France - Belgian lighting designer Francis Mannaert is currently using a raft of Philips Vari-Lite VL3000 Spot and Wash Luminaires to create a dynamic supernatural lightscape for the National Opera Ukrainia's touring ballet, set to the hauntingly evocative music of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.

Conductor Grigori Penteleîtchouk originally commissioned the production for a small classical music festival - Festival des Nuits Sainte Victoire, in 2009. However, so successful was it that producer Franck Dompietrini and Maestro, Penteleïtchouk, decided to take an expanded version of the production across France and play to the largest audiences possible.

Mannaert used VL3000 spots and washes, as part of a traditional ballet lighting rig, he explains: "I use the Vari-

USA - Chauvet is a sponsor of Academy of Production Technology three-day seminars dedicated to the advancement of education and safety in the live event production industry. Led by Richard Cadena, a 24-year veteran of the entertainment lighting industry with a background in electronics and electrical engineering, the classes travel the country to capture a wide-ranging audience.

November's class will be set at Chauvet headquarters in Sunrise, Fla. The class covers theory and practices of entertainment technology for the working electrician and technician.

Attendees will learn essential training in safety, codes and regulations, control systems, and basic electricity to advanced power distribution. The course work also counts towards renewal credits for ETCP Certified Electricians.

"We are pleased to open the doors to our facility for an educational endeavour," said

Poland - L-Acoustics' Polish rental network agent Fotis Sound has provided a K1 WST line source system for the opening of the Olympic Stadium in Kiev in preparation for UEFA Euro 2012 Football Championship.

The opening ceremony, under the guidance of director Alexey Batkovsky, was based on Ukrainian history, with more than 2,000 volunteers and dancers involved in the larger performances. At the concert's finale, Shakira appeared on stage to a backdrop of spectacular fireworks before an audience of 50,000, including Ukrainian president Victor Janukovich.

The event's technical coordinator Vlad Voloshuk, from Concert Bis in Moldova, invited freelance system engineer Andrey Akhromeev to design a sound system for the event. Drawing on L-Acoustics' proprietary acoustic design software Soundvision, Akhromeev's solution consisted of 18 K1 boxes and 6 K1-SB subs per side, with side- ha

UK - BBC's The One show returns to the small screen with this year's hosts including Lenny Henry, Jasper Carrott and Griff Rhys Jones. The sketch shows will also include an array of special guests.

Richard Martin Lighting (RML) support lighting designers Oli Richards and Martin Kempton to create a simple and elegant setting for the shows. The specification includes Stage Zoom 1200's, MAC 500's, MAC 600's, 900mm Chroma Strips, GLP Impressions and GLP Impressions XL, Alpha Beam 700's and Stage Bars.

In addition to the main lighting rig, RML also liaised with Rosco to supply gobos for the show.

(Jim Evans)

Brazil - Three-times Grammy-nominated Brazilian sound engineer Gabriel Pinheiro is well-respected recording engineer in the Latin American music world. He is the owner of two DPA SMK4061 stereo miking kits, which he recently discovered during a live concert recording.

"The PA company had a few of them and I decided to try them on piano, double bass and cello," says Pinheiro, who has been chief engineer at Biscoito Fino Records' recording studio for the past 10 years. "It was the first time I'd used a microphone on a live double bass that gave me a great sound. Right there I decided I needed some of these."

Having purchased two of the kits, which include a carefully selected pair of DPA 4061 miniature omni mics with mounting accessories, Pinheiro went to work trying out the mics on his projects. "I do a lot of live recordings as well as those live in th

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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

UK - Trans-Sport Ltd, based in Retford, Nottinghamshire, has been providing custom solutions for customers since they were established in 1990. Now 21 years on and despite the recession they are looking to the future of the business and have been investing heavily in the future of the company.

What started out as an agricultural & mining engineering company, soon became established as a player in the entertainment market when Bill Morris (now of CTV - Outside Broadcasts) asked the MD Shaun Cope if they could manufacture some in-pocket cameras for the World Snooker Championships. The custom cameras were made, and Trans-Sport was born. Roll forward to today and now they work in all aspects of live TV transmissions and televised sports including Darts, Poker and Snooker for both BSkyB and The BBC.

Now working globally in the TV and live media events industries, the decision was m

Australia - Rockhampto's ' Pilbeam Theatre is renowned for staging fabulous musicals throughout the year and the delicate subject of sweat can be an issue for the venues' sound technicians.

Fortunately the theatre has purchased several Shure UHF-R wireless microphone systems which are not only compact and lightweight but also sweat resistant.

"The Shure UHF system has been very reliable," commented Holly Newcombe, senior sound technician at Pilbeam Theatre. "Sometimes we run up to 32 in one go and there's never any issue. Occasionally we get a little bit of sweat on the microphones but it's not a big deal as I just give them a wipe with contact cleaner and they're fine - and believe me some of the people we get are quite sweaty.

"We also have four hand-helds. We use the packs with the jack adapters for guitars and keyboards - we have a battery powered key

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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

UK - The Satellite is battery powered, cable free and wirelessly controlled, with a movable adjustable twin headed LED head with 360 degree pan/180 degree tilt.

They are a high output LED fixture with RBG colour mixing, no heat and IP rated for outdoor use. They can also be used with an internally wired telescopic pole up to 2.6m.

Using the standard LiteWare flightcase charging system they are designed for quick get-ins, venues with power issues and where cables can't be easily run or masked.

The Satellites are already proving a hit with Hawthorns' Production Solutions team and their dry hire customers. Senior project manager Chris Knight recently used the Satellites on a corporate party for a major financial institution; he commented, "The Satellites were brilliant. Quick, simple and surprisingly powerful."

(Jim Evans)

USA - At this year's LDI Show in Orlando GLP presented a spectacular launch showcase for both its own, and sister company G-LEC fixtures - as well as offering other creative visual solutions for LD's.

Pride of place went to the German manufacturer's LED washlight, the impression Wash One, which was making its North American debut. This was joined by a new video display and controller from G-LEC, and new IP65 outdoor rated and battery powered fixtures from its Scenex Lighting range of LED scenic lighting fixtures. A wide selection of Global Truss products were also displayed on the stand.

Stated Mark Ravenhill, president, GLP German Light Products Inc, "The Wash One preview created exactly the feedback we had been hoping for. With two identical demo stations, and a rig of units we were able to showcase both the Wash One and Spot One, as well as the Volkslicht Zoom and impr

Germany - CAMCO's D-Power family grows as they launch the D-Power D7, D1 and D05. All three models have created high demand for the German manufacturer, who reports a busy month as they meet the demand from their global distribution network.

With the introduction of the latest three models, the D-Power series of two channel amplifiers extends the series to six models. Covering a meaningful power output range from 250W per channel at 4 Ohm to 2300W per channel at 4 Ohm, the D-Power series makes for a perfect match with any speaker brand in any pro application, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Home to the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) Bulldogs men's and women's hockey teams, the all-purpose AMSOIL Arena is part of the Duluth Entertainment Convention Centre on the city's downtown Lake Superior waterfront. The complex also includes exhibit halls, a symphony hall, an Omnimax Theatre, and another arena.

One of the first LEED certified arenas in the world, the AMSOIL Arena seats 6,600 for hockey and ice shows, and more than 8,500 for concerts and other entertainment. Its sound system was designed and installed by TSI Technology Solutions LLC, the systems division of TSI Global LLC, in St. Charles, Missouri, with consulting provided by Gary White of WJHW in Dallas.

"The budget for this job was smaller than what we typically have to work with for a sports stadium or coliseum," says Scott Durham of TSI, "so we had to be creative. We wanted to han

Romania - Ilie Oan? Stadium in Ploiesti is the current home of the football club FC Petrolul Ploiesti. The stadium opened in September 2011 and has a seating capacity of 15,500 people.

The construction has been built in the place of the former Ilie Oan? Stadium, which was completed in 1937. The old stadium was demolished and a complete new one has been built featuring all top modern facilities and already appointed by UEFA to host the group matches and semi-finals of the Champions League.

An RCF audio system has been installed to cover all areas of the stadium. Romanian RCF distributor FBS Lines provides the audio system project.

The audio system design for the Ilie Oan? Stadium was done in collaboration with the RCF project department that specified the individual product system solution, documentation, acoustical simulation, measurement and more.

"Simply a milestone

UK - The new Chroma-Q Color Charge Plus is a higher output version of the original battery powered, wireless DMX fixture. It is suitable for temporary indoor lighting applications where wiring is a challenge or where install speed is critical, transforming a venue in minutes.

The Color Charge Plus utilises the very latest generation of LED and optics, resulting in 50% more output (900 lumens) than the original Color Charge (600 lumens) from the same size unit.

The Color Charge Plus fixture's environmentally friendly design includes a recyclable long life battery cell and an interchangeable LED head for upgrading in the future. The highly efficient nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) power cell delivers up to 30 hours usage from a single charge and provides up to 1,000 charges; approximately double the life of lead-acid batteries. The fixture also features a built-in mains charger that

USA - Robe Lighting had a busy and successful LDI 2011 exhibition in Orlando, Florida, where it showcased its latest products including, for the first time in the USA, the newly launched MMX Spot - the first of Robe's next generation of 1200 series moving lights.

Other new fixtures introduced to the US market included the Robin 1200 and 300 LEDWash, The Robin DLX Spot and the new versions of the CityFlex 48 and CityLine 48 from Robe's popular LED series.

The Robin LEDWash 600 RBGW - Robe's fastest selling luminaire of all time - together with its PureWhite version, both of which are fast becoming 'industry standard' specified products, were also at the centre of the action.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Pink wristbands, T-shirts and ribbons are a common sight during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month - but a pink hospital? West Jefferson Medical Centre(WJMC) wanted to do something special to celebrate the life of breast cancer survivors and honour the memory of those who lost their battle with the disease, so the New Orleans-area hospital 'turned pink', putting its 10-story front entrance aglow in brilliant pink lights for the entire month of October.

The traffic-stopping pink lighting display was created by Abstract Productions, LLC (Baton Rouge, LA), using Rebel Pro Par RGB LED pars from Acclaim Lighting. Adrian Miceli of Abstract said that power draw was "a huge factor" in selecting a fixture to colour wash the 120ft long by 10-story-high exterior space, since the lights were to remain on continuously for 12 hours daily.

The Rebel Pro Par's energy effic

UK - Peavey has introduced the new TriFlex II, a three-way, two-channel portable sound system that provides1,000 watts of power for live sound reinforcement, DJ gigs and music playback applications.

The Peavey TriFlex II system is a complete sound system providing 1,000watts of power through a three-speaker setup-one 15" Peavey subwoofer plus two satellite speakers with 10" premium woofers and Peavey RX14 1.4" titanium compression drivers on patented Peavey Quadratic Throat Waveguide horns. The system is engineered for balanced sound and crisp presentation regardless of the application, with clear sound at high output levels and "plenty of punchy bass".

The TriFlex II chassis is housed in the subwoofer enclosure and includes all of the system electronics-two-channel preamp, electronic crossover and subsonic filter - as well as the three power amps. For

UK - Manchester-based dbn Lighting supplied lighting design and equipment - including trussing and all necessary rigging - to the main stage at the 2011 Ramsbottom Festival staged at Ramsbottom Cricket Ground in Bury, a picturesque riverside location in Greater Manchester.

As in previous years, the boutique style Festival was a partnership between The Met, Bury's renowned live arts venue and Ramsbottomonline.com. dbn's Nick Buckley was asked to create a production design to cover the three days of live music, headlined on the Friday by The Animals & Friends, followed by The Guillemots on Saturday, concluding on Sunday with The Waterboys.

His design had to be flexible enough to deal with the different sounds and styles of these and the other artists on the line up each day, and took the Waterboys spec (LD Craig McCleary) as a general starting point. Buckley wanted to give them

More Metal - A re-formed Black Sabbath, including lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, have been announced as the second headliners for next year's Download Festival. The band, who last played together at Donington Park in 2005 as part of the Ozzfest touring festival, will then embark on a world tour. Metallica were announced as the first headliners of Download, which takes place at Donington between 8-10 June.

Ahead of their Download performance on Sunday 10 June, Black Sabbath are to record their first album with their original line-up for 33 years. The 1968 incarnation of the band, which also includes guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward, will record new material with producer Rick Rubin. Black Sabbath have released 18 albums since 1969, when they formed in Birmingham.

Music Business - EMI has said it will sell its recorded music unit for £1.

Russia - For coordinating the communications at the celebration of the 864th Birthday of Moscow, the organisers and the technical team used an Artist digital matrix intercom system from Riedel Communications. Riedel delivered the system that enabled the 4-D projection mapping show created and produced by David Atkins Enterprises. The celebration was a gift to the city of Moscow by Russia's largest private bank, Alfa-Bank.

The birthday celebration for Moscow was a spectacular mega event, which included a cutting edge 4-D projection mapping show taking place on the walls of the Moscow University and a fireworks show. For providing a reliable communications system for the whole area, the organisers split up the area into to dedicated zones: The control tower and the university building.

The two areas were interconnected via fibre. Artist 64 and Artist 32 mainframes at both positi

Jordan - PR lighting fixtures have been found lighting up many events around the world - but never before have they been involved in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) 'cage fighting'.

This is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles.

Over in Jordan, Amman-based R.B. Live Productions, the PR Lighting distributors, have been building ringside ground support trusses for Cage Warriors, an international association performing their art in more than five countries, with live television broadcast.

According to R.B. owner / operations manager, Emad Al Rabadi, "Generic and FX lighting are among the most important elements of the show, especially for the fighters' entrance and the Red / Blue colour changing

USA - At the LDI Show in Orlando, LumenRadio honoured TMB, their North American and UK distributor, with their CRMX distributor of the quarter award for Q2/2011. During the quarter TMB significantly increased sales and also produced excellent training videos and sales presentations for the entire CRMX product range, says the company. Feedback from customers and end-users also rated pre- and post-sales support from TMB's Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and London offices as "excellent".

TMB, together with specifiers, lighting designers, and other lighting professionals, has completed or initiated many exciting wireless CRMX projects during the quarter. The festival season was particularly busy with such noteworthy examples as Coachella in California, the Main Stage at Big Chill and the Live & 4Music stages at the Virgin Festival, both in the UK.

The Gold Trophy for CRM

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