Lighting

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USA - American rock band 311 has been using GLP Impressions to help boost its stage presence on this summer's Unity tour.

The Nebraska-based outfit was formed 20 years ago and for the last four of those their LD Joe Paradise has been designing increasingly innovative stage sets to enable a band that has sold over eight million units in the US, and had five Top 10 albums on the Billboard charts, to reproduce the dynamic in a live context.

At last year's LDI Show in Las Vegas he saw the Impressions for the first time and was impressed both by the quality of the construction and rich array of features.

He immediately decided to integrate eight fixtures into the stage design - mounted atop a 40ft vertical arch truss upstage. This was one of three arch trusses that formed the set, along with Main Light 2.5 scrims. "The Impressions were used as intense 'e

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Israel - Compulite has announced that Burple UK is its new exclusive UK distributor. Compulite's Vector & Dlite lighting consoles and the wide range of products are now available to the UK market via Burple UK.

"We have been working with the Burple's team for some time and were impressed by their demonstrating knowledge with our products and with their technical skills to serve the products. They have adopted our products and formed excellent relationships with our UK customers and users. We are confident that this partnership will be very valuable to our strong presence in this important market," said Compulite's CEO Yehuda Shukrun.

Agustin Arocha, director of Burple UK said, " We have been providing technical support to Compulite's end-users for some time now and taking on the distribution in the UK Market seemed like the logical next step. With our sound know

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UK - The new Clay Paky Alpha 1500 Series offers lighting designers the most powerful spot and wash luminaires available, says the company. The series include five top level luminaires, each one designed, with no compromise, to the requirements of specific applications:

Alpha 1500 Spot Profile, the most powerful moving head spotlight featuring a unique framing system that allows the most accurate and versatile beam shape control (patented), making this luminaire suitable to the most demanding lighting sets.

Alpha Spot HPE 1500, a powerful graphic effect moving head, with a wide array of imagery devices, including the innovative "automated star gobo", all fully combinable with limitless rotation and morphing possibilities.

Alpha Wash 1500, the wash luminaire generating "an astounding beam", fully sizeable thanks to the extra-wide zoom range, clean from cent

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Italy - Tenor Andrea Bocelli, conductor Marcello Rota, and the Symphonic Orchestra of Abruzzo came together for a benefit concert held in Rome on May 25 in one of the most fascinating locations in Italy's capital: the Colosseum. The important benefit concert was allowed to take place in the historic venue due to "exceptional circumstances".

Lighting for the event was designed to exploit the charm of one of the best known monuments in the world. To create an unforgettable backdrop to the performance, it was necessary to use techniques that were compatible with the strict technical restrictions in place to protect the historical site.

Using SGM Giotto Spot 1500 and Giotto Beam 1500 moving head projectors with Wireless control, lighting designer Nicola-Manuel Tallino set up an unobtrusive lighting system without the need for wires and cables, which were expressly forbid

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South Africa - Lighting sales company DWR Distribution enjoyed an extremely busy Mediatech 2009, with the added bonus of winning the Gold Stand Award for its impressive booth.

The three-day biennial exhibition for production, broadcast, entertainment and leisure industry technology took place at The Coca-Cola Dome, Northgate, Johannesburg at the end of July, with record visitor figures and massive interest being shown in all sectors of the market. There was also a leap in international awareness of the show.

DWR showed products from all its premium ranges, including Robe, MA Lighting, Vari*Lite, Avolites, CM Lodestar, Arkaos, Strong and many others. Eight international visitors representing various brands joined the DWR team for the exhibition.

It was the first time that MA Lighting's new grandMA2 console, the new Robin range of moving lights from Robe, and Vari*Lite'

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UK - Sales, rental and production company London Light Production Services is set to exhibit for the first time at this year's PLASA show in London's Earls Court. Taking a stand in the new exhibitors area, London Light will be talking to visitors about its range of lighting equipment as well as its production services for theatre and special events.

In addition to showing examples of many of their productions and equipment, London Light will be holding a free daily draw to win a bottle of Champagne, and also giving a week's free hire of an ETC Eos and Ion lighting console as part of a grand draw on the final day of the show. The draw will be done by ETC's regional manager for UK and Ireland, Mark White.

London Light's business development manager Andy Vere says: "We're very excited about the prospect of exhibiting at PLASA, and looking forward to meeting lots of new peopl

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Ireland - Following an investment of nearly €5 million, the Asian-themed Mantra Garden Bar & Club has opened in Maynooth, Co. Kildare - introducing a new concept to the university town, situated just 30 minutes from Dublin.

Sound and lighting installation specialists Audiotek were tasked with equipping the technical infrastructure, and proprietor Frank Murray again turned to PR Lighting's catalogue as his primary source.

In the upstairs Mantra nightclub, which opens at the weekends until 2am, he has used eight of PR Lighting's Solo 250 moving heads on a circular truss that surrounds an LED centrepiece. The Solo 250's are expected to punch their weight as they are up against lasers, scanners and an ever changing LED peripheral landscape.

Murray comments: "I must have used these in over 50 venues now. I use them everywhere as the colour is consistent and for an entry lev

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UK - ETC's Selador series of LED fixtures will be making its PLASA debut, proving that superior colour rendering and qualities for theatrical lighting can come from an energy efficient source. A candidate for PLASA's Innovation Award 2009 and featuring the patented x7 Colour System, the three Selador models produce a light and colour quality that conventional LED systems cannot duplicate, says the company. This system produces bright broad-spectrum whites and intense colours equally well, rendering pigments and skin tones in a far more natural way.

Also showing for the first time will be ETC's Unison Mosaic show control - a system which allows you to add entertainment style control into your architectural lighting system. Based on award winning Pharos show control technologies, Mosaic comprises a range of accessories and can control between 500 and 100,000 channels.

Also on th

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UK - A new trade body has been formed to combat the incursion of sub-standard and illegal products into the projection lamp aftermarket. Formed in response to the growing problem of sub-standard and illegal copy lamps flooding the market for replacement projection lamps, the Genuine Lamps Alliance will protect both the interests of consumers and the legitimate lamp supply channel.

To date, buyers of replacement lamps for projectors and rear-projection televisions have been largely unaware of the risks posed by copy lamps, which range from poor value to physical danger. The Genuine Lamps Alliance will take the lead in raising awareness of the issue through a pan-European public relations campaign and the provision of resources to help consumers identify and avoid copy products.

The copy lamp problem has developed over the last three years, as unauthorised manufacturers reverse

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UK - Lighting designer Max Conwell of Naked Eye has been using 12 i-Pix BB7 beam lights for Morrissey's 2009 Tour of Refusal.

It is the first time he has incorporated these fixtures into one of his touring designs - after initially using them to light the top of the 'Gherkin' office building in central London, where the only available power supply was two 13 amp sockets.

For Morrissey, he specifically wanted to introduce different dynamics to the stage with the quality and feel of the BB7 light output.

The starting point for his design was the backdrop and it's very distinct artwork - a carefully considered decision by Morrissey - featuring a charismatic snapshot of Italian 1960s actor, Walter Chiari.

Also factored into the design was the eclectic variety of venues - ranging from 700 to 7000 capacity - so he needed very adaptable kit.

The new album has plenty of &

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South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa supplied full technical production for the Closing Ceremony of the 2009 FIFA Confederation Cup at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg. The spectacular show took place ahead of the Brazil vs USA final, with 53,000 fans watching in the stadium, joined by several million viewers of the live broadcast on SABC 1 and Superchannel 1.

Lighting was designed by Hugh Turner, and programmed and operated by Tim Dunn using a grandMA full size console. Turner comments, "The power of the grandMA system lies in the total integration and ease of working between the desk and its peripherals like the visualiser and video server."

Time was extremely tight in the run up to the performance, and concerns about the state of the pitch allowed for just one dress rehearsal in Ellis Park before the show. This was also the first time Turner and Dunn actually s

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Germany - Osram has expanded its Powerball HCI range with 100W systems for halogen metal halide lamps with ceramic burners for the first time. This development means that the company is meeting the demands of OEMs and lighting designers for a Powerball lamp solution between 75W and 150W. Luminaires can now be equipped with 100W lamps that benefit from tried and trusted POwerball technology which is ideal for various applications, says the company.

Powerball HCI-T, HCI-T/P und HCI-E/P lamps are now available as 100W systems. They come in a warm tone finish with light colour 830 WDL and as neutral white lamps with light colour 942 NDL. With up to 9500 lumen luminous flux the new 100W models are particularly powerful. The expanded range also includes matching electronic control gears.

Osram Powerball HCI-T lamps are equipped with a G12 base and are suitable for illuminating show

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Denmark - Martin Professional has announced the hiring of Henrik Færch as senior project manager - R&D at the company's Danish-based headquarters.

Færch's considerable experience encompasses a background in electrical engineering, project and department management including work with integration of hardware, software and mechanics, electronic design and product platforms.

Færch comes to Martin from a project management position at Danish firm TC Electronic and held a similar position at wind turbine manufacturer Vestas. He started his career as a design engineer at companies Crisplans and Terma.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - The organisers of the PLASA Show (13-16 September 2009, Earls Court, London) have announced the final shortlist of nominees for this year's prestigious Gottelier Award, which will be presented at the PLASA Show on Monday 14 September.

This will be the third Gottelier Award - named in memory of the former designer, developer and commentator Tony Gottelier, who died in 2006. The Award (sponsored by Lighting&Sound International magazine for which Tony Gottelier was a regular contributor for many years), aims to recognise those who have made a significant and sustained contribution to the development of entertainment technology. Former winners are Tony Andrews of Funktion One (2007) and John Stadius of Soundtracs/DiGiCo (2008).

The seven nominees this year include four notable figures from the lighting world and three from pro audio. This year's nominees are, in alphabetical

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UK - A one-off concert was staged at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, featuring Avraham Fried, a popular musical entertainer in the Orthodox Jewish community, and David Fisher, best known for his Broadway performance as Jean Valjean in the musical Les Misérables.

Jonathan (Speedy) Cole who was LD for the show, reports: "This Concert was a result of over a year of planning. The producer, Danny Kaizler from Israevents paid attention to every musical detail in the show, so I had to come up with a Lighting rig to allow a reaction of lighting to each and every musical point.

"We had rehearsals in the venue on the Friday, followed by a get in time of 05:00 on the day, having the ability to use the Vector PC, meant that I was able to programme each and every cue off site, using Wysiwyg. As we got in, whilst the crew off loaded the trucks, we ran 130m of n

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UK - Pearce Hire has continued its ongoing investment in hire stock when it recently took delivery of 20 i-Pix BB4 units, complete with flightcases, along with a full range of hanging hardware and optional lenses.

Pearce Hire MD Shaun Pearce commented: "We've been waiting for the right time to make a significant investment in LED products. With the rapid development of LED fixtures over the last few years we've seen fixtures going out of fashion (and so becoming obsolete) very quickly, so we have found it more cost effective to sub-rent, enabling us to provide clients with exactly the right tool for the job.

"With the i-Pix BB4 we feel we've finally found a well designed fixture that will last. It has excellent output and a variety of lens and mounting options which mean it's adaptable to a large number of applications; as a hire company that is an essential feature

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UK - Stage Electrics supplied specialist technical lighting equipment to BBC Radio 1's production of Scott Mills the Musical at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The production was performed over three evenings from 11-13 August at the Pleasance Theatre.

The regular Scott Mills Show is currently broadcasting live to Radio 1 listeners from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Scott Mills and his team are attempting to stage Scott Mills The Musical.

Stage Electrics is supplying a variety of equipment to the production including Martin MAC moving lights, Source Fours, Martin Mania Oil Effect Units, Teclumen Follow Spot Kits and all associated cabling, dimming and distribution units. Nic Holdridge is the lighting designer for the show.

Paul Roughton, business development manager and part of the 'Edinburgh Support Team' at Stage Electrics comments: "We are del

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Italy - Wireless Solution Sweden AB recently helped make a monumental concert possible in a delicate setting. Rome authorities rarely give permission for concerts to be held inside the Colosseum but made an exception for Andrea Bocelli to sing in a benefit to help victims of the 6 April Italian earthquake.

Bocelli, together with conductor Marcello Rota and the Symphonic Orchestra of Abruzzo put on a spectacular and emotional 90-minute concert, broadcast live across Europe.

The concert was produced and organised by Four One Music & Events in collaboration with Comune di Roma and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage of the Capital. Bocelli sang 12 arias and Neapolitan songs to an audience of several hundred people who paid 1,000 euros ($1,400) a ticket to witness the historical event. The proceeds of the evening were given in support of Abruzzo, to help rebuild the music con

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UK - The recent A.C. Entertainment Technologies Video & Lighting Open Day was a great success, says the company, with a high industry turnout taking the opportunity to see the company's extensive stockholding of leading video and lighting technologies under one roof.

Specialists from A.C., as well as manufacturer representatives, were on hand to discuss how the two technologies are increasingly converging to provide innovative backdrops, set pieces and other video-based elements. The showcase included video projection and associated equipment, creative LED surfaces and LED lighting products from Christie, Chroma-Q, Element Labs, GLP, Green Hippo, GTEK, Kramer, Martin, Robe and TV One.

Lighting designer Bernie Davis commented: "I was delighted that the A.C. event was on a day I could go as I find these meetings are a good way to get a closer look at all that is new. The eq

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UK/Cyprus - Cooper Controls reports that the ORB lighting controller, the newest theatrical lighting console from Zero 88, controlled the opening ceremony of the eighth Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) held in Cyprus in June.

Production designer, Ben M Rogers, chose the ORB to control the opening ceremony after receiving a product demonstration at the ProLight&Sound show held earlier this year in Frankfurt. "I have used the ZerOS based consoles for many years now with the Frog 2 making regular appearances in Cyprus for large scale events," reports Rogers. "What was significant about the ORB was the re-structuring of the control surface into a more theatrical style and the numerous updates and enhancements to the already strong operating system."

These recent developments include a colour picker and a full tracking back-up solution. "The track

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UK - The White Light Zone, a dedicated area showing the products, resources and services offered by entertainment lighting supplier White Light - and the companies whose products are distributed in the UK by White Light - returns to London's Earls Court again this September. The Zone will see the debuts of a number of new products - as well as offering visitors the chance to win a number of useful lighting-related prizes.

Product launches will encompass the full spectrum of lighting equipment: Clarity, a new modular control system with powerful support for media servers from LSC, the re-designed Horus cyclight from Robert Juliat (as well as the comprehensive new Robert Juliat product catalogue), the LedCyc9 LED cyc lighting system from LDDE, and a newly upgraded version of the popular Viper smoke machine from Look Solutions.

Two new members of the White Light family, JB Lighti

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Denmark - Aalborghallen, part of the Aalborg Congress & Culture Centre - a multi-purpose conference venue in the Northern Jutland region of Denmark - has taken delivery of a range of ETC dimming and control equipment following a refitting at the end of last year.

S°ren Jørgensen, sales director at ETC's Danish dealer Bico says: "The venue had a short time period in which to swap out its old equipment and install the new, which consisted of an Eos control desk, remote focus unit (RFU) and three racks of Sensor dimming. In all, we installed 280 ways of dimming and four gateways around the building.

"We only had six weeks from getting the request for quotation to completing the installation and training the staff. But because the venue's previous desk was an ETC Expression, which uses the same style of programming syntax, the technical staff quickly got the h

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The Great Green Debate - U2 guitarist The Edge has defended the size and cost of their current world tour. Last month, protests delayed the removal of the custom-built set from Ireland, and it also came under fire from Talking Heads singer David Byrne. The three steel structures cost between £15m and £20m each, offering a largely unobstructed view of the rock quartet. Speaking to BBC 6 Music backstage at Wembley, The Edge said, "We're spending the money on our fans, I don't think there's a better thing you could spend it on."

Despite it being the most ambitious stage set of any band's world tour, topping the likes of Madonna and The Rolling Stones, Talking Heads frontman David Byrne was not impressed. He slammed the band on his blog and said their world tour costs were "excessive", considering their stance on world hunger. He wrote: "$40 mill

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UK - Visual Productions is launching Cuelux software lighting control on the UK market. Cuelux is a platform-independent piece of software lighting control that can run on Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows or Ubuntu Linux. It is a DMX512 lighting controller for intelligent lights, LED, dimmers, lasers and various other effects; the USB-to-DMX adapter cable is available from stock.

Cuelux is designed to suit the entry level market; key to this is its intuitive graphical user-interface. It is specially designed to reduce the amount of time required to learn how to operate the software. Great care has been taken to design Cuelux' 100% touch-screen compliant user-interface to reflect the functionality of the industry standard control boards. Programming the lights through Cuelux' cue-list system is identical to the industry's most sophisticated consoles, says the company.

Additional han

  1. PLASA09: G-LEC adds higher resolution S-drive
  2. PLASA09: GDS to showcase expanding range
  3. James Wadsworth sets up lighting design company
  4. Carbon Clean Up Campaign is back
  5. E/T/C London at Edinburgh Tattoo 2009
  6. Martin Professional reports difficult year
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