With one of the largest prize packages ever offered in a new artist competition, Music City Big Break founder and producer David Bell worked alongside co-founder and producer John C. Davis to bring together a production that could capture the full attention of artists, managers, agents, and music fans everywhere. Needing a reliable production partner to assist them in creating a lighting and video atmosphere ready to take on such a competition, they called upon Elite Multimedia to bring in the most expansive production rig the Mercy Lounge has ever experienced.
"As an entertainment consultant, I am close with the management team at Mercy Lounge where they host the music series '8 off 8th' which is overseen by David Bell," began Davis. "So when David was looking at ways to re-invigorate the '8 off 8th' series, we started talking about doing a whole new programme that would bring all the new artist showcases in Nashville into one production."
With Music City Big Break now alive, Bell and Davis got to work bringing together a full production team that could help them transform the Mercy Lounge into a dynamic festival environment. Knowing they needed both a reliable production designer and live event production provider, Steven Dahl was brought on board as the production director, and Nashville-based Elite Multimedia was asked to participate as the production lighting and video provider.
With Elite Multimedia now on board as the event lighting and video provider, Dahl began working with lighting designer Jeff Mathews and Elite Multimedia project manager Jon Chavez to create the ideal rig for Music City Big Break.
"For the live audience experience, I like to keep front light not too overwhelming for the artist on stage or the crowd, but since we were also shooting for camera we had to find a good balance between the two," explained Mathews. "I think we ultimately reached a good solution using the Chauvet COLORado Batten 72 LEDs as downstage up light and the Clay Paky B-EYE K10LEDs for side wash.
"This combination created some dramatic lighting and enhanced the stages depth. The production design really came together into a beautiful final product quickly thanks to everyone at Elite Multimedia who was fantastic to work with and great at helping us find exactly what we needed to make the full production a success."
On Friday, 11 December, The Gills were announced as the first ever winners of Music City Big Break. Awarded a grand prize package valued at over $50,000, both the band and new showcase event have now branded themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. Looking back on the production of Music City Big Break, the producers are in awe of both the journey that has begun and the team that helped bring it all together.
"This whole process has been unbelievably satisfying," admitted Dahl. "Jeff Mathews and Jon Chavez are two of the utmost professionals in this business, and through the collaborative effort of everyone involved, we created a beautiful final product that none of us could have imagined in the start."
(Jim Evans)
