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USA - Viewers of the Super Bowl Halftime Show have come to expect dazzling entertainment, but Katy Perry's turn at Super Bowl XLIX packed more fun and amazing eye candy into 12 minutes than they might have thought possible. Behind the scenes at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, lighting director Jason Rudolph used eight d3 4x4pro media servers from d3 Technologies to map the football field around the stage with content from 80 Barco projectors. The d3 servers also sent 4 feeds to control the LED stage, magically transforming the floor from a perspective-bending chessboard to a tropical island paradise and a dynamic graphic platform for an airborne finale. VER provided the d3 media servers, grandMA2 control consoles, and all projection and LED gear.

The size and scope of the Super Bowl Halftime Show might seem daunting for some media servers. But last year d

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USA - The University of Iowa Hawkeyes football team plays all of its home games in the 70,500-seat Kinnick Stadium, which is located on the west side of campus. It is adjacent to residences on one side and to campus buildings on the other side, one of which is the University Hospital.

Although it's fair to say that almost all Iowans stand behind the Hawkeyes (there is no pro team in the state) it's also true that Iowans who are recovering in the hospital deserve peace and quiet, even on game day. When school officials became disenchanted with the lo-fi sound and poor coverage of Kinnick Stadium's old sound reinforcement system, they worried that elevating it to modern standards would only increase game day complaints from the hospital.

Those worries have been allayed. Kinnick Stadium's new high-powered Danley Sound Labs system - the first in the world to use the massive Caleb

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UK - Culture Liverpool has appointed REM (Richmond Event Management), to provide site and production management for all of the city's annual events in 2015.

REM will provide full site and production management for events including Three Queens, Mersey River Festival, On the Waterfront Concerts, Transatlantic, Liverpool International Music Festival, Bonfire Night celebrations and Chinese New Year 2016.

Culture Liverpool delivered a varied programme of events in 2014 with three major events attracting 1.4m attendees and generating £55m into the local economy. Having successfully delivered elements of different Culture Liverpool events over the previous eight years, REM's award winning team has now been entrusted across all of the events, drawing on its deep understanding of the local ethos and the aspirations of Liverpool City Council to combine best value with modern prod

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Singapore - Martin Professional reports that the MAC Viper family is now widely available throughout Southeast Asia via several of the region's largest rental houses. Singapore-based companies CSP Production, Trio AV and Highlight Systems as well as Malaysia-based Orange Events have added more than 170 MAC Viper fixtures to their portfolios, putting the latest in intelligent lighting at the fingertips of lighting designers throughout the region.

Designed for use in a wide variety of events and entertainment productions, Martin's MAC Viper family is a complete series of high-performance moving head light fixtures that features intense light output and a slender body for fast movements.

Singapore's Trio AV has been working with Martin Professional for more than 15 years, providing regular support for regional trade shows, government and corporate conferences and a host of other

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UK - The UK's Lighting Industry received a boost this week as the Lighting Industry Association received a share of the Government's Regional Growth Fund to further develop its laboratory services (LIA Laboratories) and new Lighting Training Academy.

The funds will help the Lighting Industry Association create a new Lighting Testing Laboratory to cope with increased demand, which will house a unique R&D centre that will be available for UK manufacturers to use and develop new lighting products.

Alongside the new laboratory, the Lighting Industry Association will also build a Lighting Academy that will provide education, learning and awareness services for the whole lighting supply chain. Being sited at the Lighting Industry Association's HQ in Telford, means that the courses will have a distinctly 'hand-on' feel and will help drive the introduction of new lighting technology a

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USA - At the 57th annual Grammy Awards - held on 8 February 8, 2015 - Gwen Stefani performed using Audio-Technica Artist Elite 5000 Series Wireless with an AEW-T6100a Hypercardioid Dynamic Handheld Microphone/Transmitter. Stefani and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine performed My Heart Is Open from Maroon 5's 2014 album V.

"Live broadcasts are extremely challenging, as we only have one chance to get it right," stated John Harris, co-music mixer. "I have been using Audio-Technica wireless systems for years, because of their sound quality and reliable performance."

(Jim Evans)

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Sweden - Lighting company Aura Light has acquired Zobra, a Swedish lighting company that develops and manufactures luminaires for public areas. This acquisition is an important step for the company to become a complete supplier of energy efficient lighting solutions.

Zobra develops, manufactures and markets luminaires for public areas. The company offers a wide range of luminaires and focuses on innovative product design. Zobra's head office is situated in Vimmerby in Sweden where they also have their production. The company has been growing rapidly the recent years and has received external acknowledgement for their performance.

"This acquisition is an important part of Aura Light's growth strategy and we have seen an increased demand of complete lighting solutions amongst our customers. This is important for us in being a complete lighting supplier, offering light sourc

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China - The 135 year old Shanghai Symphony Orchestra now has a new home in the Shanghai Symphony Hall, which celebrated its long awaited grand opening in September. The Hall has a full complement of ETC equipment, including a Sensor 3 Power Control system with ThruPower modules, Source Four PAR fixtures, and an Eos family lighting control system.

The venue contains two separate performance spaces: the Main Hall with 1,200 seats, which serves as a performance and rehearsal space, and the 400-seat Chamber Hall, which is used for recording and broadcasting.

ETC Sensor3 power control racks dim both halls' stage lighting. "You can always expect a smooth and natural dimming curve from ETC dimmer racks," says Xingxing Dou, the lighting director at the Shanghai Symphony Hall. "They deliver maximum reliability with a minimal failure rate compared to most brands on the ma

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UK - XL Video renewed its long-term touring relationship with Bryan Adams, who celebrates the remarkable 30th anniversary of his seminal Reckless album, one of a string of ground-breaking projects that has made him the bestselling Canadian rock artist of all time.

The production design for this tour was created by Willie Williams. XL's Paul 'Macca' McCauley has managed the account for the last three years, although XL's association with Bryan Adams' live work goes back several more years.

Macca worked closely with Adams' own video director Marc Ledoux and Encore operator Sebastien De Bellefeuille in co-ordinating and setting up the tour, together with production manager Andy Proudfoot.

Macca commented, "It was great to be working with Bryan Adams and his team again - there were many familiar faces. Visuals are a vital element to the stage presentation and he's an

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USA - Masked rockers Slipknot are making headlines with a fifth album release, the addition of new band members, their Knotfest concert series and the launch of the Prepare for Hell tour - and Clay Paky Stormys are along for the wild ride.

The band just marked the debut of their fifth studio album, .5: The Gray Chapter which was quickly followed by performances 25 and 26 October at their own Knotfest in San Bernardino, California. They began headlining the Prepare for Hell North American tour afterwards.

Trevor Ahlstrand, lighting designer/production designer for Slipknot, is using a package of 30 Stormys CC, obtained from Christie Lights, on the shows. The new Stormy uses the latest LED technology while retaining all the charm of the classic strobe. He has positioned a few on each piece truss and several in a row on the floor.

"The show is very asymmetrical with

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Sweden - Rhapsody in Rock is an annual series of live shows which combines classical and rock music, performed by a symphony orchestra alongside its founder - Swedish pianist Robert Wells - a contemporary band and vocalists. In March the production heads out on the second leg of its 25th anniversary tour, where three Yamaha CL5 digital mixing consoles will again provide their own Rock solid performance.

A former child prodigy, the classically-trained Wells founded Rhapsody in Rock in 1989. Performing everything from Liszt to AC/DC. It has played to nearly two million people in the USA, Russia, China, the UK, Scandinavia and Germany.

The 25th anniversary tour is playing multiple dates throughout Scandinavia and features a fully redundant Dante network with three Yamaha CL5 consoles, one providing the main front of house mix, manned by Thomas Malbeck, one submixing the orchestra

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UK - Sheffield metalcore rockers Bring Me The Horizon played a one-off show at London's Wembley Arena closing a phenomenal year, celebrating the conclusion of their 18 month global Sempiternal album cycle ... and their 10th anniversary.

The band's lighting designer Ben Inskip chose 70 x Robe moving lights as the backbone of the show - because he knows the products and knew they would deliver the results he wanted. He needed multi-purpose lights that could perform several tasks and that all balanced well together as an integrated package.

Ben has worked with the band since 2009. He has a great rapport with them and they trust him implicitly to come up with interesting design concepts for their live work, which in this case also included upstage video projection. Being a one-off, possibly the most important parameter was that the design was practical and quick to load-in

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UK - Britannia Row Productions Training is now offering a new range of courses. From complete beginner, to professional wanting to progress their career, Brit Row is opening up more opportunities than ever to learn about live sound from a company with 40 years experience in the industry. Training is now based at Britannia Row Productions head office in Twickenham. Courses for 2015 include:

A Talk on Live Sound Industry - one day - An overview and insight into what the Live Sound Industry is all about and how it works.

Live Sound Basic two-day PA Course - Learn how to jump onto a small P.A. This two-day course is suitable for anyone who needs or wants to do this and is not entirely sure how to go about it - from the person working with their friend's band, to the teacher who needs to get the PA system out of the cupboard a couple of times a year and make it work for the school

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USA - When designers are faced with the biggest lighting challenges they turn to the industry's brightest lights. This is just what Dall Brown Lighting, with the support of Chroma Designs, did when given the task to light the exterior of the University of Phoenix Stadium for this year's Super Bowl. Dall Brown and Troy Eckerman teamed up to tackle the job of bathing the aluminium skin of the stadium in colour for the NFL's annual week-long celebration and season finale.

As has often been the case Syncrolite LLC was the company relied upon to meet the huge task at hand. This year, for Super Bowl XLIX, Syncrolite supplied 19 XL 8K xenon moving lights with their patented OmnicolorTM system that allows for true additive or subtractive colour mixing and incorporates VFL lightshaping diffuser film lenses that provided the beam spread and control elements necessary to pull-off this supe

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USA - Katy Perry's glittering halftime show at Super Bowl XLIX in the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona was an eye catcher. Lighting designer Bob Barnhart of LA-based Full Flood chose a large array of amongst others Clay Paky Sharpy, Mythos and A.leda B-EYE K20 fixtures for the 12-minute show. Jason Rudolph, the lighting director in charge of the video system, used a grandMA2 light console to control the projection and inflatable, illuminated orbs.

Super Bowl XLIX marked Barnhart's seventeenth big game and his fifth as the primary or sole lighting designer. He served as lighting designer on last year's Bruno Mars halftime show at Met Life Stadium in Rutherford, New Jersey.

Even before the halftime talent is selected, the venue sets the scene for the production and lighting design. "It all depends on what creative options the stadium offers," says Bar

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The Netherlands - After proving the OCA control architecture in the field on global tours and major music festivals, the OCA Alliance is promoting the OCA message to the wider market.

At and around ISE 2015, several of the large number of OCA member companies exhibiting at the show participated in various activities to promote OCA. These included a presentation to members of the press, to carry the OCA vision of a common remote control standard to the AV industry, as well as presentations to AV consultants and system integrators. Meetings with numerous manufacturers also helped move forward the process of making the OCA vision reality.

OCA Alliance member companies Yamaha Commercal Audio, TC Group and Salzbrenner Stagetec, joined d&b audiotechnik in presenting the current status and future vision of Open Control Architecture, as these relate to the AV Installation and Systems

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UK - Manchester's Royal Exchange theatre has reinvested in TiMax technology via its recent purchase of a TiMax 2 SoundHub via Autograph Sales. TiMax will provide the audio system management and spatialisation resource for the theatre and the many varied productions which grace its boards each year.

The natural endpoint of the original TiMax Classic Rack system, after 16 years in constant use, coincided with a time of flux in the theatre's sound department. Within a year, the department had turned around so as to be entirely new and justifiably an immediate decision to replace was put on hold.

Head of sound, Sorcha Williams, explains, "We viewed the situation as an opportunity to really explore our options. As sound designers came in with their productions we invited them to choose what they wanted to use, so we had a Galileo and a Yamaha DME, and then a sound designer cam

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UK - PRS for Music, the organisation that represents over 100,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers, has chosen PMC loudspeakers for the listening room in its new offices in Kings Cross, London.

PRS for Music relocated to Two Pancras Square at the end of 2014. Moving to this prestigious new building gave the organisation the opportunity to create a working environment that was ideally suited to its needs. Part of that process involved installing a dedicated listening room that could be used for any critical listening tasks, including judging entries for the annual Ivor Novello Awards, which celebrate the best British music writing.

PRS for Music director and Music Producers Guild Chairman Steve Levine was responsible for the listening room project and for the choice of PMC monitors. As a multi-platinum music producer, Levine has crafted hits for artists such as The B

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UK - The award-winning staging, structures and seating specialist will unveil a new name, simplified to Star Events Ltd, a new logo and a new website at the Event Production Show, as it takes formal responsibility for parent company Altrad Beaver 84's events division.

The amalgamation adds crowd control barriers, fencing, mobile grandstand seating and ground protection to Star Events' product range. Existing Beaver 84 contracts, with the BBC, Festival Republic and V Festivals among them, transfer too, along with Beaver's events team.

Steve Tysoe, managing director at Beaver 84 and Star Events, comments: "It makes perfect sense to put the portfolio together. It's a more focused approach for the client, with Star capable of providing the core equipment for any type of outdoor event."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - To mark the end of 2014's F1 season Sky Sports created a film called The Ballad of the Duelling Drivers that told the story of the intense battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. To enhance this special project, lighting director Richard Bowles chose Clay Paky Mythos and Alpha Beam 700 fixtures to deliver stunning effects and sharp beams of light throughout.

Bowles specified three Mythos and eight Alpha Beam 700 fixtures from Richard Martin Lighting for the film, which was created and directed by Sky Sports F1's Alex Rodger, performed by talented composer and pianist Tokio Myers and narrated by actor Peter Guinness.

"My original brief was to recreate the look I'd previously come up with for a live music show earlier in the year, with a mixture of strong beams of light and large format tungsten lights against a strong black background" explains Bow

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France - The World Heritage Centre, UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, was bathed in light from SGM for the two nights of the opening ceremony of the International Year of Light.

Finnish lighting artist and designer Kari Kola prepared a full concept design including light, video and music for a spectacular display at the iconic Fontenoy building during the ceremony. This launched an initiative intended to raise global awareness about the importance of light for the future and for the development of society. 1500 people attended this ceremony including leading diplomats, scientific societies and technology platforms from around the world for a number of lectures.

For Kola's installation, titled Light Is Here, no fewer than 130 SGM P-5 wash lights and 14 G-Spot moving heads were deployed together with another 70 LED based fixtures and 12 video projectors. "I wanted to r

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Finland - For this year's three-day Finnish Cross-Country Ski Championship in Jämi, the organisers were looking for a special starting gate for the sprint day, to provide a rivetting visual appearance for the TV transmission.

Opo's Sound delivered a truss gate and used SGM LED luminaires for perfect winter illumination during the dark hours. Thus, four SP-6 SixPack blinders and two P-5 wash lights were placed at the starting gate, while additional P-5s were used to illuminate Audi's Promotion Arc.

Selected for their powerful output, the SixPack contains six 40W RGBA LEDs while the P-5 boasts 44 high power 10W RGBW LEDs; the SGM luminaires also provided that one special feature required for this outdoor winter event - an IP rating of 65.

More than 3,000 daily visitors could enjoy the excitement of the ski race in the beautiful cold Finnish winter further brightened in the ea

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UAE - Martin Audio reports that a further production company has this month signed up to its growing worldwide network of MLA users.

Helping to expand the profile of the Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array platform across the Middle East is Access All Areas; the company confirms that it has added a 24-enclosure MLA Compact rig to its inventory, purchased from Martin Audio's Dubai-based distributor, VTi.

Set up by British ex-pat Martin Gravestock and Grant Collins in 2003, Access All Areas specialises in providing turnkey production solutions for the conference and concert sectors. This is the company's first Martin Audio acquisition.

"With the market changes post 2008, we adapted our plan, and sold off a lot of older outdated equipment," Gravestock explains. "For a while it was better to sub-contract the equipment we needed, but with a longer term view to re-inve

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Japan - The Nippon Budokan arena in central Tokyo played host to the Fumiya Fujii 30th Best Special Countdown Live on New Year's Eve 2014. The show was the spectacular culmination of a two-year tour by popular Japanese music artist Fumiya Fujii, in celebration of his 'double anniversary' which marked 30 years since the recording of his debut album and his 20th year as a solo artist.

Pivotal to Keisuke Nishi's design for the evening was a bank of 90 Ayrton IntelliPix-R LED panels supplied by Ayrton's Japanese distributor, First Engineering Japan.

IntelliPix-R is a modular beam projection panel of 25 independently controllable 4.5° LED emitters arranged in a 5 x 5 array which project graphics and media far into the air. Panels can be connected together to form a semi-transparent wall, screen or ceiling or be placed under specially designed glass using its dedicated floor ins

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  2. Electrosonic integration for aquarium learning centre
  3. Chauvet and School Stage at Lees Brook School
  4. Shure delivers flawless wireless at 57th Grammy Awards
  5. The Week in Lighting & Sound
  6. Asimetrik equips Konya Torku Arena with RCF
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