The Catwalk featured a make over for 4 special mothers by TV’s John Scott, makeover specialist.

Have a look at some pictures and video content from the get in days and show.

Here are a few renderings from our work with the Director tonight…

The London Season’s Catwalk and Debutante Banquet.

Lighting, Sound and Video Services for any event, contact GPS now.

www.gpslighting.com 0208 123 0409 enquiries@gpslighting.com

To see us in action, come and see one (or more!) of the following shows. This is also intended to be a plug for each of them – we’re really privileged to be working on some fantastic events and hope to help make them a real success:-

• Preparations have been well underway, but this Saturday kicks off the business with an all-out Hip-hop dance show Soldier – written, composed, choreographed, starring and produced along with Pineapple Performing Arts School by Dax O’Callaghan. The show is raising funds for the charity ‘Help For Heroes’ and it promises to be a fantastic night featuring some incredible talent from the crop of PPAS. O’Callaghan hopes to take this show even further than the one night in London by inviting some top industry producers. We can’t wait support this excellent production. More information and how to get tickets can be seen here.

• Following the first weekend, GPSLighting have been invited to provide architectural and concert lighting for The Berkeley Dress Show by The London Season – a new client for the company. The Jive Aces will be providing entertainment for this highly prestigious event which showcases dresses from up-and-coming designers (last year all graduates from Central St. Martin’s and the London College of Fashion) modelled by debutantes in a fashion show. The evening hopes to raise thousands of pounds for local charities – as has been the tradition for The London Season.

• City Youth Theatre Company then hits the centre of town in Brighton with their version of  West Side Story. A talented, young cast takes on the modern retelling of Romeo & Juliet staged in a raw environment by local director Tania Newton. As with their youth production of Billy Elliot last year, GPS will be providing full Sound and Lighting services for a week long run of the large scale musical. More information and how to get tickets can be seen here.

• Once new, but now long-standing client, charity N:Vision, will be putting on anotherAdore event for one Sunday in the middle of this month. The first of the year will be at Cuckfield and the speaker will be Roy Crowne [Executive Director of HOPE Together] with worship lead by regular band, Shackleton. GPS hopes to add some top class concert lighting to this event and make it another special evening. More information and how to get tickets can be seen here.

• Charity continues as a theme throughout the month with GPS providing full technical support to another London Twestival. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, it’s a Twitter Festival where active users of the popular social media site meet-up to raise money for charity. The event will also be taking place in 150+ cities globally on the same day with each host city raising money for their local charity. 100% of ticket sales go towards the proceeds – this year’s London charity is CentrePoint – a charity which helps youth homelessness.

• Wrapping up the end of March will be another dance show with new client the Deborah Lamb Theatre School. Affectionately known as ‘Debs Dancers’, the school offers “professional training in the performing arts including dance, drama & singing”. The show will be performed in East Grinstead by their current crop of students and GPS hopes to impress with some fantastic lighting design after being previously unphappy. As Ever, GPS will make sure of a great show with real quality.

So that’s a run-down on what’s happening and if you’d like to take advantage of our fantastic service with your event in the coming months – then you know where to come. We believe there are no limits to what you can achieve when putting on a show and if you share that belief as well, then please get in touch.

You may have setup a home hi-fi from scratch or even plugged in a microphone to a mixing desk, turned it on and spoken into it. You may not have done either of these, but just grabbed a karaoke mic at a swanky bar or perhaps you’ve just sat and listened to some great live music, or maybe not so great?

In this article I’ll attempt to break down and give an overview to some of the main features of how Live Sound works, what’s involved and how to setup a system and mix live music. To do this, I’ll break it down into three parts, as follows:-

1. The PA System
2. Signal Flow, Microphone and Line Level Input
3. Getting a great mix

My examples will be based around setting up and mixing for a live band.

If you have a basic grasp of or are vaguely familiar with Live Sound then this article will benefit you a lot. If you haven’t done any live sound, then this will be a great introduction to some concepts that are good to familiarise yourself with. If you’ve done quite a lot of live sound, then hopefully this will be a refresher on some of the things that you already knew of course!

Part One – The PA System

So, what does a PA (Public Address) System or Sound Reinforcement System, as it’s sometimes referred to, actually do and what is made up of? Quite simply, a PA System addresses the public – more specifically in the form of sonic waves, or sound. This is a simple concept that most people can understand and accept. Simplified further, you stand in front of a pair of speakers and listen to the sound coming out of them.

Another way to describe it is that it amplifies a source and outputs it via a much louder signal to noise ratio.

PA Systems are typified through their use for speech, which can be found in various institutions and public buildings or for live music found in theatres, music venues and also open spaces such as music festivals.

A PA System is made up of a few different parts. Firstly, there will be some sort of input device, whether it is one, two or more microphones, a CD player, laptop, iPod/MP3 Player or an instrument – a keyboard or electric guitar, for example. These inputs are then transferred via a cable as an electronic signal.

Once you have your various inputs, these are mixed together – usually with a Sound Mixing Desk or Console and they are routed to a pair of Stereo Outputs – made up of Left and Right. These two signals are then transmitted along signal cables to an Amplifier, which drives the Speakers. The stereo signal is then output to the speakers along the cables and to the drivers, horns and tweeters which make up the parts inside the speakers, which in turn create pressure waves across the space outputting sweet, sweet sound and music to your ears.

Some of this you might already know and is quite straightforward, but as I continue through the article, it is important to distinguish between the different parts that make up a PA System – it really helps to know which piece of equipment is intended for which application.

PA Systems can get much more complicated as the size of each event grows however the basic system remains the same. There is the addition of more speakers and amplifiers (such as a monitor system) and of course the larger bands or musicals can take up a lot more to mix and of course there is a lot more to add in terms of extra sound processing equipment such as compressors, gates and equalisers.

Part Two – Signal Flow, Microphones and Line Level Input

In this part I’ll be discussing signal flow – this is the direction that sound usually flows along a signal line. From source, along a cable, through a mixer, into the amplifier and out to the speakers. I’ll break down and look over the different parts along the way and how these should be used.

A common place to start with signal flow is the microphone. A microphone converts sound into an electrical signal. It is a piece of mounted disk which vibrates as sound waves hit it. The signal is a make-up of how much the disk vibrates which transfers this amount into an electrical signal. There are different types of microphone – Dynamic, Condenser and Ribbon, and each one works in a slightly different way, but work around the same principal.

Tip: For the best possible use of a microphone (generally speaking) the closer it is to the source the better. Having a person stand 3 metres away from a dynamic microphone is pretty much useless.

Another place where the source starts is a line level input. I’m referring to an instrument that has a direct input into a mixer (rather than via a mic), such as a keyboard, acoustic guitar or other electronic instrument. Other line level inputs are items such as a CD or DVD player, or Laptop, iPod or MP3 Player. They work in the same way that they submit an electronic signal, usually analogue. Instruments are usually connected via Direct Injection (DI) Box, which matches the level of the instrument to the Pre-Amplifier (Pre-amp) on the mixer to minimise noise and distortion

Once your source has been converted into a signal, it commonly travels along a balanced or unbalanced cable – an XLR or Jack cable is the most common. The cable then plugs into a Pre-Amp, which is part of a channel strip on a mixer. The Pre-amp converts the signal into a level for further processing. This is the next step in the chain.

On your mixer, the first controller knob will be the ‘Gain’ – found at the top of the channel strip – increments are in decibels. The best way to describe Gain is as a gate – you control the amount of level, or noise, coming into the channel. Obviously, for a small sound you’ll need to adjust the gain setting (or “open the gate”) quite a lot, and vice versa for a large sound. Line level inputs usually have a constant high level for which you won’t need to adjust the gain very much at all.

To get the best Gain setting for the mix, you want to be aiming for an input level of around -18db, (depending on your desk) – this is where it is ‘clipping’ the yellow led indicators. To view these on your mixer, you usually have to select the Pre-Fade Listen button, or PFL and they can be found to the right above the Master Output.

Tip: After you’ve set your and are happy with the Gain – don’t touch it again (unless you really need to!) This will cause more problems if you begin adjusting it. If you’re not getting enough level, go back down the chain towards the source and see why – there are other parameters to adjust.

Once you’ve set your Gain (for a more comprehensive and detailed article on gain structure click here http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr98/articles/gainstructure.html) and are happy with it, the next basic step on the mixer channel is the Equaliser – or EQ.

The EQ is the main “brain” in adjusting the sound to make it sound as best as possible. The most common is 3-band EQ, found on Analogue desks, which makes up of a High, Middle and Low – this can be easily compared to settings on a hi-fi amplifier (Bass and Treble). Each EQ controller adjusts the frequencies according to that band – use them to Cut or Boost the signal at that frequency. So if you’re input, be it a vocalist or guitar, is sounding “tinny” or high, you might want to cut the High band. The same goes for it’s sounding very “boomy” or low.

Here’s a great tip for a good mix: For any instrument or vocals that isn’t providing bass, cut the Low band almost completely – this will help to alleviate any “popping” or “booming” that might come from it. I do this cut, or place a High Pass Filter (filtering out everything very low) on almost everything that I mix, apart from Bass Guitar, Kick or the Left/Low end of a Piano/Keyboard.

Once you’ve played around with the EQ settings and are happy with it, you can then adjust the Pan setting if you need to. Adjusting the Pan is changing the signal to the left or to the right outputs. This is usually kept in the centre so that both Left and Right are outputting equally – apart from Stereo inputs, such as a Keyboard – in which case you should split the Pan to Left and Right for their corresponding channels.

There are many variables when working through signal flow – it can get quite complicated. However, it is designed so that you have the most control possible over the sound inputs – this is a clue for you to use as much as necessary so that you get a great sound – take advantage!

Part Three – Getting a great mix.

So your band is all plugged in and you’ve set input levels set on the gain so that everything is coming in at a similar level. You’ve EQ’d it so that the best sound possible is coming from each instrument and in your headphones they’re sounding great. So what next? The mix!

The first thing to do is set your Master Fader – found on the left of the desk and it’s the main one which controls the whole output of all of the inputs – usually either Yellow or Red. Best practice is to take this up to 0db and it’s what I aim for every time I create a mix. If setting it to 0db is too loud, then it’s probably because your Amplifier levels are set too high. The reason why I take it to 0db, is because this gives you the most amount of adjustment on each of the parameters i.e. you can make a change and really notice the difference. It gives you far more control over your mix than if you’re outputting at a very low level.

So you’ve set your Master Fader to 0db, leave it there. Next you can start bringing in the band. The best place to start is the drums and bass instruments as this gives a good base setting to add the other instruments and vocals over the top. Again, you want to be aiming to hit roughly 0db for each fader.

Bringing each fader up one by one, you should start to get a good picture (of the sound – yes that’s right, sound can be visual!) of your mix. Get your band to keep playing and make any necessary adjustments and you’re there. You’re mixing all of the inputs, it’s sounding great and you can be pleased with that. Don’t stop making adjustments until you’re entirely happy with the mix.

The advance stages from this is adding Compression, using Gates and of course, setting a monitor mix. Monitors are most important for anything live and it’s important to learn this craft too once you start doing more.

Keep practicing and doing and familiarising yourself with all of the equipment that you use – the better you know it, the better you’ll become and before you know it, you’ll mixing on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Gpslighting#p/u/2/ZX_VoeG6A0c

Gabriel

Lighting for the stage

The following article is intended to give you an overview on how to approach a design when Lighting for The Stage with an assumption that you already have a basic idea of how to light a show. To do this, I will look at common mistakes that a lot of Lighting Designers make and then discuss the solution to this – thus showing you how to use light in the correct way to then create a great lighting design for the stage.

Over the article, we’ll look at 3 different parts.

1. Misuse of Colour
2. Timing
3. Misuse of Fixtures

Part 1 – Misuse of Colour

Over a number of years when seeing and researching other people’s designs for the stage, I have found one of the biggest mistakes a Lighting Designer can make is their choice and use of colour.

When designing and planning your show the use of colour can influence the audience in ways you wouldn’t believe. But when used wrongly, it can make your lighting have no effect on the audience, or worse, the opposite effect.

Rather than going into the technical aspect of what colour is, and how the eye sees it, I’m going to keep it simple and firstly, take time to look at our surroundings. For example, what colour makes you feel calm and perhaps even happy? Would that be a light blue? Perhaps the colour of the sky on a warm and pleasant summer’s day? What makes you feel anxious and dramatic in life – the sight of blood perhaps?  Quite often, these colours are affecting you without you even thinking about it.

Now how about the idea that you, as a lighting designer, could make an audience feel comfortable or anxious? That’s what colour can do when used correctly in any staged piece.

Use colour to influence feeling.

Changing Intensity

Here’s something else to think about: take your standard fixture in your rig to 100% of its brightness. What colour is it? White?

Now dim it to 30% of its brightness – what colour is it now? Certainly not white.

So what’s happening to your colours when you dim your lights down?

They are changing colour.

This can be used to your advantage. For instance, one of my favourite colours is L202(manufactured by Lee Filters), a common colour used in theatre lighting, but its properties change drastically when dimmed down. So much so, that you can light warm scenes with the fixture at 50% and cooler scenes with the fixture at full. Imagine what’s happening to your magenta, or blue, or red, when you dim your lights down.

It’s very hard to predict what intensity your lamps will be at every stage of the show, and even harder to sample every gel colour at every level of intensity, but if you keep this in mind, you will start seeing results.

Play with the intensity of light to create different colours.

Colouring Surfaces

Something else to consider is the lighting of surfaces and how they are manipulated by colour. Colour reflects off surfaces, and our eyes see that reflection. However, red light will only reflect off the red tints or sections of the surface. And it’s the same with the other primary colours in light, Green and Blue.

If you take your Red surface and shine a Blue light onto it, what happens? Your surface doesn’t light up, it stays dark.

Now take a surface with a mixed colour, like Orange for example. That surface has a lot of Green in it, and a lot of Red, that’s what makes the mixture. So shining a blue light onto it won’t illuminate the surface.

Now let’s look at a human face. What colour is it? For the moment, I’ll use a white male as an example -the colour is a warm shade, a light orange perhaps. What light would create most effect on the face? A good mixture of Red and Green right? Not a blue, or a Green on its own.

Personally, when designing my events, I don’t like to light the face in anything that plays with the colour spectrum too much, as one starts picking out the green and red from the face, and it doesn’t light a performer in the best possible way. It would be my choice to use more open colours – such as an L442 for a warm frontlight, or an L203 for a cooler frontlight.

It’s the same with Costumes – if you have done some research, then take a look at the colours of the costumes before planning your colours to get the most reflection out of the costumes. You are aiming to highlight the colours in the costumes, but not reflect the colours in the face. A tricky job, but it comes with making mistakes and then correcting them.

Use the right colours for reflecting the surfaces.

A colourful confrontation

Have a look HERE at the Lee Filters colour picker for some more ideas on colour.

Part 2 – Timing.

You’re watching a hero die as part of a hard hitting drama. The colours are all correct, making you feel uneasy, the lighting has homed in on the scene taking place centre stage, and you are mesmerized by what’s going to happen next. Hooked.

Suddenly a light pops up somewhere else on the stage as someone enters and walks down to the scene. This light came up so quickly that it distracted you from the intimate scene you are watching, therefore killing the suspense.

Timing is a very important tool a designer can have to make an audience feel a certain way.

Have you ever noticed that you directly affect the audience’s applause with lighting?

What happens to their applause when you turn off the houselights? They stop.

And what about after a hard-hitting scene? A very slow fade would stop them from applauding or perhaps even laughing.

You directly affect the audience in ways you may not have realised, and timing is part of that.

Now consider a gobo, rotating at a fast speed in a moving-head fixture, during a scene that’s quite subdued. Does that fit best? Perhaps, but consider timing with gobo rotation and water and fire effects, it really makes a difference.

Use timing to influence mood.

Musical timing for concerts can be slightly different. For instance, one can accentuate a song that’s particularly dragged out or epic at the end. Perhaps a fast moving or flashy state followed by a snap to black. Or static state for that last moment when the performer lands back on the stage after he or she jumped, or the drummer hits that last drum.

This can create a startling snap effect that really excited an audience.

Use timing with music to accentuate.

Part 3 - Misuse of fixtures

Each fixture or lantern, when it was created was designed for a specific purpose. A Cyclorama Wash light was designed to light a Cyclorama, and a Fresnel was originally designed to light the performers on the stage.

What happens when you automate a profile light, or make a Moving Light? You double the uses for its original intention. Not only can the profile light output be positioned in a different place on the stage, but also change colour, shape, beam, and intensity.

So how useful is a light that can do all of that, in a one-man poetry reading? Not very useful at all. But if you put that Moving Light on a musical stage, where you need several specials throughout the performance and need to light the set in particular colours, then it’s incredibly useful.

Use the correct light for the correct application.

Using Mac700 and AlphaBeam Moving Lights as Backlight

So many designers use the latest technologies in ways that don’t do the light justice. This is, in my opinion, one of the most common mistakes a lighting designer can make. Make your design first, and then choose what fixtures will create this design most efficiently.

I hope you enjoyed this article, check back for more like this on Sound and Video.

Please forward this to a friend if you think they could benefit from the information here.

Much light,

Gabriel

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Of course, don’t forget, for new account openings across all our range of equipment, we offer a 20% discount.

So don’t hesitate to get in touch and make the most of this generous offer!

Thanks, the GPSLighting team.