Project M72

Overview

The M72 Stage Replica project is a passionate and innovative endeavor to recreate a small-scale version of the Metallica M72 World Tour stage. Having attended two of Metallica’s live concerts, I was captivated by the sheer intensity and creativity of the lighting animations and graphics displayed throughout the show. The combination of pulsating lights, intricate animations, and massive video screens creates an immersive experience that truly heightens the energy of the performance. This awe-inspiring spectacle sparked the idea to capture that same intensity on a smaller, yet equally dynamic scale.

The project aims to build a compact but highly detailed replica of the M72 tour stage that can be used at any time, bringing the excitement of a Metallica concert into any environment. One of the key challenges this project addresses is replicating the full experience, something that simple phone recordings just can't convey. A phone video may capture the visuals, but it falls short in relaying the overwhelming sense of presence, movement, and the synchronicity between lights, animation, and sound that is felt when experiencing the show in person. Through careful design and technology integration, this project will bring the immersive concert experience to life on a small scale.

The M72 Stage Replica will feature working lights synchronized to audio tracks recorded from the concert, recreating the visual impact and energy of Metallica's live performance. The stage will incorporate the signature lighting rigs, video screens, and dynamic effects seen on the full-scale M72 tour, all within a manageable and portable size. The goal is to preserve the raw power and visual magic of Metallica's stage performance, allowing fans to experience that same intensity anywhere, anytime, with a level of detail and realism that simply can't be captured in a traditional video.

Design Decisions: Technology Selection

Lighting Software: Why xLights?

For this project, I chose xLights as the primary software for controlling and animating the lighting effects. I was fascinated by the large-scale Christmas light shows and had always wanted to create my own display, but budget constraints had made this difficult in the past. Upon discovering xLights, I realized it offered a perfect solution for this project. While I also considered other lighting control software such as Light-O-Rama and Vixen, I ultimately chose xLights for several key reasons:

With xLights, I could program intricate lighting animations and effects that are synchronized to the recorded concert audio, bringing the same dynamic feel of Metallica’s live show to the small-scale replica.

Lighting Controller: Falcon Player (FPP)

Initially, I considered developing my own custom lighting player by parsing JSON or binary files. However, after weighing the complexity and time commitment of such an approach, I decided to explore more efficient solutions. This led me to discover the Falcon Player (FPP), a popular and reliable choice within the DIY lighting community. The FPP runs on a Raspberry Pi, which made it an ideal fit for this project due to both its affordability and flexibility.

One of the key reasons I chose FPP was its seamless integration with xLights, the lighting software I’m using. This compatibility makes it easy to upload and execute the lighting sequences created in xLights, ensuring smooth synchronization between the lights and music. Additionally, the FPP offers an easy-to-use interface for managing light shows, while also allowing for more advanced setups if needed. It supports both wired and wireless connections to lighting controllers, giving me greater flexibility in designing the lighting control system for the replica stage.

Another significant advantage of using the Falcon Player and Raspberry Pi setup is that I can directly drive the LED strips using just two of the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi, without needing extra hardware that would typically be required in large-scale house light shows. This greatly simplifies the setup, reducing the need for additional controllers or infrastructure, and streamlines the overall design of the lighting system.

By opting for the Falcon Player, I could rely on a well-established solution to manage the technical aspects of the project, enabling me to focus on the creative and visual design elements without getting bogged down in the complexities of creating a custom player.

Stage Layout and System Design

The design of the M72 Stage Replica incorporates six towers, each strategically designed to replicate the lighting effects from Metallica's M72 World Tour stage while maintaining practicality and efficiency for a smaller-scale setup. In the original stage, there are eight towers, but for this version, I’ve opted to build six to reduce time and complexity without sacrificing the overall aesthetic and function of the stage.

Towers:

Each tower consists of two rows of ten LEDs, referred to as "floods." These flood-style lights are designed to illuminate the entire room, mimicking the powerful wash of light from the full-scale show. The LEDs are arranged to create a broad, immersive effect, just like the original lights that envelop the audience. These towers are connected in series, with one data wire running through each tower to simplify the wiring setup. This single data wire snakes through all six towers, ensuring seamless integration and minimal complexity.

LCD Panels (3x3 Grid of LEDs):

The towers also include three "LCD panels" designed to replicate the video screens used in the full-scale tour. Due to cost constraints, these are not actual LCD panels but instead are 3x3 grids of LEDs, arranged to mimic the visual appeal of large screens while keeping the setup affordable. These LED grids will display dynamic lighting animations and can be programmed to enhance the concert-like atmosphere.

Video Playback and HDMI Integration

To further replicate the visual experience of Metallica's M72 World Tour, I have utilized the Falcon Player (FPP)'s video playback feature. The FPP allows me to play video through the HDMI output. Instead of using multiple small LCD screens on each tower, I opted for a single display behind the stage that shows the band members performing and features the recreated video graphics displayed on the towers. These graphics were hand-created in After Effects to match the visuals seen in the live show. While it would be possible to split these videos across the individual towers with small LCD screens, the cost of doing so was prohibitively high. By using the single HDMI output, I’m able to maintain an immersive experience without exceeding the project’s budget. This setup still captures the high-energy video effects from the full-scale concert and enhances the overall visual atmosphere.

Stage LED Wrap:

Around the perimeter of the stage, 32 LEDs are strategically placed in a gutter, ensuring the lights sit flush with the stage. This wrap-around effect adds an extra layer of depth to the stage’s lighting design, contributing to the immersive concert experience.

DMX Moving Heads:

The stage features three “DMX moving heads” that mimic the iconic moving spotlights seen on the M72 tour. While these lights are modeled after actual moving heads, they remain stationary in this replica due to technical limitations. Originally, the plan was to integrate servos to allow for pitch adjustments on the moving heads, but time constraints and technical challenges with controlling the servos through the Raspberry Pi have led to them being fixed in place for now. These spotlights consist of single RGB strips housed in custom 3D-printed enclosures, designed to replicate the spotlight effect seen in the original stage setup.

Power and Control:

The entire system is powered by a 5V supply, chosen for several key reasons. First, 5V WS2811 LEDs are a cost-effective option, providing vibrant color and reliable performance while keeping the project affordable. The 5V power supply also allows for simpler testing with both the Raspberry Pi and Arduino without needing access to a 12V PSU. This makes troubleshooting and development easier and more accessible.

The system is controlled by a single Raspberry Pi 4, which runs the Falcon Player (FPP) software along with a custom Python script. This setup manages the entire lighting system and ensures that all the lights and animations are synchronized to the recorded concert audio. The choice of Raspberry Pi 4 also offers the necessary computing power to handle the real-time lighting effects, while being compact enough to fit into the overall system design.

Control Panel and User Interface:

The project includes a control panel on the front of the setup, featuring an I2C display for song selection and adjusting settings through four navigation buttons. The display is managed by a custom Python script, following a class structure that mimics a game library, including a start and loop function and events triggered when a page is closed. Upon boot-up, the system displays a loading screen with the Metallica logo to indicate that everything is ready for use.

In addition to the I2C display, the control panel features a power switch to turn the system on and off and a headphone jack for connecting external speakers. To simplify control, rather than requiring a new Wi-Fi connection to control the Falcon Player (FPP) web UI, the Python script interfaces directly with the FPP API, providing a physical menu system that allows users to navigate and control the show without needing to connect to a separate network. This provides a more seamless experience when the system is directly in front of you, making it easier to interact with the setup.

Lighting Effects and Synchronization

One of the core features of the M72 Stage Replica is the synchronization of lighting effects to the audio tracks. To achieve this, I chose xLights as the primary software for controlling and animating the lighting system. xLights is an open-source, cross-platform program designed for creating light shows using a variety of hardware controllers. It provides precise control over each individual light or group of lights, allowing users to design intricate lighting sequences that sync to music or other events.

xLights works similarly to a video editing program, but instead of editing video clips, you’re editing lighting channels. In xLights, each lighting element (such as a tower of LEDs, flood lights, or video grid) is assigned to a channel. These channels can be manipulated over time, much like how individual video clips are arranged in a timeline of a video editor. The timeline in xLights represents the duration of the light show, and the user can create, modify, and control lighting effects at specific points in time.

Each track in xLights corresponds to a particular channel for a specific set of lights. For example, you may have a track for the flood lights, a track for the towers, and another track for the video effects. The timeline allows you to turn on and off specific lights or trigger animations at the right moments. This is similar to how in a video editor, you might add keyframes or clips to a timeline to control when and where visual effects happen in the video. In xLights, you can set various effects such as fading, strobing, or color changes on a light channel, giving you full creative control over how the lights interact with the audio and visuals.

By syncing the lighting effects to the audio tracks, xLights creates a powerful, dynamic show that mirrors the high-energy spectacle of Metallica’s live performances. The program's timeline and channel-based control system make it easy to program and adjust light sequences, ensuring that the lights and music work in perfect harmony. This level of synchronization would be difficult to achieve without a program like xLights, which enables precise timing and smooth transitions between different lighting effects, just like a well-edited video project.

Conclusion

The M72 Stage Replica project has been a success, achieving the dynamic and immersive lighting effects I initially envisioned. Throughout the process, my excitement for the project grew, and the more I worked on it and watched the recorded concerts on the stage, the more it fueled my desire to experience another live Metallica show. The project allowed me to capture the essence of their world-renowned lighting spectacle on a smaller, more accessible scale.

While there are certainly areas for improvement—such as incorporating real LCD screens instead of the 3x3 grids of LEDs (which would cost around $600) and integrating servo-controlled moving heads to allow for dynamic movement—these elements were beyond the scope of this iteration. However, the core goal of replicating the stunning lighting effects and synchronizing them with the audio has been achieved. The project still successfully mirrors the high-energy atmosphere of Metallica’s live shows, and that was the most important outcome.

In the end, the M72 Stage Replica stands as a testament to creativity, dedication, and passion for live music. While there are aspects I’d like to refine with more time and resources, such as the servo control for the moving heads and the addition of higher-quality LCD panels, the project has already captured the essence of Metallica's live performances. It has also motivated me to continue evolving the design, with plans for future upgrades to create an even more polished and professional version of the stage.