Even by the standards of Jam bands, The String Cheese Incident defies easy categorisation. What else to say about a group of talented musicians that jams with Skrillex as deftly as it covers hits by a disparate group of artists from the Bee Gees to the Grateful Dead? This is in addition to its own genre-smashing blend of bluegrass rock, electronica, calypso, country, funk, jazz, Latin, and reggae sounds. The group’s expansive stage productions, which often involve audience participatory activities, are as fiercely original as its music. This much was readily apparent on the band’s recently concluded March Madness Tour,…
Author: TPi
Fairlight has collaborated with DTS and the University of Salford to develop a new approach to assist sound engineers with live sports productions. The Spatial Automated Live Sports Audio (SALSA) solution is a real-time automated mixing process that identifies the location of specific sound events from a grid of pitch microphones. The algorithm, developed by the University of Salford, identifies the type of sound event, its 3D location, and its duration, and automatically drives console fader movements to open the relevant mics. This real-world solution came to life when SALSA was combined with the object-based audio live production system co-developed…
With a loyal fan base in the UK eager to see their favourite wrestler vie for ring dominance, American professional wrestling organisation TNA Wrestling traveled to England earlier in the year for a series of arena shows dubbed the MAXIMUM IMPACT 8 Tour. Elation Professional lighting fixtures have been staples on TNA Wrestling events in the UK recently with this year’s lighting package predominately made up of Elation Platinum Beam 5R Extreme and Platinum Wash ZFX Pro moving heads. This year’s shows, which included an extra layer of emotion as they marked wrestling legend Kurt Angle’s final bouts, were designed…
MTVU’s Woodie Awards returned to SXSW in Austin, Texas where Clay Paky Scenius moving head spotlights made their show debut during the performance of London-based electro-pop artist Jack Garratt. Tom Kenny also returned for the third consecutive year as lighting designer of the show, which celebrates the music voted best by college students. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky fixtures in North America. MTVU is an award-winning channel that broadcasts to over 750 college campuses across the US. “Woodies/10 for 16” was hosted by A$AP Rocky on the main stage in Austin’s American-Statesman parking lot. Garratt performed…
Mariah Carey is a musician that rarely needs any introduction after two decades in music and a collection of much-loved classics. At the start of March, the singer began her European tour, Sweet Sweet Fantasy, by returning to the UK after 13 years away. Working for the production team behind the tour, Creative Technology (CT) supplied seven Panasonic projectors which were used to feed playback content onto a number of upstage panels, all driven by Photon. The panels were able to move across the stage with the projection tracking and following the movements. The four panels centred around the main…
Renowned sound engineer, Robert Biom, specified a dLive digital mixing as the FOH console for a national tour by popular Russian pop artist, Leonid Agutin. As Agutin’s long standing sound engineer, Robert Biom has previously used Allen & Heath’s iLive system but has taken the new dLive system on the latest venture, which is visiting 25 cities and towns across Russia throughout February, March and April. The system comprises an S7000 Control Surface with DM64 MixRack at FOH, with an iLive-T80 Control Surface and iDR-32 MixRack as the monitor system. Briom said: “After more than 20 gigs with dLive I…
The stately Cone Denim Entertainment Center has been at the heart of the entertainment scene in Greensboro North Carolina for over 100 years. Opened in the early 1900s as a movie theatre, the three tiered structure was reinvented as a concert/event venue earlier in this century. As such it holds delightful surprises for Greensboro residents. Recently, it also provided an unexpected eye-opening experience for lighting designer Dave Carr. Carr, the lighting designer for The Academy of Country Music Award winning Eli Young Band, was ready to depend on the house rig at the Cone Denim Entertainment Center when the group…
In 2014 RADA’s Head of Stage Management, Dave Salter and Head of Lighting, Matt Prentice made enquiries with GDS requesting information about Stage Manager’s consoles. RADA’s existing provision consisted of two antiquated and increasingly unreliable consoles which they considered to be in urgent need of either a major overhaul or replacement. When new Head of Sound Steve Mayo joined RADA from The Barbican at the beginning of 2015, he immediately identified the inadequacy of the existing consoles as a major issue. Given the fact that the depth and intensity of technical training at RADA is very much conducted in ‘real…
As the complete production solution specialist, White Light provides technical production support to some of the most prestigious venues in the country. The company is already an approved supplier for the Unique Venues of London, the only external cross-palace approved supplier for the Historic Royal Palaces along with the in-house Production Service Partner at Central Hall Westminster. With a strong reputation for providing first-class production support, WL has now been appointed as an approved supplier for Tate, meaning it will support events held in its historic London spaces for the next two years. Tate Britain is home to the greatest…
S+H Technical, the drapes, starcloth, LED, video and special effects specialist from Devon, supplied their LED starcloth and a custom built LED sign for the main show ring of the world’s most famous dog show, Crufts, staged by The Kennel Club at the Genting Arena, Birmingham, UK. The starcloth was specified by Jon Pope of Chichester based Lighting Design Services, the show’s lighting designer since 2009, and was installed along the upstage edge / back of the main ring – making a classic backdrop for cameras, video and other assorted media. The eye-catching 6.5 metre wide x 2.2 deep sign…
Following on from last year’s £500,000 investment, Fisher Hires have responded to client demand and invested another £275,000 into the business, significantly increasing sound, video and lighting stock. New products include; new NEXO speakers such as the versatile NEXO ID24, and the 45N 12 stage monitor, ChamSys MagicQ lighting consoles, more Panasonic display screens including the super bright 80” LED. Plus a wide range of mics from Shure, AKG and Sennheiser as well as Yamaha QL5 mixers. Lighting capacity has also increased with the purchase of SGN G spot IP Rated Movers, Robe Robin Viva LED Profiles and more of the…
Straightpoint has named Simon Paine logistics supervisor, bringing to the role three decades of tier one supply chain experience from the automotive sector. The force measurement, load monitoring and suspended weighing load cell manufacturer prides itself on short lead times, putting Paine at the forefront of one of the most important departments at the company. He said: “That doesn’t faze me at all. I am used to less than 24-hour lead times in certain instances. I intend to use the skills and tools that I have learnt during more than 30 years in logistics. Initially, I will review working practices…
Busy UK rental company Storm Lighting, based in Woking, Surrey, has invested in 30 x Robe BMFL Blades and 30 x LEDWash 1000s for their ongoing work which includes a diverse range of premium corporate events, leading theatre tours and some music shows. This new sale follows Storm’s initial Robe purchases made in 2014, of LEDBeam 100s, LEDWash 600s and Pointes. These fixtures have all been a great success, and impressed with their reliability and the excellent customer service from Robe UK, Storm founders Dave Knapp and Pete Kramer decided to continue their commitment to the brand. The BMFL Blades…
Following the success of Halestorm’s third studio album Into the Wild, the Grammy-Award winning band returns to the road for a rock tour that takes high-octane energy and powerful female voices, including special guests Lita Ford and Dorothy, and combines it all into one epic event. Bandit Lites is to once again provide a lighting package that brings mind-blowing visuals to Halestorm’s hardcore sound. By using Clay Paky Sharpys, GLP X4S fixtures within black truss towers (evoking a modern, updated look to par ACL Bars), Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes, Bandit 5x5s and GRNLite LED Battens, lighting designer Julie Cox focused…
In a demonstration of its growing popularity among musicians in the region, Sennheiser has received the endorsement of Svengali, a band whose energetic live performances and music have been provoking powerful reactions all over the region, and Gaya, a UAE-based independent singer-songwriter with a deeply personal sound. The widely varying musical styles of these two artists highlight the versatility of Sennheiser’s solutions and its brand appeal within the region. Mig Cardamone, Director of Sales and Marketing at Sennheiser Middle East said: “Our regional team is highly active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in an effort to keep us as close…
Optocore and BroaMan had plenty of surprises in store for the world’s press (and partners) when they assembled at the company’s booth during Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt. Unmissable for its slot car scale racetrack, the booth featured milestones from the company’s 20-year history right up to the present, including this year’s new blockbuster releases. First up was BroaMan’s upgraded Route66 video router, now offering Auto Routing and an intelligent fibre patch bay. The new functionality is powered by Optocore, and is ideal not only for Installation but equally for Live Events or Broadcast. The first customer is Wigwam Acoustics — and…
Czech PA company MB Agency has invested in Allen & Heath’s dLive digital mixing system as part of an upgrade to its hire stock. The system was used for the first time when MB Agency was appointed by the Czech Forestry Association to manage the technical production of its 20th Anniversary Gala Ball, which took place recently at the cultural venue, Aldis, in the city of Hradec Králové. The event hosted performances from several well-known Czech artists, including pop singer Petra Janů and her band Golem, and the recently discovered roots music folk group, Jelen. MB Agency’s dLive system comprises…
V.I.P.’s Security, a German-based event supply company, which has recently acquired Bümo Event Logistik, has purchased over 600 pieces of new Mojo Barriers equipment. This includes 100m of bar barrier, 400m of straight aluminium crowd barrier, along with specialist flex corners, line up gates and mega exits, making this one of Mojo’s largest ever sale of new equipment. The range gives V.I.P.’s Security the ability to provide a full service to huge concerts and festivals. Key to this deal was V.I.P.’s Security owner Goran Marincic and project manager, Schlanky Schilling, who have many years expertise working within live events. The…
