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LD Systems Covers All The Bases For Houston Meeting Production coverage by Bruce Jordahl. Event photography courtesy of LD Systems.
Last month around 600 of Shell’s top executives met at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas for a two-day company event billed as Downstream One. Two main sessions were held; day one mixed an intimate cybercafé vibe in General Assembly Hall ‘B’ with various breakout sessions, and the following day pulled out all the stops for a ‘global’ get together held (in the round) in the George W. Bush Ballroom ‘C’. Shell’s creative partner, Bob Sonnen with Rebels and Nickels, hired Texas-based LD Systems (www.ldsystems.com) as their ‘total production’ vendor for this event; the client turns to LD to assist on numerous corporate theatre applications for the oil magnate each year. It is an enviable position for the lighting, sound (and more recently, video) production firm, because the budgets are such that creativity inevitably overrides cost-consciousness, resulting in business meetings that are far above the norm in scale, grandeur and execution. LD Systems’ creative team (including an unprecedented number of gentlemen named Matt) invited TP US behind the oil and gas curtain for an insightful look at the challenges and intricacies of this over-the-top event.
PRODUCTION Heading up the production pack for LD Systems was Matt Ramsey (Matt #1), who served as PM / technical director for both halves of the November event. Ramsey, who admittedly has been interested in moving into more creative roles with their corporate clients, got that opportunity in a big, big way with Downstream One. For all involved on behalf of LD Systems, the gig was treated as two separate events, a philosophy that allowed each to be realized to its greatest potential. For example, the creative spark for the second half of the project came in a ‘global’ flash of brilliance. “It was about 5 o’ clock in the evening, a few weeks before the actual event, when the client called to ask if I could make a 9:00am meeting the following morning,” Matt recalls. “When I showed up he said, ‘Okay ... I need full creative. I don’t want to use traditional screens or Powerpoint® – what do you have for me?’ I threw out some quick ideas and they liked them. Basically, we came up with a 10’ diameter globe with video projection inside. I also talked about hitting it from outside with a new screen-shaping technology. We went across the board with lasers and all sorts of stuff, but ultimately ended up focusing on the video.” “Originally we were going to use projection on the continents,” Matt continues, “because it’s easier to fill up and you have borders. But then we thought, ‘Why not switch the projection to the ocean?’ The background imagery for their video was oceanic ... coral reefs, fish, etc., so it all tied in very nicely.” London-based The Bank were tapped to create the meeting’s video segments. Meeting with the client, Ramsey thoughtfully picked up a small squeeze globe branded with the company’s logo. “I’m thinking, okay ... we can suspend this ten feet above the presenters’ heads, and even project images on it. And instead of the presenters being up on a stage, we build a platform underneath the globe, and have the audience seated auditorium style ‘in the round’ for a more intimate setting. “We kept coming
back to that global theme,” he continues. “Originally,
we were going to use the globe with no video – where you could
see through the earth to the other side, but it ended up as an amazingly
cool covered globe!” Additional scenic treatments included 25’ flats built by Let It Fly, who Matt says also put the vinyl flooring in the ballroom, and provided the scenic for the first day’s session. To match the globe’s aesthetics, LD Systems employed a circular cluster of EAW boxes, rather than the EV line array called for in the original design. “The EV is an awesome sounding PA,” Ramsey enthuses, “and we did use it in the other room – but we went through three audio systems in the big hall – that was pretty crazy! To do that on-site and essentially remain on schedule was an incredible achievement. If it’s on the client’s wish list, it’s in our best interest to produce it. Our client walked in the room and said, ‘I don’t like the look, can we get the globe any higher?’ He came back a few hours later and still didn’t like the look – that’s when our audio crew opted for the EAW’s, which ended up sounding good and looking great.” “A job worth doing is worth doing right,” Ramsey says, “and people remember that – that’s one reason LD Systems stays so busy. We do take care of business, and do it for a great price.” Downstream One not only marked the first Shell gig that LD systems was asked to bring creative as well as gear to the table, they also provided some patented last minute problem-solving mojo. Matt explains, “We’re on-site, and discover one of the video rolls where the audio was leading the video - and there’s no time to go back to production, so what do we do now? Well, we’ve got delay lines on our digital consoles ... and thus we became the hero of the moment!” SGA provided the auditorium style risers and decking. “We had to get the globe, lights and sound up in the air before the decking came in – we were on a definite time crunch. The globe had to be painted on-site, and then put into position and connected – so that SGA had a clean room to work in.” Another winning production
touch was LD’s cutting-edge use of oceanic video footage on
the FogScreen that attendees walked through to enter the Bush Ballroom.
LD imported technician Jusso Liljeroos from Finland for this event.
The new invention makes objects seem to appear and move in thin
air ... basically a screen you can walk through. Created with a
suspensible device, there is no frame around the screen. With two
projectors, different images may be displayed on each side of the
screen.
AUDIO As mentioned, aside from the task of realizing the globe structure, satisfying the client’s visual wish list for the audio system would provide the event’s greatest sonic challenge. Solving this dilemma was up to LD Systems’ Matt LeRoy (Matt #2) and his systems engineer, Matt Sterling (Matt #3). LeRoy, a six-year veteran of LD Systems, spoke with TP US about audio’s big picture in Downstream One. “We had two areas to cover, with specific audio needs for each hall,” he says. “Hall ‘B’ was a fairly straightforward package. We used the Electro-Voice xlc line array for its 120 degree coverage. We were able to put the PA in back of them, but in line with the screens, and it worked perfectly. We didn’t have any issues with feedback or other problems.” The top of the line array boxes trimmed at 28 feet; six xlc’s per side with a single single EAW SB850 sub underneath comprised the PA stacks. Power amps were EV PL3000RL models, made even more utilitarian with their built-in DSP. A pair of EAW 290’s were employed lightly for stage monitoring; once a company personality walked out far enough, they’d hear the main PA system. “We had eight lav’s going on (all via Shure U4 UHF wireless) at one time, migrating from one side to the other in front of the audience, just shy of the pattern coverage,” Matt recalls. “With that many live mic’s, it had the potential to get kind of tricky!” According to LeRoy, Systems Tech Matt Sterling created the files for the PL3000RL’s DSP. “This was one of the first gigs we went without an external processor - an XTA, Lake, Omnidrive or the like. We spent a while the night before with Smaart Live and eq’d the room, looked at how it referenced with the microphones, and we were able to fine tune it for a lot of gain before feedback. You could turn three or four microphones around, head straight for the PA, and not have any hint of feedback.” Even better, further
tweaking of the room’s sonic properties allowed for a comfortable
yet powerful mix level. “It was such a short throw, we set
the room for about 95 db at the FOH position,” LeRoy explains,
“but that’s 95 at the front seat as well, because with
the line array, there’s no loss – that’s the beauty
of the system.” In addition to the lav’s,
male and female speakers used Shure wireless with SM58 capsules.
Matt LeRoy mixed the Hall ‘B’ show on a Yamaha O2R digital
console. “I could push my faders up to unity gain very confidently
– with eight lavaliers downstage - and not have any butterflies
about what was going to launch and when!” Because of Smaart Live, the EV’s DSP parametric capabilities, and the fact the team really did their homework on Hall ‘B’, no heavy equalization was mandated. “The eq was pretty much flat on the console,” Matt adds. “You always want a tool you can grab in case something starts to go on you, but my Klark Teknik DN360 graphic out at front of house remained flat the entire show, due to the work we’d done the night before.” LeRoy’s minimalist rack also included a boutique Cranesong compressor, “just in case,” he confirms. “They’re made by hand, and are incredibly expensive, but man are they are a sweet product!” It was the other side of the gig - the George W. Bush venue - where things got really interesting for Matt and Matt, not because they didn’t have the gear and skills, but because their client had a specific visual approach in mind. In the end they had to go the extra mile for a solution. The original design called for the EV line array that later graced Hall ‘B’. Several revisions later, a circular EAW rig provided the look now desired. LeRoy paints the scenario: “We were in the round, and there’s a 10’ globe flown in the middle of the room, along with 40’, 17’ and 10’ circular trusses - a huge visual! We used 16 EAW 290, EAW 200 and EAW 260 speakers - ten of the 290s on the 40’ truss, and four 200’s and two 260’s on the 17’ truss. We had to get out of the way of the curved screens in the corners. The one thing they didn’t want was speakers hanging down in front – so we had to come up with a system that would keep us right up next to the truss – and still create zones for coverage.” “We had designed the first system for days on end, got it all in, got it up as high as we possibly could and the client didn’t like it visually – he said it’s too big – and we hadn’t even turned it on! We went back to the shop, pulled together an EV X-array system and got four more feet of height going – and again, he said, ‘I don’t like it – it looks big’.
The EAW rig was powered by QSC 4.0’s, and EAW SB600 subs at each seating corner were time aligned to the center of the stage. A Yamaha M2000 served as FOH console, with Lake Contour processing and Klark Teknik equalization rounding out the package. Clearcom was the communications choice in the general assembly room (14 wired stations and four Telex BTR-800 wireless in the general assembly room) while 12 stations of wired were used with four Telex systems in the Bush hall. LeRoy says the gig was an enjoyable joint creative effort with Matt Sterling - “Matt’s a brilliant engineer and has a great set of ears. I can’t sing his praises enough.” VIDEO Perhaps the LD Systems staff member that could most easily boast to have ‘the whole world in his hands’ on this gig was Video Director Duane Wright. To mirror the global feel of the meeting, the video screens used in the ballroom each sported a 45 degree curve, while the globe held three projectors used to display moving images. “We couldn’t do anything too standard with the size and the shape of the windows in the globe,” he laughs. In the Hall ‘B’
area video projected two images on each side with four projectors
stacked on each side of the curve, and lighting helped block in
and frame the video images with High End Systems x.spots. According
to Wright, the continuity between video and lighting on those drops
provided exactly the right vibe, and his multi-output Folsom allowed
any permutation of IMAG on one side and Powerpoint on the other. In Hall ‘B’, video relied on a Sony DFS700 Switchrack eight-in one-out, and two DF50 cameras – one with a 36x sports lens and one with a standard lens for handheld. “We came out of the bay and into the Folsom ScreenPro Plus – which is a 16-in, 4-output seamless graphics switcher,” Duane explains. “All sources went
into the Folsom, and most video sources went into the DSF700, depending
on which screen they needed to appear. We were in a situation where
we needed any input sent to either side of the screen at any time.” In the ballroom they employed another DFS700 switchpack and three Sony D50s – one handheld, and one on each side of the bleachers. “We put a D50 on a dolly at the top of the bleachers on each side, so we could move and follow in the round – giving us 180 degrees of camera shots from each perspective. We also had a hand held down on the floor to get close ups.” To hit the seven screen surfaces (three in the globe, and the four curved screens) Duane used another nine Folsom Screenshapers and a Folsom 1604 ScreenPro+. He explains, “Each output of the ScreenPro got D/A’d to a Screenshaper. We needed a walk-in look and a show look – and during the show we were able to go into the downstream via the Folsom and put their Powerpoint text on top of oceanic video in the background. I thought it might end up looking distracting, but it ended up looking really cool. Jody Lane, our Folsom graphics op, came up with it on the fly. We used different lensing on the projectors; with eight projectors shooting on the four curved screens, we projected a smaller image with a medium throw lens, and a larger image with a shorter throw lens, and blended the two. “This meant we needed a Folsom Screenshaper for each projector in the room. We ended up using a Folsom ImagePro HD to control the globe as its own separate video system. We plugged in another Beta deck for playback, and another laptop - and sent that to another Screenshaper, D/A’ed it, and to the three projectors mounted inside the globe. “Those screen surfaces
were a little trickier,” he concludes, “as they were
trapezoidal – wider at the top – so the warp maps were
a little rougher. But the windows in the globe for the projection
surfaces were actually where the water would be on the earth –
so it was kind of cool with the fish swimming back and forth!”
LIGHTING Unlike video, audio and production management, the lighting designs for this event were particularly unique in that the two halls were handled by separate individuals, and neither named Matt! LD Systems lighting designers
Brent Sanders and Phil Gilbert illuminated Hall ‘B’
and the Bush Ballroom, respectively. The two meetings used similar
tools, but different approaches, and each LD succeeded in putting
a signature stamp on the illumination scheme while remaining true
to their directives and the corporate message. He describes the space
as roughly 100’ wide by 75’ deep, with around 30 feet
of ceiling height. “We kept the trim low,” he says,
“because the projectors were hanging from the same truss,
and we had to accommodate the scalloped video screens.” Brent used ETC Source Four® PARs and Lekos to illuminate foam logo’d setpieces. He also had control of the house lighting, but didn’t use it, opting to let the moving lights reflect off of surfaces and act as ambient lighting. For lighting control, the LD brought a FPS Wholehog II and Wing. “We didn’t really need the Wing – this show was more about changing the environments – not a lot of bump and flash,” he says. A 66’ straight truss helped cable run all the way to the edge of the room; the structure held six High End x.spots, six Studio Colors, a total of 18 ETC Source Four PARs and another twelve 26-degree Source Four Lekos. On the floor, a half-dozen Studio Colors and 12 Source Four PARs took care of set pieces and scenic. On the truss PARs and lekos, Sanders used an alternating CTO / CTB gel scheme. “As a designer, it gives me fuller coverage, and it’s a little more video-friendly,” he offers. LD Systems carries an impressive arsenal of Thomas and TOMCAT trussing, including “everything from 2’ minibeam to 10’ minibeam, and quite a bit of 10’ 20-inch TOMCAT, as well as pre-rigged in black and silver from both manufacturers”. Two Reel EFX DF50s were used to haze the room. Sanders says, “Even though it was a smaller area, the A/C was connected to a larger space, so we basically had to fill up the entire assembly hall!” ETC Sensor dimmer racks and one Motion Lab PD for the movers rounded out the package. “The setting for the event was the ocean ... a wave of change, so I tried to incorporate that theme by getting underwater looks on the walls,” he says. Meanwhile, over the George W. Bush hall, fellow LD Phil Gilbert was making some waves of his own. “I had a bit of experience with in-the-round shows in theatre,” he says, “but for this design I worked with Brent and John – we all put our heads together and gave input on the different rooms.” According to Gilbert, the mission statement for the ballroom was to push aesthetic boundaries. “I think the globe room was an unusual space for a corporate event – they were really trying to break the mold a little bit, and we were given a lot of freedom in how we designed; we got to get a little wild!” This event wasn’t a polar opposite from the Hall ‘B’ meeting, but the two days were very distinct from a lighting perspective; while the general assembly room stressed intimacy - ‘as intimate as you can for 500 people’ - the ballroom meeting served as an energized wrap to the sessions. Phil comments, “It
was an opportunity to emphasize their latest corporate goals, so
it was definitely designed to keep people’s interest, hence
the globe concept and putting it in the round. The client wanted
us to provide house lighting built into our system, so all the lighting
for the audience was provided from our trusses and controlled from
our lighting console.” Gilbert actually dealt with three lighting
systems all living in the trio of circular trusspieces, along with
the floor lighting. House lighting consisted of 32 Source Four PARs
with a frost “to cut down on the glare,” says Phil.
“One of the many reasons for the house lighting is that the
company does archival footage, and want to make sure they get good
light levels – the design of the house lights was to achieve
a blend between comfy house lights where people aren’t being
blinded, but yet pick them up with video cameras. We were running
them at about 80% during Q &A, and about 20% during speeches.” Phil’s third system was automated, with the movers in the air being largely effect driven. “I used four Studio Colors to light the globe. Because of the video screens, it was fairly easy to wash out the globe; we ended up using just enough color to bring out the enamel paint used to color the continents.” He also had eight x.spots hanging in the rig, used for effects on the globe and to add texture and movement, as well as the prerequisite crowd sweeps and some general texturing of the stage and audience. Twenty additional Studio Colors were fixed around the seating perimeter. To provide a tasty environment for video, Phil balanced to the Lee 188 at about 70% on his onstage wash, but once they got into the show, it was pushed to 100%. To control his domain, Phil chose the FPS Whole Hog III; dimming was contained in one 48-channel Sensor rack, and PD for the moving lights was Motion Lab, with Doug Fleenor Design DMX distribution. DF-50’s - used
sparingly - put some atmospherics in the air. For visualization,
“Matt Ramsey was a key influence in the far-out initial design of the room. I used their AutoCAD drawings and measurements, and drew that into WYSIWYG, so I could have a more interactive playground to model my lighting, especially in the round.” Unlike the ever-changing
atmosphere of Hall ‘B’, Phil says they worked on a series
of definitive preset looks for the globe room. “The meeting
itself was dynamic, and we needed dramatic lighting looks to emphasize
that. The video was so key – and it was very important that
we bring all the focus to the screen. They brought in some amazing
footage.” ###
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