Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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Canada - As Rush prepared to launch their latest tour, longtime tour lighting designer Howard Ungerleider of Production Design International Toronto was once again charged with creating the lighting spectacle that would be seen by the multitude of sold-out houses.

After a collaborative process with the production team, Ungerleider turned to Solotech to provide him with the innovative lighting technology to best accentuate the R40 Live tour which included VL4000 BeamWash, VL4000 Spot, VL3500 Wash FX and VL3500 Spot luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite.

"Our designs always begin with a full production team collaboration and brainstorming session," began Ungerleider. "For this particular tour, an evolution concept was conceived about going back in time and deconstructin

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USA - Christmas came in July for the UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) Royce Hall tech team, when a recent shipment of ETC Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr arrays was delivered, tested and stencilled with the Royce emblem. A compelling demo of the technology last autumn by ETC's outreach and training specialist Tom Littrell was enough to prompt an order for 18 Series 2 light engines, nine Source Four LED CYC adapters and nine Source Four LED Fresnels.

"What wowed us in the demo was the colour rendition on the Hawaiian shirt," says associate master electrician Anthony Gutierrez. "The lime green frequency is in the middle of the human spectrum and fills in colour gaps you didn't even know were there."

Jessica Wodinsky has been the master electrician at Royce Hall for 30 years and can chronicle the evolving technology - "When I came here in 198

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Russia - In the hands of rental company JamTech, the Nexo STM Modular Line Array systems are having a busy summer in Russia.

STM was used as main PA for both the Main and the Second Stage at the massive Fruit Vibrations 2015. This two-day EDM festival featured over 30 headline acts, including Steve Aoki, Aly & Fila, Ummet Ozcan, BT, James Zabiela, The Chainsmokers, Brennan Heart, and Tony Junior.

Held in the Muzeon Art Park, in the centre of Moscow, this Globalclubbing event is the largest EDM festival in Russia, and draws thousands of fans from all across the country and the CIS states.

For the main stage, JamTech supplied a 11-a-side STM design, using nine STM M46 plus nine STM B112 with two STM M28 down-fill cabinets in each array 24x STM S118 subbass were used, together with extra RS18 subs. Another 12x M46 Main cabinets were used for out-fill.

Over on the B Stage, Jam

Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

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UK - Lighting rental specialist HSL supplied stage lighting, sub-rigging and trussing, architectural and site-wide practical and decorative illumination, electrics, power distribution, and full public address announcement PA - for the 2015 Opera Holland Park festival season in west London.

The three-month performance run included five cutting edge opera productions staged in the tensile structure erected by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) in its picturesque park, with the historical ruin of Holland House as an atmospheric backdrop.

HSL has been involved as a technical production supplier for the event for the last 12 years, in which time the lighting requirements and expectations have changed radically. What was once primarily a generic rig onstage now features nearly 90 moving lights with another 200 light sources supplied by HSL to light the surrounding and

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UK - For AC/DC's Rock or Bust tour, set designer Ray Winkler joined forces with lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe to seamlessly translate the distinct AC/DC sound into a grungy buffalo horned 'Mad Max' style stage, complemented by metallic, two colour classic rock and roll lighting primarily delivered by over 60 of the new Philips Vari-Lite VL4000 BeamWash luminaires.

"AC/DC has always demanded bold, bright, spectacular - yet uncomplicated - lighting and I think this time we gave it to them in spades," explains Woodroffe. "We were looking for powerful, bright lights that would work particularly well with no colour. We also wanted some more delicate effects, some tight beams and some hard edge source points. We chose a variety of fixtures including the new Vari-Lite VL4000 BeamWash and the VL3500 washes, which in combination gave us most of what we needed, in var

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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

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Austria - Musikverein für Steiermark is the largest concert organiser in the Austrian city of Graz. It is currently celebrating 200 years of Musikverein Graz, and in mid June Rental Pro Austria deployed a DiGiCo SD8 for a spectacular performance, which featured Gustav Mahler's revered Symphony Number 8 as its finale.

The concert was performed by the Grazer Philharmonic Orchestra, one of Austria's best-known classical orchestras, plus 300 singers from the Choir of Opera Graz, Studio Choir of University of music and Performing Arts Graz and four smaller choirs.

"The concert at the Grazer Stadthalle was sold out," says Rental Pro Austria's Mario Held who, along with Andreas Putz, was also one of the two engineers working on this complex production. "We used a DiGiCo SD8 with a MADI Rack and Waves SoundGrid Server One to make sure that this world-class orche

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UK - This year's PLASA Rigging Conference will be held alongside the PLASA Show 2015 at ExCeL, London, in the North Hall Gallery Rooms on Monday 5 October. This perennially popular feature of the show comprises topical sessions led by leading industry figures and offers a unique opportunity for the rigging community to share industry knowledge and network.

Unusual Rigging is confirmed as the conference's Platinum sponsor for the third consecutive year, while Outback Rigging makes a welcome return as Gold sponsor.

"Rigging is an essential aspect of almost every event but, as productions increase in scale, size and complexity, so do the consequences of getting it wrong," says Alan Jacobi, managing director at Unusual Rigging. "Unusual Rigging wholeheartedly supports conferences such as this. It's imperative that we, as an industry, keep the debate fresh in order t

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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

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Why Why Why Delilah? - Sir Tom Jones has accused senior executives on BBC's The Voice of "sub-standard behaviour", claiming they unceremoniously sacked him just a day before announcing his replacement. Sir Tom, the long-serving judge on the BBC talent show, said he had pencilled series five of The Voice into his diary, expecting to continue his role. Instead, he claimed, he was "told with no consultation or conversation of any kind" that he would not be returning. A new line-up was announced just one day later, comprising Boy George, Paloma Faith, and returning coaches Will.I.Am and Ricky Wilson.

Sir Tom was immediately inundated with messages from angry fans, telling him they would be switching off the show in protest. A spokesman for the BBC said, "The final decision on the coaches' line up for series 5 of The Voice was only taken

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USA - Country star Thomas Rhett is out on tour with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. The mutli-Platinum singer is currently lighting up the music charts with the Top 10 and climbing hit Crash and Burn, the first single of his upcoming album Tangled Up, slated for 25 September release.

Bandit worked with lighting director Andrew Hunt and tour manager Logan Kornegay, supplying 14 Chauvet Legend Beams which span the top of the set, with four downstage on the right and the left, and another six in the middle of upstage to add depth. Additionally, 16 Martin MAC Auras are on the lower part of the set as eight fixtures light the drums and keys, while the other fill the outer parts of the set.

"I love the punch these beam fixtures pack, and they stand out really well, whether they are shooting out over the crowd in an arena, hitting Thomas Rhett on a cat

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USA - Since their inception in 1977, the Psychedelic Furs have never shied away from making sharp musical turns. Much to the delight of their fans, the legendary UK rockers have weaved like a speedboat from austere art rock to new wave, to rhythmic tunes like their mega-hit Pretty in Pink to hard growling sounds, leaving an impressive body of work in their wake that has influenced a generation of musicians. Apparently, the group applies their daring creative spirit to lighting as well, as evidenced by their sudden decision to enhance their stage presence with an LED rig that features Rogue R1 Spots and COLORdash Batten-Quad 6 linear fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

"The band decided pretty last minute to spice up the show with lighting, so we had a bit of a rush to get things together and get the show cued out," said LD Victor Zeiser of Squeek Lights (New Yor

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UK - Working with designer, Jonathan Paul Green, XL Video has supplied a package of video projection, screens and LCDs for the latest series of the topical panel game, Mock The Week, produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two.

The show, which is hosted by Dara O Briain and features panellists Hugh Dennis and Andy Parsons, is filmed before a live studio audience shortly before its air date. This ensures that the topics for improvisation are relevant to current news subjects.

The studio incorporates a range of different video elements. The show logo incorporates a world globe, inspired by the show's theme tune, News Of The World, by The Jam. This is recreated using a 6ft diameter Repro H screen, located behind O Briain, which is built into the set and rear-projected via one of XL Video's Panasonic 10k projectors.

Upstage of the main improvisation area, a 16ft x 9f

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USA - By offering both a "classic" service and a "connect" service every Sunday, First Baptist Church in Claremore, Oklahoma has been successful in building its congregation. Both services are big productions. The "classic" service requires sound reinforcement for primarily traditional orchestral instruments, whereas the "connect" service delivers a modern-rock vibe with high-energy music, video, and lighting.

As First Baptist pushed its offerings into exciting new territory, they inevitably outgrew their decade-old sound reinforcement system, which they pushed to the point of chronic equipment failure. With a media-driven worship service, FBCC needed a reliable upgrade to deliver the gospel within its 1,500-plus seat sanctuary. The church called on McClelland Sound, Kansas, Oklahoma, and western Missouri's family-owned and operated audio/

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USA - International Keyboard Odyssiad and Festival (IKOF), an annual competition dedicated to promoting the next generation of pianists, tasked the recording engineer and producer Mirko Canji with recording the intensive five-day event. The engineer recommended the high-resolution, Direct Stream Digital (DSD) in simultaneous 5.0 multichannel and stereo formats, and turned to DPA Microphones to ensure the most accurate recordings.

Seeking the most accurate recording of the master classes, evening concerts and semi-final and final rounds of the event, Canji, who specializes in chamber and orchestral music arranged a combination of DPA Microphones powered by Grace Design's m802 remote-controlled microphone preamplifier to do the job. He employed DPA's d:dicate 4006A Omnidirectional Microphones in stereo and surround setups, respectively. He also selected the company's d:facto Vocal

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South Africa - One of the most popular and well-attended events during the biennial Mediatech Africa 2015, held in July, were the Lighting Designer Sessions, sponsored and organised by Italian lighting manufacturer Clay Paky.

Presented by multi award winning theatre and opera designer Paule Constable and large-scale arena spectacular lighting designer Durham Marenghi, both sessions were quickly over-subscribed from the moment they were announced and two further sessions were quickly scheduled to absorb the overflow.

Constable, who is also associate director of the National Theatre, London, talked passionately about her preferred collaborative approach to the design process and illustrated this with images of her recent designs for shows including the award winning Warhorse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

In contrast, Marenghi focused on t

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Germany - JoeCo has announced that Peter Wolff Elektroakustik is now representing the BlackBox range of multi-channel audio recorders and players in Germany.

Based in Recklinghausen, PWE has distributed a range of professional audio and communications products since the 1980s, playing a key role in establishing brands such as Midas and ASL Intercom in the territory. At the helm is industry veteran Peter Wolff, whose early experiences of renting and supplying DASH digital recorders during the 1980s laid a firm foundation for the digital recording technology expertise he has amassed over subsequent decades.

"We're very pleased to be taking on distribution of JoeCo products and look forward to supporting customers involved in a range of projects," says Wolff. "Thanks to their highly reliable operating capabilities, JoeCo BlackBox Recorders and Players have proved t

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USA - Eight PLASA draft standards are in public review. The draft documents, review forms, and instructions for submitting comments may be downloaded from the Technical Standards Programme website at http://tsp.plasa.org/tsp/documents/public_review_docs.php. Anyone with a material interest is invited to submit comments through the end of the day 28 September 2015. Listed in order by working group, they are:

Control Protocols Working Group

BSR E1.31 - 20xx, Entertainment Technology - Lightweight streaming protocol for transport of DMX512 using ACN

This standard describes a mechanism to transfer DMX512-A packets over a TCP/IP network using a subset of the ACN protocol suite. It covers data format, data protocol, data addressing, and network management It also outlines a synchronization method to help ensure that multiple sinks can process this data concurrently w

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USA - San Francisco rockers Train continue their Bulletproof Picasso tour with the current two month US leg playing a selection of major arenas and sheds, for which LD Brock Hogan has specified 90 x CycFX 4s, 40 x Pointes and 15 x LEDBeam 1000s.

The CycFX 4s and LEDBeam 100s were both new purchases for Orlando based lighting vendor, LMG.

A prominent feature of the design are 10 lighting pods - that move into different positions during the show - providing an interesting, fluid and ever changing geometric element to the stage space.

The LEDBeam 1000s are used as wash fixtures due to the excellent zoom. Their individual ring control also opens up a whole range of new effects, together with the smooth dimming and color mixing, explained Brock who positioned them all over the rig. "The output is amazing," he stated.

The upstage truss is made up of five individual sec

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Vietnam - Vietnam has spent the last decade as one of the world's fastest-growing economies. As its business and industrial sectors have expanded, so has its entertainment infrastructure, with past years witnessing the arrival of numerous superb new venues - among the more recent of which is the eye-catching Chill Skybar overlooking Ho Chi Minh City.

Since opening its doors for the first time in 2011, the Chill Skybar has become one of the most popular leisure destinations in Vietnam's largest city. But a persistent issue with noise spillage meant that its audio specification was ultimately deemed to be inadequate - hence the decision to enlist locally-based AV firm DesignLive Technologies to undertake an upgrade.

"The venue was very highly regarded, but there was a problem with the sound quality and noise bleed had resulted in complaints from neighbouring properties,&quo

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USA - American hard-rock band Shinedown recently wrapped their summer tour with lighting provided by Bandit Lites. After celebrating their ninth No. 1 single with Cut the Cord off their upcoming studio album Threat to Survival, the band will be back on the road in November with a co-headlining tour with Breaking Benjamin.

Lighting designer Carter Fulghum used GLP X4S's to provide front light and colour for the stage. Robe Pointes brought punches of colour, cutting through the VL 3000s, the fixture Fulghum deemed "the workhorse of the rig".

Clay Paky B-EYES were utilized as dressing and backlight. "I really liked working with the B-EYES," said Fulghum of the recently added fixtures. "They have a lot of effects that help you keep each song looking different and new."

With the summer tour taking place in more intimate settings such as

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USA - Ashly Audio has hired Ed Czarnecki as its applications engineer. Czarnecki will report to Scott Leslie, Ashly's executive vice president, and will wear many hats in his new position. Among his duties, Czarnecki will work with consultants, integrators, and distributors to provide information and training about Ashly products, both pre- and post-sale, as well as solutions to design challenges.

He will convey the evolving needs of Ashly's customers to the various divisions that maintain Ashly's reputation for building affordable, reliable solutions. Czarnecki is based at Ashly's headquarters in Webster, NY and will visit consultants, integrators and installation sites for training, consultation and assistance.

"Ed has been working on the integration side of A/V for over a decade," said Leslie. "He has worked in every aspect of the industry. He has pulled wire

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USA - Momentum Audio Sales, the exclusive distributor of Audient consoles for the US market, has partnered with Kate Cardwell of Cardwell Creative Services to provide business development and support for Audient consoles.

"Besides having great sounding consoles, Audient has a great story and legacy," said Cardwell on working with Audient. "Their collective passion for music and engineering gives them a unique understanding of their market, and makes it a true pleasure to champion their products."

Cardwell will engage both the current sales force and dealer network and provide product training and customer support. Due to the custom installation nature of the audio console business, she will work with customers directly as the first point of contact for recording and mastering studios, broadcast facilities, colleges and universities.

"I enjoy talking

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