Colour Sound Experiment supplied lighting equipment to creative visual design specialist Mirrad for three stages at the 2016 Barn on the Farm festival, staged in the pastoral countryside of Over Farm just outside Gloucester.
Known for housing many up-and-coming talents before their leap to the mainstream – past headliners include Ed Sheeran, Ben Howard, Bastille, Hozier – the festival keeps things intimate, with just 2,000 attendees perusing its three stages.
Mirrad became involved in Barn on the Farm for the first time last year, and for the 2016 edition asked Colour Sound Experiment to come on board as the rental partner.
Colour Sound’s Haydn Cruickshank commented: “We are always happy to collaborate with Mirrad as their work is so varied and interesting. This event in particular is really special and we can all relate to its core values.”
The seventh Barn on the Farm was headlined by Oh Wonder and Jack Garrett and this year the Main Stage was ensconced in a brand new cattle shelter for the first time. This was built on the land in the intervening 12 months, providing a semi-permanent structure that can be utilised for the event with the bonus of proper weather protection.
There was also a commitment to up the production values this year. Lighting challenges presented by the structure included the low weight loading of the circular roof and the restricted roof height, which they worked around in characteristic style, presenting inventive solutions to hang lighting over and around the sides of the stage.
The moving lights were 28 ProLights DIAMOND7 LED washes dotted around trussing at the back and sides and on floor stands onstage. Eight Robe MMX Spots provided the hard edge fixtures, whilst eight Robe CycFX 8’s were positioned upstage at the back. Ten active Sunstrips were attached to the back truss pieces plus 2-lites, and a single truss section rigged to a structural pole at the front facilitated positions for the ETC Source Four key lights.
An Avolites Sapphire Touch from Mirrad ran the main stage lighting, though the team behind the lighting did accommodate headliner guest LDs and their specials packages.
The event kicked off with ‘Intimate Friday’, opening just the smallest live space, The Wooden Barn Stage. Performers played on the mezzanine floor of the Wooden Barn for Saturday and Sunday nights, but for the opening night programme of 10 bands including secret headliners Bear’s Den the stage was set up at ground level.
At the end of the night, the lighting rig – all six Chauvet Rogue R2 Spots, five 300W fresnels and eight Sunstrips of it – was carried upstairs and set up for the next day. An additional 11 cage/squirrel lights were added for the Saturday and Sunday sessions.
This stage was looked after by Mirrad’s Kieran Gilmour who operated using an Avolites Quartz with a Titan Mobile Wing.
In the next field was the Outdoor Stage, a compact space six R2 Spots on truss towers at the back, 12 SGM XC-5 strobes, six 6-lites and six LED PARs, three per side on the downstage corners for front light.
Lighting was programmed and run by Mirrad’s Cat Bryan using the same Avolites Quartz AND Titan Mobile Wing set up as Gilmour’s in the Wooden Barn.
The Mirrad team was completed by Mel Cornish, and the site lighting was finished off with several hundred metres of Colour Sound Experiment’s LED festoon draped all around.