Europe - Two years ago, after Thomson Cruises (part of TUI) had rebranded to Marella Cruises, the instigation of a refurbishment programme of the fleet saw UK technology company tedav (part of The Entertainment Department), awarded a long term contract to provide entertainment and comms systems, starting with the conversion of Mein Schiff 1 to the Marella Explorer luxury ship. Audio and networking components deployed through the many entertainment spaces and general deck areas were sourced from the Harman Professional Solutions catalogue via UK distributor Sound Technology. tedav’s successful audio design template - along with the addition of Martin from Harman lighting - was adopted and expanded when the company returned to Navantia Cadiz Shipyard in Spain 12 months later to begin work on their second project - the Marella Explorer 2. And with technology having move
USA - Rapper Logic toured 26 cities across North America this fall on his The Confessions of a Dangerous Mind tour with lighting design by Mitchell Schellenger and lighting supply by Volt Lites of Burbank, California. Schellenger employed a rig of Elation Professional Artiste Monet moving heads as the workhorse fixture in his design and says the powerful, multi-purpose LED profile was just what he was looking for. Schellenger had visited the Volt Lites shop in LA to demo the Monet and found the fixture’s multiple capabilities to his liking. “I didn’t want to use the typical wash, profile, beam configuration,” he says. “I wanted this to be a simplified look and by doing so I needed a fixture that was capable of doing a lot of things with the power and capacity to light the entire show from above. The Monet just made perfect sense.” On the Logic show,
Austria - An Allen & Heath dLive mixing system recently provided audio support for the 200th anniversary of one of the leading financial institutions in Europe, Erste Bank. Held at the Wiener Stadthalle, the event saw more than 12,000 in attendance and with nearly 80 musicians performing, including an orchestra, big band and choir, the event presented several challenges, requiring several mixing consoles with the ability to handle over 120 inputs and 44 monitor outputs to both wedges and IEMs. Additionally, an extensive Dante network was used for shared access to wedges and wireless systems, track playback via DAW and connections to the main PA. Supplied by live production company, Habegger Austria, FOH comprised a dLive S5000 surface equipped with a Dante card for stem playback and PA feeds, and a DM32 MixRack fitted with a gigaACE card for the digital split to th
USA - Prism Sound, part of Audio Squadron, has appointed Full Scale AV as its first ever exclusive USA distribution partner for all its products including SADiE. Full Scale AV has been a distributor of professional audio and music products in North America since 2005. The company provides sales and support of industry leading hardware and software products for musicians, live sound, recording, film/video production and commercial installations. “We are very excited to begin working with one of the most respected and trusted audio distributors in the States,” Prism Sound & Audio Squadron CEO James Woodburn comments. “The added bonus is Full Scale AV already distribute Tracktion products, so this neatly brings all the Audio Squadron Products under one distribution umbrella in the
USA - Harman Professional Solutions has released the JBL Professional One Series 104-BT and 104-BTW desktop reference monitors with Bluetooth. JBL One Series 104-BT reference monitors enable content creators and audio professionals to stream ‘accurate, studio-quality audio via Bluetooth or play back audio using a standard wired connection’. JBL One Series 104-BT monitors deliver ‘clear, detailed sound while mixing and editing’. With an array of easily accessible input options, smart features and a compact design, JBL 104-BT monitors provide great sound in every listening scenario, with the added flexibility of wireless streaming. Black (104-BT) and white (104-BTW) finish options are available. “Music production has evolved beyond the recording studio, and today’s creative professionals and music lovers need reference monitors that deliver neutral, accurat
South Korea - The largest jazz festival in East Asia has selected Amadeus’ newest speaker Series including Diva M², Maestro II, as well as bespoke stage monitors which are to be released in 2020. SSL Live L500 consoles were featured at the event as well. Jarasum Festival has hosted over 2m attendees since its inception in 2004 and featured performers from 55 countries on its stage. Over 200,000 spectators attended the 16th Jarasum Jazz Festival in October. Elan Tech is the South Korea-based production company in charge of both sound equipment and technical production for the event. Located in the Gapyeong region, northeast of Seoul, the festival site is an island surrounded by a beautiful city near the mountains and the banks of the Bukhan River. The yearly three-day festival features all types of jazz including swing, fusion, bossa nova, bebop, as well as world mus
UK - Light Fantastic Production Services once again supported CoppaFeel with a full production package as well as taking on the overall production management mantle for Festifeel 2019. The work being done by CoppaFeel raises awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer particularly amongst young people. Held at House of Vans London, deep within the arches below Waterloo Station, Festifeel is the charity’s annual music and comedy festival that flies the flag for the work they do and highlights the help they provide. Having provided a full production package, including lighting, audio, rigging and video, LFPS transformed the underground venue with a vibrant, creative mix of colour and projections throughout the urban interior. The lively look provided an appropriate backdrop to a host of musical performances that included Bombay Bicycle Club, James Bay a
Italy - At the Vittoriale degli Italiani (The Shrine of Italian Victories) it is possible to discover the bow of the Puglia cruise ship immersed in the promontory in the middle of the trees. There is also a MAS 96 anti-submarine motorboat used for the Beffa di Buccari (a military raid led by D'Annunzio in the Croatian bay of Bakar), as well as the poet's cars and the SVA biplane used in 1918 for his propaganda flight to Vienna. Overlooking the Garda Lake is the spectacular amphitheatre with about 1500 seats, designed to replicate the ancient structure of a Greek amphitheatre in a seductive setting, surrounded by the Alps. Architect Gian Carlo Maroni was sent to Pompeii to study the Greek theatre and began work in 1934, completing the building after the poet's death in 1952. In the summer months, the theatre manages a prestigious season of shows, including Tener-a-Men
UK - Hawkwind celebrate their 50th anniversary this year, releasing their 32nd album and embarking on a tour that culminated in a sold-out show at London’s Royal Albert Hall in November, supported by an Allen & Heath dLive mixing system. With special guests including Eric Clapton and Motörhead’s Phil Campbell joining the band on stage along the way, the tour saw long-time Hawkwind FOH engineer Rik Elliss behind the dLive surface. “I’ve been an Allen & Heath fan for many years and the dLive is my go-to system these days, both for my own engineering duties and for my rental company Audioworx,” explains Elliss. “For this tour I’ve been using the S5000 surface with a DM64 MixRack at FOH. The MixRack is also fitted with a Dante card, which is used for recording several of the shows.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hawkwind’s dense, layered sound provides
Denmark - Dynaudio recently constructed two fully equipped recording studios within shipping containers (one in Europe and one in the USA), installed professional producers in each and took them on the road. Unheard is Dynaudio’s mission to give something back. The company believes that not enough artists are getting a fair chance, so they created the pop-up studios to help redress the balance. The Unheard studios have been travelling the world, visiting shows and festivals and allowing unknowns the chance to record and take away their tracks. The glass-fronted containers allow the process to be shared with an audience, entertaining them as well as providing an insight into professional music-Dynaudio’s Unheard studios have been travelling the world, visiting shows and festivals making. Midem and NAMM are two of the high-profile events that Unheard has recently visited.
Europe - Lithuania system integrator TVC has completed construction of an OB Trailer for Norwegian public broadcaster NRK around a Lawo IP audio infrastructure, including mc²56 mixing console, A__UHD Processing Engine and VSM control. The new vehicle with advanced equipment is an investment for NRK’s ambitious future productions and is part of a technological standardisation within the broadcast production facilities and mobile studios as NRK already uses mc² consoles in their concert hall and for news program productions. The 13.6m-long single-side expansion (4.15m expanded), 26-tonne NRK OB24 features a large interior space with 24 dedicated workplaces, high levels of both sound and heat insulation, automatic preparation for operation and transportation, and easy maintenance and reliability. It features two production rooms, slow-motion operator’s row, camera c
USA - Sandwiched between Silver Lake and Angelino Heights, Echo Park has emerged as one of the most happening neighbourhoods in LA. Home to prospering and aspiring artists, writers, and musicians, it celebrates its community culture each year with Echo Park Rising, a sprawling festival which was recently named ‘Best Music Festival' by LA Weekly. This year the event’s main Liberty Stage relied upon control provided by Allen & Heath dLive S5000 and C1500 control surfaces supported respectively by the processing and networking power of DM48 and CDM32 MixRack systems. Standing at the confluence of Liberty and Reservoir Streets, the Liberty Stage featured a plethora of bands including many of the festival’s must-see acts. “The level of activity at Liberty Stage can best be described as that which you’d expect from what just may be the ultimate block party,”
UAE - JoeCo is growing its reach in the Middle East thanks to a new distribution relationship with Provision AVL. The Dubai-based distributor will now represent the brand across the GCC region and follows hot on the heels of a similar deal with Boujikian Bros in Lebanon. The new relationships mean that the manufacturer has direct representatives in every territory across the Middle East. “We had been looking for some time to find the right partners for JoeCo in Middle Eastern territories,” explains Graham Murray, business development at JoeCo. “We feel it is important to have strong partners and a local presence to promote and backup JoeCo equipment sales. Provision AVL can provide the facility to support local customers and effectively promote JoeCo solutions to the Middle Eastern markets. After spending a few days with Kevin and seeing him and his team in action, it
UK - Production AV's concert touring services expansion is on track as the company appoints video and sound technician Nathan Dunbar as technical project manager. Dunbar brings industry knowledge, experience and contacts in the sector, having worked on some of Europe’s largest AV projects including Glastonbury, UK-produced Hollywood movies and the MTV Europe Music Awards. “We’re thrilled that Nathan has joined our growing team as Production AV looks to expand the scope of our projects and services in 2020,” says MD Pete McCrea. “His kit know-how, contacts and standing in our industry is an incredible asset to Production AV as we look to further strengthen our live music offering. We look forward to working with Nathan to achieve our goals in this next stage of growth.” Dunbar comments: “I wanted to join a company where I could feel part of the famil
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has supplied Dynamic Audio Device (D.A.D.) loudspeakers to The Point venue in Eastleigh, to deliver high-fidelity performance for its annual programme of outdoor events and other offsite activities. The Point attracts British & international artists in contemporary dance, theatre, comedy & film. In 2015 it became one of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations - recognising its cultural importance to the creative community. Each year The Point’s outdoor pop-up live music, festival, cinema & family events are held in the venue’s grounds and nearby public spaces, bringing together the local and creative communities. When the venue’s technical manager, Tim Slater was looking to invest in new PA loudspeakers for future outdoor events, he contacted Steve Eaton, sales executive in AC-ET’s
India - Although holding a degree in medicine, Dr. Rajesh Khade is the son of a professional musician and his passion for music and audio and desire to connect artists with their audiences eventually led to him becoming a sound engineer or, to be more precise, a system engineer and official Smaart Trainer in his home country of India. In recent years, Khade’s work in the audio field has enabled him to build up considerable experience with major PA brands, worked as a system engineer for numerous events with major acts across India, as well as holding his own system engineering courses. He became a Smaart Instructor in 2019 and hosts training sessions throughout India in English, Hindi and Marathi. This work brought him into contact with German system technician and Smaart Instructor Michael Häck, who introduced him to Outline’s new Newton processor, which he use
Denmark - Designed by award-winning architects Henning Larsen AS, Moesgaard Museum (MOMU) is one of Denmark’s leading attractions. Built into and rising up from the rolling hills overlooking Aarhus Bay, MOMU blends ancient artefacts with modern technology to bring the past alive. The latest exhibition, Bound for disaster - Pompeii and Herculaneum, brings to life the events that unfolded around the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, killing an estimated 2,500 people. The sound design for this new audio-visual experience was created by exhibition soundscape specialist, Søren Bendixen of Audiotect, and is built entirely around Genelec’s new 4430 Smart IP loudspeakers. Combined with the scenography, video mapping and lighting, the soundscape immerses visitors in the pre-disaster atmosphere of the lively city of Pompeii, before leading them into the pos
Germany - WHU - Otto Bensheim School of Management is a business school with campuses in Vallendar/Koblenz and Düsseldorf serving over 1,500 students. In recent years, this privately-funded university began investing in networked learning with a goal to record lectures using the latest AV and remote camera technology for the benefit of all its students. A comprehensive Panopto system plus a Creston signal management and media control system were installed in the university’s lecture halls to provide quality video. Having planned and installed the video recording systems for the lecture halls, the AV integrator specialists at SIGMA realised that voice transmission confronted them with a very challenging scenario. “The client required a microphone solution across several lecture halls and seminar rooms. Students should be able to participate without nee
USA - Famed for his struggles with stage props, attempts to smuggle vegetables through airport security and a Big Bottom, former Spinal Tap bass guitarist Derek Smalls recently delighted fans by inviting them to ‘rock til you sit’ at Lukewarm Water Live, a one date tour of the US West Coast. Increasing age may have brought Derek a subtle change of hair colour but, with a Yamaha PM7 digital mixing system on monitors, he delivered the full majesty of rock. Playing songs from his 2018 solo album Smalls Change (Meditations Upon Ageing) alongside classics by his former band (formerly known as Spinal Tap), Smalls - known to some as comedian Harry Shearer - invited a star-studded line-up to perform alongside him and a full symphony orchestra. “This was the first time I mixed a show on Rivage PM7,” says monitor engineer Gabriele Nicotra, who has also work
China - Hangzhou, the capital of the Zhejiang province, is home to a new One Third club destination located in a former locomotive depot, another of the NOA’s Arc Group’s entertainment ventures. The third in the chain (including one in Beijing), the 2,500-capacity dance venue, specialising in Hard style, has been equipped with Martin Audio’s MLA Multicellular Loudspeaker Array. This was supplied to the Dutch creative team, Live Legends, and their creative director Daan Oomen by Martin Audio’s Chinese distributor, Sino Hui Feng, who worked hard to win the project with the Martin Audio bid to ensure One Third Hangzhou stands out in a competitive marketplace. The One Third vibe is all about the story of an old locomotive factory that comes to life. Live Legends delivered all creative elements from concept to execution, including show production, interior and
South Africa - Richard Smith of DWR Distribution, an L-Acoustics authorised training centre, recently headed up L-Acoustics certified training for a group of technicians at the company’s offices in Johannesburg. The two-day training course provides technicians with both the technical and practical skills and certification needed to operate a range of L-Acoustics professional sound systems. Under the guidance of Richard Smith, who has served as a brand ambassador for L-Acoustics in Africa for over a decade, attendees are taught all that they need to know to operate L-Acoustics’ Kara, Kiva II and K2 professional audio system. Smith is a passionate and committed teacher and trainer and takes enormous pleasure in passing on his years of knowledge and experience to a new generation of L-Acoustics Certified Technicians. “I have always loved teaching and try to t
UK - This year’s Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo undertook one of its biggest technological transformations to date (read more about this in the December issue of LSi, coming soon). For the first time in its history, the vast and complex event trusted its audio control to an audio tracking system, implementing the largest TiMax TrackerD4 precision stagetracking system yet, controlling a pair of Out Board’s TiMax SoundHub-S64 spatial audio processors featuring new HARDCore FPGA processing - all supplied by Wigwam Acoustics. Since 2014, sound designer, Seb Frost, has overseen the execution of audio reinforcement for the event, in which a continuously moving cast of over 1000 military musicians march through Edinburgh Castle’s parade ground in increasingly complex configurations. Frost claims, “TiMax TrackerD4 dramatically improved the accuracy and resolution of t
Italy - After captivating the Stade De France in Paris and the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt, Rockin’1000 brought their That’s Live - No Borders, On Board tour to Italy, landing in Milan and hosting two special guests, Manuel Agnelli from Afterhours (joined by Rodrigo D’Erasmo), and Subsonica. The band originally found fame on 26 July 2015 at the Ippodromo Park in Cesena, where the 1,000-piece band played Learn to Fly in an effort to convince Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl to perform live in Italy (which happened the following November). Since then, the Thousand have been organising concerts around the world. The band’s latest appearance - an outdoor show at newly renovated Milano-Linate airport - required the combined audio firepower of Outline’s GTO system and Powersoft’s K and X Series amplifiers to match up to the sheer the size of the
USA - After three sold-out performances at Amsterdam's Eye Filmmuseum, which saw Cosmos Within Us win a VR Days Halo award, the Future of StoryTelling will present the theatrical preview of Tupac Martir’s mixed reality performance piece at New York Live Arts on 2 December (Monday). A co-production between Satore Studio, a_BAHN, and Satore Tech, Cosmos Within Us ‘turns the solitary experience of virtual reality into a multisensory performance piece for an audience of 100-150 people, creating an entirely new artform’. It features 13 live performers, including five musicians, voiceover artists, live digital animations, two dancers, a conductor, and one ‘interactor’. Director Tupac Martir comments: “Performing at the Eye was very special. Being able to take our piece outside of the film festival circuit and show it to over 100 people per screenin
