PLSN Announces LDI2011 Student Reporter Search

PLSN Magazine with sponsorship by CHAUVET, is in search for a PLSN Student Reporter for the 2011 LDI Show in Orlando Florida.  One student will be chosen to attend the 2011 LDI Trade Show and cover the floor. The PLSN Student Reporter will be on the floor each day of the show providing video interviews, product demonstrations, updating the industry of news and happenings around the event.

All entries must be submitted by September 30, 2011.  PLSN and CHAUVET will announce the winner of the PLSN Student Reporter on October 7th, 2011. For more information and to submit your video, visit www.plsn.com.

TweetUp in Vegas on Monday – BE THERE

I’ll be heading out to Las Vegas early next week to start my new post as Editor of PLSN Magazine.  I’ll be there all week, learning the ropes and helping put out the March issue of the magazine.  Jacob Coakley, the editor of Stage Directions Magazine, a sister magazine of PLSN, and I decided to throw a tweetup together to celebrate my new post and meet some of the great people of Las Vegas.

We will be meeting up at McMullan’s Irish Pub which is a local hang out for many of the industry locals.  We’ll be getting there about 8pm on Monday, February 28th.  Hopefully your show will be dark that night so you can help celebrate as well as meet new and old friends. I know I’ll have a couple pieces of swag to give out!

If you can make it, drop me an email at info@isquint.net. We can’t wait to see everyone there!

PLSN Announces Justin Lang as Editor

I think this has to be my favorite press release of the year! That’s right, I am becoming the editor of PLSN magazine.  Here is more from the official announcement.

Timeless Communications announced that lighting designer and iSquint.net founder Justin Lang will take the helm of Projection, Lights & Staging News effective March 1. Lang has worked in the lighting industry for 15 years, has designed and lit dozens of productions in the Washington, D.C., area including special events at the Newseum, and founded iSquint.net, a blog covering entertainment lighting technology, news and products.

“We’re really excited about Justin taking over and building on the great tradition that is PLSN,” said publisher Terry Lowe. “He represents a new generation of live event professionals who are innovative, knowledgeable, and new-media savvy. I’ve always admired what he’s done with iSquint.net, and we’re excited to have him leading the magazine in our second decade.”

“It is an honor to take over the reins of PLSN,” says Lang. “I am thrilled to be part of PLSN and look forward to working with the entire staff of writers at Timeless Communications, including Stage Directions and FOH magazines.”

PLSN, iSquint, and ProLightSpace will be partnering to provide information and news from around the industry for professionals at all levels. “I look forward to lively discussions on ProLightSpace, a wider spectrum of industry professionals’ opinions on iSquint, and up to date, around the world coverage of industry news,” Lang added.

Lang said his love affair with lights started when he attended his first Broadway show, Show Boat. He said the curtain lifted, and it was at that moment he knew what he wanted to do – “make magic happen with lights.” A graduate of Radford University, he most recently worked for Barbizon Lighting Company in outside sales.

Don’t worry, iSquint will still be here.  In fact, it will grow!  I am always looking for contributing writers on iSquint.  So if you have an interest, drop me an email at info@iSquint.net. Thanks everyone for the well wishes and notes!  I really appreciate it.  And if you are heading to Charlotte in a couple of weeks… YES, we will be celebrating!

#LDI2010: PLSN & FOH Parnelli Celebrity Golf Classic before LDI

Oh how I wish I was getting to Las Vegas earlier on Thursday.  I love playing golf!  If you like playing golf and are getting to Las Vegas early for the LDI Show in October, you should sign up to play in the PLSN & FOH Parnelli Celebrity Golf Classic! What a great opportunity to relax and prepare for 4 days of standing and packing in as much as much as you can while at the show.  Not only doe it sound like a great time, but you get to meet and network with some of the industry leaders and of course some celebrities! Best part, proceeds go to the Parnelli Scholarship Fund!

Head over to the Parnellie Awards website and register to play some golf before getting back to work.

Nominations & Voting Are Up for the 2010 Parnelli Awards

Fire up your browser of choice, nominations for the 2010 Parnelli Awards are now being accepted for companies across our industry.  A Parnelli Award is one of the most prestigious in our industry because it is a jury of our peers that decides who receives this honor.

Nominations are submitted by you and then voted upon a jury of our peers as the deserving of the award.  The nominations are broken into six categories, Visual, Sound, Video, Production Services, Production Personnel and Production Transportation and Logistics.  From there they awards are broken down by company and person of the year for each sub section.

Six nominations will be selected from each category and then put up for a vote by you! Watch FOH and PLSN magazines about when the voting will begin.  For now, get your nominations in at the Parnelli Awards website.

While you are on the Parnelli Awards website, be sure to vote for your Hometown Hero in both Lighting & Sound.  Both categories are broken down in to regions of the States.

On October 22nd, the Parnelli Awards will take place at The Rio in Las Vegas Nevada.  Yes, that is during LDI! You can reserve your seat for the Parnelli Awards Dinner right on the Parnelli Awards website, www.parnelliawards.com.

The Parnelli Awards are named after Mr. Rick “Parnelli” O’Brien for his talent as a production manager and tour manager.  He was a well respected colleague, admired professional and friend to many industry veterans. Rick passed away from cancer in late 2000.

Published in this Months Issue of PLSN

During LDI this year, I had one heck of a crazy schedule with meetings, lunches, dinners, parties, product demos and of course walking the show floor for two days straight. One of the highlights of my trip was sitting down and having a lovely dinner and chat with the Editor of PLSN, (Projection Lights & Staging News), Mr. Richard Cadena. After just a couple of moments talking with Mr. Cadena, Richard, I was in awe of his vast knowledge and insights of the lighting industry. Richard has some amazing stories as well a deep and profound passion for the industry to which we share. He and PLSN are a real asset to this industry of ours.

During the course of our dinner, we talked about different aspects of the industry and what new and interesting things that we had seen on the show floor.  Even though I was on the show for for 16 hours and the LDI show was smaller in size compared to previous shows, you would think that would be plenty of time to see everything on the show floor, how untrue that is.  While going over the things that we had seen, it was amazing to hear of things that I missed as well as tell Richard about somethings he missed. It is at that point Richard asked me to write a show report for his publication, PLSN. I was and still am honored to do so. Thank you Richard for this opportunity to share my opinion of the show in your publication.

You can download my show report of LDI that was printed in this months issue of PLSN.  If you would like to read the entire magazine, you should subscribe to it here to get the print version.  To help tide you over until the print version arrives, you can download the PDF version here from PLSN.

Thank you once again to Mr. Cadena and PLSN for this opportunity. It was a real treat and pleasure for me to share my experiences at LDI.

Side Note: I only was able to walk the LDI show for for two days and still did not get a chance to see and talk with everyone.  Maybe that is why there are three days of the LDI show. Next year I will just have to catch the Red Eye home!

Martin Introduces Maxxyz Module System

Martin Professional recently introduced a new line up to their line of Maxxyz Lighting control desk, the Maxxyz Module system.

Martin’s Maxxyz Modules is a lighting controller system based on a series of modules that can be used in different combinations to create a custom console to fit individual needs. Five modules are available to build a custom console or can be used with Maxxyz PC™, Maxxyz™ or Maxxyz Compact™.

All of them can be used table-top, mounted in a 19-inch rack system or in the Maxxyz™ Module Frame. Users can add additional modules as wings, swap modules within the frame or upgrade to a larger frame to build a new Maxxyz controller.

The module base includes a 2 DMX universe port so that whenever a module is added to a system two physical DMX connections are also added. Each module comes equipped with a built-in Maxxyz PC dongle. With its built-in 2 port DMX, each module is a small Maxxyz console with support for up to 32 DMX universes.

The Cerebrum module is a touch-screen computer and the core of the Maxxyz modular concept. It runs the lighting software on Windows XP Embedded which controls the Maxxyz Compact. The Cerebrum can also be used as a stand-alone unit for control in installations and also functions as a backup system for any Maxxyz console, Maxxyz PC or other Cerebrum module. Combined with the Maxxyz Manager software, it can be used to automate a complex lighting system.

The Programmer module is the main control unit of a Maxxyz system. This module can be used with the Cerebrum or with the Maxxyz PC software.

The Button Module offers up to 30 customizable direct access buttons. Each row of 10 buttons is individually assignable to cuelists, groups, fixtures or presets by the simple press of a Mode button. Furthermore, a set of 5 LCD buttons, 2 Up/Down keys and a scroll wheel provide direct access to functionalities related to each row of buttons. An encoder belt gives flexible access to such features as time, speed and future options. The Button module also works with the new Maxedia 4™ software to recall cues and other functions.

The Submaster module provides an additional 24 handles of controls for cuelists, channels, submasters or inhibitives.

The Playback module adds 10 motorized faders with 15 LCD buttons and a master Go section, extending the playback capabilities of Maxxyz.

The Frame module can accept up to two modules of any kind (except the Cerebrum which only fits in the upper position), making it possible to combine different modules in the same frame — thereby customizing it for a specific application. The included blind plate can be used to hold a laptop or notes and paperwork.

For more information, please visit www.martin.com.

From PLSN

Trivia Contest Over in Record Time

We ran a trivia contest last week to win a copy of Richard Cadena’s latest book, Electricity for the Entertainment Electrician & Technician.  The winning answer was posted in record time of 18 hours after the contest began. Tom Baldwin of Hampshire (UK) had the winning answer with a detailed explanation of why.

The resistance of a lamp varies with temperature.
So it’s not as simple as using Ohm’s law to work out the resistance from 575W @ 115V and recalculate for 120V.
On a 120V supply, the lamp will burn hotter, and so its resistance will be lower. This means that the current flowing will be greater than the naive calculation assumes.
In practise, the easiest way to determine the current at 120V would be to simply measure it.
To predict the current, it would be necessary to measure the operating current at a number of voltages, and to plot a curve of filament resistance versus applied voltage. From this curve the operating current at any given voltage could be extrapolated (or interpolated).
By using a mathematical fitting function to map the measured points on the graph back to a mathematical function, this prediction could be made without recourse to graph paper.
There are, of course, ready reckoning tables, which would allow the current change for x% increase to be roughly estimated.
And after all that writing, the real answer is that there can be very few circumstances where the change in operating current between 115V and 120V really matter!

We congratulate Mr. Baldwin on a job well done! To purchase your copy of the book, visit the PLSN Bookshelf at www.plsnbookshelf.com

Trivia Contest Announced for Richard Cadena’s Latest Book

We are happy to announce our first or many Trivia Contest here at iSquint.

Our first contest involves winning Richard Cadena’s latest book, Electricity for the Entertainment Electrician & Technician from Focal Press.  We recently received an advance copy of the book to do a review of here on iSquint which you can read here.

For details on the contest, visit the Trivia Contest page and to submit your answer to the contest. Please be sure to submit your answer on the contest page and not this post.  Comments for this posting have been turned off.

To purchase your own copy of the book, visit the PLSN Bookshelf.