USA - Hosted by virtuoso violinist and conductor Scott Yoo, the globe-trotting PBS Great Performances Series, Now Hear This could be an Anthony Bourdain travelogue, only with a focus on classical music instead of cuisine. Created by Harry Lynch of Austin-based Arcos Films, it compellingly explores classical composers’ works and life experiences in the places where they plied their craft.
The intense travel schedule necessitates a tight crew, and Reid Mangan is tasked with recording both musical performances and dialogue. For the latter, he relies on Lectrosonics Digital Hybrid Wireless, specifically SRb and SRc receivers (slot-mounted in an SL-6 dock with a Sound Devices 688 recorder); two each of SMV, SMQV, and LT transmitters; and an HMa plug-on transmitter paired with a UCR411a receiver for occasional boom work.
“For the music performances, I’m running up to 10 channels of cabled mics and am focusing on mic placement to get an ideal sound from each instrument. And I capture dialogue at the same time,” says Mangan. “Because this is a documentary show and not scripted, we don’t get to do alternate takes if there’s a technical problem. Point being, for the dialogue, I need wireless that I can set and forget. I can’t hold a boom over someone’s head at the same time I’m doing everything else; we need whatever is happening right in front of us to come through in the moment and sound natural, with no surprises. Lectrosonics is better in that regard than any other brand I’ve ever used.”
One surprise that Lectrosonics has h
USA - Electronic music artists Alex Kislov and Arvi Mala pre-recorded a dynamic set to live stream at multiple festivals from the new xR Stage at LEC Event Technology. Their immersive one-hour performance featured HY B-EYE K25 LED wash lights provided by Claypaky.
The duo was one of the first to use LEC’s xR Stage, Chicago’s only xR stage designed to accommodate virtual events. LEC owner and director of operations Matt Brotz and So Midwest principal and designer Robb Jibson partnered to build out the space in LEC’s new warehouse, where the stage’s standing set includes two large right-angle LED videoscreens and an LED floor.
Brotz and Jibson turnkeyed Kislov and Mala’s set, supplying a five-camera shoot with drone, full lighting, control, processing and editing with background visuals provided by So Midwest.
“Alex and Arvi are used to walking into a huge festival and playing for the crowd,” Jibson notes. “With the coronavirus causing music festivals to shift online, Alex and Arvi thought it would be cool to prerecord a performance they could use for various festivals from LEC’s new xR Stage.”
Claypaky provided the HY B-EYE K25s for the performance, which Jibson placed under the DJ table where they were the centerpiece of the set’s illumination. “I’ve used Claypaky’s B-EYE K20s for years, and the K25s are a welcome update,” Jibson says.
“We wanted to extend the set’s visual content and create depth on the 2D screens,” he explains. “We wanted to incorporate the fixtures into the pixel map, make all th
UK - Saturday 15 August 2020 marked 75 years since the official end of the Second World War, following the victory of Japan. To commemorate this anniversary and remember those who served in the Far East, the BBC commissioned a series of programmes, one of which was VJ Day 75: The Nation’s Tribute which was broadcast on BBC One. Following its previous work on the BBC’s coverage of the VE Day celebrations, ELP, a trading division of White Light, was called upon to provide the lighting and power distribution for the programme.
VJ Day 75: The Nation’s Tribute took place at Horse Guards Parade in London. Narrated by Joanna Lumley, whose father was an officer with the 6th Gurkha Rifles, the evening charted the crucial campaign that led to the end of the Second World War. Key moments were reflected through readings and musical performances by Sheridan Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Paterson Joseph and Martin Shaw.
ELP’s managing director Darren Fletcher comments: “The BBC wanted this to be an ambitious, unforgettable evening so it was huge privilege to play a part in that. Hosting the event at the Horse Guards Parade was also a unique experience as, due to the usual timetable of parades and public viewing, this normally would not be possible. However, with the social distancing now in place, these have had to be put on hold hence it was available for this event.”
Darren and the team were contacted by the show’s lighting designer Nigel Catmur, who they have worked with on many occasions. Darren explains: “There was so much happening
USA - Essay Video has recently announced the opening of its new virtual studio located in Norwalk, Connecticut. The virtual facility is equipped with the latest in LED technology, including Brompton Technology 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors, empowering Essay’s customers to ‘realise their creative projects and create complex, interactive and mixed reality presentations’.
“With the global pandemic, we had clients who had to pivot from live events and turn to virtual solutions,” explains Essay Video founder & CEO, Greg Fellows. “Our newly built virtual studio gives them a safe and healthy environment to make their creative projects a reality. We have multiple offices for privacy and social distancing, and we’ve partnered with HBO and Intel over the last six months to fine tune and perfect our virtual meetings. Whilst it’s not possible to hold a live show at the moment, clients can come and make the most of our virtual facility’s advanced technology, delivering the closest possible experience to a live event.”
Though Essay’s new virtual studio has only been running just over two weeks, its facilities have already attracted a number of high-calibre projects, including this year’s 13th annual Supima Cotton Design Competition, which will take place in September to align with New York Fashion Week. Following that, Supima will once again return to the full-service production company’s virtual space to deliver another fashion show, which will be simulcast during Paris Fashion Week.
“We are very excited about both projects and c
Zimbabwe - Reggae superstar Jah Prayzah celebrated his 33rd birthday this summer by giving his fans a very memorable present. Unable to hold his customary live concert on the special day, the MTV Africa Music award winner took the celebration online with a Lockdown Birthday Bash that was livestreamed on the social media platforms of Nash and ZBC TV.
The birthday show’s studio stage was not endowed with a great deal of space; and no fans were present during the livestream broadcasts. Nevertheless, the two-hour programme thoroughly engaged those who watched the show thanks to jolting performances by Prayzah and his guests: Ammara Brown, Tammy Moyo, and King 98.
Fuelling the mix of music and dance, was a bright, colourful and fast-moving lightshow by Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Sintara of Epic Sets that featured four Intimidator Hybrid 140SR moving fixtures flown on upstage truss, as well as a Hurricane Haze 4D fog machine from Chauvet DJ.
Designing his show with the limitations of the livestream format in mind, Sintara kept his looks tight for viewing on small mobile screens. At the same time, however, he relied on bright, intense light with plenty of slashing crossing patterns and vivid gobos to create a larger impression in keeping with Jah Prayzah’s stature throughout Africa and the rest of the world.
Rich upbeat colours were also critical to conveying the mood of the music. Sintara delivered this by relying on his Intimidator units to wash the stage in rainbow-like palettes. During the more high-energy portions of the show, he turned the
UK – London’s Palace of Westminster became a vast projection surface in May to coincide with International Nurses Day, as a series of images thanking NHS key workers were beamed onto the building from 260m away across the Thames.
Projection experts at Motion Mapping deployed two Hippotizer Amba+ Media Servers to blend and warp the visual content to ensure it was beautifully displayed onto the intricate façade of the building. Motion Mapping’s Stuart Harris says he made good use of Hippotizer’s SHAPE feature to achieve great results.
“We had just 45 minutes on site to get the projection right, including all alignment and blending with the framework of Parliament, to going live with the world’s press covering the event,” says Harris. “SHAPE made it simple to warp and blend the images so that they appeared correctly, even while being beamed from such a long distance away. We even had to do some of this in real time, and the Amba+ servers handled it with ease.
“Hippo features such as Advanced Media Management and Timeline enabled us to change and amend quickly on site - it’s so agile and flexible. And when an issue arose, such as a light being left on in one of the windows inside Parliament, I could create a workaround in seconds, which is very handy when images are about to be broadcast around the world.”
The visual content varied from messages of thanks to three-storey-high pictures of famed ‘founder of modern nursing’ Florence Nightingale, to coincide with the 200th anniversary of her birth.
Setting up on the
UK - The Kingsway has screened its first films in decades thanks to SLLFX’ hire stock of audio and visual equipment. The site of the historic picture house in the Kings Heath area of Birmingham, which closed its doors in 1979, is now being used by Friendly Neighbourhood Cinema to host a seven-week film festival in COVID-safe conditions, with the local rental house called in to meet the technical requirements.
Only the frontage of the original venue still stands following a fire that destroyed the building in 2011. However, with the land behind the site now clear, it was seen as an opportunity to draw on the historic roots of the venue to host a socially distanced film festival. With the prestigious location found, Friendly Neighborhood Cinema needed technical equipment that could do justice to the traditions of The Kingsway. As such, it approached SLLFX to provide the screen, trussing and sound system, and given the iconic nature of the venue, the rental company was only too happy to oblige.
The team at SLLFX decided that a 5m x 2.5m screen created from its high definition P6 outdoor LED stock would be the perfect solution for the open air pop-up venue. This was complemented by an Electro-Voice ZLX sound system controlled via a mixing desk that was designed to cover the seating space but not spill over into the neighbouring residential areas as well as a wireless headphone system to provide a more intimate experience. Finally, a truss structure which could adapt to the uneven ground completed the setup.
“The biggest challenge we faced was the tu
Latvia - In the first quarter of 2020 a new Cultural Centre in Stopini, Latvia was built and Prolights products were used in the project.
Two lighting equipment systems were installed in the centre in the town located on the outskirts of Riga - Great Hall and Small Hall systems. The purpose of the lighting systems was to provide quality lighting for concerts, theatre plays, amateur concerts, folk dance concerts, conferences alongside events.
“Since the Great Hall serves as an acoustic hall, one of the requirements for stage lighting was to have projectors with housings that do not emit noise on cooling and heating, do not create flares, to have LED projectors without cooling fans or with especially quiet cooling fans” comments Ilgonis Punculs, director for Diogens audio, the company responsible for the project.
“Other requirements were to find a device with a great CRI - no less than 90./ 3200k, a wide range CCT control, so it is suitable for television broadcasts. It goes without saying, that it was important to fit into a rather limited budget. At the start of the project we did not have certain make or model in mind, just our own specifications. Our partner Sonus exsertus recommended Prolights products.
“It was essential to have an even and flat light surface to create suitable lighting for stage note score reading. Hence, we chose Prolight EclProfile HDTWC profile projectors with 25-50 degree lenses and EclFresenel TW, which creates even and flat stage surface lighting and tone. Prolights Ecl LED Fresnel TW projectors allow us to
USA - Every June, the historic Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis bustles with the sights and sounds of the three-day music and arts festival named in its honour. But like so many other events that bring people together to celebrate their communities, the one at the former railroad-bridge-turned-pedestrian-way fell silent this summer in the wake of the pandemic.
Ironically, the event site at the majestic bridge over the Mississippi, touched the people of Minneapolis again on the evening of 1 September, not with the rhythm of drums and clang of guitars, but by serving as a platform for a dramatic Red Alert display that reminded everyone of the toll the lockdown has taken on those who make occasions like the Stone Arch Festival possible.
Seth Scott, owner of Monkey Wrench Productions, led the team responsible for the compelling display. Positioning three Chauvet Professional Ovation E-260WW ellipsoidals on vertical pipes, two units on the upper level and one below, he directed projections at the famous grain elevators on the Mill City Museum halfway across the Mississippi River.
The ellipsoidal on the lower level was used to project “#WeMakeEvents” on the building, while the two top units projected the Red Alerts logo and the words ‘Red Alerts Restart’. With their crisp white lettering standing out sharply against the deep red colouring of the grain silos, the projections made an undeniably powerful statement. Complementing this image were the red lights on the tower of the Guthrie Theatre, just to the side of the museum
For his gobo proj
USA - Most people call the 65-acre site just off the Ojai Freeway the ‘Ventura County Fairgrounds’. Officially, though, its name is “Seaside Park,” a reference to its location on the Pacific Ocean. It’s a setting that makes for magnificent views, but the winds blowing in off the beautiful sea can play havoc with anyone trying to set up a large LED video wall, or run fog for a lightshow.
Victor Ortiz knows this first hand. The owner of Darvik Productions, he has been the production manager for Concerts In Your Car, a regular series of drive-in concerts at the fairgrounds since early June when he teamed up with the ongoing event’s producer CBF Productions.
Contending with the occasional wind gust is only one of the challenges Ortiz, lighting designer Martin Castañon, and the rest of the Darvik Productions team, has had to deal with at the 700-car capacity shows, which have featured artists like Third Eye Blind and Fritz and the Tantrums.
Unlike most drive-in shows, Concerts In Your Car takes place on an open 360ﹾ stage, a configuration that provides better viewing angles for fans in their cars, but eliminates all design options that require a backdrop. Ortiz and his team have navigated their way around this limitation with help from a powerful and versatile rig that features 14 Rogue RH1 Hybrid fixtures and 28 Rogue R2 Wash units from Chauvet Professional.
Some of the rig’s fixtures are positioned on the massive truss structure that frames the 40’ x 40’ stage, which has an 8’ high deck surrounded by a 5’ camera ring. Ho
South Korea - The Seoul Foundation for Arts & Culture (SFAC) recently commissioned the installation of a Martin Audio MLA Mini /MSX loudspeaker array in its new Youth Arts Centre. Funded by donations, the facility has been designed for young people in the Korean capital to fulfil their artistic potential, and put them in touch with other creative hubs around the world via the internet.
Founded in 2003, the Foundation had been seeking to create Seoul as a platform where diverse values of culture and art could be expressed, and The Youth Arts Centre was created as part of this activity. The facility itself had originally been donated by a private school foundation named Wonsuk.
Situated in the Chungjeong-ro district of the city, the 1,500sq.m space itself consists of a cafe, office, multipurpose hall, conference rooms and practice room, along with a complex function space.
To conform to modern standards, a high-performance, versatile sound system was required. As Sama Sound sales manager, Dae Won Cho, already had a good relationship with Wonsuk, the Martin Audio distributors were awarded the contract.
It is in the 150-seat multi-purpose hall that the MLA Mini was specified for its ability to reinforce all types of live performance (K-Pop), as well as conferences, seminars and exhibitions. The system was designed by Sama Sound’s Seung Hwan Kim.
Joining the MLA family, the tiny MLA Mini is one of the smallest systems capable of implementing this proprietary technology and its output compares favourably with products that are in a
Germany - The City of Oberndorf am Neckar in the state of Baden-Württemberg this summer played host to a five-week programme of outdoor live entertainment labelled Kultursommer 2020.
Created by events specialists dts Veranstaltungstechnik GbR, and taking into account the impact of the global Coronavirus pandemic, this ambitious undertaking required detailed logistical planning, careful organisation and the highest level of production support. The organisers assembled a wide-range of acts from a variety of genres for the outdoor shows, from top metal bands Rage and AXXIS, Classic meets Gypsy with Zorana Memedovic and Heinze Costabel, to comedy and cabaret with Heinrich del Core and Dui do on de Sell.
With more than 25 years experience in the sector, dts recently invested in a Coda Audio system, and decided that Kultursommer 2020, with its requirement for versatile high quality sound, would benefit from its deployment. Thomas Müller of Coda, who has worked freelance on numerous dts shows over the years, collaborated with the company to help design the system.
Conditions in respect of noise protection for local residents meant that calculations had to be very precise. Müller and the dts team worked together using Coda’s System Optimiser to make accurate predictions of the expected results, helping to ensure that sound would be placed exactly where required, and avoiding disturbance to the site’s neighbours.
All COVID19 regulations were strictly adhered to, with the audience area divided into three zones. Deck chairs were provided at the f
The Netherlands/USA - British loudspeaker manufacturer PMC has been chosen to provide the speakers for the presentation of an immersive audio experience at the first international exhibition devoted to the life of The Rolling Stones.
Entitled The Rolling Stones - Unzipped, this touring exhibition opens on 14 November at the Groninger Museum in The Netherlands. PMC’s speaker systems are also being used during the mixing of the audio soundtracks for the showcase event in Dolby Atmos at Capitol Studios, LA and PMC’s own Dolby Atmos mix studio at Highland Park in LA.
The Groninger Museum was host to a legendary concert by the band in 1999 and will house the exhibition until 28 February 2021, before it begins a tour around the world. Fans of the band will journey through the band's legacy, ending with a special finale experience that takes the visitors into an iconic Stones moment, delivered in multi-dimensional Dolby Atmos Sound.
With PMC’s integral part in the development of Dolby Atmos for Music, the use of PMC by the Rolling Stones was an obvious choice for the exhibition’s finale presentation of their 2016 Latin America tour documentary, Olé, Olé, Olé and concert footage from the band’s ground-breaking concert in Havana, Cuba.
Five large screens will immerse fans in this multi-dimensional experience, with an array of PMC’s new Ci140 speakers and as yet unreleased flagship active subwoofers the BST, providing 23 channels of Dolby Atmos soundtrack powered by in excess of 20,000 watts. The AV system will take fans de
USA - Three key live music venues in New York City managed by The Bowery Presents - Brooklyn Steel, Webster Hall and most recently, the 2,800-capacity Terminal 5 in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan - all feature Robe moving lights in their house rigs.
The lights have been specified by Luciano Savedra, head of lighting for The Bowery Presents which is the East Coast regional partner of AEG Live and owns and operates a diverse mix of venues across NYC and in other major metropolitan centres.
At Terminal 5, where Savedra also oversees and runs the lighting day-to-day, the 12 x MegaPointes and 12 x Spiider LED wash beams have greatly added to the flexibility of the existing lighting rig. The lights were supplied via BML-Blackbird.
Brooklyn Steel - on the site of a former steelworks and named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by Rolling Stone Magazine - has 16 x Spiiders. Webster Hall has 10 x MegaPointes and is among New York City's most historically significant theater halls, having hosted social and performance events since the club's construction in 1886.
Savedra has worked for Bowery Presents in different capacities since 2003, and in 2007 was hired to design new and contemporary lighting for Terminal 5, which had just joined the Bowery franchise, and also for another venue, Music Hall of Williamsburg, after which he stayed on as the house LD.
All the house rigs are designed to provide top-level touring artists with the facilities to produce a comprehensive show, although that’s not exclusively the case, and production
Lityhuania - The hall of Molėtai Culture Centre is a multi-functional venue with a capacity of 330 spectators. The centre is located in a small town called Molėtai, situated around 50 km away from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
“The stage of the hall where Prolights lighting devices are installed is 10m wide 11m deep and 5m high,” said Mindaugas Indrašius, CTO for Sonus Exsertus, Prolights distributor for Lithuania.
“Prolights products were selected based on the needs of the cultural centre and the genre of events. The activities of the centre are diverse so there was a need for lighting devices that were small, reliable and versatile. On a relatively small stage it was not possible to have many specialised narrow-purpose lighting devices therefore the versatile, strong light output and well-functioning Prolights lighting fixtures fully meet the lighting needs of this small hall.
The Prolights products installed were Luma 700, Diamond 19, Polar 1000 and Air 6Pix.
“The fixtures are high quality, we did not encounter any problems during the installation. All products were installed easily and are working smoothly. The precise instructions from the manufacturer's side allowed us to quickly make the necessary settings and perform programming work.”
USA - The feeling never gets old for Kenrick Fischer. It’s the one that happens at the end of every project, when all the work is done, and he gets to watch clients react to his finished lighting design for the first time. In the world of theatre, where he’s devoted much of his efforts, it is one of the highlights of an opening night.
“I often refer to this as ‘giving it away,’ in theatre,” said Fischer. “It’s why I do this. I love seeing the amazement on people’s faces when you transform a space into something wonderous and unexpected.”
Fischer experienced this feeling earlier this year, when he showed his completed work to the team at the Seattle Revival Centre.
The church had originally contacted him about upgrading its lighting system to make it more flexible, engaging, and broadcast-friendly. Drawing on his experience in theatre, Fischer proceeded to create a versatile rig that features over 45 Chauvet Professional LED fixtures supplied by Hollywood Lights.
His new lighting system was a resounding success with the Seattle Revival Centre team when they saw it in its complete form for the first time in January. However, neither they nor Fischer could have imagined at the time just how vital the upgraded rig was about to become.
A few weeks after the system’s reveal, public gatherings were halted in Seattle as a result of the pandemic. This led the church to move quickly to an all livestream format. Thanks to the flexibility of its camera-friendly lighting system, and the creative resourcefulness of its worship t
China - Suzhou is one of the fastest growing major cities in the world, situated just 100km west of Shanghai on the lower Yangtze River. It boasts many interesting historic and modern attractions, not least its latest nightclub, the 800-capacity Vela, which opened its doors in December 2019.
Lighting designer, Andy Taylor of Gasoline Design, was called in to provide the dynamic lighting for the club and chose to use 174 Ayrton MiniPanel-FX for his design. He explains his choice: “I have used Ayrton products on nightclub install designs before, most notably DreamPanelTwin in Jewel, Las Vegas, and MagicPanel-R and MagicBlade-R in Omnia at Caesar’s Palace, also in Las Vegas.
The fittings worked with spectacular effect in both of those designs, so when I was looking for something different to use as the workhorse of the effect lighting for Vela, the MiniPanel-FX was a natural choice. The client was also keen for the design to look like nothing he had seen anywhere else and to create that elusive ‘wow’ factor. Having a large array of MiniPanels ticked both those boxes to great effect.
“I don’t recall seeing any fixtures with the same square lens configuration as MiniPanel-FX, which was a big selling point. The most important thing for me is quality of function and reliability - I don’t want to put 174 fixtures in a design and get 174 different shades of white - and with Ayrton you can guarantee uniformity, even after many hours of use.”
Taylor was able to use the MiniPanel-FX to achieve the dynamic effect he wanted for the club. “
USA - COVID-19 has changed everything. “This pandemic has forced creative people to have to get creative about everything, even things we usually take for granted,” says Tom Worley, operations manager at 3G Productions, Inc. (3G), a live production, sales, and systems integration provider. Thus, this summer 3G turned its Los Angeles facility into Sixth Sense Creative House, a flexible production space able to accommodate live events, film and audio recordings, and live streaming from its sound stage.
Key elements in the success of this initiative are two DiGiCo SD12 consoles and a new Quantum7 console, as well as two SD-Racks fitted with 32-bit Stadius mic pres, all on a single Optocore network. The desks are also equipped with DiGiCo’s new DMI-KLANG card, an immersive in-ear mixing expansion that can be mounted directly into a console equipped with DMI slots for native KLANG control from the desk’s work surface.
The KLANG system is an option for those using Sixth Sense’s streaming facilities to offer listeners a fully immersive experience online over headphones, while the SD12 and Quantum7 consoles provide live sound and recording engineers a familiar and powerful worksurface for any kind of audio mix.
The two SD12 consoles are located in Sixth Sense Creative House’s main live event space, as the front-of-house and monitor desks for a sound stage with an All Access turntable stage that will allow festival-type back-to-back concert productions. The Quantum7 console is installed in a nearby recording and broadcast control room.
Both
UK - Sam Jones has his own show on Insanity Radio, an award-winning FM and online station based at Royal Holloway University in Surrey. Since March, he has hosted Insanity’s Friday night Lockdown show - from Cardiff - with flatmate Alex Williams.
Presenting a show remotely has its challenges, but Jones has done as much as possible to ‘studio-fy’ his spare room, excluding as much noise as possible. When the coronavirus lockdown struck, he had already taken the decision to invest in a new microphone, having suffered in the past from a few reliability issues. Looking for great value, great audio and a robust piece of equipment, he decided to go with the Mackie EM-91C large-diaphragm condenser microphone and loved what he got:
“Just taking the mic out of the box gives you that feeling of solidity. I figured that if the audio is as good as the build quality, it’s going to be seeing me through plenty of broadcasting! And lo and behold, it’s excellent. I’ve used a number of different microphones in different settings, including in nicely-appointed studios, some of which cost considerably more than the EM91-C, but in terms of quality and value, it’d be hard to beat.”
140 miles away in Buckinghamshire, Jones' younger brother Tal is working in another studio conversion - his bedroom - on a body of material that is finding favour with a growing number of fans.
As a music student and artist, working within tight budget constraints dictates that every investment in his setup needs to reflect great value for money. At the same time, in a
France - “Elation luminaires meet more and more the lighting criteria demanded by top directors of photography” was the assessment of Alain Lheriteau of Elation’s French distributor Best Audio & Lighting after working with director of photography Jean-Louis Rousseaux on a reworked set at France Television Stage 2.
In spring 2019, the national broadcaster entrusted Rousseaux with the lighting design of Set 330, a virtual environment that spans 360° and covers almost the entire surface of the set.
The first live broadcast from Stage 2’s redesigned set took place last fall and marked the first programme produced in a virtual setting on France Television. “It was necessary that we review all of the lighting for several reasons,” said Rousseaux, who reports that France Television wanted to equip the set entirely with LED lights. “The versatility of moving between real and virtual sets required a much more complete and flexible installation than the one that existed.”
The new set, treated entirely in inlaid green paint, floor and walls, required a permanent lighting installation to illuminate the entire cyclorama and floor. Black and white curtains fill gaps at the bottom of the set and around décor elements. “It was inconceivable to make this fully automated set when France Television first contacted me,” Rousseaux says. “It was necessary to redo the entire grid, which is equipped with pantographs, and implied both an investment and very difficult deadlines.”
The challenge was great but not impossible. After consulta
Switzerland - Basel Music Academy’s renowned Electronic Studio Basel (ESB) is being upgraded with Lawo IP technology, enabling future prospective sound engineers to be trained on two Lawo mc²36 audio consoles and accompanying compact I/O units.
The Lawo installation at the Basel Music Academy (Musikakademie Basel) will also be used for recording contemporary electronic compositions, performed by ensembles small and large, as well as entire orchestras.
The new audio mixing system, which was installed by Swiss system integrator SLC Broadcast, includes two identical 24-fader Lawo mc²36 consoles and corresponding interfaces (supporting MADI, Ravenna, AES/EBU, analogue operation). The two stageboxes each provide 32 mic/line inputs, 32 line outputs, 8 digital AES3 inputs, eight digital AES3 outputs, eight GPIO, a Ravenna port, and a MADI Tie-Line Port (SFP).
Also part of the upgrade are Horus and HAPI audio interfaces from Merging Technologies.
Importance was placed on the scalability of the components during the selection of equipment for the upgrade. From small mobile recordings to large live concerts with parallel recording, the audio systems are required to use the same digital interfaces and network topology. For large ensembles with simultaneous recording, all components – including virtual soundcards on laptops – are called into use. The flexibility of the Lawo IP-based configuration also makes it possible to work on several projects at the same time.
The Academy places a high value on the use of current technology and equipment
Japan - Alcons Audio pro-ribbon systems made a considerable impression on the Japanese professional audio market in July, as the company’s new Japanese distributor E’Spec Inc. held a demonstration event at the Abeno Ward Citizen Centre in Osaka
Despite the difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, well over a hundred audio professionals attended the event on 14 July, which was split into three sessions to ensure effective social distancing. They included audio engineers, system designers, rental and sales companies.
Alongside PowerPoint and video presentations, practical demonstrations of Alcons pro-ribbon systems included the LR7 / LR7B micro line-array, LR18 / LR18B compact mid-size line-array, the VR8 compact versatile monitor, VR12 mid-size versatile monitor, RR12 point-source array module and the BF151mkII compact subwoofer.
A variety of sources were played through the systems to highlight their audio quality and versatility in a wide range of sound reinforcement applications. A highlight was a demonstration of live drums by Sakae Takeda, showcasing how Alcons pro-ribbon drivers excel at handling the most dynamic sounds.
Many visitors highlighted the VR12 as being of special interest, thanks to its user-friendliness, sound and ability to be used as a high quality floor monitor. The compact size, light weight and sound quality of the LR7 and LR7B line array also proved very popular outside the major touring companies. Ease of handling is very important because, in Japan, systems are rarely flown at small and medium-sized event
Israel - Quiz show Who Wants to Be A Millionaire has been a TV favourite - and sometimes talking point - for years. For the 2020 Israeli edition, broadcast on Channel 12, lighting designer Ofer Jacobi was asked by producers July August Production to light the show again, 20 years after the last time he’d done so, which was the first roll out in Israel.
Ofer was delighted to be working again after the coronavirus pandemic has all but shut down the entertainment and production industry worldwide.
This time, he specified a Robe moving light rig and worked closely with set designer Oren Hanan and show director Amir Ukrainitz at Mizmor Petah Tikva Studios about 10km east of Tel Aviv.
They studied the UK’s latest Who Wants To Be A Millionaire format (where the show originated, first broadcast in 1998) and followed some of this style book with a few adaptations as Ofer implemented some tweaks so both effects lighting and white light elements had more impact.
The most powerful and suspenseful moments, Ofer stated, were when host Erez Tal revealed whether the answer was correct or not, so he paid special attention to crafting these cues in addition to building up the general lighting which had to look slick and contemporary with some classic ‘Millionaire’ touches.
This approach also dictated where he hung the moving lights, which were supplied by Danor Theatre and Studio Systems and comprised 18 x MegaPointes, 24 x Spiiders & 40 x LEDBeam 150s.
Twenty-four of the LEDBeam 150s were rigged on top of a circular tr
Germany - Headquartered in Hamburg, Fielmann AG is an ophthalmic optics specialist, with 780 branches spread throughout Germany and Europe. In July this year, the company invited its shareholders to attend its annual general meeting. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, this took place virtually, without the physical presence of the shareholders.
The stage was set up at the Cinegate Studios in Hamburg - and optimised for live streaming online. As a technical service provider, PRG Streaming Solutions was responsible for the entire technical infrastructure - including the stage and décor - as well as supplying the entire lighting, sound, video, and transmission technology. Lighting designer Jerry Appelt was responsible for the scenography, and overall look of the event.
The centrepiece of the stage design was a high-resolution 17m x 5m LED wall, onto which all camera feeds were displayed. Three camera systems and a further camera on rails provided the images.
"Compared with a face-to-face event, the camera image is, of course, much more important in the event of a virtual general meeting," said Appelt. "For this reason, it was essential that the entire lighting was matched to the camera technology."
As an experienced lighting designer and DoP for some of the largest TV productions in Europe, Appelt turned to the GLP portfolio. He specified 22 impression S350’s in both Spot and Wash versions, 24 impression X4 Bar 20’s and 18 of the compact and powerful FR1 moving heads.
“For the basic lighting, we mainly used the GLP S350 series