Atomic Dots make mark at Hogmanay show
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With its vantage point at the end of the Waverley Bridge overlooking Edinburgh Castle, the designer’s biggest challenge was the bitter cold Scottish weather -mitigated by two heaters which accompanied him at FOH. “As is common in the industry, the timescales were very tight, along with all the commotion that comes with a street party,” he said.
Since the Waverley stage was fairly small, with little space to rig fixtures, he approached the design with minimal rigging and focused on placing more on the floor. He used a Doughty H Frame system on the deck. “Also, from a logistical perspective, keeping in mind that it would be long hours in the cold, I wanted to design something that could be packed down quickly at the end; effective but simple at the same time.”
The Martin inventory not only fitted the bill but also met the rider requirements of the principal artists such as Marc Almond in an LX plan consisting of spot, wash, beam and blinders, rock n’ roll style.
Sam had specifically been looking for a mole/blinder effect to add to the mix when he discovered the Atomic Dot. “The nature of the bill and the artists that were playing that night lent itself to them,” he said. “I used them all together, in pairs - some attached to the H frames and some with the mic stand attachments.
“It’s one of the most versatile products on the market in terms of strobe,” he said. “Having the Aura ring effect is a really nice addition as well as having the possibility for mapping P3 integration.
“I used them in basic 19-channel mode, and this gave me control over both the warm strobe and the Aura colour. On that occasion I used macros and did not map or go too in depth with the segment control. I have since used them on other gigs and have delved more deeply into pixel mapping the segments.”
His inventory included eight MAC Vipers split between the overhead truss and floor-standing H frames, and eight MAC Quantum Wash split in the same way. It was sourced from local rental company, Showtec, an early adopter of the Atomic Dot with 45 WRM units in their inventory. As Sam Jones explains. “They were excited by the product after seeing them like myself, and felt they would have a lot of potential in the future.”
(Jim Evans)
