New Zealand - Auckland-based lighting designer Rachel Marlow of Filament Eleven 11 created an ‘edgy and exciting ambience’ with Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle, an immersive lighting and audio installation work staged over four days in Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber. This was part of the Auckland Live Fringe Town aspect of the city’s annual Fringe Festival event, an independent and popular open-access arts festival which took place earlier in the year, just before the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the industry for an indefinite period. Rachel used the venue’s lighting equipment which includes Robe MMX Spots, WashBeams and T1 Profiles to help realise the piece, which was commissioned by Auckland Live programmer, Anders Falstie-Jensen. Collaborating with Rachel was Bradley Gledhill who assisted in the design, rigging, lighting programming
UK - Situated in the Dundela district of Belfast, St Mark’s Church has a remarkable heritage. Historically, it has strong links with the author CS Lewis, whose grandfather was the first rector of the Parish. Designed by celebrated Gothic architect, William Butterfield, in 1876, it recently underwent a complete overhaul of its sound system, with Martin Audio partners, Rea Sound (under the project management of Roger McMullan), installing the manufacturer’s discreet O-Line software-optimised micro line array, which is purpose designed for houses of worship. Rea Sound had introduced O-Line to the Irish church market as soon as it was introduced back in 2007 - and wherever budgets have permitted, they have continued to specify the award-winning solution. “Nine out of 10 people don’t believe it will deliver such clarity of voice reproduction until we demonstrate it,
UK - Live music is back on the Channel Island of Guernsey. With lockdown restrictions on the island completely lifted on 20 June due to the eradication of all Coronavirus cases, the St James concert venue in Saint Peter Port is in the fortunate position of being one of the only live music venues to have re-opened its doors. And when it did so, the 350-capacity venue had completed its first phase installation of a new JBL VTX A8 PA system, a key component in an ongoing series of upgrades to the historic venue. The search for a new sound system began in August 2019 when St James' executive director Jon Bisson visited the Independent Venue Week conference in London as a fact-finding and networking opportunity. It was there he met team members from Harman Professional and UK distributor Sound Technology - including Sound Technology’s Ben Todd and Joe East, and Harman’s Ed Ja
UK - A new outdoor sound, lighting and effects event is coming to Hopetoun House near Edinburgh this October and November. Named Wondrous Woods, this lighting trail event is being launched by 21CC Group. The event will take place in the picturesque private grounds of the Hopetoun Estate and is described as a sound, lighting and effects extravaganza which promises ‘a safe and family friendly experience’. Guests will explore on foot some 2km of winding trails of Hopetoun, exploring the hidden pathways and discovering secrets of the grounds, with some surprises along the way. The event will take place from 21 October 2020 and run for four weeks. The Earl of Hopetoun says, “We are delighted to be the venue for the inaugural Wondrous Woods; it is thrilling for me to see the grounds come to life with all the creative lighting and effects that are planned.
USA - Jazz infusion trio Spaga may draw inspiration from deeply embedded roots, but the band also isn’t shy about pushing forward in new directions, both musically and in terms of performance platforms. The latter was evident earlier this summer when they played a virtual set on a 3D stage at Quarantine Comes Alive, a one-day fundraising festival, presented by Live For Live Music, the COVID-19 Relief Fund, and nugs.tv. Andrew Cass of C2 Design & Drafting created the virtual show, supporting the band with immersive looks that flowed as seamless as the music on their two-song set. Lighting the virtual performance was a collection of 75 Chauvet Professional fixtures. The creative process behind the virtual production began in April when each band member took 16 photos of himself from different angles while in quarantine. Working with animator Arielle D’Ornellas, C
UK - Five high profile buildings around the UK were lit with Anolis fixtures in the recent #LightItInRed lighting action organised to draw attention to the special requirements of live performance, entertainment and events as the economy re-starts after the coronavirus lockdown. The five – the O2 Guildhall and the Mayflower Theatre both in Southampton, Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, Knebworth House in Hertfordshire and Somerset House in The Strand, central London – all feature permanent Anolis lighting schemes to illuminate their facades and intricate architectural details. O2 Guildhall Southampton: Opened in 1937, the main concert / show venue in this building is now managed by the Academy Music Group and it is – normally – one of the most popular live music showcases on the UK theatre / town hall touring circuit. The exterior is lit with Anolis ArcSource
Croatia - With its seaside villages, white beaches, hilltop views, and Mediterranean climate, Croatia’s Istrian coast is a popular holiday destination on the Adriatic Sea. The five-star Istra Premium Camping Resort in the coastal village of Funtana is one of the area’s most-sought locations. The resort recently underwent a major renovation project including all new audio and video systems featuring Biamp DSP and powered by Linea Research amplification. As Tomislav Stubičan of Hust d.o.o. in Zagreb explains, the resort’s many different spaces and diverse requirements made it a complex project. “It was extremely challenging to satisfy all the different wishes expressed by the architects, designers, and the investors, the Valamar Group,” Stubičan remarks. “The goal was to harmonize the latest technology with the resort’s high standards of elegance a
Europe - Grammy-nominated and contemporary Christian singer Lauren Daigle was 10 dates into an arena tour when COVID-19 forced its temporary suspension. It was her first collaboration with the lighting partnership of Seth Jackson and Nathan Alves of Darkroom Creative, and easily her biggest production tour to date. The arena setting allowed the two men to create a partial rolling stage, giving the design a curved front extension and allowing greater sight lines to be exposed that was vital due to the high demand for tickets. Helping them to fulfil their creative objectives were a large quantity of X4 Bar 20 battens from GLP. By articulating a desire for her show “to feel like a hug” the artist gave the two men a start point, and consequently their design contained no metal or steel and a minimum of 90° angles. “We really wanted the design to feel more like a ho
UK - Like many individuals passionate about the live events and performance industry, Philip French of Aldershot, UK-based rental and technical production company Peachy Productions was badly missing shows, gigs, and the camaraderie of delivering live events. He decided to do something about it, and with the support of the Surrey Event Professionals headed by Hannah Sheppard – which includes some of Surrey’s finest live event experts – the Peachy Playhouse was born. It offers two weeks of socially distanced, drive-in, COVID-compliant live entertainment, encompassing comedy, music, film and children’s shows designed to appeal to all sectors of the community, staged in the leafy environs and fresh air of Loseley Park near Guildford, Surrey. Providing the full technical production – staging, lighting, sound, and video – plus crew, Phil and lighting desi
UK - “We’re in this together,” has been a common rallying cry for communities throughout the world as they deal with the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Andy Tugby took this to heart when he turned his home into an inspiring symbol in the Cornwall town of Camborne With business at his company, SoundONE Disco, halted because of the prohibition on events, Tugby brought some of his idle Chauvet DJ lighting fixtures home to his 160-year old house and created a Light It Blue display, the kind normally seen on landmarks and public buildings. “I felt this would be a nice gesture for my neighbours,” said Tugby. “At 8 pm people would come out to cheer the NHS, so I wanted to create an uplifting visual that would support them and serve as a positive symbol.” Working with his DJ Sam Luke Barns, Tugby positioned four freestanding and batte
Sweden - Östermalms Saluhall in the Swedish capital of Stockholm is one of the world’s premier food halls and a cultural institution in its own right. First established in 1888, the beautiful building is classified as a historical monument. It has recently reopened after the most extensive renovation project in its 130-year history. Four years on and 130m euros later, the food hall has regained its former glory and developed into a modern and sustainable trading venue, complete with a Genelec Smart IP loudspeaker solution for the Saluhall’s largest trader, Lisa Elmqvist. Having expanded operations considerably over the years to include a gourmet restaurant as well as the food stall, Lisa Elmqvist now occupies nearly one-third of the hall’s newly renovated star-shaped space. In order to find a suitable audio solution to cover the various zones, Lisa Elmqvist tur
Greece - Located in Porto Rafti (near Athens) Nakal is one of the city's most popular beach bar restaurants. The seaside restaurant offers a fusion and multi-cuisine dining experience with the signature of executive chef Dimitri Skarmoutso, the bar an endless list of classic and signature cocktails prepared by bartender/mixologist Aris Chatziantoniou and sounds are selected and spun by Maria Papidaki and VKD Djs. The idyllic venue recently had a leading edge Outline sound system installed by the Italian manufacturer’s Greek distributor, Mega Event. London-based sound designer and engineer John Karampelas made the first contact with Mega Event’s headquarters in Pallini (Athens) around December, requesting a preliminary proposal for a high quality audio solution for Nakal. The company’s team for the project comprised consultant Konstantinos Vaidanis, installation s
USA - What once was a 300-seat movie theatre Bristol Riverside Theatre (BRT) is located in the historic district of Bristol Borough in Eastern Pennsylvania. The theatre itself, built in 1937 and reopened as a performance hall in 1986, is well-known for bringing local and national artists to the stage, producing over 200 performances each year. Earlier this year, BRT invited Eric Tucker, of New York City’s Bedlam Theatre to direct a production of King Lear with a fresh interpretation of the Shakespearean classic. The show ran for several weeks, starting 28 January and ending 16 February 2020. When the production required a sound design, BRT re-enlisted the talents of consultant and sound designer, Brad Ward to assemble it. “One thing I liked about Bristol was the size, it’s a very intimate venue, you don’t need a lot of speakers to achieve the result you
Austria - Since its inception in 2011, the Woodstock der Blasmusik festival has been attracting crowds of up to 60,000 brass music fans each June to Ort im Innkreis in Austria. With brass aficionados obliged to stay at home by COVID-19, this year the organisers treated them to an evening of livestreamed performances from the festival site, featuring eight bands and mixed from an Allen & Heath dLive system. The FOH and broadcast audio rig for this online incarnation of Woodstock Der Blasmusik was supplied and managed by Martin Bröll of Greenbee Records Studios, working closely with the festival’s technical manager, Mario Schwarz, who oversaw all aspects of the audio, video and streaming. With eight bands, three stages and over 60 inputs to look after, Martin chose his DM32 MixRack as the core of a dLive system running the PA sound, broadcast mix and interc
UK - Hastings-based rock heavyweights, Kid Kapichi, stamped their name firmly onto the hide of the UK rock scene last year, and just before lockdown they played their local venue, The Printworks. The band is fronted by Jack Wilson and Ben Beetham and for this gig sound engineer Alfie Rolph made sure that they performed to 200 ecstatic fans upstairs through a Martin Audio Blackline XP12 / XP118 PA rig, supplied by partners Old Barn Audio (OBA). “The Martin Audio speakers represented a huge upgrade,” said Wilson, “and we’ll now be looking to use them for all future events of that level.” Alfie Rolph, an employee of OBA, and one of the Printworks’ sound techs, reviewed the existing sound system and decided it was time for an upgrade. “Although it was a tried and trusted system, I knew that for Kid Kapichi’s last gig here, these local legends needed a
Rwanda - The first S12T Streamline OB van for the African continent has been successfully delivered to Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA). Built and outfitted by Broadcast Solutions in Germany in just three months, the Streamline S12T is a truck/box body combination with one extension for up to 14 workplaces. Accommodating up to 12 cameras, it also features the first Lawo mc²56 MkIII console for the African continent. Arthur Asiimwe, director general at Rwanda Broadcasting Agency, comments, “We were looking for a flexible OB truck that is easy to deploy and to operate. The vehicle’s fast delivery time and perfect price-performance ratio were further decisive criteria for contracting Broadcast Solutions with the production and delivery.” At the heart of the vehicle’s audio section, Broadcast Solutions installed a Lawo mc²56 console with 32 channel strips and a L
USA - The owner of Life Is Art Studios, Daniel Thibault created the lighting design for No Parking On The Dance Floor, a drive-in concert by Top Ten dubstep artists Subtronic and Boogie T. Just under 2,000 fans (in 500 cars) attended the sold-out show, which took place at the Hounds Drive-In Theatre in Kings Mountain, NC, with each vehicle being separated by a wide distance. Normally, when designing for a crowd that size, Thibault builds his rig for an intimate venue, focusing on tight angles, back lighting, side lighting, and close-in specials. But given the generous space between cars at this drive-in show, he had to adjust his approach. “This was definitely different,” says Thibault. “It was still a 2,000-person show, but I had to design the show, and my LD Aaron Lenchek had to run it, as if it were for a much bigger event, because the fans were so spread out.
UK - Audio manufacturer Powersoft has supported Leeds-based audio integrator, Audioserv, in creating a vast audio system for Roxy Ball Room, Roxy Leisure’s bowling alley and bar experience in Birmingham. The American style venue harbours a 10-lane bowling alley, which also includes a bar, creating a vibrant experience with the help of a modern audio system. Audioserv, who have also provided audio systems for over 15 of Roxy Ball Room’s locations, took on the task of providing and installing audio equipment for the venue, with support from Powersoft audio distributor CUK. “We’ve been working with Roxy Ball Room since the beginning of the brand in 2013,” explains Pete Rollinson, technical director of Audioserv. “For the Birmingham venue, we designed a system to give consistent coverage across the whole space, with an added impact in certain areas of the venue
USA - Anaïs Mitchell’s hit musical Hadestown has worldwide attention since making its Broadway debut at the Walter Kerr Theatre last April. Directed by Rachel Chavkin, the show boasts an all-star audio production team, led by sound designers Jessica Paz and Nevin Steinberg. Included among the show’s audio gear are DPA Microphones’ 4066 mnidirectional Headsets, 4061 Omnidirectional Lavaliers and 4099 Instrument Mics. When Chavkin expressed to the pair that her direction for Hadestown was to have the theatre feel like a concert hall, they immediately knew that microphone selection would be especially important. “For the actors, who are all double mic’ed, we chose a combination of DPA 4066 Omnidirectional Headset Mics with backup 4061 Miniature Omnidirectional Mics attached to the frame,” says Paz. “I greatly appreciate the discreet profile of the 4061s a
USA - It was easy to get caught up in the excitement of the Riverview School’s annual fundraising gala with its spirited live auction, stage shows and convivial company, all set against a 16-acre Cape Cod campus in Derry, NH. The Events United team experienced this first hand last year when they provided the lighting, audio, video and scenic elements for the popular affair at the boarding school, which serves 11 to 22-year old students with learning challenges. Tim Messina and his team at Events United knew that they would have their work cut out when the school turned to them this year, in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown, and asked them to host a virtual gala at their Studio Lab facility. “A big challenge for us was to take an event that was already spectacular in the live setting and create the same effect for guests virtually,” said Chase Clark, production m
Germany – The town of Bendorf, on the outskirts of Koblenz, has been staging its Summer In The City festival for many years. And even the COVID-19 pandemic was not going to stop proceedings this year. Operating as a weekend-only event for its first decade - in the Kirchplatz, a square in the centre of town - this year it managed to get permission to run through until the end of August. This was on the proviso that the event was restricted to 300 seated and socially distanced seated guests, part of a maximum capacity of 350 (including artists, technical crews and staff). The sound system that will take it right through the summer season is a Martin Audio WPC, acquired by Michael Enchelmaier’s rental company, Event & Veranstaltungstechnik Enchelmaier (EVE). This is the centrepiece of a complete technical infrastructure provided by the company. A customer of
UK - On Monday 6 July in collaboration with Brighton and Hove Council and many of the city's event venues, The Brighton Event Professionals Independent Committee (EPIC) joined the Light It In Red initiative aimed at bring attention on the crisis within the events industry during the COVID-19 lockdown. At 9pm on this day, many of the city's venues and outdoor event spaces turned red, including The Old Market Theatre in Hove, lit up by 96 Prolights Smart Bat. Brighton-based Reveries Events took charge of the installation. Director John Wallis, reports, “The Old Market Theatre is a high quality live theatre and venue. To light up its imposing facade we chose the Smart Bat wireless uplighters as we needed a fixture with a small enough footprint that also had a great output of light. The Smart BatPlus was quick to set up and gave us the flexibility of making changes to th
France - Jacky Fregonese of French lighting and visual rental and production company Loctambule, based near Strasbourg, has put smiles on faces with a series of amusing product and business tutorials that have gained a large fan following on social media. With all events and shows cancelled and the industry closing down with the French COVID-19 lockdown, Jacky, who heads the company with his wife Catherine Saint-Georges, wanted to do something creative to boost morale while so many usually busy companies and talented technicians, designers, production managers, event organisers all push through until events can re-start. Jacky was originally inspired to start the funny tutorials with products Loctambule has in rental stock, which includes Robe MegaPointes, Esprites, BMFL Blades and PixelPATTs, all of which have featured and generated interest amongst technicians and ot
USA - Following many weeks of COVID-19 lockdown, the people of Athens, Texas had the opportunity to enjoy live music again last month when neighbourhood event space Common Area Market hosted a community music festival called CAM Fest. Production for the event was supplied by fledgling local company Gain Stage Productions, including a lighting rig comprised exclusively of ADJ LED-powered fixtures. Based on the site of a 100-year-old cotton gin that serves as a local landmark in Athens but had been abandoned for decades, Common Area Market is the brainchild of Marine Corps vets and married couple Chris and Amanda Marholz. The vision for Common Area Market is a venue where the people of Athens can gather to eat, enjoy live music and celebrate big events. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, the first phase of the site’s redevelopment has been completed
