PHOENIX – Lighting and video designer Nick West used a Jands Vista T2 console for lighting, I-Mag and video control for the recent tobyMac annual Winter Wonder Slam tour. Axxis Inc. was the tour lighting company. West, who owns his own S1 control surface and often uses it for fly dates or as a wing, specified the full size T2 console for the tour.
"When I saw the Vista, the timeline and ability to swap fixtures were major selling points," he noted. "Often I fly to a show that morning and I may only have 30 minutes with the rig before we play, which gives me just enough time to focus. With the Jands Vista's Mac or PC based offline editor, one quick advance call to get the fixture types and addresses from the local company and I can have the console ready to go before I even show up on site."
The tour rig centered around a Barco Slite LED video wall upstage for I-Mag and a low-res wall of Barco MiStrip LEDs in front of a riser that was 40 feet wide and five feet high. The rig also included 120 PAR cans, arranged in a 30-by-four configuration, that flew in and out during the show, and could be used to spell out words.
West indicated that he was originally going to pixel map the Par Cans, but after starting to pre-program them on the Vista, he found that the console's graphical based approach to programming made it very easy.
"The show starts off with ‘TOBY MAC' spelled out in the Par Cans. After a couple of shows, Toby asked if I could do something specific with them, such as having them come on as if someone was writing it. I was able to instantly grab the fixtures, work with them in the timeline and have the effect within 30 seconds of him asking for it."
The rig also included 22 Martin Mac 700 profiles, 10 Source Four Lekos (26 degrees), three ETC Sensor racks and two Motion Labs 220V distros. Video came from a Catalyst HD media server. The lighting, video and live camera feeds were all triggered from the Vista T2 console.
"I use the Vista for anything and everything I do," West said. "It's great having on-board visualization of your fixtures and the flexibility to layout the console to your specific needs. Technical support for anything is very quick," West added. "Jands listen to their users and continually make requests and ideas happen."
Other production staff on the tour included Ryan Lampa, tour manager; Sam Shifley, stage manager; Anthony Morgan, lighting crew chief/FOH cam operator; John "2Tone" Sumitra, lighting 2nd; Jeff Culmer, LED tech/robotic cam operator; and Nick Bush, shoulder cam operator and video tech.
For more information, please visit www.jandsvista.com.
Photo by Jeff Culmer
For more information on the Jands Vista, visit www.jandsvista.com.
