UK - Design, manufacturing and distribution company MilTec (UK) Ltd has experienced "unprecedented demand" for their latest LED batten, the LEDHead Batten2. The lightweight but robust batten has proved popular with both rental and installation companies for use in a wide variety of applications. Demand really took off after a very striking demo system was shown at PLASA in September.

The unit is fitted with 18x 8W quadcolour LEDs, PowerCon in and out connectors, five-pin XLRs and a versatile hanging bracket. A selection of operating modes allows options from simple four-channel control up to full pixelmapping of each LED for stunning visual effects. In addition, a barndoor type reflector allows the Batten2 to be used as a cyclorama wash up to 6m plus.

Thirty-six of the battens were used by Blinding Light for set lighting on the Proms in the Park concert as part of th

UK - Lighting and visuals rental company Colour Sound Experiment rocked into 2013 in great style supplying lighting, LED screens and lasers to two mega successful events at London's Brixton Academy venue.

On New Year's Eve the sold-out UKF Bass Culture by Lock & Loaded welcomed 2013, and on New Year's Day ... after a few hours break, the celebrations kicked in again, this time with Colour Sound working for the Circo Loco Coalition.

CSE's Haydn Cruickshank and Steve Marley designed a production rig that took into account the main requirements for both events. CSE was able to offer a versatile, dynamic and cost-efficient visuals package for both events.

UKF Bass Culture was headlined by a DJ set from Chase & Status and also featured some of the UK's best bass artists including DJ Fresh, Foreign Beggars, Shy FX & B-Traits, MistaJam, KOAN Sound and Delta Heavy ... while Circo Lo

USA - Lighting and set designer Tim Dunn from Gearhouse South Africa specified Robe Robin 600 LEDWash and PureWhite moving lights to illuminate award winning VR Steel's spectacular new booth, premiered at the recent Mine Expo International 2012 exhibition and trade fair at Las Vegas Convention Centre.

Expo International is the mining industry's premier showcase for companies specialising in every facet of mining - open pit, underground, processing and preparation, mine site development, exploration and surveying, smelting and refining and reclamation. VR Steel is a global leader in the manufacture of cutting-edge products for dragline mining.

Dunn took a brief from VR Steel's CEO John van Reenen and created a radically elegant new stand for the South African company which will tour to international mining expos worldwide over the next two years.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Bandit Lites recently wrapped up another successful New Year's Eve show with rock band, Widespread Panic. The second annual event took place at the Time Warner Cable Arena and included a canned food drive.

While New Year's Eve is typically a night of expectancy for the coming year, lighting designer Paul Hoffman had a different kind of anticipation at the event: the set list selection. With a repertoire of over 350 songs, Widespread Panic's concerts can go many different directions musically.

"I don't get a set list until maybe five minutes beforehand, so I have to interpret the music in real time and set the lighting to it on the fly," said Hoffman. "It is kind of an unusual way to run lights. The material ranges from dark and moody, to ballad-like, to whimsical, to full on raging rock - and sometimes those transitions happen very fast - so you need lots

Australia - Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre (BCEC) has taken delivery of a MA Lighting grandMA2 light console which will become the venue's main, large show lighting console. "It was time we upgraded and the grandMA2 is an awesome console," remarked Brian Nash, AV & production services manager.

Michael Hughes, senior lighting operator at the BCEC, took delight in taking the grandMA2 out for its inaugural run and he was thrilled with its performance. "I've used the classic randma light for many years but the grandMA2 light is great," he said. "I found the transaction between the randma 'series 1' and the grandMA2 very easy. After a few hours on the new board I knew I was going to be confident using it for the first time on one of our larger shows for the year.

"I really like the layout of it: a screen that's stacked vertically, flat fader

UK - Philips Selecon dealer, Lancelyn Theatre Supplies, has installed a selection of Philips Selecon PLCYC-1 LED luminaires in The Corn Exchange Wallingford. The installation will provide a super flexible, intuitive to use Cyc solution for the volunteer-run arts venue, which operates at the heart of the community in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.

Technical manager of the venue, Oliver Hemming, discusses, "Our existing cyc lights were old and falling apart. We'd heard a great deal about the creative potential the features of the new LED fixtures offer, but we weren't sure which fixtures to buy. We enlisted the advice of Reg Berry at Lancelyn Theatre Supplies, Oxford. Following a trip to the PLASA show we decided on the Philips Selecon PLCYC-1 luminaires and we've been delighted with the outcome."

Reg Berry, branch manager at Lancelyn continues, "We felt the PLCYC- was

USA - Prism Projection's recently introduced RevEAL Profile Junior, a compact version of its industry award-winning RevEAL Profile LED luminaire offers 10,000 lumens and equally impressive optics.

The Profile Junior is a compact 10,000 lumen LED profile spot; in fact its size and weight are similar to conventional tungsten-sourced ellipsoidals, yet its output exceeds conventional 575W ellipsoidals. This new compact design of the Profile Junior is offered in three versions; a tunable 2,800-6,500K, 3200K and 5600K white light. As with all Prism LED products, the Prism Junior utilizes the patented TrueSource technology along with its advanced thermal management system.

The Profile Junior, along with the original Profile, is ready right now for use in a wide range of applications including long throw front of house lighting positions

"The RevEAL Profile Junior caught my eye

USA - Chauvet Professional took on the stage during the exuberant halftime show of the 2013 Discover Orange Bowl, organised at Sun Life Stadium and broadcasted by ESPN. Nexus 4x4 eye-candy wash lights accompanied country singer Jake Owen, who entertained the large audience as the halftime headliner.

Randy Taylor, lighting designer and founder of Design & Productions Dallas-based full-service design and creative services company, specified 36 Chauvet Professional Nexus 4x4 pixel-mapping fixtures for the show. Taylor placed three arrays of Nexus 4x4 on stage right behind Owen: a central wall of 20 fixtures, flanked by two smaller walls of two-by-four wash lights.

For the halftime show, the Chauvet team operated the wash lights through Kling-Net control on the ArKaos Mediamaster software. The cues were triggered via DMX from the grandMA lighting console, using the Enttec DMX USB

UK - West London-based technical solutions company Entec Sound & Light continued its long working relationship with The Bootleg Beatles, the most successful and widely recognised tribute band to the legendary British musical group.

Entec has provided technical production for the band since 1994 - testament in itself to the artist's satisfaction with their production - in which time the band has regularly toured worldwide, playing to old and new generations of Beatles enthusiasts.

Entec's lighting crew chief Pete 'Pepper' Schofield ensured that all lighting designer Brendan Albrey's requirements were met.

It was Albrey's first tour with The Bootleg Beatles. He was chosen from several applicants who initially answered an ad to submit concepts that was circulated in the Association of Lighting Designers' (ALD) E-Newsletter. It was also his first time working with Entec.

The l

Australia - The National Institute of Dramatic Art has taken delivery of Jands HPC12 dimmer racks to be utilised in their new atrium performance space.

"We needed dimmers that had a "rock and roll" approach to allow for quick and easy setups," explained Adrian Wright, lighting supervisor at NIDA. "This is especially good as a learning tool for our students as they also get an understanding of the use of the Jands Power Distribution System and mains cables.

"Having already purchased the HPX dimmers for one of our larger venues, the purchase of the HPC dimmer racks were a very good choice on value for money, the ease of operation and most importantly the reliability."

(Jim Evans)

Uzbekistan - The newly built Bunyodkor Stadium was inaugurated at the end of August in conjunction with the celebration of the 21st Uzbekistan's Independence Day, recurring on 1 September 2012. On this occasion, Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan, was enlivened for several days by numerous sports events, folk shows, musical happenings and craft fairs enhanced by amazing fireworks and breathtaking city lighting.

As a part of this newly conceived metropolitan illumination concept, the Bunyodkor stadium - now the biggest sports facility in Uzbekistan giving home to the local football team - demanded a well-framed lighting plan that would be able to overcome the many structural obstacles this pioneering arena involved.

Supported by 64 columns, the three-dimensional sail-like canopies that embellish the entire exterior perimeter of this bowl-shaped stadium, were identified as

Serbia - The National Driving Academy (NAVAK) just outside Belgrade was the venue for a four day Serbian VW dealers event which focussed on the Golf Mk7 Series. Robe's LEDBeam 100s were certainly in the driving seat as far as lighting the main presentation was concerned.

This was designed by event producer Aleksandar Kukanjac, with equipment - lighting, LED screen and PA system - supplied by the leading Serbian entertainment technology specialist, Studio Berar Projekt.

The event, attended by around 300 people in total divided into three groups per day, was staged in 'The Balloon' - a stylish tented structure that is permanently installed at NAVAK and used as a multi-purpose event space.

The 24 LEDBeam 100s were positioned on the floor and either side of the LED screen. They were rigged to the Balloon's integral trusses and positioned around its sides, used to enhance the atm

The Netherlands - Martin Professional is heading to the ISE show in Amsterdam, with its latest line of LED video products in tow, the VC Series of Strips, Grids and Dots.

The VC Series of LED video products combines an all-new level of simplicity with a high level of quality. Instead of relying on DMX, these new creative LED video elements are driven by Martin's award-winning P3 System Controller family for true video control with superb ergonomics and easy set up. So no need to worry about stuttering, uneven dimming or lack of synchronization (as with many DMX-driven solutions). VC-Strips -Grids and -Dots are ideal for integrating LED video into a façade, stage design, ceiling, lobby or any other structure (indoors or out), says the company.

The new VC-Strip family of narrow LED video strips features a pixel-pitch of 25 mm and is available in various lengths up to 400 mm. Th

USA - During the recent Annual General Meeting, two Bandit Lites employees, JR Sander and Steve Hoover, celebrated milestone anniversaries, having been with the company for 20 and 30 years, respectively.

Sander had been on the road for 12 years with another production company when he joined Bandit Lites' staff in 1992 as the warehouse manager. From there he evolved from developing an inventory system to general manager. Today he has settled into his position as a client representative.

After amassing memories that include Aerosmith, Garth Brooks, Queen and ZZ Top, Sander is quick to quote the old saying, "Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life."

"After 20 years, I feel like I'm just getting started, as every year brings on new relationships and challenges," said Sander. "But that's the best part of working at Bandit: We are on

Australia - To celebrate Australia's annual 30-night Brisbane Festival last fall, 3000sq.m of brilliant lighting, visible for over 10 kilometres, lit up downtown Brisbane's business district. Sponsored by Santos GLNG City of Lights and designed by John Rayment, the festival's spectacular lighting was provided and installed by Chameleon Touring Systems of Sydney and Brisbane.

The challenging urban venue of three skyscrapers, a 20x50m floating barge, and a freeway overpass constituted three distinct lighting and control domains. Eighteen Panther 7k searchlights blazed from the city's tallest buildings. The barge and freeway systems featured 18 additional searchlights, and 210 moving lights.

A LumenRadio system, recommended and supplied to Chameleon by TMB, distributed control data wirelessly to all lighting elements of the event. A lighting controller located on the barge linked

The Netherlands - The latest Robe moving light technology - MMX Spots, LEDWash 1200s and LEDBeam100s - were chosen by Robin van der Plas, head of lighting and media at Patronaat, a popular high-profile alternative music venue in central Haarlem, Netherlands, which has received a recent technical upgrade.

The Robes replaced the original moving light system that was installed when the building, designed by architect Paul Diederen, opened in 2005.

Patronaat has two concert halls - at 950 and 350 capacity - both featuring an action-packed programme of the latest sounds and contemporary music, from underground to jazz and dance and electronica to acoustic performance.

(Jim Evans)

The Netherlands - At ISE 2013, Artistic Licence Engineering (stand 8-R232) will be demonstrating Multi-Play Rack, a lighting show record-playback unit "with outstanding memory capacity and Ethernet protocol versatility".

Multi-Play Rack is a disk-based product that allows a show programmer to record up to 12 universes on any lighting console running Art-Net, then play-back through pretty much anything - thanks to the product's multiple protocol support, which includes Art-Net, ShowNet, KiNet and sACN. Output protocols can be selected on a per universe basis for even greater flexibility.

Multi-Play Rack incorporates an auto-stitch feature that allows a recording to be automatically edited for a seamless continuous loop. It can also playback multiple overlapping files in different, user-programmed zones.

The product offers advanced triggering functionality, with the

UK - Lighting designer and operator Ed Warren of Next Level Lights turned to Martin Professional's MAC Viper Profile for Mumford & Sons' Tour of Two Halves (first half theatres, second half arenas), which hit dates in the UK and Ireland in November and December as a leg on their extended Babel world tour.

The award-winning 1000 W fixtures were recommended to Warren by Rob Sinclair, who worked as visual consultant for the tour. "He'd used them previously and recommended them due to their tungsten abilities, and their general usefulness," said Warren, who has been with Mumford & Sons for almost four years.

"My show is very tungsten-heavy so it was important to achieve a warm CTO from the fixtures, which mixed perfectly with the many light bulbs on stage," Warren continues. "They were also very punchy with very clear beams as well as a decen

South Africa - Panalux has appointed Kenny Smith as managing director for its South African operations. Smith is a long-standing, highly regarded member of the Panalux senior management team and his appointment as managing director is a natural progression following many years of dedicated service, loyalty and the undoubted ability he has demonstrated during his time with the company, says Panalux.

Steve Smith, managing director Panalux Worldwide, comments: "I am delighted to announce Kenny's appointment and am certain that he will provide the kind of motivational management and direction that will ensure Panalux continues to deliver the very best in service, equipment and technology to our clients across Southern Africa".

He adds: "During his many years with Panalux, Kenny has demonstrated excellent leadership and a genuine passion for our industry. These quali

Europe - German electro pop pioneers, Kraftwerk will use the dynamic interactive and 3D features of Dataton Watchout multi-image and presentation software, for all on-stage digital scenography at their hotly anticipated tours and concerts' programme throughout 2013.

Watchout manages projected 3D content on a large stage backdrop creating a powerful abstract presence in front of audiences wearing polarized 3D glasses. Two more Watchout channels feed the flanking LED screens. To create the lighting effects on the four oversized illuminated keyboards, a Pixel-gate LED video controller uses an additional DVI output from the main screen using the Watchout 'Tier' feature. The main timeline in Watchout is chasing timecode from Kraftwerk synthesizers (MTC converted into SMPTE). The Kraftwerk synthesizers are also used for live visual interaction controlled via MIDI commands.

FredrikSv

Germany - PR Lighting's popular 5000 Series has been proving popular on the European tour of Australian new wave metal band, Parkway Drive.

Audiences of up to up to 4,000 recently witnessed impressive light show at 19 shows across the continent - designed without compromise by Austrian company, MartinKames.com. Along with lighting designer Gunnar Loose (www.revolutionlights.de), Kames and system technician Markus Fichtler, developed a technical setup that met all requirements of the show.

Multiples of PR Lighting's PR-5000 Spot and PR-5000 Beam were selected for their advanced featureset. But the intensive tour schedule, with long drives between the locations, challenged the logistics and this became a further reason for specifying PR Lighting's PR-5000 Series. Notes Jens Ottenhus from German distributors, Focon Showtechnic. "With its 1.5 kW discharge lamps and a weight o

UK - More than 1000 LED light sources from SGM have brought the new 1800-capacity Wonderland nightclub to life in Maidstone, Kent - turning it into "a Madison Square Garden type atmosphere".

From the moment clubbers walk up the escalators, edged with pixel-mapped LED's they are immersed in a surreal escapist world of SGM paper lanterns in the foyer and walkways. Turning into the 'Tomorrow' nightclub - the biggest of the three spaces, and designed like a rock 'n' roll arena - their senses are immediately assaulted by flown arrays of eight SGM SP-6 Six Pack blinders and four banks of four SGM X-5 white strobes, which pulse onto the dancefloor, punctuating the beam action from 24 SGM Beam 300 moving heads.

But the main focus of attention is the largest SGM centrepiece ever produced - a massive overhang comprising 225 of SGM's 1m length pixel tubes (LT-100), interspersed

Canada - Canadian new wave /indie band, Metric, recently completed a successful tour in support of their fifth album Synthetica.

Long-serving LD Ian MacDonald designed the lighting to be diverse - partly scaled to fit 1000-seat theatres, but sufficiently organic to upscale effortlessly into arenas and amphitheaters. In the case of Synthetica this involved five different set-ups, and each included GLP's new Spot One LED moving heads.

MacDonald's search for the Spot One was stimulated by his desire to have an all LED arena lighting rig. "This is becoming the norm these days ... less power and lighter fixtures are always a huge plus, especially when playing smaller venues with limited power," he said. "I was looking for an LED profile moving fixture that could be as good as, or better than a standard moving light fixture."

And GLP's spot provid

Richard Martin Lighting (RML) is providing lighting for Richard Hammond's Secret Service.

Filmed at BBC White City and aired on Saturday nights on BBC1, the entertainment show is packed full of big stunts designed to fool the nation. It's essentially a hidden camera series where Richard sends out his 'agents' aka actors and comedians to set up funny situations involving unsuspecting members of the public.

Roger Williams designs the lighting rig which comprises of MAC Aura's, Chroma Flood RGB, VL1000TS and GLP Impressions. The lights enhance the exciting lab set.

(Jim Evans)

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