TPi July 2014 - Issue 179

TOTAL PRODUCTION INTERNATIONAL

TOTAL PRODUCTION INTERNATIONAL

WWW.TPiMAGAZINE.COM JULY 2014

ISSUE 179

LIVE EVENT DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY • JULY 2014 • ISSUE 179

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PRELUDE

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SUMMERTIME SASS Nope, we’ve not run away to join a non-governmental environmental organisation, but rather just back from a trip to Glastonbury festival (Hannah and I are pictured here with the lovely Sarah Rushton-Read), where we saw this year’s incredible stage offerings. There will be much more on the event in the next issue, but for now we’ll power through in recovery mode - if you’ve seen the TPi Facebook page, you’ll understand why!

Back to the current issue, and we’ve made another jam-packed edition of TPi. The July magazine explores live event technology in varying settings and scales. Ibiza takes a focal point as we look at two very contrasting events from our recent trip; firstly the IMS closing party at the Unesco graded site of Dalt Vila and secondly the ultra modern surroundings of Ushuaia, where XL Video brought the hotel’s outdoor space into an innovative LED haven. Read all about it on Pg. 16. The company also feature in this month’s interview with a look at the group’s rental business. From the biggest tours in the world to the understated touring outfits, XL Video explains how it has fought its way to competitive success.

Perhaps the most heart-warming story of all in this issue, however, is the one in which industry support really shines through for the benefit of its touring members.

The community spirit surrounding live production is often noted by our peers and colleagues, and Rock Against Cancer is a true testament to that. This story can wet your eyes on Pg. 8.

Our cover story - on Pg. 52 - Arcade Fire’s Reflektor tour is quite a production, with themes of light and reflection being interpreted throughout. The Grammywinning band also made a headline appearance at Glastonbury, making the seamless transition from Earls Court to globally televised outdoor stage.

“The community spirit Our other production profiles this month inlcude the mammoth report on 1D’s stadium surrounding live production tour (Pg. 36), Where We Are. The phenomenon is often noted by our peers of the boy band takes centre stage as the latest and colleagues, and Rock fresh faces of pop learn what it takes to perform in front of thousands courtesy of some of the Against Cancer is a true most experienced touring production suppliers in testament to that...”

Europe. Lorde also hits the headlines thanks to her headlining Brixton Academy shows.

There’s lots more international coverage too, from Patrick’s trip to the Zlín Film Festival in the Czech Republic to our look inside Dubai’s Beach Polo Cup, Dream Theater’s US tour, Vienna’s Wiener Festwochen and Germany’s Lightpower Open Days. Germany is also home to microphone manufacturer, Sennheiser whose colourful past has birthed a legacy from wartime Europe into the world-renowned brand we know today. We take a look back at the history of the company on Pg. 70.

Plus there’s another installment of Clocking Off featuring the Bosom Beard Buddies and a Market Focus directory on the latest pyrotechnics and special effects innovations.

I hope the content keeps you busy until next month. Enjoy the read!

Kelly Murray Editor

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IN ASSOCIATION WITH

13-15 SEPTEMBER 2014 THE NEC BIRMINGHAM

AUDIO AND LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY SHOW Launching in 2014, alongside the established BPM DJ show, PRO is a new exhibition focused on professional audio, lighting and video technology. The event will provide a showcase of the latest equipment, a programme of interesting and informative educational content, as well as a productive meeting place for industry professionals.

OUR PARTNERS

WHO IS PRO FOR? • Professional sound and lighting users • Late night venues • Production / rental companies • Event companies • Freelance technicians

WHAT WILL BE EXHIBITED AT PRO? • Audio systems • Lighting fixtures • Laser systems • Trussing and staging • Pyros and effects

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Editor Kelly Murray Tel: +44 (0)161 476 8360 Mobile: +44 (0)7738 154689 e-mail: k.murray@mondiale.co.uk Assistant Editor Patrick McCumiskey Tel: +44 (0)161 476 8385 Mobile: +44 (0)7929 249169 e-mail: p.mccumiskey@mondiale.co.uk

EVENT FOCUS Rock Against Cancer

08

TPi attends Concert at the Kings, the industry-led charity gig colloquially known as ‘Grubbfest’.

Lightpower Open Days

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One of the most revered events in the lighting industry returns to unite lighting professionals.

Tech Takeover: Ibiza

16

TPi explores Ibiza’s live production climate.

Dream Theater

18

We take a look at the prog rockers’ video set up.

International Advertising & Sponsorship Hannah Eakins Tel: +44 (0)161 476 8360 Mobile: +44 (0)7760 485230 e-mail: h.eakins@mondiale.co.uk

Zlín Film Festival

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Robe invites Patrick McCumiskey to one of Central Europe’s oldest Film Festivals.

Sound Moves

24 Graphic Design & Production Dan Seaton: d.seaton@mondiale.co.uk Mel Robinson: m.robinson@mondiale.co.uk

Sound Moves opens its new logistics facility.

Dubai Beach Polo Cup

26

TPi reports from the Middle East.

4 BLADES FOR A BETTER CUT

General Manager Justin Gawne

Pinkpop

30 Mondiale Group Chairman Damian Walsh

Mojo Barriers suppliers The Netherlands’ oldest festival.

www.tpimagazine.com • www.tpiawards.com

Vienna Festival

32 Cover Photography: Arcade Fire by Simon Duff Printed by Buxton Press

TPi gets an insider’s perspective of Vienna’s pro audio scene from Alex Schloesser.

PRODUCTION PROFILE One Direction

36 Annual subscriptions (including P&P): £42 (UK), £60 (Europe), £78/$125 (RoW).

Subscription enquiries to: Subscriptions, Mondiale Publishing Limited, Waterloo Place, Watson Square, Stockport SK1 3AZ, UK; Tel: +44 (0)161 476 5580; Fax: +44 (0)161 476 0456; e-mail: subscriptions@mondiale.co.uk Issue 179 / July 2014

The boys’ lavish production reaches Manchester.

Arcade Fire

52

The critically acclaimed Canadian band visit Earls Court on their Reflektor world tour.

Lorde

60

TPi were on hand to assess the 17-year old New Zealand sensation’s intimate live production.

INTERVIEW

Contributors Simon Duff & Kate Lyon

66 XL Video divulge its secrets for success.

Intern Megan Hughes

69 Pink beards: raising money for breast cancer.

CLOCKING OFF

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TOTAL PRODUCTION INTERNATIONAL is a controlled circulation magazine, published 12 times a year by Mondiale Publishing Limited under licence. ISSN 1461-3786 Copyright © 2014 Mondiale Publishing Limited. All contents of this publication are subject to worldwide copyright protection and reproduction in whole or part, in any form whatsoever, is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the Publishers. Every effort is taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this publication but neither Mondiale Publishing Ltd, nor the Editor, can be held responsible for its contents or any consequential loss or damage resulting from information published. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Publishers or Editor. The Publishers accept no responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, illustrations, advertising materials or artwork.

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MARKET FOCUS Pyrotechnics and Special Effects

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MOVERS & SHAKERS 82

A round-up of the industry’s latest appointments.

V VITAL STATS

86 Alex Barrand of Pioneer Professional Audio answers our questions.

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EVENT FOCUS: Rock Against Cancer

ROCK AGAINST CANCER 2014 THIS ISN’T A TYPICAL TPi STORY. FOR ONCE WE’RE NOT PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN WHO USED WHAT KIT OR WHY, INSTEAD, ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY TAKES A BACK SEAT AND THE REASON THE EVENT EVEN EXISTS BECOMES THE KEY TO THIS STORY. TPi’S KELLY MURRAY TALKS TO THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE THIRD INDUSTRY-LED CHARITY CONCERT AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS ‘GRUBBFEST’.

At first glance, Concert at the Kings could be any local event, a small local gathering in the British countryside, where some of the UK’s best-known stars have gathered to party. The reality is that an idea birthed out of a few sunken pints in a local pub has become a beacon of fundraising and hope, a community thriving with strong friendships and charitable actions.

The Kings Arms in All Cannings, Wiltshire, is a signature English village pub. It serves home cooked food, is home to friendly landlords and now, for the third year in a row, is a perfect host to an annual industry-led charity gig, Concert at The Kings, a concept which sees rock stars fundraising for cancer.

Rock Against Cancer was an idea thought up five years ago by John ‘Grubby’ Callis, Sound Engineer to Sir Paul McCartney, Andy Scott of The Sweet and Richard Baulu, landlord of The 08

Kings Arms pub. Cancer treatment was a cause close to their hearts, as both Grubby and Scott had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The news had a big impact on the pair and while trying to maintain a social life at the local pub, inspiration struck the pair. Before they knew it, the planning of a cancer-battling rock concert in the field behind the Kings Arms pub had begun.

This year, the word has truly spread throughout the touring industry and the support of world-class rental suppliers was back up with some well-respected artists and up and coming bands. The main stage line up saw performances from The Troggs, Los Pacaminos, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, The Straits and headliners, The Boomtown Rats. The B stage had entertainment from Jake Meeking, The Greasy Slicks and The Funkin Skunks. The concert was compared by BBC Radio Presenter, Dan Chisholm.

EVENT FOCUS: Rock Against Cancer

Opposite: The Boomtown Rats, led by frontman Bob Geldof closed the 2014 proceedings; The local village pub where the concert is held. Below: The country way: Clair UK provided audio equipment which was brought on site with the help of a tractor; The Vanguardia team ensured the noise license was adheared to; BBC Radio Presenter and Rock Against Cancer compare, Dan Chisholm with TPi Awards Production Manager and NoNonsense Project Manager, Liz Madden.

HE GETS BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS FRIENDS Event Director, Grubby explained how Rock Against Cancer has benefited cancer patients so far: “We have financed a pioneering prostate program in Bristol with gold implants that target the cancer with very little side effects - I wish it was there six years ago - and 30 guys have benefited from that treatment so far.

“The whole idea behind this when myself and Andy had the treatment was to raise awareness in our industry to ensure crew, musicians and management make time for regular check-ups.”

Grubby also credits his wife Cheryl and their children Milla, Bertie and Ned for getting him through the tough time and supporting and him through the treatment process, and also encouraging his goal with the pub gig.

STAGING AND PRODUCTION To bring the concert into fruition for a third time, Grubby enlisted the help of his industry friends, who willingly obliged. TPi Awards Production Manager, Liz Madden of NoNonsense had known Mark ‘Wolfie’ Wooliscroft, Event Manager and Grubby for many years when they asked the staging

solutions company to get involved in putting the concert together. Like many of the event’s suppliers, NoNonsense did everything possible to help out. “We jumped at the chance,” noted Madden. “Tim Bricusse, Site Manager also looks after the production elements of the gig and I help him by running the production office. This year Jo McLoughlin - Production Manager for Village Green - volunteered to help me which was very much appreciated.”

This year NoNonsense provided the main stage deck including the new Event Deck product which was developed by NoNonsense Director Steve ‘Jumbo’ Richards. NoNonsense

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EVENT FOCUS: Rock Against Cancer

Below: Grubby with his crew; Power Logistics provided generators to the event for the third time; The Kings Arms Landlord, Ginny and Richard; Lighting supplier Neg Earth’s Phil ‘Crazy Old Man’ Freeman; Sir Paul McCartney’s FOH Engineer, Paul ‘Pab’ Boothroyd showed his support.

also supplied the roof, PA masts, FOH structures, wheelchair viewing platform, a follow spot tower, the event control tower and the backstage VIP viewing platform. Actus Industries looked after the smaller B Stage.

Continued Madden: “The event has grown in stature over the last three years and has built on its own success each year. The villagers and surrounding community play an integral part. So many volunteer either during the build, during the event itself, or the de-rig. Many take time off work and donate supplies.”

This sentiment was echoed by Site Manager, Tim Bricusse: “Without the support of all our production suppliers, local volunteers and the hard work put in by all concerned behind the scenes this would not have turned into the success it is. This event has a great vibe behind it and is quite unique in that respect alone.”

The gig also attracts the interests of bands and artists wanting to support the event. “The introduction of the B stage this year was very popular and provided up and coming local bands the chance to showcase their talents.

There are always plenty of offers from bands and artists wanting to support the event.”

Extra stage support for the event came in the form of a crew from Stage Miracles, led by Mike Groves.

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POWERFUL FRIENDSHIPS Power Logistics founders, Beverly and Pete Wills have a great working history with Grubby. Upon his very first thoughts about holding the gig, he approached the company to see if it could support the event. The answer was simple and the willing team pitches in each year to raise money for the worthy cause.

Said Pete Wills: “Everyone at Power Logistics is really happy to be involved and play their part.

It’s one of the most enjoyable gigs that we work on and it’s lovely to be a part of something that is totally non-commercial. The local community is fantastic too; they’re so welcoming and really get behind the event - it makes for a brilliant atmosphere.

“It’s lovely to see how the event has grown in stature with the acts and attendance growing every year. For 2014 to be a sell-out was amazing, and a real testament to the hard work all the people involved in organising the event have put in.”

In contrast to the humble surroundings of Rock Against Cancer, Power Logistics is currently working with Queen (ft. Adam Lambert) on their North American tour. During preproduction, the gig came up in conversation with legendary guitarist Brian May who actually played at the first event in 2012. The result

was the donation of his signed guitar that was auctioned at this year’s event. The cause again hitting a personal note with May, who in 2012 told TPi: “I was devastated to hear the news that my good friend and esteemed Monitor Engineer, John ‘Grubby’ Callis, had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, but relieved that it was discovered relatively early and that he had received fantastic treatment. I immediately agreed to support him and perform at Concert at the Kings.”

SOUND SAVIOURS Vanguardia Consulting has been an avid supporter of Rock Against Cancer since its inception, having been introduced to the event three years ago by Independent Consultant, Andrew Lennie. Noise management consultants, Vanguardia are employed to ensure the festival maintains and adheres to the local noise license.

Coincidentally, like many of the people involved, Co-Director of the company, Jim Griffiths, received a cancer diagnosis of his own, making the event all the more personal. Said Vanguardia’s Claire Wimpress: “This is such a worthy cause to get involved with, to work on the event is an absolute delight and we’d do anything we could to get involved and help out again. The great thing about this gig is

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EVENT FOCUS: Rock Against Cancer

Below: Pyrojunkies and Aardvark FX supplied a joint effort of outdoor fireworks to signal the end of the gig; NoNonsense created the main stage structure, using its new Event Deck product; Impromptu auctions were started with guitars from the day’s performers; The Concert At The Kings team raised an incredible £35,000 for their chosen charities this year.

that unlike some events where there’s a hidden agenda, there are no egos. Any attitude is left at the door, all you need to bring to the site is your skill and professionalism so that we can all raise money together.”

Once the noise levels had been regulated, it was down to the sound team to deliver the equipment. Also for the third year running, Clair UK has supported the concert. Clair UK’s C.O.O. Andy Walker has a long-standing friendship with Grubby, making the fund raiser an important gig to support from a personal stance. “I’ve toured with Sir Paul McCartney and I’ve known Grubby a long time,” Walker told TPi. “I used to be part of Paul’s stage crew. Of course when Grubby asked me to be involved with this, I said yes straight away; it’s a great cause to make people aware of in the industry, but Grubby is also a great guy.”

The 2014 audio crew composed of Swanny, Will Fisher on monitor duty, Tom Cossovich at FOH, Stage Tech Tarqs and Clair’s latest trainee, Nathan Hayward manning the B Stage with Tom Pryce. For the main stage, Clair provided a DiGiCo SD8 at FOH, a Yamaha PM5D for monitors and a Clair i5 PA system with Clair’s BT-218 subwoofers, Clair P2 cabinets as front fill 12

and Clair SRM speakers for on-stage wedges.

The B stage audio set-up comprised Clair S4 boxes in a ground stacked position and a Yamaha M7CL console for both the FOH and monitor mix. Said Walker: “I think the S4’s are about 30 years old now… but we use them because they still sound great!

“We actually call this event ‘Grubbfest’ because it’s basically all of Grubby’s mates working together and he really takes care of everyone. That makes it an event that everyone wants to be a part of, year after year.”

LIGHTING THE LEGENDS Lighting rental company, Neg Earth, has enjoyed providing the stage lighting for the Rock Against Cancer since the first event in 2012. Tracy FraserRyan, Project Manager for Neg Earth described her role as a “pleasure”.

She praised the hard work of those involved in putting it together: “This year I was able to meet many of the people behind the event. The lovely Tim Bricusse, with whom Neg Earth has a long, happy working relationship over various events, Wolfie and Liz, and of course the legend that is Grubby too; whom we have worked with on Queen and Paul McCartney over many years.

“We have had the lighting legend that is Phil ‘Crazy Old Man’ Freeman designing the system for the last two years. As it doesn’t get dark until the last act, and even then, it doesn’t get very dark, Phil came up with the idea of a bright and beautiful back wall of LED fixtures.

They included Martin Professional MAC 301’s and Philips Colorblaze TRX battens to bring in some life and colour where usually you’d find a black backdrop. Using this look along with some rock ’n’ roll ACLs, with effects and drama from the Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500’s, Phil adds a rainbow of life to a stage seen mainly in daylight.”

Like every supplier of Rock Against Cancer, continuing involvement seems to be high on the list of priorities. “We hope to continue with this wonderful project for as long as they’ll have us, and wish them all the very best, looking forward to next year,” concluded Fraser-Ryan.

THE FIREWORK FINALE With the fundamentals of staging, power, audio and lighting being taken care of, it was down to pyrotechnics to allow the event to end with a dazzling finale.

Sean Caulfield, Director of Pyrojunkies said:

EVENT FOCUS: Rock Against Cancer

“This is the first year we have been involved with Concert at The Kings. I have known Grubby for 15 years. When he told me what he was organising and why with this event we felt duty bound to help out for a great cause, and we had a lot of fun at the same time!”

The Pyrojunkies team was completed by Dan Mott and Cian Caulfield, and the crew worked in conjunction with Aardvark FX which sent Mark Lewis and Andy Adams to the site. “As it’s for a good cause, we were keen to help,” explained Lewis. “We provided a 90-second firework finale for Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats, which beautifully signified the end of the day’s music.”

TRANSPORT The idyllic location of The Kings Arms pub is set in the leafy green fields of South West England but the charitable operation was produced with the utmost professionalism. The production logistics were handled by Redburn Transfer and the acts playing were still chauffeured by tour buses, giving the event the authenticity of a tour, not just a low-key pub affair. Phoenix were involved for the first time this year.

On previous years Beat the Street supplied tour and crew busses to the gig, but as every bus in its fleet was in use in the UK already, Phoenix stepped in. Paul Hattin, Operations

Manager at Phoenix explained: “I dare say that in future it may well be a joint venture between the two companies, depending on who has what buses and where! It does seem to be a very worthy cause not least because on a personal level, I have known Grubby and Tim Bricusse for more than a ‘few’ years.”

POSITIVELY EXCITING The event’s compère, Dan Chisholm has seen the gig develop from the very start into the success it is today. He commented: “I think the first two events were superb, but this year’s was a very smooth operation - the second stage was a real asset. Most events learn from their mistakes, but Concert At The Kings has really been a gentle refinement and evolution from very ambitious beginnings.

“Behind the scenes, it was like a well-oiled machine and for that reason alone, I’m not surprised this year was the most successful event so far: £35,000 is a phenomenal total for the chosen beneficiaries. It’s been enormous fun being part of such a special occasion and I’m certain its reputation will spread among top artists.” The last thought goes to Madden who re-affirmed the positivity surrounding the event.

In the spirit of the event this year, at the end of his set, Steve Harley of Cockney Rebel started an impromptu auction prize: his guitar. The bids

kept coming in and the prize raised £10,000 for the chosen charities, MacMillan Cancer Support, Above and Beyond and the local Parish Council.

A local supporter of the event bought the guitar; he’s a huge Steve Harley fan! Concluded Madden: “Steve was so delighted by the bid that he will be hand delivering the guitar and playing a private gig for its new owner in their home.”

“There has been so much positive feedback this time; it’s been really amazing. So much so that the date has been penciled in for next year: 30 May 2015. There have already been conversations with a number of artists and the line up options are looking very exciting!”

TPi Photos: Wardpics & Kelly Murray www.aboveandbeyond.org.uk www.macmillan.org.uk www.concertatthekings.co.uk http://clairglobal.com/clair-uk www.powerlog.co.uk http://vanguardiaconsulting.co.uk www.negearth.com www.phoenix-bussing.co.uk www.redburn.co.uk www.nononsensegroup.com www.stagemiracles.com http://actusindustries.com

CONCERT AT THE KINGS GOING THAT EXTRA MILE ...

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EVENT FOCUS: Lightpower Open Days

NO FUTURE WITHOUT ORIGIN IT’S 20 YEARS SINCE LIGHTPOWER - FOUNDED IN 1978 - ORGANISED ITS FIRST OPEN DAYS EVENT. THE SEVENTH SUCH INCARNATION TOOK PLACE ON 12-13 MAY THIS YEAR IN THE COMPANY’S HOMETOWN OF PADERBORN, GERMANY. ONCE AGAIN, THE EVENT BROUGHT TOGETHER OVER 700 LIGHTING DESIGNERS AND PROFESSIONALS FROM ALL CORNERS OF THE GLOBE FOR TWO DAYS OF PRESENTATIONS, SEMINARS AND DEMONSTRATIONS. TPi DELVED INTO THE WORLD OF LIGHTING IN PADERBORN FOR WHAT PROVED TO BE QUITE AN ILLUMINATING EXPERIENCE...

Playing host at the Open Days, Managing Director of Lightpower, Ralph-Jörg Wezorke commented on the significance of the event: “Indeed, our industry is often called the ‘People Industry’, but in reality we meet each other in person rather rarely. Just like nomads of the modern era, many of us are permanently touring across the globe. How nice it would be to have some kind of oasis where all of us can get together from time to time. This is exactly what the Open Days stand for: an international congress based around stage and show lighting and visuals, where all of us can meet with each other.”

The theme underpinning this year’s series of lectures was ‘No Future Without Origin’; the implication of this cryptogram became apparent during the course of the lectures. The first lecture of the day entitled ‘Expressive Lighting Design’ was presented by esteemed musician, componist and Lighting Designer, Bertil Mark.

In the lecture, Mark - having designed Lighting for the likes of German indie band Sportfreunde Stiller, attempted to convey to the audience his creative design process. Lighting Designer Peter Morse presented the second lecture of the day.

In his entertaining ‘Concert Touring’ lecture, Morse guided the audience through various projects throughout his 35-year history as a Lighting Designer; having designed complete lighting shows for the likes of Madonna, Michael Jackson and Prince. It was certainly an eyeopening account of how show lighting has evolved through almost four decades of popular music.

For the evening’s entertainment, guests were invited to Paderborn’s Capitol Musiktheater for 14

an evening of live music with Lilly Martin and her band; providing guests with an ideal opportunity to socialise and relax over a few drinks.

On the morning of the second day, Video Specialist Matt Finke and Lighting Designer Thomas Gerdon presented several light design case studies from live shows and corporate presentations. In addition, Finke led an all day interactive permanent presentation demonstrating how real time tracking can be realised via the PosiStageNet-Protocol and an MA Lighting grandMA2 console. For the final lecture, award winning Theatre Director Kay Voges offered an insight into the world of experimental theatre design, and put forward many strong arguments as to why the theatre is still relevant in 21st Century society - a fascinating opportunity for guests to reflect upon one of the many aspects of the lighting industry.

In addition to the four well-attended lectures, three seminars were on rotation throughout the two days. George Masek, Vice President of ACT Lighting, treated guests to a session on ‘How Technology Influences the Art of Lighting’, in which he demonstrated how developments in LED technology have altered the manner in which Lighting Designers use light, and how audiences - armed with smartphones to record shows - are becoming more conscious and critical with regards to the visual aspect of a show. Another seminar, ‘Signal Distribution in Lighting Systems - Current Requirements and Challenges With More Complex Products’ was led by Oliver Ditter and Sebastian Fecke, and tackled the increasingly complex nature of signal distribution systems in lighting. The final seminar

led by Rene Berhorst and Ben Marquardt entitled ‘Showlighting - From the Planning Stage to Realisation’ offered an insightful deconstruction into the processes behind executing an entire show design.

In between lectures and seminars, guests could browse around the foyer area of the HNF Heinz Nixdorf Forum where products from all across Lightpower’s spectrum of brands including Clay Paky, Philips Vari-Lite, Robert Juliat, DTS and MA Lighting were displayed. In addition, a photography exhibition from Neal Preston - one of the most revered Rock ‘n’ Roll photographers of the 20th Century - displayed a selection of iconic images from key figures in recent music history from the likes of Iggy Pop, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Jimmy Page and Bob Dylan.

Perhaps most importantly, the emphasis of Open Days is in encouraging creativity and discussion in a continually developing industry.

New developments in technology are, of course, important; but of what use is technology without the creativity of the individuals using it?

With this in mind, the importance of Open Days is affirmed.

Wezorke concluded: “We listen to interesting insiders’ lectures, expose ourselves to the latest innovations from some leading manufacturers and enjoy the time in between to network. Quite a few people describe this as like ‘coming home’.

At the close of the event everybody was really pleased again. This is something that makes us not only feel proud but also very happy.”

TPi www.lightpower.de www.opendays.de

EVENT FOCUS: Tech Takeover: Ibiza

TECH TAKEOVER: IBIZA IBIZA STILL HOLDS ITS OWN WHEN IT COMES TO EUROPEAN PARTY DESTINATIONS. CROWDS GATHER FROM ALL CORNERS OF THE GLOBE TO ATTEND THE ISLAND’S OPENING AND CLOSING PARTIES WHICH ENCLOSE A FOUR MONTH SEASON OF TRADITIONAL CLUBBING AND INNOVATIVE AND UNIQUE LIVE EVENTS. TPi LOOKS AT TWO SHOW-STOPPERS WHICH EXPLORE THE CHALLENGES OF IBIZA’S LIVE PRODUCTION CLIMATE. VIVA DALT VILA Due to its Unesco world heritage status, it took a year and a change in the law before Dalt Villa was granted a license to hold live music events. TPi spoke to Simeon Friend, owner and founder of The Shop Ibiza, and discovered how he wanted to mark the end of the IMS - International Music Summit - with “the ultimate closing party” on the unique and challenging gig site.

Planning a party on the fortifications of Ibiza’s old town was never going to be without challenges, but for Friend, who acted as Project Manager on the venture, it had the potential to be the “best outdoor event in Ibiza”. Not only did they have to jump through legal hoops to obtain a license, but the team also encountered difficulties with obtaining insurance due to the unique nature of the site.

The state of roads leading up to Dalt Vila also posed significant problems. “It’s a nightmare event to put on, nothing heavier than 3.5 tonnes is allowed on the site,” he said. “Everything has 16

to be cross-loaded onto smaller vehicles about a mile away from the venue, then driven up a very narrow old track that was originally made for horse and cart.”

For an event to celebrate the end of the International Music Summit, sound quality was paramount. Friend looked to two line arrays, one either side of the stage, each configured with 14 d&b audiotechnik J-Series cabinets, while three J-Series subwoofers were deployed as onstage DJ monitors. Pioneer DJ supplied four CDJ-2000NXS multiplayer systems and two DJM900NXS four-channel digital mixers, and next year will see Pioneer Pro Audio’s new XY Series replace the J-Series subwoofers. “We’ve been testing their double 15-inch boxes, and with two stacked we’ve found the result is a tighter, punchier kick which cuts through all the sub from the FOH,” explained Friend. The lighting came in the form of 32 Martin Professional MAC 101 moving heads, 24 MAC Aura wash lights, and 10 Atomic 3000 DMX strobes, and Robe Robin 1200’s. DJs also made use of a 30 m2 LED

EVENT FOCUS: Tech Takeover: Ibiza

Opposite: Dalt Vila’s Unesco site by night and day. Below: Dalt Vila’s IMS closing party was sponsored by Pioneer DJ; XL Video supplied screens to Ushuaia’s opening party in the ultra modern hotel setting.

screen installed at the venue.

In terms of crew, preparation for the party required a small army of staff: 17 local crew members, two electricians, two decorators, two riggers, eight site cleaners, five drivers / production runners and a carpenter to set-up.

On hand to ensure the event got off without a hitch were two sound technicians, three lighting operators, 29 bar staff, 33 members of security, 22 registration desk employees and two IT technicians - quite the professional rave!

Friend credits Gary Sharpe with putting the sound system together, Arran Lomas with lighting design and Heiko Wiertelorz for his support and input as Dalt Vila’s Head Technician. “For me, when top artists are calling you to play again at the next one, it’s a good indication of the venue’s success,” concluded Friend.

USHUAIA’S OPENING PARTY In contrast, super hotel - Ushuaia is a very modern gig location. The hotel is home to an outdoor opening party for early summer revellers. Its live production is something quite spectacular.

Two years ago, XL Video’s Sales Director, Ian Woodall and Project Manager Connie Glover were contacted by show producers High Scream to provide LED screens for Ushuaia’s opening party. With the Ibiza party season in mid-flow, he talked to TPi about providing state of the art video equipment for one of the island’s biggest venues.

For Woodall, providing a screen able to

cope with the environmental and logistical demands of Ushuaia’s summer season was not a straightforward task. The beachfront venue is exposed to the elements for more than 20 weeks of the year, and all of the equipment installed at the start of summer must be totally reliable for the rest of the party season, regardless of heat and moisture levels.

Not only did the screen need to be durable and dependable, but also flexible enough to accommodate a change of set-up on a daily basis for each of the different parties.

Following a preview with Romain Pissenem, Owner and Creative Director of High Scream Productions, who produce the shows at Ushuaia, XL Video’s Radiant MC-18 Hybrid LED screen was selected for this year’s opening party. As Ushuaia is a daytime venue it was key that the selected product could have the same impact in the Ibiza sunshine as well as during the nighttime hours, this is why the MC-18 Hybrid with its inbuilt LED spot lights made it the obvious choice. The screen would be used for every act to appear this summer, supplemented by an LED sphere for Hardwell’s appearance at the club on Tuesdays. Once the screen had been installed and set-up, under the supervision of Project Manager Connie Glover, the operation of the video system was down to the team at High Scream.

According to Woodall, their technical knowledge and understanding of LED has facilitated the whole process, while XL Video made sure that the right people received the training needed to make the operation run

smoothly. “We held a design and demo day in Belgium for the technical manager to be fully trained on the equipment, so they were confident they could achieve the fast turn around schedules,” said Woodall.

Once the screen was in place, Woodall acted as the Account Manager on the project with Glover providing the technical support. Woodall commented: “I have a great relationship with the management team, and it’s quite often that other artists we work with may put in an appearance at Ushuaia,” he explained. “So it’s about working with them and making sure it all goes seamlessly.”

Over the last couple of years, XL Video has seen its equipment used in a variety of venues on the island from Cream’s Amnesia, Circoloco at DC-10, Ibiza 123 Festival, Dalt Vila 2012 and most recently, a party at the Hard Rock Hotel with Chic featuring Nile Rodgers. XL Video has had a productive year so far, having also worked with Steve Aoki at Pacha, which Woodall attributes to its shrewd approach to projects: “Ibiza is an amazing place and with the likes of High Scream pushing the level of production required on the island to new heights I’m confident that we will continue to grow and support their ambitions, but it’s always about making intelligent decisions...”

TPi Photos: James Alexander Chapman & Ushuaia http://theshopibiza.com www.internationalmusicsummit.com http://pioneerdj.com www.xlvideo.tv www.ushuaiaibiza.com 17

EVENT FOCUS: Dream Theater

DREAM THEATER WITH 20 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE ON THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK SCENE UNDER THEIR BELT, US METAL TITANS DREAM THEATER RECENTLY EMBARKED ON A 36 DATE EUROPEAN TOUR. TPi REPORTS ON THE TOUR’S VIDEO DESIGN, WHICH FOR THE FIRST TIME INCORPORATED A TOURING LED CURTAIN FROM PIXELFLEX. With two decades of road skills to their name, the Dream Theater members are certainly well-versed in what a live production needs for a smooth touring transition. As part of their 2014 outings, the band is using PixelFLEX products for the very first time, allowing for a new dimension to their touring credentials.

The band’s Tour Manager, Rik Feulner, had his work cut out in trying to impress Dream Theater’s cult-like fans yet audiences showed nothing but praise for the band’s tour. Feulner explained: “Dream Theater’s fans are the most loyal of any band I have ever worked with. They sing every song, play air guitar, air drums and air keyboards.”

The Dream Theater members themselves are known worldwide for their technical expertise with their instruments, each member has a flurry of honours for their respective talents, and their penchant for development is ongoing. With tickets selling 18

fast, Dream Theater is the first rock act ever to see the touring benefits of a PixelFLEX LED curtain, after their production team chose to implement the 20mm FLEXCurtain.

Production Manager TJ Rodriguez - who began working with the band in 2005 explained the simple reasons for choosing the product: “We chose PixelFLEX because of the LED wall we wanted, the small amount of truck space it takes up and the competitive cost.”

The LED screens can be easily folded, ensuring that tricky touring applications can be met. PixelFLEX’s David Venus described the new collaboration: “PixelFLEX curtains and Dream Theater are a perfect marriage.

Our products allow for acts that have transportation space constraints to be able to carry substantial amounts of LED video screen.

Over time, we listened to what our customers were asking for and carved a niche with a new style of LED screen in various pixel densities that is foldable.

“The ability to fold the screen makes for

volution 900 Series German Engineering — Uncompromisingly Reliable.

EVENT FOCUS: Dream Theater

First Page: The band has been touring for 20 years, and has a very loyal fanbase thorughout the global progressive rock community. Below: The PixelFLEX LED curtain was toured for the first time with Dream Theater, the product’s lightweight design made the band’s show set up and transportation more efficient than traditional video panels.

an ideal storage and transportation package, making our curtains a great choice for touring applications.”

The equipment and staging crew had to step up to the mark on this tour, as Tour Manger, Rikk Feulner noted: “The band are perfectionists and their crew need to be too.” The band is impressed by the crew’s dedication; this is due to the same experienced operators and engineers coming back each year to support the band.

As Video Director, Johnny DeKam’s role has grown thanks to the use of LED. He told TPi: “This is our first time using the product, Dream Theater runs a very tight ship, and previously, LED video was not a possible option due to our budget and truck space. PixelFLEX solved that problem for us!”

Weighing in at just 26lbs per sq metre, this cost effective and consequently environmental factor was one of the main reasons why Tour Manager Feulner chose the product: “We chose PixelFLEX because it’s lightweight and therefore easy to ship around the world.”

The PixelFLEX LED curtain wall measures in at approximately 32 ft wide by 12 ft tall and has an eight by three aspect ratio. The new video

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element went down a storm in Europe as the curtain competes perfectly with a hard wall of the same pitch; DeKam explanied: “When you see the curtain up close, you might be skeptical, but from the house, it is hard to tell it apart from a hard wall. This is due to the relatively high density.”

The staging design was the responsibility of Lighting Designer Steve Baird, who was amongst the crew that decided early on to go with LED in a ‘super wide’ format for the video elements.

Tour Manager Rodriguez concluded: “I think the PixelFLEX products are great, I’d definitely use them again.”

Dream Theater’s tour was serviced by Elite Multimedia, based in Nashville, which provided the PixelFLEX curtain and Barco FLM-20K projectors. The rental house provided equipment for both the international and US legs of the tour. However, this was not the only supplier, as high quality video equipment for the tour also came via Video Director Johnny DeKam‘s own company; BEJOHNNY. He provided the video ‘backline’ comprising control system and cameras.

Said DeKam: “We are using an Arkaos

Mediamaster Pro for our media server, combined with a ROSS Crossover switcher, as well as an Apple Mac, which is running customised software. We scale for the wall processor externally using a low latency GEFEN HD scaler too. Our Lighting Director, Jason Ahn, triggers the content on the Arkaos server, some of it by Timecode from Avid Protools.

The media lives ‘upstream’ of our switcher, so ultimately I am deciding the mix between content and cameras each night.”

Cameras on the tour include one manned FOH HD camera Canon XL-H1’s which was converted to fibre optic, three Replay1080HD Tactical Cameras with custom built HDSDI / power interfaces (to provide close-ups) and two Sony EVI PTZ cameras providing additional downstage support shots.

With clear support in tow for their new touring visuals, Dream Theater will continue to tour this summer, with a headline show at Sonisphere in the UK. TPi Photos: John Zocco www.dreamtheater.net http://pixelflexled.com www.elitemultimedia.com

EVENT FOCUS: Zlín Film Festival

ZLÍN FILM FESTIVAL NESTLED IN THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC, THE TOWN OF ZLÍN WAS TRANSFORMED BETWEEN 30 MAY AND 5 JUNE INTO A BUSTLING HUB OF CULTURE ONCE AGAIN FOR THE 54TH ANNUAL ZLÍN FILM FESTIVAL FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH. TPi’S PATRICK MCCUMISKEY WENT TO THE FESTIVAL WITH ITS OFFICIAL PARTNER, ROBE. In its 54 years, the Zlín Film Festival has established itself as a significant international event; and despite the emphasis on children and youth, the festival offers film and supporting programmes such as concerts and exhibitions for university students and adults too.

This year’s festival attracted no less than 107,000 visitors from the Czech Republic and abroad - effectively doubling Zlín’s population for the duration of the festival. All in all, 365 feature and animated films from 55 different countries were shown, 10 of which were world premieres.

Jaroslava Hynštová, Senior Programmer for the festival for the 10th year running, was responsible for selecting international films from some 3,000 applicants: “Zlín Film Festival is a festival for children but beside that we try to attract the attention of students and adult audiences as well. Part of the programme is aimed at older audiences but the films keep the ‘young’ angle - about young people dealing with their problems and feelings about the contemporary world.”

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ZLÍN As the backdrop to the film festival, the town of Zlín has a fascinating and colourful history.

The cultural and economic development of Zlín - birthplace of several notable people such as adopted British playright Tom Stoppard and ex-wife of Donald Trump, Ivana Trump - is inextricably linked with the expansion and investment of the world-renowned Bat’a shoe company in the first half of the 20th Century.

Founder Tomáš Bat’a created his first shoe factory in Zlín in 1894 - a time when the 3,000 population were still under governance from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. By the time Bat’a handed over the business to his brother Jan in 1932, Zlín (at that time part of Czechoslovakia) had a population of around 35,000 people the vast majority of which were employed in the factory. By 1939, 100,000 people were employed by Bat’a throughout the world, and Zlín profited enormously from this growth.

Thanks possibly in no small part to the fact that Tomáš Bat’a became Mayor of Zlín in 1932, Bat’a had a major hand in designing the functionalist layout and aesthetic of the

town (the Czech architect employed to design the layout of the town, František Lydie Gahura had been a student at functionalist artchitect pioneer Le Corbusier’s atelier in Paris).

Part of Jan Bat’a’s development of the Bat’a shoe company and Zlín in the inter-war period was the creation of the largest cinema in Central Europe in 1932 - still operational today with a capacity of 1000 - and the famous Zlín film studios in 1936. Although the studios were created primarily with the intention of creating promotional films for the Bat’a company, it nevertheless provided the region with the tools with which to sow the seeds of a thriving film industry; branching out to create all kinds of film genres ranging from animation, documentary, and popular science - subsequently leading to the creation of two film schools.

THE FESTIVAL In addition to the Karlovy Vary film festival, the Zlín Film Festival upholds the one hundred year Czech and Czechoslovak filmmaking tradition.

Several impressive locations around the town showed films or held events such as concerts,

EVENT FOCUS: Zlín Film Festival

Opposite: A selection of Robe lighting fixtures were used in a number of venues at the film festival, including the Closing Ceremony, where awards were presented in numerous categories. Below: The Congress Centre functioned as the base of the festival, hosting film screenings, exhibitions and even a red carpet on which the crowds could interact with actors and actresses.

activities and even a 3D video mapping competition. Locations included the Golden Apple Cinema, the Congress Center, the main square (Námestí Míru), the Open Air cinema and concert site just under the House of Art and the ‘Chateau’ - a new addition to 2014’s film festival.

In total, 9,000 people visited the Chateau, which provided an assortment of games and activities for children and families. Although closed since 2013, the Chateau’s new tenant, the company Zlínský Zámek has begun to work with the municipality of Zlín in finding meaningful use for the center of Zlín with such projects.

“For us and for our child-focused program, the chateau is advantageous in all respects,” said Zlín Film Festival’s Press Agent, Martin Pášma. Hoping for long-term cooperation with the company Zlínský Zámek, Pášma added: “The interior areas, courtyard and chateau park are ideal in terms of the production needs of our programs, safety and health of the children.”

The Executive Director of Zlínský Zámek, Martina Dlabajová also welcomed this cooperation with Zlín Film Festival. She added: “We are truly pleased to bring awareness of the chateau back to the city’s residents. It is a unique place and an ideal centre for social and cultural life.”

Each year at the festival a focus is given to a particular country. This year, the focus was on Poland, and guests could watch a number of animated and feature length Polish films celebrating its filmmaking heritage. Speaking of the importance of choosing Poland for the festival, Pášma added: “Poland is a country that is geographically, linguistically and culturally very similar to the Czech Republic.” He continued: “The Grand Prix of the Zlín Film Festival was awarded to Polish Animator and Director

Tadeusz Wilkosz, who began his artistic career by studying in Prague and for whom the Czech school of animation was an inspiration.”

Hynštová continued: “This year there was a huge amount of short animations and student films submitted to our festival so the most difficult thing for me was to choose ‘only’ 86 short animations for the competition.

“I must say that this edition was personally the best from all editions I was priviliged to be part of. This year we were lucky that we could welcome a fantastic group of foreign delegations, our friends from other festivals, film professionals and jury members. We are very satisfied with the programme and so were the jury members and other guests.”

EQUIPMENT The lighting equipment used to illuminate several key buildings, stages and the big openair film party at Zlín Film Studios was partly supplied by Robe, situated in the nearby town of Valašské Mezirící, as well as other Czech companies.

Jirí Baroš, Marketing Manager at Robe commented: “I was working for the film festival for five years during my university studies. The idea to connect Robe and the film festival came to my mind four years ago. The main thing was to help the film festival create something new and to provide support for the event that is known worldwide.

“This year was our fourth year supporting the festival. We started with the smaller events and this year we supported the Gala Evening - involving a live television broadcast Ceská Televize (Czech Television) channel one.”

At the Gala Evening Award Ceremony, in which awards were given out in several categories, including the two most prestigious

accolades of the festival, the Zlatý strevícek (Golden Slipper) and the Zlínsky Pes (Zlín dog), several Robe fixtures were utilised. These included 20 Robin Pointes, eight Robin MMX Spots, four Robin MMX WashBeams, eight Robin 600E Beams, six Robin DLS Profiles, eight Robin 600 LEDWashes and eight 1200 LEDWashes. In addition, other rental companies supplied 12 GLP impression 90’s, 30 Showtec LED PARs, 64 short floor 21 3W, 12 Sunstrip Active DMX LED bars, an MDG Atmosphere hazer and an MA Lighting grandMA2 light console.

In the party tent and the open-air film party at Zlín Studios eight ArcLine Outdoor Optic 80MC / SW (23°), two ArcPower 384 Rackmount for driving the ArcLines, eight Robe CitySkape 48, and four CitySkape Xtreme were utilised. A further four CitySkape Xtreme, and six CitySkape 96 were used for the afterparty.

Baroš concluded: “The film festival in Zlín is bringing together lots of important professionals from the film industry and we’re trying to focus on this segment with our latest LED luminaires.

But the most important thing for us is to support this cultural event. Seeing the smiling faces of the young people attending is the main satisfaction for us.”

TPi

Photos: Louise Stickland

www.zlinfest.cz, www.robe.cz

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EVENT FOCUS: Sound Moves

SOUND MOVES FINDS NEW HOME SOUND MOVES UK RECENTLY UNVEILED ITS REFURBISHED LOGISTICS FACILITY IN ASHFORD NEAR LONDON’S HEATHROW AIRPORT. SPECIALISTS IN PROVIDING BESPOKE LOGISTICS TO THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS, SOUND MOVES RECENTLY ACQUIRED ITS LONG-TERM HOME, ABBEYGATE HOUSE, MARKING AN IMPORTANT STEP IN THE COMPANY’S CONTINUING DEVELOPMENT. During the official launch event, guests were invited to tour the refurbished building including the crew break room, the stateof-the-art boardroom with video-training facilities and the 1950s theatre-themed reception area. The artwork for the reception area was specially commissioned

by Sound Moves, and completed by artist Jonathan Minshull.

Abbeygate House also features an 18,000 sq ft warehouse for transit cargo and long-term storage, two cargo docks capable of handling hi-cube trailers, overnight parking for trucks and tour buses and an X-ray with dual-view screening for cargo departing via air freight.

Managing Director, Martin Corr said: “Since our founding in 1995, we have grown significantly as a company both in terms of our client base and our team of operations specialists. The new facilities will allow that development to continue.

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“Not only does the office have more square footage, the space has also been rebranded and refurbished to our specifications. This will allow us to bring the organisation to the next level of high-touch customer service.”

Sound Moves provides freight forwarding and logistics services to a wide variety of touring clients including The Rolling Stones, Arcade Fire, Katy Perry, Beyoncé, P!nk, Kasabian and Sadlers Wells Theatre, as well as providers to the live concert and touring industries such as VER and XL Video.

“Sound Moves is well-known and highly respected in the Music Touring sector both in the UK and worldwide. For example our London team has won TPi Favourite Freight Forwarding Company five times,”said Simon Jackson, Business Development Manager.

“As a business we are often thought of as the ‘last minute life-savers’ with an operational team who will do everything possible to ensure

the show goes on as planned. Because of this, we have clients who work with us year after year, trusting us with their most important and toughest freight moves.”

The investment in Abbeygate House is part of a larger development plan for Sound Moves.

According to Jackson: “Along with the facility we have also invested in the commercial side of the business with new members joining the sales team to specialise in additional creative industry sectors including Sporting Events and Corporate Live Events.

“The focus is to continue to grow market share in these areas utilising the same operational excellence that Sound Moves is known for. Our wholly owned facility is a statement of intent at its foundations.”

TPi

www.soundmoves.com

EVENT FOCUS: Beach Polo Cup Dubai

BEACH POLO CUP DUBAI 10 YEARS AFTER ITS CREATION AT THE HANDS OF MAMEMO PRODUCTIONS, THE BEACH POLO CUP HAS SPREAD TO 30 CITIES WORLDWIDE. AT THE JULIUS BAER BEACH POLO CUP 2014, WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE WORLD’S LARGEST BEACH POLO VENUE, SKY DIVE DUBAI, THE TOURNAMENT BEGAN AT SUNDOWN FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. TPi REPORTS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST. A ‘modern twist on traditional polo’, the Beach Polo Cup Dubai’s Founder Sam Katiela decided that this year’s event would be the inaugural dusk-to-evening games. As well as polo, audience members were treated to live music and mamemo production’s signature ‘Symphony of Light’.

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Dubai-based Lighting Designer Sonu AB worked in partnership with Lighting Programmer and Operator Steve Shipman, while Tim Wardman acted as the event’s Technical Director and took control of audio design.

Working alongside Wardman was Dan Clark, Technical Production Manager and Show Caller,

and Audio Operator Dave Lee. VISUAL SPECTACULAR The arena was divided into four primary sectors; different strategies were needed to illuminate the service areas, including guest walkways and emergency exits, the public Shams area, the

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EVENT FOCUS: Beach Polo Cup Dubai

Opposite: The event featured a three-minute, close proximity firework display coordinated by Flash Art. Below: Towers installed behind the seating areas enabled Lighting Designer Sonu AB to cater to the varied lighting requirements of the different areas within Sky Dive Dubai.

VIP Majlis area, the field and the entertainment space. With the tournament set to take place at night, Sonu AB was aware that achieving bright and even coverage of the polo field was paramount.

Sonu AB erected four 14-metre towers behind the Majlis and Shams areas. “After checking the angles of lighting with a basic model of the seating areas and the field, in Cast’s wysiwyg software we could calculate the distance between the towers, and the total number of fixtures required to cover the polo field and to help lighting the VIP Majlis top deck,” he explained. For washing the top deck, 120 LED PARs were attached to these towers, each of which also featured eight A&O Sky Falcon Arc lighting fixtures with a variety of different lenses, to ensure even lighting of the playing surface.

To be sure no unwanted light would filter into the spaces where brightness had to be controlled, AB opted for 32 lighting bars, each holding six PAR 64s, to illuminate the arena’s walkways, which included the guest entrance, kitchen staff area, service areas and restrooms.

“All the PARs were on DMX-controlled dimmer channels in order to control the amount of light that might bleed into the field, and to dim the PARs to 30% during the entertainment acts,” he continued.

To light up the red carpets and the display cars, provided by event sponsor Cadillac, AB chose 30 Arri 2K Fresnel lighting fixtures with frost filters. “Each was on separate dimmer controls which were set to a level expected by the camera crew for pictures and interviews,” he explained.

The most challenging aspect of lighting up the Beach Polo Cup Dubai was the ‘Symphony of Light’, which was designed to “add spectacle

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and value” to the evening and showcase the event’s partners SLS and A&O. For the first ‘Symphony of Light’, which marked the opening ceremony, the 22 Falcon Beam 7Ks and two 7K Falcon Flower fixtures provided by A&O were placed on the field in a circular pattern. SLS supplied 24 CityColor LEDs, 18 Cyclops CPX 91-MZ moving head washes, 32 Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1200s and 40 Clay Paky Sharpys, all controlled via a single MA Lighting grandMA2 full-size console. For the second ‘Symphony of Light’, during the closing ceremony, all of the Falcon fixtures were placed between seven Pyrotechnic towers.

Video was provided by two Absen A6 LED screens measuring nine-metres by five-metres, supported by 16 LG 42-inch plasma screens, a Samsung 22-inch monitor and two Video Wall LVP603 Series LED processors for content.

PYROTECHNICS Later on in the evening, guests enjoyed a close proximity, digitally-synchronised musical fireworks display which had took four days and eight licensed pyrotechnic technicians to set up.

Lasting three minutes, the display was designed

by Flash Art for mamemo productions, which took care of music production and contributed its own artistic input.

Over 2000 individual close proximity firework effects were used, including single shoot mines, comets and cossets, all of which were produced in Spain and shipped to Dubai by Flash Art. To run the show, Flash Art made use of 120 Pyrotronix PTX IC48 controlling system modules, along with two Pyrotronix PTX C4 controllers.

AUDIO Eight Crown I-Tech 4000 and 6000 Series

amplifiers powered 16 Harman JBL VerTec Series VT4887A loudspeakers and 12 JBL VerTec VT4880A subwoofers, processed by one XTA DP448 loudspeaker management system. There were also 20 PR:O 10 X loudspeakers from HK Audio coupled with six Martin Audio LE400 stage monitors, powered by another Crown I-Tech 4000 Series amplifier.

Additional audio equipment came from Nexo. Two Nexo PS15 loudspeakers and two Nexo LS1200 subwoofers were amplified by two Nexo PS15 TDcontrollers. Additionally, 19 JBL Eon 10 powered loudspeakers were used.

A wireless microphone system was used, and comprised three Shure UR4D wireless receivers working in conjunction with six Shure Beta 58A and Beta 87 handheld microphones, while inear monitors were a pair of Sennheiser ew 300 IEM G3s.

TPi

Photos: mamemo productions www.beachpolo.net www.mamemo.tv www.flashart.com

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EVENT FOCUS: PinkPop

PINKPOP: THE NETHERLANDS’ OLDEST FESTIVAL THIS YEAR MARKED THE 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NETHERLANDS’ OLDEST FESTIVAL, PINKPOP. IT CERTAINLY CELEBRATED IN STYLE, PULLING IN MAJOR HEADLINERS, THE ROLLING STONES, ARCTIC MONKEYS AND METALLICA FOR ONE OF THE BEST LINE-UPS IN ITS HISTORY. BEHIND THE SCENES, THE FESTIVAL LISTS SAFETY, SECURITY AND LONG TERM SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS AS THE SECRETS OF ITS SUCCESS. TPi FOUND OUT MORE. Established in 1970 Pinkpop takes place annually and attracts over 70,000 people to the region of Landgraaf in the south of Holland. Visitors come from across Europe to soak in the atmosphere and catch the big name acts the festival consistently attracts.

This eclectic name, ‘Pinkpop’, comes from the Dutch word for Pentecost, ‘Pinksteren’ due to the fact that every year, Pinkpop is held over the Pentecost weekend.

Pinkpop took place from 7 - 9 June 2014 and despite some ominous weather on the final day, this year’s event was another resounding success, thanks to those headliners, and the close knit suppliers who have been with the festival since the early days.

One such supplier is Mojo Barriers. Cees Muurling, Managing Director, commented: “Pinkpop festival is always a highlight of the festival calendar, and we’ve worked with the organiser, Jan Smeets for over 25 years, since Mojo Barriers was first formed. We’ve grown our offering alongside the expansion of the festival itself, introducing new products and 30

approaches each year. We’re based in Holland so supporting local festivals is hugely important: we’ve all grown together within the industry.

“This also made Pinkpop the perfect choice for us for a project that we’ve been working on.

We’ve just finished filming with the Discovery Channel, who are featuring the making of Mojo Barriers in its How do they do it? series.

Pinkpop was ideal for the festival for the last leg of the filming, to showcase exactly how barriers are used, and why they’re so important. It was very unusual to have the camera pointed at us for a change though!”

This year was one of the most complex yet for Mojo Barriers, with headliners The Rolling Stones, Arctic Monkeys and Metallica all needing bespoke barrier configurations for their productions. Mojo Barriers worked through each night to reconfigure the main stage layout to meet requirements.

For The Rolling Stones, Mojo utilised 485-metres of straight aluminium barriers and supporting specials such as gates and corners, creating a thrust which followed the line of the

Rolling Stone’s catwalk, bringing Mick Jagger et al closer to the crowd.

The Sunday night saw Arctic Monkeys take to the stage, with catwalk thrust removed and replaced with two golden circles. For Metallica, their infamous snake pit configuration was welcomed back, putting lucky fans right in the middle of the action.

Mojo Barriers’ Project Manager Erwin Sprengers explained: “With 70,000 people in attendance, and such a diverse demographic, it was vital to have control of the number of people at the main stage.

“For all three configurations we integrated 20 of our Gatekeeper 2.0; 10 on either side of the stage counted people in and out the golden circles, ensuring audience safety by guaranteeing that capacities were not exceeded.”

“The Gatekeeper lets you set a limit on a central computer and control when the turnstiles open. For Pinkpop, six people needed to leave before another six could enter.”

A further two Gatekeepers were used on

EVENT FOCUS: PinkPop

Opposite: The festival - the oldest in The Netherlands - is kept secure with the expertise of Mojo Barriers which became a focal point for the Discovery Channel’s How It’s Made series.

a newly-introduced activation for the beer company Brand. The company installed a huge beer crate themed structure with capacity for 100 people on the roof, giving unparalleled views of the festival’s impressive vista. The Gatekeepers were a vital tool in ensuring safety procedures and capacities were controlled.

Like many of the others we met on site, Gerard Van Duykeren, CEO of The Security Company (TSC) in the Netherlands and Showsec in the UK, has also been part of the Pinkpop family since the early days. He said: “My first Pinkpop was when I was 16 years old, helping out with the security. I’m 51 now - so you do the maths! I was just a young lad, going to school, needing some money so I started as a security staff member. It was a hobby, which has since evolved into my entire career.

“At Pinkpop the main change in security over the years is less about the actual safety side of things, as Pinkpop has always ensured the highest levels of safety from the beginning. It’s about customer experience. As a company we are not simply the security firm, we are here to help you: we are not here to give you a hard time. We want to become a positive part of the experience, after all people pay a lot of money to come here.”

The security operation is a huge one, with

between 280 and 320 staff for 24 hours a day across the three days of the festival. With 60 entrance gates, the need for a detailed team plan and strategy is vital.

Van Duykeren continued: “We implemented a new system this year with cameras and staff who are strategically placed to monitor crowd flow and make changes to the set up in real time. With 60 entrances to cover this is no easy task. For safe egress we remove the infrastructure at each of the exits so that we can avoid bottlenecks and get the crowds out more quickly and efficiently.”

The other focus is the main stage, with TSC carefully tailoring its staff numbers in the pit to match the bespoke barriers layouts mentioned above, and the predicted behaviour of the crowd, which - thanks to the diverse headliners across the three days - varied greatly.

“The crowds in Holland are very well behaved in general,” said Van Duykeren.

“Pinkpop is predominantly a Dutch demographic, with some visitors from Belgium and Germany. They know how it works. We have had a crowd surfing ban for years across the entire country to ensure the wellbeing of festival-goers. We don’t accept it and will remove people from site if need be.”

The one thing beyond the control of even

the most experienced organisers is the weather.

Pinkpop was at the mercy of the skies this year on the last day, when the festival site was hit with torrential downpours ahead of Metallica’s set.

As the rain began to fall, famous Dutch celebrity presenter Eric Corton took to the main stage urging visitors to remain calm and patient while organisers assessed the situation. In true Dutch style the audience listened and the rock legends’ start time was delayed by just an hour, with visitors able to enjoy the set safely, if more than a little damp.

This year saw two major changes at Pinkpop; the addition of a tented fourth stage for smaller, more intimate performances and an adaption to the main stage, supplied by Belgium’s Stageco, another long term supplier to the festival for the last 28 years (first time was in 1986). The roof’s height was increased by an additional two metres 30cm (the total clearance was 15-metres), making room for Metallica’s LED screens for the festival’s last performance.

TPi Photos: Plaster PR www.pinkpop.nl/2014 www.mojobarriers.com/ www.stageco.com

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EVENT FOCUS: Vienna Festival

12 DAYS IN VIENNA AUDIO ENGINEER ALEX SCHLOESSER HAS BEEN INVOLVED WITH THE AUSTRIAN PRO AUDIO SCENE FOR 18 YEARS, DESCRIBING IT AS “VERY EXCITING AND INTERESTING,� AS AUSTRIA, PARTICULARLY VIENNA, IS RICH IN CULTURE. HE REPORTS FOR TPi FROM THE VIENNA FESTIVAL...

Being of German heritage, I am still only a guest here, but have been welcomed a lot and supported even more. One of the main cultural events every year in Vienna is the Vienna Festival Weeks or Wiener Festwochen, traditionally opening in the first week of May and lasting for seven weeks with multiple theatre, music and opera performances. The grand opening ceremony is always held on a Friday night where the mayor of Vienna invites the public for a taste of local and European culture on a large open air stage downtown in front of the historical city hall, the Rathausplatz. The event hosts about 50,000 people live on site, plus millions on the screens as it is broadcast live in three countries.

This year the theme of the opening was Europe Sings where the top eight choirs, which had participated in a European contest, each presented a song of their own choice and then the choirs together with the Arnold Schoenberg Choir of Vienna and the Vienna Radio Symphonic orchestra performed a few famous classical choir pieces from various composers including Verdi, Haendel, Mahler and Beethoven. The job at hand was to produce and present all this on stage to a live Audience of 50.000 in a way that keeps it interesting for the 32

listener and makes it a good sonic experience for the TV audiences.

The task to present this brings along quite a number of challenges and over the years we have developed a few good solutions to a challenging task. First of all, the acoustic space is huge with about 100m width and more than 150m depth. Secondly, it is a classical event with a substantial range of dynamics that are normally not suited too well for open air and amplified performances Finally, there are quite a number of inputs which need to be handled by the audio system..

Doing the event acoustically with no amplification is impossible due to the size and the audience in attendance. Also, producing a classical orchestra and a number of choirs on an open air stage in a way that keeps the image and the idea of a choir and also of the philharmonic orchestra alive, is a rather difficult task.

So how did we accomplish it? With the number of inputs in mind we decided to split the mixing task amongst three main engineers and therefore the idea of networking three main FOH consoles was born. Those three boards would then play in to a fourth board with multiple mixes and sources to play out the signals onto the PA system. The main PA

mixing desk was planned redundant for obvious reasons. In this case we decided to use an Allen & Heath iLive system. The philharmonic orchestra was mixed on an iLive-144 surface with an iDR10 MixRack, the choirs were mixed on an iLive-T112 with an iDR-64 Mixrack, and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir plus wireless systems and multiple other signals and feeds have been mixed on an iLive-T80 surface, iDR48 rack and an XDR-16 expander rack. The main PA control was handled by an iLive-R72 surface with an iDR0 Mixrack plus iDR-16 as a back up redundant rack.

All Mixracks and surfaces were backed up by computers running iLive Editor control software and all surfaces were accessible through iPAD via dedicated IP addresses on a wireless LAN access structure. That way, multiple redundant back up systems were in place to guarantee a flawless performance.

When working with classical orchestras and choirs the sound crew never gets the amount of sound check time required to do the individual tunings and equalisations, so a system with two 64 track hard disk recorders was employed for virtual sound checks during the setup and rehearsals. That way, individual recordings of the Orchestra and also of the choirs were available for sound checks and further tunings

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EVENT FOCUS: Vienna Festival

First Page: The view from the stage with the Arnold Schoenberg Choir. Below: Alllen & Heath’s iLive consoles were the event’s desk of choice; The festival’s audio crew.

once the artists had gone.

All this led to quite a sophisticated audio network setup. A dual fibre optic link between FOH and stage was installed and this was backed up by a single fibre optical link and two copper CAT 5 cable connections. The Fibre optical links were connected via redundant D-LINK switches, which had a number of VLAN systems configured, so that 10 VLAN networks have been available for various use between FOH and the stage.

The overall number of input channels coming in from the stage required the best possible and available microphone solution to allow the noise floor to be under control. As such, the philharmonic orchestra was picked up by a variety of Schoeps CCM 5, AKG CK 391, AKG C 414 , AKG C 417 , Neumann KM-84, Neumann U-89, Neuman TLM 170, Sennheiser MKH 40, Schertler and DPA lavalier microphones. Choir microphones were completely Schoeps with 64 CCM 5 Colette systems. The Arnold Schoenberg Choir and the Solo voices also used Schoeps CCM 5 Colette and Neumann microphones.

Last but not least, eight wireless Handheld Microphones by Sennheiser were used for the TV hosts, the Mayor, the Orchestra conductor

and the head of the Arnold Schoenberg Choir.

A total number of 176 inputs were accumulated for the event. Those signals were actively split by KT active Splitters for P.A. and the broadcast OB van. The entire stage and PA system were powered over a large UPS to avoid any problems with local power supply.

A container UPS with a 125 KVA capacity was employed for the purpose.

As for the PA system, only very capable high power, long throw and systems with very controlled acoustical pattern were used for the job. A mix of Meyer Sound, d&b audiotechnik, Renkus Heinz and DAS Audio loudspeakers were used. We used a center cluster of three Meyer Sound MSL-6 for long throw, a number of Meyer Sound subwoofers and Melodie boxes for near fill through a Gerzon matrix and 12 UPA’s for surround. From the d&b audiotechnik range we used 10 pieces of d&b C-7 for a Gerzon Matrix System on a dedicated audio truss on top of the stage plus eight each J-Series for Delay one with seven pieces J-8 and one J-12 plus four J-SUBs a side and then four Q-7 plus two Q-SUBS a side for delay line two. The left and right line array hangs were Lars systems by DAS Audio, owned by the Vienna Festival.

The surround setup was handled by an ambisonic system that was fed from a stereo left and right feed from each of the mixing consoles with additional spatial information from a few dedicated microphones on stage (choir hangers and orchestra hangers). The production was quite an undertaking but the result and the response of the audience was very rewarding. The Allen & Heath iLive systems performed absolutely flawlessly and having one platform across the production made things very easy so the engineers in charge could help or back each other up if necessary. No external signal processing of any sort other than the loudspeaker processing was required. The two Gerzon matrix systems used the iLive effects library and the ambisonic setup was handled by a dedicated computer with Ethersound interface card. Hearing the final performance on Friday night after 10 days of setup, preparations and rehearsals were spectacular. I always encourage engineers to keep on trying and experimenting with the technologies that are available to us today.

TPi

www.festwochen.at www.allen-heath.com

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SETUP

SETUP

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SPEARHEADING STAGING EVOLUTION

PRODUCTION PROFILE: 1D

A JOURNEY IN ONE DIRECTION THE PHENOMENON OF THE BOY BAND BEGAN ABOUT HALF A CENTURY AGO WITH THE MANIA THAT FOLLOWED THE BEATLES’ EVERY MOVE AND IT’S FAIR TO SAY THAT EVERY GENERATION SINCE HAS PRODUCED ITS OWN VERSION. FROM THE BAY CITY ROLLERS TO THE OSMOND BROTHERS AND, OF COURSE, THE FIRST VERSION OF TAKE THAT, EACH ONE HAS FOLLOWED A SIMILAR PATH. A CLEAN CUT AND CUTE PROFILE PRODUCING A MASSIVE FOLLOWING IN THE GIRL TEEN AND PRE-TEEN MARKET; GLOBAL SALES AND AN INTENSIVE TOURING SCHEDULE FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER ALBUM. KATE LYON REPORTS ON THE UK’S LATEST BOY BAND AS THEIR GLOBALLY TOURING LIVE SHOW VISITS MANCHESTER. Somewhere about here on the journey tends to come a desire to be seen as a more mature package: the music takes on a harder edge; live production values become more sophisticated and the band members begin to shake off their innocent, shiny clean image. From this point, the route becomes less defined and sustained success tends to rely more on talent and musicality than clever marketing and directed publicity.

So, as One Direction arrives at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester as part of their global tour, whereabouts on this journey is this most recent incarnation of the boy band genre?

Well, cursory glances along the endless queues waiting for the doors to open confirm that 1D’s audience is still overwhelmingly female and very young despite the recent media outpourings about less than perfect politically correct 36

behaviour from some members of the band.

Most over-30s women were accompanying their daughters while the occasional father could be seen looking very much like they would like to be anywhere else but here.

There was little doubt this was a massive event on the Manchester calendar. Roads were blocked for hours before the show, the car parks were overflowing and the unofficial merchandisers and ticket touts were out in force. Inside the stadium, the atmosphere was all about eager anticipation as the incoming audience got their first view of the stage and the set - fortunately, all bathed in afternoon sunshine.

HOW IT LOOKS It’s immediately clear that this show is all about making sure the audience can see as much

of the boys as possible. A 30-metre Thrust extends all the way past the FOH positions and terminates at the B stage (more of which later) and runways, known as Screamers extend past each of the screens either side of the central stage area. As Production Manager, Wob Roberts explained this is all about visual accessibility: “Although we opted for a noncustomised stage from Stageco, it has been utilised in such a way that makes it appear to have been designed specifically for 1D. The stage itself is placed effectively downstage of the roof’s front line. By cantilevering the screens on the left and right we’ve been able to sell seats up to 180° each side of the stage - and those seats are in no way restricted. The audience there can see everything from the drums and keyboards downstage. Add to that the amount of time the boys spend on the

PRODUCTION PROFILE: 1D

Opposite: VER supplied 480 sq metres of Winvision Air LED panels, a first for a European production. Below: A total of six Robert Juliat Lancelots were brought on tour to accentuate the boys’ appearance on the LED screens; Wigwam Acoustics provided a J-Series PA rig from d&b audiotechnik.

Thrust and the Screamers and we know that we’re delivering a show that the whole audience can fully access.”

The huge scale of the event in terms of kit, touring personnel and very excitable audience members meant that health and safety elements were of the utmost importance. The tour’s H&S needs were handled by The Event Safety shop, led by Simon James. Safety barriers came from EPS and were account managed by Okan Tombulca and security was via All Star.

The bespoke nature of the set design is credited to Creative Designer, Lee Lodge as Ray Winkler of Stufish remarked: “Lee was clear that the set had to generate a signature language

that was specific to 1D. The strong geometry and symmetry of design creates a partnership between the set, the stage and the boys. There is an immediate presence of the boys’ identity and their entrance point is the epicentre of the entire set: the thrust, the screamers, the shape of the lighting truss are all designed to lead the eye to that central upstage point where a central upstage screen is manoeuvred through a Kinesys system to act as an opening reveal for the boys’ entrance on stage. All Kinesys hoists were controlled via the Kinesys K2 motion control package.

The artwork on the fascias that is blended into some of the video content continues to

build on presenting an identity for the boys. The graffiti is a representation of sea containers, reflecting a world without borders and the boys’ constant international travel. “To create a three dimensional reality of such a concept takes massive coordination from everyone involved,” concluded Winkler, “and the value of that cooperation cannot be over-rated.”

At the end of the Thrust is the B stage that incorporates a video lift and provides a final destination for the boys as they reach the climax of the show. Matthew Hales, Tait Technologies’ Senior Project Manager expanded: “This was actually an existing system for us from a previous show that Wob had been involved in.

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PRODUCTION PROFILE: 1D

Below: The bespoke skatepark themed set design was created by Lee Lodge; an assortment of Clay Paky Sharpys, Martin by Harman MAC Auras, Philips Vari-Lite 3500 FXs and Robert Juliat Flo 1800Ws made up the lighting truss spec.

We modified it to create a large monolithic hi-resolution video cube that rises up from under the B stage platform in the middle of the stadium. The components were all there originally, but the challenge was reconfiguring them in a way to provide a unique visual gag while at the same time not breaking

38

the bank for the production with a cost associated to custom manufacturing such an element.”

The importance of the visual component of the production is apparent long before the screens come alive or the band walk on stage. The video element is supplied by VER who are using

Winvision Air LED panels to create the 240 sq metres of each screen - the first time this has been used in Europe. Roberts was more than happy with the choice: “The Winvision Air is about half the weight of its predecessor which has made a massive difference to what else we’ve been able to rig on the stage and it looks just fabulous. We start the show quite early in the evening and this time of year on a sunny day that can mean that the show only really runs in darkness for the final few numbers. This new lightweight Winvision really delivers whatever the weather or time of day. I have yet to see better. The only practical issue with it is that - owing to its construction - we’ve had to rig what is effectively a windowcleaning gantry behind each screen to allow for technical access which has added a bit of weight back onto the roof’s total load.”

Weight and load is a challenge that has occupied the minds of most of the departments on this production. Tait Technologies’ Hales continued: “We were responsible for the surrounding scenic element and one of our challenges was finding a lightweight yet cost effective way to simulate the sides of sea containers on the scenic fascia that surrounded the main stage video screens. We settled on a corrugated polycarbonate sheeting with custom machined and bent plastic channel to reinforce the sides and give the panels some visual depth. On the inside of each of the fascia panels we mounted

an outdoor RGB LED tape so that each panel would have individual colour control to add some extra pop to the graffiti artwork of the fascia. Weight has been an issue from day one, and we found this to be the most suitable way to provide something that still appeared very large and stable, all the while maintaining an ultra-light finish weight for installation and load out purposes at the same time not adding unnecessary weight to the Stageco structure.”

The large contingent on the video crew is an indication of how important this facet of the production is. Director Ruary MacPhie is supported by Ray Gwillliams, Ellie Clement and Richard Turner who’s responsible for the video playback and synchronisation side of things.

Crew Chief Andy Joyes heads up the team of Rob Brewer, Garry Dunn, Ed Lawlor, Robyn Tearle, Gordon Davies, Barry Minter, Sacha Moore and Saria Ofogba. In addition to the 480 sq metres of Winvision Air LED screen there is a total of 120 sq metres of Radiant Linx 18 LED screen that is used on the central stage as three more separate screens.

The five screens are all used for a combination of very dynamic content and IMAG - there are a total of seven Sony HDC 1500 cameras - three Fuji 88x lens; two 22x lens and two 14x lens.

Anecdotally, this is the largest amount of screen yet to be used in any single stage production.

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PRODUCTION PROFILE: 1D

Below: Wob Roberts, Production Manager; Robyn Tearle and Garry Dunn, Video crew; Dave Lee, Lighting Operator; Kinesys supplied the backstage hoist platform. Opposite: Dinner Menu courtesy of Sarahskitchen.

Grass Valley Kayak 250 desk and Evertz routing.

“We’re also responsible for the Blades,” explained Robyn Tearle and Garry Dunn from the video crew over dinner. “These are LED battens that run all round the central walkway and the side runways. In total we have 200 Revolution Display Blade HD LED Battens and 30 Revolution Display Blade 1260 LED Battens. They are amazingly bright and really serve to bring all the parts of the performance area together.

Mind you, they need to be, to work with the brightness of the Winvision. As technicians we’ve been really impressed with these new Air LED panels: it’s a good solid product straight out of the factory and surprisingly robust for its weight and comparatively lightweight construction.”

The Blades themselves presented something of a control challenge as Video Technical Director, Richard Turner explained: “During rehearsals it became clear that for perfect synchronisation between the main screen and the Blades, both needed to be sourced from the same feed, but at other times we wanted the freedom to run from the Catalyst and synch with lighting. We made use of the new Tessera M2 LED processor from Brompton Technology that allows us to do this on a song by song or even cue by cue basis. The changeover from pre-programmed content from the Catalyst media server to the main show screen feed 40

was seamlessly achieved from the Hog 4 DMX console at FOH.” Video content was created by Montrealbased Geodezik (Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry) and headed up by Director, Gabriel Coutu Dumont who came to London to put the finishing touches to the visuals during preproduction.

With such a vast investment in video, how does a lighting designer make his mark on the look of the production? Paul Normandale is no stranger to this sort of challenge. “The stage set and video design were already completed when I first got involved,” he explained. “My design was really determined by the set and the video - where space and weight load was available I put lights that I knew would be able to perform against so much screen and sunlight. The on-stage rig consists primarily of Philips Vari-Lite 3500 FXs and Clay Paky Sharpys that can always be relied upon to cut it in this sort of environment. The hundred plus Martin Professional MAC Auras, rigged on the edges of the Screamers and the long stage Thrust are what really define the scale of the show. Alongside the Blades that are part of the set edging, the Auras really give definition to the shape of the whole set. Remembering there is no front truss, it is the Auras and the followspots that provide lighting for the majority of the show.”

The followspots in question are rigged on the delay towers. A total of six Robert Juliat 4kw Lancelots (one for each band member and one spare) provide vital key lighting for the cameras.

Lighting Crew Chief, Wayne Kwiat was full of praise for their performance: “I just love these spots. They outclass anything else on the market as far as I’m concerned in terms of brightness, performance and reliability - there’s nothing to touch them. The job they and the truss spots do is such an important component to the show. We’ve used Robert Juliat on the truss as well: the Flo 1800w. They’re the same size and weight as an equivalent 1200W unit but that much more powerful; they create great back light on the boys a long, long way down the thrust.”

Normandale has entrusted his design to Dave Lee who is a something of a veteran in operating shows for boy band productions.

“I’ve known Dave a long time but this is the first time he has operated for me and the whole experience has been an absolute pleasure. He is far more than just a safe pair of hands: his intuitive creativity is a real asset, as is his calm and patience when in the eye of the storm.

Simply being credited as the lighting operator massively underrates his importance to the show.”

As we wait for the band to appear, Lee himself is affability personified with no sign

PRODUCTION PROFILE: 1D

of nerves or concerns about running the show. “I’ve been doing this sort of act for about 15 years now, from Westlife and JLS to Ollie Murs and now One Direction - and this is the second time I’ve worked with them. Along with my crew chief, Wayne who we’ve seconded from Upstaging in Chicago and the System Tech Phil Sharp, I’m doing the whole global tour. We started down in South America and I’ve been able to tweak bits and pieces of the show as we go along and I hear different things in the music. It’s one of the reasons that I like to run the show for the support band - it gives me a feel for the gig before the boys come on stage. My console of choice is the new Hog 4 from High End Systems. Paul’s design allows me to really add impact towards the end of the show when they play the newer, rockier songs and the darkness is providing more definition to the light show.”

The lights and the crew all come courtesy of Lite Alternative: Normandale, Lee and Kwiat are all equally full of praise for the whole package. “I know the show has had great support from Lite Alternative,” said Normandale.

“Speaking as the outsider from Upstaging, I can say the Lite Alt guys are absolutely the ‘A’ Team,” conceded Kwait.

“Europe has been a really smooth ride and a lot of that is down to them. As well as our Kinesys Operator, Paul Burke and system tech, Phil Sharp, the crew are Ricky ‘Avo’ Butler, Ben Rogerson, Martin Garnish, Jonny Gallagher and Gaz Horridge. And I know Dave will agree with me when I say that our truck drivers from Stage Trucks who do the followspots also deserve a mention here. It’s always a pleasure working over here when you use regular operators who really know the show and these guys are just great.”

“Because of the amount of time the boys spend on the thrust, the followspots are necessarily a big part of this show,” agreed Lee. “I always call the cues but I’m pretty sure if I lost my voice one night they would help me out. It’s great to have operators who get into the show - from the way they entertain the crowd from the delay towers they certainly seem to enjoy themselves!”

At the epicentre of the Thrust and the Screamers is the stage for the 1D backing band. With the drums and keyboards placed strategically under perspex roofs they continue the angular vision of the rest of the stage. Designed by Ray Winkler and Ric Lipson of Stufish and constructed by Brilliant Stages, the set is a three dimenstional diamond-shaped skate park that

41

PRODUCTION PROFILE: 1D

Below: The open stage, as photographed from the B stage; The Sarahskitchen catering crew; The thrust was a key element of the shows design. Brilliant Stages developed a customised, extrastrength anti-slip coating to sensure maximum grip for the performers in the face of changeable weather conditions.

incorporates multiple levels for performance and adds perspective and depth to the stage.

The whole stage measures 54-metre wide by 21-metre deep; the colour ways of black, silver and most striking of all, poster paint red create a vivid and dynamic visual effect before any light show or video begins.

Built into the design is as much consideration for the working crew as for the band, offering as much storage and technical areas for crew to work in. Head Carpenter, Darren Davidson expanded: “The extreme gradient of the skateboard slopes onstage along with the potential for slippery wet weather conditions in outdoor stadiums called for something more heavy-duty than a standard non-slip finish to the decking. Brilliant Stages developed a customised, extra-strength anti-slip coating that gives the performers more grip. As well as finding solutions to potential problems like that, they are very good at the little details that make life easier for the crew: they’ve built upstage laser platforms and fixings for the in-ear system transmitters directly into the set and incorporated quick change space along with guitar and drum tech areas sub-stage. We have Brilliant’s CAD designer, Mel Welch to thank 42

for designing a series of hooked spacers that connect the Stageco sub-stage to the Brilliant Stages set. This orientates the stage alignment precisely on every load in. It’s a brilliantly simple way to save time for all the crews during construction. The result is that the stage set goes up in six hours, and the entire production in just 12 hours.”

HOW IT SOUNDS 1D may not have reached the stratosphere that is inhabited by the likes of Robbie or Coldplay just yet but this production is playing the same size stadiums and requires a PA system to suit.

Filling venues like the Etihad and Wembley with a level and quality of audio expected by an increasingly sophisticated audience is the job of Wigwam. Client management supremo, Chis Hill from Wigwam, stated: “We chose to use a J-Series rig from d&b audiotechnik for several reasons but if I had to narrow it down; firstly, this is the sort of environment that the J-Series loves - we knew that the J8 arrays would deliver a superlative performance whatever the challenges of the show and secondly, its relatively light weight made it ideal as weight restrictions played a big part in the final sound

design.”

System Tech, Nick Mooney explained both the challenges and the solutions: “The high levels of screaming from the audience and the boys being out in front of the system for the majority of the show could have been an issue but the J-Series arrays were more than up to the job. Flying subs would have been great but weight limitations were against us so the J-SUBs were ground stacked. Great effort was taken in positioning the subs to create an even and full response throughout the stadium while not creating a huge hot spot of sub bass for the audience at the front. We achieved this by the careful positioning of the J-SUBs and creating a sub array with use of the d&b ArrayCalc simulation software.

“Although we were only able to hang 20 loudspeakers in the main arrays due to the set design and weight restrictions, it didn’t compromise their role of covering the floor area of the stadiums evenly. The side hangs of J-Series cover up to about 150° and we choose to use V-Series as rear hangs filling in up to 200° or even 220° if required. For venues of this size, delay towers were a must.

“We opted for two hangs off each tower

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PRODUCTION PROFILE: 1D

Below: Sarahskitchen were in charge of catering for the tour, feeding 200 mouths for breakfast, lunch and dinner; Strictly FX provided an assortment of hazers, foggers, pyrotechnics and streamers for the concert.

positioned about 70-metres from the front edge of stage. This was determined by the maximum effective throw of the followspots. The delays were used to enhance the main system on the rear part of the floor and lower tiered seating and provide coverage to the upper tiers.”

FOH Engineer, Mark Littlewood is using a Digico SD7 console - as is Monitor engineer Ant Carr: “Digico is my first choice of console, no matter what the show is it’s the first thing on my rider. We have three SD7 surfaces on the road, one at each end of the snake and a touring spare.”

However, Carr has more challenges than usual to contend with on stage: “I have no line of sight to stage so I have been given a duplicate of the video directors screen; I can see nine camera feeds so I have a pretty good overview of where the boys are. The difficulty is the loss of eye contact that is often so important between an artist and monitor engineer. I have a few shout microphones positioned around the stage with a push-to-talk foot pedal so they can relay any requests they have to me. This can range from levels up and down to fetching a banana!

“For most of the show the boys are in front

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of the PA but the Thrust and hydraulic B stage are the challenge. With five open microphones in front of the PA you get a world of pain. It’s the washing machine effect of their voices, the PA mix and the incessant screaming coming back down the mics. As they get further down the Thrust and away from the PA the timing is harder to deal with.”

M88 and an Avalon DI on bass. All the DIs are Countryman. For me, the success story on this tour has been the Milab DC96B; we are using a pair on the drums as overheads and one on each of the two guitar amps. Our FOH Engineer, Mark Littlewood has used these for a while now but this was my first time and I love them.”

Although Carr may feel as if he is flying by

“We were delighted to have secured this tour, as was my nine year old daughter!”

“The boys don’t soundcheck,” continued Carr, “so the first time they get onto the Thrust in the show is the first time I hear how the microphones are reacting that day with the room, the audience level and the spill. I tend to make any changes on the fly and respond to feedback (No pun intended!). I use a mixture of Shure, Sennheiser, Audix and Neumann microphones on the drums and a Beyerdynamic

the seat of his pants occasionally, he is more than confident with the level of support he’s given by Wigwam. “We have a long term relationship with Wigwam; they have covered all of 1D’s European touring and will continue to provide our full control package worldwide.

Chris, Simon, Alex, Barney and Katie have worked so hard to make sure the package Mark and I have is exactly tailored to our needs. I

PRODUCTION PROFILE: 1D THE GLOBAL TRUSS

Below: Wayne Kwiat, Lighting Crew Chief; The Stageco team backstage: Project Manager Dirk De Decker, Crew Chief Patrik Vonckx, Rene Maas and Rene Paasch.

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have Ralph Smart working with me as my tech and Ali Viles is dealing with all the RF: a first class team that makes my day so much easier.”

It is the same Ali Viles who takes the time to elaborate on the RF element of the show. “Each member of 1D has their own IEM mix which is fed to two IEM systems in different ranges, running a constant 100% redundant system at all times. We are using one Sennheiser IEM system and one RF system from Shure. As is often the case on shows of this scale, one of the biggest problems for the RF system is competing with spurious RF emissions of the other elements of the tour. The quantity of video wall on this tour is enormous and in certain circumstances it emits a considerable amount of RF interference. I have worked closely with VER, the worldwide video vendor, to isolate this interference and to be able to manage it as much as possible.”

“All the equipment is supplied by Wigwam,” added Viles. “Added to that we get superb service and support. When we were deciding on the specification, I worked really closely with them to create a system that works seamlessly to guarantee the band’s requirements worldwide.”

HOW IT WORKS None of this happens without power and it is Fourth Generation who are supplying that vital ingredient through two 480 kVA generators and two 500 kVA generators. There are a total of 28 distribution boxes connected by a whopping 10,000 ft of cable. “The tour has been going well for us and we’re delighted to be working with Wob Roberts and his team again,” said Laura Hurlocker from Fourth Generation. “The tight touring schedule has kept our three-man

crew on its toes and the pressure has been on with some load-ins taking place on the show day itself. However, our crew are taking it all in their stride.”

HOW IT HANGS The Stageco roof provides the rigging points for everything except the delay towers.

UsOneProductions are the tour riggers and Project Manager, Jerry Hough explained the details: “Our rigging crew is headed up by Colin Raby. Altogether, there are 121 points to hang plus 24 inverted hoists that are used to lift columns of video screen. This is a relatively straightforward gig for us as we rig from the same Stageco roof at every venue so no unforeseen surprises first thing. A normal day starts with marking out points and dealing with any issues that might arise during set-up of the video, sounds or lights. When everything is up to trim, the video screens are wind-braced as are the line arrays on the delay towers out in the auditorium. The Lite Alternative guys deal with the Kinesys hoists that are used on the lighting rig and of course there are more Kinesys involved in the platform lift that is used to get the boys on and off upstage centre.

“We are also providing the Skyclimber access platforms - something like a window cleaning gantry - which are situated stage left and right behind the video screens to provide technical access for the video crew to the Air Winvison panels as these new units cannot be climbed on directly,” he added.

Lite Alternative’s Jon Greaves expanded: “Kinesys offers huge options for movement and truss positions to both the Show Designer and Lighting Designer, and Lite Alt have regularly supplied Kinesys system and control packages

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PRODUCTION PROFILE: 1D

Below: Despite the enourmity of the production, everything could be built, set up and ready to go in just 12 hours.

to many of our major shows for several years now. We appreciate its versatility, reliability and the fantastic service from Kinesys themselves.”

HOW IT TASTES This production army, like any other, marches on its stomach. The task of keeping band and crew happy, healthy and well fed falls to Sarahskitchen who cooked for 1D on their first theatre tour and was subsequently asked back to reprise the role on the arena tour. Boss Sarah Nicholas even created a ‘mini’ Sarahskitchen as the band travelled the globe in 2013.

“It doesn’t matter how few or how many you are catering for, the quality always has to remain consistent,” said Sarah. “Now we’re doing stadiums, everything has to be scaled up. We are cooking for around 200 people on a show day. Breakfast starts an hour before load in:

48

everything is available from cereals, croissants and yoghurts to a full-on full English. The coffee and cappuccino machine is hard at work from the moment we get power. Lunch consists of a couple of hot dishes with lots of salad, cookies and cakes. Our four chefs who prepare the ‘main’ dishes are Paddy, Jesse, Stevie and Gordon while Lisa, Sophie and Helena are in charge of salads and baking. Everything is freshly made.

“At dinner time, we always do a plate service so the chefs can cook to order for every individual,” continued Sarah. “Even on a production as large as this one, we know everyone’s name and make sure they feel they are relaxing in a personal ‘home’ environment - a place that is the social hub of the tour.

Specials like ‘egg ‘n’ chip’ days, Italian nights or a hogg roast like here in Manchester are always

popular and the crew really appreciate us going that extra mile.

“As far as the menus are concerned, we always try to strike a balance between providing healthy choices and offering the kind of comfort dishes that you tend to crave when you’re away from home. That is equally true for the crew as well as the band who are continually on the move. So lots of chicken, pasta and salads plus those perennial favourites: ice cream and chocolate cake.”

“Richard and Felix are our advance shoppers who arrive a couple of days before us and shop to the planned menus, set up the kitchen and dining areas before the rest of the crew arrive on production day to complete the set up. It is Vikki and Sharon who take care of the dining room and produce the very welcome bus food at the end of the day. It takes us about two

PRODUCTION PROFILE: 1D

Below: The boys take the opportunity for a quick sit down during an acoustic number performed - as was the case with many songs - on the thrust.

hours to clean down and pack away when we load out which is much quicker than the rest of the show!” she said.

HOW IT MOVES “At a venue like the Etihad we’ve got the load out time down to four and a half hours,” said Roberts. “We have a total of 32 trucks from Stage Trucks on the tour ranging from Mega Cube boxes to Taut-liners, PSKs and a Double deck trailer to accommodate the variety of loads - both in size and weight - so there is a lot to shift! We’ve opted to have a total of three steel sets out with us to make load in more time-efficient so there is always a crew working ahead of us on pre-production.”

“The set takes a good part of our loadin time even though we have six carpenters working on the set and we have a great crew across all departments who function together as a single professional unit to put this production together. The weight restrictions on the stage, which have affected decisions taken by both sound and light designers, have been overcome in simultaneously pragmatic and imaginative ways. The choice of an ‘off the shelf stage’ was initially for budgetary reasons but, as is often the way on shows of this size, it doesn’t always work out to be the cheapest option. That doesn’t detract from the fact that this production has success written all over it.

50

Technically, artistically and financially this is a great show.”

“Playing the Etihad here in Manchester is something of a homecoming gig for the boys,“ continued Roberts. “And the vibe here has been astonishing. We’re playing Wembley shortly but for me it seems like Manchester is the new London.”

In charge of transporting the show from city to city, Adam Hatton of Global Motion commented: “We were delighted to have secured this tour, as was my nine year old daughter! The first dates were a comprehensive dash through South America taking in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil and then straight back to Sunderland, UK to start the European dates. There was only one day between each city so using scheduled aircraft was out of the question, so we chartered a freighter. Fortunately Wob and I have done a number of large tours through this part of the world and know the drill. He always provides me with the most comprehensive manifests for customs and its customs that will cause delays if there are any discrepancies in the paperwork. I’m happy to say that it all went swimmingly we delivered early to every venue.”

The band and crew were transported by Beat The Street tour buses in the UK and Europe.

Beat The Street’s Gary Lewis said: “We would like to thank 1D for using Beat The Street on

this tour. We are delighted to have been involved and would love to work with them again soon.”

THE FINAL DESTINATION As for the show itself, there’s no doubt that One Direction have worked hard to keep up with the phenomenal success they’ve enjoyed in the last couple of years. The set, the video and the Kinesys assisted entrance for the band are all really impressive. The J-Series produces the level and clarity of sound that they are renowned for and as the subs kick in you know you are in for an audio treat. Lee makes the most of the Lite Alt rig at the start of the show, using an abundance of white to cut through the early evening sunlight. Even in these conditions, the MAC Auras do their job for the cameras and the Sharpys are as punchy as ever.

As for the boys themselves, their vocals have matured and there’s little sign of nerves: they are clearly becoming more attuned to working audiences of this size. The audience itself has been at fever pitch for several hours with the stadium security doing a sterling job of offering water to a packed floor and helping those unable to cope with the physical and emotional exhaustion of the day out of the crush to recuperate away from the thronging masses.

The show is pacey with just occasional lulls for various members of the band to visit

PRODUCTION PROFILE: 1D

Below: Despite their size and output capability, the VER supplied Winvision Air LED panels are extremely lightweight - half that of their predecessors - ensuring transportation and set-up efficiency.

the little boys room. As darkness approaches Normandale’s design shows its true worth amidst the Orca Foggers and DF50 Hazers; the pyros and streamers supplied and operated

by Strictly FX add some spectacle towards the end of the set as does the B stage during ‘One Thing’. However, this is still a band with a journey ahead of them if they are to establish themselves as this generation’s boy band that survives its first flush of adulation. The show certainly does its job - the audience go away happy - but if you ask the question: how does it match up to acts playing similar venues this

summer, Robbie and Timberlake to name just two? The answer has to be: there is still some way to go. This is the Where We Are tour - it seems as if the boys themselves are aware that they’re on a journey that still has some way to go. There’s no doubt they have a direction; they just haven’t reached their final destination quite yet.

TPi Photos: Calvin Aurand www.onedirectionmusic.com www.stageco.com www.taittowers.com, www.verrents.com

www.upstaging.com, www.stufish.com www.lite-alternative.com www.brilliantstages.com www.wigwamacoustics.co.uk www.fourthgenerationltd.com sarahskitchentouring.com www.globalmotion.co.uk www.strictlyfx.com, www.stagetruck.com www.eps.net, http://geodezik.com www.beatthestreet.net www.the-eventsafetyshop.co.uk www.allstarsecurity.co.uk

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PRODUCTION PROFILE: Arcade Fire

REFLEKTOR : LIVE GRAMMY WINNING CANADIAN BAND ARCADE FIRE’S FOURTH ALBUM REFLEKTOR IS A BOLD ELECTRONIC DANCE WORK PRODUCED BY JAMES MURPHY. THE LIVE SHOW IN SUPPORT OF IT DRAWS STRONGLY ON MIRRORS, OFF CENTRE SURREAL CARNIVAL DISCO INFLUENCES AND EPIC SOUND REQUIREMENTS. WITH SOME HEAVYWEIGHT SUPPLIERS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC, ARCADE FIRE’S TWO EARLS COURT SHOWS IN JUNE PUT ON A LIVE PRODUCTION WORHTY OF THE ICONIC VENUE. SIMON DUFF REPORTS FROM LONDON. The Reflektor tour started last year in New Zealand before arriving in America early in February. The current European leg of the tour sees the band playing their own shows and festival headliners including Glastonbury, Pinkpop, Hyde Park, Fuji Rock in Japan before returning to the US in August for further shows. The band is well known for unusual, surreal, original ideas.

Richard Stembridge (Sigur Ros, Florence and the Machine) Show Designer has been working with them since the Neon Bible Tour in 2008, when he was brought in by Paul Normandale to design video content. With the Reflektor tour Stembridge he has now stepped up to the job of full creative production design, gaining plenty of plaudits along the way. Commenting on the brief for the design he explained: “From an artistic point of view in the past the band have favoured a very organic, raw, homemade look.

This time out with 12 people on stage, and a 52

new electronic dance edge to their music, they wanted to go for a very clean, well-defined, dance club, warehouse influenced look and really step up the production values - and achieve that in arenas to a budget.”

From the outset Stembridge wanted an expedient but versatile lighting rig for the tour, and during initial design thought about how his set and video surfaces could be developed to also reflect light in the process becoming secondary light sources. That all the video surfaces should be truly multi-purpose and look interesting and relevant even when no footage is playing is one of his trademarks, together with using the medium subtly, intelligently and judiciously throughout the set. He started investigating the possibilities of using a mirrored video screen at the back of the stage that would reflect light when not in use, and then jump to life as a screen when video was running. During the warm-ups he hit on the solution for this,

which was to cover XL Video’s Pixled F-11 LED tiles which they are using on tour.

Another key element are two lighting truss pods for the stage ceiling both containing 21 Martin Professional MAC Auras, equally spaced and each fitted with bespoke hexagonal acrylic mirror pieces, made by Upstaging in America, who provided lighting. In Europe PRG supplied all the lighting including regular 500kg Loadstar JJ Kinesys hoists, four per pod. Four large mirror pieces, which sit upstage and 12 500kg Lodestar JJ Kinesys converted variable speed hoists. Paul Mundrick from Upstaging in America is on the whole tour looking after all Kinesys motors along with rigger, Bjorn Melchert.

Stembridge also designed the important video content. He said: “The band said very early on that they did not want to look like they were playing in front of a music video so all of the video is very short loops and seemingly

PRODUCTION PROFILE: Arcade Fire

Opposite: Richard Stembridge was responsible for the creative production design for the tour. Below: Unusual Rigging and PRG required two days to rig 450-metres of truss, some of which held the flown L-Acoustics PA.

inconsequential, nothing that is in any way narrative. It is often quite random. I spend a lot of time looking for things that fit. There is one song in the set Haiti where the video was designed by Montreal video production house, Moment Factory.

A major challenge for Greg Dean, Production Manager and Stembridge was turning the auditorium at Earls Court into the desired warehouse club look. Helped by the use of seven static triangular low lighting rigs placed above the audience, a large circular lighting truss above the B stage, and one large triangular rig directly in front of FOH high up, on the Kinesys hoists that lowered during certain songs. The large triangle used six JJ 500kg plus an additional six hoists to lower and raise a

festoon, comprising of standard glass filament bulbs, dipped for safety, placed between the triangles. Lighting fixtures on the auditorium trusses included PixelPars, Vari-Lite VLX Wash’s, Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700s and Mirror balls.

Not surprisingly there was a huge amount of trussing and cabling at Earls Court, which required PRG along with Unusual Rigging to do a two-day pre rig. Andy Sweet, Unusual Rigging’s Earls Court Contract Manager worked closely with Dean and Scottie Sanderson, PRG Account Handler for Arcade Fire. They planned and pre-rigged the cable bridges, which were required to service the triangular and circular lighting trusses. On the day of the event they pulled all the chains and hooked them into Unusual Rigging’s rigged steel. Scottie

Sanderson added: “For the Earls Court audience additions the guys handled over 15km of soca, data, and power. There were over 450m of trussing to achieve the cable management for lighting and audio, and the lighting trusses. It is always a pleasure working with Rich. He can see things others can’t, but an even rarer quality is being able to assist with the solution of making them a reality. For example, the bank of four Hexagons that made up the SR and SL IMAG screens came from Rich, and how to fabricate the engineering.”

XL Video provided full video production, including projection, LED screens, media server control and full camera, PPU package. XL Video’s Project Manager Phil Mercer comments: “It’s fantastic that Rich has become Show

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PRODUCTION PROFILE: Arcade Fire

Below: Bespoke hexagonal mirror pieces on the ceiling were made by Upstaging in America, who also provided all the lighting for Arcade Fire’s US leg of the tour.

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Designer. The show is real proof of his imagination, vision, talent and ability to think differently.

As always we are really enjoying working with him, and it’s great to see show video encouraging a real engagement with the audience, rather than just blasting out generic looks and images.”

A total of 120 F-11 LED tiles are used to create two rectangular screens with mirrored fascias, and these are flown in an out throughout the show via a Kinesys automation system. There are nine Barco HDF W26K projectors, three of which beam on to an impressive 60ft wide by three ft tall video back-wall made from Frazzle, a metallic sheen fabric etched by half circle slits that track across the entire surface from Rose Brand. The other six Barcos are used to feed the IMAG screens, which are also integral to the overall stage aesthetics. Their intricate hexagonal lines are based on Arcade Fire’s logo and made up from four individual interlinked mini-hexagons.

The show’s playback content is run from four Catalyst V4 media servers which are triggered from a High End Systems Road Hog Full Boar console operated by

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Stembridge at FOH. Alongside him on the riser is Chris Bushell, whom he asked on-board as Lighting Designer. The two have collaborated closely on evolving both elements of the show, together with Video Director Charles Woods who is directing the camera mix. Other key staff are Clarke Anderson and Jeroen ‘Myway’ Marain (Engineering), Ted Cognata (Projection/LED), Steve Falconer (Projection/Cameras) and Mark Inscoe (LED).

The camera package comprises five of XL Video’s Sony HXC-100 operated and two Sony BRC H700 robo-cams. The operated cameras are positioned two at FOH with long lenses, two in the pit on track-and-dolly and also pneumatic pedestals, specified to provide the dynamic range of movement that Stembridge wanted. The final operated camera is a hand-held onstage, and the two robo-cams are clamped to the upstage riser to cover the percussion and keyboard areas.

Woods cuts the cameras backstage using a Blackmagic 2M / E Switcher. He does a full live cut for the IMAG screens and also sends four auxiliary camera feeds to Stembridge’s Catalysts, so the

PRODUCTION PROFILE: Arcade Fire

Below: Yan Stile, Director, SSE; Marc-Olivier Germain, PA System Tech of Solotech.

latter can make use of these to do his own camera cut to the onstage screens.

Stembridge is highly complementary about working with XL Video. “I have worked with XL as a freelancer and used them as a vendor for about ten years. When I first made the move to video I started by freelancing for XL and then I started to get my own production gigs I used them as a vendor and there is definitely a loyalty there that has served me incredibly well over the years.”

Chris Bushell (Amy Winehouse, Florence + The Machine, Lily Allen, Goldie Lookin Chain) mixes on an Avolites Sapphire Touch console supplied direct from Avolites.

He said: “I started my working on Pearl’s and built up from there. It is as good as any of the other consoles these days and does what I want better than any of the others would. Mix wise I work manually with no time code or external triggers.”

Along with the large amount of Martin Professional MAC Auras other main stage fixtures on the rig include Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330’s, Martin MAC Viper Washes, PRG Best Boys with additional Q-Pix LED wrapped around the trusses along with Nexus LED panels from Chauvet Lighting.

SOUND WORLD Mixing sound at FOH is Jim Warren (Radiohead, Peter Gabriel, Nine Inch Nails, Crowded House, Duran Duran) who has worked with Arcade Fire since the 2011 The Suburbs tour. With a twelve-piece line up on stage, including two drum kits, strings, brass, guitars, accordions, unusual keyboards, percussion and vocals, Warren has plenty to keep himself busy. But it is a challenge that he is more than happy with. He commented: “The band are great musicians, the songs are very well thought out and very well arranged. There is a lot of detail and attention to detail. Part of my job is to create space and room for those elements to come through and to create the right dynamics.”

Microphones used on the two drum kits include a kick drum with a hole in it for which Warren uses a Beyerdynamic M88, for the other kick which has no hole, a Shure Beta 52. Sennheiser 604s on the toms, Beyerdynamic 201 for the snare Warren’s favourite snare microphone, and Audio-Technica 3050’s for over heads and ambience. A new addition for Warren on the high hats is a matched pair of Rode M5 stereo mics.

We would like to thank

Amy Davidson, Greg Dean, Richard Stembridge and Chris Bushell.

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PRODUCTION PROFILE: Arcade Fire

Below: Richard Stembridge Show Designer; Charles Woods, Video Director.

On the guitars Shure SM57s are the order of the day. For bass guitar a Sennheiser 609 supercardioid combined with a DI was his preference. Warren added: “I leave the 609 pretty clean and straight as whichever of our four bass players happens to be playing has his own effects but across the DI I use a Sansamp plug in to tweak with.” For brass it’s a pair of M88s, with the strings looking after all their pickups and pedal board effects with FOH simply getting a stereo DI feed from each ensuring a self contained string unit that never feeds back and who create their own effects.

For the accordion a pair of Audio-Technica ATM 350’s clip on cardioid condensers are deployed wirelessly and similarly used for marching drums and other percussion instruments that need to be mobile on stage.

For vocals Shure SM58’s are used, except for Regine Chassagne and instrumentalist Owen Pallett who use Sennheiser MD 431’s.

Warren mixes on an Avid VENUE D-Show system with a total channel count of around 90 plus a few utility channels available for new ideas and guest vocalists. Mixing at monitors is John Ormesher who has been with the band a number of years, working on a DiGiCo SD 7. Monitors on stage are comprised of d&b audiotechnik M2’s and M4’s, customised in white paint by Solotech for the band. IEM’s for the band were all Sennheiser 2000 systems.

For the Earl’s Court shows Ian McCulloch from Echo and the Bunnymen joined Arcade Fire for a version of The Cutter. At the Coachella festival in the US, it had been Debbie Harry for Heart of Glass. Warren has scene memories for every song and for certain ones three recalls within the song.

Marc-Olivier Germain is FOH System Tech for Arcade Fire, employed by Solotech who provide PA, consoles, mics, monitors and IEMS. 56

In addition for the two nights at Earls Court SSE supplied further L-Acoustics requirements. The main LR hang consisted of 14 L-Acoustics K1 per side, with KARA used as downfills and K1 subs, flown subs.

The side hang included 14 K2 per side. For ground subwoofers eight SB28’s were deployed.

Lip fills for the main stage were all KARA. SSE’s work included 40 V-DOSCs used for delays.

Five hung in configurations of eight. Over the B stage SSE designed a hang of 16 L-Acoustics ARCS configured in a donut ring shape, all driven by L-Acoustics LA8 amplifiers. Germain tunes his system using L-Acoustics SoundVision with measurements undertaken with Meyer Sound Sim 3 audio analyser. Commenting on working with the Solotech team Warren said: “They are great, always up for anything, and there is a lot to be up for on this show. A lot is decided last minute and they react every time.”

PYROTECHNICS Pyrojunkies supplied special effects with Stuart Wickens travelling for the tour. “Essentially it all comes down to one giant confetti / streamer moment for us.” He explained: “As most of the shows on the tour are outdoors, we spec’d our XL Superblasters and Stadium Shot cannons to deliver a massive 100kg of multicolour paper each night!

“As the band were filming a DVD shoot for the Earls Court shows, Richard and Greg wanted to take it all up another gear. So in addition to the touring kit we added in 24 Power shot cannons around the balcony of Earls court and an additional four XL Superblasters. Truly a cleaners nightmare!”

STAGING All Access Staging has provided Arcade Fire with a customised riser package for the entire tour

PRODUCTION PROFILE: Arcade Fire

Below: 14 Fly By Nite trucks were used on the Earls Court Shows while Coach Services supplied band and crew tour buses.

tour including white carpet fittings, mirror elements as well as video and IMAG frames. Robert Achlimbari from their LA office worked closely with Stembridge on the design. For the Earls Court shows All Access Staging London supplied Live Nation with a 60ft by 44ft, six ft high rolling stage, offstage platform for monitor world and FOH control.

KEY SUPPLIERS Sound Moves UK is proud to continue the touring association with Arcade Fire and their Production team.

At time of going to print, the company is coordinating and implementing multiple freight sectors for the UK and European shows and Festival headline slots.

For the Earls Court gigs, once Sound Moves had freighted the production equipment to the UK safely, securely and on time, Fly By Nite then provided trucking logistics with 14 DAF XF 105’s for the Earls Court shows. A further 10 trucks are used on other European tour dates and six are deployed for the band’s festival shows.

Coach Service supplied tour and band buses. At Earl’s Court Showsec provided security and venue assistance, and Eat Your Hearts Out were on the twoday run catering dury.

SHOW TIME The show began from the B stage, complete with hydraulic lift, a man dressed completely in mirrors

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PRODUCTION PROFILE: Arcade Fire

Below: XL Video supplied all video and projection for the Earls Court shows; 12 500Kg Lodestar JJ Kinesys converted variable speed hoists were among the secure technology used in the show’s rigging; Richard Stembridge’s grandiose show design complemented the band’s increasingly complex and layered sound; Vocal microphones were a combination of Shure SM58’s and Sennheiser MD 431’s.

and a group of dancers as the opening number Reflektor kicked in. A surreal punk funk grove with Warren delivering an epic detailed mix. A perfect rock, disco balance, further enhanced for the glam rock thump of Joan of Arc. The calypso funk influenced Flashbulb Eyes another highlight, as was Power Out from the 2004 debut album Funeral. Back to the new album and the subtle quiet dynamics of It’s Never Over was another Warren triumph, full of light and shade dynamics, with the two singers dueting across the main and B stages.

The show came to a close with Here Comes the Night Time complete with the return of the human mirror ball then a rum crew sporting over-sized papier mache bobbleheads performing on the B stage mimicking the band on 58

the main stage with Pyrojunkies adding the finishing touch. When the last fans have left the building, Dean, Stembridge and his team should be proud that this show will be remembered a long after the demolition of Earls Court.

TPi Photos: Simon Duff www.arcadefire.com www.xlvideo.tv www.upstaging.com www.upstaging.com www.flybynite.co.uk www.livenation.co.uk www.prg.com www.allaccessinc.com www.pyrojunkies.com www.showsec.co.uk www.sseaudiogroup.com www.solotech.com www.soundmoves.com www.unusual.co.uk

PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lorde

LORDE OF THE STAGE 17-YEAR-OLD RISING STAR LORDE MAY HAVE NO EXPERIENCE OF TOURING, BUT HER CREATIVE VISION AND HANDPICKED CREW ENSURE HER TALENT IS SUITABLY REPRESENTED VIA THE PRODUCTION. TPi CAUGHT UP WITH THE CREW AT HER HEADLINE LONDON SHOW AT BRIXTON ACADEMY. On the cusp of adulthood and fame, New Zealand teenager Lorde steps out onto centre stage, a single PRG Best Boy Spot Luminaire casting her in shadow from the truss above. Two more Best Boys light her from either side as she begins to sing the first lines of Glory and Gore and Brixton Academy becomes filled with some of the loudest cheers we’ve ever heard in the venue (the crowd later pushes 104db at FOH).

It’s a raw, stripped back start that sets the tone for an intensely focused gig, theatrical in look and with dynamic use of a relatively small production specification. The 17-year-old, who had never travelled outside of New Zealand before her world tour, has an enticing air of 60

confidence and maturity on stage that shows she has a natural talent, and also indicates that she has a great crew supporting her.

Behind the scenes is renowned Production Manager Richard Young, who has worked with the likes of Radiohead and P!nk. When asked how you plan for and execute a worldwide touring production for a new young artist who has topped the charts in almost 100 countries, he replied: “Peter Yozell, the Tour Manager who I worked with on Radiohead, was looking to put a team together. I was working on the P!nk tour when both her and Lorde were performing at The Grammys [where she won Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for Royals] so we all engineered a meeting there.

“Because this was her first production tour and she’s relatively new, it was the first time she had thought about having a production, so it was a kind of blank canvas from that point of view.”

Brixton Academy, Shepherds Bush Empire and a support performance for Arcade Fire were her only London shows on the tour, which had already stopped in the US, South America, Mexico and Europe and was then heading off to New Zealand, Australia (for re-scheduled dates following her illness) and the US, with a few festival dates over the summer. It was in the latter two continents that her debut The Love Club EP propelled her into the spotlight, reaching number two on the New Zealand

PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lorde

Opposite: Lorde’s performance was extremely well received at the Brixton Academy. Below: Baz Halpin’s stage design included three flown ‘picture frames’; PRG supplied the lighting rig, which included fixtures from Martin by Harman and Clay Paky; Capital Sound’s Paul Timmins and Robin Conway; FOH Sound Engineer Philip J Harvey.

Albums Chart, with its second song Royals topping the US Hot 100 chart in 2013.

“No one really knew how the tour was going to sell because although she is really popular in terms of records and downloads, you don’t know about ticket sales so everyone was a little bit cautious,” said Young. At such

an early stage in her career it’s clear to see why you would want to be cautious with budgets (although looking at ticket sales to date you’d probably have more confidence); that said, Lorde herself was keen to maintain the quality and authenticity of the show from the start.

“People think she’s a pop act and I guess the

music is pop-like, but her performance is very edgy and a bit grungy. She wanted to reflect that and ensure nothing was too cartoony or fake. Her thoughts were that if there’s going to be a chandelier on stage, make it a chandelier,” said Young.

Lorde (Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor

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PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lorde

Below: Production Manager, Richard Young; Lighting Engineer David McIntyre; Philip J Harvey mixing on his Avid Profile; Lighting Engineer Marcel Cadac.

to her friends) was so keen to have a real chandelier that Set Designer Baz Halpin visited rental houses in LA until he found one she liked which happened to be one that had featured in the West Wing. It was too expensive, heavy and unprotected to tour so the production team rented it for a week and ShowFX set about making a replica.

“Lorde was very instrumental in the visual look of the show and has her own opinions, so she sent us a lot of references,” said Young.

“Getting clear direction from someone is much better than indecision.”

LIGHTING Young’s sentiments echoed the rest of the production team, who were pleased to be joining Lorde on her ascent to worldwide success. Lighting Designer David McIntyre, who was previously touring with Crystal Castles, said: “I started working with her last August when she was doing small gigs in New York and LA for 200 people. Lorde is very hands-on and an intelligent girl, which you can tell from her songs and writing.”

Baz Halpin’s stage design is classic and minimal, with three large flown gilded picture frames in front of two ruffled drapes upstage (the drapes were custom made by Sew What).

McIntyre, who is supported by Lighting Tech Blaine Dracup, uses lighting equipment from PRG in the UK and Europe. The rig comprises 62

Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlaze 72 LED fixtures around the picture frame edges and the quickmoving spots of the Bad Boys to sharpen up the look for some of the more electronic songs.

“Richard asked me to use PRG for all the lights.

I wanted to use the MAC3’s and some Clay Paky fixtures, but instead I ended up trying the PRG Best Boys for the first time and I have to say they are pretty amazing for a 700 lamp, the optics are amazing and they have really crisp sharp gobos,” said McIntyre. He uses five Best Boys on an overhead truss and five positioned on the floor, both to light her and her band, and for facing into the audience for a kaleidoscopic look.

McIntyre is also a “huge fan” of the ColorBlaze products for their brightness, zoom and good transition between colours, with 20 in total positioned around the stage for different effects. Some are used to highlight the layers in the drapes, other reinforce the picture frame edges, some are on side truss towers, some are on the floor and others are used as an audience blinder. McIntyre uses an MA Lighting grandMA desk to control the lights, with four universes.

VIDEO Logistics and budget practicalities meant the video from the US shows was not brought over the Atlantic for the one-off London shows, but it was due to be reinstated for the next US leg. Creative Technology’s Graham Miller

was at Brixton Academy and explained that they would be taking three three-metre by three-metre GLUX 10mm screens to the shows which fit into the three picture frames flown on stage. “Richard Young asked for screens that were lightweight and tour-worthy so the GLUX was a perfect choice,” said Miller. “Because they’re made of carbon fibre, the tiles are super lightweight and you can also fit 20 tiles into a flight case so it’s a very cost effective product to transport and extremely easy to assemble.”

Said Young: “In the States, which is her biggest market, we used Andi Watson’s Scenographic to do the control systems for CT’s screens.”

AUDIO Firehouse will also be supplying audio for the US tour, but here in the UK, it’s all about local suppliers, and Capital Sound has provided the Martin Audio MLA line array system mixed by FOH Sound Engineer Philip J Harvey.

With limited pre-production before the first full production dress rehearsal at the Austin Music Hall in Texas [where Philip is from] back in February, Philip spent a lot of time beforehand studying the albums. Philip faces the usual problems of Brixton Academy’s acoustics due to the sloping floor and position of FOH, but also talked of the challenges of mixing Lorde: “Some of her songs are quite sparse so it is painfully obvious when elements are missing or aren’t

PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lorde

Below: Lorde in the spotlight as she took to the stage to sing hit such as Glory and Gore.

mixed correctly. I feel to make her live sound successful, it really needs to be dynamic and dramatic.

Otherwise, it’s too easy to get into the ‘just compress it and make it sound like the CD’ paradigm, which I don’t think would have as much of an impact.”

Since digital consoles started overshadowing analogue desks, Philip has always taken to the Avid Profile. “Digidesign [now Avid] desks seemed to be most prevalent in venues / festivals and available practically anywhere in the world,” said Harvey. “The choice was for consistency and small size footprint fundamentally. With Pro Tools and DAW plug-in integration, it seemed to be a logical progression and has become the digital desk I have become most familiar with now.

“I’ve found that clocking the Profile from an Apogee Big Ben or my Metric Halo UL8 really improves the quality of the sound.”

Harvey’s main go-to plug-ins are the Waves v9 C6, API2500 Compressor, Renaissance

Compressor, Renaissance Reverb and H-Delay. Lorde has a 30-channel input count and when the sound leaves the desk Philip runs the main L / R through a Meyer Galileo system processor provided by Capital Sound. “For metering and measurement I use an Earthworks QTC1 microphone into my Metric Halo 2882 +DSP interface for the room signal and AES of my main L / R mix output from the Profile for console signal fed into Metric Halo’s Spectrafoo software on my Macbook Pro,” said Philip. “I have come to rely quite heavily on Spectrafoo to give me an accurate visual representation of what is happening in the venue over these past number of years.”

On stage Lorde sings into a Shure UR4D wireless microphone with Beta58A capsules. “We tried a long list of other microphones, but the Beta58A seemed to work best with her voice and sounded the most open,” said Philip. The other microphones on stage are

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PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lorde

Below: Monitor Engineer, Marcel Cacdac; Lorde used a Shure UR4D microphone with Beta 58A capsules; Quantum Special Effects provided custom blowers to fill the room with confetti; the crowd pushed 104DB of noise at one point during the gig.

for the drum kit and mostly a Shure package: Beta52 on the kick; SM57 on snare top / bottom; SM81 on the hi-hat. A Sennheiser E604 is used on the floor tom and an AKG C414 B-ULS is used for overheads. DI’s are radial SW8 switchers.

Monitor Engineer Marcel Cacdac (MGMT, Of Monsters and Men, The Flaming Lips) had worked with TM Peter Yozell on Atoms for Peace last year. He said it was “great” working with Lorde and felt lucky to be one of the handpicked crew. He introduced Lorde to Sensaphonic in-ears before her Grammy performance. “I put almost every artist on Sensaphonics,” continued Cacdac, “and have a really good relationship with them.” Both Lorde and keyboard player Jimmy McDonald are on Sensaphonics 2-MAX IEMs, whilst drummer Ben Barter uses Shure SE535 earphones and a Shure PSM6HW hardwire beltpack. Marcel has six Sennheiser SR 2050 mixes (with two spare). On stage Jimmy and Ben have d&b audiotechnik M2 wedges, with L-Acoustics ARC and SB28 side fills for the stage sound. For FOH near fills and stage lip fills are a combination of Martin Audio loudspeakers.

At side of stage Cacdac handles the monitor 64

mixes on an Avid Profile with Waves plug-ins and a Big Ben external clock. I notice a custom made switcher on his Profile desk, he explained: “I call it the Sully ‘SS8’ switcher made by Sean Sullivan, which I use to fire snapshots and mutes. It improves the functionality of the Profile for me. I prefer to mix live but I snapshot the top of each song and go from there.”

Cacdac, who recently became an official Waves Artist, has used Avid ever since they released the Venue. “I really like being able to use Waves plugins, the integration is great and it’s seamless to use,” he continued. “Being able to use Pro Tools and Virtual Soundcheck is key.”

There are a lot of electronic elements feeding into the desk’s 30 inputs, meaning it’s a challenge to get the sound in her ears to sound live. “Sometimes with electronic sounds it can be very immediate and dry, so being able to blend that with a room type of feel is key, otherwise it sounds very narrow,” he said.

A CROSS ATLANTIC PRODUCTION The Appointment Group Manchester (formally ET Travel) handles the crew’s travel arrangements whilst Altour LA manages the band’s travel with European trucking from

McGuinness. In the US, Coming on board the production for the next bigger, worldwide shows were Quantum Special Effects, Youngs own RFIDentikit, Upstaging for trucking and Firehouse for audio and Andi Watson’s Scenographic for cameras.

As the show closes with a confetti-filled room (custom blowers from Quantum) after an energetic encore ending on A World Alone, TPi has a feeling we will be seeing Lorde return on a larger scale to the UK in the future. “Everybody wants her to go everywhere,” concluded Young, “but we don’t want to wear her out!”

TPi http://lorde.co.nz www.capital-sound.co.uk www.prg.com www.sewwhatinc.com http://uk.ct-group.com www.appointmentgroup.com www.upstaging.com, www.q-sfx.com www.soundmoves.com www.showfx.net www.silent-house.com, www.mcguinness.eu www.firehouseproductions.com www.altour.com http://rfidentikit.com

Reality Shows | Big Screen Feeds Congress Centres | Festivals | Events Concerts | Tours | Sport | News +44 (0)1590 622 440 www.bradeng.com

INTERVIEW: XL Video

RENTAL RELIANCE IN THE LAST DECADE VIDEO REQUIREMENTS IN CONCERT TOURING HAVE ALTERED THE LOOK OF LIVE PRODUCTIONS DRAMATICALLY. WE’RE WORKING IN AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE VIDEO KNOWS LITTLE BOUNDARIES AND WHETHER YOU’RE A HEAVYWEIGHT ROCK ACT, AN UPCOMING DJ OR A SINGERSONGWRITER ON A BUDGET, CHANCES ARE YOU’D PROBABLY LIKE A BIT OF VIDEO WITH YOUR STAGE SET UP. THE QUESTION IS: WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO ESTABLISH, DEVELOP AND SUCCEED IN THE TOURING VIDEO MARKET? TPi’S KELLY MURRAY FINDS OUT...

XL Video is one of the world’s largest video solutions providers, with 14 locations worldwide. It has supplied the entertainment and events industries with LED rental solutions since 1996 when it was founded by the de Keijzer brothers in the US. XL UK joined the group in 2000 when Lee Spencer, Chris Mounsor, Des Fallon and Richard (Dicky) Burford started operations from a warehouse in St Albans “Our first touring show was with Five in Spring 2000,” stated Spencer.

He recalls working with Mounsor on an Ocean Colour Scene show at Sterling Castle.

“We’d finished building the two side screens and the last panel was still on the bench in Surrey! It arrived 10 minutes before the band went on, Chris and I lifted that last panel into 66

position and plugged it in and it worked. Ocean Colour Scene would never know that, but the Production Manager, David Wright, did. The point is, when the band came on, that tile was in place and working. That was the point at which we realised we had the same approach to the business.”

This ‘can do, must do’ attitude has enabled the company to become a global contender in live event and concert touring video rental, honing its skills as a knowledgeable business with a core value of going to whatever lengths are necessary to make the job happen on time.

Spencer and Mounsor established XL Video with a strong structure in place, that structure has been fundamental to the group’s expansion.

Continued Spencer: “The most important thing today, for us, and what differentiates our

company from another, is providing the best quality of service. I still believe that XL Video achieves this. We don’t want to change what we are; we don’t want to become a cheap LED supplier just to service a market. We want to stay as a premium brand, with a high quality of service. People know they can get hold of us 24/7, literally. In the past, we’ve gone to incredible lengths to make sure the show happens including chartering a private jet to get equipment to site on time.” When probed, it turns out that this is no exaggeration. “Some time ago, we had a show in Spain, and for some reason the header parts were missed off the production truck. We chartered a plane in order to get the screen up in time for the show. Those are the kind of lengths that we’re prepared to go to, to make a show work.”

INTERVIEW: XL Video

Opposite: XL Video’s Head of Concert Touring, Phil Mercer, Managing Director, Lee Spencer and Director of Sales, Ian Woodall. Below: XL Video’s Radiant MC-18 Hybrid LED was sent on tour with the Kings of Leon; XL Video supplied a customised curved LED screen for James Blake’s Moon Landing world tour.

With a head honcho this meticulous about customer service, his team has to be on the same page. “The word team for me is absolutely crucial; you have to be a team player in this game. We have to be able to fit into a tour and for that I want people who are prepared to give 110%. If you’re not prepared to give that then you’re in the wrong company and probably the wrong industry as far as I’m concerned. The doors will open, that band will go on stage, and so we have to be ready. If that means me jumping on the back of a motorbike with a lens in my pocket to get there in time for that to happen, I’ll do it,” he said.

“The reality is that XL Video has changed the opinion of what a true video company is. We’ve become the fourth element of a show: lighting, audio, staging and video. I was stood on stage once chatting to a rigger and he said, ‘you make our life easy now. You were a pain in the arse before, video was always last in and first out.’

Now from the guy in the thick of it, hanging our gear, he was basically saying, ‘you’re one of the gang now.’ This means a lot to me; it really pleased me to know we were making a difference on tours because this industry is incredible. You can bring so many people from so many different disciplines together and create something that thousands of people then get enjoyment out of.”

LED LEADERS Head of Concert Touring for XL Group, Phil Mercer has been instrumental in bringing XL Video to the forefront of live event technology, project managing tours and keeping relationships on the road ticking along. During his 10 years at the company, Mercer has seen some significant changes throughout its core staff; Chris Mounsor has retired, Des Fallon unfortunately passed away suddenly and now Mercer is at the helm of the industry’s youngest touring team. He told TPi: “They’ve all come on board in the last three or four

years and the majority of them are from a touring background, so there’s still a lot of road experience in the Concert Touring division. It’s actually allowed us to really embrace technology and work at the pace that today’s industry demands, maybe in a way that other companies haven’t quite bridged with that generational gap.”

Today, XL Video is a fiery combination of strong technical minds and dedicated, passionate people. “It’s quite exciting really. I think perhaps our secret is to involve them in our big projects from the outset. That’s certainly what happened to me and I see it as a good thing.”

However, it’s not just the arena and stadium tours which keep XL Video at the top of its game, to name a few recent accomplishments for the rental house, it has serviced acts as varied as Arcade Fire, Bombay Bicycle Club, Coldplay, Disclosure, Ellie Goulding, Il Divo, Kings of Leon, Massive Attack, Robbie Williams, and Steve Aoki. The multitude of genres and varied scale of tours is what allows Mercer and his team to be truly diverse. And of course, there’s the appeal to keep projects fresh by continually investing in tours of a complex nature or those featuring up and coming live acts. Part of this ‘risk taking’ with newer acts with young designers and management is what Mercer feels keeps the company on its toes.

“Our role is to keep understanding technology and continue finding smaller companies with little ideas and back a few.”

INNOVATIVE INTEGRATION Having joined XL off the back of media server technology, Mercer is enthused by the impact media servers had on touring video. The integration in the form of lighting designers running video from media servers was a huge step for live event technology. “Media servers are just incredible. In many ways, they’re the hidden element of the show. A punter would

never know what a media server was, but it’s the engine room, it’s the brain. The R&D money behind them is from something far bigger than our unique world; it’s from the gaming industry.

We take all the benefits of their R&D and use it in a way they never would have dreamt of.

In some ways I think that’s exciting, to know that their technology is being used in an environment that it was never designed for.

“In the end, it’s not the technology that’s limiting, it’s the imagination, and it’s the bravery to go forward. Projectors, LED screens and cameras are cool, but without the imagination to drive them, they’re just cold pieces of technology.

“Looking back at Daft Punk’s 2006 Alive tour; they had a pyramid with a completely bespoke LED set up. That was the moment that started it for DJs; since then it’s been like an arms race. Every DJ or EDM act is trying to blow the next one off the stage. It was a key project for XL in that market and we were there first because we were prepared.”

XL is certainly pro-active in doing ‘firsts’.

It’s the first company to win 10 TPi Awards, for example. As a company, it also relishes sending new equipment out on tour. The MC-18 Hybrid LED screen went on the road for the first time in the US with Kings of Leon’s Mechanical Bull tour, where it was specified by Production Designer, Paul Normandale. The high-impact 74 ft wide by 38 ft high Radiant MC-18 Hybrid screen was used at the back of the stage, showing playback visuals. Yet as previously mentioned, it’s not just the Daft Punk and Kings Of Leon style outings that strike a chord with Mercer. “Sometimes I’m the most proud of the smallest things we do, because they’re the people who’ve got a modest budget, and they require you to take a risk. Ellie Goulding and Disclosure are great examples of this. A small project is perhaps more of a challenge to design, but ultimately those challenges are very rewarding.”

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INTERVIEW: XL Video

Below: Arcade Fire’s recent Reflektor tour was kitted out with XL Video’s Pixled F-11 LED tiles; Ellie Goulding’s tour used XL Video’s newest LED products including the Radiant MC-18 Hybrid, Radiant MC-7T and Radiant MC-18T , plus the popular Pixled F-12 screen.

For the continued success of this transAtlantic operation, it’s not just the equipment that is cementing the company’s reliability.

Mercer clearly cites “a very good crew” as a vital piece of the touring puzzle, ensuring they’re properly equipped to take care of the job in hand. “Moving from the UK to head up our US Touring team, Gareth Jeanne is taking over the day to day running and, repeating the UK formula, has a team which blends youth with relevant experience.”

“For us, the technology on a tour should always be what is right for the show and not just what we have in the warehouse. This is demonstrated perfectly by XL’s new business with Frederic Opsomer and his team at Projects BVBA which can create custom video solutions to almost any brief.”

CONQUERING THE WHITE ISLE In XL Video’s case, the concept of a cold sales person couldn’t be further from reality. With Spencer in the driving seat and Mercer project managing XL’s live outings with ease, the man behind recent commercial ventures is Sales Director, Ian Woodall who with five years at the company under his belt, has already created substantial relationships with some of the most attended venues in Europe as well as artists themselves So technical is Woodall, that when he started at the company, he ‘naturally assumed’ the role of IT Manager turning up to work and creating an IT infrastructure across the entire group, globally. Yet he’s so devoted to the success of the company’s longevity that his current role came about by identifying a gap in the market

“One of our values is to be a bespoke people business and that’s never changed...”

“As we’ve invested heavily in our own equipment, we can ensure the suitability and quality of what we send out on tour. 99% of what we send out is owned by XL Video.

We’re not in the business of simply marking up equipment that we’ve sub-hired from others.

“One of our values is to be a bespoke people business and that’s never changed. We have to have good relationships and communication with our clients because it’s a business and it has to work, but it’s got to be more than a transaction, so personality is very important for us. That’s the ingredient that is often overlooked.

“You get some salespeople and they do the deal and it’s all about the money, but what about those guys on the road for nine months of the year who are going to either make it or break it for you? If it’s all about the money, what happens to them?”

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that was solely built on long-term relationships.

After working in his first sales role for the company at the prestigious Under the Bridge club in Chelsea, UK, for six months, Woodall had an idea that would lead XL Video into new territories and place them right in the middle of some of Europe’s most popular live events: Ibiza’s summer season in all its party-hard glory.

Said Woodall: “In 2012 after we first ventured out to Ibiza, I came back and said to Lee, ‘if you trust me to do this, I can make money out of something really exciting.’”

While this plan was being hatched, in parallel, co-founder Chris Mounsor was retiring.

“Now, I suppose I’m Lee’s right-hand man when it comes to keeping an overview on all things sales and consequently it turns out that Ibiza has been really busy for us this year also,” he explained. The mere mention of the island makes Woodall’s face brim with animation,

and his seamless ability to put innovative technology into the rave-ridden shores of the notoriously difficult-to-crack island has in fact left him with a very driven work ethic - which goes far beyond gross profit margins. “Ibiza is a dangerous place. That island can eat you up and spit you out in 24 hours and you’ll be broken for a week. You need to be exceptionally focused on what your job is and what your goals are, and how you want to achieve them if you want to make viable business choices. There are a lot of people in this industry who are in it solely for the party and then the balance gets all out of kilter. We’re doing really well because we’ve managed to keep that balance and because we’re very personable, I don’t think anyone could ever think of us as a boring company…”

If you’ve ever wrestled around a sushi conveyer belt with Mr. Spencer’s crew, it’s fair to say that ‘boring’ wouldn’t be your adjective of choice. XL Video is a driving force within an ever-changing industry, built on a solid foundation of industry legends, of innovative firsts and trust earned by taking risks. Yet perhaps what stands out above anything else in a warehouse in Hemel Hempstead on a rainy day, at the bar of an opening party in Ibiza or on any given tour date around the world, is that this company has a willing obligation to genuinely service the needs of global touring and live event productions no matter what the circumstances, regardless of what part of the company they work in. Woodall summed it up in a heartbeat: “I don’t clock in and out, I just really like coming to work. You can have the biggest company in the world, renting everything that you can possibly think of at the cheapest price but if you phone up and speak to employee No.34, and you’re customer No.567, well… where’s the fun in that?”

TPi

Photos: Rachael Wright Kerry Woo Photography, Scott Davies Louise Stickland www.xlvideo.tv

CLOCKING OFF: Bosom Beard Buddies Below: L-R: Hunter Frith; Andy Beller; Samwise Seidel.

THE MERE MENTION OF THE WORD ‘ROADIE’ WOULD TRADITIONALLY CONJURE UP IMAGES OF FACIAL HAIR CLAD TATTOOED MEN WEARING SHORTS ADORNED WITH BAND PATCHES ROUGHLY STICHED ON DURING A 12 HOUR BUS RIDE. BUT TRADITIONALLY, WE DON’T LIKE CLICHES. SO SCARP THAT AND MEET THE NEW BREED OF TOURING GENTRY; THE MEN READY AND WILLING TO DYE THEIR BELOVED BRISTLES BRIGHT PINK IN THE NAME OF BREAST CANCER. HUNTER FRITH WRITES FOR TPi ABOUT HIS PLIGHT WITH HIS PALS, BOSOM BEARD BUDDIES. SIRS, WE SALUTE YOU! I guess it all started on a frosty Christmas evening in Vienna, Austria. A few of the crew from the Placebo tour ventured out to the Christmas market for some Glühwein.

Over the summer Andy Beller had grown a very impressive beard of which had to be removed before he returned to his love in Toronto. After a few more glasses of the warm spicy wine, we thought that before the shave Andy should dye his beard. To us the very obvious option was bright pink. For those who know Andy, will know that then his beard will match his phone cover, iPad cover and hardhat.

It was at this point that we decided that we should do this for a good cause. We chose Breast Cancer for two reasons, obviously the pink colour and because we have people close to us that have been affected. I think everyone knows someone who has been affected by cancer. So that evening I went back to the hotel and started a Just Giving page.

Within five weeks Mr.Beller had raised £2300. After realising the potential of this I decided to take on the challenge myself. This is when Bosom Beard Buddies was formed. In February Placebo played Soundwave Festival in Australia, so I chose this time to take on the

challenge. It is quite a daunting experience walking out in public for the first time; many strange looks, people not sure where to look and people coming straight up to you to find out what is going on (except for Soundwave festival where I basically just fit in.) Very quickly though, I started to forget that I have a pink beard and wondered why people were looking!

To date we have raised £5,600 for the Breast Cancer Campaign. A couple of months ago I was invited by the Breast Cancer Campaign to an event at the House of Lords. It was an event to show recognition to those who have been raising money for the campaign. The aim is to encourage other men to take on the challenge to show their support for the women in their

“To date we have raised £5600 for the Breast Cancer Campaign...

A couple of months ago I was invited by the Breast Cancer Campaign to an event at the House of Lords.”

Fortunately the trend started to catch on and a few more decided to take on the challenge.

John Dodkin, whilst stage managing for Jack Whitehall did it, and Jack even helped with promoting the cause. Then Samwise Seidel followed suit while working with Katy B. A guy I know, who works as prison guard in Shropshire, he also donned pink whiskers. Even a guy whom I have never met heard of the charity and set up his own page to join in the cause.

lives and help raise awareness and money for cancer research. Any man can do it! Set your own target, set your own length of time and start your own Just Giving page, if you’re brave enough...

Hunter Frith TPi www.facebook.com/BosomBeardBuddies http://twitter.com/bosombeards www.justgiving.co.uk/Hunter-Frith 69

IN PROFILE: Sennheiser

SENNHEISER SENNHEISER - A NAME REQUIRING LITTLE INTRODUCTION. THE REPUTATION OF THE GERMAN BRAND IS SO RENOWNED THAT EVEN THOSE NOT WORKING WITHIN THE LIVE EVENT PRODUCTION OR BROADCAST INDUSTRIES ARE FAMILIAR WITH ITS PRODUCTS - MORE THAN LIKELY WITH ITS COMMERCIAL RANGE OF MICROPHONES AND HEADPHONES. IN THIS SENSE, SENNHEISER IS SOMETHING OF A RARITY, HAVING SUCCESS AND APPEAL IN BOTH PROFESSIONAL AND CONSUMER MARKET SECTORS. TPi’S PATRICK MCCUMISKEY WENT TO THE COMPANY’S GERMAN HQ IN WENNEBOSTEL, HANNOVER FOR A TOUR OF ITS FACTORY AND PREMISES. “This is where it all started,” enthused Stephanie Schmidt, PR Manager Professional Systems of Sennheiser Germany and - for one day only - TPi’s official Sennheiser Guide. Pointing to an 18th century house in a quiet corner of the Sennheiser complex, Schmidt continued: “Fritz Sennheiser founded the company (at that time called Labor W) after the end of the Second World War in these premises with just seven men.

The whole enterprise grew from here.”

70 years later, despite having factories and bases in numerous countries around the world and with a total workforce of some 2,300 employees, the HQ still resides in the small Hannoverian village of Wennebostel - albeit with greatly expanded premises. The story of how Sennheiser came into being is a very unlikely one, determined and guided to a large extent by circumstance, chance and - to the credit of 70

late Prof. Dr. Fritz Sennheiser - opportunity. Fritz Sennheiser, founder of the company, actually wanted to study landscape design at university.

However, given the uncertain economic times in early 1930’s Germany, Sennheiser decided to study electrical / communication engineering at Berlin’s Technical University, a choice that he deemed to be more tangible in upping his chances on the uncertain labour market.

Before the outbreak of war in 1939, Sennheiser was given the post of assistant at his university institute. In a move intended to be temporary, Sennheiser and his boss, Dr. Vierling, moved to Hannover in order to found the institute for radio frequency engineering and electroacoustics. Of course, with the advent of war, his plans to return to Berlin were scuppered, and Sennheiser was forced to stay in Hannover to work for the Government in encrypting speech and the radio transmission of

encoded messages.

With the Institute for Radio Frequency Engineering burned to the ground after significant bombing raids by the allies in 1943, Sennheiser relocated the laboratory to Wennebostel, a location that - unbeknownst to Sennheiser - would become the permanent location of the company. At the end of the war, the laboratory was ceased by the allies, who confiscated most of the equipment - bar seven 50 uA moving-coil ammeters. Having already amassed significant knowledge in voltmeter circuitry, the seven-strong team led by Fritz Sennheiser decided to put their expertise into action and the laboratory slowly morphed into a company - initially making voltmeters - in the uncertainty of the immediate post-war atmosphere.

The growth of the burgeoning company (named Labor W - Laboratorium Wennebostel)

IN PROFILE: Sennheiser

Opposite: Sennheiser’s German HQ is in the leafy village of Wennebostel, Hannover. Below: Founder Fritz Sennheiser (1912-2010) with son and current Chairman, Jörg Sennheiser; Current CEO’s Daniel and Dr. Andreas Sennheiser; A selection of microphones and products of yesteryear on display at Sennheiser’s miniature museum; The SK9000 wireless transmitter next to its ancestor, an early wireless transmitter complete with valve.

was rapid. When in 1946 Siemens was looking for a supplier who could rebuild a microphone originally designed by Henry Radio, Sennheiser seized the opportunity. Soon after, the engineers began to develop their own microphone designs, spawning Labor W’s DM/MD series. Inside the original laboratory building - now partly a museum displaying Sennheiser products of yesteryear - Stephanie Schmidt showed us the original microphone. “It looks a bit clumsy… a bit like a showerhead or something. And it weighs a tonne!”

In the ensuing years, Labor W released a string of its own microphones, most notably the MD21, and the MD82 tele-microphone - the first shotgun microphone for use in recording outdoor events such as motor races or football matches. By 1953, the company had already garnered a strong reputation for quality and had an ever-expanding workforce - the number of employees rose from 94 in 1953 to 600 by 1958. Quality and longevity were traits associated with the Sennheiser brand from early on.

In 1958 Labor W changed its name to Sennheiser following an incident on the other side of the world. Schmidt elaborated: “As Labor W was beginning to become known around the world in the late 1950’s for its range of microphones, the Australian Prime Minister refused to use a Labor W microphone

because he associated it with the opposing Labor Party. Of course, Fritz Sennheiser had never considered what misinterpretations could be drawn from the name ‘Labor’ from the English-speaking world. And as Labor W had long since grown from a small laboratory to a fully-fledged company, he settled on something more neutral: Sennheiser electronic.”

Throughout the 50s and 60s, Sennheiser products attained a certain period design; still recognisable with many products to date including the ever-popular MD421 microphone, which remains a favourite all-rounder both live and in the studio.

Throughout the 70-year history of Sennheiser, the company has constantly been at the forefront of change; developing, improving and creating new products for a wide range of applications. On the subject of the company’s infinite product diversification, Fritz Sennheiser stated: “We were always dissatisfied with current technology and wanted to create something new and improved. We had so many ideas that even when other companies copied our products, we always had something new up our sleeves.”

From the 1950’s the company embarked on a string of diversification products, such as geophysical measuring equipment, conference and information systems, products for the hearing impaired, active speakers, amplifiers,

wireless microphones and headphones. It was, in fact, Sennheiser who can be credited with creating the world’s first ‘open’ headphones with the HD 414 - at the time the most popular modern headphone selling over 10,000,000 units worldwide.

Perhaps this constant state of development can be attributed to the fact that by 1978 11% of company turnover was reinvested into research and development. Besides a large R&D department at the head office, the company today has further R&D offices in Germany, Singapore and the USA. Sennheiser still remains a family run business to this day, with its own factories in Germany, Ireland and the USA and sales subsidiaries and partners across the globe. The current Chairman of the Board, Jörg Sennheiser, son of Fritz Sennheiser, took over the reigns from his father on his 70th birthday on 9 May 1982, and consistently developed the network of sales subsidiaries. After several years with non-family managers, the third Sennheiser generation is meanwhile active in the company.

Daniel Sennheiser and Dr. Andreas Sennheiser have been CEOs since 1 July 2013.

Sennheiser has collected numerous awards over the years in acknowledgement of its contribution to developments in technology.

These have included a Scientific and Engineering Award in 1987 from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the MKH 816 71

IN PROFILE: Sennheiser Below: The original poster depicting the name change from Labor W to Sennheiser in the late 1950’s; The original 18th Century house where Fritz Sennheiser founded the original company at its current Wennebostel site; Sennheiser’s anechoic chamber.

shotgun microphone; an Emmy Engineering Award in 1996 for RF wireless technology from The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and two German Industry Innovation Awards.

Additionally, founder Fritz Sennheiser received a lifetime achievement award from the Audio Engineering Society in 2002 and was inducted into the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) Hall of Fame for his contributions to the advancement of the consumer electronics industry in 2008, two years before his death.

Most recently, Sennheiser was honoured with the prestigious Philo T. Farnsworth Award at the 65th Primetime Emmy Engineering Awards in 2013.

SENNHEISER RF WIRELESS SYSTEMS In the realm of live event production, Sennheiser’s wireless systems have had an indelible effect on the landscape of the production of live performances. The beginnings of this were laid in 1957, when Sennheiser launched its first wireless microphone but it wasn’t until the 1980s when this technology took off to serve increasingly larger events. As early as 1986, engineers supplied a 36-channel system for Tokyo’s Imperial Theatre. Eleven years later in 1997, engineers were able to configure a recordbreaking 88-channel system of SK 50 pocket transmitters and EM 1046 receivers for the Bregenz festival in Austria. This feat was to be topped again in 2000, when the record was set for 104 separate RF channels for the transmission of the French national holiday TV broadcast.

The portfolio has been continually expanded throughout the years. Today, the 9000 Series is providing wireless digital RF support to large-scale events and broadcasts around the globe, most recently at the Eurovision Song Contest. Time to take a look at two more recent projects…

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST On 10 May 2014, Sennheiser equipment played a crucial role in the final of the 59th Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen, Denmark, 72

broadcast live to an audience of approximately 125 million people worldwide. Sennheiser’s Digital 9000 RF Wireless Series was used for the show - comprising EM 9046 receivers, SK 9000 bodypack transmitters and SKM 9000 handheld transmitters. In total, 96 channels of digital wireless microphones were deployed for the contest. Added to this were 24 channels of wireless monitoring with 2000 Series systems.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for the RF production team in charge with organising the RF for the enormous B&W Hallerne venue - a former shipbuilding hall that was specially converted into a show arena for the contest on the Refshaleøen Island. Jonas Næsby, RF Specialist with Sennheiser Nordic, was on hand to describe the difficulties relating to the venue: “We knew that the available spectrum was very limited as 22 TV channels were already fully occupied. This made frequency planning slightly difficult - especially as the wireless microphones were not the only devices that needed spectrum. However, the biggest challenge we faced was unquestionably the hall itself.”

With both the walls and roof of the huge shipyard made of metal (also the stands that were specially erected for the audience of 12,000), the reflectivity posed some difficulties for the RF technicians.

“Never before have I encountered such a huge amount of reflections and if somebody had told me that they knew of an arena that could affect RF transmission this much then I would never have believed it prior to this experience.

“We had pretty much optimised everything that was there to be optimised: the fine-tuning of the Digital 9000 system, the antenna positions, everything. And of course conditions improved a bit when the audience was in place.

In addition, we had also adapted the digital signal processing of the system which meant that even signals that arrived at the receiver extremely late and with high signal strengths were correctly combined with the RF signal that had arrived earlier. This meant that the Digital 9000 firmware was able to detect such critical instances and could cope with such extremely

rare problems. This could not have been achieved with an analogue system or, in fact, any other digital system.”

SENNHEISER AT THE 2014 WORLD CUP Sennheiser equipment also made an appearance at this year’s Fifa World Cup in Brazil. Production company Host Broadcast Services (HBS) used Sennheiser’s new Esfera surround microphone system for the first time, which produces complete 5.1 surround sound from a stereo microphone. “For us, highquality images and high-quality sound go hand in hand, and with Esfera we can create 5.1 sound with ease - even in post-production,” commented a spokesperson from HBS. A total of 36 Esfera microphones (SPM 8000) recorded sound in 12 stadia; while in the International Broadcast Centre, two Esfera processing units (SPB 8000) produced 5.1 sound from the stereo signals.

The on-pitch sounds of volleys and goal kicks were captured using 300 shotgun microphones - these included the MKH 8070 long gun, MKH 8060 short gun and MKH 418-S stereo shotgun microphones - descendents of the original 1950’s designed MD82 telemicrophone. MD 46 reporter microphones were also employed on the touchlines.

A total of 24 plug-in transmitters from the 2000 Series were used for wireless boom microphones and for spidercam-mounted MKH 8060’s. Each camera team were also kitted out with a wireless set (EK 2000 camera receiver and SK 2000 bodypack transmitter with MKE 1 clip-on microphone) including having a wired MD 46 reporter microphone at its disposal.

With continued user confidence and satisfaction in Sennheiser products the world over, we can be sure that when the company becomes 70 years old in June 2015, it will continue to set the benchmark for products in the live event production and broadcast arenas for the foreseeable future.

TPi Photos: Patrick McCumiskey and Petra Schramböhmer www.sennheiser.com

Mötley Crüe [ Las Vegas Residency, Sept. 2013 ] Photo © Todd Moffses

w w w .f f p – f x .n e t

MARKET FOCUS: Pyrotechnics & Special Effects

PYROTECHNICS & SPECIAL EFFECTS AARDVARK FX

www.aardvarkfx.com

Aardvark FX is a market leader in all areas of the industry providing technicians and equipment to high profile events such as the 2012 London Olympic games and The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. As the sole UK dealer / distributor for the World Leading Galaxis wireless firing system, Aardvark offers a hire and sales service to all UK Special Effects and firework companies. It also provides a custom engineering and design service for the industry and has manufactured special effects equipment such as the McBusted flaming sign for Pyrojunkies, fuel pump and robot head for Cirque Bijou for the recent Muse tour, Batman’s flaming balloon for Quantum SFX for the Batman Live Worldwide Tour and Bold Dogs FMX flame trays for Shock FX on Britain’s got Talent.

BPM SFX

www.bpm-sfx.com

BPM is an internationally recognised special effects and Production Company working with some of the most prestigious artists, touring, television, and event production companies to provide breathtaking live shows. BPM has a wide range of special effects to tailor to any event, occasion or need. Whether it is part of a larger production team working directly with an event manager or a smaller occasion, BPM makes sure its SFX packages and effects successfully integrate into a production with minimal fuss. No matter what size the venue, show or production, BPM can deliver that jaw dropping finale or subtle addition to a show that its customers require. BPM are happy to provide a service to give that safe, dynamic and memorable moment - whatever the brief.

FFP

www.ffp-fx.net

Born out of live touring around the world, ffp Spezialeffekte & Veranstaltungslogistik, based in Berlin, Germany, became the home for a circle of professionals who have devoted their lives to pyrotechnics and special effects excellence. ffp loves being challenged with ideas that seem impossible to realise introducing custom made special effects such as burning roof panels, the first charcoal waterfall effect and the latest LFG two flame system that shoots up to 20m flames among many other astonishing flame and pyro effects. Its team has also over 20 years of experience providing high end SFX to the entertainment industry. FFP’s clients include Rammstein, Robbie Williams, Mötley Crüe, Slipknot, Björk, Genesis and Marilyn Manson.

FLAIR SFX & PRODUCTION Flair SFX & Production is a leading special effects company in the Middle East. Supplying a wide range of effects solutions such as stage and indoor pyrotechnics, confetti, streamers, fire and CO2, lasers and much more, its custom built SFX can be tailored for any event or occasion. With a highly qualified team, and an extensive inventory of in-house equipment, Flair have worked on many major concerts and events in the UAE, including Swedish House Mafia’s 2012 One Last Tour, Tiesto’s 2013 World Tour, and David Guetta Live 2013. Combining experience with imagination, SFX is our passion. So whether a jaw-dropping finale or a subtle addition, Flair can deliver the extra spark that your event needs.

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MARKET FOCUS: Pyrotechncis & Special Effects

FLASH ART DUBAI

www.flashart.com

Flash Art Dubai, like many pyrotechnics companies, is a family business. In this case the family is a group of four friends who grew up together before starting their pyrotechnics careers, plus a small number of valuable new members. In technical terms the organisation uses a state of the art firing system handmade in Germany, and holds by far the biggest fire power permanently stored in the Middle East. Important shows are pre-visualised in 3D and later delivered using mostly Spanish and Italian product shot off hundreds of firing positions. Its mission has always been to use the non-verbal communication of music-synchronised pyro displays in order to touch people’s emotions.

HAZEBASE

www.hazebase.com

Hazebase is a supplier of professional hazers, fog machines and fog liquid, all made in Germany. Its products are characterised by reliability and robustness. Detailed advice, service and short delivery times are a matter of course for Hazebase. The hazebase base-hazer is the first 19-inch hazer combining compact size with power and economy - its fluid consumption is only 0,6 Ltr / hour on highest output and only 0,04 Ltr / hour on a pump output up to 5%. Further Hazebase products include the base-cap, base-classic, base-highpower, base-battery, base-cap-cased, base-classic-cased, base-highpower-cased und base-touring - all specially tailored for the needs of the customer.

LE MAITRE

www.lemaitreltd.com

Le Maitre Events’ pyrotechnic specialists are available to deal with every aspect of an event however large or small, from a one-off corporate product launch to a year-long concert tour. It has been responsible for some of the most spectacular pyrotechnic and special effects displays at concerts, theatres, TV awards, theme parks, corporate launches and private functions around the world. Le Maitre continues to set the benchmark for excellence in the innovation and manufacture of pyrotechnics, as well as smoke, haze, flame machines and special effects. With over 500 products including the PyroFlash and ProStage II ranges, HazeMaster and Salamander flames, it continues to bring out cutting-edge products distributed worldwide.

LMP PYROTECHNIK

www.lmp-pyrotechnik.de

Founded in 1999, LMP Pyrotechnik is today one of the leading pyrotechnic companies in Germany and Europe. The company specialises in indoor pyrotechnics for touring, TV shows and galas. Over the years and according to the demands of its touring clients, LMP Pyrotechnik started to install a complete department for outdoor pyrotechnics and aerial fireworks displays. Additionally LMP Pyrotechnik has set up a complete department for all kinds of special effects like smog machines, snow machines, confetti and glitter blowers, flame projectors and water curtains. LMP Pyrotechnik has the exclusive rights for the products of Le Maitre, Wells Fireworks and TBF. All of these companies are European manufacturers with high quality product regulations.

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MARKET FOCUS: Pyrotechncis & Special Effects

PYROJUNKIES

http://pyrojunkies.com

Now in its 11th year trading and as one of Europe’s leading special effects companies, Pyrojunkies specialise in supplying a wide range of amazing special effects to the entertainment sector around the world. Recent projects include: Mcbusted and Little Mix Arena Tours, Arcade Fire festival tour, fireworks for Concert at the Kings (Rock against Cancer), custom effects for the Doritos World Cup advert and a tonne of everything explosive for the Capital FM Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium. As an exclusive agent for Magic FX in the UK, Pyrojunkies also offers an online Webshop for confetti, streamers and hardware. Its expanding equipment portfolio also allows us to offer a dry hire service for everything special effects.

PYROTEK

http://pyrotekfx.com

With over 35 years of experience, Pyrotek Special Effects is an award winning special effects company offering innovative designs and execution of special effects for live productions including stadium and arena tours, award shows, festivals, live television and much more. Pyrotek serves worldwide tours from the initial design consultation of the show to providing dedicated licensed technicians, insuring that the effects are safely and professionally executed. Along with pyrotechnic special effects, its laser design productions and aqua visual FX teams provide breathtaking laser and water screen effects. Pyrotek’s design team work side by side with clients to create spectacular enhancement to live and televised performances, customising effects to meet any vision. Pyrotek’s designers and engineers work tirelessly to create new and groundbreaking special effects.

QUANTUM SPECIAL EFFECTS

www.q-sfx.com

Voted the Event Production Award’s Special Effects Company of the Year in 2012 and 2013 and the Event Awards Supplier of the Year 2014, Quantum Special Effects is one of the industry leaders in close proximity pyrotechnics and special effects. Quantum’s work ranges from intimate settings of private events and television; live and recorded, to large-scale touring and one off productions and experiential marketing events. Providing traditional pyrotechnic finale or completely new effects as yet unseen, Quantum takes you from initial design to visualisation and engineering through to manufacturing and delivery across the world.

Recently, Quantum has set up its US office, trading under the name Quantum Corp. This further enables the Quantum teams to service the touring industry in both the US and Europe. Having provided effects for Biffy Clyro’s headlining performance at Isle of Wight Festival and Katy Perry’s Prismatic tour, Quantum have also been working with Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Muse and Lorde at Coachella, Britain’s Got Talent and The Voice.

ROSCO

www.rosco.com

Designed to meet the demands of concerts, theatrical productions, theme parks and film sets, Rosco’s new Vapour Series Fog Machines offer the perfect balance of performance, durability and cost. The range, including the Vapour, Vapour Plus and V-Hazer provide affordable, compact, professional-quality fog machines delivering a powerful, solid, continuous stream of fog. All products share common interchangeable core components such as the detachable remote control and DMX interface, and all offer air input for easy cleaning on the bench, thus making repair and maintenance drastically simpler.

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the pyromaster flame projector with sparkle effect

www.gearsourceeurope.com

cre ating specia l effec t s w w w.t bf-p y rot ec.de

MARKET FOCUS: Pyrotechncis & Special Effects

SFAT

www.sfat.fr

SFAT specialises in the manufacture of machines and fluids dedicated to the creation of stage special effects.

With the Energy Streamer L and XL, SFAT presents a new range of very powerful confetti cannons working with compressed Air (easy shoot with remote). Different models to perform projections from 10 to 40-metres depending on projectiles. Its large range of special effects allows you to propose many solutions to wide demands. We answer all needs from shooting confettis, snow, foam, bubbles, artificial fog and scents to the realisation of animated inflatables, virtual flames and many others. The effects are made to meet the requirements of professionals in different fields of activity such as leisure, event, show, cinema, television, theatre and advertising.

SMOKE FACTORY

www.smoke-factory.de

Smoke Factory is a key player in the smoke business. It has developed and produced smoke machines for almost 25 years. Its user-friendly, safe and robust vaporising fog generators are built for all applications. The equipment is highly professional, reliable and is designed and made in Germany. The range is far-reaching, from the small battery operated Scotty II, to the standard machine, the Captain D, or the high powered machine, the Data II. The Smoke Factory range has standard and touring versions available for all machines, complete with high quality German made cases. Each Smoke Factory employee and worldwide distributor is technically trained to give its customers a fast, uncomplicated and top quality level of service.

TBF PYROTEC

www.tbf-pyrotec.de

TBF-PyroTec has 15 years of experience in the manufacturing of high performance SFX machines. The company has set new pyrotechnical standards several times over, with flame projectors like the Flamemaster, the 5-Master or the Fountain Flame - a combination of fire and water effects. The innovative product line reaches from the simple yet successful Spraymaster to powerful systems of 5-Masters and Single Shots, used on the world’s largest live stages. TBF-PyroTec’s effect machines are on tour with Metallica, Paul McCartney and Michael Bublé, as well as live shows like Holiday on Ice and Apassionata. The company also offers custom-built effect machines for theatres, festivals and architectural use. From flaming water installations to Olympic firebowls - TBF PyroTec turns SFX ideas into reality.

UNIVERSAL EFFECTS

www.universal-effects.com

Universal Effects Europe is a French Company making its mark on the Special Effects market with a large choice of machines covering all kinds of live Special Effects from Atmospheric Effects (snow, foam, bubbles), Cryogenic Effects (Smoke streams and tsunami), Visual Effects (Airflame) to Fragrance ambiance.

Its philosophy is based on three words: innovation, quality and efficiency. After more than 13 years of experience, the company now offers special custom effects to suit individual demand with its new brand, SFX DESIGNER. To deal with the challenges that 2014 brings, Universal Effects Europe has also launched its new e-shop - www.ue-europe.com - to improve upon its quality services.

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THE BIGGER PICTURE

THE BIGGER PICTURE CDM PT.2 - HANG ON A MINUTE

Serves us right really, scanning a fresh-off-the-printer consultation document and writing a broadly supportive piece. A second reading threw up a couple of issues.

Let’s begin where we ended in May; the principle of identifying who is responsible for what when it comes to safety management is a good one. The Construction Design and Management (CDM) regulations do that. So, if you’re doing it already, no problem. In fact, CDM has always applied to us.

But what if you’re doing it but not in the way that the new CDM regulations prescribe?

As it stands, from April 2015, all ‘projects’ that involve two or more contractors will require the client to appoint a principal designer (to design in safety in the design phase) and a principal contractor (to manage safety during build and dismantle phase). Fairly simple in construction, kind of easy to identify those roles in certain ever scenarios, but what about tours designed overseas, exhibitions with thousands of stands?

INTO THE UNKNOWN Just what projects will be affected is unknown, HSE hasn’t published any guidance. If they do, it’s hard to believe that it will be published before any proposals become regulations in April 2015. Not one single representative from the live events sector has been invited to develop guidance, it seems that it will be written by the construction sector. Sure, we can develop our own, but what use will that be without official approval, and what liability will the authors carry? It is certain that the construction sector will be affected because the scope of CDM will be expanded to cover domestic projects; can’t wait to see Grand Designs in 2015.

The expansion into domestic projects and the complete lack of guidance for clients and enforcers leaves everything open to interpretation. Builder and electrician; two contractors, CDM applies. DJ and magician at a child’s party setting up their kit...who knows?

Once you’ve built a house, construction stops 80

and someone moves in, a line is drawn. The removal men who carry the bed upstairs and find the kettle are not part of the construction team. Does that mean that scene changes in theatres are akin to moving furniture or are they construction activities? Same goes for band changeovers. The theatre sector has genuine concerns that authorities may start insisting on fencing to separate scene changes from the audience. No guidance leaves everything open to interpretation.

A POSITIVE IMPACT? It’s all about impacts; on cost to business and on accident rates. If you’ve read the HSE consultation document, you’ll have seen their assessment of the potential impacts on the domestic market, creating a financial cost from the need to train and educate, and generate paperwork. This cost is seen as proportionate to the potential reduction in accidents. In construction, there was a demonstrable reduction in accidents on large projects after the original introduction in CDM. This didn’t happen in the small to medium side of the sector, so HSE is hoping that simplification will lead to better safety management and fewer deaths and injuries. In short, the SME Construction sector has a big number to have impact on, therefore the costs are reasonable.

For live events, it’s a different story. First of all, there hasn’t been an impact assessment; that’s because, technically, CDM has always applied to us; it’s just been HSE policy to not enforce CDM. Sounds daft, but they’d have great difficulty doing so as it’s designed for construction. What they do enforce is the Health and Safety at Work Act and all the regulations that sit underneath it like Work at Height and Control of Noise at Work. It’s not like the lack of CDM has meant that we can escape prosecution if someone is killed or injured. Of course, the impact of changing this enforcement policy has not been

measured; a bit of a faux pas on the part of HSE. Any change in policy will have an impact on business and these impacts can be measured in financial terms. Sitting at the Department of Business (BIS), Innovation and Skills is the Better Regulation Executive (BRE) who have a mandate to reduce the regulatory burden on business. Dipping into tedious technicalities, as we like to do on occasion, notwithstanding the fact that CDM applied and therefore no impact assessment is required, the potential change in policy requires that a Business Engagement Assessment is carried out, so that’s what we’d like to see.

This is where all those surveys and economic impact studies come in. We have the palette to paint an economic picture of the various sectors affected; live music, business events, theatre, exhibitions and so on. We can, with the help of clever economists (we know a couple) and a few extrapolations, demonstrate how many ‘projects’ might be affected and the extra burden that will be placed on those managing them. The third impact, as with construction, is the real positive, the reduction in deaths and injuries. Zero is a good place to be; SME construction is a lot further from zero than our sector, any reduction that we see will have a disproportionately high cost for a negligible increase in safety on the ground. To those that have lost loved ones, to those that have received life changing injuries, would CDM have made a difference? Probably not; CDM is just as easy to ignore as the Health and Safety at Work Act. BLAME THE EU… FOR CARING There’s the question of Europe too. CDM exists because of an EU Directive - 92/57/EEC temporary or mobile construction sites, if you are remotely interested - so our Government is obliged to ensure that its own legislation meets the requirements of that directive. This is a bit

www.psa.org.uk Below: Meetings like this can help reduce the regulatory burden. We sit in them so you don’t have to. Well worth the membership fee.

of a challenge, as the BRE insists on reducing the regulatory burden yet the directive says that domestic construction should be covered

by CDM regulations. What we’re not sure of is where the directive actually stops and if one thing is for sure, BRE is not going to allow anything that goes beyond the requirements of an EU directive; no way. What is certain is that, in the UK and the UK alone, contravening the CDM regulations is a criminal offence.

Picture the scene; local charity organises fete, there’s more than one contractor, HSE asks to see principal designer or principal contractor, organiser hasn’t got a clue what they’re talking about, criminal charges can be brought. It’s a possibility, however unlikely.

Now, if HSE enforcement were to be placed in the private sector, we’d probably see a great deal of enforcement activity in easy money, high revenue areas. And you thought parking fines were annoying.

YES, WE’RE ON THE CASE Naturally, all of these concerns have already been raised and noted. Not just by us, but by those that took the time to respond to the HSE consultation that closed recently; thank you once again for your efforts, it makes a difference. PSA is also involved with a group of fellow trade bodies that is gathering facts and figures in advance of the obligatory Business Engagement Assessment (and yes, we’re also

“To those that have lost loved ones, to those that have received life changing injuries, would CDM have made a difference? Probably not; CDM is just as easy to ignore as the Health and Safety at Work Act.”

Criminal cases can be expensive, but the fee for intervention can be quite lucrative. It’s something we’ve mentioned before; if an HSE inspector finds you to be in material breach of the law, any work relating to that breach can be charged back to you in the name of cost recovery (around £125 per hour per person, per breach and they have a £17m target to hit).

getting to grips with the official guidance on such matters). There’s work to be done over the summer, our members’ support helps us continue that work towards a practicable solution.

Stay safe.

TPi www.psa.org.uk 81

MOVERS & SHAKERS Sponsored by www.interfacio.com • +44 208 986 5002

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Liverpool, UK-based sound, light and visual production solutions provider, Adlib, has just appointed Mike Docksey as General Manager to oversee its fast expanding Lighting and AV divisions. In a challenging economic climate, Adlib, headed by Andy Dockerty which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary, has been steadily building an infrastructure to support and evolve its growing global portfolio of clients.

Managing Director Andy Dockerty said: “Mike has undertaken to work alongside the directors and managers at Adlib to help strengthen the brand across all genres and disciplines. He will be overseeing the whole lighting and AV operation with a view to implementing positive and progressive steps to fulfil the aspirations of the company.

UK-based engineering company, Blumano, has recently been launched to provide a whole range of specialist services, expertise and consultancy related to lifting and load-bearing equipment for stages and other areas of entertainment industry production.

The company is headed by two industry professionals, Cristiano Giavedoni and Amedeo Guizzi - bringing many years of experience and a vast knowledge of the professional entertainment industry as well as their respective individual areas. Services offered include system integration of structures and machinery, structural calculations; site installation consultancy and project management; and safety assessments and engineering approvals.

Doughty Engineering has appointed Mathew Brake as the newest member of its export team, where his experience and customer service skills will provide customers with greater continuity, complementing the two existing part time members of staff.

Speaking of Brake’s appointment, Laurence Dyer, Doughty’s UK sales representative, commented: “In the short time that Mathew 82

has been with us, we’ve already noted his great potential. He hit the ground running on day one and has demonstrated his excellent customer service skills, expertly dealing with some very challenging customer requests. Being a full time member of the export department, Mathew’s skills and experience will allow me to focus on carrying out my customer facing role to greater effect, which will inevitably lead to a better experience for both new and existing clients.”

Brake, who was previously with K-Tech Racing, where he worked across both UK sales and export, added: “I’m delighted to come on board at Doughty. While my job centres on my sales ability, I am fortunate to have completed an apprenticeship in engineering which undoubtedly helps me to understand the customers’ needs.”

Bosch Security Systems’ Communications Systems Division has announced the appointment of Michael Doucot to the position of Product Marketing Manager, Electro-Voice Portable Sound, North America.

Doucot moves into this key marketing role after a successful ten years in customer service and sales with the company, most recently as a Regional Sales Manager for the central U.S. region. Doucot will continue to be based at EV HQ in Burnsville, Minnesota. Doucot’s new responsibilities include the development and implementation of marketing strategies for EV retail products - including portable loudspeakers, microphones, and electronics - and serving as a focal point for the voice of the customer.

Harman Professional has announced the appointment of Erik Tarkiainen as Vice President of Global Marketing and in doing so signaled its intent to advance its branding and communications with stronger understanding and engagement among partners and customers worldwide. Tarkiainen will lead global marketing strategy and execution across the Professional Division and will drive new initiatives in online

marketing, social media, public relations, events marketing and education.

Commenting on his new role at Harman Professional, Tarkiainen enthused: “It’s an honour to represent the legendary brands in the Harman Professional portfolio. Through a combination of digital and traditional marketing, I look forward to extending our reach and introducing our products and services to customers and partners across the globe.”

As part of an ongoing process of preparing for its next wave of growth, Martin Audio has recently made two new strategic hires. Firstly, Bash Akhtar has joined as Operations Director.

He has previously served as Operations and Manufacturing Director of RLC Callender, Smiths Detection, and Harmonic. Bash has earned a Fellowship in Manufacturing Management from Cranfield University and is a Manufacturing Systems Engineer from the University of Hertfordshire.

Secondly, David Morbey has joined as the company’s first dedicated Product Manager.

He has previously served as Global Product Marketing Manager at D&M Professional.

Commenting on the hires, James King, Director of Marketing, said: “We’re delighted to have Akhtar and Morbey join us as we continue to build a world class team. Their expertise will enable us to further grow the business and support our customer base.

“Akhtar comes to us with a wealth of operational experience and knowledge from a variety of industries and I look forward to his leadership in creating a world class manufacturing facility right here in High Wycombe. Morbey will bring new discipline to product development and life-cycle management, alongside developing deeper insights to application opportunities that will lay the path for a better defined and even more successful product line up.”

Harman’s Martin Professional has appointed SF SES vs ISIK Sistemleri A.S., also known as SF,

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Opposite: Mike Docksey has been appointed General Manager of Lighting and AV at Adlib; Doughty Engineering has appointed Mathew Brake to its export team; Harman Professional has announced the appointment of Erik Tarkiainen as Vice President of Global Marketing; Powersoft has appointed Gilberto Morejon as Regional Sales Manager for the Caribbean and Latin American (CALA) market.

as the exclusive distributor of Martin products in Turkey. Istanbul-based SF has been a valued member of the Harman distributor network for over 25 years and this partnership will enhance the sales, distribution, and support of Martin Professional lighting solutions throughout Turkey as well as Azerbaijan and Northern Cyprus.

“As distributors of top brands in audio, video and lighting systems, we are sure that Martin will be a valuable addition to our existing distribution lines, as our reseller and solution partners always look to offer more sophisticated and robust turnkey lighting solutions to present to their enduser customers” commented Samim Mutluer, CEO SF SES ve ISIK Sistemleri A.S. “We look forward to providing our resellers and partners with the value-added services in support of Martin’s complete lighting system solutions.”

Powersoft has appointed Gilberto Morejon as Regional Sales Manager for the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) market. Morejon will be handling sales for Powersoft, facilitating product demonstrations, and providing design assistance and technical support throughout the Latin American region from his office in Miramar, Florida.

An industry veteran, Morejon worked in

professional audio for 30 years, including sound engineer for Grammy Award-winning artists like Carlos Vives 1994-2011, Franco de Vita 19921998, Luis Enrique, Julio Iglesias, and many others.

A significant part of his work will be to increase Powersoft’s presence in the pro audio CALA market (Latin America and the Caribbean).

“I believe that Latin America needs to be brought to a point where the consumers in those countries are aware not only of Powersoft’s products, but of the science and philosophy behind them.”

Elsewhere, Stephen Lambright has joined Production Resource Group LLC (PRG) as vice president of marketing. With over 20 years of international marketing and brand development experience, Lambright will be responsible for the company’s global marketing strategies, implementation of marketing programs that enhance and expand PRG’s industry leadership, and promotion of PRG innovations to partners and clients.

“It is an honour to join the exceptional team of people at PRG,” stated Lambright. “The talent and passion at this company is remarkable. I look forward to helping continue to shape and

fortify the PRG brand in the global marketplace to ensure our continued growth and success.”

XL Video has announced the creation of a new business focusing on the rapidly expanding market of bespoke LED and video solutions.

Projects BVBA, led by Frederic Opsomer, has a team with more than two decades of experience in the design and manufacture of structural solutions for the integration of LED. The team has a global reputation for excellence.

Projects BVBA will be located at XL Video’s Head Office in Oostende, Belgium.

SGM has announced the appointment of LTT Lighting & Theatre Technology as its new sole Polish distributor. LTT is Poland’s leading, and longest serving distributor of professional lighting fixtures, consoles and other technology.

LTT commercial director, Paweł Mrozinski commented: “It has become clear that the foreseeable future belongs to LED fixtures with their reliability, efficiency and excellent colour mixing. That’s why we were searching for a partner that offered the most innovative solutions in this technology - and in our opinion SGM is precisely that company.”

TPi www.tpimagazine.com/jobs/

Advertising Sales TPi Magazine is Recruiting TPi Magazine, part of the Mondiale Publishing Ltd group is looking for an experienced Account Manager.

The position will require an understanding of print, digital, sponsorship and event sales processes as well as the ability to identify new market opportunities. The ideal candidate will be self motivated and have the skill to work within a close-knit team.

As part of the role you will be required to work out of standard office hours which involve considerable international travel, whether visiting clients or attending trade shows. The position is based in our Stockport offices.

Salary is negotiable, dependent on experience. If interested please send your CV with a covering letter to General Manager Justin Gawne at j.gawne@mondiale.co.uk.

Mondiale Publishing Ltd is a market leading publisher that produces high quality print magazines, multi digital channels, events and conferences for the live and installed entertainment technology industries, architectural lighting sector and the hotel design and development markets.

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VITAL STATS

VITAL STATS 160 ALEX BARRAND Profession: Manager, Pioneer Professional Audio Place of birth: Essex, UK How did you start out in the industry?

I started working for an audio company after I passed my electrical exams, working on live shows, loading trucks, and setting up systems for bands. I attended a sound engineering course in Essex and then Hertford where I was learning the fundamentals of live sound.

I then started to move into the fixed installation area where I designed and specified club systems for commercial bars and clubs around the UK. While working on a project, I heard about a position at Ministry of Sound London. I applied and fortunately got the job as Production Technician. I held this role for three years until I was offered the position as Technical Manager.

I wanted to make a change to the system in the main room as it was starting to show its age and become outdated. I contacted Martin Audio and that’s when we started to create the current system after many hours spent with [R&D Development Director] Jason Baird and his superb team testing and building prototypes until we finally came up with the winning combination that ticked all the boxes from both sides.

The next step was to upgrade the BSS Audio Soundweb original units within the venue to the new BSS Soundweb London range where I used the Cobra Net versions for distribution of audio and its redundancy capabilities. After completing the total upgrade of the venue, I was looking for a new challenge. I had two job offers from a couple of well known audio manufacturers and then, at the very last minute, I was presented with a proposal from Pioneer HQ. After attending a meeting in Japan to discuss the position, I was appointed as part of the planning team to develop Pioneer Pro Audio.

“Pioneer has always had its roots in great quality sound - that’s our core competency and our passion...”

You’ve toured, been a sound designer, installation manger and successful sales person representing a global brand. What has kept you glued to the pro audio industry?

Working on tours, installations and technical sales has taught me so many things about the different areas of this business. It’s really helped me focus on the bigger picture; making sure the audience - no matter how big or small the gig - walks away happy. That’s what we all want.

The Pioneer brand was launched in 1937, what core values do you think have developed the company into the success it is today?

Pioneer has always had its roots in great quality sound - that’s our core competency and our passion. Pioneer is a big company but we like to keep focusing on the finer details such as quality and customer care. Sure, we make mistakes along the way, but we always listen to feedback, good or bad, and try to implement this in our planning for new products.

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Pioneer DJ supports the IMS conference in Ibiza. Why is this an important event in the electronic music calendar?

The Internatonal Music Summit (IMS) is one of the most important conferences for professionals in dance music. It’s more of a focus for the Pioneer DJ arm of our company and that’s why they’ve sponsored the event since its launch eight years ago. Every year, artists, producers, labels and technology companies gather to discuss ideas and trends in the industry, the content of which is invaluable for making future business decisions.

The Dalt Vila gigs, held as part of IMS are an interesting event. Can you explain the concept behind it?

The idea behind the Dalt Vila party was originally created as a way to give back to Ibiza residents; held at the Unesco world heritage site of Ibiza’s old town, which is no easy feat! The parties a are held over two nights and signal the end of the IMS conference, and are now recognised as opening parties of the entire Ibiza season. One of the International Music Summit’s founding partners, Simeon Friend, owner of live production company in Ibiza called The Shop, is responsible for putting on the show.

It’s a challenging one in the best conditions because of Dalt Vila’s Unesco status, but somehow he pulls it off every year.

Pioneer Professional Audio has recently launched a loudspeakers series for fixed install applications, the GS Wave Series. How was this received by the industry?

The GS Wave reactions around the world have been very positive and currently have four locations soon to be completed. The GS Wave and XY Series have been designed to the highest standards using the most up-todate speaker driver technology and of course built in our factory in the UK. Are there any plans to launch a live-specific line array too?

It’s too early to say at this stage, but what we can say is we’ve got a great product line-up in the pipeline, so watch this space!