You couldn’t have written this Cinderella story with a happier ending. After being dropped by Columbia Records, pop rock band OneRepublic, formed in 2003, watched their Internet presence grow exponentially, attracting the attention and winning the support of producer Timbaland, who signed them to his Mosley Music Group and remixed their song “Apologize,” turning it into an international hit.
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Switchfoot’s ninth studio album, Fading West, shares its title with a documentary film that combines behind-the-scenes band member footage with their surfing exploits in exotic locales. Although brothers Jon and Tim Foreman along with drummer Chad Butler have been performing as Switchfoot since their first album release in 1997 (Jerome Fontamillas and Drew Shirley officially became band members in 2003 and 2005, respectively), Switchfoot has deftly switched between different musical genres and eluded the Christian Rock pigeon-hole.
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The LED-versus-projection video debate seems long resolved — in terms of luminous firepower, LED clearly won that smack down. Yet that discussion still continues to those extremely budget minded … like a house of worship.
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Catapulted? Ignited? Skyrocketed? Erupted? What is the best word to describe a company that, in a scant ten years, went from a two-car garage to a three-car garage to a 5,000-square-foot warehouse to a 12,000-square-foot facility and is now occupies 27,000 square feet with more than 25 employees? Begun in May 2004 by Sara B. Knutson and Ryan Knutson, Brown Note Productions of Thornton, Colorado, is a supermarket of services, support and sales for live event audio, video and lighting. Like most successes, the enterprise began with a simple idea.
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When lighting programmers are tasked to program a media server on a corporate event using a lighting console, they may think, “Oh, that will be easy. I’ll just have to play a few videos for the CEO, a few guest speakers, etc., etc.” Well, that’s partially true; the server may be used to play back these types of videos. However, what may not be so evident are the different ways video can be woven into a corporate show. Let’s take a closer look at how video can be used in this type of show.
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Each year, mobile stages made by Stageline, a staging manufacturer based in L’Assomption, Quebec, get used at 15,000 events in 45 countries around the world. That number is likely to increase this year as Stageline rolls out its SAM750 — the largest hydraulic mobile stage in the world. First used at the 2013 Osheaga festival in Montreal last August, the SAM750 made its U.S. debut at Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) New York over Memorial Day weekend.
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LED ellipsoidal fixtures are the hottest and most debated product type on the market right now. But can you really call them ellipsoidal? Since LED profile fixtures don’t have an ellipsoidal reflector, the name doesn’t seem a perfect fit. They do have the same characteristics that we know and love from our old reliable tungsten-based fixtures, however. Maybe they should be called Lekos? That is just another angle of the debate going forward with these types of fixtures.
Read More »A career as an automated lighting programming can be both fun and rewarding. It is important to always improve your craft and keep up to date with consoles and fixtures. You also need to remain professional in all circumstances to ensure a long and successful career. I have heard about programmers who have ruined their careers through thoughtless actions, bad attitudes and other improper acts. Several of them were once considered the cream of the crop, but now, sadly, they barely even make the “where are they now” list. By studying the actions of others, you can learn how to avoid wrecking your career and ensure a long and profitable programming profession.
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Canadian singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan set out on her Shine On tour to promote her new album — her first in four years — of the same name. After preproduction at the CBC in Vancouver, the U.S. summer leg started June 20 in Seattle and covers 29 cities in 19 states, ending Aug. 3 in Dallas. The Canadian leg kicks off in October.
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I’m one of those guys who likes to do everything himself. I like to draw my own plots. I like to make my own artistic renderings. I like to load in my own shows. I like to paint my own house too, but I don’t always have time to do any of these things myself. So for just about everything there is in life, I got somebody for it.
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