10 years ago, HK Audio set the standard in scalable line systems for live applications with the ELEMENTS series. Since then, the ELEMENTS family has become a well-established worldwide standard with well over 100,000 units sold.
Different ways to use the brand new E 115 Sub D with his tops.
With the new ELEMENTS E 115 Sub D system subwoofer, HK Audio is now not only meeting customer demand for increased bass performance and smart, contemporary features such as networkability, software-based remote control and Plug’n’Play Cardioid functionality the powerful audio controlling also impressively improves the mid and high-range reproduction of existing ELEMENTS systems.
A view of the rear side of the new sub housing the digital controller & the amps and giving access to the local knobs and the Cat5 ports for a remote control.
Compared to the previous subwoofer models in the ELEMENTS series, the new 15″ high-performance woofer, together with the 1500-watt power amplifier, delivers noticeably greater sound pressure and an extended low frequency response. The new ELEMENTS E 115 Sub D now delivers a 900-watt power amplifier output to effortlessly drive up to three E 835 mid/high units.
The centerpiece of the new ELEMENTS E 115 Sub D system subwoofer is the integrated latest-generation digital controller. Compared to the previous analog filters, this allows extremely effective and detailed processing of the sound characteristics in both the bass and the mid-high frequency range. This can be heard particularly impressively with the well-established E 435 and E 835 mid/high units, which play at a whole new level in terms of frequency response, resolution and radiation when operated with the ELEMENTS E 115 Sub D.
The remote control software driving the DSP inside the E 115 Sub D. Here the powerful EQ.
The new high-performance controller also provides the basis for a range of modern, practical features. This includes full networking capability for several ELEMENTS stacks or even for LINEAR 7 speaker models. Using the HK Audio DSP CONTROL Software available for MacOS and Windows, even complex networks can be controlled conveniently and clearly from the FoH position. It allows you to adjust the volume of the system and the lines, as well as a fully parametric 10-band EQ, tunable high and low pass filters, delay times, limiters and other parameters.
And here the main view showing the preset, the levels and the status of the amps.
A further highlight is the efficient, simple-to-use Cardioid bass function. To use it, simply connect an HK Audio LINEAR SUB 1500 A to the Cardioid Out of the ELEMENTS E 115 Sub D. The result is a powerful focusing of the forward bass radiation with rear bass attenuation by app. 30 dB.
A power combo made of two E 115 Sub D and two E 835 mid/high units. The amplifier fitted inside the E 115 Sub D can drive up to three E 835.
Two 15” in cardioid mode to get the best rear attenuation and forward radiation.
Lars Reime
Lars Reime, Senior Product Manager at HK Audio, says: “The new HK Audio ELEMENTS E 115 Sub D not only stands out with its impressive bass experience, efficient Plug’n’Play Cardioid function, advanced networkability and professional controlling options. It also takes the mid and high-range reproduction of existing ELEMENTS systems to a whole new level, thus considerably boosting sustainability and value retention”.
The ELEMENTS E 115 Sub D will be available in stores from November.
– High-performance 15″ system subwoofer with 2400 watts total power (1500 watts for bass and 900 watts for up to 3 E 835 mid/high units) – Integrated, network controllable DSP with 4 presets and Plug’n’Play Cardioid Out – Full control over all functions, EQ, limiter, delay, presets etc. – HK Audio DSP CONTROL software for full compatibility with LINEAR 7, can be operated together with LINEAR 7 speakers in the same network. – Subwoofer can be expanded with the LINEAR SUB 1500 A, also as a Cardioid setup – Perfect expansion for existing ELEMENTS users thanks to compatibility with E 835/435 and the EP-1/2 and EF-45 accessories – Extremely simple handling: even a large Cardioid setup with two 15″ basses and three E835s can be transported in a station wagon and set up by a single person. – 5-year manufacturer warranty after registration here
Technical data:
– Max. SPL @ 10 % THD: 128 dB, 90 Hz, half space – Max. SPL Peak @ 10 % THD: 125 dB, 40 Hz – X-Over, half space – Frequency response +/-3 dB: 48 Hz – X-over – Frequency response -10 dB: 44 Hz – X-over – Power amplifier output Bass: 1,500 watts – Power amplifier output column: 900 watts – Amplifier type: Class D – Bass speaker: 1 x 15″ – Active x-over frequency: 160 Hz – Analog inputs: 1x XLR combo balanced – Analog Thru: 1x XLR balanced – Cardioid output: 1x XLR balanced – Network port: Ethercon RJ45, 1x In, 1x Thru – Filter presets: 1x E 835, 2x E 835, 3x E 835, Remote – Remote software: DSP CONTROL (Windows, MacOS) – DSP functions: Fully parametric 10-band EQ with variable filter characteristics, High-Pass Filter, Low-Pass Filter, Polarity, Level, Delay, Limiter, Mute – Sample rate: 96 kHz – System latency: 2.6 ms – Mains connection: 1x Powercon NAC3 In, 100–240 V – Speaker outputs: 1x E-Connect, 1x Speakon – Carrying handles: 2x MultiGrip – Housing: MDF – Finish: Water-based paint, black – Front grille: 2 mm metal grille backed with black acoustic foam – Dimensions (WxHxD): 48.5 x 48.5 x 59.5 cm – Weight: 29.6 kg
LD Chris Penso lights closing shows at Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City in spectacular fashion. A full complement of Elation luminaires gave a spectacular closing to Colombian singer Sebastián Yatra’s tour earlier this year in Mexico City, where he shared the stage with several artists, including Mexican singer Carlos Rivera.
Chris Penso, an experienced lighting designer who has worked with Latin stars such as Franco de Vita, Carlos Vives, Chayanne and Marc Anthony, was responsible for lighting Yatra’s tour. For two special performances at the renowned Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, the amount of lighting gear was enhanced and to spectacular effect.
At Penso’s disposal were 66 Chorus Line 16™ LED pixel bars, 36 Rayzor 760™ LED wash/beam lights, 34 Smarty Hybrid™ and 28 Smarty Max™ moving heads, 10 Fuze Wash Z350™ single source par moving heads, 24 ACL 360 Matrix™ LED moving head panels, 20 Protron 3K Color™ strobes and 12 DTW Blinder 700 IP™. Yatra worked with video engineer and content creator Williams Hincapie on the tour.
Penso commented about his lighting design: “The objective for this tour was to have a wide variety of textures, atmospheres and different sensations. Since Sebastian’s repertoire is very diverse, we wanted to be able to go from very aggressive and dynamic looks to very subtle and minimal scenes.”
The talented LD revealed his favorite Elation lights to be the Chorus Line 16, positioned above the LED screen in the center of the stage with others in musician platforms and on the stage proscenium; and the Rayzor 760, which were mounted in pairs on three parallel structures to project general washes or narrow beams thanks to its wide 5- to 77-degree zoom.
“The Chorus Line 16 were a vital tool for the show and offer an infinite range of scenic possibilities,” Penso said. “Whether as blinders, back light, for aerial and dynamic effects, or when used with the zoom closed, they create a truly striking visual effect. Few luminaries can be classified as effect, wash and blinder and these motorized bars are able to give a whole show by themselves. From generating a wall of light to creating RGB pixel mapping, while zooming in and out and applying a tilt effect, all at the same time… this is definitely the future.”
Penso says that he has always loved wash lights, a lighting staple that he describes as “very faithful.” He comments, “The Rayzor 760 is a fixture of incredible color accuracy with a very well-calibrated white that looks particularly different from anything on the market. Its seven lenses project light in a very particular way and its colors are brilliant and powerful.”
He says the luminaire’s unique SparkLED™ background sparkle effect adds another layer of elegance and versatility. “The unit looks incredible when using this effect no matter its orientation; it is perfect for TV cameras and backlight effects.” In the Yatra show, the Rayzor 760s provided solid color and ambiance for each song, as well as general stage lighting as side and backlights.
Vertical ladders and diagonal podiums on both sides of the LED screen housed the Smarty Hybrid luminaires from which both gobos and defined beams of light were projected, as well as wide washes of infinite color thanks to its Beam/Spot/Wash modes in conjunction with smooth CMY color mixing.
The Smarty Max hybrid moving heads were hung on two horizontal structures and used as side lights while at floor level Fuze Wash Z350 LED moving heads had the important role of supporting with fill light onto the musicians and Yatra himself. In a traditional look, DTW Blinder 700 IP fixtures were mounted on a front structure to light the audience and at times generate strobe effects.
Three circular arrangements of ACL 360 Matrix were an especially unique piece of design. These 5×5 RGB LED panels with motorized pan/tilt movement were placed facing down and during intimate moments of the show were used as the main light onto the singer. Finally, the Protron 3K Color RGBW LED strobes were distributed at the top of the entire assembly, both in the vertical grids and horizontal structures.
“The idea was to have a strobe that could light the entire area of the stage,” Penso states. “Being such a varied show in musical genres, we wanted to have the option of using a light as a general strobe but also as an intense color blinder. The Protron 3K Color are really powerful; rarely do you see a strobe with intense colors and with a real and solid white.”
Lastly, the LD expressed his satisfaction with the evolution that Elation luminaires have taken through the last few years and said he looks forward to working with new releases in the future. “Without a doubt, Elation is a brand that is here to stay. Not only does its equipment resist the rigors of installation and constant use but there is a very wide variety of fixtures with options for all types of venues, from discotheques to arenas and stadiums, and but above all, at a reasonable price.”
During a career that has seen him work on TV specials like European Commission’s Presidential Debate, and popular programs, including Dancing With The Stars Belgium and Liefde voor Muziek, Michiel Milbou has built a stellar reputation for his impeccable key lighting. However, in his recent project, Belgium’s version of The Masked Singer, Milbou got to depart from his usual concerns about getting the talent’s face lit “just right.” The result was an opulent outpouring of creativity and color.
Photo Picturesk
“There were no faces to light in this show, since everyone was wearing a mask,” said Milbou, the founder and owner of Never Fear Shadows. “That was very different, and in many ways a nice change, since it opened up many creative possibilities. It allowed us to go with colors that matched the masks without worrying about key lighting faces. So, if there was a character with blue mask, we could hit it with various blues, something we couldn’t do to a face. We used Follow-Me software to track the masked characters on stage so we could keep all kinds of different effects on them.”
Maverick-MK3
Providing the colorful light that enlivened the masks and famous costumes of contestants were 27 CHAUVET Professional Maverick MK3 Profiles, which, like the other fixtures in the rig, were supplied by Splendit. “We used the MK3 Profile as our front light,” said Milbou. “Its CMY + CTO color mixing and zoom ratio were helpful in giving us creative options.”
The interplay of colors on the masked characters’ faces was only one of the flourishes that Milbou and his team brought to their design for the global hit TV program. Prominently featured on the set were two large logo masks, the only requirement mandated by the international franchise for the Belgian show.
These masks took on a life of their own, thanks to some evocative projections mapped on their surface and a collection of ÉPIX Strip IP fixtures inside them. Milbou had 128 of the 1-meter LED strips in his rig, many of them were placed in the giant masks, with mirror foil behind them. Using the strips to create bright white light, he endowed the masks with a captivating glow that translated well on camera.
Epix Strip bars equipped with several types of diffusers.
“We had the ÉPIX Strips in tunnels inside the masks and had them glow against the mirror foil we placed behind them,” said Milbou. “The white glowing light played off against the LED screens that we had inside the masks. I am a really big fan of running these strips in white to accent everything around them. I also am a fan of controlling strips with DMX, so I can make much sharper effects. Throughout the program, we created different patterns of movement with the strips to reflect the various styles of music.”
Coordinating lighting and video with the styles of eight different masked performers during the eight episodes of the show without repeating looks was a major accomplishment by the creative team involved in The Masked Singer, according to Milbou.
Photo Picturesk
The different color combinations and accents he used to illuminated the masked performers and the patterns created with his ÉPIX Strips contributed to this achievement; so too did the variety of dramatic overhead looks he created with the 33 Maverick MK1 Hybrid fixtures positioned in a pyramid pattern on three rows over the center of the triangular stage.
In addition to creating a camera-pleasing geometric pattern with the stage, the arrangement of hybrid fixtures opened a variety of creative options for Milbou. Running the 440W units as both spot and wash fixtures, he would, at times, direct their light outward, evoking a celestial image, and then have them serve as down lights for another song. With each move, the hybrids were coordinated with the 10 Maverick MK3 Washes that served as sidelights, helping to ensure a continuous flow of fresh new looks.
Photo Picturesk
“All involved in this production took great pride in creating something original, said Miblou, who credits the success of this endeavor to his colleagues: executive producer Olivier Deprez, producer Stien Smets, director Maryse van den Wyngaert and set designer Koen Verbrugghe, as well as a “great lighting and video team.”
For Milbou, who began working on the show in early June, The Masked Singer was a welcome opportunity after the initial COVID-19 lockdown. “All of us on the team were very happy to see each other,” he said. Looking at the program when it aired, he expressed “great happiness” with the final results. Apparently, this sentiment was shared by many in Belgium, as this season of The Masked Singer was a ratings winner.
Having visited Les Gets during winter, finding the resort filled with meadows and flowers is rather bewildering yet, pandemic or not, people still manage to have fun hurtling down the slopes there even in the middle of August, but on bikes and disguised as ninja turtles.
The gate into Alta Lumina in broad daylight from the entrance, which is illuminated and heated in the winter for the people waiting to start up the route.
We arrive at the tourist office of the resort accompanied by Christian Crolle, Pro Audio Manager at Yamaha Music Europe, and the Business Manager for Yamaha, Pascal Bessenet. We are here to meet Chrystelle Felisaz, the press attaché of Les Gets, with whom we head off to the nearby pine grove, where the recently opened attraction designed by Moment Factory is located. Christian and Pascal are here because Moment Factory decided to equip Alta Lumina with speakers, amplifiers and matrices branded with the triple tuning fork, and to use the finesse of their unique sound.
This pile of pine needles and forest duff, more than a meter in diameter, is not detritus from the construction site, but rather an open-air anthill in the heart of Alta Lumina. After the photo we had to brush off our shoes and pants to avoid bringing ants back to the hotel!
On the site, you can see deep impressions in the tree trunks, caused by the previous use of this magnificent pine grove as a treetop adventure park. Thanks to the mounting system chosen by the miracle-working Québécois creator, this won’t happen at Alta Lumina. We opted for a daytime visit of the site to better understand how it all works; but of course we also took in the experience at night.
It is worth mentioning up front: apart from a few speakers, smoke machines and sparse lighting fixtures, this part of the forest has been particularly well preserved by Moment Factory including the anthill and it takes a rather expert eye to notice the conduits that hide the connections to the trees used as masts to support the “fixtures”, while the cabins that house the equipment are also well preserved. Built like real houses, they too blend into the décor.
The main chalet located at the entrance of the attraction and the only one inhabitable by anything other than equipment racks! It is mainly used as a shelter, office and storeroom.
On site, Emeric Dubois, the technical manager of Alta Lumina, conducts our tour with a rare friendliness. He is one of the four full-time technicians on the site, supported by four to five seasonal workers who welcome, guide and help the visitors. He opened all the doors for us and answered as many questions as possible. We would find him later that evening among the staff, assisting visitors here and there as they wandered between the seven zones, each with its own style of light, sound and personality.
Emeric responds willingly to our questions, the first of which causes him to laugh
Standing inside the gondola of the virtual protagonist of the attraction – where each night visitors can have their portraits automatically created – here are (from left to right) Emeric Dubois the technical manager of Alta Lumina, Chrystelle Felisaz the lovely press attaché from Les Gets, Pascal Bessenet, business manager for Yamaha, and Christian Crolle, Pro Audio manager at Yamaha Music Europe.
SLU : Could you show us the technical facilities and servers in the large chalet near the entrance?
Emeric Dubois : Gladly, but you will be disappointed. There is no studio, no technical room or large racks of servers. Everything for control and monitoring fits in an iPad and in a few mini servers running X-Agora, which are distributed in the cabins along the route.
SLU : Can you explain to us what X-Agora is?
Emeric Dubois : It’s Moment Factory’s proprietary software that was used to program and deliver the entire show – Dante, ArtNet and video media – on demand, and it also serves as a remote control using several dedicated tabs on our tablets.
So we set off to take a look at the cabins to see the technological details. A first, smaller structure is the exception that confirms the rule.
There is no roof or wood, only a hatch hidden by a camouflaged waterproof mesh. Air-conditioned and heated like the cabins, it houses the central hub, which includes the management of the fiber ring network that provides signal transport for all the elements of the show, as well as the remote controls, lighting controls, the surveillance cameras (there are 16 along the route), and the Yamaha amplification for the speaker enclosures of the same brand.
Well hidden, even in broad daylight, this structure is absolutely invisible during night operations. Built on a concrete slab, it’s doubtlessly durable. It replaces one of the cabins, as it has less equipment. The protrusion that can be discerned under the node is the air conditioning and heating unit.
Each of the cabins is supplied with a three-phase power supply. As for this simpler technical bay, Emeric tells us it is an antenna node and not in the fiber ring.
The rear side of the waterproof cabinet, with two Yamaha XMV4280 four-channel and 8140 eight-channel amps, both in ”D” version, as in “Dante”. Whether it’s the magic of the mountains or the quality of the filters and the recent installation, the amount of dust on the devices is negligible.
SLU : Your tablet is your only tool…
Emeric Dubois : The only one (he smiles). We launch the program every night, we monitor its progress on the show control timeline, we monitor switch by switch the network infrastructure, including Dante, temperatures, faults, and so on. To monitor the temperatures we have a sensor in each cabin and a Raspberry Pi that sends them to us via X-Agora.
As soon as we start up in the morning, we can send, for instance, the audio test program where each speaker plays its number, read in audio. For this, a WiFi network is present all along the path and allows us to move around, while still keeping our hands on the servers.
Protected from the weather, a Viper NT provides the smoke which is dispersed through the visible duct.
I always carry my tablet with me, even in the evening during the show, since the smoke output of the Viper NT can also be adjusted according to the wind conditions and the number of people on the circuit.
SLU : Why are we hearing this discernible hiss?
Emeric Dubois : It’s not a poor gain adjustment or a faulty amp, in fact, it’s a white noise signal that is generated continuously and is independent of the audio program, in order to maintain some movement of the voice coils, no matter how small. This helps to defend against the cold in particular. Similarly, all the racks remain powered 24/7 to avoid cold but also condensation in the morning.
A scheduling problem prevented us from meeting up with Moment Factory staff on site, so we collected their answers within a few days of our on-site report, collective answers to a wide variety of our questions.
SLU : Can we take the name of your company, “Moment Factory”, literally to describe your work?
Moment Factory : Yes, absolutely! The objective of our various projects is to instill a sense of collective wonder and connection. As technology offers us multiple ways to interact through our personal devices, the need to physically gather together seems more crucial than ever.
SLU : How long have you been designing and what is the breakdown between permanent and temporary creations?
Moment Factory : Since our beginnings in 2001, Moment Factory has created more than 450 unique projects around the world, including the Lumina Night Walks.
« Follow in the footsteps of a musician who brings cheer to isolated regions with his enchanting tunes, delivered from his hot-air balloon. The ALTA LUMINA Night Walk takes a poetic flight over the mountains, evoking the unifying power of music. Let your senses guide you, and enter a world of wonder where music can be seen and light can be heard. » The (fully fulfilled) promise of Alta Lumina etched, as it should be, in stone.
SLU : Are you approaching organizations or are they reaching out to you?
Moment Factory : Each project and collaboration is different, but in the case of Alta Lumina, the relationship began when SAGETS¹ contacted us in the winter of 2019, after hearing about the Lumina night walks. While visiting the place and the region, our team was immediately inspired by the site and saw the potential to create a Lumina route that could operate almost year-round.
¹ SAGETS stands for Société d’Aménagements Gêtoise d’Equipements Touristiques et Sportifs (Les Gets Tourist and Sports Facilities Company). The company manages the activities and recreation at the resort of Les Gets, responsible for the ski lifts and the slopes, but also for mountain biking, golf, the enchanted Alta Lumina night trail, daycare and lake for swimming.
SLU : How long does it take between the commissioning and completion of an attraction like Alta Lumina?
Moment Factory : In general, a Lumina night walk takes about a year of work, from conception to inauguration.
SLU : Who creates and programs the visual and musical/sound effects?
Moment Factory : Within the creative team of the project we have a musical director who composes the original material, often inspired by the sounds of nature and with local influences.
SLU : Does each attraction have its own story, style and music, or do you repeat the same “program” and lighting themes in different locations?
Moment Factory : Each Lumina experience we create is unique and tailored to the location and surroundings in which it operates. Alta Lumina is the 12th Lumina night walk in the series and the first in France, and in Europe. The Lumina walks are created on the principle of a series, in which each experience is unique. The visual universe and artistic direction of the Lumina Night Walk series is distinctive, but an original narrative framework is adapted for each site and each experience.
Mechanical magic, or how to provide interaction to the visitors via cranks that need to be turned… in rhythm! Hand-sanitizer gel is, of course, part of the experience!
SLU : Do you plan to evolve or renew the attraction, technology or music, in order to avoid audience fatigue, or to roll out a major technical innovation at Les Gets?
Moment Factory : Alta Lumina has been designed to be experienced in both summer and winter, and the naturally changing landscape will allow you to live and relive the experience through the changing seasons. The story will not change, but we will certainly make technical adjustments over time. For now, no major new features are planned, but some creative additions might be considered after a few years of operation, in order to keep the magic alive and keep the public coming back for more.
SLU : How do you choose the integrators and/or the local teams in charge of building an attraction?
Moment Factory : Usually, the system integrators are part of the Moment Factory team and have had previous experience working with us. In the case of Alta Lumina, we also worked with local teams. To do this, we collaborate from the beginning of the project with our customer to find a local vendor who has the necessary experience, for Les Gets this was CarpeDiem, the service company from Sallanches who did part of the cabling.
One of the X-Agora servers that deliver all the media for the show and also manage the monitoring of all the hardware and the network. This is the backup unit.
SLU : Can Alta Lumina’s computer system be remotely monitored and, if necessary, its software fixed?
Moment Factory : Yes, we always request VPN access in order to perform remote follow-up support.
SLU : How do you choose the brands of sound and lighting equipment to be used on an attraction?
Moment Factory : Over the years and through experience, we have developed partnerships with various companies.
A very small part of the sound diffusion relies on the VXS series with, on the left, a VXS8 with an 8″ woofer and a 1″ dome tweeter, and on the right, a VX5 with the same 1″ dome but with a 5″ woofer for the lower end of the spectrum. The whole series is IP35 certified.
SLU : Why do you mix Yamaha tops and JBL subs? Is it a question of protection rating?
Moment Factory : Indeed, it is a question of IP rating, we unfortunately did not find a Yamaha sub to meet our needs.
SLU : Who is responsible for the technical management of Alta Lumina and ensures its operational capacity every night?
Moment Factory : The client, SAGETS, is responsible for the attraction, the Moment Factory team is available for support, if necessary.
SLU : How much freedom for technical intervention do the teams have on the site?
Moment Factory : They are responsible for “level #1”, that is to say, all physical equipment. For system level maintenance it is Moment Factory that intervenes via VPN. The operators may have requests at the show control level but it will always be Moment Factory who integrates them if deemed necessary.
SLU : What kind of weather conditions can occasionally hinder the opening of Alta Lumina?
Moment Factory : The decision is at the discretion of the operator, but typically in thunderstorms and lightning the walk can’t take place.
One of the cabins distributed along the route, which you can barely see at night. Notice the clearly visible equipment rack. Each perfectly insulated building is both air-conditioned and heated, a choice for the future, especially air-conditioning, as global warming has such an impact on our climate.
SLU : What is the long-term durability of technical infrastructure that are subject to climatic conditions? Your geographical origins probably help with this ;0)
Moment Factory : Indeed we have Lumina Walks and other attractions operating in winter conditions and, although there are still some technical challenges, we aim for five years of durability for the installation. The maintenance of the equipment is the responsibility of the operators, but our teams are always available for support.
SLU : How are the power supplies protected against the climate (I am thinking of the differentials) and against the possibility of a visitor leaving the route?
Moment Factory : The primary level is buried under the trail, only the secondary and tertiary levels are at ground level. Everything is installed according to local standards by certified electricians.
SLU : How do you combat snow accumulation on the lighting fixtures? Do you brush it off or do you just turn them on full?
Moment Factory : We use brushing, moreover the equipment is always on in order to release some heat and thus somewhat avoid accumulation.
Sometimes it can be easy to protect a speaker enclosure, here a VXS8 is installed under the eaves of the roof of the main chalet.
SLU : How do you keep the speakers, projectors and lighting fixtures “warm”?
Moment Factory : In the show control system, we have a standby mode before the start of the show. The projectors are always on and the speakers are always being fed white noise to stay active.
SLU : Why not have two separate Sinology racks for redundancy, in addition to the media servers?
Moment Factory : The media is stored locally in each of the servers.
SLU : Those servers you use look very robust, comprehensive and compact… are they made for you or are they commercially available?
Moment Factory : It is a model that was created for us, X-Agora.
SLU : In the event of on-site data loss, would you have the ability to “play” remote media from time to time?
Moment Factory : No, unfortunately not.
SLU : What is provided in terms of on-site emergency and evacuation alerts?
Moment Factory : Emergency lighting is provided by the clients in case of emergency. The show control system can also generate an audible alarm and switch all the lights on full white light to evacuate the site.
The night falls and Alta Lumina lights up
You’ll have understood by now, Alta Lumina comes to life when the stars shine in the sky and the sun has gone on to do the same on the other side of the globe. The most perfect definition of this journey is given by the creator himself: “an experience where the music can be seen and the light can be heard”. A stroll on a path winding through a pine forest, where a very simple story unfolds without any dialogue, a sensory and poetic allegory, suggested by the light and comforted by the sound… or the other way around.
“The storm”, an explosion of light and sound where a slightly bigger bottom end in the audio would add to the immersive experience.
For 45 minutes, we experience a pleasant and gentle regression caressed by beams that are adjusted or were chosen to be faint so that the light remains confined to each of the zones and our eyes are trying their best – in terms of gain – to see the path to follow in the middle of the night, in the heart of the coniferous trees. Very well directed smoke highlights some of the scenes, such as the passage through the area of the green lasers. Each note, melodic inflection or sound effect is accentuated precisely with the corresponding visual scene. This is very well done, even though we have seen it done before.
“The New Harmonies”, with its thousands of beams emitted by laser diodes that plunge the forest into a fairy-tale atmosphere, to say the least. The smoke is, of course, part of the experience.
The Yamaha sound, very finely reproduced by the VXS range, is based on a zone by zone variation with a common melodic theme and a compatible range that allows the zones to merge into one another, creating a continuum without any wrong notes. The fade out of the one you’re in relative to the next one draws you along irresistibly, and so on and so forth. The same is true with sound effects and lighting, which move imperceptibly from one area to the next.
“The march”, a shadow play of the protagonist cast in the night by a video projector. The perfectly timed sounds of footsteps and the sound of a shovel in the ground are very well reproduced and do the rest.
The audio programming is also very dense and an abundance of Dante channels carry melodies and sound effects in a fiber ring, from which each cabin with a rack of equipment extracts what it needs to feed its nearby amps and speakers
All this audio is also processed and routed through two Yamaha MRX7-D matrices that serve as a smart switch, managing the phase, color and, of course, the levels at each point of the audio diffusion.
The levels are carefully managed, allowing us to talk to each other and marvel without raising our voices and avoiding all or at least part of the faint spillovers we noticed when we arrived at the edge of the forest, which lights up weakly here and there at night and exudes an attractive melody.
The distribution of the audio to the 88 Yamaha speakers – 52 VXS8s and the 36 smaller VSX5s – is remarkably well done, and very few small phase glitches occur, where two enclosures play the same output. Their number, their excellent reproduction and their very wide polar pattern is enough to make you overlook the presence of point sources.
Arenas and video projectors create a beautiful exit called “Dans les airs” (In the air).
Sometimes we would still like to have a little more distance from the speakers and a little more bass. That said, we have to admit that there is not much in the soundtrack that calls for muscles at the bottom end. On the rare occasions when it did, we would have liked to feel it a little more. Why not look through the catalog of a Yamaha company like Nexo? They have a very complete range of subs. Finally we can only express our appreciation for the power and the versatility of X-Agora. With this multimedia platform, everything seems possible; and when it comes to compactness, it’s difficult to beat.
The finale of the show is splendid, with a bouquet of fireworks, very clever use of the trees and a few more dB of sound. On the other hand, we are still hungry at the very end, before leaving the woods. A video projector projects a still image as an ending to the story via a simple written text. Let’s bet that Moment Factory will one day add a touch of magic, as it seems to overflow from their hands!
The proof is in the pictures, thanks to images provided by the Quebec studio.
The long, hot summer of COVID-19 saw live music safely come back to Chicago’s lakefront with the new Lakeshore Drive-In venue. Artist management company AudisBliss spearheaded the project working with LEC Event Technology, Inc. (LEC) to transform a parking lot just west of the Adler Planetarium into an in-person concert venue that keeps the safety of the attendees, artists and employees in mind. LEC provided Ayrton Perseo-S fixtures for the stage, the first compact, multi-function luminaire with an IP65 enclosure rating developed for intensive outdoor use.
“The Lakeshore Drive-In is one of the most respected drive-in operations in the country and the only sustainable drive-in model in Chicago, which is operating very successfully within COVID guidelines,” says Matt Brotz, owner and director of Operations at LEC. “LEC took on the role of hardware provider producing the event under a strict budget and with no room for failure. We’ve been very happy with the Ayrton Perseo fixtures and so has the client.”
“With the Lakeshore Drive-In we’ve given our guests the closest experience to a normal live show,” notes Adam Weiss, co-founder of AudisBliss. “We put on these concert events to bring gigs back to the community and give people the opportunity to enjoy live music safely – and see the best views in the city. Chicago needed this.”
The parking lot accommodates about 200 socially-distanced cars; guests can leave their vehicles to set up chairs within the boundaries of their parking spaces. Delivery of food and artist merchandise is available. The venue has hosted a minimum of three shows per week this summer with headliners including Lil Yachty, Mic Jenkins and Ric Wilson, Peekaboo and Autograf.
“LEC was asked to design a stage for the Lakeshore Drive-In that would highlight the talent, adapt to social distancing regulations, and be robust and sustainable for the run of the shows,” Brotz explains. “The stage had to be both impactful and practical standing up to weather along the lakefront.”
Perseo: The first waterproof Profile Ayrton.
Twenty-four Ayrton Perseo IP65-rated fixtures are in the lighting rig with 12 pre-rigged on the truss, six positioned on the ground and another six available to supplement the truss-mounted units. LEC invested in an inventory of Perseo units earlier this year.
“We chose Perseos for the venue for their robust performance outdoors,” Brotz says. “We didn’t want to constantly set and strike rigs.” He notes that, “Perseo is brighter than any light in its class. The LED unit is cost effective, and its gobo set and optics are phenomenal. It’s also lightweight so no special engineering is required.”
According to Brotz, “many of the lighting designers coming through who are using Perseo for the first time just love it. They always compliment its flat field and the sharpness of its optics through the air Perseos cover a lot of territory.”
“LEC has been a dedicated ACT Lighting supporter over the years and with their early adoption of the new MA3 platform and recently released Ayrton IP65 Perseo fixtures along with a growing inventory of MDG Atmospheric machines their continued investment in cutting edge entertainment technology exemplifies their commitment to excellence,” says ACT Lighting Regional Sales Manager, Aaron Hubbard.
During the coronavirus pandemic setting up a safe live music venue certainly has been a challenge. “The failure of other drive-ins reminded us what not to do,” says Weiss. “Stress is high, but it’s all worth it when you see the positive fan [reactions].” And the same has been true with performers. “No artists have walked off stage without a smile on their faces,” he reports.
More information on Ayrton Perseo and the extensive portfolio of innovative Ayrton LED fixtures can be found on the Ayrton website
Ayrton is distributed exclusively in North America by ACT Lighting, Inc
sunDial quad, the PLASA Gold award-winning mains LED dimmer from Ar-tistic Licence, has won praise for its ability to provide a smooth LED dim-ming with DMX512.
Following a firmware upgrade, the product got better, with an improvement in dimming resolution now achievable with many theat-rical controllers.
DMX512 can control up to 512 channels and has an 8-bit native resolution. This means each channel can be set to a level between 0 and 255 and is encoded as an 8-bit number (256 levels). sunDial quad has a much higher native dimming resolution of 14-bit, so in normal operation a dimmer curve translation is used in effect, sunDial picks ‘sweet spots’ on the response curve to achieve a nice fade.
However, some professional lighting consoles allow two DMX512 channels to be combined to provide up to 16-bit resolution (65,536 different levels). In this scenario, no curve translation is necessary. Following sunDial’s latest firmware upgrade, the console can access all the subtle levels available in sunDial’s high native dimming resolution thus ensuring ultimate dimming performance for applications that demand the most subtle effects.
What are the benefits?
sunDial quad is often used for house lights in theatre, and can be integrated with the stage lighting consoles. As many of the favourite theatrical control-lers feature 16-bit channel resolution, sunDial fit with those parameters. sunDial quad also has the advantage that its firmware can be upgraded (at zero cost) in the field. Customers can achieve this using the Artistic Licence DMX-Workshop free software package.
Le Festival Porta Ferrada. La musique est de retour fort et clair avec NEXO.
Organisers of the Porta Ferrada Festival, staged on the Costa Brava in Spain, report that the fortnight of concerts has been hugely successful, playing to 95% capacity, despite the coronavirus pandemic. Audio production company BTM worked closely with NEXO to deliver the PA systems for the event, servicing new venues which had to be redesigned according to new festival safety protocols.
Now in its 58th edition at home in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, near Girona, the Festival had to reinvent itself, presenting the new “Guíxols Arena”. Once the main stage of the event, this space had to take on the character of an auditorium, restricting capacity to no more than 800 socially-distanced spectators, divided between stalls and stands. Nevertheless, more than 10,000 tickets were sold, and 20 concerts were staged.
9 têtes STM M46 avec autant de renforts de grave STM B112 plus 6 subs STM S118 par côté. Pour les premiers rangs, rien de tel que les inusables PS15 !
Girona-based audio rental house BTM Sound has serviced the Porta Ferrada Festival for many years, and, since 2014, the audio systems of choice have been the NEXO brand.
This year, BTM’s system designer Enric Guso again specified the STM Series of modular line array, going with a main PA comprising sets of STM M46 + STM B112 main and bass cabinets.
This was a departure from the usual Porta Ferrada PA design, which used the STM M28 main cabinets; these units are now deployed as outfill for the wider audience area.
“We needed the extra coverage permitted by the main and bass configuration,” explains Guso, “and NEXO was able to support us with additional modules as well as helpful design input. The primary system was set up with flown arrays of 9 sets of main and bass, with 6x STM S118 subs, on each side. For the outfill, I used groundstacks of 3x M28 omni modules, over a single S118 subbass cabinet. For front fill, there were 8x PS15 cabinets, and we deployed GEO S12 boxes for side fill.”
Aussi étrange d’aspect qu’agréable de rendu, une paire de 45N12
On stage, all artists used NEXO’s 45N12 line monitors. This was also the case on the smaller second stage, in the Village, which BTM Sound set up with a PS Series PA system, augmented by ID24s for perimeter sound. For both venues, all power was provided by NXAMP4x4 and NXAMP4x2 amplifiers, equipped with Dante cards for network capability.
The director of the festival, Iñaki Martí, is proud of this “so special edition, in which the public has supported us with an attendance never seen before. We have shown that culture is safe,” he commented. “Hopefully it will serve as an example to other municipalities so that they go ahead in their programming.”
Located in the city’s Gosforth Park racing ground, the Virgin Money Unity Arena consists of a pop-up amphitheatre, with 500 separate elevated viewing platforms spaced two metres apart, and hosting a maximum of 2,500 people.
The arena as seen from FOH, logically set aside from the usual central sweet spot probably to keep all the available space for the audience.
Local hero, Sam Fender, headlined the first two sold-out shows, followed by a diverse line-up of artists including Van Morrison, Maximo Park, Alfie Boe, Ronan Keating, comedians Jimmy Carr and Bill Bailey, as well as the Bongo Bingo dance phenomenon.
“Originally, the series of events was going to be a drive through format but remarkably the organiser, SSD Concerts, managed to devise the biggest socially-distanced live event in the country, so that we are able to safely and practically run four events a week over a five-week period,” explains Kingdom Services’ MD John Smith. Kingdom Services is an AV supplier based in Northallerton in North Yorkshire, with a high spec, premium brand stock list, which includes eight DiGiCo consoles.
Kingdom Services’ MD John Smith.
“This was the first time we have worked with SSD, a Newcastle-based promoter which organises festivals in the area. We started discussing the logistics of live event production in the current climate several months ago,” says Smith. “Like many industries, the live event scene has been blighted by the pandemic, so it’s heart-warming to see a production crew out working again doing what they do best. On the opening night with Sam Fender you could feel the buzz and the energy throughout the crew and the audience.”
Kingdom Services is supplying the entire sound system for the event series, comprising a d&b speaker system, and is employing three of its DiGiCo SD10 consoles, one at FOH with a 32-bit rack, operating at 96k over fibre, and two working in tandem at the monitor position to make act changeovers easier.
The monitor desks are running a sizeable 48 outputs for IEMs and wedges, and there are SD Racks on both monitor desks. The sound system is complemented with Sennheiser 6000 series mics and 2000 series IEMs.
The monitor desk. Thet black canopy in the distance is the FOH.
“We selected the SD10s because they are very popular and the most rider friendly console we have in our warehouse. We can manage performers’ expectations across the board, and most engineers turn up with a show file and that’s it – nice and simple,” continues Smith. “The consoles also give us all the capacity we need with plenty to spare. The quality of the results is excellent, and the reliability is second to none.”
One of the major technical complexities of the set up was the size of the venue site, which would ordinarily cater for a crowd of 15,000. The extensive area posed a problem for achieving even sound coverage and sonic detail, whilst adhering to the strict sound level limits imposed on the venue.
“The situation is compounded by the fact that visitors are unable to circulate or move from their viewing areas as you would normally do in a festival scenario, so it is more imperative than ever that we give every visitor the same audio experience,” says Smith. “The SD10’s processing power and capacity, coupled with d&b’s array processing software, helped us map the site and deliver the best audio quality.”
The strict sound level limits isn’t a legend. 85 dBA in England is…rather unusual ;0)
Smith notes that the events are all running really well and that feedback from Kingdom’s client is not only positive, commenting that the audio quality is crystal clear and that the Covid regulations have been navigated and enforced successfully.
“Audiences have been very compliant with the rules and have quickly got over the strangeness,” Smith concludes. “The crew have remained Covid compliant with their procedures, such as sending FOH outputs to system control during act changeovers to run the house music and audience announcements, to allow time to clean the desk controls before the next engineer jumps on. All in all, it has been a positive experience and it’s wonderful to be involved in a live event.”
The NicLen GmbH rental park has been filling up with lighting technology solutions from Cameo for around two years. Now, Germany’s leading dry hire provider has expanded its Cameo portfolio to include the DROP B1 battery-powered outdoor mini uplight.
With these new spotlights from the DROP series, NicLen continues to expand its cooperation with the Adam Hall Group in order to provide its customers with new and modern products even during difficult times that are especially suitable for smaller indoor and outdoor events. Smaller events have been gaining in importance for longer than just this past year. The demands of the public and organizers have noticeably increased, especially in the industrial and cultural sector, but also in gastronomy, the hotel business, and retail trade. The more unusual a location, the more challenging the temporary placement and installation of spotlights often becomes whether indoors or outdoors.
NicLen now offers its customers the DROP B1 as a flexible, mobile, and compact IP65 ambient light with a 6-in-1 RGBWA+UV LED ideal for corporate events, receptions, private functions, and more. The battery-powered spotlights can be installed in a variety of ways, such as with mounting brackets (included) or simply on rubber feet with an additional set-up device. In this way, uplighting can be positioned from below without the need for a bracket.
The DROP B1 also has an integrated magnet so that it can be attached to metal surfaces without any mounting equipment. The DROP B1 can be used even more flexibly thanks to the integrated 2.4 Ghz W-DMX™ receiver for wireless DMX control and the supplied hemisphere diffuser, which turns the lamp itself into a work of fine design.
Trusting Partnership
“Cameo’s portfolio of lighting technology grows increasingly diverse each year. The developers continue to amaze us with innovative solutions that comprehensively cover the needs of our broad-based clientele,” explains Nico Valasik, who, in collaboration with Jörg Stöppler, is responsible for managing NicLen GmbH. “We are pleased to be able to offer our customers the DROP B1, a flexible and mobile mini spotlight that runs on rechargeable batteries, which will be seen at many outdoor events in the future, thanks to its sophisticated design.”
When the entertainment industry’s lights were switched off by the global pandemic, Fuse Technical Group, like many others, had to come up with new and innovative ways to continue serving its customers. The solution became evident when the full-service production company decided to partner with LA-based Third Encore Studios and Monsters of Rock Cruise (MORC) to build a virtual live production environment for content streaming.
@Joe Schaeffer Photography
Regular events including MORC’s PPV live streamed music performances are delivered in front of amazing, rich visual backgrounds thanks to the processing power of Brompton Technology and its HDR solution.
“Third Encore Studios is a well-known rehearsal facility in Los Angeles. We’ve crossed paths many times, but never worked together on a project like this before,” says Fuse project manager, Benjamin Johnson. “The coronavirus pandemic and the state of the entertainment industry meant there was a need to create new solutions and gave us our first opportunity to collaborate. We have solid technical knowledge and high-quality video and lighting equipment, and they have the perfect facility, all we lacked was great talent. That came in the form of the Monsters of Rock Cruise webcast, transmitted live via their Facebook page.”
Together with his team, Johnson built a high spec virtual event space, with an LED floor measuring 20ft by 24ft (43.2 sqm), enclosed by a 35ft wide by 12ft tall (38.9 sqm) LED wall. The space uses ROE panels; Black Marble 4 for the floor and Carbon 3 for the upstage and left/right screens, all running on Brompton’s Tessera SX40 4K LED processors.
@Joe Schaeffer Photography
“We have had over 25 bands and artists performing on stage at Third Encore Studios, with Jane’s Addiction, Bush, The Dickies and Polo G just to name a few,” shares Johnson. “Most of the performing talent prefers providing us with their own content to be shown in the background, so we have to be prepared to facilitate different formats.” Significant improvement to the image quality, greater reliability, and quicker set-up times were just a few reasons why Brompton processing was chosen by the team. “We also think the colour processing on Brompton products is just incredible,” he continues. “Fuse owns Brompton HDR-enabled tiles, which we’ve used on a couple of shows, and there’s no better colour reproduction than can be achieved with Brompton HDR. The Tessera SX40 processor with HDR firmware is like a match made in heaven.”
The Fuse team have found the Tessera XD 10G data distribution units particularly useful, allowing them to run fewer cables from the processor to the LED wall and helping them to keep a neat cable path on-site and making the workflow more efficient for everybody. Another Tessera processing feature they’ve made good use of is the OSD (On-Screen Display) which displays essential LED panel information on each tile, making tracking and troubleshooting quick and easy.
With one of the largest inventories of Tessera SX40 processors in their stock, the Fuse team had all the necessary ingredients to transition into this new way of working.
Brompton SX40
“The great thing about the virtual studio is that we can utilise the equipment we would normally use on live events, touring concerts, and corporate events,” says Johnson. “To build it into a studio just meant a bit of organisation. We split ourselves into teams, so that we could socially distance during the build and be as safe as we could possibly be. The studio was a very natural transition from our previous work. A lot of people are looking for a place to stream live content and we have the facility and the equipment to do it.”
Johnson believes this is more than a temporary solution and that live events and virtual studios can co-exist in the post-pandemic era. “I think there’s definitely a place for virtual studios in the future, particularly as live streaming is now getting a much stronger foothold. But I also believe that people love to gather, they love live concerts, and when it’s safe again, that will come back,” he says.
“The good news is that when that happens, we will have the expertise not only to facilitate more traditional live shows, but also to continue producing and delivering high quality content via our virtual event space.” Offering his final thoughts on the quality of its processing and his relationship with the company in general, Johnson’s confidence in Brompton is rock-solid.
The award-winning ArcLamp LED solution from ETC receives a new Flicker variant as well as new driver options. Flicker lamp creates a 2700 K Fade to Warm effect by flickering randomly to imitate candlelight. Flicker lamps can also be used at constant brightness by changing the DMX value on its single control channel.
New ArcLamp driver form factors (See the list below) are now available, including wall mount and rack mount options
– 150 size: supports 25 ArcLamps, available in wall mount only – 350 size: supports 60 ArcLamps, available in both wall mount and rack mount – 700 size: supports 120 ArcLamps, available in both wall mount and rack mount
ETC has also added the ArcSystem Pro Four-Cell Pendant to its family of architectural LED luminaires. With this solution, the line now features both Four-Cell Round and Pendant options, depending on a facility’s mounting needs. The popular Four-Cell Round allows your choice of hanging hardware, such as a clamp, threaded rod or aircraft cable to be secured to the fixtures captive hanging point. The Pendant option includes a traditional stem kit with canopy, complete with internal wiring to provide a clean finish.
The new Pendant option provides a full range 100-277V input along with an optional, UL924 listed variant taking care of emergency egress requirements. Both Four-Cell Pendant and Round are available in black, white, and custom color finishes, with a clean, round form that looks classic in any venue. The Pendant offers stem lengths ranging from 6 to 96 inches, with custom lengths available.
Appointment of experienced trade show marketeer boosts the Integrated Systems Events team in run-up to ISE 2021 Integrated Systems Events is pleased to announce the appointment of Jo Mayer as its Senior Director of Marketing.
Jo Mayer
Mayer joins from EasyFairs, a leading pan-European multi-format event organiser, and has over 20 years’ experience in trade shows, conferences and B2B publishing. In her new role, Jo Mayer is responsible for overseeing the company’s marketing and content strategy across multiple platforms in the run-up to its flagship event, Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) in 2021, and beyond.
“Jo is a hugely experienced trade show marketing professional, with an enviable track record of successful events to her name,” commented Mike Blackman, Managing Director of Integrated Systems Events. “Her wealth of know-how and expertise will bolster our existing team and ensure we satisfy the varied needs of our loyal exhibitors and visitors alike, and also drive new audiences and formats. Jo joins us at a time of significant upheaval for the events and pro AV industries alike and I am looking forward to tackling these challenges with her.”
“I’m excited to be joining Integrated Systems Events at this crucial time in its long and successful history,” added Mayer. “The transition to Barcelona is well underway and an exciting new era for the show awaits. The run-up to the show is a crucial period, in particular this year with its unique conditions, and I’m very much looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”
Mayer will take her place alongside Operations Director André Hooijer, as part of the Integrated Systems Events Senior Leadership Team (SLT). The third member of the SLT is George Buckingham, recently promoted to Senior Sales Director, who joined the company at the start of 2019 from global specialist media and information business Haymarket. The SLT reports directly to Blackman and is tasked with overseeing the move to Barcelona in this transitional year.
Mayer is a seasoned B2B marketeer with over 20 years’ experience spanning exhibitions, conferences, digital and print. She has been pivotal in delivering award-winning campaigns for Easyfairs, Nineteen Events, Clarion and UBM working on flagship brands across a variety of sectors, including ICE Totally Gaming, Ecobuild, IFSEC and Confex.
Masked Singer – TV singing competition with celebrities concealed in fantastic elaborate costumes and full face masks, in this case depicting the Wolf, the Dragonfly the Queen and several others to keep their identities secret whilst performing cover versions – hits Belgium for the first time this autumn! Presented by Niels Destadsbader and recorded at NEP Studio in Londerzeel, a judging panel and the audience are drip-fed with clues as to their real identity … which is revealed when one is voted off at the end of each episode.
Lighting for the show, broadcast on VTM, is designed by Michiel Milbou and includes 150 Robe moving lights, a skilful combination of 58 x Tetra2 and 56 x CycFX 8 moving LED Bars and 36 x LEDBeam 150s. The 400 or so lights in total involved including video and light-panels – are supplied to the production by rental company Splendit.
Photo @Frank Lambrechts
Michiel was asked onboard by executive producer Olivier Deprez, who together with director Maryse van den Wyngaert and set designer Koen Verbrugghe make up a dynamic creative team who have worked on several previous eye-popping TV productions. The four collaborated to produce the slick production aesthetic characterising the Belgian show. The only Masked Singer style-book request for the stage design was that there must be two masks as entrances – left and right – for singers to enter / exit.
The set design evolved into the clean and minimalist look with the entrances as two giant masks clad in a neutral white surface so they could be fashioned and transformed by mapped video projections, with a moving LED screen in between them and two more moving video screens outside of each mask. In front of these is a black gloss stage with the front-facing sections clad in LED, and downstage of that, two 90-degree orientated planes of video floor making up a front runway section.
Michiel wanted a vertical lighting look to define the set and stage, and that’s why he specified the Tetra2s and the CycFX 8s.
Robe Tetra2
The Tetra2s were rigged upstage vertically orientated to produce lines and slices of light that could scan and sweep around, while the CycFX8s were used to outline the stage and the edges of the catwalk. The two linear lightsources complemented one another perfectly.
Robe CycFX 8
He has used CycFX 8s many times before, but this was the first time with the Tetra2s … with which he was delighted. The show is all about “BIG entrances and building the appropriate atmosphere for each costumed character, as well as relating to the song they are singing, so there are multiple facets influencing each set of lighting cues,” explained Michiel, adding that this is also why the team chose to have multiple video elements in the set, to assist with these big, bold dramatic changes.
The scenic masks of the entrances were mapped and part of the overall visual treatment. “The process was something far more sophisticated than just lighting a singer on stage as the costume disguise was all part of the intrigue and that gave the ‘character building’ process a third dimension which had to be reflected with lighting and video,” commented Michiel.
Photo @Frank Lambrechts
Positioning lights was also critical. With so much video onstage, while it had to be a harmonious relationship, Michiel wanted lighting to be separate in a bid to ensure that the two fundamental light sources didn’t become an indistinct mush.
To this end, he loves the fact that the Tetra2 bars can be zoomed in to little pinpoints or zoomed out to wash much wider areas, and this contrast became a feature of the show. “It’s extremely bright for this type of fixture and I enjoyed discovering just how effective they can be.” For shows like this, live audience reactions are usually an essential part of the atmosphere and vibe, however, due to Coronavirus restrictions, the recording sessions had only a very limited real audience.
Robe LedBeam 150
A front row of seats immediately on the other side of the catwalk around the stage was allocated for guests, which were cleverly lit with LEDBeam 150s, some on the floor and some in the roof, to give the impression of many more people being present! A virtual audience appeared via Zoom and with their own floor manager for voting and applause cues on screens in front of the stage so contestants could at least see some more faces, and smart lighting, camerawork and editing combined to ensure that the studio space never looked a flat empty void! It was a great piece of ‘visual magic’! Two grandMA consoles networked were used for running the lighting and the playback video, operated by Cédric Eestermans (lighting) and Niels Huybrechts (video).
In addition to ‘recreating’ the audience, many other changes to the usual production scheduling and infrastructure were triggered by the pandemic, and numerous new rules and regulations had to be followed so everything remained safe and Covid-compliant. Michiel and everyone involved was simply ecstatic to be back working after the enforced break when the pandemic all but shut down the industry including this production in March.
He was also especially pleased that this is a fresh new show for Belgium. “There are always so many expectations with a new production, and while that adds to the pressure, it also makes it all the more exciting and edgy. We have all pushed ourselves even harder than we always do to deliver something very special,” he concluded. He feels that while it’s clearly some time before any sort of pre-Covid normality returns, there are signs that TV productions are getting going again, fuelled by the need to produce new content and the practical ability to keep these types of environments safe and controlled.
L-Acoustics rounds out its industry-leading K Series with the introduction of K3, the manufacturer’s smallest full-range enclosure, designed to deliver big sound for mid-size events with audiences ranging from 1,000 to 10,000. K3 provides full-range bandwidth, without the need for a flown companion subwoofer. Its highly efficient design reduces amplification needs. These features make K3 faster and simpler, as well as more economical and sustainable to deploy.
Florent Bernard
“K3 is ready for the events of today and tomorrow,” shares L-Acoustics Executive Director of Application Design Florent Bernard. “Our design team created a dual-12-inch-based system with the form factor and price of a 10-inch design, without the inherent performance compromises of 10-inch loudspeakers.
K3 offers long-throw, full-range performance in a compact, accessible package, tailor-made for small to mid-capacity events and venues that are the mainstay of most sound providers.
It is a ‘no compromises’ tool, perfectly adapted to the current event landscape and, when paired with K1 and K2, is quickly and powerfully scalable for large-capacity events.”
Providing the full-range L-Acoustics contour from an enclosure that is 33% smaller than K2 and weighing only 43 kg (95 lbs), K3 is ideal for applications that require plenty of power and bandwidth from a small form factor, including mid-size tours, festivals, corporate events, religious services and other productions. Dimensioned to keep sightlines clear, K3 integrates easily into venues with space restrictions.
The dimensions of K3 are those of K2 to the nearest millimeter in height and depth, except its width which is appreciably less.
The new two-way active WST enclosure possesses all of the hallmarks that have made K Series the reference in line array technology, including optimized mechanical design for reduced weight, laminar vents for powerful and linear low frequency response, and time-tested effortless rigging.
The entire K family introducing K3 right in the middle of the picture !.
K3 also features L-Acoustics Panflex™ technology, which provides sound designers with quick access to a choice of four horizontal directivity patterns: 70° or 110° symmetrical or 90° asymmetrical on either side. With Panflex and inter-element angles ranging from 0° to 10°, K3 line source coverage can be precisely tailored to fit any audience geometry.
The horizontal beamwidth of K3 at 110° with an ideal result for the 4” and a visibly controlled behavior even in the lower midrange. Single cabinet diagram.
At 70° the low midrange dispersion appears a little less maintained (the horizontal beamwidth is showed at -3, -6 and -12 dB at each change of colors) but from 1 kHz on, is almost perfect and a guarantee of a good mastery of the reflections and a long range.
K3 delivers a full full range response very close to that of its two illustrious elders with a few Hz less in the extreme low end and the high end.
Equipped with the L-Acoustics signature DOSC waveguide for long-throw capability (>35 m/100 ft), K3 boasts an exceptional bandwidth of 42 Hz to 20 kHz (-10 dB, 70° directivity) and maximum SPL of 143 dB.
The complement in contour with a pair of KS28 carrying 4 K3 for a formidable stack. Which DJ will ask for it ?
An array made of the forthcoming K3i with its specific and very stripped K3i-Bump frame.
An L-ISA project in extended mode with K3 which risks becoming the benchmark speaker for this use by objects thanks to its smaller size and weight.
K3 without its front face, rare enough to be shown.
Without needing a dedicated subwoofer, K3 can be used as the main system for vocal and music reinforcement in most applications, or as a complement to K1 or K2 as outfills or delays. When deployed with KS28 subwoofers, K3 excels as a compact main system for sonically demanding live events.
A 3D rendering of a 18 K3 array A single LA_RAK II fixed on the bumper with specific accessories, is needed to control and amplify it.
The product’s power-efficient system design meets today’s requirement for more sustainable deployment and reduced truck space. One LA12X amplified controller can power up to six K3, meaning that a single LA-RAK AVB unit can drive up to 18 K3.
With the first K3 production units already shipping to customers, L-Acoustics will deliver K3i, a fixed install version, in Q1 2021. K3i will be superbly suited for an even larger range of applications using a distributed approach.
LD Bobby Grey creates ‘trippy psychedelic’ and space theme for bespoke lighting rig. Kentucky-based production designer, Bobby Grey, already had a wealth of real-world experience behind him ranging from theme parks to theatre, touring and designing top-end festival stages — by the time he had reached 30.
His passion for sound and lighting dates right back to high school, when he was in a band; and he was soon bitten by the theatre bug. Concentrating on lighting he came under the influence of Joe Paradise and it was he who introduced Grey to his current charges, veteran rock band 311. Along the way Grey became an associate designer with Sightline Design Group, before starting his own company, Notan Creative in January 2020.
The band are now noted for their summer tours and legendary ‘311 Day’, held annually at the Park Theatre, Las Vegas (Park MGM) on 11th March. But this year the event went into overdrive as they celebrated their 30th anniversary over three nights. Bobby Grey designed another bespoke rig, using an abundance of GLP X4 Bar 10 and Bar 20 and JDC1 hybrid strobes, run in full pixel mode.
Of GLP’s automated lighting he said: “I’m a big fan of the way GLP create unique fixtures that don’t fit the mould of what everyone else is making. It’s great that a fixture like the X4 Bars can line architecture or sets so that the lighting and geometry work together. And I like the versatility of lights like the JDC1, which can be used in different ways to keep the rig looking fresh through the night. Instead of choosing an RGB strobe that gives you colour, or a white strobe that gives you punch, we get the best of both worlds in a unique form factor.”
When Paradise first invited Grey to cover some dates for 311 he immediately hit it off with both the band and crew. “I essentially finished growing up on tour with them. Some of our runs were full production shed tours, but some would be just Joe and me, or just me alone, with whatever fixtures we could fit into the back 15ft of truck space,” he said. Paradise then handed the reins over entirely to Grey to design the March 2018 iteration of ‘311 Day’ at the Park Theatre. “As a result, I did their summer tour design that year and have been working with them on all of their projects since.”
He says the band’s music and aesthetic have always revolved around a ‘space’ and ‘psychedelic jam’ feel. Thus for the recent shows they adopted an outer space/UFO narrative. “At walk-in, we had the entire rig at the grid, hidden from view, and absolutely no backline on stage… we even hid the side trusses with curtains. It felt like walking into an empty venue,” he explained. They blacked out the house lights and filled the stage with low lying fog, and throughout the night used trippy psychedelic visuals, spaced themed visuals and live IMAG effects to keep things fresh.
Pods were slowly introduced with cryo blasting from each point. “When I first conceived these pods, it was immediately clear that they had to be lined with X4 Bar 10’s and 20’s. They could be zoomed in tight and point straight down, giving us sheer curtains of light. Or I could zoom them out wide and get lots of bloom on camera that made the pods look like there was a warp drive or energy field emanating from them. It was a key element of the design. “And knowing that I had so many songs and three nights ahead of me to keep fresh, I knew that the JDC1 was the strobe for the job.”
Only a few songs lend themselves to strobes. Grey said: “If they were missing entirely it would have been noticeable. That’s why the JDC1s were so great. When not being used to burn eyeballs, they functioned as great LED wash effect lights. Since they could tilt, I could point them straight down so they were eye candy for the camera, or point them out at the audience and manipulate their pixels to break up the form of the pods. Their futuristic look really played into the space theme.”
For the success of the three-night extravaganza, Grey praised touring director / operator Alex Parayuelos who is “an invaluable asset to the production” and the trust placed in him by the band and their management. He also credits his entire technical crew, special FX vendor Strictly Effects, PRG (which provided automation) and the house crew.
Inventory for 311 Day was provided by Felix Lighting of Los Angeles. “Felix is a very supportive family and a rock in the Los Angeles lighting community,” said Grey. “Our rep, Ryan Herrera, bent over backwards to pull the pieces together for us. For our summer tours we have been very well taken care of by TMS from the band’s hometown, Omaha. Aaron Steinbrink, our account rep, has made sure that our gear has been flawless every time.”
Summarising the impact created by the GLP automated LED fixtures, he concluded: “The company has a wonderful reputation as innovators and producers of quality, reliable equipment. I’m now working on a design that will utilise a few hundred KNV units!”
