Romania - The Expirat music venue brand was established in 2002 and is a popular open-format music club / live music venue in Bucharest. Owned by Andrei Șoșa and his wife Raluca, they opened their first location in Vama Veche (on the beach) and the following year a second venue appeared in the Romanian capital.
However, in 2016 the latter relocated from its city centre basement home to its current venue, a medium-size warehouse within the Halele Carol complex. This is an industrial architectural jewel similar in aspect and logistics to the Melkweg Oude Zaal in Amsterdam, located at the edge of one of Bucharest’s historic landmarks: Carol I Park.
Since its relocation, Expirat has become a flagship venue for both the local live music scene and the go-to dance club for Bucharest’s clubbers who revel to the sounds produced from a Martin Audio W8LM Mini Line Array in its main Sala Compresoarelor.
Meanwhile, outside on the terrace DJ sets, acoustic live acts and various community-based happenings take place during the summer months. And it is on the terrace that Paradigma Teknik, Martin Audio’s long-serving Romanian partners, have now installed the new Adorn loudspeaker series, having supplied and installed the original W8LM rig when the venue moved to its current location nearly four years ago.
With a capacity for around 200 people, the terrace had been making do with a largely improvised system. But due to their satisfaction with the W8LM, and their relationship with Paradigma Teknik, the owners sought an advanced solution but within a t
Greenland - A compact Allen & Heath SQ-6 console was on mixing duty for one of the world’s most remote festivals recently. The annual Qooqqut festival brings music and culture to an isolated shore in the Nuuk fjord complex, cradled by the dramatic mountains of western Greenland. Organised by Greenland’s cultural centre, Katuaq, this year’s festival was held on 14-15 August.
With no roads, no phone signal and no Internet onsite, Qooqqut 2020 offered a rare opportunity to step outside the everyday world and experience a diverse programme of music, workshops and traditional sports.Tickets were capped at an intimate 250 for each day and the event was planned in close cooperation with the authorities to ensure compliance with Covid 19 guidelines.
Katuaq’s sound technician, Angunnguaq Larsen, mixed FOH for the event from a 48 channel SQ-6 console, with an iPad running the SQ MixPad app providing him with a portable solution for controlling all the artists’ monitors. An SQ Dante card in the console enabled the FOH / monitor split as well as providing multitrack recording capability. A pair of portable DX168 I/O expanders were placed onstage, connecting to the SQ-6 over the plug ‘n play SLink protocol.
Angunnguaq elaborates, “The main reasons we chose to bring our SQ were the audio quality and the size. For this festival you can’t just put the equipment in a truck and drive to the site – everything has to be carried in by hand. I really like the sound quality and the headroom you get from SQ. I also appreciate the DEEP processing model
USA - The history of Cary Alliance Church in Cary, North Carolina stretches back to the 1970s, and the church has occupied a few different properties and worship spaces in that time. Although arguably not the “churchiest” of its locations, Cary Alliance Church currently occupies a 600-seat multipurpose room.
As the times have changed, so has Cary Alliance’s service style. Local AV integration firm AVCON recently designed and installed a Danley Sound Labs sound reinforcement system that supports a more-contemporary service style.
“Cary Alliance Church moved into their new building about 12 years ago, and AVCON provided the sound system,” explained Frank Yarborough, president and CEO of AVCON. “At the time, the church’s style was more traditional, and the sound system met their more modest needs. But they’ve certainly evolved with the rest of the world into a more contemporary, blended worship style. Whereas Cary Alliance’s services used to be more ‘piano-driven’ with a full choir every week, now they’re more ‘guitar-driven’ with a praise band every week. The choir only joins for special occasions. With a different mode of performance, they needed a higher level of audio fidelity and impact.
Yarborough notes, “Church sound is now compared with all of those other situations, and people have higher expectations. We’ve found that Danley’s technologies can reliably and affordably take churches to that next level. The people at Danley are fantastic, and we worked closely with Cooper [Hedden, southeast regional manager wit
USA - The music of the Grateful Dead has a way of bringing people closer together, even when they have to stay socially distant. This was evident when tribute band Scarlet Begonias performed the group’s classic hits at the Columbia County Amphitheatre in Evans.
The concert’s organisers set up tables 10ft apart from one another, allowing only fans who came together to occupy each restricted zone. Distancing did not seem to bother the mask-wearing fans, as they enjoyed the music together at this drive-in-show-minus-the cars.
“We had a much smaller crowd than you’d typically find at this kind of concert because of social distancing, but the energy was all there,” said John Berret, of Quest Sound & Productions, who lit the show with an all Chauvet Professional rig that featured 20 Rogue and COLORado fixtures.
Berret did his part to convey the “spirit of The Dead,” by busking a free-flowing light show. “You can’t really do a totally programmed time-coded show with these guys,” he said. “The set list isn’t written in stone, so you can’t be sure what they’re going to play next. Plus, songs are played differently, so you have to be able to get the feel of what’s happening and change with the flow. There are lots of dynamics in the music which need to be complimented with dynamics in the light show.”
Yellow and magenta colours created with the rig’s four Rogue R1 Beam, four R2 Spot, four Rogue R1 FX-B, and eight COLORado 1-Tri IP fixtures, evoking psychedelic imagery, dominated the design. “It felt good painting
Indonesia - Wanting to upgrade its acoustic system and provide an enhanced guest experience, the Playmaker Café hired IMS Indonesia, to design and install Harman Professional audio solutions featuring JBL Professional loudspeakers.
The Playmaker Café is a dining and entertainment destination in Thamrin, Jakarta. Opened in October 2019 and founded by the football presenter Ophan Lamara, Playermaker Café is a popular hangout spot for locals and tourists alike. The establishment consists of a restaurant, meeting rooms for corporate professionals as well as a lounge, which hosts live music events twice a week and includes two mini billiard tables that add a sporty, energetic vibe.
“Playmaker Café required a world-class sound system that would allow customers to further enjoy the ambiance,” said a spokesperson for IMS Indonesia. “The system had to be dynamic and adaptable to produce great performance across a variety of music genres and live acts. After considering the various factors involved, we decided to use premium JBL speakers that perfectly complement Playmaker Café’s fun environment.”
IMS Indonesia installed the JBL C50PACK surface-mount subwoofer-satellite loudspeakers. The system includes an AKG D7 reference dynamic microphone, while a Soundcraft Notepad-12-FX with built-in Lexicon effects helps ensure peak audio quality and allows the café to achieve a professional sound without any additional plug-ins or equipment. To complete and power the system, IMS Indonesia used the Crown XLi 800 two-channel power amplifier.
“Our
Australia - In May 2020, The Voice Australia returned for Season Nine with coaches Delta Goodrem, Kelly Rowland, Guy Sebastian and Boy George going head to head to find Australia's best-unsigned singing talent.
This year it was more of a massive undertaking than usual as the show moved out of Fox Studios (which was fully occupied with the production of a Marvel movie) to a new temporary 13,000sqm warehouse location in Moorebank consisting of three studio spaces. Large super grids had to be installed, container walls used to separate areas, temporary buildings, art workshops, power, plumbing and air conditioning systems added to make the location TV friendly.
The base lighting inventory for the Playoff, Showdowns and Finals shows was entirely LED-based except for the Claypaky Sharpys and Robert Juliat followspots. This was a first for lighting designer Ian Anderson of Mitech Design with various needs leading to this decision; power supply was limited, total weight loads throughout the temporary super grid were lower than what the show is used to in a regular studio space and the reliability of the LED fixtures played a big part to minimise labour costs. In fact, Ian reports that they didn’t swap one light out of the rig the whole time they were in production.
“With manufactures now tending to focus more on the quality of light rather than the brightness or how many cool things they can do, it makes it much easier to be able to match colours and match colour temperatures throughout these larger systems,” commented Ian. “The Martin MAC
UK - Taking place on a purpose-built site on the beach next to Brighton’s Palace Pier, The Warren Outdoor Season opened earlier this month, offering a range of live comedy, theatre, cabaret and family shows. Having supported the Brighton Fringe at The Warren for over five years, White Light was called upon to supply the lighting, rigging and power equipment for this new season, which is one of the first to open following the outbreak of COVID-19.
The Warren is a pop-up, multi-purpose site which consists of four venue spaces and four bar areas. Annually, it hosts Brighton Fringe festival events. As with so many other live performances, the outbreak of COVID-19 saw the cancellation of this year’s festival. As such, Otherplace Productions, the team who run The Warren, decided to look for an alternative, safe way to put on live entertainment.
Joshua Carr, technical director at Otherplace Productions, comments: “We were all incredibly disappointed when we had to cancel the festival back in March. Not only was it a blow for the city in terms of culture but also the economy, as it employed over 250 people. That said, we knew that it was in the public’s interest and we had to abide with government guidelines. It soon dawned on us though that social distancing wasn’t going away anytime soon and, as such, decided to look at ways in which performances could happen with this in place. We knew this would need to be outside and, after speaking to the local authority, put together an outdoor concept which would be situated next to our main permanent venue.
Germany - Allen & Heath dLive and SQ systems were at the heart of the AV solution for Dein Sommermoment – a pair of livestreamed events hosted in the vertigo-inducing Fernmeldeturm Nürnberg.
Dominating the skyline over the city of Nuremberg, the 292m telecoms tower provided a striking backdrop for the two events in July. The first Dein Sommermoment featured seven solo artists performing in the tower’s distinctive egg-shaped viewing area, while the second event added a pair of outdoor stages at the foot of the structure for rock bands, presided over by presenters in the tower above. Both events were created by EMS - Experts Managed Services GmbH, with Konrad Wurster and Ole Langhans from AV provider, SL-Works Gbr heading the technical team.
For the second Dein Sommermoment, an SQ-5 console was employed for presenter mics and monitoring, as well as providing backup for the intercom. With all equipment used in the tower having to make a 189m elevator ride to the viewing area, the SQ’s compact footprint made it an ideal mixer for the job.
A dLive system was selected for live and streaming mixing, as freelance audio engineer, Johannes Minichmayr explains, “dLive is the natural choice for this type of event. The system is so flexible and expandable; whatever challenge you encounter, you know there’s a way to handle it. When you’re looking after multiple stages and artists it’s also great to have a system that is really quick and easy to set up – everything just works.”
The core of the audio system was a dL
USA - Excitement was in the air at Grace Bible Church, College Station, TX, on 10 July, 2018 when the building committee presented their first official rendering of the house of worship’s new 45,000sq.ft Creekside campus.
For years, the dynamic church had been looking to build a new facility to house its growing congregation in this area just to the southeast of the city.
If all went well, the congregation could expect to worship in their new building “by spring 2020”. But, as it has with so many other things around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the church’s plans to a halt in March.
As the construction crew continued to work on completing the campus, worshippers waited patiently for the restrictions on public gatherings to be eased. Then on Sunday 2 August, more than two years after viewing the architect’s plans, the congregation entered the new church for services, following social distance guidelines.
What greeted them was an elegant, modern, and harmoniously balanced worship space with a semi-circular thrust stage, expansive windows, gently curved walls with attractive stone facades, and an advanced LED lighting system capable of rendering a rainbow of colours, while also provide smooth, even key lighting for even the most sensitive cameras.
Developed around an extensive collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures, the lighting rig, along with the rest of the AVL system, was installed by the CSD Group. This collection of fixtures includes 10 Ovation E-160 WW ellipsoidals on the front bar. The placement of these
New Zealand - The first live arena concert in the world since coronavirus silently spread global mayhem, was headlined by rising-stars L.A.B. at Auckland’s Spark Arena.
Robe moving lights were on the rig in a production design created by lighting designer Jack Hooper - his first gig for the band - together with the artists, their management team Loop, visual director Olivier Jean and live video specialist Big Picture.
This event was enabled by New Zealand’s effective coronavirus response which saw a nationwide end to lockdown in early June and social distancing relaxed, with a return to the prospect of live shows and events.
All that changed on 11 August when new cases were recorded for the first time in 102 days, a sign of just how volatile the situation is. Auckland was immediately returned to lockdown.
In the intervening period however, this concert, promoted by Loop, was also L.A.B.’s largest gig to date.
Originally planned for another famous gig in the city - Auckland Town Hall - the demand for tickets was so insane that they shifted to the larger venue. This also effortlessly sold out and was packed with a diverse and wildly enthusiastic audience of 6,000.
“We wanted to make NZ feel good about the world's first arena show post lockdown, blow the budget and make a statement,” declared manager Michael ‘Mikee’ Tucker of Loop.
Oceania was the lighting rental supplier. Jack worked with them for four years before launching his freelance career at the end of 2019, and that’s where he first started working wi
USA - As a light-hearted escape from the tribulations that mark everyday life at present, online comedy shows are experiencing a resurgence of popularity. Comedian Pat McGann’s recently released special, Sebastian Maniscalco Presents Pat McGann: When’s Mom Gonna Be Home? is testament to that upsurge with large viewer numbers since premiering on streaming services at the end of July.
Pat McGann is a fast rising stand-up comedian from Chicago whose sarcastic charm and wit have endeared him to fans across North America. In his first Comedy Dynamics original special, McGann offers his take on family life and marriage. Shot last September at the 1000-seat Vic Theatre in Chicago, Andris Kasparovics lit two sold-out evenings using a combination of Elation Artiste Van Gogh and Elation Dartz 360 LED luminaires.
Head of creative and principal designer for Sight Unseen Studios, Kasparovics has been doing shows with Comedy Dynamics since 2012. For the Pat McGann special, he worked with Chicago-based production company JRLX to secure the Elation fixtures and was one of the first to get his hands on the Artiste Van Gogh. “I have known Jason Reberski at JRLX for years; this was a great opportunity to finally work with him on his own turf in Chicago,” Kasparovics said. “Knowing that he was a big supplier of Elation gear, I wanted to try out a couple of the new products so both he and my Elation rep Jean Lariviere were super helpful in getting me the Artiste Van Gogh ahead of their production run.”
Kasparovics explains that he has b
USA - Familiar, comforting sights have often been obscured in the haze of the pandemic, a time of broken plans and lost connections. But like every crisis, the current one is also a great revealer. Forcing people into unfamiliar paths, it can lead to new, unexpected discoveries, which, even when seemingly insignificant, can lift the spirits.
Christopher Robin, the production/lighting designer for the country rockers The Andy Davis Band, had such an experience on Saturday 15 August when he lit his first concert at the Evergreen Drive-In in Mt Pleasant, PA. A highlight of the evening for him came at the end of the show, when fans (some of whom were fire fighters, given free tickets by the band), called for an encore by sounding their car alarms.
“It was something I never thought I’d see at the end of a concert,” said Robin. “All of a sudden all these alarms went off and lights started flashing. It was a new way for fans to express themselves in a new kind of concert setting - and it felt good to see.”
Robin and his co-designer Tyler Kluck engaged the sellout crowd at the drive-in by turning its SL100 stage into a glowing jewel box of vivid colours with help from Chauvet Professional Maverick and COLORado fixtures supplied by Star Design Event Services.
“Tyler and I co-designed the show for a tour to support the band’s new album, Blue Collar,” said Robin. “We did this thinking that it would make it easier for either of us to run the show during the busy touring season. But of course, that never happened because of the pan
Australia - Designed as a state-of-the art learning space for the performing arts in Hobart, the new AU$110m Hedberg Building at the University of Tasmania (UTas) has chosen a 48-channel API Legacy AXS analogue recording and mixing console for the heart of its recording hub.
The 57sq.m control room - large enough to accommodate student groups - is linked to several recording spaces including dedicated drum and vocal booths, as well as the Salon performance venue and Ian Potter Recital Hall. Deciding on the best console for this studio saw the university's technical staff engage in extensive research before deciding on API.
“What I was looking for in terms of the best console to learn on was something that sounds great and is easy to use; reliable with great technical support from a reputable manufacturer,” explains Rob Long, associate lecturer in music and music technology at the university's School of Creative Arts and Media. “API was the only company that fitted the brief. When you buy into a large piece of equipment like a console, so many things can go wrong. You need to find a company that has already solved the problems associated with large format consoles. API solved these problems in the 70s.”
The 48-channel API AXS was supplied by API's Australian distributor, Audio Chocolate, custom built to UTas specifications. This included American Cherry wood top and side trim, AXS Series centre section, a 24-inch DAW/producer's desk with monitor, a VU meter bridge and integral TT patch bay. The console also includes six stereo return modules
Germany - The coronavirus pandemic has affected many areas of private and public life, forcing people to rethink established organisational structures and to adopt new working methods. This naturally also includes politicians at all levels.
An example is the district council of the Bad Kissingen region in Germany which was unable to meet as usual in the conference rooms of its town hall. In order to comply with social distancing regulations, the officials had to find an alternative for the council’s 60 members. The AV specialist der Kohl UG ensured seamless communication between council members, as well as clear intelligibility in the press and public visitor areas, in the converted gymnasium with the Shure Microflex Complete Wireless conferencing system.
Due to coronavirus safety regulations, each council member had to sit at their own table. These were placed in the gymnasium in six rows of 10 tables each, with sufficient distance between them. Additionally, it was necessary to ensure free movement of all participants, some of whom had to leave their positions for voting and to take seats at a central conference table.
The company responsible for the conferencing technology, der Kohl UG, relied on the Shure Microflex Complete Wireless system, with 64 wireless MXCW640 conference stations and MXC416DF/C Dualflex gooseneck microphones. Taken together, this combination of microphone, loudspeaker and touchscreen in an integrated portable unit for each individual council member, met all requirements for audio quality and freedom of movement.
An
Slovakia - From 23-27 July 2020, the Zemplínska Šírava resort hosted the 13th edition of the Sundance Festival, one of the largest festivals of electronic dance music in the country.
Despite the limitations of COVID-19, which reduced its form and the participation of foreign stars, the event was a success.
This year, 40 DJs performed for three days. The entire Line-up was built just on local DJs and the main star was DJ Borra, all of them lit up by Prolights Stark1000.
Topevent was the rental company who worked on the lighting installation for the festival. Jaro Varga, lighting designer for Topevent, said: “This year, due to a reduced budget, it was necessary to build a simple stage, but so that it was vigorous and effective. That's why we chose Prolights Stark1000. The fixtures were installed on the console to emphasise the DJ's performances and on the front of the stage. The Stark1000 have great power and a large zoom range, and these amazing features has allowed us to create great scenes.”
Company owner Martin Kravec said: “We have been using Prolights products for more than two years. We have used the fixtures for several tours and also the production of Ice Queen, which was a big show on ice. The devices have proven to be very reliable with excellent features, and we definitely plan to expand our portfolio with Prolights brand in the future.”
Canada - Upgrading its PA system to provide a refreshed and memorable experience for its fans and spectators, the Centre Bell, which is home to the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens and hosts a range of live events, turned to EAW for the project.
The Centre Bell is reconfigured, frequently, into one of six different seating formats - ranging from a 2,000-seat amphitheatre to a 21,000-seat full-capacity NHL arena. EAW was chosen by way of a competitive bidding process commissioned by Jesse Leveillé, A1 tech at the Centre Bell.
The EAW system was able to meet the wide range of applications and audio challenges at the venue and includes Anna loudspeakers and Otto subwoofers from the ADAPTive line, along with MKD1096 Loudspeakers and UXA4410 amplifiers. The EAW system, now fully implemented, provides the essential power and flexibility the venue needs as it is traditionally one of the busiest arenas in North America.
Leveillé’s introduction to EAW’s new ADAPTive series was during a sold-out concert at the Centre Bell for Tom Petty’s 40th Anniversary tour in 2017. “EAW was brought in for the show and the legendary FOH Engineer Robert Scoville was mixing,” says Leveillé. “Scoville is a master behind the console and what we were hearing was absolutely fantastic. The EAW kit was really impressive, especially in terms of its steering capabilities, sound quality and coverage. We knew it would be a great fit for us.”
Once the Leveillé-led project committee, which included design and consulting firm Trizart Alliance, selected EAW, the system
Greece - German DJ Boris Brejcha appeared at the reopened.Cavo Paradiso club on the island of Mykonos earlier this month, with a dynamic lightshow provided by Kiriakos Dimitriadis.
Because of the pandemic, the club had to follow strict social distancing protocols. Temperatures were taken before anyone could enter, the number of visitors was limited, and patrons could not mingle between tables, at the DJ booth, or on the outdoor dancefloor.
Without the crowds, and with no one dancing, the vibe at this normally jubilant club could have seemed flat. Dimitriadis did his part to prevent this from happening. With human movement absent from the dance floor, he made sure to provide a “dance of light” with his full-throttle four-universe, 75-fixture show that he ran on his ChamSys MagicQ PC Wing with an Extra Wing.
Dimitriadis arranged some of the fixtures in his rig on five totems behind the DJ booth, spacing them out to preserve the sea view. Other fixtures were positioned on overhead hang points as well as on each side of the booth. This allowed him to hit the DJ and the widely separated tables on what would normally be the dancefloor with an immersive web of light from every direction.
To convey “the energy of motion” through the movement of his light, he created a relentless flow of pixel mapped chase effects on his 10 color bars. Dimitriadis, who used a Resolume Arena Video Server, credits his MagicQ PC Wing with helping him achieve these compelling looks.
“The pixel mapping server and my MagicQ were invaluable,” he said. “I
UK - Described as an immersive, socially-distanced sound installation, Blindness is a new adaptation of Jose Saramago’s novel which recently re-opened London’s Donmar Warehouse. The production is one of the first to be staged post lockdown and White Light was called upon to supply the lighting equipment.
Adapted by Olivier Award-winning Simon Stephens, Blindness tells the story of when a contagious disease spreads through a city and renders its victims instantly blind. The production has no performers onstage. Instead, audience members are seated 2m apart across the Donmar stage and wear headphones through which they hear the story’s narration, provided by Juliette Stevenson.
The lighting designer is Jessica Hung Han Yun, who comments: “This project is, unsurprisingly, unlike anything I’ve ever worked on before. My role was to help create an environment where the listeners feel the story is happening around them and that they’re full immersed in the action. This is a piece told through sound and visuals and the sound designers, Ben and Max Ringham, have created this amazing soundscape using binaural technology.
“For many audience members, it will be the first time they’ve experienced something like this and we wanted to ensure we took them on a genuinely captivating journey in which they were completely immersed.”
Jessica had to work closely with both the sound designers and set designer Lizzie Clachan in order to bring this world to life. She explains: “The configuration Lizzie came up with was genius. It ma
New Zealand - To enhance its new facility with improved sound for worship services and other events, Tauranga Elim Church selected a Harman Professional audio solution that includes JBL Professional loudspeakers and Crown amplification.
Among Elim Church’s several locations throughout New Zealand and other countries, Tauranga Elim recently moved to a new facility. A move that was nearly two years in the making, the new location is much larger than the previous building and includes an auditorium that is able to accommodate 550 people.
Wanting to offer guests and attendees an engaging experience with great acoustics to support the live modern contemporary music, along with crystal-clear speech intelligibility, Tauranga Elim required a premium sound system that delivers consistent tones at all volume levels with smooth, even coverage across the entire facility.
“As a church, we were blessed to have the opportunity to develop the shell of an industrial building into an awesome place of worship that speaks to the flavour and character of our people,” said Sean Verwey, audio/visual coordinator at Tauranga Elim. “For the audio system in our auditorium, our requirements were simple; we wanted a system that sounded great, was punchy yet smooth through the dynamic range of a service, suited our style of music, covered the wide space evenly and overcame the challenging acoustics of the venue.”
After experimenting with various speakers from different manufacturers, Tauranga Elim outfitted the auditorium with two JBL CBT1000 line array column lo
USA - iHeartMedia, the USA’s largest radio station owner, called on Verge Aero’s drone show technology to add some high-flying, high-impact visuals to local station Q102’s broadcast announcement of its 102 Grand in the Sand competition in Philadelphia.
Amid 2020’s pandemic restrictions, 102 Grand in the Sand switched from a physical treasure hunt to a virtual one, with lucky listeners winning prizes worth $102,000 dollars. To ensure maximum engagement for Q102’s announcement of the competition, local drone show innovator Verge Aero delivered the attention-grabbing aerial imagery. Although the show was flown in central Philadelphia, it was not pre-announced to limit social gathering.
Flying high above the Philadelphia Museum of Art – the steps of which are known to movie lovers everywhere from Sylvester Stallone’s 1976 film Rocky – the 11-minute drone show was synchronized with the music soundtrack and live announcements broadcast on Q102.
Verge Aero’s fleet of 130 drones created a colourful, choreographed performance, featuring the logos of iHeartMedia, Q102 and the competition sponsors, plus support for the Philadelphia Flyers ice hockey team, the Flyers’ crazy-eyed mascot Gritty, and of course, Rocky himself, gloves raised in celebration, accompanied by Eye of the Tiger on Q102.
This was the latest in a string of projects in which Verge Aero’s drone technology, custom-developed for the requirements of entertainment production, has proved a perfect tool for reinforcing branding and sponsorship
USA - “The client had a secondary guest-house on his property, and he wanted to turn the single room into a miniature bar/nightclub so he reached out to us at Blue Haze Entertainment with this idea, and we immediately got started on putting together a design concept,” explained Nikolai Beyla, designer and manager of the installation for Blue Haze Entertainment.
The club has a video wall 8m wide covering two of the walls, composed of Chauvet Video F3 panels, as well as mirrors everywhere and large glass patio doors that open to a view of the mountains. The video wall and the various lighting fixtures reflect off all the mirrored and glass surfaces, giving the feeling of being in a much larger space with even more lighting.
Fifteen wood panels are attached to the ceiling, each containing a section of Firefly FloppyFlex LED Neon. These panels create a massive, 91m long geometric pattern on the ceiling, scattered through which are dozens of recessed Gantom RGBW wash fixtures.
Firefly FloppyFlex LED Neon comprises a range of green-friendly, safe, low voltage, DIY, easy to install, lineal long-life lighting systems that can be simply bent and cut to whatever your design requires, for both indoors and out. “We utilised just over 91m of the RGBW FloppyFlex on the ceiling, arranged into a large geometric pattern, driven by 12 ProPlex Din Rail FloppyDrives.” said Nikolai.
“Each section of the FloppyFlex is mounted onto stained plywood panels that were attached to the ceiling on-site at various heights, giving the entire geometric pattern a thr
UK - The Royal Society, Carlton House in London is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence and home to over 1,600 of the world’s most revered scientists. Its aim is to recognise, promote and support excellence in the field of science.
With regular meetings held between Council members, important committee discussions and the hiring of space within the building for external clients, audio quality is paramount across the Society. So, when the need came to upgrade the existing system, The Royal Society selected a company that reflected its own reputation and global recognition for excellence, choosing Shure Microflex Advance MXA910 (MXA) and Microflex Complete Wireless (MXCW).
Three rooms were chosen for the upgrade, with the MXCW system installed in the Council room and the MXA910 system within the conference/boardroom and the main 300-seat lecture theatre, the Welcome Trust Lecture Hall.
Tasked with overseeing the project, Liam Helm, AV services manager, The Royal Society, explained what was initially required from the systems:
“The MXCW system was needed primarily for audio capture in the Council room, particularly when remote participants join by VC or phone. It has a fixed oval table and had previously used fixed microphones for Voice Lift to help with members who needed assisted hearing. The MXCW replaced the older system, with a view to using the system in other rooms if necessary.
“The roving system fulfils a need where we often have external clients requesting push-to-talk microphones - we frequently hired them
UK - Originally dating back to 1623, the present First Bangor Presbyterian Church in Northern Ireland is an example of a traditional, early-Victorian Presbyterian meeting house.
When Rea Sound, who are based nearby, were first contacted by church manager George Monaghan, they were surprised both by the high level of organisation, how specific the church was with its requirement, and how realistic it was with the large budget that would be needed to achieve this.
“In addition to a new sound system they wanted full AV and lighting as well,” stated Rea Sound project manager, Roger McMullan.
In view of the dimensions of the 700-seat facility - with a balcony, and pulpit set in a semi-circle - a Martin Audio CDD system was specified using their unique Coaxial Differential Dispersion design. This met the requirement for a distributed sound system.
“The client wanted absolute clarity at every seat. Previously, they had speakers everywhere, but they simply didn’t work.” And this needed to be ripped out.
One of five companies approached, Rea Sound responded successfully to a high-budget tender that included HD cameras, projection screens, 40” x 60” LCD Sony panels and all control equipment for picture-in-picture and live streaming.
With regard to the sound, McMullan says, “No-one else could show what the equipment would achieve. I explained that the Martin Audio CDD we were proposing would guarantee speech clarity, cater for a live band and provide full intelligibility in every seat. In the end we never needed to conduct a d
Canada - The tastes and inviting aromas of panzerotti, scaccia, farinata di ceci (and of course, pizza), have been a favourite part of Italian Week for Québécois for over a quarter of a century. This year, COVID-19 restrictions prevented festival-goers from shouldering their way through the bustling streets of Montreal’s Little Italy section and savouring this epicurean experience. But they were able to enjoy the music, art, fashion and culture of the city’s large (over 250,000) Italian-Canadian community anyway, thanks to the popular festival’s decision to move to a livestream format.
Taking place in the ornate Leonardo da Vinci Theatre, the week-long series of 60-minute programmes featured Moda Sotteo Le Stelle (fashion under the stars) as well as a variety of performances, including music from genres ranging from pop and folk, to jazz and opera. Adding elegance and style to the online programmes was a sleek and supple lighting design anchored by Chauvet Professional Maverick and COLORado fixtures supplied by LSM Ambiocreateurs.
Lighting designer Gil Perron called upon the Maverick MK3 Profile to support the wide range of performances during the week-long event, while also accentuating the architectural features of the venue with its intricately inlayed walls, Romanesque arches, and marble tiles.
Hanging his Maverick MK3 Profile fixtures on a grid over the stage for many of the performances, Perron highlighted individual artists with crisp tightly-focused beams that separated them from their background and endowed them a greater pre