USA - The Christ Fellowship Churches in South Florida are enjoying new visions during services at five locations this year, following a major investment in Hippotizer media servers to playback pre-made content and drive LED pixel strips with swathes of colour.
Three of Christ Fellowship’s largest locations, in Palm Beach, Royal Palm Beach and Port St. Lucie are now enjoying the user-friendly, visual impact of Hippotizer Taiga, Karst and Boreal Media Servers respectively. They were specified by the church’s technical director, Neil Zimmerman.
“We were previously using a tired, software-based visuals solution but found that the graphics cards within our computers had major limitations and required constant updates,” says Zimmerman. “I was aware of the power and intuitive interface that Hippotizer offers, and as the church grew, I knew this was the best option.

Italy - Loft01 in Prato is a former warehouse, newly converted into a lounge, restaurant and cocktail club in the heart of the Italian city of Prato. With a capacity of 90 (seated), it can be hired out for any type of event, from birthdays, weddings, art exhibitions and dance parties, customised to suit. In addition, clients benefit from a full technical infrastructure, including a Martin Audio Wavefront Precision Mini (WPM) PA, installed by dealers CLS Service.
This is used for special events like the opening night party, where more SPL was required. Well known DJ / producer Nicola Zucchi was at full tilt playing through WPM - stacked, four elements per side - above a pair of SX218 subs, run in two-box resolution from Martin Audio’s iKON amplifiers. In addition, an LE100 wedge monitor provided his reference sound.
In permanent installation at the venue is a Martin A

Russia - On its inauguration in 2007, the Toratau Congress Hall became an instant architectural icon. Encompassing 14 multifunctional conference rooms, three VIP meeting rooms, a concert hall, a massive, 4000sq.m exhibition space, and three restaurants, each of the facilities matched the innovative design of the building itself. As time went by, Toratau Congress Hall attracted an increasingly international roster of events and artists, which in turn presented more demanding technical requirements. Venue management realised that the main auditorium would require a new high-end, multifunctional sound reinforcement system. A brief that was fulfilled by L-Acoustics K Series and X Series.
Situated in the city of Ufa, the capital and largest city of Russia's most populated Republic of Bashkortostan, Toratau Congress Hall was designed to cater for events ranging from regional civil

Taiwan - A thriving hub for the arts in the capital city of Taipei, the Taiwan Traditional Theatre Centre is now the permanent home to the Guoguang Opera Company and the National Chinese Orchestra while also hosting a wide variety of other events on a rental basis.
With the recent installation of a Constellation acoustic system - the first in Taiwan - the centre has enhanced the audience experience across all musical genres while at the same time reducing operating expenses and often eliminating costly down time between performances.
The impetus behind the eventual installation of Constellation stems from the original concept behind the centre’s main 1,055-seat performance hall, as explained by technical director Huai-min Jen.
“When the centre was first proposed nearly 10 years ago, the resident opera company was transitioning to the use of wireless reinforce

Spain - On 17 January, the Art Nouveau jewel in Barcelona’s theatrical crown, the Palau de la Música Catalana, played host to the inaugural ESLAND awards gala. Billed as the ‘Grammys for streamers’ in the Spanish-speaking world, and hosted by streaming star of YouTube and Twitch TheGrefg, the three-hour gala, celebrating the best in content creation and streaming in 2021 throughout Spain and Latin America, was itself streamed live on its own Twitch channel.
Sound reinforcement for the event in the historic auditorium was provided by just four of Amate Audio’s latest Xcellence series X102FD self-powered point source systems and four accompanying X18T compact subs; with a couple of Nítid series N26 systems as front-fills.
An advanced performance compact two 10” design, the X102FD is capable of continuous output levels of up to136dB SPL - equivalent to four co

USA - It’s been a difficult and challenging two years for concert and event spaces during the COVID pandemic, but what’s emerging at the other end of a long, gloomy tunnel is a new, more sonically shaped generation of venues. The Factory, which anchors a new entertainment and dining destination known as The District in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, is an example of that dynamic.
The recently-opened 52,000sq.ft venue can hold between 2,350 and 3,400 concertgoers or event attendees in flexible dance floor and fixed-seating configurations that face a huge 60ft-wide stage. But what sets The Factory further apart is the scale of its L-Acoustics PA system, which provides complete coverage for every audience member no matter where they are seated or standing in the large performance hall.
“The Factory is built on the most valuable real estate in the region and t

UK - Thomas Heatherwick’s Materials House was commissioned by the Science Museum in London as an exhibit to show “everything that anything can be made of” for the Challenge of Materials gallery. The idea was that, instead of prioritising any one material to make the house from, and then exhibiting small samples of all the other materials within it, the studio chose to make the house itself from all of the materials.
The result - six-metre-high pieces of each material bonded together into a single element of many strata was built in situ on the first floor of the museum in 1999 and remained a centrepiece of the gallery until December 2021, when Unusual Rigging was called upon to help the museum remove the exhibit from its long-time home, and lower it to the ground floor, ready for transportation to be held in storage.
Robin Elias, director at Unusual Rigging expla

USA - The Music Centre at Strathmore, Washington DC, is a modern glass-and-steel multidisciplinary arts space. Well-appointed with excellent acoustics, it is like many other performance venues in American suburbs. But last month, this fairly typical space became, in the words of one critic, “a heavenly place to be”.
That happened when Sarah Brightman walked onto its stage as part of her A Christmas Symphony tour. The classical/crossover soprano brought her magic to Strathmore and 16 other venues across the US during the tour, mixing an array of music from Puccini to John Lennon into her two-hour (plus an intermission) show.
Supporting her was lighting and show design by Nathan Taylor. The timecoded lightshow was programmed by Plymouth, UK-based LD Jason Hyne using the suite at NEG Earth, and run during the US tour by Austin, Texas-based LD Ruby Leigh of Allume Li

Japan - Located in the east end of the Tokyo metropolis, opened in 1992, Katsushika Symphony Hills cultural centre serves the ward with a range of cultural programmes. The centre consists of two halls. The main 1,318-seat Mozart Hall, which was named in honour of the ward’s friendship city agreement with the Floridsdorf district of Vienna. The hall boasts some of the best acoustics among Japan’s numerous concert halls. Its smaller companion, the 298-seat Iris Hall, takes its name from the symbolic flower of Katsushika ward.
Both spaces offer classical and pop music concerts by Japanese and international artists. Along with dance, theatrical and art performances, the centre also offers a diverse range of events for people of all ages since its opening in 1992.
As the centre’s 30th anniversary approached, and in response to audience feedback regarding the quality o

France - Anolis Ambiane pure white and RGBW LED lighting fixtures have been installed at the 420-seat Auditorium du Louvre, an oak-panelled performance and presentation space designed by world-famous architect IM Pei within the Musée du Louvre complex in Paris.
The multi-purpose venue is used for a diversity of events like chamber concerts, spoken word performances, lectures, film screenings and numerous others.
A team from Anolis France was led by architectural lighting specialist Bruno Francois who worked closely with Anolis HQ in the Czech Republic, the venue’s technical / stage manager Didier Degros and installers / systems integrators Satelec to find a solution.
The project involved the replacement of accent lighting above the seats with 26 x Ambiane HP111 PW (3000K) fixtures and custom hangers and upgrading of the previous PAR 56 wall lighting fixtures

USA - Orchestra Hall, home to the Minnesota Orchestra, is a landmark both without and within. Its modernist architectural design and expansive glass façade are intended to symbolically present classical music as more widely accessible. Inside, it’s an acoustical dreamworld: 114 large cubes, forming a symmetrical “falling rock” pattern on the auditorium’s ceiling and the stage’s back wall, act, along with the three balconies above and along the sides of the main floor, as a massive diffusion system. The result is an aural experience for the 2,089 patrons seated inside.
That experience has been enhanced with the installation over last August and September of a suite of DiGiCo systems, creating a renewed audio infrastructure for the venue and its ensemble, who were named the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2021 Orchestra of the Year. This includes a Quantum338 as t

USA - When it comes to the lights in his rig, Dominic Lopenzo doesn’t hesitate to say that he is completely partial to beam fixtures, or more specifically the beam function in Chauvet Professional’s Rogue RH1 Hybrid.
“Beams have become my favourite, because they add so much energy to a room,” he said. “I find myself going to them often.”
Partiality to beams might not be unusual in a concert/touring designer, but Lopenzo is speaking as technical director of Grace City Church, a 750-seat house of worship with a distinctly modern touch located in Lakeland, Florida..
“Many people have described our services as being like a concert, and to our worship team and me that’s a huge compliment,” said Lopenzo, who comes from a concert background and still works at the House of Blues in Orlando in addition to doing his lighting duties at the church. “We

Bulgaria - The new International Congress Centre Burgas (ICCB) on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria has installed an Elation lighting system in its largest event space designed and delivered by Elation Professional’s Bulgarian distributor, ProAudio.
The city of Burgas is an industrial, transport, cultural and tourist centre, and a natural location for an international conference centre. ICCB with its variety of event spaces, transportation access and nearby first-class hotels, fulfills that role. The modernly equipped complex houses six different spaces including three main event halls used for conferences, exhibitions, concerts, television broadcasts, gala dinners and more.
Building designers ATM Architects chose distributor, ProAudio to develop audio, video and stage lighting solutions for the venue. In the centre’s largest space, the 500-capacity Chernomorie Hall

USA - Located in Marietta, Georgia, North Metro Church is an inclusive house of worship where a dynamic array of music is a key part of its services. Ranging from quiet background ambience to full on praise rock, the installation of a sound reinforcement system that could reproduce music at all volumes with equal high quality was key.
AV specialist Austin Sound Design, based in Auburn, Georgia, has installed audio systems in many houses of worship and knew that an Alcons pro-ribbon solution was the best way to cover the large width, depth and height of the North Metro Church auditorium.
“I attended a demo hosted by Alcons’ David Rahn and Scott Hough a few years ago,” says Austin Sound founder Chris Austin. “I have always appreciated ribbon technology and was immediately drawn to the superior performance of the Alcons pro-ribbon systems. After years of listening

UK - Theatreplan has welcomed five new members of staff, just prior to and during the pandemic, to assist the company in meeting the demands of current and future projects.
Andy Josephs joined Theatreplan at the end of 2019 from the Bridge Theatre where he had been head of sound, and part of the small technical team that created and opened the theatre in 2017. Prior to this Andy worked as a sound technician at London's Almeida Theatre, Young Vic Theatre, and the St James Theatre, London. Since joining Theatreplan, Andy has been engaged on designing and specifying sound systems for a large school theatre in China and is also an integral part of the team working on the major upgrading project at Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.
Peter Crockett joined Theatreplan as junior stage engineer in summer 2021. Peter graduated in 2019 with an MEng in Mechanical Engineering from th

South Africa - The Norwegian Settler’s Church (NSC) has a rich history; inheriting its namesake from the group of Norwegians who originally settled in Southern Natal in 1882. Since, the church has undergone various transformations, but remains the longest serving church in the region. Construction on a new auditorium kicked off in 2008, and has slowly progressed through to the current day, developing to accommodate the church’s growing congregation.
Recently, Stage Audio Works (SAW) were brought in to implement the finishing touches; handling the integration of the audio aspect of the church, which, in the words of Phillip Kloppers, media and technical director at NSC, really “makes the building work”. SAW used the expertise they’ve acquired across many House of Worship projects to deliver the entire solution over the course of two weeks. Significantly, this was a

The Netherlands - Founded in 1313, Petruskerk van Leens is one of Holland’s oldest churches and home to its famous, recently restored organ, which has been treasured by parishioners for generations.
Once churchgoers were faced with stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19, the church decided to introduce live streaming services to bring mass, and their beloved organ’s music, into the homes of the parish. To help the church design its AV set-up, it called on Bart Hof, owner of HOF AV. Based on his previous use of the mics in live music applications, Hof recommended DPA Microphones to support the audio needs of the church.
“In my opinion, when it comes to the equipment, the simpler and more straightforward way that you approach music is actually the best way to handle audio in a natural way,” Bart explains. “With DPA mics, it’s just a matter of connecting it, and

USA - Tulsa-based Church on the Move, established in 1987 with a mere 163 worshipers, now has over 7,000 members worshiping at three campuses surrounding a 2,200-seat main sanctuary. Recently, that primary location underwent a major systems renovation that included the installation of a new K2 loudspeaker system, designed and installed by Oklahoma City-based Skylark AV, an L-Acoustics certified provider, install.
“The church knew what they wanted, and they wanted L-Acoustics right out of the gate,” says Steele ‘Ninja’ Beaty, project manager at Skylark AV. “The only question we had to decide was: which L-Acoustics speakers would work best?”
K2 was chosen based on three things, says Skylark AV’s Todd ‘Linchpin’ Cromwell: “Performance, musicality, and SPL. Church on the Move is very much a contemporary worship church when it comes to music, and it can

UK - New research by consultancies AECOM, Avison Young, Bristow Consulting and Buro Happold for Theatres Trust has revealed the extent of the work needed to make the UK’s theatre buildings sustainable.
Matching the current state of theatres against the costs of recent refurbishment projects, the research group has revealed that making a typical 600-seat theatre fully sustainable and accessible will cost £11m. Analysis of 100 representative UK theatres estimates that £1.1bn is needed to make them sustainable and suitable for modern audiences.
However, the research, which was presented at the Theatres Trust Conference 21 Making Theatre Sustainable, shows that this level of investment in 100 theatres would bring huge benefits, saving 6,500 tonnes of CO2 per year - the equivalent of 9,700 return economy flights to New York 2 - as well as £3.3m annual revenue savings f

USA - When officials at Oaklawn Racing Casino in Hot Springs, AZ greenlighted a multi-phased expansion project, one of the big ticket items they wanted to add to the resort was a versatile event space that could host conferences, concerts and more.
As the vision came to fruition, the recently opened 15,000sq.ft event centre features the latest technology, including an ADAPTive PA system comprising 20 Anna loudspeakers and 12 Otto subwoofers from Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW). In addition, EAW monitors and side-fills were also employed on the project.
The task of equipping the 1,500-seat venue with the latest in AV technology, including a 1,900sq.ft stage with a large video wall, was given to full-service AV integration firm TMG Systems. Designed by Jerrold Stevens of Marsh/PMK International LLC, this is the second project TMG Systems has worked on with Stevens in which

USA - Founded in 1836, Emory & Henry College is consistently ranked among the nation’s best private liberal arts institutions. Central to the college’s southwestern Virginia campus is Memorial Chapel, a 500-seat church building that has served as host to thousands of worship services.
This past summer, Memorial Chapel was host to renovation with the installation of a new Danley Sound Labs point source sound reinforcement system.
“The previous installation used ceiling speakers that were installed 35 – 40ftt in the air,” said Justin Plaster of JMP Productions. “This prior design required the speakers to be quite loud to drive sound to event and worship service attendees. With the reverberant nature of the Chapel as well as the height and arch of the ceiling, this made intelligibility of the audio from those speakers very poor. The system was also quite d

USA - Crusader Stadium is the home of the NCAA Cru Football team at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. During the summer of 2021, Daktronics upgraded the end-zone scoreboard and sound system with the goal of doubling the size of the video display area while minimizing changes to the existing structure.
For long-throw coverage, Daktronics deployed six Fulcrum Acoustic AHS speaker modules in the horizontal ‘ribbon’ above the video area of the scoreboard. Each AHS module packs a lot of output into a 31” tall package, with up to four coaxial compression drivers and four horn-loaded 10” woofers per module.
The available space within the scoreboard structure allowed for three stacks of two modules each. This provides sufficient output to achieve the project’s sound level goals for the seating areas. The high-frequency driver density provides the output needed to

Australia - Due for a complete audio overhaul, the Erindale Theatre recently collaborated with CMI to outfit its facility with JBL Professional BRX300 line array systems.
With 443 seats, the Erindale Theatre is the largest theatre space south of the Canberra central business district. Featuring a full fly rigging system for set changes, an acoustically optimized orchestra pit and advanced AV and lighting equipment, the multi-purpose space can accommodate a wide range of functions from theatrical productions and concerts to large corporate seminars and community group presentations. To ensure a high-quality audio experience, Erindale Theatre needed a modern sound reinforcement system. CMI selected the JBL BRX300 modular line array system for its excellent sound quality and coverage in a compact, easy-to-use form factor.
According to CMI staff, the variety of performance

USA - The historic Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University was founded in 1887 and currently occupies one of the oldest facilities on campus, a building constructed in 1889. Recently, the prestigious school of about 300 students modernised and upgraded its department infrastructure, including a move from analogue cabling to audio networking – a task completed with consideration to the historic significance of the building thanks to Audinate’s Dante.
Copper wire and XLR cables running between rooms at Setnor were installed sometime in the 1950s. The old analogue cabling and break-out panels had become outdated, noisy, and inflexible. Dante was critical for the school during the upgrade as it offered a solution with minimal impact on the historic buildings on campus.
“With a building like this, we can’t just knock big holes in the walls and run more and mor

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