Even though Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) has been touring its annual holiday-themed production for 23 years, Director of Touring & Production Elliot Saltzman along with Production and Lighting Designer Bryan Hartley, make sure that every year is a fresh design. A design that tops the year before and keeps the audiences wowed. Helping them realize TSO’s ‘top that’ design is special effects expert Doug Adams, President of Image SFX. PLSN spoke with all three after they wrapped the 2022 tour.
BRYAN HARTLEY
Production & Lighting Designer
Hartley has designed every show for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, except the first seven-show trial theater tour. While he’s already begun working on the design for the 24th winter tour in 2023, we asked him to talk about the 2022 run. We talk about his design approach, all those special effects, and his long collaboration with Tour Production Director, Elliot Saltzman.
Even though you have done 23 TSO winter tours, you bring a new design to the stage each year. How do you approach designing TSO?
For me, it’s all about the production design itself. I’ll start with the stage, then I’ll do the video screens, then I’ll do my lighting rig, then, I’ll do the automation. Those are the things right there that let me tell the story of the show with the design. It’s more about the whole big picture of the overall show. Even though I am thought of as the ‘lighting guy,’ it’s actually all the video, the automation, and the lighting; all together that I think about for my design. They are all layers of one design, not different designs.
You mention layers, Elliot described your process as being like a record producer, where a producer knows all the layers that are going to make a good song and how you visually layer all the video, lighting, effects and automation to make the show.
That’s pretty cool. I’ll take that. I do equate my show design to writing a song. You have to take all the pieces, the different notes if you will, and put them together. Like lyrics and music, I am putting together the music and visuals. A lot of times in fact, whatever the lyrics are, I pull from that.
I have to say, I thought the design came out amazing this year. I was very proud of it, and everybody seemed to like it. This year was big on the video for me. I really wanted to do something different with the video as opposed to just a center screen. I didn’t want a big video screen in the back. I feel like everybody has a big video wall in the back, so, I broke the big video wall into little squares, little rectangular video surfaces. Then I essentially put lights all around the screen surfaces.
I had my same guy, Nick Militello, back doing video content for me, plus I brought in a new video content person this year, Charlie Terrell, who I’ve worked with for years on other projects. Since we’re so heavy on timecode at TSO, the video content can get very precise; it is perfect every night, on both legs of the tour. In fact, this year I did a little bit extra with the timecode because I really wanted the shows to be identical on both the East and West Coast legs. I went to the furthest depth of the timecode to just really program everything in there.
A big part of a TSO show is the special effects, the pyro and the lasers. Talk about working with Doug Adams and ImageSFX, your special effects provider.
Doug’s been a friend of mine for many years, from back when we worked together on KISS. Doug is awesome and is a very creative guy. He’s always got a good vision and understands what we want, what I am trying to do, so I let Doug just go for it with the pyro. It’s sort of the same with the lasers, to a certain extent; he finds some really cool things for me to play with and try out. Then I will place the lasers in my design, so they fit with everything else.
Is there an effect that Doug brought to the show that really stood out for you?
SonicBoom SmokeJets. A couple of years ago I was using all this cryo, and nobody had ever told me what the price of using cryo was. Once someone told me the cost, I told them to get rid of it. But I still wanted some kind of geyser effect, and Doug found these SonicBoom SmokeJets. Those are probably one of the best things that I’ve used over the past few years, as far as the pyro and special effects, because they’re something I can use all through the show. This year we had 32 of the SonicBooms. They are so effective. I can hold the button for 10 seconds and get this massive sheet of smoke coming up—or down—as we inverted some of them. Then the smoke just dissipates quickly. It’s one of the coolest things I have been using. Also, for the past two years we have had this liquid fire stream; it’s almost like a flame thrower, and it can pivot back and forth. Those things look awesome.
We also have all the other cool things we’ve used for a few years, like the Fire Screens. Those are great; they also move. Then we have the little Phoenixes that have five like moving hands on them that move the flames side to side. We can get some really cool bouncy looks in there with those units. The ImageSFX crew has all that dialed in tight, and it always looks amazing. They are a great crew. They come back every year for the tour, so they really know what the deal is and what we are looking for with the effects and pyro.
Going back to your use of lasers, how do you balance them within the lighting design?
I feel that lighting and lasers are almost coming into one, in a way. Laser beams are a very definite staple in our show; we’ve always had them. I enjoy lasers, but to me, I find that lasers are becoming just more lights now. Since everyone is using lasers these days, just like big video screens, you have to kind of dig deep to be a bit creative; to be different from everybody else. Sometimes that’s hard because lasers only do so much. I try to incorporate them into the show where they fit the best. A lot of times I only use lasers and turn off almost everything else. I like it when I can really get the full effect of the lasers, because I do love lasers. Jason McEachern programs the lasers; he does just such an awesome job with them.
What are some challenges in regard to designing for TSO?
You mentioned it when we started talking, and maybe I do it a little too effortlessly, but I don’t think that people realize that I have to do a completely new design every year. A lot of bands get one design and go out for three years touring with it, and then they’ll take a year off. So, they’re doing like three, four years on one design. For TSO we change it within a year. So, when the TSO tour ends in December, the new one is only 10 months away. I have to come up with something completely different every year that’s going to be better than the year before. And for TSO it has to be mind-blowing. I have to be done by April so we can get it going. I think it is the design schedule for me, that’s the biggest challenge. Topping the last design is really the challenge I enjoy. This year, management have been saying that they think this is the best one yet. Anytime I can get that, it is awesome. And I’ve been lucky enough to hear that most every year.
You and Elliot have been working together a long time, tell us about that working relationship.
Me and Elliot have been working together since ‘84. So, we have a really good relationship. He keeps an eye on the budget, but he still lets me do what I need to do for the designs. If there’s a situation where I have to come to Elliot and say, ‘Hey, I need these other 16 lights, or I need this other video product,’ he’ll evaluate it and work with me to figure it out. He will pretty much do whatever it takes to get the design correct. You know, Elliott’s got the most complex job of the entire tour, because he’s got to keep all the logistics of two identical legs of this tour straight every day. It’s one of the most demanding jobs out there in touring. He has got an amazing logistical system and a great team. TSO is a behemoth because we do everything twice, at the same time. Nobody does it like this. It works though because of the people on TSO, the whole family. Elliot, Jimmy Pettinato, Jeff Boguski, Doug Adams and Jason, just everyone. Everyone has a good working relationship; everybody knows their role. It is truly a family that comes together every year, and I’m lucky to be part of the family.
ELLIOT SALTZMAN
Director of Touring & Production
Saltzman has been with TSO since 2000. He runs, simultaneously, two legs of the tour, East Coast and West Coast, with 18 trucks on each. In 2022 TSO performed over 100 shows in just over six weeks, many a two-show day. It is no surprise he is once again nominated for a Parnelli Award this year for Tour Manager of the Year.
Having just finished the 23rd TSO winter tour, there is no doubt you have TSO running as an extremely well-oiled machine, but there still must be challenges. What would you say is one of the most challenging aspects of TSO?
Well, the past two years have obviously been a test for everybody. It used to be a well-oiled machine in terms of travel and everything, up until 2020. It was something that was ingrained. And now going back out, it isn’t just turning the machine back on, the challenge this year was take nothing for granted, things that used to be givens—take hotels—very understaffed. On the touring side, we, as TSO, can be the most well-oiled machine in the business, but it is going to stop running if we walk into a venue that is 30 stagehands short; the docks aren’t empty; the seats are not spaced properly—not enough on the floor; or the box office has sold seats in the pyro zone. So, this year was a challenge because we were dealing with a lot of new people. On the venue side, it was especially challenging dealing with new box office people. We’re very particular for TSO, when we build a show, we know where every seat is sold and where our pyro zones are, but with new people, things get screwed up. And when things get screwed up, everything slows down.
On the production crew side it was a lot more challenging than normal as well. It’s great that when we sit and talk between my Production Managers, Jeff Boguski and Jimmy Pettinato, and myself—between us we’ve worked with everybody, so we know if they’re a fit with TSO or not. Well, our pickings were slim this year, a lot of people have left the industry. The biggest hit was getting our old tried and true, valued crew members to come back if they were even available, or if they were still in the business. Some of our regulars had other commitments part way through, so we had to find covers for them. There were a couple of people who were flown in because we didn’t have that usual pool of all stars that we normally have.
So, the biggest new challenge this time out—the shortage of labor. We’d come into a city, 30 stagehands shy. Our normal four-hour pre-rig now took nine hours. There’s only one reason for that—they had unqualified labor. So, how do you compensate for that, do you overbook stagehands in the next city? All the venues have the same problem. I had one venue where the manager told me that there was only one other person in the venue that was still there from two years ago. So, every day there are a number of small delays and that really messes up everybody’s clockwork. Most tours you get into grooves—exactly when you’re going to do a soundcheck; exactly when you can roll a stage; exactly when you do this or that. But that clock on a show like ours, especially when we’re doing a matinee and an evening, is critical. If we get screwed by not enough stagehands at the beginning, everybody’s working longer than they should. Sometimes that hour break is the only break they can get. We’re still a well-oiled machine internally, but we’re coming into new unfamiliar territory in a lot of what were familiar places. Some of our previously all-star venues where we used to be, ‘oh, thank God we’re going there tomorrow’, were this year’s nightmares.
But what I’ve always said is—our business is fixing problems. It’s great when you don’t have problems, but when you get a problem, you don’t dwell on it, you fix it. You get your guys, you sit and say, ‘okay, what are we going to do?’ We have to solve the problem and it was an interesting year with a lot of problem-solving. All those things that would normally flow during a tour, not this time, there was a lot of disruption this year. That’s just the business we’re in right now.
Well two people you had back on the team this year have been with TSO for a long time, Bryan Hartley and Doug Adams. Talk about the collaboration between yourself, Bryan, and Image SFX’s Doug Adams.
Obviously, Bryan has the vision. I have what I’d like to see but it is really Bryan that comes and says, ‘this is what we’re going to do.’ Then Doug comes in to add his input with the pyro and effects. Doug always has such cool things for us to see or try. He really has great ideas and his whole team is the best. You can talk about special effects all you want; you have to get down to rehearsals and see it for real to know what you are getting. Because to the mind’s eye, moving a flame 10˚ this way, or 10˚ that way is what the effect can do, but it’s how it’s used by the designer, by the operator, by Bryan, that is what the effect really gives you. Of course, they’ll have a demo of it for us and we’ll go, ‘Hey, this is great, let’s order it’, but that’s in a demo studio. With the enormity of our show, you have to see what it looks like for the big stage. That’s where Bryan is at his best; he’s got the vision. He can see a few products in a demo and know what it will be like on that big stage.
I’ve always said that he’s like a record producer. A producer knows after adding 50 layers, what it’s going to sound like. Bryan knows after adding all these layers to the design, what it’s going to look like. I can tell him I really like the SonicBoom SmokeJets; but my involvement is really saying, ‘here’s what I like, here’s what I don’t like’. Then it’s always a surprise for me at the rehearsal to see what it’s actually going to look like when he applies it to his design. It’s always great to have Bryan Hartley at the helm of things because he doesn’t disappoint.
Pyro and laser effects are really important to the overall look and brand of TSO, aren’t they?
Well, Paul O’Neill, who created all of this, always said, ‘dream the impossible. Be cutting edge and entertain people for a fair price. Give them bang for their buck.’ When audiences leave a TSO show, they say, ‘wow, that was incredible. I’ve never seen anything like that.’ He knew how important that wow was to get them in the seats, but he also wanted to entertain them for every second. We still believe that. No one gets up and runs to the concession stand during our shows, especially this year where Bryan really added some spectacular looks. So yeah, it was a ‘wow’ design and concession sales were down in 2022.
This year, both for the East and West Coast shows, everybody stayed until the very end; no one left early. I believe that’s the importance of creating these spectacular looks. We’re in an age now where people have seen just about everything. Pictures coming back from Mars and space; there’s a lot to compete with. Bryan’s designs get them in there, he knows how important it is, and once the show starts, it’s a continuous movement, but it is also telling a story. There are some introductions and even those flow with everything. It’s at a point where we know when the audience needs a breather from being assaulted with all this incredible music, special effects, lighting—and quite honestly, the sound. So, we know when to slow it down a little bit, take a breath and then it starts right back up again. It is really great to look out and see no one leaving their seats for popcorn, they don’t want to miss what is going to happen next.
What are some of the things you still love about doing TSO?
I love the show and the whole TSO family. But I also like that there’s a certain amount of camaraderie with the venues we go to. Our extended family, let’s say. I always swag the building guys and the box office people who don’t normally get stuff. I also make little games at the beginning, whoever builds their show first gets extra swag. For me, and for them too, it’s a nice continuity because it’s somebody that they see every year. Like they say, ‘oh, it’s not Christmas until TSO is here.’ They’re right because everybody loves the show. The emergency guys, fire marshals, labor, stagehands, box office, all these people are always staying and watching our show. And the great thing is our audience, it is every age. We’ve had stats that just came out that show our audience is getting younger and younger. It’s a huge multi-generational fan base with two to three generations attending together. We work hard to give them a safe way to have a concert experience together; one they might not ever get another way. We are a tradition for lots of families, and that is special to be part of; it is an honor actually.
VENDOR VIEW: Providing Special Effects for TSO
Doug Adams, President of ImageSFX, has been working with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra for over 20 years supplying pyrotechnics and special effects, including lasers. Being a master pyrotechnician, laser and special effects designer, Adams is trusted by both Hartley and Saltzman to bring them the right options to incorporate thoughtfully the effects into the larger visual design.
Tell us about the effects you provided for the 2022 tour.
We provided all the custom flame effects, including Fire Screens, our proprietary flame unit. It’s a modular 4’ wide flame bar, which has individual flame jets, that can pan and tilt side to side. We had some Phoenixes, our own proprietary flame unit, with five independent isopropyl alcohol heads that can also pan and tilt side to side. The Phoenix has a bit longer of a throw, more like a flame thrower kind of look. And we had some Diablos, another new one that we put at front of house. The Diablos are high pressure propane that produce large fireballs. Also, there were 14 High Low Burner units within the Fire Screens. And we had some Luminous flame thrower heads, Arena Flames. Luminous Show Technology is another company that we use that has an isopropyl flame. We angled those behind the drum riser and off into the wings. It looks like almost Gatling gun with flame shooting out of it.
Also, this year, we added more SonicBoom X SmokeJets, which are the high-pressure fog columns. We inverted a bunch of those to shoot down as well and that looked really cool. We then put a bunch on the lift in mid-arena too. For comets, mines, and waterfalls, we used all Next FX. I went with a 30’ trim on everything. I made a lot of tracer comets with the smoke trails out of the tail, so you can see that stream as it shoots. The same thing with the mines. I like to put a flitter in—or any glitter—something like that to give a little more shimmer to it. I had some white mines and some red mines in there too; all 30-footers. We also had a gold hot ember waterfall drop. First, we had it on our ImageSFX Kinetic Wave Waterfall swaying back and forth, but Elliot came up to front of house and said there was so much going on in the finale that it was getting lost, especially with the movement. It actually made sense to have the fingers go straight down so it was more noticeable. It looked great.
Elliot and Bryan are very impressed by the SonicBooms.
The SonicBoom SmokeJets give a very different look and is a reasonably priced device. It is very cool look, and they are also efficient and versatile. They use fast dissipating molecular fluid. They almost look like cryogenic jets or steam jets. Each one has RGB lighting in them as well so you can color the jets.
What’s something that you’d hope someone who understands special effects would notice about your work on TSO?
I would hope that they notice the timing, and the scenes we paint with the effects. It’s not just boom; eight fireballs go off. It’s choreographed to the music; in sync with it. It’s got to have a flow. That’s why we like using the Fire Screens, because you can manipulate the shape and the movement of it. The same with the Phoenixes. When these isopropyl flame jets are shooting, you can sweep them from left and right and create waves. You can create wings; have it look like flaming Phoenix wings. It is all timed to work with the whole thing—music and Bryan’s design. It’s all on timecode. It’s a thing of beauty. With about 1,000 cues it’s nice to have it all on timecode.
Whose lasers did you use for the 2022 TSO tours?
For lasers, we brought nine of the Spectrum 33 RYGB lasers from Kvant for each coast’s leg. They’re reliable and very versatile. We used them from day one, and we’ve found them to be very roadworthy. It’s just a great tool for design. Bryan likes to go the full width of the whole stage; he likes to have a whole sky look with his lasers.
How are the Kvant lasers being controlled, from the lighting console or a separate controller?
In the end, we’re controlling the lasers through the lighting console, but they actually go through our Pangolin console first. So, if anything were to go down, we could take it over and then it goes straight into Bryan’s console. We use MIDI Notes, so Bryan can totally manipulate anything if he wants on the fly with the show. If he wants to change the show up, he easily has that option.
Tell us about how you handle safety on the show. There are a lot of people moving around the stage on a TSO tour.
There’re always dead man switches. The operator has a dead man switch, and also, we have people stage right and stage left with dead man switches. If something happens with the flames, they can kill it at any time; you can kill the main control. Regardless of being on timecode, it’s always a visual thing as far as safety is concerned. There is always a line of sight and we even have video screens down there just to double check, so the shooter has different angles. The technician can see a front of house angle view as well. So, they’ve got a line of sight on stage and can see all the artists.
When they do the full dress rehearsals, I do a speech with Elliot, and we explain all the safety features and where all the effects are going to be. Then we bring the band up and put them in position and block it with them. That way they can actually feel the heat and feel where everything’s going to be and go off. That is important because we change up the effects each year and do new things. We don’t want to startle the artists, especially with the heat wave.
How is working with the TSO team?
It’s awesome to work with them. They have so much passion—Elliot and Bryan. I can’t say enough about working with those guys. It’s a true pleasure working with [Production Managers] Jeff Boguski and Jimmy Pettinato, Stage Manager Steven Roman; all of them. It’s a great team; a great family they have out there on both legs of the tours. I look forward to working with TSO every year; all of us do. We at ImageSFX have the same passion. I have got to give a ‘hats off’ to my crew. We have nine technicians per leg, East and West. It takes between four and five hours to get it all set up; going from load-in to being show ready; plus, then there are the matinee days as well. They’ve done a phenomenal job, every one of the ImageSFX team, and I want to make sure that they get credited for this as much as I do. Like TSO, it is a team effort at ImageSFX, and the work is a passion for them. It’s because of that shared passion among everyone involved that TSO is such a spectacular show. Also, we all miss [TSO Founder] Paul O’Neill like crazy, but it is so great that they have carried on in his memory; it is as he would do it—taking it to the limit and coloring outside the lines. TSO just absolutely sets the standard in special effects as far as I’m concerned.
ImageSFX Team: Doug Adams, Nick Arnold, Kelly Kamp, Phil Payne, Joe Suehle
TSO West Coast Tour
- Laser Crew Chief: Mark Wunder
- Laser Tech/Climber: Ricky Nasche
- Pyro Crew Chief: Cole Bibler
- Pyro Operator / Programmer: Hayden Hale
- Pyro Technicians: Dro Sison, Javi Zuniga, Aaron Walters
- SPFX: Brandon Messersmith
TSO East Coast Tour
- Laser Crew Chief: Jason McEachern
- Laser Tech/Climber: Darren D’Amour
- Pyro Crew Chief: Justin Dimitri
- Pyro Operator / Programmer: Arthur Khoyetsian
- Pyro Technicians: Arshia “Ash” Afshin, Paul Cusato, Brian Dickinson, Dave Harkness
- SPFX: Tyler Scott
ImageSFX Gear List (Per Coast)
Lasers
- 1 Pangolin Beyond Control System
- 9 Kvant Spectrum 33 RYGB
Effects
- MA Lighting grandMA2 light Console
- FireOne Pyro Control
- 14 ImageSFX Fire Screen
- 4 ImageSFX Diablo
- 4 ImageSFX Phoenix
- 10 ImageSFX Kinetic Wave Waterfall
- 8 Luminous Show Technology Arena Flame
- 3 TBF Pyrotec 5-Master, Inverted
- 32 Showven SonicBoom X SmokeJet
- 3 Le Maitre Freezefog Pro w/GForce 3 Smoke Machine
