As it prepares to become the first country in the Middle East to host the football World Cup in 2022, Qatar is investing in state-of-the-art infrastructure and technologies its stadiums. This includes the implementation of world class wireless microphone systems from Sennheiser at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, which played a vital role in enabling handball fans across the world enjoy the televised broadcasts of live matches. This stadium will be used for boxing, handball and basketball championships and also for live in concerts in the future. Sennheiser, which also supplied microphones for the football stadiums in Brazil, highlighted the importance of its audio…
Author: Stewart Hume
Flemish all-girl band K3 have embarked on a farewell tour using a dynamic light show featuring Chauvet Professional Strike 4 LED fixtures supplied by PRG Belgium. Luc Peumans of Belgium’s Painting With Light created the captivating light show. Having worked with ‘Belgium’s answer to the Spice Girls’ for the last decade, Peumans took pride in designing a show that captured the upbeat spirit and high-octane energy level of the beloved girl group. “During the 10 years in which Painting With Light has worked with K3, one thing has always remained consistent,” commented Peumans. “From their songs to their live performances, the band…
In an evening of moving musical tributes and memorable live stage performances, audio manufacturer Sennheiser came through to deliver ultra-reliable wireless audio for the duration of the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. With more than 18,000 celebrities and music fans in attendance and a viewership of more than 24 million, featured artists including Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Adele and The Weeknd each delivered performances using Sennheiser wireless microphone technology, with Taylor Swift performing the show’s opener, Out of the Woods, on a Sennheiser Digital 9000 system. Sennheiser-user Ed Sheeran scooped up two Grammy Awards for Thinking Out Loud, one for Song of…
One of Denmark’s leading rental companies, Comtech, has decided to invest in new Robe fixtures, including Pointes and BMFL Spots, for two consecutive years as it felt that both products brought something new and unique to the market. The initial purchase, and the company’s first with Robe, was for 40 Pointes in 2014, which were such a success that in 2015 it made a further investment with 50 BMFL Spots, which have been equally well received, explained Project Manager, Jes Christiansen. Comtech supplies lighting, sound and video to concert tours, festivals and music shows and corporate events of all types in…
Pop star Will Young completed a 22-day UK tour supporting his latest album, 85% Proof, which went number one on the UK Official Albums Charts. London-based production company Britannia Row Productions provided an Outline sound system that featured 36 Butterfly for mains, six Mantas for fills, eight DBS 18-2 subwoofers, Outline T-Nine amplifiers and Lake LM26 controllers. FOH Mixing Engineer, Davide Lombardi, explained the main sound system expectations and requirements: “When approaching the Will Young tour the requirements are very specific. His music varies from a quiet ballad to disco songs. Dynamics are very important; every single person in the…
Mexican 17-piece Banda el Recodo, which has been going since 1938, recently introduced a new, high-impact lighting rig featuring over 140 fixtures from Chauvet Professional. “When we decided to renew our lighting system, we tried many makers and models. Whereas it was a major investment, we knew we should be very careful in the selection of fixtures according to their power, performance, flexibility and reliability, as well as support of the brand. Chauvet products exceeded all our expectations,” said Arturo Guevara, LD for Banda el Recodo. The band’s new expanded lighting rig includes 84 Rogue RH1 Hybrids and 16 Rogue R2…
This year’s NME Awards 2016 took place at London’s O2 Academy Brixton, featuring performances from Coldplay, Foals, Rat Boy and The Maccabees, with lighting and rigging equipment from White Light. The Lighting Designer for the evening was Quentin Jarman, who commented: “I have worked on several NME Awards and it’s always a fantastic experience. For this particular occasion, I was responsible for lighting both the awards and performance stage, which were the two main areas used throughout the evening. “With the performance stage, there were five bands playing who all had very different sets hence required very different feels. Similarly, with the…
Allen & Heath’s Qu-32’s compact digital mixers were used throughout the recent Auckland Folk Festival, managing FOH and monitor sound for all three stages. The three stages comprised the Festival Stage, Mill Stage and new for 2016, the Village Stage. Selected by PA Company SoundandLight, Allen & Heath’s Qu-32’s mixers were installed at FOH as well as several monitors, which were placed on each stage, with Allen & Heath’s AR2412’s and AR84’s racks for additional remote IO. “I have managed the folk festival for about 15 years. It requires 14 hours of mixing a day so reliability is key, which…
Star Events, the largest supplier for stages, bespoke temporary structures and high-level rigging services in the UK, has committed to a £500,000 investment that is to bring Star Events’ next generation products and initiatives on stream ahead of a busy summer. The money will provide for PA / screen support towers, substantial upgrades to the Orbit and VerTech stage ranges, and state-of-the-art health and safety equipment for the Star crews that build structures and the production teams that work on them. Less visible will be the enterprise and stock management systems that are coming on line to improve the accuracy of what…
At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, held at Los Angeles’ Staples Centre, amplifier manufacturer Powersoft delivered 720kW of reliable, clear audio to more than 18,000 attending music fans, in addition to a viewership of more than 24 million people around the world. In a touching night of appearances by Lady Gaga, Nile Rodgers, Jackson Browne, The Eagles, Chris Stapleton and many others, the performances included tributes to several artists the music world has lost this year: among them David Bowie, Glenn Frey, B.B. King and Lemmy. ATK Audiotek was on hand to set up and deliver audio services for the gala event,…
As Bristol geared up to host the third BBC Radio 6 Music Festival, Utopium was selected as lighting and rigging supplier for Colston Hall’s weekend of live music, in February 2016. Utopium supplied all lighting and crew to Colston Hall as it hosted performances from a range of currently emerging and already established artists, representing the very best in alternative music. Tasked with supplying all the interior and exterior festival lighting, Utopium provided 25 Martin by Harman MAC Quantum Profiles, 14 MAC 2000 Washes, 30 Chauvet Professional Q Wash 419’s, 12 Chauvet Legend 230SR Beams, 12 SGM S5 Strobes, 20 Chauvet…
Gang of Thieves returned home to northern Vermont to perform at the Rusty Nail, supported by a light show including a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 Spots. Kyle Rose of KTR Lighting created the eye-popping show for the band. He said: “This is an iconic band in New England that’s played on the national stage,” he said. “Their music makes you want to dance. Everyone gets caught up in its energy. So I wanted a light show that really reflected this attitude and spirit.” Rose accomplished this with a light show that featured rapidly moving beams of bright light in an…
White Light has provided production support to Curtain Up, an event celebrating 40 years of theatre on both London’s West End and New York’s Broadway. Created in partnership with The Society of London Theatre, the Victoria & Albert Museum and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Centre, it explores the craftsmanship that goes into creating award-winning plays, musicals and productions. Project Producer Harriet Usher oversaw the project, commenting: “The main focus of the exhibition was collaboration, and the skills that go into creating theatre. Every theatre production involved numerous individuals, from the designer, to the director, to the lighting…
J Cole’s Production Manager and FOH Engineer, Raymond Rogers, chose a Solid State Logic SSL L500 console for FOH duties on the hip-hop artist’s most recent tour, as well as adding an SSL Live Recorder to multitrack every show and for virtual sound check. The stage set was based on the artist’s old home, and included a flown model of the house and an original set, with the stage modelled on the roof of the house. The main audio inputs were from J Cole himself, drums, DJ, two keyboard players, guitar, and background vocals, which gave Rogers a total of 36 inputs, plus three stereo…
DPA Microphones has promoted Christopher Spahr to VP of Sales and Marketing in the US, James Capparelle to Marketing Manager, also in the US, and Gabriel Antonini to National Sales Support / Business Development Manager. “We are delighted to announce these three well-deserved promotions,” said Niels Jørgen Øhrgaard, EVP of Sales, DPA Microphones. “DPA has enjoyed tremendous growth and success over the past few years and it is no coincidence that Christopher, James and Gabriel have all been a part of it. Their pride and passion in our products are the driving force behind everything DPA does. We look forward…
UK production company, Nub Sound, recently carried an Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing system on the UK tour of British Singer / Songwriter, Jamie Lawson, to manage FOH sound. Last year, Jamie Lawson was signed by Ed Sheeran’s new record label, Gingerbread Man Records. The tour coincided with the release of Jamie’s second UK single release from his self-titled number one album, and sold out completely. Nub Sound managed audio production for the tour, selecting Allen & Heath’s smallest dLive system, the S3000 Control Surface and DM32 MixRack. “We have Allen & Heath iLive, GLD and Qu mixers in our hire…
Liverpool-based production specialist Adlib kicked off a busy 2016 touring season with a number of great live artists, including award-winning Irish singer / songwriter Hozier, for which they provided audio, lighting and crew to the recent UK and European tour. Adlib’s team of Sam Proctor and Terry Smith (sound), and Kevin Byatt and Jeff Bond (lights) worked closely with renowned Production Manager Sue ‘Duchess’ Iredale, Tour Manager Jake Ryan Foley, and the band’s FOH and Monitor Engineers, Gavin Muddiman and Darren Dunphy with Lighting Designer Matthew Kilmurry. A L-Acoustics K2 system was specified for all the UK shows, and for…
More than 300 LED and discharge fixtures from PR Lighting graced the Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex for the inaugural opening of the 22nd 2016 African Handball Cup of Nations Championship, which took place over 10 days at the end of January. They were deployed by the Chinese manufacturer’s Egyptian partner, Hi-Lights, whose inspiring concept was designed by Ahmed Arafa. Hi-Lights itself is the country’s largest service provider (and one of the biggest throughout the Middle East). It was awarded the contract by the Egyptian Handball Federation & Ministry of Youth and Sports, and was asked to provide the lighting, sound, video projection and…
