USA - Console and automated lighting manufacturer High End Systems unveiled three new products at the 2016 LDI trade show.

The SolaTheatre is the first lighting instrument in the SolaRange family to feature completely fanless operation. Suitable for studio and theatrical applications that require virtually silent performance, SolaTheatre brings the power of High End's white light LED engine to television, film and theatre LDs worldwide. The company also introduced HEX and QUAD, two new fixtures that join SHAPESHIFTER and UNO in High End's effects lighting range.

The company was also showing the SolaWash FX 2000, the latest addition to the SolaRange family, joining the revolutionary SolaWash FX 1000 and SolaSpot 1000 launched earlier this year.

High End is also introducin

USA - Airstar announced at LDI the enhancement of its successful Crystal range with the launch of two new innovative products - Sunshade and Crystal White 50k lum.

Following a successful pilot test at the Solidays and Musilac music festivals in France this summer, Airstar introduced Sunshade to the Crystal range; a large lighting umbrella which transforms the Crystal lighting balloon technology into a new envelope shape. Measuring 2.2 or 2.6m in diameter, it features the same RGB LED lights that can be found on the Crystal balloons, and is DMX controllable.

At Solidays, Sunshades were deployed as decorative party tables, tailored to the needs of the festival. Rigged on a 2.75m high structure, they were weighted by a 200kg base, hidden by a cover. Five were situated backstage for the artists, as well as the VIP terrace and the VIP bar, and they complemented the placement of

USA - LDI 2016 is the official global debut of a technically innovative mobile projection screen stand from AV Stumpfl.

The stand is compatible with Monoblox, Vario and VarioClip screens, it sits discreetly on one central stand, which can be folded giving it the look and appeal of a large projection monitor, enabling a more flawless looking presentation.

CEO Tobias Stumpfl said, "Our customers happy already have a wide range of screens designed for events and specific requirements. It's only natural that we should also offer them a flexible stand alternative helping them to make events and presentations even easier."

All screens are supported by a growing global network of partners. AV Stumpfl are award-winning designers of custom design projection screens, made to any size and dimension, to fit any border, any aspect ratio and for either permanent or temporary fixture

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

USA - Elation Professional has launched a next-tier product line of IP-rated moving lights built specifically to empower designer creativity - Proteus.

Featuring a sophisticated yet pragmatic design, Elation has put years of focus into developing this high-performance intelligent lighting solution to help designers create the effects and power they need, regardless of weather, tech or brightness requirements.

Launching at LDI 2016 in Las Vegas, Proteus are compact, robust and budget-friendly next-level intelligent lighting solutions designed to unleash creative vision and excel under any conditions. Now designers can benefit from Elation's trusted and award-winning indoor expertise outside, with superior illumination allowing their vision to be unbound by the elements.

(Jim Evans)

The Netherlands - Luc Peumans from Painting with Light was asked to create a lighting scheme for the recent new musical Sky which ran at the Theater Amsterdam featuring spectacular 3D video scenery.

The show was produced by Imagine Nation (Robin de Levita & Kees Abrahams) and featured music by John Ewbank and Marco Borsato.

Luc, himself experienced at working in 3D and 'surround visual' environments, was also asked to collaborate on this production because of his flair for lighting this hybrid genre of performance, which combines the emotion and connection of musical theatre with the latest presentation technologies.

Luc started discussions with the producers a year in advance of the show opening in March for its three-month run, which has just finished. "It was challenging in every way. When working with intense 3D projections specific qualities and techniques

Colombia - Light magician and creative director, Tupac Martir, has announced his latest creative project - Lux Festival; a light and video showcase where the dynamic canvas for the adventurous event is the colonial architecture and cobbled streets and squares of the historic coastal town of Cartagena, Colombia.

Set to run from 4-8 January 2017, Lux Festival will feature designs from some of the most imaginative international theatre, concert touring and event lighting and video artists the world has to offer. There has been huge support from the local community and Cartagena's Mayor Manuel Vicente Duque has extended his warm welcome to all the designers and expressed his excitement at raising the profile of the town and introducing the creative possibilities of lighting and video to the local community.

Curated by Martir, the festival's mission is to deliver a diverse and

South Africa - Founded by Apostle Edgar Hill Roscoe, who's ministry stretches over nearly 50 years, the El Tabernacle church in Walkerville has long suffered from acoustic issues which made it difficult for the worship leaders to be heard above the enthusiastic congregation.

Situated in Gauteng, the smallest and most densely populated province in South Africa, El Tabernacle is around half an hour from the centre of Johannesburg. Faced with considerable acoustic challenges, church elder Gustav Adams approached Richard Smith of local technical production specialists Sound Harmonics for advice on solving them.

"As part of a complete technical revamp of the building, I was asked to come up with an overall plan to achieve high quality, clear and powerful sound," explains Richard. "When sizing up a project like this, I like to analyse both the client's need as well as the hurdle

USA - Christie has partnered with Radio City Music Hall to provide its Boxer 4K30 projectors to enhance and add a new dimension to the world-famous Radio City Rockettes productions. This includes the upcoming Christmas Spectacular, starring the Radio City Rockettes.

With the rapid growth of technology in live entertainment and the desire to maximise the visual impact surrounding Radio City's beloved theatrical productions, The Madison Square Garden Company enlisted Christie Boxer for the projector installation.

DWP Live used the versatile Christie Boxer to create a special visual experience by deploying three distinct arrays - eight on each side of the theatre and six in the projection booth - creating an immersive environment fuelled by a kaleidoscope of colours and imagery onto the archway ceiling and backdrop.

"We did a temporary installation on short notice a few m

USA - On the show floor at LDI, Rosco Laboratories presented a cheque from the sales of Roscolux #359 Medium Violet to Behind the Scenes, the charity that assists entertainment technology professionals in need due to serious illness or injury.

"Rosco is proud to play a part in the important work that Behind the Scenes does within the entertainment technology industry," said Mark Engel, Rosco CEO. "The grants that Behind the Scenes provide can be profoundly helpful to entertainment professionals and their families, and it is our privilege to contribute to the cause. Our contribution this year is $4,500, bringing our total contribution to $21,000. These funds represent the proceeds from Roscolux 359 Medium Violet. We're grateful to Behind the Scenes for the opportunity to improve the lives of our industry colleagues."

Rick Rudolph, chair of the Behind the Scenes Foundation,

Mexico - In order to adapt to a growing and changing Mexican market for entertainment technology, the ADJ Group has announced the opening of a new distribution centre facility near Mexico City that will serve all ADJ Group brands: ADJ, Elation Professional, Acclaim Lighting, Global Truss America/Duratruss and American Audio.

"Owing to a high demand for our brands in Mexico, we are very excited to announce that we have formed ADJ Products Group Mexico," stated Toby Velazquez, president of the ADJ Group. "We have strong brand names in Mexico and the new facility will allow us to establish an even stronger connection between sales, service and our customers. This will help get our products in the hands of our customers quicker and offer our dealers a factory-direct sales and service experience."

The ADJ Products Group Mexico facility includes extensive warehousing and shippin

UAE - Audio specialist Sennheiser is set to participate at the inaugural Prolight + Sound Middle East trade show, taking place in Dubai from 31 October to 2 November, 2016. As a Founding Partner, Sennheiser intends to demonstrate its commitment to establishing this international exhibition as a key regional platform for the entertainment, event, media and creation industry.

"Prolight + Sound has a strong brand and reputation due to their annual fair in Frankfurt. As this is a new venture for the region, it is important that the main players in the industry support this initiative to help firmly establish it as a must attend event in the Middle East calendar for our industry," said Mig Cardamone, director of sales and marketing at Sennheiser Middle East. "Prolight + Sound will give us the chance to place our very latest products in the hands of our longstanding supporters. Of c

USA - Doughty Engineering's new Articulated Carriage made its official debut at this year's LDI show. Visitors to stand 1946 got the opportunity to see the new product which Doughty has added to its Studio Rail 60 range and which has been designed with film, TV and theatre in mind.

Speaking ahead of the show, Dan Phillips, project sales co-ordinator at Doughty, said, "We are extremely excited to give this Articulated Carriage an official debut - it's an item I felt was missing from the Studio Rail 60 range, so I've spent time on the design to ensure it works seamlessly. The Articulated Carriage means our curved Studio Rail to be used for many more applications, including its original use as a curtain track - as visitors to the stand will see, it works well with pieces of our Modular Rigging System, for example."

The Articulated Carriage enables the Studio Rail perimeter tr

USA - Robe enjoyed an action-packed LDI expo in Las Vegas, this year all the more memorable for collecting a 2016 Parnelli award in the indispensable Lighting Technology category for the successful BMFL WashBeam luminaire.

Robe highlighted two new products for the first time at a U.S. exhibition - the Spiider LED wash beam - "the next big thing" from the Czech manufacturer, and Halo, an ingenious new LED 'pixel technology' device. Also new was the Spikie, a small, super-fast LED wash beam.

The full BMFL range of high powered signature moving lights, popular in the US, were also prominent on the stand, together with the elegant DL series of potent LED luminaires designed specifically for the demanding worlds of theatre and performance. The arty and scenic PATT range of retro-styled tungsten lights additionally made an impact.

Much anticipated, 42 x Spiiders and 31 x Spi

South Africa - The Hilton Arts Festival 2016 was once again a resounding success, Sue Clarence's diverse programme had festival goers spoilt for choice. The pick of South African Theatre was represented across all genres from John Kani directing his son in Sizwe Bansi is Dead to the one man masterpiece Dead Yellow Sands featuring the talented Graham Weir.

For those fortunate to see it the South Korean production Dallae's Story was the pick of the festival, a delicate and tender story told through the medium of mime and puppetry. Grahamstown Ovation award winners Graveyard and crowd favourite The Snow Goose were also well received.

Black Coffee, the technical suppliers for the festival once again outdid themselves. Brandon Bunyan (Mr. Black Coffee), for the second year running exposed a selection of COPA (Centre Of Performing Arts) students to th

Australia - American dance promoter Insomniac Events, the company behind the Electric Daisy Carnival, teamed up with locals Symbiotic to bring its trance brand Dreamstate to Melbourne's Hisense Arena on 1 October for a night of deep grooves and euphoric melodies, served up by Paul van Dyk, John O'Callaghan, Rank 1, Sneijder, Genix B2B Sunny Lax, and Mark Sixma.

In keeping with Insomniac's dedication to providing the best possible experience to its audiences, Matt Chromatic, creative and technical director of set and lighting design firm Chromatic, was bought on board to deliver a unique custom look for the show, wowing the crowd and enhancing the beats. At the heart of Matt's design were High End Systems Shapeshifters, and the flagship Hog 4 lighting console.

Eight Shapeshifter C1s, which feature 126 RGB LEDs putting out 24,000 lumens arrayed across seven independently con

USA - Bandit Lites is celebrating another remarkable year as it was once again named Lighting Company of the Year at the 16th Annual Parnelli Awards. Hosted by Grammy nominated composer/guitarist Andrew Below, the yearly gala took place 22 October at the Rio Resort and Casino in Las Vegas during LDI.

In addition to being nominated every year since the awards inception in 2001, this year's win marks the sixth time Bandit has been awarded the Parnelli and the 25th overall Lighting Company of the Year award for the company.

Bandit chair and founder Michael T. Strickland accepted the award at this year's event, where the touring industry's best and brightest were recognized, both on an individual and company scale.

"The team at Bandit Lites is humbled to again be recognized by our peers," said Strickland. "We strive every day to be the best that we can be and deliver the w

UK - Manchester-based service providers VME, and its sister event company Creation Live, have provided sound reinforcement for Edinburgh's first outdoor dance festival - held at the prime Ross Bandstand, with Edinburgh's famous Castle providing the backdrop.

The 3,000-capacity semi-circular amphitheatre, set within Princes Street Gardens, was taken over by the local Fly Club, and VME were brought in since their premium Martin Audio MLA system would be able to meet the inevitable offsite noise restrictions imposed by the council.

"Given the fact that this was the first outdoor electronic dance promotion, operating between midday and 10pm, the event was highly sensitive," said VME head of sound, Mark Cleator. "We needed a system that was guaranteed to pass all propagation tests."

Their solution was to set two zoned ground stacks of four MLA and three MLX subwoofers per s

USA - For up-and-coming singer Taryn Cross, Break Some Rules is more than the title of her latest recording; it also describes her adventurous approach to music. Cross, who has opened for country stars like Eric Church, Joe Nichols and Randy Travis, has been more than ready to bend and break musical boundaries by blending her Nashville sound with rock and indie influences - all while infusing it with a sultry undertone that is all her own.

With her new recording, Cross is rebranding herself to go even further from the country genre. Austin Jansen of Digital Dynamite Productions is reflecting the 21-year-old artist's freewheeling musical style in lights with a rig anchored by Rogue R2 Spot fixtures from Chauvet Professional. Positioning 20 of the 240-watt LED fixtures on horizontal upstage truss, Jansen has created a lightshow that, like his client's music, is direct and

The Netherlands - With over three months to go before it opens its doors Integrated Systems Europe 2017 has been confirmed as the biggest exhibition in the event's 14-year history following an increase in show-floor space, exhibitors and halls.

A true indication of the event's international pulling power is the fact that ISE 2017 will see 135 first time exhibitors making their debut at the show. In total, ISE 2017 will feature over 3,000sq.m of additional show-floor exhibition space compared to ISE 2016.

Integrated Systems Events managing director, Mike Blackman comments, "Making sure that we can feature all of the world's leading AV vendors and service providers has always been a priority for us in delivering value for ISE attendees. With the expansion of the show I am delighted that we are able take the attendee and exhibitor experience to the next level for our 2017 eve

USA - When Latin music megastar Marc Anthony set out to create the MAGNUS Media entertainment agency, his team turned to Meyer Sound to bring the same level of sound solutions from his live touring success to the venture's new Miami headquarters. The new space includes a showcase lounge and studio where MAGNUS Media will work with emerging artists.

Founded in 2015 by Anthony and principal partner/CEO Michel Vega, MAGNUS Media is a diversified enterprise focused on leveraging the power of Latin content creators through artist management, music publishing, digital content creation, video production, and music recording and distribution.

The new collaborative effort extends the existing touring relationship with Anthony, where his rider specifies the Meyer Sound Leo Family.

MAGNUS Media chief operating officer Felipe Pimiento explains that the agency developed organically

Brazil - Lighting designer Durham Marenghi chose Robert Juliat followspots for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games, employing 10 Robert Juliat Lancelot 4000W HMI followspots and four Robert Juliat Cyrano 2500W HMI followspots for the spectacular Opening and Closing Ceremonies at the Maracan

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