Concert lighting control

[sww1235]

Hi

I have always been interested in all things involved in a theatre/concert and have always tried to increase my knowledge of such. This question is purely for knowledge gain.

I was recently at a dubstep concert that had a fairly basic rig of par cans and movers. I took a look at the control setup and it appeared that they had a console, with dmx outs. They also had two midi control surfaces and a laptop, along with several small boxes that I could not see clearly. They managed to sync the change of different light parameters to the beat of the songs.

I would think that they would be running some kind of DJ software on the laptop, which was sampling the BPM of the current song, and outputing that data somehow through midi.

Any and all thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Sww1235

 

[Synchronize]

They were probably running show control software that will advance sound and light cues at the same exact moment via MIDI. Never worked with them myself, but I have seen them in action. It's basically a scrolling timeline on the screen that shows upcoming sound and lighting cues, and when it gets to a cue, it sends off a GO command to either the sound board or light board, or both. The application I've seen this software used for most is cruise ships where the show looks and sounds the same every single time.

 

[sww1235]

The thing though is the song list was not pre-determined. The artists were live DJs, and there was no light guy at the console for most of the show. They could have been using a STL trigger but then what was the laptop for?

 

[ScottT]

They could have been using a STL trigger but then what was the laptop for?

Facebook? Skype chat?

 

[chausman]

Facebook? Skype chat?

Recording themselves? Qlab? notes?

 

[shiben]

Someone posted this thing about how the Linkin Park LD did his lights for that show, it is probably something similar.

 

[ScottT]

Someone posted this thing about how the Linkin Park LD did his lights for that show, it is probably something similar.

Here's the thread: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/lighting-electrics/26310-linkin-park-lx-foh.html