Australia - Approximately 75km north of Sydney, in the city district of Gosford, is the rather un-prepossessing building that houses the vibrant Laycock Street Community Theatre. The theatre is the only professional proscenium arch venue in the locality, with its tiered seating comfortably accommodating audiences up to 390. The Gosford Musical Society sits at the heart of many of the theatre's productions.

Chris King is arts and culture coordinator for Gosford City Council. "Laycock Street Community Theatre is very much the hub of the area's performance culture. As such, it hosts a very wide variety of performance genres from musicals, rock concerts, pure drama performances, comedy acts, corporate events, film presentations and various community groups, like dance schools. The goal of any new loudspeaker system was to ensure all styles of performance were suitably covered,

Hungary - Rental company Silent Session has supplied a complete Roland solution for broadcast, monitoring and recording of the hit show, The Voice and now more recently for 'Rising Star to Hungarian commercial television channel TV2.

The REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication) based system which includes the Roland M-480 digital mixing console, Roland M-48 personal monitoring systems, Roland R-1000, R-44 and R-88 recorders and Roland Digital Snakes was initially specified to handle the PA and the stage monitoring for the recording stage on The Voice. For the television series Rising Star, the Roland system is also used to produce the broadcast sound for all of the music during the shows.

TV2 broadcasts around five music shows each year and the entire Roland system is used for FOH, stage monitoring and broadcast mix for all of them. As the second-

Europe - Moloko front-woman Roisin Murphy is performing tracks from her third solo album, Hairless Toys across the festivals this summer, where an Audient ASP880 mic pre is featured - on stage. Album co-writer and producer Eddie Stevens - whose credits include Freak Power, Zero7 and Moloko - has continued to work with to Roisin since her Moloko days to create this eight-track album, and is pretty pleased with how the Audient eight channel mic pre is managing to capture the music live.

"It isn't being used by either FOH engineer or monitor engineer," begins Stevens, mysteriously. "It's being used on stage - and, in fact, on full display to those with particularly fine eyesight in the audience. It helps, in this regard, to have all those lovely multi-coloured lights!"

He explains further, "Our set-up takes a split from Roisin's vocal mic, a split

USA - When lighting designer Mike Marcario got the call to work on up-and-coming country star Eric Paslay's Make Every Night A Friday Night Tour he was told his rig and programming needed to meet two requirements: it had to be versatile enough to work in a variety of venues, and it had to have the punch to stand out in daylight for some of the tour's outdoor stops. Bearing this dual dictum in mind and appreciative of the redheaded bearded Texan's passionate musical style, Marcario knew that he needed to have a rig that was fast, powerful and capable of quick dimming and colour changes. Epix Strip 2.0 units from Chauvet Professional fit his plan perfectly.

"The Chauvet ÉPIX Strips, paired with software from ArKaos, were especially helpful to me because of their many features and the flexibility they gave me. If I needed a solid, saturated colour or a bunch of m

The Glastonbury Effect - Lionel Richie says he has Glastonbury to thank for bagging his first number one album in the charts in more than two decades. The veteran saw The Definitive Collection By Lionel Richie & The Commodores hit the top spot. The album only reached number 10 when it was released back in 2003, but jumped up 103 places following his widely praised performance at Worthy Farm. It is the 66-year-old's first UK number one album since Back To Front 23 years ago. "I was overwhelmed performing at Glastonbury in front of all those people and for the fans to make the album number one is unbelievable," he said.

Live and Licking - The Grateful Dead have given what they say will be their last group performance in front of 70,000 fans, some in tears, in Chicago.The four surviving members of the band ended their 50-year run this weekend with thr

UK - White Light recently provided its lighting services for a series of concert tours featuring two long established names in the music industry. Both Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons and Gladys Knight are currently touring the UK, with both playing the Royal Albert Hall before visiting venues in Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Leeds. Each tour has been organised by concert and tour promoters Kennedy Street, who approached White Light to provide the lighting, rigging and crew in order to create an unforgettable experience for audiences across Britain.

Jim Colson, production manager at Kennedy Street, states, "Both Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons and Gladys Knight are absolute icons in the music industry. The fact that they are both still in such demand after so many years indicates the impact their music has made and how their already huge fan-bases continue to grow&q

Italy - Rome's Palalottomatica indoor sports arena hosted this year's Italian Summit by global nutrition and weight management company Herbalife.

The event's AV, lighting and ground support contractor was Planet Service of San Marino, whose audio team consisted in Alessandro Saudelli (audio chief, responsible for the system's design and fine-tuning), Emanuele Vischi (sound engineer and PA man), Francesco Passeri (mic tech and PA man) and Edoardo Michelori (PA man).

Saudelli explains how the team faced the venue's infamous acoustics (the domed ceiling and extremely reverberant environment are many a sound engineer's nightmare), ensuring excellent sonic quality for the 8,000 attendees.

"Our brief was for a central stage, to exploit the venue's entire capacity. This, plus the fact that the rig couldn't be flown, meant we had to opt for a ground support format, with consequ

USA - Fifty years after forming their band at a Palo Alto music store, the surviving founders of the Grateful Dead kicked off their end-of-an-era Fare Thee Well mini-tour at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. with a Meyer Sound Leo linear large-scale sound reinforcement system driving a quadraphonic surround setup.

The two Silicon Valley shows were a landmark occasion with more than the 60,000 devoted Deadheads in attendance each evening. It was also a milestone in the band's decades-long association with Meyer Sound CEO John Meyer, a relationship spawned from a shared passion for audio experimentation and audience experience. The Grateful Dead's original sound engineer, Owsley "Bear" Stanley, first tapped Meyer to create acoustic solutions for the legendary 'Wall of Sound' system in the 1970s.

The Meyer Sound Leo system with its accompanying 1100-LFC low-f

UK - An array of PreSonus StudioLive AI loudspeakers have recently been installed in London's premier 'boutique fitness destination', Core Collective. Part of a highly integrated project at the new Kensington gym, the StudioLive AI speakers are responsible for delivering the pumping soundtrack of the facility's fixed-bike spinning classes.

Designed to perform with the clarity of a studio monitor in live and installed sound situations, each StudioLive AI enclosure delivers a remarkable 2000W of power. All units are based around PreSonus' 8" Co-Actual driver - which delivers accurate high and mid-frequency reproduction - with woofer configuration and frequency response being among the distinguishing features between models.

A total of five 328AI speakers - with their 3x8" driver design - and a single 18sAI subwoofer were specified for the project by Belgravia-based

UK - Analog Way has announced a new partnership with the AV rental specialist company Paragon Projection in the UK. Effective 1 July, Paragon Projection will have Analog Way's LiveCore systems available for rental all over the UK.

Analog Way, based in the Midlands and Central London, provides high-end projectors and professional display equipment for exhibitions, conferences & training seminars. Paragon Projection is adding Analog Way's LiveCore series of Premium Presentation Mixers to their inventory. Several Ascender 16-4K and Ascender 48-4K units will be available for rental from 1 July.

Mark Davies, sales manager at Paragon Projection Ltd states, "We have been looking into investing in high-end switching equipment for a while now and when Analog Way launched their LiveCore series we realized it was the perfect solution. One of the key factors' when making our decision

UK - Following the recent announcement of Pro Audio Systems as a main dealer, EM Acoustics has confirmed the appointment of Manchester-based pro audio specialists, Audio Alliance. This latest move brings the number of EM Acoustics UK main dealers up to 10.

Audio Alliance specialises in providing innovative solutions to their clients in a number of market areas, from conferences to international launch events, theatre and broadcast. The company already has a thriving rental department and is currently developing a sales side to the business with selected products and clients.

Audio Alliance's MD, Oliver Driver explains. "We've had a long-standing relationship with Ed [Kinsella] and Mike [Wheeler] that goes back over 10 years. We have always liked their products and specified them where appropriate. Indeed, the sight of Ed's Landrover piled high with new speakers for us to

UK - Take That, are currently promoting their seventh studio album,III, on their Live 2015 tour with seven Robert Juliat followspots playing major roles in highlighting the artists and the many theatrical antics that surround them.

Creative director, Kim Gavin, has devised a show that involves a high degree of theatricality with acts, including aerial stunts, taking place across a large set, designed by Misty Buckley, that loops out into the arena from a multi-level dynamic main stage.

Lighting designer, Tim Routledge was briefed to produce a design with "a very theatrical look, but with a huge pop punch over the top". His enormous lighting rig contains a large number of powerful moving light fixtures and LED video screens. Routledge therefore needed followspots that would punch through the sheer amount of lighting and video and cope with the long throw distan

USA - From Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June, more than 200 people from around the world joined ETC in Madison, Wisconsin, for lighting education, console training and certification, networking and special events. The third professional development conference that ETC has hosted, this CUE event included more classes and events - and was attended by the largest group of lighting professionals and students representing several countries and all segments of the lighting industry - than ever before.

CUE kicked off with a keynote address by CEO Fred Foster, in which he talked about the growth of ETC over the last four decades, and the company's focus on customer service and product innovation. Foster also unveiled new products, including the affordable ColorSource Spot profile LED luminaire and console programming wings that will officially debut in July.

Josh Allen, an award-winnin

USA - Located in Delaware County near Philadelphia, Ridley High School serves 2200 students in its new facility completed in 2001. The school is well-known for its athletic programmes and its wide variety of elective classes including music and drama.

Ridley's attractive auditorium is well designed for dramatic performances and musicals with a large stage and modern technical and lighting systems. Unfortunately, the original audio system was poorly designed and installed. Its loudspeakers were suspended above the acoustic clouds resulting in numerous dead spots, poor vocal clarity and muffled music quality.

In early 2015, after several unsuccessful repair attempts, the school asked Clear Sound, Inc. of Yeadon, Pennsylvania to propose a system upgrade.

Clear Sound's Chris Hughes designed a new loudspeaker system using three Community I Series model IP8-1152/96 loudspeakers su

UK - Growing from a small local shop to a hugely successful international enterprise in the space of two decades is not easy. Achieving this success while advancing and upholding deeply held ethical principles makes the accomplishment all the more noteworthy. Management at Lush Cosmetics recognized this, which is why they wanted to make their company's 20th anniversary celebration stand out. That's precisely what they did, thanks to some help from Presentation Design Services and a collection of fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

Lush Cosmetics first appeared on high streets throughout the UK in the mid 1990's. In the ensuing years, the organic beauty merchant has carved out a reputation for quality handmade beauty products, all the while upholding the ethics-conscious principles of fair trade and protecting animal rights.

In celebration of this 20-year milestone, Lush Cosmet

USA - In response to tremendous growth, New Beginnings DFW Church in Bedford, Texas purchased a former ten-screen Cineplex and converted it to a stunning sanctuary for contemporary worship. Its high-energy services, complete with a full band and plenty of vocalists, benefit from the simple, but tremendously powerful Danley Sound Labs loudspeakers, subwoofers, and amplifiers that Jeff McLeod at Church Audio Video designed and installed.

"It's a big space, and we needed to fill it with musical, intelligible sound," said McLeod. "Clarity is everything, and Danley has a proven record of delivering products that are well-articulated and powerful. We gave them a left-centre-right system that would convey all of the excitement and invite all of the immersion that their energetic services deserved."

At the front end, two Yamaha CL5 consoles paired with two Yamaha R

USA - Philips Strand Lighting has announced that the NEO lighting control system is now expanding with the introduction of the Submaster and Playback Wings along with the rack-mount Playback Controller. Designed for use in theatrical, house of worship, and themed entertainment productions, the expanded NEO lighting control system can help you realize the full potential of your lighting designs quickly and intelligently.

"The NEO lighting control console has been proven to be a powerful and easy-to-use lighting control system and we are excited to now be expanding its power and control even more," said Bobby Harrell, Philips Strand Lighting product specialist. "With the addition of the Submaster and Playback Wings plus the Playback Controller, the NEO family now offers more control options and innovative control technologies for whatever type of production or light

Canada - The AES 59th International Conference, with an emphasis on Sound Reinforcement Engineering and Technology, will take place July 15-17, 2015, at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. This is the first AES International Conference in over 25 years dedicated to large scale sound reinforcement, public address and live sound, and the conference is being supported by an impressive list of sponsors, including some of the preeminent forces in live-sound technology. At the conference, sponsors will be displaying cutting-edge technologies with experts available to discuss and demonstrate their products.

Confirmed sponsors include Meyer Sound, Solid State Logic, Yamaha Commercial Audio, Audio-Technica, Professional Sound Magazine, KV2 Audio, Erikson Audio, McGill University's Schulich School of Music, Gerr Audio, SMAART, Solotech, Flex Acoustics, DiGiCo, Ashly Audio, Shure, Tanno

Italy - RCF has introduced two new members to its V-Max family - V6 and V10 high-power two-way bass reflex full range systems. The V-MAX Series represents "a no-compromise compact design and construction, offering a very natural sound in recorded music and live situations," says RCF.

All V-MAX Series cabinets are in birch, heavy duty coated with weather resistant polyurea paint. Free from spurious vibrations, they offer a reinforced construction at the highest levels in the professional market.

"The V10 mid bass transducer is designed to provide an excellent frequency response linearity with very low distortion. A very strong magnetic structure guarantees dynamics and precision, whereas a new and unique 2.5" voice coil design provides a very high power handling."

The V6 is the smallest member of the V-MAX family and is a flexible and powerful tool

UK - Following its sell-out debut success in Australia, Vision Nine and BBC Worldwide recently brought the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular to the UK for an arena tour. A musical celebration of the BBC series, the Symphonic Spectacular featured Doctor Who's most captivating music, video sequences from the past 50 years of the show, along with a host of live monsters including the Cybermen and Daleks. White Light was the choice supplier for providing the lighting, rigging and crew to deliver the full tour; comprising of 13 performances across London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow.

Working alongside the show's producers, White Light expertly recreated lighting designer Paul Collison's original vision, whilst making subtle adjustments to suit the logistical intricacies of each venue. The highly ambitious project incorporated 100 different performers, including t

UK - In the Great Hall of St. Paul's Girls' School in London, two new Meyer Sound CAL 64 column array loudspeakers provide vibrant and life-like reproduction for speech, live music performances, and video soundtracks. Custom-coloured to match the surrounding oak woodwork in the historic 1904 auditorium, the two slender columns employ precision beam-steering and -splitting technology to deliver uniform coverage across the seating areas.

CAL was selected for the venue after Ian Hawes, the school's theatre manager, and Jonny Burns, head AV technician attended a convincing demonstration. "We listened to the sound quality, saw the slender profile, turned to each other and said, 'This is exactly what we need for the Great Hall,'" recalls Hawes. "The system is in constant use, mostly for speech but also for pre-recorded playback, and occasionally for singing voices or fo

Chile - Fifty Robe Pointes added to the fun and excitement of the Opening Ceremony kicking off the 2015 Copa America international football tournament for South America's national teams which is being staged in Chile.

The fixtures were part of a lighting design by Toni Amoros for the event staged at the Estadio Nacional de Chile in the Chilean capital, Santiago. The event was attended by 60,000 football fans packing the stadium and experiencing the carnivalesque atmosphere as well as seeing Chile getting off to a rocking start in the first game, beating Ecuador 2-0.

The Pointes were positioned around the field of play and used for beams and aerial effects for which they are renowned. They were chosen by Toni for their power and brightness, for the precision of the beams and the variety of possible effects.

The event - which featured a cast of 600 actors, musicians and dancer

Finland - In a different approach to indoor arena lighting, Finland's Hartwall Arena features an innovative LED video system integrated with its ice hockey rink. The arena, which is home to the Jokerit of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and Finland's National Men's Hockey Team, was recently modernized to enhance the fan experience with significant upgrades to its lighting, video displays and digital signage.

As part of the arena's modernization ice hockey rink equipment designer, manufacturer and supplier, Icepro OY, created a concept to integrate lighting within the stanchions supporting the rink's glass safety dividers. To realize their vision Icepro worked with Finnish A/V Integration firm, Studiotec, to develop a lighting design that included more than 940 of Martin Professional VC-Strip LED video fixtures.

The system is built into the stanchions between the glass divi

Europe - When the world's best cyclists set off on the Tour de France, the fans that line up along the roadsides will be joined by many more via the race's extensive live radio and TV coverage. Produced by Euromedia, this year's event will make use of a new Lawo-equipped OB truck.

The 102nd edition of the world's biggest cycling contest will take 22 teams of nine riders - a field of up to 198 starters - over 3,360km of road, through 21 stages in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. After starting in the Dutch city of Utrecht on 4 July 2015, the tour will close in its traditional manner on 26 July, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

The new Euromedia OB hybrid production vehicle C42 supports 10 to 12 cameras, and is designed specifically to meet the demands of sports, variety, games and entertainment production. On the Tour de France, it will co-ordinate all the RF a

Latest Issue. . .

Save
Cookies user preferences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline
Advertisement
If you accept, the ads on the page will be adapted to your preferences.
Google Ad
Accept
Decline