One time professional actor Stan Van Samang made his musical breakthrough back in 2006 winning the music talent TV show, Steracteur Sterartiest (VRT). While the Belgian artist has recorded a string of successful albums since, it’s arguably his live performances – with intimate audience interaction, which have garnered him notoriety. Tasked with bringing the most out of these live performances on Stan’s recent tour of Belgium, LD Bart Rogge specified 16 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK 2 spot and 24 R2 Rogue wash fixtures to stunning effect. As Stan Van Samang’s live shows are all about interaction between audience and artist,…
Author: Stewart Hume
April saw the 61st National Student Drama Festival (NSDF) take place at the University of Hull, forming part of the city’s UK City Of Culture celebrations. Rental company SLX provided a range of Yamaha digital mixing consoles and – as a little light relief for participants – Yamaha Commercial Audio UK co-sponsored Yamaha/SLX/NSDF-branded jackets, awarded to the most inventive photos posted by aspiring sound engineers on social media. Technical production specialist Stage Electrics has been involved with the NSDF since 1999. This was the first year that SLX – the company’s rebranded rental division – worked on the event under…
Metallica’s summer-long WorldWired Tour is currently rolling in high gear through the largest stadiums and festival sites in North America, galvanising the iconic band’s multi-generational fan base by delivering a searing, eye-popping and — literally — gut-slamming experience of adrenaline fuelled guitar rock. For sonic saturation of venues often holding 50,000-plus, the tour carries a massive Meyer Sound LEO Family reinforcement system from VER Tour Sound that incorporates — for the first time anywhere — the visceral impact of the new VLFC very low frequency control element. Corralling this formidable technology is the task of FOH engineer “Big Mick” Hughes,…
Movecat has developed for the D8/D8 Plus market segments a completely new range of electric chain hoists exhibiting exceptionally high laden-to-unladen weight ratios as well as a new and innovative lifting gear implementation. Movecat achieved the weight reduction partly through the development for the PROstage series of a high-strength chain and gearbox combination as well as an aluminium housing with two handles. The reduced weight of the hoists themselves, of course, means that greater loads can be attached to the rig. The new hoists, which bear the name “PROstage”, reconcile a safe working load of 1,500 kg (D8) with an…
Over 800 Elation lighting fixtures used for this year’s production with lighting design by Jerry Appelt; production headed by Ola Melzig The Eurovision Song Contest is a unique experience in the world of entertainment made all the more special by use of some of the largest lighting and video systems you’ll find on any show. Elation Professional was proud to have been part of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv with over 800 lighting products used as audience and stage lighting by LD Jerry Appelt and Eurovision Song Contest Head of Production Ola Melzig. Perhaps no other show in…
Another Notch in Green Hippo’s belt as Hippotizer Boreal creates a 360° experience to stun Finish fans at X Factor star’s sold-out Helsinki spectacular. Finish singing sensation Saara Aalto – aka the Snow Fairy – played a sold-out homecoming gig at Helsinki’s Hartwall arena and Green Hippo technology ensured a great view for all. Saara, who shot to fame in the UK through her runner’s up spot in 2016’s X Factor, is a firm favourite in Finland, having appeared in Finland’s Got Talent 2007 and The Voice of Finland in 2012. Bright Finland, the Finland and Scandinavia-based experience provider, was…
Setting a new precedent for touring sound in one of the world’s most famous venues, the flagship Firenze KH8 touring system from Italian innovator K-array recently covered London’s O2 with a core front of house set-up of just nine KH8 panels per-side. Marking the first opportunity for Firenze to prove itself in such a prestigious setting, the event was described by Sam Nankivell, of UK K-array distributor 2B Heard, as “representing change in the industry, in one of the most iconic live performance venues in the world, where systems are tried and tested. There’s no better place for Firenze to…
Award winning LD Paul Pyant returned to London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) to light a production of the Steven Sondheim classic, A Little Night Music directed by Edward Kemp and staged at RADA’s Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre in central London. Robe enjoys a close on going working relationship with RADA, making their latest technologies available for students to use across the three main venues. Pyant‘s design for this production utilised Robe’s DL7S LED profiles and the new Spiider LED wash beam moving lights, together with other moving and conventional fixtures. Pyant’s acclaimed career started at RADA – he is…
https://vimeo.com/218027841 Defying Gravity – Outline is proud to introduce Newton – an all-new FPGA-based device that redefines the ‘gold standard’ in modern audio processing. Video Presentation by Vincent “Vinnie” Perreux and Giulio Gandini
Elation Professional is pleased to offer the new IP65-rated Paladin, a highly versatile hybrid LED luminaire that functions as a brilliantly bright blinder, powerful strobe and high-output wash light. Adding to its flexibility, this multi-functional light also houses a motorised zoom for full beam control and its IP65 rating means it can be used on all types of events without the need for weather protection. Paladin is a new breed of hybrid. More than a powerful full-colour strobe, Paladin also functions as a high-power wash light, blinder or eye candy effect in one brilliantly bright luminaire. 24 40W RGBW LEDs produce…
Working for a band whose members are tech-fans that are willing to jump into new gear if they dig what it does is great—if the band likes it, it’s in. Proving that is a job that often falls to the engineers, and it’s how award-winning monitor engineer Kevin “Tater” McCarthy got the new KLANG:fabrik 3D monitoring system on the rider for a tour with Linkin Park that will run through 2017. “I can’t say enough about how great this thing is,” commented Tater over his pair of KLANG:fabrik units, which reside in a rack beneath his DiGiCo SD7 mixing console.…
Empire of the Sun catapulted to international stardom in 2008 with their multi-platinum hit “Walking on a Dream.” It was a very fitting title, for the song and the band. Blending an ethereal sound with stage visuals that resemble something out of a fantasy game, the Australian duo make it easy for audiences to take a temporary leave from reality and enter an uplifting world of imagination. This transcendental quality was on full display on 14th April, when Empire of the Sun appeared on the Coachella Festival’s Sahara Stage. Dressed in flowing, futuristic silky black outfits and backed by robot…
Internationally renowned production manager Ola Melzig – Head of Production for Eurovision 2017 – is set to host the glamorous tenth anniversary edition of the Knight of Illumination Awards. The prestigious ceremony will be held on the 17th of September at one of London’s most iconic live entertainment venues, the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith. Throughout his eclectic career, Melzig has coordinated innumerable high-profile shows around the globe, including the Commonwealth Games, the Nobel Prize Banquet, and now no fewer than 12 Eurovision productions – all of which are a long way from his first role in the industry, working as…
Internationally renowned LD and director of photography Jerry Appelt specified the new Claypaky Scenius Unico as the main stage workhorse fixture for his richly composed lighting design for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, hosted at the International Exhibition Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine. This year, 42 countries participated in the global TV phenomenon, each supported by a striking stage and light show embracing video, special effects and a procession of scenic props and costumes, all of which combined to make the lighting of this world famous event an ever more challenging proposition. Taking up that challenge for the third time, Appelt’s lighting…
Seven hundred and ninety five (795) Robe Spikies are on the road with the incredible Bruno Mars 24K Magic world tour – setting a record for the largest number to date of a single type of Robe fixture on one touring show! The Spikies are the main lighting feature of an action-packed show and are used constantly for hi-impact looks, an array of fluid effects, mesmeric chases, animated chunks of colour and magically twinkling and sparkling ‘soft’ surfaces which can totally transform the appearance of the performance space in this exciting hi-energy show. The dynamic, colourful and highly visual production…
Eight Allen & Heath dLive C Class systems, based on the ultra-compact C1500 Surface and CDM32 MixRack, have been purchased in Norway, mainly by sound engineers looking for a fly-in mixing system. Sold by Norwegian distributor, Benum, the systems were specified by several of the country’s most prolific and well-respected freelance audio engineers touring with some of Norway’s most successful pop acts. “It’s the only option on the market that offers compact mixing that you can take on a commercial airline, with the right sound quality and minimum hardware,” said Stian Sagholen (FOH for Einar Stray Orchestra and Dunderbeist, monitors…
Capital Sound, one of the largest UK-based live sound hire companies, is adding Solid State Logic L200 and L500 live consoles to its inventory, bringing SSL quality and flexibility to a growing client-base over a wide budget range. The consoles are being been supplied by UK professional audio specialist HD Pro Audio. Capital Sound initially decided to invest in L500 to support The Killers Front of House Engineer, Kenny Kaiser, on the European leg of the band’s current worldwide tour. Kaiser uses a lot of the console’s unique attributes, such as fully processed stem groups, the SSL FX Rack, AutoMix…
