Rental News

Zactrack-Audiotracking mit D&B Soundscape bei Jazzopen im Einsatz

Bei der diesjährigen Auflage der Jazzopen in Stuttgart trugen die meisten der aufgetretenen Live-Acts einen Zactrack-Smart-Tracker (Sender), um Stimmen und Instrumente automatisiert zu verfolgen und über ein D&B-Soundscape-Immersive-Audio-System wiederzugeben.

Das Zactrack-Smart-Setup auf den Jazzopen bestand aus zehn Anchor (Empfängern), die auf unterschiedlicher Höhe an den Bühnenseiten montiert wurden und die Signale der Tracker an den Smart-Server weiterleiten. „Wir haben die Anchor so positioniert, dass wir immer vom jeweiligen Sender zu mindestens vier Empfängern vollen Empfang hatten“, erläutert Patrick Röling von NeMedia, die sich als Veranstaltungsplaner unter anderem auf den Einsatz von Zactrack spezialisiert haben. „Vier Empfänger sind notwendig, um eine 3D-Ortung zu ermöglichen.“

Damit das automatisierte Positionstracking via Zactrack seine Wirkung im Audiobereich entfalten konnte, griffen die Veranstalter der Jazzopen 2023 erstmals auf ein immersives Beschallungskonzept zurück. Anstelle einer klassischen Links-Rechts-Beschallung wurden fünf Lautsprecherarrays über die gesamte Bühnenbreite verteilt, um die Klangobjekte in der D&B-En-Scene-Software - darunter auch die getrackten Künstler - wiederzugeben.

Sobald die Positionen der sich bewegenden Künstler auf der Bühne über das Zactrack-Smart-System erfasst und berechnet waren, wurden die rohen Positionsdaten über das OSC-Netzwerkprotokoll an die DS100-DSP-Signalprozessoren von D&B Audiotechnik gesendet und in das Soundscape-System integriert.

Die größte Anzahl an Trackern (zehn) kam beim Auftritt des Electro-Swing-Künstlers Parov Stelar mitsamt Band zum Einsatz. „Bei Parov Stelar hatten wir sehr viel Action auf der Bühne. Die Musiker, darunter diverse Sängerinnen und Bläser, waren permanent auf der Bühne unterwegs“, so Röling. Die kompakten Tracker (Gewicht: 26 g) wurden außen am Bühnenkostüm der Künstler befestigt.

(Fotos: Jörg Küster)

www.lightpower.de

Satis&fy ist Official Supplier der Invictus Games Düsseldorf

Vom 9. bis 16. September 2023 finden in Düsseldorf die Invictus Games statt. Bei Satis&fy laufen die Vorplanungen für das Sportgroßevent bereits auf Hochtouren, um logistische und technische Herausforderungen zu meistern.

2014 von Prinz Harry, The Duke of Sussex, ins Leben gerufen, finden die Invictus Games Düsseldorf in diesem Jahr erstmals in Deutschland statt. Das Event soll unter dem Motto „A Home for Respect“ an Körper oder Seele verwundeten, verletzten und erkrankten Soldatinnen und Soldaten eine größere Sichtbarkeit und Wahrnehmung in der Gesellschaft ermöglichen.

Eine Aufgabe, an der die Satis&fy AG mitwirkt, nachdem sie bei der öffentlichen Ausschreibung nach eigenen Angaben vor allem durch die Konzeptionsleistung in den Bereichen Logistik, Nachhaltigkeit, Materialvorbereitung und Flexibilität habe überzeugen können.

„Wir haben den Vorteil, dass wir auf eine starke Infrastruktur direkt in Düsseldorf zurückgreifen können, so beispielsweise die Materiallager und Vorbereitungsstätten“, erklärt Philipp Reher, Managing Director von Satis&fy Düsseldorf. „Außerdem arbeiten wir mit vorbereiteten Modulen und Codierungen, trackbaren LKWs und eigenen Logistikern für Transport und Material, damit Auf- und Abbau so reibungslos wie möglich verlaufen.“

Ein besonderer Fokus liegt für Satis&fy auf der Ausstattung des Herzstücks der Spiele. Im Innenbereich der Merkur Spiel-Arena wird neben verschiedenen Sportarealen auch die Ceremony Stage für die Eröffnungs- und Abschlusszeremonie stehen. Die Eröffnungsfeier mit dem Einzug der 22 Nationen wird von Hadnet Tesfai und Steven Gätjen moderiert.

Zu beiden Shows werden internationale Musikstars wie der Rapper Macklemore erwartet, die auf der großen Bühne auftreten werden. Knapp 300 Quadratmeter gecurvte LED-Wand mit 8 m Höhe sind dabei eines der Elemente, die individuell geplant und vor Ort mittels eigens dafür entwickelten Sonderbauelementen installiert werden.

Mit der Technik für Rigging, Licht, Video und Audio werden über 102 Tonnen Last in das Dach der Arena eingeleitet. Darüber hinaus wirkt Satis&fy bei der Ausrüstung der Spielstätten, der Beschallung der Tribünen und Ausleuchtung der Sportfelder selbst, der Schnittstelle zum Broadcasting und an diversen weiteren Punkten mit.

Die Crew von Satis&fy wird Ende August mit der Vorbereitung starten, vor Ort ab Anfang September. Die Auf- und Abbauphase soll eine Crew aus bis zu 346 Mitgliedern in drei ineinandergreifenden Schichten rund um die Uhr stemmen.

(Foto: Invictus Games Düsseldorf 2023/D.Live/Kenny Beele)

www.satis-fy.com

Daniel Carvalho selects Martin Audio’s MLA for Marisa Monte and “Coolritiba”

After its appearance at Brazil’s “Rock in Rio” festival, Martin Audio’s MLA multicellular loudspeaker array also provided main stage artists at the annual Festival “Coolritiba” in Curitiba, nearly 500 miles further south, with the desired sound.

“Coolritiba” headliners included Marisa Monte, Sandy, Mano Brown and Gilberto Gil. Marisa Monte’s sound engineer, Daniel Carvalho, had been piloting the mix on the singer’s “Portas” tour through an MLA, provided by rental company Gabisom (who also service “Rock in Rio”). “Coolritiba” was part of their 100-show tour schedule where Marisa Monte was top of the bill.

At “Coolritiba”, where a crowd of around 20,000 fans assembled, the main PA was rigged as an L/C/R system with fifteen MLA and a single MLD downfill at the base of each hang. Outfills comprised seven MLA plus an MLD downfill; there was a delay fill of six further MLA, with six MLA Compact as front fills. The rig, which Carvalho also helped design, incorporated an array of thirty-two MLX subwoofers arranged in castellated broadside configuration.

“For many (engineers at ‘Coolritiba’) it was their first time with Martin Audio and all techs loved the sound”, reports Carvalho. “The Rap guys didn’t ask for additional subs and the promoter himself said he wants the same set-up for next year.”

Carvalho has been handling Marisa Monte’s live mix since 2015 and was a studio engineer prior to that during which time he has become an eight times Latin Grammy Award winner as mastering engineer and mixer.

(Photos: Martin Audio)

www.martin-audio.com

Chauvet lights Univision show in Puerto Rico

The producers of the Univision awards show “Premios Juventud” chose “La Marqueta”, a club/restaurant on the seaside of Condado Beach, Puerto Rico, as the site of “The PJ Backlot”, a breakaway spot located about fifteen minutes from the Jose Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, where the awards program took place.

Set against a seaside background, “The PJ Backlot” put viewers in a Caribbean frame of mind every time it appeared on their screens for award ceremony introductions and tags as well as selected musical performances.

Accentuating these surroundings, while also providing camera-friendly broadcast lighting was a creation by lighting designer Rene Garcia and lighting director/programmer Chris Fernandez who collaborated with the team from House of Sam. The design featured over 240 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Musique Xpress.

“We positioned most fixtures on the ground and used only four vertical trusses in order for the cameras to have nice vistas of the ocean, palm trees and beach setting”, says Garcia. “The producers wanted the viewers at home to get the sensation of Puerto Rico - and this venue suited that goal well.”

Anchoring the rig were forty Color Strike M motorized strobes. “They were the focal point”, explains Fernandez. “We utilized them in distinct ways. First, as a strobe, they accentuated the musical hits. Second, we toned down their intensity a bit, transforming them into endless pixel-mapped backdrops.”

“The picturesque natural setting was woven into the fabric of our show”, adds Garcia. “It is so beautiful, how could it not? We accented it with Colorado Q40 fixtures creating colorful washes on the rocks and waves, as well as with Colorado Solo 1 Pars lighting the palm trees in the background.”

A circle of beams created with twelve Rogue Outcast 2 Hybrid fixtures surrounded the talent on the seaside stage. The color palette selected for the 30-universe show reflected the mood of the music and the natural surroundings.

(Photos: Chauvet Professional)

www.chauvetprofessional.com

Chameleon chooses Chauvet for Lake Festival

The recent Lake Festival in Serbia encompassed a diverse mix of artists from Europe and USA. Lighting designer Andelko Popic and team at Chameleon Rental opted to reflect the spirit of the three-day event by building their production design around three concentric circles that expanded outward from the stage’s center.

This arrangement gave designers the freedom to create widely different settings for the festival’s various acts, allowing them to move from the intimate, when almost all light came from the smaller center sphere, to the more elaborate, when crossing beam patterns from fixtures on different circles created complex patterns. The Chameleon Rental team anchored their rig with 88 Chauvet Professional fixtures from their company’s own inventory.

Playing a key role in this rig were the eight Rogue R2X Beam fixtures flown on the smaller center stage circle. Among the functions that these 231-watt beams were used for at the festival was to create a ring of light around those artists who performed under the circular truss.

A collection of six other R2X Beam units were also on the rig, positioned on the two larger outer circles. Drawing on the one degree beam angle and intense output (134,000 lux at 15 meters) of these movers, the designers were able to animate the entire festival site with some dramatic aerial effects.

Joining the Rogue R2X Beams on the outer circles were twelve Maverick MK1 Spot fixtures, five of which were positioned on the second truss and used for downlighting, while the remained joined in creating aerial effects. Also on the outer circles were 22 Maverick MK2 Wash units, which were used for stage and crowd washing.

To engage fans further, the designers used four Strike 4 fixtures, flown across upstage horizontal truss. Providing bold colorful backgrounds to the down lighting from the overhead fixtures were six Colorado PXL bar fixtures arranged across the upstage deck.

(Photos: Chauvet Professional/PeX)

www.chauvetprofessional.com

Painting with Light and More To Show busy at “Happy Belgium” event

Creative visual practice Painting with Light (PWL) was asked by the Agoria Sports and Entertainment Technology club, a networking hub for Belgian technology leaders, to show direct and design lighting for a mixed media visual spectacle - lighting, lasers and fireworks - which was the finale segment of the official 2023 Belgian National Day celebrations.

This year, the occasion also coincided with the tenth anniversary of the coronation of King Philippe of Belgium. The overall event which included a two-hour music festival, was titled “Happy Belgium”. The 15-minute Finale show was developed for the Syndicat d’Initiative-Bruxelles Promotion (SIBP) and staged against the backdrop of Cinquantenaire Arcade, a grand 30-metre-wide, 45-metre-high triple arched architectural monument in Brussels’ Parc du Cinquantenaire. It topped off the music festival event organised by the Prime Minister’s chancellery and was attended by 60,000 people as well as live broadcast across major networks.

The PWL team was led by the company’s founder and creative director Luc Peumans who collaborated closely with Patrick and Nathan Awouters, creative director and technical manager respectively from Agoria partner Laser System Europe (LSE), who provided the lighting equipment and forty lasers for the show. Pyro specialist Arteventia’s Edouard Grégoire designed and supplied the fireworks together with his team. The “Happy Belgium” finale was set to a special soundtrack composed by Patrick Awouters.

On the lighting side, a full set of IP rated fixtures was installed on and around the Cinquantenaire and the galleries and colonnades of its associated buildings, which curve away to the sides of the monolith. Fixtures comprised a mix of beams and washes and included sixty PR Lighting Aqua 580 Beams, eighteen Aqua 580 BWS, fifty Aqua LED 600 Spots, thirty FOS F7 strobe washes, ten Explo X2 Wave Flamers and fourteen hazers to assist with atmospherics, all of which were supplied by LSE.

In addition to these, Peumans tapped into eighteen of the music festival’s Chauvet ColorStrike M motorized strobe/wash fixtures that were part of the festival package and supplied by Splendit for DDMC, the event producers for that segment with their technical partner, production specialist More To Show.

Jordi Vandekerkhof from More To Show worked closely with Frank Anthierens and Nathalie Rasschaert from event agency Alice Events and DDMC Event Design. The festival featured performances by twelve Belgian artists accompanied by a 24-piece orchestra including rhythm section.

With the event design so intricately linked to the Cinquantenaire architecture, all the surrounding technical infrastructure - stage, lighting, PA arrays, delay towers, IMAG screens, etc. - was added with the goal of blending production seamlessly into the location, achieving a modern elegance and functionality in the historically significant setting.

Once Alice Events was awarded the pitch, it was time for More To Show to get involved and turn these plans into production realities. The scope of More To Show’s work included creating a lighting design for the buildings and the stage, managing all technical suppliers including audio, video, lighting, power, pyro and broadcasting and all other site infrastructure and necessities required for the main festival section with the specially arranged compositions co-ordinated by musical director Michel Bisceglia.

The Cinquantenaire, the inside and undersides of its arches, the exterior and interior walls as well as all the colonnades and supporting buildings were all lit in the plan, transforming its imposing presence and structural integrity into “natural” scenography.

“The key was to get exactly the right blend of technology and historic monument”, explains Vandekerkhof. Lighting the buildings brought the space alive with colour, texture, a sense of grandeur and a magical atmosphere, a task primarily achieved using a mix of Chauvet floods and moving lights all supplied, together with the D&B audio system, by rental company Splendit.

The eighteen Chauvet Color Strike M strobe/wash fixtures were placed inside the peristyles and functioned as an architectural wash for inside the buildings as well as doubling up for audience blinders, using the strobe and tilt function at strategic moments. Forty-eight Colorado Q40 LED Washes covered the building facades in light.

This was the first major event for Splendit’s 48 new Chauvet Maverick Storm Hybrid 1 IP65 beam/hybrid fixtures, some of which were placed on top of the arch and the buildings, with others on ground level along the front of the facade blasting out into the night sky. A third layer of lighting was created with more Storm Hybrid 1s lower down along the floor line, all adding more depth to the scene.

The stage, a 20-metre-wide dome stage from supplier Gigant International, was fitted with clear skins. It was chosen for its compact dimensions and because it would provide all the necessary weather protection for the orchestra and artists, whilst not affecting the visuality of the epic architecture behind.

More To Show’s stage lighting design had most overhead fixtures onstage rigged on a series of different length D-drops clamped to numerous points in the roof, a plan that accentuated the curvature of the roof and juxtaposed against the perpendicular lines of the Cinquantenaire. “Straight trusses simply would not have worked in this context, it was really important to preserve the splendour of the buildings as the backdrop”, notes Vandekerkhof.

Twenty-eight Chauvet MK3 Profile CXs were the primary stage side and key lights, with fifty-six Maverick Storm 2 Beam wash luminaires for additional TV light and fourteen Chauvet Ovation 1 Cyc fixtures used as footlights. Robe MegaPointes provided back lighting and aerial effects behind the stage.

Chauvet Strike Array 4 Blinders were deployed on all the six delay towers, combined with PWR Ranger blinders curving around the front edge of the stage roof for audience illumination. Follow spotting utilised two Robe BMFL WashBeams rigged on the main left and right delay towers, both running on RoboSpot remote follow spot systems.

Two GrandMA3 consoles were used for lighting control, a full size for the show lighting, operated by More To Show’s Cedric Duré and a GrandMA3 light for the key lights and TV specials, operated by Niels Huybrechts, also from More To Show.

The streamlined PA arrays were D&B J-series and live sound was mixed using a DiGiCo console by Frank Voet of Mono. IMAG was important not just so the large crowd could get a decent overview of the stage action, but also so they could appreciate screen-based elements like the ten video testimonials (one for each year of the King’s reign) from a selection of people who had overcome challenges in the quest to realise extraordinary achievements. Six 28 square metre LED screens were positioned around the site allowing views of the broadcast mix.

As for PWL’s job in preparation of the “Happy Belgium” event, the galvanizing part was to integrate the three distinctive visual elements into a fluid narrative collage, once the soundtrack was finalized. Much of the magic happened in a Syncronorm Depence previz suite as they visualized the show, critical to its success as in reality they had precious little situ time for programming on site.

A run through on the first evening was without pyro but produced plenty of notes, all of which had to be addressed and solved by the next day in PWL’s pre-vis suite onsite, with a further 1.5 hours the following night to review. To assist this process, a simulation of the fireworks was created by Arteventia that gave a realistic visual of the effects. The final show was fully timecoded and synched to the music track.

PWL’s lighting programmers were Tibo Spiessens and Jeroen Opsteyn using a GrandMA3 and the pre-programming was completed in Depence 3 in their visualization studio. The associate lighting designer was Sieben Vannuffelen, and the production Manager for LSE was Hans Cromheecke.

LSE’s lighting crew were Arnaud Favry, Jonathan Mulders, Fabian Fizaine, Jonathan Gault and Jules Roullet, and tec’ing the lasers were Thomas Avisse and Giovanni Laera. The lasers were designed and programmed by Patrick Awouters’ son Nathan, and LSE’s artistic consultant was Marcos Vinals.

Working alongside Edouard Grégoire on Team Arteventia was technical manager Gabriel Legrand, project manager Jean François Homerin and firers Anthony Poveda, Jordan Van Cappellen, Emmanuel Legrand, Amaury Vanderborght and Claudel Doucel.

The TV camera director for the festival and the finale/closing event was Hans Pannecoucke who had two close cams, one dolly, one crane, three handhelds, two PTZ remotes and a drone at his disposal to build the live and broadcast mix. Broadcast facilities were supplied by another Agoria partner, NEP Belgium, with Bart Thiron as a technical director.

Jordi Vandekerkhof’s More To Show production team on site also included Linne De Neef, co-ordinating site wide audio, video and lighting, and technical draftsperson Joost Rombaut.

The lighting crew chief was Cedriek Stoffels from Splendit, Tom Logghe was their audio crew chief, Karel Will was the sound technician and Julian Schelfhout the lighting tech, with the project overseen by Splendit’s owner, Marijn Broeckaert.

(Photos: Olivier Anbergen/Nathan Awouters/Frederic Lepla/Melting Prod/Nicolas Peeters)

www.pwl.be

www.moretoshow.com

Meevi-Rent unterstützt Jazzopen 2023

Im Auftrag der Opus Festival-, Veranstaltungs- und Management GmbH zeichnete Meevi-Rent bei den diesjährigen Jazzopen in Stuttgart für die Stromversorgung und Notbeleuchtung am Hauptspielort auf dem Schlossplatz verantwortlich.

Das Konzept sah vor, dass die Stromversorgung über das vorhandene Festnetz erfolgen sollte. Auf dem Festivalgelände installierte das Team von Meevi-Rent dafür das nötige Equipment inklusive Verkabelung, Stromverteilern und Messwandlerschränken sowie einem Notstromaggregat.

Zusätzlich wurde das Gelände mit Notausgangsbeschilderungen und Funktionsleuchten abgesichert. Das Leistungsspektrum umfasste den Auf- und Abbau sowie die Veranstaltungsbetreuung auf dem Schlossplatz an allen sechs Konzerttagen.

(Fotos: Meevi-Rent GmbH)

www.meevi-rent.de

Sunrise Festival mit dBTechnologies Vio beschallt

Beim mittlerweile fünfzehnten Sunrise Festival im bayerischen Burtenbach, organisiert von den Brüdern Christoph und Sascha Völpel, traten Anfang Juli 2023 nationale und internationale Reggae- und Ska-Bands vor mehr als 20.000 Besuchern auf.

Die Veranstalter setzen bereits seit einigen Jahren Audio-Systeme von dBTechnologies ein. Durch die zunehmende Größe des Festivals wurde auch die Beschallungsanlage fortwährend erweitert. Für die Hauptbühne des nach eigenen Angaben größten Reggae-Festivals Deutschlands lieferten zahlreiche Vio-Line-Array-Einheiten von dBTechnologies den Sound.

An der Bühne verwendeten der Veranstaltungstechnik-Dienstleister Miet PA und Korbinian Wedel das größte der aktiven Vio-Line-Array-Systeme, das Vio L212. Rechts und links der Bühne waren als Main Hang je acht Vio L212 platziert. Die 22 S218-Doppel-18’’-Subwoofer befanden sich direkt vor der Bühne, mit acht Vio L1610 als Frontfill auf den Subs.

Als Infill kamen auf der Bühne zwei S118R mit je drei Vio L 1610 zum Einsatz. Für das Monitoring auf der Bühne wurden sechs Vio-W15- und acht DVX-DM-12-Monitore genutzt. Für die Drums platzierte Korbinian Wedel zwei S118R-Subwoofer mit Ingenia IG3 als Drumfill auf der Bühne. Installation und Monitoring erfolgten über das Aurora-Net-Tool.

(Fotos: Sascha Gansen/Rhein-Sieg-Media)

www.dbtechnologies.com

www.miet-pa.de

Connor Sullivan beleuchtet Fall Out Boy mit Elation und Magmatic

Für das Lichtdesign der im Juni 2023 gestarteten „So Much For (Tour) Dust“-Tournee der amerikanischen Rock-Band Fall Out Boy verwendet Connor Sullivan (So Midwest, Inc.) den neuen Fuze Wash 500 von Elation zusammen mit Prisma-Wash-100-Scheinwerfern von Magmatic Effects. Die Lichttechnik wurde von Upstaging geliefert.

Die Kreativdirektoren Amber Rimell und Bronski von Tawbox hatten zuvor mit Sullivan darüber gesprochen, für die Tournee etwas zu erschaffen, das eher Geschichten erzählt und insgesamt theatralischer angelegt ist. Es ging darum, so Sullivan, wie beim neuen Album von Fall Out Boy „Trennung und Unterschiede zu zeigen, aber auch Ausgeglichenheit. Wir haben unsere äußere Seite, die wir der Welt zeigen, und unser Inneres, das wir für uns behalten. Genau das wollten wir auch auf der Bühne einfangen.“

Sullivan und Tawbox entwickelten daraufhin ein auf Asymmetrie basierendes Konzept, bei dem zwei unterschiedliche Hälften der Bühne zu einem ausgewogenen Ganzen verschmelzen sollen. „Ich habe die Idee erforscht, eine Seite der Bühne absichtlich zu überladen, während die andere Seite relativ kahl bleibt“, erläutert Sullivan. „Die rechte Seite stellt die Fassade dar, den nach außen gerichteten Aspekt, der die theatralischen Elemente zur Schau stellt, während die linke Seite die bloße Essenz verkörpert, die sich auf ihren Rock’n’Roll-Kern reduziert. Sie dient als Rückgrat der Show.“

Um den Kontrast zwischen den beiden Seiten zu betonen, entschied sich Sullivan dafür, die Verwendung von horizontalen Traversen, die sich von rechts nach links erstrecken, zu minimieren und stattdessen zahlreiche Türme einzubauen. Auf der linken Bühnenseite befinden sich eine Reihe von Hybridscheinwerfern, die sowohl Beameffekte als auch Rock’n’Roll-Ästhetik erzeugen können, während auf der rechten Seite Spotlights und Wash-Scheinwerfer das Setup dominieren.

Sullivan erklärt, wo die Fuze Wash 500 zum Einsatz kommen: „Direkt über der Band befindet sich ein automatisierter Pod im vorderen Bühnenbereich. In einer bestimmten Szene werden wir in die Zeit zurückversetzt, als die Band gerade auf Joes Dachboden anfing. Und um dieses Konzept zum Leben zu erwecken, haben wir diesen Pod konzipiert. Ursprünglich hatte ich PAR-Kannen in Erwägung gezogen, aber ich wollte etwas, das mehr Vielseitigkeit bietet.“ Das Setup sei zudem eine kleine Hommage an die „Tension“-Tour der Band Nine Inch Nails, bei der ebenfalls ein Pod direkt über dem Kopf der Musiker schwebte, ohne dass andere Scheinwerfer hinzukamen.

Der verfahrbare Pod auf der aktuellen Fall-Out-Boy-Tour beinhaltet sechzig Fuze-Wash-500-Scheinwerfer, die in zwei 9 x 1,2 m großen Trusspods untergebracht sind. Jeder Pod enthält zwei Reihen mit je fünfzehn Scheinwerfern. „Sie fahren als eine Einheit herunter, und im Laufe der Show beginnen sie sich zu bewegen und werden durch verschiedene Positionen immer lebendiger“, so Sullivan. „Ihr erster Auftritt ist in der dritten Szene der Show (von insgesamt acht), dann verschwinden sie für eine Weile, um in den letzten beiden Szenen für Rock’n’Roll-Looks wieder aufzutauchen.“

Ein ganz besonderer Teil der Konzerte ist der Song „Heaven“: „Dieser Moment ist in der Mitte der Show und baut sich langsam auf. Es ist eine Vollbremsung, bei der Patrick von nur einem Scheinwerfer beleuchtet singt, während das restliche Licht aus ist“, erklärt Sullivan. „Dann bringen wir das Licht langsam und subtil zurück, und am Ende des Songs leuchtet jeder einzelne Scheinwerfer in strahlendem Weiß, flackert und spielt verrückt. Das ist ein beeindruckender Moment und ein absoluter Fan-Favorit.“

Da es keine LED-Bildschirme oder eine LED-Wand im Hintergrund gibt, die einen einfachen visuellen Wechsel ermöglichen, suchten die Bühnenbildner von Tawbox nach zusätzlichen Möglichkeiten. „Alles, was man hinter der Band sieht, ist physisches Bühnenbild, entweder bemalt oder aufblasbar“, sagt Sullivan. „Die einzige Möglichkeit, das zu ändern, besteht darin, es mit Licht einzufärben. Wir wollten unsere Möglichkeiten erweitern, und eine Option war die Verwendung von UV-Farbe.“

Die mit UV-Lack bemalten Kulissen verlangten nach einem UV-Washlight, um sie zum Leuchten zu bringen. Diese Aufgabe wurde dem Prisma Wash 100 zuteil, einem IP65-zertifizierten UV-Washlight, das bis zu 365 nm an echtem UV-Licht ohne jegliches sichtbares Licht erzeugt. „Es ist das Geheimnis der Show“, sagt Sullivan über den Effekt. „Wir warten und warten und dann schalten wir ihn ein. Plötzlich leuchtet die Kulisse: riesige Seesterne, U-Boote - das ist wirklich cool. Wir haben zwölf UV-Scheinwerfer mittig an der Vorbühne montiert, die den gesamten hinteren Teil der Bühne abdecken.“

Upstaging lieferte das Rigg mit mehr als 300 Fixtures für die „So Much For (Tour) Dust“-Tournee. Fall Out Boy spielen den ganzen Sommer über Open-Air-Termine in den USA und starten im Herbst eine Europatournee.

(Fotos: Andy Jauregui)

www.lmp.de

Robe supports Offer Nissim at Pride Tel Aviv

When one of his regular clients, DJ Offer Nissim, recently headlined the Tel Aviv Pride Festival, Israeli lighting designer Elad Cohen specified a large Robe rig including MegaPointes, Spiiders and Esprites.

The festival, which celebrated all aspects of LGBTQ culture and life, was staged in Ganei Yehoshua Park in north Tel Aviv, and was the culmination of two days of one of the biggest events of the year in Israel. “We wanted to make a massive impact with the show and the whole performance”, says Cohen.

The 72-metre-wide stage and set which featured substantial LED surfaces was designed by a creative team comprising the Rubi & Gal Studio and art director Shimon Shirazi for producers Vivo, and built by Stage Design, while the technical production - lighting and sound - was supplied by Argaman System and video by Clean LED, and 470 metres of neon flex from LED Art.

Fourteen of the fifty-six MegaPointes were located behind the set LED screens for blow-through effects, with the rest dotted around the stage floor and used for the bursting gobo and laser-like beam looks that defined Nissim’s set.

The twenty-four Esprites were rigged along the top at the back of the set structure, for shooting down onto the stage and sweeping out across the audience area. Cohen also used thirty Robe Spiiders which were deployed on the stage floor where their zoom feature was used for lighting all the scenic elements and props.

Offer Nissim plays a completely distinct set for each show, so there are always some elements of surprise for Cohen who has worked for the artist for some time. The key, he says, is to take the music and transform it into lighting that combines with visuals and audio, producing a new and unique experience every time.

“Each track has its own story and relating that narrative live involves me, FOH engineer Nimrod ‘Crovi’ Dobuvicz and the video/visuals created by Rubi Saati and Or Nadav, and all of us collaborate very closely with the artist”, states Cohen who operated the show, which included other lights, using a GrandMA2 console. Lasers were supplied by Omri Silver and pyro by Mega Night.

(Photos: NEO Media)

www.robe.cz

Puerto Rico’s Latin Urban Music Awards lit with Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2

Two Green Hippo Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers powered the visuals for multiple wraparound LED screens which formed the backdrop for this year’s televised “Premios Tu Música Urbano”. The awards, which celebrate Latin Urban music, were broadcast live from Puerto Rico capital San Juan’s 18,000-capacity Choliseo, and streamed live to fans worldwide on YouTube.

Florida-based production house JMT Show Concepts was commissioned by Sora & Company, producer Soraya Sanchez, and the Telemundo TV network to create and provide all of the content visuals for the event. “Awards shows are very intense because you have to do content, show looks and programming in such a short time - for this project, it was just six days”, says Jorge Toro from JMT.

The JMT team used two V4 Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers, which drove data via two 4K60 outputs from their switcher matrix to LED processors, controlling the visuals via ZooKeeper and a motorized MIDI controller. One of the standout performances on the night was by the younger generation of Latin Urban music artists, who collaborated to pay paid tribute to those who paved the way for them.

“For this moment, we had to put a live feed on six of the TV screens across the stage layered with different effects, so each image would look different”, says Toro. “Using Hippotizer, we could programme and accommodate everything we needed without losing performance, using a total of twelve layers. Hippotizer’s VideoMapper is a saviour, since we had two batches of the same screen and we could colour correct everything from there, screen by screen, based on the angle of the camera.”

The creative for the awards was provided by Juan Garcia, with JMT delivering the video content and production, LED logistics, raster graphics and crew. They also provided timecode distribution for lighting and video world, and fiber runs for everything from FOH to the stage. Jorge Toro served as Programmer and Crew Chief for the awards, with Mauricio Caicedo as Assistant Programmer and Media Server Tech. Edwin Rivera was Chief Animator and Content Producer, with Rosario Toro as Project Manager and LED Engineers duties delivered by Natanael Mora.

“We would like to offer special thanks to Lighting Design, Sora & Co. and Soraya Sanchez, ACME Productions and Tony Parodi, Marcelo Gana, Juan Garcia, Danny Lugo, Wichie Sound, and LED Video Rentals”, says Toro who also notes that JMT has recently opened an office in Puerto Rico, with Hippotizer Media Servers in stock. “We’re increasing the presence of the Hippotizer brand in Puerto Rico and adjacent islands like Dominican Republic.”

(Photos: Green Hippo/JMT Show Concepts)

www.green-hippo.com

Chauvet fixtures illuminate “Newsies” at Broward Center

Clifford Michael Spulock, of CS Lighting, lit the Slow Burn Theatre Company’s production of “Newsies” earlier this summer at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. For his design, Spulock concentrated on the show’s newspaper theme.

“When you think of a newspaper at the end of the 19th century when this play takes place, you think black print on a white background, as well as sepia toned photos”, he says. “So, my main goal was to use more sepia and white tones, as well as shadowy space to get the feeling of an older movie/newspaper. My more vibrant colors come out for the big dance numbers and to accent more intense moments of the show, but the overall tone fits the newspaper mood.”

Helping Spulock achieve this effect was a collection of 44 Chauvet Professional Maverick, Rogue and Colorado fixtures. Playing a critical role in washing the stage with colors were the 22 Colorado 2 Zoom Tour fixtures in Spulock’s rig. Arranged on four electrics over the stage, the RGBW units were used to project different combinations of redolent hues over a massive set piece.

Adding to the color-scape was the light from six Rogue R2X Wash fixtures. “Using my R2X washes as side lights, I was able to keep the actors lit while still keeping the shadows and gobo breakups present within my design”, says Spulock. “If I were to use a lot of standard color washes like in a normal theatre lighting plot, many of the dark spaces and shadows that were critical to my look would have disappeared.”

A pair of Maverick MK2 Profile fixtures and an equal number of Rogue R1X Spots were positioned on catwalks and were essential to helping Spulock break up the stage with gobo patterns. “Gobo breakups were a main part of my design for this production”, he says. “Being able to have a full stage of multiple different patterns with different colors really gave me many design options to choose from. I then used tight spots and moving washes to help direct the attention to where the action was happening.”

The show was directed by Patrick Fitzwater and choreographed by Trent Soyster. Scenic designer was Kelly Tighe. “Kelly deserves a great deal of credit for creating a set that was multifunctional while also taking lighting into consideration”, notes Spulock. “On one side, it was covered with a scrim that could be front lit to make it feel like we were in a theatre or Pulitzer’s office. Once I lit it from behind, the audience could see steps and scaffolding with newsboys dancing all over it.”

(Photos: Chauvet Professional/CS Lighting)

www.chauvetprofessional.com

Shania Twain world tour lit with Ayrton Domino

Ayrton Domino fixtures have hit the road with country music singer Shania Twain’s “Queen of Me” global tour. “The show is themed around Shania’s new album”, says Nashville-based André Petrus, the tour’s lighting director and console programmer. “The show is packed with 3D animations, including an LED floor.”

The “Queen of Me” tour will play some eighty dates throughout North America, the UK and Ireland this year. Twain kicked off the tour in Spokane, Washington, in April; it will visit the UK and Ireland in September and wrap in Vancouver in November.

“Shania creative directs her own shows and wanted the set to be made up of LED so it can consistently morph into different scenes”, explains Petrus. “She wanted to feel immersed in the content so we carried an LED floor and LED IMAG screens.” Cory FitzGerald, a Senior Partner and Lighting Designer at Silent House Studios in Burbank, acted as production designer for the tour and devised the screen configuration and truss layout.

“The show started with the placement of screens, including a main upstage screen, large LED facia, LED floor and a header that borders stage right and left and the downstage”, says Petrus. “Once the screens were confirmed, then it was time to fit in the lighting with a giant box truss that runs upstage to downstage and a downstage truss that floats over the header with thirteen Ayrton Dominos, plus another six Dominos used for floor shin kickers.”

(Photos: Andre Petrus)

www.ayrton.eu

TiMax SoundHub and TrackerD4 for “Nixon in China”

Contrasting with the postmodernity of its theme, the recent stage interpretation of “Nixon in China” for the Teatro Real in Madrid presented a rather traditional production. Adhering to the operatic principle of “clarification not amplification”, sound designer Cameron Crosby matched a TiMax SoundHub spatial audio engine with vocal tracking from TiMax TrackerD4, which delivered the locational coordinates of the principal performers in real-time.

Teatro Real’s Head of Audio Visual, Fernando Valiente Uceda, discussed the project and the specification in detail with Out Board’s Robin Whittaker at the ISE exhibition in Barcelona. With a full appreciation of the capabilities and benefits of using the TiMax system, the allure was made real with a positive decision.

TiMax SoundHub formed the spatial core of the sound system, controlled by both the TiMax TrackerD4 and Cue triggers from a Digico SD10 sound console, with outputs to the loudspeaker system comprised of four main areas, including an orchestra pit system, front stage fills which covered the majority of the auditorium, line arrays directed at the upper balconies and a small number of delays to infill side positions.

As well as the tracking of the principal singers on the stage, Crosby employed TiMax to integrate audio from the chorus in non-tracked locations both on-stage and off to mix that with the audio from the moving performers.

Crosby’s aim was to keep the gain structure of the loudspeaker mix to a minimum to “create a soundscape that is able to blend the natural sound coming from the singers with the aural content coming from the loudspeakers. This is the point of using object-based audio so that the reinforced voice enhances the natural voices.”

“TiMax TrackerD4 provided a dynamic X-Y, and Z location for each singer, so that TiMax SoundHub was able to continuously reposition each perceived location to accurately match the actual position of the singers. This meant there was never an image shift between the direct and enhanced voices”, he adds.

(Photos: Javier & Elena del Real)

www.outboard.co.uk

Schallwerk deploys Coda Audio Space Hub at Marie Delprat’s album launch gigs

“Life is Sick” is the latest work from Switzerland-based French composer Marie Delprat. Delprat’s music encompasses a fusion of diverse musical genres including early, contemporary and experimental music.

Fascinated by the interplay between sound, movement and visual arts, she constantly explores the boundaries of musical composition and seeks to transcend traditional artistic mediums. With this very much in mind she wanted to pay particular attention to the audio system deployed at two album launch events in Basel and Bern.

Her sound engineer, Maxime Le Saux - who works part-time for Schallwerk and has wide experience of live mixing in the field of contemporary and experimental music - spoke to Matthias Dietrich of audio specialists Schallwerk, who suggested a Coda Audio system incorporating the company’s immersive processor Space Hub.

The performances were staged at Gare du Nord in Basel and Dampfzentrale’s Boiler House in Bern. Rehearsals were conducted prior the gigs at Schallwerk’s warehouse, enabling the engineers and artist to experiment with their proposed system. Once they had fulfilled their aims in this setting, the team were confident that the use of Coda’s System Optimiser simulation software and the scaling parameter within the Space Hub Control would take care of the move to the live venues.

Le Saux settled on a dual layer quadrophonic system. At the Gare du Nord venue, the ear height layer comprised four Coda Audio G715 3-way point source and two SCV-F sensor-controlled subwoofers, while the elevated layer comprised four G308-Pro compact two-way. A single SCP 2 x 18’’ sub was used as low frequency extender.

At Dampfzentrale the ear level layer consisted of four Hops12T with two SCV-F subs, while four Hops8T were taking care of the elevated layer. Again, a single SCP sub acted as a low frequency extender. Three Coda Audio Linus14D DSP amplifiers powered the systems at both gigs, with a Coda Audio Space Hub immersive processor, Yamaha QL1 console, and several Apple laptops completing the system.

“Both the artist and Maxime used Ableton Live to either play and/or process sounds”, explains Matthias Dietrich, System Engineer and Sales Representative at Schallwerk. “Although primarily using synths, Marie also played the flute - she is classically trained - and a straightforward SM58 mic for creating more sounds. Maxime used the Coda Audio Space Hub plugin within Ableton to create movements and transitions via LFOs, controlling Azimuth and Distance parameters in Space Hub.”

“All audio signal path was done via Dante”, he continues. “The complex signal setup comprised some inputs going directly into Space Hub, whilst some signals went first to the console for processing. Dedicated outputs from the processor were then sent via Dante to Coda Audio Linus14 amplifiers. Space Hub also allowed us to record the binaural mix down.”

Dietrich explains the thinking further: “In this scenario, with a single artist on the floor (no stage was used) we aimed for a fully surrounding approach in the acoustic domain. Our purpose wasn’t to create a visual reference to any particular position in the room with the Space Hub’s object-based mixing, but rather that the loudspeaker system should mimic a hemisphere on all three axes (XYZ) as much as possible, with many sounds constantly turning to create a non-directional but fully immersive feeling. Specific sounds like the vocal and flute were then focused more to the position of the artist, and treated with the reverb engine within Space Hub.”

Le Saux and Dietrich took care of the system setup, engineering and tuning, using Coda’s Linus control software for the amplifiers. As well as the time alignments to the tops, delay and/or level adjustments were applied to both layers to further enhance the hemisphere approach of the system.

(Fotos: Coda Audio/Matthias Dietrich/Fotofou/Schallwerk)

www.codaaudio.com

Brian Kelley on the road with Chauvet

Dayne deHaven and Tyler “Shap” Shapard, partners in Nashville-based District 5 Studio, create the looks for country musician Brian Kelley’s current tour with help from a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment. They use four Color Strike M units positioned on upstage pipes and twelve Strike Sabers arranged along their backline.

“The Strike Sabers are used to create ‘waves’ and sun color, while the Color Strike Ms are counted on for backlighting the band, and adding the punch we needed to accentuate the beat and musical moments”, explains deHaven, adding that “everything for audio and lighting had to fit into a single bus trailer”.

“We are proud of the scalability of this rig in particular”, continues deHaven. “By simply adjusting the spacing of the upstage pipes we are able to shrink down to a small stage or scale up to a large stage without having to sacrifice anything in the process.”

(Photos: Chauvet Professional)

www.chauvetprofessional.com

Astera Tubes selected for “Richard II” at Stratford Festival

A new production of “Richard II”, adapted by Brad Fraser, is playing in the Tom Patterson Theatre as part of the 2023 Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Conceived and directed by Jillian Keiley, the work is choreographed by Cameron Carver and lit by Leigh Ann Vardy who is utilising twelve Astera Titan Tubes and four Helios Tubes as lighting and visual props to assist the ambience and narrative flow.

Keiley wanted a minimalist stage setup, and as the creative team started to evolve the aesthetic - with the action set in a Studio 54-inspired disco steeped in the glamour, grit, and glitz of 1970s/80s New York - it became essential to involve lighting elements that could take on the roles of both physical props and metaphysical suggestion.

In particular, they wanted light sources that a “Chorus of Angels” could use and manipulate. Vardy, Keiley, and Stratford Festival’s technical director Greg Dougherty started looking at options for sourcing the right luminaires to meet this brief, and it was Doug Ledingham, head LX for Stratford Festival’s Tom Patterson Theatre, who first suggested looking at Astera’s wireless Tubes as a solution. Chris Pegg from Astera’s Canadian distributor Lumenayre showed them some units. “Basically, this was exactly what the creative team wanted”, states Ledingham.

The Tubes are used multiple times throughout the performance but never lighting an actor, set or scenery piece in a conventional way. One of Vardy’s favourites is a bath house scene when the cast enter in a transition holding the Titan Tubes. On a downbeat of music, the lights snap on and sputter out, creating a dramatic shift in the mood. The cast then place the Titan Tubes in patterns on the stage, unlit, and as each character enters a small “room” created with them, they glow in different colours to outline the action.

In the play’s prison scene a stark look is achieved by flying a 4-ft diameter disco ball in to about four feet above the stage. The Chorus of Angels then carry twelve Titan Tubes onstage and attach them to a custom-built cage around the disco ball. As the ball flies out, the Titan Tubes are eased down to create illuminated jail bars around Richard.

The jail is “broken” by a character wielding a Helios Tube and “smashing” the bars, accompanied by shattering glass sounds and Helios pixel effects. In the final moment of the show, Richard is stabbed with a glowing pink Helios Tube, and as this happens, the colour drains out of the Tube as neon pink blood pours out of his wound.

(Photos: David Hou)

www.astera-led.com

Caspers Hurricane-Gig mit verfahrbarer Brücke und JDC-Line-1000-Hybrid-Bars inszeniert

Casper zählte zu den Headlinern des diesjährigen Hurricane Festivals im norddeutschen Scheeßel. Für einen besonderen Showmoment sorgte der deutsche Rapper bei seinem Auftritt auf der River Stage mit einer verfahrbaren Brücke, die sich knapp fünf Meter über das Publikum erhob.

Lichtdesigner Christoph Schneider nutzte 56 JDC Line 1000 von GLP, um die 28 Meter lange Brücke, die sich zwischen den beiden FOHs erstreckte, lichttechnisch zu gestalten. „Es gab den Wunsch nach einer B-Bühne mit dem gewissen Etwas“, erläutert der Designer die Grundidee. „Eine B-Bühne ist ja nun zunächst nichts Neues. Will man hier noch überraschende Momente kreieren, muss man ‘out of the box’ denken.“

Die Idee der verfahrbaren Brücke kam schließlich von Landstreicher Booking, der Booking-Agentur des Künstlers. Peter Roth-Lipkow von der Schoko Pro GmbH aus Wiesbaden entwickelte, plante und baute die Konstruktion gemeinsam mit Malecon Staging. Designer Christoph Schneider gestaltete sie mit Licht, Lasern und Pyrotechnik.

„Das Lichtdesign für Casper ist insgesamt ziemlich klar und kraftvoll“, sagt Schneider. „Speziell für die Brücke war ich auf der Suche nach einer linearen Lichtlösung, die mit hoher Leistung den Nachthimmel würde durchschneiden können.“ Nach einem Telefonat mit Michael Feldmann von GLP war die JDC Line 1000 für diesen Zweck gesetzt. „Egal um welches Fixture es geht: Ich möchte in meinen Entwürfen grundsätzlich nicht auf Technik schauen“, so Schneider weiter. „Im Normalfall sehe ich die JDC Line in Deko versteckt, sodass nur die Lichtleiste sichtbar bleibt. In diesem Fall aber passte das Lampendesign der JDC Line perfekt zur schwarzen Traversenbrücke, da das ganze Konstrukt eher industriell anmutete.“

Mit 56 JDC Line 1000 zeichnete der Designer die Kontur der Brücke nach. Um einerseits den Überraschungseffekt und andererseits uneingeschränkte Sicht zu gewährleisten, war die Brücke zu Showbeginn heruntergefahren und damit für den Großteil des Publikums unsichtbar. Erst kurz vor dem Einsatz wurde sie hochgefahren.

Christoph Schneider hatte klare Vorstellungen davon, wie er diesen Moment auf der Brücke gestalten wollte: „Wenn der Künstler auf einer - wie auch immer gearteten - B-Bühne auftritt, dann muss der Fokus dort liegen. Das heißt: keine Blinder, kein Licht von der Hauptbühne, sondern alles Licht geht vom Künstler aus. Und weil die zehn Minuten, die Casper auf der Brücke hoch über dem Publikum performt, das absolute Show-Highlight sind, darf es in dem Moment sehr viel Licht aus seiner Richtung sein.“

Entsprechend nutzte der Designer die Hybrid-Bars eher pointiert oder als Fluter. „Ich entwerfe gerne Shows, die Räume öffnen und mit Flächen spielen. Beamlooks interessieren mich weniger. Die JDC Line ist ja eine recht schmale Fläche, über die ich farbige Wellen aus Licht laufen ließ, was auf die Distanz von 28 Metern ziemlich eindrucksvoll aussah. Diese dynamisch auf die Musik abgestimmten Verläufe in beide Richtungen oder gar zirkulierend trugen maßgeblich zur Wirkung der Performance bei. Hinzu kamen noch Feuereffekte und Laser, wobei ich Wert darauf legte, jedem einzelnen Element seinen tragenden Moment zu geben.“

Schneider hatte die JDC Line zuvor schon bei Alligatoah eingesetzt. Diesmal nutzte er sie im Mode 5 (196 Kanäle), was sich zusammen mit weiteren Scheinwerfern auf der Brücke zu 31 DMX-Universen aufsummierte. Knapp drei Songs („Lass es Rosen für mich regnen“, „Blut sehen - die Vergessenen Pt. 2“ und „Gib mir Gefahr“) performte Casper hoch oben über dem Hurricane-Publikum. Für den Laser-Einsatz war die Laserfabrik GmbH zuständig, für die Pyrotechnik die Pyrotec Performer GmbH. Die Technische Lichtplanung übernahm Marco Hoch.

(Fotos: Chris Schwarz)

www.glp.de

Brit Row tours with Kurt Vile

Following on from a Spring visit to Australia and New Zealand, Kurt Vile and The Violators hit the road in the UK and Europe, touring in support of their latest studio album. The Philadelphia psych rock musician’s audio crew chose Britannia Row Productions for equipment rental and international tour support.

FOH Engineer Aaron Brody began working with Vile six years ago, and as of last year, has been pulling double duty as Tour Manager. “We’ve been with Brit Row since I started working with Kurt, when I was originally mixing monitors”, says Brody. “He’s actually the first artist I’ve toured with overseas, and this has given me the ability to rent a production package.”

“I love working with Brit Row - the prep days in their shop are the best”, he adds. “It’s important to know, when you’re mixing and tour managing, that your gear is going to be right for the job. I try to be as specific as I can, down to the length of cables.” Out front, Brody requires a small defined rider. “I used to take a lot more outboard out with me, but over the years, I’ve really paired it back, and I find that works for Kurt’s mix”, he explains. “I’ve been diving deeper into the world of snapshots because I think there’s a higher value to a mix in snapshots than there is in a bunch of fancy toys. This allows my mix to translate no matter where I am in the world.”

“In that sense, I’m relying more on what my desk has to offer, rather than extra elements”, he continues. “I’m focusing on system control and system processing, which I tend to do through the Lake LM44. I also like Rupert Neve Designs’ Master Buss Compressor.” The desk Brody is relying on is a recent switch to a DiGiCo SD12 with SD Rack. Brody explains his mix is “good straight out of the desk”, given that they’re using house PAs across this club circuit. “I just tune the room as best I can, and we run a virtual sound check every day.”

Multi-instrumentalist Vile has used a Telefunken M80 for many years, while a microphone package comprising Shure, Sennheiser, Behringer and Beyerdynamic are spread stage wide for his Violators. Vile plays acoustic and electric guitars while singing, and his four-piece live band switches between bass, keys, and guitar.

Monitor Engineer Erich Miller uses an Avid Venue S6L. “We multi-track the shows, and because we do virtual sound check, I can go through and make any adjustments to the scenes I need to at a later date”, he says.

(Photo: Britannia Row)

www.britanniarow.com

Showgear-Discokugel ziert Red Stage bei Defqon.1

Auf der Red Stage des diesjährigen Defqon.1-Musikfestivals stand eine Discokugel von Showgear im Mittelpunkt. Mit einem Durchmesser von 150 cm bot sie einen speziellen Effekt mit Tausenden von eingebetteten Glasspiegeln, die das Licht reflektierten.

Das von Q-dance organisierte und für seine aufsehenerregenden Bühnen bekannte Festival fand in diesem Jahr vom 22. bis 25. Juni im niederländischen Biddinghuizen statt. Die Red Stage war über 160 m breit und 50 m hoch und zog 100.000 Besucher an. Die von Stage Roads to Backbone International gelieferte Showgear-Discokugel wurde prominent in der Mitte der Bühne aufgehängt.

(Fotos: Nunes Dos Anjos/Vincent van den Boogaard/Wemakeitspark/Bobbie van den Bosch/Bobby Photography/William Knol/Be Square)

www.highlite.com

Deutsch-japanische Klänge in Siegburg mit Sound von RCF-TT-Systemen

Bei ihrem von der Deutsch-Japanischen Gesellschaft in Siegburg veranstalteten Konzert im Siegburger Stadtmuseum präsentierte die japanische Sängerin Mitsuru Kijo gemeinsam mit dem deutschen Pianisten Holger Mantey ein Crossover aus japanischen Filmmusiken, J-Pop und noch unveröffentlichten Stücken aus Kijos Feder. Für die Beschallung nutzte Eventdienstleister Uli Hoppert von Siren RnR aus Siegburg Audiokomponenten von RCF.

Hoppert war beim Konzert von Kijo und Mantey für die komplette Abwicklung der Veranstaltungstechnik inklusive Licht und Ton verantwortlich. Er verwendete je eine Einheit der aktiven TT-515-A- und TT-808-AS-Modelle rechts und links der Bühne, wobei die TT 515 auf die TT 808 gestackt waren. „Da das Konzert bei freiem Eintritt stattfand, war die Zuschauerzahl vorab nicht abzusehen. Die Beschallung musste also flexibel sein und nach dem Motto ‘One size fits all’ agieren“, so Hoppert.

(Fotos: dBTechnologies Deutschland GmbH/Sascha Gansen/Rhein-Sieg-Media)

www.dbtechnologies.de

www.sirenrnr.de

First Robe Footsies in the US on CMA Fest

Rental company Fuse has invested in the first Robe Footsie luminaires to arrive in the USA. Lighting designer Mike Swinford of UpLate Design utilized these fixtures as a key lighting element for the 2023 CMA Fest.

The four-day festival is hosted by the Country Music Association (CMA) and recorded at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, in front of live audiences and broadcast on ABC a couple of months later. This year, the airing date was brought forward from its traditional August slot to 19th July.

Swinford has lit the multi-camera event for the last 21 years. This year, thirty Footsie luminaires were positioned in a line along the front of stage for a strip of footlight illumination. As the Footsie has an integral cable tray, all cabling was concealed resulting in a flat, streamlined look onstage.

The IP65-rated Footsie is currently available in two standard lengths, Footsie1 measures 600 mm and Footsie2 is 1200 mm - this was the size that Fuse ordered. The CMA Fest Footsie luminaires had their waterproofness tested during the festival as the weather on the final night was seriously soggy. “They took a lot of direct rain”, recalls Swinford.

Additionally, the LD also specified eighty Robe Spiider luminaires on the rig which were installed on 18 x 35 ft vertical towers positioned across the back and around the sides of stage and used for stage washing and for pixel effects. On top of ten of the towers at the back were ten Robe Forte luminaires, six running on RoboSpot followspot systems.

Swinford worked alongside an FOH team including lead programmer Mark Butts, and Andre Petrus who took care of the key and audience lighting. They collaborated closely with television lighting director Mark Carver and gaffer Cole Kiracofe. The camera director was Alan Carter, the stage manager was Cindy Sinclair. Fuse’s account handler was Scott Bishop; it was their first time as the CMA Fest lighting vendor.

(Photos: John Russell/Country Music Association/Mike Swinford)

www.robe.cz

Martin Audio supports BST Hyde Park

At this year’s edition of the BST Hyde Park festival, system engineering was back in the hands of Toby Donovan, who aside from last year has worked every BST. This time, the tech team presided over a 9-day festival that saw acts like Pink, Guns N’ Roses, Take That, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and Billy Joel headlining.

Other than slightly raising the main stage side hang to avoid it obscuring the screen, Solotech UK account manager Martin Connolly confirmed that “everything else was exactly the same as last year”. Nonetheless, prior to the event another BST stalwart - freelance sound consultant (and former Martin Audio R&D Director) Jason Baird - was drafted in for propagation checks, particularly with regard to the eleven delays positions, which comprised many of Martin Audio’s larger format WPL.

Working with acoustic consultants Vanguardia, he patrolled the field with a walkie-talkie, providing data to Donovan to ensure the delay levels were set correctly, and that Martin Audio’s Display optimisation and predictive software was accurate and ready for showtime. Offsite levels were set at 75 dB (LAeq5).

Take That’s sound engineer Gary Bradshaw - who has a long history working with Martin Audio and Solotech UK (then Capital Sound), mixing through many generations of the manufacturer’s frontline PA before moving over to Take That in the early 90s - was able to solve an unforeseen problem at BST 2023 with the help of Martin Audio’s MLA. Loading in during the night, for an anticipated 9 a.m. soundcheck, he was alarmed to discover that a sound curfew was in place until 10 a.m. He was relieved to find Donovan, who system teched the last Take That tour with Bradshaw, in position.

“The (44) dancers were onstage at 9 a.m., there was a band call at 9.30 a.m. and the three Take That lads appeared at 10 a.m.”, he reports. “Fortunately, we didn’t need to make any changes to the system. We listened to Gary Barlow’s vocal on A stage and then B stage and couldn’t get his mic to feed back even when pushed way louder than needed.”

“I knew Pink had safely done an A stage and B stage show and so realised I was safe to really push it without the risk of feedback”, he continues. “It was the perfect test of the PA, and there were no EQ changes from me.” In the end the band was able to do almost a full set run through. “The gig went without a hitch”, says Bradshaw, paying tribute not only to Toby Donovan but Dave Roden, supervising FOH.

In addition to the Great Oak Stage, three other stages around the site carried Martin Audio: Rainbow Stage (MLA Compact, eight boxes per side with twelve SX218 subs and five MLA Compact front fill), Birdcage Stage (WPS, six per side, driven in 1-box resolution with six SX218 and XD12 front fills), and Cuban Garage Stage (WPS, six per side, driven in 2-box resolution, with four SX218 subs), all of them supervised by Solotech UK account manager David Preston.

“MLA Compact on Stage 2 covered an area of around 35 m deep by 30 m wide”, he notes. The other stages saw DJs and new acts play through ground stack systems. Solotech also provided video and lighting for the festival. BST’s technical production director was Mark Ward (Proper Productions).

(Photos: Martin Audio/David Preston/Gus Stewart)

www.martin-audio.com

Elation Artiste lights Harvest Crusade in Southern California

Harvest Church held its annual Harvest Crusade evangelistic outreach July 1-2 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Elation Professional’s Artiste series lights played a key role in creating a revival-like atmosphere for the 32,000 live attendees and over 200,000 who tuned in online. This was Harvest’s first-ever crusade at the Honda Center where attendees also enjoyed two nights of performances from Christian artists.

Chris Eguizabal, a seasoned Harvest veteran with twelve years of experience overseeing production elements for Harvest events, served as the Production Manager for the two-day worship experience. Throughout the years, they have frequently utilized Elation lighting on Harvest Crusade events, specifically the IP65 Proteus line as the event is typically held outdoors at Angel Stadium. However, for this year’s indoor event, a different lighting setup was chosen.

“It was an easy fix for us to switch to Elation indoor fixtures and we decided to go with the Artiste Monet and Artiste Rembrandt”, says Eguizabal. Harvest’s primary lighting vendor, BCT Entertainment, had a substantial stock of Monets and they then partnered with Volt Lites to supply the Rembrandts for the event.

This year’s show, performed in the round, featured a rig of 64 Artiste Monets and over forty Artiste Rembrandts, the LED-based luminaires all working from pre-rigged trusses surrounding the stage. Most of the lights were utilized for stage effects with some of the outer fixtures used for house effects, gobo looks, etc.

Several fixtures on the outside trusses worked with an automated followspot system as key lights to track performers or speakers. The Monets were mainly used for key lighting, while the 51,000-lumen Artiste Rembrandts served mostly as house washes during speaking moments to highlight audience reactions.

This was Anaheim-based BCT’s third year collaborating on the event. The company has owned their fleet of Artiste Monets for a year and according to BCT co-owner Brian Longhofer, the fixtures have always stepped up.

Working as a lighting programmer on Harvest Crusade for the second year running was Nick Valdez, who has been with Harvest for eight years. He explains that the event comprised a combination of big flash looks with more introspective, somber moments with a lot of audience shots to actively involve the crowd. The in-the-round format presented an enjoyable challenge, he says, as it required thoughtful consideration for each lighting arrangement.

Hundreds of media outlets across the U.S. broadcast and livestreamed the Harvest Crusade event, which featured performances by singers Chris Tomlin and Michael W. Smith, among others.

(Photos: Elation Professional)

www.elationlighting.com

Chauvet helps LD Systems create visuals for Visit San Antonio

For the US Travel Association’s IPW 23 Visit San Antonio event, LD Systems used large format video and lighting systems at twelve different locations throughout San Antonio, Texas, from the Alamo Plaza to the River Walk.

Five thousand delegates from sixty nations attended IPW 23. LD Systems supported the event with gobos that brought depth to familiar sites and walkways, aerials that animated the sky overhead, and uplighting that colorized the sides of tall buildings.

Playing key roles in the design were Chauvet Professional fixtures from LD Systems’ own inventory. These included twenty-four Colorado 3 Solo units that were positioned close to buildings for lighting columns and under balconies, as wells as six additional Solo Battens that were used on a balcony of one of the sponsor hotels leading up to the closing event.

Also adding atmosphere to the event were fourteen Color Strike M motorized strobes that washed walls, while creating up-and-down flows of light on them, and four Ovation Reve E3 fixtures that lit a river front stage. “We wanted bright and vibrant colors with movement”, says Sean Sargeant, who along with Dave Jackson (both of LD Systems) spearheaded the project. “We gave them a little input about colors, and let the programmers run with it to choose what they saw fit.”

LD Systems began discussing the lighting design for the late-May event with its client, The CE Group, back in November. Load in for the four-day event took place in two phases. Structures for most of the sites went in on May 17th, lighting fixtures were positioned the following two days, and programming was finished on the 20th, a day before the official opening.

“There was a lot of coordinating with several city entities and property managers/owners. Several departments of the City of San Antonio partnered up to help in so many ways and were crucial in making this happen”, says Sargeant. “It was a bit challenging setting up on sidewalks while watching out for traffic a few feet away. We also had to be mindful of pedestrians, as they walked through our work sites.”

“The three storms that came through that week weren’t much help”, he continues. “But we prevailed thanks to the work of our team, which included three programmers working different areas (Dave Jackson, Dan Barrett, and Jacob Jordan), as well as three lighting techs (Brian Ladet, Ernie Guzman, and Martha Galvan), our assistant site coordinator Steve Scranton and video projection designer Travis Crane.”

(Photos: Chauvet Professional)

www.chauvetprofessional.com