). Over the years they only became bigger and better at what they do, and now they're putting together some of the biggest and awesomest shows you've ever seen, not least of which the Armin Only world tour, which has them flying all over the five continents. If you want to know all about what makes these fellas tick, read on:- bg-01.jpg (18.06 KiB) Viewed 9262 times
What's in a name? Haha. Our goal is to supply all eyes with mind-blowing visuals. In the past few years we've done visuals for over 1000 major events. We are currently touring with the Armin Only worldtour, A state of Trance worldtour and we are the main VJ's of Armin van Buuren during his gigs. For 5 years now we are responsible for all visuals during the Extrema Closing show and all Masters of Hardcore shows.
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What do you reckon makes Eyesupply one of the major players in the visual scene? Is it all hard work and good content, or is there a secret to your success?
There's no magic secret. Like every successful company or artist: it all comes down to hard work and indeed a lot of high-quality content. Also we differentiate ourselves by our own distinctive style what is best defined as abstract, animated, rhythmic and vivid. All our content is made by our team and it's growing everyday.
Can you tell us a bit more about the history of Eyesupply? How did you get started and what are some of the highlights thus far?
Eyesupply was founded in May 2003 by 5 people with each a complete different backgrounds, ranging from industrial design to motion graphics design. Our first gigs where small gigs for friends and were paid with beer and food
But after a while it got more serious and we really got into it after a gig at the Roskilde festival! We wanted more! Our network grew and the projects started to become more serious. It wasn't a hobby thing anymore. Till the point we are now, still doing the thing we love the most, creating visual shows! We are now with 9 people at the office and a good network of freelance content designers and video operators.When you guys play, one thing that always stands out is how you work together with the lighting guys. Is that a conscious decision? Do you use DMX control at all?
We always keep an eye on the complete show. That included lights but also motion, laser, performance and pyro. When all elements work together the show is at its best. Therefore we work closely together with 250K (http://www.250k.nl): a company that creates show concepts and stage designs and combines all these elements in the best possible and innovative ways. We don't tell our story, we tell the story the artist / promotor wants to tell to their audience.
Masters of Hardcore 2010 - The Voice of Mayhem Aftermovie
Right now, you're doing the main visual setup for the monster Armin Only tour. Can you give us some more details about that? What sort of screens are you using, what sort of content are you playing on them? Any wonderfully ingenious rigging setups? How does the stuff get from one place to the other?
Yeah the whole Armin tour was a big step forward for us. Creating over 460 minutes of custom content, figuring out a complete new way to sync video to audio with a custom made Video Server configuration and some special adaptation to Resolume Avenue! We are using 5 seperate 18mm LED screens with a total width of 44 meters and 8 meters heigh. 2 of them on a trolley system so that they can slide open and they can turn 360 degrees.The output that we are using is a Full HD signal from straight out of the Avenue Video Server and pixelmapped by the Advanced output options in Avenue! There are 5 controllable dome camera's and 2 small finger/spy camera mounted on the drum kit and the guitar. All those signals are collected in a Edirol V8 and thanks to the guys from Roland we where the first one to use the Roland MVS-12 multi-viewer for our previews.
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Backstage report Armin van Buuren - Mirage Worldtour 2010/2011
A lot of people are interested in the custom Avenue machine you're bringing on the road. What are the specs on that little fella, and how do you generally use it?
When the Armin project started we were searching for a new way to play video in the best quality and in the most easy way possible for us. We've looked at other servers and mixers but weren't completely satisfied, most of them are too complex and needed too much pre programming before you start your show and also way too expensive. We wanted our own little fella with the software we grew up with! After a chat with Bart from Resolume we've decided to build the best possible configuration around Avenue! With some minor modifications we had ourselves a beast! 3x Full HD Input, 3x SD Inputs, Up to 3 Full HD Outputs still running 60fps with 8 layers of Full HD mixed together!
What other gear are you bringing with? What's the signal flow like?
Each project is different and needs a different approach, sometimes a single SD signal is enough to do the trick. Two Resolume or Avenue PC's with a Edirol V8 would be the configuration. But the pixelmappings are starting to get bigger and more complex, multiple screens, different LED pitches, stitched projectors, videomapping, etc, is getting more common nowadays. So we bring our server to control all video as an end control. We now can decide where to place bits of video on what and change this during the show.
Since a few days we're the proud owners of a Roland V440 HD Mixer. We haven't had the change to use it during a show but i think this machine will also be a change in our workflow.
There's also some custom time code stuff happening at the Armin Only shows. How does that work?
That's our little secret
Unfortunately we can't give you those details. It's like us asking you to give the open programming file of the avenue software. But the main thing Armin wanted the visuals to be completely sync in HD without him doing video stuff even when he pitches his tracks, and he wanted us to keep full control over the video.
How come you're still using R2.41 on some machines? Get with the times man!
We started using Resolume on version 1.1. We grew up with the interface and still love the quickness and the fast controls. Especially when you really want to VJ fast and live in time to the music with your visuals, R2.41 is still the best interface there is! Also all our content was created based on the workflow of R2.41. Since our projects grew we are using Avenue more because we needed a stable and reliable piece of software to do Full HD or more and still stay digital. But sometimes when it's possible we just want to VJ the oldskool way. It feels natural! You know what would be the best innovation ever? An R2.41 interface with the power of Avenue, sort of Avenue Light version!
What about the pyros, dude, do you get to play with fire?
LOL, that isn't an Eyesupply thing. But it's nice to see some fireworks once in a while! Specially during the summer season and if you want to see great fireworks go and see the Closing Show of Extrema Outdoor!
Where are things heading? What's the next step after this?
We are constantly trying to renew and challenge ourselves. Trying to find new solutions to give people a great show. Now we are working on several new shows that will be touring the world this summer. And of course a new Extrema Closing Show this summer! Trying to professionalize and keep evolving our vj'ing.
We are always looking for experienced people (Motion Graphics, VJ'ing, Operating, etc) if you're interested please send us an email!!
Contact:
Mail: comeonboard@eyesupply.tv
Website: http://www.eyesupply.tv
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/eyesupply
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eyesupply/126703474058989
Eyesupply showreel spring 2010
