UK - Reflex, Audio Visual Material (AVM), and Christie have collaborated on one of the largest rear projection systems in Europe at Queen Mary University of London. Two Christie Crimson HD laser projectors have been installed for the 12m by 6m (39 ft x 19.5 ft) screen in The Great Hall, an 800-seat space in a 1930s art deco building.
Raj Dattani, senior technical design engineer at Reflex led the installation and chose to work again with AVM and Christie teams seven years after the initial installation. “We have gone from two 10K projectors, four lamps, and regular maintenance checks to triple the brightness and no maintenance with laser,” he said. Additionally, a switch to AV over IP distribution means just one cable to the projector, giving users and clients huge flexibility.
Queen Mary University is a leading Russel Group university, with more than 25,000 students where the hall is also rented to corporate clients. The university wanted to keep the same 3DLP quality but with the maintenance advantages offered by laser projection technology.
“The Christie Crimson HD31 projectors offer both,” said Mick Perrone, key account manager at AVM. “And with BoldColor Technology for rich and vibrant colours, they offer enhanced colour performance and saturation over standard laser phosphor projectors. Since there are no more lamps to change, we don’t need to schedule return visits to the site as they are virtually maintenance free. There were other features to consider such as having a comprehensive suite of lenses, being fully omnidirectional,
China - The province of Jiangxi witnessed its only large scale outdoor symphonic concert of 2020 at the Ruijin Sports Centre Stadium in Ganzhou in November last year.
Featuring a gala performance by orchestra, singers and actors, the cultural celebration was attended by a number of civic dignitaries who joined the large audience to enjoy a spectacular show.
Jiangxi-based audio specialists, Zhongsheng Music International Cultural Media Co., a customer of Coda Audio’s Chinese distributor Tempo, took care of production, and used a Coda system to deliver pinpoint sound in a potentially difficult acoustic space.
The stadium’s acoustics and stage orientation posed serious challenges for the audio team. A number of constraints, including multiple highly reflective surfaces had previously led many sceptical commentators to doubt whether it was at all possible to achieve a positive outcome in this particular stadium. A Coda system in the hands of an experienced and skilful technical team proved quite the opposite.
The team deployed a main system based on AiRAY and ViRAY line arrays to ensure uniform coverage of the audience area. PW418 subwoofers, used in a cardioid arrangement, provided sufficient low frequency for even frontal coverage, whilst reducing the lows at the back of the loudspeakers and on stage. This ensured a ‘clean’ monitoring environment for the performers.
The main system arrays were supplemented by three-way G712-Pro point source loudspeakers as front fills for the VIP area, with two-way G512-Pro used for stage-monitori
Japan - The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Queen have graced its stage; artists from Bob Dylan to Blur have released albums recorded within its walls. Now, live music has returned to the Nippon Budokan, as rising J-pop stars Little Glee Monster recently kicked off their Japanese tour at the Tokyo venue. An Adamson Systems Engineering system supported the ground-breaking event for the group, the start of their largest arena tour to date.
The Budokan was built in 1964 as a martial arts competition space for the Tokyo Summer Olympics. The venue’s octagonal shape can make sound reinforcement difficult, but system engineer Ryuichi Kawakami selected Adamson speakers for their clarity and coverage.
Kawakami describes the space’s challenges: “The Budokan is mostly built with wood, and many sections of the octagonal room have pillars and beams, so in the design process you must factor in the reverberation and reflections. The E15 speaker brings out an abundance of information across the whole frequency range, and it’s what makes the tuning so easy for me. I trimmed a few points to smooth out the system, and voilà it’s done.”
For this show, 108 Adamson E-Series and S-Series cabinets were deployed across the venue in a 270° configuration. Kawakami flew 32 E15 as the main PA, accompanied by 12 E119 subwoofers flown in a column, 12 E15 as out-fills, 16 flown E12 for the 270° design and 12 ground stacked E219 subs for additional floor rumble. Two sets of ground stacked fills were also used, comprised of four S10 and one S119 at each side-fill position,
UK - Agency client Generate Events turned to the Stream Stage team to deliver a trio of broadcasts on behalf of clients MAD//Fest.
Based in Borehamwood on the edge of North London, Stream Stage is a fully equipped broadcast studio & gallery from established technical experts Light Fantastic Production Services.
MAD//Fest is a forum for leveraging technology in marketing, advertising & disruption. MAD//Fest events bring together global brands to share ideas, challenge the status quo and network. Events typically attract a high calibre of speakers and delegates who naturally expect high production values. Used to running highly successful ‘bricks and mortar’ events, the MAD//Fest team had a vision of how they wanted to take their content anywhere and make it accessible to all in the midst of a global pandemic – and the concept of MAD//Anywhere was born.
They turned to Matt Hudson at Generate Events to take the project to fruition in the digital sphere. The concept comprised a mixture of live content with presenters and pundits in the studio and a large number of remote presenters from brands including Google, Waze, GSK, Mars, Vodafone, Telefonica, Huawei, Amazon and Unilever. Every show featured in excess of 80 remote presentations across two days with each followed by a live Q&A with the studio hosts.
Managing the large number of remote presenters and their associated digital content was the most challenging element of the brief and was delivered seamlessly from the Stream Stage gallery.
Commenting on the project, Gener
Italy - The Cinema Teatro Lolek stands in Italy’s first oratory with NZEB (nearly zero-energy building) classification and features a modern structure, technology and systems are concerned.
The complex, located in Rezzato, on the outskirts of Brescia, occupies an area of 2,700 m2 above ground and includes a series of buildings at the service of the local community and neighbouring areas.
At the centre of the structure, there is a multi-function hall, the project’s key element: a large oval-shaped space designed for use as a theatre and cinema, but also to host exhibitions, events, conferences and much more.
A feature of this hall is the fact that, thanks to a special shutter system, it opens outwards, enabling to hold events with the stage used in the opposite direction, looking out over the rear outdoor audience area.
In a context in which great care has been taken with every aspect, top-grade audio was a must for the client. Headquartered in Rezzato, Cipiesse, a full-service company specialising in concert production and system integration, installed Outline systems.
For the oval theatre’s sound system, three Vegas 15 CX enclosures were installed above the proscenium and two Eidos 118 S subwoofers below the stage, powered by three Outline M2008-4 amplifiers.
Behind the screen, there are three Outline Movie MV2CX enclosures, specifically designed for cinema applications. The installation is completed by eight surround Movie FX 101 speakers distributed along the room’s walls, and this set-up is powered by the same M2008-4
Sweden - Harman Professional Solutions recently partnered with LiteNordic and Light Bureau to update the Øresund Bridge with a revitalised architectural lighting design to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Originally constructed in 1999 and opened in 2000, the Øresund Bridge that connects Sweden to Denmark is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe, with a total length of more than five miles. The bridge - an instantly recognisable landmark to worldwide viewers of the hit Nordic drama series The Bridge is financed and operated by a joint-stock company owned by the Danish and Swedish governments.
In 2020, the bridge’s operating company hired European architectural lighting consultants Light Bureau to update its aging lighting solution with a more robust and vibrant lighting design in celebration of the bridge’s 20th anniversary. Light Bureau appointed lighting designer Frederik Waneck Borello and project manager Henrik Rohde Nielsen as lead designers for the project.
After conducting an extensive research and bidding process for suitable replacements, Borello and Nielsen collaborated with Swedish lighting provider LiteNordic to outfit the bridge with a Martin Professional architectural lighting solution. Light Bureau and LiteNordic selected Martin Exterior Wash 300 and Exterior Wash 310 fixtures for their output, long-lasting operation and increased energy efficiency.
“Martin has a proven track record when it comes to large-scale projects like this,” said Mikkel Toksværd, director of business development, projects,
USA - So Midwest, Inc. provided turnkey creative and technical services for Self Destructor, the new music video for rock band Chevelle. Executive producer and production designer, Robb Jibson, selected Ayrton Perseo fixtures for the video, which So Midwest concepted, designed, directed, produced and edited.
Focusing on science deniers and written before the coronavirus pandemic, Self Destructor is the lead single from the band’s upcoming, space-themed ninth studio album, Niratis (an acronym for Nothing is Real And This Is a Simulation).
“Coming up with a theme of a visitor from space carrying a glowing energy orb that would ultimately suck the band inside its energy, we back-tracked the story to come up with the script and the shot list,” says Jibson of the concept, which combines performance footage with clips of Chevelle on a night hunt for the spaceman.
Jibson chose a complement of Perseo-S fixtures for the project, the first compact multi-function luminaire with an IP65 enclosure rating developed by Ayrton for intensive outdoor use. He was impressed by Perseo’s output per watt and IP rating since So Midwest was shooting in late November in Chicago. “We were able to run them off a really small and quiet generator,” Jibson recalls. “The Perseos could sit in the mud and get rained and snowed on; we could have many per circuit and deliver a ton of output with really crisp optics.”
The Perseos were used to create otherworldly lighting effects for the night-time pursuit of the spaceman. “We wanted the for
Mars - NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover touched down on the Red Planet last week, with DPA Microphones along for the historic ride. Outfitted with DPA’s 4006 Omnidirectional Microphone, MMA-A Digital Audio Interface and MMP-G Modular Active Cable, the rover provided the first sounds from the surface of Mars (see LSi December 2020 for our in-depth article on the project).
After being put through vigorous testing by NASA scientists, the DPA equipment, affixed to the Mars Perseverance Rover, officially launched into space aboard the Atlas V-541 rocket in July 2020. Over the past seven months, the DPA equipment has faced pressure changes while leaving Earth’s atmosphere and again when entering the Martian surface, and extreme temperatures - as low as -100 Celsius/-148 Fahrenheit - on Mars. Additionally, the DPA gear has endured the massive vibrations caused by the rocket launch and subsequent landing on Mars.
“It is an honour to have been chosen for this space mission, and we are so pleased by the results,” says DPA product manager René Mørch. “Everything about the mission - from the launch to the landing - is hostile insofar as a microphone is generally concerned. It’s very exciting to know that DPA was able to record something from so many millions of miles away, and have the sound travel back to us so quickly. We are proud to have wo
Switzerland - Since upgrading his studio to incorporate a pair of PMC IB2S XBD-A monitors, Swiss producer and engineer Patrik Schwitter has undertaken a steady stream of high end projects at his Zurich based facility.
In recent months, he has worked with internationally acclaimed harp player and Grammy Award Winner Andreas Vollenweider on a new album, Quiet Places, which was recorded in Swiss broadcasting company SRF’s Studio A and Vollenweider’s own studio House on the Lake. Schwitteris is also currently mixing music for a documentary film about the influential Swiss writer Adolf Muschg, which is scheduled for release later this year. Entitled Adolf Muschg – The Other, the film is directed by Erich Schmid and features music by 86-year-old computer Jazz legend Bruno Spoerri.
“My PMC monitors just blow me away because they are so incredibly detailed,” Patrik Schwitter says. “The system brutally reveals phase behaviour at any listening level, especially with the very low SPL that I'm used to working with. But the most important thing for me is the way my mixes and masters perfectly transfer into the ‘outer world’. I couldn’t be happier with my choice of monitors and am really happy to have such a reliable tool to work with.”
Over the past year, many people in the music industry have suffered and Schwitter considers himself very lucky because he has remained so busy.
“It is a good situation to be in, despite the chaos that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused,” he says. “I’ve had plenty of work coming it but I have
Italy - Claudio Mazzucchelli created Papa Watch My Fly, a livestreamed multi-media operatic work performed at the historic Teatro Coccia in Novara.
Featuring over 70 socially distanced performers, representing a wide range of musical genres from classical and jazz, to pop and rock, as well as aerial dancers and a “live” painting by Giuseppe Ravizzotti, Papa Watch Me Fly portrays the evolving relationship between Mazzucchelli and his father over a 54-year period, from 1962 to 2016.
Reflecting the passions and nuanced emotions of this story, was a Nicolò Damiani lighting designed that featured 26 Maverick MK2 Wash and 18 Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures. Audiosales Entertainment Solutions, which managed the production, rented the Chauvet Professional fixtures from Fumasoli Audio & Lights.
Led by sales manager Marco Alterini and product specialist Giovanni Pigino, the Audiosales team rented the moving fixtures to enhance the powerful story-telling dimension of the show. “Our first aim was to create a variety of true ‘lighting pictures,’” said Damiani. “The director needed to have the best lighting conditions at all times in order for the impact of this show to come across on a livestream.”
This impact was precisely what Damiani delivered in his camera-friendly design. Positioning the wash and spot fixtures on different balcony rails, he relied on their output, throw distance, and tight focus to conjure up a variety of looks. He also created crisp gobo patterns to add depth and texture to the stage.
“I never us
South Korea - To enhance the elegant atmosphere for weddings at Luvel Gangdong with quality audio for speech and music, TechDataPS Co recently supplied the venue with an end-to-end Harman Professional Solutions audio system.
One of several venues owned by Apelgamo Wedding & Party, Luvel Gangdong is an upscale wedding hall located on the 35th and 36th floors of East Central Tower in Seoul’s Gangdong district. Featuring design elements and decor reminiscent of French formal gardens, the venue’s wedding hall can accommodate 160 guests, while the reception hall can host up to 500.
Luvel Gangdong required a high-quality yet user-friendly audio system capable of providing powerful and clear sound reinforcement for speech and music. To achieve these goals, TechDataPS outfitted the venue with an audio system consisting of JBL, Crown, Soundcraft, Lexicon, dbx, BSS and AKG solutions.
TechData PS deployed a variety of specialized JBL loudspeakers throughout the venue. JBL CBT 70J-1, CBT 70JE-1 and CBT 50LA-1 line array column loudspeakers provide main sound reinforcement. JBL Control 25AV, Control 25AV-WH and Control 23-1 background/foreground loudspeakers supply additional coverage throughout the venue, while JBL 305P MKII studio monitors and AKG K612 PRO headphones give staff an accurate reference for mixing.
TechData selected Crown CDi 4000, CDi 1000, CDi DriveCore 4|300 and XLi800 amplifiers to power the speakers, along with a dbx DriveRack VENU360 loudspeaker management system for sound enhancement, feedback suppression and mobile control.
Japan - The theatre production of Inspire Onmyoji, starring famous Japanese actor Takao Osawa, ran at the 1300-capacity Nissei Theatre in Tokyo from 31 December 2020 to 6 January 2021.
A Umeda Arts Theatre production, the show was scripted by Brazily Anne Yamada, Takaya Okamoto, NatsuTeranishi and directed by Junya Yamada. Takao Osawa performed the role of Japanese ancient wizard ‘Onmyoji’ with next generation video, sound and lighting effects, making full use of latest technologies. This included Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision platform (WPM) and Sound Adventures immersive 3D, with all outputs controlled by the SARA II Premium Rendering Engine.
Show producer, Junya Yamada, had wanted to create unprecedented special effects with the sound system for this, and so he contacted Iwao Tsurusawa, president of MSI JAPAN Tokyo, Martin Audio’s rental partner. He explained that he wished to create a live show using the Sound Adventures 3D sound system he had experienced previously, and Mr. Tsurusawa’s response could not have been more positive.
The main PA system comprised a pair of ground stacked line array enclosures (eight WPM arrays and two SX118 subs per side) and five stage front fills (all WPM). In addition, seven XD12 were pole mounted in front of the audience area.
The theatre’s installed proscenium L/C/R, along with wall speakers on the upper floor and second floor, those aimed at balcony seats, and a temporary Martin Audio ADORN A55 were set up in the back row of the second tier with a mic stand. In total, 31 outputs we
Germany - The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is one of Germany’s foremost producing houses. In the last year, the venue has added 20 x Robe T1 Profiles which are available across its stages, a move specified and overseen by head of lighting Robert Grauel and his team including Linus Zahn who is the lighting systems tech and person in charge of new technologies.
The main stage was originally built in 1850 and the building now consists of two adjoining stages – the 600-capacity main stage and the 280-seat Kammerspiele established by the legendary Max Reinhardt in 1906 for modern drama – sharing a common, classical façade.
The Box is a black box studio space located in the Kammerspiele foyer with seating for 80 people, and there are extensive rehearsal rooms, workshops, and storage facilities in a new building behind.
The Robe T1 Profiles were selected from a shortlist of three fixtures from different manufacturers explained Linus, who is part of a 35-strong lighting department working across all the stages and rehearsal areas.
Robe fixtures first appeared at the Deutsches Theater in 2016 for a production of Man in the Holocene directed by Thom Luz with lighting designed by Matthias Vogel.
They needed a compact moving light that had a sharp narrow beam that could shoot across the stage, reflect off five mirrors and interact with the main actor.
Like all theatres and any live entertainment venues, 2020 has been a tough year for Deutsches Theater due to the pandemic, but, looking forward to 2021, Linus is hopeful that the r
UK - SES Entertainment Services has been working with JLLighting on their most recent batch of 72ways, HDPE distro and cables.
“We got a call from Jack (managing director) at JLLighting looking to purchase some of our SES 72ways as they wanted to move away from their previous supplier,” says SES group director Gordon Cooper. “The quote started off as three of these units however quickly turned into HDPE distro, moulded rubber K9’s, soca splitters, custom fan outs and Powerlock linking sets as well. Quotes and drawings were supplied quickly as there was a tight deadline to stick to.
“We worked closely with JL on the specs and branding to ensure they received exactly what they were after and only the best quality branded components were used on all the builds.”
The 72ways are 27u 19” racks are made from Zintec steel and have a black powder coat on them. The racks feature 400A PowerLock incoming with a 400A MCCB fitted with nudge bars and an unprotected link through. There is an overall VTVS switchable ELR allowing discrimination between units, a neutral loss relay for added protection of equipment when powering shows, 7 LED fault display on the front and back of the distro allowing the user to identify faults quickly, overall digital metering showing voltage and amps across all phases including neutral, a handy dual USB charging point and bi-colour rack lights front and back helping to illuminate all the breakers and sockets.
“On the outgoing side there are six 16A/230V sockets protected by 16A 30mA single module RCBO’s, 12 x s
New Zealand – It is re-assuring that somewhere in the world, 2020 ended with a music festival. That’s what happened in the shadow of New Zealand’s Southern Alps, where the Rhythm & Alps Festival saw off the year with a celebratory vibe enhanced by TomTom Productions, whose Hippotizer Media Servers from Green Hippo delivered the visuals for three separate stages.
Rhythm & Alps, which has become South Island’s biggest New Year’s Eve party, was also celebrating its 10th anniversary with this event, which was held over the last three days of December. TomTom, based in nearby Queenstown, is the festival’s regular provider of full production design and supply services. This year, their contributions included the provision of Hippotizer Karst Media Servers to meet the varying playback requirements of all three performance stages: the Alpine Arena main stage, the Where The Wild Things Are stage and the Log Cabin DJ stage.
“For the Alpine Arena, we had a standard upstage LED wall, complemented by 156m of Martin VDO Sceptron strips,” says TomTom’s Hamish Roberge. “These covered the side walls, ceiling and part of the rear wall, allowing us to extend the LED wall content out, or run separate content for contrast.”
He continues, “Hippotizer control was via the lighting console over Art-Net, and the Media Servers were at FOH, which gave the LDs a direct GUI-view of what they were playing back. The Hippotizer integrates directly with the Martin P3 PC, which maps and controls the VDO Sceptron, both for control as a DMX fixture and a
The Netherlands - A production company that usually supplies lighting and sound for festivals and theatre concert tours has reinvented itself as a video livestreaming studio. Using more than 30 ADJ lighting fixtures, the owner of MPA Geluidstechniek has transformed his offices into a permanent video studio, which has been used over the past year by a wide variety of bands, singers and other performers to live-stream shows and create other video content.
Based in the city of Gorinchem, Martin van Tricht established MPA Geluidstechniek over 30 years ago. Initially focusing purely on audio and operating the business on a semi-professional, part-time basis, while also running another company, Martin expanded into lighting around a decade later and went full-time 15 years ago. Prior to COVID-19, MPA was a very well-established production company with a packed diary of theatre concert tours, festivals and corporate projects. Having always had an interest in photography, Martin was quick to make the transition to video production when the global pandemic hit last March.
“I have visited a lot of professional TV studios during my career, and most studios are actually very small, so I thought I could make my own,” explains Martin. “I knew my office space was big enough, and I had all the ADJ lighting and pro sound gear I needed on hand so, when coronavirus hit, I decided to buy some cameras and setup my own livestreaming studio.”
ADJ lighting comprises the majority of the fixtures in the MPA studio, which reflects the company’s overall rental invent
Australia - Named after coloratura soprano, Dame Joan Sutherland, the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre in Penrith, New South Wales, is one of Sydney’s busiest performing arts complexes.
Opened in 1990, the venue has numerous performance spaces, and hosts a busy schedule of theatrical, musical and visual arts.
In mid-2019, production & technical manager Geoff Turner and head of audio Tim Anikin started looking for replacement for the old point source sound system that had served the drama theatre (The Q Theatre) from the beginning, to overcome the sound issues inherent in the space.
The tender was won by Loud And Clear Sales, who in conjunction with Drew Bisset, designed and installed a system from Alcons Audio.
When the system was commissioned the difference was immediately noticeable. In fact, the team at The Joan only had a chance to utilise it for a few months before the pandemic closed the doors to all the worlds performance spaces.
Impressed by the new system in the Q Theatre, they looked to the same team to quote on an upgrade to the larger and more challenging space, the Richard Bonynge Concert Hall.
Designed, installed and commissioned again by Loud and Clear Sales and Drew Bisset, who again turned to Alcons Audio’s products for the solution.
The Q Theatre is multi-purpose room with a thrust stage and audience of 378 in a semi-circular amphitheatre configuration creates a challenge to amplify and distribute sound equally.
“Our experience with the LR7 micro line array from Alcons Audio sen
USA - Gerry Dintelman designed a show for sludge band Fister’s 90-minute Video Death livestream at the Arch City Audio Visual Services studio in St Louis. Working with a rig that featured over 50 Chauvet Professional fixtures, plus 104 PVP S5 LED video panels, he took viewers on a visual journey that wove its way seamlessly through his client’s heavy, often abrasive rhythms.
“We wanted the rig to look as aggressive as Fister’s sound is, so the whole design revolved around the idea of sharp angles, tons of back light, and intense visuals,” said Dintelman. “I definitely needed all the firepower I could get to convey the spirit of the music.”
Central to Dintelman’s design was a V-shaped truss configuration that converged on the drum stand. Made with four sticks of 8ft truss slanted at a 45-degree angle, each holding 11 Rogue R2 Wash fixtures and 10 PVP S5 panels, the structure projected a potent visual exclamation throughout the video.
“The V-shaped element was a clear reference point that centred the look on stage,” said Dintelman. “We liked how it pulled eyeballs into the centre of the stage, especially since this was being streamed - and in many cases - watched on small screens. I have to thank Kevin Kwater, who ran our video wall content and Chris Keith for this V-shaped truss idea.”
Positioned in the middle of the V-shaped truss structure was a massive video wall. Working in coordination with other video panels spread across the backstage as well as those on the truss structure itself, the wall was used to crea
USA - When the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina opens for regular performances later this year, the $91m, 3,023-seat performing arts facility will give a city with more than its share of arts and culture a new crown jewel. Named for Steven Tanger, CEO of Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, who pledged $7.5m toward the project, the new venue will host performances by the Greensboro Symphony and Guilford College's Bryan Series of lectures, as well as touring Broadway productions and concerts.
It will do so with sound from two DiGiCo SD12 consoles at front of house and monitors, an SD11 desk used for special events and that adds more flexibility to the venue, and a DiGiCo 4REA4 mixing engine that provides the drive for the main system while serving as a matrix mixer for outputs from multiple consoles.
In addition, wall-mounted DiGiCo A164 16-input/4-output expander units act as smart input panels on stage. The DiGiCo systems were specified by SE Systems and Arup, and installed by integrator Parsons Technologies, now known as ArchKey Technologies.
The FOH and monitor consoles are on an Optocore loop network, along with an SD-Rack with 32-bit mic pre’s for those desks and the SD11 mixer in the control room at the rear of the hall that can mix the venue’s sound when the space is used for events other than concerts or shows, allowing the FOH console to be removed and seats added.
“The SD consoles are simply the best out there,” says SE Systems President Cliff Miller. “They’re reliable, they so
USA - The Frost School of Music at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida has a history that dates back nearly a century to the campus’ founding in 1926. Today, it is widely regarded as one of the nation’s most innovative and comprehensive music schools.
Located within the L. Austin Weeks Centre for Recording and Performance, the intimate 147-seat Victor E. Clarke Recital Hall is a familiar venue to all of the nearly 700 students currently enrolled. Used daily for recitals, concerts, and ensemble performance, the room was designed with variable acoustics by noted acoustician Charles Bonner so that a wide range of music could be performed with optimal listening and recording conditions.
To accommodate the growing interest in electronic music studies and performance, the school called on Unreal-Systems, an L-Acoustics certified provider for installation and rental (CPi/CPr), to install a new A Series loudspeaker system in the hall.
“Normally, a venue of this size would be purely an acoustic space, but the Frost School has been moving toward using Clarke Hall for more contemporary music, including their computer music ensemble, which has a focus on electronic music production,” says Unreal-Systems project manager and lead systems engineer Ross LaBrie. “They required a fairly robust PA option, but also requested that we not have any subs on the ground level, which meant that we needed an arrayable PA with subs over the main enclosures. By modelling our options in L-Acoustics Soundvision, A10 paired with KS21 quickly proved to be the
Japan - The Finnish Embassy in Japan is located in the cosmopolitan district of Azabu in Tokyo. The area has a distinctly global feel, due in part to the large number of foreign embassies that have chosen to make Azabu their home. The Finnish Embassy has recently renovated part of their buildings. A Genelec Smart IP loudspeaker solution was installed as part of the project.
Mikke Kinnari, Vice Consul and 3rd Secretary of Administrative Affairs at the Embassy was in charge of the renovation project. “We wanted the best possible experience for our guests, ideally using Finnish products,” he explains. “Having studied several options from a variety of suppliers, we decided that the Genelec Smart IP solution with its easy, single-cable installation and high-quality audio offered the best possible solution for our requirements.”
The buildings of the Finnish Embassy – like many in Japan – are constructed with very thick reinforced concrete in order to withstand the earthquakes that are common in the region. Kinnari reveals that the impracticability of drilling any more holes than necessary in order to run cables was a major factor in the decision to adopt a Smart IP solution, which delivers audio, power and loudspeaker management over a single CAT cable.
However, he points out that this wasn’t the only criteria: “The physical elegance of the solution was also important because we have a lot of very high level visitors here – we have received the Imperial family of Japan, the President of Finland, and many other ministerial and high level
Finland - Harman Professional Solutions recently partnered with Studiotec Oy and Turku Energia to illuminate the recently renovated Piispantorni building’s façade and its new whale mural with Martin Exterior Projection 1000 fixtures.
Originally constructed in 1973, Piispantorni is the tallest building in the Finnish city of Kaarina and offers a dazzling view of the nearby Gulf of Finland from its upper floors. Formerly owned and utilised by Finnish brewing company Hartwall, the building’s new owner recently renovated the building to offer commercial office rentals to professionals in the Turku region of Finland. As part of the renovation, the building received a completely new steel façade featuring a stunning, 82-foot-long mural of a life-size blue whale titled Big Blue by artist Mauri Kosonen.
In order to enhance the effect of the mural, Piispantorni’s owner hired Turku Energia to implement a dynamic underwater-inspired lighting design created by lead designer Antti Viertamo in collaboration with Deniz Seifulla of Signify Finland and senior lighting designer Anssi Mäkinen of Sitowise. Turku Energia brought the ambitious lighting design to life with Martin Exterior Projection 1000 fixtures, supplied by Finnish distributor Studiotec Oy.
“The owner wanted to enhance the new façade of Piispantorni with a lighting design that reflects the seaside nature of the city,” said Jami Lehtonen, sales manager, Studiotec Oy. “The design features animations that look like ocean waves, which goes perfectly with Mauri Kosonen’s Big Bl
France - For more than 20 years, Mvision has been providing its service as an audiovisual technical expert to its customer base in France and beyond. The company’s regular investments in new equipment allows it to set up innovative solutions, such as its studio for filming, capturing, and dissemination of eventsat the Palais des Congrès in Paris, which is the third space Mvision has equipped for creative content production in France. The 300sq.m set features a curved LED wall, controlled by two Brompton Technology Tessera S8 LED processors.
“Mvision invested in its first LED screens more than eight years ago, and our first cylindrical screen was awarded a prize at the innovation show, Heavent Paris,” says Meziane Lounis, Mvision’s owner. “Since then, we have been building up our experience and expertise in LED technology, with our latest opening of a studio and investment in Brompton LED processing all part of our long-term development strategy.”
For its new studio, the team has built a large 12m x 3.5m LED curved wall made up of Unilumin UPAD III P2.6 LED panels.
“We chose Tessera S8 for our immersive LED stage because of its undeniable product quality and perfect colour rendering. Tessera’s feature set, as well as its latest firmware updates, allows us to adapt well to the demands of our XR studio and offers real quality when it comes to eliminating colour casts in greyscale with its PureTone functionality, or its brilliant colour contrast and colour saturation,” continues Lounes Lounis, Mvision’s technical manager.
The
USA - This January, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu passed up a long list of other possible sites, and delivered his inaugural address at Studio Lab, a production facility created by Events United.
The address marked a milestone for Events United, which formed Studio Lab before the pandemic, but began pouring renewed energy into the space once the lockdown brought live events to a halt. “For us it was a matter of trying to stay busy,” recalled Messina. “But Studio Lab tapped into a strong demand for professional livestream studios and surpassed everyone’s expectations.”
Outfitted with a lighting rig anchored by Chauvet Professional Maverick fixtures and featuring a massive 52’ wide by 14’ high curved video wall made with F2 LED panels, the production space has produced a steady flow of livestreams during 2020. Among these events was a Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce virtual conference attended by Chris Sununu.
During his visit, an impressed governor suggested to his staff that they return to Studio Lab for his inaugural address should he be reelected. Sununu won his contest and sure enough a phone call to book time at Studio Lab followed.
“The governor’s staff arrived the day before the address to review graphics, set design and the overall run of the show,” said Chase Clark, producer of the event. “On the day of the address, we did some run-throughs with the governor and made some final tweaks.”
Working together, staff from the governor’s office and Studio Lab, including graphics operators Martin Lyo