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Europe - UK based creative design practice Okulus – James Scott and Louis Oliver – was asked to create a production design for rising Canadian singer songwriter Shawn Mendes’ tour.
This followed their work for the launch of his second studio album, Illuminate at Madison Square Garden in September 2016, and Okulus’ penchant for bringing fresh and interesting visual perspectives to a show.
39 Robe Spikies are incorporated into the lighting scheme, crafted with Okulus dexterity and imagination in close collaboration with the show’s creative director, Paul Caslin and 24/7 Productions. The overall stage look is clean and definitive with attention focused on the artist.
The set is built from a multi-layered fixed riser system with curved frontage and a high-gloss black floor, fabricated by TAIT. It keeps the band positions balanced across the upstage

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Italy - Singer/songwriter and producer Tiziano Ferro is known as the modern face of Italian pop music and his phenomenally successful career has seen one chart-busting album and single after another earning him a dedicated fan following.
His live shows are also known for their visual flamboyance and style and the recent Italian stadium tour was no exception. Belgian engineering and automation specialist WIcreations was commissioned to find solutions for two primary motion-control ‘brain-teasers’.
The show was creatively directed by Claudio Santucci working in close collaboration with video designer Romain Sabella from Clonwerk and lighting designer Giovanni Pinna.
The two automation challenges were to provide a fluid and smooth movement system for a large video ceiling weighing 11 tonnes, which moved in all directions and to track two massive upstage LED scre

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UK - Now in its third year, the three-day Ramblin Man Fair is an annual music festival celebrating classic and contemporary rock, progressive rock, blues and country music.
Promoted by Spirit Of Rock it is billed as “a rock festival designed for rock fans by rock fans”.
Set in Maidstone’s familiar Mote Park, sound production company Capital Sound were contracted to provide the audio infrastructure for the first time this year, and they were eager to show off the power of Martin Audio’s MLA PA to Kent’s rock community.
Project manager Robin Conway was himself responsible for winning the contract after meeting with the event’s technical production manager, Kev Sutherland. “I think he was impressed that we were able to come up with a total production package built around MLA,” he said.
Capital provided sound reinforcement for all four stages b

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Germany - Forty years on the air and 1,000 episodes are really a reason for celebrating 1, 2 or 3, the legendary children’s quiz show from ZDF - with a 150-minute prime time show from the MMC Studios in Cologne. Moderated by Steven Gätjen and Elton, prominent guests included actress Stephanie Stumph, comedian Bülent Ceylan and singer Mark Foster. Günther Jauch, who presents Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, also made an appearance and superstar Helene Fischer appeared on stage.
For the lighting design of this special anniversary show, MBTV, the production company for ZDF, awarded the design work to mo2 design, run by lighting designer, Manfred "Ollie" Olma. Olma is one of the long-time users of GLP fixtures, and on this occasion he also made the most of it - specifying more than 100 impression X4 atom, as well as 92 GT-1 hybrids and 60 impression X4.
"W

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Europe - illumination Physics has opened a European office in Bremen, Germany.
Martin Opolka will assume the role of European manager, effective immediately. Martin is a career lighting professional and his experience and specialisation are ideally suited to illumination Physics’ core business in architectural and architainment façade lighting, says the company. He has been involved in many international projects including The Chicago Bridges illumination, London Television Tower, London, and Aspire Sports Dome in Doha.
"My new role as European manager for illumination Physics represents an exciting challenge that I'm honoured to accept," says Martin. "I have known the company directors and have been familiar with their work for many years and am delighted now to be part of its success story.”
The office is located at Bruno-Bürgel-Strasse 11, 28759, Bremen,

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UK - To best support and grow its rapidly expanding user-base, global design and BIM software developer Vectorworks has announced the formation of a new office in the UK.
To facilitate this new corporate office, Vectorworks has acquired Design Software Solutions Limited, a long-time reseller of Vectorworks software. The Vectorworks UK office will build on the support, training and sales infrastructure developed by Design Software Solutions as a launch pad for further development in the region. The new office will be led by Tamsin Slatter and Adrian Slatter, former directors of Design Software Solutions.
“With more than 10 years of experience helping users make the most of their investment in Vectorworks software, Design Software Solutions has provided significant input to the growth of the UK market while also providing valuable support and training materials,

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UK – The 2017 Knight of Illumination (KOI) Awards has announced this year’s shortlist of lighting and video designers, recognised for their creative work in the Concert Touring & Events sector. The winners will be announced at the 10th anniversary KOI Awards ceremony, to be held at London’s Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, on 17 September. The KOI Awards was established to publicly celebrate the achievements of lighting and video designers in the sectors of Television, Theatre and Concert Touring & Events. The annual Awards are open to designers whose work has been showcased in the UK in the previous twelve months. The Awards is now one of the most celebrated nights in the live entertainment design industry calendar, with more than 500 leading creatives and professionals in attendance at last year’s celebrations. The Concert Touring & Events shortlist is the

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Ticket To Ride - Amazon could soon be entering yet another new market - working with US venue owners to sell event tickets. Sources told Reuters news agency that Amazon was in talks to offer event ticketing in America, seeing the market as ripe for a new entrant. If such a move were to go ahead, it would be the latest effort by the Seattle-based online retailer to use its huge customer base and bargaining power to enter a big market.
It would also challenge Ticketmaster, which has a strong grip on the market. Ticketmaster is currently the exclusive seller of tickets for many top US venues, generating $1.6bn in revenue from initial sales in 2016, according to estimates by research firm BTIG. That figure does not include revenue from reselling tickets, which BTIG estimates at $250m.
Price Sensitive - Producer Thelma Holt has become the latest figure to rail agains

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Poland - Transcolor Lucjan Siwczyk, one of Poland's major rental companies, is located in greater Warsaw, since 2010 in a substantial purpose-built warehouse and office complex complete with two large studios which are regularly hired out by TV production companies to record a range of series and programmes.
Television is a core market for Transcolor which also services other studios with lighting and video equipment – together with concert touring, special events and long term installations.
To assist with the busy schedules, there are now over 300 Robe fixtures in the rental inventory including 200 plus LEDWash 800s and over 100 Spikies.
They started looking at Robe in 2012 - having been a distributor for a competitor brand for several years and consequently having a big stock of their fixtures – it was a big moment - explained technical manager Szymon Kos

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UK - A comprehensive seminar programme at the forthcoming PLASA 2017 exhibition at London Olympia, 17-19 September 2017 includes a presentation on Safety First by Helen Goddard, fellow member and vice president of The Institute of Sound & Communications Engineers (ISCE).
On Monday 18 September, 11:00am-11:30am in the Fast Track Theatre at the exhibition, Helen will present a Safety First seminar outlining the ECS Certification Scheme and how it affects audio engineers working on sites and in venues. She will also outline how sound engineers can become accredited for this growing Health & Safety and core competencies standard within the construction industry.
A recognised ECS trade card is increasingly requested by clients and main contractors in order for operatives to gain access to sites and venues for equipment upgrades and routine maintenance.

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UK - To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Wholehog lighting control desk, the Flying Pig Systems team, along with an original Wholehog console, will reunite at the PLASA Show in September.
In 1992, three young, twenty-something men - Nick Archdale, Tom Thorne and Nils Thorjussen - exhibited a new control system for live entertainment lighting at the PLASA Show in London. Called Wholehog, it had been conceived, developed, road-tested and launched in less than a year. Its disruptive power and features drew huge interest from the market, while its impact was recognised by the PLASA Show's Awards judges who unanimously named it Lighting Product of the Year.
Wholehog was a landmark in the history of entertainment lighting control. For the three founders whose blood, sweat, tears and (no doubt) more tears had led them to this point, it was an extraordinary achievement ag

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Belgium - Rental company EQS Pro-Rent has recently taken delivery of Elation Professional’s new Artiste DaVinci LED moving head spot luminaire, as well as the company’s ACL 360 Matrix LED moving head panel.
Wouter de Loose, owner of EQS Pro-Rent, based in the town of Rijkevorsel, commented on the decision to add the fixtures to their rental inventory. “We have worked with various Elation products for several years,” he said. “Last year we bought 16 units of the Rayzor Beam 2R, a narrow beam moving head that we are still very pleased with today. Due to our growth in the rental sector the past year, we have been looking for new devices to expand our range. We found the road to Elation very quickly.”
Together with Coen Criar of Elation partner Geronika and Bert Schmeits of Elation Professional, a comprehensive demo was undertaken of various Elation products. A

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Italy - With its HQ in Milan, and a branch office in Rome, Communication Video Engineering (CVE) has been appointed new distribution partner for Italy by BroaMan.
CVE brings nearly 40 years' experience in the design, implementation and support of advanced technical solutions for broadcast and telecommunications organisations. In addition to its operations in Italy, the company also has a subsidiary office in Dubai.
“We had been looking for a fibre solution to handle point to multipoint,” explained CEO Luca Catalano. “Our tech team undertook research which is how we got to know BroaMan.”
Munich-based BroaMan manufactures advanced solutions, which use a fibre infrastructure to integrate Video, Audio, IP, Intercom and other Data on a redundant low latency system. As well as broadcasters, these interfaces are targeted at production companies, sport facilities

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USA - As a provider of laser hardware for nearly a decade in the US, X-Laser USA is expanding its reach and is now able to capitalize on opportunities in the international laser show market.
X-Laser has chosen as its representative the firm Oso Colmenero, a solutions and equipment specialist for the professional lighting, audio and video industries in Latin America. Through this approach, X-Laser is now able to serve countries in South and Central America, plus Mexico.
“We’ve been receiving inquiries about laser shows and laser systems from Mexico, Argentina and Colombia that we simply couldn’t support,” Adam Raugh, X-Laser’s president, said. “Now that we’re working with Jerry and his trusted team, we’ll be able to reach those markets and more with safe, high-quality laser systems.”
“Jerry,” refers to Jerry Colmenero, the founder and presid

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Poland - J&C Joel has announced the appointment of Step as its new bronze dealer in Poland.
Step was established in Poland in 2008 by its founders Marcin Konieczek and Grzegorz Sikorski, who are both long-time active members of the Polish stage and event market, working as light and sound engineers for live shows and events for more than 20 years.
In 2012 Step started to support theatres and rental companies, supplying them with a wide range of equipment including auditorium LED lighting systems manufactured by British GDS based in Bristol. Always focused on high quality products, Step has quickly become a reliable and dynamic partner for manufacturers.
Step will offer J&C Joel’s flame retardant fabrics, flooring and stage engineering solutions as well as their bespoke design, manufacturing and installation services as a complimentary solution to their

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Australia - TDC – Technical Direction Company supplies innovative video technologies to high profile live events, light festivals, TV productions and live performance.
The recent TDC Open House held at TDC’s Alexandria Headquarters on 2-4 August enabled production professionals to get their hands on the latest technologies, talk to expert TDC teams about how these new tools can be used in future projects, and to peek at the latest tools and technologies coming out of worldwide R&D labs.
“While we’ve always been known for using the latest video technologies in innovative ways to realise our clients’ projects, we’re now getting ahead of the game by developing and deploying technology such as automation, motion tracking and real time content generation that will be the future of live entertainment,” said Michael Hassett, managing director at TDC. “Thr

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UK - The effective training of fire and rescue service personnel is of the utmost importance and in the UK, fire services constantly strive to improve methods, to ensure that they can make the greatest possible contribution to the safety of the communities in which they operate. Innovations such as XVR's virtual reality simulation technology platform (a by-product of gaming industry software) which assists in the training of safety professionals involved in crisis management and emergency response, are becoming essential tools.
When Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service was in the process of creating XVR training rooms at Droitwich fire station, they invited integrators County Infrastructure Services (CIS TECH) with whom they already had an excellent relationship, to discuss AV provision for the installation. A number of first floor offices were converted into train

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USA - NC-based AVLA design and integration firm WAVE has joined the Adamson network as an integration partner.
“Our goal is always to provide our clients with the best possible performance, service, and value in every single component we provide, and that’s what informed our decision to partner with Adamson moving forward,” comments WAVE co-founder and executive director Armando Fullwood. “The sound of the products, the expertise of their staff, and their overall marketing strategy are more than impressive, and we can confidently stand behind the brand in any and all future applications.”
Fullwood and his partner, Dr. Paul Henderson, founded WAVE by combining the former’s decades of experience as a studio engineer, technical director, and live audio mixer and designer with the latter’s doctorate in acoustics and true passion for invention. Since, they’v

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South Africa - An intensive one day DiGiCo Training course was presented by DWR Distribution’s Kyle Robson in July with the emphasis on both the S and SD range.
“We had 10 delegates from various companies, consisting of both old and new users, attending,” said Kyle. “The main focus was to educate the users on how to use both the S and SD range comfortably and we also shared tips and tricks to show just how powerful the platform is.”
There was much excitement as delegates soaked up the knowledge, appreciative that the training also covered a number of problem solving issues. “There was a huge interest in this and everyone gained a deeper knowledge of the internals of the systems,” commented Kyle. “The course was well received and I’m very grateful to everyone who attended. Thank you.”
(Jim Evans)

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Germany - For 26 years, ils medientechnik has been supporting events of all sizes and with all technical activities. After the Leipzig company had already invested in the smaller Alcons LR7 system at the beginning of 2016, it expanded its portfolio in the spring of 2017 with the larger line array system LR18 from the Dutch audio specialist.
Managing director Thomas Ils, leading the company together with his brother Mario, explains: "We had been looking for a long time for a sound system that covers everything required by our customers. As a technical service provider, we have a very wide spectrum to look after - from very small to very large events. In addition, all systems should be compatible with each other and have the same excellent quality. "
After listening to different systems, the spark finally struck with the compact LR7 pro-ribbon line array system. "After f

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UAE - Backed by Broadcast Systems Arabia, one of the region’s leading broadcast system integration company, BS Broadcast has established itself in the field of buying and selling of quality-tested used broadcast and audio visual equipment.
Strategically based in Dubai, to facilitate easy shipment across the globe, the company is keen to engage with TV and radio stations, production houses, rental and events companies, educational institutions and media training centres that lack the budgets to buy expensive cutting-edge solutions but still require reliable high-grade production, broadcast and audio visual equipment.
The company has worked to establish an inventory of over 650 products from 69 market leading manufacturers including Axon, Genelec, Harmonic, Sony, Shure and Yamaha. This stock includes an extensive range of HD/SD equipment such as recorders, video conver

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USA - High End Systems has announced the finalists for the 2017 HOG Factor National Collegiate Lighting Show Programming Competition. The competition finals will be held on High End Systems' booth at the 2017 LDI trade show. The finalist teams will be flown to Las Vegas to perform their pieces live at LDI 2017, based on the High End Systems 2017 LDI Booth Design.
The Finalist teams are:
Long Beach Three from California State University. Long Beach
SolaSwine from Carnegie Mellon University
Backstaged from University of Cincinnati – CCM
High End Systems' Paul Hancock commented: "On behalf of everyone from HES, we want to congratulate all teams for their participation in our third annual HOG Factor Competition. The participation was overwhelming this year; to say it was incredibly difficult for our panel of judges this year would be an understatement.

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Creative Issues - Cultural organisations and universities are being encouraged to work together as part of an £80m programme designed to address issues within the creative industries. The scheme is seeking to come up with new ways of working or create new services that tackle problem areas such as skills shortages, equality and diversity, and finance models.
Led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Creative Industries Clusters Programme will support eight research and development partnerships, each led by a university working with a range of creative organisations. Beginning in 2018, the groups will use money from an £80m pot to fund research and development projects. These will be aimed at improving the creative industries’ development in areas such as cross-sector collaborations, new ways of financing, equality and diversity and skills shortages.
Almo

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USA - Audient has donated 10 of its iD4 USB audio interfaces to the Women’s Audio Mission (WAM) to help kit out an additional training location in Oakland, California, which opened last month and is expected to reach 3,000 girls by 2020.
An Audient ASP8024 already sits at the heart of the original WAM studio in San Francisco, where over 1,500 women and girls per year are trained in music and media production. When the British desk arrived at the studio two years ago, WAM founder and executive director, Terri Winston was aware of the quality of Audient products, saying, "I had used various DDA consoles so I was familiar with David Dearden's console designs and was already a fan."
Fast-forward to today, and the success of the training programmes has generated enormous interest outside of San Francisco, particularly in Oakland. When putting together the spec for the new
  1. Twenty-five years of the ETC Source Four
  2. PLASA presents strong seminar programme
  3. Six ESTA Standards in public review
  4. KOI Television shortlist is announced
  5. ETC combines summer camp and pro development
  6. Unicam Digital rebrands and moves headquarters
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