Last fall, Darkroom Creative enlisted Elation Smarty Hybrid™ moving heads on Walker Hayes' “Glad You’re Here Tour” as a multifunctional workhorse on the country star’s first headlining arena tour. Currently out on his followup “Duck Buck Tour,” the leading design firm has again turned to the compact moving head as the only hard-edged fixture in the rig.
“It met all the needs and continues to carry far more of a workload than you think a fixture of that size could accomplish,” stated Seth Jackson, partner at Darkroom Creative, of the CMY color-mixing hybrid moving head. Darkroom Creative is again handling lighting design, set design, video production and content for the 2023 outing with lighting supply by Bandit Lites.
Expanded, evolving production
In contrast to “Glad You’re Here,” “Duck Buck” includes much more production, including multiple screen surfaces and an upgraded lighting approach that brings the audience completely into the show. Nate Alves, Seth’s partner at Darkroom Creative, was tasked with creating a different 3D visual environment for each song, including moment-to-moment changes to I-Mag, “to keep things moving and present a much larger stage picture than was actually there.”
Smarty
Seth and Nate enhanced the rig to add impactful effects to play alongside the video content. Lighting fixtures included LED bars, moving heads and strobes, along with the Smarty Hybrids.
Smart reflection
In a unique take on a moving mirror effect, the Smarty fixtures are placed directly overhead of highly reflective moving mirrors that redirect the beams of light, adding depth and dimensionality to the look. A relatively narrow beam shoots down onto the mirror and becomes a massive beam reflected out with almost no loss in brightness.
“It is awesome to see them feeding the moving mirrors,” Seth asserts. “The power and brightness of the Smarty give the mirrors the punch needed to shoot out a powerful and thick beam. I wanted to get a mirror in there for another layer of effect and for the speed but I had no idea how much more I would achieve. When the Smarty hits that mirror surface, as either an open beam or gobo, the result is an enormous beam reflected out. Everyone was shocked in rehearsals. The brightness of the Smarty and the quality of mirror surface produce a beam that just cuts through everything. The Smarty optics are so reliable that even the focus of the gobo transfers to the mirror.”
Kudos to Bandit and lighting team
Lastly, Seth expresses his gratitude to Walker Hayes and his camp who, he says, are a pleasure to work with. “There is a mutual devotion between artist and crew and the friendship shows in making a great place to work.”
The “Duck Buck Tour” kicked off on April 13 in Rosemont, Illinois and tours across the U.S. until early August.
Photos: The Darkroom Creative
About Elation Professional
Based in California with facilities in Florida and Mexico City, as well as European offices in The Netherlands, Elation designs and manufactures a comprehensive range of innovative lighting products known for its superior performance, excellent efficiency, and outstanding price:value ratio, all backed by a hard-earned reputation for Total Support. Elation also offers an advanced line of lighting control products through Obsidian Control Systems, as well as a full range of dependable specialty effects called Magmatic. Our mission has always been simple: to provide best-in-class products and service while offering the best value:performance ratio in the industry. Elation products continue to be a part of the industry’s most exciting projects across the globe. We invite you to take a closer look at www.elationlighting.com
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