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Tube UK supplies “Kagami” shows
31/05/2024
David Guetta’s “Monolith” show in Valencia lit with Ayrton Cobra
On July 25, 2024, David Guetta combined his electronic sounds with visual effects during his four-hour show “The Monolith” at the Ciutat de València Stadium, captivating an audience of more than 18,000. “The Monolith” solidified its status as Guetta’s premier show in Spain, an exclusive production crafted specifically for this event.
The large-scale set design integrated the latest technology, with every detail being synchronized for a mix of immersive sounds and a visual display of laser lights and special effects. The show also included pyrotechnics. The event was produced by Global Live Entertainment SL. Fluge Audiovisuales was responsible for supplying the technical equipment.
The stage setup included a giant LED screen with a cube-shaped design that ruled the stage. Twenty-four Ayrton Cobra laser-sourced fixtures projected beams of light that danced in the air and sky, with the laser effects conjuring a futuristic ambiance. The lights’ rapid movement and direction changes aimed to create the illusion of the light itself dancing to Guetta’s rhythm.
(Photos: Globaly Live)
Coda Audio system chosen for Volkswagen event in Beijing
During the recent Beijing Autoshow, the Volkswagen Group presented product highlights at the city’s Phoenix Media Centre. Live-streamed around the world, with the unveiling of new models from Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Ducati, the Volkswagen Group Media Night celebrated forty years of Volkswagen presence in China in front of a large audience of Volkswagen Group executives, management representatives, and other business partners.
The live show, in which the cars were the stars, demanded audio for both music playback and speech presentation. Production specialist Tongbo was engaged by Creative Audio Visual Equipment Trading of Shanghai to supply the audio package. Tongbo installed and supported a Coda Audio system designed by Oliver Tschotow.
The main system comprised left, centre, and right clusters of N-Aps (twelve in total) complemented by two Hops8i as infills. A further thirteen Hops8i were ceiling-mounted as delays, with two more deployed as monitors alongside two Hops12. Four Hops5 were used as delays at the rear of the auditorium. The overall system was supported by twelve SCP subs and powered by Coda Audio DSP amplification using three Linus T-Racks and and a single Linus M-Rack.
(Photos: Coda Audio/Creative Audio Visual Equipment Trading, Shanghai/Tongbo/Volkswagen Group)
Adam Robinson and Cameron Manes optimize sonic performance for Jonas Brothers with Sound Devices A20-Nexus
In August of 2023, the Jonas Brothers launched an expansive world tour that has seen them playing hits from their entire discography at major venues across the globe. FOH Engineer Adam Robinson and Audio Systems Engineer Cameron Manes spearhead the audio elements of the shows.
Given that the tour would be visiting a very wide range of venues, Robinson and Manes were eager to develop an optimized methodology to getting the most consistent sonic performance in each venue. The pair adopted the Sound Devices A20-Nexus receiver and its new Test and Measurement Mode to streamline this approach.
Although the testing and measurement process - a careful check that ensures all audio systems are responding predictably in each venue - is an important part of any large audio production, its purpose is frequently misunderstood even by professionals in the field. Ensuring consistent performance from speaker systems can be the difference between a successful performance or a disastrous one.
“The key word in all of this is consistency”, explains Manes. “What many people don’t understand is that it takes a trained ear to recognize if the system is reacting differently in different parts of the room. It may ‘sound good’ somewhere, but if the entire system isn’t providing a similar sounding experience to every seat of the house, then the show can be a failure.”
Adding to the potential pressure on large productions is that oftentimes testing and measurement can be a rushed affair given how long it can take to set up the proper equipment. For Manes, this is something that drove him and Robinson to think differently about how to streamline the process for this tour. “We really only have about thirty minutes to conduct this process in each venue”, says Manes. “Finding ways of doing it more efficiently and getting better results was something we were always in search of as it’s very important for the final product. When Sound Devices added T+M mode to the A20-Nexus, we immediately signed up to be beta testers because we saw the opportunity to completely overhaul the process for the better.”
The basis of Robinson’s FOH rig for the tour is the DiGiCo Quantum 7 console and D&B KSL line arrays supplied by longtime partner Clair Global. The measurement system that he and Manes devised utilized four Sound Devices A20-TX wireless transmitters paired with Isemcon EMX-7150 microphones and an A20-Nexus receiver that ties in via Dante to a DirectOut Prodigy.MP system controller, providing system management and output routing as well as feeding the test signals to Rational Acoustics Smaart measurement software.
The ability to work wirelessly proved to be a game changer. “Most wireless measurement systems up until this point simply didn’t give accurate enough results as they would impart something incorrect on the measurements in terms of frequency and phase shift”, says Robinson. “With the Sound Devices T+M Modulation Algorithm, there is no frequency or phase shift, so we were getting the exact same measurements we’d get from a wired microphone but with much more flexibility in terms of speed and placement.”
“We have a habit of bringing new electronic toys on each tour that we do together”, adds Manes. “The A20-Nexus was one of them - but it totally changed how we work, and our hats are off to Sound Devices for creating something that’s become so essential to us so quickly.”
(Photos: Sound Devices)
DPA supplies sound for Conservatorium Maastricht’s graduation showcase
Conservatorium Maastricht, an international conservatory, is one of nine music academies in the Netherlands. With goals to set its musicians in motion, the school enables its students to achieve their ambitions in various musical fields through theoretical and practical approaches to artistic development and performance, along with cross-departmental activities, elective courses and professional development.
At the end of each year, Conservatorium Maastricht holds a graduation showcase, where students present their final projects. This event allows graduates to demonstrate what they have learned and their capabilities as musicians, composers and/or producers. This year, the event was held at Muziekgieterij, a local concert hall that was tasked with handling the technical aspects, which included providing sound for the show.
To achieve this, Muziekgieterij Technical Manager Ernst Jan Hölscher and the conservatory’s organizer Luke Mitchell turned to Amptec Professional Audio Solutions, which supplied the venue with nearly thirty different mics from DPA Microphones, with the help of DPA Specialist Steve Haesevoets.
Among the DPA solutions used for the academy’s final performances were seventeen 4099 Instrument Microphones, the Extreme SPL versions of which were deployed for four trumpets, four trombones, three toms and the bottom snare, while five Loud SPL versions were utilized for the saxophones. For the remainder of the drum kit, Amptec selected the DPA 4055 Kick Drum Microphone for the kick, 2012 Compact Cardioid on snare top and a pair of 2015 Wide Cardioids as overheads on the hi-hats, with an additional two for the remaining percussion.
To round out the stage, Amptec also deployed the D:facto Vocal Microphones for the singers, 2011 Twin Diaphragm Cardioids for the bass and guitar amps and a pair of 4011 Cardioid Condensers on piano, which were further supported by a pair of 4099 microphones.
(Photos: DPA Microphones/Watchkraft.com)
Concept K lights Solidays main stage with 100 Elation SOL I Blinders
Creative design practice Concept K employed 100 Elation SOL I Blinders at the Solidays Festival in Paris at the end of June 2024, one of the first uses in Europe of the creative blinder and effect light. Lighting supply was by Dushow, a festival provider for many years, with lighting design by Frédéric “Aldo” Fayard of Concept K.
Solidays is an annual music festival held at the Longchamp Racecourse in Paris. Organized by Solidarité sida, it brings together more than 150 artists and 170,000 festival-goers for three days with proceeds going to organizations fighting HIV/AIDS.
Fayard, founder and artistic director of Concept K, used the SOL I Blinders for the festival’s main stage. “Lighting designers have been looking for a source capable of replacing the FL650, and the SOL I from Elation is the answer to this request”, he says.
In addition to being used as a blinder, Concept K plans to use the SOL I for décor lighting purposes. “It will certainly find its place in many other uses”, concludes Fayard.
(Photos: Concept K/Elation/Your Wolf Agency)
LLeyendecker Eventsolutions setzt bei OMR Festival erstmalig iForte LTX von Robe ein
Das OMR Festival ist die größte Zusammenkunft von Führungskräften aus Digitalwirtschaft, Medien und Marketing in Europa. Gemessen an der Besucherzahl zählt es zu den größten Branchenevents weltweit: Im Jahr 2024 besuchten rund 67.000 Menschen das OMR Festival in Hamburg.
Das zweitägige Event bietet der Marketing- und Digitalszene ein Programm aus Konferenz, Masterclasses, Side Events und Expo. Auf sechs Bühnen diskutieren rund 800 Referenten über die aktuellen Trends und Entwicklungen - darunter Branchen-Experten, Digital-Entscheider, Gründer und Investoren. Beim OMR24 zählten dazu unter anderen Kim Kardashian, Kara Swisher, Tim Ferriss, Jeff Koons, Rick Rubin sowie die Bundesminister Robert Habeck und Christian Lindner.
Die Red Stage gehört zu den größten Bühnen auf dem OMR Festival. In diesem Jahr wurde sie erneut vom OMR Content Partner Vodafone präsentiert. Auf ihr finden tagsüber Keynotes und Panels mit nationalen und internationalen Experten statt; abends können die Besucher Live-Konzerten beiwohnen. Die Gestaltung der Bühne muss daher beiden Nutzungen gerecht werden. LLeyendecker Eventsolutions ist bereits seit einigen Jahren technischer Dienstleister für die Red Stage und die Masterclasses und setzt zahlreiche Robe-Produkte ein - neu in diesem Jahr unter anderem zwei iForte LTX als FollowSpot, neben 74 iFortes und 78 MegaPointes.
Als Lichtdesigner war, wie auch in den Vorjahren, Sebastian „Seba“ Jakob für die Gestaltung der Bühne zuständig. „Ich habe den iForte LTX das erste Mal auf dem Robe LD Summit im Januar dieses Jahres gesehen“, sagt er. „Das Konzept, einen Scheinwerfer auf den Markt zu bringen, der sowohl den Robe BMFL Washbeam als auch den Robe BMFL Follow LT auf Basis von LED-Technologie ersetzen kann, hat mich sofort angesprochen. Als mir dann die Firma LLeyendecker Eventsolutions erzählte, dass sie in iForte LTX investiert hat, wollte ich die Geräte unbedingt beim OMR Festival als Verfolger ausprobieren.“
(Fotos: Lleyendecker Eventsolutions/Hannah Wilde)
Inklusives Tanzprojekt „Babylon“ mit LD Systems und Cameo inszeniert
Im Großen Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks (HR) standen in diesem Sommer beim inklusiven Tanzprojekt „Babylon - Miteinander reden ist Gold“ der Lorenz-Stiftung insgesamt 150 Personen - Profis und Amateure, Menschen mit und ohne Behinderung - auf der Bühne. Das Live-Event mit Bildern und Musik wurde vom Technik-Team der eCon GmbH und einem Ton- und Licht-Setup von LD Systems und Cameo unterstützt.
„Babylon - Miteinander reden ist Gold“ erzählt eine alte, biblische Geschichte, angepasst an die Herausforderungen der modernen Zeit: fehlendes Verständnis und schwindendes Miteinander in Zeiten von Digitalisierung, Algorithmen und Fake News. Auf diese Verständigungsprobleme reagierte das „Babylon“-Projekt unter der Leitung des Regisseurs und Tanzpädagogen Miguel-Angel Zermeño mit universellen „Sprachen“, die alle verstehen: Tanz, Musik und Bewegung.
Für die Beschallung nutzte eCon als Technischer Generaldienstleister ein LD-Systems-Maila-XXL-Line-Array-Groundstack-System, das im Sendesaal gleich mehrere Vorteile bot: „Der HR-Sendesaal ist wie ein Theater konzipiert, mit ebenerdiger Bühne und ansteigender Bestuhlung“, erläutert Moritz Stüve. „Im hinteren Bereich blicken die Zuschauer demnach von oben auf die Bühne herunter, so dass wir ein möglichst schlankes Beschallungssystem brauchten, um die Sicht so wenig wie möglich zu beeinträchtigen.“
Zudem musste das System in der Lage sein, den langgestreckten Raum gleichmäßig und ohne den Einsatz von Delay-Lines abzudecken. Für den Tieftonbereich konfigurierte eCon zwei Maila-Subs pro Seite als Cardiod-System. Für die Inszenierung und das dynamische Bühnengeschehen musste das Team darüber hinaus ein Lichtsetup finden, das bei begrenztem Platz die nötige gestalterische Freiheit bot.
Hier erwies sich der Cameo-Azor-S2-Spot-Moving-Head als kompakte und gleichzeitig lichtstarke Lampe für Gobo-Projektionen und Gegenlichter. Als klassisches Frontlicht kam der Azor-SP2-Spot-Profile-Moving-Head zum Einsatz, um mit seinen integrierten Blendenschiebern für mehr Tiefe auf der Bühne zu sorgen. „Mit der Kombination aus Azor S2 und Azor SP2 brauchten wir uns keine Gedanken um die Farbabstimmung der einzelnen Fixtures zu machen“, sagt Stüve.
Auch die Zenit-Serie kam bei „Babylon - Miteinander reden ist Gold“ zum Einsatz. Während die Zenit-W600-SMD-LED-Wash-Lights sowohl als Flächenleuchten und Gassenlichter wie auch als Strobes und Effektlichter mit individueller Pixelansteuerung verwendet wurden, dienten die Zenit B200 als Spezialisten für die besonderen Anforderungen der Produktion: „Da bei ‘Babylon’ auch Rollstuhlfahrer mitwirkten, durften wir auf der Bühne keine Strom- und Signalkabel und auch keine Kabelbrücken verlegen“, erklärt Stüve. „Aus diesem Grund setzten wir die akku- und W-DMX-fähigen Zenit B200 immer dann ein, wenn in Szenen einzelne, mobile Lichtakzente erforderlich waren.“
„Hier kommt so viel zusammen, was unser Herz berührt: Junge Menschen, Menschen mit Beeinträchtigungen, die mit viel Kreativität und Leidenschaft etwas Großartiges schaffen“, sagt Alexander Pietschmann, CEO der Adam Hall Group. „Als ich bei den Proben dabei sein durfte, hat man diese positive Energie direkt gespürt. Wir freuen uns sehr, dies mit Eventtechnik zu bereichern und unseren kleinen Beitrag zu diesem außergewöhnlichen Projekt zu leisten.“
(Fotos: Adam Hall Group)
Lukas Graham opts for Solid State Logic System T flypack
When Frank Grønbæk, front-of-house engineer with Danish pop band Lukas Graham, visited Solid State Logic’s U.K. headquarters and had a demonstration of the System T Tempest Control App, paired with a TE1 processing engine and a 16-channel Fader Tile, he realized he had found a system meeting his needs.
Grønbæk, who is also a live and studio product specialist at Nordic Pro Audio, one of SSL’s partners in Denmark, has worked with Lukas Graham since 2012. The band’s monitor engineer, Rasmus Valentin, also works for Alfa Audio, SSL’s live sound products distribution partner for Denmark. “We’re both involved with the same band, but we’re also involved with the same brand”, says Grønbæk.
In Grønbæk’s custom-configured FOH mixing package, a System T 16-channel Furniture Fader Tile and a dedicated touchscreen are housed in a custom case to protect the rig in transit. A single-rack-space SSL TE1 Tempest Engine, which supports up to 256 paths, is paired with a custom-configured Windows-based computer running SSL’s Tempest Control App.
The TCA Flypack is interfaced to an outboard hardware interface managing routing and matrixing in and out of the setup, as well as a hardware processor providing multi-zone P.A. management. A Mac Mini computer also acts as a server, hosting plug-ins and presets that Grønbæk has developed during more than a decade with Lukas Graham, and additionally runs sound level measurement and metering apps.
Grønbæk’s idea, beginning in 2016 with Lukas Graham’s busy touring schedule, was to find a lightweight mixing console that took up minimal rack space and occupied a small footprint at FOH. “We travel a lot and do as many as ninety gigs a year, all over the world”, he says. “We need to be able to travel light when we fly, so the weight can never exceed 32 kilos for the whole rack. But we also want to maintain a high level of audio consistency. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing a festival for 30,000 people, a showcase for 500 people or a morning TV show, it has to sound exactly the same all the time.”
About the time before 2016, when the touring production switched to portable consoles, Grønbæk says: “We did some festival gigs with a combination of SSL Live consoles at front-of-house and monitors, so we were familiar with the sound of SSL equipment. But you cannot easily fly with an L550.”
Despite the high channel count supported by the TE1 Tempest Engine, Lukas Graham’s stage setup demands relatively few inputs, says Grønbæk. “We have a drum kit and a bunch of microphones for vocals, so about sixteen of the 40 or 45 channels coming from the stage are mic-level.” The wireless bass passes via Dante to the console while the wireless guitar is fed over AES/EBU. The outputs from the computers driving the MIDI keyboards are routed to FOH via MADI. The support tracks playback rig is also networked over Dante to FOH.
When mixing, Grønbæk typically has the system configured with VCAs on the top fader layer. The link between the physical faders and the touchscreen can be disengaged, allowing him to direct his creative focus onto the faders yet still adjust other channels on the touchscreen. It’s also a simple matter to take control of an onscreen channel from an encoder on the Fader Tile, he notes.
Lukas Graham’s live show is timecode-based. “I have snapshot automation”, says Grønbæk. “The incoming timecode is triggering different snapshots.” When playing festivals or fly-dates where there may not be enough time to optimize the P.A. rig before the band take the stage, Grønbæk has the timecode triggering a variety of snapshots - adjusting channel mutes, controlling auxiliary sends or making delay and reverb changes - during the first few songs so that he can make fader moves with one hand while trimming the speaker system with his other hand on a separate touchscreen.
System T has two faders per channel, he also points out: “So whenever there’s a new song, there’s a new level on fader two, but fader one stays at unity gain. All my faders are flat at 0 dB, but the other fader is doing all the automation underneath.”
Grønbæk first took his new TCA console out on a U.S. tour with Lukas Graham in January 2024, followed by a string of dates in the U.K. in March, then eight nights at the same venue in Denmark around Easter. The band is playing festivals across Europe this summer.
(Photos: Solid State Logic)
Britannia Row supports The Offspring’s summer tour
American punk band The Offspring are playing worldwide summer dates including a 30th anniversary concert in Anaheim, California, in celebration of the album “Smash”, and performances at festivals around the globe, including Download, Hell Fest and BottleRock. Britannia Row Productions continues to provide audio rental services for the band, from bespoke control packages to full audio reinforcement.
At the 30th anniversary show in Anaheim, an L-Acoustics K1/K2 system was deployed at the Honda Center. The concert was mixed by FOH Engineer Greg Bess utilising a Cadac J-Type analogue console and a Cadac CDC Four compact digital mixer, while Monitor Engineer Jesse Cantrell chose an SSL 550 Plus to handle the band’s monitoring needs.
“Anaheim was very special”, says Cantrell. “I’ve listened to this band since I was a kid, and probably played some of these songs in my own bands in high school, so to get to be there when ‘Smash’ turned 30 was an experience I can honestly say I never thought I’d be a part of. I feel so lucky to have been there.”
Not afraid to mix things up, The Offspring’s engineers are no strangers to jumping between riders. “One of my favourite parts of the gig is getting to work on the Midas Heritage 3000”, continues Cantrell. “But this year, we swapped it out on some shows for an SSL L550. Their show is growing, Dexter (Holland, frontman) and the band have some cool ideas to take this show to a new level and we needed more flexibility at monitor world to allow that to happen.”
Cantrell, who is supported by Monitor Tech Emily Adams, credits her expertise with helping to enable a stress-free show: “With Emily on stage I can trust that everything is patched and mic’d up correctly. She takes care of everything so I can focus on mixing.” He chose the SSL for his digital desk as it sounds “as close to analogue as it can get”, as he puts it. He also implements a Rupert Neve Shelford Channel for Dexter Holland’s vocal, in line with the analogue rig. For all wireless needs, Cantrell, who is managing fifteen mixes, opts for Shure PSM1000s and Shure Axient.
“On top of everyone using Ultimate Ears IEMs, we use D&B Audiotechnik M2 wedges and two L-Acoustics A15 over one KS28 sub for side fills. Everyone except Dexter has a stereo band mix in their ears with themselves on top as standard. Dexter only wears one ear and has his vocal and guitar through it. His wedge is mostly his vocal and some guitar, while the rest of the wedges are vocals and drums. The side fill mixes are mostly drums, bass and vocals.”
Out front is long-serving FOH Engineer Greg Bess, who reflects on the system design at the Anaheim show: “We did slight modifications from our standard K1 over K2 configuration. We carefully matched the angles of the hangs to keep phase alignment as close as possible. For side coverage we had K1SB over K2 and kept our two centre hangs of Kara to fill the elusive centre coverage, which can be missed by stacked front fills.”
“For ground subs we used KS28, one high across the entire width of the stage in a sub-arc set-up”, furthers Bess. “This prevents annihilating the first few rows of the audience with inordinate amounts of low end.” Complementing the Cadac hub, Bess has outboard units including a Lexicon 960L, Gentner Audio Prism, Universal Audio Little Labs IBP, SPL Stereo Vitalizer Mk2-T 9739, and a Valley People PR-10 Rack with Kepex II, to name but a few.
A new addition to his FOH camp this year is Audio Tech Jess Loma who was enlisted to be Bess’ “extra ears”, checking coverage and balance in every venue. “When I first joined this team, I was very excited to see that they were using analogue desks at both FOH and monitors”, states Loma. “We’ve been playing a lot of festivals and old amphitheatres around Europe and South America this year, where we’re often not able to do a full sound check. I’ve started to work on the multitracking/streaming feeds, which allows Greg to focus on getting his mix levels for the show while I get the levels for any streams and multitracking.”
“For outboard feeds, we work on the same desk and so at the same time during soundcheck, we need to make sure that we tell each other if any adjustments are needed that could affect each other’s feed”, she adds. For the festival control package, Bess has an ATI Paragon II P2P desk modified with a reduced frame size, and custom-built API group/matrix outputs.
“The channel direct outputs are fed to 2-24 channel BBR1-B recorders for tracking as well as a Sennheiser Ambeo VR mic for audience pickup through a Black Lion Auteur Quad Mic pre”, concludes Loma. “For streaming and media feeds we use multiple matrix mixes to change the balance of the signal to suit the difference between the main mix and a more appropriate balance sent to two track feeds. Additionally, we have another mix sent to a Tascam Portacapture X8 for quick transfer to social media shots.”
(Photos: Ashley Osborn/Goldenvoice Just Like Heaven 2024)
Claypaky Arolla Aqua lights up Max Pezzali’s stadium tour
Max Pezzali’s first real stadium tour in over thirty years of career, “Max Forever”, sold out across all venues. The 10-date tour was a nostalgic journey through time, uniting different generations with the taste and icons of the 1990s. The former 883 frontman performed over thirty songs, including hits, rarities and his new single, released a few months ago after a four-year hiatus.
The tour’s stage design was nothing short of spectacular. All the visual elements created a nostalgic, celebratory atmosphere, highlighting the milestones of Pezzali’s career. Agora Rental, the supplier, suggested to use the Claypaky Arolla Aqua for these shows.
“For us, it was a great opportunity, which we seized immediately”, says Jordan Babev from Blearred Milano, the studio which dealt with the show’s lighting design. “We worked smoothly with Agora, allowing us to integrate these lights seamlessly into our design. The Arolla Aqua enabled us to create a show we are extremely satisfied with.”
“We used 158 Arolla Aqua units as the central part of our lighting design for Max Pezzali’s tour”, specifies Babev. “Our goal was to use a versatile light that could transform the stage design during the performance, creating different visual configurations. Spotlights highlighted key moments, adding dynamism and depth to the stage.”
“To complement the 158 Arolla Aqua fixtures, we also used 57 HY B-Eye K25 units”, he adds. “This choice successfully met all our design and performance requirements. Limiting the variety of lights allowed us to optimize programming and management while maintaining high-quality and visual consistency throughout the show.”
Working alongside Lighting Designer Jordan Babev on the “Max Forever” tour were Creative Director Sergio Papalettera and Operator Gianni Porcaro. The Agora lighting crew comprised Marco Carancini, Damiano Gasparini, Pablo Consoli, Jacopo Germiniasi, Devis Laurino, Giuliano De Lauro, and Simone Ronconi.
(Photos: Alessandro Bremec)
Lichtwerk nutzt Robe-Scheinwerfer für CollectiveFour auf Berliner Fashion Week
Die Berlin Fashion Week bzw. Berliner Modewoche ist eine seit 2007 zweimal jährlich stattfindende, rund eine Woche andauernde Veranstaltungsreihe in Berlin. Während der Modewoche werden Modenschauen, Messen, Ausstellungen, Installationen und Konferenzen für Fachpublikum und Öffentlichkeit abgehalten. Bereits zum dritten Mal fand das größte Event im Rahmen der Berlin Fashion Week in der Uber Eats Music Hall in Berlin statt.
Bisher bekannt unter „We.4“ und nun unter dem Namen „CollectiveFour“, haben sich die vier Fashion Designer Rebekka Ruétz, Danny Reinke, Marcel Ostertag und Kilian Kerner zusammengeschlossen, um ihre aktuellen Kollektionen dem Fachpublikum zu präsentieren. Der Erlös der Ticketverkäufe wurde an „Children for Tomorrow“ sowie den Tierschutzverband Berlin gespendet.
Martin Uteß von der Lichtwerk Veranstaltungstechnik GmbH aus Berlin zeichnete für das Lichtdesign verantwortlich. Er entschied sich u.a. für zwölf MegaPointes, zwölf LEDBeam 350 und vierzig LEDBeam 150 von Robe Lighting. „So unterschiedlich die Looks der vier Designer waren, so unterschiedlich mussten meine Lichtdesigns zu den einzelnen Shows sein“, sagt Uteß.
Die MegaPointes waren im Backdrop in sechs Leitertraversen links und rechts der mittigen Leinwand positioniert. „Die vielen Funktionen ermöglichten mir sowohl kräftige Beamshows, 70er-Jahre-Disco-Looks, als auch die Nutzung als Spitzlicht für den Runway“, so Uteß. Ergänzt wurden die MegaPointes durch LEDBeam 150, die im Backdrop den Raum in Farbe hüllen oder die MegaPointe mit ihren Beams untersützen konnten. „Ich war sehr froh, dass die Uber Eats Hall bereits mit ihnen ausgestattet ist und wir auf sie zurückgreifen konnten.“
Das Hauptaugenmerk lag auf der Ausleuchtung der Models. Außerhalb des eigentlichen Runways liefen diese einen vollständigen Kreis, um allen Gästen einen genaueren Blick auf die Kollektionen zu ermöglichen. Um hier den Fokus zu lenken und den Raum nicht unnötig zu erhellen, wurden die Models mit jeweils drei Scheinwerfern per Remote-System verfolgt. Die LEDBeam350 waren in den drei Überkopf-Traversen positioniert, die parallel zum Catwalk mittig und über dem Publikum geflogen wurden.
(Fotos: Lichtwerk Veranstaltungstechnik GmbH/Michael Wittig)
Robe moving lights chosen for Karta Svitu concert at Kyiv’s Bel Etage
Ukrainian rock band Karta Svitu launched their new album with a showcase gig at the Bel Etage venue in Kyiv, Ukraine, which was recorded for subsequent broadcast. The show was directed by Mari Pogrebynska and Pavlo Zakrevskyi and included lighting designed by Anton Semeniuk who utilised 32 Robe Spikie moving lights, six ColorWash 575s and a BMFL Follow Spot controlled via a RoboSpot system, among other lights, all supplied by Ukrainian rental company Alight.
Like everything in Ukraine, the show, production and entertainment industry has adapted to the realities of wartime, and while Alight has moved much of its equipment inventory to Poland for the moment - for obvious reasons - Semeniuk explains that he was still keen to use whatever Robe kit was available at the time of the show. “The stage space was too restricted to realise our initial ideas, so we found ourselves needing small but multifunctional devices, and Robe’s Spikie immediately came into my mind”, he says.
Pogrebynska, Zakrevskyi and Semeniuk collaborated on the stage set design which included LED tubes rigged to create an abstract space. Within this were the band and their music which captures some of the spirit and the moments of Ukraine in 2024. The set concept was to have the three walls of lighting wrapping around the band leaving the fourth wall open at the front, inviting the audience in to join them.
Semeniuk used Spikies for several tasks, including in an almost architectural context - to change the shape and meaning of the performance space as the band played through their eighteen album songs. Sixteen Spikies were hung on two rear trusses rigged in the roof and the other sixteen were deployed across four vertical truss towers - stage left and right - on the deck.
The BMFL FollowSpot was utilized for smooth key lighting and specials on lead singer Ivan Marunych. A standard follow spot would have been impractical and consumed a lot of space in the venue, so RoboSpot was “a logical option”, according to Semeniuk. The BMFL FollowSpot was rigged on a separate front truss, with the RoboSpot operator located backstage. The six ColorWash 575s were hung on the front truss and used for general stage washes.
Alight crew chief was Andrii Konovalyuk. For audio and video, the band utilised the Bel Etage in-house systems.
(Photos: Andrew Kharlamov)
Bright! Studios turn to Elation for opening of European Football Championships
Just before the start of UEFA Euro 2024, Frankfurt, one of the ten host cities, set the stage for four weeks of international football fever with a spectacular multimedia show. The show, a collaboration between Bright! Studios and spatial experiences agency Atelier Markgraph on behalf of Tourismus + Congress GmbH Frankfurt, transformed one of the city’s notable bridges over the Main River (Flößerbrücke) into a gigantic musical instrument.
The bridge, covered in the colors of the 24 participating nations for the duration of the European Championship, became the centerpiece for the 25-minute show. Lighting designer Thomas Giegerich from Bright! used 96 Proteus Excalibur, 48 Proteus Maximus and 48 of Elation’s new Pulse Bar L linear lighting solutions to visually bring the concept to life. Kaiser Showtechnik was responsible for the production’s technical equipment with all Elation gear distributed through Elation’s German partner LMP.
“The starting point of the concept was the colored fields modeled on the Euro 2024 logo and attached to the bridge, which we wanted to extend up and down with the help of light and have them ‘play’ like a piano or violin in time with the music”, explains Thomas Giegerich. “The reflections on the water further expanded the playing area.”
Giegerich chose the Proteus Excalibur IP65 beam light to extend the colors of the “bridge jersey” up and down: “After a test setup, it quickly became clear to me that I would like to use Proteus Excalibur in order to project the national colors intensively into the night sky during team presentations.” Additionally, 48 Proteus Maximus fixtures provided uplight for the color fields. “The Maximus worked from scaffolding towers almost 150 meters from the bridge”, notes Giegerich.
The designer was the first to debut Elation’s Pulse Bar in Germany, a new linear strobe and effect light which is also IP65-certified. “In addition to the reflected light and the visual extension through beams, I wanted a little additional color intensity towards the audience”, he explains. “The Pulse Bar is incredibly bright and has a very intense effect. We only ran them at 20 percent. It was precisely this headroom in terms of intensity that gave us the freedom we needed to occasionally set accents in the show with very high light output. It was also the Pulse Bars that visually translated the string passages in the piece of music onto the bridge.”
(Photos: Frank Baudy - Seitenstopper.de)
Tom Kenny uses Elation indoors and out at 2024 CMT Music Awards
Lighting Designer Tom Kenny utilized Elation lighting for both the indoor and outdoor stages at the 2024 CMT Music Awards earlier this spring. The lighting package, supplied by 4Wall, included Proteus Excalibur, Artiste Mondrian, and Dartz 360 luminaires, among other fixtures.
Broadcast live from the Moody Center on the University of Texas campus in Austin, performances took place inside and on an outdoor stage in front of the University of Texas Tower. Lighting direction for the indoor show was by Felix Peralta, David “Fuji” Convertino, and Michelle Griesmer, with Han Henze and Matt Piercy handling lighting direction on the outdoor stage. Production design was by Anne Brahic, her fifteenth year working the awards show.
Kenny was in his twelfth year designing for the CMTs. After familiarizing himself with the songs, he worked closely with the production team regarding camera angles to make sure the lighting looked compelling for the millions of at-home viewers, and after rehearsal time tweaked the lighting to ensure the artist was fully satisfied.
Kenny says he strives to make the lighting unique each time, adding drama while staying within the architectural look that Anne Brahic and her team have created. Video, naturally, was a dominant aspect of the look and the designer worked purposefully with color to blend lighting with video, harmonizing the LED screens with complementary lighting.
Elation lighting was prominently featured, especially outdoors at the UT Tower stage, where IP65-rated Proteus Excalibur beam effects were required to withstand rain while lighting up the entire skyline. Kenny placed the Excaliburs upstage on the deck, behind the band.
Additional to the Elation package were Dartz 360 LED beam/spot fixtures. Kenny positioned them throughout the house and on the University walls in the outdoor rig. He says the Dean of the University loved how they lit the buildings and foliage. “It’s always an interesting life being a lighting designer for CMT as they’re always breaking the rules on where a location should be”, shares Kenny. “It’s what makes these shows fan favorites.”
The CMT Music Awards made their return to Austin for a second consecutive year, after more than twenty years in Nashville, fully embracing Texas’ current status as a hotbed of country music. Inside at the main show, Production Designer Anne Brahic highlighted the city of Austin and its Congress Street Bridge with an asymmetrical set that extended to the heights of the venue and into the audience.
To cover the space, a large lighting package was used to light both set and talent and included Elation’s 51,000-lumen Artiste Mondrian LED profile fixture. The Mondrians were used both in the main show and throughout the outdoor rig at UT tower. “They cut through the strong video sources with the strong palettes created by Trevor Burke and Kat Folts”, says Kenny.
Art Director was Gloria Lamb; Jonathan Stoller-Schoff was the Asst Art Director. The main show team included: Cole Kiracofe (Gaffer); Michael Smallman (Best Boy); Alex Flores (Lighting Crew Chief); Matt Weede, Daniel Teeter and Taylor Moore (Lighting Techs); Loren Barton (Media Server Programmer); Zach Peletz (Content Director); Michael Moxon (Video Crew Chief); David Imlau, Tom Armbruster and Brandon Oosterhof (LED Leads); Russell Eia, Ryan Hollis, Austin Stengle and Kenny Stanley (LED Techs).
The Remote Stage UT Austin Tower team included: Daniel Fly (Gaffer); Brian Monahan (Production Electrician); Adam McIntosh (L1); Jake Riddell and Amy Sunshine Ross (L2s); and Ivy Weede (RoboSpot Tech).
(Photos: Rick Kern/Catherine Powell/Getty Images for CMT)
Eric Price debuts Elation SOL I Blinder on Taking Back Sunday tour
Taking Back Sunday lighting designer Eric Price is the first to tour with Elation’s new SOL I Blinder, integrating the LED light into the rock band’s set on their current North American outing. The tour kicked off on May 19, 2024, in New Orleans and continues through the summer.
Price and tour manager Andrew Sprague talked design ideas with Taking Back Sunday vocalist Adam Lazzara, who Price says is very hands on with the look of the show. Looking back at styles as diverse as Queen shows of the 1970s and the iconic sets of Soul Train, Price says Lazzara wanted a bold, traditional aesthetic with eye candy looks on stage and minimal moving lights.
“Obviously we weren’t going to bring out 100s of PAR cans so we explored custom set pieces”, explains Price. “Looking at venue sizes and logistics, we needed something efficient and effective and we settled on an idea of a lot of blinders.” After talking to Jason Reberski at lighting vendor JRLX, as well as Ross Blitz at Elation, Price says he realized that the SOL fixtures were an interesting option.
The setup includes a 24-ft wide by 4-ft tall riser with steps, a drum riser stage left and a vocal riser stage right, all skirted with 44 SOL I Blinder fixtures. The SOL live on pipe in racks of four which clamp onto the back of the legs of the riser decks, a quick set-up and tear-down rigging plan that was worked out by stage provider Gallagher Nashville, along with JRLX. Elation SixBar 1000 LED battens provide side lighting.
The band’s music, a mix of heavy numbers with quick transitions into quieter more emotional songs, gives Price the opportunity to use the fixtures in a variety of ways. “I enjoy transitioning from big white CTO looks or saturated color sweeps down into a dark moody blue, just following the music”, he says. “You don’t need a lot of gobos, just color and tempo.”
Taking Back Sunday music pairs well with strobe looks, which Price turns to at medium to low intensity. “They would destroy the crowd at full intensity”, he says, noting that he generally runs the SOLs at 30-35 percent with an end-of-show walk-off look at up to 60 percent.
Ryan Kestler is the LX/Video Tech on this tour. Worm serves as Stage Manager/Carpenter. Video Vendor is DCR Nashville.
(Photos: Salma Bustos/Glenn Cummings/Charlie McCarty)
Ayrton illuminates first major event in Spain’s renovated Santiago Bernabéu
The “Telefónica 100 Live” event - a celebration of Telefónica’s centenary, held on May 18, 2024, at the newly-renovated Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid - brought together over 60,000 attendees for a night of music and technology that featured performances by artists like Alejandro Sanz, Hombres G, and Ana Mena, among others.
Each act was accompanied by an audiovisual display. The mastermind behind this setup was lighting designer Caco García. At the heart of the lighting display was the Ayrton Cobra Laser IP65 luminaire. With 56 units strategically deployed, these luminaires illuminated the stadium and transformed it into a canvas of light and colour.
The Cobra’s laser beams cut through the air, synchronized with the music to create a variety of patterns and shapes. “The Ayrton Cobra fixtures were essential to achieving the visual impact we sought”, says García. The LED screen surfaces were harmoniously integrated with the lighting effects to create a synergy between light and sound. Every note and musical rhythm was accompanied by synchronized lighting movements.
“The key was close collaboration with the technical team and suppliers”, adds García. “The success of this event was the result of collective effort and meticulous planning.”
(Photos: Nabscab)
Tube UK supplies “Kagami” shows
Technology collective Tin Drum asked Manchester-based audio specialists Tube UK to assist with the delivery of a sound system - speakers together with a playback/racking control system - for a series of immersive mixed reality performance concerts, “Kagami”, featuring the music of the late artist, composer and audio producer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
The in-the-round shows were originally staged during the 2023 Manchester International Festival (MIF23) at the Old Granada Studios, also with Tube as audio supplier. Tin Drum next moved the show to the Roundhouse in London for a high-profile showcase and again asked Tube UK to supply the audio equipment, including speakers and collaborating closely with their sound designer Rob Parkinson.
“Kagami” will now tour worldwide for the next two or three years with the same audio control set up as delivered to the initial UK productions by Tube. Audiences wear compact Magic Leap 2 AR headsets, start off in a circle and can see a virtual Sakamoto playing the piano in the centre area, together with dimensional art synched to the music. As the piece unfolds, they can explore the space while hearing the spatial audio and experiencing the surrounding atmosphere through the speaker array rigged in the venue.
Rob Parkinson is using D&B Audiotechnik’s S100 Soundscape to create a layer of sonic atmosphere. In March 2023, just a couple of days after Sakamoto’s passing, audio engineer and designer Kazuyuki “zAk” Matsumura, who has been integral to Sakamoto’s live sound/recorded works for over a decade, reached out to D&B in Japan to establish the feasibility of the project using D&B Soundscape.
Matsumura’s original sound design for the piece stems from Sakamoto’s “Playing the Piano” concert series which was both performed live and streamed. He wanted to realise this once again without the presence of the artist, and so paid extra attention to how the audience might experience the body of the piano as if it was there right in front of them.
A system mock-up was set up in D&B’s Yokohama demo room, and then again at their partner Soundscape’s studio in Tokyo, where a quarter of the circle making up the full system for audio preproduction was emulated to translate Matsumura’s aural concepts into audio. This particular show was premiered at The Shed in New York and was a great success, so it was decided to use the same base sound design again for the “Kagami” shows.
The main challenge for “Kagami” from the general audio side was to design a safe network system for playback that would run without the engineers present. Dante enabled DS100 was convenient as it could cater for numerous design changes, explains Ayumi Hanano from D&B Audiotechnik in Japan.
For the Roundhouse shows, Tube UK supplied twenty-nine D&B E-Series speakers - E5s, E6s and E8s - with circular deployment in the venue’s main space, with V-10P and Y10P downfills in the centre, plus two flown V-Subs. Additional speakers (two D&B Y7Ps and nine D&B E8s) were rigged in an induction space showing a pre-performance film comprising a mix of Sakamoto images and video footage.
The main room speakers were rigged in five circles in the Roundhouse roof and used to create a rich and enveloping concert hall in which to stage the performance. With the audio plot drawn up in advance, once in the venue Rob Parkinson worked with the riggers to get the CAD drawing and actual reality as close as possible. Once in place, the X/Y position of each speaker was laser measured and the positional information updated in the Soundscape software.
Next the speaker-to-floor distances were measured, also with a laser tool, as each box has to be physically exactly where it is in the computer. Parkinson worked on this element of the process with YoYo Munk, Tin Drum’s chief scientist. The number and types of speakers and amplifiers will vary as “Kagami” tours around the world depending on the region and venue, so Soundscape recreates the original object-based spatial mix in the new venues, and Parkinson will lead the production redesign each time it moves.
The playback show runs on a QLab machine - with another for hot backup - feeding into the brains of the system, the D&B DS100 Signal Engine, which maps the movement and immersive effects - time delay and level control - for every speaker. For this set up, QLab runs automation for En-Scene - sound object localisation using level and delay parameters - and En-Space, convoluted room emulation. The signals are distributed via Dante to two D&B DS10 Dante to AES convertors which were interfaced to ten D&B D20 amps for The Roundhouse installation, and then to the speakers.
All the audio is cued through a That Little Box controller, a custom designed product invented by Rob Parkinson. For the Roundhouse, Tube also supplied their first Yamaha DM7 digital mixing console - Parkinson liked it so much that he asked production manager Rory Howson to add it as a first choice to the “Kagami” touring rider. Kagami’s next stops are Taipei, Tokyo, and then Sydney in 2025.
(Photos: National Theater & Concert Hall, Taipei, Taiwan/Chen-Chou Chang)
Showtec, Infinity und DMT bei „Pump Up the 90’s“ in Hardenberg im Einsatz
DPL Licht en Geluid, niederländischer Anbieter von Beleuchtungs- und Audiolösungen, hat bei der jüngsten „Pump Up the 90’s“-Veranstaltung in der Evenementenhal Hardenberg (Overijssel) wieder die 1990er Jahre zum Leben erweckt: Am 20. April 2024 traten Künstler wie Charly Lownoise, T-Spoon, Flamman & Abraxas, Critical Mass, DJ Potato, DJ Zany und Don Cartel unter der Lichtshow von Showtec, Infinity und DMT auf.
Für die „Duikboot Area“ wählte DPL Produkte aus, die eine immersive Atmosphäre schaffen sollten. Dazu gehörten vier neue Infinity-Raccoon-S420/4-Scheinwerfer, ein Strobe/Wash mit sektionaler Steuerung, RGBW-Wash-LEDs mit einem CRI von 92 und 35 CW-Strobe-LEDs mit über 70.000 Lumen. Diese wurden von zwanzig Infinity-Raccoon-P14/4-RGBM-Pars, drei Infinity-TF-300-Fresnels, 32 Showtec-Phantom-180-Wash-RGBW-LED-Wash-Moving-Heads und sechs Showtec LED Octostrip Set MKII für insgesamt 48 Meter mit sektionaler Steuerung unterstützt.
Für Lichteffekte sorgten zwei Sets des neuen Showtec Stage Blinder Flex Blaze mit insgesamt sechzehn warmweißen (3.000 K) 100-W-LED-Blinder-Pods. Jeder Pod ermöglicht eine traditionelle Wolfram-Dimmsimulation mit integrierten gelben LEDs und bot RGB-Blaze-Effekte. Um Farben und dynamische Beleuchtung zu erzeugen, wurden 150 Showtec Spectral M800 Q4 IP65, wetterfeste RGBW-LED-Pars, in zwei Hallen platziert, die von zwei Showtec-Lampy-20-2U-DMX-Konsolen gesteuert wurden.
Die Banner wurden von zwanzig Showtec ACT Profile 50 WW, warmweißen Theater-LED-Ellipsoid-Scheinwerfern, beleuchtet. Die Hauptbühne wurde von einer vierzig Quadratmeter großen DMT-Premiere-Series-4.6-G2-Outdoor-LED-Leinwand dominiert.
(Fotos: DPL Licht en Geluid/Highlite)
Nick Jevons immerses at Terminal V Festival with Chauvet Professional
For this year’s tenth edition of the Terminal V Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, which took place in April at the Royal Highland Centre, the V2 Stage (now Area V2 Stage), a mainstay of the annual EDM event since 2017, was turned into a 360-stage. The team at 19MIL, which designed the Area V2 Stage and the adjacent Terminal Stage, therefore called in Nick Jevons, lighting designer and president of Nick Jevons Designs Ltd.
Working in Depence 3, Jevons created 3D renders of his design to share his vision for the V2 Stage and the gritty industrial look of the Terminal Stage. At the Area V2 Stage, Jevons had twenty Chauvet Professional PXL Bar 16 motorized battens and sixteen Color Strike M motorized strobe/washes supplied by Marc Callaghan and his team at Liteup.
Jevons arranged the batten units around the bi-level central video screen that surrounded the DJ booth, and used the Color Strike M units to frame the video screens in the four corners of the expansive room. He also brought in Auratecture to run the Area V2 Stage.
At the Terminal stage, Jevons ran the show himself. He used twenty Colorado PXL Bar 16 to make the massive video screen stand out against a hard-edged background to create greater audience interaction. “I had ten of the PXL Bars line the top of the screen and ten line the bottom”, he says. “They were the main element of my design in this setting.”
(Photos: Chauvet Professional/Nick Jevons Designs Ltd.)
SJ Grevett and DMX Productions create the looks for Mobo Awards with Chauvet
The 26th annual Mobo Awards, held at the 11,000-capacity Utilita Arena in Newcastle, once again was the UK’s biggest celebration of Black music and culture. Supporting the music on stage was a lighting design by SJ Grevett, operated by Liam Griffiths and Kris Goodman, that featured 98 Chauvet Professional fixtures.
The kit included 24 Maverick Storm 4 Profiles, thirty Maverick Storm 3 BeamWashes, 32 Strike 1 units and twelve Colorado PXL16 motorized tilting battens. “We went for the big and bold look with brightest fixtures, so we could really punch through against so much LED screen space on camera”, says SJ Grevett.
At times, Liam Griffiths would endow the stage with a bold multi-layered background, then have it disappear to be replaced by a more subtle, dreamy panorama. Throughout the show, he changed color combinations to coordinate them with video content. Kris Goodman expanded and contracted the amount of dark space and key light to ensure that the looks were varied and interesting for both the live audience and television viewers.
The looks that were conjured up were reflective of the aspirations of the performers on stage. “We didn’t see content until a few days before the show, so everything was a bit of a stab in the dark, then tweaked on site. It was a real team effort to bring the creative ideas of the artists to life”, says Grevett who set these looks within a clearly defined framework on his 12-meter trim stage.
“Essentially, when it comes to award shows, in my opinion are two options - either frame a stage as we did in this case, or just go huge on the back with massive open stage”, he explains. “Budget dictated that we framed it for this show.”
(Photos: Chauvet Professional/DMX Productions/Mobo Awards)
Chauvet fixtures selected for Jon Batiste’s Coachella show
During his appearance at Coachella’s Outdoor Theatre, Jon Batiste, his band, and a variety of special guests took fans on a musical odyssey that included everything from covers of Beatles songs to the classic from his hometown New Orleans, “When The Saints Go Marching In”.
The set on Batiste’s stage reflected the rich diversity and creative spirit of his music, with a tree in the middle of the stage, a clothesline to the left, a recording studio to the right, and a utility pole thrown in for good measure.
Accenting the set pieces and reflecting Batiste’s music and stage persona was a Shepherd Lowrey lighting design on a rig that featured twelve Chauvet Professional Color Strike M motorized strobe washes from Ariel Afar and his team at SLX Productions.
Describing the vision behind the production of the Jon Batiste show, Lowrey says: “It was all about the tree of life. Once we surrendered the right of way to the tree, everything made sense. We used some light as roots that carried this electric current of the tree. Others, like the Color Strike Ms, were almost like budding flowers, or maybe even weeds underneath the tree, depending on the roll they played for each song.”
Lowrey achieved this effect by positioning the Color Strike M fixtures upstage left and upstage right, as well as across the downstage deck. He ran the fixtures at 65 percent to achieve the desired level of brightness and coverage.
“In this show, I used the Strikes for candy light”, continues Lowrey. “Like candy, they were not absolutely necessary for your everyday diet - but they were oh so delicious. They were really used to accent the music as opposed to washing the stage or keep anyone visible. The Strikes had no responsibility to keep anyone covered, so we could use them freely to spice up the show with stabs of white or chase effects.”
On the subject of white light, Lowrey says “ain’t nothing like a blast of white to break it up!” He used white lighting in the show to accent drum hits. “We wanted to support the drums with blasts of white so that the sound connects with the lighting and locks the whole thing in for an immersive experience”, he explains. “White is full on. So, we gave the down beats blasts of white to command the visuals.”
Jon Batiste’s Coachella show was the product of many collaborative hands, which in addition to Lowrey included the SLX team, creative director Jemel McWilliams, production designer Eighteen Twenty-Six Studio, scenic designer Winston Studios, content designer Cameron Leahy, and video director Raux Rau.
(Photos: Charles Detwiler/Mach Shot)
Innlights steuert Videowand mit 840 Quadratmetern LED-Modulen zur ITB 2024 bei
Während der offiziellen Eröffnungsveranstaltung der Internationalen Tourismus-Börse (ITB) vor 3.000 Gästen in Berlin erstrahlte am 4. März 2024 auf 105 Metern Breite bei einer Höhe von acht Metern eine zusammenhängende Video-Wall mit der Vorstellung des diesjährigen Gastlandes Oman. Gebaut und geliefert wurde die Video-Wall von Innlights Displaysolutions aus Wuppertal im Auftrag der Berliner TSE AG.
„Es ist die größte LED-Wand an einem Stück, die wir für ein Indoor Event bisher realisiert haben“, sagt Kolja Birkenbach von Innlights Displaysolutions. Für das Video Processing der insgesamt 17.640 x 1.344 Pixel setzte Innlights seinen Video Controller InnVision SCXR Pro 7U ein. In seiner Maximalkonfiguration ist der Controller mit elf Input- und elf Output-Karten ausgerüstet, die jeweils 4K-Auflösungen steuern.
Für das Event zur ITB mit 840 Quadratmetern LED-Modulen wurde der InnVision Controller über sieben Output-Karten in 10-Bit-Farbtiefe mittels Glasfaser-Leitungen zwischen Regie und LED-Wand verbunden. Der Controller bot dabei über sein Multiview Board eine ständige Diagnose zur Videosignalqualität. Für den Aufbau der Hardware setzte Innlights Displaysolutions zehn Techniker und weitere sechs Helfer ein. Das Team benötigte insgesamt zwanzig Stunden für Installation und Inbetriebnahme.
(Fotos: Innlights Displaysolutions)
4Wall energizes Detroit Lions new uniform reveal with more than 100 Chauvet fixtures
This spring, the Detroit Lions football team unveiled their new uniforms for the upcoming 2024 season. NFL regulations allow teams to change the look of their uniforms every five years. The Lions held a reveal event for the new uniforms at their Ford Field home, drawing thousands of fans. The same stage was also used for the Detroit Lions NFL Draft Party. Both events were executed with the help of 4Wall Entertainment’s Detroit crew.
Led by VP of Live Events Joe Leahy, the 4Wall team of Kareem Harris, Gary McGarity, Ross Zhang, Xavier Williamson, Jason Dunk, Robert McGoldrick, Jon Sogoian, Johnny Pike, Michael Gallacher, Brian Lavender, Tommy Minkowski, Joshua Ruhlman, and Rahul Samuel set a stylish, upbeat tone for the reveal event.
Helping them in this effort were 113 Chauvet Professional fixtures, including 14 Maverick MK3 Washes, 48 Colorado PXL Bar 16 motorized battens, 14 Color Strike M strobe-washes, 14 Strike Array 4 blinders, 20 Epix Strip IP one-meter linear units, and five Cloud 9 foggers.
Working with a 58’ x 38’ mobile stage with an 80’ T-shaped thrust and 29-30’ trim, the team created a bold setting on the field. Three large video walls ran the width of the stage, and a horizontally oriented screen ran across its top, all of which were supplied, installed, programmed, and operated by 4Wall. The video content displayed during the reveal event was shot at the 4Wall Detroit warehouse utilizing Chauvet gear.
At the start of the actual reveal, the stadium became dark, with almost all the light coming from video walls, which displayed narrated images. When the video ended, the Colorado PXL Bar 16s positioned on the runway deck bathed the arena in the Lion’s blue team color.
Next, as players entered wearing the new uniforms, the rig’s Mavericks created crossing beam patterns, while the Color Strike M units strobed accenting the fog from the Cloud 9s, and the Epix Strip fixtures on rolling truss carts served up some dynamic backlight.
(Photos: Chauvet Professional/4Wall Entertainment/Detroit Lions)
Distortion Studios launches Bristol Virtual Production space based on Stage Precision software
Distortion Studios, specialists in virtual production, recently opened the doors of its new Bristol-based studio, backed by an in-house team of immersive digital arts specialists. The space can be utilised by anyone looking to shoot virtual production content, as well as serving as a training and community hub.
“At Distortion Studios, we want to play a part in upskilling the next generation of industry professionals locally”, remarks Nick Diacre, Technical Director at Distortion Studios. “So, we’re looking to invite technical people in and run training in the space, alongside the usual studio hire. Remaining technologically agnostic was therefore important to us.”
Diacre first encountered SP by Stage Precision in the software’s early beta phase, which coincided with his exploration of XR setups using Disguise technologies during the Covid-19 pandemic. “SP slotted into a gap when we needed to take our productions to the next level and be more versatile”, recalls Diacre. “With SP we didn’t need to program custom code from scratch to build integrations anymore.”
Diacre designed the VP workflow at Distortion Studio based on Stage Precision. Distortion’s commitment to remaining platform-agnostic allows for adaptability to different tools and technologies based on project and client requirements. With Stage Precision at the centre of operations, Distortion Studios can switch between platforms, software, and systems. “Unreal Engine, TouchDesigner, Pixera; all of these can be connected into a single interface in SP. The software just does its job and puts out the correct data”, adds Diacre.
Distortion uses SP’s seamless integration with Stream Deck to control camera positions and lighting functions. Stage Precision’s Shield plug-in for Unreal Engine 5 is also in use at the studio. “Shield has become a potent tool for us, taking the legwork out of controlling Unreal”, says Diacre. “Our green screen workflow is elevated as Shield facilitates a closer control and monitoring of Unreal Engine.”
(Photos: Stage Precision/Distortion Studios/Andre Pattenden)
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Magnum PA and SR Productions field Martin Audio WPL for Admiral Insurance ASM
Cardiff-based Magnum PA Ltd and SR Productions enjoy an ongoing strategic partnership, with Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision series line array at the heart of it. While Magnum PA carries the WPL in its inventory, SR supports the WPC in its hire fleet - so that between the two companies, the Martin Audio box count exceeds 150. To further strengthen the offering, both companies frequently partner with Bristol-based SWG Events.
Long-standing SR Productions client Orchard Media and Events Group recently required a solution to cover delegates for Admiral Group’s annual staff general meeting at Utilita Arena Cardiff. A main hang of twelve WPL per side was supported by an outfill of eight WPC per side, while centre fill duties were carried out by four Torus T820 and monitors by four LE200s. This created an end-to-end Martin Audio solution.
(Photos: Admiral Insurance ASM/Magnum PA Ltd/Martin Audio/SR Productions)
