Saudi Arabia - Diriyah Gate is the birthplace of the Saudi Kingdom and was the original home of the Saudi Royal Family. Today, it is a 19th-century UNESCO World Heritage site which is set to attract thousands of tourists as part of Saudi Arabia’s vision 2030. King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and HRH Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud launched the opening ceremony of Diriyah Gate with a visual spectacular show.
CT was called upon by Executive Visions (EVI) to deliver the technical implementation of the striking cinematic projection mapping on the historic site to tell the visual story of the kingdom’s history.
The ancient ruins ‘mud city’ of Diriyah has been restored over the years by the Saudi Royal Family, enabling it to be the centre stage for the production. CT provided 170 Panasonic RZ31 and 21k projectors span across the 350m+ wide projection canvas.
CT were tasked to ensure all visible surfaces across the 350m+ wide canvas was covered to enable content to run smoothly across six content zones.
“We carried out various site visits during the planning phase so we could strategically plan where the projectors would be located. This enabled us to avoid any potential issues early,” says Dan Hughes, CT’s project manager. “As this was a UNESCO world heritage site, we needed to carefully asses where the projector locations could be positioned. We worked closely with our client EVI and the Diriyah Gate Development Authority (DGDA) to ensure all locations were approved by the DGDA ahead of time.”
CT was tasked to e

UK - Chester’s Storyhouse is an award-winning venue encompassing a theatre, library, restaurant and cinema. Housed in a restored Odeon building that dates back to 1936, it now holds an 800-seat auditorium and a 200-seat studio theatre. SolaFrame 1000 luminaires from High End Systems are the latest addition to the venue’s LED inventory as part of a tungsten replacement programme.
“With busy rep seasons multiple times throughout the year, playing up to four shows on top of one other, flexibility within our lighting equipment has always been key,” says Storyhouse technical manager, Andy Patterson. “We opened our building in May 2017 with a four-show rep season and a schedule that didn’t allow for refocuses between shows.”
During the first year of operation, the venue’s kit list included a combination of Source Four, Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr and ColorSource Spot fixtures from ETC. Added to this were some tungsten Fresnels, some ex-hire tungsten moving head wash lights and four moving light profiles.
“Given the impending demise of tungsten, the increasing difficulty getting hold of lamps for units like the TW1 and the desire to improve our production quality, I put together a 10-year tungsten replacement program,” explains Patterson.
With the intention of replacing the tungsten moving fixtures and bolstering their generic stock with LED replacements, Storyhouse turned to White Light, and worked closely with business development manager Jonathan Haynes for some impartial and invaluable advice. Haynes talked through the opt

UK - The Factory Live is a new venue in the UK's south coast town of Worthing. Already attracting much critical praise, its audio system of Yamaha DZR and DXS XLF loudspeakers is impressing audiences and artists alike.
The 300-capacity venue is the brainchild of managing director Steve Gardner. Having taught himself to play piano upon retirement from a successful corporate life, Steve was approached by an old school friend who had an empty building in the town of Worthing, formerly used by the local college as a music and dance training centre. Spotting an opportunity, Gardner started the successful Soundhouse and Dancehouse rehearsal businesses.
It was natural for him to approach nearby high-end audio retailer The Audio House when equipping the rehearsal studios, developing a close working relationship with company founder Gerry Heeley.
As Soundhouse and Dancehouse quickly established themselves as ‘go to’ music and arts rehearsal spaces in the area. Gardner saw the opportunity to develop a large, unused space in the building as a new venue. The Factory Live was born and, with 30 years’ experience of the local music scene, Gerry was the perfect collaborator.
“There is a keen appetite for live music in and around Worthing. Although there are a few existing venues, most of them are not purpose built, have limited capacity or are in concentrated residential areas,” says Heeley.
“Being a 10-minute stroll from the centre of town, two minutes’ walk from the railway station and with no immediate residential neighbours, we had the

UK - White Light has supplied the lighting equipment for Anton Checkov’s Uncle Vanya which has opened at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End.
This latest production has been directed by Ian Rickson and features a lighting design by Bruno Poet. Bruno comments: “What’s great about this translation is that it doesn’t reinvent the original but actually gives it a modern edge, using contemporary and accessible language which makes it moving, clear and very funny. Whilst it is set in the 19th century, the themes feel completely relevant to today.”
Bruno’s brief on the show was to move the story forward and support the character’s emotional journeys. He explains: “The script calls for a sense of the time of day, and the weather. We start in summer sunshine, move to a hot, but stormy night, then enter an autumnal afternoon that slowly travels through sunset to dusk and night time.
“The production all happens in the same space, so the lighting needed to give each act a distinctive feel while belonging within Rae Smith’s elegant design. Although we are guided by the script, Ian and I wanted the feel to be bold and expressionistic, sculpting the air and supporting the focus of the performers; with all the characters trapped in the misery of loneliness and unrequited love.”
As such, Bruno started designing his rig and choosing the fixtures that would be most suitable. He comments: “I knew I wanted tungsten light through the big windows that make up most of the stage right wall. I needed the rich warms across the

India - It’s a rare occasion when a live concert features more musicians on stage than there are spectators in the audience, but such was the case for a Guinness World Record-breaking performance in Mumbai on 24 January.
To commemorate the premiere of Amazon Prime’s series The Forgotten Army, Live 1000 - a group of 1,046 musicians - performed selections from the series’ score for a crowd of about 200, supported by an Adamson S-Series audio system from production technologies provider Sound.com.
“When we were first approached to take part in this very special event, it was clear that the sound system needed to be compact and discreet as to not impede the audience’s sightlines, considering the unique layout of the seating and stage,” begins Warren D’souza, the founder and managing director of Sound.com. “We knew Adamson’s tour-proven S-Series would give us the power, clarity, and headroom we needed, even in a such a minimal set-up.”
Sound.com deployed four identical stacks of three Adamson S10 two-way, full-range sub-compact cabinets over a single S119 subwoofer to cover the long but shallow seating area for a total of just 12 mains and four subs. As with the rest of the company’s substantial inventory of Adamson products, the system was acquired via Sonotone, the manufacturer’s exclusive Indian distributor.
“We needed a compact system that could deliver the required coverage and SPL for this show and the S-Series delivered on all fronts,” comments Sound.com’s Mark Thomas, who mixed FOH for the event. “The

USA - Visitors to Arcadia Earth can’t help but feel at one with the assortment of environments represented in the art installation’s 15 rooms in Manhattan’s NoHo district, ranging from the depths of the sea to the tops of glaciers. They will also be touched by the dangers posed to each from climate change, from overfishing and plastic pollution to deforestation, as envisioned by environmental artist Valentino Vettori. But what brings it home emotionally is the score and ambient sound created by Dave Hodge of Finger Music, with specific music and sound design for each of the rooms, delivered subtly but powerfully.
The audio is riding on a networked backbone with components from Focusrite’s RedNet range of Dante-networked audio converters and interfaces. Four RedNet A16R 16-channel analogue I/O interfaces provide 119dB of 24-bit/192kHz dynamic range and Focusrite’s superb sound, thanks to top-shelf AD/DA conversion, to cover the exhibition’s 13,000sq.ft over two floors. Bond Applied Technology served as installation partner, assisting with the wiring and other technical aspects of the job.
“We couldn’t have accomplished this without RedNet,” says Hodge, who serves as creative director and partner at Finger Music, as well as the sound designer and music consultant for the project. “We have two channels of full-range audio per room, played through either two or four speakers per space. There’s another 32 channels of ambient sound that plays throughout the entire installation on tiny speakers embedded in the walls, holding it together wi

UK - When the £84m International Convention Centre Wales (ICCW) opened in September last year, it was not only the first of its kind in Wales, but this joint venture between the Welsh Government and the Celtic Manor Resort has contrived to deliver 26,000sq.m. of total floor space for meetings, conferences and exhibitions (around the size of four international rugby pitches). For visitors driving down the adjacent M4 motorway, the 10m tall red steel dragon provides an unmistakable landmark.
Incorporated within this is a 4,000 sq.m., pillar-free, reconfigurable main hall, and it was this space that threw up many challenges for the technology contractors, Stage Electrics. Their solution was to specify an end-to-end audio workflow from the extensive RCF catalogue, tying nearly 800 loudspeaker products (and over 1,000 RCF components in total) into a multi-use PA in the main hall and mobile systems for the meeting rooms, merged into a fully-compliant PAVA environment.
With the inception of the project dating back to 2016, many technical pitfalls had to be overcome along the way, Simon Cooper led the Stage Electrics engineering team for this project which benefitted from his substantial prior experience in Convention Centre systems.
Stage Electrics were awarded the contract in part by virtue of having worked with Celtic Manor on a number of previous occasions and most significantly by putting forward the most compelling solution to the challenges posed.
Stage Electrics has considerable success installing RCF systems into a wide range of applicat

South Africa - DWR Distribution has appointed Andrew ‘Andy’ Pettit in the role of sales and technical support for the Cape Town market. He will be joining Bradley Bruchhausen at DWR’s offices in Milnerton, Cape Town from mid-February.
“I am very excited to be taking on the role of sales and technical support at DWR Cape Town. I believe that the position will present some much-welcomed new challenges and will allow me to grow both personally and professionally,” says Andrew. “I am honoured to be a part of the DWR family and am looking forward to a bright and rewarding journey with the team.”
Andrew is no stranger to the technical entertainment industry. After matriculating, Andrew attended The Cape Audio College where he achieved his Diploma in Audio Technology while working as a freelance technician. Following graduation in 2015, he joined SOLID Group, a well-established production and events planning company.
“I am very pleased to have Andrew join me at DWR’s Cape Town office,” says Bradley Bruchhausen, who currently manages the branch. “Andrew and I have worked together on various projects over the years, and I am confident that he will prove a fantastic addition to the family and fill Jethro’s shoes, who is exploring other opportunities.”

UK - Penn Elcom has announced that RGB Communications will be distributing its full range of 19-inch racking enclosures and associated accessories.
The move is in line with RGB’s goal of being a one-stop shop for AV racking solutions. In addition Penn Elcom’s various products for the AV market, along with its 19” ranges, complement, RGB’s existing product portfolios in the residential and commercial sectors.
Caroline Britt, Penn Elcom MD, comments: “As a high-quality UK-based manufacturer with great support and a reputation for quick turnarounds on bespoke projects, as well as its practical off-the-shelf ranges, we are a good match.”
Penn’s sales director Rob Platt, adds: “We look forward to a busy and proactive working relationship with RGB. With 29 years’ experience in the pro AV industry built on understanding the products they distribute, we think RGB will be great Penn Elcom brand ambassadors and a solid partner for the continuous development of our various 19-inch ranges.”
Highlights from Penn Elcom’s range of 19” rack enclosures and accessories include free-standing and wall racks, rack panels with assorted CNC machined magnetic faceplates, and wall-mounted media device brackets, ideal for home audio and cinema installations.
In the last 12 months, new Penn 19” racking innovations have included the R6400-RHF Double Hinged Wall Mount Rack enclosure and several new 19” products, scheduled for launch in the coming months.
(Jim Evans)

Finland - The Sámi Cultural Centre Sajos, situated in the heart of Inari, Finland, recently underwent a full renovation of its main auditorium, equipping it with the latest audio and conference technology, including an Allen & Heath dLive mixing system.
The Sámi Cultural Centre Sajos, also home to the Finnish Sámi Parliament, puts on a range of events, from concerts to theatre productions, and as the largest event venue in Northern Lapland, one of the central projects is the Sámi music centre, which actively encourages the development and teaching of traditional Sámi music.
As such, the venue needed an advanced, up-to-date system that could keep up with the various requirements for concerts, theatre productions and seminars.
Supplied by Finnish distributor, F-Pro, the installation featured a dLive S7000, fitted with Dante card for virtual soundcheck and multi-track recording and a Waves card, paired with a CDM48 MixRack.
“The previous system was getting old and with fewer updates being released, it was time to move on to something more technologically advanced,” explains Petri Kaltala, product manager at F-Musiikki. “As Janne was already aware of and using Allen & Heath products, we felt dLive was the natural progression for the centre and that it would tick all the boxes.”
Lead engineer Janne Lappalainen, adds: “After seeing all the rave reviews for dLive and having used Qu-SB, which sounds far more expensive than it is, we decided to take the plunge and get an S7000. We felt that if A&H can build such an impr

USA - Agnieszka Roginska has begun her term as president of the Audio Engineering Society.
Currently celebrating her 20th year as an AES member, Roginska has served in numerous leadership roles within the Society. Professionally, she currently holds the positions of Professor of Music Technology and the vice-chair of the Music and Performing Arts Professions Department at New York University.
In her role as Professor of Music Technology at the university, Roginska’s work involves conducting research in the simulation and applications of immersive and 3D audio including the capture, analysis and synthesis of auditory environments, auditory displays and applications in augmented acoustic sensing. She is the author of numerous publications about the acoustics and psychoacoustics of immersive audio and auditory displays.
“It is an honour and a privilege to begin my term as president of the Audio Engineering Society - the world’s leading society of audio professionals, creative artists, scientists, educators and students,” Roginska states in her inaugural AES president’s message. “One of my goals in 2020 is to build membership and continue to recognise that we are a diverse community of members - whether you are a student just exploring the world of audio, a young professional entering the workforce and growing in experience, in mid-career maintaining your skills while learning new ones in our rapidly changing industry, or a seasoned professional who wants to give back to the community as a mentor.”
She adds: “I look forward to a

UK - Green Hippo’s Hippotizer media servers were chosen by video director Jay Baker of Creative Video Design to drive the visuals for Spotify Presents: Who We Be Live 2019. Performed live at the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, the Spotify show was part of its series of events featuring the UK and Ireland’s leading Rap, Grime, R&B and Afrobeat line-ups.
Creative design and production was by UK marketing agency Amplify, working closely with event promoter, SJM Concerts. Creative Video Design was brought into the project by Production Box, led by Mike Oates.
While the venue’s exterior was used as a projection surface on which lighting designer Jon Trincas created some suitably grungy looks, the stage set inside was designed with a grunge/grime warehouse theme. “Our main challenge,” Baker explains, “was to create multiple different looks for the many artists performing, including mapping their own 16:9 format content to screens that were in no way 16:9!”
Baker used Hippotizer Karst+ media servers, supplied by 80Six Ltd, as the main playback and backup devices, with timecode playback rig provided by SFL. Baker had real-time access to parameters via Green Hippo’s ZooKeeper interface from front-of-house. “Before the event, we also made use of the Hippotizer PREP dongle at our studio,” says Baker, “which enabled us to prepare the pixelmap setup before we arrived on site.”
For the performance, Baker and his Karst+ delivered visuals designed in-house by Creative Video Design, as well as stings and ident content fr

USA - Now celebrating its 26th year, Grace Family Church started with just 80 people in a former ‘jazzercise’ storefront next to a bar in Tampa, Florida. It has subsequently grown to over 12,000 members.
To accommodate so many members, Grace Family Church operates satellite campuses. Its sixth campus opened in Land O’ Lakes, a suburb of Tampa, and AVL firm All Pro Integrated Systems helped design and install the AVL system. Since many of the decision-makers at Grace Family Church had never heard a Danley Sound Labs system, All Pro arranged for a demo that proved persuasive.
The system includes Danley’s patented point-source Synergy Horn loudspeaker technology, its patented Tapped Horn subwoofer technology, and seven Danley multi-channel amplifiers with built-in DSP and pre-sets for every Danley loudspeaker and subwoofer. Perhaps in the spirit of its origins, the Land O’ Lakes campus is built into a former big box store, but instead of just 80, it can accommodate 1,000 people.
“The church involved us early on, which gave us the opportunity to make suggestions for exactly how they would position the new interior walls to optimize the acoustics,” explains Mark Salamone, veteran engineer and sales manager at All Pro Integrated Systems. “They also started thinking about loudspeaker and subwoofer selections early on. They have entirely different systems in their various satellite locations. Although a handful of folks involved in the decision making had heard a Danley system before, most hadn’t. Given their need for high output, musicali

UK - Reflecting the raw, unsettling power and complexity of composer and performer Anna Meredith’s music in light is no easy undertaking, especially when contending with limited time, space and budget. But that’s what Simon Horn did on 5 February, when Meredith appeared at London’s progressive EartH, with help from a collection of Chauvet DJ fixtures.
“For a one-off show with minimal space, power draw, and load-in time, I need something that could be set up quickly and easily, yet still allow me to create the kind of immersive looks that would support this artist’s exciting music,’ says Horn of Purple Lighting. “I also knew that uplighting the area around the stage and backlighting the band itself would be critical to creating the kind of mood I was after.”
Horn found what he was looking for in the Chauvet DJ Freedom Flex H4 IP. Positioning 12 of the battery powered, wireless fixtures at the edges of the stage for uplighting, and a further 12 behind the band for backlighting and curtain silhouetting, he created a dreamy, other-worldly aura around the stage that reinforced the beckoning transcendental quality of Meredith’s music.
The adjustable kickstand on the Freedom Flex H4 IP allowed Horn to achieve the light angles he wanted despite the relatively cramped quarters on the venue’s stage. “Given the spatial limitations we faced, it would not have been possible to get the desired angle with a traditional up light type of fixture,” he says. “The tilt option along with the wireless operation made these lights ideal for this

USA - Approaching the centennial of its current building, the First Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi has been an institution in the area since it was built in 1926. Facing the lawn of the Mississippi State Capitol in downtown Jackson, the church’s sanctuary seats 3,000 worshippers and streams and broadcasts its services online to thousands of viewers any given week in 60 to 80 countries.
The sound in First Baptist’ sanctuary has been served for several years now by a DiGiCo SD5 console and its two SD-Racks for front of house. Recently, it was joined by a new DiGiCo SD10 console as the church’s primary broadcast console for streaming the audio for services and other events, along with a DiGiCo Orange Box multi-format converter equipped with a DMI (DiGiCo Multichannel Interface) card for Dante connectivity.
Both consoles, which were installed and integrated by Strata AVL of Atlanta, and which had Waves servers and CORE 2 software added in August, are connected via an Optocore fibre network, which now allows those streamcasts to seamlessly exchange audio elements, greatly enhancing the productions.
“We had such a great experience with the SD5 console that when it came time to replace our aging existing broadcast console, DiGiCo was the obvious choice,” states First Baptist Church minister of media and communications Michael Bowen. “The SD10 has all the features that we want, including easy and reliable integration with an Optocore network, so we could have all of our audio consoles on a single network. Plus, DiGiCo has given us great

UK - The Knight of Illumination (KOI) Awards has announced the introduction of two new awards to the Concerts & Events category for the 2020 ceremony. The new awards are being added to the line-up to accommodate the ever-evolving high standards of production in live events.
The new Award for Festival Headliner, sponsored by Ayrton, will be open to submissions for any festival headline set that has been designed with additional packages without relying solely on the use of the pre-installed festival rig. To accommodate the entire festival season, eligible performances will have been performed between 1 January and 31 December 2019, and the closing date for submissions is 30 June 2020.
Long-standing Concert & Events chair Jess Allan says, "We have seen such incredible growth in festival design over the last few years, with more and more designers implementing their own rigs and equipment to put on a spectacle. Following some of the ground-breaking festival shows that were staged last year, we feel that now is the time to introduce this award."
The existing Award for Events in the Concerts & Events category will, from 2020 onwards, be split into two separate awards - the Award for Event Lighting Design, sponsored by DTS, and The Award for Event Digital Content. Lastly for the Concerts & Events category, the existing Award for Video Content, sponsored by disguise, will be renamed the Digital & Video Content Award, and will be open to digital and video content designs from all concert sizes: Club, Stage and Arena.
At last year'

UK - Cirque du Soleil returned to London’s Royal Albert Hall (RAH) on 12 January for an eight-week run at the prestigious venue, bringing Luzia to Europe for the first time. Britannia Row Productions once again supplied the sound, continuing a relationship that has spanned almost two decades.
Through the design, chorography and acrobatic elements that give Cirque du Soleil shows their character, Luzia takes audiences on a journey through imaginary Mexico. The name is derived from the Spanish words for light (luz) and rain (lluvia), two important themes in the show’s narrative.
Britannia Row has supplied every Cirque du Soleil show at the RAH for the last 17-years. The company’s sales director Lez Dwight explained: “We were brought in mainly because the touring systems weren’t sufficient to cover the hall. Cirque came to us as we were local and have decades of experience deploying speakers into the RAH.
“In the early 2000s we deployed L-Acoustics Arcs and Subs, then moved onto Meyer systems that matched the touring tent PAs. Around four years ago we designed an L-Acoustics PA based around multiple hangs of Kara. This design is now our standard which Cirque have endorsed.”
This time, the audio specialists supplied an L-Acoustics sound system - featuring main hangs of Kara and SB18 subs, additional SB18 sub hangs, and Arcs and X8s for fills and surround – as well as processing and installation technicians.
System tech Sergiy Zhytnikov fed into the design process and led the install team. He explained: “A ke

UK - FOH engineer, Chris Martin and monitor engineer, Gerry Colclough used DiGiCo SD12 consoles for Primal Scream’s 2019 UK and Ireland tour, citing the desk’s reliability and ease of use.
Formed in 1982 in Scotland, rock band Primal Scream released their third compilation album, Maximum Rock 'n' Roll: The Singles in 2019, containing 17 tracks spanning the period from 1986 to 2016. In support of the release, the band announced a major winter tour of the UK and Ireland in 2019, which saw FOH engineer, Chris Martin and monitor engineer, Gerry Colclough use DiGiCo SD12 consoles – owned by Stage Audio Services based in the West Midlands.
Martin has been working with the band since 2008, starting out as FOH system tech for a PA hire company before progressing to the position of FOH engineer for the group in 2015.
“The band are amazing people to be around; the touring party is a very happy camp and a great place to be,” he enthuses. “We are all great friends. They have a very good idea about what they want – having been a band for such a long time. We work closely with them to achieve the results that they want, spending many days at a rehearsal studio to make it as good as we can.”
Martin used a DiGiCo SD12 on the tour with a shared single SD Rack on an optical loop running at 48kHz, used with a Waves server connected via MADI to a DiGiGrid MGB interface.
“The Waves server is mainly used for effects such as auto pan for guitars and keyboards, effects (a few reverbs, sub enhancer and distortion) and some primary sourc

The Netherlands - Audinate announced that the new Dante AV Product Design Suite (Dante AV PDS) will be shipping in Q1 2020 to manufacturers who have ordered it to develop AV-over-IP products that employ Dante AV technology.
The Dante AV Product Design Suite is a complete turnkey recipe allowing OEMs to build a high-quality AV over IP endpoint for visually lossless results with low latency over a 1Gbps network. It provides complete interoperability for audio distribution and control with the more than 2,500 existing Dante products from more than 450 different manufacturers, delivering independent, fully synchronized audio and video streams. Based around the Dante AV module, the Dante AV PDS may be modified, branded and differentiated by OEMs via software, control, and integration with other members of their product lines.
The Dante AV PDS is designed to be a feature-complete AV-over-IP solution for the Professional AV market, implementing a codec, local HDMI and HDCP, ancillary data channels, and control. The on-board Dante AV Module provides Dante clock synchronization, control, discovery, transport, messaging, management, updates and more. A comprehensive set of hardware documents, design files, and a complete software SDK allows OEMs to create complete, fully interoperable Dante AV products quickly and reliably with end-to-end HDCP support.
The Dante AV PDS includes a complete implementation of the intoPIX JPEG2000 codec supporting UHD and Cinematic 4K resolution, up to 60fps, up to 4:4:4 chroma subsampling, up to 10bit color depth, up and down sc