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UK - Colour Sound Experiment supplied lighting for punk duo Slaves most recent tour which culminated in a highly animated show at Brixton Academy in London, with lighting created by Francis Clegg part of design collective MIRRAD.

Francis came to the table with a scheme to match the energy and ebullience of the band's live shows.

Brixton was the biggest venue on the tour, the showcase gig and a huge deal for the rising star band, so the lighting was based on this space, but the rig also had to be adaptable and scale-able to fit all the other venues which included a round of academies and still look the business.

Says Colour Sound's H (Haydn Cruickshank), "Francis is very talented, he has an excellent eye for aesthetics and a fantastic feel for music. All his designs are fresh and interesting, and it was a great pleasure to be the supplier on the different legs of this o

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USA - When a Magnet High School for the performing arts in the San Francisco Bay area needed to upgrade its theatre it called on DSC Design of Novato, California to design an upgraded lighting system. DSC Design specified an all-LED lighting design and a new dot2 XL-F lighting console from MA Lighting.

DSC Design handled design and technical management for the high school's theatre upgrade, as well as programming classes for students and faculty. The theatre is a key component in students' performing arts studies: It is used for dramatic and musical theatre productions, dance, the orchestra and jazz band.

Part of MA Lighting's new range of compact dot2 consoles, the dot2 XL-F is durable and lightweight with intuitive operation. It includes a full programming section, master playback section, 14 fader playbacks and 28 individual playback buttons.

"The dot2's easy learni

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Ireland - Clay Paky SuperSharpys transformed Dublin's city-centre sculpture, the Spire, into a 398ft lightsaber to celebrate the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

As the film opened in Ireland's capital, the SuperSharpys' intensely precise beams, which are three times brighter than the previous Sharpy, illuminated the entire length of the O'Connell Street structure in vibrant blue to emulate the Jedi weapon.

Commissioned by Disney, Tom Rohan of event production house Eventco conceptualised the installation alongside lighting designers Mick Murray and Matthew Cregan. The team specified 16 SuperSharpys from Ciaran Tallon at Psi Dublin for the ambitious project, which received national press attention and brought unprecedented crowds to the monument with thousands sharing photographs across social media.

"Following our installation at the Spire for the Inte

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UK - Middlesex University in London boasts a strong performing arts department and was eager to upgrade both its Ravensfield Theatre and Dance Studio space. Whilst state-of-the-art equipment was a necessity, so was the need to be environmentally-friendly, with the university determined to be as green as possible and change their previous lighting equipment to LED only. As a result, they approached White Light to purchase the perfect set-up.

Bruce Allen is technical production manager at Middlesex University and oversaw the upgrade of both spaces. He comments, "As this was quite a significant investment, we needed to ensure that the equipment we purchased not only fulfilled our immediate aims but would also be sustainable for the long-term.

"The main priority of the upgrade was to ensure that all of the equipment purchased was as environmentally-friendly as possible. We are

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France Over 300 Robe BMFL fixtures were sold to the French market in the few months since the formation of Robe's new French subsidiary, Robe Lighting France SAS.

The BMFL was launched in autumn 2014, by which time French lighting professionals were ready to specify and keen to use the high-powered multi-purpose luminaire, and as soon as the new company was established, the business could 'hit-the-ground-running'.

"BMFL sales far exceeded our initial annual expectations and we steamed past those first targets in just six months," commented a delighted Bruno Garros, CEO of Robe Lighting France, who added that - given that the new company was formed just a few months after the launch of Robe's flagship moving light. "We didn't expect to catch up with some of the other European countries quite so fast."

The ball started rolling in May 2015 with a purchase of 46 x BMFL Spo

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USA - The Observatory North Park in San Diego has quickly gained recognition for both the eclectic assortment of well-known and up-and-coming bands that it hosts as well as the quality of their sound reinforcement. The new Adamson S10 line array system was recently designed and installed by Sound Image, located in nearby Escondido, CA.

The Observatory North Park is located in a building that opened as a movie theatre in 1929 and has continued to be an entertainment venue since then. The current owners took over the 1200-capacity space in 2015.

"The previous owners had a similar idea with the room but failed," explains Garrett Wysocki, audio manager at The Observatory. "The sound system they had in here was seriously under powered. Customers and bands were constantly complaining. One of the first things we did was start checking out reputable systems that would provide the

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USA - Bubbas 33 is a chain of family-friendly sports restaurants known for made-from-scratch pizza and fresh-ground burgers. Its restaurants feature spaces designed for everything from after-work happy-hour to little-league victory celebrations.

The walls of Bubbas 33 restaurants are lined with "more TVs than tables" playing music videos, sports games and other video entertainment. Early Bubbas 33 locations used surface-mount loudspeakers between the TVs. To free up wall space for additional TVs, newer Bubbas 33 restaurants use ceiling loudspeakers.

The chain's first ceiling loudspeaker systems were 70-volt designs provided by No Static Pro Audio of Burbank, California. Although the owners were satisfied with these systems, they asked Eugene Gordon of No Static to "step it up a notch" for Bubbas 33's Colorado Springs location.

Gordon offered to retrofit the Colorado Sp

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Singapore - It has become tradition to celebrate New Year 's Eve at the Marina Bay in Singapore - in fact, each year it attracts 100,000 people to this festivity. For 11 years it has been Esplanade's job, together with the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore, to organise and facilitate this massive event - last year alone it included eight minutes of firework displays and 20,000 "wishing spheres" along the river. Each sphere was signed by several people during previous months, with messages expressing wishes and hope to the upcoming year.

The organisers tasked local rental company Showtech Communications to provide a solution in integrating the existing lighting installations surrounding the bay with all the extra equipment for these celebrations. In total, Showtech used 48 Robe fixtures, 45 Clay Paky plus 300 Led fixtures to cover the whole area.

Under the guidance

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UK - Allen & Heath's dLive digital mixing system was selected to manage FOH duties for the European premiere of Pokémon Symphonic Evolutions presented by Princeton Entertainment and U-Live, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at the Eventim Apollo Hammersmith in London.

Having used a similar set up involving an iLive system for The Who's Classical Quadrophenia production, FOH engineer, Ian Barfoot, decided to try out the new dLive system.

"The brief was to create a big film score soundtrack feel to the production, so close micing of all the instruments was the order of the day. The channel count was never going to be small! Around 90 microphones were used," explains Barfoot. "The production also required the cleanest, most natural sound possible, so the choice of mixing console is paramount for me. For a long time, I have been a great

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USA - La Banda, the new contest to find singers for the next Latino boy band, just wrapped its first season on Univision wowing audiences with the talent of young competitors from across Latin America. Clay Paky Mythos and Sharpy lighting fixtures amped up the excitement of the live show.

La Banda was created by Simon Cowell and produced by Ricky Martin. Contestants hailed from South America, Central America, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. The two-hour, seven-week elimination competition featured guest performances by top Latino entertainers. The five winning contestants will form the new band called CNCO, which landed recording contracts with Cowell's Syco Music and Sony Music Latin.

"The show had many set changes between acts that usually had to be completed within a minute of video tape packages to introduce a performance that gaffer Don Winters wo

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Puerto Rico - Lighting designer Toni Fernandez-Medina enhanced the magic of by Mary Poppins recently in a theatrical production at San Juan's Centro de Bellas Artes Santurce calling on the versatility and gobo capabilities of the Rogue R2 Spot moving LED fixture from Chauvet Professional. Deploying 10 of the fixtures, which were supplied by Musique Xpress, she flew two units on the first electric pole, four in between the second and third electric, and four between the third and fourth electric.

Fernandez-Medina selected the Rogues for the Mary Poppins performance, which was produced by PBS Productions, after consulting with Musique Xpress. "I asked Mircord, one of the Musique Xpress technicians, if he could give me a demonstration of the different moving fixtures they have. After seeing their variety of fixtures, I decided the Rogues were the right ones for Mary

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UK - Opening this week at The Playhouse Theatre in London's West End, The End of Longing marks the playwriting debut of Friends star Matthew Perry, who also takes on the lead role. The play is set in modern-day Los Angeles and follows the story of four people searching for meaning as they enter their forties. White Light was asked to provide the lighting for the production.

The show is being lit by Lucy Carter, whose previous lighting design credits include Love and Money (The Old Vic), Blurred Lines (The National Theatre) and numerous credits with The Royal Ballet. She comments, "In order to create the lighting design for The End of Longing, I worked closely with the set designer Anna Fleischle. She was really inspired by the photography of Edward Hopper, who captures this notion of somebody looking from the outside in. Similarly, I am very

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USA - Bandit Lites recently added several grandMA 2 consoles, grandMA 2 Lites and grandMA2 NPUs to their touring inventory as spring tours gear up and prepare to load out. North American distributer A.C.T. Lighting facilitated the purchase.

"Since the Grand MA Line of consoles continues to lead the pack in lighting control, I'm excited to add more to our inventory," said director of technical services Jake Tickle. "MA Lighting continues to pave the way we think about programming and expands the possibilities of creativity."

With 4,096 parameters and 15 motorized executor faders, the grandMA 2 Lite has become an industry staple that allows infinite possibilities for lighting designers and programmers while remaining cost effective.

Country music sensation Billy Currington's Summer Forever tour will feature the new consoles with lighting designer Chris Shrom while Mark B

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South Africa - Distributors for Harman Professional, Wild & Marr will be hosting JBL certified VTX Line Array Training that will take place on 1-2 March 2016. This will be held at MGG Productions, Marlboro, Johannesburg.

The course is the first JBL Certified VTX Training event to be held in South Africa. It will be hosted by Harman senior application engineer for tour sound, Ed Jackson. The course will cover in-depth line array theory and practical hands-on use of JBL VTX Array and Crown HD V-Racks. This provides a good opportunity for all attendees to rig the equipment and to listen to it when it is flown.

Sessions are open to audio industry professionals on a reservation basis, with preference shown to VTX or Vertec system owners.

All attendees must bring a laptop running Windows, with Performance Manager installed and operating before class commences.

Among the

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USA - To say that Fetty Wap's career has taken off like a rocket since he burst on the music scene in February 2014 is an understatement. In the history of popular music, only two artists have seen their first three singles occupy top 11 positions on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart at the same time. Fetty Wap is one; the Beatles are the other.

Unfortunately, the 24-year-old New Jersey-born rapper's magic ride came to a sudden pause in September 2015, when he suffered serious injuries in a motorcycle accident. A few months later, though, he was ready to resume touring. One of his first performances was close to home for a sold-out crowd at the SECU Arena on the campus of Towson University. Lighting designer Brett Angstadt of Round Peg Productions was ready to support the lyrical rapper's trap boom performance with a powerful light show anchored by 18 Rogue R2 Wash moving LED fixtures

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USA - A contemporary musical that follows the life of a city planner rebuilding and restarting her life in New York City, If/Then enjoyed a successful run on Broadway and has now embarked on its inaugural tour starring Tony-Award winner Idina Menzel.

In preparing the production to travel across North America, projection designers Peter Nigrini and Dan Scully were asked to reimagine the original production with a new projection and LED video component that would allow the tour to maintain the same visually dynamic impact as the original design. Working with event technology provider WorldStage, Nigrini and Scully identified and implemented a LED video design comprised of 22 FLEXCurtain HD LED screens from PixelFLEX.

"I have worked with the design team behind If/Then for a number of years, and the idea for the redesign of the tour was really driven by the wonde

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USA - On 31 December, the 2015 Capital One Orange Bowl football game took place at Sunlife Stadium between the Clemson University Tigers and the University of Oklahoma Sooners football teams. As is the case with all big, season-ending games, the halftime show at this 82nd annual event was nothing short of spectacular. In recent years, the artist roster has included Taylor Hicks with Gladys Knight, ZZ Top, The Doobie Brothers, Kool and the Gang, and Train, to name just a few. This year's headliner was the singer, songwriter and guitarist John Fogerty.

With 68,000 spectators in attendance and millions more watching on television, the halftime extravaganza required a massive sound reinforcement setup with top-notch performance. To ensure the show went off without an audible hitch, loudspeakers from Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio were placed into service.

ACT Productions o

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UK - Adlib is staging a Day of Audio Excellence at the O2 Forum venue in London's Kentish Town, on Wednesday 2 March 2016 in association with Coda Audio and DiGiCo.

The event will feature two sessions, starting at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. respectively, and is designed to illustrate the power and elegance of Coda Audio's innovative line array concepts, including the new AiRAY line array sound, together with their popular ViRAY and TiRAY systems, all of which will be working together with DiGiCo's range of flexible control solutions.

Adlib, among the UK's leading entertainment audio specialists, is a distributor for Coda's 'RAY' ranges, and - as of summer 2015 - a dealer for DiGiCo products, and both brands are supporting Adlib at this event.

The two sessions will feature presentations from Coda's Paul Ward and DiGiCo's Tim Shaxton, complete with live multi-track demos from FO

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UAE - Nicolas M Kyvernitis Electronics Ent (NMK), professional AV and communication distributor in the region, has announced the fifth year of the seminars' series under the title NMK Academy.

Each yea, the company hosts the seminars in Dubai for AV professionals who would like to improve product knowledge and try out new technology and products from various manufacturers. This year instructors from Shure, Midas, Clear-Com, Williams Sound, Mackie, Roland and Rational Acoustics will be travelling to Dubai from different parts of the world to pass on their knowledge and experience to local audio market. The seminars will be held in Dubai during the month of May, free of charge.

This year's schedule will begin with DIS on 1 - 2 May, followed by Shure on 3-4 May and Midas on 8-9 May. Next, on 10-11 May, the focus will turn to Clear-Com, followed a one-day seminar on Roland. On

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Slovenia - Cankarjev Dom is the largest - and one of the busiest - Slovenian convention, congress and culture centres. Named after Slovenian writer and social-democrat politician Ivan Cankar, it has seven venues, ranging from the largest 1500-1600 capacity Gallus Hall utilized for major concerts and high profile TV recordings, through to a rooftop club for jazz nights and lounge events.

Between all the venues and galleries, nearly 1700 cultural events are staged there annually, plus over 900 congresses, altogether attracting over 500,000 visitors to the Slovenian capital.

Cankarjev Dom also owns over 100 Robe fixtures and has just boosted its stock with the latest purchase of six Pointes and six more LEDWash 600s. This brings the current LEDWash 600 total to 18.

These join the 76 other Robe moving lights already in the house, the most recent being LEDBeam 100s, Robin 6

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USA - ArKaos MediaMaster PRO has been chosen for a unique installation in a very individual venue in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Badlands Pawn, Gold & Jewelry is an experience that opened its doors on Thanksgiving Day (26 November) 2015. Pawn shop, gold foundry, gun range, rock radio station, TV station and a tattoo shop by day, the 70,000sq.ft entertainment fortress' transforms weekly into a kicking rock venue at night.

The $2m, 32ft x 24ft concert stage has state-of-the-art lighting, a 26ft x 14ft LED screen, VIP viewing rooms, and seating for 1800, and has already hosted rock-giants KISS, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Rick Springfield, Rival Sons and Europe. More national headliners, amongst them Night Ranger, Steppenwolf, April Wine, Megadeth and Grand Funk Railroad, are lined up for later this year.

Badlands Pawn's visionary owner, Charles Brennan, has a long associ

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Canada - After a top-to-bottom renovation, the recently reopened Cabaret du Casino at Casino de Montreal now features Canada's largest Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system. The new system allows the 616-capacity venue the flexibility to host a wide variety of events, providing ideal acoustics for everything from evening dinner shows and rock-style musicals to boxing matches, corporate events, and the upcoming World Series of Poker.

"Constellation has been an excellent investment because it brings an unparalleled entertainment experience to our guests and clients," says Sylvain Tremblay, administrator for the Cabaret. "The effect is truly incredible, as one feels fully immersed in the sonic environment created by the various programs. This gives us a strong competitive advantage relative to other event spaces in Montreal."

All audio, video, lighting, and theatrical aut

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South Africa - The first South African rental company to invest in Kinesys automation is MGG, based in Linbropark, Johannesburg. MGG was founded by Mark Gaylard in early 1998, and has grown into one of the leading production solutions facilities in the country.

MGG has always been a proactive investor in innovative premium brands and technologies, a strategy that's kept them at the forefront of the busy South African entertainment production industry, and that was also a driver in the Kinesys purchase, which comprises 16 x LibraCELL load monitoring shackles and a fully specified D8+ 8-way DigiHoist controller, supplied via Electrosonic, the exclusive Kinesys re-seller in South Africa.

Herman Mentz, head of rigging & structures at MGG explained that Kinesys motion control is a new concept for the South African market and something they had been considering for a while - to

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Europe - Sennheiser has acquired the business of Vienna-based distributor, Grothusen Audio Video Vertriebs Ges.m.b.H., and has founded a new sales subsidiary, Sennheiser Austria GmbH. Sennheiser co-CEOs Daniel and Dr. Andreas Sennheiser announced the signing of the contract on 8 February. The new company will commence operations on 1 April.

"We would like to thank Grothusen CEO Alexander Kr

  1. Elation Platinum rings in 2016 live on Fox TV
  2. Richmond church chooses Danley for clarity
  3. Robe goes to Music School
  4. Hilton College theatre invests in a dot2 core
  5. ColorSource PARs for Dommelhof Neerpelt theatre
  6. FBT UK to stage demonstration sessions in Wakefield
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