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Willie Nelson Country Throwdown Tour

Helios 250 Mobile Stage

Solar-Powered Stage from Kleege Industries and Sustainable Waves

Kleege Industries has been around since Nevin Kleege designed and built his first “plank and ply” stage in 1984. Sustainable Waves has been an alternative energy trail-blazer for eight years. The two companies got together to come up with Helios 250, a solar-powered mobile stage. It toured the country from May to August 2011 with the Willie Nelson’s Country Throwdown and Vans Warped tours, soaking up the rays and providing enough power, even on cloudy and rainy days, to provide 120 amps at 120V for up to 12 hours.

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KA at Comic-Con photo by Eric Meagher

Vertical Horizon: KÀ at Comic-Con

AD X Media Group, Cirque du Soleil Combine Live Performance with “3D” Projection

In July, AD X Media Group, a multi- and mixed-media company specializing in large format 3D projection, collaborated with Cirque du Soleil on a visual extravaganza for the opening night of the big convention in San Diego for comic books, Comic-Con.

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3D Mapping with MadMapper

MadMapper

Projection mapping is all the rage.  You see a different amazing example practically weekly, involving everything from building facades to cars to trees and castles — and if you can’t see it in person, chances are it’s up on Youtube.

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Mac or PC

The Eternal Question: Mac or PC?

DMX-controlled digital media servers range in size, features and even software platforms. How do you decide which one is right for you? For some, it boils down to this age old question: Mac or PC. That dilemma led me to ask, “What factors drive the manufacturer of a media server to choose one platform over another?”

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Video digitizers translate video into pixels

LED Digitizers: A Primer

When I crossed over from the television broadcast domain to the live events market a few years back, there was a fairly steep learning curve regarding all the lighting, staging and video equipment required to produce shows. With LED walls in particular, I figured that you simply connect a video signal to the LED wall, and presto — I-Mag images appear on the wall behind the lead singer. Well, not so fast, Sparky.

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Krafting MACROni & Cheese

Automated lighting consoles provide the programmer with a multitude of tools to help create and playback lighting for a show. Some of the most powerful features are commonly known as “macros.” These automated time-savers can help programmers simplify repeated tasks, create shortcuts and even add functionality to their show files. Although each console system uses different terminology and procedures, there are two basic types of macros: triggers and recorded. As always, refer to your console’s user manual to determine exactly what is available and how to use the features on your desk.

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Red lighting makes it difficult to capture details. Less-saturated colors tend to have less blowout.

Photography Skills

As people who work the day-to-day of concert, industrial, theatrical and television, we sometimes forget we to need to take photos to help capture our work.  It is important to show our work in the best way possible.  Detailing a design in words can only go so far; visuals help to explain what we accomplished. These days, websites and social media are great places for potential employers to see and learn about us. Our next gig might be a click away. We don’t always have the luxury to have someone capture our work. But we can learn to improve our own photography skills.

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Lighting Aerosmith, Sting, Anthrax/Testament, Miranda Lambert and a Playboy Fantasyland

LD Alastair Bramall-Watson is designing Aerosmith’s tour, which kicks off Oct. 22 in South America, swings to Mexico and ends Dec. 10 in Japan. This is his first time to work with the band, and he’s excited about the opportunity. To prepare for it, he didn’t look back at previous designs but put his own style forward. The longtime LD for Stone Temple Pilots said he was contacted by the band to submit a proposal. He met with Steven Tyler in Boston with the designs and got his stamp of approval. “I couldn’t presume to know what they wanted or didn’t want. I asked what they liked and didn’t like in a show and went from there. The show will be the best show I can give them,” he said.

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Illustration by Andy Au

Hitting the Sweet Spot

A spotlight does just what its name says it will do. Light a spot in a crowd to draw attention to it. A light shone on one person in a crowd will make them stand out, but so will a “key” light on stage. The difference is that a spotlight uses an operator to follow the performer around as he struts about on stage, keeping him illuminated as the intended focal point of the audience. The history of the spotlight can be traced back to 1550, when an Italian named Sebastiano Serlio used a brightly-polished barber’s basin (reflector) placed behind a torch to reflect the light through a bottle (lens) on the other side of the flame.

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