The latest of Carnegie Leisure's Babylon nightclubs, in Ayr, has been installed with Geni lighting. Glasgow-based Starstruck Professional Sound & Light undertook the installation, and contacted Lamba, exclusive UK distributors of Geni products, for the lighting effects they needed. The equipment includes eight Geni Shiva HSD-200 scanners, four Geni FL2000D DMX strobes, 44 ignitor tubes and four DMX-1s. Other equipment supplied by Lamba includes a KAM KCD960 for CD mixing and Stanton 680AL cartridges.
With the aid of a £5.7m Arts Council grant, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre has undergone one of the most ambitious theatre refurbishments of the year. Northern Light were called in to undertake the full sound and lighting installation, to a specification written by Theatre Projects Consultants. Five BSS 9088 Soundweb digital signal processing units play a major role (four networked for the main system, with another for monitors), with speaker systems from d&b audiotechnik (vocals), Tannoy (music) and Martin Audio (auditorium surround). The Rep also features the first UK theatre installation of a Midas XL4 front-of-house console, and the entire audio system is controlled by Out Board Electronics' TiMax system. Full details of the audio installation will appear in the November/December issue of Sound + Communications Systems International magazine.
TMB Associates' ProPlex CAT5 patch cables, which were introduced at PLASA 99 as 'The World's Most Durable Ethernet Cables', are already being specified in critical entertainment control applications, including the control system for the moving stages and scenery in London's Millennium Dome. ProPlex distributor Direct Cables Ltd supplied the Dome with ProPlex CAT5 patch cables totalling more than 7,500m in length.TMB's Colin Waters stated: "The Millennium Dome is exactly the type of application for which we created ProPlex CAT5 Cables. Developing cables that could survive the level of abuse typical of entertainment applications, while passing all CAT5 tests and providing a 100% reliable control network, was a significant challenge."
A brand new venue being built in the city of Chang Won in South Korea is to have 96 Chroma-Q M1 colour changers installed as part of its lighting system. The industrial city of Chang Won is located in the Southern part of Korea, and when completed, the Chang Won Cultural Hall will be the largest theatre in the area, with 1,200 seats. M. Lightech, who are the general contractors for the venue, are installing the Chroma-Q units, which were initially supplied by AC Lighting Ltd. After reviewing a number of different units, the Chroma-Q M1 was chosen for its feature specification and competitive pricing. Once installed, the colour changers will be used in conjunction with a number of fixtures, primarily Strand Optique and Toccata lanterns. The Chang Won Cultural Hall is due to open in April 2000, when it will house plays, musical and opera performances.
A free briefcase is on offer to one lucky web surfer every month during the year 2000. Visitors to Amptown Cases UK's new web site can enter the competition on-line and a winner will be selected at random each month. The site also has a free links directory aimed at the entertainments industry where you can add a link to your own web site, along with up to 100 words describing your business.
Following prototype showings at this year's PLASA Show in London and LDI show in Orlando, AC Lighting has announced the launch of the new Chroma-Q M5 colour-changer with units now shipping. The new M5, designed for fixtures in the 5,000W range, carries many of the same characteristics as the rest of the Chroma-Q M-range, including the recently released 8-Lite version. The new M5 has standard features that include adapters for rotating barndoors, quarter turn catches for quick internal access, the ability to perform scroll changes without dismantling the unit shell, and the facility to fit heat shield filters.
In the busy run-up to Christmas, Lighting Technology was called in by the Homebase DIY chain to help them highlight the Christmas tree sales areas outside their stores. The scheme was designed by Mark Taylor of Homebase with technical support from Philip Norfolk of Lighting Technology Group. Green HQI lamps were fitted to the existing overhead fittings to give a green glow to the plants underneath. This lamp type (first used by Lighting Technology Group on the Hoover Building on London's Western Avenue) creates a vibrant glowing green when shone onto foliage. In addition, a three-circuit chasing rope light was supplied to fit around the external canopy to create an animated lighting effect, and draw the attention of external shoppers to the outside tree area.
AC Lighting has reported a strong response following the launch of the new Jands Event 4 lighting control consoles at the recent PLASA show. The first shipment of consoles, which arrived at AC's HQ recently, were distributed to European dealers within a very short time. This new range combines the familiar layout of a two preset lighting console with an added section capable of controlling up to 20 moving lights and 80 colour changers.
In the United States, ABC TV has taken on the highly successful UK game show 'Who wants to be a Millionaire?' and, as with the UK version of the show, much of the dramatic lighting comes from a rig of Vari*Lite VL5 wash luminaires and VL6B spot luminaires.The VL equipment was supplied the Dallas VLPS office, and put together by lighting designer Deke Hazirjian, president of New York City Lites. Hazirjian employed 32 VL5 washlights and 12 VL6B spots around the 360 degree mirrored-floor stage, where higher stakes are accented with increasingly complex lighting effects.In contrast to the UK version, the top prize ($1million ) has already been won – by Internal Revenue Service tax agent John Carpenter.
Intercom DFB trade Distributors has announced new developments in its trading operations. The company has relaunched itself as Intercom Sound & Light Warehouse. Building on its existing trade business, the company will additionally provide retail sales to the club market. Aimed specifically at DJs, mobile discos and pro sound, Intercom Sound & Light Warehouse will supply equipment from some of the leading manufacturers in the industry, including Altai, Skytronics, Celestion and Denon.
Michael Irwin has replaced Christian Choi as the friendly voice of technical support at California-based AC Lighting Inc. Irwin will answer all programming- and software-related questions regarding the WYSIWYG range of programs, the grandMA lighting control console from MA Lighting, along with the Jands and Zero 88 product lines.
Martin Professional has entered into an agreement with the owners of its German distributor to establish a joint venture, creating a new Martin subsidiary - Martin Professional GmbH.Martin will hold 51% of the shares in the new operation, which will officially begin trading on January 1st. Located in Karlfeld, near Munich, this latest venture brings the number of Martin subsidiaries to six. The company has 20 employees with a yearly turnover of nearly $10 million which will result in a positive return for Martin Professional from the outset.
White Light has been appointed as the lighting supplier for the London production of the hit Broadway musical Fosse. White Light Group member The Moving Light Company will supply automated lighting equipment to the production. A celebration of the work of legendary Broadway choreographer Bob Fosse, Fosse opened to critical acclaim on Broadway last year - and won lighting designer Andrew Bridge his third Tony Award for Best Lighting. For the London production, which opens at the Prince of Wales Theatre in February, Bridge is re-creating his award-winning design with a rig that includes 19 High End StudioColors, nine Martin MAC500s, five DHA Digital Light Curtains and a conventional rig composed largely of ETC Source Fours, all controlled from a 1500 channel ETC Obsession console.
Le Mark has appointed NDC as its dealer in Switzerland. The company, run by Nicholas de Courten, will handle the full range of Le Mark products. It already has strong ties with the major TV studios, theatre and production companies across Switzerland and is looking to expand into the conference and exhibition markets. NDC's appointment follows a series of new appointments by Le Mark including that of Strong In Spain.
Strand's SL theatre luminaire range, which recently raced to 15,000 units sold inside six months of production, has expanded with the announcement of a new series dedicated to the architectural market. The new spotlights house metal halide 150W CDM lamps available in two colour temperatures - 3000 degrees for a warm, tungsten look and 4000 degrees for a cool, daylight appearance. There are six fixed angle fixtures in the range., as well as two zooms.
MTFX has expanded its range of smoke and aroma machines. It now stocks three Jem Heavy Fog 6500 smoke machines and has recently invested in The Effects Company's new Aroma-Tech machines, capable of producing a variety of aromas. MTFX used them to good effect recently when they produced an orange aroma for the Tango Conference at the ICC in Birmingham.
An Avolites Pearl was put through its paces by enthusiastic students at Ebbw Vale campus of Gwent Tertiary College in Wales for their end of term concert. All lighting design was devised and operated by students using four Martin MAC 600s loaned by local lighting rental company Fineline, organised by Ian Brown of Martin Professional; four Martin RoboScan P518s on loan from Avolites, plus PAR 64s, fresnels and cyc lights. The house dimmers are Zero 88 Betapacks and the sound system was provided courtesy of Wales-based 24:7 Productions. The show proved an ideal opportunity for the students to get hands-on experience of the skills they had been learning throughout the term.
Jands Electronics has launched the new Hog 500 lighting console, a lower-budget version of the Echelon 1K, which was first shown at Entech 1998 in Sydney and has since been selling well worldwide. Features such as auto-menus and palettes for beam, colour, position and groups make initial programming of the Hog 500 fast and easy, while user-definable fixture libraries and auto-menus make patching and set-up very simple. Any cue can quickly be called from memory. 512 control channels are available, and a MIDI interface allows allows reception of MIDI show control, notes, timecode and command strings. A standard 3.5" floppy disk is available for show storage.
Strand Lighting has appointed Phil O'Donnell to the new position of group sales and marketing director. O'Donnell has spent 25 years in the industry, 20 of them with Strand, and has recently been responsible for Strand's operations in the Americas and Asia. The development is aimed at improving co-ordination across all Strand companies globally, and to provide a closer liaison with R&D in the creation of new product.
Multiform Electronics has added the DMX 424 - a 24-channel DMX decoder - to its range of control products. The mains-powered decoder is designed to provide the 10V DC analogue control signals essential for dimmer packs, colour-changers, effects lighting, smoke machines and special effects in systems using the DMX 512 control protocol. The 24 output channels can be set to provide control signals of 0 to +10 volts, or from 0 to -10 volts DC.The unit will decode a block of consecutively numbered channels and the BCD switches select the number of the first DMX channel. Other features include Watchdog and Rx data monitors, test programme and user back-up memory.
The new Jazz Hotel and Casino opened recently in New Orleans, with Lumenyte fibre optics playing a large part in the design. The lighting design for the building is by The Elwyn Gee Group of Novato, California, who specified the 42ft runs of BRB-LEF and LEF510M fibre optics as a safety feature inside the handrails on the steps and escalators. This method of lighting was chosen because downlights would have been too intrusive on the themed environment. In another application, Lumenyte was used to detail three of the four entrances of the Terrazzo stone steps.
PLASA EXCLUSIVE: PLASA Publishing has learnt that Philip Norfolk is to leave Lighting Technology after 12 years with the company. He is relocating to Chicago to take up a position with Tech Lighting, who manufacture low voltage and display lighting. Norfolk will join a team of 120 people and will run their national specification sales and special products.
The spectacular Millennium celebrations in Newcastle-upon-Tyne centred round the backdrop of the Tyne Bridge - the prototype of the larger Sydney Harbour Bridge, itself the backdrop to spectacular Millennium celebrations. The bridge was lit using City Color architectural luminaires, with design by Illuminatum. Newcastle-based power distribution specialists Innovation supplied six tonnes of cabling to provide one megawatt of power on and around the bridge. The stroke of midnight saw a fireworks display by Walk The Plank, including a stunning 150ft waterfall effect from bridge to river. The majority of the installation was carried out during normal daily activities, until the site became a vehicle exclusion zone on the morning of the 31st. Unfortunately, this also meant that all the production vehicles were ticketed by an over-excited traffic warden!
PLASA Publishing has learnt that VLPS (Europe) is to be sold to a European-based consortium. Although the move has not been officially confirmed by parent company Vari-Lite International Inc, VLPS Europe is understood to have all but completed the paperwork for a management buy-out backed by a venture capital company based in Sweden. A letter of intent is in place and confirmation of the deal is expected in the next few weeks. Vari-Lite Europe, together with Theatre Projects/Concert Productions and Brilliant Stages, became part of the Vari-Lite Inc Group in 1994 when the Samuelson Group sold off the companies. It later merged with Theatre Projects to form VLPS London.
