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Ed Sheeran +-=÷x „Mathematics“-Tour • Behind the Scenes: Lighting Design, PA Sound and FOH Crew Life

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[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

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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YouTube Transcript:Ed Sheeran +-=÷x „Mathematics“-Tour • Behind the Scenes: Lighting Design, PA Sound and FOH Crew Life

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YouTube Transcript:
Ed Sheeran +-=÷x „Mathematics“-Tour • Behind the Scenes: Lighting Design, PA Sound and FOH Crew Life