Matt Mills has been working on the Daughtry tour since March 2009 as the lighting director and programmer. It would be very easy to get complacent running the same show day in and day out. Instead, he has found ways to stay creative, changing the way the console uses pixel mapping, the way followspot cues are called, and adjusting to last minute changes to the set list. Mills uses a Catalyst v4 media server to map content to 24 Martin Stagebar 54s. The Catalyst is triggered by an MA Lighting grandMA console. He uses an ELC Node 6 to merge the ArtNet outputs from both the grandMA and the Catalyst. This allows him to have full control of the Martin Stagebars from both the console and the media server at anytime using highest takes precedence (HTP) control. The ELC Node6 also acts as an ArtNet hub allowing him to split the signal and route them to each truss as well…In addition to pixel mapping, Mills has continually refined other areas of show execution driven by his knowledge of show control software and his desire to make other aspects of running his show more efficient and consistent. One of these is a unique automated solution to calling followspot cues that he devised.
From "Video Digerati" by Vickie Claiborne, PLSN, July 2010
