ENTER SHIKARI THE BRIT AWARDS RUDIMENTAL FOOTLOOSE THE 1975 FOXESROAD DIARIES INTERVIEW: SOUND IMAGES DAVE SHADOAN IN PROFILE: BEDFORD GUITARS

ELLIEGOULDINGDelirium reaches touring reality

APRIL 2016#200

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EDITORS LETTER

We spend a lot of our time talking to creatives about reinvention - be it a totally new show design or a mini adaptation during a tour run. And, with 200 issues being somewhat of a landmark, we thought it was time to follow suit. As youll no doubt have noticed from the size of our magazine of late, this year has been monumentally busy, so what better time to add to the madness than to reinvent the look of TPi! Thanks to Dan in our production department and his slick ideas, were enjoying a brand new faceli , and weve also changed the names of some of our sections. Over the next few months, well be introducing some new features too. Stay tuned! Its also, quite bizarrely, my 5th anniversary at TP HQ this month. Im unsure where the time went (ok, lessons in stereo mixes, the environmental importance of LED manufacturing and festival health & safety conversations could count for some baptisms of fire) but it seems to have flown by. Speaking of baptisms, were literally pressing print as our taxi to the airport is en route to begin our trip to the biggest tradeshow in our calendar. See you very soon, Frankfurt Messe... This time five years ago, I had no idea what a journey this was going to be. Heres a toast to where it all began, Germany! Kelly MurrayEditor

EDITORKelly MurrayTel: +44 (0)161 476 8360Mobile: +44 (0)7738 154689e-mail: k.murray@mondiale.co.uk

ASSISTANT EDITORSte DurhamTel: +44 (0)161 476 8385Mobile: +44 (0)7891 679742e-mail: s.durham@mondiale.co.uk

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GRAPHIC DESIGN & PRODUCTION Dan Seaton: d.seaton@mondiale.co.ukZoe Willcox: z.willcox@mondiale.co.uk

EDITORIAL INTERNWill Kirkman

ACCOUNTS Lynette Levi / Sarah Miller: ar@mondiale.co.uk

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COVER PHOTOGRAPHY Ellie Goulding by Carli @ Adby Creative

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Issue 200 - April 2016

TOTAL PRODUCTION INTERNATIONAL is a controlled circulation magazine, published 12 times a year by Mondiale Publishing Limited under licence.ISSN 1461-3786 Copyright 2016 Mondiale Publishing Limited. All contents of this publication are subject to worldwide copyright protection and reproduction in whole or part, in any form whatsoever, is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the Publishers. Every effort is taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this publication but neither Mondiale Publishing Ltd, nor the Editor, can be held responsible for its contents or any consequential loss or damage resulting from information published. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Publishers or Editor. The Publishers accept no responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, illustrations, advertising materials or artwork. Total Production International USPS: (ISSN 1461 3786) is published 12 times a year by Mondiale Publishing Limited United Kingdom. The 2014 US annual subscription price is 117USD. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by Agent named Air Business, C/O WorldNet Shipping USA Inc., 155-11 146th Avenue, Jamaica, New York, NY11434. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Total Production International, Air Business Ltd, C/O WorldNet Shipping USA Inc., 155-11 146th Avenue, Jamaica, New York, NY11434. Subscription records are maintained at Mondiale Publishing Ltd. Waterloo Place, Watson Square, Stockport, SK1 3AZ, UK.

#200

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ITINERARY

EVENT FOCUS

08 Footloose NEXO delivers a lightweight PA for the touring theatre adaptation.

14 Video Games Live The British Sinfonietta Orchestra perform gaming soundtracks from Zelda to Assassins Creed. 18 Prolyte Groups Factory Tour TPi visits the companys new Romanian facility.

20 Foxes Touring LD Jake Vernum discusses the English singers recent show design.

26 Focusrites product launch Introducing the new Red 4Pre.

ROAD DIARIES

82 2016 TPi Award winner, LD Ed Warrren, lets us into his world.

IN PROFILE

84 Former Backline Tech, Dean Rowbotham on his new business, Bedford Guitars.

INTERVIEW

88 Kelly Murray meets Dave Shadoan of Sound Image to discuss the early days of life on the road...

GEAR HEADS

94 Adam Hall Group speaks about recent tech developments from the company.

CLOCKING OFF

92 Jerry Gilbert laces up for the London Marathon.

INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS

98 The latest movers and shakers.

PSA: THE BIGGER PICTURE

100 Andy Lenthall is on the case for protecting local UK music venues.

BACK CHAT106 Monitor Engineer of the Year, Jac Nott.

PRODUCTION PROFILE

30 Ellie Goulding TPi sees the stunning co-designed Delirium tour reach arena heights.

44 Enter Shikari Kelly Murray experiences surround sound with the electro-rock group.

56 The BRIT Awards We speak to the returning crew involved in the annual live TV broadcast.

68 Rudimental Ste Durham heads to London for the 11-pieces hometown O2 Arena show.

76 The 1975 Its 100% LED for the young quartet.

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Produced by award-winning team Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie at Sell A Door Theatre Company, producers of Avenue Q and American Idiot, Footloose the musical has once again been reinvented for a UK theatre run. TPi caught the actor / musician show staring Gareth Gates and Maureen Nolan at Manchesters Palace Theatre to speak to Sound Designer Chris Whybrow, rental partner Chris Headlam of Orbital Sound and Touring Head of Sound, Piers Archer. Whybrow led proceedings: I started designing musical theatre shows nine years ago, and my first design was Thriller Live in Londons West End. Since then, I have gone onto design many more tours and West

End shows. Its the main area that I focus on, however I have also been involved in the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, corporate shows, orchestra performances, music festivals and concerts, so I have a good knowledge of all kinds of live events. I think the skill for theatre is probably is being able to bring everything together and work closely with the productions creative team to fulfill the directors, musical supervisors and producers wishes. When starting a sound design and choosing a PA system, Whybrow always looks at the tours venues and scheduling before thinking about the size of system. Footloose, for example, is doing a huge range of

CUTTING LOOSE WITH NEXO

With French loudspeaker manufacturer NEXO leading the way for economically viable touring theatre productions, TPis Kelly Murray speaks to the audio team behind its latest

outing, Footloose, about system preferences for touring sound designs and the skills required to maintain them on the road.

FOOTLOOSE

Opposite: Manchesters Palace Theatre played host to a Nexo PA package from Orbital Sound, where the sound design gained praise from the shows producers.

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Touring Head of Sound, Piers Archer, said he can use the Nexo Geo M6 system in each venue without compromise. He mixed the live show from FOH on a DiGiCo SD8.

venues and by specifying a Nexo Geo system, it has enabled me to scale the rig up and down dependent on the size of the room, he added. The main objective for this production was to have a system that the touring crew could load in and fly quickly, ready for the show that evening. Continued Whybrow: The great thing about using Nexo is how compact and lightweight it is; its very quick, light, and importantly it delivers the coverage and SPL that this show needs. Rental company Orbital Sound provided 12 M620 80 loudspeakers per side covering the stalls and circle areas, six Geo M620s per side on the advance truss which covers the gallery, four LS18 sub bass for the stalls, four LS18 sub bass for the upstairs seated area and six ID24t for a compact front fill. To complete the main package, Whybrow chose a DiGiCo SD8 console for FOH duties and a DPA / Shure microphone package. He elaborated: These are choices that have carried through my designs over the years. I have refined and tested numerous other options but have found the combination I love. The musical was starring DPA d:fine 4066 omnidirectional headset microphones and IEMs were Shure PSM1000s. Monitoring is handled directly into Aviom mixers by the on-stage musicians and the rest is mixed from FOH.

Orbitals Chris Headlam added: UK touring musical theatre operates broadly on two scales. Some shows reside in a given theatre for a month or so and economically enjoy a load in and fit up period of a week or more. Others jump from theatre to theatre weekly and as a consequence, the load in, fit up and first performance will all take place on a single day.

In the latter scenario, the industry requires a redefining of the words light, speedy and economic because the Nexo Geo M6 is a benchmark leader in all of those areas. Specifiers who adhere to the more mature view that the brand name is less important than the end result are migrating toward solutions that facilitate simple touring whilst maintaining first-class sound. Nexo holds two of the long-standing key patents associated with line array theory, which gives them a significant technological edge when developing next generation compact systems. The whole subject of who holds which patent - and how that effects their manufacturing opposition - is often overlooked but presents a fascinating subject of its own. Musical theatre sound is very complex. The advances over the last decade in digital consoles,

computer playback and networking have allowed the designers to take their creative designs to another level but crafting deeply layered and complex sound creations is not possible with older, analogue solutions.

The great thing about using Nexo is how compact and lightweight it is; its very quick, light, and importantly it delivers the coverage and SPL that this show needs.Chris Whybrow,Footloose Sound Designer

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FOOTLOOSE

In Manchester, six ID24t were placed on the lip of the stage for a compact front fill solution. This speaker allowed for uninterrupted audience sightlines.

The technology has completely re-written the support rules required. Orbital Sound has a network of experts and the skill gap between what the equipment requires for day to day running and what is available onsite during a tour is ever widening. Its Orbitals responsibility to fill that gap remotely. Its can be a huge challenge - but one we relish. Touring and operating the Nexo system - which is transported in bespoke Nexo flight cases - is Piers Archer, Footlooses head of sound. He commented: In theatres you have to consider weight limitations and sight lines, as well as maintaining the correct coverage and distance throw in the premium seats. Because the Nexo Geo M6 system is so compact and lightweight, it means we can put a full system into every venue we tour in, without compromise. The producers paid the tour a visit this week, and they were very happy. They actually said, how did you make it sound like this in a room this big? Archer sets up the system with lasers for scale, using Nexos NS1 software to map the room. He continued: Footloose historically always been a loud musical, putting out 96db with crowd noise.

Chris Whybrows system design gives you the energy in all of the songs, but also cleverly draws you into the dynamic during the tense acting scenes, and the system caters for both experiences perfectly. With this set up, I use the front fill for imaging and to pull focus alongside the even coverage across the front. Prior to this tour, Archer hadnt used a Nexo PA for 20 years, but described the experience as eye opening. I only used one hang either

side at our show in Edinburgh and it did the job really well. It was rigged in 45 minutes! With a heavyweight name such as Footloose selling out theatres in various cities, audiences across the country continue to expect the best out of a classic. What they wont realise is theres a lightweight star enhancing the experience - no matter which seat theyre kicking their Sunday shoes off from.TPiPhotos: Shirlaine Forrest http://footloose-musical.comhttp://nexo-sa.comwww.orbitalsound.com

The industry requires a redefining of the words light, speedy and economic because the Nexo Geo M6 is a benchmark leader in all of those areas.Chris Headlam,Orbital Sound.

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In March 2016, Troxy hosted Video Games Live, a multi-media immersive concert created by the video gaming industry. Featuring the British Sinfonietta Orchestra, this record-breaking concert recreated epic gaming soundtracks from some of the most popular video games, combined with lighting, video projections of the games, live action and audience interactivity, making it the first and most successful video game concert tour in the world. Troxy hosted two shows, a matinee and evening performance, the latter of which signified the 357th Video Games Live performance, which saw the co-creator of the series Tommy Tallarico presented with two official certificates celebrating his Guinness World Records achievements primarily the record broken on the night for the most videogame concerts performed. The concert featured musicians and composers from the games industry David Wise (Donkey Kong Country), Robin Beanland (Rare titles),

conductor Eimear Noone (Songs of Zelda) and Flute Link - Laura Intravia. Music included games scores from Tetris, Mario, Donkey Kong Country, Skyrim, World of Warcraft as well as the world premiere score to the new Assassins Creed by BAFTA (British Academy Games Award) and Grammy award-winner Austin Wintory. Steve Miller, Video Technician of Video Games Live, explained: Video games music has come so far in an industry spending a huge amount of money to produce the games, which are now scored like the movies, with film composers writing full scores for video games. Just like movie trailers, they draw you into try their game, so thats what youll be seeing on the screen. We create cinematics, which is a movie trailer equivalent for a video game, telling both the story of the video game and including actual game play. One of the interesting things is that in this digital age, the audience often doesnt realise that the soundtrack originates from a real

VIDEO GAMES LIVEFive years ago it would have been difficult to predict the popularity of video gaming as a live

spectator ticket. Now gamers are on the verge of celebrity status with concerts attracting audiences in their thousands.

EVENT FOCUS

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VIDEO GAMES LIVE

Opposite: Featuring the British Sinfonietta Orchestra, this record-breaking con-cert recreated epic gaming soundtracks from some of the most popular video

games. Below: The evening featured a number of guest performers.

orchestra. But as soon as they see these live gigs they relate what they are seeing to the sound and when they see the music actually being played by musicians on stage, they appreciate the sound more. While Millers work is not dependant on specific switchers or cameras, baggage allowances and a busy travel schedule does require whatever he brings to be lightweight. For the event at Londons Troxy he used a Roland 1600 HD video switcher. Even though we use a lot of mixed material, this one is powerful in being adaptable, he said. We walked in and thought we were going to use the old 4:3 screens. We couldnt lower the screen far enough so we changed the format right away and went to 16:9 - so its really flexible and the quality is great; it has multiple channels so you can show content in the middle and on the outside. It fits the bill on this tour as it caters to many formats of video. When Im in the US, I work with similar gear and know roughly what Ill be running into, but when Im travelling overseas, Germany for example uses a slightly different system to the UK, but the Roland HD system will take almost anything in and give us everything out. Sometimes quality plays a big part in kit, but if you look at it, some of the video games we play are actually very old with lower screen resolution, so quality isnt necessarily there. Miller also used a lightweight Panasonic SDI camera, a GoPro on the stage to show the orchestra live, another GoPro mounted on the conductor, a MOTU audio adaptor and an Apple Mac running QLab software. He continued: Troxy is different to every other venue weve been to and the art deco design creates a unique ambience. We always need an in-house production team and its been very helpful to have access to the team at Troxy to share skill and knowledge to help us adapt to the space changes. Weve all seen the show, we all know the show and what we want to achieve. People ask if we get bored with the show but my job

15

VIDEO GAMES LIVE

Video Technician Steve Miller; Atif Malik, Event Manager at Troxy; Adlib Video Rental Manager, Dan Brown; The team had three screens to work with at Troxy; The world premiere of the score to the new Assassins Creed conducted by Austin Wintory and performed by Laura Intravia.

is to pay attention to the nuances of the venue and the video. We have been limited on time with every orchestra, luckily this is the third show we have done with them, so were used to each other now. To make the production work, we bring in a click track. As the video rolls, and the members of the orchestra wear in-ears with a click. One of the reasons for this is that the conductor will have so many things to do in a very short amount of time, so having the metronome click means shell have one less thing to think about. Another of the adaptations Miller had to make was working with a different amount of screens in each venue. While the graphics on the centre screen will always roughly have the same content, any side screens can show combinations of additional graphics and stage cameras. He continued: I have to cut away a lot of the content beforehand but thats when it has been approved by the video games company. You dont want to do that too much as youll cut away from the content. With the three cameras we have at Troxy, it means we can put a live camera on one screen, the video game on another and any other graphics on the third screen. Although the team didnt have a full rock n roll touring rider at their disposal, the in-house Electro-Voice XLC line array system and screens that they utilised were more than enough to whip the excitable crowd into a frenzy. Miller commented: For this show, the visuals are the video games. Most of the crowd will see one element of this video game and start roaring. They will know when Assassins Creed comes up or within two beats of a song and they will cheer just because they know its that one! There is a full orchestra on the stage, so they want to hear the sound and see the visuals. As well as adapting logistically to the wide variety of venues that Video Games Live has played, the crew also had to cater for the age of the content itself, some of which was decades old. Dan Brown, Video

Rental Manager from Adlib Lighting, explained: A lot of the content is 4:3 and thats mainly because the video games are dated, but for us 16:9 has now become the standard. We couldnt bring the middle screen all the way down without getting in the way of the orchestra, but the middle screen is 16:9 and the two side screens are 4:3, which are all controlled by Troxys in-house team and the Roland switcher. We put in one Sanyo PLC XF47 projector, which is the central projector, and even though its an older model, it meets the spec for the show. Weve recently invested in Panasonic quite heavily, so we brought 6.5k laser projectors for the side screens. Panasonic projectors are great for dealing with haze so sealed optics is the benefit to that. Brown continued: Traditionally a front truss is about the width of the stage, but our projections are just outside the stage area. Another reason we used the Panasonic projectors is that they have corner correction capabilities, which means as long as you get that image over the screen, you can pull in the corners, rather than dropping the truss and moving it or taking it out. it works out well especially for Video Games Live and is brilliant from engineers perspective. The final word went to Atif Malik, Event Manager at Troxy. He said: Video Games Live is a great success for the games industry and weve really enjoyed this opportunity for Troxy to get involved with the evolving sector and play our part in this record breaking night. Almost 2,000 gamers joined us for both the matinee and evening shows on the London leg of this tour. Like any traditional classical music and film show, the audience were fully seated so as to sit back and enjoy the live music, cinematics, projections and lighting experience.TPiwww.videogameslive.comwww.adlib.co.ukwww.troxy.co.uk

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Last month TPi made the trip out to Piatra Olt, Romania to visit Prolyte Groups new factory. Measuring in at 5,000 sq metres (with the possibility to expand up to 16,000 sq metres) the completion of the facility marks the end of a long-term plan that began back in 2010. Rather fittingly the opening of the new facility has coincided with Prolytes 25th anniversary. The new production base has been fitted with brand new automated production equipment and new welding jigs as part of its state of the art production line. In addition, the building contains industry-leading employee welfare and environmental systems, as well as an in-house training facility for welding personnel.

All equipment, procedures and personnel have obtained an EN1090 certification in the highest execution class III along with being ISO 3834-2 certified by the International Institute of Welding. Prolyte predicts that its manufacturing capacity will grow by 250%, which is vital for the continued world wide sales expansion.

The new factory first started production at the beginning of the year, however, due to the temperamental winter weather conditions Romania

experiences, the official opening was put off until the spring. During an extensive tour of the factory, TPi along with other members

of the industrys press and representatives from the Prolyte Group were taken through the whole in-house production process; from the creation of the truss down to the companys extensive product testing area. With safety a main priority, Prolyte have taken measures to ensure the wellbeing of all of its clients using its products with 90% of all product testing being conducted by machinery. Such safety measures include the implementation ultrasonic testing used to perform circumferential weld inspections on small-diameter pipes.

With the companys in-house tracking system, Prolyte is able to monitor each piece of truss produced in the factory in detail - even down to the name of the welder who worked on it.

After the tour, during a drinks reception, CEO of the Prolyte Group, Lambert Bouwmeester gave a speech where he talked about the inception of this new facility: In 2014 we made the decision to make a lot of changes in Prolyte, one of which was to invest in what would become

PROLYTE GROUPS NEW ROMANIAN FACTORY

The trussing and staging systems manufacturer proudly announces its new, purpose-built factory in Piatra Olt, Romania. With its ultra-modern facility, the company reaffirms its

vanguard position.

EVENT FOCUS

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PROLYTE GROUP

Opposite: Prolyte Groups new Romanian Facility. Below: Before the tour, Prolyte conducted a ribbon cutting ceremony; During the tour attendees were taken through the whole production line process.

this Romanian Production Facility.We wanted to really focus on what we are, which is safety, quality

and dedication to our customers. Twenty years ago we would have never thought we would be able to achieve something like this. We hope to be an example for other companies who are looking to invest and grow outside their countries. We are paving the path you might say. Adding to this, Ralph Stockley, Chief Commercial O icer, commented: In my opinion, this facility will give us the ability to provide our distributors and customers with a top quality product with high levels of safety and, more importantly, quicker build times to give you the edge on your competitors.

Bouwmeester explained: Prolyte has always been typified as a market leader in production technology, which underpins our quality promise. We have pioneered some production firsts, such as automated jigging and robotised welding. We hope that such innovations will only continue in our new factory. Mihai Hlihor, Prolyte Group COO, continued: Were very proud to have achieved this in such a short time span. Its very important to us to invest in Europe and to assure our customers that we have the most e icient production facility, meeting our exacting standards.

Prolyte is confident that the new facility will cement its position as a market leader in terms of volume, quality and global network reach, as well as giving a solid foundation for its continued international expansion.TPiPhotos provided by Prolyte Groupwww.prolyte.com

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Singer / songwriter Louisa Rose Allen, better known to the world as Foxes, has become a mainstay in the world of electro-infused pop music. In 2013 the singer became known on a global scale after being invited to provide vocals on Zedds single Clarity. That same year Foxes released her debut album Glorious followed by her latest record, All I Need. Foxes touring LD Jake Vernum has been with her since 2014. He was originally picked up by her management while working at Buckinghamshire New Universitys May Ball, which Foxes headlined. At the time I was a lighting tech at the union and I got the chance to design, program and operate a custom design for her show, explained Vernum. After that the bands tour management approached me to be their touring LD and operator. I jumped at the chance! Vernum has been with Foxes ever since. The LD talked TPi through the creative process of thing singers latest show design. Since working with Foxes I have had the pleasure to work with the award-winning Cate Carter of Bryte Design who is Foxes Show Designer (and can also be seen

in this months Ellie Golding feature). It has been great working with Cate along with the technical support of Bryte Design. In terms of the process, Louisa herself is very involved with the creative process. Its a real collaboration between artist and the production team. For this tour the brief from the artist was to create moody, dramatic, magical looks that represented a departure from her previous tours, which had a very definite pop feel utilising lots of strobes and lasers. Following this brief, along with her Bryte Design colleague Mike Smith (who provided technical support and rendering) and Vernum, Carter began to develop the concept of a dramatic star cloth and a voile backdrop providing the foundation of a theatrical set of varying levels complemented by a carefully plotted floor package to create powerful looks that came from the backline set up. We needed to ensure that the set and lighting design was going to be as flexible as possible to blend the wish for magical and moody along with some references to pop with some big eye candy lighting moments, commented Vernum. Once again Pearce Hire supplied the Foxes tour with a complete

FOXES

In support of her latest album, All I Need, English singer / songwriter Foxes set out on a nationwide tour. TPi spoke to the singers touring LD Jake Vernum to discuss the artists

latest visual look.

EVENT FOCUS

Foxes performed at the Roundhouse, London in support of her new album, All I Need.

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ROBE - Inzerce DL7S_210_297_mm.pdf 30.1.2016 14:11:04

FOXES

lighting package. Pearce Hire actually supplied the first gig I did for Foxes back in 2014 and ever since has provided her tours with floor packages and control desks since I joined the crew, said Vernum. This long-standing relationship means Pearce Hire are familiar with the type of equipment the artist and the tour management prefer to use, and what works for their audience. This collaboration between the artist, myself as the LD and Pearce Hire as the rental company guarantees the equipment they supply is the very best. As well as supplying a complete lighting package, Pearce Hire also produced a customised set for the artists set at Londons Roundhouse. Vernum explained: The Roundhouse was the largest show of the tour and it was important that we maximised the space available to us to make the show as big and impressive as possible as well as do justice to the room, which is such an iconic space to perform in. Part of the additional kit that we used to achieve this was some custom-built stage risers to create an enhanced dimension to the set. Working with Pearce Hire meant that we were able to have the lighting equipment supply and a bespoke stage build all from the same supplier - which made a seamless operation, and a far more cost effective solution than working with two suppliers. For this run, Vernum used a ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 compact console with an extra fader wing that was expanded further for the Roundhouse date with an extra playback wing. This gave the LD more control over the stage and ambient room lighting. ChamSys is my desk of choice

because Ive trained on it since the beginning of my career. For this level of tour with 70 or 80 fixtures it is a great-sized board. I needed a compact lighting control desk which was ideally suited to the smaller venues but which could step up to provide enough control surface in the Roundhouse in London and The Ritz in Manchester. Its quick and easy to programme too! For the tours lighting package, Vernum described how they required a set up that would go into a variety of small and medium sized venues all with their own in-house rigs complementing the tour package. We had to insure that our set up was modular and that we could trim back on the kit if required but without impacting the show files and the overall effect Foxes wanted from the lighting programme, stated Vernum. The LD went on to explain that the main workhorse fixture of the tour was the Robe ROBIN LED Wash 1200. Expanding on this he stated: These extremely bright LED luminaries were posted behind each of the five stage risers. This gave me the ability to cast powerful backlight through the band whilst up-lighting the voile. The intention was to create suspense without the audience knowing if the band were onstage or not. Together with the 50ft by 20ft voile and star cloth that formed the back drop the 1200s helped capture the dramatic theatrical look the artist was looking for. They also worked well with the Showtec 4-Cell Blinder and the Martin by Harman Atomic 3000 Strobes. Other Robe fixtures seen on the tour were Robe ROBIN Pointes,

For Foxes UK tour, Show Designer Cate Carter from Bryte Design with touring LD, Jake Vernum created a look that was moody, dramatic and magical; Jake Vernums con-sole of choice was a ChamSys MagicQ MQ80; on this tour the production had around 80 fixtures which was expanded for the Roundhouse gig where the production made

use of the venues in-house rig.

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FOXES

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ROBIN 100 LED Beams, Arri 650W Fresnels and Ayrton MagicBlade-Rs. Vernum stated: The Robe Pointes were spaced evenly on the back of the outer risers to provide powerful looks using wide breakup effects through the band and backline. The Pointe is my number one choice for a moving head profile on a tour of this scale. The Robe ROBIN 100 LEDBeams were positioned on the edge of the drum riser steps, upstage from the centre vocal. I personally like using this small and effective little fixture and it helps me draw the onstage attention right onto Foxes central vocal position. He continued: The type of features on a number of these fixtures demonstrates Robes commitment to producing exciting products and how much they listen to the input they receive from LDs. He also expressed his admiration for the Ayrton Magicblade-R. This is currently my favourite fixture on the market. They offer endless design possibilities. We mounted eight of the fixtures on four of the vertical towers. They looked great in the haze and perfectly complemented the other fixtures on the rig. When the tour entered the Roundhouse the production made use of

the venues in-house rig including 12 Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO 800s, Robe ROBIN 600 LEDWash, DLF Wash and DLX Spots along with extra Robe ROBIN 100 LEDBeams, complementing the floor kit already out on tour. Also in the in-house rig were 10 Philips Showline eSTRIPs, which Vernum used to enhance Roundhouses cast iron architecture. In conclusion, he stated: I am proud of how successfully we met the brief given by the artist and her management. The design really did have an ethereal, magical look, which Foxes was delighted with. I am really proud of the ongoing relationship with this artist along with Bryte Design. Being part of the team on a long-term basis means being part of the evolution of the artist and how they present their tours which really is rewarding.TPiPhotos: Luke Dysonwww.iamfoxes.com www.pearcehire.co.uk www.brytedesign.co.uk

The tours lighting package was supplied by Pearce Hire.

TPI_E-Series_QU02.indd 1 31/03/2016 3:37:49 PM

Focusrite is proud to announce the launch of Red 4Pre the pinnacle of Focusrites interface range. The 58 input / 64 output Red 4Pre combines four of Focusrites specially-developed digitally-controlled mic preamps, plus high-headroom instrument inputs, with dual Thunderbolt 2, dual Pro Tools HD DigiLink and Dante network audio connectivity. Featuring Focusrites most advanced low-noise conversion and beautiful yet robust design, the Red 4Pre interface is the perfect balance of form and function, delivering the sound quality and versatility engineers and producers around the world expect from Focusrite. For the launch Foucusrite a whole host of press and customers to check out the newest release from the company and Londons TileYard Studios a few days before the official announcement. Leading the proceedings was Focusrites Director of Product Strategy, Rob Jenkins,

who started with the company back in 1989. Through my years with the company it has been a great pleasure to steer this great brand through a lot of changes within the industry. What I have seen over the last quarter of a century is the changing techniques of the way people are recording and I believe Focusrite to be an innovator of the industry. Jenkins continued to highlight some of the successes that Focusrite has achieved over the years including the creation of the Rednet range. He stated: Rednet is right at the top of the range of Focusrites products. It is the most scalable and flexible audio recording system in the world allowing an almost infinite number of channels there is the range of recording possibilities. Jenkins also outlined the goals of the new product: What we hope is that the new product will fill a gap in the current range. As well as appealing to the smaller studio market the hope is that the new product

FOCUSRITEFocusrite released the latest addition to its product line, the Red 4Pre.

TPis Stew Hume was at the launch.

EVENT FOCUS

The brand new Red 4Pre; Focusrites Director of Product Strategy, Rob Jenkins; The London launch attracted various sound professionals.

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The new product will allow engineers to create improvised recording environments.

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When Ellie Goulding first appeared on the general publics radar in 2009, few would have suspected that she would go on to produce the kind of elaborately scripted stage show that TPi was on hand to witness at Manchester Arena. The production value was certainly upped from previous tours, with a huge video and lighting package, bespoke staging and striking drapes to rival those of mainstream pops biggest names. Tour Manager Rebecca Travis first joined the Ellie Goulding camp four years ago, and has overseen performances across the world, in venues of all shapes and sizes. For the artists first full arena run, the team turned to seasoned Production Manager Bob OBrien to lend his experience (and unflappable disposition) to the Delirium tour cycle. Having arrived in September 2015, during the albums promo period, OBrien had plenty of time to settle into the fold and begin coming up with ideas for the tour itself. He said: It was brilliant as it gave us all a head start. In terms of crew and suppliers, everyone was happy and everything was working well so I saw no reason to change that. We certainly upgraded for this level but did so with the same suppliers, as well as adding them for aspects that Ellie had never needed before, such as All Access Staging & Productions for the tours staging requirements. This included some custom work, a moving thrust catwalk and a B stage. Having been prepared for the usual maelstrom that is an arena production on show day, it was quite startling to be greeted by the level of calm felt at Manchester Arena. OBrien laughed: It took a while for us all to settle it in after the transition but it really is quite chilled out now. That said, everyone knows what theyre doing and the work is getting done in double quick time. Promoters and reps always wonder how its

so relaxed on site and we take that as a huge compliment! According to TM Travis, this philosophy is something that filters down right from the top. She added: Ellie doesnt want any dramas. She wants everyone to be happy and trusts us enough to leave us to it. I make a point to go and see them every day because were so self-contained. The people employed to do the day-to-day jobs know what theyre doing, which allows us to plan ahead, then get into show mode later on. As well as instilling an ethos of calm within her crew, Goulding has also (coincidentally or otherwise) assembled a crew reinforced by a number of strong female characters something that pleases her no end, according to Travis. She said: Ellie is very into having strong women around her - it just so happens that one of the only female bus drivers in the industry is on this tour as well!

SHOW DESIGNAnother of the aforementioned female contingent on the Delirium tour is Lighting and Co Show Designer Cate Carter of Bryte Design. In close collaboration with Director of creative production agency Black Skull Creative, Dan Shipton, she helped develop the show from its embryonic beginnings to the full stage production in effect at arenas across the UK. Carter, who has been with Goulding since the end of 2012, explained: Basically myself and Dan were introduced to each other and then immediately started work on the show design from the initial concept. This was a combination of the ideas that Ellie had put forward, the ideas behind the new songs and album, and an overview of Ellies progression as an artist. Its been a really good experience because Black Skull come from a slightly different background than us. They do a lot of TV and theatrical things as well as concert touring, so that definitely lead to

ELLIE GOULDING: DELIRIUM

TPis Ste Durham witnessed the collaborative four section visual spectacular.

PRODUCTION PROFILE

Opposite: The tour was co-designed by Bryte Design and Black Skull Creative, and each worked closely with the pop star to complete the final look of the show.

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some interesting ideas during the creative process. The pair started work together in the autumn of 2015 with rehearsals due to begin in January 2016 at Litestructures on Wakefields Production Park. From the first meeting that they had with Goulding and her management around the artists kitchen table, Carter and Shipton were certain that they had to bring nothing less than their A game. Shipton said: Cates previous relationship with Ellie has been based on her live shows and I have focussed on her TV performances. We wanted to make sure that the tour felt cohesive with everything that has gone before so there was a creative through line to the whole album campaign, which climaxes in the tour. Carter added: We had lots of feedback and revisions from Ellie and her guys during the design process. This meant a relatively tight rehearsal period, but everyone at Production Park is always so accommodating. The fact that we could stay on site during the long hours made a massive difference. Carter and Shipton were informed from the off that the Delirium tour had to a big step up from what had come before. This included a unique design, a discernible narrative thread and special moments within the show to mark these transitions. In short, a show some way from the artists understated beginnings - more akin to those of contemporaries such as Katy Perry or Lady Gaga whose productions arent afraid to flirt with the theatrical. We started with the concept of Delirium, the album title, and a way of using that to show the audience all the different sides of Ellie, explained Carter. She is a girl who can pick up an acoustic guitar and sing a beautiful, vulnerable love song but also turn on the performance for a big dance hit. With this fragmented sanity idea we can also introduce some of the darker material she has done as well.

Shipton continued: We started by sectioning the show into chapters that grouped Ellies music together. This allowed us to give each chapter a visual identity that would transcend the costume, choreography, screen content and magic moments within the show. The chapters begin to explore versions of Ellie that link to the music. We start with Ethereal Ellie who is dressed in white and represents Ellie in her purest form. She invites us into her world that quickly introduces us to Energised Ellie who is more fun and outgoing. Then we move to the darker side and discover Digital Ellie, who has a sexy, underground club vibe to her. Heart comes next - a chapter that shows the warmth and emotion in Ellies music. A harder, more Rock Star Ellie is seen for the darkness section before she becomes light again. Finally, all of the versions of Ellie intertwine and we see them resolve into the live Ellie who is holding court on stage. Its as though we are saying that you cant have Ellie without all of these facets to make her complete. Lite Alternative provided the lighting rig for the Delirium tour. The moving head fixtures consisted of 62 Ayrton MagicDot-Rs, 16 Philips Vari-Lite VL 3500 Wash FXs, 25 Martin by Harman MAC Viper Profiles, 14 MAC Viper AirFxs, 12 MAC Viper Performances, 44 MAC Aura LED Washes, and 25 Clay Paky Sharpy Spots. These were underpinned by 12 i-Pix BB4s, 22 Martin by Harman 3000 DMX Strobes and three Robert Juliat Lancelot 4k followspots, as well as over 50 4-lite and 2-lite molefays. Carter commented: When we designed the show I realised that I wanted to use Ayrton MagicDots because they were small and light but powerful enough to the fill space and frame the mirrored lighting pods. They are versatile as well, working hard during the rave portions of the show and producing beautiful eye candy moments elsewhere. Another key design choice for Carter was the addition of MAC Viper

The Delirium tour had a strong look based on geometric shapes, most notably the shards of video screen.

ELLIE GOULDING

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AirFXs alongside her workhorse fixture, the MAC Viper Profiles. During the show I have a mixture of jobs and lots of space to fill. I knew that I needed to shutter things off and keep momentum with the high-energy stuff. And, of course, lots of Sharpys! A separate rig for the B stage section included eight Philips Vari-Lite VL 3500 Wash FX Luminaires, 20 Clay Paky Sharpy Spots, 12 MAC Viper Performances, and a Robert Juliat Lancelot 4k Follow Spot. To accentuate the fragmented theme, Total Solutions Group manufactured four mirrored, triangular lighting pods that were flown above the video screens. They were made up of a truss along one edge and ladder frames along the others. The truss had some of the MAC Vipers hung from the underside, while the ladders had some of the Ayrton MagicDot-Rs uniformly spaced along each edge. These were used to reflect the moving lamp beam off the mirrored surfaces, creating some spectacular effects. Carter opted for an MA Lighting grandMA2 Full Size console for control, with one for backup her go-to desk for a rig of this size. She said: I do use other consoles occasionally but for touring I usually choose the grandMA2. Its really powerful, versatile, and always reliable. My colleague Mike Smith has been integral in the design and programming process as well, and is great at the technical aspects - as is Lighting Tech Glenn Johnson from Lite Alternative. Im happy to say to them what I want and I know that theyll be able to help me. While Bryte Design and Lite Alternative were members of the Ellie Goulding Class of 2012, the team added a new supplier in All Access to introduce staging elements that were previously absent from Gouldings bag of tricks. All Access UK Sales and Marketing Manager Matthew Bull explained: We supplied all of the staging elements on the show, based on our new style of rolling stage with a touring leg system to allow more weight. We have two star lifts that start below the stage and bring Ellie to stage-level, and an

X-lift from the stage-level up into the air that is used during the set. The company supplied raised tech wings that housed a cosy monitor world at stage left and doubled as a riser for Goulding to use during the show. The package also included all high-shine flooring and a catwalk from the stage that detached to allow Goulding could glide to the B stage. While the majority of the staging elements were stock, some custom work was involved for a raked stage that housed the band, including a patchwork fascia created by Derbys Drapemakers. Bull continued: The original fascia was going to be hard but Bob required soft ones that would be easier to transport. I met the Drapemakers guys at a show earlier in the year and they seemed like a great fit. Head Carpenter Paul Stratford was on site in Manchester to oversee the construction of the stage, along with Carpenter Josh Perree and freelance Carpenter Nidge Dobson. Bull said: Bob wanted someone from All Access on the crew but they were all busy so we asked Nidge. Although he is technically freelance weve worked with him for a while hes practically part of the team! Another facet of the show design was the selection of visual draping elements supplied by ShowTex. The company provided two golden LurexVoile 100 drapes that were hung in the middle of the stage during the two opening acts, which were then dropped for the arrival of Goulding by a ShowTex Kabuki system. Later on in the set, during the song Explosions, Goulding appeared on stage in a white dress, dragging two giant elastic wings made of PolyStretch P8 CS Matt behind her. These were fully stretched out during the song and later, courtesy of another Kabuki drop system, seemed to vanish into thin air, as seen on the current cover. Another of ShowTexs creative contributions was a number of bespoke coloured banners made from a mixture of Spinnaker CS and glow in the dark Phosphor Foil strips for the ultimate psychedelic special effect during

Goulding uses a Sennheiser 9245 microphone with an EM 3731-II receiver; Showtex created stunning soft goods for the show.

ELLIE GOULDING

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one of the high-energy sections of the evening. Fabric Designer Carl Robertshaw was behind the design of the wings, flags, and gold reveal, originally being scouted by Shipton. Carter remembered: We had ideas for the different elements and Carl helped us to make them into something tangible. He specialises in 3D fabric designs and so was the perfect man for the job. The visuals were further accentuated by eight CO2 jets and around half a tonne of gold confetti, provided by Pyrojunkies and overseen by Stu Wickens.

VIDEOGouldings Video Director Robin Haddow was originally brought into the fold to cover Carter on lighting at a time before video was involved at all. He laughed: Thats usually the way my career goes! I find it quite a natural progression and I think the background gives me a great understanding of the bigger picture. Its the main reason Im out front with Cate when many video directors would be backstage at the racks. In such a visually rich show its useful to see whats happening with your own eyes and feed off one anothers energy. PRG XL Video provided the kit for Haddow, as well as three LD techs and an engineer. Video Engineer / Projectionist Ray Gwilliams looked after the cameras filming IMAG content, which were operated by LED Tech Tim Bolland, Truck Driver John Burgess, and Head Rigger Amos Cotter, who operated the camera situated at FOH. There was seven cameras in total at Manchester Arena: three manned Sony HXC-100 cameras (two in the pit and one at FOH), two Bradley robocams on stage and two GNAT minicams - one on the piano stage right and one on drumkit stage right. Haddow cut between the cameras

manually using a Carbonite Production Switcher. He said: The camera content is falling into place night after night and the guys know their shots by now. Im still better busking from FOH as theres always the possibility that Ellie might change where she goes. The band are quite prominent, particularly when she mentions or interacts with them, but she is the main focal point. The stars of the video design were the triangular shards of FX 11 (11mm) LED screen, which stretched across the back of the stage and was meant to represent the fragmented nature of the shows concept. The shards were flanked by three MC7 (7mm) IMAG screens one on each side and one flown in the centre. All of the LED surface could be used as one canvas to show content or split to display a combination of content and live camera shots. Haddow also used an MA Lighting grandMA2 onPC command wing to busk in the camera feeds, which was especially useful between songs when Goulding spoke to the audience. Due to the condensed pre-production time, content creation for Delirium was tackled by a number of different studios, with Bryte Designs Paul Pablo Beckett collating the material from the different studios and producing a number of the pieces himself. All of the transitional films and bespoke footage of Goulding was handled by NorthHouse Films, while Londons Atticus Finch created a portion of the animated visuals and Belgium-based studio Fabrique Fantastique produced another batch of song-specific custom content. Carter explained: The studios created 100 minutes of quality content between them, allowing Dan and myself to spend time pulling the whole thing together. We worked through set list and script to see who was best suited to deliver each bit of content. We play to their strengths, as well as

ELLIE GOULDING

Monitor Engineer Mike Flaherty; Monitor world with Flaherty and Audio Crew Chief Marc Peers; Bryte Designs Cate Carter; Megan Griffiths of Phoenix Bussing, the tours band bus driver; Systems Tech George Puttock and FOH Engineer Joe Harling.

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playing to our own. Shipton added: The video content is hugely important part of the design. The screen content also became hugely important in making the transitions between the different sections within the show work. We wanted to take Ellie into the screens and show her morph into the next version of herself. We spent time shooting the various Ellies with NorthHouse Films, who then did a great job of producing the transition VTs. One of my favourite parts of the show is the acoustic version of Devotion where we strip everything back to a single spot on Ellie playing her guitar with a white outline on the screens before she sinks into the stage, the track drops and Digital Ellie appears on the screens.As the whole show was timecoded, Haddow decided to try switching to d3 Technologies media servers for the tour, saying that he felt it was the perfect fit for the job. Haddow commented: Ive been involved with d3 Technologies for a while, most recently for Massive Attack where we used it for lighting and video. Ive always been quite intrigued but never had the chance to properly use it. This tour was a great opportunity to test it and Ive had some time off that allowed me to do some training in Hemel Hempstead, as well as some time at home as well. By the time rehearsals came I knew it quite well and Ive had great support from the staff at d3. He went on to speak highly of the great quality of the servers SDI input cards, which resulted in a much clearer camera picture than he was used to, and the efficient way that he added effects using d3. I use the onPC command wing to control Notch digital effects in an analogue way, he explained. Notch is a plugin for d3 that allows camera feeds to be manipulated and affected in an amazing array of ways, from neon trails to subtle

colour shifts. The benefit of this being a plugin within d3 is that it removes the latency you would get if you were routing the cameras through an external effects device. I definitely look forward to using the Notch plugin in future shows as I am only just scratching the surface in what it can do.

AUDIOWhile Adlib were contracted to supply audio for the tour, FOH Engineer Joe Harlings preferred system for Goulding, the d&b audiotechnik J-Series, had to be sub-hired from Entec Sound & Light. Systems Tech George Puttock explained: Audio Tech Lee Fox Furnell is a freelancer that does quite a lot of stuff with Entec so he knows what hes doing! We have 20 J8s per side with eight J-SUBs flown behind and to the side we have a 16-deep hang of 12 J8s and four J12s. On the deck weve got a line of eight J-INFRA subs and eight J-SUBs, all driven from the new d&b D80 amplifiers. Harling has chosen a DiGiCo SD5 to mix the show, running Waves externally on an Apple Mac mini as well as a variety of outboard effects. The light weight of the J-Series lends itself to the variety of arenas we are playing. We dont have to carry a big box and a small box because weve got both in one. It also means that we can have the same boxes on main and side hangs, which you cant usually do because of truck space. As well as the practical bonuses afforded by the J-Series, Harling favours it because of its ability to compensate for quiet vocalists like Goulding. It just allows me to get a bit more control, he explained. The challenge is always getting her vocal on top. To then maintain the density behind that in a live environment is quite tricky, especially when she comes out to the B stage in front of the PA.

ELLIE GOULDING

The fabric wings in all their glory, designed by Carl Robertshaw and manufactured by ShowTex.

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One of the techniques that Harling utilises to overcome this challenge is by keeping the shows overall decibel level a touch lower than your average pop show. He continued: There is also lot of processing going on with vocals, you have to rely on multi-band compression rather than broadband because, when someone uses their head instead of chest voice, theyre not really expressing a lot of air, so odd notes will stand out. For instance, a note at 2.5kHz is going to have even less pressure than a note at 800kHz so the threshold around there needs to be a bit lower. I also use something called Waves WNS, which is a six-band gate expander. It helps reduce the ambience and feedback when shes at the B stage but not singing. We have to take time to ring out the vocal microphone and perhaps be more aggressive than youd normally like to be. In the middle section I bring the band down about five dB to compensate. As Goulding owns a selection of Sennheiser gear, it made up a large chunk of the gear on stage, along with a variety of beyerdynamic and Shure gear for instrument microphones. Her main and spare

microphones were two of the four prototype Sennheiser 9245s in the UK, running into an EM 3731-II receiver, while the backing vocalists used e945 wireless microphones. Harling continued: Theres a lot of density to the sound and everything changes song-to-song. For example, the bass player will switch between a synth bass that has a different tone for every song to a real bass with loads of effects pedals well maybe have three or four different bass sounds in one song. Its enough just to try and keep on top of that. Although this presented another set of challenges for the audio crew, at least some of the other instruments were slightly lower maintenance.The keyboards dont actually output any audio. They basically act as MIDI controllers so the world is their oyster. We spent some time in rehearsals trying to recreate the sounds on the album, but now theyre there its quite simple. Another thing that Harling and Puttock were particularly proud of was the vibey as possible FOH they had created at Manchester Arena, complete with carpet, rope lights and a vinyl player. The same look had

ELLIE GOULDING

The B stage supplied by All Access Staging & Productions.

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been recreated in monitor world, tucked underneath stage left, where I was greeted by the amiable pairing of Monitor Engineer Mike Flaherty and Audio Crew Chief Marc Peers. With sound check approaching, Flaherty revealed Goulding had only attended two all tour. Shes really easy going and polite. If theres something she needs shell just ask but she tends to just let us get on with it, he said. Peers added: I think its a measure of confidence in what Mike is doing that she doesnt sound check. If it was a dogs dinner every night shed be in sound check every day! Flaherty was also using DiGiCo, this time an SD7, to stay on top of the 12 channels of Sennheiser 2000 Series IEM, as well as additional output mixes for the dancers. While the majority on stage rely on their Jerry Harvey Audio JH16 in-ear moulds, the keyboard and bass positions have an L-Acoustics SB18 each. The drummer has two bi-amp 15-inch wedges to stay in touch with the bass. All of the on stage subs run using Lab.gruppen PLM 10,000Qs. An additional function of the desk that helped Flaherty during the B stage sections of the gig was suggested by some of the crew from PRG XL Video. Flaherty explained: We cant see Ellie from here when she is on the B stage so the video lads have run us a direct feed from the cameras into the back of the board so we can still see how the show is going. Its been really helpful. Peers said: Mike knows her better than anyone and can tell just by looking at her if something is wrong. You cant stress how much difference it makes to be able to keep eyes on her during that section, particularly with how complicated that part is from an audio point of

view. The video lads really sorted us out with that one. Again this is representative of the chemistry between departments and suppliers that was evident during almost every conversation I had at Manchester Arena. Peers put it succinctly: Rebecca and Bob are really decent people to work for. We dont have any shouters on this tour - everyone is good at their jobs and gets on with it. Id much rather be part of a team like this and to top it off the works all being done at a good pace.

LOGISTICSPhoenix Bussing is another of the go-to companies for the Ellie Goulding crew, having provided its services since 2012 when one bus and a trailer would do. For the UK leg of the Delirium tour, Phoenix supplied three crew buses and a band bus, with another artist bus being added for the European run. All were 14 metre double deckers and were laid out in the various configurations required for each touring party: 16-berth, 14-berth and an artist suite. Phoenix Bussings Andy Gray said: It was great to be working with Rebecca again on this tour, and to have Bob joining her as we have worked with him previously on other tours. Dealing with both of them is very easy and a real pleasure. The tour planning was quite straightforward. There were a few long drives in Europe that required second drivers and stopovers en route but nothing too troubling. Also it was very fortunate that the weather was good for the time of year in Scandinavia and there were no delays on any of the journeys.

ELLIE GOULDING

Matthew Bull of All Access Staging & Productions; Video Director Robin Haddow; Goulding in her Ethereal alter ego.

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Do things you could never do before

Reinventing the large sound system

Taking the wheel as Band Bus Driver was Megan Griffiths, an industry veteran who has spent 16 years at Phoenix - currently standing as the companys only female driver. While Griffiths might seem like an obvious addition to Gouldings team of strong women, her inclusion was a complete coincidence. When I started there were very few females in the industry, let alone bus drivers, she said. Ive just seen it as a job and not really thought anything of it. Ive certainly never encountered any negativity perhaps a few surprised looks when the doors open! Although Griffiths has driven buses for 24 years, it was her sheer tenacity that landed her in the rock n roll industry. She continued: I was told that if I wanted to earn a decent living and have more fun than driving grannies to Blackpool then I should try and get into the touring industry. I mithered Phoenix to death until they hired me and I wouldnt change it for the world. This tour in particular has been really great to be a part of. PM OBrien echoed Griffiths sentiments: I think having women on the road makes everybody tone it down - in a good way. Theres a time and a place for laddy behaviour but that certainly gets old as tours draw on! Megan is fantastic and the crew love her. Apparently the band bus has become a lot tidier since she started driving it as the guys made a bit more effort - that has got to be a good thing! Trucking for the tour was provided courtesy of Fly By Nite - a company

with which both OBrien and Travis have established relationships. Fly By Nites Operations Manager Paul Walker said: They are both great people and amazing to work with! We provided nine trucks for Ellies UK tour. As support act John Newman is a regular FBN client so we also provided a 26T truck for his equipment.TPiwww.elliegoulding.comwww.brytedesign.co.ukwww.blackskullcreative.comwww.litestructures.comwww.lite-alternative.comwww.allaccessinc.comwww.showtex.comwww.prg.comwww.popcorncatering.comwww.northhousefilms.comwww.fabriquefantastique.bewww.trussing.comwww.adlib.co.ukwww.phoenix-bussing.co.ukwww.flybynite.co.ukwww.pyrojunkies.comwww.designservices.co.uk/drapes/

The singer enjoyed a sold out show at Manchester Arena; Rock Star Ellie - one of the four characters in Delerium; The production team led by PM Bob OBrien (centre).

ELLIE GOULDING

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ENTER SHIKARI

British alt rock quartet, Enter Shikari, embarked on a UK and European tour in February and March 2016 in support of their fourth studio album, The Mindsweep. Known for their action-packed, immersive live shows, the band once again relied on LD Steven Bewley to deliver a show design worthy of their quadrophonic tour sound. TPis Kelly Murray goes spaceside...

PRODUCTION PROFILE

Opposite: The tour played a variation of arena capacity venues and smaller, intimate club shows.

Enter Shikari have been touring since 2007, developing a sterling live reputation with their fans across the world. This is perhaps due in part to having been surrounded by many of the same people since their need for road crew arose. Production Manager Graeme Nash, (previously their Promoter Rep for Live Nation) was brought in by predecessor Chris Griffiths. He told TPi: Enter Shikari have got a really good crew behind them, so that makes my job a lot smoother than it could be, given that Im new to the role. Most of our suppliers have been in place for some time. PRG XL Video are doing lighting and video on this tour, but theyve been working with the band in some capacity since 07, so that relationship has just grown from strength to strength. Adlib is a new sound vendor, although theyve provided lighting in the past. When the audio contract went out to tender, we were very excited when Adlib came in because they were very eager to do the quadrophonic sound we had planned. The tour rehearsed at Millennium Studios during pre-production. Nash went on to explain that with a band like Enter Shikari, the touring process is very artist led. The band decides what they want. They put so much work into it, especially with the visuals, which they even design. I love the fact that they shun clichs. When you put on a big rock show, sometimes it can be all about the Co2 and pyrotechnics but they dont want to do that. Thats where they bring in the creative ideas such as quadrophonic sound and their own visual ideas. Its wonderful to see a band that youve worked with for a long time going from those little tiny shows to their first arena tour. Theyre a challenge from both the promoters and the agents point of view because they have to decide where to put them on. Theyre a band people dont want to sit down and watch - they want to jump up and down and crowd surf - which makes it tricky because were able to sell arena size shows that need to be

mainly standing tickets. This is a band that wants to interact with their audience, and they do it very well.

SPACEAGE CRAFTSMEN Lighting Designer Steve Bewley has worked with Enter Shikari for almost a decade, after finding his way out of a corporate event background. I was freelance and began working with Adlib Lighting working as a technician. I met Enter Shikari through Adlib. Back then it was a hell of a lot smaller and there wasnt as much equipment so I basically took and developed the show with the band from a club show with a small floor package into what we have today but we still need to be creative with the budget. The band wants a new look to change it up every time they go out. Being a DIY band, they tour a hell of a lot - even when theyre writing albums, so sometimes well have two or three different show designs in a year on the same album cycle! explained Bewley, who to keep up with demand, enjoys using new technology wherever possible. Technology changes so quickly, but I like that. Its something new to play with. I think we were the first tour in the UK to use the Ayrton MagicBlade Rs, and now everybody is using them! he laughed. With the use of quadrophonic sound, the band has incorporated specific visions during those key moments. Singer, Roughton Rou Reynolds, has designed the visuals himself which is pretty impressive because they look great and hed never done it before! PRG XL Video supplied all lighting fixtures and the video screen, while Bewley, who operates both lighting and video, brought his own control package on tour. The theme for this outing is space and cosmic surroundings, with the content being shown on a ROE M18 Hybrid (12 metre by 4.8 metre) screen placed on the back wall of the stage and curves from left to right. The visuals are powered by Bewleys Green

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Singer Rou Reynolds utilises the B stage during the shows moment of calm.

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Hippo Hippotizer media server, which is described as an obvious choice for investment. He continued: The band dont like to take themselves too seriously so theres some cartoons in the visuals too which were created by Peter MacAdams, an animator for American cartoon, The Ren and Stimpy Show. Hes done a couple of their music videos so they chopped some of them up and used them alongside the space content. When it comes to lighting fixtures, Bewley kept the varying size in mind. It had to be modular - that was my starting point. Were not exactly consistent with venue size so it had to be at the back of my mind. We didnt want the usual front truss / mid truss / back truss design, we wanted a clear centre focus that would work on any stage. We had a circular truss made to sit above the band on the A stage, and it instantly gives their set an industrial, spacecraft style framework. The whole tone of the set comes from that structure so we added the Enter Shikari logo onto it as a main focal point, along with the looks on the screen. Bewley operates on his own MA Lighting grandMA2 Light desk. I bought a personal MA because its easier for me to do a lot of preliminary planning and programming pre-tour. I use the MA desk on every tour I do. Its perfect for what I need: its powerful and small yet you can run a huge show off it. There are a lot of tricks inbuilt that MA Lighting has come up with for easy programming. We have also been using RDM quite heavily since we first used the MagicBlades back in January 2014, we dont have any fixture numbers so we can put them anywhere in the grid and they can be addressed and controlled remotely via luminex software Bewleys (pre-rigged) lighting spec comprises 30 Martin by Harman Atomic 3000 Strobes with scrollers, 36 Ayrton MagicBlade Rs, 32 High End Systems Shapeshifters, 26 PRG Best Boy HPs, 12 generic linear molefay blinders, 30 PRG Icon beams, six GLP Impression X4S, and 10 Clay Paky Sharpy Washes. He continued: There are a lot of lights because the band

wanted it to look as full as possible, without taking away from the music. Theyre very mindful of that; even though they want it to look amazing, they want the music to be paramount. In a juxtaposition to the A stage structure, this tour carries a B stage rig which is home to a minimal floor package. During this section of the show, Rou plays the piano for some - believe it or not - slower ballad numbers.

QUADROPHONIC SOUND In the same vein as Bewley, sound engineer Andy Russell is the bands first and only FOH mixer. He explained the origins of their relationship: I was working in-house at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut venue in Glasgow when someone mentioned that Enter Shikari were coming in to play and suggested that I should watch their show but I wanted to mix them instead! They seemed happy with what I did and we all got on well... the next day I got a call asking if I wanted to go on the road, and Ive been working with them ever since, said Russell, 10 years after said encounter. After so many years with the band, the camp decided to mix it up a bit and introduce a new sonic force: a quadrophonic touring sound design. Continued Russell: Its something weve always wanted to do. The band push boundaries with their music and theyve always pushed production values with whatever budget theyve had to play with. Adlib have been an incredible help with their technical staff and the standard of equipment theyve provided. Russell specified an L-Acoustics V-DOSC PA system which comprised 24 V-DOSC for the main hangs, with 3 dV-disc downfill; 24 SB28 for the subs; side hangs (when applicable) are eight dV-disc per side and 18 KARA for the rear hangs to achieve the quadrophonic sound source from behind. KARA and ARCs were chosen for front and lip fill. All speakers were powered by Lab.gruppen PLM 20,000Q amplifiers and processed

ENTER SHIKARI

Alexandra Palace was an ideal venue for the band, who entertained over 10,000 standing punters.

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by three Lake LM44s at FOH and two LM26s on stage. Said Russell: We chose a V-DOSC system because were basically doubling up on the PA and you get a big bang for your buck. It sounds great and the system techs from Adlib, led by Sam Proctor have done a fantastic job in setting it up. Ian Nelson and Dave Jones from Adlib were a great help too, they gave us a wealth of experience on the systems side of the tour. Proctor added: We chose KARA partly because you can fly it or ground stack it depending on the room. If you ground stack, it doesnt take up a lot of space and if you fly it, it wont really affect sightlines, so KARA is perfect for this job. Russell and co spent a lot of time programming the quadrophonic sound on Ableton and the result entailed four lines of audio feeding into each speaker system, which then goes into the desk. I have to balance it all, and then it goes back out of my desk, so Im muting and un-muting where needed, swelling the sound around the room. Its all automated during pre-production but I have to make sure its mixed appropriately. L-Acoustics has a programme called Sound Vision which calculates where the sound disperses from each speaker so weve been able to design the system with good coverage no matter how challenging the room is. Proctor agreed: For the audience in the middle of the room, its like being in a 3D environment, it creates a cinematic effect which is a great enhancement for the spacey visual effects. For control, Russell opts for a Midas PRO2, a desk hes used for years. He noted: Its my choice because its a very reliable desk. I think theyre easy to use and they have a user-friendly interface. Ive been mixing on the PRO Series for years because find I can do so much with it. The microphone package is a mixture of Shure, Sennheiser and Audio-Technica. The Audio-Technica microphone is for Rous vocals,

and were using the new wireless 10 system. It gives us really good support for what we need to achieve; theyre very robust and can take a good beating when it gets crazy, but never fails to give us the sound we want. The microphones have held up, even when Rous crowd surfing back to the A stage, from the B stage, added Proctor. On the B stage, the band has managed to transition the set really well. They were bought up the ranks through the club scene, in intimate venues, but theyre still known for being an intimate band who get the audience involved. On the B stage, Rou plays the piano but he also stands on top of it to play his guitar and trumpet. Its a breakdown from how intense the rest of the set is but it all works towards engaging the audience.

MONITORING THE MADNESSIn monitor world, AJ Sutherland is also using a Midas PRO2. He told TPi: The Midas PRO2 is fantastic, its features such as the MCA have made having intricate control a really easy thing. The band are very perceptive, and often only need changes of 1dB or 2dB. Theyll ask for me to bring up the level of all the vocals without changing the balance, which is exactly what the MCA feature is designed for. Its also useful because Rou has five different vocal microphones and the band like me to turn all of them up or down together. The band have both the front and rear stereo electronics channels in their ears, so the MCA has allowed me to easily manipulate the surround sound sources in their stereo mixes. All of the band and the techs use in-ears alongside a talkback system to communicate. Continued Sutherland: It makes the channel count quite high but the Midas can handle it and it means that we can communicate in a noisy environment quite effectively. No matter what I have cued up and Im listening to, the shout back microphones

ENTER SHIKARI

Clockwise: Adlibs Sam Proctor with FOH Engineer, Andy Russell; The show design included Aryton MagicBlade Rs in the roof; Monitor Engineer, AJ Sutherland with his Midas PRO2; LD Steven Bewley operated both lighting and video from his own control systems.

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will override that. Effective communication has been key to the tour running smoothly. The PRO2 handles the numerous vocal and shout out microphones very well; pop groups are invaluable for organising things like this. The powerful routing infrastructure allowed me to route my solo bus through a matrix and combine it with a group of the shout microphones. The band - completed by Chris Batten, Rob Rolfe and Rory Clewlow - all use Sennheiser G3 IEM packs, with Cosmic Ears molds. Said Sutherland: The Cosmic Ears CE6P in-ear monitors have been serving us very well. In the last 12 months the entire band has migrated to them. For the large arena stages we have side fill subs and sometimes a drum sub, but aside from that we rely solely on the IEMs. Having the clean stage look has been a really nice touch. Like Russell, hes also a fan of the Audio-Technica system. The 10 wireless equipment we use for vocals has helped make my life easier. They sync so simply and I dont need to worry about intermodulation, interference or licences as they operate in the 2.4gHz spectrum. The wired AE6100 vocal microphones have been as successful as ever, happily enduring being thrown in the air and crashing around the stage without any signs of damage! Rous vocals range from a very quiet, falsetto tone to full-on throat rattling screaming which had an impact on the microphone choice. Last year we spent quite a bit of time trying to get a consistent sound and ended up using a hard limiter on his vocal channel which is compressing everything but his soft lines. The combination of the AE6100 and the Midas PRO2 processing make this sound surprisingly natural, now Rou rarely asks for level changes.

A HUMBLE APPROACHFeeding the clan is long-time road chef specialists, Saucery Catering.

Saucerys Alison Taylor commented: My crew on this tour - Brendan Mckenzie, Chloe Whitehead and Henny Collins and I - had a full on few weeks in the catering department as we had a double bill of support artists to feed as well as the main band party. Chloe baked a lot of birthday cakes during this tour! It was wonderful to back out with Enter Shikari, as we are now in our fifth year of working with them. Theyre a pleasure to loo