Ani DiFranco's unique socially conscious style of music appeals to a wide audience and DiFranco has been on the road for quite some time, having toured this past fall on a "Vote Dammit" tour aimed at registering voters, as well as a just-completed European tour. This winter and spring, she is touring in the US with a Martin Maxxyz controlled MAC rig of MAC 2000 Profiles, MAC 2000 Wash and Jem ZR 24/7 Hazers and using a lighting scheme designed by Phil Karatz.
Although Karatz used a media server on the "Vote Dammit" US shows, he decided it was time to switch to a console that could run the media server.
"I did some research and found the Maxxyz to be well suited to the way I like to set up and run this show," says Karatz. "A friend of mine, Craig Casserta, set me up with a great file of the rig for the Visualizer and sat down with me for a few days at See Factor and trained me on the desk. I like the fact that after a few hours with the desk I was pretty much on my own and could have programmed the show at normal speed.
"The Visualizer screen has been really helpful and I often find myself selecting fixtures directly off that when I use fixtures outside of my normal groups. I like the virtual cue list and the ease of moving cues around from bank to bank," he continues. "For this show the set list changes every night and sometimes I don't see it until after doors. It has been very helpful to be in any bank, bring up the virtual cue list screen, and move any list to any open fader without changing banks."
Karatz has been using See Factor as suppliers since 1999, and the company supplied the lighting rig for the Difranco tour. "Bob See, Elliot Krowe, and Ed Duda from See Factor have been very good to me over the years and have offered a great support network," explains Karatz. "They haven't been afraid to buy gear at the last minute to send out. For the last tour they bought the MAC 2000 washlights, which have worked out great for me. I have been able to get a lot of great saturated colors, which I need for this show."
Other Credits
Lighting technician: Tyler Littman
Production manager: Steve Schrems
Equipment
22 MAC 2000 Profile
10 MAC 2000 Wash
6 HES Studio Beam
2 Jem ZR 24/7 Hazer
6 ETC Source Four® Leko
2 4 IITE Mole w/color rams
1 Martin Maxxyz
1 ETC 24x2.4K sensor rack
1 48-way See Factor 208V MVL distro
3 DMX Opto Splitters
2 Color Ram power supply
8 1 ton motor
1 12-way See Factor motor control
8 10' Thomas 20" Atype truss
1 10' Thomas 12" truss
5 Custom Spandex Sails from Sunbelt Scenic