The band, who have been voted into DJ Magazine's 'Top 100 DJs' six times, started their Acoustic ll tour on 5 May at London's Royal Albert Hall and finished on the 6th of June at the Sydney Opera House. The tour included two sell-out dates at the Greek Theatre, Los Angeles. Its spectacular visuals, designed by Neil Marsh, featured a mix of video, graphics and live camera footage from six on-stage robotic cameras.
David Kyle, video operator for the tour, made good use of the compact Ai S8 to run Marsh's multi-sourced design.
Kyle explains, "My role was to look after all video elements of the show and make sure we delivered what was required in terms of Neil's design. Ai provided us with a one box solution that could control the cameras, mix them, provide a preview, receive timecode, playback content and take care of mapping without the need for additional equipment. This kept set up time down, gave us a more reliable system and reduced latency, which was important when using cameras."
The Above & Beyond show design was based around three large semi-circular trusses, on which double-layered deco linen was hung. This provided a projection surface on one side and a red voile on the other as some shows were sold in the round.
"The video itself was not intended to be traditional IMAG style display, but more of an older, rough, film effect look," says Kyle. "Depending on the venue the rig would change between the three semi circles or a single large screen that wrapped around the drape. For the Hollywood Bowl we also sent an unmapped signal to the in-house IMAG screens to ensure the full crowd of 18,000 could see the show. Another feed also went to the recording crew meaning we pushed the server to six outputs and six inputs."
The Avolites Ai S8 media server was supplied to David Kyle and Neil Marsh through Mirrad LTD - a British visual arts and design house. The tour was in support of Above & Beyond's latest album Acoustic II, which is out now.
(Jim Evans)
