In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Masters of Hardcore festival, Art of Dance went all out, securing the biggest names in hardcore dance music and creating an immersive visual spectacle designed to keep festivalgoers dancing ‘til dawn.
Not to be confused with a heavy metal festival of bands, the Masters of Hardcore series keeps the musical instrument count to a minimum. Instead of grinding live guitars, they present world class DJs mixing it up EDM style with extreme hardcore music. With a crowd of 25,000 in attendance, the event significantly increased the population of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (a.k.a. Den Bosch), a city in the Netherlands normally populated by about 140,000. Headliners providing the sonic and visual jolts to the quaint Brabanthallen complex included The Supreme Team Live, Korsakoff vs. Day-mar Live, Minus Militia, Miss K8, and Noize Suppressor Live.
Powerful, Yet Precise
Given that EDM is often little more than a DJ and a laptop, the visual environment is a decisive factor in the success of an EDM show. This year’s festival pulled out all the stops, incorporating lighting, pyro, cryo, lasers and an animated demon skull towering over the venue. One of the more spectacular visual highlights was the on-site laser show that worked in stereo with the intense lighting cues. These laser effects were provided by German firm Laserfabrik, who has worked on previous Masters of Hardcore events.
Show designer Jan Eiserloh from Laserfabrik explained his role in creating the visual spectacle that draws the audience in. “Hardcore dance music is very massive, and thus needs huge, mind blowing, massive effects,” he said. “Like in all events, laser beams can highlight special moments. Since they are not constant, they create a moment channeling the audience’s attention even more. More than all other effects, lasers draw the audience into the show, but with the ability to work with the act, the atmosphere and feeling of the music. Through this involvement of the audience you get a different emotional reaction and interaction from everybody — we’ve had customers with tears in their eyes while watching our shows.”
Among the special challenges were the time-coded intros designed for the individual artists that required precise coordination of sound, lighting, pyro and laser effects. To control the huge number of lasers on site, Laserfabrik (laserfabrik.com) used a combination of a grandMA2 console and DSP controllers. This allowed for faster reactions, more effect variations and coordination with the rest of the activity at FOH.
“The intros that present every artist are preprogrammed and run completely on time-code signals generated by the audio feed. Everything is matched up to a millisecond. The show director responsible for the event, in this case [stage/show design firm] 250K, directs those intros. All parties involved in the production receive a script by them. In our case this means something like ‘from frame X until frame Y, we need laser with this form/color,’” explained Eiserloh. “There are many cues and the lasers are very elaborate to program beforehand and to rehearse on site. So in comparison to other festivals, the time invested before the event is extra long.”
Aside from the tightly scripted intros, the live portion of the performances was considerably more free form. Eiserloh relies on the experience and artistry of the laser operators to enhance the visual atmosphere. It is extremely helpful that the operators arrive on site with a bunch of prerecorded looks in their controllers for the designer to choose from. It’s a huge time saver, whether getting the time-coded parts perfected or punting the show free form.
“During the show the live music parts are coordinated via intercom, you might say spontaneously. There is no technical connection between laser and light — everything is done exclusively upon consultation during the event over intercom,” he said. “The crews are so experienced they can evaluate on the spot when to use laser and what effect to bring to the stage. This requires very good anticipation and know-how, for hardcore techno music in particular.”
With 36 lasers distributed across four stages, the Laserfabrik crew had broad palette at their disposal. All of the lasers used at this event were from Laserworld’s RTI family of products, chosen for their reliability and ruggedness. “We tested several manufacturers, but found RTI as the most reliable one — as well as we always had the quickest response on any technical support if needed,” said Daniel Brune, Laserfabrik’s managing director. This company (laserworld.com) has been in operation since 2000 and is based in Hürth, Germany.
Laserworld is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of precision entertainment laser systems. Chief marketing officer Norbert Stangl cited an IP65 rating for the company’s RTI NANO laser gear as a key advantage – not just for outdoor moisture, but for protection against heavy smoke and pyro effects as well. “Indoors, like at the Masters of Hardcore, these systems really benefit from the sealed housing, as they were placed very close in proximity to other special effects such as pyro flames and CO2 cannons,” Stangl noted.
Masters of Hardcore Festival
Lasers
- 8 RTI NANO RGB 30
- 6 RTI PIKO G20
- 4 RTI PIKO RGB 14
- 4 RTI PIKO RGB 18
- 14 RTI FEMTO RGB 7.0
- 1 Laser control system including DSP controller, grandMA2 console
