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UK - Christie reports that AVC Live, a leading technical production company based in the UK, have invested in a number of the latest Christie Mirage WU20K-J 3-chip DLP projectors and a Christie Spyder X20 video processor.

AVC Live provide production services to corporate clients, event agencies, production companies, PR & communications agencies, hotels and venues. The company's reputation is based on quality and experience. They propose, design, plan and execute innovative live event solutions across numerous sectors irrespective of size and scale.

For almost two decades AVC Live have had a close partnership with Christie (formerly with Electrohome). Past purchases have included many Christie Roadster HD10K-M projectors and Christie MicroTiles. Due to the tough environments associated with staging large events, quality and reliability are of prime importance to AVC Live, and

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World - Singer-songwriter Bruno Mars has been getting rave reviews for his Moonshine Jungle Tour, which will continue to play dates around the world through March 2014. The tour is accompanied by Clay Paky Sharpy and Sharpy Wash fixtures.

"We were tasked with creating a world for Bruno and his band to inhabit," says lighting designer Cory FitzGerald who codesigned the tour with Roy Bennett. "Bruno has a lot of sounds and pushes past a lot of genres, so he needed an environment that would accommodate all his music. The lighting fixtures help a lot with that. We have 42 Sharpy Washes and about 80 Sharpy beams and we're very happy with the rig." VER supplied the tour's gear.

The versatile Sharpy Washes are "used for everything," he says. "They're the main wash for the show, and we have 36 overhead and six on the floor. We built a ceiling,

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UK - The Music Group has appointed Nick Bellis to handle Customer Support for the Music Group Professional Division.

Nick brings to the Music Group a 25-year career as a respected FOH and monitor sound engineer and system tech with Liverpool-based pro audio rental company Adlib Audio, who specialise in concert touring, festivals, and corporate events as well as major sound and lighting installations. In this role he has worked all over the UK, Europe and North America on major concert tours and shows by Bon Jovi, Public Enemy, GUN, Calvin Harris, Amy Winehouse, Oasis, and The Beastie Boys.

As well as his extensive work as a live engineer - often trudging through the mud at Glastonbury, Download, Rockness, and the Leeds and Reading festivals to get to his FOH position- he has also spent over 15 years delivering professional audio installations and tour sound sales, representing

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Maldives - Premium fixtures from PR Lighting have been used on a key Maldivian political programme televised by local broadcaster, TVM (Television Maldives).

Siyaasath was a one-on-one prime time interview session conducted by presenter, Liza Laurella, with the four candidates representing the major political parties: MDP (Maldivian Democratic Party), PPM (Progress Party of Maldives), JP (Jumhooree Party) and Dr. Waheed (an Independent Candidate).

Part of MBC (Maldives Broadcasting Corporation), TVM sourced quantities of XLED 1037 and XR-300 Beam from local events company, Azidon Pvt,and these were designed into the stage set by Abdulla Shamin.

Azidon's Ahmed Hamzoon explained: "These were selected because a powerful beam effect was required in the colours of the respective parties. They were primarily used for effects to complement TVM's Studio Lights."

(Jim Eva

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USA - Crowds turned out in record numbers for the 19th annual Essence Festival in New Orleans. A-list artists including Beyoncé, LL Cool J, Jill Scott, Tamia, Janelle Monáe, and others packed venues throughout The Big Easy. The festival was staged by Essence Communications and produced by Solomon Group, a New Orleans-based entertainment production company, which supplied various equipment including Clay Paky Sharpy lighting fixtures to eight stages across town.

Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky area manager for North and Latin America, comments: "This is a very high profile and exciting event to be involved in and we're proud to be a part of it. The Solomon Group is a very talented company and we're proud to be working with them."

"With great some support from VER, Solomon Group supplied gear to several stages, including five in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome,

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UK - Illuminate Design has recently upgraded the Foyer and Bar lighting for Colchester's Mercury Theatre. One of the region's most respected theatres, the Mercury has gained a reputation for encouraging ground-breaking new writing alongside established classics, and contributing to the wider regeneration of the region.

The Theatre was first opened in 1972, and following a number of upgrades in the intervening years, it has now invested in a complete new lighting system for its Foyer and Bar Areas, as part of wider improvements to the theatre's energy use and audience experience.

As the system needed to be both discreet and environmentally efficient, Illuminate Design specified Chauvet energy-saving LED lighting, which will not only reduce the theatre's running costs, but its maintenance costs also. As ease of control was important, an iLight Controller was installed pre-progra

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UK - The LS-Live Studios in Wakefield hosted and produced a launch ceremony for the prototype of Keating Supercars' new super car 'The Bolt' last month, which is anticipated to beat the world speed record for a production car at over 300mph.

Developer Tony Keating introduced the car to an audience of over 100 people before it descended from the studio roof to a pyrotechnics display and performances by the Wakefield Wildcats cheerleaders. X Factor contestant Laura White and MC Gordon Burns warmed up the crowd, which included governors from The University of Bolton.

Guests were then invited to inspect the car, which is the fourth car to be developed by Astley-based Keating Supercars, founded by engineer Anthony Keating in 2006. The key to the latest model is a new kind of supercharger, developed in-house by Mr Keating alongside experts from the University of Bolton's automotive

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USA - America's Got Talent, NBC's hit reality television show, has taken its collection of acrobats, magicians, singers and the like on the road. Lighting designer Seth Jackson worked with Bandit Lites to illuminate the variety show, taking into account that show would be transitioning from television to a touring act.

"The biggest decision I made when looking at the TV show was to go completely in the opposite direction," said Jackson. "This design focuses on crafting a look that celebrates the feel of the show, but has its own identity."

Additional measures were taken to ensure that the differing artists were given varying looks: Musical artists require the feel of a concert, comedians, a television special appearance, and acrobatic sequences were lit like a dance piece.

One challenge to designing the show came from the fact that truck space was

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USA - Folk rock singer-songwriter Jack Johnson just wrapped up a month-long North American tour leg on 20 October supporting his latest album, From Here To Now To You. Camarillo, California-based Rat Sound Systems, Inc., which has been Johnson's live production provider in the States for the past 13 years, deployed a full L-Acoustics Kara rig for the latest trek, which stopped at what the artist considered the "most beautiful and intimate" theatres across the continent.

According to systems engineer Andrew Gilchrest, the Rat crew typically flew 15 Kara line source array enclosures below two SB18 subs per side, with an additional two SB18 per side set up on the floor. For venues with extended balconies, however, the left and right hangs were split into two arrays: eight Kara in the air, plus seven Kara positioned over two SB18 onstage for the orchestra level. LA8

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Germany - Herbalife's Extravaganza is a special corporate event organized periodically by Herbalife - mixing high-profile entertainment and a strong motivational theme - in various cities around the world.

This year, Extravaganza was held 27-29 September in the Lanxess Arena, a modern multi-purpose venue site in Cologne, Germany, and was attended by about 50,000 visitors. Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State, was the special guest for this edition.

The entertaining aspect of the convention featured a richly decorated stage - on which the Shadow Dancers ensemble performed - and large mirror balls suspended over the audience.

To illuminate this impressive setup, Planet Service - a company specialising in consulting, design, construction and lighting design of major events, as well as technical partner of Herbalife for its international conventions -

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USA - A Jands Vista T2 console was chosen by US based lighting designer, Chris Shrom, to control lighting for the Grammy Award-winning vocal harmony group Little Big Town, currently touring North America until mid-December.

Shrom was challenged with programming a rig which would have as much impact outside in daylight as it does when the band moves inside arenas.

Shrom worked closely with the band, tour project manager, Chris Diener and show designer, Raj Kapoor in designing something that worked well in all scenarios - choosing a dynamic rig featuring Sharpys, Atomic 3000s with color scrollers, Nocturn UV lights with Eclipse Shutters and MAC Auras.

"I know the Jands Vista T2 well and I can programme it very quickly. I've been using the Vista software now for almost five years. I love the timeline feature: Its simple, easy to look at and work in. The less thinking I hav

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UK - West London technical production specialists, Entec supplied lighting and sound equipment and crew for two major gigs at Brixton and Bristol on the recent Fat Freddy's Drop UK tour.

The New Zealand based band - known for their improvised live performances which embrace multiple styles including dub, reggae, soul, jazz, blues and techno - returned to Entec to supply all their production needs following a hugely successful previous one off at Brixton Academy in 2011.

Once again, choosing a company that could deliver all their production elements from one source proved an efficient and cost-effective solution.

The band's Lighting designer Mark Butler sent in this plot which Entec's lighting division matched. There were three over-stage flown trusses, all raked at jaunty angles, and three upright trusses on the floor, giving the performance space a dynamic, off-beat look an

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USA - Committed to artistry and new technology, the Cal Arts Lighting Design Programme provides professional training that enables students to broaden their design experience in all entertainment lighting applications. With a curriculum that strives to use the latest systems and technology in numerous productions, students refine their design skills led by renowned theatre and architectural lighting designer Anne Militello who recently worked with Forman & Associates to bring in a new a stockpile PL Series LED lighting tools from Philips Entertainment which included PLProfile1, PLCyc1, PL3 Wash and PLProfile4 LED Luminaires.

"It all began when we brought Forman & Associates in to speak about LED luminaires for the theatre," began Militello. "They then called me back a few weeks later with a proposition from Philips Entertainment that would allow us to get the PL S

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UK / China - Funktion-One has won an important trademark case relating to the use of its name and company logo in China. It follows the pre-emptive registration of the Funktion-One name and logo by Wu Meiling in March 2005. The British loudspeaker manufacturer, under representation from Wilkinson & Grist, challenged the move and won - vindicating the time and resources that have been absorbed by the lengthy process.

The loudspeaker manufacturer received invaluable support from industry allies - including members of the trade press and organisations like PLASA and Prolight+Sound, who helped to assemble evidence that greatly assisted the case.

The People's Republic of China's trademark law prohibits pre-emptive registration of a trademark that is already in use by another person - in respect of identical or similar goods that have gained a certain level of influence in China. Fu

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USA - With 17 locations across five states, LifeChurch.tv hosts more than 50,000 attendees a week during high-intensity services, complete with house bands and exciting sermons. The majority of the 165 services per week throughout LifeChurch.tv are lit with Martin lighting fixtures. Steinas Systems continues to provide LifeChurch.tv with its lighting gear for a full inventory of lighting and a backup supply to keep the services bright, both in person and online.

"Our services are eye-catching from both the audience and technical side. The worship music portion of our services is similar to what someone would experience at a concert," states Greg Bacus, central team leader of technology, LifeChurch.tv. "With Martin, we're able to deliver what we need for each service in each location, providing a fixture that's superior quality, cutting edge, and at a price point a

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Austria - On 26 August 2013, the Salzburg Festival presented an extraordinary new production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) in cooperation with Austrian private TV channel ServusTV. Mozart's masterpiece was transferred from the 18th century to the present day and was performed in the spectacular setting of Hangar-7 and Hangar-8 at Salzburg Airport. A Digital 9000 wireless microphone system from audio specialist Sennheiser was used to transmit the voices of stars such as Desirée Rancatore and Tobias Moretti.

Six hundred and fifty guests were present in Hangar-7, and they were able to move freely around the scenery and become part of the performance. To enable the audience to follow the opera - the orchestra was located in the opposite Hangar-8 - they were issued with compact MP3 players that received the opera audio signals via U

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UK - PLASA secured a significant lobbying success last month when the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee published its report into 'Supporting the Creative Economy'. The Committee roundly endorsed PLASA's position regarding the Olympics 'No Marketing Rights Protocol'.

The report was the culmination of an inquiry which was launched just over a year ago with a call for evidence from the Committee, which is made up of MPs from across all political parties. PLASA made a detailed written submission as to how the creative industries can be better supported, with a particular emphasis on the value and importance of the Entertainment Technology sector. PLASA's evidence focussed on issues around allowing companies to promote their involvement in the Olympics, tax relief for apprenticeships, improving protection for intellectual property and helping SMEs in the sec

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Australia - Imagination Australia has set a new global standard for public events, with one of the most spectacular showcases of projection, lighting and fireworks shows seen anywhere in the world.

The Royal Australian Navy International Fleet Review symbolised 100 years since Australia welcomed their first Naval Fleet into Sydney Harbour. It was Imagination's job to celebrate that milestone in a way the entire city and the world would take notice of.

The spectacular was created in seven acts, from introducing the original fleet, through 100 proud years of service to Australia, current capabilities, a moment of reflection for the fallen and a finale to rival Sydney New Year's Eve, the show was a once in a lifetime project.

Imagination conceived, wrote, designed and produced every element of the show. For the first time ever, fireworks were launched from seven warships, combi

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UK - MilTec (UK) Ltd report that they had their busiest PLASA show for some years, due in part to their new Mini-Map miniature LED screens.

All four days proved to be busy with inquiries from the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, with clients eager to learn more about the screens, along with all the other LED products in the MilTec range. The Mini-Map has 36 tricolour pixels, controlled via DMX512. Two versions are available- the touring module has PowerCon and 5-pin XLR connectors and an M10 fixing point. The installation module is a low-profile product, and comes with a backplate and IDC connectors for quick and easy fitting.

The busy show has turned into a busy month with orders for Mini-Maps from the UK and Canada now being processed along with continued demand for the Batten2 LED batten. The Mini-Map screens are built by Miltec at their HQ in Kent, England.

"We

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UK - For the second year Robe lighting was joined on its busy stand at the PLASA 2013 exhibition at ExCeL London by students from the BSc Honours courses in Lighting Design and Technology and Live Event Technology at the University of South Wales in Glamorgan.

The Robe student 'PLASA experience' scheme was initiated last year by Ian W Brown, sales manager from Robe UK in conjunction with Stuart Green, course leader from Prifysgol De Cymru (University of South Wales). It is designed to give successful applicants a taste of the high-pressure, rough-and-tumble world of trade shows and first-hand experience of this lighting industry element.

The four lucky 2013 students - Owain Jones, Heather Kirby, Greg Westwood and Beth Mae MacDonald - were selected after submitting a CV and engaging in a phone interview with Ian who comments, "They were all really high calibre." Havin

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UK - With PLASA moving to its new home at the Excel Centre in East London, SSE Audio Group designed a new bigger stand for this year's exhibition. SSE were exhibiting for the first time as the combined group that includes Wigwam Acoustics.

The four day show was an opportunity to present all the different elements that make up SSE and explain how they fit and work together within the organisation. On the stand staff from Hire, Sales, Installations along with Wigwam, ETA Sound & Canegreen were all in attendance.

The design of the stand enabled SSE to display an impressive range of products at the show. Digital consoles from, Avid, Midas, Soundcraft, DiGiCo, Roland and Yamaha, speakers from L-Acoustics and d&b, SSE products including the MB4 monitor and Prosight, along with a wide range of processing and outboard equipment were all available for demonstration.

The company said

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UK - Investment to upgrade the technical infrastructure of regional theatres tends to come along very rarely so, when it is available, technical managers need to choose equipment wisely. It's not enough to have a system that is good for today - it needs to cater for production needs for 10 or even 20 years into the future. When Hereford's Courtyard Centre for the Arts was recently granted funding to update its 15 year old system, a Yamaha CL3 system provided all the necessary facilities and future-proofing.

After 15 years of intense use, the audio system at the Courtyard was due for a refresh. With funding available, the venue's production manager Carl Hulme took the time to choose equipment that would take the venue far into the future, without the need for further significant investment.

"We run a diverse venue, with many art forms being presented on stage," he say

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Belgium - The local council in the suburb of Brasschaat, north of Antwerp in Belgium, near the border with the Netherlands, has purchased a QSC Core 250i-based Q-Sys system with a TSC-3 touchscreen controller and QSC KLA line array loudspeakers as part of the audio system in the multi-purpose hall at the heart of its local cultural centre.

The hall and its raised stage is used for everything from public meetings to children's parties and concerts by local musicians. The staff that run the sound system in the hall are direct employees of the council and recommended the purchase of the Q-Sys system along with the KLA active line array system following a demo by the local QSC distributor, AED.

The sound system in the multipurpose hall is configured as a three-channel Left, Centre, Right (LCS) system. Two KLA12 elements are used per channel (for a total of six enclosures), and are

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South Africa - St Mary's Diocesan School for Girls Kloof, KwaZula Natal, trickles with tradition and charm. This girls' school was established in 1906 and is well known for its musicals and drama pieces. DWR Distribution was pleased to install a lighting infrastructure in the school hall during the June / July holidays.

"Originally St Mary's wanted lighting solutions for three venues, namely, the school hall, a studio which is used as the drama practice room and an outdoor auditorium," explained Nick Barnes from DWR who headed the installation. Michael Broderick, a lighting specialist, consulted to ensure the correct equipment was specified. Due to pricing and budget constraints, it was decided to commence the project with the school hall only.

DWR took out the outdated lighting infrastructure and replaced this with two stage lighting bars, one FOH Lighting Bar, four

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