USA - Flogging Molly’s 21-city Road To Rebellion tour started 16 February at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut and closed 17 March, St. Patrick’s Day, at the downtown Las Vegas Events Centre.
Keeping pace with all the hand clapping and sing-alongs is a colourful and lively Peter Therrien lightshow that features a 100-percent Chauvet Professional floor package supplied by JDI Productions.
“I do build a page for every song with Flogging, but nothing is timecoded, as it’s all about spontaneity and freshness,” said Therrien who ran his show on a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console. “As far as my colour selection goes, it’s based on the feeling I have for the band’s music. So, for instance, when I hear ‘Drunken Lullabies’ it’s always white. I’ve tried blue and amber in the past, but it just feels wrong. The colour choice has to be in the moment.”
Helping Therrien create this party rainbow are eight Maverick MK1 Spot fixtures, eight Color Strike M motorised strobe-washes, 14 Rogue R1 BeamWash units, 12 ÉPIX Bar Tour strips and one Ovation 2805FV batten. Adding brightness, geometric forms and audience lighting to the mix are 12 Nexus Aw 7x7 panels.
This rig was positioned on four 8ft I-stand truss structures, and two 5’ wheeled trusses. Therrien hung two Color Strike M units on the face of each tower. “I like to use the plates as a wash behind the band,” he explained. “Also, love the incredible plate effects for eye candy. I’ll also use the white tubes as a powerful hit effect during various parts of the
Qatar - Qatar Vision (Qvision) utilised a wide array of Claypaky lighting for the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023. The fixtures illuminated pre-match ceremonies, the Fan Zone and coronation ceremony at the 18th edition of the cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation.
Although the event bore a 2023 date, it was scheduled for 12 January to 10 February 10, 2024 due to Qatar’s high summer temperatures. Twenty-four national teams participated with host Qatar the defending champion and, as it turned out, the repeat title winner. Four cities in Qatar furnished nine stadium venues for the games, including Lusail Stadium, with a capacity of nearly 89,000, hosting the opening and final matches.
Based in Doha, Qvision offers a comprehensive slate of event production, technical integration solutions, marketing, creative design, video production, information technology and large-scale branding to a roster of international clients.
For the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, Qvision played a central role in every stage of the tournament process from inception to execution. Their execution of stadium infotainment, pre-match ceremonies, the coronation ceremony, and fan zone activations delivered ‘an unforgettable experience for both spectators and participants’.
Among the tasks that Qvision was charged with were the implementation of comprehensive technical AV overlays across all nine stadiums; the development, production, and delivery of stadium infotainment for all 51 matches; leading the creation of bespoke pr
Portugal - Nescafé presented its new Dolce Gusto NEO coffee machine in Portugal, which was complemented by a spectacular 182,000 lumen immersive projection display.
ADLC Audiovisuais selected nine Christie projectors to flood the auditorium of the Fundação Champalimaud in Lisbon with light and colour for the official presentation. At the launch event, produced by the UPPartner agency for Nescafé, approximately 300 guests had the opportunity to participate in an unforgettable experience that integrated artificial intelligence, human avatars, video projection, tasting areas, and exclusive personalised animations.
The event placed a special emphasis on the brand’s strong commitment to sustainability, as both the machines and the capsules are made from recycled materials. In addition, all materials used by Nescafé in the presentation were able to be recycled after the event. An impressive 22.5m wide by 8.20m long wraparound screen lit by five Christie M 4K25 RGB pure laser projectors engaged the audience.
Two additional Christie 3DLP projectors illuminated the stage floor to complete the immersive experience. Various images related to the brand were projected, while a group of dancers from the company Ritmos Urbanos performed choreographies that interacted with the projection. In addition, two Christie D13WU2-HS laser projectors, with 1DLP technology, WUXGA resolution, and 13,500 lumens, projected on two large screens shaped like glasses that were located on the wall of the auditorium.
“These projections, with such an original format, c
Saudi Arabia - Despite only launching in 2022, Gamers8 has become the largest globally recognised Esports tournament. Taking place in Riyadh over eight weeks, this year’s Land of Heroes event kicked off on 6 July, bringing together gaming enthusiasts from all corners of the world, who competed to take home cash prizes and the Gamers8 trophy.
The production behind Gamers8 is considerable, as alongside the intense gaming tournaments it also plays host to live concerts, attractions, and entertainment shows. A line-up of world-renowned artists and DJs, including Afrojack, Macklemore, Iggy Azalea, Imagine Dragons and more performed across its eight stages this year, in a show-stopping production.
Visual design and technology studio bright! studios were responsible for the media playback and virtual production of the gaming tournament elements of the event. bright! worked alongside other production companies and a pool of freelance technicians to take care of on-site virtual production, as well as augmented reality, lighting design and show control.
“Gamers8 is an incredibly big project,” begins Leon Herche, creative producer at bright! studios. “Stage Precision’s SP platform was imperative to the work we were doing, as it was able to handle and control many different hardware and software platforms. We had around 30 Unreal Engine machines, 28 tracked cameras and 36 disguise servers that were all controlled using SP.”
Stage Precision’s SP software is a data and control platform for tracking workflows, virtual production and advanced
Spain - Visitors to ISE in Barcelona were greeted by the sight of a custom-made 7.5m umbrella, where 61,500,000 pixels of animations enlivened every panel using six 10-bit, 4K, 20,000-Lumen projectors which were driven by Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers.
The project was realised by UK-based Motion Mapping, who were challenged with creating the concept and delivering the unusual exhibit, which was rigged on the Epson stand.
“We managed to load up the two Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers with the new Hippotizer 4.9 software and used the SHAPE toolkit to 3D map the undulating surfaces of the umbrella’s many panels,” says Stuart Harris of Motion Mapping. “We constructed a 3D model in C4D and then the real thing was constructed in Germany. SHAPE helped us to calculate everything and visualise it all in pre-production and then blend and line it all up on-site. We worked closely with Epson’s stand designer to achieve the projector positions, above their stand. I find Hippotizer to be adaptable and SHAPE is our go-to for many projects.”
The team worked with the eight panels of the umbrella and the canvas as a whole, with graphics focusing on images of a spinning world which zoomed in on individual countries, and a range of other content. The bright colours on each panel showcased vivid colours and high intensity graphics. Green Hippo’s technical product manager Nick Spencer and Hippotizer product architect Zep Mouris were on site to offer support if required. “The support we get from them is second to none,” adds Harris.
Namibia - Etosha National Park in Namibia sprawls across a landscape of golden sunsets, sheltering endangered species and the Etosha Pan – Africa’s largest salt pan that attracts over 250,000 nature enthusiasts and adventurers every year.
The park’s luxurious Mokuti Etosha lodge, owned by the O&L Group, has recently undergone an extensive audio-visual transformation, designed and installed by Stage Audio Works (SAW) Namibia. As a long-standing client of SAW Namibia, the O&L Group entrusted them to completely re-imagine Mokuti Etosha’s conference space while also enhancing the surrounding pool and bar areas with an easy-to-use audio and lighting control solution. The outcome is truly remarkable and has elevated the overall experience for guests and visitors.
“O&L Leisure is a loyal client of ours and we wanted to assist them in offering their guests the highest level of audio and visual services,” advises Johadrie de Villiers, general manager at Stage Audio Works Namibia. “Whether there is great sound quality when guests are shopping for souvenirs in the gift shop, lounging next to the pool, dining in the restaurant, attending an event or when they need to conduct a video conference call whilst on holiday, Mokuti Etosha now has the technical infrastructure to offer its guests all of this and more.”
SAW Namibia devised a conferencing solution leveraging cutting-edge technology from Crestron, Sennheiser, Xilica, and Audac, crafting a distinctive experience tailored to the lodge's needs, while enabling seamless connectivit
USA - Scott Chmielewski of DMDS7UDIOS is employing a large rig of Dartz 360 narrow-beam luminaires from Elation to support the mesmerising performances of renowned magician Mat Franco at The LINQ Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Chmielewski addressed an initial refresh of the show in 2021 before undertaking a complete redesign of the entire show, stage and theatre in early 2023, collaborating with director Brian Burke, art director Joe Oneill and Mat Franco himself.
Since headlining at The LINQ in 2015, Mat Franco's Magic Reinvented Nightly has garnered accolades and captivated audiences. Performing to 600 guests for 90 minutes, the show features Franco’s signature tricks, yet leaves enough room for improvisation, making each night a different experience.
Although a magician could choose to rely on lighting as an important aid in a magic show, Chmielewski says that Franco was more concerned with using lighting to raise the overall aesthetic of the show. “Mat is an amazing magician and doesn’t rely very heavily on lighting effects to hide or create the magic. His goal and intention was to have a very theatrical show and utilize the latest lighting and video technologies to bring his show up to and past the calibre of a Las Vegas residency.”
According to Scott, Franco is deeply involved in every step of the process but also trusts his team and believes in the art of organic creation. Once a final design concept was decided upon, the magician let the creative team run with the ideas. “He of course had some creative opinions through t
Italy - Russell Crowe is known for his acting talents, but on the third night of The Sanremo Music Festival he took to the stage as a crooner and sang Let Your Light Shine. Another American, actor, John Travolta, also tried his hand at singing a couple of nights earlier. Such is the musical pull of this five-day event, which celebrated its 74th year this February.
Capturing the flavour of the festival up close was Radio Italia's popular Fuori Sanremo, a programme that featured all of the artists from the festival with interviews and live performances recorded in a studio specially set up in this Mediterranean costal city’s Grand Hotel Londra.
Lighting designer Ivan Lavezzoli created an elegantly engaging atmosphere for Fuori Sanremo with a setup that featured Chauvet Professional fixtures imported by Zalight.
“We organised the setup to best manage, with a single stage, two distinct moments: the afternoon interviews, and immediately after the evening live show,” explained Lavezzoli. “Therefore, I chose very versatile products, to have the possibility of setting up a mini live set in just over an hour.”
To accomplish this, Lavezzoli positioned seven COLORado PXL12 Curve motorised LED bars on the ground along two sides of the stage and interspersed them with seven Rogue Outcast BeamWash moving heads. He also placed four WELL STXZX 360 tubes in the centre of the stage, to create a dimensional relationship between the singers, the surrounding space, and the background LED Wall. For the USA acts he added 10 COLORdash A
Belgium - The Belgium Jazz Orchestra prides itself on doing things differently. Collaboration is at its heart and by composing original music and creating unique arrangements they ensure that their shows are anything but standard.
Performed in six different venues, BJO30 was a celebration of the orchestra’s achievements over the last 30 years. Support for these inventive artists came from Belgium based concert and touring sound specialists MONO. The team decided that the best option to provide a dedicated, robust, well-designed in-ear monitoring solution would be KLANG, combined with a DiGiCo SD12-96 and two D2-Racks.
Enabling the core orchestra of 17 and the additional 13 visiting musicians to perform at their best over the almost three-hour concert required a spacious and calm monitor mix. Something that MONO sound engineer Bart Lebegge decided could not be done with a standard stereo mix.
“We consciously chose to provide a mix with carefully considered elements so that we had more channels available to really allow the space required by the musicians.” He says, “By going for 40 channels in KLANG, we were able to create an open and detailed, but also calm and spacious balance of this busy program.”
Taking this approach meant that Lebegge was able to keep channel processing to a minimum, providing five different IEM mixes with 40 channels of audio in each. Delivering the details and accents that the BJO musicians needed to hear, but with a level of clarity that he thought would quickly be lost in a standard stereo mix.
Moni
UAE - When the UR&E team received a job enquiry back in July 2022, nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary about it. Little would they know that 18 months later, they would be involved with one of the biggest box office successes of the year on the set of Dune: Part 2.
The epic science fiction film, produced by Legendary Pictures, directed by Denis Villenueve and distributed by Warner Bros Pictures, is the sequel to Dune (2021). It follows Paul Atriedes as he unites with the Fremen people of the desert planet Arrakis to wage war against House Harkonnen. So far this year it has grossed over $197m making it the fifth highest grossing film of 2024.
The UR&E team was asked to supply a rental of almost 2000rm of truss in 30cm, 40cm and 52cm, that required delivery as far as the Liwa Area of Abu Dhabi. Unlike other projects in theatres or arena shows where the requirements are known well in advance, the movie set experience couldn’t have been more different.
Denis Bramhall, managing owner together with Joie Salar, project coordinator at UR&E said: “The greatest challenge on this job was the increasing and changing requirements day by day with the rental period overlapping from one LX Rigging Truss requirement to another Grip Truss, and having to make sure that all truss requirements were supplied on time. This was all happening between October to December – our busiest season of the year. Fortunately, we have a warehouse resembling Aladdin’s Cave and so their wish was our command – but it really stretched us to
UK - Having supported Michael McIntyre tours for many years (as Capital Sound) with Martin Audio solutions, Solotech UK has again been entrusted with providing sound reinforcement on the stand-up comedian’s current Macnificent 2023-24 arena tour.
MLA had successfully graced the last two tours, but this time Solotech switched up to the British manufacturer’s newer flagship large-format line array, WPL.
The Off The Kerb production team behind the tour remains the same, with Neil McDonald once again overseeing the tech. “It’s a pleasure to be working again with Neil and the team at Off the Kerb,” stated Solotech UK senior account manager, Robin Conway. “We discussed the tour back in late 2022 and the only thing we’ve changed is the model of PA. The design is very similar, and Wavefront Precision is a newer and more lightweight cabinet than the MLA,” he adds by way of explanation. “I was 100% confident it could achieve the same success as MLA has on the previous tours.”
Conway himself masterminded the system design that the new FOH sound team would be entrusted with, knowing it would need to be scalable. He knew it would be in safe hands with system tech Rylan Machin, who is vastly experienced in working with the Martin Audio platforms. “Once out on the road he and Tim [crew chief and monitor engineer Tim Paterson], Sam [PA tech Sam Brazier] and Jason [FOH engineer Jason Barton, mixing on a Yamaha QL5] have been fine tuning the deployment.”
The PA is scalable, depending on venue size, but in all instances is driven in the o
Slovenia - Popular vocal group Perpetuum Jazzile celebrated their 40th anniversary with a series of high-profile shows at Ljubljana’s Cankarjev Dom, the country’s biggest theatre venue, asking Crt Birsa from design studio Blackout to create lighting suitable for the occasion.
With the assistance of substantial quantities of Robe moving lights, Crt created an impressive visual showcase, working closely with Mark Pirc, brought in as video content creator and co-show director with Aljaz Bastic for these special performances.
Crt has lit the group several times over the last 10 years, and specifically more regularly in the last two after as Blackout has become their permanent lighting design provider. In fact, Crt’s first proper arena design was 10 years ago with Perpetuum Jazzile for their 30th anniversary.
For this show, the basic elements of his programming from the last two years were taken as the starting point. Initial ideas for the 40th included a stage at 45% to the audience with a shallow thrust protruding in an arrow shape, and above that they wanted a circular truss, which Crt morphed into a triangular shape that more harmoniously mimics the shape of the deck below.
He then filled the 8m equilateral triangular truss above the performance space with lights rigged on sub trusses, creating a slightly Floydesque ‘monumental chandelier’ effect that provided multiple layers of lighting that could be stripped right back or fattened out, depending on the vibe of the song.
The concept dovetailed with the other visual aspects
USA - The diversity which endows fashion with the power to build bridges across cultures was celebrated during New York Fashion Week at Runway 7, one of the renowned event’s premier attractions.
Held at the Sony Hall, Runway 7 was organised around a ‘Made In’ theme that featured designs endemic to different regions of the world. The work of a record 117 designers from 10 different nations were highlighted during the event’s four-day run.
From Anjali Phougat’s blend of Indian and western styles, to Microteje’s Chilean streetwear, Runway 7 showcased a global array of stylings. Accenting the artistry of these creations was a Myles Mangino lighting design that featured 20 Ovation E-260WW warm white ellipsoidals.
Supplied by ATD AV, the ellipsoidals were positioned primarily on each side of the runway. A smaller number of Ovation E-260WWs, generally between five and seven units, depending on the show, were arranged at the end of the runway.
Drawing on the smooth even field of light produced by the 230-watt fixture (it has the output of a 750W tungsten), and its smooth dimming curve, Mangino created a supportive lighting environment for the show. The fixtures’ selectable Pulse Width Modulation helped ensure that his looks were camera friendly for the much videoed and photographed show.
“I prefer single chip COB warm white fixtures like this for runway shows,” said Mangino. “I like their high CRI and how they more closely emulate tungsten for warm natural skin tones, as well as the correct colour rendering on the clothing.
Switzerland - Among the highest-attended ski races in the world, the Lauberhorn Alpine World Cup was inaugurated in 1930 and has been a highlight in the Swiss winter sports calendar ever since.
Long-time technical provider for the event, Stagepro, deployed a Wharfedale Pro audio solution at the event for the first time this year. With a total of 80,000 on-site spectators and a television viewership of 1.2m, the event required a reliable and professional audio solution. A combination of Wharfedale Pro’s WLA-1 line array systems provided the quality and coverage required for an event of such high acclaim.
"The Lauberhorn Ski Race is a longstanding tradition, and we've been supporting it for around 20 years,” explains Markus Walther, owner of Stagepro. “This year was special because we integrated the Wharfedale Pro system for a significant part of the racing sound system. The decision was driven by our positive experience with Wharfedale Pro in a project in Interlaken last year and the exceptional support we received from our local distributor, Sacher Music."
The Wharfedale Pro system covered various zones for the three-day long event, including the Girmschbielspectator area with approximately 18,000 attendees, the race finish area, and a dedicated DJ zone. The Girmschbiel zone featured four arrays, flown from specially built towers. The arrays consisted of a combination of WLA-112 and WLA121SUB loudspeakers, powered by four DP-4100N and two DP-2200N Wharfedale Pro amplifiers, connected via a Dante network.
At the race finish area, audi
Italy - Mods Art, the 1 Sound distributor in Italy, recently worked with Andrea Bocelli’s audio team to provide audio support for a private event in Italy. David Barbagli, who is a FOH/monitor engineer, currently working with Andrea Bocelli, Placido Domingo, and José Carreras, chose 1 Sound’s new Cannon C8 loudspeaker as Bocelli’s floor monitors for this live performance.
After hearing the Cannon C8 during sound check, Andrea Bocelli said: "Wow, such a big sound is coming out from such a small cube? I love it!", as he held the speaker in his hands. 1 Sound released the Cannon C8 last year, as the final loudspeaker to complete the Cannon Series of high-fidelity, pro-audio loudspeakers with extended low-end.
For this Andrea Bocelli performance, the Cannon C8s acted as floor monitors for pianist Carlo Bernini, flutist Andrea Griminelli, and singers, Ilaria Della Bidia and Andrea Bocelli. The audio team utilised the Cannon C-Clamp accessory for the speaker aiming.
“As a permanent part of Andrea Bocelli's audio engineer international team, I've had the chance to use a lot of different sound gear worldwide, with excellent results. But due to my experience with classic orchestras and opera singers, I am always pursuing perfection and I was happy to try the new 1 Sound C8 in monitor configuration for Andrea,” says David Barbagli, FOH/monitor engineer for Andrea Bocelli’s international team. “I have obtained an over-expected result. The Cannon C8's natural reproduction of the highs is amazing, as well as the bass deepness, so natural and no
South Africa - ULTRA Events recently supported the much-anticipated return of the pop-folk band Milky Chance to the stage in South Africa. The creative technical supplier provided a complete package including a full d&b audiotechnik sound system.
The performance at Green Point A-Track Stadium, Cape Town, and part of a three-leg tour of South Africa, was produced in collaboration with Break Out Events and Rogue Entertainment.
The show, part of the album tour for Living in a Haze, was supported by Neon Dreams and Sean Koch in Cape Town and was a long-awaited reunion of the band and their South African fan base. The duo shared: “It’s been way too long since we were over in South Africa. Back then it was so special for so many reasons and we felt welcomed by the people.”
Having recently expanded their d&b stock with the purchase of a set of AL90s, ULTRA Events was confident that a V-Series system would provide excellent audio quality and coverage for the 5,500 guests that attended.
Powered by D80 amplifiers, the sound system was based around d&b’s V-Series line array loudspeakers. This included 20 V8s and four V12s, stacked in a left-right configuration on either side of the stage plus a centre subcluster of 18 B22 subwoofers supplemented by two J-INFRA subs for extended low-end. Two AL90s were deployed as front fills and on-stage monitoring was handled by six M4 monitors.
Control over the audio output was of utmost importance for this project, owing to the location of the stadium within the built-up CBD busin
Denmark - Lighting designer Mikael Kratt was among the first visiting creatives to use the Royal Danish Opera’s new Robe Forte moving lights in a recent production at the Copenhagen Opera House.
This was for Som I Himlen (As It Is in Heaven) a lively and heartwarming musical adaptation directed by Edward af Sillén of a 2004 Swedish movie telling the story of a famous conductor who returns to his small Swedish hometown in the North of the country to retire and is asked to help with mentoring the school choir.
It was Mikael’s first time using Fortes, 80 of which arrived at the Copenhagen Opera House in summer via Robe’s Danish distributor Light Partner. The package features 32 x Forte Profiles, 34 x Forte Fresnels, four Forte FSs (follow spots) and 10 x iFortes, all part of a technical upgrade that was installed just in time for the restart of the high-profile venue’s winter programme.
Som I Himlen is a co-production with Malmo Opera and was first produced there in 2021. Mikael has worked with the director Edward before and was asked to collaborate on this production by him.
There were no Robe moving lights involved in that production as Mikael utilised Malmo Opera’s repertory rig. The entire creative team from the popular Malmo show helped to deliver the production in Copenhagen.
With many intimate moments in the show, the set, designed by Kim Witzel, was pushed as far downstage and as close to the audience possible, where there were fewer rigging points for lights, and the orchestra - who figures promin
UK - Hosted for the first time by David Tennant, the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards took place on Sunday 18 February at London's Royal Festival Hall, and was broadcast internationally on BBC One, iPlayer and BritBox International. With cinema enjoying a strong post-pandemic resurgence, partly thanks to the Barbie/Oppenheimer effect, the BAFTA Film Awards has lost none of its prestige.
Attended by the President of BAFTA, HRH the Prince of Wales, 25 Awards were presented - voted for by over 7,500 BAFTA creatives and film industry practitioners - for categories that included Best Director, Cinematography, Documentary and Film Not in the English Language.
TV, broadcast and event lighting specialists, Version 2, traditionally known for its involvement in television lighting was, for the first time, the official lighting supplier for the occasion. Version 2 supplied lighting and manpower for the live Awards ceremony, artists performances and the traditional obituary tribute, as well as the audience lighting and the live event broadcast.
Also involved in designing for the Awards for the first time were veteran lighting director, Tim Routledge, of Tim Routledge Lighting Design and set designer, Julio Himede from Yellow Studio New York, in a partnership first formed for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023.
"It's a tricky show as you are only in the venue for a short time with a very short load in and load out," explains Routledge. "The live show starts at 6pm and is broadcast as live on television around 8pm, so there is a super-quick turnaround to
Italy - Raffa in the Sky is a tribute opera to Raffaella Carrà, a prominent Italian TV personality. It is the story of an artistic career that not only evolved with the changes in Italian society over the last half a century but occasionally inspired them. Through Carrà's extraordinary experience, the work also aims to reflect on the artist's role in society, the value and use of art, and the role of television and other media, not forgetting the songs she performed.
Show lighting designer Alessandro Anderoli comments: "The Fondazione del Teatro Donizetti has been working with Claypaky for over a year, and there was a mutual desire for a Bergamo-based partnership. Moreover, the Claypaky technical team have always solved our problems promptly when needed. This is an absolute linchpin for me.”
Alessandro Andreoli elaborates on the role of the Claypaky Sinfonya Profile during the show: "Its special value in this opera lies in its main feature, the ability to vary the colour temperature of the LED engine, along with the light's extraordinary technical performance across all parameters. From the beginning, it was clear that the Italian national broadcasting company (RAI) was going to film the opera, and the Sinfonya Profiles enabled me to confidently program the fixtures during rehearsals, knowing that I could later optimise the effects without drastically altering them once we were joined by the technicians for the shoot. They had specific colour temperature requirements for balanced in-camera images.
In addition to the Sinfonya Profiles, th
Ireland - Keith Alexander, a Dublin-based freelance sound recordist, began his career in the music industry managing bands and fostering a lifelong passion for sound and music. His love for studio recording led him to work in Windmill Lane Studio in Dublin. Keith consistently used Rycote's products for his recording sessions, both in the studio and on location. Recently, he faced the wind for a challenging project off the coast of Ireland.
"My early experience in music and managing bands ignited my passion for sound and music," says Alexander. "This enthusiasm led me to discover studio recording, opening up a whole new world."
After transitioning from the music studio to location sound, Alexander then moved into post-production for cinema and TV, and then to animation. His diverse experience in the sound industry has given him a unique perspective and rich expertise in his field.
Keith has recently been involved in some concurrent projects on the Aran Islands, off the coast of Ireland, that came with significant challenges for sound and voice recording. These projects required robust, versatile and reliable kit that could withstand the harsh conditions.
Employing the Rycote Nanoshield, together with a HC-22 mic, a pair of HC-15's short shotgun microphones and the CA-08 cardioid mic for different recording situations. For one of the projects, Alexander spent three days on the island recording sound effects. To capture the essence of the island effectively, he could use the elements to design a soundscape for the movie that was being produced f
USA - Grammy-winning bluegrass artist Billy Strings was inspired on a European tour bus with the idea of placing ‘UFO pods’ above the heads the musicians on stage.
The artist discussed this concept with his LD Roger Grant, who drew up some sketches. That’s when Matthieu Larivée and his team at Lüz Studio came in. “Billy and Roger present these drawings to us and that was the starting point,” said Larivée. “This idea kicked off our creative process.”
The ultimate result of that process is a production that is adding a captivating and immersive dimension to Billy Strings’ current North American arena and amphitheatre tour. With its brilliantly illuminated circles above and below each of the five musicians on stage, as well as its free-flowing curved background patterns of light and video, the transformative design evokes a sense of infinite movement and freedom, a perfect accompaniment to this gifted star’s music.
Contributing to the power of the design is a collection of 70 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Bandit Lites. Featured most prominently in this group are 40 Rogue Outcast 1 BeamWashes, which were flown in the UFO pods above the band.
“They were our main wash light,” said Larivée. “Being compact and bright enough to create an impact for solos made them ideal for this show. We were also able to use their halo feature, which is similar to the pod ‘s halos.”
Elaborating on why the pods worked so well in this design, Larivée noted: “Bluegrass is very unique, because it’s all about music.
Finland - The Helsinki Music Centre (Musiikkitalo Helsinki) has just invested in its first Robert Juliat followspots – four long-throw 800W LED Arthur LT – for its main concert hall. The followspots were sourced through Intersonic, Robert Juliat’s exclusive distributor for Finland.
The team at Musiikkitalo had a specific list of criteria when looking for their new followspots. The fixtures needed to be very quiet, bright enough for serious television productions from distances over 30m, in both daylight- and tungsten colour temperatures; have a narrow zoom so no light would be lost by using an iris; be easy to operate, have good DMX control and, crucially, an LED light source. “Put simply, we wanted to have the best followspots available,” says the venue´s head of light, Valo Virtanen.
Virtanen spent a long time comparing followspots, and when he saw the new 800W LED unit from RJ, he requested one for testing from local distributor, Intersonic. “We made some serious tests together with sound engineers and camera teams; our second Head of Light, Tuukka Aimasmäki, made a DMX profile for our lighting console and took light quality measurements,” says Virtanen.
“We also knew Robert Juliat´s reputation as the most specified followspots in the world and have experienced of them from hiring them for previous shows. The tests went very well so we ordered spots. Intersonic has done very good job with testing and delivering, and with supporting us throughout.”
Musiikkitalo’s audience is seated in-the-round so good 360° coverage
UK - Touring musicals I Should Be So Lucky and Just For One Day have one thing in common – both utilise Brompton Technology LED processing and INFiLED displays provided by audio visual equipment rental company, Stage Sound Services (SSS).
The combination delivers a noticeable difference in colour reproduction, especially at lower brightness levels. SSS worked with system designer and engineer, Dan Trenchard, and video designer, Andrzej Goulding, on both productions to deploy LED equipment to great effect on these highly successful shows.
Phil Hurley, SSS’s owner, notes that with 95 percent of their work being theatre specific, staying at the forefront of the latest technologies for the market is crucial.
“We’ve been supplying video for some of the biggest theatre shows for the last 10-15 years and knew we needed to find the right time to invest in LED technology; theatre is a fast, fluid market with many design requirements, but there are also budgetary constraints,” he says.
“We first used LED with Brompton processors in 2021 on The Drifters Girl. From the conversations that followed with production engineers and designers, we knew that Brompton had established itself as an industry standard, as it offers high-end LED processing that allows theatre creatives to do what they need to do.”
As a result, at the end of 2023, SSS decided to purchase a number of 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors and Tessera XD data distribution units for I Should Be So Lucky. “We added more Brompton Tessera products for the
UAE - Prolights EclDisplay DAT fixtures have have been installed in the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, a project that represents a fusion of technology and architectural design with significant cultural importance. This initiative marks the first time that the three Abrahamic religions - Islam, Catholicism, and Judaism - coexist within the same space.
In such a context, adopting an advanced lighting solution was imperative. The collaboration between Prolab, the distributor of Prolights in GCC and MENA regions, and the installation carried out by Triangle Power Solutions led to the installation of 100 LED EclDisplay DAT projectors. These fixtures created the appropriate atmosphere within the exhibition area, making light a fundamental element in the project's narrative.
This lighting highlights the importance of unity and diversity through the medium of light. The EclDisplay DAT series projectors are known for their ease of installation, thanks to their Remote Device Management (RDM) capabilities that simplify configuration and addressing, thereby improving overall operational efficiency.
Thanks to its innovative design and technical efficiency, the EclDisplay DAT series contributes to creating an immersive experience, ‘reinforcing the thematic essence of unity and diversity intrinsic to the Abrahamic Family House’. The ability to exceptionally complement the architecture and enhance the visitors' experience demonstrates the invaluable contribution of a tailored lighting strategy to projects of such significant cultural and historical im