Details
UK - Black Light has installed an external lighting system at the recently completed, £20m, sports centre at Lancaster University. The project, which presented a number of key technical challenges, highlights the company's national reach and the fact that it can offer turn-key solutions of the highest quality.

"We were asked by the consultant, ARUP (Manchester), to provide a lighting system to highlight the building during dark hours and make it stand out from the street," says Jock Wallace, Black Light's installations manager. "As the sports centre is a brand new building we had to ensure that our work complemented it aesthetically. We also had to be extremely careful that our installation was faultless and that we achieved a perfect finish."

To ensure

Details
UK - As the Theatres Trust's Ecovenue project draws to a close, Tim Atkinson - who has headed the project since 2010 - has announced that he will leave the Trust at the end of the year to launch Entertaining Sustainability - a new website and venue auditing service.

Atkinson will primarily be carrying out energy and sustainability audits and delivering Display Energy Certificates and Advisory Reports for theatres, performing arts venues and entertainment industry suppliers and distributors from January 2013, under the name: Entertaining Sustainability.

The accompanying website aims to offer a mini social network for those interested in entertainment and sustainability to stay in touch and share news, ideas and experiences. The website launched this week for two months of 'public beta', before becoming fully-fledged in January 2013.

Atkinson comments: "I am keen that it

Details
USA - At the 2012 biennial Ryder Cup golf tournament, a team of USA all-stars challenged the European Cup-holders at the private 640-acre Medinah Country Club in Illinois. Lighting for the event ceremonies was provided by Theatrical Lighting Connection (TLC) of Chicago.

The lighting rig included 100 Martin and 55 Color Kinetics fixtures. Control data from two Martin consoles was transmitted via a total of 2,000 ft. of ProPlex Fibre Cable to two ProPlex GBS 10-port, dual-fibre, managed GigaBit Switches, and then via ProPlex Ethernet cables and ArtNet converters to four ProPlex Opto-Splitter 2x8 units, linked to the fixtures via ProPlex DMX cables.

"We've been using ProPlex data cables for about 10 years and never had a problem," says Otto Schlesinger, production electrician at TLC. "Based on our experience, it made sense to adopt the new ProPlex Fibre Cable. This

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

Details
USA - Orbital Sound Inc opens its doors today, bringing the well-established Orbital brand directly into play in the US market for the first time. Headed up by industry veteran Jim Shearing, Orbital Sound Inc is headquartered in Springfield, NJ, just outside New York City, and is staffed by a pool of seasoned professionals, including Jeff Hahn, Lorne Grabe, Luke Lytle and Ray Mancison. Mirroring the structure of the highly successful UK-based company, the US operation will be focusing principally on servicing the theatre, live entertainment and corporate event sectors.

Orbital Sound Inc's President Jim Shearing comments, "Orbital's professionalism and technical capabilities are highly respected on the international stage, providing us with a fantastic platform on which to build the US business. All of us in the Orbital Sound Inc team have many years' experience, and we shar

Details
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd's Video division has supplied XL Video with two of the latest Green Hippo v3 HD i7 media servers, which have gone into immediate use on tour with 2010 Mercury Prize winning UK indie band, The xx.

The sale was co-ordinated by Peter Butler for AC-ET and Paul Wood, XL's project manager for The xx tour. Wood also liaised closely with XL Video's technical project manager, James Morden.

The Hippotizers were specified by the band's lighting director, Michael Straun and were specifically chosen as they were the only media servers able to fulfil the exact functionality and system requirements necessary.

Two of the Hippotizers are run live, while the third is used as a 'hot' backup - all running on the latest 3.1 version software.

The tour has included a wide variety of European festival dates.

(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light supplied the lighting to the Horse of the Year Show, a long-standing fixture in the British event calendar, held at the Birmingham NEC. The event features equestrian displays, show jumping, and more. The show is an annual must-see for equestrian fans.

The Horse of the Year Show is organised by Grandstand Media Ltd, with Production Team as the production company led by artistic director Nadia Raibin. The show's lighting design was by Mark Strange, with Ben Fox as technical producer - who gives "a big thumbs up from the whole team to White Light for a great event". White Light supplied lighting for the main Andrews Bowen International Arena along with the smaller Caldene Arena.

"We've been through a few different lighting companies on the Horse of the Year Show over the last few years," comments Ben Fox, &quo

Details
France - Over 200 Robe LEDWash 600 RGBW LED moving lights were again central to Peter Heilig's lighting design concept for the BMW and Mini booths and press launches at the Mondial de l'Automobile 2012 à Paris (Paris Motor Show). This was staged at the Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles and attended by over 1.2m visitors over two weeks.

The lighting fixtures were supplied by Rock Service from Salzgitter in Germany and specified by Heilig after his very successful use of Robe's LEDWash and PureWhites for BMW at the Geneva Motor show earlier in the year.

Thirty-two LEDWash 600s were positioned on the floor at the back of the BMW stand - designed by Mutabor Hamburg - for the press launch and unveiling of the new eco-friendly BMW Concept Active Tourer vehicle at the event.

(Jim Evans)

Details
USA - Martin Professional's M2GO and M2PC lighting controllers are selling strongly in the US.

With over 300 units sold in the US since June, and outstanding sales at the recent LDI exhibition in Las Vegas, Martin Professional's M2GO and M2PC lighting controllers are quickly establishing themselves as the lighting control choice for rental houses across the country, says the company.

"The success of the M1 console has really paved the way for these new M-Series consoles," states Scott O'Connor, product specialist - control at Martin Professional, Inc. "With the M2GO on its way to becoming the standard for rental houses, our M-Series consoles have not finished impressing. We will have more from the M-Series coming soon."

The M2GO is equipped with a fast, dual-core processor with no external computer required while the M2PC is the complementary control surf

Details
UK - Edinburgh-based technical installation specialist Northern Light is the first company to purchase the newly launched SDRIVE motorised track system by Triple E.

Following an industry and press launch hosted by Triple E's managing director David Edelstein at Portsmouth's King's Theatre in September, Northern Light project manager Martin Tarpy purchased the SDRIVE system for The New Waverley School in Birmingham.

"We wanted to deliver the best possible solution for the school's main proscenium theatre and consulted a range of suppliers, including Triple E," says Tarpy. "The SDRIVE had launched that very week and appeared to meet all of our technical criteria, as well as our budget."

The SDRIVE system is a compact and simple to use motor intended for curtains weighing up to 50kgs and is suitable for drama stages in buildings such as schools.

The new Wa

Details
UK - Following the successful launch of its Super2fer product at the PLASA Show in September, where it picked up a PLASA Award for Innovation, manufacturer Digital & Future Technologies has announced that it is now working on a new chipset upgrade, which will mean a delay to the shipping of the product.

Chris Crockford told LSi: "This is a blow to our original plans, but it will mean more bandwidth and more box connectivity. We have also found a couple of manufacturing errors with the original boxes when tested in the field, so we are working to correct them, along with integrating the feedback we received from people attending PLASA."

Designed for all aspects of the entertainment industry, the Super2fer allows users to modulate their video, audio, lighting, and IP data through standard 16A mains cable up to 500m from source.

To see Crockford's PLASA Show presentat

Details
UK - Shine Systems has selected the Mackie DL1608 as the console of choice for the 24,000-capacity Welford Road Stadium, home of the Leicester Tigers rugby club.

Director of Shine Systems and audio engineer for Welford stadium, Phil Taylor, explains, "The DL1608 is used to play music before/after the match and at half-time (both from the iPad and from a Macbook Air running Traktor), together with playing pre-recorded announcements and to control the match announcer microphones."

The large stadium is divided into 17 discrete zones and employs a robust wireless network that was suitable for the DL1608. "I was also able to walk round the ground during the pre-match build-up with just my iPad and adjust levels as required using the ground-wide wireless network." continued Taylor. "I would usually use a larger-format digital console for this, but I am confi

Details
The Netherlands - The BC332 from Alcons Audio is a self-contained, high-output cardioid subwoofer system for both permanent and portable ground-stacked applications. Following the footsteps of its bigger brother, the BC543, the BC332 is designed to offer a directivity controlled, high output, tight and accurate sub-bass response, for low-frequency extension of any Alcons pro-ribbon system.

By means of a front and rear located woofer configuration, in combination with dedicated processing, the BC332 enables selectable cardioid low-frequency pattern control and excellent rear rejection (up to 18dB), without the need for additional cabinets.

On the front side, one 18" long-excursion woofer with 4-in. voice-coil with double-spider and demodulation ring frame, is mounted in a front-loaded configuration, with X-Venting; This newly designed reflex port takes more than 20% of the

Details
UK - James Thomas Engineering has appointed Patrick Lockwood as special projects manager. Returning to JTE for his second stint with the company, Lockwood brings a wealth of experience from terms at Tomcat, Lite Structures and more recently Prolyte.

As special projects manager, Lockwood will handle every aspect from initial customer contact through to installation, as well as the development of new, cutting-edge truss products. "This will take us into an exciting future, and enable us to take the James Thomas brand back to the very front of truss manufacture globally," says JTE general manager Paul Young.

He added: "We are extremely excited at the appointment and knew that there are only a handful of people capable of fulfilling this role. Of those, Pat is our number one choice, so we are delighted to welcome him back."

(Lee Baldock)

Details
UK - HHB Communications has recently appointed Patrick Belcher to the role of service engineer.

Belcher now becomes the eighth member of HHB's experienced and fully trained engineers team with specialist technical knowledge. He is based in HHB's technical department in North West London and reports to service manager Rachid Amini.

HHB has invested more than £250,000 in the latest analogue and digital test equipment, making its facilities Europe's largest independent pro audio support centre. This is complemented by a massive stock of spare parts, which ensures that all repairs are made in a fast and efficient manner.

Before joining HHB, Belcher studied audio technology at the University of Salford. He also has experience as a freelance sound engineer and a professional DJ. Originally hired for a work placement as part of his degree, he fitted in at HHB perfectly and wa

Details
UK - Manchester-based lighting, rigging and visuals rental company dbn designed and supplied a large ground support system for the Games Time outdoor stage spectacular, which played its final performance at Derby last weekend.

The show, produced by Walk The Plank and Déda, was a mixed-media performance combining music, dance, video, lighting and pyrotechnics, directed by Lea Anderson and starring members of the local community. Four teams - Red, Blue, Green and Yellow - sporting fabulous carnival style costumes designed and made by Mahogany - competed to win the Games Time Finale.

dbn's Stephen Page was asked to design the truss and lighting for the event, which played four towns - Skegness, Loughborough, Northampton and Derby - celebrating the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the East Midlands.

dbn invested in a new Slick ground support sys

Details
Australia - Sydney International Regatta Centre in Penrith Lakes hosted one of the most successful outdoor dance party events of its kind on 15 September 2012. The outdoor festival featured seven stages spanning over the Island, with the main stage, also known as the 'Red Stage' hosting 22,000 people who came to dance to the beats spun by Wildstylez, Headhunterz, Frontliner, Code Black, Psyko Punkz, Toneshifterz, Zany, Max Enforcer, S Dee vs Hektic, and XDream.

The event was hosted by MC Villain, produced by Matt Chromatic and promoted by Q-dance Australia. Norwest Productions provided complete sound production; staging, lighting, and pyro were executed by LX- PRG, Lasers- Oracle, and Pyro-Howard & Sons.

Audio system design was executed by the event FOH Engineer Scott Harrison, on the new Adamson Blueprint AV Software, enabling the plotting of the four hangs plus a front-fill.

Details
UK - Following the appointment of Alex Leinster as managing director, Chaos Visual Productions has announced that Mick Jones will be joining the company as project director in the UK.

Jones joined the Chaos team on 1 November directly from PRG where he has been instrumental in the project management and delivery of their new video offering in the UK for the last two years. He brings with him over 25 years' experience across the whole live event industry.

"I look forward to joining and being part of the team at Chaos UK with such a great group of people; people who understand the value of client -supplier relationships," remarks Jones. "Chaos is one of the leaders in its field of specialist Video services and, along with the outstanding quality of their delivery to clients, it made my decision to join them just very, very easy."

"I'm looking forward t

Details
UK - Right Structures has introduced three new models to its Geo Stage range, now available to the live events industry across Europe, October 2012.

The curved roof of Right Structures Geo Stage has been made available in 20m, 30m and 45m spans. Right Structures officially launched to the industry earlier this year and has continued to develop its range to offer festival and event organisers a flexible, structurally sound staging system.

Ruben Caruana, Right Structure's business development director, explains, "The creativity and flexibility of our modular Geo Structure System allows for a design-led alternative to the traditional stage set up and we have continued to invest in equipment and develop our product line in recent months to meet client's needs. Our new standard stage models, Geo20, Geo30 and Geo45, provide organisers with a cost effective, attractive solution

Details
USA - Audio-Technica is celebrating its 19th year of supporting the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards by providing an extensive selection of vocal and instrument microphones for its annual awards show.

The 46th Annual CMA Awards aired live in 5.1-channel surround sound Thursday, 1 November, 2012, on the ABC Television Network from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, and featured over 200 Audio-Technica microphones, including an impressive array of hard-wired mics and Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless Systems.

The team responsible for the audio at this year's CMA's again included a who's who of broadcast audio. The audio was supervised by award-winning audio producers Tom Davis and Paul Sandweiss; ATK/Audiotek provided the sound system with FOH (front-of-house) mixers Patrick Baltzell and Rick Shimer; the broadcast music mix was handled by New Jersey/California-based M

Details
UK - Flightcase manufacturer 5 Star continues to enjoy brisk business this autumn with a wide variety of projects including a substantial supply of cases to Edinburgh-based lighting, sound and AV specialist, Black Light.

The cases - a series of general purpose and custom items - were purchased to protect and transport Black Light's newest equipment investments, including lighting and rigging kit.

5 Star designed, manufactured and delivered the order with their characteristic speed and efficiency so the cases were able to go straight into action on a range of events and hires.

5 Star was selected for its reputation for producing robust, premium quality cases as well as the expedient turnaround, and was project managed for them by John Barsby out of the company's Wisbech HQ.

Eight Eurotrucker road trunks with full trays, one ETC Gio lighting console case, two Selecon Acclaim

Details
Turkey - SGM's new generation LED strobes have arrived on the Aegean coast. In one of the world's biggest open air venues 18 of the XC-5 RGB strobes pulse beneath the night sky of Bodrum. The stylish Halikarnas, which overlooks the Aegean, was completely redesigned this summer by its millionaire owner Süleyman Demir.

Lighting stalwart Andy Graves, of Turkish-based LEDsistem, supplied 18 of SGM's innovative XC-5 RGB strobes among the lasers and special effects that animate this luxurious multi-zone venue. They had been specified by Arch Lite's Matthew Button and Trent O'Connor, who between them undertook responsibility for the architectural, theatrical and club lighting design.

Button, who masterminded the stage lighting design, had no hesitation in choosing the SGM solution over conventional strobes, stating, "In terms of power, this fixture not only outperforms a standa

Page 2910 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .