Germany / India - The distribution of HK Audio products in India will now be handled exclusively by Dhanashree Electronics. This firm is part of the well established Toshniwal Group of Companies, a family business which has long been active in the Indian market in several industries. Dhanashree Electronics' primary areas of operation until now have been in the manufacture and marketing of electronic components and industrial lighting; distributing professional audio equipment represents an expansion of their business into new territory.
Abhishek Toshniwal, marketing & business development director of Dhanashree Electronics, comments: "Adding professional audio equipment to our distribution network was our next logical step. We have been having more and more contact with PA rental firms and installation companies, and we've been wanting to expand our product portfolio in ord
UK - Lighting designer Jon Pollak recommended that Adlib Lighting supplied the equipment and crew for the UK leg of veteran American jazz rockers Steely Dan's current European tour.
Pollak first worked with the Liverpool based company in 2007 when he was lighting folk singer Ray Lamontagne. "They did a fantastic job. I was so impressed with the kit and the personnel that I really wanted to use them again," he states.
Lighting-wise, the UK shows were based on three straight 48ft trusses to cover the 50ft wide performance area.
These were loaded with 21 Martin Professional MAC 2K Washes and 16 MAC 700 Spots. The Washes were utilised for general band and stage washes, primarily an ever evolving series of subtle and straightforward colour combinations, while the spots took the role of providing basic beam-work and effects across the 12-piece band and substantial area t
UK - DMi D&M Europe has announced the launch of Escient Zone, its integrated CI home control system. The launch of is accompanied by an extensive programme of product support and training for DMi appointed installers.
Zone complements the latest Ethernet and WIFI network enabled AV source and control components from D&M's Denon, Marantz and Escient brands. Its introduction enables DMi appointed CI professionals to offer in-home automation systems, seamlessly incorporating components from these brands.
Zone is positioned to provide fully featured, high performance home automation and control, at a lower price point than current market leading systems; enabling CI dealers and custom installers to extend their target market for integrated home automation, says the company. Likewise, it enables a greater number of dealers to gain full access to a single integrated home control sys
UK - The second edition of the Knight of Illumination Awards, the only international awards designed and held to provide public recognition for the work of lighting designers in live and televised shows, is at the starting blocks.
The award ceremony is organised by Italian manufacturer Clay Paky in association with STLD and ALD, and is sponsored this year by Osram. Timed to coincide with the PLASA Show, it will be held on 13 September 2009 at the Ibis Hotel, Earls Court, London.
The previous edition saw Dave Davey, Ben Smithard, Nigel Catmur, Al Gurdon (TV category), Jonny Gaskell, Richard Larkum (rock category), Lucy Carter, Paul Pyant, Paule Constable and Neil Austin (theatre category) triumph. They were presented with a customized real traditional medieval sword and given the title of "Knight of Illumination", a slightly romantic and generous figure always
UK - Heathrow Express has been awarded the overall winner in Category B (Outdoor Workplace), in the Lighting Federation's new Energy Management and Innovation in Lighting Award Scheme (EMILAS).
Steve Chambers, service proposition director at Heathrow Express, said: "The prime objective of EMILAS is to give recognition to lighting schemes showing proven energy savings with a minimum 20% improvement over previously installed schemes. Our new lighting system, at the train maintenance depot, Old Oak Common, has a smart metering system which allows continuous monitoring of lighting levels, including daylight monitoring and a non-occupancy over-ride. Heathrow Express has saved over 25% of its electrical lighting consumption since the start of this year and 102 tonnes of carbon since February 2008."
Heathrow Express's approach to the environment began even before the servic
Denmark - With the P3-100 System Controller for LED screens, Martin Professional enables video to finally join with lighting and motion control technologies for true visual integration.
The P3-100 lets you treat LED screens like lighting instruments - brightness, image position, image rotation can be adjusted and changed instantly, says the company. And this happens independent from the source of the video. The P3-100 is not a media server but an intelligent interface between the source and the screen.
The P3-100 makes setting up an LED screen very straightforward and intuitive. It also contains a built-in graphical user interface with real time visualisation of the video mapping - true 'what you see is what you get' emulation of what the screen is showing. The P3-100 also includes a number of other advanced features including built-in scaling and de-interlacing. The integrate
UK - ETC has supplied a range of lighting and control equipment to English National Ballet, including an Eos and an Ion control desk through new console dealer London Light Production Services.
"English National Ballet had already decided they liked ETC, so they just needed a demonstration of the desk, to confirm it did all they needed it to do," says London Light's managing director, David Buffham. "Their previous system was 25 years old and well overdue for an upgrade, given the number of moving lights they had added to their stock. We provided hands on experience with the system, as well as both pre and post sales support and training."
David Richardson, chief electrician at the English National Ballet, says, "We had been looking around for a new desk for some time, and this was the first we've seen which fitted our needs. We wanted the accessibilit
Cuban News - The UK's Royal Ballet has arrived in Havana for its first visit to Cuba. It is putting on five days of shows, featuring the company's Cuban star Carlos Acosta and a tribute to Cuban ballet legend Alicia Alonso. All the tickets were sold out within hours, as Cubans looked forward to seeing the first major ballet company since the Bolshoi almost 30 years ago. To cater for the huge demand, the performances will be shown on giant screens outside the theatre. The director of the Royal Ballet, Dame Monica Mason, said the national passion for ballet was one of the attractions of taking the company to Cuba. "Dance is central to the culture in Cuba. It's at the very heart of the Cuban people," she said. The company will perform at the Gran Teatro in central Havana the first three days, where the screens will be based. The Karl Marx Teatro will host the final two.
China - PR Lighting has launched the XL BEAM 300 automated lighting fixture, aimed at the live professional market. The latest in the Chinese company's family of moving heads, the XL BEAM 300 is based around the 300W Philips MSR Gold 300/2 Fast Fit lamp, with 22,000 lumens output and 750 hours lamp life.
Colours are composed from a linear CYM colour mixing system (8- or 16-bit) with macro function, and a wheel with seven dichroic colours (plus white), offering a variable speed bi-directional rainbow effect.
The XL BEAM 300 also contains a rotating gobo wheel with seven interchangeable gobos (plus white) - indexable and rotatable bi-directionally at variable speeds. There is also a gobo shake function.
The Iris and Dimmer are 0-100% linearly adjustable (8- or 16-bit), and offer beam angles of 7° (Standard), 10° (With Light Frost) and 19° (With Heavy Frost). Contro
UK - iLight control products by Cooper Controls, has announced the expansion of its line of RCBO (Residual Current Breaker with Overcurrent Protection) source controllers with the release of new versions of its 12-channel lighting controllers. These new versions utilise more economical and compact versions of RCBO's that are currently being adopted in the general electrical contracting market, and for use in meeting the 17th Edition BS 7671 (IEE Wiring Regulations) for protecting lighting circuits running in walls, says the company.
The new enclosures are designed to accommodate the compact RCBO devices, which are just slightly wider than standard MCB's, whilst taking up as little space as possible. RCBO source controllers provide residual current protection of lighting circuits channel by channel, and are suitable for protection of wet location circuits such as bathrooms and ex
UK - SNP Productions - headed by digital media programmer/operator Simon Pugsley - is now a UK dealer of Catalyst digital media products - and has launched a new proactive promotion campaign.
SNP Productions was founded in 1999 when Pugsley was completing his final year as a student at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. The company has evolved steadily over the last 10 years, starting as a vehicle for his freelance work and growing into a major UK supplier for lighting & video control solutions. It is now focussed on sales, hire, training and full tech support for Catalyst.
"Catalyst was among the first and most original digital media servers, and it has a strong and positive brand identity," states Pugsley. "It's hugely flexible and constantly being developed with new and innovative features added all the time. It has a history and track record of
UK - At PLASA 09, leading European connector specialist Harting will feature its range of connectivity solutions specially tailored to the needs of light and sound engineers in the entertainment industry.
A key product range is the Harting Han family of heavy-duty connectors, which are increasingly being used for powering the spotlights used on concert stages and in theatres. In particular, the Han 16 E is a suitable for controlling special lighting effects in systems where 'multi-cables' incorporating six or eight lines are used to reduce installation times.
These connectors have proved their reliability and outstanding performance in industrial applications, and their rugged construction makes them ideally suited to stage environments. Typical applications include lighting connections for multiple spotlights, break-out boxes a
UK - Matt-LX has launched a new web site and expanded to new premises in South East London.
Matthew Clutterham, managing director, says: "We are extremely proud of our new web facility which demonstrates our commitment to quality, value and the people we work with, on-line sales is a new venture for us and has taken a number of months to refine to our high standards and our product list is increasing daily."
The company has been providing lighting and production services to a series of major theatrical touring productions, corporate and special events this year, and developed some innovative project and cost management solutions.
"We've had a very busy year and inevitably had to look for new larger premises to bring everybody together in one prime location. The award winning Royal Arsenal Development puts us into the heart of the action for 2012, London Excel
Czech Republic - The Solan Hotel occupies a commanding position atop the Solan Mountain on the ski slopes of Wallachia, Czech Republic. It has recently been acquired by a new independent owner, who has refurbished and re-launched the venue as a leisure, conference and business destination.
Owner, local entrepreneur Josef Valchar, is acutely aware that good lighting is a key to setting the right scene and mood for any environment and for making guests feel at home and as comfortable as possible during their stay. He has chosen Anolis LED fixtures to light many areas of the hotel in a phased installation, with the first areas completed including the swimming pool.
Valchar also intends the Solan to be as environmentally friendly as possible - which is another reason for choosing LED fixtures. "Anolis are among the best available on the market - so the brand was an obvious ch
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies is hosting an Open Day to showcase the latest in video and lighting technologies from leading industry brands. The event is being held at the company's UK headquarters in High Wycombe on Wednesday 22 July 2009, from 2pm - 8pm.
Specialists from A.C.'s Video and Lighting divisions, as well as manufacturer representatives, will be on hand to discuss how these two technologies are increasingly converging to provide innovative backdrops, set pieces and other video-based elements.
The informal event will provide an opportunity to learn more about, discuss with experts and see product demonstrations on video projection and associated equipment, creative LED surfaces and LED lighting. Brands represented will include Christie, Chroma-Q, Element Labs, GLP, Green Hippo, Martin, Robe and TV One.
With a week to go, the company reports that it has rece
Australia - Show Technology, one of Australia's leading distributors of intelligent lighting and control systems including Martin, MA Lighting, Studio Due and Pulsar, is proud to announce the appointment of Darren McLanders to the newly created position of General Operations Manager.
The role was created to strengthen the company's position in the market and to better serve the company's strong professional customer base, tasks that Show Technology's managing director Emmanuel Ziino feels Darren is particularly suited to take on.
"Darren has been with the company since 2000 and in that time he has worked in many operational, sales and segment management roles and thus knows our company's operations intimately" said Emmanuel. "Darren has tackled every role with vigour and professionalism and is totally dedicated to the company. I am confident that he is the best
UK - ChamSys is in use on the current Ting Tings tour. Designed by Jvan Morandi, the show fuses lighting and video onto multiple projection surfaces to create a truly live feel to their show.
Morandi successfully overcomes the challenges of lighting a two-person band to make the energy fill the whole of the stage using creative visual and lighting FX. Lighting consists of moving spots and washes whilst video content is controlled through a Catalyst Media Server.
Out on the road, lighting designer Sam MacLaren operates the system. Both Morandi and MacLaren are long-time Hog II users and have found the jump to MagicQ straight forward. With 18 Universes, in-built network switch and 8 encoder wheels it provides the power to handle larger shows with complex fixtures.
The keypad syntax can be configured in multiple ways, enabling them to choose the way that is most familiar to the
UK - In a new initiative announced by PLASA Events Ltd, this year's PLASA Show (13-16 September, Earls Court, London) will include a new focus on developing business opportunities for the industry's service providers and consultants.
PLASA Connect, an idea developed in conjunction with RH Consulting and sponsored by L&SI magazine, will provide service-based operators - including consultants, installers and rental companies - with an opportunity to find new potential clients from a wide range of vertical markets.
People involved in large projects in many different walks of life often have very little idea of who to go to for the supply of sound and lighting equipment. The idea behind PLASA Connect is to help those people gain information and make an informed choice. The result will be a targeted business development opportunity which will bring genuine business benefits to all
USA - Elation Professional has introduced a new line of energy-efficient, long-lasting, standard-size MR16 replacement white LED lamps - the ELED MR16 5W Series.
Available in both dimmable 12V bi-pin and E27 medium screw base versions, the ELED MR16 5W lamps are powered by 5 watts of high-output Nichia LEDs - the equivalent of a 50W halogen bulb. Yet they consume a maximum of 5 watts of power, so they will significantly reduce users' electric bills, providing a return on investment in a very short time, says the company.
Another bright spot for lighting users -- and the environment - is the LEDs' long life, rated at 40,000 hours, which will drastically cut lamp replacement costs and reduce the amount of waste going into landfills.
Both lamp-base versions are offered in Warm White (2,700K) and Neutral White (3,500K), and in choice of either 30° or 60° beam angle. Thi
UK - The successful West End season produced by London's Donmar Warehouse Theatre - which since the middle of last year has featured Ivanov starring Kenneth Branagh, Twelfth Night starring Derek Jacobi, Madame de Sade starring Judi Dench - has now reached its final production, Hamlet, starring Jude Law.
Entertainment lighting supplier White Light has been involved throughout the season, providing the core rig shared by lighting designers Paule Constable and Neil Austin - including Martin TW1 and ADB Warp moving lights and Rainbow colour scrollers - and then the variations of equipment demanded by each show. For Neil Austin's design for Hamlet, this meant supplying six DHA Digital Light Curtains, a set of Aero Par units with individual transformers and a selection of L&E battens mounted in the show's floor.
Macau - An Element Labs Cobra 16 LED display stopped traffic in Macau last month when the City of Dreams resort opened its doors on the evening of 1 June. The resort's extravagant opening event included, as one of its most dazzling features, a giant circular Element Labs video marquee display, using Cobra 16 technology, which was erected at the road frontage.
The opening show and activities were simulcast onto the 250sq.m LED display, prompting road users on the adjacent multi-lane highway to simply park and watch the show, drive-in-movie style. During its first month of operation, the City of Dreams resort has already attracted over 1.2 million visitors, which averages 41,000 visitors per day.
"Casino developer Melco Crown Entertainment had a clear vision for the development of the City of Dreams resort: they wanted a state-of-the-art display solution that would enhance
South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa supplied lighting, sound and video production plus crew for singer/songwriter R Kelly's first visit to South Africa.
The five days of production rehearsals at Sun City Superbowl was followed by one show there and another at Cape Town's Grand West Casino. The project was managed for Gearhouse by Michael Lewis, and their teams worked very closely with R Kelly's lighting designer Nook Schoenfeld and FOH sound engineer Rob 'Cubby' Colby.
Llewellyn Reinecke, Gearhouse Audio's systems engineer also looked after FOH. Colby specified a V-Dosc system, which was flown in Sun City as 12 elements a side for the main left and right hangs, complete with three dv-Doscs underneath for front down-fills. He also specified a 1:1 ratio for subs and V-Dosc, so the 24 subs were ground stacked three high and four wide on the floor of the Superbowl. Additional ha
UK - Lighting designer Peter Barnes along with Production North production manager Iain Whitehead selected Bandit Lites as the lighting supplier for the 2009 Boyzone Tour. Tour Manger was Paul Bultitude andBandit crew chief was Mike Humeniuk. The lighting crew consisted of Martin Garnish and Joe Simpson.
Barnes chose for his most recent tour to use VL 3000 Spots, VL 3500 Washes, Pixel Pars, Super Cycs, Stadium Hazers, Lycian 1290 follow spots and the Hog 2 consoles.
Bandit C.E. Lester Cobrin worked with Barnes on the tour and said, "Peter is such a true professional and always a pleasure to work with."
Europe - Neil Young returned to Europe this summer to showcase his Chrome Dreams Tour with Bandit Lites as the lighting vendor. Lighting director Marty Postma worked with an original concept by Peggy Eisenhower. Neil and his wife Peggy had input into the design and content of the visual show at a level not often achieved by artists.
Large Vegas style letters dotted the stage as if discarded from an old abandoned casino. Various antique fresnels, scoops and other such lights were strewn about in a fashion more reminiscent of a closed down back lot than a rock and roll stage set.
Production manager Tim Foster guided the production. Postma and Foster worked with Lester Cobrin in Bandits UK office to pull a wide assortment of equipment including MAC 2000 spots and washes, VL500's, BP2 Beam Projectors and Whole Hog 3 consoles and wings.