Working with creative director Richard Millstein and production manager Ray Steinman, it was lighting designer Stephen Lieberman who needed to create a lighting design that could stand up to the intensity of the three-day festival and he did so using Philips Vari-Lite VL4000 Spot and VL3500 Wash FX luminaires provided by Solotech.
"I've been involved with the Ultra Music Festival since 2000, and when I start putting the designs together, I first look at where the stage is located and what the size of the performance area will be to give me a foundation to build upon," began Lieberman. "Next I look at the artist agreements to see if we need to install any certain lighting gear based on artist riders, and then after that we apply the general rules of stage lighting to make sure we have all the creative elements to give us the aggressive design style needed for this type of show. When we put together the Miami stage, we knew Solotech had the VL4000 Spots and we were very interested in trying them out."
Lieberman continued, "We like to look at things in layers because there are certain effects we need in order to layer and stack the show. Foundationally, we need moving lights with a suitable output to provide our spot, wash and beam capabilities, and at the same time we are running a show for 12 straight hours so we need all these layers to keep it fresh and interesting for the audience. In the stage design, we had the VL4000 Spots everywhere. We used them inside the box for the performance area and we also used them for our audience effects to give us the big, bold looks. I evenly dispersed them throughout the rig so that if we ever wanted to do a certain look, it would evenly cover the entire performance area."
When it came to deciding which wash fixtures to use in the lighting rig, Lieberman knew the fixtures had to be powerful enough to cut through the myriad of high-powered spot and beam fixtures to make sure the stage was lit beautifully from every angle and in every shot.
He explained further, "For the VL3500 Wash FX fixtures, we kept those mostly inside the box because we use these to basically wash out the stage. I need my wash fixtures to be efficient and bright, and I need them to be able to hold up against all the other big powerful looks that are out there today. The VL3500 Wash FX is a big, bad-ass wash light with a powerful output and great color-mixing that is extremely reliable. Since we have HD cameras shooting everything, drones now flying overhead taking video, and people holding up their cell phones, we want to make sure everything is very well lit and the VL3500 Wash FX cuts through all the other lighting elements to make sure our stage has the fill we need."
Lieberman concluded, "The Ultra Music Fest is not about doing mild shows. When we start, the lights are continually moving, strobing, and changing colours so we are really putting them through their paces without any rest. Solotech did a great job providing us with gear that was up to the challenge and they are a very organized company who pays attention to the details.
"In a show like this we need a vendor who doesn't leave anything to be decided on site and after the show all of the guest LD's had nothing but great things to say about the VL4000 Spots. These are harsh tropical conditions in South Florida in May, and the VL4000 Spots really outperformed other fixtures that we have put up there in the past."
(Jim Evans)
