World - Shawn Mendes: The Tour hit the road at the beginning of March on a nine-month world tour under a lighting rig which comprises Ayrton Khamsin-S, Ayrton Bora-S and Ayrton Mistral-S fixtures as the major components.
LD Louis Oliver avoided the use of followspots or remote tracking as part of his design intent for the show, choosing instead to work with Ayrton fixtures to provide key lights for the young Canadian singer, and carve out dramatic backdrops with creative back, top and side light.
“We wanted to keep the performance space organic, allowing the technology to hide in the background,” he says. “With the design, we wanted to craft bold environments for Shawn to perform within. We tested the new Ayrton fixtures and found they could compete with anything else on the market. Ayrton has created a range of LED fixtures you can use without compromise.”
The performing area is a 40ft wide circular stage with steps downstage left and right leading to wide, open 26ft-30ft wings. This gives a 280° line of sight to audiences in most venues, and the front seats curve around the stage to bring them as close as possible to the artist. The set is overhung by a large disc shaped video screen and echoed by five curved sets of trusses hanging in a massive upstage void, all of which move on Kinesys motors.
The 78 Khamsin-S profile units are the workhorses of the show, rigged on three motorised trusses upstage of the performance area, and on the curved front- and B-stage trusses, in addition to five units strategically placed

Italy - Music & Lights will be on show throughout the 2019 edition of Music Inside Rimini, held in Rimini from 5 to 7 May.
The fixtures from Prolights and Tribe will be featured on the Live You Play rock stages at the event.
Stage N.3, Hall C3 will be fully lit by Prolights luminaires, recreating the atmosphere of a real live show offering visitors a true live immersive experience. The stage will host live performances and the chance to get up-close-and-personal with the latest lighting and video technologies fully installed on a real stage giving visitors the chance to see the fixtures in their natural habitat.
MIR will also mark the national launch of the new Prolights, Tribe and ArchWork solutions recently featured in Frankfurt at Prolight + sound. Visitors, customers and partners are all invited to meet the team on stage 3 of Hall C3 in the Rimini exhibition centre.
(Jim Evans)

South Africa - Team Robe T1 successfully crossed over the finish line coming 112th overall at the 2019 Absa Cape Epic.
Paul Newman of Lucidity Technical Production Services and Mike Hewan, a Johannesburg-based business consultant, were sponsored by Robe Lighting and DWR Distribution as they put their heads down for one of the most brutal mountain biking races the world has to offer.
“It was a fantastic opportunity to support Team Robe T1, and we were very proud to be involved in Cape Epic for another year,” comments Josef Valchar of Robe Lighting. “Cycling is a popular sport in the Czech Republic and we are all big fans, as well as privileged to play a small part in such a legendary competition.”
With the South African entertainment industry behind them, Team Robe T1 shared video clips and photos throughout the race. Even at times when they ran out of legs and out of steam, they managed to come in smiling and solid every day and helped each other through the dark spots. While the pair had a target of being in the top 120, they were thrilled to do even better.
“We had a fantastic race. We didn’t have any mechanical issues which was indicitive indictive of our team name,” grins Paul. “I really want to thank Robe’s Josef Valchar and Pavel Nemec, as well as DWR Distribution’s Duncan Riley and Robert Izzett. We gave it everything we had. Thank you for allowing us to be part of this magnificent race, it has been very special.”
Duncan Riley and Rob Izzett agree: “Team Robe T1 rocked it, thank you for making us proud and

USA - Fine Design Associates has been designing exhibit lighting at leading tradeshows for more than 25 years, working closely with creative company to create lighting for exhibition displays. Most recently, Fine Design was responsible for lighting an industry leading brand’s booth at the CES show held in Las Vegas in January.
Principal designer, Paul Fine and his team have been working on a global technology leaders’ booth making them stand out at CES for many years. The lighting design has evolved over time to add more lighting fixtures to enhance the desired effects of their client.
The booth design for this client had beautifully printed SEG (silicon-edged graphic) fabric walls extending from the four corners of the booth. Large entrances were available on all four sides of the booth. The walls created an intimate space for the exhibitor to display their products, and have demonstrations / meetings with the attendees. Using the Chroma-Q Color Force II (72”) fixtures, Fine Design was able to transform the fabric walls from opaque to translucent, depending on the desired effect. When the walls were translucent, they were up-lit in beautiful reds, pastels, or white. An attendee could see in or out of the space as if they were looking through an etched glass window. Adding this additional row of fixtures on the ground this year has really allowed the exhibit space to pop.
“In order to be effective at exhibit lighting, we need to know how to light the wall, as well as having the control that we need.” comments Fine. “The steady and cons

USA - Brown Note Productions recently deployed a lighting rig designed by Matthew Smith and Brad Salt of Colourblind Production Lighting for Rufus Du Sol’s Solace tour, featuring Martin by Harman lighting solutions.
Formerly known as Rufus, Rufus Du Sol is an Australian electronic dance group formed in 2010. After releasing their fourth studio album Solace in 2018, the band embarked on an international tour spanning four continents. The group worked closely with Colourblind to create a dynamic lighting design centred around a striking LED grid backdrop.
Tasked with realising the design in a tour-friendly format for the North American legs, tour lighting provider Brown Note Productions put together a lighting package featuring Martin by HarmanVDO Sceptron 10 linear LED video strips and MAC Aura LED wash lighting fixtures.
“Colourblind developed a design concept and worked with us to evolve it from the first drawing to what became the final rig,” says James Watt, production manager at Brown Note Productions. “The Sceptron structure behind the band was a fundamental project to figure out, especially to make it tour-friendly while getting them the look they wanted. They knew what they wanted, and we had to figure out how to pull it off pull it off realistically to make it easy to build every day.”
The LED grid behind the band is comprised of 120 VDO Sceptron 10 linear LED fixtures arranged in ten rows. The structure spans the entire stage, with a gentle curve that wraps around on each side. Behind the grid is a massive video scre

Australia - Since its Broadway premiere in October 1954, the musical Peter Pan has captivated audiences with images of fairies, mermaids, lost boys, pirates, Captain Hook and a tick-tocking crocodile. More than 65 years after its debut, and over 10,000 miles from the Great White Way, the magic of Neverland came to life in a recent production of the J.M. Barrie classic at Parkland High School, outside Burnie, Tasmania.
Supporting the production with vivid colours and evocative gobos was a Chris Foster-designed lightshow. Foster’s design drew on the performance features of the school theatre’s new lighting system, featuring Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures, supplied by Show Systems Australia.
“Parkland High School has a phenomenal new performing arts facility, especially for a small regional public school,” says Mathew Adams of Show Systems. “However, when planning our lighting design, we had to be aware that bar loadings were somewhat limited, so we had to plan the rig for maximum versatility. This made it essential to select fixtures that were both flexible and compact. The choice of Mavericks was key to meeting this objective.”
The Show Systems team placed six Maverick MK2 fixtures on overhead LX bars, and two on the floor among the set pieces. “The Mavericks are largely used for gobo breakups and air effects,” says Adams. “Combining the MK2’s standard gobos with the dual rotating wheels provides a great mix of versatile design opportunities that, when coupled with the fixture’s other beam-altering feat

UK - Recreating the velvety evocative sound of the late Luther Vandross, the 100-city Luther UK tour is drawing large enthusiastic crowds throughout the UK. Versatile R&B singer Harry Cambridge takes audiences on a dreamily romantic journey as he emulates the mellifluous vocals of the eight-time Grammy winner legend who touched millions of hearts before his untimely passing in 2005.
Supporting Cambridge’s heartfelt musical tribute is an immersive and colourful Ashely Horton-designed lightshow that features Chauvet Professional Rogue R3 Spot fixtures, supplied by Music Mann.
Horton’s lighting design is smooth, engaging and versatile. The latter quality was extremely important, given the spectrum of songs in Vandross's back catalogue.
Horton's decision to specify the Rogue R3 Spot was influenced by a desire for visual versatility. Thanks to a number of features such as a 300W LED engine, 13° - 37° zoom, and saturated colour mixing, the R3 Spot give him the tools to craft a number of visual moods for a wide variety of songs.
"We were looking for spot fixtures that had a lot to offer in terms of performance and versatility,” comments Horton. “The R3s fit perfectly for cost and flexibility. In the end, I was so impressed by the Rogue R3 that I decided to construct the entire show around it. The sheer brightness and versatility of this fixture provides incredible looks within the theatre venues we’re playing."
Positioning the eight Rogue R3 Spots in his rig all on a single upstage row of truss, Horton is able to integrate the

USA - When it was time for Lightwire Theatre - the group behind touring productions The Ugly Duckling, Dino-Light, Moon Mouse and more - to step up its technical game, the venue turned to RC4 Wireless for wireless dimming and DMX needs.
“We use RC4Magic Series 3 [2.4GHz] transceivers with four and two channel dimmers; we wire into 12V inverters for EL [electroluminescent] wire. The [RC4] products are as low tech as you want or as high tech. I’m not even scratching the surface of what RC4 products can do, and it’s changed the way we can make shows,” notes Ian Carney, co-founder and performer at Lightwire.
The RC4Magic 2.4GHz Series 3 line of products are the firm’s most popular units, and has been a staple in theatres, theme parks and on concert tours. “My objective with RC4Magic, and all our Series 3 wireless dimmers, is power control for anything a props master or show electrician might need to manage. Along with LEDs, lamps, motors, and more, RC4 dimmers can drive electroluminescent materials, like EL wire. Ian and Lightwire have done a spectacular job of putting this functionality to use. Their award-winning work is beautiful and amazing to see. I love it,” says James David Smith, president and chief product designer at RC4 Wireless.
Lightwire shows travel the world, and take RC4 Wireless products along for the journeys. “All the units are being stored in non-climate-controlled environments, on things like ships going to China. If they’re sitting in the trailer and it’s freezing cold or it’s really hot

Germany - During Prolight + Sound 2019, ACME showcased a series of professional products, including Solar Impulse, Rissa, Thunder Struck, Spartan Hybrid, Energy Spot Pro, Aries and Oxygen.
Solar Impulse features beam/wash/spot/framing functions, a framing system, new heat pipe heat dissipation technology, high efficiency and noise reduction, 1000W LED light source, 35000 lumen output, zoom range from 5° to 50°, rotatable and replaceable animation wheel. The fixture is fairly quiet, producing no more than 45dB at 1m in standard mode.
(Jim Evans)

USA - Criss Angel’s Mindfreak at Planet Hollywood Resort Casino is a spectacle of sight and sound, featuring “mind-blowing illusions” in “the first immersive Las Vegas show”. As the creator, director and executive producer of the show, Angel spent years working on building a most technologically advanced show. For a production that’s running for at least five years, there can be no surprises when it comes to lighting - it has to be consistent.
That’s why lighting designer Josh Selander wanted to incorporate High End Systems’ line of LED automated luminaires and special effects into the more than 2,000 lights in the show. The rig contains 100 SolaHyBeam 1000s, 37 SolaHyBeam 2000s, and for special effects, 22 QUADs and 9 HEX, all supplied through Blue Planet Lighting in Las Vegas.
“Having an LED luminaire is important to help keep the show consistent and have the nightly production team worry less about the colour temperature, output or quality of light of a standard discharge lamp,” Selander says.
Says Angel, “Mindfreak undisputedly boasts the largest and most sophisticated lighting plot in theatre history and HES played an integral and competitive role - alongside the very best that lighting technology has to offer.”
“Having worked with Criss before, the LD understands how to light this all-new spectacle of 75 illusions and many special effects. To enhance that, Angel made it his goal for this production to be “the most immersive experience in Las Vegas – or the world, for that matter – with a ligh

USA - William Succoso readily admits that he has always been “a sucker for Austrian Drapes”. With their fine curvy lines spread evenly across the width of their fabric, these puffy curtains provide, he believes, an ideal surface for light’s intricate patterns to work their magic on. The Long Island-based designer got to showcase the evocative qualities of his favourite backdrop recently, when he lit the popular Americana band I’m With Her on their Winter Tour, which ended in Chicago in early March.
“I wanted something that would reflect the warm sound of these artists’ music, yet would also be vibrant, so the drapes seemed like a natural fit,” says Succoso, who became associated with I’m With Her as a result of designing for the Punch Brothers, who are managed by the same team.
Using the drapes as the backdrop for the group, Succoso accented them with realistic colours from four Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures. “I went with a pipe and drape design, rather than flat hanging the fabric, because I wanted to create enclosed space between the folds for the light to play in,” he says. “I also went with a silvery colour to better reflect the light. My Mavericks were evenly spaced behind the women in the trio to match the angle of the pipe and drape.
“The Mavericks were great as a profile light,” continues Succoso. “They gave me a lot of punch. I wasn’t running a huge amount of haze, so it was nice to have a fixture that showed the beam, even though I had just a small amount of atmosphere running. Mavericks al

USA - Christien Methot, principal lighting designer at Design One in New York City, turned to the scenic design qualities of Elation Professional’s Artiste Picasso colour and graphics moving head for a special snow globe promotion of the all-new 2019 Nissan Altima.
Design agency Fake Love worked with Stuart Weissman Productions to display the car in a 36ft geodesic dome dubbed the world’s largest snow globe. Taped around the holidays in lower Manhattan and open to the public, the online and social media campaign was also a photo opportunity for guests that drove people to Nissan’s Instagram page.
Methot, who worked closely with Stuart Weissman Productions on the project, explains that the brief was very theatrical and all about experiencing the car amidst a fun winter-wonderland complete with snow and changing scenes. “They wanted to create very specific environments with lighting, the way a theatrical lighting designer is asked to do,” he says. “The idea was to show off the all-wheel drive aspect of the new vehicle, so part of my task was to make it look like a crisp, sunny day one moment then a cloudy, rainy day the next, then a snowy day. I needed a light that had some punch but was very theatrical in its capabilities as far as the effects on board, and the Artiste Picasso fit the bill.”
In order to display the different types of clouds you would see in each of the weather events, Methot loaded the Artiste Picasso with custom cloud gobos. “Half the globe was white opaque and half was clear plastic, much as a snow globe would be,

Israel - Robe moving lights were present during the recent Israeli general elections, particularly during broadcasts from the country’s main news station, Channel 12, which built a special pop-up studio in front of Israel’s Parliament building, the Knesset, which was live for a week.
Lighting designer Ofer Jacobi was asked by Channel 12 to design a lighting scheme for the studio and Danor Theatre & Studio Systems was appointed as the rental supplier.
Ofer works regularly for Danor and is involved in many Channel 12 productions and Danor’s Erez Hadar is a lighting consultant for the Channel 12 news unit and owners Keshet Media, who turned to the company to deliver the most dynamic lighting solution for this special application.
The show’s creative team sent Ofer 3D plans of the studio together with a list of lighting requirements, and Ofer came back with a kit list that included 24 x Robe MegaPointes, 18 x LEDWash 1200s 12 x Spiider LED wash beams, eight LEDBeam 150s and six Pointes.
The MegaPointes were used at the rear of the studios to create spectacular beam effects along the front drive of the Knesset that looked very dramatic on camera.
The LEDWash 1200s bathed the Knesset building’s imposing monolithic fascia in nice, rich even light, illuminating it beautifully in what became the signature back-of-shot look for all of Channel 12’s reporting throughout the 2019 election.
The Spiiders were used to wash the outdoor area in front of the building, and the expanse of ground in between it and the pop-up studio, whil

Singapore - Professional entertainment solutions company Music & Lights has appointed Lighting & Sound Distribution as its exclusive distributor of Prolights, Tribe and dedicated architectural lighting brand ArchWork, for Singapore.
With over 18 years of proven track record, Lighting & Sound Distribution has earned a strong position in the show and entertainment market sector, providing quality European professional sound and lighting, architectural LEDs, trussing, media servers and special effects equipment in the Southeast Asia region.
Louis Teo of Lighting & Sound Distribution explains, “Our professional values and commitment towards product quality is what attracted us toward the Prolights, Tribe and ArchWork brands from Music & Lights. We want to ensure that we and our clients share a rewarding relationship and continued product satisfaction that lasts; and the core values at the heart of Music & Lights and each of its brands really convey and reiterate this message.”
(Jim Evans)

USA - Submissions are now open for the 2019 edition of the Knight of Illumination Awards USA (KOI-USA).
The event, which is the USA edition of the UK's respected Knight of Illumination Awards, first took place in 2018 to celebrate the talents and work of lighting and video designers across the sectors of Live for Broadcast, Theatre and Concert Touring & Events in the United States.
This year's competition features two new categories – Opera and Corporate Events – and the award ceremony and gala dinner is taking place in Las Vegas on 22 November (Friday) alongside the LDI trade show.

The categories are:
Theatre:
Plays - large venue
Plays - small venue
Opera
Musicals - large venue
Musicals - small venue
Live for Broadcast:
Awards Shows
Digital Content
Unscripted Series
Live Performance Special - Music
Live Performance Special - Non Music
Concert Touring & Events:
Club Tour Lighting
Concert Video Content
Stage Tour Lighting
Arena Tour Lighting
Festival/One-Off Lighting
Corporate Events
Corporate Events - Video Content

Deadline for submissions is 31 July. Productions must have been performed or broadcast between 1 August 2018 and 31 July 2019 to be eligible for inclusion – find out more about entering the competition here. 

UK - Hawthorn has announced the appointment of Alex Bingham who has joined the business as technical production director.
Before joining Hawthorn, Bingham held the position of production director at Vibration Group where he was most recently responsible for assisting with the growth and delivery of production at Printworks London.
With over 20 years’ experience in the industry, this isn’t the first time that Bingham has been a member of the Hawthorn team, having been employed as their head of London projects from 2005 to 2011.
Simon Wood, group director of projects at Hawthorn, says: “We’re delighted to welcome Alex back to the team. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the new position and I believe that he will be a great asset to Hawthorn. With his in-depth experience of the industry, Alex knows how to create truly memorable experiences for his clients and shares Hawthorn’s commitment to working collaboratively every step of the way to deliver amazing results.”
Bingham adds: “I’m thrilled to be re-joining the Hawthorn team at such an exciting time for the company, which has seen exceptional growth over recent years. Hawthorn is renowned for delivering award-winning technical production for a wide range of events and venues across the UK and Europe. I’m very much looking forward to working with the hugely talented team here to deliver incredible events.”
(Jim Evans)

Germany - Music & Lights’ stand design featured the company’s largest footprint to date and played host to over 400 luminaires in the popular Prolights arena along with the 20 new lighting products in the touring, studio and architectural markets also on display which were launched during the event.
The display area featured a new and innovative interactive touchscreen system allowing visitors to test fixtures at their own leisure, interact with the Music & Lights team and the dedicated global distributor network.
New fixtures on show during the show included Panoramaispot, a 420W IP-rated moving LED spot delivering stunning brightness levels, all in a compact housing; RA2000, a custom engineered moving profile/spot light with a proprietary LED engine for both touring and broadcast applications; PixiewashXB, which combines cutting-edge LED technology and traditional single lens styling.
Mosaicoxl is a long-range image projector, while PixiezoomMXB is a super bright IP rated single-source LED PAR.
The new luminaires from the Prolights, Tribe and ArchWork ranges were all available on show and connected to the touchscreen displays allowing users to integrate them into the demonstration. The demo show on the stand was visited by various international media outlets, renowned designers and worldwide customers, who conveyed their satisfaction with the stand and the fixtures to the team and allowed them an environment to share their own experiences.
(Jim Evans)

Germany - Claypaky launched Xtylos, the company’s first laser beam moving light.
The fixture’s laser source lasts 10,000 hours and uses laser technology with RGB additive colour mixing to ensure the coloured light beams are “as bright as a white light beam”. The beam aperture is less than 2° and it can be decreased further to 0.5°. The range of effects features two gobo wheels - with seven rotating gobos and 12 fixed gobos (including 7 beam diameter reducers) - a wheel with three prisms, and a 16 facet prism on a dedicated channel which can be overlapped with the prism wheel.
The Axcor Wash 600 received its world première at the trade show. It is a versatile, enhanced version of the Axcor Profile 600 with the same colour generation technology. In addition, it is fitted with a framing system with four blades and three focal planes. The unit is available with three interchangeable lenses, which may also be purchased separately: PC (standard), Fresnel or Clear.
The HY B-EYE is the latest innovation in the B-EYE range, with all the range's successful characteristic features, which have been improved and further enhanced. It is more powerful (it fits 40W RGBW LEDs), more efficient, more interactive with media servers (with Kling-Net protocol built-in), more versatile and quieter than ever.
The MINI-B is the smallest LED light ever made by Claypaky for the professional market. Although it weighs only 7kg (15.43 lb) and measures only 34cm (13.39 inches), the Mini-B incorporates all the most modern and innovative technological features. Th

India - ETC’s ColorSource Spot Pearls lit this year’s Lotus Make-Up India Fashion Week (LMIFW) in Delhi. The ColorSource Spots with Pearl LED array brought an impressive feature set, with bright tuneable white output and simple user interface to the catwalk. The fixtures lit signature autumn and winter fashion collections for 2019 at the event which was organised by the Fashion Design Council of India.
Delhi-based rental company Modern Stage Services managed the audio, video and lighting production during the four-day event. Managing director Davinder Wadhwa comments: “A reliable lighting system was crucial for the fashion gala. Twelve ETC ColorSource Spot Pearls were implemented for the first time at the LMIFW. The fixture is a variable white-light LED array which enables users to set the colour temperature anywhere between 2700K and 6500K. The ColorSource Spot Pearls brought a much-needed natural glow to the ramp.”
Renowned lighting designer Viraf Pocha, worked on the set for LMIFW autumn / winter 2019 and selected ETC’s ColorSource Spot Pearl to light the fashion show. “I prefer a more organic and subtle way of lighting. In a fashion show the light should enhance the fabric exhibited by the models on the ramp and ETC offers the right scope of lighting that compliments a fashion show”, explains Pocha. “I have been in the industry for over three decades and am well aware of ETC’s presence, globally. Everyone makes profile lights, but ETC just makes it better.”
Hi-Tech Audio Systems is the distributor in India of ETC’s US-manuf

UK - North Yorkshire-based lighting rental company R&M Productions has acquired a large stock of Martin by Harman’s MAC Viper Profiles.
Peter Shorten of R&M Productions says: “The MAC Viper Profile is regarded by many as the industry standard in large format spots. We’ve been supplying them to meet riders for the last couple of years and have had client demand for them, so it seemed like the natural progression to make them our next major investment.”
The Vipers were purchased through production equipment sales company A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET), who delivered them in a matter of days to get them straight onto a run of R&M shows. R&M Productions has a long-standing working relationship with AC-ET.
Shorten says of Ben Steppenbeck, northern sales lighting manager for AC-ET: “Ben's a great asset to A.C., we’ve worked with AC-ET for a long time as they've got a proven track record of good service.”
Robbie Baxter of R&M Productions says: “They’ve got a range of gobos and an impressive zoom, as well as exceptional light output and optics. We’ll be using the Vipers on a range of projects over the summer and into autumn, including outdoor events, festivals and tours. They’re the go-to choice for most of the touring LDs we work with.”
(Jim Evans)

Europe - The Cambridge University European Theatre Group toured Shakespeare’s Othello recently and used effects from Elation SixBar 1000 LED battens to enhance the drama. Featuring live jazz, this new take on the famed tragedy, which was set within the world of sixties jazz clubs, played venues in France, Switzerland, Belgium and the UK, before holding an ending run at the ADC Theatre in Cambridge from 15 - 19 January 2019.
The Cambridge University European Theatre Group is a self-sufficient theatrical company that tours a Shakespeare play around Europe every December and has been doing so since 1957. The tour is entirely student run, from organising logistics to the technical elements of setting up lighting and sound in each venue. Tour manager Lily Burge oversaw all logistical elements of the latest tour, while production manager Matthew Latham oversaw the technical elements of the show.
The run posed an opportunity to showcase Elation's multi-purpose SixBar LED battens in a wide range of venues. As it is students that make up the entirety of the company, Matthew Latham says the strong team of crew members were immensely hands on with the fixtures, from designing the rig to setting them up in each venue. Led by production manager Latham and chief electrician Dylan Phelps, the on-tour technicians were able to handle the fixtures throughout the two-week-long tour and provided a chance for the entire company to learn more about how dynamic lights are used.
Eight SixBar 1000s played a key role in Emily Senior’s lighting design, four of w

Germany - Artistic Licence is enjoying “unprecedented interest” in its newly launched trailing edge mains dimmer, sunDial quad. At the recent Prolight + Sound show in Frankfurt, visitors were impressed by the performance achieved with dimmable LED replacement bulbs, which were dimmed to near-zero with no perceptible flicker.
LED replacement bulbs were developed as easy drop-in replacements for older incandescent technology, which is now illegal in many countries. While dimmable versions of LED replacement bulbs are available, the performance with conventional thyristor dimmers is usually poor and highly bulb-dependent. As such, the development of a robust, high-performance trailing edge dimmer at an affordable price has been eagerly awaited.
Product designer Wayne Howell comments: "Artistic Licence is known for its abiliity as a technical problem-solver, and without that expertise we could never have brought sunDial to market. We are delighted with the product, and the tremendous feedback received at the show indicates potential customers feel the same way. sunDial is an obvious choice for theatre and cinema house lights, or bars and restaurants - the applications are extremely widespread, and with so little credible competition we really feel we have nailed it with this product.”
sunDial quad offers a professional DMX512/RDM controlled solution, with four channels each providing 250W (or up to 500W per pair) - more than ample for LED, but also suitable for crossover markets that might have legacy incandescent technology.
The product w

Germany - Record numbers visited the Ayrton stand to see the new products and witness the new lightshow populated by Ayrton’s latest fixtures.
This year’s releases, the Levante and Diablo wash and profile fixtures, were in action for the first time alongside Khamsin, Bora, Ghibli, Mistral, Merak and NandoBeam, all of which illustrated the versatility, power and feature set of Ayrton’s expanding new Wash, Spot and Profile ranges.
Ramping up the excitement, Perseo-S and Huracán-X made debut appearances at the show. Perseo-S is Ayrton’s first compact multi-function IP65 rated fixture developed for intensive outdoor use - think ‘Ghibli’ but weather-proof, and with a 27,000 lumen output from just a 500W source - and weighing in at less than 40kg. Huracán-X also created a storm as the 1000W big sister of Khamsin, in a similarly compact housing but with a 50,000 lumen output, making it ideal for touring and large-scale venues.
Levante is a miniaturised version of the Bora wash light with an ultra-compact form factor that matches that of Diablo. Weighing just over 20kg, it produces a light output greater than 20,000 lumens and can sculpture light using a high-transmission diffusion filter that erases the edge of the beam without changing its angle and a variable linear frost system that allows the user to adjust the desired diffusion level with precision.
Weighing just over 20kg, Ayrton’s ultra-compact Diablo delivers a record output of 19,000 lumens from its 300W source. Versatile and feature-rich, Diablo matches Mistral’s dimensio

Germany - Portman Lights, the Polish manufacturer of decorative stage lighting, has just released its newest product at Prolight+Sound 2019.
The P1 mini LED is suitable for TV and live events. The fixture exhibits a tungsten look and retro style to match Portman Lights’ existing product line, but is a fully LED product. Arranged in the same configuration and housing as the original P1 Retro Lamp, P1 mini LED combines two layers of light sources: a 1800K linear filament and an RGBW glow that adds colour and enhances the creative possibilities of the new fixture.
“We are very excited to bring our new P1 mini to the market at Prolight+Sound,” says Portman Lights’ business development manager, Dominik Zimakowski. “This is a ground-breaking product for us because, for the first time, we have produced a full LED stage lighting fixture whilst retaining the truly vintage, halogen look. P1 mini LED provides that unique Portman Lights look that is so in demand for television and live performance, yet answers the growing demand for LED light sources.”
P1 mini LED is also a suitable product for permanent installations because its total power consumption is less than 100W per unit, and it is designed to run off 110V-230V power.
The new fixture met with interest among Portman Lights’ distributors and new customers at the show. “We anticipated P1 mini LED would generate a lot of interest, but were very happy to see our expectations were exceeded by the amount of enquiries we received,” says Portman Lights lighting designer, Łukasz Sztejn