In its third year, the Imagine Music Festival moved to the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, GA, expanded to a three-day format (Aug. 26-28) and offered camping for the first time. The EDM festival was deemed a huge success, drawing close to 45,000 with a lineup that included Dillon Francis, Benny Benassi, Bogore, The Disco Biscuits, Excision, Gramatik, Nero, Showtek, Steve Angello, Zeds Dead and more.
The “Wow” Factor
Along with top-tier EDM beats from six stages, attractions included carnival rides, circus acts, go-go dancers, creative decorations, giant LED screens and a massive Funktion-One sound system. Lasers were an integral part of the festival and helped bring that “Wow” factor to the event. The team at FullColorLasers.com (a.k.a. Laser Assassins) programmed and operated 22 laser projectors across the festival area, with a crew of four technicians looking after the beams.
The main stage was equipped with KVANT Spectrum 20-watt lasers as well as several ClubMAX laser systems featuring Pangolin’s new FB4 network hardware, Saturn 5 optical scanning system, and PASS audience-scanning hardware. The setup allowed crew members to control the laser displays from their lighting consoles. They simply ran a single Art-Net feed to the first projector and then daisy-chained across to the additional projectors while loading in.
With this setup, only a single cable feed needed to be run from front of house. All the lasers had the FB4 network hardware built inside, with the operator still able to retain independent control over each laser, so that they could perform different effects at the same time — allowing for some amazing laser content to be displayed.
Wide-Angle Projection
One of the reasons the designers wanted to use these lasers was because the new Saturn 5 optical scanning system also provided them with wide-angle projection capabilities (as you can see in the pictures here). This meant that laser effects could be projected across a much greater distance and cover much wider areas than with other systems. The Saturn 5 optical scanning system was also credited for allowing for more complex laser content and effects to be displayed, including more intricate beam effects, more sophisticated laser patterns, animations and designs.
Audience Scanning
The team at Full Color Lasers also used several ClubMAX 6000 laser projectors with Pangolin’s PASS audience scanning safety hardware inside to program audience scanning laser effects. This gave the crowds the mesmerizing ability to reach out and “touch” the laser light. Pangolin’s PASS hardware can be integrated into any ClubMAX laser, and when properly certified with the FDA, these systems let users perform safe and legal audience scanning effects in the U.S.
The team at Full Color Lasers used Pangolin’s BEYOND Advanced software to design and program the laser content, synching the KVANT and FB4-generated with the other stage lighting and video effects. Because BEYOND and FB4 support all major lighting industry protocols (including network, DMX, Art-Net, SMPTE timecode and OSC) it made combining lasers with these other multimedia effects very easy to do, while still offering a powerful suite of control and design options.
Synchronizing the Visuals
Having all lasers and lighting effects in harmony, matching the beat and drops of the music being performed, added up to a special visual experience. And the lasers and lighting used at the event were just one of the many elements that came together to make Imagine Music Festival so memorable.
The new line of Spectrum and ClubMAX lasers are a joint effort between laser technology manufacturers Pangolin Laser Systems, Inc. and KVANT s.r.o. They are available through the Pangolin’s Projector Network (getalaser.com). Full Color Lasers is one of the first laser production companies utilizing this new technology.
Brooks Palmer, owner of Full Color Lasers, called the Imagine festival as a “great experience. The artists, the lighting, the lasers — it all came together in perfect harmony, and the response from the crowd was overwhelming. Any chance we get to perform safe, legal audience scanning is also a real treat. We literally had people running up to us after the lasers hit, telling us how they have never seen a show like this one before. We love the challenge of large festivals like this, and we love using new technology to make ‘laser magic.’”
For more info, visit www.lasershowprojector.com and www.fullcolorlasers.com.
