UK - Plans for a National Skills Academy for the creative and cultural industries have been boosted with the addition of more influential supporters. PLASA - the Professional Lighting and Sound Association - is the latest organisation to join the unprecedented alliance of employers and industry bodies backing the project.
The Academy is designed to address shortages in offstage and technical skills for live music and the performing arts. Detailed plans being prepared by Creative & Cultural Skills, the employer-led Sector Skills Council, will be submitted to the government in April 2007.
"PLASA's support is hugely significant," says Tom Bewick, chief executive of Creative and Cultural Skills. "Its wide membership of leading specialists in professional audio, lighting, staging, rigging, communications and related disciplines fully understands what skills are needed in the real world. That input is going to be crucial in making sure the National Skills Academy delivers industry-specified training to the very highest international standards."
PLASA will also lead a drive to raise capital and in-kind support from its members for development of the National Skills Academy. £3 million of the estimated £10 million start-up costs have to be raised by industry with the balance provided by the government on final approval of the project plans.
Matthew Griffiths, chief executive of PLASA, says: "The appeal of the National Skills Academy is that it gives employers control of the training. What skills are taught, how and where. This ali
UAE - Located at the lobby level of Dubai's Al Murooj Rotana Hotel, C Bar is a sibling of the popular Crystal restaurant and certainly lives up to the latter's chic and contemporary reputation.
C Bar is an L-shaped venue with a relaxed yet elegant feel, where curves predominate, from its entrance - right the way through to its furniture. Also installed is a Turbosound loudspeaker system that comprises eight TXD-121s, four TXD-215s, four Impact 80s and a TXD-118 subwoofer all controlled by an LMS-D24 Loudspeaker Management System, installed by Louay Agha's Lebanon-based installation company, Thunder Electronics.
"The entrance to the bar is on the small side of the 'L'," explains Louay. "This is where we have installed the Impact 80s [compact passive 2-way loudspeakers with 8" LF drivers] with TXD-118 subs, as this area has a more subtle type of music. In the long part of the 'L', where the DJ and bar area are, we have installed the eight TXD-121 and the TXD-215 sub."
Louay's decision to opt for the TXD-121 was prompted by his desire to ensure that he provided sufficient power in a unit that includes a two-stage high frequency protection system to prevent any untoward over-driving. "I went for these to be on the safe side," he smiles. "And I love the sound of the TXD-215 double 15", so that's why I chose those.
"For background I always use products from the Impact line and I add the TXD-118 for fill. Using Turbosound's LMS-D24 makes the system sound better and also offers added protection to the speakers."<
USA - In one of the most anticipated tours of 2006, Barbara Streisand, hit North American venues last autumn in her first U.S. tour since 1994 and the first live events since her farewell concerts in 1999. Sharing the stage with the iconic singer was operatic pop group Il Divo.
Billed as an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues, the show was heavy on standard classics. Streisand left it up to lighting designer Peter Morse to "create the moods with light. I've been with Barbra for quite some time - she trusts me and lets me do my thing," he says.
Streisand played in the round with very limited scenery. The stage was an open platform with long, tiered, lit runways surrounding a full symphony orchestra. "The stage design was basically a square with a pit in the middle," Morse explains. "I used a series of square trusses above and dropped them down in increments like a large chandelier. It was a good look. I placed MAC 2000 Profiles and Washes all the way around the trusses. I was a bit worried that the lighting was too concentrated in one area but it worked."
Morse also placed MAC 700 Profiles and Washes on the floor upstage. "With the MAC 2000s at a trim of 40 feet and Barbra on stage with nothing in between - no video, nothing upstage centre - I needed to fill the space so I used the MAC 700s as floor lights." Lighting control was via a Martin Maxxyz console with lighting programming by Joel Young. Lighting supply was by Upstaging.
Streisand is the music industry's number one best-selling female artist
USA - Total Structures, Inc., a manufacturer of industry standard truss, custom set and structures and a Columbus McKinnon hoist distributor has announced a new initiative to benefit The ESTA Foundation's Behind the Scenes Programme. Total Structures will donate $10 to Behind the Scenes for every Lodestar and Prostar Columbus McKinnon hoist they sell.
Adrian Forbes-Black, vice president operations, made the announcement to Lori Rubinstein and Bill Sapsis, members of the Behind the Scenes Committee, during the recent LDI exhibition.
"Behind the Scenes is a wonderful programme and we wanted to find a way to help," said Forbes-Black. "There are a number of people and organisations that have put together programmes to benefit Behind the Scenes, and this idea seemed to be a good way for us to do our part." Forbes-Black also noted that "this initiative is for all models of CM Lodestar and Prostar hoists. There is no time limit on the offer, nor is there a minimum order requirement."
Total have also announced that to help boost this years donation they will be offering a special offer on all standard Lodestar and Prostar hoists. The special offer will run through to the end of February and interested parties should contact Total Structures for details on the special pricing being offered.
Behind the Scenes is an initiative of The ESTA Foundation to provide industry members with financial support when they are seriously ill or injured. For more information about Behind the Scenes, to donate, or to apply for a grant, visit the website add
Hong Kong - Being one of Europe's oldest university towns, Bologna is synonymous with Italy's largest motor show which is hosted annually. In December 2006, the event was once again the showcase chosen by many motor manufacturers to launch their new models. There was widespread use of AV technology at the show, and several key exhibitors including Mercedes, Audi, and Subaru, chose Lighthouse LED screens at their booths.
"Motor shows are a particularly innovative arena with the major manufacturers continually raising the bar for the design of their stands," says Roberto Segato, Lighthouse sales director. "Lighthouse LED screens have become an important part of this for many high profile car manufacturers and it's good to see this trend continued at Bologna."
Three Italian rental companies used Lighthouse LED screens on several key exhibitor's stands to let visitors see their new models being put through their paces and to keep them updated on events being staged in real time.
Mario Prataviera, owner of Eurovideo of Casarsa della Delizia says: "A Lighthouse R6 screen with dimensions 1.92m x 2.40 m set above the Audi R8 4.2 FSI made the Audi stand one of the key attractions in the exhibition centre. We also installed a 20mm Lighthouse screen with dimensions of 3.84m x 2.88m outdoors for Italvideo Service for Editoriale Domus, publisher of leading Italian car magazine, Quattroruote."
Other Lighthouse screens were supplied by Video Rental Srl of Udine, Italy, whose technical manager Valerio Piccinin says: "There were two R6 displ
France - L-Acoustics have announced that Stéphane Ecalle has been promoted to director of marketing. Previously in charge of Sales for Northern and Eastern Europe at L-Acoustics, Ecalle boasts more than a decade of international experience in Pro Audio.
Previously affiliated with Yamaha Music France and BSS Audio USA, Ecalle says: "Having worked in sales with L-Acoustics for several years, it is with the utmost pleasure that I have accepted this position as marketing director of one of the most prestigious speaker manufacturers in the industry."
Christian Heil, CEO of L-Acoustics adds: "Stéphane has been a tremendous asset for the company since he joined the L-Acoustics team. His previous exposure to marketing and his knowledge of L-Acoustics markets will bring him on his new assignment with an ideal blend of skills, experience and talents to be successful on bringing L-Acoustics global marketing to the next level."
(Chris Henry)
UAE - Dubai-based production company HQ Creative, working closely with Done Events, delivered the opening ceremony of the 18th Gulf Cup in Abu Dhabi's Zayed Sports City Stadium. The show, conceived by HQ's creative director Katie Veira, was a 37-minute mixed media spectacular, and the largest opening event to date for a football tournament.
The performance featured 1200 live performers, 55 horses and an international production team of over 400, working with around 1700 local crew over the build period. The show was enjoyed live by 55,000 excited spectators and a TV audience of 50 million who tuned in to Dubai Sports.
The building of the complex technical infrastructure was co-ordinated by production director Jo Marshall, working with his key HQ team including project manager Jo MacKay, production co-ordinators Ian Greenway, Candice Dalziel, Nadine Manning and site manager Nigel Beaton. They had just 43 days from receiving the green light from The Committee to producing a world-class ceremony show. The show contained several technical world firsts including the first seamless, fully spherical HD projections and the highest built version to date of ESS's renowned tower system.
HQ enlisted the services of Sydney-based veteran ceremonies producer Andrew Walsh as artistic consultant. Walsh's previous experience includes executive producing the Athens Olympics opening and closing ceremonies in 2004. A creative workshop followed between Veira, Marshall and Walsh, together with PIGI projection designer Peter Milne and technical director Nick Eltis who were both brough
UK - As the sole UK dealer for Zaxcom RF Products in the UK, audio specialist Orbital is putting its Zaxcom products forward as a potential counter to the threat posed to the entertainment industry's use of RF spectrum by Ofcom's planned auctioning of the channels currently used under license.
"This presents two immediate problems," say Orbital, "the first being that under the current proposals there will be far fewer frequencies left for the theatre industry to operate in and the second being that there may be many new high power carriers like Mobile TV used in the frequencies that are to be auctioned off, that have the potential to create considerable interference spilling into previously available frequency bands such as Channel 69."
Recognising the serious implications of these proposals, Orbital is keen to provide a solution to what could otherwise threaten London's West End and touring musical theatre industry.
Embracing the potential of Zaxcom - a "revolutionary" digital radio mic system designed and manufactured in New Jersey, USA - Orbital says it has successfully illustrated the capacity of this powerful system on theatre shows including Sunday In The Park With George at The Wyndams Theatre, Cabaret at The Lyric, Little Shop of Horrors at The Duke of Yorks, and The Producers now on its first national tour.
The success of Zaxcom's TRX 900 system in these theatre environments and its ability to counter the threat from Ofcom, say Orbital, is down to its "unique technology that can 'cluster'
USA - WI- Intelix LLC, U.S. manufacturer of audio/video equipment and software, recently announced the release of the DIGI-VGA-F, which distributes VGA video and professional-level 20 Hz to 20 kHz audio up to 850 feet over standard structured cabling such Cat 5 or Cat 6.
"The DIGI-VGA-F is our latest audio/video over Cat 5 extension solution, and the second in our new DigiCat series of audio/video extension products," states Cameron Smith, Intelix sales and marketing manager. "Our goal was to combine Intelix's industry-leading audio and video extension technology with high-quality distribution amplification circuits. The result is an extremely high-quality VGA and audio balun set with very unique features."
Built-in distribution amplifiers provide the DIGI-VGA-F send balun with a local audio/video output and the receive balun dual amplified audio/video outputs. The second channel on the receive balun may be used for linking in applications requiring daisy-chaining or distributing the signal to two destinations in close proximity.
In addition, the receive balun provides brightness, contrast, and overall picture quality adjustment for skew-free performance over standard Cat 5 cabling.
Sold as a complete kit, the DIGI-VGA-F includes a send balun, a receive balun, two power supplies, and a USB power cable. The kit is powered on both the send and receive end with either two 12 VDC power supplies or optional USB power on the send unit.
The Intelix DIGI-VGA-F is shipping 1 February.
(Chris Henry)
USA - Bandit Lites added a substantial amount of new equipment to their inventory as 2006 drew to a close. After examining the upcoming needs for 2007, Bandit worked withvarious manufacturers and purchased several million dollars worth of inventory.
New equipment includes: Vari*Lite VL 3000s, Martin MAC 2000s, Coemar Infinitys, CoemarHalos, Grand MA Consoles, PixelRange PixelLines, DF- 50s, Compulite Vector Consolesand a large quantity of related support equipment.
The recent additions were initially intended to fulfill needs well into 2007 but due to theglobal workload, Bandit has already used the majority of the recently purchasedinventory. As a result, Bandit has begun purchasing additional equipment to fulfill all ofits current and potential lighting obligations.
With nominations for Lighting Company of the Year from Pollstar and Total Production,the future is bright as Bandit forges into 2007. The staff is looking forward to theupcoming year and the addition of new equipment.
(Chris Henry)
UK - Located on the south side of the River Thames, close to Lambeth Palace, London's brand new Riverbank Park Plaza Hotel offers 400 deluxe guest rooms, including executive studios and serviced suites, with sweeping views of the River Thames and city skyline.
Created by RHWL Architects, the hotel also offers unsurpassed conference and events facilities. These include an entire floor of the hotel that features a groundbreaking arrangement of moving partitions, allowing the floor to be used as a single, large space or configured as up to ten individual rooms.
TGM Solutions specified and installed the audio system. The company's Ian Kersen says: "The partitions can be arranged in many different configurations, allowing the conference space and A/V facilities to be re-organised according to client-specific requirements," says Kersen. "Being a brand new, four star hotel, the facilities naturally had to be at the cutting edge, including audio provision.
"However, the flexibility offered by the moving partitions provided a major audio challenge. We had to ensure that whatever arrangement of rooms was configured with the partitions - from one up to ten - that each space had a discrete audio system which would not impact on any of the other areas. But the system also had to be flexible enough to be tailored very quickly and easily by hotel staff to different room arrangements."
TGM Solutions answer was to utilise an input/output panel in each of the 10 rooms, with a Yamaha DME64n Digital Mixing Engine electronically switching a matrix of inpu
UK - XL Video UK supplied full video production and crew to Blink TV for Kylie's visually stunning Showgirl Homecoming tour. The live IMAG mix was cut by Ruary MacPhie and the tour's video elements were co-ordinated by crew chief Stuart Heaney. It continued XL's long standing relationship with the artist.
Added for this final section of the tour were four extra Barco ILite 10 high resolution screens, all flown on a Kinesys automation system supplied by Neg earth, coming in and out at various points throughout the show. The new screens were each constructed from 6 x 6 panels of ILite, measuring approximately 2.7sq.m, They joined a centre portrait format hi-res screen that was on the previous tour, made from 6 x 10 modules of I-10.
XL also supplied an upstage SoftLED LED curtain measuring 100ft wide by 33 high (it was the first UK tour for this product back in 2005 when Showgirl commenced), specified by lighting designer Vince Foster as a "scene-changing backdrop". The content displayed on this ranged from cityscapes to abstract patterns. Additionally it gave Foster latitude to use it as a colour wash effect and to add real movement and depth to the stage.
An essential part of Showgirl's visuality was achieved with an innovative fusion of different LED technologies - including low-res Barco MiPix panels that clad the front of the set fascia and the SoftLED drape. The MiPix effectively giving a second low-res surface downstage of the SoftLED.
Foster collaborated closely on the look of the show with artistic director Will Baker and
USA - Chris Parry, who had a distinguished career as a lighting designer in both the UK and US, died unexpectedly on January 16. He was 56. Born in Manchester, England, he grew in the town of Welsh Pool and began his career as a telephone engineer. His work in amateur theatricals led to a strong interest in lighting; he joined Royal Shakespeare Company as an electrician. He remained with RSC for 13 years, becoming assistant head of lighting, then a designer.
An early success with Royal Shakespeare was Christopher Hampton's adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which earned him his first Tony nomination (in association with Beverly Emmons). The production established him as a major designer at the RSC, and was followed by such productions as The Plantagenets, which combined Shakespeare's three Henry VI plays and parts of Richard III, The Blue Angel, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, which also transferred to Broadway, where he earned another Tony nomination. The rest of his Broadway career included The Who's Tommy, for which he won the Tony, and Not About Nightingales, a National Theatre production for which he received another Tony nomination. His last Broadway production was the drama Brooklyn Boy, which ran at Manhattan Theatre Club in February and March 2005. Off-Broadway, he lit the two-part show Talking Heads by Alan Bennett, in 2003.
He also won a Drama Desk Award for The Who's Tommy and was nominated for A Midsummer Night's Dream and Not About Nightingales. He also re
UK - blackbox-av has announced the formation of a new in-house creative agency called Clocked In, at their Port Talbot HQ. The company specialises in providing AV equipment and bespoke interactive installations to the museums, heritage and attractions industries across the UK and overseas.
The dynamic new agency is a natural extension of the organisation's core interactive business. The creation of Clocked In has brought together a highly skilled group of creative professionals, dedicated to the principals of superior design and stunning interactive systems.
The Clocked In team is keen to act as creative consultants from the start of a project, advising clients right through the design process from day one, developing a client's brief into a fully integrated brand image. The company says Clocked In's new clients will have easy, one -stop access to a wide range of creative design services.
In terms of particular skills the team have specialist knowledge of location, green screen and studio film production. Clocked In is able to script, direct and produce anything from a simple "talking head" film to a full-scale documentary. Equally the team are fully experienced at flash animation production, multimedia tool creation, interactive games programming, website creation and literature design. They also have their own audio recording and editing suite for voiceovers, interactive production and audio content re-mastering.
The team's leader Craig Spencely is very pleased at the new team launch: "I am extremely proud at being the lead creative of the ne
UK - Adlib Lighting held a week of WholeHog training seminars at their premises in Liverpool, which proved a great success, attracting people from a wide cross section of the industry.
The two 2-day courses - which were completely free and aimed at all levels expertise - included WholeHog users, programmers and operators, and were designed to be hands-on, covering High End's popular WholeHog control range, specifically the WholeHog 3 and the Hog iPC.
The courses were deliberately restricted to six people each to ensure that everyone received enough individual attention and sufficient time on the consoles. "We also used it as an opportunity to discuss people's constantly evolving operating and programming needs and expectations," says Pete Abraham, Adlib's head of lighting. High End Systems' Frank Schotman and Adlib's in house lighting designer Ian Tomlinson were on hand to demonstrate the kit and answer queries.
Attendees included a wide cross section of industry professionals. Lighting designers Stevie Marr (Maximo Park) and Richard Wolfgang (Cradle of Filth) were there, and individuals travelled from as far a-field as France and Spain to be on Merseyside.
Rental companies were represented by programmers from HSL and locally based conference company, Mulberry Grove. There were also venue technical managers and students from performing arts institutions like LIPA.
Both courses were over-subscribed. Abraham comments: "There's been so much interest that we're intending to run these events regularly. We'd like it to become a must-attend occasion
UK - Lighting designers and programmers can now realise their vision with greater accuracy than ever before, thanks to PRG Europe's investment in ESP Vision software.
The software was added to PRG Europe's pre-production portfolio following a request from Marc Brickman, who is working with programmer Mark "Sparky" Risk on the lighting for Roger Waters' worldwide tour. Brickman and Risk are also using ESP with Mark Cunniffe for Il Divo's current tour.
"Marc and I asked for ESP as we've used it on previous tours and love it," explains Sparky, who is lighting director for Roger Waters and programmer together with Mark Cunniffe for Il Divo. "Marc's based in LA, and using a standard broadband internet connection on his Mac PowerBook, he can see exactly what I'm seeing on screen. It means we don't have to take a long flight to meet one another, and nor do we have to hire a rehearsal space and production crew just to programme the lights. In the case of Roger Waters, that's 30 or 40 people we don't need to bring in before the show to help with the lighting and rigging. I can talk to Marc using Skype and we can discuss what I've been doing."
Brickman is delighted with the fact that he can check how his programmer is getting on from the US, he says: "I don't have to leave home at all!"
Sparky programmed at PRG Europe's office, using a Virtuoso desk connected to ESP, which showed with remarkable accuracy what the lighting was doing. For example, unlike with other software, ESP will show the movement of the head of a lamp even if
UK - Sweeny's, a new bar and restaurant in Royal Leamington Spa, has just opened with a complete Community system designed and installed by Leamington-based sound and lighting specialists, PSL Distribution. The owner of the venue, Tony Sweeny, has had a long association with Leamington Spa and the Sweeny name brings with it an enviable reputation for excellent food; a reputation that this new venue intends to continue.
Décor in the venue is smart and stylish, so the sound system was required to complement the aesthetics as well as provide the highest quality audio to meet the expectations of its clientele. Peter Smith, proprietor of PSL explains: "The system also had to be dual purpose, providing a high power, DJ-driven system for weekend use in the bar and a more subtle quality ambience for the restaurant. We have recently started using Community loudspeakers on such projects as the clean, detailed sound and well controlled dispersion works exceptionally well in low-ceiling venues."
He continues: "We used a combination of Community I/O5 and I/O8 throughout, reinforced by the powerful MVP18 subs for the bar. The smooth design of the I/O loudspeakers in white met the aesthetic requirements and they sound excellent. A Cloud 263 gives the flexibility of fine tuning and balancing the zones and the staff have an RSL6 level attenuator for quick and simple volume control."
For the DJ position, PSL supplied: a Numark CM200 mixer; twin Technics SL-1210 turntables with Ortofon cartridges; a Numark CDN35 CD player; and a Denon 5-play CD player.<
USA - The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in Louisville is one of the most impressive facilities of its kind in the United States. In keeping with its reputation for world-class entertainment, education and arts programs, the centre features no less than five Midas mixing consoles (Venice 320, XL200, Heritage 1000, Heritage 2000, Heritage 3000), and recently added a rack of four Klark Teknik DN1248 Plus active analogue microphone splitters to its equipment list. An additional rack with a single DN1248 Plus is also on hand. Head audio engineer at the centre is Ted Subotky; David Doukas is Audio Department manager.
"We handle everything from presidential conventions to rock concerts to lectures, along with a handful of annual television broadcasts," says Doukas, "so we need a mic splitter to deliver reliability, high sound quality and flexibility. And, being a Midas house, we've set ourselves a high sonic benchmark, so the Klark Teknik DN1248 Plus splitters were the obvious choice: as well as having Midas Heritage-derived preamps they are also the FM version, which have balanced transformers on every output. No other product could offer the sonic clarity we're used to here."
Doukas and Subotky assembled four DN1248 Plus splitters in a custom rack with high-end multi-connectors. The rack is wired with all four sets of 48 outputs interconnected, ready for splitting into any number of FOH, monitor, recording and multi-purpose mic configurations. Also included is a high quality rack-mounted powered monitor, configured to PFL any of the 48 sp
UK - Over 70 i-Pix Satellite LED fixtures are installed into the set at the National Lottery Draw studios at Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, for the BBC's twice-weekly event. They were specified by lighting designer Tom Kinane.
The Lottery represents Kinane's first use of Satellites - the installation has been active since July, shortly after the fixture was first launched by the new company i-Pix. They'd been recommended by several colleagues including moving light programmer and operator Svend Pedersen, who is also an LD and worked closely with Kinane to set up the Lottery show.
The Lottery set is designed by Simon Kemble, and Kinane needed to light this very evenly with a colour changing wash fixture. Satellites were chosen for several reasons, a major one being their robust build quality and low maintenance requirements. This was an essential consideration with the installation in residence for three years. Pedersen says that had they been using a conventional lighting rig to do the job, a routine maintenance visit would have been necessary every two weeks to replace all the gels. The low maintenance factor that comes with using Satellites has made massive labour savings across the whole project.
Being small, units could be neatly tucked into all sorts of corners around the set, and easily hidden from being in camera shot. Low power consumption was another huge advantage. That all 70 of them can run off a single 13 Amp supply was a real bonus at Chalfont, as power in the small studio is extremely limited. The cost-effectiveness was also right "on t
UK - Leading UK entertainment lighting supplier White Light was recently called upon to design, supply, install and run the lighting, sound and video equipment for the UK launch of SuperJANET5, the latest version of the Joint Academic Network - the network backbone which connects the UK's universities to each other and to the Internet.
The launch event - a dinner with presentations - took place in the Energy Hall and the Making of the Modern World Gallery at the Science Museum in London, one of the London venues for which White Light is an approved supplier. The Science Museum was open to the public on the day of the event, and no equipment could be visible until the public had departed for the day - just an hour before the guests started arriving for the event itself, which did complicate proceedings.
White Light's project manager Steve Richardson, worked with the Science Museum to squeeze as much extra time into the schedule as possible, and then ensured enough staff were on hand to allow everything to happen in the time available. "With this event, we called a team of fourteen for 6am to allow us to unpack two trucks and to pre-rig as much as we could before the museum opened. The Science Museum was very helpful in allowing us to use an unused gallery for storage; we built the set and projection screens then moved them intact into the storage area."
For the evening session, Richardson called a crew of thirty-two to re-instate the set and complete the installation of the lighting, sound and video rigs. Installing a lighting rig designed by event li
USA - Color Kinetics Inc and Lamina Ceramics Inc have announced the signing of a global licensing agreement. Lamina, a manufacturer of LED light engines, will have access to Color Kinetics' complete patent portfolio to continue the development and sale of its products worldwide.
Lamina offers multiple lines of LED light engine and driver OEM components directly to third-party manufacturers and through a network of distributors. Its components power the LED lighting fixtures of more than 100 companies. Through the agreement, Lamina can offer its customers a licensed solution that provides the valuable features made possible by digital intelligence, such as additive colour mixing through DMX control, among other innovations covered by Color Kinetics' patent portfolio. Lamina customers who develop fixtures based on the Color Kinetics-licensed components will be covered under Lamina's license as well.
"Lamina has established itself as the primary source for unsurpassed light intensity, with the ability to provide over 1,000 lumens from a single LED light engine," said Frank Shinneman, President and CEO of Lamina Ceramics. "This agreement allows us to take our capabilities to a new level by adding, for the first time, digital colour control to general illumination."
"We're very pleased to assist Lamina in its efforts to help drive the use of LED technology, which continues to advance faster than any other form of lighting today," said Bill Sims, President and CEO, Color Kinetics. "The accelerating growth of our Licensing business i
UK - In partnership with Philips, the inventor and global market leader on UHP projection lamp technology, Just Lamps is launching the Diamond Lamps series. The two new offerings under the Diamond Lamps banner have been developed to address lamp supply issues arising from a number of projector manufacturers either leaving the market or rationalising spares holdings, and to provide an ethical alternative to copy lamps.
Diamond Lamps are newly manufactured lamp modules designed to fit a range of historic Philips projector models, each utilising a Philips UHP lamp identical to that originally supplied in the projector. Diamond Re-Lamps are lamp modules created by removing the lamps from existing lamp modules, professionally refurbishing the housings and then re-fitting them with Philips UHP lamps identical to the originals.
Each lamp is a vital electrical component of a projector's design, essential to achieving optimum image quality. Each Diamond lamp uses a Philips UHP lamp, identical to the original ensuring that the projector brightness, colour, reliability and lamp-life continue to be optimised after lamp replacement, whilst avoiding any of the potential health and safety issues associated with using lower performance (often illegal) copy or branded lamps.
"We are very excited about this development in the lamp channel," said Dave Bethell, MD of Just Lamps. "With the growing promotion of copy lamps in the market it is good to be able to offer an ethical, competitive alternative that won't harm projector performance, manufacturer's brand name or
UK - The Sound Division Group has carried out a unique installation in London's Leicester Square, personalising 14 karaoke rooms (and three dining rooms) divided across three floors in the new K-Box. Each of K-Box's bookable rooms has its own local lighting control and operates independently.
While the karaoke equipment, including the 42" Samsung plasma screens, was supplied direct from KoD (Karaoke on Demand) in Hong Kong, The Sound Division Group were tasked with providing a custom-coloured LED solution in each room. They consulted with Ian Kirby's Lighting Effects Distribution to see how the company's X-Chip PCB-based RGB colour change LED could be rebated into the ceiling periphery of each room.
Each room has the ability to create individual mood settings using colour and music. For example for Hen parties a palate of reds is predominantly used, whilst for corporate evenings warm pastel colours are the order of the day. According to general manager Simon Tang, the takeover and conversion of the former Rococo Nightclub and Voodoo Lounge forms a natural extension to their Chinese restaurant Imperial China (which has eight private rooms). It was here that they staged the after show party for the premier of The House of Flying Daggers at the London Film Festival. The Sound Division Group were contracted to provide appropriate lighting to blend with the event's forest theme, as a result of which they were introduced to K-Box's installation project team, which included Gillian McArthur from McArthur Tring Architects.
"Because of karaoke's popular
UK - This year's A.C. Lighting North Tradeshow is moving to a new purpose-built exhibition hall with 50% more space to facilitate an expanded exhibitor line-up and rising attendance levels, the company reports. The event takes place on 1-2 May in the new Saviles Hall at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, which is adjacent to the original location and now the city's largest exhibition venue.
As well as accommodating the show's expansion plans, the improved facilities also enable the organisers to provide the main exhibition, complementary theatre seminars programme and buffet lunch with a bar and dining area, all within the same hall.
Full show details will be confirmed in the coming months, but visitors can expect the same popular format, "including exclusive 1st UK showings of new products, the latest innovations from over 70 leading brands, one to one demonstrations and technical advice, and some exclusive 'show-only' exhibitor deals", say A.C.
Exhibitors will include an even wider range of theatre, concert, film and TV lighting, audio andassociated equipment suppliers from A.C. Lighting's large stockholding of leading entertainment technology brands, and representation from many of the key industry associations and publications.
Jonathan Walters, A.C. Lighting's Northern sales director, commented: "We are really excited about moving to this brand new venue, as it provides us with even better facilities for demonstrating the latest entertainment technologies and the opportunity to invite even more exhibitors. I'm confident that this year's