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Staying Ahead of the Curve with Stage Technologies

Death Magnetic

Last year, when Metallica was finishing a stadium tour and putting the finishing touches on their latest release, Death Magnetic, lighting designer John Broderick was preoccupied with other projects. The looming world tour meant that he was behind the proverbial eight ball.

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PRG Concert Touring Group Tames the Hurricane

PRG Concert Touring has supported tours by Madonna and other major artists.

John Lennon once said of touring, “It was like being in the eye of a hurricane. You’d wake up at a concert and think, ‘Wow, how did I get here?’” A hurricane is an apt description of the touring world; all the elements combine to create an experience that envelops audience and artists alike.

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Star Wars: a Musical Journey

“Multi-Media” has just been redefined.

    Some 17,000 people recently witnessed Star Wars brought to life on stage in London’s O2 arena. The event condensed 13 hours of films and music into a 90-minute event that combined video, an 86 piece orchestra and an 80 piece choir. It delighted everyone in attendance, up to and including the creator of the film, George Lucas.

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Willie Williams Pulls Out of the Big Screen Cul-de-Sac

If there was a box in which we could put lighting designers who are creative, expressive, imaginative and intelligent, Willie Williams might be the first to be put in. And he would probably also be the first to break out. The artist and production designer is a master of re-creation, often the first to conceive an idea and the first to abandon it and move on to a fresher one.

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VXCO Lighting Systems DMXCreator 1024+

Software is the new frontier of lighting control. Advances in technology have made computers ridiculously affordable, powerful and readily available. The people who write code for them have harnessed that horsepower and put it to good use in our industry. Lighting control, for example, is making leaps and bounds, and DMXCreator software for the PC is a prime example.

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My 3G Is Better Than Your 3G

What thoughts come to mind when you hear the term 3G?  Could it be that ubiquitous cell phone spokesman, touting their company’s latest network?  Perhaps — but if you walked the aisles at April’s NAB convention, the video industry’s most exciting new buzz was evident at almost every turn — and yes, it’s also called 3G. 

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Copy That

In most situations, copying is a bad idea.  I have taught my son that copying from someone else’s paper in school or copying data for a book report from a web page is wrong.  If I were to copy a previous article and submit it as a new one, PLSN would almost certainly reject it. 

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Old Lamps for New

One of my biggest joys of watching a live performance is when I see a lighting show where the designer has put a lot of thought into different aspects, when that lighting person is professional enough to know when to use the latest technological gadgets and when not to, when sometimes “less is more” and old school prevails.

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