Martin Audio PA rigs dominated three of the eight stages that made up this year’s four-day annual Lollapalooza Festival at Chicago’s Grant Park. The premier event — staged by C3 Presents, which dates back to 1991 — features over 170 bands from all round the world and attracts an audience of around 400,000 people. Martin Audio partner Technotrix, who have been supporting the event with barely a break for 25 years, provided Martin Audio’s award-winning systems for Tito’s, the BMI Stage and Bonus Tracks Stage which this year replaced the former Kidzapalooza. Technotrix hold a vast inventory of premier Martin…
Author: Jacob Waite
First-year BA (Hons) Sound Technology student awarded with annual bursary along with ongoing mentorship and industry engagement. Sound Technology student Matt Fuller has been announced as the winner of Sennheiser’s 2021 LIPA Scholarship. Besides financial support for his tuition, he will receive access to Sennheiser’s network of contacts and the global audio specialist’s industry experience. The LIPA Scholarship selection process started back in May when 11 applications were received from the September 2020 intake of the LIPA Sound Technology course. The applications were reviewed by Tim Sherratt, Strategic Planning Manager at Sennheiser, and Henrik Oppermann, 3D Sound Specialist at Sonosphere,…
Stufish will assume the role of stage designers for the international advocacy organisation Global Citizen’s Global Citizen Live – a 24 hour live broadcast with events and performances filmed across six continents to unite the world to defend the planet and defeat poverty. Taking place on Saturday 25 September 2021, and airing air on ABC, BBC, Fx, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Twitter, and more, Global Citizen Live will feature the world’s biggest artists taking the stage to help rally citizens in demanding that governments, major corporations, and philanthropists work together by focusing on the most urgent, interrelated threats hitting those in poverty…
Sound engineers chose Point Source Audio’s CO-8WL omnidirectional waterproof lavalier microphones for the immersive production of Puccini’s Tosca, staged in the courtyard of Palazzo Farnese in Northern Italy’s city of Piacenza. Due to the necessary social distancing of the audience and performers, this production of Tosca called on many more technical elements than you would usually find in an opera. From the projection mapping around the facade of the courtyard used for the staging to the immersive audio environment created by the Outboard TiMax system, this was a performance where technology came to the forefront to transport the audience back…
Luminex has revealed its latest LumiNode and LumiCore firmware (release v2.3.0) – offering KiNet protocol support, Chinese language support and advanced networking features to both product lines. User feedback taught us that AVL professionals were looking for a solution that could have full control of lighting data and without being disrupted by unwanted or irrelevant data from different network stakeholders. However, it was not a simple task, especially with a large IT network like TV studios. After thoroughly analyzing the needs, Luminex developed the advanced network configuration features for LumiCore, which offers three scenarios allowing network separation to match your…
HARMAN Professional Solutions has unveiled its latest addition to the JBL Professional PRX Column Portable PA family, the PRX ONE all-in-one portable PA. JBL Professional also introduced the all new, universal JBL Pro Connect app for simplified management of the PRX ONE system. PRX ONE meets the needs of a broad range of portable and installed applications, delivering unmatched power, acoustic performance and functionality in a sleek, compact package weighing just 56 pounds. The system delivers a stunning 130 dB of wide, full bandwidth SPL with consistent front-to-back throw, thanks to its custom-engineered, 12-tweeter column array, featuring JBL A.I.M. (Array…
Les Misérables returned to the West End for the summer of 2021 as a socially-distant staged concert with disguise pre-vis at the heart of the production redesign. When the newly refurbished Sondheim Theatre reopened its doors in December 2019 to welcome back the West End’s longest-running musical, Les Misérables, the excitement was unfortunately cut short following the swift and unexpected impact of the pandemic. But hope was once again restored, when a staged concert version of the musical opened at the same theatre – first for only 10 shows in December 2020, and now for a limited season until 5…
Broadway will celebrate its reopening in September with the 74th Tony Awards in New York. Two nominees for Best Musical, Jagged Little Pill and Moulin Rouge! The Musical, are powered by Meyer Sound systems, with the veteran sound designers for the two productions, Jonathan Deans and Peter Hylenski respectively, each nominated for Best Sound Design for a Musical. The two shows also received the highest total of Tony nominations, with 15 for Jagged Little Pill and 14 for Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Productions scheduled to return that principally rely on Meyer Sound, with respective sound designers, are David Byrne’s refreshed…
When Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and Eggy took the stage at the Westville Music Bowl, Lighting Designers, Manny Newman and Peter Spadaro III took advantage of the high stage roof to shower their clients with immersive washes, moving gobos, bright aerials and immersive audience lighting using CHAUVET Professional fixtures. “There was such a diverse range of looks that it’s difficult to describe it in a few words,” said Newman, who designed and built the evening’s lighting rig. “The one thing that characterised all the looks is that they were complete.” Being “complete” the looks, had no lose ends. Every design element,…
XPLOR has revealed details of a dedicated £1m Extended Reality (XR) studio on its Wakefield campus later this year. Revealed as the Centre for Virtual Production, the studio is the first of its kind in Yorkshire, and will be situated within the XPLOR facility, forming part of the wider Production Park campus. Utilising the same technology as Disney’s live-action Star Wars series the Mandalorian, the XR tech offers creatives, film and production studios, businesses and creative agencies alike, the ability to build fully immersive video sets; to film commercials, virtual events or live broadcasts. Dubbed the ‘Green Screen Killer’, the…
Established by Ivica Bušić and Johnny Čučević, Dubrovnik-based FiFi Sound founded a lighting division in 2005 – having specialised in staging, LED screens and AV services for four years prior – with Robe lighting the brand of choice from the outset, following an initial purchase of four ColorSpot and four ColorWash 575 AT moving lights. “We are the one-stop solution for the client,” remarked Bušić. “We like the fact Robe fixtures are manufactured in Europe.” Since its initial acquisition of Robe lighting fixtures, FiFi Sound has invested steadily in more Robe technology as it has come to the market via…
Cameron Birchill has been designing lighting for Beartooth since 2018 and recently turned to an Elation Professional rig of DARTZ 360, Artiste Picasso and Protron 3K Color luminaires for the band’s The Journey Below livestream, where fans got their first chance to see and hear the band performing songs from their latest album Below. The livestream took place 14 July at the Clyde Theatre in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. To coincide with the newly $9m-renovated space’s first livestream event, the band gave Birchill a blank canvas to design the type of show he thought would look best for an on-camera audience.…
The Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show brought a little Latin flavour to Miami’s 65,000-seat Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday 2 February 2020, thanks to an explosive show by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, aided by Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and Colombian star J. Balvin, and a cast of near 170 musicians, dancers, and performers. This massive production – an eagerly awaited annual event – was broadcast live by Fox to 100m viewers worldwide, all of whom witnessed a superb lighting show which had at its centre over 120 Ayrton Perseo IP65-rated multi-function profile fixtures. The spectacular production was created…
Ian Zorbaugh began taking Solid State Logic’s Live mixing console out on tour with five-piece modern country music band Old Dominion at the beginning of 2018 – witnessing the evolution of the digital desk’s performance and features over the past three years. The latest software update, V4.11, has introduced several features that streamline Zorbaugh’s workflow at front-of-house, including new and improved audio sculpting and manipulation tools, expanded FFT analyser functionality and a number of operational enhancements. Zorbaugh, who has been working at FOH with Old Dominion since March 2015, recently returned to the road with the band, post-pandemic, and has…
Minneapolis-based THOR AV has chosen Brompton Technology LED processing as a trusted LED partner, helping its clients to create a visual experience that is lifelike and real. “Over the past couple years, we’ve seen a shift from ‘We need LED walls’ to ‘We need manufacturers that genuinely understand our specialties’,” said THOR AV Director of Sales & Marketing, Luke Vettel. “There is a category within the LED wall industry that demands a certain spec. In 2021, we continue to have more conversations about on-camera, live production environments and also XR/VR studios. We are thrilled to partner with Brompton in this…
Scottish Ballet has taken possession of a second consignment of Robert Juliat Dalis 860 cyclorama lights bringing its total inventory to twenty-six. The award-winning Dalis 860 fixtures were supplied quickly and efficiently by Adlib’s Glasgow branch to provide Scottish Ballet with a versatile tool that can adapt to many environments and design requirements. The upgrading of Scottish Ballet’s lighting systems began with a focus on cyclorama fixtures. “Cyc lighting is a fairly constant requirement at Scottish Ballet, and we don’t anticipate models to change dramatically. We wanted an LED replacement for our existing fixtures that looked the part as…
Matrox Video has revealed that David Chiappini, executive vice president of research and development at Matrox Video, passed away unexpectedly on 26 July 2021. “It is with great sadness that I announce the sudden passing of our friend and colleague David Chiappini,” said Matrox Group President and Owner, Lorne Trottier. “From his beginnings with us, first as an intern and then as an ASIC designer in 1996, he demonstrated a relentless passion for technology. Over time, under David’s exemplary leadership and guidance as vice president of research and development, Matrox has grown its position as an industry leader in video…
In an open letter, Showlight Chairman, John Allen, explains the reasons behind the decision to further postpone the lighting quadrennial in its traditional form. The letter reads as following [sic]: “The Showlight committee has been reviewing the current state of our industry and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment in many of our theatres, conference centres, touring venues, and within our manufacturing and servicing companies. We have also considered the difficulties and unpredictability of travel bans, quarantining and the effect of Brexit, and none of our conclusions are encouraging. “As a result, we have reluctantly decided that a…
