UK - Doughty Engineering was the supplier of choice for BH Sound & Lighting hire when they were contracted to provide lighting for An Evening with Chris Packham and Martin Simpson this summer. Having used Doughty products since the company’s formation in 2011, sound and lighting engineer Finlay Ryan-Smith knew that they’d be well-designed, engineered and built-to-last products.
Ryan-Smith commented: “We were initially asked to provide lighting for a small series of concerts at the Church of Lady St Mary’s for the Purbeck Guitar Festival this June. We spec’d this job in line with the requests of most of the artists, which were passed onto us by the client – it was key we were able to find a middle ground between being able to fill these criteria, whilst also keeping costs low for the client, as they were on a limited budget. This was the same setup that Love It Local elected to go ahead with for this event too.”
Using two Doughty T52001 stands, each with a T50810 adaptor and a T43101 T-Bar to hang four fixtures from each stand, Ryan-Smith explained that this allowed the team to fit a solid package of lighting in a relatively small space, as the T52001 stands have a fairly small footprint and are also quick and easy to set up.
“These are great pieces of kit that we use a lot. We also keep stock of T57316 boom arms along with T54265 three-position tank traps. Together we find these are ideal for making all sorts of setups, such as free-standing mirror balls, festoon setups on hard-standing ground, or some of our favourites – floor packages for weddings and small festival stages.”
As a church is a fairly heavily-used space, there were limits on the times when Ryan-Smith and the team could access to set up, and the ease of these stands helps reduce setup times greatly. One of the main challenges of the job was the lack of existing lighting rigging positions available. “A church isn’t exactly your typical venue,” Ryan-Smith said. “It makes for a great space for a concert but there’s often no existing infrastructure or rigging, which makes these Doughty stands the perfect choice for creating a temporary rigging solution.”
Ryan-Smith added: “The team at Doughty have always been very helpful in finding us the right parts and products that are needed for our line of work, and I would not hesitate to pick up the phone should I ever need any advice or support. They came in very useful this summer when we handled the lighting for a private festival.
“We utilised our tank traps with 2m lengths of truss attached, along with a couple of boom arms to create a visually interesting and versatile setup which we used to rig some moving spots, static LED pars and LED blinders. We additionally used some more of our T52001 stands with T-Bars to act as front light to light performers’ faces. It just goes to show you how versatile Doughty’s kit is, and that is the reason it’s our number-one choice.”
