[Music]
I just want to say for anyone that has
come to see me play live before thank
you very much for coming again [Music]
[Music]
this tour is a different almost in every
single way from previous tools we've
done you know very much so different
from what we did as a divide tour so we
have an audience in a 360 Degrees that
throws up challenges in lots of ways
from a production manager's point of
view it's a huge challenge to to work in
in 360 Degrees you don't have anywhere
backstage to hide anything
um you'll be very very careful how you
you you load things in and load things
out for an audio point of view it
changes everything about the way you
work I used to work very much with a
very clear left and right PA system and
now with the change of the 360 degrees
there is no obvious left or right and
the reflections that you get from the
par coming from all over the place from
behind you in front of you now which
never used to be and all around you so
it has yeah massive massive new
challenges in in just doing the surround
sound or the surround 360 concert but
we've got new challenges as well you
know Ed then of course needs to move
around to entertain this crowd it's not
just Ed standing in one place facing
forward he needs to get around to his
crowds there's now multiple loot pedals
around the around the stage that he has
to command the same problem happens for
me with the remote multiple microphone
positions that they have to deal with
and Matrix of the console and now this
time we have a band as well so that has
brought some fun challenges with it too
well as you said more immersive approach
is definitely one thing I think the
other thing was maximizing the
visibility of a one-man act essentially
to as many people as possible and the
best way to do that is is in the round
and obviously with as many screens that
we've got
it's in a position where the ability to
produce this show in such a way that it
is visible to people
everywhere within the stadium and have
as many people there
is certainly one of the major factors
and also the the visual impact of such a
big striking design that is something
that is not sinned before something that
is obviously very very different and
very big was the the main draw card I
think for you know for Mark creating
something that was visually new and
different and also something that would
stand out and be very significant and
so we're on site at the mathematics tour
for Ed Sheeran so we're in a uh in in
the round now so we're not doing the
traditional end on show so we've got six
masks that hold the entire show up uh in
the middle we've got the Halo which is
uh predominantly the main video surface
for the show and within the Halo we've
got a whole lot of it and percios that
uh provide a bit of lighting above stage
and they're on
Kinesis posts that on chandeliers with
skeptron strips as well which we run
so we're at one of the masts here uh The
Masks obviously act as the structure
that holds up all of the lights uh for
the show we've got the airton Domino LT
and we've got the glp xdc
strobes inside the mask we've also got Astera
Astera
ax9 architectural lights that do a bit
of lighting on the internal structure
and each of the masks acts as a stage
position for the band who play for some
of the uh set of the show on the stage
we've also got some floor lights we've
got the ants and persios and we've also
got some um estera ax250s as Footlights
for the band members
on the main stage we've got uh airton
cobras the Laser Source fixtures around
the front edge of the stage
uh underneath the edge of the Halo there
we've got uh the airton pershios uh the
proposio spots and on the chandeliers
which you can see hanging in the middle
we've got more airton persio spots with skeptron
skeptron
video strips which we run video content
through and we've also got some of the
GOP xdcs up on the top there as well to
provide a bit of color onto the stage [Music]
the stage obviously is to draw the focus
of the show into the center point which
is where Ed Ed's domain is is on that stage
stage
and out on the masts is where we have
the the main infrastructure and lights
video screens and all that is out on the
masts with obviously above him we've got
the the massive Halo so we're using a
whole host of domino LTS out on the
masts on all six masts as well as the
glp xdcs
so we're using the full mode for those
um because they're such a tight beam
they're able to create quite a an
architectural look in the way in which
we focus them on the mask so you can create
create
some beamy kind of looks from them but
they're predominantly
utilized in a way to try and light the
the space and the audience because the
that type beam that you can use to
really fill
um the audience and the audience in some
regard need to become that that
traditional backdrop or canvas that
you'd normally get on an end on show
where you'd have a screen behind the
artist we don't have that luxury so we
need to try and light the audience so
that there's some definition and depth
behind it from the cameras when they
capture them so we're using the as well
as using the Domino LTS obviously is
effects out and light in the audience
but we're also using the xdcs to sort of
get some light out there and obviously
they've got the the strobe part which we
can use use and utilize for hits stabs
and Fizzles and all those little you
know Pops that you have in the song is
nearly accents that you have so they're
quite handy to have those and we've got
them in full mode so we're using all the
pixels individually and we can create
you know a whole a whole host of
different effects which have been
programmed by Alex our programmer who
did a fantastic job of utilizing the um
the full scope of the xdc and all the
the pixels that I've got
we've also got Viet and percios which we
use predominantly overstage both
underneath the the Halo the Ring of the
Halo but also we've got chandeliers that
are moving on individual hoists we're
running the show on Grounded May 3 in
random act 3 mode controlling lighting
I've got two grand am actually full
sizes and the video operator has two ma3
light consoles so he's triggering the
disguise machines
and having a few other extra accents
that he can use to hit so we decided to
very early on that we're going to take
the plunge and and run with the version
3 software is definitely coming along
and it is he's got some fantastic
features being able to uh using the the
grid layouts and things like that
it's a Time Saver no doubt um
um
new phases again being able to easily
create effects quite simply using steps
and the step bars is is very very handy
so we've stepped away from having a
traditional follow spot system
previously we had some lat slot 4K
follow spots but now we're going for a
much cleaner look so you don't need we
don't have people climbing up masts
anymore you don't have you know these
big heavy bulky fixtures anymore you've
now got the same fixture as the rest of
the rig and we're able to control them
and have them
remotely operated out the backings in
some instances it can be hundreds of
meters away we can have the operators
away and operating the follow spot
system using follow me and we have one
target that follows Ed the entire time
and attach that one target we have one
fixture from each mask so it's got he's
lit from all six masts so he's always
lit at all times for people with both in
the audience but also he's lit for
camera so he's captured by the iMac
because it's important that in such a
big show with people so far away that he
is both lit visually and visible in the
room but also we need to make sure that
he is lit for camera so that we can put
his image up onto the image screens and
into the content and make sure that he
is always visible because people come
and see that one man and it's imperative
there are more problems and more
difficulties with being in the round
when you you think of of tuning a PA
system when people tune a PSV generally
tune to a central point so you kind of
go there's the center everything times
and focuses from that point the same
happens with in the round but you've got
so much more so many more speakers and
so many more sources all focusing on
that point that point being the middle
spot which has a microphone and an
acoustic guitar means that even more
than ever did before every bit of it
wants to feedback and cause you and
cause you trouble so it's actually it's
been a lot harder to do in the round
than it was end on my experience with
the with the panther that thus far have
been fantastic I've been very very very
pleased with what it can produce how
even the coverage is how far it can
throw people have asked me to compare it
to speaker systems I've used in the past
and I cannot make that comparison it's
I've never done at all in the round like
this the circumstances are so unique
that it would be on unfair to compare
compare products but
absolutely the panther was a box that
was that was kind of designed to fit the
criteria that we have on this tour we
needed a lightweight box the whole the
whole cable net system is designed to to
only take a minimum amount of weight and
so we needed a lightweight speaker box
we needed it all to be powered we wanted
the minimum amount of cable
infrastructure so we ended up with a you
know digital to the box so there are an
awful lot of the elements of of panthers
that fitted directly into what we needed
for for this show and there currently
isn't another speaker that would fit
from a practical standpoint Panther is
really the only only speaker that we
could use to do the the job as for the
inner arrays one of the big motivators
for approaching uh John Meyer and the
Maya team uh early on was that the
weight loading in the in the center of
the stage with along with the video
screen there was a really difficult
engineering challenge all of that is
suspended on steel cables and
um and it has to be counterbalanced by
uh ballast that is elsewhere positioned
elsewhere in the structure or else it it
will fall down we're using a panther
line array system being implemented
really throughout the the structure in
combination with some 1100 LLC
subwoofers to provide the the low
frequency content and 22 leopard
small line array speakers that are being
used as individual boxes for front fill
around the front of the stage to create
a sort of consistent coverage for all of
the crowd the the broad concept is that
we've got an inner ring of six Panther
arrays which cover the stadium floor
um they hang around the uh directly
above the edge of the stage
and sort of point at 60 degree intervals
to each other but there's three 1100 LFC
sub-based speakers directly below each
array each Panther array their phase
aligned together so that on the floor
you've got full range content from the
Panther and the low frequency content as
one full frequency element moving away
from the inner ring of Panther we move
out 30 meters and you come to all of the
the masts of the of the structure and on
every Mast we've all we've then got more
hangers of Panther and 1100 flown Subs
the idea being that as you come as an
audience member off the floor you
transition out of the inner ring of
speakers and into the outer ring of
speakers which then take the coverage
from the edge of the floor up through
the the stands and up into the height is
of every venue there's a slight
difference in that the outer outer razor
eight hangs of Panther to create enough
horizontal coverage to cover all all 360
degrees of the stadium and as I've mentioned
mentioned
each Mast has 1100 flown Subs which are
phase aligned to the to the panther
on these troughs that run around the
stage here we've got a whole lot of
Astera ax250s we've got some on on the
inner side here and some on the outer
that basically provide a bit of
footlight for Ed on the revolve of the
stage this revolve goes the full
perimeter of the circular stage and it
provides a bit of eye candy for the
audience members up in the stands it
also provides us the ability to lighten
from the feet and sort of eliminate any
of the spill of light that we get from
the the Floor video screen we've got all
of Ed's lifts over here these lifts go
up and provide a riser for Ed on stage
but they also come down and provide an
exit to under stage for uh for Ed so he
can get off stage and they also provide
a means of
Trev the guitar tape being able to get
I'm David White I work for Ed Sheeran as
his Looper and RF Tech so basically from
from last time we've kept everything
pretty much the same in terms of the way
the system works but we've now got
multiple Loop pedals on stage so in
terms of the actual brains of the
operation we're still running a
redundant system
um that works together but then is also
wirelessly transmitted around the stage
to uh four revolving pedals and one
Central pedal so we've got backup
redundancies there and redundancies on
the pedals and it allows um Ed to be
able to move around the stage and just
be a bit more free for a 360 environment
so he's got five Loop pedals on stage
which are all all synced up together so
what happens on one is instantly
transmitted across to the other of which
they are eight channel Looper so you can
select a channel record over dub you can
then also mute each Channel along with
each Loop pedal round you also have a
tuner system as well so he can also tune
guitars and mute guitars and yeah
there's five of those stations on stage
the show is completely out there in the
open is the fact that everything on
stage is IP rated so fully waterproof so
that all the pedals can get as wet as
they like and we've made a he's got a
small keyboard to play some samples uh
so we've got a little rain cover we've
made for that in terms of Ableton under here
here
um the Looper is actually a custom
written bit of software that sits and
hosted inside Ableton and we've got two
sessions of that running at the same
time so everything that happens on one
is duplicated on the other so should a
computer fail which computers do we can
instantly switch over and as far as Ed
and the audience are concerned nothing's
gone wrong and then we can reboot the
system and switch back to a machine if
we need to so Ed's using uh Sennheiser
6000 series we use uh the 6000 handhelds
with a 435 capsule for his vocals and
then a 945 capsule for his Loop mic
um because he tends to do beatboxing and
stuff so to have an extra Grill really
helps with the close contact on that and
then we have the new 6000 micro belt
packs which we've adapted for as guitars
so they're smaller and lightweight and
they fit on the straps easier and we've
got five of those in circulation for
this show to be able to do all of his
guitars and guitar changes and backups
of course
been mixed with a sd7 for quite a few
years now
using it to a bit more of its potential
now that we have the band I still do the
monitoring from front of house but it
also now integrated the the clang system
and we don't use that so much for the
immersive audio system we use it more
for the the monitoring
controller that they have so that the
band could have individual controls
that was the initial concept
um very quickly it turned out the band
were very happy after rehearsals and
those controllers weren't required but
we did start to work with the spatial
elements of clang that has now actually
become quite important to the band an
edge in terms of how they they hear
everything in their their in ears
um there's very little else that's
changed for me I've stuck very much with
all the technologies that I've enjoyed
in the past I don't use any plugins that
use any plugins at all I use uh what is
on the console to a great extent are you
sort of dynamic EQ and I use a lot of
compression uh yes they use Gates an
awful lot
as before with with Edge looping it was
if everything goes exactly as it should
there really isn't much to change or or
adapt but things do change because Ed
will smack the guitar a little harder or
he'll just start playing a note before
changing the loop so a gate needs to get
introduced or compression to get
introduced to prevent that effect
because it happens when he's running
around and Performing whilst playing
that those those inconsistencies could
crop up so I'm able to use onboard
um toys to be able to solve that on the
upper board side I still carry to procastity
procastity
um reverbs one for his voice one for his guitar
guitar
a lot of these stadiums they've really
not been very effective at all the
stadium has its own natural reverbal
room sound that you you can't possibly
hear what the broadcasters are doing but
every now and then we have the joys of a
Greenfield site or something like that
where we can really enjoy those reverbs
um I haven't even tied
uh h3000
um actually I don't anymore have an
eclipse a smaller version uh that is
used purely for thickening vocals so in
Edge building Loops when the backing
singers of the band are singing it just
thickens things up to sound like they're
a fuller full of choir
um I have ways Max bass which I use over
the left and right
um mix I use that for two things it's a
it's a lovely sounding unit left and
right just to pass through but also I do
use the function where I can increase
the intensity of a frequency so I pick
somewhere between 40 and 50 hertz and
I'm able to increase the intensity of
that that means I can when it comes to
Ed hitting the guitar and playing that
way I can use that to dial in the low
end for those songs and when we have
gentle acoustic songs I can dial that
part of the end back out again so it's
almost like having control of the sub
bass speakers but just on a unit in
front of house and really uh those are
my only toys [Music]
[Music]
I'm doing shows
sound of the crowd when when the lights
go down and the show starts is something
that is just is an unbeatable feeling
when you're part of a production that
that feeling of being involved
um and funnily enough is one of the
things I'd almost forgotten about
um like I wanted to come back to work I
wanted to be with people I wanted to do
the things I love doing
I hadn't really thought too much about
the crowd reaction until that first day
it's incredibly emotional when when that
you suddenly have that back and the
adrenaline starts pumping again so it's
been amazing to get back it's also been
very difficult to get back
um you know with the practicalities of
building the show lack of Supply lack of
people you know lack of skills people
and the need to train new people find
new people has been been very difficult
and we've discovered it's been very hard
for the people coming back on the road
as well whilst the initial Elation of
being out on the tour was was evident it
didn't take long for people to start
struggling and suffering because they
spent so long at home with with families
and loved ones that it suddenly becomes
a huge transition for people is that
they hadn't really expected so it has been
been
there's a kind of a bittersweet it's
been absolutely amazing to be back but
it has been quite a challenge at the
same time [Music]
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