Prolight + Sound 2022

Top brands, workshops and showcases at the Performance + Production Hub

ProlightSound Hub4 c Soundadd
Picture: Soundadd

A new home for companies and professionals from sound production, DJing and digital live performance: the premiere of the Performance + Production Hub at Prolight + Sound 2022 will present new audio tools in action as well as countless education events on four days (26 to 29 April 2022). Key players such as Ableton, LD-Systems and Tascam will show innovative hardware and software solutions. Established artists, including Gnarly (London), DJ Ray-D (Frankfurt) and Joana (Berlin) will give an insight into their skills in beatmaking, turntablism, recording and more.

The area in the Portalhaus at Messe Frankfurt will be created in close cooperation with the Sample Music Festival. The makers of the community event series have already been actively involved in the Prolight + Sound programme in the past. With the premiere of the Performance + Production Hub, the cooperation partners underline their commitment to making the fair more than ever a hotspot for audio professionals from all fields of activity.

Companies of all sizes present their latest solutions in the Performance + Production Hub: not in the style of classic product presentations or behind glass cabinets, but hands-on, together with the brand experts. The range of products extends from software tools, mixers, sequencers and sound reinforcement technology to DJ equipment and accessories. Among the exhibitors confirmed so far are Ableton, ADAM Hall, Alter.audio, APB Dynasonics, Dato Musical Instruments, Decksaver, DJCity, Gravity, Herrmutt Lobby, Jetpack, LD-Systems, LiteConsole, Oyaide NEO, Tascam and VoicAs.

In cooperation with Ableton, one of the world's leading providers of digital audio workstations, the Performance + Production Hub is set to host a central attraction for music producers. Ableton-certified educators will demonstrate the creative power that arises when software tools meet midi controllers and beat sequencers, and when production blurs with live performance. Together with additional partners, Tascam and GIK Audio, there will also be a station on the main topic of ?Field Recording?. Here, audio enthusiasts will learn how to record sounds from everyday materials and integrate them into their mixes.

On an elaborately designed show stage, top-class artists and production specialists present their skills and give visitors an impression of the different varieties of digital live performances. Everything revolves around the synergy of sound and visual impressions, made possible by an impressive media installation with LED wall. The artists confirmed for the show stage so far include Gnarly (live beatmaking), Pedro La Kraken (finger drumming), Arkaei (live visual performance), Hix Boson (live remixing), Ray-D (turntablism) and the creative heads of the Soundadd agency (controllerism).

A state-of-the-art way to effectively showcase brands: the Experience Zone gives insight into the current trend of live sound branding. Tim Kroker, Product Specialist at Native Instruments, and Alex Sonnenfeld, Director of the Sample Music Festival, underline the creative potential. Sound specialists can increase the recognition value of a brand by integrating the characteristic sounds of products into music or remixing sound logos on-the-fly.

The upcoming #restart of the event industry paves the way for a high demand for wedding, corporate and anniversary parties. In this wake, the relevance of tools and knowledge transfer in the field of mobile DJing is on the rise. Experienced performers DJ Cut Cake, Ray-D, Luke Traveltone as well as the experts of DJWorkshop Germany will present contemporary creative techniques in live presentations and explain which lighting and sound solutions help to turn a DJ set into an impressive event.

In the style of a jam session, visitors can try out brand new tools and improvise performances together - experts from the field will be on hand to show how it's done. In the Jam Box Music Apps & Scratching, both digital music applications and DJ hardware are available. In addition, there is the Jam Box Modular System: a Mecca for knob-turners, who can operate the racks and modules of well-known manufacturers here. One focus will be on the trend topic of Syntablism: this involves a modular synthesiser being controlled by movements on a DJ set-up, creating a completely new kind of sound generation.

www.prolight-sound.com