0:06 [Music]
0:08 I just want to say for anyone that has
0:10 come to see me play live before thank
0:12 you very much for coming again [Music]
0:27 [Music]
0:30 this tour is a different almost in every
0:32 single way from previous tools we've
0:33 done you know very much so different
0:36 from what we did as a divide tour so we
0:39 have an audience in a 360 Degrees that
0:41 throws up challenges in lots of ways
0:43 from a production manager's point of
0:46 view it's a huge challenge to to work in
0:48 in 360 Degrees you don't have anywhere
0:50 backstage to hide anything
0:51 um you'll be very very careful how you
0:54 you you load things in and load things
0:56 out for an audio point of view it
0:58 changes everything about the way you
1:00 work I used to work very much with a
1:02 very clear left and right PA system and
1:05 now with the change of the 360 degrees
1:08 there is no obvious left or right and
1:09 the reflections that you get from the
1:11 par coming from all over the place from
1:13 behind you in front of you now which
1:16 never used to be and all around you so
1:18 it has yeah massive massive new
1:21 challenges in in just doing the surround
1:24 sound or the surround 360 concert but
1:26 we've got new challenges as well you
1:27 know Ed then of course needs to move
1:30 around to entertain this crowd it's not
1:32 just Ed standing in one place facing
1:34 forward he needs to get around to his
1:37 crowds there's now multiple loot pedals
1:39 around the around the stage that he has
1:41 to command the same problem happens for
1:43 me with the remote multiple microphone
1:45 positions that they have to deal with
1:47 and Matrix of the console and now this
1:50 time we have a band as well so that has
1:53 brought some fun challenges with it too
1:56 well as you said more immersive approach
2:00 is definitely one thing I think the
2:01 other thing was maximizing the
2:04 visibility of a one-man act essentially
2:07 to as many people as possible and the
2:08 best way to do that is is in the round
2:10 and obviously with as many screens that
2:11 we've got
2:15 it's in a position where the ability to
2:18 produce this show in such a way that it
2:20 is visible to people
2:22 everywhere within the stadium and have
2:24 as many people there
2:27 is certainly one of the major factors
2:30 and also the the visual impact of such a
2:31 big striking design that is something
2:34 that is not sinned before something that
2:36 is obviously very very different and
2:38 very big was the the main draw card I
2:41 think for you know for Mark creating
2:43 something that was visually new and
2:45 different and also something that would
2:47 stand out and be very significant and
2:54 so we're on site at the mathematics tour
2:57 for Ed Sheeran so we're in a uh in in
2:59 the round now so we're not doing the
3:01 traditional end on show so we've got six
3:03 masks that hold the entire show up uh in
3:06 the middle we've got the Halo which is
3:09 uh predominantly the main video surface
3:12 for the show and within the Halo we've
3:15 got a whole lot of it and percios that
3:17 uh provide a bit of lighting above stage
3:19 and they're on
3:23 Kinesis posts that on chandeliers with
3:26 skeptron strips as well which we run
3:32 so we're at one of the masts here uh The
3:35 Masks obviously act as the structure
3:38 that holds up all of the lights uh for
3:42 the show we've got the airton Domino LT
3:44 and we've got the glp xdc
3:48 strobes inside the mask we've also got Astera
3:50 Astera
3:52 ax9 architectural lights that do a bit
3:55 of lighting on the internal structure
3:58 and each of the masks acts as a stage
4:03 position for the band who play for some
4:05 of the uh set of the show on the stage
4:09 we've also got some floor lights we've
4:12 got the ants and persios and we've also
4:16 got some um estera ax250s as Footlights
4:19 for the band members
4:22 on the main stage we've got uh airton
4:24 cobras the Laser Source fixtures around
4:26 the front edge of the stage
4:29 uh underneath the edge of the Halo there
4:34 we've got uh the airton pershios uh the
4:36 proposio spots and on the chandeliers
4:38 which you can see hanging in the middle
4:42 we've got more airton persio spots with skeptron
4:43 skeptron
4:46 video strips which we run video content
4:49 through and we've also got some of the
4:52 GOP xdcs up on the top there as well to
4:54 provide a bit of color onto the stage [Music]
5:02 the stage obviously is to draw the focus
5:03 of the show into the center point which
5:06 is where Ed Ed's domain is is on that stage
5:07 stage
5:11 and out on the masts is where we have
5:15 the the main infrastructure and lights
5:18 video screens and all that is out on the
5:20 masts with obviously above him we've got
5:23 the the massive Halo so we're using a
5:26 whole host of domino LTS out on the
5:32 masts on all six masts as well as the
5:34 glp xdcs
5:37 so we're using the full mode for those
5:39 um because they're such a tight beam
5:41 they're able to create quite a an
5:42 architectural look in the way in which
5:44 we focus them on the mask so you can create
5:45 create
5:48 some beamy kind of looks from them but
5:50 they're predominantly
5:53 utilized in a way to try and light the
5:55 the space and the audience because the
5:57 that type beam that you can use to
5:59 really fill
6:02 um the audience and the audience in some
6:03 regard need to become that that
6:05 traditional backdrop or canvas that
6:06 you'd normally get on an end on show
6:08 where you'd have a screen behind the
6:10 artist we don't have that luxury so we
6:12 need to try and light the audience so
6:13 that there's some definition and depth
6:16 behind it from the cameras when they
6:18 capture them so we're using the as well
6:20 as using the Domino LTS obviously is
6:22 effects out and light in the audience
6:24 but we're also using the xdcs to sort of
6:26 get some light out there and obviously
6:28 they've got the the strobe part which we
6:32 can use use and utilize for hits stabs
6:34 and Fizzles and all those little you
6:36 know Pops that you have in the song is
6:38 nearly accents that you have so they're
6:40 quite handy to have those and we've got
6:41 them in full mode so we're using all the
6:43 pixels individually and we can create
6:45 you know a whole a whole host of
6:47 different effects which have been
6:49 programmed by Alex our programmer who
6:52 did a fantastic job of utilizing the um
6:55 the full scope of the xdc and all the
6:58 the pixels that I've got
7:01 we've also got Viet and percios which we
7:05 use predominantly overstage both
7:07 underneath the the Halo the Ring of the
7:10 Halo but also we've got chandeliers that
7:14 are moving on individual hoists we're
7:16 running the show on Grounded May 3 in
7:18 random act 3 mode controlling lighting
7:20 I've got two grand am actually full
7:24 sizes and the video operator has two ma3
7:27 light consoles so he's triggering the
7:28 disguise machines
7:31 and having a few other extra accents
7:33 that he can use to hit so we decided to
7:35 very early on that we're going to take
7:37 the plunge and and run with the version
7:39 3 software is definitely coming along
7:41 and it is he's got some fantastic
7:44 features being able to uh using the the
7:47 grid layouts and things like that
7:50 it's a Time Saver no doubt um
7:51 um
7:55 new phases again being able to easily
7:58 create effects quite simply using steps
8:02 and the step bars is is very very handy
8:03 so we've stepped away from having a
8:04 traditional follow spot system
8:07 previously we had some lat slot 4K
8:10 follow spots but now we're going for a
8:12 much cleaner look so you don't need we
8:14 don't have people climbing up masts
8:16 anymore you don't have you know these
8:18 big heavy bulky fixtures anymore you've
8:21 now got the same fixture as the rest of
8:24 the rig and we're able to control them
8:26 and have them
8:29 remotely operated out the backings in
8:30 some instances it can be hundreds of
8:33 meters away we can have the operators
8:35 away and operating the follow spot
8:38 system using follow me and we have one
8:40 target that follows Ed the entire time
8:43 and attach that one target we have one
8:45 fixture from each mask so it's got he's
8:49 lit from all six masts so he's always
8:51 lit at all times for people with both in
8:54 the audience but also he's lit for
8:56 camera so he's captured by the iMac
8:58 because it's important that in such a
9:00 big show with people so far away that he
9:03 is both lit visually and visible in the
9:05 room but also we need to make sure that
9:07 he is lit for camera so that we can put
9:10 his image up onto the image screens and
9:11 into the content and make sure that he
9:13 is always visible because people come
9:15 and see that one man and it's imperative
9:21 there are more problems and more
9:23 difficulties with being in the round
9:27 when you you think of of tuning a PA
9:30 system when people tune a PSV generally
9:32 tune to a central point so you kind of
9:34 go there's the center everything times
9:36 and focuses from that point the same
9:38 happens with in the round but you've got
9:41 so much more so many more speakers and
9:42 so many more sources all focusing on
9:44 that point that point being the middle
9:46 spot which has a microphone and an
9:49 acoustic guitar means that even more
9:51 than ever did before every bit of it
9:53 wants to feedback and cause you and
9:55 cause you trouble so it's actually it's
9:57 been a lot harder to do in the round
9:59 than it was end on my experience with
10:01 the with the panther that thus far have
10:04 been fantastic I've been very very very
10:07 pleased with what it can produce how
10:09 even the coverage is how far it can
10:10 throw people have asked me to compare it
10:12 to speaker systems I've used in the past
10:14 and I cannot make that comparison it's
10:17 I've never done at all in the round like
10:19 this the circumstances are so unique
10:21 that it would be on unfair to compare
10:23 compare products but
10:27 absolutely the panther was a box that
10:29 was that was kind of designed to fit the
10:31 criteria that we have on this tour we
10:33 needed a lightweight box the whole the
10:37 whole cable net system is designed to to
10:40 only take a minimum amount of weight and
10:41 so we needed a lightweight speaker box
10:44 we needed it all to be powered we wanted
10:45 the minimum amount of cable
10:48 infrastructure so we ended up with a you
10:50 know digital to the box so there are an
10:53 awful lot of the elements of of panthers
10:56 that fitted directly into what we needed
10:58 for for this show and there currently
11:00 isn't another speaker that would fit
11:06 from a practical standpoint Panther is
11:09 really the only only speaker that we
11:11 could use to do the the job as for the
11:14 inner arrays one of the big motivators
11:17 for approaching uh John Meyer and the
11:20 Maya team uh early on was that the
11:22 weight loading in the in the center of
11:24 the stage with along with the video
11:27 screen there was a really difficult
11:29 engineering challenge all of that is
11:33 suspended on steel cables and
11:35 um and it has to be counterbalanced by
11:38 uh ballast that is elsewhere positioned
11:40 elsewhere in the structure or else it it
11:41 will fall down we're using a panther
11:44 line array system being implemented
11:48 really throughout the the structure in
11:50 combination with some 1100 LLC
11:52 subwoofers to provide the the low
11:56 frequency content and 22 leopard
11:59 small line array speakers that are being
12:02 used as individual boxes for front fill
12:04 around the front of the stage to create
12:07 a sort of consistent coverage for all of
12:10 the crowd the the broad concept is that
12:13 we've got an inner ring of six Panther
12:16 arrays which cover the stadium floor
12:19 um they hang around the uh directly
12:21 above the edge of the stage
12:25 and sort of point at 60 degree intervals
12:28 to each other but there's three 1100 LFC
12:30 sub-based speakers directly below each
12:33 array each Panther array their phase
12:36 aligned together so that on the floor
12:38 you've got full range content from the
12:40 Panther and the low frequency content as
12:43 one full frequency element moving away
12:46 from the inner ring of Panther we move
12:49 out 30 meters and you come to all of the
12:54 the masts of the of the structure and on
12:56 every Mast we've all we've then got more
13:00 hangers of Panther and 1100 flown Subs
13:04 the idea being that as you come as an
13:06 audience member off the floor you
13:08 transition out of the inner ring of
13:10 speakers and into the outer ring of
13:12 speakers which then take the coverage
13:14 from the edge of the floor up through
13:16 the the stands and up into the height is
13:18 of every venue there's a slight
13:21 difference in that the outer outer razor
13:23 eight hangs of Panther to create enough
13:26 horizontal coverage to cover all all 360
13:29 degrees of the stadium and as I've mentioned
13:30 mentioned
13:35 each Mast has 1100 flown Subs which are
13:38 phase aligned to the to the panther
13:40 on these troughs that run around the
13:43 stage here we've got a whole lot of
13:46 Astera ax250s we've got some on on the
13:48 inner side here and some on the outer
13:51 that basically provide a bit of
13:54 footlight for Ed on the revolve of the
13:55 stage this revolve goes the full
13:58 perimeter of the circular stage and it
14:00 provides a bit of eye candy for the
14:02 audience members up in the stands it
14:04 also provides us the ability to lighten
14:07 from the feet and sort of eliminate any
14:10 of the spill of light that we get from
14:12 the the Floor video screen we've got all
14:15 of Ed's lifts over here these lifts go
14:19 up and provide a riser for Ed on stage
14:22 but they also come down and provide an
14:25 exit to under stage for uh for Ed so he
14:27 can get off stage and they also provide
14:29 a means of
14:31 Trev the guitar tape being able to get
14:38 I'm David White I work for Ed Sheeran as
14:41 his Looper and RF Tech so basically from
14:43 from last time we've kept everything
14:46 pretty much the same in terms of the way
14:48 the system works but we've now got
14:51 multiple Loop pedals on stage so in
14:52 terms of the actual brains of the
14:53 operation we're still running a
14:55 redundant system
14:57 um that works together but then is also
15:00 wirelessly transmitted around the stage
15:02 to uh four revolving pedals and one
15:05 Central pedal so we've got backup
15:07 redundancies there and redundancies on
15:08 the pedals and it allows um Ed to be
15:10 able to move around the stage and just
15:12 be a bit more free for a 360 environment
15:15 so he's got five Loop pedals on stage
15:18 which are all all synced up together so
15:20 what happens on one is instantly
15:22 transmitted across to the other of which
15:25 they are eight channel Looper so you can
15:28 select a channel record over dub you can
15:31 then also mute each Channel along with
15:34 each Loop pedal round you also have a
15:36 tuner system as well so he can also tune
15:39 guitars and mute guitars and yeah
15:41 there's five of those stations on stage
15:43 the show is completely out there in the
15:45 open is the fact that everything on
15:48 stage is IP rated so fully waterproof so
15:50 that all the pedals can get as wet as
15:51 they like and we've made a he's got a
15:54 small keyboard to play some samples uh
15:56 so we've got a little rain cover we've
15:58 made for that in terms of Ableton under here
15:59 here
16:01 um the Looper is actually a custom
16:04 written bit of software that sits and
16:06 hosted inside Ableton and we've got two
16:08 sessions of that running at the same
16:10 time so everything that happens on one
16:13 is duplicated on the other so should a
16:15 computer fail which computers do we can
16:18 instantly switch over and as far as Ed
16:19 and the audience are concerned nothing's
16:22 gone wrong and then we can reboot the
16:25 system and switch back to a machine if
16:28 we need to so Ed's using uh Sennheiser
16:32 6000 series we use uh the 6000 handhelds
16:35 with a 435 capsule for his vocals and
16:39 then a 945 capsule for his Loop mic
16:41 um because he tends to do beatboxing and
16:43 stuff so to have an extra Grill really
16:46 helps with the close contact on that and
16:49 then we have the new 6000 micro belt
16:52 packs which we've adapted for as guitars
16:54 so they're smaller and lightweight and
16:56 they fit on the straps easier and we've
16:58 got five of those in circulation for
17:00 this show to be able to do all of his
17:03 guitars and guitar changes and backups
17:04 of course
17:06 been mixed with a sd7 for quite a few
17:08 years now
17:11 using it to a bit more of its potential
17:13 now that we have the band I still do the
17:15 monitoring from front of house but it
17:19 also now integrated the the clang system
17:21 and we don't use that so much for the
17:24 immersive audio system we use it more
17:26 for the the monitoring
17:28 controller that they have so that the
17:31 band could have individual controls
17:34 that was the initial concept
17:35 um very quickly it turned out the band
17:37 were very happy after rehearsals and
17:38 those controllers weren't required but
17:40 we did start to work with the spatial
17:42 elements of clang that has now actually
17:44 become quite important to the band an
17:46 edge in terms of how they they hear
17:49 everything in their their in ears
17:51 um there's very little else that's
17:53 changed for me I've stuck very much with
17:55 all the technologies that I've enjoyed
17:57 in the past I don't use any plugins that
18:01 use any plugins at all I use uh what is
18:04 on the console to a great extent are you
18:07 sort of dynamic EQ and I use a lot of
18:11 compression uh yes they use Gates an
18:12 awful lot
18:16 as before with with Edge looping it was
18:18 if everything goes exactly as it should
18:21 there really isn't much to change or or
18:24 adapt but things do change because Ed
18:26 will smack the guitar a little harder or
18:29 he'll just start playing a note before
18:30 changing the loop so a gate needs to get
18:32 introduced or compression to get
18:34 introduced to prevent that effect
18:35 because it happens when he's running
18:37 around and Performing whilst playing
18:39 that those those inconsistencies could
18:43 crop up so I'm able to use onboard
18:46 um toys to be able to solve that on the
18:48 upper board side I still carry to procastity
18:50 procastity
18:52 um reverbs one for his voice one for his guitar
18:53 guitar
18:55 a lot of these stadiums they've really
18:57 not been very effective at all the
19:00 stadium has its own natural reverbal
19:02 room sound that you you can't possibly
19:04 hear what the broadcasters are doing but
19:06 every now and then we have the joys of a
19:07 Greenfield site or something like that
19:10 where we can really enjoy those reverbs
19:12 um I haven't even tied
19:14 uh h3000
19:16 um actually I don't anymore have an
19:19 eclipse a smaller version uh that is
19:21 used purely for thickening vocals so in
19:22 Edge building Loops when the backing
19:25 singers of the band are singing it just
19:27 thickens things up to sound like they're
19:29 a fuller full of choir
19:33 um I have ways Max bass which I use over
19:35 the left and right
19:39 um mix I use that for two things it's a
19:41 it's a lovely sounding unit left and
19:44 right just to pass through but also I do
19:46 use the function where I can increase
19:50 the intensity of a frequency so I pick
19:52 somewhere between 40 and 50 hertz and
19:54 I'm able to increase the intensity of
19:56 that that means I can when it comes to
19:57 Ed hitting the guitar and playing that
20:00 way I can use that to dial in the low
20:02 end for those songs and when we have
20:04 gentle acoustic songs I can dial that
20:06 part of the end back out again so it's
20:08 almost like having control of the sub
20:10 bass speakers but just on a unit in
20:13 front of house and really uh those are
20:14 my only toys [Music]
20:17 [Music]
20:19 I'm doing shows
20:25 sound of the crowd when when the lights
20:27 go down and the show starts is something
20:30 that is just is an unbeatable feeling
20:32 when you're part of a production that
20:34 that feeling of being involved
20:36 um and funnily enough is one of the
20:38 things I'd almost forgotten about
20:40 um like I wanted to come back to work I
20:41 wanted to be with people I wanted to do
20:43 the things I love doing
20:44 I hadn't really thought too much about
20:46 the crowd reaction until that first day
20:48 it's incredibly emotional when when that
20:50 you suddenly have that back and the
20:52 adrenaline starts pumping again so it's
20:54 been amazing to get back it's also been
20:56 very difficult to get back
20:58 um you know with the practicalities of
21:01 building the show lack of Supply lack of
21:03 people you know lack of skills people
21:06 and the need to train new people find
21:08 new people has been been very difficult
21:10 and we've discovered it's been very hard
21:11 for the people coming back on the road
21:13 as well whilst the initial Elation of
21:16 being out on the tour was was evident it
21:17 didn't take long for people to start
21:20 struggling and suffering because they
21:22 spent so long at home with with families
21:24 and loved ones that it suddenly becomes
21:27 a huge transition for people is that
21:30 they hadn't really expected so it has been
21:31 been
21:32 there's a kind of a bittersweet it's
21:34 been absolutely amazing to be back but
21:35 it has been quite a challenge at the
21:37 same time [Music]