LarMac LIVE Production Manages Rockness & LED Festivals

Leading UK production company LarMac LIVE (LML) continued an exceptionally busy summer providing full technical production management services for two major festivals the same weekend - Rockness in Inverness, on the shores of Scotland's most famous Loch, and the new LED Festival at Victoria Park, London.

Simultaneously, the design division of LarMac LIVE created a fabulous environment in the VIP areas for Absolute Radio and promoters Solo at the Isle of Wight Festival on the UK's south coast.

Rockness

LarMac's Jo Mackay was brought in by Rockness producers Loud Sound for the first time on this 25,000 capacity event as they were looking for a fresh approach to the organisation of the event's production.

As event production manager, MacKay utilised her extensive technical contacts, bringing in a mix of local and companies based elsewhere in the UK to ensure the festival benefitted from the very best production values, skills and services.

The main stage - a 19 metre Supernova roof supplied by First Stage - was headlined by Kasabian, The Chemical Brothers and Paulo Nutini. A production lighting rig was supplied by Colour Sound Experiment, and all headliners also brought in full specials packages. Says MacKay "Our long term relationship with the various lighting designers involved and familiarity and experience on the festival circuit in general meant we were in a good position to deliver everyone's visual requirements for the Main and Stage Two".

Main stage audio came from Glasgow-based Analogue Sound, and MacKay comments, "They were recommended by a colleague in Glasgow and delivered a top notch advance and show. With such a great crew and service, we're looking forward to working with them in the future. They helped us reach an acceptable sound level for the crowd and all the touring sound engineers, which is a consistent challenge".

Video screens and IMAG camera system for the Main Stage came from XL Video, with ESP Music Rentals supplying backline site wide and Mongo Crewing taking care of all the local crew requirements.

Colour Sound was also contracted to supply lighting and a ground support system for Stage Two. The ground support facilitated all the lighting and sound hanging positions and was also designed to take the weight of Groove Armada's custom LED screen, used for their fabulous "Red Light" headline DJ set on the Friday. Others appearing on this stage over the weekend included The Cribs, DJ Shadow, Simian Mobile Disco, Sub Focus and many more.

Other stages for which LML supplied full production were Sub Club and Rock 'n' Roll Circus hosted in the evenings by Propaganda, Snufu and The Cuban Brothers respectively. Lighting and sound for these was from locally based Limelight Events who have worked on Rockness for the last 5 years. Says MacKay, "It was brilliant to have such a good local company available with an excellent selection of equipment and crew".

LML additionally provided production for a raft of young bands playing the Jagermiester Stage, and for an eclectic mix of comedians and DJs on the Howard's End Stage.

LML's MacKay was assisted by Laura Hall, and together they worked closely with a dynamic team of stage managers including Paul English (Main stage) Raymond Wilson (Rock 'n' Roll Circus), Buddy Rennie (Stage 2), Stevie West (Comedy) and John Spiers (Sub Club). Pete Bell came onboard to manage the Main Stage overnight changeovers.

The LED Festival

This consisted of a single day event headlined by Deadmau5 who rocked the 25,000 strong house, together with Calvin Harris, Jaguar Skills, Skrillex, Zane Lowe and many more, performing across 2 stages.

This was the second LED Festival as the inaugural 2010 event moved from its original August Bank Holiday slot to this new start-of-season weekend date.

Event production was handled by LarMac LIVE's Ian Greenway, assisted by Emily Keighley, and LML was working for organisers Loud Sound Events and AEG, contracted because of LarMac's reputation for producing high profile dance events like Creamfields and tour managing electro bands like Underworld.

The company also has a long standing relationship with the Deadmau5 production team and has also production managed numerous other Loud Sound events and festivals.

Lighting was supplied by PRG, audio by Capital Sound, staging from First Stage and video from XL Video - all regular LML technical partners. LarMac also organised Music Bank to supply backline, Fly By Nite for trucking and Showforce for the crewing.

The main stage was a First Stage Supernova roof, while stage two was ground supported within an A&J big top tent.

LarMac LIVE worked with environmental noise consultants Vanguardia on site. They initially conducted propagation tests to establish dB limits for the duration of their show in conjunction with rental company Capital Sound, who supplied one of their new Martin Audio MLA systems - the first time this has been used on an LML show.

Ian Greenway explained, "Obviously, given that this was a one-day outdoor festival, budgets were tight and production values needed to be high. Efficiency at every opportunity, as with all our shows, is a key to keeping numbers as low as physically possible whilst delivering the very best standards".

Isle of Wight

LarMac LIVE's Anthony Norris and Ceire Deery headed down to the Seaclose Park on the Isle of Wight with carpenter Steve Thomas to production manage and oversee the build of the all important hospitality areas, which were designed by Jo MacKay, complete with imaginative lighting scheme, facilitated by equipment from Colour Sound Experiment and draping by Blackout. LML's production assistants were Suzanne Sadler and Helen Oberlin-Harris.

For the first year at this event, LML also managed the artist garden area. They also dealt with the logistical elements of setting up the area and ensured that the main sponsors - Ray Ban, Sky Arts 3D, MAC and Absolute Radio - had a prominent presence and clearly visible branding.

For more press information on LarMac LIVE, please contact Louise Stickland on +44 7831 329888 or +44 1865 202679 or EMail : [email protected]. To contact LarMac LIVE direct, please call +44 203 142 6263 or check www.larmaclive.com