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Lighting

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UK - ETC distributors and dealers gathered at the lighting, controls and dimming manufacturer's London office in February for the Focus 2009 summit. In a series of events at The Playhouse at Gypsy Corner over the course of a week, delegates got to learn about new ETC products, projects and systems.

A major part of the content focussed on ETC's Unison Paradigm and SmartLink product ranges together with the just acquired Selador Series of LED luminaires, which is set to be an important part of the company's offering.

ETC's market manager for Europe, Erik Larsen, reports: "It was good to get to meet so many of our customers throughout the week, and for them to meet one another. The Focus event enabled people to exchange ideas as well as learn more about what ETC has to offer and what's coming up."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - The cream of acting talent came together last weekend for the 2009 Laurence Olivier Awards. The ceremony, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London is presented by The Society of London Theatre to honour the best West End stage productions.

The winner of the Best Lighting Design category was Paule Constable for her design for The Chalk Garden at the Donmar Warehouse; this is the third time she has won the lighting Olivier, with a further four nominations to her credit.

In the other technical categories, awards went to Gareth Fry for his sound design for Black Watch at the Barbican, to Todd Rosenthal for his set design for August: Osage County at the National.

The awards were presented against a backdrop of record West End attendances in 2008, 14 million people, a one per cent rise on the previous year. Chris Patton, divisional sales manager for Stag

City Theatrical - Banner - July 2025

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USA - Theatre Projects Consultants (TPC) was approached by the architectural firm of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates to help with the renovation of the American Wing Courtyard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA). As part of the renovation, they were looking for a better way to access the exhibit lighting for routine maintenance and focusing. The old method was undesirable for the MMA staff and did not work within the design of the renovation.

Approximately 60ft above the exhibit floor, the existing lighting position spanned over 100ft in length and was situated along the edge of a third story gallery. "By applying a little entertainment technology to the museum environment, we provided a well-designed and efficient solution," says Robert Young, associate Theatre Projects Consultants.

Young and Michael Nishball of TPC, through close collaboration, designe

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Australia - Adelaide Convention Centre (ACC) has recently invested in 90 Robe 575E AT Series moving lights.

Located in the CBD of Adelaide, the venue's multi-purpose facilities include 14 meeting rooms, 11 halls and an outdoor performance space on the river front. It can accommodate up to 6,500 banquet guests and offers approximately 10,500sq.m of pillar-less floor space for conferences, exhibitions and special events of all types.

Robe was the preferred option for ACC's specifications and requirements once the green light was given for the purchase of new professional moving lights, says technical manager Jamie Masefield. "Robe first came to our attention as the brand with a strong industry credibility for robustness and reliability."

Masefield continues: "We needed large numbers of both profile and wash fixtures for business and logistical reasons. The Robe

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UK / Germany - Stage Electrics will make its second visit to ProLight&Sound this year, following its exhibiting debut at the show for the first time in partnership with Xenonspot - the exclusive European distributor of the followspot range - last year. However, this year's exhibition is significant for Stage Electrics as it's the first year it is exhibiting without a co-exhibitor.

The company will be featuring a wider product range and promote the diverse variety of services in its portfolio from hire and sales through to live events and installations. Stage Electrics is confident that the exciting range of products on show including the new Jester TL, the Rosco Light Pad and Stage Electrics' new WebShop, will further accelerate sales of its products into Europe.

Chris Patton, divisional sales manager comments: "Taking the leap to exhibit solely as Stage Electrics at a ma

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USA - A new drive mechanism and new motors will improve Wybron's series of Eclipse IT mechanical dowsers, the company has announced.

New motors will be installed in six versions of the Eclipse - three Iris models and three Shutter models. The Iris models use a camera-like aperture to block the light, and when the fins retract, 100 percent of the light shines through. The Shutter models use vertical blades to black out the beam, a style often used for quick cuts and chase sequences around arenas.

Both styles are used to dowse sports lights and other discharge lights that can't be dimmed electronically. A new drive mechanism inside the three Iris models will make these units more solid by simplifying the pieces used to open the aperture fins, said Lee Schlais, Wybron's vice-president of engineering. "The Eclipse units were already reliable, but the changes we have made will

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Italy - The Show Lighting Design Continuing Professional Development course, organized by the Design Faculty of the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, was held for the third time from 13 to 23 January 2009. The course is aimed at professionals and technicians with or without degrees who wish to specialise in show lighting design for the theatre and live music and fashion shows.

Clay Paky has always paid great attention to training young talent, and sponsors and hosts this course at its own showroom in Seriate (BG). Clay Paky built its sho room as if it were a real stage, designed not only to display its own products, but also as an 'art workshop' where lighting designers - from the most famous experts to lighting students - may practice and express their creativity to the full.

On the course, the students from the Politecnico were able to attend a practical lesson held by Gi

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Denmark - The Martin Professional Colorfox VX01 is the first lighting controller specifically designed for architectural use with dynamic colour changing fixtures. This simple control solution allows users to customise and personalise a variety of architectural lighting settings.

Colorfox features a tactile design that enables it to fit into nearly any design environment. Its user-friendly interface allows even inexperienced users to access the benefits of dynamic light.

This intuitive controller allows for easy playback of static and dynamic scenes and provides a simple-to-use interface for users to alter the hue, saturation and intensity of their surroundings.

Colour temperature can be easily adjusted from 2000K-9000K to match different luminaire types (RGB or CMY) for identical and consistent color matching, making it easy to replace any fixture without re-programming des

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UK - Kave Theatre Services supplied all lighting, sound and crew requirements to Move It (the UK's largest exhibition for Dance) for the latest addition to the show: The Freestyle Stage. The show took place from Thursday 5th - Sunday 8th March at Olympia, London.

The Freestyle Stage is an area the organisers created to allow dancers visiting the show, to show off their dance skills to a crowd. The brief from organisers was to create an area that allowed maximum flexibility with lighting and sound, as there are no rehearsals or even any idea of the genre that will be performed. The performers just show up with an iPod or CD with their chosen track and take to the stage.

Kave supplied a flexible lighting rig consisting of Martin Mac 600s, Mac 2000 Profiles and the new Mac 575 Kryptons for lighting the stage, Chroma Q Colour Blocks as truss toners, Le Maitre MVS hazers, and 2 Rob

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USA - As 2009 unfolds, Bandit Lites continues with O.A.R. on their 2009 tour. Tour manager Sean Murray, production manager Kevin Cassidy and lighting designer Will Anglin have worked with Bandit client rep Brent Barrett to come up with another impressive system for the 2009 campaign.

Anglin has chosen a bit of new along with a bit of throwback technology for the latest tour. VL 3000 spots work alongside High End Studio Beams as well as some durable but old school Cyberlight Turbos. The three fixtures together provide a look at the last 20 years of development of moving lights.

The entire show is controlled by the Grand MA console. The usual collection of trussing, motors and drapes round out a special look for the 11-year-old group. The This Town Tour continues throughout the year.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - The Directors of Batmink Ltd, one of the UK's largest distributors of sound and lighting equipment, are looking forward to the inaugural PLASA Focus show (Leeds, UK, 28-29 April 2009). Sales director Grant Thomas explains why Batmink are so enthusiastic about the new show: "As wholesale distributors, we often find that visitors to the trade shows are there primarily to familiarise themselves with new products, rather than to establish contacts and suppliers for these goods. At PLASA Focus, the emphasis is more on networking and developing new business relationships which may well prove more successful for a wholesale distributor such as ourselves. PLASA's own figures indicate that 70% of pre-registered visitors didn't attend the PLASA show in London, so this is also an excellent opportunity to meet new potential clients who may not be aware of our products or services.&q

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Lighting rental company HSL is supplying lighting, a 26-point Kinesys automation system and crew to Snow Patrol's One Hundred Million Suns world tour.

This has kicked off in the UK and Europe with a mix of four dynamic visual mediums - lighting, digital lighting, video and movement .

The imaginative force behind this show comes from Davy Sherwin (lighting & visuals designer), Robin Haddow (live visuals director) and video director Blue Leach. The aim of their seamless teamwork is to ensure that all the lighting, video, visuals and movement cues contrast, compliment, match and juxtapose in complete harmony.

Project manager Mike Oates says, "It's just brilliant to be involved on a show that looks this good. An incredible amount of hard work, ideas, imagination and intelligence has gone into making it work, and the end results speak for themselves."

Sherwin

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Germany tarm Showlaser GmbH recently staged a highlight at the German music award ceremony Echo 2009 at the O2-World in Berlin.

Lighting designer Al Gurdon, who is well known for large scale productions such as the MTV Awards and the Brit Awards, designed in the performance of popular German act Silbermond in collaboration with tarm Showlaser to mark the presentation of the band's new song Irgendwas bleibt.

A total of four high-power green and four full-colour lasers were used for the production at the O2-World.

(Claire Beeson)

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Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden has added three individuals with over 60 years of collective experience to its W-DMX research and development team.

Mats Jonsson is the new CTO for Wireless Solution, with 25 years experience in software development for major manufacturers of infrastructure equipment. Jonsson will be project manager for W-DMX, responsible for software design.

Kjell Johanesson is a new radio engineer with 20 years experience from Ericsson, the provider of mobile phones and GSM Networks, which were the technologies that formed the basis of W-DMX when the company formed in 2004.

Willhelm Alhgreen is responsible for hardware design and will work together with Johanesson and Jonsson to continue the development of new products.

"We're very excited to add these talented individuals to the R&D team," says Niclas Arvidsson, CEO of Wireless Solution, "

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USA/UK - Designers on both sides of the Atlantic have been signing up to support Behind the Scenes and Light Relief By Design Day, the day the industry comes together to celebrate its successes and to give back in thanks.

On 24 April, designers with shows around the world will be donating their royalties to support one or both of the two charities dedicated exclusively to helping entertainment technology and design professionals, Behind the Scenes in the US and Canada and Light Relief in the UK. Designers and others not in royalty situations have also stepped forward in support of By Design Day with direct donations.

By Design Day champions Ken Billington, Rick Fisher and Ken Posner have already been joined in donating their royalties by Mike Baldassari, Paule Constable, Don Holder, David Howe, Tim Mascal, Paul Miller, Brian Monahan, Peter Mumford, Peter Nigrini, Paul Pyant, M

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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies has given its web site www.ac-et.com/bargains a major facelift to provide customers with an improved online experience, following the continued success and expansion of this area of the company's business.

A.C. updates the bargain stock website on a daily basis with ex-demo and second hand equipment available. To reflect the web site's much expanded stock inventory, the site features dedicated lighting, audio, rigging and video product pages, based on the popular format of the distributor's 24-hour online shop. The Just Landed page enables customers to see at a glance what stock has been added in the last seven working days.

Most items on the Bargain Stock list are stocked in the company's Leeds Warehouse and can be viewed by arrangement.

(Jim Evans)

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The Netherlands - The numbers are huge: 125mwide stage, 4000sq.m palace façade set, 400 plus Martin Professional automated lights, 80 containers of transport. What is being called the biggest transportable touring set ever graces Andre Rieu's World Stadium Tour: A Romantic Vienna Night.

The 34m high stage - a reconstruction of the Schonbrunn castle in Vienna - includes a ballroom with gilded chandeliers, majestic fountains, and even ice for skating. Lighting the massive set is an equally impressive Martin lighting rig made up of 30 MAC III Profiles, 185 MAC 2000 Washes, 58 MAC 2000 Wash XBs, 114 MAC 250 Washes, 10 MAC 2000 Performances and 14 Exterior 200s. Lighting contractor is Rent-All BV, one of the largest rental companies in Holland, who have been supplying lighting for André Rieu shows for years.

Lighting design for the tour is in the hands of Maurice Ver

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USA - Bandit Lites began 2009 with a large number of high profile special events working with some of the biggest names in the industry.

The year kicked off with designer Mark Carver and the Stellar Gospel Music Awards in Nashville at the Opry House. This year the show was hosted by Sinbad along with Grammy winning entertainers Donnie McClurkin and Dorinda Clark Cole. The show is broadcast globally on television and is the pinnacle of the gospel Music year. Carver used an array of technology including VL 2500s, 3000s, 3500s and Coemar Halos as well as Coemar infinity XL.

In Europe Bandit was very busy with a wide range of events including UFC Pay Per View, PURE Fashion at London Fashion week, FA Carling Cup Final and Ringling Brothers Circus events.

Belmont University in Nashville again called on Bandit to light their 2009 Belmont Country Showcase and its Rock Show

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Germany - LED Factory - a leading manufacturer of high end LED entertainment lighting systems - has launched its latest mobile LED product range designed for the professional event market.

The new LED-Pixel system includes a number of different items of furniture and was exhibited for the first time at The Event Show, London and at the World of Event Show in Germany.

According to LED Factory, the main unique features are: "Most advanced rechargeable Lithium ION batteries; Remote controlled via hand or DMX transmitter; Highly efficient RGBW (Red/Green/Blue/White) LED light sources; Pixel design (each 1m strip consists of 8 individually controllable LED segments); Over 10 integrated light effects similar to sophisticated LED moving heads / stage systems"

LED-Factory is one of the first companies in the world providing a whole range of high end mobile LED-systems or c

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USA - The broadcast of the 81st Academy Awards on 22 February 22, saw Oscars awarded for outstanding sound achievements in film, but there was one more audio accomplishment that evening: at the famous Governor's Ball after-party, where the EAW UX8800 Digital Signal Processor optimised the sound system in the Grand Ballroom on the top level of the Hollywood & Highland Centre. The sound system was provided and operated by Goodman Audio Services of Santa Fe Springs, California.

For the Governor's Ball, Goodman Audio positioned two UX8800s as system processors at the FOH position. Signal from the Yamaha PM5D FOH mixer fed the UX8800 processors in loudspeaker mode, paired with various speaker/amplifier rack locations such as catwalks and amp world near the stage. A typical amp rack will have one UX8800 and four QSC PL236 amplifiers, and these were configured as left and right, with a

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UK - Martin Professional invites you to experience their brand new lighting and fog offerings at the new PLASA Focus show at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on the 28 -29 April 2009.

Visit Martin Professional's stand (B2) in Saviles Hall for the opportunity to get up close and personal with their latest products and talk to staff.

On display will be the brand new MAC III and the new K1 Hazer. Also, some of the company's industry standard MACs will be available for visitors to have a closer look at along with a few key new products from the Visual Solutions range, including the new EvenLED panels.

"So, don't wait, register for free online at www.plasafocus.com/leeds/register; then come by and visit us to see our new products," say the company.

There is also a two day programme of free educational seminars and workshops. The seminars are designed and delivered by a co

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UK - Following many months of discussion, Lighting Effects Distribution has been appointed exclusive UK distributors for the wide range of lighting solutions produced by the company Colours in Italy.

The pact marks a reunion for L.E.D. managing director Ian Kirby and Ivano Burato, who was most recently with French company Ayrton (distributed in the UK by L.E.D).

Burato, in conjunction with former colleagues from Coemar spa, set up the new company in the north Italian lighting hotbed of Castelgoffredo, and this month presented its innovative range in the UK at an open day held by television specialists, Richard Martin Lighting.

Ivano Burato said: "It was always my intention to approach Lighting Effects Distribution to handle our products after meeting at last year's PLASA Show, and once the Ayrton contract ended in December we started talking."

"This is a hig

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Qatar - LCI Productions provided a 'light show' for Qatar's National Day in December 2008, in Doha. LCI was contracted to provide a turnkey service for the project, from original concept through to delivery.

The brief for the show production was to "grow" the national pride of the nation, by depicting its history and heritage, to show their progress and make the audience reflect on the country's national heritage. The elements included the History of the Country, Pearl Diving, Desert Living and the Craft and Art of Qatar.

On winning the tender, LCI set about creating a storyboard and sourcing original material shot in Qatar in both stills and HD video as well as using archive material from Qatar, working in conjunction with local agencies. The majority of the show content was then developed at LCI's in-house Avid editing studio, and demonstration studio, using Wings

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Germany - Optical specialist KaiChang Lu has joined the GLP R&D team, with effect from 1 March 2009. He will be working closely with head of department, Markus Salm, and project managers, Oliver Klee and Marc Rapp.

KaiChang Lu has a comprehensive background in optical design, and between 1996-2007 worked as director for R&D/design at British Optical (International Optics).

"I have worked in the Entertainment Lighting industry for more than 20 years and optimised the optics for different manufacturers including Martin Professional profile spots from MAC 500 up to MAC III - and before that optical work for High End Systems - so I am confident that I can contribute to securing the future growth of GLP in the professional lighting business," says KaiChang.

GLP's business director, Kasper Gissel, states: "We strive to develop and manufacture top quality luminaires

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  4. FocusTrack 2.00 debuts at USITT, Cincinnati
  5. LSC extends Redback family
  6. Martin EvenLED backdrop for Oliver!
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