Launching a dedicated HD TV channel for its 2012 coverage of the Formula One Grand Prix, Sky dedicated a two-hour special of The F1 Show to preview the forthcoming season – and implicitly celebrated winning the television rights over other broadcasters, including the BBC.
Now, with the 2013 F1 season past its half-way point, Sky has raised the broadcast stakes still higher.
With more than 100m television viewers watching live in 44 countries, the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest took its particular mix of music, spectacle, camp and kitsch to Sweden.
Here, the 26 finalists competing in the world’s most-watched non-sporting event were served by a typically ambitious broadcast set-up, including its biggest ever radio mic system.
The best after dinner story that Studio People MD Peter Keeling has to tell begins with an unexpected telephone call posing the question: ‘what will it take to create the best studio in the world?’.
And it continues with, ‘the studio was to be a gift for the President of Gabon – it absolutely had to be finished on time because it’s for his birthday’. This is that story…
Assuming the Netherlands throne on the abdication of Queen Beatrix, the coronation of Willem-Alexander centred on a grand ceremony that was broadcast live by Dutch national broadcaster, NOS, as well as being relayed to other countries’ broadcasters.
The event was also marked by concerts from Dutch violin superstar, Andre Rieu and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
US sound reinforcement company Rat Sound used the Gobi tent at the 2013 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival to put EAW’s new Anya loudspeaker system through its paces – the first use of the system for a public event.
‘Dave and Jon worked with the final prototypes and asked if they could use the first 16-module at Coachella,’ says EAW President, Jeff Rocha. ‘We were thrilled to showcase our new product at one of our industry’s most demanding events.’
To support his latest album, Burning Lights, Chris Tomlin and his band set out on a two-month, 36-date US arena tour. At the heart of the visual show is Renewed Vision’s ProPresenter 5 lyric and media presentation software.
‘For video playback on past tours, we’ve used SMPTE time code and locked everything to a click track with no getting off the map,’ says Matt Gilder. ‘Now we set up video cues in advance that I can trigger during performances.
Killing 185 people and costing NZ$15bn, the 2011 Christchurch earthquake was one of New Zealand’s most severe peacetime disasters. Among the damaged and collapsed buildings, the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand found itself temporarily off limits.
‘Most of the buildings around our campus had been, or were being demolished. Obviously the big question was: what happened to the gear?’
From an opening performance given by the Berlin Philharmonic in 1998, the Switzerland’s KKL Luzern Concert Hall was destined to become one of the world’s great performance centres.
Designed by architect Jean Nouvel, its formal opening took place in 2000. Today, it attracts music fans from around the world with a diverse programme of events – and an ambitious new sound installation..
While Madonna has come to enjoy the title Queen of Reinvention, it is David Bowie who is reinvention’s true hero.
From 1967 album debut through a succession of radical musical style changes, periodic forays into acting and painting, a pioneering US$55m ‘David Bowie bond’ issue, and now the David Bowie is exhibition, Bowie has pushed boundaries beyond the efforts of all peers.
‘I was fascinated by the idea that breath freezes at very low temperatures and makes a unique sound as the ice crystals form. It’s a very romantic concept and I simply couldn’t get it out of my head.
‘No-one had previously succeeded in recording this phenomenon and even during my stay in Siberia, I sometimes started to think that the whole thing was, perhaps, just a myth…’
The evening’s telecast was one of the year’s largest, drawing 28.1m viewers worldwide – its second-largest audience since 1993. In the US it was broadcast live in HDTV and 5.1 surround on the CBS Television Network, and showcased more than 25 performances from some of the hottest international recording artists.
The occasion was the 55th annual Grammy Awards, held at the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles.
