Russia - The Palace of Culture “October” is an 850-seat theatre with two levels. Opened in 1966 in Podolsk, Moscow, the venue hosts many types of events from dance to concerts and local shows. RCF Russian distributor ARIS provided a new HDL 28-A line array with SUB 9004-AS for a new and improved sound. The upgrade has allowed the 240- seat balcony to be opened to the public; it previously remained closed due to acoustical issues. Installed more than 10 years ago, the previous sound system was unable to cover the rather spacious balcony properly. This meant that tickets to the balcony during box office concerts were not sold, to avoid complaints from disappointed patrons. When the budget was approved for a new sound reinforcement system, a mandatory requirement from management of the House of Culture was to provide a high-quality sound experience to all secti
Belgium - The Belgian edition of Wheel of Fortune (Het Rad van Fortuin), first appeared in 1976, only a year after its American counterpart debuted. Like all long-running success stories, the Wheel of Fortune franchise has survived thanks to its ability to adapt and change, a quality that has enabled it to appeal to new generations of fans without losing their parents. This renewal process was very much in evidence in the 2020 edition of the Belgian show, which featured a sleek new set designed by Deusjevoo. Accentuating this set and endowing with extra vibrancy and depth was a lighting and video design by Painting With Light that featured an extensive collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Splendit, including the EPIX Strip IP, Maverick MK3 Profile, Maverick MK2 Profile, Rogue R2X Wash, Ovation E-910FC ellipsoidal, COLORado Panel Q40 and
Hungary Production designer Frédéric ‘Aldo’ Fayard (of Concept K) deployed Fusion by GLP FS20 Sticks for the first time when lighting the recent ISL (International Swimming League) event in Budapest. Born from the initiative of Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Grigorishin, the event features 10 teams of 28 swimmers, who take part in a knockout competition, culminating in two semi-finals and a final. Held inside a sanitary bubble, the audience-free occasion was one of the biggest sporting events in the world this year and was broadcast on CBS in the US and BeIN Sport among others. From a lighting perspective, Fayard had to ensure this high-profile international competition, where several world records were broken, still retained its entertainment value in the absence of an audience. The LD founded Concept K 23 years ago, mainly for touring and classical eve
Canada - With its network of studios spanning the world, from the United States to Europe and Asia, Pixomondo (PXO) works extensively as a VFX house. The company has worked on award-winning TV productions such as Raised By Wolves, Perry Mason, Westworld and Star Trek: Discovery, as well as co-produced and provided the VFX for Roland Emmerich's feature film, Midway, and is now working on the filmmaker's upcoming Moonfall. PXO has just finished building one of the world’s largest Virtual Production (VP) studios in Toronto, with Brompton Technology as part of the network of tech partners that PXO has teamed up with on the new facility. “Beyond the prerequisites for a LED processor geared towards Virtual Production, Brompton has shown that it is heavily invested in innovation with a strong focus on quality, which perfectly ali
USA - For The Morton Arboretum, the idea of not running Illumination this past holiday season was not an option, says Lightswitch principal John Featherstone about the popular wintertime lighting display in Lisle, Illinois. Illumination continues to shine through after being redesigned for a drive-thru experience using additional Elation luminaires, the eighth year for the project. “It’s about a partnership between a remarkable institution, and an industry full of incredibly creative, hard-working and motivated people who are still passionate about delivering remarkable experiences to an entertainment-starved public and bringing relief to people,” says Featherstone. “The motivating force behind why the Arboretum decided to pivot Illumination to a driving experience was not only to ensure guest safety in the middle of a pandemic, but also because we
UK - Knowsley Safari Park, just outside of Liverpool lets you see baboons, prides of lions and much more. This year they organised Enchanted, a foot safari which comes alive as the sun sets. You can enjoy the safari after dark as the whole path is lit with magical lights which guides you through the enchanted trail. Stage Management Company installed the lights for this project. They used Showtec Spectral M800 Q4 IP65 spots. Additionally they deployed Showtec Cameleon flood and Showtec Cameleon bar 24/3, both very powerful fixtures. The Showtec Festoon string was used as well, which has a length of 15m with 20 pixels. Each pixel can be controlled individually with the dedicated Festoon controller. Completing the setting were the Infinity iW-1915 fixtures, where LEDs are divided in five controllable sections allowing for rich colour flows and creative patterns.
UK - A recording studio veteran and ardent user of Sennheiser and Neumann microphones, Ola Onabulé has been streaming regular live music performances from his home studio close to London for the past few months. With a career in music recording of over two decades, and having performed at some of world’s most prestigious jazz festivals and concert halls, Onabulé’s name is synonymous with jazz excellence and his deep passion for music technology. When the pandemic started, Onabulé’s first reaction was consternation. “I’d evolved a culture of doing gigs internationally over many years. Most of my shows involved getting on a plane and going to a foreign country where I’d stay for a few days before moving on to the next destination. The pandemic created complete and absolute chaos for this way of working and panic set in,” he shares. “A good friend in Me
South Korea - Nexo’s installation business has started the new year with good news from South Korea, where the company’s distributor A-Works prosound has delivered an installation project for a new auditorium, owned by the billion-dollar network marketing company Atomy. Following a four-way shoot-out competition last summer, A-Works won the contract with its demonstration of a Nexo Geo M12 mid-size line array system, paired with MSUB18 subs, and extended by a sizeable delay system using Nexo’s super-compact ID24 point source cabinets. The auditorium is located at Atomy HQ in Gongju, and is used for mini-concerts, education, internal events and the Atomy Corporation’s annual awards ceremony. The Geo M12 fits ATOMY’s purposes, specified with eight-module arrays left and right, and a three-module hang in the centre. Twelve of the powerful 18” MSUB bass units a
USA - ASI Audio x Sensaphonics has announced the imminent release of the upgraded version of its flagship 3DME Music Enhancement system. The new version will incorporate Bluetooth connectivity for the included ASI Audio App, enabling set-up and control via any current iOS or Android device. The core 3DME system remains unchanged, using patented Active Ambient technology to give the user natural room sound from their monitor mix, their bandmates, and the audience. The 3DME Music Enhancement IEM System consists of a bodypack mixer/controller and Active Ambient earphones. This new Bluetooth version allows users to pair any common portable device with the 3DME bodypack mixer for untethered adjustment of the system’s 7-band stereo EQ and limiter threshold via the free ASI Audio app. The app also offers access to an Audio Seal Test to confirm perfect IEM fit and allows the savin
Belgium - Theatrical musical producers Deep Bridge created a special streamed Home Edition version of their 2020 Christmas Show, with appearances and special Christmas collaborations from a host of celebrities and music stars, all presenting different festive musical moments. The event was recorded over three days at Deep Bridge’s HQ in Antwerp with lighting designed by David Smeets of event design and production company The Creative Factory, (TCF) based in Meerhout. David specified Robe moving lights including T1 Profiles, Spiiders, LEDBeam 150s, Tertra2 LED bars and BMFL WashBeams, all of which were supplied by rental company L&L Stage Services. The artist line up included a star-studded cast of Belgian singing and dancing talent. The challenges of the project included a tight turnaround time – just 10 days from when the idea germinated
UK - FIX8Group’s virtual events, broadcast and connectivity centre The Hub was recently transformed into an advertising shoot film studio for extreme sports outfitter, Ruroc. Music video production company Swords and Eagles, and music video director KC Locke, worked closed with FIX8Group to develop The Hub to reflect the narrative of the promo film. Within The Hub, the studio space's 12m x 4m, 2.6mm pixel pitch LED screen was used as the main visuals backdrop for the shoot, offering more than 4K resolution. FIX8group’s tech team showcased the screen’s agility and flexibility as scenes were changed instantly to promote Ruroc’s range of motorsport and snow sports headgear. Special effects including pyrotechnics and innovative lighting techniques were used to create an optimum environment for the story to unfold. As part of the shoot, ‘intruders’ dressed
Italy - The annual musical event Concerto di Natale has taken place once again, gathering international pop, rock, soul, gospel and opera voices and broadcast on Canale 5 on Christmas Eve. The 28th edition took place at the Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome. Show designer Francesco De Cave was responsible for the lighting, adding to his portfolio of working with artists like Laura Pausini, Elisa, and many TV Shows, including previous editions to this one. The Italian lighting designer chose Prolights EclCyclorama 100 for this year's Christmas Concert: “I needed a fixture that could light the faces of our artists on stage from below. The EclCyclorama 100 has proven to be an excellent product for lighting backdrops and to make fine adjustments to the picture seen on-camera,” said Francesco. He added: “The 80º x 40º of angle provided by the Cyc was perfect fo
France - Released on New Year’s Eve, Jean Michel Jarre’s virtual reality show, Welcome To The Other Side, is ‘a mind-expanding experience’ that garnered 900,000 views on YouTube within a week of its release and, according to Sony Music International, over 75m views on all outlets (Facebook, VRC, Weibo, Tik Tok). The work mixes high-tech sights and sounds around a reimagined (and virtual) nine-centuries-old Notre Dame cathedral. During its 55-minute run time, conceived to celebrate the arrival of 2021 in the French capital, animated geometric forms rise and fall within the historic church’s nave, keyboard instruments melt with colour, brilliant light patterns run up stone columns to play off stained glass windows. Moving seamlessly with Jarre’s music in Welcome To The Other Side is a multifarious lightshow created by Jvan Morandi of Placing Sha
The Netherlands - Over 500 CLF fixtures were part of the first Electric Fireworks NYE show in the Amsterdam ArenA. Selected because of their power and punch, Poseidon and Aorun beams took care of the aerial effects. LEDbar PRO and Ares fixtures were added to create blinding firework effects. 4Light Showprojects and Dutch7 were in charge of the technical production. Lighting was designed and programmed by LD Company. During load-in, the roof of the ArenA had to be open all the time. Therefore, fixtures with an IP65 rating were preferred. Ronnie Santegoeds (4Light Showprojects) explains: “Initially we planned an outdoor event. That’s why we started the preparation process with a big fixture shoot-out, based on projection at 50m and beam intensity. The CLF Poseidon Beam was chosen to feature the circle shaped structures which resemble fireworks.” The firework
USA - This year, when The Heights Baptist added a 12-minute video to its socially distant Christmas Eve service, the Dallas church’s creative team had a critical goal in mind. “We didn’t want people to feel like they were watching a video,” opens technical director Zach Carnefix. “Our intent was to make them feel immersed, as if they were in the midst of the events the video was portraying.” To create this sense of engagement, the church accompanied its video with live music, pre-recorded voiceovers, and a dramatic lighting display that featured Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Wash fixtures supplied by B&L Sound and Lighting. “Our video was divided into two sections,” says Carnefix. “The first, called ‘400 Years of Silence’, covered the time before the birth of Christ, while the second, ‘The Arrival’ is centred on the nativity. Lighting play
Israel - Hagag Group is one of Israel’s leading real-estate developers and has recently completed the construction and installation of a multi-purpose venue as part of a prestigious new inner city urban renewal project in Tel Aviv. At the heart of this high-end complex is Pop and Pope - a restaurant, bar and event space. The venue operators harbour the aspiration of elevating Tel Aviv as a hub for excellence in cuisine combined with the most modern and inspiring of atmospheres and spaces. The desire to provide a high calibre environment for guests and diners includes the provision of quality audio. To achieve this, Hagag Group has worked in conjunction with audio specialist Kahane Group to supply an aesthetically pleasing and high quality sounding Void Acoustics installation for this prestigious complex located in the heart of Tel Aviv’s CBD. Kahane Group
Spain - Since 1975, Madrid’s Juan March Foundation Auditorium has offered the city’s population a rich offering of live music, generally classical, free of charge. The venue recently renewed its digital audio mixing system (supplied and installed by integrator Area Suena), replacing it with a modern solution from Allen & Heath. Based on the dLive and SQ systems, the solution allows the integration of two adjoining rooms in a Dante network, as well as real-time streaming and the recording of live shows for post-production. The decision to renew the audio and video mixing and recording systems (including signal flow management) was made in 2019, to keep pace with the venue’s level of production and in line with current technologies. The Juan March Foundation has long relied on production company Scope Produccinones as a partner for the technical operation
UK - GlasGLOW3 was an illuminated trail event conceived and produced by event specialist itison and staged at Glasgow Botanic Gardens. It ran for two and a half weeks in October and November featuring a fully COVID-compliant 1.5km socially distanced walking trail featuring numerous imaginative lighting works, installations, and adventures. Lighting designer Grant Anderson was one of a core creative team comprising itison’s Oli Norman, set designer Kenneth Macleod and composer Kevin Murray who wrote and compiled the soundscape for this project. With a superhero central narrative to the trail, Grant chose 60 Robe iPointes to be key ‘hero’ luminaires within his dynamic site-wide lighting design for GlasGLOW3. iPointes were chosen for their brightness and ability to create super-strength beams of light that would be visible from across Glasgow in the right weather co
The Netherlands - Officially opened in February 2018, This Is Holland was the first panoramic flight simulator in the Benelux countries, costing €18m to develop and build. However, it quickly became obvious that the original audio system was not delivering the desired high quality, dynamic sound. An Alcons Audio pro-ribbon system was specified by Leisure Expert Group, transforming the experience as audiences are ‘flown’ at low level over many of the Netherlands’ best-known landmarks. The 24m (78.7ft) tall cylindrical pavilion is based on the shape of an oil drum, reflecting its location at the former Shell petroleum company site at Overhoeksplein in Amsterdam. The experience combines imagery taken from a very low-flying helicopter, filmed with special permission from the Dutch authorities, taking visitors on a nine-minute virtual flight over Dutch landscapes, c
Italy - Martin Audio’s CDD loudspeaker series, has found another high-profile home - on the Italian Riviera in Santa Margherita Ligure at the Il Covo Di Nord-Est nightclub. The venue features both indoor and outdoor spaces: the main bar is located in the former, while the dance floor and sofas, arranged differently every night, can be found outside. The main DJ area hosts local artists as well as more well-known names in the music industry, and it is here that the ultra-compact 2-way CDD loudspeaker solution was specified. The upgrade had been the result of a storm back in 2018 which had necessitated a complete venue rebuild, including the new audio system, which will now take on new challenges, both indoors and out. Venue owners, Stefano Rosina and Matteo Canepa (from Mito srl) considered several tenders before choosing Vibra Service of Albenga (SV) to underta
UK - For Spectre Studios, virtual production (VP) is not a new field. Prior to the pandemic, the company was already using real-time engines and virtual production technologies for their work on Hollywood blockbusters and, last year, set up ICVFX full-service LED VP studio in conjunction with Big Picture, part of the NEP Worldwide Network, using Brompton Tessera LED processing power to drive ROE LED panels. The climactic moment for Spectre, however, was in November, when the company participated in Epic Games’ Unreal Build: Virtual Production event, where a small number of creative studios across the world were invited to showcase their next-generation tools and techniques which are set to transform filmmaking industry. Brompton Tessera SX40 4K LED processing was used for the video piece that Spectre showed at the event. “Unreal Build: Virtual Production<
Israel - Kley-Zemer’s professional division KZPRO were chosen to supply a JBL Professional audio system for the 60-year-old Bloomfield Stadium during its extensive three-year renovation project. The installation was a cooperation between independent consultant Harel Tabibi, integration company Barkai and installation company The Charmer Group. Bloomfield Stadium, home of Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv football clubs, first opened in 1962. In addition to hosting three football clubs, the veteran stadium has accommodated many musical acts including Celine Dion, Rihanna, and Pixies. In 2016, the stadium was closed for a massive three-year renovation, which included expanding the capacity to 29,150 seats, making it the third-largest football stadium in Israel. Barkai was brought in to outfit the newly renovated stadium with a sound system that
Germany - In a summer that saw hardly any live shows, Landstreicher Konzert set an example with their corona-compliant series of Picnic Concerts in several German cities. Singer-songwriter Lea was one of the artists who performed during the concert series, with lighting designer Maximilian Gräf from PE Lichtdesign using 20 KNV Line from GLP to bring a breath of fresh air to the existing tour design. Gräf, who has been working as a lighting and stage designer for Lea since February 2017, had to fall back on an older design for the Picnic Concerts due to the pandemic. “The design for the new album Treppenhaus only exists on the drawing board, because all festivals were cancelled due to Covid,” he said. “When it came to the Picnic Concerts, I looked at both the old recording of the Zwischen Meinen Zeilen design and the drafts for the planned Treppenhaus<
USA - The Mall at University Town Centre in Sarasota, Florida, has over 100 stores and 20 dining options that attract multitudes of patrons year round. This past holiday season, the mall retired its smaller Christmas experience from years past and debuted a spectacular new holiday light show as incentive for customers to forego stay-at-home shopping and visit the mall instead. Justin Stancil of Stancil Entertainment was contacted to design the lighting spectacular and turned to the ONYX platform from Obsidian Control Systems to control the massive system. “The client called saying they had a vision to do a big light show but had no idea how to achieve it,” Stancil shares. “I got the call in August and we designed a complete system - advanced pixels, intelligent lighting, control, hardlined and wireless networking, and automation.” The lighting canvass, spread
