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Maxxyz Ease, Power, Stability for Alan Parsons Live Project Tour
The cities of Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey were host to a series of special concerts by the Alan Parsons Live Project (APLP), fronted by Alan Parsons and PJ Olsson. Handling the lighting programming and operation was Martin Thomas of Relentless Lighting Design who employed a Martin Maxxyz for the task.
“I had been using the Maxxyz with The Alan Parsons Live Project since 2005 whenever I could, but many of the shows the act does are one-offs and there is no touring production,” Martin commented. “I had also just used the Maxxyz on the 2006 African/European leg of The Black Eyed Peas and the 2006 US Tour for Chris Brown - it is my first choice of console for any of the acts I'm doing.
“The Maxxyz has an ease of programming that allows me to build several complicated cuelists in a short period of time. The layout of the console is very conducive to focusing on quick programming, both by the placement of the buttons and screens, and by the power of the various controls available in the console. Show operation was done on the main console as well as dual extension modules (Maxxyz Wings supplied by New Mexico Event Technology) which allowed me to lay out the show in a comfortable ‘rock & roll’ configuration, with all necessary cues and effects less than an arm extension away.
“The APLP shows have music that ranges from wide and lush to powerful and dynamic, and the ease of control of timing and parameters such as color speed and P/T, as well as the ability to modify everything using the on-board Effects features (especially while live) make the console a very powerful tool to properly represent the group's music with lighting. Building the show was eased by the simple keystrokes necessary to record Presets, Cues, Chases and Lists - the Maxxyz is one of the most powerful consoles I program on.
“The APLP shows on this tour went very smoothly, thanks to the great crew from equipment supplier J&S Audio/Visual (Cancun). The stability of the new software made loading and modifying the show a simple procedure, allowing me to expand upon some cues and quickly write entirely new cuelists with the confidence that they would run smoothly during performance with the accuracy and speed that I expected. I received excellent support form the Martin Bulletin Board when necessary, as well as from Martin’s Matthias Hinrichs and Eric Kennedy from Event Technology in New Mexico. These guys were always a phone call or e-mail away whenever I (rarely) encountered an issue.
“The people involved with making the Mexico performances of APLP all realize the importance that the artist's performance represents to many members of the audience. Alan Parsons' career covers almost four decades, including production studio engineering with Pink Floyd and The Beatles, but touring is extremely limited, making the performance a rarity. Audience members are dedicated fans that are expecting an event on par with the quality of the music, and I am comfortable with my use of the Maxxyz console that we can visually meet the expectations and surpass them.”
1st June 2007
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