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Blackmagic Design and ROE Visual deployed for Glass Animals’ global tour

Video technology solutions company 80six used the URSA Broadcast G2, ATEM 2M/E Constellation 4K and ROE CB5 LED wall for the indie rock band Glass Animals 'Tour of Earth' shows in Europe

Blackmagic Design cameras and ROE LED screens were key parts of an array of technologies behind current global tour of indie rock band Glass Animals, which rose to global fame with their synth pop song “Heat Waves” which has amassed more than 750m views on YouTube. The Glass Animals: Tour of Earth played to sold-out venues in major global cities beginning in August and ending in Europe at the close of 2024.

Independent video technology company 80six was entrusted to integrate LED video solutions for both the UK and European legs. While the venues changed, the backbone of the setup remained the same. This included a fleet of Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 cameras with SPMTE fibre chains, accompanied by several Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2s and Canon PTZ cameras for additional coverage.

Video, power and comms to and from the cameras relied on more than 150m of SMPTE fibre cable running to a custom-built portable production unit (PPU) backstage, built around the ATEM 2 M/E Constellation 4K live production switcher and an ATEM Camera Control Panel for remote camera shading.

Signal management employed a Blackmagic Videohub 40×40 12G video router and multiple HyperDeck Studio 4K Pros for recording. A Blackmagic MultiView 16 was also built into the rack to support with video monitoring.

Live director Ed Coleman was stationed at FOH to get a better view of the ROE LED screens. That required locating the gallery, mirroring the PPU workflow technically, and adding an ATEM 2 M/E Advanced Panel for vision mixing on the arena floor, 150m away from the PPU, using optical fibre and an Ethernet network to establish a secure connection.

Jack James, co-founder and director of 80six, said: “The creative concept for the tour had already been established so our job was to bring this to vision to life on stage through the LED screens using our tailored video solution. We worked closely with Cassius Creative, London-based production and lighting design studio, to align on the intended vision.”

Samuel Siegel, racks engineer at 80six, added: “We had two URSA cameras positioned around the stage to capture and track the artists and swing back to the audience where needed. For wider shots, a third camera was set up front of house (FOH) next to the control gallery. A couple of Micro Studio Camera 4Ks helped give us low angles of the lead singer from the stages edge and close ups of the kick drum, which was a handy shot for cut aways. The PTZs offered us more stage angles while one was rigged overhead looking down onto the drum kit.”

He continued: “One of the biggest challenges was matching the cameras and ensuring the feed kept pace with the continuously changing colours and lighting conditions. To help give us a level playing field, we removed the cameras gamut compression to stop them from automatically desaturating the image when too much gamut was present. I could then manage the colours individually from the backstage control desk, which worked well.” 

With the live director needing to access and control everything from the gallery should he need to, 80six had to plan for and implement an additional layer of technical redundancy during the tour. “That extra layer of security essentially meant we had backup solutions running across the board along with redundant channels of fibre cable,” Siegel revealed.

Having the option to customise so much of the workflow allowed 80six to experiment with different stylistic ideas. “Ed wanted to create an on-screen dream like effect for the supporting act Big Moon. So, we created a desaturated, misty effect using the ATEM’s chroma key which was then applied by feeding the program back into itself and controlling it via a single button,” he explained.

Siegel concluded: “Looking back at the Glass Animals tour, I’m confident that using Blackmagic Design was the right choice. It wasn’t just about making the show look good – it was about creating an experience that pulled the audience in from start to finish.”