the brits

PRODUCTION PROFILE: The Brits
THE BRITS
THE BRIT AWARDS 2014 IN ASSOCIATION WITH MASTERCARD WERE HELD FOR THE 4TH YEAR RUNNING
AT LONDON’S 02 ARENA, DEMONSTRATING THE CREATIVE FORCE OF BOTH THE BRITISH RECORD AND
PRODUCTION INDUSTRIES. SIMON DUFF REPORTS FROM BACKSTAGE.
Presented by James Cordon, the awards
featured live performances from eight of
the world’s leading acts culminating in a
grand finale from Pharrel Williams and Nile
Rodgers. With television feeds going out live
the show demanded world class production
and precision change-overs.
Britannia Row provided audio requirements
including an L-Acoustics PA system, lighting
came from PRG Europe and included High End
Systems Hog 4 consoles. XL Video supplied LED,
screens and projection with ER Productions on
laser duties.
The award trophy for The Brits 2014 was
designed by milliner Philip Treacy, famed for his
fashion designs for the likes of Kate Middleton,
Alexander McQueen and Chanel. A sleek, shiny,
modern and triumphant design; it set the tone
for this year’s main event. From set design to
sound, lighting, video and special effects; the
event reflected all of those values. Production
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Manager, Tony Wheeler from Nine Yards
Productions worked with Kate Wright and Lisa
Shenton of Papilo Productions to manage the
production of the event, contracted on behalf
of the BPI. Other key suppliers included Outback
Rigging, Steel Monkey, Blackout, Eat Your
Hearts Out, Show & Event Security, Showstars,
Stage Miracles, Oglehog (cameras and PPU)
and Lovely Things (furniture). StageCo created
a 30 metre by 60 metre stage structure and
an assortment of other structures including
FOH control which was designed by Peter
Bingemann, and featured curved LED elements
and a giant Brit statue. A crew of eight from
StageCo worked day and night shifts to get all
the structures built in four days.
SOUND WORLD
Derrick Zieba has been sound designer for every
Brits since 1994 and for 2014 was reunited with
Britannia Row and Sennheiser, a team that also
worked together on this year’s MTV Europe
Music Awards. An affable, good-humoured
natural leader and hugely talented designer, he
started his professional career at the Crucible
Theatre in Sheffield, before becoming head of
sound at the newly opened National Theatre
on the South Bank. He has gone on to design
some of the biggest and most complex events in
theatre, events and rock ‘n’ roll.
“One of my main challenges at The Brits
is to ensure great auditorium PA coverage for
the live show, without introducing too much
colouration to the live broadcast sound,” he
explained talking prior to the show. “I am a big
fan of L-Acoustics K1 system and in keeping
with last years Brit Awards, I specified a K1 line
array.” The main left and right hang comprised
16 L-Acoustics K-1 elements, along with four
L-Acoustics KARA and two sub bass hangs made
up of eight L-Acoustics SB28 subwoofers. For
the outer hang 14 V-DOSC and three dV-DOSC
PRODUCTION PROFILE: The Brits
Opposite: Pharell Williams and Nile Rodgers; Ellie Goulding won the Best British Female Solo Artist award.
elements were used with similar numbers used
for the far outer hangs and delays. Distributed
front coverage consisted of eight L-Acoustics
108P in fill cabinets and eight SB28 subwoofers.
All amplification came from L-Acoustics LA8’s
with Lake LM26 processors. A Dante returns
system was employed throughout, with two
separate fibre returns for stage end and delays.
Zieba stated: “I have specified the same PA
that worked so well last year. Don’t try and fix
what isn’t broken! Nico Royan was my System
Tech from Britannia Row. He is an incredibly
skilled and experienced System Tech that I have
had the pleasure of working with for decades.
He was ably assisted by Cesar Lopez - another
very experienced System Tech with Dee
Miller working as Audio Crew Chief, a hugely
experienced Monitor Engineer in his own right,
having worked for the likes of Led Zeppelin at
The O2 Arena.”
Josh Lloyd from Britannia Row mixed
artists at FOH with Chris Coxhead handling
presentation, VT and playback mix duties,
another long-term Brit awards worker. Console
wise Midas Pro 9 and DiGiCo SD7 consoles were
the order of the day at both FOH and monitors
for the band mixes and a Midas Pro 2 at FOH for
Presentation microphones, VT inserts and walkups. Zieba added: “I have chosen the consoles
for their quality, flexibility and reliability and the
fact that most of the ‘A List’ bands on this show
are on tour using these consoles.”
Outboard audio consisted of a standard
package of valve compressors and high-quality
reverbs supplied as standard plus additional
extras added at the request of specific artists,
for example a FOH Waves Sound Grid Server
package. In the monitor world Pete McGlynn,
another Brit veteran, was Mix Engineer.
“Preparation, preparation and more preparation
is the key to all of the audio,” emphasised
Zieba. To give an example he added: “For just
one artist collaboration on this year’s show we
have in excess of 24 stereo channels of in-ear
monitors in use. Wedge mixes are down this
year with less than 10 discrete mixes being
needed.”
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PRODUCTION PROFILE: The Brits
Below: Ellie Goulding; Disclosure and AlunaGeorge.
All changeovers ran perfectly with both
Lloyd and Coxhead’s assured mixing at FOH
pleasing both broadcast demands and that of
an expectant arena audience. Zieba concluded
by looking back over the past 20 years with
the five audio technologies that have made a
difference to his sound design since he started
on The Brits.
He said: “Digital consoles, line array
loudspeaker systems, fibre optic multicore,
networked audio and Lake digital processors.”
Here’s to another 20 years of impeccable
ground-breaking sound.
MICROPHONES
All presenter microphones including James
Cordon’s were Sennheiser’s digital 9000 SKM
Series with ME 9004 heads. It’s a microphone
that Zieba has become very fond of: “It’s
extraordinary. It is the first microphone that
I have used for this type of work that has no
handling noise. So it is utterly silent in people’s
hands, which is really good. The quality of it is
just superb. There is no EQ on it, it’s flat and
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what you hear is what you get. We tried it last
year on The Brits in rehearsal but didn’t go
live with it. This year I have 100% faith in it.
We have used it on the MTV EMA’s too and
Sennheiser used it on Eurovision this year so
now we are at a point where we can go live
with it on a show like this.”
shows, I always try to give the artists their own
radio frequency microphone preference, be it
Sennheiser, Shure, Audio-Technica or another
and to let artists bring in their own radio
frequency if they wish. This gives even more
of a headache to my excellent radio frequency
Supervisor, Sapna Patel, who has to coordinate
“I have specified basically the same PA that worked so well last year.
Don’t try and fix what isn’t broken!”
Zieba has successfully worked with
Sennheiser as his radio frequency partner on
The Brits for over a decade. “Their logistical
and engineering help has been invaluable,”
he said. “There are now so many hand-held
microphones, instrument packs and in-ear
monitors on the show that supplying all of the
show’s needs would be impossible without
Sennheiser’s assistance. Unlike other award
frequencies and licensing between Britannia
Row kit, Sennheiser kit, the band’s own kit,
instrument kit from UK backline companies
and radio frequency products brought in from
the US. This is where Sennheiser’s assistance
comes into its own. Often when we have a
specially ‘blinged-up’ standard Sennheiser
microphone from the US, Andrew Lillywhite
will have to completely remove all of the US
PRODUCTION PROFILE: The Brits
Below: (top) Arctic Monkeys frontman, Alex Turner, had playful banter during his acceptance speeches for the groups latest accolades - Best British Group and Best British Album; The stage was
designed by Peter Bingemann and built by StageCo, it provided a grandesque centrepiece; (Below) Chris Coxhead, FOH Mix Engineer; Rudimental, winners of Best Single.
electronics and replace them with
UK licensable electronics just for
their one song in the show! We
often end up with a spreadsheet
showing over 150 coordinated
pieces of radio frequency kit just
for the live performance part of
The Brits, excluding any TV or
commercial use. The challenge of
achieving that on a live-to-air show
without a whisper of interference
is huge. I take my hat off to Sapna,
Mark Saunders and Andrew from
Sennheiser who make that happen
every year.”
LIGHTING AND VISUALS
Dave Davey was stage production
Lighting Designer with PRG
handling the lighting specification
and Dave Hallet as Project
Manager and lighting crew boss.
A huge amount of ceiling
truss hung over the arena to light
what is essentially a TV and rock
show combined. This included on
the stage rig were 44 PRG Best
Boy 4000 Spot luminaires, 54
Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Washes,
24 VL3500 Spots, 12 GLP X4
impressions, and 24 Martin
Professional Atomic 3000 Strobes.
An impressive 70 Clay Paky Sharpys
were also used on the main stage
russes and a further 148 Sharpys
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were used to cover the arena
floor table lighting. A total of 14
Virtuoso Node Plus were used for
data networking. At FOH High End
Systems Hog 4’s were the lighting
console of choice also supplied by
PRG.
For Clay Paky The Brits 2014
was a success in more ways than
the main event. In January, the
company’s new B-Eye’s were
installed on the lighting rig at
The Brits launch show held at ITV
Studios in Central London. Glyn
O’Donoghue, Managing Director
of Ambersphere Solutions, Clay
Paky’s sole distributor for the UK,
said: “The B-Eye is a whole new
category of fixture. Customers are
amazed at how versatile it is. It’s
really a perfect wash light with a
really powerful beam light with
a defined beam and super fast
movement, people really like this
combination.”
Back at The O2 Arena, XL Video
supplied the main curved stage set
LED pieces, made up from Absen
six mm LED tiles, 462 in total. The
circular closedown screen used
three Barco HDQ-2K40 projectors
and on the Brit statue, four Barco
HDF-W26 projectors. Side of stage
relay screens used two Barco HD20 projectors on each side. Centre
PRODUCTION PROFILE: The Brits
Below: Beyoncé in the spotlight; Lorde picked up a Brit for Best International Female Solo Artist; Katy Perry’s neon Cleopatra inspired set was designed by Jonathan Perry from Perry Scenic; Bruno
Mars’ set was also designed by Jonathan Perry from Perry Scenic with set construction by LS-Live.
of House relay screens consisted of four Barco
R12+ projectors.
XL Video, with Paul Wood as Project
Manager, also supplied specific artists requests
throughout the show, including front projection
gauze screen and two Barco HDQ 2K40
projectors for Beyoncé.
The accompanying cameras, PPU and control
system were managed and supplied by Oglehog
and Chris Saunders who continued his long
relationship with The Brits. SNP Productions Ltd
supplied Oglehog with eight Catalyst media
servers and two Full Boar 4 consoles. SNP’s
Managing Director, Simon Pugsley was tasked
with programming SNP’s new HES Full Boar
4’s consoles and Catalyst media servers for
Beyonce’s performance working closely with
Paul Wood and his team to provide graphics
to the onstage projection and sculptural LED
screens.
Female Solo Artist, FFP used 10 LFM 1 liquid
flames and fabricated two dozen burning
drumsticks and several handheld pyrotechnic
devices as well as confetti rigged above
downstage and the presenter’s catwalk for her
set.
FFP also rigged 10,000 balloons above the
audience for the Pharrell Williams and Nile
Rodgers finale. In the arena and on the night
it has to be said that it was Beyonce who stole
SPECIAL EFFECTS
First to perform on the night were Arctic
Monkeys, complete with a giant flaming A
and M sign created and run by pyrotechnics
specialist FFP FX. For the third time in their
career they picked up the award for Best Group
and Best Album in the same year.
For Ellie Goulding, winner of Best British
the show with XO. The staging for her was a
triumph of modern theatre design powered by
a huge inspiring sound. Other notable award
winners on the night included David Bowie who
picked up Best British Male Artist; Rudimental,
Best Single; Sam Smith, Critics Choice and Daft
Punk, Best International Group.
Lasers had to be big for 2014 and to that
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end, ER Productions - fresh from working on
the Grammys - supplied 23 high-powered OPSL
systems totaling 497W. Ryan Hagan Director at
ER commented: “Three artists requested lasers
for their performances and we worked closely
with Dave Davey to ensure all effects required
were executed correctly and safely. It was
the quality of the OPS diodes that helped ER
Productions produce the TV white looks along
with the vibrant colours required.”
“It was the quality of the OPS diodes that helped ER Productions
produce the TV white looks along with the vibrant colours required.”
Arctic Monkeys used three 21W RGB OPS
lasers systems up-stage centre, just behind the
band and used white and yellow colours. Katy
Perry’s neon Cleopatra theme suited the laser
looks incredibly well.
Hagan added: “It was important to achieve
different styles from the three laser rigs so for
Katy Perry it was decided to concentrate the
PRODUCTION PROFILE: The Brits
Below: Josh Lloyd, FOH Band Mix Engineer; Ellie Goulding used extensive designs from FFP FX and ER Productions.
majority of the power on-stage. It was also
a great opportunity to utilise the large matte
white Brit Statue with some laser mapping
effects. This came from two 25W RGBYC OPS
systems with high-speed 60k scanners located
at FOH. This was a truly unique effect and one
ER Production’s has never delivered for a live TV
show. The neon theme also allowed us to use
really bright greens, magentas and cyan’s which
show up on camera really well. The end result
looked great and added an effective layer to the
laser display.
To top this up we rigged six 21W RGBB
OPS systems onto the curve trusss, stage left
and right with two 24W greens hung centrally
on a mid-truss. The focus for these were
the pit cameras, which shot up through the
performance catching all the laser effects.” For
Ellie Goulding ER Productions used 12 21W
RGBB OPS systems and diffracted burst effects.
The lasers accompanied the track Burn with
white and yellow effects throughout with the
final verse using red diffracted effects.
DRAPING AND STAGING
Draping and rigging specialist Blackout created
a bespoke fabric backdrop for Beyoncé
as she performed a glittering rendition of her
empowering anthem XO - the first live TV
performance of the single. Led by Blackout
Project Director, Kevin Monks, who collaborated
with Brits TV and Beyoncé’s production team
to install an eight metre wide by 12 metre
fine gauze high speed roller screen which
dimensions
SETUP
132’ X 56’
(40 m x 17 m) X16 16h00
dimensions
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became the centrepiece of Beyoncé’s simple yet
glamorous performance. In collaboration with
set company, Steel Monkey, the team installed
three steel boxes upstage of the screen, clad
with multiple layers of white voile to create a
series of projection surfaces for XL Video to
display creative content. At the opening of
the performance, Beyoncé stood between the
fine gauze and a giant close up of her face
was projected live onto the screen, appearing
to the audience as if suspended in mid-air. As
Beyoncé sang the lyrics ‘turn the lights out’ the
projection disappeared and the main central
set frame was revealed by a kabuki fabric drop
system and the gauze screen was raised at over
one metre per second by the roller screen
mechanism. Both systems were controlled by
SETUP
132’ X 56’
(40 m x 17 m) X16 16h00
SPEARHEADING
STAGING EVOLUTION
PRODUCTION PROFILE: The Brits
Below: The 2014 Brit Awards marked the ceremony’s 20th year; Fans enjoyed performances such as Beyonce’s, and the event was broadcast to a TV audience.
the Blackout team to reveal the singer in her
sparkling green dress. On stage, the three
2.5-metre square boxes were positioned behind
her and used to project stars, fireworks and
abstracts of the New York City skyline.
Monks commented: “Beyoncé’s performance
gave us the opportunity to use two of our
reveal products, especially our fast roller
screen system which is an ideal mechanism to
create dramatic effects or to deploy projection
surfaces within the content of even the most
technically challenging shows.”
Katy Perry wowed with her Egyptian themed
neon Cleopatra set design by Jonathan Perry,
Director of Perry Scenic, complete with a replica
Tutankhamun Chariot and 3D Sphinx Cats
perched upon stunning UV columns. Jonathan
Perry also designed Bruno Mars’ set, a New
York themed apartment that included a two
metre in length rotating fan. A late request
direct from Bruno saw the team work through
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the night to create the graffiti themed effect
that graced the stage. “It was a pleasure
implementing Bruno Mars’ creative vision and
a joy for Perry Scenic to work with him again,”
said Perry.
Working under time constraints, LS-Live was
contracted by Perry Scenic to deliver structural
requirements for Mars’ set, which included an
upstage wall and rolling riser structure in front
for the musicians. LS-Live’s Director, Ben Brooks
commented: ”The whole set needed to roll
on in just three minutes, so we designed it in
different modular Prolyte LiteDeck components
that fitted together quickly on stage via the
easy top lock system, which we use for all our
rental LiteDeck. We built the structure in line
with Perry Scenic’s designs and installed lighting
fixtures round the edges and an automated
aluminium fan in the rear wall to complete the
industrial look. Time was tight, but the lines of
communication with Perry Scenic were great as
always and we delivered the set the day before
the show.”
TPi
Photos: JM Enternational
www.brits.co.uk
www.britanniarow.com
www.blackout-ltd.com
www.er-productions.com
www.ffp-fx.net, www.ls-live.com
www.nine-yards.co.uk
www.oglehog.com
www.outbackrigging.com
www.perryscenic.com
www.prg.com
www.showandevent.com
www.showstars.co.uk
www.snp-productions.co.uk
www.stageco.com
www.stagemiracles.com
www.steelmonkey.co.uk
www.xlvideo.tv