Lighting Designer Jordon Cooper armed himself with an Avolites Tiger Touch II with Fader Wing to control a series of dynamic UK homecoming gigs for alt-rock band Mallory Knox following their US tour. “The band had been in the US for most of 2015 and wanted to create a big impact on their return,” said Cooper. “The Tiger Touch II, loaded with V9, is my first choice for this type of show. I designed the tour featuring a lot of multi-cell fixtures, LED tape and effects such as smoke machines and strobes, so I used the Pixel Mapper and Key Frame…
Author: Stewart Hume
Award-winning Swedish progressive metal band Opeth celebrated their 25th anniversary during the autumn of 2015 with a European tour, complete with a stunning lighting design by Mick Thornton, who has worked with the band since 2005. Thornton, a respected and well-established UK-based LD who works with a number of high profile international artists, specified Robe moving lights after an excellent experience using Robe on shows for the Moody Blues earlier in the summer. For the Opeth tour, lighting was supplied by Leeds-based lighting rental company, Zig Zag Lighting. The fixture list included 10 Robe 600E Spots, 10 LEDWash 600’s, 18…
The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) showcased the talents of students in the lighting department at the dazzling 14th annual Photonapalooza. A.C.T Lighting, a long-time supporter of the event, provided a complement of Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500, Mythos, A.leda B-EYE K10 and Sharpy fixtures plus a pair of MA Lighting grandMA2 full-size consoles to the show. A.C.T is the exclusive distributor of both brands in North America. Salem-based UNCSA comprises five schools, all of which participated in an annual two-week Intensive Arts programme featuring special performances and professional seminars and mentoring programmes. The lighting…
It has been another glorious panto season for HSL, supplying lighting for over 30 productions all across the UK predominately for premier panto producer, Qdos during the 2015 / 16 festive period, plus rigging and a Kinesys automation system for the largest show, Peter Pan at the 3000-seater Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow. 19 trucks packed with kit left HSL’s HQ in Blackburn, Lancashire – with Swansea and Cardiff sharing transport – loaded up with a combination of moving lights, LED fixtures, strobes, follow spots and generic luminaires, together with cabling, power distribution, control and effects and atmosphere generators. Equipment flew…
Legendary guitarist and the final member to join Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, supported his most recent album, Rattle That Lock, with extensive live shows mixed by his long time FOH engineer, Colin Norfield. In late September 2015, on the eve of the album’s launch, TPi’s Kelly Murray visited the tour’s most majestic venue – the Orange Theatre Antique in France – to hear the DiGiCo and L-Acoustics ensemble provided by Britannia Row Productions, the PA company that was birthed from Pink Floyd’s first tour. Sat in the autumn sunshine, sipping an espresso and marvelling at the hoards of fans that flood…
After a busy year of touring, Steven Wilson concluded his 2015 live dates with two nights at the Royal Albert Hall. Once again Hawthorn supplied lighting and video to bring the prog star’s music to life. Steven Wilson has had a very successful year. Since the release of his fourth solo studio album, Hand. Cannot. Erase., the British musician has toured the world, treating fans to a fully immersive musical experience including tailor-made video content that was played throughout every single show. The set on the first night of the Royal Albert Hall show was almost identical to the rest of…
S+H Technical’s lights were used for The Abba Christmas Party, a TV special produced by Thames, part of FreemantleMedia UK, at the London Studios on the South Bank. The show was broadcast on Christmas Eve’s ITV 1 prime time. S+H Technical supplied 360 metres of its ShowLED animation cloth, 20 metres of one and two metre Pea-light strings and 2000 4-channel DMX controlled Pea-lights to decorate three Christmas trees. Production Designer Joshua Grace created the Abba Lodge, a super Christmassy Scandinavian inspired environment – in a nod to Abba’s Swedish roots – and Festive Cabin for presenter Paddy McGuinness, who was…
Having been a key point of contact during the development of Allen & Heath’s new digital mixing desk, FOH engineer Oscar Söderlund was the ideal candidate to shed some light on how the dLive has fared on its first UK tour. TPi’s Ste Durham headed down to Ane Brun’s Manchester date to speak with the man himself. Three days before Norwegian songstress Ane Brun was due on stage in Manchester, her FOH and Monitor Engineer Oscar Söderlund was lying in a hospital bed, quite understandably feeling the effects of a disagreement between his enduro bike and a tree. Nevertheless, true to…
Renowned producer and composer, Nitin Sawhney, used KLANG:technologies’ 3D IEM system on his most recent tour. The product aims to give the artist a more organic onstage sound as well as allowing full control of their mix. TPi’s Stew Hume went along to the last date of the tour to get the opinions of the crew and musicians. For some artists, there is a hesitation to make the leap from wedge monitors to IEM systems due to fears such as unnatural sound or being disorientated by a traditional stereo mix. German company KLANG:technologies has developed a solution with its KLANG:fabrik…
Robe got into the tradition of English pantomime during the 2015 festive season, as over 50 fixtures – including the latest DL series luminaires – were specified by Lighting Designer Andy Webb for a lively and colourful production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, produced by UK Productions at Blackpool Grand Theatre. Webb stated that he immediately thought of Robe again after pioneering the large scale use of LED moving and static lighting luminaires in commercial panto for the 2014 production of Dick Whittington at High Wycombe, when he was approached to light another popular fairy-tale story laced with slapstick…
Powersoft has released an update for the latest version of its Armonía Pro Audio Suite that includes a new speaker preset v2 (spk2) file format. This file can be copied directly onto X Series amplifiers with a USB stick, to be recalled later on desired channels via the WebApp interface. X Series and Ottocanali DSP+D amplifiers are now able to act as totally configurable Dante sources, with the option to stream out eight processed or unprocessed signals. Standalone analogue to Dante converters are therefore no longer necessary in complex installations, and direct monitoring of the DSP processing can be easily achieved in third party measurement software…
Panasonic Corporation has signed an agreement to become an Official Ceremony Partner with the Rio 2016 Olympic Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and provide turnkey visual operations for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games Ceremonies. Panasonic will provide more than 100 high brightness compact 20,000 lumen projectors (PT-DZ21K2), multiple Broadcast Grade 2-M/E Live Switchers (AV-HS6000 Series), and other visual equipment. Panasonic, the Official Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Audio and Visual Equipment category, will help to enhance the quality and excitement of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies by delivering impressive images to the audiences around the…
ATK Audiotek, a leading live sound provider for large-audience TV events, recently upgraded its PA portfolio with 96 new VTX V20 line array elements from JBL by Harman. The purchase came after a two-year evaluation process, during which ATK provided input to JBL’s product development team after testing several iterations of the V20. The result was a versatile dual 10-inch line array loudspeaker that has since been successfully deployed at dozens of prominent and prestigious events. Mikael Stewart, ATK’s Vice President of Special Events, was instrumental in the collaboration process. “ATK has always had a great relationship with JBL, beginning with…
For the second straight year, the 2015 Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) Orlando featured a Meyer Sound LEO Family loudspeaker system on its main stage. One of the most important electronic dance music (EDM) events on the East Coast, EDC Orlando showcased some of the biggest names in EDM including Tiësto, Calvin Harris, Kaskade, and Eric Prydz. The artists played to a sold-out audience of 60,000 over two days at Tinker Field. “My first reaction to LEO is that I was working in front of a system unlike any other,” said Fabrizio Piazzini, FOH engineer for international EDM superstar Calvin Harris. “It…
Crossfaith proudly uses a variety of Audio-Technica microphones, including the ATM250 hypercardioid dynamic instrument microphone, the AT4021 cardioid condenser and the AT4047 large-diaphragm condenser among others. Recently the band also started using the Audio-Technica System 10 Digital Wireless System for guitar and bass. Kazuki Takemura, Crossfaith’s guitarist noted: “Our stage performance means everything to us. We’re all about moving all over and going crazy. So that’s why we decided to use a wireless system.” Hiroki Ikegawa Crossfaith’s bassist added: “I think a wireless system helps you express yourself on stage.” However, the band’s adoption of the System 10 stompbox configuration…
Media Interactive Agency, under the artistic direction of Cynthia Chbat Mounir, contacted GDL to turn the presentation of the new model from car manufacturer, Infiniti, into a show. Under the Art Director’s supervision, Production Director Mirco Resta and Lighting Designer Emiliano Morgia sought the best possible venue to present the car. They looked for a place that would meet the customer’s specifications regarding logistics, and stage and lighting equipment, and found an ideal venue at Studio City. They chose a completely soundproofed, 50ft high-room, which perfectly met the customer’s special request: to put together impressive scenery, lights and video projections.…
Arena Seating installed 7,586 tiered temporary seats at Olympia. 5,191 were public tip-up seats and the remaining 2,405 were upholstered VIP seats. Within the venue, Arena Seating also installed press and competitor interview platforms for the world’s sports journalists for the week, follow spot platforms facilitating illuminations throughout equine performances, judge platforms and hospitality platform supports. Indoor arena entrance doors, jump stores, presentation areas, video screen supports, a bridged logo platform and ménage surface retaining walls were also supplied by Arena. Arena Seating Project Manager Martin Clark commented: “It’s always a challenge to meet the demanding schedule, whilst allowing the other…
South African R’n’B singer Cassper Nyvost’s #FillUpTheDome concert on 31 October 2015 featured over 130 Robe lighting fixtures and played to a sold-out audience of 20,000 in the Ticketpro Dome in Johannesburg. Nyovest himself approached Cape Town-based design agency Formative to provide creative direction and technical production, including video content design, for the show. The pressure was on to do something awesome production-wise, and Formative Creative Director Grant Orchard, whose lighting was a co-design with Technical Project Manager Thomas Peters, led the realisation. Orchard, Peters and Formative first met Nyovest during the 2015 MTV Africa Awards where they were producing…
