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March 2011 entertainment, presentation, installation

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RoxyMusic

LSi reports from Manchester . . .

Group StrategyLSi meets Philips Entertainment

TF: Clay Paky SharpyAn in-depth LSi examination . . .

Roland SystemsSound and Vision . . .

Skills & TrainingFocus on the NSA

• ISE & NAMM 2011 in Review • Frankfurt Forecast: ProLight&Sound Preview •• Julie’s Bicycle: Green Help at Hand • PLASA backstage with Cirque du Soleil •

• Cold Turku: Finland celebrates in style •

Also Inside . . .

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Steve Moles visits Roxy Music’s latest tour at the MEN Arena . . .

For Your PleasureIt is a sad fact that with each passing year I become more

pathologically averse to visiting rock shows on Sunday nights.

I know where it comes from - five years at boarding school,

especially that homesick first year. Every six weeks or so I’d be

allowed home for a weekend; Sunday was ruined by anxiety at

the inevitability of return. I cried every time. So it was that I left

for Manchester to see Roxy Music with heavy heart. Truth is,

I have become accustomed to these Sunday mid-afternoon

blues (Sunday shows are unavoidable in this profession) and

I usually find the production team so welcoming that I soon

forget my conditioned reflex, and warm to the task.

This evening was no different, but still tinged with melancholy as I was transported back to a rickety old quick-fit followspot tower inBracknell sports centre circa 1971. Roxy Music topped the bill (I wasworking for some Charisma Records act in the support slot, I forgetwhich). During Roxy Music’s first number some young fool relievedhimself behind the drape that shrouded my tower, and, luckily forhim, blew the fuse to my power supply (rather than electrocuting hismanhood), thereby releasing me to watch the show.

Later that evening while the band were still playing at full tilt, I visitedthe backline crew and discovered a couple copulating beneath thestage left PA wing; such were the security measures in those earlydays. You don’t see that sort of thing now (more’s the pity?). Lookingaround the Manchester Arena I wondered how many audiencemembers, all of whom were of comparable age to me, harbouredsuch visceral memories of their youth and this band. Then BryanFerry hit the stage and the entire room erupted as every person withinit stood up and remained that way for the next 90 minutes. This mightbe the bath-hair rock generation and they do make Duran Duran lookpositively youthful, but they still know how to have a good time.

Production Reputation precedes them in terms of presentation; Roxy (and notjust Bryan Ferry) have that art school sensibility that sees them takeinordinate attention to detail. As I began my interview with NickWarren at front-of-house sound, he was briefly called away. “Wealways play one of Bryan’s Motown compilations for the walk-in,” heexplained on his return. “Bryan now wants to ensure we always play‘Heard it through the Grapevine’ as the track that preludes theirentrance on stage.”

As my afternoon unfolded it transpired that Warren makes a stereorecording each night for the band to scrutinise, “mainly to discusstheir contribution to the show,” he ventured. “It impresses me, theircommitment to it. For example Phil [Manzenera] will say things like,‘would you like me to back my guitar off a bit at that point?’. We’re

three shows in and already they’ve got most of the songs down,that’s the ones they played at festivals last summer, but they’re stillrefining the songs they’ve added since then.”

Refining is what defines Roxy Music. Later, Alistair McDiarmid,director of video, said something similar about an ISO camerarecording of the show the band will watch each night, and indeedI witnessed a debate between McDiarmid, Graham Feast (LD) AnnaBoberg (video generation) and Isaac Ferry (Bryan’s son and alsoclosely involved with the video content) as they deconstructed partsof the previous show that they might build and refine. Of course, anyshow worth its salt goes through this routine, but it’s not every bandthat takes such an active interest: Feast told me Ferry had asked fora percentage reduction in overall light levels after the first show, toincrease the impact of the video imagery.

For production manager Des Jabir there is, he says: “No specialconsideration required for this show. The only difference is this bandall have strong ideas about how they want it to look and sound. Wespend a lot of time reviewing the set list, walk-in music, everything todo with audience experience - not just what happens on stage. I’vebeen with Bryan for four or five years now and this is something healways does.”

There is one distinct upside to Jabir’s experience on this tour, “wedon’t have any stage set to speak of, which is unusual for an arenatour, and because the video is all projected rather than LED, we havethe whole production in just four trucks. That doesn’t mean it’s a cheap show - far from it; the video is very impressive and the needto moderate the lighting for projection hasn’t prevented Graham[Feast] from putting together a solid but economic show. Sound wisewe have all digital consoles, that’s a common saving these days, andthe whole PA system, d&b J Series, fits in one truck.” It’s not justJabir who has audio sensibilities: tour manager Levi Tecofsky was theband’s front-of-house engineer when I last visited them on tour, nearly10 years ago (see LSi August 2001).

Lights & VideoVideo is the dominant visual medium here. That’s not to diminishFeast’s role as LD - in fact, the over reliance on video does make theLD’s job that much harder - but as with Jean Michel Jarre a fewmonths back (see LSi November 2010), this show is fundamentallysound and vision. Much as I really enjoyed, and indeed wallowed inthe imagery, I did feel it a little unfair on the audience who hadtravelled to see Roxy Music, for strictly speaking the band neverstepped out of the shadows. If you weren’t at the front all you saw ofthem was distant and dark, however clever the images on screenmight be. One argument says this is an immersive experience and inthat context it worked wonderfully. The images were often of exquisitebeauty, or mixed tantalising glimpses of ephemeral figures sliding

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ghost-like across the screen; musicians fromthe stage mingling with movie stars live onscreen - quite magical. But despite theelaborate variation, what video presentedbehind the band is a one-trick pony: Jarremight paint musical landscapes that suitsuch indulgence, but Roxy is still a rock bandand we deserve at least a glimpse of thesweat, bump and grind - hey, these guys arelegends.

The setting is simplicity itself. A 60ft by 30ft(18m x 9m) screen - a brand new purchaseby XL Video from Harkness, directorMcDiarmid informed me - sits squarelyacross the back of stage, the lighting rig andPA system are both rigged higher thannormal and cables are all routed wellupstage to leave the performance area wideopen, with unrestricted views of the screenfrom every seat.

“I’m very hands-on,” began McDiarmid. Notunlike actor Javier Bardem (No Country forOld Men) in appearance, McDiarmid is oneof those engaging characters you can’t helpbut like. “I like to get my hands dirty; I still doengineering jobs and cameras.” It latertranspired he’d done exactly that on theJarre show I reviewed. “That does mean I expect things to be done to my standard,”and, of course, that means he knows exactlywhat is and is not possible. But judging bythe general joshing and bonhomie at thebackstage PPU, he is no bearish task-master. “I was engineering for Jon Shrimptonwhen he passed this to me during thesummer run last year, and I’ve been involvedin developing that show into the arena styleyou see here. Projection wasn’t a big part ofthe festival tour, now it’s huge. The contentfor the screen has all been regenerated forhi-def by Isaac [Ferry] and Anna [Boberg, ofwhom more later].”

This is obviously a big, collaborative effort;where did the concept to project rather thanuse LED originate? “Trusses are 32 feetabove stage, PA rigged extra high - that’swhat I sold to Bryan. Graham then plottedthe lighting rig from that point and has donea very good job. Projection done well still

looks stunning if you do your maths right,”he said, “in the right place and with a goodHD signal it looks amazing. When youconsider the surface area the great thing isit’s a fraction of the power of an LEDequivalent, and a fraction of the cost.”

The projectors are Barco FLM 20ks.McDiarmid estimated a power saving ofapproximately two thirds; “saves a lot ontruck space too.” But the reliance onprojection forces compromise on thelighting? “Yes. But Graham, Anna, Isaac -everyone has been involved from thebeginning and this is an unusual tour in thatthere’s no battling between departments;everyone is very cooperative.” McDiarmidhas been doing this work for 25 years sincehe started as a lampie back in his NewZealand homeland. As he said, he’s hands-on and has done most things - that surelyhelps on the cooperative edge.

“The content is dominant, but there is livecamera work. I have three main cameras,Sony HXC100 today as we’re recording, butgenerally D50s. Two on tracks in the pit, onehand-held on stage, I also have two Robo-cams and two mini-cams,” (these latter in thetypical musician POV position on drums andkeyboards), “but I hardly use them, just as a get out of jail shot if needed.”

He continues: “Content playback is on theCatalyst with Graham running it off hisGrandMA2 out front. I have manual accessto two layers on the Catalyst to manage thevideo effects. I do have a pre-set for eachsong but what I do is dependent on how theshow is running. I have very high contrast,monochrome, and coloured looks always oncall; which one I choose defines how it cutsthrough into the playback material.”

This is the cornerstone of the show concept:the mirage of live shots mingled with theplayback is the one sop to giving the distantaudience a look at their idols. “We’re stilldeveloping the defined look; that’s what I mean by it being dependent on how theshow’s running. Atmosphere on stage and inthe house is part of the determining process.”

I questioned how he might sample that‘atmosphere’, marooned, as he is, waybackstage in the truck dock, isolated fromthe auditorium? “Sometimes that distancecan give you more focus; you’re lessdistracted by what’s around you. Fromoutside you can be more calm andthoughtful.” Objective - good answer.“Besides, when you’re cutting camerasyou’re always at some point of remove, youknow the solos are coming, but otherwiseyou can only judge by what the cameras areshowing you. We can all miss great things ifthey happen unexpectedly.”

McDiarmid runs his show from the KayakDD2; he also carries a second Catalyst back-up. “The other thing I have out, whichnormally sits at the XL Video warehouse if I’mnot using it, is a piece of pre-rig we hadadapted to carry the projectors. You couldtravel them in the truss, but they slide intotheir cages within the truss on Teflon runnersso it’s almost as fast to slide them in and outeach day.”

The visual aspect made this truss choicevalid - no cages hung beneath truss, hidingbehind abnormally deep borders, made thewhole effect of high trim trusses neat andunobtrusive. “The projectors are doubled,four in total using 4:3 ratio lenses crossed

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over; you can’t really do it with 7:8 wide angle,I find the consistency of lens manufacture isn’tprecise enough - pin-cushioning means theyare brutal to line up.”

Before we got down to lighting, Feast beganby introducing Anna Boberg. “She did all thevisuals,” he began enthusiastically, “youshould really talk to her first.” Feast has alwaysbeen generous with his praise for the work ofothers, but this was not just his naturalmodesty. Boberg hails from Malmo in Sweden:how did she come to be involved? “Isaac,Bryan’s son, searched the internet and foundher. She’s a VJ and commercial graphicdesigner,” Feats explained.

Boberg, who speaks fluent English, told me: “I came in during the summer to work on thefestival content. Bryan had a vision in his mind;it was my job with Isaac to adapt the contentthey already had.” She has since contributedher own work as well (visit www.bopa.tv to findout more). Obviously a busy and talentedindividual, Boberg is also working for Philipson the Lumalive, a soft, fabric LED surface forwhich she is generating content to be appliedin public areas - possibly hotel lobbies,airports, large business office atriums and thelike.

How does this Roxy Music project work inpractice? “I get given things Bryan likes,” sheexplained. “A lot of the content is, if you like, a collage of old movies. There’s also a lot of

animation of shapes. He has given me loadsof stills, I think about where in the songs andhow they might work.”

Isaac Ferry appeared at this point so I askedhim how Boberg had been found. “Well I didn’tsee that much online, simply a website. But wecalled her to a meeting and she seemedperfect; very well organised. When weexplained the concept it was obvious she wasintelligent and knew immediately how we mightachieve our goals. We wanted to mergecontent for the big screen; she talked usthrough a number of ways we could do it.”

Were there other contenders? “The web searchwas for the top VJs in the world, it took aboutthree hours to find there were really only twothat interested us, and the other was based inIndonesia which we felt would be difficult.Anna had also done work with the ChemicalBrothers. Her relationship with Bryan isexcellent; she can pick up on the smallestinfluence he gives, like when he asked forsome Turner.”

JMW Turner (a personal favourite) was a leading English artist with a penchant forstormy seas and ships. The results achieved

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Clockwise from top: Graham Feast (lightingdesigner); Production manager Des Jabir; Videodirector Alastair McDiarmid with Anna Boberg;

The ‘apprentice’ Jack Murphy; Steve May(monitors); Nick Warren (FOH sound);

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by Boberg were very effective, going beyondthe literal use of his work; Turner’s artistryimposed a double thematic edge to theevening, his use of golden amber lightcoloured many images not of his makingemployed for this show; and his use ofghostlike imagery, spectral visions emergingfrom misty origins, prevailed throughout thenight and to great effect.

So where to the lighting? “My brief fromBryan was minimal, keep it dark and moody,make small embellishments and leave itthere; so it’s very straight forward. It’s not flathowever, we do lift things for the more uptempo numbers and it’s materially brighter,but the accent is subtle. Lite Alternative haveprovided the system. The main instrumentsare Martin TW1s for my main key light -they’re incandescent, which is exactly thequality of light needed for this sort of show.Beam work comes from MAC 700 Profilesand MAC 2000 XP Washes. I also have somefour-cell Moles, but their use as audienceblinders is completely minimal. There areNovaFlowers on the floor behind the band.”

He continued: “My main tool is four trussspots, SuperBeams, an incandescent beamlight adapted to be operated as a followspot.It’s a big, parabolic reflector with a 1200Wbulb and no colour changer. There are two ineach L-shaped truss. I control intensity fromthe desk. As with everything, I’m monitoringthe rig and spots against the screen.” Thescreen is rendered bright enough and Feastcould let slip the fader a little higher, but ashe explained, Ferry asked for it to be darker.

This was the first time I’ve seen the GrandMA2 on tour: how does Feast like it? “I find itgenerally user-friendly. It is in my opinionfaster and easier to get around than the oldGrandMA. The older desk didn’t do it for me,I know it’s a good console and many peoplelike it, but this suits me better. I run all themedia content off here,” but not from the MAserver system? “No, off the Catalyst. I findthe operational routines of the desk entirelyto my liking; it suits my own internal logicperfectly.” You can’t say fairer than that.

This must be a frustrating position for any LDto be in; fortunately Feast’s enthusiasm forhis work is undiminished and he applieshimself to this show as earnestly as he hasto other designs of his I’ve seen in the past;and in fairness, there are at least momentswhen it gets to wink through and make a mark.

FOH SoundML Executives has provided Roxy Music andBryan Ferry with sound, backline and stagingequipment for over 10 years now: “It’s greatto have the opportunity to be working withsuch a fantastic band,” says ML’s managingdirector, Gary Marks.

FOH engineer Nick Warren took over this gigfrom Chris Privet Hedge (out on Simply Redfor the past two years: see LSi February2011) and looks like he is now mixer inresidence. What I heard confirmed hissuitability: it was loud but textured, and herepeatedly visited level peaks and thenretreated just as quickly, applying a widedynamic range to delivery beyond that of theband, but only ever enhancing it.

“ML Executives provide all the service andthe control system, though I have asked ford&b J Series for PA. It’s the system everyoneis spec’ing at the moment and I love it, soWigwam - in very gentlemanly fashion - areproviding racks and stacks. The systemallows me to be a lot more flexible. I’mrecording the show using Pro Tools off theDigidesign [now Avid, please note] Profile, a nice easy shoe-in. Bryan [Ferry] archivesevery show, and has done so since earlydays. Visit his studio ‘Studio One’ nearOlympia and you’d be amazed - he’s goteverything, some amazing old keyboards.They even tried bringing an old Mellotron outfor this tour because there’s such a strongdrive to be authentic to the originalrecordings, but on that occasion I managedto persuade them to use samples.” Warren isyoung enough never to have endured theagony of dragging one of these monsters upthe stairs at the Sheffield Penthouse Club,but somehow he must have known?

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“I’m doing everything in the desk, except fortrying out the TC 6000 multi-reverb. Havingmade the switch to mixing digitally I don’tsee the point in then ignoring the desk’sfunctionality. I’m either going digital or I’mnot. Yes, the TC unit sounds better than thereverbs in the desk, but what do you expectfrom an off-board tool that costs six grand?I’ve been doing some odd stuff in the deskwith plug-ins; auto panning, a Reel tapedelay on top of a Reel tape flanger, but theband does most of the work on stage. I stillcome out the board analogue, via the XTA448s to the d&b amps. I just don’t have faithin digital snakes.”

Ancient instrument sounds apart, how arethe band to mix? “If you run a desk like thisyou know when you’re in the sweet spot, butyou can slip off it badly just as quickly withthis as you can with any digital desk. Thereare another seven musicians including BVsup there besides the original members. Forguitars I’m using a Shure 57 and a 4050 onboth of them, and put Ollie [Thomson] andPhil [Manzanera] to left and right, to help withthe separation. There are two keyboards aswell, so it’s more about what you turn downto make it work; you don’t want them allfighting for the mid frequencies.” Less ismore: the most effective ploys in mixing arethe simplest; it should be stencilled on everydesk.

Warren continues: “I do a lot of vocal riding:there are several open mics up there andgetting a bit of added percussion from theBVs - they use a cabasa and tambourine - is unavoidable. Paul Thompson on drumsholds the thing together: I have a Sennheiser901 in the kick/bass drum, I just prefer it.Besides top and bottom [Shure SM] 57s forthe snare I have a [SM] 98 for the rim shot aswell; a [Sennheiser Evolution] 604 on thetoms; [AKG] 414 for overheads; and [AKG]451 on the hi-hat.

“The sax’ mic is unusual, an [Audio-Technica]AT3050; really it’s a tom mic. It gives me the

full sound of the instrument but there arelimitations - it can hit the Sennheiser radiopack [with a bit too much signal] so I’mlooking to put a pad in there. Bryan’s vocalmic is an AT4047, another unusual choice;it’s the only thing that can catch his quietvocal and manage the harmonica when hesuddenly whips it out, which is often. It’s theonly condenser mic that can cope. I use a lotof protective compression in the desk, BVand sax’ especially, brick wall limiting its onlyfunction.”

Warren does sail close to the wind, but it’s allthe more exciting for that. “Plug-ins I like arethe Impact for Keyboards, and Smack for theBass. The band cue themselves, so althoughI have detailed notes on a cue sheet in mylaptop, I don’t use a lot of scenes in thedesk.” Having a toe in each pond doesn’tseem to detract from Warren’s ability toproduce a good show.

MonitorsMuch to my surprise I discover monitor mixerSteve May has been with the band 10 years,

though it seemed only yesterday when wefirst met. “I’m using a [Yamaha] PM5D for thesimple reason that out of all of them I find it’sthe easiest. I did think about a DiGiCo SD7as I’m using all 24 out - I have to double thechannels to the tech feeds - but we were sofar into rehearsal by the time the channelcount had built up that I didn’t want tochange.”

He adds: “There’s nothing unexpected in themonitor hardware: Sennheiser G2 in-earsystems, L-Acoustics 115XT wedges, 14 ofthem - and I’m using ARCS for side-fills withSB218 subs. Bryan, Phil and Andy all like tohave ears and wedges. For Bryan I have twoback wedges; he gets a full mix from thefront, just vocals from behind. He also has a pair of wedges for his piano and anotherpair for the keyboards. They’re a goodwedge - Bryan was sponsored by L-Acoustics way back when and has stuckwith them; he has eight of his own.

Expanding on the wedge theme, Mayreveals: “There are three wedges I like: the115s, Clair Brothers AM12s, and the M4 andM2 from d&b. Bryan likes a full house mix -all I push and pull is the sax and guitar. I domostly know when he’s going to moveacross stage. I did try him again on in-earsfor the summer 2010 leg - he used themonce for two songs in rehearsals in 2001 -but they’re not for him. I think the thing is,and it’s true for many musicians, especiallythe older ones who’ve been brought up onwedges: with in-ears you can’t walk awayfrom it. With a wedge set-up Bryan can stepaway from a guitar solo to exactly the pointwhere he’s comfortable. Same with his rearwedges, if he just needs a little lift of his ownvoice, he can just lean back for a second.”

We all got to lean back for a second - well,90 minutes actually - but it was a blissfulbackward glance to a remarkably varied andinfluential musical legacy.

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