UK - Phil Wright has enjoyed a 25-year career in the pro audio industry, specialising as a live sound designer and mix engineer for large scale classical, concert, broadcast, dance, cinema and operatic productions.
Trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he spent the early part of his career at Sound by Design, during which time he handled the Royal Albert Hall in-house sound contract, including taking responsibility for the BBC Proms live requirements.
In 2012, Phil went freelance, creating Phil Wright Sound Limited and has since worked on a very wide range of projects. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been keenly felt throughout the industry, but creative solutions for audio conundrums are never far from Phil’s mind, as was the case recently when h

USA - North American Spanish-language television network Univision has been working with Orlando-based Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) to handle their production and broadcast wireless needs for more than 20 years.
“I started working with Professional Wireless when James Stoffo first started out and was lugging around gear in cardboard boxes,” explains Mike Karsch, Univision technical manage for events. “They have been my go-to wireless services partner for large and small broadcast events ever since.”
The list of annual projects is long starting off with PWS providing RF coordination, products and services for Premio Lo Nuestro, the awards show established by the network to honour the previous year's top artists in Latin music followed by Premios Juventud, a viewer-decided awards show honouring Hispanics and Latinos in film, music, sports, fa

UK - Martin Audio’s first virtual tradeshow takes place on Wednesday 20 May, with registration slots throughout the day filling up fast.
Much like Martin Audio’s Open Days, the virtual tradeshow will offer an overview of the portfolio suitable for end users, distributors, rental companies and integrators. The event will be webinar-based across three time slots on Wednesday 20 May to ensure that people in different time zones can come together for the show. Each session will last for 90 minutes with the first starting at 7.30am BST, followed by a second at 10.00am BST and a final session beginning at 5.00pm BST.
“We’ve been delighted with the response so far,” says Dom Harter, managing director at Martin Audio. “With over 500 registrants to date this is fast becoming an excellent opportunity for us to guide people through our portfolio and to help attendees
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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

USA - New York City house and EDM DJs come to Norwalk,Connecticut’s ARC Sound Stage and Lighting three times a week to perform livestream shows as part of ARC Live.
“We are big on using art to touch the lives of people in a positive way,” says Gene Morrell, owner of ARC. “This is why we are always eager to get involved in community art projects, whether it’s putting on block parties or commissioning local artists for graffiti – and it’s why we do the livestreams.”
Morrell and his team got the idea to produce their thrice-weekly live streams “about 10 seconds” after the government’s lockdown order went into effect. “We couldn’t sit idly by,” he recalls. “So, we had to do something to express ourselves.”
Once this decision was made, the details for ARC Live fell neatly into place. First was the question of finding a location

UK - Simon Thomas has been utilising an SSL Fusion while out on the road with American singer-songwriter, Halsey, to complement her vocal-driven production. The Fusion is a permanent feature on her vocal buss.
Thomas started out in the industry as a lighting operator in the world of amateur dramatics, and because 'no-one wanted to do sound' he volunteered, soon moving into professional theatre and hospital radio, and eventually joining Britannia Row in the '90s as one of the then 'new school' engineers. He worked as a monitor engineer initially – and for a number of A-list artists including Lighthouse Family, Moby, and Machine Head. Further down the road, he moved onto FOH, and has been working at the very top level ever since. After completing Ariana Grande's recent Dangerous Woman tour, he got the call to do Halsey.
“I was only going to do it for three months, bu

USA - As online resources become a more important part of today’s workflow, Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) has users covered with its education-based website. Located at www.education.eaw.com, customers can find detailed training, tutorials, FAQ’s and knowledge-based support twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
“The goal of the EAW Education site is to empower the pro audio industry by providing the information necessary to understand, operate and design EAW sound systems,” says EAW president, T.J. Smith.
EAW’s training section allows audio pros to stay up-to-date with the latest EAW technology. The section features the Intro to ADAPTive Training series, which prepares individuals for the level 1 certification test. Level 1 certification means users are well versed in the basics of ADAPTive technology and system deployment.
EAW’s Tutorial

Austria - New online showcase, StreamAustria is helping Austrian fans to get their live music fix in isolation, with a little support from Allen & Heath’s dLive mixing systems.
Broadcast via Twitch from the chic Gӧsserhalle venue, a former beer warehouse in downtown Vienna, StreamAustria has hosted several live music performances and interviews each week since early April, including sets from Ina Regen, Josh, Nathan Trent and Wiener Wahnsinn. StreamAustria is a not-for-profit venture, with all donations from viewers going to the bands’ chosen charities.
The audio setup for StreamAustria was devised by co-founder, Richard Redl, whose day job is head of sound with leading live events specialist, Habegger. The main broadcast mix system is centred on a dLive S5000 surface, operated by Richard, which shares a DM32 MixRack in multi-surface mode over gigaACE with mon

UK - Sound designers for Beautiful: the Carole King Musical deployed a Harman Professional Solutions audio system.
The 2020 U.K. production features an eight-member pit orchestra to back up the cast, plus live piano performed by Daisy-Wood Davis, who plays the role of King.
To faithfully reproduce the timeless music of King in a musical theatre context, the show’s producers hired sound designer Brian Ronan and associate sound designer Tony Gayle to design a world-class touring sound system. In charge of specifying equipment for the tour, Gayle selected JBL Professional VTX A-Series loudspeakers, Crown amplifiers, AKG microphones and BSS DI boxes.
“The biggest challenge was reproducing the beautiful orchestrations that were written for the show, the details of the instrumentation and the vocals,” said Gayle. “Anyone can put speakers up, put up a mi

UK - Full technical production specialist CPL lit two landmark buildings in central Coventry to commemorate International Nurses Day and the bicentenary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. The action also recognised the central role the nursing profession has played worldwide in fighting the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and the World Health Organisation which has designated 2020 as International Year of the Nurse.
CPL was working for Coventry 2021, the organising committee planning and overseeing events for the upcoming UK City of Culture year.
The lit buildings were the original St Michael’s Cathedral and the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum.
The original St Michael’s was built in the 14th century and severely bombed in the Second World War. The original spire is still intact, and the building’s haunting shell is still considered one of the most beaut

UK - The annual Innovation In Music conference is an international music event that brings together music industry researchers and professionals. The event welcomes academics, artists, producers, engineers, and manufacturers to come together and hear presentations and discussions on a wide range of topics.
The most recent conference was held at the University of West London’s Ealing Campus and covered a number of topics including music production, performance and composition, studio technology innovation, and platforms for music sale, streaming and broadcast, to name a few.
Dr. Paul Ferguson, associate professor of audio engineering from Edinburgh Napier University, has been exploring the potential of long-distance creative collaboration over IP networks. This year’s conference keynote was sponsored by Dante licensee, Focusrite Pro, who was very interested in explo

UK - 7thSense Design has appointed Geoffrey Platt to the position of product manager.
With over 20 years of experience as a media server technology and emerging digital media specialist, Platt has worked with a number of real-time video companies, and on many high-profile shows and events, including concerts, theatre, film, location-based entertainment and television.
Platt will work with global systems engineering and sales teams from the 7thSense Orlando office, defining key product features and future roadmaps of the expanding 7thSense product range.
“We’re excited to have Geoffrey join our team,” comments Eric Lehman, global sales and marketing manager, 7thSense Design. “His extensive experience of media server technology, interactive digital installations, product design for large-scale live events and video technology workflows will be a huge asset

Italy - Proel SpA has appointed Fabiano Cammoranesi as business unit manager for Sagitter.
Cammoranesi can boast 24 years of experience in the communications and lighting sector. His career at Proel began in 2007 and his product and market strategies have contributed to the growth of the Sagitter lighting brand and the creation of a further brand, SDJ.
In February this year, Fabiano Cammoranesi was called to fill one of the key roles within the Sagitter Business Unit. “An important professional challenge begins,” he says. “This role stimulates me to pour all my enthusiasm and my determination to make the brand grow on the national and international fronts. My passion for this sector is great and it is a pleasure to share it with the whole team. Communicating and transmitting this passion will be my main goal.”

USA - Harman Professional Solutions has introduced the JBL Cinema Expansion Series sound systems for small to medium-size commercial theatres.
The line, which includes JBL 3153 and 4253 3-way screen-channel loudspeakers, 3181F and 4281F subwoofers and 8102 surrounds is designed to cover rooms up to 85ft deep and up to 40ft wide. Harman has also debuted the two-channel, 1,300W Crown XLC 21300 amplifier, which supports Cinema Series speakers in a range of system configurations.
“When we created the Cinema Expansion Series, we wanted to offer flexible solutions for cost-conscious theatre owners looking to provide a premium audio experience in every seat while maximizing their investment,” said Sunil Karanjikar, cinema product manager, Harman Professional Solutions. “Now, whether a theatre offers traditional 5.1 or more complex multichannel sound, it can offer the fi

Spain - The G7 from Amate Audio is the first in a new family of premium installation / integrator loudspeaker cabinets, designed to ‘provide compact high performance solutions, where looks and sound are everything’, in retail, hospitality, recreation, enterprise and culture application environments.
A two-way system within an EN54-24 certifiable, hexagonal-form, reinforced ABS plastic enclosure, the G7 offers power handling capabilities rated at 120 W, providing for 112 dB SPL. So a lesser number of cabinets is required for any installation, operating well within their range of capability, leaving sufficient headroom for instances where higher output may be required.
In addition to its Amate Audio cabinet design, features include the high-performance 6.5” carbon-fibre woofer and 1” titanium dome, neodymium tweeter, aluminium grille and hardware, outdoor ready c

USA - From a base in producing both original music and remixes a decade ago, Canadian electronic music duo Zeds Dead branched out to explore a range of genres including UK garage, electro house, hip-hop, drum and bass and more.
Now a staple on the international touring circuit, such diversity poses many challenges for the lighting team, led by production designer Erik Mahowald (of Bending Lite Productions).
Recently, they have been headlining package tours for their record label Deadbeats, a series of ‘one-off’ formatted shows in a varied combination of festival stage ‘takeovers’ and standard concert venue applications at venues ranging from 5,000-50,000 capacities. This demand on scalability, and the random nature of the shows, creates further challenges for Mahowald. GLP fixtures provided the necessary versatility.
“The design was originally debuted a

Europe - When COVID-19 caused the cancellation of the remaining dates of Machine Head’s Burn My Eyes European tour, the band were still able to reach its loyal fans by making video-recorded shows available on a subscription basis via Nugs.net.
Niklas Fuchs of MartinKames.com ran the tour’s intense but highly nuanced lightshows, which used between six and 10 universes, on his ChamSys MQ100 Pro 2014 with an Extra Wing. “The two months we spent on tour were very memorable,” said Fuchs. “Each show was over three hours and our show file consisted of 314 fixtures.
“A special thing about this tour is that three different designers contributed to the look, Thomas 'Church' Christmann, Martin Kames the head of our company, and myself. Each of us had his own creativity flowing.
“Robb Flynn and Machine Head are very interested in a complex and sophistica

UK/France - Assistive listening specialists Contacta Systems has announced an exclusive distribution partnership with French manufacturer and distributor of evacuation, voice alarm and PA systems, Archean Technologies.
The deal will introduce the complete Contacta range of hearing loops, RF, IR and speech transfer systems to Archean’s customers in France.
Archean Technologies, with offices in Paris, Montauban and Lisbon, has over 15-year history of manufacturing, installing and supplying key sectors in France. The company specialises in supplying customers and projects in the transport and public sectors throughout France.
Archean managing director Xavier Aumont comments: “We have always seen our supplier partnerships as a key foundation of our business. Some of our partnerships span 15 years so we select our brands carefully. Contacta’s product range is so

USA - The Westside Theatre, one of the last remaining commercial Off-Broadway spaces left in New York City, has had an impressive line-up of productions on its marquee over the years, including a 12-year run of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, a show that lighting designer Bradley King remembers seeing as a child.
King, known for his work on Natasha, Pierre, and Hadestown, for which he won Tony and Drama Desk Awards for lighting in 2017 and 2019 respectively, was back at Westside last autumn, this time designing the lighting for the highly anticipated return to Off-Broadway of Little Shop of Horrors.
Little Shop of Horrors premiered Off-Broadway in 1982. The intimate new production at Westside opened at the venue’s 270-seat upstairs stage on 17 October and ran until mid-March when Broadway went dark due to the COVID-1

Sweden - Game shows have been a staple of worldwide TV entertainment for decades. More than 60 years after the first game show appeared on American TV, audiences and contestants are still as enthusiastic as ever to participate in and consume every kind of format.
Recognising the passion that the public has for this type of entertainment, On Air opened its first game show bar in Stockholm, replicating the TV experience for groups of friends and colleagues in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. The concept was successful and after a second On Air opened in the capital, Pitcher’s, a multi-activity entertainments hub in the Swedish City of Örebo, opened the first On Air franchise.
Pitcher’s features a number of attractions including bowling, shuffleboard, arcades and a casino, and the opening of On Air has seen part of its extensive ground floor area carefully engineered to r

Italy - DTS Illuminazione S.r.L. has appointed Maurizio Gidoni as the company’s technical director.
Gidoni has a background in electronic engineering as well as management and process industrialisation. In his new role, he will lead DTS’ research and development department.
The company says in a statement: “During his 30-year career, Maurizio has developed a strong leadership attitude, alongside with a fundamental teamwork and coaching skills. We strongly believe he will be an example and a human incitement to our technical teams.
“For 10 years, Maurizio has successfully led technical departments and always focussed on electronic products development. His professional philosophy is to promote constant innovation by pursuing the excellence, paying strong attention to cross-functional interaction to achieve the company's goals.
“His skills includ

USA - Fantasia Barrino won the third season of American Idol in 2004, standing out from some tough competition, and has since established herself as an R&B singer in the front ranks.
A Grammy Award winner for Best Female Vocal Performance on her single Bittersweet, Fantasia has sold almost three million albums in her native USA alone. During a career that has produced seven albums, she has starred on Broadway twice, receiving a Theatre World Award for her part as Celie in the Color Purple. On her recent Sketchbook Tour, this consummate performer demonstrated that she remains a force to be reckoned with, wowing audiences and critics alike with exceptional vocals and a stage presence to match. Writing in The Buffalo Times, Ben Siegel described a “riveting” performance “in full command of her production.”
Part of that production for the 29-date tour was an ult

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