UAE - In November 2023, aviation companies and organisations descended on the new Dubai World Central aerotropolis for the biennial Dubai Airshow.
The 645,000sq.m site, which features a purpose-built 42,870sq.m exhibition hall - about the size of seven football fields welcomed some 1,046 exhibitors from 60 countries and drew a trade attendee intake of 60,692. Such a massive event required an equally massive amount of rigging, with Tarsus Group contracting Unusual Rigging and Engineering to handle the task.
“In total we provided more than 900 rigging points - 750 of which are hoists, along with more than 2000 metres of truss”, said Unusual rigger, Khalid Ali. “The 2023 airshow has broken all records for us, with only the 2009 event coming close in terms of scale.”
URE has been contracted to provide the rigging for both the Dubai Airshow and MEBAA for over a decade. However, as well as providing rigging points, the Unusual riggers have worked directly with many of the exhibitors too. The team has also worked on outdoor static display areas.
Khalid said: “Perhaps the biggest challenge was completing the build before the venue filled up with exhibitors wanting to build their stands. Things were changing every day, with orders and demands increasing. We were still working when the stand contractors and exhibitors turned up to build their booths and the carpet was being laid, and this of course made things a lot trickier.”
He continued: “This is one of the few instances where planning ahead is not the answer. New surprises rea
Poland - As the year draws to a close, clubbers eagerly awaited the conclusion of the Polish DJ Championships, organised for the fifth consecutive year by Clubsound Management. This hotly anticipated showdown brought together the most talented club players, all vying for the coveted title of the ‘Best in the Art’. Past champions Mave, SPLT, PLK, and Wilga have paved the way, and on 9 December, the next champion emerged at Warsaw's Explosion Club.
The semi-final auditions kicked off at 11am, featuring 20 semi-finalists. In a format introduced in 2019, participants selected one of 10 flash drives with music and had 20 minutes to prepare their 10-minute competition set. The jury, consisting of renowned DJs, club residents, event organisers, and the editor-in-chief of DJ title, Shining Beats, carefully evaluated each performance. The top three DJs -Korn, DJ PLK, and DJ Salis - earned their spots in the night's final party.
Arcade Audio, KV2’s Polish distributor, provided a KV2 ES system for the competition. The jury opted for relatively low volume levels during the auditions, as it occasionally exceeded 93dB in their centre box, yet the ES1.0 mid-high loudspeaker ensured prolonged listening comfort and precision for nuanced DJ techniques during the several hours of auditioning. The accompanying ES1.8 subwoofers delivered a satisfying bass experience during high-energy performances.
“The ES system is a favourite amongst DJs the world over,” says Arcade Audio’s sales manager Zbigniew Kalarus. “It delivers world-beating sound quality i
UK - Free Your Mind: The Matrix is the immersive, dance-based reimagining of the ‘90s movie franchise, created specifically as the opening event for Manchester’s impressive new cultural space within Factory International. The brainchild of director Danny Boyle - who teamed up with choreographer Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy, composer Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante of Boy Blue, designer Es Devlin and writer Sabrina Mahfouz - the epic vision behind the production inevitably pulled the UK’s most creative talent into its orbit.
Sound design is by Gareth Fry, who specified TiMax SoundHub to handle the complex spatial audio requirements of The Warehouse where the event’s main action takes place.
The production moves from the smaller theatre space in Aviva Studios after the interval and significantly scales up into the vast 21m-high Warehouse, with its aircraft hangar proportions. Set up in a traverse and promenade configuration, Fry explains, “In such a big space, with that audience-performer configuration, imaging is critical.”
Whilst the role of TiMax in the performance is to guide the eyes of the audience to the next point in the action, TiMax provides extensive support to deal with what Fry describes as “the complexities of positioning sound in space as well as the complex delaying of multiple speaker systems. Fry explains further that, “…the distances of the stage extremes in comparison with the slow speed of sound really interfere with each other, especially when you have high tempo rhythmic music.”
Playback for the show is handled
France - On 12 November in Paris, 163 Robert Juliat Dalis 862 footlights took part in the Chiroptera show, a collaborative project by JR, Damien Jalet and Thomas Bangalter.
The public gathered at the Place de l'Opéra watched an impressive 20-minute ballet in front of the façade of the Palais Garnier, which was dressed in a huge trompe-l'œil fresco revealing the entrance to a cave, that masked the scaffolding currently covering the façade of the building as it is being restored.
"We worked closely with the three artists behind the project, and came up with a very specific lighting concept," says Antoine D'Halluin, associate director of Concept K, a French company specialising in artistic creation. "We had to use lighting to serve the show while ensuring all the technology required for such a creation remained invisible to the audience. We therefore deliberately decided on a minimalist use of light sources to concentrate on the human element and bring this creation to life. The Dalis footlights lent themselves perfectly to this exercise.”
A total of 163 Robert Juliat Dalis 862 (1m) and 862S (50cm) footlights were used in variable white (2200K to 6500 K). A dozen Dalis 862S battens were used to illuminate the Prima Ballerina, Amandine Albisson, during the opening solo. The remaining 153 Dalis 862 footlights were clamped on the structure, in front of each of the 153 dancers spread between the uprights of the imposing scaffolding.
"The Dalis 862 footlights offered excellent intensity of colour and uniformity at very close range, with a very e
Portugal - World Youth Day was first celebrated in 1985 at the invitation of Pope John Paul II, who organised a gathering in Rome on Palm Sunday to celebrate the Youth Jubilee of the Holy Year of Redemption. Sixty thousand young Catholics were expected, but 250,000 people from different countries came. Today, the event is celebrated every three to four years in a different country.
In 2023, World Youth Day took place over six days in Lisbon, attracting over 1.5m attendees. The largest event ever to be hosted in the city of Lisbon, the expansive, 100-hectare riverside Parque Tejo served as the primary location, with a massive stage and a series of screens and audio systems set up along a 3.5km-long open-air space to accommodate the international audience.
Supporting the event with concert audio capable of serving the massive crowds was an L-Acoustics K Series sound system, designed and deployed by Pixel Light.
Headlining the event, Pope Francis delivered a message of hope and unity to the world's youth from a 40m-wide and 24m-high stage conceived by architect João Matos. For Pixel Light, the challenge of creating a sound system that could encompass an audience spread over 430sq.m while maintaining impeccable speech clarity was familiar. An L-Acoustics rental partner since 2016, Pixel Light has a solid foundation of successful collaboration on major projects such as the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. For World Youth Day, Pixel Light’s daunting challenge was to ensure comprehensive audio and video coverage to 1.5m people over a sprawling 3.5km expa
New Zealand - The recent integration of an Allen & Heath dLive system into Kaylee Bell's Boots 'N All tour brought about a transformation, enhancing the performance experience for both the renowned New Zealand singer-songwriter and her band.
As someone who wears multiple hats during the live show, Kaylee Bell's front-of-house engineer and production manager Joshua Anderson described the arrival of the dLive system supplied by Jansen Pro Audio as a game changer for both him and the performers. "Eliminating the task of maintaining show files for multiple consoles has saved me endless amounts of time and has brought a whole new level of consistency to everything,” said Anderson.
One of the stand-out features of the dLive system is its DEEP processing capabilities, which have left the production team astounded. The ability to use onboard processing like DYN8, a powerful and sophisticated processor boasting four bands of dynamic EQ and four bands of multiband compression, and other FX have allowed Anderson to move away from relying on the external plugin solutions that were previously utilised. This transition has not only streamlined operations but has also significantly enhanced the audio quality of the performances.
In a notable shift, the band's monitoring has been seamlessly integrated into the dLive system, managed on a dLive Director setup handled by Nick Campbell. dLive Director serves as an editor and control software for dLive, enabling users to pre-configure the system offline, review and modify show files from guest engineers, and co
South Africa - The Globe is a 2,200sq.m multipurpose event venue at the heart of Durban’s Suncoast entertainment and leisure complex. It’s one of KZN’s and the country’s most popular event spaces and recently took delivery of new Robe Painte and LEDWash 600+ moving lights.
The new fixtures are part of an ongoing upgrade programme that ensures the venue systems stay abreast of the latest and most appropriate production technologies to offer their clients and guests, and were delivered by Robe’s South African distributor, DWR.
At the centre of the drive to get the new kit was Thabo Ntsala, audio visual specialist / manager for Suncoast Casino, Hotels & Entertainment.
As head of the technical department in Durban, Thabo is responsible for the technical teams looking after all the audio and visual infrastructure in the complex, its ongoing technical requirements including managing and monitoring of the audio levels and content scheduling, as well as co-ordinating the stage lighting, sound and AV systems including the media matrix routing and integration and running of the evacuation system.
The new Robe kit was specified and installed as part of the venue’s rolling policy of re-shaping, re-hanging, and reprogramming the Dome’s lighting rig based on the various incoming production requirements and designs. “Versatility is always the key here,” stated Thabo.
He has been using Robe products for around 10 years and finds them “very reliable and always able to deliver those all-important WOW factors when needed.”
USA - Four hours and twenty-two minutes is a long time; about an hour longer than it takes to fly from New York to Miami, almost twice as long as the average NBA game, and even longer than Bruce Springsteen’s longest show, a four-hour-and-six-minute performance that took place in Helsinki in 2012.
Yet this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony ran that long without a dull moment. There was plenty to captivate the live audience at Barclays Centre, as well as those who watched the livestream on Disney+, from the touching (Adam Levine singing Faith to honour the late inductee George Michael), to the electrifying, when no one remained seated as Missy Elliot, decked out in a glittering gold suit and backed up by an abundance of dancers, rattled the arena with a fiery medley of her hits.
Supporting the diverse marathon (there were 14 inductees, plus an array of special guest performers) was a large, powerful and flexible rig from 4Wall Entertainment that featured 457 Chauvet Professional fixtures.
The production design for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2023 Induction Ceremony was crafted by many hands. The stage designer was Bruce Rogers. On the lighting side, there were designer Allen Branton, lighting directors Felix Peralta, Kevin Lawson and George Gountas, as well as head gaffer Alex Flores. The compelling video content was created and managed by Bianca Moncada and the team at Darmah.
“The people involved in this production have been taking care of the programme for many years,” said Branton. “This show was
Slovenia - Joker Out have enjoyed a busy year with touring shows, representing Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest in the UK, and recently playing a sold-out performance at Ljubljana’s biggest arena venue, Stožice - which was lit by Klemen Krajnc, part of the Blackout design studio.
This was an all-Robe moving light rig – with 100 Robe luminaires breaking down as 32 x MegaPointes, 64 x Spiiders, 19 x LEDBeam 150s and 13 x Fortes plus a quantity of strobes and LED floods.
Klemen has worked with the band since 2021 when he was asked to light the launch of their first album, Umazane misli.
Robe is his go-to moving light brand, and it’s a popular choice for his Blackout LD colleagues including Crt Birsa. Robe’s success in this region is also in part due to the proactive approach by Slovenian distributor, MK Light Sound in getting Robe out there in so many different contexts.
The starting point for this gig was the LED screens when the band chose a direction on this, which was that they wanted a semi-circular upstage screen to define the stage space, he followed on with the lighting.
The upstage screen was masked into an elegant semi-circle, and in front of that was a semi-circular truss, with 12 floating ‘finger’ trusses in the upstage / downstage orientation – eight above and two per side – providing the overhead lighting, all of which looked a lot more interesting than a regular rectangular design.
The stage also had a front thrust allowing the band to get close up with their very enthusiastic fans.
They
Saudi Arabia - ETC dealer, Oasis Enterprises has supplied ETC control, networking and fixtures for Al Hadath’s new broadcast studios in Riyadh.
The Al Hadath news channel – which specialises in both regional and global current affairs – has launched its new studio as part of an ongoing expansion of the channel’s operations in the region.
Oasis Enterprises worked with Al Hadath to achieve its requirements of a creating a modern, dynamic space that is equipped with the latest advancements in LED technology. Their fixtures of choice were ETC’s versatile ColorSource Spot jr’s – these were controlled by Eos Apex; selected for its powerful colour tools and award-winning software. They also chose Response Mk2 DMX Gateways for networking and powerful data distribution in the studios. These were installed following a year of planning for the modern space.
“Our goal was to enhance the visual experience and flexibility of the studio and we did this using the superior capabilities of ETC’s products. Using the Eos Apex console – the latest in the field – brought great value for the project and fulfilled the operator’s requirements,” comments Oasis lighting system manager Karim Abdel Massih.
ETC’s latest line of Eos consoles offer a powerful programming surface packed with advanced technology allowing for easy manipulation of color on-camera; with its designer tools allowing for ‘effortless adjustment of skin tones’. The ColorSource Spot jr’s small form factor and stylish design makes it a flexible fixture for any sized
South Korea - At the end of October, US shoe manufacturer VANS went underground in the South Korean capital of Seoul. The skate brand organised a two-day pop-up event with a shopping market, skate shows and DJ concerts in an unused underground station.
The Korean audio specialists from Sonic Value relied on an extensive LD Systems setup consisting of MAILA, CURV 500, MAUI P900 and more to provide optimum sound reinforcement for all programme items in the challenging acoustic environment.
"The location was a real challenge," confirms Ethan Yoon, head of the technical team at Sonic Value. "Stone surfaces almost everywhere, lots of pillars, a tubular shape and low ceilings. Due to the almost unhindered reflections from the hard surfaces, it was clear from the start that we couldn't play the room at high levels, but had to rely on a clever multi-zone system to avoid blind spots or a drop in level or sound quality."
Sonic Value used a double LD Systems MAILA ground stack setup as the main PA for the DJ concerts: MAILA L with two 2x15'' MAILA SUB high-performance subwoofers each for the external stereo sound reinforcement and a MAILA M with 2x2 MAILA SUBs as the internal stereo system.
"Our aim was to create a natural sound image throughout the room that surrounds the audience," explains Ethan Yoon. For this reason, Sonic Value added surround systems to the sides and rear of the main PA. In addition to another MAILA S stereo system at the rear, a total of ten CURV 500 array systems, each consisting of a D SAT duplex satellite and an SLA SmartLink
Australia - Earlier this year, Melbourne welcomed the inaugural Now or Never festival – a 16-day celebration of digital art and future thinking. The festival used the Australian city as its stage to host a busy programme spanning art, film, music, panel discussions and food.
Brompton Technology’s Tessera LED processors powered customised video content at the Royal Exhibition Building, where performances explored the adventurous and diverse nature of digital creativity.
The historic 19th century Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage listed venue and was built as part of the international exhibition movement of the late 1800s. It was the stage for several events as part of Now or Never 2023, with Gig Control, a technical management company with expertise across Australia’s live events, responsible for the entire design of the lighting, audio and visual elements.
On one of the festival days, the Royal Exhibition Building welcomed a rare gathering of some of the UK’s most prolific experimental electronic artists. This audio-visual sensory journey saw Greater Manchester duo Autechre, and techno producer Max Cooper perform in-front of hallucinatory shifting 3D visuals. Reliable LED processing was vital to ensure the show was an immersive spectacle.
Gig Control called upon full-service production rental company, Novatech Creative Event Technology, to look after the technical supply for five shows at the venue across four days of the festival. Events ranged from keynote talks and panel discussions to dance music parties, orchestral pe
Europe - Peter Gabriel recently completed his first live tour in six years, covering Europe and North America. This tour supported his latest album, i/o, which is his first release of original studio material since 2002. Both legs of i/o – The Tour carried three Solid State Logic Live mixing consoles, including an L550 Plus at front-of-house, another L550 Plus for band monitors and an L650 for Gabriel’s monitors, plus a compact SSL SiX to mix Gabriel’s keyboards.
Peter Gabriel, an artist and studio owner, has a longstanding association with SSL. Within his personal production spaces, and at Real World Studios in Bath, he has installed several of the company's large-format studio consoles. Since their introduction, Gabriel has exclusively relied on SSL Live consoles throughout his tours.
“Interestingly, I was the first person to use the SSL Live desk on his tour,” reports veteran monitor engineer Dee Miller, who has been working with Gabriel since the end of the Growing Up Tour in 2003. “I've been using the SSL Live desk since its inception. I'm extremely comfortable with it and I find it very easy to navigate.
“It absolutely sounds stunning. As far as I'm concerned, it’s the best sounding desk in the world. It's the only desk I use now.” Miller, set to mark 40 years on the road in 2024, has spent the last two decades collaborating with Robert Plant. Additionally, he had a long history with Jeff Beck and has worked with renowned artists such as The Who and Diana Ross. On i/o – The Tour he typically created 14 stereo in-ear
UK - The Norfolk village of Thursford, known for its steam engines, musical organs and fairground rides, as well as its spectacular theatrical shows, will be delivering a new, immersive sound experience with its Thursford Christmas Spectacular this year, thanks to a d&b Soundscape from audio technology and solutions company, d&b audiotechnik.
Designed and installed by Southby Productions, the system features 143 loudspeakers covering the 40m wide performance stage and is – to date – the highest-resolution d&b Soundscape system installed anywhere in the world.
Having been impressing audiences with its shows for 45 years, Thursford takes great pride in its high production standards – and for 2023, it was time for a sound system upgrade. Sound designer Mark Rogers explains, “Because our room is very wide and not very high, we’ve never been able to use line arrays, so we had a distributed point source system with over 50 boxes. This meant that pretty much every audience member heard most of their sound from the speaker nearest them.”
As the shows increased in complexity, the challenge of balancing sound became more of a compromise, with some elements sacrificed in favour of others. Nor did the system allow for any concept of sound localisation – a failure exacerbated by the stage’s extreme width. Rogers recalls, “When a sound began, we could see audience members trying to work out where the thing was, and in those few seconds, the performance had lost their attention.”
Rogers, who had long been aware of d&b So
USA - The ability to think outside the box is often the lifeblood of a successful production design, even when that “box” is the actual stage itself. Such was the case recently for the team at Events United when they had to come up with a way to light the artists performing at the Hope Fellowship Church’s Hillfest in News Ipswich, NH.
Organisers of this Christian music festival added a thrust to their main stage. This configuration brought their star-studded lineup of artists closer to the audience, but it also necessitated some modifications in front lighting.
“With the stage having a thrust, we needed to position fixtures to light performers farther out, away from the stage than our downstage truss would allow,” explained project manager, Martin Lyons. “We used the Maverick Storm 1 Washes placed up on the hill by FOH to wash the thrust. Their zoom range allowed us to have a great wash from a far distance.”
The Maverick Storm 1 Wash units that Lyons refers to were among the 30 Chauvet Professional fixtures, along with F4IP video panels, in the festival rig, which was supplied and installed by Events United.
Rachel Fahey, the festival’s production designer, elaborated on the plan to balance front lighting with the desire to create a wide range of looks.
“Our team did position a few fixtures far upstage,” she said. “This was both for functionality, and to diversify the design. With festival stages such as this one, how a design functions, is just as important as how it looks. With several different sets happening on,
France - Each July, the southern town of Aix-les-Bains opens its arms to throngs of rock music fans as it hosts the storied pop-rock festival Musilac between the shores of Lac du Bourget and the Alps. This year for its 21st edition, Musilac broke its own attendance record, welcoming a crowd of 110,000 people over the four-day event, which saw internationally recognised acts like Arctic Monkeys, Gojira, Indochine, Phoenix and Franz Ferdinand take to its stages.
The layout of the open air Musilac Festival is designed to take full advantage of its lakeside location, with two main stages situated side by side - one near the water’s edge and the other abutting the mountain. While perfect for the stunning backdrop, this setup requires a sound system that can cover a wide audience with impeccable concert-grade sound for all.
L-Acoustics-certified provider Dushow has provided sound for Musilac for the last 15 years. Their priority is to offer consistent, top-of-the-line sound across the 140m, double-wide audience area. To be sure to hit all the high notes, Dushow designed a double left-right configuration with three hangs of L-Acoustics long-throw K1 and K2 loudspeakers.
Using Soundvision, L-Acoustics’ 3D real time modelling software, Dushow was able to design and simulate the sound setup before arriving onsite. They created a left-right/left-right system using three hangs of 14 K1 with three K2 down, sharing the centre hang alternately as left or right, depending on which stage was active. Three flown arrays of 12 KS28 each were hung behind the main h
UK - Two of the theatre world’s leading creative lighting designers, Paule Constable and Tim Lutkin, have both become early adopters of GLP’s new impression X5 platform.
Both have been supplied by Sparks Theatrical Hire, while a third designer, Paul Pyant, has also requisitioned the X5 for Noises Off at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, which is currently in production.
Paule Constable had been keen to work with the impression X5 again after debuting it on The Devil Wears Prada and Guys and Dolls at The Bridge Theatre gave her the perfect opportunity. “I first looked to the impression X4 and then the X5 to replace the big soft keylight that I’ve always used 5kW units to give me. I think it’s amazing that an LED unit can provide that same diffuse, soft directional push - but I also love the beam control and quality when it is spotted down.
“So the impression X5 not only replaced something in my old tungsten head but at the same time gave me a new thing to work with - and I love that it provided these new and exciting options. Ultimately the unit is sophisticated and the quality unsurpassed.”
She adds that in Guys and Dolls, they were so pushed for space that every unit needed to earn its keep. “The flexibility of the unit made it an obvious choice. In the round immersive space they held the space superbly and worked very hard.”
Finally, as to the support she received, Constable said: “Sparks have an excellent relationship with the Bridge and were really open to my thoughts about the show. As for
UK - Hayden Borgars says that he’s always tended to view the lighting fixtures in his rig as musical instruments, not merely illuminating with them, but also “playing” them in ways that flow with the sound of his clients.
On the just-completed Sacred Blasphemy UK tour by Creeper, Borgars demonstrated his virtuosity on the Chauvet Professional Color Strike M by using the motorised fixture to follow the hauntingly evocative notes played by the band’s keyboardist Hannah Greenwood, and powerful beats by drummer Jack Fogarty.
“Aside from the silhouette looks I got from the Color Strikes, I also used a lot of the fixture’s pixel effects to go along with the key notes from Hannah,” he said. “I also used the clap out effect on both the beam and plate pixels to accent some of the drum hits and whip effects. It’s part of how I treat light as an instrument at points during a show.”
Working with a lighting kit supplied by Colour Sound Experiment, Borgars often went to the lighting equivalent of eerie minor keys with his “lighting instruments” on this tour, which was in support of the Creeper’s hit Sanguivore, an album built around a vampire theme. The band, and many of its fans, dressed to fit this vampiric mood, and Borgars added to the atmosphere with his high contrast Chiaroscuro style of lighting with its dark shadows, as well as with his colour choices.
“We very rarely use front light with Creepers,” said Borgars. “Will Gould, the band’s singer and I took inspiration from old Sisters of Mercy shows, as
USA - Pittsburgh Penguins fans are enjoying an even more dynamic game experience this season with the installation of Ayrton Zonda 9 FX LED moving head washes beneath the new scoreboard at the PPG Paints Arena. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America.
Kevin Hogan, the lighting designer and programmer for the NHL team since 2005 and the owner of Pittsburgh-based Process of Illumination LLC, chose eight Zonda 9 FX fixtures for the new scoreboard, which is part of an arena upgrade by the Fenway Sports Group (owners of the team since late 2021). Designed and built by Mitsubishi Electric, the much larger, four-sided scoreboard features 50ft LED panels around a hollow central core with two Zonda 9 FX positioned on the lower mounting rail of each panel.
It was Ayrton’s promotional video for the fixtures that sparked Hogan’s interest in using Zonda 9 FX. “It was all I needed to see,” he recalls. “The Zonda 9 FX was an amazing fixture with so many features built in, including the LiquidEffect and individual pixel control. I hadn’t seen anything else like it. It was a great quality wash light with eye candy effects that were second to none - exactly what I would like for the new scoreboard.”
Hogan talked to Rick McKinney at long-time equipment supplier Main Light about seeing the Zonda 9 FX in person. “Main Light has a reputation for being one of the best partners you could ask for in this business,” he says. “They are always advancing their inventory, so it was no surprise that they had added Zon
UK - Every year in the latter part of July, York Racecourse stages the Live After Racing concert series. This event results from a collaborative effort between EnTEEtainment and Music Plus Sport, offering attendees a blend of daytime horse racing and evening live music. Since 2021, Adlib has orchestrated the audio environment for this event.
Adlib's account manager, Richy Nicholson, notes that this is the third year that Adlib has supported York Racecourse and Music Plus Sport: “Dick Tee from EnTEEtainment brought us onboard, and I think York Racecourse may have been one of the first shows we looked after in 2021 post-COVID," he says.
“The primary objective for York Racecourse in hosting these gigs was to provide a concert-grade experience to audience members across the 300 metres, and the lawn within the track, as well as to additional VIP areas,” Billy Bryson, system tech at Adlib explains. The challenge was to accomplish this without compromising sightlines for racegoers during the day, as well as ensuring that no concert infrastructure obstructed the racing event. Adlib achieved this by using L-Acoustics' technology, placing a priority on sound quality while keeping the concert infrastructure discreet.
The system design centred around long throw K1 loudspeakers. Bryson explained, "K1 was the obvious choice to tackle the large audience areas, with delay locations constricted by the racecourse layout.”
Main hangs consisted of 12 K1 over four Kara II down per side with side/out-fill stacks of six Kara II per side. Three delay towers
UK - The Christmas season traditionally brings with it magical and immersive eco-trails, with lighting and imaginative soundtracks replacing the more natural effects. Among these is Eden Project’s Music & Lights after dark experience, which runs during the month of December.
Based nearby in Cornwall, technology specialists (and Martin Audio partners) TruCru were brought in to provide a seamless audio experience. According to project manager, Toby Bodman, after much deliberation this was achieved by deploying Martin Audio’s weatherised CDD6-WR in a flown configuration to create seamless transitions and ensure maximum intelligibility of both the narrative and a soundtrack that varied from orchestral to ambient music.
This year, the sales and rental company turned its attention to the Rainforest Biome after having also helped stage events previously in different areas across the site.
They have also undertaken a series of audio-visual installations at Eden Project -often drawing on Martin Audio’s CDD (coaxial differential dispersion) technology -while at the same time systematically being engaged to spice up the client’s live events.
To keep the trail experience fresh, this year the emphasis moved more from the Med Biome to the Rainforest, and with it came a brief to avoid some of the hotspotting apparent in previous years. “Rather than a rapid drop off in sound from zone to zone, they wanted a nice even coverage across the whole Biome, so we started to approach things quite differently.
“We weighed up options at the design
USA - Drawing on a deep repertoire of chart-topping songs, John Mayer is one of the rare artists able to fill ‘A level’ arenas as a true solo act. The success of his recently concluded Solo Acoustic Tour relied on an intimate connection with his audience, accomplished aurally via a reinforcement system of Meyer Sound Panther large-format linear line array loudspeakers provided by UltraSound.
The spring leg of the tour kicked off on March 11 at New Jersey’s Prudential Centre and wrapped at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum before Mayer embarked on a summer tour with Dead & Company - also supported by a Panther-based system from UltraSound.
The fall leg was another east-to-west marathon, launching at Madison Square Garden with the November finale again at the Kia Forum. The FOH engineer for both the solo legs and the triumphant final tour by Dead & Company was Derek Featherstone, who also wears the hat of UltraSound CEO.
According to Featherstone, mixing one voice accompanied by guitar or piano is not the simple chore it might seem. “With one vocal and one instrument, there is nothing for the artist or engineer to hide behind,” he points out. “The mix is either right or wrong. The detail in compression and effects is plainly audible so you have to mix with greater accuracy.”
Accordingly, he continues, the touring rig kept him on his toes. “The Panther system reacts accurately to subtle mix changes, especially in this stripped-down environment. With just a voice and guitar it’s critical that the PA does not influence tonality. T
USA - Blowing away crowds with his blasts of dubstep beats and trashing techno shreds at one turn, then picking up a guitar the next to venture forth into dreamy dance tunes, Gryffin is a one-person ensemble of diverse sounds.
This was evident during the artist’s recent performance at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Taking the stage in his trademark baseball jersey, Gryffin treated fans to a dynamic, EDM-infused set, as he performed on the stage and an exposed-scaffold riser.
Keeping pace with him and reflecting his energy with colours and motion was a compelling stage production by lighting designer Julie Reux, content creator/VJ Eddie Perez, and TM Jonny Stiegler. Like the artist’s performance on stage, the looks supporting him were multi-faceted, while still being perfectly harmonious.
“Everything about any show I do begins with balance,” said Reux, owner of Black Lantern Creative. “Our team wanted to give every visual aspect of the show a unique character. At the same we wanted everything to create this single, seamless cinematic visual feel.”
Contributing to this immersive aura was a collection of 4Wall Entertainment supplied Chauvet Professional fixtures that included 90 Color Strike M motorised strobe/blinders, 30 COLORado PXL Bar 16 motorised tilting battens, 12 Strike 1 units, and 12 R2X Washes.
Run in 74 channel mode, the Color Strike M fixtures were flown on stage left and stage right vertical truss, as well as on three rows of raked overhead truss. From these positions, the fixtures filled a va
South Africa - Atlantic Studios, Cape Town is a multi-stage film and television production facility and hub of creative activity serving the Western Cape and far beyond.
One of its current productions (produced by HBC Broadcasting Solutions) is the South African edition of Deal or No Deal (DoND), the popular risk-taking gameshow where contestants make seat-edge decisions on whether to accept a cash offer from 'the banker' in exchange for what might - or might not - be contained in a series of unassuming boxes.
Lighting designer Daniel Louw is using some new Robe Esprites which were purchased by HBC for this show and delivered by Robe’s South African distributor, DWR at the start of the recording period in February.
Dan is a freelance lighting designer / director and has worked on several projects at the studios which also has other Robe moving lights - Pointes, miniPointes, LEDBeam 100s and ParFects.
When he created the original lighting design and specification for Deal or No Deal, he wanted some moving lights to add dynamics and movement to the overall pictures and shots.
The recording schedule is intense with a total of 260 episodes which are broadcasting on SABC 1 until the end of March 2024. Twenty contestants start each round of the competition, hopeful of scoring the big money, and it’s proving a massive hit with South African audiences.
Dan wanted a light that was versatile, with a good CRI, a selection of CT whites and that was available at short notice as the investment was green lighted with on