USA - In last few years, the people of Dublin, GA on the banks of the Oconee River built its annual gala around the theme of ‘Into the Future’.
Playing on this concept, John Berret of Quest Sound & Productions energised the event with celestial space exploration images that would have been right at home in a Star Wars style movie. Aiding him in this endeavour was a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue and COLORado fixtures.
“We wanted to create the look of a sci-fi movie that makes people feel excited about the future,” said Berret, who ran his lights with a ChamSys PC Wing and Extra Wing. “This was the kind of mood that the client wanted to convey, with deeply saturated colors combined in ways that suggested deep space.”
Drawing on the independently controlled eight-facet prism of the eight Rogue R1 Beam fixtures in his rig, Berret created the impression of laser beams shooting across the room from multiple directions. This, combined with the spacey orbital patterns on the stage’s backdrop, which were washed in saturated colours by the eight COLORado Tri IP and 16 Chauvet DJ EZLink Par-Q4 fixtures in his rig, set a distinct intergalactic tone in the room.
Also adding to the shooting star effect were the tight and intensely bright beams from two Rogue R3 Spot fixtures. Positioned on risers stage left and stage right, the two 300W LED fixtures were used to create bright crossing patterns of light beams.
Berret added a compelling dramatic element with help from a pair of Chauvet DJ Geyser RGB atmospherics.
Japan - To ensure detailed sound with balanced, even coverage throughout Brex Arena Utsunomiya, Hibino Corporation deployed a networked audio solution from JBL Professional.
Constructed in 1979, Brex Arena is Utsunomiya’s premier stadium and gymnasium. Home to the Utsunomiya Brex, a Japanese professional basketball team on the B.League, Brex Arena features two gyms with courts for basketball, table tennis, volleyball and badminton, as well as a dedicated space for practicing martial arts.
To provide additional sound coverage for professional basketball games, Brex Arena was renting temporary loudspeakers to supplement their aging sound system for each event. Deciding it would be more cost-effective and significantly improve sound quality to upgrade the system, Brex Arena hired AV integrators Hibino Corporation to install a modern JBL Professional networked audio solution.
“The previous sound system was as old as the arena itself, and was not delivering the desired performance,” said the salesperson for Hibino Corporation. “In the arena, people could feel the volume differences depending on their location, which made it impossible to achieve balanced sound quality throughout the stadium. This left much to be desired by both the stadium officials and the fans. Ultimately, we decided that the JBL VRX series speakers would be best suited for the task, due to their powerful and reliable sound output.”
Hibino Corporation equipped Brex Arena with JBL VRX900-Series Constant Curvature line array loudspeakers. To ensure balanced, even coverag
Norway - In 2019, 35 years after their debut album Hunting High and Low made them global stars, Norwegian pop act A-ha set off on a world tour (see LSi December 2019 for a full production report), playing the album in its entirety alongside more of the band’s hits. In February, the 2020 leg of the tour kicked off at the Nordlandshallen in Bodø, where an Alcons Audio LR18 pro-ribbon compact mid-size line-array impressed fans as well as the band’s live sound engineer.
Gøran Aamodt - who promotes Bodø’s annual Parkenfestivalen and other events in the north Norway town - wanted an audio system and supplier that he could trust would deliver at the top level.
Gøran has a close working relationship with audio production company Lydteamet AS and - with the same team and PA used with great success when Sting played the Nordlandshallen in 2017, as well as for a wide range of international artists at Parkenfestivalen every year - Gøran knew that Lydteamet’s Alcons LR18 system would deliver the quality that he demanded.
“We use Lydteamet on all our productions, because they always focus on the quality of the equipment and the personnel they use. We depend on this when we have visits from world class artists and need to deliver a world class production. We know that the Lydteamet team always does its utmost, the feedback from artists and crew substantiates this,” he says.
For the A
Russia - Feduk, a young Russian hip-hop singer, recently wowed fans at Moscow’s Adrenaline Stadium, presenting his new concert programme, One Love, in support of his new album. Feduk prepared a number of surprises, including a completely new visual show that was developed and implemented by Alexey Zhuravlev and Anton Orlov, lighting designers from gst.moscow, who took full advantage of the creative potential of GLP’s award-winning LED fixtures.
The creative team had been invited onto the project by Dmitry Yakovlevsky, the concert producer. Right from the outset all three men had reached a common understanding of the visual component, and the main concept of the show. They merely had to further refine their concept in order to implement it on stage.
The centrepiece of the scenography consisted of three vertical screens, visually extended by the powerful array of lighting above.
Anton Orlov explains the underlying concept: “We developed a shape to flow from bottom to top, in order to frame the stage and thus create a single media space.”
To create the arraying of light on stage, he turned to GLP’s popular JDC1 hybrid strobes, and impression X4 Bar 20s.
“I haven’t been working in the industry for too long, and I first saw the GLP equipment live about a year ago,” Anton admits. “I was really impressed by the possibilities and brightness of the JDC1. Today, I turn to fixtures by GLP in more than half the ideas and concepts I develop for events.”
At Feduk’s show, six vertical columns were decorated with 48
UK - The Silverstone Experience is an immersive visitor attraction at the famous motorsport circuit in Northamptonshire. Developed over a seven year period at a cost of £20m, the Experience opened its doors to the public in 2019 and features a host of artefacts that help to tell the exciting tale of motor sport at Silverstone.
Located inside a former World War Two aircraft hangar, the attraction welcomes a wide range of visitors, from school parties to lifelong motor sport enthusiasts, taking them on an experiential, educational journey.
The Ultimate Lap is one of the 10 elements that comprise the Experience tour and delivers an exhilarating end to a visitor’s day. Key to the success of this special-effects cinema is the audio provision, which complements startling visuals to immerse the occupants of its forty-five seats in the recreation of some of the circuit’s most dramatic moments.
Project leaders Figment Productions originated the concept and integrators Fusion LX of Ripon, specialists in museum and heritage AV, were appointed to carry out the installation. This was to comprise a 5.1 surround reinforcement in a partial-dome space, as well as stereo reproduction in a pre-event auditorium space.
Fusion LX consulted with Mark Bromfield from Polar’s Integrated Solutions division over the design and choice of systems to cover the two distinct settings. Visitors to the Ultimate Lap enter an ante-room to stand for an initial flat-screen video presentation, before moving into the striking dome structure, in which they are seated for an i
UK - Celebrating a decade of terrifying people worldwide, Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson’s cult horror phenomenon Ghost Stories returned to the Lyric in Hammersmith last April (see LSi March for more on the audio aspects of the production). On a nationwide tour following a triumphal return to the West End in October, the new production took advantage of advances in theatrical technology to increase the tension to almost unbearable levels. Sound designer, Nick Manning remained faithful to his original choice of EM Acoustics, but this time with the addition of EM’s newest product, the Reference Series R10.
“Sound is such a critical part of how stories are told,” reflects Manning. “The use of sound to create and build tension - or indeed dispel it - is important to the success of most theatrical productions, but for Ghost Stories it is absolutely fundamental. I never even thought about specifying anything other than EM Acoustics – it did a great job the first time around, and I had new toys to play with this time, so for me it could only get better.”
The main surround system is largely based on the EMS Series - as indeed it was on the first production - in particular the EMS-61s. “They sound amazing and are incredibly versatile,” explains Manning. We’re also using the incredible i-12 infra sub which is quite simply an amazing loudspeaker. Ed Kinsella at EM helped design wh
USA - Vheissu was the fourth of California quartet Thrice’s 10 albums to date. It not only redefined the band with its deeply introspective, brooding sound, but also influenced an entire style of alt rock music. On the US tour celebrating the 15th anniversary of the seminal LP, which concluded 29 February with a show at The Novo in Los Angeles, Lenny Sasso reflected the mood of Vheissu in all its complexity with an evocative lightshow marked by beguiling silhouettes and unexpected angles of backlighting.
Helping him create these looks was a versatile touring rig that featured Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures supplied by Squeek Lights. Positioning five of the 440W LED fixtures across the deck behind the band, he used them to light the artists from ground level angles, suggestive of the “underworld” tones of the ancient Vheissu legend.
“When we started to discuss lighting for this tour, we wanted to change the vibe up a bit, because of the unique nature of Vheissu,” said Sasso. “Riley Breckenridge, the band’s drummer, had posed the idea of having lights come up from the deck. I basically ran with this concept, because it fit the mood of the show, which features the all the songs from the Vheissu album, plus three B-side numbers and four additional tunes. My vision was to capture these dark and moody moments by keeping the lighting minimalistic and not have too much rain down on the band from above.”
With one Maverick MK2 Spot behind each band member, except the drummer, who was positioned between t
Portugal - Beauty and cosmetics giant, L’Oréal, has established L’Oréal Academies across the world to train hairdressers in the latest techniques and trends, and on how to utilise the latest L’Oréal products.
One of the most recent academies is situated in the vibrant Portuguese capital of Lisbon. Thanks to integration specialists, Garrett Audiovisuais, the L’Oréal Academy, Lisbon, has become the group’s first digital academy, and the first to deploy Genelec loudspeakers throughout their training rooms.
“Previously L’Oréal used to rent in equipment for all of their events,” explains Garrett’s Carlos Melo who was closely involved in the project. “However, after discussions with us, they decided that it would be better to have their own in-house solution rather than having to rely on external AV companies, as it would be cheaper in the long term and more convenient. They also knew that they could rely on us for support whenever necessary. We recommended Genelec as it delivers everything they required: excellent intelligibility when using microphones, extremely high quality low level ambient sound, and can still blow people away when the DJ comes in.”
There are four rooms in total over two floors which are used largely for training but also for parties and other events. They can operate independently or combined in any configuration. The ground floor and first floor control rooms communicate so that L’Oréal can even host a single event across the two floors if necessary – since all audio and video can be streamed live a
UK - In early March leading artists came together to put on a benefit concert at London’s The O2 Arena to raise vital funds for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
Sir Tom Jones, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Tyler and Van Morrison were amongst a formidable line up that took to the stage performing their greatest hits, raising close to one million pounds for The Royal Marsden’s new treatment and research facility; the Oak Cancer Centre in Sutton, Surrey. To complement the star-studded benefit, video rental company Universal Pixels (UP) deployed Brompton Technology’s LED processing power to provide a visually stunning show.
Tasked with realising the project, UP chose Brompton's Tessera SX40 processor together with Tessera XD data distribution units to achieve the ambitious concept. UP provided 152.5m2 of INFiLED ER5 LED tiles, which comprised five upstage totem LED screens, the largest being 2.5m wide by 8m high, and two IMAG LED screens, each measuring 7.5m wide by 4.5m high.
Three Brompton 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors and three Tessera XD units were used to run all the panels, with two disguise gx 2c servers providing 4K video playback and seamless content delivery to all the screens.
“We used one SX40 and one XD unit for the central upstage totems, as we needed the 4K canvas size,” explains UP’s project manager, Mark Strange. “This came directly from the disguise servers.
“The Brompton interface is so intuitive,” he continues. “When sending the SX40s out with our crew I have the confidence that everything is going to work, a
The Netherlands - Audio consultants and system designers, Noizboyz, chose TiMax SoundHub to add an immersive extra dimension to the live sound profile of Dutch Indie band, Kensington, for three recent sell-out gigs at Amsterdam’s 17,000-capacity Ziggo Dome. Noizboyz have been Kensington’s designers for four years, working with them in the Ziggo Dome and Johan Cruijf ArenA.
Following a demonstration with Phlippo Productions for client, Friendly Fire as well as Kensington, Noizboyz Pieter Doms and Thomas Van Hoepen, together with Nathan Leenders from Phlippo (Friendly Fire’s preferred supplier) were given ‘carte blanche’ to create an audio system for the gigs.
Showcasing the dramatic difference in aural effect between stereo output and an immersive spatial mix set up, created as an A/B (stereo mix/immersive mix) macro built on a Digico desk, Noizboyz convinced Kensington’s FOH engineer Ilja Traas and Kensington’s production manager Marcel Buurman of the benefits for audiences.
However, as Pieter Doms points out, “Carte blanche is never carte blanche”. Audio system set up is dictated by the needs of the staging and the band and not vice versa. So, following negotiation, Noizboyz won agreement for four loudspeaker arrays across the stage, with outer arrays 32m apart and inner arrays, nine.
Noizboyz had put their trust in the flexibility and adaptability of TiMax which handles this typical sort of production constraint easily and effectively. Pieter, claims, “Without TiMax this just wouldn’t have been possible. I could try but
USA - First created in 1943, New York Fashion Week (NYFW) is a semi-annual gathering of renowned and emerging fashion designers seeking to unveil their latest collections to buyers and media members from around the world.
As a featured participant in the event, the Australian clothing brand Zimmermann, led by designer Nicky Zimmermann, enlisted the assistance of fashion event agency Shades of Grey to create a guest experience that would leave a lasting impression.
Held at SIR Stage37, the event production team worked with the multi-discipline design firm Enlumen who created a lighting design using Robe Lighting PATT 2013 and picklePATT luminaires supplied by 4Wall.
“The original design brief was to create a hanging sculpture of light in a gold room that enhanced and warmed the tones of the treated walls and custom carpet,” began Shawn Kaufman, Enlumen. “Over the years, Zimmermann has really looked to evolve their show and create dynamic thoughtful designs that are cohesive environments, so we didn’t want to create something that was derivative of what had been done in the past.
“We’ve often thought of using the PATT 2013 and picklePATT fixtures for other projects and we realized they would be perfect for this design due to the warmth of the light and their form-factor that would create a unique visual experience to enhance the show.”
Moving forward to realize the experiential lighting design for the February 2020 fashion showcase, Kaufman and the Enlumen team began by visualising the layout of the space and where the fixtur
UK - Bristol’s oldest gallery, the Royal West of England Academy (RWA), sought the help of GDS to bring their Africa State of Mind exhibition to life for their ‘After Hours’ event. The exhibition featured photography from all over the African continent so the RWA wanted to use vibrant lighting to evoke the beauty of a Saharan sunset.
Having already worked with the Bristol-based lighting manufacturer to transform their gallery and workshop studio spaces in 2019, the RWA were keen to see the bespoke lighting design GDS could create to enhance both their external and internal spaces during the event.
In order to achieve the rich colour palette that the RWA desired over such a large-scale area, GDS chose FOS, Brick and X-Brick fixtures from Italian lighting manufacturer DTS to create a carefully-crafted, even wash of light over the entire façade of the impressive building. A GDS brand partner since last year, DTS products deliver consistent power, and the output of their Brick fixture is so impressive, it could be seen even in broad daylight.
To mirror the natural beauty of sundown on the Sahara, GDS programmed five minute-long colour sequences of vivid red, amber and orange into rich purple and deep indigo, using gradients to create a subtle ambience.
Internally, GDS used uplighters and 2 DTS Alchemy 5’s to light up the RWA’s famous dome. The 6-colour light engine and soft edged beam of the Alchemy 5 helped to create a soft gradient of light, that bathed the entrance hall and grand staircase in amber-white, burnt-orange, blue an
USA - The award-winning Blue Man Group has taken to the road, and is taking immersive sound along with it for the first time. The group’s current North American Tour officially opened this past September at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, after developing the production at Fayetteville, Arkansas’ Walton Arts Centre. The Pantages show marked the first of more than 50 cities across the continent that will ultimately welcome the tour in its first season.
Showgoers will also experience L-ISA, L-Acoustics’ immersive-sound technology which Blue Man Group North American Tour sound designer Tony Pittsley says literally puts the audience onstage with the show’s three ironically comic and palpably percussive performers. “With L-ISA, the sounds of the show can move around the stage and the room and appear to come from where they’re supposed to originate from, which engages the audience way more deeply,” he explains. “You don’t feel as though you’re sitting there watching a show as much as you’re feeling enveloped by the experience.”
With L-ISA, audio elements are now literal objects that can seamlessly move throughout the performance space along with the performers and the narrative. The L-ISA Controller provides key parameters for each object: Pan (horizontal location), Elevation (vertical location), Width (the size of an object), and Distance (perceived proximity and reverberation), and L-ISA can manage up to 96 objects and up to 64 physical speaker outputs at a sample rate of 96 kHz.
To bring this to life, L-ISA Immers
UK - Supporting the Keifer Sutherland Band’s performance on their recently completed tour was an evocative Dan Williams designed lightshow that featured Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Wash fixtures. Like the rest of the fixtures and towers in the touring rig, the RGBW moving wash units were supplied by Colour Sound Experiment.
Positioned on six towers that spanned the upstage deck, the Rogue R2 Wash fixtures provided stunning back washes that accentuated Sutherland and his bandmates on stage, in addition to creating mood-evoking aerial effects.
“Before I sat down and did some renders, I met with Kiefer’s music manager to learn about his vision for the show,” says Williams, owner of DanDoesLights. “Understandably, given his vast experience as an actor, Kiefer wanted a theatrical look, which I thought fit the driving concept behind this tour very well. There is a very distinct and powerful storytelling element to his music and we wanted to reflect this in our design.”
Williams punctuated his design with multiple dramatic moments, downlighting Sutherland and the other band members at different points in the show. “There was the view that these are all very talented musicians, so we should concentrate on lighting them as well as Kiefer,” he says. “Toward this end, we highlighted lots of the band members solos with spots at points, without much no else going on. With some of the slower songs, we would start with small spots on band members and then the looks would ‘grow’ with the song.”
To accentuate the dramatic effect on
Germany - The Federal Joint Committee health agency has chosen Shure Microflex Complete for its Berlin headquarters.
Tasked with implementing health reform bills and directives across Germany, the Federal Joint Committee required a comprehensive and flexible conferencing solution for a range of large and small meeting and conference spaces at its new headquarters, which is located near Berlin’s Tiergarten.
The contract for the installation was put out to public tender and awarded to Berlin-based AV professionals PIK AG, with German touch technology and digital signage specialist MMT Network providing engineering plus planning services and support.
“In the process of moving to our new headquarters, we had to merge the conference facilities from the two buildings we used previously. We decided to migrate from older analogue technology to a new digital system,” explained Thomas Gutekunst, head of the Federal Joint Committee’s administrative department.
PIK AG selected a Shure Microflex Complete digital conference system, installing a total of 141 MXC615 table-top conferencing units that can be selected for operation in chairperson mode, delegate mode, or shared mode if two delegates are using the same unit.
Sixteen DIS-CCU control units act as a central system node, managing and powering the conference units, while providing additional channels for interpreters if needed.
“In our small and mid-sized conference rooms, we wanted to move away from projector technology and focus instead on using displays,” reveals Gutekunst.
Norway - Originally built in 1816 and located in the Norwegian city of Trondheim, Trøndelag Teater is the oldest theatre in Scandinavia in continuous use. In September 1997, it underwent refurbishment and re-opened as part of a modern complex incorporating the old auditorium, supplemented by four new stages of various shapes and sizes.
More recently, the decision was made to update the theatre’s incumbent console and invest in a desk that would provide it with a more flexible, powerful system, choosing a DiGiCo Quantum7T with dual Quantum engines.
Siril Gaare, Trøndelag’s head of sound, has worked at the theatre since 1998, first on a freelance basis, then making it her full-time home in 2008, before taking up her current role in 2011.
“In 2018 we knew it was time to change our main stage console,” she says. “We were looking for a more mobile and flexible system. We wanted to be able to sit in the auditorium, but still be part of the team during rehearsals. We also missed having an App that would allow us to go on stage to do certain settings from there.”
Gaare and her team arrange for demos of several consoles, all of which, she says, had more or less what they were looking for, but chose the Q7T, purchased through DiGiCo’s Norwegian distributor, Scandec Systemer AS, for its theatre software and all the opportunities that presented them.
“The redundancy with the two engines was important, as was the feeling of solid hardware in the console,” she continues. “The power of Q7T was very important and running a show
France - On 26 February at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, an immersive symphonic concert was given by French violinist Renaud Capuçon and 40 musicians. Virtual Harmony took place under a 300sq.m dome with projection mapping. The immersive experience was powered by the Modulo Kinetic media server by Modulo Pi, and its new module for automatic blending and warping used as a preview.
The concert put the spotlight on 3Dvarius, the first 3D printed violin by Dassault Systèmes. Attended by 3,000 people surrounding the dome, the musical and visual experience was also streamed live on YouTube.
Event company Mvision oversaw the technical set-up. To project onto the entire dome surface, 12 video-projectors of 30,000 lumens were used. The video-projectors were fed by Modulo Kinetic, the fully integrated media server by Modulo Pi. To seamlessly project media on the dome screen, Modulo Kinetic’s new auto-calibration module was used as a preview. Thanks to the auto-calibration system, the soft edge blending and warping was automatically calculated and implemented by Modulo Kinetic for the 12 video-projectors installed, resulting in a seamless image across the 360° dome.
Renaud Gindre, technical director, worked on the video-projection beforehand: “In the showroom of Mvision, I could install a scale model of the dome to make all necessary tests and make sure the video-projection would work fine.” On site, the A/V team had just one night available to handle the video-projection. “This is a project I wouldn’t have done without Modulo Kinetic and th
USA - In a city renowned worldwide for its music, live production companies need something extra special to highlight their status. Based in Memphis, Tennessee, ProductionOne has achieved this with the purchase of two Alcons Audio pro-ribbon systems. As company owner Kiley Butler says, “We love hearing people rave about how beautiful music sounds through them. The power with 90% less distortion than other systems creates a clarity unparalleled in professional audio.”
Having invested in both LR18 compact mid-size line-array and LR16 compact line array systems, the LR18 was quickly put to work on shows by multiple Grammy winner Alison Krauss. “It felt like we were in a studio with 3,000 other people,” says Kiley.
ProductionOne was founded almost 20 years ago, working on youth and non-profit events. The company has grown steadily into a full-service production company, which serves a wide range of events in the live concert, touring and corporate markets. In 2019, the management team wanted to invest in a major new sound reinforcement system, initially looking at conventional line arrays. But a trip to the annual InfoComm show in Orlando changed everything.
“Being audio nerds, we knew of Alcons Audio and we were drawn to learning about the engineering behind the pro-ribbon drivers,” says Kiley. “We looked at all the major brands and, until InfoComm, we were thinking of growing the business with other systems. But after visiting the Alcons listening room, any idea of using traditional compression drivers was ruined.”
He continues,
Germany - Serving as the backdrop to an Emotional Moments performance of ABBA tribute act, ABBA Deluxe, was the facade of the 19th century Westerholt Castle, which was given subtle yet purposeful accentuation by Schallmeister's incorporation of 12 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK1 Spot and 16 Rogue R2 Wash fixtures.
With the large staircase in front of the facade acting as a stage for the four musicians from the UK, the audience was treated to an extraordinary concert setting from which to enjoy Abba's hits. Not wanting to waste the opportunity presented by the location of the show, Schallmeister went about utilising the entire facade as a projection surface upon which to create an all-encompassing visual spectacle.
“Although this was the third year of our involvement with Emotional Moments, the setting itself never ceases to amaze us," said Schallmeister production manager, Tim Jansen. “This year, we decided to replace our conventional moving heads with newly acquired Rogue and Maverick fixtures, which served to paint the beautiful facade with enchanting visuals whilst underlining the colourful performance of Abba Deluxe.”
Positioned at the foot of the facade on either side of the staircase, the Rogue R2 Wash fixtures were tasked with providing vivid illumination of the facade. Thanks to the 19 (15W) RGBW quad-LEDs and 12° to 49° zoom range, Jansen and his team were able to utilize the fixtures to paint a plethora of intensely bright colors over the whole length of the two-story building. The resulting array of colours serv
France - Classically trained French musician, DJ and electronic music producer Worakls is renowned for his melodic and experimental sounds. He toured his latest Orchestra album throughout 2019 to a series of 1000-1500 capacity venues and concluded the year by stepping up to three arena-sized shows - Zeniths in Paris and Toulouse and the Salle 3000 concert hall at the Lyon Palais des Congrès - complete a with a 31-piece orchestra.
To light these larger shows plus some additional European dates scheduled for early 2020, lighting designer Nicolas Galloux was asked onboard to add his visual magic into this musical collaboration.
Nicolas specified around 80 Robe moving lights to assist him in the task, including MegaPointes, BMFL Blades, Spiiders and LEDBeam 150s, all supplied by French rental company S Group who also provided the audio.
S Group’s technical director Nicolas Cantier was instrumental in getting Nicolas G involved with lighting these important shows, on which he worked closely with the artist to evolve the appropriate ambience and mood.
They made the decision that lighting should be the primary visual medium, so no video meant Nicolas was under a lot of pressure to accomplish all the desired effects and ramp up the overall emotional impact of the performance, a task he achieved with style and flare.
“With Worakls’ intricate music and all the depth and richness brought by the orchestra, I knew that with the right fixtures, I could achieve everything needed with lighting,” he explained.
The design and physi
USA - Real-time media playback solutions heavyweight Green Hippo deployed its range of Hippotizer Media Servers to fight for world-class visuals with the season premieres of WWE Monday Night Raw and WWE Friday Night SmackDown television shows.
Fourteen Hippotizer Media Servers braved the WWE road: made up of Karst, Karst+ and Boreal+ machines. In total, more than 20,000 individual clips were processed during each performance, with pre-made content mixed with effects generated within Hippotizer V4.5.
The global entertainment company WWE - known for its audience-grabbing, in-ring energetic theatrical drama - wowed crowds across the US, Middle East and Europe with big name appearances and new staging augmented with mammoth LED screens and visuals.
“The team used a custom 4.5.2 build of the Hippotizer software, the biggest reason being so we could utilize SHAPE, which allowed production designer Jason Robinson to achieve effects he has been wanting to create for a long time,” says Tony Thompson from Upstaging, who oversaw the Media Server aspects of the WWE tour and specified the Hippotizer machines. “SHAPE was relatively simple to use, after a little training.”
The tour proved to be one of the first major examples of V4.5’s new output mapping feature, Object to Output, which maps content to outputs directly inside SHAPE’s 3D workspace, ingeniously simplifying the management of large numbers of displays.
The team’s army of Hippotizers comprised five Karst units with single output SDI 1920x1080; seven Karst+ with t
Ireland - Over the last few months of 2019, one of Ireland’s largest technical production companies, PSI in Ireland, invested in a large stock of Elation Professional lighting, a purchase that included Elation’s award-winning Artiste and IP65 Proteus series moving heads among other lighting fixtures.
With offices in Dublin and Belfast, PSI in Ireland provides technical audio, lighting, and rigging solutions for the entertainment and installation sectors across Ireland and Northern Ireland. The company’s lighting inventory, already Ireland’s largest stock of professional lighting equipment, has expanded with the addition of Artiste Picasso LED profile moving heads, Proteus Hybrid IP65-rated moving heads, narrow-beam Dartz 360 LED moving heads, and IP65 Pixel Bar 60IP LED strip lights.
“After looking at many of the manufacturers out there I felt like Elation had the best to offer,” said Brian Reilly, managing director at PSI. “It was initially a bit of a surprise to me that the products were so good, especially the new ranges they’ve created, but now that I know them I’m convinced it’s the way forward for us. We invest with a focus on return on investment and want fixtures that are market leaders. The Artiste range, particularly, I think is just superb.”
Reilly worked closely with Elation's distribution partner in the UK and Ireland, Entedi, to evaluate and eventually demo the products. “Cally provides a great support network and does anything he can to make the process run smoothly,” says Reilly, who has maintained a long-
USA - Lighting/production designer Jon Eddy is using 38 Claypaky Sharpys to illuminate the Original Misfits reunion shows featuring Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only. He also incorporated his Misfits lighting design into 2019 Psycho Las Vegas, the massive metal/punk rock festival held annually in August. Eddy is marking his fourth year designing for Psycho Las Vegas.
The Original Misfits got back together for a series of gigs last year and continue to play selected venues in 2020. Their next appearance will be headlining Mexico City’s Domination Fest in May.
The reunion shows, which included dates in LA, Denver and Seattle, coincided with the band’s 40th anniversary; they sold out their date at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
Eddy designed the shows with a huge fanned out finger rig; six of the long fingers feature 18 Sharpys, bottom hung. An LED videowall is upstage split into seven 5 x 20ft strips with strobes and blinders in between on ladders. Twelve Sharpys are bottom hung on upstage GT floor towers. An additional eight fixtures are on the downstage edge of the deck. DSS, Inc. provided the fixtures.
“Sharpy has been the main workhorse in my rigs for almost 10 years now,” says Eddy. “They’re the best, with the most even beam and fastest, smoothest motion - even with the pinspot beam at its narrowest - that beats every other beam fixture.”
Eddy notes: “Sharpys have always been the go-to fixtures that have set my shows apart. I love using beams and negative space in my designs.”
Psycho Las Vega
UK - Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre - the largest theatre in-the-round in the country - has recently upgraded its lighting rig to incorporate SolaFrame fixtures from High End Systems.
The glass-walled space, seats up to 750 people on three levels and is a seven-sided theatre suspended from four large columns. Although most of the theatre’s work is self-produced and bespoke for the space, its current programme requires a luminaire that can meet very different challenges; from straight plays, to musicals and even live music events.
“We were looking to replace our existing moving lights with a high-quality LED unit and had waited a number of years for the right fixture to become available,” says Mark Distin Webster, head of lighting. “Following much consideration, we felt the SolaFrame 1000 was the moving light that gave us the best spectrum of choice whilst still maintaining a high-quality core.”
The theatre’s design means all seats are less than 30ft from the circular stage. To give lighting designers immediate access to useful angles and looks, seven SolaFrame 1000 fixtures are interspersed with pre-existing wash units.
“Additionally, we put a SolaFrame 3000 high-CRI unit on centre as it’s always a popular lighting position and the 3000 has plenty of punch and huge amount of options,” explains Distin Webster. “Crucially, its 55° beam angle means it can fill a revolving stage in a single shot. Also, using the same product range allows for easy and precise colour matching to the other units around it.”
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