The ultra-modern La Balise is a superbly versatile venue, located on the western coast between Nantes and La Rochelle. It can be configured in three different ways: offering 1600 capacity in an all-standing set-up, or 800 capacity in a mixed seating/standing arrangement.
All-seated, the capacity is 625. Co-funded by local government and private money, it is expected to be an important entertainment attraction for the surrounding area and its tourist trade.

A view of the room from the top of the retractable bleachers.

18 months ago, the audio installation project was referred to NEXO by the contractor B-Live (formerly Melpomen Nantes), and the Engineering Support department created the L/R system design using the new GEO M12 line array modules, paired with GEO MSUB18 subbass cabinets (6x M12 + 2x MSUB18 in each cluster). NEXO’s new P+ Series point source cabinets were chosen for frontfill, infill and stage monitors.

Post-lockdown restrictions, B-Live’s team, managed by Samuel Birais, completed the installation, and NEXO’s François Deffarges went along to Saint Hilaire de Riez to tune and commission the system.

B-Live’s Sam Birais

François Deffarges

“B-Live has a very skilled team which has done beautiful, clean work,” says Deffarges. “To tune the system, we worked with two configurations; first with the seating stands in place, and then with them retracted, giving standing capacity of 1600.
Amazingly, the average response of the GEO M12 line array was nearly identical for both configurations, despite the vibrating and absorption factors presented by the seating stands.”

The stage right M12 system and its two MSUB18 seen from the sidewalk overlooking the stage.

For its diverse and varied calendar of events, La Balise needed a local rental partner, and this will be long-time NEXO supplier, LR-Evénement, which will manage sound engineering and operation. The venue has already purchased a mini mobile system of ID24 point source with L15 sub and NXAMP, and will turn to LR-Evénement for additional rental equipment as needed.
According to Maxime Drouillard, Technical Director of La Balise, the prospect of a partnership with LR-Evénement was a deciding factor in the choice of NEXO as the main system, along with recommendations from well-known engineers.

D’autres informations :

– The Nexo website
– The B Live Group
– The LR Evenement

Since 1843, the House of Krug has explored new ways to enrich the tasting experience.
While Music has always been at its heart, the current endeavor was spurred by recent research further affirming the impact of hearing on taste, including the work carried out by Charles Spence and Janice Qian Wang of Oxford University’s Cross-modal Research Laboratory. This led the House to push the boundaries of immersive tastings through its collaboration with the IRCAM.

The tasting area where the wines from the 10 plots of Krug will now be assembled in an immersive way.

A challenge from the house of Krug

To envelop guests into the Maison expertise in the art of blending, the Krug team including former Krug Cellar Master and Deputy Director Éric Lebel and Alice Tétienne, a member of the winemaking team challenged the IRCAM researchers to use the powers of sound to convey the unique profiles of the different base wines that compose Krug Grande Cuvée.
It is through daily tastings of these still wines that the Krug Tasting Committee can make decisions about the final blend but this process does not lend itself to a tasting with guests as it can be quite technical.

The question was: How can one translate the base wine tasting experience in a universal language?

An approach by sound design

One of the wonderfully « dressed » PMX 4.

At the STMS (Sciences et Technologies de la Musique et du Son), a laboratory founded in 1995 and hosted at the IRCAM campus in Paris, the association of CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Ministère de la Culture, and Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique / Musique Including teams from the Perception and Sound Design Department, as well as Acoustic and Cognitive Spaces Dept worked together on the project to bring sound into the process of tasting Krug’s base wines.

After a brainstorming session between Krug’s craftsmen and the sound experts, they suggested linking sound properties to correlating tasting notes, thus creating a sonic environment able to offer a multisensory experience in the new Family House in Reims.
This approach allowed them to translate each unique wine into a unique soundscape based on its flavor profile.

Composer Roque Rivas was approached to create the ten soundscapes, representing ten sub-regions within Champagne that are represented in the final blend of Krug Grande Cuvée. The soundscapes reveal the most striking attributes of the wines, enabling participants to “taste” the sound.

An association of complementary expertise

A tailor-made immersive sound system was designed by IRCAM, in collaboration with the Amadeus company French manufacturer of high-end sound reinforcement loudspeakers, studio monitors, and signal processing interfaces to create a more fluid listening experience and to get the tasting and sound experiences to blend into a single experience.

Krug speakers with the K, symbol of the Champagne brand, or how beautiful can rhyme with good sound.

To design and realize this immersive tasting salon, IRCAM also collaborated with international architecture and interior agency AW2.
By joining forces, they were able to create a unique and innovative sound space. A one-of-a-kind sound system was designed specifically for the room, made of two electroacoustic setups.

The first is frontal and seamlessly integrated into the ‘Wall of 400 Wines’ that depicts the different wines auditioned each year to create a new Édition of Krug Grande Cuvée. It has 18 Amadeus PMX 4 coaxial speakers, spread regularly on three levels, along a 9-meter width.

The second system, more immersive, is situated above the guests. It is composed of 8 speakers integrated into the ceiling plus 6 speakers developed specifically for Krug and surface-mounted on the walls, supplemented with two low-frequency speakers. Each of the 34 speakers in the system is amplified and can be controlled and processed independently.

Sound contents for this unique system are created and played with SPAT, IRCAM’s sound spatialization software. The frontal matrix included in the ‘400 Wines’ front wall offers creators and sound designers new spatialization possibilities vertically and allows them to create very ‘graphical’ sound scenes. Associated with the immersive system, it gives the sound system a rich vocabulary to create a parallel soundscape for the tasting experience.

The COR-TEN steel speakers

Concurrently, an electro-acoustic development project was initiated, matching the technical needs of IRCAM and the aesthetic demands of the House of Krug. It resulted in a unique speaker system, produced in six pieces specifically designed by AW2 and engineered by Amadeus.

The “rust” finish or how to enhance the tailor-made.

These unique speakers are made of COR-TEN steel, cut and then laser welded. Their rust finish results from the rapid oxidation of the material, stopped by a chemical process, then ‘fixed’ with a transparent matt varnish.
As a genuine aesthetical, technical, and acoustical challenge, the development of these speakers was managed by designer Stéphanie Ledoux, associated with AW2 cabinet and Michel Deluc, Amadeus’ R&D Manager.

Each bespoke speaker hosts a long-excursion coaxial transducer with a frequency response down to 60 Hz. Each transducer is hidden behind a laser-machined front panel with a ‘K’ logo, symbol of the Maison Krug.

Two speakers dedicated to low frequencies were developed as well, they are the Amadeus ML 12 K. They are equipped with a 12-inch (30cm) boomer drivers hidden behind a ‘grid’ directly machined in wood, with vertical thin lines or ‘blades’, alternating matter and empty space.

To find out more about the Wall of 400 Wines and this immersive tasting experience, visit the Krug website

In the past, guests to the municipality of Sveta Ana in northeastern Slovenia typically only came to visit the old parish church – the starting point of a famous pilgrim’s path.

All that changed in October 2019, however, when the tranquil little town opened up a new attraction for EDM fans: Club Rezidenca.
Not quite as peaceful as the pilgrim’s path, the Rezidenca’s two dance floors feature an extensive range of Cameo spotlights installed by the systems integrator ozvocen.si.

The team led by the managing director of Ozvocen.si, Tomaž Bačun used AURO SPOT 200 LED moving heads and MOVO BEAM Z100 beam moving heads to create the lighting effects on the main floor.

Several TS60 RGBW spots on the front truss provide the base colors mixed with FLAT PRO 7 XS Quad-LED PAR spotlights as the backlights.

The 12 TRIBAR 400 IR LED bars also play a key role in the lighting design: They bring the dance floor to life with dynamic color effects right above the heads of the club’s guests.

A FLASH BAR 150 equipped in each truss corner lifts the space up even further with strobe and blinder effects.

No club would be complete without lasers. The Cameo LUKE 700 RGB show laser takes on this important task in Club Rezidenca.

In addition to the main floor, the Rezidenca also has a second stage, whose low ceilings give the club a hot underground feel.
The compact MOVO BEAM Z100s, with their sharply focused beams, really play to their strengths here.
The MOVOs are paired with the equally compact HYDRABEAM 1000 RGBW beam moving heads. UV BAR 200 IR UV LED bars and the TRIBAR 400 IR create atmosphere and bring out the stairs and steps.

“For Club Rezidenca, we needed compact yet powerful lighting technology that both our customer and we can always count on,” explains Tomaž Bačun from Ozvocen.si.
“Ziga Krajnc from Adam Hall (Sales Representative Slovenia and Croatia) provided us with excellent support. Cameo is a young, innovative, and rapidly growing lighting brand that’s always surprising us with new approaches. We’re already looking forward to future projects!“

Further information:

– The facebook Disko klub Rezidenca
– The Ozvocen website
– The Cameo light website
– The Adam hall website
– The Adam hall blog
– The Adam hall Event Tech website

The famous Palais des Papes in Avignon, France came alive bathed in a vibrant collage of colours, shapes, and textures thanks to 12 x Robe ESPRITE moving lights which were part of a design by LD Fabien Chamakoff for the 2020 Helios Festival.

@Terry Di Isernia

Launched in 2017, the event highlights with silent projection / visual works and light art pieces Avignon’s stunning architecture and rich, diverse heritage as the ‘City of Catholic Popes’ between 1309 and 1377. It remained under Papal rule until 1791 when it became part of France. The Palais des Papes (Pope’s Palace) is one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in the whole of Europe.
For Fabien who works for the Helios Festival organisation it was a great honour to illuminate the intricate and imposing architecture, one of seven key sites lit up this year.

@Terry Di Isernia

The 10-minute Palais des Papes lightshow ran for 5 weeks from 25th July to 30th August. With no soundtrack, Fabien’s idea was to focus on a 60 metre wide x 40 metre high section of the building, so passers-by could appreciate the work of renowned French architects, Pierre Peysson and Jean de Louvres, plus the lavish ornamentation of Simone Martini and Matteo Giovanetti, ace students from the School of Siena in Italy.

@Terry Di Isernia

Initially, Fabien had wanted to use Robe’s BMFL fixtures apart from being a product with which he’s very familiar, he wanted the intensity and multifunctionality. However, he realised that there was not enough power available at the site to run these, and they didn’t want to shatter the silence and reverence of the environment by having a generator!

@Terry Di Isernia

He spoke to Chateaurenard based lighting rental company Fox, who worked closely with the Festival’s technical producers ARTCOM Diffusion to supply equipment, and asked if they could suggest an LED alternative … and so the ESPRITE profile entered the frame!
Having not used Robe ESPRITES before, Fabien needed to know that they had the required brightness, so a demo was set up at Fox’s warehouse instigated by Robe France’s Terry Di Isernia.

Fabien was amazed by the ESPRITE’s power, its 5.5 – 50-degree zoom, framing shutters, sharpness and all the available effects, commenting that all this would be “more than enough” for what he needed. Using ESPRITES also enabled him to enhance the aesthetics and style of his lighting work.
Together with Fox’s MD Eric Lambertin, they asked if Terry would join the team as lighting programmer and operator for the project due to his experience and intimate knowledge of the fixtures, and Terry was delighted to oblige.

@Terry Di Isernia

The 12 x Esprite were the only lightsources for the Palais des Papes and were rigged on two levels to a special tower positioned 40 metres from the building and clad in weatherised material to protect the lights.
The Esprite easily covered the surface area with a diverse range of colours, patterns and effects from fluid movement sequences to playful ‘trick-of-the’ eye optical surprises.

After the initial programming sessions on site, Fabien was really pleased with the results and declared that the ESPRITE was “the most precise” moving light that he had worked with to date. One of his biggest WOW moments of the installation was when Terry fired up the lights for the first time, opening the 12 fixtures at 100 per cent zoom on the side of the Palais des Papes!

Fabien’s lighting creations via his company Lumiere Vivante are often set in urban environments with high levels of ambient light surrounding, hence the predilection to work with BMFLs. He generally thinks that Robe fixtures are powerful with high quality output and therefore ideal for light art installations and illuminating large spaces, places, and surfaces.

The ESPRITE tower at the Palais des Papes was so well hidden, that initially people thought the lights were appearing from some kind of magical source! And … the quality of the gobo projections were so precise and accurate that some believed it to be a video show rather than lights!

@Terry Di Isernia

The 2020 Helios Festival was a big hit with the public generating lots of interest and also hugely well received by the media. It was a very positive reason in these times of Covid-19 for people to enjoy summer evenings outdoors marvelling at the pop-up artworks and being able to see and appreciate areas around their city in new, different and stimulating ways.

For more product and general info, check the Robe website and on SoundLightUp with the Test of the Esprite

London’s iconic Southbank Centre has stood proudly on the south bank of the river Thames for nearly 70 years. A celebration of progress and modernity, Europe’s largest arts venue was built in 1951 for the Festival of Britain and, under normal circumstances, stages over 2000 performances of music, dance and literature a year, and more than 2000 free events.

Like all arts venues, the Southbank Centre is not immune to the economic and cultural upheaval caused by COVID-19 but, prior to lockdown, the Southbank Centre had, over the past two years, made a long-term commitment to LED performance lighting, with complete moving head installations in the fixed rigs of three of its performance spaces: the 2700-seat Royal Festival Hall, 916-seat Queen Elizabeth Hall and the 295-seat Pur-cell Room.

As part of this drive towards LED, the team at the Southbank Centre invested in Ayrton Ghibli and Diablo profile fixtures, supplied to the Southbank Centre by White Light, which bring a new uniformity and quality to its moving head inventory.

Ayrton Ghibli

“We made an initial purchase of 16 Ghibli profiles 6 for the Royal Festival Hall and 10 for the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the beginning of 2018 when the Southbank Centre reopened after its major two-year refurbishment,” says Roger Hennigan, Technical Manager of the Southbank Centre.
“We were so happy with them that we invested in an additional 10 Ghibli at the end of 2019 for the Royal Festival Hall. All of our moving lights are now LED as a result.

“We chose Ghibli after a shootout between 3 or 4 major manufacturers to find a new workhorse LED unit that would replace our 12-year old tungsten and discharge moving heads.
We thought we’d already decided on an alternative product, but when we saw Ghibli we were so impressed we changed our minds. Ghibli’s brightness, number of features, quietness and price were outstanding!

“Our programme at the Southbank Centre is incredibly varied and demanding: we run many contemporary gigs each week as well as regular annual events like the Jazz Festival and Meltdown Festival when the fixtures are heavily used every day for ten days at a time. Ghibli’s range of features give us the flexibility we need and are unique in offering a second gobo wheel which gives us so much more variety of breakups and patterns – ideal for our rock and roll, fast-turnaround shows.

Senior technician, Cressy Klaces, agrees with Hennigan: “The Ghiblis are easy to use, have good colours and great colour mixing, and the dimmer curve is just brilliant. They are extremely diverse tools you can do so many interesting things with them in a way that was not possible with the other contenders in the shootout.

The shutters are superb there are very few times when I can’t position them precisely where I want and the rotating gobos interact amazingly with the animation wheel. The animation wheel brings great subtlety and adds texture and depth I’ve been able to create beautiful water effects with them with an almost imperceptible, slightly shifting ripple that works beautifully on the dark floor of the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

“The Ghiblis are ideal for us as they can go from a rock concert to a kid’s concert to a dance show to theatre with ease. They have a very good quality of light and a zoom which covers all our needs. It’s a good concert light that can also do theatre, and I really love them. I’d be very happy if someone gave me a load of those to tour with because I’d have all the tools in one package.”

Ayrton Diablo

In addition to the Ghibli investment, 6 Ayrton Diablo were purchased for Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room. “Diablo is like a smaller version of the Ghibli with all the features,” says Klaces.
“Other than the lack of the second gobo wheel, they are just as versatile as Ghibli, and so bright we are considering moving them to the Queen Elizabeth Hall. It is such a compact unit, it is perfect for any studio like the Purcell Room – they are so strong a fixture they could handle either space easily.”

“I’ve been utterly and thoroughly impressed with the reliability of the new Ayrton lights,” concludes Hennigan. Like many venues, the Southbank Centre is currently closed but continues to prepare for a future with the latest, most versatile equipment, and plans to reopen in the Spring of 2021.

Ayrton Ghibli is a 23,000 lumen, 600W LED profile with a beam range of 7°-56°. The first Ayrton spot luminaire with a 100% framing system, Ghibli is packed full of features for unlimited creative possibilities without any compromise on quality or output.

Ayrton Diablo is a 19,000 lumen, 300W little brother to Ghibli. With a 7°-53° beam range and a full set of features, it can almost rival its bigger sibling toe to toe!

For more information on Ayrton Ghibli and Diablo, and its full range of LED lighting fix-tures, visit the Ayrton website

When Canadian country star Brett Kissel announced the first of what would become eight sold-out Live at the Drive-In shows in Edmonton, AB on June 13th and 14th, 2020, drive-in concerts were basically the wild west of what live productions might look like during the COVID-19 pandemic. But even in these unprecedented circumstances, Adamson Systems Engineering has never backed down from a shootout.

For the four shows on each day, 180 vehicles spaced several feet apart filled the parking lot of the River Cree Resort & Casino. By tuning into 89.5 FM, fans heard the live feed from FOH through their car stereos and were invited to honk, wave, and even hang out of windows and sunroofs while staying in their vehicles through the hour-long performance.

Brett Kissel on stage. Instead of hanging PA, welcome more fixtures !

Kissel had full reign over the stage with a big extension while each band member was surrounded by Plexiglas partitions. That part may have been strange for the performers, but it wasn’t the most unusual aspect for the wider crew.

“The biggest difference for us on the technical side is that there was no PA,” begins Colin Moore of CJM Productions, Kissel’s production designer and lighting director. Kissel and his band typically rely solely on IEMs for monitoring; however, the absence of a PA meant an absence of onstage energy and impact compared to a typical show.
“When I was first talking with Joel [Bird, FOH] and James [Bundy, monitors] about the shows, it was, ‘If the band’s not into it, Brett’s not into it, and if Brett’s not into it, the crowd’s not into it,’” Moore recalls.

“So what could we do as a crew to support our family onstage so they’d feel as connected and energetic as they normally would?”
The solution was to not only deploy stage monitors in this case, a complement of Adamson’s M15 wedges but also sidefill stacks comprised of two Adamson S10n narrow-dispersion two-way, full range sub-compact enclosures atop two complementary S119 subs on each side of the stage.
Two of the wedges were loaded beneath the grated floor of the thrust to ensure Kissel got a bit of a punch to the chest when he was closest to the crowd, helping to build some of that crucial reciprocal energy.

Stage right sides, S119 subs and S10n…

“Brett usually wants to hear everything,” Bird takes over. “He wants to hear the audience, he wants to hear the room, he wants to hear the PA… Being able to incorporate some Adamson array elements and a few subs just filled everything in and made everybody feel at home onstage.”

The self powered two-way, full-range intelligent loudspeaker CS7p.

To reference his mix, Bird relied on a pair of Adamson’s new CS7p intelligent point-source ultra-compact loudspeakers with built-in DSP and processing from the newly-launched CS-Series, along with a trusted pair of headphones for isolation.
“It was like mixing through a PA,” Bird notes about the CS7ps. “They just sound so good I pretty much left them raw and was really happy with the output and outcome; I didn’t have to do much to get something really pleasing and effective.”

“At the end of the day, we found doing these shows – especially with the scale and everything we put into them provided a lot of hope for the music industry, whether that’s the artists or the crew, the rental companies, the trucking companies, all the way to the fans,” Moore shares in closing. “It was like, ‘We’ll call this a pretty good appetizer for now until we can get to the main course.’”

More on the Adamson website

Driven by a passion for delivering engaging storytelling and producing compelling videos for its clients, Essay Video has recently announced the opening of its brand-new virtual studio located in Norwalk, Connecticut.
The premium virtual facility is equipped with the latest in LED technology, including top-quality Brompton Technology 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors, empowering Essay’s customers to realise their creative projects and create complex, interactive and mixed reality presentations.

“With the global pandemic, we had clients who had to pivot from live events and turn to virtual solutions,” explains Essay Video Founder & CEO, Greg Fellows. “Our newly built virtual studio gives them a safe and healthy environment to make their creative projects a reality. We have multiple offices for privacy and social distancing, and we’ve partnered with HBO and Intel over the last six months to fine tune and perfect our virtual meetings.
Whilst it’s not possible to hold a live show at the moment, clients can come and make the most of our virtual facility’s advanced technology, delivering the closest possible experience to a live event.”

“Essay Video’s virtual studio located in Norwalk, Connecticut.”

Though Essay’s new virtual studio has only been running just over two weeks, its state-of-the-art facilities have already attracted a number of high-calibre projects, including this year’s prestigious 13th annual Supima Cotton Design Competition, which will take place in September to align with New York Fashion Week. Following that, Supima will once again return to the full-service production company’s virtual space to deliver another fashion show, which will be simulcast during Paris Fashion Week.

“We are very excited about both projects and can’t wait to see them going live in our Norwalk studio,” says Fellows. “Our studio features some of the best-quality LED equipment, so we have no doubt that the virtual presentation, which will be broadcasted via Supima’s Instagram Live and will use a mix of pre-recorded and live video content, will be a success.”

The screens installed are high-performance, broadcast-grade ROE Black Pearl 2.8. The LED wall measures 52ft (15.8 metres) by 11.5ft ¾ inches (3.5 metres), and the ceiling comprises seven, 20 metre long by half-metre wide LED strips.
“The content that is being shown is very diverse; anything from corporate presentations to runway backgrounds, as well as simple and complex virtual backdrops,” continues Fellows.
“We are using Brompton’s Tessera S4 LED processor for the ceiling and two Tessera SX40s for the wall, connected with fibre to the Tessera XD 10G data distribution unit. We chose Brompton processing for its superior colour depth and ability to make fine adjustments to the LED screens in front of the camera.”

More and more companies choose virtual platforms to host their events, and Essay’s virtual studio is able to deliver both virtual and hybrid events with services including camera systems, operators, and staff. The team also offers remote camera packages that can be shipped to live-stream participants. Speaking about the response the team has received so far to their new virtual space Fellows can’t help but smile.

“The feedback to our virtual studio has been tremendous!” he concludes. “Everyone who has seen it has been excited about the endless creative possibilities it offers. Supima has been our biggest project so far and we have more investors in the pipeline also keen to use our studio for their projects.
“In the Post-Covid world, we believe virtual meetings will also be an integral part of getting industry leaders together when they don’t wish to travel. We chose Brompton because they always provide the highest quality products and fast reliable service for LED technology and LED processing needs.”

More information can at Brompton Technology website

Following a thorough panel review of numerous applications submitted by SoundGirls members, L-Acoustics is pleased to officially congratulate the three recipients of its 2020 SoundGirls Training Grants:
Carolina Antón was awarded the L-ISA Grant, Kim Watson the Advanced Grant, and Eluned “El” Ashwood the Starter Grant.

“We were overwhelmed by the interest and response that we received from the SoundGirls community regarding these training grants,” says Etienne Corteel, L-Acoustics Director of Education and Scientific Outreach, making the announcement.

L-ISA Grant recipient Carolina Antón of Mexico City

“In addition to supplying their CVs, each candidate submitted two essays on why they were applying for these grants and how they would benefit from them.
Although it was a challenge for the SoundGirls board to narrow down only three winners from such a well-qualified and deserving group, Carolina, Kim, and El all clearly demonstrated their drive and zeal for audio excellence and are, in our eyes, inspiring champions for diversity in this industry.”

Carolina Antón of Mexico City has been named as the L-ISA Grant recipient, and will participate in a three-day L-ISA training curriculum covering one of two available tracks: System, for systems engineers, or Mixing, for mix engineers.
Serving as an FOH and/or monitor engineer on more than 20 tours for artists including Kool & The Gang, Gloria Gaynor, Natalia Lafourcade, MexFutura, Mon Laferte, and Leon Larregui, Antón has passion and experience creating immersive live mixes and system designs.

Advanced Grant recipient and Newcastle UK-based Kim Watson (photo Christopher L. Proctor)

As a system tech, monitor engineer and FOH engineer for two decades, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK-based Kim Watson is the recipient of the Advanced Grant and will complete the manufacturer’s Level 2 Variable Curvature Line Source (VCLS) and Loudspeaker System Calibration (LSC) modules.
Having toured as a monitor engineer for The Subways and system fly tech for Blondie, Watson previously completed four modules from the Level 1 course to prepare her for Level 2 training as she progresses toward earning the K Systems Engineer (KSE) designation, following additional field work.

Starter Grant recipient El Ashwood of Manchester, UK.

Recently completing the L-Acoustics Systems Fundamentals online session in July as part of her Starter Grant, Eluned Ashwood of Manchester, UK will soon finish up the Level 1 course and earn the official status of Systems Technician (ST) after attending her choice of two K Series modules (K1, K2, Kara, Kiva II).
Ashwood’s resumé includes a broad range of festival tech gigs with SSE Audio Group and Wigwam Acoustics, numerous A2 roles at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, and stage/PA tech work for Lionel Richie’s UK tour.

“We are so excited to be working with L-Acoustics, recognized as one of the leaders in concert sound, to provide these grants to our members,” shares SoundGirls Co-Founder Karrie Keyes. “L-Acoustics is dedicated to innovation and design excellence and now a leader in helping to diversify the industry.”

“It’s been our privilege to partner with the SoundGirls community by creating this annual grant program and taking an active step in helping fulfill their mission of educating and empowering women in audio,” Corteel adds in closing.
“We’re proud of what each of our three new L-Acoustics family members have already accomplished so far, and we look forward to celebrating their achievements as they continue to make names for themselves in this wonderfully evolving business.”

SoundGirls can be found online at SoundGirls website

And more details on L-Acoustics training

ETC has presented Source 4WRD Color as the latest addition to the Source 4WRD fixture family. This new product offers a color-changing retrofit for existing full-size Source Four ellipsoidal/profile fixtures, bringing additive RGBA color-mixing, saturated washes, quick color changes and much more to Source Four.

As a non-destructive retrofit, Source 4WRD Color is the next generation of ETC’s Source 4WRD LED line. Source Four ellipsoidal / profile fixtures can be transformed into RGBA LED luminaires with the Source 4WRD Color LED engine, while retaining all of the features of the Source Four including the lenses, accessories and its renowned reliability.

Source 4WRD Color technology is also available in two complete wash light fixtures. The Source 4WRD Color PAR and PARNel deliver soft-edges and saturated color, no retrofit required. These luminaires incorporate the Source 4WRD Color LED engine into a custom housing, offering economical color washes, including zoom on the PARNel version.

As well as producing a homogenized beam and around 5000 lumens, all versions of the S4WRD Color features 12 built-in presets and 5 sequences in stand-alone mode.
With the addition of FixtureLink, Source 4WRD Color is compatible with cable-connected fixtures (using the DMX port) including ColorSource, Source Four LED, and Desire; allowing you to trigger presets and sequences without a console.

A video presentation

David Lincecum, Vice President of Marketing at ETC comments: “With Source 4WRD Color, you get a simple and cost-effective color-changing retrofit that can upgrade an existing lighting system quickly, allowing you to create even more stage looks than before. 4WRD Color will allow venues to move their existing equipment to LED, using less energy, lower maintenance and all this at a very compelling price point.”

Find out more via the ETC website

June 2021 the new meeting for ISE. After a period of consultation with the industry and the impact of the ongoing pandemic, Integrated Systems Events announce that ISE, scheduled for 2-5 February, has been postponed and will now take place in June, dates tbc, alongside a virtual offering.

Additionally, ISE will launch RISE Digital, a regular programme of content and networking events which will run throughout the year and support the live show.

Today, Integrated Systems Events released the following statement:

We’ve been monitoring the conditions in Europe since the beginning of this year and have worked hard on your behalf to balance health and safety concerns with the need for commerce and F2F interaction. These two factors have had shifting weight throughout the calendar year and although we’ve felt confident and hopeful regarding delivering this show in February, we’ve come to the conclusion that the best option for all of us is to delay the show edition until June 2021.

“The health and safety of our team, exhibiting companies, industry partners and attendees is our number one priority,” said Mike Blackman, Managing Director, Integrated Systems Events. “Given the understandable concerns among all of our stakeholders regarding coronavirus, and the uncertainty regarding travel restrictions and country lockdowns, we have concluded it is not prudent to maintain our original schedule of an in-person February 2021 trade show.”
“From our many conversations, it is clear the industry can’t wait to get back together doing business face to face and we are committed to delivering an engaging and safe in-person ISE in 2021. We feel by moving the event to June, it provides time for the industry to adapt and restore balance. We look forward to hosting the global AV community in our new home in Barcelona.”

Fira de Barcelona Chairman, Pau Relat, comments: “From Fira de Barcelona we highly value ISE’s strong commitment to Barcelona and, in moments as complex as the current ones, the decision to postpone the event for a few months in order to ensure the best possible edition with the largest international participation of companies and visitors, will be very positive both for attendees and for the city. We will keep on working together to ensure that a leading event such as the ISE has a great first edition in its new home in Barcelona in 2021.”

David Labuskes, CEO, AVIXA commented: “AVIXA is proud to be a partner with CEDIA in delivering ISE to the audiovisual industry each year. We full support ISE’s decision to postpone the first show in Barcelona until June 2021. This isn’t a trivial undertaking and has thousands of moving parts, but in making this decision, ISE reaffirms their commitment to the health of all those who participate in these events from the taxi cab driver to the exhibitor teams. And all of those same people will be even more committed to be a part of the extravaganza that ISE promises to be.”

Tabatha O’Connor, CEO, CEDIA added: “We are eager to gather as a community once again at ISE 2021, the decision to postpone was made after careful and thorough consideration. We know moving the show to June will provide the time and resource needed to ensure the show is both safe to attend and can deliver on the exceptional experience that ISE is known for, fostering opportunities to learn, discover, and be inspired by the technology that is driving our industry forward.”

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our stakeholders, exhibitors, sponsors, visitors, media partners, contractors, and the team at FIRA Barcelona for continuing to support us through this uncertain and ever-changing situation.

Lastly, we wish you and your family all stay safe and well in these challenging times.
The Team at Integrated Systems Events

COLOSSAL is a lively, dynamic, and inventive street theatre and performing arts company based in Wellington, New Zealand, founded by three highly creative individuals, brothers Zane and Degge Jarvie and Imogen Stone, with backgrounds in circus, architecture, and design.
Over the last three years, COLOSSAL has started working light in various different forms into their pieces which have become popular at light festivals, a path that’s highlighted their passion for detail and innovation combined with fun and audience connection that lies at the heart of all their performance concepts.

Photo Courtesy COLOSSAL

For the 2019 HighLight Carnival of Lights in Lower Hutt, the company purchased eight Astera Titan Tubes specifically to provide a solution for their invigorating “Metronomes” installation. Since then, they have found numerous ways to integrate the highly practical and portable Asteras into other ideas and activities.

Developed for a large scale audience, “Metronomes” was based on the themes of space and time, and juggling these in a massive physical work for which they needed lights to be rigged to the end of eight 4-metre metal tube metronomes.
These were counterbalanced via pivoting axels and mounted in square steel bases ballasted and secured that, once manipulated manually, swung back and forth juggling the two dimensions and establishing a sense of rhythm.
When it came to finding an appropriate light source, they wanted something bright with beautiful colours and, obviously, anything with cables was completely out … explained Zane.

The light source had to be light and strong enough to be attached to the end of the metal poles with their weight balanced correctly through the axel allowing the motion to create an inertia as Zane and Degge triggered the swinging manually, juggling them into different patterns.

Photo Courtesy COLOSSAL

Degge had first encountered Asteras while researching for a video project, and he approached Astera’s Australian and New Zealand distributor – ULA Group, for more details and a demo after which they made the investment.
“They were a perfect solution,” says Zane, “completely wireless, reliable, with a long and controllable battery life and lightweight enough to be used as the moving parts we wanted.”

The Astera App allowed colours and patterns to change and shift fluidly with the pace and rhythm of the motions for a more exciting and fully choreographed show adjustable live and in real-time to respond to the juggling of the swinging metronomes.
Each single juggling performance lasted 8 minutes and these took place back-to-back during a three-hour window each night of the festival, which was a big hit with the public.

Zane’s favourite feature of the Titan Tubes is “just how adaptable and how quick and easy they are to use,” and he was also impressed by the “outstanding” customer service received from ULA Group team.
Since this initial project, they have used them for several other works, most recently during their Covid-19 lockdown for lighting their streaming studio whilst performing a series of interactive live shows.

With the lockdown and social distancing now lifted in New Zealand applauded as one of the most effective coronavirus responses worldwide COLOSSAL is now working on new shows and content.

For more info on Astera LED, please check the Astera website

Jakarta International Expo is a private enterprise, owned by the Murdaya family, and from the outset the theatre’s managing director, Prajna Murdaya, was committed to achieving the highest level of excellence in all technical aspects of the project, including audio and acoustics.

“The venue was originally specified to be just a theatre, but I saw the potential to make it also serve as Indonesia’s largest concert hall,” says Murdaya. “When I heard about Constellation and its worldwide base of existing high-profile installations, that became a key factor in deciding to go ahead and offer it here as well.”

Prior to his final decision, Murdaya had auditioned a Constellation system at the Singapore International School. “I was floored by the drastic difference it made, both onstage and in the audience,” he recalls. “A music teacher was singing an art song, starting with Constellation on. They turned it off in the middle, and her face showed bewilderment. The effect was dramatic — and hilarious!”

One of the self-powered MM-4XP.

Of course, for Yo-Yo Ma’s concert, his first in Indonesia, the Constellation system remained on throughout, adding reverberant depth and richness by extending the theatre’s RT60 baseline physical acoustic from 1.2 seconds to 2.2 seconds.
The extraordinary flexibility of Constellation allowed the theatre’s technical manager, Bayu Wicaksana, to customize the response, adding warmth and sensitivity specifically optimized for the renowned cellist’s instrument.
Ma’s emotional rendition of six suites for cello by Johann Sebastian Bach drew extended standing ovations from the audience.

A total of 285 small, self-powered loudspeakers (MM-4XP™ miniature and UP 4XP™ full range plus UMS-1XP™ subwoofers) are deployed throughout the auditorium to create natural acoustical environments uniformly throughout the large space. The sophisticated processing is handled by Meyer Sound’s multi-module D-Mitri® Digital Audio Platform, with 51 microphones distributed overhead for sensing the ambient acoustics.

If you look closely you will notice a mic hanging from the ceiling (top center of the shot) and three MM-4XP speakers behind the seats (one is illuminated by a fixture).

For events requiring amplification, the JIExpo Theatre provides a direct reinforcement system anchored by LEOPARD line array loudspeakers, with arrays of 12 per side to cover the first two levels and an additional set of four per side for the uppermost level.
Convincing yet controlled deep bass is supplied by a cardioid configuration of five 1100-LFC™ low-frequency control elements flown over center stage.

Center channel loudspeakers are UPQ-1P, with UPJ-1P™ loudspeakers as side fills and UPM-1P™ loudspeakers for front fills as well as under and over balcony fills. The system can be used with Constellation off, or with subtle acoustical enhancements added for a variety of pop, rock, jazz and musical theatre performances.

The powered UPJ-1P fixed under the balcony and the Leopard stage right hang.

“Using Constellation lets us ‘wrap’ the PA sound into the room for the best effect,” notes Technical Manager Wicaksana. “Working together, these two systems are setting a new and higher standard for theatres and performing arts centres in Indonesia.”

D-Mitri, the very heart, brain and muscles behind Constellation, but above all a powerful network-based digital audio processing and distribution platform that can be configured for a variety of functions in sound reinforcement, show design, and system control.

Although open for only a few months before events were suspended by the pandemic, JIExpo Theatre was rapidly gaining a reputation as the premier event location, not only for arts performances, but also for educational events and political gatherings. Managing Director Murdaya attributes the early success in part to the venue’s innovative application of the newest sound technologies.

“The Meyer Sound team was very responsive in meeting our requests,” he notes. “Their team was great to work with, and I could tell they have a passion for taking on very innovative projects. Vendors usually balk at unusual requests, but Meyer seems to get excited by them.”

A UMS-1XP subwoofer. Two 10’’ to help the Constellation MM-4XP and UP 4XP™ during their journey to the lows.

Other key contributors in the design phase were theatre consultants Philip Soden and WSDG acoustic consultants. The Meyer Sound contingent was led by Constellation Project Director John Pellowe with design and tuning of the direct reinforcement system supervised by Director of System Optimization Bob McCarthy.

JIExpo Theatre boasts one of the largest stages in Asia, measuring 48 m wide by 16 m deep and expanding up to 21 m deep following renovations with the orchestra pit covered.
The theatre is the latest addition to the larger exposition complex, first opened in 2010. JIExpo also offers 100,000 square meters of exhibition and convention space, incorporating five exhibition halls along with ballrooms, meeting rooms and support operations.

More on the Meyer Sound website

Swedish full production and rental company Soundstar, based in Skövde, invested in some of Robe’s MegaPointes and Spiiders at the end of last year as they needed lighting fixtures with “more punch” than their rental stock at the time.
The company normally delivers audio, lighting, video, rigging, and has an OB-truck, for the full complete technical solution, and is working on a wide selection of corporate and industrial events and conferences. It was founded in 1991 by Per Larsson initially as a DJ service company and has steadily grown into a solidly well-respected production house.

“We wanted fixtures weighing around 25kg for easy handling by one person,” explained Soundstar’s Daniel Wiklund. They looked at various brands “and felt that Robe had a bigger advantage in weight and output, and they are also multi-purpose luminaires!”

Soundstar’s owner, Per Larsson.

They completed several projects with the new Robe lights before the Covid-19 lockdown including two big conferences for Volvo Cars, and a 40-year celebration event for Swedish home improvement store JULA which included a couple of thousand employees from around the world. Both these events were at Skovde Arena.

The Robes were also on a 60th birthday event for Benders, Sweden’s biggest roof tile manufacturer, hosted at one of the company’s facilities in Uddevalla, and another project was the Sweden Game Conference, a forum for games developers, experts and start-ups, etc., also staged at Skovde Arena with an international audience.

Since then, naturally everything has changed! And while Sweden took a different approach to its lockdown in going for ‘herd immunity’, like everywhere else in the world, large scale events also came to a standstill. Since this time, Soundstar has produced some internet / web shows and other stream-based events utilising their OB-truck and their Robe fixtures.

When not busy with these activities, Per, Daniel, and the team have been extending their warehouse and offices into a 500 square metre purpose-designed space which should be ready for the winter if everything goes to plan!

Soundstar first bought Robe products around 2002 – when Robe initially launched as a brand – with some 250 Wash XTs and 575 Wash XTs for rental stock, and early on they also installed Robe MS Zoom 250 XT compact moving heads and the then-popular Spot 250 XTs and DJ scan 250 XTs.
More recently it was the proactive work of Robe’s Swedish distributor Bellalite that convinced them the newest technologies being produced by the Czech-based manufacturer were better than the competition! “So, we gave it a shot and have not regretted it at all!” concludes Daniel. “Robe is very reliable, and we appreciate the awesome after-sales support.”

During the lockdown, Daniel states that their biggest challenge has been to survive ”mentally” in terms of thinking about and imagining how the industry might be after the pandemic, together with real practical concerns about how long it will last and how exactly the event industry might recover and get back on its feet. All unknown questions causing plenty of anxiety and consternation right now.

What Daniel misses most is “Standing behind a lighting console on a BIG live event or live concert, hearing the production-manager in my intercom saying ‘3, 2, 1, GO!!!’ and then the roaring crowd!”
Hopefully, we are starting to see small signs of hope that some of this live event activity will be safely possible to resume in the medium-term future.

For more info, check the Robe website

New York City’s El Museo del Barrio’s multipurpose theatre has added a Robert Juliat Topaze followspot to its rejuvenated lighting rig during its extensive renovation.
4Wall was the lighting integrator for El Teatro which was meticulously restored in 2018 and reopened early in 2019.

© David Joseph, Courtesy of Katz Architecture

Originally called The Heckscher Children’s Theater, El Teatro was built in 1921 and boasts a Landmark-Quality interior with a remarkable series of 30-foot murals and stained-glass roundels. It was the original home of the Joseph Papp New York Shakespeare Festival.
The theatre seats approximately 600 and is a venue for museum-hosted performances and rental events.

The restoration included an upgrade to the theatre’s lighting plot, which included Robert Juliat’s Topaze, an economical yet full-featured followspot with a 1200 W MSD source.

The fixture’s long lamp life and low running costs make it a powerful, cost-effective solution for mid-size theatres and shows.

Among its features are a fully closing iris cassette, universal adjustable gobo holder, frost filter, individually removable colour frame, colour changer and easy focus reference.

“The Topaze is mounted in the projector booth above the balcony and shoots through glass to the stage,” explains Mark Mainolfi, Technical and Production Coordinator for El Museo del Barrio. “We’re impressed by the reach and ease of Topaze. It also offers control parameters for focus, frost and iris.”

Most recently the museum used the Topaze to highlight dancers during a performance by The Manhattan Ballet School. “The lighting director was pretty impressed by this state-of-the-art spot,” Mainolfi recalls. “He appreciated the ability to quickly switch between multiple gel frames at once for precise colour matching and correction.”

© David Joseph, Courtesy of Katz Architecture

Topaze also was used for the return of the 1983 musical about African-American singer Doris Troy, “Mama, I Want to Sing!” The show made its debut at The Heckscher Children’s Theater and has toured worldwide for decades. The musical came back to El Teatro to mark its 35th anniversary late last autumn.
At El Teatro, Erica Vargas is the Director of Operations. Dan Snyder is Assistant Project Director at 4Wall.

For more details on Robert Juliat’s Topaze followspot and others in the extensive followspot family, as well as Robert Juliat’s full portfolio of LED, tungsten and discharge lighting fixtures, visit the Robert Juliat website

Robert Juliat is distributed exclusively in North America by ACT Lighting, Inc. For more information, visit the ACT Lighting website

For the third year running, Brompton Technology has been ranked in the Sunday Times Sage Tech Track 100.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 league table ranks Britain’s 100 private tech (TMT) companies with the fastest-growing sales over the last three years.

This year’s special Covid-19 edition highlights the important contribution that technology companies have made to the UK during the pandemic, from supporting the NHS to enabling remote working.

The current situation has had far reaching effects on the entertainment and corporate events industry, but Brompton has continued to work closely with its customers, supporting them in the development of new initiatives, such as the use of LED screens to provide virtual backdrops for TV and film production in studio rather than on location.

– For more information about the Sunday Times Sage Tech Track 100

– And other information can be found at the Brompton technology website