Belgium - Tumult, the Sanzaru Order techno/rave parties, are adding passion, energy and excitement to Belgian night life. Organised by Skippen Dam, Tumult events travel from club to club, with non-stop music by leading DJs. Adding to the immersive effect of the Tumult experience is an intense lightshow featuring Chauvet DJ Intimidator Hybrid 140SR fixtures, supplied by Sound & Co.
“This is the fifth annual edition of Tumult, and the second year that we have lit the parties,” says Jonas Bellemans, CEO of Sound & Co. “Skippen Dam invests a great deal in bringing a lot of DJ talent to these events, which limits the budget for lighting. At the same time, you need a lot of intensity to support this kind of music. So you have to find fixtures that give the right balance.”
Bellemans notes that the 140W Intimidator Hybrid 140SR, with its intense output, motorized zoom, gobo capabilities and all its other features, allows him to deliver the looks his client needs and a price that fits within budget.
In addition to appreciating the affordable price and numerous performance features of the Intimidator fixtures, Bellemans prizes them for their versatility. Having fixtures that are able to perform many different roles is especially important at Tumult parties, which often take place in urban clubs with relatively tight quarters and limited rigging options. This makes it critical to select moving fixtures that are not only compact, but also multi-functional, since it allows a greater variety of looks to be created with fewer fixtures.
“Th
USA - Clearwing Productions once again selected Harman Professional Solutions’ JBL Professional loudspeaker, Crown amplifier and Martin lighting products to kick up the excitement at Summerfest 2019 in Milwaukee.
The deployment at Summerfest comes months after Clearwing made a significant upgrade to its audio inventory with a multi-million-dollar purchase of JBL VTX A-Series line arrays.
More than 200 JBL Professional loudspeakers, fills and subwoofers are featured, including the new JBL VTX A8 and A12 line array loudspeakers. The Martin MAC Allure made its debut this year, along with support from the Martin Atomic, VDO, and RUSH lines.
“We are really enjoying the flexibility that the new JBL A8s offer for our various stage configurations as well as the versatility that we’ve come to enjoy from the A12s,” comments Bryan Brunclik, Clearwing Productions Milwaukee general manager. “The B18s and G28s ensure our low end is also more than capably taken care of. No matter which stage, venue or configuration we are using them for, JBL and Crown products continue to ensure never worry reliability and that all of our artists will sound their very best, night after night.”
“Our lighting needs are constantly evolving from set to set, artist to artist, and venue to venue but knowing we have the Martin MAC Allure, Atomic and VDO fixtures on board again this year, we know every set will not just be a performance but a complete lighting show from start to finish.”
On the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse Stage this year, Clearwing deployed a c
USA - The recently-opened Mandrake has already established itself as a popular staple of the Miami Beach dining and nightlife scene. In addition to a variety of sushi and pan-Asian cuisine prepared by executive chef Jimmy Gallagher, the restaurant is known for its over-the-top décor, including a life-sized gorilla to greet the patrons and bright fuchsia-coloured lighting. Equally important for the restaurant’s ambiance, it also features a Martin Audio CDD sound system installed by Miami’s AVL Innovations (AVLI).
Asked about the audio component, AVLI’s James Reed explains: “Mandrake has several floors and multiple rooms. There’s a sushi bar in the front room where we used eight Martin Audio CDD8’s mounted on the wall along with four SX210 subwoofers built into the banquettes; then there’s a hallway leading to the main dining room with two CDD8’s.”
The main dining room and bar features six wall-mounted CDD10’s with four SX210 subwoofers also built into the seating. The programme material is essentially high-quality background music earlier in the evening, which converts to more of a nightclub atmosphere with dining and dancing later on. A patio area complete with garden is served by four CDD8-WR’s and two CSX212-WR subs.
Continuing the Martin Audio CDD theme, a lounge bar area upstairs has six wall-mounted CDD-LIVE12’s - four for the room and two positioned alongside the DJ booth on a small stage for monitoring, along with four CSX-LIVE118 subwoofers. There is also a DJ setup downstairs in a corner of the main dining room that
Spain - With over 50 albums recorded and the unusual distinction of being awarded a ‘uranium’ disc, singer Raphael is one of the most successful Spanish performers in in the country’s recent history. Still touring in his mid-1970s, a Yamaha Rivage PM7 digital mixing system is currently showcasing his greatest hits in a new orchestral tour.
Since his career began in 1962, Raphael’s distinctive voice and performance style have made him an iconic figure amongst Spanish performers. 50m sales of compilation album Ayer, Hoy y Siempre saw record company Hispavox award him a ‘uranium’ disc for the achievement. Having performed in most of the world’s leading venues over nearly 60 years, he is still a very popular live performer. His current RESinphónico tour began in December 2018 and is booked to continue into 2020, with shows at major venues in Spain, Russia, South America, the US and the UK.
Performing his greatest hits accompanied by a full symphony orchestra, Raphael’s long-term Front of House engineer Miguel Angel Garcia chose a Yamaha Rivage PM7 to meet the challenging task of mixing the orchestra and accompanying ‘electric’ musicians - 60 in total.
Miguel Ángel has used a Yamaha CL5 console on previous tours with Raphael. “The CL5’s quality, reliability and popularity have more than proved themselves,” he says. “We used it in a variety of live formats, including an earlier symphonic tour. But when we started designing this tour, we realised that we needed to take a step up with the of number of channels and deli
South Africa - Wireless LED lighting manufacturer Astera has announced DWR Distribution as its exclusive distributor in South Africa.
It is understood that the agreement will include other southern and central African countries.
DWR is headquartered in Johannesburg and has bases in Cape Town and Durban as well as extensive contacts across southern and central Africa. The company is headed by Duncan Riley, Robert Izzett and Bruce Riley and supplies an array of brands and products and equipment for the entertainment and architectural sectors which includes lighting, audio, AV and staging.
“I am hugely excited,” comments Astera’s sales and marketing director, Sebastian Bückle. “I think the African and South African markets are vibrant and full of potential and I have heard so many great things from around the industry about DWR and their incredible customer service! I am looking forward to a great working relationship with Duncan, Sherryn and their dedicated and very enthusiastic team.”
Duncan Riley is also looking forward to working with Astera. He sees the products being popular for film, TV and photography due to the high TLCI and CRI of 96 as well as in the staging market with the smooth colour mixing and dynamic pixel control. “I really like the full flexibility that is inherent in all the Astera product designs,” he stated.
“I’ve just got a feeling about Astera” confirms Duncan Riley. “They seem to be ‘all about the people’ which is a direct fit for us and seeing some of their projects around the world was
USA - Dustin Klein has the philosophy that the primary goal of a lighting designer is to bring music to life by creating a visual space for the band.
For his recent work on Papadosio’s second annual Summer Sequence at the Pisgah Brewing Company, part of creating this space relied on weaving the lighting around the band’s music to tell a visual story.
Klein relied on a variety of Chauvet DJ fixtures to transport the audience to another dimension, one ruled by the genre-bending music of the band.
Placing six Chauvet DJ Intimidator Wash Zoom 450 IRC fixtures on the upstage truss facing outward allowed for an even spread of wash that created depth and shaping on stage.
“I ran the Intimidator 450s in their highest channel mode, in order to chase the individual pixels and tie together the different sections of the light in full rig color wipes and dimmer chases,” says Klein. “My intention is to build an atmosphere that enhances the relationships between the performers and the audience, and a big part of doing this is by creating an exciting, dimensional backdrop that works as the base for all the other lighting elements to play against.”
Klein clustered six Chauvet DJ Intimidator Spot LED 350 fixtures on the mid-stage truss to add extra power to the band and back wall lighting, and to create aerial effects with gobos and prism through the haze above the crowd. Klein utilised split colours to open up a variety of looks, relying on the dimming capabilities on the fixtures to create fast, punchy colour fades that became an i
USA - Kelly Clarkson, the singer-songwriter who rose to fame after winning the 2002 American Idol, has recently been a regular coach on The Voice and is set to host The Kelly Clarkson Show in September.
She also hit the road earlier this year to play venues across the US on her first tour in nearly four years. Lighting design for the Meaning of Life outing was by Roy Bennett, who employed an overhead grid of 120 Elation DARTZ 360 LED fixtures to accentuate nearly all aspects of the highly entertaining show.
Key design elements of the set included a VIP bar that surrounded the B-stage to enhance the party environment, and a large upstage video screen that displayed a variety of content including heavy amounts of I-Mag. The DARTZ, housed in 10 overhead lines of truss, 12 fixtures per truss, complemented both in Bennett’s cohesive design.
"The DARTZ 360 is a bright, reliable, fast, and compact light source,” he says of the narrow-beam LED luminaire, which were supplied for the tour by Upstaging. “It's proven itself to be the best when used in mass.”
The ceiling of DARTZ fixtures was used for a variety of looks from upbeat numbers to theatrical looks to more subtle moments. The fixture’s punchy output and three-degree aperture complemented the large video screen without overpowering it. They also provided attractive on-camera visuals for broadcast segments of each show that were live-streamed on Clarkson’s Facebook page.
(Jim Evans)
South Africa - The Rivers Church in Sandton decided to open a new place of worship to maintain the growth and comfort of their congregants.
Their new location, formerly known as Theatre on the Track in Kyalami, is an old theatre turned conference venue, designed with holding people in mind. The venue needed an overhaul and DWR Distribution, with the help of the Install Crew, completely stripped and renovated the old technical installation from top to bottom, making it look fresh and professional and adhering to the Church’s aesthetic standards.
Edward Helliwell, technical manager from the Rivers Church, was adamant on having a top-notch lighting LED based lighting system, which was supplied and installed by DWR. This includes eight Robin LEDWash 600s, six Claypaky Axcor Beam 300s and four Robe DL4S Profiles which come from the Sandton branch. These all serve a very specific function key to the vision of the church.
“The Robe DL4S are used to light up worship leaders and singers, giving them enough light to perform their duties and for the audience to see them, plus the added benefit of full control to ensure the lighting is not harsh on the eyes,” explains Helliwell. The Robin LEDWash 600 is implemented for the audience and stage lighting to ensure a consistent and practical level of light whilst the Claypaky Axcor Beam 300s in conjunction with Le Maitre MVS Hazer are used for effect lighting and ambience to line up with the venue’s sound and speakers to deliver maximum results for a greater impact of message. Additionally, Longman FacePar 9
USA - An SQ-7 digital mixer from Allen & Heath now serves as the cornerstone of production technologies at the Academy of Modern Music Production (AMMP). Working in tandem with Ableton Live 10 music sequencer and digital audio workstation software, the SQ-7 brings a new level of control to the Mesa, Arizona-based learning centre.
“We’re more than a project studio, and different from a university or any other conventional school,” says AMMP founder and all-round ambassador Brandon Mandy. “What sets us apart is that we focus on teaching what it means to be an artist first, all while demonstrating everything else needed to succeed from technical to marketing skills.”
What sets this SQ-7 installation apart from all others is its deep integration with Ableton 10 Live, something - to the best of Mandy’s knowledge - that has never been done quite like this before.
“We found early on that obtaining a good mixdown was the hardest thing to do with Ableton 10 Live,” Mandy explains, “because you were always limited by not having motorised faders.”
After carefully assessing their needs, the AMMP team determined that integrating Allen & Heath’s SQ-7 with Ableton Live through MIDI offered the best solution. Once they had put on their MIDI-mapping thinking caps and downloaded the necessary SQ DAW Control software, they were able to use bi-directional control to harness the power of both systems in order to provide functionality beyond the sum of their parts.
“We were a bit out there on our own, leaving footprints for
UK - Specialist equipment supplier and production house, Light Fantastic Production Services have applied their stock of Robe MegaPointe fixtures to a variety of prestigious live events.
Having made a significant investment in Robe MegaPointe fixtures to extend their growing lighting inventory, Light Fantastic has been keeping these versatile, powerful fixtures busy throughout the Spring season.
LFPS director, Rob Myer, says: “We have a long-standing relationship with Robe so naturally we are delighted with the performance of our MegaPointes. Over the past few months we have been making great use of them on a host of projects, from creating aerial searchlight effects and gobo projection across building facades to adding incredible theatrical looks to prestigious large-scale live events, including a particularly spectacular product launch installation on a roof at Chelsea Harbour.”
Working both on their own in-house projects and in collaboration with a broad range of industry partners, LFPS provide service and support to a huge variety of live event, television and music productions. Supplying lighting, audio, staging and full technical back up, the company continues to gain prominence as a respected, responsive, reliable production resource.
The company has been making key investments throughout all areas of its business, including expanding its lighting offering, to continue the organic growth of the organisation and maintain the service levels on which they pride themselves.
Rob concludes: “Our lighting inventory, including our
USA - The Brooklyn Tabernacle, designed in 1918 by Thomas Lamb, the architect of the original Madison Square Garden across the East River in Manhattan, flourished for years as the Lowe’s Metropolitan, one of the leading vaudeville theatres of its day.
Today, after being rescued from disrepair by the church, the building resonates with the uplifting energy of Pastor Jim Cymbala’s Sunday services, special events throughout the week, and performances by the six-time Grammy winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, which is directed by the pastor’s wife, Carol. Supporting these activities are immersive lighting and video displays that would have been impossible to imagine back in the building’s vaudeville theatre days.
Running the lighting and video system is a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium, installed in early 2019 by lighting designer Abner Torres of Out of Darkness Designs. Torres, who has done extensive work with gospel groups and clubs throughout the New York area, became involved with Brooklyn Tabernacle through his work lighting the Christian Hip-Hop Kingdom Choice Awards.
“I met Raynard James, the very talented audio engineer from Brooklyn Tabernacle, when I was working on the awards show,” says Torres. “This led to me being invited by the church to light a large-scale musical production, The Story of Love, for Easter. Talking to the tech team, we developed a plan for upgrading the church’s lighting system, beginning with their aging desk. It would have been virtually impossible to run the kind of Easter production they envisione
USA - Penn’s Peak is a popular 1,800-capacity entertainment facility in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, only tells half the story. Set in beautiful surroundings, its auditorium, plays host to a wide range of national and international artists.
Recently, the production team at Penn’s Peak took the decision to install a new sound system in the auditorium. The team chose a system based around Coda Audio AiRAY, supplied by Pennsylvania-based Saturn Systems.
The existing system at the venue was undersized and underpowered for what is a large, open, acoustically challenging space. Penn’s Peak is characterised by its predominantly wooden interior, the acoustics of which alter drastically when the hall is empty at soundchecks and full at showtime. The areas under the balconies on either side of the hall had also presented problems. The team was aware that the experience of patrons in these areas was nowhere near to delivering a satisfying audio experience and needed significant improvement.
The venue’s audio lead Chris Chalfin reports: “As well as overcoming the inherent challenges presented by the acoustics, we also needed to take into account the very wide range of artists and genres that come through the venue. We needed a system that was clean, clear and in your face - something that had incredible vocal intelligibility. My experience as a touring engineer of using Coda Audio on the road led me to the conclusion that it would be the perfect fit for Penn’s Peak.
“I’ve been convinced for a while that Coda will be the next major player in t
Colombia - Teatro Colón Bogotá, Colombia’s national theatre, finished the last stage of a four-year renovation with the addition of 10 ADB Stagelight Klemantis AS 1000 cyc lights and 10 Axcor Profile 900 fixtures provided by Audio Concept de Colombia.
“In selecting the Axcor Profile 900s, we outlined the needs of the luminaires based on certain parameters - they must be spots, have blades, CRI, and, above all, must be LEDs,” says Leonardo Murcia Buitrago, the theatre’s lighting manager. “We compared the technical specifications of all the brands we looked at and without hesitation went with Claypaky. The Axcor Profile 900s give us a great temperature. The curve is so natural and exponential.”
“The new Klemantis cyc lights have the most wonderful colour curvature and dimmer, perfect for theatre,” he adds.
“We included the fixtures in all of our productions as soon as they arrived. They’ve been amazing and have won over the theatre lighting techs with their power.”
A performance of the Revolución Pazcífica Bailes de Resistencia by the Jovenes Creadores del Chocó Company from the Colombia’s Pacific coast, utilised the new fixtures. “They made the dancers stand out without interrupting or distracting, which was perfect,” says scenic and lighting designer Álvaro Tobón.
The director of Teatro Colón Bogotá, Manuel José Álvarez Gaviria, adds, “I can only say that we are very, very happy to have these luminaires on our stage.”
In the next three years the theatre is scheduled to build a new c
UK - The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) has recently benefited from the implementation of a K-array Anakonda and Kobra loudspeaker system supplied by UK distributor 2B Heard.
Following a K-array demonstration and training day conducted by 2B Heard directors Dave Wooster and Sam Nankivell, the audio staff at LIPA were impressed with the range of solutions that the Italian loudspeaker brand offers, and decided to take the opportunity for third year live sound students to use K-array systems on a production of <IRomeo and Juliet in the 400-seat Paul McCartney Auditorium. Students were given a strict brief to minimise the visual impact of the sound system, while at the same time delivering clarity and consistency throughout the audience area at an SPL appropriate for the dance-based nature of the show.
“The sound system had to be as discreet as possible given the highly detailed nature of the set,” explains third-year sound technology student and production sound engineer for the show, John Doolan, “but still be able to produce excellent sound reinforcement for the audience. Only K-array could deliver on such a brief.”
Providing left and right stereo feeds for the stalls of the Paul McCartney Auditorium were a pair of Kobra KK102 passive line arrays, with a further two units running in mono. The one-metre high columns blended unobtrusively with the pillars of the building structure.
Complementing these and making up the mono front-fill speaker system were four Anakonda flexible array speakers, totally unnoticeable within
UK - Creation Live started working with Fly Events on their inaugural Fly Open Air dance promotion in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens back in September 2016.
By the time the event arrived at the 17th century stately home, Hopetoun House, the following May they had adopted sister company VME’s Martin Audio MLA, aware of all the sensitivities of presenting an EDM event in the 6500-acre grounds of a historic building overlooking the River Forth, which separates Edinburgh from Fife.
Since then, the event has blossomed, more than doubling the original Hopetoun House attendance to 8,500 per day this year, and increasing the inventory of award-winning loudspeaker elements accordingly.
Creation Live’s Tom Whittle, who heads the event and production company which this year will see them execute 300 plus events of varying sizes, described the event as “absolutely amazing”. This was largely because of a bill that included Solumun’s first appearance in Scotland in a decade, alongside Nina Kraviz, Sven Väth, Peggy Gou and Seth Troxler. The other reason it excelled was because they invested in a set of 12m high PA towers to get sufficient array height on a main stage that was designed by Creation Live’s Tom Elkington. This gave them additional control.
The rig comprised nine MLA elements, with three MLD Downfill at the base on each side. A further 10 of the smaller Martin Audio MLA Compact enclosures were used for in-fills and for LF extension a row of 20 Martin Audio MLX was floor-mounted across the front of the stage.
The main FOH
Spain - The International Music Summit Ibiza (IMS) is a comprehensive event dedicated to promoting awareness of and appreciation for electronic music. Created in 2007, when it was presented by Pete Tong as a platform to inspire debate and discussion, the Summit has since grown to be widely regarded as a leading platform for thought and leadership in the electronic music sphere.
The 2019 edition took place over five days in May and welcomed industry leaders, influencers and newcomers to participate in a series of talks, presentations, socials and performances, spread across a number of venues on the island. Curated in partnership with shesaid.so, the global network of women in the music industry, this year’s programme focused on mental health, diversity and examining club culture within the objective of developing new strategies to address these important issues.
The Shop Ibiza has been a trusted partner and supplier since the event’s inception, providing an ever-increasing inventory of production support as the scale and scope of IMS has increased. This year The Shop supplied three of IMS’s principal locations with all sound, lighting, video and DJ requirements, as well as providing further support to satellite events. The Shop also worked closely with official event-sponsor, Pioneer DJ, co-ordinating its exhibition stands and literature and constructing its product-testing stands.
The Hardrock Hotel Ibiza hosted both IMS’s extensive Conference Room programme as well as its Poolside official events, a highlight of which was the IMS Networki
USA - It’s been a year since Tomcat and JTE joined Area Four Industries America in a 25,000sq.ft shared office and warehouse space in Thousand Oaks, California.
At this location, the companies have been able to provide their customers on or near the west coast of the US and Canada with faster delivery, local customer service, and full technical support.
The Tomcat and JTE factory in Knoxville, Tennessee, supplies the warehouse with the most popular sizes and lengths of Tomcat and JTE products to ensure their customers’ orders are packed up and shipped out efficiently.
The west coast office team includes Adrian Forbes-Black, vice-president of sales and marketing, supported by Douglas Debusschere and Gene Matera, both western regional sales managers. Also ready to serve is the newest addition to the team, Sean Carr, who is a sales and customer service representative.
(Jim Evans)
Sweden - Despite having worked with Swedish House Mafia’s Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso in a one-off show in San Francisco, when the time came, Vision Factory production designer, Sam Tozer nevertheless had to pitch for the gig (read full production report in LSi June).
At the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium gig he had gone heavy on GLP’s popular impression X4 20 Bars and equally en-vogue JDC1 hybrid strobes, and that same formula worked for him again at the house legends’ comeback shows at Stockholm’s Tele2 Arena. It quickly became clear that this would be no ordinary EDM experience.
Assisted by LD, Alex Hess, he says: “I already knew the feel of the performance the boys would want to create, so the process became fairly collaborative. Being a comeback show it needed to be stylistic, monologic and be something that no-one had seen before.”
The three artistes, whose performance took place on a ‘floating’ platform, became heavily involved in the entire process as did creative director, Alexander Wessely. “They knew they wanted a giant screen and have lighting based on three circles. Alex [Hess] and I worked side by side to create a new style of lighting rather than a simple EDM look that people were probably expecting.”
The mainstay of the rig was three 7.2m circular four-tonne trusses on Kinesys motor control, with a pipe grid across the circles. Tozer commandeere
Spain - Pacha’s Destino Resort in Ibiza revamped its entire outdoor DJ stage and club for the 2018 season, installing a complete d&b GSL system to increase sound quality and volume inside the resort while reducing noise pollution for nearby neighbours.
Perched on a clifftop at Cap Martinet above the resort of Talamanca, Pacha-owned Destino resort offers stunning views over Ibiza Old Town. For summer season 2018, the resort launched with a new, wooden arched stage and half-dome covering, revamped VIP and outdoor dancefloor spaces, and a d&b GSL System.
A customised DJ booth takes centre stage, flanked by six GSL tops each side, consisting of four GSL8 and four GSL12, and 10 SL-GSUBs stacked directly beneath in a distributed sub array for a total control of the LF dispersion beam. For monitoring, the DJs are hearing four V-GSUBs and a pair of V7Ps.
Freshly installed to welcome thousands of partygoers and a host of big-name DJs including Sven Väth, Koze and Dennis Ferrer, the GSL System was commissioned by Pacha and overseen by Destino’s Head of Technology, Jordi Ferragut.
“For Destino’s sound, we are looking for control - we need to control the levels that we are sending to our audience and to our neighbourhood. The resort is located in a residential area and it’s very important that we do not annoy our nearby residents,” says Ferragut. “We chose the d&b GSL System because of its ability to deliver high quality sound with directivity, thanks to its design and full-range cardioid techniques. GSL is the next level for
The Netherlands - Andre Beekmans, lighting designer with The Art of Light, used Ayrton’s Ghibli LED spot fixtures to create a lightscape on and around the main stage at A State of Trance festival in The Netherlands this year in celebration of ASOT 900.
A State of Trance (ASOT) is the weekly radio show of award-winning DJ Armin van Buuren and the largest trance network in the world. Every year the 50th episode is celebrated with a major live concert in The Netherlands, with smaller satellite events in other countries around the world.
This spring marked the 900th show, which was celebrated in front of a 35,000 capacity audience at the Jaarbeurs Centre in van Buuren’s hometown of Utrecht, designed and operated by The Art of Light, and promoted by Alda Events.
Lighting designer Beekmans chose 65 Ayrton Ghibli, supplied by Ampco Flashlight, as the main spot fixture for the mainstage at this huge celebration. The team at The Art of Light is very familiar with Ayrton having used MagicPanel fixtures many times in the past, but this was their first time using Ghibli.
“For A State of Trance we were looking for a great effects spot which could give us lots of scope for mid-air effects and big picture stuff,” says Beekmans. “Flashlight presented us with several options and we found that Ghibli had it all for us! We were really happy with what we found – Ghibli has a great gobo setup, and the light output was also superb and fitted the budget. It was just what we needed as the main spot for the main stage.”
The Art of Light team had
UK - The fast-developing Farmer J health food concept opened its second operation recently in the City of London in a strategic new development opposite Monument Station, at the entrance to London Bridge.
An all-day operation, it serves breakfasts and lunches on fieldtrays, with all food cooked on site using fresh ingredients. As it moves into the evening session for cocktails and dinner the atmosphere changes again.
To keep the mood constantly evolving during the different trading patterns, owner Jonathan Recanati wanted a subtle, but high-quality sound system. Evolve Install had already undertaken some work at the original Farmer J in Leadenhall, boosting the original sound system there with some JBL Control 25-1. “And that primarily won us the contract for the full fit-out here,” explains director Elliot Patterson.
Working alongside music providers and customer profilers Open Ear Music, he said, “Jonathan liked the Control 25-1 in Leadenhall Street so much we said we would stay with the series, and move up to the Control 28-1. It’s important to keep this consistency as with a lot of leisure hospitality brands you see random speakers being used from unit to unit.”
Arriving on site when the building - a much larger footprint than its forerunner - was still a shell, Patterson recalls that the client “was very clear and articulate in what he wanted and that was a good, clean audio feed, sonically excellent and good aesthetically”.
He wanted to provide as much versatility with the source and volume control as Open Ear Music
South Africa - Selby’s Productions has been servicing the events and conferencing world since 1980 and most recently, the company upraded its offering with the addition of an L-Acoustics Kara system.
The purchase of the long-throw Kara modular line source loudspeaker system is part of a larger plan for Selby’s to move fully to L-Acoustics as their choice of loudspeaker. This choice was two years in the making, according to the Durban branch manager Wayde Sparks. “Richard Smith from DWR Distribution and I had been talking about the Kara for a while, and when it came time for us to upgrade our PA system it was my first option. I have been to the demos for most of the big players in this field, and the truth is, nothing else really compares for me.”
As a company Selby’s focus a lot on the conferencing world, and this involves spaces of varying size. “The versatility the Kara offers is one of the main reasons we made the purchase. From a single point stack for a small room to full flown line array for outdoor events, it ticks all the boxes,” says Wayde of the modular nature of the Kara.
Out of the box the system was used at an event for the Sumitomo Rubber South Africa Group, where local performing artists were “blown away by the quality”. The system is being used on various ICC conferences too, showcasing the diverse environments in which the Kara is capable of delivering.
(Jim Evans)
UK - AV and event production company Blitz has installed loudspeaker equipment from EM Acoustics to ExCeL London’s ICC auditorium.
The equipment forms part of the auditorium’s in-house equipment so any clients using the space will be able to benefit from this installation as part of their tenancy.
The kit list from supplier EM Acoustics includes equipment from the company’s new Halo Arena line.
Jeremy Rees, CEO at ExCeL London, comments: “At ExCeL, we recognise the importance of delivering innovative events that provide a truly immersive, memorable experience. Increasingly technology is at the core of that approach. We are delighted that Blitz has chosen ExCeL to install this high-spec system, enabling us to deliver an enhanced experience, within our Auditorium, to our varied portfolio of clients including agencies, corporates, associations and exhibition organisers.”
Jason Sorabji, group production director at Blitz, adds: “Our team has the in-depth knowledge of ExCeL London’s ICC Auditorium, and we know that this new EM Acoustics equipment will take the experience to a whole new level for clients. We can really maximise space and provide the best technical requirements for our clients.”
Mike Wheeler, operations director at EM Acoustics, explains: “The HALO-A and HALO-B systems are pivotal product releases for us, and to have a company like Blitz adopt them for a venue such as the ICC is a strong statement about the systems' performance, and the future direction EM Acoustics is heading in. We look forward to workin
USA - Australian burlesque Star Wars parody The Empire Strips Back has just completed its most extensive North American tour to date, also visiting Canada for the first time, complete with a suitably boisterous lightshow designed by Peter Rubie, featuring 30 Robe Spiider LED wash beams as the core moving light fixtures.
The show has delighted audiences since it launched at the Vanguard Theatre in Sydney in 2011.
Peter has been involved with the show for the last four years, taking over from original lighting designer Ross Graham. Since then, it has evolved into the performance spectacle it is today including new acts and songs, and in 2018, a complete refresh of the lighting rig.
It was at this stage that Peter decided to replace the previous LED wash lights with Robe’s latest generation Spiider - a fixture known for its power, smooth colour mixing and fantastic range of hues.
Peter wanted Spiiders in the rig to help add some of the theatrical detail needed - in addition to all the big beamy rock ‘n’ roll style colour and movement cues. They are positioned on a 5 high by 6 wide staggered grid above the stage which also has a wall effect from the front, a powerful look that Ross created when the show first started touring.
“The Spiider has a beautiful quality of light at the right brightness,” he comments, adding that while they can do all the rich bold saturates that are fundamental to the primary style and vibe of the show, they can also produce all the pastel shades and subtleties needed.
Upgrading from th