UK - Recently, White Light was approached by BATS (Brantham Amateur Theatrical Society) who wanted to invest in a series lighting fixtures; both for their upcoming production of Guys and Dolls as well as all future productions.
The history of BATS dates back to 1972 when a drama subcommittee of the Community Council known as the Brantham Community Council Drama Group staged their first production. Ever since, it has regularly put on shows; all of them taking place at the Brantham Village Community Hall. The first show to be staged this year was Guys and Dolls, on which John Hoskyns was the musical director.
He comments: “Alongside my role as MD, whenever I’m working on a show, I always find myself becoming involved with the technical elements. Initially, this was just sound (alongside being a local GP, I also used to run a sound hire and sales compan

USA - Special Event Services (SES) has significantly expanded its Ayrton lighting inventory with additional purchases of Domino LT, Bora S, and Khamsin fixtures and further committed to the product line with large first-time investments in Perseo Beam, Diablo, and Zonda 9 FX lights. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton products in North America.
Headquartered in Mocksville, North Carolina, SES offers audio, lighting, design, video, staging, and live event production to a wide array of clients. The company has closely watched the growth of LED technology and set a goal of getting its lighting inventory as close to 100 percent LED as possible. While SES offers LED fixtures from several different manufacturers it has kept an eye on Ayrton and its new LED offerings.
“Ayrton became very attractive to us because, within one company, small to large size

USA - For Modest Mouse’s recent Lonesome Crowded West Tour, FOH Engineer Peter Thompson utilised Soundcraft audio control solutions.
Founded in Issaquah, Washington by singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and bassist Eric Judy, Modest Mouse is an influential indie rock band. While best known for their crossover hit Float On, the band has built a reputation for experimentation and overhauling their sound across every album, evolving from a post-grunge trio of high schoolers to a five-to-seven-piece band of violins, horns and percussionists.
For long-time fans, however, the band’s sophomore album The Lonesome Crowded West - a ramshackle collection of songs about the struggle for self-understanding in an increasingly urbanized, consumer-driven and chaotic world -remains their definitive work to this day.
To celebrate the album’s

USA - For the 2023 broadcast of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, lighting designer Lee Rose with supplier PRG selected and deployed a comprehensive range of Martin lighting solutions.
A network television staple since 1972, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve annually rings in the New Year with a varied roster of performers and guests alongside coverage of the festivities in New York, Los Angeles, and other cities throughout the globe.
The Los Angeles portions of this year’s special were filmed at two locations in Disneyland - Flo’s Diner in California Adventure and the Sleeping Beauty Castle -alongside the usual studio location, this year from Radford Studio Centre. Each location also featured performances by a wide variety of artists including singer Ciara, Halle Bailey of pop duo Chloe x Halle and K-Pop group Tomorrow X Together am

USA - Weekends With Adele, her residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, which comprises a five-month series of weekend-night shows between November 2022 and March of this year, is the next step in a singular career. Presenting Adele in an immersive-audio environment for the first time, and DiGiCo - in the form of two Quantum7 consoles supplied by Brit Row/Clair Global -are there with her to ‘assure a fantastic and flawless show’.
In true Vegas style, it’s a big show, says Dave Bracey, who has worked and toured with Adele for much of the last 10 years, after stints with Depeche Mode and the Cure in the 1990s, and later with Robbie Williams, Björk, Massive Attack, and P!NK, among others. Ten weeks into the weekends-only schedule they haven’t yet had to move out to let the venue be used by another production during their breaks, but he estimates that

UK - For the 25th annual MOBO (Music of Black Origin) Awards at Wembley, SJ Grevett had to incorporate a distinctive M-shaped trussing into his design. This trussing was configured in two levels, a softer, less pronounced M in the upper section that ran horizontally, and a sharper, more dramatic, and vertically oriented rendition of the letter below it.
Working with this M-and-M configuration, SJ turned the MOBO stage into a vibrant canvas that lent itself to limitless design possibilities for the award ceremony. “Having the M on the top horizontal was very good, and easy to work with,” he said “However, the lower truss rigging was interesting due to its M shape.”
These challenges were complicated further by a tight production schedule. SJ and his team had only three weeks to pull the design together, yet still managed to keep the M-shaped trussing over and on

Germany - The cabaret-style Cologne Stunksitzung is the original father of the ‘alternative carnival session’ and the largest format of its kind. From 7 December 2022 to 21 February 2023, 46 Stunksitzungen took place at the E-Werk venue, including a TV broadcast on the WDR channel.
The lighting technology for the Stunksitzungen was once again provided by the Cologne-based event and media technology service provider al-media. Together with lighting designer Jojo Tillmann, the team relied almost exclusively on Cameo spotlights.
The al-media firm has been active as a technical service provider for the Stunksitzungen for many years and is located in the immediate vicinity of the famous E-Werk and Palladium venues. In 2021 and 2022, al-media owner André Lyrmann invested in a broad Cameo portfolio ranging from Zenit W600 washlights to Opus SP-5 profile moving heads and

USA - Just outside the bustling Houston metropolis lies St. Mary Magdalene Catholic church. The church was established in 1912 and would hold Mass in the homes of its parishioners until a sanctuary was built and consecrated in 1915. Now home to a thriving congregation, St. Mary Magdalene conducts seven worship services each weekend, and its sanctuary supports up to 1200 people.
Stained glass windows depicting the 14 Stations of the Cross flank the sides, while an altar featuring an ornate carving of the Last Supper dominates the dais. The high-peaked, wood-panelled ceiling and other hard surfaces combined with an underpowered audio system resulted in low speech intelligibility, making it difficult for churchgoers to understand the worship service. Steerable loudspeaker arrays from Renkus-Heinz were installed in the church to improve intelligibility and enhance worship experi

Australia - Melbourne Catholic secondary college St Peter’s recently opened a new performing arts centre, designed by international theatre consultancy Schuler Shook. Located alongside its Clyde North campus in the south-east of the city, the Geode Centre features a full complement of pro-level AV technology solutions designed and integrated by local supplier/installer Factory Sound, including a Nexo Geo M12 line array system.
Working closely with St Peter’s College, the team at Factory Sound were brought in early within the design process to evolve a technical fitout which would serve the school’s intentions for the space whilst ensuring budgets were always under consideration. Working directly for the school over the 18 months prior to construction meant many of the pitfalls which can occur when tech is considered ‘just another trade’ were avoided entirely. Facto

USA - First Baptist Church Woodstock (FBCW) is no stranger to major undertakings. Spanning three centuries, the church’s current 16,000-member congregation worship in a 7,500-seat worship centre in its 435,000sq.ft building on an 80-acre campus in the North Georgia town of Woodstock twice each Sunday.
Last year, FBCW notably became the site of the world’s largest permanent installation of L-ISA immersive sound technology, which is paired with DiGiCo Quantum338 consoles at front of house and monitors. Now, the church has embraced immersive mixing in the house and in the ears with its December addition of a DMI-KLANG module, supplied by the church’s integration partner, Diversified.
FBCW’s monitoring landscape is certainly an ambitious one. Every Sunday, there are two completely distinct worship experiences. The first, starting at 9:30am, is choir-driven with a s

Germany - Huelva, Spain-based manufacturer of LED screens Alfalite has supplied its Modularpix Pro VP XR panels with ORIM technology to build a 120sq.m L-shaped LED wall in Plazamedia’s new Extended Reality (XR) studio, which has just been opened near Munich.
Plazamedia has been the leading sports TV producer in the German-speaking region since 1976. Its new briX|woRk.studio, located in AGROB Medienpark in Ismaning near Munich, will offer new and diverse application possibilities for innovative and sustainable productions with a combination of XR, AR and VR for film and production companies, broadcasters, advertising companies and event and creative agencies.
briX|woRk.studio is one of Germany’s most innovative studios. It combines real set architecture with virtual worlds via the 24m- wide and 5m-high LED wall and can be expanded into a 360° space through augmen

Norway - The story of Hitler’s first defeat in the Second World War is depicted in the new Netflix film, Narvik. This is named after the small town in Northern Norway where the Norwegian army and the Allies fought and won the first battle against Germany.
The world premiere was held in Narvik itself with a big outdoor cinema especially created in the town square, which was free for everyone. The realism of the battle, and the associated sound effects, were authentically captured by a Martin Audio Wavefront Precision line array deployment in 5.1 surround, in a completely unique and unprecedented production.
Stein Hjertholm from the event production company All-In, originally contacted Thomas Nordvik Olsen from Audiolight in Harstad and he, in turn, asked if Øystein Wierli, head of sound at Atendi, Martin Audio’s Norwegian distributor, could act as consultant

UAE - A zactrack real-time tracking system was specified and used to control over 400 moving lights for the 51st United Arab Emirates National Day ceremony which featured creative direction and design by Es Devlin and was produced by People Creative.
The show was directed by Francisco Negrin, Gavin Robins & Bryn Walters, with lighting for this high-profile production designed by Bruno Poet, with associate designers Max Narula & Johanne Jensen.
A special tunnel shaped auditorium was designed by Es Devlin specially curated for the location at ADNEC in Abu Dhabi. The epic 45-minute show featured a full-scale parade and a stylishly choreographed cast of over 3000, including 1000 military personnel and 1000 children, which highlighted the history, values, achievements, and future visions of the UAE.
This fusion of colour, movement and drama was broadcast and

UK - Audiologic has detailed their work with ABC AV to launch a new permanent space themed immersive experience at The National Space Centre. Prepared to launch on a low Earth orbit cruise with Tetrastar Spaceport, visitors accidentally find themselves on a rescue mission to Mars. The team must work together to retrieve important research, survive disaster, and escape back to Earth.
Tetrastar Spaceport combines immersive theatre, actors, realistic set design, projection mapping, spatial audio, real-time interactive content, motion seats and hands-on interactives with immersive storytelling.
The 300m2 experience plays out across four main zones with 10 additional themed spaces allowing four concurrent pulses of 20 person groups. 11 projectors, 47 screens, 45 speakers, 50 media servers and computers, and 15k mapped RGBW LED pixels are seamlessly blended into the intricat

Belgium - October 2022 saw the release of the film Zillion, an account of the notoriously decadent club in Antwerp, Belgium that became ‘the’ place to be in the late ’90’s.
Created by Frank Verstraeten, Zillion included all the things Verstraeten felt other clubs lacked, particularly in the visual element. Using the most technologically advanced fixtures of the time, his club boasted moving lights, atmospheric lighting FX and elements of a budding AV phenomena. The ingenuity and innovation of the original driving concept at Zillion has found a soulmate in the creativity at the heart of Ayrton lighting products.
As the owner of the rental company Pixelbeam, Verstraeten now has a big fleet of Ayrton fixtures from which he supplied 250 fixtures to The Creative Factory (T.C.F.) to get creative with on a series of parties that accompanied the film’s

Belgium - In a city that’s famous for its breweries, the people of Leuven certainly know how to throw a party. The capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant welcomed in the new year with a free event for 10,000 people in the Oude Markt, featuring DJ sets from a stage in the centre of the square.
With the audience located on both sides, an STM sound system deployed by long-time Nexo rental partner VDB-PA was required to cover two distinct areas. System designer Lennert Van de Velde takes up the story of how the VDB team took on the challenge. “Controlling the coverage and focussing the low frequencies were important at such an event, with strict decibel limits outside the immediate area. So, we used Nexo NS-1 to design the system and predict SPL coverage with a large audience filling the square.
“The system comprised nine STM M28 per side for the

UK - At the end of last year, H&M unveiled its newly redesigned flagship store on London's Regent Street, featuring generative artwork displayed on a double 4k resolution LED screen from Leyard Europe.
One of Europe’s largest indoor LED screens, it was installed by London-based LEDTek Solutions. The LED screen, which frames a set of escalators and fills the entire rear wall of the store, has been designed to showcase a series of progressive and stylish digital materials that complement the aesthetic of the brand and act as an extension of the H&M’s elevated architecture, encouraging people to enter the store when seen from afar.
Created by London-based design and technology studio Hirsch & Mann in collaboration with H&M and with the support of the Creative Coding company Variable, this system continuously evolves throughout the day by responding to

The Netherlands - Popular Dutch TV quiz show De Grote Gezondheidsquiz saw celebrities go head-to-head in a battle of health-related knowledge, playing in a specially designed set lit by warm, rich colours and sharp white contestant spotlights.
Production and lighting design company DETS Creative were tasked with delivering the studio set and lighting solution, choosing to use Vari-Lite VL5LED Wash, VL800 EventWash and VL2600 Series luminaires from Signify.
The show was recorded in Studio Baarn, in the Dutch town of the same name, produced by Medialane and broadcast live on the SBS6 channel. DETS Creative has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the TV studio, and they were asked to deliver full set design and development, including lighting, video and décor as well as all technical drawings and technical preparations. DETS Creative collaborated with Studio

Belgium - Namur Grand Manège Concert Hall recently opened its doors following a major three-year renovation project. The ambitious €20m redesign transformed a historic military riding school into a modern cultural centre featuring an intimate 800-capacity auditorium, made exceptional by its acoustics and soundproofing.
The venue’s AV team had only considered a traditional left/right sound system, but they were so impressed with L-Acoustics’ L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound that the technology has become the centrepiece of the venue’s audio system.
Situated in Namur’s city centre, the renovated Concert Hall hosts two complementary cultural institutions, the Centre of Vocal Art and Ancient Music (CAV&MA) and the Conservatoire Balthasar-Florence de Namur music school. It will also serve as a home for the city’s world-renowned ensembles, including the Namu

USA - Over the last weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs again found themselves in the Super Bowl spotlight, with the team’s quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, earning his second career Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) title. For Shure, the MVPs were the veteran audio engineers and sound technicians who managed the broadcasts of Super Bowl LVII and NFL Honours with the support of Axient Digital Wireless Systems and PSM 1000 Advanced In-Ear Personal Monitoring Systems, which delivered flawless audio to a record-setting 113m viewers worldwide.
ATK Audiotek and Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) handled all wireless microphones and IEM systems for the pre-game entertainment, halftime entertainment and referees, as well as the NFL Honours broadcast. The team included broadcast mixer Tom Holmes, monitor mixer Tom Pesa, RF engineers Cameron Stuckey, Kasey Gchachu, and Gary Trenda,

USA - Michael Grabarczyk is a freelance audio technician and an early adopter of Outline’s Newton FPGA-based processor. In recent years he has handled system tech duties for US guitarist Joe Bonamassa, working with Mike Lavielle at FOH and an L-Acoustics K2 system provided by SES (Special Event Services).
Bonamassa spends a great deal of time on the road and plays a wide range of venues, from large outdoor spaces to venues such as London’s Royal Albert Hall, to ‘blues cruises’ on ships and even club dates in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, presenting a continuous range of challenges to his sound crew.
Michael reports, “The Newton has replaced multiple other units, both in my drive rack at FOH and in amp racks, to accomplish all the same processes in a 1RU rack device. The functionality and I/O in such a small package is seriously impressive
“Given the vas

The Netherlands - Today, the clang of hammers and buzz of milling machines can no longer be heard at the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM Grounds), but the site still resonates with powerful, soul-shaking sounds as the home of the Rotterdam Rave festivals.
The same characteristics that shipbuilders prized in the RDM Grounds, make them ideal for reflecting the raw, industrial power of rave music. At the recent Rotterdam Rave festival, Berend Janssen of Powerproductions drew on this heritage to transform the entire building into one immersive and very intense panorama. Helping him to do this, RF Shows supplied Berend with 42 Chauvet Professional fixtures, along with six Vesuvio foggers.
Jeroen Kwakernaak, who has designed Rotterdam Rave events in the past, knows the technical producer and lightning designer, Berend Janssen, very well. They've been working togethe

Spain - IFELOR is a large, new trade fair and conference centre recently opened in Lorca, a city in the region of Murcia in the south-east of Spain. The new building includes the Margarita Lozano auditorium, which benefits from lighting by Showtec and Infinity thanks to supplier Soniles Technology. Industrias Maquiescenic (Retom) took care of the installation.
The official opening of IFELOR took place on 30 December 2022 with a sold-out performance in the auditorium by the 70-strong, Film Symphony Orchestra who performed their show Krypton. Many important figures attended the opening including the mayor of Lorca, Diego José Mateos, who stressed the new building’s importance to the local economy.
A total of 14,823sq.m containing three exhibition halls, three conference halls, an auditorium and a large terrace make the venue suitable for all sorts of events. Fo

USA - A recent concert by Israeli trio of tenors Kol Esperanza at the Spanish River Church in Boca Raton, Florida, featured guest artists, and an orchestra, performing a far-reaching variety of songs, ranging from Disney medleys to Jewish folk classics, and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
Adding to the performance was a Clifford Michael Spulock lighting design that reflected the spirit of each song with an elegantly balanced mix of colours.
Using a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue R2X Spot fixtures supplied by Nick Sallah, and the team at Steadlight, Spulock covered the stage with a rich variety of hues that complemented the lush images shown on a central projection video wall.
“Each song had its own theme and videos that went along with it,” he said. “I used the projections as a template to choose my colour palette in order to compliment or co

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