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UK - Arranpaul, Blackpool and the Fylde's largest sales, dry hire and full production company, deployed its recently inflated Chauvet inventory to Blackpool's Christmas Ball, which this year returned to its rightful home at one of the UK's most iconic venues: the 3500-capacity Empress Ballroom in Blackpool's Winter Garden.

The lighting rig comprised six Chauvet Professional Legend 230SR Beams, four Q-Spot 460-LED, three Q-Wash 560-LED, 10 Chauvet DJ COLORband PiX battens, 16 PixPar 24 and two COLORdash Batten-Quad 6, with six Robe 600s and six Mac 250s. Deployed for a colourful haze injection were four Chauvet DJ Geyser RGB effect foggers.

Production manager, Tom Beattie, said, "We knew we could make the venue look fantastic with the Chauvet fixtures we had and we'd just bought some new units so it was an opportunity to use those to their full potential."

The Chris

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USA - PLASA Focus: Nashville 2014 looks set to be bigger and better than ever with over 60 exhibitors confirmed and organizers PLASA Events reporting a 20% increase in visitor registrations over the debut PLASA Focus: Nashville event, of July 2012. This year's show is returning to the same venue, the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, on 18-19 February, 2014.

On Tuesday, 18 February, Happy Hour will be held on the show floor from 5.00pm until 7.00pm, allowing visitors and exhibitors to continue networking into the evening. The reception is being supported by Gold Sponsors Link and Utraltec Special Effects, and Silver Sponsors 4Wall Entertainment, Apollo Design Technology, CAST, MainStage, Nicolaudie, and Wireless Solution.

"Link is pleased to be a Gold Sponsor for the PLASA Focus reception," says Bob Vanden Burgt, vice president of marketing for Link. "Link was a c

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UK - When Autograph Sales & Installations was recently commissioned to install a new audio system at the Royal Academy of Music's historic Duke's Hall, they needed a 'heart' that delivered a challenging combination of optimum audio quality, flexibility and comprehensive wireless remote control at a competitive price. A Yamaha MTX3 matrix processor was the answer.

Located on London's Marylebone Road, the Duke's Hall is the Royal Academy of Music's main performance space. As Britain's oldest degree-granting music school, with a list of alumni that reads like a Who's Who of the composing and performing industry, the Academy demands the highest standards. Autograph was asked to provide a bespoke sound solution which could be used for master classes, introducing orchestral concerts and various other performances, with the option for an operator to control the system remotely from wit

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USA - Inspired by the exterior illumination on Philadelphia's Mann Centre for the Performing Arts, a York, Pennsylvania resident recently pursued his own professional lighting solution to brighten his hilltop property. Walking into local lighting integrator Production Express, Inc. unannounced, this customer aimed to illuminate massive trees lining the driveway approaching his home with a professional solution. Martin Exterior 100 lighting fixtures were installed to meet the customer's high expectations.

"The customer wanted something that would last, and we needed a fixture that would provide high intensity and a long throw distance to cover each of the 80-foot trees on the property," stated Matt DeMascolo, lighting systems manager, Production Express. "Without hesitation, we brought the Martin lights to the location for a demo and the customer was immediately co

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Germany - In March, Nexo will partner with PRG Europe to provide the PA and monitoring systems in a state-of-the-art production package for the LEA Awards, one of Germany's premier entertainment awards programmes. Visitors to the Festhalle over the duration of the Prolight+Sound expo (12-15 March) will have the opportunity to hear Nexo and Yamaha in concert; a 24-set STM Series modular line array at front-of-house and a 45°N-12 line monitor system on stage, networked over Dante with a full complement of Yamaha CL Series consoles.

Sponsored by PRG, the Live Entertainment Awards (PRG LEA) reward outstanding achievement in the entertainment industry in German-speaking countries. This year, some 1,300 guests, including many prominent celebrities, will gather in the Festhalle in Frankfurt to enjoy live performances and applaud the winners of the LEA trophies. The gala event also

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USA - He is most known around the world as founding member of Phillips, Craig and Dean, a popular contemporary Christian music group since the 1990s, but around Life Austin Church, in Texas, he is known, simply, as 'Pasto Randy.' Lead minister to a congregation of over two thousand, Randy Phillips brings his passion for the arts into his sermons.

"We play with a full band every Sunday, perform short skits and even have a string orchestra at Easter. The goal is to find a way to reach everyone, immerse ourselves. We have a lot of audio professionals in our community. They'd be able to hear the difference. Sound was definitely a priority," says Life Austin band member and AV director, Joe Diaz. "We want every person to have a full experience."

It's taken some time, however. For the last seven years, Life Austin, previously Promise Land West, has built up their

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UK - Canned Video provides a complete video recording and streaming solution for video conferences and meetings taking place anywhere around the world. Video recording is a growing trend within enterprise as businesses are increasingly communicating via video conferences, meetings and point-to-point video calls. In just the click of an email, any important video meeting within Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa or the Middle East can be recorded or streamed with just 24 hours notice1.

Recording in MPEG 4 or WMV format for playback on Windows, Apple or other non-Windows systems, the service is bookable via the website www.cannedvideo.com where interested clients simply have to fill in the booking form with their requirements. No additional equipment or technical expertise is needed as Canned Video will handle everything, dialling into a video conference, meeting or presentation,

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USA - The stars aligned during Super Bowl XLVIII on the evening of February 2 as Bruno Mars delivered an unforgettable halftime performance to a record-breaking broadcast audience of 115.3m viewers - the largest in Super Bowl history. For the duration of the performance, Bruno Mars sang through his Sennheiser SKM 5200 handheld transmitter, coupled with an MD 5235 dynamic microphone capsule, ensuring crisp and detailed sound for millions of fans around the world.

During the 12-minute set, Bruno Mars showcased his versatility as an entertainer with a dramatic drum-solo introduction, James Brown-inspired dance moves, and an instantly recognizable soulful voice captured by Sennheiser.

Working alongside veteran production provider ATK Audiotek, Bruno Mars' production team - including monitor engineer James Berry and front-of-house engineer Derek Brener - specified Sennheiser SKM 52

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Germany - Robe moving lights were once again specified by lighting designer Manuel da Costa for the most recent series of the popular TV singing contest, The Voice of Germany (VOG).

The series was recorded at Studio Berlin and produced jointly by a Dutch German collaboration between Taipa and Schwartzkopff TV. It was broadcast on Pro7 and Sat 1 channels where it was again a big hit with viewers.

Da Costa has lit all three editions of VOG to date, and once again he worked closely with set designer Florian Wieder of Wieder Design and Video Content Producer Falk Rosenthal to create an elegant visual environment.

All of them drew on their previous VOG experiences to produce a different aesthetic from the last series, and within that framework, to ensure that each of the artists would receive a diversity of visual treatments that ensured that they all looked different, and

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UK - Free registration is now open for the PLASA Professional Development Programme, running alongside a sold-out PLASA Focus: Leeds 2014 on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 April 2014, at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.

The Professional Development Programme provides visitors to this popular trade event with free access to over twenty seminars and demonstrations delivered by some of the industry's leading experts, and provides an opportunity to learn new skills and have questions answered.

Kicking off on the Tuesday, a panel of representatives from the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) will address how we talk about the artistic side of lighting design for live performance, what is meant by "good" or "outstanding" lighting design, and find ways to talk about this most ephemeral of art forms, in a discussion entitled And The Award For Best Lighting

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Europe - Yamaha Music Europe has recently undertaken changes to its marketing, sales and technical support within the European Commercial Audio organisation, which sees the creation of new positions to underpin Yamaha's strengthening position in the installed and live sound markets.

The changes support Yamaha's expansion in the installed sound market by adding dedicated Commercial Installed Sound specialists to its Commercial Audio sales teams in France and Germany. Commercial installed sound specialists are also being recruited in the UK, which complement the recent appointment of new staff to the UK Commercial Audio sales force.

A completely new position, based in London, has also been created by Yamaha to strengthen its global PA application engineering capability.

Meanwhile, following the recent decision by Nick Cook to leave Yamaha to form his own strategic marketing co

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UAE - The focal point of The Irish Village pub in Dubai is its recently expanded, 3,500-capacity scenic outdoor terrace. To improve the sound quality for daytime ambience music and live entertainment in the evenings and weekends, the pub has installed a Meyer Sound system based around UPJunior-XP 48 V VariO loudspeakers.

Impressed by the power and clarity of the Meyer Sound systems they had previously encountered, Dave Cattanach, The Irish Village's general manager, and Jason Smith, manager, had long wanted Meyer Sound loudspeakers in their venue. When it came time for an upgrade to optimize the newly extended terrace area, they enlisted Abu Dhabi-based Systech Middle East to specify, install, and commission the new system.

"The UPJunior-XPs were our first choice because they set a new standard for power and clarity in systems suitable for outdoor applications," says

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USA - Appealing to large-scale event and production professionals, Paul Braile, BlackTrax expert at CAST BlackTrax Ltd and Michael Wells, executive director of operations at Trinity Fellowship Church, Texas will present the Lights. Camera. Tracking! seminar at PLASA Focus: Nashville 2014 at room Mezzanine 27 at The Nashville Municipal Auditorium, TN from 12:00 to 13:00 on Tuesday, 18 and Wednesday, 19 February.

Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo, Texas utilized BlackTrax motion tracking system in its 3,750 seat auditorium integrated with live performers, lighting, sound, multi-media and video for its 2013 Christmas Program and beyond.

"Visitors will walk away from the seminar with an in-depth understanding of how our production has deployed BlackTrax bringing significant ROI as well as lighting, logistical and creative benefits," explained Michael Wells, ex

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Europe - Le Maitre is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its renowned G300 Smoke Machine - an industry standard around the globe which has been widely adopted by theme parks, theatres, cruise ships and the emergency services for breathing apparatus training.

The G300 was Le Maitre's second generation high powered smoke machine, following on from the Smoke Processor 3 series, and at the time of its launch was commented on by competitors as setting the standard by which all other machines would be judged. Le Maitre's goal at the time was quite simply to make a machine that was better than anything else on the market. This has clearly proved to be the case with sales still going strong and many of the unique features still not being able to be emulated by other manufacturers.

Le Maitre came up with and patented its 'Layered Block System' called Genesis - hence the 'G' of G300. T

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India - Located in Delhi's Ashok Hotel, Pangaea is the latest addition to the numerous world-famous exclusive clubs owned by Michael Ault, a pre-eminent club operator with almost 25 successful years in the nightlife industry and more than thirty nightclubs operating in key markets such as New York, Miami Beach, Los Angeles, Bermuda, Sao Paulo and Marbella.

Delhi, which has India's biggest luxury market in the country, was reportedly chosen by Ault after noting that many of the clients in his Singapore club were Indian billionaires, who asked him to bring the brand to India. One of them (Spice Group's owner BK Modi) entered partnership with Ault to establish Pangaea on the Indian nightlife scene.

Although only having a capacity of about 450 patrons, for Pangaea ("All lands" - a super-continent that existed approximately 300 million years ago and consisted in the prese

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South Africa - When 4U Rage Festival hits KwaZulu Natal at the end of each year, an event aimed at students who have finally completed school, its party, party, party for the next two and a half weeks. If you have young children of your own, there's still time to save up and entice them to go on a family holiday to Europe instead.... now that's a mother's thinking for you! If not, it's likely they will be asking to go to Balito, where an estimated 80 000 kids visited the area in December 2013.

The festival provides students with access card to various venues and clubs, all kitted out with top sound and lighting, and entertainment by great artists. While daytime is usually reserved for beach volleyball, soccer, surfing and tanning, this year saw revellers in gumboots and rain would not stop the fun!

Hirezone supplied the technical for the main dance floor at the Sound Factory i

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USA - The world of Gospel music convened in Nashville under the illumination of Bandit Lites' gear for the 29th Annual Stellar Awards, the premier Gospel event that recognizes and honours African American artists. Daytime Emmy Award-winner Sherri Shepherd and Ricky Smiley hosted the event at the Metro Nashville Municipal Auditorium on 18 January.

With the awards being broadcasted to millions on the UP Network, lighting designer Mark Carver created a look for the show that would translate well both on television and for the live audience, in addition to relaying the emotion of the performing artists.

"Gospel Music has a very emotional and spiritual quality," Carver explained. "The lighting needs to try to help convey this emotion and engage both artist and audience."

In order to accomplish such a seamless, expressive design, Carver turned to Bandit who pro

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The Netherlands - After attracting more than 50,000 registered attendees for the first time in its history from 4-6 February, Integrated Systems Europe has further cemented its reputation as a leading event for professional AV and electronic systems integration. The final total attendance of 51,003 surpassed even the organisers' own most optimistic expectations, with Europe's recovering economies and a record 952 exhibitors helping to fuel attendee growth of 15% over last year's figure of 44,151.

Also acting as key draws to the event were an enlarged Professional Development programme including off-floor training sessions hosted by ISE's co-owners CEDIA and InfoComm International, with both associations also contributing seminars to the event's new on-floor Theatres dedicated to Residential and Commercial Solutions. Between them these sessions attracted over 2,400 people, with I

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UK - Monthly magazine 'The Fly' celebrated their 15th birthday last week by hosting their first Awards ceremony at the Kentish Town Forum. Started back in 1997 by the team behind The Barfly, Camden - the Awards nights celebrates the best innovators, risk takers and true originals of modern music.

Sponsored by its official partners XFM, the night was hosted by Keith Murray and Chris Cain from band We Are Scientists. It included performances from acts such as Bombay Bicycle Club and Wild Beasts.

Richard Martin Lighting (RML) were approached by LD Matt Button and HDO Productions to provide lights for The Horrors performance. Closing the show, they wanted to do something extra special in support of their accolade for 'Outstanding Artistry' which was presented to them that night.

Matt chose Sharpys and strobes to create maximum effect. This look was in keeping with their festival

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Italy - Lighting and show designer Francesco de Cave has a penchant for sculpting fluid, imaginative and stylish shows and this very much underpins his lighting and visual design for the current Greatest Hits world tour by singer and international superstar Laura Pausini which is no exception.

The tour has just completed its latest European leg, and Francesco included 50 x Robe Robin LEDWash 300 moving lights as a core element of the lighting rig.

Grammy award winning multi-lingual Pausini is one of the most successful Italian artists of all time and has sold over 70m albums worldwide.

Francesco is one of Italy's best known and most prolific designers in the live and concert touring sectors and for music-based television shows. His lighting career started aged 14 and has continued on a massive upward trajectory. Lighting is something that he's absolutely passionate ab

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UK - PLASA has announced the launch of a major new industry survey designed to help guide the Association's future development of technical qualifications for the industry.

PLASA is carrying out a survey of employers and technicians across both theatre and live events in the UK in relation to the further development of qualifications and are calling for participation from employers and technicians in the live events and theatre sector. It is hoped data will emerge on how many technicians are working, both employed and freelance, and in which areas of specialism - and it will assess the appetite of the industry for further vocational qualifications beyond the National Rigging Certificate.

Matthew Griffiths, CEO of PLASA said: "This is an essential piece of research for the entertainment technology sector that will be vital in setting PLASA's skills planning over the coming

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UK - PRG (Production Resource Group) - a leading supplier of entertainment and event technology - has selected Prolyte truss for its European trussing inventory.

PRG provides integrated services and equipment, including audio, video, lighting, rigging, staging, and scenery and automation systems, and has chosen Prolyte to supply a structured platform of complementary truss products. The core offering will include a range of trussing from the compact H30V series through to more heavy-duty systems such as S36V and S52V trusses, encompassing some items powder-coated in black.

The initial investment exceeds a staggering 10,000 metres of trussing; creating a considerable modular stock which PRG plans to expand on in the future.

The wide and versatile range of trussing systems that Prolyte offers ties in seamlessly with the variety of markets that PRG serves, enabling single disci

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China - The Chinese Ministry of Culture recently invited the Viva Vox Choir from Serbia to perform in China's most prestigious venue The Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

Opened in 1959 the complex was built within 10 months entirely by volunteers for the political meetings and events of the Chinese government. The Viva Vox Choir are one of the very few international acts ever invited to perform at the venue since it opened its doors to western music culture less than five years ago.

Serbian lighting designer, Pero Trifuljesku has toured with the choir internationally for a number of years along with his Clarity software and VX20 Wing. Pero explains, "It's always challenging when touring throughout Asia, with both language and equipment specifications. We don't always get what we've requested and spend many hours trying to make the best of what we get

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Australia - Sydney's legendary Trackdown recording and post studios have done and seen it all, from recording INXS in the 1980s to orchestral recording for award-winning feature films like Happy Feet. Across two sites, Trackdown offers the best in audio recording and post for both music and film, and operates Australia's largest purpose built orchestral scoring stage at its Moore Park facility.

Moore Park's capabilities were recently expanded with the addition of Theatre One, a 20-seat theatrette with grading, audio post, mixing and 3D screening capabilities. A partnership with Definition Films, the new room packs serious technical capabilities into a small space, which has seen it working solidly since its opening in February. Hoyts were commissioned to install a Christie Projector, Harkness Microperf Screen, Xpand 3D System and Doremi Showvault 4K DCP Server.

"We

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