USA - The recent Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao match - billed as "the fight of the century" and bringing in a staggering $410 million in pay-per-view TV revenue alone - saw lighting director Jason Eible bring the contest to life on a new Avolites Sapphire Touch console purchased specifically with this huge event in mind.

Eible is no stranger to this kind of pressure and attention. As the LD for Frank Gatto and Associates out of Boca Raton, Florida, he has spent his entire nearly-20-year career lighting boxing and UFC events. "I have been using Avo as long as I have been doing lighting," Eible says. He points specifically to the Playback feature of the Titan software that runs on Avolites consoles as something that he leans on heavily.

"A boxing match is not just a single event," he notes. "There are other events surrounding it, inc

Israel - The state owned Israel Broadcasting Authority has upgraded its main news studio in Jerusalem, with help from ETC and dealer Danor Theatre and Studio Systems Ltd.

The lighting for the Channel 1 studio needed to be suitable for the demands of high frequency cameras - so the new ETC Source Four LED Series 2 Daylight HD, with tuneable cool white lighting in the 4000-6500K range, was ideal. The studio was open in time for the Israeli elections, which were held in March, with 50 ETC Source Four LED Series 2 Daylight HD fixtures providing on screen lighting.

Lighting designer and head of the IBA's lighting department Boris Gelfand explains, "One of the main challenges was how to fit a new modern studio into a 40 year old, 600 square metre TV facility. The studio is based on two sets which rotate to change angles and directions, with light boxes, touch screens and a 12 m

UK - This year, the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) celebrated 15 years of their show stopping live performance week at London's Royal Albert Hall with another high profile line up. Artists included The Stereophonics, The Who, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and many more, plus a night of comic hilarity hosted by Kevin Bridges.

West London based rental specialist Entec Sound & Light has been involved as the audio supplier for the event right from the start, and over the years has fine-tuned the sound system to perfection for this prestigious venue.

This year they upped the ante again on the sonic front, as the first company in the UK to utilize a Beta version of d&b Audiotechnik's new Array Processing software which was officially launched at the Prolight+Sound expo in Frankfurt.

Entec's systems designer and technology support expert Liam Halpin explained how usin

USA - Halestorm is no stranger to touring, but for their tour promoting their newest album Into the Wild Life, the Grammy-award winning rock band took with them a lighting package from Bandit Lites.

The tour kicked off 22 April at the historic Ryman Auditorium and continues through September. Considering the vivid images a name such as Into the Wild Life conjures, lighting designer Giovanny Carvajal created a design that could connect with the mood of the material, while incorporating aspects of the physical design elements used in both the actual album artwork itself, as well as in the videos.

To accomplish that look, and keeping in mind the need to use all trailer space efficiently (and the ever present desire to always get the most bang for the buck) the lighting design chosen utilises a four tower format with GLP Impressions X4's, two two-way Moles, a 3k Stro

Indonesia - Global TV in Jakarta recently moved out of its old rented studios and constructed a completely new broadcast facility consisting of four independent studios. These have been equipped with PR Lighting fixtures, supplied by local distribution company, Acoustic & Lighting.

The company already has a track record of working with the station's owners, the MNC Group who gradually started investing in PR XR200, XLED 1037 and XPar 360.

For the new project Acoustic & Lighting's successful bid was tendered not only on the back of PR Lighting's performance capabilities but also their extended warranty. "These were specified from the very beginning because they offer excellent value for money," said Edwin, of Acoustic & Lighting.

Requiring essential functionality for their daily round of comedy, light entertainment and popular music they dipped extensively into PR L

USA - Lightconverse reports that Live Design has named it among their Products of the Year for 2014-2015.

Chosen and voted for by panels of leading industry experts in the fields of Lighting, projection and sound, Lightconverse 3D Show Platform v56 won Product of the Year in the Lighting Software category.

Awards will be presented to all winners during Live Design's New York Master Classes (NYMC), held from 2-6 June, 2015 at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts and The Gallatin School.

In a continual effort over the years to shrink the gap between virtual and reality, Lightconverse has steadily increased its feature set by delivering a dynamic array of capabilities in one complete platform, offering solutions for visualizing and integrating multiple show disciplines.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Zylight, a leading manufacturer of innovative LED lighting solutions, will showcase its product line for professional AV applications at InfoComm 2015, including versions of its F8-100 LED Fresnel and IS3c LED large panel light housed in white fixtures, new F8-B black light and F8-200 Fresnel, and Newz on-camera light. Zylight will be co-located with Ushio America in Booth 6844 during the show, which runs 17-19 June in Orlando, Florida.

"Many churches and corporations haven't adopted professional LED lighting technology because black fixtures don't blend in well with the décor," explained Charlie Collias, Zylight senior VP, worldwide sales. "White lighting fixtures are much more popular for permanent installation. Our new white housings will help houses of worship and other facilities enjoy more reliable lighting with significant power savings."<

UK - White Light is once again returning to the annual ABTT Theatre Show, having being part of the event since the very beginning. Now in its 36th year, the show will be held on 24-25 June and will be re-locating to Alexandra Palace in the West Hall. The ABTT Theatre Show welcomes visitors and exhibitors from various sectors of the entertainment industry and provides the opportunity for discussion, discovery and development.

As a complete solutions provider, as well as a leading lighting supplier for West End and touring theatre, White Light will be exhibiting on stand D30. Whether clients are looking to invest in LED, discuss the latest in lighting, sound and video control software, or hire audio equipment for their next production, White Light is looking forward to meeting them at the show and hearing about their latest news.

Over its years of exhibiting at the show, White L

The Netherlands - PRG-EML Productions, based in Utrecht has recently invested in Robe's new BMFL Spot moving lights. Robe's reporting team caught up with this leading production company, during a recent road trip to The Netherlands, and interviewed general manager Wouter Muurlink.

PRG-EML Productions specialises in delivering lighting, rigging and audio solutions to all sectors of the entertainment and industrial presentation industry and currently has a stock of around 200 Robe products in their wide inventory of moving lights.

The Robe purchases started three years ago with LEDWash 1200s, to which LEDWash 800s, Pointes and CycFX 8s were quickly added followed by most recently, the BMFL Spots. They were the first company in Holland to have the BMFL Spots, an action that set the ball rolling for sales from Controllux, Robe's very proactive Benelux distributor.

The first proj

UK - The Who's Who of kitchen appliance designers congregated at Camden's Roundhouse for the seventh annual rendition of the Neff Master Partner Awards. Hosted this year by the Great British Bake Off TV chef Paul Hollywood, the event serves as a showcase that highlights the best Neff showrooms and designers across the whole of the UK.

The evening ceremony dazzled 450 invited guests with a lavish dinner and elegant vintage-themed surrounds that highlighted the eight award categories. Tasked with creating an equally striking stage design to complement the evening's proceedings, Derby-based Presentation Design Services enlisted the support of their recently acquired Chauvet Professional Nexus Aw 7x7 panels to provide the necessary lighting backdrop for the ceremony.

"All in all, we employed six Nexus Aw 7x7 panels to uplight the custom-covered set panels as part of th

Austria - Blackmagic Design reports that all signal distribution at the event areas for this year's Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), hosted at the Wiener Staatshalle in Vienna, Austria, was delivered via an SDI based live production workflow featuring six Blackmagic Design Smart Videohub routers.

The audiovisual (AV) infrastructure for the annual European wide extravaganza, now in its 60th year, was devised by Vienna based live event specialist Concept Solutions and distributed HD video signals to more than 125 monitors and screens throughout the multi-purpose indoor arena.

As well as the main staging hall, where 60 countries competed for the chance to perform in a live two hour televised spectacular, the ESC also had dedicated halls for media, backstage and catering, the judging panel, VIPs and the official ESC delegation. Each was equipped with a multitude of displays and scre

South Africa - The Pilanesberg National Park was the graceful setting for Amway's 20th celebration dinner. As guests sat around a roaring fire at the Boma at Sun City, the rustic mood was given a modern twist with a significant collection of lighting equipment supplied by Kilowatt AV.

Their client, Red Hot Events, commissioned Kilowatt AV to deliver the full technical and Set solution for the event.

Lighting control was on a GrandMA2 Full Size and the lighting rig featured 48 Clay Paky Sharpys and over 160 Robe fixtures. In addition there were four Robert Juliat Aramis Follow spots, Showline SL Nitro 510 Strobes and Philips Selecon SPX Axial 15-35 ° Zoomspot Profiles.

"We exceeded our client's expectations with our custom set and decor elements, something which I feel Kilowatt AV is very strong at," said Neil Zaayman, national sales manager from Kilowatt AV.

UK / Germany - Lighting controls expert, Artistic Licence, received an enthusiastic response to the preview of its new product ranges, Matisse and lightJuice, at recent trade shows in Leeds and Berlin.

The Matisse range of panel controllers combines elegance and sophisticated functionality, offering an affordable, high-quality solution for users wanting to achieve LED effects via a simple wall-mount interface.

The Matisse range comprises two series - mini and moody.

mini takes the form of a seven-fader panel, with options that emphasise control over different aspects of lighting. For example, mini Level provides multi-channel intensity control, mini Colour is designed for cove lighting and mini Hue enables colour control over multiple zones.

moody offers a rotary control panel, with a range of options: moody Level controls DMX output intensity, while moody Colour provides

UK - Four months on from the creation of its dedicated audio department, complete production solution specialist White Light continues to receive much interest in the new range of audio products and services it now offers alongside its renowned expertise in entertainment lighting. This interest coincides with the completion of a number of high-profile audio projects across the event and installation sectors of the market.

"It has been an astounding launch", comments Lee Dennison, White Light's head of audio. "From the day we announced our expansion into audio, with a hand-picked team of audio experts added to the team at White Light, more than £300,000-worth of brand new audio equipment from leading manufacturers including Clear Com, EM Acoustics, Full Fat Audio, Shure, Sennheiser and Yamaha available to hire and our appointment as dealers for EM Acoustics,

USA - Country music shed its restrained image years ago with today's country artists requiring the same big impact rigs as full on rock acts. A testament to that more upbeat evolution was this year's StageCoach Festival, where production company Visions Lighting dressed the two largest stages in brazen big beam looks from Elation Platinum BX and Platinum Beam 5R Extreme fixtures.

Country music fans from across southern California and beyond gathered April 24-26 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, for the sold out festival, which featured mainstream country artists Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton along with lesser-knowns. A relative newcomer to the country music festival scene yet already one of the seasons' most anticipated events, StageCoach has grown to become the US's biggest grossing country music festival.

Todd Roberts of Visions Lighting supplied

China - Chang'an Dream was the name of a performance held recently in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A traditional Tang Dynasty welcome ceremony awaited the Prime Minister, where he was greeted by Chinese president, Xi Jinping at the watchtower of the south city wall, before the two leaders enjoyed the specially staged event in the ancient city's gate tower. This was rich in colour from more than 300 lighting fixtures provided by PR Lighting.

Mostly installed at the top of the old wall, they were made up from a mixture of the popular XL moving head series, and comprised a combination of XL 1500 Spot; XL 1500 Wash; XL 1500 Wash/Beam and XL 1500 Beam. Ranging from 250W up to the powerful 1500W lamp sources, the series comes with a choice of magnetic or electronic ballast, and boasts features such as advanced

UK - Lighting control expert Avolites will debut its new Arena console and Optical Titan Net Switch to UK theatre professionals at the ABTT Theatre Show this month.

The new Avolites Arena - which has already caused a buzz at Prolight + Sound and PLASA Focus Leeds - hits stand B34 at Alexandra Palace, 24-25 June.

"With Arena you have the creative tools you need to make your mark on theatrical productions," says Avolites sales director Koy Neminathan. "With 40 precision playbacks, a secondary touch screen with adjacent rotary encoders, six LCD legend displays, and an in-built four-port Gigabit network switch, Arena is ideal for theatres and larger venues."

The theatre-specific features in Titan have been revamped for Version 9, with substantial improvements to the tracking and move in dark tools. Syntax users will find that this functionality is vastly enha

UK - As part of The Royal Albert Hall hall's continued development, in 2013 Richard Martin Lighting (RML) installed a lighting rig to the Elgar Rooms - a relaxed self contained function room that holds 350 people located on the third floor of the building. The room regularly plays host to jazz and comedy nights. It is now so established in it's our right that it holds annual events such as the Bluesfest and Red Christmas Cabaret.

RML has been working with the Hall and its technical team for years and the Elgar Rooms has been a good way to cement this relationship. As the 'Official Sponsor of the Elgar Rooms' RML provides a mix of Alpha Spot and Wash to help enhance atmosphere and enrich the mood of the specific performance or simply as a dining room.

"To be associated with such a prestigious venue as the Royal Albert Hall is extremely exciting and it has been wonderful to

Austria - Rental and production company MartinKames.com has added Elation's award-winning Sniper multi-effect light as well as Elation Cuepix WW blinders to its rental inventory. "We chose to stock the Sniper because we are always looking for new effects as our aim is to offer our clients something unique that has never been seen or done before," stated Martin Kames, owner of the company that he founded in 2009. "In general, we are very sceptical when buying new gear. Elation however offers several innovative ideas which we can relate to while maintaining reasonable pricing."

The Sniper, a hybrid beam, scanner and laser simulator in one, is striking a chord with lighting designers and rental companies who seek a creative new tool to work with. It won a PLASA Award for Innovation last year and is finding service on a growing number of shows and events, as well

USA - In 2013, Blue Valley Baptist Church concluded that the best way to fulfill its mission of reaching more followers would be, not to expand its existing 650-seat facility, but to become a multi-site church comprised of a family of smaller congregations. A big step toward this goal was taken last year when BVBC acquired a second church in nearby Olathe, Kansas. Two hundred and fifty parishioners from the original Antioch campus agreed to switch locations, giving the new site, known as the Ridgeview campus, a ready-made congregation from day one.

But although attendance wasn't an issue, the 1980s-construction Ridgeview building presented its own set of challenges. Desperately in need of an overhaul, it was remodelled and repurposed to resemble the church's original Antioch facility, giving BVBC a consistent look across campuses. As part of this renovation project, the lighting

UK - International lighting designer Hartley T A Kemp has turned to the versatile colour changing of Philips Selecon's LED range of luminaires for the world premiere of Peter Gill's new play As Good a Time As Any.

Shown at the Print Room at the Coronet, Gill's play is centred upon eight London-based women and comprises five choruses in which they recount their life experiences through interwoven monologues.

Kemp specified 12 Selecon RAMA LED Fresnel, four PLprofile1 and eight PLcyc1 luminaires to complement the tungsten-halogen rig, giving the opportunity to fade between colors and from saturated to tint.

"During each chorus, the actors speaking sat facing the audience, while the others sat facing upstage. In between each chorus they changed position," explains Kemp. "The set, designed by Bruce McLean, was a 9.5m-wide painting that hinted at the journey

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) 's Lighting division has supplied a range of LumenRadio products to Edinburgh-based Black Light, to create a wireless DMX connection for lighting up the city's Melville Monument as part of the recent International Science Festival.

The event, called Light Fantastic, took place from sunset to sunrise between12 March and 28 April 2015. It invited visitors to Change the face of the Edinburgh skyline with a Tweet! Organisers encouraged the public to Tweet their favourite colours using the hashtag #lightfantastic, which would then change the lighting state at the Melville Monument automatically.

Black Light invested in a LumenRadio CRMX Nova TX2 RDM transmitter, four CRMX Nova transmitters and four outdoor-rated receivers, plus ancillary antennae and cables which were utilised on this event.

Heading up the team on the pro

Luxembourg - The Philharmonie - home to the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra - is located on the Kirchberg plateau in the City of Luxembourg and is one of the highest profile cultural venues in Europe as well as a masterpiece of modern design by architect Christian de Portzamparc, its 823 white steel column façade creating a natural filter for those entering a world of music.

The Grand Auditorium can accommodate between 1250 and 1500; a Chamber Music Hall (Salle de Musique de Chambre) has a 313 capacity and a smaller Espace Découverte (Discovery Space) theatre seats 180. All things technical throughout the Philharmonie - including stage lighting, audio, video, staging and rigging and all productions - are co-ordinated by stage manager Frank Reinard.

The Philharmonie purchased 16 x Robe LEDWash 300s in 2014 with which they are delighted.

Staging around 430 shows and

UK - Since its unveiling at Prolight+Sound in April this year, the new dot2 range of consoles from MA Lighting has been establishing itself as yet another of the MA family of consoles that ticks all the right boxes for all the right reasons, as Matt Cowles of Ambersphere Solutions' technical sales explains, "We always knew that there was a gap in the MA range that needed filling and so far it looks as though dot2 fits the bill perfectly. Its size, just 420mm x 550mm, its weight of only 7kg and its simplicity of operation are just some of the reasons that customers have been placing orders with us since its arrival in the Spring."

Graeme Sewell of Vortex Lighting reports, "Vortex has a long history of using MA consoles. We had the first MA1 Light console available for rent in the UK (Serial 2) and subsequently purchased both MA1 Micro Light and Full Size consoles.

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