Lighting

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UK - Forty Six of the new i-Pix Satellite LED fixtures are being utilised on the popular Dancing On Ice Live UK arena tour. The fixtures were specified by lighting designer Mark Cunniffe and lighting director/programmer Svend Pedersen, and are being supplied by the show's main lighting contractor, Neg Earth.

Twenty-six non-lensed Satellites are toning the trusses above the ice, configured as a circle in the middle with eight straight runs radiating outwards. The Satellites are positioned around the circle and at a slightly diagonal angle in the ends of the trusses, shooting light all the way along.

The other 20 units are rigged onto six custom tank traps (or 'trees') and secreted behind the set, positioned behind the judges panel. Pedersen comments, "The Satellites are a massive and strategic element of the whole lighting scheme".

The set, designed by Hattie

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Dubai - CEDIA, the global trade association representing designers, manufacturers, installers and distributors of home electronics, is lending its support to Install Middle East, which forms a developing sector in this year's PALME Middle East show in Dubai.

CEDIA will be staging a full educational programme which commences on the opening day (May 20) with a three-hour presentation on Home Cinema Designby Peter Aylett.

The schedule also includes: Introduction To Systems Integration (presented by Simon Buddle), Residential Audio and Video Multi-Room Systems (Steve Martin), IP In Residential Custom Installation (Peter Aylett), and Project Management Workshop (Simon Buddle and Steve Martin).

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Wybron has introduced its latest product offering, the Split IT (opto-splitter) for use with Wybron's InfoTrace Control and Management System. The Split IT is a one in, eight out, RDM/DMX optically isolated splitter/repeater. It will enable InfoTrace users to run any DMX-controlled lighting devices, such as colour changers, moving lights, conventional lights and dowsers on the system, allowing easier installations and remote maintenance and repair.

"We wanted to make sure that Wybron offered its clients a cost effective DMX/RDM splitter to facilitate the acceptance and utilisation of any lighting device on the InfoTrace System, as well as any future product introductions," said Miles Dudgeon, Wybron's director of marketing.

The advantage of using Wybron's Split IT is that it can communicate with any product that utilises the Remote Device Management protocol ov

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Sweden - Palco 5, one of the most powerful colour-changing LED fixtures in the SGM range, has now adopted W-DMX wireless DMX technology by Wireless Solution Sweden as standard. Thanks to GSM-based technology, it can recognise transmission signals within a radius of over 500m. Palco 5's smart lines and its functional and mechanical features have now been joined by those of the new wireless DMX system.

Signals leave a DMX controller and reach the wireless transmitter's antenna which, from a distance of over 500m , sends it to the Palco 5 fixtures' antennas. The (GSM-based) wireless DMX link does not interfere with other types of signals, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or GPRS-UMT and is not disturbed by them. The system has been tested with excellent results. The signal is transmitted via 512 DMX channels, so can be fed to several Palco 5 fixtures simultaneously, providing they are the

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UK - The Central School of Speech and Drama hosts one of a series of events organised by the ALD (Association of Lighting Designers). Professional Development for Working Lighting Designers on 3 May is sponsored by MA Lighting and will be a chance for professional lighting designers to meet in London and see new equipment in use. The event makes use of Central's excellent theatre and professionally-focused lighting design and production lighting students (some of whom will be demonstrating the equipment).

Nick Moran, lecturer in lighting at Central says, "I am delighted that Central is able to host this event in the fully-equipped Embassy Theatre. It offers professional lighting designers a chance to discover new technologies, and a chance for them to meet the students who may soon be working alongside them in theatre and elsewhere. The event underlines our commitmen

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UK - ETC has received over a 100 orders for the new SmartFade ML in London alone, even though the console, which is designed for smaller venues and non-technical users, is not yet shipping, says the company.

ETC has introduced the SmartFade ML - ML for moving lights - which brings ETC-quality control to the smallest venues and events, within a compact, portable and easy to use board.

Adam Bennette, ETC's technical director in London says: "Until now, novice end-users and small scale productions haven't had access to really good - in terms of both quality and usability - but still affordable equipment. That's something that I, as the SmartFade ML design team leader, wanted to do something about. As more people add moving lights to their rigs, I'm sure they'll find the SmartFade ML to be the perfect solution."

With a capacity for up to 24 moving lights and an additio

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UK - Lighting Partners, operators of usedlighting.co.uk, have been appointed as the UK distributor for Smoke Factory.

Commenting on the agreement, David Morgan of Lighting Partners said, "We have seen many Smoke Factory machines come through our operation and have always been impressed with the build quality and their longevity. Since meeting with Florian von Hoffen and the team in Germany, we have been very excited about bringing a dedicated sales and technical support service to the UK while expanding still further our new sales offering."

Smoke Factory's Florian von Hofen added, "We are very excited about this new co-operation. The UK used to be one of our most important markets, and with these dedicated partners we are looking forward to serving our existing customers as well as many new customers with Smoke Factory machines and service in the UK."

(J

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New Zealand - Selecon is involved with supporting the upcoming OISTAT student Scenofest!, both with sponsorship funding and with providing Selecon Rama PCs for the Lighting Laboratory venue. This festival of scenography, held during the Praque Quadrennial in June 2007 provides an opportunity for professionals and students to get together in a truly international arena where interests and experiences are shared during in an intensive week of performance, lectures, exhibitions and workshops. There are over 300 activities on the schedule for this year.

As part of the Scenofest! programme the art of stage lighting is recognised as making its own distinctive contribution to the theatre and this is reflected in the calibre of the workshop and presentation speakers such as Beverly Emmons, Nick Schlieper and Richard Pilbrow.

Beverly Emmons has designed for Broadway, Off-

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Slovakia - Leading Dutch trance-master Tisto and 6,500 enthusiastic dance music fans rocked the Incheba Expo Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia, together with one of his renowned, blockbusting theatrical shows, featuring over 60 Robe moving lights.

The lighting rig was supplied by Ministry Light and Sound from Banska Bystrica, who provided the trussing, rigging and all lighting fixtures including the Robes, plus an Avolites Pearl for control that was operated by Ludek Kovarik.

The trussing was sculpted into an interesting shape. It featured three long 'fingers' linking the stage with a circular truss that was suspended over the audience, together with several wide straight trusses, running the width of the building, positioned at FOH and at the rear of the stage.

The Robes - a mix of ColorSpot 1200 ATs and ColorSpot and ColorWash 575 ATs - were distributed all over the various tr

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UK - Following PLASA 2006, ChamSys received a rather unusual request from Neil Carson of Enhance Production regarding a MagicQ PC Wing - could he have a custom colour? Thinking that most clients would perhaps opt for black, ChamSys were delighted when Neil asked for a far more unusual colour - pink.

"The pink goddess is beautiful! I have had it out on two shows already," Carson said just one week after receiving the custom PC Wing which was used for the recent Sovereigns Ball event at RMA Sandhurst Military Academy. The MagicQ PC Wing was controlling 12 Colour Block DB4 units all acting as audience blinders over an arch truss and all dimmers.

Carson added, "The wing was used because the operator, Mark Jones, was using an Avo Pearl 2000 and it became apparent that there wasn't enough power in that desk to run the LED flexibly and create many interesting looks. Th

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USA - Lightswitch played a key role in the first ever Project Earth Day fashion show in New York that featured emerging eco-friendly designers displaying their latest apparel and textiles made from organic or recycled fibres, and found materials.

Sarah Jakubasz, lighting designer for Lightswitch created an overall design that used as many eco-friendly lighting fixtures as possible. Lightswitch designers use eco-friendly fixtures when ever possible on all their projects, says the company. Jakubasz created her design using Color Kinetics' Color Blaze 72s and Color Blast 12s. She also designed custom compact florescent fixtures that were placed on each end of the bars. Lending a hand to this worthy cause was Production Resource Group who provided lighting gear and helped defray some of the rental costs.

Lighting manufacture ETC also pitched in by donating some HID Source F

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USA - GearSource and PRG announced today the first 'Gear-Up' sales event powered by GearSource.com, beginning on 1 May. This event will offer equipment from PRG's audio, lighting, video and rigging inventory at "unheard of 'auction-like' pricing, but without the hassle or buyer premiums associated with auctions".

All items will be sold on a first come, first served basis. "This isn't an auction, but the buying frenzy will be the same, based on the pricing we're already seeing coming in," says GearSource president Michael Fairbairn. "Obviously, PRG has a massive inventory of equipment in audio and lighting. This event is created to help them liquidate that inventory without the trouble of staging an auction," says Fairbairn. While the Gear-Up sale may eventually open up to other GearSource.com vendors, this event is exclusive to PRG's US-based invent

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UK - Tomorrow's A.C. Lighting North Event (1-2 May) will see the first UK showings of two new product innovations from leading Italian trussing and rigging manufacturer Litec. The new Litec EXE-Lodestar 650C1 is a BGV-C1 multifunction electric chain hoist designed for use in the entertainment industry.

BGV-C1 is a German code of practice for the entertainment and theatrical venues, part of which covers lifting and rigging equipment. Adopting BGV-C1 is voluntary, but it is generally required to obtain insurance within Germany and is therefore rapidly becoming an industry standard across Europe. A C1 chain hoist can be defined as a unit suitable for use to move and hold loads above people, and as such has to meet certain criteria such as a design factor of 10:1, underload and overload protection and a double brake mechanism.

"We needed to make a simple hoist that could work

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Denmark - Martin Architectural's Cyclo IP65 Directional Series is a new range of fully weatherproofed directional luminaires designed for outdoor illumination of facades, structures and signage. With a slim linear design based around white or coloured 54 W fluorescent tubes, the Cyclo IP65 Directional offers long-lasting performance and uniform distribution of light and colour.

Developed around Martin's fluorescent colour-mixing module, the Cyclo IP65 Directional Series is further enhanced by its use of a well-known lamp technology that ensures long lamp life (20,000 hours) and a low maintenance schedule, says the company.

The Cyclo IP65 Directional can be programmed to generate smooth variations in light and colour, as well as 'daylight' variations in colour temperature. The Series offers a choice of static colours, variable colour temperature, or RGB colour mixing. Each of t

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UK - ADB Lighting's UK distributor, LSI Projects, will be showing some of the latest ADB Lighting products at this week's AC Lighting North event in Leeds.

On display will be the award-winning WARP/M (Motorised) and manual WARP zoom profile spotlights, which have recently been installed in the UK at leading venues including the Barbican Concert Hall, Glyndebourne Opera, the English National Opera's home at the London Coliseum and the London School of Speech and Drama.

Alongside it on LSI's stand will be the compact, powerful ADB Mentor control console, whose leading UK customers include ITN and the BBC, which has taken delivery of ten consoles for its UK regional television studios and recently ordered another two of the desks for a new London studio that will open in June.

LSI Projects will also be displaying the Europe and Eurospot luminaires, two of ADB's best-selling lig

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UK - Germany-based lighting control systems specialist MA Lighting invited friends and colleagues to the opening of its new London office and showroom yesterday. The opening of the office follows success for MA's lighting control systems in London's West End, on shows including Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mamma Mia!, Avenue Q, Wicked, Sinatra and the Blue Man Group, as well as the upcoming productions of Lord of the Rings and The Drowsy Chaperone.

The company has also reports seeing strong uptake of its lighting control systems in the touring rental, TV/studio and architainment markets.

The new London office will have a dedicated technical support and sales team in place to support the UK market, and the company plans to open its New York office later this month, through its US distributor A.C.T Lighting, to service its growing Broadway presence.

(Lee Bald

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UK - Hawthorn supplied lighting and staging for the recent International Visual Communications Association Awards Ceremony, held in the Great Room at Grosvenor House, London.

The theme of the evening was the Four Seasons, and for the room lighting, Hawthorn's LD Matt Oscroft used PAR cans and Selecon Cool 90s, complete with gobo break-ups to change the mood from season to season throughout the ceremony.

Working for The Staging House, Hawthorn also installed a 76ft x 12ft foot stage using its Steeldeck modular staging units, as the stage had to be large enough not only for the live band, but also to hold all of the award winners together for group photos at the end of the awards.

Hawthorn's stage backdrop consisted of an 18m x 6m Prolyte truss goal post, with a starcloth backdrop and sharkstooth gauze panel in front. LD Oscroft used the gauze as a projection surface fo

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UK - The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) recently completed the purchase of 10 Martin Professional MAC TW1 80 V Tungsten fixtures with narrow lenses. Specified for King Lear and The Seagull by lighting designer Neil Austin, the RSC also bought eight Atomic 3000 strobes.

The RSC attracts audiences and artists from around the world to its three theatres (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Swan Theatre and Courtyard Theatre) in Stratford-upon-Avon. Currently, King Lear and The Seagull are performed in repertoire at the 1500 seat Courtyard Theatre. The two productions make up the last of the RSC's Complete Works season after which the productions will embark on a world tour that includes stops in Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and the East and West Coasts of America before returning to the UK. The remainder of the tour will be played over an eight week

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USA - ESTA's Technical Standards Program announces that two draft standards have been posted on the ESTA website for public review through 25 June 2007.

The draft standards, BSR E1.35-200x, Standard for Lens Quality Measurements for Pattern Projecting Luminaires Intended for Entertainment Use, and BSR E1.36-200x, Model Procedure for Permitting the Use of Tungsten-Halogen Incandescent Lamps and Stage and Studio Luminaires in Vendor Exhibit Booths in Convention and Trade Show Exhibition Halls, can be accessed at http://www.esta.org/tsp/documents/public_review_docs.php

BSR E1.35-200x, Standard for Lens Quality Measurements for Pattern Projecting Luminaires Intended for Entertainment Use, describes a method for measuring stage and studio luminaire lens quality with particular emp

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USA - Josh Groban began his 29-city North American concert tour in with the grandMA in tow for lighting control. Groban's tour was in support of his latest studio album, Awake on Reprise. His two previous studio CDs have been certified five times platinum with the most recent, Closer"I fell in love with the grandMA after the Paul McCartney tour a couple of years ago," explained lighting director Wally Lees. "It was the only console that could do the job. The grandMA has a lot of universes, and its NSPs are so stable. I got great backup from MA and A.C.T."

For this tour, Groban wanted a more industrial rock look for the lighting even though he's not recognised as that kind of performer. He asked production designer Roy

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UK - Almost 30 years after Nottingham's Theatre Royal reopened to the public following extensive refurbishment work and 25 years since the Royal Concert Hall was unveiled, Theatre Projects Consultants is providing theatre consulting services to the Royal Centre Nottingham again.

The Royal Centre, a celebrated Nottingham landmark and regular touring venues, is currently undertaking a strategic review. MD James Ashworth explains, "Theatre Projects were the natural choice for the job with their intimate knowledge of the building, having helped us conceive it during the 1970s and 80s. With a vast portfolio of experience and an unparalleled reputation for excellence, we believed they would assist us in ensuring the Royal Centre continues to be one of the country's finest facilities for the 25 years."

Theatre Projects is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary of consul

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UK - Robe ColorSpot 2500E ATs were specified by Dancing on Ice Live lighting designer Mark Cunniffe and lighting director Svend Pedersen. These are a major element of the lighting scheme for the sold out arena tour which follows the second hugely successful Dancing On Ice TV series.

The 2500s were chosen for their power and intensity and also their reliability. 21 of the CS 2500E ATs are rigged onto the main trussing structure above the ice, consisting of a circle in the centre, with eight spines radiating outwards towards the edges of the ice. There are six units on the circle and then either one or two on each of the eight spine trusses. There's another four above the judge's panel at the end of the ice rink, and six on the floor directly behind them.

Pedersen has been a Robe advocate ever since the first time he used ColorSpot 1200 ATs two years ago on a TV sp

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UK - Bandit Lites UK supplied full lighting production and crew for the Once In A lifetime Rewind tour, featuring a line-up of UK and US artists from the 1970's - Showaddywaddy, David Cassidy, David Essex and The Osmonds.

Bandit also supplied the original Once In A Lifetime (OIAL) tour in 2005 as well as the OIAL country tour in 2006, all project managed by Bandit Lites' Lester Cobrin.

For this Rewind tour, the lighting design was completely reworked by Bandit's production designer, Dizzy Gosnell from their San Francisco office, which included the addition of a moving truss system. This enabled the rig to be moved into different shapes for all the acts. Although there was a specific running order, they were all effectively headliners.

"Making each artist look different was the biggest task for me," says lighting director and console operator Pe

  1. Poland's TVP on air with ETC
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  3. Creative industries address skills shortage
  4. grandMAs go to the rodeo
  5. SPS delivers for Institute of Directors
  6. Martin's LED Stagebar 54
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