USA - Encompass AV recently installed a comprehensive Martin Audio CDD sound system in the fashionable SX Sky Bar nightclub and lounge that occupies two floors of the luxurious new Hotel Essex across from Chicago’s Grant Park. Discussing the project, Encompass AV owner Tim Pickett explains: “We were charged with doing the audio for the SX Sky Bar on the fifth and sixth floors which includes the main bar/lounge upstairs and the dancefloor downstairs, in a night club which can also double as a corporate space during the day. “Initially the designer was spec’ing another brand,” Pickett continues, “and they brought us on board because they wanted to do something special in terms of sound and make it different and nice, so we moved them into a Martin Audio CDD system.” The sixth-floor lounge includes a combination of 16 wall-mounted CDD8s throughout the
USA - At the end of every school year, college students in Providence, Rhode Island, mark the occasion by gathering at the Strand Ballroom & Theatre for a day-long celebration of EDM music and culture. Project Mayhem, as the event is called, more than lived up to its name this year, with nonstop bass growls thundering, an exuberant crowd dancing boisterously, and a searing lighting and visual display, created with Chauvet Professional fixtures, supplied by JDI Productions. Lighting designer Freddy Thompson added to the firepower of the Strand’s already substantial house rig for the event by bring in a floor package that included six Maverick MK1 Spot and eight Maverick MK Pyxis fixtures. “A show like this demands a creative, energized environment to keep the audience engaged and on their feet,” says Thompson. “So, we wanted to up the excitement level this
USA - Kelly Clarkson is touring in support of her Meaning of Life album. For Chris Michaelessi, who has served as Clarkson’s FOH engineer since 2011, the availability of the new Quantum engine for DiGiCo’s flagship touring console couldn’t have come at a better time. “I’ve always enjoyed mixing on the SD7 and was really looking forward to having the new, faster and more powerful engine for Kelly’s Meaning of Life tour,” he says, getting his wish fulfilled by Clair Global, Clarkson’s long-time touring reinforcement provider. “Once I started the using SD7 Quantum, paired with the new 32-bit Stadius Pre-Amp cards for input, I was immediately struck by how much headroom the console has gained with the new engine,” he says, noting that the difference was immediately noticeable both in terms of overall sound and managing console gain structu
Japan - In Apri, Kraftwerk put on four sold-out shows in Tokyo. d&b audiotechnik Japan provided the system solutions used in Orchard Hall, which belongs to the Bunkamura complex. The sound solutions included KSL loudspeakers with D80 amps and d&b Soundscape to reproduce a sound immersion that totally impressed the audiences. The combined use of KSL and Soundscape was a world premiere and a complement to the visual 3D experience offered by the Kraftwerk performances. The main hangs flown at the concerts were five KSL arrays, each consisting of six KSL8 (top) and two KSL12 (bottom). Behind each of the five main hangs were two flying SL-SUBs. They supplemented the KSL arrays in the low frequency range and delivered a powerful bass which was extremely evenly distributed throughout the entire hall. The KSL Systems were driven using d&b ArrayProcessing. Arr
France - As part of the Viparis group of event sites, the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles exhibition park is the largest in France and hosts over 120 tradeshows, including some of the French capital’s most prestigious occasions such as the Paris Motor Show, the Foire de Paris, the International Agriculture Show, Viva Technology and Who’s Next. With such a diverse, high-profile array of exhibitions to cater for, the venue’s sound system needed to be of an equally high standard. When the venue’s largest pavilion - the 7,000sq.m Hall 1 - required an audio upgrade, APG’s Uniline Compact was chosen as the key component. The audio system in the venue was specified as a result of an electro-acoustic study undertaken by LM Ingénierie Audiovisuel (LMI AV), while the equipment itself was supplied and integrated by Belgian company Inytium. Partner and project mana
Austria - Each year, the Festival of Light at Swarovski Crystal Worlds in the Austrian town of Wattens attracts thousands of visitors. The entire park shines and sparkles in a magical interplay of light, music, and crystal and as a recurring highlight guests are treated to a special 15-minute light show. Swarovski Crystal Worlds allows visitors to experience the wonder of crystal in all its facets. The annual Festival of Light is a spectacular show in which the seven-hectare garden is transformed into a magical luminous atmosphere. This year's event took place from 18 January to 17 February with technology having to endure four weeks of frosty, snowy conditions. With Elation’s IP65 Proteus Hybrid made for environments of this type and a record of reliable performance behind it, the all-weather moving head was chosen as the main beam effect in the light show for the s
UK - In addition to being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, The Hollies have never disbanded. For the recent German leg of their ongoing world tour, the Hollies turned to lighting designer Chris Taylor to create a visual concept on which to perform hits such as Just One Look, Look Through Any Window and I Can't Let Go. Responding to the design brief, P2 Veranstaktungstechnik supplied Taylor with 50 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK3 Wash fixtures for his stripped back lighting rig. "I wanted to achieve a show which complemented the Hollies' music while putting focus upon the band," commented Taylor. "What's more, as the band travels with very little kit, it was of paramount importance to come up with a versatile and practical solution. The Mavericks were the perfect solution." Positioning the Mavericks from front and rea
Italy - Claypaky, in conjunction with Iren, entirely redesigned the lighting of the Mole Antonelliana. Turin's iconic monument was designed by Alessandro Antonelli and built between 1863 and 1889. Iren took part actively in all stages of the design process, and took charge of the installation and operation of the entire system. It consists of 43 new Claypaky Odeon lights: 24 Claypaky Odeon Flood Maxi RGBW units with 15° beam angle, three Claypaky Odeon Flood Maxi RGBW units with 25° beam angle, and 16 Claypaky Odeon Flood Medium RGBW units with 25° beam angle. One of the mandatory conditions of the project was to re-fit the already equipped system installation points. The number of fixtures needed to distribute light on all four sides with a minimum illuminance of two candles per square metre (10.76 sq. feet) was calculated. On the basis of the simulations car
The Netherlands - Although the Dutch village of Vredepeel only has 245 permanent residents, it has a remarkable sense of community. Having raised over €100,000 towards the cost of combining the church and community centre, they are now enjoying all the benefits of a flexible, networked Yamaha audio system. Located a few minutes’ drive from the city of Venray, a significant decline in the number of regular worshippers at Vredepeel’s Catholic church meant that it had become too large. At the same time, the local community centre needed major work. Residents came up with the idea of incorporating the community centre into the church building, which would host all of the village’s social activities in one place, including worship, activity groups, meetings, events and the village pub/restaurant. The church and local authorities agreed, and De Kleine Loef (The Small Loaf)
Argentina - Clair Brothers’ newest Argentine distributor SVC has recently made a ‘significant’ sale of the loudspeaker manufacturer’s C12 line array system. With integral presentation assistance from Fabián Giordano of Sonamos Audio, a key Clair Brothers partner in Argentina, the live demo at Giordano’s location to Argentine production company Merino Producciones Técnicas was a great success. “This was not just a demo,” explains Ricardo Pegnotti, audio division director at SVC, “it was an event attended by several recognized audio professionals from the region.” Merino Producciones Técnicas is well known and respected throughout the region. Known best as being the provider of equipment and live production in recent years of one of the National Grape Harvest Festival. It was with this festival, and many other upcoming shows, in mind that the decisi
Czech Republic - Robe is involved as a supporter of the 2019 Prague Quadrennial which is being artistically directed by scenic lighting and costume designer Markéta Fantová and runs 6-16 June at the Vystaviste Praha (Prague Exhibition Grounds) and locations in and around Prague. Robe is supplying moving lights and technical expertise for some of the event’s key installations at the Expo Grounds, including Blue Hour designed by artist Romain Tardy, Fragments curated by Klára Zieglerová, as well as for the Opening Ceremony on 5 June. The Czech-based lighting manufacturer will additionally be hosting its own community evening on 13 June. PQ2019 will see over 800 artists from around the world participate in a lively, invigorating and thought-provoking programme of over 600 performances and installations plus workshops, lectures, debates and discussions,
Europe - Tech start-up PEEX has become a partner to the Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam’s 17,000 capacity arena. PEEX makes wearable technology and software that enable concert-goers to control the live sound from their phone through a five-channel mixer. The first concerts involving PEEX technology at Ziggo Dome will be two of Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour dates on 8 and 17 June. Attending fans will be able to rent out the PEEX rX wearable device at the venue or pre-book it online for €10 per show, with a discount available for those booking in advance. The technology has also been made available for booking for Elton John’s tour dates in Italy, Ireland, Wales, France, Austria and Germany. Pieter Hamelink, chief executive officer of PEEX, comments: “Partnering with a globally recognised venue that can accommodate up to 17,000 people
UK - This April, competitive gaming platform FACEIT partnered with the PUBG Corporation to host the first global event of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ 2019 Esports season. The multi-stage tournament held at London’s ExCel saw 24 teams battle for the championship. Bluman Associates were commissioned to provide full video display solution and management. The FACEIT platform is home to 12 million registered users, hosting 34 million monthly games with up to 90,000 gamers playing at any one time. The summit included teams from North America, Europe, Korea, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Oceania. Streamed to registered internet and television viewers, the tournament started with three days of broadcasted heats, followed by three days of finals as the players competed for a $400,000 prize pool in front of live and broadcast audience. The
USA - Campbellsville University is a Baptist institution of higher education in Kentucky that serves 13,000 students and supports a robust athletics programme. After a long hiatus that started during the Great Depression, the Campbellsville University Tigers football team reconstituted in 1987 with the construction of a new football stadium. After several expansions, Finley Stadium today seats 3,500 fans. Its most recent addition is a new, fully-weatherised Danley Sound Labs sound reinforcement system that was designed and installed by the Campbellsville University alums at local integration firm JCA Media. “The previous audio system had been in place for about a decade,” explains Alex Peake, audio/video integration specialist at JCA Media. “It was adequate when it went in, but a combination of time, weather, and aggressive over-driving of the small driver
Europe - French singer, songwriter and producer Christine and the Queens has been touring her studio album Chris, bringing a blend of theatrical set, contemporary dance, and her own 'freakpop' to the stage. For the French leg of her international tour, systems engineer Vladimir Coulibre brought in L-Acoustics L-ISA Hyperreal Sound technology. "Christine's show is a whole - a complete universe," he explains. "It has lots of machinery, lots of lighting, and lots of sonic details, as well as the amazing physical performances. We have to be able to create a strong interpretation for every song: to make sure the audience completely understands the sense and the story. Also, because the show is so theatrical, Christine didn't want technical equipment to be a distraction - she wanted it to be invisible. “With L-ISA we get both - we can take a cinematic approach to
UK - Richard Ashcroft’s lighting has been designed by Jonny Gaskell since 1996 and the heydays of The Verve. Ashcroft’s fourth solo album and top 10 hit Natural Rebel dropped at the end of last year and he was back on the road recently in the UK with lighting and video once again supplied by Colour Sound Experiment. At the start of each touring project, Ashcroft will present Gaskell with a series of ideas. “He’s a demanding client but in a good way,” comments Gaskell. “He knows what he wants and what he doesn’t like, so that’s always an essential starting point, beyond that, he trusts me to come up with an appropriate design.” For this leg of the tour they were playing several academies, theatre and town hall venues, culminating in London’s Olympia, so it was decided to bring video in just for the London show. For the other gigs, the visual e
Belgium - For the past six years, Gala of Happiness has been operating on an interesting premise: to provide an uplifting explosion of musical enjoyment in the darkest depths of winter. At the 2019 event, which was organized by Vayamundo, an afterparty of epic proportions saw chart-topping Belgian band Please Don't Kill The Clown take to the stage at the Kursaal Oostende. Brought in to create an uplifting visual backdrop for the performance were local production specialists Fluxx Eventing - Animatie, who specified 28 Chauvet Professional ÉPIX Strip IP as part of their lighting concept, all controlled via a ChamSys MQ80 console. With the goal of the annual Gala of Happiness to foster feelings of well-being and enjoyment as an antidote to the long winter nights, Fluxx Eventing - Animatie utilised the ÉPIX Strips IP to develop an uplifting visual aesthetic. Thanks to t
UK - West Side Story continues to delight audiences 60 years after its Broadway debut. The production at Manchester’s Royal Exchange theatre is the first not to feature Jerome Robbins’ original choreography, having been adapted for the theatre’s in-the-round configuration by Aletta Collins. The re-imagined production, directed by Sarah Frankcom and mixed by associate sound designer, Owen Lewis boasts sound designed by Richard Brooker and delivered by KV2 Audio. “As a theatre, the Manchester Royal Exchange is brilliant because it’s so intimate,” says Brooker. “There are 700 seats, but not one is further than 9m away from the stage, so it’s a wonderful experience for audiences. However, it’s a very challenging venue in which to deliver good sound, especially for a musical, and particularly when the majority of the audience already knows every word and
Australia - The Star Casino in Sydney has unveiled its immersive indoor light and water display, featuring a crescent-shaped video screen based on Black Onyx LED panels by ROE Visual. The Grand Foyer experience at the Star Casino in Sydney, combines LED screens, aquatic water fountains, lasers, light and live performances to offer an interactive arrival experience for its approx. 20,000 guests that pass through the foyer every day. Big Screen Projects were commissioned by Ramus Illumination to supply the LED equipment for the refurbishment of the Grand Foyer, the total immersive installation amounting to a 22m dollar investment for the Star Casino. For this project Big Screen Projects have been working together with lighting specialists Ramus Illumination, who specialise in the design of grand-scale theatrical experiences that encourage public engagement.
USA - House of worship AV specialist MABE was recently tapped to design and install new audio, video, and lighting systems for Grace City Church’s freshly-renovated Lakeside Campus in Lakeland, Florida. Anchoring the audio system in the 792-seat auditorium are loudspeakers from Adamson Systems Engineering’s install-focused IS-Series, selected for their pristine audio performance and sleek, unobtrusive aesthetic. “We had many discussions on which line array would offer the performance and warmth that Grace City was looking for,” begins Steve Griner, lead account manager with MABE. “Our conclusion was Adamson’s IS-Series, which provides plenty of volume and impact while maintaining a smooth sound at higher SPLs with no harshness.” “We wanted to give 800 people an amazing experience in church, and not have one seat with a different audio experience than an
Sweden - Gruppo Italiano’s latest restaurant venture in Stockholm, Ciccio’s is the fourth establishment of the family-run restaurant group, and perhaps the most ambitious. Inspired by New York’s Little Italy district, Ciccio’s is designed to be “a meeting place that blurs the boundaries between work, eating, drinking and socialising”. To help create the right atmosphere, Gruppo Italiano turned to systems integrator, Hages in Stockholm, who supplied and installed a Genelec sound system. Hages specialises in audio design for public spaces, and especially restaurants. CEO Thomas Axelsson explains that they were contacted by the restaurant group in the very early stages of the project and asked to design the audio environment for the new restaurant: “Being involved so early in the construction process was a huge advantage as it enabled us to measure and calibrate
World - One of the most successful, if at times controversial rap/rock stars, Post Malone has shown on his current world tour his total command of arena stages as a solo performer. The multi-platinum artist has been assisted in no small part by his lighting designer Ben Dalgleish. The LD showed his creative skill six months ago at PostyFest, the artist’s one-day festival in his native Texas, where he used 133 of his favoured GLP’s X4 Bar 20 battens at the Dos Equis Arena in Dallas. But on this latest arena tour, which began in February in Dublin, moved to mainland UK and Europe, and is presently in Australia and New Zealand, his approach was entirely different. Explaining the conceptual background, the American-based New Zealander said that with beams intending to fire between an overhead ‘top box’ and a ‘runway’ on the ground, they had found they could rep
Japan - Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa collaborated with Hibino and Harman Professional Solutions to implement an audio system that provides immersive live entertainment while showcasing the charms of marine life. Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa is an aquarium in urban Tokyo that showcases the mysterious and colourful marine world. The aquarium offers a range of programmes reflecting seasonal characteristics and popular trends - especially The Stadium which is a massive round pool, featuring performing dolphins. “To ensure that all visitors can hear the performances clearly, the management requested us to implement a system that would produce crystal clear, immersive sound in every corner of the venue,” said the spokesperson at Hibino. “To provide balanced audio coverage, we used JBL's AWC Series waterproof speakers along with Crown amplifiers and a range of other Harma
USA - The youngest country music artist to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, Kelsea Ballerini began her career with the release of her album, The First Time in 2015 followed by Unapologetically released in 2017, the same year in which she received a Best New Artist nomination at the Grammy Awards. Ballerini just finished her Miss Me More tour with audio support from Spectrum Sound of Nashville using a d&b audiotechnik KSL line array system. “We have been thrilled with the product and are long standing fans of d&b,” states Chris Diener, production manager and front of house engineer for the tour. “The KSL System offers unprecedented control for an enclosure of its size. Coupled with the SL-SUBs, I was amazed at the evenness of coverage from the pit to the top seat in the arenas. This system has changed the way that fans experience K
