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Canada - Solotech has announced the appointment of Mitchell Sadofsky as sales director, effective 10 December.
Sadofsky holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Business Management (Double Major) from the University of Massachusetts. He has been working in business management for about 15 years. His areas of expertise include, among others, account management, and sales growth planning and analysis in large-scale companies such as Peerless Electric and Alico Lighting.
“Thanks to his solid experience in business development in Ontario, Mr Sadofsky was the natural choice for this position. We are looking forward to engaging his skills and leadership,” says Philip Giffard, president, sales and integration division.
(Jim Evans)

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Russia - The popularity of BroaMan’s Route66 AutoRouter with Optocore technology has continued apace since the streamlined version of associated company BroaMan’s Route66 first debuted on the Coldplay tour. Since then the Route66 AutoRouter has featured in a slew of high profile installations, including the Westfield Centre in London, Europe’s largest shopping mall, and Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, redeveloped for the FIFA World Cup.
The attraction of the device is that it offers Auto Routing and an intelligent fibre patch bay (replacing the traditional patchbay) - this functionality powered by Optocore -making it suitable for installations with multiple connection points and mobile stage boxes as well as live events and broadcast.
Initially compatible with stand-alone Optocore networks and DiGiCo fibre loops, BroaMan has announced that the same functionality is n

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Singapore - Lighting solutions expert Showtec has made a major investment in Claypaky Scenius Unico and Mythos 2 fixtures to serve its extensive South East Asia markets.
The company, which provides lighting to entertainment, corporate and exhibition events, now has 100 Scenius Unico and 50 Mythos 2 in stock. It is based in its Singapore HQ and has regional offices in Malaysia, China, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand.
Showtec’s director of sales, Vincent Tan, says: “We are always looking to invest in the most innovative products on the market and Claypaky is ahead of the curve, producing world-class quality fixtures with distinctive features that are exciting for our market.
“The South East Asia live entertainment and events scene is growing rapidly and there is a hunger for the latest technology to achieve stunning and dynamic effects. That’s wh
featured content

Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

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USA - One thing that pretty much any experienced touring mix engineer can agree on is that you always pad your input/output number request to a certain degree because rare is the tour where those needs will not increase as the tour progresses. So it might seem odd that when the current Post Traumaticsolo tour by Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda got started, mix engineers Mike Fanuele and Kevin ‘Tater’ McCarthy were sharing a single DiGiCo SD12 mix surface.
After that first show, the SD12 was shipped off for the tour’s Asian and European legs, and McCarthy, who has been associated with Shinoda for more than a decade, spec’d a pair of DiGiCo's ultra-portable SD11i desks for the promo tour that preceded the Asian dates. He says he’s fielded more than one question about why he made that choice.
“A lot of people have asked me why I choose the SD11i,” he reports.

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USA - New Albany High School in New Albany, Indiana, recently completed seven sold out performances of the timeless classic The Wizard of Oz and used their new rig of Elation Professional lighting fixtures to help bring the musical to life.
With three top-tier theatre programmes only miles from each other, Southern Indiana is a proven mecca for high school theatre. After sister school Floyd Central High School received a lighting upgrade of Elation fixtures a couple of years ago, New Albany High School was ecstatic when their opportunity came.
“When funds came around, we were next,” said New Albany High School’s resident lighting and sound designer Crit Fisher, who was employed by the school five years ago to help resurrect what he says was an increasingly neglected programme. “Although New Albany High School has roots in theatre the program was in dir

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World - Keith Urban’s 2018 world tour in support of his tenth studio album, Grafitti U, kicked off in North America in June 2018. Since then the talented country/rock singer, musician, songwriter and record producer from New Zealand has covered 59 venues in six months.
The tour’s production design firm, FragmentNine, chose 68 Ayrton MagicPanel-R fixtures, supplied by Upstaging, to add depth, dynamism and texture throughout this creative and dynamic show.
Video designer, Jackson Gallagher and lighting designer, Jeremy Lechterman of FragmentNine explained that part of the reasoning behind their choice of MagicPanel-R was largely due to its square face and special abilities, which fit into a mostly geometric and ‘square’ design. Forty-eight panels were rigged to four custom-built pods which automated as the most upstage visual element on stage, with two mor

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Europe - Swedish artist Kristian Matsson is better known under his stage name, The Tallest Man On Earth.
His recent European tour, in support of his album When The Bird Sees The Solid Ground, has seen LD Anders Heberling using GLP’s impression X4 Bar 20 in his stage design. He deployed 13 fixtures as a floor package with the remaining batten in the roof, directly above the head of an artist who is known for his dynamic stage performances.
The fixtures were mounted in almost completely sealed custom made boxes, allowing just small cracks for the light to shine through. According to Heberling, the inspiration for this was old barns where the sun shines through the walls.
Of his choice of lighting the LD said: “I needed a pixel batten that could move but most importantly be rigged vertically to fit inside the boxes. The wide zoom was very helpful in term

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UK - Signify reports that its Philips Vari-Lite VLZ Profile LED luminaires were chosen to meet some specific stage lighting demands on the recent Savage tour by British electronic music pioneer Gary Numan.
For special tour dates, including a showcase performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Numan and his band were joined on stage by an orchestra and choir. In response to this, the visual design, by Luke Edwards of Cue Design, successfully referenced the post-apocalyptic theme of the Savage album, while combining softer theatrical touches to complement the orchestra’s presence, both on the stage and in the music.
“To light the orchestra, we needed fixtures with a really nice light quality,” said Edwards, “but with so many tuneable instruments on the stage we also needed lights that wouldn’t throw out lots of heat. The VLZ Profile was a great option: the op

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UK - The Human League’s 2018 Red tour saw the band use projection mapping for the first time, with creative content and equipment supplied by Really Creative Media.
The 27-date Red tour began in Brussels on 31 October, landing on UK shores at the Brighton Centre on 23 November, playing various size venues, from theatres and arenas, wrapping up at London’s Eventim Apollo on 8 December.
Really Creative Media (RCM) has worked with The Human League on previous tours, supplying projection equipment and creative content and the band returned to their trusted supplier to push their visual creative offering for the Red tour.
RCM supplied an MA Lighting grandMA3 Light console and OnPC Command Wing as a backup console, along with two Catalyst V6 Media Servers, six Panasonic RZ21K 20,000L laser projectors and two Panasonic RZ31K 30,000L laser projectors. These Panasoni

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USA - With its intersecting patterns of light wrapping around a diamond-shaped configuration of risers, and cool colour schemes, the stage on Jacob Sartorius’ current tour evokes images of cyberspace. It is a fitting impression, since this Top 40 teenage artist found fame on the internet in 2016, when he was the ninth most frequently searched musical artist.
Lenny Sasso, who lit Sartorius’ first headlining shows two years ago, came up with the futuristic concept for the singer’s 2018 tour. Helping him in this endeavour was a collection of Chauvet Professional Épix Strip Tour and Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures, supplied by Squeek Lights.
Sasso arranged the linear fixtures in a matrix-like formation, filling the upstage area with light while creating a high-tech look. “I knew that I wanted to wrap the band in Épix Strips,” says Sasso. “It was just something that

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UK - Following on from their success last year, Stage Electrics are hosting another equipment showcase. Taking place on 30 January 2019, at the SS Great Britain, Bristol, this event will bring the newest theatre and broadcast equipment to one place.
Featuring some of the biggest names in theatre and broadcast, such as Sennheiser, Prolyte, ChamSys, Chauvet, ETC, High End Systems and DiGiCo. There will be 19 manufacturers in attendance, demonstrating their extensive range of lighting, audio, video and staging equipment.
With free entry, this event will run from 2pm until 7pm and drinks and nibbles will be served from 5:30pm onwards. Get in touch with Stage Electrics to register, free parking will be available to all those who register before 17 January.
(Jim Evans)

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Denmark - Eleven trucks of production equipment is a lot for one stand-up comedian, but delivering the nuances of live comedy in an arena format is a fine art which needs a delicate balance of style and production values and for Denmark’s leading comedian, Anders ‘Anden’ (the Duck) Matthesen, this happened to be a 25th anniversary tour, so he wanted to make a big impact.
Peter Fisker has been Matthesen’s lighting designer since 2006 and in that time, the funny-man known for his multiple crazy, off-beat and appealing characters - has toured regularly as well as producing movies, DVDs and books. This particular tour was shorter than usual - the seven shows were played in Denmark’s two largest arenas - five at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen and two in the Jyske Bank Boxen Arena in Herning - reaching around 86,000 fans.
Peter took up some of that truck-space with

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UK - Ever since starting out back in 2012, production company Sussex Events (SEL) had been running exclusively point source loudspeaker systems in its rental inventory.
But by January 2017, popular demand was suggesting that it should switch its attention to a line array solution. “Our point source systems were starting to be pushed to their limits,” admits co-founder Robert Watson. “Therefore we needed something that would cover the upgrade and also fit within our budget, enabling us to tap into a bigger market by taking on work to that we couldn't have delivered without the new system.”
So after a long search, guided by dealers Leisuretec, the Hailsham-based company chose a new Martin Audio scalable resolution Wavefront Precision Compact (WPC), SEL had set some stringent criteria. “We wanted a system without compromise on either audio or build quality, exp

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France - PlugFest, the technical event for entertainment lighting interoperability organised by PLASA, is coming to Europe on 26-28 February 2019.
The event is taking place in Lille, France, at Ibis Lille Centre Gares, and presents an opportunity for delegates to test and demonstrate device and system interoperability, with the aim of improving reliability, resolving compatibility issues and improving connectivity between entertainment lighting and related technologies.
New for 2019 will be a presentation on the ESTA Entertainment Industry control protocol standards which have been in public review since the last PlugFest, with the revised drafts of the RDMnet standard being of particular interest to many previous participants. Attendees will also learn about the latest ESTA/ANSI standards, set to be released in early 2019.
Focusing on a wide array of protocols

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Europe - RCF Group has acquired DPA Microphones from The Riverside Company.
The deal comes into effect in the second half of January. DPA’s brand name and management will remain unchanged and production will continue as normal at the Danish company’s manufacturing plant in Asnæs. All existing sales channels will also be maintained.
Arturo Vicari, CEO of RCF Group, comments: “Since my early days I have been fascinated by the world of microphones. Our portfolio already represents excellence in pro audio and we are very proud to add to our roster DPA – a company that also represents excellence in the microphone industry. We can now offer the complete audio chain, from microphones to speakers for the satisfaction of professionals around the world.”
Kalle Hvidt Nielsen, CEO of DPA, adds: “We have come a long way during the past few years. Share of sales c

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USA - The historic Rialto Theatre in Loveland, Colorado recently received an Alcons LR7 micro line array system as part of an upgrade.
The Rialto opened in the 1920s to screen silent films and vaudeville but shut in 1976, briefly reopening as a retail complex before closing again. The venue was restored in the mid-90s as a multi-purpose arts facility combining cinema, live arts venue and a community centre.
The Rialto’s sound reinforcement system needed updating and technical coordinator Dave Brull was tasked with matching a small grant with sound that would match 21st century audience expectations.
“Rialto’s design was fairly standard for the era, with many hard and reflective surfaces like plaster and maple,” he says. “The building is protected so there were a number of constraints to deal with, like preserving original features, and we had to try an

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USA - Continuing their 30th anniversary tour with a summer run of shows across the USA, The Australian Pink Floyd (with Trevor Gilligan at FOH) took Outline’s new Superfly system with them when they crossed the pond.
Paul Timmins, head of operations & sales at their long-standing audio supplier Capital Sound Hire, comments: "Outline’s Superfly cabinet is the gem of the family - it’s so compact and light (just 38kg per cabinet) that it’s a system you can offer to those tours that really do mix it up from clubs to arenas.
"The Australian Pink Floyd are a regular client of ours who do exactly that and when we needed to look at new system options for their European spring tour, knowing what was coming from Outline, we talked with Trevor who had previously used the Butterfly system some 10 years earlier and he was happy to go for it. It wasn’t long before the

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UK - HSL has added 100 units of Chauvet Professional’s Maverick MK3 Wash RGBW LED lights to its inventory at the LDI Show in October. By the start of the holiday season, the UK company already had the fixture out on three of its 2018-19 pantomimes, at the 2018 Liverpool Horse Show, and on the Arena Cross Tour.
“The immediate response has been very positive,” says Simon Stuart, managing director of HSL. “We’ve even had a certain renowned theatre LD comment that he didn’t want any other fixture except this in the future.”
He adds: “We spent a great deal of time chatting with some of our strategic partners in the USA, and with various LDs. Everyone was extremely positive about Chauvet and this fixture. We needed more large LED washes, and it became clear that the MK3 has all the bells and whistles. It’s extremely bright, is pixel mappable, has a great z

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Portugal - A traditional Portuguese Fado concert held in the cloisters of 17th Century São Bento da Vitoria Monastery provided Francisco Leal, head of sound at Oporto’s Teatro Nacional São Joao, the opportunity to get up close with Out Board’s TiMax SoundHub immersive dynamic delay-matrix – and further cemented his intent to incorporate TiMax immersive spatialisation into the Teatro Nacional’s in-house productions.
Leal explains: “Having followed the developments of the TiMax system for some time and wishing for the system when I met some challenging shows requiring different sound perspectives simultaneously, I finally found the opportunity this year to apply the system in a real context, in a Fado concert where movement throughout the performance is tradition.”
The concert played in the covered, wooden-floored courtyard of the Monastery to a three secti

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Australia - inoage GmbH has appointed Xenian as the exclusive distributor for Madrix LED lighting control products in Australia and New Zealand.
Xenian specialises in architectural, hospitality, corporate, retail, infrastructure and civic space lighting and has worked with key players in the industry for over 10 years. The company provides technical support and sales services to clients throughout Australia, New Zealand, South-East Asia, the Pacific Islands and the Middle East.
Taylor Chadwick of Xenian comments: "We are excited to begin our partnership with Madrix as exclusive distributor for Australia and New Zealand. I believe that this new partnership provides a fantastic opportunity to further highlight the unmatched power and versatility of the Madrix control platform to our local lighting market."
Madrix sales manager Christian Hertel, says: "We are deligh

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Germany - Prior to 1944, Frankfurt had one of the most beautiful and largest medieval half-timbered old towns in Germany. Recently restored, the architectural treasure was opened in September with a cultural programme that included a unique night drone show supported by lighting effects from Elation Proteus Hybrid moving head fixtures.
The highlight of the three-day celebration was a spectacular production in which drones drew constellations of light in the Frankfurt sky accompanied by a visually stunning light show over the river Main.
bright! GmbH was responsible for the concept and technical implementation of the production, as well as the programming of the drone show. Michael Giegerich, one of the managing directors of bright! GmbH and project manager for the constellations, developed the show concept along with lighting director Daniel Gündner. Both worked unde
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