Fall Out Boy just wrapped “The Boys of Zummer Tour” (sic) co-headlining with Wiz Khalifa, and once again Clay Paky fixtures were along for the exciting cross-country ride.
Robb Jibson of So Midwest, Inc. continued his relationship with the pop punk band, this time as production designer for the US amphitheater tour. He specified 68 Mythos sold by Upstaging.

© Photo Jack Edinger

“ I’m a fan of Clay Paky; they seem to really do things right, ” he declares. “ I had demo’d Mythos but hadn’t had a chance to use them just yet. The light is versatile enough I knew if we spec’d them we wouldn’t need much else – no typical systems of wash, hard edge or effects systems. I put all my chips on Mythos as our only hard-edged fixture in the show! And they were as awesome! ”

© Photo Jack Edinger

It was Jibson’s goal to design a well-balanced show where the “lighting and video played well together. ” He wanted to present the video content in an innovative way and eliminate side IMAG screens, which Fall Out Boy dislikes. The band also wants to enter the stage without being seen, and Jibson was challenged to create a fun reveal.

“ I came up with a guillotine, an LED wall on winches that was 60 feet wide and 12 feet tall, ” he explains. “ It acted like a grand drape would work in a theater and moved up and down to reveal every act. After a short intro sequence Fall Out Boy appeared in a blast of smoke the screen flew up! ” Since Mythos fixtures are still so new to the market most of the lighting teams he met at the venues did not have firsthand experience with their versatile capabilities. And using them as followspots? Crazy !
“ The first time George Masek had showed me the prototype Super Sharpy I knew that I had found the next iteration of the automated key light, which we had done with sharpies for smaller gigs. So it was just a natural for the Mythos! I had to fight to use them as follow spots, to rope our fixtures into the spot locations, ” says Jibson.
“ I shoved the house spots out of the way so I could clamp Mythos to the hand rail, set them on road cases or put them on stands; two more were flown from the side trusses to cover the drummer position. Upstaging modified the fixtures to add metal handles on front. ”

© Photo Jack Edinger

“ People at the venues were pretty nervous about how a 470-watt fixture could replace a house spotlight. My Response ‘watch.’ Venue by venue we won them over.
We routinely did 120-, 150-, 180-foot throws for key lighting and gobo patterns using a combination of the zoom optics and aperture gobos.
Even at the farthest point – 200 feet away from the stage – we delivered never less than 150 foot-candles. A traditional spot would deliver about 90, and that’s if Jimmy had changed the bulb in the last decade! ”

Jibson flew the remaining 60 Mythos overhead where they supplied key lighting and all the effects lighting. “ Using the frost filter is great for punchy wash looks. They already have all the goodness that Sharpys have built in for aerial effects, and their unique color mixing system was really snappy. The lensing system is like a prime photographic lens with infinity focus. That made the show look really clean, and that’s what we wanted: clean lines and clean content. ”

Throughout the tour, which ran from June through August, “ Mythos exceeded my wildest imaginings, ” Jibson reports. “ I was super-happy with their reliability, footprint and output. I love ‘em! ”

© Photo Jack Edinger

George Masek, A.C.T Vice President (exclusive distributor of Clay Paky products in North America), concludes, “ It is such a pleasure working with Robb. You can never be sure what he is going to come up with, and that is the beauty and genius of his work. He pushes the Clay Paky fixtures to their limits and gets results that are exceptional. ”
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky Area Manager for North and Latin America, added, “ Mr. Jibson is a very innovative lighting designer and we love to see the ways he uses our fixtures. We look forward to seeing his work for many projects to come. ”

More informations :

• Test in SoundLightUp : http://www.soundlightup.com/news/clay-paky-mythos-more-than-a-million-lux-that-is.html?lang=en
• Clay Paky Web site : www.claypaky.it

Clay Paky Mythos fixtures have illuminated the Costanera Tower, the highest skyscraper in Latin America, with a fantastic light show to celebrate each match in the Copa América 2015 football tournament.
Mythos were part of a lighting design by Toni Amoros,who also lit the tournament’s opening ceremony. Each time a player scored Amoros employed the Mythos to wash the building with the team’s colours and a variety of textures, surprising and delighting onlookers.

Photo ©-Valook

Photo ©-Valook

The fixtures also projected custom gobos such as the word ‘GOOOL’ (GOAAAL), supplied by Iluminación Profesional Valook, up the entire 300-metre length of the tower.
“ The Mythos was the perfect tool for this ambitious project,” says Fabian Cortez Lopez of VALOOK. “ Its incredible optics meant it could illuminate the whole building with ease.

The custom gobos were projected from the ground floor to the very top of the building, remaining in clear focus even at the furthest distance. This is a feat only the Mythos can achieve! ”

The gobos also saw the Mythos project spinning footballs and Copa América sponsor Mastercard’s logo onto the building as teams such as Paraguay and Brazil and Peru and Bolivia battled it out on the pitch.

The skyscraper is part of the Costanera Centre in the capital’s Providencia business district. The 24 Mythos, supplied by event production house Producciones Icardi, were positioned with six on each side of the building throughout the tournament.

Photo ©-Valook

From here the fixtures also delivered a vibrant light show on weekday mornings and evenings to entertain commuters and visitors to the area.
“ The power output of the Mythos is fantastic, it can easily replace a 4k searchlight, ” continues Cortez. “ There’s no other fixture like it – you can use it in on smaller stages, stadiums or for an architectural project such as this without compromising its performance. ”

More informations : http://www.claypaky.it

Leading lighting designer Björn Hermann has called on GLP impression X4 S and X4 L to help boost a giant matrix at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne for the second Video Days.
This was another opportunity for 15,000 YouTube fans to see the stars of this genre not only on a canvas, but also live on stage at the massive Lanxess Arena.

Crédit Photo: Detlev Klockow (PRG)

Hermann was not only responsible for the lighting design and studio colour space, but also provided the set and stage design for Tobias Kühnel and his company, Showplan GmbH. The particular challenge was that with just a single day set up, the complete show and camera lighting had to be set up for all 25 bands, fully programmed and implemented.

Crédit Photo: Detlev Klockow (PRG)

The lighting designer decided to solve this challenge by selecting GLP’s new impression X4 S; 50 of these compact and flexible moving heads, each containing 7 x 15W RGBW LEDs and a 7°-50° zoom range, found their place onto the set — with the lighting inventory supplied by PRG.

The key elements of the show were two faces comprising a total of 50 white plates, set right and left of a giant matrix LED wall. Integrated respectively in the small spaces in between, Hermann and his team placed the 50 compact X4 S heads.

Another 15 of the larger impression X4 L were also deployed and provided enormous brightness, rich colours, fast response and pixel mapping for an impressive light show.
The initiative began five years ago with a spontaneous idea — for around 500 fans from the YouTube community to meet at the Gamescom trade fair in Cologne to celebrate their network’s stars. It was a complete success, because in the following year more than 2,000 broadcasters met. The result was the first Video Days.

Crédit Photo: Detlev Klockow (PRG)

The appearance of network stars including like Y-Titty, ApeCrime, Daaruum, LeFloid ensured that for the second year running the Arena would be sold out in a raucous and thrilling spectacle for the millions using the network.

More information www.glp.de

Projecteur cycliode à leds Robert Juliat DALIS – PLASA Award for Innovation 2015.

Robert Juliat is delighted that its new LED cyclorama batten, DALIS, has been awarded the PLASA Award for Innovation at PLASA London 2015.

DALIS is a unique, asymmetrical 300W LED cyclorama light, consisting of 48 LED sources arranged in a double row.

Each LED works in conjunction with a mini asymmetric reflector, or ‘spoon’, to deliver a perfectly smooth spread of light across any surface.
Eight colours of LED are used in DALIS’ construction – red, green, blue, royal blue, amber, cyan, warm white (2200K) and cool white (6500K) – which mix to create a huge variety of pastel and saturated colours, with perfect balance.
Silent, fanless operation makes DALIS ideal for both theatre and television use.

L’équipe Robert Juliat rassemblée autour de la récompense PLASA Award for Innovation reçue pour DALIS, sur le stand Ambersphere Solutions, distributeur exclusif pour le Royaume-Uni.

The panel of PLASA Award for Innovation judges said: “ The colour rendering from this product is beautiful. The fixture is well designed and elegant with a very good uniform beam pattern and will no doubt be a feature of many stages in the future. ”

Francois Juliat, Robert Juliat’s CEO, was extremely happy to receive the Innovation Award on behalf of the company at the presentation ceremony during the show : “ To receive this Award from the PLASA organisation is very gratifying, ” he says.
“ Robert Juliat is well known for its high quality lighting solutions using traditional light sources such as tungsten and HMI, but we have been developing LED products for a number of years with equal success.

DALIS is the latest in our LED range and we are proud to bring it to the market. This Award for Innovation is a recognition of Robert Juliat’s capacity to innovate using new technology, whilst maintaining the high quality of our products and services that our customers expect. ”

More information at www.robertjuliat.com

ETC is morning the loss of Pontus “Bullen” Lagerbielke, who passed away following a battle against cancer. A professional lighting designer, console programmer and media server wizard, he truly loved working in this industry.

He was an extremely valued member of the ETC Cobalt development team, and was also involved in the development of Congo.

Sarah Clausen, who was a close personal friend as well as colleague, says: “ Bullen has been an incredibly valuable contributor to the development of ETC lighting control products. He brought real-world production experience to the table every time we discussed the further development of both families, and through his wisdom affected every Congo and Cobalt user’s experience in a positive way.

“ He was well known as a teacher and as a support resource for all users in Sweden. Bullen was a pioneer among European lighting designers in embracing moving lights and media server technology for large music productions.
His knowledge and experience are thought by his colleagues to stem from an abundance of creativity and patience, insatiable curiosity and a will to cross technical and artistic boundaries, not least in his grim and purposeful sense of humour.

“ He is fondly remembered for his pragmatic approach and will to fearlessly bring beta software on tour to test its limits. He will be remembered for his passion for the art of lighting and high professionalism as much as his humour, great personality and friendship. ”

He will be sorely missed.

More than 35,000 people descended upon the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre in Toronto, Canada recently to experience the 2015 OVO (October’s Very Own).
Fest headquartered in Highland Heights, Ohio, was on hand to deploy an Adamson sound reinforcement system for the event.
The three-day music event headlined Kevin Hart, J. Cole, Big Sean, YG + Jeremih and Drake with guest performances from Future, Pharrell Williams, UK’s MC Skepta, Kanye West, and Krept & Konan. OVO Fest is one of the largest hip-hop festivals in Canada.

The main PA consisted of left-right hangs made up of 18 Adamson E15 and three Adamson E12 line array enclosures, with sidefill arrays made up of 12 E15 and three E12 enclosures. Two subwoofer arrays – eight Adamson E119s each – were hung next to the main PA. Another 24 E119 were stacked 2×6 per side to deliver Drake’s signature low end.

Eighteen E15 and E12 line arrays encloures along with E119 subwoofers blanketed the audience at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre.

“ The high end of this PA is one of the clearest, and smoothest I have ever heard – not harsh at all and extremely consistent, ” explains Demetrius Moore, FOH engineer for Drake.
“ The low end is huge with a smooth range, great for my hip-hop 808s and my R&B kick drum. ”

The Molson Canadian Amphitheatre is a bowl-shaped outdoor shed with a seating capacity of 16,000 – 5,500 reserved seats under the 60-foot high covered roof, 3,500 seats under the open sky and another 7,000 seats on the grass bowl. In order to ensure pristine coverage, Eighth Day Sound utilized Adamson’s Blueprint AV software to design the system.  “ The PA was solid – we didn’t need delays at all,” adds Moore. “The sound was clean with a consistent SPL throughout the venue and it was plenty loud. ”

The OVO Fest PA was powered by racks of Lab.gruppen PLM 20K44 amplifiers which combine a true 4-in, 4-out configuration with a new Lake core module, Dante networked signal distribution, and system control and monitoring. The amplifiers were rack mounted and located stage left during the event.

More informations www.adamsonsystems.com

Veteran front-of-house engineer Toby Francis, whose extensive résumé ranges from Aerosmith to ZZ Top, is currently out on an 88-date tour with pop princess Ariana Grande and a DiGiCo SD7 digital mixing console.
“ The Honeymoon Tour, ” which takes in North America, Europe and Asia before wrapping up in South America at the end of October, also includes an SD7 at the monitor position, helmed by engineer Justin Hoffmann.

Francis, who is approaching his eighth year of using DiGiCo consoles almost exclusively, comments, “ It’s very, very easy to mix music on this console and it works in a very straightforward manner. It’s got everything you’d ever need onboard. For the last two years I’ve been using a Waves SoundGrid server, but prior to that I didn’t—I just used the console and nothing else. ”

Toby Francis en plein mix du show d’Ariana Grande au Madison Square Garden de New York. © Carlos Escobar

Although he typically favors DiGiCo’s SD10 desk, Francis switched to the SD7—supplied by VER Tour Sound—for “The Honeymoon Tour” in order to better accommodate the show’s 90-input channel count. “ It’s a blend of track and live inputs, with the emphasis on live inputs, ” he says, including multiple keyboards, guitar, bass, drums and a small string section. “ The only thing that is obviously track is her background vocals. She did all of the backgrounds on the record, so the only way to make it sound right was to continue that. ”

The SD7’s snapshot capabilities are proving to be invaluable on this tour : “ It’s pop, so the levels are pretty drastically different from song to song. On a lot of the songs there’s an intro section, then into the regular song, so I use at least one snapshot to set up each song. A couple of the songs have more than one, ” he says.
The DiGiCo’s multiband dynamic equalizers and compressors are also essential to his mix, says Francis, who groups drums, bass, keyboards and other instruments separately. “I take all of those groups into yet another group of all the music and create a separate path that’s all of the vocals. I treat the two paths completely separately, then I combine them into the Meyer Sound LEO/LYON PA system.”

He continues, “ I use a lot of layers of compression. I use the Waves C6 on Ari’s vocal, then go into a group with the onboard three-band compressor and take her vocal and the background vocals and compress them together there. It sounds so polished. My daughter came to a recent show and I put her in the front row. She was showing me videos she had made and the sound was crystal clear. ”

Toby Francis l’ingé son façade devant l’une des deux consoles DiGiCo SD7 de la tournée. © Carlos Escobar

The onboard processing is key to the sound quality of the DiGiCo desk, he believes. “ I use the multiband dynamic EQs everywhere. Instead of doing drastic low-mid cuts I’ll just use compression. The information is still there, it’s just compressed so that it fits better. There’s a lot less contouring and a lot thicker sound.
I think that’s why you hear things on the DiGiCo that you don’t hear on some of the other desks. There’s just more there. ”

Francis and Hoffmann share one large rack. “ We call it our ‘execution rack.’ It has two DiGiCo SD-Racks, a MADI converter and word clock distribution to all of the external digital devices,” Francis elaborates. “It’s also got all of the wireless receivers and ear transmitters, all hardwired. The stage rolls at about two o’clock, the monitor console rolls under the stage and the rack rolls in. The cabling is pre-laid when they build the stage so we’re literally checking things ten minutes after the stage rolls. ”
Tracks from two Pro Tools computers pass via Antelope Audio interfaces into a D.O.TEC MADI.SRC switcher that selects machine A or B and sends it to an Optocore converter. “That shows up like a stage rack,” explains Francis. “ Of everything we tried, that was sonically the best way to do it, and it gave both front-of-house and monitors the most versatility. ”

The system also enables timecode distribution for the show’s video, lighting and laser automation.
He adds, “ We don’t use a splitter, which is a huge sonic advantage. By eliminating a splitter you keep your impedances as pure as possible. By having the SD-Rack at the stage you cut your copper link to 100 feet or less on every input. Then the sonic advantage of the console really itself takes it to a whole new level. ”

For a list of Ariana Grande’s upcoming tour dates, visit www.arianagrande.com
And VER Tour Sound can likewise be found online at www.verrents.com

Since forming in 2007, British band Mumford & Sons has toured the world almost non-stop. Now setting out again to showcase their third album, the band’s Lighting and Production Designer, Ed Warren, selected Martin VDO Sceptron 10s and MAC Quantum Washes to make their live show even more immersive and experiential.

Credit Photo : Ty Johnson

Warren developed a captivating new design specifically for the new album, Wilder Mind. He immersed himself in Mumford & Sons’ music until it resonated in his mind–he even played the band’s music while sleeping. “ Designing is a very fluid process for me. I don’t force it, ” says Warren. “ When I’ve visualized my first thoughts and I feel like I’m in the right zone, the concept starts to take shape. ”

In the initial stages, Warren presented his ideas to the band using mood boards. They liked it and when finalized, he submitted his design to UK rental company NEG Earth, along with a product specification list. After reviewing Warren’s list, Caroline Beverley, Project Manager, NEG Earth, suggested using the new VDO Sceptrons from Martin Professional as an alternative to the fixtures specified.
Beverley said they would be perfect for Warren’s design, and when Warren saw them he was easily persuaded.

“ The VDO Sceptrons were perfect for what we wanted to do,” says Warren. “As some of the concerts happen during daylight, I needed fixtures with a good color output and brightness. The Sceptrons do just that–even in bright sunshine. ” The VDO Sceptrons play a leading role in the design where they frame the stage and trusses. The fixtures are mounted onto the downstage edges and the two risers, and along the vertical lines of ten towers upstage.
Side trusses and three U-shaped trusses above the band are also lined with VDO Sceptrons, adding a futuristic look to the show. Although capable of displaying video content, Warren uses the VDO Sceptrons in simple RGB mode on four channels. Warren believes in creating an experience for an audience. he wants to immerse the audience in every show he produces and make every fan feel at one with the band and the performance.

Credit Photo : Ty Johnson

“ The art of lighting design is to support and reflect what the band is trying to evoke with their music without distracting from it, ” says Warren.
“ You want to complement the music and stir the audience as much as possible, but you need to respect that people have come to see the band­–not necessarily the light or laser show. ”

The VDO Sceptrons support Warren’s approach to lighting design as they add both depth and dimensionality to the stage. This way, the stage jumps out spatially and is not just a flat object at one end of the venue.

Also on tour with Warren and Mumford & Sons are 16 MAC Quantum Washes that Warren uses to backlight the band and the stage and light through the open risers. “ They’re great lights,” says Warren. “Just like the Sceptrons they perform very well and stand up against daylight with great colors. ”

Mumford & Sons will be touring until the end of 2016.

Credits
Lighting Design: Ed Warren
Rental company: NEG Earth
Chief Electrician: Adam ‘Moonunit’ Morris
Production Manager: Steve Gordon

Martin Equipment : VDO Sceptron 10, 159 pcs and MAC Quantum Wash, 16 pcs

For more information
Mumford & Sons, please visit : http://www.mumfordandsons.com/
NEG Earth, please visit : http://www.negearth.com/
Martin Professional : www.martin.com

Two hundred and ten Ayrton MagicBlade™-R fixtures form the dramatic backbone of Roy Bennett’s lighting design for Maroon 5’s year-long World Tour 2015 in support of V, the band’s fifth studio album.
Bennett, of Seven Design Works, has used the MagicBlade™-R units to delineate thirteen jointed truss ‘arms’, which are suspended in a ‘V’ shape above the stage to form a pivotal feature of the stage design. The MagicBlade-R fixtures are rigged in double rows along the arms, which split along the centre line and move independently on a series of separate wire winches to shape and sculpt the stage from above.

© 2015 Todd Kaplan

” I didn’t know the band well but knew their music. I wanted to give them something very different from the video-heavy designs of their past tours – and create something that I haven’t done before!” says Bennett. “ I like transparency, reflection and mirrors right now so I created a ‘fishbowl’ from a transparent stage and other elements based on the album artwork’s V symbol. ”

Bennett devised a set composed of an under-lit PLEXIGLAS stage, an upstage wall of stepped, PLEXIGLAS panels which can be filled with smoke, and a ceiling of moveable arms etched out by the MagicBlade-R fixtures. “ This gives the stage a volumetric feel below the band as if they are standing on another world, a backdrop that can be back-projected onto and a ceiling that I can use to change the look, feel, and shape of the stage throughout the show. My intention was to create a modern, clean look that was flexible enough to give multiple looks within the personality of the design, ” he explains.

Bennett uses the MagicBlade-R fixtures both as sources of illumination and as tools to construct sculptural, architectural effects. “I’m able use the MagicBlades to accentuate the image of the ‘V’ and create a forced perspective in both horizontal and vertical planes. I can gear everything to an apex – in the air, on the ground and upstage – and use them as a mirror image of each other. At one point I even bring them in low and flat to compress the stage and top light the band.
“ Occasionally we run content through the MagicBlades along with the other lighting elements on stage but most of it is pre-programmed to take advantage of the MagicBlades’ flexibility. There’s a great flexibility in what you can do with Ayrton lights because of the individually addressable LED emitters which add great simulation and texture. ”

© 2015 Todd Kaplan

Jason Baeri, Bennett’s lighting programmer for the V tour, agrees : “ It’s not just the flat beams of light that make the MagicBlades so unique, but the appearance of the face of fixture which we can use to construct scenic looks. We can create defined spaces, like the outline of a triangle, then completely transform the look for the next song in an instant.
We use the continuous pan and tilt, for example, to animate the effects and make dynamic use of the space: to see 40-foot wings of light descend over the audience with the MagicBlades spinning over their heads is incredible and truly unique! I couldn’t have foreseen the kind of effects we have been able to create with the MagicBlades in Roy’s design. ”

Ayrton’s MagicBlade-R is immediately identifiable as having seven 4.5° 15W RGBW LED emitters arranged inline, each of which can be individually controlled for greater design possibilities. “ We didn’t make use of MagicBlade’s on-board macros because everything we did was engineered to create specific architectural space, ” says Baeri. “ But programming them is as easy or as complex as you want it to be. You can get some amazing looks with the ‘blade’ effect alone, which is very easy to do.
But neither is it difficult to program the individual emitters independently. We did this using an MA2 console and, for the very intricate stuff, we used a Hippotizer media server to pixel-map complex shapes and direct video. ”
“ Everything the MagicBlades are capable of doing, I have them doing on this show, ” says Bennett. “ I love to work that way – I put lights through their paces and push them to the max. I like to find out where their breaking point is…and the stop just short of it! ”
“ There’s no doubt about the durability of the MagicBlades, ” confirms Baeri. “I’ve seen these and other Ayrton fixtures really take a beating on tour and not even flinch!”

© 2015 Todd Kaplan

Bennett, who first used Ayrton’s MagicBlade-R for the Japanese stadium tour of Big Bang Korea (the world’s biggest K-Pop band), was among the first lighting designers in the USA to use Ayrton’s award-winning MagicPanel™602. His design for Nine Inch Nails’ 2013 Tension tour employed 126 MagicPanel 602 fixtures, arranged in 3 x 3 ‘pods’ above the band. Now, for Maroon 5’s V tour, he has utilized another massive quantity of Ayrton lights with the overhead matrix of 210 MagicBlade™-R units. Bennett’s love for large numbers of Ayrton fixtures is obvious.

“ Ayrton fixtures always work well in a mass, ” he laughs. “ I absolutely love Ayrton and am really impressed with their products. They are good, rock solid, bright and very dependable. They are not as ‘mechanical’ as some moving lights and they give you great flexibility in what you can do. Ayrton products bring something very unique to the market and they always come up with new tools. ”
“ The level of support we get from Morpheus Lights in the US is unparalleled, ” concludes Baeri. “ They are available to us 24-hours a day and, through them, we are in direct contact with Ayrton’s product designers who truly listen to our feedback about what we want their products to do in future. ”

Maroon 5’s V tour commenced in Dallas on February 16 and concludes in Denver on December 31, by which time the tour will have crossed America, Europe, the Far East and Australasia. The lighting equipment is supplied by Upstaging, Inc. in the US and Neg Earth in Europe.
More information on Ayrton MagicBlade-R and the full Radical™ Series of fixtures can be found at www.ayrton.eu

About Ayrton:
AYRTON is specialized in developing intelligent LED light products for Entertainment and Architectural applications. Based south of Paris, France, the AYRTON Headquarters and Research & Development centre combine and organize the highest competence in engineering, software, electronics and optics, with the aim to create highly innovative fixtures.
AYRTON fixtures are created to answer any demanding installation and criteria, and are distributed through devoted and exclusive worldwide teams. AYRTON uses reliable, flexible and avant-garde technologies linked to innovative design, to provide AYRTON customers with a wide range of pioneer lighting solutions for installation in Stages, TV Studios, Show-venues and Architectural schemes.

Back in the glam rock-ness of the 1970s, a small village in the middle of Belgium called Werchter decided to put on a one-day music festival. Over four decades on, Rock Wercher has become one of the largest events in the country’s musical calendar. This year, it took a new direction, in terms of mixing console choice, with Head of Sound Patrick Demoustier making the decision for the house system to go completely digital. DiGiCo was his console of choice.

This was a milestone for the festival and Patrick Demoustier explains the reasoning behind making such a fundamental change. “ We had talked a lot about moving Rock Werchter’s house system from analogue to digital consoles and how we were going to do it, ” he says. “ We didn’t want to take any risks; if it went wrong and the experience was bad, our reputation would be bad too.

Patrick Demoustier, Sound Engineer and Werchter’s Head of Sound, posing in front of the main stage most likely powered by Adamson and behind one of the in house SD7.

“ We decided we could only do it using DiGiCo consoles because DiGiCo’s architecture is very straightforward, even for those who don’t already know the products. In the analogue world, everyone was so familiar with one particular brand of console that it was easy, but in the digital world there are many different brands and different systems, mostly with session files that aren’t compatible.

But if you know how to use an analogue console you can pretty much mix on a DiGiCo straight away. I believe they are the only consoles on which that you can learn that fast. Also, all our engineers are very familiar with them and that’s important; if you have someone sitting next to you that really knows the console it makes life much easier and gives confidence to the visiting engineers. ”

As a result, Production supplier for the festival, PRG, supplied a combination of SD7s at Front of House, with SD10s at monitors for all three stages, whilst DiGiCo’s Belgian distributor Amptec replicated the live sound set up with an SD7 and SD10 for the newly instated backstage prep area, where engineers were able to check their sessions, or make new sessions if needed.

Two SD7 and a brand new SD5 DiGiCo protected by the weather conditions thanks to a big shelter.

An engineer from Amptec and another from PRG were present in the backstage prep area, making sure the right sessions went on to the right desk. As an added level of comfort, DiGiCo sent support from its UK office in the form of Product Specialist Dave Bigg. “We know the consoles really well,” Patrick continues, “but having Dave there gave an extra level of service to the bands and they really appreciated it. They knew that nothing could go wrong because there was someone from the DiGiCo there.”

The backstage prep area isn’t an entirely new concept; DiGiCo has been running the same facility at the Montreux Jazz Festival since it became one of the Festival’s sponsors in 2009. “ This was where I got the idea from, ” says Patrick. “ It’s all about confidence for the engineers. If they’re feeling relaxed, then there’s no problem. ”

Lenny Kravitz’s show, an artist using since a long time the brand and specifically the SD7. He certainly did appreciate Demoustier’s move !

With a proportion of bands carrying control systems with them on the festival circuit, uptake for the house consoles was consistent with expectations.
“ On the main stage we had an average of two out of eight bands a day using the house consoles, ” says Patrick.

“ On the Marquee and the Club C stages that increased to around 50 percent. Everyone really liked the DiGiCos. I was actually quite surprised when we sent out the specs of the festival;

I expected a lot more people to come back and say ‘ we can’t use DiGiCo because we only have a session for a different console, ’ but most were happy to work with DiGiCo straight away.

“ It all went really smoothly and everyone was very happy. My impression was that it was even better than when we used to use analogue desks. With an analogue desk, you have to start your setup from scratch, but with the new prep room names, IO settings high pass filters, basic EQ settings and FX presets, were dialled in and some compression was already set on the right channels, so the start point was at a higher level than ever before. ”

In fact, Patrick and his team felt the DiGiCo experience was such a success that they are going to take it to Belgium’s Pukkelpop festival in August. “ Pukkelpop has more stages than Rock Werchter, ” says Patrick. “ We’re doing around five out of the eight stages there and we’re trying to do as much as we can with DiGiCo because we really liked the experiment.
“ I don’t know of many festivals that do things this way. I think it’s a major step forward for us and for DiGiCo. ”

More informations on : www.digico.biz

Mario Biondi is one of the few Italian artists who can claim some sort of esteem and saleability outside Italy, perhaps on account of the characteristics of his kind of music, or perhaps because he sings in English.
Before taking on a huge number of concerts in major European and Asian capitals, he embarked on a tour of theatres in Italy to mark the release of his latest work BEYOND. This album also features foreign artists and producers.

Photo Michela Drago

Jo Campana, the Lighting Designer who has worked with Biondi for several years, briefly described how the tour lighting design came about: “ After a discussion with Mario and after listening to his new album, I tried to steer my work so that it diverged from the Mario’s past and supported his intention to seek out and discover new musical horizons. ”
“ My idea was to create an elegant stage concept, with just a touch of innovation, that would be able to convey a sense of freshness and modernity. The most characteristic elements were the two wide LED curtains which spread out from the backdrop over the stage right up to the proscenium under four transparent accessible Plexiglas platforms.

Photo Michela Drago

A third beam appeared at the back in the middle later on in the show, when a moving section of the backdrop revealed 36 array-configured moving LED spotlights. The chance to work in traditional theatres allowed me to put together a pretty standardized lighting design with three levels of battens and a fair number of footlights, which I particularly like. ”

Photo Michela Drago

“ The tour logistics and economic sustainability affected my choice of kind and number of lights. The best solution was to use Clay Paky Sharpy Wash units and Alpha Spot HPE 700s. I have used both of these lights before and I knew they would guarantee the results. Besides their well known reliability, I needed balanced, compact units with low power consumption, which were able to shoot when I needed it.

The Sharpy Wash units, in particular, were very practical thanks to their versatility, excellent zoom and characteristic punchiness. “ In short, I think the two Clay Paky lights were a great choice for this type of venue. They left me fully satisfied. The summer tour is now going ahead effortlessly: I find all the material on site and only take the console with me. However the second part in theatres and auditoriums in Italy will start in October with the whole production in tow. ”

Photo Michela Drago

Jo Campana is very busy this summer following five tours and other events. He is already hard at work planning and designing the lighting for Campovolo, the mega-concert Ligabue will hold on 19 September in Reggio Emilia, Italy.
He has told us in advance he will be using a lot of lights made by the Seriate-based firm.

More infomation : www.claypaky.it

Arguably one of the greatest rock bands of all time – with their instantly recognisable hard driving guitar power chords, screeching acerbic lyrics about life on the edge and renowned for some of the most awesome hi-energy live performances in the history of the genre … rock gods AC/DC are once again taking the world by storm with their Rock or Bust stadium tour.

Another amazing raw, industrial production design by Ray Winkler of Stufish is complimented by an equally inspired and dramatic rock lightshow created by Patrick Woodroffe of Woodroffe Bassett Design (WBD) … with a little help from 39 x Robe BMFLs.

photos : © Ralph Larmann

The BMFL Spots are in three key locations on the stage.

The first batch of fixtures are rigged on an upstage arch of trussing – the arch and ten trussing ‘fingers’ are an integral set element – where they are equally spaced apart and utilised for massive beams and powerful breakup / gobo looks. They were chosen for their brightness and reliability.

The next position is far upstage on the floor behind the ‘ chicken run ’ which is an up-and-over riser on which the band whizz about. These BMFLs are the primary fixtures in the reveal of the famous AC/DC cannons that emerge ominously at the start of “ For Those about to Rock (We Salute You) ”.
The same fixtures are also used to up-light the huge inflatable Rosie character which bursts into life and takes over the stage for the AC/DC anthem “Whole Lotta Rosie” … Rosie has been a feature of the band’s live performances since 1990 … and the song intro also spawned the famous “ AN-gus ” chant from fans, that since 1978 has become absolute tradition at their raucous live shows!

photos : © Ralph Larmann

The next BMFL position is above the left and right delay side screens. Six units a side blast out across the audience, reaching up into the air for those mega looks that shoot the energy and the excitement coming off stage right into the atmosphere and to the back of the venue.
They are also perfectly positioned to highlight Angus as he rises up above the crowds on a big circular satellite dish hydraulic lift at the end of the thrust … complete with full-on guitar mayhem!

photos : © Ralph Larmann

Terry Cook, Patrick’s lighting Associate Designer for the project explained that he and Patrick chose BMFLs because they wanted ‘ impact fixtures ’ with “ Enough fire power ” to stand up against the rest of the rig and the FOH 4000w follow spots … but a luminaire that was also lightweight and user-friendly. WBD has used BMFLs on a few other shows this year including Rock in Rio, Las Vegas.

‘ Rock or Bust ’ kicked off in Europe in April following 10 days of full technical production rehearsals at the GelreDome in Arnhem, the Netherlands, and the tour will rock to its hell-and-hair raising conclusion in Australia and New Zealand in December.

photos : © Ralph Larmann

 Team :

• Upstaging’s account handler for the tour : John Huddleston
• Lighting Programmers : Dave Hill et Pryderi Baskerville
• Lighting director : Charlie ‘Cosmo’ Wilson

More info : www.robe.cz

Soundlightup BMFL test : http://www.soundlightup.com/news/robe-bmfl-a-blank-czech-for-the-future-of-robe.html?lang=en

Organised by the European Olympic Committee, the first ever European Games was held in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku this June.
The event’s spectacular opening and closing ceremonies captured the rich culture of the host county, with additional performances from international acts such as Clean Bandit and John Newman, whose set rounded off the closing ceremony.
An L-Acoustics K2 system was chosen as the PA for both events.

Baku stadium from the FOH position. © Scott Willsallen

Scott Willsallen, no stranger to audio systems for sporting spectaculars having been involved in several Olympic events and Commonwealth Games, designed both the live and broadcast audio systems for Baku’s brand new, 68,000-capacity Olympic Stadium, where the ceremonies took place.

12 stacks of seven K2 each covering the stadium’s east and west sides, with three L-Acoustics SB28 subs on each side. © Scott Willsallen

Equipment was supplied by Italian rental company Agora, with Scott designing a system similar to the one he designed for the Sochi Winter Olympics, primarily comprising L-Acoustics K2 variable curvature line source cabinets.

A notable difference from Sochi, however, was that most of the system had to be ground-stacked due to roof structure limitations, with Scott fully exploiting the ground-stacking possibility offered by the K2-CHARIOT, K2-JACK combination.

“ L-Acoustics K2 is my preferred system for this kind of project because it allows for consistent horizontal pattern control, which is really important,” says Scott. “It’s the most consistent system I know of and the form factor of the cabinets also really suits this kind of arrangement. ”

24 ground stacks of K2 distributed around an oval layout, were arranged in an alternating left / right configuration. © Scott Willsallen

The main system comprised 24 ground stacks of K2 distributed around an oval layout, arranged in an alternating left / right configuration, which allowed for ‘a bit of space’ in the mix.

Twelve stacks of seven K2 each covered the stadium’s east and west sides and 12 more of six K2 each covered the north and south ends, where there was slightly less vertical coverage requirement.

Each stack had three L-Acoustics SB28 subs on each side, while delays of K2 and K1-SB covered the upper tier on the east and west sides. 8XTs and 12XTs were used for localised fills, with the entire system driven by a total of 210 LA8 amplifiers.
Monitoring for the cast was principally in-ear, with the addition of L-Acoustics 12XTs and 115HiQs for coverage of the mass movement areas.

K2 and K1-SB delays covering the upper tier on the east and west sides in Baku stadium. © Scott Willsallen

“ Generally, we have to sit the PA between the front row of the audience and the edge of the performance area, so there isn’t much opportunity to hang anything. This means there’s always a restriction on how tall the loudspeaker stacks can be.

In Baku, we needed to cover up to 63m from the PA to the back row of the audience seating. It’s a long distance for a ground stack, but the stages were around three metres tall, which gave three metres of height, rather than the usual 1.3m. ”

One of the main requirements for the audio was that both the stadium and broadcast audiences enjoyed a high quality soundtrack to the ceremonies, whilst creating atmosphere for the broadcast.
“ These events are primarily about the television pictures, ” says Scott. “ But, as they take place in the round, the audience is in the background of most camera shots. The more engaged and enthusiastic they are, the more interesting it is for the viewers at home, so we need to make sure that the audience looks at the right place at the right time.

For example, during the opening ceremony one of the cultural segments began with a soloist on a stage at the Southern end of the performance area. To support the intimacy of this scene, and to immediately indicate the location of the soloist for the live audience, we added a 12-element KARA ground stack either side of the stage.
The solo section ended with a long, reverberant tail that the main orchestration played over. We placed the orchestration in the main system, and the transition of the sound and the action from the soloist to the mass cast on the main stage was a strong theatrical moment.

Baku stadium from the FOH position. © Scott Willsallen

“ The stadium system performed superbly and exactly as our Soundvision modelling process predicted. With the ground stacked arrays being the primary sound source for so much of the audience, the benefits of localising the sound to the action were clearly evident. ”

• Team
  • Contractor – Agora
  • Design – Auditoria Pty Ltd, Australia

• Auditoria team
  • Scott Willsallen
  • Audio technical manager – Justin Arthur (senior patch engineer for the job)
  • FOH – Richard Sharratt
  • Replay – Steve Logan and Lewis Miranda
  • Broadcast – Andy Rose and Griff Hewis
  • RF technician – Andrea Tesini, Agora

About L-Acoustics
Founded in 1984 near Paris, France, L-Acoustics is a leading manufacturer of turnkey solutions for the professional sound industry. With 250 team members, 20 percent of whom are dedicated to R&D, L-Acoustics is present in over 75 countries either through subsidiaries or via a network of certified distributors or providers.
Recognized throughout the industry for pioneering the modern line array, L-Acoustics offers a total system approach for both the touring and fixed installation markets, and a product line responding to the needs of venues from the most intimate club to the grandest arena. L-Acoustics sound systems can be heard in places like the Hollywood Bowl, the NBA Houston Rockets Toyota Center, or the Philharmonie de Paris. L-Acoustics solutions have been used at five of the world’s ten top-grossing festivals, the London and Sochi Olympics, and on the Justin Timberlake 20/20 Experience World Tour, among others.

More informations : www.l-acoustics.com

Thomas Gerdon, lighting designer for one of Germany’s most popular television shows, Verstehen sie Spass, used a substantial rig of Ayrton lighting fixtures to light the live broadcast from Munich’s Bavaria Studios no 9 in April.
Verstehen sie Spass, a ‘hidden camera’ television series of two live and two recorded shows, features three musical acts within its format. The line up for this particular evening included vintage German rockers, The Scorpions, Germany’s 2015 Eurovision representative, Ann Sophie, and baritone crooner, Marc Marshall.

Gerdon chose 24 Ayrton IntelliPix™-R panels, 24 Ayrton MagicPanel™-R fixtures, 16 Ayrton NandoBeam™-S3 moving heads and 6 giant Ayrton MagicRing™-R9 units to light the performances which were watched by some five million viewers.

Scorpions. © [email protected]

For The Scorpions set, Gerdon mounted the MagicPanel-R fixtures on truss towers behind the band to form a 4-panel high by 6-panel wide matrix. These he used for both effect and scenic lighting, and also as a video surface, pixel-mapping and bitmapping the matrix to run video content across it. Gerdon also used MagicPanel-R’s pan and tilt functions to animate the backdrop, adding movement for a further dimension of interest.

A riser composed of 24 Ayrton IntelliPix-R floorpanels was constructed for the lead singer to light him from below, while the MagicPanel-R matrix provided dramatic backlighting, focussing him in a pool of back- and floor-light both at the opening of the set and during the intro and outro of the songs. The IntelliPix-R floor was controlled as an extension of the pixel screen created by the MagicPanel-R units, mapped in one universal output.
Six Ayrton NandoBeam-S3 units were embedded in the downstage edge of the riser where Gerdon used them for effect lighting through the low-lying fog onstage and into the audience. Twenty-four more NandoBeam-S3 moving heads were floor-mounted in a moveable semi-circle upstage of the band for floor level lighting.

Six of Ayrton’s giant MagicRing-R9 fixtures were positioned on the front edge of the show stage and used to project big powerful beams of immense diameter, shooting flare effects into the steady cam and crane cam, and providing deep moody effects during the band’s slower, dark numbers.
“ I didn’t include the MagicRings in the pixel mapping but I did use most of their on-board macros,” says Gerdon. “The on-board effects are of a great quality so I use a lot of them by default. ”

Ann Sophie. © [email protected]

For Ann Sophie’s set, Gerdon chose to avoid theatrical or scenic lighting took a more minimalist approach. The NandoBeam-S3 units were moved to positions on the left and right hand edges of the showfloor, 12 per side, and used partly for side-lighting and floor lighting effects, but mainly for mid-air beam effects.

Ann Sophie. © [email protected]

Five custom-built halogen lighting fixtures were backed by the six MagicRing-R9 units which provided a strong blue backlight in support of the golden circles of halogen: “The contrast looked great behind the singer in the close up camera shots,” says Gerdon.

Finally, Marc Marshall’s ’50s-style swing set called for a complete change in atmosphere: Gerdon created a backdrop by using the MagicPanel wall as one big matrix which delivered a swirling, twinkling effect in a warm white hue between two video walls inset with conventional bulbs. The same video content was streamed across all the fixtures.

“ Pixel mapping uses a lot of channels but the Ayrton software and channel set are very user-friendly which makes it easy to handle this quantity, ” says Gerdon. “ The separation is very nice on the MagicPanel, MagicRing and IntelliPix fixtures which makes the switch from video server to pixel mapping very quick. This makes our setup time very fast so I have more time to spend on the important creative work. ”
To ‘close’ the picture Gerdon used MagicRing-R9 units positioned at the front of the stage and Nandobeam-S3 fixtures at floor level providing good covering for the cameras.

Marc Marshall. © [email protected]

“ In my view the Ayrton fixtures are astonishingly high quality,’ concludes Gerdon. “ They are smooth in both slow and fast moves and have outstanding colour mixing – which is often not the case for LED sources – and this is especially important for television lighting. ”
The Technical Contractor for Verstehen Sie Spass was Cologne-based company, Cape Cross, with equipment provided by Motion Group from Fürth.

Ayrton is exclusively distributed by VisionStage in Germany and Austria and Gerdon comments: “ Michael Althaus and his team at VisionStage have been as supportive and ever-present as always. They know the market, the designers’ needs and are very project-orientated. They always get the job done. I like that! ”

More information : www.ayrton.eu

In a unique approach to indoor arena lighting, Finland’s Hartwall Arena features an innovative LED video system integrated with its ice hockey rink. The arena, which is home to the Jokerit of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and Finland’s National Men’s Hockey Team, was recently modernized to enhance the fan experience with significant upgrades to its lighting, video displays and digital signage.

As part of the arena’s modernization ice hockey rink equipment designer, manufacturer and supplier, ICEPRO OY, created a concept to integrate lighting within the stanchions supporting the rink’s glass safety dividers. To realize their vision ICEPRO OY worked with Finnish A/V Integration firm, Studiotec, to develop a lighting design that included more than 940 of HARMAN’s Martin Professional VC-Strip LED video fixtures.
The system is built into the stanchions between the glass dividers of the rink as an extension of the arena’s banner and 360-display screens and can run the same content as all the other displays. To accomplish this, Studiotec needed to overcome several challenges that included space and resolution limitations. In addition, the project, which began in March 2014 had to be completed in time for the opening game of the KHL season on September 4, 2014.

“ The stanchions provided only 27×27 millimeters of space, which is quite a small area to install a video façade,” said Tapio Järvinen, Product Manager, Studiotec. Järvinen has worked with Martin since joining Studiotec in 2011.
“ We needed a solution that was able to fit within the space while also providing enough resolution to run the same content as the other displays throughout the arena. Martin’s VC-Strip was the natural choice, not only from a logistical standpoint but also because their support is incredible. You know you can rely on the Martin team to work with you whenever you need support. ”

Integrated in all 118 stanchions around the rink, Järvinen’s design consisted of 944 (eight per stanchion) VC-Strip fixtures with 25 mm pixel pitch totaling more than 14,000 pixels. Each stanchion features a two-sided installation with four VC-Strips facing the arena’s seating and another four fixtures facing the ice.

To control the design, Järvinen relied on Martin’s P3 System Controller and P3 PowerPort 1500 due to the high-quality image processing capabilities and extremely easy setup/configuration. According to Järvinen, if they had used DMX-signal to control the system, they would have needed 83 separate DMX universes. With the Martin P3 System Controller, there are about 40 lines from the PowerPort to the rink, with one cable for every three stanchions.

“ The Martin P3 System Controller is quite unique in its simplicity to install and configure,” said Järvinen. “It would have been an extremely complicated system had we used other options. From the processing to the power/data distribution to the video  façade, Martin’s P3 systems are easy to configure and fast to install. ”

Martin Controleur P3-100

Martin P3 Powerport 1500

Overall, Järvinen considers Martin his top choice. “ We’ve been a distributor of Martin equipment for about four years and the level of support we’ve received on our projects has been outstanding, ” he said. “ I would choose Martin over any other solution out there. ”

Martin Equipment: VC-Strip, 944 pcs _ P3 PowerPort 1500, 10 pcs. _ P3-100 System Controller, 1 pcs

More informations on :
Studiotec, please visit : www.studiotec.fi
ICEPRO OY, please visit : www.icepro.fi
Martin architectural lighting solutions, please visit : www.martin.com