Avolites D7 Tours with Australian Rappers Hilltop Hoods Lighting designer Paul "Pauly" Owen has been touring this year with an Avolites D7-215 lighting console, running a light show for the Australian rappers Hilltop Hoods on their world tour. Owen has worked with "the Hoods" for nearly 20 years, in that time forging his own freestyle lighting techniques honed to their music and rhythm. He blends treatments and ideas from multiple different lighting disciplines, from the finesse of theatre to rock-and-roll. This latest Hilltop Hoods touring cycle started with the drop of the album Fall from the Light, kicking off with festivals in Australia and New Zealand, followed by Europe. It then stepped up to arenas around ANZ this spring. Owen started using the D7 in Australia, where the lighting equipment was supplied by rental company Harry the Hirer, then continued with an Avolites T3 setup in Europe before going back to the D7 for the most recent Australian shows. He has been using Avolites control since the start of his professional career in the early 1990s and has stuck with the brand for numerous reasons, including its buskability, which is very much relevant to the way he operates lighting for the Hilltop Hoods. His lighting MO with them involves plenty of improvisation, riding the rhythm and vibes of the band and the room while being as tightly cued as a timecoded environment. The Hilltop Hoods tour is Owen's first on the D7, although he used an Avolites D9 for the Australian singer Jimmy Barnes' Red Hot Summer Tour in 2023. For Owen, a big feature of the D7 setup is the portability, essential for Australia, where tours involve flying to multiple destinations due large distances between the major urban centres. A D7 feature he uses extensively in his workflow is the Key Frame Shapes generator for producing real-time effects. Most of his Hilltop Hoods lighting designs involve various pixel-based fixtures, which he likes to map, sometimes applying the effects across the entire rig. "Using the D7 and a bit of lateral thinking, you can effectively animate a look without having to use a media server," he explains. He finds the programming architecture of D7 straightforward but clever. "You can get a rig working via the console in about 20 minutes which is pretty cool," he states, adding that he is a highly visual lighting designer rather than a technical one: "The console is the translator between what's in my head to how the lights will look onstage, and I have found out of all the options that Avolites generally is the best translator for me, hands down! "Avo consoles are designed from an LD's perspective," he observes. "The company are lighting people as well as developers; they know their industry and have a feel for the tasks and challenges for which the products are being used. That's resulted in a very efficient, logical, and powerful workflow." A typical Hilltop Hoods festival package will involve a front and back truss with about 60 fixtures, including spots, washes, stripes and blinders, plus a floor package, which this year has comprised five floor dollies with, per cart, five ROE Visual Vanish LED panels, 20 Ayrton MagicBlades and 50 LED Moles, plus Ayrton Cobras on top of the carts, 13 more Mole units around the stage, Martin MAC Aura XBs for a low level side wash on stands and Klus LED strips for signage. The upcoming arena leg of the tour will involve around 260 or 270 lights plus special effects and video, and will also include Robe iFORTES. 
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