SLE Post 1: AJ Pen - Linkin Park "A Thousand Suns" Tour LD

AJ Pen has worked with Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne, Audioslave, The Goo Goo Dolls, Marilyn Manson, and Sum 41, among many others. He took the position of of Chief Lighting Director for Linkin Park in 2003, and has been working with the band ever since.

For the Australian shows on the "A Thousand Suns" Tour during late 2010, the equipment featured included 41 units of Vari*Lite VLX Wash, and 12 units of Vari*Lite VL*3500 Wash as follow spots and backlights. The VLX LED wash lights are capable of a chase at 1500 beats per minute, faster than many other fixtures he compared them with. The VLX units were only introduced in the Australian shows. Some of the other lighting fixtures used include (24) Martin Atomic 3000 DMX strobes, (18) MAC III Profile, (7) Mac 2000 Performance.

As for the console, the Martin M1 was used. A MacBook was used to connect all the equipment for control. The lighting show was pre-programmed, and MIDI data was used to control the lighting cues. The parts of the music that needed lighting effects were placed on a MIDI track on a DAW, in this case Ableton Live, and that information is what the cues follow. Lockstep, run on the Mac, allowed SMPTE-MTC timecode conversion was used to sync up all the devices. The band had backing tracks running on ProTools, and the Ableton Live session chased the ProTools SMPTE timecode. The Martin Ether2DMX router, which translates Artnet into DMX in/out universes, was used to interface devices. Also, there were multiple follow spot operators manually following the performers on stage.

Seth Robinson programmed the show, and also designed an application using Cycling '74's Max that took MIDI information and timecode, and translated those into MIDI show control for the Martin M1.

AJ used MIDI controllers for data input. These were used when programming, and for the odd bits of live control. AJ also mentioned that the modulation wheel gave more intuitive control than a fader.

AJ was also involved in the set design, along with Stephen Pollard and Mike Shinoda.

I think that having a show run on its own, entirely pre-programmed, is now a common thing especially with shows that have somewhat of a set timeline. Letting technology take over ensures the accuracy of the synchronization between the performers and the visual aids. This also emphasizes the importance of pre-production and planning, understanding the material, and communication.