NILE RODGERS & CHIC

PRODUCTION PROFILE

NILE RODGERS & CHIC

Sporting an elegant production design, disco icons Nile Rodgers & Chic thrilled crowds in December on their first-ever UK arena tour. Mark Cunningham reports from The O2, London.

NILE RODGERS & CHIC

In the late 1970s, when disco music was outselling every other genre, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards were among the few musicians to transform it into an art form with Chic, a collective responsible for a sizeable portion of my teenage soundtrack. From Dance, Dance, Dance to Good Times and My Forbidden Lover and beyond, the hits kept coming, forming the backdrop to many a cider-fuelled adventure at the local boogie pit.

Since the passing of Bernard in 1996, Nile has been slowly rebuilding the Chic brand. And after the release of It’s About Time, Chic’s first all-new studio album in 26 years, Nile and his latest line-up, responded to popular demand in December with a sold-out UK arena tour.

With an ‘all killer, no filler’ set list drawn from both the band’s legacy and the catalogue of monster hits that Rodgers, now 66, has produced for the likes of David Bowie, Duran Duran, Madonna, Sister Sledge and, more recently, Daft Punk, Chic consistently delivered joy in abundance, keeping the crowds on their feet throughout.

Following a summer spent on the festival circuits of Europe and America, planning for the It’s About Time tour began in September when tour manager Nikki Cunningham, Visuals Director Ian Woodall and Nile’s Manager Merck Mercuriadis came together with newly-elected production maestro, Nick Gosling.

“My relationship with Nile and Chic started seven years ago when I was working for the Manchester backline company, Big Fish,” explained Gosling. “Over time, I became the person they’d call when they wanted any production. Things turned a corner when they asked me to production manage Chic’s New Year’s Eve 2017 show for the BBC, so I was thrilled to be invited to PM this new tour.”

In the show, Nile told his audience about how, in late 2010, he reevaluated his life and career upon being diagnosed with cancer. Said Gosling: “It made him explore new collaborations in the studio and play more live shows that would eventually lead to a new chapter for Chic and a steady increase in production values. Nile’s live presence with Chic began to build up from 2011 onwards. They’ve have been festival favourites with notable appearances at Glastonbury and Bestival, and it’s a natural progression to now play arenas like The O2.”

Having appreciated the lighting designed by Mike Smith of Bryte Design for the New Year show, both Gosling and Ian Woodall were keen to bring him into the fold as the PM made his initial crew appointments, including Stage Manager, Richard House; Production Assistant, Julie Cotton; Audio Technician, Ben Byford and Drum Technician, Wayne Chappell. The PM also credited David Lawrence of DNG Production & Event Crew as a key source of advice.

“I would trust these people with anything,” Gosling commented. “Another important member of our team is our tour rigger Jim Allison, who was sent to us by UK Rigging and has done a sterling job. I put the remainder of the production out to tender and was very pleased with the outcome. We settled on SSE to provide audio, Lite Alternative (lighting & rigging), ER Productions (special effects) and Transition (video). I also wanted to go back to using Fly By Nite, not least because Graham Butler is someone I rate very highly as a lead driver.”

The vendor list was completed by Beat The Street (buses), caterers The Pantry Maid and radio supplier Radiotek. Gosling said: “They suggested the Motorola DP4600, a departure from the GP340 that we previously used. The sound quality and reliability was greatly improved, and the radios were

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delivered pre-programmed which saved us time from day one.” Starting the tour without technical rehearsals was a challenge. With a reduced presentation, the band played seven mid-size shows in Europe before heading straight into five UK arenas with the full six-truck production. Gosling added: “The design had to be revised slightly to ensure we could load everything in and be ready by 3pm on the first show day at the SSE Hydro, as well as incorporating our two support acts, Cosha and Franc Moody, and DJ MistaJam.”

THE VISUAL VIBE Chic’s audiences are out to party and it is understandable that many designers would have leaned towards importing classic iconography from the ’70s disco era for this tour. Woodall, however, was careful to preserve the brand’s integrity above resorting to an overtly ‘cheesy’ or technical look. The result was more Studio 54 and (much) less ‘Saturday Night Fever’ – a styling referred to as ‘Chic Future Disco’.

Unsurprisingly, LD Mike Smith’s opening gambit was to consider a mirrorball, however, his proposal came with a mighty difference. He explained: “We needed an alternative take on it and so we designed a giant mirrorball shape out of lighting fixtures, which gives us a wide range of options during the show, creating numerous layers to help the performance build on itself. It appears to be rotating at times but that’s purely the effect of the lights chasing.”

The creation, dubbed the ‘Death Star’ by some crew, was made up of Claypaky Sharpys and Martin by Harman MAC Aura XBs, and the team struck a fine balance between custom fabrication and off the shelf elements. Smith said: “It’s built with a standard truss circle and custom frames made by Total Solutions. The whole thing is formed of four segments that have a spherical shape when flown together. All the lights are pre-rigged

horizontally on the floor; each segment is lifted on a single motor and a bar connects them. The finishing touch was to curve the trusses around the ball.”

Smith piloted the show from an MA Lighting grandMA2 full-size console, while an MA2 Lite was used as a tech desk for dimmers. The LD’s fixture choices otherwise majored in Martin’s MAC Viper range (Profile, Air Fx and Performance) as well as MAC Axiom hybrids, Thomas Molefay and a half mirrorball at stage left and right. “Rather than using conventional FOH followspots, we have a system comprising 4 Robe Robospots that are positioned on the front truss,” informed Smith, who worked with programmer Dominic Adams.

“There are a lot of spot pick-ups in the show and we needed something that was really tight, so we went for a system that allowed me to control everything apart from pan and tilt, which the guys do backstage. Nile wants to look out into the audience regularly and see them clearly, and if you have a low-level spot it just blinds him, spoiling his interaction.

With the design complete, a full 3D visualisation session with video and lighting was set up at Bryte’s studio in Birmingham, providing what Smith described as the nearest they got to a production rehearsal. “When we walked into the first gig in Glasgow, it was obvious how much that session paid off. It looked amazing.”

The crew from lighting rental company Lite Alternative were Alex Johnson, Mark Goodall, Kris Lundberg, Chris Taylor, Ben Rogerson, Phil Sharp and Scotty Owen.

C’EST VIDEO It was eight years ago that Ian Woodall first met Nile Rodgers. “He was in Ibiza and saw a show I was working on,” he recalled. “I had the impression he’d never seen video screens before in this context and we had a chat that

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System Technician, Adam Walker; FOH Engineer, Dave Shepherd SFX Technician, Joe Jackson; Lighting Designer, Mike Smith; Video Director, Rhodri Shaw.

led to me being hired for Chic. Our video production has been increasing, but this tour marks the first time we’ve been able to plan anything of this scale, and we were very into the idea of integrating tall video columns.”

And so it was to be that five 1.8m x 7.8m panels of Roe Visual CB5 5mm LED screen would tower behind the band, while 4.8m x 7.2m IMAG screens bookended the stage at each side. The lightweight, carbon-based CB5 has increasingly earned favour, and Rhodri Shaw of tour supplier Transition Video counts himself amongst its biggest fans. “The image quality is superb,” he claimed, “and there are many practical advantages that come with CB5, including very fast rigging.”

Along with a crew that included Systems Engineer, Tom Bassford; Camera Operator, Bruce Selkirk, and Video Technicians Carl Stage, Zak Layton and Julien Hogg (also a Camera Op), Transition’s package included 3 Ikegami HDK-79 EXIII cameras and 4 onstage Panasonic hotheads. Shaw, the former Picture Works and Video Design project manager who founded Transition in 2015, said: “We are ISO recording all the cameras and the hotheads have onboard recorders, so we can archive every show.”

While Shaw presided over a Blackmagic ATEM 2 M/E broadcast switcher to cut the camera feeds for IMAG, a Plexus fibre system allowed him to transmit them to Ian Woodall’s server at FOH, enabling him to add colour treatment and effects alongside the video content. “Ian has a 4K quad split output which we send back down the fibre system to our processors,” he explained.

Woodall’s choice of server was Resolume’s Arena 6 – an option rarely seen on arena productions, but one that offered a number of advantages. “I couldn’t travel with a larger system and a rack,” he commented. “I had to come up with a solution that was under 32kg, would go on a plane and allow me to capture all the camera channels plus effects.

“A lot of people consider Resolume to be a VJ brand but it’s what I needed for this band, who are completely live with no time code, and while there is a set list, it isn’t always adhered to. This means I have to react exceptionally fast when things change. Nile and the band have this uncanny communication based on winks and nods, and over the years I’ve developed an understanding of what might be coming next.”

CONTENT DESIGN Chic’s efforts to promote the sense of a club night atmosphere were reinforced a rich palette of brand new screen visuals from Bryte Design’s specialist content department. “We set out some proposals,” noted Woodall. “Omitting the cheese factor was actually much harder than we imagined because some of designers’ responses were right in that pocket, but Bryte’s feedback was spot on.

“Working with Video Designer / Producer Paul ‘Pablo’ Beckett, I knew I was dealing with someone who completely understood the vibe, so after giving him a brief, I left him alone to let his creative juices flow. Sure, there were a few changes, but overall he did a magnificent job.”

By producing video content in-house, Bryte is able to form a close working bond with creative directors, LDs and clients. Its contributions to the Chic tour underlined the strength of this chemistry, as Pablo aimed to retain the act’s disco root sensibilities while introducing a modern twist.

Pablo’s stunning work was evident from the opening number, Everybody Dance, whose accompanying content was generated from the band’s own dance moves, which were filmed to enable the vector motion information to be extracted using RE:Vision’s Twixtor tool and plug-in suite. Pablo said: “Various particle systems and other effects were driven by this information, and composited back in to the footage with other pre-recorded motion

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NILE RODGERS & CHIC

Production Manager, Nick Gosling with Production Assistant, Julie Cotton & Stage Manager, Richard House. Transition Video Technicians Carl Stage and Zak Layton; Systems Engineer, Tom Bassford; Director / Project Manager, Rhodri Shaw & Camera Operator, Bruce Selkirk.

capture data to create segments, loops and other elements.”

Two Chic-produced hits by Sister Sledge were the springboard for some compelling screen action. “For He’s The Greatest Dancer, we wanted to accentuate the depth of the stage and make the screens a continuation of it, so we created a particle system using Superluminal’s Stardust. By assigning blocks to each particle position, we could create a 3D wall with total control over the depth and position of each individual block, then feed either video textures or audio data into this system to create different loops. “We knew that we wanted to feature Nile’s Hitmaker guitar and Lost In Music was the perfect song. One of our 3D artists modelled the guitar in full 3D and rigged it so we could animate the Hitmaker in different ways. The aim was to make it in such a way that we could tweak the guitar so it could feel at times very abstract but then transform it back to its ‘normal’ state.”

Le Freak, the show’s penultimate gem, underlined the inspiration drawn from glamour of New York’s Studio 54. Pablo commented: “The majority of the content we produced was delivered in discrete layers so that Ian could have greater control over the way it appeared on-screen. Le Freak is a good example of this, allowing Ian to mix and match content with live camera more simply and achieve greater sophistication than if all of the content was ‘baked’ in.”

SFX To add extra sizzle to the visuals, Nick Gosling liaised with ER Productions’ Ryan Hagan and George Baker who supplied special effects, along with SFX Technician Joe Jackson. New to the company, Jackson had previously worked as an ER Productions freelancer before joining in November.

Describing his one-man set-up, Jackson said: “We have 24 Power Shots that are positioned on the front truss and there’s a point during Le Freak when they fire a combination of 12 silver and 12 gold metallic electric streamer cannons. They were originally on the mirrorball light pod but due to Cardiff [Motorpoint Arena] having a lower roof we had to move them, and

discovered that the truss gave us a greater dispersion impact.

“Then on Good Times at the end of the show, 6 StadiumBlasters (4 in the pit and 2 at FOH) fire 18kg of white confetti over the crowd for a big crescendo. I think it’s one of the better products in the MagicFX range and I cue them via DMX from a High End Systems Road Hog 4 console behind stage left where I have a good line of sight.”

THE CHIC SOUND After deputising at FOH on five occasions, Dave Shepherd took over the FOH sound engineering role from John Ryan, who retired last summer following a long association with Chic. “They liked what I was doing and kept me on, and it’s been absolutely brilliant!” he smiled.

An Avid user since the manufacturer’s consoles first hit the live market, the S6L-24D is now Shepherd’s regular choice after purchasing it for his company BCS Audio, which worked closely with the tour’s audio vendor SSE Audio Group. Shepherd said: “It really is one of the best consoles out there right now and it’s been a good asset, especially in the light of having no prior rehearsal time. I started with a 32D and then moved to a 24D because once you know the gig you can contain everything perfectly well within the custom layout.”

Shepherd was particularly impressed with the S6L’s integration with ProTools. “‘I recorded the first show and that’s given me the option of a virtual soundcheck at my leisure. With this outfit, fans pay good money to watch the soundcheck in a kind of semi-performance mode, so it’s not a conventional situation and ‘going virtual’ means I can try things out without affecting that ‘show’.”

Working with this band at FOH, Shepherd is on the receiving end of sublime musicianship - the kind that doesn’t rely on playback, hence the modest channel count of 41. Observing the chemistry between bassist Jerry Barnes and drummer Ralph Rolle - one of the world’s finest rhythm sections – is akin to attending a masterclass in skill and wit.

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Guitar Technician, Gert Marckx.

MEET THE HITMAKER

“The source material is beyond compare,” agreed Shepherd, “although the dynamics can be a task to control without taking everyone’s face off or going the route of squashing the life out of it. There’s up to 20dB variation in Jerry’s bass playing, so I’m putting him through two stages of compression. Kimberly Davis’ amazing vocals go from being quiet and sensual to the point of almost breaking glass. To deal with that, I’m liberally applying dynamic EQ which, like the preamps, compression and all the effects on the console, sounds excellent straight ‘out of the box’.”

With the set list flowing so unpredictably from night to night, Shepherd chose to avoid pre-programming scenes on the Avid for the time being and, instead, take an ‘on the fly’ approach. “Even though I’m introducing some of the desk’s processing, there’s a lot of fader movement going on. I’m riding some of those channels frequently during the show and, of course, fighting against the arena. When you’ve played somewhere like the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, you are really spoiled because the dryness allows you to really get to grips with the sound. Unfortunately, those venues are rare!”

Shepherd added: “When you break it down, this gig is a party and you’ve got to mix it that way. People want to get up and dance, feel the kick drum and imagine they’re in a nightclub, or at least as much as they can in a 20,000-capacity venue.”

Nile Rodgers & Chic aim to replicate the sounds of the original records as closely as possible in the live environment, and Shepherd claimed that prioritising Shure microphones has been helpful. He said: “Nile’s Hitmaker was always recorded with a single SM57, so that’s what we put on his amp. I pull up a fader and it’s the classic Chic sound, right there. We also have Shure models all over the kit. The other brand we use is DPA. When I started with the band, I changed the vocal mics to DPA d:facto II condensers and they have improved clarity and rejection; the horn players are also now on wireless DPA 4099 clip-on mics.” With a crew led by Dave Ryan, SSE fielded an L-Acoustics PA system, run over Dante, Lake processing and LA Network Manager, with Adam Walker assuming the System Technician role. Describing the configuration, he said: “The main hangs of 12 x K1s with 4 x K2s are more than enough to handle any size of UK arena without ruining your target curve, and it’s been working very well for Dave and I.”

Each side hang contained 10 x K1 and 4 x K2 enclosures for each side hang, while four stacks of 2 x KARA loudspeakers and two stacks of three were used respectively for infill and outfill. On the ground, the team elected to use a cardioid sub bass arc of 24 x KS28s in a bid to achieve the most even dispersion across the audience.

Power is delivered by LA12X amps which, Walker informed, is the KS28’s dedicated amp. “It packs a massive punch,” he said. “Although that amount of force isn’t a necessity for this show, I think

Since 2014, Guitar Technician Gert Marckx has been the guardian of one of the most iconic instruments in music history: Nile Rodgers’ ‘Hitmaker’ – the unique Fender Stratocaster that has contributed to Chic’s canon and classics including Let’s Dance by David Bowie, Sister Sledge’s Lost In Music, Daft Punk’s Get Lucky and countless others. The music Rodgers has created with the Hitmaker is estimated to have earned in excess of $2 billion.

“Nile’s guitar never leaves my side apart from when he’s playing it,” said Gert, handing it to me for inspection. “I guard it with my life!” Incredibly light in weight, the instrument itself is somewhat of a ‘Frankenstein’ creation, combining a 1959 body with a 1960 maple neck. “Over the years, the volume and tone knobs, and the tuning pegs have needed to be replaced due to wear and tear. It’s seen a lot of action!”

Marckx, who first met the artist at a Night Of The Proms concert in Belgium, explained how Nile first encountered the Hitmaker in 1973. “He’d been a Gibson player before Bernard Edwards suggested that a Strat would be more suitable for their new music, so Nile went down to a pawn shop in Miami, saw the Fender and traded in his Gibson for it.

“His style immediately took on a funkier sound and he then invented what he calls ‘chucking’ – that fast strumming action that became such a big part of Chic’s music.”

After soundcheck at the O2, Nile reflected on the Hitmaker’s lasting importance: “It’s a part of me, like another limb! Fate is an amazing thing. If I had gone to another shop, as I so easily could have done, I would never have found this special instrument. That was a very lucky day.”

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Monitor Engineer, Marco Dellatorre; Visuals Director, Ian Woodall.

DYNAMIC STAGE TECHNOLOGY

the power and clarity that you get at the low end with this system is very complimentary.”

MARCO’S MONITORS Having mixed Chic’s monitors for over 14 years, Marco Dellatorre has been well placed to witness not only the band’s revival but also the development of their onstage sound. He noted: “I change my set-up all the time, according to the type of show we’re doing, and I’ve seen many permutations, but I have to emphasise how happy I am to still be doing this job.”

At the time Dellatorre joined the Chic Organisation, all of the band were exclusively on wedges. Beginning with keyboard player Rich Hilton, in-ear monitoring was introduced to the line-up with each member receiving an individual stereo mix. “And finally,” he said, “our saxophonist has just moved to in-ears, although Jerry continues to be ‘old school’.”

Despite the widespread use of Shure PSM1000 IEM systems, however, it was clear that wedges are still present. Dellatorre explained: “They’re not just for back-up; it’s also to keep a real band sound alive onstage. We’ve never used sidefills though. Instead, I hire two extra wedges to place either side of Nile, Kimberly and Folami, facing outward, and put a mono mix through them. It’s a kind of reversed sidefill approach.”

At one stage, Chic were on the road for 200+ days a year. Dellatorre added: “We used to tour everywhere without any of our own equipment except for Nile’s guitar and Jerry’s bass, using numerous local suppliers. One day, we’d be using this, the next it would be something else, and while the gear was usually of good quality, you have to adjust your thinking.

“Now we’re headlining our own arena tour, it’s great to have all the same gear every day and that’s really easy to get used to! Although my rider includes a lot of different options, the [12] d&b M2 wedges we have on this tour tend to be my favourite. I’ve used M2s on numerous occasions such as when Entec supplied them at Autism Rocks and they’ve always raised the bar.” A d&b audiotechnik Q-Sub was also on duty for drummer Ralph Rolle.

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NILE RODGERS & CHIC

Dellatorre’s current console choice is a DiGiCo SD10. “I’m very happy with DiGiCo and I don’t think I’ve come across a more flexible platform than the SD Series. I’m running 43 input channels but that can rise – I always bear in mind that there may be some last-minute special guests, and so I make provisions with extra mics and in-ears.”

Reportedly a wireless enthusiast, Mr Rodgers was, like many contemporaries, originally attracted by the freedom it affords him as a performer. “When you consider his passion for sound quality, moving to wireless was a great endorsement,” Dellatorre stated. “About 12 years ago, some time was spent in Nile’s studio comparing cable against the Shure UHF-R body pack transmitter and receiver. There were notable differences, but the Shure system did very well and Nile was very happy to pursue it.

“Nile still uses UHF-R but for vocals we’re now touring with Axient Digital which has taken the RF world to a completely new level. It’s the best system I’ve ever used in terms of its functionality and sound quality.”

FAMILY AFFAIR Just before ‘curtain up’ time at The O2, London, Ian Woodall summarised the mindset that permeates the entourage. “The Chic Organisation is a recognised team of people; it’s not just Nile and the band, it’s the crew, designers, management and everyone who plays a part in pushing this amazing music forward,” he said.

“Whenever a band meeting is called, Nile insists on everyone being invited because we all contribute to the end goal. He treats us as a family and I’m sure that comes from being a successful collaborator. His very cool and humble attitude is that we are all equal in this, and I applaud him for that. Without exception, we all want to do everything possible to make our shows better and better.”

Nile Rodgers & Chic are currently special guests on the North American leg of Cher’s Here We Go Again world tour. TPi Photos: Joe Okpako, Mark Cunningham, Bryte Design & Andrew Benge. www.nilerodgers.com www.brytedesign.co.uk www.lite-alternative.com www.er-productions.com www.transitionvideo.com www.sseaudiogroup.com www.bcsaudio.com www.flybynite.co.uk www.beatthestreet.net www.ukrigging.net www.thepantrymaid.com

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