The MOBO Awards arrived at Manchester’s Co-op Live for its biggest ceremony yet – with Olivia Dean, FLO, Slick Rick, and even a Grime tribute among a catalogue of notable performances. Behind the scenes, a production design by DMX Productions shaped the look and feel of the show, while longstanding supplier SWG Events provided a comprehensive audio package.
Production Manager, Rob Smalldon of Marvellous Inc, whose role began on the MOBOs in 2006, oversaw production elements, from red carpet and brand activations to the elaborate stage setup, which had to be suitable for both streaming viewers and those in the audience at the venue.
“It’s such a multifaceted job; there are multiple elements to it that aren’t just putting an awards show on to an audience,” Smalldon said. “Being a part of it for so long means that we know how to approach the different things that come along with the MOBOs. This year’s edition was in the biggest venue it has ever been in, which meant that we could work with TV Production company CC-Lab to put in an elaborate camera setup for broadcast without compromising on attendees’ view.”
Smalldon brought on SWG Events and DMX Productions after working with both companies throughout his time in the industry. “This job is so complex, you can’t throw it at anyone,” Smalldon explained. “You have to choose people who are extremely detailed and genuinely care about achieving excellence,” We brought on SWG Events who did a great job, while SJ Grevett of DMX Productions is the driver of the technical design of the awards. The diversity of expertise and collaboration across all the teams is a real testament to everyone behind the event,” Smalldon added.
The SWG Events team on the project featured Audio Crew Chief, Simon Purse; Systems Engineer and Presenter FOH, Ryan Bass; Artist FOH, Matt Pope; Monitor Engineer, Sam Jones; RF Technicians, Phil Hughes and Callum Jones; Stage and Broadcast Patch, Fraser Wilks and Laura Evans; Playback Engineer, Ian Williams; and Head of Projects and Rental, Joe Bailey.
The audio supplier deployed 32 Martin Audio Wavefront Precision WPL cabinets for the left and right hangs, with 24 for the outer hangs, 18 SXH218 subwoofers, eight X8 and six X12 for lip fills, all driven by iKon amplifiers.
“It’s the biggest one we’ve done in a while. You can see that the artists are trying to push what they can achieve in the space by the scale of performances,” Purse commented. “This gig is fast and high pressure, so we’ve brought in a team we can really rely on, which is important.”
Given SWG Events’ longstanding relationship with Martin Audio, Purse said it was the obvious choice for this event: “It’s our flagship system that we use throughout the summer on various events, and it is working really well in here, too. It is my PA of choice,” Purse added.
Bass agreed: “It just works in this setting. What you can do with the box and its optimisation is great; it rigs nicely and sounds good – what more could you want?” he said, going onto to tell TPi how the team had to position the PA wider than usual, to account for the set. “We also have the thrust to contend with, which has meant our subwoofers are under the stage.”
A DiGiCo SD12 with SD Rack and Outline Newton rack was deployed at both FOH and monitors. “Presenters can pop up anywhere in the venue at any moment, and they could be stood next to a front fill, so it’s been a process of getting the right timelines to avoid any feedback,” Bass explained. “It’s been a challenge but also interesting from my perspective; seeing it come together is rewarding.”
RF coordination was large undertaking for the show, looked after by Hughes and Jones. “We’re operating at around 70 coordinated channels with 120 overall, including dancer and artist packs,” Hughes said, explaining how working on the MOBO Awards for the past three years has helped streamline his process. “An awards ceremony is unique because we’re constantly looking after something, whether that be a performer or a presenter, you don’t get the downtime that you would on a festival.”
Hughes deploys the artist and presenter mics, which are a mix of both Shure and Sennheiser, and utilises a Shure Axient Digital PSM microphone system and a Sennheiser SR 2050. “Our system has been rock-solid; there are lots of options for us to choose between the two manufacturers. It has been important for us to dive into both applications and they have both been great for artist mixes,” Hughes said. “This has been the busiest MOBOs so far in terms of RF.”
Playback Engineer, Ian Williams, deployed a dual redundant Qlab playback system. “We’re doing a bit of bussing to get everyone’s tracks together, so that when we’re bringing in remote playback rigs and handling timecode, it all happens in one place,” he explained, running through his system. “We have to be agile and make sure our comms are right so that it all works when it’s supposed to.”
With multiple artists coming in for one show, Williams described the environment as “dynamic”, and to help him adhere to tight timeframes, he plans in advance so that he can adapt if any changes need to happen during the awards load-in and rehearsals. “It’s been nice to be a part of the show; we get to see some of the acts do performances in a way you usually wouldn’t see. The team behind this are great and doing it on this scale has been really good.”
SJ Grevett took on the challenge of production design for the MOBO Awards, and enlisted Jack Pettit as designer and programmer. “As we do more and more MOBOs with DMX Productions, Jack has been taking on more and more control. He looks after all creative programming and helps make this all happen,” Grevett said.
The creative this time around, Pettit told TPi, began a couple of months before the event, with all of the lighting, video and special effect elements coming directly from DMX Productions. “We really focussed on delivering something big, bold and immersive, we also love to have big IMAG screens on shows like this so we’re utilising ESDLumen Dazzle panels for that and Fabulux Galaxy for the upstage,” Pettit explained.
Pettit and the DMX Productions team utilised the Robe iFORTE LTX for front light, which he said “looks great on camera” to formulate a creative that works for both broadcast and a live audience, similarly with the CHAUVET Professional STRIKE Bolt all around the outside of the arena. We get some lovely pops of colour when they pop into the shots of the room; they do a good job,” Pettit said. The CHAUVET Professional Storm 4s and Aryton Rivale are the main work horses of the show and are part of a 420 strong fixtures list. All control is done via MA Lighting grandMA3 desks with a Luminex network of GigaCore30i, GigaCore20T and Gigacore10 network switches providing the backbone.
The DMX Productions team featured Grevett, Pettit, as well as Mat Butler, Oliver Player, Tom Bithell, Kajusz Dykiel, Ben Avery, Alex Chun, Finnlay Mcdermott, Jonathan Grilli, Bradley Rumball, Alexander Muller, Jack Gillham, Josh Lamb, Reece Larner, Tyler Smith and Liam Mace.
With winners that included Jim Legxacy, Nova Twins, and RAYE, the MOBO Awards stand as a consistent celebration of excellence in music and culture of Black origin. “MOBO is an organisation that is going from strength to strength, and the awards is a great celebration of what the organisation does year-round,” concluded Smalldon. “The way that the awards and the organisation has grown over time has been amazing; I am proud to be a part of it.”
Words: Alicia Pollitt
Photos: TPi
