production news

DPA Helps LazyTown Make Entertainment That Inspires

LazyTown Entertainment in Iceland is using DPA miniature microphones to capture the audio for the multi-award winning LazyTown pre-school television show, which is now shooting its fourth series in Iceland.

LazyTown is a leading and highly respected children’s entertainment brand comprising an award-winning TV series, live stage shows, sports events, publishing, and more. The LazyTown concept is entertainment for children and the whole family, dedicated to promoting a healthy lifestyle in a fun and engaging way. The TV show has become an international success since it was first launched in 2004 and has been broadcast in over 170 countries, reaching over 500 million homes and dubbed in over 30 languages.

LazyTown’s sound supervisor, Gunnar Arnason, who also owns a recording and post production company called Upptekid, is responsible for selecting all of the audio equipment used by LazyTown Entertainment at its state of the art studio in Gardabaer, Iceland.

"My task is to create the entire audio workflow for each LazyTown series, from studio recording through to the final sound mixes," he explains. "Over the past two years we have relied on DPA microphones for dialogue recording, using them on the live actors and also to record the puppeteers. We chose DPA microphones because they have an excellent signal to noise ratio and because they are extremely well-built, which means that they last a long time and are very durable."

DPA’s Icelandic distributor Exton has supplied LazyTown Entertainment with 12 DPA 4061 miniature microphones.

"The puppeteers have the miniature microphones mounted in sweatbands on their foreheads, while the live actors have them hidden in their clothes," Arnason explains. "This works well, especially for the puppeteers who have to work with their hands above their heads, so they need a microphone that will stay firmly in place and won’t get knocked when they move around. Also, when the microphone is tight on the forehead you get some resonance from the skull, which makes the sound even better."

Currently shooting its fourth series, LazyTown is an Icelandic production with an international cast from Iceland, the UK, and the USA. The series was created by former aerobics champion Magnus Scheving, who also plays the lead character Sportacus in the show, to motivate children to get active and make healthy lifestyle choices. Cleverly mixing live characters, puppets and CGI, LazyTown creates engaging storylines that have a healthy message – delivering entertainment that inspires, and raising the bar for children’s television.

19th June 2013

Philips Vari-Lite VLXs Are Key Luminaire at Samsung Launch in SA

Philips Vari-Lite's bright and powerful LED VLX Wash luminaires have been used to deliver 'breathtaking' lighting to celebrate the launch of Samsung's Galaxy S4 smartphone in Johannesburg.

Event production manager Victor Vermaak and lighting designer Renaldo Van Den Bergfrom AV Unlimited (AVU) specified 12 of Vari-Lite's 14,000 lumens output VLX luminaires for the spectacular show at the city's Sandton Convention Centre, which was attended by more than 2,500 guests.

The VLX Wash luminaire incorporates the most attractive benefits of LED lighting technology with the product quality and design ingenuity only found in Philips Vari-Lite automated luminaires. The internal beam homogenization system creates smooth colour mixing that is natural and free of any "colour shadowing" effects. With stunning colours, powerful intensity, a multi-year source life, low energy consumption and now individual cell control, the VLX Wash luminaire is breaking new ground in LED lighting technology.

"We used the VLXs in the Presentation area to light the Honeycomb roof. We chose them because of their colour richness and punch," says Vermaak. "The VLXs were used to create colour and mood changes and worked perfectly. The lights were positioned quite a distance from the roof and no other LED wash light in our company would have created what we were looking for over that distance. Plus the awesome zoom capability came in very handy because of the distance the light had to shoot."

The elaborate event consisted of two parts - a formal conference followed by the party where entertainment included everything from aerial acts to ballerinas in LED tutus. In the centre of the room, a DJ booth featured popular DJs Fresh, Euphonic, Roger Goode and DJ Luis playing to a full dance floor. The rig was symmetrical and although two acts might have been performing simultaneously on either end of the room, each was given a totally unique look.

"For me, the VLX is my lighting weapon of choice," comments Vermaak. "I don't do functions without my babies! And I'm currently trying very hard to expand the Vari-Lite range in our company..."

Philips Vari-Lite's South African dealer DWR Distribution supplied the VLXs luminaires to Vermaak. "The VLX Wash is fast becoming renowned for offering all the benefits of LED technology and the best visual performance characteristics of traditional automated wash luminaires,' comments Duncan Riley of DWR. "Not only that they deliver stunning colours and intensity plus a long source life and a high level of reliability. What's not to like?"

Samsung has high hopes for its innovative Galaxy S4, which launched to a dazzling start at the VLX-driven light show party.

www.vari-lite.com

19th June 2013

Clay Paky Sharpy Wash makes debut at Olivier Awards

The 2013 Olivier Awards saw the new Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330s take charge of their first event since they became a recent addition to White Light’s ever growing arsenal of entertainment technology.

For the third year running the Awards, which were broadcast from the Royal Opera House’s glittering auditorium, were lit by lighting designer Ben Cracknell.

Lighting designer Humph McDermott continued the lighting theme outside on the Radio 2 Stage, where special live performances and live streaming of the Awards were watched by hundreds of theatre fans on the Covent Garden Piazza.

And it was outside that the brand new Sharpy Wash 330 came into its own. McDermott used them, alongside Sharpy Beams, to cut through the daylight and brilliantly complement the sparkling theatrical atmosphere inside the Royal Opera House.

Radio 2 hosts for the evening, Claudia Winkleman and Michael Xavier, introduced stunning performances from hit shows: Billy Elliot The Musical, Matilda The Musical, The Phantom Of The Opera and Wicked, Burn The Floor, Potted Potter and last year’s nominated street dance show Some Like It Hip Hop.

McDermott needed a super bright fixture to cut through the daylight as he explains: "I chose the Sharpy Wash 330 primarily because it was a daytime event and I was already a fan of the Sharpy Beam from using it as part of my design for ‘Let It Be’. The Sharpy Wash 330 was extremely useful in generic looks, but also versatile enough to deliver great beam looks for the Loserville band number. It was also wide enough for general front light cover and I even used them as TV front light for presenter Michael Xavier who was stood on a balcony 30 meters away from the stage. The beam was clearly visible, even in broad daylight!"

Meanwhile inside, as the creative masters of the theatre received their awards, Cracknell, used an array of Sharpy Beams to bring the show’s performances from the Bodyguard’s Heather Headley and many other West End shows to vibrant life.

"I used the Sharpy Beams on either side of the stage, by the proscenium, to create beams for camera cross shots, plus a fair few in a trough just DS of the orchestra. These provided an element of separation between the performance space and the musicians. I also used the Sharpys upstage on a flybar with both a low dead for 'Up’ looks and a high dead to allow the beams to focus down into the performance area as backlight."

Cracknell used the Sharpys to deliver a creative mixture of the now famous mid-air monolithic beam looks alongside some more delicate and subtle scenes. He used gobos and prisms to create a horizon to the performance area and bring context to the hit show performances on stage.

"What’s great is that I can achieve fantastic mid air beam looks without the need for a lot of haze, says Cracknell. "This is a particular plus for TV broadcast where too much haze in the air can muddy pictures. I also like the fact that they are small yet pack a real punch. They have fast colour and gobo change and are very reliable."

The lightweight, fast moving fixtures were also ideal for the Olivier Awards because of their superior brightness and compact size. Alex Passmore, lighting programmer for the awards discusses: "The simplicity of the unit, combined with the reaction speed of the various features means that a wide variety of looks can be quickly and efficiently delivered in a tight programming schedule."

And, as hire and technical director at White Light, Dave Isherwood, explains he sees a greater significance in White Light’s acquisition of new technology: "As the industry comes together to celebrate the work of theatre artists each year at the Oliviers, here at White Light we feel one of the best ways we can support that is to continue investing in the latest technology so designers, technicians, and all of our customers have the best tools available everyday."

Broadcast from the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden on Sunday April 28, live performances came from some of UK Theatre’s top performers. This year White Light sponsored the Olivier Award for Lighting Design and was delighted to see Paule Constable win the much-coveted award for her work on The National Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The show, which opened at the National’s Cottesloe Theatre and is now running in the West End’s Apollo Theatre, won a total of seven Awards including Best Lighting.

www.claypaky.it

19th June 2013

Yamaha CL5 Gets Top Marks in Education

As well as live music, theatre, sport and broadcast, Yamaha’s CL series digital consoles are increasingly being specified by colleges teaching state-of-the-art sound mixing and networking. One example is Belgium’s Institut des Arts de Diffusion (IAD), where a CL5 is a vital part of its live production courses.

IAD is located in the planned town of Louvain-la-Neuve which, since 1969, has risen from farmland to having a permanent population of over 30,000, plus many more students during term time. Originally developed to house the Université Catholique de Louvain - with which IAD has a close relationship - the city is now host to a number of education facilities, as well as a science park, exhibition centre, live venue, museums and other amenities.

With its focus on theatre, live music, cinema, television, radio and multimedia, IAD has to ensure its students are trained on the very latest equipment. In charge of teaching professional audio is studio and live sound engineer Jean Luc Ongena. Together with fellow lecturer François Hubaux, another experienced live sound engineer who also works for audio visual specialists Sebuco, they were instrumental in IAD’s recent purchase of a CL5 console and Rio3224-D i/o unit, supplied by Wavre-based Arto s.r.

"The course focuses on all aspects of live audio production, including setting up and calibrating PA systems, front of house and monitor mixing, live recording and stage management," says François. "Sound technicians need to know about networking, so using a Yamaha CL5 and Dante networking is the best way to give students practical experience of the most up-to-date system. The CL system allows us to easily explain and teach students about it."

The course ends with the staging of a series of concerts. At each one, students will be front of house engineer, monitor engineer, PA technician and so on, so by the end of the series they have hands-on experience of each role. "These are real shows, they take place in a public venue with a paying audience and the production technology, performances and timings are all exactly as they are at any live show," says François.

"The CL5 is really helping students to be as well-equipped as possible to work as professional sound engineers. We are really happy to be able to use such a powerful and intuitive tool in education."

19th June 2013

dbn Supplies Lighting and LED Screen to Parklife 2013

Manchester based dbn Lighting supplied lighting equipment, LED screens and a top crew to seven performance areas at the vibrant 2013 Parklife Weekender Festival in Manchester, which moved for the first time to a new venue in Heaton Park, complete with an expanded capacity and up to 50,000 guests a day.

dbn’s Nick Walton and Nick Buckley Project managed the event, taking care of lighting and visuals for the Main Stage, Stages 3, 4, 7 and 8, the VIP area and the Tree House.

Working for Ear To The Ground, they provided over 250 moving lights site-wide and engaged in extensive advanced planning to ensure that everything ran smoothly and seamlessly once on location. The operation involved 12 dbn crew the week before, all working very efficiently to maximise time and resources.

Nick Walton and Nick Buckley produced a production design for all the areas in which they were involved.

On the main stage – a large 18 metre wide structure from Serious Stages – this was based around the specs of the two headline acts – Plan B on Saturday and Example on Sunday - who were part of an eclectic and exciting line up which enjoyed glorious summer weather across the weekend.

On the main stage, dbn installed two sub-hung trusses for lighting positions and a further truss to fly 8 x 4.5 metres of their new 12.5 mm Eastar LED screen.

Moving lights on this stage were exclusively Clay Paky and included 18 Alpha Wash 700s, 16 Alpha Spot QWO 800s and 18 Sharpys, plus Atomic strobes with colour changers and a selection of generics like Molefeys, plus ARRI 2k Fresnels for fillers and white light during the daylight hours.

The house lighting console was an Avolites Tiger Touch and a grandMA2 full size was provided for guest artists (with another running in full tracking backup). Some bands brought their own LDs and lighting and visuals for the others was operated by rising dbn star, Ed Croft.

Says Nick Walton: "We all love working on this festival, it has a very unique friendly and accessible atmosphere, and it is great to see a locally based event evolve and enjoy such great success."

The house lighting for Stages 3 and 4 was designed by Nick Buckley. All arenas excluding the Main Stage flip-flopped to a different hosting club / organisation over the two days.

Stage 3 lighting included 76 moving fixtures – a mix of dbn’s new CP Sharpy Washes – the first batch of which were delivered just in time for Parklife - Alpha Spot 575s and Robe ROBIN 300E Beams - with a big concentration of lighting the audience as well as catching the stage action. Lighting was run by Phil Woodridge using an Avolites Pearl Expert console.

Stage 4 featured around 60 moving lights including Robe LEDWash 600s and CP Alpha Spot 575 and 1200s. Lighting was operated by Paul Crompton and Steve Barnett, who rotated FOH duties utilising an Avolites Pearl Classic desk – an all-time favourite and definitive festival busking console.

Stage 7 saw a further combination of the compact Robe ROBIN 300E Beam and CP Alpha Spot 300 fixtures together with a host of Spectral 2500 Zoom LED fixtures and Showtech Sunstrips traversing the length of the tent. All of this was programmed and operated by Anthony Owen on another Avo Pearl Classic.

Stage 8, the outdoor Terrace was hugely popular due to the fantastic weather. Finished in corrugated iron bringing a flourish of industrial chic to the lush greenery of Heaton Park, it was illuminated with CP Alpha Wash and Alpha Beam 300s, Alpha Profile 700s and BB4 LED ‘blinders’. Spectral 2500 Zooms and Studio Due City Color floods were used to highlight the set, all controlled from side-stage by Eddie Marriot and an Avo Titan mobile – chosen for its small footprint.

In addition to all this, dbn supplied 55 panels of its Hartwell Media 18 mm LED screen to Stage 6.

Nick Walton concludes: "The organisers ensured that the production values stayed high with the move to Heaton Park, and the additional space helped the whole flow of the event technicals. The excellent line up also boosted the overall vibe, and the sunny weather was the icing on the cake!"

19th June 2013

Robe is Out There with Paul McCartney in Brazil

Paul McCartney’s ‘Out There’ world tour kicked off in Brazil with three shows and a mind-blowing lighting design created by Roy Bennett.

The shows were supervised by Roy and operated by lighting director Wally Lees. Lighting equipment for all three was supplied by leading Brazilian rental company LPL Professional Lighting and included Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash luminaires, together with other moving lights and generics.

LPL’s Erich Bertti project managed all three Brazilian dates which saw Paul perform for the first time ever in Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais), Goiânia (Goiás) and Fortaleza (Ceará).

The production used 12 Robe ColorWash 2500E ATs located on the stage floor, nine ColorSpot 2500E ATs on overhead trusses and 20 ColorWash 1200E ATs distributed on the side and followspot trusses. "As usual the Robe fixtures worked really reliably," said Erich.

During the presentation in Goiânia, lighting crew chief Mike Hosp from Upstaging, commented: "Everything is going well despite the short load in and out times, and LPL is a good technical partner."

The McCartney show lighting front of house tech Thomas Walls has worked in the industry for the last 26 years with bands like Metallica, The Killers and Luis Miguel.

He explained: "In the USA and Europe we work with a bigger lighting system - around 20 or 30 more moving lights, but the design was adapted for the Brazilian tour according to the available transport. Basically, the show’s programming is already complete, so Wally arrives and checks everything so it is ready when Roy gets to the venue.

"I never thought Paul McCartney was an artist I would work with until the rehearsals started! It has been a great experience to start the tour in Brazil with three shows in a row in three different cities," he concluded.

Lighting Designer, Roy Bennett started creating the design in February this year.

Classic elements of the show which they have been presenting in recent years were included in this one, together with many new ones, including much more video than previously.

Roy highlighted the fact that due to their touring schedule, they often can’t bring their own complete system, so this is primarily sourced locally while they bring a few specifics like the grandMA2 consoles.

"Here in Brazil, when we heard that LPL had the Robe moving lights we needed, it was a natural choice to work with them so we could have consistency over the three shows. Working with LPL has been great; they are very professional."

He adds that when he visited Robe’s factory in the Czech Republic last fall, he was "amazed by their new products, so I feel very comfortable using this brand on shows."

Guillermo Traverso, Robe’s regional sales manager for Latin America, commented: "It's always brilliant to see what Roy does with the lighting – he is hugely creative. The fixtures were taken to an extreme level on these shows, where they had to compete with very bright LED screens at the rear of the stage … and even without haze, you could see the projections and the beautiful colours they produced."

The first show in Belo Horizonte was completely sold out and highly emotional with an extraordinary audience reaction that clearly made Paul very happy. For one show-stopping moment almost everyone raised ‘Thank You’ signs which completely blew away both artists and production!

The show in Goiania was invaded by several different types of insects - mainly grasshoppers – all wanting to catch the action! Paul befriended one of them which stayed on his microphone for several songs. Named ‘Harold’, it even said "hello" to the audience!

Last but not least, the third performance in Fortaleza took place on an incredibly hot evening, where all will remember a magnificent show with an amazing combination of audio, video and lighting technologies. Beatles for Ever!

In picture: Thomas Walls (front of house tech), Wally Lees (lighting director/programmer), Guillermo Traverso (Robe’s regional sales manager for Latin America) and Roy Bennett (lighting designer).

19th June 2013

ADLIB Sounds Out the Capital FM Summertime Ball

For the third consecutive year Adlib Solutions supplied an L-Acoustics K1 PA system for the popular Capital FM Summertime ball event, staged at Wembley Stadium, London, which this year seriously upped the ante with a truly stellar line up hosted by Justin Timberlake, and featuring Robbie Williams, Taylor Swift, Lawson, Jessie J, Disclosure, Rudimental, Ellie Goulding and more.

The K1 was tuned to perfection by KSE and Systems Engineer Tony Szabo, who was joined by an Adlib crew of 16 including crew chief Marc Peers, and Dave Kay who worked as RF Co-ordinator.

Ian Nelson operated the presenter console, Michael Bernard Flaherty supervised the patch while Adlib’s project manager Phil Stoker collaborated closely with the event’s technical producers Production North, specifically their sound supervisor Andrew 'Baggy' Robinson and production manager Sarah Hollis, on the logistics.

Time was super-tight. The schedule followed the format of a large scale live TV show, kicking off at 4 p.m. and running until 10.30 p.m. with an average between-band changeover time of two minutes, and the shortest being a blink-and-you-missed-it 30 seconds!

The front hangs comprised 16 L-Acoustics K1 speakers run in conjunction with side hangs of 15 V-DOSC and an upstage hang of six Kudo. There were two delay hangs of 10 deep K1s, with KARAs used for stage front fills. Sixteen L-Acoustics SB28 subs per side were stacked four high, arranged in cardioid mode and end-fire configuration.

The system also utilized numerous Adlib passive fill speakers to cover a plethora of under-stage people lifts and backstage areas and to generally aid the cueing process.

KARA fills were also positioned at the rear of the FOH tower to cover the area behind the stage above FOH position which was new for this year, together with two small stages behind FOH and closer to the edge of the field-of-play.

The L-Acoustics speakers were all powered by L-Acoustics LA8 amps running on an L2 Network Manager. Labgruppen PLM 10k and 20ks were used to drive the monitor speakers and various backstage fills.

Control and processing was done using the trusted Lake LM44 and LM26 system running Dante protocol over fibre. The FOH LM 44s were set up as an 8x8 matrix that received both AES and analogue backup from the consoles.

Everyone bar Robbie Williams came through the presenter console, and all consoles were synced using an Apogee Big Ben Master Word clock. The LM 26s at the stage end distributed the signals to the various zones of the sound system.

The two rear stages (left and right) had their own separate FOH position with its own RF and Digico SD10 console ... which was 430 milliseconds away from the main left and rig K1 hangs. The SD10 had an SD rack for all local inputs, and another SD rack at the main FOH position was in its fibre loop. This enabled all signals to and from that stage to remain digital, and also supplied a broadcast split for that console.

With these new stages, the back of the stadium floor had to be well covered as what is often a more sparsely populated area of the venue was a prime location for watching the action on these additional stages. To achieve this, the focus of the K1 arrays was carefully adjusted to move energy into these spaces.

For FOH 'house' consoles Adlib supplied two Avid Profiles run as an A/B line system, plus a third one for the presenter desk. Robbie Williams' FOH engineer Nick Allen brought in their own customised Avid Profile and Taylor Swift's engineer brought in a DiGiCo SD7 to mix her performance.

The Shout system was mixed via a Soundcraft Si Compact coupled with a Compact Stage Box at FOH. The Shout system provided communication to patch personnel and all consoles, including the two broadcast trucks. Expanding the Si with the Compact Stage Box also facilitated the use of this small console to back up the presenter console.

The challenges of making it run smoothly and seamlessly on the day - a Thursday morning get in, where everything had to be up and running 24 hours later for inspections, followed by a Sunday show - lay in meticulous planning and advancing, Szabo explained.

The first emails were exchanged in January and soon after, CAD files of the design and layout were drawn up and updated constantly with Sarah Hollis, leaving nothing to chance.

While Szabo looked after all the system related parts of the equation, Marc Peers took care of co-ordinating and advancing everything at the stage end, including mic lists, stage plots and show files. Peers' advancing ramped up much closer to the event and became intense as most of the creative aspects and fine tuning were finalized in the immediate run up to show day. With over 170 radio frequencies to manage, the advance planning was critical. Dave Kay worked closely with Sennheiser’s technical team Tim Sherratt and Mark Saunders to facilitate the requests of every artist.

Phil Kielty, Adlib’s client manager commented: "It is mind blowing to see all the logistics, planning and stunningly quick changeovers for a show of this size. With Adlib and Production North’s team in sync, it all came together seamlessly. We received some amazing comments on how good our K1 rig sounded, which was nice to hear.

"The running joke now is that Adlib get to Wembley Stadium more than Everton FC … and I’m sure Steve Levitt will confirm this !" he quips.

In picture: ADLIB Summertime Ball crew of Kenny Perrin, James Petch, Ben Booker, Dave Kay, Michael Bernard Flaherty, Tim Sherratt (Sennheiser), John Fitzsimmons, Otto Kroymann and Rhys Roberts.

18th June 2013

Pete’s Big TVs Tours World with Backstreet Boys

Video equipment rental company Pete’s Big TVs is supplying the complete video equipment package - LED screens, cameras and crew - for the Backstreet Boys reunion tour, which celebrates 20 years of the group with all five original members. The Backstreet Boys kicked off their "In A World Like This" tour May 25 in China.

Production designer Bruce Rodgers of Tribe Inc. designed a video-centric show for the band.

The main upstage screen is comprised of a new product that Pete’s Big TVs purchased for the tour - Liantronics PH8, which are 8 mm LED screens. The screen is approximately 15 feet by 60 feet (24 panels wide by 6 panels high) using 144 high resolution LED panels.

Fixed to the lighting trusses and the face of the stage platforms are 400 digiLED MC15 panels.

Of those, there are 100 MC15 tiles faced on the stage risers, with 300 more MC15 tiles faced on three V-shaped lighting trusses.

For the production package, Pete’s Big TVs also supplied the Ross Carbonite switcher and four Sony HDC1500 cameras.

Pete’s Big TVs’ VP Guy Benjamin, who traveled to China to oversee the tour kick-off, said it was the first time their company had toured there. "There were unique challenges, especially language issues regarding labor. Nobody spoke English, even in Beijing, so it tests your charades skills," Benjamin said.

It was helpful having touring production manager Jerry Gilleland on hand, Benjamin added. "I met Jerry on the Rolling Stones tour in 1989 and it was great to work with him again. Thank God for him - he can handle anything."

Benjamin said that Pete’s Big TVs was the only vendor to travel on the China tour. Local lighting and audio were picked up in each city. "We were buying the new screens - the Liantronics PH8 - in China so we didn’t have to air freight the video over. We just air freighted the camera package and cable."

Pete’s Big TVs custom-upgraded the new Liantronics PH8 LED panels to suit their quality standards. "We had the manufacturer upgrade the power supply. We use higher quality power supply to minimize the radio frequency (RF) again, like we did with the digiLED products. That’s important to us, to get a more uniform performance out of them."

He adds: "The Liantronics have great processing. The LED chips they use allow for better contrast than is typically seen in a resolution in that size range. The colors and the black offer better contrast. It’s a well-made product and will stand up to touring."

The Liantronics PH8 panels are also larger in size - at 768 square meters compared to the 500 square meters of their digiLED panels - so it means fewer are needed for a larger surface area. That cuts down on time and labor.

Benjamin cites his crew of Matt Ellar, Brent Jones, Jody Lane and Dallas Buell as "the best in the business. They handled the challenges of China brilliantly."

Pete’s Big TVs resumes its role on the tour with the North American leg Aug. 2- Sept. 8, then in Japan starting Oct. 2. LD is Alex Grierson.

18th June 2013

Robe Summer Magic at Schönbrunn Palace

Around 150 Robe moving lights were again specified by lighting designer Helmut Krammer to illuminate the 2013 Summer Night Concert, performed for its tenth year by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the amazingly magical Baroque setting of Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna.

The venue is a UNESCO World Heritage site. This high profile annual cultural event was broadcast live on national TV and radio and around the world via various satellite channels.

The Robe fixtures were used to light three key areas in Schönbrunn Palace’s extensive and beautiful gardens - the main stage; the flower beds left and right of this and the fabulous Neptunbrunnen Fountains which are behind the stage

It was the fourth year that Vienna based Krammer has lit the Concert, which was enjoyed by an estimated 15,000 hardy classical music lovers who braved the inclement weather for the evening.

He has been using Robe products constantly in his work for the last five years and once again chose Robe for the majority of the lighting, following the great results he achieved in 2011 and 2012. This year the Robe count was 54 ROBIN 600 LEDWashes, 50 ROBIN MMX WashBeams, 18 LEDBeam 100s, 16 ROBIN MMX Spots and five ColorSpot 1200E ATs - all supplied by rental company Niclen from Dortmund, Germany, who have an extensive stock of Robe equipment.

In lighting the event, Krammer drew on a fusion of practical, ornamental and architectural lighting … with spectacular results. The LEDWash 600s were used to colour the large flower beds flanking the stage with a series of shades, hues and bold, dramatic shafts and slices of light. These were especially useful for the wide camera shots which swept in and out showing the full scale of the impressive event space.

Right at the rear of the flower beds he placed the LEDBeam 100s – nine a side - which "blew everyone away" with their small size and extreme power! The MMXs were used to add sophisticated texturing to the Neptune Fountains – making the most of the dual graphics wheel system. The 50 MMX WashBeams were located around the rim of the fountains and used to produce dazzling mid-air effects which looked great both live and on camera. The ColorSpot 1200E ATs reinforced lighting on the main stage – together with other moving lights, generics and LED fixtures.

The classical repertoire for the evening, under the baton of Lorin Maazel, featured compositions from Verdi and Wagner, both celebrating their bicentennials this year, which needed special treatment. It was about creating a total environment for the event rather than highlighting the orchestra as the centre of attention, and the role of lighting was absolutely vital in achieving this aesthetic goal. Krammer really enjoyed using the new Robe MMX WashBeams in particular and the MMX spot and the LEDWash series are also great favourites.

Another reason Robe is ideal for events like the Summer Night Concert is the overall reliability and robust build quality which is essential for outdoor applications, and was a great reassurance to all involved in the technical this year with the atrocious weather.

The show’s lighting was operated by Krammer using two Hog 4 consoles and fader wings.

www.robe.cz

18th June 2013

Chaos Muses over Europe

"Basically what we’ve got here is a massive TV screen," says Andy Tonks, video crew chief from Chaos Visual Productions on the current Muse production doing the rounds of European stadiums this summer. He is definitely not wrong: made up of WinVision 12mm, there are a total of 1092 active tiles, each one measuring 56cm x 56cm. That makes a total screen surface of 450 sq metres. A very big TV screen indeed.

Flown off 25 x 2 ton motors, the panoramic screen surface is split into five units and rigged across the rear of the stage, upstage of the drum riser which is itself clad in active tiles. As Tonks says a lot of thought has gone into making the logistics of rigging a screen of this size manageable in a touring environment: "Where we can the points are pre-rigged or in some cases we load in the whole screen system the night before the rest of the production. When broken down, the interlocking panels fit into 30 large dollies and I would reckon that each screen takes about two hours to hang. Having the screen split into five distinct sections makes the logistics of load-in and load-out more user friendly. These tiles are totally waterproof which has proved a godsend at most of our UK shows – the British weather has often been our biggest challenge."

Chaos Visuals are not alone on this tour as Tonks explains: "Chaos Visuals are working in partnership with XL Video on this part of Muse’s ‘The Unsustainable’ world tour but, to be honest, you wouldn’t really know who is working for who, the whole video crew works together seamlessly. With a production of this size and complexity, it’s vital that everyone works as a team. At the end of the day it’s not about which bit of gear belongs to who – it’s about making it all happen for the show."

Along with the chimney canons, various inflatables and not forgetting the robot, the set, screen and lighting rig is the brainchild of designer Oli Metcalfe. The band’s conceptualisation is very much worked around the video content of the show. The IMAG feeds come from a total of 12 cameras which is mixed into the pre-recorded content; Metcalfe has designed a system that provides the perfect platform, not only for the band’s actual performance but for the extensive visuals that underpin their music. It truly creates a continual visual feast for the audience without diverting from the audio experience of Muse themselves. This is not just a show; it is an experience for the senses.

In picture: LED engineers John Richardson, Andy Tonks (crew chief) and Shane Watson.

18th June 2013

ETC Source Four LED lights Hiroshima’s Flash Bang

The nuclear blast at Hiroshima in 1945 is often described in Japanese as a flash (pika) followed by a bang (don). Last year, a performance lit with ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ fixtures aimed to represent the unexpected terror of the pika don through the medium of dance. Un Coup de Don, by dance company Ariadone and led by Carlotta Ikeda and Ko Morobushi (Japan), was part of the Festival Automne in Normandy, France.

Lighting director Eric Blosse says: “We all agreed that we needed to restart from the beginning, rather than seek to replicate the actual flash itself: we were left with a blank white space focused on the body in a trance.”

The style of dance, Butoh, is traditionally performed in white body makeup with slow hyper-controlled motion, which is well suited to trance-like movements and subtle colour shifts.

Says Blosse: “The ability of the Source Four LEDs to offer a variable white temperature was key to the performance: we could make subtle adjustments to the light levels, highlighting the bodies’ movement in the time of the trance. This little-used facility led us to propose a new language of light.”

All fixtures in the ETC LED range were designed to optimise skin tones. Whereas units from other manufacturers may make actors and set colours look unnatural or unpleasant, Source Four LED and Selador fixtures use up to seven colours to achieve the widest possible gamut.

ETC Source Four LED fixtures, which were first launched little more than a year ago, have already won a number of awards, including ABTT 2012 Product of the Year and the PLASA 2012 Award for Sustainability. ETC set out to produce exceptional light output and quality for the amount of power consumed – and, depending on the model, they achieve from 30 to over 40 lumens per watt.

Fixtures in the range include the full colour Lustr+ that Blosse used, and which is able to achieve a wide range across the spectrum; along with white light specialists Tungsten (3000K, offering warm whites); Daylight (5600K, offering cool whites); and new Studio HD, which offers an ultra-flexible, variable white light (2700K-6500K).

The fixtures for Un Coup de Don were supplied by Les Ateliers Lumière of Bordeaux.

In picture: Un Coup de Don was lit using ETC Source Four LED fixtures photo: Photo Lot

www.etcconnect.com

18th June 2013

DPA Microphones Bring Exceptional Clarity To Suede’s Guitars

Indie-rock stalwarts Suede, who released their sixth album Bloodsports in March 2013, recently recorded a live acoustic session for Absolute Radio at the world-famous Abbey Road studios in London.

The equipment line-up for this important gig incorporated three DPA d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones, which were chosen for their clarity and exceptional audio quality.

Suede’s Neil Codling, who plays keyboards and rhythm guitar, was instrumental in the choice of microphones, specifying them for his own Martin D28 guitar and also for Richard Oakes’ Gibson J200 lead guitar and Matt Osman’s Dean acoustic bass. DPA’s UK distributor Sound Network was happy to supply the microphones.

"In an ideal world, a microphone should almost disappear, allowing the sound source to reach the listener's ear unimpeded, dissolving the artifice of a recording," Neil Codling says. "Like the best condenser mics, the DPA d:vote 4099 Clip Microphones capture what is happening in the room with clarity and life, putting you there, in the path of the shifting air. The wonder is that, wherever you place them, d:vote 4099 microphones give you a sound you can build a mix around, or incorporate into a mix without fuss. It's as if they have one enormous sweet spot."

Codling was introduced to DPA Microphones by front of house sound engineer Jamie Orchard-Lisle, who is closely involved with the chamber orchestra Penguin Café, of which Codling is also a member.

"When I have downtime from Suede, I play in Penguin Cafe, which has a different acoustic flavour: violins, viola, cello, double bass, ukuleles, Venezuelan cuatros," Codling says. "Whatever you point the DPA d:vote 4099 at, they seem to capture the essence of the instrument, its subtle timbres and the full breadth of its dynamic range. You get warmth without boom, intimacy without overpowering mids, clarity without brittleness. You just point them at the sound source and they sound great."

Getting the opportunity to use DPA d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones for the Abbey Road session was something Neil Codling jumped at – and he also enjoyed being able to acquaint other members of Suede to DPA’s high-end audio quality.

"When you introduce someone to DPA microphones for the first time, there's always an exchange of looks on first hearing that says ‘wow, this sounds special!’" he says. "Even when you first set them up, it's as if you've reached that point where you say ‘don't touch a thing: that's perfect.’ It's a happy knack, and you just have to hit 'record' and enjoy it."

18th June 2013

Speedy are quick to light up a greener Glastonbury

Speedy, a leading UK provider of equipment rental and support services, has delivered a fleet of environmentally beneficial lighting towers to the Glastonbury festival.

The company has purchased nearly two hundred VB9 LED Hybrid lighting towers from Tower Light UK to illuminate the camping areas and access walkways of this world famous festival of dance and music.

Glastonbury is the biggest music festival in the UK, and with ‘Green’ issues being one of the main focal points in the staging of this event, Speedy were keen to provide the organisers with the very latest environmentally sound machinery. The Tower Light Hybrid LED lighting set, with its fuel saving attributes and ultra quiet running, is major step forward in site lighting technology, combining reduced energy usage with safe, bright illumination.

"The Tower Light VB9 LED Hybrid won the environmental award at Speedy’s national supplier conference", said Speedy’s Brad Poole. "Following this award, I was keen to get this lighting into our event rental fleet, as so many of the major festivals are asking us to provide environmentally friendly plant and equipment. The Hybrid ticks all the environmental boxes for these types of events," confirmed Brad.

The VB9 LED Hybrid is the latest innovation from the UK based manufacturer. It features a hybrid battery/diesel system, with auto charging technology with the set running on 90% battery power and 10% fuel. The battery is automatically recharged via a low battery monitor system, combining 8-hours battery power and 8-hours generator usage. The battery has 3000 hours life and the generator consumes just 0.25 litres per hour when in use. The system emits almost no noise pollution, as it remains totally silent for 50% of the time. Fuel usage is so low that the set can run for over 500 hours on one single tank of fuel. The canopy construction is attractive, robust and designed for easy maintenance, making it just right for a modern commercial rental fleet.

Using a VB9 LED Hybrid will result in immediate operating savings - just 150 watts of LED power consumption yields an equivalent illumination level of 400 watts of metal halide - include the 70,000 hours of life of a LED lamp against the 6000 hours of a metal halide light and the economies of LED lighting become instantly apparent.

Thanks to Speedy and Tower Light, Glastonbury revellers can be assured of safe passage around the festival site, both at night and during the day, secure in the knowledge that they will not be disturbed by the noise of a diesel engine drowning out the music from their favourite bands.

In picture: a Speedy VB9 Hybrid Lighting Tower

17th June 2013

ADLIB Supplies Lana Del Rey Tour

Liverpool UK based Adlib supplied innovative singer / songwriter Lana Del Rey with an L-Acoustics K1 sound system for her on-going and highly successful UK and European tour.

Adlib’s George Puttock designed the audio system, which was specified by Joe Harling and tour manager Peter Abbott. Puttock and Adlib’s Sam Proctor rigged and oversaw all the equipment on the road, with Adlib’s Simon Lawson as PA tech ensuring that Del Rey’s FOH and monitor engineers Joe Harling and Matt Kanaris could achieve the best possible sonic results in a wide variety of venues.

The main PA hangs in their largest configuration were 12 L-Acoustics K1 per side with three KARA downs, together with side hangs of three L-Acoustics SB18s with 12 KARA underneath.

These were supported by 16 SB28s subs on the floor – six left, six right and four in the centre - cleverly positioned to double up as steps that provide stage entrances and exits for Del Rey.

This worked extremely well - the subs were in exactly the right place to make a huge difference to the sub / low coverage, mitigating the normal 'power alley' that is traditionally associated with subs.

The ground SB28s merely ‘tickled’ away to provide a low frequency extension to the K1 elements in the air, which are renowned for their solid low frequency handling.

Apart from the fabulous sound of the K1 system, it is also extremely quick and easy to rig, allowing for more time in the morning to design the system.

With a string quartet and all other musicians and Del Rey on stage using in-ear monitors, the stage area is really quiet, so the front fills are very important and have to be leaned on heavily, so Kara and ARCS were used. These needed to be tightly controlled as Del Rey spends a fair amount of time in front of the stage.

Lake LM26s provided vocal and band mixing capability to individual front fill speakers, allowing Puttock to reduce the vocal in specific speakers whilst Del Rey was in front of them.

The L-Acoustics speakers were all driven by LA8 amplifiers running the latest firmware, which brings many new refinements and additional functionality. Two audio networks were run on the tour, one for all the LA8 amplifiers and the other for Lake LM 26 and LM44 processors, plus some Lab.gruppen amps. The consoles were both Soundcraft Vi6s, with Vi1s for support.

Del Rey and the band used their own IEM and radio mic systems with 12 stereo in-ear mixes, eight for the band and four

for technicians, running 67 channels into the desk including shouts and clicks.

Adlib provided a complete line system with stage distro and full mic splits, plus two of its MP4 low profile wedges for Del Rey as backup and reinforcement for the more challenging acoustic spaces. Two L-Acoustics ARCS with an SB28 sub per side comprised the side fills, and there was also a full mics-and-stands package for the band utilising a mix of Beyer, Sennheiser, Audio Technica and Shure brands.

Lana Del Rey uses a Sennheiser radio mic with a Neumann KMS105 capsule which sounds "fantastic" comments Proctor – ideally suited for her distinctive style and voice - transparent and ‘open’ sounding.

Puttock, Proctor and Lawson really enjoyed the tour, and Adlib Account Handler Phil Stoker adds: "Rarely does such a unique artist come along nowadays as Lana Del Rey, and we have been incredibly lucky working on such a stylish and cinematic style live show.

"Production manager Peter Abbott is fantastic to work with and Joe Harling at FOH had it sounding incredible through the K1 system. The set and lighting all added to the intimate yet expansive theatrical feel. Soon the rest of the world will see what European fans have been so vocally excited about...."

In picture: tour crew - Sam Proctor (monitor tech), Matt Kanaris (monitor engineer), George Puttock (PA tech) and Joe Harling (FOH engineer)

17th June 2013

Tait Provides Custom Scenic Periaktos and Automated Helical Trussing for Rod Stewart

Continuing a long-standing relationship with the legendary Rod Stewart team, that spans nearly three decades, Tait was eager to produce customized staging elements for the artist’s widely- anticipated Live the Life tour. Working alongside set designer Paul Staples, production manager Lars Brogaard and lighting designer Mark Payne, the team integrated Tait’s fully-optimized stock assets into the set design.

Tait supplied six custom Periaktos, which are positioned on the main stage and manually rotated throughout the performance. Each of the three sided Periaktos contained a multi-faceted mirror face, a 12mm CT Flyer video screen and a grill-plated surface backlit with LED PAR fixtures.

Tait’s automated helical trussing provides one of the main artistic focal points of the set design. Powered by Tait’s Nav Hoist system and hung from 10 half-ton chain hoists, the elements feature a custom scenic applique, integrated lighting and helical curved scenic units, which are attached to the chords of the trussing.

Tait also produced a custom band riser package with custom LED fascia, as well as an integrated drum riser. Both the band and drum risers feature Tait’s patented MagDeck system for increased efficiency during assembly.

17th June 2013

Entec Falls To Grace with Paloma Faith at the O2 Arena

Entec Sound & Light supplied lighting, rigging and crew for Paloma Faith’s recent high profile one-off show at London’s O2 Arena, preceded by warm ups at Liverpool Empire and Bournemouth BIC, once again working with lighting designer Tony Austin and the production team led by tour manager Neil Brighouse.

Entec’s Noreen O’Riordan and Adam Stevenson project managed the massive one-off, which followed Faith’s spring 2013 theatre tour, this time with an enlarged stage set and a more substantial lighting rig. Austin brought many touches of theatrical magic to the equation, while Entec’s crew ensured that the rig went up smoothly and efficiently so he could maximise any available time for programming and tweaking.

Noreen comments: "Tony’s show was a fantastic blend of theatrical magic, drama and quirkiness and a perfect complement to Paloma’s offbeat, interesting and very dynamic style of performance."

The O2 show required a completely new lighting design with versatility and flexibility at the core of the concept. The warm up shows utilised a smaller lighting rig, so only at the O2 did Austin have his full rig for the first time, adding extra pressures to the day.

An expanded version of Josh Grace’s striking mirrored and gold palm leaf encrusted art deco style stage set was created for the O2 show, however Faith started the set with a completely bare stage, just her singing an acoustic number in front of a mid stage curtain.

As the show continued, she was joined onstage by her band and then by a full string and brass section which were also added especially for the O2. Initially they were all still downstage of the curtain. Not until half way through the performance was the stage set revealed, building up to a visual crescendo for the finale.

Lighting wise, at the O2 the three straight trusses which had been used on the warm ups were used, together with a new circular truss downstage centre - used for extra set foliage and decoration as well as lighting. The circle truss rigged on double braked motors came in during the big final reveal. Austin also added four flown side booms to facilitate high level front cross stage lighting.

The front truss was rigged with eight Clay Paky Sharpy Washes, six 8-lite Moles, eight Vari*Lite V*L 3000 spots, eight Robe LEDWash 600s and 13 ETC Source Fours. Two 2k Fresnels were added to wash the orchestra. On the mid truss were six V*L3000 spots, four Sharpy Washes and a single Source Four used for rear key lighting on Faith.

The back truss featured six Atomic strobes, six Sharpy Washes and six V*L3000 spots.

On the upstage side boom there were two more V*L3000 spots, two Sharpy Washes and an Atomic, while on the downstage one each side were another two V*L3000s, a single Sharpy Wash and one Atomic. These proved invaluable positions tor Austin to have at his disposal with a lot of performers onstage to cover.

On the deck were six Martin MAC Viper profiles, positioned downstage left and right both sides. He’d also appreciated these a lot on the tour, used for lighting the set and to establish a basic stage ambience with colour and texturing. Six floor-based Sharpy beams were utilised for picking out assorted set elements.

Along the front of the stage in the footlights position were another six Robe LEDWash 600s – their small size and thin profile making them ideal for the job. Another eight ran along the back of stage primarily pointing up the Austrian curtains at the back of stage.

On the circular truss – which flew in for the end of the set – were six more Sharpy beams.

Andy Emmerson and Austin ran the lightshow simultaneously from two consoles - a grandMA full size and a grandMA light - Emmerson controlling the moving lights and Austin calling the spots and working the key lights and general stage washes.

"Entec and all their crew have been amazing," commented Austin. "I could not have asked for a better company in every aspect of the project – from the organisation and logistics through to the kit itself and personalities of the crew – nothing I wanted or needed to do was a problem"

Entec fielded one of their A Team crews to ensure that it all went seamlessly on the day and night. Joining Andy Emmerson were crew chief Sudip Shrestha, Damian Courage, Chris Gadd and Brendan Albrey.

Noreen O’Riordan comments: "Tony learnt his trade under the watchful eye of Terry Lee at LSD in Birmingham back in the early 1980s, and he soon progressed up the ladder and was sent out to operate shows like Prince for Roy Bennett. He also spent many years touring the globe as UB40’s lighting designer, and I like the fact that he still insists on using the traditional ‘pilot and co-pilot’ format at front of house.

"I enjoy working with Tony and respect his eye for detail. Paloma is a hugely creative artist, and right from the off she had a vision that fun loving set designer Joshua Grace, production manager John Gray and Tony executed with definition and style."

The reviews of the shows have been outstanding, and "much credit should go to John Gray for holding the whole production together with such strength and determination," asserts O’Riordan.

John Gray elucidates how they first discussed this show two or three months ago after which Joshua Grace started putting the look together and Tony Austin started on the lighting design, while he worked with Austin on how to make the rolling on of all the equipment and set pieces work during the show. "SJM were great in getting what we needed from the venue," he explains, adding that things only really became finalised once they were in production rehearsals at Elstree.

Once there, Gray made a scale model of the stage space, risers and set pieces and then worked through the sightline v. stage space needed to hide the set issues, finally running through every move meticulously before it was attempted for real.

"David Odlum did a brilliant job of arranging the music, working with myself and the stage managers Tim Allcock and John Adams to precisely time and execute the moves," he states.

Odlum also worked with Guy Barker and Sonia Slany to integrate the strings and horn sections into the show.

Gray continues: "Right through this process Noreen at Entec was there for us … sorting out the inevitable changes … and the changes to the changes, always coming up with a ‘solution’ and never finding a problem. I would like to thank her especially for all her help in making this show happen."

Miles Hillyard project managed for sound contractors SSE, while maestro Huw Richards engineered the FOH sound to perfection and monitor engineer Oliver Waring - on only his sixth Paloma gig – tied all the monitoring together for everyone on stage.

Tony Austin now goes out on tour with Portishead for the summer, with Entec supplying a festival specials rig.

17th June 2013

5 Star Keeps in the Fast Lane

Championship water skier Jeremy (Jez) Harford commissioned 5 Star cases to design and build a custom lightweight flightcase for his slalom skis, to ensure that they can safely be transported overseas for training and competitions – without costing a small fortune in excess baggage.

Packing the skis for travel has always been a challenge, explains Jez, and it was time to move permanently on from bubble-wrap, soft bags and keeping fingers crossed that they arrived in one piece … to something more serious!

Water skis are constructed from hollow fiberglass resin materials which are brittle on the outside and a fall onto concrete, even from a short distance, can damage a ski beyond repair, so protection during transport is imperative.

UK based Jeremy was recommended to 5 Star, where he met Keith Sykes and the design team, who listened to his requirements and set to work to create a fabulous and funky case!

For the carcass, they used Penn Elcom’s hugely robust but very lightweight Flite Panel. The honeycomb polypropylene panel material is becoming increasingly used for this type of application for all the obvious reasons – ruggedness, high quality and expedient weight.

The case was constructed similar to a standard 5 Star flightcase, with the addition of high grade aluminium profiles to all the exposed edges and a dust tight ‘hybrid location’ between the lid and base. Three medium sized butterfly catches with pad-lockable loops were fitted to the hinged edge due to its 1.8 metre length. Trolley wheels were added at one end for super-easy handling and easy manual wheeling when desired.

Inside, a polyether foam block was inserted, from which the exact shape of the skis was cut out for a nice snug fit. Accessory compartments were added to the foam recesses – the template was cut on one of three Hyma bandknife cutting tables installed at 5 Star’s Wisbech, Cambridgeshire facility.

The case was specified as a two-tone colour scheme with Jez’s logo screen printed on the outside. The completed empty case weighs a mere 16.8 kg – not bad considering its length and half metre width and strength – and well under the weight restrictions for most standard airlines hold baggage.

Jez is delighted with the results. He comments: "5 Star were amazing and very responsive to all my requests in the design. The end result surpassed all my expectations and it’s absolutely perfect for the job in hand. Apart from that, the service right through from 5 Star was second to none – it has been an absolute pleasure to work with them and I’d recommend the company to anyone else in my sport wanting a case!"

Keith Sykes adds: "We always enjoy doing something different here at 5 Star, and this was certainly interesting – and our first foray into the world of water-skiing."

It’s not however, the first time that 5 Star has built cases for sports competitors. Their work has encompassed special projects embracing competitors in the Red Bull Air Race to cars in the International Formula 3000/GP2 Championship.

5 Star is enjoying a particularly sporty year so far in 2013, also enthusiastically sponsoring motor racing drive Jack Goff in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).

www.5star-cases.com

17th June 2013

Derry Experiences Exceptionally Long Delays - Aided by Yamaha

Celebrating its status as the first quadrennial UK City of Culture, the Northern Ireland city of Derry-Londonderry is staging an array of events throughout the year. By far the most spectacular was the finale Showdown on the Foyle of The Return of Colmcille on June 8, where a mile of the River Foyle was the stage for a dramatic battle of good against evil. Despite immense technical challenges, Yamaha audio equipment ensured that thousands of the city’s citizens had the night of their lives.

Produced by outdoor arts experts Walk the Plank, The Return of Colmcille packed in an array of performances and parades in the 30 hours preceding the unforgettable Showdown on the Foyle.

The climax concluded an epic two week journey of a traditional Irish rowing boat from the Isle of Iona, symbolically enacting the Irish saint’s return back to the city he founded. Legend has it that, while in Scotland, the saint banished a ‘ferocious water beast’ to the depths of Loch Ness. Having followed Colmcille back to the city, the June 8 saw Nessie swim up the River Foyle and seek her revenge.

The showdown started with the monster - a converted sand barge jammed with production and pyrotechnic technology - over a mile downstream of the city’s Peace Bridge. From here, roaring and breathing fire, it moved up towards the bridge to be confronted by Colmcille - and, of course, defeated by the saint and the will of thousands of spectators lining the bank.

"The audio had to achieve three things, all at the same time," says Melvyn Coote, managing director of the event’s audio production company tube UK. "Firstly, we had to ensure that an audience 750m wide and up to 15m deep was always looking in the right direction at the right time - at the monster, at Colmcille or at the choir on the Peace Bridge.

"Secondly, we had to ensure that the sound from every element of the production - which included live narration, playback of suitably dramatic music on playback and the live choir - was also correctly delayed to multiple PA stacks along the river bank, so all parts of the audience heard it clearly and in sync with what they could see.

"Thirdly, we had to ensure that the monster's sound effects, coming from a PA on the dredger itself, reached different parts of the huge audience area simultaneously and tightly synchronised with the rest of the production - while all the time it was moving up river."

Needing complex delay matrices to achieve these aims, Melvyn and front of house engineer / system programmer John Redfern chose Yamaha DME digital mixing engines as the ideal solution.

"We are experienced in delivering this kind of giant 3D soundscape with Walk the Plank projects. However, the real difficulty was the fact that the focal object - the monster - was moving significant distances. So we had to track that movement and constantly adjust the delays in the system as it moved," he says.

The live and recorded audio was mixed on a Yamaha CL5 console and two Rio3224-D i/o units in a cabin on the riverside. Alongside them were a pair of cascaded DME64N digital mixing engines with Dante interface cards, programmed with multiple delay matrices to ensure that the sound was clear across the whole, vast area.

Adding a further layer of complexity was the monster’s sound effects, which were sent wirelessly from the CL5 to the dredger. An onboard Yamaha LS9-16 console and DME24N submixed the sounds, before broadcasting them through the onboard loudspeakers. At the furthest point, this meant sending the sounds from the cabin to the dredger nearly a kilometre of delay time ‘early’, so they would be broadcast from the dredger at the right time.

As the ‘monster’ made its way up the river, the onboard crew had 16 pre-programmed GPS waypoints, corresponding with different length delays, where the DME24N was adjusted to bring it into sync with the shore audio system.

Once the dredger was at its final place, ready for the monster’s battle with Colmcille, the audio system still had to draw the audience’s attention alternately to the different elements of the production, as well as ensuring the audience further down the river continued to enjoy excellent sound.

"We needed a huge amount of continually-changing delays," says Melvyn. "The delay matrix in the Yamaha DME is one of the only products that allows you to do it and on this show we had all three units working at their limits. But despite the complexity, once everything was programmed they made it comparatively straightforward to operate. John was triggering scenes via QLab and MIDI straight into the DMEs and it worked really well."

Important to keep the scale of the show secret from the city population, there was no chance for rehearsal. Once pre-programmed, Melvyn and the team used clicks to fine tune the delays - although he admits they did do a test ‘firing’ of the monster’s roar. "I was told that it stopped people walking across the Peace Bridge in their tracks and there were children running indoors in fear," he grins.

However, the show itself was the first time they could really test the system… and it worked perfectly.

"It was nerve-wracking, but within the huge scale of what we were doing it was as near as dammit perfect," he says. "The accuracy and the robustness of the system was really important, which is why Yamaha was the ideal choice. There was no redundancy in the system and during the show we didn’t have time to worry about reliability. Having the peace of mind of knowing that it would work flawlessly was vital."

Yamaha’s Karl Christmas was full of praise at tube UK’s work. "The sound was incredible. The fact that it was so clear right the way along the river is a real testimony to the accuracy of the delays," he says. "There were no second chances, Melvyn and his team had to put their complete trust in the DMEs, the CL5 and LS9 in front of thousands and it all worked perfectly.

"All the people I spoke to in the audience were really impressed. The overwhelming sentiment was that the production made them really proud to be from the city."

"As the entire project aimed to use Northern Irish resources where possible, we were proud to team up with Production House NI who provided all of the quayside PA and gave great backbone support to the technical front-end we were focused on," notes Melvyn.

17th June 2013

Renegade Designs Eddie Izzard Tour

Nick Gray of London based creative visual design practice Renegade worked his lighting magic on the latest Eddie Izzard "Force Majeure" arena tour which has just finished an intensive three month tour around the UK and Europe.

It's the first time that Gray - well known for his work in the fashion world and as LD for rockers Kasabian - has designed lighting for the ‘surrealist’ funny-man, a task on which he collaborated closely with Izzard’s artistic director, Sarah Townsend.

The stylistic theme for the tour included flourishes of classic 1960s Avengers and Austin Powers, and another important aesthetic starting point was the large portrait format LED screen onstage. This all needed careful and thoughtful lighting.

Gray wanted to introduce depth and architecture into the performance space and also make large arena spaces with one person onstage look and feel interesting and intimate – not the easiest task. He also sought to frame the LED screen and accentuate its role in the show as a vehicle for Izzard to communicate with his audience. His delivery involves a lot of concentration and quick thinking by the crowd to keep pace with his cerebral, off-the-wall humour.

Gray created a triple shrinking perspective trussing layout loosely based on pylon shapes, that neatly incorporated the two side IMAG projection screens, linking them on to the onstage LED screen. This unified the space, giving it definition and a proper 3D feel.

The onstage screen was flanked by two custom built towers, also continuing on the pylon theme, which were used for additional tighter lighting positions. Fixed to the back of the two masts were flexible video strips, fed by content stored on two Catalyst media servers supplied by XL Video, together with the screens.

At the back of Izzard’s centre marks was a gently elevated chequerboard scenic piece to break up the void behind the main front-on camera shot and give the two FOH cameras additional perspective.

Gray chose his lighting fixtures with great precision and attention to detail, based on their small size and features. The design also featured plenty of floor lights that brought a touch of rock 'n' roll cool to the space, which was fitting for Izzard’s all-action fast delivery hyper-quick thinking and delivery, and also to accentuate the tallness of the set.

Anything on the floor had to be really unobtrusive, so he opted for twelve Clay Paky Sharpy Washes dotted around the stage, plus 12 Sharpy beam fixtures that were used to create nice beams and slices of defined light at ground level. "These were ideal," explains Gray, adding that lighting contractor Neg Earth – with whom he regularly works – pulled out all the stops out to get the new Sharpy Washes in time for the tour.

The three V shaped trusses over-stage were each outlined with a row of BB4 LED 4-lites – 72 in total, which added to the general architecture of the space. On the trusses themselves were 24 Martin by Harman MAC Viper profile moving lights, chosen for their excellent gobos and optics, which produce "Fantastic" effects for their compact size. Also on the trusses was a selection of CP Alpha Wash 1500 moving lights.

At the front, Gray used an advance truss and a front truss above the audience. Four Mole Beams on the front truss were focused into the arena at jaunty angles, their rich wide beams adding a sense of intrigue to the stage for the audience walk-ins and interval states.

The intro and Izzard’s walk-on was proceeded by a two-minute lighting extravaganza full of drama and whizzy effects, which then settled down to a series of subtle almost imperceptible lighting scene changes throughout the two halves of the show.

The tour was a great success. Nick Gray concludes: "It's been really invigorating, interesting and exciting working on a comedy show. I have both learnt a lot and been able to bring my experience from working in other disciplines to make this one rock!"

17th June 2013

White Light Production Solutions for Journey & Whitesnake Arena Tour

White Light was recently chosen to supply lighting equipment and solutions for the Journey and Whitesnake 2013 UK Arena Tour. The widely popular bill featured the two superstar bands, along with musical guest Thunder, together in concert for the first time ever in the UK. For the tour, which opened in Belfast and finished in London, White Light worked closely with production manager Rob Kern and lighting designer Kevin "Deuce" Christopher, supplying a full production service including lighting fixtures, cabling, rigging, and power distribution.

The nine-venue tour in the UK is a continuation of Journey’s worldwide tour with previous stops in North America, New Zealand, Japan, and Singapore earlier this year. Christopher, who has been the touring LD for Journey since 2004, worked with Lester Cobrin, head of concert touring at White Light, to accommodate the addition of double headlining act Whitesnake to the tour, adjusting truss spacing and trim heights. For the tour, White Light utilised some of their recently purchased Loadguard motors and Guardian controllers. White Light hire director Dave Isherwood commented: "It makes sense to grow with our customers. This means we can continue to support productions of all shapes and sizes while keeping our commitment to quality products and superior service."

White Light also supplied the production with an experienced touring lighting crew, ensuring the technical quality of the rig on the road. "It was great to work with Lester and the White Light team," Christopher said. "They were efficient and responsive. It made for a smooth run in the UK."

For the design, Christopher layered multiple lighting elements along with video effects to create a variety of colourful, dimensional looks over the course of Journey’s dynamic performance. "When deciding on fixtures and layout for the touring rig," he explains, "the goal is always to expand the space with light by building big looks with as little equipment as possible. The ideal lighting rig is one that travels small but once it is up, can completely fill the space. It is important to get the most out of every fixture while also making sure that they strike a visual balance."

Christopher used Philips Vari-lite VL3000Q and VL3500 Wash units to form the backbone of the overstage rig, adding Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures for an extra punch of brightness and colour. "The Sharpys are great – very bright and importantly, lightweight. They were perfect to add an extra layer of dimension to the show," he said. "The Sharpy units were also a good complement to the VLs which I have been using for years. I chose both because I knew they would stand up to the brightness of our video elements. Combined with the other lighting fixtures, rigging, and power - I have been very pleased with the lighting package from White Light."

www.whitelight.ltd.uk

17th June 2013

QSC Active Line Arrays & Loudspeakers Installed In Moscow's Red Square

QSC KLA loudspeaker system, supplied by QSC Russian distributor MixArt, provided sound reinforcement on Moscow's Red Square, in front of two of the world's most instantly recognisable buildings, the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower and St Basil's Cathedral, during festivities to herald the run-up to the Moscow Open, the Russian capital's annual open-air basketball festival. This year, 16 teams are participating from all over Europe and the USA, and the temporary streetball area on Red Square allowed any member of the public to try their baller skills and get involved too.

Comprising two arrays each of three KLA12 elements and two KLA181 subwoofers, the QSC line array was flown from a temporary roof erected over an open-air basketball court on the North side of Red Square from May 30th to June 2nd. Alexander Soloviev, commercial director at MixArt, explains: "We realised that the roof over the temporary basketball court would enable us to suspend the loudspeaker system. A QSC KLA Active system was the obvious choice." QSC K10 Active loudspeakers were used as additional stage wedges for the opening and closing ceremonies, during announcements and also for the daily rapping and beatboxing contests that took place throughout the festival. Extra two-ton cables were attached to the roof to ensure that the line arrays would remain in position even if struck by flying basketballs."

The company charged with supplying the PA systems on Red Square used for the festival was Moscow Events (known in Russian as Avenda Zvuka), who have been using QSC loudspeaker systems for some time. Moscow Events owner Vladimir Filippov comments: "From 2008, we were pioneers in Russia for using mid-size powered line-array speakers. Some months ago, we added QSC KLA, KW and K Series Actives to our inventory, and I must say that our technicians and sound engineers like them the most. The systems are cost-effective, low in weight, easy to set up and break down, sound good and are very powerful — we’ve been really happy with them! Many top-level people in Russia have given their speeches using the QSC KLA line array system – for example our ex-President Dmitri Medvedev, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Sergey Ivanov."

Avenda Zvuka plan to use the KLA system for on-going open-air public streetball games throughout the Moscow Open and the associated International Streetball World Championship, which take place in July.

17th June 2013

Nitin Speakers & Electrical Invests in Robe

Leading south Indian rental company Nitin Speakers & Electrical has invested in Robe moving lights to upgrade their lighting inventory. Run by the charismatic Sachin Naik – who has connected with many politicians, dignitaries, VIPs and celebrities in the course of his work – the Pune based operation supplies technical production to events of all types from vast political rallies for half a million people or so to concerts and musical extravaganzas to corporate presentations.

Known for many years as a high quality audio rental company and also for building large portable venue superstructures, Nitin Speaker’s & Electrical opened its Intelligent Lighting division a year ago.

"We were being asked more and more frequently if we could supply lighting," explains Naik,"so we decided to do it properly and make a substantial investment so we could stock and supply the very best moving lights."

They then decided that Robe was the best brand! Reliability was a key – and Robe has the best reputation in this category. He also knew he could get great service and support from Robe’s Indian distributor, IES from Mumbai. The first purchase involved eight ColorSpot 2500E ATs, eight ROBIN LEDWash 600s and eight ROBIN 300E Beams. They have been working constantly since delivered on a plethora of shows and events.

The small and light weight of the LEDWash 600 and Beam 300 fixtures make them a huge hit with the Nitin crew and technicians for their ease of use, handle-ability and also for the power saving capabilities. "The colour tones are really excellent from the LEDWash," Naik enthuses. "They are great for movie and video shoots and also for TV applications – and ideal for pleasing camera operators and photographers with their range of different colour temperature ‘true’ whites."

The ColorSpot 2500E ATs they wanted for their sheer intensity. They provide lights for a lot of large scale shows with huge stages and sets, and so they needed a set of fixtures with a really powerful throw.

Above all, with the company’s excellent reputation for audio - their main systems are L-Acoustics - they needed to be able to match this status with the new lighting division. "Investing in a premium brand was key to that," comments Naik.

Having a branded product on board also gives the technology more longevity – both physically because of the better engineering and psychologically because if people trust a brand image, he reckons that they tend to stick with it rather than flitting to the next trend a few months down the line.

Nitin Speakers & Electrical operates out of a 500,000 square foot facility on the outskirts of Pune, Maharashtra, has 25 full time employees and works with a pool of around 50 regular freelancers in the peak times on both sound and lighting, servicing events all over India.

Recent events utilising the Robe fixtures have included a large show by music director-composer duo Ajay-Atul at Pune’s Balewadi Stadium, where the local heroes attracted 35,000 enthusiastic fans for their performance.

In picture: Kekul Sheth (Robe distributor IES), Sachin Naik (Owner Nitin Speakers & Electrical), Sandeep Bhattad (business partner) and Rasesh Parekh (Robe distributor IES).

17th June 2013

PRG Supports Britian’s Got Talent for its Seventh Year

The seventh series of Britain’s Got Talent culminated on Saturday 8th June with a stunning live show from Fountain Studios, presented by Ant and Dec for ITV.

Having supported the show since its creation in 2007, PRG was delighted to work with the production team, where this year’s final dominated the ratings and attracted more than 13 million viewers. Adding to the excitement, Simon Cowell was pelted with eggs by a suspected former BGT contestant.

The show was won by Hungarian shadow-dance troupe Attraction who performed a British themed routine including Land of Hope and Glory and the voice of Winston Churchill, and will get the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance.

PRG’s senior account manager Kelly Cornfield collaborated closely with lighting designer Dave Davey to supply a lighting design that skillfully worked sympathetically with the strong LED set design from Florian Wieder. This combination of set design and lighting used creative flair and every technical innovation available to create a stage of endless flexibility and excitement.
Dave uses his lighting pallet to great effect with a rig consisting of VL3500, VL3000 and VL6C+ Spot, VL3000 and VL2000 Wash, 36 Clay Paky Sharpy and three Super Novaflower. He also brings in additional lighting for both contestant and guest artist extras, creating a fast paced and ever-changing dynamic (and many challenges for the crew!).

Kelly praised all the crew, particularly Dave Hallett the lighting crew chief and PRG’s head of project management, Mark Davies for delivering a seamless run of BGT.

Photo: Ken McKay/Thames/Rex Features.

14th June 2013

Avolites Sapphire Touch is Bright on the Night for Blur at Coachella

Leading UK lighting designer Dave Byars (pictured) has put his brand new Avolites Sapphire Touch to work on Brit-pop band Blur's heavily atmospheric 2013 tour, which has smouldered under the stars in venues and at festivals, including Coachella, California.

Dave Byars - who has been in charge of lighting Blur since the band first formed - had quite a challenge on his hands. Maintaining his high design values, while coping with the varying set ups of festivals, and arenas around the world is no mean feat. This is especially true in Byars' case as he is not touring his own rig but rather using festival house rigs or hiring locally at each venue. This means he often ends up with very different set ups or equipment types for each show.

"Being able to programme and design on the fly is essential for a tour like this one," stresses Byars. "I've been an Avolites console user for over 20 years, Diamond 4 primarily but now the Sapphire Touch. I've been impressed with the accessibility of the various design palettes on the control surface of the Sapphire Touch - I used it at Hyde Park with Blur last year and then again on Deacon Blue. Having the Titan Mobile as back up on my laptop has also been a real bonus. I can now take care of all the show patching and housekeeping in between festivals, either on the plane, tour bus or in my hotel room."

In fact Byars says he pre-programmed much of the Coachella lighting on his laptop during the flight to California and then simply plugged his USB stick carrying the show into his Sapphire Touch. "It patched straight in without a hitch! Also much appreciated is the Sapphire Touch's easy to access Quicksketch freehand tool. This allows me to keep on top of my design in the more often than not, challenging festival environments."

Byars also says that the easy to access functionality of the Sapphire Touch mixed with a bigger, more versatile platform offers him all the control he requires during some invariably frenetic festival changeovers. "The extra playbacks and dual screen really lend themselves to the busy festival environment," he continues. "This combined with the power to easily transpose an arena programmed show to the festival circuit using the Titan software is invaluable. Titan v6 allows me to visually map the rig on the screen of my console. This certainly makes the process of copying, pasting and cloning fixtures a complete breeze!

So why buy rather than hire? Well Byars says he has always had a very positive relationship with the team at Avolites and has always felt supported technically: "It seemed like the right time and a good idea to invest in my own Sapphire Touch for this tour. I think the software is stable enough and I knew it would be an eclectic collection of venues and festivals. My view was that it would really smooth the design and programming process to be as in tune with the console as possible."

Koy Neminathan, sales director for Avolites continues: "Avolites is proud to say that we've had a long-standing and extremely productive relationship with Dave Byars for many years. It's great for us to hear that he has been so impressed with the Sapphire Touch. We really value Dave's opinion as he knows our consoles inside out and has always given very helpful feedback from festivals and venues which we have fed back into our product development and design over the years. Our Avolites Curry Club has often provided the perfect opportunity for feedback from Dave too!" 

14th June 2013

Robe in Paradise for Jaguar and Land Rover Event

Mauritius is well known for its natural beauty, cosmopolitan culture and as a fabulous place for calmness and reflection, just some of the reasons that the Indian Ocean island state was chosen for Jaguar and Land Rover’s 2013 annual Dealer of the Year Awards for Africa and the Sub Sahara region.

Technical production for the three venues was managed and coordinated by Christiaan Ballot and Ryan Lombard from Blond Productions, who are based in Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa. They have worked on several previous projects for Land Rover in recent years.

They worked closely with Mauritius based Impact – the country’s top rental company – who like Blond Predictions has a big inventory of Robe fixtures. Stephane Lafort was Impact’s project manager.

Christiaan received a list of the available kit from Impact and designed lighting and other technical elements for each venue around this, with Robe moving lights utilised as key fixtures.

The main event, the Awards and Gala Dinner, was staged in a clear roofed marquee constructed in the gardens of The Heritage Le Telfair Golf & Spa Resort Hotel.

The welcome reception took place at the C Beach Club at the same hotel, and the primary conference session was held at the St Regis Hotel in the south of the island.

In the marquee the lights were rigged on a spine truss traversing the centre of the structure, and included Robe LEDWash 600s and ColorSpot 700E ATs, with more of the same also rigged on a truss at the back of the stage. These were joined by a section of generics and LED luminaires.

The lightweight, small size and expedient power consumption of the LEDWashes in particular enabled more lights to be used. As well as lighting the tables and the stage, the Robes were also handy for illuminating the spaces in between these areas, in the process boosting the general atmosphere.

In The C Beach Club, ColorSpot 700E ATs were used for gobo patterning the floor and walls, adding to the generally very chilled vibe.

Says Christiaan: “It was a top end event and very important to be precise and supremely neat and tidy with all the lighting and technicals. Having the Robes on hand also helped us to light each venue according to the funky, interactive style requested by the client.

“We really enjoyed working with the Impact crew and project management teams in a true collaboration which achieved great results.”

www.robe.cz

14th June 2013

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