24 APRIL 2020 • WWW.LSIONLINE.COMi INDUSTRY ISSUES
the pandemic, when the pressure to discount,
in order to win back business, collides with the
debt amassed to stay in business at all.
“I suspect when it’s game-on again, the
promoters will be pressing rental houses for
deals,” he says, “just when they’ve taken on so
much debt to survive this. That has to be
factored into the margins, but if the rental
rates drop, people won’t survive. I hope that’s
not the case, and at the moment we’re all
agreeing not to succumb to that - at least in
our community here in Glasgow. But I can’t
see any such consensus across the whole
country. I think it will lead to a massive change
in how we do business.”At venue level, there may be a steady move
towards fixed installation as opposed to the
touring model. However, at the moment,
they’re still dark. For example, the Royal
Albert Hall (RAH), closed for the first time
since World War II, is currently in a typical
holding pattern with 400-plus salaried staff,
casuals and freelancers. It has announced
closure till 18 May, but the timeline is under
constant review. Ollie Jeffery, head of
production and technical at RAH, hopes that
a window of opportunity may open that
wouldn’t normally be there...“Towards the end of April was our
maintenance week,” he reveals, “which we
will not be open for. This does mean we need
to rethink our maintenance schedule, to
ensure we comply with health and safety
regulations. This may mean that what we’veoffered previously to incoming shows is
reduced, but we are working on a detailed
remobilisation plan to mitigate this.
However, if we partially reopen but can’t do
shows for a month, we could achieve more
upgrades than we’ve ever achieved!
Meanwhile, I do sit on the National Arenas
Association board and we’re all working
closely with promoters to work out a pattern
of rescheduling and refunding.”GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM
With a possible glimpse into one brave new
world to arise out of coronavirus, SFL had
already added live streaming to its regular
services and has published a guide to
correct use of Open Broadcaster Software
(OBS), the open-source package it favours
for live streaming applications. OBS overlays
several graphical and interactive features to
enhance the stream, provided you are using
SFL’s proprietary interface - an easy
adjustment, whether dry or wet hire.Going one further, SmartStage is a ‘mixed
reality environment’ pioneered by White
Light, based in Wimbledon. SmartStage
replaces traditional green screen by mixing
real content and a virtual environment into
one immersive AV solution. Performers and
presenters can interact much more
naturally with the content surrounding
them, which can be drawn from any
source, elevating the streaming experience
from its typical solitary outreach to a far
more engaging process.“I suspect when
it’s game-on again,
the promoters will
be pressing rental
houses for deals,
just when they’ve
taken on so much
debt to survive
this.. .”
- Iain Mackie
“This crisis will have a cost
at the end of it - both in
fi nancial and emotional
terms - and it’s everyone’s
duty to help minimise
that.. .”
- Shaun Pearce
B Venues such as the Royal Albert Hall
have lit up blue in recognition of NHS
workers leading the front-line battle
against the coronavirusC SmartStage - a ‘mixed reality
environment’ pioneered by White Light
and offering new ways of
communicating