Technical production for the event was supplied by Bilbao-based Audiomic, who took care of lighting, sound, video and rigging. The Diamond 4 was specified by lighting crew chief Urko Arruza who also produced the generic stage lighting design which was programmed and operated by Alex Ampudia.
The console was chosen for its power, flexibility, easy programming and because it was also likely to be familiar to guest lighting designers, explains Arruza, "Basically it is the perfect desk for a festival set up like this" he says.
The D4 arrived at Audiomic in April - their first one, although they have many other Avo consoles including Pearls and Sapphires. Before the festival, Ampudia used the D4 for a month long production of two operas in Santander, which gave him the opportunity to really discover it's features and functionality by the time it came to the festival in Bilbao.
"It is an incredibly easy console to learn" he enthuses, adding that he specially likes the "instant access to all faders at any time, and the ability to customise your show layout, putting chases, scenes and cue stacks anywhere you want."
The lighting rig was designed to cater for 13 different bands including nine headliners, all from different musical genres and with different lighting requirements. Arruza's design involved seven trusses, all newly purchased from Milos. Three over-stage trusses featured curved ends, and three straight ones were hung at different trim heights at the back to add dynamics to the upstage lighting positions, plus a conventional front truss.
The moving lights were 22 Vari*Light 3000 Spots and 12 80 Volt V*L 500 Wash fixtures, positioned on each of the 3 curved trusses and on the floor. 14 JTE PixelLine 1044s and twelve 2-lites were also rigged to the curved trusses at varying heights, along with teo Martin Atomic strobes, plus another two Atomics on the floor. Also on the floor at the front were four Clay Paky CPColor400 colour-changing effects to provide some low level side lighting.
The front truss featured six bars of six for the front wash and 12 Lekos for specials and key lighting, along with four 8-Lites for audience illumination and four 4-lites per side on either of the PA wings, also pointing into the audience. All of this was controlled by the Diamond 4.
(Jim Evans)
