Inside SOMA: Connecting Lighting And Video At Outside Lands With Studio RRD And 4Wall
At Outside Lands’ 2026 SOMA stage this summer, lighting and video shared more than a color palette. A two-way control system let the lighting programmer control color and intensity across the video panels, while the video programmer could send content back to drive those same attributes across the lighting rig. With production design by Studio RRD and lighting and video supplied by 4Wall, the setup gave both operators more ways to shape the look and keep it moving throughout the weekend.
The Team Behind SOMA
SOMA brings an open-air club experience to Marx Meadow in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, with house and techno at the center of an environment built around light, sound, and video. For a stage with that kind of brief, the relationship between those elements matters as much as the individual looks. A great video sequence and a great lighting cue do not automatically add up to one immersive experience. They have to work together.
Production design came from Studio RRD, led by Rob Ross, Founder and Lead Designer, with associates Aidan Marshall and Martin Benesh. Lighting Programmer Luther Frank worked alongside Video Designer Daniel Brodie and Video Programmer Ben Randall, while 4Wall supplied lighting and video for the stage.
Integrating Lighting And Video
The foundation was already in place from the previous year, when Frank implemented lighting-console control over the video elements using sACN. Through that connection, he could adjust the dimming and color of the mapped video panels alongside the lighting rig. Randall still handled the content, but Frank could bring its appearance into the same visual world as the fixtures.
“Ben still drove all the content, I just matched it to the rig,” Frank explains. “This year I wanted to have complete bi-directional control.” This year, he continued sending sACN to Randall’s system, but Randall also sent an NDI video stream back toward the lighting console. With the rig mapped in grandMA3, Frank could use that incoming content to drive color and dimming across the lighting fixtures.
Randall used Resolume to manage content and do some live busking, but TouchDesigner handled the signal flow and arrangement, along with his more complex effects work. Making that useful started in preproduction. Randall supplied a mapping reference that Frank used to represent the video panels as fixtures in grandMA3’s 3D environment, laying them out alongside approximately 1,400 pixels of CHAUVET Professional COLORado PXL Curve 12 fixtures.
Most of the time, Randall ran black-and-white content while Frank handled color and dimming from grandMA3. That let Randall focus on the content’s motion and texture while Frank shaped its palette alongside the lighting rig. TouchDesigner also handled custom smoothing between video tiles when Frank had control, helping the console-driven effects transition across the panels. When Randall wanted to lead the color and intensity instead, he could take them back over.
The Equipment Partner Behind The Integration
A workflow like SOMA’s asks more of the equipment package than a collection of fixtures and video panels operating independently. When the same visual information can drive both, the physical rig has to respond consistently to the programming. At SOMA, 4Wall supplied lighting and video, with a team covering production management, LED engineering, systems, electrics, and lighting.
For a design that crossed departmental boundaries, that breadth of support was as relevant as the equipment itself. Frank and Randall developed the custom control workflow, while 4Wall supplied the equipment and production support behind the stage. That is where a supplier working across both disciplines becomes a practical fit: supporting the way the design needs to operate, rather than treating lighting and video as unrelated equipment packages.
4Wall also provided lighting and rigging for the SUTRO Stage, and lighting, video, rigging, and a mobile stage for the Panhandle Stage at this years festival.
A Handoff That Kept The Show Moving
The two-way control system also solved a very human problem at front of house. Frank describes the workload as “10 hours straight for three days with no breaks between acts.” In that environment, being able to share control was more than an interesting programming exercise. It gave the operators a practical way to keep the visual direction active across a demanding weekend.
“Because we could so easily hand off the rig it was never truly out of action,” he says. A stage can have an impressive design and a sophisticated control system, but someone still has to drive it. SOMA’s approach was not about removing the distinction between a lighting programmer and a video programmer. It was about making that distinction less restrictive. Each could work in the tools that suited their contribution, while sharing enough control to make the stage behave as a whole.
With Studio RRD shaping the production design, Frank and Randall connecting the visual workflows, and 4Wall supporting the lighting and video package, the technology served a clear purpose: give the team more ways to respond to the music.
Or, as Frank puts it, “It was a fun as hell rig to run.”
Production Credits
Production Design by Studio RRD
Rob Ross, Founder and Lead Designer
Associates: Aidan Marshall & Martin Benesh
Lighting Programmer: Luther Frank
Video Designer: Daniel Brodie
Video Programmer: Ben Randall
Lighting & Video Supplier: 4Wall
4Wall Credits
Prod PM: Jake Jolley
Prod PM/Lead: Alec "Koa" Long
LED Engineer: Christopher Villegas
LED Lead: Jacob Carvajal
LED Tech: Barry Givney
LED Tech: Vanny Bong
PA: Riley Herrod
Systems Tech: Brandon Young
Master Electrician: Justin Souza
LX Lead: Jeremy Propp
LX Tech: Gina Lynn
Gear List
110 x CHAUVET Professional PXL Curve 12
28 x CHAUVET Color Strike M
24 x Elation Lighting Proteus Hybrid
1x German Light Products Mad Maxi
2 x Elation Lighting Paladin Brick
2 x CHAUVET Ovation 9-10 FC @ 19 Degree
6 x Radiance Hazer
2 x grandMA3 Full Size
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