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14 March 2016

"The 5200s get a real battering. The whole first section of the show is highly stylised with an almost comic book aggression. There is, a lot of staged violence and the microphones get hurled around and are frequently being thrown to and from dancers and onto the floor," commented Napier. "We're going through a new microphone every 10 shows or so. But given that the 5200 is not a microphone designed for such abuse, I think they are standing up remarkably well. Of course we have a whole drawer of spares from Sennheiser," he concluded.

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14 March 2016

A series of visits to major UK and other European cities has been announced during November. Solutions on display include the PT-DZ21K series projectors which debuted at the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. Also on show will be the PT-RZ470/RZ370 series lamp-free projectors and the latest Digital Link connection and HDBaseT technology plus LED/Laser-combined 1-chip DLP projectors with 20K hours of lamp life.

Also on display will be TH-65PB1 interactive display and the full Panasonic education range including the UB-T880 interactive whiteboard - one of the most advanced IWB systems on the market.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

The rig involved a selection of Robe moving lights including Robin 600 LEDWashes and ColorSpot 575 and 1200E ATs, chosen by Llewellyn who was LD/operator for the event for the second year running.

He needed to make the stage as versatile as possible as a performance space for the popular boutique festival, offering the wide variety of emerging and established artists playing throughout the event their own distinctive looks.

So the lighting concept needed to be as dynamic as possible for the budget.

The lights were arranged across three trusses and on the floor. The back truss had four T-shaped bars

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14 March 2016

Comments Shaun Pearce, MD of Pearce Hire, "The Showman's Show is ideally timed as it offers a platform for us to catch up with our customers at the end of the hectic summer season. The challenges and successes of the season are still fresh in everyone's minds and it allows an opportunity for us to sit down and plan for next year. We can review what has happened over the past few months and then act upon it and build on those experiences in order to produce even better events in 2013."

It has been a non-stop summer

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14 March 2016

Under previous owners the 30,000 ton vessel was named the Europa, SuperStar Europe, SuperStar Aries, Holiday Dream and Bleu de France. Given its third major refit at the end of 2011, the liner emerged as the Saga Sapphire with significantly upgraded facilities designed specifically for its owners' over-50s market. Major elements of the refit were brand new audio, lighting and A/V systems, specified and installed by Luton-based TEDAV.

"Our technical director Mark Morley had an extensive marine past and brought a lot of that w

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14 March 2016

With it come the challenges of hosting multiple stages in a mediaeval and architecturally sensitive town, where getting the sound right for critical ears is as rewarding as it is challenging. Umbria Jazz's technical partner is Angelo Tordini, who is perhaps better known as the owner of the Ancona-based cable manufacturer, Reference Laboratory. As the chorus confirms, Mr Tordini and his handpicked dream team are prepared to work like dogs in order to get the sound right for the artists, the audiences and of course, themselves.

"I normally spend three weeks prepa

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14 March 2016

The Academy took many enquiries for its Foundation Degree in Live Events Production, for which there are still places for this November. It also had a lot of interest from overseas companies wanting training delivered in their home country.

Said sales & business development manager Sara Gleadhall, "What was surprising this year was the number of enquiries we had from companies and professionals abroad who are desperate for us to take our training overseas.

"We are currently looking at developing packages of training in essential backstage skills and certificates to deliver in foreign countries."

The Academy launched a student competition to win a week's work experience on the set build of a major

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14 March 2016

As a single-source supplier for the corporate, commercial and private event markets, SEG specialise in providing creative, technical and production expertise and skills, coupled with all the latest available technologies.

SEG's project manager and head of sound, Ben Marshall explains that they already own several Yamaha digital consoles, which have been in constant use. When looking for a larger digital desk with more onboard features they were naturally attracted back to the Yamaha brand, explaining that they have found Yamaha consoles to be "extremely user friendly" and "reliable".

AC-ET was amongst the firs

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14 March 2016

"We wanted a fixture that was robust and really an industry standard," explained Phil Haddy, head lighting technician. "The ETC brand is well known and respected which is why we looked to them first. Plus the Selador Lustr has the seven colours and is more theatre-orientated without sacrificing the energy efficiency and long life you expect from LEDs."

According to Haddy, the Selador Desire D40 Lustr+ fixtures have been performing well and responding beautifully.

"I really like that they offer a lot more colours than other units do and their output is really good," Phil added

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14 March 2016

As a part of the worldwide network of over 56 SAE educational facilities, the Dubai campus offers a variety of degree and certificate programs in media production, including audio engineering, 3D animation, multimedia, game design, digital filmmaking and music production.

SAE Dubai's audio programme revolves around seven studios, each having a different level of sophistication and primary application. The SSL Studio connects to the SSL Live Room, a moderate-sized room that can comfortably house a quartet of musicians. The acoustics of the room are designed for picking up the dynamic response of instruments, especially drum kits and loud instruments. Having a console that can match the acoustic sig

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14 March 2016

"We cho

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer Shaun Moore adapted his smaller music hall inspired lighting design for the Wembley Arena show. However this one-off gig presented a number of challenges as Moore explains, "The show was a one off, so it was load in at 5am and doors at 6pm. Programming was done over two days at Terminal Studios via the Avolites console using WYSIWYG. We also had a couple hours tweaking over night in my hotel room! Obviously I could have done with a production day, especially as the show was filmed for DVD. On the day itself we had just a few hours tweaking positions and programming."

Frank Turner, the Winchester based, folk/punk singer and guitarist, has been touring almost consistently

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14 March 2016

Originally the headquarters of the Cunard Steamship Company, the architecturally dramatic building was completed in 1917, and also served as the main passenger terminal for both Cunard and White Star Line liners.

Now the classic interior has been sympathetically enhanced and reconfigured to become one of the most upmarket office buildings in Liverpool.

LED lighting manufacturer Tryka LED of Royston, worked hand in hand with main contractor on the project, Jennor UK Ltd of St Helen's, to specify and supply its Flexistrip linear strip to illuminate all the public areas of the building. The six refurbished floors were installed with more than 1000m of Warm White Flexistrip 30 IP67 l

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14 March 2016

Music manager for Bar National, Gunther Sabbagh asked Aoun to take a cold hard look at the bar's physical orientation and surrounding neighbourhood. "He came up with a tricky but effective solution," said Sabbagh. "Beyond removing the existing system I could see two immediate problems," said Aoun. "The only way to contain low end at moderate levels to the surrounding buildings w

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14 March 2016

The event was staged at Sandton Convention Centre (SCC) in Johannesburg over two days, and included two evenings of entertainment spectacular and Award presentations starring Lindiwe Bungane of Dream Girls, among other vocalists plus a full dance troupe.

Lighting was designed by TechRig's Robert Grobler, and the very stylish set created by Michael Gill. The two separate evening's programmes were enjoyed by over 1000 people.

A large trussing system was installed over the 30m wide stage, based on three concentric circles with a series of trussing spines coming off the largest circle on the outside of the two smaller one

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14 March 2016

Grupo Hangar provides its services for live music, cultural festivals, sport, exhibitions, trade and fashion shows. The company needed a mixing console that could handle all of them and satisfy their policy of providing a bespoke solution for each one.

"We purchased the SD8 for a number of reasons," says Grupo Hangar producer Santiago Vélez. "First of all it has a wonderful sound - not only in terms of the features to shape the sound, but just by bringing the faders up it sounds amazing. It's also a very versatile desk; each session can be configured to each event's needs,

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14 March 2016

The theatre has replaced its old stock of DPA 4060 omnidirectional miniature microphones with 40 directional d:fine Headset Microphones and 40 d:fine omni microphone booms, which are being used with a new 32 channel Shure Axient wireless system. The microphones were supplied by sound company Lydproduksjon Troms° AS, in conjunction with DPA's Norwegian distributor Lydsystemer.

Jim Oddvar Hansen, head of sound at the theatre, says, "The new d:fine Headset Microphones replace a selection of DPA 4060 miniature microphones that we had had for some time. As our previous experience with DPA technology had always been good, it made sense to upgrade using the same manufac

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14 March 2016

Over the last few months they have purchased 16 Robin 600 fixtures comprising of four Robin 600 Washes, four Robin 600 Spots, four Robin 600 LEDs and four Robin 600 Beams.

"The purchasing of new sound equipment has been put on hold while we focus all our energy and resources on lighting and audio visual," commented Kagiso 'Daystar' Moima, owner of Blackmotion. "Over the years we split our resources way to thin and growth was limited. Now we will head towards modular screens and mapping integrated with lighting."

Blackmotion provides all the necessary services from visual rendering to lighting design. While the company has sound in their warehouse, their l

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14 March 2016

Andy Booth, senior contracts manager with Northern Light, said, "Whilst Northern Light has extensive experience of delivering the design and installation of technical systems in theatres and concert halls worldwide, we feel the time is now right to promote our expertise in the design and project management of TV studio systems to an international audience."

Working as a specialist sub-contractor to the construction industry, Northern Light has been responsible for the design and installation of technical systems for TV studios within a multitude of venues right across the UK. Recent projects that the company has been involved in include the Theatre, Film and Television building at the University of Y

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14 March 2016

Specified by Huddersfield University's senior technician and manager of resources for drama, theatre & performance - David Wainwright, the new Hippotizer HD will be used by students on the BA Honours courses in Technical Theatre and Drama.

As an experienced provider of industry-standard technical facilities to leading educational institutions and markets, AC-ET were approached by the University when deciding to replace their original Hippotizer media servers with the very latest and most powerful HD video playback technology currently available on the market.

"Our research confirmed that the Hippotizer HD is arguably the most popular and appropriate media server for the t

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14 March 2016

Award winning lighting designer Ian Tomlinson of Adlib Design, the design department of Adlib Solutions, used Clay Paky Sharpys to deliver an extra special 'homecoming' show for the bands loyal fanbase at Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena - the largest venue in the group's 2012 UK tour.

Promising a 'full-scale performance', Lostprophets were out to impress. Tomlinson used the Sharpy's unprecedented brightness and pure, laser-like beam to create an array of spectacular mid-air effects and fast moving, atmospheric backlight.

"I used the Sharpys as an effect - a bit like a laser", explains Tomlinson. "In particular they were used to create big effects into the audience. Weirdly I really l

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14 March 2016

The band which has become hugely popular in the last two years, has just finished another very successful US tour playing venues with a capacity of between 5,000 and 20,000, and will release their second studio album shortly.

The lighting - effectively also the stage set for the current design - is described by Warren as "Vintage barn dance with an epic edge" and the idea is that it looks interesting even before the rig is fired up.

Warren was first introduced to Robe products, and the creative potential they offer, by Ian Turner of Southampton, UK, based rental company GLS. Turner, a busy lighting designer in his own right, is also a big fan of the Robe brand. GLS owns a large stock of Robe fixtures and supplied

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14 March 2016

The system consisted of two hangs of five JBL VT4886 sub-compact line array elements with three ground-stacked VT4883 subs per side. The system was powered by Crown iTech 12000HD power amplifiers, housed in three tour-ready Crown V-Racks. The JBL VT4886 is a true three-way high directivity line array element which with its companion VT4883 cardioid-arrayable subwoofer provide a very high degree of output and predictable coverage capabilities in an extremely compact package.

Darius Kedros, (FoH engineer for Hadouken!), commented, "A

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14 March 2016

When tickets sold out, Michael and Emily Eavis posted a joint statement on Twitter saying: "We're genuinely humbled by the sheer number of people who would like to come to the festival and we dearly wish we could have you all along. Sadly, that just isn't possible, which means a significant number of people have missed out. Demand simply outstripped supply."

Live Advice - The Musici