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UK - Slideatron - the 20-metre LED Christmas tree slide - entertained thousands of visitors from November 2017 until January 2018 in Wembley Park, London. Designed and produced by event and place-making agency Produce UK, the attraction allowed visitors to reach another level of festivities by accelerating through the tube in 18 seconds.
Guiding the public to the huge structure was a set of eight Airstar Crystal lighting balloons. The 160cm wide LED spheres were deployed around the structure in order to light up the area and enhance the spirit of Christmas.
Lana Guascone, project director for Slideatron and producer at Produce UK explained: “Our ambition was to create something impactful, creative and futuristic – but also fun. Every element of the project, including

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Australia - Professional Audio & Television (PAT) announced that they have delivered, configured and commissioned a Lawo Nova73 and a Lawo crystal console including compact engine for the Joan Sutherland Theatre in the Sydney Opera House via lead integrator The Downer Group.
The Lawo Nova73 Core has been configured as an mc² Mix Engine. Used as the Central Audio Router for the Joan Sutherland Theatre, the Nova73 is combining MADI, RAVENNA and Dante signals, along with traditional analogue and AES by way of a Lawo DALLIS I/O Frame. Lawo’s powerful mxGUI is used as the primary control interface for the router, allowing users to load snapshots for different room configurations, while also offering user manual adjustments of signal flows and parameters.
The system is completed with a VistoolMK2-equipped Lawo crystal console, to provide a simplified tactile, or custo

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USA - Visitors who entered the Roland exhibit at NAMM during a performance by one of the company’s many star endorsers experienced a sense of attending a concert. When they returned a short time later, they felt an equally immersive, but quite different, sensation of walking through a high-tech showroom. Contributing to the creation of this flexible exhibit space was a versatile lighting design by Justin Preston that featured a collection of over 90 Chauvet Professional fixtures, including 32 Maverick MK2 Wash units.
Having this number of high-output moving fixtures in the lighting design for a trade show exhibit represented outside-the-box thinking, but for Preston it made perfect sense, given his objective of creating a multi-dimensional environment. “Our concept in lighting the Roland space was to merge a club and a trade show look,” he said. “While we wanted to
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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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New Zealand - New Zealand distributor of professional audio products Jands has announced that the company will continue to support and distribute the Harman Professional Solutions brands in the New Zealand territory.
The announcement follows some confusion in the region following the decision by Jands Australia to no longer represent Harman in the Australian territory.
Bruce Gray, managing director for Jands NZ, says: “There has always been great synergy with the two companies - indeed, Jands New Zealand was created 30 years ago in partnership with Paul Mulholland of Jands (Pty) Ltd Australia, to sell audio products in the New Zealand market. However, that partnership was dissolved 28 years ago, whilst the Jands name was retained.”
Since then Jands NZ has built a legacy in New Zealand, becoming specialists in sound system design, supplying leading audio bran

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Czech Republic - 2018 signalled the end of the record-breaking 19-date ice arena tour across Slovakia and Czech Republic by Kabat. The multi-platinum selling Czech rock band stunned audiences with an in-the-round show design, complete with 360° stage, wrap-around video screens and a high-impact light show powered by the cutting-edge technology of Italian lighting manufacturer Claypaky.
Lighting and show designer Radek Havliček of production company Pink Panther Agency s.r.o, was responsible for the tour's lighting and production design. Marking nearly two decades of creative partnership between Pink Panther and Kabat, Havliček's latest design stunned audiences with its immersive flair and sophisticated use of space.
"The tour's stage spreads across most of a regulation-size ice hockey rink," explains Havliček. "It was the biggest stage that had ever been used on

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UK - Hearing loop system providers Ampetronic has recently announced a new partnership with Trinity fire and security systems.
An independent fire and security services company, Trinity has 10 regional offices around the UK and has been trading since 1997.
Founded in 1987, Ampetronic offers a full range of induction loop and hearing loop systems and technologies. By working together, Ampetronic and Trinity can install and fulfil multiple customer requirements with minimal disruption and downtime.
(Jim Evans)

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USA - Philips Lighting stage lighting fixtures were chosen to meet the strict lighting demands on the set of 2017's popular feature film, Pitch Perfect 3.
With eight performances filmed across four locations, in both day and night shoots, the design team, including production lighting designer Trevor Burk and lighting directors Zach Matusow and Mat Stovall chose to use the Philips VL4000 Spot, VL3500 Wash and VL550 Wash, due to their quality of light output, colour range and versatility.
Burk says: "The VL4000 Spot performed well as a key light in the aquarium scene and in the finale. It was really important to have high-level colour control and the super even field of the VL4000 Spot. In addition, we used the VL3500 Wash as a big, straightforward cannon of light in the aquarium scene, while for the festival performances at the airforce base, it was obvious we

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UK - The popular PLASA Focus Leeds exhibition marks its 10th anniversary by returning to the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds on 1-2 May. Free registration is now open.
The show will present over 120 international brands from all sectors of the industry. Highlights will include lighting products from show sponsor Phillips Entertainment Lighting, audio solutions from Sennheiser, Shure and d&b audiotechnik, and rigging services from UK Rigging.
Plenty of fresh faces are expected at the 2018 show, such as sound experts TOA, power systems manufacturers Lex Products, rain protection suppliers SelbyGuard, and award-winning LED lighting company TLS. With a mixture of household names and new discoveries, PLASA Focus Leeds promises something for everyone.
For those interested in opportunities to enhance their professional expertise, PLASA’s industry-leading seminar

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Cast Adrift - Cultural leaders have advocated for a special visa for performers and other creatives after Brexit, warning that Britain will be “cast adrift” if a solution that protects the arts is not found. Speaking at a House of Lords committee session, Andrew Hurst, chief executive of dance body One Dance UK, and the Musicians’ Union’s general secretary Horace Trubridge both argued that special immigration measures needed to be considered for cultural workers in the Brexit process due to the industry’s unique working patterns
These include touring to multiple countries, short-term contracts and the need to access talent at short notice. Trubridge said: “We feel that cultural and creative workers should be seen as a very distinct, atypical workforce who need special treatment post-Brexit. We would like to see a Europe-wide visa they could use to enable them to

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USA - In an effort to “better provide ready-to-use LED video solutions for your entertainment, architectural and commercial designs”, PixelFLEX reports that it has joined the Vectorworks, Inc. software content community. The design symbols, images and specifications for the PixelFLEX FLEXTour, FLEXLite Plus and FLEXCurtain HD video solutions, including accessories, will be available for download in all Vectorworks CAD and BIM design programmes beginning in March.
“As we have continued to expand our LED video solutions into a multitude of different markets, it has become imperative that we provide designers with the tools necessary to quickly complete their designs,” said Jon Chavez, technical director at PixelFLEX. “We have been very fortunate to have many talented professionals incorporate our solutions into their design portfolios, and our partnership wit

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The Netherlands - Axiom Pro Audio introduced two new loudspeaker products in its AX series of line array products at the ISE show in Amsterdam.
One year after launching the AX12C column array at ISE2017 the Italian-made professional loudspeaker brand has shown the AX6C, a new column array consisting of six 3.5” cone drivers housed in a rugged aluminium enclosure that is half the height of the larger AX12C.
Designed for mobile and installed applications where high power and clarity are needed, the AX6C’s line array characteristics are enhanced by natural cardioid behaviour which reduces output behind the speaker.
In a further evolution of the original AX12C design, Axiom presented for the first time at ISE the AX12LF low frequency loudspeaker housed in the same sized enclosure as the AX12C, making it the perfect low frequency extension complement in corpora

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Germany - SKALAR is a compelling piece of immersive kinetic light art created by artist / designer Christopher Bauder and musician / composer Kangding Ray.
Ninety Robe Pointes, 65 x double sided mirrors suspended on 195 special motors each with a perimeter ring of 180 addressable pixels feature in one massive cathedral like industrial landmark building.
Kraftwerk in Berlin is the still magnificent shell of a derelict power station that once electrified central East Berlin when the city was divided by cold war politics.
SKALAR “juxtaposes technology and imagination in a cerebral dichotomy to engage the mind and soul in generating the very human reactions of profound emotions”.
While Christopher’s conceptual starting point was renowned American psychologist Robert Plutchik’s ‘wheel of emotions’, his physical one was Kraftwerk itself

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USA - Having previously been involved with putting together the lighting design for James Arthur’s club/theatre tour in early 2017, LD Michael Straun has moved up to lighting the larger arenas for the artist — again using GLP fixtures extensively in his toolkit. He was invited by Meggan McKenzie, creative director of production company, The Live Dept, after previously working with the company on shows with Tinie Tempah and Katy B.
He and McKenzie worked closely to evolve the concept. “She would send me ideas which I would adapt and add lighting elements. We wanted to move away from custom builds so we used different fixtures in different ways to create the stage set,” said Straun. “James was also involved throughout the entire creative process. The key was to make the show look big and impressive - and the wall of JDC1’s did this.”
This is GLP’s new lo

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South Africa - Both beginner and advanced users are catered for at DWR Distribution’s Vectorworks training sessions presented by Francois van der Merwe. The dates range from 12 to 16 March and delegates are able to choose if they would like to patriate in one or more training sessions hosted over this time.
The basic training will be held on 12 March and delegates can expect to discover the fundamentals of Vectorworks with topics covered such as Layouts, Balettes, Basic Tools, Classes and Layers. The cost for this one-day training session is R850.
Intermediate Training will be held on 13 & 14 March. Here Francois will discuss preferences, Basic Spotlight, Basic Renderworks and Intermediate Tools. The cost for this two-day course is R1 700.00.
Advanced Users are invited to participate in training held from 15 & 16 March. The exciting module will cover w

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Canada - After over 30 years of service, two ageing consoles at Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology (OIART) were put out to pasture and replaced with two Audient ASP8024 Heritage Edition desks. As part of the facilities’ upgrade, they were chosen not only because they supported the curriculum, but also because they came in at the desired price point.
Head of audio production curriculum, Dean Nelson was pleasantly surprised when he first heard the brand new British consoles. “The first thing that jumped out - and this was the cherry on top - was the tone. I’d read the specs, was aware of the Stereo Bus 990C Mix Amps with the switchable Retro Iron transformers and Dave Dearden’s design history, but hearing is believing.
“The Heritages have a nice clarity and punch, but when you want you can drive the pre’s and it saturates quite nicely; the stere

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Europe - The combination of sound and sight is very evident in Marilyn Manson’s current Heaven Upside Down tour of Europe and North America, both in its music, which opens with a cover of The Doors’ Vietnam-era song The End, and in its richly evocative lightshow that designer Nico Riot controls with his new ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console.
“There is a strong theatrical element to a Marilyn Manson show,” said Riot, the co-owner of Nantes, France-based Chirac Design. “We create a moody, immersive look on stage with saturated colours, lots of strobes and blinders, a large abstract cross of lights, and V-shaped configurations on either side of that cross to draw attention to Manson.”
Riot’s 15-universe show also features a variety of up-lighted backdrops. Not surprisingly, given the artist’s iconoclastic nature, Marilyn Manson’s shows

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UK - As the want of returning sound designers has become more adventurous by the visit, and sound designs and PA systems have grown in complexity, so Manchester’s Royal Exchange theatre has stepped up to match the requirement by expanding its existing TiMax SoundHub to provide an impressive 48 x 48 analogue and MADI inputs/outputs. The upgrade also included a new Digico SD10T main console and QLab over MADI.
TiMax has been integral to the theatre’s sound control for just over two decades and the main productions appearing at the Royal Exchange have long benefitted from the advanced spatial programming that can be achieved effortlessly in TiMax. Head of sound, Sorcha Williams, who oversaw the last upgrade in 2014 to TiMax2 SoundHub, when the theatre’s original system came to its end of life after 16 years, notes that sound designers accompanying productions from elsewh

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UK - With a prime site off London’s Leicester Square, Studio 88 has opened as a new concept in entertainment, billed as “a non-stop, audience requested, live music experience”.
The brainchild of Alan Lorrimer, founder of The House of Song, the venue features a stage that has been equipped with a premium Martin Audio sound system by W1 Productions, using a variety of the company’s components and control.
Every night, two piano vocalists and accompanying musicians form a six-piece band who play a non-stop repertoire of music through the Martin Audio system - decided only by the customers themselves who populate the 350-seat restaurant.
Both W1 Productions MD, Stuart Turvill, and operations manager, Alan Beck, have wide experience in using Martin Audio systems in their various guises, the latter having first encountered the legendary Philishaves and split b

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UK - A dazzling array of lighting exhibits and artworks brought London to life in January when Lumiere London took to the capital to bring the biggest ever festival of light to the city's streets. Running from the 18-21 January, it showcased London's spectacular and iconic architecture and streets with more than 50 works created by international and local artists. Once again, event organiser Artichoke has worked alongside Unusual – both the services and rigging division – to make the event possible.
Unusual’s Jim Dugan explained: "Lumiere is always an amazing project for us – Unusual has worked with Artichoke on this for some years now –Unusual Services handles the technical production element of Lumiere (this encompasses all technical aspects of an event from power to building permissions and road closures). Unusual Rigging provide the rigging expertise. W

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USA - Ilusio, Magic on Ice, a riveting spectacular created by and starring Steve Wheeler, has played to millions of people in more than 4,000 performances across the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
To help light the show when it appeared last fall at The Berglund Centre in Roanoke, Virginia, lighting designer Emiliano Morgia chose Claypaky Sharpys and Sharpy Washes supplied by Lee Hartman & Sons in Roanoke.
24 Sharpys were mounted on four custom trusses built by Wheeler Productions over the show’s ice rink. Ten Sharpy Washes were placed on the floor as back lights.
“Sharpys are unique beams lights. There is nothing in the market that can compete with them – my choice was obvious,” says Morgia. “Claypaky is without doubt my favourite brand in the industry, not only for the high quality of the hardware and the quality of the light beams.

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Nigeria - With an audience estimated at close to three quarters of a million people, The Experience is an inter-denominational gospel concert held annually in Lagos. Convened and hosted by Pastor Paul Adefarasin, the colossal event debuted in December 2006 and is now the largest musical concert in Africa, featuring guest artistes from numerous countries leading the crowd in worship and praise.
Lagos-based CyTech World Communication provided the serious audio infrastructure necessary to deliver speech and music to the vast crowds. Such is the success CyTech have achieved at this unique event that 2017 is actually the fifth consecutive year in which they and their Outline loudspeaker systems have been entrusted with the technical responsibility for reaching every corner of the enormous audience area within the huge 280m × 200m Tafawa-Balewa Square.
A long-standi
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