South Africa - In Pretoria, the State Theatre’s 640-seat Drama Stage hosted the rounds and finale of the 2020 Idols SA, complete with a lighting design by Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier and technical production delivered by Dream Sets for SIC Entertainment. This sixteenth series was directed by Gavin Wratten.
While the show would normally decamp to the 3000-capacity Carnival City Big Top Arena in Johannesburg for the finale, this year everything remained at the State Theatre, and while accommodating a strictly limited audience of 250, the visual elements of the production were also expanded to add some serious WOW factors!
Like any LD asked to add more lights, Josh jumped at the chance to seriously pimp up the rig with an additional 120 Robe moving lights for the finale which was broadcast live on the Mzansi Magic CH 161 on DSTV as usual.
Josh has li

USA - When Caitlin Visel joined Uvalde Grand Opera House as manager in September 2019, she was immediately tasked with replacing the nearly 40-year old wired intercom system. As the second oldest theatre in Texas, Visel needed to find a comms system that would cover the entire building with its thick, concrete walls.
When she realised that repairing the outdated system was beyond her budget, she began the search for a replacement. Through some online research, Visel was immediately intrigued by Pliant Technologies’ MicroCom M digital wireless intercom system.
“I was instantly drawn to Pliant’s intercom offerings for its wireless capabilities,” says Visel. “Having a wireless intercom system has been a massive benefit as we can communicate with staff members throughout the entire building. Whether they’re with talent backstage, in the lobby collecting ticket

Denmark - A Copenhagen shopping centre has installed 30 ADJ LED-powered moving head fixtures to provide a flexible lighting system that can be used both for special events and general ambient looks. Mounted to the high ceiling of the mall’s large atrium, which allows their beams to reach all across the main space, the fixtures have proved to be a big hit with the centre’s management who love the versatility that the system provides.
Located in Taaastrup, a suburb of the Danish capital city, CITY2 is a large shopping destination that also incorporates an ice-skating rink and nine-screen movie theatre. Originally opened in 1975, it was one of the first modern shopping centres in Europe, inspired by the popularity of the ‘everything under one roof’ malls of the United States. Despite its long history, CITY2 is continuously being updated and renovated, with the latest of

UK - PRG has joined forces with the Saatchi Gallery in the heart of West London to create Saatchi Studios – a flexible, COVID-secure space, suitable for recording, streaming or basing virtual and hybrid events.
John Montague, director of corporate and events said, “We’ve had an incredible long-standing relationship with the Saatchi Gallery, and it’s been a pleasure to work alongside them once again to develop Saatchi Studios. We had our first client in the studio last week and it has been great to be back on site. The team and I cannot wait to continue this journey and are excited about the upcoming bookings for this month.”
PRG has created a studio package which includes bespoke backdrops (including a variety of LED walls), the latest robotic and manned cameras, professional lighting and secure, managed and uncontended internet access as standard. Basic sets

USA - The Palace Theatre in Albany, NY, is Christine Whelan Sharp’s favourite venue to light in and not just for its graceful Art Deco architecture with its gleaming exterior and stylized accents. Nor is it for the theatre’s rich 91-year history that has seen the likes of Bruce Springsteen and The Rolling Stones grace its stage.
What Sharp especially likes about this venue is the sense of intimacy performers and crew feel with the crowd. So, it took some getting used to when she stepped inside the Palace on 15 January to light a livestream show by rockers Annie In The Water before 2,900 empty seats.
“It was a different kind of feeling working that theatre when it was empty,” said Sharp of High Peaks Presents. “We had the band facing upstage during the livestream, so the downstage apron was really the back of our stage and the empty seats were the backdrop.”

UK - Shure is the sound system of choice for a multi-million pound restoration project at St John at Hackney Church. The project was supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund in collaboration with designer John Pawson (Abbey of our Lady of Nový Dvůr/Design Museum), visual artist Es Devlin and architects Thomas Ford & Partners.
A noted landmark, St John at Hackney Church was established in 1275 and has been part of the East London community ever since. A church in the traditional sense, since 2010 has welcomed major artists such as Robbie Williams, Florence Welch, Jamie XX, Benjamin Clementine, Bloc Party, Ed Sheeran and Emeli Sandé. As a Music Venue’s Trust and Independent Venue Week affiliated venue, Hackney Church looks forward to hosting some of the world’s finest creators and innovators whilst supporting local artistic endeavour in its Grade II* listed

USA/Europe - While the live music scene has been on pause for the past year, two live sound innovators, Dr. Christian Heil, president and founder of L-Acoustics, and Jerry Harvey, president and founder of JH Audio, came up with the idea to combine their technologies into Contour XO in-ear headphones.
Following an initial meeting in which Jerry Harvey travelled to Paris to meet Christian Heil, the two companies’ teams collaborated remotely to build Contour XO, which incorporates the massive L-Acoustics line array sound into JH Audio's multi-driver portable in-ear monitors (IEMs).
The design of Contour XO incorporates 10 drivers and covers the full frequency spectrum down to 10Hz. They also feature bass adjustment of up to 15 dB so you can control how much low end you need.
Contour XO was given a crucial role at the inauguration of the 46th President of the Unit

USA - The Stillery, a Nashville-based restaurant and live music venue, recently expanded its concept with a new location in Chandler, Arizona. Co-owner Steve Kovach turned to Backstage Backyards, an exterior design and installation company, to design, integrate and install the venue’s stage and sound system. Backstage Backyards was created by music industry veteran Joe Denim to employ music industry touring professionals who are out of work due to the pandemic.
Denim working alongside Jim Brentlinger selected the RSX Series PA system from Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) for this project. The main goal was to ensure that the space had even coverage at lower volumes during the dinner rush with the ability to crank up the system later in the night and for special events.
“The space has a low ceiling with a raised stage so we needed a compact array that could deliver equa

UK - Multinational giant Siemens partnered with Evoke Studios and disguise to host 8,000 customers from 90 countries at their Digital Enterprise SPS Dialog. The event offered customers engaging virtual content and introduced the new Siemens virtual showroom which showcased innovative 3D visualisations and tours using disguise xR.
The disguise xR workflow, implemented by Evoke Studios, powered the virtual showroom, which featured 56 exhibits in 12 topic areas, more than 130 product presentations and three real factory showcases. In addition, there were 21 stage presentations with 38 top-level industry speakers. A total of 8,000 customers from 90 countries connected to the event.
During five weeks of production Evoke Studios were charged with providing a high-end xR platform to help provide engaging content for the virtual showroom, allowing clients to interact with indi

Germany - The annual New Year's Eve show on broadcaster ZDF (Silvestershow) is a fixture of the German TV calendar. Moderator duo Andrea Kiewel and Johannes B. Kerner welcomed the New Year with numerous musical guests, yet this year everything was different. Instead of the traditional fireworks display, a stage light show with no audience took place.
As technical service provider for the event, AMBION was faced with the challenge of setting up and dismantling an open-air TV show in the cold, wet December weather. The show took place in the middle of the capital under the strictest hygiene regulations and used over 800 lighting fixtures. Some 130 weatherproof moving lights from Elation’s Proteus series were an essential part of the solution, supplied by Motion Rental.
In addition to the Proteus fixtures, 16 new KL Panels with RGBWLC array were used for white light on

UK - The Grand Brighton hotel, a landmark on the seafront in UK south coast city and resort Brighton, is highlighted by an Anolis LED lighting installation illuminating its majestic front façade.
Designed by architect John Whichcord Jr. and built in 1864, originally as a hangout for the smart set of the day, today it offers over 200 rooms, many with spectacular panoramic sea views and full conference facilities while its distinctive Victorian and Italian features remain almost unchanged.
The Anolis lighting scheme was installed as part of a wider modernisation programme happening along Brighton’s Kings Road seafront which is a collage of historical and modern architecture.
Anolis UK was initially approached by the hotel’s management and asked to specify a suitable, more energy conscious and cost-efficient luminaire to replace their ageing discharge lighting

UK - Originally slated to reopen Leicester’s Curve Theatre as part of a season of socially distanced ‘in-the-round’ shows, Sunset Boulevard in Concert was forced to become a streaming event due to continued lockdowns in the UK (see the full production report in our latest issue, out now). Nevertheless, the technical production continued to be supported by new generation Profile, Spot and Wash lighting from GLP, as originally planned, which now took on an increased role.
Theatre lighting designer Ben Cracknell, an associate artist at Curve with a long list of credits behind him, specified a large quantity of the new impression 350 series from GLP. The multi-camera film version - which was scheduled to stream over an 18-day period starting 22 December - brought even more out of the

Belgium - During the pandemic, when so many activities have been cut off, the municipality of Herentals made its magical streets even more inviting to walkers by adorning them, as well as some of their most beautiful landmarks, with richly textured lighting displays created by The Creative Factory (TCF) with Chauvet Professional fixtures.
Kristof Van Mensel, lighting designer for TCF, deployed Maverick and COLORdash fixtures, supplied by Studio Haifax, throughout the city of Herentals and the adjacent towns of Morkhoven and Noorderwijk. In the process, he created “an atmospheric walking environment” for locals and visitors alike.
Among the highlights of this walking panorama was the illuminated Lakenhal (Cloth Hall) an impressive structure dating back to the 15th century in the city centre. Once the heart of the region’s thriving textile trade, the sandstone and

USA - When the live music industry ground to a halt in early 2020, rock band Styx quickly pivoted away from their planned tour to focus on direct engagement with their more than one million fans who are members of the online Styx Lounge. As the band increasingly made remote collaboration and fan outreach a daily practice, bassist and self-described gearhead Ricky Phillips noticed that one component in his Austin, Texas home studio was limiting the experience: a barebones webcam.
“Music is my life, and video communication has brought artists and fans closer together than ever before” Phillips says. “From websites where we can share or post videos, music ‘magazines’ that host performances, online video fan clubs, the ability to record master classes and more, video has become a crucial tool for musicians to connect with fans and create new opportunities. My $100 stor

Thailand - Mahajak Development Co recently equipped Naresuan University’s new multi-purpose building with Harman Professional Solutions AV system.
Located in the heart of Phitsanulok province, Naresuan University is one of the top government universities in Thailand. Originally established as a College of Education in 1967, the school was later renamed the Phitsanulok Campus of Srinakharinwirot University in 1974, and again in 1990 to Naresuan University, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of King Naresuan’s ascension to the throne.
Recently, The university completed construction on a massive 3,200sq.m facility than can function as a single 4,000-capacity hall or be split into two smaller rooms. To deliver audio and video quality for seminars and exhibitions in their new multipurpose educational facility, Naresuan University hired Mahajak Development Co to i

UK - Technical production and LED screen hire company, iMAG, has recently pioneered a mobile Virtual Production facility, offering a 360° workflow, from in-house drawing team and rigging, to full LED set up controlled by Brompton Technology Tessera processing.
iMAG has joined forces with film production company Treehouse Digital, which works with major episodic streaming companies such as Netflix and Amazon, as well as on films and commercials, for the project, combining their extensive experience in filmmaking with iMAG’s hardware, knowledge and expertise gained through years of working in high pressure live environments.
“The true-to-life colour accuracy and image bit depth of High Dynamic Range (HDR) is becoming extremely popular, particularly within virtual production,” says iMAG MD and technical director, Alex Strachan. “We had already invested in ROE Vis

UK - AV integrator Torpedo Factory Group has installed a new K-array loudspeaker system at the City of London Academy, elevating audio performance to be capable of the largest theatrical productions while remaining visually minimalist.
Opened in 2003, City of London Academy is one of four City of London Corporation sponsored academies and moved to its present location in the south-east London borough of Southwark in 2005.
The Academy’s main auditorium is a large purpose-built hall with raked seating designed for speech and music, assemblies, lectures and large-scale theatrical productions. In order to meet the demands of these multiple and diverse functions, Torpedo Factory Group (TFG) proposed a full range, high SPL solution in the form of K-array Kobra line array elements complemented by Thunder subwoofers, and supplied by the Italian manufacturer’s UK distributo

Finland - Helsinki’s Visual Monkeys design agency ramped up the visuals for Finland’s popular The Masked Singer TV show using Hippotizer Montane+ RTX and Karst+ Media Servers in December.
Visual Monkeys' founder Mikko ‘Bob’ Enäkoski, who says he is on a mission to bring stadium looks to Finnish TV, designed the show’s set and visual set up and was looking for a solution to create what he likes to call ‘a kick ass show’. This passion led him to the Hippotizer Media Servers.
“We are a team of around 20 people at Visual Monkeys and we like to deliver,” says Enäkoski. “For this season of Finland’s The Masked Singer, we went all-out, with pyrotechnics and scaled-up video content. Some of the biggest challenges we face are getting the balance right with the lights and the video, and ensuring the focus stays on the performer, backed up by

China - Canton Tower, formerly known as Guangzhou TV and Sightseeing Tower, is a 604m observation tower in Guangzhou, China. It is reportedly the second tallest tower in the country and the fourth tallest freestanding structure in the world. The structure was topped-out in 2009 and became operational in 2010 for the Asian Games.
Advanced Communication Equipment Co. Ltd (ACE), MA Lighting’s exclusive distributor in China, recently installed one grandMA3 light, one grandMA3 replay unit, six grandMA3 processing units and 16 grandMA3 8Port Nodes, all using grandMA3 software to run the tower’s architectural lighting, which was previously controlled by a grandMA2 system.
“One challenge was the tower’s height,” the company says. “Achieving smooth lighting in real-time and stability were key to the project. The main body of the Canton Tower is 454m high, so the ne

USA - Immersive experience experts PixMob scored with both football and music fans alike at the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show featuring a performance by R&B star The Weeknd at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
Following on the heels of PixMob’s success lighting up last year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show - which featured Jennifer Lopez and Shakira and drew over 104m viewers - PixMob were tapped once more (their third time overall) to provide an epic game-day experience.
Employing over 22,500 LED wristbands for live audience members (and some 30,000 adapted LEDs for the cardboard cut-out ones), 500 ‘flares’ (ultra-powerful LEDs) for the performers on the field, 75 LED masks, and 150 ‘light-up eyes’ (on face shields) for the choir, PixMob demonstrated their ability to turn audiences into part of the show while creating a pulsating, colourful and entranci

Australia - Occupying a premium waterfront site, Howard Smith Wharves (HSW) in Brisbane has been developed as a multiplexed, family-oriented leisure village overlooking the Brisbane River. The development has taken five years and cost between 200m-250m AUD.
Featuring some 20 different hospitality zones, ranging from a series of bars and restaurants (including a microbrewery), a full blown 1700-cap events space and even a boutique hotel (Fantauzzo), acoustic acts and DJs perform in various pop-ups and in outdoor communal park areas at the hub of the complex.
This complex is also one of the biggest single deployments of Martin Audio loudspeakers, with nearly 250 CDD series enclosures alone - including IP-rated weatherised ‘WR’ versions installed. Everything is connected to a QSC Q-Sys backbone on which all the individual venues are networked, allowing any audio sour

UK - Distro Design has been working with long-standing customer BBC Studioworks to upgrade the dimming system for Studio D at BBC Elstree Centre.
BBC Studioworks selected Distro Design’s most advanced dimming system for the project, which features GEN VI lighting controls from LSC Control Systems. This technology provides greater flexibility for the user.
A permanent 400A Powerlock output panel, with variable and switchable RCD and rotary 400A MCCB, was designed by Distro Design for the initial installation to provide a new, clean power supply to the six dimmer racks on the gantry.
Over two kilometres of new cables were supplied, with various connectors, from the incoming supply, via the dimmers right out to the lighting fixtures. The cables were built to BBC Studioworks’ exact specification by Distro Design.
The system features 4 x 24 ways of LSC C

UK - Audiologic has announced completion of a project with Taunton School, working with Practical Audio Visual on a design and installation project for the education facility including a sound reinforcement system.
The audio-visual integration company, Practical AV, have been in charge of the project design for the main dining room, consisting of two rooms that can function as independent areas or as a single space.
The team was led by Owen Finney, alongside Audiologic’s application support team. Together, they designed and specified a sound system centralising around an Ecler MIMO processor, with Ecler loudspeakers and amplification, as well as Shure wireless microphone systems.
Owen Finney comments: “Audiologic is our exclusive distributor for audio products with a particular focus on the high-end market. The Ecler and Shure products used were a perfect fi

China - The team at French seating manufacturer Quinette Gallay was a contributor to a major project in China recently – the Shangyin Opera House in Shanghai.
The Opera House is part of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music – an institution which has been at the forefront of musical education in China since 1927. It has strong links to musicians and musical institutions worldwide.
In 2019, the Conservatory began work fitting out the new opera house, intended as an unmatched resource for both students and teachers. The venue would provide a place to practise and perform opera which would match the quality of a world-class opera house, with the very best interior, equipment and acoustics.
Embracing the concept of an opera house as a musical instrument, architect Christian de Portzamparc worked together with acoustician Albert Xu on this stunning space. The desig

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