UK - Earlier this month, Creative Technology (CT) worked closely alongside long-standing client, George P. Johnson (GPJ), to professionally pre-record and edit a series of videos for their client, to later be streamed as part of two online events.
The initial brief evolved over the weeks leading up to the event and as the vision was developed and realised, the final brief was to provide polished, edited, and high-quality pre-recorded presentations and panel sessions. These were then uploaded and streamed to the event platforms being used for the two events they were involved in.
The project was run and managed from Scotland by CT’s senior project manager, Chris Greetham-Ellis, using remote producer and project manager tools which enabled him to clearly see, hear, and direct the event without the need to be physically on-site. In addition to this, CT also provided a project engineer, audio lead, and comms lead who were based on-site to bring all the technical elements of the event together.
To support this event, CT utilised a number of existing and new technologies and facilities, including newly built remote production suite, The Bridge, based at CT’s headquarters in Gatwick.
All presenters were dialled in for this show from their homes or offices using the CT Home Studio system. There are two tiers to this set up which consists of either Quicklink’s Studio-in-a-box that can be shipped to presenter locations, or a software link that can be used in a browser on a presenter’s laptop to utilise their webcam and headset. The Studio-in-a-
UK - From the outside, the complex of buildings at 21-25 Bonville Road, Brislington, Bristol, doesn’t look markedly different than it did in 2019. Inside, however, a quiet revolution is underway. The building’s owner, Pytch, which until recently was known as SXS Events, has been busily reinventing itself since the COVID-19 lockdown brought its thriving live event business to a sudden and complete halt.
Almost immediately after the pandemic hit, the company began looking for ways to repurpose its extensive inventory of equipment, as well as the vast pool of skills, experience and knowledge possessed by its team members.
First came Intelligo, an all-in-one digital platform that makes it easier for schools to implement online learning programmes. More recently, Pytch launched The Virtual Venue, a powerfully-equipped production space that, in only its first month, has produced a an array of livestreams, ranging from a planetarium show and feature films, to corporate training sessions and music performances.
“Our clients still needed to deliver their messages to their audiences, pandemic or not,” said company founder and managing director, Johnny Palmer. “We’ve never been ones to sit around and wait to be told what to do, so we built The Virtual Venue in record time.”
The response from the market also seems to be setting speed records. “We got income online super-fast,” said Palmer. “We now have a string of bookings that will keep us very busy through the end of the year.”
Described by Palmer as a “collision between l
The Netherlands - Singer/songwriter Danny Vera has been bringing his distinctive blend of Americana to enthusiastic Dutch audiences since the early 2000s. Following the success of hit single Roller Coaster, Vera and his band played a sold-out tour in late 2019 with a Yamaha Rivage PM7 digital mixing system.
The Rivage PM7 system was purchased in July 2019 by Chris Mertens, owner of Mertens-AVR, based in Eelde, near Groningen. Having started out as a young freelance engineer and worked his way up to management level, Chris set up and grew his business from renting warehouse space to owning its own large premises. Today he has built a company in which reliability and quality are central, based on three core values.
“For me, it has always been about investing in the best equipment, a proactive, committed way of working and delivering a perfect result,” says Chris. “We make sure the company is at the forefront of innovation and we are always looking for unique added value, instead of at general trends in the industry.”
Mertens AVR has a long history with Yamaha digital mixers. The company started out with the 02R, progressively upgrading through the years to the DM1000, M7CL and CL3/CL5.
“For our sound engineers, Yamaha consoles offer a lot more than just high quality output, easy workflow and interesting technical specs. They are the backbone of a production,” says Chris. “Every high end mixer brand has its own highlights and specifics, but with Yamaha you get the whole package: a multitool ready to take on every challenge a
USA - Christopher Robin, a production manager at Star Design Event Services of Morgantown, put together the stage for an Independence Day concert by Top 40 recording artists The Davisson Brothers.
Unlike the usual summer concerts, he’s worked on, which take place before large crowds at a park or music venue, this one happened in front of only a few fans in the parking lot of a motorcycle dealership. Most of the fans who saw this show viewed it on a large drive-in screen at a nearby park. Others who saw it through the social media platforms of the 18 country music stations that carried it in West Virginia.
“This was probably the first time we did a multi-site hybrid show that was ‘live’ before a small group of people and livestreamed over different formats,” said Robin. “Like everyone in an industry that is changing all around us, we are adapting to a new normal.”
Among the adaptations made by the Star Design team, was the positioning of the stage’s video wall, which was made of Chauvet Professional F2 Panels. Given the space available in the motorcycle dealership’s lot and the limitations created by the need to video the show for streaming, the team had to have a wall measuring three panels high by 10 wide, instead of the taller configurations it’s accustomed to.
The design team accommodated this restriction by positioning the wall to the right of the band. This not only fit the stage, it also provided an unobstructed view for fans and the cameras.
“Pikewood Creative provided us with all video content from their tra
USA - As the live entertainment industry looks for new ways to engage people in a post COVID-19 world, Bandit Lites, Moo TV and Clair Global joined forces to offer a safe and controlled venue to artists at the Steel Mill, Nashville, complete with a full production turnkey studio.
The full production studio includes a 60’ x 40’ stage area with a lighting rig comprised of over one hundred moving fixtures including the new Chauvet R2X LED washes, a grandMA2 Full console and hazer.
Bandit’s GoGo truss, under hung with GLP X4S, flank an LED video wall while each of the six eye-catching octagons are outfitted with eight Elation ACL360, eight Ayrton MagicDots and one Robe 600 wash. GLP X4 fixtures along the front truss offer key light while Claypaky Sharpys spread throughout the rig act as beam units.
The Steel Mill offers not only a stunning (and air conditioned) production space, but also a production office, green room with dressing areas, kitchen and private restrooms as well as overhead doors capable to drive into the room.
The turnkey package includes room rental with HVAC and power, access to above amenities, the Bandit Lites lighting rig, Moo TV video wall and camera system as well as a lighting tech lead, two additional lighting techs, one video director, one video engineer, four camera operators and one robotic camera operator. Clients will also save on load in and load out, as all the gear is already installed. Optional services are also available, including Clair Audio systems, livestream services, additional lighting and spots,
UK - Built for the Festival of Britain in 1951 and located on the south bank of London’s River Thames, Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre. It comprises the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery and has recently seen the installation of two MDG ATMe haze generators in its larger venues, the 2,700-seat Royal Festival Hall and the 916-seat Queen Elizabeth Hall.
“For some time we’d been looking to replace our aging haze machines which were noisy, rather temperamental, and notoriously bad at leaving an oil residue on surfaces,” says Roger Hennigan, Southbank Centre’s technical manager. “We’d looked at several alternatives in the past but none were able to better the old models - until MDG’s ATMe came along.
“ATMe has a much finer particulate so they leave no residue or slippery oil deposits, which is especially important when hosting bands and singers and the many dance productions we have here. ATMe produces a fine haze in rapid and substantial quantity, so one generator is enough to fill the Royal Festival Hall or the Queen Elizabeth Hall, each of which previously required two of our old units.”
Senior technician, Cressy Klaces, agrees and is especially impressed with the aesthetic of the MDG haze: “ATMe gives a beautiful quality of haze, much nicer than before. It is so light in the air that it is barely perceptible until you shine a light through it. It feels like it has been created to enhance the light and atmosphere rather than be overtly noticeable to people.
India - The Mayfair Lake Resort in Raipur enhanced its facilities by hiring Qubix Technologies to design and install a complete, Harman Professional AVLC (audio, video, lighting and control) solution.
Opened in 2019 and located amid lush greenery that overlooks the Jhangh Lake, the luxurious Mayfair Lake Resort offers lavish accommodations, banqueting and event space.
"Mayfair needed a multi-aspect, cross-category solution for their new property in Raipur. From audio and video over IP signal distribution, to lighting, microphones, mixers and speakers, we sourced products from Harman because of their complete solutions,” said Rhythm Arora of Qubix Technologies.
Qubix deployed an arsenal of Martin lighting fixtures, including 40 Martin Exterior Wash 200, 32 Exterior Wash 100 and six Exterior Wash 210 units. While the Exterior Wash lights provide reliable performance and durabality to withstand weather demands, Qubix Technologies lit up the indoor spaces with two RUSH MH5 Profile compact moving heads and 96 RUSH CS1200 Graze linear wash fixtures, which offer the resort flexibility to choose the exact look they need for certain areas. The lighting system also includes eight Martin DMX 5.3 Splitters to ensure peak operation and maintain proper DMX signal throughout the hotel.
Beyond the lighting displays, Qubix also equipped Mayfair with 12 JBL VRX932LAP two-way powered line array loudspeakers, while four VRX918SP powered flying subwoofers offer accurate low-frequency response.
Throughout the rest of the resort’s indoor spaces, Qubix inst
USA - When the MARC Theatre in Salt Lake City underwent a major renovation in 2012, converting it from an indoor sports facility at the Park City Municipal Athletic and Recreation Centre to a 564-seat high class movie theatre, it quickly established itself on the circuit of the world-famous annual Sundance Film Festival.
Co-founded by Robert Redford in 1981, in an attempt to draw more independent film makers to Utah, the Sundance Institute had formally renamed the original US Film Festival the Sundance Film Festival 10 years later, (reflecting Redford’s character in Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid).
A long-term member of the technical crew at Sundance, Dan Beedy took over as technical project manager in 2013, and in the last three years has focused on upgrading the event’s audio reproduction capabilities, noting how far audio was lagging behind the technological visual leap made by digital projection. This has resulted in the installation of a Martin Audio WPC scalable resolution line array, as the centrepiece of a 7.1 system.
“We realised that the sound systems hadn’t seen an upgrade since the 90’s,” he said. Although some had received Dolby Atmos fit-outs, the MARC, which hosts many prominent festival premieres, had been neglected.
“Sundance has always had a focus on presenting their films to a high standard so we needed to find partners to help bring the audio up to spec,” he reports. Enter production project manager, Ben VanDonkelaar, senior audio engineer at BlueWater Technologies, and Martin Audio’s North-eastern r
USA - Each year, WinShape Camps attracts over 30,000 students to its Christian-led summer camps across the U.S. but like most outdoor camps were forced to cancel in-person events this year due to the Covid pandemic.
In order to relieve the disappointment and give kids a fun and engaging experience, WinShape has been working with Stacked Hearts Productions to create an engaging virtual experience, ON, that brings the fun of summer camp directly into homes.
The virtual experience broadcasts live eight hours a day, five days a week from a gymnasium on the WinShape campus in Rome, Georgia. Peter Streiff, president of Stacked Hearts Productions, a full-service events and production firm based in Atlanta, has worked with WinShape Camps for a number of years. He and his crew have stayed busy through the five-week camp by broadcasting a morning show, an end-of-day show, worship segments, games and field activities, as well as Thursday night shows for K-6 and 7-12 graders complete with bands.
The segments are broadcast from three different sets – a performance set, host set and theme set – all purpose-built and housed within the gymnasium building. All three sets are lit using LED lighting from Elation Professional, along with other lighting, supplied to WinShape by Elite Multimedia of Nashville. Streiff and Stacked Heart Productions provided the primary set and lighting design for the three sets with a portion of the performance set design done by Scott Moore of Go Live Productions of Nashville.
Mike Marcario handles on-site lighting direction
USA - Digital signal processing specialist Xilica has announced a new hospitality industry installation with Carte Hotel, a boutique hotel nestled in the Little Italy section of San Diego.
J&E Pro Audio specified Xilica with the systems design, which called for a complete AV over IP infrastructure as part of the ground-up construction. While connected to the central IT infrastructure, J&E Pro Audio configured a dedicated LAN with managed network switches to separate all audio and video signals from standard IT traffic. The company selected the Xilica Solaro FR1 DSP to optimize quality and multi-channel performance over the network, while citing its modularity and seamless integration with Dante audio networking as other deciding factors.
“We ran our network on the hotel fibre infrastructure, with dedicated switches that run parallel to the hotel network,” said Jaire Lopez, president, J&E Pro Audio. “We programmed the Xilica Solaro FR1 to process, manage and transport audio across multiple public spaces, including a 16th floor rooftop bar, fourth-floor meeting rooms, a second-floor fitness centre, and a ground-floor restaurant and lobby to support background music.”
As Lopez explains, the Xilica Solaro FR1 manages a mix of analogue and digital signals that are ingested and routed across many spaces. This includes live music from the rooftop DJ booth, which injects analogue signals into the Solaro FR1 over Dante. In all, the redundant Xilica Solaro FR1 configuration manages 64 audio inputs and outputs, and optimizes audio quality b
New Zealand - Every year, Wellington’s Botanic Gardens is transformed into Gardens Magic featuring a free concert series with a mix of music from over 100 performers during 18 nights.
As the sun goes down, the Botanic Gardens transform into a wonderland of lights, with colourful installations and displays created by MJF Lighting.
This year, MJF Lighting deployed Firefly LED Festooning Lighting to add extra sparkle to the popular event.
“We did have some festoon lighting but it was the old school version so it was definitely time for an upgrade,” comments Blair McLaren, MJF’s Wellington operations manager. “Having festoon lighting with an outdoor rating plus LED technology makes all the difference.”
Blair added that an important factor when choosing Firefly LED Festoon was the fact that they didn’t have to lamp or de-lamp the strings of festoon which massively sped up install and bump out times.
The lighting designer for the event was Will Smith who comments, “The versatility Firefly offers is amazing,” he reports. “I can easily string it between two points knowing I won’t need to get a ladder to add bulbs, so you can add it to so many more places previously inaccessible. We had it set up with some splitters off the connectors we have which makes it a lot more versatile in terms of feeding power to the strings. We can send three strings off one centre point on the one power supply. That’s great for when you have limited power locations.”
For Gardens Magic, the Firefly LED Festooning was used in an area whe
France - Driving up from Paris on A4, one of the first things the visitor sees upon entering this ancient city of Reims is the Manège de Reims with its distinctive 16-sided polygon circus. Completed in 1867, the stone building is a bustling hub of cultural activity, serving the community by hosting theatrical performances, dance recitals, concerts and other events, including circuses, for which it was originally built.
Supporting the diverse mix of productions at the popular facility is a versatile lighting rig that features a collection of Chauvet Professional projectors supplied and installed by Avant-Scènes.
Working with Cédric Barbillat, lighting director of the Manège de Reims, who decided upon the specific fixtures, the Avant-Scènes team outfitted the 1,000-seat facility with 16 COLORado 2 Quad Zoom, six Maverick MK1 Spot, and 10 Maverick MK2 Wash units.
Although these projectors are intended to be moved around to meet the very varied needs of Manège de Reims, they are most often positioned on the circus’ grill to provide maximum coverage and flexibility.
“Now it is possible to create lighting plans with many more possibilities than traditional halogen projectors, with almost no constraints,” said Benjamin Labourot, director of Avant-Scènes. “The interesting part of this project was to find a product that could correspond to almost every possible configuration of a Circus installation, and yet be able to host all kinds of shows, such as music, theatre, modern and dance. Finding such an ‘all-purpose’ projector with fai
Austria - The new production of the award-winning musical theatre extravaganza Black Rider at the Theater Bielefeld in Wallern uses Pixera media server systems, 4K projectors and tracking technology for realising a unique stage experience.
Since its original premiere in the year 1990, The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets has managed to combine classical culture, postmodernism and a music soundtrack to entertain audiences around the globe.
Robert Wilson's artistic vision, coupled with the narrative skills of William S. Burroughs and the music of Tom Waits, laid the foundation for the enduring popularity of this avant-gardist work.
The Theater Bielefeld's latest production by Michael Heicks uses cutting edge AV technology that helps Sascha Vredenburg's evocative video content come to life on stage.
Within record time, the theatre developed its own health and safety plan as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding a number of innovative measures on top of government regulations, in order to make it possible for rehearsals to continue.
Some of these measures include an audio setup that allows for the Theater Bielefeld's own orchestra to play live music whilst being physically present in a different part of the premises, a few hundred meters away from the actual stage. On a smaller scale, changes to the pre-covid mode of operations also include individually allocated battery boxes to minimize the necessary physical contact between cast and technicians.
The play itself is loosely based on the German Freis
Australia - DiGiCo consoles are finding additional life in the world of serious live stream events. One such place is in Australia for The Cube, a premium live streaming event space which is gaining serious traction in the world of live DJ streaming.
The Cube can be compared to an entire festival stage, crammed into a compact streaming space. Its design is the combined effort of Melbourne AV retailer Concert Audio Visual, lighting and visuals specialists VizFx and Melbourne-based online radio station LESH FM.
A DiGiCo SD9, supplied by DiGiCo’s Australian distributor, Group Technologies, was chosen for mixing pre-broadcast audio, as well as handling the stage monitor mix, DJ Booth audio and Front of House mix.
Anthony Graziani, Concert AV’s sales manager and one of The Cube’s primary team members, says DiGiCo was the logical choice for the setup.
“The SD9 can accomplish a lot from such a compact format,” he says. “The routing options and onboard signal processing mean we have something in place that is well suited for supporting DJ performance audio but can just as easily handle mixing an entire band for the stream, or whatever else you can throw at it.”
The team’s in-house engineer, Oliver Coupe Sando, adds that the SD9 was chosen for its sonic transparency.
“When we stream, we’re looking to introduce as little tone shaping and colour to the sound as possible, so that we can translate what we’re hearing in the space, to people’s headphones and living rooms, with the maximum amount of clarity available t
UAE - AO Drones, specialist provider of drone light shows, recently played a key role in an unforgettable event to thank Dubai’s frontline workers for their heroic service during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conceived and produced by AO Drones’ producer, Marco Niedermeier, the event combined a stunning aerial display from AO Drones’ sophisticated drone fleet, plus a special message from emergency services vehicles arranged to spell ‘Thank You’, in both English and Arabic. The whole event was captured in a short film, shot in the style of a dramatic action movie, and shared widely on social media.
To realise the event, Niedermeier called on the help of friends from Dubai’s event production network, including Done Events, GTV Film Productions and Brand Dubai. Together they secured support from Government of Dubai and authorities including the Dubai Police Force, the Roads and Transport Authority, the Media Office and others. “Everybody was keen to be involved,” says Niedermeier. “We all wanted to say thank you.”
Dubai’s COVID-19 lockdown meant that all planning meetings were carried out via video conferencing platforms, and on-site operations were conducted in accordance with safe working guidelines.
The film of the event, which took place on 11 June, began with aerial shots of messages of support spelled out on Dubai landmarks including the Burj Khalifa, before following the emergency vehicles along the Sheikh Zayed Road – closed to public traffic for the occasion – to converge on the show site. The film culminated with spec
UK - The interactive installation, Scream the House Down by artist Marcus Lyall is going down well with the public around the world: London, New York, Hong Kong, Russia and beyond - so due to demand it has been extended it by a week, to 11 July (Saturday).
With social distancing still in place and tensions continuing to rise, London-based artist Marcus Lyall and not-for-profit arts organisation Illuminate Productions, have transformed a soon-to-be-demolished office block in London Bridge into an interactive public artwork.
In this new site-specific work, Lyall invites you to join a Zoom call where you can scream or otherwise vocalise your feelings. A monumental light installation instantly illuminates the building in response to your voice.
The louder and longer your outburst, the bigger the response from the building. The building interprets every voice and scream differently, to create a unique response for each guest. You can participate using any device that supports the Zoom app.
You can also submit short films of your scream via email at screams@screamthehousedown.com.
Screams will be played to the building each night and the results posted the next day on the Scream The House Down YouTube channel.
USA - Bandit Lites returned to the picturesque countryside of Blackberry Farm for Boards and Boats, where guests of the resort could spend a weekend partaking of wakeboard, wakesurfing and boating. In addition to tips and demonstrations from MasterCraft, the weekend concluded with a dinner and a concert featuring Americana artists Chatham Rabbits.
Bandit Lites supplied a lighting package comprised of Chauvet Freedom Pars, GLP X4 Atoms, and Gantom lights as well as the event’s staging complete with Edison bulbs, conjuring a mood of rural elegance.
“The Chauvet Freedom Pars were used to control the colour of the room environment itself by placing them along the walls of Bramble Hall,” explained Bandit Lites Nick Brown. “The GLP X4 Atoms were used as our front light, and the Gantoms served as a low backlight.”
Even with the fickle Tennessee weather of the Smoky Mountains, Bandit Lites’ team was prepared when the decision was made to move the concert indoors into Blackberry’s Bramble Hall. With its reclaimed wood walls and rustic beams, cupolas and fireplaces, Bandit kept the lighting focused on highlighting the natural elegance of the space, adding to the ambiance without distracting.
“The design direction for the event was simple ambience and minimalistic,” finished Brown. “There wasn't a huge need for over the top lighting.”
“Blackberry is all about excellence, and we always strive to deliver excellence in all aspects of production we provide,” said Bandit Lites general manager Giff Swart. “It is always a
Germany - Düsseldorf’s 240m high Rheinturm tower was the setting for a sky-high laser projection and light show in June to promote Deutsche Telekom’s extended 5G network. The telecommunications company worked with German event management agency DO IT! to realise the show, and they in turn commissioned AO Creative to help conceptualise, design, supply the fixtures and technology, and execute the display.
Overseen by AO Creative’s Marco Niedermeier in collaboration with JALD Jerry Appelt Licht Design and Beacon, the project brought together AO’s team of design and technical specialists based in Germany. The team included lighting designer Jerry Appelt, who created a detailed scheme to light the concrete Rheinturm in a beautiful wash of magenta - Deutsche Telekom’s brand colour. Alongside, Laserfabrik facilitated laser-projected branding on the ‘trunk’ of the tower.
Atop the circular crown of the building, AO’s high-performance Falcon searchlights were positioned in concentric rings to spread bright, controlled beams of white light out across Düsseldorf, symbolising the transmission of the 5G signal and visible from far across the city. The Falcons were positioned with twelve on the inner ring, and twenty-four on the outer ring.
Luminaires from SGM and Elation provided additional beam effects for viewers closer to the tower.
“We were thrilled to be a part of this impressive event that lit up Düsseldorf’s night sky,” says Niedermeier. “AO Creative has a long history of working with the DO IT! agency and long experience
Austria - A new exhibition by sound artist Bill Fontana entitled Primal Energies opened 1 July at Kunsthaus Graz. Occupying the museum’s vast ovoid dome Space 01 Gallery, Primal Energies pays homage to the future of renewable energy through a mesmerising mix of video imagery and evocative soundscapes that portray our planet’s expanding wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal resources.
While viewing images on the eight large screens, visitors are immersed in a blend of energy-related sounds reproduced by 64 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers. The impact of the installation is further enhanced by dynamic spatial sound movements created and automated using a beta version of Meyer Sound’s soon-to-be-released Spacemap Go technology.
Sounds and images for the work were recorded on location by Fontana with assistance from Scott George of London-based Autograph Sound. During this preparatory period, Fontana and George - both of whom have long association with Meyer Sound - were recruited to serve as beta testers of Spacemap Go.
A spatial sound design and mixing tool that leverages the processing power of the Galileo Galaxy Network Platform, Spacemap Go provides ‘an easy-to-use interface for multi-channel panning using one or more iPads connected to systems comprising multiple Galaxy processors’.
“We used Spacemap Go extensively on Primal Energies,” says Fontana. “It’s the ‘digital brain’ behind all that is happening with dynamic spatialisation of sound. In that realm, it lets me do everything I did before usin
Russia - Croatian-born DJ Solomun has been a regular visitor to Russia since early on in his career. Synonymous with contemporary electronic music, and attracting vast throngs of fans, his most recent performances have been at the popular Adrenaline Stadium in Moscow, where SETUP Studio developed and implemented a hi-tech lighting rig, with GLP fixtures as the centrepiece.
SETUP Studio is constantly searching for new creative concepts connecting sound and light. The team has been collaborating with Solomun for several years and has implemented many different setups for the DJ. The last two performances at the Adrenaline Stadium were not only notable in the scenic and lighting design worlds, but also became undisputed favourites of the studio itself.
Back in 2018, they had the idea of implementing kinetic winches, but because of the high cost and sophisticated design, this idea was abandoned. In the course of the following discussions, Stepan Novikov, one of the co-founders of the studio, suggested making a long LED-screen plate and placing it strategically so that it is in the direct line of the dance floor. In addition, it was decided to place the plate within a frame consisting of GLP impression X4 Bar 20 fixtures, in order to significantly expand the range of artistic possibilities.
“According to our idea, the same video content would be broadcast both on the screen and via the pixel array of GLP X4 Bars. This enabled us to obtain a very unusual effect: video content from the screen edges ‘fell’ downwards through narrow light rays,” expla
USA - South Haven Baptist Church in Springfield, Tennessee, has been the community centre for a steadily growing congregation since 1986. It expanded its campus in 1997 to include a high school and a gym and then expanded again in 2005 to include an elementary school and a daycare facility.
After its congregation could no longer comfortably fit in its sanctuary, the church moved services to the high school gym for a number of years. Centerline AV of Hendersonville designed and installed a Danley Sound Labs sound reinforcement system for the gym, which made the most of an imperfect situation.
With an eye to the future, South Haven Baptist Church recently expanded its campus yet again, adding a 1000-seat sanctuary. And again, they called in Centerline AV to design and install a sound reinforcement system centred on a stereo pair of Danley J1-94 Jericho Horns – the same boxes used in some of the world’s largest sports arenas.
“South Haven Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church that holds services that are more on the traditional end of the spectrum,” explained Scott Oliver, Centerline AV principal. “Where other Baptist churches would have a praise band, they have a full orchestra, a choir, and a grand piano. Their new sanctuary is a big improvement over the gym that they had been using. The room is a rectangle that is wider than it is deep. Of course, there’s always an element of geometrical challenge when you try to put a speaker – which emits sound as a cone – in a rectangular room, but Danley’s excellent pattern control ma
USA - Whether it was at a stop on one of their many appearances on The Warped Tour, or a festival appearance, The Word Alive have always managed to forge a direct laser-like connection with crowds. Waves of fans invariably push up against the barricades at the band’s shows - and the metalcore band send the magnetic force right back at them.
It is impossible to replicate this connectivity completely in all of its power in a livestream show, but Chris Brodman, Cody Lisle and their creative team came close when the band performed a pay-for-view show at LIT Live on 20 June. Helping them accomplish this feat was a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures that included the Maverick MK 2 Spot, Rogue R2 Wash, Rogue R1 Wash, and STRIKE P38, as well as the Vesuvio II fogger.
“We had no physical crowd in the room, so our big challenge was to recreate the sense of intimacy you get at a live TWA show in a studio setting,” said Brodman. “Intimate camera shots were very important. Our team chose the angles very carefully to give the viewer the feeling of being very close to the band. I was very happy with how we pulled this off.”
Enhancing the warm familiar tone of the camera angles was the backlighting and redolent colour washes used by lighting designer James Simpson and technical director Cullen Noon. Rows of Maverick MK2 Spot units on the upstage deck and truss grid were used to back light band members from different angles, giving them a more rounded, personalized look in the online broadcast.
The Rogue Wash fixtures were flown at different
Taiwan - Described in 2003 by Time magazine as the ‘New King of Asian Pop’, Jay Chou has turned his signature sound - which fuses traditional instruments and styles with R&B or rock - into a global phenomenon. In late 2019, Chou’s record label JVR Music promoted the spectacular Carnival world tour to celebrate the artist’s 20th year in the entertainment industry. A Yamaha RivagePM10 digital mixing system was chosen to mix the performers’ monitors.
Sound engineer Mr Luo began his career at an audio rental company when, as he says, “in Taiwan there were no such thing as monitor engineers”. As the number of higher profile artists began to increase, the demand for professional monitor engineers rose. Despite retiring from the industry after a decade, his reputation meant invitations from artists tempted him to become involved with the JVR Music team and Jay Chou’s regular monitor engineer.
“The Carnival shows were very demanding for the hardware. There were often more than 10 musicians on stage with a wide range of musical instruments, plus dancers. The musicians all wanted studio-quality sound, which can be very challenging for me as the monitor engineer. Plus, of course, we couldn’t have any equipment problems, the stability of the system was extremely important,” says Mr Luo.
The show generated around 80 input channels, with splitters sending the signals to front of house and monitors. Mr Luo specified a Yamaha Rivage PM10 digital mixing system, comprising two DSP-R10 engines in mirror mode, for full DSP redundancy,
UK - Having cancelled their live London Executive Summit due to COVID-19, coaching organisation Vistage sought an innovative and fully digital solution enabling them to deliver this flagship event. To help bring the new digital format to life, technical solutions specialist White Light (WL) utilised its SmartStage studio in Wimbledon.
Formed over 60 years ago and comprising of 24,000 members from SMEs around the globe, Vistage annually connects more than 200 CEOs, MDs and senior business leaders for their live summit. Following cancellation of the London event, Vistage required an advanced technological solution to deliver a series of expert-led coaching workshops to their audience, conducted safely online via a professional platform.
Hiring WL’s SmartStage facility enabled the live presenters to access a safely isolated location and work together from a social distance, while connecting with other remote presenters participating from the USA.
James Thurlow, WL’s venue technical manager, explains: “We embedded the stream within a purpose-built microsite, which not only assisted in branding the event but also enabled other functionality such as peer-to-peer chat and the submission of audience questions. We relayed these questions back to presenters in real-time, giving the feeling of 'live interaction'.
“The website also gave us the ability to display event insights such as information on the agenda, keynote speakers and sponsors, as well as linking through to the client's social media channels. We added further variety to the transmis