USA - The Scottish Rite Theatre (‘The Scotty’) in Peoria, Illinois, was built in 1925 as a Masonic cathedral. Recently, the Gothic-styled building underwent a $5m-plus renovation and now offers downtown Peoria a modern performance and event venue. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Scotty encompasses an 800-seat theatre, luminous stained-glass windows, a lower-level ballroom with capacity for 300 people, and more than 10,000ft of usable space, as well as a full basement kitchen and banquet facility. And it now boasts an L-Acoustics Syva sound system installed there earlier this year by the Chicago office of integrator Creative Technology.
“Syva was the perfect solution for audio reinforcement at the Scotty,” says Greg Moore, installations project manager for creative technology. “It had to sound great, which it does, but it also had to disappear. The aesthetics of this project were of paramount importance to the client. We were able to essentially camouflage the Syva, which we ordered in white from L-Acoustics, by installing them in the fluted trim around the sides of the proscenium.
“We used a combination of the manufacturer’s own mounting solutions and a custom Unistrut bracket to hang them. The slim-yet-powerful Syva form factor is a perfect fit with the venue’s proscenium architecture.”
The Scotty’s new system comprises one Syva enclosure mounted to each side of the stage, a white Syva Low sitting on the stage below each main Syva column, four KS21 subs in the orchestra pit, and six 5XT coaxials spread o
USA - Orchard Hill Church, located north of Pittsburgh in Wexford, offers a striking architectural design around its 1,200-seat auditorium. And just as modern is the church’s new sound technology, L-ISA by L-Acoustics, integrated as part of a $1.3m design-build renovation of the main worship centre.
“It’s been clearly shown that when we can connect what we see with what we hear, the technology disappears,” says Josh Maichele, L-Acoustics application manager, house of worship. Specifically, he says, our eyes want to watch a pastor on stage but our ears draw our vision towards the PA speakers reinforcing their voice.
L-ISA technology effectively disconnects the sound from the sound source, allowing audience members to focus their attention on the stage, immersing themselves in the content. “L-ISA makes the connection between sight and sound more natural, and in the process, breaks down the technical barriers to worship,” continues Maichele.
Orchard Hill Church technical director John Cornelius was introduced to L-ISA at the L-Acoustics facility in the Westlake Village neighbourhood of Los Angeles, where worship-technology directors can experience L-ISA first-hand, diving deeper into its technology. “It’s a step-by-step process, starting with a demo of the system and then sessions during which visitors can get hands-on with the mix, using pre-recorded worship tracks,” Maichele explains. “John arrived knowing nothing about L-ISA, and he left excited by its possibilities for Orchard Hill Church.”
Orchard Hill Church’s new L
UK - Unusual Rigging has completed a major refurbishment of the grid at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London’s West End ahead of the much-anticipated reopening of Phantom of the Opera next month.
When the Covid-19 pandemic forced the production to close its doors in March 2020, it opened a bitter-sweet opportunity to get some essential work done on the magnificent old theatre’s roof space, ensuring it could continue to stage the elaborate aspects of Phantom that audiences across the world know and love, including the famous hanging chandelier.
Jeremy Featherstone, Unusual Rigging explained: “Her Majesty’s Theatre is a wonderful building, but as with all old theatres, they need maintenance and continuous improvements to their structure in order to preserve them and allow them to continue hosting productions.
“Phantom is a heavy show and the grid, which should run in a straight line, has sagged by more than a foot over the past 120 years. The fly floor also had a significant bend in it. From a safety point of view, this is nothing to really worry about – wood is a material that can bend, but really we didn’t want it to bend any further. Unusual was employed to take as much weight off the grid as possible and come up with an alternative solution.”
The solution comes in the form of a massive steel truss, designed by Unusual at its Northamptonshire HQ, which has been installed on either side of the stage, between the proscenium wall and the upstage wall. It includes a drop-down to take a significant amount of scenery off
USA - Peak City Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is a contemporary Christian church experiencing a high level of growth. The church recently moved to a new location with room to expand its congregation, services, and community outreach and looked to LEA Professional to provide powerful amplification solutions to serve this growing community.
As part of the Church's plans to best address their current and future needs, managers reached out to AV systems integrator, Sight+Sound Technologies to design and install sound, lighting, and video systems that included a new distributed audio system for their lobby/cafe and common-space hallway area, and systems for their multi-use classrooms.
Kris Johnson, the chief operating officer for Sight+Sound Technologies (SST), was one of the key project point people for the new Peak City Church sound system expansion. SST has been an LEA Professional amplifier reseller and installer for the last couple of years and has placed LEA amps into a range of applications.
"We put in place five LEA Connect Series 704D, four-channel amplifiers - two supporting the distributed audio and three more amps, one in each of the classrooms. We did their whole distributed audio through the lobby and in the hallways with the LEA amps," adds Johnson. "All their sound systems are now on the same Dante network so that we can distribute the sound anywhere we want, which is a very nice growth feature for the church."
Johnson continues: "The 704D is one of our favourite amps; we keep a couple of them on the shelf because they alway
South Korea - TechDataPS Cocollaborated with All That Sound to equip YeonCheon Sureul Art Hall with a Harman Professional audio solution.
Located in Yeoncheon-gun, Gyeonggi-do, Yeoncheon Sureul Art Hall is a cultural facility that offers a variety of performances, including small plays, musicals and solo concerts. The venue houses both a 580-seat grand concert hall and a smaller 166-capacity concert hall. Organisers wanted an audio system that evenly transmitted sound, achieved a sound pressure deviation of +/- 3dB for over 90% of the audience and provided impactful performances for shows of all genres.
To supplement the venue’s existing JBL VT4887A line array loudspeakers, the installation team equipped the venue with a range of JBL solutions including VTX V20 and VTX S25 line array speakers, VTX M20 stage monitors, AC18 two-way speakers, 308P MkII studio monitors, Control 28-1 indoor/outdoor speakers and Control 24CT ceiling speakers.
For amplification, Crown I-Tech 4X3500HD, Crown DCi 2|300N and Crown DCi 4|300N power amplifiers provide consistent power output and user-friendly interfaces. Finally, the Soundcraft Vi series digital live sound console ensures comprehensive, crystal-clear coverage throughout the venue thanks to their extensive I/O and powerful DSP.
Organisers at the YeonCheon Sureul Art Hall reported that TechDataPS both faithfully repaired the venue’s existing system and accommodated the unique infrastructure while installing new products. They are especially delighted with the Soundcraft Vi console, which will be of gre
USA - The Robson Performing Arts Centre in Claremore recently completed a stage lighting and control upgrade with over 300 LED luminaires and a networked control solution from Vari-Lite and Strand, Signify entertainment lighting brands.
“We wanted LED equipment that would give comparable functionality to our previous fixtures, along with some added ‘eye candy’ elements to enhance our performances,” explains technical director Pamela Neuok, who turned to theatre consultancy Schuler Shook, the original theatreconsultant for the building, to advise on the specification.
Schuler Shook prioritized high quality light output and technology that would be both accessible to students and powerful enough for a professional theatre programme. “The Strand products met our design criteria very well,” says Schuler Shook’s Jack Hagler.
The final design and installation, completed by Batts AVL, features 112 Full Colour and 84 Tunable Warm White Strand Leko LED Profiles, six Vari-Lite VLZ Profile fixtures, Vari-Lite SL BAR 660 and 640 fixtures for cycs and drops, plus a wide selection of 78 VL800 Series fixtures, including Eventpar, Propar and Eventwash models.
For control, the intuitive touchscreen interface, scalability and sophisticated LED control of Strand’s NEO Console were considered an appropriate fit for the needs of both an educational environment and a busy performing arts centre. The NEO system also integrates seamlessly with Strand’s Vision.net controls for house lighting management.
“We have been having a lot of fun lear
UK - Based in Glasgow, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a world-leading conservatoire of music, drama, dance, production and film. Founded in 1847, it now has more than 1,300 students studying undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and, pre-COVID, staged over 600 live performances across its professional venues throughout the year. It recently opened a new rehearsal and performance space for its students and approached White Light (WL) to provide the lighting equipment.
As part of its COVID-19 response plan, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland realised that building occupancy numbers and social distancing were going to play a key part in ensuring it could continue to deliver technical training and support to all its students. The decision was made to transfer a rehearsal studio into a new, fully-equipped performance space that would allow both performance and production students to keep learning throughout the pandemic and beyond.
Dave Evans, lighting tutor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, explains: “The equipment chosen would be used across theatrical plays, dance and musical theatre, and ensure that all of these production styles could also be filmed; something that has become a necessity with live audiences at a minimum. Therefore, we had to look for equipment that could provide both a high quality of light, but also be a useful teaching and learning tool for developing technicians and lighting designers,”
Prior to this upgrade, the rehearsal studio had a simple overhead grid of 48mm pipe, providing a rigging area, and was equipp
Australia - Sydney Theatre Company (STC) has reopened its home venue, The Wharf, at Walsh Bay in Sydney, following a two-year closure for a total renovation. A highlight of the complete technical upgrade was the installation of 32 new Meyer Sound loudspeakers, largely drawn from the company’s new Ultra-X series.
The system was designed by Bob McCarthy and Josh Dorn-Fehrmann to implement Spacemap Go, Meyer Sound’s new tool for spatial sound design and live mixing. When it opened in late February, STC’s production of Playing Beatie Bow became one of the world’s first theatrical productions to use dynamic spatial effects provided by the new technology based on the Galaxy 816 Network Platform utilising Milan and a new iPad user interface.
For the theatre’s sound & video manager Ben Lightowlers, selection of the right solution was critical, so the venue chose to retain complete control of the PA budget, from specification all the way through to installation. The system renewal was a logical extension of a decades-long relationship with Meyer Sound.
“We did explore options from other manufacturers,” he says, “but over the years we’ve been happy with the UPJ and UPM loudspeakers, which we could easily integrate into the new systems. More importantly, we were very impressed with the new Ultra-X loudspeakers. They are excellent for vocal clarity, which is paramount as the dialogue must be out front. But they are also exceptional for music.”
The flexibility and scalability of Spacemap Go enable the system to be easily reco
USA - As part of a complete technical overhaul, River of Life Church in Crawfordville, FL has upgraded its full lighting system for the first time since its building was constructed 18 years ago. The new setup, which utilises ADJ fixtures for both house and stage lighting, has not only enhanced the aesthetic of the space but also significantly improved electrical efficiency through the use of LED light sources.
Firelight Media and Integration was the company selected by the church to carry out a complete refit of its audio, lighting, and stage power infrastructure. The relatively young but fast-growing integrator specializes in the church market, driven by owner and founder Joshua Branch’s 15 years of experience in music ministry. Established in 2017 and based in Thomasville, South Georgia, the company services churches throughout the South East, all the way from Virginia down to Florida. Firelight became an ADJ dealer around a year ago and Joshua has nothing but positive things to say of his experience selling and installing ADJ fixtures.
“We had some success with product from other companies,” explains Joshua, “but felt that ADJ could be a good fit for our clients. When we became an ADJ dealer we soon discovered that the product is superior. The price-point is exactly where most of our clients want to be at, and the value for money is very good. Since we’ve switched to ADJ, the results have been amazing.”
With a distinctive tent-style design, River of Life church is a sizeable building with a capacity of approximately 900. Prior to thi
Austria - As historic churches strive to serve their existing congregations and expand their reach using new technology, inevitably they find themselves balancing their needs for quality audio systems with the desire to maintain the aesthetic beauty and singular atmosphere integral to the worship experience.
That’s of particular concern in historically important spaces like Eisenstadt, Austria’s Dom St. Martin, which recently deployed a low profile, high fidelity Adamson Systems Engineering PA to improve speech intelligibility and reinforce small, contemporary musical ensembles with clarity and depth.
Previously known as St. Martin's Church, the Gothic cathedral was completed in 1522 and features a pipe organ created to the specific instructions of Austrian composer and ‘Father of the Symphony and String Quartet,’ Franz Joseph Haydn. Over time, it’s been damaged by fire and rebuilt, and, more recently, in 2003 underwent a painstaking remodelling undertaken by architects Lichtblau-Wagner.
The Dom is also renowned for its presentation of sacred music, including Eisenstadt’s annual Haydn Festival, and required an audio system that delivered class-leading vocal and instrumental reinforcement and pristine reproduction of speech.
“These types of churches were designed to project the voice without any reinforcement because there was no reinforcement,” says Jochen Sommer, Adamson’s Hamburg, Germany-based director of operations. “It’s a difficult acoustic environment. So, to upgrade and achieve more intelligibility, from a system
South Korea - Daelim Musical, Amate Audio’s long time exclusive distribution partner in South Korea, has been installing Amate Audio line array systems extensively in churches throughout the country. Over the previous 14 months the company has installed Amate Audio systems in more than nine churches.
The largest of these, in the First Presbyterian Church in Wonju city, comprises 16x Nitíd N208 1500 W active, self-powered line array cabinets and two 2500 W N18W sub bass cabinets, flown in L – R strings. A majority of the installations, however, have deployed Amate Audio’s Xcellence series X12CLA ultra-compact constant curvature array.
Since March 2020 Daelim, has designed and installed five sound systems in churches featuring the X12CLA array together with the X18T active sub; with left and right flown strings comprising an X18T sub and four X12CLAs: Seo Won Church in the city of Cheongju, Mu Guk Central Holiness Church in Eumseong city, Yumchang Central Church in Seoul, Chuncheon Gwangyum Church in the city of Chuncheon and Jangheung Central Church in the city of Jangheung.
Daelim musical general manager Sun Uk Ji states, “Four cabinets of X12CLA will provide 110˚ x 60˚ with a fully uniform coverage for a hall throughout two floors.” While Mr. Ji references power and performance in determining his customers’ preference for the X12CLA over products from competing brands, he is also highly appreciative of the onboard DSP system management in greatly reducing the time required to install, tune and fully commission an installation.
Canada - For Global Kingdom, the mid-pandemic upgrade to their audio systems is all about staying ahead of the curve and expanding the reach of the message they preach. While Coronavirus restrictions hastened the Toronto-based church’s efforts to enhance their ministry, using cutting-edge technology to do just that has always been an important driver for the growth of their congregation.
Realising that during this challenging time, their ministry is more critical than ever for those who depend on their support, inspiration, and community, Global Kingdom pivoted according to the needs of the moment. Working closely with Apex Sound & Light and GerrAudio Distribution, they adopted a solution that serves the needs of today and tomorrow with the addition of a DiGiCo Q338 mixing console and KLANG immersive mixing platform.
Tom Lodu, manager of operations & special events for Global Kingdom Ministries states, “This (effort) is not a band-aid. This is the level of quality we are implementing going forward, and we want to do it with excellence.”
Founded in 1956, Global Kingdom has grown substantially and now operates out of a facility able to host an on-site congregation of nearly 2,000 on any given Sunday, and streams live services to 32 countries around the world.
Audio director, Joshua Rambajue, who began performing at the church as a musician before taking on his current role, explains that the scope of the musical component to their services ranges from basic setups with just a singer and a guitar to a full praise band featuring any
Germany - Expansive performances have been transforming the building and outdoor spaces at radialsystem, a former pumping station in Berlin-Friedrichshain on the banks of the river Spree, into a stage since 2006.
As a creative production and event venue for the development of new artistic programmes and event formats, radialsystem also hosts numerous conferences, meetings and trade fairs, which often deal with innovation and futuristic topics. The large number and variety of events, with their associated demand for quality, means it is part of the radial DNA to constantly develop and challenge itself technically, and the venue is the first in Germany to boast a permanently installed L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound System.
In total, radialsystem has around 2,500sq.m of usable event space spread over five floors. The L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound System has been designed for the largest room, the 600sq.m Main Hall, and considers the broad spectrum of events hosted at radialsystem - from concerts, musical theatre and dance performances to sound installations of contemporary electroacoustic music, and events that focus on language and dialogue.
Additionally, as the former machine hall of the sewage pumping station, the room still retains its historic industrial architecture and, with its wide arched windows and expanses of stone and concrete, also poses a variety of acoustic challenges.
Working alongside Martin Rode, L-Acoustics head of application install for the DACH area, the radialsystem team settled on a modular system based on A15 arrays
France - PRG and MADO XR has launched Virtual Production Studio-xR, a 360-° LED facility powered by Brompton Technology Tessera SX40 4K LED processing. The space “brings the power of virtual production to any type of pre-recorded or live production” and features ROE Visual LED panels, with multiple Tessera LED processors running the entire set-up.
“Situated on the outskirts of Paris at the historic TSF Studios, we designed a modular studio of approximately 800m2 to provide full control over both the lighting and the filmed scenes in a realtime recording environment. We have put a team together that is fully dedicated to the studio and is composed of PRG and MADO XR staff who will be able to advise and guide you in the realisation of your projects,” comments Thierry Kra, managing director of PRG France.
Louis De Castro, CEO and co-founder of MADO XR, utilised over 10 years of experience working with some of the biggest fashion houses, including Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent and luxury brands such as Cartier and Baccarat, to merge his creative industry knowledge with PRG’s global reach and technical expertise to create a top notch XR studio.
“Our studio is 15m wide by 5m tall and 7m deep, meaning it has an LED backwall, a ceiling, a floor and front panels, which is a unique offering in France,” comments Yves Winand, PRG’s senior video project manager & technical advisor. “Together with MADO XR, we pulled together a set of technologies for real time tracked images to be rendered with extremely low latency, allowing the actors to
Italy - The Aosta Valley is sparsely populated, home to only about 200,000 residents within its villages and countryside. But the picturesque region tucked into Italy’s northwest corner isn’t lacking in welcoming spots where people can go to sit back and relax over a glass of beer or wine.
According to a recent study by Statista, there were 548 bars in the region before the pandemic. Sadly, many of them have gone out of business, while others have remained closed during the lockdown, but anyone can still experience the spirited conversations, conviviality and music of these establishments on the Ralbol Network’s Symosyo programme.
Airing on the network’s YouTube channel, Symosyo recreates the looks and feel of a real Italian bar, complete with songs, spirits, friendly patrons and even a crusty but amiable, bartender. Adding to the atmosphere to the show’s eight 20-minute segments is a warm and inviting lighting design by Patrick Ivarone, that features Chauvet Professional Maverick fixtures supplied by Fumasoli Audio & Lights Rental.
Ivarone lined 18 Maverick MK2 Wash fixtures and 12 MK2 Spots on the ground and on low-level truss along the back end of the set at Fumasoli’s improvised warehouse studio. He relied on these fixtures to uplight the back wall in deep rich colours, primarily reds, evoking a comfortable neighbourhood bar atmosphere, while adding greater depth to the set.
“Our goal was to create an inviting space reminiscent of a bar,” said Marco Zafutto, audio engineer on the project. “The idea for the programme c
Japan - The May Theatre, also known as the Suita City Cultural Hall, in Osaka is a venerable performing centre that has been on the Sound Engineers & Artists Society of Japan’s list of the Top 100 Best Halls by Acousticians, since it was opened in 1985. The cultural centre includes a 1,400-seat large performance hall, a medium sized hall, a reception hall and an exhibition space. The multi-faceted venue hosts concerts, operas and classical Japanese theatre, as well as social gatherings and art exhibitions.
In July 2019, the May Theatre began a thorough renovation project, including an update to the point source sound system in the large performance hall, which was well over 20 years old. “The previous point source speakers were placed inside a speaker box, which made it impossible to deliver uniform sound quality throughout the auditorium, explains Satoshi Tanio, sound engineer at May Theatre.
Tanio’s team evaluated systems from several different brands. “We chose L-Acoustics because they are the pioneers and leaders in the development of line array speakers and because their systems all have good phase characteristics.”
Japan Advanced Technology Operations (JATO) was tasked with recommending and upgrading the theatre’s system to line array, with the support of L-Acoustics certified provider distributor in Japan, Bestec Audio.
JATO’s Taiki Imamura knew that the May Theatre was working to a fixed budget, so he proposed a Kiva II-based line array system. “I was confident that the Kiva II, with its powerful SPL offered the pe
UAE - Bla Bla Dubai - which boasts 20 Bars, three Restaurants, and a Beach Club all in one venue - was created to offer a full day-to-night experience for visitors, all with views of Bluewaters Island and Ain Dubai, the world’s largest observation wheel.
Located at The Beach opposite JBR, Bla Bla Dubai is set to be at the forefront of the city’s bustling social scene, and as a result every area of the venue required an audio system to match - or even exceed - the region’s high standards.
Pulse Middle East was trusted with the job of integrating this system after Bla Bla Dubai’s management was impressed by Pulse’s extensive portfolio of work with other venues across the city including Nikki Beach Club, White Beach at Atlantis, LSB, Brass Monkey, and Wavehouse.
Pulse opted for a complex three-zone audio configuration driven by Powersoft amplifier platforms purchased from local distributor, ProLab.
“I strongly recommended Powersoft to the client as it excelled compared to other brands during the tender process,” comments the project’s audio design consultant Bengan Hovgard, who was key in the recommendation of Powersoft for this particular job. “Their products have myriad strengths, namely their system integration flexibility, intuitive power sharing and software features, and the availability of presets for many brands. They are also incredibly reliable, and the support is second to none.”
“In terms of the amplifiers, there aren’t many products on the market other than Powersoft that can handle this quantity of c
Sri Lanka - Dynamic AV Technologies recently outfitted Ceylon Theatres Regal Cinema Dematagoda with a complete Harman Professional cinema audio solution to provide immersive sound quality for moviegoers.
Ceylon Theatres is a Sri Lankan theatre chain with an 85-year history that currently operates six locations throughout the country. The latest location is a three-screen facility in Dematagoda which also houses a KFC restaurant and Food City supermarket. In order to ensure an immersive cinematic experience with clear and balanced audio quality for moviegoers, Ceylon Theatres Regal Cinema Dematagoda required modern sound systems for all three screens. Ceylon Theatres hired Dynamic AV Technologies to equip each theatre with a complete Harman Professional cinema audio solution including JBL loudspeakers and Crown amplifiers
“Working on a cinema project with Harman is easy, as they are extremely supportive in all aspects of design and commissioning," said Mohan Abeyasinghe, managing director, Dynamic AV Technologies. “The support we got from Harman was completely virtual due to the lockdown; however, it was as good as them being with us. The client is happy with the installation, as is our team.”
In two of the theatres, Dynamic AV Technologies installed JBL C221 ScreenArray cinema loudspeakers, augmented JBL 8320 compact cinema surround speakers. In the third room, the team installed JBL C222 ScreenArray cinema loudspeakers, supported by JBL 9300 cinema surround speakers. To enhance the cinematic experience with impactful low frequency extension,
Costa Rica - The elegant Teatro Nacional Costa Rica in San Jose, completed in 1897, is the jewel of the nation’s capital city and one of the most beautiful concert halls in the Americas.
Leading up to this famed structure, the visitor can gaze on sculptures of poet Calderón de la Barca and composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Further down the entry walkway are statues of Frédéric Chopin. The message delivered by this external artwork is clear: inside is a venue that treasures artistry from around the world!
Recently, the Costa Rican Philharmonic Orchestra reaffirmed this commitment by performing a virtual concert at the site. Supporting their performance and making it more vivid to viewers was the colourful light from the theatre’s newly installed Chauvet Professional COLORado 3 Solo fixtures.
The 60W RGB LED fixtures were installed just prior to the show, when the older units at the venue began to fog up unexpectedly. Stage manager Telemaco Martínez and Illuminotécnicos del Teatro’s technical team of David Rojas Rojas, Hermes Soto Loría and Manuel Zuñiga Elizondo, addressed the issue by installing the new COLORado fixtures.
“For us, as the new generation of technicians of the National Theatre of Costa Rica, it has been exciting to be part of this change from lights with halogen and tungsten to LED fixtures,” says Hermes Soto Loría.
“Taking advantage of the COLORado 3 Solo’s smooth zoom and three 60 W RGBW LED, which project an intense and fully homogenized beam, while remaining ultra-quiet, the entire team at Teatro Naci
USA - Audiovisual and lighting integrator Icon Media of Georgia is transforming a sanctuary space at Lighthouse Church in Ventura, California and has used Fuze Pendant downlights from Elation Professional for the first phase of the project.
Wanting to address their sanctuary lighting before Easter, the church initiated a house lighting overhaul as the initial step in a larger refurbishment project that will entail audio, video and lighting. Icon Media, specialists in integrated systems for houses of worship and an Elation dealer, was contacted by church leadership and strategic planning consultant’s GrowMentum to handle the project.
“We have a staff that understands the specific nuances of this market, how it operates and is structured,” states Icon Media president Brian Gore. “The HoW market requires a special approach, specific skills and sensitivities that you need to keep in mind and our experience at Icon has made us one of the front-runners. A lot of churches don't have a full-time technical staff so we help design around that and find a system that’s right for them.”
The company conducted a site survey at Lighthouse Church early in 2021 and consequently came up with a design proposal to modernize and upgrade the facility. The approximate 600-capacity worship space, a converted light industrial building, had a previous house lighting system that consisted of an array of 1000W scoop lights.
Charlie Pike, project manager at Icon Media, says the old system was both poor quality and inefficient and that LED was the obvious sol
USA - Located on the Jamul Indian Village reservation, 20 miles east of downtown San Diego, the Jamul Casino attracts visitors from across southern California. In addition to gaming, it offers multiple restaurants, bars and lounges, the newest of which is The Rooftop.
Developed on the roof of the main casino building, it provides 360° views of the surrounding valley and is used for private parties as well as regular live music performances and theme nights. Having initially rented lighting for special events, earlier this year the casino’s management invested in a permanent house rig comprised of 80 ADJ fixtures.
For a number of years, AV support for the casino has been provided by CBC Technical Inc., located in nearby Temecula, CA. The company originally rented a lighting system to the casino for live music performances and special events at The Rooftop, following its completion last year. However, as the popularity of the venue grew and its events calendar expanded, they decided to invest in having a dedicated house rig permanently installed.
CBC Technical designed and supplied a versatile lighting system comprised exclusively of ADJ fixtures, the majority of which are IP65-rated due to the outdoor nature of the space. The company’s director of production services, Michael Hoffman, was responsible for designing the house plot, which is then adapted as necessary for special events and performances. Michael also serves as resident LD to the venue, coming in to setup custom looks for private parties or to run the lighting for featured special g
Estonia - The five-decade old Saarepeedi Cultural Centre recently sought out a new PA for its facility and brought on Heliart OÜ for the project. Priit Kivimägi, CEO of Heliart OÜ, and his team were looking for a system with high SPL, consistent coverage and exceptional vocal intelligibility. Eastern Acoustic Works’ QX300 Series speaker system along with its RL18S Active Subwoofers were selected for their audio capabilities as well as its ease of use.
The Saarepeedi Cultural Centre, located in southern Estonia near Viljandi, is often considered the heart of Estonian folk music. Serving as a multi-functional venue for the local community, the space is used for different activities and performing arts including theatrical and dance events, seminars, rehearsals, sports and musical acts including choirs and live bands.
The main PA consists of two EAW QX364’s flown in left-right position supplemented by four EAW RL18S subwoofers positioned in the centre of the stage. The team was limited by the construction of the building as to where to place the subwoofers, therefore, custom frames were built around the structures inside the stage to accommodate two cardioid pairs of RL18S subwoofers.
“The large 4-inch voice coil compression driver with constant directivity horn is surrounded by two pairs of phase-aligned high power 10-inch low frequency drivers,” says Kivimägi. “This extends the pattern control to lower frequencies and therefore keeps the energy off the walls and ceiling, and in the audience area. This really helped combat the acoustica
UK - Entertainments venue, Grimsby Auditorium, has recently upgraded its sound desk to an Allen & Heath Avantis.
Based in North East Lincolnshire, Grimsby Auditorium is an intimate custom designed venue. Since opening its doors in 1995, it has played host to a number of high-profile performers as well as international touring acts and shows, including: Starlight Express, Blood Brothers and Calendar Girls, Jimmy Carr, Peter Kay and Sarah Millican), and international rock acts Morrissey, Kasabian and The Stereophonics.
Shane Jackson, Grimsby Auditorium’s stage manager commented: “After having our previous sound desk for around 15 year we felt it was time to upgrade to some newer technology. We have no doubt that this will have a positive impact on upcoming productions as well as our customers experience. Having researched our options and considered what was on the market we felt that the Allen & Heath Avantis was the perfect fit for the venue.”
With the glimmer of hope for productions that came following the government roadmap, the new sound desk is getting its first show in June, where the Avantis will be used to do sound for a six- piece band.
“From the brief time we have had the desk I know it will be a new favourite among the team. The layout is very logical and very simple to use. Allen & Heath have created a great desk. It offers huge flexibility for both input and output, all doable at 96khz, with 42 mix busses its more than enough for our venue needs. The FX processing works incredibly well, and I
World - When show producers welcome throngs of enthusiastic Harry Potter fans to the live stage production of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, they want to immerse the audience in a show experience like no other. Based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage.
With demanding production requirements, show producers turned to multi-award-winning sound designer Gareth Fry, and his experience with technologies from d&b audiotechnik, to cast a spell over the audience.
“There's a big responsibility when you're working with such iconic characters and stories; the audience has a strong, emotional attachment to what's happening on stage,” explains Gareth Fry. “With such an invested audience, we're under pressure to produce the best show we can. There are big, epic scenes with lots of characters, and then there are also very quiet scenes where it's just two people talking - we need to make sure every seat in the house hears everything perfectly.”
Fry says that the director, John Tiffany, demanded that the sound quality be exceptional and that every production in each location have the same level of quality as the London production, or better. This means Fry and the team needed a sound system that could not only deliver the required quality and control to cover every seat in the house, but also flexible enough to work within a wide variety of theatres around t