South Africa - A great time was had by all visitors to The Witness Hilton Arts Festival in KwaZulu Natal this year including a new visitor, the MA Lighting Dot 2, reports Dave Whitehouse from DWR Distribution.

With shows ranging from Watershed Live to the Baxter Theatre's production of Blue/Orange it was always going to be a challenge for the festival technical director, Michael Broderick, to supply the right equipment for such a diverse programme of events.

He appointed Durban based Black Coffee, headed by the irrepressible Brandon Bunyan, to take care of all the technical requirements. Add to this some top-notch freelancers, many of whom have been working at the festival for many years, and you have the smoothest running arts festival around.

Despite the very wet weather, usually a power nightmare for technicians, the festival ran without a mishap.

This all

South Korea - "The cost always has to be one of the decisive factors when one is contemplating a sound system installation," opens Jung Hawon, one of the elders in the Apgujung Kwanglim Church in Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea and chairman of the broadcasting department. "The opportunity to use the brand new specialized installation amplifiers, the 10D and the 30D, from d&b audiotechnik meant that the savings, when compared to other quotations, were more than persuasive."

That said, Hawon was very thorough when determining which system demonstration met with his congregation's approval. A group from the eighty thousand strong global worshippers were provided with a form of grading sheets so they could rate the three systems vying for the contract. The d&b V-Series system, augmented by some E8 loudspeakers and driven by the newly developed 30D and 10D amplifiers

UK / USA - To allow PLASA to refocus and concentrate on the needs of their respective membership bases, the PLASA Governing Body announces that PLASA's North American and European Union Regional Boards will end their cooperation agreement and return to functioning as separate associations.

A statement from PLASA reads: "This move will allow the associations to set strategic direction to meet their individual demands. It affords more focus of resources in each market toward the activities that are most relevant and pertinent to members and it will allow for more agility and decisiveness.

This in turn will foster the health of both organisations and protect their futures. As we did prior to the start of the cooperation agreement, the two associations will continue to work cooperatively on issues of common interest for the benefit of their members and the industry."

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USA - Fans of MCA Nashville recording artist Gary Allan have long been losing themselves inside his soulful, country music throughout his almost 20-year recording history. So when Allan set out on his latest nationwide tour, the production team wanted to make sure that the show behind the music matched the emotion onstage. To help make this vision a reality, lighting director and production manager Brandon Quisberg went back to trusted tour provider Elite Multimedia.

"This is my second year with the tour and this year we really wanted to move the audience with the music," began Quisberg. "While we wanted really big moments, we also wanted intimate and theatrical moments as well, and we needed the lighting to be a direct reflection of the emotion inside the lyrics to draw the audience in. Working with Elite Multimedia, they really listened to what we were trying to

UK - South London-based live event and technical solutions specialist PR Live has invested in its own LED screen surface, with an initial purchase of 120 panels of Absen A3 Pro 3.9mm pitch high definition product, complete with all necessary processing and rigging.

This is the first of a series of planned LED screen purchases which will expand the company's substantial video department which also currently features Christie high powered projectors, High end video switchers, processing and a selection of media servers.

PR Live's Justin Hammond comments, "LED screens are becoming increasingly prominent in the shows and events for which we design and supply equipment, so we are expanding the department. We wanted a premium multi-purpose product particularly to service our high-end corporate work ... and that was also ideal for our general music and live event based work.&quo

The Netherlands - Stagelight is a successful Dutch hire and events production company that has been consistently dominant in the corporate events market for many years. More recently, the company has been expanding and aiming for an equally strong share of the public events and tour sound sectors. Part of this strategy has been investment in high-end, flexible technology, both in sound and in lighting. This includes the recent purchase of four SSL Live consoles - three SSL Live L500 consoles and one SSL Live L300 console - from Audio Electronics Mattijsen (AEM).

Jacco van der Heijden, managing director of Stagelight said, "For us, SSL complemented our own strategy of always delivering to the highest possible standards: A global reputation for excellence, teamwork, and reliability are key to Stagelight operations. We had to find a brand that would fit with our high-quality i

UK - Fifteen special theatre industry events take place on The Theatres Trust's TheatreStage at PLASA Show 2015 from Sunday 4 to Tuesday 6 October at ExCel London.

The TheatreStage plays host to key organisations and associations in the theatre sector announcing their latest activities, making presentations and giving awards, including the Association of Lighting Designer's Michael Northen Award on Monday 5 October at 1.30pm.

The programme includes 15 presentations over three days from the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), Backstage Heritage Collection, Behind the Scenes UK, Production Managers' Forum, Society of Theatre Consultants, The Theatrical Guild, and ourselves, The Theatres Trust, the National Advisory Public Body for Theatres.

We're delighted that many academic institutions are also part of the line-up on th

UK - The unstoppable force of EDM, Eric Prydz, headlined his own 'Pryda' stage at Creamfields with another explosive visual performance powered by Avolites Ai servers and an Arena console.

London-based creative technology expert Realtime Environment Systems Ltd (RES) provided the Avolites Ai media server know-how for the performance, which was a completely new and bespoke set up for Creamfields.

"We designed a custom metal frame which surrounded Eric on the stage - we wanted to move away from just huge video shows which Eric has done lots of in the past, and design a stage that used set, lighting and video to give an illusion of depth," explains RES founder Mark Calvert.

More than 100 lighting fixtures were employed for the spectacle, including Clay Paky Sharpys, Robin LEDWash 600s, and various strobes, wash and blinders all supplied by Colour Sound Experiment. In

Ireland - Spanish tenor José Carreras and Welsh mezzo-soprano singer/songwriter Katherine Jenkins performed this summer with the City of Cork Symphony Orchestra in the city's Independent Park (previously Musgrave Park) rugby stadium.

For this high profile event, EQ Audio and Events, headquartered in Dublin, fielded an Outline rig featuring 12 Outline GTO C-12 per side for the main left and right hangs, chosen because a very consistent transparent sound was indispensable, with very even coverage and absolutely no coloration.

Outline Butterfly CDH-483 cabinets were fielded for fills. Out-fill hangs comprised 10 CDH-483s per side, with more of the same enclosures deployed behind the FOH platform. All the CDH-483s were powered by Outline T7 amps, whereas, for the first time, the GTO C-12s were powered by Powersoft's new X8 amplifiers.

Production manager Shay Hannon explai

UK - Controllable LED specialist Light Initiative and event technology expert FIX8Group will reveal their custom creations for the Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) ceremony this weekend.

The eighth KOI Awards is this Sunday, 4th October at London's glamorous art deco Troxy, organised by The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), The Society of Television & Lighting Design (STLD), The Fifth Estate Ltd and Clay Paky.

Light Initiative (LI) was asked to create the table centrepieces for the occasion, drawing on their talent for amazing LED designs.

"We wanted to add something special to the Knight of Illumination evening, something beautiful and subtle while celebrating the creativity of every lighting designer in the room," says LI's Bryn Williams. "These playful centrepieces can allow guests to create their own lighting states using a touch-activated interf

UK - Charcoalblue has created a new internship programme in partnership with the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). Aiming to develop theatrical design talent and broaden experience of the art and craft of theatre consultancy, Charcoalblue will be awarding three annual internships through this special link with LIPA over the next three years.

The internship award offers a paid position, and an introduction to all aspects of theatre consultancy, including auditorium design, technical systems and project management.

The first award winner, student Kathryn Nolan, has just started her placement in Charcoalblue's London Studio.

"Kathryn is already bringing her enthusiasm and great talent to our studio and challenging our thinking every day," says Charcoalblue's managing partner, Andy Hayles. "It's great to have her join our team. It was a delight to pr

China - Ocean Park Hong Kong is partnering with Meyer Sound to stage the 15th edition of Asia's largest Halloween-themed event. A Leopard linear sound reinforcement system and D-Mitri digital audio platform lead a lineup of Meyer Sound systems to bring sonic immersion and push the scare factor for the park's fear-loving guests.

"To bolster our iconic Halloween celebration on its 15th anniversary, we decided to elevate the scary experience to new heights for our guests by exploring different sound effect treatments," says Jacky Chan, technical manager of Ocean Park Hong Kong. "The project is challenging because we want to use sound to inspire an intense fear in our guests, independent of scary visuals. Meyer Sound's sophisticated D-Mitri platform, coupled with the company's experience with international performances in Broadway and Las Vegas, allow us to achieve ou

UK - The K-array loudspeaker system installed by Stage Electrics at the Royal Opera House is "so discrete it is almost invisible".

The installation is the result of an out of the blue phone call with an invitation to the opera in Verona for the Royal Opera House's head of sound, Steve Zissler.

"I was asked if there was anyone I knew that I'd like to take to Italy to see the opera and listen to some sound systems," says Jamie Gosney from Stage Electrics, who designed the system at the Royal Opera House. "I hadn't been at Stage Electrics very long, I didn't really know anyone then and I didn't even know the K-array products that well. But Dave Wooster, [now part of 2B Heard, K-array's new UK distributor], had already said that the K-array products were perfect for opera."

That particular trip was not to be, but it wasn't long after that Stage Elec

UK - Orbital Sound reports that UK specialist Event Light & Sound (ESL) has taken delivery of a sizeable new Nexo 45°N-12 Line Monitor system, investing in the innovative wedges to service its growing corporate and high-end event schedule. Supplied by Nexo's UK main dealer and service partner Orbital Sound, the system was selected after a comprehensive market review, with the 45°N-12 standing out for its unique design, innovative technology, and arrayability.

ESL was introduced to the 45°N-12s by one of its regular monitor engineers, Chris Wibberley, commenting, "I was offered the chance to try out the NEXO 45°N-12 monitors a couple of years ago. I have found them to be the loudest and clearest wedge I have ever used! I like the way they couple as pairs and also how narrow their pattern is, so you don't have one mix bleeding all over another?. A truly excell

Australia - TDC - Technical Direction Company is recognised for their achievements at Vivid Sydney 2015 by being shortlisted in the Best Technical Achievement and Innovation category of the Australian Event Awards.

Winners of the awards will be announced at a glittering ceremony on 17 November, 2015 at Doltone House in Pyrmont, Sydney.

TDC's involvement in Vivid Sydney this year included providing video expertise in cutting edge mapping techniques and core video technology across an unprecedented 10-kilometer distance as the festival expanded into Chatswood and Central Park inner-city precincts.

The company worked with Destination NSW, the NSW Government's tourism and major events agency, as well as various artists for each installation. TDC broke all records by providing nearly 9,000sq.m of video (or 7,464,960,000 video pixels) projected onto the stunning architecture of ov

UK - Steve Angello - innovative international DJ and music producer - doesn't believe in doing anything by halves, and so asked his lighting designer Jon Trincas to create something spectacular, full-on and completely unique for his pumping headline set in the Size Matters arena Creamfields 2015, the UK's premier EDM festival.

Jon chose 48 x PATT 2013 luminaires as part of a highly distinctive upstage wall of lights aesthetic.

The 48 units were rigged on 12 25ft high upright pre-rigged truss towers, each of which was loaded with four PATT 2013s together with an array of moving lights and blinders.

This is one of the largest collections of PATT 2013s used in a single show to date. They formed a grid that Jon was able to map through his grandMA2 lighting console allowing him to produce a selection of mad, quirky and trippy effects.

PATT 2013 contains a 750W tungsten softligh

World - Lighting designer Ed Warren has commissioned a large number of pioneering LED PAR can frames from LED design and manufacture house Light Initiative (LI) to add an extra punch to his design for Mumford & Sons' world tour and headline festival dates.

The folk rockers have been traversing the globe in support of their latest number-one album Wilder Mind. To reflect the slightly edgier sound of their new material, Warren took his usual tungsten-based design to the next level. To do this the designer incorporated some new elements such as strobes, unusual colour contrasting and LED.

"To maintain the Mumford vibe amidst all the new tricks, I decided to use a back wall of 120 PAR cans positioned in a 10-fixture wide by 12-fixture high grid," explains Warren. "However I felt it'd get old quickly if all they did was flash on and off for a whole set, so cam

USA - When Basement, the melodic rock/emo band from Ipswich, Suffolk, UK, added a 21-date US leg to their widely anticipated reunion tour, they didn't pay much attention to lighting. Captivating crowds with their raw, honest grunge-tinged songs, the group got by with house lights at jam packed performances from San Francisco to Austin to New Orleans. Then as they headed east for the last five nights of their tour, Basement moved its lighting rig up to a new level of visual excitement with some help from the Rogue R2 Wash moving LED fixture from Chauvet Professional.

"The band wanted to blow out the remaining five shows on the tour in Washington, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Boston and New York with a good light package," said LD Lenny Sasso. "There was a lot of enthusiasm for Basement in the early leg of the tour, and they wanted to play on this by engaging the audie

USA - Founded in 1994, Audio Geer is an independent sales representative firm based in Huntington Beach, California. The firm's 12 professionals average 10 or more years' experience serving integrators and consultants in Southern California and Southern Nevada including Las Vegas.

President Alan Geer says, "We strictly limit the brands we represent and always aim for a specific calibre of company. Community fits well with the products and services we provide to integrators and consultants. They're a truly professional company with great people and technology. I'm very excited about representing them in our territories."

Steve Young, Community's director, North American sales, added, "Our Southern California and Southern Nevada integrators will immediately benefit from the expanded coverage provided by Audio Geer. We are proud that Audio Geer has chosen Community

Czech Republic - The Macula, a leading Czech videomapping company, recently mesmerised a private audience of 600 VIP guests at the Rudolfinum music auditorium with the SIM/NEBULA: a 45 minutes long video mapping performance accompanied by the Czech Philharmonic orchestra, led by internationally renowned conductor Jiri Belohlávek, the former principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

The project involved a live orchestra of 118 musicians and projections on four sides of the auditorium (front, two sides and ceiling).

The content was broken into seven themes (Matter, Technology, Message, Mission, New World, Rendez-vous and Birth), expressing visual futuristic poems, and shaping the emergence of a cybernetic organism counting down its time code in acoustic waves of classical music. The project was developed in collaboration with 11 international artists (from UK, Fr

Canada - As the one of the world's largest international multi-sport competitions, the 2015 Pan American Games hosted close to 7,000 athletes from across North America, Latin America, South America and the Caribbean.

To inaugurate the opening of the games in Toronto, event organizers enlisted the assistance of 45 Degrees who brought on Martin Labrecque to oversee the lighting design. Working with Solotech, Labrecque would be challenged to create a hybrid design between theatrical and rock-n-roll and he did so using 60 VL4000 Spot luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite.

"This was actually my first time working with the Pan American Games and my first time lighting a stadium event," began Labrecque. "Knowing that the directors of the show wanted a cross between theatrical and rock-n-roll, I needed to bring in automated luminaires that could offer me a wide range of cap

UK - At 9,500sq.ft over three floors, Lush's new flagship store on London's Oxford Street is 13 times larger than the average size of its stores, and sets the bar high within the international cosmetics and skincare retail industry.

In line with the retailer's eco-friendly credentials and ethos, the interior blends recycled products with exposed steel girders and a floor-to-ceiling full-width glass frontage to showcase all that is innovative and inspiring about Lush.

Bose pro partner, Crossover, a team known for their expertise in creating great sounding retail environments, were brought in to create the wow! factor in what is set to become an iconic store. As well as specifying and installing a multi-zoned background music system, the brief included requirements for some innovative display and interactive elements, and Lush also commissioned the Crossover team to work collabo

UK - SAGE (Safety Advisors Group in Entertainment) have raised concerns of the competence of some event safety advisors and have launched a campaign with the support of IIRSM (International Institute of Risk and Safety Management) to help event organisers and promoters to ensure they know what the really should be looking for in a prospective safety advisor when planning an event.

The role is safety critical and therefore a high level of competence is required. SAGE is recommending the prospective candidate should meet the following criteria:

•Membership of a Health and Safety Institute (IIRSM or IOSH)

•Qualified to NEBOSH Diploma Level (or equivalent)

•Membership of an event industry trade association

•Five years of event industry experience (not necessarily health and safety experience)

•Taking part in a Continuing Professional Development (C

USA - Veteran front-of-house engineer Toby Francis, whose extensive résumé ranges from Aerosmith to ZZ Top, is currently out on an 88-date tour with pop princess Ariana Grande and a DiGiCo SD7 digital mixing console. The Honeymoon Tour, which takes in North America, Europe and Asia before wrapping up in South America at the end of October, also includes an SD7 at the monitor position, helmed by engineer Justin Hoffmann.

Francis, who is approaching his eighth year of using DiGiCo consoles almost exclusively, comments, "It's very, very easy to mix music on this console and it works in a very straightforward manner. It's got everything you'd ever need onboard. For the last two years I've been using a Waves SoundGrid server, but prior to that I didn't - I just used the console and nothing else."

Although he typically favours DiGiCo's SD10 desk, Franc

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