NEWS NOW: Lenny Kravitz Announces the death of his daughter…see more details…..
Barancik’s extraordinary lighting design career so far has featured some big-name clients, including Alicia Keys, Eagles, Christina Aguilera, Cardi B, and Cher, but it’s with Kravitz that he’s been focusing his talents throughout much of 2024. With an interest in the technical side of lighting while at college, he set out on his future path when he “decided theatre design wasn’t as appealing as music”!
He worked his way up and through the various platforms and tools of the period, eventually to MA. “I was doing a mix of design and programming, both programming my own shows and for others including Steve Cohen and Baz Halpin,” he recalled. “By the time I transitioned to MA, grandMA2 was becoming more popular, although at the time still running software of the first grandMA series.”
Fast-forward to grandMA3, and Barancik’s experience has been “smooth sailing” so far, especially since – as he admits – “I haven’t programmed on grandMA3 just yet!”
Cue Felix Peralta – lighting programmer and an accomplished designer in his own right. Peralta has a long history with MA and was hands-on with the grandMA3 system for this tour. “I’ve been running grandMA3 software exclusively now for almost two years,” he said. “I’ve been on the MA platform since 1998 and have never looked back. Hands down, it’s the most stable and robust system for the touring world.”
This production’s set design is the work of none other than Ray Winkler of Stufish. “This was my first time working with Stufish as a design collaborator, which worked out well,” says Barancik. “I’ve worked with Lenny Kravitz for many years, so I understood his visual and musical tastes and interests overall. We went through several concepts and designs before landing on something that resonated with Lenny most of all, and could be shoehorned into European festivals.”
So how did the grandMA3 system help with this process? Peralta said: “While we haven’t fully adopted the Recipes workflow, I’d say the power of the Selection Grid, the world of Phasers, the Multi User environments – all allow us to work quickly and efficiently throughout our process.” He also praises the “robust” stability of the platform, as well as the flexibility offered by the onPC access via his MAC. “That’s a great tool,” he says, “especially when making adjustments on the go”.
The ability to use GDTF data and MVR files plays a valuable role in smoothing the process. “The MVR import has become an important part of our show file workflow,” said Peralta. “It all starts there. I use the MVR to bring in fixture x, y, z [position in 3D space] and patch details. I’ll always try and use as many solid GDTF fixture profiles as possible.”
Peralta finds the accuracy in visualisations to be one of the more valuable assets of GDTF data. Also, he said: “A successful MVR import gives us the ability to streamline workflows, and allows for better collaboration, as we’re all looking at the same accurate information. It ultimately saves time and money in the production process.”
And the best time-saving feature in grandMA3? “I would say the best feature is Felix himself!” said Barancik. “The Selection Grid in grandMA3 is hands-down the best feature in saving me time.”
