Projects

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USA - The San Francisco Opera utilised a complement of Ayrton Perseo-S fixtures when it brought opera back to town in a COVID-safe outdoor production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. Ayrton Perseo is the first compact, multi-function luminaire with an IP65 enclosure rating developed for intensive outdoor use.
The Barber of Seville, directed by Matthew Ozawa, ran from 23 April - 15 May at Marin Centre, 15 minutes from San Francisco, where the audience pulled up their cars alongside the lagoon with the beautiful hills of Marin in the background. They watched the production, on a custom-built stage with soaring LED videowalls, from their vehicles.
“We have staged concerts before in Golden Gate Park, but nothing to this extent has been produced outside in the three years I have been with the company,” notes Justin Partier, lighting director for the

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UK - Based in Glasgow, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a world-leading conservatoire of music, drama, dance, production and film. Founded in 1847, it now has more than 1,300 students studying undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and, pre-COVID, staged over 600 live performances across its professional venues throughout the year. It recently opened a new rehearsal and performance space for its students and approached White Light (WL) to provide the lighting equipment.
As part of its COVID-19 response plan, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland realised that building occupancy numbers and social distancing were going to play a key part in ensuring it could continue to deliver technical training and support to all its students. The decision was made to transfer a rehearsal studio into a new, fully-equipped performance space that would allow both performance and productio

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The Netherlands - Lighting, audio and rigging for the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) was delivered and co-ordinated by leading Netherlands rental specialist Ampco Flashlight, and for lighting control, this included 14 grandMA3 light consoles and 32 active grandMA3 processing units (PUs) used by production lighting designer Henk-Jan van Beek of visual design practice Light-H-Art and his team.
Henk-Jan created a spectacular design that enabled each of the 39 entries participating in the 2021 contest - which also included two televised semi-finals - to have a distinct and dynamic look utilising over 1,800 (main show floor and key) moving lights and LED luminaires from multiple brands, plus over 500 universes of LED tape running via two Green Hippo media servers.
In addition to the real lights in the space, some augmented reality elements featured in the broadcast invo

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UK - Philip French and his team from Peachy Productions lit Guildford Cathedral resplendent green - using Robe Pointes and LEDBeam 150 moving lights - to mark Surrey Day 2021, one of several celebratory events happening around the county led by Visit Surrey and their media partners BBC Radio Surrey and Surrey Life magazine.
It was the second Surrey Day in which Peachy Productions has been involved. The company has many strong ties to the city and the area, and was keen to participate in promoting Surrey, which is known for its natural beauty, woodlands, and wildlife habitats among many other attributes.
Having lit the Cathedral on several occasions last year, including in support of the National Health Service and other frontline workers battling the pandemic and also to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the Peachy crew were delighted to be back on top of St

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Poland - The debut of the new Mercedes-Benz EQA vehicle in Poland took place in April, with Kukoni and Robimy Live supplying sound and lighting equipment, cameras and streaming systems.
Kukoni supplied a range of Prolights equipment, including 16 Air5Fan, 12 Stark 1000, eight Ruby, 20 Lumipix 12QTour, six Sunblast 3000FC, one Mosaico, 18 SmartBat Plus, 18 TrussPod3 Bat and 18 Solar 27Q, with design by Kuba Czarnik.
“Our main goal was to create a spatial effect to win the emotions of our viewers watching the event online,” says Miłosz Łapiński, manager at Kukoni. “We placed the Air5Fan on all sides of the stage area, where the car would drive in. We then placed the Sunblast 3000FC fixtures behind the car, proving a powerful colour punch as it would come in through a mist of smoke.”
The Stark 1000 washes provided front white-light to the presenters and

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Zimbabwe - Blessing Bero, Tatenda Gaylord Rushwaya, and the rest of the Events Evolution team faced a formidable task recently when they worked a noon to 8pm pay-for-view show by platinum Epic Records star Benjamin Dube.
A noted South African gospel singer (he performed at Nelson Mandela’s Freedom of the City Award presentation), Dube was joined by a large group of other performers on stage. This helped the Events Evolution team achieve the diverse looks they were after. Also contribution to the variety, was a flexible lighting rig that included 11 Maverick MK2 Spot, four Rogue R2 Spot and four Rogue R2 Wash fixtures, plus a Net-X node from Chauvet Professional.
“We created a wide range of backgrounds with our videos and the rainbow of colours we were able to get from our lighting fixtures matched them all,” said Rushwaya, who programmed the show and ran the vide

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Saudi Arabia - Jeddah provided the start and finish lines for the 2021 Dakar Rally, while its King Abdullah Sports City Stadium - 30 kilometres north of the bustling port city - was the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies which included a special show complete with soundtracks by Daft Punk, other cultural performance segments and a host of media events and live broadcasts including the winner presentations. Each of the two events comprised around 10 hours of consecutive airtime in total.
French creative lighting practice Concept K was invited by Paris-based Leap Creative Studio and Blink Experience’s Dubai office to create a production lighting design for the two ceremonies. Their brief also included direction of lighting for the cameras and integration of the set and scenic elements and video screens into a single visual picture for the events which were attende

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USA - Audio Engineers of Detroit has opened a new recording studio in midtown Detroit with a 32-channel Neve Genesys Black console at the heart of its main control room.
The studio provides many different recording services, including commercial voice over, podcasts, music recording, mixing in stereo, 5.1 up to Dolby Atmos, audio restoration, location sound and audio-visual services. Running alongside this commercial work, Audio Engineers of Detroit also offers an education programme that teaches students the skills and techniques needed to follow a career in professional audio.
“Some years ago, I had the pleasure of mixing on a vintage Neve console and fell in love with the sound,” says Mike Kinnie, founder and vice president of Audio Engineers of Detroit. “We wanted that Neve sound for the new studio and we also wanted a console that had DAW control so it made

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The Netherlands - ESC official technical supplier, Ampco Flashlight of Utrecht, supplied a large number of Ayrton Huracán-X, Karif-LT and MiniPanel-FX LED fixtures for the 65th Eurovision Song Contest at the Rotterdam Ahoy Arena, at the request of ESC head of lighting, Henk-Jan van Beek of Light-H-art.
With some 39 countries and 55 scenes to create and programme different looks for, van Beek needed fixtures that would give him a lot of variety and used the ‘trilogy’ of Ayrton fixtures for three different purposes.
“Huracán-X is our workhorse,” says van Beek. “We chose it because it gave us all the power, possibilities and creativity in one fixture and we used every feature of it.”
180 Huracán-X were rigged over the main and B-stages where 40 of them were mounted on extendable drop arms, and on three levels around the auditorium from where they wer

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UK - Pro audio solutions provider Audiologic is working alongside Probrand to deliver a remote learning solution for Arden University.
Arden University is a higher education institution with approximately 10,000 students. It focuses on providing access to flexible learning for ambitious students of all ages around the world and provides a mixture of distance (online) and on-campus teaching services at five UK sites and one in Berlin.
Arden has expanded its learning opportunities from an exclusively distance-learning model to a blended online and on-site model in 2017, but shortly after the pandemic struck in March, the team realised that it would require a different technical solution.
The University wanted to continue its on-campus learning service when classes restarted in September 2020. Rob Palfreman, IT director at Arden, explains: "We were committed to pro

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USA - Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and actress Miley Cyrus performed between games of the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Tournament Final Four, which was aired on the CBS network. Her performance paid tribute to frontline workers and their continued service and sacrifices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lighting designer Otis Howard called on over 500 light fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment in a design that used modern technology to create a dazzling, elevated 1970s rock & roll show for the superstar.
Included in this mix were close to 200 Chauvet Professional COLORado 2 Solo fixtures. The par style wash units, which are fitted with three 40W RGBW LEDs, were positioned directly behind Miley Cyrus along with 44 LED panels.
The creative inspiration for the Miley Cyrus team for the lighting design was from early rock shows like Queen and Led

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USA - Families from across Georgia watched in in May as a spectacular firework display and 180-strong drone show by Verge Aero lit up the sky to mark Armed Forces Day.
The annual Thunder Over Evans event returned for 2021 following the relaxation of COVID restrictions, offering an opportunity for the community to come together to honor members of the armed forces. Event producers were keen to go the extra mile and supplement their traditional firework display with drones, ramping up the visual spectacle using Verge Aero’s sophisticated control capabilities.
The result was a choreographed vision of colourful and dynamic firework explosions and drone imagery as Verge Aero’s fleet flew the US flag, spelt out ‘U-S-A’, and military logos from all five services, all synced to an accompanying soundtrack.
“We've been doing our Armed Forces celebration for over

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USA - Christie Spyder X80 multi-windowing processors are helping to deliver a new fan experience at the Phoenix Suns Arena. As part of a massive renovation of the entire arena, the new lobby area has been outfitted with 7,000sq.ft of LED displays, with the Spyder X80 driving content to engage and educate fans as they enter the building.
The 29 year-old venue underwent a significant $230m modernisation with improvements that allow the Suns to deliver ‘a world-class guest experience’. The transformation included upgraded fan amenities, technology and more. Stranger Production, which specialises in sports and broadcasting video processing and automation, commissioned the Christie Spyder X80 processors that are used to drive content to the LED walls in the new lobby area.
Two custom, curved LED displays welcome fans to the arena inside the reimagined Phoenix Suns Arena

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USA - Robe’s Forte LED moving lights have been purchased and installed at the extensive main campus of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.
The Baptist Evangelical mega-church in southern Orange County is the largest in California and one of the biggest in the US with several campuses in California and worldwide, complete with a busy worship schedule inspired by senior pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren.
For now, the 24 new Forte luminaires - the Church’s first Robe investment, specified by lighting manager Jacob Olson and supplied via integrator Amplio Systems - are rigged on trusses above an impressive temporary tented structure, custom-designed and erected during reconstruction of their church’s main auditorium.
The structure was erected when the California COVID tier system enabled the church to start holding limited capacity worship

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UK - Christie has been chosen by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) as a technology partner for its redeveloped headquarters at 195 Piccadilly in London.
The partnership will see a host of Christie integrated technology installed throughout the building, including flagship Christie MicroTiles LED tiles, as well as 3DLP RGB pure laser, 1DLP laser projectors, media servers and software. The redeveloped space, with state-of-the-art technology, will enable BAFTA to dramatically expand its learning and talent support programme through broadcast events and screenings, supporting talent across film, games and television in the UK and across the world.
Louise Robertson, executive director of partnerships and fundraising, says: “We are so excited to be working with Christie to help bring our redeveloped space at 195 Piccadilly to life. The technology Chri

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The Netherlands - Eurovision 2021, broadcast live from Ahoy in Rotterdam, chose Shure Axient Digital Wireless System to help ensure audio quality throughout all performances for singers, musicians, and viewers.
With more than 40 artists on stage and an estimated audience of nearly 200m, viewers across Europe, the 2021 Eurovision edition needed a wireless system that could meet every contestant’s demands.
“With Shure’s Axient Digital we found the perfect system to monitor and coordinate the complex audio set up that Eurovision required, in which sound quality and spectrum efficiency are key,” said Aart Heus, wireless coordination technician at Ampco Flashlight. “Shure’s Wireless Workbench was the most qualified software for it. The hardware not only provides control and stability, it is trustable and reliable which is essential for a show of this size.”

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Hong Kong - Widelite Technology Limited has installed Zero 88 FLX range lighting control consoles and Chilli dimmers in over 30 schools for the government’s Education Bureau (EDB) department which is tasked with overseeing state-wide education and learning.
Widelite is a stage engineering company founded in 2009 to provide stage and studio lighting for multiple sectors, incorporating equipment sales, system design and installation services plus audio and video systems for the broadcast world.
Zero 88’s FLX range and the FLX S48 in particular, together with their practical and robust Chilli dimming systems have proved a good choice for several reasons, explained Widelite’s Charlie Mak, one of the sales engineering team.
“They are perfect for schools where staff and students can learn the console quickly and easily. Usually, a half-day training is suffici

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Vietnam - Harman Professional Solutions recently collaborated with BaSao Audio to equip the ballroom at Sonaga Beach Resort & Villa with a new audio system.
Located on the Vietnamese island of Phú Quốc, Sonaga Beach Resort & Villa is a luxury resort that offers upscale accommodations in addition to a restaurant, swimming pool, fitness centre, ballroom and bar. The facility owners hired BaSao Audio to outfit the main ballroom with a complete Harman sound system.
BaSao installed a combination of JBL loudspeakers, AKG microphones and Soundcraft audio mixers to support a wide range of events in the venue.
JBL BRX308-LA loudspeakers and BRX325-SP subwoofers were selected for the main sound reinforcement system. Additionally, the installation team equipped the space with JBL EON612 portable PA speakers to provide premium sound quality and flexibility for r

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Germany - Schwarzkaue Herten is an event space that was once part of the now closed Schägel & Eisen colliery.
Although outfitted with the latest modern amenities, the facility pays homage to its industrial past through its traditional architectural flourishes. The team at Schallmeister balanced these classic features with a contemporary lighting design to create a memorable livestream event for a tech-drive industrial client.
“It was absolutely essential that the set for the livestream retain the historic architecture of the building,” said Tim Jansen, owner of Schallmeister GmbH. “Special features, such as the baskets on the hall ceiling, give the room an interesting texture. Our task was to integrate a modern and professional television studio into an old industrial location.”
Helping Jansen and his team meet this challenge was a collection of Chau

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China - The annual Spring Festival Gala staged by BTV (Beijing Radio and TV Station) which celebrates the Chinese New Year is one of the most watched television spectaculars in the world. The 2021 edition of the show, with its central theme of unity was no exception, attracting a large audience and wowing its audience with a combination of art and high tech.
Recorded at the 3,600sq.m studio at Xingguang Film and TV Centre in the Daxing District of Beijing, the Gala presented a song and dance extravaganza (including virtual performances) that used a 360° panoramic immersive performance area.
The show presented its production team, Beijing Zenith Culture and Art Company, with many challenges, breaking down as it did the traditional barriers between audience and performers.
The design of the audio system in particular was demanding - the immersive approach meant th

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Egypt - The National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) in Fustat is one of UNESCO’s projects to help safeguard and preserve Egypt’s cultural heritage. The April opening of the new-build museum was marked with a lavish ceremony, in anticipation of which the Egyptian government undertook a multi-million-dollar investment to re-paint, re-light, and equip downtown Cairo with sound.
The epic opening ceremony, which was supervised, directed and organised by Media Hub Saadi-Gohar Company, combined marching bands, cheering children, synchronised lighting, and a line-up of famous Egyptian actors and singers. The centrepiece of the productions was the transfer of the mummies of the ancient kings and queens of Egypt from their previous resting place in the Egyptian Museum to their new home.
Twenty-two mummies in chronological order of their reigns, from the 17th Dynasty

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USA - An awed and reverential silence descends over the 4,000 seat amphitheater as audiences watch the events of Jesus Christ’s last days unfold at The Great Passion Play. It has always been this way at this outdoor production nestled in the Ozark Mountains, which has attracted over seven million visitors since it debuted in Eureka Springs, Arkansas in July of 1968.
This year, the power of this story has become even more moving, thanks to a balanced and richly coloured lighting design by Chandler Mann and Cameron Edwards of Momentum Lighting.
“Having grown up in Eureka Springs, I have a special attachment to The Great Passion Play,” said Mann, who now works out of Houston. “The production has captivated visitors season after season, but its lighting needed to be upgraded. Our previous system had no LEDs or color mixing and was operated from an old

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UK - Video technology company, 80six, recently opened the doors to its virtual production studios in Slough. The VP facility boasts a pre-configured curved LED stage, suitable for shooting in-camera VFX. Brompton Technology products are part of the studio's high-end technical backbone.
80six has been at the leading edge of building and implementing xR stages and has now directed its attention to live LED in-camera virtual production, which uses similar technologies. The company has spent the last 20 months carrying out extensive R&D with LED and cameras for film and TV productions with partners such as Epic Games, Dimension Studio, DNEG & OSF.
“Throughout the last couple of years, we have carried out various tests that have given us a solid understanding of the principles of VP. We can now confidently advise our clients as to the benefits and limitations th

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Germany - For many years Thomas Gerdon from Gerdon Design has been in charge of lighting the German TV show Verstehen Sie Spaß (Do You Understand Fun?), in which unsuspecting people are victims of pranks and filmed with a hidden camera.
Kimmig Entertainment produces four editions a year in the Bavaria Studios in Munich, two of which are broadcast live. The first live edition on 17 April 2021, provided the space and opportunity for a world premiere of the new Fusion Stick FS16 Z from Fusion by GLP which was used for the first time.
As lighting designer and lighting cameraman, Gerdon used the new LED battens on the show stage during the performance by Sarah Lombardi and Luca Hänni as an effective show light..
Six towers were placed on the stage, each of which had two horizontally hung FS16 Z LED battens in addition to further spotlights. "Our goal i
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