BLOSSOMS
He continued: “Blossoms are great to design for, they’re very open to my suggestions. I discussed wanting to make the stage more of a set than it had been in their previous shows, and develop something appropriate for their new synth-pop songs, yet still be relevant for their moodier, debut album tracks. I aimed to create a space for them to play within, but for it to also remain sharp and uncluttered. The use of a video element through the Martin Sceptron fixtures played a big part in this. It allowed us to go from sharp, solid colour lines to softer effects, depending on the content. “I opted to control the Sceptron using video content rather than DMX and chose Resolume software triggered by my MA Lighting grandMA2 console. I also have a fader wing in a custom flight case that I use on all of the shows, and a second as a back-up,” he said. The floor package comprised 77 x 1m and 16 x 320mm Sceptrons for the lines of LED. “Initially, I planned to create these with LED tape, however, Sceptron was suggested by dbnAudile as an easier way of achieving the look.” Additionally, 10 Claypaky A.leda B-EYE K10’s were positioned as back wash along the bottom of the frames of Sceptron. “I’m a fan of the colours and the pixel effects allow for an extra dimension,” he said of the prominent fixture. “A further 5 x Claypaky Stormys were positioned on the frames for strobes as I wanted to be able to have the option of coloured strobes rather than just white. On the floor, I chose 6 Claypaky Mythos for their versatility and I use them for everything from tight beams to super wide gobos.” The floor package was completed by 10 Chauvet Professional Colorado Solo 3’s for side light. And 5 4 x 1 blinders, each behind each band member.” The flown fixtures were 18 Claypaky A.leda B-EYE K10’s for front, back and mid wash, 9 Robe Mega Pointes (13 at the Manchester Apollo show)
for spots which impressed according to Croft, 8 Claypaky Stormys 4 2 x 2 blinders, 9 2 x 1 blinders and 5 Claypaky QWO for further front light. Croft concluded: “The tour was a really good experience; I’ve had really positive feedback and I’m excited to continue using this design throughout the festival season. It worked really well - from the biggest to the smallest venues we played in. Although I’d been involved in some big shows from my time at dbnAudile, this is the biggest project I’ve taken on under the Mangata Collective brand while using kit from dbnAudile. I’m really pleased we could step up the production and create what we did here.” The team from dbnAudile was competed by Dale Wilson and Paul Crompton. MONITORING In monitor world, Callum Bate is the man with the mixing expertise. After attending Manchester’s SSR [School of Sound Recording], it was his goal to become a touring sound engineer. “I met the band whilst touring as a FOH Engineer with Viola Beach [RIP], which were my first client while I was still at university,” he explained. Having been in the Blossoms camp for over 2 years now, Bate stated that he wanted to move onto using DiGiCo “for a while”, but was unable to find the time during the hectic first album campaign. “We take our audio packages out from Adlib and they carry loads of DiGiCo SD12’s, which are ideal for monitors. I used the desk on a fair few festivals last year and found that I always got on with it - it really suited my workflow and sounded perfect in the IEMs. When I got the opportunity to specify, I knew I wanted an SD12 - it sounds great for Blossoms’ mixes. We have quite a lot of stuff going on audio-wise and the desk handles it all brilliantly; my mixes are pushed pretty hard but the SD12 - and our
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