After an 18-month COVID-19 caused hiatus, many of hip-hop’s biggest stars appeared at Rolling Loud, their first live festival since the lockdown began – complete with a flexible lighting rig devised and implemented by Steve Lieberman, SJ Lighting, Production Manager, Max Robin. Renowned for his festival work, Lieberman was responsible for production design at the festival’s four stages (Cîroc, Audiomack, Monster Energy, and Dryp), as well the VIP area. Providing abundant punch at the main Cîroc stage as well as at the second Audiomack stage were some 200 CHAUVET Professional Maverick MK3 Wash, COLORado 1 Solo and COLORado 1 QS…
Author: Jacob Waite
The $85m Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, the brand new outdoor home of the San Diego Symphony, is an architectural wonder on the edge of San Diego Bay and in the heart of the city’s downtown. As well as looking incredible, The Shell also sounds fantastic. This is thanks to an immersive L-Acoustics PA system designed in Soundvision by Françcois “Frankie” Desjardins of Solotech. Working in tandem with sound consultant Shawn Murphy, Solotech integrated the venue’s full AVL system. “It does look as good as it sounds,” said Solotech Business Development Manager and Senior Engineer, Aaron Beck. “The white exterior…
Epic Games has just dropped its latest software release, Unreal Engine 4.27, and disguise users will be among the first to take advantage. disguise worked alongside the Unreal Engine team to create a ready-made solution for its users that dropped together with the 4.27 release. With disguise’s new r19 software release together with its freely available, open-sourced RenderStream plugin, users can seamlessly integrate Unreal Engine alongside its disguise workflow. Epic Games has been working closely with disguise to democratise the delivery of 3D graphics across all types of industries including virtual production, broadcast, corporate events and beyond since awarding them…
After a half year of R&D, INFiLED’s brand-new DF2 interactive dance floor technology series takes its final form, possessing more merits that consist of market trends. “Based on previous market research, we decided to upgrade the original DF series in an all-around way in response to new market demands. We have modified the cabinet design, again and again, to make it as light as possible since the project’s initiation,” commented engineer Qin. “As you can see, the DF2 series loses weight successfully with individual cabinets of no more than 12kg. The secret lies in a brand new hollow frame design,…
TSL Lighting has begun offering a range of VL2600 PROFILE and VL2600 WASH luminaires from Vari-Lite, a Signify entertainment lighting brand, to provide customers with a powerful LED workhorse that offers effects capabilities. The much-liked and well-respected Basingstoke-based company brought in the VL2600s for global video game developer Riot Games’ League of Legends esports tournament in Reykjavik, Iceland. Lighting Designer, Mat Stovall, collaborated with TSL Lighting’s Dom Sheerman to source an LED lighting package that would suit his needs – a reliable, powerful workhorse fixture that would give him powerful wash and profile capabilities with consistency in discharge for both…
To accommodate the MTV Movie and TV Awards’ unique stage layout and the inherent acoustical challenges of the venue, ATK Audiotek creatively implemented JBL Professional loudspeakers to provide clear audio and even coverage. After having no show in 2020, the MTV Movie and TV Awards welcomed a small audience back to the Hollywood Palladium for its 29th edition this past May. Hosted by comedian Leslie Jones, this year’s show featured an intimate, lounge-style layout, with the stage branching out to a center platform surrounded by the 50-person audience. With Snoop Dogg as the DJ and sole musical act, the show…
Backstage Academy has announced it is hiring across more than a dozen roles; giving those with a passion for gigs and live events the opportunity to pursue a career in the sector. The South-Kirby based Academy, which is positioned at the heart of Production Park is looking to fill newly created roles across several practical, creative and digital disciplines. The institution is looking for lecturers in creative technologies and digital production; widening participation and outreach officers; videographers and animators; an e-learning specialist; a head of professional training; production manager; and a studio and events coordinator. For the academy’s Head of…
Contributing to the atmosphere of live events at Waldbühne Rügen is a truss-mounted LED video wall that runs across the central part of the upstage deck. Installed in 2021 by Hellcon Veranstaltungstechnik Stralsund and made with 64 CHAUVET Professional F5 IP panels, the wall helps connect fans to the stage, regardless of where they are in the venue. “Our focus was on enhancing the visibility of the artists on stage and creating different options to display projections or other media relevant material,” said Andre Hellmich of Hellcon Veranstaltungstechnik Stralsund, who notes that the panels are controlled via the VIP Drive 43Nova 2…
An outdoor event in New York City in July has to be prepared for all weather contingencies. So when lighting designer, Bob Barnhart of 22 Degrees, was hired by BTW Productions to light the 2021 ESPY Awards show on the The Rooftop at Pier 17 at the Seaport, he chose Ayrton Perseo fixtures to comprise the bulk of the lighting rig. Perseo is an LED moving head profile whose IP65 enclosure rating makes it the ideal choice for outdoor use. Ayrton lighting fixtures are distributed exclusively in North America by ACT Entertainment. The 2021 ESPYs presented by Capitol One celebrated…
As Sound Image was preparing to stage the weekend-long WE Fest country music festival, at the Soo Pass Ranch in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, they turned to Optocore to simplify the show’s signal distribution, and implemented a pair of Optocore Festival Boxes to create a format agnostic fibre tunnel for all the guest acts. When he began to put the show together, Sound Image System Engineer, Timothy ‘Ziggy’ Ziegler, elected to deploy one of Sound Image’s fibre PA drive systems that’s based on a set of Optocore X6R-FX units, used to distribute both AES and LAN. The X6R at FOH, configured…
L-Acoustics Creations has appointed Mike Sumner to the position of Business Manager, based in L-Acoustics Americas headquarters in Westlake Village, California. In this newly created role, Sumner spearheads the growth of the L-Acoustics Creations brand throughout the United States and Canada, reporting to L-Acoustics Creations Global Business Manager Nick Fichte, based in London, United Kingdom. Sumner’s remit includes exploring new business opportunities, developing sales targets and strategies, gathering and sharing market intelligence, building and supporting the brand’s Certified Integrator network, and collaborating with the manufacturer’s application and communications teams, among other duties. Mike Sumner brings over a decade of experience…
Critically acclaimed musical, SIX the Musical, has taken up residence at The Lyric Theatre in London’s West End. Currently running until the end of August, it follows the tale of the six wives of Henry VIII, with Tudor Queens and Pop Princesses ‘remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into an 80-minute celebration of 21st Century girl power’. Long-time DiGiCo user and sound designer on all previous productions of the show, Paul Gatehouse, has chosen a Quantum 7T, supplied by Stage Sound Services, as the backbone of his audio design. “I think I was one of the first people to…
Russian rock band, Zveri, recently celebrated their 20th anniversary, immersing both their fans and themselves in striations of light and bright effects from GLP fixtures. Zveri is one of the phenomena of the Russian entertainment industry, and has remained relevant for years despite the many new trends that have come and gone. Although the band celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, they were unable to bring their fans together due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the event was still celebrated—this year, on 12th June in Moscow’s Megasport Sport Palace. The venue was filled with music, brought to life with effects…
In celebration of 20 years, The Tribeca Festival (formerly the Tribeca Film Festival) returned to New York on 9-20 June 2021 with WorldStage providing technical support for numerous in-person event venues. Longtime WorldStage client Overland Entertainment Company produced the festival. WorldStage supplied a combination of LED video walls, audio packages, lighting and video switching for five of the main venues: Empire Outlets, The Battery, Pier 76, Waterfront Plaza at Brookfield Place and Brooklyn Commons at MetroTech. WorldStage also supported two trucks that presented roving screenings in all five boroughs, the “AT&T Presents: Untold Stories” competition at WarnerMedia Innovation Lab, an…
Strand has released the Acclaim LED Series, a complete range of theatrical luminaires ideally suited for education theatre spaces, community stages, and small houses of worship. “For over 25 years, the name Acclaim set the standard worldwide for 500W/650W theatrical luminaires,” states Martin Palmer, Senior Product Manager, Vari-Lite and Strand Luminaires at Signify. “This new family of luminaires carries on that tradition, drawing on over a hundred years of theatrical lighting expertise to give maximum performance for small to mid-sized theatrical stages and studio spaces.” The new Strand Acclaim LED Series includes both a zoomspot and a profile light engine, as…
Built at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic as a temporary broadcast studio to help clients virtually connect with their audience, Building 22, which features Elation lighting, proved such a success it now has a permanent place in the building that AVL Creative and partner company Display Group call home. Mike McConnell, President at AVL Creative, reflects back on the fateful week of 16 March 2020 when the company shockingly saw their live event business dry up. “That week will always ring very heavily with me. We’re a very healthy company financially, and our employee base is healthy as well,…
64 Audio has been announced as a finalist for the 37th Annual NAMM Technical Excellence & Creativity (TEC) Awards in the category of Outstanding Technical Achievement for Headphone/Earpiece Technology. Presented at The NAMM Show, The NAMM TEC Awards are bestowed annually in celebration of the pro audio community by recognising the individuals, companies, and technical innovations behind today’s sound recordings, live performances, films, television, video games, and other media. “Nio is our first high driver-count hybrid, and for it to be names as a TEC Award Finalist is truly an honour,” explained 64 Audio Founder and Chief Sound Designer, Vitaliy Belonozhko.…
How did you start out in AV? “In my 21 years at Epson, I’ve covered many roles – each with at least some element of projection. In my position as Vice President for the Video Projector Sales and Marketing Division, I’ll be able to continue my passion for AV, taking care of our customers and staff while bringing my own values and experiences to the role. AV has always helped people to connect and communicate, but Epson’s video projector technology has the potential to improve how we enjoy life – whether that’s via immersive experiences, in a lecture theatre, or…
