"We needed a high-speed console with great reliability and a lot of channels for moving lights," said Gilbert Quintanar, head electrician on the Tonight Show and 29-year veteran with NBC studios. The Tonight Show keeps a full rig of some 475 devices - including 300 conventional fixtures - with numerous ETC Source Fours among them, plus a growing rig of over 90 moving lights. There's no small amount of pressure on this set where the technical crew creates a new lighting show each weekday to accommodate a varying roster of guests and skits. "The show tapes each weekday between 4.30 and 5.30pm, which means there is a tight time buffer for the design of the next day's show."
Some aspects of the Tonight Show production are relatively fixed - the conventional lights positioned over and behind Jay Leno's desk at 'home base,' those hung over the house band area and those suspended over the audience. The 'monologue mark' where Leno does a nightly stand-up routine is lit overhead by conventional lighting fixtures and from behind by moving lights.
Congo's preset-style operation makes managing these fixed portions of the show incredibly easy. Each time the show returns to an established look, a reference is placed in the cue list to the same preset for that look. Edits are made to the preset, which ensures that the changes will propagate through the cue list. Also, a number of presets are designated for recurring segments, which can be inserted into the cue list at any point. Since they exist as a single record target, edits are simple to make and there is little worry about copy/paste errors or forgetting to update copies of any look. Manipulating the cue list for any night's show becomes as simple as deleting a step here and inserting a step there to reference the presets needed for that evening's line up.
The Tonight Show's chief board operator Gary Hoffman programs each show on a Congo board wheeled out into the studio. Later he runs the show from the second Congo up in his office in the Burbank studio building. "Our needs are dictated by the realities of live production," says Hoffman. "The cameras always need a certain amount of light and intensity, and each of the devoted sections of the stage requires its unique control. But we also have to handle complex, fast-paced changes for the comedy bits and the touring-concert type performances that we do." Hoffman particularly appreciates Congo's numerous faders, a higher quantity than on any other console of its kind. During a current feature of the show, cameo guests burst 'unannounced' on stage to sign a special motorcycle that will be auctioned off for hurricane relief. Each surprise entrance requires an immediate lighting response, which Hoffman can easily execute on the fly by grabbing two fader handles and bringing up the necessary lights.
Each night's show culminates in a mini concert, which employs a full rig of moving and conventional lights. Each act poses new lighting control requirements, according to Hoffman: "Every day is a clean palette for our musical productions. There are new riser configurations, new set pieces and a new mood and look, depending on the style of music and the performers. Songs may require new colours, gobos, strobes or other effects. This is where Congo really comes in - where it gives us way more channels and more control over moving lights, LEDs and other devices."
Quintanar added: "Over time our lighting director has added in more and more moving lights. So we were looking to upgrade from our ETC Obses
