Broadcast over four days to a live and TV audience, the highly anticipated FleadhTV events once again returned to Drogheda, Co Louth, to celebrate the best in traditional Irish music.
With thousands of people lining the streets for the weekend’s festivities, indoors – across multiple venues – PSI’s lighting and audio crews ensured the high-profile event went without a hitch. The event, which is produced by Gifted Empire Productions, was broadcast live on TG4 TV and Facebook, and was free for the public to attend.
PSI’s John ‘Hesky’ Hesketh is in his seventh year as Head of Sound and Project Manager, working under Paul McKay, FleadhTV Producer and Show Director. Looking after four different areas – the Main Stage / Marquee, the Acoustic Stage, the Hub (a broadcast wagon) and The Tholsel OB truck – Hesky deals with sound lighting, LED, stage (both of which are hired in) and backline.
He said: “During the live show I also mix one of the stages to air… this gig is all about preparation, it’s not a gig you can busk!”
The marquee had four Adamson Compact Systems with two Adamson E Rack and
12 Logic System LM12 monitors, all powered by three Lab.gruppen FP10000Q amps. A Midas PRO2 was chosen for control, alongside four Sennheiser 500 Series G4 for RF, together with a selection of Shure, DPA, Neumann, Sennheiser, Radial mics and DIs.
The Acoustic Stage (the Bru Stage) boasted four Clair FF2, two Logic Systems SB1, four Logic Systems ML8, again powered by PLM 20K44 with an Allen & Heath SQ6 digital mixer, and a selection of Shure DPA, Neumann, Sennheiser, KT mics and Dis. Hesky and sound engineer Alistair McMillan mixed live to air at The Hub via a DiGiCo SD12 c/w 32Bit SD rack and a Midas PRO2C.
The Tholsel (OB truck) had two Logic Systems LM12 and a Lab.gruppen FP6400.
Hesky continued: “The original event ‘Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann’ moves from town to town every two years and FleadhTV – which is a by-product of the festival – broadcasts the sets of the professional musicians.
“We have to supply and install high-end equipment because there’s a fair amount of pressure for a live and a TV audience. This is a huge event in the Irish calendar and it’s the second year that PSI has been the technical vendor – this year with even more production equipment. Our Adamson PA system has, for the second time, been noted as a marked improvement on previous years’ sound quality.”
The main stage is essentially an outdoor TV studio with around 70 people picked from the festival attendees in the live audience. They see each band play a set of four or five songs over a three-hour period.
“Traditional Irish music artists are very fun but can be challenging to mix. This kind of music often has a lot of extra musicians and instruments than you might have been expecting from the rider,” quipped Hesky.
“It’s the nature of this kind of touring, it’s very community-based. They meet people gigging the night before and bring them along. As the sound crew, that means we have to be flexible and we have to adapt quickly to situations. Three hours of live to air music is incredible, and the team work really hard.”
The main marquee also had a TV-quality lighting and set design. PSI’s Joe Byrne worked closely with Set Designer Noel McEntee [Dancing With The Stars].
Byrne said: “The main stage has grown vastly since last year. I came up with a lighting design that worked in tandem with Noel’s set design. I’m new to designing TV work, and there’s some things I had to get used to – looking at the stage through the naked eye and though a camera is very different. We’ve also merged the video content between the lighting console and the media server, so when we fire the content out, you’re seeing low-res video across the lighting fixtures.
“I control the lighting fixtures with an Avolites Arena console and control the LED with an Arkaos 4K Studio media server. I was pixel-mapping to get a seamless effect for live TV. The diamond-shaped stage has seven LED screens located in different positions, with Elation Professional IP 60 battens in between.”
Byrne chose three overhead trusses with 18 Martin MAC Quantum Profiles, 18 Robe 600 LED Washes, 20 Robe 100 LED and 12 Philips SL350 wash for audience lighting. Two upstage trusses were rigged at 45-degree angles to reflect the stage’s diamond formation.
Byrne said: “These trusses are loaded with the seven LED screens at different heights and shapes ranging from one-sqm to three-sqm, and there are 27 Elation Professional IP60 battens and 12 Chauvet Professional NXT-1 scattered in between. The floor package consists of 24 Elation Professional Dartz 360. The B stage in the Marquee has an LED floor under Perspex which can be walked on and filmed from above for extra effect for the audience at home.
Set Designer Noel McGinty noted: “It was a pleasure to work with PSI and really bring the Main Stage / Marquee area to life. It’s the best the show has ever looked, and both the artists and audiences were happy.”