Increasingly more lighting designers use VDO creative video products to boost drama
and amplify the visual expression of performing artists. Pixels, battens and LED panels
are embraced for their versatility and ability to engage with audiences and to visualise
artwork, statements and trigger crowd response.

“The only thing these guys care about is pulling off the best possible show,’ said long
time Karpe Diem producer and lighting designer, Sebastian Ekeberg. “So for each tour,
we try to set new standards and bring on an even more spectacular show than last
time.’

Seven hundred and fifty VDO Sceptron LED video fixtures, 300 VDO Face 5 LED video
panels and 150 VDO Dotron video pixels, frame the entire stage design and make up
the biggest visual part of the show. This show has broken the national record for
stage production extravaganza and has defined a new benchmark in huge tour
productions—just like their previous tour did.

When the Karpe Diem tour hit Norway’s capital, Oslo, with three sold out special
shows in the 10 000-seat Spektrum Arena, it was the long-awaited reward for a year’s
hard work preparing the visual expression of the band. “This show has been almost a
year in the making, with many meetings with the artist to create the visual
expression,’ said Sebastian. “The Sceptrons are an essential part of the look. They are
used a lot during the show – they are the back wall, the roof and the stage floor – the
signature of the design.’

Co-lighting designer and operator on this tour, Lars-Morten Larsen adds: “We’re using
750 VDO Sceptrons, controlled by Art-Net using the P3 System Controllers with the
Green Hippo media server sending content into them. We’re mostly sending smooth,
looped video clips to soften the edges of the whole grid.’

Three hundred VDO Face 5 LED panels ensure that every seat all the way to the back
rows get their piece of the action. “On each side of the stage, we have built huge
screens out of VDO Face 5 panels that display direct camera feeds from our live
production crew mixed with pre-programmed content,’ said Sebastian. “We chose the
Face 5 panels due to their low pixel pitch which gives us a crisp image.’

Karpe Diem and their lighting team love to experiment and are keen to incorporate
new elements in their designs. “In this show, we introduce several elements that we
haven’t worked with before – one being 350m2 of flying stages,’ said Sebastian. “One
of the show’s two flying stages was equipped with 150 of the brand new VDO Dotron
video pixel to give the stage excitement and visual impact when flying above the
audience.

“Weight and power consumption were crucial parameters for the flying stages, so the
Dotrons came in handy because they are very easy to install, and they offer the light
output that we need for this purpose – and of course it’s just cool to use the latest
products,’ said Lars-Morten.

The Face 5 video panels, the Sceptrons, and the new Dotrons are fully integrable as
you can mix and match all products in the VDO range. This offers a welcome efficiency
gain as all VDO fixtures can be controlled via the Martin P3 System Controller
software. “We use the Sceptrons in different ways,’ said Lars-Morten. “We are sending
video content to them via P3, and we’re also using the DMX parameters to control
colours and dimmer fader values which enable us to sync the effects to the beat of
each song.

All Martin LED video products are perfectly calibrated for a specific purpose: When a
large number of fixtures are spec’ed for huge tours with multiple rental companies on
the tech provider list, you still need a bright and consistent output, even when old and
new units are matched.

“Main tech supplier on these events, Bary AS, gathered the massive amount of
Sceptrons and VDO Face 5 panels from different sub-suppliers and different
productions and batches, and what we have experienced is that they have identical
output. There is no need for colour correction or calibration on a single tube or panel
at all,’ said Lars-Morten Larsen.