OH BOY It's Robe for Hecht posted: 09/12/2019
Swiss pop-rock band Hecht - well-known for their energized live shows, slick dance moves, foot-tapping tunes, general zaniness and eye-catching post-concert videos - thrilled 13,000 fans at Zurich's Hallenstadion in an energy-fuelled visual and sonic extravaganza which included zip-lining keyboardists, crowd surfing, inflatable pink flamingos and several tons of confetti!
They are a band who know how to entertain!
Show and lighting designer Roger Staub was asked to create a BIG, vibrant and memorable show to end their current touring cycle riding high on their chart-topping third studio album Oh Boy and assisting him to make a massive impact were 98 x Robe MegaPointes and 60 x Pointes!
Roger, who is based in LA and Zurich, first met the band three years ago at the Swiss Music Awards. They asked him to produce this ground-breaking show for which he worked very closely with the artists themselves to ensure plenty of visual drama and craziness were combined with 3 hours of musical fun!
Roger is also a video content creator and his elegant design combined the media of lighting and video perfectly, proportionately putting the band right at the centre of the action on a large (18 x 8 metre) semi-transparent LED screen.
Visually, Roger wanted to create simple and powerful statements and a clean performance space. To keep focus on the band, he proposed the central upstage screen instead of standard left and right IMAGs as one of his starting points.
The concert was also shot for a DVD / documentary film with 15 cameras in total, 11 of which were available for a lively IMAG mix which was cut by John Allen of Live Image.
The screen position ensured that all eyes stayed centre stage, glued to the imaginative collage of multi-angled IMAG images. A vital part of the aesthetic was that the lighting looks worked harmoniously to create a sumptuous bigger picture' combined with the camera mix.
The presence of the screen also required really bright lightsources to punch through, so Roger immediately thought of Pointes and MegaPointes as ideal tools.
For practical as well as stylistic reasons in designing a large one-off, he wanted to refine the number of fixture types on the rig, which was pared down to four, carefully picked for maximum versatility to keep the looks varied and fresh from start to finish of a truly incendiary performance.
In addition to the Pointes and MegaPointes there was a matrix of 84 LED battens around and behind the LED screen, and a scattering of strobes.
He relied on the full multi-functionality of the MegaPointes in particular to provide his beam, spot and wash effects. Roger had used MegaPointes before, but primarily in festival scenarios, so this was the first show with them as the main fixture.
Seventy-two MegaPointes were used around and below the screen, rigged on a series of trusses hung below one another, with 20 x Pointes behind the LED screen, blasting through.
Ten MegaPointes circled the edges of the B-Stage at the end of an 18-metre runway from the stage that got the band right in among their fans, with another six for side lights shooting across the downstage edge of the main stage. The remaining 10 were on the front truss for front light, keys and specials.
Forty Pointes were positioned around the arena on a perimeter truss for lighting the audience along with some LED spheres and LED battens.
The strobes were on the deck behind the backline, and the stage, runway and B-stage were all outlined in LED. The B stage also had a low-resolution video floor.
The concept of reducing the fixture types also speeded up programming whilst they did have some pre-vis time, the on-site lighting programming window of four hours was the only chance to see how things really looked and worked in situ, and in that time, the building blocks had to be fine-tuned and plenty still needed creating!
I wanted to concentrate on the overall looks and in making big, bold lighting statements, explained Roger who knew that the band would be animated and buzzing with energy, moving constantly between stages. This was why he needed front / key lights that also looked great as rear lighting when they were on the B-stage, and that could create curtains of effects.
MegaPointes were absolutely THE right fixtures for getting all that energy offstage and out there and around the room. They easily had the intensity to reach all the way down to the back of the arena and beyond.
MegaPointes proved themselves in every way to be the universal' lighting fixture to ensure this show looked fantastic live and on camera.
I wanted to embrace all the fans with the lighting and pull them into the performance, and this was precisely the effect we achieved with all those beams, he enthused.
The MegaPointe's hot spot control and beam-shaper were gifts in assisting the stark and contrasty IMAG shots they wanted, but so the cameras didn't look washed out.
Roger also loves the prism effects, plus the general brightness. Even with a prism and in darker colours, they were still able to produce amazing backdrops behind the band.
Once the setlist was finalised in the run up to the gig, he thought about colours for each song. The music goes from classic pop to soft rock to banging EDM, so the goal was to get away from traditional blue and red books and go for some more off-beat and adventurous elements of the colour spectrum.
Lots of yellows, pinks, purples and magentas used judiciously and thoughtfully made a refreshing change.
When he did choose a red, the colour palettes were defined to give neon shades - circa 1980's Miami vibes - rather than legacy shades.
Roger used plenty of white, which is a personal favourite, mixing the subtleties of different texturing, tonality and colour temperatures - strikin
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
A poisoned spy, a secret war, and a small English city contaminated by a deadly chemical weapon. Available on Sky Documentaries from 4 AugustWednesday 22 July 2...
22/07/2026
Audio at Parity: Comscore Launches Transcript-Level Targeting and Measurement wi...
22/07/2026
Arvato Systems and Lobster Enter into a Partnership and Combine the Integration Platform and Managed Services
Flexible integration solutions for cloud, hybrid...
22/07/2026
RT REPORTS NET SURPLUS OF 22.5 MILLION IN 2025...
22/07/2026
In the Opinion of the Censor airs Monday 27 July at 9.35pm on RT One and RT Player
In the Opinion of the Censor looks at how films for theatrical release wer...
21/07/2026
New research involving a cross-section of Mongolias independent media landscape finds enthusiasm for AI as a tool to improve efficiency, sustainability and resi...
21/07/2026
High-end analogue channel strip boasts plug-in recall
Originally revealed as a prototype back at NAMM 2024, the Channex Studio channel strip represented a b...
21/07/2026
Relies on same DSP as plug-in range
Musik Hack's line-up has been influenced heavily by founder Stan Greene's work as a mixing engineer, and their M...
21/07/2026
Official collaboration with boutique builder Dirty Boy Pedals
Warm Audio have just announced the launch of a new guitar pedal range created in collaboration...
21/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz showcases broad range of EMC test solutions at EMC SIPI 2026 in ...
21/07/2026
X-Rite Pantone and NIFT Partner to Build Color Management Skills for India's...
21/07/2026
Harmonics cOS Virtualized Broadband Platform and Pearl Remote OLTs Enable Flexible PON Migration, While SeaStar Optical Node Powers Cost-Effective Multi-Gigabit...
21/07/2026
160 hours of Irish storytelling for 2026
KIN and The Walsh Sisters return
RT has today unveiled its most ambitious drama slate ever, with a record-breakin...
20/07/2026
Product range now readily available in the UK
Graph Tech Guitar Labs have just announced the launch of a new UK Online Store that makes it quicker and easie...
20/07/2026
Popular headset gains active noise cancellation
The Maxwell headet was Audeze's first foray into the gaming world, and thanks to its Dolby Atmos compati...
20/07/2026
Monday 20 July 2026
Sky brings free global roaming to millions of loyal custome...
20/07/2026
Red Seat Ventures Announces Introduction of Premium Creator and Podcast Communit...
20/07/2026
FIFA World Cup Final sets new RT Player record as the most-streamed single event in the platform's history
Over 1 million viewers watched live on RT 2 as ...
19/07/2026
Channel strip plug-in gets upgraded
Acustica Audio's vintage-inspired channel strip plug-in has just been treated to an update that expands its tonal ra...
18/07/2026
Captures nine sought-after Fender amps
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX expansion captures a selection of nine rare Brown Panel' Fender amps that were ...
18/07/2026
Latest batch ships alongside firmware update
Since being unveiled at Superbooth 2025, Frap Tools' debut polysynth has been met with widespread praise, a...
17/07/2026
Full engine access with reduced soundset
Sonuscore have steadily been introducing a selection of reduced-cost and free versions of their flagship products r...
17/07/2026
Two new special-edition models revealed
Over the past week, Arturia have launched special-edition versions of both their premium MIDI controller and stage p...
17/07/2026
Original founder now back at the helm
In a message posted on his personal social media accounts, Dirk Ulrich has announced that both Plugin Alliance and Bra...
17/07/2026
From intimate acoustic settings to large-scale festival stages, her focus has remained constant: preserving the true natural voice of the violin in every perfor...
17/07/2026
New and returning series, live festival broadcasts, powerful documentaries and major sporting moments headline RT Radio 1's summer schedule
RT Radio 1 is...
17/07/2026
Up For The Match - Live From Croke Park this Saturday at 8pm on RT One and RT ...
17/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced DiscoverIreland.ie, as sponsor of The Traitor...
16/07/2026
Media organisations with tested plans for new products, services or revenue models can now apply for grants of up to 30,000 through the Business Innovation Syn...
16/07/2026
A new benchmark in bass enhancement
Described as a new benchmark in bass enhancement , Baby Audio's latest release has been designed to augment the lo...
16/07/2026
Popular library rebuilt in new Orbita Engine
Other Worlds Evolved is the latest of Zero G's sample libraries to be treated to a ground-up rebuild using ...
16/07/2026
Created in collaboration with A. G. Cook
The newest addition to Native Instruments' software collection introduces a new synth created by A. G. Cook, a ...
16/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz supplies conformance test systems to Marquistech for India's...
16/07/2026
Modern broadcast facilities are no longer confined to a single control room. Production teams are spread across multiple workstations, machine rooms, studios, c...
16/07/2026
Whether you're operating a single control room or managing metering across an entire broadcast facility, having the right information in the right place is ...
16/07/2026
San Jose, CA - July 16, 2026 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced a $25,000...
16/07/2026
Modern broadcast facilities are no longer confined to a single control room. Production teams are spread across multiple workstations, machine rooms, studios, c...
16/07/2026
Fox Corporation Executives to Discuss Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal Year 2026 F...
16/07/2026
More interfaces now compatible with Focusrite Control 2 Your Focusrite interface might now be compatible with a public beta support of Focusrite Control 2. If...
16/07/2026
Together the semi-finals had a combined reach of 1.98 million unique individuals...
15/07/2026
Launched alongside new FreqSoft installer
Designed to bridge the gap between hardware and software, Freqport's FreqInOut FO1 unit provides a simple way ...
OH BOY It's Robe for Hecht posted: 09/12/2019 
