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Los Angeles, December 4,
2007
The grandMA is in control on R. Kelly’s national Double Up
tour,
which kicked off this fall in Columbus, Ga. and continues until January
13. Production designer Patrick Dierson, of Artfag, selected the
console to control all the automated elements of the big stage show,
including lighting, video and scenery. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive
distributor of the grandMA in North America.
Dierson, who thinks the tour is best work he’s ever done,
helped
create the show with R. Kelly. “It’s broken into
four
quarters,” Dierson explains, “each with a bit of a
thematic
flow. The first is rather hard hitting with R. Kelly making a big,
over-the-top Mohammed Ali-style entrance in a boxing ring to the song,
‘The Champ.’ Then he goes into his top dance hits.
The
second quarter slows down with traditional smooth and sexy R&B.
The
third revolves around his collaboration with the other artists
including T-pain, Fat Joe and Ciera.
“The fourth quarter starts with R. Kelly dressed like an
orchestra conductor and carrying sheet music,” Dierson
continues.
“He goes to an enormous music stand and, with an illuminated
baton, conducts a SMPTE-timecoded light show to two compositions by
Beethoven. An MPC controls SMPTE and houses the samples which play back
the Beethoven track while the timecode is fed to a front-of-house
lighting position.”
Dierson notes that R. Kelly has always had problems getting the
lighting of his shows to be exactly as he envisioned it.
“Now,
for the first time in his career, he has complete control. He was very
involved in the lighting and sat with us throughout the programming
sessions.”
The Beethoven segment leads to a big finale, which is “very
much
based around unifying the audience,” says Dierson.
“It
leads off with a song called ‘Happy People.’
It’s a
big sing-along about peace and love, and R. Kelly invites members of
the audience to come onstage and dance with him. The tour is a fun show
whose entertainment value is top notch.”
The Double Up tour’s high production values required the
grandMA
to control all the lighting, the DL.2 projectors, video control and
routing, Control Freak systems integration and M-box servers.
The grandMA also controls the Mainlight Soft Motion system, a
DMX-controlled motor cabling system for soft goods like white drape.
The cabling system is programmed so the drapes can be scalloped and
extended down as surfaces for video projection, for example.
“The grandMA demonstrates convergence at its finest on this
tour,” Dierson reports. “It’s controlling
lighting,
video and scenic elements at the same time it’s accepting
SMPTE
audio.”
"Patrick has been using the grandMA and has been part of our family
since the beginning. I have seen his artistic growth expand at an
exponential rate. When you combine this with his deep understanding of
the grandMA, you would expect something really special. I look forward
to seeing this show," commented A.C.T Lighting President and CEO Bob
Gordon.
Chris Kuroda is lighting director for the Double Up tour. The lighting
programmer was Justin Cheatham and the video programmer was Dirk
Sanders.
MA Lighting is
exclusively distributed by A.C.T Lighting.
A leading importer and distributor of lighting products, A.C.T
Lighting, Inc. strives to identify future trends and cutting-edge
products, and stock, sell and support their inventory. The company
provides superior customer service and value for money to all of its
clients.
For more information call 818-707-0884.
Copyright © ACT Lighting 2009. All rights reserved.
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