USA - XS nightclub at Wynn casino and resort in Las Vegas has upgraded its lighting control system with Martin's M1 lighting desk. The M1 was an appropriate choice for club lighting console operator Josh Packard and his style of operation, says Wynn lighting programmer and lead lighting technician, Brian Gysegem.

"It was obvious that he needed more playbacks at his fingertips and the M1 became the obvious choice. The board was ultimately chosen for its small footprint and abundance of playbacks on the control surface. Josh is equally adept at creating and mixing music as he is operating and programming lights; his timing shines because of it."

The M1 has been designed with a single philosophy in mind - simplicity - and features a clean and easy to navigate surface. Its fast dual-core processor ensures a fast and responsive user interface, even if hundreds of playback

Mexico - Over 170 Clay Paky Alpha 1500s have been used to mark Mexico's bicentennial and centennial celebrations. This year Mexicans celebrated both 200 years of independence and 100 years since the Revolution, prompting a wave of celebrations throughout the country.

The festivities culminated in two separate events held in the main plaza of the capital, El Zocalo. The Bicentennial, a two-day fiesta of light and music, was enjoyed by thousands of Mexican revellers, and broadcast live to millions around the world.

Production and creative direction were placed in the hands of a multi-national team with vast experience of global sporting events and ceremonies. Ric Birch, producer of numerous Olympics ceremonies, teamed up with creative partner Marco Balich of Filmmaster Group. Mexican LD Victor Zapatero was engaged as lighting designer for the main live events, while lighting dir

Singapore - Robert Juliat provided the big guns for two big occasions when its largest followspots were specified for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games this summer.The events were of truly Olympic proportions and demanded the giants of the Robert Juliat range, the Lancelot 4000W HTI and Cyrano 2500W HMI followspots.Lighting designer, Koert Vermeulen, principal designer at ACT Lighting Design, chose Robert Juliat followspots based on his previous experience with the fixtures. "I have recommended Robert Juliat on almost all of my big productions. I chose the Lancelot and Cyrano for the Youth Olympic Games based on a combination of past performance and on the photometrics data."No fewer than eight Lancelots and six Cyranos were supplied by Production Resource Group (PRG), with Showtec Communications Pte Ltd of Singapore coming to t

UK - Blackburn-based lighting rental company HSL continues its busy autumn/winter season supplying lights, Kinesys automation, projection and LED to the Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark(OMD) UK and European tour.

It featured the band's original line up, a new album History of Modern and an energetic set comprising a lively mix of classic hits and new material.

It was lighting/visuals designer Andy Liddle's first full production tour with the band since he came onboard in 2009. He created an interesting mix of moving elements, LED and projection surfaces and lighting, to provide a contemporary scenic showcase for OMD - three decades of synth pop later.

All suppliers were invited to tender for the tour at the outset, from which HSL won the lighting and visuals package explains Liddle, who was also aware of some of the other work that HSL has been doing recently. "

UK - Wakehurst Place, a National Trust property in West Sussex, southern England, which is managed by Kew Gardens, believes it has the largest Christmas tree in the UK. Wakehurst Place decorates the giant tree every year and hosts a number of Christmas events for the public.

Facelift Access Hire has been working with Wakehurst Place for more than 10 years now, helping to decorate the tree with lights. Work begins at eight a.m. when two Bronto machines are carefully positioned, with a team of ground staff from Wakehurst Place helping to load the lights up and begin the process of attaching them to the tree.

The day provided every kind of weather - sun, wind, rain, sometimes all at the same time. Fortunately, as the team are now so familiar with the operation they completed the work ahead of schedule, allowing plenty of time to take up the visiting journalists for a better view

USA - On 11 December 2010 Warren Haynes began his 23rd annual Christmas Jam inside the Ashville Civic Centre. This event again hosted a who's who of the music world. Haynes premiered his new endeavor, The Warren Haynes Band, alongside artists such as Gregg Allman, The Steve Miller Band, Umphreys McGee, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Missing Cats and John Bell of Widespread Panic.

The focus of the concert is to raise money for Habitat for Humanity, which builds housing for those in need. Haynes has raised well over a million dollars for this cause and looks for ways to increase the stake every year.

This year's edition found production manager extraordinaire Chris Rabold assembling a team that included lighting designer Paul Hoffman at the creative helm, along with Bandit Lites and client representative Dizzy Gosnell. Rabold worked his visual art that included "a 'fest

Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden AB was recently a 'green' participant for Allt Ljus på Uppsala 2010 ("All Lights on Uppsala 2010') in which lighting designers and architects lit a variety of buildings, statues and trees in the city. The event first took place in 2008, aiming to promote the city with all its beautiful facades, as well as promoting and improving public health by getting people out of their apartments at night walking around to see the lights. The project was a huge success and the Uppsala Municipality decided to make the project a biennial event therefore reoccurring this year, 2010.

One of the objects of 2010 was the old mill in the city centre and the water surrounding it. Kreativ Teknik AB created and transformed the area into a dynamic coloured adventure with music and sound effects. The theme was 'The Four Seasons' and the site went from winter throug

Australia - St Mary's Anglican Girls School in Karrinyup, Western Australia is home to the Lady Wardle Performing Arts Centre, a 509 seat auditorium which hosts an array of school events including plays, concerts, debates, dance productions, assemblies and lectures.

Recently the School decided to upgrade their lighting system with the purchase of eight Selador Vivid 22" and eight Vari*Lite VL500 80V.

"The Selador Series high power Vivid LED fixtures have made an excellent side light replacing what was once a very patchy par-can wash in basic colours," reports Peter Rubie, head lighting operator for the venue. "I love the 7-LED colour mixing. It gives me the ability to accurately match any gel colour instead of just the party colours you get from so many LED wash lights on the market.

"As we have such a fast turnaround of shows and a wide variety of s

Slovakia - ADB Lighting has appointed City Light Slovakia as its new distributor for Slovakia. City Light recently staged two open days to show off ADB's new products.

The company, headquartered in Humenne and with a new showroom in the capital, Bratislava, is a major player in the Slovakian entertainment technology industry, stocking many leading international lighting, audio, staging and special effects brands.

"We have been seeking to grow our presence and market share in Slovakia, where a thriving entertainment industry is looking for new innovations in product development," said ADB Lighting area sales manager Andre Bragard-De Naeyer.

"We are strongly positioned with our new and forthcoming product lines, and with the perfect partner in City Light Slovakia we anticipate building on our combined strengths to create exciting new opportunities."

Marek

UK - Lighting designer Yenz Nyholm took to the O2 Arena, London, UK, with a Diamond 4 TITAN for much loved pop-rock band, Level 42's 30th Anniversary world tour. Nyholm has been a keen Avolites user for some years and he particularly likes the power and functionality of the D4 for larger shows.

For this tour he was one of the first to try TITAN V4, the latest software due for official release in the new year. Having now used the TITAN D4 on over 60 shows, it's proved to be "Very reliable," he states.

Lighting equipment for the UK tour was supplied by High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire based rental company Siyan.

The tour's lighting design was based around three large and striking backdrops - a central cloth and two legs - featuring artwork from all the band's record sleeves since 1980. The general vibe on stage was that of a big celebratory party atmosphere with lots of

UK - Belfast-based Production Services Ireland (PSI), supplied lighting, video (including screens and media servers), trussing and rigging to BBC Northern Ireland for the 2010 Belfast Children In Need concert staged at the city's Odyssey Arena.

PSI has been involved with this annual fundraising event for at least seven years, but this was the first year that they have supplied such a comprehensive package of technical equipment and crew for the show, which was presented by John Daly and BBC Radio 1's Reggie Yates. The capacity audience enjoyed live performances by Westlife, The Script and Jedward among others, and it was broadcast live across the region, with link ups to the simultaneously running London event at the BBC.

PSI's Brian Reilly project managed, commenting: "We were delighted to be so involved with Children in Need this year as it's a fantastic cause, and it w

Denmark - Martin Professional has announced the release of V2 software for the P3-100 System Controller, which the company says "puts this award-winning LED video screen processor even further ahead of the competition".

Martin says it has added a host of new and advanced features, including an improved user interface. The V2 software will run on any P3-100, with no need for any hardware upgrades, the company says.

Highlights of the V2 software include: LED video screens with different pixel pitches (resolutions) can now be combined on one P3-100 System Controller - the P3-100 (V2) does all the scaling for you; Easily adjustable colour temperature (white balance) of screens; Undo and redo buttons; rotation of content on any video panel or group of panels to any angle; Easy-to-select groups of panels; Layout and quick-addressing wizards; additional video-presets; and a

USA - The new Elation ELED Tri Par 56 is a 42W fixture that features 14 x 3W RGB LEDs (an equal number of green, red and blue). Each of the 3W LEDs is actually a 3-in-1 lamp, comprised of three different-coloured LEDs.

"Everything about the ELED Tri Par 56 is advanced, except its price," said Eric Loader, director of sales for Elation Professional. "This technology is a vast improvement over single-colour LED RGB fixtures."

The ELED Tri Par 56 works on seven DMX channels, and six DMX work modes. It uses USITT DMX 512 16-bit resolution, and it has a multi voltage power supply of 100 to 240 volts, 50/60Hz. The rugged durability of the ELED Tri Par 56 make it suitable for the touring and rental markets, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

South Africa - A grandMA2 full-size console was chosen by LD Mauritz Jacobs to control all lighting for the 2010 Final of Miss South Africa, staged at Sun City Superbowl. Lighting equipment for the show - also a live MNET telecast - was supplied by Johannesburg Dream Sets, who purchased their grandMA2 from MA's South African distributor DWR earlier in the year. They were one of the first companies in South Africa to run the new grandMA2 with the latest software version.

The lighting brief was a bit of a departure from that of the normal beauty pageant with "lots of effects" requested to go with the up-beat vibe and general excitement of the presentation, which also included guest artists and dance performances plus the 12contestants appearing onstage.

The creative look and feel of Miss SA's lighting followed the clean, streamlined set designed by Dewet Meyer. Dream S

Australia - Sydney's Sefton High School has recently upgraded its auditorium following advice from Jands and The PA People who were contracted to supply and install drapes, audio and lighting equipment. The refurbishment was undertaken to coincide with the school's 50th anniversary.

The narrow stage had almost no wing space which severely restricted backstage circulation and technical space. Barely one metre either side of stage is a wall that supports a platform that, at a higher level, provides valuable storage as well as somewhere for dimmers and patching to reside.

The curtain and drapes staff at Jands developed a design in partnership with the school that reduced the width of the performance space thus providing somewhere for performers to stand off stage. This was achieved by providing dog leg wings rather than flat or diagonal wings and a full tab across the back of the

Singapore - Impact Engineering - one of the biggest technical production houses in Singapore, Hong Kong and China - has made a major investment in Robe moving lights, purchasing 116 units - 50 ColorSpot 700E ATs and 66 Robin 300 Beams.

It's the first investment in Robe that Impact has made, explains director Johnny Ong, although the company has been working with the brand for some time. They actually first used Robe lights for a club installation in Taiwan seven years ago using XT Series fixtures which are still going strong.

"Robe is being specified more and more frequently for productions, so we wanted to expand our inventory and get the brand onboard to ensure that as a leading rental house we can supply what LD's are asking for," he states, adding that they also had a gap in their hire stock for both a 700 and a 300 type fixture. The deal was sealed by Louis Teo

UAE - To support its strategy of expansion in the Middle East market, Proel Group organised the first Proel Middle East Conference at the Novotel World Trade Centre in Dubai, a three-day event devoted to Middle Eastern markets. The conference also hosted professionals from the Northern African countries, such as Morocco and Egypt.

Fabrizio Sorbi, president of Proel Group, took part in the event together with Massimo Signor, Proel's managing director, and Simon Sinclair, business development director. Sorbi stressed how strategically important these emerging markets are for Proel. He went on to explain what the Group's strengths are - the R&D department, logistics, and the investments in the new management system that will "lead to an even greater general efficiency in the future".

The event hosted several specific product sessions, divided by line and brand, during w

France - After missing last year's event, lighting designer Richard Knight returned to the Wella International Trend Vision Award 2010 (ITVA), held this year at Paris's Halle Freyssinet, to make his contribution to a dazzling spectacular.

Drawing on around 80 GLP impression (impression 90 and impression 120 RZ zoom) LED moving heads, the lighting designer, who specialises in theatrical and corporate events such as this, had a mission-critical role for the fixtures in each location.

Zone 2 became the location for the morning and afternoon catwalk shows and Zone 1 was used for the evening gala dinner and award presentations. These two areas were linked by a central 'hub', in the form of a 'live' TV studio, where interviews took place throughout the day, as well as four 'trend zone' exhibition spaces.

Working alongside event production company Jack Morton Worldwide's production

Europe - Back in the summer, Danish lighting designer Christian Bonde prepared to scale up the Bullet For My Valentine lighting production he had successfully taken round a US club tour, in preparation for European arenas.

Knowing the vagaries of heavy travelling and short load in times, he needed a powerful floor rig, which required no more than a one man set up. And the impressions fit the bill.

The Download Festival in the UK marked the start of the upscaling process - from an inventory of 10 original impression RGB moving heads to 44 RZ 120 Zooms - in anticipation of the Welsh rockers' current tour. The RZ 120s and 700W profile discharge moving light became the mainstays of the new rig - with the lighting support for the European leg coming from Neg Earth.

The complement of floor lights was extended, with 20 GLP impressions now deployed along with strobes and blinders, w

UK - A.C. Special Projects were approached by London's Southbank Centre to specify and supply a high power outdoor gobo projector to provide a visually impactful logo above the entrance to the Hayward Gallery's trendy Concrete cafe and late night bar, which takes its name from the building's striking 1960s architecture.

Based on the available throw distance to achieve a 6m wide projection of the logo, the company specified a Griven GoboStorm IP65 rated outdoor gobo projector with a powerful 575W metal halide lamp and high precision zoom optics to achieve the required image size, brightness level and clarity.

A.C. Special Projects were also contracted to specify and supply outdoor LED lighting to highlight an area under a railway bridge leading from the Royal Festival Hall to a restaurant and other visitor attractions along the South Bank area.

To overcome planning restrictio

The Netherlands - Visual Productions has released a tool for creating personality files for use within Cuelux. This tool - the 'Builder' - is available for Mac OS and Windows and is free for download from the company's website: www.visualproductions.nl/downloads.html

The company says the Builder offers a friendly GUI (Graphical User Interface) for creating and editing personality files. Users can amend existing fixtures or start building their own fixtures from scratch. The personality files (sometimes referred to as 'profiles') are visualised by a coloured diagram to indicate good data and to highlight typical mistakes when inputting the fixture's DMX table, such as overlapping channels and values. Personality files created with the Builder can be used directly by Cuelux; the Builder also features an upload function to send the newly created file to Visual Productions' server t

Italy / Ukraine - Coemar lighting fixtures have been employed on the X-Factor talent show, both in Italy where the fourth edition has just finished and in the Ukraine where the programme is currently achieving high audience figures.

In Italy, where the programme has been highly successful since 2008, Coemar supplied 70 Infinity Wash XL to light the audience, judges and stage perimeter. The 94 ParLite LEDs were chosen for their high light output and limited consumption.

In the Ukraine, where the programme is in its first edition, lighting designer Ievgen Tsybinogin has chosen the power of the Infinity Wash XL, the Infinity Spot M and the Testa 2500 and Testa 1200. The products were supplied by Alight, a Ukrainian rental company which in turn bought them from Lightek, the official local Coemar representative.

(Jim Evans)

Italy - L'eredità (the inheritance) is a successful quiz show on Italian television channel RAI 1, in which competitors challenge each other in various games. Contestants who make a certain number of mistakes are eliminated, and consequently their opponents win the right to their part of the 'inheritance'.

The director of photography Vittorino Piccolo comments: "The set is a sort of circular 'canister' consisting of strips of simple white plastic that house LED strips. They may also be illuminated by the studio lights. Since the show consists of six different games on a single set, the lights have to be used to try to differentiate as much as possible. My task is precisely to characterise the different sections of the game with various colour effects."

The lights include Alpha Beam 700s, Alpha Profile 1200s, Alpha Wash 1200s, Alpha Spot 575s, CP Color MHs and

USA - Hitachi America has announced the introduction of its CPX9 Portable Series LCD projector, designed for use in classrooms, conference rooms, on the road or anywhere a lightweight, high-quality, high-value projector is needed.

Weighing less than five pounds and measuring just 12 x 8.7 x 3 inches, the CPX9 can project images up to 300 inches (diagonal measurement) with XGA resolution, 3,200 lumens brightness and 16.7 million colours. It features a Whiteboard Mode that adjusts the projector's brightness when used with a whiteboard, to reduce glare and eye strain. Another special is its Template function that displays lines, circles or a world map, making it easier to write on an interactive whiteboard.

The CPX9 provides HDMI, S-Video and composite video inputs, an RGB computer video input and monitor output, two RCA audio inputs, and an audio output. It includes a built-in s

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