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

General

Details
On Thursday 12 July, a preliminary meeting was held at the Sydney Exhibition and Convention Centre, to seek interest in the formation of an Australasian association for all who share an interest in the art, science and technology of light.

With an overwhelmingly positive responses from this, and a follow-up meeting in Melbourne, organisers Andy Ciddor and Cat Strom (Forcer) have decided to press ahead in establishing an Australasian Lighting Industry Association, provisionally entitled ALIA.

Discussions at the meetings were based around a widely-circulated proposal prepared by Cat Strom, Steve Furzey and Andy Ciddor, the text of which can be found on the preliminary ALIA website - www.lighting-association.com.

It was agreed that a broadly-based and inclusive lighting industry association is a worthwhile goal. Members of Australia’s existing lighting association, the Illuminat

Details
Lighting design and events specialists Rainmaker recently lit an open air stage on Brighton Beach for a Channel Four party event starring dance impresarios Norman Cook AKA Fatboy Slim and Groove Armada, and enjoyed free by approximately 35,000 excited revellers.

The main focus of the stage was a giant Screenco LED screen. This had been rigged to facilitate a C4 broadcast of the Ashes cricket from Edgebaston on the Thursday through Sunday. However, Channel Four then decided it would create a great local buzz of they threw a party on the Friday night, offering an opportunity to groove the summer evening away with the best in contemporary club vibes with local hero - the Fatboy himself! They then decided to broadcast parts of the party a week later on C4’s ‘Fatboy Slim Night’.

The Fatboy Slim event originally started out just as a just live show, with Rainmaker initial

Doughty - Banner - from 8 Aug 2025

Details
PCM was one of the first companies in this industry to promote the value of training. Since L&SI routinely covers news of its well-established Motor Schools, we thought it high time we actually sent someone to take a closer look. Jacqueline Molloy volunteered . . .

I must confess to not having prior intimate knowledge of Columbus McKinnon hoists, but I now feel confident that should I ever have the need to strip and rebuild one, I would not disappoint the training staff from PCM!

29 of us gathered at PCM’s premises for the start of the two-day intensive course aimed at unravelling the mysteries of CM Lodestars. The popularity of the course, which has been running since 1993, is such that some attendees had flown in from Dublin and Portugal to take part. A cross-section of the industry was represented, including freelancers and representatives from sound, lighting and rigging c

Details
L&SI has received official notification that Studiomaster is in administrative receivership. The Milton Keynes-based company, which was officially registered as Studiomaster Diamond, had recently been experiencing problems with the chain of supplies from its Indian manufacturing plant and had been forced to contact customers advising them that the dispute had left them with no option but to put the company into administrative receivership.

Studiomaster was well known in the industry as a designer and manufacturer of professional audio equipment, a role it had been performing for over two decades, although the current company wasn’t incorporated until 1991.

Its first ever products were power amplifiers followed quickly by mixing consoles for live sound. Around this time the first affordable multitrack machines appeared and Studiomaster designed a studio quality desk to meet the

Details
For those visitors new to PLASA or simply keen to remind themselves how impressive last year’s event was, the Show website now features a virtual tour of last year’s PLASA Show. The tour takes in various elements of the exhibition with views from both the lower and top decks. By clicking on any of the green circles featured, visitors can look at the show floor in 3D and also explore other facilities at Earls Court 1.

Details
The PLASA Standards Office has prepared a series of Guidance Notes for PLASA Members. Each provides useful information on current topics of interest and will be updated on an ongoing basis in line with developments. Further documents are planned in response to the needs of PLASA members. The following guidance documents are currently available. These documents are in PDF (Portable Document Format) and may be read with Adobe Acrobat Reader (version 3 or later) which is available free from www.adobe.co.uk

Guide to Australian EMC Framework: contains advice on the EMC and C-Tick labelling requirements for equipment destined for the Australian market.

Basic Guide to the FCC Rules: contains advice on application of the USA Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules on EMC for entertainment equipment.

Standards for Dimmers: contains advice on the applicable safety

Details
The Entertainment Services and Technology Association has launched projects to draft three new American National Standards:

BSR E1.18, Recommended practice for the selection, installation, use, and maintenance of single-conductor portable power feeder cable in the entertainment industry. The standard is intended to offer guidance on how to select, install, use and maintain single-conductor portable power feeder cables. The project will promote safety and compatibility in the equipment and practices used in live performance and in film and video production in North America.

BSR E1.19, Recommendations for the use of ground fault devices in the entertainment industry. The standard is intended to offer guidance on how to select, install, use and maintain ground fault protection devices in the entertainment industry. The project is intended to promote the use of these devi

Details
Lighting&Sound International, PLASA Media’s leading entertainment technology journal, is sponsoring the New Technology Gallery at PLASA 2001. This is the showcase of all products nominated for the prestigious PLASA Awards for Product Excellence. Situated on the Top Deck of the PLASA Show, near to the main bar area, the showcase offers visitors a chance to check out the features and capabilities of all of the major product innovations at PLASA 2001, in one place.

L&SI will be based on the Lower Deck (stand K19), where we will be offering free readerships to qualifying UK industry personnel, plus special offers on international subscriptions only available at PLASA 2001 - plus PLASA Media freebies to all new subscribers!

L&SI can be found on stand K19.

Details
AC Lighting - well-known provider of many and varied items of lighting equipment and accessories to the entertainment industry - recently moved its entire operation to a custom-fitted headquarters just one mile from its previous home on the Western Side of High Wycombe. L&SI was invited to celebrate the official opening of the new premises with members of the AC Lighting team.

The move has been a welcome step forward for the company’s 50+ staff which, after 10 years of steady growth, had found themselves bursting out the seams of three separate premises across two industrial areas - with all the inevitable inefficiencies that the situation gave rise to. The meticulously-planned move to the new premises has now given AC Lighting the infrastructure it needs to both operate efficiently at its current size, and to cater for its certain future growth.

Extensive refurbishment of the

Details
It was a remarkable night to top the remarkable season that Broadway’s newest smash-hit musical has enjoyed since its acclaimed opening earlier this year.

At the 2001 Tony Awards Ceremony, held on June 3rd at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, The Producers (pictured) won all of the awards for which it had been nominated - 12 wins in all, breaking the all-time record for Tony wins by one show.

Adapted from his own film by Mel Brooks, the show won Brooks himself awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical. It also netted prizes itself (Best Musical), for many of its performers, and for the rest of its creative team: Susan Stroman (Best Choreography, Best Direction of a Musical), Doug Besterman (Best Orchestrations), Robin Wagner (Best Scenic Design), William Ivey Long (Best Costume Design) and Peter Kaczorowski (Best Lighting Design).

Both Wagner and Kaczorow

Details
Capital Sound Hire has purchased a Meyer Sound M3D line array system from UK distributor Autograph Sales. The order for 24 M3D cabinets represents a break with the company’s tradition as an exclusive Martin Audio user. Managing director Keith Davis explains: "Meyer has moved on faster than other manufacturers and we think that this system is superior to any other line array system on the market." Capital’s client base covers a wide range of genres, including major rock and stadium venues, but also musical tours and classical events; from the Bolshoi Ballet to the Stereophonics. The first outing for the system was the co-headline tour by Shirley Bassey and Chris De Burgh.

Details
A new study analysing almost 230 audio companies and their directors, offers a rather unique insight into the individuals running today’s companies. The research, by Plimsoll, suggests that, in broad terms, there are four distinct types of director.

Mr Average: The study found that the average director in the audio industry is 49 years old and has been in the job for over seven years. The average salary is £25,000 per annum.

Old Hats: the study revealed that despite a 7% yearly turnover of directors, almost 39% have held their position for more than 10 years. Just under one fifth of UK directors in the sound equipment industry are now over 60 years old, and over the next three to five years, as these bastions of the industry reach retirement age, their departure could have a profound effect on the companies they formerly controlled.

Marathon Runners: If the industry is a vic

Details
Bookings are now well underway for the seminar and workshop programme planned for the PLASA Show. This year the emphasis is very much on knowledge with those signing up gaining an insight into how new technology is creating new opportunities, how individuals have pulled together highly complex projects, why integration is so important and how they can achieve more by picking up tips and techniques from others.

In a programme of seminars sponsored by Installation Europe, audio installation and integration is the theme under which issues of networking, control and the benefits of converging technologies are explored. Tuesday sees a Theme and Leisure Masterclass, presented by Leisure Management, in association with the TEA and TiLE, which focuses on how the leisure industry exploits special effects, lighting and audio technology to create unique environments to enhance the visitor experie

Details
With the development of CAD drawing packages over recent years, it’s now possible for professional lighting designers to make a living designing in the virtual world.

Using WYSIWYG by Cast Lighting of Canada or the Martin Show Designer from Denmark, designers can create artistic lighting images and present them either as stills or as an animated movie providing an accurate photo-realistic rendition of environmental and show designs. Since he’s been one if its higher profile users, we invited LD Durham Marenghi, to explain why he’s so keen on the virtual route . . .

Over the past month I’ve been commissioned to create virtual designs with WYSIWYG for a temporary exhibition and event environment and a major car launch reveal, the intention in each case to provide a graphic presentation of what will eventually become reality.

Historically, artistic impressions

Details
The Cast Group, developers of advanced computer software for pre-planning and visualization of entertainment and architectural lighting, have been awarded the coveted Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development. The presentation was made last night at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences 2001 Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony that took place in Hollywood, California. This is the first time a Canadian company has been awarded an Emmy in this category. Accepting the award for the Cast WYSIWYG software product were president Gilray Densham and vice president Rick Szijarto.

WYSIWYG is the one tool that allows all production people to see their ideas come alive virtually, in a computer-generated format. It enables users to develop lighting, design sets and perform blocking functions prior to actual production. The software does it all virtually, enabling producers and ot

Details
The JHS Event has become something of an industry fixture. Held at the company’s Garforth premises, on the outskirts of Leeds, it has quickly become part of the music business calendar, attended by significant numbers of representatives of both the retail trade and music press.

The company’s huge, purpose-built office and warehousing complex spreads over a four-acre site and ensures that the company, now the largest family-owned independent musical merchandise distributor in the UK, has an effective base for demonstrating the product lines from its extensive catalogue. And I do mean extensive - for the catalogue carries some of the music industry’s biggest names, including the innovative roundback guitar range from Ovation, for whom JHS are sole UK and Eire distributors and the famous Danelectro guitars and amps, back in the music world with a vengeance.

An early de

Details
grapevinejobs is a new internet jobsite, designed exclusively for professionals in and around the broadcast, film and music sectors. The site launches on 6th September 2001 and aims to become the destination of choice for jobseekers and employers in those sectors.

Created by specialist recruitment consultants, Searchlight, the service will be free for jobseekers, with only a minimal cost to advertisers. A year in the making, the site can filter out jobs that aren’t likely to be of interest to a particular user and will monitor new job postings and send an e-mail alert if a relevant job comes in.

Details
Event design company, Beautiful Neptune Design, turned a crisis into an opportunity after an office break-in earlier this year left the company without computers and software. The company, a partnership established in 1995, offers lighting and set design, technical drawing and visualisation for live events, performances and exhibitions to producing companies.

Company director Steve Hicks decided to turn the situation to his advantage by investing in new IT equipment. Clients can now expect greatly reduced modelling and rendering times during design development and final presentation. Through the use of ‘bi-directional drawing linking’ and parametric modelling, designers will be able to easily manipulate and modify elements in a 2D or 3D environment.

Details
At this year’s PLASA Show, the Association has moved its stand to a new, bigger area towards the back of the main hall - stand K19.

The move from the usual spot at the very front of the hall on stand F1 has been made in order to provide more room for the PLASA stand - which will now incorporate the PLASA Technical Bookshop - and also to allow us to develop the PLASA Clinic, which will run adjacent to the PLASA stand, on J52 (see below).

Equally importantly, the move puts us right next to the busy after-show bar (inside the new Pizza Express restaurant), which will be open every evening after show closing, allowing everyone at the show a little extra time to continue those all-important conversations!Upstairs, meanwhile, Lighting&Sound International is sponsoring the New Technology Showcase - a major display of every product nominated for a 2001 PLASA Award for Product Excellenc

Details
Members who participated in the survey will now have received their free 22 page overview and will shortly be receiving the reports that they have ordered. The research is available to participating members as follows:
- Free overview (for anyone who participated in questionnaire)
- Product sector reports (lighting, pro-audio, staging, AV) at £125 (plus VAT) each
- Detailed market sector report at £250 (plus VAT)
- Free Global report (for anyone who purchases any of the above)

Qualifying members can order all of the above reports at a special price of £500 sterling (plus VAT) - an overall saving of £250.

Members who did not participate can still gain access to all the above invaluable information by completing a questionnaire and undertaking to participate in the equivalent survey next year.

Any queries on the research project should be directed to research@plasa

Details
Firepower is the new Royal Artillery Experience, set in the historic buildings of the Royal Arsenal on the River Thames at Woolwich.

The attraction was designed by Event Communications, whose main challenge was to overcome people’s discomfort with the reality of war. They tackled this by highlighting the role in the fight for democracy and freedom played by the armed forces, especially the Royal Artillery, which has been present at all major theatres of war involving the British Army over the last 300 years.

The centrepiece of Firepower is the ‘ground-shaking’ Field of Fire - a spectacular multimedia presentation that recreates what it feels like to be in the middle of a real battle. On entering, visitors are surrounded by various pieces of artillery. Suspended above these are four 5m wide front projection screens. Projecting onto each screen is a Barco 6300 LCD Vid

Details
Chainsaws, angle-grinders, axes and flame-throwers - just some of the impressive weaponry being demonstrated by participants in this summer’s Robot Wars tour.

Thousands of eager fans were treated to over two hours of destruction and mayhem, all carefully choreographed by director Hugh Wooldridge. "It’s an amazing mix of old and new cultures," he explained. "We’re acting out the ancient idea of gladiatorial combat, but with cutting-edge robot technology. In fact, almost the entire show is controlled - our job is to make the audience think that it’s not.

Even under controlled conditions, the sheer power of the robotic stars of the show (some of which weigh in excess of 150kgs) meant that humans were excluded from the combat area. "Not only do we have to keep our distance from the action, but we’re also shooting through thick Macrolon sc

Details
Capitalising on recent installations such as the Core in Yeovil, The CC Club in Piccadilly, London and Toxic8 in Cambridge, custom neon specialists Simply Neon are expanding in several directions. Within the space of a month, the company has appointed a new general manager, moved into a new, expanded UK base in Staines, Middlesex, and is opening a European branch based in Portugal. Simply Neon’s so-far buoyant 2001 continues with the appointment of Phil Kendrick as the new UK-based general manager while managing director Tony Newman opens a Portuguese office, aimed at developing new market opportunities in Europe. Originally trained by Hoover as a toolmaker, Kendrick has enjoyed a varied international sales and marketing career spanning many areas including garden building and the surveillance/security industry. Kendrick comments: "It’s great to be onboard with Simply Ne

Details
Four days of events will mark the public opening of the world's first rotating bridge. The Gateshead Millennium Bridge links Newcastle Quayside with the new arts and leisure developments on Gateshead Quays - including BALTIC the Centre for Contemporary Art, which opens next year, and the Music Centre Gateshead, where work has already started on the new international centre for music performance and education. The £9.7 million lottery-funded project will be officially opened on Friday September 14, the date for the first public showing of its high-tech lighting system. This will be followed by a weekend of unique live musical performances - staged by music north, the producing and presenting arm of Music Centre, Gateshead.
  1. PLASA Launches Clinic
  2. Wildfire and UV/FX Form Strategic Alliance
  3. Dugald (Doog) MacKenzie
  4. Delta Wins Legal Case Against Federal
  5. RSC Technical Staff to Strike
  6. West End Show Tickets
Page 76 of 243
City Theatrical - Large MPU - Aug 2025
LSi 40 Sponsors - MPU - Aug-Nov

Latest Issue. . .

PLASA Media Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 4111709 - VAT Number GB 762 5913 14
PLASA Media Ltd, Redoubt House, 1 Edward Road, Eastbourne, BN23 8AS, UK Tel: +44 (0)1323 524120

 

login