World - The Philips Strand Lighting centenary competition to upcycle a vintage Strand PATT 23 or 123 lamp has announced its three finalists. The competition saw much success with numerous international entrants and 175 people following the Pinterest inspiration board.

Award-winning architectural lighting designer Paul Nulty's Anamorphosis, architectural lighting designer Joe Vose's Back to The Future and artist/designer Derek Goldsmith's 321 Zero have all reached the final round. The three designs artfully reflect the brand's significant history, whilst giving the iconic luminaires a new lease of life.

"The old Strand designs are classics so it was interesting to see how people responded to the challenge of upcycling them, whilst retaining the heritage

USA - At the request of FOH engineer Jose Rivera, a Meyer Sound Leo and Lyon linear sound reinforcement system was deployed for Marc Anthony's recent mini tour. The shows - which included 360-degree productions in New York and New Jersey - were Anthony's first North American concerts to be heard through a Leo system.

"Everybody was extremely happy with the performance of Leo and Lyon, both on stage and throughout the audience," reports Rivera, who first used Leo at a stadium concert in Peru. "The overall sound was very transparent and open. Vocal intelligibility was impressive, and the separation of instruments made it easy to achieve clarity in the mix. Also, the 1100-LFC units are remarkably musical in the low end. The system did more than we expected it to do.

"Using another system on our last arena tour, we had challenges with sound bleeding back onto t

Germany - The long-running cult musical The Rocky Horror Show is back on stage for a six-month tour of Germany and features an array of Martin Professional lighting fixtures to underscore the production's more distinctive elements.

Since its first performance at the Royal Court Theatre in London 40 years ago, more than 20m people have seen Richard O'Brien's bizarre story about a newly engaged couple, the mad Dr. Frank-N-Furter and his artificial creature, Rocky Horror.

For the German tour, lighting designer David Howe specified a rig mostly comprised of fixtures from Martin Professional, including MAC Viper Washes, MAC Viper Performances, MAC Auras, MAC 700 Profiles and Stagebars.

"The lighting designer is always the guy who has the wild ideas," said Howe. "However, rather than creating an overwhelming light show, I wanted to draw the audience's attenti

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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.

USA - When exclusive Gold Room nightclub in Atlanta was looking to rejuvenate their entertainment lighting system they turned to Elation dealer Atlanta Sound & Lighting to realise the new look. Completed in summer 2014, the renovation features an all-new, all-LED lighting system from Elation Professional and ADJ lighting that has given Gold Room an exciting, new lustre.

Gold Room is a chic, elegantly designed club with a reputation for high-class events and an unbeatable party atmosphere. Unlike any other nightspot in Atlanta, the team behind the venue sought to maintain its exclusive reputation with a light show that was not only visually stunning but low maintenance and energy efficient as well.

When Scott Waterbury at Atlanta Sound & Lighting was asked to design an elegant 4D environment for the 7,500sq.ft club, he opted for a mix of Elation and ADJ lighting gear to give th

Australia - Exhibitions & Trade Fairs (ETF) has announced the sale of its ENTECH trade show to the CX Network, which is headed by ENTECH founder Julius Grafton.

Having acquired ENTECH in 2004, ETF successfully operated the event for some time and also launched a satellite event, ENTECH-CONNECT which has run successfully in Melbourne in alternate years to the main ENTECH trade show in Sydney. ETF have advised that the forthcoming Sydney ENTECH, scheduled for July will now not proceed.

CX Network operates the CX Summer Roadshow, a touring 'pop-up' trade show. They plan to re-name the Roadshow as 'CX presents the ENTECH Roadshow' for 2016. CX Network head Julius Grafton confirmed today they have no intention of running a traditional trade show in any form.

ETF Managing Director, Gary Daly said: "We are pleased that the CX Network will continue with ENTECH. They an integral

USA - Syncrolite played its part in the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, working with Full Flood, Inc. Full Flood's Bob Dickinson, lighting designer for the 2015 Grammy Awards, chose Syncrolite fixtures for the opening act of this year's show. Dickinson remarked after the show that "the crisp clean look and the punch provided by the Syncrolite fixtures complemented the energy of the AC/DC performance and set the mood for the night." AC/DC's hard rock medley was backed up by twelve SXL 7k luminaires hitting the Staples Center audience with Syncrolite's signature solid beam of light.

Joining Dickinson in making the evening a non-stop avalanche of lighting artistry were Jon Kusner and Noah Mitz as lighting directors; Andy O'Reilly, Harrison Lippman and Patrick Boozer as lighting directors/programmers; and Mike Berger and Madigan Stehly as associate lighting direc

USA - Back in the 1950s, noted psychologist BF Skinner grabbed headlines by using controversial behavioural modification techniques to teach pigeons to play ping pong. Today Pigeons Playing Ping Pong is making waves again, not with psychology, but with psychedelic riffs along with some funky rock and extended jams that are attracting an ever-expanding flock, as their fans like to call themselves, to this up-and-coming band.

Lighting designer Aaron Kovelman (aka Ronny RedRocks) is having fun keeping pace with Pigeons Playing Ping Pong's improvisational performances with the help of eight Rogue R1 Spot fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Kovelman worked with 4Wall Entertainment Lighting to include the powerful LED spots on his client's national tour for reasons both practical and passionate. "For sure, there are a lot of things about the Rogues to like, and 4Wall helped con

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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

UK - VisionEvents, an event production agency offering full design, management, and audio visual talent for events across the UK, produced the annual Scottish Sports Awards event at Glasgow Thistle Hotel in December 2014. Hosted by journalist Jim White, the ceremony celebrated excellence throughout Scottish sports, recognising athletes and teams for their outstanding achievements throughout the year.

The stage consisted of three LED screens at 5.4x2.3m each, resulting to an impressive 17m wide LED backdrop. The three LED screens worked independently to showcase graphic animations, video clips and live camera footage, and together to display moving content across all three for dramatic effect. Screen content was driven by two Avolites AI media servers (main and backup) distributing the content across three separate outputs. Other sources included VT playback from various Macs and

UK - Who Dares Wins, the prime time Saturday night quiz show, hosted by Nick Knowles, sees two teams of complete strangers compete by completing a series of lists. The team who names more correct answers on a list gets the chance to play...and win £50,000.

Martin Kempton has lit the show for a number of years, with the help of Richard Martin Lighting (RML). The set and grand design of the show doesn't make it easy to make changes or freshen up the look. However when RML announced last autumn the investment in the new Vari-Lite VL4000 Spot, Martin knew this was the perfect new fixture for him.

"The VL4000 Spot includes all the tools needed to create dynamic and useful lighting on any stage. Every aspect of the luminaire has been designed with performance in mind," he says.

With low ambient noise, high lumen output, amazing optics and a full feature set anythin

USA - From its start in 1996 as a small independent plant by Grandville, Michigan's Resurrection Life Church, Radiant Church in the Richland suburb of Kalamazoo has steadily grown its membership to 3,500. Recently expanding its service count to four each weekend - two on Saturday and two on Sunday - the church also freshly upgraded the audio facilities of its 1,050-seat sanctuary with a new ARCS WiFo (Wide and Focus) loudspeaker system from L-Acoustics.

Parkway Electric & Communications of Holland, Michigan provided the design and integration of the new system, which replaced an outdated PA rife with hot/dead spots and uneven low frequency coverage. The installation and commissioning process took Parkway only four days, which also included repurposing the previous rig for the church's youth facility.

Today, the main sanctuary system features left and right arrays each comprise

UK - Adlib has been providing a riotous sound for favourite UK rockers, Kaiser Chiefs, renewing a long term working relationship with the band and reuniting many crew who have worked together over several years, on a tour that's been every bit as full-on and enjoyable as previous ones.

Adlib's George Puttock, Sam Proctor and James Petch joined the band's engineering duo of Chris Leckie at FOH and Ilias Andriantos on monitors for a rousing three week tour where all the energy and passion of the Kaisers' renowned live performances was exceptionally well received by the public.

Working alongside Chris and Ilias are the tour's production manager James Hennin and tour manager Liam Rippon.

The sound system chosen was L-Acoustics. The venues ranged from London's 16,000 capacity O2 Arena to many well-known & loved theatres and town halls, culminating in a homecoming gig at Leeds Are

UK - Xerocon London 2015 marked one of the UK's largest gatherings of its kind with over 800 people attending. The two day conference held by leading accountancy software company Xero boasted over 40 exhibitors, nine guest speakers and the launch of Xero's latest product updates.

For Xerocon's second year in the UK, production agency Lipfriend Rodd International Ltd once again engaged Creative Technology (CT). In addition to providing the equipment and crew for the main conference, CT also supplied the three breakout rooms and the gala dinner.

In the main room a super wide screen measuring 42.5m by 3.5m was created using seven flown Panasonic DZ21K projectors. The internal warping and soft edge blending capabilities of these projectors produced one giant seamless image.

As well as displaying presentation graphics, the screen relayed live footage of the speakers captured via

UK - Bombay Bicycle Club will forever be known as the last live band to play at London's Earl's Court venue. But preceding that already-famous December show was a tour that had started nearly a year before, on which DiGiCo SD9 and SD10 consoles played a starring role.

Front of House engineer Tom Wiggans joined the band in the summer, part-way through the tour. A DiGiCo user for around 12 years - including working with UB40, Squeeze, Wet Wet Wet and The Cranberries - Tom's debut with Bombay Bicycle Club came on festival shows, before he used a DiGiCo SD9 on the band's US shows. He then chose an SD10 for the UK tour.

"One of the advantages of professional sound these days is how much preparation you can do," he says. "I was able to get a multitrack recording of one of the shows, which I listened to on my laptop and figured out what was coming from where, because t

Germany - Experienced German lighting designer, Henning Schletter (of Imaginary Lights) has become one of the first creatives in the world to adopt GLP's new impression X4 Bar 20 LED batten lights - deploying them at a major product launch for Jaguar, in front of a star-studded audience that included British actor, and Hollywood star, Idris Elba.

In addition to starring as Luther and Nelson Mandela (in Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom Elba is also a rapper and DJ. And tasked with launching the new Jaguar XE by driving the new sports sedan personally from London to Berlin, Elba later co-hosted a party behind the decks at the Umspannwerk Alexanderplatz, alongside Noah Becker.

It was here that Schletter set up his impressive lightshow, working for production company, die veranstaltungsmacher, in cooperation with Norbert Zitzmann Communications, the brand communication specia

USA - After Oscar awards were collected and the lights dimmed on stage at the Dolby Theatre, the stars hit the streets of Los Angeles to find their favourite after parties. Among these, the Governors Ball, held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at the Hollywood & Highland Centre. Kicking off the event's entertainment this year was Grammy Winner Sergio Mendes, who performed songs with special guest will.i.am from their co-produced, Latin Grammy-winning album Timeless, using several DPA Microphones d:facto Vocal Microphones.

Selected by Mendes' production manager John Baker, wired and wireless versions of the d:factos were used for vocals by Mendes, will.i.am and the three female singers who performed centre stage for their roughly 45 minute set. Baker also selected DPA's d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones for a variety of the band's instruments.

"My goal was to spread the D

UK - Alchemea College is celebrating the recent success of several of its former students at this year's BRIT Awards, Grammy Awards, MPG Awards...and on the charts.

Jimmy Napes (aka James Napier, Class of 2004) was both songwriter and producer whose work contributed to Sam Smith's BRIT Award nods for British Breakthrough Act and British Global Success, as well as nominations for British Album and British Single. Other Alchemea alumni represented at the BRITs include Steve Sedgwick (Class of 2002), house engineer for British Male Solo Artist nominee Damon Albarn, and Robbie Nelson (Class of 2001) who engineered Morning Phase by International Male Solo Artist nominee Beck.

Earlier this month at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Napes' work was also acknowledged as Smith took home the prestigious prizes for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, as well as winning Best New Artist

Russia - In November 2014, Alexey Zhivanov, lighting designer for Russian stage rental and install firm Grand Show, was tasked with supporting two distinct events: a rock concert at a nightclub and a ballet staged in a traditional opera house. To accommodate the needs of each production, he brought along the versatile Martin Professional M2GO lighting controller.

Maximilians, the Siberian restaurant and venue where Russian rock band Chizh & Co performed, is equipped with a small array of fixtures including projectors, LED Wash Zoom fixtures, LED spots, strobes and smoke machines. Zhivanov didn't need any additional touchscreen monitors or gear to control the lighting fixtures. He simply connected the M2GO to his laptop.

"The rock concert focused mainly on slow compositions, so I programmed scenes filled with warm colours and smooth effects", said Zhivanov. "The

UK - Flare Audio has been selected as the only audio supplier for this year's LEAF (London Electronic Arts Festival) at Tobacco Dock this March.

The event, created by Bestival founder and DJ Rob da Bank, is a two-day cultural celebration of electronic music, art, technology and digital futurism that will attract around 20,000 electronic music fans into the heart of London.

The LEAF conference is aimed at electronic music fans and the 'pro-sumer' market, with day one focusing on talks, demonstrations and discussion groups aimed at fans, enthusiasts, apprentices and connoisseurs, as well as interactive panels from high profile artists from the many corners of music, tech and art. Among panellists will be the legendary Nile Rodgers, leading a discussion entitled Unmoderated, Uncensored and Unlimited.

A diverse programme of music follows the conference, including a specia

USA - ANSI E1.19 - 2015, Recommended Practice for the Use of Class A Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs) Intended for Personnel Protection in the Entertainment Industry, and ANSI E1.23 - 2010 (R2015), Entertainment Technology - Design and Execution of Theatrical Fog Effects, were approved by the ANSI Board of Standards Review on 10 and 13 February respectively. They are now published and are available for free at http://tsp.plasa.org/freestandards. The free download is made possible by the sponsorship of Prosight Specialty Insurance. They also may be purchased from ANSI's eStandards Store (http://webstore.ansi.org/) for $15.00 each.

ANSI E1.19 is intended to offer guidance in accordance with existing applicable standards on how to select, install, use and maintain ground fault protection devices in the entertainment industry to protect persons from shock and persons and pr

UK - Sound Technology is hosting its second in a series of training courses for Harman's new HiQnet Audio Architect design, configuration and control software for installed audio systems on 11 March 2015. This free one-day Introductory Course is aimed at sales staff and engineers new to Harman's DSP products.

This introductory course will give an overview of all HiQnet hardware devices that can be configured and controlled by Audio Architect, and a demonstration of the core features and workflow of Audio Architect itself. This course is designed for those who may specify or sell Harman networked install product but don't necessarily need to know the finer intricacies of how to program all of it. It is also aimed at engineers who are working with these types of product for the first time.

HiQnet Audio Architect configuration and control software represents the combination of Hi

UK - Orbital Sound has announced the dates for its annual Easter Sound Fundamentals for Theatre training course, running this year from 7-10 April at its purpose-built Brixton training facility. Over 500 students have already passed through the theatre sound training programme, helping to prepare technical theatre and theatre sound students for careers in live entertainment.

The Sound Fundamentals for Theatre course combines essential theory with practical skills, catering for a wide cross-section of skill levels. Students are typically drawn from the UK's leading drama schools, as well as freelancers and corporate sector technicians. Organised by Orbital Sound's training co-ordinator Alex Waddle, the course is led by Richard Carter and supported by technical director Bill Addison.

Over the four days, students are also given the opportunity to try out some of the latest audio

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