Canada - Hugo Angers, TV mixer and sound engineer and co-owner of Quebec-based Euphonie Sonorisation, has worked with a plethora of audio consoles throughout his career. However, since first operating a DiGiCo console in the mid-2010s, he has developed a strong affinity for their products and used them on many different shows and festivals.
During the summer of 2022, Angers purchased the company’s first DiGiCo Quantum 225 and has already utilised it at a Cajun Festival in Drummondville, opera shows in Montréal, and several corporate events. This summer, the Q225 will be used at a number of festivals.
The purchase of the DiGiCo Quantum 225 was prompted by Angers' experience mixing monitors on an SD10 for Belle et Bum, one of Quebec's longest-running live music shows. "I've been using the SD10 twice a week, every week, for two years, and I've learned a lot about DiGiCo on the show," he explains. “We’ve got three DiGiCo consoles - two SD10s, one for monitors and one for broadcast, and an SD8 at FOH, as well as three SD Racks with 56 inputs and 32 bit pre amp cards.”
The complexity of the show’s requirements, including those of the multiple artists performing on its three stages, demands flexibility and fluency. "When I started using DiGiCo for Belle et Bum, it was a game-changer," Angers notes. For this show, the ability to create a large number of mix presets has been a significant time-saver. "It's one of the biggest music TV shows in Quebec," he says. "The input and mix presets are a great tool because sometimes the artists

Curaçao - Everyone on this island country looks forward to the two-day Curaçao Carnival which consists of the Gran Marcha (The Grand Parade) and Marcha di Despedida (The Farewell March). People on the island being work on the carnival six months in advance. The event itself involves 6,000 participants and 1,500 ‘helpers’ who either play music or keep the beverages flowing.
The carnival’s parades snake through the streets of the island’s capital city, Willemstad.
Enhancing the vibrant atmosphere of the parade, each carnival group has at least one party trailer. Massive Production supplied and outfitted audio video and lights for 16 of these trailers. For some, the company went all out turning the vehicles into moving concert stages. Adding a level of bling to these 45ft ‘boombox trailers’ was a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures from Massive Productions’ own inventory.
Supporting the performances of the artists, and engaging the crowd as well as the dancers, was a lightshow created with Rogue R2 Beam, R2 Spot, and R2 Wash fixtures, EPIX Strip IP units, pixel mapped to coordinate with LED screens, and COLORado 1-Tri IP washes.
Given that the festival trailers took roughly six-hours to complete their journeys, the Massive Productions team was careful to outfit them with rigs that could create a variety of different looks. While the EPIX Strips were used to outline the trailers and give them defining architecture, and the COLORado units created a rainbow of colour washes that fit the mood of the moment, the Rogue movers w

India - Founded in 1940, Patna Women’s College was the first higher education facility of its kind to be opened in India’s Bihar state. The college recently invested in audio, video and lighting systems for its newly completed 2,500-seat Veronica Auditorium.
Following the successful completion of another project for Patna Women’s College, Punjab-based Soundxperts won the contract to supply a complete turnkey solution for the auditorium, including audio, video, lighting, control, acoustics, seating, and flooring. Soundxperts worked closely with professional audio distributor, Sun Infonet, which was able to supply leading brands for the crucial audio component of this prestigious project.
According to Soundxperts owner, Amninder Warraich, “Having the complete audio solution under one roof from renowned brands like Shure, Allen & Heath, Audiofocus, Quest Engineering and Meyer Sound, Sun Infonet is known for its commitment, timely delivery, technical support and after sales service”.
The Veronica Auditorium’s vast stage accommodates more than 350 performers and can be used for the full spectrum of live band performances, theatre shows, cultural events, video conferencing and cinema screenings. The main screen Samsung P4 active LED screen is the biggest of its kind, with switching provided by AMX. Four networked cameras and 14 smaller Samsung display screens were installed alongside the main screen and in the green room, VIP room, control room and main hall.
For the main PA system, Soundxperts installed eight Audiofocus ARES 8a li

Europe - Italian group Måneskin are rocking their way through Europe with their Loud Kids Tour Gets Louder shows, backed by a highly technological lighting system that can morph into multiple different shapes to convey story and structure. At the heart of the lighting rig are Vari-Lite VL10 BeamWash luminaires from Signify which are used to beam bright vivid colours and pastels onto the stage and as powerful followspots.
During each show, operators are manually utilising the pan and tilt functions on each of the VL10 BeamWash fixtures, highlighting each member of the band as well as washing the stage with dynamic lighting states. All the other parameters of the VL10 BeamWash are controlled by a lighting console, allowing the team to program the lighting in advance using timecode.
The lighting is the creation of Milan- and London-based lighting design company Blearred. “We chose to use the VL10s for several reasons,” says Blearred founder and Måneskin lighting designer, Jordan Babev. “Firstly, the long throw of the beam and the great output of the fixture make it an excellent choice for use in larger venues. We were blown away by the bright lighting output of the VL10s. Even in large venues, the fixtures are able to produce vivid, powerful beams of light.
“Secondly, the fixture is easy to handle when used as a followspot and they are relatively lightweight and easy to manoeuvre, which made it much simpler for our operators to follow the action on stage. The fixture is capable of producing a wide range of colours, including vivid, saturated

UK - disguise has announced that it has partnered with London’s Lightroom – a new home for spectacular artist-led experiences in King’s Cross – to power its inaugural art experience by David Hockney. Called David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away), the show was designed by 59 Productions, who used disguise’s end-to-end location-based experience solution for everything from pre-visualisation to show control and delivery.
With the venue only open for a month, it has already attracted an average count of over 2,000 visitors a day. David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) takes visitors on a journey through 60 years of the artist’s paintings, digital art and set designs through a 50-minute, large-scale projection show powered by seven disguise vx 4 servers.
In six themed chapters featuring an original score by American composer Nico Muhly and Hockney’s own commentary enabled by the UK’s first fixed Holoplot X1 Matrix Array sound system, Hockney reveals his creative process so visitors can look more closely, truly and joyously at his work.
“disguise is a platform we have been using as a studio for years, so when it came to specifying the hardware for the David Hockney experience, we considered disguise to be the benchmark when it comes to high-performance video playback and projection mapping,” says James Roxburgh, head of technical and production at 59 Productions.
59 Productions created the David Hockney experience using disguise’s advanced software solution Desi

USA - The Emmy and Tony-award winning Broadway producer Michael J. Moritz Jr. calls Broadway home, and it seems quite happy to call him a marquee resident. He is a co-producer for Hadestown, earning him a 2019 Tony Award for Best Musical, and most recently before that he won an Emmy for his audio work on From Broadway with Love: A Benefit for Orlando. Other tips of the accolade iceberg include a Tony nomination for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and On The Town, as well as collaborations with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Bernadette Peters. As muso and techie, he keeps his personal Lectrosonics M2 Duet kit - comprising M2T transmitters and M2R receivers - at arm’s reach.
“I’m usually the showrunner or producer or wearing the musical director hat - or all of them,” says Moritz of his role. But where production personnel that far “above the line” are usually passive customers of the sound department, Moritz is entirely hands-on. “I’m a total tech nerd, and that’s what sparked my interest in Lectrosonics.”
Given the live nature of much of Moritz’s work, the M2 Duet components’ ability to interface seamlessly to the Dante audio-over-Ethernet protocol was one of the first things that got his attention. “I work on a lot of live-switched TV broadcasts,” he explains. “Where [the M2 Duet system] has recently found a home in my production work is, because it has Dante, it can interface directly to anyone’s intercom frames. I patch the M2T units right into Dante, which can then bridge out to Telex or ClearCom

USA - Lighting designer Vin Pugliese recently lit a headliner hometown show for The Elovaters at the House of Blues Boston. Using a mixture of cue-to-cue programming and busking, Pugliese unfurled ‘an endless stream of evocative looks’ during the 90-minute show, each reflecting the reggae band’s music in a distinctive way.
Helping him do this was a collection of over 60 Chauvet Professional fixtures from the venue’s house rig, and the extensive ground package from his own company VFX Design Studio that he brought to the show.
“I brought my own ground support package to fill out the bottom half of the stage since the House of Blues Boston has a high trim height,” explained Pugliese. “Using a mixture of beams, spots, hybrids, washes, LED pars, LED battens, strobes, LED blinders, and other fixtures, I had the tools at my disposal to create a dynamic show where every song had a its own feel.”
Among these looks was a more literal one for the band’s hit song Wind On My Back, which Pugliese supported by creating a simple CTO lavender/cyan colour palette that fanned out over the stage as it was accented by the effects from a bubble machine.
“To me, it really set the tone for the song, which is warm and inviting,” he said. “The CTO side and back lighting expressed the lyrics “sun on my shoulder,” while the Lavender and Cyan wash reflected a vibrant yet calm sky. After a long year on the road for the band, they came home to a jam-packed hometown show, their biggest headlining show to date, and it was a beautiful commu

India - Mezzo, Powersoft’s flexible Mezzo 604 amplifier platform is driving the multi-zone background music system providing the soundtrack for Fig at Malcha, a new high-end dining experience in the heart of the Indian capital, Delhi.
Fig at Malcha is an ‘eco-contemporary’ café, bakery and bar offering all-day dining at Malcha Marg, near Chanakyapuri, New Delhi's historic diplomatic quarter. The second Fig restaurant, after the original destination in Gurgaon, Fig at Malcha combines Japanese design with Nordic lifestyle, featuring a curated menu based on local and seasonal produce from local farms, GMO-free meat and cage-free eggs. It is also home to a Parisian-style bakehouse that offers fresh breads, pastries and ‘farm-to-cup’ speciality coffee.
According to Gunbir Sing, founder and co-owner of BBW Distributors, for their second café the Fig team desired “warm, comforting, lush” audio – “more hi-fi than pro sound” – which would aesthetically complement the lighting, climate control and ventilation systems to offer patrons “a pleasurable aural experience while in the space. Based on our experience within the food & beverage domain, we consulted with them and came up with a wish list of sorts. While they needed a multi-zone system with audio in all the public areas, they wanted equipment visibility to be minimal.”
For BBW, the solution was a Powersoft Dynamic Music Distribution (DMD) system comprising two Mezzo amplifiers coupled with a WM Touch control panel. Designed to offer the same reliability, build quality and

UK - A new K-array sound system has been installed at Homerton College’s architect-designed dining hall as part of a multi-million pound extension to the Cambridge college’s campus.
Providing natural vocal reinforcement in the vaulted dining hall, the Vyper-KV52 line arrays complement the warm timber-panelled interior, blending into the strikingly modern architecture.
Originally founded in Homerton, East London, the college relocated to Cambridge in 1894 as a teaching college and only in 2010 became a full part of the University of Cambridge. The city’s newest college is also the most populous, with accommodation blocks housing upwards of 900 students, and had outgrown the original the timber clad neo-gothic Great Dining Hall which was no longer sufficient to cope with providing some 1,000 meals a day.
A new dining hall was commissioned early last year with a strong emphasis on design and sustainability and with a requirement for a modern AV facility for speeches and special events. Working alongside architects Fielden Fowles, main contractor Barnes Construction, and electrical contractor DPL, acoustic consultants Max Fordham modelled the acoustics of the 5,000m³ dining hall to evaluate reverberation and noise from diners, resulting in a brief for the engineering team at Winchester-based systems integrators Whitwam AVI, who specified compact K-array line arrays as the solution to fill the space.
An initial audio system design was prepared by Dave Wooster from K-array’s UK distributor 2B Heard who mapped the room using K-Framework acou

Taiwan - With offices in Taiwan and Australia, award-winning production house for film and television, Reno Studios, has created Taiwan’s latest pixel pitch virtual production facility.
Opened at the end of last year, it is located at the longest-running Taiwanese movie studio, Central Motion Picture Corporation (CMPC). Helping bring clients’ stories to the screen is Brompton Technology LED processing.
“In collaboration with partners, Reno Studios provides a one stop service for international shooting projects, with access to essential services such as scenery construction, camera rental, lighting post-production and sound processing,” says Peter Huang, general manager of Reno Studios.
Huang knows that image quality is one of the most important elements for virtual production, with LED panels and LED processors fundamentally determining whether image detail can be reproduced vividly on the LED wall. As a result, the team chose LED solutions from LED panel manufacturer, AUO Corporation, which has over 26 years’ experience in R&D and production of display technology, and Brompton Tessera SX40 4K LED processors to power the giant LED volume.
“Brompton is a leader in LED processing,” Huang adds. “Its Tessera software features such as Puretone, ThermaCal, Frame Remapping, ShutterSync, Extended Bit Depth, and Stacking, enable film directors to freely create any type of content and not be limited artistically. Additionally, the Tessera processors’ colour accuracy and smooth image display create the most ‘close-to-reality’ en

Germany - Chart topping rapper Kontra K avoids the “tough guy” persona that many other artists in this genre adopt, but, as the old saying goes, “looks can be deceiving”. Emerging from the mean streets of some of Berlin’s roughest neighbourhoods, the popular artist is busy being a bona fide martial arts expert and a boxing coach when he isn’t performing on stage.
These street creds notwithstanding, however, Kontra K takes a more positive uplifting approach in his music and live performances. True to his motto Towards The Sun, he manages to convey an uplifting message without losing any of the raw intensity that are so much a part of this past and personality.
Both sides of this complex artist were conveyed in a recent arena tour of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, not just in his music and stage presence, but also in an immersive and fast-moving light show designed by Gunther Hecker and run by Marcus Herzog on ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium console.
Anchored by a large centre stage video wall that display images of the star along with breakout patterns, Hecker’s design exuded upbeat energy with its bright overhead light creating crossing patterns. The colours chosen were also bright and bold, often displayed as vivid monochromatic shades of red.
Kontra K was always in the spotlight during the show as he transformed the stage with his powerful presence. Audience lighting from the overhead fixtures reinforced his strong connection to fans.
Running the elaborate eight-universe show with a deft touch, Herzog worked from

France - Home to the French rugby league team the Catalans Dragons, Stade Gilbert Brutus in Perpignan underwent a two-phase expansion in 2006 and 2010 to bring capacity up to 13,000 with three all-seater stands.
The southern French city is also home to the rugby union team USAP, whose home stadium Stade Aimé Giral is equipped with a Nexo Geo S12 sound system, installed by local AV technology specialists Sud Media System.
Impressed by the sound at their neighbour’s stadium, Stade Gilbert Brutus recently contracted Sud Media System to install a Nexo system at their ground, following a public tender process.
The choice of several prestigious sporting venues including Croke Park in Dublin, Optus Stadium in Perth, Japan’s Toyota Stadium and the French national stadium the Stade de France, Nexo’s Geo S12 has earned a reputation for performance, dependability and cost-efficiency.
The system at Stade Gilbert Brutus was designed by Nexo’s Engineering Support team using the company’s NS-1 system configuration software. An intuitive drag and drop interface includes all Nexo systems with measured speaker data processed along with complex mathematical data to predict SPL and delay coverage in three dimensions.
The Bonzoms Stand is covered by six clusters of three Geo S12, supplemented by six Nexo P10 point source loudspeakers covering the highest seats in the stand on a delay. Six clusters of four Geo S12 cover the West Stand and a further seven P10s cover the smallest stand, with amplification and processing provided by Nexo’s networka

China - Christie has announced that its high-performance 3DLP and 1DLP laser projectors are illuminating a new night-time tourist attraction at the picturesque Jiuge-Shangui scenic area in Zhangjiajie, a prefecture-level city in Hunan Province.
Inspired by stories in the Chu Ci poetry anthology by renowned ancient poet Qu Yuan, Jiuge-Shangui integrates the legends of Xiangxi with cultural heritage of the indigenous Tujia and Miao ethnic groups, as well as the natural beauty of Zhangjiajie to deliver a large-scale extravaganza.
Live performances staged across the scenic area spanning over 5 square kilometres are lit by close to a dozen Crimson WU31, DWU2022-HS and DWU1612-HS laser projectors supplied and installed by Christie’s trusted partner, Jianye Display.
“Jiuge-Shangui night-time spectacular is the first of its kind in the world and features majestic scenes set in natural landscapes such as mountains, forests, sinkholes, and karst caves,” said Zhongliang Li, technical director for southern China, Jianye Display. “As the first large-scale show in the post-pandemic era, we have pulled out all the stops to ensure that this massive outdoor spectacle is a great success. The Christie Crimson and HS Series laser projectors, with their rugged design, impeccable performance and dependability, are our preferred choice for this major endeavour.”
Housed in weatherproof enclosures overlooking the stage areas, the projectors deliver vibrant images at several performance venues that are interconnected via plank roads, incl

USA - To provide incoming productions and touring artists with a rider-friendly sound reinforcement, Warner Theatre’s production manager Ryan Patsy teamed up with consultant David Bateman, CTS-D, of Acentech and integrator Todd Pander of Dobil Laboratories to outfit the historic theatre with new JBL VTX Series line arrays and subwoofers.
Commissioned in 1929 by the then-named Warner Brothers Productions and opened in 1931, the Warner Theatre is a landmark located in Erie, Pennsylvania. The venue operated as a cinema theatre until it was sold to the city of Erie in 1976 and converted to a performing arts centre. In addition to being the home of the Erie Philharmonic, Lake Erie Ballet and the Erie Broadway Series, the Warner Theatre regularly hosts concerts and performances by touring artists like Kenny Rogers, Jerry Seinfeld, ZZ Top, Kenny G, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie and many more.
In order to provide world-class experiences for such a wide range of events, venue operator Erie Events conducted extensive building renovations to improve the facility in the downtime of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the renovations, venue officials wanted to install a new house audio system that could support the majority of incoming productions. The theatre’s production manager Ryan Patsy partnered with consultant David Bateman of Acentech and Todd Pander of Dobil to outfit the historic theatre with a live sound reinforcement solution featuring JBL VTX Series loudspeakers and Crown I-Tech Series amplifiers.
“They were looking for a house sound system that co

Germany – tvONE’s powerful CORIOmaster2 video processor has been installed at the heart of German AV distributor Kern & Stelly Medientechnik’s new showroom in Hamburg, driving a wide variety of displays throughout the space.
When Hamburg-based Kern & Stelly moved into its new premises, the team took the opportunity to completely redesign their showroom to showcase AV technical possibilities and configure it for events. The tvONE CORIOmaster2 is now the central video management processor for large and small screens hung around the showroom, including an artwall installation with seven displays. The content ranges from digital signage and demonstration videos to marketing messages and partner information.
“The CORIOmaster2 offers endless creative possibilities and helps to present the products of our display partners in an optimal way,” says Mario Mührer, product manager, AV Solution at Kern & Stelly. “The CORIOmaster2 can be configured and expanded modularly with input and output cards and could be optimally adapted to our needs. Thanks to the open canvas architecture and the performance, even the most diverse aspect ratios and 4K resolutions are no problem.”
The team is controlling all the displays via the CORIOmaster2, using multiple sources which are clearly labelled within the software, using remote control options via third party control and the app.
Some of the most standout displays include the 86” LG Ultra Stretch 86BH5C commercial display digital signage screen, the Sony FW-100BZ40J 100″ BRAVIA 4K Ultra H

Belgium - Drag Race Belgique, a French-language reality television series based on the American series RuPaul's Drag Race, has been using Prolights' fixtures for their studio soft lighting.
The lighting was supplied by CST, where designer and DOP Nathan Melchior from RTBF (Belgium's national TV) chose 14x Prolights EclPanel TWC and 12x EclPanel TWCJr with Chimera lanterns.
"My choice naturally fell on the Prolights EclPanel series. I placed EclPanel TWCJr with Chimera lanterns in a very symmetrical way to ensure good homogeneity of light and the same level on the whole surface of the set. The other panels were placed around the perimeter of the truss and were used to reinforce the various light axes."
When asked about the use of a real set instead of a virtual one, the choice was clear: “Drag Race is an existing format in the United States produced by World of Wonder Productions. To make our version, we had to respect several specifications, and the real set was one of them. The intention was to create a cosy environment that represented the world of drag queens with different elements that evoked Belgium.
“Working with the director and set designers, the idea of mixing a real set with different materials and textures, as well as a variety of props and integrated lighting, seemed like the most believable way to immerse the drag queen and the viewers in this world.”
Nathan's product preferences often include Prolights: “I've been working with Prolights and especially the EclPanels on various projects f

UK - London’s Southwark Playhouse has opened its new theatre space: Southwark Playhouse Elephant. Situated in Elephant and Castle, the 310-seat building is the sister venue of Southwark Playhouse Borough and aims to provide world-class theatre as well as serve the local community.
As with any new theatre, the space had to be transformed from an empty building into a fully functioning performance venue. This involved acquiring the latest theatre lighting technology – something which White Light (WL) was called on to provide.
Prior to the opening of the Elephant space, Southwark Playhouse found itself in temporary venues, which meant always having to adapt to both the budgets and physical restraints of a space. As such, by having a new, permanent home, this meant they could finally implement the technical infrastructure that they always wanted.
Lee Elston, technical and production manager at Southwark Playhouse, comments: “My role at Southwark has a wide range of responsibilities; first and foremost being to liaise with incoming production companies from both a production and technical aspect. Knowing what is expected from incoming lighting designers, as well as our own ambitions, helped enormously when we started looking at what we needed within the space. In fact, we actually held a focus group with a few designers who know the venue well, to gauge their thoughts on what they would like to see in a space like this; something that naturally helped when it came to narrowing down potential fixtures.”
Lee continues: “We have such a ple

France - As part an inventory renewal of static profile luminaires, the Paris Opera has ordered nearly 300 x Robe T11 Profile and T11 PCs, which will join the 200 x T1 and T2 Profiles already in place at the primary opera and ballet company of France.
All the fixtures are supplied via Alterlite, and like the T1 and T2 moving heads, the T11s will be distributed between the Opera’s two landmark venues in the French capital, Palais Garnier and Opéra Bastille.
According to Jacques Giovanangeli, head of the lighting department at the Palais Garnier, “The T11 meets all the quality and performance criteria that we had set ourselves.
“The luminous flux and colourimetry meet our requirements and the locking of the framing shutters ensures that they will not go out of adjustment when the booms are moved.”
For Nicolas Beaud, head of the lighting department at Opéra Bastille: “We chose to replace the existing fixtures (halogen profiles and PCs), equipping our side booms with Robe T11s as part of the modernisation plan that involves switching to LEDs for the Opéra Bastille's lighting equipment.
“The versatility of the T11 allows us to use the same projector body and replace the front lens to obtain a profile or a PC. The quality of the colourimetry and the manual shutter system is perfect for our very specific needs.”

Iceland – The popular Idol TV singing competition burst back onto Icelandic screens recently after a hiatus of more than 10 years, updating its staging and visuals with four LED screen elements which were all driven by Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers.
The fifth season’s finale was broadcast live from Reykjavik as contestants battled it out in front of a live audience, judging panel and TV viewers at home. The stage was dominated by an upstage centre Absen PL2.9 LED screen at 2688x1680px, flanked by two LED side walls at 2688x1512px. An additional Absen PL3.9 lite LED floor at 3584x512px completed the video fest, enveloping the set.
Icelandic TV technology solutions company Luxor served as production designers for the show, specifying the Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers for video designer Ingi Bekk’s creations. “We used two Boreal+ MK2 servers running as a main and backup unit, with content ingested on the backup server in the HapQ format, then synced over to the main server's media folders and media maps,” explains Luxor technician Ágúst Ingi Stefánsson. “Both servers' output signals were fed into a Barco E2, to make use of the E2's easy primary/backup destination configuration, as well as mixing inputs from the OB truck to the screens.
"Once up and configured, the Boreals really didn’t break a sweat no matter what heavy lifting was required of them and that gives us, and the creative minds we work with, the confidence to achieve visual mastery without worry.”
Ingi Bekk began conversations with creative director Unnur

Italy - The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, directed by Stefano Genovese, made its debut appearance 80 years after its publication in a magnificent theatrical production that toured Italy from Rome to Milan in February, and will land in France and the rest of Europe next Autumn.
The production tackles some ‘grown-up’ themes, such as love, friendship, the meaning of life, and death, but does so in a simple language suitable for all ages. The story that tells us that adults never think about the really important things, i.e. those we are taught as children and forget once we grow up.
Lighting designer, Giovanni Pinna, chose 18 Ayrton Diablo fixtures for the theatrical staging, a choice dictated by the need for a lightweight motorised profile of small dimensions and high-performance.
As with other profile luminaires in the same Ayrton product line, the framing section allows for accurate positioning of its four shutter blades across a 100 per cent surface in all positions, so the user can frame any object regardless of the position of the fixture – an invaluable feature for this production.
"The Diablos, rigged at different depths across the stage, were used for all selective and shaping work, sculpting the stage with light, as well as for effects (gobos-prisms) and for different situations using frost and wide zoom,” says Pinna. "As far as the concept of the project was concerned, we moved from very static and typically theatrical moments, to very dynamic and musical ones where effects and movement became the protago

UK - To create an immersive multimedia visual design for Paolo Nutini’s 2022 UK and European tour, lighting designer Liam Tully deployed an impressive lighting rig consisting of Martin MAC Ultra Wash and Ultra Performance fixtures.
In 2022, Nutini released his fourth full-length record titled Last Night in the Bittersweet, bolstered by hit singles Through the Echoes and Lose It. The second half of 2022 witnessed Nutini embarking on a UK and European arena tour, which ran from August until December with performances in England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Romania, Switzerland and more.
To ensure an immersive visual experience for his fans and concert-goers, Nutini turned to trusted lighting designer Liam Tully to create a touring rig that not only delivered high-quality key lighting and punchy stage washes, but blended seamlessly with the tour’s ambitious projection design. Tully designed and deployed a lighting rig highlighted by the presence of 48 Martin MAC Ultra Performance and 18 MAC Ultra Wash fixtures.
“The planning phase was fairly simple - I sat down with Paolo and we went through what he was after,” said Tully. “The show is super video driven with eight projectors around the stage. Paolo wanted to balance this with a very traditional lighting rig. He didn’t want to see the face of LEDs, which is why we went with the MAC Ultra Wash. I also needed a big profile that could cut through the project when needed. I really liked the MAC Ultra Performance for that role, especially their co

UK - Infused with the rhythms of South Africa, the sound design for Mandela at London’s Young Vic is defined by the distinct signature of Paul Gatehouse. His style is conferred through his workflow and his essential favoured technologies, one of which is TiMax TrackerD4. That the Young Vic has recently invested in TiMax TrackerD4, which Gatehouse deems, “a great asset”. He adds, “It meant that we were able to be ambitious in our thinking with what is essentially a smaller budget approach.”
The production features 22 cast members and Gatehouse notes, “Without the automated performer tracking that TiMax provides we’d have to manually locate the position of all the vocal objects in Soundscape, which would be a lot of cues and button pushing for the sound mixer! This way that burden is removed for us.”
The Young Vic’s TiMax Tracker setup includes eight TTd4 sensors covering the stage and including above- and below-balcony scenes on either side of the stage. TiMax TrackerD4 utilises dual-mode UWB RF tracking technology, whose carrier-free aspect reduces errors caused by reflections, body blocking and scenery obstruction, with just two Sensors required to see a TTd4 Tag for precise and reliable 3D tracking. The multiple sensor viewpoints add robust redundancy and heighten coverage accuracy.
Due to the comprehensive coverage of TiMax TrackerD4 system, the Young Vic’s stage-side balcony areas were easily brought into the action. In one scene, the South African prime minister is depicted speaking from one side whilst Mandela’s c

Australia - Canberra-based Elite Event Technology (EET) supplied 96 x Astera AX1 PixelTubes for an eye-catching lighting design to illuminate a special Ministry of Sound Orchestral concert staged at Stage 88, a permanent venue ensconced in the leafy green environs of Commonwealth Park, Canberra.
EET’s client was promoter Zaccaria Concerts and Touring, and the lighting designer was Jayden Sutherland from design studio The Bakery Design Co.
The AX1s were used along the three over-stage trusses – front, mid and rear – and to define the edges of all the orchestra risers on the deck, creating elegant architectural looks as well as high impact effects.
EET’s Darren Russell explained that they suggested Jayden use the AX1s as there was a very tight overnight changeover after a Crowded House gig the night before, also with lighting, video and sound production supplied by EET.
“We suggested Astera due to the wireless operation which basically made it seriously quicker and easier to complete the changeover over in the early hours of the morning and be ready on time delivering the rig for 10 a.m.” noted Darren, adding that both of these show days were long.
They also suggested AX1s because “We love our Astera products and thought they were a perfect practical and creative solution.”
Jayden had not used Astera products before, but took EET’s advice and agreed that they were a good option. Jayden also commented after the show that he was initially mildly sceptical about the AX1’s potential performance, but was very pleasan

The Netherlands - The 2022 Symphonica in Rosso concert staged at Amsterdam Ziggo Dome was headlined by legendary Netherlands girlband Dolly Dots. They ended their 2021/22 Reunion Tour with this special high impact show – rumoured to be their last ever live performance – accompanied by The European Pop Orchestra conducted by Guido Dieteren.
Lighting and set for the Dolly Dots tour was designed by associate lighting designer Thomas de Vries from renowned creative studio Live Legends, who specified 124 x Robe Spiiders, 45 x LEDBeam 150s and 31 x BMFL Blades for this Symphonica in Rosso show that closed out 2022.
The set and lighting for their Symphonica in Rosso appearance featured a re-imagined and upwardly-engineered version of their touring system which, combined with a general production design for the full series of shows, provided an eye-catching backdrop for a series of unique orchestral-style Dolly Dots hits.
The Symphonica in Rosso concerts were organised and promoted by Mojo, with lighting equipment supplied by RentAll. The technical production was delivered by Unlimited Productions, and Bart Roelen was the technical production manager.
The set design was created by Niels Peeters for the Mojo team and involved slick multi-level risers for the orchestra and five large moving LED screens, with over 300 x pixel-controllable LED strips outlining and highlighting various architectural features of the staging concept.
Thomas worked closely with Niels on the types of lighting fixtures needed and their placement, building on this al