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Austria - The LumenRadio team, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, had two reasons to celebrate this year as Sweden brought home the Eurovision song contest trophy for the sixth time. This year's contest was held in Vienna, Austria and made use of LumenRadio's CRMX technology to provide wireless DMX links around the arena for props and set pieces, ensuring even in highly congested environment, the link was rock solid.

Lighting designer Al Gurdon dazzled the audience with an array of looks from soft and subtle ballads to rock and punk, accented by LED screens embedded in the floor and providing a constantly evolving backdrop to the stage. Providing media technology and kinetic lighting effects was Entertainment Technology Concepts GmbH. Volker Suhre, CEO, selected LumenRadio as their wireless partner for the event.

The CRMX technology was used in the show to provide links to difficult

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Singapore - Nearly 500 Robe BMFL moving lights were at the core of the lighting scheme designed by LD Mac Chan for the vibrant Opening Ceremony of the 2015 South East Asia Games in Singapore on Friday.

The glittering spectacle staged in the new 55,000 capacity National Stadium was broadcast live on national TV and across south East Asia, reaching an estimated audience of 600m, and saw the 28th SEA Games declared open in great style. It also featured the greatest number of Robe BMFLs - to date - used on a single event.

The BMFLs represent a massive investment made by Singapore based rental company Showtec Communications Pte Ltd., which purchased over 700 BMFL fixtures, most of them especially for the event, once Mac had confirmed his decision.

Mac was asked to design the high-profile event's lighting by creative director Beatrice Chia, with whom he has worked on previous larg

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UK / USA - British singer-songwriter Ben Howard is enjoying success on both sides of the Atlantic, having completed a sold out UK tour in December, a successful run in the US, returning to the UK in April, where he filled arenas round the country, including three nights at London's Alexandra Palace, Glasgow's SSE Hydro, Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena and Birmingham's NIA. His fans are no doubt delighted with the quality of audio that rental company Nitelites is delivering, which in no small part due to their choice of DiGiCo SD7s for both Front of House and monitor positions.

Nitelites director Andy Magee, who has been working with Ben since 2012, elected to take up the FOH position, with Barrie Pitt mixing monitors. They use SD7s, he says, simply because they are head and shoulders above anything else.

"The band knows exactly what they want and we try very hard to give it to

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New Zealand - The X Factor New Zealand is based on the international X Factor production format owned by Simon Cowell's SYCO Entertainment. Paul Collison, along with Simon Garret, design and operate the weekly show from a temporary studio fitted out in a food storage warehouse in South Auckland.

Norwest Oceania Productions supplied the lighting, audio and rigging for the project, which include eight ETC Source Four Revolutions, purchased especially for The X Factor.

Garrett, Norwest Oceania's general manager, is delighted with his purchase which is essentially a high performance Source Four zoom profile spot equipped with motorized pan, tilt, zoom, on-board dimming, and colour scroll.

"I knew they would be good but I underestimated how much fixed lighting they would render obsolete," Garrett remarked. "Being able to shift lights live when the tal

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UK - Bel Digital's BM-A1-4SHD four channel audio monitor/de-embedder is already a firm favourite with broadcasters. All of its features are now available in a larger 2U chassis, providing increased definition in metering and an increase in SPL.

With a reduction of both chassis depth (down to 200 mm) and overall weight, the new BM-A2-4SHD MKII is ideal for OB or Flyaway applications.

The BM-A2-4SHD MKII can de-embed any group of four channels of audio from one of two SDI sources (up to 3G SDI) and display the levels on the front panel meters, as well as providing stereo audio monitoring of any combination of the four channels.

In addition to the auto-detecting SDI inputs, the BM-A2-4SHD MKII has four balanced XLR analogue inputs and two AES3id BNCs. A re-clocked loop-through output is available for the selected SDI source, providing a convenient and cost-effective method of s

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UK - The Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) has issued a warning to UK employers about the risks of being misled regarding their obligation to undertake periodic thorough examination of all lifting equipment.

The advice reflects growing concerns within the lifting industry that some companies are being tempted to cut costs by not conducting thorough examinations as frequently as required by LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations).

Geoff Holden, chief executive of LEEA, said: "All UK employers are subject to LOLER, which clearly states that, once in service, lifting equipment for lifting persons or accessories for lifting must be thoroughly examined by a competent person every six months. Lifting accessories include commonly used items such as shackles, steels, hooks and round slings. Only for lifting equipment that does not fall into one o

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Vienna - While equally unsuccessful on the stage at the recent Eurovision Song Contest, Austria and Germany achieved full marks behind the scenes. Austrian host broadcaster ORF marked the 60th anniversary of the world's oldest and most successful televised song contest not only as a perfect host, providing a spectacular TV and stage show, but also with a technically innovative production concept.

All of the contest's audio signals were routed via a Ravenna/AES67-based IP infrastructure for the first time at a Eurovision event. Both the Lawo Nova 73 audio matrix - including all connected Dallis I/O systems used by ORF's broadcast supplier, VideoHouse - and the video and audio distribution of the Lawo commentary solution were based on IP networking technology.

All of the audio signals were collected by a central audio router, to be distributed to all of the event's suppliers and

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UK - Wembley Stadium was awash with neon light as thousands ran, danced, shone and partied through the night, basked in the Avolites controlled glow of the Electric Run UK. VME took on the event production, also supplying the lighting kit for the event. Their appointed lighting designer and programmer Pete Watts chose a selection of Avolites control solutions including Titan One dongles, an Expert Pro and a Titan Mobile.

Electric Run, an internationally run event originating in the US, is in its second year in the UK. It has grown from a single Wembley date to multiple events across the country in 2015.

Watts, who also programmed the show last year, specified an Avolites control solution for the 5k run around Wembley Park. This included five Titan One dongles, running on touch screen Panasonic Toughbooks, all provided by VME.

Designing colourful and energetic displays across

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USA - To be independent means different things to different people, but for the eponymous live music venue in the San Francisco Bay Area the name is unambiguous. Ten years presenting a cross section of local, national and international acts underlines The Independent's commitment to the broad church of contemporary music. "Fundamentally, music is about intimacy with the artist," said the venue's head of audio and production, Terry Yerves. "And for that to happen it's got to sound good."

This is Yerves' sixth year at the venue. "I started with The Independent in 2009, but I still do the occasional short tour from time to time if the dates allow. In 2014, we staged almost 300 shows so my touring work is very occasional. This is a five hundred capacity auditorium, a square box with an arched ceiling and concrete floor; the back wall has a VIP balcony above.

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USA - DNJ Pro, a distributor company located in Maryland, has partnered with Novalight to distribute its product line in North America.

Novalight, just outside of Viterbo, Italy, both designs and produces intelligent moving concert-style lights and high-powered sky tracers.

Novalight products have been used on many projects including NBC's The Voice and both the American and British versions of the talent competition show The X-Factor. Novalight products were also used on the Coldplay and Kings of Leon concert tours.

DNJ Pro offers professional products for the entertainment industry and architectural lighting sectors. With in-house support and repair service for all of its distribution products, DNJ Pro is dedicated to exceptional customer service.

(Jim Evans)

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South Africa - Lighting designer Francois van der Merwe incorporated 16 Clay Paky Mythos fixtures to his spectacular design at the 14th Metro FM Music Awards, hosted at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Conference Centre (ICC) in Durban on 28 February 2015.

Dream Sets were the set and technical supplier of the event, which had a live broadcast on SABC1, while rental companies Black Coffee supplied 12 newly purchased Clay Paky Mythos units and Insane Sound & Lighting made available another four.

"I like the Mythos," commented Francois van der Merwe. "I prefer them to the Sharpys and they are nice and bright. The beams and gobos make a difference and they are fast. I would use them again." Robert Hoey from Dream Sets shared his sentiment.

The Mythos units were placed standing on the stage deck and created brilliant beam work, punching upright through the air. They

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Germany - Stage|Set|Scenery is celebrating its debut in Berlin this week. Around 7,500 trade visitors from 24 countries will be present and finding out information from 270 exhibitors.

Dr. Christian Göke, CEO of Messe Berlin comments, "As a cultural venue Berlin is ideal for holding Stage|Set|Scenery, more so than any other German city. Here, at the crossroads of art and technology, this fair showcases an attractive range of products, services and projects."

Over the course of the three-day International Stage Technology Conference experts from around the world will be meeting to exchange knowledge and experiences. A total of 136 events will be taking place at this international event organised by Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft (DTHG).

Yesterday, Brigitte Zypries, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, opened the tr

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USA - H&M, one of the world's largest retailers, opened its latest New York flagship at Herald Centre where the illuminated storefront gets a dynamic look from lighting designer Christien Methot who used Clay Paky's new Show Batten fixtures and a grandMA2 onPC system to wrap the structure in a dance of colour and light. A.C.T Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky and MA Lighting brands in North America.

Located at the southwest corner of 34th Street where Broadway and Avenue of the Americas converge, Herald Centre is set to become a fashion destination for millions of New Yorkers and visitors who pass through busy Herald Square. The 63,000sq.ft store will showcase all of H&M's fashion brands as well as H&M's Home Collection. The renovated structure is topped by a bank of low-resolution Barco LED fins flanking a bullnose elevator shaft.

"They had wanted

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Belgium - Painting With Light headed by Luc Peumans has crafted the eye-catching design for the current Holiday On Ice touring production, Passion, which highlights some of the dreams, trials, tribulations and dedication required by those pursuing ice skating careers.

Playing to enthusiastic reviews and audiences, it's the first year that Genk based Painting With Light has produced a fully comprehensive creative concept encompassing all the disciplines - lighting, set and video - one of many strengths enabled by Luc and his talented team of associates.

This scenario allowed Luc to maintain a complete visual harmony for the work, and also gave the scope to design several new and bespoke lighting elements including wireless controlled LED soles that clamp to the base of the stakes.

Says Luc, "With Passion being partly autobiographical in relation to t

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USA - Robe moving lights took centre stage along with an eclectic mix of new and emerging musical talent at Hype Machine's Hype Hotel venue during the 2015 SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

UK-based lighting designer David Wolstenholme was engaged as lighting consultant for the event by Hype Hotel's production designer / manager Brian Kim. The two previously worked together for Cirque du Soleil production. David helped create the lighting scheme using the Robe fixtures. He also liaised between any incoming artist LDs and his team which included assistant LX Eric Kim and lighting intern, Lila Neiswanger.

Hype Hotel featured two live sessions a day with five artists per session, complete with lightening quick changeovers, so the lighting requirements were extremely demanding. David likened the incredible vibe of this event to the craziness and buzz of the Edinburgh Fringe Fe

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USA - Upfront Week in Manhattan may well witness the most intense series of sales presentations anywhere. For a few frenetic days, broadcast and cable television networks pull out all the stops in an effort to convince advertisers to sponsor their programmes. The stakes are high: up to 75 percent of advertising time is sold during these negotiations; so is the glitz and glamour as TV stars appear on stage and at after parties to pitch their shows to potential sponsors.

Any network that hopes to stand out during this ad bazaar had better create a strong visual impression on potential sponsors. The red-hot and rapidly growing Spanish Language Azteca Network did just that, thanks in part to an inspired stage lighting design by Barrett Hall that featured Chauvet Professional Next NXT-1 moving LED panels provided by WorldStage.

Hall used a collection of 12 Next NXT-1 panels to surp

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UK - The stock of Olly Murs has never been higher, with the newly appointed X Factor co-presenter's latest album Never Been Better debuting at No.1 and certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. April and May saw the British singer-songwriter play a 26-date UK and Ireland arena tour, where a full Sennheiser package had microphone and monitor requirements Wrapped Up.

The tour played multiple nights in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Dublin, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield, with additional shows in Leeds and Liverpool and a four-night run at London's O2 Arena.

"I've used Sennheiser vocal microphones on most things I've done over the last five years or so and have always had excellent results," explains monitor engineer Daniel Kent, who has worked with Murs for the past two and a half years. "You also get brill

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UAE - Four years in the making, there was nothing inevitable about the installation of a d&b audiotechnik system into Pacha Ibiza Dubai, the latest and largest in the global franchise that is Pacha.

"When you work in a place where you know the content will all be Electronic Dance Music (EDM), with no acoustic content, everything pure electronic, then you don't want any contribution from the room acoustic," was how Janko Ramuscak of d&b, who led the German design team described the principal demand imperative. "The ideal would be totally dry and direct."

Located next to the prestigious Madinat Jumeirah resort in Dubai, Pacha is spread over three floors. The mix of entertainment experiences, room spaces, VIP locations, and an open rooftop terrace, demanded a complex, zoned solution requiring over one hundred channels of amplification. Drawing on elements from

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USA - In the spring of 2015, the University of Southern Indiana opened the doors to its new 300-seat thrust theatre, the USI Performance Centre. With a design by Theatre Projects, the new theatre houses some of the most intricate lighting technologies available today. Wanting a single console that could offer control for all the lighting technologies inside, the design team found their answer in the NEO lighting control console from Philips Strand Lighting.

"This was a new construction project which was phase two of the University Center renovation," began Eric Cope, USI assistant professor of lighting design. "In the new space everyone wanted a visually dynamic environment which led to the design of two large LED walls flanking the stage of the theatre that we could use for both performances and educational purposes. To control it, we needed a console that would

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Spain - Lorenzo Cortés is one of Spain's highest profile composers and producers, with a career of over 20 years of music production for television, radio and the internet. For his newly-upgraded studio, he wanted a production system that would allow him to focus exclusively on the creative process. Yamaha Nuage was the answer.

Lorenzo's career has included composing theme music, library music, jingles and soundtracks for a wide range of clients in over 20 countries. His Zaragoza studio sees him working on projects from composition through to entire productions of audio-visual projects.

With a heavy workload, Lorenzo wanted a system that would be intuitive, seamless and ensure that he could concentrate solely on music creation and production, rather than having to think about the technical side of the process.

Having looked at different options Lorenzo chose Nuage, wh

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USA - Critics have lavishly praised Lana Del Rey's three-plus-octave vocal range and emotive delivery, but within the context of a band on a big stage, the task of ensuring that every sultry whisper is heard can present its share of challenges. Escondido, California-based touring sound provider Sound Image tapped the right tool for the trek: L-Acoustics' K1.

Currently out on her North American Endless Summer tour, along with opener Courtney Love, Del Rey is wowing fans in sheds each night on a K1 main loudspeaker system, with K2 out-fill arrays flown as needed in wider venues.

It's a sizable rig - one well suited to a big band and a rising star on her first headlining tour. But while L-Acoustics' K1 can certainly whomp with the best of them, this system is equally adept at treading lightly, never missing a note nor losing the emotion of a song.

"This is my first time to

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Czech Republic - Sixteen teams, 64 games, 17 days, and a record-breaking crowd of nearly 750,000 - high-flying Nexo Geo S12-ST loudspeakers in Prague's O2 Arena provided a quality audio experience for the Ice Hockey World Championship, won by Canada.

The event was another great success for the O2 Arena and its newly-installed Nexo PA/VA systems, following the finals of the Federation Cup in 2014, and this year's European Athletics Indoor Championships.

Flown from the central 'cube' above the ice rink, the Geo S12-ST system, supplied and installed by MusicData, uses a total of 84 x line-array cabinets, with 24 x RS18 subs. Chosen for their long-throw capability, the compact two-way ST cabinets have been developed from the standard Geo S12 design offering the high SPL and enhanced speech intelligibility required for stadium and arena applications.

The 24x RS18 subs - also flow

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UK - RSH Audio recently supplied equipment for two high-profile events held within a few days of each other in London. The XL Recordings & Young Turks present event on Monday 18 May and the Arsenal FC Foundation's Night to Inspire on Thursday 21 May both demanded high quality sound, which was delivered by RSH Audio, using Funktion-One loudspeakers.

The company's director, Joe Haycocks, is launching an offshoot called Event Technics, to cover the projects for which he is production manager, as well as supplier. This was the case for XL Recordings & Young Turks present (Event Technics' fifth project), for which it provided all of the entertainment technology. This included full-HD projection mapping, Robe and GLP lighting fixtures and the sound equipment - supplied by RSH Audio via Event Technics.

XL Recordings & Young Turks hosted two stages at The S

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UK / USA - How do you turn common but necessary stage gear into an integral part of the set design? Lighting designer Steven Douglas solved the dilemma by creatively mounting Solaris LED Mozarts, the versatile pixel-mapping RGBW fixtures, on key equipment for The Killers lead singer Brandon Flowers' Desired Effects tour.

"We mounted Mozarts on the downstage edge of Brandon's floor monitors," explains Douglas, "as well as attaching them to mic stands and the back line. We used iPad holders to rotate them into a diamond orientation."

Douglas adds, "After using the Solaris LED Flares for The Killers, I heard about the Mozarts and tried them on a shoot for the new Guitar Hero Live video game. I like the superior quality of light and their compact size - we can put them pretty much anywhere!"

The European leg of the tour ends this month, followed by

  1. Elation Europe schedules Service Days in July
  2. SGM package backs Kutless Odessa concert
  3. Saville backs conference growth with investment
  4. Meyer CAL adds clarity to Korean Convention Centre
  5. Roland XS switchers give cutting edge to L.E.V Festival
  6. Philips Vari-Lites lend variety to M3 Rock Festival
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