EVENT FOCUS
REBEL GRACE Production company Loud and Clear chooses Equipson’s LightShark console to boost workflow efficiencies.
When Milwaukee, US-based sound, lighting and video event production company Loud and Clear Productions LLC was putting together equipment for Rebel Grace, a local country band that averages 50-60 gigs a year, it needed a package that could cope with a range of venues, from small clubs with a capacity of up to 500 to county and state fairs and summer festivals, where audiences can number over 2,000. Eric Reese, Founder of Loud and Clear, explained that his company was looking to make changes to its set-up to accommodate the various venues. “We had a lighting console that we had used on previous Rebel Grace shows, but given venues and crowd concerns with these events, I wanted to change the workflow paradigm in audio/lighting operation from a FOH based control position, to an option that could be located at monitor world, while operating wirelessly around the venues,” he commented. “We also wanted the new console to be compact, portable and be capable of producing an impactful show while still delivering workflow efficiencies,” he added. The brief initially sounded hard to fulfil, but Loud and Clear settled on two intermediate-level DMX-based hardware lighting consoles that offer completely integrated hardware and software control via smartphones
and tablets: Spanish manufacturer Equipson’s recently released WorkPro LightShark LS-1 and LS-Core. Both products are aimed at small- to medium-sized touring productions and fixed installations such as theatres, nightclubs and houses of worship. “I was introduced to LightShark by Blizzard Lighting (Equipson’s US distributor) and I was intrigued by the LightShark LS-1 because it offered features and connectivity one would normally find in a much more expensive product,” Reese explained. “These included built-in ‘brains’ accessed by web service, along with expandability of DMX universes.” Reese decided to incorporate a LightShark LS-1 into the Rebel Grace shows and built the entire audio and lighting rigs specifically to maximise impact with minimal footprint. “We wanted to maintain the utmost efficiency of system control and deployment, as well as to provide an aesthetic that was different from other local acts,” he commented. “The ability to control the LightShark LS-1 via web server from a tablet or smartphone made it the right choice for this application.” Toby Tobolt, Loud and Clear’s Light Designer, agreed that being able to access the LS-1’s software via Wi-Fi or ethernet on any device was a very compelling feature. “I didn’t need to download any software or depend on 14
