Projects

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05 November 2024

UK - Blue Thunder Sound is based just outside Ivybridge in Devon. The company was founded by Jake Prowse and has been running for the last 14 years, supplying events equipment to festivals all over the country, and touring internationally. Purchasing a DiGiCo Quantum 225 has been a game-changer for the company and the Big Weekender at Yeovil was the first outing for the console.

Jake Prowse, managing director and Ryan Gardner, senior audio engineer say the new Quantum 225 complements their existing inventory and is a perfect fit for their style of working. “The versatility of the Q225 is very important,” says Gardner. “We do festivals over the summer, but we are also doing theatre shows and corporate events. We need a console that has a simple user interface and is as versatile as we are as a company. The Quantum 225 can do all of this and mor

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05 November 2024

Portugal - Since the inauguration of Portugal’s Golden Globes awards ceremony back in 1996, production company Auditiv Audiovisuais has supported the event with advanced sound reinforcement and broadcast.

The company recently returned to the 4,300-capacity Coliseu dos Recreios in Lisbon with a Martin Audio WPC line array, providing the auditorium sound for the first time at the 2024 edition.

According to Auditiv directors Daniel Bekerman and João Escada, who also served as the event’s technical directors, the decision to deploy this advanced scalable PA was largely driven by a desire for innovation. They recognised that this solution would adapt to the space, be visually unobtrusive, provide improved coverage and adhere to the venue’s significant weight limitations.

Two hangs of 12 WPC speakers were deployed – powered by Martin Audio

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05 November 2024

Australia - Intense Lighting has expanded its inventory with Prolights EclProfile CT+ fixtures. This upgrade allowed the company to support the world premiere of Gilgamesh, a production by the Sydney Chamber Opera in collaboration with Opera Australia.

Ian Garrad, director of Intense Lighting, stated: "The Prolights EclProfile CT+ fixtures have proven essential to our work. Not only do they offer superior brightness, but the integrated homogeniser ensures flawless colour mixing, simplifying on-site operations. Their compatibility with our existing accessories was another key factor in the success of the installation."

The EclProfile CT+ model was selected for its optical performance, featuring optimised light output and advanced colour management through its six-colour LED source with a high CRI. These features enabled versatile lighting tha

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04 November 2024

USA - Working with lead designer AECOM and Turner Construction, Clair Global Integration (CGI) was engaged to design and install innovative technical solutions to the Intuit Dome basketball arena, home of the LA Clippers.

In addition, the $2bn, 18,000-capacity venue announced Clair Global touring client, Bruno Mars, as its opening act, placing Clair's rental and installation divisions in close collaboration for the Inglewood, CA, arena's first live event.

"The great thing about the LA Clippers is their dedication to the fans – as an organisation they wanted this facility to engage sports and music fans instantly," says CGI VP of sports integration, Demetrius Palavos. "Steve Ballmer, LA Clippers chairman, has a background in powerful technology and understands perfectly how it can become a lever to meaningfully interact with patrons."

Ballme

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04 November 2024

USA/Italy - Princess Cruises has chosen Robe Lighting for Sun Princess, the latest addition to the Princess fleet.

With a capacity of 5,900, the Sun Princess boasts various entertainment venues and concepts. The ship has been equipped with a comprehensive Robe Lighting package, including four Forte FSs, four RoboSpot systems, 27 Esprites, 76 Paintes, 22 Spiider LED wash beams, 24 LEDBeam 350s, 43 LEDBeam 150s, 57 Spikie+ and 14 T11 Profiles with gobo modules, plus 21 ParFect 150s, 42 Tetra1s, 30 iPaintes, 13 iSpiiders, 17 iBeam 350s, 5 iTetra2s and 19 iBar 15s.

The Princess Arena, the most technologically advanced Princess Theatre design, offers three configurations to maximise sightlines and deliver a truly captivating experience. The Dome, featuring a pool by sunlight and a stage for shows by starlight, is a glass-enclosed space inspired by the hil

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04 November 2024

USA - Claypaky Xtylos played a key role in Limp Bizkit’s 2024 Loserville Tour, the nu-metal band’s 24-stop North American summer road show. Las Vegas-based OSA International provided the full production package for the tour, including audio, lighting and cameras.

The Loserville Tour kicked off in Wisconsin in July and wrapped in San Bernardino, California at the end of August. Justin Wade, who has worked with Limp Bizkit for about two years, served as lighting designer, programmer and operator for the tour.

“I was looking for a punchy beam that would cut through outside natural elements for this all-amphitheatre tour,” Wade explains.  

“Mark Fetto at OSA International steered me to Xtylos, whose laser source makes it a lot stronger than many other beams. And at a time when so many lights are getting bigger and bi

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04 November 2024

USA - The 67th annual Monterey Jazz Festival featured performances by artists like Mavis Staples, Stanley Clarke, and Samara Joy. The festival was powered by a Meyer Sound Panther system paired with 2100‑LFC elements, all provided by McCune Audio. Meyer’s technical design specialist, Tom Dalske, provided ground support throughout the event.

“It was great to see an updated Meyer Sound rig in the arena this year,” says Dalske. “We had a fun time interacting with the crowd at the sound booth, and there was a lot of positive feedback. It was exciting to see the reactions of some of the guest engineers who hadn’t yet mixed on Panther. I really enjoyed being a part of such a historic show, and hearing Morgan Freeman on the PA.”

The festival’s sound was driven by an impressive setup featuring 16 large-format linear line array loudspeakers, f

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04 November 2024

UK - Matt Pitman, founder of design studio Pixelmappers, and long-time production and lighting designer for Dua Lipa, employed a massive rig of Ayrton fixtures for the singer/songwriter’s headline appearance on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage this summer.

Pitman chose a homogenous array of Ayrton fixtures that included the new Rivale Profile and laser-sourced Kyalami, supplied by Lights Control Rigging (LCR) as part of his touring rig, alongside Ayrton stalwarts Cobra, Bora, Perseo Profile and Domino LT, which formed the main house rig and audience lighting supplied by Neg Earth Lights. The Ayrton fixtures were purchased from Ambersphere Solutions, Ayrton’s exclusive distributor for the UK.

In one of the first major touring productions to use Kyalami since its release in May, Pitman chose 64 of the compact fixtures which – ‘due to some clever r

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01 November 2024

World - British indie rock band Glass Animals continue their global Tour of Earth headlining some of the biggest venues of their career, including Madison Square Garden and London’s O2. The band’s show is supported by Ayrton lighting fixtures, a zactrack Smart automated follow spot system and grandMA3 consoles, all brands which are exclusively distributed in North America by ACT Entertainment.

The tour kicked off in Atlanta in August and will wrap up in Australia and Hong Kong at the end of the year. “Glass Animals are incredibly kind and humble people and are very involved with the creative process. Their input has allowed [Cassius Creative cofounders and lighting designers] Chris ’Squib’ Swain and Dan Hill to push the boundaries and design within a framework that has great creative identity,” says Alex Noel, tour lighting director and

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01 November 2024

Europe - Since their formation a few years ago, The Smile, an English rock band featuring Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, along with Tom Skinner, has captivated over one million monthly listeners on Spotify.

Following the release of their second album, Wall of Eyes, earlier this year, the band delighted its fans with 21 performances between March and June, starting at Dublin’s 3Arena and playing to packed venues across 14 countries, including the UK, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece and Italy. The Smile's live shows featured an upstage LED wall supplied by long-time collaborators Universal Pixels, with Brompton Technology’s LED processing delivering the dynamic visuals.

Phil Mercer, commercial director at Universal Pixels, comments: “We’ve worked with Radiohead and their various side projects since 2017, just a

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01 November 2024

USA - Whether you’re a golf enthusiast or have never swung a club, Atomic Golf in Las Vegas promises an exciting experience as you compete in interactive games that feel more like party activities than serious competition. Spanning four floors with over 100 high-tech golf bays and eight putting areas, Elation lighting effects boost the festive ambiance and enhance the interactive entertainment experience.

Atomic Golf is located on a seven-acre site next to the STRAT Tower, just north of the Las Vegas Strip. What sets it apart is its state-of-the-art technology, including advanced lighting systems, which prominently feature Elation’s Proteus Maximus LED profile luminaire, enhancing and supporting the venue's lively party atmosphere. Multiple fixtures are mounted above the top level of driving bays, providing bright light that projects hundreds of feet ont

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01 November 2024

Poland - In January 2024, disaster struck the Fabryka Lloyda venue in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz. The infrastructure of this cultural space, which had been transformed from a shipyard hall into an events and concerts venue, was destroyed by fire. Over the years its owners had created a special atmosphere which attracted large audiences as well as top Polish artists.

In 2019 audio specialist Skene had installed a Coda Audio system based around its powerful and compact ViRAY line array, contributing much to the venue’s strong reputation. 

With more than 30 years in business, Skene has extensive knowledge and experience of sound system design, configuration and commissioning, and has collaborated with Coda Audio distributor Tommex as a partner for more than seven years, successfully completing numerous projects which utilise innovative solutions fr

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01 November 2024

USA - When lighting designer Rodger Pugh, his co-designer Craig Richter and production manager Joey Dileo began working on the lighting for Halestorm’s current tour, they collectively developed a clear vision for the show’s final design. Through this collaboration, they came up with a concept that was “somewhere between an ‘80s rock show and a ‘90s high school prom”.

“For a rock show, you naturally want those big, punchy, high-energy moments, but we also wanted to give the audience room to breathe during the softer, more introspective parts,” said Pugh. “For the high-energy, punchy parts, we leaned into bold, saturated colours – like deep reds, electric blues, and intense purples – to give the space a sense of urgency and power. At other points we went with more subtle tones. With this tour, we tried to balance the two elements.”

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01 November 2024

USA - 11 cloud-based Powersoft Unica 9K4 amplifier platforms are delivering energy efficiency and ease of use for the new-look Jenny Craig Pavilion arena in San Diego, California.

Located on the campus of the University of San Diego, the 5,100-seat Jenny Craig Pavilion (JCP) is home to the San Diego Toreros men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the San Diego Toreros women's volleyball team. The indoor arena broke ground in 1999 and was refurbished in 2015, when it was equipped with a redesigned floor and LED scoring tables – though the recent upgrade, completed in May, was the first major overhaul of the ageing audio system since its opening.

“I’ve used Powersoft amplifier platforms many times over the course of my career, but these new ones [Unica] were hot off the manufacturing press, if you will,” says John Pierce, chief technolog

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31 October 2024

Switzerland - Originally built by members of FC Zürich, Stadion Letzigrund has been the home of football and Weltklasse Zürich – one of the most renowned one-day events in athletics – since 1925.

A call for the modernisation of the stadium in the late 90s saw the venue close its doors and reinvent itself in the summer of 2007, with an improved capacity for football, athletics and concerts. Since then, the stadium has hosted European Championships, concerts by internationally renowned artists, and several big games for the Swiss Football League. To continue its legacy, Letzigrund upgraded its sound system with Renkus-Heinz to provide spectators with seamless audio, no matter the event.

Collaborating on the project were integrators avidec AG and audio consultants promedias AG. The events programme at the stadium changes regularly, so the system h

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31 October 2024

France - Built in 1909, the Palais de l'Europe, an architectural jewel of the Belle Époque in the town of Menton on the French Riviera, regularly hosts exhibitions, highlighting works by local, national and international artists. These exhibitions are complemented by a varied programme of cultural and associated events in the 700-seat Italian-style Francis Palmero Theatre.

Working in such a historic and ornate building places additional demands on sound system designers in their quest to achieve clear, intelligible sound with consistent coverage across the audience, with additional consideration required for both visual aesthetics and point loads for mounting.

So, when the theatre approached Monaco-based events and installation AV technology specialists SES to propose a new sound system, project manager Didier Maddalon and AV technician Ronan Salier

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31 October 2024

USA - Willis Underhill, Diamond Rio’s Tennessee-based lighting designer, creates a party atmosphere for the band’s live shows, aided by a ChamSys MagicQ MQ250M Stadium Console.

The ChamSys MagicQ MQ250M (supplied by CLD Corp), which Underhill takes with him on the road, made it easy to busk portions of his show. “This console allows me to add busking to a cue show seamlessly,” he said. “I am using Execute Screens and Changing Banks on the fly, which is really great.”

At the start of a tour, Underhill finds that his MagicQ MQ250M aids him immensely when programming shows. “ChamSys makes importing patch information and cue times easy with minimal effort,” he said. “Also, the Timeline feature provides me with a simple way to fine-tune cue timing. Helping me create greater depth within the programming of the MQ tracks.”

At the

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31 October 2024

UK - One of the North’s oldest buildings, Morecambe Winter Gardens was once the centrepiece of Morecambe’s illustrious entertainment scene. Opened in 1897 as a landmark of British architecture, it welcomed performances from The Who, Vera Lynn and many more, but was partly demolished in the early 1980s, leaving only the Victoria Pavillion Theatre standing.

Since 2006, the 'Friends of the Winter Gardens' trust has worked tirelessly to revive this Grade II listed building. In 2024, their efforts took a giant leap forward with the launch of a £2.7m restoration project, funded by a grant from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. A critical part of the restoration involved installing a state-of-the-art sound system, one that could support the current events programme and expand as the venue grows. For this, KV2 Audio was chosen to play a key role in t

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31 October 2024

USA - Order of the Ace, a new piano/cocktail lounge in Baltimore, Maryland offers customers an opportunity ‘to slip into a space of music and mystique’. To improve the experience, the lounge has decided to upgrade their audio system to premium 1 Sound loudspeakers.

The lounge was looking for speakers that could provide both clarity to complement their musicians, and compactness in terms of aesthetics. With 1 Sound’s Cannon series, the cocktail bar achieved high-fidelity audio supporting their live musicians and the ambiance they sought to achieve.

For this project, the speakers were installed by Dynamic Sound Level, which was introduced to 1 Sound loudspeakers after implementing them on a previous Atlas project, Oregon Grille. Mike Denoe, director of Dynamic Sound Level, comments: “I can’t say enough how pleased I am as well as the owners,

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31 October 2024

USA - Brett Ainslie mixes films, commercials, sporting events, and reality TV series in Manhattan and its surrounding environs. Media brands that have employed his services include ABC, Bravo, Discovery, Disney, ESPN, Food Network, HBO, and the streaming platform Twitch.

For ensuring his clients the utmost in sonic integrity, his personal kit consists exclusively of Lectrosonics Digital Hybrid Wireless – in particular, SRc dual-channel slot-mount receivers paired with SMQV transmitters. When he needs to maximise reception, these are supported by SNA600a dipole antennas.

“The RF environment in New York City is very difficult at the best of times,” explains Ainslie. “Then, when productions come to New York, they often want to shoot in the busiest RF areas like Times Square. I’ve used exclusively the Digital Hybrid stuff for at least the last

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30 October 2024

USA - Sphere Entertainment Co has announced the return of the Sphere XO Student Design Challenge and this year’s theme: Earth Day. In its second year, more than 100,000 Clark County-based students will again be invited to create art for the Exosphere as part of the collaboration between Sphere, the Clark County School District (CCSD) and University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The winning students’ art will debut on the Exosphere on Earth Day - 22 April 2025.

The Second Annual Design Challenge comes on the heels of the inaugural Sphere XO Student Design Challenge, which was centred on the Fourth of July and culminated with a community event to unveil the winning students’ art. The Earth Day theme for this year’s challenge will encourage students to think creatively about the intersection of art, technology, and planet Earth.

“We are proud o

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30 October 2024

Latvia - The Riga Circus, a historic landmark and the oldest fixed circus venue in Europe, recently underwent a transformative renovation that aimed to preserve its heritage whilst introducing modern amenities, notably an innovative audio system by Italian manufacturer K-array.

The project, led by local integrators RJK and supported by technology distributor Tet A Tek and architectural firm NRJA, aimed to create a versatile, energy-efficient space that could accommodate various performances.

Two audio systems were installed to meet the venue's specific needs: a 360-degree coverage system and a portable system, using K-array's lightweight Mugello KH2 loudspeakers. “The modernised Riga Circus is a multi-purpose space and needed versatile audio support,” explains Rudolfs Busmanis at Tet A Tek. “The portable system allows for easy reconfiguration d

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30 October 2024

Bulgaria - The Black Sea coastal city of Burgas attracts holidaymakers who want to relax and unwind in nature with easy access to the comfort and cultural offers of a big city.

Located just metres from the shoreline on Burgas central beach is the Neptune Beach Bar and Restaurant, originally built in the Soviet era and recently renovated into a destination nightspot for locals and visitors alike.

Mediterranean, European and authentic cuisines are on offer alongside fine wines from around the world, mature whiskeys and classic cocktails. A house band, DJ and sets from visiting artists create a party vibe in this two-storey, 120-seat venue.

As part of the renovation, new owners approached Burgas-based production and AV technology specialists Pro Audio Sound and Communications to design a new sound system.

“With top class musicians perf

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30 October 2024

The Netherlands - De Bosuil is a buzzing 850-capacity live music venue in Weert, southeastern Netherlands, AKA ‘The Gateway to Limburg’ due to its close proximity to the Belgian border. It has been voted the greenest city in the Netherlands.

The venue has recently received a new Robe moving light package – 16 x Paintes, 12 x LEDBeam 350s plus eight LEDBeam 150s – which is a substantial upgrade to their previous system of older Robe moving lights fixtures. These are all still working 11 years later but needed upgrading to newer tech to satisfy the string of local and international artists and lighting designers frequenting this popular venue.

Head of lighting Bart Mesman is a freelancer who has worked at De Bosuil for over 15 years, so he knows the venue inside out, and has enjoyed numerous memorable moments along the way.

De Bosuil it