USA - Getting into Mamajuana isn't always easy. On weeknights the upscale club is packed with New Yorkers dancing to the hottest Hip-Hop, Top 40, Bachata and Salsa music. On weekends it may be an international Latin star like acclaimed Bachata artist Raulin Rodriguez who's packing them in. Still, the owners of the popular club did not want to rest on their laurels, so they revamped Mamajuana's look recently, giving the chic nightspot a new colour palette, not with paint, but with the Legend 412 LED moving head from Chauvet Professional.
"Essentially, we have 're-colourized' the club," said LD Jason Ayala of Jason Blends (New York). "We went away from the traditional heavy club colours that were used before, to more elegant purples, cyans and blues. These more rounded colours better complemented the carved wood architectural elements that a very talented designer,
UK - Pixels has supplied and configured 30 BrightSign HD players for the London Film Museum. Creative Technology, working on behalf of the museum, commissioned Pixels to supply, configure and support the media players.
Audio video is central to the concept of the museum. The reception area is filled with a 4m, 12-screen video wall and screens throughout the exhibition show information about the films featured as well as clips from the movies themselves. These screens provide a highly effective backdrop to the exhibits.
Jonathan Sands, founder and chief executive of London Film Museum, says, "Ultimately, when it comes to ensuring the public is well-informed, everything has to be as simple as possible in terms of the journey and the experience. The minute you walk in, everything's visualised - you're never in the dark."
USA - Elation Professional has launched a new versatile moving head in its Rayzor series of compact and high-speed LED wash luminaires, the Rayzor Q12 Zoom. From colourful wash/beam looks to stunning eye-candy effects, this functional fixture is capable of creating a wide variety of looks for stage and special event applications. It is also designed asa wash and effect light for permanent installations like clubs and other entertainment venues, says the company.
The Rayzor Q12 Zoom's 12 x 15W RGBW LEDs mix a broad range of colour shades for powerful shadow-free colour washes. Colour temperature is variable from 2,700K - 8,000K and colours mix uniform from vibrant saturates across beautiful pastels to authentic warm and cool shades of white. For programming convenience, a variety of colour macros are included.
For flexible beam angle adjustments, the Rayzor Q12 Zoom houses an 1
Brazil - In Sao Paulo, the first edition of Miss Supranational Brazil was held recently. All 26 Brazilian states participated in the contest with their respective representatives in order to win the national title.
The contest was held at the Shopping Eldorado, Sao Paulo. Rental company Barella Eventos provided a wireless CRMX Nova DMX system containing one single universe DMX transmitter and multiple single universe DMX receivers to control the lighting rig throughout the show.
Explaining the choice, Barella Eventos founder and general manager, Giancarlo Barella said the decision was based on reliability and the need for a time effective setup. "When you are working with beauty contests of this magnitude, every moment of the night is special and crucial. Everything needs to happen at exactly the right time, so there is no room for any delays. A live broadcasted event exp
Poland - Lighting designer Sebastian Pachciarek used a variety of Clay Paky fixtures in his rich lighting design for the celebration concert of the late pope Saint John Paul II at the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Krakow, Poland.
Pachciarek put together an elegant lighting design for the large outdoor stage that was careful to complement the show's large LED video element. Inspired by the colours and architecture of the church, the classic design captured the attention of hundreds of local and international pilgrims that had come to Krakow to celebrate the sainthood of the late pope.
"It was important to remember that this was no ordinary show," explains Pachciarek. "This was not a jazz or pop concert but a celebration of huge importance to those present, so the lighting had to be exactly right. In addition it was being filmed for broadcast, so in addition to it bei
UK - The historic Royal Opera House (ROH) in London's Covent Garden has worked closely with the lighting division of A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd - an official UK sub-distributor for the High End Systems product range - to seamlessly upgrade their Wholehog III house video control desk to the flagship new Hog 4 console.
AC-ET's senior technical sales executive, Ben Taylor, was invited by Gareth Shelton, deputy manager of the ROH's sound & broadcast department, to demo the Hog 4 console in-situ to the venue's technical team.
Gareth comments, "Our department looks after all aspects of video projection on main stage shows. Specifically, we use our console for video projection programming with our media servers, so it was really important to ensure that the upgrade would provide a more powerful console capable of satisfying the venue's increasingly ambitious pro
Chile - The Vina del Mar International Song Festival (Spanish: Festival Internacional de la Canción de Vina del Mar) is a music festival held annually since 1960 in Vina del Mar, Chile, and considered one of the most important musical events in the Americas.
Staged at the Quinta Vergara Amphitheatre, the festival features a song competition with two categories (pop music and folk songs), interspersed with performances by international music stars from around the world, encompassing a diverse mix of genres like rock, multi-lingual pop, merengue, salsa, reggaetón, bachata and many others.
To deal with this variety in the music lighting designer Luis Pastor trusted in a highly flexible lighting control - the grandMA2. In total he used an MA System comprised of two grandMA2 full-size, two grandMA2 light, four MA NPU (Network Processing Unit), six MA 2Port Node and two MA VPU plu
Germany - Laserworld has developed a new product line, the Diode Series, to fill the gap between their entry-level and their more professional laser light systems. The compact housing, built according to the Sealed Housing Technology, is equipped with a diode-only solution, which means great beam specifications at smooth colour fading behaviour.
The Diode Series is fully graphics capable and has a professional ILDA interface for computer control. Besides that, stand-alone mode, sound-to-light operation and DMX control is possible.
Two versions of the full colour whitelight lasers are offered: the Laserworld DS-800RGB and the Laserworld DS-1600RGB. Both have great beam specifications of ca. 3mm / 1.3mrad full angle and come with fast scanners at 40kpps.
Nightclub owners, mobile DJs but also rental companies will like these new units, as they well fit for medium sized rooms, b
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) will showcase a selection of the latest lighting, audio, rigging and video solutions available from their vast portfolio of premium brands - on stand 38 at ABTT 2014, London.
Sales teams from AC-ET's four specialist product divisions will be on hand to demonstrate and discuss the latest technologies from leading marques which AC-ET are the exclusive UK dealer for, as well as over 200 leading brands available for immediate despatch from the company's multi-million pound inventory.
After receiving an overwhelmingly positive response when showcased at another recent UK tradeshow, the AC-ET stand will feature models from the UK-exclusive Prolights line-up of lighting and effects products. The impressive lighting range features an extensive portfolio of product lines from a wide selection of LEDs, including Pars, battens, moving lights,
UK - Contemporary UK folk band Bellowhead celebrated their 10th anniversary with two high profile shows at London's Royal Albert Hall and Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, for which lighting designer Emma Thompson created an eye-catching scheme which included Robe CycFX 8s, Pointes, LEDWash 600s and LEDBeam 100 moving lights - all from Robe's Robin range.
Emma has been working with the band for the last three and a half years. They tour regularly each year in autumn and spring and she is also a big fan of Robe products. The lighting design for these two special shows referenced that of the last tour but on a vastly expanded scale, with a big increase in the amount of kit used, most of which was supplied by Southampton based rental company, GLS.
"I've always used Robe fixtures in my Bellowhead shows," says Emma. "It's great technology, very solid and there is always
Australia - ArKaos PRO's Australian distributor, ULA Group, were once again a proud sponsor of 2014 BMW Bruce Lynton Charity Ball, a prestigious event hosted in May at the RACV Royal Pines Resort on Australia's Gold Coast. Working together with Jesse Radatti from Digital Lighting Solutions, the team delivered a spectacular production for the ball, which has become one of the Gold Coast's prime events.
Australia's famous Choirboys, supported by local group,The Accidents, were entertaining the crowds until late into the night. The evening's celebrations were crowned by a pixel mappable chandelier, installed as a centerpiece in the Grand Ball Room. This was controlled by ChamSys MQ 60 console through ArKaos PRO media server technology to create a festive atmosphere for the event.
Bruce Lynton Prestige Automotive Group dealer principal, Beric Lynton, explains that the event's sole
South Africa - When Canadian singer-songwriter Tamia came to South Africa on her three city tour, six Robe Pointes were used for the Johannesburg leg of the tour hosted at the Carnival City Big Top Arena. Magz Schoeman, head of lighting at Carnival City was the lighting designer for the show hosted on the 27-28 April.
Schoeman started her journey by getting her hands on Tamia's music. "Tamia's sound is very chilled and after the first song, I thought pink." With soft pastel colours in mind, Schoeman used six Robe Pointes, eight Robin 100LEDBeams, eight Robin 300s, four Robin 600s, six Robe MMX Spots, four Martin MAC 550 Profiles and 12 MAC 575 Krypons and six bars of 6 LED pars to create something special and a design which was complimented by the event organizer.
"The Pointes were great," said Schoeman. "It was the first time I used them and I love th
UK - SMG Europe, the largest operator of sports and entertainment venues in the United Kingdom and Europe, have selected amBX dynamic lighting control for the iconic Phones 4U Arena Manchester. amBX will enable flexible and dynamic control for the upgraded lighting in the Concourse area as part of a significant investment in the famous venue.
Neil Macdonald, chief executive of amBX said, "We are delighted to have the unique capabilities of amBX recognised by such a major operator in this way. In addition to managing all the operational lighting requirement, amBX Light-Scene Engine will also be providing a flexible and dynamic solution to enhance how lighting can be used to enhance the experience of the venue."
The amBX Light-Scene Engine is the latest lighting control offering built on amBX technology. The Light-Scene Engine has been designed to be easily integrated
Spain - A Marte Cabaret (A Mars Cabaret) is a full-on intergalactic party, action packed with humour, eroticism and fun - in a secret place that's full of mad characters and idiosyncrasies where humans can explore fantasies and crazy ideas without inhibitions.
Produced by Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar - responsible for the long running eponymous musical and numerous other shows along Gran Via Madrid's main theatrical artery AKA 'Spanish Broadway' - this show staged at the off Gran Via Rialto Theatre, and has been lit by award-winning lighting designer Felipe Ramos.
The overall theme of the show - inspired by some of the grand cabarets of Paris but with a definitely space age twist - gave him plenty of scope for imaginative lighting design - and he chose 12 Robe Pointes to be right at the core of the lighting rig.
A Marte Cabaret is his first collaboration with the producers, alth
Europe - Copious Clay Paky beam fixtures have been employed by lighting designer Jerry Appelt in his 'reach out and grab you' lighting design for Scooter's European tour 20 years of Hardcore.
Appelt's design is an eye-opener, with the German lighting designer rigging a mix of over 100 x Clay Paky Sharpys, 26 x Alpha Spot HPE 1500s and 12 x Alpha Beam 1500s supplied by PRG Hamburg, in strict configurations across huge fingers of truss that reach out across the audience.
"The concept behind the design was not to worry too much about the stage and really play out to the audience," explains Appelt. "We built four vertical columns upstage upon which we rigged the Clay Paky beam fixtures. These columns then lead out into four 'fingers' of curved truss heavily rigged with Sharpys. The fingers are designed to reach out above the audience creating an all encompass
UK - Nick Gray of London-based live performance design practice Renegade created an inventive lighting and visuals scheme for the highly acclaimed Atomic Bomb tour by a new international super-group led by David Byrne to honour the work of obscure Nigerian funk musician William Onyeabor.
Onyeabor's distinctive rhythmic, funkadelic, spacey synthesiser-orientated grooves were composed in the 1970s and 1980s when he was a prolific composer / performer, highly original and forward thinking. Since then he has gained a cult following amidst musicians and music aficionados.
An anthology of his old work Who is William Onyeabor? was released by David Byrne's Luaka Bop record label last year, and this was recently followed by a live concert tour to bring the Onyeabor experience to an inquisitive public.
Gray was approached directly by Luaka Bop who had seen his lighting
USA - Professional comedians often use an ellipsoidal, a few house lights and not much else for their performances. Not so with Gabriel Iglesias whose current Unity Through Laughter tour has him travelling across the US with an Elation lighting rig of spots, washes, strips, strobes, PARs and more, including the new Elation Satura Spot LED Pro moving head.
Supplied by Sacramento Production & Lighting, the Elation lighting package was chosen for several reasons including durability and price point, a major consideration these days for the touring market, according to Dion Cook, Sacramento Production & Lighting's CEO.
Dion explains the concept behind the show. "The concept for the past five years has been to give the audience more than just a run-of-the-mill comedy show with a guy in front of a curtain," he says. "And by that I mean it needed to be an experi
South Korea - French lantern manufacturer, Robert Juliat, has been enjoying increasing success in Korea with long-term distribution partner, C&C Lightway.
C&C Lightway has worked with Robert Juliat for over 20 years, promoting the brand in a strongly competitive market.
"We are up against strong competition from long-established, premium-brand Japanese manufacturers, particularly for conventional fixtures like Fresnels and ellipsoidals," says C&C Lightway's Hwan-Soo Chung. "However, we have worked to raise awareness of Robert Juliat's great reputation to the same level it experiences in the followspot market where we have enjoyed a good market share for several years."
C&C Lightway, which has established long-term working relationships with all of its clients, has recently supplied Robert Juliat lanterns and followspots to Seogwipo Culture & Arts Centre,
UK - Software provider Stardraw.com has just announced a major upgrade to their award-winning design and documentation software, Stardraw Design 7, which will be publically unveiled at InfoComm 2014 in Las Vegas this June.
Stardraw Design 7.1 is the evolution of Stardraw.com's seventh-generation application for AV systems integrators. A powerful, fully integrated project design and documentation system with access to 70,000 symbols from over 700 of the industry's leading manufacturers, Stardraw Design 7.1 includes a host of important new features, all based on requests and feedback from Stardraw users in more than 80 countries worldwide, as well as a number of bug fixes and enhancements to existing functionality.
Amongst the most requested of features is Cable Bridges, a drawing mode that shows where cables cross without intersecting. The mode can be toggled and is parameter-d
Denmark - TV lighting designer extraordinaire Kasper Lange was 'blown away' by the power of the Clay Paky fixtures used in his highly efficacious lighting design for TV event of the year, Eurovision.
Denmark based Lange worked with Eurovision's creative director Per Zachariassen to create a huge, structural lighting design that complemented the show's titanic 'diamond' stage. Lange crafted a clean, architectural lighting look that allowed the angular stage to 'open and close' creating a dynamic mix of open and intimate lighting looks.
"The brief for the show can be summed up in two words - big and simple," explains Lange. "The contest was open to almost 40 different nations and each nation's set needed a different lighting look. The challenge for us was to make each song look unique but also to introduce an organic flow throughout the show and not create a 'mash
UK - A new workhorse is gaining popularity behind the scenes on the West End. ETC's Eos Titanium (Ti) lighting control system has been taking over the programming duties on a growing number of London's top shows, with more lighting professionals choosing the power and flexibility that the desk offers. Two of those professionals - Vicky Brennan and Andi Davis - share their experience with Ti and why they trust it on even the biggest shows.
Vicky Brennan recently programmed the lighting for Stephen Ward: The Musical at the Aldwych Theatre on a Ti desk. The show's set was complicated and required custom circular lighting trusses for the lighting fixtures. That created a challenge for the lighting team, who had to devise a plan to number the rig so the lighting designer, programmer, production electricians and show crew could all understand it.
Production Issues - Jennifer Lopez has pulled out of performing the official World Cup song at the tournament's opening ceremony in Brazil, Fifa has announced. Officials said the singer could not attend Thursday's show because of unspecified "production issues". Lopez was due to perform alongside rapper Pitbull and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte, with whom she has recorded the song We Are One (Ole Ola). Pitball and Leitte will go ahead and perform accompanied by drummers Olodum.
"For production issues, Jennifer Lopez, one of the artists of the official song We Are One, will not be able to perform at the Fifa World Cup opening ceremony," said a statement. The 25-minute ceremony in Sao Paulo will feature 600 artists, including acrobatic gymnasts, trampolinists, martial arts-style performers and stilt walkers.
UK - Emmy Award nominee and go-to lighting designer for the music industry, Patrick Dierson, specified new Showline SL Nitro 510C strobe luminaires as part of his dramatic concept lighting for Brit rapper Tinie Tempah's UK Demonstration tour.
Dierson, who worked alongside ARE Productions show producer Antony Randall and creative director Ted Lovett, and designer/programmer Davy Sherwin, created a multi-layered design, which carved up the stage with constantly moving, bold, sweeping looks that swung from the intimate to the epic. To achieve this diverse and exciting concept, the show designers turned to the cutting-edge SL Nitro 510C, which adds RGB & W LED capabilities to the original SL Nitro 510 luminaire, delivering intense bursts of coloured and white light and dynamic effects.
Inspired by the artwork of Tempah's latest album Demonstration, Dierson says, &quo
Denmark - Tiësto, arguably the greatest DJ of the decade, recently headlined the exclusive EDM Copenhagen electronic festival, presented by Arive on the terrace of the luxurious Stay Apartment Hotel in the Danish capital. Meanwhile, SGM's G-Spot, the world's first IP65-rated LED moving head, created its own spotlight as the headline lighting fixture.
For this nine-hour event (running from afternoon to midnight), packed with a strong lineup of DJs and live acts, production manager and show designer Christian Byriel from CeeBRIGHTER had some specific venue challenges to overcome. "Though being challenged with large window façades, an unusual location and an outdoor venue from daylight to dusk, I feel I achieved my vision and maintained the aesthetic look required by the customer," he says. It became apparent to him that the G-Spot was to play a large role in his achiev