(14/06/2015) Robe moving lights took center stage along with an eclectic mix of new and emerging musical talent at Hype Machine's Hype Hotel venue during the 2015 SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas.
UK-based Lighting Designer David Wolstenholm was engaged as lighting consultant for the event by Hype Hotel's Production Designer / Manager Brian Kim. The two previously worked together for Cirque du Soleil production. David helped create the lighting scheme using the Robe fixtures. He also liaised between any incoming artist LDs and his team which included Assistant LX Eric Kim and Lighting Intern, Lila Neiswanger.
Hype Hotel featured two live sessions a day with five artists per session, complete with lightening quick changeovers, so the lighting requirements were extremely demanding. David likened the incredible vibe of this truly unique event to the craziness and buzz of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and he thoroughly enjoyed his own challenging SXSW experience for the second year.
One of the biggest tasks was to ensure that each artist had their very own lightshow, a job made infinitely easier this year with so many Robe moving lights involved in the high profile venue run by the popular music blogging / aggregator site.
This year's all-action array of show-stopping live performances included Spoon fresh from winning the 2015 SXSW Grulke Prize for Career Act and headed by local hero Britt Daniel, who brought the house down with their show on Thursday.
Others were ILoveMakonnen Rae Sremmurd, Hudson Mohawke, Best Coast, Odesza and may more, with banging DJ sets from Fort Romeu, Obey City, Heathered Pearls, Monster Rally, Ellie Herring and much more.
On the rig were 8 x Robe BMFL Spots, 7 x Pointes, 7 x LEDBeam 100s, 10 x LEDWash 1200s six overhead and four for side light plus 8 x CycFX 8s which were rigged in the roof and angled back to provide a very cool ceiling light effect.
The DJ booth was lit with four Robe miniPointes and two LEDBeam 1000s, and there were also seven MiniMes in the VIP bar area, loaded with custom Hype Hotel video content, which provided a neat and easy solution to brand the area effectively.
The BMFLs proved exceptionally powerful for the compact-sized venue with just 3 meters of headroom, with four positioned on the overhead rig and four on the floor, where they were the only fixtures. They were used for all the high impact moments.
They are simply a Weapon', explained David. There is just so much sheer light output from them, especially in a venue like this .. and soooo much you can do with them. He reckoned that a medium-sized lightshow could be built just using around eight BMFLs, and added that he'd hardly scratched the surface in terms of creative possibilities during Hype Hotel.
The color mixing is great, the gobo selection is varied and different, the two prisms are extremely handy and the output is just well phenomenal! Like many, he also appreciates the full and completely flat beam field with no hotspots, and the fact that the unit is not big and heavy!
The Pointes were arranged in an arch following the same line as the BMFL Spots. David likes them as a multi-purpose luminaire and so did the camera crew filming the event. They liked the fact that the Pointe is a neat source with a smaller lens which looks very attractive on camera.
The gobos and prisms were ideal for creating big breakup looks and being able to flip between beam and spot mode offered multiple options.
The LEDWash 1200s were run in mode 1 giving overall control of all the LED rings, so he could add a whole slew of additional effects to the flash&trash' palette.
Two LEDWash 1200s were also the principal side key lighting which is very much part of the raw and moody Hype Hotel lighting aesthetic. Side keys increased the intimacy of the presentation and avoided any scrappy light spillage across the stage where it's not wanted which can be an issue with traditional above stage front lighting positions.
The tiny LEDBeam 100s were placed at the back of stage tucked in between the gaps of an upstage wall of PARs to break up the uniformity of this effect and also provide a stark in-the-face contrast look for the audiences. David describes the LEDBeam 100 as a Wonderful little unit and in particular loves the precise, almost PC-esque quality of the beam and its long optical columns, together with the Huge amount of punch for the size. Their fast movement was perfect for the noisier acts and some of the DJ sets!
The CycFX 8s were the stars of the show in some ways, primarily because of the gently raked celling positioning which looked fantastic in all the wide camera shots and made very cool eye-candy for the crowds, and it's more unusual to see them used in this context.
The Hype Hotel enjoyed another massively successful year at SXSW which (SXSW Film, Music and Interactive combined) is the highest annual revenue-producing event for the Austin economy.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
(14/06/2015) Robe moving lights took center stage along with an eclectic mix of new and emerging musical talent at Hype Machine's Hype Hotel venue during the 2015 SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas.
