Germany - Lighting designer Jerry Appelt and Matthias Meyert have set up their own pre-programming studio under the name Salty Dog, in his home town of Hamburg. Eight GLP impression FR1 TM (Trackmount) can be found in the new premises, set in the historic Zippelhaus. “Our planning office, Beacon GmbH, has been based in the Zippelhaus in Hamburg's old town for a number of years,” explains Jerry. “So far, we have rented various studios for pre-productions, which apart from the technical equipment, usually don't offer a lot of com-fort. With Salty Dog we wanted to create a really appealing alternative in a prime location, which we of course use ourselves and also rent out. “In the Salty Dog Studios we have integrated everything that we often missed in other studios. In addition, there is the attractive location directly opposite the Speicherstadt, with a large sel
USA - For the 2020 filming of Netflix musical, The Prom, Hog programmer Scott Barnes worked alongside director of photography Matthew Libatique and CLT Jeff Ferrero, with High End Systems Sola Series fixtures and Hog 4 control becoming central figures behind the scenes. The creative team employed SolaFrame Theatre, SolaFrame 3000 and SolaHyBeam 3000 fixtures in many of the performances; all luminaires featured High CRI engines and were supplied by Lux Lighting. When production commenced, Barnes says they already knew the SolaFrame Theatre and SolaFrame 3000 would be their ‘go-to’ movers. Barnes says, “The SolaHyBeam 3000s were not available until about midway through production, but they soon became our powerhouse fixture. The SolaFrame Theatre was especially helpful because of its ultra-quiet performance. “After the first week of production, we realised
Russia - Robe luminaires were selected for another cultural project, this one at the Said-Galiev Cultural Centre in Derbyshki in Kazan, the capital of the Russian semi-autonomous region of Tatarstan, an area renowned as a lively melting pot of Russian and Tatar heritage. Robe’s Russian distributor LTM - with branches in Moscow, Novosibirsk and St. Petersburg - delivered the order of Robe Pointes, LEDBeam 150s and ParFect 150s for its client the Altin Group. LTM also undertook all the related installation and commissioning work for the Robe moving lights and other elements of the venue’s lighting that were extensively updated in this project. The ornate Said-Galiev Cultural Centre has two main auditoriums, a main one seating 560 and a smaller 120 capacity hall and was originally built in 1959. This latest technical upgrade, which also included audio, flexible riggi
USA - Christ Fellowship Miami has been the area’s multi-generational, multi-cultural and multi-location church for over a century. In that time, it has grown to six South Florida locations plus an online presence. Three of those sites - Palmetto Bay, Doral, and downtown Miami - have recently become showcases for L-Acoustics Kara sound systems. The new installations, all designed and integrated by Colorado-based Summit Integrated Systems, accommodate various worship-space configurations and types, while still offering the ease of maintenance and operation, plus the consistency of audio quality of a single sound system across all three campuses. Christ Fellowship Miami multisite production director Garrett Siljee oversees all AVL-related matters for the church, including campus technology design planning and tech staffing. “One of my primary responsibilities is craft
USA - When full-service lighting company Squeek Lights converted part of their new facility in Middlesex, New Jersey, into the Ruby Stage last July, the space, which featured Elation Dartz 360 and Artiste Picasso lights under NX2 control, quickly attracted music clients for livestreams and video productions. Ruby Stage has now been updated with a new design that offers clients an enhanced professional setup for even better on-camera looks. “The stage had been up for a while and had served our clients well, but we wanted to mix it up with a new design,” stated Victor Zeiser, founder and managing partner at Squeek Lights. “We were able to come up with a more compact floor package and move the drape back which gives us more stage depth for a wider shot and better camera angles. It’s a sleeker design which makes the space bigger and works really well for the camera.”<
Italy - On the terrace of Genoa’s San Martino Polyclinic, the Liguria region’s leading hospital, an Outline loudspeaker system amplified the reading by Italian actor/film director Sergio Castellitto to recall a year of Coronavirus. Castellitto, accompanied by a string quintet from the Carlo Felice Theatre, read some passages of the book Una lezione da non dimenticare (A lesson not to be forgotten), written by the director of the Infectious Disease Clinic of Genoa’s San Martino Polyclinic, Matteo Bassetti, with journalist Martina Maltagliati. Participants included Governor Giovanni Toti and Genoa’s mayor Marco Bucci. The audio set-up for the special event was supplied by Show Technologies TM from Recco (Genoa), with an Outline speaker system comprising five Vegas 12 CX point-source enclosures. Show Technologies TM partner Sacha Bozzo explains
UK - In mid-December, Gorillaz returned to the stage with Song Machine Live From Kong for three separate fully live shows performed from the basement of Kong Studios, West London over the course of two days. Over a million viewers in more than 120 countries tuned in to the show via the LIVENow platform, which featured a pioneering mix of animation and live performance. The format was fitting for the biggest virtual band on the planet, Song Machine Live From Kong saw Gorillaz deliver a full scale production blending real-time performance with Jamie Hewlett’s animation. Audio was delivered by the band’s long-time engineers Dave Guerin, at his usual monitor position, and front of house man Matt Butcher on the live steam mix, both using DiGiCo Quantum 7s provided by Entec Sound & Light. The 14-piece Gorillaz live band saw Damon Albarn joined in the r
UAE - LarMac Projects worked in collaboration with creatives and technical teams to deliver 49th UAE National Day, Seeds of the Union. LarMac Projects was contracted to produce the 2020 live event production during some of the industry’s - and the world’s - most testing times. The show at Abu Dhabi’s Jubail Island saw the creative vision of artistic director & designer Es Devlin brought to life by long-term LarMac production suppliers including PRG, Auditoria, Wonder Works, SKYMAGIC and Groupe F. A kinetic illuminated sculpture designed by Devlin took centre stage as the key visual storyteller. The 15m x 15m rotating cube portrayed projections depicting the UAE’s history. Due to the restrictions on mass gatherings, for the first time in its history, the UAE National Day celebration event took place with a very small, socially distanced audience, and
USA - The soft, sweet, infinitely soothing sound of the flute, with its delicate phrasing and gentle pacing may seem worlds away from the growling intensity of metal music, but both are guided by passion. And, under the right circumstances, the power of that passion can be amplified by lighting. Chris Brodman, Cody Lisle and the creative team at LIT Live! demonstrated this recently when they produced Tribal Flute a 56-minute livestream by noted flutist Keenan Perry. Although it was radically different in style from their usual metal and EDM fare, the LIT Live! crew supported Perry’s performance, with visuals that wrapped themselves seamlessly around his ethereal music. Working with a studio rig that was anchored by Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Spot, Rogue R2 Wash and Rogue R1 Wash fixtures, lighting designer Jack Watson created a diverse mix of colours a
The Netherlands - Podiumtechniek B.V. has signed a contract with Nationale Opera & Ballet for the supply of 162 LED spotlights from the German brand JB-Lighting. Deputy technical director Pieter Huijgen explains: "After years of searching for worthy replacements for the current halogen spotlights and spotlights with a discharge lamp, developments in LED stage lighting had progressed to such an extent last year that it was possible to make the switch to this form of sustainable lighting." JB-Lighting's moving heads were also recently supplied to leading venues such as De Doelen - Rotterdam, Philharmonie - Haarlem, Schouwburg Ogterop - Meppel, De Nieuwe Schuur - Herpt and the AFAS Theater - Leusden. Many renowned stages in Germany, Austria and Scandinavia have already started using JB-Lighting LED spots. The tender of Nationale Opera & Ballet includes JB-
Switzerland - Event production specialist EMME recently made its first investment in Green-GO digital intercom technology, to manage the complex intercom requirements for a corporate event for fashion brand Guess. The event, a presentation of the company’s latest clothing ranges, was live-streamed to 600 sales people worldwide. Founder and director of EMME, Michele Alvarez, says, “In the past we used combinations of partyline systems, but the quality was not the same, and it was not so flexible. We could only assign certain body packs to certain connections, and it would be very complicated to make changes during a show.” Looking for a better solution, Alvarez turned to ZAP Audio, Green-GO’s Swiss distributor, who arranged a demonstration of the award-winning technology. “We saw that it was very smart, very powerful and the best solution for the price and per
USA - Founded in 1983, Seven Rivers Church, a large and growing congregation in Lecanto, Florida, has adopted a KLANG immersive in-ear mixing solution for all of its stage monitoring needs. Installed as part of a full sound system upgrade completed last August by Louisville, Colorado-based Summit Integrated Systems, the church’s new KLANG setup is comprised of a DiGiCo Orange Box equipped with a DMI-KLANG card, which is capable of processing up to 64 inputs for 16 immersive in-ear mixes. The recent system retrofit project also saw the church install a new L-Acoustics A15-based PA system in its 1,000-seat auditorium, built in 2003. Seven Rivers Church had been using IEMs for monitoring for a number of years prior to the upgrade, using a system that Seven Rivers Church director of worship Adam Hill describes as “serviceable” but lacking in sonic quality and functio
USA - Northern California’s In Motion Fitness boasts 16,000 members. The heavily themed five-acre Mediterranean fitness resort features a wide variety of spaces used for different activities and classes, each with their own different interior design. Its latest addition is a space-themed spin studio which features multiple ADJ mirror balls and LED lighting fixtures. Located in Chico, CA, the resort is dedicated to continually expanding and renovating the facilities available to its members. The latest chapter in this expansion was the renovation and re-theming of a former dance studio to create the Out of this World Galaxy Spin Studio, which officially opened on 1 March this year. The space allows gym members to ‘escape from their current reality for the duration of a spin class and boldly go to a place that could easily be what a dance club in the Star Wars universe may
USA - When Jennifer Lopez performed a moving medley of This Land Is Your Land and America Is Beautiful at President Biden’s inauguration ceremony, few of the millions of people watching would have realised that British technology played a key role in shaping the sound they were hearing. Behind the scenes, in the run up to the inauguration ceremony, Kevin Teasley, JLo’s Pro Tools programmer, music producer and musical director for her It’s My Party World Tour, used a comprehensive selection of Neve recording equipment to prepare the pre-recorded music that was vital to ensuring the success of her performance. “The elevation of the final audio was superb and there is absolutely no doubt that Neve equipment helped us achieve the results we wanted,” Kevin says. “Neve is indeed a real go-to when I work in live, TV, film, records, trailers,
Germany - Illusionists The Ehrlich Brothers should have recorded their Dream & Fly show for DVD and TV in March 2020. Everything was already set up in Munich when production was prohibited by an order from the Bavarian state. But the Ehrlich Brothers would not be the Ehrlich Brothers if they simply left it at that. And so Andreas and Chris Ehrlich started planning the two-part TV show Factory of Dreams together with Gerdon design in May. Also included in the set were 24 of the new JDC Lines from GLP, which would serve the two show magicians well. Factory of Dreams was finally produced on 2 and 4 October in a hall on the premises of Ehrlich Entertainment GmbH in Bünde, North Rhine-Westphalia. The show was a mixture of new and known illusions as well as some highlights from the past few years. Gerdon design from Wiesbaden came on board as
Sweden - Göteborg’s Folkteatern was built in the 1950s by an association of trade unions and other organisations for the Swedish working classes to enjoy cultural experiences such as the theatre. Still funded by regional government, a premium-quality experience is still the order of the day. Folkteatern has recently invested in TiMax TrackerD4 precision stagetracking automation so that, as in-house sound engineer, Allan Antilla, explains, “the audience can keep track of who´s voice they are hearing when we use microphones.” Allan specified TiMax TrackerD4 for the venue’s main proscenium theatre because, as longstanding beneficiaries of TiMax tracker-controlled spatial audio, Allan and the sound team at Folkteatern appreciate the time and effort that is saved whilst achieving significant improvements in sound quality and balance from the actors’ radio mics.
The Netherlands - De Vooravond is a new talk-show broadcast on the Netherlands first national TV channel NPO 1, presented by Renze Klamer & Fidan Ekiz covering a mix of politics, sport, music, and culture - often with some live performance spots. The current and second series is being lit by LD Jeroen van Geffen using Robe moving lights including T1 Profiles, Esprites and Spikies. LD Jeroen works for production company Chain which is part of the Rentall group’s operations specialising in broadcast lighting and audio. He initially lit the first pilot for this series – which takes inspiration from the De Wereld Draait Door (The World Moves On) ‘magazine’ programme that ran for 15 years – at the end of 2020. It was such a success that the second series started in the new year. The creative brief was to present a fresh and contemporary l
Australia - Martin Audio’s MLA Mini loudspeaker array has been specified at a new leisure development in Rosenthal Park, Lane Cove - a suburb of Sydney. The technology was specified by integration company Xcite Audio Visual, who tendered the successful bid, with the system supplied and supported by the manufacturer’s Australian distributor, Technical Audio Group (TAG). “There was a performance specification written but no brands specified,” explains TAG’s system sales manager, Ewan McDonald. “Xcite came to us at tender stage wanting to look at a Martin Audio solution and TAG’s SSE (System Solutions & Engineering) team assisted them in providing a proof of concept based around the MLA Mini system.” MLA Mini provides sound reinforcement on a bandstand stage, which is the centrepiece of the new development, known as The Canopy. Lane Cove C
USA - It’s had multiple names since it first opened in June of 1992, but the Phoenix Suns Arena - formerly America West Arena, US Airways Centre, Talking Stick Resort Arena, and PHX Arena - has been the home of the NBA Phoenix Suns since day one. What has changed recently is how the venue sounds, with a new L-Acoustics Kara II loudspeaker system in place just in time for the 2021 NBA season, which began with a Suns win over the Dallas Mavericks on 23 December, 2020. Designed by AV consultants at WJHW and installed by Pro Sound & Video, a Solotech company, the new Kara II system is part of the $230m Project 201: PHX Reimagined, designed to convert the nearly 30-year-old arena into a state-of-the-art sports entertainment venue for Phoenix Suns and WNBA Phoenix Mercury fans. According to Pro Sound & Video, the arena’s management specifically requested an
UK - To mark International Women’s day this year, sound design and music production facility String and Tins has announced the launch of the second iteration of its female-led programme No Fixed Mix. Aiming to improve the gender balance in technical sound roles, the music company will conduct a series of workshops, arming participants with tips, tools and resources to help them pursue a career in sound. The inaugural programme of No Fixed Mix, held in 2019, welcomed five aspiring sound engineers into String and Tins’ studios. Created by String and Tins’ audio post production manager Eimear Ní Ghuaire, the programme included three workshops that focused on the audio industry - production, sound design and music - and was aimed at any woman seeking a career in sound design. This year, String and Tins is expanding the programme to reflect the growing variety of pro
USA - The production teams behind the sound, video, lighting and broadcast facilities at The Potter’s House in Dallas have long sought out the best technologies with which to deliver the message of the church’s founder, televangelist Bishop T.D. Jakes, to his 30,000-strong congregation. Most recently, the audio system has undergone a significant upgrade with the installation of three Dante-networked Solid State Logic Live L550 digital mixing consoles, positioned at front-of-house, monitors and in the church’s broadcast centre. “As our ministry has grown over the years and we’ve started to do a lot of stuff that’s outside of the norm, we started to run into walls because we just couldn’t do it with our previous consoles. We have 160 or 170 inputs at times, and we were starting to run into input challenges,” says production manager and front-of-house engi
Spain - Amate Audio is marking International Women’s Day, celebrating the ever-increasing number of women working in and performing key roles in entertainment technology. Their increasing presence, a powerful force for improvement in our industry; in manufacturing and supply, on-stage, backstage, behind the scenes, or front-of-house. In a statement the company says, “On International Women’s Day, we are celebrating the role of women working throughout our industry, alongside the particular achievements and importance of women at Amate Audio. Women fulfil some of the most critical roles in our company – in design engineering, production, marketing and administration. Their talents, skills and creativity are integral to our endeavour.” Currently women make up 37% of the Amate workforce and hold many key positions. These include the company’s chief acoustics e
Belgium - Although he was in the clothing business, Luc Provost always wanted to own a theatre. Not long ago, fate gave him a reason to turn this aspiration into reality, when he acquired 10,000 pieces of theatrical costumes from a Dutch company. Looking for a place to store his newfound collection of clothing, he purchased a former school building in the East Flanders town of Mater. Attached to that structure was a small theatre. For Provost, it was a building of dreams. “I had the costumes and venue,” he recalled. “So now I was ready.” On 2 January, 2020, Provost shared his dream with the world when, outfitted with a new rig of Chauvet Professional fixtures, the Cultuurcentrum Maskerade staged its first show. Unfortunately, it was also the last live show at the 220-seat theatre for the year, as the coronavirus pandemic brought public gatherings to a gri
USA - Attracting around 4,000 worshippers each week, Hope Church in Las Vegas opened a new, 1,750-seat auditorium worship centre and sanctuary in December 2020. The technical infrastructure was designed and installed by church technology specialists Stark Raving Solutions (SRS), who installed an Alcons Audio pro-ribbon system in the main auditorium. At Hope Church, growth has been so significant, that in 2019, the church moved to add a fourth weekly service. With that additional service, average weekly congregation numbers grew by about 600, according to creative producer Micah Ogle. Kansas-based SRS has installed many Alcons LR series pro-ribbon line arrays in churches. They introduced the leadership of Hope Church to Alcons solutions at a demonstration event in Las Vegas a few years ago. When SRS suggested a system based on the double 8” LR18 compact mid-size line-
