IPS and CHAUVET Professional Help Tony Fransen Create New Looks for TobyMac Hits Deep Tour

	"We are able to be a lot more diverse in the way we light the show than we would be with some of the more traditional methods," says Fransen.

Keep the client's music at the center of your design: That fundamental principle has guided designer Tony Fransen's career for over two decades. "I do my best to let the music show me the way in all projects," says the Emmy-winning designer, whose list of clients has included Prince, One Republic, Brandon Lake, and Steven Curtis Chapman.

Such was the case when Fransen designed TobyMac's Hits Deep Tour. Supporting his client's uplifting, Fransen's design flowed from soft, gentle reflections to high-energy crescendos to contemplative moments.

Fransen explored new approaches, reducing his reliance on conventional moving fixtures in favor of creating powerful linear configurations. "I think of it as a way to get bang for the buck," he says. "We are able to be a lot more diverse in the way we light the show than we would be with some of the more traditional methods."

Key to this vision was a collection of 100 CHAUVET Professional COLORado PXL Bar 16 motorized battens, which, like the rest of his lighting and video rig (including 32 Maverick Storm 2 Profiles) were supplied and installed by IPS of Franklin, Tennessee.

"We were really able to take advantage of the PXL 16," Fransen says. "It allowed us to use many impressive combinations of subtle broken-up pixel looks, wild chases, and button snaps to the beat."

Fransen had his batten fixtures do double duty as blinders. "Over the past few years, we have been moving away from being stuck to a traditional blinder, which just does one thing," he explains. "Using a fixture like PXL16 allows us to make the show a lot more musical, following the beat and creating a lot more visual interest.

"We love the brightness of PXL 16, paired with the Storm2 Profile -- it helped us create many dynamic looks," Fransen continues. "All our traditional backlight and side light, as well as our upstage round row, were Storm 2 Profiles. We were able to color-correct them to our typical backlight levels, but then punch them out and use them as beams when we needed that type of look."

Fransen's studio, Tony Fransen Productions, handled all the production design, lighting programming, video programming, and creative services. He was helped by programmers Elijah Ekdahl (lighting) and Chris Herman (media servers), as well as the "very talented and supportive team" at IPS.

"You can't bring a production like this to life without good collaborators," Fransen says, adding that teamwork is the key.