Nikko Payne  ·  New Orleans

I came to this through music rather than through production. Twenty-three years as a musician, starting on classical flute at eight years old and ending up producing and performing electronic music. That's the part that shapes how I build a show: everything gets designed around the arrangement, because I'm hearing the track the way the person who wrote it does.

Lasers came later, and I went after the credentials before I went after the work. I hold ILDA Laser Safety Officer certification at Category A, and Blackwall holds its own FDA variance for Class 3B and 4 laser light shows rather than operating under someone else's. That distinction matters more than it sounds like it should — it's the difference between a company that can be hired for a show and a company hoping nobody asks.

Shows are designed and run in Pangolin BEYOND. Lighting runs over DMX512, Art-Net and sACN, with timecode when a production needs the same show twice and live operation when it doesn't. I program both sides myself, which is the whole reason the lasers and the lights actually agree with each other.

Blackwall is set up to scale past its own inventory through established sub-rental channels, so a production that needs more projectors or more hands than we own isn't a conversation that ends. And I'm available freelance — as a Laser Safety Officer, as an operator, or as a designer and programmer for companies and venues that already own the gear.