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UK-based Lighting Designer Durham Marenghi is no stranger to high-profile events with numerous Winter and Summer Olympics Opening and Closing ceremonies, Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee events, many citywide New Year’s in London celebrations and more to his credit.

Durham Marenghi (holding the flag). Photo_BWS

He recently lit the Opening Ceremony for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, which featured large complements of Claypaky Sharpy X Frame, Tambora Linear 100, Xtylos and Sharpy fixtures throughout the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar.
“The ceremony had many symbolic indications that expressed welcome, generosity and hospitality in Arab culture, as well as contemporary musical, cultural and visual performances that were used for the first time in the tournament,” Marenghi explains.

Since the Opening Ceremony took place in a projected world devised by Creative Director Anghela Alo and the content artists at Luke Halls Studio, Marenghi and his team were challenged to light the performers for broadcast without damaging the ‘screen’ environment in which they lived.

“We were operating at a light intensity of around 400 Lux and sports lighting for the games was around 2000 lux, so a very careful approach was required to create the magic to entertain billions of fans around the globe,” says Marenghi. He selected an array of Claypaky fixtures for their light weight, brightness, superior optics and low power consumption.

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“For this event the key factor was weight on the roof and very high truss heights of more than 50 meters to keep the equipment above the technical and camera systems required by the soccer authorities,” Marenghi points out. “Every source deployed had to have a very high light output and very tight beam angle. We usually have lights all around the field of play, but this was not possible with the first game of the competition scheduled only one hour after the opening ceremony.”

He mounted 60 Sharpy X Frames, 40 Xtylos and 80 Sharpys on 20 roof trusses; 16 more Sharpy X Frames on goal posts across two west projection positions; and 18 Tambora Linear 100s plus Neutral Density filters on the side stages and nine more on the center stage. An additional 52 Sharpys were also deployed.

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“Sharpy X Frame was by far our favorite fixture on the rig, a true hybrid,” Marenghi declares. Sharpy X Frame is the most versatile compact hybrid fixture on the market addressing the needs for a bright spot, aerial effects unit, framing fixture and everything in between in an affordable, compact package.

“The Xtylos laser-sourced fixture is a grown up Sharpy, if you will, but with the benefit of additive colors so RGB and CMY are far brighter,” he reports. “It is a very safe fixture, and its IP66 version, the Xtylos Aqua, is perfect for long-throw exterior applications.”

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In addition, “the Tambora Linear is a great and flexible batten with three distinct layers: a conventional solid color wash, which can be overlaid as a mappable pixellated array, and finally the white strobe layer that runs through the center of it. The fixture is bright so we used the ND filter provided on units facing our broadcast cameras.”

Marenghi says, “We were also pleased with the great support and instant response we received from Claypaky in Bergamo, Italy when required.”
Balich Wonder Studio was the Production Company.

For more information about Claypaky, you can visit www.claypaky.com

World-renowned director Robert Wilson, known for his avant-garde theatre works, has created an immersive sound installation entitled Gloria — a striking dreamlike experience— in the heart of Paris at the famed Sainte-Chapelle church.

Robert Wilson

Coming from his native Waco, Texas, Robert Wilson was seventeen years old when, during his first trip to Europe, he discovered the Sainte-Chapelle, a jewel of Gothic art radiating on the whole Île de la Cité, in the heart of Paris.

It was a shock. He felt “the same strong emotion” when he returned to the royal building a few days ago to finalize the preparation of ‘Gloria’; a 360-degree sound installation presented every Saturday and Sunday from October 8 to December 31, 2022.

Philippe Bélaval, President of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.

It is to celebrate half a century of success in France, since Le Regard du Sourd in Nancy (1971) and the first Autumn Festival in Paris (1972), that the president of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, Philippe Bélaval, invited ‘Bob’ Wilson back, “a magician of light and sound” (according to the inviting force) who renewed, in his own polished and hieratic way, the art of dramatic and lyrical stagecraft.

“We have a determined policy of inviting contemporary artists because heritage and creation must work together,” said Philippe Bélaval, President of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux. “Bob was one of the artists I wanted to invite, to mark the 50 years of his presence in Paris. We felt that his perception of space, his mastery of sound and light could bring a lot to a monument.”

Cécile Rives, administrator of the Sainte-Chapelle.

“It invites us to look at this monument, these windows, in a different way. It gives a new intensity to this visit experience which is already very strong,” agreed Cécile Rives, administrator of the Sainte-Chapelle.
“Some visitors will come to hear Bob Wilson. Then others will come to visit the monument and have the chance to discover it on this occasion, that’s what’s extraordinary.”

“Discovering how beautiful this piece is has been an overwhelming experience. The impression remained in me for many years,” said Robert Wilson.
When the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (CMN) gave Bob Wilson a ‘carte blanche’, no surprise if, instinctively, his choice fell on this location. The Sainte-Chapelle, built during the 13th century at Saint-Louis’ request, is a place involving a number of challenges.

In Gloria, an experience running six times a day and lasting twenty-five minutes, Wilson creates a dialogue between music and words and the light passing through the windows of the upper chapel, an exceptional witness to the art of stained glass in the thirteenth century.

“It’s very different from staging for the Paris Opera, as an example. It took some time to figure out how to work in such a place, because of the reverberation time and the way you perceive sounds,” said the director.
“Here, I didn’t have to do anything! The light is already so extraordinary, especially the way it changes throughout the day,” added Wilson.

Composer Richard ‘Dickie’ Landry (b.1938) has been a companion of Bob Wilson since the effervescent years of New York with Robert Rauschenberg, Philip Glass, and Trisha Brown. He has composed for the occasion a post-minimalist style of music with stretched lines that are familiar to the ear, made of layers of synthetic strings imitating organ chords.
“The music comes from a mass I wrote in 1985, from which I took the ‘Gloria’. I improvised on the keyboard, following the original structure of the hymn,” Dicky revealed.

The soundtrack is enriched with excerpts from the great poem De rerum natura (About the Nature of Things) by Lucretius, a Latin philosopher of the first century BC. A secular echo to the great themes evoked by the stained glass windows, ‘declining the relationship of man to nature, of the soul to the body, of the earth to the heavens.’

“It’s a text for all times, so modern, solid as a rock, indestructible,” said Wilson. Words in French recorded by a child and two actors dear to his heart since his Fables de la Fontaine at the Comédie-Française (2004), Cécile Brune and Eric Génovèse. “I chose them simply because I liked to hear their voices,” said Wilson.

The result is an invitation to contemplate the place, and even to meditate. “A time to think and to dream in the heart of the city but away from the rumor of the city”, summarizes the octogenarian artist, a non-believer but a true spiritualist, after having listened one last time to his creation, his face concentrated, his hands resting on the cane that supports him. “These moments are so rare in our busy lives. Let’s bet that for many visitors, the emotion naturally felt in this ‘chapel of light’ will come out increased.”

Transparency modeling of the chapel with the location of the sound spots and the levels as they appear in the Native version of HOLOPHONIX.

Amadeus developed and installed a unique, custom-made sound projection system in Saint-Chapelle, in coordination with the heritage conservation teams of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux and their new technology consultant, Thierry Coduys.

“Achieving this short-lived work led us to transpose to rental what has been our strength for a very long time, tailor-made design, and to support creators in their artistic approach on a technical level,” says Gaetan Byk, CEO at Amadeus.
“On the request of the curator as well as Bob Wilson, the eight most ‘visible’ speaker enclosures were covered by us in gold leaf. They totally disappear in front of the mouldings, pillars, buttresses and arches adorned with red, blue and gold, becoming a component of the architectural polychromy of the monument,” added Byk.

Pipo Gomes, Technical Director at Amadeus, in charge of the project and behind him Adrien Zanni, researcher and developer at Amadeus for HOLOPHONIX.

“This project introduces this new ‘department’ dedicated to ephemeral projects and directed by Pipo Gomes, Technical Director graduate of the Paris-based CFPTS, previously Sound Manager of La Scala Paris, and sound designer of renowned choreographers and directors including André Engel, José Montalvo, among others,” said Byk.

The electroacoustic system designed by Amadeus is made of fifteen loudspeakers surrounding and overhanging the audience, some of which are custom-made and finished with gold leaf for perfect harmony with the dominant materiality of the building.

“We worked in close relationship with the curator of the Saint-Chapelle and the teams of the National Monuments Centre (Centre des Monuments Nationaux) in order to find implementation solutions guaranteeing the integrity of the monument as well as the utmost discretion of the electro-acoustic system,” says Pipo Gomes, Technical Director at Amadeus, in charge of the project.

“Some speaker systems are particularly suspended from the historic framework of the Sainte-Chapelle by ultra-fine stainless-steel wires of nearly 20 meters long, crossing the vault through 8-centimeter diameter holes. The loudspeakers were then stabilized by transparent nylon wires, totally invisible,” adds Gomes.

One of the Amadeus C-Series speaker hanged by stainless-steel wires and stabilized by transparent nylon wires.

These speakers are controlled by the brand-new sound spatialization software, called HOLOPHONIX Native, developed by Amadeus in coordination with IRCAM.

“The sound overwhelms you! It comes from the right, the left, the center, the ceiling,” commented Wilson. The software uses several techniques of reverberation and spatialization allowing sound to position, to move, and reverberate sources in space, in two or three dimensions.
An algorithm of spatialization supporting the synthesis of the sound field in 3D or Wave Field Synthesis (WFS) – associated with several parametric reverberators – was selected in order to place and move the sound sources in space in an intuitive way.

“Nick Sagar who has been in charge of the sound creation usually works with Logic Pro software for his creations. We have therefore integrated HOLOPHONIX Native into his production workflow so that he can maintain his work habits while having access to the spatial writing capabilities offered by our software solution, both in object-oriented mixing or in direct points,” adds Adrien Zanni, researcher and developer at Amadeus for the HOLOPHONIX project.

The speakers seamlessly aligned and yet barely visible inside the chapel.

“The integration of the brand new HOLOSCORE plugin allowed him to edit trajectories as automation directly from Logic Pro. We also used the reverberation engine available in HOLOPHONIX Native mainly to homogenize the diffusion of the system and the acoustic response of the Sainte-Chapelle.
This reverberation tool has also been used on the synthesizer composition to give it a more majestic look, in order to create a virtual organ, as this monument which has none,” adds Zanni.

“The two subwoofers placed at the altar’s level contributed to this sensation of acoustics down to the low frequencies.
To finalize the acoustic rendering, we pointed/aimed a few loudspeakers in a diffuse field (indirect diffusion), which brought complexity and cohesion to the overall perceptual rendering.

Once the final mix was validated, we used the REAPER software as a multitrack recorder for the sound creation, then finally the Qlab software for the automated playback of the files at the scheduled broadcast times,” concludes Zanni

The carte blanche given to the American director and visual artist Robert Wilson unfolds masterfully under the vaults of the Sainte-Chapelle. A dive into a bath of light and sound, to be discovered before the end of the year.

“These kinds of places are essential, especially in cities. We have very busy lives, Paris is a very animated city. So here’s a place where you can come and take the time to think and take the time to dream,” Wilson poetically concluded.

For more information about “Gloria” and Robert Wilson, visit the Robert Wilson website

For more information about Amadeus and HOLOPHONIX, visit amadeuslab.com or holophonix.xyz

Eighty-eight Ayrton MagicPanel FX multi-function luminaires, controlled by a grandMA3 lighting console, play a key role as Post Malone’s Twelve Carat Tour gets underway this fall.
Post Malone’s Twelve Carat Tour is in support of his new album, Twelve Carat Toothache. The North American tour kicked off on 10th September in Omaha and will wrap in mid-November with a pair of dates in Los Angeles.

Ayrton MagicPanel FX light up the runways(…)

The new tour reunites Malone with Dan Norman, owner of LA-based Evolve Lights, Inc., who serves as his lighting designer and technical director. Norman previously designed one-off shows and a festival run for Malone last year, acted as the lighting designer for his Billboard Awards 2020 performance, and assisted on Malone’s Runaway Tour in 2019.

Norman has a history of using Ayrton fixtures having deployed 52 MagicBlade FX units for Malone’s festival run and an array of Khamsin, Diablo, Huracan and Intellipix fixtures on other gigs.

(…) and blow-through LED wall for Post Malone on his Twelve Carat Tour.

MagicPanel FX features an optical zoom system and is comprised of a 5 x 5 array of squared lenses; it offers interresting creative possibilities for both 2D graphical effects and, with its powerful beam, extraordinary 3D volumetric effects.

“As Ayrton moves forward with LED sources they’ve become my go-to product line,” says Norman. “I find their colour mixing to be more accurate than a lot of other fixtures; I’m super happy with the colour mixing on their spots and profiles.”

Lighting Designer Dan Norman owner of La-based Evolve Lights,Inc.

For the Twelve Carat Tour the Post Touring creative team approached Norman with a design of seven circle deck stages connected by runways. “Post Malone enjoys walking around and communicating with the audience, so the individual 12-foot wide stages put him as close as possible to them,” Norman explains.
In the same way that the runways connect the stages, Norman was looking for a fixture that would connect the six circular overhead, automated lighting pods to the stages, which can be as much as 60 feet apart.

He chose 56 MagicPanel FX fixtures, supplied by PRG, mounted on Tyler GT truss above the runways, which create a wall of beams that form illuminated pathways from stage to stage. “They act like runway top lights and also create nice streaks of light,” says Norman.

“The MagicPanel FXs are an awesome fixture that work with the overall design of the show. We have circle deck stages and long rectangular runways so I didn’t want a circular fixture overhead. Since MagicPanel FXs are square-facing fixtures they match up well with the runways. With their pixel flexibility I can create a shape with just the outer ring or cue a few pixels at a time for a small, quite intimate look for specific moments instead of a bright wash. By contrast, used full force the MagicPanels can make our big 750-fixture rig look even more massive.”

An additional 32 MagicPanel FX are positioned behind the 76 x 38-foot blow-through LED wall upstage in an 8 x 4 configuration. “They are attached to vertical Tinker ladders spaced every eight feet to make a square grid so they blow light through the LED screen,” Norman says.
About half of Post Malone’s songs feature a kind of audio glitch motif in their tracks that the Post Touring creative team wanted to integrate into the design. Norman replicates that with the blow-through fixtures. “We can do quick blips and super-fast strobe hits with a few pixels at a time, very small,” he explains. “They create a very grounding look that carries through the show. Not a lot of other fixtures are able to create those effects.”

He also enjoys the versatility of the zoom system. “I can do single pixel glitches in a wide zoom to give you that delicate eye candy effect, then zoom down and use all the pixels together to create tight shafts of light that spin around the arena.
The MagicPanel FXs are great for crowd interaction too, since we don’t have conventional blinders, the wide zoom lets us get enough coverage to light up the crowd for Post Malone to see them all.”

“I’m super happy with these fixtures,” Norman declares. “They’re great units that do everything we need to do.” For lighting control Norman is using a grandMA3 full-size console running grandMA2 software; PRG is also providing two more grandMA3 full-size consoles, one as a backup unit and one that serves as the tech desk.

Norman is a long-time grandMA user who also owns a full-size grandMA2. “I’m starting to prefer the changes in the grandMA3 hardware, like the screens and buttons,” he reports. “The keyboard is more centrally positioned, and I use a double line of macro buttons all the time. I feel my programming speed has increased with a lot more screen space and the extra macro buttons.”
Production manager Dennis Danneels was the glue that held all the departments together. Eric Christian was the associate lighting programmer and Steven “Six” Schwind was the touring lighting director.

More information on Ayrton MagicPanel FX fixtures and the full portfolio of innovative Ayrton LED products can be found at www.ayrton.eu

Maintaining that delicate balance between enigmatic, arty, alternative popularity and success … the much anticipated Twenty One Pilots “Icy” tour hit the road this summer, offering lighting designer Tyler “Shap” Shapard the chance to produce an elegant and imaginative lighting design based on atmospherically engineering the mood and vibes with many dramatic differences for each song.

A cornerstone of this design was 80 x Robe MegaPointes explained Shap who collaborated closely on this tour with co-designer and programmer Dayne DeHaven. Their creative process involved Shap producing the essential looks and building blocks for each number and Dayne completing the nuts+bolts programming which they finessed together. Shap was also on the road running lighting day-to-day.

MegaPointes are a personal favorite fixture of Shap’s and they have featured on the last two Twenty One Pilots tour cycles which included the immediately post Covid “Takeover” tour earlier in 2022, where the band played four different sized venues in six key cities, followed by an international summer festival tour.

Everyone liked the Arena version of the” Takeover” rig so much that this became the starting point for the “Icy” tour, modified, reimagined and with additional lights!
Shap loves the sheer speed and the power of MegaPointes, “It totally bridges that gap between being intense enough for a workhorse light and fast enough for an effects light” he noted, adding that it is a “completely unique” fixture, and nothing comes near to it in terms of “simply being able to do so much” which is the dream of any LD!

The MegaPointes were dotted all over the five upstage / downstage orientated touring truss ‘fingers’ which gave the whole stage look an aura of architectural elegance and were joined by 21 x Robe BMFL WashBeams being used for primary key light, about which Shap is equally as enthusiastic!

“BMFL WashBeam is an epic great wash light! The framing shutters are fantastic, and when hung on a downstage truss with the zoom rolled right out, they bring an incredible depth to the picture. The intensity fall off is very limited along the BMFL zoom and it blends very naturally, producing that unique even wash right across the stage.”

This is “by far” Shap’s best go-to downstage truss wash light. For the “Icy” tour he used the BMFL WashBeams constantly in this context, as well as for specials, reiterating the usefulness of that ‘deep zoom’ effect as a creative treatment, really making the artists ‘pop’ out onstage.
Eight BMFL FollowSpots with integral cameras were another critical element of this light show. They are “amazing” declares Shap. He thinks RoboSpot is even more so because different quantities and types of Robe fixtures can be hooked into a RoboSpot and remote controlled, so he can have follow spots all over the rig covering all angles.

For “Icy”, the RoboSpots were running fixtures positioned in three different areas – upstage right and left, and the front – keeping the focus on lead singer Tyler Joseph from three different perspectives. Six of the BMFL FollowSpots were on the two downstage trusses with two more on the end of the most upstage truss.

Shap also drafted 36 x Spikies into the floor package, chosen for their minuscule size, brightness and 360-degree rotation. Twenty were deployed along the top of the low onstage video wall, and the rest dotted around the two ‘cry decks’ interspersed with a battery of cryo jets and confetti canons. “A great little light with plenty of punch, a good zoom, a prism, the flower effect, fabulous color mixing and super-fast … all in one very compact unit” he commented.

Shap admits to being “picky” generally about fixtures, and all these Robe luminaires have made different but significant impressions on him and his designs.
The “Icy” arena show design was also based on being able to clone fixtures quickly and painlessly for the international festival section of the tour where they headlined numerous European festivals including the Friday night main stage at Colours of Ostrava in the Czech Republic.

The striking upstage / downstage orientated trusses and double decker stage design offered plenty of three – dimensionality, especially when juxtaposed with the LED screens which were also part of Shap’s overall scenic design.
Bespoke show video content was created by Chris Schoenman, and the live camera / IMAG director was Adam Peck.

Shap has worked with Twenty One Pilots for nearly 10 years and enjoys the challenges of working with an artist like Tyler Joseph who has enormous vision and perspective about how the live shows and his music should be presented. He is also extremely tech savvy. “He knows BMFLs, MegaPointes, Spikies, etc., the differences between all of them, and their potential for use in the show” says Shap, “Above all, he knows what he wants.”
He also respects the expertise, knowledge, and creativity of his team, so Shap also gets plenty of latitude to evolve a design and bring different elements to the table for each project.

The “Icy” tour gave Shap the chance to add a lot of pyro and other SFX to the show – smoke, flames, confetti, cryo jets, snow cannons, industry bubble machines, sonic booms, all of which was “huge fun” he declares with a massive smile, in addition to using his favorite Robe moving lights, all of which helped transform the show and up the visuality.

Some very cool combined lighting and SFX cues involving bubbles and gobos etc., especially during seminal numbers like “Chlorine” and “Heathens”, all help shift the mood, giving each song it’s unique aura, narrative, and emotional connection with the audience.

Keeping everything flowing smoothly on the “Icy”road was production manager Rodney Johnson. Lighting, video and rigging equipment was supplied by Solotech, audio by Clair, SFX by Image SFX and automation / staging by SGPS.

For more info about Robe, you can visit the Robe Lighting website

LD Systems is proud to present the new Dave G4X Series. 10 years after the release of the Dave G3, the Dave G4X propose new standards in the field of active 2.1 PA systems for DJs, live groups, solo entertainers, or parties.
Available in four sizes and performance classes from the particularly compact Dave 10 G4X to the Dave 18 G4X, which features a powerful 18” subwoofer, the Dave G4X Series impresses across the board with its modern range of functions and a professional acoustic design in a variety of applications.

Dave, a name that, at LD Systems, stands for active 2.1 PA systems that bring everything DJs and musicians need: a powerful and universally applicable sound, sophisticated features, and compact dimensions. With the Dave G4X Series, LD Systems is now ushering in the revolution, having extensively redeveloped the extremely popular PA systems from the ground up.
The models available are the Dave 10 G4X (2 x double 4” satellites + 10” subwoofer, 680 W), the Dave 12 G4X (2 x 6.5” satellites + 12” subwoofer, 1,460 W), the Dave 15 G4X (2 x 8” satellites + 15” subwoofer, 2,060 W), and the Dave 18 G4X (2 x 8” satellites + 18” subwoofer, 4,000 W).

All of the Dave G4X versions now feature an integrated 6-channel mixer with all of the important input options for a wide variety of setups consisting of microphones, instruments, line-level signals and auxiliary players wired and wireless, thanks to integrated Bluetooth for easy streaming via a smartphone or tablet. The mixer’s first two channels are designed as channel strips, allowing for the optional connection of a microphone, a high-impedance instrument guitar and/or bass, for example and line level sources.

Stereo line inputs 3 + 4 are suitable for keyboards, synthesizers, drum machines, or small e-drum kits. Making the Dave G4X Series even more versatile is the digital SPDIF stereo input, and the Bluetooth connectivity. This way, the setup can be expanded with a media player, computer or smartphone to play backing tracks, sound effects, intermission music, or to use the Dave G4X as a karaoke system.

In addition to the enhanced functionality, LD Systems has redesigned and developed the Dave G4X Series from the ground up. This benefits not only instruments and music, but also speech intelligibility when the PA is used for speech reinforcement. The acoustic concepts include new compression drivers and waveguides for homogeneous and directional dispersion, as well as FIR filters and state-of-the-art DSP technology for transparent, colouration-free sound. In addition, the subwoofer has been equipped with a larger voice coil and an optimised bass reflex system to reduce ventilation noise to a minimum.

The Dave G4X Series is a compact all-round PA for use on the road and wins fans wherever it goes with its robust housing design (including polyurea coating) in all configurations. Last but not least, the selectable mode presets for classic stereo use or a setup with two closely spaced satellites on a T-stand above the subwoofer contribute to this, the Dave G4X convinces sonically in all configurations. This latter preset, for example, allows for the interference-free clustering of two satellites through a special M/S division and reproduction of the stereo signal for more headroom and directivity.

LD Systems has also thought of all common applications when it comes to accessories. The range extends from custom-fit bags to a roller board and the aforementioned T-stand. A pole mount stand and a wall mount for the satellites are also available especially for the Dave 10 G4X sound system.

The three bigger models of the series Dave 12 G4X, 15 G4X and 18 G4X are available now. The Dave 10 G4X model will be available from the beginning of 2023.

More information:

ld-systems.com/dave-g4x-series
adamhall.com
blog.adamhall.com

Emily Resort is a premium multifunctional complex offering a wide choice of recreational facilities, including a 166-room hotel, a wellness and spa area, and a medical centre and all-season pistes for skiing. Close to the historic centre of Lviv with picturesque views of the Vynnykivs’ke Lake, the flagship of the venue’s extensive list of offerings is the Emily Event Hall.

Emily Event Hall’s audio system comprises left and right arrays of L-Acoustics K3 per side, with KS28 subs under the stage. Two left / right arrays of A10 Focus and an A10 Wide provide delay coverage.

It’s the largest concert hall in Western Ukraine, featuring the country’s most complex permanent 3D mapping projection weaved into the venue’s undulating indoor mesh wall, as well as the country’s first L-Acoustics K3 audio system, installed by L-Acoustics official distributor for Ukraine and Moldova, RealMusic.

The 1,500m² event space has everything necessary to host world-class events, including a large stage with high-quality sound and lighting equipment, a well-organised backstage, a bar, catering facilities, and a vast interactive video wall.
When K3, L-Acoustics’ smallest full-range line source system became available, Emily Event Hall was the first venue in Ukraine to purchase the new system, which perfectly aligned with the requirement to deliver powerful sound for mid-size events.

Explaining their decision-making process, Denys Rynskyi, curator of the Emily Event Hall project, says their approach was thoughtful and responsible right from the start. “We took many technical riders into account, consulted with artists’ sound engineers, and studied the experiences of some of the best concert venues in the world. After this extensive research, we had no doubt about the best system for our venue – it had to be L-Acoustics!”

Volodymyr Golovan

“This is truly a landmark project for Ukraine, one which will be very difficult to match in terms of its level of technical equipment,” says Volodymyr Golovan, head of the pro-audio and system integrations department at RealMusic.
“The key requirement from the client was very straightforward yet challenging: ‘Emily Event Hall needs to be equipped with the highest quality and most rider-friendly sound system available on the market,” Volodymyr continues.
After looking at different solutions from L-Acoustics, his team recommended K3 because of its compact size and versatility. “The new K3 perfectly aligned with the client’s requirements.”

One of the K3 hangs. The three upper cabinets are set to 70° but the lower are wide open at 110°.

The final design comprises left and right hangs of six K3 per side. Using L-Acoustics Soundvision software, RealMusic’s integration team set the horizontal angle of the three upper K3 cabinets to 70° with Panflex, helping to reduce unnecessary reflections from the side walls and increasing the long-throw ability of the arrays.

The three lower K3 cabinets are set at 110°, ensuring wider coverage of the venue centre. Two A15 Wide, also set at 110°, are deployed as a centre hang, with six KS28 subs ensuring solid coverage in the low-frequency range. Two left / right hangs of two A10 Focus and one A10 Wide provide delay coverage.

The entire system is powered by four LA12X and one LA4X amplified controller, a P1 Processor is responsible for speaker management, and an LS10 is used as an AVB switch.

Pavlo Mineiev, an L-Acoustics certified system designer at RealMusic, echoes Golovan’s thoughts on the suitability of K3 for the venue: “L-Acoustics K3 line array is the best solution for Emily Event Hall. The system is incredibly versatile and can accommodate anything from art exhibitions to conferences, presentations, and live music events.”

Mineiev adds that, unlike competitor solutions, K3 is built on 12-inch loudspeakers and a powerful four-inch driver, so it is a genuinely full-range array with the world-renowned sound signature of the flagship K1 and K2.

“For a five-star venue like Emily Resort, it was very important to have a highly flexible and reliable system that offers redundancy,” he concludes. “The matrix processor and M1 measurement platform allow for up to three guest mixing consoles simultaneously, and connections via AVB with full analogue redundancy ensure smooth and uninterrupted operation.
Following the installation, earlier this year, both the RealMusic team and the technical team at Emily Event Hall are delighted with the system and can’t wait to fully unveil the power L-Acoustics sound to visitors!”

Since February, Emily Resort has remained open, from the very beginning of the Russian invasion hosting refugees and providing support to those in need. Emily Event Hall is hosting charity concerts and helping to collect funds to support the Ukrainian effort.

More on RealMusic and L-Acoustics K3, visit the Real Music website and the L-Acoustics website

Christopher Bauder, founder and creative director of WHITEvoid GmbH, Berlin collaborated with musician and composer, Strahil Velchev, of KINK to produce a spectacular and truly original art installation of light and sound at the NOOR Riyadh Festival 2022 in November.

Named AXION, the temporary large-scale light art piece is inspired by a hypothetical elementary particle which, if it exists, might be a component of dark matter which cosmologists believe makes up 95% of the universe. The dark matter theory describes how the universe went from a smooth initial state to the uneven distribution of galaxies and their clusters we see today.

Such an ambitious work called for a light with a big personality to achieve the necessary impact the design required, and Bauder chose 80 Ayrton Cobra fixtures, supplied by Kaiser Showtechnik of Augsberg, Germany, to define the parameters of his visuals and project its presence far into the air, making it visible for miles around. We asked Bauder how he achieved this stunning piece of art.

Ayrton: What was the idea behind your concept with regards to the lighting?

Bauder: “With AXION we explore the ultimate horizon: Outer Space. With its grid like array of light tubes and mile-long sky-lights the installation resembles a giant scientific device for space exploration, particle detection or interstellar communication. But once you step inside it is a reflection on the potential of axions, dark matter and the idea of the unknown.

“Within the installation we have 3 layers of lights that allow a totally different experience of the piece depending on the visitors’ proximity. The core of the installation is made up of 360 LED tubes arranged in the shape of an inverted pyramid which the visitors can lay underneath and experience up close.
The next layer of lights is rigged on an 18m high pyramidal truss that carries the LED pyramid and which illuminate the space beneath the truss and 32 mirror balls above the roof of the pyramid. This layer can be explored and experienced by walking inside and outside the truss pyramid.

“The last and final layer is a 40m square arrangement of 76 Cobra fixtures on the ground, plus an additional 4 Cobra lights positioned on the top of the pyramid. This makes the whole installation visible from miles away and extends the light art installation to superhuman scale when seen from the outside. When stepping inside the array of Cobras it feels like stepping into a cathedral constructed of lights!”

Ayrton: How did you come to choose Cobra to realise it?

Bauder: “It was not an option to use indoor lights with protective domes for optical reasons, and also because it was too problematic to keep them clean and transparent in the extremely dusty environment of the desert location. So only completely encapsulated IP65-rated moving lights were an option for this extremely harsh environment.

“We tested different outdoor IP65 moving lights for beam strength, beam uniformity and sharpness, consistency and colour rendering. We were also looking for lights that had a straight, virtually endless beam without a visible convergence point, and with a laser-like appearance from afar.
At the same time, we wanted the light to provide the usual beam reducers, gobos and a nice smooth colour mixing. This was especially important, since we wanted to use very subtle pastel colour schemes with soft, almost invisible, transitions inside large arrays of parallel beams.

In the end the Cobra was, by far, the most convincing light for the job, and we were excited to see how well it performed over the 4-week course of installation and exhibition. It needed an absolute minimum of maintenance and was extremely precise in its positioning and colour rendering.”

Ayrton: What features did you find most useful?

Bauder: “To be honest, we almost exclusively used the solid, sharp, thick and yet super parallel beam to realize the extremely geometric architectural sky constructions of the light show. Otherwise we just used a rotating hole gobo for the disco balls, which produced a fantastic reflection effect in the desert sand over many hundreds of meters, and a small slit gobo with variable focus and a clever roll animation for pixel-mapping effects on the ground.”

Ayrton: Did Cobra fulfil all your expectations?

Bauder: “Cobra far surpassed our initial expectations! We were not sure about beam visibility especially when standing close to the source or parallel to the beam, and because the strong, continuous desert winds made it impossible to produce artificial haze. Instead we were solely reliant on the sheer light output, beam volume and edge sharpness of the Cobra for visibility in the dusty environment.

“This worked out great and people could see the beams from miles away when approaching the installation. Also, an unforeseen bonus was that the beams ended abruptly above the lower layers of the dusty desert air. This created the interesting effect of beams that end with a sharp cut – something not possible in our hemisphere or even inside a city or inside a location. All this combined contributed to the unique arrangement and light experience of AXION.”

Christopher Bauder is an artist working in the fields of light and installation art, media art and live AV performance. He focuses on the translation of bits and bytes into objects and environments, and vice versa. Space, object, sound, light and interaction are the key elements of his work.

NOOR Riyadh 2022 ran from 3-17 November 2022. Images and video can be viewed at www.whitevoid.com/axion/

More information on Ayrton Cobra and its full range of laser-sourced and LED lighting fixtures can be found at www.ayrton.eu

Today, ETC launched a new family of multi-venue fixtures. Building on the popular ColorSource line that is lighting schools, houses of worship, hotels, and theme parks around the world, ETC announced ColorSource V. This trio of fixtures includes ColorSource Spot V, ColorSource Fresnel V, and ColorSource Spot VXT.

The V in ColorSource V hints at the five-color array of red, green, blue, indigo, and lime. This combination of emitters makes it possible to produce the softest pastels and bold, punchy colors from the same fixture. In addition to the array, all ColorSource V fixtures include Multiverse® wireless DMX/RDM, NFC for remote fixture configuration when used in collaboration with ETC’s free Set Light app, and increased brightness from the past ColorSource line.

ColorSource Spot V is shipping now and takes the place of the previous ColorSource Spot luminaire. Just like with Spot, ColorSource Spot V uses the same lens tubes, barrels, and accessories as ETC’s other spot fixtures, including the iconic Source Four incandescent fixture. If you have ETC’s CYC or Fresnel adapters in your inventory, Spot V works with those as well.

ColorSource Fresnel V delivers the technology of ETC’s premier Desire Fresnel fixture at an accessible price point. Incorporating a true microFresnel lens and motorized 14-46 degree zoom control from both the back of the fixture, or a control channel on your console, Fresnel V is truly a workhorse fixture for every theatre. ColorSource Fresnel V is expected to begin shipping in January of 2023.

ColorSource Spot VXT is the outdoor fixture you’ve been waiting for. With impressive brightness, and the same color mixing technology as the other ColorSource fixtures, this IP65 rated fixture brings the drama to your outdoor spaces. The same wireless feature set streamlines set up and configuration, but the best part is, VXT also utilizes the same lens tubes, barrels, and accessories as your other ETC spot fixtures. We will be begin taking orders for ColorSource Spot VXT in early 2023 and it is scheduled to begin shipping in late spring 2023.

For more information on ColorSource V fixtures at the links below:

etcconnect.com/Products/Entertainment-Fixtures/
etcconnect.com/Products/Entertainment-Fixtures/ColorSource-Spot-V/Features.aspx
etcconnect.com/Products/Entertainment-Fixtures/ColorSource-Fresnel-V/Features.aspx
etcconnect.com/Products/Entertainment-Fixtures/ColorSource-Spot-VXT/Features.aspx

Felix Seidel stages atmospheric show in ancient theatre with impression X4 Bar 20. Israeli singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Asaf Avidan recently marked a special end to his tour, named after the album of the same name, Anagnorisis. The ancient theatre, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, at the foot of the Acropolis rock in Athens provided a great setting to bring the tour to a memorable conclusion.

LD Felix Seidel created the lighting design for a tour that started back in spring 2022. But production was enlarged especially for the concert at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, and included 27 GLP impression X4 Bars.

“Asaf Avidan’s shows are very emotional,” notes Seidel. “He works a lot with different moods and I support him by picking these up in the light. That’s why I often use still images or simple highlights, intense colours and subtle but effective changes. I would describe the show as minimalist, but impressively beautiful.”

A number of adjustments to the lighting design were required for this final concert. A backdrop made of a special material had initially been a key element of the design, but in the Odeon of Herodes Atticus it made sense to use the ancient amphitheatre as a background.

“However, since we were missing some lamp positions above the stage in this scenario, I worked with aisle ladders that were equipped with six spots on each side,” continues Seidel. “The 27 impression X4 Bar 20 were also added as part of the redesign. I spoke to Asaf about the idea of creating ‘curtains’ of light that would open, close and move. He loved the idea and ended up even interacting with those effects during the show.

“The X4 Bar is a product that no longer has to prove itself, as it has long been the industry standard. It is loved and used extensively by many designers.
The colours, zoom range and output make an effortless impact even in an open-air location such as this.”
The impression X4 Bars were beamed to the musicians’ positions on the floor and also formed a continuous line behind the risers.

“Used in this way, in addition to the aforementioned effects, I was also able to create very beautiful ‘floors of light’, which gave the impression that the musicians were literally standing in a ‘sea of light’. That complemented some of the songs wonderfully, and resulted in some great looks,” he adds.

“Asaf’s shows are always moving, emotional and impressive. The band and he interact a good deal on stage, creating a beautifully intimate atmosphere,” the designer concludes.

For more info, you can visit the GLP website

Martin Professional continues to grow their dynamic lighting team with the appointment of Sean O’Callaghan as Installed Lighting Consultant Relationship Manager, EMEA.

With over twenty years’ experience of specification lighting sales, Sean has a strong track record in delivering projects in locations as diverse as Dubai Creek Harbour, Kuwait Tennis Courts, Oxford Street Projections, SAKS 5th Avenue & The Peak Hong Kong to name a few.

Having started his career with HID products in exterior applications, Sean was increasingly drawn to working on projects that created themes with light, noting his love of the range, challenges and uniqueness associated with these projects. Along with the pleasure of seeing them in operation over the years.

Sean adds, “I am thrilled to be working with the Martin Professional team. The passion that I have for lighting is really echoed throughout the team. Martin is the natural fit for my interests and skills.”

Ben Payne, Director of Lighting for EMEA says, “Sean brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge. Martin has really exciting times ahead. In the creation of Sean’s role, we are expanding a dynamic and passionate team. We are delighted to welcome Sean on board”

Thanks to the French AV technology specialists Manganelli, another French horse racing course has installed a NEXO sound system, this time at the famous Hippodrome Deauville-La-Touques located in Deauville in the Calvados department, in the Normandy region.

The P8 and P10 under the roof.

The system designed using NEXO’s NS-1 configuration and prediction software consists of 10 x NEXO P8 point source speakers covering the stands and a similar number the larger P10 cabinets addressing the lawned areas in front of the stand up to the edge of the track.

Cabinets and mounting brackets are finished in a custom paint colour to match the underside of the roof, allowing the system to blend in seamlessly with the design of the stand.

François Gazagnes

“There are a number of reasons why we choose NEXO P+ Series for Deauville” reports Manganelli CEO François Gazagnes. “First, we needed an IP54-rated speaker that can withstand the weather in an exposed coastal location.

Then, the variable horn directivity gave us the 100° X 100° HF coverage we needed for the bleachers and 110° X 60° for the track.

Finally, the speakers fitted perfectly into the design of the stand and were very easy to install, thanks to the quality and versatility of the mounting hardware.

“In the end, we achieved an optimal and uniform coverage of the space thanks to the power, frequency range and directivity of the P+ Series speakers, along with excellent intelligibility.”

Thierry Migeon

Commenting on behalf of the course operators France Galop, Operational Direction of Races Head of Technical Design Office Thierry Migeon says “I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Manganelli and NEXO teams for the quality of work and the quality of sound. We are really satisfied with the result.”

For further information on Manganelli AV solutions, visit the Manganelli website

For further information on Nexo P-Series, visit the Nexo website

Following on from the success of Zonda 9 in April, Ayrton launch Zonda 3 Wash and Zonda 3 FX as part of Ayrton’s Multi Sources 3 Series. Designed specifically for stage lighting, Zonda 3 is an incredibly compact, versatile luminaire with unlimited potential.

Ayrton launches Zonda 3 Wash (on the left) and Zonda 3 FX (on the right), the smaller siblings of Zonda 9.

Packed with amazing effects it can switch from beam to wash easily. Its speed of movement and reduced dimensions increase its dynamic potential, while its compact size makes Zonda 3 easy to use in compositions with curtains or matrices.

Fitted with seven high-performance 40W LED sources with RGB+W, Zonda 3’s proprietary optical system is made up of a unique 170mm mono-block cluster in PMMA, which enhances beam coherence, and seven glass light guides with an output surface composed of an optical micro-structure.
A 50mm truncated transmitting lens with optical surface equivalent to that of a 70mm round lens enables Zonda 3 to deliver a high intensity beam with a zoom ratio of 14:1 and a wide zoom range of 4° to 56°. This LED/optical system combination is capable of producing a light output of 5,200 lumens and a perfectly homogeneous mixture of pastel and saturated colours, regardless of the colour combination chosen.

Watch the video presentation here:

AYRTON – Zonda 3 – Presentation from Ayrton on Vimeo.

Zonda 3 Wash

Like its bigger brother Zonda 3 Wash is designed to cover an entire live entertainment stage. Its additive colour synthesis can reproduce precise, intense and deep colours, while the careful colour mixing of the sources allows for perfect colour reproduction. The use of a special black honeycomb and perfect separation of the light sources helps to significantly boost the level of contrast.
A complete library of pre-programmed colours, created in collaboration with lighting designers, is instantly accessible. A ventilation system, exclusively designed for this luminaire, ensures Zonda 3 Wash is as discreet as it is silent.

Zonda 3 FX

ZONDA 3 FX is a creative, versatile and feature-rich luminaire that borrows from the main attributes of the Wash version. It offers continuous rotation of the pan and tilt movement I.R.S.TM. while individual control of each LED allows the creation of 3D volumetric effects. Perfect separation between the light sources helps to significantly boost the level of contrast and visual perception of multiple beams.

This luminaire is equipped with a high-definition Liquid EffectTM located between its main lenses, which can generate complex graphic effects. It can be used alone or in combination with the main LED matrix. The library of effects in Zonda 3 FX provides a huge source of inspiration.
Both Zonda 3 Wash and Zonda 3 FX have a new optimised cooling system, simplified lens guidance systems, and an ever smarter design of the internal structure which have made it possible to reduce the size and weight of the luminaires considerably in keeping with Ayrton’s Slim-21™ system.

For full technical specifications and to view the new Zonda 3 Wash and Zonda 3 FX videos, visit www.ayrton.eu

The city of Birmingham, UK, hosted the first PoliNations event, a vibrant ‘urban oasis’ installation work that took over Victoria Square with 40ft-high sculpted archi-cultural trees and thousands of varieties of plants crafted into a setting that hosted a diversity of live events.
The forest celebrated the colour, existential beauty, delicacy, and adaptability of horticultural life, telling stories of different species and their global journeys, movement and transformations, a great metaphor for the energy and symbiosis that cultural diversity brings to any society.

Photo PoliNations

Lighting designer Matt Daw was already onboard with the project when Hampshire-based lighting rental company Liteup won a competitive tender issued by creative production company Trigger Collective under the artistic direction of Angie Bual and Carl Robertshaw to illuminate the project.

Matt specified 160 x Astera wireless LED fixtures to assist in this massive task, including 117 x PixelBricks, 8 x AX9 PowerPARs and 35 x AX10 SpotMAXs. PoliNations was commissioned via the ‘UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK’ initiative to produce as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival, staged as the city celebrated hosting a very successful Commonwealth Games event. It was presented to the public over 17 days with the support of Birmingham City Council.

Photo PoliNations

Astera is an “obvious” choice from many angles, explained Liteup’s project manager Marc Callaghan, adding that – obviously – all the lighting had to be as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible.
They also needed robust reliable products with bright high-quality outputs that would work outdoors over the 17 event days plus the build period. The small size and efficiency of all these Astera products was ideal for Matt’s lighting scheme, especially the PixelBricks which were used to illuminate the pathways criss-crossing the forest.

His starting point for lighting PoliNations was the 30-minute ‘Sunset shift’ sequence, an all-encompassing daily sonic and visual experience which played out at dusk. He broke this down into five ‘chapters’, the Golden Hour, the Blue Hour, Forest Floor Awakens, Mycorrhizal Communication and After Dark, each illustrating the forest coming to life after dark, as the foliage and the assorted creatures living within it energise.

PixelBricks were positioned all around the installation so the light skimmed the pathways. Their small size meant the lightsource could be easily concealed and ensconced in the forest foliage with only the light streaking across the ground visible!

photo Matt Daw

photo Matt Daw

They also played a functional role in providing essential light for the public to walk safely through the installation. “These compact fixtures offered me a lot of options and look great,” enthused Matt. Liteup has invested heavily in Astera in recent years, however this project fully cleared them out of PixelBricks admitted Marc!

Some of the Astera AX9s and AX10s were used as longer-range wash lighting for the trees from the outside, in conjunction with 28 moving lights with gobos that textured the tops and trunks, and the trees were also internally lit with bespoke LED fixtures to add depth and dimension to the structures at night.

The balance of the AX9s and AX10s were utilised as mobile lights that could be deployed wherever there was a need for a performance or an intervention happening in the forest. This enabled participating artists to respond spontaneously to the space and where the public were gathering. Obviously, a wireless option for this was essential, and the AX9s and 10s proved easy to set up and ‘go’.

Astera AX9 Power PARs

Astera AX10 SpotMAXs

Matt appreciates the colour mixing, the consistency and continuity of the Astera colours generally and the overall quality and richness of the light outputs. He uses Astera products on most of his shows now for their flexibility and “excellent” front and numerous lens options.
While the Astera units were one element of multiple lightsources Matt used to craft his light-art and help create the forest environment, they played a very fundamental role. All the lighting was programmed onto and run through a grandMA2 lighting console.

Matt found this project very exhilarating and fun, it made him think out of the box and work with a highly creative and imaginative team who gelled and made it happen.
A major challenge was competing against the substantial city centre ambience, and the other was in not overpowering the beauty and enchantment of the forest of plants with lighting! It had to be a perfect balance.
PoliNations Birmingham proved a success that engaged the community and generated lots of interest and positive feedback.

For more info about Astera, you can visit astera-led.com

Calling himself a ‘provoca(u)tore’ [an Italian portmanteau for ‘provoking author’] for being regularly criticized over his choice of lifestyle and the lyrics in his songs, Vasco Rossi is a world-class rock legend who is known for selling 225,173 tickets, the highest number ever to a single show, in his home region of Modena in 2017.

After the huge success of his last stadium tour, VASCO NON STOP LIVE 019, Vasco has marked his return to the live stage with a true bang by playing 11 sold out concerts.
Supplied by Italian rental company, Agorà, DiGiCo consoles took up both the front of house and monitor positions, with Vasco’s long-time sound engineer, Andrea Corsellini, utilising a pair of Quantum 338s at FOH.

According to Corsellini, a high calibre artist like Vasco Rossi, renowned for his impressive live performances, must also maintain the highest level of production. For this tour, alongside the Quantum 338s, the set up included five DiGiCo SD-Racks on stage, two for monitors, two for the FoH and one for effects, all connected via an Optocore optical loop.

“In a show like this, redundancy is a ‘must’ and the use of Optocore guaranteed that reliability and, therefore, peace of mind,” explains Corsellini. “We had two Q338s in full mirror mode, so anything I do on one is directly mirrored on the other, so much so that during the evenings it didn’t matter which console I used.”

Andrea Corsellini

Corsellini notes the Quantum 338 offers flexibility and a feature-rich mixing experience. “Having many years of experience working with DiGiCo Quantum consoles, there are several interesting features I like on the Quantum 338.
The Spice Rack is undoubtedly one of those, the virtual processors have really narrowed the gap with outboard equipment,” he continues.

The trio of high brightness multitouch 17-inch screens was another key benefit Corsellini took full advantage of during the Vasco Live ‘022 tour.
“The sensitivity and brightness of the displays on Quantum 338s were perfect in all conditions, which is important when you spend hours and hours in the sun,” he says. “The surface is also intuitive and, like all DiGiCos, very user-friendly and simple to use.”

Using a total of 98 inputs, 24 stereo groups, 16 stereo aux and eight matrix inputs, Corsellini assigned a group of the band mix to a stereo output which was then assigned to a section of the L-Acoustics K Series system and a group output of the main vocal mix to another stereo output that was allocated to another section. “I squeezed every bit of juice out of these great consoles!” he says.

A change from previous tours was to reduce the amount outboard equipment to an absolute minimum. “This was a way of reducing the likelihood of issues,” says Corsellini. “Features such as the Spice Rack means we can do that, which is a great advantage.”

The two SD7’s mixing the monitors, one being the backup of the other.

With over a month of performances and more than 600,0000 fans enjoying one of Italy’s most famous and best-loved singers, Vasco Rossi’s tour came to an end. For Rossi, the tour offered another opportunity to deliver his renowned emotional performance.
For the ecstatic production team, after a two year long hiatus, it was an opportunity to help deliver the performance of the ‘lifetime’ to Rossi’s live entertainment starved fans.

“It was gratifying beyond words to see all those thousands of people gathered under the same roof and enjoying live performance once again; their excitement was palpable,” concludes Corsellini. “I really happy with the technical flow of the shows, and the performance of Quantum 338 was flawless!”

More information on the Digico website