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14 March 2016

The set and visuals have maintained some base common elements as they have evolved throughout the tour which started in Australia in February 2015 shortly before the album dropped, and continued with festivals and headliner shows worldwide, culminating in this sold-out UK arena spree.

Andy wanted a bit of an abstract and urban look to the stage, one that was open to interpretation in a number of different ways. "I didn't want something that was too literal and certainly not too predictable," he explained, "a

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14 March 2016

The Vale of Glamorgan Council invited TPS back to rock the town of Barry again this year following the massive success of last year's inaugural festive son et lumiere created from scratch by Ross Ashton and the TPS team and marking the town's festive light switch-on.

The humorous, fun and spectacular 10-minute large format video show - with seasonal artwork and an array of animated images like dancing penguins and Santa Claus' elf-powered present factory production line - was beamed on to the front of the municipal library building in King Square, Barry, getting everyone vibed up for Christmas.

The biggest physical challenge was dealing wi

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14 March 2016

"Being located in Silicon Valley, the church serves people who are surrounded by technology every day," said Matt Gordon of Legend Theatrical (Scotts Valley, CA), which managed the lighting and video upgrades of the remodelling project. "The new lighting system and other enhancements have given the church a more contemporary look, which connects to worshippers."

Sunnyvale Seventh-day Adventist's technical director Greg Richmond d

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14 March 2016

King Charles front-of-house engineer Jon Lewis employed a dLive S3000 console with an A&H DM64 mixrack for FOH, with an Allen & Heath GLD Chrome mixer handling monitor duties. The 20 fader, 12" touch-screen equipped S3000 allows for up to 120 fader strips and extremely fast workflow.

With credits including Roni Size, The Feeling and Clean Cut Kid, Lewis is a fast-rising UK FOH engineer, with extensive experience of Allen & Heath's existing iLive mixing system. And he describes the dLive as being "on another level. From the build quality to the GUI to the flexibility of the console, everything's taken a huge step up. But it's also extremely intuitive - we only had a day's rehearsal with the console before

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14 March 2016

General tech company SIA Decibel, represented by general manager Aivis Balodis, contracted SIA 3S to supply and install the PA system. The calculations and room simulations with Ease Focus were made by Arturs Cintins, technical director of 3S SIA. He also developed and implemented FIR filters for that system.

"SIA Decibel is long term customer of ours and he was sure it has to be a NEXT-proaudio system, so he called me. The choice was LA122 line array system, maybe a bit massive for the room, but it can handle anything

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14 March 2016

Scott Falbe, founder and CEO at Intelligent Lighting Creations (ILC), explains the reasons behind the purchase. "Several of our productions occur in older venues with very few power receptacles and outdoors where there is no power run out to the grass. This product gives our clients a level of flexibility that was not possible in the past. In addition, the costs are reduced since personnel do not need to be hired to run cables from other locations to the fixtures. They can roll the powered cases to a convenient receptacle for recharging."

An all-weather IP65 housing and built-in battery that lasts up to 12 hours between charges allows the Volt Q5 to

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14 March 2016

Maestra London has a new office and warehouse premises at the high-profile riverside Royal Arsenal development and has made an initial half a million pound investment in new technology, which has included the purchase of premium brand audio and video equipment.

A full-time staff of 10, plus Justin makes the company immediately operational from 4 January 2016, with further equipment and personnel to be announced in the New Year.

Combined with the resources of the Dubai office - headed by Thomas Clements - this will establish Maestra as an international creative production resource based in two vibrant international cities, with a reach that f

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14 March 2016

With a busy end-of-year schedule ahead in the theatre, operations supervisor Simon Mai was looking for ways to create unique stage effects and looks quickly and easily. Adding a media server to the GECC's arsenal looked like a solution, but choosing the right product was the challenge.

Graeme Hicks of Entertainment Production Supplies provided Simon with a Green Hippo Amba to evaluate, and the GECC liked what they saw. "Simon and the crew are using

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14 March 2016

Rental company GL events Audiovisual was tasked as supplier of lighting, while also being an official partner of the light festival. "We were very surprised and honoured to be the only company selected for this year's edition. Both the project and the site has worked wonders in our favour," says project manager Frédéric Fuentes.

Together with lighting designer Daniel Knipper, the two men used solely SGM LED lighting equipment for the show. A mix

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14 March 2016

"This is not just a case of it being a large and acoustically unfriendly space," explains CSD President Doug Hood. "In some ways it was closer to a new-construction project than a typical renovation, but the nature of the construction limited what could be done. The site was originally a manufacturing facility, so it was a large and almost completely open environment. Things like support beams are central to the

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14 March 2016

Creating an ever interesting, evolving and innovative lightshow is LD Johnny Thinggaard Lydiksen from CMY, based in Arhuus, who has worked with the band since 2013. He loves Robe's Pointes and BMFLs - among other fixtures.

Both types of fixture have been at the heart of the various versions of the lighting design to stem from Johnny's central concept, which was created to be flexible and scalable.

Underpinning the aesthetic was the goal to make the band look powerful and dramatic for which "Darkness and timing is a key" explained Johnny.

Pointes first appeared on the Carpark North lighting rig in summer 2014 when Johnny specified 40 to

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14 March 2016

First was Wisconsin, where 19 buses were brought in to transport 800 people from Middleton and Mazomanie to fill 10 screens at a local cinema. An exhilarating buzz permeated the rumbling buses as employees, many adorned in Star Wars costumes, chattered about their hopes and expectations.

"I've been waiting for this movie since before I was born," said Mike Tarman, a lifelong Star Wars enthusiast from ETC's marketing department. "I've kept my expectations in check, but I'm feeling something I've not felt since." Tarman, an aspiring filmmaker, helped create a Star Wars-themed video to announce the company outing at ETC

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14 March 2016

Home to more than 110m people - 18m of them alone in the capital city of Mumbai - Maharashtra is India's third largest state and is located in the western region of the country. Going forward AWAN will work with sub-distributor Miyakawa Drives & Controls Pvt Ltd to optimize the reach of the Symetrix range in this pivotal area.

Established in 1999, Miyakawa Drives & Controls has matured into one of India's most in-demand distributors and importers of pro-audio products and control technology. Alongside Symetrix, its distribution portfolio includes Belden, Neutrik, Community Professional,

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14 March 2016

The decision on which fixtures to specify was not taken lightly: it took around a year of testing and discussions before deciding on 84 Desire D60XTI Studio HD fixtures, controlled by an ETC Unison Paradigm system. Says Flashlight Sales' lighting sales manager Bas van Schelven, "In such a prestigious venue, maintaining its famously superb acoustics was a huge concern for the staff and performers. So even though the XTI fixtures were designed for external use, we specified them since they have no fans to make a noise."

Other tests included making sure the orchestra and choir members could easily read their music sheets under an unfamiliar light; and

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14 March 2016

With one of the largest prize packages ever offered in a new artist competition, Music City Big Break founder and producer David Bell worked alongside co-founder and producer John C. Davis to bring together a production that could capture the full attention of artists, managers, agents, and music fans everywhere. Needing a reliable production partner to assist them in creating a lighting and video atmosphere ready to take on such a competition, they called upon Elite Multimedia to bring in the most expansive production rig the Mercy Lounge has ever experienced.

"As an entertainment consultant, I am close with the management team at Mercy Lounge where they host the mus

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14 March 2016

"I am very happy to see that, after 10 years, over 90% of the original certified technicians have chosen to renew again. This shows a huge commitment to the industry, and confidence in the programme." said Tim Hansen, ETCP council chair.

ETCP currently has a total of 2,141 certified technicians, with 29 people who hold all three certifications: Rigger - Arena, Rigger - Theatre and Entertainment Electrician

ETCP would like to c

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14 March 2016

Francis, part of creative visual design and programming collective MIRRAD, produced a lighting design for the short but popular and much anticipated UK tour which followed on from summer festival work. A completely new live show concept was evolved for this, with production based on the Brixton Academy gig and adaptable to fit the other venues.

The band plays instrumental music, taking samples from classic public service information films, archival footage and propaganda material to (in their own words) "teach lessons of the past through music of the future" with a satirical and humorous edge.

Visuals are fundamental to the performance, and wi

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer John Lucksinger focused his attention for the evening on that quintessential tower which utilised Martin Atomic strobes, Aryton Magic Panels, and Robe cycfx 8s being controlled by a MA2 console networked with a MA NPU.

With the event now needing two stages to accommodate the seven musical guests, Lucksinger found he could simply not be in two places at once, and after designing the lighting for the Music City stage, he handed the controls to Bandit l

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14 March 2016

Lighting designer Shaniel Laloo of Sounds Ideal (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) used the STRIKEs 4s and a collection of Legend 230SR Beam moving fixtures to engage the massive crowd at the celebration. The high output of both fixtures was essential to the designer achieving this goal, given the large size of the outdoor uMhlathuze Multi-Purpose Sports Complex, where the festival performances took place -- and the size of the crowd, estimated at 40 000.

"The STRIKEs are nice for eye candy e

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14 March 2016

It Was 25 Years Ago - On Christmas Day 1990, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau (in collaboration with CERN) communicated between a web browser and a webserver for the first time - thus the world's first website went live.

Honours List - The music world is repre

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14 March 2016

A full-service provider for the entertainment industry, FACE was formed in 2010 to supply audio, lighting and video hardware, software and services.

"d3 and FACE share a lot of the same values - We both believe in innovation through technology," says Karel De Piere, CEO of FACE. "d3's solutions are a great addition to our existing portfolio and fit right into our catalogue of professional solutions. We are confident that both parties will benefit from this new partnership, and we look forward to working with d3. With our established sales and installation team we expect to create some

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14 March 2016

Local distributor Georges Toutounji, CEO of Scen-The comments: "The Voice, which premiered the first season in January 2015 and is currently in production for a second season is such a global brand that it needs very little introduction. The exciting part is showing people how limitless the system is, and then seeing how they use it on their shows. We have seen a lot of young adopters and now setting the standard in Wireless DMX transmission in the Croatian market. This was exactly the case with HRT."

For The Voice, a Blackbo

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14 March 2016

Thousands of dedicated fans flocked to London to celebrate the latest instalment in the Star Wars franchise, where Stormtroopers and Jedi knights joined the cast and celebrities for the biggest premiere of the year.

Utopium illuminated Nelson's Column, transforming it into a giant light sabre. Utopium provided 24 Clay Paky Mythos, three MDG One atmosphere machines, four Studio Due City-Color LEDs and two Studio Due City-Beams to create the spectacle.

In Leicester Square, the cast and crew were joined by celebrity guests as the area was transformed into a space-themed venue. Utopium installed 120 tonnes of ballast to stabilise the 26 masts supporting 175m of 52cm ST header truss, from wh

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14 March 2016

"The decision to partner with B&J was given great consideration. After looking at other opportunities and initiatives, we realized that the JAM organization is best positioned to enhance Peavey and grow its presence in Canada," said Gray.

"This giant U.S. amplification and instrument brand is a welcome addition to B&J's existing catalogue of exclusive products and we believe that B&J aligns well with Peavey's decision to transition to full distribution in Canada. To kno