At TPi for a long time, our primary focus has been the technical innovations within the live touring and festival industry, but alongside our redesign last year, we were keen to push our remit to other corners of the entertainment sphere. With that in mind, when we were given the opportunity to cover one of Las Vegas’ most-anticipated residencies, we jumped at the opportunity. Carrie Underwood’s latest Las Vegas engagement marked the first residency to grace the newly created AEG Resorts World Theatre – Las Vegas’ newest and tallest stage. Although Celine Dion was scheduled to open the venue, due…
Author: Jacob Waite
You know it’s a strange day in the office when you’re conducting interviews with acrobats performing somersaults several feet in the air off a Russian Swing. Ahead of the Cirque du Soleil’s residency at London’s Royal Albert Hall with their show LUZIA, the production team kindly welcomed TPi to one of their rehearsal dates at Production Park to lift the lid on some of the intricacies of this latest touring big top show. This was the second time LUZIA made a temporary home at Royal Albert Hall, having opened the show in the iconic venue back in 2020. Following a…
DAS Audio of America, the North American subsidiary of Valencia-based DAS Audio, has appointed Michael Rodriguez to the position of Marketing Manager for North America. Rodriguez’ key responsibilities include deploying successful marketing campaigns from implementation through execution, ensuring effective marketing communication between the company and its customer base, oversight of all trade show management functions, supervision of the company’s North American online presence, and more. Rodriguez is stationed in the Miami, Florida USA headquarters. Rodriguez brings a wealth of experience to his position at DAS Audio. A lifelong musician and audio engineer, he previously served as Territory Manager for McFadden…
Taking to the South Plaza Stage outside the FTX Arena, acoustic guitar in hand, 17-time GRAMMY Award winner tapped into a wellspring of heartfelt feelings in a rendition of his latest single, For Her Love, performed in Spanish as part of Univision’s broadcast of Premio Lo Nuestro Awards 2022. Adding to the moment were his surroundings on the angular, asymmetrical stage with its warm lighting and the city of Miami skyline in the background. For Rene Garcia, it was one of the highlights of the show. “I grew up listening to the music of Sting,” he said. “So seeing this…
StageConnect, an emerging player in the professional event, production, and video streaming technology market, has announced the release of StageConnect Pro, audience interaction software that is redefining what it means to have front-row seats at a concert, conference, or other live event. StageConnect Pro allows up to 1 million remote attendees to participate in live events and to directly engage the presenter or performer via an on-stage screen with full two-way functionality. “The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t just change the event industry; it shattered the core premise of live events themselves — gatherings of people in a physical location for some…
Pearce Hire was thrilled to receive the accolade of Best Power Supplier at the recent Event Production Awards 2022. During the past two difficult years, Pearce Hire founder and Managing Director, Shaun Pearce has campaigned for UK government support of the sector at local and national level, while working tirelessly to safeguard and futureproof the business he has built, preparing for the next phase of its development. “It really has been one of the most difficult periods of Pearce Hire’s history but this really signifies the light at the end of the tunnel,” commented Pearce. “Like the rest of the…
UK-based HIVE Media Control has launched a new generation of media playback and control systems. Four brand new hardware video media players are now available, which aim to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of media player solutions. HIVE is founded by video industry heavyweights Dave Green, Trey Harrison and Mark Calvert – all well-known and respected innovators in the field of high-performance media control. Together, they have delivered video systems for global projects including the London Olympics, the Tokyo Olympics, Dubai World Expo, Eric Prydz’s HOLO, Coldplay, and the National Museum of Qatar. “As the AV market demands higher…
d&b audiotechnik has partnered with DiGiCo to advance the accessibility and ease of use of the immersive audio system platform that is Soundscape. With this partnership, there will be a dedicated Soundscape User Interface fully integrated into the surface of all DiGiCo SD and Quantum consoles, allowing front-of-house engineers to control Soundscape object parameters on the DS100 on the consoles. “By partnering with DiGiCo, we are ensuring that Soundscape is accessible to FoH engineers in their preferred mixing and automation environment,” said d&b audiotechnik Product Manager Product Manager, Georg Stummer. “This integration will allow Soundscape to become an intuitive part…
Ayrton will continue to support the Women In Lighting project throughout 2022 via its exclusive WIL Entertainment Lighting Partnership. Founded in 2019 by Sharon Stammers and Martin Lupton of Light Collective, and already well-established in the field of architectural lighting, WIL exists to provide an inspirational digital platform that profiles women working in lighting and lighting design, celebrating and promoting their work and career paths. It challenges the underrepresentation of women within the industry and aims to support and encourage the next generation. Ayrton’s primary aim is to raise awareness and broaden the reach of the WIL project to include women…
On Saturday March 5, The Scottish Opera concludes its run of A Midsummer’s Night Dream at Edinburgh’s Festival Studio. Two days later, an event less dramatic, but equally magical (at least as far as lighting designers and programmers are concerned), will take place in the theatre when CHAUVET Professional kicks off its UK RoadShow 2022. Starting in Edinburgh on 7 March on to London on 31 March, the roving event will crisscross the UK, making nine stops and covering 694 miles to showcase many of the latest, innovative products from CHAUVET Professional and ChamSys. With the exception of one stop…
VDC Trading has promoted Herpreet Kaur Singh to the role of commercial director. Herpreet will now be responsible for the commercial aspect of the business for the whole of the UK and export and will oversee and assist the continuing growth of VDC and the Van Damme brand in multiple markets across the world. Herpreet, who joined VDC in 2014, has a wealth of industry knowledge and previously managed VDC’s export and customer services department. Singh commented: “I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to be able to expand my role in this way. We have weathered an incredibly difficult…
Elation Professional has appointed experienced industry professional, Jonas Stenvinkel, to its European-based sales team. Stenvinkel, a native Swede who works from a base in London, joined the growing Elation sales department on 1 March and is tasked with overseeing some of the company’s most important growth markets, including Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa. Jonas, a 20-year industry veteran, brings with him broad international sales and marketing experience and has a proven track record in leading sales teams to new goals and growth. He comes to Elation from a similar position at Ayrton. His industry journey…
Considered the godfather of electronic music, Jean-Michel Jarre recently premiered his latest opus ‘Oxymore’ in a series of headline performances at the inaugural edition of Radio France’s innovative Hyper Weekend Festival in Paris. The concerts were staged in the round at the iconic Radio France headquarters, la Maison de la Radio, surrounded by a seated live audience while also being broadcast and live VR streamed to tens of thousands of viewers. The show was made possible by L-Acoustics L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology, specified by Sound Designer, Hervé Déjardin. “I was involved with Jean-Michel Jarre’s epic virtual concert ‘Welcome to…
APG has revealed that version 1.8.9 of its Live Manager software – a comprehensive, far-reaching update that introduces a range of new presets, gain chain tweaks allowing for higher sound levels, and deeper integration with Powersoft software and amplifiers – is now available to download from its website. Developed in response to feedback from APG’s partners, customers and users, Live Manager 1.8.9 reportedly increases remote control and monitoring software functionalities while continuing to give users simple, easy-to-use access to ‘APG sound’. According to Maxence Castelain, application engineer at APG’s parent company Arbane Groupe, the 1.8.9 update is above all an…
Swedish singer, Zara Larsson put a series of concerts in Scandinavia at the end of 2021, filling up arenas like the Avicii Arena in Stockholm as part of The Poster Girl Tour. Aiding to the success of the show was Lighting Designer, Anders Heberling, who had worked with Larsson before. “We had approximately 40 PROLIGHTS SunBlast 3000FC fixtures in the rig, with a few spares around. They were used as effect strobes and a colour wash for the entire stage. The wall of Sunblast 3000 FC behind the narrow video panels would light the “negative space” between the video panels.”…
FIX8Group has launched a new in-lift AV experience, designed to deliver content to customers in a fully immersive, captivating and memorable manner. Dubbed ‘elev8’, it enables clients ranging from museums to malls, airports to attractions to reach lift users with uniquely displayed messages. The elev8 project involves the installation of audio-visual display solutions within an elevator, to which everything from simple static marketing video, 2D animation, landscapes, audio experiences and fully immersive 3D worlds can be delivered. FIX8Group has already completed a major elev8 installation, at the St James Quarter, Edinburgh. This encompasses a new retail led, lifestyle district that…
German-based production company, Professional Sound Service (PSS) has reshaped its business beyond traditional live sound reinforcement to offer hybrid and studio events out of necessity. PSS’s investment in Point Source Audio microphones — supplied by native distributor, Mega Audio — has helped propel its expansion “technically and financially” to prevail over the challenging business environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Today, I only use Point Source Audio headset and lavalier microphones—we have changed completely,” explained Michael Weimann, Technical Director of Audio at PSS. “I use the CO-8WD headset microphones for everything that has to do with the voice and that…
Allen & Heath and Shure have deepened its integration to enable native monitoring and control of Shure’s ULX-D, QLX-D and Axient Digital wireless systems from Allen & Heath’s Avantis digital mixer. With the release of Avantis V1.13 firmware, engineers can monitor and control supported Shure wireless systems from the mixer, or from the new Avantis Director software. Avantis consoles auto-detect any supported Shure wireless systems on the same network and, with compatible hardware, Dante can be used for the transport of both audio and control data. “Avantis mixers are in use in many venues, houses of worship, and mid-sized productions…
