Tellson James use a Hog 4 lighting console from High End to drive lighting fixtures of the Mark Knopfler’s “Down The Road Wherever Tour 2019.” The ten band members collectively play 49 instruments (guitars and whistles, to saxophones and fiddles) thereby suggesting lots of “sound textures” to light.
James is Knopfler’s tour lighting director for the second time. Mark Henderson, Lighting Designer, drew the lighting plots for the 2015 and 2019 tours, while James programmed both. “I’m doing lots of pixel mapping in this show,” James says, “and the Hog 4 is it is so easy to do on a Hog.”
The 2019 tour began in April, and is more scaled down for the North American leg, which started Aug. 16. “When working club/theatre tours, where you get different fixtures every day, the Change Type cloning feature (for swapping fixtures) is a lifesaver , and it works very well!
I also use Time Code a lot in other shows, especially when triggering video for lip sync. It’s very easy to use with the ‘Learn Time’ feature, whereby you can run cues manually while recording the time code value when you execute the cue. Then it’s possible to quickly modify values manually.” Still elaborating on his favorite features, the lighting director adds, “I also love being able to create color chases from the Effects Engine – a fast and easy way to accomplish color chases.”
Tellson James
James says, “My friend Vince Foster introduced me on how to use Hog 2, and I had a lot of time to experiment with it (before taking it out on tour) during auto shows, trade shows, conferences, when the console would be there,” he says. “And now, I just know it. The ability, in the Hog 4, to grab a fixture and change a parameter without it being overridden by the current state of the desk output was very useful.”
James has also a Full Boar 4 as backup along with four external DMX 8000 Processors – three active, one spare. Under HogNet, Each processor manages eight DMX universes. “We are running 22 Universes. I leave the internal DP of the desk free for patching ‘house’ and ‘festival’ fixtures.” Hawthorn was the supplier for the U.K. and European dates, and Christie Lites is providing the U.S. tour.
More on the High End Systems website
Text: High End – photos: Debi Moen
