honeymoon the phase - lighting & sound americagratton. “she” is ariana grande, and the...

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On her first major tour,Ariana Grande gives her

fans what they’re looking for By Sharon Stancavage

56 • June 2015 • Lighting&Sound America

The Honeymoon Phase

Copyright Lighting&Sound America June 2015 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html

he’s one of the greatest singers of all time—I’vebeen doing this for 26 years, and there are very

few artists who can actually sing. She’s one ofthem.” So says production designer/manager Chris

Gratton. “She” is Ariana Grande, and The HoneymoonTour is her first major tour.

Gratton became involved with Grande when hermanager, Scooter Braun, asked him to head up his touringdivision. Gratton accepted, and the first project out of thegate was Grande’s show. “She was extremely involved inthe production, and she gave all of us direction,” Grattonconfides.

Working along with Gratton in the early phases of theproject was set and show director Nick DeMoura; later,Chris Kuroda came on board to assist with the productionand lighting design. They created a multi-tiered stage withgeometric shapes with WinVision Air 9mm fascias. “Whenyou’re looking at the entire stage as a whole, we can docascading video tricks with the layers of video on the stairfascias,” explains Kuroda.

Located upstage is a 56' x 24' bi-parting WinVision Air

9mm LED wall, provided by VER’s Los Angeles office.Director Richy Parkin, one of Gratton’s team, explains,“For the camera package we are using the Grass Valley3ME HD switcher with five Sony HXC-100 and fourPanasonic AW-HE120KP PTZ cameras. Catalyst is theserver we are using to run the two layers of content. Allsignals run through the [Grass Valley] Kayak switcher andget distributed via the desk’s aux matrix, allowing us fullvideo versatility.” The majority of the video content isprovided by Nick Militello, of Los Angeles-based It Factor;Parkin created the rest.

Gratton explains, “The set design was based on givingenough open areas for the dancers. There are so manytimes that I’ve seen shows where there’s no flow for theartist and dancers, because there are only a few entrancesand exits. We have ten entrances and exits off the stage,and we also have three lifts and elevators and fourtoasters. So there are actually 17 entrances and exits.”The stage and lifts are provided by SGPS ShowRig.

As the scenic design developed, Gratton says, “Scooterwanted more layers, so we went from a three-layer stage

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Kuroda’s lighting rig works in perfect harmony with the lavender confetti seen during “The Way.”

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to five layers. Because [Grande is] selling so well, weshrank a little bit, just to open up sight lines. We’re [in anend-stage configuration] and we started at 210°; we’re at230° or 240° now.”

Much to the delight of her fans, Grande takes to the airduring the production. “The fly gags are very important toher; at one point, we tried to ask her to let them go andshe wouldn’t,” Kuroda confides. During “Best Mistake,”the LED wall parts in the center, and Grande flies abovethe stage on a cloud via a SGPS fly system; a bit later,during “Right There,” the wall parts again and she appearson an ornate LED-laden chandelier. “After Ariana comesdown to the stage through the chandelier, it goes back upin the air, and becomes a scenic piece for the next coupleof songs,” Kuroda adds.

LightingThe automation in the rig naturally affected the lighting.Kuroda says, “We had to design the lighting rig around theair space that the fly gags were going to take up, and wehad to be very careful with the placement. I had to workwith SGPS, going off of their plot to see where I couldplace lighting trusses and lighting fixtures.”

Since Grande is a fan of diamonds, Kuroda designedthe lighting rig to include small and large diamond-shaped

pods. “The smaller diamonds live inside the biggerdiamonds, and they are hung a little lower to create achandelier-type vibe,” the lighting designer says. There are12 pods in the rig; Kuroda added four medium-sizeddiamond pods to fill in the spaces over the stage. The rigalso includes several straight trusses. He notes, “Wewanted to be clever about the way we distributed thelighting, so certain pods have certain fixtures, while othershave different fixtures, to keep things less cluttered.”

Kuroda also likes to keep his lighting instrumentsfocused—so to speak—so his gear list isn’t a garage saleof fixtures. “I like to have four or five instruments that havethe functionality that I’m looking for and stick to that,” hesays. Consequently, he is using Clay Paky A.Leda B-EYEK-20s, Robe BMFLs, Robe Pointes, and Philips Vari*LiteVL3500 Spots. “The VL3500 Spots were specificallyspec’d to be stage key light because of the shutterfunction, and they worked out great,” he says. Lightingwas supplied by VER.

The B-EYE is an important element of the lighting rig.Kuroda comments, “The cool thing about the B-EYE is itdoes double-duty—it’s a wash light and has all that pixelfunctioning, so we wrote a ton of pixel effects when theywere called for. When we need it to be a wash light, it is awash light.”

Lasers and CO2 jets from Strictly FX add drama to the production.

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Kuroda isn’t a fan of the full beam B-EYE look,however: “When the entire fixture is on, it looks too bigand chunky to me. So when we use it as a wash light, wetake the outer ring of 18 pixels out, and that gives it amuch smaller, cleaner look in the air.”

The B-EYEs are among the shin kickers Kuroda hasplaced at stage right and stage left, as are Solaris Flares,distributed by TMB. The latter gave Kuroda and his lightingteam—associate designer Andrew Giffin and lightingdirector Nick Van Nostrand—something unexpected.Kuroda says, “There are four Solaris Flares on each side;we thought we’d do strobe effects, and there’s a bunch ofB-EYEs in them that are for side washes. In the middle ofprogramming, Nick looked at the Solaris Flares and said,‘They’re LEDs, they’re not strobes, they’re not going tofizzle out. Just turn them on and use them as light’.”

A metaphorical light went on over Kuroda’s head; he dida quick test, and indeed, the Solaris Flare can be used asan actual light, rather than simply as a strobe. “And all of asudden, we had a new trick up our sleeve,” he says. “It’s awonderful light, it gives great coverage, it’s bright, it canput out nice saturated colors, and it punches—and it’s adifferent look. It makes you wonder why they market it asa strobe light, because just by saying those words, itingrains it into the designer’s head that it’s a strobe light,

when really it’s an LED block source that can strobe.” Also, Kuroda says, “We have roughly 170 Martin Rush

PARs, all dedicated as truss toners. We’ve also writteneffects for them and created wipes to and from the stage.”The production also includes glowing RF-controlled LEDsfrom Glow Motion Technologies, which resemble cat earsand are worn by audience members and, occasionally, byGrande herself.

Working closely with Kuroda was Giffin, who broughtanother artistic view to the project, thanks to his theatricalbackground. “I have always been a huge believer that themore sets of eyes, and the more heads, the better yourfinal result is going to be,” says Kuroda. The pairprogrammed the show on two MA Lighting grandMA2consoles.

During pre-viz, designers usually find a color palettethat suits the songs. This time, it was a bit morechallenging, Kuroda notes: “Coloring this show was themost difficult job I’ve ever had. We really, really had tothink about it. It was a fantastic challenge—I embraced itand loved every minute of it.”

Key to the process was Grande herself, who had veryspecific ideas in regards to her songs. “There is a part ofthe show that she refers to as ‘the 1920s’,” Kuroda says.“It includes the songs ‘Right There,’ ‘The Way,’ ‘Pink


“Bang Bang,” the first song of the show, includes pyro on the stage and on the WinVision video wall.

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Top: Video, confetti “snow,” low smoke, and Kuroda’s lighting set the mood for the ballad “My Everything.” Below: SGPS provided theautomation that allows Grande to fly during “Best Mistake.”



Champagne,’ and ‘Tattooed Heart.’ We would go back andforth and would write these songs over and over again,trying to get the color schemes right.” Grande keptpushing them, and eventually, they found a palette thatreflected her aesthetic. “These songs came out looking sogood in my opinion—the color schemes are so fantastic—and they are not what I would normally do,” he says. Theresult is a section of songs that have a Great Gatsby vibeto them.

Effects“Ariana loves, loves, loves special effects, and she wantedto make sure we had certain effects in the show,” notesGratton. “We havepyro laced throughout,a lot of LSG smoke, afair amount of CO2jets. We kind of have alittle bit of everything.”To provide thoseeffects, he called onthe experts atChicago-area-basedStrictly FX. The overallpacing of those effectsis critical for Gratton:“I don’t like to bebombarded witheverything at first.Even though we startwith a big intro andthere’s a lot of pyro inthe beginning, thewhole show developsand grows as it goes.”Consequently, theeffects are spreadthroughout the entireproduction.

Effects appear early on, during “Bang, Bang.” “Thereare seven stage pyro positions, eight side truss positions,and an airburst truss,” explains Tony Alaimo, lead pyrooperator. The product includes sparkle cannons, comets,and airbursts in colors ranging from silver to aqua topurple, supplied by Next FX and Le Maitre. At the end of“Honeymoon Avenue,” Grande is framed by sparklinggerbs on two levels of the stage. During “PinkChampagne,” “We’re shooting Le Maitre VS pink minesand gold glitter mines from our side truss positions, as wellas Next FX gold glitter airbursts,” reports Alaimo.

The production also includes a variety of confetti units.Alaimo explains, “‘Problem’—the finale—has Next FXblack and white confetti airburst and cannon simulators,with Le Maitre gerbs, and white mines.” The song also

features Confetti Cobra blowers from the ground. Duringthe ballad “My Everything,” Grande sits upon a grandpiano, with low smoke from four Strictly FX LSG unitsgently caressing her feet and tiny pieces of white “snow,”from ten Strictly FX Deer Feeder confetti machines, fallingdramatically to the floor. Alaimo adds, “‘The Way’ usesfour of our truss-mounted confetti units blowing lavenderconfetti at the end of the song, while CO2 jets are used in‘Be My Baby,’ ‘Break Free,’ and “‘Problem’.” Grattonnotes, “It’s all placed and utilized in a very classy way,instead of over-the-top.”

“We also have four 36W lasers and three 30W lasers—they’re a huge part of the show and look just amazing,”

Gratton says.Programmed by LaurenNelson and GrantSellers, of Strictly FX,using Pangolin Beyondsoftware, they arefeatured extensivelythroughout theproduction. Theyprovide amber accentsin the retro-feelingfinale, “Problem.”During “Break Free,”cosmic blue, white, andfuchsia laser beamsgrace the stage, while“All of My Love”features magenta, blue,and purple lasers thatmatch the content onthe video wall. Grandeand her dancers arealso surrounded bywhite laser beams thatutilize a mirror trick

during “Hands on Me.” Ted Maccabee, partner and visualsdirector at Strictly FX, notes, “It’s a privilege working andcollaborating with this talented team of designers—theircombined vision has created an amazing productionthat perfectly reflects the essence of Ariana’s music andpersona.”

SoundSound engineer Toby Francis was originally supposed tobe with Grande for two high-profile shows only. “After thefirst show, Ari’s mom, Joan, asked Chris Gratton why itsounded better. He pointed at me, and she said, ‘I thinkwe need to keep him all the time’.” Francis’ daughterhappens to be a huge Grande fan, so he decided to stay.

For the production, VER Tour Sound provided a MeyerPA. “I used it on a couple of one-offs on the Kanye tour,

Kuroda’s use of lighting pods brings the show out into the audience.

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and was really blown away by the clarity, how far it throws,and the low end; the sub is phenomenal,” Francis says.For this tour, he has—per side—16 Leo-M linear line arrayloudspeakers with four Lyon compact linear line arrayloudspeakers on the bottom of the main hang and 14Lyons for the side hang. Francis says, “It is by far theeasiest PA I’ve ever used and the best results I think I’veever gotten. Anybody who uses it and takes the sameapproach will be equally satisfied.”

With this system, Francis says he has achieved anincredible clarity on stage: “I’m hearing stuff I don’tnormally hear; I’ve never heard a hi-hat sound so natural.”He credits the sound of the hi-hat to the engineering of theMeyer cabinet. “Leo is a two-way box, it has two 15" long-excursion cone drivers and two 4" compression drivers,and the crossover point is lower than it would traditionallybe, more in the 700Hz range, which is really low. I thinkthat’s part of the reason that the upper mids are sonatural-sounding.”

Francis also has six 1100-LFC subs (“LFC” for “low-frequency control element”) per side hung behind the mainhang at a 15° angle. “On the indoor Kanye tour with adifferent sound system, I had some 40 subs per side,” herecalls. “We use 12 per side out here, and it’s a verycomparable amount of low end.”

Francis has a caveat regarding the Leo/Lyon PA: “It iscrystal-clear, so if you have any issues, they’re going toshine through—it’s not forgiving, like some PAs are.”

The volume is also turned up to “high” for the show. “AtAri’s request, it’s a loud show,” Francis says. “When westarted, we were over 105dB, which is loud, and at times,it’s more like 108 or 109dB.” The Meyer PA can easilyhandle the dBs, he adds: “Every time I guess how loud itis, I’m off by at least 2dB, and I’m pretty good atguessing.”

Francis runs the show on a DiGiCo SD7 console. “We’rerunning it dual-engine,” he says. “I have totally redone thedigital engine and I’ve totally redone the Wave plug-inserver. If anything gets weird with the console, I can switchover; if the engine were to crash, the B engine wouldautomatically take over.” He adds, “The only issue we’vediscovered is that, if you’re using two Wave servers, thedevice that picks between the two engines causesproblems. But we seem to have sorted it out.”

Grande recorded her own backup tracks on her albums,and it was decided to keep it that way on her tour. “Forher backup vocals, we are running Pro Tools in kind of aunique way,” Francis says. “We are using two Pro Toolsystems running in native at 96K with tracks that havebeen up sampled to 96K from the original form.”

Francis’ unique Avid Pro Tools system has several othercomponents. He says, “We use an Antelope OrionInterface—we come out of the MADI of the Orion into a

DOTEC [DirectOut Technologies] EXBOX.BLDS—it’s a veryunique box. It takes two MADI strings and picks betweenthe two. If anything is off one sample, it will switch to theother. So we feed two Pro Tools in together, it picks thestronger of the two streams, sends it to an OptocoreDD4MR convertor, and it goes into the Optocore loop andit shows up as a stage rack, which gives us the cleanestpath.” The results are stunning. “All the vocal parts—herlive vocal and the double parts—all sound the same. It’s C

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really amazing doing it this way.”On stage, Grande is on a Sennheiser 5235 mic. “It just

sounds so pristine—but it’s a dynamic mic,” remarksFrancis. For the band—which includes a full stringsection—Francis has a variety of microphones. “For thedrum mics, I’ve got the Telefunken M82—it’s their kickdrum mic—I’ve got M81s on the top snares—there arethree snare drums—and the bottom snares are AKG414s.” He uses AKG 414s on the overheads as well: “The

414 is the only mic I’m using today that I was using when Istarted. I love the way they sound.” As for the rest of thedrum kit, “The hi-hat and ride are Neumann 184s and thetom mics are Sennheiser 409s,” he adds.

Francis is confident of the skills of the rest of his crew.“The sound crew we have could not be stronger,” he says.Ariana Grande’s The Honeymoon Tour continues in the USthrough October.

“Tattooed Heart” features Parkins’ video work and Kuroda’s lighting.

honeymoon the phase - lighting & sound americagratton. “she” is ariana grande, and the...

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