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East Meets
West
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Entec Sound & Light supplied
a full lighting and sound production
package for "East Meets West"
2004.
The event was a variety show
extravaganza staged at the Carling
Apollo Hammersmith, and performed
by students from Imperial College
Indian Society.
East Meets West featured a
colourful and varied kaleidoscope
of dance and music - from rap
to classical Indian - plus various
fusions and theatrical performance.
It celebrated an eclectic multicultural
mix of traditional Eastern customs
with the spirit of the contemporary
West, to produce positive visions
of the future.
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Lighting
Lighting designer Andrew Keightley
is an Entec regular. He lit the event
for the second year running, and with
no stage set apart from some basic
props for some of the pieces, the
visual impact and interest was all
down to skilful application of lights.
He chose a series of simplistic,
bold and colourful looks that were
ideal for mixing and matching and
for quick and effective improvisational
techniques. The get-in was the day
before show day, but there was still
no time for a full rehearsal or run
though, and for lighting in particular,
this meant a heavy reliance on Keighley's
experience, intuition and busking
skills.
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The rig comprised of two trusses
- front and back - with 8 Vari*Lite
2202 moving spot lights spread
across both of them, and another
unit upstage centre on the floor
for specials. The dynamics of
the V*Ls gave Keighley plenty
of scope for getting creative,
and ensuring sufficient general
coverage as well as more specific
cues needed by the various performance
pieces.
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Generic
lighting on the trusses was PARs and
ACLs, and Keighley added some further
bars of 6 PARs and ACLs to the floor
for front, cross-stage lighting. Accessories
included four Martin Atomic strobes
and across the front of the stage as
footlights, four James Thomas MR16 battens.
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All fixtures were controlled
by Keightley running an Avolites
Pearl - one of the best desks
on the market for 'on the hoof'
operation. The lighting was
completed with two Pani FOH
spots. Entec also supplied a
white filled backcloth, ideal
for taking light and gobo projections,
and upstage of this was a starcloth.
"As always, Entec paid great
attention to detail, and were
highly supportive" says Keighley,
adding that the gear was also
perfectly prepped on arrival
at site.
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Entec's lighting crew
were James Hughes and Nick Burnace,
together with crew chief Simon Howarth
(Boff).
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Sound.
Entec's audio crew was headed
up by FOH engineer Barry Bartlett,
who was assisted by Imperial
College student Gary Ewer, running
all the tape and CD tracks.
Bartlett designed a d&b C4
and C7 FOH system that was both
flown and ground stacked, with
B2 subs and E3 front fills.
He mixed the show using a Midas
XL200 console, with KT DN360s
graphics for EQ and a couple
of Sabine ADF 4000 PowerQs across
the Lavalier mics and anything
else likely to feedback - often
due to over-enthusiasm. He also
used his favourite digital reverb,
a TC M2000.
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Dealing with the number and variety
of acts in a single performance was
the major challenge for FOH and monitors,
with the latter taken care of by the
unfazable Liam Halpin.
Halpin used an XL3 console, and took
the opportunity to try out six of
Italian brand Outline's new low profile
2 x 12 wedges. As well as being unobtrusive,
these are also exceptionally lightweight.
Side fills were two d&b C690 cabinets
a side.
Mics - all Shure - were five Lavaliers,
three hand-helds and a headset.
Halpin inserted Sabine PowerQ's across
the Lavaliers and headsets, primarily
for feedback elimination and some extra
headroom, and mirroring Bartlett at
FOH, also inserted KT graphics across
all mixes for EQ.
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Onstage, he worked alongside
Stefano Serpagli, who ran all
the radio systems, and Rob Maynard,
a new full time member of Entec's
sound team.
The event was a great success
and helped raise money for Water
Aid, Sargent Cancer Care for
Children and Imperial College
Union.
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