USA - Providing an appropriately intense visual backdrop for The National on its current global tour in support of its seventh album, Sleep Well Beast, is a 13-universe Michael Brown-designed lightshow that is being run with a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console.
The Nashville-based LD, who has been a ChamSys user since 2009, selected the MQ500 for this tour because the power and versatility of the console, particularly its effects engine, allow him to pull together diverse visual elements to match his client’s distinctive sound.
“The National are a unique band,” said Brown. “Their music and performances can vary from very intimate textural moments to all-out eruption. Their front man Matt Berninger embodies the escapism of a true performer. He can go from contemplative to this madman on stage amidst the dense backdrop of a mixed meter ballad and compl

USA - An early practitioner of Trip Hop, Bonobo was among the British DJs that influenced the course of electronic music in the 1990s. Later, he pushed the genre in a new, softer direction by blending his sound with elements of jazz and Hindu music. More recently, Bonobo has been at the forefront of the trend among DJs to work with bands, as he’s done on his tour in support of his Top Ten album Migration.
Backed by his band, Bonobo has created a more atmospheric sound that blends his jagged synths with instrumentation. In keeping with this expanded sound, the visual backdrop at his live shows, which is created with projection video, has become more about storytelling. Supporting this new look at Bonobo’s 23 March appearance at San Francisco’s Midway music hall was an engaging lightshow created by Bryce Cherpelis of 12BC Pro that was anchored by a collection of

Mexico - Omnia Dayclub and Casa Calavera, two venues within the stunning Vidanta Los Cabos complex, presented a challenge for Dublin-based design and installation company Audiotek: how to provide banging nightclub sound in an open-air venue, whilst making sure that spill to the surrounding parts of the complex was minimised. The answer was a multiple source L- Acoustics Kiva II system.
Located in the Vidanta Los Cabos resort on the southern-most tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, this is the first project in a $150m investment deal between Grupo Vidanta, Mexico’s leading resort operator and tourism developer, and Hakkasan Group. A day-to-night experience designed by New York architects Rockwell Group, the resort includes four new venues: Omnia Dayclub; and restaurants Casa Calavera, Herringbone, and Shore Bar.
“We have always been firm believers of the so

USA - New York based ARX dealer Markertek has supplied the San Francisco Opera with the ARX USB DI Plus USB audio interface for its computer to audio system interface requirements. The USB DI Plus is designed to interface any USB equipped computer - in particular, notebook computers - with the balanced inputs of professional sound systems.
The San Francisco Opera has been thrilling audiences in San Francisco since 1923 and is known for commissioning numerous world premieres, training some of opera's greatest young artists and being one of the world’s leading opera companies. Fitting perfectly into the theatre environment, the USB DI Plus features a straightforward ‘Plug in and Play’ design with a robust solid steel chassis and no external gain/volume control to make it as tamper proof as possible.
As part of a range of Audibox USB Audio Interfaces from ARX, the

Singapore - Mahajak Trio recently supplied veteran audio director John Simpson with a Studer by Harman Vista 5 digital mixing console for the second season of Asia’s Got Talent.
Asia’s Got Talent is the regional version of the popular Got Talent franchise. The show’s record-breaking first season established the live reality competition as the region’s most powerful platform for launching Asia’s next generation of star performers.
Produced by Astro Productions, episodes are filmed live before a studio audience at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and Pinewoods Iskandar in Malaysia. Astro hired Mahajak Trio Electronics to provide the show with a broadcast audio mixing solution with premium sound quality and an intuitive user interface. Mahajak selected a Studer Vista 5 mixing console for its innovative features and user-friendly operation.

USA - Old Dominion has emerged as one of the hottest bands in country music, a fact recently confirmed by a 2018 Academy of Country Music Award as Vocal Group of the Year.
The band’s 2018 Happy Endings tour kicked off 1 February and played dates in North America, the UK, Ireland and Australia through mid-March. Full service production company Morris Light & Sound of Nashville, Tennessee, supplied the lighting for the tour, a large rig that included Elation Professional Chorus Line 16 LED pixel bar luminaires used to line the mid-stage and upstage, as well as Cuepix Blinder WW2 white light LED blinders in the overhead truss and on the back wall. Lighting design was by Travis Shirley.
David Haskell, president of Morris, commented, “The Chorus Line 16 has great performance with a good zoom function and the reliability is fantastic. The brightness of the LE

Mexico - As is the tradition each year, Musbi AC (Music in the Bicentennial A.C), combined with the Ministry of Culture of the Mexican Federal Government, Hermes Music Foundation, Performers of Mexico and the Single Union of Music Workers, to stage the International Jazz Festival. Now in its eighth edition, it took as its setting the emblematic Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City.
Over the course of three days, the bill featured Mexican and international musicians, who presented different styles of jazz to create an extremely rich and varied show. The opening day saw performances by Waldo Madera Quintet, Javier Nandayapa Fusion Cuatro and Roberto Aymes y su Música. The following day Héctor Infanzón Orchestra, Marco Morel Guitarra Octet and Dannah Garay Quartet appeared. And on the final day, Bob Sands & ChuchoLópez H. Big Band, Los Bronces and Jean Paul Bideau

Italy - FICO Eataly World, billed as the largest agri-food park in the world, and located just outside Bologna, was opened on 15 November 2017. The new park showcases 150 Italian food companies to an estimated 6m visitors. The Fabbrica Italiana COntadina (FICO) Eataly World has two ambitious goals: to attract visitors from all over the world, and to represent Italy with all its top-quality products and biodiversity, mixing Italy's food and wine traditions with innovation and research in the agri-food sector.
The park, jointly managed by the two major Italian food players, Eataly andCoop, includes two hectares of fields and open-air stalls, and eight hectares hosting: 40 factories; 40 shops, markets, and eateries; areas dedicated to sport, children, reading, and services; six classrooms; six large, educational ‘fairgrounds’, a theatre and cinema; a modular conference cent

Bahamas - Heralded as the largest single-phase resort in the Caribbean Islands, Baha Mar offers a choice of three celebrated hotels, a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course, and a collection of lounges, spas, and restaurants. All surrounded by a stunning ocean view casino, the developers of the project also wanted to create Nassau’s premiere nightlife destination, complete with a state-of the-art DJ booth, sound, lighting and video system.
Working with the David Harvey at Harvey Marshall Berling Associates (HMBA), the production design inside the upscale nightclub at the Bond now includes a high-resolution video experience with FLEXLite LED from PixelFLEX, installed by the A/V integration firm Think Simple.
“When we were approached by HMBA about assisting with the LED video installation at the Bond, we hoped to give the space something that no other nightclub in the

South Korea - Systems integrators Winmeditech and TechData, recently deployed a range of complete Harman Professional Solutions AV systems in the Seoul Dragon City hotel complex.
Opened in October of 2017 by AccorHotels, Seoul Dragon City contains 1,700 guest rooms spread over four hotels, all within an interconnected series of skyscrapers. Billed as a lifestyle hotel-plex, the massive facility features 11 restaurants and bars, 17 meeting rooms, two multi-function grand ballrooms, and four full floors of entertainment in a Sky Bridge suspended between two of the towers.
TechData and Winmeditech deployed a solution made up of 428 JBL Professional speakers, 31 Crown amplifiers, eight Soundcraft mixers, 35 BSS signal processors, 147 AKG microphones and accessories and 212 AMX control systems.
“2017 has been a record-breaking year for AccorHotels in South Korea, h

World - The G3 2018 world tour needed three different designs for its three distinctive guitarists. Production designer/lighting designer Alastair Watson - who is also the production manager - had a tight budget and a one-truck space constraint. One rig had to do it all. So he specified 16 High End Systems SolaHyBeam 1000s, a hybrid LED fixture offering spot, wash, and animation effects - effectively giving him three lights in one.
He supplemented with more HES products including six HEX LED arrays and two HES Axon media servers for displaying visual content, all controlled with a Full Boar 4 console and wing.
HyBeams and HEX are the “meat and bones” of the rig for this three-and-a-half hour show, Watson says. “Phil Collen of Def Leppard is performing his Delta blues, John Petrucci is doing his prog metal melodic instrumental set, and then Joe Satriani does an ho

The Netherlands - Over 2.5 million spectators have visited the TheaterHangaar to see Soldaat van Oranje - The Musical since its debut in 2010. The longest-running performance in the history of Dutch theatre, the show tells the story of World War II resistance fighter Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema.
Audiences are treated to a multi-sensory, immersive experience at this unique venue, as they sit in comfortable movie-theatre seats in the auditorium that rotate from scene to scene. The different sets feature an array of special scenic elements that includes parts of an actual airport runway, a beach with real sand and water, two fully functional motorcycles, and a 1940s vintage Dakota C46 airplane.
Adding to the transformative experience is the theatre’s newly re-imagined lighting system that features Chauvet Professional Ovation B-2805FC and Ovation B-565FC colour-mixi

Germany - For St Patrick's Day celebrations in Rudolstadt, Germany, event technology service provider LB-TEC was tasked with illuminating the famous Heidecksburg castle in the Irish national colour of green and chose powerful Elation Professional Paladin lighting fixtures for the job.
LB-TEC has illuminated the city’s residential palace for years and has always used a large amount of LED washes, fixtures that had to be installed with cumbersome weatherproof protection. This solution was not only relatively expensive but also very time consuming. For the St. Patrick’s Day illumination, the company opted for a more practical solution and invested in eight Elation IP65-rated Paladin wash/blinder/strobe lights.
"We chose Elation's Paladin because it's a weatherproof light with high output and attractive zoom range. On top of that, the price/performance ratio was conv

UK - A recent theatre project involving 160 primary school children is convincingly demonstrating the power of the arts to inspire young people to greater learning. Into Opera are on a mission to get more people into opera, and their children’s opera and education project offers children a unique introduction to the art form of opera and all that it encompasses.
At the heart of this imaginative project lies A King's Ransom, a children's opera written by classical composer Patrick Hawes. Supporting this reimagined tale of Robin Hood is a subtle, yet powerful, lighting design by Johanna Town that features a collection of Maverick and Rogue moving fixtures from Chauvet Professional.
Plans are now afoot to develop A King’s Ransom into a national education project, hoping to engage and inspire more children up and down the country, due to the success of it

Germany - The Voice in a Million charity concert drew 10,000 schoolchildren to London’s SSE Wembley Arena in mid-March for two nights of performances by the UK’s most gifted children’s choirs.
With technical production on a tight timescale, an Electro-Voice X2 line array system (part of the X-Line Advance family) delivered punchy, even coverage across the arena, while Electro-Voice ND86 dynamic supercardioid vocal microphones ensured each child’s voice was captured in perfect detail.
Founded in 2006 by Robert and Jo Garofalo, Voice in a Million is a charitable organisation dedicated to helping children who have been orphaned, abandoned or separated from their families at birth.
Handling technical production for this year’s event was Birmingham-based DMX Productions, whose managing director, SJ Grevett, looked to front of house engineer Neal Allen

Poland - As one of Poland’s leading live production companies, Wroclaw-based PogoArt works on some of the country’s highest profile live events, from star-studded festivals and high art opera, to traditional music recitals and corporate conventions. It is also the first Polish company to invest in Yamaha’s new Rivage PM7 digital mixing system.
PogoArt’s history with Yamaha goes back 20 years, when the company invested in the 02R console. Since then the company has regularly updated its inventory of Yamaha digital mixers and currently has PM5D, CL5, CL3, QL5, QL1, M7CL, 01v96 and DM2000 consoles in continual use by clients. The latest investment in a RIVAGE PM7 system brings the inventory up to date.
“One of the great thing about Yamaha consoles for rental companies is that, from the 01v right through the range, they all have a very similar workflow,” says P

Jordan - Nearly 400 Robe ParFect S1s LED luminaires have been deployed at the newly-opened Royal Tank Museum in Amman, Jordan, illuminating 110 x battle-worn tanks from a century of wars in the Middle East and other more distant conflicts.
The lighting was specified by Amman-based AV and IT integration solutions specialist AKTCO. The project was led by Nidal Khalifeh (CEO), George Boury (project manager), and Duaa’ Khraim (design engineer) from AKTCO who worked closely with Elie Battah, from Robe Middle East, to coordinate the supply of ParFects to this high-profile installation.
The futuristic museum building was designed by Zaid Daoud Architects. The 20,000sq.m space is divided into 12 halls showcasing the exhibits, which include illustrations of historic battles in Syria, Jerusalem and Jordan, complete with an audioscape of gunfire, roaring diesel engines and emot

UK - The world premiere of the new musical Tina - The Tina Turner Musical had its official opening night in the West End on 17 April at the Aldwych Theatre.
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, the production charts Turner's journey from humble beginnings in Nutbush, Tennessee, to her transformation into the global queen of rock'n'roll. Production manager Sacha Milroy knew that rigging the show successfully required a sound knowledge of the theatre and so turned to Unusual Rigging to handle the project.
"This is actually the first time I've worked with Unusual," said Sacha. "Of course, I've known of them for many years and Simon Stone, who is senior project manager at Unusual, has a great reputation which precedes him. I was also aware of all the amazing work they'd done to transform the grid of the Aldwych Theatre for Beautiful - The Carole King Musical.

South Africa - The 12th Annual South African Film & Television Awards was hosted at Sun City’s Superbowl on 24 March with a further 2.3m viewers tuning in to watch the live SABC televised production. EPH Productions were appointed by ATTV to supply the full technical and the set for the show, as well as for the smaller Technical Awards held a couple of days prior to the main event.
EPH Production’s Danie Janse van Rensburg wore three hats namely as project manager, technical director and set designer. For the proposal, with a lot of support from Leon Pheiffer (CEO, EPH Group), they came up with an idea to use suspended LED screens as the main feature, knowing that when complimented with the graphic material supplied by ATTV (Andrew Thabo Television), diverse looks would take the audience on a journey from glamour to triggering emotions with bright and patriotic colou

Europe - Irish hip hop artist, rapper and music producer Rejjie Snow burst on the scene in 2013 and has just released his debut album Dear Annie. He has also just completed a 34-date UK and European tour, which was well received.
Creating the atmospheric lighting was LD Chris Yeomans, who for the three largest gigs on the tour - Dublin’s Olympia, The Roundhouse in London and La Trianon in Paris - he specified Robe moving lights as the main part of a striking design.
The core rig comprised 25 Pointes arranged upstage in a 5x5 grid; eight Spiiders were positioned between the columns of Pointes, and six LEDWash 600s on the floor at the sides for 'wing washes’. Lighting was supplied by London based Colour Sound Experiment.
The artist wanted to be silhouetted for much of the show so he could lurk in the shadows and play with the negative spaces, so Chris im

USA - The Bomb Factory, a 4,000-plus-capacity music club in Dallas’ hip downtown Deep Ellum district and site of shows by artists like Hardwell, Don Henley, Ms. Lauryn Hill, and Jack White, has been through a few iterations.
Originally built as an automobile assembly plant for Henry Ford over a century ago, it later housed a WWII munitions factory, from which it derives its current name. As Dallas’ downtown grew into an arts district in recent years, the 48,000sq.ft brick building was the perfect home for a live music venue, which opened in 2015.
Only one thing might have held it back: a sound system that struggled to keep up with the needs of contemporary touring artists, many of whom brought in their own PA systems or rented them for shows. That’s all changed as of last October when The Bomb Factory joined the ranks of rider-ready leading venues globally with t

USA - The film La La Land was the surprise hit of 2016, swept the Golden Globes, won six Oscars, and made a net profit of about $65m. Starting in 2017 and heading into 2018, the film has emerged from the cinemas and hit the road for a series of events known as La La Land in Concert, encompassing screenings of the film that incorporate a live orchestra, jazz ensemble and choir.
The tour’s primary mix engineer, Troy Choi, has been “hands on faders” for 90 percent of the run, including shows on every continent, all using local orchestras and choirs as well as, in most cases, local musicians for the jazz band that is so crucial to the film’s sound and story. And when he has been in the FOH captain’s chair, he has insisted on having a DiGiCo SD7 or SD10 desk in front of him.
“Basically, we play the movie from the beginning, the same as a normal mov

Italy - The Primo Maggio Concert is an all-day music festival organised annually on the 1 May to celebrate Italy's Labour Day.
Set in Piazza San Giovanni in Rome and broadcast live on public television, this popular national event is also referred to as the Concertone or Big Concert due to the duration of the musical marathon which begins in the afternoon and ends late at night due to the sheer number of artists and audience.
For its 28th edition, stage managers Antonio Soddu and Alessio Martino from ALTO Stage Management entrusted the audio domain entirely to K-array to provide high quality sound for the 50-plus performances, including international artist Fat Boy Slim, and the 500,000 people present.
Product specialist and system designer Klaus Hausherr, together with Roberto Marchesi from distributor Exhibo, developed a powerful, versatile main s

UK - With a capacity of 4,000 guests and two stories of nonstop action, it’s easy to see why the Cardiff University Students’ Union is clearly the largest nightclub in its city. The popular venue attracts some of the best international acts on a regular basis, as was evidenced recently by an event featuring top UK DJs Chase & Status.
Tasked with providing energetic visual support to this event, local production specialists SR Production Services specified a selection of six Rogue R1 Beams and 10 Rogue R1 Wash fixtures from Chauvet Professional. Positioned on top of stage truss towers to provide sweeping beam looks over the audience, the Rogue fixtures also filled the void between the stage’s large video wall backdrop and its DJ booth.
“The R1 Beams are an absolute workhorse of a beam light,” comments LD Matthew Dunford. “The small size and punchy sourc

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