UK - Lighting and rigging specialists dbn were asked by Glasgow-based arts organization Cryptic to collaborate on creating Sound To Sea, a very special night-time nautical extravaganza presented in partnership with Glasgow Science Centre, and in association with Walk The Plank, All Or Nothing and The Royal Navy, staged at the Canting Basin on the River Clyde in Glasgow.

This vibrant and ambitious site specific work, directed by Cathie Boyd, celebrated Cryptic's 20th anniversary and was part of the arts programme accompanying the 2014 XX Commonwealth Games in the city, which culminated the same weekend.

dbn's Stephen Page was commissioned to design and develop a lighting scheme for the show, due to the company's extensive experience working on dynamic outdoor multi-faceted performances like this.

The performance encompassed several live artists and bands, aerialists, p

UK - Robe moving lights were right at the heart of the action at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival and particularly at The Pleasance, where 46 fixtures - a mix of Pointes, 600E Spots, MMX Spots, MMX WashBeams, MMX Blades and LEDWash 600s - were dotted around the larger of the 23 pop-up full-on venues operated by The Pleasance for the duration of the Festival.

This year, the Pleasance celebrated its 30th anniversary at the cutting edge of independent and innovative theatre, and was once again central to the Edinburgh vibes staging some of the best new works and showcasing breakthrough talent with an average of 10 shows a day running in each of its spaces!

All the technicals were overseen by Pleasance technical operations manager Matt Britten and lighting by Pleasance Edinburgh head of lighting Dom Knight, who also designed and specified 'house' lighting rigs for the venues.

World - James Blunt, alongside his production designer Paul Normandale and lighting director Glen Johnson, are on the road for another tour with Martin Professional lighting fixtures, including 41 MAC Auras, 32 MAC Viper Profiles, six MAC Viper AirFXs and two AF1 Fans.

Blunt released his newest album in October of 2013 entitled Moon Landing, which features an emotional and powerful side to the singer-songwriter we have not yet seen. The album is personal and intimate, reflecting back to where Blunt got his start and where he is now.

"We have worked with James Blunt since 2005, this is our fourth world tour with him, and all James' shows have been dominated by Martin moving lights," Said Johnson. "This is the largest production we have taken out on the road thus far."

The theme of the tour is the romanticism and loneliness of the moon landings. For

France - Robert Juliat is proud has announced a new partnership with Munich-based Licht-Technik Vertriebs GmbH in the provision of motorised solutions for the Robert Juliat range of Fresnel, PC and profile lanterns. The official start of the partnership will be celebrated at PLASA London 2014.

"We are extremely happy with this new business alliance which brings together two of our industry's leading, high-end brands to offer quality solutions to the market," says Robert Juliat sales director, Claus Spreyer.

The two companies join forces to team Licht-Technik Vertriebs GmbH's specialised range of motorised yokes, motorised barndoors, colour changers and dimmer shutters with the full range of Robert Juliat Fresnel, PC and profile fixtures. Aimed at theatre and studio installations, the collaboration will benefit these institutions with precise control over their fixtur

South Africa - Jolene Van Der Merwe joined Gold Reef City in the first half of 2008 as a stage manager and immediately fell in love with the lavish and classically-styled Lyric Theatre. She was very happy to join the Lyric family officially in October 2008 and currently works as the theatre's production co-ordinator, managing all the production requirements for their shows.

"I assist the stage manager with the day to day running of the backstage workings such as the scheduling of crew, liaising with our suppliers when we need to, servicing and repairing any equipment, purchasing new equipment to either replace or expand our existing in-house equipment and generally make sure that the team has everything they might need," said Jolene.

With this in mind, the Lyric recently purchased Philips Selecon PL2CYC LED Luminaires. "When the Lyric opened its doors in 2007, i

UK - The second annual T-Live music festival took place 29-30 August in Telford, Shropshire in the UK with production provided by the Liz Hobbs Group from Newark on Trent Nottinghamshire. The two day event, with an 80's themed night followed by a modern pop night, used 24 Elation Platinum Beam 5R's as the mainstay of the lighting rig.

Designed and operated by Oz Player, who used the fixtures in both the truss and floor package, commented on the ACL-type beam's frost effect wash look, "I've used the Elation Beam 5R on many shows and the soft edge frost adds another dimension."

Production manager Paul Joyce, who added extra Platinum Beam fixtures to the fleet for Tom Jones' shows earlier in the year, added, "I'm really happy with their performance. It's a great return on investment and we have them scheduled out on a major tour happening this month as well."<

France - In only their second use at a major concert event, 110 Solaris LED Mozart fixtures ringed the balcony rail of the Stade de France in Paris for the Beyoncé Jay Z On the Run HBO Concert Special. The Mozarts were chosen specifically to enhance the TV shoot featuring the tour's closing dates, and stood out brightly amidst over 80,000 fans.

"The Mozart is the perfect eye candy fixture and this was an ideal application for them - they really showed off the depth of the stadium and did a great job on camera," says Cory FitzGerald, the tour's lighting director. "We alternated Mozarts and Sharpys all around the second level of the Stade de France. They worked brilliantly." Lighting was co-designed by FitzGerald and Roy Bennett.

With settings from three to 48 DMX channels, and 1, 4, or 16 RGB "pixel" groups per fixture, the lightweight, low

USA - When Boise, Idaho-based lighting designer Brock Hogan was asked to design lighting for the recent co-headlining Matt Nathanson and Gavin Degraw U.S. and Canada Summer tour, he specified Robe Robin LEDWash 600s as the main stage washes.

Originally hired by Nathanson's management - who he met through his work with the group Train - to produce a lighting scheme for the tour, Hogan also reached out to Gavin Degraw's team to see if they had something in mind for the lighting. At this point, they decided it would make sense and be efficient if Hogan coordinated the lighting needs of both artists ... in a single adaptable and flexible design.

The size of the venues on the tour varied, and featured numerous theatres, so in order to fit the production in to the majority of spaces, Hogan chose a front and back truss to provide his lighting positions.

For Nathanson, there was an

USA - In their first significant use on a major tour, 165 Solaris LED 16x1 fixtures have been performing flawlessly on Jason Aldean's 2014 Burn It Down tour.

"I chose Solaris 16X1s because, based on my experience with the amazing Solaris Flare, I knew they would perform well for my needs," says Mike Swinford, the show's lighting and production designer. "We use them to outline the overhead trusses and also to outline the T-shaped thrust. They're performing very well and ride on the trusses everyday so they do not have to be handled at every show.

"As with the Flare product, I am really impressed by their high output, plus linear effects when used with the MA console driving them. The 16X1's individual LED "pixel" control is a real plus". Production personnel include tour LD Keith Hoagland and lighting programmer Mark Butts. The Solaris LED pr

UK - Wireless Lighting is a new company and online portal dedicated to the dry and cross hire of battery powered wireless lighting technologies for the show and event industry in and around London.

Founder Justin Hammond, who has been at the sharp end of the professional lighting, video and AV rental industry for eight years, spotted a gap in the market for quick, simple, reliable and no-nonsense service providing wireless lighting kit.

He states, "There's been a massive surge in popularity and use of wireless LED lighting over the last two years - there's no messing around with cabling, and the lighting fixtures can instantly transform any environment. Wireless Lighting is designed to provide a fast, efficient and straightforward service to all those wanting to make use of this technology on their events."

Clients can log in to the website, place their order, sele

UK - The PLASA 2014 exhibition sees the culmination of Robe's 20th anniversary celebrations, with the Czech Republic based manufacturer making a big impact in the 1,000sq.m Robe Arena at London's ExCeL Centre.

The Robe Arena is the company's largest exhibition area to date, and will highlight Robe's just launched BMFL Spot, a new mega-bright long-throw signature fixture which needs a large environment in which to be demonstrated most effectively.

Additionally, there are another 12 new innovations launched by Robe at PLASA 2014, together with all the current product range luminaires on this spectacular booth, which will also feature one of Robe's dazzling exhibition lightshows.

CEO Josef Valchar states, "We attend many exhibitions around the globe, but it's always good to be back in London, and this has always felt like THE lighting show for us. We wanted to do something

UK - MDG Fog Ltd has appointed two new distributors for its range of fog and haze generators.

From 1 October 2014, MDGfog UK, a trading division of Robe UK Ltd, will take responsibility for the exclusive distribution of the full MDG product range in the UK & Eire. This new division will be headed by Matt Wiseman, a well-known face in the UK entertainment industry who brings 20 years of experience to the role.

"I am looking forward to the new avenues and responsibilities this arrangement brings," says Wiseman. "It will allow MDGfog UK to focus wholeheartedly on promoting and servicing the MDG brand across the UK and Eire, with the added confidence of solid backing from Robe UK's established administrative, service and warehouse facilities in Northampton."

Mick Hannaford, Managing Director of Robe UK, adds, "We believe the quality and performance of th

UK - Two TV rental specialists - one operating in London and one in Glasgow - pooled their respective SGM inventories to great effect recently during the recent Scottish Independence Referendum.

With most of the broadcast activity centred on Glasgow, Tony Kennedy's Teknique Systems, having purchased 12 SGM P-5 Washlights from SGM UK, joined forces with Richard Martin Lighting (RML) to provide lighting infrastructure in two very different venues.

The live televised debate between Alistair Darling (leading the 'No' campaign) and Alex Salmond (Scotland's First Minister, heading the drive for Independence) - held at the historic Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum - was followed by the action through the night as the votes were counted. This took place in 'The Street', the central atrium area of the ultra-modern £72m BBC Pacific Quay, which only opened seven years ago.

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UK - When lighting designer Amarasri Songcharoen (aka Marci Song) of Seam Design was looking for the best lighting fixtures to light the 500 year old Raphael Cartoons - a series of large artworks by Rafael on display in London's Victoria & Albert Museum - she knew she needed something special. It had to be something which would output minimal or no ultraviolet light, as well as provide a perfectly lit atmosphere for a giant mirrored sculpture which was to be installed as part of the London Design Festival.

As part of the month long Precision & Poetry in Motion exhibition, design agency Barber Osgerby developed a system of two giant mirrored aeronautical 'wings,' which were suspended in the room and would slowly rotate on motors, altering the reflections of the Raphael Cartoons as they did. To light the artworks, she used 16 ETC Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr fixtures, con

UK - Black Light has played a key part in the 50th birthday celebrations for one of Scotland's most iconic pieces of engineering. The Edinburgh-based company provided all of the lighting for the concert that was a highlight of the festivities surrounding the Forth Road Bridge's anniversary.

"We designed, supplied and operated all the equipment for the main Bridge Party concert stage and performance arena," explains Russell Cobden, who was Black Light's project manager for the job. "It was an exciting thing to be involved with as it was a high-profile event that attracted a lot of media attention."

Black Light worked on the project with the organisers Unique Events. The two companies have a long-standing working relationship having collaborated for many years on world-class events such as Edinburgh's Hogmanay. Feedback was extremely positive, with Rab Randal

Directors' Cut - Leading theatre figures including Marianne Elliott, Matthew Warchus, Vicky Featherstone and Jeremy Herrin have launched the industry's first body aimed at representing stage directors. Increasing fees in the sector is one of Stage Directors UK's first priorities. It will also represent directors on issues such as royalties, contracts, digital rights and copyright, as well as leading on training initiatives. Directors can become members of Equity, but SDUK says the lack of an organisation dedicated to the needs of opera and theatre directors has "led to an increasing sense of anger and frustration" in the sector.

Who's Next - The Who have unveiled their first song in eight years as they mark their 50th anniversary. Be Lucky includes lyrical references to Australian rockers AC/DC and French electro band Daft Punk and will be included in a d

UK - French LED lighting innovator, Ayrton, loves to spring last minute surprises on its clients with the introduction of a stream of new products.

Having already released the Radical Series at Prolight+Sound earlier this year, and due to launch the new NandoBeam S9 at PLASA London, Ayrton has just announced a new addition to its Radical Series which will also receive its world premiere at PLASA London: MagicRing-R1.

MagicRing-R1 is the latest to receive the Radical treatment. Identical in size and form to WildBeam-R, MagicRing-R1 possesses all the features of the former but with the Magical speciality of Ayrton's continuous pan and tilt features.

One of the smallest of the Radical range alongside its brother WildBeam-R, MagicRing-R1 offers seven 15W LED RGBW sources with 67mm optics to produce 3200 lumens with a centre beam intensity of 380,000 candela from a mere 130W of p

UK - LSC Lighting Systems returns to PLASA for its 25th year and will be found on stand H70, with no less than three new products making their UK debut including the following:

The new GenVI Advanced Dimming System allows any of its channels to be configured as an 8 bit or 16 bit dimmer or alternatively as a direct power relay channel. This TruPower technology, introduced to the market by LSC over 5 years ago, enables the user to set some channels on the GenVI to dim traditional lamps and others to direct power for moving lights, LED fixtures, strobes, fans, video screens and even audio power amplifiers.

Another first for the company is the new LDT Dimmer - a new technology dimmer that allows control of dimmable retrofit style LED fixtures. With the global move to LED technology, many users simply replace existing fixtures with their LED equivalent only to find that they can't

UK - For the first time anywhere, SGM will showcase the new P-2, Q-2 and Q-2W LED fixtures at this year's PLASA Show. These are respectively based on the groundbreaking technology behind the P-5 wash light and the multifunction Q-7/Q7W (wash, blind, strobe) which have all helped to raised industry standards.

Providing an even smaller physical footprint, these compact units will provide easy and quick set-up, while at the same time maintaining the IP65 rating which is one of the characteristics of the SGM portfolio.

Taking it a step further, the 18 lenses in the P-2 are divided into three individually controllable segments with RGBW colours. Containing 18 high power 10W RGBW LEDs, P-2 has a light output of 11,500 lumens - 1,885 lumens per kilo - and an efficacy of 58 lm/W, offering a variation of beam angles, with 15°, 21° and 43° interchangeable lenses.

Q-2's 864

UK - Artistic Licence will launch nanoScope, its much anticipated pocket-sized tester for DMX512 and RDM at PLASA London 2014. Following a tantalising preview at last year's show, the market-ready version of nanoScope will be available for viewing and purchase at Stand L50.

Lightweight and battery powered with a translucent plastic casing, nanoScope features a built-in 5-pin XLR connector that enables it to be attached directly to the DMX512 cable. The device lights up in different colours to indicate its findings - this provides rapid, intuitive feedback that is hands-free and visible at a distance (handy for awkward positions such as plenum spaces or hanging off a truss).

Two modes of operation exist, selected by a recessed slide switch that also controls power on/off.

In 'Pixel Mode', nanoScope displays the first three DMX512 channels as an RGB mix, to provide confidence

UK - This year saw the Philips Selecon RAMA LED Fresnel, which features full warm white output, make its Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut. The luminaires took up residence over the festival period in one of the Fringe's most exciting venues, C south, part of leading Edinbugh Fringe venue producer C venues, where a range of theatre companies put on up to 12 productions a day.

Another new addition to this year's rig was the Vari-Lite VLX Wash. Together the luminaires blended seamlessly with the numerous Tungsten fixtures, providing the various productions with a plethora of LED associated advantages.

While the RAMA LED Fresnel luminaires took care of the warm and cool Front of House wash light two VLX Wash luminaires were installed as key light FOH with two additional luminaires providing back key light.

"Both the Selecon RAMA LED Fresnel and the Vari-Lite VLX Wash luminai

UK - ETC is getting ready to show its latest products at PLASA London 2014 tradeshow in London's ExCeL centre, 5-8 October. ETC will be taking advantage of two separate but adjacent stands (K60 and L60) with an entirely new design in the centre of PLASA's main exhibition hall, so as to highlight both entertainment and building-control products, and to provide a comfortable space for extended demonstrations and in-depth discussions.

On the larger of the company's two stands, number K60, ETC fixtures product manager Jim Uphoff and his colleagues will be demonstrating the new Source Four LED Series 2 luminaires. Launched at Frankfurt's Prolight + Sound show earlier this year, Source Four LED Series 2 improves on the previous generation of ETC's LED fixtures by updating the seven-colour mixing system, making white lights even more accurate, and producing tints up to three times brig

UK - Award-winning design and documentation software specialist, Stardraw.com, has announced some important enhancements to its Product Requests service, (historically known as Symbols Requests) to improve responsiveness and transparency. Product requests are a way for users to tailor the Product Libraries contained in Stardraw Design 7.1 to their own specific requirements.

The service already has an excellent track record: of the nearly 13,000 requests received since the service was inaugurated in 2002, over 95% have been published, with 40% of requests being published within a week and 50% published within two weeks. The tiny percentage that is not published is due to factors beyond Stardraw's control, such as manufacturers being unable or unwilling to provide the necessary product information (despite the service being entirely free for manufacturers). In addition to their Pr

UK - Among the highlights on Chauvet Professional's stand at PLASA London 2014 will be the Next NXT-1 moving head LED display, a new addition to the ÉPIX Series, the ÉPIX Tile 2.0, and a new series of IP65-rated fixtures, Colorist, from Iluminarc.

A pixel-mapping panel with 25 Quad-Colour RGBW LEDs, the Next NXT-1 combines fast pan/tilt movement with a tight 6° beam angle to create brilliant in-motion displays that will mesmerise audiences at concerts, festivals and live productions of all types. The Next NXT-1's ultra-bright output allows its sharp pixel-mapped images to cut through haze and washes on stage and deliver maximum punch at long throws, when used as an LED wash.

Although capable of wowing crowds with stunning, professional pixel-mapped displays, the Next NXT-1 was engineered to make the programming process fast and easy for users of all technical

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