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14 March 2016

The only awards exclusively dedicated to lighting designers, the Knight of Illumination Awards are the result of an idea launched by Clay Paky and organised by the Italian firm in collaboration with STLD and ALD. The four awards categories are for Theatre, TV, Rock and a Lifetime Recognition award.

Enrico Caironi said: "We are delighted to offer our support to this established industry charity that helps Production Services Association members and their families at times of crisis."

PSA Welfare & Benevolent Fund Chairman Mike Lowe

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14 March 2016

The festival organisers chose Fa Musique, first XL8 owner in France, to provide sound reinforcement systems for both stages. Richard Ferriday (Midas brand development manager) made the journey to La Rochelle to assist the French team and provide technical support.

Two XL8s for FOH and monitors were set up for the main stage and a further system was used for the Grand Théâtre stage, where Jean Marandet from EVI Audio France handled technical support. The fourth system was installed in a backstage hospitality suite where visiting engineers could familiarise themselves with the control centre and record their settings before

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14 March 2016

A small company with six employees, Santiago Perez Sonido Professional has been in the business of sound and lighting for the past five years. Focused mainly on small to mid-sized festivals and corporate events, Perez's shop now includes Adamson compact sized Line-Arrays, JBL's monitors, Yamaha digital boards, a Soundcraft analogue board, and a small inventory of moving lights.

Perez decided on Adamson after the frequent use of a similar Adamson SpekTrix set-up from a local Adamson partner, Producciones Carlos Vallejo.

Abba Trading technical director Daniel Fernandez fl

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14 March 2016

Simon Wilkinson used one for the Fringe First Award-winning production Slick at the Traverse Theatre, a show produced by Vox Motus in which actors' heads are superimposed on small puppet bodies. "We were lucky to be in touch with Jeremy Roberts, ETC's associate regional manager for UK and Ireland, who told us about the Ion and lent us one to try out during the show's development," he says. "I don't think I could have produced a show this technically complicated within the resources available without the Ion."

Adrian Searle, technical manager for Stage Electrics reports that the two Ions they rented to the Assembly Rooms were extremely well received. "In co-operation with ETC, we held a training day at the end o

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14 March 2016

Featured acts included the Capoeira Knights from Brazil, the Zawose Family from Tanzania, Children of the Khmer from Cambodia and Hemingway's Havana from Cuba. The shows proved a runaway success with The World@St George's West ultimately winning the Jack Tinker Spirit of the Fringe venue award.

As this was a purely voluntary affair, Real Wor

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14 March 2016

The event was a celebration of BT's sponsorship of music and sport and featured the Sugababes performing on the bow of the yacht as it sailed under Tower Bridge, signifying BT's sponsorship of the 2008 Isle of Wight Festival. The sporting side was represented by the naming of the BT Open 60 yacht, The Artimis Transat, crewed by Dame Ellen Macarthur, Globe Vendee participant Seb Josse and BT Extreme 40 Skipper Nick Moloney. The naming was held 14 days prior to the yacht's maiden race; a solo transatlantic crossing.

TAO Productions produced the event, providing staging, lighting, sound and artists, with roles including liaising

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14 March 2016

During the programme, the CWA 25 regulation was presented by one of the workgroup members, Gert Jan Brouwer of Frontline Rigging. For more than two years, an international group of entertainment industry experts have worked on the European code of practice for stage machinery and load bearing structures, which is officially titled Lifting and load-bearing equipment for stages and other production areas within the entertainment industry.

The CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) will be the first stage in the process to build a Europe-wide consensus community. The initial objective of the workshop will be to make an inventory of standards and standard-like documents, as well as l

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14 March 2016

The main system comprises two hangs of 14 Milo line array loudspeakers each, augmented by two side-fill arrays of 10 more Milo boxes each and several UPA-1P loudspeakers for front-fill. Forty-eight 700-HP subwoofers cover the low frequency and two towers of ten Mica line array loudspeakers each serve as delays.

"Paul's very much a live rock and roll player, and he approaches the songs from a very straightforwa

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14 March 2016

Allen & Heath, Avolites, ETC, Le Maitre, Lee, MA Lighting, Martin, Pulsar, RCF, Roland, Rosco, Selecon, Sennheiser, Strand, Yamaha & Zero 88 will be exhibiting their latest products, offering demonstrations and providing product advice.

Other products on display include Qmaxz Moving Lights, the Xenonspot follow spot, Altair wireless intercom system, Apollo Right Arm and an array of products from Edirol. PLASA will be joining the event this year. PLASA and representatives will be there to answer questions and to discuss the benefits of membership.

New to this year's show are three Training Taster Sessions, which aim to give an insight into the industry training Stage Electrics offers. Training sessions include Worki

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14 March 2016

Founded in 1975 by industry veteran Joe Martin, JMS Marketing is an established service-oriented rep firm. JMS will represent Community in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and most of Texas, with Martin based in the company's main offices in Austin, and sales Representatives Mick Anderson, John McDowell, Brad Sellars and Brian Hays covering the field.

"We're very pleased to welcome JMS Marketing as our new sales representative," remarked Rod Falconer, Community's regional manager in the Western US and Canada. "Their reputation as an established and accomplished sales team is a perfect fit with Community's continued growth and expansion as an industry leader."

Joe Martin

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14 March 2016

"The church is undergoing a transformation to meet the needs of a media savvy generation," says Michael Drainer of Drainer Albright & Associates. "The iLive system has exceeded CBC's expectations and has been the perfect solution because of its superior user friendliness, flexibility, and functionality."

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14 March 2016

Located on the Kei Myung University's Seongseo campus in Daegu, the Kei Myung Artcenter has a 1900-capacity auditorium, acting principally as a music and performing arts student facility, as well as hosting a variety of medium and large-scale visiting productions. Involving a total investment of some US $80m, the project commenced in January 2005, and has been operational since February this year.

Following the gala opening, the first major production will be the Korean musical The Last Empress, featuring lyrics by In Ja Yang, music by Hui Gap Kim, and sound design by the celebrated local sound director, Ki Young Kim. The musical Mamma Mia! is also scheduled to run towa

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14 March 2016

The show is renowned for its visuals - created by Adam Smith and stored and played back via a Catalyst digital media server.

Digital media specialists Projected Image Digital (PID) spoke to the Chemical Bros 2008 tour show programmer Matthew Button about his media server of choice. He sought a lightweight, fully portable solution for visuals storage and playback. Both he and lighting tech Toby Dennis invested in Mac Book Pros to which they fitted the latest 32Gb Mtron 2.5 inch solid state hard drives and installed the latest version of Catalyst. The Mtron is turbo-charged to give super-quick video access time.

The visuals show was originally programmed on a

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14 March 2016

A total of 408 teams of six took part, with each team member running 1.7 miles. The Prism Sound team gave themselves the challenge of finishing in the top half of the field and they succeeded with a position of 171 and a time of 1:15:43, which averages out at just under 7.5 minutes per mile.

Prism Sound's sales and marketing manager Jody Thorne says: "We were really pleased with our time and are looking forward to bettering it next year. Our thanks go to everyone who sponsored us - and to Prism Sound for paying our registration fees."

The recipients of the

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14 March 2016

Stage Electrics has supplied a selection of moving lights to the production including 14 Vari-Lite VL1000TS Units and six Martin Professional MAC TW1 80v Units. A further 100+ generic lanterns have been provided along with control from a Strand 520I Console. The lighting designer is Jason Taylor who is joined by programmer John Tapste

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14 March 2016

Joe's autobiography is an interesting and amusing account of life as an electrical engineer, lighting equipment innovator and author. His story takes us through his childhood in London during the Second World War, his training as a bound apprentice, followed by an account of his time spent in North Africa during his National Service in the 1950s.

Most significantly, he describes his life-long experiences as a designer of entertainment lighting equipment for Mole Richardson, Berkey Colortran, Rank Strand and Lee Lighting.

Joe's easy-flowing, light-hearted style provides us with a look behind the lights of fi

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14 March 2016

"The show was a bit like live TV with eight acts performing a couple of songs each during the evening without any change over time at all really. Not many digital consoles can cope with that type of challenge but the Si3 worked really well. I found that you can use so many different functions at the same time to be very useful. Having control of EQ, dynamics, bus sends and effects without having to reassign anything was great."

The Si3 is Soundcraft's latest 'mid range' addition to its growing digital family. It follows the Studer Vista 5 SR (Tours including:

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14 March 2016

Founded in 1966 by Stephen Arlen, then managing director of Sadler's Wells Opera, and Margaret 'Percy' Harris, then the company's resident designer, the course was first known as the Sadler's Well Design Course. The course subsequently became the Theatre Design Course of the English National Opera until 1981, and after some time at the Riverside Studios, the Almeida Theatre and the Royal National Theatre Studio, the course acquired the name Motley and took up residence at its present home, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

Every year the course selects up to 12 postgraduate-level students who wish to specialise in theatre design. The one-year course is project based, featuring five or

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14 March 2016

Featuring tank and armoured vehicle displays, simulated combat and occasional performances by the Light Cavalry Band, the new visitor attraction stages up to three shows a day in the April to September season. For the audience in the public viewing area, EV's weatherproof SX300 and ZX1 loudspeakers deliver a realistic, almost interactive sound experience.

Simon White, installation manager for CPS, has been involv

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14 March 2016

Reading and Leeds festivals take place over the three-day August bank holiday weekend. All the acts that play at one site perform at the other on a different day of the weekend. And while the acts playing on the Festival Republic, BBC Introducing and Alternative stages may not have quite the global pulling-power of those on the biggest stages, the sheer amount of different performers make them an essential stopping point for festival goers.

At both Reading and Leeds sites ESS sup

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14 March 2016

The University of Derby approached A.C. Rigging for a solution to improve students' hands-on experience in this specialised field of entertainment technology.

Specified by A.C. Rigging sales executive, Paul Hadfield, the university opted for a powered rigging system to add to its existing manual version. Hadfield states, "It was felt that the electrical system would better equip students with the experience and knowledge current in today's market, which they would ultimately be entering into. The University of Derby is renowned for providing highly qualified and highly sought after graduates to our industry and A.C. is proud to be associated with a

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14 March 2016

The Green issues will be debated by a panel of speakers that includes Fred Foster, CEO of ETC; at the other end of the spectrum Alex Wardle of Arup venue consulting will be taking a backward look to stage lighting in 1750, when the bleached beeswax candle was cutting edge, as he discusses how he re-created the feel of a candle-lit stage without actually using a naked flame.

The venue for 2009's Showlight is BBC Scotland's new state of the art headquarters, which boasts the latest broadcast technology. It is the biggest TV recording space to be bu

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14 March 2016

Southern operations manager Chris Hollands says: "AP's remit on this occasion was to look after the public and we had a total of 80 staff on site to do that. We were also working with another company - the stars often bring their own staff with them - so we had to liaise with them. We're happy to work with anyone as long as they'll work with us and these guys were brilliant. They gave us all the information we needed and we passed our info to them, so everything went very smoothly."

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Robe's Ecuadorian distributor Prisma, also based in Quito, worked with several other companies to supply the technology needed for La Alameda's new-look water park, which has now been revitalised with a waterscreen and nightly lightshow designed by Alberto Borja.

The screen is 12m wide and 6m high. Three 20-minute multimedia shows run every Friday and Saturday night and the waterscreen is also used for special events.

A central control room is located in the middle of the fountains with control for all the technical elements which include water pumps and valves, movi