Blog - Page 2 of 6 - Abacoustics

26Nov 2018 by admin

Merry Christmas Baby with Gregory Porter

TV

This week we have had the pleasure of working with jazz legend Gregory Porter on his very own Christmas TV special at the Exchange Hotel in Cardiff Bay. Mr Porter was joined by special guests Courtney Pine, Corinne Bailey Rae, Clare Teal, and Jacob Collier in performing special jazz arrangements of Christmas classics accompanied by the Gregory Porter band, and conductor Steve Sidwell’s fantastic orchestra. We provided EAW MicroWedge 10’s and Logic Systems LM 8’s as monitors, radio microphones and In Ear Monitors, band microphones and a large amount of DPA 4099’s f or the orchestra. It was the first time for us to experiment with our Coda Coray tops coupled with the new Coda Tiray subs. This system proved to be perfect for TV sound reinforcement, and compact enough…

23Nov 2018 by admin

BBC Radio Wales 40th Anniversary Concert

Culture

On Thursday 22 November, we were at the Swansea Grand Theatre to celebrate 40 years of BBC Radio Wales, with a very special evening of music and comedy hosted by Owen Money. Acts included our friends Only Men Aloud, international star of the stage John Owen Jones (of Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera fame), the Morriston Orpheus Choir, singer-songwriter Hannah Grace, top tenor Wynne Evans, local legend Mal Pope, Swansea band Who's Molly? and special guest Gabrielle. Owen was joined by acclaimed Welsh comics Mike Bubbins and Sarah Breese and a guest appearance by our engineer Gareth Bale (sorry Jared Planas!) to keep the laughs rolling between musical sets. It proved to be a very busy day for our 7 engineers who started at 7:30AM and finished at…

20Nov 2018 by admin

Songs of Praise ‘Big Sing’

TV

We are feeling quite festive here at ABacoustics after spending a few days in Edinburgh’s beautiful McEwan Hall with Avanti Media filming seasonal episodes of Songs of Praise Big Sing. We recorded two episodes in one day, with special guests including Susan Boyle, Collabro, The Overtones, Russel Watson, Katherine Jenkins, our old friend Aled Jones, and a congregation of over 1000 people. All of whom were accompanied by Ken Burton’s fantastic orchestra. It was the first outing for our brand new Coda TiRay p.a which proved to be surprisingly loud for such a compact system! We also supplied EAW Microwedge 10’s, Radio Microphone and IEM systems, band microphones and all of our DPA 4099’s for the orchestra, Midas Pro series mixing consoles and three engineers. Christmas Big Sing with be…

09Nov 2018 by admin

Armed Man Berlin

Classical and musicals

ABacoustics have recently had the honour of working alongside our friends Rondo Media on their production of Sir Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man. The performance took place on November 2nd in the Mercedes-Bens Arena in Berlin to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War. The concert brought together The World Orchestra for Peace and 2000 singers from 27 countries under the conductorship of the great composer to perform the multi-faith, multi-lingual work where the text of the Catholic Mass is combined with other religious and historical sources, including the Mahabharata and the Islamic call to prayer. The unique performance featured a specially commissioned war archive film reinforcing the powerful narrative of the work projected onto five screens – the build up to war, war itself and…

22Oct 2018 by admin

Songs of Praise ‘Gospel Choir of the Year’ Competition

TV

This weekend we have been at the Albert Hall in Nottingham with our friends Avanti Media filming the finals of the Songs of Praise Gospel Choir of the Year competition. David Grant hosted the exciting climax of this year’s choral competition, as five of the best amateur choirs in the country returned to the stage to sing in front of the judges; award-winning choir director Gareth Malone, gospel choir leader Karen Gibson and actor and singer Shaun Escoffery. The competing choirs were IDMC from central London, Keele University Gospel Choir from Staffordshire, Shalom Chorale from East London, Spring Into Soul from Worthing and C3 Vocals from Cambridge. We sent three engineers with our Coda Coray system and new Coda G18 subs, Allen & Heath GLD80 desk, band microphones, Schoeps and…

21Jun 2018 by admin

Festival of Voice 2018

Gigs

It was our pleasure to once again be a part of the Festival of Voice. The biennial arts festival, which is centred around the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay, returned this year and we provided sound equipment and audio tech support for various venues across the city. [caption id="attachment_2350" align="alignnone" width="437"] Billy Bragg at Donald Gordon Theatre. Photograph by Joe Singh of Snap Rock and Pop.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2351" align="alignnone" width="450"] LUMP at Donald Gordon Theatre. Photograph by 4Pi Productions.[/caption] This included installing our EAW KF740 rig in the Donald Gordon theatre, along with our new Avid VENUE Profile mixing console at front of house, and trusty Yamaha M7CL on monitors. We had great fun at the DGT working with the likes of Billy Bragg, Elvis Costello, Passenger, Gruff Rhys…

17Apr 2018 by admin

Busy Start to Festival Season 2018!

Culture

This week is set to be a busy one for us all at ABacoustics, starting with a brief stint in Manchester providing an in-house PA system, monitoring systems, engineer and microphones for the recording of BBC's Songs of Praise with our friends Avanti. We are then providing Schoeps microphones, radio microphones and In-Ear-Monitoring systems for the filming of the Songs of Praise Young Choir of the Year competition. On Friday and Saturday we will be providing engineers and a Logic Systems PA system for a 'Radio 1's Biggest Weekend' Fringe event at Gower College. We are also providing engineers and speakers for the 'Buxton lane' part of the Virgin London Marathon this year, which is a first for us! Our EAW 740 system and brand new Avid Profile desk…

21Mar 2018 by admin

Natwest 6 Nations Rugby Championship 2018

Sporting events

It’s that time of year! ABacoustics are glad to be back at our second home, the Principality Stadium, working alongside VSI, for this year’s Natwest 6 Nations Rugby tournament. The 'blues are at home’ this year which means that Wales host Scotland, Italy and France, and we will be providing our usual audio support once again. This year we are also proud to be providing technicians and equipment for a variety of entertainment before the matches and at half time including Only Men Aloud, the Forget-Me-Not Chorus from Penarth, and West Walian Trystan who will be singing his new single Gwahoddiad. We look forward to working with our friends at the Principality Stadium, Event 360 & the WRU to make these events a great success once again.

04Jan 2018 by admin

2017 Round Up!

Uncategorized

2017 was another brilliant year for us all at ABacoustics. One of the highlights for us was providing PA systems and sound support for the UEFA Champions League Final festival village, the Womens' Final match in Cardiff City Stadium, and the Ultimate Champions Match (on the 'floating pitch' in Cardiff Bay!). [caption id="attachment_1863" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Steve Aoki headlining the UEFA Champions League festival in Cardiff Bay. Photo courtesy of Orchard Entertainment.[/caption] We also provided our usual sound support at the Principality Stadium for events such as the 6 Nations and Autumn Internationals Rugby tournaments, Welsh Varsity, and Speedway GP. [caption id="attachment_2082" align="aligncenter" width="4032"] The Wallabies making their way onto the pitch in front of a male voice choir before the Wales v Australia game 11/11/17.[/caption] The Summer festival…

05Dec 2017 by admin

BBC Wales’ The Hour

TV

We have recently been working with our long time partners Avanti on a brand new political programme for BBC Wales called The Hour. At a time of momentous change for Wales, The Hour will focus on some of the major issues shaping the Welsh and UK political agenda. The debates will involve members of the public, politicians and experts sitting side by side as they explore each subject. The programme is set to be aired monthly, and will travel to locations across Wales, and has already taken place in Ebbw Vale and Newport. The debates will be hosted by Catrin Nye, who many viewers might recognise as a regular reporter on the BBC’s daily current affairs show Victoria Derbyshire, and Radio 1 Newsbeat Reporter Steffan Powell, who will provide additional…