Blurb
Show and lighting designer Sam Tozer of Vision Factory asked me to work alongside him as programmer for lighting, video and lasers for this one night only spectacular Wilkinson Live show at Brixton Academy.
Wilkinson returned with his live show to Brixton Academy two years on from his previous performance at the iconic London venue, bringing not just his full live band and guest performers, but also a full production that breaches the stage line and stretches right out into the audience and making them feel like part of the performance.
Equipment
- GrandMA3 Full-size (Mode 2)
- GrandMA3 Light (Mode 2)
- GrandMA3 Processing Unit L
- GrandMA3 Processing Unit M
- Luminex GigaCore 16Xt
- Luminex GigaCore 10
- Luminex LumiNode 12
- Luminex Araneo
- Robe Mega Pointe
- Robe Pointe
- Robe Spiider
- GLP JDC1
- GLP Impression X4 Bar
Credits
Show Design:
Vision Factory
Lighting/Video/Laser Programmer:
Kris Goodman
Lighting/Video Supplier:
Colour Sound Experiment
Audio Production:
Patchwork London
Photos:
Luke Dyson
Venue:
O2 Academy Brixton
Date:
28th February 2020
Control
Under my control for this control was not just lighting, but I also had control of video and lasers so I needed to find a system that was stable, reliable, and allow me to take the incoming timecode feed from the stage and convert this into a fully programmed show fitting to every single beat of the set.
For this, I chose as always to stick with the tried and tested GrandMA2 software platform from MA Lighting. Not only is it the platform I have grown with over the last 10 years of my career, but I also find it to be extremely stable when everything is set up correctly. Colour Sound Experiment supplied both a GrandMA3 full-size console and a GrandMA3 light console as a backup both running in their legacy ‘mode 2’.
Network
With the help of Colour Sound Experiment, we created a show network consisting of Luminex GigaCore 16XT and GigaCore 10 Switches for network connections and Luminex LumiNode 12’s for DMX connections.
Sam and I wanted to have full control of every individual pixel in the show which called for a lot of parameters in the session. To handle this we were also used 3 NPU’s in the forms of 3 GrandMA3 Processing units.
We also used Luminex’s new Araneo software to monitor the network during the show to flag any potential issues as they happen to have them resolved straight away. As always, the Luminex products worked flawlessly.
Programming
With Wilkinson being a drum ‘n’ bass artist there were a lot of beats and hits which Sam wanted to capture and use as moments for triggering lighting looks, bumps and hits. For this, we chose to use timecode as a trigger for the show and have the incoming timecode signal trigger all the cues and many many flash bumps and hits in every song.
With the show running via timecode my attention was left to balance levels keeping the show even and nothing too overpowering for the live audience.
Video
Photos
