Implementing Automated Lighting Rigs for Outdoor Music Festival Stages.

The light shows that accompany most main stage performances at music festivals are a key part of the overall experience for festival-goers. A professional music performance with a great sound system is always enhanced by the use of creative lighting. What do organisers need to consider when automating their lighting rigs and what benefits can they expect.

Use of automated lighting rigs are now common at most large-scale music festivals delivering dynamic stage performances combined with synchronised visuals. Organisers can benefit from lower overheads and faster programming across multiple stages, but these need to be balanced with meeting safety and sustainability objectives. Advances in hardware and generative AI-assisted cueing is dictating how stages are designed and operated. What do festival organisers need to consider to successfully implement automated lighting rigs.

Benefits of Automated Lighting Rigs.
The most noticeable benefit of using automated lighting rigs is the resulting high visual impact experienced by festival-goers because they are integrated with video, audio, and pyrotechnics. Pre-programmed lighting rigs enable faster artist changeovers, making performances slick without unnecessary delays between acts. A good, automated lighting rig can be more energy efficient and reliable in what are often demanding high pressure environments. Ai-assisted programmed lighting rigs can improve beat detection and automated cue generation as well as adapting shows with dynamic colour palettes and producing crowd-responsive effects.

Operational Logistics Considerations.
All lighting rigs installed on stages must be IP65 compliant, which ensures they are completely dust-tight and protected against low-pressure water jets from any direction, making them ideal for outdoor, damp, or dusty environments. Other common adverse weather protection required for lighting rigs is consideration for wind loading. Contractors must use certified truss systems and perform dynamic load calculations during installation; all lighting rigs should have real time wind monitoring system installed. Lighting a large stage can be power hungry, often consuming 500 kW+ despite the use of more efficient LED lights which draw up to 80% less power than traditional lights. During the planning phase, organisers should consider providing segregated power supplies to different operational aspects which can include lighting, audio, vendors, site lighting, communication systems, and operationally critical computer systems. Contractors providing power generators can usually build a robust infrastructure that includes smart microgrid systems with backup generators and built in redundancy.

Technical Requirements for Automated Lighting Rigs.
The automation of lighting rigs requires the use of intelligent moving fixtures to control different light effects including spotlights, beams, washes, pixel bars, and hybrid systems. These fixture types enable lights to operate according to systems driven by protocols like DMX512, which is the standard for digital communication networks that control lighting and effects. Other common architecture functions can include Art-Net, an ethernet based lighting data transport, sACN for streaming ACN, designed to transmit vast amounts of digital lighting control data, and timecode systems that enable synchronisation with audio for example. All lighting systems are pre-programmed and controlled using a lighting console, sometimes in conjunction with media servers, and these enable a completely automated show to be built in a coordinated manner.

Health and Safety.
The installation of any lighting rig needs to comply with the prevailing health and safety requirements, especially related to electrical systems which must be waterproof with cabling that does not present any hazards. When building automated light shows a consideration for the safety of festival-goers should be implemented to ensure that there is no blinding from bright lights or lasers or unsafe strobe usage. A large crowd will invariably include festival-goers who are photosensitive or neurodivergent, for example. The other key safety aspects of any lighting systems is the safe installation of rigs by certified contractors and as previously mentioned sealed waterproof electrical systems and wind load calculations.

Sustainability.
Every festival organiser aims to make their events more sustainable, and the use of efficient low carbon LED lights is now common. An automated lighting rig can be optimised for intelligent brightness management that takes into account daylight operation. In addition, power consumption can be programmed to monitor systems and balance power load demands to reduce overall usage.

For festival organisers planning their next event using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by StockSnap via Pixabay

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