USA - Clearwing Productions, an AV sales, service, event- production and integration services provider with locations in Milwaukee and Phoenix, acquired eight RedNet D16R AES rack-mount Dante interfaces, part of the full line of RedNet Dante network devices from Focusrite, nearly a year ago.

The D16R units have transformed how the company is able to move digital audio around for clients ranging from one troupe of the famed Blue Man Group to the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Vail and Beaver Creek, Colorado.

Three RedNet D16R units (along with three RedNet 1 eight channel A-D/D-A interfaces and one RedNet 2 sixteen-channel A-D/D-A interface) reside at the Blue Man Theatre at Luxor hotel and casino in Las Vegas, where Clearwing Productions was the systems integrator for the theatre's new sound system designed by Marcus Ross.

At the World Ski Championships, the D

Germany - Airstar was recently involved in a lighting project from notorious artist Rafael Lozano Hemmer to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Ulm church tower spire in Germany.

A gigantic balloon measuring six metres in length and animated by eight Panasonic projectors was hung for three months in the middle of the Lutheran church nave. The projected images provided a faithful representation of the activity in the sun's surface. The Hannover office of Airstar European Network (AEN) provided and installed the balloon.

For this artistic performance, Airstar proposed a custom made air-filled Pendulair 600 balloon. Because of the historical dimension of the church and the need to keep it intact, the artist was looking for a structure which he could project onto that wouldn't be too heavy. Once filled with 113m3 of air, the six metre wide balloon weighed only 25kg.

As the

Europe - Swedish PA company, Parashoot, has completed a European tour with Norwegian singer songwriter, Ane Brun, using Allen & Heath's new dLive system to manage FoH and Monitors.

Parashoot's recently purchased dLive system, comprising the flagship S7000 Control Surface and DM64 MixRack, was immediately deployed on the tour, mixing both FOH and monitors on the same console.

"I have been using iLive endlessly over the last five years, and on the last two Ane Brun tours, culminating in over 200 shows. The timing of the dLive release couldn't have been better. The anticipation of more FX and more buses, made it the unchallenged winner for this tour. A&H makes the best digital live preamps, channel dynamics and onboard FX engines, so it was a no brainer," comments Parashoot's sound engineer and owner, Oscar Söderlund.

"The system latency is extremely low, and

UK - Rose Bruford College in Sidcup, Kent, is hosting a free Stage Lighting Workshop on Tuesday 16 February, enabling attendees to explore the creation and presentation of a lighting design, from initial concept through to programmed presentation.

The workshop will be led by an experienced lighting lecturer and hosted by 2nd and 3rd year lighting students from the college.

The programme includes:

10.00-10.30 - Meet and Tour Campus

10.30-13.00 - Lighting Design Workshop: A practical workshop in creating a design, with a focus on the process of design and the context of light. We will explore how ideas are translated into lighting schemes as well as the nature of light and how we use it as an artistic medium.

13.00-14.00 - Lunch

14.00-15.30 - Creative Lighting Controlled Workshop: A practical workshop in how a realised design is communicated to an audience.

Germany - Yamaha's MTX3 matrix mixer/signal processor is proving a popular solution for smaller, fixed audio installations where untrained staff are in day-to-day control of the system. Houses of worship are an ideal example, with three German churches recently commissioning MTX3-based systems.

Steinheim-based Klartext AV has installed two of the systems, one in the town of Kohlberg, the other in Oggenhausen.

The Kohlberg installation includes an MTX3 with Yamaha XMV4140 multi-channel power amplifier and DCP4V4S wall-mounted control. The four buttons and rotary controls of the DCP4V4S make it very straightforward for church staff to have comprehensive control over the system, which includes fixed microphones at the pulpit and altar, wireless handheld and headset mics, plus a piano. By touching a single control, the system can be instantly reconfigured for a range of uses.

Germany - Robe's philosophy of smaller-brighter-lighter reaches new levels at Miniatur Wunderland where BMFL Spots, Pointes and LEDWash 600s are prominent on the lighting rig for German music superstar Helene Fischer's show-stopping performance at the Berlin Olympiastadion.

The actual concerts were staged in July 2015 during Fischer's Farbenspiel tour and were enjoyed by around 110,000 people. Anyone who missed the show can catch the experience at the Miniatur Wunderland attraction in Hamburg where a 1:87 scale model of the complete venue, stage, functioning lighting, sound and video production plus capacity for a full audience - has been constructed.

This includes a quantity of 1:87 scale Robe fixtures which have been replicated in painstaking detail by Sven Hinzmann and the Miniatur Wunderland technical teams which included around 40 engineers, planners and creatives.

M

UK - A Chippenham-based company that helps facilitate major public occasions has invested in a range of new energy efficient tower lights to be used at high profile events, such as London's New Year's Eve celebrations.

Power Logistics specialises in providing temporary power, heating and lighting for the event and entertainment sector.

It has now bought a further 20 state of the art, energy-efficient lights thanks to asset finance facility provided by Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. The lights will be used this year in functions across the UK.

The investment is part of the business' ambitious plan to double in size in the next five years.

Mike Whitehouse, managing director of Power Logistics, said, "We have ambitious plans for growth and the new facility from Lloyds Bank means we can look ahead with confidence as we aim to increase the size of the business.

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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd. Will be showcasing the latest product highlights from their extensive brand portfolio at the PLASA Focus Glasgow 2016 Show - SECC, Glasgow, UK, stand B1, 20 - 21 January.

A leading one-stop provider of professional equipment to the entertainment industry, AC-ET will be showcasing a selection of the very latest lighting, audio, rigging, video, and film & TV solutions available from their vast portfolio of over 200 leading brands and five specialist sales divisions.

The award-winning Chroma-Q® range of premium performance solutions is designed and built to exacting standards in North America, and has been adopted by many leading designers and specifiers for some of today's most demanding and prestigious lighting applications. The stand will represent a number of product ranges, including the Color One 100 and Inspire full c

UK - Martin Audio is planning two sets of demos at this week's PLASA Focus in Glasgow and the upcoming Integrated Systems Europe in Amsterdam.

Joining forces with its distribution partner LMC on 20 January, Martin Audio will be taking over the Leven Room which is directly across from the entrance of Hall 5 of SECC Glasgow on the Boulevard.

Products on show will include its award winning O-Line, CDD Series and MLA Mini, and the one-hour demonstration sessions will provide an understanding of these products, case studies and lots of listening time. More details and how to register can be found at: https://martin-audio.com/events/PlasaGlasgow

Then at this year's inaugural four day show of ISE, Martin Audio will once again return to Room E104 (near Hall 10) to demonstrate a similar line up of product and also talk about a new launch which can also be seen on their stand K175

UK - London's first Lumiere light festival closed on Sunday 17 January having transformed the city's streets and buildings with 30 spectacular artworks. First estimates put the numbers of visitors at over 1m attending the festival over four evenings.

Developed by creative producers Artichoke and supported by the Mayor of London, Lumiere London turned King's Cross and London's West End, including Leicester Square, Piccadilly, Regent Street and St James's into a magical pedestrian playground and encouraged Londoners and tourists alike to explore the heart of the capital and view it in a new light.

With founding support from Atom Bank, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Heart of London Business Alliance, London & Partners and King's Cross, plus additional support from a host of partners and sponsors, including Westminster City Council, Lumiere London presented installations by 30 intern

Star Tribute - The life of David Bowie was celebrated with a tribute concert at a London chapel. Hundreds of fans packed out Islington's Grade I-listed Union Chapel to pay homage to the musician who died of cancer on 10 January. The service saw an eclectic mix of artists, including the Magic Numbers and ex-Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, perform the star's music.

Fans filled the small north London chapel as Bowie's best-known tunes, played by an organ, echoed around the hall. A huge screen showed images of the star in his many guises, before the part gig, part remembrance service kicked off with a rousing mass sing-along of Starman. Maggie Ronson, sister of late Bowie guitarist and collaborator Mick Ronson, was joined by The Featherz to sing Ziggy Stardust, paying tribute to Bowie's "massive influence".

Black January - A month of depressing n

The Netherlands - During its yearly PIE event (Prolyte immersion event), which was held in Amsterdam from 10-12 January, Prolyte honoured its distributing network by handing out awards for highest turnover levels, non-turnover related achievements and awards for special contribution.

Starting on Sunday with a special dinner and party to celebrate its 25th anniversary year, the event started on a high note.

With over 110 persons attending, both key personnel and distributor representatives from all four corners of the globe, the atmosphere was lively and animated. Mixing dinner with award ceremonies, the night started professionally and progressed to a perfect networking event.

Over the course of the next two days the network was informed on product updates, marketing and sales strategies and the new Prolyte factory.

Feedback sessions on several topics gave all particip

UK - Over the past couple of years the iconic Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, home of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, has undergone a major £14.5m refurbishment. This has included the building of a brand new smaller-scale venue, Music Room, on which Stage Electrics and Northern Light worked closely together to supply and fit out, as well as being major contractors for the 1700-capacity main auditorium.

The project was split into two phases. Phase one focused on the main Hall whose 1939 art-deco style architecture has earned it Grade II*- listed status.

It included works to the auditorium, all public, front of house spaces, and backstage dressing rooms and warm-up areas.

Phase two was a new-build project including Music Room, for which Stage Electrics supplied the lighting, sound and staging equipment. Located at the rear of the main Hall, Music Room is a 16

France - Palais des Festivals, home to the Cannes Film Festival, is one of Europe's leading conference and entertainment venues. The building features five main auditoriums as well as numerous committee rooms and administrative offices.

The combination of Adamson and the Palais des Festivals began 15 years ago when the newly formed DV2 (Adamson's distributor in France) designed a sound reinforcement system featuring Adamson Y10 line arrays for the Auditorium Louis Lumiere. The system, which is still in use today, continues to receive compliments from those that perform in the space.

Recently DV2 was called upon to design another system for the Claude Debussy Theatre, the second largest theatre, with a seating capacity of 1,068. DV2 designed a system featuring the new Adamson S Series line arrays. Dushow, one of the biggest rental and installation companies in France, was res

UK - A new production of Harvey Granville Barker's play Waste is currently showing at The National's Lyttelton Theatre with smooth 'swipe' curtain movements utilising Triple E's Chaintrack, Unitrack and Unibeam systems.

The controversial play, which was famously banned by the censors when it was first written, tells the story of the ambitious independent politician Henry Trebell and his plans for a bill to disestablish the Church of England.

The National Theatre's deputy production manager Clíona Ní Mhocháin approached Triple E's managing director David Edelstein to assist with the track solutions.

"We needed a smooth, silent and reliable system to achieve a swipe motion to go from an empty stage to actors' preset," explains Ní Mhocháin. "We also wanted to create an aperture to suggest the outside world further upstage that could change size and

USA - Fast rising country star Justin Moore set a real challenge on his recent US tour, with venues ranging from state/county fairs up to 20,000-seat arena shows.

For production designer Sooner Routhier (of SRae Productions) and touring lighting director Aaron Luke it was a case of developing easily portable, truckable and scalable scenography that was quick to rig and derig.

Sooner also lights stages for Motley Crue to Bon Jovi and it was on a previous tour with the latter that she started using GLP's popular impression X4 heads, quickly sensing the speed of the fixture and the number of beam shapes that could be achieved using the pixel patterns. "I needed a good wash light to generate effects that would give each song a different look - and GLP impressions seemed to be the perfect fit."

And so she approached long-term vendor SES from North Carolina for a simi

World - American punk rockers Fall Out Boy are on a world tour in support of their American Beauty/American Psycho album with a perspective-bending lighting design by Robb Jibson using Clay Paky Mythos and A.leda B-EYE K20 fixtures.

Robb Jibson - who serves as lighting and show designer for the tour - is using the highly advanced beam and spot light hybrid, Mythos, for effects, backlight, in delay systems and even as follow spots. With them, he projects dynamic aerial effects out across the audience, creates collimated looks and washes areas with vibrant colour.

"Clay Paky has created a really bright fixture in the Mythos," says Jibson. "It has a small footprint that's easy on both weight and power consumption and there isn't a better optical system out there in my opinion. I think its best feature is the ability to have it in a 20° to 30° beam

Germany - Live production and rental company, Feedback Show Systems, has added a Solid State Logic L500 Plus live console to its audio inventory.

Feedback Show Systems is one of Germany's leading production and rental companies, with a solid reputation for excellence. The company offers a full range of production services to high-end musicals, touring shows, and corporate events, and also provides a comprehensive dry hire service.

Feedback's first project with the L500 at FOH was the touring version of Shrek - The Musical. The show involved more than 20 dancers, a large band, and over 130 different scenes. Feedback's managing director, Bernd Schmitz, commented, "Switching to the L500 was straightforward and fast. The console met all of the very complex functional requirements of the show, and the sonic improvement was obvious to everybody.

"We produce enc

UK - The fast expanding Botanist chain of music-led bar/restaurants, the brainchild of operators The New World Trading Company, recently opened its latest outlet in Marlow, Bucks.

Cheshire-based music consultants Genre Music, who have overseen all previous six Botanists (as well as the other venues in the operators' 12-strong portfolio), managed the installation of Martin Audio's new CDD installation range loudspeakers - specified on the recommendation of their sub-contractors F1 Sound Co.

Explained Genre Music MD, Steven Walter, "While we handle all the operators' music requirements and book their live acts, we bring in technical experts for the sound system installations, working in conjunction with several partner companies; in the south, this is F1 Sound Co."

The Whitstable-based pro-audio specialists, run by Matt Bate and Sam Liston, have long been fans of

USA - Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, Christian music's largest annual tour, has returned to the road with lighting provided by Bandit Lites. Artists this year include For King and Country, Matthew West, Crowder, Lauren Daigle, Red and Newsong.

Production manager Jerry Holcomb worked with Bandit's project manager Matt King and business development officer Brent Barrett to make the 360 degree stage lighting design a reality. "Brent and Matt always help me achieve my vision and design to actual workable rigging plots and fixture patch," said Holcomb. "We even set up a couple days at their Nashville location to pre-program and get ready for the tour."

"We appreciate the opportunity to work with Jerry each year from his initial concept through the finished product," said Barrett. "Jerry's temperament along with his experience and knowledge promote

UK - Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) delivered full production, including lighting, sound - featuring brand new d&b Y8s and V-SUBS - video and rigging to an impressive end of year party for technology designer / manufacturer Dyson - which was staged in the grounds of Bowood House in Wiltshire, where a large elegant Trispan marquee was giving a 45m deep and wide party space.

CPL have been the event's technical supplier for the last five years, and there's always an exciting and ambitious brief to be fulfilled from production company Bright. This year their production designer and technical manager was Nick Diacre who liaised closely with CPL's PM Mike Radford.

Luminescence was the theme of this year's event, putting a big emphasis on lighting and visual presentation and treatment of the whole environment.

CPL flew a 10m diameter circular truss in the middle of the m

USA - Multi Latin Grammy-winner Fonseca has been described as one of the easiest artists to like and one of the most difficult to categorize. Colombian born and educated at Boston's Berklee College of Music, the singer-guitarist, who now lives in Miami, began his career in rock. As he evolved as an artist, his music grew to include elements of Colombian 'Tropipop', as well as a variety of other sounds from ranchera to salsa and even classical.

Lighting designer Churry Lafuente reflects Fonseca's diverse musical message in light on the artist's current Conexión tour, thanks to some help from a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures provided by rental company Línea Estratégica.

Churry, who began designing for the international superstar almost three years ago during the Ilusión tour, created an intense, bright and very flexible rig for the multi-national tour, w

USA - Located in Houston, Texas, the Alley Theatre is a nationally recognized performing arts company that creates a wide range of innovative productions. Recently undergoing a $46.5m renovation which included improvements to the Hubbard Theatre, associate director for design Kevin Rigdon was asked to also serve as the principal designer for the project.

Working with theatrical consultants Bill Connor & Associates as well as Philips Strand Lighting aauthorized dealer StageLight, Rigdon was tasked with creating a more intimate relationship between the audience and the actors on stage, and he did so using 68 Showline SL PAR 155 ZOOM LED luminaires.

"During the renovation, we actually changed the configuration of the theatre which created two zones of house lighting, said Rigdon. "We were committed to using LED lighting technology for the power consumption and heat ad

Europe - The European Intellitix team attended the company's Europe 2016 conference in Groningen, NL, earlier this month, before attending Eurosonic Nooderslag.

Eric Janssen, Intellitix chief revenue officer, operating from the company's global head office chaired the three-day meeting, with a full day of product overview and software updates imparted by the company's chief product officer, Barna Jardany. Attending were representatives from the UK, Czech Republic, Scandinavia, France, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, with colleagues from Canada and Brazil.

Adding to operations manager Carl AH Martin's experience working across the European live events and venues sectors in the UK are Gavin Barnard, director of partnerships (UK Intellitix) and Gareth Deakin, director of business development (UK Intellitix). Gavin's eight years combined digital a

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