Projects

Details
USA - McAllen is part of the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the state of Texas and is located in the Rio Grande valley, just north of Mexico. The McAllen Independent School District operates the public elementary, middle, and high schools for the children of its 130,000 residents.
After struggling for years with low-intelligibility, low-impact sound reinforcement systems in the auditoriums of its three high schools - McAllen, Rowe, and Memorial, the McAllen ISD hired the A/V integration team at local Hermes Music to rectify the situation. Ed Zamorano, director of educational/ governmental sales at Hermes Music, designed a Danley loudspeaker/subwoofer/amp/DSP system for the larger McAllen High School auditorium (1,500 seats) that was so successful, district officials asked Hermes Music to install identical systems in the smaller auditoriums (each approximately 400 seats)

Details
UK - Rugby Theatre in Warwickshire is an amateur company which produces 10 shows annually. Staffed and run entirely by volunteers, their own productions include drama, farce, musicals and theatrical classics while visiting performers and productions feature brass bands, children’s dance, opera and celebrity speakers.
Autograph Sales & Installations were approached by the theatre to determine why the vocal clarity and intelligibility in their venue was not always up to the high standards achieved by the other elements of their productions. After extensive acoustic testing and A/B comparisons, the theatre commissioned Autograph to supply and install a completely new sound system based on EM Acoustics loudspeakers as well as a new digital console and a selection of microphones.
At the core of the new sound system is a suite of loudspeakers from EM Acoustics’ EMS S

Details
Australia - Melbourne-based audio specialist Full Throttle Entertainment has invested in a Vero sound system from Funktion-One. According to company founder, Adam Ward, the addition of the vertically arrayed loudspeaker system equips them to do bigger shows and answers the requirements of a wider range of clients.
Ward said: “Full Throttle Entertainment has been deploying the Resolution Series with much success for a number of years. We were consistently being approached by our clients to do bigger and bigger shows. Vero is the answer in addressing these large format requirements, as well as bringing what is, in my opinion, a new benchmark to live touring.
“Vero opens up a lot of different markets for us. Many clients need to see speakers look a particular way and irrespective of how amazing Vero sounds, it has the look many corporate and live clients want to see.

Details
UK - In venues the length and breadth of the UK, Christmas concerts and the grand tradition of pantomime are getting thousands of people into the festive spirit. Yamaha mixing consoles are at the heart of many, with no less than six hard at work in Perth, Scotland.
Opened in 2005, Perth Concert Hall is a truly modern, multipurpose venue. Amongst many innovations, the main Gannochy Auditorium features movable seating, stage and thrust stage to transform the space for a wide variety of productions. The technical specification is similarly state-of-the-art, with Yamaha CL5, PM5D, LS9-32, O1V96 digital mixing consoles and R-series i/o boxes, all on a Dante network.
The venue is owned and managed by Horsecross Arts, which also runs the adjacent Perth Theatre. Having reopened in November 2017 after a four year, £16.6m refurbishment, Yamaha QL5 and QL1 digital consoles were

Details
Switzerland - The Basel Tattoo celebrated its 12th anniversary by once again using TiMax object-based spatial audio and showcontrol to maintain localisation and musical timing between the marching players and the distributed spatial reinforcement sound system.
An import of the legendary Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which also uses TiMax, the Basel production is staged outdoors in front of the 18th century Kaserne Hof barracks on the Rhine. A dozen or so acts of marching bands, dancers and sometimes animals perform across a 70m x 25m parade arena surrounded by audience seating on three sides.
Award-winning Swiss sound designer, Thomas Strebel, specified a TiMax SoundHub-S48 spatial processor which received, via MADI, 10 arena, ambient, mic feeds plus five groups from a DiGiCo SD7 console, comprising submixes of performer radio mics plus Ableton music playback for various

Details
UK - Swedish electro four-piece band Little Dragon has been on a roll in 2017, as their heavy ethereal beats and synth-driven hooks have garnered them a following on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as slots at the Coachella and Bestival festivals.
Reflective of the band’s stratospheric surge in popularity is the new lighting rig on its current sold-out UK tour. LD Tim Smith, who recently began collaborating with the band, specified Maverick MK Pyxis fixtures, as well as COLORdash Par-Hex 12 units, from Chauvet Professional for their current touring rig.
“After Bestival and our other summer commitments came to an end, Little Dragon’s tour manager asked me to start looking for a fixture package that would be able to fit in one trailer along with the rest of our gear, whilst still maintaining the original look and feel of previous performances,” commented Smit

Details
Europe - Indie pop band Sylvan Esso has been making waves on both sides of the Atlantic, having played top venues across North America this summer, including the Fox Theatre in Oakland, the Hollywood Palladium, Brooklyn Steel New York and Prospect Park, before completing a European tour in support of their second album, What Now in the autumn.
The duo engaged production designer, Zach Sternberg - who has been with them since their first album in 2013 - to devise a dynamic set and lighting design that could be toured across venues of various capacities.
Sternberg based his design around a giant cantilever system of custom trapezoidal truss attached to six weighted carts, each of which carried four new Ayrton MagicBlade-FX fixtures which he used to define the geometric shape. The result is a sculptural element formed of a series of chevrons, the outline of which

Details
Singapore - Robert Juliat fixtures were specified for the Singapore Airlines (SIA) Theatre at the LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore as part of the venue's lighting inventory upgrade.
Ten years after the college moved into its McNally Street campus that houses the theatre, senior technical officers Patrick Wong and Sayuthi Bin Jasmin took delivery of 10 Robert Juliat Dalis 860 Cyclorama LED battens to replace the 10-year old conventional cyclorama and groundrow lighting.
“Prior to the acquisition of our new Dalis units we were using eight tungsten cyclorama lights and a similar number of tungsten groundrows,” explains Patrick. “These have been excellent workhorses, but conventional lighting fixtures come with their problems as well.
“The age and fragility of these fixtures meant lamp replacement was becoming more and more frequent and a bit of a c

Details
UK - Doughty Engineering has worked alongside property and construction consultants Ridge to provide a permanent lighting installation for the transmitter mast at Alexandra Palace.
Renowned worldwide as the birthplace of television, Alexandra Palace remained the major production centre for BBC from 1936 to the early 1950s, except during the Second World War. While no broadcasts now take place from Ally Pally, as it is affectionately known, the transmitter mast is one of the most iconic landmarks in the north London skyline.
To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first television broadcast, Alexandra Palace wanted to “light up” its iconic telecommunications mast and Ridge was on hand to provide its electrical engineering and lighting design skills.
Andrew Selwood, associate at Ridge explained: “Working alongside Architainment Lighting, we came up with an

Details
Australia - Sia’s Nostalgic for the Present tour delivered three stadium shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland, with the internationally-acclaimed singer bringing her long-time FOH engineer Jon Lemon behind the mixing desk.
Lemon has known Sia for most of her life and has been doing gigs for her on and off since 2002, mixing at small venues and large stadiums alike.
“It’s a very organised show,” he says of the recent tour. “The biggest challenge was putting it all together in the first place as it’s mostly playback in terms of the music. The brief I had was to make it feel like it was live but also sound like the record with SIA then singing live on top of it.
“I see it a lot with hip hop and rap where it’s just the artist and a DJ with minimum amount of stems and the engineer has just got nowhere to go and nuance it like the record. The

Details
Italy - Tribute show Pavarotti, An Endless Emotion marked the 10th anniversary of Luciano Pavarotti’s death. Held at the Verona Arena in September, it was broadcast to 5.5m Rai TV viewers and even more tuned on national radios.
Artists who played with the Maestro during the numerous editions of Pavarotti & Friends wanted to be on stage for this occasion to ‘sing’ again with the Maestro, requiring 226 channels of mic and line signals coming from the band, the orchestra, the choir, the solo singers and the announcers, with 24 additional playback tracks of Pavarotti’s voice.
Agorà, the Italian production company that supported the event, chose two pairs of DiGiCo SD7 for mixing both in front of house and on stage. Two more DiGiCo SD11 were added in both locations to manage the mics of the announcers and special guests. Two SSL L500 consoles used

Details
UK - Swiss studio monitor manufacturer PSI Audio was chosen to provide the audio monitoring for dozens of new studios at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield near London.
At the audio branch, every student can use their own studio equipped to industry standards for the duration of the course, and the school wanted to specify monitors that could reproduce sound neutrally.
NFTS picked PSI Audio monitors from an initial set of seven brands and 15 models, buying PSI Audio A14-M, A17-M, A21-M monitors and A125-M subwoofers.
“All in all, it was a four-month process,” reveals Jérémy Rodeschini. senior supervising engineer. “People are very passionate about speakers.”
He also highlights the reliability of the Swiss manufacturer: “They came over here on multiple occasions, so we knew they would be there if we needed them. We felt ap

Details
USA - Last month’s Ozzfest Meets Knotfest music festival brought dozens of rock acts, including Ozzy Osbourne, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Deftones and Prophets of Rage, to San Bernardino, CA.
Four stages supported non-stop metal shredding with lighting and video provided by 4Wall Entertainment. Brighter than even the pyro were the 30 Solaris Flares in the lighting rig.
“Flares were the only choice,” says 4Wall director of live events Todd Roberts. “They pack a huge punch, and with so many artists we used them for a bunch of different effects. Their versatility is unsurpassed. We used them on all the toms and lined each of the straight sticks of truss, ‘framing’ the stage. We rely on Flares to give us just what we need and they never disappoint.”
Michael Keller was the event’s LD, and Ron Chamberlain was production manager. 4Wall Entertainmen

Details
Israel - Singer songwriter Elai Botner & Yaledi Haucutz completed an extensive seven-month tour of Israel with lighting created by Mickey Vilensky, who chose an all-Robe moving light rig.
The 12 x BMFL Spots and 24 x Spiider LED wash beams were supplied, together with the rest of the lighting equipment, by Simul Argaman Systems.
Botner is one of the top Israeli artists and Mickey is one of the leading Israeli lighting designers whose colourful career stretches back 34 years. All the skills and talents combined to produce a spectacular show for Botner’s many fans.
Mickey’s idea to have five 6m long upstage / downstage ‘finger’ trusses - each positioned 2m apart and raked (back-to-front) - was inspired by the Pink Floyd Division Bell tour design of 1994 which had lighting designed by Marc Brickman.
They had three days of production rehearsa

Details
Italy - Held on 9 December at the Bologna Unipol Arena, Circoloco, an international show of club house music featured an Outline GTO system as the main PA for the event.
Circoloco is a format and a brand born in Ibiza many years ago, supported and created by Antonio Carbonaro - the owner of the famous DC10 music label. Circoloco has its own identity and includes many international artists who accompany this project around the world.
The audio design and set-up was entrusted to Emporio on Stage (Scandicci - Florence), with the support of the Outline staff. It was composed of 12 GTO systems plus GTO-DF (down-fill) modules for sides, 12 + 12 DBS 18-2 sub-bass units, 4 + 4 infra-sub LAB 21 HS and 6 front-fill comprised of 2 Mantas 28 each.
Angelo Catoni, owner of Emporio on Stage, comments: “For the main PA we installed 12 GTO + DF (down-fill

Details
USA - Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, is a theme park success story for several reasons. Besides having one of country music’s leading personalities as co-owner, the park is a mix of traditional thrill rides spiced with crafts and culture, a successful recipe of entertainment that attracts nearly 3m guests a year.
Each fall, Dollywood holds a popular Harvest Festival and this year sought a family friendly, fall-centric addition to the autumn event. Park leadership decided on a pumpkin-themed evening concept to support the park’s Year of the Family theme. The new experience, Great Pumpkin LumiNights, is an outdoor installation of thousands of illuminated jack-o-lanterns, artistic sculptures, playful scenes, pumpkin-themed food and entertainment.
Since lighting would play a vital role in the evening event, Elation Professional dealer Stud

Details
South Africa - Lighting designer Joshua Cutts and the SOS Charity Fund raised money to help a student from the Tshwane University of Technology to complete his tuition.
“Daniel Meledimo, a young gentleman from TUT, arrived on our first day of Idols South Africa set-up and to see if he could assist and gain valuable knowledge,” says Joshua, who has worked on Idols for the past eight years. “Daniel remained with us for the full duration; every day we were there he was there. He never asked for any payment. He was very grateful for the knowledge and experience.”
It was evident that he was an extremely hardworking and dedicated student with the right temperate and someone who would clearly do well in the industry.
“After chatting to Daniel I realised that he may have to drop out university as he could not afford to pay his outstanding account

Details
South Africa - Production company Rapid Blue produced the eighth season of SA’s Got Talent, with event technical specialists Blond Productions teaming up with production design company Visual Frontier for the first time.
“We decided to join together to do this, using the strength of Blond Productions’ technical delivery and the strength of my design capability for television,” explained Joshua Cutts, lighting designer from Visual Frontier. “We thought if we joined forces it would be a good exercise and in the end, it turned out to be very successful.”
There were two portions to SA’s Got Talent namely the auditions hosted at the UJ Theatre in Johannesburg and at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, and then the main televised competition held at The Soweto Theatre in Johannesburg.
Mauritz Neethling, general manager from Blond Productions,

Details
UK - Northampton-based full-service production company Stage Right Productions has recently extended their already considerable dBTechnologies inventory with the addition of the VIO 2-way line array system from dBTech’s UK distributor CUK Audio.
Part of the system is already deployed in the Deco theatre in Northampton for the annual star-studded pantomime. This year’s production of Peter Pan features Coronation Street’s Nick Cochrane as Smee, The Voice finalist Lydia Lucy as Wendy, Grange Hill’s Colin Ridgewell as Captain Hook, West End actor Chris Wills as Peter Pan, and Northampton’s own Naomi Wilkins as Tiger Lily.
Stage Right operates in a wide range of sectors in the event industry, from outdoor concerts, to corporate events to theatre shows. The company has been investing in dBTechnologies products for over 10 years and held

Details
New Zealand - Lighting rental company Oceania invested in 24 x X4 L LED heads from GLP that were used to support the British & Irish Lions’ rugby tour. Over six weeks the fixtures were ever present on all regional games and the three All Blacks tests.
At Auckland’s Eden Park, the company supplied all technical rigging, lighting, vision and sound equipment, technical management and crew, both in the venue spaces and the large fine dining 1,200 and 2,000-capacity party marquees on the practice ground, measured a colossal 400 sq.m. and 350 sq.m. respectively, requiring a lot of truss and expertise.
“The GLP X4 L and X4 Bars really impressed us both,” confirmed Oceania general manager, Simon Garrett. “The X4 L offers both workhorse and bling modes. A fast, very compact wash light with a source range from low to very high 10,000K colour temperature, giving so

Details
South Africa - Audio engineer Emily Adams, was working on Pieter Toerien’s previous production, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, when asked to do Evita, the original West End and Broadway production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical which premiered at Montecasino Teatro in Johannesburg and recently moved to the Cape Town’s Artscape Theatre. It is to be followed by an Asia tour in 2018. Emily is operating the show on a DiGiCo SD7T.
It has been an considerable experience for Emily. “It’s my first production as head of department on a show of this scale. I started as a RF technician and I have done many shows at the Teatro Theatre, but I’ve always been the deputy head of sound and only mixed the occasional show, not actually running the show. This has been really challenging and I’ve loved every second of it so far.”

Details
Thailand - Fuzion Far East (FFE) has installed Nexo’s new Geo M10 mid-size line array at the Brighton College Bangkok.

A subsidiary of Brighton College UK, the newly-opened Bangkok college is the result of a collaborative partnership with the Ocean Group, a Thai company, led by the Assakul family. The school is housed on a 20-acre campus, and includes a purpose-built auditorium with facilities for music, art, dance and drama.

High ceilings and glass walkways characterise the Performance Arts Centre, a key part of the campus which houses a 620-seat theatre, dance studios, rooms for musical instruction and practice, art and design rooms, Mac suites and a traditional photography darkroom.

FFE recommended the newly-released Geo M10 line array for the PAC auditorium, designing a low-profile flown system which uses L/R arrays each with three Geo

Details
China - Taiwanese artist Huang Guolun recently brought his No Impossible show to China’s Beijing National Stadium.
Also known as the Bird’s Nest, it was fitted with an expansive system comprised of Adamson’s E-Series and S-Series loudspeakers that ensured sound coverage for every seat.
Yongjun ‘Park’ Li of Le’er Culture & Art Studio was the system designer and FOH engineer for the performance and explains that his choice to deploy Adamson for both the main house system and the delays covering the upper bowl was based on a few key factors.
“Adamson’s E-Series is very widely applicable, from studios and theatres to major indoor and outdoor stadiums, and I’ve found it excels in any application,” shares Li. “The E-Series has an incredible throw, with smooth highs, powerful mids, and low end that seemingly has infinite power. The syst

Details
UAE - Event technical production specialist Maestra’s UEA based operation, delivered rigging, staging, sound, lighting and video / AV for Blend Abu Dhabi, a special event to relaunch the YAS Marina Formula One circuit meeting space.
Attended by event organisers, production companies, suppliers, social influencers, media and other organizations and individuals from across the event spectrum, all with different interests in the world of live events, the pressure was on for Maestra’s team on site, led by project manager Aaron Merchant, to deliver something unique.
They co-ordinated technical production for four different areas, the main conference space, the pit garages, the reception area and entrance and the afterparty staged in the chic, rooftop Luna Lounge.
A stunning sculptural set design for the conference session’s stage was conceived by the YAS
  1. The Birchmere adds flexibility with Maverick Spots
  2. Kraftklub and Casper tour with Martin MLA
  3. First US install of Clair Brothers’ C12 speakers
  4. grandMA2 in control as Evita tours
  5. Nexo line arrays reinforce Battle of the Bands
  6. Capital Sound goes all digital for Emeli Sande
Page 421 of 461

Latest Issue. . .