Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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USA - Zorro the musical, a new production based which features an impressive display of flamenco dancing, sword-fighting and acrobatics, was lit by Ben Ormerod who has worked extensively in theatre and opera.

"I began with the simple plan that the show should look unlike any musical that I had seen before. My background is mainly focused on classical theatre and dance and ballet. As soon as I read the script and the novel that the script was based on, it was clear to me that the show was going to need a tungsten look."

"We had a limited space on the rig so I knew a generic rig wouldn't do. Everything had to move to get the most out of the space we had. That included the tungsten source and I knew the only moving tungsten unit for this was the MAC TW1."

"The show needed to have a strong Californian sunlight as this was a very important element, and yo

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USA - The closing event for the Winter Music Conference in Miami, Florida, celebrated its 10th anniversary with a two day - and night - event in Miami's Bicentennial Park. With more than 150 electronic music artists, DJs, and producers on ten stages and over 40,000 music fans from around the world in attendance, UMF is billed as the largest music festival of its kind in the US.

Designer Stephen Lieberman, president of SJ Lighting, has been lighting the UMF since its inception and certainly had his hands full with the ten-year anniversary where five stages needed a lot of production support. "The stage designs are not typically designed around specific equipment," comments Lieberman. "In a festival environment, there are basic needs and requirements that need to get fulfilled. We chose gear that suits those needs, and then we tried to put some 'bells and whistles'

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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New Zealand - Allen & Heath's iDR digital processing mixer has been installed in a new Government-funded facility in Auckland, designed and built to encourage development of New Zealand's growing new media industry.

Nextspace is the result of a collaboration between the New Zealand government and internationally-successful 3D graphics and digital asset management company, Right Hemisphere. The partnership gives organisations access to this new technology platform and the opportunity to develop new business.

The facilities include an auditorium and motion tracking laboratory, a training room equipped with real-time 3D graphics systems, visitor workspaces to support R&D developments, meeting rooms with advanced video conferencing facilities, and deluxe break-out areas. Jansen Professional Audio & Lighting was appointed to design and fit the AV aspects of the installation.

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World - Although it is not unknown for hugely successful bands to have their own aircraft in which to tour the globe, it is highly unusual for the band's lead singer to be the pilot. Yet this is the case with evergreen hard rockers Iron Maiden and, as they begin another major tour, the ultra-compact size of monitor engineer Steve 'Gonzo' Smith's DiGiCo D5 console means that there is plenty of room on board for it to travel with him.

Touring in a Boeing 757 might seem like the height of rock star cool but, as the band's Somewhere Back In Time tour rolls through India, the Americas and Europe, there are certain drawbacks. A major one is that when you are carrying not only the band and 50-strong crew, but also an entire 12 tonne production suitable for venues holding up to 50,000 people, space is at an absolute premium.Before joining the Maiden crew, Gonzo worked with reggae

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Denmark - Two Crazy Daisy nightclubs in Denmark, Crazy Daisy Viborg and Crazy Daisy Skive, have recently been refitted with some of the newest Martin Professional lighting gear including bright and economical smartMACs inside and short-throw Exterior 200 LEDs outside, along with other Martin equipment.

Arguably the most popular night venues in the country - there are 20 across Denmark - Martin Professional gear is standard in all Crazy Daisys, part of the NOX Network's chain of 55 nightclubs countrywide. Martin lighting gear is supplied to Crazy Daisy directly by Martin Scandinavia with lighting design by Martin Scandinavia's Frank Ovesen.

Each Crazy Daisy club functions as an independent discotheque, each venue distinct and customized to fit the personality of the city it calls home. This is particularly important in provincial towns like Viborg and Skive says Henrik Karlsen,

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South Africa - Johannesburg-based DWR Distribution has been appointed as the official South African distributor for ArKaos, the Belgium-based digital media control technology and software provider.

This deal was cemented recently when DWR's technical manager Nic Britz visited the ProLight&Sound trade show in Frankfurt, and was introduced to the ArKaos team via Avolites, who also have a close working relationship with them.

DWR's MD Duncan Riley says: "With the ever increasing convergence between the visual mediums of lighting and video for a myriad of live events, it was essential for us to offer a good quality, medium-priced digital media server solution with plenty of flexible control options."

(Jim Evans)

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China - Beijing has become a hot spot for avant-garde architecture as the world pays more attention to the city's building boom. Many of the world's great architects have bold structures sprouting all over the city, with such descriptive nicknames as the bird's nest, twisted doughnut and eggshell. Even surrounded by such ultra-modern marvels, the New Poly Plaza in Beijing stands tall as a bold landmark building. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), it is recognized as one of the most innovative architectural designs in the world. The building incorporates 24 stories of office space built around a 90m tall atrium enclosed by the world's largest cable-net-supported glass wall.

The challenge for lighting designers was to enhance the magnificence of the building and ensure it would stand out as a distinctive addition to the city's nighttime landscape, while combining tradit

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Another interesting and fascinating week in our industries. As many head for Dubai and the PALME exhibition, or to the A.C. North event which begins in Leeds today, the big news in Europe is that Lawo, an undoubted pioneer in the world of digital audio for broadcast, has acquired a majority shareholding in Innovason - a digital pioneer in the live sound sector. A meeting of minds and technologies that will no doubt give birth to some serious developments in the ever-changing digital world we all now work in.

Congratulations to Martin Audio's long-serving finance director, Anthony Taylor who has been appointed to the role of joint managing director with immediate effect. "The move, warmly welcomed by Martin Audio's parent company Loud Technologies, is seen as strategic succession planning, although current CEO and managing director David Bissett-Powell, who recommended the appointm

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UK - A.C. Lighting Ltd has confirmed that it is now an approved reseller for the sale of used Martin Professional MAC moving yoke fixtures.

Under the arrangement, Martin Professional UK will use A.C.'s in-house service department and used equipment sales team to supply the industry with approved second hand MAC fixtures originating from trade-ins as customers upgrade to newer models.

As one of Martin's major UK dealers, the partnership means A.C. Lighting can now offer customers the complete package of new and used equipment, servicing and repairs for the MAC range of leading moving heads, says the company.

A.C. Lighting will provide a complete list of all equipment available on the company's Bargain Stock list on its website, which is updated on a daily basis.

A.C. Lighting's northern sales director, Jonathan Walters, commented, "We're very pleased to be approved by

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UK - Despite the issues that have been making the headlines concerning the opening of Heathrow's new Terminal 5, there is still much to be proud of in the building, including a major design and installation project recently completed for World Duty Free by Bradford-based audio specialists Pro Audio Systems. The contract, awarded against stiff national competition, was to advise World Duty Free on the best and most innovative way to operate a fully integrated sound and visual media marketing package throughout their stores.

To this end, Pro Audio Systems created an integrated network of audio systems in 13 zones across seven World Duty Free stores throughout the terminal. A total of 11 Lab.gruppen fP 2600 power amplifiers were used to drive the Meyer loudspeaker system with processing from Klark Teknik.

Pro Audio Systems managing director, Brian Lumb explained why he selected L

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Czech Republic - Trussing manufacturer Milos staged a successful two-day international technical workshop to highlight its key products and services, and its facility near Prague.

It was attended by 50 people who travelled from across Europe, including Italy, Sweden, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Croatia, Slovenia, Spain and Belarus among others.

The event included a demonstration of building the new Milos MR5 Roof system - its largest roof product to date - which has been specially designed to cater for indoor and outdoor events needing substantial stages with plenty of space and weight-loading.

A team from hoist manufacturers Columbus McKinnon in the US presented a seminar on CM Lodestar Motors. This featured a selection of standard Lodestar hoists and a hands-on demonstration of how they work with the MR5 system, illustrating the safe use of hoists in this and other situation

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USA - Clockaudio's sturdy boundary-level microphones have proved themselves in the ultimate 'hostile' environment, reports Dick Trump of Triad AV, surviving determined investigation by several bonobos at one of North America's largest great ape facilities.

Triad AV was commissioned to provide a two-way communications interface between bonobos and researchers at a sanctuary and study centre dedicated to the great apes. The objective was to facilitate communication through the heavy glass of the bonobos enclosures, which called for the installation of boundary-layer microphones in the apes' space.

Sometimes referred to as the Pygmy Chimpanzee, the Bonobo is the closest relative species to humans, with DNA 98% identical to our own. Strong, dextrous and curious, the bonobos made short work of Triad AV's first microphone installation, ripping off the traditional grille and pulling

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UK - The first exhibitors have already committed to next year's Showlight which takes place at BBC Scotland's headquarters in Glasgow, from 16-19 May 2009. Martin Professional, the main sponsor for the event, was first to sign up, followed by ETC, Gerriets, MA Lighting, Pixel Range, Rainbow Colour Changers, Robe UK, Robert Juliat and Selecon Europe.

Mark Ravenhill, vice-president for television and theatre lighting at Martin Professional, says, "Showlight has emerged as one of the most important events for lighting professionals, an invaluable asset to the ongoing development of the industry. It is exceptionally fruitful for us as it provides the opportunity for real two-way dialogue."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Large-format projection specialists E/T/C London created spectacular 90m wide images and produced the soundtrack for a special large scale outdoor event to launch the new Sunderland Aquatic Centre, the North East's first Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Working closely with show producers Magnetic Events, and soundscape producer Karen Monid, E/T/C's Ross Ashton interpreted an original storyboard by Magnetic's Robin Morley to create a 15-minute collage of images based on aquatic themes, interwoven with water-related elements from the City's past and present, with "the swimmer" at its core.

The show, titled A Poem To Sunderland, took an abstract, non-narrative format and the projections were beamed onto the side of the futuristic cylindrical building (designed by The Red Box Design Group) located adjacent to the City's Stadium of Light football ground.

E/T/C

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UK - At London's Royal Opera House, Britannia Row Productions' Outline Butterfly was the front-of-house system for sound reinforcement for the BAFTA ceremony, the UKequivalent of the Oscars, awarded annually to personalities from the cinema and television world since 1947.

To ensure audio coverage for the audience, 20 Outline Butterfly C.D.H. 483 Hi-Packs and four Subtech 218 were flown (respectively ten and two per side), the latter for the ultra-low frequencies. Six more Butterfly C.D.H. 483 were used as ground-stacked systems.

The entire system was controlled by a Dolby Lake processor and powered by Outline's new T Nine digital power amplifiers (2 x 4800W on 2 Ohms). The FOH engineer for the event was Derrick Zeiba.

(Jim Evans)

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France - French digital mixing console manufacturer, Innovason and German pro audio company Lawo have announced that Lawo has acquired a majority shareholding in Innovason. Lawo is an internationally renowned provider of high-end digital mixing consoles and routing systems to the broadcast industry. The move officially terminates the receivership period for Innovason and provides a strong partner for future development, says a joint statement.

According to Innovason sales and marketing director, Xavier Pion, the arrangement is a perfect fit for both companies. "It's no secret that we had been looking for a development partner for some time. We explored a number of possibilities, but none seemed to be quite the match we were looking for until Philipp Lawo expressed an interest," stated Pion.

"As a leading manufacturer of high-end digital broadcast consoles, Lawo'

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Iceland - The Café Paris at the Kringlan shopping mall, a modern shopping and recreational centre situated close to Reykjavik City Theatre has a strong focus on providing a quality music environment for its clientele as well as outstanding coffee and hot chocolate.

"Owner Grétar Ingi Berndsen knows a lot about good audio," said Gudmundur Finnsson of Pfaff, Iceland who installed the audio. Berndsen is now carefully building the Café Paris brand of music bars. "The downtown site has been open for two years and is well used," said Gudmundur, "This new bar at Kringlan uses the exact same system based on Ci80 loudspeakers with a Ci7 subwoofer. The café has its own computer based music playback system, and visiting DJs obviously bring their input devices with them. That's one of the reasons Berndsen was attracted to d&b, the level o

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UK - The Association of British Theatre Technician's ABTT Theatre Show is gearing up to celebrate its 30th birthday in London's Royal Horticultural Halls, 11-12 June 2008.

Many new innovations on the lighting front will be showcased this year with an emphasis on energy efficiency in line with the Theatres Trust conference on sustainable theatres to be held on 10 June.

Selecon will showcase its new 80V Power Supply with direct DMX control.

ETC will highlight products that offer low cost of ownership and sustainable solutions. PRG Europe will highlight its products and services.

Zero 88 will demonstrate its new version 3 software for its Leap Frog 48 & 96 consoles. Its Jester ML series will be showcased.

Stage Electrics will premiere the QMaxz 575 moving head, which offers cost effectivity and high performance as the latest addition to its expansive rental fleet, says the

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UK - A new web based music production school that enables musicians of all abilities to develop their skills has been launched. Sonicacademy.com is a new web portal for anyone interested in music technology, particularly in the use of software-driven music production and DJ skills.

Providing support for aspiring musicians, DJ's and producers, SonicAcademy.com offers easy-to-use and step-by-step web based video tutorials and resources. The site also includes features, news and reviews as well as an online community where people can meet, learn and share knowledge with other music enthusiasts. The site is supported and endorsed by some of the world's leading manufacturers of music technology hardware and software and other key industry players including: Pioneer, M-Audio, Vestax, Steinberg, Ableton and the Ministry of Sound.

According to SonicAcademy founder, Kevin Traynor, &quo

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USA - Zaxcom reports that its TRX900 wireless microphone systems are being used for the first time on Broadway in the musical Sunday in the Park With George, showing at the Roundabout Theatre Company's Studio 54 in New York. On stage now through 15 June, this is the American premiere of the new, five-time Olivier Award-winning production of the Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine musical.

New Jersey-based Masque Sound - a company first started in 1936 by three Broadway stagehands - is handling the audio production for the musical. Masque Sound is sub-hiring the Zaxcom systems from UK-based Orbital Sound, which selected and successfully used the TRX900 systems during the London debut of the same musical at a West End theatre in 2007. Working closely together, Masque Sound and Orbital Sound have deployed the Zaxcom units to support 16 audio tracks - two from the lead characte

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USA - Technomad Associates, LLC reports that San Mateo Community College District in California has standardized on Technomad weatherproof loudspeakers on its three Bay Area campuses. Skyline College in San Bruno; Cañada College in Redwood City; and the College of San Mateo are home to multiple indoor and outdoor venues now using Technomad Vienna 16 and Noho C loudspeakers for live sports and event coverage, with additional venues to follow as the district moves closer to completing a multi-year, multi-venue upgrade project that covers everything from field surfaces to bleachers to PA systems.

"This is an ongoing project with one facility upgrade after another, and we have found the Technomad loudspeakers to be highly versatile with excellent audio quality both indoors and outdoors," said Jim Petromilli, director of instructional technology at the San Mateo Community

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Chile - Widely considered to be the most important music event in Latin America, the Vina del Mar International Song Festival drew capacity crowds this year to the Quinta Vergara Amphitheatre to hear dozens of performers, including Shure endorser Miguel Bosé. Marking three decades as a popular entertainer at this, the 49th annual engagement of the festival, Bosé took to the stage using a UHF-R Wireless System (UR2/Beta 58) delivered to the site by Amexco, the Shure distributor in Chile.

One of many performers relying upon Shure products at the event, Bosé was joined onstage by a legion of other crowd favourites, including Calle 13 (UR2/SM58), Marco Antonio Solis (UR2/KSM9), Chayanne (UR2/KSM9), and Peter Frampton (SM58 wired).

The event was televised live, by Santiago, Chile based Canal 13. "The festival required the use of more than 50 wireles

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USA - Washington Pro Systems recently installed two Iconyx IC16 Digitally Steerable Array Systems in the premier conference auditorium of a major government agency. "We're not allowed to tell you which agency," says Greg Lukens of Washington Pro. "However, I can report that they were very impressed with the improvements we were able to bring to this 400 seat auditorium. The previous system had problems with both sound quality and gain before feedback. We resolved both issues with a Midas console, a Dolby Lake signal processor, and the Iconyx arrays from Renkus-Heinz.

"This installation is one of those we dream of, where the customer wanted and paid for close attention to every system detail. When Brian Grant and I brought our client into the auditorium to hear the new system for the first time, it sounded so natural that she told us 'I can hear everything ver

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USA - Minnesota-based pro audio manufacturer Electro-Voice is boosting the fundraising success of its Musicians for Minneapolis: 57 Songs for the I-35W Bridge Disaster Relief Effort CD release with a celebrity guitar auction on Ebay, running 29 April - 9 May. Guitars from legendary artists including Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, and Dick Dale are available.

This auction is being held to raise money for the families of those who were either wounded or lost their lives on the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 2007. All proceeds from the sale of these instruments will be donated to Minnesota Helps: Bridge Disaster Fund.

(Jim Evans)

  1. PRG inhabits new territory
  2. LeAnn Rimes Under The Moonlight with JBL
  3. Bandit lights university campaign launch
  4. Erikson to distribute Ableton in Canada
  5. Digital Lighting University comes to London
  6. Expert goes to college in Singapore
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