Brazil - Under the wise guidance of jurors Alarico Sanchez, Césio Lima, Daniel Ridano, Danny Nolan, Francesco Romagnoli and Marcos Olívio, the second MA 3D contest was hosted in São Paulo, Brazil.

The first day of the contest started with a grandMA2 Advanced User Training course accompanied by a lecture by renowned lighting designer Danny Nolan in the evening. During the lecture Nolan illustrated his personal approach to designing a show.

The following day focused on the actual contest, starting with the 29 participants presenting their projects which had been programmed us

Turkey - Tarkan, one of the most popular singers in Turkey as well as around the World, has met with his fans with nine concerts during September at the Harbiye Open Air Theatre. The spectacular stage was set by Staras, one of the top rental companies in Turkey which has invested in the cutting-edge Clay Paky Sharpy and for the first time they added the DiGiCo SD5. As exclusive distributor of Clay Paky and DiGiCo in Turkey, Asimetrik's expertise and dynamism lead to Staras's sourcing decision.

Staras rents sound, light and audio-visual systems and provide technical production services

USA - Coinciding with the reopening of an iconic Manhattan venue, PBS recently broadcast a 60-minute primetime special, Michael Feinstein at The Rainbow Room, as part of its Fall Arts Festival programming. As a loyal DPA Microphones user, Feinstein's long-time production manager and FOH engineer Andy Brattain ensured that the performer's microphone of choice was used for the taping, which included a variety show and a series of big band performances. Several DPA microphones were used for the production, including the d:facto Vocal, d:vote 4099 Instrument, d:dicate 4011 Cardioid a

UK - Opened in 1968 and part of University College London, The Bloomsbury Theatre is a true multi-purpose venue and one of London's busiest, hosting as many as 20 different productions in a single month.

The theatre presents a variety of productions, from rock 'n roll to ballet, drama, corporate events, film and opera as well as numerous UCL student productions. However it is perhaps most well-known as a comedy venue, one which has seen performances by Jo Brand, Mel And Sue, Eddie Izzard, Lily Savage, and John Shuttleworth among many others.

More recently comedy A-Listers Jimmy Carr

USA - Hip hop music comes in many forms and positive hip hop artists are finding mainstream success like never before. Grammy Award-winning artist and one of inspiring hip hop's most successful names, Lecrae, is one such example. Touring the US through the end of the year beneath an Elation lighting rig supplied by live events brand management company LabeLive, Lecrae's latest album debuted at No. 1 on several charts from the Billboard 200 to Urban, Independent and Christian charts.

LabeLive, out of Franklin, Tennessee, has provided full production and stage design for the artist's cu

UK - So popular was a 'learn-to-drift' day out last year organised for staff, crew and regular freelancers by west London lighting and visual specialists Colour Sound Experiment ... that they revved, roared and oversteered their way right back for more of the same ... this time at Rockingham, the UK's fastest racing circuit..

The experience liberated a thousand petrol-head fantasies and gave everyone - at all levels of driving ability - a fantastic, all-action day of speed, skidding and sliding to remember. Colour Sound's Haydn Cruickshank, himself a bit of a drift exponent, illustrat

USA - This past November CNBC tapped The Lighting Design Group (LDG) to light their 25th anniversary celebration. This year also marks LDG's 25th anniversary. The elaborate event was held at Rose Hall, home to Jazz at Lincoln Centre, in The Time Warner Building. LDG staff designers, programmers, gaffers, and Local One I.A.T.S.E crew members worked to install the affair over the course of two days and within several Rose Hall locations.

The first event of the evening occurred in The Rose Theatre, lit by LDG president Steve Brill. The one-hour, panel show was broadcast live and hosted b

South Africa - South African audiences were captivated as War Horse, brought to the country by Pieter Toerien and the National Theatre, played at The Teatro, Montecasino in Johannesburg recently. The show then moved to Cape Town at Artscape Opera House from 5 December 2014. Technical support in both venues was provided by Gearhouse Splitbeam.

A truly iconic show based on a book written by Michael Morpurgo, War Horse was only designed to run for a couple of weeks . . . then they did it again and again and again and it's currently in its seventh successful year on the West

UK - In December 2013 Stage Technologies' sister company Delstar Engineering was commissioned to provide a huge scenic structure for the set of ANNE, a new play about the life of Anne Frank. Produced by Imagine Nation, with set design by Bernhard Hammer and directed by Theu Boermans, the play is performed at the new 'Theater Amsterdam', a purpose-built venue in the Westerlijke Houthavens district of Amsterdam.

The play covers the two years that Anne Frank and her family hide in an attic in Amsterdam, as well as some events prior to their secret life and following their discover

Denmark - Danish brand Change Lingerie recently held an outstanding fashion show for the presentation of The Intimate Britney Spears, the collection created and designed in conjunction with the American pop star. Nordic Rentals, a leading Danish rental and event management supplier, opted for Analog Way's Ascender 48 to ensure a flawless and visually stunning show.

At the Forum in Copenhagen, Change Lingerie introduced the Intimate Britney Spears line in the presence of the artist, as well as 5,000 attendees. Nordic Rentals was selected to create an astonishing fashion show.

As a ba

USA - One way to keep the Halloween spooks away is to keep the lights on and that's what they did at Hard Day of the Dead Fest in Pomona, California, using an Elation lighting rig of Platinum Beam 5R's, LED moving heads, Par lights, and Elation LED video displays. Held on 1-2 November at the Fairplex, Elation dealers Stage Tech, Felix Lighting and Vision's Lighting delivered a large Elation package for Southern California's ultimate Halloween DJ and dance event.

The festival's Hard Main Stage incorporated a Mayan Pyramid design that was conceived by designer Charley Guest of Stage Tec

USA - Birmingham, Alabama's Iron City is a new 1,300-capacity music venue that plays host to acts both local and national. It occupies two former automotive warehouses downtown that the owners gutted and renovated to hit the perfect middle between steely grit and modern elegance. As general manager Mike Creager put it, "At Iron City, we aim to do everything a cut above. From production to hospitality, we always shoot for a high standard."

That philosophy extends to sound reinforcement as well. Creager worked with Tim Ogletree at MediaMerge (Chelsea, Alabama) to design a zero

UK - With just 24 hours notice, London based large format projection specialists, The Projection Studio (TPS) delivered a full projection design to enable a giant image of the BandAid30 music video to be projected onto the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.

It was the first time a full motion video has been projected onto this landmark building.

The song is helping to raise funds and awareness in BandAid30's ongoing fight against Ebola.

TPS's Creative Director Ross Ashton received the call on Friday afternoon from Des Shaw at event production company Ten Alps, who had received f

China - PR Lighting fixtures had a major presence at the recent 22nd APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Welcome Banquet, which was held at the Water Cube in Beijing.

This event, whose theme this year was 'Shaping the Future through Asia-Pacific Partnership', was very much a showcase for Chinese entertainment and stage lighting brands, providing a great opportunity for the Chinese event technology industry to show its new image and underline how far it has come. And the attendees, represented by the leaders from 21 member countries, were certainly impressed.

The lighting was di

Ireland - Dublin-based Sound Productions recently designed, supplied and commissioned a new JBL beam steering public address system for St. Agnes Catholic Church in the Parish of Crumlin.

Having installed the previous PA system around a decade ago, the new sound solution was specified as part of a complete church renovation project.

According to Sound Productions' senior project manager, Peadar Carley, the aim of the new system was to maintain and improve intelligibility using a more architecturally discreet solution.

"The renovation included the installation of new hard wood

USA - Weather conditions have always been the overall challenge and concern for outdoor event providers.

Aside from its impact on visitor attendance, adverse weather conditions impose huge additional costs on lighting equipment deployment - or rather it did. SGM's LED G-Spot moving head, is not only IP65 rated, making it weather resistant, but also includes an active dehumidification device. This reduces the risk of internal condensation while allowing lighting designers to unleash their creativity to the full - in whatever weather is thrown at them during an outdoor event

In recent

UK - Sound Technology, distributor of Soundcraft in the UK and Eire, has announced further dates for its popular Soundcraft Vi Series training course.

The dates are as follows: Wednesday 21 January 2015, Tuesday 17 February 2015, Wednesday 18 March 2015, Wednesday 22 April 2015 and Wednesday 20 May 2015.

The course is held at Soundcraft's Potters Bar, Hertfordshire head office and factory, with an opportunity to visit the factory floor to see the Vi manufacturing process. The exception is the January 2015 session which is hosted by Adlib in Liverpool.

Presented by experienced Vi S

UK - Avolites Ai S8 media servers completed an elegant makeover of the London Coliseum, draping the stage in video content for the British Fashion Awards, held to celebrate the contributions of British designers, creatives and models over the past year.

The glitzy event, attended by some of the biggest names in British fashion, was set against a backdrop including a main projection surface of eight Panasonic projectors blended to create a 6598x830 screen.

Ben Miles used two active Ai S8 servers, with another two used as reserve and programming systems. Another 1920x1080 HD feed to t

South Africa - With a background in electronic engineering and having followed the development of LED lighting for many years, Julian Cohen, owner of Johannesburg based rental company Avstage, had been waiting for LED technology to catch up with discharge lamps.

Three decades ago he designed and manufactured large display panels using discrete LEDs and now at last the opportunity came along to purchase new lighting including 12 Robin 300 LEDs, an Avolites Tiger Touch 2 and a haze machine.

In the greater rental market, Avstage caters for corporate events. This environment is unlike r

Japan - It was a challenge for the technical crew of Fuji Television Network (Fuji TV) and Fuji Media Technology (FMT) to find the right fixture to light a set built in the globe shaped observation studio located on the 24th floor of their building. But in the end, they realised that ETC's Selador Desire D60 Daylight luminaires were the right fit.

"Our task was to light this set built in a space that was once a coffee shop, with minimal power," says Hitoshi Hoshino, the executive manager of FMT. "The space also had only 2.4m to the ceiling, so it was impossible to use i

USA - When one of US television's most visible sports anchors launched his new sportstalk TV/radio show in early October, lighting designer Victor Fable turned to a lighting package of studio-optimized Elation lighting equipment including DW Series and TVL Series professional white light LED fixtures to light the set.

Rich Eison, well known by US football fans as host of NFL GameDay Morning on the NFL Network and a mainstay on ESPN's SportsCenter from 1996 to 2003, hosts The Rich Eison Show broadcast live Monday-Friday from DirecTV's El Segundo, California Studios on the Audien

UK - The new Jaguar XE was spectacularly launched in the UK amidst a fully produced musical theatre-style show - staged in a 3000-seat proscenium theatre within London's Earls Court. The 90 minute performance involved 17 different Jaguars through the ages. A Morris Minor, a cast of west end performers, a 30-piece orchestra positioned upstage on a moving riser and musical performances from the likes of Emeli Sandé, Eliza Doolittle and the Kaiser Chiefs were woven in to the narrative fabric of the show.

Freelance sound designer, Sebastian Frost worked closely with Imagination's h

UK - Behind the Scenes UK, the newly launched charity that aims to provide financial support to entertainment technology professionals when they are ill or injured, is calling on companies and individuals to send their annual Christmas cards via Card Aid this year.

Card Aid has been helping charities increase their funds from the sale of their Christmas cards for over 30 years and John Simpson, Chair of Behind the Scenes UK, believes proceeds from the sale of Christmas Cards via the Card Aid Website will really make a difference to Behind the Scenes which only launched in the UK in Oc

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