Italy - It was the summer of 2015 and start up entrepreneur Fabio Zaffagnini was taking a drive, listening to the Foo Fighters on the radio - and dreaming that they might one day perform in his home city of Cesena, near Florence. To entice such a big act to a city so small, it would take a gesture of gargantuan proportions. And so the Rockin’ 1000 was born - he set about assembling 1,000 musicians in a park for a special one off performance of the Foo Fighters track Learn To Fly. The biggest rock band in the world made history with millions of YouTube views worldwide, grabbing the attention of the Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl who promised to play for the 1000 in Cesena - and did just that on 3 November the same year. An expression of Italy’s passion, creativity and artistic skill, this was just the beginning for Rockin’ 1000 which has
Belgium - Pukkelpop is Belgium’s second largest festival and prides itself on its ‘alternative’ label. Featuring performances by nearly 100 different artists on eight stages over four days, this year three Yamaha Rivage series digital mixing systems were in use, along with Nexo PAs. This year Pukkelpop took place on 15-18 August, with Yamaha Rivage PM7 and PM10 systems featured on the Club Stage and CL series consoles on the Lift Stage. The Club and Castello Stages featured Nexo STM series PA systems. All Yamaha and Nexo systems were supplied by VDB-PA, except the RIVAGE PM7 which was supplied by AED Rent. More than 25 bands performed on the Club Stage, including Shellac (with legendary producer/engineer Steve Albini on guitar/vocals), Rhey, Madensuyu, Dirty Projectors, Metz, Benjamin Clementine, Jordan Rakei, Gogo Pinguin and King Gizzard & The Lizard
UK - Merseyside-based Adlib Audio handled a busy festival programme through the summer of 2018. As early-adopters of Outline’s remarkable new processor, the variety and sheer volume of their workload provided an ideal platform to road-test their new Newton units - and road-test them they surely did. Adlib’s senior engineer Ian Nelson takes up the story: “For this summer’s festival commitments we’ve effectively used our Newton units in one of two ways - either as a festival console matrix system or as a full system controller. For the former, a single Newton device was configured as a central hub, bringing together the outputs of our dual house consoles (running as an A/B system to facilitate band changeovers) plus multiple guest consoles and our small ‘VT’ desk that deals with VT, DJs and announcements. “The two house consoles are configured to provide
Denmark - Amplifier electronics specialist Pascal has unveiled a range of amplifier modules with features and performance optimised for integration within power amplifier designs, across the breadth of live sound and commercial and custom installation applications. A range of six modules enables both constant voltage (100/70 V) and low impedance output mode operation and a wide range of power configurations; for half rack 1RU to full 19U 2RU form factors. Depending on the combination of modules used within a power amplifier, it is possible to drive any share of the total power capability reservoir to any output stage. This offers installers and integrators complete freedom to drive exactly the required amount of power precisely where it is needed. This has a major operational advantage in addressing asymmetrical power requirements within a zoned installation, wit
UK - The recently-built Anjuman El-Saifee Community Centre in Birmingham, UK is benefitting from Powersoft’s Ottocanali 4K4 amp which was specified as part of the AV installation. With good speech intelligibility at the forefront of requirements for a House of Worship, Powersoft’s Ottocanali product was chosen for the project. The Dawoodi Bohra community spent years fundraising, planning and preparing to build the Community Centre comprising a mosque, evening school and sports hall – and as with any House of Worship, it would require a robust AV system so that the imams and speakers could clearly project their message to the audience. Pete Rutherford owns and runs Direct Audio Visual, which was engaged as AV integrator for the project. With a background in retail, corporate and warehouses, this House of Worship project was a departure for Rutherford and his team
USA - Space was a consideration as alt-rock pioneers Stone Temple Pilots (STP), Bush and The Cult teamed up for their summer-long, triple-headline Revolution 3 Tour across North America. Speaking from the bus on a day off, monitor engineer and crew chief Sean Herman, FOH engineer James “Hootsie” Huth and system engineer Chris Demonbreun held forth on the joys of the road and why they chose the DiGiCo SD12s that are at FOH and monitor world for the STP portions of each show. “When we started this tour, everything had to fit into a trailer,” says Hootsie. “We started before this three-band run doing large clubs and small theatres. This being Stone Temple Pilots, it’s a rock band, we need maybe 24 inputs max. The travelling plans meant we had to go with the smallest frame size possible and it looked like the SD12 had all the inputs and horsepower we would need
Italy - In July 2015, an ambitious plan was hatched to get the attention of Foo Fighters and convince them to play a gig in Cesena, Italy, by gathering a thousand musicians to perform their song Learn to Fly. The video of the event went viral and Foo Fighters duly performed in the city four months later. But that was just the start. Now an annual event, this year Yamaha digital mixers were tasked with mixing a band of over 1,500 members. Rockin’1000 That’s Live has already become so successful that, for the past two years, ‘the biggest rock band on earth’ has had to relocate to the bigger Stadio Artemio Franchi in Firenze (Florence), around 2.5 hours from Cesena. Yamaha Commercial Audio Italia is a technical partner of the event and this year staff were faced with the huge task of mixing Front of House and monitors for an 18 song, two-hour perform
China - Italian pro audio specialist K-array officially announced the formation of K-array China (K-array.CN Limited). The Chinese subsidiary is headquartered in Hong Kong, with a sales and service centre in Beijing. The announcement was marked with a ceremony in Beijing attended by K-array co-founders Alessandro Tatini and Massimo Ferretti, and project specialist Daniele Mochi provided a presentation to familiarise new acquaintances with brand. Marc Vincent, CEO of K-array China, comments: “Today is a milestone that sees us create the first subsidiary of K-array outside Italy. The reason we chose China is because it’s the biggest market in the world. The role of K-array China is to provide products, consultancy and after sales service to our customers.” The K-array China team includes Roger Qi, who is in charge of sales and marketing in China. The team al
UK - The PLASA Show will open its doors this weekend (16-18 September) at London Olympia. The trade show will feature hundreds of brands across the show floor as it prepares to welcome thousands of entertainment technology professionals. Audio heavyweights L-Acoustics, Bose and Yamaha, and lighting pioneers Robe, DTS, ETC and Philips will all be present on the show floor and the seminar programme promises to deliver in-depth sessions across a wide range of topics. Product highlights Elation will be showcasing the Smarty Hybrid, their new LED lighting fixture. MA Lighting is showcasing its grandMA3 lighting console. Robe is launching a new product as well as showing its RoboSpot Multi Device Control. Robert Juliat will reveal new additions to its Dalis range. Prolight Concepts is bringing the all-weather Endura and Evora series from elu
UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) will exclusively showcase over 15 brands from its portfolio of over 200 marques at PLASA 2018 (Stand E30), London - including four products nominated for this year's PLASA Awards for Innovation and several previous Innovation award-winners. 2018 PLASA Awards nominees include PROLIGHTS' new Panorama IP WBX IP65 LED moving wash light ideal for temporary outdoor events; Columbus McKinnon's new Lodestar VS chain hoist featuring Magnetek IMPULSE G+ Mini drive and other industry-leading safety procedures; Tourmate's new Multilock Hoist Connector for distribution of power and control to motorised hoists which eliminates potential cross-connection with other entertainment applications; and BroadWeigh's new BW-HA advanced wireless handheld display for its innovative wireless load monitoring system. Staff from AC-ET's dedicated produc
USA - UK band alt-J, currently on a world tour in support of their third studio album, 2017’s Relaxer, recently made history as the first rock band to use L-Acoustics’ L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology to envelop nearly 12,000 fans in a 360° soundscape at Forest Hills Stadium in the New York borough of Queens on June 15. “Wherever you’re standing in the audience, you’ll be able to hear the music coming from all around you,” alt-J keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton told UK music publication NME ahead of the show. Lance Reynolds is alt-J’s Chicago-based FOH engineer and has been using L-Acoustics sound reinforcement systems with the band since 2015. He notes that the band’s manager, Stephen Taverner, had been searching for the right technology to present a show in surround for quite a while, so Reynolds visited L-Acoustics’ US headq
USA - As ‘phase two’ of a major audio upgrade, Crossroads Community Church of Vancouver, Washington, has added three Allen & Heath dLive systems to mix FOH, stage monitors, and broadcast. Remington Smith, Crossroads’ FOH sound engineer, says: “We found we couldn’t beat the sonic quality or the amount of I/O we were able to achieve with the dLive.” Crossroads’ contemporary worship services feature a live band with three to six vocalists, recorded tracks, and an occasional string section. The church holds three services each Sunday in its 1800-seat sanctuary, in addition to hosting Christian music concerts and holiday events. Worship services are broadcast live on the church’s website [crossroadslive.tv] using a dLive C Class C3500 Surface, DX32 Expander and DM0 MixRack. At FOH, Crossroads uses a dLive S Class S7000 Surface with DM64 MixRack. S
Hungary - Such is Capital Sound’s long-term and consolidated contract with the Sziget Festival organisation, that the rock-solid production formula now ensures that the massive seven-day festival on Hajógyári Island, north of Budapest, runs seamlessly. With Martin Audio MLA again reinforcing sound on the main and second stages, and further Martin Audio PA on the Colosseum dance stage, the biggest news was that in its 26th year the event again broke attendance records, with an aggregated 565,000 estimated to have visited the picturesque location on the Danube, over the seven days. A veritable line-up this year included Arctic Monkeys, Stormzy, Clean Bandit, Kendrick Lamar, Gorillaz, Lana Del Rey, Mumford & Sons, Dua Lipa - and many more. And with such an international line-up of A-listers, Capital account manager Paul Timmins says: “All the top acts bring exp
UK - The first weekend in September saw the culmination of a successful summer series of Classic Ibiza concerts, presented by Revival Productions in partnership with dance music pioneers Ministry of Sound, and performed by world class orchestral act Urban Soul Orchestra. Lisa Ward, director of Revival Productions, explains the rationale behind the Classic Ibiza concerts: “We had been looking for an alternative to a traditional classical prom to appeal to a younger audience, but still with picture perfect picnic settings. Our English stately homes are stunning locations and just perfect for a posh rave!” Revival Productions has been a client of Pearce Hire’s for several years with Pearce Hire providing production services year-on-year for their annual Great British Proms - an open-air celebration of classical music. Classic Ibiza was conceived as an extra event t
UK - Martin Audio will once again throw open its UK HQ for a series of demonstrations and presentations on its latest audio offerings, including many new products to be showcased for the very first time. Taking place between 18-20 September, this is an opportunity for rental companies, sound engineers, system integrators and installation specialists to get in-depth understanding and lots of listening time in relaxed surroundings. Factory tours and refreshments are also part of the experience making for a memorable morning or afternoon. The demonstrations will include Sound Adventures - a 3D immersive audio experience - with its partner, Astro Spatial Audio; optimised line arrays including O-Line and Wavefront Precision; its new high-power performance TH Series; and the newly announced ADORN on-wall commercial loudspeaker series. James King, marketing dire
UAE - Event design and technical production specialist Maestra has launched a new scenic department in Dubai. It will operate from a dedicated facility close to their HQ in Investment Park. Maestra has been providing its clients with creative scenic services for the past few years in both London and Dubai, so this consolidates the business model, and brings a key division of the contractor services portfolio in-house. Already delivering lighting, audio, video, rigging as well as scenic elements including the fabrication of set and staging, it was a “totally logical step” confirmed Maestra Dubai’s managing director Tom Clements. The new department will be headed up by Jurgens Potgieter, who brings over 10 years of practical experience in the region, working for several leading fabrication contractors. Before then, he cut his ‘production teeth’ in the sam
Canada - Solotech has announced the appointment of Jason Howard as director of operations for the Ottawa office, effective 5 September 2018. In this role, Howard will lead the operational activities, including the integration of advanced equipment and technology for clients for all the segments of expertise (government, business, cultural and sports facilities) of the sales and integration division. Jason has been working in project and operations management for almost 20 years and his areas of expertise include quality assurance, strategic planning and process improvement. (Jim Evans)
Germany - Phil Myers has joined German IP video, audio and control specialist Lawo as senior director of IP Systems. In this newly created role, Myers will coordinate the IP product portfolio and core technology development across the Lawo business as well as supporting the Advisory Board with strategic and technology direction during this fast-changing transitional period in the broadcast industry. Myers previously held the role as IP product manager for SAM (Snell Advanced Media) and Grass Valley, a Belden Brand. Additionally, Myers has undertaken technical product management and head of technology positions at Pinnacle Systems Inc. (now part of Avid Technology), Sony and CVP. Myers comments: “It’s great to be part of a team with such a great vision about the future of our industry and that has the commitment, passion, right people, and leading-edge IP audio, vid
Germany - Pro audio specialist DirectOut Technologies has announced a new hardware version of its popular EXBOX.BLDS automatic redundancy switch. As a result of requests from FOH engineers all over the world, the hardware - which has proved to be a life-safer for big playout systems in live environments - will ship with a modular MADI interface in order to cover all applications and formats in multichannel MADI systems. CTO Stephan Flock explains the reason for a new hardware revision five years after its launch: “EXBOX.BLDS has always been a special product for DirectOut, since it is one of our typical problem-solving solutions. Very many live systems and broadcast environments worldwide rely on our fail-over hardware to ensure proper signal transmission in redundant recording setups or playout rigs.” However, one of the limitations of the EXBOX.BLDS hardw
USA/Europe - Nine-piece tribute band Brit Floyd has recently switched to DPA d:facto vocal microphones. Brit Floyd’s tenor saxophonist Ryan Saranich had already switched to a d:vote CORE 4099 Instrument Microphone and was delighted with the results he was getting, so he approached DPA’s business development manager Vincent Gabriel Antonini and asked him for vocal mic recommendations. After a meeting with Antonini in Philadelphia where the band tried out the d:facto during a soundcheck, Brit Floyd sound engineers Gareth Darlington and Andrea Pellegrini were so impressed that they recommended them for the entire vocal line up. His views were reinforced by sound engineer Andrea Pellegrini, who recently started working with the band. A self-proclaimed fan of DPA microphones, Pellegrini says: “I’ve loved d:facto mics from the very beginning because they’re transp
UK - Phoenix Audio has confirmed Tukans as its UK distributor. Tukans will offer all Phoenix Audio Technologies’ solutions including the Spider series, the Condor Microphone Beamforming Array, and the Stingray DSP Mixer. “We are very excited to add Phoenix Audio to our portfolio and look forward to working with them to expand their business in the UK. We are seeing an increase in demand for collaboration accessories, that enhance the experience when using PC based conferencing,” comments Yvonne Womersley, managing director at Tukans. “People are looking for professional level audio and video, that offers the true plug-and-play experience for whatever the room size. With the addition of Phoenix, we are confident that we are able to cover a vast majority of all customers unified collaboration and conferencing needs.” “We are thrilled to further expand our par
USA - Electropop artist Halsey has been busy with her Hopeless Fountain Kingdom world tour, following the release of her second studio album of the same name. FOH engineer Simon Thomas (Ariana Grande, Sam Smith, Tracey Chapman) has chosen an SSL L200 console for FOH duties, supplied by Eighth Day Sound. Having previously used the SSL L500 on a Sam Smith tour, Thomas was familiar with the SSL Live consoles already. The L200 is SSL's mid-scale Live console, with the same accelerated workflow, feature set, and sound quality, in a more affordable package. It has up to 144 fully processed paths and three independent fader tiles side-by-side. "The L200 is a great ergonomic console," says Thomas. "It's fast to set up and use, it’s incredibly powerful, and offers all I need in one space - and the three fader tiles are great." According to Thomas, the stage line-up f
USA - Meyer Sound Laboratories co-founder John Meyer will deliver the AES New York 2018 Convention’s Heyser Memorial Lecture on 19 October (Friday) at 6:30pm. Speaking on the topic Taking the Room Out of the Loudspeaker: New Tools for Transparent Reproduction, Meyer will share his expertise on loudspeaker design and applications from his lengthy career the industry. Meyer first got involved in pro audio in the late 1960s when he started out as designer of custom amplification systems for guitarist Steve Miller. Meyer created the Glyph very large horn loudspeakers and he was the in-house loudspeaker designer at San Francisco’s McCune Sound Service. In the 1970s, his audio research at the Institute for Advanced Musical Studies in Switzerland led to his first patent awarded for a low-distortion horn design. In 1979 he co-founded (with his wife, Helen) Meyer So
Singapore - Adam Hall Asia hosted an APAC distributor summit at the company's showroom in Singapore on 23-24 August. Just the second summit of its kind for Adam Hall Asia - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adam Hall GmbH Germany - the event welcomed more than 20 partner companies from 16 countries, with distributors from Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Republic of Fiji attending for the first time. Members of the product managers and business development teams from Germany, alongside Adam Hall Group COO Markus Jahnel, were also in attendance. Jahnel comments: “I would like to emphasise how important the partners who attended this meeting are for the international growth and success of the Adam Hall Group." Chandan Mahtani, managing director of Adam Hall Asia, adds: “The whole meeting was characterised by a fantastic team spirit. It was evident how essential
