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Fitz and The Tantrums LD Adds Robe Pointe Fixtures to Rig

PLSN editor Justin Lang

Take Control of the Camera Flash

Several arena tours visit the DC market during the winter.  I have attended a number of them, and I am always grateful to those that allow me in to chat with the production crew and cover the tours for these pages of PLSN. I am constantly amazed at what can be packed into trucks, unloaded in a day and torn down at the end of the night.  The lighting rigs alone are massive and give me chills of excitement every time.

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Fitz and the Tantrums on tour. Photo by Amber Stokosa

LD Chris Smith for Fitz and the Tantrums

Tour Legs: Feb. 10-18 (U.S.); March 3-16 (U.K./Europe); April 3- May 15 (U.S.)

Design Concept: “The shows in February will be one-offs, so I’ll spec out a system. The new tour design happens in April when we’re carrying gear again. We’re talking about adding more video elements and beam fixtures surrounding and encasing the band.”

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PLSN Feb. 2014 Video World by Paul Berliner

Moving Video, Moving Data

Just about a year ago, I wrote a primer on LED digitizers, which included a lengthy discussion of the processing required between the video source and the LED wall itself.  True, you simply can’t connect a video signal directly to an LED wall and expect to see a picture.  In order to create an image of the desired size, shape and aspect ratio, the wall (regardless of the manufacturer) requires proprietary video processing and a proprietary input signal, rather than a standard DVI, HDMI, or HD-SDI format.  To put it another way, the wall is looking for data — not video.

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Dataton WATCHPAX Media Player

Dataton WATCHPAX Media Player

The new WATCHPAX media player from Dataton, the creators of WATCHOUT multi-display software, is a plug-and-play standalone unit designed to be used in situations where you need content distributed to several locations but don’t need or want a computer at each location.

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Showline SL NITRO 510 from Philips Entertainment

Showline SL NITRO 510 from Philips Entertainment

Strobes — we all know what they are and how they work.  What can be sexy about them?  They are one trick ponies, designed to blind, wash and add some strobing effects to the look of a show.  For years we have relied on strobes that use a high-powered but conventional lamp as the light source. They are bright — blinding, in fact — but have the tendency to overheat and shut down for a period if used for a long duration of time.

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Whirlwind Power Link Portable Distro Series options

Whirlwind Power Link Portable Distro Series

With all of the various types of connectors and power requirements needed for different types of devices, power distro units for the live entertainment industry need to be flexible in their configuration. A standardized configuration will never be ideal for every situation. Whirlwind recognizes this, and has developed a new line of power distros aimed at getting the right power and connection type to your devices: the Power Link Series.

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What’s the Deal with Intensity?

Programming is largely about adjusting parameters and storing data. There are many different parameter types we adjust, but one is treated very differently than all the rest. Intensity is the only parameter that we can always say that we know the importance between high and low values. It is also the original parameter that was adjustable for lighting the stage.

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Illustration by Andy Au

Making It Affordable

Few shows are put on without a budget. In the 30 years I’ve been gigging, I may have only done a handful of them. And they were private shows for billionaires. Even giant shows like the Rolling Stones travel on a budget. Of course, ticket prices at any event are directly reflected by this budget. Thus, to put on the greatest show on the planet, you may have to charge exorbitant amounts. But that’s not saying you cannot design a large, original design within your budget constraints — you just have to figure out how.

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