ON TOUR ROBBIE WILLIAMS - …esvc000102.wic056u.server-web.com/cxmag/cx... · Robbie Williams played Dubai’s largest to date at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai in front of

40 CX 1 JULY 2006 www.juliusmedia.com

ON TOUR

The entire production lightingrig, including 150 Robemoving lights, 60 points of

rigging and all necessary powerdistribution was supplied by UK-based HSL. They air freighted 36tonnes of equipment - with the helpof Mapcargo - from their Blackburnbase to Dubai, to meet thespecification for Al Gurdon’sspectacular design.

The lighting deal was put togetherby Robbie Williams’ productionmanager Wob Roberts, localproduction manager Peter Lohworking for Midas Promotions andRobe Show Lighting’s InternationalSales Manager, Harry von denStemmen.

Sourcing enough lightingequipment locally for the show wasproving challenging and costly. VonDen Stemmen was simultaneouslyalerted to an opportunity by bothTony Sawyer of V.V. & Sons, Robe’sUAE distributor, and Louis Teo ofLighting & Sound Singapore whereLoh is based. He immediately wentto HSL, one of the UK’s fastestgrowing lighting rental companieswith a large inventory of Robemoving lights - where MD SimonStuart jumped at the chance ofquoting to service the RobbieWilliams show.

Stuart comments, “The show wasawesome! I’m extremely proud ofthe fact that we have workedalongside one of the best liveproduction teams in the world andhelped them produce such a greatresult”. The show – artisticallydirected by Lee Lodge – amazed andenthralled everyone present with itshigh production values andcharacteristically superlativeperformance by Robbie.

HSL’s crew chief and projectmanager was Mike Oates, whoworked alongside hand picked crew

of 9 HSL A-Team regulars. On sitethey liaised closely with RobbieWilliams’ lighting crew chief Mark“Marky Mark” England, lightingdirector and show operator RichardGorrod, site co-ordinator TomArmstrong, Wob Roberts and Al

Gurdon. Oates comments, “It was anabsolutely brilliant experience and agreat exercise in teamwork and goodcommunication”.

Moving lights were absolutelyintegral to the lighting design. The rigwas based around 8 structural ‘ribs’ –

ROBBIE WILLIAMSWARMS UP IN DUBAI’S LARGEST GIGRobbie Williams played Dubai’s largest to date at the Nad Al ShebaRacecourse in Dubai in front of 23,000 wildly enthusiastic music fans,who were also responsible for making it the fastest selling out showever in the United Arab Emirates.

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ON TOUR

tall, hinged architectural set piecesoriginating from the “Intensive Care”album launch show at BerlinVeldorome in October, arranged in agentle upstage curve. Designed byset designer Ray Winkler andconstructed by Brilliant, each isedged with 288 Saco LED lights, andthey also contain 48 Turbo FuzzLights that travel as part of the set.

Forty Eight Robe ColorSpot 1200ATfixtures – 6 per rib, were then added,along with 5 strobes per rib.

On the floor were 10 ColorWash1200ATs sitting on the risers inbetween the ribs, with eight rightbehind the ribs, sitting on cases andshining through them. MoreColorWash 1200ATs were used to up-light the set drape.

Rigged onto the sides of theoffstage PA towers were five RobeColorSpot 1200ATs and five Moles,with another 5 blinders on theonstage PA towers.

On a horseshoe shaped rear trussthat followed the line of the ribs wereanother 16 ColorWash 1200ATs, plusfour rigged above the central LEDscreen. Another two per side werehung off two individual front trusses,together with 3 Moles a side.

Under the set grill were twenty-four Robe ColorSpot 575ATs - theirsmaller size making them ideal forthe space - shining upwards through

the grills, along with strobes and 8-lites. On the catwalk thrust aroundthe floor were 60 Birdies, alongwith an additional 24PARs, also utilised asup-lighters throughthe grills.

The movinglights were usedfor a wholevariety of effectsfrom tight pencilbeam matrix patterns tocolourful washes to thecreation of envelopingwalls of colour, and alsofor profiling Robbie in themoodier moments.

HSL supplied the sixRobert Juliat Manononstage follow Spots,with the four FOH onessourced locally fromrental company Nemesis.

Richard Gorrodoperated all the lights plus anEX1 digital media server fromhis Virtuoso console whichtours with them. Hecommented “HSL have beenfantastic, nothing has been toomuch trouble and the kit hasbeen meticulously wellprepared”. Oates adds, “TheRobes were absolutely brilliant –they were transported half way

round the world,came out of theircrates and all

worked first time.There’s really not many

other fixtures asreliable as this! ”.The biggest challenge

for everyone on site inDubai was the short

timescale in which they hadto build the technicalinfrastructure. However thisalso galvanised everyone intoaction, firing up the “showmust go on” spirit across alldepartments, who workedseamlessly together throughsome very long days andnights.

The Dubai show waspart of a series of 4 ‘warmups’ by Robbie Williams(preceded by three shows

in South Africa), all ahead of hismassive European summerstadium tour that kicks off inJune. This streamlined ‘rest ofthe world’ rig (bigger than alot of people’s ‘A’ rigs) asseen in Dubai and SouthAfrica, will be used for showsin Asia and other territories inthe autumn.

Robbie Williams’ coreproduction team is headed

Previous (large) RW gigs have featured full LED wall backdrops, and have been lit almost fully inwhite light. This show reverts to more use of colour and gobo's.

www.juliusmedia.com CX 1 JULY 2006 43

by production manager Wob Roberts, assisted by LizzieAdshead, and including 35 touring personnel that travel toall shows. Site manager is Tom Armstrong, lead rigger isSteve Armstrong and the stage managers are Gary Currierand Paddy Fitzpatrick.

The South African and Dubai gigs used a ‘rest of theworld’ or ‘B’ rig for technical production which dwarfedmost people’s A rig. This same rig and spec will also beused for further Asian and ‘other territory’ showsscheduled for the Autumn.

The B show is an integrally planned element of an initialthree layered design concept by production designer RayWinker from Studio Mark Fisher. It also included a similarlooking ‘one off’ stage design for the launch of the“Intensive Care” album at Berlin Velodrome in October2005. The full blown stadium tour expands the same baseaesthetics to a vastly larger scale.

AUDIO IN DUBAIFOH sound engineer Dave Bracey specified a VDOSC

system that was supplied by Gearhouse Dubai, co-ordinated on-the-ground by Andy Jackson, assisted byVDOSC’s Gauthier Dalle.

Bracey’s B system set up sees him touring his ownDigico D5 console and desk of choice “By a long way”plus a rack of BSS Soundwebs used to zone the PA, formatrixing and for system EQ, and some special effects.The latter include a Manley Vox Box which he uses onRobbie’s vocals and an old AMS reverb used on the snarewhich is temperamental but “completely irreplaceable”.For the first time he’s using a Waves MaxxBCL across thewhole mix to boost the bass.

Bracey’s own audio team includes VDOSC technicianSharif El Barbari, Bart Schoonbaert, Chris Morrison andStephanie Thompson, and the kit they are touring issupplied by Britannia Row.

The key is that you can SEE the band at all times!


In Dubai they ran two main left andright arrays consisting of 10 VDOSCelements and 3 dVDOSC downfills aside, with 8 dVDOSC as front fills andtwenty-four SB218 L-Acoustics subs.Two arrays of 9 Kudos outfills perside were subbed in from locallybased Artistic Innovation, and allwere powered by L-Acoustics LA48amps.

Monitor engineer John “JJ” Jamesis also touring his own Digico D5 forthe B rig shows. At the stage endthey also have their own line andSennheiser radio systems, so all theyhave to do is pick up amps andspeakers.

Robbie, the 6 choir, the bass player,keyboardist and MD all use in earmonitors, the two guitarists are onwedges and the drummer used acombination of both. The stagewedges in Dubai were a mix of Clair12AMs and Nexo PS15s, andRobbie’s mic is a Shure Beta 58Ahand-held.

VIDEOSpecial video content for the ‘rest

of the world’ shows was compiled by

the show’s creative director LeeLodge.

Robbie Williams had not playedeither South Africa or Dubai before,so it was important that they had afull show, but withoutcompromising or giving away

anything of the stadium show!While the screen content wascompletely different to the summershow, they did use these warm upsas a starting point to roll out thenew ‘RW’ logo iconography, andalso to try some other linking

ON TOUR

Crew, baking in the sun. Pick the Aussies.....

imagery and test ideas for potentialfuture development.

The thinking behind the contentcreation was that the audienceswere most likely to be mostfamiliar with Robbie’s music, imageand work via his promos, Lodgetook original rushes from 5 promosplus some other original contentmade for the 2003 tour and createdtotally new footage and clips. Hedidn’t make a ‘video show’ as such,but ensured the set waspunctuated with several strong andvery memorable video moments.

The content is stored on twonew Grass Valley TurboDrive harddisk machines that travel with thetour, supplied by XL Video UK.

Live video director is RuaryMacPhie. In Dubai he cut the mixfrom 5 cameras which, togetherwith Barco R12 ELMs and twoportrait format side projectionsscreens, were supplied byGearhouse Dubai. IMAG wasconcentrated on the side screens,apart from one song, whileplayback went onto the centrescreen for 95 per cent of the show.

The portrait format centre LEDscreen, made up of Barco D10modules was flown in between thecentral two ribs and supplied byRave AV. The tour’s videorequirements are being co-ordinated by chief engineer StuartHeaney and they are also touringtheir own cameraman, DarrenMontague, to all the B shows

THE RESTPyro and flame effects were

designed and produced by NicolaiSabottka from the Robbie crew,who worked with 4 dedicated crew.

The entire Dubai lighting rig andall associated rigging was suppliedby UK-based HSL (see separatepress release) and air freightedfrom the UK. Robbie Williams LD isAl Gurdon and lightingdirector/operator is Richard Gorrod.

Staging, decking, ramps, thegrandstand and other associatedinfrastructure in Dubai was allsupplied by local company Al Laith.

The roof was shipped in fromWorld Stages in Australia – it wasthe first time a full load bearingroof they had been required inDubai – to take the 25 tonnes ofproduction gear including thelighting, PA, video and set, all ofwhich had to be suspended from it.

Five generators were supplied by

locally-based Byrne.It was a huge challenge staging

the show in an unconventionalvenue. The Racecourse – andindeed Dubai - had never seenanything on this scale before. Itproved a massive success and

talking point and has also rampedup the excitement levels inanticipation of the summer tour –which promises to be one of themost entertaining liveperformances and innovativeproductions of 2006.

ON TOUR


RW's crew say they had zero failure rate with the moving lights - that's unusual,or maybe the latest generation fixtures are more reliable?

Introducing Dave Kob front of

house engineer

T.C.: It’s not a bad sounding roomD.K.: One of the best in Australia, Ilike mixing in this room it is a reallynice one.

We are touring the whole countrybut the symphony show is only herein MelbourneT.C.: So you have been doing Front ofhouse for many years?D.K.: Ah for over 30 now. I’m an oldman. An analog man living in a digitalworld. I’ve just started with Stevie onthis tour. I’ve done 2 or 3 FleetwoodMac tours over the last 25 years. Thisis the first time I worked with Stevieas a solo artistT.C.: What’s the line up of Stevie’sband here?D.K.: Waddy Wachtel is the leadguitarist and music director. He’splayed with Lynda Ronstadt for many

years. He played with the expensiveWinos with Keith Richards for awhile. He’s a good rocker, he’s theMD, and he’s been with Stevie a longtime.

We’ve got Darryl Smith on Piano,another seasoned studio professional.

Carlos Rios on the other guitar, he’sbeen with Stevie for a long time aswell;

Bret Tuggle who plays withFleetwood and Stevie, on HammondB3 and electronic keyboards

Taku Hirano on the big percussionsetup back there.

Jimmy Paxton on Drums, and ALOrtiz on Bass.

Then on the right side the girls,Jana, Sharon and Lori Nicks (Stevie’ssister) on backing vocalsT.C.: So what sized orchestra havewe got up there?D.K.: It’s a 60 piece orchestra,

featuring some of Melbourne’s finestI believe.T.C.: That’s a huge line up! What’sthe Front of House console you havehere?D.K.: The Yamaha PM5000T.C.: An analog machine?D.K.: Yeah, it’s got flying faders,programmable mutes, bus sends andall that, ala Midas. It a fairly much thelatest technology analog desk and itsworking fine. I have finished my lasttwo projects with it, I took it out onthis and it’s working great. I spend alot less time programming than mymate on monitors up there with thePM 1D all digital machine. T.C.: I notice in your effects rackshere, you’ve got some nice stuff,Summit audio?D.K.: Yeah, Summit valvecompressors on Stevie and the girls,they hold the vocal down really well

ON TOUR


Stevie Nicks and her band

recently teamed up with the

Melbourne symphony

orchestra to play a concert

spectacular at Rod Laver

arena. The Event was a

one off show to be made

into a DVD. Trevor

Cronin had a casual

chat with the sound

crew about what

they use and

how they

do it….

STEVIE NICKSgoes out in Symphony

Steve Nicks with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Pic by Bob King.

www.juliusmedia.com CX 1 JUNE 2006 47

Nothing beats a Hammond organ!

Monitor engineer, Rob Millar with a Yamaha PM1D.

Biran McMahon (Asistant to Ernie Rose), in the MetropolisTruck with a D1 Digigo.


ON TOUR

and are reliable, they warm the soundup a bit. I like Summit audio stuff -I’m a summit fan.

Distressors (which are really niceunits) on Bass and acoustic. Thenthere is an assortment of gates andwhat knot, it’s a pretty normal setup.

Not many effects, an Eventide andLexicon 480L reverb on Stevie.

A couple of Yamaha reverbs onPercussion and drums.

It’s a pretty straight ahead band inthat regards, no special effects, nolong echo’s or any of that kind ofstuff to deal with.T.C.: What sort of microphone do youuse on Stevie’s Vocals?D.K.: This is an Sennheiser evolution935 which I’ve never used before,neither has our monitor mixer. Hewanted to try it, he was using anAudio Technica 4054 on the last tourwhich sounds brilliant, but with the inear monitoring stuff it was picking uptoo much ambiance, making his lifedifficult. So I said I’d give theSennheiser a go as it has a really tightpickup pattern.

T.C.: Is it a condenser?D.K.: Yes and it doesn’t sound asgood to me as the Audio Technica,but when you consider the noise andall that crap it’s working out OK.Keeping her happy, which is thenumber one thing in a microphone;make sure the artist likes it.T.C.: Is that a radio or a cablesystem?D.K.: It’s on a cable. It’s the first nonRF lead vocal I’ve had in ages. Niceto have a cord mic back. They soundbetter…T.C.: Jands are looking after you hearin Australia with the production?D.K.: Yeah, Jands PA, Clair brothers i4with i4B sub cabinets. The Jandssystem tech Andy is looking after us.He’s a good man. In fact he’s justcome out of retirement for us, He’stheir shop manager I think. They are abit short handed and busy at themoment so he’s come out and do ourbig 6 date tour. He’s been really good.I’ve met him a couple of timesbefore.T.C.: So we’ve got a main right left

cluster and some side fills/ sidecabinets and the bottom end stackeddown on the floor there.D.K.: Yeah, not that we are going toneed that bottom end indoors. Wejust kind of set everything up in hereto make sure it all works. There isplenty of low in coming out of theflying PA. More than I need, but weare doing a lot of out door shows sowe will need them there. So we justset everything up and check it out.There are not hooked up to the mainleft right mix it all. There accessed viaa Aux send on the console, it’s aspecial effects thing. I’ll dial them upif needed. This is probably the onlyroom I’ll get any decent low end in inAustralia, most of the other venuesneed some acoustic treatment work!I know we’re out doors in Perth. I’venot been out there in 15 – 16 years. T.C.: So your going to be in theCountry what 3 weeks?D.K.: Well we’ve been here twoweeks already rehearsing. Then it’sonly just barely two weeks of touringin Australia then we’ve got three

Sound check at the Rod Laver arena.

shows in New Zealand. The end,the whole shooting match is over.Then it’s time to go fly fishing!T.C.: So during then during theshow do you using consoleautomation for scenes?D.K.: Yeah I’ve set up presets foreach song. I do 90% of my mixingwith the 12 VCA’s in this deskwhich is nice. I run through all mypresets, very minor changes butthey’re there. Be easy to mix thisstraight out without any recall. Cozit’s there we use it. It’s the waywith technology. I’ve got a VCApreset for every tune. Its handy itturns some effects on and off andgroups on and off so you don’t haveto think about it, it does that stufffor you.

CONTROLLING BIG

SOUND IN 2006T.C.: How is the speaker systemcontrolled?D.K.: We have got the LakeProcessors for system controlwhich are made in Australia, andare absolutely fabulous. It has afabulous wireless system, thatallows you to do anything with a PAfrom anywhere in the room. It’sgreat, you can EQ each little sectionof the PA, bring levels up and down,change speaker delay times,phasing everything from the remotepad. Quite reliable; I have beenusing them since they came outwith the Clair brothers in the Statesand I haven’t had a failure, so theyare quite reliable. They are wellbuilt. One of the leaps of newtechnology that makes a hugedifference. Beats running up theseseats and yelling down at your guyat the desk to turn the tape off soyou can take a little - you know -200 cycles out of the PA and thenturn it back on and run around or tryand hear a walkie-talky with the PAblaring. Now you can just do ityourself. Walk on down front andbring in the front fills andeverything, it really simple. Saves alot of time.T.C.: Do you think this newtechnology is good at keepingeverybody in the auditorium sort ofhappy?D.K.: Yeah I mean the bench markin the 70s was just make sure itsounds good at the mixer cozanybody important like the managerwill be there anyways. No-one elsereally cared, they were just there toget stoned and have a good time.

They couldn’t really hear much pastthe mixer! Now people expectwhen they buy a ticket to hear goodquality sound. It’s a change, for thegood. The various line array PA’s outthere make that a lot more possible,especially in bad acousticenvironments.T.C.: Now I see a gentleman with alittle Midas on the left here.D.K.: Yeah Jim is mixing thesymphony.Jim: Every string player has aCountryman bug pickup. We havethis technique where they fit in theF hole so the pickup is actuallyinside and there are variousmicrophones on the other sections.We have Ernie Rose in theMetropolis mobile out back behindthe stage. He mixes the orchestrawith his offsider Brian McMahon ona Digico D1 console. He createsstems of all the sections of theorchestra, he also does headphonemonitor mixes which go back to allthe mixers on stage. So they havelike a band on a fader, the orchestraon a fader and their section, andmaybe something else all onseparate faders. They canindividually adjust there own mix.T.C.: That must be reallycomfortable for everyone up there.D.K.: Yeah, its not too bad. So he’screated 20 stems and he’srecording that as well as Stevie andthe band onto Pro-Tools. He alsosends the stems out to me at frontof house and I try to makesomething sounding half decentand give Dave a stereo mix of it.Ernie also will do a stereo mix ofthe orchestra to send to the bandsmonitors.T.C.: That takes a load of weight offthe Out front and monitorengineers!Jim: It spreads the load a little bit. T.C.: So you actually have 4engineers on the show?D.K.: At least! The more themerrier… I work with the orchestraall the time, so know the playersand what they’re doing, I have thecharts here so I know what’s aboutto happen. There are many wide-open microphones up there so I’mEQing to avoid any feedbackT.C.: So I’ve noticed there’s notmuch in the way of overheadmic’ing. So it’s all fairly spottedclosely to all the players.D.K.: YeahT.C.: And there is a plexy glassscreen between the orchestra and



ON TOUR

Stevies bandJim: It covers the percussion and thekit, which is the biggest noise andWaddy’s guitar amp. It’s there tokeep the band sound out of theorchestra mic’s and visa versa.T.C.: Name rank and serial number?Andrew Mitchell: Andrew Mitchell, Iwork at Jands and looking after thesystem for this tour.T.C.: How long does it take to put ashow together like this from theaudio side?A.M.: Normally we will come in about9 o’clock; everything will be doneready to go for line checking just afterlunch and sound checking 3-4 O’clockin the afternoonT.C.: How many trucks of equipmenthave you got here?A.M.: We have about one and halfsemi’s of audio gear which includes allthe control and PA.T.C.: Is this rig doing the whole tour?A.M.: It does the tour here inAustralia, we are using a Vdoscsystem in New Zealand just becauseof time and freight costs to get it overthere and back again. So we are usinga company over there called CollegeHill who have a Vdosc system that weown in New Zealand. They look afterit, so they do a lot of our shows overthere in New Zealand.T.C.: Have you been using this i4 rigfor a little while?A.M.: Been looking after it for the lastfive years, it spends half of the year inthe US and the other half of the yearout here. When it’s out here, I prettymuch take care of it.

So it comes down here for oursummer and heads back over seasand spends it time in America for theirsummer. It’s a summer PA, it doesn’t

like the cold weather. It’s the dodgeviper V10 of line arrays. Its not tunedlike a Porsche but its got a lot ofmuscles. For a line array it’s a veryRock’n roll PA in punch but it has justa quarter the boxes than what used tobe there up in the air. Just a lot morehorsepower behind it.T.C.: Powered by?A.M.: It’s a QSC 9.0 modified by Clairslightly to drive the low end, then aCrest 10004 driving mids and highs.Then we use Crown Macrotech5000s to drive the 16 sub bass wehave on the ground and Macrotech3600’s driving the front full cabinets.They won’t be getting much of a workout plenty of headroom.T.C.: Rob Miller mixes monitors forStevie Nicks

So you have been working togetherfor a while?Rob: I have, since ’87. I missed onlythree tours with her since thenT.C.: Wow, 19 years. Obviouslyyou’ve got the trust and a greatrelationship most of the time I wouldimagine? That’s very comfortable foran artist to have that situation.Rob: Well yeah, I think so. I kind ofknow what she wants. I like to thinkthat she’s confident in my skills. T.C.: I might get you to run throughthe monitor rig your using here inAustralia.

D.K.: Basically, it’s the same thing aswe have here in the states. I have aYamaha PM1D with the 5k-pre ampsfor the input side. We use Sennheiserear monitor packs, so you have got agood quality sound. I like the stereoimaging is much wider than the Shurestuff. Just my preference. T.C.: How many sends are yourunning?D.K.: 26 stereo sends. Mix 1 and 2are Stevie’s left and right in ears. 3and 4 are Stevie’s back stage wedges,they’re a back up kind of thing in casesomething happens with the in ears.Normally they’re not on, there is afew songs where we add a little morekick, depending on the room andwhat it sounds like. Outdoors I mayrun more of a band mix just for her toget the feel. 5 and 6 are Waddy ’s earmix. Al, the bass player is on 7 and 8.Carlos the other guitar player 9 and10. The three back up singers eachhave their own stereo mix. Then wego to Daryl the stage right keyboardplayer, again a stereo mix. Drummerwe have stereo mix and two monosubs, just to get the feel. On Al I alsohave a mono sub for him as well forkick and a little bit more low end. Hisbass rig is on as well. (There are) nolive speakers on stage other than thebass rig, my subs and Waddy’s ampand wedges. Everything else is justdirect line. Percussion just has a mix,hard wired. Daryl, Taku and Jimmy,the drummer are all hard wired tomixers . Stage left keyboard playerhas a wireless mix as well coz hedoes some down stage stuff withStevie. I have a second layer on theconsole that’s just the reverbs sendsand that kind of stuff. T.C.: So did you load in a pre-programmed existing show setup intothe console or have you programmedall this here in Australia?D.K.: This is a template I used whenwe toured the States last year. I had iton my memory card, I just brought itwith me and loaded it in andobviously, we’ve been makingchanges, especially for the symphony. T.C.: You’re getting and orchestra mixfrom the truck is that correct?

Tasty outboard!

“Now people expect when they buy a ticket to hear

good quality sound. It’s a change, for the good. The

various line array PA’s out there make that a lot more

possible, especially in bad acoustic environments...

”

ON TOUR


D.K.: For this venue yes. We justworked with the orchestra for thelast few days and that was withoutbeing wired up, so let’s just see whatit sounds like today

They seem pretty well tooled upwith the way they are doing this.

That’s working well, I’m sendingthem a stereo band mix and aseparate click track so we are allsynced up and a separate mix ofStevie, just so they can mix thosefour channels however they want.That’s pretty straightforward.T.C.: Do you use any fancyoutboard equipment?D.K.: Nah, I try to stay away fromoutboard, using the onboard effectsworks fine and avoids extra latencyproblems.T.C.: So I guess a man of yourexperience would have got in at theground floor with in ear andwireless monitoring technology?D.K.: I’ve been around it for awhile, We had a pair of the Tandyear buds plugged into a Crownhead phone amp for Sharon back in1987. Most of the band wouldrather not have the ears in, but

they work so well in these bigrooms.T.C.: For ambiance, are you mixingin a bit of the room sound into inear monitors for everybody?D.K.: Yes I am, mainly it’s just inbetween the songs, we like to hearpeople talk a little bit. Dependingon the sound room once we getstarted, I either use it or I don’t.Every application is differentobviously. So this room may sound

way different to mix so I’ll bringthem in or not. I have them here ona separate VCA, and I use themmainly on outdoor shows and stuffwhen I need some more ambience.I like to keep as much separationas I can, I like imaging, you know itmakes them feel like not so muchclosed in, when they’ve got thingsmoved round in the right place.

For reviews of the show go to http://www.nicksfix.com

Rob, Dave Kob, and Jands S.E. Andrew Mitchell.


FEATURE

Last year MTV ran the firstVideo Music Awards at the BigTop venue within Sydney’s

Luna Park. The Big Top is a new-ishmultipurpose venue that seats 2000and with general admission, caters toconsiderably more.

That show went over so well thatthe network threw much more moneyinto the pot, and hired Acer Arena(formerly Sydney Superdome) for the2006 awards. What a show it was –televised LIVE on MTV in Australia,and relayed world wide. Acer is thesecond largest indoor venue inAustralia, after Colonial in Melbourne.

This year 13 live acts performedand they were live – which means alot of audio work, and zero tolerancefor errors. To compound the numberof acts, the shortest turnaround timewas a blistering 2.5 minutes. That’sunder 200 seconds.

To make it happen, the audiocontractor Norwest Productionsdevised a system where each of the

27 rolling risers was line checked offstage just before they were rolled intoposition and connected to the mainPA.

Dave Rennie from Norwestexplained the system: “We had a 16channel console backstage with amultipin header. The guys plugged therolling riser in; and could check eachline, then roll the riser out andconnect the multipin to the PA feed”.

Of the 13 live acts, 11 haddrumkits. There were numeroussmaller rolling risers, called‘skateboards’ and as much aspossible was connected and mic’ed inadvance. There were 180microphones in use, on the job.

Behind the band stage was an areaabout double the size, necessary forall the rolling ordinance that needed tobe marshaled. Think of an aircraftcarrier, and you start to get an idea ofwhat it was like.

The 13 bands were only part of thestory, but a big part. There was aKudo line array system withsubwoofers that more than did the

job, CX checked the house duringrehearsals and it was nice out there.Ian Shapcott was enjoying doing themix, after spending a very long timedown at the Commonwealth Games,and returning just a few days beforethis show.

He mixed on one of Norwest’sYamaha PM1D digital consoles, andthere was another PM1D backstagefor monitors where Matt Debien wasmaking sense of 13 different sets ofmonitoring demands, involving asmany as 40 in-ear monitors and aslew of 30 Nexo PS15 wedges.PM1D is a great monitor console, as itcan generate 48 mixes.

In between the live acts, was therest of the show.

Along a catwalk and to the left ofthe band stage was a circular stagewith a bunch of Plasma screens builtunder the floor. This is where thepresenters, and the winners, walkedon and off and did their thing. Behindit and further to the left was thecelebrity bleachers, where thecelebrities sat.

By JULIUS GRAFTON

300 moving lights, 2 Kudo PA's, a 39m long video screen and crew for days. It's BIG!

MTVCrazy big fast changeovers. What can possibly go wrong?

VIDEOMUSICAWARDS


To make sound for the circular stage, which was locatedin a different time environment, Norwest added a second,independent Kudo PA. Signal was sent to either PA fromthe PM1D, by Ian Shapcot, who probably worked harderthan any sound engineer we have ever seen. He had to:rehearse all 13 acts in the two days prior, and save theirlive settings on the PM1D. Then recall each act, andhandle the cutover between systems.

All the packaged signals, things from video, like roll onand roll off music, and sound effects, plus the announcermicrophones, were mixed by Ian Cooper on a Yamaha 01-V-96 console. This was fed to a stereo input channel onthe PM1D.

All up there were 76 Kudo boxes, plus 24 EAW BH760subwoofers and some KF730’s used for frontfill.

The ‘stars’ make their way down the red carpet.

They just keep on coming.

GET YOUR FREE PRODUCT CATALOGUE email your details to [email protected]


FEATURE

Norwest’s involvement extended tothe stage management, they workedwith Darren Waide and Grant Pisani ofAztec Events, who made certain it allhappened in the right sequence.

PUTTING IT TOGETHEREvent Production Coordinator James

Klein told CX that his job started withbringing together the stage designdrawings, with the lighting designerand sound design. He merged variousdrawings on CAD, so that everyonecould move forward towardsproduction week.

The production was designed byJulio Himede, who created somethingthat looked amazing on TV and alsolive. The main band stage was 21.5mwide x 12m deep x 1.5m high, and theback stage was 28m wide x 13.5mdeep. The curved cat walk was 25mlong and curved from a section of a50m diameter circle. It joined up witha circular stage 12m in diameter.

The VIP seating area was 13.5mwide x 8.5m deep. A custom bridge4.8m long joined the VIP seating withthe circle stage.

The Lighting Designer Tom Kennyheralds from the USA, he is the MTVworld-wide designer. He was aided bySean ‘Motley’ Hacket and MarkHammer who were assigned to theshow by Bytecraft. Motley was off totour the world with INXS immediatelyafter; while Mark had just come backfrom a mammoth stretch as the LDfor the Commonwealth Games.

For the production companies, theMTV show came well timed off theback of The Games!

Live video was projected byTechnical Direction Company onto amassive 30m wide and 9 metre tallscreen, with seamless blends of nineBarco B12 projectors making onemother of all images. Olin Winton wasthe Video TD & Encore Operator forTDC.

Inside the Stadium it was a 12camera shoot for Global, plus therewere segments from the Red Carpet,and the Green Room.

The show featured a live cross tothe roof of the MCA at Circular Quay,where The Darkness performed anumber. All the equipment for thatsegment, sound, lighting, backline andthe staging were lifted by crane,starting at first light. ESS built thestage and arranged the crane, thelighting director for the room segmentwas Hugh Taranto.

It was big, it was bright, it was bold.And it all worked, live and on TV.

Julio Himede's show design worked a treat.

Circular stage, with inbuilt Plasa screens.

TDC's trademark: a massive, blended video screen with 9 x Barco projectorsproviding one seamless image.


FEATURE

James Klein, Event Production Coordinator.

Back dock at Acer, Outside Broadcast gridlock.

Ian Smith, event manager.

Sound engineer, Ian Shapcott. Directfrom Commonwealth Games to MTV.


FEATURE

SHOW PRODUCTIONFIRST NAME LAST NAME POSITIONAi Tokuno Supervising Production CoordinatorAllison Haigh Broadcast Production ManagerAndrew Hoppe Executive ProducerAnt Horn WriterAyesha Muthalib Art Department CrewBen Perry Art Department CrewBrett Brown Camera Operator – Backstage crewCassandra Kevins Art Department CrewCat Raven Art DirectorChantal Prud’homme Co-ProducerCherie Spisso Hair & Make upCorey Spence Art Department CrewDale Dorning Hair & Make-up Darren Moore Art Department CrewDeb Munday Hair & Make-up CoordinatorDina Vanderelst Accreditation Co-ordinatorEan Thorley ProducerElizabeth Hayem Art Department CrewFiona Smith Backstage Talent SupervisorGavin Jarrett VT ProducerGreg Roberts CommunicationsHamish Irwin Art Department CrewHelen Gregory Production AssistantHugh Taranto Lighting – Remote Stage Ian Smith Event ManagerImogen Price StylistJade Van Santen Accreditation AssistantJames Klein Event Production CoordinatorJen Longhurst Sound Recordist – backstage crewJoel McCormack Production AssistantJohn Simpson Broadcast Audio EngineerJulia Knowles DirectorJulio Himede Production DesignerKate O’Loughlin Production ManagerKelly Martin EA to Andrew HoppeKelly Kearney Talent

CO-ORDINATORFIRST NAME LAST NAME POSITIONLily Miller Accreditation assistantLisa Katis Hair & Make-up Lynne Roberts Accreditation Co-ordinatorManique Ratner Script SupervisorMatt O’Neil Art Department CrewMichael Grimes Lighting GafferNaomi Neufeld Vision MixerNkem Egbuchiri Director’s AssistantPaul De Heer IT SupportPhil Piotrowsky Camera OperatorRobert Lee Voice Over ArtistSharon Massey Hair & Make-up Stephanie Fyfe Production AssistantSteve Bonanno DJ CoordinatorTim Ryan Production AssistantTira Jaye Hair & Make upTom Perry Art Department CrewTom Kenny Lighting DirectorVerushka Darling Writer

MAIN SHOW CREW - GLOBALFIRST NAME LAST NAME POSITIONAaran Creece Camera OperatorAndrew Barrance CCU Operator

Andrew Johnson Hothead OperatorAnna Jakovich Communications TechnicianAri Matikainen Camera/cablehandBarry Armstrong Camera OperatorBen De Palo Camera/cablehandBenjamin Porteous Jimmy jib AssistantConrad Hendicks Audio DirectorDavid Scorpecci Field TechnicianDavid Levy Camera OperatorDavid McEvoy Vision SwitcherDavid Tinetti Camera SupervisorEmilio Abonizio Jimmy Jib OperatorGary Blair Camera OperativeGarry North Floor ManagerGeoff Southam Broadcast EngineerGordon Dein Jimmy Jib OperatorHelen Thompson Autocue riggingIan Dyer Broadcast EngineerJane Bowers Technical DirectorJason Holland Camera OperatorJeff Archer Camera/cablehandJen Carmody Assistant Floor ManagerJim Walpole Camera OperatorJohn Abbott Camera OperatorJohn Clarke Field Rig ManagerJoshua Tonkin Jimmy Jib AssistantKatie Devine CCU OperatorKevin Murphy Camera/cablehandKyle Crossling Floor ManagerLance Denison Technical ManagerLesley Kershaw VTR OperatorLisa Fenley Unit ManagerMarc Segar Technical ManagerMarcus Trevor Assistant Floor ManagerMaree North VCG OperatorMarinko Kero Audio DirectorMark Edwards CCU OperatorMatt Barnes Audio TechnicianMatthew Cleary Audio TechnicianMichael Venables Assistant Floor ManagerMichael Burton Camera/cablehandMichael Healey Audio TechnicianMichaela Hannagan EVS OperatorMick Tague Audio TechnicianNathan Fredericks Camera/cablehandNgaire Baker AutocueNigel Simpson Unit ManagerPaul Sumner Camera/cablehandPerry Cooper EVS OperatorPeter Angus Assistant Floor ManagerPeter Leslie Camera OperatorPeter Mazzaferro Camera OperatorPeter Sheppard Jimmy Jib AssistantPhil Drayton Field Rig ManagerRich Walter Camera OperatorRob West Camera Operator Robert Smith Camera/cablehandRobert Babekuhl Location Facilities AssistantRohan Charlton Audio DirectorSalvadore Santos Communications TechnicianShane McInnes CCU OperatorStephen Grace Camera/cablehandSteven Forrest Camera OperatorTBA Camera OperatorTBC Dolly Grip

Terry Chigwidden Camera OperatorTony Fahey Camera/cablehandTristan Wilson Communications TechniciansWilliam Pfeifer Camera Supervisor

BYTECRAFTFIRST NAME LAST NAME POSITIONAaron Thomas Board OperatorAllen York GripAndy Robertson GripBeau Moulson GripBrian Cole GafferDon McGregor Crew ChiefFergal O’Sullivan Crew ChiefJimmy Page GripJohn O’Donohue GripKerry Paff Lighting TechnicianKylie Towle Lighting TechnicianLuke O’Neill Lighting TechnicianMark Hammer Board OperatorMat Burden Crew ChiefMatt Faulds Lighting TechnicianMatthew Walsh Lighting TechnicianNicholas Bryant Lighting TechnicianPaul Rigby Lighting SupervisorRichard Howorth Lighting TechnicianRob Oswold Lighting TechnicianRohan Trundle Lighting SupervisorSean Hacket Board OperatorTim Bull Moving LightsWarren Donahue Lighting Technician

TECHNICAL DIRECTION COMPANYFIRST NAME LAST NAME POSITIONOlin Winton Video TD & Encore OperatorPeter Lynas System Technician (inc plasmas)Peter Gibbs Projectionist

NORWEST PRODUCTIONSFIRST NAME LAST NAME POSITIONIan Shapcott FOH Engineer - BandsIan Cooper FOH Engineer – HostsEwan McDonald FOH Systems EngineerMatt Debien Monitor EngineerChris Martin Systems EngineerRaoul Plimer Patch TechnicianRicki Cook Patch TechnicianGary O’Berg Stage TechnicianAdam Williams Stage TechnicianPeter (Doc) Wood Head Stage TechAmy McDonald Radio Mic & IEM Distribution

& Fitting to ArtistsSteve Caldwell RF Guru

AZTECH EVENTSFIRST NAME LAST NAME POSITIONDarren Waide Stage ManagerGrant Pisani Stage Manager

BACKLINE TECHNICIANSFIRST NAME LAST NAME POSITIONBilly Hibben Backline TechnicianBen Jobson Backline Technician

Crew list for the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards


FEATURE

TDC in full flight.

Olin Winton from TDC.

Julio Himede, show designer.

Outdoor power.

Documents

ON TOUR ROBBIE WILLIAMS - …esvc000102.wic056u.server-web.com/cxmag/cx... · Robbie Williams played Dubai’s largest to date at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai in front of