Lighting

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USA - Eminem's lighting director Benny Kirkham used 60 James Thomas PixelLine LED batten fixtures for the artist's recently concluded high profile Anger Management Tour. It played arenas and amphitheatres throughout North America.

Lighting designer Dan Boland specified the PixelLines, then programmed and directed for the road by Kirkham. Ed and Ted's Excellent Lighting of Oxnard California supplied the gear plus much of the tour's rigging, with 10 Vario motors overhead provided by Show Distribution of Quebec City, Canada.

Boland used 37 Pixelline 1044s on the ground in DMX mode, broken down into 666 separate "cells" of control. The 1044s lined the entire downstage edge, fully outlining three 16 x 4ft stage thrusts.

Overhead, there were 22 of JTE's latest 110ec PixelLines, which were broken down into five cells apiece, giving a total of 110 "cells"

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UK - In order to make full use of your days at the PLASA show, the show's organizers are encouraging visitors to 'check in' early. The doors to the exhibition will be open from 9am every morning and you will be invited to go up to the Top Deck to collect your show catalogue, and have a cup of coffee at one of the outlets around the PLASA stand while planning you day, prior to the show's official opening at 10am.

Please note: due to the current security situation, there will be full bag checks as you enter the show and all visitors are being asked for their co-operation. In the meantime, to help you plan, don't forget to check out the show website - see address below - for all the up-to-date news in the final run-up to the show.

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UK - The new wall-mounted, compact lighting controller from Artistic Licence simplifies customized performance and venue lighting. Artistic Licence's new 'Dimmer-Switch' joins 'Light-Switch' as part of a new range of Wall Mount DMX Controllers.

'Dimmer-Switch' provides the ideal solution for varied lighting requirement in pubs, clubs, conference rooms, retail outlets, trade shows, museum exhibits and domestic environments. Six independent LED illuminated faders are capable of playing back a static look or a dynamic sequence with the seventh 'Grand Master' fader providing overall intensity control.

The output is DMX512 with control over all 512 channels. Housed in a two-gang wall mount panel, Dimmer-Switch has all its electronic components mounted on the rear panel so there's no need for bulky or cumbersome external control boxes. The entire system can be programmed in two ways

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UK - CBS News recently decided to move its London studio from Knightsbridge out west to leafy Chiswick and upgrade the studio's lighting rig in the process. CBS called on the services of consultant Alan Bermingham to assist with the specification. His brief was to design the lighting system - including the suspension system, the control system and the luminaire package. he also oversaw the installation, set up the lighting and trained the staff to operate the system.

Bermingham, who spent over 20 years providing training in television lighting at the BBC and is the author of several books on technical TV production, worked closely with David J. Fairweather, CBS' director of operations for Europe to ensure the new studio was capable of meeting all the needs of a live 24-hour television news service. After initial discussions, Bermingham specified an ETC SmartFade compact lighting

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USA - A solo tour by Tori Amos is not what immediately comes to mind when thinking about a high technology production, but then again, Tori is anything but predictable. On this month-long tour of US theatres in support of her latest album, The Beekeeper, she performed over 90 different songs - a challenge for all concerned.

"I program, on average, three new songs every afternoon," sighs Dan Boland, Tori's long-time lighting director and, for the last few years, lighting designer. "It keeps the afternoons very interesting." Each night, Boland receives the ever changing set list minutes before Tori takes to the stage. Even then, the set can change midway through a show. Boland, however, incorporates this unpredictability into his design, and this was a key factor is his decision to use video.

"Every time that it's just Tori and a piano on stage, she can

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Russia - Nearly 100 Robe Show Lighting fixtures of various types have been installed in Moscow's Crystal Casino - one of the largest casinos in Eastern Europe - as part of a major technology upgrade aimed at providing a visually stimulating environment as part of a high quality guest 'experience'.

Crystal has three restaurants, several bars, a nightclub and dancefloor, and offers nightly onstage entertainment including a variety of singers and bands. The club also has its own permanent cabaret/musical show once or twice a week, and the dancefloor is in use five days a week. The new installation was designed by Sasha 'Eagle' Vasilyev - the club's chief LD - and Slava Savin, LD and desk programmer/operator, and undertaken by Moscow-based Light Sound Contractor (LSC), one of Russia's leading installers.

Robe fixtures were chosen for the primary moving light elements of the upgrad

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UK - The chain of supply in any industry is a fascinating animal, one mistake or miscalculation along the line can screw up numerous other businesses in that same chain. However, it is something most end users rarely consider.

In the lighting industry one of these links is Mico Lighting. Started in 1972, when it was run from a small unit and an upstairs bedroom in Pudsey, West Yorkshire by Michael Kitching and Colin Durber, it is now one of the largest privately-owned distributors of lamps in the industry and boasts in excess of 100 years of lighting experience by its three directors (Kitching, Durber and Graham Waite-Pullan).

Today, the Pudsey-based company distributes, in the main, to UK-based commercial end users and specialist suppliers from a 30,000sq.m warehouse. The company's dedication to customer support and total quality is the key to its success, say Mico, an ISO 90

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UK - Lightfactor Sales will be showing a variety of its core theatre and performance orientated products available from Italian manufacturers SGM and LDR; Wireless Solutions from Sweden; Xilver from the Netherlands and LightProcessor from the UK at PLASA 2005.

Designed and built by SGM, Synthesis is the first of a new generation of moving head fixtures from SGM. Featuring two types of interchangeable 700W lamps, with automatic hot re-strike, colour mixing, precise linear dimmer, automatic electronic pan/tilt unlocking and silent operation. Synthesis achieves exceptional brightness, and is the world's first moving head fixture fitted with wireless DMX as standard and using technology with an operating radius of over 500m.

Other SGM products on display will be the Palco LED colour-changer and the Regia Lighting Desks including the new Desk Pilot 3000.

New from Xilver is the Xo

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USA - On 2 June, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members, ZZ-Top embarked on Whack Attack, a six-month North American tour. With a complete lighting package provided by Bandit Lites, lighting designer Chris Stuba is continuing an 11-year tradition as the extended tour continues to move through the US and Canada. "Working with Chris Stuba is fantastic and his show design and execution is beautiful," said Bandit Lites VP Mike Golden. "The ZZ-Top staff are all true professionals and it's a pleasure to work with them each year."

The Vari*Lite portion of the complete lighting package includes four VL3500 spot luminaires.For the Whack Attack tour, Stuba was looking for a sort of a retro-garage feel, as there is diamond plating on the set which is partially made up of amplifier cases and LED tubes. The amplifiers also have electro-luminescent rope for piping, which outline

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UK - ELC Lighting will introduce its new Switch5DC at PLASA. This latest member of the dmXLAN family will, the company says, mark the difference between a "compustore" switch and a professional tool for the touring industry. The unit features a truss-mount/table top housing with built-in M10 nut and safety eye; four powered 10/100BaseT ports on Neutrik Ethercon connectors; PoE (Power on Ethernet) IEEE 802.3af with auto-detection, for powering Node 1 and Node 2; 1 x 10/100BaseT uplink port on Neutrik Ethercon, and AC power - switching PSU 85 to 264 Volts with fixed mains lead.

The company has also announced the latest software kit for the Sidekick, which contains not only the last firmware - fader10_v102.sfu - but also upgraded configurations files for Martin Light Jockey, Hog 2 and Hog PC, Sunlite and Cybercontrol. ELC Lighting can be found on the stand of oits UK dist

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UK - Pharos Architectural Controls has announced that the Lighting Playback Controller (LPC) is now shipping. The award-winning LPC bridges the gap between entertainment and architectural lighting in retail, themed or architectural environments, say its makers. A powerful, solid-state lighting controller, the LPC is very compact and supports many different interfaces including Ethernet. The LPC comes in variants with one or two DMX ports; both models are now in stock and available from distributor TMB.

Version 1.0 of the powerful and intuitive Designer software has also been officially released for the Windows platform and is free to download from http://www.pharoscontrols.com/software.html. The Designer software has been available for beta testing and evaluation for several months and has been very well received. New features include support for the LPC1 and LPC2 over USB or Et

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UK - Zero 88 has chosen PLASA 2005 to introduce the 10th version software package for its popular Frog console range. Following the huge global success since its launch in 2000 the Frog console has proved to be a market leader, finding home in an impressive range of venues including live performance gigs, churches, theatres, schools art centres and nightclubs.

Testament to the quality and versatility of the product the latest version of software brings a number of new and additional features to the range. Parameter Level Programming, Tracking and Move on Dark add to the moving light functionality, significantly increasing the capability and power of the Frog console range. Also being introduced at PLASA 2005 is Version 2 software for the Frog 2. This software adds a host of new features to the latest of the Frog consoles, including, an on board keyboard, USB storage information,

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UK - A lot of people credit their school or college as giving them their first taste of the theatre. If that's you, now is your chance to thank your academic institution. Simply visit ETC on Stand F30 at PLASA, 11-14 September and you'll have the opportunity to nominate a UK school in a draw to win a versatile ETC Smart Solutions package.

Added to this, every day ETC will be giving away an ETC Source Four profile spot, complete with the new Enhanced Definition Lens Tube (EDLT) option, which is being launched at PLASA. The EDLT provides even crisper projections with greater acuity and higher contrast. Enter the daily prize draw and nominate your favourite school for the ETC Smart Solutions package grand prize draw at the same time.

Visit the ETC stand to see the Smart Solutions range, which makes ETC dimming and control technology available to smaller venues and includes the ne

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USA - Wybron has announced the appointment of industry veteran Dusty Hudgins as western sales manager, effective September 1, 2005. Hudgins has been involved in entertainment and architectural lighting for over 28 years and brings his own perspective to Wybron's sales and marketing efforts. In the late 70's, Hudgins worked at Showco, Inc. where he met Wybron president Keny Whitright. He later went on to work with acts such as Willie Nelson, Liza Minnelli and Ringo Starr. In 1991, Hudgins was appointed president of the entertainment division of Bankston-Hudgins & Associates, where he concentrated primarily on special events, installations and houses of worship.

According to Hudgins: "Wybron has consistently maintained the highest standard of quality in both products and customer service. My focus will be on preserving this standard of excellence while creating and developing

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UK - ADB Lighting - exhibiting at both IBC and PLASA 2005 - will place the accent this year on the Warp/M, a fully automated zoom profile spotlight, derived from the manual Warp profile launched two years ago.

Warp/M is specifically designed for venues where light output, silent operation, repositioning accuracy and networking capability are prime considerations. In June this year at Showtech, Berlin, Warp/M won the Product Award 2005 in the Lighting and Projection Technology category.

So far, several hundred Warp/M units have already been shipped to prestigious venues such as the Glyndebourne Opera House in the UK, The Oriental Arts Centre in Shanghai, the Staatsoper in Munich... and more. This will be its first appearance at the PLASA Show, where it has been nominated for a PLASA Innovation Award.

At PLASA 2005, ADB will also show a selection of its other luminaires, digit

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UK - An Avolites Diamond 4 Elite console was chosen by lighting designer Alan King to control the newly upgraded and boosted lighting rig for Manumission at Privilege - one of Ibiza's hottest superclubs and also used for its new 2005 Ibiza Rocks Friday night event.

The D4 was also utilized for Manumission's famous, highly theatrical Monday night club night, also staged at Privilege, the largest club in the world with a capacity of 10,000 and including a huge swimming pool in its midst.

The additional lighting for Privilege's 2005 summer season, which also includes several other high profile club nights, was supplied by Oxfordshire-based Production Hire Ltd (PHL). Alan King designed the new rig and ran it for the season. It was this first time he'd used an Avolites Diamond 4 console, selected because he needed a powerful, versatile and easy to use control platform for the large

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UK/Israel - Compulite Systems, manufacturer of the Vector line of lighting control consoles, will present Vector Orange and its new Vector Playback Wing at PLASA 2005 (booth E30).Vector Orange is the most compact member of the Vector line, which already includes the Red, Blue and Green. With the addition of the 'Orange', the Vector line now offers the most comprehensive and effective solution for any venue type and size" Says Ohad Ashery, Compulite's VP. "The Vector Orange, as a stand-alone console or as a backup unit, brings the most advanced control technology in the market to limited-budget venues."

The Orange offers four DMX512 universes (broadcasted also over Ethernet), one integrated 12.1" TFT touch screen, one external monitor, 100 playbacks, and the entire feature set of the Vector line. Compulite expects to begin production of the Orange by the end N

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UK - FocusTrack, the new database system for tracking and documenting the use of moving lights for theatrical productions, will be on show on the Strand Lighting stand at the PLASA Show. FocusTrack was designed by lighting programmer Rob Halliday to give those working with moving lights an easy and efficient way of storing and managing the data connected with the use of those lights in shows. This includes the set-up of the moving lights (patching, orientation, which gobos and colours they are loaded with) and then the use of those lights - which preset focus positions they are stored in, where they are focused, and which cues those positions are used in. FocusTrack can store a huge array of information describing how lights are focused, including grid focuses, written descriptions and digital photographs.

This information can be stored in FocusTrack manually by lighting program

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UK - Lightfactor Sales is showing a variety of its core theatre and performance orientated products from Italian manufacturers SGM and LDR; Wireless Solutions from Sweden; Xilver from the Netherlands and LightProcessor from the UK.

New from SGM is the Synthesis, the first of a new generation of moving head fixtures designed and built for top-level applications. Among its 'firsts' are two types of interchangeable 700W lamps, with automatic hot re-strike, colour mixing, a precise linear dimmer, automatic electronic pan/tilt unlocking, silent operation and excellent brightness.

It is also the world's first moving head fixture fitted with wireless DMX as standard, with an operating radius of over 500 metres.

SGM's PALCO LED colour-changer has been selling strongly to leading rental companies including Fineline, Essential Lighting and PRG and have been used on a myriad of applica

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UK - The 2005 PLASA Show opened its doors at 10 o'clock this morning, and the crowds streamed in to the show floor, which looks better and brighter than ever. Sunday at PLASA is DJ day, of course, and the annual Gemini DJ competition will once again prove a big draw for budding mix artists, with the contest taking place in the DJ lounge at the rear of the hall, and the final taking place at 4.30pm. There's plenty more going on as part of DJ Sunday, supported by iDJ magazine, offering all kinds of opportunities to learn about the art and practice of DJing.

Appropriately for DJ Sunday, seminars today include a session on Digital Turntablism and Mixing, chaired by David Eserin, editor of the Technoscan section of DJ Magazine, the session features world-renowned DJs Chris Liebing and Jonathan Lisle, and Eitan Zilkha of Sapphires. Following the session, Jonathan Lisle will be perform

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UK - "Debuts, demos and sneak previews" is the theme of the High End Systems' stand at the PLASA Show.

Debutees are headed by the Studio Command dichroic colour-mixing automated wash luminaire, which uses a 700 MSR (or alternatively a 700 MSR/2) source, emitting a large diameter beam from a compact head.

Also new is the DL2, the industry's first automated luminaire with an integrated digital media server on-board with preloaded content; and Axon v2, the rack-mount version of the DL2.

Under the "sneak preview' heading is Catalyst 4. This latest version of software now features show control cue lists, pixelMAD functionality and more than 60 new visual and colour effects, with over 3,000 new combinations of effects.

The booth is also displaying the combination of Catalyst with the Main Light SoftLED curtain.

The Flying Pig Systems console section of the stand

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UK - Following what PRG Europe calls "overwhelming demand for a return of the VL5 wash luminaire", Vari-Lite debuted its new product, the VL500 wash luminaire, yesterday at PLASA.

Based on the 1994 Emmy® Award-winning VL5™ Wash luminaire, the VL500 offers users significant performance enhancements over its predecessor. It's available in four base models: VL500, VL500D, VL500 80V, and VL500A.

The VL500 is available with either a 120V/1200W lamp or a 230V/1000W lamp. The most economical and lightest version of the luminaire, the VL500 is designed for those who require the 3200-degree colour temperature along with the most space-efficient unit. No external ballast or dimmer is required.

The VL500D is also available with a 120V/1200W lamp or a 230V/1000W lamp, plus an internal yoke-mounted IGBT dimmer. While retaining the 3200-degree colour temperature, with a

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UK - ADB Lighting Technologies at PLASA 2005, on stand K39, has the PLASA Award-nominated WARP/M, a unique, fully automated zoom profile spotlight, derived from the manual WARP profile launched two years ago, making its PLASA début.

WARP/M is specifically designed for venues where light output, silent operation, repositioning accuracy and networking capability are prime considerations.

Several hundred WARP/M units have already been shipped to such venues as the Glyndebourne Opera House in the UK, The Oriental Arts Centre in Shanghai and the Staatsoper in Munich.

At Showtech, Berlin, in June, WARP/M won the Product Award 2005 in the Lighting and Projection Technology category.

ADB is also showing a selection of its other luminaires, digital dimmers and control systems, including the MENTOR 4-in-1 console with the latest ISIS® software upgrade, and the new ISIS&re

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UK - James Thomas Engineering has expanded its Pixel range of touring LED fixtures at the show with the launch of what the company calls 'contemporary and chic versions' of classic products.

The new PixelEight is an LED version of the familiar '8-lite blinder', designed for audience illumination other long throw applications. Making the most of generic LED benefits as well as an internal Effects Engine, the PixelEight produces unique colour strobing effects and allows independent pixel mapping, while providing the useful assets of low temperature operation and robust engineering.

The PixelLine 96 Batten is the latest in the company's series of LED battens and contains 96 Luxeon LEDs in two rows to enable the seamless forming of lines with multiple fixtures.The successful PixelBrick fixturehas been updated and the weatherised unit is complemented by a new 2-unit rack-mounted RG

  1. Martin Professional unveils lighting duet
  2. Color Kinetics grows range
  3. Clay Paky débuts quintet
  4. PLASA Awards for Innovation
  5. Intelligent Drive System from Tryka L.E.D.
  6. Immediate response to new Vari-Lite
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