USA - When creating the lighting design for Killswitch Engage on the band’s co-headline North American tour with Clutch, Cody James had a simple goal in mind. “I wanted to go back to the KSE’s roots,” he said. “My plan was to give the guys much more solid colours and bold looks.”
James’ plan was well-founded, given the retrospective nature of his Grammy nominated client’s most recent (and sixth) studio album Disarm The Descent.
James’ design included eight multi-functional Chauvet Professional Maverick MK Pyxis fixtures that were used to transform venues of widely different sizes and configurations.
“The idea was to create powerful looks that fit any location, whether it was a live music venue or a festival,” said James. “There were four different layouts for the floor backstage, and we would decide which design we would use for any particular show during our walk-through. Since this was a coheadline tour, all of our layouts were designed to be set up and taken down quickly while still fitting the venue.”
James was able to achieve this level of flexibility because of the versatility of his fixtures, and the dedication of his crew. “The people at JDI always make sure all of my tours are 100% dialled in,” he said. “The guys in the KSE crew allowed me to put as many lights as possible in their way every day. And the Clutch crew are some of the best humans to work next to. There are always challenges with a coheadline tour, but we met them very well by working together.”
Key to the design were the
USA - At the 1,300-seat sanctuary at Eastmont Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, pews wrap around a stage that is much wider than it is deep, and a large balcony overhangs much of the main floor in a similar wrap-around design. With the deep overhang, good sound reinforcement for Eastmont’s orchestra and choir would be challenging under the best of circumstances.
To replace a failing system, AVL integration firm Emmaus Media & Design, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, worked with Eastmont to design and install a high-fidelity Danley Sound Labs sound reinforcement system. Danley’s point-source pattern control allowed Emmaus to hit every seat with high-intelligibility, high-SPL coverage that varies by no more than 1dB.
“In addition to its regular Sunday services with orchestra and choir, Eastmont hosts a lot of touring acts,” explained Tim James, owner of Emmaus Media & Design. “Their previous sound reinforcement system was a conglomerate of components in a centre cluster that was original to the building 20 years ago. The integrator evidently went out of business halfway through the project. It was a mess.
“The coverage was terrible. You couldn’t walk five feet without it changing. The balcony had no high-frequency content at all. Intelligibility was abysmal. When touring acts came through, they always had to bring their own PA. Eastmont wanted a new system that would sound fantastic day-to-day and that would make them proud when touring acts came through.”
Now, A stereo pair of Danley SH96HO full-range loudspeakers serve
UK - AV technology pioneer Peerless-AV and LED manufacturer Absen have teamed up to install an LED video wall in the showroom of Mulgari Cars, bespoke styling and tuning body shop for performance and luxury vehicles. Mulgari wanted a video wall solution that would enable them to advertise their services to new and existing customers via a medium befitting its supercar studio image.
LED was the most suitable choice for its design flexibility, narrow pixel pitch, high contrast in ambient light, 24/7 performance and low power consumption. Absen N Series high bright panels and an easy-assemble, custom LED mounting system from Peerless-AV were chosen for the project.
Bracknell-based Mulgari Cars is owned by Iain Campbell, a former director at AV distributor Midwich Group. “The LED video wall has successfully addressed our visual goals,” says Campbell. “We have an in-house content creation team for our web and social channel advertising, which now extends to the new display platform and is clearly seen by visiting customers and drivers passing by the forecourt.”
A technical team of four managed the install, which was completed quickly and easily, without interruption to Mulgari.
(Jim Evans)
UK - This year’s Cool Britannia at Knebworth Park built on the success of last year’s inaugural event, and now looks to have become a consolidated festival.
Capital Sound were again brought in to work alongside production manager Keith Morris, with whom they have historically partnered on the Rewind festivals - and as was the case last year they equipped both the Main and Ministry of Sound stages.
Both presented star-studded line-ups with James, Embrace, Sleeper, Basement Jaxx, The Coral, Starsailor, Fun Loving Criminals dominating the main stage and Danny Rampling, Seb Fontaine, Goldie, Norman Jay, Phil Hartnoll and Graeme Park the MOS Stage.
Capital Sound’s Robin Conway noted, “The biggest upgrade this year was that we were able to fly the MLA side hang stage right, thanks to the redesigned structures, whereas it was ground stacked last year. This not only freed up some much-needed space, but provided a superior, more even coverage.
“As production were happy with what we had done in 2018 there was no real need to tweak anything other than that.”
The main stage PA comprised 15 MLA and a single MLD Downfill per side, with 14 x MLX in broadside cardioid array providing LF extension. A further 10 W8LM Mini Line Array elements were placed in pairs on top of the subs as lip-fills.
For the MOS dance stage, which ran later into the night, strict sound limits needed to be observed. “But we were able to run at 98dB(A) average and 101dB(A) peak,” Conway confirmed.
To achieve this, they ground stacked five MLA Compact e
USA - Kansas have announced the fourth and final leg of The Point of Know Return Anniversary Tour, with a lighting system supplied by Bandit Lites. With the third leg of the tour currently traversing the country, the group is performing the eponymous sextuple-platinum album in its entirety to near capacity and enthusiastic audiences through Spring of 2020.
“It’s exciting how popular the Point of Know Return Anniversary shows have been,” comments Kansas lead vocalist Ronnie Platt. “When we wrap up this fourth and final leg, we will have played nearly 100 of these shows over nearly two years. We have worked hard to give audiences a memorable musical experience with this tour. We are excited to continue it with the final leg of the tour, then see what we come up with next.”
Lighting designer Scott Pearson had no boundaries when building the lighting for the show, immersing himself in the music as he programmed and translated the music into a “visual representation”.
“It is all about the buildup,” Pearson explained, referring to the three-act element of the concert. “Each phase is different, and I start with the minimum.”
Bandit Lites provided GLP X4S fixtures, Martin MAC Viper Profiles, Wildfire Blacklite WF 101 fixtures and Elation CuePix WW2 Blinders. Fourteen Elation SixPars illuminate set pieces along with an Obsidian Controls M6 for control.
“Scott’s approach to details down to how the system is prepared, cabled and packed make a big impact in adapting to different venues throughout the country,” said B
France - Amate Audio’s new X212AF advanced three-way line array was FOH for Boris Brejcha at the Positiv Festival on 5 September in the Roman Théâtre antique d'Orange in southeastern France.
Sound hire company DIDO Music supplied an all Amate Audio FOH system, comprising left / right stacks of just five X2121AF line array elements together with two further X212AF / X218WF pairings for front-fills, flooding the 9000-capacity filled Roman amphitheatre with sound.
The festival line up, featuring Nicolas Cuer and Reinier Zonneveld, was headlined by Berlin DJ and producer Boris Brejcha: purveyor of his own genre of ‘hightech minimal’ techno and man in the Viennese carnival mask.
(Jim Evans)
USA - This summer, Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry unveiled a new daytime backstage tour based around the new, purpose-built Circle Room theatre. Hosted by Opry members Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, a 14-minute long immersive media experience takes fans on a journey through nearly 100 years of Opry history, seen through the eyes of the musicians who played on the famous stage, and features archival footage and concert-like special effects.
The Circle Room serves as the centrepiece of a $12m Opry House expansion and renovation project aimed at enhancing the guest experience. This production marks the opening of the new backstage tour, which continues into the renovated Opry House Lobby, featuring a custom lighting element made with Gibson guitars and a special media presentation.
As the introduction for the new tour, The Circle Room experience is dominated by LED concert and mood lighting from GLP, specified by a consortium headed by design and production agency BRC Imagination Arts. Under the creative direction of Brad Shelton, Edward Hodge, and a team of designers, they conceived and designed the Opry Circle Room, which at night transforms into a VIP upgrade area for Opry show guests. It includes 340 lighting fixtures - many of them from GLP - as well as four projectors and five LED screens.
BRC, in turn, brought in Brian Gale and Manny Treeson of LA-based lighting design company, NYXdesign, while one of GLP’s dealers, Clearwing Systems Integration, handled the installation, with all three companies having collaborated regularly in the past.
UK - British pop-rock band The 1975 embarked on a two-year world tour, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, with a firm focus on the fan experience: what they see, hear and feel – whether in the front row or the gods – is paramount.
With drum and bass, ethereal pop and pulsating rock performed in venues ranging from regional halls to big city arenas, the production team required a flexible, powerful and clear sound solution. As a result, the tour is one of the first to take the d&b KSL System on the road.
“Musically, this band is very eclectic, so you really need a sound system that covers all of those genres and styles,” says Jay Rigby, front of house engineer for The 1975. “Lead singer Matty Healy and drummer George Daniel produce their own albums - they know exactly how they should sound live and they have the technical expertise to communicate that effectively.”
Rental house Eighth Day Sound has worked with The 1975 for their past two album cycles. As early adopters of new d&b technology, they collaborated with Rigby to specify the KSL System for this tour.
“One really interesting thing with the KSL,” says Rigby, “is that the vocal range is just incredible - that crossover point between the mid and the high is so smooth; you don’t really hear any horn distortion and the voice is just so smooth all the way through. The fans want to hear every word that Matty is saying and KSL has made it so much easier for every seat in the house to hear just that.”
Whether playing smaller venues such as The Bright
China - The Mida Performance Store in Changsha, the capital city of China’s Hunan province, is a new concept that offers a high-spec live performance venue, bar and social media experience for music lovers. It provides an open stage for anyone wanting to give free rein to their singing talents in front of an appreciative audience of their peers, and the entire performance space is equipped with Genelec 1032C and 4030C loudspeakers for a high quality audio experience for both performers and audience members alike.
The concept has proved hugely popular with customer flow reaching 120,000 in the first month of opening followed by 200,000 in the second month. On the Store Member’s Day, performance waiting time exceeded three hours. Much of the popularity is attributed to the superlative quality of the Genelec audio experience that forms an integral part of the concept. From the outset the brief was to deliver the best possible sound, both for the audience and the performers, for which a Genelec solution was chosen throughout.
"Genelec is widely known throughout the professional audio industry,” remarked Mr Zhang Hongxu, head of market operations at Mida Performance Store. “A great many albums are recorded and mixed using Genelec. There are vast numbers of people that secretly harbour the soul of a singer but it’s difficult for ordinary consumers to experience a professional environment and facilities. Our aim is to bring a truly professional experience to ordinary people, to allow all music lovers to enjoy a high-end performance.”
The sto
Spain - Since starting the business in 2015, the group of young entrepreneurial friends who formed Madrid’s successful Lalala Group has already opened 12 bar/restaurants. The latest, on the city’s fashionable Calle de la Princesa, features a Yamaha audio system which is keeping both customers and the city council happy.
Lalala Group calls its venues ‘modern beer houses’, which all follow a core theme, but each has a different personality. Located in one of Madrid’s most popular areas, the latest Lalala Group venue - Alboroto - has a spacious dining area, two bars and a cocktail menu complemented by a choice of music which encourages patrons to enjoy upbeat, celebratory nights out. DJs maintain a lively atmosphere from Wednesday to Saturday, with live performances at weekends.
Being in an area with many bars and clubs, Lalala Group wanted to ensure that Alboroto’s audio system would be top quality and it was vital that it would not exceed the SPL limits set by the city council.
AV company Salas Audiovisual, in collaboration with architects MR Arquitectos, recommended a Yamaha CIS system with two precisely defined zones. One covers Alboroto’s bars, which are closer to the entrance, programmed to deliver high quality sound at lower volume. The second zone covers the dedicated DJ and live performance area, which has a small dance floor. Being further into the building, here a greater SPL is permitted.
The heart of the system is an MTX3 matrix processor, which matched Lalala Group’s demands in terms of audio quality and versatility,
USA - As part of ongoing renovations, Nashville’s Hutton Hotel recently completed work on a new live music venue, alongside Writers Studios production rooms conceived by musicians Dierks Bentley and Ryan Tedder.
Spearheaded by L.A.-based GreenLight Media, Nashville-based British acoustician Michael Cronin was hired to bring the venue and the two production rooms to fruition. Cronin subsequently brought in Clair Solutions, who worked closely with Cronin and the venue to spec the AV system – a key part of which involves components from Bose Professional, including ShowMatch and RoomMatch Utility modules.
The 5,000sq.ft Analog music venue and cocktail lounge, which takes up the footprint of a former parking facility and is two stories high in the centre section, usually seats 160 but has a maximum capacity of 300. The hotel wanted the venue to reflect its intimate vibe, says Cronin.
“It’s like being in your living room. The stage is 18 inches high and you can sit on a couch two feet away. It was a challenging space. Then you have upper VIP areas overlooking the stage with a bar under one and seating under the other. You have so many different reverberation times within the same space. But I was extremely happy with the outcome. My hat’s off to Executive Project Director Tom Williams at GreenLight; he put a great team of people together.”
The venue’s entertainment is programmed in collaboration with GreenLight partners Red Light Management, whose diverse artist roster includes the likes of the Dave Matthews Band, Luke Bryan and Lione
USA - Madison Square Garden has welcomed just about every conceivable kind of music act in its storied history, but it’s doubtful that the famed arena has ever hosted a concert with a scenic set quite like the one Vulfpeck used for its recent show. With a mix of well-worn chairs, ottomans tapestries and thrift shop lamps, the set for the band’s concert looked more like the kind of apartment inhabited by college kids, than a funk music stage.
Formed by four students at the University of Michigan’s music school, Vulfpeck recorded their first song in an Ann Arbor living room. They had the exact furniture from that room shipped 622 miles from their college town home to Manhattan for their Madison Square Garden debut.
The ‘living room’ provided a nice touch that captured the engaging style of Vulfpeck. At the same time, though, it also presented a challenge for Christian Hall, the designer brought in by the band’s production manager to light the show.
Hall, of Borealis Stage Lighting, met this challenge by deftly creating a design that managed to be at once as engaging as the show’s homey set, and as potent as the big arena. Helping him accomplish this feat were his ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 console with an extra wing, and a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue fixtures supplied by Squeek Lights.
“The scenic design for this show was well-executed and different,” said Hall. “We wanted to keep the “living room” the focal point of the set, while still filling in the empty areas above and around the band with lighting. It definit
UK - London based Kudos AV arrived on the Data Strategy stand at London’s PLASA 2019 exhibition to confirm its order of a two-bay QC-Check 660 Workstation, incorporating PAT-4 and CAB-5 test equipment from technology partner, Out Board.
Kudos AV is an event management company delivering full-service event production with high quality audio, visual, lighting and staging solutions. Data Strategy’s QC-check will provide the company’s stock and inventory system with increased levels of efficiency as well as safety.
QC-Check will interact with the company’s existing inventory management system, to automatically request and log product test updates from the workstation’s in-built industrial PAT and Cable inspection equipment from Out Board. One of the big advantages of the QC-Check system, Kataria explains, is its capacity to “aid the management of assets”. He adds, “The ability to test our equipment in-house will not only save time but give us greater control over workflow and output.”
Kataria asserts, “Safety and integrity of equipment is of paramount importance for any organisation. As a company that supplies and installs electrical equipment with such regularity, it is essential that we are 'on top' of our maintenance and testing. QC-Check will provide us with real-time status of our assets to aid the planning and prep of projects with greater efficiency.”
Data Strategy’s managing director, Iain Roche, said, “I’m very pleased Kudos AV has opted for a QC-Check now. As a fast-growing and successful technical production
The Netherlands - Guido’s Orchestra, the popular Dutch ensemble that fuses pop and classical music, performed their annual open-air concert in Kerkrade at the end of June. As this also happens to be the home town of ADJ Europe it was fitting that a lighting rig consisting entirely of ADJ’s fixtures – including 186 recently-released IP-rated outdoor units – was used to illuminate the performance which ran over two evenings and featured a number of guest performers.
Billed in full as The Maestro & The European Pop Orchestra, Guido’s Orchestra is the brainchild of conductor, violin soloist and composer Guido Dieteren. Having toured throughout Europe and North America as part of numerous traditional orchestras, Guido formed his own ensemble with the intention of performing the most famous melodies of all time from both the classical and pop worlds.
Every summer Guido’s Orchestra, together with a number of guest artists, perform an open air concert for their Dutch fans and for the past couple of years it has taken place in the picturesque market square in the middle of Kerkrade.
This year’s concert was held on the last Saturday of June and had a truly international flavour thanks to guest performances by German vocalists VoXXclub and Australian 10-part harmony outfit The TEN Tenors. The concert was filmed for a future DVD release as well as a TV special due to be screened in Europe this fall.
With a crowd of thousands attending on both nights, TV crews ready to capture the performances and a vast orchestra on stage, the lighting p
Australia - The 2019 Victorian State Schools Spectacular: Made of Stars was staged at the Melbourne Arena and filmed by Channel 7 for later broadcast. The annual live arena production showcasing the talent of students across the state of Victoria featured a large complement of Claypaky lighting fixtures, which helped students working behind the scenes gain real-world experience with top-of-class, professional luminaires.
Some 200 schools participated in Made of Stars, where performers included daredevil BMX riders, skaters, acrobats, circus artists, musicians and hip-hop dancers. The three-hour show featured the arrival of a spaceship and a send up of the fashion industry. The yearly production is an invaluable performing arts opportunity for students in Victoria from primary school to grade 12 and has become a rite of passage for top young talent.
PRG Australia installed the show’s lights in the multi-purpose Melbourne Arena. The Claypaky fixtures numbered 60 Xtylos, 70 Scenius Unicos, 80 Sharpy Spots, 40 Sharpy Wash 330s, 36 Alpha Beam 700s and 26 A.leda B-EYE K20s.
“PRG supplied all of the lighting and rigging and ran training for the students working behind the scenes enabling them to experience state-of-the-art fixtures like the Claypaky Xtylos,” explains Andrew Holmes, senior account manager with PRG Australia. The show marked the first major use of the new Xtylos fixtures in Australia.
"Xtylos is an extraordinary instrument, almost like a scalpel: cutting, saturated beams of pure colour,” says lighting designer Pau
USA - Brigham Young University-Idaho (BYU-I) has taken delivery of Robert Juliat Lancelot 4000W followspots for its three theatres as part of a complement of lighting fixtures.
BYU-I, formerly known as Ricks College, is located in Rexburg, Idaho and offers programmes in liberal arts, including the sciences, engineering, agriculture, management and the performing arts. The university is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
BYU-I’s theatres host theatrical productions and concerts staged by students and visiting artists. BYU-I Center, the largest of the theaters, seats 15,000; the Hart Auditorium is a three-quarters arena that seats 3,700; and the Snow Drama Theater, the smallest venue, seats 400.
The new fixtures were acquired from Barbizon Light of the Rockies in Denver as part of the lighting replacement cycle, notes lighting designer with BYU-I’s AV Productions, Braden Howard. Last year the university invested in Robert Juliat Dalis LED front-edge stage lighting; the one-meter units are used by the Center, Hart Auditorium and Snow Drama Theater. Systems integrator with Barbizon, Peter Maurelli, had worked with the university when it was Ricks College and provided the original fixture package for the Center.
Howard was in the market to replace the Robert Juliat Cyrano followspots, which reside in the Center. “The Cyranos were great but slightly underpowered for the cameras so we made the jump to the higher output of the Lancelots,” Howard says.
The 4,000W HTI sources “ticked all the
UK - Located in the heart of Mayfair, Novikov Restaurant & Bar was the first restaurant to be opened outside his native Russia by award-winning multiple operator, Arkady Novikov. Extending over three floors with two restaurants and a basement lounge bar, Novikov has enjoyed considerable success since its opening in 2011 and remains one of the favourite haunts of London’s glitterati. When the venue decided to upgrade the sound system in the Lounge, they turned to Toby Jones at Middlesex Sound & Light for advice. Jones recommended a KV2 Audio system to deliver the nightclub feel that Novikov was looking for.
“When I visited Novikov at their request to see what could be done, I saw straight away that KV2 would be the ideal solution, but I didn’t want them to take my word for it,” says Jones. “I insisted on a demo in situ so that they could compare with their current system and judge for themselves. They instantly fell in love with the product so we were given the green light to proceed.”
For the main lounge and bar area, Jones specified eight ceiling-mounted KV2 ESD10 compact, two-way, high output loudspeakers with a 10-inch trans-coil woofer and a wide dispersion rotatable horn supplemented by two high power ESD1.18 and two slightly smaller ESD1.15 subwoofers.
Two compact, low-profile ESD25s serve as powerful yet discreet in-fills for one of the lounge areas off the main room. A second chill-out zone known as the Union Jack room is served by four ESD6s and a single ESD1.15 sub. Finally, the DJ booth has been equipped with a pair
UK – Prolights Panorama IP Airbeam moving beams recently lit up North Yorkshire’s skyline with big air looks for Harrogate 1571, part of Harrogate Welcomes the World celebrations supporting the UCI Road World Cycling Championships and acknowledging the spa town’s heritage.
The lighting installation was commissioned by Harrogate International Festivals, an arts project that has helped to ‘revolutionise’ the cultural landscape for the North of England.
To celebrate the waters that have made Harrogate a tourist attraction since 1571, when William Slingsby discovered natural mineral springs in the local Valley Gardens, these wells and the town’s iconic Harlow Hill water tower were illuminated for a stunning light show over a series of evenings.
The project’s lighting designer, James Bawn of Element 3 Design needed an IP65 fixture with a very bright, defined moving beam which could create spectacular big air looks over the two sites.
He commented, “Using the Panorama AirBeam fixtures was key to the success of this project. The IP rated fixtures performed flawlessly outdoors for four consecutive evenings.
“Logistics and load-in were very tight as we had to work around road closures for the UCI Cycling, so the fixtures’ hassle-free and quick setup really helped.”
James lit the Harrogate water tower in colourful beams to make a 3D art installation. In addition, he used the fixtures as beacons of light to create a three-dimensional map of the 36 wells.
He concluded, “I’m really impressed with the Pan
UK - In September, Entec renewed its acquaintance with the exhibitions division of media group Future plc to deliver sound and lighting equipment to the two-day UK Guitar Show and the London Bass Guitar Show.
Centred around the sprawling Gear Hall, the show saw Entec liaise with production manager Pete Witham to equip five stages that hosted a diverse programme of stellar musical performances, showcases and masterclasses.
September’s event was Entec’s fourth for Future in just over a year. “Entec was mainly given the contract because it was able to provide a complete range of sound, lighting and some elements of staging, unlike the other companies we approached,” said Pete.
Along with a host of leading microphone models and wireless equipment distributed amongst the performance areas, the audio specification for the main auditorium included a Midas PRO1 24/16 FOH console, a DiGiCo SD12 monitor desk and SD-Rack, a d&b V-Series PA (comprising eight V12s and six cardioid V-SUBs) and six d&b M4 floor monitors.
For the A Stage, Entec provided a combination of d&b C7 tops and subs, with a pair of Y10P cabinets, with a DiGiCo SD11iB console and four M4 wedges. The Bass stage saw a Yamaha LS9 16-channel desk used to mix through a d&b Y10P system with a pair of QSC K8 1kW active speakers for foldback, while a Yamaha QL1 provided the same function in the Guitar Workshop, again with Y10Ps but with d&b E8s on stage.
Entec’s lighting team selected a number of practical items from its warehouse to fulfil a variety of re
Norway - When the summer-long Foynhagen Festival last year adopted Martin Audio’s MLA Compact PA, the complaints it had experienced after experimenting with different systems over the previous four years ‘evaporated’.
Although the festival site - located in downtown Tønsberg, 90 minutes outside Oslo - is picturesque, overlooking a harbour and bars on one side and residential buildings on the other, noise spillage was one thing the festival didn’t need. And so the event’s PA supplier Spekter A/S invested in a Martin Audio MLA Compact after a system demo had established proof of concept.
Lorry Kristanesen from Atendi A/S, Martin Audio’s Norwegian distributor, confirmed that having established a winning formula last year, the rig again comprised eight MLA Compact per side with four MLX subs across the front in a broadside array. Spekter also supplied 12 x Martin Audio LE100 wedge monitors, all powered by Martin Audio’s MA3.0 amplifiers.
He explained: “Last year, MLA overcame the challenge of sound leakage and the offsite sound at the measurement points was reduced by as much as 8dB compared with other systems.
“The independent consultants set a threshold of below 60dB and we were well under this - never above 50-55dB, while reaching 102dB in the audience area itself. In fact, the system was so powerful we didn’t need a delay system.” And with an event running from May right through to September this was vital.
Atendi’s Øystein Wierli and Lorry Kristainsen themselves set the optimisations, programming a ‘hard avo
UK - Sister Act the Musical, performed by Splinters Theatre Group raised the roof at the Montgomery Theatre, Sheffield. The lighting design took this show to a higher level, creating the emotive, joyous atmosphere people know and expect from this gospel choir-based dramatisation.
Along with the venues inhouse generic lighting rig, Tom Dyson from TDL added an array of moving heads and battens to further enhance the shows backdrop and musical numbers. He utilised numerous eLumen8 Kudos 350ZS fixtures for multiple scenes including highlighting key actors, set lighting and effect lighting for musical numbers.
Tom Dyson comments, “The use of the backlight on the Kudos 350ZS moving heads, along with the beam projected, helped create some new and different eye-candy effects that both myself and the show directors were really impressed with.”
In addition, LEDJ Pixel Storm 12 Quad MKII Battens were used to create eye catching effects for the musical numbers, as well as uplighting the back wall of the theatre helping set the scene throughout the whole show. The wide ellipsoidal beam angle made wall washing easy, covering the 8 x 10m space with an even wash of colour to suit any atmosphere. Tom used these in 48 channel mode which allowed him to run smooth pixel effects further enhancing the ambience of the show especially when the musical numbers were played out.
(Jim Evans)
Europe - Optocore’s Festival Box has been successfully deployed on a number of festivals and tours this summer.
As demo systems were released to targeted dealers and production companies around the world, Optocore technical sales manager, Maciek Janiszewski, said, “It is gratifying that customers have trusted us with delivering a completely new device concept and placed it immediately on high-profile tours and festivals.”
Early adopters have included Billie Eilish and Spice Girls, both with Wigwam, while festivals have ranged from the mighty Sziget in Hungary and KFPP Opole in Poland, to Parklife and Bluedot festivals in the north of England.
Festival Box allows any audio protocol as well as video and data to tunnel over the same fibre, making it an efficient solution for multi-act scenarios. Migrating the technology from sister company BroaMan’s Repeat48WDM media converter, which uses Repeat48-2Fiber modules at its source, it offers countless conversion options, supporting all fibre protocols as well as Cat5 Ethernet-based standards or even HDMI, since the standard SFP optical module transceivers are hot swappable.
“With each sound engineer bringing different consoles to festivals, running different protocols to the stage box, everything can now be transported down Festival Box using just a single duplex fibre, thereby saving a tremendous amount of cabling between FOH and Stage,” continued Janiszewski.
Alex Hadjigeorgiou, from Optocore-BroaMan dealer, fac365, reports, “It’s been very well-received and we’ve had really
Australia - Elite Event Technology from Canberra – one of Australia’s leading rental and production companies – supplied lighting equipment and crew for the 2019 NAIDOC Awards which celebrated the history, culture and outstanding achievements - at community, national and international level - of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
This high-profile event featured a mix of live performance and awards presentations and was hosted by media personalities Sean Choolburra and Elaine Crombie at the National Convention Centre Canberra in front of a live audience of 1,200 and broadcast live on SBS’s NITV channel.
The lighting design by Tom Wright featured an all-Robe moving light rig with 12 x BMFL Spots 12 x BMFL WashBeams, 26 x LEDWash 300+’s, 12 x LED Wash600s and 14 x MMX Spots.
It was the first time that Elite had been a technical supplier, working for main event producers 33Creative and 38Ten who coordinated all the technical direction.
Elite’s managing director Darren Russell and his team took a detailed brief from lighting designer Tom and technical director Peter Quinlan of 38Ten and constructed the lighting rig to their specifications.
Tom explained that they were looking to create a lot of warmth onstage with a big emphasis on theatrical side light. Stage depth was limited as video was squeezed into the space. Being able to shape the light was important and they also wanted a big look, so putting lights in all the gaps between the onstage LED screens at different heights both filled the void spaces and
Germany - More than 50,000 EDM fans descended on a former NATO missile base in August to experience the massive Nature One Festival. Germany-based Gerdon Design specified two Green Hippo Boreal+ media servers for the main floor, to power live IMAG feeds, Notch effects and pre-made content.
This year marked the 25th anniversary of Nature One, which is held near the western town of Kastellaun. Over the years, it’s grown into one of Europe’s biggest dance music festivals. Gerdon Design has been involved with Nature One since 2011, responsible for the stage, lighting and video design as well as creating the concept, audio and visual design for the timecoded highlights show.
“We were responsible for the content playback of all acts - except for those who were travelling with a VJ – so we needed a powerful and easy-to-use solution,” explains Gerdon Design’s Marek Papke. “We really like the versatility of the Hippotizer software – it’s very quick to set up and get great results. We organized all of the custom content and the DJ-specific content before the show and used a GrandMA3 FullSize to sort and program all the content for later playback.”
In addition to the two main floor Boreal+ servers as main/backup, Papke and his team specified a third Boreal+ to manage a Barco S3 Switcher and to generate further Notch effects for IMAG.
“Hippo’s CITP integration helped us a lot, because it allows us to see previews of the content directly in the console,” says Papke. “The quick and easy-to-use media manager was also great for add