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Russ Felton on Festival Prep Work

Russ Felton, in the trenches, doing festival prep work.

Russ Felton on Festival Prep Work

I was recently able to catch up with Russ Felton during a break in his schedule, which is one that barely allows for sleep. I’m chatting with him during lunch to see how he handles all the pressures of dealing with the lighting at these massive festival shows he works on. Russ is one of the top lighting crew chiefs in the world. He is employed by BML Blackbird, one of the top lighting companies on the East Coast, located in Secaucus, NJ, right outside NYC. Russ deals with everything from touring acts to trade shows to stadium-sized festivals.

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Ayrton MagicDot-R and CosmoPix-R

Ayrton MagicDot-R and CosmoPix-R

I walk into the Morpheus Lights shop in Las Vegas, and the first thing I see are these black balls. Row upon row of little rolling balls emitting light in synchronous harmony. That alone was a pretty big “wow” factor upon first sight. But then I round the corner, and there are bigger balls with multiple light beams emitted in every angle. Rotating continuously in every angle. I am experiencing flashbacks to the 1970’s and the days of disco. I instantly realize that Ayrton, the leading innovator in new LED product manufacturing, has once again come up with some revolutionary products.

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Tour School’s STEADI Program

Tour School’s STEADI Program

A few years ago, when Tour School co-founders Ed Wannebo and Dr. Susan Ullrich looked out on the state of staffing the production industry, what they saw concerned them. On-the-job training continues to be one of the primary methods of training new recruits, but the founders wondered what improvements could be made to the process.

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Innovative Show Design (ISD) worked with CYM Lighting and Rio Casino’s in-house AV arm, Encore Event Technologies, on the visual design. Photo by Stephanie Moore

The Rio in Las Vegas Goes All-In for 2015 World Series of Poker

The 46th annual World Series of Poker will have 23,000 players this year according to executive producer Mori Eskandani. The event returns to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV May 27-July 14, 2015, a 2,522-room property owned by Caesars Entertainment. An enormous undertaking, the WSOP occupies the Pavilion, Miranda and Brasilia Ballrooms, with the main event and set in the Amazon Ballroom.

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The event production team designed a massive video octagon that encompassed close to 225 diagonal feet and flown 14 feet above the open concept interactive area, better known as the SAP Experience Zone.

Immersive Projection at SAP’s Sapphire Now 2015 Event

SAP, the world’s leading provider of business software, is known for helping companies run more efficiently through enterprise application tools. SAP’s annual Sapphire Now brings together more than 20,000 customers, partners, and prospects from across the world to showcase new ideas and solutions from across SAP’s extensive product line.

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Bring Your Own Device

A Word about BYOD

Has anyone out there been in a meeting lately, say, for business or pre-production or whatever? Show of hands, please. And in that meeting, has anyone had to display an application or presentation from his or her laptop on the big screen in the conference room? If you’re a business professional, regardless of the industry, the answer is probably yes — and more likely than not, you’ve used one of multiple methods to push your video up to the screen and collaborate with the meeting’s participants.

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PRG Nocturne video flypack on display at Prolight+Sound

PRG Nocturne Karrera S-series SD/HD/3G Capable Video Flypack

PRG Nocturne recently announced that they were building ten new HD Video Flypacks to better serve their touring music clients. I recently got a walk through a typical flypack arrangement, which have already been out on some of the biggest current tours including U2, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Paul McCartney, The Eagles, Maroon 5, and others. The PRG Nocturne Karrera S-Series SD/HD/3G capable Video Flypacks really are next generation solutions. These HD flypacks employ equipment from Grass Valley, Ross Video and Fujinon; all long-time partners with PRG Nocturne.

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PR Lighting XR 1000 Spot

PR Lighting XR 1000 Spot

This week, I’ve got my hands on a hard-edge moving light discharge fixture from PR Lighting. This company is by far the market leader in China for professional lighting solutions for architectural, entertainment and promotional uses for 30 years. Mega Systems out of San Antonio, TX distributes their line of fixtures in the U.S.

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Python safety holster from Mountain Productions

Mountain Productions Safety and Rigging Products

Gravity and its related safety hazards never sleep, so crews working at height need to be vigilant about protecting themselves and others. Mountain Productions is helping with an expanded array of fall protection offerings including harnesses, lanyards, fall arrest systems, helmets and more. Their inventory from DBI-SALA includes some of the most trusted fall protection equipment in the industry. Along with DBI-SALA’s extensive product line, they are also now offering Python Safety’s drop prevention products and KASK’s Super Plasma helmets to keep crew members safe on site.

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It’s Time to GO!

Automated lighting consoles are very complex machines that provide amazing abilities to transition data values utilizing various timing controls. From a simple crossfade between two cues to advanced multi-part timing and auto-follows there are a multitude of timing tools available. Although each console may use slightly different terminology, the abilities are generally the same. For the purpose of simplicity I will refer to one set of terms in this article, so be sure to reference your console’s user manual to determine the exact terms you may encounter.

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From left, Brian Wilson’s production manager Clint Boire and LD Chris Stuba at Bass Concert Hall in Austin, TX on the tour’s opening night. Photo by Debi Moen

Designing Brian; Butch’s Plot; Future LD for Future Islands; Quick Cues

“He said music has color, and the color of music is blue,” said LD Chris Stuba. The design inspiration for Brian Wilson’s summer tour starts with that thought from the Beach Boys legend. Wilson, who is performing with fellow band mates Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplain, presents a welcoming design and programming challenge for Stuba on the lighting console. “Sometimes the bridge of the song starts at the beginning, or the song changes through many time signatures throughout,” Stuba said. “I had to approach programming and running this show differently because of those variances.”

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Livin’ on the Edge

I’m lighting a Truck Press Event… That’s right. Trucks. Those things that people like me can’t even fit in my garage. Even if I had a garage, I would have to move my clothes rack/treadmill and my complete collection of plastic wrapped Mad Magazines.

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