Lighting

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Europe - Lighting Designer Paul Normandale has upped the lighting fixture quantities for a series of European stadium shows for Coldplay's ongoing Viva La Vida tour, including a conversion of eight MAC 250 Washes into new MAC 250 Beams.

Martin Professional's new MAC 250 Beam upgrade kit converts any standard Martin MAC 250 Wash into a punchy beam fixture that projects powerful variably sized pencil beams.

Normandale, who serves as production designer handling lights, set and video on the tour, chose to use the MAC 250 Beam because of the outdoor set's 180ft wide span, which allows the 250 Beams to do aerial work as well as cross light.

Located on the stage floor on side wings, the 250 Beams provide an intense light output and tight beam for a powerful mid air effect. The upgrade kit includes a micro Fresnel lens and set of six beam effect gobos/apertures and only tak

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Czech Republic - Robe Lighting has just completed the latest phase of a substantial ongoing expansion project. This includes the acquisition of PCB production company Dioflex, its long term electronic parts supplier, based in Roznov near to Robe's factory facility in Valasske Mezirici.

Robe's has also invested 3.5m Euros in building a completely new logistics centre and in doubling its warehouse space to nearly 4000sq.m.

The latest factory expansion project houses a purpose-built plastics moulding centre which covers about 1000sq.m, equipped with all necessary machinery involved in this process.

This has all been achieved by reinvesting the company's profits, supported by a strong operating cashflow, says the company.

Dioflex comes complete with 30 skilled employees, approximately 2000sq.m of premises and all the modern technology and fully automated machining processes ne

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USA - American DJ has turned up the juice on LED par cans with the introduction of two new ultra-bright models, the PROPAR 56RGB and PROPAR 56CWWW, an RGB colour-mixing and warm/cool white unit respectively. The brightest - and flagship - members of the company's Pro series of professional LED par cans, the PROPAR 56RGB and PROPAR 56CWWW are each powered by a massive arsenal of 36 super-high-output 1-watt LEDs.

Combining this output with professional features and a sleek black finish, the PROPAR 56 units are designed for theatres, music concerts and stage performances of all types.

The PROPAR 56RGB will "bring a rainbow to any stage with its ability to create thousands of colours through smooth RGB mixing". Equipped with 12 red, 12 green and 12 blue 1-watt LEDs, it can change colours fast or slow, strobe in any colour, and perform gradual fades via 0-100% electronic

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South Africa - The third grandMA2 introduction training session within the past two months was hosted at DWR Distribution in Strijdom Park, Johannesburg.

The companies Congo Blue, Black Coffee, Selbys and the AV Alliance were represented at the most recent course and experienced first-hand the functionalities of the grandMA2 console, which had recently landed in South Africa.

"Some guys who attended commented how it opened their eyes," said Nick Britz from DWR who ran the sessions. "They were initially scared thinking it was too involved. Soon they saw just how easy it was once they knew their way around it."

Brandon Bunyan from Black Coffee was accompanied by colleagues Michael Swart and Grant Leonard. "The course was great and very inspirational," said Bunyan. "My guys are psyched, but as we've not taken ownership of our newly purchased g

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Lebanon - The Baalbeck International Festival is one of the oldest and most prestigious festival in the Middle East. It has been taking place annually during July and August since 1956 within the Roman Acropolis in the ruins of the Baalbek Temples in Lebanon. The temples in Baalbek are not only the largest Roman temples ever built, but also among the best preserved and considered as one of the wonders of the ancient world.

Dramatic lighting and the historic setting provide the background for the variety of performances at the festival, entertaining over 40,000 visitors each summer. The 2009 festival highlight was a performance by Deep Purple on the steps of the ancient Courtyard of the Two Temples to an audience of 7000. Roger Bakhos of Lumen Art in Beirut designed the lighting for the 'stage' using an arsenal of Clay Paky fixtures.

32 Alpha Beam 300, 16 Alpha Beam 700,

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UK - Martin Professional heads to PLASA09 armed with a new and rapidly expanding range of LED lighting solutions. On display will be Martin's first LED moving heads, new LED video solutions, and new LED luminaires for indoor and outdoor use. A new compact beam fixture in the MAC family will also feature. Also on display will be a host of lighting and video control solutions, as well as updates in the Jem and Magnum line of fog and haze machines.

The MAC 401 Dual is a versatile LED moving head washlight with an innovative double-sided design that gives it flexible dual functionality, for example as a double washlight or beam reflective mirror. The 401 Dual's colour mixing system fully blends colours at the source before they leave each lens, eliminating the problem of rainbow shadows and the messy multi-colour lens looks of traditional LED fixtures.

The MAC 301 Wash is an LED

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UK - Flashlight of Heywood, Greater Manchester, suppliers of TV and film lighting equipment and consumables, has announced that Guy Merchant has joined its team of expert sales staff with effect from 1 September.

Working from his base in Cobham, Surrey, Merchant will continue to bring his vast experience of the lamp industry to customers across the country.

A fully qualified lighting engineer, he started his career in the industry with Thorn Lighting back in 1977 and since then has worked across the world specifying lighting equipment on some prestigious projects.

Specialising in supplying lamps to the entertainment industry, Merchant has become a well-known name in the business, with many customers in professional broadcast and theatre, as well as some specialist private sector customers.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - By popular request UK lighting control manufacturer Cooper Controls - represented by LightProcessor - has introduced an RJ45 output version of its DMX Buffer data distribution device. This is launched at PLASA09.

The RJ45 Buffer is an RJ 45/DMX serial data distributor. DMX in and through can now be via 5-pin or 3-pin XLR or RJ45 - if this option is chosen at the time of order.

The device offers full 1KV galvanic isolation between input and each of its eight outputs. Each output is fitted with an RJ45 connector, and all 8 output lines have DMX status indicators and are amplified to USITT standards. This product is available in 19" rack and truss mountable formats.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - This year's CIBSE Annual Lecture, presented by the SLL at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, will consist of two talks that explore lighting as a combination of art and science, beginning with the historical perspective and then looking towards the future.

The Scientists Dr. Bryson Gore and Dr. Frank James will begin the lecture with a talk on the work of the Royal Institution from the times of Faraday, painting a picture of the scientific fervour that led up to the formation of SLL's original incarnation as the Illuminating Engineering Society in 1909. In addition to anecdotes about the pioneers of the past, the talk will include artefacts and demonstrations from the Royal Institution's marvellous collection.

Multiple award-winning designer Jonathan Speirs will postulate in the second talk that architectural lighting design is primarily about creativity, inspiration

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UK - The TMB 'Village' will feature hands-on demos plus hospitality from TMB and their neighbour Bandit Lites.

amBIENT XC from amBX is an ambient lighting control system for the creation and delivery of immersive entertainment experiences.

ProShell - Professional RJ45 housing converts a standard RJ45 connector into a rugged, road-worthy connector with strain relief.

Atex LED flexible, reliable linear lighting systems physically conform to complex architectural contours while maintaining uniform brightness for stage sets of all kinds, or for permanent installations.

ProPlex RMT - Remote Media Transceiver System offers long range DVI video transmission and distribution over Cat 5e cable. Built for the road, in rack mount and portable mount formats, featuring user configurable inputs, outputs and fibre optic options, plus audio and serial data transmission.

ProPlex GBS - Gi

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UK - Lighting and video: two unquestionably visual art forms which started apart yet have grown inexorably together in recent years as technology has allowed designers from each field to cross over into the other. How far will this crossover go? Are the two fields ultimately destined to merge into one?

Two of the leading practitioners in their fields feel this is a topic worthy of debate - and will be holding just such a debate, with the provocative title Video and Lighting Are Destined To Merge, on Sunday 13th September at 3pm, as part of the Education & Learning Programme at PLASA09 at Earls Court in London.

The debate's instigators and hosts are leading entertainment lighting supplier White Light, which through its adoption of a wide range of LED lighting technology increasingly finds itself involved with video content and media servers, and United Visual Artists, a

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UK - At PLASA09, i-Pix will exhibit on booth 2-R14 in Earls Court 2, ideally positioned next to the Bandit Bar, which always ensures lively throughput of traffic, with the newest i-Pix RDM product developments also being shown on the RDM DMX stand (1-J40).

At the show, i-Pix launches its BB1 Building Block system, which offers lighting and visual designers the opportunity to configure lightsources exactly as they wish.

Building upon the BB4 and BB7, the new BB1 Building Block system creates exciting and innovative new opportunities going far beyond the semi-rigid constraints of normal fixture specification.

i-Pix (intelligent pixel) uses a custom high power light engine to provide a superior homogenised colour choice, with very accurate whites and the authentic reproduction of anything from the gentlest of pastel hues to the deepest of saturates.

The BB 1 series is designe

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USA - Element Labs has announced a new software platform for its Cobra Technology. Cobra System 2.0 offers major enhancements to the Cobra 16 LED display and Vizomo video processor. A new 8mm mode for Cobra 16 now upgrades all Cobra 16 tiles to Cobra V8. Using Element Labs' exclusive four-color pixel and "the world's most advanced virtual pixelization", Cobra V8 offers "amazing image detail and quality".

Users can now map incoming video pixel-for-pixel to twice the horizontal and vertical resolutions of Cobra 16. Major RasterMAPPER and Vizomo updates now allow simplified system setup and centralized control. Single or multiple screens are mapped, addressed, calibrated and operated from one easy-to-use interface.

"Cobra System 2.0 and V8 further reinforce Element Lab's strategy to enhance and broaden the platform; enabling all Cobra and Helix customers

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UK - Reflecting its increased focus and investment in the entertainment lighting market, Philips will demonstrate its much-expanded portfolio of solutions for entertainment, touring and themed environments. Uniting the strengths of acquired brands Color Kinetics, Vari-Lite, Strand and Selecon, Philips has evolved beyond specialty entertainment lamps to deliver integrated solutions that combine new technologies with sophisticated control and ease-of-use for wide-ranging entertainment applications.

With the proliferation of new lighting technologies in entertainment - from television and film to theatre productions, concerts and themed restaurants - Philips "recognises the needs of designers who require end-to-end solutions to achieve unique designs and effects". As a result, the company assembled a product portfolio that now encompasses everything from lamps and luminai

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UK - Defying the economic gloom-mongers PLASA09 opened its doors this morning with registrations matching last year's record breaking total of 15,000 - a sure sign that this year's show is going to be as high energy as ever.

There will be more for visitors to see, as more new exhibitors have signed up for the show at Earls Court, bringing the total of new and returning exhibitors to over 50. The education and learning programme has also been expanded with two audio-related masterclasses from previous Gottelier Award winners, Tony Andrews of Funktion One and John Stadius of Soundtracs/DiGiCo.

Another new addition to the Show is the Supply2.gov.uk Lounge, a central feature area giving exhibitors and visitors the chance to get advice from Supply2.gov.uk - the portal which helps SMEs gain access to public sector contract opportunities, typically worth up to £100,000.

Anoth

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UK - Lightfactor announced its exclusive UK and Irish dealership agreement for lighting products from Italian manufacturer D.T.S. at PLASA09 in London this morning, Sunday 13 September.

Says Lightfactor's Peter Coles: "We wanted to team up with a progressive thinking partner that could offer a full, innovative, high quality range of LED, moving light, theatrical range of luminaires and PAR cans for the entertainment and architectural sectors - and D.T.S. is the perfect choice."

Lightfactor has a long history of success with distributing premium brands and cutting edge technology, and has been at the forefront of the moving light market in the UK since its inception.

Coles said at the press launch in Earls Court 1 that Lightfactor will also be appointing a series of sub-distributors for selected D.T.S. product groups.

Based on the east coast of Italy near the comm

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UK - Northern Irish lighting rental company Production Services Ireland enjoyed a massively busy Bank Holiday weekend, servicing three major events in the province.

The first was a one-off gig by New York's the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in St George's Market, Belfast; the second was the three-day Belsonic Festival staged at Customs House Square, central Belfast; and the third was Live at the Castle, in Carrickfergus.

PSI supplied all lighting for this show, which was promoted by CDC Leisure and completely sold out. They worked to a spec from the band's lighting designer Lucas Cotterman.

The rig consisted of a front and back truss loaded with PARs used to provide all the basic stage washes, which were augmented with beams-work, effects and texturing from 14 moving lights - six Robe ColorWash 700E ATs and eight Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs. Eight PixelPARs were added, attached to floo

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UK - At 4pm today (Sunday 13 September), Artistic Licence will be holding the official launch of four new products at PLASA09 on stand 1-E32. Aimed to further the ease with which systems can be programmed and integrated, all four products are DIN-Rail mounted and thus suitable for permanent, architectural or display installations.

Sign-Control is a DMX512 playback system aimed at simple to sophisticated room control applications. It can be controlled by 14 buttons, a real time clock, RS232 and an external trigger. Features include three pages of eight memories along with one page of six sequences. Each memory or sequence contains all 512 channels.

Two-Play is a two-universe record and playback DMX controller. Capable of hours of show playback and with remote triggering options, Two-Play is designed as a control solution for small to medium size installations.

Art-Relay is de

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UK - The digiLED team has brought its latest LED display surface, digiTILE to the live events and fixed installation markets.

The digiTILE range is officially launched at PLASA09 although it is already in production for clients in the UK, Norway, Belgium, France, Lebanon and Austria, with more prestigious projects in the pipeline.

The digiTILE range uses a standard mechanical platform for all pixel pitches. Each tile is 400mm wide, 300mm high and 82mm deep making it the slimmest conventional LED product on the market today (although digiFLEX from the same manufacturer is only 7mm deep).

The digiTILE housing is moulded using a high pressure injected reinforced polymer contributing to the low weight of 23kg per square metre for indoor and 28kg for outdoor products. Each tile is capable of front or rear access for service and can quickly be installed into a digiFRAME, measuring

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Polished Performance - Sir David Attenborough brought the 115th BBC Proms season to a close on Saturday night by playing a floor polisher as a musical instrument. Sir David was joined on stage at the Royal Albert Hall in London by pianist Stephen Hough on the vacuum cleaner. Comedian Rory Bremner also took part in the performance of Sir Malcolm Arnold's piece A Grand, Grand Overture. The eight-minute work has parts for two other vacuum cleaners, four rifles, an organ a and full orchestra.

For the first time, the Proms finale was screened via satellite to cinemas on every continent of the world. The BBC said the two-month classical music festival had been the most successful yet with a 32% increase in under-16s attending. Proms director Roger Wright said the event had included "outstanding and inspiring music-making".

Goodnight Vienna - The tribute conce

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UK - The annual Michael Northen Bursary recognises imagination in design and creativity in lighting design, and once again the level of entry, both quantity and quality, was extremely high. Jack Knowles, organiser of the judging for this year's awards and also one of last year's winning students, said: "Although the three winners stood out clearly from the crowd, there was still a lot of discussion among the judges over the merits of other entries."

However, there was one clear winner, Dan Hill from The Central School of Speech and Drama, whose design for Woyzeck at the Embassy Theatre showed how his research developed and influenced the final production. He clearly described ideas, concepts and influences and illustrated how they translated to the final outcome.

The judges - ALD members David Howe, Anna Watson, Natasha Chivers, Phil Gladwell, Tony Simpson, Ma

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Argentina - The musical Young Frankenstein is being staged at the Teatro Astral in Buenos Aires, with a lighting design by Jorge H. Pérez Mascali, a stage design by Alberto Negrin - and an MALighting control system.

Two grandMA lights were used for pre-programming the show which is run via two MA2Port Nodes onPC, two laptops running grandMA onPC software and four MA video stations with the new MA VPU (Video Processing Unit) software. Via the MA VPU it is possible to control video similarly to lighting - it reacts just like another lighting fixture.

"The main reasons we chose an MA Lighting system solution were the performance, the reliability and the support offered by MA Lighting Latin America as well as the exclusive Argentinean dealer, Stage Tech", reports operator Charly Randich. "The MA VPU gave us all the flexibility we needed, making it incredibly

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UK - Zero 88, the specialist entertainment lighting control brand from Cooper Controls reports that Silvio Scerri is leaving to pursue new interests.

Having managed the Southern European markets for Zero 88 Scerri explains: "It's time to dedicate more time to myself and my family. After nearly eight years with Zero 88, I felt that with two young children and a myriad of commitments including the recent appointment as Chairman of Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre and the opening of Nexos in Libya, I could no longer give my maximum to Zero 88. Zero 88 for me was, and still, is an important part of my life as I have learned a lot from the many professionals I met and the friends I made. I am sure that the company will continue to grow, offering fine quality products."

Graham Eales, managing director Zero 88 adds: "Fluent in English, Italian and Arabic, Silvio has be

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USA - Design and consulting firm Arup is expanding its theatre consulting business with the appointment of Robert Young. As senior theatre consultant, he will lead West Coast theatre design operations from Arup's Los Angeles office.

The team, led by David Taylor and Jim Niesel, is currently involved in developing projects across the US and abroad. These include the Sydney Opera House Western Venues renovation, the development of a theatre for Baryshnikov and The Wooster Group, the re-development of the Minneapolis Northrop Auditorium and a unique music recording and performance venue in Willamsburg, Brooklyn.

David Taylor, leader of Arup's Arts and Culture business in the Americas said. "Rob is a respected member of the theatre community. His presence within our regional team and energetic leadership in Los Angeles is another step in the global growth of our expert practi

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