Mexico - Los Temerarios are one of Mexico's biggest bands. With a career spanning over 40 years and 20 albums, the Grammy-nominated act are still selling out arenas across the globe, attracting over 10,000 fans to each show. Revered FOH engineer, Juan Payan, decided to take the new SSL L100 on the road for their new tour, Payan's partner in sound, Juan Carlos Granados, also on an L100 at monitors. It was through a training event with SSL's live specialist Fernando Guzman, that Payan first heard the SSL L100 in action. “It was during this event that the sound of the console immediately impressed me. I knew I needed to have one,” Payan explains. “I've had it out on the road with me since February, and everything has been working perfectly – no issues at all.” Payan says it was a combination of factors that drew him to the console, from the dynamics to t
Myanmar - Goldenduck Group recently deployed a JBL by Harman audio system in Mingalar Cinemas’ new Gold Class theatres. Mingalar Cinemas is Myanmar’s largest movie theatre chain with 27 locations across eight cities. Mingalar also owns and operates the first high-definition Gold Class cinema in the country, which features three halls with luxurious, automatic reclining seats and cutting-edge visuals. In order to deliver premium sound in their Gold Class theatres, Mingalar entrusted Goldenduck Group, a leading supplier of professional cinema equipment, with installing a JBL Professional cinema audio system. “Mingalar wanted to offer an immersive entertainment experience with excellent audio quality,” said Sittiporn Srisanguansakul, owner, Goldenduck. “The Harman sound systems we installed offer the uniform coverage and expansive dynamic range required for dig
UK - It took less time for Dutch DJ legend Armin van Buuren to sell out his much-anticipated Wembley Easter show at SSE Arena than it did to play the five-hour long set, in what was his biggest date ever in the capital. The titan of trance sold out the venue, which is restricted to 6,000 for dance events (occupying the arena bowl and Tier 1 only) in just three hours - a feat posted on social media in advance by promotions company Lock ‘N’ Load Events. The specialist event organisation regularly turns to Capital Sound for its sound reinforcement requirements, and in turn look to Martin Audio’s MLA loudspeaker array as its first choice PA system. As Lock ‘N’ Load project manager, Alex Anderson explained, “I advised [artist’s management] that we needed MLA in there because of its programming capabilities with regards to external noise levels.
Belgium - The busy Vooruit arts complex in the centre of Ghent has transformed a historic venue, built in years before World War I, into a bustling arts centre with an impressive variety of cultural events. It has collection of different venues, all equipped with Nexo sound systems, but the jewel in the crown is the Concertzaal, where production company VDB-PA has just completed a permanent installation of Nexo’s modular STM Series line array. Design and specification of the new front-of-house system for the 1100-capacity Concertzaal was managed by Thomas Coene and Jan Van den Brande at VDB-PA, and marked a step-change in the 15 year relationship between VDB and de Vooruit. “They have been dry-hiring systems for many years,” says Jan Van den Brande. “They use their own team of technicians and came to us for the main PA, consoles and monitors, depending on the event.
UK - Genelec is strengthening its customer support in the UK with the appointment of Andy Bensley, whose new role as regional business development manager is effective immediately. Bensley is already closely associated with Genelec after more than six years of service with their UK distributor Source Distribution, first as the company’s pro audio product specialist then later as brand manager. Both roles saw Bensley play a central, hands-on role in the growth of Genelec within the influential UK market as he commissioned and supported dozens of high-profile projects. In his new role, he will continue to provide support to ongoing Genelec activities while also delivering new opportunities for training, education and more at the Genelec Experience Centre in London. Based in London, he will report to international sales director Ole Jensen. “I am delighted an
USA - InfoComm 2019 sees the US debut of yet another enhancement to Peavey’s ElementsTM C Series weatherproof loudspeakers. Following last year’s announcement of the upgrade from IP45 to IP56 rating, InfoComm 2019 sees the unveiling of marine-grade versions that are specially designed to withstand the ravages of salt water, making them suitable for cruise ships, swimming pools or coastal outdoor applications such as theme parks and resorts, fun fairs, restaurants and more. The marine-grade versions, denoted by a CS suffix, will be available alongside the standard IP56-rated Elements range. The American-made Elements CS Series of composite enclosures are constructed from an advanced composite fibreboard material that is dimensionally stable in wet conditions and resists contamination yet has the resonant properties of wood. This light and durable material ensures un
Italy - dLive was found in abundance again at this year’s Primo Maggio event in Rome, Italy. Broadcast live via the RAI national TV channel, the 29th edition of the annual event showcased eight hours of spectacular live performances from 31 major and emerging artists – including various national favourites such as Daniele Silvestri, Ghali and Subsonica – and attracted over 500,000 attendees. Supplied by local production company ABC and supported by Allen & Heath’s Italian distributors, Exhibo S.p.A, the full set-up comprised eight dLive systems, five IP8 Controllers, an SQ, DX Remote Audio Expanders and additional Dante, SuperMADI and gigaACE cards. As per past events, Primo Maggio featured its impressive rotating dual-stage setup – allowing for one act to line-check while another performed, minimising the changeover time between acts. Each stage had its
France - Nexo’s ID Series loudspeakers are playing a key role in a new digital exhibition in Paris, which offers an immersive AV experience with the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh. One of the most innovative artistic experiences in the city is currently hidden behind the unremarkable façade of a former ironworks foundry in the 11th arrondissement. Inside this 19th century space, one of France’s leading cultural producers Culturespaces has opened a new exhibition dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh - the Starry Night is a visual and musical creation realised by Gianfranco Iannuzzi, Renato Gatto and Massimiliano Siccardi. In the same presentation is a short programme by Danny Rose dedicated to the imagery of Japan. Both use the AMIEX technology (Art and Music Immersive Experience) developed by Culturespaces in 2012. The AMIEX Concept is based on the virtua
USA - On 9 May, Björk opened her Cornucopia season at New York’s newest cultural centre The Shed, utilising a full 360 degree d&b Soundscape system powered by the d&b En-Scene object based mixing and En-Space room emulation software. Cornucopia is Björk’s most elaborate stage production to date incorporating stunning visuals, intricate stage movements and a fully integrated immersive sound design, made possible by the d&b Soundscape. Beginning the sound design conception in a studio in Iceland the production has progressed through production rehearsals in the Backstage Centre, London, to The Shed in New York City. Cornucopia’s sound was designed by Björk and FoH sound engineer John Gale, supported by Southby Productions, and Steve Jones from d&b. Steve Jones explains, “Björk wanted the sound for Cornucopia
China - PK Sound has appointed Polar Audio Guangzhou as its distributor in China, effective immediately. The deal marks PK Sound’s first commitment to growing into the APAC region. On the appointment, CEO and chief engineer at PK Sound, Jeremy Bridge, commented: “The deal came about as Polar Audio was searching for a high-quality audio brand to complement to their high-end video and laser offerings. As a renowned audio designer, Polar Audio’s CTO became aware of the technology and made multiple visits to the factory, and attended live events where our loudspeakers were being used as well. Polar Audio was looking for a world class company that they believed could overtake established top level brands. PK Sound has just the right technology to do so.” According to Bridge, Polar Audio combines the experience of long-serving industry professionals with a large netw
USA - Convergent Technologies Design Group has completed the design of an outdoor sound system in the open quad area of the new Eastern Carolina University Student Union campus. Founded in 1907 in Greenville, North Carolina, East Carolina University is a public doctoral/research university. With over 5,500 academic and administrative staff and around 30,000 students, it is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. The new, 214,000sq.ft Student Union is the largest construction project on the main campus since the Science and Technology Building opened in 2001. It will house the Dowdy Student Store, five dining options, student government and trustee office spaces, meeting rooms, a theatre and a large ballroom. The facility also features a five level, 724 space parking deck and a new 6,500sq.ft regional energy plant. At the centre of the new campus is a lar
UK - Pop artist Billie Eilish’s sold-out global tour dates feature flyable Allen & Heath dLive rigs at both FOH and monitor positions. Drew Thornton, FOH engineer, and Salim Akram, monitor engineer, use compact, 12-fader C1500’s to mix over 50 inputs from an array of live instruments and backing tracks. Their rig is fed by a quartet of DX168 stage boxes connecting to a DM0 MixRack via EtherCon connections. Thornton designed the dLive system to travel with the band. “Throwing down your stage box and pushing out everything patched and line-checked in 10 minutes is amazing,” he said. “We plug it in and it works like a dream. And I’m a firm believer that if you get your mix right, you can handle things with as few as eight faders. Having 12 faders on the C1500 is a luxury.” Akram noted, “I built my dLive show file on the airplane. I’ve been on a lot o
UK - After supporting various Esports Championship Series (ECS) shows at Wembley’s SSE Arena over the last few years, Sibar Production & Design, along with Capital Sound (and their Martin Audio MLA loudspeaker array), moved to the ICC Auditorium at ExCeL for the FACEIT Global Summit: PUBG Classic. FACEIT is the leading competitive gaming platform and organisers of some of the largest esports events in Europe and North America including ECS, Universal Open and the FACEIT London CS:GO Major. Capital has been regularly contracted to provide the audio reinforcement for such gameplay events by Sibar’s Simon Barrington, but this represented an entirely fresh challenge. According to Capital’s project manager Robin Conway, “It was based on a completely different gaming platform and different team and elimination set-up. “The space at ExCeL is tricky as was the de
USA - The Flyer - San Francisco at Fisherman’s Wharf’s Pier 39 gives both tourists and locals alike a bird’s eye view of the city using cinematic artistry and HD film footage captured with the help of drones and helicopters, and blended with computer-generated imagery. As spectacular as the video is, though, visitors may be even more dazzled by the attraction’s audio thanks to an engaging cinematic soundtrack played back through a high-impact, high-fidelity sound system from L-Acoustics. The soundtrack and sound effects were written, created and produced by Mathieu Vachon, audio director for Triotech, the Québec-based company behind The Flyer - San Francisco. Triotech is quickly establishing itself as a major player in the global amusement and theme park industry, and its latest creation follows a fast-paced point-of-view narrative that both documents the city
APAC - Powersoft has hired Raymond Tee as application engineer for the APAC region, effective 1 April 2019. He brings a wide range of experience in live sound and fixed install application to the role and will report to Powersoft’s global business development manager for fixed install and application engineering manager, rack amplifiers, Marc Kocks. Tee’s primary duties will be to support Powersoft’s distribution networks and end users in the region, enabling them to get the most out of the company’s products, as well as providing training and support for control software platform, ArmoníaPlus. Kocks commented: “Raymond has proven to be a perfect fit thanks to his work as application engineer for other manufacturers, as well as his experience with local Malaysian companies. The APAC region is a very important one for Powersoft, with many established and em
UK - The first week of May saw Creative Technology UK’s Festival of Technology 2019. CTFest19, as it is known, sees the company welcome innovation partners to its Sussex base to showcase the latest in event technology and creative ideas. This year, Brompton Technology took the opportunity to give attendees a close up look at its high-end processors and new HDR technology. HDR video offers a new approach to delivering better image quality, without requiring finer and finer pixel pitches to achieve it and brings a trio of image quality improvements that are particularly well placed for LED screens. “The response to HDR at CTFest19 was extremely positive,” says Brompton business development manager Rob Fowler. “We’re always keen to get involved with companies who prize innovation and want to showcase leading edge technology. CT understands the benefits of our sy
South Africa - Black Coffee, a Durban-based rental company, has become more creative since taking ownership of the Hippotizer Boreal+ Media Server. John-Dee Styles, who heads the creative team at Black Coffee, put the Hippotizer Boreal+ purchased from DWR Distribution to the test for the first time at the Globe Theatre, a new multi-purpose dome structured venue which forms part of the Suncoast Casino. The event was held to celebrate the casino’s new upgrade and renovation, a project that took two years to complete. “We used our new Hippotizer Boreal+ with a backup system,” explains John-Dee. “We used 4 DVI outputs, two of which went to a double stack of 18K Barco projectors, for the main content. This was projected on a black gauze to create the clients desired effect.” The climax of the show saw a dancer performing behind the black gauze projection surface,
UK - With one of the most distinctive voices to emerge from the UK in the last few years, Freya Ridings has had a busy start to 2019. A headline tour (including a sold-out show at London’s Roundhouse) in support of her debut studio album garnered rave reviews and she’s set to follow up with a series of US dates later in the year. Ridings’ front of house engineer Tim Morris has relied on an array of Audio-Technica microphones throughout the tour, on both vocals and band backline, including an AE5400 cardioid condenser and AE6100 and ATM610a hypercardioid dynamics for main and backing vocals and the diminutive AE2300 cardioid dynamic instrument mic for snare top. “I love the response of the AE5400 condenser on Freya’s voice,” says Morris, “and it’s my favourite option for things like TV appearances, where it really delivers a studio-like sound. For the
France - Pioneer Professional Audio has invited the audio installation, rental and club sectors to attend a technical audio demo at the Djoon Club facilities on the 21 May (Tuesday). Attendees will be able test Pioneer’s XY Series (comprising the XY-3B and XY-2 models) and experiment with the XPRS amplified speakers by bringing their own test tracks. The XY-3B and XY-2 models are designed for fixed installations and touring. The XY series loudspeakers feature in top venues including Djoon, Fabric London, and Halcyon. The XY-3B has performed at festivals such as I Love Techno (Montpellier) ADE (Amsterdam) Ultra (Singapore) and Lovebox (London). The XPRS active speaker range features Powersoft Class D amplifiers and comes with a seven-year warranty as standard and is designed for both audio rental companies and mobile DJs. Spaces at the Djoon demonstration
USA - The Shed’s executive team joined elected officials and artists to celebrate the opening of New York’s new arts centre during a dedication ceremony just days before the space opened to the public on 5 April. Located on West 30th Street between 10th and 11th Avenue, The Shed is commissioning and presenting new work from artists working in all genres, including Steve McQueen, Steve Reich, Trisha Donnelly, Anne Carson, Ben Whishaw, Renée Fleming and Björk, among others. Specialised Audio-Visual (SAVI) engineered and installed a d&b V-Series line array in The McCourt, The Shed’s largest space in the 200,000sq.ft Bloomberg Building. “SAVI and d&b audiotechnik are part of the team that connects The McCourt to its artists via technology,” explains Michael Cusick, president of SAVI. “The d&b sound system in The McCourt plays a daily role a
UK - London-based hard rock band Thunder launched their new album Please Remain Seated to critical acclaim in January and they then toured nine UK venues from Cardiff to Glasgow via Birmingham and Manchester. The new album celebrates the band’s 30th anniversary and revisits some of their best-known songs, including She’s So Fine and Low Life in High Places. During the studio recording of the album, the band used Bose L1 Model II portable line arrays in order to get the right feel and sound. Lead singer Danny Bowes is full of praise for the system: “We’ve used lots of equipment over the years, but none as impressive as the Bose L1 system. For our latest album, we wanted a live feel in the studio and decided to try four L1 systems, along with a ToneMatch mixer audio engine and B1 [bass module] for each. “Setup was easy, and the sound
UK - Cadac will be demoing the compact CDC five console alongside the flagship CDC seven-s on booth R-B04 at this year’s PLASA Focus in Leeds. Both consoles share the same audio performance and intuitive graphical user interface but on differing hardware configurations. There are three configurations, including the mid-sized CDC six, which means a Cadac solution can be specified for a majority of applications, ensuring no audio performance compromises are made due to either physical or budgetary constraints. Cadac offers solutions ranging from a single standalone console to a 3072 channel audio network that can handle up to 12 MegaCOMMS units (consoles, stageboxes or bridges). The programmable CDC MC Router with NetCOMMS control software, enables the creation and recall of large, resilient networks with optical runs of up to 2 kilometres. Cadac’s MegaCOMMS p
UK - Three performances, 10 minutes, 62,000 fans, and a TV audience of millions required expert audio delivery for the Opening Ceremony of Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium. In 2017, Britannia Row was tasked with providing live audio for the North London football team’s ground closure at White Hart Lane. After proving itself as a trusted audio supplier to the Premier League club, two years later the rental house was asked to supply top engineers and a control package for a special event to mark the opening of the club’s new stadium. Working closely with Donaldson Creative, event producers Gary Beestone Events and Theatre contracted in Britannia Row to ensure a smooth delivery was achieved for the highly anticipated production. Tom Brown, Britannia Row client liaison, comments: “We had some of our expert TV and touring crew working on this job. Wit
Europe - Vincent Fenton, working under the name French Kiwi Juice, or FKJ for short, delivered his first long player in 2017 and 2019 sees the French multi-instrumentalist tour Europe and North America. Described by the press as ‘one of the flag bearers of the New French House musical genre’, FKJ is also heavily involved in the visual objectives for his live performances and his concerts guarantee visual as well as musical excellence. For this tour, FKJ appointed Stu Dingley as creative director and production designer. Stu is also lighting designer, with Will Smith positioned as lighting director, and video content was created by Lorenzo Depa, Sugo Design and FKJ himself. With the show running to a Timecode, the music structure of each track remains the same, however, FKJ inserts different live loops of music meaning audiences experience a different perform
