News Blog

The L Series Deal is Part of PRG’s Continued Commitment to Best-in-Class Audio Investments

NEW YORK, NY (Tuesday, July 25, 2023) –  PRG (Production Resource Group), the world’s leading provider of production solutions for entertainment and live events, has been named one of  two pilot phase partners for L-Acoustics’ L Series Speakers in the Americas, before the technology becomes fully available to the public this October. This year, PRG has made a significant eight-figure investment with long term partner L-Acoustics, underscoring its commitment to bring state-of-the-art audio systems to its productions. PRG is an L-Acoustics Certified Provider Rental (CPr) and the equipment is now available across PRG’s global locations on a rental basis. 

As live events become increasingly more technologically demanding, PRG is at the frontier of next-gen solutions. Its expanded partnership with L-Acoustics makes the brand’s cutting-edge tech available to customers and markets around the world. Legendary metal band, Dream Theater, is the first production where the L Series is being utilized by PRG on tour.  

“Our substantial investment in L-Acoustics products reinforces our commitment to creating outstanding experiences for audiences at live events around the world.” said Doug McKinley, VP, Asset Services, Audio of PRG. 


“We’re delighted that the expert teams at PRG are embracing the revolutionary new L Series, deploying it on leading projects like Dream Theater and helping to ensure a successful public launch later this year,” states Jacob Barfoed, Global Director of Sales at L-Acoustics. “Deepening our relationship with PRG through their reinforced commitment to L-Acoustics products is an exciting and forward-thinking new step in our partnership.”

The L Series output using patented Progressive Ultra-Dense Line Source (PULS), can be perfectly modulated to achieve results that are impossible with traditional line array technology. The power density of the new L Series is unprecedented, and the operating efficiencies of the L Series originate from its shape. The system comprises two elements designed to work together or individually: L2 above and L2D below.  The audio benefits of L Series encompass industry-leading SPL per size, unparalleled consistency over the audience area, and improved rejection everywhere else. Accompanying the audio benefits, L Series revolutionizes deployment with a smaller, lighter footprint that reduces truck space, fuel consumption and requires fewer elements, cutting the number of actions needed for load in and out. Thus, the L Series reduces impact on the environment and increases efficiency in staffing and other resources.
  
ABOUT PRG
Production Resource Group realizes the ideas and vision of creators, producers, designers, performers, and business leaders, working in every form of entertainment and experience. It is the leading solutions provider in the production space, leveraging deep expertise and unsurpassed technology to power events of every scale and, with 62 offices in 28 countries, deliver in every corner of the globe. Capabilities span broadcasting, camera, audio, video, lighting, rigging, scenic and automation, digital services, virtual production, and labor. With over 250 patents and trademarks, PRG innovations have won awards and transformed the entertainment industry. For more information, please visit https://www.prg.com/.

ABOUT L-ACOUSTICS
Founded in 1984 near Paris, France, L-Acoustics is the market leader in professional sound reinforcement technologies. With over 550 team members worldwide and offices in Paris, London, Singapore, Los Angeles, and New York, L-Acoustics is present in over 80 countries via our network of Certified Providers. Focused on solutions that elevate the audience experience, more than 20% of L-Acoustics' talent is devoted to R&D in the areas of acoustics, applications, mechanics, electronics, signal processing, and software development. In recognition of creating innovative professional sound technology, L-Acoustics was named as one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies of 2020 and 2023.

Recognized for pioneering the line source array, L-Acoustics continues to shape the future of the professional audio industry with L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound technology, a multidimensional, object-based approach to designing, mixing, and processing sound that results in extremely natural and intelligible audio, and a more vibrant, authentic connection between artists and their fans. Now also available for exceptional private sound spaces with
L-Acoustics Creations designs.
L-Acoustics sound systems can be heard around the globe in venues like the Hollywood Bowl and the Philharmonie de Paris, at the world's top-grossing festivals such as Coachella and Tomorrowland, international special events like the World Expo 2020 and World Cup 2022, and on tour with world-class artists such as Billie Eilish, Post Malone, Arctic Monkeys, and Jacky Cheung, and in the Las Vegas residencies of Katy Perry, Adele, and more.


PRG Media Contact:
Hustle&Co.
PRG_PR@hustleandco.com 

L-Acoustics Media Contact: 
Mary Beth Henson
marybeth.henson@l-acoustics.com

Production Resource Group, L.L.C. (PRG), the world’s leading supplier of entertainment and event technology, announces a multi-million dollar investment in assets and personnel at its operation in Saudi Arabia following the group’s strongest performing year in the region, Peter McCann, CEO for PRG in the Middle East announced today. 

Located in the Riyadh Industrial Zone, the 40,000sqft facility is equipped with high-end assets and resources in video, audio, lighting, rigging and staging technologies. 

Tom Van Hemelryck, Co - President EMEA & APAC said, “We are delighted to see our ongoing work with live event producers in Saudi Arabia evolve further and at such pace”, adding, ”This investment is instrumental in guaranteeing that  our globalclients  will have access to world-class expertise and technology when working with PRG across Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East.” 

PRG’s Managing Director for the Saudi Operation, Bruce Mac Lean, commented, “Current client demand and the increasing market opportunities across GCC territories is exciting.  Over the last five years we have seen rapid growth within the event and entertainment sector in Saudi Arabia, featuring both local and international artists and an increase in world-class events.  We’ve enjoyed great success in the region to-date and our mission now is to ensure we can service the increasing customer requirement at good pace and efficiently, whilst also developing the next generation of technical expertise within the local talent pool.”

Media contact EMEA & APAC: Valérie Cuno vcuno@prg.com
Media contact UAE & KSA: Harriet Stewart hstewart@prg.com
Sales enquires in Saudi Arabia: Adam Rhodes arhodes@prg.com  

Brussels, Belgium – Production Resource Group (PRG), the world’s leading provider of entertainment and event technology solutions, welcomes a new member to the  PRG Alliance.The new member of PRG Alliance is StagePass, located in Nairobi, Kenya. StagePass is an integrated technical consulting, planning, design and implementation provider for professional events operating on the African continent. Specialising in rentals of audio-visual technology including audio, video, lighting, rigging, events management, and creative stage design; StagePass pride themselves in going beyond technology, delivering state of the art productions.
 
Isaac Njoroge, CEO of StagePass, comments: “Our Vision is to be Africa’s revolutionary event technology experts. To achieve this, our main focus is to benchmark, associate and work alongside the best event technology players in the world, all while maintaining our values and world class standards. We would like to be the go-to event technology partner in Africa and beyond.  We have had the pleasure of collaborating with PRG on several productions in the past, for example ‘The Africa CEO Forum held in Kigali, Rwanda’. We feel that our values and services are aligned with the PRG Alliance program, which will also offer clients the best in event production technology, service and worldwide expertise.”
 
"This additional PRG Alliance member and new presence in Kenya will facilitate a global coverage for PRG in Africa," says Thierry Kra, Managing Director PRG France. “After numerous events on the African continent in Morocco, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Togo, Ivory Cost, Benin, Senegal, Niger, Nigeria, Congo Brazzaville, Congo Kinshasa, Kenya, Rwanda and Mauritius Island we are delighted to welcome StagePass as our new member to the PRG Alliance and we look forward to collaborating on many beautiful projects.

About Production Resource Group Alliance:
PRG Alliance is the premier global network of companies partnering to provide access to the best in event technology and expertise, delivering consistent technical production services worldwide. For more information about the PRG Alliance visit: www.prgalliance.com

With the European Championships Munich 2022, the largest multi-sport event since the 1972 Summer Olympics took place in Munich in August. From 11 to 21 August 2022, Europe's best athletes competed for the coveted gold medals in the disciplines of beach volleyball, canoe racing, climbing, athletics, cycling, rowing, table tennis, triathlon and gymnastics.

Within the Olympic Park at the heart of the event and beyond, the entire city dressed up for a spectacular and incomparable experience. The concept for this event was “World-class sport supported by a colourful festival”, which was a complete success. The organisers, the athletes, the international audience and the residents of Munich were all thrilled.

For PRG, this multi-sports event was a challenge unlike any other as the seven sports venues managed by PRG had to be staged with individual technological solutions.

• PRG supplied lighting, sound, video and rigging for the venues in the Olympic Park (including Olympic Stadium, Olympic Hall, and Olympic Hill which involved public viewing with LED containers).
• At the swimming hall, we installed lighting, sound, video and rigging in the finish area for the triathlon and the MTB races. 
• In Munich's city centre, Königsplatz (beach volleyball / bouldering), Odeonsplatz (cycling races, marathon), and at the regatta course, PRG supplied lighting, rigging, audio and video. 
• In the Rudi Sedlmayer Hall, where the table tennis competitions took place, one of the challenges was to install glare and reflection free broadcast lighting and rigging over the entire playing area. 
• The same applied for the gymnastics, which took place in the Olympic Hall. The audience could also keep up with the results on large display LED walls and bands installed by PRG.
• As a special construction, PRG supplied an LED gate for the finish at Odeonsplatz which was adjusted in height depending on the sport (cycling / marathon). A special requirement here was to design a base that was as slim as possible so that the entire gate could be set up in the most space-saving way possible: 

The almost simultaneous equipping of all these venues was also a mammoth task for PRG logistically as, in total, PRG installed 170 tonnes of equipment.
130 technicians and helpers worked over 2,000 man-days from 28 July to 21 August to install the technology, monitor it during the Championships and dismantle it at the end of the event. 

Florian Michael Weber, Creative Director European Championships 2022: "We are creating venues where there are normally none, which is why you need a flexible partner like PRG who can react to this and also help spontaneously with new technology. I think it's exactly this flexibility that makes it so strong and has made Munich 2022 what it has become."

René Rarrel, PRG Director Outdoor LED, added: "It really was a sports festival, the individual sports were well attended, even on the day of the Olympic Park event it was watched by young and old - the European Championships were an outstanding sports event." 

All in all, it was the biggest multi-sport event in Germany since Munich 1972, and the planning was suitably exciting and demanding. PRG is very proud to have been a part of it and would like to thank all those involved for their fantastic commitment and excellent cooperation, both beforehand and on-site. It made this amazing event a complete success for the competitive sports, for the spectators, and also in terms of the technical implementation.

For their 40th anniversary, the French band Indochine certainly didn’t do things by halves. Originally scheduled to take place in June 2021, the 45m high tower with a diameter of 30m has been in the works for 2 years. With 6 concerts on the agenda, the Indochine Central Tour performed in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille and closed with two concerts in Lille for their fans from Belgium to be able to come and sing along.

Imagined and sketched by the singer and leader of the band Nicola Sirkis himself, the design of the system presented a particular challenge. The entire rigging construction and sound system had to be invisible whilst still providing the best audio experience for the audience in the stadium. This meant that all the speakers needed to be placed inside the tower, behind the massive 360° LED wall, a groundbreaking concept in event technology.

Based on Nicola’s design, PRG France & PRG Projects worked tirelessly to make his dream a technical reality. Built in conjunction with StageCo, the tower was composed of specially manufactured Titan-X LED and PRG’s latest innovation of the SoundBlast Solution definitely is one for the books! “Nicola wanted to offer an unforgettable experience to all the fans. Building a 360° tower in the middle of the stadium with the audio and lighting inside would allow everyone to see better and be immersed in the pure musical performance and the artistic presence,” says Stéphane Desch, Director of Production. He adds, “He sent me multiple sketches of what he had imagined about two years ago and we started from that. In fact, the end result is very close to his original concept.” 

While part of the PRG team started drawing up technical plans and diagrams of the tower, PRG Projects started developing and manufacturing an LED product that would make this endeavor possible. In response to Nicola Sirkis' vision, the 360° tower would need to be fitted with a customized LED screen, specifically developed and manufactured for the Indochine Central Tour, providing a solution that integrated the entire sound system, lighting and all of the cabling within the tower behind the LED screen, to be as streamlined as imagined. 

“When we saw Nicola's first drawings, we immediately saw that there were some challenges. Firstly, we had to find a solution to place the sound behind the video screen and there was no solution to that at the time. Secondly, it was the height of the screen. The height of the screen meant that we had to create a new, very light product that had all the features of the PRG SpaceframeTM, including wind bracing, built into it,” says Frederic Opsomer, General Manager of PRG Projects. “At the same time, we needed a product with a transparency of over 70% to allow the sound to penetrate from the back of the screen into the stadium. This meant that we needed to develop a new product.”

INFiLED and PRG worked together closely to develop the TITAN-X. From the first drawing to a 1850m2 setup for the Indochine Central Tour, the collaboration and the combination of the PRGs know-how and INFILEDs agile developing capability has played a major role. R&D teams from Belgium, the UK and China worked tirelessly during more than 9 months on this project and created the ultimate, robust, mesh rental & touring solution with the foldable X-frame structure for a new level of stability. We’re delighted to have collaborated with such a long-term and strong partner like PRG on this impressive project!”, stipulates Michael Hao, CEO at INFILED.

The next challenge was to install the complete sound system behind the LED wall. This would allow for the images on the tower, fitted with 360° LED, to be enjoyed to their fullest, without any audio stacks obstructing the video content. PRG Projects carried out numerous tests with several audio manufacturers and developed the SoundBlast Solution which uses the weight of the audio as a ballast behind the LED screen to support the weight and structure of the LED installation.  

“The Titan-X and the PRG SoundBlast Solution will allow us to take a step forward in the development of large videos and video content design because being able to place the sound behind the video screen has been the dream of all designers!” adds Opsomer.

Standing at 45m tall, the Indochine Tower was fitted with 2500 m2 of Titan-X, creating a video wall that was 30m in diameter and 24m high. This gigantic construction in its whole  takes about 3 days to assemble and weighs 260 tons. The LED setup weighs 65t and takes 16h to be installed. With its 26, 542, 080 pixels (9216 x 2880) the images on the Titan-X as well as on the central screen in ROE CB5 below, were processed by 7 disguise GX2 servers.

PRG's Technical Director, Romuald Beaufour, who drew up the plans and initial diagrams of the tower comments: "The installation of our Titan-X in stadiums was sometimes complex because the tower protruded from certain stadiums (in height) which posed problems for the municipalities. In order to comply with the relevant legislations, the tower had to withstand a 72km/h wind speed for 3 seconds.”

The lighting kit was made of 1360 lighting fixtures, including LED Striplights and Floods, MAC Viper Wash, Movinghead Impressions X4, LITECRAFT OutLED AT10.plus, ELATION Proteus Smarty Hybrid IP65, and last but not least, 8 PRG GroundControl Longthrow Followspots.

Lighting Designer Jean Christophe Aubrée describes: “There were a lot of challenges in terms of lighting, which is mainly due to the 360° configuration of the tower. The idea was to be able to create some volume in all of this and to use the surfaces, the seats, and the structures of the stadium a little differently. We positioned lighting all directions, from both inside and outside of the tower. We also had to carefully consider the size and weight of our fixtures, since they all had to fit into the tower. Working with a 3D model allowed us to visualise the project more effectively, since sometimes you tend to lose the feeling of distance and dimensions a little.”  

In total, 250 technicians were mobilised for the entire Indochine tour and more than 950 shift workers were hired. The PRG touring crew represented 9 different nationalities. “Whether it was PRG Belgium, PRG Projects or PRG France: everyone got involved in this beautiful project. Everyone did a great job. We brought people together from all over the world to grow this team for the tour. It was wonderful to see the synergies and sharing of know-how. But the success of this adventure is also a choice of companies with whom we collaborated. Everyone contributed to this. Whether it's StageCo for the structure or MPM for the sound, this all is a big part of the success of the adventure!” finalizes Laurent Boillot, Production Director, PRG France.

During the concert on June 25, 2022 at the Groupama Stadium in Lyon, 22 digital cameras recorded the show, allowing Indochine to offer a retransmission of the concert from November 24th, 2022 in IMAX cinemas, the world's first live concert filmed in its entirety for IMAX.

PRG AG is pleased to announce that it will be moving into a new, ultra modern office space in a prime location in the center of Hamburg early May 2022. With a direct view of the harbour and a total area of almost 1,400 sqm, the new office will continue to represent PRG's German headquarters. PRG employees and clients can not only expect modern facilities and spacious work areas, but also enjoy all the advantages of Hamburg's special location on the banks of the Elbe.

As of next month, PRG will be available at the new address Neumühlen 19 and is looking forward to coming together again as a team and welcoming its clients here in the future after the years of pandemic. In addition to the already announced move of the logistics and warehouse location to Kerpen, PRG marks another important milestone with the move into the new headquarters in Hamburg. With this move, PRG reinforces its significantly strengthened presence in Germany and will be able to respond even better to the needs of its customers in the future.

PRG is the world's leading technology provider within the entertainment and events industry. PRG has the largest inventory of production equipment for hire and offers a complete range of services to clients within the live music business, TV & Film, Broadway, Sports, Gaming, experimental corporate events, and the live events market. Clients and partners rely on PRG's innovation, experience and in-depth know-how in audio, video, lighting, rigging, staging, virtual productions & extended reality, and set & automation systems to bring their stories to life. With 62 offices located in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, PRG offers the ability to provide services worldwide.

Produce. Rehearse. Go Live.

The Bridge is an exciting and unique addition to the PRG UK network, opening a hub for productions of all sizes in the heart of the country. The space has been designed to be completely flexible and has the power to support whatever your production needs. Located just next door to the PRG UK headquarters in Longbridge, the space richly benefits from a direct link to PRGs wealth of equipment and expertise onsite. From truck splits and prep to full studio productions and pre-production rehearsals, The Bridge can deliver.

Production teams have complete privacy at The Bridge, with access to the space and the resources to run their projects through from planning to show day.

Backstage, it offers a spacious 170sqm office space including: a modern kitchen, showers, accessible bathrooms, bright and comfortable green room and artist dressing rooms, plus spacious production offices, a board room and a gallery viewing space.

Downstairs, The Bridge is home to a 17m x 35m clear floor production area with a minimum 6.2m height clearance. Wall and ceiling drapes line the space and spray insulation has been provided to ensure heating and soundproofing. The space includes a 400A 3 Phase Powerlock, dedicated highspeed production internet, 24hr secure access, and parking for cars, tour buses and trailers. 

“With the introduction of The Bridge to our Longbridge location, we are harnessing the power, space, technical capability, and world-class experience of our business and people. It really is a flexible space that offers solutions for live event productions.” Yvonne Donnelly Smith, Sales Director – Music, PRG UK.

To see how The Bridge can help your production, contact the team at thebridgeuk@prg.com.

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Production Resource Group AG (PRG), Germany, announces the relocation of its central logistics location from Hamburg to Cologne, Kerpen in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Hamburg warehouse, all its equipment and the logistics department will leave the Bredowstrasse in Hamburg to integrate a brand new state-of-the-art and well-equipped property managed and owned by the DIETZ AG in Kerpen-Türnich, as from May 1st. The German PRG Headquarters will remain in Hamburg and will also be moving to a new, easily accessible location right in the city center of Hamburg. The Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt and Stuttgart offices will keep on operating as per today.
 
With the relocation of its Hamburg warehouse and logistics department, PRG AG is not only centralizing and broadening its national reach but will also considerably increase its connection to the equipment pools and offices in Belgium, PRG Gear in Switzerland and their locations in France and The Netherlands.
 
“We are very excited about all the possibilities this highly modern logistics hub
of 20 000 sqm will guarantee for our customers in terms of shorter transportation routes through Germany and Europe in the future.”, says Udo Willburger, CSO PRG DACH and Executive Board Member. “DIETZ AG's property is perfectly tailored to the needs of our industry and clientele.”
 
Ingo Rehnert, COO DACH adds: "We are very much looking forward to moving into the new property. The new warehouse facility will allow us to implement a modern and a more efficient operations concept. In this respect, we were rather limited in our Hamburg location. The new premises will enable us to define new standards and to significantly increase our productivity and quality in processing. This improvement will have a positive impact on our internal processes as well as on our production services."
 

PRG is a leading full-service provider for the events industry. The services offered range from support in event conception, planning, implementation, and technical equipment to the follow-up of events of all kinds. A comprehensive consulting and support service guarantees customers a creative and professional implementation of their events. The PRG equipment pool is one of the largest in the world.
Depending on the customer's wishes, PRG supports individual trades or acts as a general service provider with a comprehensive 360° service.

PRG is a reliable technical partner for national and international sports, esport and cultural events such as the European Championships Munich, the Gymnastics World Championships Stuttgart, the Porsche European Open, ATP tennis tournaments, the Handball Champions League Final Four and numerous motor sport events for many years. With its Sports & Special Events Team and the corresponding technology, PRG ensures impressive opening and closing ceremonies, but also broadcast-quality lighting, indoor and outdoor LED technology and sound systems for events of all event sizes. There is hardly a major public viewing event to which PRG does not contribute with its technology and LED truck fleet. This also includes the fast-growing esports market, for which PRG has provided technical support for events like Valorant, PUBG and Fortnite. Thanks to their Virtual Production Studio-xR, PRG also offers new expertise in the production of various formats in the gaming and influencer sector. Large-scale video projections in the sports and cultural sector round off the offer.

To better serve these markets, PRG is pleased to welcome Meike Árnason as Director Sports & Special Events. Meike brings many years of experience from the event industry. She has worked as an freelance project manager and producer for various agencies and productions (e.g. 100 Years BMW Festival Night at the Olympic Stadium, various cruise ship productions for Celebrity Cruises, show entertainment production for the Mall of Qatar, Helene Fischer Stadium Tour 2018, etc.). For more than 10 years Meike accompanied the Europe-wide Apassionata/Cavalluna tour and held different positions. Most recently she worked as General Manager at the Showpalast Munich.

" I have worked with PRG as a partner on the client side for many years, so I know the company very well and have known it for a very long time. PRG has always been a professional and very reliable partner for me. The colleagues are absolute experts in their field and very passionate about what they do, which is why I am looking forward to being part of this team in the future. The size of the company, the global presence and all the synergies that are made possible, are also factors that distinguish my future challenges at PRG. For me, the position of Director Sport & Special Events combines my strengths, my interests and my great passion for the entertainment industry quite perfectly. I am also looking forward to working with Florian Riepe, Head of Sports & Special Events , and the whole team." says Meike Árnason.

Statement Udo Willburger (CSO PRG DACH & Teil des Vorstands): 
"The Sports & Special Events segment is an absolutely key topic for PRG both in Germany and internationally. That's why I'm particularly pleased that Meike is joining PRG and will be managing this team. I am convinced that she will be able to incorporate her multiple strengths and her many years of experience in the industry and wish her and her team a great start and lots of success in the Sport & Special Events segment. “

After an impressive debut in 2019, EDM fans have waited with bated breath for the return of MDLBEAST Soundstorm – the world’s largest (and loudest) festival. The wait was certainly worthwhile, and Soundstorm 2021 roared back into the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh with an even grander and extraordinary second edition. The line-up across the four-day festival featured the biggest names in dance music, including: Martin Garrix, David Guetta, DJ Snake and Tiësto, as well as 11 of the Arab world’s biggest stars, from Nancy Ajram and Elissa to Tamer Hosny and Amr Diab. These performers and over 700,000 fans partied across eight stages, including the behemoth main stage “Big Beast” which stood at 250m wide and 42m tall – one of the world’s tallest and largest stages! PRG were on hand yet again to provide 360° technical support for Big Beast, as well as site-wide EVAC PA and lighting activations for one of the site’s “VIB” entrance gates and projection mapping of the MDL Town Sculpture.



This epic vision for the main stage was a huge undertaking for the PRG team. PRG supplied gear from its newly established Riyadh warehouse, and this was then supplemented by various European depots. Over the course of our 7 months of continuous prep and planning and almost 3 months of set up on site, we delivered nearly 600 tons of technology; including the stage’s entire video, lighting, audio, comms and rigging package.

The record-breaking, continuous screen comprised of over 4,000 sqm of LED, and around 70 million pixels. For the screen’s centre, PRG supplied 2,200sqm of its brand-new Titan-X panels which were developed by PRG and Infiled this was supplemented with ROE MC-7H for the mid wing sections, plus ROE CB5 for the DJ Riser. To cater to the mass of stock, weight, power and pixel considerations that come with such a large single screen project, PRG designed a comprehensive control system, delivering a large yet flexible sync network solution for all artists.

For lighting, the main stage rig included over 1,000 fixtures, with 130 Universes of DMX, 6 x 400A Supplies and 26 km of cable. Fixtures included GLP X Bars, JDC1’s, Robe Pointe, Hybrid fixtures, and LED Bars. For audio, PRG supplied and distributed L-Acoustics K1, K2 and KS28 systems across the main stage and the delay towers which ran using L-Acoustics LA12X controllers and were monitored using P1 processors. Carrying it all were PRGs master riggers with a truss 3.3km long, and 410 hoists.

“The great thing about working with the 360° from PRG is that each department can draw upon its own wealth of expertise and resources, and each team comes together to deliver one exceptional event. This is a bespoke project, and so PRG built a bespoke team. Such a vast production really needed the internal workings and conversations between all our expert technicians to flexibly develop solutions smoothly. From a production point of view, this certainly makes things a lot easier and has definitely been appreciated on this show.”  Yvonne Donnelly Smith, UK Sales Director Music.

PRG Middle Beast Team 2021

To match and deliver the increased scale of the 2021 festival, PRG mobilised its global workforce. Working over 3000 man days, 130 members of PRG crew headed to the event site from our offices in Riyadh, UK, Dubai, Belgium, Germany, and Spain.

“What I see we are doing here is we're at the very forefront of the formation of the entertainment industry in Saudi Arabia. We've insisted that our vendors have a Saudi Arabian presence because we can't continue to support events unsustainably. We have to get going here and everyone has shown a willingness to do this and PRG have now moved into Saudi Arabia.” – Michael Jobson, Executive Director – Events, MDLBEAST.

In the spirit of the Saudi 2030 vision, this focus on supporting the region and its wealth of talent is certainly shared by PRG. Thanks to our newly launched Riyadh office and warehouse, PRG now has a pool of regional assets and resources for future events. After proudly supporting the Saudi Arabian F1 Grand Prix in Jeddah and Soundstorm 2021 for MDLBEAST, PRG has established a regional depot which already houses a great selection of assets, building a foothold for accessible equipment in Saudi Arabia to deliver exceptional events in the future.

“Part of our drive within Saudi Arabia will be to make sure that we are enabling and empowering and recruiting local Saudi resources and training them to ensure that they develop the skills to help deliver the events of scale that we put on. And that's one of the key drivers where we've been aiming our expansion within Saudi over the last three years.” Bruce MacLean, Manging Director PRG Middle East.

PRG would like to congratulate and thank MDL BEAST, Production Glue and Silent House for this outstanding second edition of the festival and give special thanks to our incomparable global PRG team for their incredible work.

We are pleased to welcome Kai Habermann as Managing Director at PRG Cinegate.
Kai joins Martin Abert in the role, and the two will form the joint management of PRG Cinegate GmbH from January 2022.

Kai Habermann brings with him 28 years of experience in different media companies. Kai already has Cinegate DNA as, between 2005 and 2012 he served as the Managing Director at Cinegate GmbH. In 2012, he felt the need for a change, which led to him becoming Managing Partner at RGB Energy Audits. From 2014 to 2021, Kai then ensured the successful development of ORENDT STUDIOS GmbH as Managing Director, where he was responsible for 360° content creation in the e-commerce sector at its Hamburg and Düsseldorf locations with over 200 employees.

PRG Cinegate Managing Directors Kai Habermann (left) and Martin Abert

Kai Habermann: "Working with the great PRG Cinegate team, combined with this exciting new challenge, makes me feel very positive about the future with PRG Cinegate. My motto for this: whoever stops getting better, has stopped being good."

Martin Abert adds: "I am extremely pleased that we were able to win Kai Habermann for us, so that together we can now use our expert knowledge to drive forward the strategic development of PRG Cinegate and expand our market position more strongly. In addition to scripted and non-scripted TV & film productions, we are particularly focusing on the fast-growing streaming market and virtual production."

PRG Cinegate has locations in almost all German states and studios in Hamburg, Berlin and Cologne. The company is a technical full-service provider for cinema, advertising and TV productions and operates an extensive rental of state-of-the-art cameras, lighting, grip as well as generators and vehicles. The studios vary in size depending on location and are suitable for productions of all sizes.

More info on Cinegate: cinegate.prg.com

For the third time in 2021, PRG has just delivered a 360° service for the game show 'Teammates', streamed on Twitch and produced by popular hosts Amar and Trymacs, and agency MediaTotal. Amar and Trymacs are among the most successful streamers on Twitch in Germany with this format, which is reminiscent of 'Schlag den Raab'. 
The event was held in the Virtual Production Studio of PRG Cinegate Studios in Hamburg, which has all the technical and spatial facilities needed to produce such a complex game show efficiently. 

Reza Abdolali, Managing Director MediaTotal GmbH said: "Teammmates – actually the biggest game show on Twitch – is with the hosts Amar & Trymacs, who invite us to this big show three times a year. Twenty games are played with two invited guests each, who compete against the two hosts to win a 30,000-euro prize. 
With PRG, we have a partner at our side who is very far-sighted, who understood from the beginning that we are not in the TV world but in the 'live stream area', where things are different. What I appreciate about PRG is that they can act as a full-service partner. On the one hand it's about the technology, but also really about content and planning. We got a lot of support right from the start – in that respect we are very happy to have PRG on our side." 

On working with the production, Andreas Knaak, Recording Manager / Senior Account Manager PRG, said: "I think it's very good that we were able to go through the planning together almost from minute zero and that we were also able to advise and thus develop the show together with MediaTotal. One challenge for this production was that we would have had a space problem for some of the games in our already very large Virtual Production Studio. So, it was a good thing that we have several studios here at Cinegate so that we could include the large Studio 1 and also outdoor facilities. Of course, this was also a challenge for communication, for the logistical process and for everything that goes with it. It's a matter of really listening in advance and understanding what the client wants and needs in order to be there on the spot."

PRG provided the following services for the Teammates game show: Broadcast (vision mixers, cameras and recording, streaming technology), Video, Audio, Lighting, and Rigging.

In addition, PRG provided the complex game programming. 
Jakob Brunert, Senior Project Manager PRG, comments: “We programmed the game technology and everything around scoring for this show. This means that we play out a total of 14 HD streams from our system, which can be seen on various monitors here in the studio, but also for the viewers at home. This includes scoring, i.e. all the individual point scores from the games, the total point score, and also the joker score for the individual games – and also some digital games that can be seen here on the LED floor on the LED wall. 
For the realisation of these applications, we have chosen Ventuz software as the development interface, with which we can produce very flexibly to broadcast standard. It also gives us the option of including touch screens and other interactive elements directly in the software."

 
On the success of Teammates with Twitch viewers and his experience with PRG, Amar, Teammates Game Host, added: "Back when Stefan Raab quit classic TV and we then started streaming a similar format on Twitch Live, it got a lot of people excited – and I think we also come across as pretty likeable. And of course, the opponents are always great!

After all, this is the third time we've done Teammates together with PRG, and it's just fun to work with the guys, the whole team is very friendly, they build up, break down, don't ask many questions and rock the thing – and I celebrate that!"

We thank Amar & Trymacs and MediaTotal for the positive feedback and once again fantastic collaboration – and look forward to exciting new events together in 2022.

Also check out the highlight video on the official Teammates Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap_9GsXNq3g 

Details about PRG Digital Studios and also the Virtual Production Studio xR Hamburg can be found here: studios.prg.com