We’re over to the lighting booth for our next crew interview with freelance Lighting Designer Paul McAdams.

Paul works with Architects and Good Charlotte amongst many others, and has been lighting up venues across the world for years. Check out his website for pics.

We grabbed 5 with him to chat about life behind the lamps…

What inspired you to work in lighting and production for live events?

I played in bands when I was a teenager, booking the empty function rooms/pub venues for us to play in, running the shows on the night. Because of this I got a part-time job as local crew at a couple of venues at my University. That’s when I discovered there was someone at the back of room controlling the lights, and then I quickly found myself behind the desk, realising I was never going to make full use of that Literature degree I was studying.

You’ve worked with huge artists such as Maximo Park and Good Charlotte. How did the work come about?

I was working and learning my trade in Belfast when I built a relationship with a local band called And So I Watch You From Afar. Eventually they found a little extra room in the budget to take me on tour.

Then Twin Atlantic were coming through my venue without their regular LD. I ended up covering them for week around Ireland then got the gig for keeps when it became available.

That eventually led to me working with bands like Mew, Mogwai, Maximo Park and also Architects who have kept me extremely busy over the last 6 years or so.

Working with them has gotten me work with Good Charlotte, Sleeping With Sirens and others over the last few years through management and crew connections.

Networking and building personal connections is important to keep the work coming in.

What has been your most interesting or challenging lighting set up in your career and why?

The Architects design grows every year. We’ve gone from Koko to Wembley Arena in London alone in the last few years, but we still hit smaller club venues in some territories. We travel with lighting and video, and some times pyro and lazers, so trying to squeeze our Wembley floor package into a club in Luxembourg with a 3 metre trim the very next night was a challenge for sure! 

How has lighting design evolved since you started working in the industry?

I started lighting in 2007, just as Daft Punk were touring their Alive pyramid production, and it’s still to this day my favourite lighting show to have seen live. That production pretty much changed the way designers started using LED, pushing it to the forefront of their designs. It’s still evolving, getting smarter, brighter and faster, allowing a lot more flexibility in how you can design a show.

Consoles and data processing has also come a long way. The desks are smarter, shows are bigger and require a lot more processing, and now 3D visualisers are a more powerful tool than ever before. Companies have had to streamline and bolster their network and processing capabilities to allow for these levels of productions to run smoothly.  

What item can’t you live without at events?

I’m young(ish) enough to have only ever toured with a smart phone in my pocket. It can be connected to my console at the back of the room while I focus a light standing on the stage or in the middle of the floor. I can be playing back timecode tracks from it for programming during the day to help me sync my programming to the artists’ playback rigs. Or it can be using it to find the best running routes for my down time or best dinner spots for whatever city I’m in.

Follow Paul McAdams online: