Protec delivers technical support for Final Frontier
- Details
Bao attracted large crowds to the theatrical display and line-up of world class DJs. Artistes included the top 2 DJs of the DJ Mag top 100 Martin Garrix, and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike as well as heavyweights Afrojack, Don Diablo, Nervo, R3hab and more.
Mel Deighton, Protec’s project manager, worked closely with other suppliers to make sure the show was delivered beyond expectation and on time. Faced with considerable challenges along the way, he credits his team on delivering under pressure.
“Due to the complexity of the production we were on-site 11 days for set-up, two days for the show and we were fully loaded out two days later. It was a challenging build which required cooperation with the staging company. Our LED and lighting needed to be rigged intermittently and built into the structure which took some extra time and careful planning. Unfortunately, we got unlucky with the weather as a thunderstorm hit us a few days before show meaning our timeline was significantly affected. Thankfully we had ample resources and a committed team to ensure we delivered on time and as promised.”
Protec’s Chris McAleese operated audio at FOH and he gave us an insight into what he used to deliver sound that had both the crowd and DJs completely immersed in the moment.
“We used 32 of the powerful L-Acoustics K1 line array (16 a side) and 30 of the classic but phenomenal L-Acoustics V-DOSC (15 a side). This was supplemented with L-Acoustics K2 flown under for down-fill and L-Acoustics Kara for front coverage and on stage either side of the DJ. 40 SB28 subwoofers took care of the low end quite nicely. We used a DiGiCo SD5 desk and Dante networking from FOH to a Focusrite Rednet to breakout the AES 3 signal to amps stage side.”
Head of audio Ed Ross described the DJ setup. “We provided DJ decks - 1 x DJM900 Nexus 2 and 4 x CDJ2000 Nexus 3 plus a backup of the same gear. On stage as DJ monitors, we provided four L-Acoustics Kara and two SB18s per side.”
Video used the Barco E2 linked with Barco S3 and Barco EX to provide three 4k input and three 4k output which was then split into 10 full HD outputs distributed over fibre optic cable to the 12 Barco HDF W30K projectors (6 backup) as well as to the four LED processors backstage and the live backup processors there. There were over 300 panels of 6mm and 9mm LED used and all the necessary fibre optic distribution over Lightware 220 Pro Transmitter and Receiver.
Protec’s lighting team supplied and installed from their extensive range of Claypaky fixtures 20 A.LEDA K20 Wash, seven K10 Wash, 32 Prima Mythos 2, 31 Scenius Unico, and 20 Scenius Profile. From their Robe lighting selection they added 88 Robe Robin Pointe. All this was supplemented with SGM P5 and P2, and over 200 classic par can fixtures. Protec also provided the latest fullsize GrandMA3 and fullsize GrandMA2 lighting consoles.
The lighting was designed by Ronnie Santegoeds of 4Light ShowProjects and operated by the 4Light team.
Event director Tessa Sprangemeijer, of Envie Events, comments, “A production the scale of BAO requires nothing but the best from all teams and suppliers. Therefore we’re happy to once again have enlisted Protec who, with their extensive experience in AV Technology in the region, took this project to the next level.”
(Jim Evans)
