UK - No Making Your Mind Up! was necessary for EW Productions Ltd - the business arm of charity alternative-teaching organisation, Entertainment Workshops - when they were asked to manage the production of a 30-date UK tour for 80s group and Eurovision winners, Cheryl, Jay & Mike Formerly Of Bucks Fizz.

Indeed it was a chance for recently graduated Entertainment Workshops' apprentice, Phil Smith, to exercise his potential by designing and engineering the live shows for the wide spectrum of venues throughout the tour. Under the guiding eye of MD Paul Byrne, Smith specified lighting fixtures from Prolight Concepts new eLumen8 range as, having trained previously with the units, he knew them to be compact, bright, responsive and efficient.

The specification led Prolight Conce

Brazil - Leading Brazilian production company, Mix 2 Go, selected its modular iLive system to record the 20th anniversary concert for renowned singer, Ivete Sangalo.

"I chose iLive simply because it sounds amazing! To mix 128 live channels is not an easy task but the network options of the system are very reliable for live and broadcast work, and iLive has an awesome workflow with the capacity we need for a recording of this magnitude," explains OB engineer, Beto Neves.

The system captured 128 recording channels and 16 channels from the video recording, including both audio and video feeds. The iLive-144 surface was installed in Mix2Go's OB truck, whilst an iDR-64 and an iDR10 rack were located in the hall. iLive was complemented by Focusrite units and RTS intercoms, all connected with optical fibre

The musical director could speak from within the OB Truck directly

UK - Award-winning temporary event power provider Power Logistics has secured a three-year contract to deliver the New Forest & Hampshire County Show with a site-wide power solution for their event.

The contract includes the provision of all generators, electrical equipment, distribution boards and cabling for the show and a complete project management solution. In addition they will also be supplying lighting for around the site and within temporary structures, from tower lights to fluorescents. This is the first time that the New Forest & Hampshire County Show has used one company to provide all their requirements and Power Logistics were chosen because of their impressive track record at large scale events.

Mike Whitehouse, Power Logistics' managing director said: "Power Logistics is honoured to have been chosen to support such a long-standing and highly respected even

USA - It is not every day that families can make their way through an castle holding a spectacular mirror maze, but in Tennessee's mountain resort town of Pigeon Forge, thousands find themselves embarking on an adventure to rescue a princess in a space with more than 288 potential turns among hundreds of mirrored walls with lighting and effects installed by Bandit Lites.

With a new haunted attraction being installed on the first floor of the Castle of Chaos building at the Hollywood Wax Museum Entertainment Centre, Hannah's Maze of Mirrors moved to the second floor of the same building. Due to the complex nature of efficiently creating a maze of mirrors and since Bandit installed the lighting in the original maze, Kuvera Partners once again reached out to the Bandit Lites' system and sales solutions team for the reinstallation.

Bandit added new elements including video monitor

UK - New levels of colour and imagination graced the familiar landmark of the Halifax Transmitting Tower in a special one night light installation Ploughcroft Eco Northern Lights designed by James Bawn, which illuminated the 45.7m relay mast located on the top of Southowram bank, overlooking the Yorkshire town of Halifax.

Lighting equipment was supplied by Blackburn based HSL. The project was commissioned to help local roofing company Ploughcroft celebrate achievements in energy saving for numerous homes, schools and business across Yorkshire.

The tower, owned by Arquiva, is a broadcast and communication facility receiving TV and radio transmission signals from Emley Moor Tower and beaming these to areas in the north, east and centre of the town of Halifax which are blocked by the hill on which the tower resides. It also accommodates 3G and 4G cellular generators for se

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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

UK - Leading Scottish lighting rental operation, Glasgow based S.M Lighting, is the first investor north of the border in Robe BMFL Spots.

The 24 x BMFL Spot fixtures were delivered by Robe UK to Scott Munro and his team, who regularly deliver equipment for a wide variety of music based shows and events.

SM wanted to replace their existing stock of large arena / outdoor stage moving spot fixtures with something that was new, of the moment and with a good future lifespan, and after narrowing down the options to a choice of two premium brands, they chose Robe and the BMFL Spot.

With Robe Robin 600E Spots, LEDWash 600s and LEDBeam 100s already in stock, Scott and his crew all knew that Robe's reliability factor and build-quality was excellent.

Scott comments that the Scottish market is generally tougher and less buoyant than south of the border, so any ROI takes longer, and p

Russia - Nightclub and karaoke bar Batyr has everything needed to turn an ordinary evening into a remarkable experience: a high-energy environment, talented resident DJs, a top sound system and Martin Professional lighting equipment. In November 2014, the club's resident lighting designer and winner of Martin's 2013 Russian Lighting Designer Contest, Artem Sagaidak, tested a pair of Martin MAC Viper AirFX lighting fixtures + Quadray kits over two nights with great success.

Sagaidak first encountered the AirFXs at a Martin seminar in Moscow. As a fan of mid-air effects, he immediately wanted to test these fixtures in a club. He reached out to Martin product manager Anton Anufriey and with his support, a short-term loan was arranged for the following weekend - a disco night and a party titled This City Does Not Sleep. Sagaidak also regularly uses his personal M2GO during sh

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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

Belgium - Located in Genk, Yunus Emre Camii is the largest Turkish mosque in Belgium. The industrial city of Genk is cosmopolitan, with large Turkish, Italian and Greek communities, and up to 1000 people attend the mosque for prayers each Friday. It has also become a popular tourist attraction for visitors of all faiths.

Since the building was constructed, the original sound system had never served its purpose. The sound system was plagued by poor intelligibility and reliability while the mics constantly picked up and transmitted echoes and noise. To resolve this, Yunus Emre asked several companies to quote for a new system and the project for design and installation was awarded to Hifi Center Herteleer.

Kristof Broux of Hifi Center Herteleer explained, "The budget was tight and we were the most expensive, so to convince them of our ability to deliver the best audio solut

USA - Dolly Parton may have become one of the world's most widely recognized superstars, but through it all the Locust Ridge, Tennessee native has remained steadfastly true to her Smokey Mountain roots. The American country music legend's down home devotion was on full display at her recently concluded My People musical, which celebrates her brother Randy, sister Cassie and other family members who inspired her celebrated career.

As deeply rooted in family tradition as she is, however, Parton is a consummate entertainer who understands that even an old-time country show needs to make a bold theatrical statement to reach today's audiences. This is why the director of My People called on lighting designer Susan Rose to add an extra visual dimension to the show's stage. Rose drew on the power of two stalwart LED moving fixtures from Chauvet to accomplish this task des

Austria - A selection of Avolites gear including Tiger Touch II and Expert Pro consoles with Titan Wings hit the slopes of Mayrhofen, Austria for the mountain-top mayhem of alpine music festival Snowbombing.

Known as the greatest show on snow, the festival was a week-long whirlwind of world-class electronic DJs and bands, across 17 venues in a magnificent mountain setting.

Stephen Abbiss got the party swinging for Fat Boy Slim on main stage, The Racket Club, using a Tiger Touch II and Fader Wing. The console was controlling a house rig featuring Sharpys, Robe 100 LED beams, Mac 700s and PC beams as well as Sunstrips and Atomics.

"I always use an Avo for Fat Boy Slim shows", notes Abbiss. "The shows are so hands on, I need a desk with great live access.

"We've got set looks for set songs which we try to do on the fly. It was a bit more free-rein than nor

Europe - Lighting designer Tom Campbell has used Showline's powerful LED strobe, the SL Nitro 510C, to add vibrancy and punch at key moments on Australian progressive rockers Karnivool's European tour.

For the run of shows which saw the band play dates in countries such as France, The Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic, Campbell specified just four of the Showline strobes from Siyan. "The units are bright and impressive enough for this amount to be ideal," he explains. "I would normally have used at least double that with older fixtures."

The tour was an amalgamation of Karnivool's first three albums with Campbell's concept reflecting this. It saw big strong white/tungsten rock looks for album one 'Themata', darker, moody looks for album two Sound Awake and asymmetrical looks with maximum impact for the band's latest offering Asymmetry

USA - Vividly dynamic lightshows weren't the only thing only on display at the Second Annual Student Lighting Showcase. Also shining brightly was the creative bond that connects generations with a shared passion for lighting, as students from four colleges got the opportunity to have their designs evaluated by some of the most respected LDs in the industry.

Held at the Chauvet Professional Showroom in Burbank, the one-day event drew students from California Institute of the Arts, the University of California Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts, LACC Theatre Academy, and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Groups of two or three students from each school collaborated on designing a lightshow for one song chosen by them. Lighting designer Joe Spangler programmed the one-song shows for the students.

When the student lightshows were completed, they

USA - Godsmack's US tour marks the debut of the Meyer Sound Lyon linear sound reinforcement system recently purchased by Rainbow Production Services of Atkinson, N.H. The touring Lyon system is part of Rainbow's new Leo family inventory, which also includes 24 Leo-M loudspeakers for long-throw applications.

"I've always liked working with Meyer rigs, but Lyon is something special," says Scott Tkachuk, FOH engineer for Godsmack. " When the band's pushing hard and I'm going for it, I've still got 30 percent of my headroom still available. I also like the way it tracks every move I make on my Midas PRO9 console. When I pull something out in the mix, it's all right there. It's a very responsive box."

Having supplied Meyer Sound systems for every event genre from rock to comedy, Rainbow looked no further when it came time to expand its inventory. "The touri

Germany - Rental company Headroom Media Service GmbH has recently acquired a large number of Elation Professional Cuepix Panels and has used the versatile RGB matrix luminaires on several outings in Germany and elsewhere.

After their first live tests, including productions with UK pop sensation Jessie J and US megasellers BoyzIIMen, as well as some corporate shows, Headroom Media CEO Andreas Adelhofer stated that he is very pleased with both the quality and versatility of the latest addition to their lighting rental pool.

"We were able to include the Cuepix Panels in the lighting design of some of our more prestigious shows and got great feedback from both the lighting designers and operators," Adelhofer commented. "This is a product just to my liking, well thought through and crafted, scalable with high light output. It seems like designers are thinking of new

Germany - Lighting designer Manuel da Costa has chosen to use a significant number of Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE and Sharpy fixtures on the latest series of hit TV show The Voice of Germany.

Spanning four seasons, the talent show is extremely popular with viewing figures in the millions. To make sure season four packed a huge punch with fans, da Costa specified 99 x Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K20 fixtures and 108 x Sharpys from Cologne-based supplier Magic Light and Sound.

"The biggest challenge this series was to find a set-up that allowed me and my team to change the stage visually so it stayed diverse and exciting over the course of about 80 titles," says da Costa. "My design therefore comprised various fixture blocks. This block system worked individually, in combination and as a whole."

Da Costa rigged the B-EYEs in these blocks all round the studio,

UK - Creative Technology (CT) has expanded its inventory of Riedel Communications' pioneering real-time video, audio, data and communications solutions. Engineered to provide exceptional performance and flexibility even in the most demanding environments, the Riedel systems contribute to CT's ability to meet the communications and signal transport requirements of any sports, corporate, exhibition, or entertainment event.

"Our success as a staging services provider is a direct result of our innovative application of the latest technology alongside the very best technical and operational personnel," said Dave Crump, CT CEO for Europe and the Middle East. "We have been using Riedel equipment in the US for some time. This new investment underlines the confidence we have in Riedel equipment and the critical role it plays, in enabling our teams worldwide to provide high

UK - Panasonic has launched a new B2B Partner Portal, to cover more products and make it easier for distributors and resellers to access customer facing information and register new business.

The new web-based service is open to clients across the company's Visual Systems and Communications divisions Europe wide, and will be expanded to other business divisions later this year. Professionals who sign up for the scheme have access to the latest product information, sales news and business incentives, with rewards scaled according to the level of partnership.

The Partner Portal categorises clients between three different partner levels - Registered, Expert or Solutions - depending on the client's level of training and sales volume. This level tailors the content which partners can see, with more exclusive benefits for 'Expert' and 'Solutions' partners.

The Partner Portal featu

UK - d&b audiotechnik introduced three new products at PLASA Focus 2015 at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. The new D20 amplifier, the MAX2 stage monitor and ArrayProcessing, a significant new feature within the d&b ArrayCalc V8 simulation software, made their UK debut in the New Dock Hall.

ArrayProcessing is a new optional feature for optimising the tonal and level balance of d&b J, V and Y-Series line array systems across an entire listening area, significantly improving the consistency of performance. The D20 joins the D80 as part of the four channel 2RU amplifier family. It features intuitive user interfaces and fast, responsive remote control and monitoring via Ethernet, through the OCA protocol. The MAX2 is a flexible 15" stage monitor, which can be pole mounted on a d&b subwoofer and used as a small, full range system.

The Y-Series also made its first appearance at th

UK - Northern Stage Services Ltd has unveiled a new corporate brand following the acquisition of the business of Lancelyn Lighting and Lancelyn Theatre Supplies in February this year.

Now operating as National Stage Technology Ltd the company is able to offer UK-wide services for specialist lighting, sound and stage solutions for the theatrical, architectural and construction markets. National Stage Technology, based out of Manchester, Wirral and Oxford, boasts access to world-class manufacturing, highly trained and experienced lighting specialists, sound and stage engineering experts.

Patrick Colin, managing director at National Stage Technology, commented: "Northern Stage's acquisition of the business of Lancelyn Lighting and Lancelyn Theatre Supplies earlier this year has added strength and depth to our company, and our new unified approach is certain to benefit all of

USA - Area sales managers for international trade distributers John Hornby Skewes & Co. Ltd., recently visited the Massachusetts headquarters of pickup, preamp, and amplification manufacturer Fishman, and were welcomed and hosted by company founder and president, Larry Fishman and his team.

As well as a tour of the factory and office complex, the team received advanced sales training on the full line of Fishman products.

The JHS team were accompanied by Fishman European brand ambassador, Steve Fairclough who is working alongside JHS to produce dealer training and sales focused in-store clinics.

JHS executive director, sales & marketing Alan Smith added, "What a fantastic opportunity to see the amazing attention to detail and quality throughout the design and production process. The passion and pride in producing the world's best products runs through the organisation fr

USA - In Lewis Carroll's classic Through The Looking Glass, Alice steps into a mirror to enter an incredible world where flowers talk, chess pieces come to life and characters like the Red Queen tickle the imagination with enchanting feats. The 257 guests at the JCC New York's White Hot Night Through The Looking Glass fundraiser didn't have to do anything nearly as dramatic as Alice to be treated to a magical evening.

They simply walked into a gym-turned-ballroom on Manhattan's upper West Side and were dazzled by a menagerie of ornamental zebras, lions and fanciful creatures not found in nature, as well as ornamental gardens, garlanded gates, glittering centrepieces and a multi-faceted lighting display created with Next NXT-1 moving LED panels from Chauvet Professional, provided by WorldStage.

Liron David, founder and CEO of Eventique, the visionary team behind t

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