UK - Lighting specialists, Utopium, transformed Bristol Zoo's award winning gardens into a festive winter wonderland for its Enchanted Christmas 2013, 18-20 December.

Working with the zoo's events team for the first time, Utopium created an immersive visual spectacle illuminating the rich collection of plants and trees. In the Herbaceous Border Utopium produced a truly magical experience installing a lightshow, which was controlled remotely and featured an array of festive-themed lighting that was timecoded to music.

To create this stunning display, Utopium used mainly LED lights including James Thomas Pixel Par 90, Chauvet ColoRADO Quad IP, i-Pix BB4, James Thomas Pixel Line 1044 and Chauvet 230 SR Beams. The team also utilised over 14 Universes of SGM LB-100 light balls to ens

USA - In the last few years, ETC has entered new markets, introduced dozens of products, surpassed three million Source Four luminaire sales and gained new customers worldwide. To keep the pace of this steady growth, ETC is expanding its office in New York City and opening a new factory in Wisconsin.

"Our New York office is in the heart of the theatre district," says ETC CEO Fred Foster, "and we want to get the most out of the location. We're using it to support the local community, by opening our doors to lighting professionals to drop in and experiment with new products and collaborate on projects."

The renovated office is twice its previous size and includes state-of-the-art demo and training rooms, product labs and working lounges, where visitors have access to all of the latest ETC technology.

Like Town Square in ETC's headquarters in Wisconsin and T

France - Puy du Fou has used a large number of Clay Paky fixtures to light its flagship live show - Cinéscénie. Principal lighting designer, Koert Vermuelen, deployed Clay Paky's Alpha Beam 1500s and Sharpys to create the sensational light show, which ran throughout the season.

This year, the historical theme park celebrates its 25th anniversary and Cinéscénie heads up a programme of live productions at the cultural attraction, which first opened in the heart of the Vendée region of Western France in 1989.

This summer, the show, which lasts 1hr 40 min, has reached over 10m spectators and is described as the largest night-time show on earth. Taking place every Friday and Saturday, the show featured 1,200 actors, 300 animals, 24,000 costumes, 1,000 fireworks, 3,000 projectors, and a 23-hectare stage.

The brief from Puy du Fou as

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OPUS X4 PROFILE – the most powerful LED moving head from Cameo to date

The OPUS® X4 PROFILE is the new flagship model from Cameo and is among the most powerful LED moving heads on the market. Equipped with a 1,400-watt LED white light engine, this spot profile moving head produces an enormous light output of 50,000 lm, providing powerful spot and gobo projections on even the largest stages and much more.
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South Africa - Robe moving lights were right at the hub of the lighting action for the 2013 Crown Gospel Awards, staged at the Durban International Conference Centre (ICC), South Africa, and broadcast - live for the first time - by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), recognizing the best of South Africa's vibrant gospel music scene.

Lighting was designed by Ryan Dunbar from the Durban branch of Gearhouse South Africa, the country's largest technical production rental facility. It was his first time lighting the event for which he was also the set designer, and in another first, he decided to use 80% LED sources for the lighting rig.

These included 18 x Robe DLF Wash fixtures, six DLS Profiles, 30 x LEDWash 600s and 70 x LEDForce PRs.

He also used 24 of Robe's new Pointe multi-purpose moving lights for beam effects, which helped create the spectacular 'big room

Finland - Solid State Logic has appointed pro audio sales and support company msonic Light + Sound as its Live console distributor in Finland. msonic specialises in high-end audio and video sales and engineering, and is the latest addition to SSL's Live console partner network.

"We are very proud that we have the opportunity to represent the SSL Live console for the Finnish market, and are convinced that the future is bright for SSL Live products," says Tero Hölttä, pro audio sales manager, msonic. "After we first saw the SSL Live Console at Pro Light + Sound, we knew that it would be the next big thing in the live market and that it would be the perfect addition to our premium product line, which already includes d&b audiotechnik, DirectOut, Radial, Sony Digital Wireless systems and, of course, SSL broadcast consoles and studio products. We recently presented t

UK - Rounding off a successful 20 month world tour with a headlining show at London's O2 Arena can be both exhilarating and stressful; for Two Door Cinema Club's show designer Squib it was more of the former and less of the latter, thanks to some shrewd choices.

"With a single show at the Blackpool Empress Ballroom as a warm up, the O2 presented me with all sorts of questions. This was the first time I'd done a show on this scale, certainly with video, and it was nice to have someone to turn to and say, what do you think about doing this?" Squib is nothing if not modest about his own abilities, the mentor to whom he refers, Alex Leinster of Chaos Visual UK, had only been introduced to him a few days before. "It was obvious to me straight away that Squib had some fresh and interesting ideas," said Leinster. "Fully formed, it only required us to marshal th

USA - PLASA Focus: Nashville 2014 is set for success with organizer PLASA Events confirming new exhibitors and seminar speakers. The event is taking place on 18-19 February 2014, at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

The latest exhibitors to sign up include AC Lighting, Apollo Design Technology, Doug Fleenor Design, ETC, LSC America, Philips Entertainment Lighting, Show Sage and Link. They will share the show floor with other industry leaders including; Aeson, ETC, Bandit Lites, Group One, Chauvet Professional, Lightronics, Elation Professional, Creative Stage Lighting, and Applied Electronics, to name a few.

Three new sessions have been added to the PLASA Focus: Nashville 2014 Professional Development Programme, a two-day programme of free educational seminars and workshops running alongside the event.

Ben Jumper, the owner of Soundcheck, will present After the Flood

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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.

UK - POLARaudio has recently engaged new staff to reinforce its team in the light of its continued success in adding new brands to its portfolio.

Three new faces have joined the internal sales team - Nigel Brake, Alison Knight and Allison Geal, whilst Jo Griffin has joined the accounts department (purchase ledger). On the logistics side, Juan Recouso has joined to bolster the warehouse operation.

POLARaudio MD John Midgley welcomes the new arrivals with enthusiasm, "2013 saw us take on a number of new and exciting brands, the addition of which, we believe, will continue the onwards and upwards trend of the business in 2014. Strengthening staffing levels is vital to supporting our operation as it strives to meet the increased demand brought on by our expansion. We place great emphasis on the value of our team members and are delighted to welcome the new recruits to the POL

UK - Theatre consultant, manager, producer and founding member of the ABTT Ian Albery, has been awarded a Fellowship of the Association. Individuals are appointed Fellow if they "have rendered signal service to the technical aspects of the art of the theatre".

In recognising his outstanding contribution to theatre - including work as both production and technical managers and service as vice-chairman of the ABTT, as well as an executive member of the Society of West End Theatre - Nimax Theatre chief executive, Nica Burns, praised the former chief executive of Sadler's Wells Theatre, acknowledging the importance of Albery in her own career.

The list of ABTT Fellows now reads as follows: David Adams, Ian Albery, Jason Barnes, Fred Bentham (deceased), Richard Brett, William Dudley, Tim Foster, Roger Fox, Roderick Ham, Chris Higgs, Ethel Langstreth (deceased), Iain Macki

Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden's award-winning W-DMX technology is now available in the new moving head range of products by PR Lighting, adding to an already widely adopted array of fixtures featuring Wireless DMX capabilities.

W-DMX comes standard in the XRLED line, which includes the 300-W Spot, 500 Spot, 1200 Spot, 1037 (already in mass production), 1061 and XR 800 Spot. In addition, W-DMX is OEM installed in the PR Lighting LED Series of automated 'double headed' fixtures, including the ARC LED 3216M and the outdoor waterproof rated ARC LED 3216 and ARC LED 3108. With the addition of W-DMX, these new fixtures open a whole world of lighting possibilities and early reviews have been stellar.

Ernie Armas, sales director for PR Lighting commented, "We have been using W-DMX for years and have experienced great service and support, a strong OEM network, optional RDM fea

USA - Live performance reinforcement company Alto Professional has announced the availability of its much-anticipated Black Series - an all-new line of top-level loudspeakers and subwoofers with wireless capability and impressive inbuilt power.

Alto Professional's all-new active Black Series collectively comprises three two-way loudspeaker models - namely, the Black 10, Black 12, and Black 15 (which, as implied by name, feature 10-, 12-, and 15-inch low-frequency drivers, respectively, alongside a 1.75-inch high-frequency driver, and are optimised with a 90° x 60° coverage field and an extensively tested high-frequency waveguide) - and two subwoofers - namely, the appropriately-named Black 15 Sub and Black 18 Sub (with 15-, and 18-inch low-frequency, long-excursion drivers, respectively).

All are designed and tuned to exacting standards in the USA with premium, purpose

USA - Elite Multimedia Productions (EMP), a Nashville-based professional sound, lighting and video company, recently completed the major acquisition of live production equipment from TMB to accommodate the company's expected growth in 2014.

With a number of large acts already on board for the 2014 year, including American Country Music's 2013 Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan, EMP purchased five ProPower Lighting Distros, 20 ProPlex Data Distribution splitters, and miles of ProPlex cable outfitted with Neutrik's Ethercon connectors to handle the increased workload.

"Since moving our operation to Nashville earlier this year, we've experienced an influx of touring projects," said Tom Wilson, vice president of event production for Elite. "We expect that growth to continue throughout the year, so we are making the necessary investments today to ensure we exceed our

Germany - Located in Germany's industrial and business heartland, the Hotel Franz in Essen has the twin purposes of delivering four star accommodation and conference facilities, while also providing jobs for people with disabilities. Ensuring that visitors enjoy high quality background music is a Denon DN-700H Network Audio Player.

The hotel is a subsidiary of Franz Sales Haus, the Essen organisation founded in 1884 to assist those living with disability. Opened in May 2012, the hotel provides jobs for those with disabilities, who form up to 50% of the hotel's staff and benefit hugely from the opportunity.

The Denon DN-700H was installed by Mülheim-based A/V specialists Hamann Media Tec GmbH and supplies background music to the hotel's foyer, lounge and bistro. It was chosen because of its high quality, but also because it can stream audio from a wide range of sources. At Hot

Switzerland - Panasonic System Communications Company Europe has announced a new development in the long-standing partnership with the IOC, as the official Opening Ceremony on 21 December 2013 marked the re-opening of the IOC Olympic Museum to the general public.

Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the museum houses permanent and temporary exhibits relating to sport and the Olympic Games movement. With more than 1,500 exhibit pieces in addition to audio-visuals, multimedia and other speech mediums, the museum is the largest Olympic Games archive in the world and one of Lausanne's prime tourist sites, attracting more than 200,000 visitors each year.

After 20 years of existence, the institution closed last year on 29 January 2012 for renovations to be completed by the end of 2013. The break in public opening has allowed the museum to look ahead to the 21st century and evaluate how i

UK - From gaffer tapes to stage floors, Le Mark's professional products have played a starring role throughout this years series of ITV's smash hit show The X Factor.

Le Mark's gloss black StudioTak professional stage floor has once again been installed on the set for ITV2's Xtra Factor, and also used on parts of the main X Factor stage and props.

Ideal for temporary sets, StudioTak is removed just as easily as it's installed, minimising setup and breakdown costs, whilst offering a stunning high gloss visual effect.

Dirty Rigger, MagTape professional gaffer tape, and a huge selection of supporting products have also played their part over the 10 years the prime time show has been running.

(Jim Evans)

Russia - Luc Lafortune held a lecture of great cultural interest, called Art and Poetry in Stage Lighting, on 5 December 2013 in Saint Petersburg. This exclusive event was held on the modern 'New Stage' in the Alexandrinsky Theatre by the theatre's managerial staff itself, with the cooperation of TDM Stage Equipment and Clay Paky. The event media partners were the Evening Petersburg newspaper, the main Russian media and state television.

Lafortune is considered one of the most creative lighting designers of the last 30 years. He is the author of several prestigious lighting design projects, including the shows of the Cirque du Soleil, the Turkmenistan Independence Day celebrations, the musical The House of the Dancing Water, and Peter Gabriel's Growing up tour.

In Saint Petersburg, in front of an audience of professionals, Lafortune spoke about his

Uruguay - Uruguayan rock and ska band La Vela Puerca played two shows at the Teatro de Verano Ramón Collazo Theatre in Montevideo, with lighting directed by Sebastián Cybulski using Robe Robin LEDWash 600 and ColorSpot 1200E moving lights.

For this show, called Uno para todos, Sebastián worked with Gastón Aladefh as assistant LD, adapting an original design from a live performance DVD shoot in Buenos Aires ... and this time adding the Robe fixtures.

The 16 x ColorSpot 1200E ATs and 16 x Robin LEDWash 600s were rigged on two back trusses and all the lighting equipment for the performances was provided by locally based rental company Alejandro Ottonello Iluminación.

Sebastián comments, "All the lights were in excellent condition. Together with the Solís Theatre in Montevideo, Alejandro Ottonello Iluminación has been a pioneer in bringing good quality Europe

UK - The team at LSi will be taking a break now until the 2nd January 2014. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all our readers for following LSI Online news throughout 2013 and wish you a very happy holiday season, however you might be celebrating.

The daily online news will resume on Thursday 2 January.

Merry Christmas!

USA - Yamaha Corporation and Line 6 have announced a definitive agreement for Yamaha to acquire Line 6, a leading manufacturer of solutions for musicians. The acquisition expands Yamaha's portfolio of modelling guitar processing products as well as pro-audio equipment, and offers new and exciting opportunities for accelerated growth for both companies, says a statement.

Line 6 products have been at the forefront of digital audio development for musicians and audio professionals since the company pioneered the digital modelling guitar amplifier in 1996.

Under the terms of the agreement, Yamaha will operate Line 6 as a wholly owned subsidiary to fully realise the compelling opportunities for the two brands with Line 6's operations continuing as before and its management team remaining in place.

"I am very happy that Line 6, which has been creating innovative products and

USA - Illumination at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, is an interactive holiday light experience where trees become a dynamic living canvas. Created by visual design group Lightswitch and hailed for its creative use of lighting, including Elation LED PAR lights, Illumination is a whole new way to experience the Arboretum in winter and has proved a magnificent way to draw more visitors there in winter months.

A non-profit outdoor museum where over 4,100 different species of trees and other plants are highlighted in special landscaped areas, the collection is brilliantly illuminated using over 300 Elation Level Q7 IP PARs, among other luminaires, provided by Chicago-based lighting equipment supplier Intelligent Lighting Creations (ILC).

"The installation challenges the perception that trees in winter are dead," says Light

USA - The Immanuel Baptist Church in Duncan, Oklahoma, needed a new sound system, one that would maintain speech intelligibility throughout its 800-seat sanctuary at any volume - that would reach well into the back of the church and up into its balcony, yet not create reverberations bouncing off of the untreated sidewalls and concrete-and-carpet floor of the church or from its stained-glass sidewalls. That's a tough challenge, but one met by a RoomMatch loudspeaker system.

FBP Systems, an AV systems designer and integrator with offices in Tulsa and Las Vegas, used just four Bose RoomMatch modules - an RM5520, RM7020, RM9020 and RM12020 loudspeaker, and a pair of RMS215 subwoofers - to create a single point-source cluster mounted above and just ahead of the pulpit that evenly covers all of the church's audience areas. The system was designed and modelled using Bose ControlSpace s

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