Cirque de Soleil’s latest production, R.U.N, which opened November 14 at the Luxor in Las Vegas, continues to flip theater expectations with a little help from Point Source Audio microphones. A live-action graphic novel out to thrill, R.U.N delivers “back-alley fistfights, bike jumps, car chases, high falls, and body burns,” the sounds of which are captured in all of their visceral intensity though the inventive use of Point Source GO-8WM moldable microphones. For more than 30 years, Cirque de Soleil has defied the limits of art and innovation as the largest contemporary circus company on the planet. Mesmerizing audiences on…
Author: Jacob Waite
ER Productions is pleased to announce that its Kinekt laser fixture was awarded a PLSN Gold Star Award for Best Laser Product 2018, presented during the LDI show in Las Vegas last month. Every September the PLSN team meet with writers, lighting designers, set designers and directors to review various new products in the live entertainment industry. The winning products are selected from hundreds that they view to be exceptional pieces of technology over the year. Launched in 2017, Kinekt was the world’s first modular laser system. Kinekt is a small, lightweight, modular scanning laser. As it connects on both X…
ER Productions have been working with the Chemical Brothers for a number of years, creating laser visuals worthy of the duo’s heady electronic shows. This year saw the pair appear at various festivals and venues across Europe and ER was on board for the ride once again, and this time bringing some exciting SFX into the mix. Known for being boundary breakers of their time, Chemical Brothers, Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, have spent nearly 30 years bringing big beat tunes to their fan base of dance and rock fans alike. The 2018 Chems live tour began in June, at…
Big Picture recently supplied a turnkey camera and editing solution for its friends at Five Peas who were engaged to co-produce Panic! At the Disco’s performance of Bohemian Rhapsody for the American Music Awards by Dick Clark Productions. The performance was recorded live at PATD’s Sydney show at Qudos Bank Arena with a very tight schedule and integration with an arena touring show no obstacle for the Big Picture team. Big Picture supplied our HD-8 Carbonite 3ME 3G PPU System complete with Panasonic AK-HC5000 1080P Camera Chains using a selection of Fujinon HD 99x Long lenses and HD Wide Angle…
German heavy metal heroes Accept rely on Allen & Heath’s dLive system for FOH and monitor duties on their current worldwide Rise of Chaos tour. Founded in 1968, Accept are without a doubt amongst the pioneers of the German heavy metal scene and landed their first major international success in the early 80’s. After a 10-year hiatus, they reformed in 2009 with a new lead singer and since then have achieved multiple Top 10 chart entries and regularly perform across Europe and America. For the current tour, the band decided to use an Allen & Heath dLive system for the…
PRG Germany has wasted little time in adding large quantities of GLP’s new impression S350 next-generation LED moving head to its hire fleet in a deal which will see them taking a minimum of 100 of the fixtures on stock. Some of the units were immediately commandeered by leading LD Jerry Appelt for use on the second MTV Unplugged appearance by rock musician, Udo Lindenberg. The impression S350 profile light offers an unparalleled feature-set in the mid-sized fixture category. This includes unique controllability, a very high colour rendering, a full four-blade framing system with rotating gate and near silent operation.…
Almost every word and note performed at the inaugural All Together Now (ATN) festival was heard through a d&b audiotechnik system supplied by Dublin’s Session Hire, who was charged with handling the full gamut of audio and visual requirements at the event. Established thirty five years ago by Eddie Ashe Browne, the company has a long standing relationship with POD, as Session Hire sales director, and Eddie’s son, Adam Ashe Browne explains… “We’ve been working with the promoters for years and they always put a huge emphasis on delivering the best audio experience for visitors. We were delighted when we…
Multimillion-selling Japanese singer Yumi Matsutoya’s Time Machine arena tour has kicked off in spectacular style with a stunning lighting design by Theo Cox. Cox, who during his 25-year career has created epic lighting for an eclectic mix of top international artists, was invited by Matsutoya’s team to create an impactful experience designed to fill Japan’s largest live music venues with wonder and joy. “It’s a marvellously quirky show – Yumi materialises on stage riding a life-sized animatronic elephant, later there is an ‘underwater’ scene of ethereal jellyfish with aerial performers in shiny silver suits – it’s bonkers, Japanese style,” said…
Featuring songs drawn not only from Gary Numan’s latest album and a back catalogue favourites. LD Luke Edwards (of Cue Design) also made sure there was plenty of inventory from GLP to highlight both the theatrical and more dynamic electronic elements. As Numan’s long-term lighting designer, Edwards has seen production values raised incrementally over the years, and now with a full orchestra, the bar has been lifted again. “Everything was much bigger and needed more space on the floor, while the orchestra adds so much drama which gives me a lot of sounds that I can accent or do lights to.”…
Norwegian LD, Kimarius Abrahamsen, chose Ayrton MagicBlade-R and MagicBlade-FX lighting fixtures as the main structural elements of his design for Cezinando’s tour and summer festival appearances this year, helping earn the Norwegian singer, rapper and songwriter his third NRK P3 Gull (Gold) Award as Live Artist of the Year. The singer, whose latest album, Noen ganger og andre (‘Sometimes and Others’), was the best-selling Norwegian-language album of 2017, has previously won Newcomer of the Year 2016 and Song of the Year 2017 in this annual music show and award ceremony which is aimed at young adults and organized by Norway’s NRK television…
When Wembley’s SSE Arena opened its doors for the first time to an all-nighter, featuring undisputed champion of drum ‘n’ bass, Andy C, it presented a number of fresh challenges not previously encountered. With only the lower bowl area open for the occasion (and the upper tribunes screened off) Capital Sound needed to design its Martin Audio MLA sound system accordingly, while their system tech Ben Turnbull also needed to ensure the minimum of noise escape—as the Wembley area is now densely populated with flats and hotels—to guide the event safely through to dawn. Promoter and production company Lock ‘N’…
Epson extended its position as a projector manufacturer in the Pro AV and installation market above 6,000 lumens across EMEAR & CIS, according to latest market share data from Futuresource. Epson now commands 34% of the Pro AV market across EMEAR, an increase of 12 percentage points over the same period last year, with market share continuing to increase in 2018. Across the world, Epson has held the number one market share position for projectors for 17 successive years, with total global sales of projectors of 23.7m since 2006. Epson is now the market share global leader for projectors above…
Rotterdam-based rental operation Peitsman Licht en Geluid (Peitsman Lighting & Sound), has expanded its lighting stock with the investment of 36 Robe MegaPointes, 48 Robe LEDBeam 150s and 48 Robe Spiiders. The move added to its rental stock, which includes Robe miniPointes and LEDWash 600+s, and it follows prior purchases of LEDWash 300s, MMX Spots, DLF Washes and DLX Spots. The designed-for-theatre DL range fixtures were the first in Benelux when he acquired them in 2012, and they went straight on the road with the Percossa tour, an energetic percussion ensemble which merged circus with a rock concert performance. Hans Peitsman commented: “The MegaPointes…
Following the formation of its audio department four years ago, White Light has continued to grow its inventory and recently made a significant investment in a range of leading audio products, from manufacturers including d&b audiotechnik, DPA microphones and Shure. WL’s Head of Audio Lee Dennison commented: “Ever since we launched our audio department four years ago, we’ve formed a reputation of being able to supply customers with audio solutions bespoke to their needs. Alongside our existing relationships with leading manufacturers, our long-term plan was to start introducing further big brands in year four and ensure we have equipment that…
Tasked with providing exciting visuals for the Liverpool Disco Festivals was Cheshire Event Production, which specified 7 Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 FX-B, 2 Rogue R1 Beam, 4 Rogue R2 Wash and 4 Rogue R1 Spot fixtures to stunning effect. With the festival now in its third incarnation and catering to over 3000 people, Cheshire Event Production’s pièce de résistance was to be the scenographic incorporation of the central mirrorball element within the main room at the festival, “The Furnace,” utilizing the versatile Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures. “I’ve been toying with the circular truss and mirrorball idea for a while now,…
Thanks to its unprecedented partnership with Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, Meyer Sound realised a rare opportunity to make precision measurements on the effect of variable atmospheric conditions on concert sound reinforcement. Working under the direction of Meyer Sound Senior Scientist Roger Schwenke, a technical team installed multiple weather sensors and measurement microphones during last summer’s event to measure the effects of atmospheric conditions on audio system response at varying distances above ground level. “For years we’ve heard speculation about how atmospheric conditions — including the presence or absence of the crowd — can change the sound at an outdoor concert by…
For the 2018 edition of the Clockenflap Festival 9-11 November 2018, the main (Harbourflap) stage and second stage were managed by Alto Stage Management, who called in Davide Linzi of Mister X Service as an audio system designer for both and FOH Engineer for the main stage (assisting productions with their own sound engineer). Linzi explained why he took Outline’s Newton multi-source audio processor with him for the important event. “I decided to take Newton to Clockenflap because I needed a fast versatile unit that enabled me to create a matrix of inputs and outputs that was fast and effective…
Popular electronic music star SoDown returned home last month to celebrate the release of his new single, Stand Up Feat, with back-to-back release party shows at the Aggie and Fox Theatres. Joining him on the trip to the northern Colorado foothills were Max Koehler and Ryan Warffuel of Antic Studios. It was a perfect match. Like SoDown, whose free-flowing sound breezily bends musical genres, moving effortlessly from thundering trap tunes to funky saxophone solos, the designer partners in Antic Studios fuse video and lighting together into a seamless and holistic visual panorama that blurs the distinction between the two. “We…
