MANCHESTER, U.K. — Working with LD Simon Barrington, DBN Lighting is supplying a full lighting system for The Warehouse Project series of dance events through Jan. 1 in the arches beneath Piccadilly Station. It is DBN’s fourth year working for production company Ear To The Ground on the “pop-up nightclub” with live music and DJs drawing crowds to an area that serves as a parking lot during the week.
The Warehouse Project crew get access to the venue at 6 p.m. on Friday night and the rig has to be ready for a 10 p.m. kick off. Although most of the lighting stays installed in the roof week-to-week, this four-hour slot is still an intense period of activity requiring lots of coordination.
It is a quirky space covering three arches, with the main room beneath one arch. Approximately 60 points have been installed in the roof, where there is about five meters of headroom, to facilitate the hanging of seven trusses of various lengths, shaped to the curves of the arches, plus a series of scaff bars for rigging scenic elements, bar lighting and more.
The lighting fixtures were all chosen for their compact dimensions and output. There’s a total of 16 Martin Professional MAC 250 Entours, eight Clay Paky Alpha Wash 300s and 6 CP Alpha Wash 575 moving lights — distributed across all the trusses — together with eight Atomic strobes and 16 Studio Due Archiled wash lights which are flat and unobtrusive. In addition to the DBN kit, some i-Pix BB4 and BB7 LED fixtures also grace the rig.
The lights all get regularly moved and refocused above the dancefloor and stage depending on the line up, and whether it’s a band/DJ combination, or DJ only.
Control is via a Chamsys lighting console supplied by Simon Barrington, who also runs the main room lighting most weekends and is helping to create some amazingly dynamic and colorful environments for dance enthusiasts.
The second room has a distinctly retro vibe, so DBN is supplying vintage High End Trackspots. Although they are operated in this instance, Robinson comments that they are still DBN’s favorite sound-to-light disco effect and well-suited for gigs like this.
In addition to the Trackspots there are two Atomic strobes and more Archileds in Room 2, with an Avolites Pearl Tiger for control.
DBN has been working with the Warehouse project’s organizers since the early 1990s, when they supplied lighting and special effects for some of the house parties in the area, at an eclectic assortment of warehouse venues and temporary locations around the city.
“It’s refreshing and fun to still be working with people who go back to the roots of DBN, especially with everyone still coming up with new ideas and concepts to make dance environments atmospheric and interesting spaces to relax and enjoy great music,” says Robinson.
Live performances at the 2009 Warehouse Project include Faithless, Simian Mobile Disco, Ronnie Size, Friendly Fires, Groove Armada, while the DJ line up features Fatboy Slim, Pete Tong, Steve Angello, Eric Prydz, Judge Jools, Sasha & John Digweed and many, many more.
For more information, please visit www.dbn.co.uk.
