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How Many LDs Does It Take to Light a Show?

How Many LDs Does It Take to Light a Show?

I’ve recently worked on a couple of gigs that truly required more than one lighting designer. Each gig had multiple lighting systems supplied by different vendors. In the past I’ve done gigs like these where I was the only console programmer/operator. While there was a staggering amount of overtime, the end product delivered to the client was not as good as it could have been. That’s because I wore too many hats and burned myself out. Nowadays I’m thankful to share LD duties on many large gigs.

 

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Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy, LD for American Idol and other TV shows, doesn't just blast the set with white light, as the lighting for Fergie's performance in the CBS special, Home for the Holidays, attests.

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AO – The Fantastic Legend

Over the past couple of years François Roupinian, principal founder and designer at the Montreal-based lighting firm Lightemotion, has been called on to supply his talents to a wide range of projects. In fact, he’s traveled from Montreal to the States to Singapore to Italy to work on show, museum and event installations, but it was a job in his own backyard last year that might have been the most demanding.

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In the Land of Perspective

Scenic designer Peter J. Davison brings new angle to classical approach

 

 

The persepective of the set plays a role in Mark Twain's Is He Dead?, shown here with, L-R, Norbert Leo Putz, Michael McGrath, Jeremy Bobb and Tom Alan Robbins.

 

 

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Three Out of Five Ain’t Bad

“I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.” — Duane Michals

I was surprised to learn that three out of five people think I can’t count, and the other three have no opinion. At least that was what I gathered from the e-mail after the article in this column about the five lighting metrics. Apparently the three lighting metrics that were covered in the article don’t account for all five.

 

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The New Training Day

Live performances have become the currency of the entertainment industry. It’s most obvious in music, where an ever-growing percentage of recording artists derive more revenues from their concert tours than from CD sales. But the rise in the number of live events is evident in many other sectors, from spectacular corporate presentations to events like the celebration at the start of the New York City Opera’s season last year, which saw Times Square filled with thousands of folding chairs facing huge video monitors beneath light and sound rigs. With gala events taking place in unique outdoor settings, it isn’t just Elvis who’s left the theatre.

 

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Bonerama March/April Tour Pics

Hey all, just dropping in to post some pics from the tour. It all went really good and the band was throwing down hardcore. A lot of new tunes were played and some really neat arrangements to a few classic covers were thrown into the mix. We ran through Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Pennsylvania I believe. Sometimes we all forget where the heck we are on most of these tours so I imagine I may be forgetting a state or two, hah!

 

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Old studio, new look

    Well I’m back at the old Sound Stage TV studio at WTTW in Chicago. Familiar building, but boy has the look changed. This is my fifth year doing shows down here, with 3 different directors. This time Bob Peterson is at the helm and the difference is quite noticeable.

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One night in Moscow

It's been 10 years since I went to Russia to light a gig. Last time I was there, I had one of those gigs from hell, where it took 2 days to set everything up and it still didn't work correctly. I'm here to say they've come a long way.

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