China - Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Beijing Municipal People’s Government, the 9th Chinese Peking Opera Arts Festival took place over a three-week period in September and October at The National Centre for Performing Arts. As the leading opera art event in China, the Festival has been the launchpad for a large number of productions and performances, and has been instrumental in the advancement of Chinese traditional culture. The principal work featured at the festival was The Grand Canal of Beijing, a complete orchestral suite for the Beijing Opera, combining a range of different vocal genres with orchestral music. The presentation was a multimedia stage event, combining music, choreography and costumes. Held in the concert hall of the National Centre for Performing Arts, the symphonic performances not only demanded the highest qu
Europe - PRG Switzerland has relaunched as PRG Gear, to bring its dry rental sources under one brand. PRG Gear’s office in is located in Zurich. Within 24 hours PRG Gear will be able to serve a radius of 600 km straight from its 7,500sq.m warehouse, which is amongst the largest equipment inventories for all types of production disciplines in the event industry, says PRG. “Not only will former PRG Switzerland clients be able to rent equipment from PRG Gear in Zurich, they will also be able to count on a widened offer of support solutions for their productions. With the ever-shortening installation and dismantling schedules on-site, we want to include mobile and efficient solutions in our strategic offerings in the future.” says Martin Fischer, general manager PRG Gear Zurich. “We will be offering an additional space in our warehouse facilities for our c
UK - Audiotonix has promoted general manager Austin Freshwater to managing director of DiGiCo, signalling a new era for long-serving MD James Gordon, who remains Audiotonix CEO. Audiotonix oversees entertainment technology brands Allen & Heath, Calrec, DiGiGrid, Group One Limited, KLANG:technologies, Solid State Logic, and newly acquired Sound Devices LLC, as well as DiGiCo. “We were talking about Austin moving into the MD position just before COVID-19 hit, by which time it didn’t feel right for me to run off into the hills,” comments Gordon. “I don't think it would have sent the right message to our customers and teams.” “In March 2020, everyone went into ‘serious concern’ mode,” he adds. “We’ve basically spent this time reassuring people within the company who aren’t used to not hitting their numbers that we’re all in it together.<
Denmark - DPA Microphones is promoting its latest microphone solutions, designed to meet the growing live production needs of the broadcast and AV markets. As the rapid adoption of live streaming continues to grow in broadcast applications, speech intelligibility remains at the forefront of all productions. In recognition of the changes in the media landscape, DPA recently released broadcast mic solutions, the 4466 Core Omnidirectional and 4488 Core Directional Headset Microphones, and the 4097 Micro Shotgun Microphone and Interview Kit. “The pandemic has shown us the true importance of being quickly and easily adaptable to a rapidly changing media landscape,” says Anne Berggrein, vice president, marketing, DPA Microphones A/S. “These new offerings are a direct result of the innovation and forward-thinking response to the industry, and we are excited to call att
USA/Europe - Solotech, a long-time L-Acoustics partner, has extended its inventory. The company’s already substantial stock of L-Acoustics products now boasts a total of 56 of the newest L-Acoustics K3 compact line array cabinets, split equally across its North American and European operations. This investment will help the company to fulfil its ever-increasing 2022 commitments. The new K3 is L-Acoustics smallest, full-range line source system to date and is designed for mid-size events. Its light weight and long-throw capability and extensive bandwidth make it an appropriate addition to Solotech’s inventory, allowing the company to propose new approaches, especially for theatre productions and for deployments using L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal technology, providing a cost-effective solution for projects requiring increased cabinet counts in smaller spaces. “The glo
USA - Offering 360° views over the Hudson River and Manhattan skyline, The Glasshouse is a new multi-function, interconnectable event space in New York City. Able to accommodate almost 2,000 people, and with multiple outdoor terraces set within the 75,000sq.ft footprint, the venue required a cutting-edge production infrastructure, including transparent audio transmission, video and lighting and broadcast-ready cabling. The work went out to tender, and the successful bidder was Martin Audio partner, Audible Difference (ADI). “We were offered the contract based on our design, and the fact that Martin Audio system offered a robust and adaptable Dante platform,” believes ADI principal, Erich Bechtel. Consequently, the stage area pop-up space, taking advantage of the extra ceiling height on the 7th floor, comprises two hangs of eight MLA Compact, while LF extensi
Italy - Designed in collaboration with the Department Of Mechanical And Industrial Engineering at the Brescia University and engineered in Italy by Outline, the new GSR (Globe Source Radiator) provides a tool for acoustic analysis. Optimised acoustics are a prerequisite of many modern buildings and for some (classrooms, offices, theatres, and concert halls for example), their acoustic properties determine how well they are able to perform their core purpose. Accurate and reliable test data is essential for those engaged in the design and construction of these spaces: a powerful omnidirectional sound source is vital to assist in the testing of acoustic insulation of internal walls, floor slabs, and insulation from the external environment, plus the acoustic properties of any internal space where sonic performance is important. GSR’s design combines a robust sp
Romania - Aware that their students needed a way to understand signal flow more easily, course leader Áron Fazakas, associate professor and József ‘Yogi’ Lénárd, sound master instructor at Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania “decided to teach a more solid, analogue-based hybrid studio process.” After much research, they chose the Audient ASP4816 mixing console to facilitate this, saying the desk “perfectly met our educational and production needs”. Áron and Yogi make up two-fifths of the teaching staff on the Sound Master course. Yogi continues, “In the all-digital beginnings of our sound engineer training, the problem was that our students were always staring at the computer screen. Reading the various values and admiring the beautifully crafted audio plug-ins on-screen, slowly began to eclipse their confidence in their musical hearing.”
Europe - Yamaha has partnered with Entourage Pro, the new free-to-join global networking platform for sourcing accredited production industry personnel. Covering 140 professional freelance roles in a wide range of technical disciplines - including sound, lighting, video, staging, production management, logistics, catering, artist services and more - the platform has been designed to be a quick and easy way to connect personnel to productions (and vice-versa) for anything from a one-off show to a world tour. Its directors, Joel Perry and James Stanbridge, approached Yamaha, “knowing that the company’s reputation for high standards, reliability, future-proofed technology and global reach mirrors the Entourage Pro ethos. Seeing the advantages that Entourage Pro offered, and keen to support the re-emergence of live entertainment, Yamaha was happy to become an official
China - Part of the Aochi Production Resource Platform, Moto Group is one of China’s largest commercial advertising resource platforms. It has offices and service teams in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Vancouver, as well as three large-scale production studios and a Fortune 500 clientelle and has recently announced its first Moto Stage XR in Shanghai. Brompton Technology is one of the partners that has invested its technology and technical expertise into developing this new facility. The studio focuses on the research, development and application of XR visual effects technology, creating seamless connection and a perfect immersion into physical and virtual reality across film, broadcast, TV, advertising and other areas. The studio’s opening ceremony, held on 16 October, attracted many industry leaders including TVCBOOK, Wunderman Thompson, Havas, Publ
UAE - As many as 25 Italian-made Powersoft amplifiers are handling the audio demands of the award-nominated Italy Pavilion at Expo 2020 at the recently opened world fair in Dubai. Over 28,000 people a day are expected to visit the Italy Pavilion, which centres on a spectacular 3D-printed, 1:1-scale reproduction of Michelangelo’s David created in Powersoft’s home city of Florence, over the next six months. The pavilion, based on the theme Beauty Connects People, is one of the 192 stands competing for visitors at Expo 2020, which comes to a close on 31 March 2022. The Italy Pavilion is already proving to be one of the most popular attractions, with more than 200,000 visits in October alone, including the thousands who attended concerts by celebrated pianist Ludovico Einaudi and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta. Key to that popu
Japan - A classic concert took place recently at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Concert Hall, featuring Nobuaki Fukukawa. One of the world's most active horn players, he is also principal player in the NHK Symphony Orchestra and a major name in the orchestral world. At this recent recital, Mr. Fukukawa had the clear desire to emulate his recordings from King Records and play the songs on it in the form of an eight-horn ensemble, by overdubbing himself. Mr. Fukukawa and King Records consulted with Koichi Ishimaru, sound master at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, and he suggested “treating the loudspeakers as musical instruments”. His idea was that Mr. Fukukawa should perform live on stage to create the one part while the seven remaining parts should be played back one by one through the surround speakers, with the recorded source created in Pro Tools. However, this
USA - San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival now in its 13th year, returned to Golden Gate Park for a special Halloween weekend edition. For three days, more than 74,000 concertgoers flooded into the park’s vast lawns to experience sets by headliners The Strokes, Lizzo, and Tame Impala, along with more than 80 additional acts performing on four stages and in two tents. Since the event’s inception, festival producer Another Planet Entertainment, Bay Area rental company UltraSound, and Meyer Sound have worked in close collaboration to provide a world-class audio experience. Since the inaugural festival in 2008, Meyer Sound systems have supported the annual festival’s main stage, with strategic system designs meeting the duelling goals of providing clear, consistent sound and keeping the sound contained within the sprawling urban park, which is surr
Spain - Used for everything from indoor rock shows to open-air flamenco events, Zero Dbs’s APG inventory demonstrated its flexibility over the course of an 80-event summer calendar in southern Spain. Cabra-based Zero Dbs boasts one of the biggest APG inventories in the region, having worked with the French manufacturer since 2012. For the 80+ live events it helped produce this summer (20 June to 20 September), the company leaned heavily on its APG equipment, which includes 20 Uniline Compact line-array speakers, four SB118 subwoofers, two Unitrack flightcase racks, and ten compact DX (Dispersion series) multipurpose speakers and stage monitors. Spain saw “an explosion of events” in the summer months, and businesses like Zero Dbs had to be ready to respond to the unprecedented post-lockdown demand for live shows, according to the company’s owner, Juan Antonio Cu
The Netherlands - This year’s in-person edition of the broadcast and electronic media industry tradeshow IBC has been cancelled. The event was set to go ahead on 3-6 December at RAI Amsterdam, but a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands has forced the organisers to change their plans. The decision was made following visitor and exhibitor feedback and with the view to prevent people from travelling to the country in these uncertain ttimes. Instead of the in-person event, the organisers are set to use IBC’s online platform IBC Digital to bring the community together. Peter White, CEO of the international trade association for broadcast and media technology (IABM), comments: “IBC exists for the industry only. Unlike other events, it is entirely owned by the industry and, thanks to its success over the years, has contributed a great deal through this struct
USA - Ohio-based McFadden Sales is now the Midwest representative for Danley Sound Labs loudspeakers, subwoofers and amplifiers. “Danley has a great reputation in providing high-quality audio in large venues,” says Andy Kerr, principal of operations for McFadden Sales. “Danley’s product line fits well with our sensibilities in the marketplace and among the other products we represent. Danley Sound Labs provides a technology niche we needed in our portfolio of products and is a great solution for big distributed audio and larger venues we serve.” “We’re always excited to bring on new partners,” said Mike Hedden, chief steward in charge at Danley Sound Labs. “The McFadden Sales team is well known throughout our industry and we’re excited about the future of this relationship.” As a Danley partner, McFadden Sales now represents Danley Sound La
South Africa - Faith Broadcasting Network has consolidated a vast following of approximately 264m viewers worldwide since its inception two decades ago, with satellite, terrestrial and digital broadcasts reaching worshippers all around the world. With headquarters in South Africa, and studios in the USA and the UK, MyFaithTV is the largest religious broadcaster on the African continent. To accommodate such growth, the Faith Dome - the ministry’s base in East London, South Africa - has been undergoing renovations for many years. Parts of the premises have been refurbished to house different aspects of the ministry’s work: including a number of television studios, humanitarian aid warehouses, activity spaces as well as their main broadcasting studio. In 2015, work commenced on the ceiling to replace it with the dome we see today. Stage Audio Works were called upon t
UK - Bristol based experiential company Pytch has added to its stock of Martin Audio loudspeakers, used in both their rental stock and virtual studio. They have purchased a further 24 of the ultra-compact, DD6, utilising Coaxial Differential Dispersion technology. At the same time, they have ordered five SXP118 subwoofers for low frequency extension. The reason for this latest purchase - which brings Pytch’s stock of DD6’s up to 48 - is to fulfil a contract to provide a full AV package for one of the country’s largest arenas, including an exhibition space. “We have been appointed sole in-house provider to the arena,” confirms Pytch founder, Johnny Palmer. DD6 has been chosen for its versatility. “Most of our installations are not defined by volume but intelligibility and DD6 has become an essential tool to deliver the customer experience - whether for
USA - World Harvest Church is a major operation. The 122,000sq.ft main building is home to a sanctuary that seats over 5,200 people and contains an auditorium, a television studio, a children's ministry that includes Sunday school for children newborn to sixth grade, the Harvest Preparatory School, the ministry’s administrative offices and more, all on a 57-acre campus in Columbus, Ohio. The church even incorporates Valor Christian College, a co-educational institution located on the property. The church’s most recent acquisition - a new DiGiCo Quantum338 console, serving as its monitor mixer - is an addition to its existing DiGiCo infrastructure, which includes an SD8 console mixing front of house and an SD-Rack that has now been upgraded to include 32-bit ‘Ultimate Stadius’ microphone pre-amps. The audio system infrastructure update further involved moving al
USA - When The Fennec, Birmingham’s new music venue opened for business, ownership called upon long time audio engineer Michael Panepento, owner of Alabama Music & Audio Supervision, to create and install “an unrivalled sound experience” at the new Parkside District hot spot. Panepento found the solution The Fennec management was looking for with a PA system featuring various loudspeakers, subwoofers and stage monitors from Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW). The Fennec is a two-story venue, with the main restaurant and event space on the first floor and a dedicated private event space that can be rented out on the second. The design of the building did present some challenges to Panepento that were solved with the combination of products from EAW, including the RSX Series, RS Series, RL Series and VF Series PA components. “We needed to use point source speakers
UK - Last month, Sonosphere started the next chapter in its journey to bring all areas of immersive audio to the live, studio and broadcast markets by completing a management buyout which sees existing director, Jamie Gosney, joined by Duncan Bell, a familiar name in the audio industry. Sonosphere’s mission has always been to make immersive audio accessible to the industry at large. Over the past 18 months it has been part of the 5G Festival (part of the DCMS 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme (5GTT). This project aims to utilise the 5G network to revolutionise the live music industry, creating new commercial opportunities for arts and entertainment, and giving artists and audiences new ways to interact with each other. “I became a shareholder and director of Sonosphere last year and I could see the huge potential the company had,” says Gosney. “When the opportun
USA - Lectrosonics has announced that their Wireless Designer frequency coordination and RF system management software for Mac or PC is now updated for use with the DCR822 dual-channel portable digital receiver. This will allow DCR822 users to monitor all channels in operation, change settings, initiate infrared data transfers, manage frequency groups, scan the local RF spectrum, and calculate system operating frequencies using the Frequency Coordination Engine. Wireless Designer Versions 2.0.30 for macOS and 2.0.34 for Windows are now available with these features for the 822. The DCR822 receiver offers a versatile feature set in a compact, dual-channel design for field and location production. This receiver is compatible with Lectrosonics mono and stereo digital transmitters and is backward compatible with Digital Hybrid Wireless transmitters. The unit tunes ac
USA - A Martin Audio MLA Compact loudspeaker array system was chosen by partners, North Carolina-based RMB Audio, when locally based Duke University’s Spring and Fall 2020 graduation was postponed until a time of greater health safety. That time was determined to be 26 September 2021 - when undergraduates, graduates and professional school class members (and their families) were invited to participate in the delayed celebration. The stage was set up with the imposing Duke Chapel - an English Gothic 210ft-tall structure in the centre of campus - as the backdrop. Student seating started downstage and extended back 300 ft. Large trees, with low branches 13ft above the ground, occupied the corners of the audience seating, making it necessary to project sound in a slice to pass beneath the foliage to focus on the audience. “MLA Compact is capable of providing focused sound to
Spain - Artists touring to Spain will no longer need visas for short-term engagements in a dramatic change to the current onerous rules. The change follows months of work from LIVE and the Association for British Orchestras (ABO), working alongside Spanish counterparts Asociación Promotores Musicales. The development represents a significant boost for the sector which has, as a result of Brexit and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, seen European touring become more expensive, more complicated, and more difficult to execute. Visas have been a significant issue for Spain which, despite representing the fifth largest live music market in the world, posed the most costly and complicated visa application process across the bloc for artists looking to travel for short-term work. Until now, artists and their promoters have had to make applications for short-term vi
