concert lighting from start to finish

itie

Active Member
hey guys,

one of my friends went to a Maroon 5 concert and after the concert he called me and told me that the lights was amazing. he then asked if they were done on the fly or programmed before hand. i told him that they most likely were programed. this got me thinking about the lighting process for concerts. ive done theatre lighting and small event lighting but nothing big like concert lighting. so i was wonder how it was done. im not looking for design tips or equipment need or anything like that just how it is planned and how much time do you get to set up and run the show.

thanks
giovanni
 
To some extent, it depends on the designer, programmer, rig, etc. Some are punted, but in general, cues are written ahead to the music. Some songs can have 300+ cues in them. it's pretty labor intensive, and typically done over a 1 - 2 week period before the show goes out on tour. And when you add in things like pyro, truss movements, video, etc., there can be a month of rehearsals needed just to get the tech part programmed and rehearsed in. Watch any Nine Inch Nails concert dvd or Rammstein Live Aus Berlin and you'll see how complex these shows can be, even for artists of lesser popularity.
 
Just about every major touring show is written about in Industry Periodicals. The process of lighting the show is remarkably similar, no matter what the production.

The following is an outline of a thirty-minute to two-hour lecture. (Sorry if the formatting is off. It didn't import properly and I got a little lazy.)

A. The Lighting Process
1. Seven-minute YouTube video: YouTube - 3-2-1 Contact segment (Light/Dark)/KISS Concert 1979
2. Starting a show from scratch. All genres. Convention vs. Concert. One-off or Tour.​
a. Personnel, Production
i. Producer/Production Company/Production Manager/Technical Director
ii. Lighting Designer
iii. Lighting Director
iv. Production Electrician/Master Electrician/Head Electrician/Lighting crew chief
v. Programmer/ Board Op
vi. Dimmer Tech
vii. Moving Light Tech
viii. Other road techs: gaffer, followspot tech, VersaTube tech, moving truss op​
b. Personnel, House or Venue-supplied (local labor)
i. Venue House Electrician
ii. Venue Lighting Lead
iii. Venue Lighting Operators: HseSpots, TrussSpots, HseLts, AdPnls
iv. Venue Lighting Hands​
c. The Lighting Designer’s Studio/Office, Design Conglomerates
i. Design Fee, Labor & Equipment Budget, Time & Materials
ii. Napkin design, NapkinCAD - Welcome, Google SketchUp
iii. Draftsperson (VectorWorks2008, AutoCAD)
iv. Database Manager (Lightwright4, MS Excel)
v. Media Server Visuals Content Creator and/or Client-Supplied​
d. The Bid Process
i. Preparing for bid, The Shop Order
ii. Selecting candidates:​
a. Local Shops
b. National Shops​
iii. Review of quotes
iv. Awarding the bid
e. Shop Preparation
i. M.E.’s Paperwork and Shop Order Addendum
ii. Shop Prep Team
iii. To pre-viz or not to pre-viz? WYSIWYG™, MSD, ESP-Vision, Pre-Lite Studios
iv. Load-out at Lighting Shop​
3. Physical Work with Hardware (Trucks arrive on-site)
a. The install period, Load-In, Bump-In, Set-up
i. Unloading trucks, Ramps/Forklift safety, marshalling, pushing boxes
ii. Material handling, staging of equipment​
a. Building Lighting Positions
i. Truss
1. 20.5” x 20.5” 10’ MD2020, 6CB, 4CB
2. 12” x 12” 10’ MD1212
3. PRT
a. Conventional
b. Automated
c. Swing-Wing, LSD cradles​
4. Truss Protectors/Prophylactics​
5. Specialty Truss: Circles/Ovals/Run-off, etc.​
ii. Booms/Towers/Base plates
iii. Iron and Accessories​
1. Scaff Clamps. CBs (rigid/swivel)
2. Side-Arms
3. Tail-Downs, trombones​
iv. Various Fixture Hangers, MegaClaws, Omega Brackets
v. Floor mounts, set-mounts​
b. Reading Plots, Truss Tapes: Mounting the Fixtures
c. Safety cables
d. Lifting/Carrying
e. Circuiting: Hods, Tripe, Bundles, Break-outs
f. Coloring, Frame Sizes, 4 Brands of Gel (Selection to be covered in “LD class”)
g. “Data-ing”/Running data: moving lights
h. Rough Focus
i. Final Focus, Truss Climb, Boom/Scissor Lift, Personnel Lift, Ladder
j. Atmospheric effects, flame/pyrotechnics, other special effects, audio
iii. Expendables/consumables​
a. Cordage: Tie-line, rope: KNOTS
b. Tape: Gaffers’, electrical, friction, spike, board, Blacktak
c. BlackWrap
d. Spare Lamps, Color Media, Gobos, Accessories
e. Fog/Haze fluid​
iv. Tools
a. Personal hand tools
i. Body Carried [Mandatory] : 6” or 8” Adj. Wrench, Sharpie™, Multi-tool/Knife
ii. Very Useful: Volt-Tick, Wiggy, VOM, Flashlight, Gloves
iii. Toolbox/bag/kit: Mandatory Tool Lists, Specialty wrenches, crimpers​
b. Bench tools: soldering, oscilloscope, EPROM-writer
c. Power tools: Hole-Hawg, Sabre Saw, Pipe Threader, Screw gun
d. DMX/network test tools
e. Laptop/PDA/Cell-Modem/WiFi
b. Programming and Rehearsals
i. Relationship between LD and Programmer
ii. Programmer’s preparation
iii. Maintaining the programmer’s rig
iv. “Being Corporate”, “Bio Breaks”​
c. Show Operation​
i. Lighting Director/Board Op, Stage Manager, Cue-Caller
ii. HouseLight Op, Spotlight Ops
iii. Dimmer Tech
iv. Maintenance Tech
v. Catwalk Tech​
d. Removal/Lighting Strike
i. Cable Coiling: 3m30s Video [File: cablewrapping.mov] Stagecraft: Members' Gallery: Over/Under Cable Wrapping (QuickTime)
ii. Boxing of Lights
iii. Packing Out/Load-Out/Bump-Out/Strike!
iv. Truck Loading​
e. Return to Lighting Shop/Next Stop on Tour​
4. Post-mortem/Booking the Next Gig/Invoicing
 
What Len said. Any major tour carrying production/crew is going to be preprogrammed. For the very large productions many times everything is locked to SMPTE code. The band plays to a click track and all video/lighting cues follow the time code. Smaller bands will rely on house rigs and sometimes bring an LD, but mostly the show will be busked.
 
On the other hand, lighting for live music at festivals is normally punted by the LD (I know this from personal experience as an LD) - instead of cues, what I've normally done in that situation is set up preset positions and colour effects, then run on the fly. The oddest show I ever did it that manner was an international blues festival, where I was given an old FatFrog board and four Martin Mac 2000 Performance heads in addition to about 100 cans. I had to run the entire four-day festival in preview mode, since the board wouldn't allow me to run on the fly - it wanted cues. However, because the bands changed every 45 minutes, the lineup was flexible, and the setlists were made up 2-3 minutes before the bands went on, there was no way I could build the show the way I would for a touring concert or TV appearance.
 
I think Godsmack has something more current but I can't find it. If I run across it I'll let you know. Also, I'll bet there's some U2 360 tour stuff out there somewhere. Might be more relevant to some audiences.
Thank you, but no. That particular video was chosen because:
It demonstrates that the process of loading-in and running a rock show hasn't changed all that much in thirty years.
It allows me to talk about the changes in safety that have evolved.
It features a pioneer in touring lighting (and arguably, the inventor of the PAR can), Bill McManus.
 
Thank you, but no. That particular video was chosen because:
It demonstrates that the process of loading-in and running a rock show hasn't changed all that much in thirty years.
It allows me to talk about the changes in safety that have evolved.
It features a pioneer in touring lighting (and arguably, the inventor of the PAR can), Bill McManus.

I had never seen that video before but I really like it. I'm an especially big fan of spending an hour per day truss walking without fall restraints.
 
What Len said. Any major tour carrying production/crew is going to be preprogrammed. For the very large productions many times everything is locked to SMPTE code. The band plays to a click track and all video/lighting cues follow the time code. Smaller bands will rely on house rigs and sometimes bring an LD, but mostly the show will be busked.

While, in general, I would agree...but there are exceptions Phish for example, and Candice's work on the Grateful Dead
 
While, in general, I would agree...but there are exceptions Phish for example, and Candice's work on the Grateful Dead

Please elaborate. I'm not sure what your exceptions are referring to, preprogramming or SMPTE. If the previous, then yes, for jam bands such as Phish and the Dead I would think that the shows are a hybrid of programming cues and busking. Either way, when I say preprogrammed I'm not suggesting that there is no on the fly operating going on. No one is sitting behind the console hitting the Go button as in a theatre situation.
 
For those of us who have not set up concerts and who are somewhat inexperienced, please define the following:SMPTE, "punted," volt-tick, wiggy, VOM, and "bump-in." Thanks.

See how those words have little squiggly lines under [yellow dashed underline] (at least they do for me)? That means they have a definition in the CB Wiki. By clicking on them, you'll be taken to the link that defines those words.

Punted, punting: Punting is essentially choosing lighting cues on the fly, improvising. See flash and trash also. For volt-tick, see volt tick.
 
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It features a pioneer in touring lighting (and arguably, the inventor of the PAR can), Bill McManus.

I've always heard, and have repeated, that it was Chip Monk who made that particular leap forward, at the Filmore West. Other than hearing it many times over the years, I have nothing to back that up, so I'm genuinely interested. Bill McManus? I'm with you on the pioneer label, but never heard the par story his way.
 

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