Spain - La Citi at Barcelona’s popular La Maquinista retail centre is not the kind of dining experience one normally expects to find in a shopping mall. The outdoor rooftop space is a celebration of culinary diversity and pop-up and food-truck dining, with a choice of the type of vendors more commonly found at festivals and street food markets. Creators of the 1000sq.m specially designed experience have spent years meeting in food-truck markets and directing some of the leading restaurants on the city’s culinary scene. Gastronomic kiosks and pop-up stalls feature vendors like the Van Van Chicken Bar, Chivuo's, The Fish & Chips Shop, Mosquito Asian Tapas, Dos Coyotes, Taiyaki Born Japanese waffle bar and Café Crem specialty coffees, as well as a bar and a cocktail counter. Billed as a ‘street food and cultura urbana’ La Citi also presents ‘cultural workshops
USA - Brooklyn-based Volvox Labs (VVOX) tapped into the disguise Extended Reality (xR) workflow with Unreal Engine to create a visual experience for Dubfire’s recent live streamed concert from The Met Cloisters Museum in New York City. Part of the Sonic Cloisters virtual electronic music series, which explores the parallels between techno and the art of The Middle Ages, Dubfire’s xR performance was the first time that the Cloisters had undergone such a digitally-enhanced display of its artwork. “It was amazing to be able to take this project into such a location for one day and basically launch a full xR experience without any kind of rehearsal,” explains Kamil Nawratil, creative director at VVOX. “We would never have thought of delivering this kind of project without the disguise and Unreal Engine workflows. The creative possibilities, the photorealism of
USA - In early August, the San Diego Symphony celebrated the grand opening of its new outdoor performance space, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, after a 13-month delay due to Covid. The centre sits on the edge of the bay in Downtown San Diego, serving as a gathering ground for live performances and public city events. Solotech specified and installed all AV equipment, including a Clear-Com Eclipse HX Digital Matrix system with integrated FreeSpeak II Digital Wireless Intercom, HelixNet Digital Network Partyline and LQ Series of IP Interfaces. In previous years, the symphony had been hosting outdoor performances, from June through September, weather-permitting, in a temporary manner with a portable stage and AV equipment they would bring to the site with each performance. The goal for this new venue was to create a facility designed specifically for elevated outdoor performan
USA - The up-and-coming Miami neighbourhood of Brickell is not only recognised as the financial district of the city, but it is rapidly developing into a much sought-after residential area. And with that comes a demand for bars and restaurants. 8Street Brickell is a boutique bar owned and operated by Mark Meram with a capacity to host VIP parties and DJ sets whilst also offering an intimate hangout for locals, as well as international and national tourists visiting the city. Mark’s vision was to create a sophisticated modern twist on a classic Speakeasy style, with the interior of this venue creating an homage to the style and design ethos of the 1920s. Including wood and button tuft upholstery and a soaring and undulating ceiling enhanced with LED lighting. 8Street Brickell was designed by Callin Fortis and his team at Bigtime Design Studios as part of a new
Australia - Griffith University recently collaborated with Videopro, ThreeOneFive Innovations and Harman Professional Solutions to create an immersive active learning space using AMX networked AV solutions. Founded in 1971, Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland with five physical campuses spanning three cities, and a sixth digital campus. With more than 50,000 students and 200,000 respected alumni, Griffith University is one of the world’s top-performing universities. “The client requested a high-tech solution to connect two rooms so that staff could deliver multiple lectures without having to travel across campus,” said Chris Duckworth, owner, ThreeOneFive Innovations. “They also wanted to improve the learning experience for students with state-of-the-art solutions. To create a class-leading engagement space, we selected
UK - After two years away from the fields of Daresbury, Cheshire, LarMac LIVE delivered the electronic music festival cinch presents Creamfields with a line up of artists including Tiësto, Eric Prydz, Chemical Brothers, Carl Cox and Basement Jaxx. Event specialists LarMac LIVE produced Creamfields’ return alongside its familiar technical partners. “It’s like we’ve never been away,” said Ian ‘Lar’ Greenway, director of LarMac LIVE. “We’ve run countless scenarios and drafted numerous budget versions over the last two years, so when the time to get our first acts on stage and deliver finally came, it was really quite special.” LarMac LIVE’s number one priority for Creamfields 2021 was to get the festival set up in a safe working environment. “We knew there was going to be challenges, but I felt quite strongly that as long as we got th
USA - Martin Audio’s advanced Wavefront Precision (WPL) line array was out in force at the 38th Annual Norfolk Waterfront Jazz Festival in Virginia recently, headlined by David Sanborn and Boney James. Local service company (and Martin Audio partner) Soundworks of Virginia have been providing sound services for this, and many other events promoted by Festevents in Norfolk, VA over the past decade. Historically the client has asked Soundworks to set up systems at the Town Point Park, along with a ‘back up’ system indoors at the multipurpose, 11,000-cap Norfolk Scope, so that in the event of sudden bad weather they had an indoor option ready to go. “This year it was obvious the weather was going to be bad the entire weekend, so we just set the system inside the Norfolk Scope,” reports company president and senior engineer, Grant Howard. Generally used as
Germany - To cater for post-pandemic live events, Alex-SOUND has added JBL Professional VTX Series loudspeakers and Crown power amplifiers to their inventory. Based in Berlin, Alex-SOUND is a one-stop shop for casual and professional events, providing audio-visual system rental, photography, DJ services, catering and more. With COVID restrictions lifting and live events making a comback, Alex-SOUND decided to invest in a cutting-edge audio system. The company turned to Audio Pro, the Harman Professional Solutions distributor in Germany, to upgrade their inventory with JBL VTX A8 line array loudspeakers, VTX B18 subwoofers and Crown I-Tech 4x3500HD power amplifiers. “Despite the pandemic, it made sense for us to invest in the JBL VTX A8,” said Stefan Mendelsohn, owner, Alex-SOUND. “The VTX A8 is an incredibly versatile, high-quality speaker. Not only does
Nigeria - Love of Christ Generation Church has a rich history, founding multiple locations and fostering a forward-thinking faith in the UK and Africa. Its most recent congregation, opened this September, is a newly built cathedral on Landmark Beach in Lagos. The impressive, modernist building can accommodate 5,500 worshipers across its two main spaces to host church services, choir practice, bible classes, and more. Ghana-based Amsons Audio was contracted to design and install the audio-visual system for this new building. The contract was the company’s first major project in Africa, and owner Eben Awuah knew it demanded a no-compromise approach. He centred his audio system around L-Acoustics K Series loudspeakers. “My business partner, Charles Amoah, and I were in Abuja consulting on one of the biggest churches in Ghana when I got a call from Reverend Mother Abim
UK - #WeMakeEvents has launched a supporter scheme to bring more useful resources and services to campaign backers. Members of #WeMakeEvents Supporters get free access to webinars hosted by the campaign and PLASA in the past - including on topics such a Brexit, HR, IP, and various technical sessions – as well as credit checks for UK-based companies. Other benefits include free entry passes to the PLASA Show and PLASA Focus Leeds and an invite to #WeMakeEvents’ Zoom calls. “Launched at PLASA Show 2021 in London last month, #WeMakeEvents Supporters has already seen a large uptake, demonstrating the ongoing high level of engagement to protect and promote live events and entertainment,” says the campaign in a statement. “Supporters can opt in to be listed on the webpage to add strength to the global movement which continues to amplify the voice of the industry a
Norway - Pixotope has added three names to its senior global leadership team. Ben Davenport joins Pixotope as VP for global marketing, taking charge of Pixotope’s international communications strategy. Ben has established a 20-year career in B2B marketing for the technology, media, and entertainment industries, heading up leadership positions at AmberFin, Dalet Digital Media Systems, and most recently, working as head of portfolio & marketing strategy for Vidispine at Arvato Systems. After seven years as enterprise account manager at Avid, David Cheng has been appointed as VP sales & marketing EMEA at Pixotope. In his role at Avid, David focused on the sales of Avid video solutions, connecting and coordinating with some of the biggest international media companies, such as Viacom, Comcast, and Discovery. Travis Sims has become Pixotope’s strategic
USA - Harman Professional Solutions has introduced the JBL-LCT 81C/TM metric lay-in ceiling tile speaker and the JBL-MTC-CSTeth1 retrofit safety tether for JBL Control 10, 20 and 40 Series ceiling speakers with press-in grilles. The LCT 81C/TM delivers high output intelligibility for classrooms, offices, paging systems, airports, retail stores and any place where speech and music clarity are critical. This low-profile speaker features an efficient 200 mm dual-cone driver with 1-inch voice coil and high-performance transformer. Its wide 100-degree conical dispersion pattern translates to broader coverage with fewer speakers, and its high 96 dB sensitivity means loud and clear sound even at low tap settings. Installation is quick and easy: Simply remove a standard 600mm x 600mm ceiling tile and lay the speaker in its place. With a shallow depth of just 103 mm (4.1 inches
South Africa - Bad Weather is a creative technical production house based in Cape Town. The company has been using real time technology to create interactive experiences for massive public attractions since 2017. Today, the company has enhanced its portfolio with end-to-end streaming solutions for virtual production built on StreamWorks by Stage Audio Works – a platform comprising hardware and software as well as support and expertise. When the pandemic struck in early 2020, Bad Weather, like many, was forced to revaluate its product and service offering. “Our philosophy revolves around creating a bridge between creative and technical to bring experiences to life,” explains Bad Weather creative director, Jonathan Bandli. “When the live events sector effectively ceased to exist overnight, the transition to virtual solutions offered us a means to continue to service ou
South Korea - To provide high-quality sound that elevated the audience experience, TechDataPS Co equipped the Yangsan Culture & Arts Centre audio solutions from JBL Professional and Crown Audio. Opened in 2002, the Yangsan Culture & Arts Centre is dedicated to promoting the arts community in Yangsan City, including hosting a wide range of performances. The venue includes a nearly 800-seat grand concert hall, a mid-sized 300-seat outdoor stage, a small 167-seat indoor hall, an exhibition room and a practice room. TechDataPS reported that the centre requested a user-friendly audio system with powerful subwoofers in order to deliver pristine and impactful sound quality to all seats, but the venue’s deep balconies made even coverage a challenge. The installation team selected JBL speakers and subwoofers alongside Crown amplifiers. TechDataPS installed JBL V
China - Christie HS Series 1DLP laser projectors have brought a clock tower in Hebi to life with spectacular visuals that aim to boost cultural development and elevate its image as “a city that exudes elegance and exquisite charm”. Affectionately known as China’s Big Ben, the 66m-high clock tower was built more than 20 years ago and is one of the most recognisable landmarks of Hebi, a prefecture-level city in northern Henan province known for its rich coal reserves. In a move to soften the city’s industrialized image and inject more vibrancy to Hebi’s administrative, cultural and leisure precinct known as New Century Square, the municipal government commissioned an exciting four-sided projection mapping show on the façade of Hebi Clock Tower. This means that spectators can enjoy the visuals regardless of which side of the tower they are facing. The ambitious
USA - Solotech has announced a new leadership structure in the US in response to the company’s growth. The past two years have seen Solotech acquire Pro Sound & Video, SEAL, Miami StageCraft, and PSSL. “Our systems integration expertise has been taken to new heights and our footprint in the United States has been significantly strengthened,” explains Philip Giffard, global president, sales and systems integration division. “With our solid positioning, the time has come to take another important step and consolidate our strengths to ensure succession in a context of undeniable growth”. David Shoemaker is appointed president, sales and systems integration, US. Reporting to Giffard, Shoemaker has primary responsibility for profitability and growth. David is also responsible for defining Solotech's business strategy in concert with Kelly Prince, chief technol
UK - Shure partnered with Autograph Sound to upgrade the audio equipment at Epsom College as part of a centralised AV control and integration system installation. Founded in 1855, Epsom College is a co-educational independent school, located in Surrey. The school, which has a long-standing relationship with Autograph, worked together with them to design and supply an AV solution that connected three areas of the building - Big School, the main auditorium in the building used for assembly, events and music concerts; The Main Hall, a smaller auditorium for assemblies, large meetings and parent’s events, and finally, The Chapel, a space which was used for services only but is now becoming more diversified. As part of the new audio-visual upgrade, the college had a requirement for wireless microphone and Autograph supplied eight channels of Shure’s latest SLX-D
UAE - Creative Technology Middle East (CTME) is the official live events audio-visual partner for the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020. The UK Pavilion, which is situated in the Opportunity District at Expo 2020 is based around the theme of Innovating for a Shared Future and promises to offer ‘inspiration and excitement to visitors from around the world’. The six-month event will see the UK Pavilion host a variety of events from multiple trade missions and conferences to various live entertainment spectaculars, including the UK National Day event, which is set to bring the imagination of Glastonbury Festival to Dubai. Andy Reardon, CTME’s managing director, comments, “CT Middle East will be delivering audio, video and lighting solutions alongside providing a team of highly skilled project managers and technicians for the duration of the event. The UK Pavilion
UK - Middlesex Sound & Light (MSL) recently completed the ninth installation in the high intensity 1Rebel gym infrastructure, with the completion of 1Rebel Oxford Circus. Their eighth premium site in London, the brand has a portfolio that extends to the Middle East (which was completed late last year). Described as a fitness-fashion hybrid, boasting nightclub quality production values, each site features sound reinforcement from the Martin Audio catalogue. Originally introduced to owners Giles Dean and James Balfour around four years ago as a replacement for their previous sound supplier, MSL provided a sophisticated AV upgrade of the first two venues, which were already in the estate, before setting out a design blueprint for future roll-out. Project manager and designer Toby Jones confirms that Martin Audio products - from BlacklineX and CDD through to AD
Singapore - BroaMan MUX22 fibre multiplexer and Repeat 48 3G/HD/SD-SDI Video/MADI fibre extender were provided by Total Solution Marketing (TSM), along with full-service support, for the recent Singapore National Day celebrations. The event this year was rescheduled by the Government from its traditional 9 August date to 21 August due to the increase in COVID-19 cases. These interfaces were deployed by The Show Company Pte, the appointed vendor of the multimedia committee for this year’s National Day Parade. The fibre-based solutions were used between transmitters and receivers, across distances averaging 250m - over LC multimode fibre to three different camera locations. This enabled all data to be transported over a single duplex fibre, thus reducing the number of the cables otherwise necessary over long distances. At the same time, it ensured extremely low latency
UK - The National Lottery’s Team GB Homecoming, staged at the SSE Arena, Wembley in August, saw Britain’s Olympic athletes honoured by some of the biggest names in music and entertainment during two hours of storytelling, live performances, and big screen content from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. With production led by Global Touring Office, the star-studded line up saw Rag’n’Bone Man (otherwise known as Rory Graham) open and close the event with a powerful audio control package supplied by Brit Row. “I think any show post-pandemic has a certain electric feel about it, but this one was another level,” comments Rag’n’Bone Man’s FOH engineer, Rob Sadler. “To be part of the show welcoming back Team GB is a high accolade in anyone’s books, and the pre-show ambient noise of the crowd in the arena was welcoming to say the least.” Rag'n'Bone Man
Italy - Outline has launched its Architectural Series, a range of loudspeakers designed specifically to ‘enable integrators to meet the aesthetic and performance demands of architects, interior designers and clients who want the ultimate in discreet, high-performance audio systems’. Comprising four loudspeakers (the Ai41 and Ai81 ultra-compact columns, the Charlie 4 cube and the dedicated AS6 micro-sub) plus a complementary selection of mounting accessories, the primary focus of the new range is on premium sound quality. Despite their diminutive size, each of the mid-high modules delivers balanced audio, whether from playback or ‘live’, while the AS6 dedicated subwoofer provides low-frequency reinforcement ‘that totally belies its dimensions’. All four also produce maximum SPLs far in advance of what one might reasonably expect from such a design.
USA - The Sing! Global 2021 Getty Music Worship Conference this year took place at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena from 13-15 September. The event, hosted by Christian music power duo Keith and Kristyn Getty, perhaps best known as the writers/singers of In Christ Alone, brought together worship leaders, music directors, composers and others in the worship-production sector for four days of workshops, panels, and music. For the fourth year in a row, Brentwood-based integrator CTS AVL was the audio and lighting systems provider for the event. However, this year, the company also took on the conference’s broadcast and audio-recording tasks. That called for a more comprehensive approach to infrastructure, for which CTS AVL constructed an all-DiGiCo architecture, consisting of three SD5 consoles for front of house, monitors and broadcast, and an SD12 96 desk for producti
Austria - Austrian Audio has announced the first of a new line of instrumental microphones for use in the studio and on stage: the CC8. Integral to this new small diaphragm microphone is Austrian Audio’s OCC7 condenser capsule. Inspired by the CK1, this newly developed capsule ‘delivers all the benefits of that classic design updated to meet the demands of today’. The capsule’s three-micron-thick gold-coated polyethylene napthalate (PEN) diaphragm is much more robust than conventional mylar alternatives, says the company. The OCC7’s filter fabric guarantees a constant broadband cancellation, resulting in outstanding cardioid characteristics with exceptional attenuation of sound coming from the sides and rear. The CC8 can handle high sound pressure levels of up to 156 dB SPL without distorting. Thanks to the built-in switchable attenuation of 0 dB, -10
