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23 October 2024

USA - Established in 1985, Hilarities 4th Street Theatre in Downtown Cleveland comprises a cocktail bar, VIP cabaret space and Pickwick The Restaurant – a 185-seat eatery specialising in rustic American cuisine. One of the largest comedy venues in the USA, Hilarities features a sound solution from Renkus-Heinz.

With a capacity of 400 and several internal venues to consider, Hilarities was on the lookout for a reliable and memorable sound system for the first time in 20 years. The club’s owner, Nick Kostis, contacted NPi Audio Visual Solutions, an integrator he knew he could rely on for a complete system overhaul. The project was split into three sections: Frolic Cabaret Bar, Hilarities main stage and the Martini Bar. NPi chose Renkus-Heinz’s IC Live X models, as well as the IC8 line arrays and point source C Series loudspeakers.

“I’ve used

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23 October 2024

UK - SOUL Church, one of the largest and fastest-growing churches in the UK and Western Europe, has opened a new, purpose-built auditorium in Norwich. The 1,250-seat facility features a state-of-the-art L-Acoustics Kara II line array system, designed to provide an elevated audio experience for the church's diverse congregation.

Founded in 2014 by Pastors Jon and Chantel Norman, SOUL Church has quickly become a leading faith community with over 2,500 members. The church hosts a variety of services throughout the week, from large Sunday gatherings to intimate Bible studies. The new L-Acoustics system will support these gatherings, as well as SOUL Church's annual Christmas spectacular, which attracts nearly 10,000 attendees.

"Building a new church of this scale in Western Europe is truly unique," explains Gareth Lee, of the Directional Leadership Team a

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22 October 2024

Germany - The Adele in Munich show was big in every respect. Taking place on a fully bespoke, purpose-built stage in front of a 220m x 19m LED screen backdrop (a Guinness Book of World Records holder) with a central thrust measuring 84m, the Adele Arena hosted approximately 80,000 fans each night for 10 performances in August. 

The spectacular production was Adele’s second concert residency and marked her first non-UK European concert since 2016, after which the entire site was taken down and reset to its pre-existing condition.

The creative team behind Adele in Munich spent 10-12 months working on the various aspects of this massive undertaking with everything designed around these unique performances, all of which was intended to bring the artist as close as possible to her fans in the audience.

Lighting designer, Cory FitzGeral

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22 October 2024

Poland - The Gdańsk Institute of Urban Culture is a multi-purpose venue that features an immersive experience with L-ISA technology from L-Acoustics. “Gdańsk has always been blessed with a pioneering, independent way of thinking. Everything starts here – one might say – and innovative spaces like Gdańsk Institute of Urban Culture with its L-ISA immersive experience help the community’s cultural vibrancy to flourish,” says Pawel Kuhn, marketing director at Audio Plus, which installed the new audio technology.

Housed in a converted water plant, which even features a river running underneath so that visitors can traverse via glass floors, the space is fittingly called the Kunszt Wodny (Water Art) building. The Institute creates and hosts a vast range of projects designed to promote culture and nurture the city's heritage. The building features a 50

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22 October 2024

UK - Bristol’s ArcTanGent ‘post-rock and experimental’ music festival kick-drummed its way to its Fernhill Farm location in September with headliners Mogwai and a host of alt-favourites performing amid live visual content. d&b Solutions company Production AV was challenged with supplying, rigging and operating the LED screens with all content driven by their own Hippotizer Amba+ Media Server.

To do the “infectious, thrashy rock” justice, Production AV’s Olie Goulding specified an 8m x 4.5m Desay M6 screen for the Main Stage, which was selected as the best size to fit the stage and structure. The team then coupled this with their playback and control solution with the Amba+ Media Server at its core.

“As each band was supplying their own content, the Amba+ made it easy to manage large amounts of data and provides a platform that makes

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22 October 2024

USA - The revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Sunset Blvd., directed by Jamie Lloyd, recently debuted at the St. James Theatre on Broadway with Nicole Scherzinger in the lead role.

This follows 16 weeks at the Savoy Theatre in London’s West End district, from September 2023 through this past January, where it won the Olivier Award for Best Sound Design. The winner of that award, Adam Fisher, is now reprising his role in New York, using the Fourier Audio transform.engine, a Dante-connected server designed to run VST3-native software plugins in a live environment.

Paired with a DiGiCo Quantum7T front-of-house console supplied by Masque Sound, this musical is Fisher’s third time using the transform.engine’s ability to let him access any and all plugins he needs in real time, with low latency. “I first used it on Kiss Me, Kate in April of

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22 October 2024

Germany - Set in a rock labyrinth, with certain upstage scene elements offset at heights up to 25m above the main stage area, Wunsiedel’s Luisenburg Festspiele, on Germany’s oldest outdoor stage, turned to TiMax SoundHub to create intelligible immersive audio for every seat in the 2,000-strong audience, via sophisticated object-based soundscapes rendered by the platform’s dynamic delay-matrix processing.

System sound designer, David Horn, maintains four TiMax SoundHub show control systems at his disposal, but used a single 64-channel unit activated for seamless real-time vocal localisation driven by a new TiMax TrackerD4, recently purchased from the TiMax German distributor, Pro-Audio Technik.

Eight TiMax Tracker sensors, some mounted on trees and even rocks, covered the 38m-wide and 25m deep performance area, complete with one section of stage

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22 October 2024

Germany - The lighting for Adele’s record-breaking Adele in Munich residency featured over 250 Robe Forte moving lights, split into 223 iForte LTXs used for multiple key lighting positions for the artist and 36 iFortes dedicated to lighting the band.

13 Robe iBolts were also part of the lighting aesthetic developed by Cory FitzGerald and the creative team, led by show director Kim Gavin, to embrace all the challenges and demands of this epic proportioned show by the global superstar. All lighting equipment was supplied by UK-based Neg Earth Lights and the screen was constructed by Solotech.

The 10 blockbusting shows took place over five weekends during the month of August 2024, and were production directed by Paul English. The performances were enjoyed by 730,000 people, also breaking the record for the highest attendance of any ‘concert residenc

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22 October 2024

Albania - Green Coast is a luxury tourist retreat located in the resort of Palasë. Known as the Albanian Riviera, and overlooking the Ionian Sea, it is also a popular recreational hub, with a number of bars and restaurants.

One of these is the latest LAST, run by restaurateurs Revo Hospitality Group (RHG). Described as a “one-stop shop for food and beverage experiences, providing something for everyone from daytime dining, nightlife and events” it recently turned to Martin Audio’s local distribution partner, Prosound for a sound system installation. This was after they had successfully carried out other work for the Group (including SALT restaurants, and Lift Steak & Rooftop Bar).

Having used the Prosound/Martin Audio combination successfully on previous installations, RHG had no need to change a winning formula. Tasked with reinforcing a

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22 October 2024

Europe - Onboard reliability is key for Norwegian singer-songwriter and record producer Marie Ulven Ringheim’s indie pop project, Girl in Red. The latest tour has seen the band grow, not only in size, but venue capacity. Larger venues meant higher complexity and production values, and sound engineers Kris Derry and Matt Wickens knew they needed the most stable equipment available, that also sounded great and could withstand the rigours of worldwide touring. For them, only DiGiCo could fit that bill, and the two Quantum 338s, KLANG:DMI, and Fourier Audio transform.engine, all provided by Entec Sound and Light, have been working for Girl in Red across the world in arenas and at festivals ever since.

Derry mixes at the front of house position. He has been with the band since 2019, and has witnessed a huge change in the way they tour.

"When I started,

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22 October 2024

UK - Specialist real estate development company, Long Harbour, recently added two new urban developments to its growing portfolio: The Sessile in Tottenham, North London and Riverstone Heights in Bromley-by-Bow, East London. Both developments are residential co-living spaces, where apartment residents enjoy access to shared amenities for life, work and play.

London-based systems integrators, Tateside, were approached by Long Harbour to complete the integration of user-friendly AV systems throughout both developments.

“We’ve worked with the Long Harbour group on and off for several years,” reflects Joby Morris, project manager at Tateside. “In the past, we’ve designed systems for other Long Harbour projects, but this was our first time working on a project of this scale with the client. Whilst there are differences between the two sites, it

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21 October 2024

Poland - Theatre Muzyczny (Musical Theatre) in the seaside city of Gdynia on Poland’s north coast is the largest musical theatre in Poland, with three stages able to accommodate over 1,580 people.

Also known for its world-class performances and high production values, the venue has recently invested in 43 Robe Forte moving lights, which are rigged in its 1,070-capacity main stage venue. These were supplied by Robe’s Polish distributor, Prolight, who won a competitive tender to supply the new tech.

Bartosz Wolak has worked at the Theatre for the last 11 years as chief LX and head of lighting, a multiplexing role that also encompasses designing and operating the lights for their own productions. He and his lighting team of eight were instrumental in choosing Robe for this major technical upgrade that ensures Theatre Muzyczny will continue presentin

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21 October 2024

Poland - Sound provider Gigant Sound/Letus, Europe’s largest Outline GTO inventory holder, was once again entrusted with delivering the sound for the National Festival of Polish Song in Opole. Along with the Sopot Festival, it ranks as one of the two most important cultural events in Poland, celebrating the achievements of Polish songwriters and performers over the past year.

The festival takes place in the Millennium Amphitheatre, a venue where every Polish artist aspires to perform. This site has hosted the event since 1963, making it one of the oldest European festivals.

Over the decades, it has seen the rise of numerous renowned Polish artists from various generations and genres, including Maryla Rodowicz, Marek Grechuta, Zbigniew Wodecki, and Justyna Steczkowska. The festival not only marks the start of summer each year with

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21 October 2024

Europe - Schoko Pro in Wiesbaden recently organised a corporate event at the Stockholm Exhibition Centre. For the lighting of the entire day's celebration, involving both conference and gala spaces, the team led by project manager Joe Wippel used Claypaky’s compact Midi-B Wash/Beamlight.

300 moving lights fitted with 19x40W LEDs replaced an older LED wash light of the same size supplied by a different manufacturer and used for this same event in previous years.

Jens Wetterkamp of NicLen, a dry-hire company in Dortmund, suggested that Schoko Pro try Claypaky's Midi-B. “As soon as I looked at the technical data sheet I realised that this solution was exactly what we were looking for. Then, once on site, the projector took us by surprise in several different ways: it is lightweight, bright, extremely stylish, generates delightful colours and has an

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21 October 2024

France - Young people from around the world participated in the 47th annual WorldSkills Competition in Lyon.

Founded in the aftermath of WWII when there was a global shortage of skilled workers, WorldSkills is dedicated to promoting vocational education. The 2024 edition of this biannual event fulfilled this mission in style.

Beyond being enriched by the exchange of ideas and knowledge, however, participants and guest from 70 countries left WorldSkills energised by the uplifting mood that resonated throughout Parc Olympique Lyonnais stadium during the closing ceremonies.

Enhancing this inspirational aura and taking its energy to a new level was the production design by Frédéric (Aldo) Fayard working with set designer Simon Fouillet, and lighting-multimedia designer Theo Broche Cannone, along with the rest of the team at Concept K that featu

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21 October 2024

UK - Tiger Bay, one of London’s late-night shisha lounges, has continued its expansion with the opening of a new venue in Enfield. This new location marks the brand’s fourth UK branch and its seventh internationally.

With this new venue, Tiger Bay wanted to create an environment that easily shifted from a dining experience to a lively party destination. As the evening progresses and guest DJs take over, the space needed to deliver ‘an immersive sound experience that elevates the entire atmosphere’. To meet these requirements, a quality, scalable sound system was essential – leading Tiger Bay to KV2.

“The client reached out to us via word of mouth, bringing a set of detailed drawings,” explains Toby Jones, AV designer at Middlesex Sound & Lighting, the team responsible for the sound system installation. “They were looking for a dis

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18 October 2024

UAE - Sphere Entertainment Co and the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi have announced that they will work together to bring the world's second Sphere to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

“The vision for Sphere has always included a global network of venues, and today’s announcement is a significant milestone toward that goal,” said James L. Dolan, executive chairman and chief executive officer, Sphere Entertainment. “Sphere is redefining live entertainment and extending the reach of its transformative impact. We are proud to collaborate with DCT Abu Dhabi to develop Sphere in their city.”

H.E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, said: “We are excited to bring Sphere to Abu Dhabi in partnership with Sphere Entertainment, providing our residents and visitors with an extraordinary new form of entertainment. S

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18 October 2024

USA - Bob Marley was larger than life, and the sheer scale of The Marley Brothers: The Legacy Tour reflected that. The recent outing, featuring five of his sons - Ziggy, Stephen, Julian, Ky-Mani and Damian - boasted a total of 19 musicians, singers, and one Rastafarian flag-waver onstage for the tour, which kicked off in Vancouver and concluded in Miami in early October.

The Legacy Tour is notable in part because it marked the first time that the siblings have performed together on the road in two decades. Monitors alone required two engineers manning two consoles - both DiGiCo Quantum338 desks - in addition to a Quantum852 used at front of house.

The three desks collectively shared three SD-Racks with 32-bit Stadius pre-amp cards on an Optocore loop, with one SD-Rack on the secondary loop at front of house providing AD/DA conversio

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18 October 2024

USA - Labour Day weekend saw the quiet mountain town of Telluride, Colorado transformed into the epicentre of global cinema for the 51st annual Telluride Film Festival. For the 24th year, Meyer Sound supported the festival as signature sponsor and cinema sound partner. Together, they brought state-of-the-art cinema sound technologies to the festival’s marquee cinemas, delivering the audio experience for filmmakers and audiences alike.

“It’s been a privilege to support the Telluride Film Festival for nearly a quarter century,” says Meyer Sound’s programme manager, cinema & residential, Jay Wyatt. “The festival’s bold, boundary-pushing spirit aligns perfectly with Meyer Sound’s commitment to innovation and superior sound, making it the ideal place to showcase our advanced cinema technologies.”

A key stop on the r

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18 October 2024

Canada - Although bad weather cut Ottawa’s Escapade Festival 2024 from three to two days, 45,000 fans attended the EDM extravaganza.

The ever-popular Bet99 Stage featured performances by the likes of Slander, Isoxo, Seven Lions, Kayzo, and Subtronics, all supported by a versatile, dynamic rig created by Onedot that featured 29 Chauvet Professional Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-washes, and an equal number of STRIKE Array 2 fixtures.

Animating every performance on this stage was a massive video wall measuring roughly 124’ wide by 10’ heigh. Comprised of two sections, the wall displayed a variety of evocative images and IMAG content on its surface, which rather than being configured as a straight plane, was arranged accordion style, with different sections protruding out further than others. This design endowed the stage with a greater sense of

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18 October 2024

South Africa - FBT’S distributor StageOne hosted the ArtOfTech event in Johannesburg, marking the South African launch of the FBT Myra Line Array System.

Peter Berry, founder of StageOne, tasked his team with transcending traditional demo events to deliver an extraordinary experience. "ArtOfTech was more than just a product launch; the production successfully merged technology with creativity to produce something truly special,” said Berry.

Over 350 select clients experienced live audio demonstrations of FBT's line arrays, Horizon, Muse, and the star of the show, Myra, the line array system for mid to large-size touring applications and high-end fixed installations.

Kyle Freemantle, a respected freelance sound engineer, praised the Myra for its user-friendly rigging and exceptional sound quality. "The FBT Myra features one of the most str

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17 October 2024

UK - Inspired by a summer of sport, Manchester Day 2024 was a vibrant one-day, event filled with music, dance, performance, acrobatics and a host of other interactive and audience participative events, all with a warm and enthusiastic street party atmosphere, staged in and around the city centre.

Manchester-based audio specialist, tube uk, was asked to provide PA and sound systems for the four main stages, two of which were located in the Deansgate area, two at St Ann’s Square and one on Market Street, all major city centre positions.

tube uk’s Melvyn Coote commented, “It is always fantastic to be part of this event which energises the city centre in the true spirit of Manchester, and it’s amazing to see people from all communities engaging and enjoying, making it their event.”

The main challenges for the tube team of four audio eng

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17 October 2024

USA - Working with Stageworx AV at Kemba Live, LD Matt King kept pace with Kameron Marlowe’s multi-faceted, fast-moving show on the star’s recent tour, as he supported the music with a versatile, high-powered lightshow that moved through a wide range of looks.

Helping him accomplish this was a collection of 32 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment. Included in this mix were 18 Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-wash, 10 Maverick Storm 2 BeamWashes, and four COLORado PXL Bar 16 fixtures.

“Kameron is a very dynamic artist,” said King. “Our show can go from old school country to rock and roll really fast, so I switched between warm and cool white to guide the audience and set the tone for where we were headed. For our opener I used cool white from the tubes in my Color STRIKE Ms to drive energy though big hits and swells i

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17 October 2024

UK - RCF UK partner, JPS Sound & Light, fielded 108 RCF loudspeaker enclosures at the recent Zimfest Live 2024 festival in Hertfordshire - now celebrating its 25th year.

Involved with this event for the past five years, John Southee’s company has watched the event - a celebration of Zimbabwean music, culture and music - mature from its old Colesdale Farm site near Potters Bar to the premium Hertfordshire County Show Ground outside St. Albans where up to 10,000 people from across the UK congregate over the two days.

JPS were tasked with providing a complete technical infrastructure (sound, lighting and video as well as camera crew) - populating two stages, the enlarged main stage and a six-pole Big Top. “The SmartStage180 provided a massive 15m x 12m stage area, with a 10m high roof. This offered an impressive 20-ton weight-loading and additio