TPi May 2020 - #249 by Mondiale Media

TOTAL PRODUCTION INTERNATIONAL LIVE EVENT DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY • MAY 2020 • ISSUE 249

STEREOPHONICS Rock ’n’ roll theatrics in packed-out arenas

SO MAYBE TOMORROW, I’LL FIND MY WAY HOME...

HALSEY • HATSUNE MIKU • HELP OUR FRONTLINE • THESE NEW PURITANS • UNITED WE STREAM TPi TALKS • IN THE FIELD: MARTIN BY HARMAN ERA 800 & DEPENCE² • IN PROFILE: AUDIOTONIX

MAY 2020 #249

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Stream of consciousness… When I usually write these leaders, I tend to take out my phone and look through our TPi shared calendar to remind myself where we’ve been and what gigs we’ve witnessed, to try to encapsulate the month in question. Nowadays this shared document serves as a reminder of the many events that have either been postponed or cancelled. This might sound like a bit of a negative note to begin on, but I raise it to make a point of how quickly we and the whole industry has adapted, and is finding new ways to keep the ‘live’ in ‘live events’. It’s true that the venue doors may be closed but, rest assured, there is still plenty of innovation and ingenuity to be found in Dropboxes and video conferences across the globe. This issue represents a significant shift in subject matter from our usual offering. While we still have profiles on some of the shows we were able to attend prior to lockdown, we are now interviewing companies and designers who are taking their skills and channelling them into new fields. The biggest buzzword right now seems to be streaming. As fantastic as events such as One World: Together At Home are, with artists using computers and smartphones to stream living room performances, anyone who works in live events knows that, soon enough, these artists will require higher production values, while still keeping audiences and performers safe. In this issue, we speak to both White Light and Creative Technology, both of which now offer a state-of-the-art streaming studio, which they hope to welcome musicians to in the coming weeks. The development in the industry has also affected TPi’s output in the past few weeks, with the introduction of TPi Talks – our new long-form interview series, which can be found on the TPi website as well as Spotify. Not only that, but our supplement magazine for the Middle East and Africa, TPMEA, will soon hold its annual awards, airing the entire show from a virtual stage. Somehow in the midst of isolation, it looks as though we have stumbled into the future. The long and the short of it is this; the dedicated team at TPi – and the wider Mondiale Media family – are still here, manning the phones and inboxes, to continue to tell the stories from the live events sector. True, it’s uncertain times and no one has a crystal ball to predict how we will get back to a sense of normality. Until then, we are going to continue to put our beloved monthly magazine to print and be the megaphone for those working hard to keep the events industry together and keep all those at home up-todate with the latest news of this everchanging landscape. Till next time, stay safe. Stew Hume Editor

EDITOR Stew Hume Tel: +44 (0)161 476 8385 Mobile: +44 (0)7702 054344 e-mail: s.hume@mondiale.co.uk

STAFF WRITER Jacob Waite Tel: +44 (0)161 476 8352 Mobile: +44 (0)7592 679612 e-mail: j.waite@mondiale.co.uk

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Peter Iantorno Tel: +44 (0)161 476 8360 Mobile: +44 (0)7763 233637 e-mail: p.iantorno@mondiale.co.uk

GRAPHIC DESIGN & PRODUCTION Dan Seaton: d.seaton@mondiale.co.uk Mel Capper: m.capper@mondiale.co.uk

ADVERTISING ACCOUNT MANAGER Harley Daniels Tel: +44 (0)161 476 9119 Mobile: +44 (0)7854 087731 e-mail: h.daniels@mondiale.co.uk DIGITAL EDITORIAL ASSISTANT James Robertson Tel: +44 (0)161 476 8360 Mobile: +44 (0)7725 475819 e-mail: j.robertson@mondiale.co.uk COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Hannah Eakins Tel: +44 (0)161 476 8360 Mobile: +44 (0)7760 485230 e-mail: h.eakins@mondiale.co.uk CHIEF EXECUTIVE Justin Gawne Tel: +44 (0)161 476 8360 Mobile: +44 (0)7768 850767 e-mail: j.gawne@mondiale.co.uk

ACCOUNTS Lynette Levi / Sarah Miller: ar@mondiale.co.uk MONDIALE GROUP CHAIRMAN Damian Walsh COVER Stereophonics courtesy of Lewis Roberts PRINTED BY Buxton Press • www.buxpress.co.uk Issue 249 – May 2020 Annual subscriptions (including P&P): £42 (UK), £60 (Europe), £78/$125 (RoW). Subscription enquiries to: Subscriptions, Mondiale Media Limited, Strawberry Studios, Watson Square, Stockport, SK1 3AZ, UK. Tel: +44 (0)161 476 5580 Fax: +44 (0)161 476 0456 e-mail: subscriptions@mondiale.co.uk www.tpimagazine.com www.tpiawards.com

TOTAL PRODUCTION INTERNATIONAL is a controlled circulation magazine, published 12 times a year by Mondiale Media Limited under licence. ISSN 1461-3786 Copyright © 2020 Mondiale Media 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 Media 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. Total Production International USPS: (ISSN 1461 3786) is published 12 times a year by Mondiale Media Limited United Kingdom. The 2020 US annual subscription price is 117USD. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by Agent named Air Business, C/O WorldNet Shipping USA Inc., 155-11 146th Avenue, Jamaica, New York, NY11434. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Total Production International, Air Business Ltd, C/O WorldNet Shipping USA Inc., 155-11 146th Avenue, Jamaica, New York, NY11434. Subscription records are maintained at Mondiale Media Ltd. Waterloo Place, Watson Square, Stockport, SK1 3AZ, UK.

ITINERARY

EVENT FOCUS 08

Help Our Frontline Liam Gallagher’s Tour Manager, Ben Pomphrett, trades AAA for the NHS.

12 UNITY CT, Christie Lites and Bryte Design deliver a new streaming studio.

14 These New Puritans Satore Studio provides a cinematic lightscape for the art-pop band. 16

United We Stream Blackmagic Design ATEM switchers highlight the virtual festival of culture.

18 TPi Talks & The Live Sound Podcast The latest news from TPi’s new digital platforms. 20 #LightItBlue The touring industry transforms historic landmarks into beacons of blue.

Peter More Waves plugins power the singer’s live stream event at the Cabin Studio, Texas.

White Light’s SmartStage Lee Dennison discusses the company’s streaming solution.

PRODUCTION PROFILE 24 Stereophonics The band return to the stage in support of their seventh UK number one album.

Halsey Stew checks in with Halsey’s crew to witness her ambitious Manic tour.

Hatsune Miku Jacob meets the crew behind one of the most unique European tours this year.

MARKET FOCUS 50

The latest livestreaming offerings.

IN THE FIELD 56

The 1975’s visual designers discuss Martin by Harman ERA 800 fixtures.

Spotrack challenges the traditional view of what constitutes a lighting staple.

Show designers discuss Syncronorm’s unique rendering engine, Depence2.

PROVEN INDUSTRY-LEADING

IP65 MOVING HEADS

PRODUCTION FUTURES 63

TPi Breakthrough Talent Standout Talent, Dylan Barber shares his story.

INTERVIEW 64

Audiotonix CEO, James Gordon, discusses the benefits of private equity.

FUTURE INSIGHTS 66

The latest product releases.

GEAR HEADS 72

Adam Hall Group’s OPUS X Profile.

PSA: THE BIGGER PICTURE 74

PSA’s Andy Lenthall looks to the future.

INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS

The latest movers and shakers.

BACK CHAT 82

TPi Awards’ Monitor Engineer of the Year, Ben Kingman, takes the hot seat.

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EVENT FOCUS

Liam Gallagher’s Tour Manager, Ben Pomphrett with Production Manager, David Murphy.

THE TOURING INDUSTRY HELPS OUR FRONTLINE Trading AAA for NHS, Liam Gallagher’s Tour Manager, Ben Pomphrett, sits down with TPi’s Jacob Waite to discuss Help Our Frontline – a not-for-profit organisation which aims to support and offer resources to frontline workers, coordinated by individuals and suppliers from the touring industry.

Established as a token of the nation’s appreciation of the frontline staff working tirelessly on our behalf, Help Our Frontline was founded by Liam Gallagher’s Tour Manager, Ben Pomphrett, to harness the skills of the events and music industry in the fight against COVID-19. This includes providing sustenance and essential supplies to those who need it most, through a combination of fundraising and donations, in association with the Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice and Myton Hospices. The last time Pomphrett graced the pages of TPi was during our coverage of Liam Gallagher’s latest arena tour when we were acquainted with the rest of the production team and their beer-proof consoles at the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool. Since then, the effects of a global pandemic have grounded all live music and events spaces across the globe – including

Pomphrett’s final batch of European touring with LG. “Liam’s Production Manager, David Murphy and I are both in relationships with nurses,” stated Pomphrett. “Mine in particular is an intensive care nurse, so we have a solid understanding of what those on the frontline are experiencing.” The idea behind Help Our Frontline arose when Pomphrett’s partner, who was on maternity leave at the time, was having conversations with colleagues about how things were getting tighter at work. “Restrictions were being put in place for people visiting. I recognised that nurses, and the NHS, were going to be in for a tough time ahead,” Pomphrett explained. “Units often receive donations of cakes and treats from patients’ families, which make for more enjoyable breaks, and I could see that was something that might fall by the wayside.” Pomphrett set out 08

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HELP OUR FRONTLINE

to, first and foremost, assist the unit his partner works in, as well as NHS units across Glasgow. “It was something that I could apply my newfound time off towards,” he explained. One of the initial contacts the TM made was with Lomond Wholesale, based in Glasgow. “They are still operating, albeit not at full capacity, delivering to hospitals. They also own a wholesale bakery, which provides to the UK, so we initially sent out heart-shaped biscuits to over 20 NHS critical care units across Scotland,” Pomphrett said. “The biscuits were about to go to waste, and the design of the cakes also served to convey everyone’s admiration for the frontline staff.” After connecting with businesses in the food and drink sector, Help Our Frontline received its first donation of toiletries, which were delivered to units across Glasgow. “We sent out over 2,000 cakes to local care units around Scotland, as a trial and barometer, to see how the logistics and distribution side of things worked,” Pomphrett furthered. “It was an amazing coincidence of looking for help from other industries, who have been incredibly forthcoming and generous in donating food and resources, while I deal with the logistics.” Pomphrett recalled the rallying cry of the events and music industry, as offers from various touring crew flooded in overnight. “After tentatively looking for some help on social media, I found the response to be unsurprisingly positive. I have always found that touring crew are up for lending a hand,” he stated. “After connecting with a few food and drink distributors, I discovered that not only could Scotland be covered, but the entire United Kingdom. It was just a case of doing my homework and ironing out some details.” Pomphrett approached the task as he would advancing a tour. “I’m sure a lot of other tour managers will identify themselves as perfectionists,

because when you find yourself with nothing to do, you begin pacing or looking for projects to work on,” he laughed. The TM was also fortunate enough to receive help from contacts he has made over the past few years touring. “It’s built up over the past few weeks, and now I’m getting help from a variety of friends, colleagues and strangers who are willing to help out for those on the frontline.” He went on to explain how Help Our Frontline was now working closely with hotel partners across the country to provide home comforts to patients. “The travel industry is closely connected to music, so I’ve partnered with hotels to ensure their suppliers can deliver toiletries to hospitals.” Pomphrett said his plan is to send out as many care packages to as many units and staff as possible, with a mixture of sustenance – food, drink and snacks – as well as toiletries and essential supplies, “to hopefully make their time working a little bit better”. With things moving quickly, Pomphrett was forced to accelerate his initial timeline, seeking donations from artists for fundraising and prize raffles. “We ran a raffle with artists from across the musical spectrum such as Liam Gallagher, Lewis Capaldi, The Chemical Brothers, Simple Minds and Simply Red,” the TM furthered. “We’ve cast the net wide to receive everything from signed instruments to test pressings and record rarities, merchandise bundles, meet and greets, gig tickets, and more to engage with the fans – all to raise money for a good cause.” There are various ways to support Help Our Frontline. If you would like to collaborate or provide supplies to be included in frontline staff care packages, visit the website below. TPi Photos: Help Our Frontline & TPi www.helpfrontline.co.uk 09 10

We want to personally reach out to all in our entertainment technology and production community as we face this unprecedented health challenge. All of us – manufacturers, rental companies, venues, broadcasters, festival and event organisers, production managers, artists and of course our vast pool of highly talented individuals, designers, engineers and creative freelancers – to everyone working in all disciplines and across every each sector making this incredible industry go round – we offer our solidarity, strength, thoughts and positive energy.

together our strength will shine. We are all facing an incredibly tough few months ahead. Cooperation, empathy, humanity and mutual respect should be paramount and in the true spirit of this great industry … please be kind and considerate to others. When we come through, we will be stronger and more united, and our industry will be more dynamic than ever.

Josef Valchar

#togetherwearestronger

Ladislav Petrek

Harry von den Stemmen

at the heart of our community

EVENT FOCUS

UNITY Creative Technology joins forces with Christie Lites and Bryte Design to create a studio space for artists to livestream content to a global audience. TPi finds out more.

With the present state of play across the globe, musicians, promotors and crew alike are all hypothesising and theorising about the future of live events. One common idea is that artists will turn to streaming performances as a way to connect with their fans. Already we have seen the power of these style of events with incentives such as One World: Together at Home, where artists including Lady Gaga and The Rolling Stones all gathered around their makeshift broadcast setups to perform to a global audience of millions. But soon enough, artists will look for a greater level of production for these types of performances. This is where UNITY comes in. The brainchild of Creative Technology and Christie Lites, with the creative lead from Bryte Design, UNITY offers performers a customisable performance space to stream a live performance. The studio has been created to adhere to the strictest of social distancing measures, allowing both artists and crew to remain isolated throughout the time in the space. The studio is an 11m by 11m performance area in Creative Technology’s offices close to Gatwick Airport, with a full audio rig comprising a fully

operational monitor and FOH audio setup, three sides of LED video surfaces and a completed lighting rig, courtesy of Christie Lites. “We started working on UNITY before the lockdown was in place in UK,” began CT’s Head of Music and Entertainment, Graham Miller. “We could see what was happening in Europe and knew restrictions and lockdowns were coming, so we wanted to get started before restrictions came in.” The original plan was to have UNITY situated in central London but as restrictions became tighter, the CT team opted to create the space from its own HQ. “Honestly, we feel that being out of central London is a positive,” commented Miller. “As it was in our building, we could work safely and responsibly and take the necessary time to do this right. It is amazing how long things can take when you can only have two people at a time working together!” Social distancing guidelines have also been taken into consideration now that UNITY is up and running, so not only are artists able to keep a safe distance from each other, but so are all the crew. Miller continued by describing the vibe that the CT team wanted to create for the space. “As the act of going to live music shows will be out of 12

UNITY

reach for a while, we still wanted to do shows and keep some of our crew in work,” he explained. “We wanted to be able to offer artists the chance to still do performances and promo work, whilst connecting with their audiences. We also thought that after artists had been using makeshift streaming solutions for a while, people might be looking for something with higher production values.” The inspiration for the space was very much based on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge or Later... with Jools Holland-style performance, where artists can come and slot in, “kind of like a smaller festival stage setup or live TV performance area,” mused Miller. To bring this idea to fruition, CT brought in Cate Carter and Mike Smith of Bryte Design to take the visual lead for the space. The Bryte team was already familiar with this style of show, having worked on streamed events for companies such as Vevo over the years alongside their normal live touring designs for acts such as Elbow and George Ezra. “Our overall goal was to put together a design that would be a versatile canvas for everything from a full band to a solo musician, to comedians or even a corporate event,” commented Carter. The studio has a sizeable camera package to capture every moment with four Panasonic UC3000 4k cameras along with six Panasonic AWUE70 PTZs. On the back end is a Ross Carbonite 4K PPU switcher as well as two disguise gx 2c servers. CT also brought in Luna Remote Systems, which provided two Junior 5 Remote Camera systems. The surround video screens that cover the perimeter are made up of eight moveable ROE Visual CB3 600 by 2,400 columns with a rear Barco C5 LED wall. To create the versatile look, Bryte raided the Christie Lites warehouse for a lighting rig comprising 106 GLP impression X4 bar 20s, 24 Martin by Harman MAC Aura XBs, two MAC Viper Profiles, 16 Astera Titan Tubes and six ETC Source Four Lustr 2s. Control came via an MA Lighting grandMA3. Commenting on the rig in place at UNITY was Christie Lites’ Roy Hunt. “The design that Cate and Mike put together allows for versatility according to clients’ needs,” he commented. “The setup can deliver a larger live show feel or can be scaled down for a more intimate feel for a solo artist, all whilst having the capacity to absolutely fulfil any TV or corporate demand. Likewise, if a client brings in their own LD, it’s kit they will be familiar with. We are already telling clients to think of this along the lines of a festival rig.” He added: “Although all the companies involved have experience in the TV and broadcast sector, we wanted to come at UNITY from a touring perspective too. We see this being used by clients from this sector, so we wanted to give them the familiarity of that environment.” Hunt went on to discuss the long-term ramifications this type of event could have on the rental market. “Right now, as it is so early and it’s a brand-new area for us all, it’s really too early to say. But it’s worth remembering that this industry is abundant with immensely resourceful people. It’s one of the industry’s core strengths and I think only time will tell if streamed content is something that generates income. We are excited to be part of such an interesting and collaborative project with UNITY which, if successful, will mean opportunities for getting more people involved.” Carter reflected on what projects like UNITY could mean for the world of live events. “What has been fantastic about this project and others that Bryte has seen over the past few weeks, is that all of them are thinking

about the longevity of these performance spaces,” she stated. “If these events are well received by audiences, there is no reason why we shouldn’t continue work on these style of events – even perhaps as our traditional live shows come back.” UNITY also provided a variety of audio solutions for touring crew with a range of console solutions for both FOH and monitors including an Avid, a DiGiCo SD12 and a Yamaha QL1 digital desk for FOH, as well as a Yamaha CL5 or DiGiCo SD10. There is also a range of d&b audiotechnik speakers for wedge and sidefill setups. Giving his final thoughts on the project, Miller stated: “Everything is now loaded into the space with programming very much underway and we are doing the last few tests to make sure everything is working smoothly. There is a whole infrastructure we have put in place around the normal gig setup such as CCTV cameras, comms systems – all connected with Mediornet to allow very low latency communication so that the crew can see and communicate with everyone they need to without needing to be close to each other or in the performance space. The idea is that an artist can come into the space and be safe and secure and, if needs be, do the performance without having to come into contact with anyone.” Hunt concurred also explaining how this setup could potentially be replicated anywhere across the globe. “We now have a blueprint for creating this kind of space and with a working environment for both client and crew alike, which is compliant with strict government regulations,” he stated. “This means if the requirement is there from clients and as CT and Christie Lites have global locations, it is a setup we can easily look to roll out at other sites” With a great of deal of interest for UNITY, the team at CT hopes to welcome the first few artists by mid-May when the restrictions ease and events can commence. TPi Photos: Creative Technology www.ct-group.com www.christielites.com www.brytedesign.co.uk www.lunaremote.co.uk

EVENT FOCUS

THESE NEW PURITANS The art rock band’s latest live project enlists Tupac Martir as Production Designer and Satore Studio for lighting, visuals, real-time content and re-edits.

In support of the sister release to 2019’s LP Inside The Rose, February saw the digital unveiling of These New Puritans’ (TNP) 19-track album, The Cut (2016-2019). Made up of new songs, orchestral interludes, reworkings and remixes of past material, the tracks were brought to life on stage with a captivating production design. After six weeks of preparation, the band played London’s Barbican Centre, a venue chosen for its “brutality” according to the band’s drummer and Creative Director, George Barnett. In partnership with twin brother Jack, the electronic experimentalists have already enjoyed a decade of working with Satore Studio Founder, Tupac Martir. “George came to us with some ideas of what he wanted the show to look like. TNP are known for making incredibly beautiful videos and he wanted to bring that aesthetic to this live show.” Matir added: “Video was very important in this instance. All of TNP’s previous shows have been based primarily around light, so we wanted to

add an element of video yet not rely on it as a constant throughout the performance and allow the visuals to differ in style.” Using a combination of pre-recorded material, visuals were created in Unreal and TouchDesigner, to deliver the intrinsic lightshow. “The content is made up of work by many directors – all from previous music videos or content that the band has commissioned,” explained Martir. Satore also created a lot of content in-house for this show. “There was some trial and error in making sure that the visuals represented the right feeling and combination of lighting.” Barnett described the band’s live ideal as “a perfectly unified band containing all extremes of our sound, and the fullest extension of TNP imagery.” He also spoke about the use of technology in such an art-led performance environment: “It enhances it, and in this case, was necessary. However, there must be threads that guide the use of technologies and techniques. Tupac has a great way of zooming out, directing and guiding 14

THESE NEW PURITANS

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vision – adding massively to the conceptuality and structure of the show, both in a passionate and a meticulous way. He has a beautiful sense of modesty with lighting, leaving space and stillness where necessary and then absolutely blowing things apart. It’s very rare, and I’m lucky to find someone like Tupac to work with.” Satore Studio Event Lighting Director, Muly Yechezkel operated an MA Lighting grandMA2, utilising an array of fixtures including Robe Robin Pointes, Claypaky A.leda B-Eye K10s and Stormy CC white LEDs, generic PAR 64 parcans, GLP impression X4 Bar 20s and Pulsar ChromaBank Mk2s. White Light supplemented Satore’s tech rider alongside the Barbican’s house lighting. “Muly did a terrific job with our lighting,” noted Barnett. For video content control, Video Engineer, Benjamin Gittos used a disguise gx 2 media server, which took a live feed from Kinect Azure cameras and fed it into both TouchDesigner and Unreal Engine interactive controllers. The images were then projected onto three screens. Programming was achieved via Kinect V2. Further bespoke video servers – made in-house at Satore – were also utilised. “Working with Satore Studio was wonderful; they have a very imaginative team. We tried a lot of different ideas, pursued what worked and really honed everything in a way we haven’t before,” Barnett commented. “Alex Leyva, a brilliant producer at Satore, is sharp, methodical and understanding; she understood our vision straight away, making the most out of any avenue we could, maximising and perfecting what was possible.” He concluded: “Having a crew that is invested is vital – there is no room for half measures in these projects. Combining and bringing together all these artists for one performance was a real undertaking, and the results felt good!” TPi Photos: Satore Studio www.thesenewpuritans.com www.satorestudio.com

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EVENT FOCUS

UNITED WE STREAM TPi remotely delves behind the scenes of United We Stream, a new free streaming service broadcasting home-grown Greater Manchester art, music, cooking and culture to audiences around the world during temporary lockdown.

At the beginning of April, a performance by Manchester-based production duo Mark Richards and James Eliot, collectively known as Solardo, was streamed to a global audience quarantined at home. As an example of how we should all be acting and an example of social isolation, it was agreed that just one half of the double act would make the appearance. For the team behind United We Stream, this was only the beginning. Initially starting in Berlin, the concept was brought to Manchester by Parklife Festival and Warehouse Project co-creator, Sacha Lord and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). Amsterdam, Madrid, Vienna, Sydney and Melbourne all soon followed suit. The free service running throughout the lockdown features an impressive line-up, including a tribute to Manchester’s iconic Haçienda nightclub. The likes of Todd Terry, Roger Sanchez, David Morales, Graeme

Park, and Paul Hartnoll from the band Orbital all took part. There was even a discussion on Manchester culture hosted by author and musician, John Robb. Viewers can donate to help support Greater Manchester’s night-time economy, cultural organisations and charities. The channel is also used for positive public service announcements and messaging regarding safety and social distancing, targeting audiences who traditionally shy away from mainstream broadcast media. “I wanted to keep our vibrant music and entertainment scene active,” Lord explained. “We didn’t give ourselves much time to get artists and acts onboard, but the response has been overwhelmingly positive and exceeded any expectations that we might have had.” The project has seen a host of local businesses generously offer consultancy and support including: Industry Collaboration Zones digital 16

UNITED WE STREAM

team at Salford University, Manchester Arena, Unity Radio, dbnAudile, Modern English Digital and the Manchester Evening News. Salford University’s media production team, headed up by Colin McKevitt, produces each show from a central production hub located at the MET in Bury. Performances take place at artist’s’ homes, gardens, or from selected host venues around the region, making sure government advice around isolating, distancing and infection control, is followed. “There are only four of us in the team, so keeping our distance isn’t a problem. We have a couple of different setups. Our ‘mini rack’ consists of an ATEM 2 m/e switcher and a couple of Blackmagic Design Hyperdeck Mini for ISO records to SD cards. This can just be thrown in the back of a car and taken anywhere,” McKevitt commented. “At the MET, which is our main gallery, we have two racks which are again built around ATEM switchers,” he continued. “We use an UltraStudio 4K Extreme for graphics and layering and have several Hyperdeck recorders. The key component is a Teranex AV standards and frame rate converter, which we can feed anything into, and it just works.” Artists and performers use platforms, including Zoom, Skype and Discord to record themselves. These feeds are sent back to Colin’s team via an RTMP server and mixed live using the ATEM’s software control on laptops before going out to Wirecast and onto Vimeo via Restream. Where a local venue is used, such as chef Gary Usher’s live cook-along from one of his five elite bistros in Manchester, the team heads down with its ‘mini rack’ and a couple of Panasonic cameras and a GoPro. “My biggest takeaway so far is the shared experience,” concluded McKevitt. “Removing the sense of isolation and connecting people in their homes with the artists and DJs they love. Viewers are really responding to the level of authenticity that comes from performances done to an empty

room – but it’s not an empty room, is it? It’s definitely changing perceptions of what an audience looks like, and I think that impact will last longer than the lockdown.” TPi Photos: Blackmagic Design www.unitedwestream.co.uk www.blackmagicdesign.com

The next generation of wireless mics 17

EVENT FOCUS

With our new web series, TPi Talks, alongside a collaboration with the Live Sound Podcast, TPi harnesses this time of self-isolation to produce exclusive online content. TPi Editor, Stew Hume, explains more...

Blame it on my eternal optimism, but despite the tragedy and uncertainty that COVID-19 has brought to the industry, there certainly has been a great deal of innovation taking place behind closed doors. It seems that all corners of the live events spectrum have finally got around to projects that have been on back burner, and TPi is no different. For the longest time, we have thrown around the idea of incorporating more original video content and exploring some podcast platforms. Given the luxury of time on our side, with no gigs or trade shows on the horizon, we have taken what little DIY podcast materials we could collectively find around our flats and given birth to a digital version of TPi Talks. For those who have attended our annual Production Futures event or Daytime TPi, you may already be familiar with the brand, TPi Talks, which has been the banner for all our onstage panel discussions. When we set up the brand a few years ago, the goal was to take TPi Talks online – however, it has taken a global pandemic for us to finally get our act together. Taking place on the now-ubiquitous video conferencing tool, Zoom, we’ve already conducted our first few TPi Talks, which are available on the

TPi website, as well as an extended version on Spotify. During the pilot episode, we chatted to d&b audiotechnik’s Education and Application Support Team Leader, Steve Jones, who discussed the company’s work within immersive audio and what audiences of the future can expect from the ‘live experience’ moving forward. During the conversation, he outlined key performances that have helped push the development of Soundscape, from the theatre production of Come From Away, to Björk’s Cornucopia concert tour. “At d&b, we believe immersive is the future,” Jones underlined during the episode. “When it does become a stable part of the live environment, we have to stop thinking like engineers and start thinking like creatives.” The second episode of TPi Talks witnessed the transition from the audio to the visual realm, finding time to quiz disguise’s Peter Kirkup, the company’s Global Technical Solutions Manager, about the cutting edge of real-time rendered content for livestreaming now available with the xR workflow. In the chat, we covered a broad range of topics and unpacked the buzz term of the moment – AR – discovering how, in the real world, 18

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production teams could benefit from AR in the live environment; a lesson that TPi had already been acquainted with on certain projects such as White Lights’ SmartStage [p22]. “The interesting thing about these projects is that people are repurposing existing equipment,” stated Kirkup while discussing the benefits of some of the new streaming studios cropping up in the UK and around the world. “This is not about massive new immersive productions, it’s about rental houses repurpose existing LED panels, camera and disguise media servers and finding new uses for that equipment.” Alongside TPi Talks, the magazine has also collaborated with FOH Engineer, Ben Hammond, who has used the lockdown to pursue his own digital offering – The Live Sound Podcast. Already four episodes in, Hammond has spoken to some audio royalty including: Brad Madix, David McDonald, Kevin ‘Tater’ McCarthy and John Delf. The long-form chats have seen Hammond discuss breaking in to the fiercely competitive world of live events and sharing some pearls of wisdom he and the guests have learned along the way. “I would like to thank those that have been watching the series so far,” stated Hammond. “It’s been really fun making these and learning as I go. The feedback has been exceptional – a few people have told me that it’s like being back at work talking shop, which is exactly what I wanted.” Hammond already has a number of engineers lined up to feature on the podcast in the coming weeks, and he’s currently working on Q&A pieces with a collection of engineers to answer audience questions on current topics. “My primary focus is helping people get through this, and hopefully learning something along the way,” he concluded. The Live Sound Podcast premieres every Monday at 7pm (GMT) on the TPi website, as well as the latest TPi Talks episodes. TPi www.tpimagazine.com/category/tpi-talks

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#LIGHTITBLUE The events and entertainment industry send a message of gratitude to healthcare heroes by transforming historic landmarks, buildings and major sporting and entertainment venues across the UK into beacons of blue…

Major sporting and entertainment venues, national landmarks and historic buildings across the UK were transformed into beacons of blue on 26 March 2020, as a salute to the NHS and the courageous efforts of the nation’s healthcare professionals. Participating sites included the Royal Albert Hall, the Belfast Titanic Signature Building, Lincoln Cathedral, The National Theatre, Metro Radio in Newcastle. A stone’s throw from TPi HQ, Manchester Cathedral teamed up with one of its long-standing event production partners, Sterling Event Group, to illuminate the façade of the magnificent building in a blue hue in a show of solidarity and support for NHS staff and key workers. “We wanted to show our support as a company for the magnificent work our NHS and keyworkers are doing in the battle against COVID-19,” Managing Director at Sterling Event Group, Richard Bowden, commented. “We have a great partnership with Manchester Cathedral and its work in the community. As a stunning landmark in the heart of our city, we are very privileged to be able to illuminate it.” The Cathedral was lit using wireless battery-powered fixtures only from Sterling Event Group’s hire stock, including 24 CHAUVET Professional Well Pad and 36 Core ColourPoint fixtures. Finer architectural details were highlighted using Astera AX3 fixtures, controlled wirelessly by an Avolites Quartz. Projection came in the shape of

a single Panasonic RZ21k laser projector rigged portrait. “The events and entertainment industry finds itself in an unprecedented state of enforced inaction,” stated Managing Director of White Productions, Gary White. “The best thing we can do – apart from staying at home – is to use our skills and networks to say thank you to the healthcare professionals risking their own health to help others during this pandemic.” He continued: “We also feel a huge sense of responsibility for the mental wellbeing of many people within our industry who, having lost their jobs, are feeling anxious and confused about the future. We believe the #LightItBlue campaign, inspired by the existing #ClapForOurCarers initiative, will galvanise their enthusiasm and pride in a mass gesture of solidarity. People can take part while staying safe indoors, by painting their bodies blue, wearing blue accessories or turning their social media backgrounds blue,” White said. Freelance Production Manager, Chuck Crampton, concluded: “So far, 38 venues across the UK have shown great enthusiasm in taking part during Thursday’s round of applause, and we understand some will be continuing their illuminations for days or weeks to come.” TPi Photo: Sterling Event Group www.sterlingeventgroup.co.uk 20

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PETER MORE Waves plugins power the artist’s live stream at Cabin Studio, Texas. Tasked with livestreaming a show based on Peter More’s latest record, Beautiful Disrepair, FOH Engineer, Herbert ‘George’ Chapman turned to a SoundGrid Rack for Venue, Waves SoundGrid Extreme Server and Waves plugins. “The Waves F6 Floating-Band Dynamic is my go-to EQ – it gives you so much control over anything it’s on,” he began. “I use the SSL G-Channel as a master buss compressor, because it really adds to the sound of whatever it is on, and it helps keep everything under control. I also use it for parallel compression applications such as on drums or other grouped instruments.” Waves Primary Source Expander is another Waves plugin that George used to control background noise and cut down on unwanted sounds around each mic. “Waves H-Delay Hybrid Delay is my go-to delay, which I use for all my tempo and slap delay purposes and for adding tails to certain phrases or words in the songs,” he explained. “It is so clear and precise, and it has lots of features to let you dial in the delay you need for any application. I use Waves’ C6 Multiband Compressor on the acoustic guitars and anywhere else it’s needed for that extra-accurate frequency compression.” On the master of the mix and often individual instruments, George used the Waves CLA-76 Compressor/Limiter to take the edge off of the mix and enhance the overall sound. “I also use a Waves L2 Ultramaximizer clocked with the desk at 96k as a final stage of compression and boost, to get everything back to a nice tight overall level and sound.” He concluded: “I’m sort of new to the whole livestreaming thing, but so far, I’ve been using Waves plugins just as I would mixing – maybe hitting the

master compressor a little harder, just to keep everything in a nice range, so it translates nicely to whatever the people at home are hearing the mix on, such as their phone, computer or tablet.” TPi Photo: Waves www.petermoremusic.com www.waves.com

FOH Engineer, Herbert ‘George’ Chapman.

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WHITE LIGHT PRESENTS SMARTSTAGE In line with the heightened requirement for intuitive performance and presentation spaces, White Light has introduced SmartStage – an interactive and immersive studio. TPi’s Stew Hume speaks with White Light’s Lee Dennison about the project.

Like many of you, TPi has become accustomed to the world of video conferencing in the past few weeks. What used to be the odd Skype call every other month has now transformed into several virtual meetings per day. However, our chat with White Light’s Lee Dennison was certainly a cut above the rest, with the company’s Head of Business Development checking-in from the comfort of White Light’s immersive presentation environment: SmartStage. Surrounded by LED screens, at the touch of an iPad, Dennison was able to transport himself from a newsroom studio to an interactive performance space and even to the surface of the moon. Although the company’s interactive AR-enabled SmartStages have already been used in the broadcast realm for a number of years, since COVID-19, the technology created by White Light suddenly finds itself in greater demand. Operating from SW19 Studios in London, the company has set up a permanent studio

space, although Dennison explained that a similar setup could be recreated anywhere in the UK. “The story of SmartStage began almost two-and-a-half years ago,” reflected Dennison. “The first rendition came when we were approached to work on the 2018 Winter Olympics held in PyeongChang, South Korea. We wanted to build a studio space were presenters could analyse footage in a natural way rather than using traditional green screen methods.” According to Dennison, the initial “lightbulb moment” came when athletes were brought into the space. “Although we had created a virtual studio, all the content being played for the audience at home could also be seen on the LED wall and floor, so the athletes were able to talk about their run naturally, without any previous presenting experience.” The current SW19 SmartStage comprises a 5m by 5m performance space complete with a ROE Visual Black Marble LED floor with two LED 22

WHITE LIGHT

walls, which are also made of the same product. The space has been designed to be completely clear of equipment and people, with hosts and performers now only bearing witness to reference monitors and automated camera jibs. Content is deployed by disguise gx 1 and gx2c media servers. “We worked directly with disguise as they developed the new xR workflow,” explained Dennison. The addition of xR enables the LED space to be expanded in real time, while additional AR elements can also be added to any live stream. “It was great to be included in the R&D phase of xR,” stated Dennison. “We were able to give them feedback to help them develop the system in line with SmartStage.” SmartStage has been designed so that incoming lighting designers are able to slot themselves into the framework and take control of realworld lighting as well as content to create a seamless look. Along with an extensive lighting rig, SmartStage comes equipped with a BlackTrax system, which provides real-time positional data of the performer. “We can look to integrate most VC platforms into SmartStage allowing for a far more immersive communication space,” stated Dennison. “It makes for a more natural environment to offer corporate presentations incorporating key note speakers, knowledge sharers or facilitators.” The SmartStage environment has already been incredibly popular with education, corporate communications, financial services, broadcast and esports markets as a ‘one size fits all’ solution. However, with the uncertainty regarding COVID-19, Dennison explained that the SmartStage could be used to aid the live events market. “Live events are all about interaction,” Dennison said. “Thankfully, with the SmartStage, performers are able to perform while simultaneously seeing a live feed from those tuned in via their computers.” This interaction has already been test-run with Brave New World Comedy, a project in collaboration with Gasoline Productions, where a collection of comics performed live sets to an at-home audience. “We were able to authentically recreate a live comedy gig by allowing both audiences and those on stage to feed off one another and interact in real time,” explained Dennison. “This allows everyone to become fully immersed in the event and makes it feel as if they are actually in a club together.” He continued: “It brought people together and offered a natural way for them to re-engage in a world that feels quite unnatural now. Similarly, it’s also allowing a lot of the amazing circuit comedians who are not yet household names to be seen by a wider public and have their work engaged with on a much bigger scale.” With so many people now spending much of their time indoors, “there’s a bigger demand than ever for home entertainment,” explained Gasoline Productions’ Jamie Gosney. “Yet with so many restrictions in place preventing the production of new content, broadcasters are having to look for new and inventive ways

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to deliver their shows,” he added. “This is exactly what we’ve been able to do with Brave New World Comedy; create original, engaging content with minimal crew and resources. It’s a truly impressive and innovative venture and we’re really excited about where we can take it next.” It’s not just the comedy world that White Light hopes to aid with SmartStage, but also the Live Music industry. In collaboration with Bug Productions, SmartStage is set to bring in artists to perform as well as provide a space for them to interact with fans in real time. “SmartStage is taking tried-and-tested communication tools – such as video conferencing – and bringing them into the live entertainment space,” concluded Dennison. With a busy few weeks of demos, White Light has already amassed a great deal of interest and we’re sure to see a number of performances to be released in the coming weeks. TPi Photos: White Light www.whitelight.ltd.uk

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STEREOPHONICS: KIND TOUR The band return to the stage in support of their seventh UK number one album, Kind, drawing ‘phonics faithful to full venues across Europe and the UK for two hours of pure, unadulterated escapism. TPi’s Jacob Waite reports…

PRODUCTION PROFILE

STEREOPHONICS

It’s been more than two decades since Stereophonics were crowned British Breakthrough Act at BRIT Awards. Since then, the band’s production team have become seasoned experts in delivering landmark live experiences, with each tour delivering heightened production levels. In late February and March 2020, Stereophonics descended on European and UK venues in support of their seventh UK number one album, Kind. A mainstay of the band’s touring party since 2014 has been Production David Nelson – or ‘Disco’ to friends and colleagues alike, a nickname bestowed upon him during his days as a “Saturday lad” at Discovery Records. “Now, everyone, including my eight-year-old daughter, Eadie, calls me ‘Disco’ when she comes to help at work,” chuckled the PM. With two shows left of the Kind touring campaign, the touring veteran sat down with TPi to retrace the roots of the project. “I started as Stereophonics’ drum tech eight years ago,” he began. “Since then, it’s been a steady progression through the ranks.” Assisting Disco on the road was Production Coordinator, Naomi Joyce. As a point of contact for the crew, Joyce’s charge involved looking after crew, band, logistics, backstage, and signage. She acknowledged the current gender gap in the live touring circuit. Speaking openly in the Manchester Arena production office, she said: “Roles such as tour managers, production coordinators, assistants, wardrobe and catering are typically where you find women on tour, but I find it really inspiring when you see female technicians and engineers – they’re roles which should be considered commonplace,” she added. “All the women on this tour are absolutely fantastic and I learn from them every day. Although it’s a very male-orientated industry, it’s refreshing to see more females entering the industry, so long may it continue.” Like touring personnel, the suppliers – Tearaway Productions, Capital Sound, Neg Earth, Ogle Hog, Brilliant Stages, KB Events, Phoenix Bussing and Popcorn Catering – are all longstanding fixtures. “It’s good to keep those around who helped make the band what they are today,” the PM acknowledged. “The band like familiarity and so do I.” Disco described

how the production has evolved over the years. “When I started with the band, we were touring with all of the bells and whistles associated with an arena act – pyrotechnics, lasers and automated LED screens,” he recalled. “However, we’ve changed tack on this tour,” he said. Instead, the team circled back to a more simplistic show design. “This show is a more open and stripped-back show design compared to prior tours, with the band as the focal point.” Stereophonics frontman, Kelly Jones’ latest solo tour was the precursor for the Kind tour. His festival appearances as both a solo act and with the band last summer interlinked, and so the stage was set. “We started talking about this show eight months ago, while on the road with Kelly,” the PM recalled. “We put together a Pinterest page and started throwing around ideas and concepts from that solo tour.” The result was a bohemian, circus-style ’70s festoon, spanning from a theatrical backwall of drapery, provided by Acre Jean, through to the crowd. With no official show designer on board, Disco, Jones and long-time Lighting Designer, Brent Clark formulated the aesthetics of the tour. “It’s how we’ve always done it,” Disco underlined. “We’re all hands-on and because we rehearse together, there aren’t hundreds of channels of people to get things signed off… as long as it’s financially feasible, we’ll go for it!” At the notoriously tricky pitstops on the tour, the rig was downsized accordingly. “Although parts are removed, we’ve devised a show that carries the same look throughout, regardless of how much we put in the venue,” Disco commented, explaining the rock ’n’ roll-meets-theatre concept. “It’s quite a theatrical design, with a circus top and a 48-inch mirror ball that brings a ’70s disco theme. The lights around the side of the stage give it a 21st Century Tron-style look, which we use for songs like Superman and Dakota, to give a more powerful and punchy feel.” ‘ROCK ’N’ ROLL MEETS THEATRE’ As one of the longest serving members of the camp, Clark, originally trained in the art of theatre lighting, has designed Stereophonics’ lighting 26

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since 2005. In line with the boho, ’70s aesthetic, the LD drew on classic concert and cultural influences from the period. “We had a lot of pictures as references,” explained Clark, “from Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, to Bruce Springsteen, to weddings. The basic concept was to go back to the ’70s; steer clear of contrived, big video looks and make it more theatrical, which is where all the pastel colours come in.” The extensive lighting rig supplied by Neg Earth comprised 26 Thomas 4 Lite Par 36 1-CCTs, six Robe BMFL FollowSpot LTs and 12 BMFLs. A large complement of flown Martin by Harman fixtures, including 36 MAC Viper Profiles and four MAC Aura XBs, as well as 65 VDO Sceptron 10 [1000 Pixels] and 18 Sceptron 10 [320 Pixels] lined both the stage and thrust. A pair of G-300 Foggers, four DF-50 Hazers and six AF-1 fans provided atmosphere, while 30 GLP impression X4 Bar 20s, 11 5K Fresnels and 14 Color Force II 72s joined the lighting rig. These “warm and fuzzy” elements, as Clark referred to them, also created a more inclusive audience experience, immersing the audience with a backwall of drapery, twinkling festoons, neon Astera LED AX1 Pixel Tubes accents and a subtle colour palette. Festoon lighting extended out over the audience’s heads, while a thrust B-stage brought the performance further into their midst. It was here that Kelly Jones opened the show under bare house lights – a true democratiser if ever there was one – before the show lighting kicked in. “The drape absorbs light very well,” said Clark of his dominant set element. “Over time, I built a library of colours, strange CTOs and off-greens and things you wouldn’t find anywhere else, which was incredibly fun.” Clark utilised 12 Vari-Lite VL6500 Wash fixtures rigged upstage overhead, providing washes on the drape and stage. “The way I’ve got them spaced, they point straight down, so they have this beamy, spotty kind of look over the top of everybody,” he commented. Above the thrust B-stage

was a ring of eight Vari-Lite VL6000 Beams and four Claypaky Xtylos fixtures, which delivered strong, defined beam and laser looks during sections of the show. “They’re great,” said Clark. “Especially out there on the thrust, where I can do these big beam looks over the house. I like them to throw a big chunk of light down – there are guitar parts where they shift down on Kelly as he plays the song.” Clark also harnessed a flown circle truss of fixtures to bring “impact and punchiness” to the 48-inch mirror ball suspended above the thrust. “You always get a good gasp out of people when we turn on the mirror ball,” he grinned. “I’ve always said the oldest gags, are the best.” Despite the power of the fixture, the VL6500 and VL6000 combination worked perfectly as a complement to the variety of fixtures and looks that Clark’s design encompassed, from 30 flown Astera LED AX1 Pixel Tubes, to the subtle, theatrical colour palette. “Unbelievably, it really does all flow together!” he enthused. The floor packaged comprised 10 Altman Lighting Q-Lites, which Clark utilised as an iridescent footlight for the band. “I’ve chosen a bunch of them scattered along the stage as well as the thrust.” For control, Clark utilised an MA Lighting grandMA2 full size main and a backup, along with three MA3 NPUs. Content was run on Catalyst media servers to control Martin by Harman VDO Sceptron 10s, which the LD dubbed part of the tour’s “Tron” look. He explained: “The Catalyst media server drives the Sceptrons’ 16-segment mode, with Wharlberg winches, which are DMX controlled wirelessly along with the Astera LED AX1 Pixel Tubes. When it’s dark, it looks like they’re floating.” However, that was the only automated element in action. “Timecode is a nasty word around here,” Clark insisted. “It’s all me hitting the buttons, which I like because it keeps me busy, and I like to run the show manually. If I was doing a timecode show with this, I think I’d have left a very long time 27

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ago. There’s a human element to it; there are six guys on stage, and myself. Things can change quickly so I don’t like being locked into timecode.” Despite the contrasting themes at play, Clark managed to integrate them to create a lighting design equal parts theatrical, futuristic, and somehow retro. “The strange marriage of neon and drape sounds like it shouldn’t work – but it really does!” he chortled.

between a television and an IMAG cut,” he added. “Portrait screens are my pet hate because you lose two thirds of your image straight away; subtle moves and abstract framing is rendered null, so having a landscape frame on this tour has been wonderful.” The video rig was venue dependant, with a non-traditional, split FOH setup, with off-centre camera positions. “We cut quite a lot of the video based on the weight restrictions of certain venues. We built the rig as big as we could, in line with weight restrictions,” Glover said. “However, because our position in each venue alters, we get a different shot each time.” Summing up her experience in video world, Glover concluded: “Working on the camera during the show allows you to immerse yourself in the audience and get a more rounded perspective of the show. There have been moments on this tour where the audience have given me a thumbs up, or a high five, and it makes it all worth it,” she smiled. “Everything the band does involves the audience, and gigs are a great form of escapism, so you live for those kinds of moments on the road.”

‘A GREAT FORM OF ESCAPISM’ Spearheading the video team was Ogle Hog Technical Project Manager, Connie Glover. “Ogle Hog technically supplies equipment and books video crew. As a Crew Chief, I pride myself on picking the people I think are the best possible and a team that is cohesive,” she began. The IMAG screens, made up of InfiLED ER 5.9mm panels and powered by Brompton Technology processors, were utilised as an extension of the stage and the lighting canvas. “As a high-resolution display, the picture quality is great,” she said. “It’s all about giving Kelly the space to roam the stage, while having the screen capturing his presence.” Video Director, Paul ‘Eggy’ Eggerton joined the conversation: “The technology has been the biggest development in the 22 years I’ve toured with them,” he explained. “This is the largest lighting rig they’ve ever toured with, so we’re underscoring that with video.” The camera setup comprised four Sony HXC100 cameras (two at FOH and two in the pit on track and dollies) as well as two on-stage robocam cue balls on mic stands (one on the drummer, the other on keyboards), which Eggy set up as his “favourite” cameras five and six. Glover added: “We’re using a PPU system, provided by Creative Technology, which is a bit of a trial for us, but it has been excellent.” Straying away from traditional IMAG cuts, Eggy instead opted for more creative and artistic shots. “My style of video directing falls somewhere

‘FROM 10 TO OVER 120 CHANNELS’ “The band started off as a three piece – Kelly had a Peavey Bandit amp on a plastic chair, Stewart had a five-piece drum kit and Richard had a Fender bass combo on some casters, with one of them missing,” FOH Engineer, Dave Roden reminisced, having been on the road with the band for the best part of two decades. “We started off with nine or 10 channels and we’re up over 120 now, so it just keeps growing.” Recalling a steady rise to fame from clubs to mixing the Stereophonics’ headline slot at Glastonbury, it was the band’s first two albums, Word Gets Around and Performance and Cocktails, which he believed put Stereophonics on the map. At the request of the band, and specifically Kelly Jones, the audio team began work on a radical approach for the latest 28

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Production Manager, David ‘Disco’ Nelson; Production Coordinator, Naomi Joyce; Lighting Designer, Brent Clark; Set Carpenter, Josh Wilson; FOH Engineer, Dave Roden; Monitor Engineer, Sam Cunningham; Systems Technician, Nick Boulton and Oli Crump.

arena tour. Roden, using his preferred Martin Audio MLA loudspeaker array, sent his mix to a distributed PA system, running the length of a 60ft thrust from main stage, into the belly of the audience, with a small B-stage at the end of it. This time around, production was running Dante to the stage and sending AES3 protocol to the hangs, with Martin Audio UNET backup, which he said also proved straightforward. Monitor Engineer, Sam Cunningham utilised a DiGiCo SD7 on stage, while Roden mixed on an SD5 at FOH. “We opted for DiGiCo desks to homogenise our setup. It’s much simpler infrastructure wise, to use the same manufacturer for FOH and monitors,” he explained. With no additional plug-ins in sight, Roden trusted a neat rack of studioworthy outboard gear, which featured a dbx 120A Subharmonic Synthesiser unit for the kickdrum, a Ruper Neve 5045 for vocals, an SPL Transient Designer on the drums and a “good-old” Yamaha SPX2000 for drum reverb, as well as an Eventide Eclipse and a Bricasti Design M7 vocal reverb – the latter used predominantly during rehearsals. Three hangs of 10 MLA and two MLD downfills – situated in the centre and 90° upstage – formed a concentric arc at the end of the thrust. Three hangs of six MLX subwoofers were set behind that in end fire configuration. This design was specified to reduce the sound bleed at the back of the stage and help ease the room reflections. Overlooking the challenging design was Systems Tech, Nick Boulton, who oversaw a mile and a half of cable infrastructure every day. “We’ve got over 100 flown Martin Audio MLA cabinets, with three hangs of MLX subs and four hangs of MLA Compact,” he explained, adding that the entire concept was to reduce the sound level on stage. “With a B-stage 60ft into the audience, a standard L/R system would fire straight down the vocal mic, so we’ve moved everything downstage to

compensate for that,” he said. The solution was to replace the conventional main stage L/R PA hangs with two side hangs further downstage, comprising respectively two drops of 16 MLA Compact as conventional outfills. Meanwhile, a further eight MLA Compact for infills were mounted on trusses set near the beginning of the thrust and angled downwards. “It’s more of a distributed system than a left and right – everyone is getting much more of a rounded and balanced stereo mix,” Roden chimed in. “You can mix and know that everyone in the room, regardless of seat, gets the same experience instead of the side of one hang.” As with all things Stereophonics, Boulton said, the decision to use an alternative PA design was a little last minute. “The seed of this idea was planted around a week into the European run, then I started drawing it up to see if it was feasible to implement. It turns out it was – so we did it. “Some days, I regret it because people look to me if anything goes wrong!” he laughed. “In terms of coverage, we’ve hit every seat. As far as sound quality goes, you need to look no further than the reviews – everybody has said it’s amazing.” To help minimise sound escape at the main stage, Boulton made heavy use of the Hard Avoid setting in Martin Audio’s Display optimisation software, not only creating rejection at the back of the stage but also the hard surfaces at the rear of the arena that would cause ‘slap back’. “In fact, we worked Hard Avoid to within an inch of its life,” he quipped. In the smaller venues, the economy of space posed a significant challenge. “Our flown system is 38 tonnes and the weight limit in Brighton Centre, for example, is 16 tonnes, so we had to cut quite lot, but we still managed to get flown subs, and reasonably sized flown arrays,” Boulton recalled. “Our thrust was considerably shorter, so we went down to 24ft thrust with a traditional left and right system in Brighton. The great thing about this design is, if we get into a tricky venue, we can go back to default.” 29

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Video Crew Chief, Connie Glover with Video Director, Paul ‘Eggy’ Eggerton; PA/Stage Tech, Ian Burness with Monitor Engineer, Sam Cunningham.

‘MODERNISED AUDIO SYSTEMS’ “Since I have been with the band, I have constantly pushed for the modernisation of the audio systems we use for our live shows. So much has changed since my first show with the band back in 2015,” Monitor Engineer, Sam Cunningham explained. “I really began to push for Dave to get onboard with the possibility of a fully integrated audio console system that would allow me to employ a fully redundant Optocore based I/O audio system.” Cunningham revealed he now feels the team are in a position where infrastructure challenges are a thing of the past: “Optocore has allowed us a creative freedom, especially when considering the technical challenges behind an artist request.” Having inherited the gig on a DiGiCo SD10, with a maxed-out channel count, he quickly made the leap to an SD7. “With multiple drum kits, six musicians on stage, and four techs with their own mixes, I simply needed to move from an SD10 to the SD7,” he explained. “Having said that, I’ve only got 28 channels spare on this board!” In terms of workflow, Cunningham dubbed the DiGiCo SD7 as the “best” monitor surface. “I like the sound of it,” he pointed to an ancillary rack of external gear by his side, “I’ve got Rupert Neve Shelford channel strips, which I use on Kelly’s vocals and Neumann KSM05s for his main stage vocal – one at the piano position, which comes on and off stage – and another one at the main stage position.” Cunningham explained that Kelly’s vocal had to be ‘hot’ to sit over the top of the mix. “I do all the gain from the vocals on the Rupert Neve Shelford channel strips, which features the Neve ‘silk’ circuit to boost certain harmonics in the signal, which exacerbates the huskiness of his voice without sounding artificial – which I’ve found it does if I use EQ with the board.” Purposing the DiGiCo channel strip for multi-band compression

and deep cuts for the EQ and vocal, Cunningham noted: “Kelly doesn’t like a lot of low-mid in his ears at all because he has quite a prominent head voice. To get over that, there’s quite a lot of EQ involved, air and high frequencies in the vocal to combat that.” Acknowledging the difficulty of mitigating the stage sound in account of the creative PA system setup, Cunningham said: “We have really gone to some lengths on this tour to make it sound as good as possible; if he’s in a room with 100 PA cabinets and 15,000 people, there’s no getting around it,” he added. “We’ve got an end fire cardioid sub array in front of him in the air, with no loudspeaker boxes on the ground – the nearest one is 10m away, and although we may still encounter some bad days, this is as good as it’s ever been in terms of stage noise level.” The thrust was another challenge entirely, Cunningham reported: “It’s a great deal longer than prior tours and presents its own unique set of challenges, which we have to do various things to get over. We must be careful and selective of our mic choice. Dave and I spend 10 minutes a day ringing out the vocal mics through the PA.” The RF rack comprised a laptop with Wireless Workbench which Cunningham used for admin. “I book channels with Ofcom through Capital Sound every day, we coordinate with those channels and every day I give my scans in the morning.” He walked TPi through his rack of Sennheiser IEMs, specifically PSM1000s for the bass player, four units of Shure Axient Digital on the stage, which he utilised for a combination of wireless vocals, trumpet and saxophone mics. Four channels on the bass guitars, four channels on the rhythm and lead guitarist, and seven channels of Sennheiser on Kelly’s guitars. “It takes my count up to just under 39 without spares,” he quipped. “It’s quite a lot of RF, which takes up a large portion of my day.” Additional 30

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Bricasti Reverbs handled the main vocal and guitars, as well as a Cedar Audio DNS 8 Live multi-channel dialogue noise suppressor. “I run the multitrack the previous night, which works well for acoustic songs, it lets me take a bit of the ambient sound out of the vocal which is very useful with condenser mics. I can typically cut out 5-6dB of ambient and room noise.” On stage, Kelly and Adam’s primary amps were Beyer 201 and Royer. “The only change this year is Kelly’s second cabinet, which we’ve moved off stage to take the stage level down because it was roaring guitars that didn’t help the mics,” he explained. “I send a really dry, crisp vocal into the wedge while Kelly’s doing a monologue, so if he’s having trouble hearing one night, he can pop his in-ear out and listen clearly.” The Capital Sound personnel included PA/Stage Tech, Ian Burness, PA Technicians, Finbar Neenan, Jim Loasby and TPi Breakthrough Talent Awards’ newly crowned Young Freelancer of the Year, Oli Crump.

Brighton was the smallest catwalk to date at just over 20ft,” he continued. “The smaller venues look cool because the festoon lights cover the entire floor.” With the stage set, and all the flight cases tipped, all that remained was for Wilson to mop the stage. “It’s a great tour, everybody is a good laugh and it’s the same faces each time around, who are all ridiculously friendly,” he said. “As the only set guy, I should be sat in the corner or lying in a hammock on my own, but it’s nice on this tour because everybody pitches in and lends a hand.” Tasked with transporting the 38 tonnes of kit from A to B was KB Event. “This is our 23rd year touring with the Stereophonics,” Managing Director at KB Event, Stuart McPherson reminisced. “We started production touring with them during the Word Gets Around album campaign in ‘97, and we have been privileged to be part of their journey ever since.” For the Kind tour, KB Event supplied a 45’ mega cube for the European dates, which increased to eight 45’ mega cubes for the UK arena legs. “It’s always such a pleasure to work with them and their loyalty means a great deal to us,” McPherson concluded. “Kind is a strong album which has been mirrored by an equally amazing live show.” TPi Photos: TPi & Lewis Roberts (www.31photography.com) tearawayproductionsltd@gmail.com www.stereophonics.com www.capital-sound.co.uk www.negearth.com www.oglehog.com www.brilliantstages.com www.acrejean.com www.kbevent.com www.phoenix-bussing.co.uk www.popcorncatering.com

‘AN AMAZING LIVE SHOW’ “The catwalk is a lot bigger on this tour. There are more risers, a lot more lights and a hell of a lot more truss, with just about enough loading in space to fit everything in,” Brilliant Stages’ Joshua Wilson commented, as he walked TPi through the setup. “There’s a 7ft by 5ft scissor lift in the middle of the B-stage, which is big enough to fit a drum kit on, a 40ft catwalk which, from the stage to the tip of the B-stage, measures at 60ft in total – with stage left and right ego wings and additional camera risers in the pit.” As one of the first through the door and among the last out, while the riggers chalked up, Wilson was busy tipping catering and set, ahead of building. “As soon as flies up, following checks of the lift and mopping the stage, the stage is all set. Thankfully, it’s all Brilliant LiteDeck gear, which is a doddle to slot in.” Wilson’s main aim was to make the decks look as close to the drawing as possible. He said: “In Bournemouth, the catwalk was around 32ft, while 31

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PRODUCTION PROFILE

HALSEY: MANIC WORLD TOUR With three studio albums under her belt, the American singer brings her latest live offering to Europe. TPi’s Stew Hume catches up with the crew on the final night of the European tour at Manchester Arena, to discover the inner workings of the Halsey touring family.

If there is one word that can be used to describe Halsey, it’s ‘diverse’. The varied set list for her Manchester performance went from traditional pop sensibilities to electro, country and even metal. Perhaps this shouldn’t have come as a surprise considering the list of acts she has collaborated with over the years, from EDM mainstays The Chainsmokers, to K-pop superstars BTS and even recently British rock-metalists, Bring Me The Horizon. The diversity in collaborators has clearly fed a lot into her own music, which took her loyal European fans on a multi-genre rollercoaster with an equally impressive visual set to back it up. Greeting TPi was Production Manager, Jimi Storey. Starting with the artist back in 2016, Storey has seen first-hand Halsey’s steady rise in popularity. “Since I came on board, we’ve gone from 4,000 to 12,000-seat venues in the US to now selling out arenas,” mused the PM. It’s a pattern he’s also observed this side of the Atlantic, which meant that when it came time to lay down the plans for the Manic World Tour, this production was going to be one of the biggest tours Halsey had ever put her name to. “It is a big, beautiful production,” stated the PM proudly, as he explained the look of the show. Highlights included a large upstage wall with two LED fames, as well as three automated ‘stair’ elements, which played the dual roles of surfaces to play content on and moveable stage set pieces that the artist walked up and, at one point, was even lifted all the way up to the lighting rig above. “Most of the pieces came together by October last year,” stated the PM. “We worked with Moment Factory, who worked with Halsey and her management to create the overall look of the show.” Storey described that one of the dominant elements of this production was the concept of ‘three’,

with this being Halsey’s third studio album – which manifested in one of the clearest ways with the three automated LED-stair elements. Helping to bring this production to fruition were a lot of long-time suppliers, including Eighth Day Sound, Screenworks, DCR Nashville, Strictly FX and All of it Now (AOIN). Britannia Row Productions, TAIT, 4Wall Entertainment, THiNC Worldwide, All Access, Beat The Street, Stagetruck and EFM also joined the production on this round of touring. ‘SO MUCH CONTENT’ One of TPi’s first stops was FOH duo, Simon Thomas [2018 TPi Award winner] and Benny Masterton – FOH Engineer and FOH Tech, respectively. The two started out by stating, rather matter-of-factly, that despite what you might think, this was most certainly not your traditional pop show. Having taken the FOH seat midway through the Hopeless Fountain Kingdom Tour, Thomas had only expected that this would be a short gig – a thought which he now chuckled at, having just helmed the audio for a brand-new album cycle. Over the years, Thomas has accrued an impressive list of female pop act collaboarations, including Ariana Grande. He discussed what it had been like to collaborate on this particular project. “There’s just so much content in her music,” he commented. “With most pop acts, you usually have a great band, then make sure the vocals are on top. This show on the other hand is much more dynamic, with so many highs and lows, and loads of atmospheric audio elements throughout – all of which you have to take into account when you build up the mix.” Not only was this a less-than-conventional audio mix, but the supplier setup was also slightly different, with Eighth Day Sound joining forces with 35

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Britannia Row Productions. “This camp has always traditionally been an Eighth Day Sound account,” began Thomas. However, during the festival leg that proceeded the tour, the audio team made use of a number of L-Acoustics systems, leading the Engineer to decide that this brand of PA would be the way to go for this project. “With that decision made, Eighth Day Sound opted to bring in Britannia Row Productions to provide the PA throughout the run,” he explained. Talking through the system was FOH Tech, Benny Masterton. “I was already quite familiar with L-Acoustics as a system,” he began, before highlighting some of the necessities needed in this PA design. “Scalability was always a huge consideration due to the variety of venues we were going through on this run.” However, scalability in no way meant compromising quality, as both Halsey and the wider management regard audio as of the utmost importance within her live show. “Compromise is not something that is done lightly out here,” asserted Masterton. “To replicate material to the best of our ability, having flown subs was always high on our list.” Taking on the role of the flown subs were the L-Acoustics K1SBs and “one of the main factors which made PA brand the clear option for the tour,” according to Masterton, who praised the boxes’ size and ability to fly discreetly alongside the rest of the rig. “The K1SBs give us the punch we require for the low end on this show,” he added. The main hangs were made up of 14 K1s and four K2s for the largest shows, while ground subwoofers comprised 16 KS28s. Due to the number of diverse genres that the artist switched between, Masterton created presets to better cater for these different musical

stylings. “Take the first two songs of the set,” he proffered. “Song one, Nightmare, is quite rocky and requires a wall of sound, compared to song two, Castle, which is more of a conventional pop track. What I’m doing with the PA is EQ shelving along with altering the timing of the subs – essentially altering the general shape of the PA. The idea is that you press a button and ‘click’, you’re ready to handle a different type of song.” Thomas added that the last thing they would want is to have a PA that made it sound “like a metal song being played at a pop gig,” while praising the work of Masterton in manipulating the PA while it was still in the air. Moving the conversation over to his console, Thomas outlined the highlights of his Solid State Logic L550. “I brought the brand into this camp when I first came into the last tour,” he began. “Like most projects, we break everything into sections. With Halsey, we need to create space for the vocals. To make all our elements, we create a selection of groups and within each of those we have a lot of dynamic EQ going on behind the scenes.” Amongst a selection of engineering mastery, Thomas pointed to one particular highlight he had been excited to experiment with: the SSL Fusion. “I’ve been using it to master her vocal stem before it hits the Rupert Neve Designs Portico Master buss compressor,” he explained. The Portico actually played a significant role within Thomas’ signal chain, which was mastering the entire mix, tightening everything up and keeping everything under control. ‘HER VOCALS REALLY CUT THROUGH EVERYTHING’ Taking the monitor seat once again was Rick Procopiov, who oversaw the singer’s onstage mix with a DiGiCo SD5. “It’s the same desk I used last 36

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HALSEY

time round although we have upgraded to now have the 32-bit cards,” he enthused. The other major change was the Bricasti M7 Reverb along with a Rupert Neve 5045 Primary Source Enhancer for Halsey’s vocals. Although this run saw the addition of a live guitar player – a role that in the past has been taken care of via playback – Procopiov explained how his roles had not altered too much. “For her personal mix, she prefers a general mix with her vocals on top for the most part,” he stated. One challenge for this run had been finding the right IEMs, which eventually saw the production opt for the Westones ES30s, with the rest of the band using ES60s. “We went through a number of different options for IEMs, but we just found the ES30s were great for allowing her vocals to really cut through everything.” Aiding Procopiov throughout the run was Elmar Dizon, taking on the role as RF Tech and Monitor Tech. Including the opening act, Dizon oversaw close to 34 mixes, with all equipment being provided by Eighth Day Sound. The vocal mic in question was an SE V7, with a Shure Axient Wireless system. “It’s been a great mic,” enthused Procopiov about the capsule. “We were using a condenser microphone prior to this, which proved difficult in certain venues, whereas the V7 has been really solid.” It was a statement echoed by Thomas. “What is amazing about the SE is that amount of rejection it has along with a really nice proximity effect. When she sings, we are really getting the depth and warmth of her voice without us having to try too hard.”

Directors for the impressive visual spectacle, which comprised the three automated video pods and three-layered video element. Walking TPi through the origins of the show design was Lighting Designer, Paul ‘Arlo’ Guthrie. The LD’s first contact with Halsey actually began while he was still working with Nine Inch Nails. “She came and visited us at the end of 2018 for one of our LA shows and loved what we were doing,” said Arlo. “A few months later, I got a call asking if I would be interested in overseeing her performance on The Voice.” From there, Arlo teamed up with her choreographer for the performance. “She has a lot of ideas and is very ambitious,” he commented. “It was a fun project to work on.” Following a few other TV performances, the management wanted to team up with Moment Factory for a few award show performances to lead the art direction. “I got to stay on to design the lighting, which is perfect for me,” stated Arlo. “I’d worked with the Moment Factory team in the past and they have always been great. This setup worked for me as I got to focus on my speciality, which is lighting rather than designing everything.” Video supplier, Screenworks in collaboration with All of it Now (AOIN), were brought in to create the overall visual of the show, with the latter providing media servers for the tour. ‘A PERFECT PLATFORM FOR COLLABORATION’ Content played a key role in the show design – from the large upstage LED wall, to the two LED frames around the main screen and finally the three automated LED elements, which doubled as stairs as well as an automated lift for the singer. Before getting to the products themselves, TPi turned its attention to longstanding member the Halsey family, Danny Firpo from

‘A FUN PROJECT TO WORK ON’ Brought in to helm the visual direction was creative house, Moment Factory. The company’s Tarik Mikou and Aude Guivarc’h acted as Creative 38

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AOIN. Firpo joined Halsey on the road in 2016 as her Media Server Operator. A year into working with the artist, he officially launched AOIN – a company that focuses on digital content and immersive experiential installations for brands, agencies, entertainers, and events. “As her video needs have expanded, so has AOIN’s service,” stated Firpo, explaining how the company went from a one-laptop setup to now having a number of disguise gx 2cs, which were sent out for this latest tour. Although Firpo had been a longstanding member of the road crew, due to the demands of AOIN, he had to pass on the touring duties to Media Server Operator, Cade Moore. Starting in June 2019, Firpo began to join forces with Moment Factory. “They were great to collaborate with and the fact that we were already familiar with each other’s work allowed us to quickly develop a visual language and shorthand to communicate complex ideas,” he stated. Even with great communication, Firpo walked through some of the hurdles the companies had to overcome. “One of the major challenges was the disparate venue sizes,” he explained. “We went from 4,000 to 10,000 capacity from night to night, with a selection of full arenas at the end.” The solution was to create A, B and C rigs for the tour. For AOIN, this meant maintaining aspect ratios across each size of variable LED screen. “This effectively meant the Moment Factory team would have to render content for each frame size, but we needed to maintain aspect ratio for each size, so that the same visual experience from the large-venue show would translate into the smaller-venue show. The content team created some really impressive render tools that could adapt to each frame size.” Having made the jump to disguise a few years ago, the brand has quickly become AOIN’s server of choice. “On the software side, the 3D

viewport and network editing tools make disguise a perfect platform for collaboration,” stated Firpo. “We were able to work closely with the lighting team using the new EVO workflow, which takes the MA Lighting grandMA 3D output and overlays it into the disguise GUI, so that we could merge both lighting and video programming onto a single screen,” he added. “This gave us a reliable previsualisation of what the rig would look like once we landed in rehearsal, and it gave us more time to try out some concepts where the lighting and video worlds combined to create a tighter, more integrated experience.” The use of the gx 2c also meant that Firpo had more creative freedom with some of the Notch effects used during the show. “During the Notchheavy tracks, the gx 2s are essential,” commented Moore, from behind the workstation, which was backed onto the giant upstage video wall. “All the effects were created by Kevin Zhu, our ‘particle god’,” joked Moore. “On the whole, it’s a selection of various colour treatments with some monochromatic looks. It’s not necessary a very heavy Notch-looking show with more tasteful moments.” Continuing the dive into the video world, TPi caught up with Screenworks Crew Chief, Sean Lee. Collectively, he and the team look after two main products: the ROE Visual MC7s that made up the upstage video wall along with the two LED frames further upstage, as well as the CB8s that comprised the automated screen on the stairs. “We have invested heavily in ROE in recent years,” said Lee. “Both of these are really nice products, but I’m a big fan of the CB8 and the colours you are able to get out of it.” He added: “For processing we are using Nova for both the upstage screen and the frames – or, as we call them, ‘the eyebrows’ – with ROE Envision for the automated screens.” You would be 39

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excused for thinking that the biggest challenge for the video team would have come from the automated LED section. However, according to Lee, it was actually the two LED frames that presented the biggest issue. “There are two main issues with the frames,” he explained. “The first is structural. We have to build the frames as a single column, which means there is not a lot of support from the sides or on the ground. If there is an issue, climbing up to fix it is not really an option.” He added: “The second issue comes on the processing side. Even though we effectively have three edges of a rectangle screen, when it comes to pixel mapping, our software believes there is a full screen in its place. This means we have to map the equivalent of the three individual LED screens.” Screenworks also provided a camera and IMAG package for the tour. With the flanked project screens making use of Barco HDX 20s, all the video footage came from four cameras – two at FOH and two in the pit – all manned by touring Screenworks crew. Directing the IMAG content was Charles Woods. “We’ve got a relatively simple setup,” he declared. “The main brief was simply to get shots of Halsey, which I then send on to Cade for all the Notch effects and other video treatment elements to be added.”

MegaPointes that created a selection of “aerial” effects, with Vari-Lite VL 6000s, which gave Arlo another selection of textures in his arsenal. On the ground were a collection of CHAUVET Professional MK3 Profiles with MK3 Washes on the automated trusses. Another essential piece of the lighting jigsaw were the Robe BMFLs working in tandem with RoboSpot. “Since 2002, when I created a hacked version of a remote system that gave me control of my spots, I have adamantly steered away from traditional house spots,” Arlo revealed. “In my opinion, any time you use house spots, you’re rolling the dice, and you often lose. Now that we have the technology, the remote solutions have become a staple in all my designs.” Handling the show file on the road was Jose Antunes. Having been a mainstay of the Halsey camp for the past three years, he worked through the ranks of the lighting department, having manned the show from behind the MA Lighting grandMA2 for a year and a half. Antunes walked through some of his personal highlights of the rig. “I’m a big fan of the VL6000s.” he stated. “They have a huge aperture and beam, which we are able to get some amazing looks from. When she goes up on the stairs, they create a stunning silhouette. It’s probably one of my favourite looks of the whole show.” While talking to any member of the visual department, two words that kept cropping up in reference to the look of the show were ‘vibey’ and ‘atmospheric’. An example of this was Halsey’s preference to forgo traditional audience blinder looks, which led Arlo to utilise the GLP JDCs heavily so as to light the crowd but to match the colour palette of the rest of the show, to extend the canvas in each venue. There was also a goal to have seamless transitions between each song, with elements of “misdirection”, according to Antunes. “Between a few

‘SMOKE AND MIRRORS’ The extensive LED and automation setup created an interesting dilemma for Arlo while plotting his lighting rig. “By the time we had everything squeezed into the rig, there was not a whole lot of space for lights,” he joked, as he talked through his process of ensuring the artist would still be lit throughout the show. Handling most of the dynamic lighting looks were a collection of GLP impression X4 Bar 20s and JDC1s. Arlo then added a row of 20 Robe 40

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Lighting Director, Jose Antunes; Media Server Operator, Cade Moore; FOH Tech, Benny Masterton with FOH Engineer, Simon Thomas.

songs, we rely heavily on the X4 Bars to create a wall of light across the stage. This means we are able to be obstruct Halsey from view as she gets herself onto the automated pods for the next part of the set. It’s very smoke and mirrors and a really creative way to produce a scene change rather than a generic blackout.” At moments during the set, Antunes actually took control of the LED video rig and incorporated it into the lighting design. “From my MA, I run CMY to a Sky Server to take control of all six video surfaces to do flashes of colour.” To close, the Lighting Director gave his thoughts on the service provided by 4Wall Entertainment in the UK. “We worked with HSL in the past and it’s nice to have all the same guys back for this one on behalf of 4Wall,” he stated. “They provided a great service, crew and gear – as always.”

explained. “The automated stairs were also a challenge because we had 5,897kg in a pretty isolated space in the centre of the stage. We had to get pretty creative to get the load distributed correctly. Our local rigging crews all did an amazing job with this challenge.” The rig was just under 22,000kg, with a total of 63 points. For motors, Wilson selected the EXE Riser D8+, all of which were supplied by 4Wall Entertainment UK. “Even though it was only a 63-point show, due to the variety of venues, I found it more challenging than some 150-plus-point shows I’ve worked on,” he admitted. “Irrespective of that, it was a really fun challenge.” Helping out on the road was Madison Donohue, Wilson’s Second Utility. Giving his thoughts on the flown automated rig was TAIT’s Senior Project Manager, Philip Mitchell. This was the first time that the staging specialists had collaborated with the artist, although the company had worked with the PM previously. The initial brief presented to the TAIT team was that Halsey wanted to “climb on to the video screen”, stated Mitchell. “We began to play with the idea of there being one massive screen that could be scaled like a climbing wall, but ultimately we thought that smaller automated pieces that could be moved into several orientations would be more interesting.” Each one of the stairs was made up of three sections and when built, they were just over 16ft by 6ft. The central stair was designed with flying in mind, with each screen coming in at just under 2,000lb. For automation, TAIT relied on its own NavHoists run of a Navigator system, with each stair

‘FROM OPENING ACT TO HEADLINER’ Moving the conversation skyward, TPi caught up with THiNC Worldwide’s Chris Wilson, a Production Rigger for the Manic World Tour. Having started with the artist during her previous album cycle, the THiNC team were more than familiar with her and the crew. “Interestingly, Halsey was the opening act on The Weeknd’s Starboy Tour, which we also worked on,” reflected Wilson. “It’s great to watch an artist go from an opening act to a headliner.” With a sizeable automated rig, Wilson certainly had a number of challenges on his plate. “Weight, height and width were major factors on a daily basis due to the different sized venues we were going through,” he 41

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having four motors. To ensure Halsey’s safety throughout her automated section, TAIT created a harness with a custom leash that was attached to the centre of the handrail that moved as she was up on stairs – giving her a full range of movement and the ability to perform freely.

her whole camp are very savvy and made sure that cues for the effects lined up nicely with the motion cues in the show. This was easier since we were brought in early to the conversations and could help guide or tweak some of the specifics. Sometimes all you need is for something to be moved a couple of inches and everything can not only look bigger but can also be easier and safer once you’re on site setting it up.” One of the major looks came during the waterfall effect that emanated from the flown LED screens. To pull off this look required a three-way working relationship between Strictly FX, TAIT and Screenworks, along with the overarching directive guide of Moment Factory. “Jimi made sure that the communication flowed between each department so we could all deliver what was expected,” praised Kennedy. “From the beginning, we had multiple meetings with TAIT and Moment Factory to iron out the ideal location for each effect. We’ve collaborated with TAIT a number of times and it’s always exciting to work on a new project and help bring a concept to life.” Last but not least, Strictly FX supplied the all-important confetti effects, with four DMX-controlled blowers included on the rider. Kennedy gave his final thoughts on the project. “Halsey is a very savvy performer and very hands-on with her production,” he commented. “She really understands what needs to be brought to the show for it to be a proper scale and feel. This really helps the show to feed the emotions and help promote an already captivating environment. She is also cautious not to introduce elements that would interfere with the connection she has with her audience.” The Art Director also complemented Halsey’s wider team and their ability to roll with the punches to take this show into such a variety of different sized venues. “It was key for getting so many of the effects to work for so many of the tour dates,” he concluded. Three albums into her career

‘A VERY SAVVY PERFORMER’ “We were brought in very early in the design process, which was immensely helpful,” began David Kennedy, Strictly FX’s Art Director, explaining the company’s role in the tour. “One of the first big design meetings was actually hosted at the company’s Nashville HQ. During these early conversations, the design team brought some very specific looks and already had their eyes on a selection of devices they wanted to include in the design.” He continued: “A large part of Halsey’s logistic and design team came to see us while we demoed the gear. She was actually present for all of the demos. This meant that she knew what she liked and what she didn’t feel was relevant to her putting on a show that connects with the fans first-hand and what everyone was referencing in the creative conversations.” Right from the opening number, Nightmare, it was clear that pyro played an important part in the show. “There were 120, 1.4g pyrotechnics pieces used in the set, in addition to several choreographed stage hits. Some of this was installed onto vertical truss towers and shot across the stage, which was a really unique look,” outlined Kennedy. “There was also a waterfall that was designed around the staircase.” A total of 14 vertical flame units were installed into the stage and shot through a custom-cut opening in a special grating so as to hide the units from view. Also included were four moving head flame units. “We spent a great deal of time making sure that the flames and pyro were distanced appropriately from the screens,” said Kennedy. “She and 42

VL5LED WASH THE RETURN OF A LEGEND

and ascending the ranks from support act to certified arena headliner, everything seems to be going in the right direction for the American singer. Now in her third album cycle, she and her creative team have really honed in on a style and vibe for the ‘Halsey live experience’. In short, Halsey’s Manic World Tour is an intimate concert that allows her audience to get lost in her music and eschews any sentiment of the done-to-death traditional pop-tropes. Although ‘Manic’ may be the name of the tour, it was evident from meeting the Halsey crew, that there was a unified and shared goal to create a tour where all the departments worked together to produce the same vibe for the artist. TPi Photos: TPi & Jasmine Safaeian www.jasminesafaeian.com www.iamhalsey.com www.momentfactory.com www.tossfad.com www.taittowers.com www.8thdaysound.com www.dcrnashville.com www.britanniarow.com www.allofitnow.com www.screenworksnep.com www.4wall.com www.thincworldwide.com www.allaccessinc.com www.beatthestreet.net www.stagetruck.com www.efm.global

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Coming Soonâ&#x20AC;¦ www.productionfutures.co.uk

A-Series

Assume nothing. It takes very little time for the A-Series to reveal its true colors: Coverage options to spare. Extra clever acoustic control. More flexibility. Fewer compromises. Approach sound reinforcement from a different angle: dbaudio.com/a-series

More art. Less noise.

PRODUCTION PROFILE

HATSUNE MIKU: EXPO 2020 EUROPE Considered the first truly crowd-created virtual talent, Hatsune Miku’s trademark voice and larger-than-life energy has transcended corporate boardrooms to the live touring circuit. TPi’s Jacob Waite meets the crew behind one of the most unique European tours this year…

When Crypton Future Media first developed Hatsune Miku in 2007 – the second iteration of Yamaha’s Vocaloid 2’s Character Vocal Series software – the Sapporobased company must have had no idea that those who invested in the software would immediately fall in love with the 16-year-old blue-haired girl with a trademark voice and extrovert personality. Leaping off the box as the fans breathed life into her, Hatsune Miku has become a cult figure, with over two million followers online and a repertoire of crowdsourced songs provided by creators. Considered the first truly crowd-created virtual talent, Hatsune Miku has already teamed up with major artists like Lady Gaga and Pharrell Williams and has been successfully touring Southeast Asia for five years, with recent stints in North America, before embarking on EXPO 2020 EUROPE in January 2020. “This year is the first time we’ve hit Europe with any real weight,” began Production Manager, Jamal Chalabi of Backlash and Proper Productions. “Hatsune Miku performed three shows in Europe two years ago, whereas we’re now doing five in major cities. It’s a major step up and being virtual artist hasn’t stopped us from filling venues.” The PM worked closely with Production Assistant, Tyler Cole-Holmes and the Proper Productions team on very specific equipment requirements to ensure that everything was as per their detailed rider. “It’s been an absolute joy to work closely with the Japanese crew,” Chalabi said. “I’ve been touring and working in the region since the early ’90s, and they take the level of expertise in production to the next level.” Chalabi enlisted the help of a trusted set of suppliers in Capital Sound, Lights Control Rigging, Universal Pixels, ER Productions, John Henry’s, KB Event, and Sound Moves. “Part of our way of bringing this tour in line with rock ’n’ roll standards is delivering a great level of production for a really good price,” he explained. “This tour does amazingly on merchandise – so much so, Backstreet International Merchandise and I had to arrange pop-up shops around the venues to cope with the amount that people wanted to buy.” No. 3 Catering’s Will Jamieson and Rikki Vidamour also boosted team morale – and blood sugar levels. “Food is a universal language,” Chalabi underlined. “The heart of this 45

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tour is catering, where people of different cultures can bond, so introducing a catering team this year – instead of local catering – has been essential.” One of the intriguing things about this act, Chalabi said, was that the demographic of the fanbase is very broad. As well as a lot of younger people interested in Japanese and anime culture, the one thing he noticed was a collective “sense of relief” when attendees walked into the venue. He explained: “They realise they’re not a misfit, they’re not alone in their community – other people are out there that share their passion for Japanese culture and anime.” And with the digital character racking up a 2.5 million-strong social following, if there’s one thing that its fans aren’t, it’s alone. The PM also acknowledged that while visual elements are slowly becoming the norm and have been commonplace on the touring circuit since the turn of the decade, increasing focus has been put on AR/XR. It comes as no surprise, then, that Miku’s name incorporates the Japanese words for ‘first’, ‘sound’ and ‘future’. Chalabi said: “It’s unlikely that an artist made entirely of pixels will ever take the place of a live band, but I think its usefulness going forward could be interesting.”

rear projection setups, hotspots can be problematic, especially as four converge on one another. In addition to this, there was the challenge of venues with tiered seating, such as Brixton Academy.” In most cases, this meant Condon had to aim the projectors off-axis to the surface and warp, keeping the light source away from the audience’s vision. “To mitigate this further, we placed each projector across the stage floor approximately 4m apart, separating the light source evenly.” Condon kept the angle of the projector below 20° and used a combination of lens shift and raster position to bring the image up to the height of the screen. “The drawback to this is that many warp points can cause distortion,” he explained. “However, given the relatively short distances from audience to image, we had to find the right balance between image quality and the limitations of physical placement.” The production team specified a detailed video package, provided by Universal Pixels. “All of the video playback and control were brought and managed by the artist crew,” Condon added. “I managed the infrastructure, from the Barco E2 down to projection.” A Barco E2 switcher at FOH and four Panasonic RZ21K projectors were specified at upstage centre, positioned on the stage floor. “The image was rear projected onto a specialised piece of Perspex, presenting a similar output to a rear projection surface with the added benefit of transparency.” This was positioned mid stage, approximately 1ft from the stage floor. Signal was fed via SDI and HDMI E2 outputs and converted to single mode fibre sending 1080p at 59.94fps. These were then converted back to SDI and HDMI and routed via Lightware and Blackmagic Design matrixes at USC, enabling each projector to receive hot SDI and HDMI signals. Network was sent over one of the single mode fibres using an SFP switch, enabling control of all FOH and onstage equipment remotely. FOH control comprised Mac “trash cans” running Final Cut Pro, fed into E2 via HDMI and SDI matrixes – along with a selection of monitors around

‘THE BOUNDS ARE ENDLESS’ As the Managing Director of Universal Pixels, Phil Mercer was brought into the frame by Proper Productions, having collaborated with the company on a range of projects over the past 15 years. “The very concept of Hatsune Miku, which in English means ‘the first sound of the future’, is completely different to any project I’ve been involved with,” he told TPi. “It’s a great demonstration of deep technical competence, attention to detail and a really friendly approach being far more important than everyone speaking the same language.” The main challenge between each venue was the physical layout of the projectors. Video Technician, Anthony Condon explained: “As with all 46

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the stage, receiving the E2 output for monitoring purposes. LTC was sent to the video department from audio running Nuendo, affording the LD the option of an LTC feed, however, his preference was to fire cues live. “The whole show was very high energy from start to finish!” Condon exclaimed. According to the LED Technician, video integration with the artist performance has been happening “for years”, however, AR/XR is now becoming commonplace on larger shows. “The bounds for a concept like this, having the artist completely in the digital domain, are endless and I’m sure it’ll adapt over time with the technology,” Condon commented. The Japanese video team comprised Video Effect Technicians, Tomoya Tsutsui and Yuji Zuigyo, as well as Video Engineers, Satoshi Fukuizumi and Kazumu Ogasawara. “It was a great experience and a pleasure working with both the Japanese and UK crews.” The integrated LCR lighting package comprised a three lighting truss of 10 Claypaky Scenius Unicos, 10 Sharpys, 23 B-EYE K25s, and 10 Martin by Harman Rush PAR 2 RGBW Zoom flown elements, while 12 Aura XBs, six Solaris Flare Q+s and 12 4-Lite unit Molefay Blinders, six Claypaky Scenius Unicos and six Sharpys made up the ground floor package, complete with a 32in mirror ball as the centrepiece of the design. “It was one of the strangest yet most rewarding tours I’ve ever done,” Lighting Technician, Tomas ‘Tom’ Soltau said. “Despite the fact that there is no definitive artist, I can see this show becoming more commonplace, given its cult following. I’ve never witnessed a show pull in as much money as this did on merchandise alone.” To control the timecoded show, LD, Yuji Tachobana utilised a High End Systems Road Hog 4. “It was an unusual choice for the creative team,” Tom said. “As far as I’m aware, Hog 4 are seldom seen in Japan, however, they were very pleased with the delivery.” ER Productions provided SFX for Hatsune Miku, including four CO2 jets and four Stadium Shot MKIIs, triggered by an FX Commander, which fired

the burst of bespoke metallic streamers, provided by Crypton. “These came apart into 1m segments that had the dates of the shows and the city names on them,” SFX Technician, Natalie Frew said. “After the performance, the crowd picked up every single piece of streamer and took them home. I have never seen such a clean floor after an arena show!” The crowd, bathed in concert-approved glow sticks with seven changeable colours, moved in unison with the music. “It was so great to see the audience enjoying themselves, that the hours of hard work so many people put in was worth it.” As well as moving in sync with the music, the soundtrack was made and specified by the fans. The artist being made of pixels was secondary to the audio being crowd-created; there was a different set list in each city to reflect the locally made music. “Imagine going to a show and hearing a song that you or your friend made!” Frew enthused. “The live entertainment industry has changed massively in the past month, with bans on public gatherings and the surge of virtual gigs online. I definitely think that shows are going to change, and everyone is looking for something unique to promote. The live band that accompanied were all incredible musicians. I described the experience to some friends who couldn’t see the appeal as akin to watching a film with a live orchestra.” ‘SOUND OF THE FUTURE’ “This is like nothing I’ve ever worked on before. It’s a unique experience – watching the way the crowd reacts to Hatsune and the music is almost as entertaining as watching the show itself,” Audio Crew Chief, Amy NewtonSmith reported. “The way Hatsune Miku interacts with the crowd and the band and the way the band interact with her is a real testament to the work and detail that is put into this production. It truly is a feast for the senses.” Backline Technicians, Kazuya Moriyasu and Norihiko Yamane looked after the live band – made up of guitarist, Takahiro Misawa, keyboardist, 47

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Megumi Ide, bassist, Aimi Kuroki and drummer, Kosuke Kamata. They utilised an Aviom system with A360 personal mixers for their wired IEM packs, which linked through a couple of D800s, fed by an Ai16 at the monitor position to keep a quiet and clean stage, apart from a few ‘virtual’ wedges during the heavier songs. A pair of Martin Audio XD12s on round base stands were used on stage during rehearsals as a means for the show directors to communicate with the stage from FOH. The Martin Audio MLA system comprised 26 MLA and two MLD main hang boxes and a side hang system consisting of 12 MLA-C boxes. The sub array was made up of 12 MLX Subwoofers setup for cardioid to reduce projector vibrations and six DD12 full range speakers as front fills. Systems Technician, Ben Turnbull explained: “I scaled the system according to the various different sized venues on the tour.” Newton-Smith chimed in: “As the venues were so different in shape and size, we took along an extra PA consisting of 12 Compacts to be used as side hangs, a couple more DD12s and two extra boxes of MLA for the main hangs.” Turnbull specified three Lake LM44 system processors in the drive rack at FOH to feed two Focusrite D16 AES units via Dante over Fibre with one on either side of the stage. He explained: “Using MLA’s technology in this situation was ideal in that it enabled us to provide excellent transparent coverage to the demanding Hatsune Miku fans in the audience area.” The control package consisted of a DiGiCo SD10 at FOH with two SD-racks controlled by FOH Engineer, Toshiaki Ueno and a Yamaha CL5 in monitor world with two Rio 32s controlled by Monitor Engineer, Kanae Kosaka. A 48-channel passive split from the stage into a DiGiCo SD Rack and a pair of Yamaha RIO3224-Ds provided stage input to the consoles. The video and audio playback system for the projection was situated at FOH and fed audio to the stage split via a 12-way analogue returns line

from FOH to the stage. All the processing was achieved internally by the consoles. The microphone packaged comprised a range of Shure SM57s and SM58s, Shure Beta 52s and Beta 91As, AKG C451/CK1s, Sennheiser MD421s and e904s. “The band and Japanese crew were extremely professional and efficient,” Turnbull reported. “Our main job as audio providers for this tour was to provide even sound coverage and impact to the audience area. It was an absolute pleasure to work with everyone involved,” he added. “I am sure that the technology will be used more and more in the future as productions look to increase the ‘wow factor’ of their shows.” PA Technician, Oliver Fallon joined the Capital Sound team. ‘A UNIQUE WAY OF TOURING’ Stage Manager, Harry Ford was an integral cog in building the relationship between the Japanese team of creatives, not only delivering a tour in line with Proper Productions’ ethos, but the bigger picture of growing the tour in the UK and Europe. “The general interest across Europe is getting greater, as such the shows are developing.” Overseeing logistics of load ins and outs as well as the coordination of the trucks, Ford explained the unique load schedule. “We load in a whole day before the show for a day of technical,” he quipped. “It’s a unique way of touring for the European crew who are used to a much more streamlined way of working.” KB Event’s Stuart McPherson was “delighted” when the PM called upon the team to supply trucking. “Last year we were involved in the Roy Orbison & Buddy Holly: Rock’N’Roll Dream Tour and An Evening with Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour,” he commented. “However, Hatsune Miku was the first time we stepped up to touring a hologram show in arena-sized 48

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venues.” KB Event provided four 45ft megacubes to the tour throughout UK and mainland Europe. “The ‘live’ experience is amazing. In fact, we even contemplated asking our drivers to sport aqua ponytails to really get into the spirit of things!” he laughed. Having the lead singer as a digital protection cut out the mayhem of having a celebrity backstage. Ford said: “The idea that we can programme all night without having to worry about the artist being on site, means we can make the show as perfect as possible without the rigmarole of extended rehearsals.” The stage was built high for the audience sightlines and projection hotspots. Ford stated: “With it being rear projection from three different sources/points, the point of raising the stage above the audience’s heads was to ensure that the projectors were hidden.” As quite a narrow and tall stage with a band and set pieces aplenty, Ford dubbed the setup “a big wall of production” – as opposed to the depth of a typical band setup, with the ability to move around. “The session musicians came on, played in their spot for two hours and, because the talent is the projection, I find myself describing it as a mix between an expo and a live rock ’n’ roll show.” Tasked with securing the plots and conversing with the venues ahead of schedule was Head Rigger, Nigel Foster. “The critical elements are the LED set pieces and the Perspex screen, which had to be placed in a particular position in order to make Hatsune Miku visible to the audience, without giving the game away.” The hoists for the stage side were EXE, ranging from 1t to 0.5t, while the PA used 2t CM Lodestar motors. “Hatsune Miku has a massive online following – every place we visited there were pop-up shops across the town,” he added. “For a lot of people coming to see the show, this would

probably be their first live music experience.” The set elements were hung off motors on a truss, all individually controlled. Head Carpenter, Dave West, added: “The great thing about this tour is the fact you couldn’t pinpoint the demographic, and if it gets people away from computer screens to watch live music, then all the better.” West believed despite the uncertain future of live touring, there’s still a place for live music. “It’s interesting to see how far you can push technology in the live sector before there’s a push back,” he recognised. “Without musicians, we wouldn’t have a job, so it’s important to keep the retention of the human element of a touring crew powering the show forward.” Having witnessed the “captivating” development of Hatsune Miku’s European live shows since 2018, Ford concluded: “You find yourself getting drawn in as you watch the show as you would with any performer – holographic technology is improving year on year.” And, as Mercer acknowledged, “If spontaneous interactivity with the crowd can be mastered, I see no reason why long-established artists couldn’t incorporate elements into their own live shows.” TPi Photos: Ben Turnbull www.mikuexpo.com www.properproductions.org www.capital-sound.co.uk www.lcr-rental.com www.unipix.tv www.er-productions.com www.kbevent.com www.johnhenrys.com www.soundmoves.com 49

MARKET FOCUS

LIVESTREAMING The arrival of COVID-19 has challenged the touring landscape in ways previously unimaginable. The biggest shift comes as no surprise: an immediate and long-term demand for hardware or software solutions for live streaming and webcasting. TPi looks at some of the solutions on offer…

AGILE REMOTE CAMERAS Agile Remote Cameras’ discreet ARC360 PTZ camera features IP and PoE+ connectivity and produces exceptional images. It has a proven pedigree in live sport, natural history and large-scale music events, using the latest technology to ensure reliability and performance. Housing the Sony Exmor R sensor and 20x optical zoom in a precisionengineered housing, the ARC360 camera provides the highest quality images under a range of lighting conditions, with 3G SDI connectivity. Completely waterproof with an integrated wiper blade and innovative antifogging system, the ARC360 is ideal for operation whatever the weather, making it the perfect remote camera solution for live events. Its unique quick-release locking mount makes for fast installation onsite. The ARC360 runs via an IP/PoE+ interface, with web page access for configuration. Recently upgraded, the camera now benefits from absolute position encoders and belt drive technology to deliver exceptional precision accuracy, with a driven horizon and smooth low-speed control. The camera can be controlled via a range of compatible controllers, including Agile’s own ARC4 and ARC Maxi systems, plus a range of third-party systems such as those from SKAARHOJ and CyanView, with full CCU control and genlock. www.agileremotecameras.com

LIVESTREAMING

For a more broadcast-style workflow, you can remote control your cameras from ATEM Mini. Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and 6K models can work as studio cameras with control sent via the HDMI connection to ATEM Mini. Each camera view includes tally indicators, so you know when each source is on air, and each view has custom labels and audio metres. You can also see the media player, so you know what graphic is selected. www.blackmagicdesign.com

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN The URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 is a professional digital film camera that combines 4.6K image quality with the features and controls of a traditional broadcast camera. The fully redesigned electronics includes a new Super 35mm 4.6K HDR sensor for shooting up to 300fps. You also get ND filters, interchangeable lens mount, dual CFast and UHS-II SD card recorders as well as a USB-C expansion port. The URSA Mini Pro also features 12G-SDI and supports all HD and Ultra HD formats up to 2160p60. Add the manufacturer’s studio viewfinder, SMPTE fibre converter chains, ATEM switcher and control panel, and you have a complete 4K live production workflow. Allowing artists such as Andrea Bocelli to retain the same cinematic-like quality whether capturing a live concert in B4 configuration or filming a music video with anamorphic lenses. Other artists and festivals that have relied on the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 for live productions include Hecht at Zurich Hallestadion, Ultra Festival, Creamfields and Defqon.1. The ATEM Mini Pro is a new low-cost live production switcher with recording, streaming and monitoring capabilities built in. It includes a new hardware streaming engine to allow direct streaming via Ethernet to YouTube Live, Facebook and Twitch. There is also support for recording your stream direct to USB flash disks in H.264. The new model also includes a multiview on the HDMI video output, which allows all inputs, plus preview and program to be monitored on a single monitor. It also provides live status of your recording, streaming and the audio mixer.

DISGUISE interaction with computer graphic (CG) elements, real lighting and support for reflective and refractive props. xR’s virtual environment combines camera tracking and real-time rendering not only visible on screen but live on set and on camera. This process gives directors and designers more control, and faster calibration workflows. Livestreaming, or projection surfaces in the space allows actors or presenters to be absorbed into the virtual environment where they can see and easily, and more naturally, interact with the entire set. Additional xR features heighten time and cost efficiency, with the ability to pre-visualise camera shots, enabling better coordination between stage or set and camera departments and enabling environments to be created or changed rapidly. disguise is currently offering its Designer licence free until September 2020, which is usually available on a paid monthly subscription basis. To try Designer for free visit: www.disguise.one/en/software-licensing/

xR (Extended Reality) technology empowers production teams to deliver augmented and mixed reality to create immersive experiences in virtual production environments, opening new opportunities for streaming content to at home audiences in the current climate. xR’s virtual set extension places presenters in environments larger than the spaces available, opening worlds of opportunity, creating more compelling content to increase audience engagement. This complete immersion allows for

LIVESTREAMING

MARSHALL ELECTRONICS Marshall Electronics new IP cameras, the CV630-IP, CV420-30X-IP and CV355-30X-IP, provide a range of resolutions from 4K, UHD, and HD, offering an IP camera model that fits every specific project need with multiple simultaneous outputs. The IP cams are all equipped with a next-generation 8.5-megapixel (MP) image sensor. Power can be supplied over Ethernet (PoE) or powered separately with a 12V power supply. Remote control and adjustment can be delivered using the same PoE input, or dedicated RS-232 (Cat5/6) using published Visca over IP commands. The CV630-IP supports triple stream H.265 (HEVC), H.264 and MJPEG formats, and features simultaneous outputs over IP Ethernet, HDMI, and 3G-SDI to make it compatible with a wide variety of workflows. The CV420-30X-IP and CV355-30X-IP cameras feature a high-performance 8.5MP sensor and 30X optical zoom block, providing flexible integration in networked HD and UHD workflows where image quality, reliability, and versatility are of utmost concern. www.marshall-usa.com

NEWTEK The TriCaster Mini 4K offers easy setup with extensive live production capabilities, including broadcast-quality, fully customisable virtual sets to turn any living room, garage, or basement into a professional studio reflecting the identity or brand of any business, house of worship, school or agency. Broadcast graphics, media playback, one touch automated control, integrated replay, social media integration and more are all delivered at up to full UHD p60 resolution. Two channels of Skype input allow for simultaneous guest contributors to participate from their studios, laptops or phones across the globe, all presented with broadcast graphics for titles, double box effects and more. The TriCaster Mini 4K ships with two Spark Plus IO 4K p60 encode/ decode converters, enabling IP-based, NDI-first workflows using existing inputs and outputs. The TriCaster Mini 4K also comes with Live Story Creator and LivePanel software, designed to make the production of network-quality shows even easier for lone producers or small teams whether they are novice beginners or seasoned video professionals. www.newtek.com

LIVESTREAMING

NDI 4.5 adds support in iOS for real-time, full framerate, and resolution capture of the display on wireless with NDI|HX Capture for iOS. In addition, the NDI|HX Camera for iOS app turns any iPhone into a full 4K wireless camera, giving it the same capabilities as a high-end video camera. Built into NDI 4.5 are extended capabilities for internet use and use on wireless networks. This version shows massive improvements to NDI|HX, with lower latency, full support for (multi) GPU decoding acceleration, and support for the most advanced compression formats available. The NDI SDK for Unreal Engine is free to download, and the source code is available so that developers can customise their content creations. NDI 4.5 offers unlimited IP recording, with Adobe Premiere plugins both for real-time NDI and working with time-locked ISO recording across multiple streams. This takes NDI streams from the network and stores them on disk with no CPU usage, allowing users to record any number of streams to disk and extend this to multiple machines for almost infinite recording capabilities. The latest version of the embedded NDI SDK that offers full FPGA support for both NDI encoding and decoding. In addition, there is support across almost all platforms for access to the compressed data streams, instant routing and more. For advanced development, embedded platforms and custom hardware needs, NDI fully provides the ability for developers to create amazing products. The NDI 4.5 SDK and NDI Tools are free downloads, available now. www.ndi.tv

NDI

ROLAND Roland Professional AV offers the VR Series of ‘livestreaming ready’ switchers to enable online communication with high-quality, real-time video. Whether you need to present to a private group or broadcast to the entire world, simply choose the Roland switcher that suits your application and budget, then add cameras and microphones and select an online broadcast platform. To help you make the right choice, Roland offers an online ‘Live Streaming Solutions Guide’ on its website with information on how to get started. The Roland VR-50HD MK II Multi Format AV Mixer consolidates video switching, digital audio mixing, multi-viewer touchscreen control, and USB 3.0 AV streaming into a single unit that’s simple to run. The Roland VR-4HD all-in-one HD AV Mixer integrates a digital audio mixer, video switcher, multiviewer touchscreen and USB video/audio streaming interface into a stand-alone device. With built in USB 3.0 for web streaming and recording, Roland’s VR-1HD lets you broadcast dynamic multi-camera livestreams, complete with amazing picture and sound that easily outshines ‘standard’ livestreams from a mobile phone or static webcam. www.roland.com

LIVESTREAMING

SONY Sony Virtual Production, an on-demand solution, powered by Amazon Web Services, lets you switch cameras, add captions and control comments – all in the cloud. Sony is offering a free 20-hour trial with no watermark, too. The company’s professional camcorders meanwhile support native and direct streaming, with PTZ cameras enabling remote operations with limited crew members required on site. Getting that content to the broadest possible audience, across the widest array of distribution channels is also made easy by Sony’s latest evolution of SRG cameras. The SRG-XP1 and SRG-XB25, have NDI|HX capability via optional licences and support full IP-based operation Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) and Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP): meaning you can record and distribute top-quality video and audio efficiently. End users will also be able to livestream and upload to content video sharing sites and social media platforms quickly, anytime and anywhere, with the enhanced RTMP/RTMPS FHD streaming capability. www.sony.com

TEKVOX The TEKVOX 71206-DI and 71208-DI Drop-In solutions are affordable, professional-quality, self-contained packages suitable for any space. The two ‘Live Streaming Mobile Kits’ have similar specifications, with the 71206-DI offering a single PTZ camera and the 71208-DI offering dual PTZ cameras. The cameras have preset positions, single-cable connection and 5x or 20x optical zoom. Control of the cameras and livestreaming is done with a StreamDeck Mini controller. Either system can be equipped with an optional factory-programed DSP for sophisticated acoustics processing and echo cancellation. The PTZ cameras are connected via HDBaseT so video, control signals and power travel through a single cable for a clean, no-mess setup. The cameras come with a tripod for quick, stable mounting with no additional hardware. With the dual-camera 71208-DI users can select which camera to view, or show both at once, in a side-by-side multiview display. Camera content is encoded for the provided PC via TEKVOX’s ShareView technology. The system supports resolutions up to 1080p at 60Hz. www.tekvox.com

LIVESTREAMING

TELESTREAM From livestreaming productions to graduations and conferences, Telestream Wirecast boasts a computer interface that will be familiar to users of creative software like Photoshop, so it’s very easy to get started as all productions run off a computer. Adding layers to a video feed, producers can create animated titles, split screen and picture-in-picture effects and switch between different cameras and pre-recorded video. It’s designed to be run by a single operator, so it’s ideal for the new working practice. Wirecast is used for livestreaming, so the video output is encoded ready for output direct to YouTube Live, Facebook Live or a subscription-based service of your choice. As a software solution, it’s easy to buy a licence for an existing Mac or PC, but that requires either networked (NDI) cameras or additional hardware to connect to camcorders. Alternatively, Wirecast Gear is available as a pre-configured, optimised PC, ready for use with consumer or professional camcorders. www.telestream.net

TERADEK Historically, broadcasters would rely on satellite uplinks. Now they frequently turn to consumer networks – broadband, Wi-Fi and cellular connections – to stream on air. The concept is simple: take the feed from camera (or switcher), process the signal through an encoder and send the video out live. Teradek’s VidiU Go is a great example of a mini broadcast encoder which gives users a robust connection and high-quality video. There are two elements that make the Go very flexible and extremely reliable. Firstly, it can use mobile phone networks, Wi-Fi or broadband to deliver video. It can also combine all of these into a bonded connection to enhance the signal further, and can even use multiple SIM cards, from different mobile operators to ensure you’ve always got the best link. The second factor is that it can use standard encoding (H.264) or the new advanced H.265 which halves the bandwidth you need, with no loss of video quality. www.teradek.com

IN THE FIELD

IN THE FIELD: MARTIN BY HARMAN ERA 800 Prior to the temporary suspension of live events in the wake of COVID-19, Show Designer, Tobias Rylander and Lighting Director, Michael Straun reflect on The 1975’s latest world tour with Martin by Harman ERA 800 fixtures at the heart of an all LED driven light show…

The 1975’s Show Designer, Tobias Rylander and Lighting Director, Michael Straun first worked together with The xx back in 2012. Since then, they have enjoyed more than their fair share of success on the live touring circuit, linking up again eight years later for The 1975’s latest tour, in support of the band’s upcoming album Notes On A Conditional Form. Unafraid of technological innovation, Rylander’s initial sketch was transformed into reality with Straun at the lighting console, and Martin by Harman ERA 800 fixtures at the centre of the show. The duo caught up with TPi before the temporary closure of live events to reflect on the feat. “Although we are uncertain of the future of our industry, we send our love to the touring community, and above all, the hard-working crew members who have been hit the hardest,” the pair told TPi. Weeks earlier, Straun reflected on the moment he received the call to join The 1975’s latest tour. “I had just finished a tour and long-time friend of The 1975 and Lighting Director, Darren Purves was looking for some time off to spend with his family, so it was perfect timing for me to cover him,” he recalled. “We have similar ways of working and programming, so it’s easy to

be in a rehearsal room together or step in to cover various parts of the tour.” The visual element of The 1975 tour was powered on MA Lighting grandMA2 consoles and NPUs. “The show uses a lot of parameters, especially the way we run the media servers and full pixel modes on most of the units. Tobias, Darren and I have been using grandMA2 for several years, so we know how to achieve the desired effect quickly,” Straun explained before quipping: “We are also now big fans of the bitmapper!” According to Straun, timecode was essential to the delivery of the show. “It wouldn’t be possible to operate the whole show live,” the LD said. “The video elements are programmed as if they are lights, not just playback per song, so there really is a lot going on. In festival scenarios, we still have some playback that can be triggered live.” As the band play so many different slots and rigs, at varying times of the day and stage sizes, having an option to use certain elements per song or not was key. “With timecode, as an operator you are able to concentrate fully on checking the show is running smoothly and consistent with the design,” Straun explained. “You can check light levels for camera, 56

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positions, reset bad units and also call other elements of the show such as automation, remote followspots and stage moves.” Rylander was first introduced to the Martin by Harman ERA 800 fixtures at LDI 2019 by Brad Schiller. “He took me aside to show the fixture knowing that it had all the qualities that I look for in a profile and spot fixture,” he recalled. “I always look for good optics and outputs and perfect colour mixing. I also look for a functioning and reliable framing system where I use them as much as aerial effects as a precision instrument.” Keen on another world tour with an all LED driven light show, Rylander specified the Martin by Harman ERA 800 fixtures. “We needed something really sharp and powerful to cut through all the layers of LED and video content that we always run really bright.” The Martin by Harman ERA 800s were a direct substitute for MAC Viper Performance and Viper Air FX units that were used on the last leg. The first fixtures the designer swapped were the pre-existing overhead spots, which were located over each of the four band members. “We got really nice precise beams out of them and the output still read really well in relation to the huge back canvas of LED,” he explained. “With the show being an all-LED show, where we exclusively light the band with video surfaces, the ERA 800 fixtures are a great compliment to the lighting design as a precision instrument.” In trying to make as much of the rig as possible LED, Straun dubbed the ERA 800s as the “perfect” fixtures on paper to replace existing discharge units. “We used three ERA 800s as backlight for the band and in 12 wing light positions to add width to an otherwise portrait show,” he said, noting an additional effect the design team were able to achieve with the fixures. “We used tight framing shutters on the wing lights to create the effect of scanning ‘laser’ lines that could sweep through the audiences’ eyes.” From an operational standpoint, the LD was impressed with the throw of the Martin by Harman ERA 800 fixtures. “They have a lot of

punch but also seem to hold an even field when zoomed in or out,” Straun commented. “You honestly have no comprise with them being an LED source – only improvements. The colour temperature is uniform throughout the fixtures and all the attributes hold their values day to day.” Straun coined the ERA 800 fixture ideal for the live touring environment. “They have the power to stand up against a high wattage discharge fixture but also the light source stays consistent throughout the tour,” he stated. “Usually, you get to a point of swapping out lamps to keep the show looking the same, but with these units, the last show looked just as impressive as the first.” In terms of power consumption, the LD noted: “Although they draw quite a bit when the lamp is in use, when the lamps are off, which they are most of the day, you reduce their consumption massively.” With a lot of moving parts and technical elements to the production, one of the challenges was building the show quickly and safely all while keeping true to the design. “Tobias’ designs have a lot of simple complexity and are a lot like touring an art installation,” Straun explained. “It’s important to keep an eye on the fine details to keep the show looking clean and looking the same on Instagram as it looks in the renders.” Rylander was pleased with the result: “Thankfully, we were surrounded by a wonderful group of touring technicians that really cared about the show looking good.” Summing up his experience on tour, Straun concluded: “Every day we spend a lot of time and effort lining up the units, ensuring that the cable management is as good as possible, trusses sit on centres and are symmetrical, all while having a good laugh in the process!” TPi Photos: Jordan Hughes www.the1975.com www.martin.com 57

IN THE FIELD

IN THE FIELD: SPOTRACK Production designers discuss the benefits of Spotrack as a followspot system.

While they are a staple of the traditional lighting setup, standard manually controlled followspots have always had numerous problems. Having to be located on catwalks or spot booths, they were very much at the mercy of the building’s architecture. Not only that, locations were often problematic, with fan noise or operators speaking into headsets becoming distracting for unfortunate audience members. Thankfully, over the past few years, the industry has addressed these issues with a selection of remote followspot systems. One such option comes from Irish company, Spotrack. Developed to control spotlights remotely, the system uses its proprietary hardware and patented software to enable operators to use multiples of any industrystandard moving light as followspots. Throughout the creation of Spotrack, compatibility was always key to the system, which works with any moving light and any lighting console, in any performance space. This has lead to the technology being adopted by leading lighting designers, across a broad range of productions. One lighting designer who has already made use of the system is Troy Eckerman, President of Chroma Designs of Houston, Texas. Famous

for designing Metallica’s WorldWired Tour in 2018, among many others, Eckerman gave his view: “Spotrack is a unique system because it has so many options and is very user-friendly,” he began. “The two-point positioning version is an extremely quick setup, or if you require provision for three-dimensional, multiple-height stages or venues, the multipoint version is available. For permanent installs, you can do a high-count multipoint setup for pinpoint accuracy. You can have positive or negative elevations in the set or arena – the system learns the elevation automatically when using the multipoint setup.” Eckerman added: “Spotrack can control, dimmer, focus, zoom and iris automatically and maintain levels and colour temperatures throughout the performance area. The full-blown version has the multipoint camera for situations where you need multiple cameras to see the entire performance area. Fixtures can be hung in any orientation along with the camera. Spotrack has worked fantastically well for us!” Another Spotrack devotee is Australian LD, Davey Taylor, who took advantage of the system’s features at numerous large-scale productions, including the final of Eurovision - Australia Decides at The Gold Coast 58

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Wash light – with an Edge

Exhibition Centre and for marquee events at the huge Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) in Brisbane’s Exhibition Grounds. As a long-time LD for internationally acclaimed Australian band, Empire of the Sun, Taylor plans to incorporate Spotrack into their future shows: “The system enables the use of any moving light as a spotlight using a computer, a video camera and a DMX interface,” he commented. “It’s completely different and I think, ultimately, it’s a creative system that puts things in the control of the LD a bit more. Having creative control over the followspots is something we’re really looking forward to using on tour.” A recent spectacular show in China is further evidence of how far the Spotrack message has travelled in a short time. Sing! China is a singing competition that attracts an audience of many millions on TV and staged its live final last year at the iconic Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, China in front of 60,000 fans. The Sing! China team saw Spotrack in action at a trade show and, having already received numerous recommendations, believed that the system would be an ideal solution for the needs of a fast-moving broadcast show on a wide stage, featuring many performers. Without the need for belt-packs, sensors or the setting up of transmitters and receivers, the system could be calibrated during rehearsals and controlled from backstage to perfectly present every movement to the audience in the stadium and at home on TV. ACME Lighting and Spotrack Application Engineer for Sing! China, Mr Wen, commented: “It’s very simple to use and resolves many issues that compromise traditional followspot lighting. The show was a great success and we were pleased by the performance of this new level followspot technology.” Earlier this year, Spotrack launched its latest product, Spotrack Evolution. When used in conjunction with an existing followspot, via a simple upgrade in the form of a small hardware accessory, multiple moving lights can be used simultaneously to track a performer. Spotrack CEO Liam Feeney had the last word: “It’s gratifying to see Spotrack being used around the globe for such a wide variety of highprofile events, in the hands of such highly respected designers and directors. The advantages of the system are now widely recognised and we continue to innovate with the aim of improving life for lighting designers, performers and audiences alike.” TPi Photos: Spotrack www.spotrack.com

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IN THE FIELD

DESIGNERS TURN TO DEPENCE 2 AS A TOOL OF THE TRADE At a time when the creative capabilities of previsualisation tools are being harnessed more than ever, TPi’s Jacob Waite discovers why some production designers are turning their attention to Syncronorm’s unique rendering engine, Depence2.

The creation of multimedia shows can be complex, with production designers often having to rely on their imagination to take the lead up until the flight cases are tipped and the lights hit. Pitching to clients can be a similar story, with plots and renders only providing a taster of the design, which can often be difficult for artists to interpret. Hoping to help along the journey from render to reality, German-based company, Syncronorm has developed Depence² – an all-in-one solution for show control and visualisation, which promises to combine the design and visualisation process with the potential to control a show. Originating as a tool for fountain control and visualisation, Syncronorm initially developed Depence as a graphics engine to depict water – a lessthan-simple task, as TPi discovered. However, the company was already familiar with the world of show design with its sister visualiser software, Realizzer 3D, targeted at lighting designers as an affordable option for

those looking to acclimatise themselves with entry-point previsualisation software. Taking the existing capabilities of Depence and Realizzer 3D into account, Syncronorm built a cohesive platform – Depence². “As we know how important it is to convince customers with highquality and visually impacting renderings and videos, we also wanted to create a tool for designers to communicate their visions as well as possible,” Syncronorm CEO Thomas Franke commented. “We are overwhelmed with the great projects coming from our customers and we’re looking forward to incorporating even more exciting features in the future,” he added. Leon Driessen of LD Company picked up the story: “We often deal with 1,000-plus-fixture shows, and even then, programming in Depence2 remains a pleasure. The show control / timeline and animation elements in Depence² makes it possible to create presentations without the need 60

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for external hardware. This includes creating a concept show file, which doesn’t need to be programmed in a console.” Allowing show designers to concentrate on the design, story and programming, seeing the results visualised in real-time, was one of the things which also attracted TPi Awards Lighting Designer of the Year, Tim Routledge: “A visualisation tool’s fundamental purpose is to present an aesthetic to a client and show them what it will look like in real time,” Routledge commented. The LD went onto state that alternative lighting design software is struggling to keep up with clients who are used to seeing increased graphic capabilities. “If you were from a show or lighting

design background, you could interpret the design, however, for clients and artists, renders become a case of more questions than answers if the renders are not crystal clear.” While many set designers and creatives were utilising the capabilities of Cinema 4D, Photoshop, and other visualisation tools, lighting visualisation, according to Routledge, has not developed at the same rate as other markets. “Depence2 has radically changed the way I can present a show,” he said. “In terms of 8K resolution images, 4K video, it’s stunning.” Depence2’s inbuilt 3D engine allows end users to simulate and visualise fountains, stage lighting, lasers, video and special effects in real time. With

THE NEXT GENERATION OF SHOW DESIGN SOFTWARE » Stage Lighting » Special-FX » Fountains » Animation » Laser

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its environmental rendering capabilities, such as changing the location, time and the positioning of the sun, Depence2 allows users to integrate a multimedia show into a natural environment. “I recently presented visuals to a client of a big urban show, and the visualisation included animated rappers on stage through Depence2. To a client, that was staggering,” Routledge stated. “As soon as you show clients realistic special effects and pyrotechnics, they’re impressed immediately.” Dominik Doehler of thprsnt coined Depence² as the “perfect addition” to the workflow of a show and lighting designer. “Now we’re finally able to use our models and PBR textures in a high-quality real-time programming environment, which fits the visual standard we would like to offer to our clients,” he explained. Flo Erdmann of Flo Erdmann Lichtgestaltung added that the simple and intuitive operation supports show designers in the creative process and helps visualise visions in the shortest possible time. “The animations in Depence2 are extremely realistic and even the chromatic aberration of a lens is displayed,” Erdmann underlined. “It’s a very successful tool, which has become indispensable.” TPi Awards Lighting Operator of the Year, James Scott of Suluko joined the conversation. “The real gem of how Depence2 slots into my workflow is the fact that you can import directly from Vectorworks, which is my CAD package of choice. The integration of the two makes for a very efficient and effective way to produce quick and stunning renders.” Scott told TPi that since purchasing a licence earlier this year, he has already used Depence2 for some programming projects. However, unfortunately, due to COVID-19, he has had to put a halt to any design pitches. He echoed Routledge: “Now with all the spare time, it’s perfect to really get to grips with the software.” Key to the software’s surging popularity was the feedback of end users in the R&D process. “I went through all of the shows I’ve designed in the past four years and logged all of the fixtures that weren’t available in Depence2; there were only 14 different fixture types, and I’ve used a lot of lights in the past few years,” Routledge noted. “Since then, Syncronorm has built them all to spec, so they look like the actual fixtures.” Scott confirmed that the “sense of reality” with Depence2 is “blinding”. He said: “The speed at which the graphics respond to data changes is really helpful when programming – you aren’t second guessing your timing or

factoring in any delay that you get from other visualisers. Colours are much more realistic than some other software packages out there; being able to trust what you’re seeing on the screen, as long as you have a decent colour calibration, means you spend less time on site correcting the translation from virtual to real world.” He waxed lyrical about the “outstanding” LaserLink programming function. “It’s basically a tool that will allow you to present lasers in a pitch and capture without the need for a laser programmer or laser software.” İbrahim Kandemir of Koala Production told TPi: “If you really wish to embody your imagination with reality then Depence2 is the perfect choice, with no limits and no boundaries for what it can visualise,” German-based Lighting Designer, Nik Evers furthered: “The internal programmer makes it possible to work on the go. For me, this software versatility is a great addition to everyday work.” As a collective of designers sought to offer its clients more creativity, Mandylights was excited to see what effect the software has on the industry in the long term. “We will be using the software to visualise all of our upcoming projects, from lighting the Sydney Harbour Bridge to touring concerts and festivals. It’s amazing for all applications,” said Mandylights’ Steve Bewley. “The fact that we can now visualise lasers, special effects and even water is simply staggering and had us excited at the possibilities from the get-go.” Michael Meacham of idesign Miami said purchasing the full version of Depence² was one of the “best business investments” he has ever made. He explained: “The level of realism, pre-vising shows, the new texture engine and smooth fly-throughs are beyond proof of concept. Having all of our industry’s visual elements of lighting, video, smoke and pyro in Depence² has been inspirational.” Bewley concluded: “We are about to launch Mandylights U, which will be a platform based around bringing learning and knowledge of all the industry’s equipment, software best practices, insider secrets and much more. We will feature a set of over 60 videos on how to get the best out of Depence2, brought to you from industry professionals and regular users.” TPi Photos: Syncronorm www.syncronorm.com www.mandylightsu.com 62

PRODUCTION FUTURES

Dylan Barber TPi Breakthrough Talent Awards Standout Talent, Dylan Barber, shares his experience breaking ground as a burgeoning freelance audio and lighting engineer…

situation,” he commented. “Oh, and not to jump off stages – I learned that the hard way!” For the past few years, Barber worked as in-house AV tech at OPEN in Norwich – the city centre’s largest live music venue with a 1,500-capacity, mixing FOH and monitors for a range of shows. Recently, Barber began working for local BBC radio stations, mixing a range of live sessions and events – making the leap to become exclusively freelance. It was a career choice that seems to be beneficial as it led Barber to work with multiple venues and events, working with artists such as Joe Talbot from IDLES, Reel Big Fish, Hooten Hallers, Black Mountain, Diamond Thug and many more. During this time, Barber was part of a team of technicians and engineers involved in the inaugural Wild Paths Festival in Norwich, with over 200 bands in almost every city centre venue over four days. Reflecting on the feat, he said: “It was great to play a role in something which I am almost certain will grow larger in scale and audience attendance every year.” With a busy 2019 behind him, Barber discussed some of the challenges he encountered breaking into the industry. “One of the most difficult things for all upcoming engineers and technicians is making a name for yourself and being able to show that you can work alongside established professionals in areas where there is a lot of competition,” he explained. “An experienced musician and engineer friend of mine, Alick Letort, once told me ‘Look after your ears, they’re the money makers!’. While this might seem obvious, it has stuck with me.” On the topic of engineers he is inspired by, Barber pointed out the founder of Rat Sound Systems, David ‘Dave Rat’ Levine, noting his influence in the professional audio industry. “His long-time involvement in the industry, innovative ideas and forward thinking sets him apart from the pack. Sylvia Massy is also an inspiration – her sheer creativity when it comes to recording just about anything always sparks motivation and ideas of my own.” As well as working towards a FdSc in Audio and Music Technology with Nottingham Trent University, Barber is taking advantage of his free time by setting up a small home studio, complete with a vintage Soundcraft console and outboard gear. “I have much more downtime than I was expecting now due to COVID-19, but I’m taking advantage of this time to play and record in a duo with my sister, called (the) Red Dear, as well as learning new recording software.” Looking to the future, Barber concluded: “Five years from now, I would like to see myself with more experience of a range of shows under my belt, and hopefully a couple of tours. Having said that, I’m also excited to see where life takes me!” TPi Photo: Gordon Woolcock www.dylanbarber.co.uk www.productionfutures.com

Despite being relatively new to the world of live events, TPi Breakthrough Talent Awards Standout Talent winner, Dylan Barber has built up an impressive resumé as freelance engineer. Working in both the live and corporate spheres, Barber has already worked with a range of high-profile clients, from the likes of Joe Talbot of IDLES fame to the BBC. Away from the stage and screen, Barber is equally as comfortable behind a mic, as both a performer and a mixing and mastering engineer. “When I was eight years old, my dad bought a two-track interface and a microphone, which was a catalyst in my passion for audio,” he reminisced. This passion led Barber to pursue a career as an engineer. “I have played in a range of indoor and outdoor venues as a guitarist and drummer, so I understand what it is like to be on the stage,” he commented, adding that he believed it was this first-hand experience and drive that enabled him to work closely with musicians, quantify artists’ requests and achieve a great sounding or looking show. “Nowadays, I think it is very important to have a wide skillset and be able to cope with anything thrown at you while on the job, but to also have a specialism that you are passionate about, and for me, that’s professional audio,” he stated. One of the first events Barber recalled working on was Latitude Festival, as a sound crew member for the Access Creative College stages. “One of the most valuable things I’ve learned so far is to stay calm, keep your head in the game and, most importantly, always be accommodating to the

INTERVIEW

AUDIOTONIX

JAMES GORDON, CEO OF AUDIOTONIX Following a new stage of investment with Ardian, Audiotonix CEO, James Gordon sits down with TPi’s Stew Hume to discuss the future of the group and the benefits of private equity.

Beginning as a group of enthusiasts with a passion for live music and, for many, an aversion to more ‘traditional’ jobs, it’s hard to believe how far the professional entertainment world has come. As much as we at TPi spend our time visiting touring production teams, manufacturers, live event companies and rental houses, our attention is also fixed on the business world of acquisitions, mergers and buyouts. Economists will rightly point out that such trends are indicators of a growing market. Good news, right? Well, according to James Gordon, there is an alternative available, which is why TPi travelled to the DiGiCo and Audiotonix HQ to retrace the history of the audio group and discuss the finer details of what private equity can bring to the events market. “It all goes back to 2012,” reflected Gordon. “At the time, DiGiCo was going through a great period and we were getting to a size where other companies and parties were beginning to circle and offers were starting to come through.” However, at the time the DiGiCo camp was cautious about any potential investment, as any change in the management could have destroyed the character of the company. “We love our industry and we really didn’t want to go down that route, so we decided to join forces and consolidate with other companies under one umbrella – Audiotonix.” Since joining forces, the Audiotonix brand list – comprising DiGiCo, Allen & Heath and Calrec – has expanded to include Solid State Logic and more recently KLANG:technologies. “The whole Audiotonix venture would simply not have been possible without private equity investment,” stated Gordon. “People were quite shocked when it was announced but, after a number of years, I think we have proved it was the right move.” When it comes to judging whether a brand is the right fit to join Audiotonix, there are two main criteria. “What they can add to us, and what we can add to them,” Gordon explained. “It has to work for both parties in some way.” Even when a brand joins the Audiotonix family, the goal is to maintain its identity, and keep on the key personnel. “In the early days of Audiotonix, when it was just DiGiCo, Allen & Heath and Calrec, we cemented a solid three-year plan to try to get the best out of each of the brands, while maintaining each brand’s unique individuality.” This is why each brand maintained its own separate sales, support, marketing and R&D teams, according to Gordon. “During our first few rounds of approaching private equity firms, it was something I had to explain to investors, that consolidating sales and marketing teams from different companies in our sector was never going to be a possible. I always use the VW Group example; you wouldn’t have confidence in a salesperson if they could sell both VW and Porsche – you want them to be experts in the brand they represent.” While each brand in the group has kept its independence, Gordon explained the beneficial network that interlinked all the companies had ensured that each branch grew together over the years. “Essentially there is a team of seven that operate under the banner of Audiotonix, who act as go-betweens for each of the brands,” he said. This includes Gordon, CEO, Chief Financial Officer, James Barton; COO, Helen Culleton; Group Operations Director, Tony Williams; Divisional Managing Director, Nigel Beaumont; Group Technology Officer, Neil Hooper; and finally, Group Marketing Director, Martin Bennett. “We have a really strong community vibe between the companies even though everyone very much flies the flag for their own brand,” said

Gordon. “I think people have a hard time believing that it can happen, but it really does.” What the seven-strong Audiotonix team do best is facilitate the communication between all the branches. “When one of the seven goes into one of the branches, it’s not like we’re the bosses going in making demands. We check out what everyone is working on and then suggest someone from one of the other companies who might be able to help.” He went on to explain that this went across all disciplines, from R&D to sales and marketing. “You act as the middle-man for some time, but eventually everyone wants to have the quickest line of communication and they begin to just talk to one another.” Although private equity is still a relatively new concept to the pro audio world, it seems like Audiotonix has found the right balance of working within a maturing market while still maintaining its identity. Gordon made no secret of what this latest round of investment meant for the company: expanding the Audiotonix family. “With our fifth round of private equity with Ardian, we are now looking for more companies to invest in, as well as investing back in our own. For example, recently the Allen & Heath HQ was renovated, while SSL’s and Calrec’s renovations are underway.” When it comes to looking at companies, Gordon stated there was only one limitation: “It has to add value and Audiotonix has to be able to add value back.” He went on to explain the benefits that Audiotonix can bring to start-up companies in breaking that current glass ceiling with the incredibly high point of entry required to get a brand off the ground. “The days of building a console in your garage are almost completely behind us now,” stated Gordon plainly. “The cost of manufacturing alone is so high and ever more complicated. A standard FPGA requires 1,500 pins – that simply cannot be soldered by hand.” Although he admitted that the proliferation of software solutions has had an effect on the market, Audiotonix is still very much targeting hardware solutions for its future investments. “Our customers need to feel connected to these tools as they really are their instruments,” Gordon said. “Software obviously plays a major part but, Audiotonix specialises in the combination of S/W and hardware to make the best tool.” He also explained how the demands on companies to provide effective support created a barrier for those entering the events industry. “From the DiGiCo side, we’ve always held support as one of the keys to our success,” stated Gordon. “If you are halfway around the world and it’s Friday evening and before the gig suddenly your ‘brand new toy’ isn’t working, it’s not much fun. Engineers and customers need to know they can pick up the phone and someone will answer. That is something that all the brands in the group build their reputation on and something we at Audiotonix really push. It’s also something we can help new companies with, if and when they become part of Audiotonix.” With a seemingly ideal solution, it’s no surprise that Gordon is often approached by fellow industry peers who are interested in going down the private equity route. “To all those that ask, I have one sage piece of advice,” he stated. “Don’t feel you have to overpromise and risk underdelivering.” He continued: “Tell any potential investors the whole truth in black and white, both the good and the bad.” Having clearly stuck to a formula, it will be interesting to see whether more companies in the world of live touring following suit. TPi Photo: Audiotonix www.audiotonix.com 65

FUTURE INSIGHTS

FUTURE INSIGHTS A round-up of the latest product releases and announcements from the live events sector .

ALCONS AUDIO The QB242 subwoofer is designed as a fully scalable low-frequency extension (LFE) system to the QR24 line-source column system, or as arrayable LFE system with any Alcons pro-ribbon system. The QB242 can be stacked or flown in multiples, making it an ideal building block to form bass arrays, for obtaining low-frequency projection and throw control in acoustically challenging spaces or over longer distances. The controlled cylindrical projection of the QR24 can thus be extended down to the lower frequencies by enlarging the LFE array length through adding extra QB242 modules. The lowest usable frequency of one single element is 35Hz. www.alconsaudio.com

FUTURE INSIGHTS

ELATION PROFESSIONAL The Fuze SFX is a unique combination of spot and effects fixture capable of projecting tight beams to wide washes using a highly efficient optical design while providing over 12,000 lumens of output from a 300W White LED engine. The SFX allows for even stage washes utilising its variable frost filter while a wide array of beautiful colours is possible from a seamless CMY colour-mixing system plus seven-position colour wheel. Housing 18 carefully designed gobos and a 4.5° to 38° zoom, the Fuze SFX can create stunning mid-air FX as easily as precise image projections. www.elationlighting.com

MARSHALL ELECTRONICS CV226 HD Lipstick Camera features new sensor technology improving colour, clarity and low-light, and a new ultra-flexible 3GSDI cable. Ideal for capturing discreet, all-weather video in professional broadcast television applications, CV226 utilises a brand-new sensor technology with 2.5 million pixels and improved pixel depth to capture clear, crisp, colour-accurate video through a single 3GSDI output in 1920x1080i, 1920x1080p, and 1280x720p resolutions. CV226 also adds the convenience of all selectable frame rates on a single chip to include multiple fps output formats. www.marshall-usa.com

MARTIN BY HARMAN With a bright, precisely calibrated RGBW engine, instant colour mixing and seamless pixel mapping, the MAC Aura PXL is both a sustainable workhorse for rental companies and a powerful creative tool for lighting designers. Sporting an RGBW LED engine capable of 13,000-lumen output, the MAC Aura PXL is a true workhorse lighting fixture. Precisely calibrated LEDs deliver rich, saturated colours and subtle pastel hues with instant colour mixing and minimal colour degradation over time. The MAC Aura PXL’s precise, silent 1:8 zoom goes from wide wash coverage to a tight and high intensity 5° narrow beam. Fast LED refresh rates compatible with shutter speeds used on film and TV enable flicker-free operation with no banding, resulting in perfect on-camera performance. The 19 pixels that make up the beam can be programmed individually or used as a video element within a P3 system with ease. The enhanced Aura backlight, with its 141 individually controllable LEDs, takes Martin Professional’s signature eye candy effect to the next level with the opportunity to create mesmerising animated effects, never before possible. www.harman.com

FUTURE INSIGHTS

OPTOCORE OptoSplitter is a device which, when paired with AutoRouter, will achieve redundancy. Take two identical AutoRouters – a main and backup device. All connections from any external equipment will now connect, not directly to the AutoRouter as previously, but to this new OptoSplitter. This splits the fibre signal into two and distributes it to both the main and backup AutoRouter. Both routers communicate leaving only one active at a time and automatically switching to the backup router when the active one is absent. www.optocore.com

PR LIGHTING Designed to be sufficiently powerful to handle the demands of large outdoor events, PR Lighting’s new IP65-rated AQUA LED 1700 Framing (PR-8179) houses a 730W LED engine (8000K), enabling an extremely powerful output. It features a motorised zoom function, with a range of 7° by 60°, and contains a colour wheel with six colour filters plus open, one rotating gobo wheel (with six exchangeable gobos plus white) and a fixed gobo wheel (with seven exchangeable gobos, plus white). In addition, the unit has a full blackout framing system, with four rotating blades that can rotate infinitely and provide a complete curtain effect. Other features include; four-facet prism; linear frost (0-100%); exchangeable graphic effect wheel; 0-100% linearly adjustable focus and dimmer; linear Iris (5-100%) with macros; double shutter-blade strobe (0.3-25fps); pan 540°, tilt 270° head movement, with auto position correction. www.pr-lighting.com

ROBE The new Robe ESPRITE LED is a fully featured automated luminaire that has a fast-change, low-cost, transferable light engine, which ingeniously solves the problem of performance longevity for white source LED luminaires. The TE 650W white LED source produces 27,000 lumens and a piercing 85,000 lux at 5m, and the patent-pending Hot-Spot Lens system allows designers to move from a flat field beam to a 6:1 ratio hot-spot beam, giving uniform intensity when overlaying beam edges. The comprehensive feature set includes: flat field CMY mixing; variable CTO; remotely selectable CRI 70/80/90; two fast-colour wheels; rotating and static gobo wheels; six-facet rotating prism; 1° soft edge and 5° even wash frosts; an animation wheel and spectacular multicolour effects. www.robe.cz

FUTURE INSIGHTS

STEINIGKE Eurolite presents the IP PAR series for outdoor use. The spotlights differ in the number of LEDs – either seven or 12 LEDs – and the colour mixture. Customers can choose between a colour mixture of four colours (red, green, blue and white) or seven colours (red, green, blue, amber, cold white, warm white and UV). The IP PAR spotlights are equipped with weatherproof DMX and T-Con connectors and the power supply can be looped through for up to eight devices. Addressing and settings can also be made directly on the unit or via a normal DMX controller. Optionally available are matching diffuser panels that can be magnetically attached to the spotlight. They change the beam angle to 40° or 15° by 60°. www.steinigke.de

chamsyslighting.com

FUTURE INSIGHTS

STRAND LIGHTING Coda LED Cyc and Aurora LED Strip luminaires merge modern lighting technology with the colour depth and control simplicity of traditional incandescent luminaires. The full-colour fixtures use an RGBALC (red, green, blue, amber, lime and cyan) colour mixing system for a wide mixable colour spectrum, but thanks to the innovative SmartColor Control system, the luminaires can be easily controlled with traditional CYM + CTO controls. For better reproduction of skin tone and other colours on stage, the new Strand Leko LED Profile and Cantata LED Fresnel are also available in two white output versions – a warm tunable white (2,700K to 4,500K) and cold tunable white (4,000K to 7,000K) variety – both of which offer a consistent CRI exceeding 94 across all colour temperatures, as well as high TM30 and TLCI values. www.strandlighting.com

STUDIO TECHNOLOGIES The new Model 5421 Dante Intercom Engine is a high-performance yet costeffective Dante Audio-over-IP (AoIP) party-line intercom solution for up to 16 users. It incorporates a sophisticated intercom-specific Auto Mix algorithm that optimises party-line audio quality and significantly reduces ambient interference from open mics. The compact ‘1/2-rack’ enclosure is intended for use with Studio Technologies’ 370-series of Dante-enabled intercom beltpacks. Traditional analog party-line intercom systems, where users can both talk and listen simultaneously in designated production groups, typically require an extensive and dedicated cable infrastructure and often suffer from a high noise-floor and poor voice intelligibility. Studio Technologies has removed these issues by moving party-line comms to a simple Dante-based, AES67 and Dante Domain Manger-compatible, Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) solution that uses a standard Ethernet local-area-network (LAN). www.studio-tech.com

WANT TO BE INCLUDED IN THE NEXT FUTURE INSIGHTS? Do you have a new product launching in the next few months? Please contact Stew Hume, s.hume@mondiale.co.uk or Jacob Waite, j.waite@mondiale.co.uk

GEAR HEADS

CAMEO OPUS X PROFILE Adam Hall Group Product Manager, Daniel Wrase discusses the latest addition to the OPUS Series.

Adam Hall Group Product Manager, Daniel Wrase.

What was the original goal of the OPUS X Profile? We invented the OPUS X Profile to give rental companies and lighting designers a high-power spot profile moving head. It is especially suitable for mid-size and big events and is equipped with a full feature set. What makes this fixture a great option for lighting designers? The OPUS X Profile comes along with a full-colour set with a CMY-colour mixing, linear CTO and colour wheel. Furthermore, it is equipped with a full effects set, consisting of static and rotating gobos, an animation wheel, two variable frost filters, two prisms and an iris. Additional highlights include a fast-framing module with full curtain effect, highoutput and high-quality optics with 6Â° to 48Â° beam angle. How long did it take to bring the OPUS X Profile to the market? The OPUS X is based on our already existing OPUS 5 series, so we were able to keep the development of the OPUS X rather quickly. 72

CAMEO OPUS X PROFILE

How has the feedback from lighting designers helped shaped the OPUS X Profile? Including lighting designers in our R&D process is very important for us. We want to have an open dialogue with all end users of our products. Their feedback is essential to shaping new products and lighting innovation. Where are we likely to see the OPUS X Profile? The OPUS X Profile is ideal for applications on a range of mid-size and large stages, as well as touring and local productions. Can we expect more fixtures of this style in the coming years? Following the OPUS 5 series, the OPUS X Profile was the next logical step forward. You can indeed expect more fixtures like this in the years to come. We are constantly working on new products and

looking to optimise, further develop and expand our series.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The OPUS X Profile is ideal for applications on mid-size and big stages as well as touring and local productions.â&#x20AC;? Daniel Wrase Cameo Product Manager 73

How have you been introducing customers to new products in the wake of COVID-19? The introduction of the OPUS X Profile was planned for Prolight+Sound Frankfurt, but since it was cancelled, we had to find another way to present our new products to our customers. Therefore, we created the virtual trade show. The response is consistently positive, and we think this format is very interesting for the future. Nevertheless, we also think it is necessary that customers can experience our products live and on site. TPi Photos: Adam Hall Group www.adamhall.com www.cameolight.com

PSA: THE BIGGER PICTURE

THE FUTURE IS NOT CANCELLED While the future of our sector is unclear, there is light at the end of the tunnel, writes Andy Lenthall.

It’s the end of April 2020 and we all seem to be trying to glean any information we can about how and when we enter a post-COVID-19 world of live events. Perhaps a picture will emerge by the time the files are uploaded, the presses have rolled and this lands on your screen or your doormat but for now, bearing in mind the speed of developments, we thought we’d create a reminder of this time for us to look back on... “China has another one of those flu epidemics, hope I don’t catch it because I never got around to having the jab... again. Hang on, LG has pulled out of the ISE exhibition; that’s going to leave a bit of a hole.” That was where it started for me; a problem in China, a missing exhibitor but no great threat to a visit to Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) in Amsterdam; the biggest issue was the weather, with storm Ciara cancelling flights for many. ISE was spent mainly in self-imposed isolation, in a conference room at the excellent AGORA Conference organised by colleagues at MONDO STADIA; I just didn’t want to leave. It got a bit odd when staff from the organising companies offered fist bumps instead of handshakes; hand sanitiser gel was made readily available; measures were being taken. Then the news filtered through that the World Mobile Congress had been

cancelled; we have members that work there – this was getting serious, given that host city Barcelona wasn’t in China the last time we checked. Time to go home, got to get daughter to Heathrow Airport in a few days, she’s off backpacking around Oz, Fiji and New Zealand. Flight stops in Singapore... nah, should be fine. This is the end of February and things were definitely heading south. Time for a PSA Council meeting. Should we? Shouldn’t we? On reflection, perhaps not, but we gathered in one of our usual settings and discussed the agenda while a very strange thing happened. This was the very day when the emptying of order books accelerated to eye-watering speed; from a bit of work between now and June to a four-day week in the space of a few hours; we went to the bar, we probably wouldn’t be doing that again anytime soon. The barman sanitised his hands with vodka (no kidding) and poured. This was indeed serious; the next step was a ‘town hall’ meeting in Whitehall with the Culture Secretary and Deputy Chief Medical Officer; by then, people had started to take measures and driving was chosen over public transport, unfortunate really because I missed the email about the cancellation of the meeting, this was the day when the Government 74

PSA: THE BIGGER PICTURE

decided to advise us to not have any unnecessary meetings and perhaps stay at home, especially those most vulnerable; London seemed odd, the few tourists seemed to be enjoying having it to themselves. I’d probably need a bit of help to document the next few weeks – it’s why I keep a copy of the missives we sent. Projects shelved and a membership in desperate need of support, those measures announced by the chancellor were a relief for a while, but more effort was needed, collaboration was required. And that’s where our strength lies, whether through the UK Live Music Group, the Events Industry Forum (EIF) or the Business Visits and events Partnership (BVEP).

a new job as a hospital porter; chapeau. (The difference is probably about £150 a day plus PDs). We said at the start of this crisis that individual efforts multiplied by collaborative lobbying would be the only way we become big enough to conquer the crisis. LOOK TO THE FUTURE Here we are, end of April 2020 with a lot of second guessing about when somebody who knows nothing about live events tells us when it’s OK to hold live events. That’s not quite true as organisations across the sector – we’re talking globally here – are getting organised and developing our own plans for reopening. Can a collective, well-constructed group of measures remove the need for 2m physical distancing? Our Government is embarking on a sample testing programme that may lead to evidence that we can use to enable a carefully structured return; other countries have their own plans that can act as benchmarks. This is a sector that adapts and adopts; the rig might not fit but the show goes on. How many shows can happen at 30% capacity? Is 30% capacity really the only option? Would it not be wise to determine the collective measures taken by a venue, add them to strict personal measures to be taken by attendees and reduce the risk as low as is reasonably practicable? 30% capacity is simply not reasonably practicable. One thing is guaranteed, we will know more about post-lockdown re-infection by the time this is in print and on your doormat. What is now being developed is a framework that allows new information to be added as understanding develops, adding technological solutions such as contact-tracing apps. Of course, there’s going to be a wait until our sector is allowed to return, no matter what plans are in place, our immediate needs will be an extension of financial support measures as the needs of other sectors reduce. It’s widely accepted that we’ll be one of last to return to revenue generation form events. Here’s to the future of gatherings; not mass gatherings, but organised gatherings. Taking ownership starts with terminology and definition. Own it. TPi www.psa.org.uk

CUM ON FEEL THE NOIZE It was certainly time to put voices together and send a clear message to Government; it’s important to point out that these collaborations were not thrown together as a reaction to the current crisis, they had been working as channels to Government for many years; there was no need to knock on doors, they were already open, noise was made. DCMS is our department, they are on our side – the people that digest any evidence we provide and deliver it to those that control the purse strings. Sure, a select few from our number deal direct once plans are being shaped, but we do have a structured, respected, respectful method of communication. It’s clear at the time of writing that measures announced by Government are, on the whole, applicable across all sectors, but certain measures could have been a lot worse were it not for input from those working with DCMS. The noise continues, especially for those that fall between the gaps in measures; the noise has resulted in an early extension of the furlough scheme, it’s led to adjustments in the CBILS loan scheme, it’s led to the recently announced Bounce Back Loan scheme and it continues to demand better treatment for company directors. Along with the collaborative joint effort, so many took individual measures rather than wait for help. Instinct told many that simply getting a temporary job in a sector that was overstretched was the best way to guarantee at least some income and deliver the all-important sense of purpose that many have been robbed of. Like one member said: “Pushing beds or pushing flight cases; how different can it be?” This was as he started 75

INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS

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INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS

Absen’s Philippe Poppe; Adam Hall Group partners Dubai-based GSL Professional; Anna Valley builds a centre for audio excellence; Bandit Lites’ Stephanie McSpadden.

Absen has hired Philippe Poppe as its new business development manager for the Benelux region. With a strong background in the corporate AV market, Poppe will primarily be tasked with helping Absen to build its fixed installation business in the area. In addition, he will work closely with Absen’s local distributors and system integrators (VADs/VAPs) and help develop the company’s regional channel strategy. Poppe commented: “My experience has given me a great insight into these kinds of ‘real world’ concerns coming from end users, and I look forward to using my time at Absen to be as helpful as possible in addressing them.” Adam Hall Group continues to expand its international sales network by partnering with Dubai-based GSL Professional. “We’re happy to have found GSL Professional, one of the largest sales partners in the MEA region, to sell our LD Systems brand,” explained Markus Jahnel, COO of the Adam Hall Group. “GSL is one of the most renowned providers of event technology in the Middle East and, as the leading Cameo distributor in this region in 2019, has already proven in the past year that they can

successfully position a brand on the market with their expertise and lots of enthusiasm. We’re looking forward to LD Systems having a promising future in the MEA region with this exclusive collaboration.” Anna Valley is building a centre for audio excellence across the group by purchasing new audio equipment to supplement its existing stock, consolidating its inventory with that of its subsidiary, Matrix UK Solutions, and assembling a team of dedicated audio specialists. Anna Valley Managing Director, Peter Jones commented: “We committed to this investment before the current crisis, but we’re confident that our industry will bounce back and that, after social isolation, there will be an even bigger appetite to come together for live events and digital shows.” Bandit Lites’ Stephanie McSpadden will be taking on a new role as the Sales Support Manager. Her new duties will include overseeing sales invoicing, administrative support of inventory, sales project management within accounting, tax reporting, fixed asset reporting, revenue recognition and project administration. “All these functions occur as Stephanie is 76

www.interfacio.com • +44 208 986 5002

INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS

Audiologic’s Andy Lewis, Simon Stoll, and Matt Boland; Green Hippo’s Zep Mouris and Nick Spencer; L-Acoustics’ Paul Keating with Christian Heil.

seated in a position between sales and accounting,” said Bandit Lites Chair and Founder Michael T. Strickland. “She is truly a hybrid leader in her functionality.” Eastern Acoustic Works announces the appointment of Quantum Sales and Technology as its new manufacturer’s representative for Southern California. “We share the common goal of establishing longterm relationships with customers to enable their growth and success. Quantum’s marketplace knowledge will help us tap into the potential in its territory,” explained EAW Josh Garcia, Western Regional Sales Manager. Genelec has announced the appointment of Audiologic, to handle distribution of the brand’s growing AV loudspeaker range throughout the UK, while Genelec’s long-term partner in professional monitoring, Source Distribution, will continue to be responsible for the UK distribution of Genelec’s full range of studio products and systems. Audiologic Managing Director, Andy Lewis, commented: “Genelec’s philosophy perfectly matches our own in that regard – they are a high end, aspirational brand that we are very proud to represent in the UK.” Green Hippo’s product specialist team has strengthened on both sides of the Atlantic with the appointments of Zep Mouris as Hippotizer Product Manager at its new London HQ and Nick Spencer as Product Specialist, based in Chicago. “Zep has been a cornerstone of software development since joining Green Hippo in 2013 and we’re thrilled that he now takes the role of Hippotizer Product Manager,” said March. “He has been instrumental in the design of many much-loved Hippotizer software innovations,

including SHAPE, the advanced 3D mapping toolkit which integrates with all Hippotizer V4 media servers. L-Acoustics has designated DeltaLive as International Distributor of the full L-Acoustics Creations product range. DeltaLive is represented by Paul Keating, Director of Corporate & Private Relationships for L-Acoustics Creations. “Their proven ability to forge connections with key markets and influencers, their technical expertise in audio visual support and their ability to deploy and demo L-Acoustics Creations solutions makes them the ideal partner for us as we present our market-leading audio products and technologies for specification in state-of-the-art residential, artistic, cultural, and experiential spaces,” explained L-Acoustics CEO, Laurent Vaissié. L-Acoustics also welcomes appointment of Nick Fichte to the role of Business Manager, L-Acoustics Creations, completing the existing new business team and positions the division to make headway in key installation markets. Herbert Marx and Michael Rickers will succeed Ralph-Jörg Wezorke, Managing Director of Lightpower and Franz-Josef Wewer, authorised representative of Lightpower. As joint Managing Director, Herbert Marx is responsible for sales, marketing and purchase. Stephan Saremba will take over from Glyn O’Donoghue, who will in future concentrate entirely on his duties as Managing Director of Ambersphere Solutions. Martin Audio has grown its team in the US with the appointment of Will Harris as Product Support Engineer. As the latest addition to 77

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INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS

Michael Rickers, Herbert Marx, Ralph-Jörg Wezorke, Philipp Wezorke, Stephan Saremba; Martin Audio’s Will Harris; NEXO’s Helge Haffke; Operations Manager PCA EMA, James Kennedy with Managing Director B&M, James Cleary and COO Peavey Electronics, Courtland Gray.

the manufacturer’s Product Support Group, Harris will be supporting the Martin Audio team and resellers with demos, system design and implementation. He will also commission installations and provide technical support to customers. “Our rapid growth has required us to add additional staff to support our sales and our customers appropriately. Will has very strong technical expertise, practical experience and has held this position with another manufacturer. The fact that he’s located in Las Vegas is another plus as it expands our technical support presence across the country,” said Lee Stein VP of Sales, North America. NEXO has strengthened its sales team in Germany, with the appointment of a new Sales Manager, Helge Haffke. The new NEXO team will share sales and customer support responsibilities in Germany, with Reinhard Steger operational in Berlin and the South of the country, and Helge Haffke looking after business in the North. “NEXO has always been on my list,” said Haffke. “After 30 years in the high-end audio business, I’m very glad to be able to offer such a high-quality brand as NEXO. Delivering the best audio results, and working with satisfied and happy customers, has always been my mission, so I look forward to achieving these goals in the NEXO network.” Peavey Commercial Audio will handle its own sales and consulting for its commercial audio division in the United Kingdom. “As we move into a new decade which poses a modern set of challenges, we are excited

to be addressing the UK market directly again and working closer with consultancy and integration businesses for fixed installation systems,” said James Kennedy, PCA EMA Operations Manager. Prolyte opens new offices and distribution structure in North America. Prolyte’s former General Sales Manager Keith Bohn will be joining the Area Four Industries Direct America team to serve as Business Development Director for the Prolyte brand. Bohn will be working closely with Area Four Industries America Vice-President Adrian Forbes-Black, who will also handle sales of Prolyte products. Both Bohn and Forbes-Black will provide top levels of service to its customer base across the country. Robe strengthens its team with the addition of Theresa Gibson as Head of Marketing in the UK. “The quality and innovation of Robe’s products, the company’s commitment to – and valuing of – human relationships and their ability to react and adapt quickly to market shifts and requirements direct from the factory in the Czech Republic means we will be strong and well-positioned to hit-the-ground-running once we are through this crisis,” predicted Gibson. Satore Studio has announced the appointment of Zillah Watson as Director of Content and Executive Producer. She will lead Satore’s development of virtual production and experiential content, as the company enters an ambitious new phase of growth. Zillah said: “I am delighted to be joining the immensely talented team at Satore. The artistic 78

POWER and ELEGANCE finally TOGETHER Introducing Synergy 7 Profile, a new projector that has become “the Stallion” in our team of moving heads. With an output up to 55,000 lumens, the Synergy 7 Profile offers incredible versatility and freedom of use. • More stunning effects and new possibilities with Iris • Three silent modes switching from DMX • Great profiling perfectly focused at any zoom angle and distance • Selectable double CRI >90 or >75

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10 Apirle - TPI - THE STALLION - SYNERGY 7.indd 1

16/04/2020 11:23:44

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INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS

POLAR MI Business Development Manager, Adam Hall; PROEL UK & Ireland Sales Manager, Chris Walton; RCF appoints Tommex as Polish distributor; Kelly Prince, Philip Giffard, David Shoemaker, Rod Sintow, Martin Tremblay, Frank Snipes; Solotech’s Paul ‘Macca’ McCauley with Ian ‘Woody’ Woodall.

Tappit’s Meka White Morris; White Light’s Harry Saxton McCann after taking delivery of Powersoft T Series; Hi-Tech Media’s Pavel Shemyakin with Out Board’s Dave Haydon, Head of Audio Systems Department, Andre Kogtev and Pre-Sales Engineer, Anna Matveeva.

and creative vision they bring to immersive technologies has always excited me, and I’m looking forward to bringing my storytelling experience to the mix. Satore’s commitment to creative R&D ensures we can use the latest technologies to push boundaries to create visionary work.” Tappit has appointed Meka White Morris as Chief Revenue Officer to lead business expansion in North America. The news also comes after a record year globally for Tappit, with partnerships including Tomorrowland Unite in Barcelona, Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and Manchester City Football Group. On her appointment, Meka White Morris said: “I’m delighted to join Tappit at a very important time for the events industry. During this pandemic, cashless technologies are more vital than ever in helping reassure fans and staff; hygiene is improved, and contact is minimised. Out Board has appointed Hi-Tech Media to distribute TiMax SoundHub spatial audio processors and TiMax TrackerD4 stagetracking systems throughout Russia. Pavel Shemiakin, Brand Manager for Hi Tech Media’s pro audio department, said: “We are very pleased to begin our partnership

with Out Board TiMax, whose products will offer our partners and dealers new opportunities for immersive theatrical, entertainment, corporate and complex AV environments: giving customers further dimension to impress their audience and visitors.” White Light has taken delivery of several Powersoft’s T Series amplifier platforms from the company’s UK distributor, CUK Audio. The purchase, which took place between July and October of last year, included 31 T604s and three T602s, and was made after the company had a chance to get some hands-on time with the products at WL’s warehouse. White Light’s Senior Audio Technical Project Manager, Harry Saxton McCann, said: “CUK’s product demos were brilliant, and the training was ideal to bring our freelance and full-time staff up to date with Powersoft’s latest offerings. A lot of the engineers have commented on how clean the PA sounds when being driven by Powersoft amplifier platforms, and the ability to keep everything digital over Dante and AES has been very beneficial.” TPi www.productionfutures.co.uk/job-opportunities/ 80

TPi PRODUCTION GUIDE

MAY 2020 ADVERTISERS 10k Used Gear Limited

Adamson Systems Engineering

ADJ UK

257mm

194mm

Blackmagic Design

290mm

220mm

Ayrton 37

400mm

Audio-Technica 17

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353mm

257mm

194mm

400mm

ChainMaster Buhnentechnik

290mm

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220mm

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290mm

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290mm

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Duratruss 81

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DTS 79

353mm

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290mm

220mm

CHAUVET Professional

220mm

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290mm

7 400mm

400mm

290mm

220mm

353mm

257mm

194mm

400mm

290mm

220mm

ETC 59

220mm

400mm

290mm

32, 33

Fly By Nite

GIS 15

220mm

L-Acoustics 3 Millenium Studios

Neutrik UK

PSCo / Absen

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Robe 11 Syncronorm 61 Vari-Lite 43

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2 & IBC

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Harman Professional

148mm

580mm

BACK CHAT

BEN KINGMAN TPi Awards 2020 Monitor Engineer of the Year.

When did you first become interested in live events? I played in a few dodgy bands in my youth but I found myself more interested in the technical side of music. The first time I went to a music festival, I was hooked. The scale of it blew my mind. I didn’t really know anything about the career options at that time; I just knew it was something that I wanted to be involved in.

What advice you would give to up-and-coming monitor engineers? Grow a thick skin, keep it as simple as possible, and make sure that your workflow is fast. It’s also important to realise that you’re not mixing for you, so having a big ego is not helpful. I’ve found that a lot of people want or need to hear things that sound extravagant, but it’s important to interpret the artist’s language and requirements above all else.

What attracted you to a career in monitor world? I cut my teeth in a little 200-capacity venue in Cardiff, Wales, called Clwb Ifor Bach. For a small venue, it was unusually equipped with a monitor position and I really enjoyed the buzz of being at the stage end. As my experience and the size of the events grew, I realised I loved the hustle and logistical challenges as much as the mixing.

What was it like to walk away with the gold disk at TPi Awards 2020? Unbelievable, really. I’d never expected to be nominated, let alone win. It was great to be nominated alongside Paul Cooper, who I’ve been working with for the past seven years. When they announced him as the winner of the FOH category, I was so excited for him, I almost missed my name coming up! It felt great for us both to be rewarded at the same time… It still feels surreal. What have you been up to during self-isolation? I’m not sure when our industry will return to anything like normality, but I can’t wait to get back to it. As the adage goes, ‘you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone’. I’d like to say how productive I’ve been, but hey, I’ve dusted off my Playstation, that’s for sure. I’ve also been watching a lot of webinars, dreaming of the golf course and hunting down flour in supermarkets like it’s some sort of mythical substance. Follow the guidelines and stay safe everyone!

What has been your biggest career highlight to date? My favourite shows have been Bastille: ReOrchestrated. These shows culminated in a Royal Albert Hall, London performance where we had to max the desk inputs and outputs. It’s not by any means the biggest, but it was probably the most technically and creatively rewarding show that I’ve been involved in. As far as the craziest goes, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve in Times Square, New York. Just being there was incredible! 82

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