Founded in 1995 and located in Waterford, Connecticut, Power Station New England recreates the original New York City facility – including the acoustics – which was designed and built in 1976. Power Station was one of the most awarded recording studios in history, thanks to an acoustical design that contributed to hundreds of Gold and Platinum records. The studio was renamed Avatar in 1996.

At its centre is an historic Neve 8068 MkII and an SSL 4064G+ console as part of a massive expansion set for a fall grand reopening. At the center of the 2017 rebirth is the main recording space with signature 35-foot dome, plus four isolation spaces and the historic control room A, which now features the vintage Neve. An entirely new Studio B mix room features the SSL.

Proving to be one of the must-see touring shows of 2017, Roger Waters’ Us + Them tour visits the Pink Floyd back catalogue, taking excerpts from Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Animals, and Wish You Were Here. With a ten-piece band on stage, monitor engineer Matt Napier manages their performance needs using a DiGiCo SD7.

‘The SD7 is still the only really serious console for a show of this complexity – and it’s not just about the channel count,’ he says. ‘The SD Series sounds fantastic, and the flexibility of the SD Racks and SD-Mini Racks, the redundancy, and flexibility means nothing else comes close. I also have two SD Racks dealing with stage inputs and IEM outputs, and a Mini Rack, which takes care of some analogue inserts.’

Having purchased Martin Audio XD12 and DD6 speakers for the long-running West End Avenue Q production in 2014, dBS Solutions has subsequently employed the same set-up on a number of theatre projects and end-of-year pantos. ‘We have been getting great results from the Martin Audio system,’ dBS Solutions MD, Chris Bogg, reports. ‘It’s sounding exactly as it should and everyone is delighted with it.’

Presently, the XD/WS218X model has been adopted on two further productions – Spamalot and the newly opened Legally Blonde the Musical, for which dBS has deployed the larger Martin Audio XD15. The low weight of this high-specification unit enables several pairs to be mounted up the vertical proscenium truss, with the rotatable horns offering flexibility.

The audio control for a new OB van commissioned by Croatia’s Gama Studio is centred on a 40-fader Calrec Artemis Light digital mixing console, providing a high level of flexibility and digital signal processing for improved handling of live sports and entertainment events. The  truck is already billed as one of the most advanced in Croatia's broadcast market.

‘We wanted the highest-quality systems, and Calrec has a tremendous reputation for top-of-class audio consoles,’ says Gama Studio Sound Engineer, Davor Omerza. ‘There are so many selling points – the integrated audio router, all-optical connections to stageboxes, redundancy and support for audio formats including AES/EBU, Dante and Madi. Calrec and Artemis made our choice an easy one.’

With recent seasons’ productions of plays authored by Bulgakov, Molière and Shakespeare underpinning its reputation for ‘set texts’, Moscow’s Maly Theatre both a cornerstone of the city’s theatre community and of Russian arts in general. The theatre is also an innovator, exploiting technology to enthral its audiences.

In this forward-looking context, the theatre’s management initiated a major audio upgrade project in 2011, working in conjunction with Salzbrenner Stage Tec Mediagroup Russia (SSMR). Now complete, the new system ranks among the most advanced in the world, complete with object-based immersive audio and adaptive room acoustics by Astro Spatial Audio.