USA - Cumulus NYC’s Stage 17, a live performance and broadcast studio at Cumulus’s New York City cluster (WABC, WPLJ, WNSH, WNBM), uses an Allen & Heath GLD-80 Digital Mixing System at FOH for its live audience mix, another GLD-80 to provide a stereo broadcast mix and six Allen & Heath ME-1 Personal Mixing Systems for on-stage artist monitoring.
With its new audio systems, Stage 17 has hosted more than 100 live music broadcasts, interviews, fund raisers and other special events since March 2017 with celebrities like Oliver Stone, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert and Gavin DeGraw.
Director of engineering Dan Hirschl says: “Our goal for Stage 17 was to convert a large conference room into a live performance studio for use by the multiple Cumulus stations here in New York for a variety of events.” Regarding the mixer choice for Stage 17, Hirschl says he had hel

USA - Firehouse Productions recently deployed a complete Harman Professional Solutions audio system at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Held on 28 January, this year marked the first time the ceremony was held outside of Los Angeles since 2003. Firehouse Productions was hired to provide sound reinforcement for the event, which included live performances by Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Kesha, Bruno Mars and Cardi B, SZA, Childish Gambino and more.
In order to ensure sound quality for both the audience at Madison Square Garden and the television broadcast, Firehouse designed a complete Harman Professional audio system centred upon JBL VTX Series loudspeakers and Crown amplification.
“When it comes to sound quality at the Grammy Awards ceremony, we have incredibly high standards,” said Michael Abbott, audio coordinator,

UK - The Imperial War Museum North opened at Trafford Park in Manchester in 2002 and has since welcomed more than three million visitors. Designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, the striking building is now a feature of the city's skyline. Its exhibitions tell the story of how war has affected the lives of British and Commonwealth citizens since 1914.
IWM North recently called on Pro Audio Systems in Bradford to upgrade the audio system of the museum’s star attraction, the Big Picture Show, which uses surround sound, projected digital moving images and photographs to create a fully immersive sensory experience that brings to life people’s experiences of war.
After several A/B comparisons which designated EM Acoustics as both the top-performing and best value solution, Pro Audio Systems supplied a system based on 24 EMS-81X 2-way passive speakers supplemente

UK - In 2015, Horsecross Arts, the creative organisation that runs Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre, undertook the task of rejuvenating Perth Theatre, home to Scotland’s oldest repertory theatre company. Northern Light, specialist in technical theatre fit-outs, was contracted to design, provide, install and commission both the production lighting and sound and communications systems to help achieve this transformation.
The aim of the project was to restore the theatre’s B-listed, Edwardian auditorium to its former glory. The ‘gods’ seating was to be reinstated, an orchestra area introduced and a new 200-seat studio theatre for small to mid-scale music and drama performances was built. New community and creative learning spaces, including a home for Perth Youth Theatre were also to be provided and access throughout the venue improved.
Already on the approved

USA - Country music singer Luke Pell is out on tour with a lighting package supplied by Bandit Lites.
The performer is travelling coast to coast on a 100-stop tour in support of his EP Luke Pell.
For David Schultz, the journey to becoming Luke Pell’s lighting designer and tour manager was one that came about because of his experience with Bandit Lites, an experience he refers to as ‘unreal’. After meeting Bandit general manager Mark Steinwachs at the Touring Career Workshop, Schultz was invited to work in the Nashville shop, later joining the Technical Service Department.
“Bandit has been an essential part of my career path and has provided me with the groundwork and reference that I needed to earn a gig like this,” Schultz said. “Bandit has been nothing but supportive in boosting my career by giving me my first professional shot in Nashvill

India - Ananta Stagecraft called on a total of 172 fixtures from the PR Lighting catalogue to provide dynamic illumination for the recent Gaana Bollywood Music Project. This two-day event was held in the Indian capital of Delhi, and according to Ananta Stagecraft’s Jay Joshi, the spectators were mesmerised by the spectacular lightshow.
Local company Ananta Stagecraft had recently invested heavily in PR Lighting, and as the official lighting partner for the event they were able to field 60 x PR XR 330 Beam II; 50 x PR XR440 BWS; 38 x PR XR480 BWS and 24 x PR XLED 4022RZ to achieve impressive brightness and versatility.
These fixtures populated two massive stages, both expertly designed by house lighting designers Jay Joshi and Sohail Mansuri to provide maximum bang for the buck.
The lighting designers themselves were hugely impressed. Said Sohail Mansuri, “

Czech Republic - For the 2017 edition of the Transmission Festival, the Spirit of the Warrior, staged in Prague’s O2 Arena, the organisers of one of Czech Republic’s most popular dance events promised their guests “an unrivalled visual and sonic experience” delivered by a creative team including lighting designer Bas Kemper, Dutch VJ collective, Vision Impossible and Rudo Tucek, owner of Slovakian rental specialist, Ministry Rental Service.
Ministry had just taken delivery of 24 new Robe MegaPointes in the weeks before the event and these multi-purpose fixtures took centre stage on the lighting plot, positioned prominently around the DJ booth at the suggestion of Rudo.
“I was really keen to get MegaPointes right at the epicentre of the event” explained Rudo, “so deploying them around the DJ booth was an obvious place.”
Two rows of eight

China - Over 40,000 spectators gathered to take in the final event of the 2017 League of Legends S7 World Championships in November 2017 at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium. The audio system for the event, which included over 200 Adamson E-Series and S-Series loudspeakers, ran without any interruption for nearly 96 hours, leading up to the winner being declared.
League of Legends is a popular multiplayer online battle arena video game, with national tournaments hosted in several countries around the world. The S7 World Championships began with a pool of 12 international teams that, over the course of two months of live gameplay, was whittled down to the final two: Samsung Galaxy and SK Telecom T1, both from South Korea. The two teams faced off in the nearly four-day final at the Bird’s Nest, with the Samsung Galaxy team earning a decisive 3-0 victory.
Beij

USA - The studio of Vermont Public Radio (VPR), a network of state-wide public radio stations, recently underwent a renovation to enhance its web broadcasts and live performances.
The network required a lighting design that could operate within its strict ambient noise guidelines and appointed Dark Star Lighting and Production to provide a complete LED solution with Altman Lighting PHX 150W Profile and Spectra Star Par luminaires.
Wolf Wallace, general manager, Dark Star Lighting and Production, explains: “This was a new studio space for both live performances and web streams, so they needed a new lighting system, but they were very sensitive about the sound levels in the studio environment. After they brought in an acoustic company to ensure the room was as purely contained for sound as possible, we knew we needed quiet LED luminaires in the lighting design for soun

UK - Beauty and the Beast enjoyed a six-week run at Byre Theatre in St Andrews, Scotland, as a pantomime produced by Bard in the Botanics.
To accent the twists and turns of the story,  lighting designer Rory Beaton relied on the vivid colours and bright output of four Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Spot and four Maverick MK2 Wash fixtures.
“The Mavericks provided the subtle ‘theatrical’ element to the lighting whilst simultaneously supplying flashy, showbiz looks to make the big numbers feel like a large-scale musical,” said Beaton. “The colour mixing ability of the MK3 Washes was what allowed us to switch between the pastel world of the story and the bright, vivid saturated energy of the musical numbers. I was really impressed by their sheer punch - in fact, I’m not sure we ever had the washes at full output.”
Whereas the wash fixtures p

China - Chinese rock star Wang Feng set out last September on a 30-date national tour, The Times Tour, to support his album 29 Guoling Lane.
At the heart of the audio system for this ever-growing production lies a DiGiCo SD7 at FOH and an SD5 at monitors, supplied by Racpro, DiGiCo’s distributor for the territory.
Mr Shaogang Jin, Wang Feng’s chief FOH engineer and sound designer, is no stranger to such productions. He is one of China’s foremost sound engineers and has been involved with events such as the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony and The Voice of China. He has been working with Wang Feng for many years.
Mr Shaogang Jin and Mr Guobang Lu are making good use of the SD7 at FOH, with monitor engineers Mr Yong Shao and Mr Longfei Ai utilising the SD5. Mr Shaogang Lin comments that the choice of mixing consoles is based on their in

Taiwan - The opening of the Silks Club, a five-star hotel in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, was marked with a launch party spanning across various venues within the hotel.
The main lighting focus was on the entrance lobby performance area, with further abstract performances at the pool deck. Roger Sansom Productions masterminded this, commissioning experienced Malaysia-based LD Steve Nield, who specified 40 GLP X4 atoms.
The lighting designer has a long relationship with GLP Asia’s Søren Storm, who met up at GLP’s Hong Kong office late last year where Michael Muenz, general manager of GLP Asia, demoed the units. “At the same time, we also discussed some mounting options for the X4 atom,” remembers Storm.
In keeping with the Japanese-themed design, the lighting at the entrance lobby was designed to reflect a very stark and linear concept while at the same time havin

New Zealand - Veteran FOH engineer Kevin Bennett recently mixed Bic Runga’s Drive 20th Anniversary Tour on a complete JBL by Harman VTX A12 sound system, provided by distributor Jands NZ.
Released in August 1997, Bic Runga’s debut release Drive is regarded as one of the most successful albums in New Zealand music history. In addition to winning Album Of The Year at the 1998 New Zealand Music Awards, Drive sold more than 70,000 copies and catapulted Bic Runga to international success.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the album’s release, Bic Runga recently embarked on a series of concerts in which she performed Drive in its entirety, along with a selection of greatest hits from her subsequent multi-platinum albums.
Jands NZ provided FOH engineer Kevin Bennett with a complete JBL by Harman VTX A12 sound reinforcement system for

USA - Located inside the Fiesta Rancho Hotel and Casino, the Kuwa Nightclub is a Latin-themed club that incorporates a sound reinforcement system that draws from the Event, Vantec, and Action Series catalogues of Spanish D.A.S. Audio.
International House of Music (IHOMI), a full-service music and audio equipment supplier, was contracted to design and deploy the new sound system at the Kuwa Nightclub, along with the lighting and video provisions. Oscar Naranjo Jr. is the company's sales manager and primary audio technician. He discussed the Kuwa Nightclub project and his decision for installing D.A.S. loudspeakers.
“Kuwa’s new sound system is a pretty comprehensive setup,” Naranjo explained. “The house mains consist of 16 Event 210A 3-way active line arrays, with eight enclosures each for the left and right hangs. Positioned behind each of these loudspeaker clus

USA - For decades, Sammy Hagar has been considered one of rock and roll’s all-time greatest lead singers and musicians. Hagar’s passion for music is rivalled only by his commitment to giving back. The best of both worlds recently came together when Hagar was honoured for his philanthropic work at the annual Adopt the Arts Rock Gala at the Avalon Theatre in Hollywood.
Kings of Chaos FOH engineer and production manager Greg Rideout chose a selection of microphones from DPA Microphones for the high-profile event. Adopt the Arts co-founder and former drummer for Guns n’ Roses and Velvet Revolver Matt Sorum took to the stage along with an all-star line-up of some of the biggest names in rock and roll, featuring the Kings of Chaos including Matt Sorum, Steve Stevens, Billy Duffy, Dean and Robert DeLeo, Kenny Aronoff, Michael Anthony, Paul Ill, Steve Luthaker, Phil X,

The Netherlands - With seven Grammy Awards and more than 100m albums sold worldwide, Gloria Estefan is one of the most successful Latin crossover artists of all time. The superstar’s latest smash hit, however, came in the form of a sell-out Broadway musical, On Your Feet, which depicts her moving and inspiring life story.
Tony Award-winning Lighting Designer Kenneth Posner utilized the Chauvet DJ Intimidator Beam LED 350 on the show’s original Broadway run. Now the fast-moving fixture is enjoying an encore in the musical‘s current run at the Beatrix Theatre in Utrecht, courtesy of Stage Entertainment Netherlands.
New York-based Dutch LD Gertjan Houben, who functioned as the Associate LD on the Utrecht show, has specified 48 Intimidator 350 Beam fixtures, supplied by Ampco Flashlight. Although the décor and scenic elements of the Dutch production were id

Croatia - Central, a high-end night club in Split, has been fitted with a sound system from d&b.
The two-floor, 1,000-capacity venue is a short walk from the Diocletian’s Palace and comprises four bars and three VIP areas. Working closely with Tomislav Koran (Kuki) at Croatian distributor Audio Tehnika, d&b was the system of choice.
Kuki explains: “Central’s owners have a lot of experience and success in running clubs. They understand the importance of system design in terms of the customer experience inside the venue, and also the exterior environment. Split is an ancient, tightly packed city - so emission problems will be disruptive to their business.”
The d&b system designed by Kuki is based around a L/R Y-Series line array and a Bi6-SUB array with E12s for fills around the venue. The DJ booth is equipped with a pair of MAX2 monitors for fo

USA - Former One Direction band member Niall Horan has gone solo and is on his current Flicker Sessions tour, with Special Event Services supplying the lighting for a string of North American tour dates last autumn, including 16 pixel bar wash luminaires from the Elation Professional Chorus Line.
Production, lighting and scenic design for the tour is courtesy of UK-based production design company Okulus with lighting direction by David ‘Bickie’ Lee. Creative direction for the tour was by Modest Management and Okulus.
The Chorus Line 16 pixel bar fixtures, 42-inch long (107 cm) colour-changing pixel bars, played a special role from static positions behind the risers. Projecting high and low through the band or aligned to shoot above musicians’ heads, they gave what lighting director Lee describes as an unbroken blade-like look. “From behind the risers th

Europe - English indie rock band alt-J headed out last June on their Relaxer tour in support of their latest album. The trio performed in Europe, North America and Asia through to February 2018, with an L‑Acoustics K Series rig providing consistency of sound across diverse venues.
The system was supplied by the rental arm of Rat Sound Systems, whose association with alt‑J started in 2015 and the company has been their worldwide audio supplier ever since. With a couple of years touring with the band under their belts, FOH engineer Lance Reynolds, monitor engineer Brett Heet, systems engineer Tom Worley are fully versed in the requirements of a show that plays in vast spaces, such as the Olympiahalle Munich or Hallenstadion in Zurich and outdoor venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado.
“The simple answer to why we use L‑Acoustics is that I think

UK - Singer-songwriter Duo Lipa, who recently performed at the BRIT Awards, has enjoyed a strong 2017.
For a year and a half, FOH engineer Will Nicholson and monitor man Alex Cerutti have used their DiGiCo SD5 and SD12 consoles respectively.
Nicholson, who has a previous working relationship with the artist's production manager, Pete Abbott, says: “We worked together on Icona Pop, and a couple of smaller artists; also, [musical director] William Bowerman is a friend of mine, so when Pete gave me a shout to see if I was interested, I was keen to get involved.”
Nicholson has been a DiGiCo user for five years and says the scalability of the SD range is ideal for his FOH workflow.
“Modern pop touring is often characterised by two significant factors: time and budget,” he explains. “Whilst I haven’t had to make use of the smallest surfaces in the [

South Africa - Singer songwriter Jesse Clegg recently completed his traditional national December acoustic tour, which utilised Martin Audio’s MLA Mini.
The system was introduced to him by Audiosure, Martin Audio’s South African distributor, with whom he has enjoyed a close relationship in recent years, since they first introduced him to a mixing desk. When he and long-term sound engineer, Verny Scholtz, saw the need for a compact, portable, high quality PA Audiosure jumped in.
Alison Taman, general manager of Audiosure, knew right away that Martin Audio’s MLA Mini would the right fit for Jesse’s tour. The locations ranged from open-air botanical gardens to intimate lounges and only the MLA has the power, control and portability to pull off every situation without compromise.
“As the distributors for Martin Audio in South Africa, we are thrilled that a

South Africa - The Ultra South Africa music festival took place in February over two legs, visiting the Cape Town Stadium on 9 February and the Expo Centre in Nasrec, Johannesburg on 10 February.
Supplying the full technical for the Ultra events, Gearhouse Group was going into the production raincoats. For the Johannesburg leg of the tour, Gearhouse invested in 128 Selbyguard Rainroof covers and bases, along with 12 Selbyguard Air Domes from DWR Distribution. To transport these items, a further 11 Dolly Rainroofs and 2 Dolly Airdomes were bought.
The Gearhouse team was spot on in its predictions about the rain and utilised 128 bases with Rainroof covers (64 medium and 64 extra-large) and the preplanning really paid off - in JHB not a single fixture went down this year.
Setting up the Selbyguard covers is simple and is really like rigging a standard moving light.

UK - The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) has upgraded its lighting fleet, adding seven new Martin by Harman MAC Encore Performance moving heads to its shared stock.
Commissioned by Paul Halgarth, lecturer in lighting, electrics and programming at LIPA, and supplied by Martin by Harman dealer Stage Electrics, the new fixtures will enable students on the Theatre and Performance Design and Technology degree courses to access the latest technology.
Halgarth says: “We always need the latest technology and we pride ourselves in having industry standard equipment. It’s vital as students can go from our course straight into employment.
“I specifically wanted units with framing shutters because we didn't have any,” he continues. “Stage [Electrics] were extremely helpful and I looked at all the leading [competitive] brands as well as the Martin M

UK - Thanks to songs such as You Raise Me Up and Have I Told You Lately, Russell Watson’s blend of classical opera and catchy pop has succeeded. On the road recently with Watson’s latest tour was LD Ollie Wilkinson of Arranpaul LTD, who treated Watson’s show to an all-encompassing visual spectacle with a selection of Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Wash fixtures.
Wanting to provide a stunning set of visuals for the Manchester-born opera singer, Wilkinson worked together with Production Manager Dan Tiley to produce a show of grandiose measures. To provide illumination for one of the defining features of the stage - a wraparound curtain behind the band - Wilkinson utilised the 19 (15W) RGBW quad-LEDs of the Rogue fixtures to excellent effect.
“I wanted to wash the entire backdrop with colour,” commented Wilkinson. “The saturated colours of the Rog

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