USA - Danny McDonald, one of New York City’s best-known restaurateurs, is known for being adept at the development, construction and operation of modern pubs. Starting in 1995 with the Swift Hibernian Lounge, which Crain’s New York contended "revolutionised the Irish Bar scene" in the city, his portfolio grew to include Puck Fair, Ulysses’ Folkhouse, Pier A Harbor House, and The Dead Rabbit.
Now McDonald’s latest venture, called simply The Barand located in Manhattan’s Moynihan Train Hall, continues his string of successful taverns, this one in the newly renovated Penn Station below the Beaux Arts-designed James A. Farley Post Office Building. The Bar, an elegant venue in dark walnut and polished brass, is a centrepiece of the Hall’s food court.
McDonald chose loudspeakers from Genelec to provide the audio aspect of the establishment’s carefully considered ambience. These loudspeakers offer power, audio signal and loudspeaker management via a single standard Cat cable, helping keep the setup simple and the cable management a breeze.
Specifically, 10 of Genelec’s 4430A Smart IP Installation loudspeakers were installed at The Bar by Osbee Industries, a Harrison, NY-based system integrator that specialises in high-end projects. The Genelec loudspeakers are soffited in the ceiling of the actual bar area, supporting the eight television displays that make The Bar an elegant sports-watching venue.
The AV system, designed by Osbee, is fully networked, with Crestron control and Symetrix processing, and 4430As are connected to that net

Sweden - The home stadium of Sweden’s most highly decorated professional football team, Malmö FF, has been renowned for its modern, world-class design since it was built in 2009 at the cost of €79.7m. Staying firmly on the technology curve, the venue decided it was time to upgrade the stadium’s audio system, specifying a bespoke design from, L-Acoustics, based around its A Series product line.
“The refit came about when the stadium started to have problems with its fire alarm system, which is integral to the sound system,” explains Ola Bigélius, project manager at Creative Technology Sweden, who was appointed to lead the installation. “The technical team had been considering upgrading the current audio system, which was the impetus they needed to proceed with the project.”
With an audience capacity of 22,500, Eleda Stadium is the third largest used by a Swedish football club. Apart from being the home of Malmö FF, the stadium is also a UEFA-rated venue, can host international club competition matches, and runs a thriving football training school from its 10 training pitches. As a popular city landmark, the stadium also hosts an eclectic business and entertainment calendar in a 2,000-capacity event space, and up to 800 people daily in its restaurant.
“Foremost, the stadium needed a new audio system that would satisfy FIFA requirements, and, although three or four other brands pitched for the job, L-Acoustics is the perfect choice to fulfil that brief,” says Bigélius. “The decision to specify L-Acoustics was also swayed by the

USA - Rising artist Riley Clemmons launched her first headlining tour with a lighting system provided by Bandit Lites. With over 210m global streams and 50m YouTube video views since the beginning of her almost decade long career, Clemmons’s ocals and touching lyrics have endeared her to millions of fans around the world. The First Christmas Tour is named for her hit Christmas song.
“Bandit had the opportunity to work with production manager Chris Newman and lighting director Dominic Hickman on a tour earlier in the fall, and on completion of that tour we were asked if we could continue on with Ms. Riley Clemmons on her Christmas tour,” said Bandit Lites vice president Mike Golden. “Chris and Dom have been outstanding to work with and they are very hands on in terms of production value, logistics and practicality.”
Lighting designer Dominic Hickman assembled a lighting system that would stand out at the varying venues with sparse lighting of their own. Working with production/tour manager Chris Newman, the result was a show that stood out from a typical church tour.
“The reactions from guests that go to the show are just people blown away by how nice the setup is,” said Hickman. “The lighting affects the mood of this show. There are a lot of upbeat Christmas songs, but also some very chill Christmas songs that don't need flashing or crazy beams.”
Bandit Lites supplied GLP X4 along the truss for backlight and beam looks, COLORado Solo Battens to uplight the drapes, Martin VDO Atomic Bolds and Elation Smarty Hybrids as spot

USA - The organisers of LDI have changed the dates of the 2023 event to avoid clashing with the Las Vegas Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Says the LDI, “Following a very successful LDI 2022 show in Las Vegas, we have listened to the feedback from our customers, attendees, vendors, and the Las Vegas Convention Centre and decided to move the dates for our 2023 event.
“Despite being a week earlier than the Formula 1 event that will be held in Las Vegas, we heard from our community on-site that the LDI 2023 original dates (mid-November) still raised concerns about the availability of hotels, cost of travel, and potential labour shortages. 
As a result, we are moving the dates further away from the Formula 1 event to ensure everybody has the best possible experience and we can hold another successful LDI event.”
The original show dates were 12-14 November 2023. The new dates are 3-5 December, with the conference running 30 November – 5 December.
In other news, LDI will move into the new West Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Centre for the first time in 2023. DSE will also be held in West Hall next door to LDI on the same dates to provide more synergy with those shows.

USA - Phoenix, Arizona, the second driest city in the USA (only Las Vegas gets less precipitation) has gone as long as 160 days without rain; that happened back in 1972. The organisers of the inaugural Zona Music festival had no such luck. On 3 December, the day the festival opened, Mother Nature dropped .76 inches of rain down on the city, breaking a record that had stood for 115 years.
Yet, despite the unexpected downpour, a large crowd poured in to Margert T. Hance Park in the downtown district for the two-day festival, eager to take in performances by 50 different acts, headlined by Portugal The Man, Beach House, Bleachers, and Japanese Breakfast. Brightening the cloudy skies and reflecting the music of each artist in vivid colours were dynamic lightshows created on rigs designed by John Garberson and the team at Creative BackStage that featured over 100 Chauvet Professional fixtures.
“It rained for 23 straight hours, which to put it mildly, was a challenge,” said Garberson. “There was no rain the second day, but most of the venue turned into a huge mud pit. But that didn’t stop anyone from having a good time. Everyone involved did a great job, from the set-up crew to the artists on stage.”
Garberson had particular interest in one of those artists. His wife, Teresa’s cousin, Taylor Upsahl (known professionally as Upsahl), did an extended set on the festival’s Ronstadt Stage. Like the other artists who performed on this SL250 stage, and the SL320 Nicks Stage, she was supported by a fast-moving lightshow characterised by aggressive a

UK - Hillsong Church UK has chosen Shure’s Axient Digital wireless microphone system to power the sound of the singers in both theatre and arena sized venues.
Hillsong Church UK had a requirement for a reliable wireless microphone system that was versatile enough to be used at multiple locations, from theatres to arenas, whilst delivering professional and consistent sound.
Founded in 1983 in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia, Hillsong Church UK is a contemporary Christian church. It has churches in city centres in 28 countries around the world and an average global attendance of 150,000 weekly.
The church has been a customer of Solotech for almost 20 years. Phil Aitken, sales executive, Solotech comments: “When Ofcom implemented their licence change, Hillsong had to look at re-specifying all of their RF. It was at that point they chose Shure Axient Digital because it was a quality product they liked, and they knew they would need a product that Solotech as their rental company had plenty of to increase capacity as they grow.”
Stephen Maddox, head of production at Hillsong Church UK comments: “Hillsong now has a total of 36 channels of Axient Digital, all on AD2 handhelds with KSM8 and KSM9 capsules. The team found Axient Digital and the capsules to be a great fit and a great sound for them. We love the sonic clarity and the stability with frequencies on stage has been crucial for reliability, as we have a lot of wireless microphones and in-ear monitoring systems in close proximity.”
Consistency and ease of use was one

USA - Janes Addiction were out supporting the Smashing Pumpkins beneath a lighting rig of Elation Artiste Monet and DARTZ 360 LED moving heads designed, programmed and operated by Alex Picard. Lighting supply and support was from Legacy Production Group.
The Spirits on Fire tour, which started 2 October in Dallas, played arenas as the Smashing Pumpkins’ special guest openers. Alex got the call to start working on a design in early September, his first ever gig with Janes Addiction, which gave him little time until tour launch. Still, he dialed in the design “pretty quickly” and with great support from the Legacy crew, it all came together.
“When I got the call there was already a stage design and setup in play,” reports Alex, who says he was given a comprehensive rig from the Smashing Pumpkins to use - eight overhead trusses plus wash and hybrid fixtures on the floor, sides and downstage edge. “I was pleasantly surprised by how much they gave me to use, which meant I didn’t need to compensate by adding a lot of gear. So I was looking for a quick and efficient floor package, something we could quickly get on and off the stage.”
After looking at what the Smashing Pumpkins offered, the only position the designer felt he lacked lights was behind and around a large performance catwalk for dancers that sits behind the band and forms the rock ‘n’ roll cabaret vibe of the show.
“To round out the design, I put together something that could punch through and give good backlight for effects and silhouetting,” he comments. “I

USA - ‘Hard Rock Live is NOW OPEN!’ The all-caps exclamation on the website for the 2,500-seat venue at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain is understandable. The resort opened in 2019, but work on the entertainment facility was stumped for nearly three years by the pandemic and constant supply-chain problems.
In the wake of a debut performance by Maroon 5 this summer, Hard Rock Live is now poised to be the region's premier concert destination, with Live Nation serving as its exclusive talent booking agency. And the space is also positioned to host a multitude of other events - meetings, trade shows, boxing, MMA, and charity events - all with a new L-Acoustics K2 sound system.
The new Hard Rock Live was designed with patrons in mind. However, with world-class design and integration vendors creating it - Montréal-based Scéno Plus did the audio design, which Clair Global implemented - it’s also keenly aware of the needs of touring shows.
“L-Acoustics is the most well-known professional loudspeaker system, and you’ll find them on any technical rider,” explains François Blais, Scéno Plus vice president of technology and specialised equipment. “And that’s why we especially liked K2 for this project: it’s a great-sounding system from a rider-friendly brand, which makes it so much easier for the venue to market itself.
“Today, it’s not enough to only go for the best sound. System designs must keep the economic aspects of venues in mind; they must be cost-effective. You have to look at systems design from

UK - Production Futures is an initiative created to provide opportunities for young people to learn, train, network, and develop real careers in production across every area of the live event, music, touring, theatre, TV, broadcast and film industries.
Having run a series of successful live events from its inception in 2016 to 2019, the organisation produced several equally popular online events during the pandemic, before returning in 2022 to forge new partnerships and deliver its nationwide On Tour programme.
Working with 47 brand partners and bringing to the table the wisdom of a number of acknowledged industry experts, Production Futures this year opened many more doors of opportunity for young people at its events. With a mission to inspire, teach and make real connections, the On Tour programme saw more than 1,800 young people visit venues across five UK cities and towns to gain first-hand experience of the exciting employment and training possibilities within the production sector.
Production Futures CEO Hannah Eakins is in no doubt about the value of the On Tour events: “As well as allowing young people to engage with and speak directly to potential employers, Production Futures is introducing a wealth of latent talent to our partners that will be be the backbone of this growing industry for years to come. The companies who work with us are unanimous in their view that the mutual benefits of this initiative cannot be overstated.”
In addition to facilitating face-to-face engagement between young people and production partners, the O

USA - Based in Des Moines, Iowa, Conference Technologies Inc (CTI) recently completed a sound system integration at the nearby Grace Church -replacing the former PA, which had serviced their requirements for two decades, with the constant curvature technology of Martin Audio’s Torus array.
This is the latest of a progressive series of AVL upgrades at the church undertaken by CTI over the past 10 years and meets the high demands of a Southern Baptist church, whose lively worship ministry is based around bands, choirs and orchestras.
Led and overseen by worship pastor, Michael Hoskinson, the old PA, which had been in situ since the church opened, was providing inconsistent coverage across the 1200-seat fan-shaped auditorium and was clearly ready to be retired. “What we were looking for instead was a line array that would provide even coverage everywhere,” said the pastor. The previous system’s subs were also set upfront on the ground and had been visually obtrusive. “We were looking for a system that would enable the subs to be flown, and at the same time provide better coverage.”
CTI’s VP Systems Integration, Tim Wright, who masterminded the integration, took over. “The frequency response from front to back and side to side was not good, and it had never been tuned to the room. As technology has advanced, and our needs have become more critical regarding frequency response, so our expectations have changed.”
He made a wish list and discussed his requirements with Martin Audio North America. “We had a couple of runs with thei

Saudi Arabia - Christopher Bauder, founder and creative director of WHITEvoid, Berlin collaborated with musician and composer, Strahil Velchev, of KINK to produce a spectacular and original art installation of light and sound at the Noor Riyadh Festival 2022 in November.
Named Axion, the temporary large-scale light art piece is inspired by a hypothetical elementary particle which, if it exists, might be a component of dark matter which cosmologists believe makes up 95% of the universe. The dark matter theory describes how the universe went from a smooth initial state to the uneven distribution of galaxies and their clusters we see today.
Such an ambitious work called for a light with a big personality to achieve the necessary impact the design required, and Bauder chose 80 Ayrton Cobra fixtures, supplied by Kaiser Showtechnik of Augsberg, Germany, to define the parameters of his visuals and project its presence far into the air, making it visible for miles around. Ayrton asked Bauder how he achieved this stunning piece of art.
What was the idea behind your concept with regards to the lighting?
Bauder: “With Axion we explore the ultimate horizon: Outer Space. With its grid like array of light tubes and mile-long skylights the installation resembles a giant scientific device for space exploration, particle detection or interstellar communication. But once you step inside it is a reflection on the potential of axions, dark matter and the idea of the unknown.
“Within the installation we have three layers of lights that allow a totally

UK - PSCo has announced a substantial expansion to its trade rental fleet with the addition of Barco Event Master image processing solutions for the live events market.
The move sees PSCo immediately offer range of image processing and screen control systems including the flagship E2 Gen 2 and S3 Tri-Combo 4K presentation systems, EC-50 event controller, and PDS-4K presentation switchers to enhance PSCo’s rental offering in the UK.
Trade partners will benefit from rental-ready trade hire packages across all Barco products, as well as access to Barco image processing demonstration facilities at Innovation House, PSCo’s experience centre in Bracknell. PSCo will also be stocking select items from the Event Master range for sales to support rental partners with time sensitive project opportunities.
Additionally, PSCo has added ImagePro-4K switcher scalers to bolster LED video scaling and provide further support to trade partners already operating Barco products on their own rental fleets.
Tom Allott, asset manager at PSCo comments: “We are excited to partner with Barco to expand our trade rental offering to the live events industry with a focus on the latest image processing solutions. Barco are amongst the most prestigious and respected brands in live events technologies and for many years our trade partners have relied on their products to deliver high-impact messaging and visuals on display technologies hired from PSCo.
“The investment in the Barco Event Master suite of products will complement and add value to our existing range

UAE - Creative Technology (CT) Middle East has made a major investment in Robe moving lights with the purchase of Fortes and LEDBeam 350s which join the company’s busy and expanding rental fleet at their Dubai HQ, servicing projects across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
Sam Connolly, head of lighting for CTME, explained that it was important to invest in Robe’s innovative technology for several reasons. While the company is well known for its full-service, they have recently expanded further into their lighting department, making huge investments in lighting fixtures to ensure they can be the number one service provider in the region. When Sam came onboard, he started looking for flexible and multifunctional luminaires that would offer immense value for CT’s diverse cross section of projects.
Sam highlights the concept similarities - maximum power and multiple creativity, between the BMFL and the Forte, and Robe’s Transferable Engine technology was another factor helping them make the decision.
In the LEDBeam 350, Sam wanted a fixture that was a genuine wash and beam luminaire in one housing, and after seeing the initial demo from the Robe Middle East team, he really liked what he saw. “It ticked all the boxes,” he confirms.
Sam concluded: “The new fixtures are a great asset to CT’s growing fleet and were quickly put to work in Doha for the 2022 FIFA World Cup to join another 200 Robe fixtures on various events across the country.”

Germany - To celebrate 700 years since the 1322 consecration of the initial eastern part of Cologne’s impressive Gothic cathedral, German piano/electronic music duo Grandbrothers played a spectacular gig within its hallowed walls. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Cathedral’s 157m twin-spires are the tallest such styled church in the world, and it is Germany’s most popular visitor attraction.
Lighting designer Oskar Felix Funke chose a full MA Lighting grandMA3 control system to run lighting for this show that was recorded, both for a new album for later broadcast over the ARTE Concert network. The musical numbers were all specifically created by the artists - Lukas Vogel and Erol Sarp- to work optimally in the Cathedral setting, considering its vast size and acoustic nuisances like the very long reverb.
The performance was instigated by and the brainchild of the Cathedral’s master builder and architect Peter Füssenich, who oversees all ongoing renovation and maintenance works.
The show was staged in the main nave of the building which is over 45m high and has a very special atmosphere. The plan is shaped like a Latin cross with two aisles on either side that help to support, at 45m tall - one of the highest Gothic vaults in the world.
Being a cathedral, a protected building and a holy place, everyone had to think out-of-the-box in terms of a show design, and Oskar thought it was an environment and occasion to use a grandMA3 light running software version 1.8.1.0 with Art-Net nodes.
A grandMA2 user and advocate for many years, h

USA - Dean Mattson mixes FOH for progressive rock pioneers Yes and is currently out with them as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of their seminal Close to the Edge album with an extensive tour.
The production recently visited the historic Warner Theatre, just a couple of blocks from the White House in Washington DC, where the house system is an Outline Butterfly rig.
Dean comments: “I've used the Butterfly system in the Warner a few times now and it always sounds great. Ishai [Ratz, the house sound engineer] has that rig singing like a classic Sinatra song. He was a big help in making sure I utilised the system in a most efficient way and those new subs they installed are nice. Gives the system a little more thump without becoming boomy.”
Mixing such a well-known album and especially for audiences that know the music intimately can be a real challenge. Also, Yes are famous for their many line-up changes since their first album in 1969 and the personnel continues to evolve.
“It's interesting since we have a next generation line up, each member brings a different perspective to the music, so I try to balance the musician's expression with what the music calls for. What I like about the Butterfly system is that it is very responsive. Every input is just as important as all the others so when I needed to give a tweak, say, to the second rack tom, I was able to hear the changes that I implemented.
“If I think that something needs to be altered to accommodate the music, the Butterfly is right there keeping up. The Butterfly is a

USA - Mesa Community College Arizona’s 462-seater Performing Arts Centre held its first full production in November 2022 using an upgraded rig of Vari-Lite LED luminaires from Signify. Dominating the new array of lighting fixtures were the VL2600 Profile, VL800 EventWash and VL800 ProPar, which have dramatically reduced power consumption at the centre and provided smooth, rich colours for a premiere run of The Addams Family musical.

The college’s modern, architecturally striking Performing Arts Centre, located just east of Phoenix, opened in 2014. It was initially rigged with a range of traditional Fresnels, pars and tungsten wash and profile fixtures, which were ageing and power hungry. Kyle Rivieccio joined Mesa Community College in 2019 as PAC technology coordinator/master electrician, and he was later tasked with delivering a lighting rig

upgrade with a view to installing world-class, professional lighting that would provide a powerful, effects-ready solution.

“We entered a phase of demos and shootouts to find the right package, taking into account budget and requirements,” says Rivieccio. “During all the demos, designers from our scenic, lighting, AV, costume and makeup departments were present, and we ran the lights with scenic drops and sets and costumes from a show within our season. I asked them all to give feedback on each fixture, and they would discuss the pros and cons of each demo unit. I took all that information and began selecting the fixtures.

“We were looking for attributes incl

Germany - Started in 2002 as a football tournament involving medical schools and facilities at a group of German universities, the MediMeisterschaften, on the airstrip of Obermehler-Schlotheim Airport, has grown into a major music and sports festival, attracting up to 30,000 visitors from throughout Europe. University football is still played at the four-day festival (Cologne Pes Piller and Tuebingen were the mens and womens champions respectively this year), and there are many other activities too, but much of the time at this event is devoted to enjoying electronic music in a variety of forms, with plenty of dancing.

Capturing the spirit of the music on the main stages and adding more energy to its performance was a production and lighting design by Materie Event Production, which has been the main contractor for the festival’s entire technical planning and implementation for years.

This year, the Materie Event Production design team relied on a collection of 270 Chauvet Professional fixtures and LED video panels to contribute to the dynamic Main Stage show. Included in this mix were 120 EPIX Strip IP linear units, 12 Maverick Force S Spots, 14 Maverick Storm 1 Washes, 20 Rogue Outcast 2X Washes, 24 COLORado Panel Q40 rectangular wash lights, eight onAir Panel 2 IP full spectrum soft lights, and 72 F4 IP LED video panels.

Defining the design was an impressive 79.46m semi-circle wall that allowed performers on stage to be illuminated from multiple angles. This structure also made it easier for crossing patterns of light to be

USA - Meyer Sound has announced an aggressive rebooting of its education programme, with a full agenda of workshops and training sessions scheduled at the Berkeley headquarters as well as at other locations in the US and overseas, and the formation of partnerships with leading educational institutions.

Many of the sessions will be led by two long-time fixtures in the company’s education programme, director of system optimisation Bob McCarthy, and senior technical seminar instructor Mauricio ‘Magu’ Ramirez, with this duo now joined by another of the pro sound industry’s leading educators, senior technical support and education specialist Merlijn Van Veen.

Meyer Sound also has announced new and extended renewal partnerships, most notably with Full Sail University in Florida, The University of California, Irvine (UCI) in California, and the University of Derby in England.

“We were forced to shift most of our focus to online platforms during the peak Covid months,” says Meyer Sound training and education manager Robyn Bykofsky, “but in 2023 we will be back with a greatly expanded program of in-person training sessions, with most organized and presented by Meyer Sound but with others presented in collaboration with our partner schools or through industry and professional associations.”

The in-person programme for 2023 kicks off 17-19 January with System Design and Optimiation training in Berkeley, with ‘Magu’ presiding, and continues February 14–16 with Bob McCarthy leading the same training in Flor

Europe - The ESD range of two-way and three-way passive loudspeakers from KV2 offers a wide variety of loudspeaker solutions ranging from the ultra-compact ESD Cube, suitable for peripheral reinforcement in bars, theatres, clubs, houses of worship, museums etc., right through to the powerful ESD15 and ESD36.
ESD15 is capable of acting as a standalone PA/monitor system due to its excellent bass response, whilst the ESD36 has found favour with AV rental and production companies as well as for the theatre and worship market as a powerful, full-range solution with excellent vocal intelligibility in a compact format. KV2 has now extended the range with the addition of the ESD8, which slots neatly between the existing ESD6 and ESD10.
As its name suggests, the ESD8 is a compact passive 2-way, high output full-range loudspeaker incorporating an 8" trans-coil woofer and a 1" compression driver coupled to a wide dispersion horn. Presented conservatively like the rest of the range in an angled low-profile Baltic birch enclosure and designed to present exceptional speech and music definition, the ESD8 provides a smooth hi fidelity response and delivers a natural sound quality and level that is superior to many larger competing products.
Suitable for use as a main system speaker or as an in-fill for larger systems, the flexible ESD8 can be applied quickly and efficiently on podiums, stands or suspended. Applications range from corporate presentations and functions to infill, close monitoring or installation. Combined with subwoofers – of which there are four

USA - River Oak Church started as an offshoot from another church around 20 years ago in a school auditorium. They were soon able to start a multi part building project, first building a gymnatorium, and later offices and classrooms. In 2020, the growing church broke ground on a new, purpose-built facility in Chesapeake, Virginia, to house their burgeoning ministry.
When Justin Fugett was tapped to help bring River Oak Church’s new facility to life in 2021, he understood the importance of the intercom system from his experience as a freelancer working with local broadcast organisations and universities. River Oak was looking into getting wireless beltpacks to add to their system and Justin decided that Clear-Com’s Arcadia was the right fit for the church.
“Honestly, I feel like every church needs to know about Arcadia – it’s the absolute perfect fit for so many church applications. It has the flexibility and connections that we need, without the complexity of a matrix-based system. For an organization that gets a lot of their staffing from volunteers or part-time staff, Arcadia is an ideal combination of power, flexibility, and ease-of-use,” comments Justin.
FreeSpeak II was Justin’s introduction to Clear-Com systems and was his “go-to” wireless solution for freelance projects. He knew that River Oak Church would need a FreeSpeak system, and the opportunity to incorporate Dante, HelixNet, and 2W/4W into a single central station with Arcadia was game-changing for this project. “I fell in love with FreeSpeak II during my time at Re

USA - One of the highlights of New York’s holiday season is the unveiling of the seasonal windows at the City’s Bloomingdale’s department store.
Providing the sound for the opening show which marks the occasion and sees crowds thronging the streets on the corner of 59th Street and Lexington Avenue in midtown Manhattan, is Frost Productions. The service company’s association with Bloomingdale’s extends back to 2016, but this year the store upped the ante, featuring Billy Porter and a full five-piece band, spread across a 40ft stage set in front of four of the feature windows.
Bloomingdale’s theme for its flagship store this year was Best Holiday Ever and Frost Productions’ team leader, Mike Alvarez, had no hesitation in specifying a Martin Audio MLA Mini in four hangs for the 20-minute show, knowing they could get the sound exactly where they wanted for the flamboyant stage performer and actor.
The low profile of MLA Mini enabled him to ground stack two MLA Mini rigs, underpinned with WS218X 2 x 18 subwoofers in the centre, without obscuring sightlines. At the same time, two outer hangs of four MLA Mini were pole-mounted to an MSX 1 x 15 sub, while their much-deployed Martin Audio CDD-LIVE 8’s provided additional satellite-fills and FOH near fields.
As back-up, the sound designer also provided three of his favoured Martin Audio XE300 wedges - two downstage centre for a stereo mix and one as a cue wedge for the monitor engineer. “The monitor wedges are among my favourites,” he said. “The fact the XE300 is coaxial is so grea

USA - Production company Platinum XP has staked its success on the ICLive X from Renkus-Heinz. ICLive X, the intelligent evolution of the small-format line array, is fast becoming a sound solution of choice for production professionals.
ICLive X (ICLX) is a complete system consisting of three combinable, steerable array modules and one matching subwoofer. Recently, Platinum XP deployed a system featuring 2 ICLXL digitally steerable loudspeakers and two ICLX-118S subwoofers for the Women’s Intersport Network (WIN) for KC Awards in Kansas City, Missouri, successfully covering more than one thousand guests in the 2,700sq.ft auditorium with clear, intelligible audio - all without having to fly speakers or adhere to strict sight lines.
“We’re not like other rental production companies, and ICLive X is unlike any loudspeaker system you would typically look at for this type of application,” says Caleb Fankhauser, lead audio engineer at Platinum XP. “We set out to cover the floor of the arena without flying any speakers since tables were set up only a few feet from the stage. The sight lines to the projection screen made the steering capabilities of the speakers very important. Fortunately, Renkus-Heinz had the beam steering technology we needed for this deployment.”
Designed by Ralph Heinz, CTO of Renkus-Heinz, the ICLive X Series, each ICLX module comprises six 19 mm compression drivers on an ASM Waveguide coaxially mounted in front of two 8″ woofers. ICLX is a versatile loudspeaker intended for use as a high-output, digitally steerable line

Vietnam - 1 Sound, a recently launched loudspeaker manufacturer, has announced the hiring of two sales representative Leonardo Dani and Leonardo D’Andrea dedicated to setting up a distribution network in EMEA for the United States-based brand.
The company has appointed Sonos Libra Vietnam, Hanoi, to be the 1 Sound distributor in Vietnam. The showroom is fully equipped, showcasing 1 Sound’s Cannon Coaxial Series with installation subwoofers, like the MiniSUB5 and the discreet Floor Subwoofer, along with a Tower System.
Mr. Cuong and the Sonos Libra team started organising demonstrations for their area's companies immediately and have expressed their excitement about the future of audio with 1 Sound’s loudspeaker technology. “The audio market in Vietnam is growing fast, leading to consumer demand for high quality and good origin products. Personally, I feel that 1Sound is a high-quality product, providing accurate sound, high-end & impressive design, suitable for the Vietnam market.”