UAE - The Dubai World Cup marks the end of the Dubai racing season. To mark this occasion, each year the Dubai Racing Club stage a lavish closing ceremony. This year, Artists in Motion (AIM), were contracted to deliver a show that was to be bigger than any ceremony to date. The show included video, lighting, sound, 1900 UAV drones, aerobatic planes & pyrotechnics. Unusual Rigging & Engineering (URE) was on hand to provide structure and rigging to support the main screen and lighting fixtures.
Liz Goodyer executive producer, AIM said: “Our brief was to support a large LED screen with minimal visually intrusive rigging but maximum safety. AIM and our team have not worked directly with URE before, however we have worked alongside them on many international events and their reputation precedes them, so we were thrilled to be able to work together on this project.”
Liz continued: “With the audience onsite during the day, it was important to our client to not have the visual of intrusive structures around the racecourse. It was vital to maintain a clear line of sight for the race caller from the main stand to the far side of the track. This meant the screen had to be held in a low position during the day, and only reveal its full height just prior to the ceremony commencing. The UREteam was instrumental in making this happen.”
Work began on-site on 6 March, following the conclusion of the last race meeting, to install test and rehearse all systems.
Nick Newey, technical director at AIM commented: “URE set out a schedule of work t

South Africa - Robe Tetra2s supplied by Gearhouse Splitbeam have made their debut on Ben Elton’s rock musical, We Will Rock You which opened at the Teatro at Montecasino, Johannesburg in March, moves to the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town in May 2023 and visits a few other countries as part of the world tour. Gearhouse Splitbeam has supplied all technical elements, lighting, rigging, AV (projection and LED) as well as the main PA system.
Gearhouse Splitbeam has played an instrumental role in the entire production right from the start, with the show kicking off in Singapore and the Philippines, to its current full houses in South Africa and then ending in Israel. The company’s managing director, Alistair Kilbee, is also the tour technical director who is heavily involved with the crewing for the full tour as well as the local crew in South Africa.
“The greatest challenge for this show has been the ‘new’ style of touring where the production has a full physical set, props and costumes but pick up technical elements including lighting, audio, AV and rigging locally in each country,” explains Alistair Kilbee. “This creates major equipment challenges in each and every set-up. So being back in South Africa where we can have one rig for both Johannesburg and Cape Town from Gearhouse Splitbeam makes the life of the touring crew a lot easier.”
A new addition to the rig in South Africa are 16 Robe Tetra2 LED Bars supplied by DWR Distribution. The Tetra2 is a linear bar built on the Spiider and Tarrantula technology.
Alistair’s f

Mexico - Luke Stratton didn’t have to read between the lines when he saw the creative brief for The Smashing Pumpkins’ The World Is A Vampire festival, which took place in early March. He knew that the stage was going to be massive.
“When I got the stage dimensions from the promoter and the lighting inventory list, I knew we were going big,” said Stratton. “Our trim wound up being about 60ft to the steel and the stage itself was about 90 by 70ft, so yes, it was quite large.”
As the lighting designer and director for the multi-Grammy-winning band, Stratton, is accustomed to turning massive stages into tight, cohesive panoramas that reflect his client’s powerful, edgy music.
“In the past with the Pumpkins we’ve used tall vertical trust towers with a graphic overhead rig, so I wanted to build on that for this show,” said Stratton. “This being part of The World Is A Vampire Festival tour, it played into my design. We start the show with a death’s head moth on the upstage video wall, and the second song is Bullet With Butterfly Wings. To coordinate with this, I went with a six-truss butterfly wing type of configuration, two of which had angle joints in them to convey a moth-like image. Then I added six vertical truss towers, the tallest ones being 24ft high. All six of them were hung via motors but rested on skis attached to the truss.”
Helping Stratton bring this stage architecture to life was powerful and versatile Lorga-supplied lighting rig (PRG did the staging) that featured 18 Chauvet Professional Color STRIKE

Denmark - Motor Stage Automation (MSA) provided automation equipment – Kinesys Elevation 1+ drives, Apex hoists and control plus three Alfa System revolves – and expertise for three set elements on the recent run of The Bodyguard The Musical produced by Lion Entertainment and staged at the China Teatern in Stockholm.
This is the first time that the popular stage version of the modern film classic showcasing Whitney Houston’s music has played in Sweden.
MSA, a new company specialising in the design and realisation of stage and show automation systems, has worked in this capacity on several other Lion Entertainment Productions, including for the Danish touring version of this show, which was on the road in 2020 and again in 2021 after some Covid interruptions.
A dynamic and eye-catching contemporary set designed by Benjamin La Cour featured three elegant LED screens that were at the centre of all the action and combined seamlessly with various scenic pieces to make up the bigger picture.
Benjamin and Lion Entertainment’s owner and creative director Thomas Langkjær made the decisions about which parts should be automated to fit the storyline and rhythm of the piece and asked MSA’s Christian Vigsø onboard. As lead automation engineer, he specified the kit required to best achieve the results they wanted and he co-ordinated their installation at the 1,230-capacity venue.
The first set pieces that needed to move were three LED screens. The central one was 5.5m by 5m and weighed approximately four tons including its support

USA - One of the festival season’s early gatherings took place 25-26 February when Miami’s Virginia Key Beach transformed into a pop-up beach club for We Belong Here.
Datum Creative was responsible for the site, production and lighting design and turned to Elation Professional's range of IP-rated luminaires to carry the production visually and fulfill the festival organiser’s ‘no video’ brief. Technical Arts Group (TAG) served as lighting vendor.
We Belong Here prides itself on offering a one-of-a-kind, intimate music experience with Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic as the backdrop. The no video brief, while uncommon for shows of this stature, allowed for a 360-degree design that fully immersed guests in the music and gave the audience room to wrap around what was essentially an island main stage.
“The brief was to create a nightclub feel with space rather than a festival look where people are looking at video walls and the stage all the time,” explains Datum Creative principal Dave Singleton, who handled production and site design on the project. “They didn’t want to cram people into a small space so there was one and a half times the space you would normally have in a show like this. It made for an excellent atmosphere and really made it comfortable for the guests.”
Datum Creative's involvement in We Belong Here extended beyond the lighting design. They were responsible for designing the entire layout of the site and consulted on production management. Despite being contracted in December, Datum Creative swiftly executed th

Europe - Film music composer Hans Zimmer drew over a million fans to arenas, stadiums and open-air concerts for his spectacular Hans Zimmer Live European Tour, his first large-scale arena tour since the pandemic. The Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe award winning composer performed live on stage, joined by an orchestra, band and choir, to perform hits from favourite films as well as new material in two hours of reimagined arrangements.
For the first time on a Zimmer tour, a KLANG immersive in-ear monitor system was deployed.
Sound designer and front of house engineer, Colin Pink, was faced with the challenge of creating more space in a mix consisting of over 200 channels of audio. The band itself comprised 20 multi-instrumentalists, along with the orchestral string and brass section, all supplemented with pre-recorded tracks. Additionally, two full drum kits and two percussionists accounted for over 50 channels alone.
“With this density of material, it seemed that for the band’s in-ear monitoring KLANG would be the only viable option,” says Colin. “It’s the only system that allows you to easily spread the sources around the sound field, giving the space in the mix that the performers need. We also incorporated a binaural head as an audience mic to help retain a natural perspective for the band. Monitor engineer, Maurizio Gennari, found that he was able to give the band all the information they needed, with enough space to make it feel open and relaxed.”
Maurizio requested the KLANG:konductor to cope with his large amount of channels

USA - Rock band Underoath hit the road on its Blind Obedience tour featuring Ayrton Mistral fixtures from Sonus Pro. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America.
Based in Moorestown, New Jersey and with offices in Raleigh, North Carolina, Sonus Pro is a lighting, video and audio rental, production and design house specialising in touring, anime and gaming, and conventions. For Underoath’s Blind Obedience tour the company is furnishing all the lighting and audio equipment and Sonus Pro’s director of touring accounts, Lenny Sasso, is serving as the lighting designer and programmer.
Underoath kicked off the 24-city, cross-country tour, which features special guests Periphery and Loathe, in Silver Spring, Maryland on 3 March wrapped in Nashville on 2 April.
Sasso has a history with Underoath, having previously worked with band management and on lighting design for some of Underoath’s festivals and European dates. The Blind Obedience tour is the first with Sasso’s own lighting rig and design.
“We’re using Ayrton Mistrals on this tour, and they look great,” he reports. “Mistrals have become my go-to spot for larger club tours like this one. The band loves them!”
Sasso says Sonus Pro is “a big Ayrton fan” with Mistrals and Eurus currently in its inventory: the counts of each will grow this year. The company is also considering adding MagicBlade FX and Zonda fixtures.
“I like the Mistral’s colour a lot and the way they quickly snap through colours,” Sasso explains. “I don

UK - In mid-March, White Juju, a collaboration between the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and jazz saxophonist and rapper Soweto Kinch, was performed at Printworks London. Three Yamaha Rivage PM digital mixing systems brought a variety of elements together in a powerful, sold-out performance.
First performed at the Barbican as part of the 2021 EFG London Jazz Festival, Kinch’s work for jazz quartet and symphony orchestra was written in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, Black British history, Brexit and the COVID-19 lockdowns. Two and a half years on, the soon-to-be-redeveloped concrete cavern of the Press Halls: Live Stage at Printworks London gave the piece a new feel, with a different approach to mixing the sound.
The LSO’s technical team is very familiar with the Yamaha Rivage PM series, having used a Rivage PM10 for its streamed concerts during the COVID-19 lockdowns and investing in a Rivage PM3 for its education, rehearsal and recording space at LSO St Luke’s.
Provided by Richard Nowell Sound Services, PM10 systems for White Juju were manned by the LSO’s Pete Mycroft (FoH1) and Jack Jordan (monitors), with freelance engineer Simon Hendry (FoH2) operating a PM5. LSO producer Tim Davy was in overall charge of the technical production, with Yamaha applications engineer Tom Rundle on hand to offer any assistance, as required.
All three mixing surfaces shared the same RPio series I/O rack, supplied by Subfrantic, on a shared TWINLANe loop. A parallel Dante network took care of console-to-console audio for orchestral stem

Poland - Former Republika band member Leszek Biolik and the band Czarno-Białe Ślady (Zbigniew Krzywański, Jakub Nowak, Jacek Bończyk) welcomed regional stars to share Republika’s music in one of the first immersive audio live concerts in Poland featuring Adamson’s Fletcher Machine.
The concert, part of the Obywatele Republiki [Citizens of the Republic] music project, was attended by 1,800 guests experiencing new interpretations of Republika’s songs through a modern multi-channel sound system. Guests included Renata Przemyk, Piotr Rogucki, Julia Pietrucha and Michał Wiraszko.
“We are working in every region to showcase to artists, audiences and engineers how immersive audio experiences can engage audiences. The simplicity of Adamson’s solution is just as important as the overall quality of the sound,” says director of operations EMEA, Jochen Sommer.
ProAudio AVT supplied the Adamson PA and Fletcher Machine. The ICE Krakow Congress Centre was fitted with 45 S10 cabinets for the main array, seven S10s for front-fill and CS10p for auxiliary-fills. The sub arrangement included eight S119s. The ‘fits-in-a-carry-on-bag’ Fletcher Machine Traveller was used for immersive processing. Outputs were connected with the FOH Digico Quantum 5 console supplied by sound rental company Airpol.
System engineer Jakub Mikołajczak said: “I didn't expect that working with the Fletcher Machine immersive system would be so easy and friendly. After one day of training with Jochen Sommer, we were able to set the sound system and be ready to work i

UK - First performed in 1986, Willy Russell’s one-woman show Shirley Valentine is the joyous, life-affirming story of a person who got lost in marriage and motherhood but who has a secret dream – as well as an airline ticket to Greece.
The show has recently been revived at the Duke of York’s Theatre in a new production directed by Matthew Dunster and starring Olivier Award and BAFTA winning Sheridan Smith. The lighting designer is Lucy Carter, who approached White Light to supply her lighting rig.
This production of Shirley Valentine marks its first West End revival since its original run in 1988, which then subsequently transferred to Broadway. Discussing the play, Lucy explains: “Throughout the entire show, there are only two locations: Shirley’s kitchen and a beach in Greece. These are obviously very different so it was down to myself and Paul Wills, the set and costume designer, to create designs that could deliver both of them convincingly.
“The beach in Greece represents Shirley’s freedom from her mundane existence at home and the possibilities of what her life could hold if she broke free from this. Matthew, the director, and Paul imagined this in a more abstract and subliminal world as opposed to a totally naturalistic environment. 
She continues: “They saw the large blue skies of Greece as the key to this sense of possibility and therefore a large, curved cyclorama became the main element of my design for the second part of the show. I was given the task of expressing these subliminal and evocative wo

USA - Ayrton Khamsin and Domino fixtures dominated the rig designed by Cory FitzGerald for Weekends with Adele, the first concert residency by the British singer at The Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. FitzGerald is a senior partner, lighting designer and creative producer at Silent House Studios, Burbank, a global award-winning design and production agency. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America.
Weekends with Adele, a five-month series of Friday and Saturday night shows, commenced in November 2022 and ran through March 2023. The show received praise from critics for its ‘breathtaking’ staging and elegance and its remarkable ability to combine the spectacular and the intimate. A sold-out slate of dates attested to the show’s hit status.
FitzGerald previously worked with Adele when he served as the lighting designer for her appearance at British Summer Time in Hyde Park, London last July. Coming on board for her Las Vegas residency he knew “from the beginning that it would be a very theatrical show. It would build quite a bit physically and in intensity starting with a small concept and growing to fill the stage with a full orchestral extravaganza with scenery, moving elements, and projections. The lighting needed to complement that and still give a theatrical feel and concert vibe.”
FitzGerald mounted 192 Khamsin LED moving head profiles in three moving torms independent of the three moving projection layers on the show, as well as in three main overhead rows of truss f

World - Astera Titan Tubes and PixelBricks are woven into the elegant lighting design by Bruno Poet and Ricard White for Icelandic singer / songwriter Björk, who is touring her Cornucopia theatrical show globally through 2023.
This is an example of using lighting inventively to enhance a much larger mixed-media ‘bigger picture’ that helps capture the many and varied expressions, emotions, moments and messages of Björk’s work.
The show concept was initiated by the artist herself and developed with creative collaborators James Merry and Argentinian film director Lucrecia Martel. The eye-catching and cerebral video content was produced by Tobias Gremmler and the set is designed by Chiara Stevenson.
Richard explains how lighting was seminal to the quest to create a fully immersive audio, visual and musical experience based on the utopian themes of the album.
With a host of strong visual identities from the stage design, the theatrical performance of the musicians and the incredible video content, he felt that lighting “needed to complement, embellish and tie-in with all these elements and become the link between the physical and digital worlds”, in the process making performers appear in that same physical space in front of everyone’s eyes.
The ‘utopian planet’ stage set features some spectacular main performance risers that appear like huge organic floating platforms, nicknamed ‘The Mushrooms’ by the crew. They needed lighting in a very specific way to give the illusion of floating, and Richard and Bruno turne

Brazil - Sennheiser brought an experiential demo space to Carnival in Salvador to welcome artists, audio engineers, music producers, and lovers of the brand. The House of Carnival has been a tradition for over 10 years, previously functioning only as an official service centre to greet customers who needed technical assistance or new audio equipment before the Brazilian revelry. This year, in addition to the service centre, the big attraction was an immersive room equipped with Neumann monitors and the AMBEO Soundbar.
According to economists, without Carnival in 2022 Salvador lost an estimated R$2 billion of economic value - a loss that impacted millions of people that contribute directly or indirectly to the world famous street party. This time of the year accounts for 11% of the yearly profit of the city.
Every year, Sennheiser´s technicians move from the headquarters in Sao Paolo to Salvador with tons of Sennheiser wireless equipment to exclusively serve artists and customers during the event. Carnival is the time of the year where many Brazilian performers make the highest profit in the shortest amount of time. Some artists perform dozens of sets in a short period and need to make sure their equipment is in perfect working condition so there are no surprises along the way. Everything from preventive maintenance to firmware updates or antenna replacement can be done right away by the Sennheiser product specialists.
In addition, the brand opened its House of Carnival for the first time to some of the biggest pro audio names in Brazil for a joint

USA - Illuminate Production Services (IPS) plays an integral role in creating the visual magic that is The Thorn and again this year enhanced the drama using a large package of Elation Professional lighting. Lighting Designer Caleb Franke of IPS uses the dynamic lighting to help sculpt the inspiring story while wowing audiences with a variety of visual effects.
The Thorn is a modern-day Passion play, a theatrical depiction of the life and death of Jesus, yet with a modern touch. The immersive theatrical show combines modern dance, music, martial arts, aerial acrobatics, and emotionally powerful performances, with state-of-the-art lighting and visuals. The play is known for its stunning visual effects and has been staged yearly since 1998. The current 10-city tour launched on 1 March in Loveland, Colorado, and ends on 8 April in Miami.
This year, IPS provided audio, video, lighting, staging and special FX for The Thorn, their 10th year working with this theatrical production. IPS vice president of design & operations, Caleb Franke, served as lead lighting designer on the project. He comments: “This show is often affectionately described as ‘Passion of the Christ meets Cirque du Soleil’ so it’s truly a theatrical journey filled with moments ranging widely from subtle to celebratory. The Elation fixtures we use give us the dynamic range we need to help tell the story.” Elation has featured in IPS’s visual design for the show for many years.
The Thorn has toured in churches for nearly a decade but this year t

Australia - Anita’s Theatre in Thirroul is no stranger to change. On Saturday December 18, 1965, when the curtain went down on a double billing featuring Stephen Boyd in Genghis Khan and Carl Gonzales in The Little Ones, the classic venue, then known as the King’s Theatre, closed its doors after more than 40 years as the main cinema in this seaside village located 60km south of Sydney.
Less than three years after the theatre stopped showing films, all seats were removed, a concrete floor was laid in the stalls area, and the venue was reborn as Skateland. In 2007, long after its days as a roller rink had ended, the venerable building began anew again as a multi-purpose live performance venue.
Today, as Anita’s Theatre, the classic-looking site is continuing its tradition of change, having recently become Live Nation’s first regional live music venue in Australia. With this change has come adaptation. Looking to update its lighting rig and enhance its flexibility, the theatre added 28 Chauvet Professional fixtures imported by Showtools International and installed by Pro Sound and Lighting.
The new rig not only gives the theatre a wider range of lighting options, it also upgrades the level of the shows for the higher-profile acts, such as Richard Marx, Pavement, Peter Murray, and Belinda Carlisle that are appearing there in 2023.
Designed by Pro Sound and Lighting's John Campbell in consultation with Andre Vanderwert, the new system features 12 Maverick Force S Profiles, which are flown on truss over the audience and positio

Belgium - A fusion of pop and classical music from the world’s greatest composers, Night of the Proms (NOTP.com) is one of Europe’s biggest annually organised indoor events.
With the 2022 edition including Amy Macdonald, Kool & the Gang, Bart Peeters, Axelle Red and Fine Fleur, the Antwerp Philharmonic Orchestra (AOP) and house band, NotP Backbone, the audio for this complex and demanding show was skilfully executed by a highly experienced team, who have relied on the quality, flexibility and reliability of DiGiCo consoles for many years, along with a KLANG immersive in-ear monitoring system for 2022, all supplied by PRG Belgium.
At front of house, Tom Vuerstaek, who also designs the audio system, took care of the final mix on a DiGiCo Quantum 7 and Philippe Bosmans was on an SD10 for the wood, brass and percussion premix. Ben Artois handled premix for the choir and orchestra on a second SD10 backstage. At the monitor position Tim Habets was in charge of the artist and band mixes on an SD7, whilst Marc Zedda handled that duty for the orchestra, choir and conductor, deploying an SD5 and DMI-KLANG.
As well as the artists, many of whom did not bring their own engineer or band, the AOP included 60 musicians with at least one open live microphone each, and the five-strong NotP Backbone’s instrument setup featured the latest V-drum td50x, bass, electric and acoustic guitar, keys and rock percussion.
There was also a 24-person choir and three backing vocal singers, all on wireless mics and IEMs. Mr. RF, Pieter ‘Pita’ Tanghe, uses the SD

Singapore - The latest edition of the world’s largest e-sports championship, Dota 2’s The International 2022, was held in Singapore at the end of last year and attracted 67.74m hours of worldwide viewing.
Singapore-based system integration company, Cgangs International Pte, partnered with the game’s developer, Valve, to create a Brompton Technology-powered virtual production set, used during the filming of the opening video and teaser campaign featuring the top four participating teams.
Cgangs was introduced to Valve via PGL, a renowned esports tournament organiser, to provide its cutting-edge virtual production services for the event.
"Our primary objective was to construct a temporary virtual production setup for Valve's pre-match and opening campaign," says Cgangs' director of strategic partnerships & business development, Alvin Lim. "These were used for online broadcasts and livestreams of the tournament to introduce the teams and players to the audience.”
With just a day to capture all the footage, Alvin Lim and the Cgangs crew needed seamless operation. "Valve personnel visited the set to inspect it and finalise the content before we began filming the players in front of the LED screen," continues Alvin Lim. "We had to guarantee that every aspect of our LED setup was functioning optimally to meet the tight schedule."
The stage comprised a straight, in-camera wall of ROE DM2.6 LED panels measuring 10 x 4m, plus a small 5 x 3m roof comprising ROE DM2.6. The entire setup was powered by three Tessera S8 LED processors, Brom

World - Touring in support of fifth studio album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language, The 1975 turned to Eighth Day Sound.
“We’re collectively trying to make this the best-sounding show in any room that we go into, regardless of whether it's an acoustically or architecturally challenging one,” says FOH engineer, Lee McMahon.
Ready to react within the 112 input mix on his DiGiCo Quantum SD7, the nuances of the band’s live sound are driven by each band member - and can change at any moment.
“It's certainly the most complex show I've ever worked on, and I want that attention to detail to come across. It’s part sound reinforcement, part sound design, all audience/band interaction. When you have a two-hour long show, you have to manage everything down to the precise SPL exposure, so I really want to push and pull on the audience’s reactions and what they're experiencing,” he adds.
To help achieve this career-defining production, the tour turned to Eighth Day Sound, part of the Clair Global Brand Group.
Production manager Josh Barnes comments on the vendor service: “The Eighth Day Sound team has continued to keep up with the dynamic scheduling and variety of show sizes that come from working with The 1975. They prove on a regular basis that their strength is as a global audio provider; from extra live additions with short notice and TV performances on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as far-reaching tours, they’ve covered any requirements this touring cycle has called for.”
McMahon agrees: “The band want

France - The recent robotics exhibition at the Eurexpo Lyon in France saw the use of 20x Prolights Astra Wash19Pix and 24x Astra Wash7Pix lighting fixtures, at the FANUC stand, a Japanese automation company.
Camille Roblin, technical director at Toulouse-based events company SAS Melomane, commented: "I think Prolights is a wonderful brand with a great quality of fixtures. The Astra Wash19Pix has a powerful wash output, and the pixel ring give it some unique effects. I love their products, and it's great to see it being adopted more and more in France.”
The Astra Wash19Pix is a 19x40W RGBW moving wash light with 4°-54° zoom, pixel control and pixel ring. The Astra Wash7Pix has similar features but with 7x40W LEDs, and built in a compact form, providing silent operation, smooth and fast movements.
Over the past year, Prolights has launched several moving lights in the Astra range, including the Astra Profile400 and the Astra Profile600IP.

Bulgaria - Nova Broadcasting Group recently opened an ultra-modern studio complex of nearly 17,000sq.m in Sofia. To provide professional illumination in the new facility’s multiple studios, Nova Broadcasting Group worked with Elation distributor Luminis on a broadcast-optimised lighting solution.
Nova Broadcasting Group is one of the biggest multi-platform media and technology companies in Bulgaria, part of United Group, Southeast Europe’s leading telecom and media operator. The new facility, designed for high-quality television and radio production of international standards, features five television studios, four radio studios, spacious equipment rooms, editing rooms and newsroom. The capacity of the new studio complex allows Nova Broadcasting Group to produce impactful content using the latest technologies.
Luminis worked with a local lighting designer on the specification and design of the system, which is made up of 202 KL Fresnel 8 FC, 20 KL Profile FC, 137 KL Panel, and 89 KL Panel XL fixtures, along with 36 Arena Zoom Q7IP. The lights are spread across a large 1000sq.m television studio plus two smaller studios of around 350sq.m each. Luminis installed the luminaires working with lighting personnel from Nova TV and programmed initial lighting scenes for the studio. Elation’s Bulgarian distributor, Pro Audio, works with Luminis to provide local support when needed.
Péter Rábay of Luminis, who worked closely on the project for 18 months, says that the studio required soft lights, profile luminaires and Fresnel lights that would work w

USA - For the creative team involved in designing the production for Daddy Yankee’s La Ultima Vuelta tour, the brief was quite simple, you create something “fit for a king”.
This was the directive that production designer Rodrigo Proal of Darmah Studios received when he was asked to work on the Puerto Rican born superstar’s 84-date official retirement tour of North and South America, which concluded with a January show in San Juan.
Proal, joined by a gifted and inspired creative team, didn’t disappoint either; the production they collaborated on, with its bold, vibrant colours, intense aerial effects, beautiful scenic elements, and evocative video content created by screens director Bianca Moncada, did justice to the career of the singer who is credited with coining the term ‘reggaeton’ and whose 2004 party favourite Gasolnina introduced modern Latin music to a wider audience.
“This was a special experience for all of us, one we’ll never forget,” said Felix Peralta, the tour’s lighting designer. “We all wanted to make this show fit for a king to honour an artist who ruled so brilliantly for so long.”
For Peralta, the concept behind La Ultima Vuelta (The Final Turn) began three years before the tour, when he joined the Darmah team and lighting designer John Daniels, a life-long friend and mentor, as the lighting director/programmer for Daddy Yankee’s 14-show residency in San Juan.
“As production designer, Rodrigo created a sleek and clean architectural structure for that residency,” said Peralta.

UK - The natural sound of Point Source Audio’s SERIES8 CO-8WL omnidirectional microphones is helping the audio team at Kings Place enhance the sound for a variety of events. The central London venue hosts a wide range of events every day, from corporate presentations to live music and recording sessions. The new microphones are put to use daily across a wide range of these applications.
“The adventure with Point Source Audio started out with us looking for some new lav mics,” recalls Gerardo Marrone, audio & recording manager at Kings Place Music Foundation. “We had always used a different brand in the past, but we decided to try something else through our long-term supplier, Autograph Sound. We were looking for something that could work just as well but be more contained within the budget. They sent us a lot of options from various brands and quite a few models from Point Source Audio.”
After going through and testing each of the options, Marrone decided to invest in the SERIES8 CO-8WL. The IP 57 rated waterproof lavalier microphone has a low-profile of 4 mm in diameter but delivers all of the high-performance characteristics that are expected from a larger format microphone. It delivers optimal gain before feedback and can handle 136 dB maximum SPL.
While the flexibility and feature set were important factors for the Kings Place team, it was the sound quality that really set the CO-8WL apart from the competition. “I fell in love with how natural the omni capsules were sounding for lavaliers,” says Marrone. “The less you stress

New Zealand - Auckland based Spot-Light Systems – now part of the NEP Live Group – is among New Zealand’s leading lighting live show and event rental companies, and one that has continued to invest in Robe moving lights as the country emerged from the pandemic, adding 24 x MegaPointes, 12 x Tarrantulas to their existing fleets, and for the first time, 20 x Esprites joined the inventory.
While New Zealand managed – via strict quarantine and travel restorations – to keep Covid cases to a minimum, full-scale and capacity shows and live events did not properly re-start until several months into 2022, when things became busy, related Spot-Light Systems’ head of lighting, Matt Tong, and this is what drove these latest Robe purchases.
Business and enthusiasm for the arts, performance and events is now surpassing 2019 levels as promoters, organisations and event organisers jostle to squeeze in shows that didn’t run for two years and accommodate the many new ones that the creative world imagined during that time. Touring has now re-started with a slew of national and international bands hitting the road, further fuelling the demand for production technology.
With nearly 400 Robe moving lights already onboard, Spotlight Systems returned to a brand they know and trust for a multipurpose LED profile type fixture, settling on the Esprites to join the mix of Robe BMFL Spots, BMFL Blades, MegaPointes, Tarrantulas, LEDWash 600s and LEDBeam 100s and 150s. It is currently the largest concentration of Robe moving lights in the country.
“Robe is u

UK - Harris Academy based in St Johns Wood, London, is a high achieving secondary school that promotes creativity and academic scholarship. Keeping up with the latest technologies, Harris Academy upgraded their audio system including an installation of over 100 speakers and new cabling infrastructure to achieve an automatically timed class bell system and music at class change over time.
Following a site survey, specialists in audio visual design and integration, Excite AV had scoped a design proposal for the project that would deliver on the brief, in a very time pressured environment.
Gareth Thomas, Director at Excite Audio Visual LTD comments: “Working alongside the academic calendar meant this was very much a time critical project. Within two weeks of the site survey and proposal we were on to installation during the half term holiday, having the new system up and running before the students returned. We used a team of five expert engineers to install and deliver on the project.
“A lot of enthusiasm and close working with the school maintenance team was key to success, with our team working flat-out to complete the installation and programming by the start of term. The whole project went smoothly and we are proud that the client is thrilled with the outcome.”
The equipment, installed in eight different zones throughout the school, included 52 pairs of Ecler IC6 2-way ceiling speakers for the indoor spaces, partnered with 3 pairs of Ecler eMOTUS5OD outdoor loudspeakers for the playground areas, powered by an Ecler eHSA4-150 amplifie