Hungary - The Magdolna Ruzsa Band recently played two concerts at the Papp László Budapest Sportarena through a Martin Audio MLA PA, supplied by their Hungarian partner, BG Event.
Magdolna ‘Magdi’ Rúzsa herself won the title of Megasztár (Megastar), Hungary's nationwide talent search, back in 2006, and now she was filling the 12,500-capacity venue for two consecutive nights, supported by a classic five-piece rock band line-up.
To ensure sound was broadcast evenly to all corners of the venue BG Event used a total of 46 MLA cabinets, and four MLD Downfill enclosures as main PA and side-hangs. They also provided monitors.
But this doesn’t tell the full story. In achieving this exceptional coverage BG Event’s Balázs Szentiványi notes the inherent challenges faced. "This is a difficult venue compared to an average arena in Europe due to its larger size,” he explained. “It measures 120m across by just around 80m deep. Moreover it ends in smooth flat vertical concrete surface and a huge glass sided room for the follow spots. There is a significant slap back with delay coming from there - and there is also a VIP section et the end of the venue high up above last seats.”
He said many production companies had come to grief at this venue over the years. “However, we have had several occasions in recent years when we have been able to demonstrate just what MLA is capable of - including Sir Tom Jones, Sting and Slayer, to name a few. In fact our technical team is excited every time we go into the Papp László Budapest Sportar
USA - The Directors Guild of America recently completed a renovation of its flagship motion picture exhibition space at the DGA Theatre in Los Angeles.
Guided by a Guild committee of six leading filmmakers, the renewal project has moved the 600-seat theatre to the forefront of cinema technology with installation of custom-built Dolby Vision laser projection and a Dolby Atmos immersive sound system encompassing more than 70 Meyer Sound cinema loudspeakers.
To translate their creative concepts into design specifics, the Guild committee engaged the noted Gensler architectural firm. In turn, Gensler assigned the critical role of AV specification and engineering to Tom Schindler, senior vice-president at the San Francisco-based Salter consulting firm.
According to Schindler, from the outset the committee had insisted on the absolute highest level of audio reproduction. “We first measured the acoustics of the room, but this element was well done with the original design. Background noise and reverberation both were well within standards. So the critical factor came down to loudspeaker selection.”
Working in consultation with Dolby engineers Jose Castellon and Gary Meissner, Schindler drafted a comprehensive performance specification with options for different loudspeaker manufacturers.
Drawing on their unique perspectives as filmmakers, the Guild committee members insisted on a live audition in order to make a final decision. “When the speaker system decision was going to be made, we decided that, no, we’re not going to decide this ju
USA - Eric Cathcart begins the design process by forming an idea for a distinct look in his head. Then he goes to his rental company contacts, does his best to describe his vision down to the smallest detail, and asks which fixtures in their inventory can help him achieve it.
This sums up what happened late last year when Cathcart envisioned expanding the look of his show to better reflect the free-flowing sound of Silversun Pickups. Understanding Cathcart’s inspiration as they did, his contacts at Upstaging recommended the COLORband PiX from CHAUVET DJ.
“I have been working with Silversun off and on since 2016,” said Cathcart, owner of Bigtime Lighting Design. “The album cycle started June of 2019 with a very minimal floor package, consisting of strobes and small movers. For the new year, I wanted to create a wall of light to close the gap between the floor package and the local production. Silversun’s music has a lot of dynamics with a lot of rhythmic underlying synth that I wanted to capture with the use of LED pixels.”
This goal led Cathcart to the COLORband PiX. “Given what I wanted to accomplish, I went straight to this fixture,” he said. “We took off the trunnions, and replaced them with eye bolts. Then we added in a few bits of aircraft cable, half-couplers, as well as some carabiners and straps - and presto, we had a wall of light.”
Cathcart arranged 28 COLORband PiX fixtures in seven columns of equal height. Pixel mapping the fixtures, each of which have 12 cells, he was able to create a constant stream of unique
Japan - With competitive sport now returning ‘behind closed doors’ in several countries, a key problem is how to recreate the experience of passionate supporters, both for sporting participants and those cheering them on. To address this, two of Japan’s top professional football clubs recently helped Yamaha to trial its Remote Cheerer powered by SoundUD system at the 50,000-seat Shizuoka Stadium ECOPA.
The passion of a noisy crowd is an essential part of many sports, from team games like football, rugby and cricket, to racquet sports and all forms of racing. For the foreseeable future, returning sports will need to be played without supporters present. So, in May, Yamaha collaborated with the Júbilo Iwata and Shimizu S-Pulse football clubs to field test the new system in one of Japan's largest stadiums.
Remote Cheerer powered by SoundUD allows fans following a game remotely - via TV, radio or live stream - to have their cheers, clapping and other sounds of support broadcast at the venue. By tapping buttons on a smartphone application, their chosen sound is delivered via speakers placed around the pitch, court or course, with fans able to choose the part of the venue where their audio is delivered from.
For this first test, the system’s usability was tested by placing 58 speaker units around Shizuoka Stadium, with testers in multiple remote locations outside the stadium sending cheers, applause, booing, club chants and more via the app.
It was the first time Remote Cheerer powered by SoundUD had been trialled at an outdoor venue. In a
USA - Over the last two months, Stage Right Lighting of Virginia Beach has been hosting a 6 Feet Together livestream concert series that has put some much needed joy and optimism into the live event community. Stage Right’s final livestream concert was held Saturday, 6 June and featured Celtic-inspired rock band The Fighting Jamesons.
The 6 Feet Together benefit concerts are streamed live from Stage Right Lighting's own studio and are decked out using their extensive inventory of lighting gear including Elation Proteus Rayzor 760 moving heads, Seven Batten 72 linear lights, ZW37 II moving heads, Cuepix 16IP matrix panels and Protron Eclypse multi-effect lights.
The 6 Feet Together benefit concerts raise money for out-of-work musicians and crews with donations going to Hampton Roads musicians and local stage technicians, as well as the technicians that make the 6 Feet Together series happen. Sponsorship opportunities are also available.
UK - Event production specialist Leisuretec UK, headed by Phil Jameson, has utilised imagination and resources to light up Wigan’s DW Stadium in a variety of vibrant colour combinations, showing support for the National Health Service (NHS), essential workers and various community initiatives as everyone pulls together to beat the coronavirus pandemic.
The venue is used by both Wigan Athletic football club and Wigan Warriors rugby league club, and Leisuretec UK is the preferred event technical supplier, which entails providing kit, services and crew for numerous corporate activities happening there – around two to three a week for most of the year.
With all that and other work on hold, the idea of firing up some lights started at the Leisuretec UK warehouse in support the UK’s weekly Thursday night Clap For Carers action which Phil illuminated with their 12 x Robe Pointes.
It is located in a mixed industrial / residential area, and, to his surprise, a bunch of the neighbours noticed the lighting and started coming out into their back gardens to get a better look, cheering him on!
That positive reaction made Phil think about taking the Pointes down to the stadium – which is a local landmark and a great source of pride in the area. Initially, he proposed a pilot session to venue manager Andy Birch to see how it would look.
The first week, the 12 Pointes were positioned on the roof of the stadium’s retail area and blasted beams into the sky which looked spectacular.
The second week they took the lights inside the stadium
USA - When the Coeur d’Alene casino, hotel and resort in Worley, Idaho, refurbished its technical facilities, Alcons Audio pro-ribbon systems were chosen.
Established in 1993, Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel is a premium hotel and resort with a casino, spa, golf club, a large live events space and additional, more intimate entertainment lounges. The first phase of a major upgrade covered the main live performance space, which included an enlarged stage, new bleacher seating at the back of the venue and radically updated technical infrastructure.
“Casinos like Coeur d’Alene attract international performing artists and the owners wanted to set themselves apart from other venues. They wanted a high end system that would meet rider specifications and be something that engineers were excited to mix on,” says Alcons Audio North American sales manager David Rahn.
“Versatility and great sound was important for the reputation of the casino. We have a wide variety of guests, so looking great and sounding great was key,” says Norbie Seres of the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel A/V department.
Coeur d’Alene’s owners consulted a venue in Las Vegas which had recently installed an Alcons LR18 compact pro-ribbon line array. Impressed with the reports of its audio quality and fidelity at high SPLs, after a demonstration, they chose a Front of House system comprising 18 LR18 and six BF362i mkII high output subwoofers, with a stage monitoring system of VR8 compact versatile monitors, VR12/60 mid-size versatile monitors and BF151 mkII co
Australia - Northern Beaches Christian School (NBCS) In Sydney, Australia, has recently completed an AV upgrade of its key performance and worship spaces, anchored on Allen & Heath’s dLive mixing system.
The school’s Marina Pryor Centre for the Performing Arts (MPC) and CITY indoor / outdoor meeting space each have a capacity of 800 and play host to an ever-changing programme of student assemblies, worship services, musicals, concerts and celebrations.
Alan Schutz, the school’s general manager, explains the decision to update: “The MPC systems were designed in 2009 and the CITY systems in 2012. Technology has forged ahead and some of our needs have changed since that time. The age of some components was apparent in the difficulty of operation. There were major differences between the MPC and CITY infrastructure and gear and the complex systems required significant manoeuvring and setup times.
“For NBCS, what is unchanged is the usage for diverse live music, playback and speech. We required a long-term cost-effective solution that continues to be inspiring and ultra-flexible. Given students are users of the systems, all components have to be super user-friendly.”
NBCS turned to production and installation specialist, Production by Design (PxD), to help specify a flexible AV solution that met all its requirements. PxD Project Manager, Chad Keating recommended the dLive system, installing DM32 MixRacks in both venues, fitted with Dante cards for integration with a Dante network carrying audio and video throughout the school.
USA - The concept was key to everyone behind Keith Urban’s Nashville drive-in concert on 14 May, not just for the Vanderbilt University Hospital medical heroes, in whose honour the event was held, but also for the team that managed to create an immersive stage setting for the one-hour show on short notice.
“The paramount thing about this gig for Keith and everyone else was being socially distant and as safe as possible,” said Brent Maxon, Urban’s lighting director. “Our goal was to involve the fewest people possible in setup, while still putting together a quality show for this very important audience of special guests.”
Maxon and the rest of the team began working on a plan to achieve this goal only five days before the surprise show was scheduled to begin. They had no precedent to draw ideas from, since this was the first drive-in theatre concert by a major artist in the USA.
“I was contacted by Chuck Hull, our tour manager, telling me that Keith wanted to get a ‘guerilla style’ show together to honour the hospital workers,” said Maxon. “We didn’t have much time, so Randy Gardner, our stage manager, and I headed over to Premier Global Productions and talked to Geddy (Anthony Kordyjaka) about securing a flatbed trailer for our stage, a generator, and a few lights to get things going. It was a one stop shop for us, which was super helpful, given that we had so little time.”
With time short, space on the flatbed trailer/stage limited, and crew-size restricted by social distancing, the team needed lighting fixtures that
Australia - Lighting designer Brenton Slattery from Scene Change Brisbane chose Astera AX1 and Titan Tube wireless battery-powered LED fixtures to create a memorable light sculpture and high-impact messaging for the 2020 Anzac Day commemorations.
The sign spelt out ‘LEST WE FORGET’ in bold, bright, positive letters and was highly visible on the waterside lawn at Howard Smith Wharfs in the Queensland state capital.
Brenton is based at the Howard Smith Wharfs multi-venue site comprising a series of regenerated – and now heritage-listed – riverfront buildings on the Brisbane River, overlooked by Story Bridge which was constructed around the same time, between 1934 and 1940.
He took up his post in February after three years of freelancing, and now he and his team coordinate technical requirements for Scene Change Brisbane’s diverse events schedule that include conferences, presentations, awards shows, weddings, and private parties.
Scene Change has an in-house inventory of sound, lighting and audio kit including the 48 x Astera AX1s which were used for this installation.
The additional seven Astera LED fixtures needed to make up the lettering were Titan Tubes supplied by Astera’s Australian distributor, the ULA Group.
Astera sales have accelerated since the ULA Group was appointed the distributor at the start of 2019, and Brenton observes that they are specified on a lot of shows, which is why Scene Change made the AX1 investment.
“I love working with Astera, the lights are super versatile and come with such a rang
Israel - A star-studded line of music stars and artists performed during a protest concert in Charles Clore Park, Tel Aviv, titled Behind The Scenes: An Assembly of Solidarity to draw attention to the plight of freelancers, backstage technicians and all the zero-hours contract workers in the Israeli event industry whose livelihoods have been decimated as the music and live event industry has been paused in the fight to control COVID-19.
This solidarity rally was initiated and produced by Tali Yaacobi Events Production and backed by Inbar and Marius Nacht – an Israeli entrepreneur, social activist, and philanthropist – who made a generous donation to all the crew working on the show.
The lighting and audio were supplied by Argaman Systems – including a large Robe moving light rig which was designed by Cochavi & Klein and operated by two of Israel’s best-known lighting professional, Eran Klein (of Cochavi & Klein) and Ronen Najar.
When Eli Cochavi (CEO of Cochavi & Klein) was asked by Tali Yacobi to join the production, he assembled the design team, with Eran Klein as head of design and Omer Israeli as lighting designer. They instantly started sparking ideas and enjoying a great synergy as if a single day had not passed since they were separated by the COVID-19 lockdown!
Stated Eran, “Our industry was the first to shut down in late February and will be the last to come back, and that includes anything related to ‘culture’. With complete silence from the government department of sport and culture, we feel strongl
USA - Roger Sharp is proud of his region’s music tradition. His upstate New York stomping grounds have nurtured a wealth of talent in virtually every genre, from Lana Del Ray, the Goo Goo Dolls, and Ani Di Franco to Moe, Rick James, Lou Gramm, 10,000 Maniacs and Chuck Mangione.
The owner of High Peaks Event Production, Sharp has always entertained the idea of putting on a summer festival honouring this local tradition, even starting a Facebook page dedicated to this mission. But keeping up with the demands of his growing business prevented him from getting around to realizing this dream. He finally found the time though after the COVID-19 lockdown put all events on hold.
With his event business halted, Sharp built a lockdown-safe recording studio and stage in his warehouse, and launched a weekly Sunday night livestream, NY Rock N Roots Festival to highlight local talent.
“Since we can no longer do mass gatherings, we’re focusing on another way of reaching people,” says Sharp. “This isn’t a money-making deal, it’s a way to keep ourselves and bands busy, while providing our community with an entertainment option, all while following strict safety standards.”
Looking to give viewers something as close as possible to an engaging festival experience, Sharp and his wife LD Christine Sharp along with their associates Bryan Madarasz and Corey Hayward decided to support each musical act with a full production light show that reflected the music. “Our goal is to create excitement around the bands without distracting from them,
USA - Stephen F. Austin State University, located on a forested campus in Nacogdoches, Texas, is home to more than more than 13,000 students enrolled in approximately 80 undergraduate majors. In total, the university offers 120 areas of study across its six academic colleges: business, education, fine arts, forestry and agriculture, sciences and mathematics, and liberal and applied arts.
Among the many points of pride within Stephen F. Austin are its music and sound recording technology programme and its school of music’s jazz bands - a pair that has found a harmonious relationship with one another thanks to a powerful Dante network.
“The sound recording programme was started in 2010 with the idea of focusing heavily on the technology that was transforming that space,” says James F. Adams, assistant professor of music and director of sound recording technology at the university. “I was recruited out of Los Angeles in 2016 with the goal of bringing that programme to greater heights. For the past four years I have been lucky to do that, and a big part of it has been thanks to Audinate’s Dante.”
Dante allows audio, control, and all other data to coexist effectively on the same network. Adams said he introduced Dante in 2018 after reconnecting with studios he knew back in Los Angeles.
“Everyone I spoke to was recommending it,” Adams continues. “And when we did the conversion, I saw why it had become a de facto technology in the studio world. I loved it immediately.”
Over the past two years, Adams has integrated Dante acr
France - Over the course of a three-year hiatus, the newly-renamed La Halle ô Grains theatre in Bayeux, Normandy, reopened to the public at the end of 2019 after a thorough redesign to address the latest expectations in terms of reception, accessibility, aesthetics, visibility, and comfort.
This update was undertaken in order to offer the best possible experience to spectators, and a more versatile technical palette for incoming artists and crews. The new hall now boasts a complete APG loudspeaker system installed by the ISA Group, an integrating partner of the APG network, enabling the theatre’s management to count on high-precision, high-quality acoustics.
“The specifications were drawn up around the programming and shows, 80% of which are theatrical,” comments Romain Motte, general manager of La Halle ô Grains for the past five years. “We were looking for precise audio quality, particularly at the high frequencies for a totally faithful reproduction of the voices. We also wanted to differentiate La Halle ô Grains from other theatres in the region and opted for a sound system that we felt was superior.”
The theatre's tender was won by the ISA Group, which was able to put forward a bid with a high-performance, technologically innovative and financially competitive sound system. The theatre was no stranger to the APG brand, thanks to local event provider Music Light, a member of the APG network of service provider partners in France and a regular user of APG for several years. Motte and the theatre's management were able to testify to t
Germany - DRIVE.IN Concerts of Monheim has come up with a solution that allows music fans of the area to attend a live concert again.
DRIVE.IN Concerts Monheim is a series of events in which the crowd park their cars in front of the stage just like at a drive-in movie. Running through June, with a variety of live acts and DJs performing, the concert series features an impressive stage set-up that relies on Elation Professional and ADJ lighting fixtures.
The series kicked off in early May with a live performance by Cologne-based rock band Kasalla as part of their Et Jitt Car-Salla tour of drive-in concerts. Since then, most weekends have seen two or three concerts taking place at the outdoor site, featuring artists such as DJ Quicksilver, Da Hool, Moguai, TOPIC and The Disco Boys. Future performers are set to include electronic acts Fiasko and YouNotUs, as well as local folk band Klüngelköpp.
The festival-style lightshow, supplied by local AV production company LaserFrame, consists of Elation fixtures, alongside others from sister-brand ADJ. The on-stage wash moving head chosen for the rig is Elation’s compact Rayzor 360Z LED beam/wash moving effect with three 60W RGBW LEDs, 8 to 77-degree zoom and continuous pan and tilt rotation.
The front of the stage is lined with a combination of Elation Chorus Line 16 motorized pixel bars and Proteus Rayzor 760 IP65-rated wash fixtures that feature Elation’s proprietary SparkLED background sparkle illumination system. Finally, blinder duties are taken care of by Elation Cuepix Blinder WW2s. <
USA - The Ahava Festival held its inaugural event at the Woldenberg Riverfront Park in New Orleans, Louisiana in early March. With no admission fee, attendees were encouraged to take in the sounds, sights, and tastes and, if possible, to donate to 110 hard-working local charities.
The weather was beautiful, and the event raised over $100,000. Danley Sound Labs supported the Ahava Festival with loudspeakers, subwoofers, and multi-channel amplifiers for all of its three stages.
“The whole concept behind the Ahava Festival is based on sharing love and giving to the people in New Orleans who are in need,” explained Matt Dupuy, Ahava Festival technical director. Dupuy is a system designer and installation technician at local AV integration firm Assurance AV Solutions of Mandeville, Louisiana, as well as the FOH engineer for New Orleans’ party band favourite, Groovy 7 (who also played the main stage at Ahava). He coordinated with all of the different production companies and suppliers, including Danley, who came together to make the Ahava Festival a success.
Dupuy continued, “As an integrator, Danley is always our first suggestion to clients whenever possible. Groovy 7’s main system is two SM80s and two TH118s. Danley has a level of clarity and a consistency in coverage that no one else can touch.”
Ivan Beaver, chief engineer at Danley Sound Labs drove down from Georgia to assist with the event and, more importantly, to chat with the many local live sound engineers who used the system. “Here’s the deal,” Beaver said. “What Danle
Spain - Occupying a downtown location just a stone’s throw from the famous Passeig de Gracia, the Khalijia Lounge & Restaurant is Barcelona’s newest nightspot with an oriental twist.
Offering everything from Lebanese and Moroccan-inspired food to exotic cocktails coupled with live music, Khalijia aims to cater for a discerning clientele that appreciates quality at every level. Barcelona-based AV systems integration specialists, Silence Electroacústica S.L., were commissioned to design and install the audio, lighting and DMX control systems throughout the new venue. Silence opted for a KV2 Audio system based on the EX Series of active loudspeakers.
From an audio perspective, the system needed to handle a wide spectrum of requirements, from extremely high quality, low level music reproduction for the lunchtime and early evening crowds going right through to high-energy live performances.
Silence’s owner and CEO, Jose Luis Rosales comments: “Our passion for quality and the extraordinary pleasure that comes from listening to KV2 Audio systems made it a very easy choice,” declares Rosales. “As a company, our watchwords are quality, durability and performance – we would never recommend any product or any brand that does not fulfil these three criteria. Fortunately, KV2 meets them all.
“We went for EX Series components firstly because of their extremely high-quality live music reproduction capacity and secondly their extraordinary sensitivity when it comes to low volume music reproduction - this is really important for creating t
USA - New York City may be over a thousand miles away, but local company, JEM Productions, created the look and feel of Manhattan jazz club at its warehouse- turned-studio in Wausau, WI, as it hosted a livestream fundraising show by the Sara Rifleman Trio.
The performance by the Wisconsin-based musicians was the latest in a series of livestreamed shows emanating from the lighting and audio company’s makeshift studio. It was the smoothest production to date, according to Joe Ellis, president of JEM Productions.
“We’ve been doing these for weeks now, ever since the Covid-19 shutdown started,” said Ellis. “I think we’re getting familiar with this process! Our lighting and production crew did a really great job creating the look of a classic New York jazz club on the set. Sometimes, the simpler the look, the harder you have to dig into the art of design. This was a great exercise for us. With jazz, the musicians really carry the dynamic and we fill a supportive role.”
Helping Ellis and his team fill that role was a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue R2X Spot, Rogue R2 Wash, STRIKE 4 and COLORado 1 Solo fixtures. Washing the livestream set in deep purples and cool blues, which played off well against brick wall images on video panels, the JEM team created the smoky vibe of underground jazz haunt.
Shadows of the musicians and their instruments created by low angled side lighting added to the depth of the scene, while columns of warm white light from the STRIKE 4 fixtures endowed it with a sense of urban excitement. “Our goal h
USA - Chicago-based Charles Ford and his business partner Brandon Clark from Creative Live Control have developed a professional streaming production service - lighting, audio, cameras and broadcast - that meets all the social distancing requirements, can be installed and run by the two of them.
While the challenges of producing special high impact lighting for community lighting projects like Chicago Unite at Night have been stimulating and fun, Charles and Brandon also need to generate some business as all their touring work has currently been cancelled, so they hit on the idea of the professional live streaming service.
The living room of Charles’ condo has been transformed into a pop-up studio space and after a couple of test runs, there is a queue of local artists lined up to visit and use the facilities.
Brandon completed all the networking, internet and broadcast elements and lighting - using six Robe Pointe multipurpose moving lights from locally-based rental company JRLX, while Charles programmed and created visual content.
“Basically, it was as much kit as we knew we could safely run in a set up like this with limited power. Pointes offer a massive amount of options and in a small space we only use a fraction of their intensity, but their presence makes a huge difference in the quality and look of the stream.”
During the broadcasts, Brandon runs the streaming and lighting from one laptop and a grandMA2 light and Charles takes care of audio on another laptop, cutting the cameras via an M-BOX media server and a gran
USA - Bending Lite Productions’ Erik Mahowald has enjoyed a long tour of duty with American electronic musician and DJ Dillon Francis, noted for popularising the ‘Moombahton’ genre - a fusion of house music combined with reggaeton.
Last summer, Erik conceived a lighting design for Coachella 2019 based around 60 GLP JDC1 hybrid strobes, but with the intention of bringing it to major headline events following the reveal.
Working alongside creative content director and VJ, Mario Adato; production manager, Nathan Rebolledo and tour manager, Mike Finn, Mahowald programmed the lighting to animate a set that combined complementary surround elements with creating big moments of drama to produce a high-octane party vibe for audiences to become immersed in.
In the centre of this was Dillon Francis himself, performing from an elevated booth, housing his CDJ setup. The production team also implemented several other automated performing platforms for his trademark piñata to rise from behind him during his song Candy.
Using heavy back lighting to create powerful looks Erik Mahowald projected a combination of low light and full blast looks depending on genre. “Dillon plays a large library of genres in 90 minutes and it is important that we take each one of those and curate a mood for each,” he says. “We break this up into around 15-minute sections, and within each we come up with a world for the content to live in.
“The lighting is important because it brings a huge amount of visual energy to the room. We used the JDC1 in abundance sole
Albania - Headquartered in Tirana, ASLV (Albanian Sound, Lighting and Video) has operated nationwide since 2013 and, with its team provides sound, lighting, video, staging and structures, as well as creative technical solutions for concerts, festivals, theatre and opera productions, key corporate events, expos and more throughout the country. Specialist services also include consultation and design.
Recently appointed as exclusive Outline distributor for Albania, following its corporate policy of ensuring its clients equipment that is technically the best for perfectly meeting their requirements, ASLV has also taken delivery of an Outline Superfly Silver audio package, one of the three turnkey set-ups conceived in recent months by the Italian audio manufacturer.
Superfly loudspeaker systems have a true three-way (HF-MF-LF) design, but the dual high-efficiency 10” transducers in the LF section are powered individually, significantly enhancing low-frequency performance. The midrange and HF components (dual 8” drivers and a single 3” compression driver) are the same as Outline’s GTO series.
Outline’s product manager and business developer Fernando Rey Méndez explains, “The three configurations ensure the best ratio between loudspeaker and amplifier quantity, thus becoming excellent investments with a fast economic return. They also guarantee an optimal combination between different kits of other Outline product families, such as GTO kits and Mantas 28 kits.”
ASLV’s Superfly Silver configuration is suitable for sound reinforcement
UK - Seventy-five years after the end of the Second World War in Europe, London’s Royal Albert Hall (RAH) hosted We’ll Meet Again for VE Day 75 with Katherine Jenkins to honour those who gave their lives so that subsequent generations could come to know peace and freedom. Event production supplier, SFL provided the audio and video production for the live performance. The event was organised by TBI Media and Snappin’ Turtle Productions, both long-standing clients of SFL.
With the world overcast by the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic, the SSAFA armed forces charity and The Mayor of London joined together with the noted London venue, brought the nation together by offering an authentic musical experience.
For the first time since The Blitz, the RAH stood empty for an event, but its true life force - the audience - were able to enjoy the performance of Welsh mezzo soprano artist Katherine Jenkins and other musicians in the comfort of their own homes. Another ‘first’ was the way the stage was presented, with the empty auditorium as its backdrop.
“Showing the completely empty auditorium, void of its 5,000-plus audience, sent a really powerful and emotive message to the online audience,” says Craig Lawrence, video & projects director at SFL. “Safety and social distancing were our utmost priority in the planning process.”
SFL deployed a complete video and audio solution, which included a full camera solution for a superb six-camera shoot, using a camera jib and multiple Osprey peds to capture smooth, constant movement. One
UK - GoboPlus.com continues to operate in these difficult times with reduced staff numbers, but remains determined to support to its customers with a continued service of both custom and stock gobos. In recent weeks the company has seen a huge increase in gobos celebrating the NHS. Goboplus.com responded by designing a range of NHS gobos for its website and has seen this move mushroom into an online campaign which is steadily growing week by week.
“We have received orders from across the UK from many customers who have been expressing their support on Thursday nights as they #clapforcarers in celebration of the commitment and strength being made by all front-line staff,” says GoboPlus.com’s Paul de Ville. “We have been sharing these pictures on social media in the hope that the message will spread far and wide to show how proud we are of all the hard-work going on across the UK, and the incredible risk that all front-line staff are taking at these times. We are overwhelmed by the number of photos and comments we have received and would like to thank all our customers for sharing these images with us, and for their ongoing support in these hard times.”
The NHS gobos have been spotted in a wide variety of locations across the country from churches and leisure centres to hotels and private houses. PA Entertainments lit up no less than five football clubs in South Yorkshire, including that of premiere league Sheffield United, while Maestra Group illuminated The Dorchester hotel in London where they also congratulated Captain Tom on his 10
USA - Just as it does at outdoor festivals, nature can work with or against the LD who lights a drive-in concert. Matt Collier got a taste of both on Saturday, 23 May when he lit a two-hour show by jam band Spafford at the Digital Drive-In outside Phoenix.
The brilliant orange sunset that filtered through the feathered clouds at the start of the show served up one of those breath-taking spectacles that happen on special evenings this time of year in the dessert. Along with this gentle touch, however, nature also showed its harsher side with some strong southwest winds.
Drawing on his extensive experience touring the festival circuit with Spafford and other bands, Collier adroitly handled whatever Mother Nature dished out, incorporating the colourful sky into his design for the drive-in show, while also coming up with a substitute for the fog he planned to use before the wind rendered that impossible.
Helping him accomplish this feat was a collection of Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Spot and Rogue R2 Wash fixtures supplied by Hardwired Productions. “Just doing a show outside in Arizona in the early summer is a beautiful experience,” says Collier. “The sunset was stunning that night, so I tried to integrate some more unique colours to match the vibe of the natural setting with some cool tones from the MK2s and R2 Washes.”
As for not being able to use the fog as planned, Collier relied on the performance features of the Maverick fixtures to texturize the 40’ by 10’ stage. “Unexpected things always pop up outdoors,” he said.