UK - Audio specialists tube uk followed their sense of adventure, love for the unusual and challenging site-specific installations to Cammell Laird Shipyard in Birkenhead, Merseyside, where, working for live event production company Mills Media Creative, they supplied a sound system for the launch of the RRS Sir David Attenborough. The 128.9m-long vessel which has a 24m beam and a draft of 7m, is owned by the Natural Environment Research Council and will be operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). It replaces two existing ships and will be engaged in essential research and logistical support for the Survey. The event at Cammell Laird saw the distinctive red hull (number 1390) launched following an impassioned speech by Sir David Attenborough himself, who focussed on the importance and centrality of the work undertaken by the BAS for the benefit and the lo
South Africa - The team at the University of Johannesburg Arts Centre and DWR Distribution invited students to explore the world of a backstage technician with a lighting design workshop two-day class hosted earlier this year. It was aimed at UJ students who follow subjects other than theatre, with the hope that they would develop a love for the arts and possibly sign up as crew for the many festivals and productions the theatre is involved with. “The first evening was testing the boundaries of their awareness of the industry,” said Michael Broderick from DWR who presented the course. “I think the students were a bit overwhelmed by the theory and expected to be playing with lights from the outset. To be honest, without the background and without the theory you can’t actually do anything. “On the second night, they were a lot more prepared and their minds were
USA - Platinum recording artists AJR got their start over a decade ago busking covers of hits by Simon and Garfunkel, Imagine Dragons and other artists in Central Park. The freewheeling band got to rekindle those improvisational skills in mid-July at the Orange County New York Fair, when the power suddenly went out during their performance. Not missing a beat, they broke into an acoustic version of their set to keep the crowd entertained. “Dynamic Productions, the producers of the event, did a great job responding fast and restoring power quickly,” said Jason Blends, the festival’s lighting designer. “But you had to be impressed by AJR’s quick thinking.” Also impressive was the nimbleness and responsiveness of Blend’s lighting rig, which was anchored by 12 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Profiles. The county fair’s main stage hosted a mix of performe
USA - Adamson Systems Engineering has confirmed Livella Brand Group as the latest U.S. addition to the Adamson Network. Headquartered in Lenexa, KS, Livella is now Adamson’s manufacturer’s representative covering Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Southern Illinois. "Adamson is committed to continuing our strong year-over-year growth in the Americas, and by welcoming Livella Brand Group to the Adamson Network, we’ve further strengthened our U.S. sales force with an elite partner,” says Marc Bertrand, managing director, Americas for Adamson Systems Engineering. “Adam’s team has a wealth of experience and a strong market position when you combine their individual strengths and their impressive line card,” adds Adamson’s U.S. sales director, Lin Buck. “I’ve been close with Adam Livella and his family for over 20 years and have never been surprised b
USA - The Howard Hughes Corporation (HHC) recently opened the doors on a new development located in the South Street Seaport district. Pier 17 offers dining, retail and entertainment options along with a large 1.5-acre rooftop concert space that can hold 3,400 for its standing general admission shows, or 2,400 seated, with the Brooklyn Bridge as the stage’s backdrop. HHC brought in SIA Acoustics to identify and design a system that would deliver pristine audio quality while keeping the sound contained to the listening area. After reviewing multiple products, it was determined that an Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) Adaptive sound reinforcement system was the only solution. It would not only reduce the amount of audio that would impact the adjacent neighbourhoods – Wall Street to the west and Brooklyn to the east – but also produce sonic clarity beyond expectations.
UK - Theatres Trust Conference 18: Adapt & Thrive will take place on Tuesday 16 October at the Lyric Hammersmith, London, exploring how changing artistic, business and operating models in the theatre sector are impacting on how we build, adapt and run theatres. Through a mixture of inspiring plenaries and lively breakout sessions, the conference will look at how we can ensure our theatres remain viable in challenging economic times and how we can continue to invest in renewal of our theatre infrastructure. Joining Michael Ellis MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism and Cameron Mackintosh, producer and theatre owner will be speakers from Bristol Old Vic, arguably the country’s oldest continuously operating theatre and Manchester’s Factory, probably the newest, discussing how they are adapting to new artistic and busines
The Netherlands - BOD Events from Dordrecht wanted to create an impression with the 10th edition of its annual music extravaganza, Breda Live, so they asked production specialist Unlimited Productions (also Breda based) to add an extra level of ‘experience’ to this year’s event, including spectacular lighting for the main stage. Bert Kelchtermans led the lighting element of the Unlimited Productions team consisting of Bart Roelen as main technical producer and Gijs Mulder as the B-stage producer. They looked at the diverse line-up and the fact that most of the acts over the two-day event would be playing in daylight and took these facts as two main parameters for the design, for which they specified over 100 Robe moving lights - 40 X MegaPointes, 56 x LEDBeam 150s and eight BMFL WashBeams. Unlimited Productions has actually been involved in the fest
USA - This summer, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) held its third International Conference on Music Induced Hearing Disorders at Columbia College Chicago. Its focus was on strategies and technologies for safer long-term hearing outcomes resulting from exposure to loud music. In keeping with the theme of technology to preserve hearing, Bob Schulein, conference co-chair, engineering producer and ImmersAV Technology’s founding partner, organised a demonstration of a new entertainment experience as a part of the conference banquet on Thursday evening. He arranged for Glass Mountain, a Chicago American folk trio, to perform for the guests and to assist in the demonstration of “a unique, binaural audio ‘you-are-there’ experience”. The band gladly accepted the opportunity and participated in creating and rehearsing for the musical production. For the performanc
Colombia – The 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games (CACG) kicked off with a spectacular opening ceremony at Barranquilla’s Roberto Meléndez Stadium, featuring projection mapped visuals to the stadium pitch and huge LED screens using Avolites Ai RX8 servers. The opening ceremony’s most famous performer was Latin superstar Shakira, who was born in the Games’ host city. During the ceremony, the 47,000-capacity crowd experienced a video concept based on a story of time travel from the future to the present, offering a perspective of Barranquilla, which highlighted local culture, folklore and its vibrant music scene. The ceremony was produced by Victor Ariza from Performa SAS. Miguel Carrillo from Foro IQ designed the stages. The main stage was backed by video-mapped content, displayed on a 664sqm LED screen. “We needed to manage a lot of pixels
USA - Boston Calling celebrated its fifth year (and ninth outing) the weekend of 25-27 May with a slew of performers, including Eminem, The Killers, Jack White, Queens of the Stone Age, Paramore, and St. Vincent. However, the event, which music portal Consequence of Sound has declared one of the top 10 music festivals in the country, almost didn’t happen this year. The previous year’s event, held in a new location at the Harvard Athletic Complex, drew not only raves from the attendees but also a wave of protests from residents of the surrounding Cambridge area who complained about noise levels, a situation a number of area media outlets reported in depth. This year, though, Boston-based production company Crash Line Productions found the solution: an L-Acoustics K1/K2 system, provided by Clearwing Productions, with a system design created using L-Acoustics
USA - Counting Crows’ current 25 Years and Counting tour is supported by an upbeat Mike Zielinski-designed lightshow that features STRIKE 1 fixtures supplied by Upstaging, Inc. “With 25 years and seven albums of music, we have a very large catalogue of songs that can be played on any given night,” said Zielinski. “This creates a need for a diverse, flexible rig. I like to have a lot of colour palettes and video content to keep up. I also need versatile fixtures, which is why I like the STRIKE 1s for this rig. They fill a wide range of roles for me, like accent lighting, backlighting and blinders.” At times Zielinski uses his STRIKE 1 fixtures with amber shift to create different moods for more reflective songs or for those moments when frontman Adam Duritz reflects on the band’s history. Zielinski also calls on the 230W LED fixtures for audience ligh
UK - Sounds and Sorcery is unlike any other show you’re likely to see this summer. Held in the distinctly quirky venue of The Vaults, a maze of disused railway arches underneath London’s Waterloo station, Sounds and Sorcery is an immersive audio-visual extravaganza inspired by Disney’s Fantasia. On arrival, audience members are given a pair of headphones and an iPod and then invited to wander at their leisure through a series of installations created using a combination of 3D projections, elaborate set designs and spectacular lighting effects, all set to a specially recorded score from the City of Prague Symphony orchestra. As audience members move from one scene to the next, all entirely in their own time, so the music changes accordingly thanks to an elaborate and technically challenging sound design built around Williams Sound Hearing Hotspot te
South Africa - Earlier this year, L-Acoustics announced that DWR Distribution has officially been appointed as L-Acoustics certified provider distributor for South Africa. DWR solidified their position as an L-Acoustics distribution partner with a series of product launch events. DWR invited industry representatives, together with their families, for an evening at their offices in Johannesburg on 16 July. DWR managing director, Duncan Riley and his team transformed the parking lot at Kimbult Industrial Park into a fairground for the evening. Central to the event was the full-scale stage, complete with a new-to-market lighting technology from IVL Lighting by French company, Minuit Une. Guests were given an opportunity to play with the new grandMA3 lighting console and the new DiGiCo S21 sound desk. Central to the event, was the opportunity for the industry to hear
Europe - Before making its high-profile debut on this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, GLP’s new KNV went out on a ‘field test’ tour with German band Scooter. This gave production designer Jerry Appelt and his lighting director, programmer and board operator Marc Brunkhardt the opportunity to evaluate the new modular design with the upcoming ESC in mind. The design team deployed 14 KNV fixtures as a massive centre effect in the middle of the Scooter stage set. Supporting these were 90 GLP X4 Bar 10, which handled the washes, and 22 impression X4 L for key and side lights. All the tour lighting was provided by PRG. “We were very happy to get hold of the KNV - what act is better for testing such a hyper bright fixture than Scooter? They were a real eye catche,” reports Marc, who had seen the fixture for the first time at production rehearsals in Bot
USA - The festival season continued this summer with more than 430,000 people attending the Lollapalooza Music and Arts Festival over four days. Bandit Lites worked with C3 Presents and provided three trucks with nearly 600 fixtures and 1500ft of truss to light spaces across Grant Park. Areas included Kidsapalooza, the Merch Palace, cocktail lounges, a beer garden, VIP areas off the stage and the stunning Buckingham fountain. Bandit also supplied lighting for all areas with foot traffic, navigating the way from stage to stage. “Our biggest challenge is always power distribution on such a large festival,” said C3 Presents production manager Tyler Crain. “A solid plan of areas to light and power necessary to accomplish this ahead of time is a necessity.” In order to craft that solid plan, Bandit Lites began working with Crain about seven weeks ahea
Singapore - Singaporean theatre company Pangdemonium! recently staged Fun Home, the multiple Tony Award-winning production renowned for being the first Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist. Alcons Audio RR12 point source array modules and VR12 mid-sized versatile monitors ensured that every line of dialogue and lyrics was clearly heard by the enthusiastic audiences. Staged at Singapore’s 615-seat Drama Centre Theatre, sound design for the production was by Jeffrey Yue of audio design company Ctrl Fre@k, with technical production by The Production People. The Alcons speakers were supplied by Alcons Pro-Ribbon Network Partner Creator’s Solutions. Being a musical, where every song lyric is as important to the narrative as every line of dialogue, Jeffrey needed to ensure that both the spoken and sung vocals were extremely clear for every member of t
Belgium - During Bruges’ tenure as European Capital of Culture in 2002, the Concertgebouw Brugge - a concert venue and multicultural centre accommodating more than 1500 visitors - was built to provide the city’s inhabitants and many tourists with a home for some of the best classical music orchestras in the world. Taking centre stage in a recent refurbishment of the concert hall were 20 Chauvet Professional Ovation F-265WW fixtures, specified by local install specialists Sotesa. With the main hall regularly receiving high-profile symphonic orchestras such as the Anima Eterna Brugge (artist in residence), Brussels Philharmonic, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the venue required a practical solution to provide general illumination for the musicians on stage. With their incredibly soft and even flat field of wa
UK - Rental and installation specialists LED Creative worked with the crew at Version 2 to help illuminate the annual charity concert held in the grounds of hosts Sue and David Formosa’s Chorleywood home. Now in its sixteenth year, Music by Twilight features a broad mix of talent, including local acts. The concerts have raised over £400,000 for the charity and this year’s show was another resounding success with all proceeds going towards the funding of TCT units in NHS hospitals. Providing their Sigma Pulse Wands and Fairground fixtures plus Byte Controllers, the LED Creative team were able to help add colour, shape and movement to the lighting design for the event. With limited access to the site, the ‘plug and play’ Sigma fixtures were an ideal creative solution, quick and easy to incorporate into the custom-built stage with no compromise on versatil
Doctor Atomic, a collaboration between composer John Adams and librettist and stage director Peter Sellars, focuses on the events leading up to the first atomic bomb test in the summer of 1945 and is set in Los Alamos, New Mexico, barely 20 miles from the Santa Fe Opera, which is presenting its new production through 16 August. In advance of production rehearsals, Santa Fe Opera’s audio/visual director, Karl G. Kern, increased the company’s inventory of Lectrosonics Digital Hybrid Wireless technology to 30 channels, adding 18 SSM super slight micro belt-pack transmitters and three six-channel Venue2 receivers to its existing stock of SMDa transmitters and Venue receivers. “The quality of Lectrosonics’ products is by far superior,” says Kern of the purchase decision. “They’ve got a very low noise floor and very solid RF, so it helps you to get a very clear
China - When the audio system in Hong Kong’s City Hall began to fall short of its duty, the powers that be called on DMT Pro, Clair Brothers’ Chinese distributor to upgrade the old system in the 463-seat city hall theatre and bring it into the new millennium. After a thorough review of the venue with specific attention paid to addressing acoustical challenges not overcome by the old system, DMT decided to install an L-C-R Clair Brothers system, which consists of two Clair Brothers kiT 12+ two-way, self-powered speakers for each of the L-C-R channels, and two kiT-Sub-mini+ single drive self-powered subwoofers, all supported by two Lake LM44 digital processors. Says Ricky Wan, sales manager at DMT, “The speakers have a DSP function, but for a greater degree of fine tuning we also installed the Lake processors.” “We are very impressed with the quality of Clair
UK - Theatres Trust has extended the booking period for our Early Bird offer so you now have until Friday 24 August to take advantage of the discounted rate ( http://bit.ly/Adaptandthrive ). Titled 'Adapt and Thrive', the conference, which takes place on 16 October at the Lyric Hammersmith, looks at new models for theatre buildings and new ways of funding. Through a mixture of inspiring plenaries and lively breakout sessions, the conference w
UK - Registration is now open for ISCEx which takes place 5-6 March 2019 at Combe Abbey (https://www.isce.org.uk/iscex-event/) If you’re working in commercial audio system design, integration, project management or sales, ISCEx provides opportunities to learn, engage and discuss commercial audio solutions in an intimate, non-imposing environment. ISCEx is a multi-faceted event that includes seminars, training, networking dinner and an exhibition of the audio industries leading manufacturers and distributors. There are plenty of opportunities to meet up with industry colleagues, share ideas and discuss projects in informal environments. (Jim Evans)
Italy - For the eighth year running, Music Inside Rimini (MIR) and LIVE welcomed a host of lighting companies including High End Systems to take part in the annual Italian event Live You Play. LIVE events began in 2010 with a resolution to provide visitors with the chance to experience audio, lighting, video and installation technologies from a live performance on stage. This year, there was both a virtual and a live show organised at the event. Lighting designer Trevor Burk organised the structure of High End Systems fixtures in the virtual show whilst lighting programmer Francesco De Cave arranged the design of the same fixtures for music band ‘POP deluxe’ in the live show. Francesco emphasised how “programming the lighting whilst showing the fixtures’ capability to the audience without losing the main focus – the show itself – was not an easy job
USA - High End Systems has announced the finalists for the 2018 Hog Factor USA Collegiate Lighting Programming Competition. First held in North America in 2015, Hog Factor has become a leading global lighting contest. Over 60 teams registered for Phase One, each providing a performance lighting piece programmed on a Hog or Hog 4 PC. The collegiate teams were judged by a diverse panel of High End Systems and ETC employees to produce the three Hog Factor finalists. The three finalist teams are SolaTartan from Carnegie Mellon University, The Pig Ears from California State University Long Beach and Brown Sugar from Southern Methodist University. Phase Two will see these teams programming a performance lighting piece based on High End Systems' 2018 LDI booth design. These teams will then be invited to perform their shows live at LDI on the ETC / High End Systems booth
