Jeff Maker II Reflects Shades of Emotions on I Prevail Summer of Loud Shows with CHAUVET Professional

	Altering light angles throughout the show, he gave each song its own emotional flavor, while his fierce strobing, bold audience lighting, and pyro effects kept the adrenaline pumping. Photo: Jessika Wollstein

Las Vegas based designer Jeff Maker believes every song evokes an emotional state. The mission of a lighting designer is to reflect this aura on stage while supporting (and not detracting from) the music. In the case of Maker and his twice Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling, Loudwire Award-winning client, I Prevail, those moods are deep and varied, but they all share one thing in common: head-banging intensity.

Setting the tone for this intensity during the band's Summer of Loud Tour, which united multiple metal giants, were the 12 pyro effects that Maker positioned upstage, mid-stage, and downstage.

Throughout I Prevail's shows on the tour, the fiery effects underscored the core character of the band's performance. Nevertheless, Maker was careful to arrange the pyro units so they did not block the lighting, which he saw as essential to "sculpting the band differently from song to song."

Altering light angles throughout the show, he gave each song its own emotional flavor, while his fierce strobing, bold audience lighting, and pyro effects kept the adrenaline pumping.

"Light angles played a big role in setting moods and moments throughout this design," says Maker. "By shifting between uplighting, side lighting, and crowd lighting, I could sculpt the band differently from song to song. I felt that it gave the show a dynamic flow and kept the visual storytelling evolving."

Color also helped shade the mood on stage. "As a designer it's my job to magnify the meaning of songs and capture the emotion of what the artist is trying to convey," notes Maker. "I try to approach every song with an open mind and interpret each one in my own way as well, blending it all together in harmonious colors that work in holy matrimony with the video content."

Helping Maker pull this tapestry of moods and feelings together were 13 CHAUVET Professional Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-washes, which, like the rest of his rig, were supplied by BBM Clair. The high-output fixtures were positioned inside three rows of metal wire risers, which themselves gave the stage an edgy, uncompromising industrial look.

"We had grated risers located on the downstage edge, mid-stage, and upstage, and had our Color STRIKE M units inside them," says Maker. "This allowed us to punch up through the stage and reach out toward the crowd with some vivid white strobe effects. At other times, we directed them back toward the set with some cool washes."

Changing the direction and nature of the light from the Color STRIKE M fixtures created constant visual evolution on stage, notes Maker. And it is through such changes in light that different emotions arise and find a home with different songs, even in the most intense metal shows.