Germany - The cabaret-style Cologne Stunksitzung is the original father of the ‘alternative carnival session’ and the largest format of its kind. From 7 December 2022 to 21 February 2023, 46 Stunksitzungen took place at the E-Werk venue, including a TV broadcast on the WDR channel.
The lighting technology for the Stunksitzungen was once again provided by the Cologne-based event and media technology service provider al-media. Together with lighting designer Jojo Tillmann, the team relied almost exclusively on Cameo spotlights.
The al-media firm has been active as a technical service provider for the Stunksitzungen for many years and is located in the immediate vicinity of the famous E-Werk and Palladium venues. In 2021 and 2022, al-media owner André Lyrmann invested in a broad Cameo portfolio ranging from Zenit W600 washlights to Opus SP-5 profile moving heads and Opus H5 beam moving heads, to F-Series LED Fresnel spotlights. After the 2021/22 stunt sessions were cancelled due to the Corona situation at the time, the spotlights finally came into play.
A total of 15 Opus SP5 profile moving heads serve as front light, back light and for gobo use; the Evos W3s are used as lighting for the live band and as side and effect lights. The Elferrat, placed on a gallery above the stage, is illuminated from behind by four compact F1 T Fresnel spotlights with Tungsten LEDs and additionally staged with eight F2 T PO (rod-operated), which are simultaneously intended for various individual positions and offer even more power than the F1 T with their 12,500 lm l

USA - Just outside the bustling Houston metropolis lies St. Mary Magdalene Catholic church. The church was established in 1912 and would hold Mass in the homes of its parishioners until a sanctuary was built and consecrated in 1915. Now home to a thriving congregation, St. Mary Magdalene conducts seven worship services each weekend, and its sanctuary supports up to 1200 people.
Stained glass windows depicting the 14 Stations of the Cross flank the sides, while an altar featuring an ornate carving of the Last Supper dominates the dais. The high-peaked, wood-panelled ceiling and other hard surfaces combined with an underpowered audio system resulted in low speech intelligibility, making it difficult for churchgoers to understand the worship service. Steerable loudspeaker arrays from Renkus-Heinz were installed in the church to improve intelligibility and enhance worship experiences for the congregation.
Church leaders approached Shawn Mullins, founder and CEO of Covenant Communications, to redesign the audio system. An AV integration company with over 20 years of experience specialising in houses of worship, Covenant Communications has 35 employees in Houston and San Antonio and has worked with Renkus-Heinz since the company’s inception.
When specifying the audio upgrade St. Mary Magdalene needed, Mullins recommended Renkus-Heinz’s ICLive X Series of steerable arrays to meet the church's goals of even coverage and high intelligibility. The ICLive X Series provides complete customization of room coverage through individually steerable beams, and th

Australia - Melbourne Catholic secondary college St Peter’s recently opened a new performing arts centre, designed by international theatre consultancy Schuler Shook. Located alongside its Clyde North campus in the south-east of the city, the Geode Centre features a full complement of pro-level AV technology solutions designed and integrated by local supplier/installer Factory Sound, including a Nexo Geo M12 line array system.
Working closely with St Peter’s College, the team at Factory Sound were brought in early within the design process to evolve a technical fitout which would serve the school’s intentions for the space whilst ensuring budgets were always under consideration. Working directly for the school over the 18 months prior to construction meant many of the pitfalls which can occur when tech is considered ‘just another trade’ were avoided entirely. Factory Sound AV installer and programmer Phil Rowbotham takes up the story.
“The brief was for a high-spec, fully controllable professional grade theatre that would be simple and easy to use for non-technical operators like teachers running their own presentations, without losing any of the complexity that somebody using a full spec theatre would expect.
“The Nexo system was specifically chosen for its ability to suit every purpose that the room requires – intelligibility for speech and school-based functions like assemblies, right through to the full dynamic range that you would expect with a high-dynamic rock band on stage. It really does tick all the boxes.”
The sys

USA - First Baptist Church Woodstock (FBCW) is no stranger to major undertakings. Spanning three centuries, the church’s current 16,000-member congregation worship in a 7,500-seat worship centre in its 435,000sq.ft building on an 80-acre campus in the North Georgia town of Woodstock twice each Sunday.
Last year, FBCW notably became the site of the world’s largest permanent installation of L-ISA immersive sound technology, which is paired with DiGiCo Quantum338 consoles at front of house and monitors. Now, the church has embraced immersive mixing in the house and in the ears with its December addition of a DMI-KLANG module, supplied by the church’s integration partner, Diversified.
FBCW’s monitoring landscape is certainly an ambitious one. Every Sunday, there are two completely distinct worship experiences. The first, starting at 9:30am, is choir-driven with a sizable individually mic’d front line backed by a full band and orchestra. After the conclusion of that service, a second 11:00am service begins that is band-driven with a completely different set of songs, musicians, and vocalists.
Nick Geiger, account executive, worship environments at Diversified, says the move into immersive sound for FBCW’s stage monitoring came about as part of the same conversation that saw the immersive audio move with the PA. “With so many different audio sources, the need to expand the sound field to hear more distinction between the different voices and instruments is critically important. It was also equally important to maintain the high audio fidelit

Germany - Huelva, Spain-based manufacturer of LED screens Alfalite has supplied its Modularpix Pro VP XR panels with ORIM technology to build a 120sq.m L-shaped LED wall in Plazamedia’s new Extended Reality (XR) studio, which has just been opened near Munich.
Plazamedia has been the leading sports TV producer in the German-speaking region since 1976. Its new briX|woRk.studio, located in AGROB Medienpark in Ismaning near Munich, will offer new and diverse application possibilities for innovative and sustainable productions with a combination of XR, AR and VR for film and production companies, broadcasters, advertising companies and event and creative agencies.
briX|woRk.studio is one of Germany’s most innovative studios. It combines real set architecture with virtual worlds via the 24m- wide and 5m-high LED wall and can be expanded into a 360° space through augmented reality. Alfalite’s Modularpix Pro VP XR panels feature 1.9mm pixel pitch, optical parameters and cd/m2 brightness > 1,800 nits, providing ‘outstanding viewing angle stability and enabling filming the LED wall even from extreme camera angles’.
Mo-Sys, a pioneer in virtual production technology, oversaw the development and implementation of this project and integrated Alfalite’s LED panels with its products Startracker, Cinematic XR Focus and bMR. Thanks to Mo-Sys real-time render engine (Unreal Engine 5.1) integrated into briX|woRk.studio, parameters such as time of day and atmosphere – for example, sun, rain, snow, or fog – are reproducible at will and can be define

Norway - The story of Hitler’s first defeat in the Second World War is depicted in the new Netflix film, Narvik. This is named after the small town in Northern Norway where the Norwegian army and the Allies fought and won the first battle against Germany.
The world premiere was held in Narvik itself with a big outdoor cinema especially created in the town square, which was free for everyone. The realism of the battle, and the associated sound effects, were authentically captured by a Martin Audio Wavefront Precision line array deployment in 5.1 surround, in a completely unique and unprecedented production.
Stein Hjertholm from the event production company All-In, originally contacted Thomas Nordvik Olsen from Audiolight in Harstad and he, in turn, asked if Øystein Wierli, head of sound at Atendi, Martin Audio’s Norwegian distributor, could act as consultant. This was because such an undertaking had never been attempted before, let alone for a movie world premiere in a town centre.
“We had no hesitation in jumping straight in,” reports Wierli. “But when we actually started thinking about it, we had two main challenges. Aside from the fact that this was a first for an outdoor cinema in this format, it was also planned for mid-December.”
He was well aware that temperatures in the Arctic Circle at this time of year are generally down to below -20°C. “If you are lucky, you only get a metre of snow in a day! So not only was the production ambitious in the first place, but the weather was certainly a wild factor as well.”

UAE - A zactrack real-time tracking system was specified and used to control over 400 moving lights for the 51st United Arab Emirates National Day ceremony which featured creative direction and design by Es Devlin and was produced by People Creative.
The show was directed by Francisco Negrin, Gavin Robins & Bryn Walters, with lighting for this high-profile production designed by Bruno Poet, with associate designers Max Narula & Johanne Jensen.
A special tunnel shaped auditorium was designed by Es Devlin specially curated for the location at ADNEC in Abu Dhabi. The epic 45-minute show featured a full-scale parade and a stylishly choreographed cast of over 3000, including 1000 military personnel and 1000 children, which highlighted the history, values, achievements, and future visions of the UAE.
This fusion of colour, movement and drama was broadcast and streamed live on the first day of the 2022 UAE National Day holiday weekend.
Bruno’s starting point for the lighting design was the detailed scenic environment and Francisco’s carefully storyboarded narrative. Bruno specified a lighting rig that was versatile enough to cover the show dynamics and the impressive 100m-long by 20m-wide performance area. It featured giant curved portals at both ends with opening / closing doors for entrances / exits. The entire space including the floor was also used as a projection surface.
Ground supported lighting positions surrounded the entire venue, matched to the gentle curves of the outdoor setting, with seating stands either side and a

UK - Audiologic has detailed their work with ABC AV to launch a new permanent space themed immersive experience at The National Space Centre. Prepared to launch on a low Earth orbit cruise with Tetrastar Spaceport, visitors accidentally find themselves on a rescue mission to Mars. The team must work together to retrieve important research, survive disaster, and escape back to Earth.
Tetrastar Spaceport combines immersive theatre, actors, realistic set design, projection mapping, spatial audio, real-time interactive content, motion seats and hands-on interactives with immersive storytelling.
The 300m2 experience plays out across four main zones with 10 additional themed spaces allowing four concurrent pulses of 20 person groups. 11 projectors, 47 screens, 45 speakers, 50 media servers and computers, and 15k mapped RGBW LED pixels are seamlessly blended into the intricate set work and woven together under a family friendly, exciting space themed narrative.
Everyone feels like part of the interactive mission which is supported by pre-recorded characters in the media, real-world performers, and an artificial intelligence “ADA”. In most attractions the excitement would be over after the big ride moment, but this is just half the experience. The visitors get to take part in an escape room style experience where they must retrieve valuable specimens and power up the Tetrabank with Tetracells to ensure they have enough energy to get back to Earth in the escape pod.
The attraction design and creation were led by the National Space Centre in-house i

Belgium - October 2022 saw the release of the film Zillion, an account of the notoriously decadent club in Antwerp, Belgium that became ‘the’ place to be in the late ’90’s.
Created by Frank Verstraeten, Zillion included all the things Verstraeten felt other clubs lacked, particularly in the visual element. Using the most technologically advanced fixtures of the time, his club boasted moving lights, atmospheric lighting FX and elements of a budding AV phenomena. The ingenuity and innovation of the original driving concept at Zillion has found a soulmate in the creativity at the heart of Ayrton lighting products.
As the owner of the rental company Pixelbeam, Verstraeten now has a big fleet of Ayrton fixtures from which he supplied 250 fixtures to The Creative Factory (T.C.F.) to get creative with on a series of parties that accompanied the film’s release, each of which celebrated and recreated the Zillion style and vibe.
The series of parties began with an ‘avant-premiere’, the day before the film’s official release, attended by the cast and a wealth of Belgian celebrities, industry professionals and guests who filled 15 halls of the cinema for a simultaneous showing, before being swept to the Zillion-style after-party at Waagnatie in Antwerp.
Robbie Boone from FACE, Ayrton’s exclusive Belgian distributor, describes the after-party layout at Waagnatie, “The scene was set on entry with Zillion eye-catchers, video clips from the film, and a Ferrari as a central feature in the foyer representing Frank’s decadent

Belgium - In a city that’s famous for its breweries, the people of Leuven certainly know how to throw a party. The capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant welcomed in the new year with a free event for 10,000 people in the Oude Markt, featuring DJ sets from a stage in the centre of the square.
With the audience located on both sides, an STM sound system deployed by long-time Nexo rental partner VDB-PA was required to cover two distinct areas. System designer Lennert Van de Velde takes up the story of how the VDB team took on the challenge. “Controlling the coverage and focussing the low frequencies were important at such an event, with strict decibel limits outside the immediate area. So, we used Nexo NS-1 to design the system and predict SPL coverage with a large audience filling the square.
“The system comprised nine STM M28 per side for the smaller part of the square, and six STM M46 + B112 per side with two M28 down-fills for the larger part. Nexo’s P12 point source speakers were used under the DJ platform as in-fills, where the audience was able to move from one side of the square to the other.
“To minimise left - right interference in the sub frequencies we used two cardioid sub clusters, a combination of six S118 flown subwoofers and six S118 ground stacked per tower, all in the Nexo back-to-back configuration. Each tower provided sub-bass coverage for one side of the square, while being directed away from the other side by the cardioid setup. This way we could achieve a very smooth and consistent response across

UK - At the end of last year, H&M unveiled its newly redesigned flagship store on London's Regent Street, featuring generative artwork displayed on a double 4k resolution LED screen from Leyard Europe.
One of Europe’s largest indoor LED screens, it was installed by London-based LEDTek Solutions. The LED screen, which frames a set of escalators and fills the entire rear wall of the store, has been designed to showcase a series of progressive and stylish digital materials that complement the aesthetic of the brand and act as an extension of the H&M’s elevated architecture, encouraging people to enter the store when seen from afar.
Created by London-based design and technology studio Hirsch & Mann in collaboration with H&M and with the support of the Creative Coding company Variable, this system continuously evolves throughout the day by responding to customer activity on the escalator. This constant live generation of materials results in unexpected, dynamic visuals dancing across the 4200 pixel wide by 3536 pixel high 2.5mm Leyard LED screen in rich double 4K detail.
“The artwork’s materials have been curated to be highly glossy in their aesthetic, allowing them to reflect lighting and colours of digital environments within their 3D scene, as well as have more depth,” explains Daniel Hirschmann, CEO at Hirsch & Mann. “Their appeal is also in their ability to behave as a physical fabric might do when manipulated in real life, with the virtual, directional wind within the 3D scene allowing the partly-floating curated mat

The Netherlands - Popular Dutch TV quiz show De Grote Gezondheidsquiz saw celebrities go head-to-head in a battle of health-related knowledge, playing in a specially designed set lit by warm, rich colours and sharp white contestant spotlights.
Production and lighting design company DETS Creative were tasked with delivering the studio set and lighting solution, choosing to use Vari-Lite VL5LED Wash, VL800 EventWash and VL2600 Series luminaires from Signify.
The show was recorded in Studio Baarn, in the Dutch town of the same name, produced by Medialane and broadcast live on the SBS6 channel. DETS Creative has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the TV studio, and they were asked to deliver full set design and development, including lighting, video and décor as well as all technical drawings and technical preparations. DETS Creative collaborated with Studio Baarn and LEDXPro to source the range of Vari-Lite fixtures.
Due to the high-profile broadcast and studio size, the team used more than 132 Vari-Lite fixtures, with the VL5LED dominating the rig.
“We specified the VL5LED for many reasons – we love its appearance and how great it looks on the high shot on camera, and it did an amazing job of filling all shots on set,” explains Tom Tijssen from DETS Creative. “We were also able to manage the output behind the host to be enough to give a little beam, but also not too much to make the camera take flare, using the LED blade. The VL5LED worked very well to create an amazing environment, achieving some fantastic looks that worke

Belgium - Namur Grand Manège Concert Hall recently opened its doors following a major three-year renovation project. The ambitious €20m redesign transformed a historic military riding school into a modern cultural centre featuring an intimate 800-capacity auditorium, made exceptional by its acoustics and soundproofing.
The venue’s AV team had only considered a traditional left/right sound system, but they were so impressed with L-Acoustics’ L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound that the technology has become the centrepiece of the venue’s audio system.
Situated in Namur’s city centre, the renovated Concert Hall hosts two complementary cultural institutions, the Centre of Vocal Art and Ancient Music (CAV&MA) and the Conservatoire Balthasar-Florence de Namur music school. It will also serve as a home for the city’s world-renowned ensembles, including the Namur Chamber Choir and Millennium Orchestra.
Emulating some of the best philharmonic halls around the globe, the objective of the new Concert Hall is to gain a similar reputation as other premium classical music venues. To this end, the Hall boasts a unique acoustic design, which provides a longer reverb time than a typical concert hall to complement the ancient music performances of the CAV&MA.
“The choice of loudspeaker system was a major component of the building design, even though a significant proportion of the programme is classical music performed acoustically, without the use of a PA,” explains Arnaud Delorme, senior application engineer at L-Acoustics.
“The

USA - Over the last weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs again found themselves in the Super Bowl spotlight, with the team’s quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, earning his second career Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) title. For Shure, the MVPs were the veteran audio engineers and sound technicians who managed the broadcasts of Super Bowl LVII and NFL Honours with the support of Axient Digital Wireless Systems and PSM 1000 Advanced In-Ear Personal Monitoring Systems, which delivered flawless audio to a record-setting 113m viewers worldwide.
ATK Audiotek and Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) handled all wireless microphones and IEM systems for the pre-game entertainment, halftime entertainment and referees, as well as the NFL Honours broadcast. The team included broadcast mixer Tom Holmes, monitor mixer Tom Pesa, RF engineers Cameron Stuckey, Kasey Gchachu, and Gary Trenda, RF team lead for CP Communications, Loren Sherman, as well as a vast team of A2s, who managed the audio of Super Bowl Sunday’s most unforgettable moments.
“Once again, the reigning Super Bowl champ for in-ear performance was PSM 1000,” said Tom Pesa. “I used Shure Wireless Workbench to monitor levels. For the pregame, all three performers wore in-ears, including Chris Stapleton, who normally does not. With the two live guitar mics and live vocal, along with Chris’ slowly building and poignant rendition of our National Anthem, PSM 1000 was the right choice for the reverberant stadium.”
The RF team depended on eight AD4Q four-channel wireless receivers and the recentl

USA - Michael Grabarczyk is a freelance audio technician and an early adopter of Outline’s Newton FPGA-based processor. In recent years he has handled system tech duties for US guitarist Joe Bonamassa, working with Mike Lavielle at FOH and an L-Acoustics K2 system provided by SES (Special Event Services).
Bonamassa spends a great deal of time on the road and plays a wide range of venues, from large outdoor spaces to venues such as London’s Royal Albert Hall, to ‘blues cruises’ on ships and even club dates in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, presenting a continuous range of challenges to his sound crew.
Michael reports, “The Newton has replaced multiple other units, both in my drive rack at FOH and in amp racks, to accomplish all the same processes in a 1RU rack device. The functionality and I/O in such a small package is seriously impressive
“Given the vast amount of I/O per Newton and tools available on each output it made the Royal Albert Hall, normally a challenging venue, a breeze. I was able to drive and control every subsystem individually from one Newton at FOH that we travelled with. Whether it’s our normal tour rig, or dealing with a house rig, there hasn’t been a scenario yet where Newton wasn’t the correct tool for the gig.”
In addition to himself, Bonamassa’s seven-piece band features a second guitarist, drummer, bassist, keys, plus two backing vocalists and Newton’s facilities help Michael to deal with the line-up: “Not just for Joe, but other gigs as well. The layers of EQ and variety of tools available on ea

The Netherlands - Today, the clang of hammers and buzz of milling machines can no longer be heard at the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM Grounds), but the site still resonates with powerful, soul-shaking sounds as the home of the Rotterdam Rave festivals.
The same characteristics that shipbuilders prized in the RDM Grounds, make them ideal for reflecting the raw, industrial power of rave music. At the recent Rotterdam Rave festival, Berend Janssen of Powerproductions drew on this heritage to transform the entire building into one immersive and very intense panorama. Helping him to do this, RF Shows supplied Berend with 42 Chauvet Professional fixtures, along with six Vesuvio foggers.
Jeroen Kwakernaak, who has designed Rotterdam Rave events in the past, knows the technical producer and lightning designer, Berend Janssen, very well. They've been working together for a while. “This is a great venue, but you have to create intensity inside this room with a great lighting plan to do it justice, while at the same time creating an intimate atmosphere,” Jeroen said. “Berend did excellent work creating layers in the plan by playing at different heights with colour mixes and, of course, bumping to the beat of the music.
“Berend wanted to be able to emphasize the height and the free space as much as possible,” continued Jeroen. “As a result, a fairly simple rigging plot was required, but this still called for quite a bit of work. The lights make the show but integrating this in the high truss pillars gave it an extra dimension.”
K

Spain - IFELOR is a large, new trade fair and conference centre recently opened in Lorca, a city in the region of Murcia in the south-east of Spain. The new building includes the Margarita Lozano auditorium, which benefits from lighting by Showtec and Infinity thanks to supplier Soniles Technology. Industrias Maquiescenic (Retom) took care of the installation.
The official opening of IFELOR took place on 30 December 2022 with a sold-out performance in the auditorium by the 70-strong, Film Symphony Orchestra who performed their show Krypton. Many important figures attended the opening including the mayor of Lorca, Diego José Mateos, who stressed the new building’s importance to the local economy.
A total of 14,823sq.m containing three exhibition halls, three conference halls, an auditorium and a large terrace make the venue suitable for all sorts of events. For the Margarita Lozano auditorium, Soniles Technology supplied a total of 220 pieces of lighting equipment by Showtec and Infinity.
Showtec products included 42x Performer 1500 Fresnel, 28x Performer Profile 650 Q5, 12x Performer 2500 Fresnel, 28x Zoom Lens, 54x Barndoor and 20x Glass gobo holder. Infinity products include 12x TFLD-7 Floodlight, 12x TS-300 Profile Engine and 12x TLT-1535 15-35° zoom. All of the lights were installed by Industrias Maquiescenic (Retom) to ensure that IFELOR’s inaugural event got off to a flying start with impressive music and lighting.

USA - A recent concert by Israeli trio of tenors Kol Esperanza at the Spanish River Church in Boca Raton, Florida, featured guest artists, and an orchestra, performing a far-reaching variety of songs, ranging from Disney medleys to Jewish folk classics, and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
Adding to the performance was a Clifford Michael Spulock lighting design that reflected the spirit of each song with an elegantly balanced mix of colours.
Using a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue R2X Spot fixtures supplied by Nick Sallah, and the team at Steadlight, Spulock covered the stage with a rich variety of hues that complemented the lush images shown on a central projection video wall.
“Each song had its own theme and videos that went along with it,” he said. “I used the projections as a template to choose my colour palette in order to compliment or contrast what was being projected on the screen. This show has many different types of songs, working with the video imagery my lighting was able to convey the essence and personality of each one, whether its was the energy of the Disney pieces, or the deep emotions of the Jewish compositions.”
Spulock positioned his Rogue R2X Spot units in the air on electrics and on the deck. He used the flown fixtures for down and back lighting, while those on the floor were relied on for aerial effects and specials. By doing this, he immersed the entire room in colours, often contrasting different shades of monochromatic hues, while at other times blending complimentary palettes.
“I love th

Australia - When Lane and Candice Place, owners of Pro AV rental house 65Thirty Events & Entertainment in Western Australia were looking to upgrade the company’s wireless intercom inventory, they contacted industry expert Steve Parkins from National Audio Systems (NAS), a distributor of professional audio and video brands. Steve recommended Pliant Technologies MicroCom 900XR wireless intercom for its ease-of-use and reliability.
65Thirty’s clients include local and touring bands, concerts, conferences, and festivals that take place in and around the picturesque coastal area. Having reliable, high-quality equipment is essential to the success of their business, as the nearest large city (Perth) is over 250 miles away.
“We had been considering upgrading our intercoms for some time and when Steve (Parkins) came out and demonstrated Pliant’s MicroCom 900 XR, we were immediately impressed,” says Lane. “The belt packs are extremely well built and being so far from the city of Perth, reliability was vital. The design is simple, yet innovative, and we purchased the system.”
In addition to its reliability, the team is also impressed with the 900XR’s excellent range. “At 500ft, the system still delivers crystal clear sound, which is very impressive,” adds Lane. “At that distance, many of our older systems are unable to operate or pick up interference. The MicroCom 900XR has none of that. It is a real game changer for us.”
The MicroCom 900XR is a two-channel full-duplex multi-user wireless intercom system that operates in the

USA - Alpha Sound’s reputation for designing and installing Nexo systems that bring clear, intelligible sound to traditional and historic liturgical spaces continues to spread as news arrives of the Salem, OR-based company’s latest work across the country in Greenville, South Carolina.
Following successful installations at St Mary’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland and, more recently, at the Mount Angel Abbey monastery in St. Benedict, Oregon, governors of Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church and School invited Alpha’s lead engineer Devin Sheets out to Greenville to evaluate a sound system that had proved unsatisfactory since being installed when the church was built back in 2016, and advise on how it could be improved.
“The existing system wasn’t performing well at all,” reports Devin. “Speech at the back of the church was completely unintelligible and there were numerous dead spots in the coverage.”
In a traditional building design full of hard surfaces, and with a line array, large speakers or additional acoustic treatments ruled out on aesthetic grounds, Sheets quickly concluded that there was only one loudspeaker system appropriate for the job.
“We refer to the Nexo ID84 as a column speaker, but it’s really much more. It provides the coverage characteristics of a small line array with the smooth HF response that brings extraordinary clarity to the spoken word, all in a form factor that fits perfectly into these types of spaces. There’s really nothing else like it on the market and only with the

Finland - The Snow Queen premiered at the Nokia Arena in Tampere, an ‘ice ballet’ extravaganza produced by the Tampere Hall & Kantelinen Company.
The brainchild of Melissa A. Thompson who has worked as a creative lead for Cirque du Soleil, director / choreographer Reija Wäre, composer Tuomas Kantelinen, costume designer Erika Turunen and set, lighting and projection designer Mikki Kunttu, a talented creative team was involved in the delivery and imagineering of this production.
Prominent on Mikki’s lighting rig were 105 x Robe BMFL moving lights, a combination of BMFL Blades and Spots which he used for key lighting, specials and effects throughout this fast moving and highly visual show which finally premiered on 30 December 2022.
Postponed from the previous year due to last minute covid restrictions, the time arrived for ice fans to enjoy five performances, with the New Year’s Eve show going out on live television via national broadcaster YLE’s Channel 1.
Mikki’s brief included creating video projections onto the ice and scenic elements, which combined with the lighting to bring the frozen magic and sub-zero beauty of Lapland right into Tampere Arena.
The task of visuals involved reinforcing the narrative, highlighting the various skating skills, and adding drama and depth to the bigger picture, along with perfect key lighting for TV, all of which needed a combination of Mikki’s experiences from multiple lighting genres.
The BMFLs were a core ingredient of Mikki’s lighting and were positioned on six t

USA - For several decades, interdenominational campus ministry outreach Student Mobilization has hosted its StuMo Conference (SMC) at the start of each year as an opportunity for college students on winter break to deepen their faith and friendships.
For SMC 2023, held at Frisco’s Comerica Centre from 2-5 January, more than 3,000 young adults from across the country converged in Texas to sing, learn, pray, and commune. Throughout the four-day event, AVL provider Relevant Audio + Visual of Wichita, Kansas, sonically reinforced the conference with its new L-Acoustics K2 system, ensuring that those in attendance missed neither a word nor a note.
Although 2023 marked the tenth year that Relevant has provided production for SMC, it served as the company’s first opportunity to deploy its own K2 rig for the client, having invested in the loudspeakers just last year. “We’ve worked with local L-Acoustics rental network provider Onstage Systems to bring in K2 and SB28 subs for the past two years, but with our recent purchase of K2, plus additional Kara II and SB18, we were able to meet the event’s needs with our own in-house inventory this year,” says Relevant Audio + Visual owner and CEO Chris Derstein.
“Considering the variety of stage sessions - including talking heads, high-energy live worship music, and a late-night session with a DJ set - the PA had to cater to all of these tasks exceptionally well, and it certainly did. Both SMC and our team were thrilled with the consistent coverage, SPL, and tonality that the system delivered.”

USA - Following on from a successful launch of its new EL product range last month, UK-based Ventola Projects, a provider of experiential, LED lighting, displays and technology solutions, has seen its new range come to life after the first order was shipped and installed immediately after its launch.
Installed in the Rock n’ Bowl FEC venue in Paoli, Indiana USA, the team at Ventola Projects worked to integrate the new technology into the facility, working closely with the owners and applying years of knowledge to ensure a seamless and successful plug and play in-house self-installation.
Included into this same project, Ventola Projects also developed and Beta tested its new VAvR PC-less control system, whereby the technology is controlled by a tablet, connected to the facility’s Wi-Fi and pushed through a web browser.
This was introduced to help simplify the controls for facility owners, whilst offering another innovative way to reduce costs and provide a budget-friendly and easy to install solution. Ventola’s recent successful in-house development, is now fully launched and operational in the facility.
Mick Ventola, founder and managing director of Ventola Projects, says, “After developing these new products, we’re delighted to see it put into practice, especially in such a great facility friendly. We’re looking forward to implementing the new EL product range into more FEC venues around the world.”

USA - Garrett McConchie experienced a brief moment of disorientation recently and was both confounded and excited by what he saw. The project manager of CNXN Live, a real-time in person and livestreamed corporate event that took place simultaneously at two sites, McConchie was watching a panel discussion occurring at the Armory in Manchester, New Hampshire, when, for a fleeting second, he thought he was looking at the monitor for the stage in the Palm Beach Convention Centre, 1,465 miles to the south.
It was at that point that he fully appreciated how well the team at Events United had achieved the seamless connectivity they were after for this ambitious four-day conference, which involved extensive use of broadcast and communications technology, as well as 111 F2 video tiles and 185 LED lighting fixtures from Chauvet Professional.
“Everyone at our company, from our CEO Tim Messina on down, didn’t want this to feel like a choppy zoom meeting,” McConchie said of the event, which was an annual sales kick-off for Connection, a Fortune 1000 IT Solutions provider. “Our goal was to create the kind of look that made everyone feel like they were in the same room, regardless of if they were in New Hampshire, Florida, or watching on their computer. It was very gratifying to see that we achieved that level of consistency in this simulcast.”
CNXN Live, took place on two stages at once: the one in Florida measuring 56ft by 16ft with varying heights, and its New Hampshire counterpart, coming in at 24ft by 12ft with a 24-inch trim. Tying the two stages t