The long-awaited road show Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew Live, based on the much-acclaimed MTV series, clearly gets its kicks being run entirely on a full-size MA Lighting grandMA console. The theater-to-theater U.S. tour will feature a total of five dance crews culled from the first and second seasons. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor of the grandMA in North America.
Co-designer/programmer/operator Mark Jacobson reports that he's controlling all of the lighting, video and audio playback from grandMA. The video and audio, he says, are on a Green Hippo Hippotizer and "needed to be sync'd without timecode. All of the video for the dance routines," he adds, "was edited along to the music, and some of the songs have intros that involve speaking on-camera, so it has to be in sync."
He continues: "The sound people have a console for levels from my playback, a couple of announcer mics, and a feed from the DJ who plays before the show and during intermission." Jacobson insists he can't think of any unit, other than grandMA, that he would entrust with that much responsibility.
The MA Lighting grandMA console provides immediate, much-sought-out solutions for concert tours, musical events, theaters, clubs, television, amusement parks or cruise ships. It can control moving lights, conventional lights, and effects, as well as LEDs and video, even when working in real time with maximum channel count. The grandMA full-size affords a flexible, ergonomically pleasing programming and operating environment. In addition, it is capable of controlling huge numbers of devices simultaneously.
Jacobson points out that what was unique about the show, besides grandMA's total control, was that it was "high-energy, like nothing I've worked on before. There are always dancers performing at concerts, but in this case, it's only the dancers up on stage."
Jacobson relies on grandMA's precision expertise time and time again. He attests that he wouldn't have allowed any other console to be used on the 2008 Dance Crew tour. "With grandMA, I feel confident every night. And, tour after tour, it's all I've spec'd for the last seven years!" All the lighting equipment was provided by BML.
Butch Allen was the codesigner on the project.
"Mark (Junior) is a very talented and experienced grandMA programmer. He has done several major concert tours over the past eight years with the grandMA and various media servers. Not many people could have done what Junior has done on this one. It sounds like fun and I look forward to seeing it," comments A.C.T Lighting President and CEO, Bob Gordon.
About A.C.T. Lighting
A leading importer and distributor of lighting products, A.C.T. Lighting, Inc. strives to identify future trends and cutting-edge products, and stock, sell and support their inventory. The company provides superior customer service and value for money to all of its clients. For more information call 818-707-0884 or visit www.actlighting.com.