photo Jordan Anderson

ETC has worked with BAFTA and the redevelopment of its home and headquarters in London. The revamped BAFTA 195 Piccadilly is now officially reopen and will be the central hub for BAFTA’s UK-wide, and global, learning and talent development programme.

photo Rory Mulvey

State of the art facilities and technologically advanced equipment has been used in the redevelopment including ETC products which have been installed in the new theatres within the space.

This includes several lighting fixtures – fos/4 Fresnels, Source Four LED Series 2 profiles and Irideon wash lights. Eos family consoles with network infrastructure including Response Mk2 DMX Gateways are also used to control the lighting, with a stage engineering package involving ETC’s Prodigy P2 hoists and QuickTouch Preset controls.

By improving facilities and doubling the building’s capacity, the redevelopment has enabled BAFTA to dramatically increase its charitable programme. 195 Piccadilly will be a creative centre for film, games and television.
A world-leading independent arts charity, BAFTA works throughout the year to find and promote the next generation of talent and to break down the barriers that can make it hard to build careers in the creative industries.

BAFTA’s revamp of its headquarters also brings an expansion of its talent support programme. ETC fully supports BAFTA’s initiatives for encouraging new talent and is equally committed to building up the next generation of lighting professionals with programs that are specifically aimed at students such as the Fred Foster Student Mentorship Program.

ETC Regional Sales Manager for the UK, Jeremy Roberts comments: “BAFTA is such an important organisation for our industry, it was with real pleasure that we were able to support the changes and upgrades to the building. There is a great synergy between the education initiatives of the BAFTA team and the work ETC does in its North Acton training space for aspiring broadcast and film lighting professionals.”

Pauline Campbell, Head of Property at BAFTA added: “We were pleased to work with ETC. In addition to providing cutting-edge technology, their support allowed us to fulfil our charitable remit and provide creatives, new talent, and practitioners with a dedicated global hub for the arts, as well as a lasting legacy in the heart of central London.”

More information on the ETC website

Amadeus has announced a native macOS application version of the HOLOPHONIX immersive sound processor, opening the power of HOLOPHONIX to a completely new audience of music and sound creators.

“As sound spatialization needs keep growing, the success met by the HOLOPHONIX solution led us to imagine other implementations, to support its democratization and its deployment,” explains Gaëtan Byk, CEO of the Amadeus company.

Gaëtan Byk, Amadeus President.

In its original version, the HOLOPHONIX spatialization processor handles a maximum of 128 speakers. It is already used by some of the largest theatrical, musical and museum institutions, in France and other countries and international – e.g. Festival d’Avignon, Cour d’Honneur du Palais des Papes, Festival international d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence, Panthéon (Paris), Comédie Française, Théâtre National de Chaillot, Scala (Paris), Centre Dramatique National de Normandie, Beijing Stadium, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Zurich (ETH), Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Lee Seok Young New Media Library (South Korea), etc.

“The HOLOPHONIX Native software is primarily intended for composers, artists, sound engineers, and polymorphic creatives, who wish to produce, compose, and spatialize sound material for a small number of loudspeakers in the studio, live or listening to headphones in binaural,” explains Johan Lescure, Head of HOLOPHONIX Project Development at Amadeus.

HOLOPHONIX Native was designed by Amadeus in collaboration with the STMS (Sciences et Technologies de la Musique et du Son) – currently, the most important international laboratory dedicated to research on music and sound sciences, founded in 1995 and housed within the IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique).

Optimized specifically for macOS 10.15 and subsequent versions and Intel 64/ARM processors, the HOLOPHONIX Native software includes all the spatialization techniques already available within the HOLOPHONIX 128 processor, including High-Order Ambisonics (2D, 3D) Vector-Base Intensity Panning (2D, 3D), Vector-Base Amplitude Panning (2D, 3D), Layer-Base Amplitude Panning, Wave Field Synthesis, Angular 2D, k-Nearest Neighbor, Stereo Panning, Stereo AB, Stereo XY, Native A-Format Ambisonics, Native-B Format Ambisonics, Binaural, Transaural.

“The performance level provided by the new hardware architectures designed by Apple, allows us to consider using HOLOPHONIX Native in live setups, very reliably and with minimal latency, with adapted audio devices,” says Adrien Zanni, Developer at Amadeus.

Thomas, Vincent and Adrien, Gaëtan Byk’s new team, three young wolves in charge of assisting Michel Deluc, Amadeus’ head of acoustic and electronic R&D, but also for Adrien and Vincent, to work on the Native macOS version of HOLOPHONIX.

The software offers an almost unlimited number of spatialization buses and virtual sources. The only limitation is the number of physical output channels, limited to 16. Every parameter of the HOLOPHONIX processor parameter can be controlled via the Open Sound Control (OSC) protocol.
In addition, a virtual audio driver called HOLOPHONIX Bridge is available free of charge, allowing inter-application routing without additional latency, and thus a direct connection with almost all DAW like Pro Tools, Nuendo, Ableton Live, Reaper, Logic, QLab, etc.

HOLOPHONIX Native was unveiled at the Integrated Systems Europe international trade fair in Barcelona. The software will be available for download from June 1, 2022 on the website http://holophonix.xyz

The price of the software App will be announced June 1, 2022, but is targeted to be less than €400 ($425 USD) per license. The software App will be available for download starting June 1st, 2022 directly from: http://holophonix.xyz

Iconic multi award-winning composer, producer and “rock star of film music” Hans Zimmer hit the road this spring on a much-anticipated tour. Delayed due to the pandemic, but worth every moment of waiting, as the artist and a host of talented musicians his 19 pieces band and an orchestra delighted fans all over Europe with outstanding performances.

photo Lindsay Cave

An eye-popping lighting design was delivered by John Featherstone from lighting and visual design studio Lightswitch. John and his team pushed for an all Robe moving light rig for the tour which started production rehearsals in Berlin with 250 Robe fixtures onboard ahead of the first European leg, with lighting equipment supplied by German rental specialist, Satis & Fy.

John explained how the design process originally started back in 2019 / 2020 with Hans curating his creative ‘dream team’ which included renowned Broadway set and scenic designer Derek McLane, video designer Peter Nigrini, choreographer Barry Lather, and of course, himself. “Hans is a master at putting collaborators together,” stated John, and in this case, hand-picked a team of experienced practitioners known for their flair and style, all of whom brought their own dynamics from different disciplines to the Zimmer-sphere.

photo Lindsay Cave

The lighting team was rounded out with John’s daughter Hailey Featherstone as lighting director and Chris Herman as programmer. “I was really fortunate to have such a fabulous team working with me, they really embrace collaboration and making this job great and rewarding!” he noted.
It was the breadth, richness and detail of the music that inspired the team as a starting point for the lighting design.

Hans had arranged twelve vibrant new suites of his greatest hits to be played throughout the three-hour performance … using over 300 instruments in total with some numbers accompanied by an 8-member dance / chorus troupe choreographed by Barry Lather.

“With this much energy and diversity onstage – from Wonder Woman to the Lion King – I knew I needed THE most versatile lighting fixtures, ones that could morph and change constantly throughout the set,” enthused John, “and Robe’s MegaPointe was my go-to multipurpose fixture!”

photo Lindsay Cave

In creative terms, John’s underlying quest was for the lighting to be ‘musical’ and that also brought him back to Robe fixtures.
“Robe makes really elegant luminaires, there is a very organic way about the way they look and move, and the colours are outstanding,” he commented. He wasn’t shy with the MegaPointes, adding 172 to the lighting plot!

He is a huge fan of this fixture and the MegaPointe has been a ‘spectacular workhorse” for many Lightswitch projects, be it a tour or a slick corporate show, and when it comes to needing huge adaptability, John declares that he doesn’t “know a fixture that does it better than the MegaPointe.”
For the Zimmer tour, MegaPointes were deployed all over the rig … along the top trusses and populating the three left-and-right side stage verticals, with a few on the downstage edges of the floor.

Six of the overhead trusses moved on a Cyberhoist system enabling John to integrate several ‘automation lighting’ cues into the show, whereby the trussing hardware moved while the lights onboard remained static and on. This offered a contrasting and often subtle element of motion from the light movement itself and worked brilliantly in terms of physically transforming the shape and architecture of the stage space.

photo Lindsay Cave

One of the advantages of lighting a longer show is that you can unlock a whole Pandora’s Box of visual tricks and magic over time, keeping everyone on their toes with little aspects and moments of surprise.

While the stage had an epic film look at times with the overall big, wide screen appearance, when this split horizontally and the top half tracked up, it became stylishly concealed and unobtrusive and framed the rest of the stage, which was a characteristic of Derek McLane’s skillful scenic setting and Peter Nigrini’s thoughtful and textured visuals.

John loves working with Peter as he is very conscious of how a screen functions not just as a visual treatment but also as a lightsource. Sometimes in the set the screen was off completely, while other times it was used subtly for moiring-style effects, and it certainly wasn’t always obvious, even for its physical size. This intelligent approach to content and screen design made the whole setting more intriguing.

Another reason John needed intense fixtures like MegaPointes was to ensure a presence onstage and to work optimally with these substantial video aspects.
When the top screen flew out, it effectively became an IMAG surface – like binoculars – for those further down the arena, leaving the stage and the action on it (and not the moved screen) very much the full focus for those sitting nearer.

The upstage screen use was restrained through the first half of the show so there was a conscious emphasis on lighting, and the palpable atmosphere and excitement was ramped up similar to a film as the show had a proper narrative arc. With the first bars of the Wonder Woman medley, the trusses started moving for the first time which brought the house down every night, followed by a gentle increase in screen content as the production started building to a unique and beautifully dramatic sonic and visual crescendo.

“Working with Derek, Peter, and Hans himself who is very involved with the stage presentation … was one of the most enjoyable parts of this project,” related John, who has clearly relished every minute of the process and – ever his own worst critic – is “extremely pleased” with the results.
For key lighting the orchestra and band – who covered a substantial area – John turned to another Robe favourite, 24 x BMFL WashBeams and six BMFL WashBeam Follow Spots. Of the latter, four were on an advance truss above the audience out in the house and two were on two of the mid-stage moving trusses for neat and tailored back light.

photo Lindsay Cave

The BMFL FollowSpots, operated via six BaseStations located backstage, were for the principals and soloists. Their main parameters were controlled via the lighting console so the operators could focus on the following, and “they worked exactly as we envisioned,” commented John.
For the first time ever, John used Robe’s Tetra range of moving LED battens in a show design, adding a row of 36 x Tetra2s along the whole downstage edge of the stage, plus 32 x Tetra1s rigged above the stage in key positions on various mid stage trusses.

The Tetra2s made excellent footlights he reports and can also be used to create audacious sweeping curtain-of-light effects one moment, then be transformed into a jaw-dropping effects look the next moment applying the flower effect for delicate filigree-style tracing particles of light which John particularly loved from this low-profile front-of-stage position.

“The Tetra range is really impressive,” he commented, adding that he is sure he will be using them again in the future! Talking about Robe more generally, John appreciates specific characteristics that the luminaires bring to a designer: “The colours are beautiful and the colour continuity between different types of fixtures is really important – with Robe they have paid attention to this for some time, they are thinking in a proper grown-up lighting world!”

photo Lindsay Cave

John also appreciated the great family atmosphere on the tour, and especially when his own daughter Hailey was able to clear her busy schedule and join the team as lighting director and operator for the tour. John, Hailey, and Chris Herman from Lightswitch programmed the show and did one month pre-vis in New York before decamping to Europe and production rehearsals before hitting the road.

John also mentions the “outstanding” service they have received from Satis & Fy on this tour as well as commenting that both Robe’s North American and German subsidiaries were instrumental in making several logistical challenges happen like short notice custom gobo deliveries.

The sold-out tour finished its first leg to fantastic reviews, and everyone is hoping for more live shows in 2023.

For more info about Robe Lighting, you can visit www.robe.cz

It may never rain in southern California but it pays to be prepared because when it does, man, it pours. Full Flood Inc. Lighting Designer Noah Mitz and Lighting Director Bryan Klunder opted to use 40 IP65-rated Ayrton Perseo fixtures for Adele’s surprise CBS special, Adele One Night Only, at the landmark Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles last November.
The two-hour show no sooner finished than the skies opened up in a dramatic and torrential storm that found crews scrambling to cover non-IP-rated gear.

“It was one of the most intense weather systems that LA had seen in some time,” recalls Harrison Lippman, Co-Founder of Burbank-based Volt Lites, Inc., which was the production lighting vendor for the show with additional support provided by PRG Los Angeles. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America.

“Being equipped with the Perseos demonstrated the value of IP-rated lighting even in LA – it seldom rains here but when it does, it really does,” says Lippman. The Adele special was one of the largest-scale projects that Volt Lites has done for Mitz and his team; the company provided a turnkey lighting package for the show, including new lighting technology and control solutions.

Mitz had originally specified Ayrton Diablo fixtures for the production, which he had often used before. “But with the forecast showing a 100 percent certainty of rain on the scheduled shoot day we reviewed the entire plot and went with Perseo,” he explains. “Even with compressing the schedule and losing our rehearsal day to try to beat the weather, it poured right after the taping wrapped.”

The show followed the release of Adele’s new single, “Easy on Me,” which ended a six-year musical hiatus for the artist, and aired days before the debut of her long-awaited fourth studio album, “30.” To mark her musical return the singer’s team, CBS and Fulwell Productions decided to stage a top secret concert for friends and super-fans at an undisclosed location in LA. A second concert was planned for London.

“She wanted to send a love letter to LA with an iconic LA backdrop and chose a very ambitious production in front of the Griffith Observatory, which is typically open to the public and not an event space,” says Mitz.
“There were a lot of conditions to using the building – it’s a special piece of LA iconic architecture. The show was envisioned to start taping in the afternoon so you could see LA in the background; Adele would perform her concert through the dusk and into the night accompanied by a full orchestra and her band, while talking with her guests between songs.”
Mitz arrayed the 40 Perseo fixtures in two lines on top of the observatory and on the floor in the off-stage wings. “The bulk of our entire fixture inventory was on the roof and fully exposed to the elements,” he points out.

“The Perseos were our workhorse beam lights from the roof. In addition, some were floor lights positioned left and right at the ends of the stage where they lit the building and helped to fill the corners of the set visually. We also had some lighting the main ironwork doors of the observatory.”
In addition to the Perseo’s IP rating, Mitz and Lighting Director Bryan Klunder were “drawn to the fixtures’ size and brightness: they’re a smaller fixture with a lot of output,” Klunder says. “We were very happy with them.”

According to Mitz, “one of the briefs from Adele and the producers was to make the lighting as discreet as possible – as small, streamlined and out of sight as we could make it. Bryan [Klunder] and the art department designed wooden facia cladding for the truss that matched the stonework of the observatory so it blended in and concealed the truss on the roof.”
Klunder liked the fact that the Perseo fixtures “didn’t sacrifice brightness for an IP rating. They were our only fixtures on the roof, and I was impressed that they were so bright and aesthetically pleasing.”

Mitz also praised how quickly everything came together. “The Volt Lites’ team was very responsive and a delight to work with, as always,” he says. “Volt was ready to pivot quickly as the weather contracted the entire production schedule and taping timeline.”
Mitz’s team was “thrilled with the show,” he reports. “The lighting rig worked effortlessly, and we were delivered a great hand with a beautiful sunset before the rains came. Reactions to the show were really impressive, too. It seems to have really made an impact. There’s not a lot of LA represented outdoors, and people enjoyed seeing Adele perform at an LA landmark.”

Mitz adds that, “It’s safe to say that we’ll consider Perseo for future projects, especially as more shows go outdoors for COVID safety. If it’s the weather or more frequent outdoor venues, IP-rated fixtures are more important than ever before.”
“We’re a huge supporter of the Ayrton line,” says Volt Lites’ Lippman. “We’re excited about expanding their product line and are looking for more opportunities to show clients the value of the line, especially the IP-rated fixtures.”
In addition to Mitz and Klunder, the Full Flood team consisted of Associate Lighting Director Jeff Behm and Lighting Directors/Programmers Patrick Boozer and Patrick Brazil.

More information on Ayrton Perseo and the full portfolio of innovative Ayrton LED fixtures can be found at www.ayrton.eu

The HY B-Eye is a new version of the B-Eye, an updated fixture, with a light flow thats been doubled and a flawless color uniformity. The K25 uses 40W Osram RGBW leds (used at 30W), compared to 15W for a B-Eye K10/K20, and its white is at 6000K.

With its 35 cm wafer equipped with 37 LED sources and lenses, this projector requires special maintenance that Anthony Chevallier, After Sales Technician at Dimatec, presents to us step by step in this tutorial.
The 35cm disc with its 37 LED sources and as many lenses require a specific type of cleaning that Anthony Chevallier, customer services technician at Dimatec France, shows in detail in the following tutorial.

More information on the Claypaky website

Robe T1 Profile LED luminaires have been installed at the 1700 capacity Capitole Theatre in Ghent, Belgium, where they are deployed on the front lighting bridge for key lighting and specials, replacing the previous tungsten fixtures.
The T1 Profile investment was part of a drive to update the remaining elements of the house lighting system to LED, making it better, more contemporary and more sustainable.

Rui Pinto

The T1 Profile purchase was overseen by the venue’s technical manager Rui Pinto who takes a distinctly no-nonsense approach to technical production.
After discussions with Bart Weyts from rental specialist L&L Stage Services, the venue’s regular technical partner, Rui assessed the various suitable options available for front / key lighting replacement, contacted a selection of manufacturers and evaluated his choices.

The T1 Profile popped up many times. He was recommended it by other professionals and as he researched the fixtures, liked what he heard, then saw them in action on site at a demo set up by Benelux distributor, Controllux.

After that, he placed the order.

“Colour mixing was the first of many features that impressed me,” stated Rui with characteristic enthusiasm. “The colour of the lamp itself is perfect for front lighting.”
He is delighted with the T1 Profiles which are now used for 95% of the shows happening at the Capitole.
The fixture is also “great” for producing a range of effects and ideal for when the auditorium is being used for parties and other events. Recently for Bose, the T1 Profiles were used to create light pathways and backgrounds.

Part of the Sportpaleis Group, the Capitole Ghent – which has a distinctive neoclassical façade and originally opened in 1932 as one of the largest cinema halls in Belgium – stages a mix of live shows, from leading bands and music artists to dance, ballet, theatrical and musical productions. A normal (i.e., non-Covid) month will see between 12 and 25 productions onstage, so it’s a busy environment.

Some shows use the 200 plus house lighting fixtures which are controlled by an MA dot2 console. Others will use that together with elements of their own production, and some will bring in their full production rigs. Many of them are in and out in a day.

A series of different house production packages offer a variety of options within that, but the FOH lighting bridge is included in all of them, so it was essential to have reliable fixtures.
“I know Robe is reliable,” said Rui, who has been in the technical manager role at the Capitole for 6 years. Before that he worked as a PM for concerts, tours, music shows and festivals, and it was there he first appreciated the increasing popularity of Robe as it appeared on specs and lighting plots.
“There was a general level of chatter in our community about the T1 series right from the start, people were saying good things,” he confirmed. “In addition to that, I also know I’d get great service and backup from Controllux,” he stated.

The T1 purchase completed the venue’s conversion to LED stage lighting, so more reduction in running costs and maintenance is an added benefit to the self-funded venture that must be commercially viable.
Like everyone, Rui and his team are looking forward to moving into the post-pandemic phase and re-starting regular shows.

For more information, you can visit www.robe.cz

SIXTY82 is excited to launch Arena Frame, a new stage concept designed for venues which value the benefits of a quick and easy-to-build stage system. The straightforward design allows big stages to be built in the blink of an eye – a 200m2 stage, for example, can be built in just 90 minutes with a crew of 4 and a forklift.

The system has a very small storage footprint due to its foldable frames, while it also offers the ability to build the stage and rig at the same time, greatly reducing the time needed to build any stage set.

The Arena Frame system allows every second frame to be omitted, allowing the creation of corridors underneath the stage in both directions without any loss of its load bearing capacity. For standard decking 2x1m elements are used.

The system is equipped with robust swivel castors and an internal lever system which allows the castors to be raised once the stage is in position and rests on its screw jacks. Accessories like stairs, guardrails and transport dollies are also available.

For more information check out the brochure at: www.sixty82.nl/upload/ARENA-FRAME

For more information on Sixty82, visit www.sixty82.nl

Ayrton was recently delighted to receive this message from lighting designer Phil Kong of Kong Design, Inc.: “We just used 20 Ayrton Diablo’s on Ghost: Nachricht von Sam for ShowSlot GmbH and I wanted to let you know I was very happy with them for all of the things they were able to do, and how fast they were.

The flat field, the gobos, the colour rendering – a lot of good things going on with them – and the size and price point are great. I was so glad to have these Ayrton fixtures on the show.” Naturally, Ayrton just had to find out more!

Co-written by Glen Ballard and Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, Ghost: Nachricht von Sam is a beautiful re-telling of the film classic which is currently touring several major German-speaking cities until the end of April.
As the tour’s lighting designer, Kong rigged five of Ayrton’s versatile, feature-rich, ultra-compact 300W Diablo fixtures across the downstage truss, three across the upstage truss, six as head highs on the booms (three on each side) and three on each side of the stage to be used as high sides on the stage left and right trusses.

Ayrton Diablo

He explains how Diablo came to be chosen: “When we were designing Ghost: Nachricht von Sam, one of the stipulations from the producer, ShowSlot GmbH, was that our entire show would be on a ground support truss. Our whole rig needed to be small and extremely versatile, with every fixture serving a variety of functions, not the least of which was doubling as automated spot tracking fixtures.

Each fixture type also needed to be easily maintainable on tour. That limited us primarily to fast, lightweight LED fixtures with framing shutters, rotating gobos and CMY mixing all with a good zoom range. It doesn’t leave you with a lot of options, and of the options we looked at the Diablos were the clear winner. It was actually one of the fixtures we locked in early on in the process because it ticked all the boxes we needed.

“We use the Diablos most often to carve out acting areas on stage, and provide height and shape through the air both with and without gobos dropped in. The nice even field is amazing when it comes to creating gobo washes across the stage or for aerial effects during some of the show’s more flashy numbers.
“We had the Diablos hung everywhere around the stage for which I was really glad. They really became the workhorse of our show, whether it was to project a window or, for our flashiest number, Weit Weg von Hier, to accent all of the musical hits.

For that number we were doing a ton of colour fades and intensity hits in zero counts. The Diablos performed admirably and at our throw distances they were punchy enough to cut through the haze and make the actors’ sequinned dresses really pop.”

Kong also used the Diablo fixtures as onstage automated followspots. “They surprised us with how well and how quickly they tracked the actors, who were often running around the stage.
We used them as back spots and sidelight spots, often with a clean hard edge, punching through the rest of the colour we threw onto the stage.”

Diablo’s compact form factor is also proving its’ worth on the tour, able to handle both the variety of venues and make load-ins and techs quicker and easier.
“This tour goes to venues of all shapes and sizes, and our fixtures need to be capable of handling trims that vary drastically from 4m tall to 7m, so Diablo’s large zoom range was a must,” says Kong.

“Being lightweight and fast, and especially the fantastic indexing for the gobos, were also incredibly important features for the success of our tour. Our set is a grid of lines and many of our gobos are geometric so you really see when the gobos aren’t aligned well.

Most of the load-ins are only a day, or ¾ of a day long, and with 109 presets to update before the show runs, the lighting team needs to spend as little time as possible fiddling with gobo indexing.

“Our show also involves lots of moving slider panels that whip around the stage. The quick and accurate movement of the framing shutters helped us keep the entire show looking clean, even when sliders would move between the actors and the fixtures.”

This was the first time Kong, who has previously used Ayrton MagicDot R and DreamPanel Twin, has incorporated Diablo into his design. “I was very happy with their performance,” he concludes.

The Ayrton Diablo fixtures were supplied for the tour by Sonelight & Neumann GmbH. The lighting programmer was Andreas Schäffer and the associate lighting designer, Teresa Nagel.

For more information on Diablo and Ayrton’s full range of LED lighting visit www.ayrton.eu

For more information Kong Design Inc. visit: www.kongdesigninc.com

Club After Dark is a vibrant new “Dinner Drag Decadence” supper club / cabaret concept, created by legendary Swedish drag artist and performer Christer Lindarw, a colourful, fun-fuelled extravaganza of music and dance directed and choreographed by Hans Marklund, with music directed by Kent Olsson who is also a co-creator of the show together with Christer and Hans.

Staged at the Vasateatern (Vasa Theatre) in Stockholm, the show is lit by Mikael Kratt, who was asked onboard by Hans and producers My Blomgren and Mikael Jernberg, to craft an appropriately spectacular and dynamic lightshow for the evening, which unfolds over three hi-energy acts embracing multiple musical genres.

Mikael immediately thought of Robe’s MegaPointe for this task and specified 14 of these compact versatile multi-purpose luminaires to be at the heart of the show’s lighting supported by nine Robe Spiider LED washes.

Two Robe BMFL WashBeams together with one MegaPointe are running on a RoboSpot remote follow spotting system. “MegaPointes were the first fixtures that came to mind for this show,” confirmed Mikael.
“They were a perfect solution in every way!” – a conclusion he made having used MegaPointes and Spiiders on many other projects. He needed plenty of dynamics and diversity to make the show come alive with visual eloquence.

Before launching his lighting design career Mikael was a professional dancer, and in fact had previously worked with Hans as a choreographer. He was therefore in a unique position of being able to transpose his onstage perspective and skills – not to mention a fantastic sense of rhythm – from the stage to FOH to ensure that the lighting was as fluid and impressive as the cast action.
Lighting effectively became another performer!

The brief was to bring a fresh contemporary look to the stage but with a touch of classical and retro, a nod to the original After Dark shows that were so groundbreaking in their time.
The first two acts are more refined and theatrical with printed back cloths and other drapes coming in and out. The second act ramps up with a parade of Burlesque costumes and its own mini-musical before the guests enjoy their main course.
Anyone getting sleepy by dessert receives a giga-jolt of energy as the third act explodes in a whirlwind of colour, excitement, and a hard pumping power pop finale, complete with the reveal of an expanded stage with built-in lighting effects and the upstage LED screen.

“The treatments for this show use techniques from a wide spectrum of lighting disciples – theatre, concerts, dance, cabaret, opera and TV – and there is simply so much you can do with a MegaPointe, so it was a must-have choice,” commented Mikael.
The fixtures are rigged on two over-stage truss boxes with the MegaPointes towards the back of the performance area. The other big challenge was the Vasateatern’s exceptionally tight stage space, an aspect that constantly characterized the original After Dark shows, and with that, the limited weight loading on the two roof trusses.

“MegaPointes were small and light enough to tick those boxes as well,” he stated. He used the fixtures to close the space and make it intimate and personal for the first act and fine-tuned the environment for the musical richness of the second act with “classy spotlighting, great gobo work and the amazing colours.”
Then for the eruption of energy and big ballsy looks boosting the third act, the brightness of the MegaPointes was needed to complete and cut through the intensity of the LED wall in such close proximity. Follow spot effects were another brain teaser.

Christer loves the drama of a classic follow spot aesthetic, explained Mikael, but with absolutely no space for traditional follow spot positions in the venue, he thought RoboSpot could provide a modern technological answer!
The two BMFL WashBeams are positioned centrally, one over the stage and one on the advanced bar with a MegaPointe on the RoboSpot system deployed upstage centre where a smaller light was required due to headroom restrictions. The BaseStation is shoehorned into one of the old private ‘loge’ gallery boxes stage left which is no longer used by the public.

The nine Spiiders are all above the stage and provide general stage and set washes. They are largely hidden from view but play an instrumental role in the show. “They are a small light fixture with a great punch and excellent colours,” he states. Mikael also loves the flower effect. “It’s a fabulous extra trick in the hat of surprises!”

The Vasateatern’s main lighting rig contained some Robe DL4S and DL7S Spot luminaires which were installed with a technical upgrade in 2016, so Mikael decided to incorporate these into the Club After Dark show. It is the first time he has used them and particularly rates the DL7S Spots which are hanging on one of the front bars. “They are great for producing good skin tones and I appreciate the accurate shuttering” he commented.

All the lighting was programmed by Mikael using a grandMA2 light. He worked closely with Edvin Nyström who undertook all the show’s pre-production and oversaw the get-in and ensured the whole lighting system was operational, while day to day, Club After Dark’s lighting is being operated by Max Petersson. Mikael has thoroughly enjoyed the creative process, along with the great teamwork and camaraderie of producing the show which is scheduled to run long term run with regular breaks.

The process included extensive rehearsals with the cast pre and post costume fittings, plus some intense interaction and collaboration with the video department whilst streamlining the lighting for the third and most demanding act. Due to Covid restrictions, the premiere was delayed for an additional four weeks, which gave the team some extra time to finesse the production.
The additional lighting equipment – MegaPointes, Spiiders, BMFL WashBeams and RoboSpot system – is being supplied by Musiklagret, a rental company based in Borås.

Vasateatern, as the home of this new chapter of the After Dark experience, is a stone’s throw from Hamburger Börs, the original venue hosting many of Lindarw’s iconic “After Dark” drag duo performances which burst onto the Swedish alt culture scene in 1976 and became enduringly popular and hugely successful both domestically and internationally for the next four decades!

The shows became synonymous with high production and performance values, attention to detail and the ‘magic’ of inventive and sometimes improbable sets squeezed into the tiny space and plenty of visual and lighting trickery to enhance quick costume and scenic changes. Paying homage to all those great entertainment traditions, Club After Dark takes the unquenchable positive energy, spirit, and flamboyance of drag artistry to new levels.

For more press information about Robe lighting, you can visit www.robe.cz

Technical Arts Group (TAG), an industry leader in event production and premium production equipment rentals, provided SJ Lighting, Inc. of Westlake Village, California with IP65-rated Ayrton Perseo Beam and Domino fixtures for the New York edition of the Rolling Loud global music festival last autumn. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America.

TAG was formed in 2021 and specializes in lighting, audio, video, staging, special effects and event management. The company has offices in Secaucus, New Jersey and Miami.
It furnished lighting, sound and video equipment for Stage 4 of Miami’s Rolling Loud fest last July then was asked to supply lighting for New York’s two main stages and sound and video gear for the third. The three-day event at Citi Field drew more than 80,000 fans to electrifying performances from some of hip hop’s biggest emcees.

The IP65-rated Perseo and Domino fixtures proved to be an inspired choice for the large outdoor venue, as TAG’s CRO Kevin Mignone recalls. “The festival got tons of rain and high winds. The Perseos and Dominos definitely got wet, but none failed – a real testament to the Ayrton fixtures. They also packed a punch, and the SJ Lighting team made great use of them.”

Ayrton Perseo

Ayrton Domino

The Deleón Stage, where Maxwell T. Robin, SJ Lighting’s Associate Designer and Project Manager served as Lighting Designer, featured 68 Dominos. Most were mounted over centre stage and eight were FOH on delay towers.
“The Dominos were used as a stage wash to light the performers,” Robin explains. “They were great fixtures because they are outdoor-rated with good gobos, high beam quality and are reliable in all weather conditions. I didn’t have a single issue with any of the fixtures on this show.”

Fifty Perseo fixtures were used on the wings and through the deck and two Domino units were FOH on the Audiomack stage where David Hauss was the Lighting Designer.

“The Perseos were the main moving light detail for this stage,” Robin says. “Creating aerial effects and providing big looks were the main purpose of these fixtures. The Dominos were hung at FOH to provide light for the banner that was hung over the stage.
Both these fixtures were a good choice because of their IP rating, reliability, light output and the high quality of that light output. The framing shutters on the Dominos were critical for getting a clean focus on the banner over the stage.”

He notes that SJ Lighting has a history of using Ayrton fixtures. “From our installs to our festival stages we always appreciate the reliability and quality that Ayrton fixtures provide,” he says.
“We like that the Perseos and Dominos are IP rated with an LED engine. Being outdoor-rated means we can put them on any show, in any location and any weather condition knowing they will hold up when faced with the elements.
Rolling Loud New York in particular saw heavy rain and high winds throughout the load in and show without a single light being compromised. We also especially like Domino’s framing shutters and Perseo’s prism options. We absolutely will be specifying these two fixtures again.”
Lighting Designer Stephen Lieberman is President of SJ Lighting, Inc.

More information on Ayrton Domino, Perseo and the full portfolio of innovative Ayrton LED fixtures can be found at www.ayrton.eu

Available in Spot and Profile framing versions, powerful full-spectrum LED moving heads offer MAXimum fusion of performance, features, and value. Rivals 1000W/1200W class discharge fixtures.

After teasing attendees at the USITT show early in March with a first peek at the Fuze MAX™, Elation Professional is pleased to be shipping the new full-spectrum LED luminaire. The fixture will see its European debut April 26-29 at the Prolight + Sound show in Frankfurt (Hall 12.1, Stands B49, C49).
Available in Spot and Profile framing versions, the Fuze MAX has been designed for precision lighting applications such as theater, broadcast and Houses of Worship where a wider chromatic spectrum (including dynamic whites), a full feature set and outstanding quality is required, a specification that rivals 1000W/1200W class discharge fixtures.

The Fuze MAX Spot and Fuze MAX Profile, both automated LED moving heads, offer full-spectrum performance from a 92 CRI engine that utilizes an 800W 5-color homogenized LED array of Red, Green, Blue, Mint, and Amber sources.
The RGBMA LED engine produces fully blended colors across an impressively wide breadth of the color spectrum like rich saturates and vibrant primary colors, along with pure dynamic whites that are tunable from 2400-8500K.
The addition of Amber and Mint emitters has extended the possible range of colors, including warmer tones, theatrical whites and pastels. Colors blend quickly yet smoothly with natural color transitions and no color fringing.

The carefully tuned LEDs ensure accurate color reproduction and dynamic whites while delivering a powerful output of over 21,000 total fixture lumens. Precision control over green/magenta allows for detailed color accuracy, allowing the user to perfectly match light sources and create visual balance. Virtual color temperature plus CMY emulation provides the designer with immediate access to the impressive LED color array while a virtual gel library allows for easy recall of a variety of premixed shades.

The Fuze MAX uses advanced, high-quality optics that are razor sharp for crisp projections, and dimming of the LED engine is smooth and stepless with variable 16-bit dimming curve modes available to suit any application.
Both the Fuze MAX Spot and Fuze MAX Profile house a motorized zoom that can adjust the beam angle from a tight 7-degrees to 53-degrees wide and ship with an included snoot attachment to position the beam even more precisely.
The Fuze MAX Profile houses a full blackout framing system with four rotating blades and +/- 60 degree indexing for full control of the beam shape when required.

Designers have access to a comprehensive FX package that includes 19 gobos across three gobo wheels in the Fuze MAX Spot and 13 gobos across two gobo wheels in the Fuze MAX Profile. Both fixtures offer rotating and fixed glass gobos, ideal for aerials, textures or breakups, and an animation wheel can also be engaged to bring graphics to life.
Effects can be multiplied via dual prisms (4-facet round and linear) and a dual variable frost filter (Medium/Wash) can be employed when designers wish to diffuse the light for softer gobo or wash effects. A motorized iris and high-speed electronic shutter and strobe can be engaged for further impression.

The Fuze MAX will be welcome in broadcast, theater and other noise sensitive environments thanks to its quiet operation and Mute mode option and LED refresh rate frequency can adjust remotely to avoid any flickering, a must when working with today’s sensitive camera systems.
Elation’s Fuze series has found a niche in the market whenever outstanding quality and price-value is high on the list. Now with greater performance and an enhanced feature set, these latest Fuze luminaires have taken that to the MAX!

For more information you can visit www.elationlighting.com

Robert Juliat is happy to announce that 36 of its Dalis 860 cyclorama lights, complete with mini yoke and Quickrig systems, have been supplied to the National Taichung Theater in Taiwan by DLHG Co., Ltd.

The National Taichung Theater (NTT) has three main venues: the 2007-seat Grand Theater, the 794-seat Playhouse and the 200-seat Black Box theater. The main location for the Dalis 860 fixtures will be the Grand Theater which hosts a broad programme of musicals, opera, ballet, modern dance and drama. The Dalis 860 cyclorama fixtures will be installed in truss and groundrow positions to light the venue’s impressive 18m wide x 10m high cyclorama with a smooth, even, highly controllable coverage.

“However, the mini yoke and Quickrig system make it easy for us to transfer the Dalis units to our other venues as required,” says the venue’s head of lighting, Simon Hsieh.

No stranger to Robert Juliat products (the NTT has invested in RJ Cin’k 350LF Fresnels and Digitour 6S dimmers in the past), Mr Hsieh and his team were introduced to Dalis by Jackson Yu of DLHG Co, Ltd. “The NTT team was looking for an LED product with good colour mixing and rendering, and multifunctional control via DMX and Ethernet protocols,” says Mr Yu. “Dalis 860 ticked all those boxes as well as being an award-winning fixture by a well-known and respected brand.”

The NTT took delivery of the Dalis 860 units in 2020 but was unable to put them to immediate use due to closures enforced during the pandemic. Now the venue has reopened, the technicians have had the opportunity to use the Dalis fully and are very impressed.

“The colour mixing and colour saturation of the Dalis 860 is really amazing,” says Mr Hsieh. “We also like its brightness, the versatility of the optics, and its adaptability which enables us to floor mount or rig it.
The engineering quality is robust and reliable, and we have the flexibility of being able to daisy-chain the Ethernet to DMX control.”

The operators and lighting designers at the NTT also benefit from the ease of using their ETC Eos® console to gain full, precise control of Dalis’ complete colour spectrum, thanks to a dedicated and integrated Dalis library.
Designers can synchronise their Dalis cyclights to a precise colour, or match any manufacturer’s gel palette, and rapidly fine tune and modify the colour spectrum at will. “This is a great advantage because it is much quicker and easier for the designer to match his cyc colours,” confirms Mr Hsieh.

One of the first – and most spectacular – productions to use the new Dalis cyclorama lighting was the NTT New Year’s Eve concert in the Grand Theater, lit by award-winning lighting designer, Cheng-Wei Teng (winner of the World Stage Design Professional Lighting Gold Award in 2017).

Publicised as ‘a purely vocal feast’, the audience was treated to a festive, musical evening featuring award-winning acapella vocalists who showcased a wide variety of music pieces and styles from around the world.

Lighting designer Cheng-Wei Teng produced a spectacular lighting design worthy of such a celebration to which he brought his trademark pixel lighting effect. He rigged one row of 12 Dalis 860 units behind the venue’s projection screen from where he rear-projected cyclorama colour and pixel effects from the groundrow position, and used a second row of 12 units to colour the haze circulating in mid-air.

Mr Teng agreed with Mr Hsieh saying: “I was impressive with the power of Dalis 860. The colour mixing is good, but the powerful brightness and the fullness of the saturation is amazing.”

For more information on Robert Juliat’s full range of lighting solutions, visit www.robertjuliat.com

“It’s a very high-quality system, and the company’s ability to deliver was huge,” says Tom George, Senior Design Engineer at Clair Global Integration’s Cleveland office; citing the loudspeaker’s high-quality sound and Adamson’s capacity to provide a solution that blended seamlessly with the Palace’s spectacular décor.

Tom George, Senior Design Engineer at Clair Global Integration’s Cleveland office.

Constructed in 1928, the approximately 1500-seat theatre-style venue is a cornerstone for cultural activity in downtown Marion, Ohio; a decidedly multi-purpose facility that hosts a mix of concerts, theatre productions, films, and special events.

Designed by Architect John Eberson, the venue was constructed to give audiences the impression of attending a show at a ‘Palace in Old Spain’. As the Marion Star described it just before the Palace’s grand opening back in the day, “Allow your imagination to carry you to the gentle slope of a moon-lit Spanish hill…
Through the archways spreads the soft light of a harvest moon, and the dim glow casts shadows over the somber-coloured walls. Overhead, myriads of stars are twinkling in an azure blue sky, and soft, fleecy clouds are drifting gently with the breeze.”

Over time, great care has been taken to ensure that the theatre’s setting remains as impactful as it’s ever been. After Marion Palace was acquired by the non-profit Palace Cultural Arts Association, it underwent a comprehensive restoration/renovation and has since been upgraded via a series of structural improvements and updates to the backstage and front-of-house areas.

The stage right hang made of ten IS7.

Naturally, the Palace’s audio systems have evolved as physical changes to the venue were made. But, until the replacement of the venue’s previous 1980’s-era point source loudspeakers with the Adamson rig in January 2022, the systems inhabiting the space didn’t provide optimal coverage, output, or quality.

The new system is comprised of three arrays of Adamson IS7 in an LCR configuration, with two IS219 subs placed on the floor to either side of the orchestra pit, and eight Adamson Point 8 as under-balcony fill.

“We basically did a vocal tuning for the center cluster and a more ‘musical’ tuning for the left and right arrays,” George says. System tuning was done within the Lab Gruppen amplifiers driving the system (multiple D 120 amps for the LCR elements and one D 200 for the subs) and is “locked out” in the amps, George continues.

The stage right Sub IS219 laying vertically on the ground.

However, visiting engineers can put their own stamp on the sound via a pair of Lake LM44 processors at FOH and the venue’s pre-existing Yamaha GL5 console. The system was also reconfigured to be run on Dante.
“We go into the LM44s and then to the amplifiers (over Dante), and we have an interface there for visiting operators to drop in a visiting console,” George adds.

That provides a welcome degree of flexibility. “It allows guest engineers, touring artists, anyone who uses the space, to utilize Dante and reroute things easily,” says Acting Technical Director and head of local audio firm JCR Studio & Sound, Brian Jester.

The central hang, perfectly matching the color of the curtains.

The size and weight of the loudspeakers were also beneficial. “The IS7 has such a compact footprint and being able to have a large enough array to cover the room and fit within the physical parameters, was a big part of the choice,” George notes.
“We’re also fortunate because they’re about the same weight as what we took down – the center cluster was actually lighter. So, we were able to reuse much of the existing rigging.”

Other longstanding issues were also addressed, among them, the replacement of a 70-Volt system that the under-balcony loudspeakers previously used with a low-impedance system. New cabling was also installed for the roughly 100-foot run from the stage to the balcony FOH mix position.

The result is an incredible improvement. “Far superior coverage of the venue and far better audio quality overall,” George says. But as much as those involved in the project wanted patrons to hear the difference it was important they didn’t see a difference.
Consequently, Adamson’s willingness and ability to provide custom colour matches (to blend with the Palace’s ‘courtyard’ walls to either side of the stage, and make the center cluster virtually disappear into the background of the rich, red velvet drapes framing the proscenium) was critical to that effort.

Adamson CEO, Marc Bertrand.

While selecting RAL numbers to match the colour and texture of thick velvet drapes was a challenge, it’s one Adamson’s Port Perry, Ontario facility is purpose-designed to meet. “We’re completely vertically integrated,” explains Adamson CEO, Marc Bertrand. “So, when matching RAL numbers, we’re able to control the end result seamlessly; from the machine shop and woodshop, all the way through wash, powder, and wet spray.

Because we’re not outsourcing the job and just waiting for product to come back, we can ensure the coverage is right, the metal is matched up properly, the powder matches the wet spray on the wood, and we can choose other colour elements for the silkscreen to make the match even closer.

You’re taking a risk if you outsource,” Bertrand continues. “We know immediately if something’s wrong. It’s about control. We punch our own metal as well, so we’re controlling not only the colour but the whole process.” While other manufacturers do custom colour matching, for Adamson, it’s a common occurrence. “This was the sixth custom job we’ve done in the past four months, although, I will say none of them were quite as pretty as that red.”

Kirk Detweiler, Marion Palace’s Executive Director.

“Adamson matched the curtain colours without overshadowing the architecture of the proscenium, and the two side arrays also blend in very well,” says Kirk Detweiler, Marion Palace’s Executive Director. “We haven’t had a big show in since the system was put in, but for the movies, it’s sounding great, and we had a four-person vocal group in that sounded awesome.”

“As you can imagine, in any older theatre, the deep balcony, the multi-levels of coverage (present challenges),” Jester explains, “but the system Clair designed does everything it should and more. My only experience with Adamson is with some of their older boxes from the late 1990s/early 2000s. So, hearing the evolution of their speakers was very encouraging.”

Ultimately, the new Adamson system allows Marion Palace to continue to fulfill the role it has had in the community for almost a century, and in a way that’s as easy on the eyes as it is on the ears.

“The sound almost feels like it’s coming from the walls, rather than from the speakers,” Jester concludes. “The way the loudspeakers were placed, tuned, and deployed – sonically, the system complements the visual aesthetic of theatre.”

More information on the Adamson website

Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, and directed by Polly Findlay at London’s The Bridge Theatre last autumn, the European premiere of White Noise explored the subject of race in the 21st century from both a black and white perspective through a group of college friends.

Ayrton Diablo at work on White Noise for Jackie Shemesh at The Bridge Theatre, London.

Working on an ambitious set design by Lizzie Clachan, lighting designer, Jackie Shemesh, chose six Ayrton Diablo LED profile fixtures to deliver some extremely precise lighting effects and ambient washes, and worked hard to sculpt the huge set despite some difficult rigging angles and ensure the skin tones of the diverse cast looked correct on stage.
The 27m-deep set included a thrust stage, an overhead catwalk, a series of side wall flats arranged in perspective to frame the stage, and an angled ceiling flat which severely restricted hanging positions and lighting angles.

“I chose Diablo for several reasons,” says Shemesh who has used the compact profile fixtures on several productions at the National Theatre.
“Firstly, I know and like the fixture, so knew they would give me some nice results.
Secondly, the truck’s side walls and low roof made it very difficult to get light into the acting area. I knew I wanted some low-level moving light options front-of-house, and with limited headroom over the audience, we needed a fixture that was both small, light and quiet.

Diablo ticks all those boxes! Nicole Smith (The Bridge Theatre’s Head of Lighting) and I tried a few options, but the angle was so shallow that only the Diablo would fit the bill. Nicole was very supportive of having the Diablos on this show.”
Shemesh rigged two Diablo fixtures centrally in low mid-house positions from the lower gallery where he used them as “good fillers” on the thrust stage “or wherever I had a gap or a little bit of a dark place.”

These units also took a key role in the more dramatic moments for the four characters’ with Shemesh using the Diablo’s shutters to project very narrow, sharp cuts on the actors to isolate them for each of their monologues. “The position of the Diablos created beautiful beams that cut really low in the theatre, almost appearing like two walls, until they met the actor or actress,” he explains. “It was a really strong, powerful image that we chose to use for each of the monologues.”

Ayrton Diablo

A further pair of Diablo profiles were rigged on the low level gallery in spot positions from where Shemesh was able to wash the side walls with brushes of colour, using stronger colour palettes to recreate a club vibe. “I chose to work with a pinkish colour as a general wash which worked very with the different skin tones of the faces,” explains Shemesh.
“The walls were washed with a blue base, and the Diablo’s pink side wash added a mix to give a purplish feeling over the walls and, almost like a side light, highlighted the returns of the wall with a stronger pink. This bright edge on each flat gave another element of colour and design, which amplified the position of the stage and gave it a frame.

It added another layer onto the rhythm of the walls as they retreated upstage in perspective, and provided a contrast with the frame in a stronger colour than the wash on the wall. I was able to do this because of the generosity of Diablo’s lens: it is huge – so big – and gives lots of light and spread. They did a really good job.”

Lighting programmer for White Noise, Miguel Figueiredo, also enjoyed using Diablo: “The Diablo is a really cool fixture,” he says. “It is bright, fast, and compact in size, and considering the amount of features it offers, I was very impressed with how quiet it can be. This is also a big plus when marking Diablos in the dark as preparation for cues.

“The shutters also proved very helpful when trying to cover the many areas over a set that had very tricky angles. I can definitely see this fixture showing up more and more in theatres around the country. In fact, after White Noise, I went on to use the Diablos again on the West End musical Cabaret at the Playhouse Theatre.”

Shemesh was happy with his choice of Diablo once again: “It was a tricky set to light but Diablo made it possible and the results really paid off in the end. I got a light that gave me the position I wanted front of house, at the height and angle I wanted, and was quiet enough to hang less than 1m away from the audience with no problems at all, and no complaints!”

The Ayrton Diablo fixtures were supplied by Sparks Theatrical Hire, which has been an early adopter of the fixture. Paul Anderson, the company’s director, was very impressed with the units when they were demonstrated to him at Sparks’ HQ by Ambersphere’s Briony Berning last year.
“I was particularly struck with how small the unit was, and how many features it had for its size, not to mention the amount of light that comes out of the front,” he says. “For such a compact unit, it really packs a punch. So far, it’s been an extremely popular addition to our rental stock, so much so, we are about to purchase more units from Ambersphere to meet demand.”

More information on Ayrton Diablo and Ayrton’s full range of LED lighting can be found at www.ayrton.eu