UK - The Bodyguard stage musical is an ambitious show, with a large cast, orchestra, and crew required to bring the classic, soulful song list to life alongside Alexander Dinelaris’ acclaimed libretto. Since its successful West End run, the show has toured the world and now has a second UK tour underway, with Alexandra Burke taking the lead as singer Rachel Marron. It is also proving to be a showcase first outing for the new Sennheiser SK 6212 mini-bodypack transmitter, supplied by Autograph Sound. From the start of this run, sound designer for the show Richard Brooker was sold on using a digital wireless system, having already used Sennheiser’s Digital 9000 system on Bend it Like Beckham and Dreamgirls. “Moving to digital gave a new sound that is much more open and clear,” he recalls. “It isn’t compromised by the companding process...
UK - The team at Nottingham-based OneBigStar was already familiar with the Chauvet Professional Ovation series when they made a major investment in the LED fixtures. “We’ve built the Chauvet trade show booths for years, so we’ve worked with Ovation units before and have been very impressed,” says Steve Yeardsley, managing director of the technical and event production company. Recently, Yeardsley and his team acted on this confidence by adding a substantial number of Ovation ellipsoidal and par-style fixtures to OneBigStar’s inventory. The new fixtures are intended to replace the company’s existing tungsten units. “We’re constantly looking to invest in new technologies, especially when they involve moving from older units to better, brighter and more energy efficient ones,” says Yeardsley. “The Ovation range certainly stands tall against the tungste
UK - Edinburgh Castle and the medieval Old Town offered a magnificent backdrop to Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebration for thousands of revellers who welcomed the new year immersed in a city centre-wide high quality pro audio installation. In collaboration with the sound designer Dan Jones, Catalyst Event Production Services was tasked with specifying, installing and operating a sound solution for much of the event that would envelope partygoers, leading them to "a complete d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker, amplification and R1 control software solution". UK-based live entertainment company Underbelly, which has produced the event on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council since 2017, bills Edinburgh’s Hogmanay as “one of the biggest celebrations in the world”. The famed Street Party showcased Scottish and European musicians, street theatre artists, dancers, choir
UK - Artem, the physical special effects company, made further inroads into the theatre sector recently with a new effects’ challenge from the world of dance. Artem, whose credits include Harry Potter: The Cursed Child and Holiday on Ice, were asked to design and build a piece of equipment capable of projecting a single giant smoke ring the shape of a doughnut - known in physics as a Torus - from the rear of a stage, out over an audience. The ‘smoke vortex cannon’, as it came to be known, had to be large enough to make an impact in a sizeable performance venue, whilst being resilient and easily transportable on tour. In addition, the cannon needed to be DMX programmable, to enable control from the lighting gallery. Artem’s client is the Birmingham and Barcelona-based dance company, Humanhood. Artistic directors Rudi Cole and Júlia Robert Parés
The Netherlands - De Effenaar is a music venue with an illustrious history spanning almost 50 years. Nestled in Eindhoven, the technology capital of the Netherlands, its two impressive performance spaces have played host to an array of major artists including The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Florence+The Machine, Editors, Nelly, Stromae, Queens of the Stone Age, The Ramones, Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and The Cure. Towards the end of 2018, De Effenaar needed to upgrade its audio inventory, and the technical team engaged in an extensive evaluation of all live sound consoles on the market. At ISE 2019, the team confirmed an order for four SSL Live L200s, one SSL L100, and a massive 348 channels of SSL SuperAnalogue mic preamps. According to Effenaar’s senior audio engineer, Sven de Hoog, the team of engineers had individually scored the four shortlisted brands in nine different categ
Poland - On 14 October last year, at Warsaw's PGE National Stadium, confectionary giant Kinder celebrated its 50th anniversary in style. The all-day event culminated in the Koncert Pełen Marzeń (Concert Full of Dreams) - a free event that featured Polish pop artists David Kwiatkowski, Natalia Szroeder, and Grzegorz Hyże, as well as musical star Katarzyna Łaska (Frozen, High School Musical, Enchanted) and a full symphony orchestra. TSE Grupa was responsible for technical services at this huge show, which included everything from stage construction to an ambitious multimedia, lighting, and sound production. L-Acoustics components were used exclusively for sound reinforcement, with almost 200 loudspeaker cabinets deployed around the stadium. TSE Grupa, founded by Łukasz Kubiak and Piotr Basek, is not new to large, complex events, with a portfolio
Australia - Adding impact to a recent production of Les Misérables at Scotch College in Melbourne was a Tom Willis-designed lightshow that featured Chauvet Professional Maverick MK1 Spot fixtures, supplied by Showtools International. Creating an array of textures and colours on stage with the 350W moving LED fixture, Willis reflected the hope, despair, and unrequited love that marked the relationships between Jean Valjean, Fantine and the story’s other characters. “This is the second project I did with OSMAD (Old Scotch Music and Drama), the theatre group that performed the musical at the school,” says Willis. “The set I worked with was beautiful, but it actually had very few moving parts, so light became important to help transition from one location to the next - from field, to inn, to water hole etcetera. However, there were many times where locatio
USA - Now outfitted with a pair of Allen & Heath dLive S7000 mixing systems at front of house and onstage for monitors, plus an S5000 standing-in for broadcast needs, Wave Church’s Great Neck Campus in Virginia Beach, Virginia, recently completed a major audio upgrade. Engineered and implemented by Virginia Beach-based S&S Productions, the system improvements bring new levels of control and flexibility to the campus. Future-proofing the system was addressed in the upgrade, as was the need to provide the volunteer staff with gear that was intuitively easy to use. “Even if you’ve never seen them before, Allen & Heath dLive control surfaces have an air of familiarity,” relates S&S Productions’ Cory Sprenkle. “A world of control opens up on the touchscreens that’s as simple as the smartphones we use every day. Our volunteer operators were up-and-ru
Germany - The history of the Z-Bau Nuremberg, a former barracks, dates back to 1937. In the 1990s, the site was used by the US Army - its hall acting as an officers' casino and entertainments venue - before later becoming an arts and culture centre. Recently, the site was completely renovated to include a new stage, improved acoustics, electrics and lighting and sound technology. The company into>noise (Andreas Zeh and Tobias Förster) from Munich was responsible for sound reinforcement technology and relied on products from Coda Audio. The gallery, red salon and artists studios at the venue had been modernised two years ago during the first phase of renovation and Coda’s RX40, G712 and HOPS8 loudspeakers as well as U4 and G18-SUB were installed in these areas. The newly installed main system, serving a 1000-capacity space, consists of 2 x 9 ViRAY, 8 x SCP sensor-
China - The historic city of Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, is preparing to host the 2022 Asian Games in the largest Olympic sports centre of its kind in China. The Tennis Centre, which belongs to this complex, has recently been inaugurated with the experience and support of DAS Audio systems. The sound system was put to the test at the official inauguration of the stadium for the 14th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) held from 11-16 December 2018. The team at DAS Audio China worked closely with the local engineering contractor and both sides collaborated in the design and completion of the installation, which has been specially tailored for this multi-sport stadium. The HQ series speakers with IP54 certification were chosen for the installation. The HQ series are specially designed for medium to large size installations offering tightly control
USA - Creating a concert-like atmosphere for Roland Corporation's NAMM stands was a Justin Preston lighting design that featured Chauvet Professional Rogue, Nexus and COLORado fixtures. In addition to supporting a diverse mix of live performances, the flexible lighting design accented the display of electronic music and software products at the company’s two massive exhibit spaces. “I’ve worked on the Roland Corp. NAMM exhibit for the past three years, and it’s always rewarding because of the scope of the project,” says Preston of Preston Productions. “We have to incorporate elements of entertainment and retail lighting.” The versatility of the Chauvet Professional fixtures in his NAMM rig helped Preston accomplish these goals. For example, at the BOSS Both, he relied on his Rogue and COLORado fixtures for stage lighting, while using his Nexus 4x4 units
USA - Penn State’s Nittany Lion athletics programme is fiercely competitive and well-supported by the school and its alumni. In that tradition, the Penn State men and women’s lacrosse teams now practice and compete in Panzer Stadium, a new multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art facility. Its 1,300 seats are close to the action, and the entire facility is wired for modern broadcasting, which will allow Penn State to host high-profile NCAA and Big Ten championship games. Pennsylvania-based AV design and integration firm Clair Solutions handled the broadcast infrastructure and sound reinforcement at Panzer Stadium, earning the job based in part on the proposal of Jim Devenney, Clair Solutions’ senior systems designer and in part on the successful completion of numerous other projects at Penn State. “We originally got involved because we’ve done a lot of other wor
UK - On 26 January, around 3,000 worshippers gathered at London’s SSE Arena for A Day of Prayer for Britain. Led by evangelist minister David Hathaway, the event saw Christian leaders from across the UK and from abroad coming together to pray for unity in the UK. Audio, lighting, and video for the event was handled by Subfrantic Production Services, whose Yamaha Rivage PM10 and PM7 digital mixing systems managed all live and broadcast audio. David Hathaway’s ministry approached Subfrantic because of the company’s work at The Experience in Lagos, Nigeria - an event which attracts over 500,000 worshippers - as well as its work on other religious events in the UK. The event ran for eight hours and featured a mix of Christian worship styles, with a band, choir, and worship leaders including David Hathaway, Betty King, Bishop John Francis, Lou Engle, musi
UK - The Digbeth district of Birmingham city centre has long been associated with the development of the British electronic music scene. Over the years, the regeneration of many of its old buildings has seen a vibrant club culture firmly established in the area. Located in a former church, The Monastery is described by some as the current Mecca of the Birmingham club scene. It was designed and constructed from scratch, by a team of determined, experienced ravers, motivated by a common aim to create the ultimate music destination that put art before profit. An instinct for moving with the times informed their decision to seek a new sound system for the popular 200 capacity venue. The Monastery chose a Pioneer Pro Audio XY Series system. The pre-existing system looked the part and had served its purpose reasonably well but the sense was that audiences have become far mor
USA - Metalcore band August Burns Red’s fast-paced, aggressive sound keeps listeners on the edge of their seats, a dynamic style of breakneck metal that has endeared them to their fans for the past 15 years. Needing a compact yet powerful narrow-beam fixture that could keep up with the band on their 2019 Dangerous tour, which kicked off 24 January in Lexington, Kentucky, lighting designer David Summers chose 12 Elation DARTZ 360 fixtures, supplied by Squeek Lights, as the bread and butter of his design. “It takes a lot to keep up with a band this fast,” says Summers, who’s been with the band just over a year and describes his lighting design as fast-paced, precise and large. “We needed a light that could move fast with a good mix of colour and effects options.” Using 12 of the 3-degree RGB DARTZ fixtures grouped across four towers of 5ft pipe in a
USA - California-based lighting designer Michael Berger recently took on the unusual commission of lighting a special musical stage production of the Love Actually movie using a number of fixtures from the GLP portfolio. Although a long-time member of the Full Flood lighting design consortium, the commission came through Berger’s own independent operation, Innovative Intensity - the latest in a multi-year collaboration with Los Angeles-based production company For The Record Live, which specialises in musical presentations based on the canon of a film director. In December 2017 they were approached by The Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills to put together a show for their black box theatre space, The Sorting Room. “We took the music / script for Love Actually and basically performed the film in its entirety with about four hours’ rehearsal. The succ
Germany - HK Audio has released three turnkey Linear 3 system packages for bands and DJs who want to take control of their own live sound. The German pro audio manufacturer has had considerable success with system packages in its Linear 5 family, and the concept has now been carried over to the Linear 3 line. Each of the competitively priced Linear 3 system packages offers a combination of various individual Linear 3 family components for either bands or DJs who regularly play gigs of a certain size. The L3 Compact Venue Pack offers enough power for bands who perform at small clubs or youth centres. The high performance pack has enough juice to rock venues for up to 500 people, while the L3 Bass Power Pack is designed for DJs who play bass-heavy music for crowds of up to 250 people. All three packs offer a plug-and-play solution for artists who have no tech
Sweden - Dataton unveiled the WATCHPAX 60 series of media servers at ISE. With the latest processor technology under the hood, robust exterior and redundant power supply as standard, the new rack-friendly series is suitable for demanding applications such as live events, attractions and broadcast installations. “We gathered feedback from key users during the design process to produce a plug-and-play media server series that would not only meet, but exceed, requirements for the toughest show environment,” says Lars Sandlund, Dataton CEO. “The dual power supply, range of models, SDI bi-directional connector options and fastest discs in the market all ensure that even the most complex shows are delivered flawlessly.” The new 2U media server will be available in three models offering from four up to 12 outputs and support for uncompressed video playback. Each model
China - Shantou University in Guangdong features a 52,000sq.m sports stadium complex, the Shantou University Sports Park. It includes an international competition-standard gymnasium complete with basketball courts, multipurpose halls, swimming pools and VIP boxes. This year, the stadium played host to the university’s 2018 graduation commencement emboldened by the retirement farewell ceremony for Shing - complete with a substantial, and mobile, Clair Brothers C12 and C8 loudspeaker system. After several close inspection reviews of top brands, DMT, the Clair Brothers distributor in China presented the powers that be with a demo of components. “It was obvious,” explains Chris Fish, technical director at DMT, “that the Clair Brothers gear was making a real impression compared to the other systems.” The final equipment list at the venue consists of a 32
UK - The BAFTAs welcomed film stars and royalty to London’s Royal Albert Hall in February, as the industry honoured those making waves on the big screen. The all-important red carpet - where the paparazzi anxiously awaited famous faces - was flanked by a rigging and lighting solution designed and delivered by TSL Lighting. The British weather proved to be another well-known guest at the proceedings, with high winds and heavy rain in the run-up to, and on, the big night. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined a who’s who of the global film industry for the ceremony, which was broadcast live. TSL's Neil Harvey, worked alongside colleagues Ali Morris and Rory Mackay to realise the challenging and prestigious project, working to a brief from event designer and producer Lucy Smail, of WD&P. The red-carpet arrival area required the construction of 12 TSL custom-des
Hungary - Budapest’s Thalia Theatre is a renowned producing and receiving house, presenting around 600 different productions per year. It’s one of Hungary’s best-known venues for staging musical comedy shows on its busy three stages, the largest of which has a 520-seat auditorium. The theatre has recently invested in Robe’s DL7S LED Profiles and Spiider LED wash lights - which are the first to be installed in a Hungarian theatre venue. The luminaires were chosen by head of lighting Karoly Bodon and his team, and delivered by Robe’s Hungarian distributor, AVL Trade. The new fixtures are currently all in use on the main stage, and there are another six DL4S profiles on order which will be utilised for the second stage when its current refurbishment is complete. The theatre is operated by the city of Budapest, but the new investment was financed by a combi
UK - Dinosaurs come to life in an updated version of the theatrical event, Walking with Dinosaurs - The Arena Spectacular (see LSi November for a production report). Originating in Australia in 2007, and on the road for many years, the production is a $20m-dollar production which recently received a massive technological update in mechatronics, visuals, lighting, and the latest in realtime tracking. The high-tech upgrades are provided and managed by UK-based company, Sonalyst, owned by Rory Madden. Sonalyst provides all the lighting, rigging, sound and communications. They also provide their technical expertise to be sure to use the appropriate equipment needed to solve any issues and improve the performance of the s
UK - AED’s Luxibel Expo Tools range makes its UK debut at the AED Customer Night events this week, alongside a spread of new kit covering sound, lighting, rigging, display and accessories. The AED UK Customer Nights will be held on Wednesday, 20 and Thursday, 21 February at the company’s UK office, from 4pm onwards. On both nights, visitors can enjoy the best local brew and curry whilst experiencing Luxibel’s Expo Tools. The Prolyte range, the new Show Lift AED-SL18 - an automated motorised tower lift that can be controlled by DMX - and the AV Stumpfl Pixera range will also be on show. “In this fast-paced industry, it’s important for us to inform our customers about the latest products, technologies and services,” says AED commercial manager, David Baker. “It’s a great occasion for our customers to meet the AED team in person and to discover our A
Italy - A dBTechnologies VIO line array system powered the most famous music festival in Italy at the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo. For Sanremo 2019, the 69th edition of the Festival of Italian Song, the RAI (Italian national public broadcasting company) technical team relied on dBTechnologies to guarantee quality sound coverage for one of the most awaited and popular events among Italian TV shows. The Sanremo Festival brings together artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Zucchero, Eros Ramazzotti, Renato Zero, Laura Pausini and Nek, alongside international stars such as Queen, Eminem, Robbie Williams, Luis Fonsi and many others. The versatility of VIO L210 allowed an articulated and complex composition that took into account the particular architectural features of the venue, including galleries and corridors and the ‘red carpet’ area. The PA c
