Trinidad - Michael Pereira of Trinidad & Tobago based creative design and engineering practice Streamline Systems enthusiastically specified Robe and Anolis lighting fixtures for a new installation at the landmark night destination Club India Nex 5.0HD in Chaguanas, Trinidad.

This was an integral element of a major refurbishment and technical upgrade to the 800 capacity club which has enjoyed great success and a high profile over the last five years. The owner wanted a fresh new look to ensure they keep at the forefront of trend-setting on the island.

Pereira chose 10 Robin LEDBeam 100 moving lights and two Robe Faze 800 FT Pro hazer for atmospherics; together with 72 Anolis ArcSource 4MC LED fixtures for the ceiling grid, with another 16 used to downlight a set of glass-bead chandeliers.

The LEDBeam 100s are positioned at the front and back of the stage areas and are used i

UK - Colchester-based Illuminate Design are delighted to welcome Ken Berreen to the company in the role of technical sales manager. As Illuminate continues to grow its business, Ken brings a wealth of experience to the company to allow it to further develop into new sectors and markets.

Building on its core strengths, Illuminate Design has recently made significant developments within the hire market in East Anglia, as well as the maintenance and installation work that has been part of the brand for a number years.

Ben Payne, director of Illuminate Design commented: "We are delighted to welcome Ken to the company and feel that he will be a great addition to the team. Having someone with his experience and knowledge of the lighting, sound and audio-visual markets is a great catalyst helping us continue the development of the company."

(Lee Baldock)

South Africa - The Rivers Church in Sandton recently purchased 26 Robe Robin 100 LEDBeams wanting a discreet fixture that could be used for effect and mood lighting. Rivers is part of the Hillsong Family and the church is active with worship services, various projects and seminars and community outreaches.

"There are many reasons why we chose these fixtures," explained Edward Helliwell, head of lighting, "but the main reason is that they are incredibly punchy, small in size but big in effect. They respond well to commands and the pre-programmed effects in them make it easy for our volunteers to use. I also like the three LED Zones that allow for various colour chases.

"We originally looked at getting eight fixtures, but when we saw them in action we felt that 26 would be a better option."

Rivers have built a substantial Robe retinue over the years an

USA - The demands that a large musical variety show can place on a lighting rig are great so when Smoky Mountain Opry in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, sought to replace their aging lighting rig they turned to the versatility and reliability of Elation Platinum Spot 15R Pro and Platinum Wash ZFX Pro luminaires to provide the dynamic color and effect needed to support the high-energy two-hour spectacle.

Featuring a variety of music that spans from rock n' roll to gospel, as well as dancing, aerialists, comedy, magic and more, Smoky Mountain Opry includes something for everybody and the lighting system needs to be able to keep up and transition accordingly.

Smoky Mountain Opry is produced by the Fee/Hedrick Family Entertainment Group, one of the largest show production companies in the southeast. Technical director for Fee/Hedrick Family Entertainment is Marshall Whaley who was lookin

Denmark - In the spirit of the current Ice Bucket Challenge craze that has swept the world, SGM has handed down a challenge to its closest competitors to submit their automated lighting fixtures to the ultimate 'soak test' - all in aid of charity.

They have invited Martin Professional, Clay Paky and Vari-Lite to participate alongside their own G-Spot, the world's first waterproof moving head.

The Ice Bucket Challenge is an activity that generally involves dumping a bucket of ice water on someone's head to promote awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and encourage donations to research. It immediately went viral on social media during July-August 2014.

"If people can do it, so can products," says SGM CEO Peter Johansen. "After all, these are 'intelligent' lights, so let's see how brave our competitors are in putting them forward."

UK - London-based lighting and visuals rental company Colour Sound Experiment supplied lighting to Festival Republic for several stages at the 2014 Reading and Leeds festivals - Lock Up, Dance, BBC Introducing, Silent Disco 1 & 2, Piccadilly Party, the Action Aid and Oxfam tents plus all of EBCs Bars - plus LED screen for the Dance arena.

Furthermore, 2.5 Km of LED festoon lighting was used to enhance the ambience around the main arena. A team of 10 Colour Sound techs were crew chiefed by the unfazable Andy Melleney at Reading and two artics worth of kit was dispatched from the company's HQ in Park Royal, North West London.

The historically significant and ever-popular Berkshire festival signalled almost the end of another busy summer season for Colour Sound, on which MD Haydn Cruickshank comments: "It's been massively busy again and we have been lucky enough to be involv

USA - Clay Paky Shotlight Wash fixtures really rock. In fact, they took to the stage for two back-to-back concerts in May: the MMR*B*Q, the annual show from Philadelphia rock radio station 93.3 WMMR where Rob Zombie headlined, and the WRFF-FM Seventh Birthday Show where Foster the People headed the bill.

John Duncan of Pinpoint Lighting, the festival lighting designer for both shows, says the same rig stayed in place for MMR*B*Q and WRFF's Seventh Birthday Show at the outdoor Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, New Jersey. Ten Shotlight Washes obtained from Main Light Industries in Wilmington, Delaware were mounted on the downstage truss for the shows.

"The rig's overall design was a standard festival plot," he says. "It's just that every year everyone wants it brighter. So the Shotlight was perfect for this application."

Duncan had previously used Shotlig

UK - Elation Professional is exhibiting at the inaugural PRO Show 13-15 September at the NEC Birmingham where the company will launch launch "a truly innovative game changing product that is unlike anything on the market today".

Visitors to Elation Stand G25 will be the first to experience the Sniper, a new type of hybrid multi-effect lighting fixture that gives the creative LD an all-new tool to create stunning light shows, says the company

Visitors to PRO will also be some of the first to see two new LED-based professional moving heads from Elation, the Satura Spot CMY Pro, a high-powered LED spot luminaire with zoom, CMY color mixing, dual gobo wheels and more; and the Platinum Profile LED, a full-featured professional LED profile fixture with flexible 4-blade rotating framing system. Using a new high-performance 180W LED engine for an output comparable to a 575 d

UK - The latest addition to the Vari-Lite range, the VL4000 Spot, is set to take this year's PLASA London by storm where it will be showcased on the Philips Entertainment stand L80 at ExCeL exhibition centre.

PLASA London visitors will be able to see the VL4000 Spot in action during the twice daily light shows at the Philips stand, getting to grips with all its exciting features, including its high-resolution optics, which ensure remarkable centre-to-edge focusing and an unprecedented contrast ratio, and a 5:1 zoom covering an amazing 9 to 47 degrees without sacrificing output or clarity.

The VL4000 Spot also boasts an entirely new colour mixing system, which is ultra smooth whether operating in a slow fade or instant snap, as well as variable CTO colour temperature correction and dual five-position colour wheels. The dual opposing fixed colour wheels achieve unique colour eff

UK - West London-based lighting and visual rental specialist Colour Sound Experiment supplied over 550 moving lights plus hundreds of other lighting fixtures, rigging and trussing - including for the video elements - to the North and South open air stages at the 2014 Creamfields EDM extravaganza, staged at Daresbury Estate, Near Warrington.

Colour Sound's team was again led by crew chief Jon Rickets, and they all worked closely with creative and technical production specialists LarMac LIVE to achieve spectacular results as the clubbing event, which sold out to its 70,000 capacity, pushed new heights of production excellence. Colour Sound has enjoyed an association with Creamfields since the first event in 1998.

Now a global brand of huge significance in the buzzing world of EDM, this year the line-up included open air stage headliners Avicii and deadmau5 (Saturday) plus Calvin

Poland - Warsaw-based Aram Multimedia delivered multimedia solutions for the opening ceremony of the Volleyball Men's World Championship Poland 2014.

The event took place on 30 August at the National Stadium in Warsaw, and was the biggest sports event organized this year at this venue.

Within the set design by Giorgios Stylianou, 300sq.m of different LED curtains were installed, including 24 multimedia cylinders symbolizing each participating country in the tournament, as well as stage located on the stadium's stand.

Some of the regular LED cabinets has been modified to fit the set perfectly. Additionally, six screens were provided to present the actual results and display the match. All the multimedia was run by the Catalyst v.4HD media serves controlled via GrandMA 2 desk and Barco FSN-150.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Dimming lighting loads can be quite tricky, especially when it comes to LEDs; many lack smooth dimming transitions and step-through from one level to the next. Testing fixtures and the driver together is an essential - and often overlooked - step to avoid unnecessary headaches associated with dimming lighting loads, particularly when it comes to architectural installations.

Longtime ETC customer and owner of Coventry Lighting John Coventry knew this all too well, which is why he called upon ETC's testing services in the middle of a big lighting installation for the newly redesigned concert hall in Gaillard Auditorium in South Carolina. "ETC responded unflappably to my frantic phone call," explains John Coventry. "They had a great response time."

The LED fixture that Coventry wanted to test was from Cooledge Lighting, a manufacturer that specialises in

UK - TSL has announced that Martin Locket has been appointed a Director and Shareholder of the company. Martin has extensive experience in the production and rental industries, having previously been MD of Essential Lighting and CEO of PRG-UK. Sam Tamplin and Martin will now be running and developing the company together as business partners.

Tamplin, TSL's founder, commented: "Martin increasing his involvement with TSL coincides with our relocation into 12,000sq.ft of new warehouse and production space at London Gatwick this month. These developments are the foundation of our plans for TSL, as we build our customer base in the corporate, event and concert touring markets."

Martin added: "I am proud to be involved with TSL and working with Sam and the team to further develop the company. As well as lighting projects and rental, we are also focussed on rigging fr

Czech Republic - In an online broadcast this morning, Robe has revealed the first details of its brand new product, the BMFL - which stands for 'Bright Multi-Functional Luminaire'.

Broadcasting from the company's showroom in the Czech Republic, Josef Valchar, CEO of Robe, described the BMFL as "The best fixture we have ever made".

"We have listened to the wishes and needs of lighting designers, rental companies and technicians from every corner of the industry, all around the world. We really believe we have created a product that will deliver both good short- and long-term returns on your investment."

"It is a big, powerful light or large venues, with a big, fat front lens full of light. Because of its relatively small size, it can be used for any application in TV, theatres or concert venues."

More than three years in development, the BMFL i

Tax Relief - The government's forthcoming theatre tax relief scheme will help to revive regional theatre and ensure the industry's success is felt across the country and not just in London's West End, Chancellor George Osborne has said. Speaking at Theatre Royal Brighton ahead of the tax scheme which came into effect yesterday (1September), Osborne said he hoped the initiative would put a stop to the decline of regional theatre and touring productions by making it easier to put on these shows.

Osborne said: "Regional productions have dropped off over many years - even though the West End has been very strong in London - and I want to change that around. I want to make sure we get the benefit of our great theatre industry and our culture felt all over the country. More job opportunities for those working in the theatre sector as well as those working in the tourist industry

UK - Long time Avolites user and master lighting designer Yenz Nyholm ran the Main Stage lighting at Coventry's Godiva Festival this year from an Avolites Sapphire Touch, with a host of visiting LDs using the console as their acts performed.

More than 75,000 people attended Godiva 2014 to watch headline acts including Happy Mondays, Lightning Seeds, and Buzzcocks.

"The Sapphire Touch works well on a festival due to the many faders and easy to read touch screens," says Nyholm. "It's very intuitive, so any LD can use it within a few minutes of turning up. The many faders work well on a festival/busking situation, where you need to be able to grab anything very quickly."

Avolites' Sapphire Touch allows ultrafast programming with two wide screen touch monitors offering a huge workspace area, and 45 motorised master faders.

"The console features a very

Russia - German fibre network specialists, Optocore, has appointed Audio Solutions to distribute their products in Russia.

According to manager of the Pro Audio Department, Igor Kovalev, the 12-year-old Moscow-based company will be providing Optocore solutions to their two core markets: sound reinforcement (theatres, concert halls, live events) and broadcast.

In addition to their formal distribution arrangement with Optocore, Audio Solutions say they are also working on a major project, using sister company BroaMan solutions for delivering scalable customised solutions for clients requiring SD/HD/3G video routing.

Kovalev states that adding Optocore to the company's brand portfolio was an obvious step. "It represents a good price/performance ratio when compared with other brands, along with amazing flexibility / scalability and extremely high sound quality. It will allo

UK - PLASA Media, sponsor of the PLASA Awards, has announced the shortlist of nominees for this year's prestigious Gottelier Award. The winner will be announced at the PLASA Show in London (5-8 October, ExCeL London).

Named in honour of the late Tony Gottelier, the industry innovator and commentator who passed away in 2006, the Gottelier Award is for our industry's product developers who have made significant and sustained contributions to the advancement of entertainment, presentation or installation technology - whether in audio, lighting, rigging, staging, or any other related field.

The nominees for 2014 are:

Richard Belliveau

As one of the co-founders of Texas-based lighting manufacturer High End Systems, and still leading the company's product developments today, Belliveau has been behind a long line of successful products from the company, from the Color Pro,

The Netherlands - A production of The Passion was attended by thousands in the northern city of Groningen earlier this year to see Dutch actors taking on the roles of Jesus, his disciples and others in the Easter story. Staged at the Viskmart in the heart of the town, the production began with a 6m long white neon cross carried from the Groningen FC soccer stadium all the way to the square.

Handling the lighting for the project was PRG EML Productions in Utrecht. Under direction of production manager Martijn Roosen, W-DMX was used to create a wireless link between the Viskmart stage and Martini Tower, a church nearly 700m away. The network distribution was based on Art-Net with nodes and switches from ELC Lighting.

Martijn said, "ELC Lighting is always my first port of call on any job. I have been using ELC products for over seven years now - in fact we use them as

Indonesia - Indosiar Visual Mandiri (Indosiar) is an Indonesian national television station, operating in West Jakarta since 1994 that employs around 1,550 people and is a member of PT. Elang Mahkota Teknologi Indonesia (Emtek) - Indonesia's second largest media group. Currently, Indosiar is fully owned by Emtek's subsidiary, Surya Citra Media.

The station has a strong focus on cultural programming, such as a programmes dedicated to specific types of performance like wayang puppet theatre. Recently it has been broadening its horizons with reality shows, talk programmes and drama series'. For those reality shows and singing competitions a highly reliable and powerful lighting control solution was needed - a grandMA2.

Lighting designer Hadi Suroso specified a grandMA2 light: "Having used the console for the first time during the 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Palembang, it h

UK - The library that supports Stardraw Design 7.1 has reached a new milestone, now containing more than 70,000 symbols representing products from over 700 manufacturers.

Stardraw's symbols library has been a work in progress for over 20 years. Since the advent of the Symbols Request service in 2002, Stardraw's specialist symbols department has received almost 13,000 product requests, of which 95% have been published. On average, the company receives around 100 product requests per month.

The result is that Stardraw's symbols portfolio represents the largest, high-quality graphical library available to the professional AV industry from a single source: all symbols are generated in-house by Stardraw's Symbols Department according to an established data specification. This means that regardless of the original data or what the symbols might represent, a qualitative standard is m

India - On the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the launch of the Genelec 8000 Series, KJ Singh, one of India's foremost audio engineers at work in the film and music industry, pays tribute to this popular monitor range.

One of the distinctive features of Indian cinema is the importance given to song and dance in the plots - it is what gives the films their unique flavour and a primary reason for their popularity. Maintaining this popularity requires continuing excellence in sound track and background score production of which the audio engineering process is a key element. One of the leading figures in the field is KJ Singh (Kanwarjit Singh Sawhney), a recipient of many major industry awards for his audio engineering work.

KJ Singh is based in Mumbai and has had long and fruitful working partnerships with many figures in the Indian film industry, including A. R. Rahmann, t

UK - Taking its inspiration from the 2013 Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium, which saw the first deployment of Blueprint Events' SGM LT-200 3D mappable LED pixel tubes, Chris Morgan's company has now delivered what he believes to be the largest SGM tube matrix ever seen in the UK - at the high profile Creamfields 2014 in the north of England, over August Bank Holiday weekend

Working for The Events Company UK, who handled the rigging and design, Blueprint decorated Size Records' Size Matters 10-pole big top with 400 x LT-200 SGM tubes and 130 x ILD controllers - spread over three separate grids.

The pixel-mappable 2m-long graphic tubes, loaded with RGB LEDs at 35mm pixel pitch, was specifically designed for Saturday night headliner, the Greek-Swedish DJ/producer, Steve Angello (of Swedish House Mafia fame) and his 'Size Records' family.

Reports Chris Morgan, "The Events Comp

Japan - New ELE Tokyo nightclub ELE has installed a lighting system featuring CHAUVET Professional used in a stunning fashion by LD Michael Meacham ofMIami-based iDesign Productions.

ELE instantly distinguished itself by offering what one reviewer described as "a classy alternative" to the typical late night club. At the same time, though, the club sizzles with EDM energy, featuring world class DJs and appearances by celebrities like Lady Gaga. Meacham's lighting design manages to highlight the elegance of the two-story club's architecture as well as its gold and silver decorating scheme, while also serving up a healthy dose of EDM attitude to its custom-designed DJ booth and dance floor.

"I designed the lighting so it became part of the club's architecture," said Meacham. "The lights work with the building's high-end features by doing things like wrap

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