Projects

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24 January 2025

UK - Production Futures’ final On Tour event of 2024 took place at Production Park in Wakefield during November and proved to be another success. Young people from across the North of England were able to connect with representatives of its industry partners to explore paid opportunities and free training, as well as taking advantage of workshops, presentations and discussions.

In keeping with the Production Futures ethos, a team of apprentices from global production specialists PRG, designed the systems and installed all the technical requirements for the event’s focal point, the Talks Stage. With 38 locations in 29 countries across six continents, PRG specialises in lighting, audio, video, rigging, automation, digital services, camera, broadcast, and design for events of every size and scale, from concept to execution. The company is strongly

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23 January 2025

France - The Place Carnot Market site in Figeac has recently received a new Anolis Calumma XS lighting installation, part of a major new renovation project to generally open and improve sightlines and spatiality throughout the Market Hall and integrate it with the surrounding buildings, cafes, and restaurants of the Market Square.

The medieval-style market dates to the 19th century and is a landmark of the town, renowned both locally and nationally as a destination for lovers of good products from all over the Lot.

In 2022, the Grand-Figeac Commune (town council) commenced a renovation project to upgrade the Place Carnot market, and as part of this asked landscape and architectural lighting practice Quartiers Lumières – from Castanet-Tolosan – to develop a lighting scheme highlighting the Market Hall canopy and its intricate roof structure. The

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23 January 2025

Canada - The Royal Theatre and its sibling the McPherson Playhouse are Vancouver Island’s oldest venues. Hosting everything from symphony concerts to plays and Broadway tours, the pair form the beating heart of the Capital Regional District’s performing arts scene.

While steeped in history dating back to 1913, their wireless audio technology is the very latest, built around Lectrosonics’ D Squared family of cutting-edge digital wireless. Serving all sizes of theatre companies, musical ensembles, and even full orchestras, their current complement includes six DSQD four-channel wideband receivers, 24 DBu transmitters, four DHu handheld wireless microphones, four DPR-A Plug-on transmitters, and two ultra-compact SSM transmitters featuring Lectrosonics’ time-tested Digital Hybrid radios.

Technical director Warren Busby spoke with Lectrosonics abo

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22 January 2025

Germany - Lighting designer Matthaus Scheuerer used Claypaky Arolla Aqua Spots for four weeks on the last tour he did with German thrash metal band Kreator, and gives the fixtures rave reviews for their reliability and performance. 

“I got the opportunity to see the Arolla Aqua Spot in action and to test its strengths extensively, and the experience showed me why the fixture is so highly valued and considered by many colleagues to be one of the best options in its class,” says Scheuerer.

“The Arolla Aqua Spot proved to be extremely robust and durable. During the entire four weeks of use, there were no failures whatsoever, a clear testament to the high quality of workmanship and reliability of this product,” he states. “Even under demanding conditions in various arenas, the spot worked perfectly at all times. The lamps were mounted on dolli

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22 January 2025

France - Digital Projection’s M-Vision 27000 WU delivered projection for Paris Basketball for the team’s first match in the top-flight international EuroLeague championship.

The M-Vision 27000 WU lit up every corner of the 8,000-capacity Adidas Arena for the opening game of Paris Basketball’s debut EuroLeague campaign (against Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda), as well as the team’s first full season in its new home arena, inaugurated in February 2024.

In collaboration with Digital Projection’s distribution partner, ETHA International, Paris-based video mapping specialist Doxa Vision deployed four M-Vision 27000 WU projectors to illuminate the interior of the Adidas Arena, taking full advantage of the projectors’ 27,000 lumens’ output to deliver vivid, vibrant visuals – including projected on-court banners celebrating Paris Basketball’s mai

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22 January 2025

France - At the Parc du Sautour in Les Mureaux, aerial hoopers, jugglers, clowns, and other acclaimed acts from all over the world entertained the Festival du Cirque International crowd with their virtuosity. Contributing to the magic was the event's lighting, which like the artists it illuminated went beyond the ordinary to find new ways to engage people visually.

Light technician Frederic Sportiello and the entire team accented every dramatic acrobatic move and enlivened every humorous antic at the circus with their colourful and dynamic lighting. Key to helping them accomplish this feat was a collection of 40 Chauvet Professional Maverick, Colorado, and Rogue fixtures supplied by Remote.

"In lighting this event, we were looking for new and different effects that were completely unheard of at other circus festivals," noted Sportiello. "We especiall

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21 January 2025

USA - With a stop off in Las Vegas for an intimate residency, the band's hometown shows brought a sophisticated nostalgia to fans in North America. They heard Smile Like You Mean It and Somebody Told Me through a d&b audiotechnik KSL PA system from Eighth Day Sound's LA location, overseen by account executive Meegan Holmes.

Out front, the band's long-time FOH engineer Kenny Kaiser has been part of the alt pop/rockers’ crew for some years, starting out as a PA tech before eventually taking his mixer position. He begins: "There's a lot of trust between the band and me, and that comes with time. The show must sound the way your artist wants it to, but thankfully, I'm lucky to work with a band that trusts me with the decisions that I make for them.

“Each album has its own sound and ethos, so you must stay true to those songs and

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21 January 2025

Denmark - Allround Lyd & Lys (Light & Sound) based in Struer, Denmark, purchased Robe iForte LTX Follow Spots ahead of its busy 2024 festival season, so – in conjunction with its existing RoboSpot systems – going forward, it could offer “outstanding follow spotting facilities with dynamic festival stage lighting packages”.

Head of lighting, Martin Breinholt, and his team designed a quick-to-rig festival production lighting setup based on Robe LEDBeam 350s and Esprites for over-stage lighting, with the fixtures installed in pre-rigged trussing sections. These were deployed on a string of festivals around the country throughout summer.

Denmark’s music festival scene is one of the most vibrant and prolific, starting in mid-May and running until the end of September.

Eight units of each fixture type were rigged to a standard run

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21 January 2025

Iceland - Located in downtown Akureyri, Hof Cultural Centre is at the heart of the northern Icelandic music and performing arts scene and provides visitor services across the entire north-east corner of the country. Architecturally, the circular building also provides one of the town’s landmarks. Inspired by the Icelandic igneous rocks, Hof Cultural Centre attracts tourists all year round.

Owned by the Municipality of Akureyri, and with operation of the Centre in the hands of Akureyri Culture Company, one of the key features is its new Martin Audio sound reinforcement upgrade in the main auditorium, provided by Reykjavik-based Atendi –the manufacturer’s territory distributor.

According to Atendi project manager, Gunnar Gunnarson, his company bid successfully on a public tender put out in December 2023 and were duly awarded the contract in Septe

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21 January 2025

France - UK-based tech provider SLX was awarded the tender for supplying broadcast lighting and rigging across a range of venues at the Paris Games this past summer, and chose Obsidian Netron data distribution devices as the backbone of its data management strategy.

“We needed a system that was rock solid and could keep us going in case of critical failure,” stated Russell Payne, managing director at SLX. “We were looking for something that we could use not only for the Games but something that could go into our business for the long run. Stability was important, but also availability and return on investment.”

While evaluating available signal distribution products, SLX technicians and engineers took some Netron devices to the SLX facility in Bristol for extensive testing. “We ran them through their paces, stressing them with large amounts

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21 January 2025

Australia - The Unity high-performance power switching and dimming system from LSC Control Systems is delivering a secure and reliable solution to one of Australia’s leading performing arts centres, the Canberra Theatre Centre (CTC).

CTC’s technical director James Tighe explains: “Our previous system was at the end of its life, and we were seeing intermittent faults, which were becoming less intermittent. Random dimming curves, channels powering up without control, and an increasing number of failing modules meant we were no longer able to reliably support performances to the expected standard.”

The search for a dependable replacement was also driven by the need for a system capable of supporting and powering a range of moving, LED, and incandescent lighting fixtures. “The existing system wasn’t capable of hot-powering circuits,” contin

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21 January 2025

Cambridge Blues - One of the oldest and most prestigious folk festivals in England has been cancelled, for what would have been its 60th anniversary. Organisers of Cambridge Folk Festival said they would use the resources from this year's event to explore new opportunities ahead of its return in 2026.

The annual four-day folk and roots music festival, organised by Cambridge City Council, first began in 1965 and has been hosted on the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall. Labour councillor for the area, Robert Dryden, said the festival had lost money in 2024, but the cancellation came as a "big shock" that would "disappoint lots of people". The decision to cancel a folk festival in its 60th anniversary year has been described as "surprising" and "disappointing" by fans and musicians.

Singer-songwriter Fran Lusty, who played at the festival for the f

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20 January 2025

The Netherlands - A new installation of Robe T11 Profiles in the 200-capacity Small Hall at the Theater de Bussel in Oosterhout, southern Netherlands is helping to save electricity and enhance the scope of lighting shows and events there, explained the venue’s head of technical, Evelyn van ‘t Hof.

The 32 x T11s are the first Robes in the house, and they are replacing a larger number of ‘conventional’ profiles and PC luminaires.

The new fixtures are part of a general drive to reduce energy consumption, an initiative shaping new investments in all venues across the Netherlands.

Adaptability was also a key consideration here, as the programme encompasses theatre productions, musicals, symposiums, parties and assorted other performance genres.

Evelyn has been working at this busy producing and receiving house since 2008. The 450-c

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20 January 2025

UK - “I enjoy being the wild card. I enjoy being the outsider and being different," rapper Sainté declared in a recent interview.

He kicked off his Still Local tour at the All Points East festival supported by a powerful, fast-moving Elliot Baines lighting design that effortlessly balanced grit and grace.

Representing a city-street basketball court with custom-made controllable ‘streetlamps’, a brick-and-fence facia, and a graffiti wall backdrop, the distinctive set evoked powerful images of an urban landscape. Baines, owner of Spiralstage Lighting, intensified this mood with a bold lighting design that featured ample amounts of atmospherics.

Helping Baines achieve these evocative looks were 24 Color Strike M motorised strobe-blinders and an equal number of Maverick Storm 4 Profiles. Part of the house rig, the Chauvet

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17 January 2025

Germany - Singer Helene Fischer hosted her annual Die Helene Fischer Show at the end of 2024, with a host of guest stars and a total of 21 separate LED surfaces all powered by tvONE’s Green Hippo Hippotizer Media Servers.

A total of nine Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 and two Hippotizer Tierra+ MK2 Media Servers were specified to run 21 LED surfaces, alongside two Hippotizer Play licences to manage the systems. The content primarily consisted of pre-rendered visuals, provided by Gravity Germany, which were designed for the multitude of performers.

“The video materials were delivered as individual loops, which were then programmed and assembled within the Hippotizer Media Servers,” says Christian van Deenen from trust.event group, which specified and supplied the Hippotizers. “Throughout the show, more than 1.5TB of data was played back, cons

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17 January 2025

USA - German DJ Bunt is touring with a "barrier-free" production design. "Bunt shows don't follow your typical format, where fans are barricaded off from the stage," said Tony Caporale, lighting designer for the current global tour, which ends later this month in Australia. "There are no boundaries. Bunt’s DJ booth is smack dab in the middle of the venue floor with the audience surrounding him. He wants to share the experience with the fans up close and personal."

Reflecting this philosophy, Caporale, of Infinitus Vox, creates a "perimeter of light" around Bunt and his fans. This, he says, "allows everyone to be in the moment with him from start to finish."

This openness has made it easy for the good vibes to flow between Bunt and his fans, but lighting an in-the-round DJ booth on a multi-city tour is not without its challenges. "We've had to retro

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17 January 2025

UK - Lighting designer Elliot Baines from Spiralstagelighting reached for some Astera PixelBricks to help create an imaginative, memorable, and high-value lighting effect for the London show of Canadian indie band Wild Rivers, a showcase gig at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire that was part of their 2024 UK tour.

Introduced to their tour manager Ben Pollard by Portsmouth, UK-based lighting rental company LiteUp, the brief was to create a homely and warm vibe onstage, whilst also impressing fans who packed out the London show, which was a great success.

Baines achieved results by using a careful combination of the 20 x Astera PixelBricks which were used as ‘specials’, the venue’s house lighting rig and the band’s own touring lighting specials.  

Wild Rivers were already touring a number of filament light bulbs on stands for additional

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17 January 2025

Switzerland - Clear-Com successfully delivered a high-capacity, secure communication network during the 2024 Street Parade in Zurich, one of the world’s largest techno music festivals. Partnering with MGM Audio AG, Clear-Com provided vital communication tools that helped ensure real-time coordination and operational safety across the event, which attracted over 920,000 attendees. 

The Street Parade spanned Zurich’s city centre, posing challenges for communication across large, densely populated areas. Clear-Com’s Gen-IC virtual intercom system, known for its IP-based capabilities, robust signal integrity, and flexibility, was deployed to support reliable communication for teams stationed throughout the city. 

Gen-IC played a key role in facilitating tactical coordination, including the ability to issue real-time announcements and updates fr

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17 January 2025

UK - Nugen Audio has announced the immediate availability of its new Reverb Map on the brand’s website. Inspired by the brand’s Paragon and Paragon ST reverb plug-ins, the Nugen Audio team created an interactive map of the world that pinpoints spaces with unusual acoustic characteristics.

From churches and subway stations to concert venues and tombs across the globe, audio enthusiasts, audiophiles, backpackers and those with a passion for interesting architecture, among other hobbies, now have a unique exploration checklist for their travels.

“Our team worked hard to put the map together, and we look forward to hearing from Nugen customers who manage to visit some of these locations,” says Freddy Vinehill-Cliffe, product specialist, Nugen Audio. “What better way to impose your audio fascination onto friends and family than by dragging them

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17 January 2025

Mexico - In designing the reality show La Casa de los Famosos, the Mexican version of Celebrity Big Brother, lighting designer Miki Molina uses innovative Elation lighting technology to transform the set into an impressive visual spectacle that blends aesthetics with emotion.

For Molina, whose career in film, theatre and television stretches to collaboration with giants such as Amazon, Disney, HBO, Netflix, Sony, Telemundo, and more, lighting design is not just technical but more akin to “painting with light”. His work on La Casa de los Famosos, which airs on TelevisaUnivision, has elevated the reality show to remarkable visual levels while tapping into the emotive facets of the show. 

Since beginning his collaboration with Endemol Shine Boomdog, Molina has worked to capture the key moments of the show through a desig

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16 January 2025

UK - Rag’n’Bone Man has been enjoying using KLANG-DMI, inserted into the DiGiCo Quantum 338 console for his latest What do you believe in? UK and European tour. Monitor engineer, George ‘Sol’ Solidakis, explains how KLANG’s technology, supplied by Britannia Row Productions in London, played a key role in delivering precise monitoring for the musicians, helping to maintain the energy on stage.

“My objective was to create intimate, natural-feeling IEM mixes, because the music covers a really full range, from quieter emotional songs to full on rock,” he says. “Rory (Graham, Rag’n’Bone Man’s real name) is all about making sure there is a real vibe and giving the audience an exciting time, so my mix has to reflect that energy too. My job as monitor engineer is to create an environment where the artists can perform and express themse

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16 January 2025

The Netherlands - A leading theatre organisation has chosen Unitour racks from LSC Control Systems to provide power management and dimming solutions. With five Unitour racks specified for its three auditoriums in Heerlen, Parkstad Limburg Theaters (PLT) is one of the latest performing arts hubs to adopt solutions from the Australian manufacturer.

PLT operates seven venues across the cities of Heerlen, Kerkrade and Sittard in the country’s south-eastern region of Limburg. Ranging in capacity from 120 to 1,100, these venues play a significant role in the cultural lives of the communities they serve. Across the organisation, PLT hosted almost 1,500 events in 2024.

Amid this busy environment, PLT’s head of lighting, Rob Debets, recalls his team looking for a “very flexible and reliable rack” when they saw the Unitour on the LSC booth at Frankfurt

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16 January 2025

USA - The Luckman Club, an exclusive lounge space at Soho House in West Hollywood, offers members a sophisticated bar and lounge with musical performances while serving as a venue for hosting events.

The management sought a sound system that could support a variety of corporate events, private parties, and more, all while seamlessly fitting into the room’s aesthetic. Pinnacle Audio, Video, & Lighting spearheaded the installation of the distributed 1 Sound system, resulting in an audio upgrade that prompted the Soho House operations team to say: "The sound quality is amazing. The form factor and the custom paint and fabric match our elevated aesthetic. The combination of both is exactly what we wanted as we elevated the space for our members."

For the two main lounge areas audio design, 1 Sound’s Cannon coaxials were the loudspeaker that fit t

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16 January 2025

USA - The NFL’s highly anticipated 2024 Christmas Day Halftime Show, dubbed the ‘Beyoncé Bowl’, during the Baltimore Ravens vs Houston Texans game on Netflix, showcased not only a breathtaking performance from Beyoncé but also innovative wireless technology, courtesy of Professional Wireless Systems (PWS).

This event required intricate planning and execution from all parties involved in the production. “The speed and scale of the Beyoncé Bowl were unprecedented,” says Jimmy Van Winkle, general manager, Professional Wireless Systems (PWS). “It was every bit the size and complexity of a Super Bowl Halftime Show, condensed into less than two months of preparation.”

Pre-production was a race against time, with confirmation only six weeks prior. The PWS team conducted a site survey to determine optimal antenna placement and gathe