Clay Paky on Tour with Mark Knopfler
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Tutchener is using the new Clay Paky Sharpy Wash and the Alpha Spot QWO 800. “I knew the Sharpy Wash was coming, and had read about the QWO 800s, so I suggested to Noreen O’Riordan at Entec that we should take a look. She agreed and we duly set of for a demo at Ambersphere. There are many features that attracted me, even on first examination you see they’re not huge hulking great lumps of metal work. I knew straight away the Sharpy Wash was what I wanted, not just the physical size, the intense brightness as well. Lightweight lamps with this quality and power of output are the way forward”.
“The QWO was also an easy choice” – says Tutchener. “Ambersphere are the distributor for Clay Paky and they really put on a comprehensive demo’ for us, every moving light in the Clay Paky range in fact. Overall the QWO is for me the best, or rather, the most versatile. I have eight people in this band to light so the QWO has to be a real workhorse. The great zoom range from 7.6 to 55 degrees coupled with the ‘stay sharp’ feature to keep gobos constantly in focus as you zoom is a real bonus. Mark (Knopfler) is very insistent, no lamps moving during songs, and no rotating or animated gobos, so that ‘stay sharp’ while zooming is a real boon in terms of adding some dynamics to the look on stage.”
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O’Riordan felt the investment well worth it. “As a company Entec chooses very carefully where we spend our cap’ ex’ budget, but this was a straight forward decision. The Sharpy has proved a world beater since its launch; we expect nothing less from the Sharpy Wash. As for the QWO; the Ambersphere demo’ was compelling and I think Simon’s assessment is spot on; a good quality light with all the features and more that you need to make it a great workhorse. We get outstanding service and back up from Ambersphere, I know they’re like that with everyone, but that just makes the purchase decision easier.”
Tutchener has over fifty of the two Clay Paky models, plus some S4 profiles for pick-ups and Moles for audience light. “I’ve only been using them a short time and they are lovely, I am particularly impressed with the colour range in both Wash and QWO; the magentas are delightful and the deep purples are practically real UV. The Alpha Spot QWO 800 contrasts well with the ACLs I have in the rig: yes I’ve gone a little retro and put 24 Par64 ACLs into my design. The QWOs on the front truss are 30 feet above the stage deck, yet even in a big number like Telegraph Road where I’m really putting a lot of light on stage the QWOs still appear as a stand out beam. For a song with such cinematic scope that potency is essential.”
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Tutchener is using a full size GrandMA 2 console for control, “I had already decided to go with the GrandMA 2; we had a full size last year when Mark toured with Bob Dylan. What attracted me was the greater amount of available control surface; I already have a large scene library for many of the songs within Mark’s repertoire, but I like to operate manually on top of what I’ve pre-programmed. Yes it’s a bit old school, but Mark’s music in live performance is very subtly detailed; having a dozen free faders with which to tease in added touches at any given moment, maybe something as slight as a thirty percent lift in the level from a profile, makes the application so much more fluent and responsive.”
And now the tour is underway is Tutchener confirmed in his choices? “Mark asked me something very similar: he said, are you happy with the new rig? Happy? I’m ecstatic.”