Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Robe Covert Bat Drive Thru Rave

16/07/2020

Robe Covert Bat Drive Thru Rave posted: 14/07/2020

The wonderful world of entertainment technology is renowned for those who can think out-of-the-box and this pandemic is seeing no end of creative and imaginative ways in which people and companies are trying to boost morale and support the soul of live performance! Seattle, USA-based Joe Cole, owner of lighting rental company R90, was savoring some good conversation and a whisky-on-the-rocks over Zoom with his friend, attorney Neil Juneja of Gleam Law one Wednesday evening, and like most of us, missing shows, music and the incredible buzz and camaraderie of live events that has temporarily evaporated under lockdowns worldwide.

Musing about drive-in music events they had seen happening in Denmark, Germany, and other European countries Joe and Neil had a flash of inspiration! The Seattle Governor's office had just issued a special guideline allowing drive-in religious services to commence in Washington State!

The next day Neil started drilling down into the stay-at-home laws and the new directive, discovering that religious affiliation is a term open to dynamic interpretation in a court of law, so they decided that a drive-in religious service offering the gift' of music did not actually contravene any current laws.

The Covert Bat Drive Thru Rave was born!

Neil actually engaged in substantial and thorough legal due diligence which included communicating with countless city, county, and state officials. A few days into the mission, no-one had a problem with the proposed project or could find any legal reason for it not to go ahead!

The venue for the initial Covert Bat Drive Thru Rave - a smart scientific nod to the noble winged mammal in combination with the true spirit of underground rave that kept the first events strictly secret - was R90's shop on 1st Avenue South, Seattle.

This has a large loading bay area and a series of roller shutter doors where trucks back up to load gear and sufficient room to socially distance 21 vehicles so they could have the windows down!

Then Joe, lighting designer Erik Mahowald from Bending Lite Productions and Christian Jackson, lighting programmer and another R90 regular who owns a lot of sound kit - started thinking about the music and production.

Erik's lighting design was based around how to fill three loading dock bays with flexible lights that would work from the available power supply. All the kit including the sound system - supplied by Christian for the first events - had to fit inside the bays, so they could simply flip up the shutters - improv style - and let the fun begin!

With a warehouse full of lighting gear and determination to produce something special for what would be the first proper show since the industry shut down, Joe, Erik and Christian measured the bays, built the venue as a 3D visualization model and chose lighting positions in a stunning design that looked great and fit the limited parameters, explained Erik.

This included 15 x Robe MegaPointes and 27 x LEDBeam150s on the lighting rig. The MegaPointes were deployed on the downstage edge of the stage in the central bay for an even spread across the loading dock area, with one more fixture far back inside each bay for high-impact backlight looks and silhouettes.

Erik loves MegaPointes, especially the gobo and prism combination that hits the outer aperture of the fixture to create amazing full looks and intense aerial effects as well as great eye candy, and R90 has made some large Robe investments in the last couple of years.

Three lighting towers were deployed, one in the center of each bay, each rigged with 9 x LEDBeam 150s, and six additional fixtures, with all lights controlled from a grandMA3 console.

The first Covert Bat Raves were electronic and EDM-based, so this selection of lights gave endless options for creating multiple big, bold, bright, diverse looks that kept the energy pumping out and immersing the parking lot in the show.

A lineup of top-level local DJ talent included Darrius, Pezzner, Subset and Powermitten covering a range of EDM genres and creating superlative music, vibes, and a thrilling experience for everyone.

An experimental acoustic set with singer / songwriter / guitarist Glen Cannon enabled them to test drive' a different genre, and Joe notes, for this set up in general, DJs and acoustic sets are more practical for social distancing and to load in / out than full bands would be!

This also leaves the possibility of presenting music lovers and artists with some truly unique solo performance opportunities!

The first Covert Bat events - in tune with the heartbeat of the underground - were promoted only by word of mouth, a move to keep them cool and peripheral on one hand but also for several sensible reasons including safe delivery and, with that in mind, keeping it legal for everyone's protection .

DJ sets for the first raves were limited to 50 minutes because if people stepped out of their cars without being home or on an essential' journey they immediately broke the lockdown regulations.

Secondly they didn't have bathrooms, so guests ware advised in advance and asked to plan ahead on the ablution front!

There were no limits to the number of people per car - provided the vehicle had the corresponding sets of seatbelts - and the occupants had to be from groups or families who were directly quarantined together. Masks and face coverings were also compulsory.

In keeping with religious service customs, audience members could make donations'.

The concept was a massive success, many faces smiled, word soon spread, and the events were hugely appreciated by a live music starved audience.

While Joe and his R90 team are experienced lighting and production professionals, they are also the first to admit that promotion and ticketing i
LINK: https://www.live-production.tv/news/shows/robe-covert-bat-drive-thru-r...
See more stories from liveproduction

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

19/05/2026

Cisco and USGA Announce Multiyear Partnership Extension

Cisco and the USGA have announced a multiyear extension of their partnership, which began in 2018. Cisco serves as the Official Technology Partner of the USGA, ...

19/05/2026

Urban Edge Network and Spiideo Partner to Enhance NAIA Sports Streaming

Urban Edge Network (UEN), a streaming platform for NAIA sports, has announced a partnership with Spiideo to provide streaming and production tools to UEN's ...

19/05/2026

Warner Bros. Discovery Announces Expanded Roland-Garros 2026 Coverage

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will provide live coverage of all 900 Roland-Garros matches across its platforms beginning with qualifiers on May 18. In Europe, 21...

19/05/2026

Tubi Launches FIFA World Cup 2026 FOX Hub

Tubi, Fox Corporation's free streaming service, has announced the launch of the FIFA World Cup 2026 FOX Hub, a dedicated destination for World Cup programmi...

19/05/2026

Telefnica and Sony Conduct 5G mmWave Broadcast Trial at Movistar Arena

Telef nica, in collaboration with Sony, has conducted a 5G connectivity trial at the Movistar Arena in Spain using the 26 GHz millimetre wave (mmWave) band. The...

19/05/2026

Ross Production Services Integrates Calrec Argo M into New Hypermax-1 Truck

Ross Production Services (RPS) has installed a Calrec Argo M console into its new Hypermax-1 remote production truck, replacing one of three Argo S consoles pre...

19/05/2026

Panasonic Projector and Display Acquires HIVE Media Control

Panasonic Projector and Display Corporation has announced the acquisition of 100% of the shares of UK-based media technology company Hive Media Control Ltd. (HI...

19/05/2026

Globecast Completes Major Renovation of Singapore Facility

Globecast has announced the completion of a nine-month renovation of its Singapore facility, converting it from a traditional linear broadcast operation into a ...

19/05/2026

Grass Valley Signs Three-Year Enterprise Agreement with Phoenix Broadcast Solutions

Grass Valley has announced a three-year enterprise agreement with Phoenix Broadc...

19/05/2026

Watch Brasil Selects Bitmovin for Streaming Player, Encoder, and Observability

Bitmovin has announced that Watch Brasil, a streaming platform operating across Brazil and Europe since 2018, has replaced its legacy systems with Bitmovin'...

19/05/2026

Ateme and Akamai Power Nepal Premier League Live Streaming

Ateme has announced the migration of Dish Home Nepal's Nepal Premier League (NPL) streaming infrastructure to Ateme's TITAN Live solution deployed on Ak...

19/05/2026

CMSI Supports ESPNs NCAA Gymnastics Championships Coverage

CMSI provided workflow, media management, and HDR support for ESPN during coverage of the NCAA Gymnastics Semifinals and Championships. The company supported fi...

19/05/2026

SVG Rewind: TGLs SmartPin Cam Offers a Whole New Perspective for Golf

In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into the six production-technologies nominated for this year's George Wensel Tec...

19/05/2026

SVG Rewind: FOX IndyCar Takes In-Car AR Graphics to New Heights

In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into the six production-technologies nominated for this year's George Wensel Tec...

19/05/2026

NEP Supershooter 11 and 65 Roll Out To Meet Different Production Needs

Featuring a fully IP infrastructure, Supershooter 11 is intended for large-scale events. Enabling remote and distributed workflows, Supershooter 65 joins the RE...

19/05/2026

Boots Riley Unpacks His Vision of Power, Style, and Time at Sundance Institute's I Love Boosters Denver Screening

By Jessica Herndon The line wrapped around the building outside Denver's La...

19/05/2026

Building a More Trusted Podcast Experience for Creators and Listeners

Podcasting continues to evolve, and so does Spotify. As we build what comes next, one thing remains constant: This is a medium built on connection. It lives in ...

19/05/2026

GC Audio & Looptrotter announce the Emperor Signature Cartridge

Popular design joins Inherit cartridge line-up When GC Audio introduced their modular Inherit system, it was available with a selection of the company's...

19/05/2026

oeksound introduce Soothe3

Resonance-suppression plug-in gets ground-up rebuild Following on from its 10-year anniversary, oeksound's flagship plug-in has just reached its third m...

19/05/2026

Novation unveil the FLKey 2

Dedicated FL Studio controller keyboard range refreshed Novation's dedicated FL Studio controller family has just been upgraded, with four new models ex...

19/05/2026

Rohde & schwarz strengthens its in-vehicle networks test portfolio with the launch of new ASA-ML compliance solution

Rohde & schwarz strengthens its in-vehicle networks test portfolio with the laun...

19/05/2026

Lawful Intelligence: Rohde & Schwarz stellt neues Portfolio fr moderne Polizeiarbeit vor

Lawful Intelligence: Rohde & Schwarz stellt neues Portfolio f r moderne Polizeia...

19/05/2026

Press Release: South Africa to be celebrated as European Film Market's Country in Focus at the Berlinale 2027

Press Release 18 May 2026, Johannesburg South Africa has been selected as the...

19/05/2026

To Deliver for the Warfighter, Acquisition Reform Must Provide a Level Playing Field

When all companies in the market are allowed to compete under the same set of ru...

19/05/2026

Unjammable Lifeline: L3Harris Fiber-Optic Tethers Keep Warfighters Connected

Battle-proven technology withstands electronic warfare threats across air, maritime surface and subsea domains....

19/05/2026

WESCAM MX-Series: Defining the Moment Before the Target Moves

WESCAM MX-Series EO/IR systems provide high-precision targeting across domains, including counter-UAS applications...

19/05/2026

Cobalt Digital and SineSix Media Partner to Transform Accessibility Compliance into a More Engaging Viewer Experience at NAB Show 2026

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. April 16, 2026 - Cobalt Digital today announced a partnership ...

19/05/2026

Cobalt Digital Announces Launch of blueCORE at NAB Show 2026: Compact Powerhouse Signal Processors for SDI and ST 2110 Workflows

Las Vegas - April 18, 2026 Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufactur...

19/05/2026

Advanced HDR by Technicolor and Cobalt Digital Address Live Production Gap as HDR Adoption Collides With Legacy Workflows

LAS VEGAS April 18, 2026 - Advanced HDR by Technicolor and Cobalt Digital are ...

19/05/2026

Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show

LAS VEGAS - May 4, 2026 - Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear initiativ...

19/05/2026

Cobalt Digital Brings Flexible End-to-End IPMX/ST 2110 Ecosystem to MPTS

London - 11 May 2026 Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of award-winning signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear...

19/05/2026

Clear-Com Enhances Musikal Perahu Kertas with Eclipse HX and FreeSpeak II

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......

19/05/2026

Ross Production Services Flexes Infrastructure with Console Switch

Celebrating its ability to quickly adapt to changing requirements, Ross Production Services (RPS) has put its flexible infrastructure to good use, switching one...

19/05/2026

NFL Pushes Back Against Critics of Games on Streaming

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

19/05/2026

NEP Group Rolls Out Two New Mobile Production Units In U.S.

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

19/05/2026

Phoenix Broadcast Solutions Raises its Live Production Ga...

Grass Valley has entered into a three-year enterprise agreement with Phoenix Broadcast Solutions as the Singapore-based company expands its live production oper...

19/05/2026

Clear-Com Enhances Musikal Perahu Kertas with Eclipse HX...

Clear-Com supported Musikal Perahu Kertas, a large-scale musical theater production in Indonesia adapted from the acclaimed novel by Dee Lestari, through the d...

19/05/2026

METEO CONSULT and La Chaine Meteo Select Actus Digital fo...

Actus Digital, a LiveU company, and a leading provider of intelligent media monitoring and broadcast compliance platforms, announced today that METEO CONSULT ha...

19/05/2026

Transforming Broadcast Operations - Globecast Unveils Sta...

Globecast, a leading provider of managed services for the broadcast and media industry, today announced the completion of a major renovation of its Singapore fa...

19/05/2026

Calrec Console Switch Helps Ross Production Services Fle...

Following a major upgrade to its Connecticut remote production centre with the installation of three 60-fader Argo S consoles in 2023, RPS has switched one of t...

19/05/2026

PlayBox Technology Launches a Modular Media Orchestration...

PlayBox Technology today announced the launch of Celebro Play, a browser-based media orchestration platform designed specifically for broadcast facilities and p...

19/05/2026

Publicis Groupe to Buy LiveRamp for $2.2 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

19/05/2026

Tubi Launches 2026 FIFA World Cup Fox Hub

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

19/05/2026

Viamedia Introduces a New Geographic Intelligence Layer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

19/05/2026

NFL Pushes Back Against Shift of Games to Streaming

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...