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UK - trackingThis has launched a new shackle labelling solution that solves the headache of identifying loose rigging items in the events industry.

LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998) specifies that lifting accessories should be inspected every six months and that detailed records are kept. The problem is most small rigging items, such as shackles, don't have unique identifiers or serial numbers. Unless you can identify each item, it is not possible to maintain the detailed records required.

Traditional labels have not been suitable because shackles lack a flat area to stick a label to. If the adhesion area is small the labels do not stay on. Physical abuse, outdoor use and extremes of temperatures also make traditional labels prone to fading and di

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USA - With seven generations of Skywriter models before it, the all-new Skywriter HPX from X-Laser USA takes its place in the middle of X-Laser's diverse lineup. X-Laser engineered the Skywriter HPX to seamlessly transition from creating high-impact aerial beams at one event to projecting crisp, vivid graphics at the next.

"The HPX impresses because it's versatile and powerful, but also has a raw power about 60 percent greater than its "high-power" predecessor, the Skywriter Chroma Mini HP," said X-Laser president Dan Goldsmith. "This is our take on the laser equivalent of a multitool, and the HPX has the perfect pedigree for rentals, installations and even light touring."

New for the Skywriter HPX is a completely sealed optical deck that dramatically reduces maintenance intervals to help save users time and money on laser maintenance. The HPX's s

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UK - Launched last September, Current RMS has been working hard building new features into the system, now being used in over 400 event rental businesses worldwide.

To celebrate a year on, the Current team has launched a new website as well as the release of the new Resources Module. Now, Current not only manages all of the renting and sale of products but also the services that go with these jobs too whether that be crew, transport, venues or rooms.

Key features of this new Module include: View all your bookable resources and any job with unallocated services; Flexible service charging by; hours, days or distance; Simple resource allocation using drag and drop functionality; Handy iCal feed for all resource bookings; Use Stores to determine the whereabouts of your resource; Specify periods of unavailability for bookable resources.

The Current team look forward to demonstrat

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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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UK - After 2014's successful return to the PLASA Show, this year Yamaha will be exhibiting on a bigger stand and, for the first time at the event, sharing it with Nexo and Line 6.

The companies are exhibiting on Stand K40, in a prime position opposite the PLASA Show Bar. The stand is at the heart of the Audio zone in PLASA Show's new layout, a zoned arrangement designed to make it easier for visitors to navigate the show floor.

With the first units due to arrive at dealers very soon, the Yamaha Rivage PM10 large format console will be the centrepiece of the stand. Product specialists Andy Cooper and Wayne Powell will be on hand to give hands-on demonstrations to engineers keen to familiarise themselves with it, as well as on Yamaha's CL, QL and TF consoles, which will also be on display.

Other Yamaha products on show will be the company's CIS range of installation products,

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USA - With appearances at the summer's biggest music festivals and sold out concerts around North America, Southern rock group Alabama Shakes is currently on tour promoting its latest album, Sound & Color.

FOH and production engineer Shane Haase searched for the most "natural-sounding" equipment, including a Solid State Logic Live L500 console.

Inspired by the blues and soul of their Southern roots and the rock sounds of their generation, the band opts for a raw sound on stage, selecting a variety of both modern and classic audio equipment. "We start with the microphones, which have been chosen to compliment the band's overall dynamic and to express their voices in the most natural way," says Haase, who has been touring professionally for the past decade.

"From the microphones, it's simple signal processing just like anything else: microphone

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USA / Japan - This September, the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) conducted two Plug Fests: the 2015 Japanese EtherCAT Plug Fest in Yokohama, Japan, and the 2015 North American EtherCAT Plug Fest in Newark, New Jersey, USA. Both events showed the typical high variety in EtherCAT devices, as well as a high level of system conformance.

The 2015 Japanese EtherCAT Plug Fest was held 10-11 September at the facilities of Beckhoff Japan in Yokohama. The ETG was pleased with the improved quality, variety, and functional range of devices at the event, even when compared to the equally impressive results from the year before. In 2015, the Plug Fest had significantly more devices exhibiting advanced features such as highly-precise synchronization through Distributed Clocks, as well as modular device description (Modules/Slots). Additionally, the number of new and unique EtherCAT Slave Cont

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UK - Rambert is Britain's national dance company and has built a reputation of commissioning leading dancemakers, composers and designers from across the globe. It presents new and historic dance works to audiences in all parts of the country, performed by world-class dancers and accompanied by live music. The company recently decided to install a new lighting set-up in its London base, with this being used more and more frequently as a performance space. For both the purchase and installation of its new equipment, Rambert turned to White Light to draw on the company's extensive stock range and expertise.

Rambert is based on London's Southbank in an award-winning building which was officially opened by HM The Queen in March 2014. The move to the new location not only reflected the prominence of the company within British dance but also sought to provide the public with greater a

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UK - Entec continues its lively working relationship as a lighting supplier to one of the UK's most innovative, interesting - and successful - contemporary artists, Paloma Faith, working closely with LD Tony Austin and lighting director / programmer Phil White

Known for her eccentric retro style, Faith's music career goes from strength to strength with another chart topping album and a 2015 Brit Award for best Female Solo Artist. She has been touring for around the last six months including a spring outing for which Entec supplied the full lighting rig. The shows have continued into the summer with the floor elements of the rig modified as a specials package for festivals and headliner gigs.

The full rig comprised four overhead trusses with two side trusses, for which Entec invested in a new Doughty Engineering H-Frame system which is highly versatile. It proved the ideal solu

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USA - Elation Professional Cuepix Panel LED matrices and Elation Colour Chorus LED batten wash lights were used by lighting designer Bobby Grey to light the Tripolee Stage at the multi-genre Electric Forest Festival 25-28 June in Rothbury, Michigan.

Stage design for this year's Tripolee Stage was by Heather Shaw and her team at multi-disciplinary design firm Vita Motus Design Studio, who has created innumerable touring stages in the past and did it again at this year's Electric Forest.

Event co-producers Madison House and Insomniac decided to make something more out of this year's Tripolee Stage and asked Vita Motus to bring it into a more music appropriate space while maintaining the overall look and feel of the beautiful Electric Forest setting. Vita Motus's Future Present stage concept imagined an ancient relic built on earth by future generations erected 1000s of years in

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USA - The Bay Area-based band Primus recently toured North America with a Meyer Sound Lyon linear sound reinforcement system to deliver its quirky, bass-driven brand of alternative rock. Described by FOH engineer Jason Mills as a "really fast" system with plenty of punch, the Lyon configuration was provided by Pro Media/UltraSound of Martinez, Calif.

"Lyon is a very snappy box," says Mills, who worked triple duty as FOH engineer, production manager, and system tech. "It's responsive, punchy and clear. The fans have noticed, too-I'm getting more compliments after shows than ever before."

The full system for the tour included 24 Lyon-M main and 4 Lyon-W wide-coverage line array loudspeakers, 12 700-HP subwoofers, and four UPJ-1P loudspeakers as front fills. Two CQ-2 and four MSL-4 loudspeakers were deployed as needed for corner front and out-fill, w

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UK - With the Rugby World Cup now well in train it's opportune to reflect on an event at the O2 Arena, when, as a curtain raiser to the England campaign, sponsors O2 presented Wear the Rose. For 20,000 dedicated England supporters this was an evening to engage with the team, but with a twist. A slickly presented hundred-minute question and answer (Q&A) session between team members and compere Vernon Kay was interspersed with video clip highlights from the various players. This was then followed with a 75 minute finale from Take That.

"This started with an approach from O2 for Take That to appear," explains production manager Chris Vaughan. "Once the band had agreed it was a just a short step for their creative manager Kim Gavin to come on board and provide a framework for the whole evening. This was to be a great send off for the team."

For the key v

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USA - Scandinavian FOH engineer Mads Staerke, who has mixed Denmark's hip-hop artist L.O.C. for seven years, will be a guest speaker on the Meyer Sound Mixing Workshop webinar series. Staerke will be joining programme host and veteran mixer Buford Jones.

In the webinar, Staerke will discuss the danger of excessive audio compression, his experimentation with large-scale concert system configurations, and his approach to mixing with linear systems like Meyer Sound LEO. An open Q&A will be available for attendees' questions.

The Mixing Workshop schedule: Wednesday, September 30 7AM PDT/2PM UTC; 9AM PDT/4PM UTC. To attend these sessions, sign up for free here. http://www.meyersound.com/events/seminars/webinars.php

In addition to L.O.C., Staerke has mixed jazz (Caroline Henderson), electronic dance music (KATO), rock (Kashmir), pop (Kim Larsen), and more. When not on the road he

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UK - Warehouse Sound Services helped this month's BBC Proms in the Park at Glasgow achieve a sensational sound experience after designing, installing and engineering the sound for event and the diverse range of acts involved.

BBC Proms in the Park returned to Glasgow Green this month. The live event took place as part of the BBC's wider Last Night of the Proms celebrations. The event featured X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, Young Traditional Musician of the Year Claire Hastings and world-renowned saxophonist Amy Dickson

The Scottish Symphony Orchestra, under Stephen Bell, performed a versatile show, with music ranging from Bernstein's overture Candide and Sibelius' Karelia Suite to a specially adapted Poldark Suite by composer Anne Dudley from her music for the popular television series, and a host of imaginatively crafted accompaniments to main acts that also included the lo

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UK - Building on the great success of the 'Robe Arena' at PLASA 2014 to mark the company's 20th anniversary, this year Robe takes another large space at PLASA 2015 in the ExCeL Centre, and will make a major impact with its newest products and technology, focusing on innovations specifically aimed at theatre and television lighting applications.

The powerful features of the new DL7S LED profile fixtures will take centre stage, highlighting its quality of light, subtle and intricate full spectrum colour mixing and high colour rendering index - all suitable characteristics for theatre and TV environments.

Also new will be The Square, bringing the possibility of combining video projection, pixel animation, beam effects and LED wash lighting in one fixture with continuous pan/tilt rotation movement; the ColorStrobe from Robe, an RGB version of the potent new LED Strobe from Robe; T

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Europe - Hawthorn, one of London Stock Exchange's '1000 Companies to Inspire Britain 2015', has continued its reach into Europe with two significant events for September 2015.

The creative production company was commissioned by event management experts Taylor Bennett to design and produce all things technical for business events in Cologne and Barcelona.

Hawthorn delivered Taylor Bennett's creative exhibition stands for Adobe and Channel Advisor at dmexco, 16 - 17 September. The Digital Marketing Exposition & Conference 2015 is recognised as the premier global digital marketing event, drawing over 31,000 visitors to Koelnmesse, Cologne.

Last week, Hawthorn's technical team moved south to Barcelona to help realise Taylor Bennett's content rich party for Herbalife. Taking place at Poble Espanyol, over 3,000 guests were treated to a lively festival style reward and recognition

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Italy - More than 100 Raptor moving heads from D.T.S. installed by rental company AMG International, highlighted the finals of Miss Italia 2015, hosted by Simona Ventura and broadcast live on La7 television on 20 September.

The beauty contest that crowned Alice Sabatini - chosen from 33 final candidates - was held for the second time at the Pala Arrex of Jesolo, a large modern multi-functional centre dedicated to concerts, congresses, fairs and sporting events.

(Jim Evans)

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Italy - It has been confirmed that Showlight 2017 will take place on 20-23 May 2017 in the Renaissance city of Florence, Italy.

The colloquium, organised by lighting professionals, for lighting professionals, is now in its tenth incarnation, its peripatetic nature having taken it to London, Hollywood, Amsterdam, York, Ghent, Edinburgh, Munich, Glasgow, and most recently, Cesky Krumlov in 2013.

Showlight is a bringing together of lighting professionals from all areas of expertise and levels of experience, from wizened professionals to fresh-faced students! The emphasis is on sharing knowledge and enjoying the inspiration and variety our industry offers in a networking event without parallel.

An eclectic programme of speakers will inform and entertain delegates in a series of 20-minute sessions, interspersed by a micro-tradeshow, and accompanied by a social programme which inc

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UK - What can just £5 do? It can win you an Amazon Gift Card for £100, £250 or even £500 - but more importantly it can help a colleague in need who has fallen on hard times because they, or an immediate family member, is seriously ill or injured.

Stop by the Behind the Scenes UK stand (C10) at the PLASA Show 5-7 October to do your part to bring help and hope to your colleagues in need. Raffle tickets are just £5 each and will be available throughout the show. The drawing will be held on Tuesday afternoon, 7 October but you do not need to be present to win.

The raffle is to help raise funds for the new UK charity Behind the Scenes which provides grants to entertainment technology professionals that may be used for basic living costs, some medical related expenses, transportation, retraining, or funerals. One grant recipient said, "I just want

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UK - Immersive experience studio, Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF), has created a virtual reality (VR) work set in Grizedale Forest, the Lake District forest famous for its sculptures.

The project, called In the Eyes of the Animal, takes users on a fascinating journey that allows them to fly above the forest canopy, come face-to-face with hi-definition critters and embody various animals as they traverse the Grizedale landscape.

Through the use of virtual reality, aerial 360° drone filming, LiDAR and CT scanning, Marshmallow Laser Feast creates an experience allowing Abandon Normal Devices Festival (AND Festival) visitors to see the forest through the eyes of its creatures.

Artistically interpreting the sensory world of the animals, Marshmallow Laser Feast has built a real time system that dynamically visualizes precise LiDAR scans of the forest and CT scans of the a

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UK - Liverpool based Adlib is full of festival spirit following a highly successful summer of shows and events covering a rich and diverse cross section of concerts and music performances - from Latitude to Leeds/Reading - with lighting, sound, their infectious enthusiasm and characteristic humour.

Creamfields is always a special event for Adlib. The company has been involved with various Cream live activities since the superclub exploded onto the dance scene in the early 90s and has continued to be a major influence right at the epicentre of rave culture.

This year Adlib supplied sound and lighting to three arenas, CF03 the 15,000 capacity Cream Mega Arena; CF05 The Curve Arena - complete with wrap-round production design and CF12 Hospitality, with production overseen by Ian Greenway production manager from LarMac LIVE.

Cornbury 2015 was staged in the attractive leafy envir

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South Africa - Cape Town based CS Audio, a busy full technical - sound, lighting, video and structures - solutions and rental operation started in 1995 by Donald Clark, became the third company in South Africa to invest in Robe BMFLs, with the purchase of 12 x BMFL Blades together with 24 of the new DL4S LED Profiles.

These are added to around 150 other Robe moving lights in current rental stock, confirming that Donald is a big of a fan of the brand!

CS's eclectic work schedule covers a broad spectrum of shows and events - corporate and industrials, parties, concerts, music festivals and theatre productions - so adaptability is always a key to choosing lighting products.

The BMFL Blades and DL4Ss were delivered after the 2015 Mediatech expo in Johannesburg by Robe's South African distributor, DWR.

Both types of new fixtures went straight out on a tour with Australian origi

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