash, Milwaukee World Festival, the non-profit organisation that runs the event, once again turned to local provider Clearwing Productions, which specified the use of more than 340 L-Acoustics loudspeaker enclosures for FOH throughout the grounds.

According to Bryan Baumgardner, Clearwing audio operations/logistics manager, eight of Summerfest's nine largest stages - including the 25,000-capacity Marcus Amphitheater

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UK - LS-Live was the facility of choice for both production rehearsals and staging rental for four headline acts at the Glastonbury Festival.

Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal, HURTS and Chase & Status all performed headline shows with production support from the stage & set, equipment rental and studio complex based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

The rental company welcomed Glastonbury's Friday night headliners Arctic Monkeys to the 17,664 sq.ft rehearsal studio for six days full pre-production in June where the band and crew made use of the 14 en-suite bedrooms on site to work round the clock.

Production manager Ian Calder oversaw the production build, which incorporated two huge letters 'A' and 'M' clad in LED lighting on stage, to represent the band's name, part of a show that frontman Alex Turner later hailed as "one of the best gigs we've ever done".

LS-Live was

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UK - Production manager Kevin Hopgood has been working with Mark Knopfler since 2006 and has developed a strong relationship with Paul Crockford, Knopfler's manager and his team. With Hopgood's recent move to SW19, it was a logical step for the newly formed production company to take on the logistics of Knopfler's current tour.

"Most people on the tour, including Paul's team of Lauren Sass and Bree Ishikawa have been working with Mark for many years; they're great people to work with and Mark has such a good work ethic," says Hopgood. "We're doing 71 shows over four months during this tour, which started in mid April and will finish at the end of July, with around five or six shows a week, most of which are back to backs. We do a residency at the RAH for six days, which normally falls in the middle of the run."

The current tough economic climate means that

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Mexico - When last year Liverpool, Mexico's largest department store chain, opened its flagship unit in Villahermosa, some 63 x PR-8800 LED fixtures (each containing 108 x 3W RGB LED's) were used to wash the building.

Now the Chinese manufacturer's Mexican distributors, Hermes Music, have confirmed that an even greater number of PR Lighting's LED sources have been deployed at the larger Liverpool store in Puebla, which was recently remodelled. And this time Hermes have specified 104 of the super bright XPar 390 spots to bring the building to life after dark.

Each RGB head contains 90 x 3W LEDs (24 each of RGB and 18 white) with full colour mixing and linear CTO. Critically, it also has a beam angle of 14° and field angle of 28°.

Explaining the choice, Hermes Music's lighting specialist, Ricardo Segura de la Cruz, said the decision was based on space and the need for

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Bulgaria - Clubbers in the Bulgarian city of Razgrad have been treated to a new kind of experience which is one of a kind.

The innovative Soho Club bears an exclusive interior design, conceived by the renowned professional design team from Goev Studio. In complete synchrony with the complex concept of the club is the music, which is soft during daytime, and challenging and edgy after dark as the venue metamorphoses from coffee and food bar into a full-on night club.

Forming the bond in this unconventional combination is the sound quality of Martin Audio's premium architectural AQ system, with the atmosphere further enhanced by the impressive lighting as Soho stages a tight schedule of events.

This programme itself varies depending on the climate. For example, as the weather grows warmer, Soho offers a summer garden (and children's corner for the club's youngest visitors). Fo

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UK - The golden era of Disco, which started in 1970s Manhattan, has now been recaptured by Charlie Gilkes and Duncan Stirling (of Inception Group) in a Soho basement. Renowned for their innovative concepts, Disco is a revival of this important nightlife idiom and features choreographed routines from singers and dancers, as well as nightly live performances from musicians.

Helping to bring this heavily themed venue to life with some inspired LED and discharge lighting that recreates the zeitgeist is the Sound Division Group. Said their MD, David Graham, "LED wasn't even around back in the '70s but the way in which we have mixed it with beam and flower FX represents the idiom sympathetically."

Design wise, Disco showcases a cool and quirky interior, featuring entire walls of retro televisions beaming out music videos and a nostalgic collection of iconic images of revel

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UK - Looking to create a new stage ambience for country legend Toby Keith, long-time LD Seth Jackson has become the first production designer to use GLP's new impression X4S LED wash light.

He has specified 83 of the compact 'S' fixtures, which introduce a new level of functionality, incorporating RGBW homogenous colour mixing, a 7 to 50 degree zoom range and high output level within a smaller footprint than the original X4. Supplied by Bandit Lites, they dominate the set for Keith's current Hammer Down tour.

Jackson had been seeking a fixture with the ability to travel in the new Bandit GoGo Truss, a modified version of the 20.5" standard truss, developed by Dizzy Gosnell and Mike Golden (hence 'GoGo'). "We needed the lights to sit in the centre of the truss and keep our vertical towers centred with weight," he explains. "GoGo allows the lights to s

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Australia - Coda Audio Services recently traded up from their Shure PSM 600 to Shure PSM 1000 personal monitor systems (10 transmitting devices and 14 receivers), a move described by managing director Michael Wilkie as more than advantageous.

"We went from a non-flexible frequency situation to one where you can switch everything around and select whatever frequency you want," he added. "The diversity system is very good and means you're much less likely to get drop outs on stage. The PSM 600's had that HA and HB etc so it was complicated from an inventory point of view - you could accidently send out the wrong transmitter for the receiver - whereas now everything is the same so you're just hiring out a system."

The ability to do point to point wireless signal linking set up was a major drawcard for Wilkie as Coda do many outdoor festivals.

"One of th

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UK - The reactivated Radiophonic Workshop (RWS) has enlisted Behringer's X32 Digital Mixing Console and Eurolive Active loudspeakers for a series of upcoming high-profile electronic music events.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of BBC Television's Doctor Who - an institution that the Radiophonic Workshop's extraordinary music helped propel into the consciousness of the British public. To celebrate both the return of RWS and the anniversary of Doctor Who, the RWS joined a 200-strong cast of musicians for the BBC Doctor Who Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall in July. The concert, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, will also be shown on BBC television in November as part of the Doctor Who anniversary celebrations.

The RWS will also be curating and headlining a mini-festival celebrating the Workshop's legacy and their return to the stage at the London Roundhouse in

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USA - GLP US Inc., the Americas office of German manufacturer GLP, has launched a new updated and redesigned website at www.germanlightproducts.com

Responsible for the distribution and support of GLP products across North and South America, the new GLP US website features extensive information on the other brands that the company distributes, including the full range of Cosmic Truss structure and support products, the G-LEC range of creative video products, and the Scenex Lighting range of LED based scenic lighting elements.

The fresh new design of the website features an extensive download section for each product, along with a large selection of photos and videos across the site showing a wide variety of product applications.

(Jim Evans)

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USA / UK - TAIT has announced the acquisition of Stage Technologies and Delstar Engineering. A statement from TAIT says: "This acquisition sees the merger of the world's market leaders in the field of automation, staging and engineering for the live entertainment industry. The enhanced capacity of the groups provides the ability to offer unrivalled technology and expertise across the globe from locations on the East and West coasts of America, Belgium, Macau, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, China and Australia.

"The increased breadth and depth of the company will provide clients with an extensive palette of cutting edge technologies, which will include eChameleon, Navigator, F:Light, Sculptor toolkit for 3ds Max, plus a comprehensive range of winches and staging solutions for concert touring, theatre, corporate events, film and television and permanent installations.&qu

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UK - Lighting rental companies Fineline and GLS were among the first two on the UK mainland to receive delivery of Robe's new Pointe fixtures.

Southampton based GLS took 24 and Bristol-based Fineline took 12 units in this initial delivery ... which was co-ordinated by Ian W Brown of Robe UK.

However Fineline's fixtures also went directly from Robe to GLS - and straight out on their first cross-hire - on European shows for the Flaming Lips, with lighting designed by Eric Cathcart.

After that, they finally found their way to Fineline where they went out again on the Eden Sessions staged at The Eden Project in Cornwall for which Fineline was contracted to supply lighting and rigging for the first year.

Fineline's Rob Sangwell comments, "We are delighted with the Pointes. They are small, bright and really versatile units that do a whole load more than the nearest competit

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UK - Every year since 1993, the Goodwood Estate in Sussex, UK has hosted the Festival of Speed; a motoring event celebrating the greatest automotive marques and vehicles.

XL Events, working for client Shelton Fleming and their producer, Dan Rees, supplied an innovative interactive audio and video package for Audi UK's brand activation at the 20th Anniversary Festival of Speed event.

Audi's stand, the largest at the show, was located in the manufacturers' area and incorporated 1,700sq.m of external show space and a 400sq.m pavilion in which the experience was staged.

Based on Audi's victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2012 & 2013, the experience presented a series of Audi innovations that were designed for high performance racing and now feature in road cars.

Teaser and competition promotion videos were presented on four waterproof outdoor plasma screens from XL Events as

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USA - Austin's Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is America's first purpose-built Formula One racing track. Completed in late 2012, COTA's campus includes the main grandstand with VIP lounge, the Grand Plaza with food court and shops, a 251ft (77m) observation tower and the pit building with an adjacent media centre. The track includes bleachers at several locations to supplement the grandstand seating.

Although the Formula One and other races are the site's main attractions, A/V systems play major supporting roles. Architect Tilke's Formula One designs include race control systems and basic audio and video systems but Circuit of the Americas chose to upgrade and/or supplement the A/V systems in many areas.

Circuit of the Americas retained consultant Acoustic Dimensions for many of the venue's networks and for the audio and video system upgrades. Acoustic Dimensions value enginee

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Our House Revival - Madness musical Our House is to be revived in a new actor-musician version of the show this autumn. The production will open at the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich on 24 September, following previews from 12 September, and will then tour the UK.

Written by Tim Firth with music by Madness, the new production is directed by Peter Rowe, with choreography by Francesca Jaynes and musical direction by Dai Watts. Set and costume design is by Mark Walters, with lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Simon Deacon and video design by Will Dukes and Mike Higgs. Casting is by Debbie O'Brien.

Our House's original production won the Olivier Award for best new musical in 2003. It ran for 10 months at the Cambridge Theatre and was directed by Matthew Warchus. The musical was revived for a UK tour in 2008, also directed by Warchus.

Theatre Fundin

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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd's lighting division supplied a significant quantity of SGM X-5 Strobes to lighting hire company Neg Earth for use on Glastonbury Festival's Other Stage.

Tom Lesh, house LD for The Other Stage chose to rig 28 SGM X-5 Strobes across three trusses as he explains: "We rigged 28 of them across three trusses - and kept two spare - to add some visual depth to the stage both for the audience and of course for the TV cameras. We also needed something that would cut through in the bright summer sunshine and these strobes were ideal. They were a big hit on the Other Stage during the festival, being used by LDs for the three high-profile headline acts, as well as many others further down the bill.

"For those bands that played in the daylight the SGM X-5s were also welcome additions. Bands included the Foals, Alt J, Tame Impala, Th

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UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light was recently chosen to supply lighting for the new musical version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which opened earlier this year at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane to critical and public acclaim.

Directed by Sam Mendes - returning to theatre after directing Skyfall, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory features an a-list creative team including Writers David Greig, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Choreographer Peter Darling, Designer Mark Thompson, Sound Designer Paul Arditti, Projection Designer Jon Driscoll and Lighting Designer Paul Pyant, who has collaborated with Mendes regularly during and since his time at the helm of London's Donmar Warehouse.

Lighting designer Paul Pyant, working with associate lighting designer, David Howe, specified a very modern lighting rig, using moving lights and LED l

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UK - When the Barbican Theatre in the Barbican Centre Arts Complex closed its doors for a major 15 week overhaul in May, Unusual Rigging was brought in to put together an access platform to enable the replacement of the entire grid.

Originally a lyric theatre, and long term home to the Royal Shakespeare Company, the theatre is now called upon to host a far greater range of international touring productions as well as its own in-house productions. As such the entire flying grid and system needed replacing to keep up with the growing demands placed upon the theatre's technical team.

Ashley Pickles, theatre technical manager (systems and maintenance) at the Barbican Theatre said, "This is a major project for us, removing not just the existing flying grid and system but also some of the gallery and proscenium bridge structures in order to expand the width of the stage and gen

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UK - Voting is now open for the Technical Theatre Awards, with 36 talented theatre workers shortlisted for the 12 'individual' awards, some of whom have been working within their speciality for over 20 years and are already extremely well established within the industry.

Alongside the awards dedicated to extraordinary individuals, four companies and three theatres will go head-to-head for the two company-based awards that are up for grabs: the Hire Company of the Year Award, and the 'Spotlight Accounting' Receiving Venue of the Year Award.

An additional award is dedicated to the theatre that has demonstrated the most effective awareness of venue sustainability and will be chosen and presented by leading industry specialists, :entertaining sustainability.

Voting is open to all members of the theatre industry and organisers are promoting each of the nominee's on the TTA websit

  1. Martin Audio appoints distributor for Lebanon
  2. Open house at Vector Lighting
  3. Clay Paky brightens Moscow restaurant launch
  4. Elation stages successful Pro Service Day
  5. Cyrano Followspots join Fourth of July spectacular
  6. First Coda ViRAY system goes to Studio Haifax
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Astera - June 2025
GLP - MPU - Feb, Apr 2025

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