Techno x 4: grandMA controlled all stages of the Ultra Music Festival
September 6, 2008
You probably wouldn't think of taking your grandmother to the Ultra Music Festival, the annual outdoor concert celebration of the best in techno and electronica from around the globe, but the grandMA console was the unanimous choice of the lighting directors working the two-day spectacular. The Ultra Music Festival marked its 10th anniversary this year showcasing 80 artists on five stages in Miami's Bicentennial Park. Over 50,000 people, many on Spring Break, were expected to attend.
Stephen Lieberman, president of SJ Lighting Inc. in Agoura Hills, California, was lighting director and lighting designer for all the four stages, manning the main stage and coordinating lighting directors for the other stages. He's been involved with the festival for nine years. "I hired a lighting director for each stage, and some artists brought their own lighting directors who came in the day before the show," he explains. "With so many different acts you had to have a system that accommodated everybody's rider. If a band had specific requirements they talked to the guy running the desk and we got them covered."
"We needed a console for each stage and all the lighting directors ordered grandMAs from PRG," Lieberman reports. "When I hire a lighting director want them to use what they know. I've been using the grandMA since 2001."
Lieberman values the grandMA for its "freestylability for programming. You're able to spread out across a desk with as many handles as you have. Its software is fast, the bitmap-effects window is great, and the dimmer effects are wonderful. I have 160 effects, the other programmers come in with their effects and we can share and swap."
He finds the console to be "so powerful - from speed masters to group masters to inhibitive subs. It puts an enormous amount of software and tools at your disposal." In addition, Lieberman likes the grandMA's networking capabilities which keep all the other consoles in harness via a laptop, and the grandMA's full-colour touchscreen which is "easy to see in sunlight and great for outdoor festivals" such as the Ultra Music Festival. In short, "I love it," he says. "And the guys at A.C.T. support me second to none. I can always call them and know they will accommodate me."