UK - So popular was a 'learn-to-drift' day out last year organised for staff, crew and regular freelancers by west London lighting and visual specialists Colour Sound Experiment ... that they revved, roared and oversteered their way right back for more of the same ... this time at Rockingham, the UK's fastest racing circuit..

The experience liberated a thousand petrol-head fantasies and gave everyone - at all levels of driving ability - a fantastic, all-action day of speed, skidding and sliding to remember. Colour Sound's Haydn Cruickshank, himself a bit of a drift exponent, illustrated first-hand the potential adrenaline rush and sense of achievement to be gained from this exciting motorsport.

Over 50 guests joined team Colour Sound eager to learn from the expertise and audacit

USA/Canada - Parasol Systems has announced the sale of the demonstration STAR600 unit that was showcased in the High End Systems booth at LDI. For those who attended LDI, the STAR600 system was hanging dead centre of the High End Systems booth and featured six Shapeshifter C2s and three of their brand new SolaSpot Pro 1500 luminaries.

The High End booth was located in a great location right by the main entrance and was enhanced with the dynamic features of the Parasol STAR600, attracting many spectators.

"We were very fortunate to partner up with High End Systems at LDI," says Paul Rabinovitz, business development manager for Parasol Systems. He adds, "It was great for us to show potential clients what the STAR600 looked like in action, and it added a great vibrant element to the High End Systems booth as well."

In addition to the sale of the STAR600, Par

USA - This past November CNBC tapped The Lighting Design Group (LDG) to light their 25th anniversary celebration. This year also marks LDG's 25th anniversary. The elaborate event was held at Rose Hall, home to Jazz at Lincoln Centre, in The Time Warner Building. LDG staff designers, programmers, gaffers, and Local One I.A.T.S.E crew members worked to install the affair over the course of two days and within several Rose Hall locations.

The first event of the evening occurred in The Rose Theatre, lit by LDG president Steve Brill. The one-hour, panel show was broadcast live and hosted by CNBC's Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money. "Due to several variables we opted to use VL 3500s for much of the heavy lifting," said Brill. One was the shutter capabilities, which allowed granular control over the lighting of each panelist. "They are also very powerful units, allowi

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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.

South Africa - South African audiences were captivated as War Horse, brought to the country by Pieter Toerien and the National Theatre, played at The Teatro, Montecasino in Johannesburg recently. The show then moved to Cape Town at Artscape Opera House from 5 December 2014. Technical support in both venues was provided by Gearhouse Splitbeam.

A truly iconic show based on a book written by Michael Morpurgo, War Horse was only designed to run for a couple of weeks . . . then they did it again and again and again and it's currently in its seventh successful year on the West End in London. The journey has seen the horses redesigned - the life-sized puppets were created and built in Cape Town by Handspring Puppet Company - and the early days saw performers receiving hours of physio every day. As the show was very physical on performers, more actors were brought in to ta

UK - In December 2013 Stage Technologies' sister company Delstar Engineering was commissioned to provide a huge scenic structure for the set of ANNE, a new play about the life of Anne Frank. Produced by Imagine Nation, with set design by Bernhard Hammer and directed by Theu Boermans, the play is performed at the new 'Theater Amsterdam', a purpose-built venue in the Westerlijke Houthavens district of Amsterdam.

The play covers the two years that Anne Frank and her family hide in an attic in Amsterdam, as well as some events prior to their secret life and following their discovery and deportation by the Nazis. The intimate and powerful production not only utilises Anne Frank's own words from her diary but also plays out against a life-size backdrop of the Frank family's flat.

The audience views a series of projection screens that part to form a proscenium at various times

Denmark - Danish brand Change Lingerie recently held an outstanding fashion show for the presentation of The Intimate Britney Spears, the collection created and designed in conjunction with the American pop star. Nordic Rentals, a leading Danish rental and event management supplier, opted for Analog Way's Ascender 48 to ensure a flawless and visually stunning show.

At the Forum in Copenhagen, Change Lingerie introduced the Intimate Britney Spears line in the presence of the artist, as well as 5,000 attendees. Nordic Rentals was selected to create an astonishing fashion show.

As a background to the catwalk and stage where lingerie models and dancers performed, an ultra-wide curved screen of 44m x 5.5m was utilised. A total of six Panasonic DZ-21 video-projectors were blended to provide the panoramic curved image. The entire show was built in a Watchout 5 system, with eye catchi

Spain - NEO 5 A ES and NEO 5 IP are two new installation products joining the NEO Series. Designed and developed by WORK Pro, these new products "are innovative and smart solutions developed to complement NEO Series in order to provide AV professionals with powerful solutions that fit the requirements of every type of installations besides to offer additional advantages such as the optimization in energy consumption", the company says.

The NEO 5 A ES is the updated version of NEO 5 A, developed by WORK Pro with the objective of maximizing savings in energy consumption and improving efficiency. Under this 'green' company philosophy, the company has come up with a smart solution whereby the loudspeaker is capable of shutting down when not receiving audio signal. This auto-off feature means a reduction in its consumption below 1W under these circumstances. Thanks to this

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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.
www.cameolight.com

USA - Alcorn McBride, the leading manufacturer of show control, audio and video equipment for the themed entertainment industry, introduced two new products at the recent IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) 2014 convention: AmpTraXX, a16-channel amplifier with DSP, and the DVM8500-AB, a single-channel HD video playback unit with built-in amp and DSP.

Specially designed for vehicle applications, the compact, energy-efficient chassis of AmpTraXX packs 400W RMS into 16 channels of amplification and DSP. Each AmpTraXX channel can provide up to 25W into 8 ohms and independent DSP capability, including a 9-band EQ, dynamic range and compression control, as well as gain and stereo/mono mixing capability. Channel pairs can also be bridged to provide 50W operation if more power is required.

AmpTraXX is programmed with user-friendly software included wit

USA - One way to keep the Halloween spooks away is to keep the lights on and that's what they did at Hard Day of the Dead Fest in Pomona, California, using an Elation lighting rig of Platinum Beam 5R's, LED moving heads, Par lights, and Elation LED video displays. Held on 1-2 November at the Fairplex, Elation dealers Stage Tech, Felix Lighting and Vision's Lighting delivered a large Elation package for Southern California's ultimate Halloween DJ and dance event.

The festival's Hard Main Stage incorporated a Mayan Pyramid design that was conceived by designer Charley Guest of Stage Tech of Santa Fe Springs, California, their fifth year doing the event. The scaffold structure was 210' wide and 70' tall and was accentuated by using two Elation video products throughout the structure's facia. The Hard Stage setup featured Elation EPV 375 HO LED panels that were specified, says Charl

UK - London-based theatre consultancy, Theatreplan LLP has announced the appointment of two new partners to the practice. With appointments that took effect from 1 October, Michael Atkinson and Paul Connolly join current partners, Roger Fox, Dave Ludlam, Clive Odom, Mathew Smethurst-Evan and John Whitaker.

Atkinson first joined Theatreplan as an associate in April 2014 where he designed the stage and working light control systems as well as dimmer engineering for the Copenhagen Opera and a range of other venues. A renowned lighting technology expert whose career has taken him from major West End shows to New York and then back to the UK where he enjoyed a long stint at the National Theatre as Head of Resources, Atkinson's proficiency in all things relating to lighting system design and energy management is nationally recognized.

As well as leading Theatreplan's lighting system

USA - Birmingham, Alabama's Iron City is a new 1,300-capacity music venue that plays host to acts both local and national. It occupies two former automotive warehouses downtown that the owners gutted and renovated to hit the perfect middle between steely grit and modern elegance. As general manager Mike Creager put it, "At Iron City, we aim to do everything a cut above. From production to hospitality, we always shoot for a high standard."

That philosophy extends to sound reinforcement as well. Creager worked with Tim Ogletree at MediaMerge (Chelsea, Alabama) to design a zero-compromise system that would be appropriate for Iron City's wide footprint. Rather than a line array, Creager and Ogletree designed a point-source system using Danley Sound Labs' patented Synergy Horn loudspeakers and Tapped Horn subwoofers.

Although sometimes sceptical of the system's relatively

UK - With just 24 hours notice, London based large format projection specialists, The Projection Studio (TPS) delivered a full projection design to enable a giant image of the BandAid30 music video to be projected onto the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.

It was the first time a full motion video has been projected onto this landmark building.

The song is helping to raise funds and awareness in BandAid30's ongoing fight against Ebola.

TPS's Creative Director Ross Ashton received the call on Friday afternoon from Des Shaw at event production company Ten Alps, who had received final clearance from Bob Geldof, on all the permissions to make the high-profile event happen on the Sunday evening in front of the world's press.

Says Ross Ashton, "We were called at 13.30 on Friday, and by 13.00 on Saturday we had started the install. Naturally I was thrilled to be involved.

China - PR Lighting fixtures had a major presence at the recent 22nd APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Welcome Banquet, which was held at the Water Cube in Beijing.

This event, whose theme this year was 'Shaping the Future through Asia-Pacific Partnership', was very much a showcase for Chinese entertainment and stage lighting brands, providing a great opportunity for the Chinese event technology industry to show its new image and underline how far it has come. And the attendees, represented by the leaders from 21 member countries, were certainly impressed.

The lighting was divided into three distinct sections, and as the leading entertainment lighting company in China, PR Lighting was chosen for its advanced and reliable products.

The first part of the journey was 'The Welcome Pathway' - the road between the Bird's Nest Stadium and Water Cube - which was designed by c

Ireland - Dublin-based Sound Productions recently designed, supplied and commissioned a new JBL beam steering public address system for St. Agnes Catholic Church in the Parish of Crumlin.

Having installed the previous PA system around a decade ago, the new sound solution was specified as part of a complete church renovation project.

According to Sound Productions' senior project manager, Peadar Carley, the aim of the new system was to maintain and improve intelligibility using a more architecturally discreet solution.

"The renovation included the installation of new hard wood flooring which was previously carpeted - and with no absorbing surfaces, this meant that the RT would increase to 3-5 seconds. Therefore we needed a speaker system that would provide precise beam steering," he said.

He turned to a pair of JBL Intellivox-DS280s, distributed in the UK and Eire

USA - Weather conditions have always been the overall challenge and concern for outdoor event providers.

Aside from its impact on visitor attendance, adverse weather conditions impose huge additional costs on lighting equipment deployment - or rather it did. SGM's LED G-Spot moving head, is not only IP65 rated, making it weather resistant, but also includes an active dehumidification device. This reduces the risk of internal condensation while allowing lighting designers to unleash their creativity to the full - in whatever weather is thrown at them during an outdoor event

In recent months, three major amusement parks in the USA have all installed the G-Spot for their main attractions: Cedar Point in Ohio, Kings Island in Ohio and Carowinds in North Carolina.

Behind these installations is Andrew Strain from Blue Haze Entertainment, whose passion is the entertainment business

UK - Sound Technology, distributor of Soundcraft in the UK and Eire, has announced further dates for its popular Soundcraft Vi Series training course.

The dates are as follows: Wednesday 21 January 2015, Tuesday 17 February 2015, Wednesday 18 March 2015, Wednesday 22 April 2015 and Wednesday 20 May 2015.

The course is held at Soundcraft's Potters Bar, Hertfordshire head office and factory, with an opportunity to visit the factory floor to see the Vi manufacturing process. The exception is the January 2015 session which is hosted by Adlib in Liverpool.

Presented by experienced Vi Series engineer and Adlib director Dave Kay, the training is relevant to the Vi6, Vi4, Vi3000 and Vi1, and also covers the new Soundcraft Realtime Rack plug-in engine.

The course is free and open to engineers, venues, hire, installation and production companies.

For more information and to regist

UK - Avolites Ai S8 media servers completed an elegant makeover of the London Coliseum, draping the stage in video content for the British Fashion Awards, held to celebrate the contributions of British designers, creatives and models over the past year.

The glitzy event, attended by some of the biggest names in British fashion, was set against a backdrop including a main projection surface of eight Panasonic projectors blended to create a 6598x830 screen.

Ben Miles used two active Ai S8 servers, with another two used as reserve and programming systems. Another 1920x1080 HD feed to the camera PPU fed the IMAG screens content, such as fashion shoot clips, awards and winners graphics, mostly created by StrangeBeast.

Of the two active servers, one had the UI and three outputs and the other, the UI and two outputs, all outputting 1920x1080 at 50Hz, beautifully synced together.

South Africa - With a background in electronic engineering and having followed the development of LED lighting for many years, Julian Cohen, owner of Johannesburg based rental company Avstage, had been waiting for LED technology to catch up with discharge lamps.

Three decades ago he designed and manufactured large display panels using discrete LEDs and now at last the opportunity came along to purchase new lighting including 12 Robin 300 LEDs, an Avolites Tiger Touch 2 and a haze machine.

In the greater rental market, Avstage caters for corporate events. This environment is unlike rock concerts where lighting is a major element of the production. "Most of our clients are non-technical and when catering for gala dinners or conferences, lighting is more about creating ambience and is only an element of the entire event. It's not about which light is being used and its techn

Japan - It was a challenge for the technical crew of Fuji Television Network (Fuji TV) and Fuji Media Technology (FMT) to find the right fixture to light a set built in the globe shaped observation studio located on the 24th floor of their building. But in the end, they realised that ETC's Selador Desire D60 Daylight luminaires were the right fit.

"Our task was to light this set built in a space that was once a coffee shop, with minimal power," says Hitoshi Hoshino, the executive manager of FMT. "The space also had only 2.4m to the ceiling, so it was impossible to use incandescent lights, not only because of the power restrictions, but also the heat."

The set was built for the live morning breakfast show Mezamashi TV (Alarm Clock TV); behind the cast are windows with a view of Tokyo that creates a backlight that changes with the time and weather. The bigges

USA - When one of US television's most visible sports anchors launched his new sportstalk TV/radio show in early October, lighting designer Victor Fable turned to a lighting package of studio-optimized Elation lighting equipment including DW Series and TVL Series professional white light LED fixtures to light the set.

Rich Eison, well known by US football fans as host of NFL GameDay Morning on the NFL Network and a mainstay on ESPN's SportsCenter from 1996 to 2003, hosts The Rich Eison Show broadcast live Monday-Friday from DirecTV's El Segundo, California Studios on the Audience Network, as well as Fox Sports Radio.

In the summer of 2014, while the space was being refurbished into a television studio for the three-hour show, Victor had time to contemplate his design and the lighting fixtures he would need. "I wanted a variety of professional white light and other

UK - The new Jaguar XE was spectacularly launched in the UK amidst a fully produced musical theatre-style show - staged in a 3000-seat proscenium theatre within London's Earls Court. The 90 minute performance involved 17 different Jaguars through the ages. A Morris Minor, a cast of west end performers, a 30-piece orchestra positioned upstage on a moving riser and musical performances from the likes of Emeli Sandé, Eliza Doolittle and the Kaiser Chiefs were woven in to the narrative fabric of the show.

Freelance sound designer, Sebastian Frost worked closely with Imagination's head of sound, John Del Nero, to create natural theatre sound on the vast 53m x 30m stage, utilising a TiMax SoundHub audio showcontrol delay-matrix, supplied by London-based production hire company, Orbital Sound, not only to contain the sound but also to ensure the 3000-strong audience in the raise

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