What’s Trending, Lighting Console Of Choice: MA Lighting grandMA2

Buskers, programmers, lighting directors, designers: They all have their consoles of choice. Second in our ongoing series, “What’s Trending: Lighting Consoles of Choice,” Zachary Matusow takes the stage to talk about his choice of the MA Lighting grandMA2.

A lighting designer based in Los Angeles, Matusow frequently works in concerts, but also television, theatre, and other areas of live entertainment. Recent tour design credits include 30 Seconds to Mars, Foster the People, Animal Collective, Active Child, and Spoon. With a classical training in theatre and several years spent in the NYC live music scene, Matusow is a busker at heart with his own approach to designing cues.

Read what Matusow has to say for himself:

 

Of all the consoles on which I’m able to wiggle and flash lights, MA Lighting’s grandMA2 is undoubtedly my first request, the singular deciding factor of which is universality. I understand such a statement might discourage some, hearing, “I love a console because it’s everywhere,” but my decision is more complex than one might think.

Prior to being considered “an MA guy,” I was an “Avolites guy.” The Avo Pearl was the first desk I fell in love with and was the vehicle through which I learned about cueing intelligent lights, something I yearned for years, and the Avo made perfect sense to my musical mind. Its elegant simplicity, both in busking and repeated playback, evokes a thrilling sense of creative control that Avo devotees have long appreciated from the company. I took pride in spreading the “Avo love,” as I regularly converted my colleagues’ opinions about the desk, showing its ability to illuminate large productions around the world.

However, the exceeding difficulty to locate the console began to stifle my creative process. Combine that with the haphazard nature of rock ‘n’ roll touring, and even with respectable budgets, at times it became too difficult to get my hands on the desk when I needed it most, except in the UK, of course.

Fast forward to 2013 where I made the switch to MA2, and I haven’t looked back since.

Now, I could write at length extolling the many virtues of the MA platform; however, the universality of the console is the factor that keeps it atop every gear request of mine. My job has taken me to 70+ countries, and I’ve had an MA2 in each of them. Long gone was that pit-of-my-stomach feeling, when I had a programmed show but no console to load it on. Rather, I could refine the file as the project evolved over months and years, even in cities I’m sure no one reading this article recognizes. Krasnodar, Russia, anyone?

Furthermore, I’m always surprised at the lack of diversity at FOH in the growing era of music festivals. The bigger the show, the less diverse: almost always grandMA2, with a knowledgeable programmer at the helm. On truly massive shows, when changeover and dark time are next to non-existent, it’s crucial to leverage timesaving MA functions like exporting/importing palettes, multiuser programming, and networking. In some cases, the benefit of having uniform MA architecture across FOH has been a show-saver for me.

There is no perfect console. I’ve taken classes, programmed on almost every desk—not always my finest hour—and most importantly, admired amazing programming on all consoles. The color system of ETC’s Eos platform is bar-none, the best I’ve used, so much that I’ll keep ETC Nomad (Eos on PC) as a sidecar, so I can reference color data when needed. Avolites desks are still perhaps the fastest on the market, always imparting a bold, rock ‘n’ roll quality that feels authentic and pure. Similar things can be said about other platforms like ChamSys, High End Systems Wholehog, Martin By Harman M-Series, etc.

Programmers of tomorrow: Test drive every console, and determine which best suits your field of work and personal style. Not everyone needs to wiggle and flash lights in 70+ countries on a tour, but whatever you do, be sure to take your time behind the wheel of a grandMA2.

For more, read the March 2017 issue of Live Design as an interactive PDF.