Today we’d like to introduce you to Ignacio Rosenberg.
Hi Ignacio, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina and went to an English school that put on two big musicals every year: one for grade school and one for high school. I got mesmerized by a smoke machine when I was in 5th grade and that was the start of a lifelong obsession with the entertainment industry.
I started working for local vendors in Argentina, got a degree in acoustics, and then came to the US to study show production. After that degree I started working as a touring lighting technician and had the chance to work my way up the ranks to some pretty large tours: Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones, Def Leppard, etc. At a certain point I decided I didn’t want to live permanently on tour and started looking for design opportunities, as luck (or serendipity) would have it, I was invited to join the ranks of Lightswitch, which is a leading visual design firm, and within a few years I was made a Senior Director, which is where I stand today.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course there’s always struggles! They’re just a matter of scale. For one, every couple of years I started panicking about my visa status since we’re usually sponsored by a vendor or the act we’re working for at any one time. Luckily I was always busy enough that wasn’t a real problem.
That aside, touring isn’t an easy life: you spend 3-8 months living out of your suitcase (my longest tour was 2 years!) and have a very bizarre social life. They’re long days, you sleep little, eat catering every day, and sleep in a tour bus most nights. I missed funerals, weddings, and countless birthdays.
Deciding to leave what was a very secure position as a tech on the road to become a designer was a scary move. I had planned 6 months of living expenses to say no to any touring opportunities that were offered, and if that didn’t work I’d have to try again at some other time.
This is still a very complex industry. We design a show and send it out to the world and then things happen: stuff breaks, the artist wants changes, or a global pandemic upends the entire industry. We spend a lot of time on planes, having conference calls in the middle of the night, it’s certainly not a 9-5.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a production designer; so essentially I get to design shows for a living. Sometimes we only do the lighting design, sometimes we also design the video content, sometimes the entire show, and any permutation in the way. Every show, company, and artist has unique needs and that makes me stay constantly on my toes.
I split my time between large scale corporate events and concert tours, which are very, very different beasts. I could be doing a ballroom show for a Fortune 100 company one week and in a stadium in Colombia the next. My particular mix of skills comes from crossing those worlds: bringing the attention to detail of a brand to a rock artist and bringing the energy of a concert to a corporate event. Getting to program to a live band with an arena sized sound system and then working on matching the precise minutia of a brand color are such different skills, and they’re all a lot of fun.
I make a point of stressing that I am a designer, not an artist; meaning I have an artistic side of course, but also need to match that with the pragmatic side of the entertainment industry: is it in budget, can it fit in the building, are we overweight, what are the technical solutions, etc.
There are many, many things I am proud of. I took what was a very specific niche interest and made it a very successful career. I have been able to have my family meet stars, have them see concerts in amazing seats, I’ve traveled around the world, have been a part of incredible opportunities along the way. Recently I designed the lighting for Karol G’s Mañana Sera Bonito tour, which was a giant stadium run. When that tour ended in Spain we did a livestream, and seeing the emotion of 80,000 people live – plus over a million on the internet – reacting to a show I helped design was incredible. I do occasionally have to remind myself that I am very lucky to do what I do. There have been countless moments like this.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
I have a phrase I use often: don’t yell at the fire. A few years ago I walked into the backstage area of an arena show I was doing and noticed a bunch of panicked techs. Turns out a light was on fire 60′ in the air and everyone was yelling solutions (and a few other choice phrases). In the end I took the stage manager aside and said “we either stop the show and go up there with a fire extinguisher, or we wait and let the part fizzle out in a bit, but yelling at the fire up there isn’t going to make the problem go away”. It was a rare moment of clarity and I have tried to live by that phrase.
Now, this also goes hand in hand with a very important lesson: always keep learning. Out of hindsight comes experience, if you’re willing to learn from that. Learn new techniques, new gear, a new skill. It keeps your mind sharp, it opens you up to new ideas, and there’s no downside. I refuse to stagnate and I encourage everyone to always learn.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lightswitch.net
- Instagram: @iggylights
