Scharff Weisberg At First BMI Latin Music Awards In NYC

Scharff Weisberg lent its AV and lighting expertise to its client OSA International for the 13th Annual BMI Latin Music Awards, which were held for the first time in New York City on April 7 at The Metropolitan Pavilion. The black-tie ceremony recognized the songwriters and publishers of the past year’s 50 most-performed Latin songs on American radio and television.

Four Barco R10 projectors, double converged, displayed media content. Central to the technology was a Scharff Weisberg-designed flypack camera control system centered around the Grass Valley Kayak digital production switcher. Each of the Kayak’s M/Es (outputs) switched a different screen and each had access to six router feeds including record feeds, a graphics station, alternate screen feeds, press, etc. One keyer was employed for lower-third graphics and another for full-screen graphics; Kayak’s Clean Feed function handled the record feed.

“The show would have been impossible with anything less than the Kayak,” says event manager Guy Bostian. “Kayak allowed the operator to recall E-Mems (memory settings) to quickly load switcher pre-sets and handle the fast transitions among multiple sources and multiple sends.”

The Barco’s SDI inputs completed the digital chain from playback to display and enabled the whole signal path to retain the clean, sharp native SDI of the sources.

The stage was lit by VARI*LITE VL2500 wash units and backlit by VARI*LITE VL2500 spots. Additional VL2500s were on the floor to light the shafron backdrop and add depth to the awards portion of the show. Eighty Versatube LED strips formed the backdrop for concert segments; the LEDs ran low-resolution video content as well as color effects.

More than 100 ETC Source 4 50-degree ellipsoidals were used to create a warm template wash throughout the Pavilion. Additionally, Colorkinetics Color Blasts with City Theatrical PDS-50 wireless kits accented dramatic tropical flower arrangements along the red carpet as guests arrived.

Lighting system tech Brendon Boyd worked closely with Scharff Weisberg lighting manager John Healy to produce a smooth set up and run. Lighting designer Mike Mahoney and colleague Tyler Elich ran the show from a Whole Hog 2 console and Maxmedia server provided by Scharff Weisberg.