India - DiGiCo’s distributor for India, Hi-Tech Audio & Image, has achieved another DiGiCo landmark by supplying Udaipur-based rental company, Bharat Music, with its first DiGiCo SD10. “From small conferences to complex open-air concerts, DiGiCo has been the industry’s preferred choice for many years now,” says Vicky Sahu, director, Bharat Music. “Looking at technical features and market demand, we felt that DiGiCo definitely fits our work profile.” Immediately after purchasing the SD10, Bharat Music supplied the console to various eminent Bollywood artists’ live shows including Papon, Guru Randhawa, Mika Singh and Stebin Ben. As an emerging audio-video rental company in Rajasthan, Vicky Sahu and his team are known for providing specialised services for big corporate and grand wedding events. “DiGiCo SD10’s flexible layout and intuitive operation
UK - Sarah Faith Griffiths or, rather, Griff, has only been in the music business for a few years, but her candid and emotional lyrics, woven into uplifting melodies of songs like Black Hole, Good Stuff, and Head on Fire, won her the BRITs 2021 Rising Star Award. This year, the breakout star switched to Sennheiser’s Digital 6000 wireless microphone system, which has given her extra freedom on stage thanks to its eRF robustness. With over 300m total streams and more than four million monthly listeners, Griff has amassed a large and zealous fanbase. Her 2022 debut headliner tour across the US, Europe and UK saw her play to thousands of enthusiastic fans, and she supported some of the world’s best-selling artists, including Ed Sheeran and Florence + the Machine. Tim Boardman has acts like Solange, Tyler the Creator, AJ Tracey, Giggs, Ty Dolla $ign, Tori Kelly, Kodalin
Europe - To mark the festive season, the Sennheiser Group will once again be supporting various audio and digital media organizations and associations that rely on the power of audio and music in their valuable work. In 2022, the Sennheiser Group, which includes Sennheiser, Neumann, Dear Reality and Merging Technologies, has supported eight organizations around the world. In the APAC region, four associations have been chosen which have been vital resources for the local creative industries: the Japan Association of Stage Sound Creators, the Stage Sound Association of Japan, Star Association (Singapore), and the China Association for Recording Engineers. In EMEA and the Americas, the organizations supported include Open Up Music, Second Chance Studios, habitat4music, and Immersive and Inclusive Audio. Open Up Music is a charity based in the UK, whose mission is to open
UK - Nearly a decade on from clinching Best British Newcomer at the 2014 Kerrang! Magazine awards, Southampton metalcore outfit Bury Tomorrow have just completed an extensive UK and European tour in support of their well-received Cannibal album. Throughout the tour the band’s front of house engineer Dave Billings and monitor engineer Chris Cole relied on an array of Audio-Technica microphones, wireless and Allen & Heath dLive and SQ digital mixing systems. At the heart of the band’s set-up is Audio-Technica’s latest 3000 Series digital wireless, used across guitars, vocals and for in-ear monitoring duties, while drums are delivered via Artist Elite AE3000 cardioid condensers (for overheads), compact AE2300 cardioid dynamics (for snare top and bottom), ATM250 hypercardioid dynamic (kick drum) and ATM230 hypercardioid dynamic mics for toms. “I
Europe - Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats has embarked on a large-scale international tour throughout Europe, direct from its sell-out seasons at the London Palladium. Rather than touring traditional theatre venues, the tour takes in significantly larger arenas which typically pose challenges for sound designers wanting to replicate the sonic intricacies and detail expected from such a high-profile production. With audio production supplied by Autograph Sound, sound designer Greg Pink turned to KV2 Audio loudspeakers to fulfil the task in hand. “Having been designing musicals for over 30 years, I have used PAs from many different manufacturers, but it is without doubt that KV2 Audio’s range of loudspeakers are second to none,” states Pink. “Whether you are using them in a small theatre or a large arena they handle the job perfectly. We are currently
USA - A Christmas Carol recently arrived at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre and sound designer Joshua D. Reid called upon Masque Sound to provide a custom audio equipment package for the holiday classic featuring Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays. In this production, the timeless tale of Ebenezer Scrooge comes to new life as Jefferson Mays plays over 50 roles, directed by Michael Arden. Masque Sound provided a custom audio set up for the film version of the play back in 2020, so for Reid it was just natural to bring Masque along to Broadway. “When we filmed at the United Palace, Masque Sound was wonderful to work with, so we wanted to make sure we approached them first when we moved to the stage,” says Reid. “As we started planning for the stage version of the production, we knew we were going to need a lot more in terms of equipment and we had full confid
UAE - Dubai’s Al Wasl Dome acts as a hub for visitors and vibrant performances alike. Originally the centrepiece of the EXPO 2020 Dubai, Al Wasl was recently repurposed into a 3,000-seat concert venue, outfitted with a 360-degree projection screen to offer an immersive audio and visual experience. To celebrate its reopening, the dome hosted Grammy-winning Composer A.R. Rahman’s all-female Firdaus Orchestra and a 30-piece choir, accompanied by UK-based Indian singer Abi Sampa and her band, for a classical performance combining the sounds of the east and west. To assist with orchestral reinforcement for the show, which presented a slew of acoustical and environmental difficulties, Rahman’s team called on sound designer and mix engineer Phil Wright, who turned to his tried and trusted DPA Microphones solutions for their durability and natural sound. The sound
USA - On 15 September, Georgia State University officials cut the ribbon on the school’s new Convocation Centre in the Summerhill neighbourhood of Atlanta. The new multipurpose 200,000sq.ft facility on the site of the former Atlanta Braves baseball stadium seats up to 8,000 and was designed to accommodate a wide range of events, including conferences, commencements, graduation ceremonies, concerts, and sports - most notably basketball as the new home of the Georgia State Panthers men’s and women’s NCAA Division I teams. A venue this flexible needed a sound system equal to the task. It found one in the A15i loudspeaker from L-Acoustics, 42 of which use both Wide and Focus enclosures to guarantee precise coverage at every seat - comprising a sound system configurable for any occasion. System design and specification were performed by Idibri, a Salas O’Brien Company, wh
Spain - Yamaha will be showcasing a wide range of business solutions at Integrated Systems Europe (31 January-3 February at the Fira de Barcelona), which highlight the company’s expansion into multiple application markets. Delivering efficiency, scalability, speed and control, Yamaha’s comprehensive systems aim to significantly improve the workflow for systems integrators. In recent years Yamaha has developed a comprehensive range of products for small and medium-sized installations, offering audio quality, flexibility and ease of installation with the company’s renowned reliability. Major new products for 2023 take the company’s solutions to a new level, allowing them to cater for larger, more complex projects. Yamaha will also be highlighting a new series of AVIXA-RU accredited, pan-European training courses and showcasing its collaboration and conferencing s
Taiwan - After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Taiwanese rock band 831 returned to the stage with a series of sold-out concerts across Asia. The Miss you 300 tour saw them performing 21 sold-out shows in major cities in China and a debut show in Singapore before they returned to Taiwan to kickstart their Upside Down World tour on home ground in the Taipei Arena. As well as giving their fans an electrifyingly good time at the shows with their beat-heavy hits, the band also shared their personal thoughts and feelings, giving fans a glimpse of their warmth behind the rocker image. Sennheiser’s Digital 6000 has always been a mainstay of 831’s touring inventory, which has gradually expanded to include many other Sennheiser and Neumann products such as the SKM 500, MD 435 and MD 445 as well as the Neumann KM 184. When 831’s front-of-house audio engineer Huang fi
USA - Before kick-off of each East Carolina University (ECU) football game, Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze is played over the sound system at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The crowd roars and the Pirates take the field. It’s just part of the game day experience for ECU Pirate alumni, fans, and students. It’s appropriate as the stadium dates back to the early 1960’s. The first football game at Dowdy-Ficklen stadium was played on 21 September, 1963. At the time, the facility consisted of a 10,000-seat grandstand. Now, the facility has a capacity of 51,000 including a club level, loge boxes and suites and a new HD video / scoreboard completed in 2019. However, the audio in the facility needed an additional upgrade. “In 2010, we put in a PA system,” said Greg Pierce, associate athletics director of external relations at East Carolina University. “As time went on
Jordan - The Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts, traditionally held in July, transforms the ancient city of Jerash into a lively and spectacular event. In December this year, after a three-year, pandemic-enforced absence, the festival was back in force with an impressive line-up of top regional artists including Tamer Husny, Marwan Khoury, Asi Hillani, and Rabeh Saqer to name but a few. For the eighth year running, Amman-based live production specialists, Triad Live Productions, were tasked with full sound and lighting production for the event. Their sound system of choice was KV2. “The setup this year was a little different,” explains Triad’s general manager, Amjad T. Marar. “In the main 5,000-capacity South Theatre, we were required to install a large truss structure on stage with a height of 16m. Ultimately, that worked to our advantage as we flew a VHD2.0
UK/USA - Clair Global, Eighth Day Sound and Britannia Row Productions supplied audio equipment and crew for Scottish singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini, as he embarked on a sell-out UK tour; his first in five years. The tour was handled by Clair Global account manager, Andy Walker, with assistance from Brit Row’s Tom Brown. The team, based in Twickenham, facilitated the delivery of a d&b audiotechnik KSL PA system from Eighth Day Sound’s inventory, as well as Solid State Logic and Allen & Heath desks, a host of outboard gear, skilled touring personnel, operations and tour support. “The KSL system is brand new to us as a tour,” says FOH engineer Ben Findlay. “It was available during the summer for a festival, and it sounded really good, so we decided to give it a go. It has a very authentic depth of balance, so you can have things quiet in the mix and the
USA - Dominated by 125ft tall spires flanking the main facade, St. James Basilica serves the spiritual needs of the community in Jamestown, North Dakota. Designed in the Gothic Revival style and completed in 1914, the church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as St. James Catholic Church and was elevated to a minor basilica in 1988. The old audio system consisted of a single loudspeaker cluster at the front of the nave. Parishioners began complaining about not being able to hear the sermon clearly, and worship services could not be heard at all along the ends of the pews closest to the walls. The high ceilings and reverberant acoustics required a highly targeted audio solution, which Renkus-Heinz loudspeakers are renowned for. Church staff reached out to Dallas Anderson, system designer at Tricorne Audio, to help design a new sound system ca
UK - The 25th MOBO Awards was not only a milestone event for the organisation, but also for SWG Events, who won the contract to provide sound reinforcement for the first time. It was the production company’s first ever event at the OVO Arena Wembley and gave them the opportunity to field the new flagship Martin Audio Wavefront Precision WPL line array. “This was a big win for us and a major milestone in the company’s history,” said SWG head of audio, Simon Purse. “It was to break into new markets like this that we purchased WPL. The new system coupled with our technical expertise is really driving SWG events into new territory.” It was thanks to a long-standing relationship with MOBO’s production director, Marvellous Inc’s Rob Smalldon, that enabled them to step up, and Purse managed to assemble a strong team despite being on duty providing sound
France - Following the recent announcement of a new global sales and business development organisation, L-Acoustics has introduced the new business development team. Under the general management of L-Acoustics CEO Laurent Vaissié, the new team is spread across three divisions: Sales and Sales Operations focusing on developing regional sales channels; Business Development concentrating on developing commercial expertise and end-user outreach in key vertical markets; and Strategy leadership developing mid- to long-term go-to-markets strategies and key partnerships as well as managing resource planning and market intelligence. The team will focus on setting strategies and roadmaps in five key vertical markets. L-Acoustics veteran William Cornell takes the role of director, musicals & theatre, while Scott Wakelin has been promoted to director, hospitality. Paul Keat
Thailand - To provide versatile and intuitive AV technology for a variety of events and scenarios, Mahajak Development recently installed networked AV systems by Harman Professional Solutions at MTLA’s new Sarnsara Learning Centre in Bangkok. Founded in 1951, Muang Thai Life Assurance (MTLA) is a major provider of life insurance with 250 branches across Thailand. In 2020, MTLA constructed Sarnsara Learning Centre, a new facility with the aim of creating an ideal learning space and collaborative environment for its associates and clients. Its facilities include a 1,000-seat auditorium, 73 guestrooms and 16 training rooms of various sizes, each accommodating between 20 and 200 people. To ensure that the array of rooms could support a variety of purposes - including seminars, meetings, group discussions, workshops and other activities - MTLA turned to integrator Mahajak
USA - Danny McDonald, one of New York City’s best-known restaurateurs, is known for being adept at the development, construction and operation of modern pubs. Starting in 1995 with the Swift Hibernian Lounge, which Crain’s New York contended "revolutionised the Irish Bar scene" in the city, his portfolio grew to include Puck Fair, Ulysses’ Folkhouse, Pier A Harbor House, and The Dead Rabbit. Now McDonald’s latest venture, called simply The Barand located in Manhattan’s Moynihan Train Hall, continues his string of successful taverns, this one in the newly renovated Penn Station below the Beaux Arts-designed James A. Farley Post Office Building. The Bar, an elegant venue in dark walnut and polished brass, is a centrepiece of the Hall’s food court. McDonald chose loudspeakers from Genelec to provide the audio aspect of the establishment’s carefully considere
Sweden - The home stadium of Sweden’s most highly decorated professional football team, Malmö FF, has been renowned for its modern, world-class design since it was built in 2009 at the cost of €79.7m. Staying firmly on the technology curve, the venue decided it was time to upgrade the stadium’s audio system, specifying a bespoke design from, L-Acoustics, based around its A Series product line. “The refit came about when the stadium started to have problems with its fire alarm system, which is integral to the sound system,” explains Ola Bigélius, project manager at Creative Technology Sweden, who was appointed to lead the installation. “The technical team had been considering upgrading the current audio system, which was the impetus they needed to proceed with the project.” With an audience capacity of 22,500, Eleda Stadium is the third largest used by a
UK - Hillsong Church UK has chosen Shure’s Axient Digital wireless microphone system to power the sound of the singers in both theatre and arena sized venues. Hillsong Church UK had a requirement for a reliable wireless microphone system that was versatile enough to be used at multiple locations, from theatres to arenas, whilst delivering professional and consistent sound. Founded in 1983 in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia, Hillsong Church UK is a contemporary Christian church. It has churches in city centres in 28 countries around the world and an average global attendance of 150,000 weekly. The church has been a customer of Solotech for almost 20 years. Phil Aitken, sales executive, Solotech comments: “When Ofcom implemented their licence change, Hillsong had to look at re-specifying all of their RF. It was at that point they chose Shure Axient D
USA - ‘Hard Rock Live is NOW OPEN!’ The all-caps exclamation on the website for the 2,500-seat venue at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain is understandable. The resort opened in 2019, but work on the entertainment facility was stumped for nearly three years by the pandemic and constant supply-chain problems. In the wake of a debut performance by Maroon 5 this summer, Hard Rock Live is now poised to be the region's premier concert destination, with Live Nation serving as its exclusive talent booking agency. And the space is also positioned to host a multitude of other events - meetings, trade shows, boxing, MMA, and charity events - all with a new L-Acoustics K2 sound system. The new Hard Rock Live was designed with patrons in mind. However, with world-class design and integration vendors creating it - Montréal-based Scéno Plus did the audio
USA - Based in Des Moines, Iowa, Conference Technologies Inc (CTI) recently completed a sound system integration at the nearby Grace Church -replacing the former PA, which had serviced their requirements for two decades, with the constant curvature technology of Martin Audio’s Torus array. This is the latest of a progressive series of AVL upgrades at the church undertaken by CTI over the past 10 years and meets the high demands of a Southern Baptist church, whose lively worship ministry is based around bands, choirs and orchestras. Led and overseen by worship pastor, Michael Hoskinson, the old PA, which had been in situ since the church opened, was providing inconsistent coverage across the 1200-seat fan-shaped auditorium and was clearly ready to be retired. “What we were looking for instead was a line array that would provide even coverage everywhere,” said the
USA - Dean Mattson mixes FOH for progressive rock pioneers Yes and is currently out with them as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of their seminal Close to the Edge album with an extensive tour. The production recently visited the historic Warner Theatre, just a couple of blocks from the White House in Washington DC, where the house system is an Outline Butterfly rig. Dean comments: “I've used the Butterfly system in the Warner a few times now and it always sounds great. Ishai [Ratz, the house sound engineer] has that rig singing like a classic Sinatra song. He was a big help in making sure I utilised the system in a most efficient way and those new subs they installed are nice. Gives the system a little more thump without becoming boomy.” Mixing such a well-known album and especially for audiences that know the music intimately can be a real challeng
USA - Meyer Sound has announced an aggressive rebooting of its education programme, with a full agenda of workshops and training sessions scheduled at the Berkeley headquarters as well as at other locations in the US and overseas, and the formation of partnerships with leading educational institutions.
Many of the sessions will be led by two long-time fixtures in the company’s education programme, director of system optimisation Bob McCarthy, and senior technical seminar instructor Mauricio ‘Magu’ Ramirez, with this duo now joined by another of the pro sound industry’s leading educators, senior technical support and education specialist Merlijn Van Veen.
Meyer Sound also has announced new and extended renewal partnerships, most notably with Full Sail University in Florida, The University of California, Irvine (UCI) in California, and the Universit
