UK - White Light has recently supplied the lighting equipment for the UK tour of The Lovely Bones.
Based on Alice Sebold’s novel, The Lovely Bones is a coming-of-age story about Susie Salmon who is observing her family from the afterlife as they try and deal with her death in different ways. Adapted by Bryony Lavery, the production is directed by Melly Still and features a lighting design by Matt Haskins.
Haskins comments: “Bryony Lavery's adaptation is a mesmerising piece of theatre that, despite its often dark subject matter, proves uplifting and cathartic. The text actually expanded and changed heavily through the rehearsal process and what emerged was a very physical, and visually experimental way of storytelling.”
As such, Haskins soon realised that he needed to have a flexible rig to respond to the new ideas as they unfolded throughout the process. “The main brief for everyone was how to give a sense of heaven and earth,” he continues. “Set designer Ana Inés Jabares-Pita created a 'stealth' set that comprised of a giant two-way mirror set at 45° to the show floor edged with earth, and an upstage horizontal line of corn protruding from its base. Behind the mirror were two tiers of decking on which our actors could also appear.
“This arrangement proved to be a giant Pepper's Ghost effect, relying on carefully positioned lighting that would then allow us to superimpose real and reflected images together; as the lines between heaven & earth become blurred”.
Haskins then approached the Hires Team at WL to

USA - 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the ultimate special-event address, but that venue tends to be booked up at least four years in advance. So the team at Everlast Productions did the next best thing: they projection-mapped a detailed simulacrum of the presidential residence on a three-dimensional stage they constructed in the International Ballroom of the Washington, D.C. Hilton Hotel for the annual leadership event of Power Home Remodelling Group.
And it was, thanks to Everlast Productions’ use of an Avolites Ai Q3 media server as the mapping engine paired with a Tiger Touch II lighting control console and the manufacturer’s Synergy software.
“This was a huge projection event - it had to be very detailed, and it had to be built literally overnight,” says Washington Arias, Everlast Productions’ CEO, referencing the large-scale mapping project in which multiple projectors had to apply projection to a three-dimensional set, right down to a credible Oval Office, where keynote speeches, presentations, and an interview with former president George W. Bush would take place.
The Ai Q3 media server was the source for all of the static projected content but also was used as a low-latency switcher, handling all kinds of static and motion NDI and HD-SDI feeds to accommodate interactive programming from Derivative’s TouchDesigner software, multiple cameras and various keynote presentations.
Arias notes that the trend in high-end event production now is to construct detailed physical sets whose verisimilitude can be further enhanced by highly

Italy - RCF celebrated its 70th birthday in spectacular fashion with A Night in Laguna at the famous old Venice Arsenal, the hub of Italian shipbuilding in the 16th century.
To help them celebrate this milestone, they flew in nearly 500 distributors, dealers and customers from all points of the globe, who arrived at the ocation via a 45-minute boat journey on 19 September.
First, guests were treated to cocktails and a buffet, courtesy of two-Michelin starred chef Massimiliano (Max) Alajmo (of Le Calandre fame), along with a special 70th birthday cake.
Suitably replete, guests were then invited next door, where RCF Group CEO Arturo Vicari was introduced to spontaneous applause. He emphasised the fact that what RCF had really been selling this past 70 years, as much as transducers, was “emotion” - a fact confirmed by a short company video.
This was followed by the announcement that RCF would now be celebrating this landmark year in the company of Andrea Bocelli, “one of the most loved and appreciated voices in the world”.
As the curtain rose, the tenor took the stage, and for the next 60 minutes-plus, guests were treated to their own mesmerising recital of world-class light opera and popular classics, with the orchestra boosted by Cuban soprano Maria Aleida, Ukrainian principal violinist Anastasiya Petrishak and another regular of Andrea Bocelli’s ensemble, Italian singer Laria Della Bidia.
The set of popular classics ended much applause, which brought the ensemble back for two encores, firstly for Sartori’s Con

Japan - Celebrating its 20th anniversary year, and extended to five days for the 2019 edition, the Rock In Japan festival also marked the Japanese debut of Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision Longbow (WPL).
Running on seven stages over two weekends at Hitachi Seaside Park, music lovers from all across Japan congregated at the location. Unlike other large-scale festivals, this specialises in home grown talent and featured some of Japan’s biggest acts.
Martin Audio systems are now regular fixtures at this event, with the award-winning MLA adopted for the largest, 70,000 capacity Grass Stage. “It was back in 2011 when we first introduced MLA on the Lake Stage,” reports Shuzo Fujii, president of MSI Japan. “This is now the ninth year that the system has been adopted, and its high degree of control has become essential for the festival. Grass Stage has more than 200m depth, and without the need to use many delay towers, MLA can easily achieve the area coverage. At the same time, we can mitigate the noise pollution offsite - few systems can do that.”
Here, 20 elements each side formed the main arrays supported by a further 16 cabinets per side as out-fills. In addition, 48 MLX subwoofers provided low frequency extension.
Proving how effective multicellular technology is for a festival of this size, MLA was also adopted for other stages such as the Park Stage (10,000 cap), Lake Stage (10,000 cap) and Sound of Forest (8,000 cap) with the control offered by MLA also helping to prevent unnecessary sound bleed between stages.
But it was

Italy - Billionaire is a club in Porto Cuervo, an Italian seaside resort on the Costa Smeralda in Northern Sardinia. Named as one of the most expensive resorts in the world, the area is a magnet for luxury yachts and a playground for wealthy visitors.
The club caters for a chic, jet-setting clientele of international showbiz, fashion and sports stars who are entertained by leading DJs and artists. Atmosphere and style are everything to this world-renowned venue and high-end audio is a must.
Billionaire’s management recently wished to upgrade its DJ booth monitoring system to keep pace with the expectations of its A-list performers and after taking account of the market, settled on Pioneer Pro Audio’s stylish and powerful XY Series speakers to take care of business. Two XY-2 mid-high speakers were installed, complemented by two XY-215S dual 15" subs.
Pioneer Pro Audio has seen a number of systems installed at exclusive venues in Sardinia in recent times.
(Jim Evans)

Germany - With Roxy Music he celebrated international successes in the 1970s, in 2019 the now 74 year-old Bryan Ferry presented his greatest hits once again as part of a major world tour. For his concert at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, PM Blue provided an Alcons-based sound system. For the 360-degree sound reinforcement, mainly LR18 and LR7 pro-ribbon line-array systems were used.
The main PA consisted of a stacked five-cluster of LR18/90 compact line-array on a BC543 triple-18" cardioid subwoofer. Right next to it, another BC543 was used. The near field in-fill was taken care of by four LR7/120 micro line-arrays. The rearward projecting sound system consisted of six LR7/120 each on a tripod, supplemented with two out-fills each consisting of three LR7/90, between the main PA and the first rear-fill. This ground setup has proven itself and serves PM Blue as the standard setup for the lower listening areas up to the first ranks. With minor adjustments, it has been used since the first rehearsals. "At the request of the artist, we only doubled the bass here,".
A truss circle placed above the stage was used for the sound system for the upper ranks. This set-up consisted of six 10-pce Alcons LR18/90 arrays for each left / right main, side and rear slope. Also, a cluster of two Alcons RR12 point-source arrays served as rear-fill for the nearfield; For the low frequency support, a cluster of eight Alcons LR14B line-array bass were mounted.
PM Blue's stated goal is always to make the sound in the concert hall as discreet as possible - a difficult undertaki

Germany - Almost 30 years after Thomas Fenzl and Thomas Moritz joined forces to create the successful West Berlin rental house, PAM Events, their company is still setting the bar high for large scale productions both in Berlin and Germany at large.
After looking to replace and update their stock of conventional Fresnel fixtures, PAM Events joined forces with a number of other Berlin-based rental houses in acquiring 48 Chauvet Professional Ovation F-265WW, 24 F-55WW and 24 E-260WW fixtures as part of a Berlin-wide cross rental platform.
In a move echoing the collaborative efforts of Fenzl and Moritz behind the Berlin Wall, the Ovation fixtures were able to win over the wide collection of Berlin-based rental companies, such as Lichtwerk, Audio + Frames, Spice Events, Huth Events, Edelmat, Wemme-Evennt, and Atlantis-VT with their versatile yet highly efficient Fresnel style output, which is suitable for a wide array of purposes.
“We conducted several tests with different manufacturers,” comments Thomas Moritz. “During demos with the Ovation fixtures on the Chauvet Professional Roadshow in Germany last year, the Ovations made a pretty good job in our view - so much so that we immediately considered them as a replacement for our halogen Fresnels.
"Not only did the Ovation fixtures outperform the classic 1kW Fresnel lens significantly in output, they also have a very homogeneous light distribution, which is a crucial factor for us,” continues Moritz. “As a result, the Ovation is proving to be more than a match for the old Fresnel fixtur

Spain - A dBTechnologies full-scale line array system together with the VIO S218 subwoofer powered the Lion Stage during the 2019 edition of biggest reggae live event in Europe that welcomed 202,000 attendees from 76 countries.
The Rototom Sunsplash Festival was created in 1991 in Codroipo, Italy, and grew steadily until it moved to Benicassim, Spain, in 2010. This year, seven million people could enjoy all the musical events thanks to the live streaming.
Giorgio ‘Kobra’ Carneli is the technical director of Rototom Sunsplash 2019: "For twenty-five years I have been responsible for the technical production of Rototom Sunsplash, specifically in the field of live event production. The first time I was able to listen to the VIO L212 system was during a demonstration at dBTechnologies headquarters in Italy, and I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality; the real potential of the PA emerged in the live situation. In facts, the VIO performance on Lion stage exceeded my expectations: powerful and well-defined bass, clear and balanced midrange and treble. Finally an Italian audio product that can compete in an international market. I’d like to thank dBTechnologies for its human and technical support.”
Massimo Gianaroli, technical director for Lion Stage, a professional in the reggae world for 15 years and a regular collaborator of the festival for five years, comments, “We must consider that we are inside a huge festival that is actually a city with many different venues, so the coverage of each area must be targeted so as not to interfere w

USA - Located on the eastern edge of Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Woodbury is a verdant community ringed by parks and golf courses. It’s also home to Woodbury Lutheran Church, which has grown from its first 315-seat sanctuary dedicated in 1968 to three area campuses over the past half century.
Much has changed facility-wise since then, including, most recently, Woodbury Lutheran’s adoption of a pair of KLANG:fabrik immersive in-ear monitor mixing systems for the church’s Valley Creek campus, which also serves as the home base for the congregation’s live broadcast operation.
Moving to a high-end immersive IEM system for monitoring was no small change as the campus’ existing wedge-based monitoring system had been in place and in use for more than a quarter of a century. Add to that the fact that the install took place only a week and a half before one of Woodbury’s biggest productions of the year, Easter weekend, leaving little time to train and acclimate musicians and technical staff.
Technical arts director Kendall Johnson, who has headed the production ministry at Valley Creek since 2016, acknowledges the timing challenge. "We installed KLANG on April 10th, during the busiest time of year for our church,” he recalls. “We had a huge Good Friday production about 10 days after the install date and needed to get our volunteers trained on and comfortable with the new system.”
Thankfully, he says, the transition was painless: “This was a huge improvement for our church! The KLANG system proved to not only be easy for our volunteer

South Africa - Lighting designer Joshua Cutts from Visual Frontier used Astera Titan Tubes to light various segments of the final of The Voice South Africa 2019, which was staged at the Mosaïek Teatro in Fairlands, Johannesburg, and broadcast on M-Net Channel 101.
Josh has lit the series since it started in South Africa in 2016. For the finales, he is on the lookout for new, innovative and inventive lighting effects and potential visual eye-candy. This year, they came in the form of Titan Tubes shortly after DWR Distribution had been announced as the exclusive South African distributor. Josh decided to control the Titan Tubes through his grandMA lighting console.
His initial idea was to use eight of the wireless battery powered fixtures to illuminate the dancers for different songs. Then, he and some other core production team members, including choreographer Michelle Oppenshaw, show director Darren Hayward and TV director Nadia White decided that they should also hand-hold them - light sabre style - and spin them around singer Craig Lucas (winner of series 2 in 2017), who made a special guest appearance in the 2019 Finale.
At one point the dancers - holding their Titan Tubes - formed a circle around Lucas and raised their Titan Tubes aloft so their luminescence became passing key light for some dramatic moments during that section of the show.
“Their brightness is great, they have excellent colour rendering for camera and a very dynamic RGB colour mixing engine, all making them ultimately adaptable and versatile,” Josh stated.

Israel - Singer-songwriter Hanan Ben-Ari is currently one of the most popular artists in a country replete with singing talent, and his new tour has just started, complete with a lively and dynamic visual design by Nesi Alfasi, who has included 12 x Robe MegaPointes at the core of the lighting rig.
These are being supplied to the tour by rental company Mega Kol based in Rosh Hayain and headed by Zvika Refaelovich, which has been involved with the artist as an equipment vendor since last year and has worked with LD Nesi for many years on assorted projects.
Hanan Ben-Ari's tour features a 3m diameter circular LED surface upstage made up of over 3,000 smart pixels in strips which are mapped into a series of different shapes and graphic effects throughout the set, providing a digital element that is different from a standard video playback screen.
Eight of the MegaPointes are rigged on the back truss, with four positioned on the floor upstage of the band and their brightness and intensity make them a dominant fixture on the rig.
Nesi loves the brightness and all the features together with the flexibility just 12 units can bring to a dynamic show like this. “Robe has proved itself for producing reliable and hard-working lights which bring a lot of possibilities to any show” he stated.
He highlights the fact that Israel is a challenging country for technologies like moving lights as much of the entertainment industry work is outdoors and in hostile conditions – wind, dust, rain, and excessive heat can all be daily factors, but “the Rob

UK - With less than a month to go until The Showman’s Show 2019 returns to Newbury Showground on 16-17 October, organiser Lance Show & Publications has announced that this year’s event is promising a strong contingent of international exhibitors who’ll be launching products that are new to the UK market.
From a welfare perspective there’s the innovative new Lapee, it’s been created specifically for the female market, the new design, utilises the same manufacturing process as the traditional grey kros urinal, ensuring that it can be transported, maintained and cleaned in the same way. It is also stackable, to reduce carbon emissions due to transportation. In its first season, Lapee has been adopted by all largest festivals in Denmark, including Roskilde and made inroads into the French and Norwigian markets.
From a production perspective, Kultour, the German manufacturer and European market leader of mobile hydraulic stages is set to showcase two stages from the smartStage product family; the smartStage 120: the modern 12x10m all-round mobile stage and the smartStage 27: a more compact choice.
Kultour CEO Hans von Burkersroda says, “We know that the UK has one of the biggest and expanding stage markets in Europe. Our goal is to convince UK providers of the construction, quality and reliability of our hydraulic stage program. We’re looking to test the British market and would be happy to find new customers.”
Mobile Locker has announced its entry into the UK market, with a, yet to be disclosed, local partner. It follows a p

Czech Republic - Let It Roll is one of the world's leading drum ‘n’ bass festivals, attracting tens of thousands of ravers for a weekend at an old military airport near Prague.
The event started in 2002 and by 2008 turned it had turned into a large-scale outdoor festival.
A few years back, the organisers approached Slovakia-based Kvant Lasers for some ideas and solutions and the company soon became a supplier of laser displays and other multimedia and visual elements.
Each year the festival production spends a big part of resources on the main stage, with Kvant Show Production supplying six Spectrum 20 full-colour laser display systems for the atmospheric effect and two LD 30 Spectrum units for the laser mapping of the spacecraft-shaped main stage this year.
The laser show sequence for the event’s opening was prepared beforehand and synced to DJ tracks. The laser mapping content was programmed on-site, and also the aerial effects were adjusted during rehearsals. The whole laser display was operated from our grandMA lighting desk, and while the opening sequence ran automatically from the time-line, the rest of performance was done in live mode.
To address laser safety, Kvant masked the outputs of all eight systems with four-way masking plates, securely restricting their projection zones to avoid unwanted scanning of the audience. We run the lasers via the Emergency STOP distribution hub with a single E-stop button.
Due to long-distance

USA - In a recent production of the Alan Menken-Jack Feldman Tony Award winning musical Newsies at Pittsburgh’s State Theatre, Amanda Frazier helped call forth the play’s historic context by accentuating its evocative scenic elements with a vivid lighting design that featured Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Vincent Lighting.
Working with Noland Jenkins, production manager of Vincent Lighting Systems, Frazier selected 15 Rogue R2 Washes for her rig. She used nine of the RGBW moving fixtures for top lighting, and six for side lighting. Drawing on the colour rendering capabilities of the Rogue units, she subtly shifted palettes throughout the play to reflect different scenes, all while underscoring the turn-of-the-century New York setting.
“I assigned colours to absolute moods as themes,” says Frazier. “I went with lavenders and ambers for dreams, crisp whites for hope, saturated blues and reds for confrontation, etc. Most of the set and costumes ranged in a muted palette, so any saturation really shifted the scene and stood out.”
Employing different beam positions and focuses to build upon the energy on stage, Frazier used hard beam edges to augment tense atmospheres, while relying on soft pools of light to brighten gentler moments between actors. She also called on the intensity of the fixtures to amp up emotions with bursts of light following near blackouts. In so doing she created a visual momentum that reflected the determination of the characters. Her full-stage illumination also added an emotional punch for more triu

Thailand - To deliver clear, intelligible sound for sporting events, live performances and more, Mahajak Development Co recently deployed a networked AV system at Ratchaburi Provincial Stadium.
With over 10,000 seats, Ratchaburi Provincial Stadium is Thailand’s premier live event facility for sporting events, performances and more. The venue recently hired Mahajak Development to upgrade their existing sound system with a comprehensive Harman Professional Solutions networked AV system.
“The customer requested an audio system that could deliver crystal-clear sound during speeches, live performances and other live events,” says Pongsakorn Kanchanachayphoom, project director, Mahajak Development Co. “Mounting a speaker on the roof of the stadium proved to be a bit of a challenge, as it needed to be specifically positioned for maximum impact throughout the seating area. But after careful and precise measurements we were able to achieve the desired result.”
Mahajak Development equipped the stadium with JBL PD566 full-range loudspeakers to deliver clear, intelligible sound with broad, even coverage. Mahajak Development selected JBL AWC129 all-weather coaxial loudspeakers for their compact, weather-resistant design and high SPL capabilities. JBL LSR305 studio monitors were installed in the control room to deliver neutral, accurate sound for critical listening.
The system is powered by Crown DCi 2|600N, DCi 2|1250N and DSi 2000 amplifiers, which were selected for their unparalleled efficiency and advanced digital signal processing capabilitie

South Africa - The Little Theatre, based at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, has upgraded to a grandMA3 light console as the theatre moves into its dance season, hosting various performances from ballet to contemporary.
“Although our previous console served us well, it was over nine years old,” explains technical manager Leon Rossouw. “We were having issues with updating fixture libraries and the start-up time for the console was time-consuming. Software updates were no longer rolled out as the console had been discontinued a few years back already and some of the hardware was also giving me major hassles.”
In 2010, the Little Theatre decided to focus on promoting theatres in schools and youth groups instead of being a money generating playhouse. While their main clientele consists of private dance studios, schools and drama groups they also host various performing art competitions and Eisteddfods. A number of live acts and production companies use the theatre for music videos, live performances and album launches. Apart from that, the theatre has hosted some of Unisa’s most prolific colloquiums, book launches, seminars, debates and other events.
“As the Little Theatre rarely host shows that run for more than a week, and from time to time even run three separate shows in the same week, there is not much room for things to go wrong or break down,” says Rossouw, who with theatre manager Jan Steyn is the only permanent staff at the venue.
Leon confesses that he was a complete newbie to the MA platform. “Even when I ha

Spain - Electronics, lights and lots of dancing meet every year at Dreambeach in Villaricos where thousands of people gather for five days to enjoy one of the biggest musical shows in the country on the Main Stage and in the Dreams Tent.
Lighting plays a leading role in electronic music events where the choice of fixtures is of paramount importance. For the last four years of Dreambeach, Eduardo Valverde from Pixelmap Studios has designed the scenarios with lighting supplied by the rental company Fluge.
In his designs, the common factor is the construction of gigantic structures that create the illusion of being a temple of music. Among Valverde’s most recent credits are the stages of Love the Tuenti’s, Love the 90s, A Summer Story, HallowANTS and Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos festivals, among others.
"In the case of the Dreams Tent at Dreambeach, the main challenge was to turn a 100m long, 40m wide tent into a club," explains the designer, who this year worked alongside Carlos Fernández. "We wanted to achieve that closeness between the DJ and the crowd by creating an intimate atmosphere except for the peak moments where you have to dazzle to highlight the work of the DJs.”
Almost 200 Claypaky luminaires were chosen by designer Eduardo Valverde to work on this stage, which was entirely dedicated to techno music.
In addition 86 A.leda B-EYE K10s were scattered around the stage. “This is a fixture that we especially appreciate because of its versatility,” says Valverde. “We can close the zoom and create a very powerful beam,

UK - Italia Conti Academy is one of the world’s most recognisable names when it comes to performing arts education for secondary school and further education students.
When Triple E were approached to supply ModTruss for one of the school’s recent productions it was an opportunity to support the young performers in more ways than one.
Despite the short lead time of a month, Triple E worked with the school’s production team to provide a bespoke platform, stairs and handrails which formed a centrepiece of the stage set for the production of Life’s Just a Bowl of Conti’s for a one week run at Rhoda McGraw Theatre in Woking, Surrey.
Amy Stevenson, production and stage manager at Italia Conti Academy comments, “We pride ourselves on the teaching and the production values here at Italia Conti and we only wanted the best for our students for their show. We already have Triple E tracking installed in our main theatre at the academy. So it made sense to approach Triple E to see if they could help with our staging for the recent production at the theatre in Woking.”
“Italia Conti’s requirement was for a large staging structure with access from on stage and off stage. With this in mind it made sense to use ModTruss for the structure because of its modular capabilities and being able to incorporate 12” ModTruss, 6” ModTruss and ModPanels.” explains Lucy Edelstein.
The overall stage set was well received by both the academy and the audience. “It was great working with Lucy - an old contact of mine from RADA days.

USA - During a 20-plus-year career, Gary Allan has sold over 8m albums. With a fan base that stretches around the world, the California-native is often out on the road showcasing his vocals in a raucous live performance. Readying now for the 2019 tour across North America, production designer Ben Shockley once again worked with the Nashville-based production provider Elite Multimedia Productions to supply a versatile and memorable LED video and lighting design.
“As an artist, Gary typically tours all year long without a set schedule,” opens Shockley. “I have been with him for a little over two years now, and each year we try to bring something new. Since we will be playing a lot of the same venues each year, we have to have a fresh look to give the fans a slightly different experience each time.”
Getting started on the new production design, Shockley understood that video would play an integral role. Knowing how the artist likes to create a dynamic visual experience out on the road, Shockley took the opportunity to be a bit creative in creating this year’s LED video design.
“Gary likes to have good video content as part of the overall tour design, and in years past we have done a straight LED wall or LED strips along the back of the stage,” adds Shockley. “This year we wanted to think a little more out-of-the-box, so we created a video wall that was a hybrid between a circle and square, that we affectionately call the ‘8-bit circle’, like an old video game. We also added some truss facias with video panels that created an addition

Mexico - Doble B is the latest nightspot in the Mexican tourist centre of Cancun. Open for lunch and then dinner as a sleek restaurant, after hours the venue transforms into a nightclub with help from more than 40 of ADJ’s professional LED-powered lighting fixtures.
Attracting an up-market clientele looking for a sophisticated evening of dining, drinking and dancing, Doble B is the latest new venue to enhance Cancun’s vibrant nightlife scene. With an elegant interior design anchored by four custom-built chandeliers each featuring a myriad of tungsten-effect pixel-mapped lamps, the space features a large bar on one side and glass doors opening onto a terrace on the other.
The well-established entertainment audio and lighting equipment installer Adimsa, headed up by director general Edson Rivera, was contracted to specify and install a versatile lighting system for the venue. Edson and his team were recommended to the developers of Doble B, Christian and Oscar Rodriguez, by a previous satisfied client. The brief was to design a lighting system that would not detract from the space’s opulent décor during the day, but that would be able to transform it into a vibrant nightclub after dark.
To achieve this goal, Edson selected four different models from ADJ’s extensive catalogue of entertainment lighting fixtures, two moving head wash luminaires and two static wash fixtures. These, combined with the pixel-mapped chandeliers and a considerable quantity of RGB pixel tape hidden in the ceiling alcoves, allow a complete change of atmosphere from when

UK - AV and entertainment technology company Anna Valley is the solution architect and technology provider for the mixed-reality ‘window on the world’ feature in ITV’s Rugby World Cup 2019 studio.
The studio in Maidstone is the base from which the host broadcaster provides insight and analysis on the Rugby World Cup 2019 tournament, from the opening fixture on 20 September, through to the final on 2 November 2019.
ITV’s Rugby World Cup 2019 studio combines live-action, augmented reality and mixed reality to provide a dynamic and engaging studio environment and the ITV Sport team enlisted a group of broadcast technology specialists, including Anna Valley, to collaborate on the technical design and delivery of the concept according to their specifications.
The mixed-reality ‘window on the world’ element of the set created by Anna Valley uses high-resolution LED screens to show an artistic impression of a Japanese cityscape that responds to on-set camera movements in the same way that an actual panorama view through a physical window would. The AV specialists achieve this effect by feeding positional data from Red Spy trackers fixed to the live studio cameras into a disguise server running Notch software. The software then renders the cityscape content from the perspective of the cameras and feeds this back to the LED display “window” in real-time.
Anna Valley is also providing in-set lighting, studio floor projection and static versions of the “window on the world” concept at ITV’s two satellite studios in Japan.

Germany - Colour Sound Experiment returned to the Olympiastadion in Berlin for the 2019 Lollapalooza festival where they were the lighting and LED screen supplier - plus all related sub-rigging - for the Perry’s (Dance) Stage.
The West London-based technical specialist has been involved with the two-day event since 2015 when the Berlin edition of the popular music extravaganza started.
It was the second year for Lolla Berlin at the Olympiapark site, and once again Perry’s Stage was inside the Stadium arena itself, where the line-up was headlined by Underworld on Saturday and Martin Garrix on Sundaysupported by Don Diablo, Scooter, TV Noise and others.
Ricardo Lorenzini (crew chief) and Dave Ross led the Colour Sound crew, who sub hung three LX trusses from the roof plus four vertical tower trusses per side in the mid-stage area. Another lighting truss was rigged either side above the left and right IMAG video screens, and the rest of the fixtures were positioned on the deck along the front of the stage lip and in the stage wings.
The upstage video screen measured 17m wide by 9m high, made up from Colour Sound’s Unilumin Robe CB5 screen, and this was supported by the two portrait-format side screens, each 5m wide and 7m tall, built from BT7 LED screen.
The visual design, including lighting and screens, was created by Colour Sound’s team based on their vast collective experience of lighting multi line-up festival events, and also accommodating the two headliners - Martin Garrix and Underworld - both of whom also brought in substant

South Africa - Having congregated in the Barnyard Theatre in Rivonia, and filling the venue to its maximum capacity, the CRC Church started a 10-month project to build a new 6,000-seater church in Fourways.
DWR Distribution supplied and installed lighting, audio and AV equipment for the church which opened earlier this year, ranging from a grandMA3 compact console, 64 Robe lighting fixtures, an Absen DWP3.9mm screen, Prolyte trussing, L-Acoustics Kara System and a DiGiCo SD12.
The CRC Church led by Pastor At Boshoff, already has two branches in Bloemfontein, a massive auditorium in Pretoria and 90 satellite meeting points where services are broadcast each week.
“Pastor At is a focused man,” says Robert Izzett of DWR, who headed the install. “He is very straight, honest and doesn’t mince his words.”
While the CRC buildings are similar to each other, they are not exactly the same. Having supplied the previous locations, DWR could come up with a solution to meet the technical needs of the Fourways branch. While the church will ultimately seat 6 000 people, the system has been set out in phases and a basic infrastructure has been put in place for future growth.
DWR and the Install Crew, who assisted with the installation, were part of the project from the onset.
The first striking feature when entering the auditorium is the wedge shape and steeply raked seats leading down to the main stage, where the focus is a large high-resolution screen comprising of 336 panels of Absen DWR P3.9mm.
Complimenting the curves of the

USA - Vampire Weekend is currently touring North America in support of its fourth studio album, Father of the Bride. Much has changed over the past six years, when the band released its previous record, Modern Vampires of the City, but one thing that hasn’t is the group’s continued use of L-Acoustics loudspeakers for its touring PA.
Serving as Vampire Weekend’s FOH engineer for over a decade, Neil Heal has long been a fan of the French manufacturer’s products. “L-Acoustics is simply one of the very best systems out there, and I love the scalability of K1, K2, and Kara all sounding consistently great and working together seamlessly,” he says. “We’re primarily using K2 mains and Kara out-fills on this tour, and I also love the fact that the arrays go down so low, frequency-wise, without ever being muddy. We could almost do shows without the subs, but they’re certainly nice for moving the air.”
For the current North American trek, Solotech FOH systems engineer Ben Malone notes that the typical system configuration for most venues comprises left and right arrays of 18 K2 per side, with adjacent out-fill arrays of 12 Kara on each side for out-fill coverage. Six additional Kara are spread across the stage lip for front-fill, while four ARCS II provide out-fill near the front. A dozen KS28 subs anchor the low-end reinforcement, and the entire system is powered by 24 LA12X and six LA8 amplified controllers.
No stranger to using L-Acoustics Soundvision software to set up each show, Malone has been using the programme’s ne