UK - Office rentals specialist Halkin recently opened new premises on King William Street, in the heart of the City of London’s financial district. Distributed across four floors, the workspace required an extensive AV system that would fit the brand’s technology standard and enable collaboration and ease of use for clients. London-based AV and IT specialists, Tateside led the integration of a complete AV system across a total of eight meeting rooms.

“We have worked with Halkin on several workspaces over the past couple of years,” reveals Jack Cornish, technical director at Tateside. “We started out collaborating on smaller jobs such as upgrades of existing meeting rooms. The complete integration of the new office spaces at King William Street is our largest project with Halkin.”

Halkin has established a technological standard across all

Italy - Prolights’ VersaPar has been included in the lighting setup for 100Minuti, the new prime-time show on the La7 network, hosted by Corrado Formigli and investigative journalist Alberto Nerazzini.

Provided and installed by AMG International, the VersaPar units will be used throughout the duration of the show, illuminating the studio's perimeter and contributing to creating a captivating setting. These LED PARs are ideal for broadcast environments, thanks to their high luminous output, extensive zoom range, and advanced colour mixing capabilities.

The versatile design of the VersaPar, combined with its colour uniformity and quiet operation, makes it a vital element for any television production that seeks to combine high visual and technological quality. Additionally, VersaPar's HD Dimming technology ensures that every detail is visibl

Qatar - The opening ceremony of the AFC Asian Cup at the Lusail Stadium in Doha, on 12 January 2024 featured an impressive lighting design by Roland Greil and his team.

Greil chose a grandMA3 system to control the lighting. This comprised four grandMA3 full-size consoles for the production and four grandMA3 light as mobile consoles in the stadium, supported by 12 grandMA3 processing units XL. In addition, a further three grandMA3 full-size consoles were used for preparatory work at the previz studio.

“The full redundancy as well as the incorporation of the remote consoles into the network were particularly important to us as it allowed us to operate from several different locations within the stadium. And for a show of this magnitude, the multi-user capability of the lighting consoles is indispensable, as we work with several programmers in these c

Australia - American singer-songwriter Noah Kahan played a vibrant, sold-out show at Perth’s Red Hill Auditorium in Western Australia in front of 5000 fans.

Lighting director, programmer and operator Alexandra Lutz-Higgins utilised a largely Robe lighting rig supplied for this show by lighting and visuals rental specialist, Showscreens, also based in Perth. The company has recently invested in Robe Fortes.

The Robe count totalled 22 x Fortes, 21 x BMFL WashBeams (four running on a two-way RoboSpot system), plus 32 x Spiider LED wash beams.

Chase Hall from US-based design studio Cour Design originated the visual design and Lutz-Higgins has been onboard and on the road with it since May 2023 when the tour kicked off once Kahan’s third album, Stick Season, dropped.

Lutz-Higgins originally programmed the show together with Wi

UK - The multi-use requirement of Cardiff Students’ Union’s Great Hall presented SWG Events with several challenges when designing and installing a frontline PA. The venue is a multipurpose space with a capacity of 1,500 and a variety of needs. First, the PA system needed to meet the approval of incoming circuit bands and productions, and at the same time be completely adaptable to a wide range of events. Since live music events are hosted in more than one space within the building, the PA needed to be demountable and reappropriated together in various locations.

SWG Events successfully met the challenges presented to them, their pitch based around Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision WPS line array. Joe Bailey, account manager at SWG Events, adds, “With our strong ties to the Wavefront Precision product range in our busy rental inventory, we were conf

Europe - Swedish metal band Amaranthe recently performed a near-sold out, 24-date tour of Europe promoting their latest studio album, The Catalyst, which was released in February.

The band’s lighting designer, operator and project manager, Lutz Neemann, together with systems technician and LD No2, Daniel Scheuch, used 14 Ayrton Diablo S fixtures as their main source of key lighting. Ten Diablo S were rigged on lighting towers and a further four on top of a truss set on a dolly as part of the floor package.

“I chose Ayrton Diablo S for this run with Amaranthe as they are equipped with the perfect features. They have great rotating gobo wheels, impressively real colour mixing and great dimming behaviour,” said Neemann. “It's simply remarkable how quickly the lamp responds to the dimming effects. As a touring LD for metal bands, I've se

Ireland - Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators, is on a 40-cities-in-24-countries The River Is Rising tour, travelling with Nashville-based designer and programmer Keith Hoagland.

Vendors vary from place to place, but Hoagland works hard to ensure that the Chauvet Professional Color Strike M is always in his rig.

“I put it at the top of my list,” he says of the fixture. “The Color Strike M serves a dual purpose for me. It gives me great colours and coverage as a wash unit. Then, when I want to turn things up, it’s a powerful strobe. All this without taking up a lot of space on stage.”

Colour saturation and intense strobing were both evident as soon as Slash and friends took the stage at Dublin3 Arena on 28 March. For close to two minutes, the stage was bathed in deep saturated blues

UK –Floridian ska punk outfit Less Than Jake are touring with video at the heart of their performance for the first time, with live feed footage and pre-made content displayed on three large LED screens driven by tvONE's Green Hippo brand of Hippotizer Media Servers.

Longtime Less Than Jake Lighting designer Nikki Dickinson, owner of Rig Lite Design Limited, teamed up with the band and Pete McCrea of Production AV to specify a kit list of five Marshall CV255 and CV366 cameras to capture the antics of the five band members, live feeds from which were fed into a Hippotizer Amba Media Server. A host of content taking in home-shot footage, old TV clips, song-related imagery and stock effects from various effect sources and from within Hippotizer were handled by the Amba and driven to the three 8' x 6' Desay M6 LED screens.

Ayrton Magic Blade R moving F

USA - Phoenix Lights 2024 featured EDM performances and light and video show created by Luis Torres on a massive 100ft-wide and 48ft-tall rig. Taking place on the Pheonix Raceway at the end of March, the festival featured performances by the likes of Kaskade, Deorro, b2b, Valentino Khan, Dr. Oliver Tree, Apashe, Alleycvt, Levity and Mamba. Torres channelled their musical energy into stunning visuals with help from 40 Chauvet Professional Color Strike M and 30 Maverick MK3 Wash fixtures supplied by Hardwired Productions.

Like the rest of the lighting fixtures in his rig, the Color Strike and Maverick units were spread throughout the truss structures. Torres did this to create unexpected visual moments and convey the kind of uncertain spontaneity that was in keeping with the festival’s supernova theme.

“I wanted the rig to have different moments an

Sweden - The stage design for the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest has been unveiled ahead of the grand final in Malmö, Sweden, on 11 May. Lighting and screen content designer Fredrik Stormby from Green Wall Designs and production designer Florian Wieder are the creative team helping to create, design, and deliver a large-scale and spectacular show to a global audience of over 160m. 

The stage and lighting design for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will focus on the audience more than ever. With the stage placed in the centre of the arena, viewers will experience a visually revolutionary concept. The 360-degree experience surrounds the audience and viewers in the Malmö Arena. The stage is placed in the middle of the audience and shaped like a cross. Movable LED cubes, LED floors, light, video, and stage technology will be able to create gre

Portugal – Europalco recently transformed Lisbon's MEO Arena into ‘a realm of sensory delight’ for the Generali Tranquilidade (one of the largest non-life insurers in the Portuguese market) annual meeting event. Europalco deployed the L-ISA system from L Acoustics for the first time in Portugal to create an immersive sound experience.

The event was organised by agency Desafio Global and marked an important milestone in the rebranding of the Tranquilidade brand under Generali Tranquilidade. Europalco implemented an impressive range of audio-visual technologies, scenography and furniture, turning the MEO Arena into an immersive sanctuary for the 3,000 attendees, including employees and business partners from across the country. In collaboration with Desafio Global, the aim was to create an event where sound played a key role in captivating the audience.<

UK - For more than 35 years, the Sensible Music Group has provided recording, rehearsal and production services to the music industry at its London studios. Mixing, mastering and streaming services also feature at this multi-space complex, whose past and present client list reads like a who’s who of international popular music. From global megastars Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd to London ‘locals’ Amy Winehouse and Madness, Sensible Music has seen a galaxy of household names pass through its doors.

A recent decision to upgrade some of its tech saw Sensible’s chief engineer/producer Jon Moon contact amplifier manufacturer MC², initially to discuss amplification for Clair monitor wedges in the studio’s rehearsal rooms.

A discussion followed between Jon and Richard Fleming of MC² who made some suggestions and subsequently visited the studio

Italy - Hip-hop duo Coez & Frah Quintale released an album, Lovebars, which they supported with a national tour, selling out arenas throughout the country. Embracing the latest in technology, the duo adopted immersive audio for their live shows via L-ISA spatial audio technology and did so by pairing for the very first time with L Series line array technology.

Compact, lightweight, and using up to 60% less material to build, the L Series is designed to occupy 30% less space than other products capable of the same output, minimising trucks on the road, and lightening the carbon footprint of the tour. Using immersive audio to create a small venue atmosphere in an arena For Coez & Frah Quintale, the opportunity to offer an immersive experience to their fans enabled them to create an intimate environment in what was a significant step up for the

Vietnam - Powersoft’s energy efficient T Series amplifiers are powering a new sound system at Hanoi’s Goethe-Institut. Nestled in the capital city, Goethe-Institut is a provider of German cultural and educational programmes worldwide, promoting the German language and fostering international relationships.

The cultural institute needed a new sound system in its multipurpose room, capable of accommodating a variety of activities including teaching sessions, presentations, art exhibitions and musical performances. Goethe-Institut tasked local integrator PROSound Vietnam with the challenge.

“The multipurpose room had to follow our client’s high standards and have a clear, lively and detailed sound for teaching, for presenting arts, and playing classical, pop and folk music,” says Mr. Nguyen Viet Trung, CEO of PROSound Vietnam.

To achie

Belgium - Dave Gahan and Martin Gore were never known for their skills on the basketball court, though their group, Depeche Mode did contribute to the soundtrack of the NBA 2K15 video game. However, the English electronic musicians did cause something of a full court press at the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying match between Belgian and the USA.

That contest took place at a sold-out Antwerp’s Sportpaleis on 9 February, just three days after Depeche Mode rocked the arena with their music. This left little time for Bart Aelbrecht and his team at AB Sound to build their lighting system for the pre-game festivities and the courtside broadcast. Still, like any good team, they were more than up to the challenge, thanks to some hard work and careful planning.

“The Depeche Mode show was a day before our build-up, so we were given a short time,” said

Australia - Bruce Johnston mixed bands including Hoodoo Gurus, Divinyls, Boom Crash Opera, Crowded House and Midnight Oil in his native Australia, then for a 12-year stint took care of front-of-house sound for Oasis and, later, for building one of the world’s most respected sound companies.

It was in his early days with the Gallagher brothers that Bruce first came across Nexo.

“Oasis needed serious volume. At the time, line arrays had just started but they weren’t giving me what I needed” says Bruce. “We mixed on a Nexo Alpha system, and it was just – wow – right in your face. And it never said no.”

Alpha quickly became Bruce’s PA of choice for Oasis. Then, in 2002, came Nexo’s innovative Geo T line array. “We took Geo T on plenty of big stadium tours – big hangs of 24 at 100,000-people events. That PA was very good.

China - Duke Kunshan University has a team of faculty members located all over the world and has requirements for blended smart education. Duke Kunshan University has installed 116 Sennheiser TCC 2 Ceiling Array Microphones in 50 classrooms and various other spaces across its campus, providing students and faculty with an immersive blended learning experience that is easy to operate.

Located in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, Duke Kunshan University (DKU) is a 1,200-acre campus dedicated to creating a world-class educational and research university characterized by liberal arts education, offering a range of high-quality, innovative academic programs and a diverse, inclusive culture to students from around the globe in order to cultivate well-educated and enthusiastic future global leaders.

This audio-video project is part of the university's second phase

UK - The multi-award-winning musical Hamilton has selected ETC fixtures and control for its UK and Ireland tour. The hit musical – which has already been a huge success around the world – is composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and tells the story of America’s founding father Alexander Hamilton.

ETC dealer Encore supplied the equipment for the tour which included High End Systems Halcyon Titanium and Halcyon Platinum automated fixtures, Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr entertainment luminaires, and Eos Apex 10, Gio @5, Ion Xe and Ion XE RPU for lighting control.

The Hamilton productions around the world utilise lighting equipment which was released over a decade ago and the team working on the UK and Ireland tour were ready for a change. They wanted lighting solutions that would make this tour more sustainable in terms of power consum

Taiwan - The Taipei Performing Arts Centre (TPAC), which contains three performance spaces – The Grand Theatre, the Globe Playhouse, and the Blue Box, has recently invested in 40 x Robe Spiider LED wash beam luminaires, which will help light an array different of productions staged at the venue.

Production values are high on the agenda at TPAC which has around 150 full time employees, a third of whom are designated to work across assorted technical disciplines, including TPAC senior technical officer Yi-Ming Liu (AKA Birdie), who explained that Robe’s Spiider was the “most powerful and efficient solution with the best range of authentic colour temperature whites and optimal energy savings for all types of production design”. He was instrumental in picking the Spiiders, together with TPAC’s head of lighting, Pang-Yan Lin Ling, and others from the li

USA – Artis—Naples is a leading destination for the visual and performing arts in Southwest Florida. The Kimberly K. Querrey and Louis A. Simpson Cultural Campus in Naples includes two performance halls: the Frances Pew Hayes Hall and the Myra J. Daniels Pavilion, as well as The Baker Museum and the Stabile Education building.

Most recently, the 283-seat Daniels Pavilion, whose diverse range of programmes includes music, film, dance, comedy, lectures, and exhibitions featuring international artists, received an upgrade in the form of a new DiGiCo Quantum225 console, used for both front-of-house and monitor mixing duties, and sourced through Fort Lauderdale-based Carlton Audio Services.

“The Daniels Pavilion hosts a really wide range of performances, from lectures to chamber music to rock bands, so our console has to be as versatile as the venue

UK - After playing a stretch of intimate in-store shows at independent record shops across the nation to announce their debut album I Wonder If The World Knows, The K's arrived at one of their local concert venues, the 1000-cap, Grade II-listed Parr Hall in Warrington on 10 April.

To ensure an optimum audio experience for their fans, Martin Audio rental partner, dBS Solutions were brought in to provide their flagship WPS (Wavefront Precision) scalable line array. This was set in a ground-stacked configuration, as due to weight limitation flying the PA wasn’t an option.

The WPS was mounted, six-a-side, on a single SXCF118 cardioid sub, while a further six WS218X subs were arranged in a broadside array in the pit, for maximum LF grunt. Providing front-fill coverage were four Martin Audio WPM, in two-box stacks.

Meanwhile, in the balc

USA – Shure and Neat have announced an alliance to deliver an enhanced meeting experience in large and acoustically challenging spaces.

By joining forces, Shure and Neat ensure seamless integration between Neat Bar Pro, a powerful video meeting bar from Neat, and multiple Shure Microflex Ecosystem Solutions, providing uncompromised audio and video in complex workspaces, say the companies.

"Our alliance with Neat brings the best of video and audio into a single room”, says Peter James, VP global business development at Shure. "Our integrated solutions can now easily be installed where customers want to have both a front of room all in one device and extraordinary audio coverage throughout the space. We are thrilled to be providing a first-of-its-kind combination for large conferencing environments that will provide better experiences and more reli

UK - Manchester-based audio specialists, tube uk, has taken delivery of a new d&b KSL line array speaker system plus assorted rigging elements in a significant investment underlining the strength, diversity and buoyance of tube’s business and operational planning for the immediate and longer-term future.

This initial order comprises 20 x KSL8 and four KSL12 top cabinets plus eight KSL-SUBS, a complete new system which is added to tube’s existing stocks of d&b Y and V-Series together with the associated D80 amplifiers that the company already owns.

tube works extensively in the music, performance, arts, and corporate / industrial event sectors, also specialising in managing audio for quirky, complex, and challenging projects.

Since the post-pandemic restart, shows have been steadily growing, getting more sonically ambitious and bei

Finland – The popular TV contest Tähdet, tähdet returned for 2024 with a host of singers belting out numbers ranging from 1980s pop to Eurovision classics. Broadcast on Finnish channel Nelonen, audiences watched performances backed by nine Roe Vanish V8T LED screens with live and pre-made content manipulated using tvONE's Green Hippo brand of Hippotizer Media Servers.

“The set design required visual appeal tailored to the viewers both in the studio and at home,” explains Varpu Sipilä from Finnish visual design company Visual45, which was brought in to create the lighting and visual elements. “Lighting design and operation, as well as video content production and operation, played a significant role. Particularly, the use of video surfaces was emphasized to enhance the atmosphere of the performances.”

On stage, the Visual45 team

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