Germany - With his reputation for piloting the lighting at two of Europe's leading electronic music festivals - the German extravaganzas Mayday and Nature One - Thomas Gerdon is in high demand. The latter gave him the chance to use GLP's new large-format impression X4 XL for the first time in addition to the impression X4 fixtures at a sold-out event attended by 72,000 people.

In charge of the main open air floor design, Thomas Gerdon has been involved with Nature One since 2002 "We really work closely to the music, tight to the beat." He says. "We don't run timecode - everything is operated live and we can just freestyle and follow the music." Gerdon already had 64 X4 heads incorporated into the stage design, but says, "I really wanted the X4 XL to complete the design."

The X4 series lights were mounted on the open air stage floor for effect ligh

Australia - Typically, it's sunrises that are associated with new beginnings, but for EDM fans in New South Wales, it was a "sunset" that marked the dawn of a new musical day.

The Sunset Music Festival at the Armidale Showgrounds was the first electronic dance music festival held in Australia's most populous state, and its organizers wanted it to provide an experience to build on for future events. Based on the reaction from the thousands of EDM fans who attended the one-day festival, they succeeded in doing just that, thanks in part to some unforgettable eye candy served up by the Nexus 4x4 LED panel from Chauvet Professional.

"The panels surpassed even our already high expectations; their impact was very powerful and instantly communicated to the audience that this was a very special event," said Adriano Mercurio of Showtime Promotions and Productions in

USA - It is television's biggest night, and Pete's Big TVs was there for the first time to support The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards Show with host Seth Meyers.

The high profile event, held annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, was broadcast live on NBC 25 August from the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

"The televised event required the high resolution video equipment that we specialize in," said Pete's Big TVs vice president Guy Benjamin.

Pete's Big TVs provided nearly 500 of the CS5 5mm LED tiles, two Barco HD-W26 projectors (double-stacked at the FOH) and their crew to fulfill the set requirements from production designer Keith Raywood.

The 500 CS5 LED tiles were fashioned into five screens in the set. Two tracking screens mid-stage at stage left and stage right measured 13 tiles high by seven tiles wide. Two "tower" screens at t

Finland - MultiTouch has announced details of its fourth annual partner summit, which includes an advanced preview of the new MultiTaction 4K 55" display. The main event takes place on 18 September at MultiTouch's headquarters in Helsinki, and is preceded by the MultiTaction Overview & Training event, on 17 September at the same venue. Both events are free to attend, but places are limited so registration is required.

The MultiTouch Partner Summit is intended for MultiTouch resellers, developer partners and end-clients. The annual event promotes the latest developments in MultiTaction interactive display technology, and its applications. This year's event includes a blend of speakers, demos and case studies, from the MultiTouch team, its clients and partners.

The forthcoming MultiTaction 4K 55" Cell boasts four times as many pixels as Full HD displays, and includes i

UK - Blackburn-based lighting and visuals specialist HSL renewed its long standing working relationship with Massive Attack supplying a floor package to the European leg of the band's 2014 summer tour which kicked off in Sofia and Istanbul and played a series of headline shows and festivals.

HSL project manager Mike Oates comments, "You can rely on Massive Attack shows being provocative, different and innovative ... and this was no exception. It's almost like a piece of installation art - a production and a team with whom we are always happy to collaborate."

Lighting was designed by Tim Oliver who has worked with Massive Attack for several years, the last three as lighting designer. His starting point for lighting was the visuals set up with is vital to any Massive Attack live performance, which for this tour comprised a set of upstage rotating horizontal screens, a

USA - American alternative rock band Chevelle has partnered with lighting designer Craig Richter and Bandit Lites on their North American tour. The three man group, comprised of Pete Loeffler, Sam Loeffler and Dean Bernardini are out promoting their sixth studio album La Gargola.

Prior to working with Chevelle, Richter toured with Mudvayne, Rascal Flatts, and Seether when an opportunity arose to be the lighting director for what Richter thought would be a 'short little run' - an up-and-coming country singer named Miranda Lambert. That short little run turned into a three year gig.

Then at the start of the year Chevelle's tour manager/FOH, Chris Morrison, called up Richter and offered the opportunity to work with Chevelle. Richter found the deal was too good to pass up saying, "I'm a big believer in the fact that change can be good now and then."

Change prove

UK - Barco was selected as the exclusive projection and video processing provider for the opening ceremony of the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, held in Nanjing (China) on 16 August 2014.

Sha Xiaolan, a well-known lighting design master in China, was the chief designer for the lighting and video at the ceremony. Using 112 Barco HDF-series high-brightness projectors and 56 High End Axon HD Pro media servers, he succeeded in creating the world's largest stage projection, presenting a compelling visual feast to those watching around the world.

The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Nanjing are the second Olympic competition to be held in China, after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The extensible and movable scroll stage used in the 2008 opening ceremony was extremely impressive; however, the limits of the display technology at that time confined the picture to only a third of the

USA - Lighting designer Jeremy Lechterman chose Robe's Pointe multifunctional luminaire as one of the core elements of his lighting design for rock band O.A.R.'s Summer US amphitheatre tour. Lighting equipment was supplied by Omaha, Nebraska based Theatrical Media Services (TMS).

Based in Brooklyn, New York, it was Lechterman's second summer tour with O.A.R. who were promoting their new album, The Rockville LP.

He discussed various concepts for lighting the show with the band beforehand, and all decided that the performance should be reinforced with a clean, modern lighting aesthetic, resulting in the creative starting point for his lighting design.

From there, he decided on a back 'wall of light' rigged to ladder trusses which also introduced a structural element and shaped the stage.

The 12 Pointes were positioned on these upstage ladders and alternated with wash

Finland - Wireless Solution Sweden has confirmed that Msonic Light + Sound has been named distributor for W-DMX products in Finland.

Msonic is specialized in the distribution and representation of the top brands and the best manufacturers of entertainment technology. The company strives to have both partners and users 100% satisfied both with the products and service.

Mikko Palomäki, managing director of Msonic says, "We are very happy about this new partnership with Wireless Solution. The company has a proven product and an excellent reputation. W-DMX is not only a well established brand, it is of the highest quality and reliability, which is exactly what our company represents."

Msonic sales director Petteri Partinen adds, "W-DMX is a perfect complement to the product range that we offer. We specifically look to offer the best products from the best manufac

UK - If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? It's time to start dreaming of faraway places! Enter the Behind the Scenes UK raffle at the PLASA London show in October and you could win the grand prize - a £2500 travel voucher. Second prize is a £1,000 Amazon gift card, and third prize is a £500 voucher with Mr and Mrs Smith hotels.

Raffle tickets are just £10 each and will be available throughout the show at the Behind the Scenes stand M65. The draw will be held on Wednesday afternoon, 8 October but you do not need to be present to win.

The raffle is to help raise funds for the new UK charity Behind the Scenes which will provide financial assistance to entertainment technology professionals, or their immediate family, who are seriously ill or injured. Grants may be used for

World - Since introduced at the 123rd AES Convention in New York City in October 2007, the API 1608 console continues to make its way into colleges and universities across the globe.

In the past year alone, more 1608s have been placed in educational institutions compared to any other year since 2007. These full-featured consoles, each with various channels of recording and mixing capabilities, now grant students, ranging from high school to graduate school, the opportunity to learn on the analogue technology used in professional studios all over the world.

"We're very pleased to have placed so many of these highly-versatile consoles in the past year," said Larry Droppa, president of API Audio. "Each of these 1608s will now join the ranks of top audio schools including the New England School of Communications, American University, and California State University.

UK - The Theatres Trust, the National Advisory Public Body for Theatres, has announced booking is open for Building Better Theatres, its Workshop Programme Autumn 2014 - Spring 2015.

The Workshop Programme offers a series of six day-long, practically-based sessions on the capital development of theatre buildings, led by individuals with real experience of the issues, and specially tailored for people responsible for theatre buildings who want practical and detailed advice.

Workshops include: 28 October 2014 - Theatres and the Heritage System; 27 November 2014 - Fundraising for a Capital Project; 21 January 2015 - Planning a Capital Project; 12 February 2015 -Theatre Maintenance; 5 March 2015 - Delivering a Capital Project; 26 March 2015 - Theatres, the Planning System and Local Government.

Each course includes relevant and up-to-date case studies, provides direct access to t

Finland - Finnish pop singer Jenni Vartiainen rose to fame after winning the talent show Popstars in 2002 - as part of a band - and later launched her solo career in 2007. Now she is among the 50 best-selling recording artists of all time in Finland, and by the end of 2014 she will have performed more than 100 concerts this year alone.

Lighting designer, Pasi "Pasu" Koivistoinen, has worked with the artiste for four years. Latest project is her new album Terra, with the live tour that started in November 2013 and reached a staggering 33 summer festival gigs this year.

In early 2013, Pasu first approached local distributor Noretron Communication Ltd and its CEO Timo Kunnas to test some of SGM's fixtures in order to assess his possibilities regarding special strobe effects. These tests influenced rental company Uudenmaan Kiertuetekniikka Ltd to invest in

Poland - As part of the Warsaw Mozart Festival, which has been running for more than 20 years, lighting designer Adam Tyszka this year took on responsibility for an open air performance of the W. A. Mozart opera The Magic Flute. This opera took place in the courtyard of the 17th century Museum of King Jan III Palace at Wilanow, thus using the prestigious façade as a beautiful backdrop for lighting and video creativity.

The concept and location of this event, being open air and using the façade as a backdrop for multimedia content, limited the use of truss. Any type of roof above the stage would cause the truss/construction pieces to obstruct the view of video projections onto the façade. Therefore, the lighting designer relied on the technical crew's ability to protect the equipment located close to the stage.

Owner of main lighting supplier Setlight, Przemyslaw Wrem

Egypt - Media production company HiLights Egypt has specified high grade automated beam movement from PR Lighting for the first season of a new game show franchise, Minute To Win It - originally conceived as an American prime time game show, divided into a series of 60-second challenges.

Screened by El Nahar TV Egypt, and recorded in their studio in front of a live audience, the set features 48 of PR Lighting's XR 200 Beam fixtures, 36 of the XLED 1037 and 24 of the XL 300 Beam.

Lebanese lighting designer, Fouad Hadad, chose the PR Lighting fixtures because of their quality, and the relationship he had with HiLights, who are also the company's Egyptian distributor.

Emulating the set and stage concept seen in other countries, he deployed the XR 200's (housing the 189W Philips MSD Platinum 5R) in equal quantities between the overhead truss, which it shared with the XLED

UK - Adlib supplied lighting, sound and rigging to two main arenas and the Hospitality / VIP area at the 2014 Creamfields EDM festival staged at Daresbury Estate near Warrington, UK.

Working for creative and technical production specialists LarMac LIVE and renewing their long term working relationship with Cream - the brand synonymous with Liverpool cool since its launch as a club concept in the heady rave days 1992 - this was the third high profile Liverpool-centric event for Adlib in as many months. It followed hot on the heels of The Giants Spectacular and the seven-week International Festival of Business.

Creamfields 2014 saw a glittering array of the biggest, best and most popular DJs in the world joining the lineup. Adlib were working in Arenas 04 (hosted by Pete Tong / London Warehouse Events), 05 (Revealed / Super You & Me) and the VIP (Hospitality Audio System).

Lea

UK - When leisure operators, The Columbo Group, acquired two landmark east London sites recently, operating as live music venues, they asked Middlesex Sound & Light (MSL) to bring the technical infrastructures up to date. Their response, according to project manager Darrel Olivier, was to turn to Martin Audio's roster of potent PA systems for the solution.

The historic Cat and Mutton in Hackney dates back to 1729 - set over two floors it has been carefully restored this year.

MSL divided the venue into four zones, opting for Martin Audio's ultra-compact AQ architectural loudspeakers; they specified four AQ8 (8in + 1in) and an AQ212 (2 x 12) sub for the main ground floor trading area while upstairs they have installed two AQ6 (6.5in + 1in) full range speakers and opted for four of the same in the adjacent dance area, adding a DJ plug-in point. The sound is routed and source sel

UK - South West Four 2014 took place over August Bank Holiday weekend (August 23-24) and was hosted by Lock 'N' Load Events, who employed audio rental company Capital Sound to design an audio system that would take into account the restrictions of an extremely sound-sensitive site.

SW4 is held on Clapham Common and, with residential buildings situated on each of its sides, it was imperative that the sound did not spill over the perimeter, whilst keeping in mind that 25,000 festival-goers would expect the audio to be of an involving level.

With MLA deployed on the main stage and MLA Compact in Tent One, Capital made sure that the revellers had the best possible experience. With acts such as Above and Beyond, Eric Prydz and Pete Tong banging out the tunes it was no small feat to keep sound levels to a minimum off site, but by using the intelligent capabilities of the MLA, Capita

UK - OneBigStar have a long history with Green Hippo, sharing their expertise to realise tradeshow exhibition stands. They have come to know Hippotizer very well and have developed into experts in their own rights. Owning all their kit, they are equipped for full service live event production and their Hippotizers have seen action at some interesting events so far this year.

Move It is the UK's biggest annual dance event with around 20,000 visitors waltzing into London's Olympia Exhibition Centre. The show features three days' worth of dance performances and classes, with all styles covered from ballroom and ballet to hiphop, bellydance and freestyle.

For this event OneBigStar supplied full production including lighting, sound and video equipment as well as operation. They were looking after five feature areas, including the main stage, the freestyle stage, the showcase theatr

Sri Lanka - The island of Sri Lanka recently welcomed its first ever lighting industry networking event as Chinese manufacturer PR Lighting hosted a hugely successful marketing showcase.

Commencing on the evening of 21 August, around 70 key customers from all over the country (along with a media representative) attended the event, which combined a series of product sessions within a convivial social ambience.

The evening was divided into four segments. The welcome and introduction was immediately followed by an opportunity to try out the company's new products; this led into a live lightshow, and finally a buffet.

Supported by local customer The Light House (Pvt) Ltd., PR Night Sri Lanka 2014 was staged at the Hilton Colombo. PR Lighting's Lawrence Mao, introduced the company's new season products, giving visitors hands-on experience before putting the automated fixtures thr

Germany - Held at the former monastery of Haus Hohenbusch just outside of Erklenz in western Germany, the Electrisize Open Air Festival celebrated its fifth anniversary on 9 August with a barrage of electro and House music from an impressive line-up of DJs supported by a lighting and video package that included Elation Professional Platinum Beam 5R effects and EVLED Series LED panels.

Rental company Ton in Ton Veranstaltungstechnik of Erkelenz was full service stage, sound, lighting and video provider for the event which included stage design and technical implementation. Ton in Ton's Frank Zander produced an exhilarating and complementary lighting design after preliminary discussions with the client in which it was decided to let the old monastery buildings provide the distinctive backdrop for the event.

"I developed a stage which was very open," Frank commented, &q

Australia - In his role as Thinker in Residence at Deakin University Motion.Lab, Garry Stewart created Multiverse, a new type of audience experience where visually stunning 3D graphics share the stage with three dancers from Australian Dance Theatre. The production is one of the first 3D performances to be created by an Australian dance company. Viewed through 3D glasses, Multiverse is an extraordinary new work that combines the power of live dance with the wonder of 3D graphics from one of the great innovators of Australian dance.

Multiverse also uses infrared technology; an infrared camera follows the movements of the dancers and an interactive computerised system responds to the data collected. This enables sound, video, and lighting to respond live to the actions of the dancer.

"So wherever a performer moves, you can drop out the background information so the projecte

USA - If you have been thinking about testing to become ETCP certified, now is the time to apply, as fees will increase $50 per exam on January 1, 2015. There are over 1,600 ETCP Certified Technicians in North America, don't get left behind. You have up to one year from your acceptance date to take your examination, so sign up today to save.

ETCP Certification is a fundamental aide to employers who are looking for qualified technicians for lead positions. It guarantees a reliable level of expertise and skills because the exams are specific to this industry and a fair assessment of your knowledge.

There are a few ways you can be tested to receive certification. All three exams are available for computer based-testing and a candidate can make arrangements to take the exam at one of 190 testing centres around the U.S and in Canada. ETCP will be offering all three examinations in

USA - This summer, undersea sounds captured by artist Jana Winderen temporarily transformed New York City's seven-block-long Park Avenue Tunnel in the immersive sound installation DIVE. The soundscape was heard through more than 60 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers configured by Tony Myatt, a professor at the University of Surrey.

The installation was deployed along the 1,394ft-long tunnel that became a temporary pedestrian zone for New York's annual Summer Streets celebration. Greeted at the tunnel entrance by sounds of waves crashing along the seashore, visitors were pulled further into the ocean depths by sounds that included cod, toadfish, seaborne insects, boat noises, and more.

"I make multi-layered mixes of the material, which requires exceptional clarity from the loudspeakers," says Winderen. "Using Meyer Sound allows me to deliver the detailed dynam

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