Wide News
From recording, broadcast, postproduction and A/V
MLA First for One Third club
One of the China’s most prosperous areas, Hangzhou’s nightlife recently saw a new One Third club destination open its doors in a former locomotive depot, another of the NOA’s Arc Group’s premium entertainment ventures. The third in the chain (including one in Beijing), the 2,500 capacity dance venue is equipped with Martin Audio’s award-winning MLA Multicellular Loudspeaker Array.
The sound system was supplied to the Dutch Live Legends creative team and creative director Daan Oomen by Martin Audio’s China distributor Sino Hui Feng, who worked won the project with the Martin Audio bid to ensure One Third Hangzhou stands out in a competitive marketplace.
Everyday Life in Amman
On 22 November 2019, Coldplay performed ‘Sunrise’ and ‘Sunset’ sets at Amman’s Citadel, Jordan, both streamed live on YouTube to mark the release of the band’s new album, Everyday Life. A few days before the Amman performances, Coldplay’s management announced the addition of a one-off live show on 25 November at London’s Natural History Museum. Selected songs of this performance will be available on radio and social media, with proceeds donated to an environmental charity.
Following Coldplay’s decision not to tour the release for environmental reasons, the band devised this alternative: ‘We wanted to pick somewhere in the middle of the world where we normally don’t get to play’, singer Chris Martin told the BBC.
CMA Awards
Broadcast live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, the 53rd Annual Country Music Association (CMA) Awards gathered the biggest names in country music for its regular round of appreciation and celebration. Throughout the evening, Sennheiser’s new Digital 6000 wireless system served both live and viewing audiences.
Early in the evening, Female Vocalist of the Year nominee Kelsea Ballerini took the stage to deliver a stripped-down version of ‘Homecoming Queen’, the leading single off of her latest album, using a crystal-encrusted Sennheiser SKM 6000 handheld transmitter, coupled with an MD 9235 capsule. ‘She loves that microphone, and we love it too,’ her FOH engineer, Chris Diener, says.
Fremont Theater returns to San Luis Obispo scene
Set in the heart of downtown San Luis Obispo, the 865-seat Fremont Theater is a surviving – and now thriving – example of the Streamline Moderne style favoured by West Coast theatres when it opened to host both movies and performances in 1942. Evading attempts to repurpose it as a multiplex cinema or demolish it, a new group of partners, the Fremont Theater Entertainment Group, has invested in restoring its visual and acoustical charm while also modernising its technical facilities.
A key part of the initiative is the addition of an L-Acoustics Kara loudspeaker system, originally installed in 2018 and then re-flown with a new truss system installed earlier this year.
Fame Studios refurbishment
Having been in continuous service since it opened, Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, recently completed an update of its control room of Studio B with structural changes, new equipment and ATC SCM45A monitors.
Built in the 1960s by Rick Hall, Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, was the first and most prominent studio to curate the Muscle Shoals Sound, a unique and ultimately ineffable combination of country, gospel, rock, and soul. Listed in the US National Register of Historic Places. The studio hosted Aretha Franklin, Clarence Carter, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Gregg Allman, and countless others who shaped the face of modern music.