The high energy one day event - "The Big One" - saw 5,200 Virgin Vie Cosmetics and Jewellery consultants and managers gather in the NEC's main arena for the highly theatrical conference. Phil Wiffen from The Lighthouse designed lighting. His brief was to produce an up-tempo show suggestive of the themes of opulence, glamour and the kind of lifestyle that successful Vie consultants might strive to achieve.
The show was produced by Sam Pole and Jenny Hazelhurst, with set design by Tim Wilding. Wiffen designed a U shaped truss overhead at the front and two gently angled mini-beam trusses at the back, which formed a subtle 'V' over the stage. There was also a practical truss that flew in for a Robbie Williams look-a-like piece, rigged with four Martin MAC 500s. The rest of the lighting was primarily scenic. Wiffen also had to ensure that the lectern speakers were appropriately lit as there was a live camera mix and PPU happening throughout.
Fixtures included 12 MAC 2Ks, 18 MAC 500s and 18 MAC 600s plus 14 MAC 300s primarily positioned within the set, plus a row of six on the bottom rail of the upstage trusses tightly focused to pick out the tops of the set columns. Generics consisted of eight bars of 4 PARs on the front truss for a two colour cross-stage wash, twelve 2k fresnels for a center stage wash, twelve 1.2 Kw fresnels and 12 profiles, mainly used for lectern lighting. The middle panel of the stage was Perspex and was underlit with 1K and 500W cyc units.
"I designed a system that was colourful and versatile" explains Wiffen, who said the biggest challenge was the tight timing. Lighting was run by Max Conwell using a Hog 1000 console.
Audiotech run by Des Ward, who was also mixing sound for "The Big One", said that the show needed to have a relatively raucous sound level throughout for the spirited 98 per cent female audience. Audiotech owns substantial amounts of d&b, so this was the system it used. The main house sound was a mix of the new d&b Q1 line array system - three elements in a centre cluster - and two drops of sixteen d&b C4s each side. The subs were d&b B2s. The company used Q7s and Qsubs for downfills each side, and the whole system was powered by d&b D12 amplifiers.
The key was to obtain a nice even room fill explained Ward - not an easy task in the barn like environs of the NEC Arena! The system also had to sound equally as good for voice and speech as it did for music - a wide range from R 'n' B to rock 'n' roll - so there were plenty of dynamics to encompass with the one system. "The d&b works wonderfully for this type of event" says Ward "It's smooth and rich when you want it to be and also raw, edgy and kicks ass when needed".
System control (EQ, crossovers, compression etc) was all done utilizing a Yamaha DME64 digital signal processor. This made a very compact FOH set up along with the Sony R100 digital mixing desk. For playback the Ward ran a combination of Steinberg Wavelab on a laptop and various CDs. For stage foldback, the low profile d&b E9s were in action, and d&b E3s were used for the show relays. The lectern mics were AT 935s, and Ward ran 12 channels of Shure radios for the various other presenters and performers.
The adjacent Forum was used as a pre-show meeting and warm up point, featuring a DJ to get everyone in the mood. In here Audiotech supplied a C4 system, complete with Pioneer DJ mixer and dex. Pete Turner using a Yamaha 02R console mixed the system. The Lighthouse lit the area with ROBE Colorspot 1200 ATs run by Derek Jones using an Avolites Pearl. Wiffin comments, "Virgin Vie in collaboration with With have always left us the space to create something a little different. We always look forward to the laun
