grandMA3 in control for The Voice Thailand

Thailand – grandMA3 was the lighting control system of choice for The Voice Thailand 2024, produced by Exit 365 and co-produced by Lighting and Equipment and showing on the Channel ONE 31 television network and Netflix Thailand. This globally popular singing competition, its format familiar to prime-time audiences all over the world, is characterised by multiple rounds and performances – with the highest production standards throughout. 

Responsible for creating this season’s rich array of spectacular looks was lighting designer Ryan Attig, an experienced expert in lighting for broadcast, live music and opera. For this show he was working closely with Miss Arunroj Thomma and Mr. Nipon Jakkitrungrueng, his colleagues from lighting design company, Lightist.

With so many performances, the design team is faced with a need for creativity and versatility under pressure – something that the grandMA3 system helps them to deliver. Ryan says, “The Voice requires the design of a great many lighting scenes to support the sheer number of shows and performances involved, but it all has to be done within the limitations of the venue size and the available programming time. Fortunately, grandMA3 saves us a lot of time.”

It's a platform that Ryan knows well and trusts completely in his wide range of lighting work. “We always use MA systems,” he says, “onPC to full-size, grandMA2 to grandMA3 – depending on the nature of the job and the supplier.” 

For this show, lighting and video equipment was supplied by Lighting & Equipment Public Company Limited, with support for the grandMA3 system from MA Lighting’s representative in Thailand, local distribution specialist Total Solution Marketing (TSM). Established in 1998, TSM has enjoyed a successful partnership with MA Lighting since 2016. 

Looking after the lighting team for TSM was Chantiga ‘Cat’ Chotkajornthai. She says, “Originally, the lighting team asked for the grandMA3 control system to run in mode2, which they were familiar with. But we offered them grandMA3 training, and they very quickly saw more possibilities with the software, so they decided to convert to grandMA3.” 

To ensure a smooth transition, Chotkajornthai provided on-site support for Ryan and the lighting crew for the initial programming and for the Blind Audition round which begins the series. However, by then they were confident enough with their access to the features on offer from grandMA3 that they needed no further support for the rest of the season.

For a show of this type, flexibility and consistency are major requirements, says Ryan. “grandMA3 provides us with access to more parameters,” he says, “so it allows us to control more pixels and fixtures, and it also make this control easier and faster.”

Of particular value are grandMA3’s capability for mapping and controlling pixel-based fixtures and effects – a significant step forward from grandMA2 – as the production uses a great deal of LED strips. Also especially useful is the Phasers effects engine, which enables the creation of dynamic outputs, and the NDI (Network Device Interface) function, which gives the operator easy access to feeds from video content, graphics and camera views. “grandMA3’s Phasers help us to create more complicated effects, more efficiently, while the NDI function helps us control pixel fixtures more easily,” says Ryan.

Consistency, reliability, flexibility, speed and efficiency are all huge advantages in such a pressured environment, and Attig and his team are confident that the grandMA3 toolset ticks every box. “The functions available on grandMA3 help us to program all the multiple lighting scenes more quickly and reliably, which is extremely important to us,” he says. “Some functions, like the Phaser, offer a great many powerful options, so it takes a while to fully understand its possibilities, but in the end what it gives us is very valuable.”

Photos: © Aofotwo Photography / L&E Beyond