Lighting designer Steven Abbiss has been on tour with dance guru and DJ Fatboy Slim since March this year, fulfilling a busy schedule playing international festivals and their own headliner gigs worldwide.
The itinerary has often included visiting 2 or 3 different countries in a weekend, so all the equipment for the lighting design was specified by Abbiss and sourced locally at each venue, including an Avolites Tiger Touch lighting console.
Abbiss also carried his own Tiger Touch console to some of the shows to guarantee getting his control desk of choice. Weighing only 27 Kgs tucked neatly into a Peli case, it is a small and light enough option for baggage on any tour with this set up.
At the Heineken Open Air festival in Poland he ran all 12 data control lines via Ethernet out of the desk, whilst using the touch screen to make a basic schematic of their standard rig and patch in the fixtures from the event rig to match, so it worked with their drawing. He finds this a really helpful function, adding that it's "really quick" to change fixture types.
"The touch screen manipulation is absolutely brilliant," he states. Apart from that, it has the feel and hands-on usability that has made Avolites his favourite lighting control brand for many years.
Other features he likes include the ability to change sequence speeds and parameters very quickly 'on-the-fly'. The Instant Colour Mix on the touch screen is another time saving facility. It offers a full colour map at the press of a button, from which any colour can be swiftly selected and added into presets.
"The response time is excellent and the new Titan software environment is extremely intuitive when you are moving between palettes and fixtures," he explains. The screen is fully user-configurable, and can be customised to suit anyone's individual style of programming and operation.
There are 4 DMX outputs and 12 DMX universes are available when using ArtNet.
Fatboy's standard rig spec featured 30 Martin Professional Atomic strobes, 34 x 1200 series Spot and 44 x 1200 series wash moving lights, 5 large flower effects, 2 Lightening Strikes strobes and 44 LED battens (PixelLine style), 34 x 4-cell moles, 4 Studio Due CityColor wash fixtures or an equivalent source for powerful backlighting from the floor.
The design was flexible and dynamic, in keeping with Fatboy's energy-pumping set and very own distinctive mixology; an eclectic mix of baseline classics and contemporary dance vibes.
Whilst there are certain cues for specific anthemic moments in the set, it's also a show that lends itself to improvisation on the lighting front - and that's another reason that Avolites is an ideal platform for Abbiss.
He has ordered a Titan Mobile console that runs with a laptop version of the software, and an even more lightweight and powerful solution for lighting control that's absolutely perfect for tours utilising local productions. Titan Mobile comes complete with live playbacks, solo flash buttons and user programmable buttons and attribute controllers, all of which enable fast and accurate show programming. He will be using a beta version of Titan mobile on the South American leg of the tour in November.
As his console of choice, the Tiger Touch has also accompanied Abbiss on the recent Public Image Ltd. shows and will continue with him on the upcoming Paloma Faith tour.
For more press info on Avolites, please contact louise Stickland on +44 7831 329888/+44 1865 202679 or EMail [email protected]. To contact Avolites direct, please call +44 20 8965 8522 or check www.avolites.com.
Photo shows Stephen Abbiss (left) and Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) on the right, with the Avolites Tiger Touch
Notes to Editors:
Avolites has built its reputation upon manufacturing rock-solid dimmers and buskable 'live' consoles which are ideal for situations where every second counts during programming. Committed to providing the very best control and dimming solutions for all industry sectors, Avolites has been evolving since 1976, offering cutting edge technologies across a diverse range equipment, designed and engineered to the highest quality standards.
On the web: www.avolites.com