Production Futures, the initiative which creates opportunities for young people to learn and develop careers in production across the live event industry, has announced Martin Audio, as its latest high-profile partner. “It’s wonderful that Martin Audio have seen the potential of Production Futures,” said CEO, Hannah Eakins. “We’re particularly delighted to welcome them as a British manufacturer.” Production Futures is in the process of transformation, including the announcement of a new audio learning zone. Along with Martin Audio, this will debut at the 28 September event, which takes place at Production Park in Wakefield. The step change for Production Futures has been brought about…
Author: Alicia Pollitt
The Backseat Lovers were on the road with interesting production and lighting design created by Meagan Metcalf, with 22 Robe ESPRITES and 24 Tetra2 moving lights at the heart of the lighting rig. Metcalf was offered an initial short tour with the band in early 2022 but as The Backseat Lovers are now on a much larger full production tour playing up to 5,000-capacity rock clubs, she was brought back into the fold. Metcalf’s starting point was that the band had desired projection as a part of the show, from here the idea of the ‘pillowfort’ drape design evolved as…
A circle served as a design motif for the main stage at Lake Festival and encompassed a diverse mix of artists across the three-day festival. LD Anđelko Popić and team at Chameleon Rental opted to build the production design around three concentric circles that expanded outward from the stage’s center. This arrangement gave designers the freedom to create different settings for the festival’s various acts, allowing them to move from the intimate, when almost all light came from the smaller center sphere, to the more elaborate, when crossing beam patterns from fixtures on different circles created complex patterns. The Chameleon…
The Mission concluded their 33-date European tour with Wires & Lights which featured the use of two Allen & Heath dLive S5000 consoles for FOH and monitors, along with a DM64 MixRack provided by TDA Germany. Looking after the mixes for the tour were Marek Komenda, FOH for The Mission, Thomas Neidhardt, FOH for Wires & Lights, and Pavol ‘Pogy’ Pogany, Monitors for The Mission delivered their expertise to the sold-out venues on the tour. Neidhardt commented: “Mixing on the dLive was very comfortable. The DEEP plugins are brilliant, and I love the analogue characteristics of the Bucket Brigade Delay.…
DAS Audio has appointed Jeff Taylor as the company’s new Senior Sales Engineer for the North American territory. His new position comes on the heels of DAS Audio’s continued investment in the US market, including the recent purchase of an additional 9,000 sq ft facility to augment its existing 24,000 sq ft facility that is home to a fully functioning demo room, training area, and service centre. Taylor brings a wealth of industry acumen and experience to his new position. He joins DAS Audio from his previous position with CODA Audio as Sales Director. Taylor played an intrinsic part in…
LED Creative adds to the visual canvas for Blur’s return to the stage, recreating the bands logo as a giant illuminated set piece. Eight years since they last played together, Blur were back illuminating Britpop in 2023 with a sold-out Wembley Stadium and multiple festival appearances across the world, performing classics from their back catalogue along with tracks from their new number 1 album, The Ballad of Darren. Wanting to make an impressionable return, the tour brought along LED Creative to create a large bright lightbox that hung above the artists in the shape of the band’s logo. LED Creative,…
French rapper Dinos played a one-off gig at Paris’ Accor Arena. For his first show at this prestigious venue, Lighting Designer Damien Dufaitre from BlackMoon Design created a unique environment with 90 Robe MegaPointes at the core of the concept. Dufaitre has worked with Dinos for some time, and his primary goal for this show was to keep the visuals pacey, lively, and provocative to achieve this he proposed an in-the-round concept with a central rectangular stage, covered in a video floor representing “a path of light”. Above this was a 4-sided ‘crown’ of 18 4m blow-through LED mimicking the…
zactrack celebrated its fifth year working with Starlight Express, a musical phenomenon that has been running for 35 years. A zactrack PRO system was first specified in 2017 by Technical Director Peter Lucassen, in that time he reported: “it’s been fantastic, completely stable and reliable.” Lucassen has been working on the show’s production since 1990, it is a 360-degree show, and the venue features U-shaped tracks or skate ways for the roller-skating action on three levels: the show plays with audience in the middle. At the end of 2017 and start of 2018, the show received a revamp and…
For summer 2023 NEXO’s Spanish distributor Sound Means have turned festival sponsor providing full technical services covering sound, light and technical staff for a select number of key events in and around the Barcelona. Technical Sales Manager for Sound Means Jordi Vaquero Pujagut explained: “We’re working in collaboration with our key rental company clients to provide the perfect opportunity for them to gain experience and training on the latest NEXO systems.” Girona-based events services specialists BTM Sound deployed an all-NEXO system: comprising a central hanging cluster of eight GEO M12 line array elements with left and right stacks of four…
Creative visual practice Painting with Light was asked by the Agoria Sports and Entertainment Technology club to design lighting for a visual spectacle which was the finale of the official 2023 Belgian National Day celebrations. The overall event which included a two-hour music Festival was attended by 60,000 people and broadcast on major networks, titled Happy Belgium. The 15-minute finale show was developed for the Syndicat d’Initiative-Bruxelles Promotion and staged against the Cinquantenaire Arcade in Brussels. The PWL team was led by the company’s Founder and Creative Director Luc Peumans who collaborated closely with Creative Director Patrick Awouters and Technical…
The story told in Newsies is very familiar to theatre goers and Clifford Michael Spulock, of CS Lighting, was excited to take on the challenge of lighting this theatre classic at the Slow Burn Theatre Company’s production earlier this summer. “It all plays back to the newspaper theme,” Spulock said of his design. “When you think of a newspaper at the end of the 19th century when this play takes place, you think black print on a white background, as well as sepia toned photos. So, my main goal was to use more sepia and white tones, as well as…
Polish lighting rental company, TRANSCOLOR, has invested in Robe iFORTES, currently the highest-powered LED fixture from Robe’s expanding iSeries of IP rated products. TRANSCOLOR owner Lucjan Siwczyk explained that they looked carefully at some different options when sourcing high powered IP rated luminaires before deciding on the iFORTE. “Lighting designers and show producers are often wanting to work with IP rated products now. Obviously for any outdoor work and for various other circumstances,” Siwczyk commented, adding that a great advantage of iFORTE is that it resembles the standard (non-IP rated) FORTE in aesthetics and almost all features. Siwczyk believes that…
Pride, celebrating all aspects of LGBTQ+ culture and life was staged in Ganei Yehoshua Park in north Tel Aviv, culminating in two days of one of the biggest events of the year in Israel. This year Offer Nissim took the stage with a lighting rig comprising multiple Robe fixtures. Lighting Designer Elad Cohen worked alongside DJ Offer Nissim at the celebration and specified the rig including Robe MegaPointes, Spiiders and ESPRITES. Cohen explained: “We wanted to make a massive impact with the show and the whole performance.” Taking place on a 72m wide stage, designed by Rubi & Gal Studio…
Switzerland based French composer Marie Delprat encompasses a fusion of diverse musical genres which include early, contemporary and experimental music. To fulfil the interplay between sound, Delprat’s Sound Engineer Maxime Le Saux enlisted the help of Matthias Dietrich of audio specialists Schallwerk who suggested that a CODA Audio system, which incorporates the immersive processor, Space Hub, and would offer an enhancement for Marie Delprat’s cutting edge electronic performance. Delprat’s performances were staged at the Gare du Nord venue in Basel and the Boiler House in Bern which are both venues that would place emphasis on staging original, contemporary style concerts.…
The Latin Urban Music Awards were held in front of an audience of 18,000 and streamed worldwide, with two Green Hippo Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers powering visuals for multiple wraparound LED screens that act as a backdrop for the event. Florida-based production house JMT Show Concepts was commissioned by Sora & Company, Producer Soraya Sanchez, and the Telemundo TV network to create and provide all of the content visuals for the event. Owner of JMT, Jorge Toro commented: “Award shows are very intense because you have to do content, show looks and programming in such a short time. For…
In June last year French rap superstar Soprano began a tour for the promotion of his latest album Chasseurs d’Étoiles and utilised a KLANG system. Live Sound Engineer Pascal Rossi, who has been with Soprano since 2003, initially introduced the system during show rehearsals, and since then had utilised the in-ear monitor immersive mixing technology throughout the tour. Rossi outlined how Soprano’s stage setup has evolved significantly over the year’s from relying on wedges for monitoring, to transitioning to in-ear monitors to: “Now having an Ableton rig on stage, controlled by two musicians and a DJ.” The introduction of the…
Riedel Communications Bolero 2.4 GHz wireless intercom system has been used for the first time in a large-scale live event in China during concerts for a popular Taiwanese band, held at Shenzhen Universiade Center Stadium in Guangdong and Shenyang Olympic Sports Center Stadium in July 2023. Riedel distributor Jiangsu R&J Electronic rented out the Bolero system. Their General Manager Zhu Rongjun commented: “Their cutting-edge Bolero system has enhanced communication infrastructures all over the world. We took great pride in delivering this seamless solution and watching it elevate the production experience for both the artist and audiences alike.” The event demonstrates…
Ayrton Domino fixtures have hit the road with country music royalty, Shania Twain on her Queen of Me global tour, marking the singers first tour in five years. The tour’s Lighting Director and Console Programmer, André Petrus described the Queen Of Me tour: “It’s a journey through space on a rocket ship which crashes into Twain Town. The show is packed with 3D animations, including an LED floor that really gives every seat a good perspective.” Playing some 80 dates internationally, Petrus explained: “Shania creative directs her own shows and wanted the set to be made up of LED so…
