Spain - Higher education institutions had to rethink their education model and adapt to hybrid learning during the past year as COVID-19 pandemic hit the world. Pompeu Fabra University (UPF- Universidad Pompeu Fabra), selected Shure’s Microflex Ecosystem products as the best solution across campus to meet the needs and requirements of a successful hybrid learning concept. The UPF, established in 1990 and awarded as the 10th Best Young University in the world in the Times Higher Education World University listings, required a complete overhaul of the old AV system, which had only held physical classes. The adoption of hybrid learning across the Pompeu Fabra campus now means that all lessons are catered for by a cutting-edge AV system that exceeds audio requirements and provides the best possible learning experience for academics and students alike. For the ambitious
USA - A cheering crowd of more than 75,000 witnessed a choreographed Independence Day drone show in the Cincinnati suburb city of Blue Ash, as Verge Aero’s drones displayed patriotic symbols in the night sky. Two hundred Verge Aero drones were programmed to deliver a coordinated display, which included a 300ft wide ‘waving’ American flag as the National Anthem began. Verge Aero’s director of show operations, Mason Hayes, piloted the drone fleet. It was all part of the Red, White & Blue Ash show, held at the city of Blue Ash’s Summit Park. Brian Kruse, director of parks and recreation for the City of Blue Ash, says: “The incredible accuracy and scope of the drone displays is something you just have to witness in person. Only then do you realise how large the displays are and the remarkable pin-point accuracy needed to make the shapes move li
Portugal - The Teatro Nacional de São João (TNSJ) in Oporto, has increased its inventory of Robert Juliat Dalis Access 863 cyclorama lighting with the addition of a further 20 units after a comprehensive tender process which saw the Dalis Access fixtures hold their winning position against a number of alternative options. The purchase brings TNSJ’s total complement of Dalis Access 863 units to 34. This is more than sufficient to cover the theatre’s 12m x 9m cyclorama cloth and back wall from floor- and grid-mounted positions, plus fill in as ‘ribalta’ lighting when required. “Dalis Access is a very versatile tool which can be used as both cyclorama and footlight,” explains TNSJ’s lighting department coordinator, Filipe Pinheiro. “This is a real advantage for multi-purpose theatres with an eclectic programme of shows, conferences, debates and dance, a
Spain - An ancient olive oil factory near Seville was brought to life by lighting designer Yaron Abulafia in May, as contemporary Flamenco piece Agua was performed with a specially rigged array of fixtures from Vari-Lite. Billed as a ‘visual piece that drifts between dance, visual theatre, and art installation’, Agua was performed at the ‘La Aceitera’ space by Israeli artist Adva Yer in collaboration with Andrés Marín. As the title suggests, it is a water-inspired piece that explores movement, colour, texture and sound – with a nod to the famous Matisse painting The Swimming Pool. Leading the Vari-Lite luminaires was the VL5LED Wash, which beamed rich colour combinations across the derelict space, complemented by VL2600 Wash fixtures. A team of VLZ Profileand VL2600 Profile luminaires added front light and effects, with sidelight from the SL B
Finland - Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (New Music Contest), is an annual event in which Finland’s representative for the Eurovision Song Contest is selected in a live broadcast by Finnish television viewers and an international UMK jury. This year’s Finals on 20 February marked the show’s 10th anniversary. The evening was broadcast live in four languages from Mediapolis TV studios in Tampere and televised on Yle TV1 to an audience of 1.7m viewers, breaking all records. Lighting designer, Pekka Martti of Aku’s Factory, turned to MDG haze generators to breathe life into his lighting design, using its pure white haze to show off a range of visuals that created a different look and mood for each of the seven contestants. With the help of MDG’s Finnish distributor, MSONIC Oy, Martti selected an MDG ATMe haze generator and an MDG theONE dual haze and fog generator for t
The Netherlands - The new Collection Centre of The Netherlands, or CC NL, is one of the most extraordinary repositories anywhere. Four different museums in The Netherlands, including the world-renown Rijksmuseum, use the new facility as a storehouse for a large proportion of their collections. The art archive is celebrating with a piece of art of its own, a permanent light installation across multiple façades of the building created by light artist Herman Kuijer using Elation Proteus Rayzor 760 luminaires. In 2018, Kuijer, known for light installations around The Netherlands since the late 1970s, visited the Elation booth at the ISE fair in Amsterdam, where initial discussions of the project took place with Elation key account manager for Benelux Bert Schmeits. During a subsequent visit to the Elation showroom in Kerkrade, it became clear to the artist that he could realiz
Japan - Yokohama Stadium has selected RCF as its sound reinforcement system for both sports and entertainment events. The stadium is one of the venues of the Summer Olympics and one of the leading sports facilities in Japan. It is primarily used for baseball as the home field of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. International artists who have performed at the stadium include Santana, David Bowie, Madonna, and Michael Jackson. Yokohama Stadium started in 1876 as a cricket ground. In 1929, it was reconstructed as a baseball stadium with 15,000 seats to host the country's most popular participatory and spectator sport. Then in 1978, Yokohama Stadium was rebuilt as the first multi-purpose stadium in Japan, officially named Yokohama Stadium. After a complete renovation started in 2018, Yokohama Stadium was selected as the venue for 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, postponed
USA - Last July in the middle of the pandemic, Northlands, a popular concert venue in rural New Hampshire began life as Drive In Live, offering fans a chance to enjoy live music from their cars. Today, with lockdown restriction easing, the site has changed its name and policy, allowing customers to take in shows by national acts from 10’ x 10’ pods following CDC safety protocols. The new setup creates a more engaging environment for enjoying live music, according to Brian Courchine, lighting designer at Northlands. Also enhancing the fan experience this season is a lighting rig that has been upgraded with the addition of eight Chauvet Professional Maverick Storm1 Wash fixtures. “As an outdoor venue, we placed a lot of importance on the Storm 1 Wash’s IP65 rating,” said Courchine, noting that the RGBW units are hung on downstage truss. “But the benefits go w
Korea - TechDataPS Co and Yeong Sound recently collaborated to equip Joodasan Church’s newest location with a high-quality, easy-to-operate live sound system featuring JBL Professional, Crown and Soundcraft audio solutions. Built in 2014, the chapel at Hwaseong-si in Gyeonggi-do province is the third facility constructed by Joodasan Church. With around 2,200 seats, including two-story balcony sections, the 1,500sq.m worship space regularly hosts a wide variety of spiritual events, in addition to musical performances and youth Sunday school. In order to accommodate the large space and growing community, the church needed a high-quality and easy-to-use sound reinforcement system capable of projecting consistently clear audio throughout the worship space. To meet these goals, TechDataPS partnered with Yeong Sound to design and install a complete Harman Professional aud
USA - A new addition to the San Diego skyline, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park was built to host open-air concerts by the San Diego Symphony. The sheer size of the bayside structure - 57ft high, 92ft wide at stage front - makes it amenable to hosting large productions while enabling orchestra musicians to hear and respond to one other as well as they would in a top-tier concert hall. To create an optimum acoustical listening environment that can be fine-tuned for various performances, a Meyer Sound Constellation system has been installed inside the shell - making it the first Constellation system designed for stage acoustics in an outdoor venue. The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park opens 6 August. Pre-opening rehearsals and online concerts have elicited effusive praise from orchestra principals. “The sound onstage is unbelievable,” San Diego Symphony music director Ra
Israel - Singer-songwriter Hanan Ben Ari kickstarted his tour in April after a long hiatus during COVID-19 lockdown, selling out the biggest venues in Israel. Hanan was the fourth most listened artist in Israel on Spotify at the end of last year and is now back on tour with his band. The tour's lighting rig was designed by Ronen Najar, co-designer at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019. The tour features twenty-four Prolights Pixie WashXB spread around the back truss, giving depth and a range of colours to the show. “I was looking for a lighting fixture that will be small in dimension without compromising on quality,” said Najar. “The Pixiewash XB had all the qualities I was looking for - perfect size, a very wide range of colours, great light output and precision when working with it.” The Pixie WashXB has 280W single lens RGB and warm white source, with
USA - Created in 2015 by the merger of two churches, worship at South Carolina’s Hope Church ranges from high energy music to spoken word sermons. A recent enlargement of its Simpsonville campus provided the opportunity to upgrade its audio system. An Alcons Audio pro-ribbon system provided a blend of power and clarity. The expansion of the single-story Simpsonville building enlarged the room’s depth by around 70ft and added gallery seating at the back, providing a total of 700 seats. The existing audio system was not adequate to cover the newly enlarged space with high quality sound for all styles of worship, so the church contacted AVL Solutions (AVLS), based in nearby Greenville, for help. “A challenge for the sound design was the pitched roof, which ranges from 15ft at the sides to more than 18ft in the centre,” says Chris Craine, AVLS designer / director
The Netherlands - The 2021 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) which took place at the Rotterdam Ahoy in The Netherlands last month, was coordinated under the direction of a team of experts with decades of experience. Among them were ESC head of broadcast sound Thijs Peters and ESC head of venue sound Jeroen ten Brinke, long-time, consistent users of the DPA brand. The show’s design team was further supported by Ampco Flashlight, the official technical supplier for lighting, rigging and audio, which provided one-hundred 4088 Directional Headsets and 40 d:facto 4018V Vocal Microphones from DPA Microphones for all of the show’s vocal performances. “I have over 25 years’ experience as a live sound engineer and designer, and I have been using DPA since it was B&K; the d:factos are great-sounding mics,” says ten Brinke. “It was an honour to work on Eurovision, o
Australia - The Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra touts an impressive resume – not just due to its seven robust academic colleges of study, but because it is also connected to the Australian Government by way of its position across the river from Capital Hill, where parliament is located. The university often hosts high-profile meetings in the Mills Room, an ornate conferencing space featuring Tasmanian blackwood woodworking and capable of hosting up to 54 people. Located in the ANU Chancelry Tower, these meetings can include high ranking members of the government, making the Mills Room a premiere location of importance on campus. Because of its design and the fact that is has served as the location of significant ANU meetings since 1964, the meeting space is deemed by the university to have heritage significance. However, after decades in service, the
USA - Bluegrass and orchestral music might come from vastly different places, but the two genres can happily share the same lighting rig, provided it has enough versatility designed into it. This was readily apparent on the banks of the Ohio River in Louisville this Independence Day weekend, as foot stomping shows by Greensky Bluegrass were followed by a rousing performance by the award -winning Louisville Orchestra. Taking place at the city’s Waterfront Park, the bluegrass and orchestral shows were supported by a powerful and flexible rig anchored by 14 Maverick Storm 1 Wash and six Maverick MK3 Spot fixtures from Chauvet Professional. Supplied by C&H Audio Visual Services (the event’s production company), the IP16 rated RGBW washes were evenly spaced across 40ft downstage truss. The high output 820-watt spot fixtures, which were rented from 4Wall Entertainmen
USA - The Old Navy flagship store in midtown New York City was converted into a four-floor soundstage for a recent commercial shoot, and the production companies found a combination of Clear-Com wireless intercom technologies to be the right fit for covering the retailer’s closed set safely and efficiently. The project required a mix of pre-recorded segments with employee interviews and a celebrity guest appearance. The talent was staged on separate floors when off-camera, allowing the onsite technical crews to maintain proper distancing while still experiencing high-quality communications among each other and talent, as well as the remote producers and directors who were in Los Angeles. Gotham Sound & Communications was the lead production company for the shoot, with VP Peter Schneider managing operations remotely and independent sound engineer Ken Goodwin on-si
USA - James Baker reflected the enduring magic of the 1972 musical Pippin recently with a neatly balanced, multi-faceted design for a production at Riverview High School, Oakmont, PA. An all LED rig provided Baker with a level of flexibility that could never have been imagined, even on Broadway, given the technology available at the time, when the play opened. At the heart of this system were Chauvet Professional Maverick and Ovation fixtures supplied by Star Design Event Services. Baker, who was retained by the school district to light this show, comments, “For the concept of this show, we were playing with contrasting ideas, such as light/bright and dark/shadows, to symbolize the inner conflicts faced by Pippin,” he said. “Our ensemble members assumed the role of phantoms trying to manipulate the thoughts in his head. We had this LED star curtain that we
Namibia - The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) is at the apex of the system of government in the Republic of Namibia. A historical building in the Namibian capital of Windhoek, OPM houses the first Cabinet Chamber and the Constitution Room, in which most of the country’s legislatures were drafted. The government recently elected to augment the Cabinet Chamber with a sophisticated sound reinforcement and visual display system to improve the meeting experience. Gadgets Namibia Solutions – a leading ICT products and services provider - were asked to source an appropriate solution, which they did through Stage Audio Works Namibia. “This was an interesting project as the multilevel and oval shaped seating arrangement made it impossible to implement a traditional projector and screen solution,” explains Joppie Maritz of SAW Namibia. “Furthermore, we were working
Ecuador - Cinema chain Multicines has just opened a new multiplex in the city of Guayaquil in which all 11 screens are fully equipped with Christie RGB pure laser projectors. The installation was carried out by CES+ (Cinema Equipment & Supplies). The multiplex is located in the Mall del Río shopping centre in Guayaquil, the country’s main port and largest city. “The 11-screen multiplex is equipped with leading-edge technology and with a totally innovative industrial design, unique in the country,” explained Gonzalo López, general manager of Multicines. The multiplex includes a 4D E-Motion theatre with seating equipped with vibration and motion systems, as well as wind, water effects and scents. It also has a premium large format (PLF) theatre called Multicines Xtreme (MCX) with Dolby Atmos sound, premium seating and a giant screen measuring almost 200 squar
USA - Illuminarium Experiences opened its first Illuminarium in Atlanta, Georgia, with its debut spectacle, Wild: A Safari Experience. The immersive 8,000sq.ft entertainment complex on the Atlanta BeltLine will showcase the beauty and splendour of Africa’s most exotic animals in their natural habitats. Through a convergence of technologies, Illuminarium’s immersive venues ‘will transport millions of visitors to places that they previously could only dream of experiencing’. By enabling audiences to see, hear, feel, smell and even personally affect an experience, Illuminarium places the guest ‘inside’ the narrative using techniques from traditional motion picture production and virtual reality combined with interactive features that facilitate the experience of the real world. In essence, Illuminarium exemplifies a “VR, without the glasses” experience. W
USA - Nearly 750 Martin Audio components have been specified and fitted as part of a complete AV integration at the new $700m Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia. The 510,000sq.ft Cordish Companies development is set in the City’s Stadium District. The audio-visual design and implementation was managed by ECI (Entertainment Consulting International) as are all the entertainment complexes and sports arenas within the estate of their parent company. Audio-visual requirements in the multi-zone space, incorporating a collection of sports bars and diverse restaurants, were specified by consultants, Las Vegas-based Coherent Design, with integration company, Metinteractive, providing the successful bid for the fit-out. At the business end, the work was overseen by Dan Defendorf, Director of A/V & Corporate Music Programmer for 130 or so Cordish Companies propert
Canada - Montreal-based SoftBox Integration - a specialist in integration, custom LED manufacture and AV equipment rental - is the latest company to invest in Robe’s Transferable Engine LED luminaire, the Forte (see LSi July 2021 for a review of the fixture) . The company works across all sectors and creative communities, supplying equipment for television productions, sporting events, corporates, theatre and the performing arts, immersive experiences and is a market leader in Quebec. This latest investment was driven by strategic “business development” explains CEO Michèle Pelletier. The decision to purchase these, the first Robe products for SoftBox Integration, followed extensive comparati
Germany - Located on the banks of the Danube in central southern Germany, the city of Ulm is an economic centre for eastern Baden-Württemberg and western Bavaria. Recently a new audio system was installed at Congress Centrum Ulm (CCU), the main city centre venue for corporate events and entertainment, with a Yamaha solution chosen for mixing and control. Attached to the Maritim Hotel, Congress Centrum Ulm (CCU) features two main auditoriums, Einstein Saal and the smaller Kepler Saal, both with adjacent foyers, plus the outdoor Gartensaal. Einstein Saal can host gatherings of up to 1,500 people, with Einsteinfoyer able to accommodate a similar number for stand-up receptions. The upgrade to the audio system took place during a short pause in Germany’s COVID-19 lockdown, which made straightforward installation and programming of the system a priority. Karlsruhe-based f
UAE - Creative Technology Middle East (CTME) has recently delivered a complete L-Acoustics touring system at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi ahead of their first large live event. CTME is an Approved Calibration Centre (ACC) and certified partner integrations (CPI) for L-Acoustics. CTME worked closely with L-Acoustics during the modelling of the system based on CAD drawings supplied by the arena. As the venue will be hosting a wide range of events, the design had to consider multiple configurations to suit various productions from indoor concerts to sporting events and much more. Craig Harvey, CT’s systems integration project manager, explains, “CT delivered the L-Acoustics system on behalf of the arena, verified, tested, installed and calibrated the equipment, making sure the system was responding as per the design.” As part of the L-Acoustics system,
