Focus On: Mint Club's light man

Photo credit: samdonnison@gmail.com

Notice how it says 'BUG' (albeit upside down from where the shot is taken) in the photo above? Well, there is one man responsible for that, and for all the other amazing light trickery which goes on up on that Watergate style LED disco panel which hangs above Mint Club's dance floor.

It engrosses us and adds so much to the music every time we go to the place - from warmth to cool, kineticism to ambience, and at all the right times - we thought it only right to speak to the man behind it all, Imran Rifai.

Read on, then, to find out how it all works, to find out what Jeff Mills requested and to find out which DJ used to do something similar. Oh, and get a flavour of what goes down from the You Tube video at the end... poor sound quality but shows what Imran can do with the lights nicely.

So, how did you get the job? Have you any experience/does it relate to anything you did at Uni/college?

it was a combination of who I know and what I know, but not really related (maybe very loosely) to what I did at Uni, which was getting a degree in animation & special effects. When I was at Uni, I met Darren Bates who was on the same course as myself. He's currently the main promoter for System at Mint. We became good friends through a shared love of music and visual arts and, after we graduated, I moved back home to Blackburn and spent the summer making music and being jobless... Pretty much putting off having to get a ‘proper’ 9 to 5 job as long as I possibly could.

Darren rang me up one day for a catch up and said he’d put a good word in for me with the Mint Club management as someone who’d be willing and able to control the lighting rig, because they were looking for somebody to take over from the previous guy. It pretty much went from there and I was chosen because I listen to a lot of different types of music and I'd already met Shane & Keith [who run Mint] a few times before. Much of my job is having knowledge of the music that’s playing, so my hunger for new music and being a DJ and producer myself always makes it easier for me.

How long did it take you to learn the gist? Are you still learning and improving?

It literally took 10 minutes to learn which part of the programs control each part of the lights, but I’d liken it to DJing - you can't just learn to beatmatch and call yourself a DJ, because there's a lot more to it than that: selecting the right record for the situation, reading the crowd and timing is everything.

Of course, I’ve been doing this for over half a year now, so I’ve got certain routines that I settle into, but there's always room to learn more and better myself. I'd say things such as DJs using the x1 midi controller, like loco dice and Luciano (who was using two!) have definitely kept me on my toes. With that piece of hardware and 3 or four Traktor decks going at the same time, it's not always blatantly obvious what is going on, so I have to concentrate a hell of a lot sometimes.



So tell us what exactly you control...

I control pretty much all the dynamic lighting you see in the club when you're on the dancefloor, from the little movers (disco lights) and strobe above the DJ booth, to the huge led panel above you. I also have command over how much smoke goes into the club and when there's a big drop in the music, I press the big 'nuclear launch' button that lets off the ice cannons. Other things I do are restricting unauthorised entry to the DJ booth, helping DJs setup audio equipment (decks, mixers, laptops etc) and monitoring and modifying the sound levels so they're at their most appropriate at all times throughout the night.

Oh, and I’m also the guy that has to switch the house lights on at the end of the night... Don't hate me for that.

And what computers/programs/controls do you use?

There's nothing special about the computer I use. It's just a bog standard pc with enough ram in it to run the what it needs to run. We can't have an expensive pc in that corner of the booth because it's always going to be prone to having drinks spilled on it.

The lighting program for the main disco panel is a specialist program called disco designer light studio, which is made by the people who make the panels. My controls are limited to the mouse and keyboard at the moment. I’ve spoken to the people who run the disco designer company about integrating midi control, because it's something I’m desperate to do, and they've said they're looking into upgrading the program very soon, so it can do so. I'd be able to get really crazy with the lighting then because tactile controls are so much easier to use than having to pin-point click something on a screen.

So how does it work, then?! Do you pre-programme sequences then kick them off during the night at the right point or?

Pretty much, yeah. There are loads of pre-programmed sequences and patterns and I’ve made some of my own as well. I can always take a minute out to draw up a new one if I feel the need to. The program allows you to write words on the panel as well, but overall I try and keep things quite minimal because it tends to look like a really gaudy acid trip if you put on too many colours and patterns at the same time.

And when do you aim to use each effect? Has each one a certain place i.e. breakdown, drop, synthy moment etc...

Yes. I mean, it is all subjective... But in my head, certain visual patterns resemble certain audible patterns. For example, I don't like putting the fast 'lightning' strokes on during a breakdown. I'd rather light everything up and fade down to darkness as the drop nears then blast on the strobe and some faster patterns.



How do you know exactly when drops are coming? Do you know all the records the DJs play?!

Haha! There's no way I could possibly know all the records they play! I do know many of the tracks, yes (and working in the club means I hear all the 'tracks of the moment' enough to grow to hate them) but my life is made easier when I can see the waveform on the CDJs or on the laptop screen (that's why you'll sometimes see me skipping across the booth and back again). When DJs like (system resident) Cormac play exclusively on vinyl though, my best bet is to shine my torch at the vinyl and try and see if there's a break or drop coming, but that's difficult to say the least.

Ever got it wrong?!

I get it wrong fairly often (at least a couple of times a night), but I know what to do to cover it up quickly! Like anything and anybody else, I do have good nights and bad nights. Some nights I'll be predicting every change in the music without even having to use anything as a reference (loco dice was like this) and other nights I won't be able to get things spot on, no matter how hard I try. I think it's partly to do with how much I'm getting into and 'feeling' the music myself.

Ever had good or bad feedback from DJs?

I’ve never had any bad feedback, but I’ve had lots of good feedback! Everyone from Shinedoe and Steve Bug to Julien Chaptal and loco dice have personally thanked me for doing what I do on the lights. Getting a high-five from one of the biggest DJs in the world, while they're in the middle of their set - that's a great feeling!

I think the DJs themselves are most appreciative of what I do, because just like I get the best position to see them DJing, they can see exactly what's going on on my screen.

Ever had any pre-set requests from DJs? Who and what sort of thing?

The only DJ with a specific request beforehand was Jeff Mills. I actually didn't mind it. It made my job a lot easier, knowing how he wanted it before he even got into the club. It didn't stop me from being quite nervous though!

He was also giving me directions to bring down the lighting and flash the strobe while he was DJing, so I felt he really cared about the experience as a whole.

The only other DJ who has requested anything while they were playing was Julien Chaptal. He later thanked me and told me that he had knowledge of lighting rigs because he used to control something similar but more primitive before his DJing & production career took off.

The rest of the DJs I’ve worked with have basically left me to my own devices and nobody has complained, so I think I must be doing something right!

You do 3/4 nights a week, right? How long are your shifts? What happens if you get someone like Luciano who plays ‘til 9am?! 12 hour shifts?! Ever lose concentration/focus etc?

My shifts can last anywhere from 5 hours to 12+ hours. The times when it lasts so long can indeed be tiring, but then again I'm always enjoying the music and reminding myself that things could be a lot worse and I could be doing a 12 hour shift in a factory and not enjoying anything about my job.

I have to remember that I have one of the most enjoyable jobs around and there are people a lot worse off than myself.



How does each one differ in terms of what you do? Can you tailor the lights to different vibes and types of music much?

I keep the same basic patch of patterns, but there are so many possible combinations of colour, speed, timing and layers that I can change them all on the spot if need be. The only times I’ve felt a little bit lost have been the rare times there have things like r’n’b nights on. The lighting is made for faster, more upbeat dance music, so I don't think they particularly add anything to those sorts of nights.

The majority of nights at mint host music that's in the 120 to 135bpm range so it's most well suited to that.

Do you get different briefs from each promoter?

I haven't had any briefs from a promoter as yet, although a few of them think it's acceptable to hijack my ice cannon controls...

What do you do when you're not controlling the lights ie the rest of the week?

I spend all that time absorbing influential art, refreshing Facebook and making and playing music as Audibilis (and not as Audibilis).

Anything else you'd like to add?

If you want to check out my productions, go to soundcloud.com/audibilis and feel free join my fanpage on Facebook if you like what you hear.

My next DJ gig is at the 30th April Cognosco after party, which will start at 5 or 6am on the 1st may. The venue is currently a secret, but will be revealed at the main party while Matthias Meyer is playing. There's some great local talent on at both the main party and the after party, including my good friend David Hulme, who is a Cognosco resident... So come and shake a leg with us!