Legendary rock band Iron Maiden is using multiple Sonnet Fusion F2 RAID storage systems to record, store, play back, and edit HD concert footage, 35,000 photos, and 34-track live recordings of its ‘Somewhere Back in Time’ tour. The band is the first in history to transport musicians, crew, and equipment on its own Boeing 757, piloted by the band’s lead singer, Bruce Dickinson. With Dickinson at the controls, ‘Ed Force One’ - named after the band’s iconic mascot - touched down in 21 cities over 45 days during the first leg of the tour. The highly portable Fusion F2, providing 640GB of storage in a rugged aluminium enclosure about the size of two stacked CD cases (see picture below) enabled the band and crew to record the shows, edit daily footage, and review images for world press publication during the tour’s torrid travel schedule, anywhere and anytime.
“Sonnet’s Fusion F2 has been a complete godsend for this tour; it’s an amazing little invention,” declared Johnny B, videographer for Iron Maiden. “We’re shooting the tour at 1920x1080 with Sony XDCAM EX camcorders, and I needed a portable storage system that could play back that footage seamlessly. The F2 does so brilliantly.”
Johnny B, Dave Pattenden, Iron Maiden’s project manager, and Steve Harris, Iron Maiden’s founder and bassist, use their time on the band’s jet to watch footage from earlier shows stored on the Fusion F2 to see how the staging, lighting, and pyrotechnics played out. The ability to edit footage anywhere for use on the show jumbotrons, as well as specials for Sky TV, Fox TV, CNN, and MTV, enabled much quicker turnaround and more creative edits. A F2 together with a MacBook Pro notebook also simplified stage setup, enabling the crew to see precisely how lighting and cameras for various stage elements had been set up on previous evenings, which allows for positioning without wasting valuable setup time.
Johnny B added, “Whether we’re at the venue, hotel, airport, or plane, a MacBook Pro notebook with a Fusion F2 is instrumental to the success of the tour. It has really changed the way we work. We used it so many places where we had no power. Previously, we could not have checked edits immediately, but on this tour we were able to cut videos on beaches in Puerto Rico, and miles up into the Andes.”
The Fusion F2 provides speed, reliability, and convenience for on-location video capture or remote use when grid power is unavailable. Measuring just 5.9 by 6.2 by 0.72 inches, the rugged, fanless aluminium enclosure houses two 320GB, 5400rpm 2.5-inch drives that are individually shock-isolated and mounted side-by-side to ensure secure storage in a low-power design. Fusion F2 draws its power through a computer’s Firewire port, and transfers data through a SATA host controller, in this case, Sonnet’s Tempo SATA ExpressCard/34, enabling it to deliver the performance, with data transfer rates up to twice as fast as a pair of FireWire 800 drives.
Even though space on the ‘Ed Force One’ plane is extremely limited, the band carries eleven Sonnet F2 systems - most simply carried in a camera backpack along with lenses, cables, and other camera equipment. The MacBook Pro and the bus-powered Fusion F2 storage systems give Iron Maiden the equivalent of a portable studio that is used during flights and other down times to prepare footage.
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