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W-DMX on Céline Dion World Tour
Wireless Solution Sweden's W-DMX is helping make Canadian pop singer Céline Dion make a splash in her current Taking Chances world tour. The tour supports her latest album Taking Chances, released in November 2007. The yearlong tour visits five continents, 24 countries and 84 cities, with a total of 120 performances.
The show is directed by Jamie King, who lists Madonna's Confessions Tour, Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics Tour, as well as tours for Kanye West and the Spice Girls among his credits. Lighting designer is Yves "Lapin" Aucoin.
The tour setup is a 360-degree production, designed in-the-round style, and includes 20 LED screens, including one that orbits the stage, plus conveyor belts and elevators. The touring system is provided by Montreal, Canada-based Solotech, which is also the provider for various Cirque du Soleil productions and Dion's resident show.
With such limits in place regarding 360-degree viewing angles and elaborate movement, W-DMX was chosen as the best solution for sending wireless DMX signal. 7 W-DMX BlackBox R-512 Receivers and 2 W-DMX BlackBox S-1 Transmitters, plus 8 B-1000 Outdoor Boosters and 5dB antennas are used to distribute the signal.
David Bergeron, Solotech lighting project manager explains: "For the W-DMX we have a very simple setup, which is what I like from Wireless Solution - it's very simple to use. We have eight pods in the audience and we take the power for these units wherever we find it. Sometimes it is quite far away from dimmer city and we don't want to run 1200 feet of DMX, so we have a transmitter in front with a BlackBox B-1000 Outdoor Booster 1000mW and receiver with the 5db antenna, so we can cover a large range in the stadium. We also have props with lights in it that need to work wirelessly so we have 8 RC4 wireless dimmers which work with a Wireless Solution pico receiver."
Bergeron continues: "I did Cirque du Soleil's Delirium as head electric with several first versions of the W-DMX system and was extremely satisfied with the way it worked, but the second version is just perfect! It saved us a lot of cable and time."
"Céline's fans know they get a tremendous show," says FOH engineer, Francois "Frankie" Desjardins. "She always delivers her best, and she demands the best from us, and from her equipment. That's what we deliver."
9th October 2008
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