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14 March 2016

Contrary to conventional thinking, removing vertical scanning actually creates the best, brightest and safest version of a "liquid sky machine", says the company. The new Aurora 4C and Aurora 4G models give users the ability to simply and easily make stunning "liquid sky" effects on a flat plane.

"These Aurora models look on the outside just like our regular quad-aperture lasers, but with removal of the Y-Axis, they're easier to use, safer to use and brighter than their predecessors," Dan Goldsmith, President of X-Laser USA, said. "Aurora keeps every photon headed toward the audience, so no light i

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14 March 2016

"Asking 'What do women want?' was key to the success," said Dirty Rigger designer Jess Morris. "It had been apparent for a while that the colour pink was by many deemed as stereotypical or even sexist, especially in such a male dominated industry. Another common issue of the traditionally bright ladies rigger gloves was their indiscreet nature, often standing out when working backstage where the idea is, of course, to be as unseen as possible during a performance. These issues meant many women were resorting to wearing men's gloves, often too long and too wide in the finger even in smaller sizes. These areas were all something we neede

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14 March 2016

Staged in the historic Mayfield Depot, a charismatic 'found space' and site of the former Manchester Mayfield railway station, active as a passenger terminal from 1910 to the 1960s after which it became a warehouse and parcels depot. Since the 1980s it's been completely closed and derelict - until resurrection as an entertainment venue for the 2013 MIF.

WHP - whose regular venue is just the other side of the railway tracks in a car park beneath Piccadilly Station - too

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14 March 2016

Step up the Clay Paky GlowUp. A deceivingly simple design of 4 x 10w LEDs that functions equally well, whatever the chosen orientation is powered by a built-in lightweight lithium battery that can absorb 2000 charge cycles without loss of capacity.

Ambersphere Solutions have recently supplied a large number of units to Blitz Communications, thereby doubling their previous stock level. Andy Mahaffey, head of lighting at Blitz, explains the rationale, "From almost the first moment we stocked the GlowUps it became apparent that we needed to purchase more as our existing stock was

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14 March 2016

As part of the Turbine Festival 2015, video designer, Icarus Wilson-Wright, was asked to transform the Turbine Hall with a new look for the event. To support this, he asked d3 Technologies, XL Video, and Barco to assist in realising the project.

One of the most striking features of the Turbine Hall is its height - 35m at its tallest - and in order to create a new look for the event, Wilson-Wright aimed to change the shape of the room.

Using dozens of fire-retardant paper strips, up to 25m in length, rigged from near the hall's glass roof light, Wilson-Wright filled the ceiling space with a combination of coloured lighting and subtle projection which changed throughout the day.

In total 10,000m of paper strips were used to change the look and feel of the room. Two Barc

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14 March 2016

Set in the noted London landmark, Summer Series featured a diverse and impressive line-up of headline artists alongside hotly tipped emerging acts. As house desk for the 11-day series of performances, Arena was used by the likes of folk duo Angus & Julia Stone LD Toby Hoggarth, while George Ezra, lit by John Barker, also employed an Avolites set-up.

The Arena combines the popular interface of the Tiger Touch II with more live control than ever before.

Alongside its vibrant main display, Arena's second touch screen provides an additional workspace window, also labelling the adjacent macro buttons and rotary pots. These fully assignable

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14 March 2016

Opened in 1963 and funded by the Clark Foundation, the 343 seat theatre and cinema is a part of Strode College at Street, near Glastonbury. Acting both as a key community and educational resource, the theatre promotes a mixed programme of live professional and amateur stage productions, as well as mainstream and arthouse films alongside live and recorded transmissions of opera, ballet and theatre.

As a senior member of staff, Harvey was on hand while Dominic Sandford - the theatre's technician and projectionist - explained how the new audio system came to be installed.

"The theatre's audio system needed completely updating,

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14 March 2016

Dave Isherwood, White Light's hire and technical director, comments, "It's fantastic that we are able to invest in such ground-breaking equipment. As we continue to work on highly technical and innovative projects, we need the resources which can help make these a reality. Both the Martin MAC Aura XB and Prolyte S36PRA truss reflect the high standards which the company implements and we can now use them on various projects to ensure that each one achieves its maximum potential."

The Martin MAC Aura XB has already been used on several events in which White Light has provided the lighting support. Whether this was the recent Glamou

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14 March 2016

Located in Noventa di Piave near to Venice, PRASE has been operating for more than 20 years as an AV distributor.The firm constantly updates the professional training of its technical staff, allowing them to transfer their knowledge to the market, ensuring added value for its customers.

Jarmo Masko, international sales manager for Genelec said, "This company is full of energy, with an enthusiastic team lead by the Prase brothers, Alberto and Ennio. They have highly skilled personnel as well as their own R&D in order to match the future needs of skills to maintain various applications and systems, from railway stations to home theatres. We believe they have the dedication and enthusiasm required

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14 March 2016

The musical is produced by the original creative team behind the classic 1992 film, including director and co-writer, Baz Luhrmann and set and costume designer, Catherine Martin.

Lighting designer for the production is Hugh Vanstone who was keen to specify the GLP impression X4 into the show, describing them as "tremendously useful" and declaring himself to be a big fan. Consequently there are 19 impression X4 fixtures in the lighting design, primarily rigged low. Some act as footlights, some are in low FOH box boom/ashtray positions and some are on the tops of each of the roving booms used throughout the show.

The impression X4 is principally used fo

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14 March 2016

The key feature additions and improvements that have been added in version 1.2 include:

- Reconciliation between Preset Documentation data and console data. This makes it easier to add only new presets (and also only if they are actually used), add channels added to a existing preset, show or remove deleted channels or presets and also indicate if a channel or preset is actually used.

- Preset Documentation Priorities. Presets can now be assigned a priority. It is then possible to sort and filter by priority.

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14 March 2016

Whilst on board, NoiseBoys also assisted with an event that made history for the cruise line when, on 28th July 2015, all four ships owned by Fred. Olsen - the Balmoral, Braemar, Black Watch and Boudicca - united in the port of Bergen on the same day. This was the first time ever that the whole Fred. Olsen fleet has come together, and NoiseBoys were on hand to advise and arrange power distribution for the celebrations and activities taking place on the quayside that day.

NoiseBoys won the contract to supply and install the new lighting and so

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14 March 2016

The event, held annually in July, has long since outgrown the extensive facilities provided by the Harrogate International Centre, and this year Arena delivered 6,000sq.m of infrastructure in the grounds of the adjacent Majestic Hotel.

Arena installed four structures this year and to maximise the site footprint one area was supplied with a double deck facility. This created additional space and improved visitor experience by offering guests more undercover catering facilities. Arena Structures also managed all the power and climate control systems inside the temporary venues and the sub-structure bases on this undulating site.

Simon Marsh, Arena Structures' account director commented, "

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14 March 2016

For some time, the band had been considering the need to replace the old analogue mixer and the existing multi-track recorder.

"I told Tim the singer about the Qu-Pac mixer and that it did playback too, and he said it was a no brainer," says FOH engineer, Alan 'Hagos' Haggarty.

"Before this tour we were using an analogue mixer running a multitrack recorder for playback, all of which required a monster rack. Qu is basically doing the job of three different bits of kit as Tim also had a compressor in the old rack for his vocals but that's no longer needed either," explains Ash's drummer and monitor engineer, Rick McMurray. "Now that we have Qu-Pac, we can fit our in-e

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14 March 2016

The family run sales, hire and installation house, based in Co. Armagh, upgraded its front line fleet with JBL's new VTX V20 system - maintaining a relationship with the Northridge-based manufacturer extending back a number of years.

Director Barry McCusker, who fronts the business with his brother Colin and father Enda, confirmed the purchase of a rig comprising 24 x VTX V20 dual 10" line array elements; eight VTX G28 ground-stacked dual 18" subwoofers and four VTX S25 dual 15" arrayable sub-woofers.

The VTX Series is a result of JBL's continued effort to del

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14 March 2016

The BMFL Spots are in three key locations on the stage. The first batch of fixtures are rigged on an upstage arch of trussing - the arch and ten trussing 'fingers' are an integral set element - where they are equally spaced apart and utilised for massive beams and powerful breakup / gobo looks.

The next position is far upstage on the floor behind the 'chicken run' which is an up-and-over riser on which the band whizz about. These BMFLs are the primary fixtures in the reveal of the famous AC/DC cannons that emerge ominously at the start of For Those about to Rock (We Salute You)

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14 March 2016

"It's art, not plant hire." These words from Tony Andrews, founder of loudspeaker manufacturer Funktion One, will ring true with sound designers and engineers around the world. Having spent his life exploring the higher possibilities in audio, Tony is well placed to discuss his statement further in the 'audio moment', the chosen subject for his Audio and Consciousness session at this year's PLASA Show, where he will doubtless take an audio path less travelled while considering the difference between hearing and listening.

T

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14 March 2016

Elation dealer Aurora Sound & Light Design which has sold Elation lighting rigs to such prestigious venues in Philadelphia as SoundGarden Hall and Rumor nightclub, was called in to design the new lighting system, which would marry new Elation lighting fixtures with the venue's existing Elation lights.

"We supplied the new lighting equipment, did the design and programming, and educated the venue staff on how to install the equipment," says Ian Hoffer, president of Aurora, who also explains that the venue wasn't getting the

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14 March 2016

For the past few years, they have been using PSM900 in-ear monitoring on the live tours for the Drifters, and began working with the Ultimate Eagles tribute band two years ago (currently, the band are on a successful European tour). Now the company has also been asked to handle the forthcoming UK 2015 dates for the official Blues Brothers touring band. For this project, Pacific are turning to ULX-D wireless mics, and have expanded their existing complement of eight channels of ULX-D to 12.

"We've always used Shure mics, even before I set up Pacific," explains the company's managing director Paul Duffy. "With the arrival of in-ears, we began advocating their use to

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14 March 2016

The new site offers a more visual and informative view of the activities of the Training operation, complete with testimonials from students of its intensive 12-week Live Sound Technology Course. To offer more flexibility in its training opportunities, Britannia Row has now developed some new courses for 2015 based on the core elements of its 12 week course.

Live Sound Basic PA Course: A 2-day course on the basics of setting up small PA systems. Taught over two consecutive weekends, the course covers a simple PA system from A-Z in the first day and a half, with the final afternoon spent hands-on, including mixing using multi-track playback machines. Live Sound Fundamentals: A 15 x 1-day modular course t