Lighting

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Italy - Special Effects company Le Maitre has supplied two of its Stadium Hazers to Milan's prestigious opera house, La Scala. The Hazers are in use for a new production of Tannhauser, at the specific request of the show's designer, David Jacques, who is head of stage design at the Department of Theatre Arts, California State University. Jacques explains: "The design heavily depends on atmospheric haze. There are only a few scenic pieces and the spaces are completely defined by light. As I have had many experiences with the problems associated with how atmospheric haze affects opera singers, actors, and dancers, I insisted that the company use the Stadium Hazers for this production."

Jacques had previously used Le Maitre's Neutron Hazers many times before and enjoyed the positive reviews from the performers about its tasteless and non-irritating fluid. Jacques

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Canada - Gilray Densham, co-founder and CEO of Cast Software, was the recipient of a Special Citation Award commending his company's efforts in the development and refinement of WYSIWYG - the industry's only all-in-one lighting software. "It was an honor to be recognized by USITT, a foundation that promotes and supports hundreds of thousands of students and educators in the field of theatrical production. A significant part of Cast's mission is to provide educational software that encourages hands-on learning, preparing students for real-world scenarios", said Densham. "It's exciting for us to continue our development of specialized design software for this flourishing industry."

While exhibiting at the Expo, Cast introduced Vivien - an all-in-one design package created for the meeting and event industry. "The response from lighting and design professio

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UK - "From tiny acorns mighty oaks do grow" a misquotation often used to indicate that something small is capable of great things. For renowned West End sound designer Paul Groothuis (credits include The King & I and the sumptuous My Fair Lady at the National to name just two) the issue of size was critical as he made plans to fit the control into his equation for Victoria Wood's new musical, Acorn Antiques, at the Haymarket Theatre Royal.

"My main consideration was space," said Groothuis of his decision to use Yamaha's PM5D mixing console. "This is a small theatre and seat revenues are important. I needed a certain amount of channels and a certain sound quality. It was a toss up between having a larger conventional console in a position where the operator couldn't hear, or a smaller one in a good listening position. There was nothi

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Italy - Costa Dream - or C-Dream as it is known - is the brainchild of Costa Cruises, Italy, and has created waves of excitement in every person lucky enough to experience it. This exclusive VIP lounge in Genova was designed to generate an atmosphere bordering between romanticism and fairytale, and uses Tryka LED lighting fixtures to achieve its goal.

Paolo Campanelli, technical project coordinator, was involved in the conception of this unique venue and invited one of Costa Cruises' in-house lighting designers, Davide Trentacoste, to specify the lighting. His original and intelligent use of lighting and special effects helps turn a visit to C-Dream into a virtual cruise, with each zone within it creating a unique and unforgettable experience. Trentacoste says: "The architects' desire [Marcello Albini and Manuela Venturini] was to have a hi-tech, surreal place that can cha

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Denmark - A new software upgrade for Xciter, Martin's multi layer embedded controller for live manipulation of light shows, now makes it the most powerful controller in its class, say the company.

Xciter allows easy programming, playback and live manipulation of lighting providing instant pitch adjustment, freeze, flash, blackout, master fader and more. Ideal for clubs, small touring and performance applications or even larger mobile DJs, there is also, a complete training DVD available which covers all of Xciter's features.

Features include six general faders and two masters, six flash and four customizable buttons to trigger lighting and effects. Xciter can now control up to 40 fixtures, each with up to 48 channels with a maximum of 512 channels.

The effects generator allows users to apply effects, such as fanning, to all channels, faders, fixtures or groups of fixtures.

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USA - Oberon Productions Inc of Forest Falls, California, has become a dedicated Zero 88 Fat Frog enthusiast through its work with the Biola Youth Theatre. The company got the call to supply additional lighting equipment for the Biola Youth Theatre's production of West Side Story. "They had been using a two-scene preset board from another manufacturer to run their conventional lighting rig," says Eric Strand, president of Oberon Productions. "A board with no cue stack is an abomination to theatre!"

Biola Youth Theatre is a true theatre company, rather than a high school class or college workshop, and is one of a select few youth theatre companies that work in partnership with a university - in this case Biola University of La Mirada, California. The high-school aged students are required to work both on stage and backstage during the course of the pro

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USA - Following the return of Bill Groener to the Production Resource Group (PRG), after a spell at Color Kinetics, PRG has announced that Groener will take on the role of vice-president and general manager of its Systems Integration Group. Groener, a long-time industry veteran, was formerly general manager of PRG's northeast US lighting operations. The company says that Groener left them in early 2004 to help Color Kinetics, an important PRG supplier, launch a series of new initiatives designed to increase and expand its sales and distribution of LED lighting products in North America.

Jere Harris, PRG's chairman and CEO, said: "It's great to have Bill back. New technologies are having a big impact on permanently installed lighting systems, and Bill has acquired a tremendous depth of experience with them."

Groener's return to PRG will allow Anne Johnston, who led

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Canada - Lighttex Canada Inc, the manufacturer of Lighttex Soft Egg Crates, has announced the appointment of Robert Paine as director of sales. Paine brings more than a dozen years of experience managing plant operations, quality systems and product and marketing development with a concentration in textiles. In his role as director of sales, he will build a North American sales network to support the commercial launch of Lighttex Soft Egg Crates, an architectural product that delivers aesthetics, space definition, light control and daylighting benefits, say the company.

"My focus and passion is customer satisfaction through quality product and service," says Paine. "Lighttex is both a powerful and elegant product that is poised to add the next dimension of architecture and daylighting. Our goal is to bring world-class service and solutions to help architects, des

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USA - Color Kinetics has announced that James Thomas Engineering is to license Color Kinetics' intellectual property in connection with the marketing of James Thomas' Pixel Range line of LED-based products in North America. James Thomas' Pixel Range includes a wide range of LED-based colour changing fixtures for use in architectural and entertainment applications, in both interior and exterior environments.

"We're very pleased to extend the value of our intellectual property to James Thomas Engineering, a company which recognizes the strength and breadth of Color Kinetics' patent portfolio," said Bill Sims, president and COO of Color Kinetics. "Our growing OEM and licensing program exists in part to help companies like James Thomas Engineering benefit from our intellectual property, which is the result of years of research and development."

"We look

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The Netherlands - The record-breaking temperature tolerance of the New Luxeon LED emitters announced by Lumileds Lighting last month will yield more usable light per dollar by reducing heat sink requirements and permitting higher current operation for more applications, opening new design possibilities for manufacturers of solid-state lighting solutions, say the company. For example, Lumileds say that New Luxeon can be mounted on an FR4 printed-circuit board (PCB) and driven at 400mA, in an ambient environment up to 40°C without a heat sink.

The new junction temperature, achieved by a complete redesign of the Luxeon package, represents a 50°C increase (from 135°C to 185°C) over other Luxeon products and a 60°C increase over other high-power LEDs. It offers the highest allowable operation temperature of any power LED product on the market by a wide margin, say Lumileds. Ben

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UK - One of Scotland's best-know landmarks, The Forth Rail Bridge, was given a red make-over in celebration of this year's Red Nose Day. Lenny Henry officially turned on the lights that gave the bridge a distinctive red glow. Lee Filters say they were happy to donate the lighting filter for the project; over 225sq.m of 026 Bright Red filter were used to cover the 500 lights on the 1.5 mile-long bridge.

(Lee Baldock)

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USA - Entertainment and architectural lighting manufacturer ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls Inc) has named Mark Veldey as vice-president of Finance. Veldey, as an outside investment banker, advised ETC on its successful acquisition of Transtechnik Lichtsysteme, Holzkirchen, Germany, in 2002. After joining ETC as general counsel, he directed ETC's acquisitions of Avab France, Paris; and IES and Penko Engineering, Veenendaal, the Netherlands. ETC's CEO Fred Foster says: "In his many roles with ETC, Mark has become completely familiar with our business and culture. His broad set of skills has proven to be very valuable to us. As part of the ETC executive team, he will add a great new dimension to our strategic financial planning."

Veldey's previous work experience includes practicing law with the Milwaukee firm Cook & Franke, treasury and corporate finance responsibilit

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USA - Innovate Show Controls has announced a number of major installations for its new BlueLite X1 DMX show controller. In recent months, the X1 has been selected as the primary control system for several major shows, including the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, Six Flags Theme Parks, The Fremont Street Experience, and Santa Ana's Pavilion Theatre.

The Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, held annually in Las Vegas, requires a powerful system with reliability, and rapid programmability. Marty Canavan, chief show designer for YLS Entertainment, says he found all of this in the X1: "When I am on a show like the National Rodeo Finals, where I have maybe 10 nights of live performances to light and another half dozen pre-programmed laser and light shows to create, it all boils down to one thing: how fast can I get it right? When it comes to programming a show, time is the one thing

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Worldwide - U2's much-anticipated 'Vertigo' tour has kicked off in San Diego, USA. Barco, Innovative Designs and XL Video - three key providers to the professional entertainment industry - have worked together to bring to life Willie Williams' spectacular design. All visualization aspects of the show, from the various projection set-ups (using Barco RLM G5 and ELM G10 projectors) to the video-driven LED projection units, the image processing (Barco Folsom Encore) or the new revolutionary MiSphere curtains above the centre stage, were designed, integrated and produced by Barco or Innovative Designs and delivered by Barco Rental Partner, XL Video.

Designed and developed by Barco at its R&D headquarters in Belgium especially for the Vertigo tour, the MiSphere takes the use of LED technology in the concert and staging market to a new level, say Barco. With 360° viewing angles, opa

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UK - As a result of continued growth, Hawthorn has taken over the adjoining industrial unit, in a move that more than doubles its warehouse space to 90,000sq.ft. The extra space will be used to house the company's brand new AV Department, along with its ever increasing inventory of lighting, sound, rigging, staging, drapes and 65 full-time staff.

Hawthorn prides itself on its ongoing investment in new technology: most recently this has seen the purchase of James Thomas's brand new PIXELpipes and RADlite's revolutionary Pixeldrive, currently on tour with The Chemical Brothers, and their new Martin Line Array. Martin Hawthorn, managing director, says: "We just had nowhere left to grow. After building mezzanines in our current unit, we were delighted when we heard our neighbours were moving, as we could literally double our space overnight without relocating or running a spli

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USA - Color Kinetics Incorporated, recently announced the continued expansion of its OEM product line with eight new offerings - all designed to give manufacturers flexible options for cost-effectively developing and delivering complete lighting systems based on market-proven technology, say Color Kinetics.

The new offerings include additional Digital Light Engines (DLEs), new power/data modules, and proprietary chips that Color Kinetics is making available to third parties for the first time. "This launch marks the next step in our expanding OEM product strategy, through which we can further propagate the use of Color Kinetics' technology in existing core markets and in entirely new ones," said Bill Sims, President and COO, Color Kinetics. "The technology and system-based approach that we've researched, funded and developed over seven years to date is available t

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UK - Harlow's Liquid nightclub has recently undergone a £2 million refurbishment. Curved surfaces create an open inclusive space, and a state-of-the-art projector and light cluster dominate the centre of the dance floor to create a new clubbing experience. The installation combines lighting effects and video projection onto a raised circular wall that envelops the dance area. Video is controlled from the DJ booth, prominently situated on a raised stage, and managed by one of the first UK installations of Pioneer's revolutionary DVJ-X1 DVD turntables.

James Hall, Liquid's general manager comments: "The state-of-the-art projection kit and Pioneer's DVD turntables enable our DJs to create a completely new and immersive audio-visual experience. When people enter the space and see the video in time with the beat for the first time, they are genuinely awed."

Liquid opene

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Denmark - Martin Professional will exhibit a raft of new lighting, sound and fog effects at Frankfurt's ProLight&Sound exhibition next week. On display will be a 250W Fresnel washlight in the new MAC 250 Series of moving heads, the MAC 250 Wash. Equipped with advancements including new reflector technology for greater output, fast and quiet movement, a variable frost filter for zoom effect, and a CMY colour mixing system with a complementing colour wheel, the MAC 250 Wash is an ideal accompaniment to the Krypton and Entour profile spots, say Martin.

Also on display will be a dedicated stage version of the popular Cyclo fluorescent colour changer. Stage Cyclo features four 54W high output fluorescent tubes in red, green, blue and white with the same full color mixing capabilities found in the top of the range Cyclo fixtures from Martin Architectural.

Updated versions of the

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The Netherlands - Lumileds Lighting has announced "a quantum leap" in LED technology with new red, red-orange and amber LEDs that produce record-breaking typical lumens per package of 110 for Amber, 140 for Red and 190 for Red-Orange, which, the company claims, triples the industry benchmark previously set by the company's Luxeon family of solid-state light sources and quadrupling the performance of other LEDs. The new Luxeon III emitters reduce the cost of semiconductor-based lighting per lumen, and save space, by reducing the number of emitters required to produce a given light output. They also pave the way for development of new LED-based products requiring brighter illumination and/or simpler lighting system design in red and related colours. Applications range from rear automotive lighting to aviation, manufacturing and architainment.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - PLASA 2005, Europe's definitive exhibition for professionals and decision-makers within the entertainment, event, corporate, architectural and installation industries, takes place at London's Earls Court from Sunday September 11 to Wednesday September 14 2005.

This annual event attracts visitors from all over the world and is run by people from within the industry - and the 2005 show promises to deliver precisely what the market requires - information, ideas and a strong forum for doing real business.

Over 300 companies are committed to making PLASA 2005 a solutions-led event: between them they will roll out over 1,000 new products and services designed to push existing technical and creative possibilities a stage further.

Both show floors will be packed with new ideas in audio, lighting, AV, rigging, system integration, engineering and effects: visitors will get to

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Estonia - Eventech, a leading source for professional sound and lighting services in the Baltic region supplied a Meyer Sound based system for the most recent Estonian National Song Festival. Held every fourth summer, the Festival takes place at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds.

The venue's "stage" is an arc of gently ascending steps on which the performers stand, covered toward the rear by an eyelid-shaped choir shell. The shell faces out to a sloped seating area, extending some 750 feet deep and about 500 feet wide.

The choir shell accommodates what consulting sound system designer and long-time Meyer Sound associate Dave Dennison describes as "probably the biggest choir on the planet," which performs at the Festival's finale. The choir members come from all over the country, rehearse for a couple days and then perform, By the end of the festival there

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UK - XL Video is again supplying full video production to the Chemical Brothers current Push The Button tour. Live vision mixer is Ricardo Lorenzini and LD is Andy Liddell. XL's project manager is Des Fallen, who has worked with the Chemicals Brothers for eight years.

This year, XL is supplying a large 12 x 6 metre (2:1 ratio) upstage soft-screen, two side screens at 12 x 9 ft and four onstage LED screens constructed from 50 panels of Lighthouse 10 mm. The screen configurations are adaptable to suite the different venues.

The Chemicals. visuals have always been cutting edge, and worked seamlessly into their thumping dance rhythms and the essence of their live show. The band members are very much ephemeral shadows and silhouettes onstage, ensconced behind racks of knobs, digits and codes.

The original source material is created and compiled by Adam Smith, and incl

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Denmark -The Mania SCX500 is the first scanner in Martin Professional's Mania series and is billed as "an extraordinary 150W halogen scanner that challenges the status quo of mobile scanners".

Martin says that the scanner produces "surprisingly powerful, brilliant effects from separate colour and gobo wheels. With 15 gobos plus open, 15 rich colours including white and five mixed colours, as well as a split colour option, the SCX500 powers out shows like larger scanners but with all the convenience and savings of its class."

Highly portable, the SCX500 is DMX controllable for ultimate manageability. And as with all Mania products the SCX500 is officially ETL, cETL and CE approved meaning users are assured of the fixtures' safety and performance.

Martin says the Mania SCX500 is "ideal for any show, club, or party and will be appreciated by DJs and

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UK - Sennheiser UK has launched an entirely new website at www.sennheiser.co.uk. The site not only provides information on Sennheiser's own products but also its distributed brands, which include Neumann, Elac, D.A.S., APart, Adamson, Lab.gruppen, Konig & Meyer, Rycote, NetCIRA and Rane.

Commenting on the new site, John Steven, director of marketing for Sennheiser UK said, "We have drawn on the group's experience in providing web based information and carried out an extensive survey of our dealers and end-users to provide the new site. It gives a whole host of additional information and services, whilst being more logical and faster to navigate."

In addition to comprehensive product information, with appropriate downloads, the site features company information, press and events sections, a fun competition page and details of the latest Sennheiser endorsees. The Info

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