The production design for Carl Cox & Friends, and the Worldwide Stage was created by Steve Lieberman of SJ Lighting. Contracted directly by Ultra, Steve was also the lighting designer for the main stage, where he collaborated closely with creative director Richard Milstein and production manager Ray Steinman to develop a unique Ultra concept that also took into account the requirements and specs of all the headliners - a veritable Who's Who of EDM A-listers!
Pendulum, Hardwell, Avicii, David Guetta, Afrojack, Martin Garrix, Zedd and many more rocked the Main Stage; Deadmau5, Nero, Mike Snow and Purity Ring were among the talent-packed Live Stage performers; and Richie Hawtin and the truly legendary Carl Cox himself held court in his eponymous Arena, which was transformed - using the same rig overhead for Armin van Buuren's superlative A State of Trance (ASOT) on Sunday.
On the Main Stage - , together with 64 x Robe BMFL Spots that had massive impact, shot out into the night juxtaposed against the Miami shore and skylines. All lighting was supplied by Solotech and the vast amount of video surfaces by Screenworks.
At the Main Stage, lighting at FOH was looked after by Patrick Dierson and Josh Spodick working for SJ Lighting. Guest LDs included Andre Beekmans from Art of Light (Hardwell); Andy Hurst (Pendulum) who closed the show on Sunday; Sam MacLaren, lighting director working for Leggy and making David Guetta's sunset slot truly magical; JJ Rotte for Lightimage (Fedde Le Grande); Chris van Bokhorst (Avicii); Bas Scheij for Art of Light (Aa 215ft masterpiece of technical art built by Mountain Productionsfrojack) who played Saturday night and Aron Altmark who lit Tiesto.
Lighting for the Live Stage - built around the permanent Bayfront Amphitheater and extended with side PA / video wings that also created additional lighting positions - included 70 Robe Pointes from locally-based rental company, Paradigm Lighting. Running FOH here were Mike Smirka and Miguel Cortero, overseen by Jorge Valdez.
Over in the Carl Cox & Friends Arena, Steve Lieberman's design - he also operated lighting at this venue - featured 24 x BMFL Spots and 96 x Pointes. These powerful and flexible multi-purpose fixtures were used to the max over the three days and chosen for their multi-functionality.
A series of trussing lighting pods were positioned in the roof so they elegantly curved around the spacious structure accentuating the architecture.
The moving lights were scattered across these pods, each of which was filled with LED panels in the centre, a combination of 8 mm and 37mm pitch products, with the six most central pods were flown on an automation system that moved them into different positions throughout the night, tilting, pitching and completely changing the spatiality of the venue.
The structure, video, lighting and rigging were supplied by AG Production Services from Las Vegas, headed by Andrew Gumper, with the Robes supplied by locally-based Zenith Lighting.
(Jim Evans)
