Colourblind on the road with Hog4 and Green Hippo

Melbourne-based lighting and production company Colourblind are having a huge 2017, with lighting director Nicholas Beachen out on the road using High End Systems Hog 4 on the Hot Dub Wine Machine tour through March and April, and the company’s new Hippotizer Karst and Portamus media servers joining Melbourne hip-hop artist Illy as he traverses the country at the same time.

DJ Tom Loud’s genre-and time-spanning Hot Dub Time Machine has been a regular gig for Colourblind’s Nicholas Beachen for three years. But December 2016 saw the birth of a new concept from the artist – a curated, boutique festival that debuted at Serafino Winery in South Australia’s McLaren Vale. Gloriously named ‘Hot Dub Wine Machine’, the concept of combining a bill of bands and DJs with gourmet food and wine and a strictly limited number of tickets in an idyllic setting was a huge success. So much so that a mere two months later, a national tour was underway.

Starting in Tasmania’s Huon Valley on March 4 and ending in Western Australia’s Swan Valley on April 8, Hot Dub Wine Machine takes in five of Australia’s iconic wine regions, accompanied by party-starting acts like Pnau, Confidence Man, and Miami Horror, all culminating in a two-hour Hot Dub Time Machine set. Nicholas is running the whole light show on High End Systems flagship Hog 4. “I find the Hog 4 easy to use because of things like the Rate Wheel – that changes everything completely,” Nicholas reported. “I’m running the latest software with the new speed control ‘Batches’. Having two screens with the 48 Soft-Keys around them makes doing the things you need to do a lot easier. I will always try use a Hog 4 full-size console first.”

“I have a Hog4 show file I’ve been using on multiple different hot dub tours for the last year or so, every once in a while I will start this file again,” Nicholas continued. “Tom (Hot Dub) plays roughly 350 songs in his set. I’ve programmed the whole show before and it was actually quite confusing, but now I ‘busk it with intention’. It’s a heavy show to operate; he plays for two hours on this tour. When I get to a show, I know the things I need for Hot Dub cues, and I can create them very quickly with the Hog. People get too caught up in the tech and the tricks of consoles, and can lose sight of the end result. I try to focus on getting the lights looking good, and the Hog 4 helps me achieve that quickly and easily.”

When on tour, Nicholas is accompanied by Colourblind’s High End Systems Nano wing and  MiniWing 4, the portable control unit that he connects to Hog 4 PC via USB. “I travel with it everywhere I go,” confirmed Nicholas. “So I can use it to do previs in my hotel room or use it to control smaller shows that I cant get a console for. Who really wants to be on site late at night programming anyway?”

Meanwhile, Colourblind have purchased Green Hippo Karst hardware media servers and Green Hippo Portamus software. Their first outing was on ARIA Award-winning rapper Illy’s ‘Two Degrees” Australian tour, kicking off in Fremantle 25 March, and ending five cities later in Brisbane on April 8. The 2-RU Hippotizer Karst includes two HD-SDI outputs and DisplayPort 1.2 connectivity, giving Colourblind the ability to drive 4K displays with a single cable. Green Hippo’s Portamus software is designed to run on an Apple Macbook Pro, with all the tools necessary to perform world-class events, and includes all the well-loved features from the Hippotizer V4 range. They were also then used on the Australian Logie Awards in April.

Colourblind enjoy a close relationship with Australian and New Zealand High End Systems and Green Hippo distributor Lexair Entertainment, back by their unbeatable pre and post-sales support.

Photos: James Hughes
www.lexair.com.au
www.colourblind.com.au