USA - As a Latin Grammy Award-winning mixing and recording engineer, musician and sound supervisor, Nicolas Ramirez’ resume also includes head mixing and recording engineer at Art House Academy & Abbey Road Institute Miami, a music performance/production and sound engineering school.
He recently implemented KRK Systems’ V6 Series 4 powered reference monitors into the space. Ramirez was elated to continue working with the KRK brand as he also uses the ROKIT 5s and 7s in various home studio applications. Using his KRKs, Ramirez is up for three Latin Grammys this year with nominations for two Record of the Year awards as well as an Album of the Year nomination.
Ramirez has worked with high-profile recording artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Marc Anthony and Bad Bunny, and knows quality matters. “KRK makes a variety of superior studio monitors that align perfectly with my workflow; the brand’s solutions are ideal for both professional and home studio applications,” he says. “Not only do they sound spectacular, but they are also very budget friendly.
“I especially love that I can use KRK’s Audio Tools app to adjust the monitors to best suit each unique environment I work in. Overall, deploying KRKs is easy. You don’t need any amplifiers for them to sound good — they are amazing on their own.”
Ramirez has also used both the monitors and Audio Tools app at recording artists’ home studios, which has been especially beneficial amidst the pandemic. “The KRK ROKITs are lightweight and perfect

USA - As this difficult year draws to a close, ADJ is hoping to spread a little festive joy over the holiday season with its Winter Wonderland Lighting contest. The company is offering lighting pros and enthusiasts at all levels the chance to win one of three prizes simply by using their ADJ fixtures as part of a festive display or holiday event and tagging the photos or video on social media.
Says ADJ, “Entries could be a holiday project created for a client or you could simply use your ADJ lighting, video or effects equipment to decorate your yard, front porch or home for the holidays. It probably goes without saying, but in whatever you do to celebrate the holidays and enter the contest, please be safe, take any necessary precautions and practice social distancing.
“The ADJ team will be selecting the first, second and third place winners based on how good the photos/videos look as well as the creative use of ADJ products. The contest is open to anyone around the world and you can enter as many times as you like, just be sure to let us know what ADJ fixture(s) you have used in the description of your social media post(s).”
When the contest has closed at 12 midnight (Pacific time) on Sunday, 10 January 2021, the ADJ team will carefully search through social media for every post that uses the #ADJWinterWonderland hashtag and choose three winners based on the creative use of ADJ fixtures and the aesthetic appeal of the photos/video. The winners will then be exclusively announced via ADJ’s social media channels on Thursday, 14 January.
T

USA - In the face of tight travel restrictions and the industry-wide slowdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, music producer to the stars Garth Richardson has spent several months focused on renovating and updating his The Farm Studios.
Nestled within the Sunshine Coast region of British Columbia, The Farm Studios offers a tranquil cabin-in-the-woods workshop atmosphere for recording and studio production. The seven-acre property features several cabins and a main house where the control room is located.
Richardson's goal for the extensive renovation is to expand the studio's footprint and create a varied set of indoor and outdoor recording spaces. Rooms in the main house are connected throughout with a Dante network, and Richardson is now extending the network out to another large cabin adjacent to the main house and other locations.
Dante allows audio, control, and all other data to coexist effectively on the same network. And with devices often needing only power and an ethernet cable, Dante also allows for flexibility - enabling both unique and socially distanced recording options.
"I want to make it so that anyone can record from anywhere. If a vocalist wants to sing alone from the band house, I can just plug a mic preamp into that network jack, and we're good to go. If they want to sing outdoors in the woods, we can do that too. The network makes it very easy to set up whatever we might need," said Richardson. "It's a very cool concept, musicians can be together in a space, in separate rooms, or separate cabins - all with great views an

USA - When Caesars Entertainment, who operate Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, planned their next expansion phase – Caesars Forum, a new conference centre - they needed a first-class technical infrastructure for site wide multi-signal transmission over this large facility, and opted for BroaMan, the video and data based sister company to Optocore.
Locally based design and engineering specialists, National Technology Associates (NTA) have a long track record working with the Caesars Entertainment family, including LINQ promenade, the High Roller, and many restaurants and venues. Thus, they were again contracted, and as their project manager Shane Snell recognized the building was way too big to run traditional SDI cabling, he instead turned to a BroaMan fibre solution.
The Conference Centre itself measures a massive 550,000sq.ft including more than 300,000sq.ft of flexible meeting space with the two largest pillarless ballrooms in the world at 110,000sq.ft each.
Snell explained that the original design had “tons of SDI cabling” running to a total of nine IDF distribution frames. “With 400 floor boxes going to nine comms rooms, none of them connected, there was no way to tie them all together and certainly not by using coax point-to-point cabling.
“We needed a way to tie these isolated comms closets together—without a bunch of loose gear, adapters, boxes, or anything that could be less than reliable. It also needed to be easy to use by Encore Productions, the in-house productions team who live in the world of event production where flex

USA - The colourful floats were there, 26 of them in all; so too were the giant helium balloons, bands and street performers, but the 2020 version of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was unlike any of its 96 predators. The usual throngs of fans were nowhere to be seen, and instead of following its normal route down 5th Avenue, the entire ‘parade’ took place within a designated area in front of Macy’s flagship store.
For the 20.7m who watched on TV, this year’s parade offered all of the pageantry, excitement and holiday spirit that people have come to expect from this popular tradition, pandemic restrictions notwithstanding.
Helping to create this image on television was a Geoff Amoral lighting design that artfully relied on lighting and props to support the parade with an engaging background, despite the absence of fans. “The normal look for the parade is a sidewalk full of people in bleachers,” said Amoral. “Without them the scene behind the floats would look empty. Our scenic designer, Ed Helbig, thought it would pull the scene together to fill the background with attractive visuals - and our producers Brad Lachman, Bill Bracken and Carmela Tripodi agreed.”
A key element of these critical visuals, in addition to tree and foliage props, were 40 Chauvet Professional Maverick Storm 1 Wash fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment.
Arranging the high-output RGBW washes in two rows behind the parade staging area, Amoral and his programmer Tim Stasse used them for much more than filling space with light. They also relied on th

UK - Exhibition London is a new multipurpose live music and events venue in White City, West London initiated and operated by Broadwick Live and Venue Lab, offering 1400 seated to 2800 standing capacity. It is designed for conferences, exhibitions, gala dinners, awards presentations, location filming and live music events.
Opened in early 2020, Exhibition London’s complete technical infrastructure was specified and procured by consultant and technical production director Simon Jones of SJ-TPM who also coordinated and oversaw all elements of the technical installation and commissioning. Simon had started work on the project in the second quarter of 2019 after having been involved in other Broadwick Live venues.
He chose both Robe and Anolis products to be core house lighting system elements for the main show-space where the spec features 28 x Esprites and 30 x Robe Spiider LED wash beams plus two RoboSpot remote follow spotting systems with two BMFL Follow Spot fixtures to run with them.
Simon’s previous Broadwick Live project was the new Magazine London concept in Greenwich, where he spec’d nearly 100 Robe LED moving lights including T1 Profiles and Spiiders plus Anolis Divine 160 RGBW LED floods. Once again Anolis Divine 160s were selected for LED house lighting at Exhibition London.
Having had a great experience with the Robe moving lights at Magazine London, Simon looked again at the brand for its “reliability and cost-effectiveness”.
Simon was keen to utilise Robe’s latest technologies for the venue and wanted the Esp

Russia - Moscow’s Vakhtangov Theatre marked its upcoming 100th anniversary with a special 10-minute music and light show featuring more than 100 Claypaky Axcor Profile 900 LN high-wattage moving head LED spotlights and HY B-EYE K25 moving head LED wash.
The theatre’s lighting designers Ruslan Mayorov and Alexander Matveev created the lighting spectacular with Sergei Dobrikov, software engineer from equipment supplier and installer Doka Centre, choreographing the intricate play of beams to music by Faustas Latenas.
An invited audience was in attendance for the show, which featured forests of parallel beams, dancing beams, textured curtains of light and giant beams that broke the boundaries of the proscenium to sweep the audience. The theatre’s heads and the Russian government’s Minister of Culture were on hand to offer congratulations.
“When we were looking for lighting equipment for the Vakhtangov, we looked at many manufacturers, but somewhere deep in my heart, we made a choice of Claypaky fixtures long ago,” say designers Mayorov and Martveey. “We live at a time when lighting equipment loses its relevance in a year, and the challenges for this show were to use LED fixtures with no loss of intensity and colour and little noise backed up by reliability and support.”
They travelled to Claypaky’s plant in Italy with Doka’s Vasily Litvin, where they observed the entire Axcor line as well as the B-EYE and K-EYE products. “The most important thing is that Claypaky listened to our wishes and developed quiet, theatrical version

UK – Luxury fashion brand Dior’s flagship London store has launched its festive Christmas display, unveiling an entirely video mapped frontage powered by a Hippotizer Nevis+ Media Server.
Motion Mapping is masterminding the technical set up, control and running of the festive projections, having been commissioned by Dior’s creative agency to deliver the project.
Motion Mapping’s creative director, Stuart Harris, specified the Nevis+ as the main show control and media player, driving two Panasonic RZ21 projectors protected by Tempest Outdoor Enclosures.
The projection and visual control and manipulation equipment is installed on the roof of Dior’s neighbour Louis Vuitton, which is situated directly opposite in London’s New Bond Street.
“The small form factor of the Nevis+ has made the setup of equipment on the top of a six-storey building, in an outdoor enclosure with limited space, much easier,” says Harris, a long-time Hippotizer aficionado. “The content for the projections was supplied by Dior’s creative agency, and we were then challenged with beaming it onto the intricate architecture of the building.
“The flexibility that Hippotizer provides in the control of the image has been invaluable. The ability to change the contrast, saturation and multiple other variables to ensure the fine details of the content have the desired impact, has contributed hugely to the success of the project. And it looks really, really good.”
With the installation set to run throughout December, on a London rooftop in the famo

USA - Under normal circumstances, Kyle Upchurch, doesn’t have to think much about the area directly in front of the concert stage, as it’s filled with fans. His goal as a designer is to create the kind of immersive looks that pull fans into the performance on stage. But during a pandemic, rules have to be rewritten.
When lighting a drive-in concert by The Petty Junkies at the new Oasis outdoor theatre in Marion, IL, Upchurch had to weave the empty area in front of the stage into his overall design. “With safety protocol, you typically have the area in front of the stage empty,” he said. “Unless you address it, this creates this jarring blank space in front of your design, which disconnects your stage from the audience.”
To avoid this, Upchurch extended his design by covering the area in front of the stage with bold gobo patterns and colourful crossing beams that flowed seamlessly throughout the area. “My goal was to make the stage and the entire space in front of it look like they were part of one integral image,” he said. “This made the show much more immersive for the people in their cars. It creates a more natural concert experience that people are accustomed to.”
Helping Upchurch accomplish this were 34 Chauvet Professional Maverick and Rogue fixtures furnished by Midwest Music Supply. “Having intense, high-output fixtures was essential to creating the look we wanted,” said Upchurch. “If the light in front of the stage wasn’t punchy, our plan wouldn’t have come off.”
Upchurch used six Maverick MK1 Storm Was

USA - With safety measures limiting the number of fans who can physically attend university football games, one Midwest top-ranked football team lost a major component of home field advantage - the sound of 100,000-plus fans reverberating through their massive stadium. To recover this advantage, a temporary distributed system of 66 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers was deployed to reproduce the crowd with uncanny realism by applying dynamic sonic movements via the new Meyer Sound Spacemap Go spatial sound solution.
“A crowd of 100,000 football fans does not produce a flat, static sound,” explains Rob Snyder of Rob Snyder Productions, one of the originators of the college stadium concept. “The sound is almost like its own living, breathing entity, something that pushes and pulls, that changes dimensions. You can’t make that happen with a typical distributed PA system, but with Spacemap Go we were able to simulate the effect in ways that would be practically impossible without it.”
This stadium application was the brainchild of Snyder and Brian Jester of JCR Studio and Sound. The two had earlier discussed the potential for using Spacemap Go for audience simulation at smaller venues but later decided to present the concept to one of the top-ranked college teams. Initial scepticism was overcome with a scaled-down demonstration, and the go-ahead was given to deploy a full, Spacemap Go-controlled system for the season.
“Spacemap Go is powerful and versatile, but it’s also amazingly easy to set up and intuitive to operate,” says Snyder.

USA - Bellevue Baptist Church, the largest house of worship in Memphis and one of the leading churches in the Southern Baptist Convention, recently finished a complete renovation of its audio systems, which also included extensive acoustical work throughout the sanctuary.
The project was led by the church’s long-time systems integration partner, Springfield, Missouri-based Paragon 360, which had previously designed and installed the scenic, lighting and video systems there.
The new installation, in the church’s 6,800-seat main sanctuary in the suburb of Cordova, features three Quantum7 consoles deployed at FOH, monitors, and broadcast. In addition, an SD12 console is now also deployed in the church’s fellowship hall, wrapping up what Mark Coble, audio/acoustics design & commissioning lead for Paragon 360, calls “a full DiGiCo solution for the church”.
“When looking to update its loudspeakers and consoles, the church required a mixing system with a high channel count, and DiGiCo was one of the few that could handle this, being able to mix 256 inputs and offer 128 outputs, all running at 96k,” says Coble. “Reliability and customer support were also very important reasons they chose to go with the DiGiCo platform.”
Coble further cites the redundancy of the Quantum7’s dual processing engines, and the fact that the entire system runs at 96 kHz, including multitracking for virtual soundcheck at FOH and importing to ProTools in the broadcast control room. “The church wanted a system that could last up to 20 years,” he sa

Australia - Queensland Theatre - usually - sits at the heart and soul of Brisbane’s lively arts and performance scene, producing around eight or nine main stage productions a year between the 351-capacity Bille Brown Theatre in the south of the city and at the four-venue Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC). The theatre also has a strong youth and educational programme which allows school-aged artists to stage shows with the company. On top of that, they also receive shows at both the Bille Brown and QPAC, and tour productions across Australia throughout the year.
The Theatre has Robe LEDWash 300+s, eight of which were in residence when technical coordinator Lachlan Cross arrived in May 2017, which has since increased to 32 fixtures.
The main increase in fixtures came when they finished renovating the Bille Brown Theatre in October 2018, after a A$ 5.5m renovation which converted it from the former 228-seat Bille Brown Studio into the space it is today, complete with corner stage.
The new lights were installed to facilitate the first show after the reopening, and more recently additional LEDWash 300+s brought the count up to 32.
This number gives enough stock for the option of being able to service more than one production simultaneously with LEDWash 300+s including their touring shows.
The Bille Brown Theatre has a flexible pipe-based rigging system and the LEDWash fixtures can be orientated in either direction above the corner stage as they have the single hook clamp. They are fitted with the top hat modules for soft diffusio

Czech Republic - KV2 Audio has introduced D Series amplifiers with onboard control and diagnostics. The first deployment of these is at the Volksoper or People’s Opera in Vienna where 56 units are in use every day.
KV2’s D Series amplifiers use a range of topologies including Class AB for high frequency response, a unique high current switching topology on low frequencies, and consistent power delivery that features toroidal transformers hand-wound in the Czech factory, specific for each model.
In terms of control, the D Series amplifiers offer the option to set up gains, operate mutes, configure the limiters, or select filter, EQ and bridge modes depending on the model, whilst the diagnostics section provides information on the temperature of heatsinks, mains voltage, real-time health checking and the output levels relative to limiting. This is a crucial feature for the increasing requirement of monitored loudspeaker systems in public spaces.
Amplifiers may be set up individually or in groups using the new KV2 Control & Diagnostics software tool, including saving and recalling pre-sets, or show files. Configuration and monitoring are accessible either via the front panel or remotely via any Windows or Mac OS device.
KV2 Audio founder, George Krampera Sr comments, “Finally, our users can now benefit from control without compromise as well as real-time monitoring and system diagnostics - elements which are vital when running large systems. Our customers no longer have to rely on third-party solutions which inevitably affect the sou

USA - Live music has proved it will find a way despite the lockdowns on performances compelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the more imaginative examples of this was the 9 October performance of Verdi’s iconic opera Rigoletto by the Tulsa Opera, which was staged at ONEOK Field, home of the Tulsa Drillers minor league baseball team and Double-A Affiliate of the LA Dodgers.
Every note of the operatic repertoire of Rigoletto was heard clearly and sweetly by the 1,685 socially-distanced audience members seated in the 2,700-capacity stadium thanks to an L-Acoustics Kara PA system provided by locally-based Axiom Audio.
The system consisted of 24 Kara enclosures, six SB18 subs, and three four-speaker clusters of Kiva II used as centre and side-fills, all powered by six LA12X and three LA4X amplified controllers. These components were on an Optocore fibre network that also included a DiGiCo SD10 FOH mixing console paired with two SD-Racks.
The stadium management wouldn’t permit the rigging necessary to fly the sound system to be erected on the field’s grass areas, as would typically be done in an outdoor location such as this one. Instead, taking inspiration from Super Bowl music system configurations, the Kara speakers were loaded onto nine wheeled carts. These lined the first and third baselines, four per side, facing the grandstands, with the ninth cart positioned at home plate, just in front of the low risers that were the stage for six orchestra members: two violins, viola, cello, bass, and piano. This arrangement provided th

UK - During UK Friday night primetime television, disguise showcased its xR technology on Channel 5’s The Gadget Show, highlighting how extended reality offers virtual production and performance in immersive real-time video environments.
The Gadget Show presenter Georgie Barrat was treated to an all-encompassing xR experience, taking in the disguise London HQ and filming a series of one-to-one interviews about the origins and ambitions of xR technology with disguise’s executive leadership team, including CSO Tom Rockhill and CTO Ed Plowman.
The show was also taken across town to experience a cross-location meeting on disguise certified solutions provider White Light’s SmartStage at London’s Science Museum. White Light technical solutions director Andy Hook said, “It was fantastic to see xR and our SmartStage solution getting such a great reaction from mainstream media. It was the natural choice for us to work with disguise when we started our xR journey more than three years ago and it's amazing to see the tools we’ve helped them develop since then being used across a wide range of industries.”
“In an unforgettable year when the world had no choice but to find virtual solutions due to the impact of the pandemic, disguise xR continues to go from strength to strength, powering many virtual events, performances and productions, in entertainment and corporate settings across the globe. We were thrilled to host The Gadget Show at our London base and at White Light’s SmartStage, providing the nation with a holistic

UK - On 3 December, TFG Stage Technology teamed up with Laing O'Rourke to light up Manchester arts venue The Factory, currently being built in the heart of the city, in support of International Day for People with Disabilities.
PurpleLightUp is a global movement that celebrates and draws attention to the economic contribution of the 386m disabled employees around the world. It has been driving momentum for disability inclusion across hundreds of organisations, reaching thousands of employees in different ways. This includes lighting up prominent buildings purple, holding events, developing workplace policies for disabled employees and sparking conversations about disability inclusion worldwide.
The Factory is designed by Rem Koolhaas’s OMA and backed by Manchester City Council, HM Government and Arts Council England. It will be Manchester International Festival’s permanent home, commissioning and presenting a year-round programme of extraordinary, ground-breaking and interdisciplinary work by leading artists from across the globe.
TFG Stage Technology has recently been appointed to work alongside Laing O’Rourke and Manchester City Council as the specialist contractor supplying the stage lighting and audio-visual systems throughout Manchester’s new flagship venue.
“As a local company we are excited to be working on what will become one of the most important venues in the North West,” explained TFG sales consultant David Cusworth, “Not only do we get to deliver state of the art technical systems, but we expect that our employees wi

Estonia - Robe featured on the rig for the Estonian launch of the new Škoda ENYAQ iV all-electric SUV.
The press / VIP event took place at the Škoda dealership centre – Aasta Auto – in Tartu, Estonia’s second city, with technical production coordinated by Andres Sarv of creative visual design and production company Pstudio, and lighting designed by Tõnis Sarv also working for Pstudio.
They work with Robe equipment as often as is possible and, on this occasion, chose to work with eight Robe LEDBeam 100s, 12 LEDWash 800s ,12 300E Spots and two CitySkape Xtreme LED floods. Pstudio has been involved with previous Skoda promotional events and delivers technical design and production for other car brands like Audi.
The show involved a presentation element followed by a reveal of the new vehicle, demanding a combination of different styles and approaches, and the creative brief for lighting was left entirely up to Tõnis who created a design that was suitably adaptable and flexible.
The main focus was lighting the cars well, both practically in an exhibition sense and also theatrically for the reveal. Tõnis worked with a creative team from Skoda Estonia who provided the direction and custom video content while Raul Roma supplied the music track.
The central car was placed in front of a large LED screen, flanked by two smaller screens to cover the width of the space, and ensure that the socially distanced audience in the viewing gallery all enjoyed good sightlines.
The LEDBeam 100s were rigged on vertical truss towers either si

France - The city of Bordeaux has a new Anolis lighting scheme for its La Porte de Bourgogne landmark.
The Roman-style stone arch was built in the 1750s at the end of one of the major roads traversing Bordeaux, now called the Cours Victor Hugo, which is a thoroughfare for both cars and pedestrians crossing the city. It is also clearly visible from across the River Garonne.
With its prominent position and historical significance, the city council are keen for La Porte de Bourgogne to be a highly visible ‘communication portal’ welcoming people to the ancient centre, so they wanted a great looking, energy-efficient lighting scheme to replace the old one which was installed over a decade ago and was starting to look dated.
Above all, they wanted more dynamic lighting that could redefine and celebrate La Porte de Bourgogne’s significance as a symbolic gateway to the city.
The city council’s lighting designer Sylvie Bordes was already talking to urban planning specialist Citeos, a subsidiary of multinational Vinci Energies that partners with local authorities and communities to develop their environments. The scope of their work includes advising on architecture and lighting for long term projects.
Anolis – via Robe France’s architectural lighting specialists Bruno Francois and Eric Tabuteau – was already in the frame thanks to their local partner company Objectif Lumière, who convinced the city council and Citeos to undertake some tests. As it happens, Bruno had been involved with the previous lighting installation on the arch

UK - Created in conjunction with parent company Clair Global, Britannia Row Production’s Virtual Live Audience (VLA) platform represents the latest in interactional and remote entertainment experiences (watch out for a feature on the new solution in the upcoming LSi December, out next week).
Like video conferencing, music fans and TV audience members utilise a propriety browser-based video platform to experience a live performance or be part of a TV filming production – from the comfort of their home.
However, the VLA experience has been created with real time engagement in mind. The VLA system allows for the performance artist or TV host / panellists to both interact and reconnect with confidence during Covid-19 audience restrictions.
Viewers at home also benefit from multi-camera broadcast feeds and can watch the entertainment remotely while feeling as if they have a front row ticket.
In contrast, the talent on stage will experience an immersive production, allowing for authentic fan engagement to finally make a return.
A key selling point of the VLAs is that viewers log on instantly. With no need to download an app, the audience simply logs on via their laptop, tablet or phone browser, requiring an internet connection only. The system generates unique URLs that can only be used once.
The Moderator Panel, a feature built into the original software allows the moderator to view in Live Grid and Waiting Room Grid mode, assigning users to different locations and controlling their microphone for a smooth workflow.

France - Celebrating all things glamorous, sensual and flamboyant, Folies Bergère is one of Paris’ most revered nightspots. Originally a cabaret music hall and variety-entertainment theatre, The Folies made its mark during the Belle Epoque of the late 1800s with its music hall revues featuring stunning dancers. More recently returning to its musical production roots, the Folies Bergère stage has been graced by famous artists from Charlie Chaplin, Ella Fitzgerald, Marcel Marceau, Frank Sinatra, Charles Aznavour through to Elton John.
This year, the theatre’s impressive programme has been matched with equally impressive audio technology when the Folies Bergère became the first performing arts centre in France to permanently install L-Acoustics L-ISA Hyperreal Sound technology.
The venue’s operating contract is handled by specialist live sound company Potar Hurlant, part of the Novelty Group, under the direction of technical director Madje Malki. The company works with many famous French touring artists and the idea of installing L-ISA into Folies Bergère emerged following the company’s successful use of the technology on tour with pop singer Renaud.
“The idea of installing L-ISA came from my desire to progress from a standard left-right system,” explains Malki. “This is a complex venue architecturally, and even though the original L-Acoustics system worked well, the many columns and shadow areas caused issues. When mixing in stereo format, we tried to give as much depth as possible to the audio, employing methods like parallel comp

USA - NY-based Sound Co-op began in 2015 as a conversation between freelance production sound mixers Jon Moore and Phil Shipman. Their co-operative is a sustainable business model to increase career security and bolster clients’ confidence at the same time. To standardise wireless and other equipment across their team, they chose Lectrosonics Digital Hybrid Wireless gear, including the SMV and SMQV transmitters and SRc receivers, supported by pairings of the T4 and R1a for IFB applications. They shared how their Co-op model has helped them thrive and work safely during the coronavirus pandemic - and the supporting role Lectrosonics equipment has played.
“Our Co-op is a legal structure,” says chief financial officer Shipman. “It’s just like how some apartment buildings and food stores are co-ops. We’re not only worker-owned, but democratically controlled. In a for-profit company, owners take profit based on the share of the company they own. Here, each sound mixer takes revenue based on how much they work.”
Even prior to the pandemic, standardisation was a must, as resident tech guru and co-founder Jon Moore explains, “From a technical perspective, we needed wireless products that were wideband, durable, user-friendly, and easy to troubleshoot.”
In early 2020, the coronavirus struck, giving Sound Co-op a further reason for having a single wireless umbrella. “We were already benefitting by swapping gear seamlessly between audio bags and projects - if a particular shoot needed more channels at the last minute, that kind of thing,”

USA - Visuals are an important part of most modern church services. More and more churches are switching to LED video walls due to the increased brightness and contrast they can offer. This was the direction chosen by Calvary Christian Centre, which recently installed a pair of ADJ LED video wall displays alongside a lighting package from sister company Elation Professional.
Located in Yuba City, Northern California, Calvary Christian Centre is a thriving and growing church which is part of the Assemblies of God fellowship. Pastor Michael Ciociola and his wife Dona have led the church since 1991 and head up a large team of both full-time staff and volunteers.
The leadership recently decided to upgrade the AV system in their 900 capacity sanctuary, replacing old video equipment with a new LED video wall system to display song words, scripture readings and other visual content. At the same time, they also decided to enhance their existing lighting system with colour mixing fixtures to illuminate the stage’s backdrop and improved stage lighting.
Aware that they wanted to upgrade to an LED video wall system, the church team researched local suppliers and selected Illuminate Production Services, based in Lincoln, CA. They have a strong track record of designing and installing bespoke AVL systems in numerous churches across California.
Having considered the church’s requirements, visited their campus and discussed budget, the IPS team – led by general manager, Kevin Allen - recommended a video system built around ADJ’s AV2X LED panel. A tot

USA - The deep history of Bridgewater Church of the Brethren in Bridgewater, Virginia stretches back into the late 1700s, when the first Europeans migrated into the area. Centuries of branching and growth led to the construction of the church’s current sanctuary in 1998.
The fan-shaped room seats approximately 500 people and is open, inviting, and sympathetically appointed. However, its existing sound reinforcement system (as old as the sanctuary itself) was broken and behind the times. The church's property is on the campus of Bridgewater College, a facility that earlier in 2020 received a Danley upgrade for their chapel.
A member of the church was very impressed and excited about bringing local integrator RTW Media, of Orville, Virginia, into Church of the Brethren to transform their old system. RTW replaced the previous system with a Danley Sound Labs point source sound reinforcement system.
“Bridgewater Church of the Brethren has a stunningly beautiful sanctuary with a 65-foot ceiling at its peak,” says RTW Media logistics manager Zack Guida. “They’re very into music and regularly bring notable Christian musicians in for services and concerts.
“However, their existing loudspeakers were only mid-grade when they went in over twenty years ago. They were flat sounding and threw energy all over the ceiling and walls. One driver was blown completely. However, every sound company they called to replace the old system would look way up at the existing cluster and say, ‘nope.’ Since they were positioned over the lip of the stage, t

UK - For the thousands of fans throughout the UK who viewed the recent Lockdown Bingo Charity show, getting swept up in the immersive panorama supporting the livestream’s performances came quite naturally.
The tightly woven imagery captivated the livestream audience. But for the team at Tapestry Live Studio that created the visuals, the massive curved video wall and lighting rig were treated as two distinct design elements.
“The LED wall and lighting installation are two completely independent installations, but they complement each other beautifully,” said Sarah Winters of Tapestry Virtual Events, which created the studio in the face of the pandemic. “Our LED wall needs to be kept most flexible as it is used for a wide range of activities, but the lighting selected allows us to add different effects to suit every use of the studio. This ranges from corporate events to DJ sets.”
Tapestry Event owners Lynsey and Alex McLaren planned the virtual studio with a clear divide between video and lighting soon after the COVID-19 pandemic brought their normal live event business to a halt, believing that this arrangement would give the production facility greater flexibility.
“In the wake of COVID we found ourselves adapting to the ever-changing landscape of the events world,” said Alex McLaren. “We therefore created our Tapestry Studio and Virtual Events Platform to offer our clients a way of delivering their events, whether it be a conference, DJ sets, live band performances, AGMs, meetings and panel discussions, charity events and