MA LIGHTING GRANDMA2 CONSOLE IN THE VIDEO CAPTURE STUDIO
predominantly streaming shows and extremely grateful that he gets to flex his creative muscles since , so far , it ’ s been rare occasions that artists have brought in their own LD .
“ One of my biggest challenges ,” says Hook , “ is always keeping in mind that what ’ s important is what the camera sees , not what the naked eye sees onstage . In that regard , having the two console locations has been a godsend . It ’ s great to have that full panoramic view of the stage while programming at FOH , but I also have a fibre optic feed to a multi-view monitor there so I can quickly check my levels and angles on any of the cameras . Then , when I ’ m ready , moving into the Director ’ s Suite helps me avoid that temptation to look at the stage and keeps me focused on the monitor feed .”
Hook is also grateful that , for a venue dedicated primarily to orchestral music , Roy Thomson Hall has made a pretty substantial investment into automated lighting . “ Our front-of-house is still tungsten Source 4s but everything overhead is LED ,” remarks Hook . “ ETC and Robe are very well represented in my rig , including 60 Source 4 Lustr 2s and 40 Robe DL7S Profiles .”
For the livestreamed shows , Hook generally defaults to 3,200 K as a starting point for colour temperature but , with the flexibility afforded by the LED rig , he ’ s able to adjust in a heartbeat . “ Sometimes I ’ ll go a bit cooler , maybe 3,600 K , but I ’ ve also had clients request that I go as warm as possible so I can get to 2,700 K when needed .”
Having put the Robe DL7Ss through their paces for a couple years now , Hook is a huge fan of the fixture . “ They ’ ve been absolutely rock solid ,” he comments , “ Granted , we don ’ t move them around a whole lot – hardly at all for a symphony show – but
RTH ’ S DOUG MCKENDRICK AT AN AVID VENUE AUDIO CONSOLE IN THE VIDEO CAPTURE STUDIO during our regular season , we ’ re putting about 60 hours a week on them . They ’ re also incredibly quiet ; we run them in theatre mode and they ’ re practically silent .” Proudly , he tacks on : “ They ’ re so quiet that the TSO has still been able to record award-winning CDs during live shows !”
One of the main points of pride for both McKendrick and Hook is how quickly the Hall can be ready for a recording or livestream . “ We ’ ve literally had artists who walk through the door and we ’ re ready to start rolling in a couple of hours ,” remarks McKendrick . “ We ’ re also happy that , because we have the gear in-house , we ’ re able to use our house crew to operate it , which has been a real blessing during this pandemic – the fact that we ’ re able to keep at least some of our staff working .”
LOOKING FORWARD Since the shutdown in March , there ’ s only been a handful of livestreamed shows so far , including a concert with the TSO , an album launch for country / folk singer Donovan Woods , and a trio of videos for soul / R & B singer Elise LeGrow . Unfortunately , due to travel restrictions , legendary comic John Cleese , who had planned to do his first livestreamed show from Roy Thomson Hall , had to perform from the U . K . instead .
“ We ’ ve got a bunch of acts which are interested and I ’ m confident we ’ ll only get busier as people realize what we can offer them ,” says McKendrick , “ Unfortunately , we ’ ve had a few false starts so far – artists who have expressed an interest in streaming from here but don ’ t feel the urgency to commit to a date like they would with , say , a live , ticketed event . We already have great relationships with a number of Canadian artists and our Artist & Audience Development Manager , Stephen McGrath , who has also taken on the role of video director , is very actively seeking out new artists as well .”
The corporate event market is another target for growth and , while Roy Thomson Hall already attracts a reasonable number of these events , McKendrick thinks the pandemic and its aftermath may make the hall even more appealing to those clients .
“ Given that international travel is so difficult right now and could be for some time , massive conventions with thousands of delegates from around the world are going to become the exception rather than the rule ,” he says . “ Even with borders starting to open up , I think it ’ s going to take some time before people feel comfortable getting on airplanes again . We can now offer corporations and organizations an extremely attractive alternative whereby local delegates can still attend an event in person , which we can then stream to satellite sites around the world .”
While re-opening the building and getting people back to work has been the short-term goal , McKendrick is confident that these new content capture capabilities will give Roy Thomson Hall a real competitive advantage and help maintain the venue ’ s stature among Canada ’ s leading concert halls .
“ The hall already had so much going for it – we ’ re one of the largest concert halls in Canada with a spacious stage and state-ofthe-art lighting and sound ,” remarks McKendrick . “ Having added full recording and broadcast capabilities on top of that , we can now offer a one-stop solution for streaming or recording performances . While we ’ re not allowing any live audience members in yet , our next step , now that Ontario has moved to Stage Three of re-opening , will be to , hopefully , welcome very small numbers of audience
28 | Fall
2020