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14 March 2016

Hawthorn has strengthened its position in the concert tour sector this year after supplying equipment for a series of prestigious European wide arena and theatre shows for high-profile music artists including Mark Knopfler, Squeeze, The Charlatans, Steven Wilson and Status Quo.

For the New Order shows, the Concert Touring division in Hawthorn is drawing upon its extensive range of hire equipment, supplying lighting to specification, including Martin MAC Viper Profile and Wash DX, Clay Paky Sharpy, Clay Paky Stormy and Robe BMFL fixtures, as well as providing the video element, which includes Glux 10mm LED panels. Hawthorn is also supplying rigging and drapes.

Mick Freer, concert touring manager at Hawthorn, said, "Ne

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14 March 2016

"I've always made sure that a bridge evolves out of the community, the environment that it's in," says Donald McDonald, the San Francisco-based architect who designed the bridge. As a statement on the importance of the river to the Portland area, Tilikum Crossing was designed to integrate compelling architecture and dynamic river conditions with a thrilling display of light art that now accentuates the Portland skyline, keeping the 5

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14 March 2016

A project of Triyar Entertainment Group, Dakota is a new build venue that fills a niche in owner Shawn Yari's string of Scottsdale properties that include Maya Day + Nightclub, The District and the W Scottsdale Hotel. "All of the properties have different niches," explains Adrian de Pamphilis, owner of Fyxx Entertainment. "Dakota caters to a bit older and more professional clientele than Maya and The District, which target more the younger 20-something crowd."

Dakota is loc

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14 March 2016

Pawel Pajak (AKA Spider) from Fish Eye was the tour's creative visual director - creating the lighting, video and set designs - in 2012 and 2013. This year, the organisers asked him to take on this same role again plus co-ordinate the budget and suppliers needed to realise the various stage concepts, so he became the project's creative producer. For the main moving lights, he specified over 100 Robe products.

The client wanted good looking visually stimulating shows with high pro

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14 March 2016

The main room is home to two towering Funktion-One DS4 Dance Stacks. The DS4 configuration features two F221 21in bass enclosures at the base, two DS15 speakers for punchy upper bass and low-mid frequencies, and two DS210 loudspeaker enclosures, featuring dual axhead-loaded 10" mid-high drivers and dual 1.4" compression drivers.

Two Funktion-One Evo 6SHs - the skeletal addition to the new Evolution 6 range - have been deployed for infill. Amplificati

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14 March 2016

The hard work carried out by volunteers and members over many years has converted what was once the United Reform Church into the modern performance venue that is the Playhouse Theatre Whitstable today. The conversion work has involved building a stage, removing the balcony from the side walls, installing a stepped auditorium floor, building a sound and lighting control room in the balcony and installing additional seating. The lower floor has been converted into a bar, club room and dressing roo

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14 March 2016

The report represents the first ever comprehensive analysis of sales data for theatres outside London. It found that 2014 was a stronger year than 2013, with a higher proportion of tickets sold and more cash value achieved.

Musical theatre accounted for £153m (38%) of total box office in 2013 and £162 million (39%) in 2014, signalling the genre's continued popularity across the

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14 March 2016

The show, which ran for 21 weeks, exceeded all expectations, making it the most popular in the V&A's history. Now a play which delves into the visionary imagination and dark dream world of the late designer is taking the West End by storm and Unusual Rigging are once again at the centre of the action.

Mark Davies, production rigger at Unusual Rigging, explained: "Lee Batty, the show's production manager, first involved Unusual in the project when the show opened to rave reviews at St James' Theatre. He subsequently got the green light

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14 March 2016

In previous years, DiGiCo has chosen to support some amazing causes and some now sadly departed individuals, with the audio industry coming together as one for what is an always-memorable night. This year, DiGiCo chose to support UK events charity Behind the Scenes.

"We have been supporters of Behind the Scenes UK since its inception two years ago, through its various charity events like the golf days and the recent karting day at Sandown Park, as well as lobbying the industry for support," says DiGiCo's MD James Gordon. "This year, it was a natural

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14 March 2016

"With the new Meyer Sound system we have excellent response, from the top to the bottom of the frequency range, at every seat," reports Ross Dines, PizzaExpress music manager. "It's a completely different world-you can hear the difference on every instrument and voice. It's been a real game changer for me."

For Luc Saint-Martin, the club's FOH engineer, the loudspeaker upgrade gives assurance that his mix will be heard uniformly throughout the room. &

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14 March 2016

Colour Sound Experiment was asked to provide rigging, trussing, lighting and LED screens for the six main tented arenas which featured sets from Duke Dumont, The Martinez Brothers, Sigma, Sven Vath, Jamie Jones, Luciano, Ricardo Villalobos and many more.

Fourteen top Colour Sound crew were led by Jon Rickets and worked closely with the production team from The Dark Horses and technical production manager James Brennan, who co-ordinated all the site production.

Colour Sound's Haydn Cruickshank, comments, "It's exciting to see a new festival growing and finding its identity, and also embracing 'small is beautiful' whilst invest

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14 March 2016

The transformation, led by Trahan Architects in collaboration with Theatre Projects (theatre designer and planner) and Talaske (acoustician), will include a complete overhaul of the Alliance Stage, their 770-seat mainstage theatre. Among dozens of improvements and additions, the overhaul will entail re-seating the room to pull the audience closer to the stage for a more intimate experience, new staircases and terraces for better audience circulation, a new audio system, upgrades to LED lighting

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14 March 2016

"The Leopard system raised sound quality for Hestival to a new level, and coverage across the site was very even," reports Toon Van der Veken, managing director for Stage Unit. "Even at the back of the audience area - nearly 90m away - the sound was still balanced, full, and enjoyable. The system scored 100 percent in every respect. The organizers said it was the best sounding system in the 11-year history of Hestival."

According to Van der Veken, Stage Unit's Leopard investment is not only keeping his long-established

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14 March 2016

Sponsored jointly by Ambersphere Solutions and Pulsar Light of Cambridge, the aim is to challenge six teams of students from different colleges across the UK who are studying technical lighting at further and higher education levels, to each light one of the locomotives in the Museum's Great Hall. Each team is given a selection of lighting fixtures, an MA dot2 console and two hours to rig and programme their chosen design.

Even for those not smitten by the sight and smell of these gigantic engines, there can be no doubting the very real challenge of successfully illuminating one of these heaving beasts of yesteryear. With a limited number of fixtures and with some of the locomotives up to sixty metres in length,

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14 March 2016

Recorded at the Stern Film Studio on Pomaz, close to Budapest, Hungarian producers Show & Game Production followed the style directions and replicated the rules established by the original UK series producers, Objective Television, who licensed this version, broadcast on leading commercial channel, TV2.

Hungarian production manager Krisztina Bene explained that they were recommended to S+H as the interactive floor supplier by Objective Television, from which they also rented key elements of the set

Presented (in the UK) by Phillip Schofield, Cube contestants can win up to £250,000 cash by completing straightforward tasks - like balancing, catching, throwing, estimating, reacting, memorising, etc. - wi

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14 March 2016

The project made use of and fully showed the capabilities of Astera's long-distance RF technology found within the AsteraBox and AsteraApp.

The production was to mark the beginning of Astera's recently announced partnership with Kaiser Showtechnik, who produced the video, and their investment in marketing Astera for the German-speaking market.

A 14-man production crew was brought in to organise the project and capture the beautiful effects, brought to fruition by lighting designer, Chris Schatz. The footage was then compiled and edited by CorneliusFilms. The video can be seen on Astera's Faceboo

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14 March 2016

The show was lit by Dubai and UK based LD Steve Shipman whose design used over 120 Robe moving lights including 12 x BMFL Spots, all supplied by technical production company Solution Media. Steve had also designed lighting for the same show in London in August.

The brief was to design a big colourful show with lots of WOW factors and eye-candy, so he set to work using the kit that was available from Media Solutions, which included 12 x MMX Spots, 18 x LEDWash 1200s, six LEDWash 600s, 34 x LEDBeam 100s and 40 Pointes plus the BMFL Spots which were positioned on the floor.

Eight moving trusses (on a Kinesys system) we

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14 March 2016

In addition to a Belgian feast with local beers and wines, the evening will feature demonstrations of new products, among which are a pair of fixtures that made their debut at the recent LDI show in Las Vegas. These include the Ovation E-910FC, a five-colour RGBA+Lime LED ellipsoidal that brings a new level of colour to LED ellipsoidal fixtures. Also to be showcased is the new COLORado 1 Solo, a powerful IP65-rated par-style wash fixture that features a unique and highly coveted combination of a single-source 60W RGBW LED and

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14 March 2016

The forum, on Monday 12 October 2015, presented the museum and heritage sector with the chance to discuss the future of internet and social media, and how to develop solutions that incorporate these in to exhibition spaces.

Some of the biggest names in European heritage were represented at the forum, including the British Museum, Science Museum, Imperial War Museum, Vatican Museum, National Trust, National History Museum, National Gallery, National Museum of Scotland and the National Museum of Wales. In total, those attending attract approximately 68m visitors every year.

The event began with a presentation by MACOM on the connected digital future followed by delegate presentations, where experiences, challenges and solutions were put forward. The day concluded wit

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14 March 2016

The building has a traditional interior which has now been completely renovated. Fredrik has been running Långbro Värdshus since 2005 and is an award-winning chef and restaurateur, he is an important ambassador both for Sweden and Swedish food and is primarily known for being a celebrity TV chef and the author of several books.

The new interior design features a quiet and understated aesthetic that focuses on natural materials a

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14 March 2016

Philips Entertainment Lighting distributor for South Africa, DWR Distribution, therefore supplied 30 Philips Showline SL PAR 155 Zoom homogenised LED Par luminaires, which can run off a generator when needed, to the venue.

"The team at The Guild wanted new technology, something that would add a bit of punch, that was flexible, and above all would enable them to run professional looking stage lighting from their generator," said Dave Whitehouse from DWR. "Originally they considered LED par cans but instead chose 30 Philips Showline SL Par 155 Zoom Homogenized LED PAR Luminaires to meet their needs. These can be manually zoomed

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14 March 2016

"The team at IXEL has proven expertise of software development and content production for fulldome and 3D environments, both of which are already important application areas for our award-winning Watchout multi-display software and associated products," said Lars Sandlund, COO at Dataton.

IXEL's Miroslav Andel has been appointed chief software developer at Dataton and commented, "There is enormous development potential in the kind of large-scale visual and imm

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14 March 2016

A lighting scheme was designed by leading Israeli LD, Ronen Najar for the occasion, working for the combined Israeli and German production team.

Ronen frequently specifies Robe for his work. He is prolific in both television and live events and known for his fresh and innovative approach to crafting light. He designed the last Maccabi Games OC in the Teddy Stadium Jerusalem in 2013 and has worked internationally on several high profile projects with the ceremonies' director Ran Tzahor over the last decade.

For the EMG OC, a stage was erected at one end of the circular

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14 March 2016

The upgrade was carried out by Promo SRL of Alba Adriatica, which has been installing Yamaha equipment in prestigious projects for eight years.

The company installed four Installation Series IF3115 three-way, UniPhase loudspeakers to cover the dining area. Featuring a 15" low-frequency driver, eight-inch midrange driver and three-inch HF compression driver, the IF3115 can deliver a calculated continuous SPL of 127dB, with exceptional clarity. This makes it suitable for nightclubs where seamless sound is required between the dance floor and surrounding areas.

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