Sharing the Gig Love Interviews, How-Tos,and more

For this interview we get to take a peek into the brain of Bart Roelen, owner and production director at Unlimited Productions. Bart has been working on concept development, design and execution of international tours for the biggest names in the business including Tiesto and Ferry Corsten for many years now. As you’ll soon find out, Bart’s unique approach to problem solving and decades of experience make it clear why he’s made it to where he is. And with that we’re off…

What originally inspired you to get involved in tour production management?

I started when I was 16 at a sound & light company in The Netherlands with setting up and building dance festivals, fairs and television shows and taking it all down again when they’d finished. When I was 18, I started working in the office of this company and working out the shows with drawings, quotes and production sheets. So as a production Manager in the Netherlands I worked on many Television Shows, Dance Festivals and Concerts. With all those shows I ended up meeting a lot of artists and step by step I rolled into the world of Tour Production Management.

When did you know that this was what you wanted to do with your life? Without giving us your secret sauce recipe, what qualities do you think helped you the most in your career?

When I started touring with Tiësto 4 years ago in 2006 I knew directly that this was the life I wanted to live. It’s not an easy life cause your working days are long, you spend a lot of time in airplanes and at airports but it’s for sure an exciting life style. Every few days you’re in a different country or city, you see all the different cultures, the different languages & you meet every day new people.

I’d say one of my qualities is not to think in problems but to think in challenges & solutions. Problems don’t exist in my life cause I translate everything in a quick and effective solution. For example, in South America the electric power generators are not that stable as they are here in Europe. So we always have a lot of problems with the electric power when we put on all the lights, sound and video cause we are using it in a different way than what they are used to doing. So as soon as the lights don’t have power, people start running around and are yelling like…we have a problem, we have a problem! But nobody really is solving the problem. At a moment like that I jump in to solve the problem and to think in solutions together with the locals. We prefer to have the lights and sound working above the video…so we simply switch off the video and connect the lights so everybody can see the DJ again or put the screen on less output % and you can connect some lights there. It can be as simple as that!

Managing huge shows for the likes of Tiesto and Ferry Corsten is no easy feat. With so many moving parts and requests, how do you keep yourself organized?

I started in 2006 as the only production person on the road with Tiësto but at the end of the year we already had a light/video director with us on board, later a sound guy and since the beginning of 2009 also a video tech because the video on the shows is becoming more important every day. In the beginning of 2009 I started my own production company called Unlimited Productions and we started doing productions for more artists than Tiësto. Ferry Corsten was the next big act for me and at the moment 2 persons from my company are traveling with him to the concert shows.

Right now I am working a bit more in the office because over the last few years we’ve trained more production people to travel with Tiësto. Tiësto is doing 180 shows a year, and to work everything out pre-production wise it’s already a full time job. So we are working with 2 people on the production of his shows, 1 on the road, and 1 on the office. We are changing this every few months.

So I have enough time to work our new tours, artists and shows. We are working on the moment with 8 people at Unlimited Productions and everybody is responsible for his own world. This is how I keep myself organized.

Take us briefly through the Tour creation process from concept to the final show.

You always start with a meeting where you listen to the ideas of the artist and management, and where you listen to the new music which is related to the upcoming tour/show. For the Tiësto & Ferry Corsten shows it’s important to keep in mind that you have to design a show which is possible in every country in the world. What means you need to know which equipment is available, what is possible within budget, what is easy to build etc. So as soon as you have all the info you start designing the show in good consultation with the video content designers because most of the time they’ll have a different view on the show etc. After the design you make budget plans, technical riders and a few try-outs with the system…

We’ve come a long way in terms of special effects, lighting, audio and video quality, and general stage production. How have these advances in technology improved the way you do your job? If so, what exactly has had the most impact? Or has it just made everything more complex?

Years ago there were no LED lights, so you only had lights that needed a lot of electric power for. Right now with the LED lights and with the high output and low consumption lights, everything is getting a bit easier. You can have a great show with less electric power hassle. Also the lights and equipment are getting lighter in weight which means it’s easier in rigging and cheaper in cargo or truck transport.

Also the line array technology is a really nice example, years ago you needed to fly a lot of speakers to give every venue a nice sound. Nowadays with 2 strings of sound speakers you’re almost ready. And you can build them in 1 or 2 hours, instead of 8 hours of speakers flying.

Tiesto concerts, like most high-energy EDM events, require a special array of ultra-reliable sound equipment that fits within the structural confines of a venue. How do you ensure that the equipment will perform even with Tiesto’s multiple hour-long events and very few chances to let the equipment rest during sets?

That’s why we only work with the 4 best sound system brands in the world which we have tested and worked with for many years. In our opinion, the top 4 brands include

1. L’acoustics with their K1 – V-DOSC and dV-Dosc series
2. JBL with their Vertec VT-4889 series
3. D&B with the J Series
4. Synco with the W8L – W8LC – W8LM models

Nowadays with all the new technology speakers and amplifiers can go on for an unlimited time frame but…. we design the system so that we have enough headroom so we can play on 75% of the maximum system power what means you get an clean, powerful and nice sound. When you push a system to the max you can have big problems, and overheated amplifiers. We always have big arrays to give everybody a perfect sound and of course you can do it with a bit less, but than you need to put the system in the max and on the limiter frame and that’s what we don’t like.

Who do you normally collaborate with on a daily basis to manage tours? How do you collaborate with them?

Our light / video director, sound engineer, tour manager and our guys on the office and everything by phone or e-mail. And of course the local production managers and promoters.

In general, what are the biggest challenges of being a tour production manager?

Giving the crowd the best of the best day after day…This is always a challenge because you don’t work 70% of the time with your own tour equipment and you are dependent on the local equipment and production people. When they have a delay in the load-in it’s my job to make sure we can open doors on time etc..

What are the best parts about being a tour production manager?

Fun, traveling & meeting new people every day…

If I were a young up and coming tour manager what would you recommend I do to make a name for myself? How do I differentiate myself?

Start with the basics like I did, because than you get the best feeling and grip of the industry. This is needed to translate problems into solutions. So start with loading and unloading equipment trucks, start with building and breaking down productions shows, start with planning events and productions and finally do the production by yourself because experience is the most important element of a good production manager.

What do you think the next BIG thing is the Electronic Dance Music industry? What can we look forward to in the new decade, other than Gigsby?

The next big thing…good question !

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Tags: Bart Roelen, D&B, Ferry Corsten, International Tours, JBL, L'Acoustics, line array, special effects, Synco, tiesto, Tour Management, Unlimited Productions