Nexo - Main Banner - June 2024

Projects

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Saudi Arabia - The global premiere of the theatre and dance show Kan Yama Kan was staged in the Global Theatre at Riyadh’s BLVD RUH City entertainment complex, delivered by an award-winning West End and Broadway creative team, with lighting designed by Natasha Chivers, direction and choreography by Will Tuckett and auditorium, set and video design by 59 Productions, who were also technical co-ordinators for producers, Wonderjunkie and Anthology.
With a large cast, a vibrant traverse stage design, fast moving dancers, dynamic scenic items and aerial performers, Natasha - working with associate LD Andy Purves - needed to track up to 15 principal actors, dancers and aerialists all over the performance space using multiple light sources positioned everywhere on the overhead trusses, often simultaneously.
As a solution, they specified two zactrack PRO servers whi

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Indonesia - Since the first Java Jazz Festival more than 15 years ago, the event has become an annual fixture in the Indonesian entertainment calendar, attended either for work or pleasure by all the most influential music and sound industry professionals in the region.
Like so many events around the world, the festival took a COVID-enforced hiatus over the past couple of years but returned in celebratory style to the Jakarta International Expo Kemayoran over the weekend on 27-29 May, with bands and musicians performing on a total of nine stages.
One of the more challenging acoustic environments at the festival was the GRAB Hall, a former aircraft hangar in which local rental company DSS Sound Systems deployed a Nexo Geo M12 line array, with support from the technical team at local distributor Yamaha Music Indonesia Distributor (YMID).
“With no acoustic treatme
Nexo - Main Banner - June 2024

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USA - CP Communications has established itself as a full-service production equipment provider for live events, attracting opportunities from Fox Sports, MLB Network, the NFL, and others. The company offers a range of Dante workflow solutions with multiple products from Studio Technologies, manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fibre-optic solutions.
“We have a few hundred Studio Technologies products in our Dante ecosystem that we use for all of our events,” says Brian Ready, account executive & systems engineer at CP Communications. “The ease of use and durability of Studio Technologies’ products allow us to augment our Dante workflow depending on the client’s needs and the scope of the project.”
According to Ready, CP uses “a little bit of everything” from Studio Technologies, including beltpacks, intercom interfaces, and audio engines.

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USA - Hotel Figueroa, one of the longest-standing hotels in downtown LA, has been a part of the area for nearly a century. Following a two-year restoration inspired by its original 1926 Spanish architecture, the hotel re-opened for guests in 2021.
However, its legacy audio systems were encountering issues and needed an upgrade from the systems integration team at Drp, who relied on audio amplifiers from LEA Professional to power the historic venue, its restaurants, and other spaces.
With 268 rooms and suites spread over 14 floors and a pool nestled within a botanical oasis, Hotel Figueroa, part of the Hyatt group, is renowned for its style and close proximity to the Crypto.com Arena and LA Live, formerly known as Staples Centre.
When the hotel decided they needed to upgrade the entire audio system, Drp was brought in to create a system that met their new standar

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USA - Andrew Goedde, lighting designer for Goose since 2018 has been creating a procession of deeply evocative looks for the quintet from Connecticut as they’ve played live music venues and festivals.
The band is now playing more notable venues like Red Rocks and Radio City Music Hall, as well as major festivals in the US and Europe. For Goedde, his client’s blossoming career has opened a new world of opportunities. Not only is he touring with a larger rig that features The Chauvet Professional Color Strike M, which was supplied by Main Light, he’s also collaborating with one of its leading designer/programmers Tony Caporale.
“For the first time ever with Goose, we have the luxury of having the same tour design for almost all venues,” comments Goedde, owner of Indianapolis-based Goedde Sound & Light. “It’s really cool to have the same consistent desig

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France - After a two-year hiatus, the 28th edition of the annual Massy International Circus Festival returned this year, featuring the world's top circus artists, performing in the company’s impressive 50m diameter, 3,000-capacity big top erected in the town of Massy on the outskirts of Paris.
To mark the return, the technical design team employed a new, innovative AV system, revolutionised by the introduction of immersive mixing technology from German in-ear monitor specialists, KLANG.
Established in 1993 to honour the 75th birthday of celebrated clown, Achille Zavatta, the International Circus Festival of Massy has since been staged annually in the town, receiving international recognition and broadcast every year on the French television channel, France 3. A homage to traditional circus entertainment, the festival attracts world famous circus performers. At the he

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France - On 12 May, the historic Palais-Royal in the heart of Paris was the site of an EDM dance fest - Monumental Tour Europe - with a crowd of 2,000 raving to pulsating beats and bass drops beneath a canopy of powerful beam effects from Elation Proteus Excalibur moving heads.
Technical solutions provider Magnum provided all of the lighting, sound, power and truss for the event, including the Excalibur fixtures. Elation French distribution is by Best Audio & Lighting.
Needing an outdoor-rated beam light that could project far into the night sky, six Excalibur fixtures worked from the top of the building in a powerful and unmistakable fan of luminosity. The 20,000-lumen Excalibur features an a narrow 0.8° beam that widens to 3.5° when needed using an expander lens. Powered by a long-life Philips Platinum 500 FLEX lamp (550W), its long-throw beam acts as a

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Italy - Eurovision returned to its full splendour in Turin for 2022 after the challenges of the pandemic in 2021. Even the continuing horror of war in Europe failed to affect the event, in fact, only serving to intensify the joy, the magic and the music that Eurovision brings to the world every year.
To bring a kaleidoscope of SFX to the stage in Turin, Luca Toscano, CEO of Artech teamed up with Lucas Gerritzen of Pyrofoor de Amsterdam who supplied the FX for the 2021 show in the Netherlands. Artech is a group of companies, that specialise in delivering SFX and show solutions across the globe.
Appointed by this years’ host broadcaster RAI Television as the Eurovision 2022 SFX, pyro and laser supplier, Toscano sees the event as a glorious celebration of the entertainment industry, a showcase for the best of the best. Across the two companies, more than

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Germany - As the exclusive global manufacturer of Philips professional displays, PPDS is dedicated to helping integrators learn about and test the latest technologies, products and opportunities that can help grow their businesses. Building on its strategy to bring seamless global business locally, PPDS has launched its first full-solutions showroom in Munich, featuring Philips professional displays and virtual collaboration systems from ClearOne.
The new 155sq.m showroom is designed to highlight new solutions for various spaces and client types, with dedicated rooms set up to demonstrate how new technologies can be integrated to optimize conference rooms, meeting rooms, retail spaces, classrooms, hotel guest rooms and even home offices. According to Christian Krela, channel manager for PPDS in Germany, the new Munich showroom is the company’s first demo space to focus on

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Europe - Currently on a 2022 theatre tour through Belgium, Dutch girl group K3’s set includes the track Giddy Up & Go which features 15 Astera Titan Tubes which are used as illuminated props in a skilful collaboration between the tour’s lighting designer, Jeroen Opsteyn of Painting with Light (PWL), choreographer Tommy Gryson, the three K3 girls and 12 dancers.
One of Jeroen’s creative objectives was to keep the dynamics and pace flowing throughout the action-packed, up-tempo set.
The lighting design and programming introduce fluidity and animation to the stage in the absence of video, as one of the early artistic decisions was to present the band in a more theatrical setting, focusing on them and making lighting central to the show’s visuality.
Jeroen and Tommy both hit on the idea of changing the shape and perception of the performance spac

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USA - The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022 Induction Ceremony and celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Title 9 took place 11 June at the Tennessee Theatre with a lighting system provided by Bandit Lites.
“Every class, every year, is a special group of people,” said Bandit Lites chair Michael T. Strickland, a long-time member of the Hall of Fame Board. “This year in particular, board member and long-time friend Debbie Antonelli was honoured. Debbie is special to me and the Hall as she is not only a former player but is most notably a long-time basketball announcer on ESPN.”
The front of the stage was lit using the Tennessee Theatre’s conventional lekos from the cove. Bandit hung GLP X4S from a house electric to use as backlight for both people on stage and at the lectern. Elation SIXPAR 100s toned A-type towers with Spandex wraps, framing the

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USA - First Baptist Church of San Marcos is a diverse and multi-generational church based in San Marcos, Texas. In 2012, the church reached out to sound designer Curt Taipale of Taipale Media Systems to evaluate and re-tune their existing system.
Over the years, the church had considered replacing their sound system, however the situation became urgent after their existing digital signal processor (DSP) started to fail. Following a long relationship with Curt, he was asked in June 2020 to assist in a possible new design of their sound system. The primary goal of the new installation was improved coverage and intelligibility.
“At the time, they considered a handful of companies to design the new system and completed due diligence by listening to some of my projects in Texas,” said Taipale. “They were very pleased with one system in particular that utilized Danley

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USA - Lighting designer and director Ethan Weber chose a large complement of versatile Ayrton Domino luminaires for Grammy Award-winner John Mayer’s Sob Rock Tour 2022 in support of his eighth studio album of the same name. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting fixtures in North America.
The 23-stop arena tour kicked off in March in Las Vegas and wrapped in Boston in May. The North American schedule featured multi-day concerts in six cities. Weber, perhaps best known for his work with The Rolling Stones, obtained the Ayrton Domino fixtures from Upstaging in Sycamore, Illinois, the lighting vendor for the Sob Rock Tour.
Apart from using Ayrton MagicPanels on some festivals, Weber began using Ayrton fixtures in earnest last year. “Dave Ridgeway and Fraggle from Neg Earth suggested we swap some rain-vulnerable fixtures out for Perseo units

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UK - Four Yamaha Adecia audio solutions have been installed at the offices of The Openwork Partnership in Swindon, helping the staff at this financial advice company to enjoy hybrid working.
The Openwork Partnership has over 4,200 financial advisers and 600 support staff. The company’s structure means that hybrid working - part office-based, part at home - was already important before the COVID-19 pandemic. But with the enhanced importance of flexible working, having a pleasant and technically-advanced environment for employees when working from the office gives an undoubted boost to the company’s efficiency.
When The Openwork Partnership moved into its new premises at Auckland House in Swindon, it refurbished the spaces to include the very latest workplace technology.
“The idea was to create a pleasant, user-friendly environment for people coming into the

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UK - Designer Daniel Richardson, working for international creative practice Sinclair Wilkinson (Rob Sinclair & Andrew Wilkinson) took the role of production designer for Craig David’s recent Hold That Thought UK tour. The scope of his work included a full stage, scenic, lighting and video design, plus content direction for the star’s acclaimed tour that was rescheduled from 2020.
Richardson’s spec included Robe moving lights - BMFL Spots, BMFL Blades and a four-way RoboSpot remote follow system - which were supplied by lighting vendor Neg Earth. Matt Arthur went out on the tour as lighting director and operator.
Craig David himself was very much involved in the show creation, explained Richardson. He shared his initial ideas with Rob Sinclair and Daniel back in 2019, who refined these into workable touring options from which a concept was chosen and

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Ireland - Three years in construction, the new Romanian Pentecostal Betania Church in Dublin is now ranked the largest church in Ireland. Accommodating 1,500 worshippers in its main sanctuary as well as an online following, the ambitious design required a sound system, resulting in the installation of the latest technology from DiGiCo’s recently launched compact, Quantum 225 digital mixing console.
The €8m development comprises a 2800sq.m building with large sanctuary, stage, choir and orchestra space, media pod, fellowship halls, a conference room, eight community rooms, pastoral areas, and a youth worship area. The building design and framework were established by a professional team of architects and construction specialists, but the majority of the building work was completed by skilled volunteers from the Church’s Romanian community during evenings and weekends. <

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USA - Matt Ross-Spang, an American record producer, Grammy award-winning engineer and mixer has just opened the doors of Southern Grooves, a custom-designed studio in Memphis, Tennessee.
Located in what was once the Sears cafeteria on the second floor of Crosstown Concourse, a “vertical urban village”, the build started pre-pandemic, in August 2020. With the expertise of acousticians Steven Durr and Matt Schlachter, a 3,000sq.ft recording studio was designed where sound and feel are prioritised in every room.
The space consists of a live room, control room, a long hallway (for reverb) echo chamber, plus a lounge, office, tech Shop and EMT plate room. The fact that the live room has an undulating ceiling and emphasises no 90° angles or parallel surfaces, means that the sounds created gives the impression that the space is a lot bigger than it actually is.
VDC

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USA - The recent opening of the 5,000-capacity Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas, operated by Concerts West / AEG Presents, has already hosted residencies by Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan.
Resorts World Theatre is home to the first fixed install of L-Acoustics L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology in Las Vegas. More than 200 loudspeakers comprise an immersive aural environment that stands out on the Las Vegas Strip.
Montreal-based Scéno Plus served as the theatre designer, further overseeing the venue’s technology, while L-Acoustics certified provider (CPi) Solotech integrated the 14.1 audio system with design support from the L-Acoustics application team.
The system consists of an L-ISA Scene setup of seven arrays of 14 K2 enclosures flown across the stage width, left-right out-fill arrays of 12 Kara, plus two centre-flown arrays of eight

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UAE - The recently opened Dubai Hills Mall is a destination in a popular tourist spot, offering opportunities for shopping, dining and entertainment. It is also home to The Storm, the fastest indoor rollercoaster in the city; an adventurous ride that stands 50m tall.
Showcasing the latest innovations in engineering, The Storm features a vertical launch to 50m in just five seconds. The 670m track weaves throughout the entire mall building, making it a spectacle to watch and a unique experience for riders.
Experiences operator Emaar Entertainment created the concept of the rollercoaster set into the heart of the shopping mall. They appointed engineering experts Cundall to design and deliver The Storm. As the lead design consultant, Cundall provided a range of services including structural engineering and lighting design.
To fulfil the design, Creation Gulf were bro

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USA - German dubstep artist Virtual Riot brought his Simulation Album Tour to the Hollywood Palladium 22 April and electrified the sold-out crowd with his edgy brand of EDM supported by lighting effects from Elation Professional. Dallas Gasper from Paradox Productions and Design designed the rig with lighting director Lorcan Clarke on hand to run the show. Lighting gear was supplied by 4Wall with SFX/lasers provided by Owl Vision.
Clarke created laser show designs for trance, house and techno events in Ireland before moving to the San Francisco Bay area in 2020. Since, he has designed, programmed and directed lighting for Blu De Tiger’s How Did We Get Here 2021 US tour, Sidepiece’s Kiss & Tell 2022 US tour, and Deorro's 2022 Lollapalooza shows in South America. Clarke timecoded much of the Hollywood Palladium Virtual Riot show and had an Elation rig of beam lights, s

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UK - St. Paul’s Cathedral is a venue that is steeped in tradition, even when it comes to lighting, the traditional PAR 64 has always been the fixture of choice for lighting designers. However, for the Queen’s Jubilee Thanksgiving Service, lighting director and BAFTA Award winner David Bishop stepped away from tradition, opting for an all-new LED lighting rig, with the new Martin Mac Aura PXL taking the leading role as the main lighting fixture.
Bishop explains: “For the Queen’s Jubilee, it was important to maintain the traditional feel and the natural look, yet I wanted to increase the flexibility and efficiency of the lighting rig.
“The new Martin MAC Aura PXL was ideal. The high lumen output, colour rendering, and zoom range is exceptional for such a compact fixture and perfect for this application. It allowed me to have much greater control of the colour

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USA - At this year’s Experiential Marketing Summit (EMS) at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, The Verge Aero drone team flew a drone show high above the ballroom next to Harry Reid International Airport.
Taking off from the MGM Grand parking garage – situated just 100 yards from the airport tarmac - presented the Verge Aero team with a challenge. While a focus on safety and precision execution are always part of standard operating procedures, the tight confines of the flight envelope in an urban environment required extreme precision and attention to detail.
“The Experiential Marketing Summit team commissioned us to deliver an on-brand drone show to wow conference delegates, to be flown over the MGM Ballroom roof,” says Verge Aero’s Chris Lutts, who oversaw the project. “We had a tight timeline to design, program and create the show, and some interesting challenges.

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UK - The Falklands Hall primary presentation auditorium at the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines (CTCRM) required an urgent replacement for their original tungsten lights, and ETC ArcSystem was chosen to upgrade the space.
The tungsten lights had come to the end of production and spare parts and bulbs were unavailable which led to a health and safety issue as they fell below the legal level required. ETC dealer, Stage Electrics, selected ArcSystem fixtures and drivers to transform the space with LED.
CTCRM, is based in Lympstone, Devon, and is the official training base for the Royal Marines. The auditorium space previously had 66 150-watt tungsten lamps which repeatedly failed and caused issues with maintenance as they were mounted over the seating rake. These luminaires were all replaced with ETC’s ArcSystem Pro One-Cell fixtures and ArcSystem Pro D4 CC Drive

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Australia - Hennessy and the NBA unveiled Australia’s first floating basketball court on Sydney Harbour recently, with live music performances from ASAP Ferg and B Wise. This was part of the latest version of Courts Beyond Limits, a programme from Hennessy, the official spirit of the NBA, in celebration of the league’s 75th season.
Guests were transported out for a courtside view of the event on the Hennessy Superyatch. In addition to the celebrity hoops exhibition, they got to enjoy performances by FERG, along with AIR Award-winning hip-hop artist B Wise and other stars.
Setting the scene for the event was a courtside lighting display by Jay Productions that featured 24 Chauvet Professional Well STX 180 fixtures that the production company purchased from Showtools International, which imports Chauvet products.
Showtools International notes that it added the
  1. Vivid Sydney 2022 reveals soul of the city
  2. Ayrton fixtures chosen for Expo 2020 Dubai
  3. Amate Audio on set for RTVE arts show
  4. Hangout Festival returns with Bandit Lites
  5. The Lofts aims high with L-Acoustics K3
  6. The Norwegian Theatre invests in Esprites
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