Latvia - The Latvian College of Culture (LCC) in Riga is part of the larger Latvian Academy of Culture and is described as "the best place to study creative industries" in the country. The college has a continuous and built-in effort to keep up with the times, which is why school administrators called on SGS Sistemas, Clair Brothers distributor in the region. Normunds Eilands and Guntars Bluss of SGS were asked to recommend the best loudspeakers for LCC’s next upgrade of its audio production equipment. After evaluating the school’s needs SGS recommended the Clair Brothers kiT12-i loudspeakers, and kiT-Subs. Along with the selected kiT12-i loudspeakers and kiT-Subs, the Clair Brothers PLM 12K44 power amplifier was also specified and installed. Other equipment chosen by the college includes a Lab.gruppen power amplifier; a Midas digital mixing console plus a Midas in
Norway - Touring theatre productions in rural areas of north Norway can be very challenging, especially with limited local facilities and equipment that has to cope with fast-changing extremes of temperature. But an Alcons Audio LR7 pro-ribbon system is proving equal to every challenge for the country’s northernmost regional theatre. Established in 1971, Hålogaland Teater was the first regional theatre in Norway, serving counties of Troms and Finnmark. It occupies a modern building at Teaterplassen in Tromsø, built in 2005, which features two modern theatre stages, a cafè stage and a rehearsal stage. It tours productions all year to 15 regular venues located throughout Troms and Finnmark, often in local dialects. The varied programme includes contemporary and classic drama, musicals, children's theatre and more. These shows need an audio system which can be easily
Qatar - The IAAF World Athletics Championships took place in the Middle East for the first time since the inaugural event in 1983. The 10-day competition saw nearly 2000 athletes from 209 countries compete. The 17th edition of the event took place at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. For 2019 a multitude of technical innovations were introduced to the event including light shows, new camera angles and increased engagement with athletes. Florian Weber, IAAF event presentation manager, was responsible for the athletics presentation concept and challenged Creative Technology (CT) to deliver. In order to successfully deliver the track projection, it was essential that the stadium was dark which required the sports lighting to be switched off. Naturally, switching the stadium lights off during a televised stadium sports show is not something Broadcasters are comfor
USA - Peter Frampton recently concluded his Peter Frampton Finale - The Farewell Tour, where FOH engineer, Jim Yakabuski, used an SSL Live L550 to produce a signature analogue sound. Yakabuski began mixing audio in 1981, and with almost 40 years of mixing and touring under his belt, was only introduced to SSL a few years ago – admitting he was at first reluctant to switch to the console manufacturer. “I wanted to hear from my colleagues that stability on the road was not an issue – and I did,” he recalls. “So I knew I needed to get a board and give it a try. With an upcoming tour approaching, I decided to look further into using an SSL L550 for the FOH mixer. I made some calls, and then was treated to a few hours of one-on-one instruction from SSL's Fernando Guzman which peaked my interest. I was ready to dive in.” Peter Frampton Finale - The Farew
USA - Colombian reggaeton artist J Balvin recently wrapped his North American Arcoiris (Rainbow) fall tour, playing 25 cities from San Juan, Puerto Rico to LA. The colourful visual production by The Squared Division who collaborated with The Friends With You Art Collective who designed his Coachella performance, featured a large complement of Claypaky Mythos 2 and Scenius Unico lighting fixtures from lighting and video vendor VER PRG. Nathan Paul Taylor, Production Designer with The Squared Division, devised the show’s concept; Andre Petrus of Clear All Visuals was the associate lighting designer and programmer. “It was a very bright show – Nathan used every colour in the book and every song was taken to 100 percent,” says Petrus. The rainbow theme was apparent in graphical elements and colour, and a cloud-shaped LED screen topped a stairway at centre sta
UK - UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has announced a partnership with Leeds City College, which commenced with the distributor supplying a full range of production technologies for the institution’s new £60m Quarry Hill Campus. Leeds City College is one of the country’s largest further education providers, with over 20,000 students attending its courses. The new campus, which includes the college’s School of Creative Arts, puts students right at the heart of Leeds’ cultural quarter - surrounded by institutions such as Leeds Playhouse, Leeds College of Music and Northern Ballet, and the BBC. To create learning environments where students can achieve their full potential, there is a significant programme of investment in the college’s campuses. This includes offering industry-standard facilities which allow students to fully develop the skills an
Indonesia - To enhance the architecture of the Sopo Del Office Towers and Lifestyle Centre in Jakarta, Chayolite recently installed Martin by Harman lighting fixtures. The Sopo Del Office Towers and Lifestyle Centre is mixed-use development featuring office spaces, premium retail stores and a lavish hotel. The complex consists of a massive 41-floor tower, a smaller 28-floor tower and a shared lifestyle centre. Sopo Del’s architecture and design showcases an interpretation of North Sumatra’s ulos heritage and value, representing bravery and strength. In order to accentuate the buildings’ ulos-inspired design with immersive lighting, Sopo Del hired leading lighting and acoustic consultants PT. Litac to deploy a cutting-edge lighting display. To accomplish this task, Litac designed a lighting solution consisting of Martin Exterior Dot-HP fixtures. “We wante
USA - With its fresh water springs, meandering wooded paths, and sparkling lake, Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida, is normally a tranquil, relaxing place. But on the last weekend in October, this 800-acre slice of paradise assumes a different, more frightful persona as the site of the Suwanee Huluween Festival. Combining a bag full of musical treats from a diverse array of acts that includes a mix of big-name stars like Bassnectar and rising artists, with some tricky scenic elements that scare the senses, the three-day festival has become a Halloween ritual for a growing number of fans. Enhancing their experience throughout the grounds as well as at two of its stages this year were over 200 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied and installed by The Design Oasis. Abbas Ritscher and his team at The Design Oasis, which included John Hollingshead and Joe Donnelly
USA - El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie premiered globally on Netflix recently. Production sound mixer Phillip Palmer relied exclusively on Lectrosonics Digital Hybrid Wireless to record almost all of the dialogue and many incidental and ambient sounds that would normally be added in post-production. His lab included three Venue 2 wideband modular receiver systems, eight SMV transmitters for body mics, four HMA plug-on transmitters for boom and plant mics, a couple of older UHs which were used for the ‘voice of God,’ on set, and a couple of LT transmitters for sound department communication. “Wideband tuning is important given the increasingly crowded spectrum we have to work with these days,” says Palmer, “so the Lectrosonics Venue 2 was an obvious choice. It’s a rackmount chassis that can hold up to six receiver modules, so you can mix and match tuni
Finland - The New Children’s Hospital (HUS) in Helsinki uses art and play combined with the latest digital technology to provide the highest quality medical care in a safe, reassuring environment for the children and their families. Part of the hospital’s innovative approach included the development of a building-wide soundscape to create a soothing sonic environment for patients and staff. The soundscape is fully networked, thanks in part to the use of 39 Genelec 8430A IP loudspeakers. The soundscape design was recently awarded the Grand Prix in the soundscapes and ambient sound category of the 2019 International Sound Awards (ISA) in Hamburg. The idea was to create a soundscape based on the visual theme of each of the hospital’s eight floors. Inspiration was drawn mostly from the natural world as well as the much-loved Finnish Moomin stories. Antti Ikon
Denmark - Lighting and audio rental company Allround Lyd & Lys, based in Struer, invested in two Robe RoboSpot systems, comprising two BaseStations and two BMFL Follow Spots with the integral cameras when they sought a straightforward follow spotting solution for the dry hire side of their business. The company works in the live music, festivals and concert touring sectors and also services theatre productions. Dry hires are an important segment of their business, and they saw the demand rising for a plug-and-play remote follow spotting system. The purchase was made specifically with local theatres in mind. They are often tight on prep time so their production schedules would always benefit from follow spots that were quick to calibrate and set up, explained Allround Lyd & Lys’s head of lighting, Martin Breinholt. “The RoboSpot system is very straig
UK - The Collab in Walthamstow is, as the name suggests, a collaboration between food and drink providers Signature Brew brewery and We Serve Humans. The new east London venue aims to provide quality craft beers and freshly cooked food in an atmosphere geared to music lovers. Pro audio specialists, Amber Sound supplied an EM Acoustics system to provide audio for a range of live music events as well as traditional playback. Co-founder Sam McGregor, who has a music industry background, explains that Signature Brew was born in 2011 as a result of being fed up with drinking terrible beer at gigs. “We decided that the way around it was to create our own beer in collaboration with a band, and things basically went from there. “Music is such an important part of what makes Signature Brew special that we couldn’t possibly open a new venue with the aim of hosting live mu
UK - Mamma Mia! The Party has taken London’s O2 as its new permanent home. The high-octane immersive theatrical production which surrounds a dining experience, called for an active spatial soundscape to frame the energy of the event. Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus approached Gareth Owen to bring both his theatre experience and the benefit of his rock n roll roots to the production. With its fully mobile cast and live band, Gareth centred the sound design around the powerful localisation and spatial control capabilities of two TiMax SoundHub-S64 3D audio processors, procured and supplied by Orbital Sound for the show. Dining is established across two floors of the venue, styled as the Greek taverna straight from the Mamma Mia! movie set. As band and cast move freely amongst the tables across the multiple levels of the space, the precise performer localisa
USA - History runs deep at Washington’s City Tavern Club. Built in 1786, the venerable Federalist structure (one of the last such taverns in the US capital) counted George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as regulars. Today, the venue hosts a variety of upscale events, and although it provides an evocative setting, power limitations in the 233-year old building can present challenges for anyone looking to light these affairs. At a recent, corporate showcase at the historic building, Tarik Smith of Atmosphere, Inc. met these challenges and transformed its interior with elegant uplighting created by wireless, battery-powered WELL Fit fixtures from Chauvet Professional. “As with any historic venue the biggest issue is power, so I had to pay a lot of attention to the design,” says Smith. “The limited power draw at the club meant we had to go wireless, b
USA - Robe’s new Esprite moving lights made their US live TV debut on the 2019 CMT Artists of the Year event, staged at the Schermerhorn Symphony Centre in Nashville, Tennessee. “I absolutely Love these lights,” declared the event’s lighting designer Tom Kenny who worked alongside a talented production team which included set designer Anne Brahic. The Esprites plus other extra lights on the show - which also included Robe BMFL WashBeams and Spiider LED wash beams - were delivered by Morris Light & Sound. They were used together with fixtures from the venue’s house rig. Ten of the 20 Esprites were positioned on one of the rear LX production trusses installed at the Schermerhorn Symphony Centre for this event, and used for rear lighting the band, and for texturing, colouring and gobo work on the stage. Another 10 luminaires on one of the down
UK - The latest chapter of the Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes tour features live onstage content creation together with a custom video package from Universal Pixels Thom Yorke’s latest tour is a live show that ‘immerses audiences in a sensory bath of abstract visuals and captivating music’. Yorke is joined onstage by long-term Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich and audiovisual composer Tarik Barri, who is working in his own Versum software. Universal Pixels has supplied the tour since it first set out for a short US run in December 2017, providing a curved array of three or five (venue dependent) projection screens. For the latest shows, which included tour dates and festival slots across Europe and the US, UP created a newly-devised, adaptable video package, which has been designed for quick deployment and speedy load-outs. It features a custom dolly packa
UK - Magazine London, a purpose-built event space, opened adjacent to the O2 Arena in Greenwich Peninsula this August. Its simple architectural form offers clean and functional spaces that provide ‘a means for large-scale creative expression’ with 3,205sq.m of versatile interior space for up to 3,000 people, and the capability of a further 7,000 people across the venue’s outdoor showground. Technical consultant, Simon Jones of SJ-TPM, recommended MDG haze generators for this new venue. He supplied two MDG ATMe haze generators, complete with purpose-built touring cases for easy storage and deployment. Jones was brought onboard by Venue Lab to review, recommend and deliver the technical infrastructure, establish and fine tune the requirements and purchase the equipment for this multi-purpose venue. Jones worked on the various phases in collaboration with Vib
UK - Bespoke productions specialist, Subfrantic has invested in Prolights' next generation OmegaPIX LED video screen to deliver a visual experience for client events. Established in 1993, Subfrantic supplies high-end AV and lighting equipment to the events industry, including tours & festivals, one-off shows, theatre, corporate events, gospel and houses of worship. As the first phase of a new investment in its Video inventory, Subfrantic director, Stephen Davies contacted one-stop equipment distributor, A.C. Entertainment Technologies to recommend a solution. He comments: “We had made a small initial investment in an indoor LED screen to gauge our customers’ interest. After opening up new markets and clients from it, for the past 18 months we had been auditioning various LED products as we toyed with the idea of making a significant investment.”
UK - A diverse line up of well-known names descended on Cheltenham for the 70th anniversary of its Literature Festival, including headliners David Cameron, Lenny Henry and Debbie Harry. The multi-site event demanded some serious screen, camera and crew to capture the bookish action and augment it for audiences. Long-time professional partner Production AV - which has been designing AV solutions for Cheltenham Festivals for nine years - supplied 10 venues across the sprawling site, including 2,250-seater The Centaur. In total, more than 800 writers, journalists and cultural commentators appeared over 10 days. Production AV’s high-end stock of Agile Remote Cameras and Barco HDX projectors were out in force. “Cheltenham Festival is one of our longstanding clients and the Literature events are well attended, respected and hugely enjoyable,” says Production AV
Dominican Republic Sound Video Lighting (SVL) has installed a full complement of Martin Audio CDD speakers and SX subwoofers in the Peperoni restaurant and bar in the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo. Describing the venue, SVL’s Jonathan Del Villar explains: “Peperoni is a very popular restaurant serving what is essentially international cuisine in a variety of styles. Owner Jean-Pierre Bahsa used to be a club owner who knows that business very well. He had gone to Bachata Rosa, a popular restaurant in Punta Cana, owned by singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra, and was very impressed by the Martin Audio system that we had installed there. “Since we are friends, he asked us to work on the project early on during the planning stages which was good because we were able to have significant impact in terms of everything that has to do with technology - the aud
Trinidad & Tobago - PR Lighting fixtures were out in force at the recent nine-day Divali Nagar Festival on the Caribbean island of Trinidad & Tobago. Promoted by the National Council for Indian Culture (NCIC), and now in its 33rd year, Divali Nagar is an annual exposition of Hindu culture (generally) and Indo-Trinidadian culture (specifically). It is closely associated with the Diwali Hindu Festival of Light celebration in Trinidad and Tobago. For the past 15 of those years, All Events Lighting Systems (AELS), part of the SM Group, has been providing technical services to the event at the Divali Nagar site, located in the borough of Chaguanas. The SM Group itself comprises All Events Lighting Systems, All Events System Ltd and S. Maharaj Equipment Services Limited. SM Group itself stands for ‘Shival Maharaj Group of Companies’ and the organisation c
Europe - With more than 50 destinations across Europe, Event Hospitality Management Holding currently operates more than 80 business and conferencing hotels in Germany, Italy and The Netherlands under its Event Hotels brand. The group’s corporate management regularly liaises with the directors of each hotel, with the focal point of these important meetings being the large conference room at the corporate headquarters situated in Cologne on the banks of the River Rhine. In February 2019, work finished on an ambitious installation which featured Shure’s Microflex Complete Wireless Solution, complemented by an IntelliMix P300 Conferencing DSP Processor. The system was planned and installed by systems integrator Tascan. Due to the conference room being an oblong shape, the previously installed conferencing system was unable to guarantee speech intelligibility dur
UK - Big the Musical closed at the Dominion Theatre in London's West End this weekend following a successful nine-week run. The Theatre Royal Plymouth production opened in 2016 and played at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre in Dublin into 2017. Finally after more than two years, it made its West End debut in September with production manager Hugh Borthwick bringing Unusual Rigging on board to handle the rigging elements of this ambitious production. Hugh explains: "I brought Unusual Rigging on to this project right at the very start as I wanted them to be part of the design process for the production and not just to supply a rigging system. I've worked with Unusual for many years and know that their skill and ability to make the seemingly impossible happen is second to none. I've worked with Alan Jacobi and Simon Stone many times, and on Big the Musical, Mark Davie
Japan - The New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT) has invested in a stock of Robert Juliat Oz 600W LED followspots for its three performance spaces. The new LED models replace conventional source followspots as part of an upgrade of the lighting inventory for this internationally important arts venue. New National Theatre, Tokyo is Japan’s only one dedicated to the contemporary performing arts of opera, ballet, dance and drama. The NNTT complex comprises the Opera Palace, Playhouse and The Pit, and hosts over 300 performances a year to around 200,000 theatre goers. Four of Robert Juliat’s Oz 7°-14° LED Top Control followspots were supplied by RJ distributor, Sogo Butai, initially for use in the small Pit Theatre, but also with the intention of relocating them to the larger spaces of the Playhouse and Opera Palace as needed. “Because of its silent operation,
