UK - Swansea-based Total Sound Solutions, founded in 2003, covers a busy calendar of events with a comprehensive inventory of Nexo sound systems, in which Geo M6, M10 and M12 line arrays are available alongside P+, PS and ID Series point source speakers, equipping the company to handle jobs of any scale from community fairs through to multi-stage festivals.
In the quieter months, the team at Total Sound turns its expertise to designing and installing fixed sound systems including, most recently, at the 1000-seat Swansea Grand Theatre. Total Sound director Chris Hooke takes up the story.
“We’ve been working with the theatre as a client for many years, providing rental systems for one off events. We know the venue well, so when the subject arose of a new permanent system, we were happy to contribute our ideas for a generic configuration which became the basis of the

USA - King Jesus Church in Miami, Florida is taking their production to the next level with a recent upgrade to their Clear-Com intercom system. The upgrade incorporated their existing Clear-Com Encore analogue partyline intercom system and now additionally includes an Eclipse HX digital matrix system fitted with an E-IPA card, FreeSpeak II digital wireless transceivers and beltpacks, HelixNet digital partyline, LQ Series of IP interfaces and finally the Agent-IC mobile app.
For over 20 years, King Jesus Church of Miami (KJM) has been highly successful with their ministry in Southern Florida, seeing attendance of 15,000 to 20,000 each week at both their main and remote campuses across the globe, spanning five continents.
As the ministry has continued to grow, so has their production - broadcasting online to hundreds of thousands of followers worldwide, many of whom res

USA - Using technology to enrich entertainment is nothing new at the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, NY. At the time it opened in 1925, the 1000-plus seat venue was outfitted with an early Mighty Wurlitzer ‘demonstrator’, meaning that the instrument’s manufacturer, would take potential customers there to show them how the powerful pipe organ could enhance the experience of watching a silent movie.
The advent of talkies spelled the end for most of the original Wurlitzer demonstrators, save for two, one of which, after being restored by volunteers, is still entertaining guests at the Riviera, only now it is joined by a host of other, more modern technologies, including a new lighting rig featuring Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Advanced Production Group.
Derek Heckler, design specialist at the theatre, was deeply involved in specifying the new light

USA - The Peach Music Festival at Montage Mountain in Scranton, Pennsylvania is known for presenting a diverse, multi-genre array of artists most known for their free-flowing improvisation and danceable rhythms. Headliners for 2022 included Billy Strings, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Trey Anastasio Band, and The Black Crowes, with more than 70 bands total on the bill.
From an audio standpoint, the 2022 Peach Music Festival was notable as the North American major festival debut of Meyer Sound’s new Panther large-format linear line array loudspeaker.
This year’s Peach Music Festival was also the first for Coatesville, Pennsylvania-based DBS Audio Systems as the principal audio provider. Company president Dave Brotman who served as system engineer at the main stage comments, “Amphitheatres with tent roofs can generate a vast amount of reflections. FOH engineers come i

USA - For more than 40 years, Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, has delivered a comprehensive entertainment, media, arts, and emerging technologies education. The staff at Full Sail has always embraced the latest in AV technology for student learning, skills building, and supplying on-campus tools -including a campus-wide Dante audio network, which has become a regularly used platform within the university’s infrastructure.
The university was an early adopter of networked audio in its educational offerings and as part of its studio and live productions. Over the years, as Dante became prominent within the industry, the university ultimately made a substantial investment in Dante-capable Focusrite RedNet equipment, solidifying Dante as the audio networking standard for the campus.
“That was really our first big push into Dante, and from there, the platfo

India - British-Norwegian DJ, YouTuber and record producer Alan Walker returned to India for a four-city Sunburn Arena Tour last April that turned out legions of fans in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurgaon. His Bengaluru show featured 28 Claypaky Mythos 2 hybrid lights provided by Reynold’s Sound & Lighting Service where Felix Remedios is the director.
Walker, best known for his critically single Faded which was certified platinum in 14 countries, was joined on stage by German singer-songwriter Au/Ra and Norwegian singer-songwriter Julie Bergan. Walker was last in India with the Aviation Tour India leg in 2019. He has collaborated with Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, Sia and Avicii and supported artists such as Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Kygo performing at some of the world’s top music festivals.
Walker’s EDM concert in Bengaluru was one of the biggest p

USA/UK - The new Baz Luhrmann film, Elvis brings the story of Elvis Presley to the big screen. Warner Brothers was committed to ensuring as much historical accuracy as possible, and asked Shure to consult on the microphone models Elvis used. The company was provided photos of Elvis performing, then identified the vintage mics, and offered suggestions on alternative models when appropriate. For decades, Shure has assisted film production companies in identifying and locating historically accurate microphones.
While there are a variety of Shure microphones used in the movie, there are three (or four) different types of Shure microphones Elvis used throughout his career:
The Shure Unidyne I Model 556 – This variation of the Unidyne I is one of the more recognisable microphones that Elvis used in the prime of his career. According to the 1947 Shure Product Data S

Columbia - The magic of Salsa cannot merely be heard and seen in the beautiful confines of Cali’s Teatro Municipal this summer, it can also be felt in the heart and soul, as the historic venue hosts Ensalsate, a passionate celebration of this dance form produced by the 360 Design Group. Heightening the transformative power of the performances on stage is a zesty lighting design by Milton de la Cruz that features 22 Chauvet Professional Rogue R3 Beam fixtures.
Like the colourfully clad dancers on stage, de la Curz’s flow of beams, spot lighting, and gobo patterns moves with deft grace as it sweeps up the audiences in a liberating whirlwind of desires and emotions.
Accentuating the precise moves of the dancers is a crucial part of the De La Cruz's design, which draws on a mixture of evocative beam configurations and colours to translate the energy of salsa int

Poland - The Warsaw branch of Brill AV Media, a company specialising in B2B events and conference productions as well as AV systems integration / installation, has invested in more Robe moving lights for its equipment inventory, with the purchase of LEDWash 600+s, Tetra2s and Pointes from Robe’s Polish distributor, Prolight.
These have been added to their stock which already contains around 200 Robe fixtures in total with Pointes, BMFL Spots, BMFL Blades and Tetra2 moving LED battens in Warsaw and there is an even wider selection of Robe products available across the Group of companies. The current Brill AV Media format is the result of a merger between Czech-based AV Media, Hungary-based Brill AV and Polish entrepreneur Michal Czerniak with separate operations in all three countries.
The setup enables Brill AV Media to offer a mix of experience, skills, equipment,

USA - Overtime Elite (OTE) is a new basketball sports league that offers talented young basketball players a better pathway to becoming professional athletes. Their new 103,000sq.ft facility is where OTE’s players train, study and compete. The facility is outfitted with the Aero, Artec, HQ, UX, and CL series by DAS Audio.
AG Production Services of Las Vegas was contracted to build and outfit the new OTE facility. Andrew Gumper, president and chief project manager, oversaw the operation of the project.
“It was important to OTE management that in addition to being a cutting-edge sports facility, the venue be outfitted with the best audio reproduction equipment. This is because the announcements and other information must not only be suitable in terms of volume but also be clear and articulate. This led us to deploying DAS Audio”, Gumper explains.
“The baske

USA - Alternative metal band Deftones, wrapped the North American leg of their OHMS tour, delivering a show that fans felt was worth waiting for. Lighting, production and set designer Jon Eddy used Claypaky RGB laser source Xtylos tight beam and Claypaky ReflectXion compact moving mirror to give a different look to the show.
The six-week leg of the tour kicked off in Portland and included a setlist that spanned Deftones’ nine studio albums and three live debuts. Deftones released their album Ohms in 2020 along with a 20th-anniversary edition of White Pony and earned Grammy nominations for the songs Ohms and Genesis. The band is currently touring Europe playing a roster of festival dates.
Eddy designed the band’s 2020 tour, which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. He completely redesigned the new tour, putting the COVID lockdo

USA - Bandit Lites is providing the lighting for Jackson Browne’s Evening With full band 2022 tour which launched in June and runs through September, supporting his album Downhill From Everywhere.
Lighting designer Greg Classen began working with Browne in 2021 during Browne’s tour with James Taylor. “For Jackson’s band tour, I knew that I needed a design with some depth that would showcase the music without distracting from his music,” explained Classen. “I decided I wanted something that would replicate the depth and movement of a video wall without actually having to carry one.
“I knew that I needed a design with some depth that would showcase the music without distracting from his music,” explained Classen. “I decided I wanted something that would replicate the depth and movement of a video wall without actually having to carry one.”

Korea - Klang Studios, launched by mix engineer Jong-Pil Gu, produces mainly K-Pop music but occasionally joins forces with both hip-hop and R&B artists. It has also collaborated on songs for a TV series.
His philosophy focuses on the process of “creative-collaboration” between the musicians, producers, and engineers working on a particular song and also having the ‘right gear’ and infrastructure – including Van Damme cables.
Blue Series Studio Grade Multicore Cable was used for the equipment connected through the patch bay. For direct connection between equipment, XKE Microphone Cable and XKE Starquad Microphone Cable was selected. Digitour Series AES/EBU & DMX 110ohm Cable was utilised for AES/EBU or S/PDIF equipment.
The project took three months to complete and was finished just before the global pandemic took hold. Working with Gearlounge,

Greece - The Desmond Child Rocks the Parthenon show took place in front of a 5,000-strong audience at the historic Roman amphitheatre of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens at the end of June.
This massive ancient theatre, located on the slopes of the Acropolis, has a history going back over 2,000 years and has hosted many artists who have played against its magnificent backdrop.
Lighting designer George Tellos and his team from Lighting Art in Athens created the lighting design for this evening of rock music that celebrated the songs of Desmond Child.
Guest artists included Alice Cooper, Bonnie Tyler, Rita Wilson, Sakis Rouvas and The Rasmus, as well as Lena Hall, Kip Winger, Chris Willis, Tabitha Fair, Justin Benlolo and Andreas Carlsson.
“Our work became even more important when we realised that we need to visualise these awesome songs like

UK - Electronic music pioneer and innovator Gary Numan is on the road again showcasing his topical climate crisis highlighting studio album Intruder – his 19th – which dropped in 2021, combined with back catalogue material.
The UK leg of the tour featured a performance at Wembley Arena in London for which lighting designer Dustin Snyder used large quantities of Robe MegaPointes and LEDBeam 150s together with other lights supplied by rental specialist, Siyan.
Dustin has been working with the artist since 2014. The Intruder tour started in the US with Dustin taking the three fractured lines of face paint from the album artwork as a creative starting point, which translated into columns of asymmetric and fragmented video panels onstage.
The UK tour was designed around Wembley being the largest gig, which was also a DVD record, and to be scalable to fit i

UK - With artistes ranging from the Rolling Stones to Elton John and the Eagles gracing the new d stage and fascia at this year’s American Express presents BST Hyde Park the quality of sound needed to raise the bar at AEG Live’s flagship event.
Martin Audio rental partners Capital Sound (part of the Solotech group) have been the exclusive suppliers of the manufacturer’s MLA since the event’s inception in 2013, and were able to respond by providing enhanced site coverage. This year, with its expansion across three weekends, the event broke all records, selling 530,000 tickets across the nine shows.
Taking note of the additional 5m height gain of Star Group’s new Titan stage (which now reaches 19m off the ground), Solotech extended the two main PA and side-fill hangs and streamlined the 11 delay towers, introducing their recently acquired WPL scalable line arra

Italy - In May 1972, two young, emerging folk singers got together in Rome to record Theorius Campus. Although the album had only limited success, the raw talent of Antonelli Venditti and Francesco de Gregori left an impression on all who heard it. Great things were predicted for both singers, and great things they achieved in Italy and beyond, but not together.
The two parted ways shortly after that initial recording, never to appear on the same stage again, until this June when, a half century after their joint debut, the pair began an Italian tour with two shows at Rome’s Olympic Stadium.
Celebrating the emotional power of this reunion, while also reflecting the different styles and personalities that the two stars have developed over the years, was an expansive and multi-faceted Massimo Tomasino lighting design that featured 34 Chauvet Professional Maveric

Denmark - The 50th presentation of Northern Europe’s largest and longest-running music festival, Roskilde Festival ran over eight days from 25 June through 2 July and featured more than 290 artists. Performers took to eight stages spaced throughout the sprawling festival grounds with headliners including Post Malone, Dua Lipa, Tyler, the Creator, The Strokes, Megan Thee Stallion, St. Vincent, and Haim, plus more than 130 diverse supporting acts including Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, H.E.R., Black Pumas, Kacey Musgraves, and CHVRCHES.
Meyer Sound was the official sound partner for the event. “The sound at Roskilde Festival is essential for us to be able to create the communities and the perfect audience experience that we strive for at every festival,” explains Lars Liliengren, Roskilde Festival’s senior production manager.
Nearly 1,000 Meyer Sound loudspea

USA - Although he’s kept up with the latest in lighting technology, John Garberson readily admits that at heart, he really likes old school looks with their big ACL specials, deep colours and dimming curves. In other words, good down-home traditional rock and roll lighting.
The GM of Creative Backstage, Garberson got to see plenty of these big, in-your-face panoramas recently thanks to a rig he and his team created for Arizona Bike Week. Held this spring in West World of Scottsdale,AZ, the multi-attraction event drew some 70,000 bikers from throughout North America.
Highlighting the event were the nightly concerts held at The Rock Yard, an indoor venue on the festival grounds, where the Creative BackStage rig got to roll out its thunderous looks for a line-up of rockers that included Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rob Zombie, and Social Distortion. Key to igniting these intense v

USA - LIT Lighting has added Elation Professional’s IP65 LED luminaire, Proteus Maximus, to inventory, an investment that allows the Tempe, Arizona-based production and rental house to effectively fill more riders and service larger shows and events.
“We’re excited to have added a rider-friendly and large-show-friendly fixture like the Proteus Maximus to our inventory,” stated Chris LIT Brodman, founder and director of operations at LIT Lighting. “It’s exciting for us to have grown to this level, from a little company to now having the ability to service big shows. That achievement feels really amazing.”
Brodman started in the entertainment technology industry when just a teen, supplying lighting, special effects, props and scenic decoration to the underground electronic music scene in and around Phoenix. After meeting and working for his mentor, John Ga

USA - Hundreds of thousands of people chose downtown Nashville to celebrate the Fourth of July as Broadway was transformed in a free concert event during Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th celebration.
Bandit Lites provided lighting for two stages. The main stage on Broadway featured a headlining show from Old Dominion as well as 17 Nashville based artists performances as well as the Ascend Amphitheater where the Nashville Symphony Orchestra accompanied the largest firework show in Nashville's history.
40,000 pounds of explosives and 200 miles of wire became the longest firework show in the city's history when the display hit 31 minutes and 30 seconds.
Production manager Chris Lisle entrusted Bandit Lites to supply the Broadway stage with more than 120 fixtures including Chauvet Rogue R2 Beams, Elation CuePix WW4 Blinders, Martin MAC Viper Profiles and

UK - Tramlines festival returns to Sheffield’s Hillsborough Park from 22-24 July 2022, delivered by independent production company Method Events
This year’s event builds on the success of the award-winning Tramlines 2021, which was one of very few festivals to go ahead as a pilot event under the government’s Event Research Programme last year.
For this year, the team at Method have planned a record-breaking event for 2022, which sold out its 50,000 capacity faster than ever before. The five-stage event will host a line up including headliners Sam Fender, Kasabian and Madness.
As a Sheffield festival that is deeply rooted in the city, there is a continued effort to make use of as many local suppliers and staff as possible, ensuring the event continues to bring significant economic benefits to the wider community. Tramlines has donated £103,000 to 20 charit

The Netherlands - The production surrounding two shows at Rotterdam’s Ahoy Arena by Dutch rising star Davina Michelle featured an imaginative fusion of dance and rock ‘n’ roll. Artistic directors were Sophie and Sander Reneman from multidisciplinary, creative agency TWOFIFTYK and Marc Heinz who was asked to design lighting.
Marc is well known for this international theatrical and opera work as well as his high-impact light shows for DJ Armin van Buuren. For these showcase performances he specified nearly 300 Robe moving lights to bring flexibility, impact, and drama to the stage, on which he worked closely with assistant lighting designer, Jordy Veenstra and Koen van Elderen.
The set concept was based on perceptions of space and proximity. To make it simultaneously intimate and visually striking in the large arena, a custom 10 x 7m glass riser was installed as a

UK - Truck Festival, the Oxfordshire-based music festival founded in 1998, returns to Hill Farm from 22-24 July 2022.
This year, the festival features a number of new elements. It is also supporting UN Women UK’s #SafeSpacesNow campaign to tackle harassment and ensure all who attend have a safe, inclusive experience.
Truck Festival’s alignment with the #SafeSpacesNow campaign will see increased welfare provisions on site, including ‘guardian angels’ offering support to attendees, and training for festival staff to respond appropriately to sexual harassment.
UN Women UK will have a safe space set up on site which will provide advice, support and information to anyone who needs it. The festival has also published the Truck Ethos, a code of conduct that encourages attendees to “look out for each other, respect each other, look after our home, and go at you

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