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UK - Solan Fitness has opened its latest fitness centre following a £1.2m development in East Grinstead, Sussex.
The 15,500sq.ft. strength training facility, situated in the town’s Atrium Building, has developed out of the martial arts concept at the company’s pilot venue in Orpington. All zones - including Cardio, Weights, Spin and Dance/Fitness - are serviced by Martin Audio CDD loudspeaker systems, specified and provided by Old Barn Audio.
Entrepreneur Josh Ahmet had originally contacted the Martin Audio partners, for whom fitness clubs is one of their specialities, following an internet search. Director, Neil Kavanagh, was soon undertaking a site survey, noting that the facility also included a touchscreen accessible FitboxVirtual, a powerful technology platform

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USA - S. Jeremy Peters loves piloting small FPV drones. There is, he says, “no rush quite like it.” He and his wife Alison Peters wanted to share their passion for drone flying with a wider audience. As owners of SJP Productions, a lighting and projection company experienced working festivals, they were in an excellent position to do so. Hooking up with a local brewery, they created one of the first spectator-oriented drone racing events, complete with festival-like lighting, atmospherics and live video feeds all controlled with a three-universe set up built around ChamSys Software.
“Typically drone races are geared toward the racers themselves without a lot of spectators,” said Peters. “Generally, they don’t have much production. Alison and I wanted to draw on our production experience at festivals like Lockn, Peach, Bisco, Mountain Jam, Taste of Country and Gat

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Europe - Boston-based lighting designer Jeff Maker once again chose Robe as his main moving lights for the most recent UK and European tour for US rockers All Time Low which was a teaser for their upcoming Last Young Renegade album release, scheduled for release in June.
The band combine their hi-energy, in-the-face mix of gritty pop punk rock with a relentlessly busy touring schedule and are renowned for their live performances. Europe is an ever-popular destination and on this tour they played a whole range of venues encompassing academies, town halls and arenas.
Lighting was supplied by Zig Zag Lighting from Leeds, UK. Prominent on the rig were 15 Robe Spiider wash beams, part of a batch newly purchased by the rental company for this tour, together with other Robe luminaires like BMFL Spots, Pointes and CycFX 8s.
(Jim Evans)
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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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USA - American heavy rock band Tesla has cultivated a loyal fan base over the last 30 years, playing an unpretentious, blue-collar style of music that hard rock audiences love. For an ongoing tour that started in January, band lighting designer and creative director Ignacio “Iggy” Rosenberg is using an Elation rig to complement the band’s big rock sound and surprising (to some) long list of hits.
“The main thing was they were venturing into having more of a production for the first time in years, so we were trying to be cautious about spending too much, but also giving them as much of a show as we could,” commented Iggy, who has been working with the band for the past three years. “This was a great tour to understand the concept of providing something that was inexpensive, but not cheap.”
Working from a short production timeline, Iggy chose Platinum FLX

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UK - Shure UK has entered into a partnership with the Backstage Academy, the West Yorkshire training facility for students wishing to pursue a career in the touring and live entertainment industry. Under the terms of the deal, Shure will support the Academy with training events, sharing technical knowledge and experience, and providing the Academy's students with access to the hardware used daily by the UK live industry’s most successful practitioners.
Founded in 2009, the Backstage Academy is based at the Production Park at South Kirkby, midway between Wakefield, Barnsley, Pontefract and Doncaster, and offers its students experience-based technical live industry training centred around access to the world-class live industry facilities and commercial stage and touring design companies at the same location.
The Backstage Academy also has access to five smaller live r

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Germany - LEDBlade presented its new generation LED strip, visual technology system at Prolight+Sound recently. The system comprises both a straight component, the original LEDBlade Stripe, and the recently launched LEDBlade Curve.
“LEDBlade creates depth of space or three-dimensionality; it enhances edges, expands the visual area or links together to create any geometric design. LEDBlade adds extra dynamic to the video design toolkit,” the company says.
“LEDBlade Curves and LEDBlade Stripes can be used in any combination together – deployed as an independent visual item or integrated into a complex visual design – to create an impressive and memorable visual experience. For creatives and event designers, LEDBlade offers fast and easy mapping through any media server or projection control device, for a perfect image, on TV or live.”
Hand

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UK - Leading provider of professional AV equipment, Audiologic has been appointed by AED Distribution as a QSC Pro Supplier for the UK. California-based QSC manufactures world-class professional tools, systems and solutions for live sound, including the exceptional K Series of loudspeakers, GXD processing amplifiers and TouchMix Pro professional digital mixers. QSC's recently launched TouchMix-30 Pro compact digital mixer has earned universally outstanding reviews, reflecting the esteem in which its excellent products are held. QSC Pro's presence in the Audiologic portfolio is a highly significant addition for both live and installed sound applications, the company says.

Andy Lewis, Marketing Manager at Audiologic recognises the value of QSC Pro: “QSC has been a leader in the manufacture of professional sound systems for decades and are recognised as such ac

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USA - LD Matt Guminski was called in to design American pop singer-songwriter JoJo’s 2017 Mad Love Tour just a week before the tour launched in February and turned to Elation Professional moving heads and effect lights to light the re-emerging popstar’s show. Touring in support of her Mad Love album which came out last October – her first album release since the mid 2000s – JoJo is selling out 900-1800 capacity venues at nearly every stop and is clearly on her way back to top star status after charting in 2004 as a 13-year old.
His first time working with JoJo, Matt felt an immediate bond with the artist, who grew up in Boston near where he calls home, and took the short lead time in stride. Matt acts as lighting designer and operator on tour (he programmed the show on the road) and often handles lighting crew duties as well. To light the artist’s R&B-inspired

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USA / Russia - In response to growing sales in Northern Europe, Meyer Sound has appointed two new distributors in the region. Moscow-based Major Sound is the new distributor for Russia, while Sonus Exsertus, based in Vilnius, Lithuania, will represent Meyer Sound in its home country as well as the other Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia.
Headed by industry professionals with more than 25 years of experience, Major Sound was recently formed exclusively to provide sales and technical support of Meyer Sound products in Russia. The company is launching a new education program, translating marketing materials into Russian, representing Meyer Sound at trade shows, creating online events, and backing all sales with certified service technicians and local parts inventory.
"Meyer Sound has a unique story and we are proud to become part of their worldwide team," comment

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UK - Green Hippo has made four additions to its UK-based team. Jacqueline Attard is the UK HQ’s new financial controller, while Phil Blue joins as sales manager, expanding the technical sales team. Rob Moss enlists as junior production engineer, and Anastasia Nikolaou is the latest member of the London-based marketing team, securing the role of PR and marketing executive.
Jacqueline Attard’s remit as Green Hippo financial controller sees her help manage the financial complexities of a global business; one with offices in the United States, as well as the UK. Jacqueline’s previous experience includes senior roles with large European and US companies, including Deloitte, Jones Lang Lasalle and AstraZeneca.
Rob Moss brings significant technical expertise, having previously held the position of broadcasting engineer at the BBC, as well as time with Orange Ampl

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USA - ETC’s ColorSource Linear family is now complete with the launch of the ColorSource Linear 4 fixture. This is the third and longest variation of the ColorSource Linear fixture and measures a full two-metres in length. Like the half-metre and one-metre fixtures, Linear 4 comes in both original and deep blue array options. Both offer a richness of colour, and quality of light output you’ve come to expect from ETC ColorSource fixtures.
Every half-metre of the Linear 4 is individually addressable and controllable from the simple 7 segment display. It’s like having four fixtures in one. Linear fixtures are perfect for use as curtain warmers, sidelights, an unbroken stage wash, and in any installation location that is too narrow for many other standard fixtures.
(Jim Evans)

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Germany - Powersoft had many reasons to reflect on a comprehensively successful outing at this year’s Frankfurt Prolight+Sound earlier this month.
On the booth, they provided a first showcase for their new MiniMod 4 and LiteMod 4HC the latest in their market-leading range of power modules, which have become the engines for so many active OEM loudspeaker systems over the years.
These new releases attracted interest from both new and existing OEM partners, who expressed a strong desire to adopt the new modules in their upcoming developments.
With the impending release of the latest version of Armonía Pro Audio Suite, the daily training sessions proved popular. These focused on the latest implementations, and in particular the new Powersoft Interactive Tuning, and the many attendees were all impressed with the Smaart plugin within the Armonìa software.
Mea

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UK - W-DMX has recently supported the students of University of South Wales in the UK, completing BSc. degrees in Live Event and Lighting Design. Wireless Solution provided Wireless technology to the final year students that wanted to integrate W-DMX into their final-year projects.
The USW degrees encourage students to create a lighting fixture that could be commercialized – this includes specifying, designing and creating a product prototype, before presenting it in a trade-show environment, along with other engineering students.
Flare – the featured product with W-DMX – was created by Charlie LaPage Norris, Oliver Jenni, Pedro Socias and Matt Didon, all final students from USW. The fixture includes a variable white LED source with an RGB backlight system, able to be pixel-mapped and with a Wireless Solution receiver as standard.
Last year, Wireless Soluti

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Poland - Nearly 100 Claypaky fixtures illuminated the interior of UNESCO world heritage site, the Centennial Hall in Wroclaw, Poland, for its live production of large-scale theatrical performance Niebo as part of the closing celebrations of the city's year-long status as European Capital of Culture 2016.
Creative producer and multimedia lighting designer for Niebo was Pawal 'Spider' Pająk, founder of Polish production design company Fish Eye. Spider specified a number of Claypkay Mythos, Sharpy and A.leda B-EYE K20 fixtures from Polish rental outfit Transcolor to craft the production's vast spot, beam and wash effects.
"The Centennial Hall is an extremely high venue," says Spider. "For the Niebo production I needed to rig all my fixtures at around 23/24 metres above stage level. This meant I had to look for fixtures with brightness and quality tha

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USA - The Chanhassen Dinner Theatres complex has been a beehive of activity since it opened in 1968. In a typical year, its kitchen will serve 14 tons of steaks, four tons of prime rib, 120,000 chicken breasts, 18 tons of fresh green beans and half a million dinner rolls. Things are equally busy on the theatrical side. Over 10m people have seen shows at the Chanhassen, which is the largest professional dinner theatre in the US. Most productions run eight shows a week for six months, separated by breaks of only a few days.
The production schedule at the theatre complex, which is located 20 miles from Minneapolis, is not only full, it’s also varied, with musicals, concerts, dramas, comedies, one-person shows and ensembles all being performed on its stages.
Sue Berger, the theatre’s lighting director has three main criteria in mind when selecting fixtures for her of

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UK - The all-wooden box drum or cajón may be the world’s most popular percussion instrument, yet it is also one of the hardest to amplify, because it produces sharp bursts of sound energy (transients) when played. Finding the right microphones to capture the subtle “woodsy” tone and transient-rich sound of his cajón was proving to be a challenge for percussionist David Mortara – until he discovered the DPA d:dicate range.
Malambo has performed in many of London’s top music venues and festivals, including the Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall), the Bloomsbury and Ealing Festivals,and on the club and corporate entertainment circuit. Corporate gigs can take place in some very unusual and acoustically problematic spaces not designed for critical listening – such as the Victoria & Albert Museum Refreshment Rooms and Cannon Bridge Roo

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USA - Penn & Teller’s outrageous blend of magic and comedy has remained one of the hottest tickets in Las Vegas for over 20 years, and when the production team decided to upgrade the show’s set and scenery, it was also time to invest in new stage lighting technology. Lighting designer Jeff Croiter specified eight High End Systems SolaSpot Pro 1500s, purchased through 4Wall, for the Penn & Teller Theatre in the Rio Hotel.
Croiter explains, “I was in Las Vegas during LDI, at meetings in preparation to do the Penn & Teller show renovation. I had a day off and went to the convention, and I ran into Al Ridella from 4Wall. He said ‘you have to come over and see this light - I’m thinking about buying some’, and that light was the SolaSpot Pro 1500. Al introduced me to Bobby Hale and the High End team, and they ran the light through its paces. I was very imp

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UK - RAVENNA partnered with Merging Technologies to co-host an exclusive launch of the Merging/Digigram-developed Audio Network Manager software tool at the London premises of audio & video solutions resellers, Jigsaw24.
RH Consulting’s Roland Hemming opened the proceedings with a brief introduction on AES67, its role in audio networking and the very close relationship between AES67 and RAVENNA before handing over to Merging’s Audio-over IP expert Nicolas Sturmel. Sturmel, who recently joined Merging from Digigram, has been leading the project of the Audio Network Manager (dubbed ANEMAN) which offers a completely new – and easy – way to patch AES67 audio and much, much more.
The issue of AoIP network control and interoperability has always been complex and difficult to manage. A number of disparate solutions exist, but nothing that looks at the bigger pictu

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USA - With ardent fans still clamouring to see the living legend live, musical genius Brian Wilson extended his 50th anniversary tour of Pet Sounds, an album hailed as one of the world’s greatest musical endeavours.
Bandit Lites provides the lighting package for the tour, which features Pet Sounds being performed in its entirety with band members Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin along with other hits from the Beach Boys and Wilson’s more recent albums.
“When I was a kid, there was magic in music,” said lighting designer Chris Stuba of working with Wilson. “When I started studying Pet Sounds last year, I realized these pop songs are true, pure music magic, full of honesty and heartbreak. The audiences have been so incredible going on this journey with us every night, and the music is so full of joy, it makes people who hear it happy. I am ve

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Poland - Nearly 100 Claypaky fixtures illuminated the interior of UNESCO world heritage site, the Centennial Hall in Wroclaw, Poland, for its live production of large-scale theatrical performance Niebo as part of the closing celebrations of the city's year-long status as European Capital of Culture 2016.
Creative producer and multimedia lighting designer for Niebo was Pawal 'Spider' Pająk, founder of Polish production design company Fish Eye. Spider specified a number of Claypkay Mythos, Sharpy and A.leda B-EYE K20 fixtures from Polish rental outfit Transcolor to craft the production's vast spot, beam and wash effects.
"The Centennial Hall is an extremely high venue," says Spider. "For the Niebo production I needed to rig all my fixtures at around 23/24 metres above stage level. This meant I had to look for fixtures with brightness and quality tha

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UK - Green Hippo has confirmed three new international distributors. These new members of the Green Hippo family, respectively covering Italy, New Zealand, and South Africa, extend the influence of Green Hippo’s video playback technology, including its award-winning Hippotizer range of media servers.
In Italy, Spotlight, the Milan-based distributor, will use its 50 years of design and production experience, to help see the Green Hippo gear at work in Italy’s celebrated collection of opera houses and theatres, as well as auditoriums, conference rooms, and TV studios.
Nicolo Oliva, partner and CEO of Spotlight, said, “It’s a short time since Spotlight have started the distribution of Green Hippo, and we’re already very fond of the brand. These media-servers are really powerful and easy to configure, and the new software interface of Hippotizer V4 is a st
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