Creating 3 Dimensional LED Walls with Staggered Backdrop and Foreground

Last Night a DJ Saved My Life

"The DJ was your conductor. He was your guide. He was your guarantee you were going to lose your mind."

Music artist Camoflaug3's song Fake DJ featuring Robert English where he state; "The DJ was your conductor. He was your guide. He was your guarantee you were going to lose your mind." The music cannot be separated from the lighting and LED wall experiences for DJ and popular music acts. Combining LED wall visuals with live bands and DJs has become a music festival standard. Increasingly private social events, national association and corporate conferences are utilizing large format screens. LED wall is comprised of smaller modular panels, and can have any custom configuration of dimensions. Typically the main backdrop is a variation of 16:9 ratio to conform with HD format, although ultra-wide and other LED wall video arrays. Placing multiple LED walls staggered in foreground and background on the Z axis creates the interesting visual effect of the stage embedding the artists in visuals. Foreground and background combine as a visual illusion.

By placing an LED Wall screen behind the performer and also an LED Wall screen in front of the DJ table, the artist is placed 3 dimensionally in between the same visual images.

DJ Booth LED Wall Facade

The LED wall facade in front of the DJ turns what is usually a boring table with black linen, into an electric experience that evolves to the music. The visuals can be abstract or that can be words and logos. The LED wall background and foreground combine to transform the stage into a wormhole or color and light. LED wall visuals can be coordinated with venue lighting to transform the entire event into an extension of the stage performance.

Picture In Picture Media Server Input / Output

Picture in Picture, or PIP, is most commonly used to simultaneously view two sports games. This technology is also used to describe input / output routing for multi-destination media servers and video switchers. In the DJ Facade example, the DJ booth occupies the section of the video that would align the background and foreground images. The signal flow image above illustrates the area of the video input that the DJ facade outputting. The video below illustrate this effect as the DJ is immersed in the moving energy lines.

Dramatic Entrances

Another use of staggered LED wall is to create walk-on paths at the side stage or center stage as in the photos of the example above and below. From the front the screen looks like one large screen that allows for dramatic walk in experience as the presenter emerges from the visuals. Creative stage design accentuates the screens by fusing the stage with the screen content. The presenter becomes a part of the presentation. This draws the audience to the powerful visuals of the presentation. Vivid imagery frames the stage as a mesmerizing experience. With the right planning marketing teams create content that delivers color and styles consistent with the brand style guide and strategic messaging.

And now the moment that you have all been waiting for...

That is the feeling that you want every attendee to possess, but often it is saved for the keynote and executives. Give every person who steps on stage the rock star entrance as they appear emerging from the visual LED wall. Creating a facade or obstruction with the screens as a walk on experience allows for curiosity and anticipation of the presentation. Top it off with professional voice artist recorded walk-on introductions for the ultra-polished feel. Many audio engineers are male, so the "Voice of God" is often by default a male voice. Diversify the experience by having a female executive or voice artist record the introductions for walk-ons and segues. These nuanced details culminate to impute production value, drawing the audience to a heightened awareness to deliver the message.

A Visual Experience

Matrix Visual produced the above image with massive LED wall array for Ultra Music Festival. Each LED wall panel area represents a section of the video where it would be if the entire stage was one giant screen input window. This means the DJ booth is occupying a small fraction of the overall video image that would be in the middle lower maybe 5-10% of the visual image so that the entire stage structure is one visual experience. Another example of their incredible work using both foreground and background LED wall is the below image of Drake performing with DJ in an LED wall booth at Parq nightclub in San Diego.

Lighting strongly compliments the LED wall, as Drake's lighting designer color matches the LED color washes and moving lights with the video image colors. These kind of complimentary cues can extend the visual imagery by transforming the entire venue into the colors of the stage. Coordinating lighting and visual cues has the power not only to embed the artist in a live music video experience, but also to spill the stage from the backdrop into the color and lighting of the venue. By extending the stage experience the audience is engulfed in the performance as the entire venue becomes an extension of the stage.