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14 December 2016

Muse made history on Friday, 15 April 2016 when they played to a record-breaking 21,000 fans at The O2 Arena, London.

The Drones tour combines tracking, lighting, videos, flying elements and a lot of creativity, to create visuals and spontaneous interactivity unique for a live rock concert like this one.

BlackTrax real-time motion tracking solution from CAST BlackTrax Ltd is used to track and manage three technical elements, from band members to massive drones that fly above the audience as well as for projection-based storytelling. The area tracked is BlackTrax's largest to date!

Drones wa

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14 December 2016

Tour sound requirements were supplied by Denmark's Nordic Rentals, the company having worked with Runrig for a number of years.

"Nordic stocks DiGiCo and Martin Kolbro was using an SD10 at monitors," says John. "I knew they had an SD7 in their inventory, I hadn't used one before and I thought, why not? But then I had a look at the desk and got a little nervous - it can just do so much! - so I called my old friend Bob Doyle [one of DiGiCo's original founders] and he put me on to head office in Chessington. I spoke with Dave Bigg there and organised a day's training with him. By the time I left, I was rearing to go."

While he was with Dave, John took the

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14 December 2016

Outside, the once hidden Italian sunken gardens, a lily pond and rose gardens have all been re-discovered and brought back to life, whilst inside the grand staircase entrance, drawing room, liibrary, dining room and ballroom have been transformed into elegant spaces suitable for private dining, parties and celebrations.

In keeping with the sumptuous furnishings and beautiful decor, the owners

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14 December 2016

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14 December 2016

Visiting a variety of different sized venues, Sooner's starting point for the design was a series of corrugated, metal, graffiti art pieces in set carts which are positioned onstage. These were inspired by artwork that Canaan had created on his smartphone, bringing a real personal touch to the performance space.

The 12 x Pointes and eight LEDWash 600s were also rigged on the set carts and in various other positions on the floor and overhead trusses to get a good mix of focus positions.

Pointes were chosen because they are a small beam / profile lumin

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14 December 2016

Says the Trust, "As the voice for theatres we use our knowledge of policy and practice to promote the value and benefits of theatres in use. We want live theatre to have a place in everyone's lives.

"We are committed to delivering a more powerful campaigning voice. Our expert advice will be more visible and more influential in the planning system and within the theatre industry. We will create new opportunities to discover more about theatres, and we will increase the levels of capital grants and funding we provide."

Chair of the Theatres Trust, Tim Eyles, says, "Our new strategy and visual identity mark the start of an exciting next

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14 December 2016

The win adds to a series of accolades given to the show, which has grossed more than $60m (£41.9m) in advance ticket sales and has been sold out for months. The musical won the 2016 Grammy Award for best musical theatre album, and Miranda was given the 2015 MacArthur Genius Grant.

Just Giving - Sir Elton John has topped the list of the most generous celebrities, having given away near

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14 December 2016

Lighting and production design is by DK Production Design of Evanston, Illinois, a turnkey visual solutions provider that worked with creative director Jamaica Craft on the look of the show. Their first tour with Tinashe, DK Production Design created the lighting and staging design as well as content creation for the LED screen together with Craft, who they have been working with for years.

The SixBar color-changing battens, which feature a six-color LED multi-chip, can be used for a varie

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14 December 2016

A six-week run of filming began at the end of February and was completed in early April. Showforce provided a team of 22 who were on site for two nights each week, delivering crewing requirements for the theatre, the backstage area and to support the production's suppliers.

The Showforce crew assisted backstage across the whole production, assisting the production's suppliers, this included: loading in Plus4Audio's equipment; transferring PRG's lighting rigs to the stage; unloading and installing a video wa

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14 December 2016

"As of 3 May 2016, you will be able enjoy the ultimate user-friendly experience and peruse the new website," the company says. "Not only is this compatible with all web browsers, it has been designed to be easily navigated on tablets, mobile devices and more as it automatically adjusts to any screen size. The website houses extensive information on the products, brands and services they of

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14 December 2016

"We bring a lot of perspective from all sides of the market," said Hernandez. "We're excited to partner with Ashly - a respected pro audio company that's been designing and manufacturing innovative products right here in the United States for over forty years. With Ashly on our line card, our clients will have access to a diversity of amplifier, DSP, and user interface configurations to perfectly fit audio instillations and applications of all sizes."

"We have a lot of respect for Ed and John's experience and loyalty to

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14 December 2016

Adlib were brought on-board by production manager Steve Down. Two of their most experienced regular engineers, Sam Proctor and Hassane Es Siahi were tasked to ensure that band engineers Pablo Campanara (FOH) and Harry Bishop (monitors) received impeccable support.

Due to the variety of venues on the itinerary, Pablo specified a system with great flexibility, so an L-Acoustic's K1 / K2 package, which in the largest iteration - as used for Wembley and Birmingham - comprised of 12 x L-Acoustics K1s a side with four Kara downs for the main hangs and 12 x K2s a-side for the secondary / side hangs.

The 18 x SB28 subs were gro

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14 December 2016

With only a week to go, there are still some free places left for the informal event, which will showcase the division's UK-exclusive brands at the forefront of video production in the entertainment and AV integration sectors. These include Green Hippo media servers, ProLights high performance video displays, Just Add Power receivers and Luminex Ethernet switches.

Other featured brands include Draper, Christie Digital, Philips Signage Solutions, AViary - and from the company's Audio sales division, Dynamic Audio Device.

In addition to a product overview and 'hands-on' training sessions, A.C. Video will also demonstrate how these co

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14 December 2016

Headquartered in Praha (Prague), Czech Republic, Primaton is already very well connected to the professional touring, production and installation market due to their involvement with MA Lighting, Robe, ARRI, Doughty and other lighting products through their sister company LightNeq.

LightNeq currently offers services in lighting design and technical proposals for large events, such as the Ice Hockey World Championships, Olympic House of the Czech Republic in London and many other important projects in the field of concert tours in the Czech and Slovak Republics.

Founder Pavel Lenoch stated, "We had been looking for a quality loudspeaker manufacturing partner to fulfil the demand for quality professional audio products.

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14 December 2016

Working closely with Adele Live 2016 show designer Es Devlin and production manager Richard Young, Quantum is supplying over 100 shows across 44 arenas.

Quantum's team of in-house designers and engineers had just eight weeks to design, develop and build the new Q: Rain Graphix and just a fortnight for the Q: Storm Blasters.

Providing a genuine indoor downpour for Adele's performance of Set Fire to the Rain is Quantum's new digital rain system the Q: Rain Graphix. The system creates a four-walled curtain of rain around the singer whilst she remains safe and dry within.

Mike Badley, engineer at Quantum, built and designed the system. He said, "The

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14 December 2016

The singer-songwriter, with nine No. 1 hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, recently released It Don't Hurt Like It Used To, the third single off his sixth studio album, Summer Forever.

Having provided lighting packages for Currington for more than five years, Bandit Lites was ready to once again provide gear, service and support for when the Must Be Doin' Something Right singer kicked off his first headlining show.

Lighting designer Chris Shrom used some of Bandit's newest acquisitions in touring inventory, Elation's ACL 360 Bars, Robe Robin Pointes, Elation Cuepix 2-Cell

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14 December 2016

Such was the case recently, when Worcester wanted to build a City Hall broadcast studio. Unable to expand the size of their historic structure outwardly, city leaders were forced to turn inward, creating their new studio in the building's basement. They did this in spectacular fashion, thanks to a skillful design by Jonathan Lipsy that drew on the performance features of Chauvet Professional LED fixtures.

"The basement wasn't the first option, but it turned out to be the only option for the studio," said Lipsy, who

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14 December 2016

"I was impressed when seeing the LumenRadio system at the roadshow DWR hosted at the UJ theatre a few of years ago," said Stuart Andrews, lighting operations manager at Gearhouse Johannesburg. "The LumenRadio guys had really done their research and development and could answer any query I had so thoroughly that I had no doubts that it would deliver. It's such a vital link in the chain that to go with a system that doesn't offer complete peace of mind simply wouldn't be acceptable."

Gearhouse Cape Town was the first to purchase a LumenRadio system. "We used this wireless system before in Johannesburg with great success," he said.

The new gear was installed and set up at

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14 December 2016

Andy Huffer, sales director of HD Pro Audio commented, "We see great potential in the touring and installed live sound market for 10EaZy, as an essential tool for both engineers and venues to keep them on the right side of noise regulations. Noise complaints have been identified by many as one of the primary threats to music and performance venues of all shapes and sizes, so to invest in an easy-to-manage way of monitoring SPL and liaise with the local authorities can only be a positive move."

Huffer continued, "10EaZy is already in use at some major UK venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and Union Chapel, and on tour with engineers such as Mick Hughes and Jon Burton. We welcome enquiries from p

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14 December 2016

The Castle sits majestically above the city and defines the skyline. Originally the site of a medieval fortress, its present outline dates back to the 15th century with the majority of the current buildings constructed during the 16 and 17th centuries.

In addition to being a place of great historical interest - it's also a busy event space with several stunningly converted spaces tastefully mixing historical and contemporary architecture. Its multiple venues are used for an eclectic mix of conferences, meetings, presentations as well as theatre and music productions. A new small theatre has just been

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14 December 2016

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14 December 2016

At PLASA Focus Leeds, the organisation will be holding a seminar Theatres Trust 40 on 11 May at 2.15pm, where show visitors are invited to join discuss "what we need to be doing today to protect theatres for live theatre tomorrow". The Trust explains, "Throughout PLASA you will also be able to find out how we can help you with advice on planning and development, resources to make theatres sustainable, and financial assistance through grants, and hear about our latest work with theatres at risk."

The discussion and debate from Theatres Trust 40 will be developed at Conference 16: Protecting Theatres on the 21 June at the New London

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14 December 2016

After recently launching a variety of new and innovative lighting products, Platinum Sponsor Robe, returns to Leeds with its new Spikie, a super-fast LED WashBeam, on stand N-B30. The fixture produces sharp, multi-coloured spikes of light, rotating in both directions at variable speed, while a unique beam effect engine transforms the output into three piercing narrow beams. It has continuous pan and tilt rotation and weighs only 5.5 Kgs.

State-of-the-art professional audio solutions will also be on offer, including the recently launched XPRS Series from Pioneer Pro Audio on

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14 December 2016

Petrus Bertschinger (1961 - 2015) was a long-standing member of the Central community from his time as a student in the 1980s to his most recent role as Senior Lecturer in Technical and Production Management at the School. Petrus graduated from Central in 1984 and had 32 years professional experience as a stage manager, production manager and theatre consultant including Production Manager for Matthew Bourne's Adventures in Motion Pictures. He also spent ten years with the Unicorn Theatre, fir