Australia - Video display experts, Technical Direction Company (TDC) supplied all video technology elements for the 27th ARIA Awards held at The Star, Sydney, Australia on 1 December 2013.

The ARIA Awards are the official awards of the Australian Record Industry Association attended by an audience of over 4,000. The event was broadcast live on Channel 9's GO! with performances from many Australian artists including Birds of Tokyo, Bliss n Eso and Tame Impala as well as special guest appearances from Alicia Keys and Lorde.

The ceremony was produced by Michael Long and Vicki Gerrans. Set design was by Kim Buddee. Stunning screen graphics were produced and operated by Rod Morris.

TDC supplied custom automated rolling screens with ultra-bright 26K HD projectors, that not only provided a uniform, succinct and clean look according to the set design but also acted as a mask

USA - The eNode Series from Elation Professional is a new line of professional Art-Net to DMX routers consisting of the eNode 8 Pro and eNode 4. With the growth of pixel mapping and with multiple DMX universes a standard practice in lighting systems today, Elation answers the need for a powerful yet affordable Art-Net to DMX node solution, says the company.

The eNode 8 Pro is an eight-universe Ethernet to DMX interface for use with Art-Net compatible DMX control systems. It is ideal for large pixel mapped DMX systems and is compatible with most popular pixel mapping software controllers. This 19" rack-mount unit features two Neutrik Etherccon connectors for input and thru, eight 5-pin Neutrik data connectors and PowerCON connection.

The eNode 4 is a compact four-universe Ethernet to DMX interface ideal for hanging in truss or remote areas of installations. For use with Ar

USA - All eyes in the dynamic world of gospel music were focused on the Metro Nashville Municipal Auditorium recently for the 29th annual Stellar Awards. The oldest award in this vibrant musical genre, the Stellar ceremony was viewed by millions of gospel music devotees on the national Up television network.

Lighting the two-hour Stellar Award broadcast presented a special challenge for LD Mark Carver (Mark Carver Designs, Nashville) and programmer Susan Rose. "Our overall vision for the design was to define the space on stage, while meeting the technical demands for broadcast quality in a live awards show," said Carver. "The Chauvet Legends were instrumental in helping us achieve this goal."

Carver and Rose's lighting rig included 24 Legend 230SR Beam fixtures from Chauvet Professional. They used 16 of the moving heads on eight truss towers positioned acro

USA - The countdown to midnight in New York's Times Square is always something special and this year even more so for Elation Professional as lighting designer Paul Miller turned to Platinum Beam 5R moving heads and ELAR 108 LED Par lights supplied by Christie Lites to light musical performances for the time-honoured Times Square celebration.

The celebration began in the early evening and featured star-studded performances on two stages by the likes of Miley Cyrus, Blondie, Melissa Etheridge and other crowd favourites. An estimated one million people gathered in mid-town Manhattan for the event, which culminated in the famous ball drop, with millions more watching on television and via live streaming throughout the world.

Powerful lighting effects and New Year's Eve go hand in hand with bursts of colour and light streaking through the air a natural part of the experience. Ente

UK - Avolites Media Ai Media Servers have been used to power the stunning visuals that punctuated British born superstar Jessie J's latest heart pumping European tour Alive.

Designed by show designer Vince Foster, with visual content created by Paul Caslin, the widescreen style set comprised three portrait-hung LED Screens upstage, while the curvaceous set was visually sculpted using 600 horizontally positioned BARCO MiStrips.

The content featured a mix of pre-recorded content and live camera feeds mixed by vision director Steven Price, all powered by Avolites Media's industry-leading Ai infinity 8 Server with eight Full HD outputs.

Video specialists Creative Technology supplied the Avolites Media intelligent video mapping technology along with the LED screens, MiStrips and the technical team to run it.

"What made the Ai Media server particularly helpful for th

Europe - High End Systems, a Barco company, and AED Distribution have agreed on a partnership for the European Master Distributorship of High End Systems products.

After the successful introduction of the HOG4 platform in 2012-2013, High End Systems decided to further professionalize the sales of High End products in Europe through the concept of Master Distribution. AED Distribution, who has been Master Distributor for High End Systems in the BeNeLux, France and the UK in 2013, was appointed as European Master Distributor.

The European partnership includes all EU countries, incl. Russia, Turkey and Ukraine but with the exception of the Scandinavian Countries, Portugal, Italy, and Greece. AED Distribution already appointed AC Entertainment (UK), Interlight (NL), Lagoona (FR), Eclalux (FR), T&C (FR), Preworks (Austria), SIM (Russia) and Elit (Turkey) as Sub-Distributors.

Rena

USA - The distinctive ensemble Mannheim Steamroller was marking the 29th anniversary of its Christmas concert tours with a multimedia display featuring a light show and big-screen images and videos synchronised with their music. Lighting designer Richard Jackson included a grandMA2 light console for control.

Mannheim Steamroller debuted their first Christmas album in 1984 combining the group's signature mix of baroque instruments and rock 'n roll beats to give a fresh twist to holiday classics. This time two tours of six-member ensembles were playing 80 dates on a Christmas tour.

"Mannheim Steamroller is the longest-running, best-selling Christmas show of all time," declared Jackson, who has been the tour's lighting designer for the last five years. "I design the show with the production manager and lighting director for the other tour. I go out with one of the

Israel - Ronen Najar, one of Israel's leading lighting designers, specified Robe moving lights as the backbone of his design for the 2013 Festigal event in Israel.

Festigal is an elaborate and high profile song and dance show for children staged for five weeks each year during Hanukkah in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Beersheva featuring many well-known Israeli singing and dance stars.

It's the biggest children's show in the country and In Tel Aviv it was staged in a 6500 capacity arena at the Exhibition Centre playing between two and four times a day - all sold out - keeping its young and demanding audiences enraptured.

This latest show was staged in-the-round with an X-shaped set designed by Nitzan Rafael and built by Irgunit, which was the starting point for Najar's lighting design. The lighting needed to be flexible, colourful and fluid to deal with the li

UK - In September 2013 a team of music lovers opened the doors to Control, an impressive, large-scale new night club based in Leeds. Since opening, the club has welcomed a wide range of artists through its doors including: Solomun, 2manyDJs, Tensnake, Groove Armada, Pete Tong, Greg Wilson, James Zabiela, Pendulum, Professor Green and countless others.

As well as being designed in sleek, modern colours, the club boasts an impressive Funktion One sound system along with large-scale lights and lasers, CO2 cannons, gigantic party poppers and exciting extra sensory stimulation in the form of the venue's unique Geodome - a 'cage' of thousands of LEDS that fills the venue's second room.

Club owner, Jim comments: "The Geodome idea was born about five years ago after a trip to the Eden Project in Cornwall. The sheer scale of the building structure was incredible and I simply had t

UK - Lighting, sound and vision specialists Illuminate Design has moved to new purpose-built premises in Colchester, paving the way for an expansion of the company's services and product portfolio.

The move comes on the back of a highly successful year in which the company has seen continued growth, particularly in the theatre, corporate and leisure sectors.

In addition to extended office space, the new premises provide improved warehousing facilities which will allow the company to achieve faster turnaround times, whilst a new technical suite will be used for product demonstrations and technical training. Customers will also be able to visit the company's new trade counter which provides fast access to its extensive inventory of audio, AV, lighting and staging products, together with a growing stock of consumables, including lamps, tapes, colour filters, and effects.

The ne

Spain - The UK's Projection Advertising has been commissioned by design agency Marmalade London to create projections for the launch of 'Make Happy', the AW2014 collection from bags and luggage manufacturer Kipling. The launch event, which took place in the stunning Casa Llotja de Mar in Barcelona, included two highly vivid pieces of projection work by Projection Advertising.

The centrepiece of the launch was a 3D set that spelled 'HAPPY', and this was the canvas upon which Projection Advertising beamed the animation. While guests took their seats, the projection traced different coloured light around the 3D set and gradually filled each letter with solid colour. With everyone seated, the 'wow' animation began: a one-minute show with audio, introducing animal print patterns, each revealed strip by strip to the rhythm of C2C's track Happy until each letter was completely covered.

UK - Jonathan 'Leggy' Armstrong, LD for world-famous electronic dance music act Basement Jaxx, has been exploiting the capabilities of a range of Clay Paky fixtures to create 'out-of-this-world' lighting on their latest UK tour.

To translate Basement Jaxx's signature psychedelic music style into a dynamic series of beat sharp, multi-layered lighting states Armstrong harnessed the multi-faceted effect engines of the Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO 800s, Sharpy Wash 330, Alpha Wash 1500s alongside the classic Clay Paky Sharpy.

"We've been touring with the Sharpy for the past year," says Armstrong of his choice of fixtures, supplied by hire company Neg Earth. "We've kept them on for the production tour for the obvious reason - there is no other fixture quite like them.

"As for our decision to go with the rest of the Clay Paky package, this time round we needed fix

Belgium - Lighting & visual designer Luc Peumans of Genk, Belgium based creative practice Painting With Light designed lighting and visuals for the new series of popular TV music quiz show Sing That Song which was recorded at Londerzeel Studios and broadcast weekly on national TV channel, VRT.

Recorded in front of a live audience and presented by Peter Van de Veire, two teams comprising a piano-playing captain and two singers - some very well known - battled it out with their musical knowledge, improvisational skills and talent.

The overall stage design followed an international Sing That Song format with two pianos centre-stage and six screens upstage which displayed song titles - then performed by the teams.

It was the first time that Peumans has lit the show, directed by Ruben Braekvelt and Johan Verstuyft, well known as the country's most prolific music TV directo

UK - As the new European Master Distributor for High End Systems, AED Distribution continues its commitment to providing the best opportunities for product training, with the first HOG4 training course of 2014.

The Training course will be on Tuesday 28 and Wednesday 29 January at the LH2 Studios located in the heart of Park Royal, and just a few minutes from Park Royal Underground Station and the A40 and North Circular Road.

The course is open to a total of 12 Lighting Professionals and provides a hands-on chance to train on the latest HOG4 Family consoles. The training course is run by Frank Schotman, product specialist from AED Distribution. Frank has led many of these HOG4 courses both in the UK and across Mainland Europe.

AED Distribution started providing free HES product trainings in 2013, with almost 200 people attending these courses, 75 of those attending in the UK.

France - LumenRadio reports that their CRMX OEM modules will be available as standard in Ayton's new interior architectural luminare, the MADesign fixture.

MADesign combines an original conception of a sleek design together with new RGBW sources and 45 mm high performance optics, which allows an infinite palette of rich pastel or saturated colors. The upper part of the fixture has 5 individually adjustable spotlights and a backlight device is present on the rear of the fixture.

MADesign was displayed in Ayrton's stand during the recent LDI Show in Las Vegas and received great interest from a steady stream of visitors.

Yvan Péard, managing director at Ayrton comments, "We've had many comments about how great the MADesign fixture is, and we are very pleased to offer all MADesign fixtures with LumenRadio's OEM modules as standard. Our product range is constantly exp

UK / Australia - International lighting designer Hartley T A Kemp traversed the globe at the end of 2013 armed with Philips Selecon's PL range of LED fixtures to light two very different shows - Land of Our Fathers at Theatre503, London; and Sweet Nothings, at Australian Theatre for Young People's independent works season Under the Wharf, Sydney.

Hartley - who in addition to his lighting designs for some of the world's most prestigious companies and productions is Artistic Director of C venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe - utilised Selecon's PLprofile1s, PLfresnel1s, and PLcyc1s on both shows.

Set in a Welsh coal mine and focusing on miners trapped underground as Margaret Thatcher is elected, Land of Our Fathers is nominated for five Off West End Awards - Best Director, Best Production, Best Set, Best New Play - and Best Lighting.

"We wanted t

USA - Elation Professional's 300W Satura Spot LED Pro RGBW moving head is now shipping. As bright as a traditional 575W discharge fixture, the Satura Spot LED Pro consumes half as much energy and its long-life LED engine lasts on average 80 times longer than a 575W discharge source.

"We are very excited to have this ground-breaking fixture out to the market," states Elation sales director Eric Loader. "While its advanced LED engine produces enough output to make it a viable replacement option for conventional discharge spot fixtures, the beam is also very crisp with an extremely flat field of light, which puts it in a league with the best spot fixtures on the market. Add in the savings in energy and on lamps and it's a hard package to beat."

A full spectrum of saturated colours combines with 13 gobos (six rotating, seven static) and variable colour temperat

USA / Europe - ADJ has released the higher powered Monster Beam, 25W LED Moonflower, offering thicker beams in red, green, blue, white and now amber.

The Moonflower effect has always been one of the most popular effects among DJs, nightclubs, bars, roller rinks and bowling centres because of its ease-of-use and colourful, moving beams of light that help create excitement for any type of party.

The new Monster Beam takes your lightshow to the next level with a higher capacity LED engine than any other ADJ Moonflower to date, says the company. In fact, this fixture boasts a massive 25-Watts of LED output, creating "monstrous" thick beams to be used with or without fog. The fixture's beam angle is an impressive 29-degrees, and easily covers a large area. If fog is not allowed, the Monster Beam's large, bright dot patterns may still be projected at a wall, ceiling or the

Italy - Piazza della Scala, a meeting place for Milan's high society and home to its iconic opera house, was the scene of Polvere di Stelle (stardust), a beautiful son et lumière show which extended throughout the Christmas holiday period, from 16 December 2013 to 7 January 2014.

Seven Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500s projected elegant images of stars together with greetings in different languages over the entire square and on the façades of the important buildings that surround it. The lights were accompanied by background music consisting of refined works by artists, such as Jan Garbarek, Lisa Gerrard, Stephan Micus, Eleni Danielsson and Vangelis.

Under the watchful eyes of the statue of Leonardo da Vinci, a symbol of Italian creative genius, the square became a magical kaleidoscope that conjured up a warm atmosphere. It was highly appreciated by the citizens and numer

USA - RGB Lights, the creators of FlexiFlex, has announced that on 3 December 2013, the US Patent and Trademark Office issued Patent Number US 8,599,104 B2, entitled 'Modular Lighting and Video Apparatus', for FlexiFlex, which was invented by Brett A. Gardner. The patent, assigned to RGB Lights Inc, covers the company's modular flexible panels for mounting lighting strands which RGB Lights Inc produces out of Lincolnwood, Illinois.

"We are very excited about officially being issued the FlexiFlex patent," says Brett Gardner, RGB Lights' founder. "We look forward to continue to find applications that marry our customers' desired customisation with the flexible capabilities that FlexiFlex provides across several marketplaces."

(Lee Baldock)

Israel - The X-Factor reality show is a multinational singing competition originated and created by Simon Cowell in the UK. Since then, many countries have adapted the format and began airing their own national version, including Israel.

For the first time and for the first season, X-Factor Israel took place at the primetime of the Israeli Channel 2 TV network. The first show of the season drew a record rating of 40% - the highest rating ever made for a music show.

The whole season was lit by lighting designer Dakar Azulay and lighting operator Yaron Shush, who relied on the Vector Reds and Vector Ultra Violet consoles.

The final show on January 14th was one of the biggest events in the Israeli TV. Therefore, a high standard of performances was expected in all aspects, especially in terms of the lighting. The two Vector Reds, one Vector Ultra Violet and one Vector PC Wing as

UK - Blackout provided extensive draping for this year's star studded National Television Awards (NTAs) held at the O2 Arena, 22 January 2014.

Broadcast live on ITV1 and hosted by Dermot O'Leary, the glittering ceremony saw TV's biggest stars out in force for the 19th annual event. The evening saw Coronation Street steal the show, taking home the serial Drama Award and Geordie duo Ant and Dec triumphed picking up a handful of gongs, including the Entertainment Presenter Award for the 13th consecutive year.

Contracted by NTA producers Indigo Television, Blackout installed black wool serge drapes 82 metres wide with an 18 metre drop, to create the desired effect for the TV broadcast. The drapes were shaped around the large 19m by 9.5m screen, which was the focal point of the show, with additional drapes used to mask off the arena to create the environment for the spectacu

UK - There's little doubt that Maroon 5 are riding high at the moment. This is a band who radiate confidence and self-assured accomplishment in their live performances. Here in the UK and Europe in January to complete a date sheet interrupted by front man Adam Levine's TV commitments to the US version of The Voice, another outfit might have opted for a pared down version of their stage production for just a few shows. Not so for Maroon 5. With a stage set, laser show, video and lighting design by Eric Wade, a veteran of the likes of Usher, Mariah Carey and Eric Clapton, this was a show to blow away all of those January blues.

"I am using a ton of Clay Paky fixtures on this show," says Wade, "probably the most ever. There are Sharpies, Alpha Profile 1500s, Alpha Wash 1500s and Sharpy Washes. I really, really like the Alpha Wash which I specified when I origi

UK - Britain's Got Talent winners Diversity have been breakdancing around the UK's biggest arenas in a dynamic show entitled Limitless. Lighting designer Neil Trenell's beat-perfect show design, featured sophisticated pyrotechnics and a backdrop of stunning video visuals, all cleverly punctuated with intense bursts of light from an array of Philips Showline LED SL NITRO 510s.

Trenell's lighting trusses carried a number of LED wash and profile fixtures, peppered at regular intervals with Showline SL NITRO 510s. Although he only used 14 in total he used them in a multiplicity of imaginative ways including full on audience blinders, single snare accents, and flash flares.

"Incredibly, the SL NITRO 510s make it looks like there are at least 100 strobes on stage - not just 14," explains Trenell. "I'm impressed, you get serious bang for your buck from th

Latest Issue. . .

Save
Cookies user preferences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline
Advertisement
If you accept, the ads on the page will be adapted to your preferences.
Google Ad
Accept
Decline