Colombia – The 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games (CACG) kicked off with a spectacular opening ceremony at Barranquilla’s Roberto Meléndez Stadium, featuring projection mapped visuals to the stadium pitch and huge LED screens using Avolites Ai RX8 servers.
The opening ceremony’s most famous performer was Latin superstar Shakira, who was born in the Games’ host city.
During the ceremony, the 47,000-capacity crowd experienced a video concept based on a story of time travel from the future to the present, offering a perspective of Barranquilla, which highlighted local culture, folklore and its vibrant music scene. The ceremony was produced by Victor Ariza from Performa SAS. Miguel Carrillo from Foro IQ designed the stages.
The main stage was backed by video-mapped content, displayed on a 664sqm LED screen.
“We needed to manage a lot of pixels for this project, six outputs for mapping and six outputs for LED screens, DMX and SMPTE control, and direct SDI outputs,” says Ariza. “We needed a server that had all of these things, and features like the option to quickly warp the geometry of the outputs – and be robust and trustworthy.
“But perhaps most importantly, we were looking for customer service and support. Machines are machines – it’s the people that define a brand’s success.”
Fernando Albanés served as technical director for Performa: “We could find all the technical specifications we required in the Ai RX8 and SDI output card. The RX8 was the heart of the video system - a machine that you can tr

USA - Boston Calling celebrated its fifth year (and ninth outing) the weekend of 25-27 May with a slew of performers, including Eminem, The Killers, Jack White, Queens of the Stone Age, Paramore, and St. Vincent. However, the event, which music portal Consequence of Sound has declared one of the top 10 music festivals in the country, almost didn’t happen this year.
The previous year’s event, held in a new location at the Harvard Athletic Complex, drew not only raves from the attendees but also a wave of protests from residents of the surrounding Cambridge area who complained about noise levels, a situation a number of area media outlets reported in depth.
This year, though, Boston-based production company Crash Line Productions found the solution: an L-Acoustics K1/K2 system, provided by Clearwing Productions, with a system design created using L-Acoustics’ Soundvision modelling software, that kept the sound on the audience and out of the surrounding neighbourhoods.
“After Boston Calling 2017, there were complaints from the surrounding area that the noise levels were too high, so we tasked Scott Sugden at L-Acoustics to help us design a PA deployment that would mitigate perimeter noise as effectively as possible while still maintaining acceptable levels and coverage for the world’s best acts and a demanding paying public,” explains Clearwing key accounts executive Stephen Harvey.
He, in turn, recommended Marcus Ross, co-owner with associate Sara Even of audio consultancy Crest Factor, who would bring a battery of sound-mea

USA - Counting Crows’ current 25 Years and Counting tour is supported by an upbeat Mike Zielinski-designed lightshow that features STRIKE 1 fixtures supplied by Upstaging, Inc.
“With 25 years and seven albums of music, we have a very large catalogue of songs that can be played on any given night,” said Zielinski. “This creates a need for a diverse, flexible rig. I like to have a lot of colour palettes and video content to keep up. I also need versatile fixtures, which is why I like the STRIKE 1s for this rig. They fill a wide range of roles for me, like accent lighting, backlighting and blinders.”
At times Zielinski uses his STRIKE 1 fixtures with amber shift to create different moods for more reflective songs or for those moments when frontman Adam Duritz reflects on the band’s history. Zielinski also calls on the 230W LED fixtures for audience lighting. “There are many fans who have turned out for Counting Crows concerts every year for the past two decades, so the connection with the audience is important,” he said. “The band feeds off the energy of the crowd.”
In addition to having designed the show, Zielinski is running the boards for the 48-city tour, which began 27 June at Taco Bell Arena and ends with a 22 September appearance at Nashville’s Pilgrimage Festival. Although he turns the STRIKE 1 fixtures up full blast for ballyhoo moments, he is doing little busking, given the size of the show, which has 60 songs programmed.
The warm white glow created by the STRIKE 1 and its emulated red shift, which mimics th

UK - Sounds and Sorcery is unlike any other show you’re likely to see this summer. Held in the distinctly quirky venue of The Vaults, a maze of disused railway arches underneath London’s Waterloo station, Sounds and Sorcery is an immersive audio-visual extravaganza inspired by Disney’s Fantasia.
On arrival, audience members are given a pair of headphones and an iPod and then invited to wander at their leisure through a series of installations created using a combination of 3D projections, elaborate set designs and spectacular lighting effects, all set to a specially recorded score from the City of Prague Symphony orchestra. As audience members move from one scene to the next, all entirely in their own time, so the music changes accordingly thanks to an elaborate and technically challenging sound design built around Williams Sound Hearing Hotspot technology supplied by CUK Audio and installed by Direct Audio Visual.
The man behind the sound design is independent sound designer, David Gregory. “No-one else would be crazy enough to tackle a project like this, but I like a challenge, so I said yes!” he says.
“Hearing Hotspot is the only product on the market capable of doing what we required,” explains Gregory. “Essentially it allows any venue to stream real-time audio via Wi-Fi from pretty much any source to an individual’s personal device – in this case, an iPod. The sound quality and stereo imaging capabilities (which we tested thoroughly) were good enough to allow me to create the immersive experience that I

UK - Bose Professional will be showing the breadth of their product portfolio at the PLASA Show (16-18 September, London Olympia), including new EdgeMax in-ceiling premium loudspeakers which combine the superior coverage patterns typical of larger surface-mount loudspeakers with the visually appealing aesthetics of in-ceiling loudspeakers, thus representing an entirely new product category.
Alongside, will be the new ControlSpace EX-1280 audio conferencing system which includes a conferencing signal processor and three new Dante-based ControlSpace under-table endpoints (EX-4ML, EX-8ML and EX-UH). Designed with input from leading integrators, the system features connectivity for various types of audio conferencing, including USB, VoIP, PSTN, analogue, and phone headset audio.
Bose ShowMatch DeltaQ array loudspeakers for both installation and portable applications will also be on show. With field-changeable waveguides that help provide the best possible sound quality throughout the audience area, ShowMatch DeltaQ arrays provide significant advantages over conventional line array loudspeakers.
DeltaQ array technology improves sound quality and vocal clarity by providing selectable coverage patterns that direct more sound energy to the audience by allowing directivity, or “Q,” to vary with each array module.
ShowMatch full-range array loudspeakers are available with 5-degree, 10-degree or 20-degree vertical coverage with class-leading versatility that allows J-array, constant-curvature, or DeltaQ array configurations. Conventional line arrays

UK - Theatres Trust has extended the booking period for our Early Bird offer so you now have until Friday 24 August to take advantage of the discounted rate ( http://bit.ly/Adaptandthrive ).
Titled 'Adapt and Thrive', the conference, which takes place on 16 October at the Lyric Hammersmith, looks at new models for theatre buildings and new ways of funding.
Through a mixture of inspiring plenaries and lively breakout sessions, the conference will look at how we can ensure our theatres remain viable in challenging economic times and how we can continue to invest in renewal of our theatre infrastructure.
Joining Michael Ellis MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism and Cameron Mackintosh, producer and theatre owner will be speakers from Bristol Old Vic, arguably the country’s oldest continuously operating theatre and Manchester’s Factory, probably the newest, discussing how they are adapting to new artistic and business models.
(Jim Evans)

Europe - Before making its high-profile debut on this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, GLP’s new KNV went out on a ‘field test’ tour with German band Scooter. This gave production designer Jerry Appelt and his lighting director, programmer and board operator Marc Brunkhardt the opportunity to evaluate the new modular design with the upcoming ESC in mind.
The design team deployed 14 KNV fixtures as a massive centre effect in the middle of the Scooter stage set. Supporting these were 90 GLP X4 Bar 10, which handled the washes, and 22 impression X4 L for key and side lights. All the tour lighting was provided by PRG.
“We were very happy to get hold of the KNV - what act is better for testing such a hyper bright fixture than Scooter? They were a real eye catche,” reports Marc, who had seen the fixture for the first time at production rehearsals in Bottrop. “I immediately liked the brightness and the fact that it was very compact,” he said. “Also the RGB rings around the powerful white LED were extremely impressive.”
Underhung in the middle of the set, beneath the decks, the KNVs were fully visible for all to see. “We had spaces between every fixture to cover the complete width of the set - and in this configuration we were able to produce some great effects over the whole cluster.”
The lighting director also praised the versatility of the KNV. “You can use it just for flooding the entire stage with colour or to produce nice random strobe sparkle effects.”
(Jim Evans)

USA - The festival season continued this summer with more than 430,000 people attending the Lollapalooza Music and Arts Festival over four days.
Bandit Lites worked with C3 Presents and provided three trucks with nearly 600 fixtures and 1500ft of truss to light spaces across Grant Park. Areas included Kidsapalooza, the Merch Palace, cocktail lounges, a beer garden, VIP areas off the stage and the stunning Buckingham fountain. Bandit also supplied lighting for all areas with foot traffic, navigating the way from stage to stage.
“Our biggest challenge is always power distribution on such a large festival,” said C3 Presents production manager Tyler Crain. “A solid plan of areas to light and power necessary to accomplish this ahead of time is a necessity.”
In order to craft that solid plan, Bandit Lites began working with Crain about seven weeks ahead of load in to organise and map out the logistics for truss towers, specialty lighting and landscape needs.
Thirty-two Elation Paladins spaced evenly around the fountain in eight groups of four turned the waters into vivid colors throughout the night. “The Paladins really brought the fountain to life,” shared Aaron Swetland who programmed Buckingham Fountain. “They worked great as we didn’t have to bag them. Even on the sunniest days, there is going to be mist, so having a water proof light is super important.”
Bandit Lites team arrived early to set up the site lighting, using their knowledge and expertise to fashion spaces that gave artistic and colourful looks, whi

Singapore - Singaporean theatre company Pangdemonium! recently staged Fun Home, the multiple Tony Award-winning production renowned for being the first Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist.
Alcons Audio RR12 point source array modules and VR12 mid-sized versatile monitors ensured that every line of dialogue and lyrics was clearly heard by the enthusiastic audiences.
Staged at Singapore’s 615-seat Drama Centre Theatre, sound design for the production was by Jeffrey Yue of audio design company Ctrl Fre@k, with technical production by The Production People. The Alcons speakers were supplied by Alcons Pro-Ribbon Network Partner Creator’s Solutions.
Being a musical, where every song lyric is as important to the narrative as every line of dialogue, Jeffrey needed to ensure that both the spoken and sung vocals were extremely clear for every member of the audience. The Drama Centre Theatre is a compact venue, with two balconies, so accurate and controlled dispersion of sound was crucial to achieving this.
In his design, Jeffrey chose four Alcons RR12s as a centre vocal cluster. These were complemented by four VR12s per side, covering the two circles with a band and vocal mix.
"Accurate reinforcement of voices and instrumentation was crucial," he says. "The RR12 vocal centre cluster provided the best performance in terms of accurate horizontal coverage, thanks to the asymmetric vertical horn which meant there were less potential ceiling reflections. With the style and design approach of the musical, it was also a great opportun

Belgium - During Bruges’ tenure as European Capital of Culture in 2002, the Concertgebouw Brugge - a concert venue and multicultural centre accommodating more than 1500 visitors - was built to provide the city’s inhabitants and many tourists with a home for some of the best classical music orchestras in the world. Taking centre stage in a recent refurbishment of the concert hall were 20 Chauvet Professional Ovation F-265WW fixtures, specified by local install specialists Sotesa.
With the main hall regularly receiving high-profile symphonic orchestras such as the Anima Eterna Brugge (artist in residence), Brussels Philharmonic, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the venue required a practical solution to provide general illumination for the musicians on stage. With their incredibly soft and even flat field of warm white illumination, the Ovation Fresnel-style LED fixtures were chosen to replace the outdated and unreliable incandescent house lights.
“Aside from the fact that the old incandescents used a lot of electricity, it could be uncomfortable at times for the musicians because of the heat they generated,” commented Geerolf Jacques, coordinator of stage technology at Concertgebouw Brugge. “One of the key advantages of the Ovation fixtures is that we don’t have to worry about leaving the lights switched on for longer periods of time for rehearsals and shows.”
Given the practical issues of the 12m high roof in the concert hall itself, finding a suitable lighting fixture to

UK - Rental and installation specialists LED Creative worked with the crew at Version 2 to help illuminate the annual charity concert held in the grounds of hosts Sue and David Formosa’s Chorleywood home.
Now in its sixteenth year, Music by Twilight features a broad mix of talent, including local acts. The concerts have raised over £400,000 for the charity and this year’s show was another resounding success with all proceeds going towards the funding of TCT units in NHS hospitals.
Providing their Sigma Pulse Wands and Fairground fixtures plus Byte Controllers, the LED Creative team were able to help add colour, shape and movement to the lighting design for the event. With limited access to the site, the ‘plug and play’ Sigma fixtures were an ideal creative solution, quick and easy to incorporate into the custom-built stage with no compromise on versatility.
Commenting on the show, LED Creative project manager Tim Rees says, “It’s an absolute pleasure to be working alongside V2’s Nick Edwards and his crew in support of such a worthy cause. The entire team have done a stunning job in staging a fantastic looking show - everyone has pitched in to create a true spectacle, all in aid of a wonderful charity. We’re proud to have played a part.”
(Jim Evans)

Doctor Atomic, a collaboration between composer John Adams and librettist and stage director Peter Sellars, focuses on the events leading up to the first atomic bomb test in the summer of 1945 and is set in Los Alamos, New Mexico, barely 20 miles from the Santa Fe Opera, which is presenting its new production through 16 August.
In advance of production rehearsals, Santa Fe Opera’s audio/visual director, Karl G. Kern, increased the company’s inventory of Lectrosonics Digital Hybrid Wireless technology to 30 channels, adding 18 SSM super slight micro belt-pack transmitters and three six-channel Venue2 receivers to its existing stock of SMDa transmitters and Venue receivers.
“The quality of Lectrosonics’ products is by far superior,” says Kern of the purchase decision. “They’ve got a very low noise floor and very solid RF, so it helps you to get a very clear audio signal. Having that low noise floor when you’re trying to just ghost in a very low volume is very important.”
All the Lectrosonics transmitters are paired with DPA Microphones d:screet 4061 omnidirectional lavalier microphone elements to reinforce the stage performances through the company’s newly installed Meyer Sound CAL steerable column array loudspeakers for the 2,000-plus-capacity house.
Celebrated composer and sound designer Mark Grey did the sound design for this latest Doctor Atomic production. "The classical performing arts demand only the best in live sound – critical in sonic transparency, reliability, and highly concealable products,” says Grey

China - When the audio system in Hong Kong’s City Hall began to fall short of its duty, the powers that be called on DMT Pro, Clair Brothers’ Chinese distributor to upgrade the old system in the 463-seat city hall theatre and bring it into the new millennium.
After a thorough review of the venue with specific attention paid to addressing acoustical challenges not overcome by the old system, DMT decided to install an L-C-R Clair Brothers system, which consists of two Clair Brothers kiT 12+ two-way, self-powered speakers for each of the L-C-R channels, and two kiT-Sub-mini+ single drive self-powered subwoofers, all supported by two Lake LM44 digital processors. Says Ricky Wan, sales manager at DMT, “The speakers have a DSP function, but for a greater degree of fine tuning we also installed the Lake processors.”
“We are very impressed with the quality of Clair Brothers,” explains Zachary Cheung, chief engineer at PCCW-HKT Technical Services, who is in charge of all A/V systems in Hong Kong City Hall. “The installed system sounds even better than the initial demo we heard. We also needed to install the system in a very short space of time, so we wanted to use an active system. This is the first time we’ve used Clair Brothers in any of the city hall venues, and the management is incredibly pleased with the finished result.”
(Jim Evans)

UK - Registration is now open for ISCEx which takes place 5-6 March 2019 at Combe Abbey (https://www.isce.org.uk/iscex-event/)
If you’re working in commercial audio system design, integration, project management or sales, ISCEx provides opportunities to learn, engage and discuss commercial audio solutions in an intimate, non-imposing environment.
ISCEx is a multi-faceted event that includes seminars, training, networking dinner and an exhibition of the audio industries leading manufacturers and distributors. There are plenty of opportunities to meet up with industry colleagues, share ideas and discuss projects in informal environments.
(Jim Evans)

Italy - For the eighth year running, Music Inside Rimini (MIR) and LIVE welcomed a host of lighting companies including High End Systems to take part in the annual Italian event Live You Play. LIVE events began in 2010 with a resolution to provide visitors with the chance to experience audio, lighting, video and installation technologies from a live performance on stage. This year, there was both a virtual and a live show organised at the event.
Lighting designer Trevor Burk organised the structure of High End Systems fixtures in the virtual show whilst lighting programmer Francesco De Cave arranged the design of the same fixtures for music band ‘POP deluxe’ in the live show.
Francesco emphasised how “programming the lighting whilst showing the fixtures’ capability to the audience without losing the main focus – the show itself – was not an easy job”.
The set-up included a variety of SolaFrame 750, SolaFrame Theatres, HEX, QUAD, SolaSpot 2000, SolaWash 2000, SolaHyBeam 1000 and the recently-launched SolaFrame 3000. The SolaFrame series lit up the performances by POP deluxe with precise lighting control and aerial effects. This included High End Systems’ newest flagship luminaire: SolaFrame 3000, which features an Ultra-Bright White LED engine that produces a limitless range of colour.
(Jim Evans)

Australia - Bosch has entered into a distribution partnership with Jands. Jands will provide sales and support for a select range of Bosch’s pro sound installation audio products from Dynacord and Electro-Voice, including the new IPX multi-channel installation DSP power amplifiers, EVID and EVC Series loudspeakers and the EV Innovations range.
Chris Dellenty, general manager - Oceania, Bosch Security and Safety Systems, comments: “Bosch is well known for our commitment to excellent service and support and by entering into partnership with a strategic national distributor like Jands, who have the expertise to support the needs of the customer, we will continue to provide the quality products and services that people expect when they buy Dynacord and Electro-Voice. Our Prosound team are excited by this alliance, and we look forward to a prosperous long-term relationship.”
Paul Mulholland, Jands MD, adds: “As Jands restructured our product offering around our strengths in corporate, government and education, our contracting customers made it clear they wanted to be able to source a complete solution from us. When we saw the new product offering from EV and Dynacord at Infocomm, we quickly realised Bosch represented the perfect partner for Jands.”
(Jim Evans)

USA - High End Systems has announced the finalists for the 2018 Hog Factor USA Collegiate Lighting Programming Competition. First held in North America in 2015, Hog Factor has become a leading global lighting contest.
Over 60 teams registered for Phase One, each providing a performance lighting piece programmed on a Hog or Hog 4 PC. The collegiate teams were judged by a diverse panel of High End Systems and ETC employees to produce the three Hog Factor finalists.
The three finalist teams are SolaTartan from Carnegie Mellon University, The Pig Ears from California State University Long Beach and Brown Sugar from Southern Methodist University.
Phase Two will see these teams programming a performance lighting piece based on High End Systems' 2018 LDI booth design. These teams will then be invited to perform their shows live at LDI on the ETC / High End Systems booth, where the winners will be judged by a select group of industry lighting designers.
(Jim Evans)

USA - It’s a 4th July tradition: the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular at the Edward A. Hatch Memorial Shell on the Esplanade along the banks of the Charles River in Boston. The event featured the celebrated orchestra, under the direction of conductor Keith Lockhart. This year, Michael Berger of LA-based Full Flood utilised Claypaky Scenius Unico and Mythos 2 fixtures, supplied by 4Wall, to support the production.
The Independence Day spectacular showcased an all-women guest line-up featuring Emmy award-winning Fight Song artist Rachel Platten, Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, and Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards-winner, Rita Moreno.
“We needed to make the orchestra the star of the show and provide opportunities for the guest artists to shine as well,” says Full Flood’s Micahel Berger, a Boston native who marked his third year as lighting designer.
“This was a combination symphony orchestra concert and arena rock show held outdoors in the middle of summer,” he notes. “It’s a great opportunity to get to come home to Boston and work on this calibre of show.” The Spectacular was telecast, carried on radio and live streamed by Bloomberg.
Berger utilised Claypaky Mythos 2 fixtures and Scenius Unicos for the production. “Mythos have become an important part of our repertoire,” he says. “For this show they outlined the arch of the Hatch (bandshell) and have developed into a pretty iconic image.”
“Mythos are a staple as a beam unit,”

UK - One of the highlights of the UK summer season is the Henley Festival - a traditional black tie event for Martin Audio partner RG Jones Sound Engineering, spread over five days.
The company has serviced the event for 36 years, and in recent times they have fine-tuned their coverage of the main stages with Martin Audio MLA components, including the tricky Floating Stage.
As festival technical manager and head of sound, Jim Lambert, says: “The Floating Stage has always been a challenge in that the front to back of the arena is only approximately 30m, but it is extremely wide, and with the introduction of general admission tickets outside the arena we are being asked to cover a width of something like 100m. The MLA Compacts more than rise to this challenge and yet also enable us to keep to the fairly strict off-site noise limits set by the Council.”
It again provided the setting for main stage headliners Rita Ora, Chic (featuring Nile Rodgers), Grace Jones, Curtis Stigers and ENO, particularly since the highly experienced sound team of Steve Carr and Mark Edwards, both of whom have an advanced knowledge of MLA, were on hand to supervise the main stage.
Having refined the system last year, the service company further fine-tuned the PA this year, adding the powerful Martin Audio DD12’s as arena delays in the grandstand to replace the previously used DD6’s. Production also used MLA Mini for infill, and decided to retain the same curved MLX sub bass arrangement that they had introduced in 2017. According to Jim Lambert, “This produced

USA - The 32-city North American leg of Erasure’s World Be Gone tour takes place on multiple levels, literally and figuratively. Made up entirely of LED linear fixtures, the matrix-like set features a collection of tiered mini-stages. Vince Clarke plays keyboard in an upper centre-stage cubicle, flanked by kinetic dancers on slightly lower portals, while his partner in the synth-pop duo, Andy Bell, holds forth on the floor, his vocals soaring above it all.
Weaving the complex set together, while supporting the full scope of Erasure’s music, is balanced Matt Waterfield-designed lightshow run on a ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 with a MagicQ Extra Wing.
Waterfield is drawing on the output of some 230 fixtures supplied by Christie Lites in his show for the tour, which is in support of Erasure’s 17th studio album. “I have been designing for Erasure since 2017,” he says. “I was introduced to them by their FOH engineer. Initially, I did a floor package for a few shows. That went well, so they asked me to design the show for their current tour. They gave me a lot of freedom.
“Their only input was to make it neon, giving it an Amsterdam red-light district kind of look. They wanted this show to be more held back than their usual performances, less rave, more theatrical, but still with its full-on moments.”
A ChamSys user for over 10 years, Waterfield selected a MagicQ MQ80 with an extra wing as his main console and a MagicQ MQ70 as his backup. “I started with a Maxi Wing and touch screen, which was then replaced with the MQ70, and later t

UK - Video production company Media Flare has added three Hippotizer V4 Boreal+ Media Servers to its hire stock of nine Hippotizer V4 and Hippotizer V4+ media servers.
Media Flare’s freelance TV lighting designer Tom Sutherland comments: "Our Hippos have never let us down, and with the V4+ models' new features and enhancements providing even more creative flexibility, for us it was the only way to go. It's great that I can rely on a media server which can cover such a range of productions and budgets."
Freelancer programmer Nick Hansen adds: "Hippotizer Media Servers are so user-friendly. The Output Manager side is incredibly powerful and flexible, enabling us to handle things when a show's technical needs can change quickly during production. Also, we are really excited by the potential of Notch, which we will definitely be using on future projects to manipulate content with effects, to fit the music or show we are doing."
(Jim Evans)