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The Pet Shop Boys “Electric” Tour

Pet Shop Boys 2013 Tour Photo by Steve Jennings

The Pet Shop Boys “Electric” Tour

The Pet Shop Boys duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, (vocals, keyboards, occasional guitar) and Chris Lowe (keyboards, occasional vocals) may not be boys anymore — they’re in their mid- and late-50s — but the electronic pop duo have continued their ability to top the charts through the decades. Their 2013 Electric tour supports the July 2013 album release of the same name — the band’s 12th. The album was both a popular and critical success, with U.K. chart results besting any of the duo’s albums since the release of Very in 1993. Since the duo first hit the big time in the mid-1980s, they have sold more than 50 million records.

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Univeristy of Michigan vs. Notre Dame, Sept. 7, 2013

The Big House Under the Lights

Michigan Stadium Halftime Crew Goes Long with Beams and Lasers

On Sept. 7, 2013, at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, MI, the University of Michigan Wolverines squared off against the Fighting Irish from Notre Dame in the latest football matchup in a rivalry that dates back to Nov. 23, 1887. (After giving the Notre Dame students a few pointers about the new sport, Michigan won, 8-0).

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Robe Robin Pointe

Robe Robin Pointe

Energy efficiency and fast action— that’s what’s on everyone’s wish list as of late.  We want the most out of a fixture with as little power consumption that moves like a bat outta hell. Having a fair price doesn’t hurt, either! Robe Lighting has answered these demands with the introduction of the Pointe. Let me start off by saying that regardless of how you hear it pronounced in Europe, the correct pronunciation is “point,” not “poin-tay.” I have it straight from the mouth of the people from the factory on that one! But that’s really besides the… well, you know.

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Jack Kelly, Group One Ltd.

Group One Ltd.

Lighting and sound have come a long way in the past 40 years. Gone are the days when it was enough just to get a spotlight and a microphone on a performer, or for the adventuresome, to use a little vegetable oil and food coloring on an overhead projector for “special” effects. Today, audio and lighting installations can be as massive and complex as the creatures and structures in the films Transformers and Elysium.

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The conference's main stage at the Indiana Convention Center. Photo by Robert Gough.

ExactTarget Connections Conference

Dodd Technologies Serves Up a Visual Feast for Multi-Venue, Three-Day Convention

Working a three-day convention event with thousands of attendees and a plethora of live video content is already a challenge for collaborating companies, but add in a live concert event as well as video walls in two other locations, and the juggling act becomes trickier. But Indianapolis-based Dodd Technologies was up to the task of tackling the ExactTarget Connections conference, which included speakers Jim Collins, Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a presentation by Pinterest.

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PRG’s Zach Alexander, the Media Operator on Oblivion, is shown controlling the Mbox media server using the V676 Control Console. Photo by David James/Universal 2013

Lighting ‘Oblivion’ with a Projected Sky

Universal Studio’s sci-fi feature film, Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise, presents a post-apocalyptic earth, which would seem to demand heavy visual effects (VFX), and while there are many in the film, there are some surprising sequences that are, in fact, not CG. For two of the primary, futuristic sets — the Sky Tower and the Cloud Tower — cinematographer Claudio Miranda, ASC, and director Joseph Kosinski filmed most of the visual effects live in-camera rather than using green screens. It’s an old-school style that immerses the actors in the actual environment, but not the first instinct of filmmakers when the environment is supposed to be a cloud-surrounded glass-walled apartment 3,000 feet in the air.

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Keith Urban 2013 tour photo by Steve Jennings

Keith Urban “Light the Fuse” Tour

Australian country music singer Keith Urban embarked on his “Light the Fuse” tour, in support of Fuse, his eighth studio album. The tour launched in Cincinnati, OH on July 18 and ran through Oct. 5 in West Palm Beach, FL on its first North American leg. Urban has two more North America tour legs mapped out for Oct. 18-Dec. 8, 2013 and Jan. 9-Feb. 1, 2014. The album’s lead single, “Little Bit of Everything,” debuted in mid-May and the full album was released on Sept. 10.

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NFL Sunday Night Football Intro video still from Bodega Studios

“Waiting All Day for Sunday Night”

Carrie Underwood and a Digital Cast of Thousands Kick Off the NFL Season for NBC

After six seasons, Faith Hill opted out and Carrie Underwood was chosen to sing the musical introduction to NBC’s NFL Sunday Night Football (SNF). A new intro video was created and shot with Underwood’s take on the theme song to kick off each week’s prime time game. It premiered Sunday, Sept. 8, before the Dallas Cowboys hosted the New York Giants.

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Ultra Music Festival 2013 photo by Adam Kaplan

Andrew Gumper: 20-Year Veteran at Age 31

Andrew Gumper is only 31 years old, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have decades of experience in the live event industry. He has spent the last 20 years immersed in activities ranging from programming lighting consoles, designing the look of various shows and running a production company that took him from his parent’s basement to the helm of AG Light and Sound, one of the fastest-growing production companies in the U.S. PLSN caught up with Gumper to talk about how he did it.

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Full Sail Live

Learning the Ropes on the Stage

There are no shortages of schools, for-profit and otherwise, that offer professional audio education programs. The most recent listing by the Audio Engineering Society (AES) includes more than 600 educational organizations. They range from international multi-location ones such as SAE, which has outlets in cities including New York, Miami, London and Paris, to those based in community colleges in small-town America.

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Fig. 1: Typical meter readings for different lighting conditions

Measurement of Light, Demystified

The modern age of lighting has brought us many advances. Along with DMX and new light sources, there are new ways to measure and index the amount and quality of the light that those light sources produce. Measuring light output is pretty easy.  Grab a light meter (or download one for your smart phone), point the light source at the eye of the meter (or camera of your smart phone) and look at the measurements.  You will see a bunch of numbers come up — the mathematical computations of certain values that make up your light source.

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George Travis with Bruce Springsteen

George Travis Honored with Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award

George Travis knows who the real boss is. “You end up being part of this little touring group that can be a tight, dysfunctional family that shares one goal: putting on a good show,” he says. “We have to remember that when the music starts, we have 8,000 to 80,000 bosses who are the audience. The biggest excitement in this business is when the concert starts. Then you have your immediate reward… or you can also have your immediate judgment!”

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