UK - Robe lighting is showcasing nine exciting and innovative new products on stand L80 in Hall 5 at the PLASA exhibition at ExCeL London, 6-9 October 2013.

Robe is looking forward to the show in its new location at ExCeL London, and will celebrate this with a brand new and enlarged stand design.

Products will include all those launched at Prolight+Sound, Frankfurt which include some brand new concepts - all of which embrace Robe's smaller-lighter-brighter and more eco-friendly philosophies . . .

Robe is again a platinum sponsor of PLASA, which brings additional benefits to guests including the Robe Fast Track Entrance and a chance to win one of 12 Apple iPad Mini tablets by completing your PLASA visitor registration through Robe.

Sister architectural LED brand Anolis will b

USA - Imagine Dragons, the alternative rock band from Las Vegas, has spent the majority of 2013 on their Night Visions tour performing in North America and Europe. Their hit single Radioactive boasts more than 4.0m downloads and counting.

Escondido, California-based Sound Image was chosen to providing sound reinforcement for the US portions of the tour. The Nashville office heads up the production.

"When we received the bid, it came down to determining which system would provide the SPL, flexibility and sonic quality the band required," explains Andrew Dowling, systems engineer for Sound Image. "The band needed the ability to do full size sheds and arenas as well as smaller venues."

FOH Engineer Scott Eisenberg and production manager Eric 'Shakes' Grzybowski ultimately decided that the Adamson Energia E15 line arrays would provide everything

UK - Live video specialist Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) supplied a full camera, vision mixing and control package to the Lion's Den stage at the 2013 Boomtown Fair - the UK's Maddest City - festival at Matterley Estate near Winchester in Hampshire.

The festival - under the artistic direction of Lak Mitchell and Chris Rutherford - is one of the UK's most and vibrant events and the Lion's Den Stage is acclaimed for its awesome line up of established reggae artists and emerging talent.

Boomtown is the world's biggest pop up city with over 1km of set/scenics and over 40 individual themed venues of which the Lion's Den is the largest.

CPL's Nick Diacre was on-site as production manager for the Lion's Den, coordinating all technical production, site management and related business in this area, including Health & Safety.

The stunning 16m high Aztec temple themed Lion's Den pe

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France - Located in the picturesque Alsace region of France, the Espace Culturel Le Parc in Ribeauvillé is one of the region's primary entertainment centres. A recent technical upgrade has seen an all-digital Yamaha and Nexo audio installation deliver a dramatic improvement to the venue's sound quality and flexibility.

Built in 1997 and run by the local municipality, the 580-seat venue hosts mainly live music and theatre, but also presentations and conferences. After 17 years of near-constant use the audio system needed a significant upgrade because cables, connectors and other components required replacing, plus the PA was no longer sufficient to meet the demands of contemporary shows.

Supplied by French audio specialists Lagoona, the new PA system comprises flown arrays of Nexo Geo S12 and S1230 loudspeakers, plus ground-stacked RS18 subs and PS10 R2 front-fills. The

UK - Lighting and visuals rental company HSL has been supplying a substantial 'specials' lighting rig - comprising over 160 fixtures - for Chase & Status's 2013 summer festival tour, which drew to a blistering close at the 2013 Reading and Leeds Festivals. This continues an excellent working relationship with the band and lighting designer Neil Carson.

Chase & Status live shows are renowned for their relentless high energy content and innovative use of visuals and lighting and the basis for Carson's design was to ensure that the rig could be wheeled onstage, rigged and wired in 30 minutes - and give the band their own highly distinctive show for each and every one of their incendiary festival performances.

Lighting director Cate Carter also ran the lighting for a section of the tour while Carson was fulfilling other previously booked commitments. HSL project manager Mike Oates

USA - Hillsong United, the chart-topping worship band that rose out of the youth ministry of Sydney, Australia's Hillsong Church, recently wrapped up a US summer arena tour in support of its 12th and latest full-length album, Zion. The outing, known as Welcomezion, picks back up with a second three-week leg of North American dates in November and will continue to be supported by Greenfield, Indiana-based Mid-America Sound, which has been supplying an L-Acoustics K1 system for the tour.

The group's summer jaunt, which stopped at a dozen cities in June, sold out shows in Phoenix (Grand Canyon University Arena), Dallas (Verizon Theatre), Denver (Red Rocks Amphitheatre) and Chicago (Sears Centre Arena), averaging almost 7,000 people each night. Hillsong United's performance in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl welcomed more than 15,000 fans alone, and the overall ticke

USA - The 2013 MTV Video Music Awards was another spectacular event held at the year-old Barclays Centre in Brooklyn. Looking to deliver world-class lighting in the state-of-the-art venue, Tom Kenny was contracted to design an equally impressive light show to entertain thousands in attendance and millions watching at home. Martin lighting fixtures, supplied by VER, lined the stage and house, providing a multi-function professional lighting rig.

Kenny, whose illuminating résumé includes lighting design for David Bowie, Eric Clapton and The Who, among others, has been working in and around VMAs production for more than 20 years - designing the lighting for the main show for the better half of a decade. Working with the creative minds of the artists and their own creative production teams, including Brooklyn artist KAWS, who also designed the new MTV Moonman award, Ke

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Case Study: Hans Zimmer Live

When award winning film composer Hans Zimmer brought his smash-hit tour Hans Zimmer Live to North America fall 2024, the show's audio team sought out to bring infrafrequency bass to the show to add new depth to the show's audio experience. The team chose Danley Sound Labs.

Germany - The HDMI connection cable series from Sommer Cable and Hicon have seen a complete rework and some additions.

From late summer 2013 the all new HIMM series will be available. It is fitted with a highly flexible and super thin line - only 4mm in diameter - and extremely compact all-metal connectors (only 18.5 x 9 x 15mm). This compactness lets the user experience previously unknown possibilities in the cable management on the desk, at the lectern or in the conference hall. The series is available with a maximum cable length of 10m, whereby the 5 and 10m lines are equipped with an integrated signal repeater.

The updated HD14 series now represents the optimised standard with HDMI connection lines. The cables are available in pure white or black and covered with a nylon mesh which increases the mechanical resilience and gives them a more high-grade look. The connectors ar

Elton Honoured - Sir Elton John has won the first ever Brits Icon award, in a gala concert which marked his stage return after surgery for appendicitis. The musician was presented with the prize by Rod Stewart, who described him as "the second-best rock singer ever". Sir Elton said he was "flattered" by the award, given to artists who have had a "lasting impact" on UK culture.

Speaking to Dermot O'Leary on stage during Monday's show at the Palladium, he added: "It's been a hell of a summer. I'm glad to be rid of the appendix - it was a pesky little bugger." He said he would not curtail his touring schedule. "I've played 92 countries, and I want to play 100," he said. "That's just the way I'm programmed."

X Factor - Comedian Harry Hill has said his forthcoming X Factor musical is not just for fans of the ITV tal

Australia - New start-up company, Entertainment Technology Australia (ETA) provided a spectacular launch for the new-look SGM brand in its local territory at this year's ENTECH 2013 trade show in Sydney.

The reaction was positive, with ETA reporting a flood of enquiries about products such as the LB-100 and LT-100/ 200 - coupled with a continual stream of positive comments, many from Australia's lighting industry leaders. One renowned LD, Rohan Thornton of Firelight, stated: "Seeing the new SGM range was refreshing. In a time when we are seeing more of the same, there were a number of SGM products which definitely caught my eye."

Dave Croxton is the man behind ETA - which began trading on 1 July. It had been a chance meeting with SGM representatives in Jakarta, Indonesia, which originally set the ball rolling. Croxton was there working for another manufacturer. "

UK - International LED specialist displayLED has appointed Paul Langridge as business development manager to help expand the company's presence in public display signage.

Langridge has worked in the display business since 1990, initially with a US-based company which manufactured LCD tablets for the presentation market, before moving into the AV business where he provided bespoke video solutions. His role at displayLED will include developing relationships with highways and retail clients.

"displayLED's success in global markets allows me to look at business opportunities on a much larger scale, as well as within the UK," says Langridge. "I'm looking forward to researching the needs of international clients and providing them with effective solutions."

Guy Horrigan, commercial director of displayLED, adds, "Paul has a long and proven track record of

Germany - This year is Astera LED-Technology's year of market expansion and they have marked this with the release of new products, increased software developments, opening an office in the USA, and now with a new, visually attractive and knowledge-filled company website (www.astera-led.com).

Designed by Muze Studio of Israel, the website splits into two business divisions, just like the company itself; wireless event lighting and architectural lighting. The site features Astera's new corporate colours and new logo, and has generally de-cluttered the information on display from its previous web offering. The new site features extensive downloads for the company's wireless range, and a comprehensive support section built up from years of queries and solutions. All of the core products are displayed on the site with data, images and accessories for each product listed alongside.

UK - Liverpool based Adlib was supplied complete visual & sound design and equipment packages to four high profile arenas at Creamfields 2013. Adlib again worked closely with creative and technical production specialists LarMac LIVE on the event, staged at Daresbury Estate over the August Bank Holiday Weekend.

Adlib's Chris Neary evolved and interpreted the initial visual briefs for the massive Cream Arena, the hyperactive Skream & Benga Arena, emerging talent in the Annie Mac Presents Arena and the Hospitality area.

There is a strong local and regional affinity between Adlib and Cream, the night club that began as a cool house music experience in the heart of Liverpool in 1992 and grew into the vibrant, global brand it is today which includes staging the annual Creamfields UK event.

Chris Neary designed lighting and co-ordinated visuals for all four arenas based on the fund

Denmark - Providing an output of more than 2.5m lumen in the beautiful atmosphere of scenic forest surroundings, SGM's P-5 RGBW wash light made the green landscape even greener at Smukfest 2013. This summer festival is characterised by its location - in a forest by the lake - and thus justifies the description as being 'the most beautiful music festival in Denmark'.

As a part of sustainability initiatives, the 100 P-5s were chosen to replace conventional lighting fixtures in the illumination of the tree crowns around the stages and the audience sites. This replacement enabled the number (and variety) of fixture to be substantially reduced from three or four types used previously, and a total of nearly 250 pieces, to the sole use of 100 P-5s.

Danny Tranekaer of Future Production, the person behind the design, was more than satisfied with the performance of the powerful wash lig

New Zealand - The owners of the luxury yacht Genevieve approached Entertainment Lighting Solutions of Auckland to inspect and provide solutions on how to "warm up" their interior lighting and re-programme the current control system on the yacht as they were unhappy with the button choices.

Initially, 90 Halogen MR16 fittings had been installed throughout the yacht and these had been replaced a couple of years ago by a Spanish boat refurbishment company. They installed a specialist marine lighting control system designed around low voltage lamps and load circuits (12-24V). Unfortunately the system did not have the capacity to carry the load of all the installed fittings so they bodged the dimmers and installed some rather unsavoury 1w 3200k LED fittings that were cold and did not dim well.

The boat itself was built by Alloy Yachts in the mid-90s in Auckland for an Ame

Sweden - DM Audio's Lars Wern has the distinction of having mixed sound for the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra's (RSPO's) legendary summer outdoor concerts for the past 25-plus years.

He therefore has intimate knowledge of the field outside the Maritime Museum in Gärdet, where the concert takes place, and has provided a constant evolutionary stream of PA systems over the decades to try and tame reflections off the large monument that overlooks the performance area, and attempt to eliminate slapback and sound bleeding back into the orchestra.

Last year, for the first time he turned to Martin Audio's Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array technology in the form of his newly purchased MLA Compact. This year - in front of an audience of 37,000 - he experienced results even superior to 2012. "It was just fantastic," he enthused.

Part of the reason was because he was

New Zealand - The Hawke's Bay Opera House situated in Hastings, New Zealand is one of the Southern Hemisphere's most impressive examples of Spanish Mission architecture. The Theatre, with its extravagant Art Nouveau interior decorations, is the keystone of the complex. Originally known as The Hastings Municipal Theatre, Hawke's Bay Opera House was built in 1915 for £12,000 - a considerable sum for the day, reflecting the community's support for performing arts.

Under recent new management, the theatre has been undertaking a refurbishment plan that included the replacement of their lighting console with a new LX600. With the main stage and house lighting dimming, wall plates and DMX distribution already LSC products, LSC reliability and ease of use was already well known to the venue and operators alike.

Henry Norton, technical operations manager at the theatre commented:

Europe - Twenty-five years after he started running a mobile disco with his brother, Theo van Workum now owns Rent-All, one of Europe's major technical production companies. Committed to investing in the most modern equipment, the company recently purchased six Yamaha CL series digital consoles.

With four offices across the Netherlands and Germany, Rent-All is an integral part of many theatrical productions and live production tours for Dutch artists, including Sensation, Frans Bauer, Toppers, Andre Rieu and Waylon.

"We always want to have the most modern technology available in stock and, because we work on many different types and sizes of production, when the CL series was launched we took the decision to invest in all three sizes of console," says Theo.

Rent-All purchased three CL3s, two CL1s and a CL5, along with three Rio3224-D and six Rio1608-D i/o units. Wi

UK - In 2009, with its lighting rigs growing increasingly complex and more diverse, London's National Theatre decided to use several just-launched ETC Eos desks for its three stages. The staff quickly became dedicated to the Eos family of controls, adding Gio and Ion over the years. So when ETC debuted the Eos Titanium (Ti) desk - with even more powerful hardware and software than its predecessor - there was no question that the National would upgrade.

Eos Ti provides the bold features and increased control capacity that the iconic venue requires. "The demands of the National Theatre's large rigs and the scale of our productions mean that we are always pushing the boundaries of what a lighting desk can do, both in terms of processing power and usability. The Eos Ti provides us with a much-needed boost in processing power," explains National Theatre lighting control sup

South Africa - Lighting designer Declan Randall wove Robe moving lights into his intricate lighting design for the epic roller-skating Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Starlight Express staged in The Mandela venue at the Joburg Theatre complex in downtown Johannesburg.

Randall was part of a Johannesburg Theatre production team including director Janice Honeyman, producer Bernard Jay, designer James MacNamara, choreographer Karen Bruce and musical director Clinton Zerf, who were given creative licence to produce a new and exhilarating version of this classic hi-energy piece.

It was the first ever non-replica interpretation of Starlight Express ever licensed by Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Theatre Company since the show's inception in 1984, which brought an additional edge and frission of excitement to the production.

In the overhead lighting rig were 18 x Robe Robin

UK - PLASA London 2013, which takes place at ExCeL London from 6-9 October 2013, is proud to reveal the first audio sessions in its hotly anticipated Professional Development Programme. The packed programme offers four days of free sessions that give visitors a glimpse of the technology behind the world's most spectacular live shows and most talked about events and venues.

All sessions in the audio streams are presented by leading experts in audio technology, with separate programmes on Live Sound and Installed Sound in the new AudioLab Theatre, and a pro audio laboratory - AudioLab Interactive - that will push audio technology to its limits - and beyond. Visitors can register their interest in their preferred sessions at www.plasashow.com/education

The AudioLab Theatre features programmes on Live Sound, Installed Sound and The Sound Business. Highlights in this theatre includ

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