Germany - Bewake Studios in Berlin has become the first recording facility to install a multichannel monitoring system fully outfitted with Spacemap Go, Meyer Sound’s for spatial sound design and mixing. The installation of Spacemap Go was prompted by German electronic music icons Jan Werner and Andi Toma. They have been in residence at Bewake Studios since late 2018, and have occupied an exclusive sub-rented space and operated under the moniker Paraverse Studio. Their facility has a separate connection to the 50sq.m main recording room - where Spacemap Go is available - which is shared with Bewake’s other clients. “Andi and Jan first experienced an earlier version of Spacemap Go at Moogfest two years ago, which started an ongoing relationship with Meyer Sound,” notes Adam Kesselhaut, the studio’s co-founder and managing director as well as a producer and so
Experienced lighting pro has used the compact console on several gigs since the summer, including Arnoldo Castillo 20th Anniversary livestream celebration Like many in the lighting industry, Costa Rican lighting professional Emilio Aguilar has used the pandemic downtime to learn new competencies and better his skill set. Finding himself back home in Costa Rica last spring following Cirque du Soliel’s bankruptcy, Aguilar got in contact with long-time collaborators Luces y Sistemas, the exclusive distributor of Obsidian Control Systems products in Costa Rica. “I inquired about the NX2™ lighting console, which I thought would be the perfect console for the types of gigs I do,” he states. “They were happy to show me the console and in the end it was just what I wanted.” Luces y Sistemas provides full support for the entire Obsidian line of hardware and software lighting con
USA - When Caesars Entertainment, who operate the world-renowned Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, planned their next expansion phase - Caesars Forum, a new state-of-the-art conference centre - they needed a first-class technical infrastructure for site wide multi-signal transmission over this large facility, and opted for BroaMan, the video and data based sister company to Optocore. Locally based design and engineering specialists, National Technology Associates (NTA) have a long track record working with the Caesars Entertainment family, including LINQ promenade, the High Roller, and many restaurants and venues. Thus they were again contracted, and as their project manager Shane Snell recognized the building was way too big to run traditional SDI cabling, he instead turned to a BroaMan fibre solution. BroaMan offers customised fibre solutions as well as standard d
USA - When the leaders at Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama green lighted a full renovation of the mega church’s 2,700-seat main worship centre, the job of designing and building a modern, upgraded audio system was awarded to Blackhawk Audio. In addition to quality sound and coverage, Shades Mountain also wanted to ensure that the new system was discrete in that it was contained within a very compact grill cloth area. Blackhawk found the solution with EAW and its ADAPTive line, including its Anya and Anna loudspeakers and Otto subwoofers, as well as its VFR89i Stage Monitors. “One of the biggest selling points of the EAW ADAPTive speaker system was that in addition to its audio quality and excellent coverage, it also was low profile and would not visually overwhelm the sanctuary,” says Blackhawk Audio president Rick Shimer. “The previous loo
USA - Southcrest Baptist Church has remodelled a former worship centre on its campus in Lubbock, Texas, reopening it as The Venue, a multipurpose space outfitted with a new Solid State Logic Live L200 digital mixing console. The new L200 desk is being used to mix front-of-house, monitors and a live stream of The Venue’s Sunday morning service, which features a five-piece contemporary band. The new L200, which was put into service in early November, is the third SSL Live desk to be installed at Southcrest Baptist Church. In 2017, the church opened a newly constructed 46,000sq.ft, 1,600-seat Worship Centre on its campus that is equipped with a pair of SSL Live L300 consoles. One manages front-of-house and monitors and the other handles audio-for-video duties, including live streaming and recording. “We put in a new audio system in The Venue and wanted an SSL board to
USA - The arid arena of the Arizona desert and the Arcosanti community united for the staging of Existential Reckoning, a site-specific streamed concert of the new album by ‘supergroup’ Puscifer initiated by Maynard James Keenan. Lighting designer Sarah Landau was asked to light the concert livestream, having been fascinated with the idea of Arcosanti for some time but not yet visited. She added Robe MegaPointes and PixelPATTs to her lighting design for this intricately constructed performance movie. Keenan lives about an hour’s drive away from Arcosanti, the ‘arcological’ postulation of Italian American architect Paolo Soleri, designed to connect architecture and ecology as a philosophical base for democratic society. The album backstory involves an alien landing on earth and trying to assimilate. The Existential Reckoning video sho
Sweden - Malmö Opera presented well-received production of musical classic Funny Girl as part of the autumn / winter repertory programme which continued to run despite the pandemic. Audience figures were dramatically reduced to 50+ a livestream which could be enjoyed by all who had bought a ticket for each performance. Planned two years earlier and fully sold out many months in advance, Malmö Opera decided to go ahead in delivering all their seasonal main house productions as the budgets were already allocated and spent. Leading Swedish lighting designer Fredrik Jonsson was delighted to be back working on a live show and helping to create the aesthetic for this vibrant, funny, and poignant piece known for its intricate production numbers. Malmö Opera has a quantity of Astera fixtures in its lighting inventory which are used for multiple situations and
UK - In a bid to lift the spirits of the local community and celebrate the efforts of the NHS, a team of entertainment industry lighting and laser engineers based around the north of England have set out to create laser lighting art. Sheffield-based lighting designer Jonathan Dawson-Butterworth wanted to set up a morale-boosting event that could also help the Sheffield Hospitals Charity appeal. “I thought it would be nice to organise something that people could look at and enjoy, and also do something to help charity. With the terrible situation brought upon us all by the pandemic, I thought it would be great to involve the hospitals charity and say ‘thank you’ to the NHS,” he explains. Taking place on Monday, 14 December, with powerful laser beams firing from three different areas of the city, with the organisers hoping to deliver an entertaining display
UK - The unprecedented challenges that 2020 presented the live music industry has in turn led to the creative use of technology - by venues and other arts organisations - to continue to deliver performances on-line. Among those adopting a forward-thinking approach to the current situation is Wiltshire Music Centre, located in Bradford-on-Avon, which has been running a series of live streamed concerts from its newly-installed broadcast suite - including a recent performance by artist-in-residence Tom Poster and the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective. In adapting the venue’s concert hall for streaming, an Allen & Heath Avantis digital mixing system was recently supplied by Plymouth-based Nubsound, to integrate with an existing Dante network and a new camera package for broadcast. “The venue had been running an Allen & Heath GLD for the past six or seven years i
USA - In the shadow of majestic Mount Rainier, Experience Church is part of a new generation of houses of worship, a non-denominational Christian church bringing their message to parishioners via modern music and technology. The 500-seat sanctuary welcomes parishioners with upbeat, amplified music and innovative videos. Installed more than 15 years ago, the church’s sound system was showing its age and in need of an update. Uncertain of the cost and in need of ideas, the church contacted Sumner, WA-based McCauley Systems for advice and consultation. “I’ve had a long-standing relationship with this church, having designed and consulted on the original sound system about 15 years ago,” reports McCauley Systems principal Ryan McCauley. “Fundamentally the system is still in good shape, with excellent coverage and impact, but many of the loudspeaker components in
Korea - To create an immersive platform to showcase local culture and arts, Geumjeong Arko Performing Practice Centre partnered with TechDataPS Co to deploy a high-quality sound system from Harman Professional Solutions. With the foundation of a self-sustaining creative ecosystem, Geumjeong Arko Performing Practice Centre is an optimised practice space for performing artists. The venue consists of a grand practice room, two substantial practice rooms, and two small practice rooms. It also provides a showcase space for performing artists and groups. TechDataPS Co reports that the client wanted a high-quality audio system to record and edit audio. They also wanted to maximise the design setup and use the space for both practice and small performances. Such a setup needed the infrastructure and speaker systems to be flexibly configured, providing them with the opportunit
Germany - Situated near Wermelskirchen in the Bergisches Land, Schloss Burg is one of the largest completely preserved castle complexes in Germany. Built in the 12th century as the ancestral seat of the Counts and Dukes of Berg, and extensively restored between 1890 and 1914, the castle is one of the landmarks of the Bergisches Land and has been used for years as a museum and for various cultural events. After a planning period of almost a year, Burg Castle became the scene of the Castle Illumination for the first time this October - and despite, or perhaps because of, the current coronavirus situation, the event was a complete success. "In the course of the year we had to reschedule several times and, at some point, threw the entire concept overboard," stated Uli Hoppert from Siren, the technical service provider for the event. “We said goodbye to the original idea
Argentina - In April 2018, the Government of Santiago del Estero, together with the Argentine Football Association (AFA), began drawing up plans for a new provincial stadium that was to commence construction in June. Although its destiny of serving as a host venue for the 2020 Copa América was derailed due to the pandemic, the stadium was still completed nevertheless, its final design complying with all FIFA, CONMEBOL, and AFA standards. The finished Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades consists of a cylindrical covered stadium with a capacity of 28,000 seated spectators, and includes VIP sections, press booths, spaces for catering, and covered parking for 400 cars, as well as a main access plaza and sports museum. The Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades is also the first stadium in the country to be designed with the sound system in mind from the early stages of construc
Canada - Adamson Systems Engineering’s CS-Series powered loudspeakers provided the audio for Big Wreck’s recent drive-in show at Canada’s Ancaster Fairgrounds While drive-in concerts have become commonplace during the pandemic, increasingly they require traditional live sound reinforcement and the ability to transmit over FM, explains Colin Moore of Soundbox: “It’s all about the experience, so it’s becoming a mandatory part of the production specifications, and bands and audiences prefer it that way.” You can still socially distance and have great sound, he continues, adding: “Maybe one out of every 10 cars had their doors closed and the radio on, but most people were listening to the PA.” Big Wreck FOH engineer, Dan Preston adds: “With some rigs, the guitars are producing frequencies through the cabinets that they’re not producing through the act
UK - Flipside Soundsystem has installed a new audio system at the recently opened contemporary Asian restaurant, Blue Jasmine. Based in Southampton, the fine dining venue needed an aesthetically pleasing installation for both indoor and outdoor use, and Flipside met this need with equipment from Yamaha and Apart Audio. Blue Jasmine’s co-owners, Xi and Phoebe Zhao required an audio installation that could be distributed across; the bar, a VIP room, two main dining spaces, a raised dining area and the toilet facilities. With a Yamaha MTX3 acting as the brain of the entire system, Flipside installed a wall panel control for each zone of the restaurant, allowing easy accessibility and seamless coverage. “Usually with restaurant sound system installations, owners are never too specific on how they want the audio to integrate into their design of the space – they ten
Cyprus - ALA Equipment Company has installed a JBL Professional audio system at Limassol’s Parklane Hotel. Parklane Hotel is a luxury resort that features luxury accommodations, from lifestyle suites to private villas. Formerly Le Meridien Hotel, the building was purchased in 2015 by Marriott, who commissioned a complete overhaul of all communications and A/V technology. Parklane Hotel hired ALA Equipment Company to renovate key facilities in the hotel, including the Diamond Ballroom, Park Room, Meeting Rooms, Kids Club, as well as other ancillary areas and guest suites. ALA installed a JBL Professional audio system featuring JBL Professional loudspeakers, Crown Amplifiers, BSS Signal Processors and AKG Microphones. More than 2,000 Control 25, Control SB2210, Control 47HC, Control 24C, Control 26C, and Control 19CS loudspeakers and subwoofers were installed througho
Taiwan - When Taiwan’s National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) hosted a revival of the German/Taiwanese co-production of Puccini’s Turandot earlier this year, Chien-hao Kuo, lighting designer and head of lighting, boldly chose to replace all the discharge moving lights of the original design with LED fixtures. He carefully selected 26 Ayrton Khamsin-S profiles which were supplied to the venue from its rental stock by Hispot Workshop of Taipei, Taiwan, a company which has been dedicated to theatre design and equipment rental for over 26 years. Kuo’s had used Ayrton Khamsin-S on several operas in the past and knew them to be both powerful and quiet. “Because opera singers perform without amplified sound, I was focused on methods of reducing the background noise in the theatre,” he explains. “Moving lights with discharge sources are n
USA - As a Latin Grammy Award-winning mixing and recording engineer, musician and sound supervisor, Nicolas Ramirez’ resume also includes head mixing and recording engineer at Art House Academy & Abbey Road Institute Miami, a music performance/production and sound engineering school. He recently implemented KRK Systems’ V6 Series 4 powered reference monitors into the space. Ramirez was elated to continue working with the KRK brand as he also uses the ROKIT 5s and 7s in various home studio applications. Using his KRKs, Ramirez is up for three Latin Grammys this year with nominations for two Record of the Year awards as well as an Album of the Year nomination. Ramirez has worked with high-profile recording artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Marc Anthony and Bad Bunny, and knows quality matters. “KRK makes a variety of superior st
USA - As this difficult year draws to a close, ADJ is hoping to spread a little festive joy over the holiday season with its Winter Wonderland Lighting contest. The company is offering lighting pros and enthusiasts at all levels the chance to win one of three prizes simply by using their ADJ fixtures as part of a festive display or holiday event and tagging the photos or video on social media. Says ADJ, “Entries could be a holiday project created for a client or you could simply use your ADJ lighting, video or effects equipment to decorate your yard, front porch or home for the holidays. It probably goes without saying, but in whatever you do to celebrate the holidays and enter the contest, please be safe, take any necessary precautions and practice social distancing. “The ADJ team will be selecting the first, second and third place winners based on how good the ph
USA - In the face of tight travel restrictions and the industry-wide slowdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, music producer to the stars Garth Richardson has spent several months focused on renovating and updating his The Farm Studios. Nestled within the Sunshine Coast region of British Columbia, The Farm Studios offers a tranquil cabin-in-the-woods workshop atmosphere for recording and studio production. The seven-acre property features several cabins and a main house where the control room is located. Richardson's goal for the extensive renovation is to expand the studio's footprint and create a varied set of indoor and outdoor recording spaces. Rooms in the main house are connected throughout with a Dante network, and Richardson is now extending the network out to another large cabin adjacent to the main house and other locations. Dante allows audio, control
USA - When Caesars Entertainment, who operate Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, planned their next expansion phase – Caesars Forum, a new conference centre - they needed a first-class technical infrastructure for site wide multi-signal transmission over this large facility, and opted for BroaMan, the video and data based sister company to Optocore. Locally based design and engineering specialists, National Technology Associates (NTA) have a long track record working with the Caesars Entertainment family, including LINQ promenade, the High Roller, and many restaurants and venues. Thus, they were again contracted, and as their project manager Shane Snell recognized the building was way too big to run traditional SDI cabling, he instead turned to a BroaMan fibre solution. The Conference Centre itself measures a massive 550,000sq.ft including more than 300,000sq.ft of flexibl
USA - The colourful floats were there, 26 of them in all; so too were the giant helium balloons, bands and street performers, but the 2020 version of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was unlike any of its 96 predators. The usual throngs of fans were nowhere to be seen, and instead of following its normal route down 5th Avenue, the entire ‘parade’ took place within a designated area in front of Macy’s flagship store. For the 20.7m who watched on TV, this year’s parade offered all of the pageantry, excitement and holiday spirit that people have come to expect from this popular tradition, pandemic restrictions notwithstanding. Helping to create this image on television was a Geoff Amoral lighting design that artfully relied on lighting and props to support the parade with an engaging background, despite the absence of fans. “The normal look for the parade
UK - Exhibition London is a new multipurpose live music and events venue in White City, West London initiated and operated by Broadwick Live and Venue Lab, offering 1400 seated to 2800 standing capacity. It is designed for conferences, exhibitions, gala dinners, awards presentations, location filming and live music events. Opened in early 2020, Exhibition London’s complete technical infrastructure was specified and procured by consultant and technical production director Simon Jones of SJ-TPM who also coordinated and oversaw all elements of the technical installation and commissioning. Simon had started work on the project in the second quarter of 2019 after having been involved in other Broadwick Live venues. He chose both Robe and Anolis products to be core house lighting system elements for the main show-space where the spec features 28 x Esprites and 30 x Robe
Russia - Moscow’s Vakhtangov Theatre marked its upcoming 100th anniversary with a special 10-minute music and light show featuring more than 100 Claypaky Axcor Profile 900 LN high-wattage moving head LED spotlights and HY B-EYE K25 moving head LED wash. The theatre’s lighting designers Ruslan Mayorov and Alexander Matveev created the lighting spectacular with Sergei Dobrikov, software engineer from equipment supplier and installer Doka Centre, choreographing the intricate play of beams to music by Faustas Latenas. An invited audience was in attendance for the show, which featured forests of parallel beams, dancing beams, textured curtains of light and giant beams that broke the boundaries of the proscenium to sweep the audience. The theatre’s heads and the Russian government’s Minister of Culture were on hand to offer congratulations. “When we were loo
