UK - Lighting and visual production and rental company HSL has announced that John Slevin has joined their management team based in the Blackburn HQ - as technical support manager (projects).

John brings his wealth of experience, great personality and excellent communication skills to HSL on a full time basis - having worked for the company as a crew chief and lighting technician regularly over the last 13 years.

Says HSL MD Simon Stuart, "It's fantastic to have John on-board. We've known him for many years, he shares our ethics, visions and ambitions for the future and is a perfect fit as we embark on a new phase of expansion."

John will be working closely with HSL's busy - and growing - project management team offering technical support and sharing his knowledge an

UK - A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) has provided an energy-efficient LED lighting and control system to meet the diverse, multi-purpose needs of events hosted by The Ballroom, Hyndburn - including theatre-style live shows, dances, conferences, fashion shows and wedding receptions, amongst others.

The classic ballroom, which dates back to 1853, is located within Accrington Town Hall and run by Hyndburn Leisure working in partnership with Hyndburn Borough Council. It recently underwent a £750k respectful restoration to enhance its striking original features, as well as bring its technical facilities right up to date for hosting modern events.

When it came to upgrading The Ballroom's stage and architectural effects lighting systems, the venue wanted to invest in a modern system which could provide a 'wow' factor - and allow the room's look to be tailored for - during their di

USA - The recent Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao match - billed as "the fight of the century" and bringing in a staggering $410 million in pay-per-view TV revenue alone - saw lighting director Jason Eible bring the contest to life on a new Avolites Sapphire Touch console purchased specifically with this huge event in mind.

Eible is no stranger to this kind of pressure and attention. As the LD for Frank Gatto and Associates out of Boca Raton, Florida, he has spent his entire nearly-20-year career lighting boxing and UFC events. "I have been using Avo as long as I have been doing lighting," Eible says. He points specifically to the Playback feature of the Titan software that runs on Avolites consoles as something that he leans on heavily.

"A boxing match is not just a single event," he notes. "There are other events surrounding it, inc

UK - Adlib Lighting has recently invested over £1m with Martin Professional, increasing its MAC inventory to over 200+ units including the award winning MAC Viper family, MAC Quantum Wash, and MAC Aura.

Mike Docksey, general manager of lighting and video at Adlib, commented, "Adlib has seen significant growth over the past few years and as such there has been a real need to further invest in new equipment to supplement our rental stocks. It was extremely important for us to invest wisely in the resources behind the talented people we have here at Adlib so that they can continue to flourish.

"As such, with an already extensive inventory of Martin products in our ranks, it was an easy decision to demonstrate our faith in the brand once more by way of a series of purchases across the range in a relatively short time frame."

Adlib director and designer of li

Belgium / USA - ArKaos PRO will be exhibiting at InfoComm 2015 on the stand of its US distributor AC Lighting Inc (Booth 6171).

ArKaos PRO will present its Kling-Net protocol in conjunction with LEDMaster, its all-in-one solution for easy LED show control. LEDMaster uses Kling-Net to add a layer of intelligence to any LED device by automatically recognising and configuring it to make it ready for mapping. Parameters can be changed at will, visuals imported and live patterns generated. Scenes can be triggered live, automatically, randomly or sequentially. LEDMaster brings sophisticated LED control within the reach of all technical abilities: simply map, programme and playback.

ArKaos PRO will introduce and demonstrate the latest version of its successful professional MediaMaster software which has consistently remained at the forefront of the industry's creative projection and

featured content

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

Israel - The state owned Israel Broadcasting Authority has upgraded its main news studio in Jerusalem, with help from ETC and dealer Danor Theatre and Studio Systems Ltd.

The lighting for the Channel 1 studio needed to be suitable for the demands of high frequency cameras - so the new ETC Source Four LED Series 2 Daylight HD, with tuneable cool white lighting in the 4000-6500K range, was ideal. The studio was open in time for the Israeli elections, which were held in March, with 50 ETC Source Four LED Series 2 Daylight HD fixtures providing on screen lighting.

Lighting designer and head of the IBA's lighting department Boris Gelfand explains, "One of the main challenges was how to fit a new modern studio into a 40 year old, 600 square metre TV facility. The studio is based on two sets which rotate to change angles and directions, with light boxes, touch screens and a 12 m

UK - This year, the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) celebrated 15 years of their show stopping live performance week at London's Royal Albert Hall with another high profile line up. Artists included The Stereophonics, The Who, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and many more, plus a night of comic hilarity hosted by Kevin Bridges.

West London based rental specialist Entec Sound & Light has been involved as the audio supplier for the event right from the start, and over the years has fine-tuned the sound system to perfection for this prestigious venue.

This year they upped the ante again on the sonic front, as the first company in the UK to utilize a Beta version of d&b Audiotechnik's new Array Processing software which was officially launched at the Prolight+Sound expo in Frankfurt.

Entec's systems designer and technology support expert Liam Halpin explained how usin

featured content

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

USA - Halestorm is no stranger to touring, but for their tour promoting their newest album Into the Wild Life, the Grammy-award winning rock band took with them a lighting package from Bandit Lites.

The tour kicked off 22 April at the historic Ryman Auditorium and continues through September. Considering the vivid images a name such as Into the Wild Life conjures, lighting designer Giovanny Carvajal created a design that could connect with the mood of the material, while incorporating aspects of the physical design elements used in both the actual album artwork itself, as well as in the videos.

To accomplish that look, and keeping in mind the need to use all trailer space efficiently (and the ever present desire to always get the most bang for the buck) the lighting design chosen utilises a four tower format with GLP Impressions X4's, two two-way Moles, a 3k Stro

UK - The Sound Design team at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre specified 28 KV2 Audio active EX loudspeakers to enhance a production of Little Shop of Horrors.

With the production featuring a live band it was felt that the existing in house system would not provide the required level and coverage required for such a show.

A total of 20 EX 6's were flown around the venue to ensure even and accurate coverage for all the audience along with four EX 26's and two EX 10's to further amplify the performance. Bass reinforcement was handled via a single EX 2.2 and single EX 2.5mkII.

Directed by Derek Bond and with live puppetry and design undertaken by Toby Olié (War Horse) it was vital that the audio reproduction was of an equal quality.

Deputy head of sound Sorcha Williams comments: "Little Shop of Horrors is a tremendously fun production, not least b

UK - When the Stamford Corn Exchange Theatre in Lincolnshire took the decision to invest in a permanently installed active line array system for its 399-seat auditorium, it opted for an RCF HDL10-A from locally based LUX Technical.

The Theatre, which was built within the shell of the original Corn Exchange Hall in the Victorian era, needed a versatile system to handle its varied programme ranging from stand-up comedy to local am-dram and full blown rock concerts. LUX Technical bid successfully for the contract which was issued by theatre manager Judith Mackie. Having experience LUX Technical's larger HDL20-A rental system on many occasions, her team had been fully aware of the system's coverage capabilities.

"We decided to install a permanent system because when touring companies arrive with their own production they often carry enormous speakers. We wanted to make it eas

Indonesia - Global TV in Jakarta recently moved out of its old rented studios and constructed a completely new broadcast facility consisting of four independent studios. These have been equipped with PR Lighting fixtures, supplied by local distribution company, Acoustic & Lighting.

The company already has a track record of working with the station's owners, the MNC Group who gradually started investing in PR XR200, XLED 1037 and XPar 360.

For the new project Acoustic & Lighting's successful bid was tendered not only on the back of PR Lighting's performance capabilities but also their extended warranty. "These were specified from the very beginning because they offer excellent value for money," said Edwin, of Acoustic & Lighting.

Requiring essential functionality for their daily round of comedy, light entertainment and popular music they dipped extensively into PR L

Namibia - DWR Distribution reports that The Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMA), staged at the Swakopmund Indoor Sports Centre in the coastal town of Swakopmund, was lit up with 18 Robe BMFLs forming part of a large Robe rig. dB Audio Namibia were entrusted to supply the full technical support for the awards hosted on 1 May and the main event, held on 2 May, both of which were broadcast live for NBC TV.

Rockstar 4000 were the producers of this popular production, while MTC (Mobile Telecommunications Company and NBC (Namibian Broadcasting Corporation), were the main sponsors.

The inspiration for the lighting design came from Jonathan Bandli from Bad Weather, who was commissioned by dB Audio Namibia. "We wanted to simplify the design and go back to basics," said Jonathan. "While we wanted to have something elegant and grand, the lighting had to be versatile to acc

UK - Housed in a landmark industrial building, a former flour mill on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, Baltic is a major international centre for contemporary art. Baltic has no permanent collection, providing instead an ever-changing calendar of exhibitions and events that give a compelling insight into contemporary artistic practice. Baltic's dynamic, diverse and international programme ranges from blockbuster exhibitions to innovative new work and projects created by artists working within the local community.

Baltic's River Terrace is a function room featuring an outdoor balcony that stretches out along the banks of the River Tyne. When local hospitality operator Fresh Express, who look after both on site restaurants and the buildings fantastic private hire spaces were looking to up-grade the facilities in the room, they called in Gary Nicholson of Newcastle ba

USA - J. R. Clancy is a lead sponsor of the Jay O. Glerum Rigging Master Classes, planned for a summer 2016 launch by USITT.

The series of classes honours master rigging expert and instructor Jay O. Glerum, author of the definitive Stage Rigging Handbook and one of the industry's most knowledgeable professionals and teachers of rigging use and safety. Glerum passed away in 2014.

"Many theatre technology professionals point to Jay Glerum as their teacher and mentor in the proper way to use rigging technology, from counterweight to automated systems," said Mike Murphy, J. R. Clancy president. "Naming a series of master classes after Jay is a fitting tribute to one of the most influential people in our profession. We at J. R. Clancy are honoured to have this opportunity to remember him."

The annual training sessions will be offered in different locati

Norway - Just inside the Arctic Circle, in northern Norway, is the town of Bod°, where the new, multipurpose Stormen Konserthuset is an important addition to the area's cultural facilities.

"From the initial planning stages, the acoustic quality of the various venues was a major element to consider," explains Stormen's technical director Håvard Christensen. "We contracted Drammen Lyd AS to install d&b audiotechnik V-Series systems in three of the venues: the Main Hall, the Small Hall and the SINUS. We've also acquired two portable E-Series systems that we can deploy anywhere in the one of the centre's open spaces."

The Main Hall is the largest of Stormen's venues and has been designed to serve a wide range of performance styles. "The stage can be completely transformed", explains Christensen, "from a classical acoustic hall to a theatre

UK - Raycom, a key distributor of wireless sound solutions for the European broadcast and professional live sound markets, has launched a revised website with full e-commerce capability at www.raycom.co.uk.

Andy Clements, business development manager at Raycom says: "We've realised for some time that our customers are rarely working regular 9-5 hours; the ability to source equipment at a time that suits them is vital."

Whilst being the new shop-front of Raycom, the new site continues to provide a wealth of information on their product ranges from world renowned manufacturers such as Wisycom, Lectrosonics and Phonak alongside their own radio talkback base station the RTB6211D.

Andy continues: "The aim is to steadily grow the range of products available over the coming months by introducing more ranges from the core manufacturers and additional offerings suitabl

USA - Lightconverse reports that Live Design has named it among their Products of the Year for 2014-2015.

Chosen and voted for by panels of leading industry experts in the fields of Lighting, projection and sound, Lightconverse 3D Show Platform v56 won Product of the Year in the Lighting Software category.

Awards will be presented to all winners during Live Design's New York Master Classes (NYMC), held from 2-6 June, 2015 at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts and The Gallatin School.

In a continual effort over the years to shrink the gap between virtual and reality, Lightconverse has steadily increased its feature set by delivering a dynamic array of capabilities in one complete platform, offering solutions for visualizing and integrating multiple show disciplines.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Zylight, a leading manufacturer of innovative LED lighting solutions, will showcase its product line for professional AV applications at InfoComm 2015, including versions of its F8-100 LED Fresnel and IS3c LED large panel light housed in white fixtures, new F8-B black light and F8-200 Fresnel, and Newz on-camera light. Zylight will be co-located with Ushio America in Booth 6844 during the show, which runs 17-19 June in Orlando, Florida.

"Many churches and corporations haven't adopted professional LED lighting technology because black fixtures don't blend in well with the décor," explained Charlie Collias, Zylight senior VP, worldwide sales. "White lighting fixtures are much more popular for permanent installation. Our new white housings will help houses of worship and other facilities enjoy more reliable lighting with significant power savings."<

USA - The Media Networking Alliance has announced the appointment of chairmen for its Technical and Marketing Working Groups, nominating Kevin Gross and Will Hoult to the respective positions.

Kevin Gross is founder of AVA Networks and a leading independent consultant to AV equipment manufacturers and systems designers. He is a pioneer in media networking, having previously conceived and developed the CobraNet transport protocol for high-quality audio over Ethernet networks. He also helped build the first configurable DSP system and developed early DAW products.

On taking up the chair of the MNA Technical Working Group, he stated, "The technical activities of the MNA, as with everything the MNA does, will focus on adoption of AES67. Technical activities that can improve adoption include development of implementation resources, technical education initiatives and technical

UK - White Light is once again returning to the annual ABTT Theatre Show, having being part of the event since the very beginning. Now in its 36th year, the show will be held on 24-25 June and will be re-locating to Alexandra Palace in the West Hall. The ABTT Theatre Show welcomes visitors and exhibitors from various sectors of the entertainment industry and provides the opportunity for discussion, discovery and development.

As a complete solutions provider, as well as a leading lighting supplier for West End and touring theatre, White Light will be exhibiting on stand D30. Whether clients are looking to invest in LED, discuss the latest in lighting, sound and video control software, or hire audio equipment for their next production, White Light is looking forward to meeting them at the show and hearing about their latest news.

Over its years of exhibiting at the show, White L

UK - Production industry consultancy entertaining sustainability returns to the ABTT Theatre Show in 2015, as the show moves to London's historic Alexandra Palace on 24-25 June.

Centre stage on Stand E25 will be a live demonstration of :entertaining sustainability's real-time monitoring system from MeasureMyEnergy, giving visitors to the show an opportunity to see how a building's energy, water and gas consumption can be interrogated down to one-minute resolution. Using such systems can result in annual savings of 10% - 20% through the ability to target energy-efficiency measures.

Also available for demo will be the system's inbuilt reporting system, which makes short work of generating the outputs needed for Arts Council, Creative Scotland, CRC, ESOS, IG Tools, and other compulsory/voluntary legislative programmes. Advice on financing the equipment, such as the Energy Efficie

Latest Issue. . .