With over twenty years’ experience, Dave Lee is renowned as both a lighting designer and programmer throughout the live music industry. He is currently the Lighting and Programme Operator on the Olly Murs UK tour which is currently playing sold out arenas across the UK. For the tour, Dave has drawn heavily on the Hog 4 console. As a Master Dealer for the product in the UK, we’ve spoken to Dave to discuss his use of the Hog on the tour and why he draws on it project after project.

Dave has been working with Olly Murs since February 2010 and his role sees him work closely with lighting designer Paul Normandale. He explains: “I’ve collaborated with Paul several times now. He comes up with the lighting design and how it should look and I will make it a reality. Essentially I sit behind the console programming whilst Paul fires his creative genius at me!”.

To translate this creative genius into reality, Dave relies heavily on the Hog 4 console. He comments: “With shows like Olly Murs, you don’t get weeks and weeks of time to programme. It’s actually a matter of days! That’s why the Hog is so invaluable. It’s incredibly easy to use, simple to put cues together in a few button presses rather than thousands! Practically, I can put together 20 songs in three days and that makes such a difference when you’re up against it in production rehearsals with all sorts going on!”.

Whilst Dave is using the latest version of the Hog, it’s a line of consoles that he’s used for many years. He explains: “I’ve used the Hog console for over twenty years. I actually started my career on an MA Light Commander before graduating onto the Hog 2. The feel of the Hog 2 desk just worked for me and I naturally progressed onto the Hog 3 and now the Hog 4. As a result, I own a lot of Hog products and my collection has grown over the years!”.

For the Olly Murs tour, Dave uses the Hog 4 to set up a pixel map for every single fixture in the show. When he arrives in the production rehearsal, this allows everything to be there ready in front of him. He comments: “During production rehearsals, we usually get two to three passes for each song. This means we’re working hard in a short amount of time to get the perfect look and feel of a show; which often means many last minute changes. Thankfully, the desk is easy to edit and very adaptable for this situation, and with the simple but powerful features I can programme any effect or look Paul throws at me”.

Alongside the Olly Murs tour, Dave has also recently used the Hog 4 console on Boyzone, All Saints and Niall Horran’s world tours.

He concludes: “For me and the Hog range, there really is no other option. They have served me extremely well in the past and continue to do so. They have the ability to hold their own and deliver shows in huge arenas whilst at the same time remain compact and easy to use. I’d recommend them to anyone”.

For more information about the Hog 4 range, please visit our Hog page or contact WL’s Product Manager Stuart Porter.

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