Albany Senior High School, Performing Arts Centre
St. Michael’s Grammar School
Cranbrook School Vicar’s Centenary Building
The Pā, University of Waikato
The Roslyn Otzen Sports and Wellbeing Centre
The Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts, Monash University
Ian Potter Southbank Centre
Sydney Coliseum Theatre, West HQ
RMIT New Academic Street Studios
Red Earth Arts Centre
Jillian Broadbent Building
Springvale City Hall
Our completed projects are a testament to the passion that we bring to every performance space we work on.
Our consulting expertise spans a broad set of critical theatre design elements.
- + Client/Stakeholder consultation
- + Theatrical lighting infrastructure
- + Brief development
- + Lighting control system design
- + Venue planning
- + Production sound design
- + Stage & auditorium machinery design
- + Stage management systems design
- + Stage furnishings
- + Budgets
“At last someone’s built a theatre and got it right”
Denis Walter — Performer
The Drum Theatre, Dandenong
Kate Kelly —
Director & Theatre Consultant
kate@entertech.com.auKate joined Entertech as a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts in 2013 after winning the Denis Irving Award. Since joining she has dedicated her career to continuing the Entertech legacy of excellence in venue design. Taking end to end responsibility for each of her projects, Kate leads Studio Entertech’s Education Theatre projects. Maintaining her connection to the theatre industry, Kate is an active lighting designer, technician and CAD designer.
Qualifications & Memberships:
Bachelor of Production, Victorian College of the Arts
AVIXA Certified Technology Specialists (CTS)
Micah Johnson —
Managing Director & Theatre Consultant
micah@entertech.com.auMicah Johnson is a theatre planner, design engineer and project manager with fifteen years’ experience designing and implementing systems across the construction and performing arts industries. Micah uses his experience in construction and engineering to make theatrical spaces the best they can be for the people who work in them, and for the audience who come to experience their work.
Qualifications & Memberships:
Master of Project Management (Project Risk Management), University of Sydney, 2014
B. Mechatronic Engineering (Hons), B. Arts (Performance Studies), University of New South Wales, 2008
AVIXA Certified Technology Specialists (CTS)
Richard Hulston —
Senior Audio Visual Engineer
richardh@entertech.com.auWith over Forty years’ experience working in and on performing arts venues and entertainment technology integration projects nationally and internationally. His career includes roles as a touring Sound Engineer, Audio System Tech, an Installation Technician, Project Manager and system designer across diverse market sectors. He has held roles with several leading Audiovisual and Pro Audio manufacturers and has an in-depth understanding of AV system design and Electro Acoustic simulation and modelling.
Qualifications & Memberships:
Bachelor of International Business: Griffith University, 2002
Audio Engineering Society Member
AVIXA Certified Technology Specialists (CTS)
Edmond Binns —
Consulting Technician & Drafter
edmond@entertech.com.auEddy combines his experience as an AV technician in theatres and conference centres with his experience in construction drafting as part of the Entertech Team. He ensures that each of our detailed drawings are clear, understandable and reflects the reality of the use of installed systems.
Qualifications & Memberships:
Bachelor of Design, Swinburne Institute of Technology, 2020
Diploma of Sound, JMC Academy, 2012
Teresa Redrup —
Administration Manager
teri@entertech.com.auTeri manages the administration for Studio Entertech. With a background in costume, millinery and fashion she has worked at Opera Australia, Anthony Phillips Costume and specializes in detailed embellishment. Having studied Interior Design she has an appreciation for elegant design solutions for spaces and the care that goes into selecting FF&E.
Qualifications & Memberships:
Associate Degree of Interior Design and Decoration, RMIT, 2020
Diploma of Costume, Ultimo TAFE, 2011
If you are a graduate or experienced consultant and would like to work for Studio Entertech, please send us your CV with a brief note explaining why you would like to work for us to careers@entertech.com.au
Since 1979 we’ve been enabling theatre makers, performers, architects, engineers, builders and contractors to do what they do best – create performances that lift people out of their everyday and into the extraordinary.
From the biggest stadiums to beloved local theatres, we focus equally on artistic excellence, operational success and system performance. Our collective experience and passion drive us to make sure every act is seen and heard as clearly as possible.
Today, Studio Entertech is a respected contributor to the performing arts industry and consults on some of the most exciting theatrical design projects in Australia and around the world.
Denis Irving
Denis Irving was the founder of Entertech, which he established in 1979. For over 30 years, Denis pioneered theatre design services for concert halls, theatres and cultural centres.
Prior to forming Entertech, Denis was technical and general manager for Strand Electric and had collaborated on the design of projects such as the Arts Centre, Melbourne; Festival Theatre, Adelaide; Seymour Centre, Sydney and the Suncorp Theatre, Brisbane.
As a consultant, Denis provided design advice to many major projects including the City Recital Hall, Sydney; Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay; Melbourne Recital Centre and the MTC Theatre Project, Melbourne and the State Theatre Centre, Perth.
Denis passed away in 2008. In his memory, Marshall Day Entertech, in conjunction with Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) and Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), proudly provide an annual scholarship to a VCA student. Denis believed that the people who work in performance venues are often the best placed to advise on how they should be designed. The annual scholarship has evolved from this notion with an aim of fostering the next generation of theatre designers.
News: Melbourne’s St Michael’s Grammar School Installs L-ISA Immersive Technology
L-Acoustics shares our project at St Michael’s Grammar School featuring their L-ISA Immersive Technology Read the full article here
News: Inavate 40 Under 40 – APAC Class of 2023
Congratulations to Studio Entertech Director, Kate Kelly for being featured in the Inavate APAC 40 under 40 class of 2023!
Meet the whole class of 2023 through the Inavate Asia Pacific December 2023 online publication
Analogue vs digital: does it matter? And if so, why?
When it comes to technology, there’s a question that surfaces time and time again: when is it appropriate to implement the next big thing?
There are pros and cons to being an early adopter – you may be at the cutting edge, but you also risk encountering unprecedented issues compared with tried-and-true tech solutions.
This is as true of your mobile phone as it is of the systems we implement in a theatre, and we frequently find ourselves discussing whether a given technology has matured to the point that it could – and more importantly, should – be used in a performance space.
Often, clients ask us whether we recommend analogue or digital systems for video, audio and lighting. Here, we’ll consider their relative merits and suitability for theatre and performance venues.
Defining digital
First, it’s important to make a distinction. A lot of the time, what people think of as analogue technology – where you plug a cable into a socket to transmit light, sound or moving image – is actually digital. True analogue systems are increasingly rare in performance venues.
Think of it this way: when analogue CRT televisions were the standard, you’d plug in your RCA cables – the red, white and yellow – and they’d send electric signals straight to the screen, making it brighter and darker until your picture formed.
Now, while modern televisions with HDMI inputs might resemble an old CRT set in that you plug your cable into point A to transmit data to point B, the cable carries a digitally encoded signal with a lot more information. For clarity, we’ll refer to these sorts of connections as ‘point-to-point digital’.
If you picture a spectrum of technology, point-to-point digital systems are your most basic examples – while more modern solutions occupy a space further on the same technological spectrum.
News: A Wish for Change
Inavate APAC asked some of the best AV professionals around for their wishes for the AV industry in 2024.
Studio Entertech’s Kate Kelly shares her wish for more collaboration between artists and AV manufacturers to create compelling, purposeful, site-specific digital artworks.
Read the full article in the January 2024 edition online here
Imagery credit : Inavate APAC
News: Pushing the first domino
Studio Entertech’s Micah Johnson talks to Pro AVL Asia’s Jan/Feb 2024 issue about our partnership with VAPAC on the Industry Development Initiative Taskforce.
Click to read the whole article discussing the roadblocks that prevent students from entering the industry and the ambitions we have to help usher in the next generation of much needed theatre and AV technicians.
Navigating Venue Construction: a 101 Guide
Understanding the people, process and common pitfalls of working on a theatre project
With decades of experience as theatre consultants, we’ve worked on countless new builds ranging from cultural landmarks to beloved local theatres. While we’ve lived the process again and again, it’s often our client’s first time navigating a project – which can be daunting, especially for those who may only undertake one or two in their career.
This guide addresses those queries, providing key considerations that will ultimately help you reach the desired outcome.
Project players
Understanding the different people involved in the project is essential. Building a theatre takes many hands and minds, and we can generally categorise them into four groups: clients, consultants, contractors and project managers.
Clients (likely yourself) includes the people who are commissioning the theatre – but also includes anyone who will benefit from the project, as well as the groups who are funding it. Often a principal client will be the main contact, representing the views of other stakeholder groups like funding bodies, government, community staff, hirers, audiences and artists.
Consultants (like us) can include everyone who provides advice and recommendations on the project, such as architects, theatre planners, landscape designers, interior designers, engineers and arts managers.
Contractors are the teams that will physically build, install and commission your new theatre. This includes groups like builders, equipment contractors, landscapers, HVAC contractors, electricians, AV integrators and more.
Finally, project managers are in the middle of these groups, centralising communication, acting on requests and overseeing processes throughout the project. Their job is to ensure each part of the team can deliver what’s needed, making sure the project is steadily moving forward.
Now that we understand the teams who will work on the project, it’s time to look at how the process plays out from inception to opening night.
Know what you need: Laying the Foundation for success
Pre-design involves defining the project’s purpose, goals, and success criteria. The client team and stakeholders complete this early piece of work to outline what they need, why they need it and agree on definitions of success. This can include feasibility studies, investigations, needs analysis and business case development. This work will bring clarity to the client and the stakeholders as to what they are trying to achieve – which is essential if you expect to achieve it!
Say what you need: Crafting a precise brief
From here, we move into brief development. Great communication is the most powerful tool you have at your disposal – and this starts with the brief. Your brief solidifies the foundation that will be built upon (literally and figuratively) throughout the project process.
This document should clearly articulate what’s required for the project to succeed. This could include qualitative things like a connection to the building’s surroundings or access for stakeholder groups.
Or, they could be quantitative, likely taken directly from your business case, such as whether audience capacity is tied to financial success or how income from food and beverage plays a role in your venue. No matter what it is, never assume that it is obvious to other parties – you need to ensure it is included in your thorough and detailed brief.
It’s important for the client to have clear lines of communication to the projects consultants established early on in the project. This is the time to say what you need. Before the design process kicks off, speak to your project manager about what communication protocols are being set up. Work with them on a comms plan to make sure you’re happy and comofrtable that you’re going to be kept in the loop.