Le Mark has developed a new heat-resisting pressure-sensitive fixing tape for lighting filter, boasting exceptional properties and performance and suitable for both exterior and interior applications. GEL-Tak is an ultra-low profile clear polyester film, double coated with an exceptional high heat and UV light resistant adhesive layer on both surfaces. This innovative and unique combination allows GEL-Tak to be stuck one side to a window, the other to any make of lighting filter. Its special adhesive has been developed in such a way as to allow the actual filter itself to become re-positional.
GEL-Tak is extremely fast and easy to apply and also to remove, even weeks after application. Its low-profile polyester substrate and clear coating make it very difficult to see once it’s in place. Filter remains recoverable and reusable, it will not damage sensitive architectural glass, an
Vari-Lite Inc has added another option to its award-winning VL1000 ERS luminaire, making the automated lighting fixture even more adaptable for a wider range of applications. By offering the VL1000A ERS with either a standard or long-life arc lamp, Vari-Lite has increased the versatility of the fixture while lowering the unit's operating costs.
Customers who order VL1000A fixtures can specify whether they prefer the standard or long-life arc lamps, and Vari-Lite will ship the units accordingly. Because the long-life arc lamp is electrically identical to the standard model, no modifications to the fixture are required. Customers who own VL1000A luminaires can order long-life lamps for fast and simple drop-in replacement. The long-life lamps provide 2,000 hours of operation, double that of the standard lamp. Customers can also order the VL1000 ERS with shutter or iris features, and at t
Coe-tech will use PLASA 2002 to cement its exclusive UK distributorship of Robe Showlighting products from the Czech Republic, as well as taking an active part in the Studio Due stand - another quality brand for which it is the UK distributor. The spectacular Coe-tech stand lightshow is this year designed by top LD Vince Foster (Kylie, Jamiroquai, Basement Jaxx, et al.) and will demonstrate the Robe range in full creative flow.
Robe products are already well known to many moving light users and installers as they have been a prolific OEM supplier over the past five years. Robe has now decided to sell direct, and Coe-tech is an integral part of the direct dealership network. Robe is launching a complete new series at PLASA - the Advanced technology (AT) series. (For full details see our earlier news story on 30 July).
PLASA 2002 also sees the launch of Studio Due’s new XS (Exce
PLASA 2002 sees James Thomas Engineering celebrate the world launch of a new series of solid state lighting fixtures using high brightness LEDs. The first three models of the extensive Pixel range are The Pixelpar 660 - a Par 64-sized fixture, The Pixelpar 87 - a Par 36-sized equivalent and the Pixeline 1044 batten - a solid state lighting batten. The Pixel range is designed for a wide range of entertainment and leisure industry applications including architectural, retail, installation, clubs, bars, restaurants, sports venues, and live shows and events and theatre.
The team at James Thomas has spent the last 12 months developing the new products, and conducting considerable market research into the advantages and uses of LED lighting. The Pixel range has an unsurpassed silent, non-mechanical, additive colour-mixing system and the fixtures can produce stunning and
Leading design and documentation software specialist Stardraw.com has launched an Affiliate Program in a move that is designed to add value to the websites of all Affiliate members. The program, which is free to join and open to everyone, allows Affiliates to earn income from all online purchases at www.stardraw.com that result from a click-through from their site. The process is simple: having registered to become an Affiliate, Stardraw then supplies a link that is unique to each Affiliate to place on their website. Any customer that follows the link will be identified and logged, and any purchases they make will be attributed to the Affiliate's account. Commissions will then be paid on a quarterly basis.
According to Stardraw marketing director Rob Robinson: "We're very excited about the Affiliate program because it is such a simp
The Le Mark Group is organizing a select Lighting & Sound Industry Track Day at the Ron Haslam Race School, Donington Park. If you have a passion, or have always wanted to know what if feels like to ride a 900cc FireBlade motorcycle around Donington Park, now is your chance to find out. Everything is included in the price - bike, clothing and the instructor. Le Mark has pre-booked a number of discounted places for the Track Day. If you are interested in joining us, then visit the Le Mark stand at this year's PLASA Show for more information.
If the 'driving' is not your thing, you can always test your nerves by riding pillion behind Ron Haslam himself around Donington Park - highly recommended, but hold on tight. Le Mark is offering the chance for one lucky person to win a free place on the Track Day. To enter the competition, simply drop leave business card at the Le Mark stand at PLAS
Australian-based lighting control system designer and manufacturer, LSC Lighting Systems, has announced the forthcoming release of the PaTPad Moving Light Module for their popular maXim range of consoles. Utilizing Resistive Touch Screen Technology, the PaTPad is capable of controlling up to 20 intelligent lighting fixtures at any one time. The PaTPad’s advanced features include programmable palettes, presets and groups, extensive filtering options, cloning of looks, multiple storage options and a comprehensive fixture library.
All features are seamlessly integrated through the PaTPad’s unique and easy-to-use interface. A touch screen and bright LED dot matrix display replaces the rotary wheels, buttons and poor viewing angle LCD displays that are found on conventional Moving Light Controllers. The touch screen can be moused or tapped to select looks and positions, while th
Stagetec, exclusive UK distributor for Compulite products, has sold its first Rave moving light console into the UK rental market. The Rave was launched at last month's ABTT show, and the first one was snapped up by Terry Tew Lighting. The console - billed as 'the next generation of lighting control for the club and live market', is a new, compact lighting control desk from Compulite aimed specifically at the Club/DJ market, and for small venues wanting low-cost, versatile moving light control.
Terry Tew Lighting is a sound, lighting and AV rental house, specializing in all areas of corporate events, product launches, industrial shows and exhibitions. They also offer technical management for all types of projects. The Rave was chosen by lighting designer Kevin Cramner, who went to Stagetec for a demo and bought it on the spot for TTL. The desk went straight out on its first show where
Jane Monk is to leave Pulsar after 11 eleven successful years with the company. She will leave her position as marketing manager after this year’s PLASA show to take on the development of her family business, following the recent death of her father. Andy Graves commented: "Pulsar would like to take this opportunity to thank Jane for her efforts and wish her every success for the future."p>(Ruth Rossington)
Miami-based MAVCO has been awarded contracts for two key South Florida construction projects.
At Wynmoor Theater, MAVCO is providing engineering, supply and installation of the lighting, sound and cinema systems for the refurbishment of the 900-seat theatre located at Coconut Creek, Florida. Working to a design by TSG Design Solutions, MAVCO’s enormous experience in all three disciplines was a crucial element in gaining the project, offering the main contractor, Dooley & Mack, the advantage of having one supplier handling all the technical systems.
The Wynmoor Theater serves a private gated community just off the Florida Turnpike and, as well as offering both drama and music productions, is also used for lectures and courses, as well as current events. The comprehensive refurbishment, under the project management of MAVCO’s Nick Gibson, is due for completion at the end of
i-vision's Geoff Jones has been seen in action yet again at Late Night Bars in the Warrington and Manchester areas - designing architectural lighting schemes for this new brand concept. The Warrington venue - the brainchild of nightlife entrepreneur John Rennie - is located in a highly competitive area of town, with many operations competing directly for business from Warrington's night-owls. The Late Night Bar is one of the few venues offering outside seating and i-vision’s brief from the client was to design an attractive lighting scheme to draw people to the venue.
Apart from its aesthetic appeal, the company also wanted to introduce an element of 'entertainment' into the garden area, so Geoff Jones, the veteran of numerous architectural lighting schemes, from the illumination of Merseyside Police Station to the Tyne Bridge, set to work. As always, there was a budget, but Jone
Right on cue for the forthcoming trade shows, MA Lighting is launching new software for its grandMA range. The new version - 4.0 - is characterized by its extensive network functions. Key features are the multi-user environment and the master-master operating mode. The ‘Worlds’ new Pool-System enables it to classify moving lights and fixtures to single users. Moreover users can also select special user rights for these moving lights and fixtures.Communication between operators is ensured via a network (Chat) facility.
Another new feature is the Live-Patch which runs through the command line, as well as a fixture schedule and DMX patch designed to meet customer demands. Users can assign any individual fixture and channel ID to the dimmers and moving lights in order to control the dimmers by faders and show these on the channel sheet. The ‘Matrix’ function allows
Color Kinetics Inc, the intelligent LED illumination specialist, has launched two new products designed to help end-users maximise the potential of the company’s LED illumination fixtures: The PDS-150e and PDS-500e simplify installations of Color Kinetics fixtures by combining both power and data capabilities in one economical source. PDS-150 offers a robust 150W power source and intelligent data drive circuitry for all Color Kinetics UL Class 2 listed fixtures (all bColor Series products and all iColor Series products with the exception of iColor Accent). PDS-500e offers a robust 500W power source and intelligent data drive circuitry for all Color Kinetics UL Class 1 listed fixtures (iColor Accent).
PDS-150e and PDS-500e have been designed with a number of features which make specifying and installing Color Kinetics intelligent illumination fixtures a breeze. Both products incor
"It's my fifth Falcon Club convention," notes lighting designer Tim Ball. "In the past, the shows have been in Bali, Jamaica and on a cruise liner bobbing about on the Med. This year it was Bermuda!" No stranger to dealing with challenges, for this show Tim had to overcome a tight budget, limited freight capacity on the charter aircraft used to ship equipment to the show, the 120V operating voltage at the venue, and the need for the rig to be adaptable enough to light both a business meeting and a gala dinner with cabaret in the same room. To help face these challenges, he turned to Colourhouse.
For the maximum punch from a small package, Ball opted to use the Martin MAC 300 washlight and MAC 250 spotlight, rounding the rig out with ETC Source Four profiles, which were fitted with Morpheus ColorFader colour changers and used to provide a precisely-focussed, colour-c
Coldplay’s lighting designer Bryan Leitch has invested in his first purchase of SGM Giotto 400 Spots, 14 of which he’s using for Coldplay’s 2002 world tour, which has just kicked off in Europe. The SGM fixtures were supplied to Leitch’s company, Siyan, by SGM’s UK distributor Lightfactor Sales.
Siyan specializes in designing for up-coming bands, and developing LDs and design concepts with the band as they gain profile. Leitch - who has vast experience of all the major moving light fixtures on the market - chose the SGMs after careful consideration, and following a demo by Lightfactor. He was looking for a small, bright fixture for the start of the Coldplay tour - which plays in a vast assortment of venues. "Giottos are great value for money," says Leitch. "I looked at everything available - and chose the fixture most suitable for my design b
Software provider Stardraw.com is to launch the world's first web-based CAD system. Stardraw.net is a tool that allows users to design and document integrated systems through a browser using an on-line library of over 30,000 industry-specific symbols.
Stardraw.net represents the introduction of web-based technology which incorporates tools and data for all of the niche markets addressed by Stardraw's conventional software packages including Stardraw Audio, Stardraw AV, Stardraw Lighting 2D, Stardraw Professional and Stardraw Radio. As a result, users can now customize their symbol sets drawing from any or all of the above libraries according to individual requirements. Stardraw MD David Snipp explains: "Our conventional applications have established the sorts of tools that integrators find easy to use and valuable for system design and documentation. The web-based application has
Rosco has a wealth of new, interesting and innovative products to be seen this year. The award winning ImageProGobo Slide Projector will be demonstrated on the stand allowing visitors to see how easy and effective it is to use. Also on stand will be catalogue of hundreds of images which have been specially selected for their value in theatre, opera, ballet, television and concerts. A CD containing the images is available from Rosco or available via the company’s website.
For traditional metal gobo users, Rosco has produced 60 new designs, including cloud images, break ups, windows and abstract graphics. Again, the entire range of over 900 other images can be seen on the Rosco website. Some or all of these new gobos can be used in the new Rosco Vortex 360 Single/Double Gobo Rotator. This new product offers excellent flexibility in a low cost package and can rotate one or two steel
The £40m National Ice Centre, Nottingham, boasts two Olympic-sized ice pads (the first such facility in the UK), one of which transforms into the impressive 10,000 capacity Nottingham Arena designed to host an array of rock and pop concerts and children's shows. The multi-purpose centre also houses a health and fitness centre and first class corporate entertainment and conference facilities.
July 31 saw the official opening by Her Majesty the Queen at a Gala organised and choreographed by Torvill and Dean. The crowds gathered to enjoy an evening packed with music, ice-skating and celebrations, featuring Nottingham Symphony Orchestra, the local ice hockey team and the world's finest figure skaters, including two Olympic Gold medallists, plus local skaters. The evening began with a demonstration of the skating skills of local children, followed by speeches from the Lord Mayor of Notting
The experienced Jon Petts was reunited with Ian Kirby this month, with the announcement that Coemar UK will be taking over the distribution of Taiwan-based smoke machine specialists, Antari.
Latterly international product manager for JEM, within the Martin Professional organization, Petts told us: "I have now decided to hang up my passport and focus on the UK. With the Antari distribution switching to Coemar UK - and the announcement of a new professional range of club and touring products - this is an exciting challenge. Antari fully appreciate that with the demands of today’s touring, event, studio and theatre markets, atmospheric effect generators need exacting standards of construction and reliability."
Jon will take up the role of Antari UK sales manager, and Ian Kirby is delighted to have such a leading professional on board, whom he first met when they worked t
PROKIT is introducing the Lowel ‘baby’ Rifa-Lite. This small new addition to the Rifa-Lite family is a compact, self contained, 300W collapsible soft light that sets up in a minute or less. Almost any shot, from an interview to table top work, can be wrapped in a virtually fool-proof soft light. A permanently mounted lamp fixture is centred in silver aluminized high temperature Nomex cloth to which a woven glass fabric diffuser is attached. Its compact folded size - 53cm - allows it to fit into existing lighting kits or an additional small carry case. Accessories include fabric egg crates to control light spill, and higher output diffusers for sharper shadows. The Baby Rifa joins the rest of the family of four, with outputs ranging up to 1000W.
Drape and rigging specialist Blackout recently assisted in the realisation of the Faceparty.com launch party. Recognised as one of the world’s most popular websites, Faceparty marked the occasion with a celebration of dance music. Staged at Three Mills Film Studios, the Faceparty event’s line-up included Pete Tong, Lisa Pin-Up, Kosheen, Boy George, Ms Dynamite, Scratch Perverts and many more.
Over 4km of sunset orange carpet, a staggering quantity of drapes and starcloth, custom-built scenery, 140kW of Turbosound PA and tens of thousands of fairy lights converted the Three Mills car park and three main film studios into a stunning spatial wonderland. Blackout’s project manager, Kevin Monks, collaborated with Faceparty’s Dave Bamforth to realise Bamforth’s creative ideas, before the Blackout team dressed all four themed dance areas of the vast site.
L&SI magazine is running two Round Table discussion sessions during the forthcoming PLASA Show (September 8-11, Earls Court 1, London) designed to address some of the most central issues in the industry.
The first session Freelance Rates - Due for Review? will focus on the current rates of pay for freelancers, which over the years have shown a downward trend in real terms, and will be led by a panel of industry professionals on both sides of the fence. The second session, Discounting Rental Rates: Is it Economic Madness? will look at discounting in rental markets, and how companies may be devaluing the services they provide in their attempts to undercut competitors. Once again, the panel will be drawn from those who deal with these issues on a daily basis.
The Freelance Rates session will take place on Monday 9 September at 3pm in the Westminster Room on the Mezzanine L
Coemar De Sisti Australia has recently completed the conversion of Channel 7’s dimmers in Studio 7 in Melbourne, to operate on DMX512 control protocol. The dimmers where installed in the studios many years ago and operate off 0-10V control only. Channel 7 wanted to have the dimmers upgraded so that today’s standard lighting control protocol (DMX512) could be used together with the existing 0-10V control system which is from a Strand Galaxy console. The other advantage of adding DMX was the fact that it provided Channel 7 with a means of having easy backup for the Galaxy console if required.
Coemar De Sisti Australia manufactured a special PCB to carry out the works and also installed the systems into the existing dimmers. The PCB was built into a custom metal box, which made the installation and any future work on the dimmers very easy. The company also fitted standard XLR
Audiolight Sound & Lighting, a supplier of audio, visual and lighting equipment, has just launched its business into the kingdom of e-commerce. Audiolight Sound & Lighting told us: "Our main aim is to provide customers with product support, realistic prices and to impart knowledge. We are here to help and assist first-time customers when making purchases, and at the other end of the scale, to serve bigger companies with a large and varied range of products for all areas, including retail, leisure, communications, display, point-of-sale and installation equipment."
One of the key features of the new site is a comprehensive chat forum, to act as a virtual meeting place for visitors to the site to share news, information and to hold general discussions about everything that relates to sound and lighting.