USA - As the most watched American television broadcast of the year with over 114m viewers tuning in for the big game, various network coverage of the Super Bowl begins hours and days before the kick-off.
The job of providing robust communications to both the premier American football network and game broadcast network was given to audio and coms specialists CP Communications for the NBC broadcast and AY Productions for NFL Network. To overcome the RF communication challenges associated with Super Bowl XVI’s RF demands and SoFi Stadium’s tough RF environment and to provide consistent coverage with the multitude of wireless intercom users, both companies turned to Pliant Technologies’ CrewCom wireless intercom system.
Pliant has provided equipment and support for the event for the past five years. “This year was the first time three separate CrewCom systems, us

USA - Iration topped the Billboard Reggae Albums chart with their very first recording, No Time for Rest. More than a decade later, the title of that debut LP would serve as an apt metaphor for the band’s appearance at the mammoth Cali Vibes Festival on Long Beach.
Given the large number of reggae artists who performed at the three-day event, setup time was very limited. Iration’s production crew had only 15 minutes to get their tour package in place on the 60ft circumference rotating stage, before it swung out and the semi-circle they were labouring on faced the crowd at Marina Green Park.
The hectic pace didn’t do anything to dampen the relaxed upbeat vibe of this Hawaiian born group and its ‘sunshine reggae’ sound. Matching them note for note was a Cullen Noon lighting design that featured Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by LIT Lighting.

USA - David Byrne’s American Utopia has earned acclaim as a Grammy-nominated record, a sell-out concert tour, an HBO film directed by Spike Lee, and finally, a Tony Award-winning Broadway production in a split run. The first engagement, at the intimate Hudson Theatre, ended its performances in February 2020 and a second run at the larger St. James Theatre opened in September 2021. For both productions, Meyer Sound Leopard line array loudspeakers were selected to anchor the main audio systems.
Visually and aurally, American Utopia is atypical of Broadway. There is no set, and for music there is no isolated ‘pit’ band relying on click tracks and pre-records. Instead, all music is played live on the stage by an ensemble (including Byrne) of 12 musicians/vocalists, with six on percussion and all 12 on vocal mics. Everybody is completely mobile using wireless

USA - The Nashville Predators made history in 2022 as part of the first-ever outdoor NHL game in Tennessee. Nearly 70,000 fans joined the festivities as the Predators took on the Tampa Bay Lightning at Nissan Stadium for the 2022 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series.
Bandit Lites provided the lighting system for the three musical stages, which included performances by country music superstars Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley, as well as lighting the hockey player introductions and national anthem.
Veteran lighting designer Mark Carver worked to design a system that would strike the balance of providing broadcast quality video for the NHL television broadcast while also having the ability to lay flat on the field to not obstruct the audience view of the hockey rink.
“As we began the initial logistics of the cabling and data distribution, we were all a

Canada - Live Dans Ton Salon (Live In Your Living Room), is a livestream entertainment venue that occupies a converted warehouse in the Montreal suburb of Chambly. It was created at the start of the pandemic as a means of providing people with professional quality livestreamed performances they could enjoy at home.
Although some might have seen this as a ‘temporary’ solution during a crisis, the overwhelming response to the studio’s wide mix of livestreamed programming indicates that Live Dans Ton Salon is committed to remaining a vibrant force in the entertainment scene long into the future.
The level of this commitment is evident in the growth of the busy venue’s lighting rig. In June 2020 this production space was outfitted with 32 fixtures. Today that number is 138, featuring Chauvet Professional Maverick, Rogue, Ovation, and COLORado units supplied by On S

USA - Over the past four decades, Spectrum Sound has grown to become one of the country’s leading suppliers of pro audio equipment rentals and production services. In tandem with that growth, the Nashville-based company has steadily been investing in DiGiCo mixing consoles, starting with its first pair of compact SD9 desks purchased for MercyMe’s Welcome to the New tour in 2014.
Over the recent pandemic downtime, while many companies were downsizing, Spectrum conversely chose to embrace DiGiCo’s new Quantum platform in a major way with the purchase of multiple Quantum7, Quantum338 and Quantum225 desks, adding to its already impressive fleet of DiGiCo consoles.
“DiGiCo’s SD7 has long been considered the touring sound industry’s premier console, and with the availability of the powerful Quantum engine, a number of our clients were specifically asking for the

Australia - United Cinemas recently upgraded their flagship facility at Warriewood with advanced JBL Professional cinema audio solutions.
Located just north of Sydney in Warriewood, United Cinemas is a seven-screen multiplex cinema that offers a premium movie-watching experience. In order to provide an immersive cinematic experience for movie-goers, United Cinemas required audio systems capable of delivering clear, intelligible sound and balanced coverage in every seat of its main theatre space, the Grand Theatre. To achieve this, the facility acquired a selection of JBL Professional and Crown cinema audio solutions.
“We wanted to enhance the listening experience of the 650-plus capacity Grand Cinema theatre,” comments Roy Mustaca, chairman at United Cinemas. “We selected JBL and Crown solutions for their simple-yet-effective configuration and routing capabilitie

Malaysia - Located just outside the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, the Crystal Lounge provides a prestigious venue in which to showcase the Bawal Exclusive range of luxury headscarfs, known for their Swarovski crystal embellishments. Part of the visitor experience is a carefully curated music playlist, delivered through a high-quality sound system, achieving even coverage throughout the dramatic interior space.
When considering its design, it was clear the sound system at the Crystal Lounge needed to make its presence felt sonically, while keeping its visual impact to an absolute minimum.
The owners turned to Kuala Lumpur-based AV technology specialists Concept Associates, who concluded that Nexo’s ultra-compact ID14 would be the right speaker for the job.
Measuring just 130mm x 130mm x 120mm and weighing only 1.7kg, the ID14 employs a single custom-designed

UK - A world-first performance underpinned by 5G technology has taken place involving artists located at three UK music venues: Metropolis Studios, the O2 Blueroom at The O2, and Brighton Dome. The festival experience was held to celebrate the climax of the 5G Festival project.
Over the last two years, nine organisations have worked collectively with Digital Catapult to explore the untapped potential of 5G for the live music industry and provide a blueprint for how technology could play a key role in the future of the sector, including Audiotonix, Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival, LiveFrom, Mativision, Metropolis Studios, Sonosphere, Virgin Media O2, and Warner Music Group, as part of the wider £200m DCMS 5G Testbeds & Trials Programme.
Taking place simultaneously across the three venues, more than 20 musicians performed together in a concert, showcasing th

Spain - The Euskalgym International Rhythmic Gymnastics Gala is an annual non-competitive celebration which brings the sport’s brightest and best names from around the world to the BEC Arena in Barakaldo, Bilbao.
More commonly known simply as Euskalgym Gala, the event’s organiser was forced to cancel the 2020 edition due the global pandemic, meaning anticipation was running especially high when it made its return in November 2021.
Regional events company Tarima Technical Solutions was tasked with ensuring that the event’s sound production was every bit as impressive as the gymnasts’ performances.
With performances taking place in the centre of the 11,500-seat arena, surrounded on all sides by eager spectators, the audio system needed to ensure that both onlookers and participants benefitted from clear, precise coverage. In addition, it needed to be physic

UK - Bosch Building Technologies has installed a digital public address and voice alarm system at Telford Shopping Centre. On 25 acres of commercial space, the IP-based Praesensa system from Bosch now provides music, announcements, and emergency alerts for retail stores, restaurants, as well as hotels and a cinema.
The shopping mall operator was looking to upgrade the existing public address system with a future-proof and IP-networked solution for retail environments with two key requirements: Heightening the centre’s sustainability and energy efficiency while keeping costs for the upgrade low.
Working with these requirements, Bosch partner North AVS refurbished all existing loudspeakers installed at Telford Centre across 16 zones via minor modifications on the end lines. As a result, system integrators merely needed to replace the obsolete control equipment - includ

USA - Chip Self, owner of Logic Systems, likes to follow his own rules. Creativity, he believes, tends to flourish more intensely that way. “The very first thing I do with every fixture is find a way to use it wrong,” he says. “For example, I find that traditional, lighting angles get really predictable and boring - very quickly. So, I strive to be unpredictable. It keeps the audience guessing and interested.”
Self put this design philosophy into practice recently at the Pageant Theatre when he deployed a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures in distinctive ways to light St. Louis rockers Pale Divine.
The concert marked the 30th anniversary of the release of Pale Devine’s first album. It also saw the band reunite with its former lead guitarist Richard Fortus of Guns’N’Roses fame. Self reflected the personas of the artists on stage by accentuating ea

Australia - A new initiative and a first for Australia, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO) recently transported the performance out of the concert hall and into the outdoors to present the Festival of Orchestra (FOFO), a six-concert series celebrating a mix of musical genres.
Supported by the Australian government’s RISE Fund and technical partner, Novatech Creative Event Technology, the event was staged at the Adelaide Showground, with the stage for the 5,000-capacity central arena fitted with three large LED screens in different configurations throughout the six concerts. Brompton Technology’s LED processing was deployed throughout, giving a sense of visual grandeur to the stunning music performances.
Established in 1936, ASO is South Australia’s largest performing arts organisation, with a membership of 75 world-class musicians, renowned for a diverse and v

Canada - The hit series Revolution, airing on TVA and the biggest dance competition ever broadcast by Quebec television, used Claypaky Xtylos to showcase the dynamic moves of the dancers facing off against each other for a $100,000 cash prize.
“From a lighting perspective, the idea that we ran with for the show was to be consistent with other contemporary dance shows while also leaning into more variety because contemporary dance doesn’t always lend itself well to mass television audiences,” explains lighting designer Jonathan Barro.
“Revolution prides itself on presenting different styles of dance going head-to-head, so we wanted to create a space where all these dancers could express themselves in the best way possible. With that in mind, we got into the specific movements of the dancers and landed on the name Revolution, which stems from

Romania - The Steaua Stadium is a new, multi-purpose stadium located in the Ghencea neighbourhood of Bucharest. With a 31,000-spectator capacity, it’s the home of CSA Steaua Bucuresti and is now the largest sports complex in the country.
A replacement for the outdated stadium, the new venue was used by the North Macedonia team during preparations for UEFA Euro 2020, before being officially inaugurated in the summer of 2021 with a football match between Steaua and OFK Beograd.
The contractor for the Steaua Stadium chose an LED lighting system from Philips Signify, featuring 252 Arena Vision LED DMX and 152 Uni Flood RGBNW fixtures. The lighting control system comprises an LPC 1 (Lighting Playback Controller 1) and a TPC (Touch Panel Controller) from Pharos Architectural Controls. The LPC 1 offers 512 channels of DMX/eDMX, while the TPC offers 512 channels of eDMX for

Germany - From corporate meetings to formal galas, the Congress Centrum Ulm in Southern Germany, is a destination venue for a wide range of science, economic and cultural events. The centre’s 11,500sq.ft, 1,500-seat Einstein Saal, or Einstein Hall, and the foyer of the Congress Centrum Ulm (CCU) recently underwent a sound system re-design with Renkus-Heinz ICLive loudspeakers playing an integral role for a smart, future-proof audio upgrade.
Named after Albert Einstein, who was born in Ulm in 1879, the CCU’s Einstein Hall features a movable stage and proscenium for use as an orchestra pit or stage extension. The venue’s vast wood-panelled walls, towering ceiling and tiered balconies create a stunning view toward the main stage. While architecturally appealing, these characteristics lead to acoustic challenges.
With the new audio system, the city of Ulm, property

UK - Back To The Future, Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard’s popular musical is currently playing London’s Adelphi Theatre, delighting audiences with a spectacular hi-energy production in a show produced by Colin Ingram and his team and directed by John Rando.
Award-winning lighting designer Tim Lutkin and lighting consultant Hugh Vanstone worked closely together and specified a zactrack SMART automated follow system for the show, which allows single and multiple lighting fixtures to be selected and to follow actors and dancers using a combination of tag-and-anchor and UWB (Ultra-Wide-Band) real-time radio tracking technology. This package brings considerable flexibility to the production.
In addition to enabling specific lights to be used as remote follow spots, activated from the console cues for precise moments, Tim has developed a style and creative treat

UK - The Version 2 team at the Old Grain Store HQ will cross hands to show their support for International Women’s Day on Tuesday, 8 March.
The pose ties in with this year’s theme, Break the Bias, which promotes a world of gender equality, free of stereotypes and discrimination. The annual International Women’s Day event celebrates women’s achievements from political and economic to social and sport.
"Version 2 is especially proud to be ‘shining a light on women’s sport’ through partnerships with Saracens Women’s rugby and Saracens Mavericks netball team, as well as the sponsorship of WBO World Champion Boxer Savannah Marshall," says the company.
“There has been a fundamental change in media coverage of women’s sport in recent years with increased programming allocated to matches.” says Nick Edwards, Version 2 managing director.

UK - The Drumsheds signalled the end of its tenure as a temporary venue in London with a series of sold out 10,000-capacity shows, staged by Method Events for Broadwick Live.
The venue, which is situated in Enfield, North London, consists of four lofty warehouses on a previously derelict, 10-acre industrial site. It was procured on a temporary lease in summer 2019 by Broadwick Live, who entrusted the delivery of several high-profile shows and a festival at the venue to Method Events. The lease has now been returned to Enfield Council, which is redeveloping the site as part of its £6bn, 25-year Meridian Water regeneration programme.
Over the past three years, Method Events have delivered a number of different shows at The Drumsheds. These included Field Day festival in 2019, and a series of summer festivals in 2021 headlined by Above & Beyond, Defected and Pendulum

Australia - Riverlinks Theatre, the largest civic theatre in Shepparton in northern Victoria hosts various weekly events: from touring bands and musicians to exhibitions and banquets. The flexible venue possesses a balcony above a retractable seating system that holds 825 theatre-goers or 450 banquet guests. The venue located two hours north of Melbourne recently installed a brand-new PA system to accommodate its versatile range of events.
Around the mid-2010s, Matt Schroeders, technical manager of Riverlinks Theatre, knew that the old system was starting to become a liability to the theatre’s regular event production objectives and its users. Schroeders developed a replacement proposal for the Greater Shepparton Council, which owns and runs the theatre, but it was initially rejected. Determined, Schroeders persevered, revising his proposal with further details about the t

Japan - Located in Japan’s Umeda commercial district of Kita-ku, next to Umeda Osaka Station, Hep is a major shopping mall and entertainment centre.
Within the mall, dominated by a bright, giant red ferris wheel overlooking the sights of Kansai region and the huge whale monument in the atrium, is the Hep Five fashion site. This is one of 160 stores and casual restaurants, as well as a combination of amusement and entertainment facilities.
Up on the eighth floor of the building is Hep Hall, a theatre space which recently upgraded its technical infrastructure, Martin Audio's CDD-Live being the preferred PA system.
Hep Hall manager, Mr Marui (from management company D Jam Create) explained the reason for the upgrade. "Hep Hall has been popular as a theatre venue for a long time. However, since the previous permanently installed loudspeakers were a fixed L/R prosce

France - After a recent move to La Joliette district, the Jesuit community of Marseille required an audio system for their newly built chapel and adjoining conference room which is housed on the ground floor of their five-storey building, which also hosts private habitations.
The Jesuits were so impressed by Ecclesia Sound’s recent sound upgrade in their Saint-Ferréol church in Marseille - which also boasts Active Audio column speakers - that they trusted again the system integrator with their chapel.
For this project, Ecclesia Sound had the luxury of fitting the cabling prior to construction, ensuring the chapel’s aesthetic would not be compromised: “I got on the project in October 2020, exactly one year before the delivery of the site,” states Joachim Fritsch, acoustic engineer and founder of Ecclesia Sound. “I was able to redraw the original wiring plans,

UK - When AV technology provider Anna Valley held its 2022 showcase at Tobacco Dock in London’s Docklands, it relied on a number of partners to ensure that this Event Odyssey - designed to reveal the techniques and tools now required in an ever-evolving event landscape - was conducted in not only a high impact environment, but also a safe and sanitised one.
This was vital as visitors were guided through a number of environments, exploring the possibilities that extended reality, motion capture, holographic projection and other audio-visual solutions have to offer.
Providing this assurance to attendees during the week-long showcase were Entec UVC SafeClean - a recent start-up by the Entec Group. They provided a suite of products to ensure not only the purification of air transmission but also that all surfaces were cleaned and all pathogens removed. These inclu

UAE - More than 70 Christie laser projectors are helping to inspire visitors in Mission Possible - The Opportunity Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. Bringing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) to life, the interactive exhibition journey addresses the most fundamental global challenges of our time and sheds light on what can be achieved when individuals and communities work together. A total of 72 Christie laser projectors were installed to deliver engaging visuals throughout.
Guests are greeted by an introductory video that sets the scene for the pavilion and the visitor journey ahead. The pavilion is then divided into three ‘tracks’, each focusing on one of three essential needs: water, food and energy. Visitors are guided by the stories of three individuals (guides) in each track whose actions were implemented with minimal resources yet had a life-changing impact.

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