Marshall PTZ Cameras Bring Legendary Progressive Rock Exp...

The An Evening with Emerson, Lake and Palmer tour brings one of rock's most iconic bands back to the stage. These performances seamlessly blend live footage of drummer and surviving member Carl Palmer with archival video of his former bandmates, Keith Emerson and Greg Lake, who both passed away in 2016. The production team creates the illusion that all three original members are performing together on stage by way of large LED video walls on stage. The tour is taking place with the full cooperation of the Emerson and Lake Estates.

To bring this immersive concert experience to life, Production Manager, Steve Supparits, owner of live event production company Resurrection Studios, relies on Marshall Electronics' CV620, CV730-BHN and CV625-TW PTZ cameras. The audience walks away having witnessed Emerson, Lake & Palmer performing together again, says Supparits. The production has to be absolutely seamless for that to work, and Marshall PTZ cameras have become a critical part of making that happen.

Supparits, who has nearly four decades of experience in live concert production, has worked with Palmer for the past nine years, overseeing audio and video for the drummer's international tour schedule. The production first incorporated a Marshall CV620 PTZ Camera when the tour launched in 2022. Positioned on a low-profile tripod directly in front of Palmer's drum riser, the camera captures dramatic close-ups of Palmer's live performances, sweeping audience shots and alternate angles of the three live musicians on stage. After several years of successful touring, Palmer and Supparits expanded the team's Marshall workflow with CV625-TW and CV730-BHN PTZ Cameras positioned at front of house, all controlled by a Marshall VS-PTC-300 Compact PTZ Controller.

The addition of the CV730 and CV625 cameras allowed the tour's video director to operate all three PTZ cameras while simultaneously switching content across the show's three video walls. Carl wanted to streamline the production while maintaining the highest production value possible, adds Supparits. The addition of the Marshall cameras and PTZ controller made it possible to automate much of the camera operation, reduce crew requirements and increase the creative possibilities.

The use of the Marshall cameras is crucial to success of the show, says Palmer, who is now in his fourth year of touring the Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) event, which has been warmly embraced by the international music community. Mixed on screen with the greatly enhanced original concert footage from The Royal Albert Hall, our live on-stage performances blend together seamlessly. Together, they create a live music experience that captures the essence of what ELP was as a live performing act.

Throughout the shows, the production alternates between live camera feeds of the current band, Carl Palmer, Paul Bielatowicz and Simon Fitzpatrick, synched with archival footage of Emerson and Lake. The Marshall PTZ cameras provide multiple programmable presets for dramatic close-ups of Palmer's drumming, detailed shots of guitar solos, audience reactions and wide stage coverage, while allowing operators to smoothly transition between camera positions.

According to Supparits, the image quality and camera control capabilities of the Marshall cameras were immediately distinguishable from competing systems. When I started evaluating PTZ cameras, Marshall stood out because of the optical quality, the smoothness of the pan and tilt motors and the overall precision of the camera movement, he says. Whether we're making fast moves across the stage or incredibly slow adjustments during a drum solo, the movement is exceptionally smooth and natural.

For touring productions, reliability is equally important. The tour's original CV620 has traveled internationally for five years, surviving trucks, buses and commercial flights without missing a performance. These cameras have been everywhere with us from Japan to South America, across the U.S. and Canada and they've never let us down, adds Supparits. They've been packed in road cases, bounced around in trucks and even had an accidental fall from a tripod and still perform flawlessly night after night. That's exactly what you need for a touring production.

The CV625-TW and CV730-BHN cameras also provide the long-range performance required for larger venues, where cameras may be positioned far from the stage. Marshall delivers crystal-clear close-ups from nearly 200 feet away, says Supparits. That long-range optical performance was a major reason we stayed with Marshall. When we added the CV625, we also incorporated its auto-tracking feature to follow performers around the stage.

Another advantage is the cameras' ability to distribute video outputs to multiple switchers simultaneously. In a production like ours, efficiency is everything, adds Supparits. The ability to split the camera outputs across multiple switchers gives us tremendous flexibility while reducing the overall camera count. It's an incredibly useful feature.

Supparits also credits the brand's autofocus, auto-iris and color consistency with helping the cameras excel in the constantly changing lighting environment of a live rock concert. Our lighting changes every few seconds with moving fixtures and dramatic color shifts, he says. The Marshall cameras stay locked in focus, adapt beautifully to the lighting changes and match perfectly with our other cameras. The audience never thinks about the cameras, they're simply immersed in the performance. That's exactly what great production technology should do, and Marshall has helped us create an experience that audiences consistently describe as unforgettable.

The An Evening with Emerson, Lake & Palmer tour continues in the U.S

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