During the Sunrise Festival, Kolobrzeg becomes a real focus for techno fans in and around Poland. DJs like Eddie Halliwell, Fergie, Ferry Corsten, Jay Bae, Joachim Garraud, John O’Callaghan and many more performing on two stages ensured that everybody had a great time at this year’s event. This was also the intention of Lighting Designer Pawel “Spider” Pajak – therefore he chose a grandMA control system – and for the first time, a brand new MA VPU (Video Processing Unit).
The festival ground was divided into the Cube Stage and the Ring Stage. The Cube Stage was based on 2 x grandMA full-size consoles, 1 x MA VPU and 3 x MA NSPs (Network Signal Processors) which were controlling 60 x Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300s, 24 x Alpha Wash 575s, 10 x GLP Impression XLs and 22 x Falcon 7Ks.
On the Ring Stage was 1 x grandMA full-size, 1 x grandMA light, 2 x MA NSPs, 12 x Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500s, 44 x Alpha Wash 575s, 12 x GLP Impression XLs, 81 x GLP Impressions and many more. Furthermore grandMA onPC and grandMA 3D were used for pre-programming and visualising the stages.
Pajak explained: “We’ve been using the grandMA for a few years and it is always my first choice. With this kind of big festival it is absolutely priceless to have such a system supporting you. It is not just about the grandMA console – it is about the full MA Lighting system solution, which is stable, reliable and effective. We were running the three days of the shows in multiuser mode, and used the full range of tools that MA delivers e.g. for pre-programming we utilised grandMA 3D and grandMA onPC. The new grandMA 3D in particular is fantastic!”
“It was also my first experience working with the new MA VPU”, said Pajak, “I needed a media server which dealt with sound so we could synchronise the video content with the lighting for all the festival intros. The MA VPU ran faultlessly, proving that MA has developed a really powerful video station.”
Commenting on his lighting design Pajak reported: ”The first stage at the amphitheatre was called ‘The Ring’ and the second stage in the parking area was called ‘The Cube’. The main idea for the Ring stage was to use 114 spherical screens (half spheres, 1m diameter each) for the projections. They were mounted on a Layher construction and created a matrix wall. Each screen had also an LED fixture mounted behind it to create various matrix effects. Additionally G-Lec Solaris curtains together with GLP Impressions were used as a background to the DJ booth, with more Impressions placed on the six finger trusses above the stage to complete a ‘ring’ based design for this stage.”
“For the Cube stage the idea was to evoke a 3D visual cube”, continues Pajak, “First we used over 700 pixel tubes mounted on a huge 36m wide and 15m high Layher construction to create multiple numbers of different squares within the different depths of the construction. All of these were controlled separately so it was real fun to play with all the vertical and horizontal lines, and to built different sizes and numbers of cube elements.”
“Another 60 x Alpha Beam 300s were mounted in front of the Layher construction together with the 6 square shaped moving screens. 75 Pixel Pars were installed at the back of it to create three matrix squares. The final part of the design featured 22 x 7K Falcon searchlights. 12 were positioned on the ground between the audience, 6 on towers at the sides of the crowd and 4 on the stage. Altogether, we had a 3D ‘lighting net’ using the beams above the audience.”
Markus Janning worked besides Pajak as programmer and operator for the Cube stage. Tomasz Szwelicki and Marcin Szczakiel programmed and operated on the Ring stage.
TSE Laser Light & Sound, A&O Lighting Technology, HELI Show Equipment and Trias delivered the lighting and video equipment. The video content was created by Clockwork and the 3F Flame system by Flash Art Germany. MDT Agency realized the production.
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