USA - Spanning 14 floors and featuring dining options, a gym, more than 3,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, and a rooftop pool with a terrace bar, cabanas, and a fire pit, the Canopy by Hilton Downtown is a boutique lifestyle hotel in Tempe, AZ, USA. To provide sound reproduction throughout the venue, management invested in the installation of a healthy assortment of loudspeaker systems drawn from catalogue of Valencia, Spain-based DAS Audio. Skinny’ Greg Gilman, who is involved in a wide range of music and sound endeavours, including both work as a DJ and as an AV installation professional, was contracted to manage the Canopy’s sound system installation. Working in conjunction with Oakland Park, FL-based TM Sound, an AV design/build firm, the combined team deployed an assortment of DAS loudspeakers that drew from the company’s Quantum, Ovi, and WR Series catalogues.
USA - The oldest, continuously operating motor race track in the USA has seen its share of historic moments since it opened in 1904. But on 18 September, the Fairgrounds Speedway gave lockdown-weary Nashvillians a chance to ride off into the future when it served as the site of Tempo Presented By Eamotion, a 60-minute drive-through experience that engaged the senses with an immersive array of sights and sounds. Entering the track’s winding two-mile course, visitors were greeted by a dazzling mosaic of colourful images created by a sea of sparkling lights, along with over 2,000 video panels and 400ft wide projection mapped surfaces. Tying this panorama together was a matrix of laser light that seemed to envelop the entire course in its glow. Dustin L Derry programmed and ran the laser show on his ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console. “This was an exciting pro
USA - Combo’s modern approach to hostelling has materialised into an ambitious architectural and urban redevelopment project that has already opened its doors in Venice, Milan and Turin and is scheduled to extend to other Italian cities very soon. Here, travellers are greeted by airy common spaces, a trendy bar and eatery, and relaxed workspaces with several dedicated event, exposition and meeting spaces. There is also music throughout most of the common areas, thanks to a Genelec sound system. Far more than the hostels of old, Combo bills itself as a cultural hub for citizens of the world, combining hospitality with music. The hostels in Turin and Milan boast their own radio booths, which broadcast full time in the hostels and online, and all sites offer rooms equipped with AV technology to host talks, screenings, live sets, listening sessions, art workshops and more. The
Austria - With this year’s Summer Night Concert, an event that has been taking place since 2004, the Vienna Philharmonic wanted to send a signal of hope in the year of coronavirus. As a result, the concert went ahead - albeit with a small number of spectators on site - as a live broadcast event on the TV channels ORF2 and 3SAT. The concert production itself, under the direction of Valery Gergiev, and featuring soloist Jonas Kaufmann, had to be optimised for television broadcasting. With highly experienced DoP Jerry Appelt at the helm, the production was able to fall back on a proven concept. “The Summer Night Concert had already been broadcast on TV in previous years, so we didn't have to reinvent the wheel in terms of TV-compatible lighting,” stated Appelt. For the important white light, he opted once again for the GLP impression S350 and S35
Romania Two luxury hotels from an eventual complex of three have just been opened by Romanian-based Phoenicia Hotels Group in the popular coastal resort of Olimp / Mangalia. Operating under the Phoenicia Blue View brand, the first two - Belvedere and Panoramic - which will flank the Amfiteatru Hotel when it opens next year, have been equipped with Martin Audio’s Adorn loudspeaker series. These were supplied by Martin Audio’s long-term partner, Paradigma Teknik, who were awarded the contract. Traditionally a popular tourist destination, the hotels had been closed for more than 20 years and became derelict until the Phoenicia Group purchased and rebuilt the original structures, investing €35m (a figure that is expected to rise to €50m by the end of 2021). Paradigma have called on the powerful Adorn A55T several times on projects since its launch early
USA - Now into its third year, Nights of the Jack is a Halloween experience which sees the historic King Gillette Ranch in the Santa Monica mountains of Los Angeles filled with thousands of hand-carved jack-o’-lanterns. Arranged into themed displays, the pumpkins are further enhanced by colourful background lighting from ADJ IP65-rated LED wash fixtures as well as smoke and bubble effects from ADJ atmospheric generators. Named after King C. Gillette, founder of the Gillette razor brand, who owned and developed the land in the 1920s, the King Gillette Ranch is a 588-acre site in the Calabasas region of Los Angeles that is now owned and operated by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority. Having successfully launched in 2018 and experienced considerable growth last year, Nights of the Jack 2020 was put in jeopardy – as with so many events – by Covid-19.
USA - Foo Fighters recently played the #SOSFest livestream with Brit Row providing the virtual remote mixing solution. Performing at West Hollywood’s Troubadour, the gig was streamed to fans on 18 October as part of a collective action weekend in support of independent US-based music venues. A total of 35 artists - including Miley Cyrus, The Roots, Major Lazer and Leon Bridges - played in multiple venues in cities across the US and joined the Foo Fighters in raising awareness and funds to keep North America’s cherished independent concert venues from closing indefinitely. Named #SOSFest, the three-day virtual music festival was created to support the Save Our Stages initiative and America’s National Independent Venues Association’s (NIVA) Emergency Relief Fund. NIVA’s YouTube hosted the festival, with individual sets also aired on artist channels. Pri
Israel - Established in 1991, Mandel Cultural Centre is a community space located in the Jaffa region of Israel. The centre caters to the needs of the local community, and because of its prime location beside one of the largest stadiums in Israel, it is in high demand for private functions. For this project TechTop Marketing, importer of professional audio equipment, worked with installers Charmer Group installers to upgrade the facility's audio system using LEA Professional solutions. “Once Charmer Group recognised the team behind LEA Professional, they knew the technology and solutions provided would be nothing short of revolutionary,” explained Shimon Pick, director at TechTop Marketing. “LEA has a huge depth of pro audio experience behind them, and going into a significant local project like this, that level of expertise is incredibly reassuring to all parti
Italy - A Lawo 24-fader mc²36 All-in-One console and two compact Lawo stageboxes are at the heart the new 4K OB truck that Lawo partner ARET Video & Audio Engineering has designed and built for a Middle East customer. The Gulf state client manages a culture-based television channel in addition to various tourist, cultural and media activities, and plans to expand into the filming of sporting events. The new OB van features a layout that maximizes internal space while allowing interoperability between all three operational areas: the main production area, with monitor wall, slow motion equipment and character generator stand, the Audio room, with its custom acoustic insulation, and the engineering and camera control area with control of up to eight cameras via fiber-optic connection, plus two wireless cameras. Each of these areas, including the racks, has its own indepen
USA - Cut off from her normal routine by the lockdown, the multi-Grammy winning artist Torri Kelly retreated to her home studio to embark on a musical journey of self-reflection and discovery. The result is her aptly named EP Solitude. When Kelly appeared ‘virtually’ on The Late Show with James Corden late this summer to support its release, lighting designer Julien Reux deployed 18 Chauvet Professional STRIKE 1 fixtures supplied by PRG. “I wanted to give off an angelic aura to the performance,” said Reux, owner of ReuxLight Design. “The warm white glow from the STRIKE fixtures was critical to conveying this mood.” Kelly’s performance was videoed at The Beehive Studios in Los Angeles and livestreamed to Corden’s set at the CBS network facility. Arranged in a 22ft semi-circle behind the guitar-toting star, the STRIKE 1 fixtures create
Germany - The LD Talent Club held its Warehouse Competition 2020 contest finale in September at the historic Zeche Zollern in Dortmund, where Claypaky fixtures were among more than 500 lighting instruments featured in show projects and on site illuminating architecture and landscapes. Eighty-eight young lighting designers from Germany participated in previous legs of the competition, which afforded them a platform to showcase their skills. Just nine were invited to the finale where, using the same complement of lighting fixtures, they created live, time code shows to selected music tracks. A panel of senior LDs and online voters named Jakob Link the winner. The event was live streamed by online event magazine Mothergrid and hosted by well-known German personalities. The result was a production very much like popular music talent shows The X Factor and
Poland - Overlooking the waters of the Motława river, Woosabi is Gdańsk, Poland’s latest high-end restaurant, with Asian-inspired food and drink and some of the best music and atmosphere the bustling city has to offer. No expense was spared during Woosabi’s creation, with great consideration being given to the venue’s prospective audio system and the way it can affect diners’ experience. Although the restaurant’s owners - Jocki Koeffler and Diana Sadłowska - had no prior relationship with local sound company, Offstage, they quickly identified the company as being the ideal partner for this particular installation. Offstage’s Przemysław Waszkiewicz said: “I showed them around Gdańsk so they could hear some of our other installations with their own ears. They were more than happy with what they heard, so we then went on to discuss their specific
UK - disguise has launched three Extended Reality (xR) stages in its London, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong offices. The new stages provide a dedicated space for xR innovation and customer demonstrations, allowing disguise to present new workflows. The stages are equipped with disguise’s xR solution and a proven complement of LED displays, cameras and camera tracking systems to ensure successful xR productions. For its London and LA stages, disguise has chosen long-term partner ROE Visual to deliver LED panels that bring high-quality visual effects to life on large display formats, creating immersive experiences for performers on stage and audiences at home. “It’s a pleasure to have partnered with disguise on this fantastic project. We are pleased to be at the forefront of the ever-popular technique of virtual production and it’s great to have a fully functioning
Italy - Molpass srl, the exclusive distributor for MDG products in Italy, recently supplied a fog solution to film company, 2aFilm, for a shoot on the banks of the River Po. The new film, Lei Mi Parla Ancora (She Still Speaks To Me), is directed by Italy’s prolific, award-winning director, producer and screenwriter, Pupi Avati. One scene called for a naturalistic covering of fog on a long stretch of road beside the River Po for a number of cars to pass through. Luckily, one of the cameramen, Carlo Molinari was familiar with MDG products, being the son of Giorgio Molinari, CEO of Molpass, and recommended an Me4 fog generator because of its huge output capacity and ability to cover the outdoor distance required. To ensure a substantial supply of realistic fog along the full length of the road, the team at Molpass used an ingenious solution, suggested by
USA - Home to the Kansas City Ballet, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Kansas City Symphony, The Kauffman Centre for the Performing Arts is a cultural cornerstone delivering diverse performing arts experiences. The Kauffman Centre first opened in 2011 and was designed by Moshe Safdie. Now wanting to update their exterior lighting design to better illuminate and accentuate the classic architecture, the centre worked with Lankford Fendler + Associates who created a new lighting design using Anolis Lighting LED luminaires supplied by Premier Lighting and Controls. “The Kauffman Centre is an key part of the community and a world-renowned cultural arts institution, so the design brief they brought to us was really quite simple,” says lighting designer Dav Bettenhausen, Lankford Fendler + Associates. “The ownership wanted to replace the old 175-watt T6 3000K ceramic metal hal
UK - Having secured £3.6m in funding from the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the University of Portsmouth will launch its new Centre for Creative and Immersive eXtended Reality (CCIXR) in 2021. The CCIXR will be the UK’s first fully integrated facility to support innovation in virtual, augmented and extended realities. In order to deliver this project, the University has partnered with technical solutions specialist White Light (WL). The Centre will utilise WL’s SmartStage technology for innovation, research, and delivery of the Faculty’s curriculum. CCIXR will offer 12 XR areas of development. The facilities will enable staff and students, in collaboration with the university’s national and global partners, to engage with a diverse range of content in an innovative way. The flexibility of the SmartStage will allow users to “push the boundaries o
Honduras - A large Elation rig was used to light up the 2020 edition of the Noche del Sabor benefit show in Honduras with proceeds going to support the Honduran Foundation for Children with Cancer. Held at Expo Centro, a renowned venue in the city of San Pedro Sula, Noche del Sabor is an open air party boasting top musical entertainment and the best of Honduran food. Despite a bit of rain at show time, nothing could dampen the enthusiastic crowd of some 10,000 who gathered for the emotional evening amid the sounds of Colombian musician Juanes and pop group Piso 21. Technical aspects of the production, including the lighting set up, was handled by Pro504, a rental company based in San Pedro Sula whose professional team is experienced in the production, design, set up and operation of large events. Pro504 works on many of the most prestigious events in Honduras, includi
The Netherlands - The new Theater Zuidplein in Rotterdam has over 200 Robe LED fixtures - including T1 Profiles, Spiiders, LEDBeam 150s and ParFect 150s - installed as part of an all-LED lighting rig. It is among the first cultural centres worldwide to have no dimmers. Theater Zuidplein was designed by architects De Zwarte Hond and is located in the dynamic Rotterdam-Zuid (south) district, offering a lively programme of multi-genre work. It has two auditoriums - the largest one with a 1000 capacity (standing) and 600 seated, plus a smaller flexible studio space and Hall Z which is in the entrance - together with a café / restaurant and a branch of the Rotterdam Library. It replaces an existing structure built in 1953 half a kilometre down the road. The lighting specification was created by theatre consultants Theateradvies b.v. Amsterdam and Benelux-based Contro
USA - The 10th annual iHeartRadio Music Festival, a two-day virtual streaming, radio and TV broadcast event in late September, featured a line-up of international chart-topping artists performing live in front of a virtual audience, including Alicia Keys, Bon Jovi, BTS, Coldplay, Kane Brown with special guests Khalid and Swae Lee, Keith Urban, Migos, Miley Cyrus, Thomas Rhett with Jon Pardi, Usher and others. The festival also marked the debut of the recently introduced DiGiCo Quantum338 digital mixing console, along with a new DiGiCo SD12 mixing console, at the iHeartRadio Theatre Los Angeles in Burbank, California, where many of the artists recorded their performances in the lead up to the festival’s air date. Jason Batuyong, the venue’s head of audio for the past year, has worked at iHeartRadio Theatre Los Angeles since the 20,000sq.ft space - formerly NBC Studi
USA - The Town of Cary, a diverse and thriving community in the heart of North Carolina, had a dilemma. The ambient lighting in the Town Council Chambers was in dire need of renovation. Cailen Waddell (program supervisor of technical operations for the Town of Cary) was charged with finding a solution for the chamber. Cailen’s extensive background in audio, visual, and lighting production made him keenly aware of the challenge to find a quality retrofit that would dim smoothly on camera, operate at precise low levels without flickering during council meetings, and integrate with the current lighting controls. Adding to the pressure, the town had recently identified lamp replacements in the Council Chambers as high-risk and potentially hazardous. Maintenance staff were having to change lamps over seating risers, and the slope of the riser system complicated maintenanc
USA - Located near Mammoth Cave National Park, Coral Hill Baptist Church has long been a cornerstone for the community in Glasgow, Kentucky. Without going so far as to include moving lights or haze machines, Coral Hill’s blended services offer a wide range of musical styles, both within a given service and from week to week. When steady growth made its old, traditional sanctuary too cramped, Coral Hill Baptist Church made plans for a new sanctuary adjacent to the old sanctuary with seating for three hundred. Local AV integration firm Red Ranger Media worked with the church to design and install a Danley Sound Labs sound reinforcement system that would support their wide variety of musical styles and deliver crystal-clear intelligibility despite an abundance of reflective concrete and dry wall surfaces. “In moving from their old sanctuary to a new sanctuary of thei
UK - The Prolights LED lighting range provides a solution for multi-purpose venue, New Cuts Art Centre (The Cut) in Suffolk. Since opening its doors 17 years ago, creative entertainment, education and enterprise hub, The Cut, has gone from strength to strength, becoming a centre for arts in the community, and now offers a full programme of activities, including; a weekly cinema, theatre, music, regular art exhibitions and an educational programme. Looking to the future, the venue decided it was time to upgrade their existing lighting rig in the theatre to LED. As the space is used for a variety of performances and events, they needed fixtures that were versatile, easy to use and that could work for a range of styles - Prolights fixtures proved to be the answer. Callum Macdonald of CM Lighting oversaw the specification and install of the lighting fixtures. He comm
USA - Pink Talking Fish create their own rock and roll spree every time they take the stage, fusing the sounds of Pink Floyd, The Talking Heads and Phish into a transformative musical mix. This was evident when the band played their two-and-a-half hour show at the Jericho Drive-In in Glenmont, NY, with renditions of Phish’s Simple, Pink Floyd’s Happiest Days Of Our Lives/Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 and Talking Heads’ This Must Be The Place. Keeping pace with the band every step of the way on their outdoor musical odyssey, was a Vin Pugliese designed lightshow that featured 12 Chauvet Professional Rogue fixtures supplied by High Peaks Event Production. “We flew six Rogue R2X Washes on the downstage truss and had six Rogue R1 Beams hung on the upstage truss,“ said Roger Sharp, president of High Peaks. “Vin combined these with his own
Belgium - Architectural lighting firm Magic Monkey and system integrator NetherLED recently collaborated to illuminate Deutsche Bank’s Belgian headquarters in uptown Brussels with an animated display powered by Martin Exterior Wash outdoor LED lighting fixtures. Located at the corner of a high-traffic intersection in Brussels’ uptown district, the nine-story building designed by architect Maurice de Maet features three street-facing façades lined with 59 columns. To make the building stand out during the holiday season as well as the rest of the year, Deutsche Bank hired Magic Monkey and NetherLED to design and install a state-of-the-art architectural lighting solution. To provide dazzling illumination, precise control and all-weather reliability, Magic Monkey and NetherLED selected Martin Exterior Wash 100 and 200 outdoor-rated RGBW colour mixing wash lights. “
