Professional Lighting & Production - Spring 2020 | Page 19

became apparent after the initial design
phase. “I think, in previous designs,
they’d made a lot of use of downstage
ego risers, but wanted to get away from
that while still having raised platforms
to be able to run up and around on, up-
stage of the drum riser. That prompted
us to add a U-shaped Iron Maiden-style
set-up of ramps and risers, which, luckily,
slotted in well with what we were doing
already. I can’t help but think of Maiden
when I see this kind configuration of
ramps, and I think it worked really well
for Trivium.”
The lighting package consisted of
32 Martin MAC Axiom Hybrids, 10 TMB
ProCan 4-Lite Blinders, and 16 GLP
JDC1 Hybrid Strobes mounted on four
8-ft., ground-stacked double trusses
behind the drum riser and along the
back of a raised deck that runs to each
side and terminates in ramps leading
downstage. The 10 4-Lite Blinders are
mounted on each side of, and between,
the truss sections.
Additionally, six Martin MAC Quan-
tum Wash fixtures are on the ground
far upstage behind the double trusses
while an additional three per side run
down the left and right wings of the
stage, spaced equidistantly between
the upstage edge of the deck and 15-
ft. downstage. A complement of four
Martin MAC Aura XBs are placed on the
corners of the drum riser. Finally, a pair of
MDG ATMe high-output haze generators
were deployed with the system. Control
is provided via a grandMA 2 Lite console.
Herkimer landed the job with
Trivium midway through 2019 on the
recommendation of the band’s Tour/
Production Manager, Charlie Bybee,
who, Herkimer notes, is a close friend of
his who also worked on the Rise Against
tours as a monitor engineer.
The idea for what would become the
Trivium rig actually evolved out of an
earlier lighting configuration deployed
for Rise Against – one that also featured
a lighting “centerpiece” comprised of
double-stacked 8-ft., F-type truss; how-
ever, in that case, four Martin Quantum
Profiles, four Martin Quantum Washes,
and four Martin Atomic 3000s were put
to work.
While Rise Against’s lighting crew
loved the fact that the double-stacked
system made getting significant horse-
power on stage quick and easy, some
on the tour were more skeptical of the
rig, including Bybee. “The backline and
stage crew would sort of snicker at it
when we slid it down icy truck ramps
and through the doors of clubs because
of how ‘large and in charge’ it looked in
some of the smaller venues,” Herkimer
says. “But when Charlie brought me in
to design this rig for Trivium, I think the
first thing he said was, ‘What if we did
a floor package of double-stacked truss
loaded with lights?’ So, of course I burst
out laughing.”
Bybee, however, saw the configu-
ration as an ideal fit for Trivium’s needs
on their 2019 festival tour – a means of
setting the band apart from others on
the same stage with a signature look
and a powerful and highly versatile
lighting rig while still making fast-paced
changeovers possible.
“Double-stacking the F-type truss as
you would normally see it in a truck pack
is by no means a new idea, but people
often find it odd to see it used onstage
in that manner. What it does, though,
is it provides a lot of mounting options.
LED lights in general have become
much lighter and are easy to mount on
pipes and sets, but arc-source fixtures
like Axioms still have some weight to
them and require something rather rigid
to mount on. A lot of times in a situation
like this, a band would be forced to out-
source, or fabricate set carts to achieve
a similar aesthetic.”
Beyond the overall look he wanted
to achieve, Herkimer’s choice of fixtures
for Trivium depended heavily on re-
sponse time and output strength. “The
Axioms and JDC1s have those proper-
ties in spades,” he says. “The JDC1s
were hung low, mounted to the bottom
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