Perinic Sistemi d.o.o. is the latest company to be appointed an exclusive distributor for SIXTY82, and will be covering the Croatian market with immediate effect.
Perinic Sistemi d.o.o. is a respected company that has been operating in the Croatian market for over 25 years. Beginning life as a rental company for sound systems, the company expanded its business over the years to include the full range of equipment needed for the entertainment industry. In order to succeed in the rental business, they were quick to recognize the need for high quality products that could both be durable and reliable, which is where SIXTY82 fits in.
“The main reason we chose to be a SIXTY82 distributor is because of the long term relations we have with the company’s top-quality and experienced personnel who have always been extremely professional, fast and patient with all our questions and requests,” says Iva Perinic from Perinic Sistemi. “The products are high quality, made to last, and at the same time easy to use.” Perinic Sistemi will distribute the whole SIXTY82 product line, selling as well as renting out the products. They believe that the Perinic Sistemi rental department itself is great promotion: “If it’s good enough for us – and we use only high-quality products – than you can be sure that the SIXTY82 is your right choice!’’ confirms Iva Perinic.
So how will Perinic Sistemi develop the SIXTY82 brand in their area? Perinic Sistemi believes that SIXTY82 products promote themselves and the best way to develop the brand in their market is by showing the products ‘in action’ to its customers. As a result, they invite customers along to live events or to their premises to discover the SIXTY82 products and show them its potential. “You need to have a product that you can rely on, and if you have great support from the company and factory as well, that gives you trust in the products. The best way to sell a product is if you really believe in it, and that you believe you can support your customers after the purchase,” says Iva Perinic. “We are very excited to be a part of the SIXTY82 team!’
Formidable Queen frontman Freddie Mercury took to the stage in the form of tribute performer Michael Kluch and his band in September, for a huge concert at Prague’s 18,000-capacity O2 Arena. The group, named Queenie, played the ‘Queen Relived’ show with a rock ‘n’ roll lighting design and a mix of pre-made and live feed visuals driven by Hippotizer Boreal+ and Karst+ Media servers.
The three-nighter, big budget production took more than a year to plan and programme, with the staging and tech taking 16 trucks to transport. Renowned show designer and creative Martin Hruška staged an impressive display of pyrotechnics and lighting pizazz, backed by a huge upstage LED screen.
The visuals depicted images of Mercury, played by Kluch, on stage. Lighting designer Lukáš Patzenhauer was in charge of the visuals, controlling the Hippotizer Boreal+ and Karst+ Media Servers via his ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M console.
“I fell in love with Hippotizer,” says Patzenhauer, who has worked with some of Czechia’s biggest music and TV stars. “It’s such a user-friendly platform, enabling me to harness the power of VideoMapper, effects and masks to create incredible visuals via DMX control from my desk, matching the colours often to complement my lighting design. The Timeline feature in Hippotizer V4 allowed me to playback the show simply, despite a complex array of visuals and effects.”
The Hippotizer Media Servers were supplied to the production by Prague-based distributor LightNeq, and their Hippotizer specialist Karel Bartak, who assisted Patzenhauer during show setup and programming.
Show designer Martin Hruška, who designed the visuals continues: “Some of the video content was created in other programs, such as Cinema 4D, Adobe After Effects and others. Some songs were manufactured in the form of livecam and colour corrections and effects adjusted within Hippotizer. “Hippotizer gave us reliability, speed and great synchronization with the lighting. It’s a really great product.”
The production team were also supported by Green Hippo’s Central Europe Sales Manager Evzen Zomer. “The team were really impressed by the Boreal+ and Karst+ Media Servers, and ZooKeeper,” says Zomer. “Both Martin Hruška and Lukáš Patzenhauer used many of Hippotizer V4’s powerful features, including a creative use of LED blocks using VideoMapper which optimised output use, reducing the number of LED processors needed to drive the content to the screens, which looked fantastic.”
The three-nights of shows, which had been delayed due to the pandemic, rocked the O2 Arena with the buzz and drama of Queen’s music and performance, reinterpreted by Queenie for the Queen Relived show. On the back of its success in Prague, the show is now gearing up for international dates.
Awakening of the Giants: Back in the old days, in an era of PAR bars, strobes and floppy disks, we all had our first rough encounter with discharge monsters. An overly massive flight case rolls in a zigzag pattern, carried away by the weight of its contents, charging out of the truck like a lion.
The hinges creak and, crouched in a poor crushed foam insert, a colossus of a fixture, far too big, too heavy and too powerful. It could have been a Golden Scan, a MAC 2000, a VL 3000, an Alpha Beam 1500, depending on when you started out. At the dawn of the new millennium, a shiver ran through us, mechanical pride, a challenge to carry, a test of virility, memorable illumination.
Then, the future arrived, and with it progress, the mother of all things lightweight and efficient, with smooth-curved LEDs, easy to handle, and to rig on your own without breaking a sweat. The behemoths of yesteryear no longer exist, except in nostalgic stories from the days of crooners, conventional rigs, K7 albums and Tiags.
Yet, right here where they’ve been celebrating diodes in all their forms for the past 20 years, the minds at Ayrton have brought to life a new giant, a legend in the making. A hurricane of light, a monster of unseen proportions, a new sensation, the Huracán-LT.
[private]
The 9 Series
It is the cheerful Vincent Billard, his official title “Customer Service Manager”, who welcomes me to the resplendent Ayrton headquarters. Over a coffee and a croissant, I hold back my journalistic questions while we chat about everything and nothing. News about some folks and others, the return to business, the fading last rays of the sun. We go from the cafeteria to their huge showroom, designed as an open stage, with curtains, cyclorama, motorized trusses and seating.
The entrance is at the back of the stands, immersed in semi-darkness my memory quarrels with my eyes. Why has this room shrunk? There are indeed the three trusses, equipped with a dozen Ghibli units, running from wall to wall. Iʼm still perplexed. The proportions donʼt add up. I examine the structure, it seems more frail now, valiantly resisting the… immense spot fixtures… that stare at me through huge lenses. They are not Ghibli, nor Khamsin, but something far larger, a monster fixture comes into focus.
The Huracán-LT dwarfs the trusses.
“Come on,” Vincent urges me, “letʼs get them in place, where do you want them for your tests?” He looks me up and down, and gives me an all but mocking “I hope youʼre in shape!” I walk up to the first of these Super-Ayrtons, which looks exactly like a Ghibli, except that some magic wand has made it one third bigger, including the weight!
We grab it as best we can by its handles, which have somehow been excluded from the metamorphosis, and bring it to the front of the stage. I jump back two decades, when I encountered, shy and curious, my first big spots. Tight muscles, short breath, already the Huracán-LT impresses me. As if it were the fixture that was testing me, not the other way around!
Tristan (the author) in contemplative mode, while Cyril (with his back turned) diligently disassembles this extraordinary fixture.
Cyril Union, the head of the design department, joins us – looking more “zen” than ever – with a twinkle of pride in his eyes. He spares me the mocking look at my fluttering arms, following the installation of three of these diabolical fixtures. “More than 150 kg in less than two minutes, bravo! So what do you think of our 9 Series?”
From their explanations, I learn the new Ayrton denominations for their fixtures. In front of this multitude of types and names – Mistral, Bora, Karif etc. – their pedigree is now articulated into two main lines: ʻClassicʼ and ʻMultisourceʼ fixtures distinguish their new, more conventional sources from the LED arrays that have made Ayrton famous, such as the MagicPanel.
Each type of fixture is then classified by power, from the smallest to the largest, according to series numbers. Thus, the 3 Series includes the Diablo and Karif, the 5 Series the Ghibli and Eurus, the 7 Series the Khamsin and Bora, and finally, at the top of the range, the Huracán. Water-resistant IP models, such as the Perseo and Domino, are also part of this series. This reconstruction of the range, which doesnʼt supersede the names of each fixture, reveals a clear and simple hierarchy in a few moments.
The incredible resemblance between the Ayrton models, which differ only in size and a few elements, such as the stippled skin of the IP65 models.
The 9 Series Huracán-LT is the biggest matryoshka doll of the lot, the culmination of this breed of super-fixtures. The appearance is all curves, streamlined like a dolphin held by two sleek arms to a minimalist base. All of the Ayrton fixtures share this common design and technology: high-powered white LED sources, cooling via heat pipes and push/pull fans, high efficiency condenser lenses and optical systems, a vast zoom range, a plethora of functions and precise colorimetry… but also, admittedly, with some rather curious choices in terms of the menu and general ergonomics.
The models from Ayrton are all visibly similar, except for their size and the logo on their back.
Despite their presentation having been spread out over time, and their names that are not always so obvious, the different types that Ayrton has introduced have one fundamental thing in common: their capability to transcend the usual spot, wash and beam stereotypes.
So, with the exception of the Mistral, the spots are almost all uncompromising profile fixtures with framing modules, rich in gobos, prisms, animation wheels, frosts and with a wide range of colors. The washes are more like wash-beams: clear lenses, zoom from a tight to a wide beam with a soft frost, and equipped, in addition to their color mixing, with gobos and shapes and internal shutters.
As for the beams, Karif and Perseo, identified by the suffix LT (for “Long Throw”), they are almost everything at once, capable of clenching their fists for punch or opening up wide for ambience, super-equipped with functions, with an enhanced hot spot for maximum impact. The Huracán-LT is of this latter category, a complete hybrid, one that defies modesty and rationality.
A quick overview
Cyril comes back with a sort of wheeled gurney, armed with some screwdrivers. Weʼre going to take advantage of this monsterʼs slumber to study it under all the seams, and remove its organs. We take the 53 kg of the Huracán-LT with effort, especially with these minimalist handles, where a slightly broad hand can hardly fit. Lying on the table, itʼs impressive. 90 cm high, 50 cm wide – a torpedo.
For the moment, no accessories are available – no filter holder or anti-reflection cone. The huge front lens would leave little room for them, and there is no need for them.
A superb 225 mm lens takes up the entire face of the head, a 7 kg component all by itself, almost heavier than the small base of the fixture, which measures only 30 cm per side. Like a nest, its single-unit flight case is perfectly adapted, with a molded protective insert supplied with it, which has lowered edges for a better grip.
The menu display is stabilized, with its color screen and its multi-function wheel. It still has an internal battery to configure and store the settings without power. A new feature is a directly accessible hatch to change the battery without disassembling the base of the projector.
On the side where the battery is, we find the XLR5 DMX connectors, the PowerCON True1 mains connector and two RJ45 Ethernet ports. Not only does it incorporate an ArtNet and sACN node, capable of sending out a DMX signal, but it also acts as a switch to relay the Ethernet. In case of power failure, Cyril explains, a relay keeps the signal to the output intact.
All the connectors are managed by a passive driver board from the display circuit board, the brain of the projector is integrated into the interface circuitry. The battery hatch houses the internal battery, an INR 14650, 3.7 V Li-Ion type.
Another innovation is that the rear panel also features a dedicated USB update port, protected by a rubber cover. A simple USB key containing the new firmware will allow you to perform an update in a few minutes. While the integration of a LumenRadio wireless DMX receiver as standard is a firmly established Ayrton practice, it has been completely camouflaged in recent versions, using an antenna incorporated around the menu display.
Underneath the base there are four shock-absorbing pads and eight quarter-turn omega brackets, for the installation of rigging clamps to the inside, outside, transversally or at 90° angles. The Huracán-LT can be positioned or suspended in many configurations, but will have to be deployed vertically because of its weight. You can forget about offset or perpendicular installation: the weight of this behemoth will get the better of the pan motor, as well as your arms. Two safety cable lugs are attached directly to the frame of the base, wide enough to accommodate cable thimble clamps. These are a clear testament to the size and weight that needs to be attached to a truss.
The yoke of this beast, relatively slender and with no particular embellishment, houses two large pan and tilt locks, which fit naturally in the hand, with numerous locking angles: 30°, 45°, 60° or even 90° for the tilt. Inside, just the power and signal lines are routed, as well as the positional PCB and the tilt motor. The Huracánʼs body, made of jet-black injection molded plastic, is practically smooth, except for the rear grille, which is ridged for better cooling, and the huge air intake vents on the sides and bottom of the unit.
After this examination, we can begin the dissection of this giant
The two covers that make up the cowling are held in place by two ¼-turn captive screws, with the front being held in place by the flange around the lens. Each is secured by a safety cable, which slides onto a cradle support.
A shell of phase-transition heat pipe and copper dissipation fins surround the heart of the beast.
Once itʼs opened up, we can see the source module, sandwiched between two rows of three push/pull fans each, some of which blow air out while others draw it in. The dragonʼs breath is composed of white LEDs that draw more than 1000 watts, natively emitting 75,000 lumens (!) at 8,200 K. Quite a feat, considering the shallow depth of the module.
A glass condenser lens, rather than a PMMA one, propels the photons forward, with minimal losses. In the end, Ayrton declares more than 51,000 lumens of output at 6700 K, using the integrated sphere measurement method – a limit that would have been impossible to surmount even just a few months ago.
Along the inside of the head are the two effects modules, followed by the zoom system of the optical train. To protect them from the internal barrage of fire, each driver circuit board is equipped with a ventilation duct and is located as far away from the central axis as possible, as are the other sensitive components, such as belts and sensors. Impellers cool down the elements that are positioned closest to the light path, such as gobos, shutters, effect wheels and colors.
Air from the outside is drawn in through the micro-fabric filters located on the sides of the unit.
All of these fans are regulated by a global ventilation control. Some of them are only activated when the modules are in use (like the framing shutters), unless otherwise configured. When the ventilation is running at full capacity, the noise level is very low: 57 dB at 1 meter. In spite of all these features, the heat inside the unit is so high that it takes almost an hour for the fixture to cool down completely before disassembly. Externally, some parts of the housing can easily reach 56°C.
The two mechanical modules are like magnificent timepieces, perfectly adjusted and rich with innovative details. They are attached by two pairs of screws to the side braces, and can be removed by sliding them on catches, paying attention to the focal lenses. There is no need to fuss with untangling the power or signal cables, they are condensed into a single connector. A driver PCB is assigned to each function, controlled from the motherboard in the base.
Once the modules are removed, we examine them in detail, fascinated
The surprising DB9 connector, top left, is a wise choice, as durable as it is practical. The aluminum plates on the sides protect the passage of the wiring. In the center are the frost and the prisms.
The first organ we remove combines a number of functions. First of all, the CMYPOB flags of the hexachromy color system – the six microdot color filters on high temperature glass, patented by Ayrton.
In addition to the Cyan, Magenta and Yellow filters, the Huracán includes three additional gradients for pastels: Pink, a light pink similar to minus-green, a slightly sepia CTO and a CTB that can draw out lavender.
The color filters are each divided into two halves with a dual overlap and an oval cutout for maximum uniformity. On the other side, the module contains the gobos and the animation effects.
The six filters of the color wheel are mounted in slots and can be replaced with specific filters or custom hues. The two wheels of rotating gobos are next, followed by the animation discs.
There are seven patterns on each of the wheels, which can be accessed without removing the sprockets. They are simply held in place by a coiled circlip. A metal index marker indicates the zero point of each, so they can be indexed correctly for quick changes.
This first module is impressive both for its workmanship and for its very compact integration. From top to bottom you can see the multicolor animation disk, the color wheel, the gobos, and the pattern of the animation wheel. The latter features an offset, so you can choose which part of the disk to insert into the light path.
The animation effects are created by two types of patterns on two large glass discs, which move and position themselves in the beam before rotating. The first one is a nice swirling color scheme, while the second one features a more traditional axial pattern.
The second section of the guts of the Huracán-LT presents a large mechanical diaphragm, composed of a number of beveled blades.
The whole module rotates to index the shutter blades, including the iris part, which makes it the first rotating iris!
The first four are the transversal framing shutters, each mounted on two arms with dual-axis movement, connected by a sliding slot. The beautiful iris, very fine, spirals around its sixteen blades at the edges of the module.
The final section, integrated into the walls of the head, consists of the thirteen-lens optical system. This one covers an unbelievable range of 3.5° to 53°, an incredible ratio of 15:1.
On the plate of the focus lens carriage, five lever arms surround the lens. Each of them holds a frost or a prism. The two frosts are different in terms of intensity. The first one is a light frost that is inserted all at once, while the second one is composed of two denser frosts that are progressive and saw-toothed. The two prisms, one linear and radial, can then overlap, if the frosts are not engaged. The final component is the zoom carriage rail, the course of which ends just before the output lens, a huge, crystal-clear cornea.
DM512
Itʼs time to resurrect this Goliath, reassembling it and plugging it into the mains. With a 110 V to 220 V power supply, the power draw can go up to 1600 watts at peak, with an average of 1200 watts when running. Before long, weʼll have to resort to a 32 A mono-phase.
The menu display illuminates, the fixture starts to move, and after exactly 1 minute and 22 seconds, it is ready to work. First, letʼs go through the different menus. “Mode” allows us to choose our DMX template, from Basic to Extended, ranging from 44 to 70 control channels. We can also map the parameters to the same as those of the Domino, the IP65 version of the Huracán. This high number of channels is a result of a large number of 16-bit parameters, due to the use of 16-bit electronics and motors as well. The Standard mode is, in fact, the “reduced” mode, except for Pan and Tilt.
In the “Options” section you will find Signal Select and Wireless DMX. The first one to choose the control signal: DMX, Wireless-DMX, ArtNet or sACN. The second one allows you to activate or reset the built-in LumenRadio receiver. Pairing is extremely easy, just by searching with a CRMX transmitter, and unpairing if necessary. The color scheme of the menu LED indicates if the operation was successful.
Ayrton now offers a welcome consistency with respect to menu settings, with clear identification of the parameters.
For ArtNet or sACN, IP settings are available in the Service PIN but, by default, the fixture communicates in Class A. Of course, RDM is available automatically if required, with a large number of PiDs, including ventilation and temperature sensors. The “Status” menu manages several important features.
For the movements of this Goliath, we can handle the P/T reversals, the pan travel, the deactivation of the motors for use as a manual followspot, and, most importantly, the speed. The movement speed parameter is initially set to Medium, to ensure a majestic and smooth gait; Slow and Fast modes exist to modify the reaction time. The movements will be more or less dramatic, but the time gains (and the noise level!) will be drastic depending on the context: theater or rock stage.
The Hibernation option allows you to maintain the last value, to return to zero or to a memory preset when DMX is not available. When using ArtNet or sACN protocols, it is possible, with DMX Output, to re-transmit the signal in DMX. There are other menus to get to know, such as “Fan Control”, to set the ventilation to “Stage”, “Silent” or “Super Silent” modes, which will progressively limit the intensity of the output but reduce the noise of the ventilation as well. In “Constant Fan” setting, the ventilation will remain constant and will avoid variations.
Of course the brightness and the orientation of the display can be modified (Display Settings), as well as the dimming response curve (Dimmer Curve) or the PWM LED driver frequency to avoid flickering, at the expense, however, of the dimming precision at low levels (refresh rate at 1.6 kHz, 2.4 kHz or 25 kHz). More uncommon, instead, is the “Gobo Correction” parameter, which will remove the Yellow Shift filter when inserting a gobo, and the frost can be progressive or not (Frost).
Video presentation
3 in 1
The Huracán-LT is ready to pounce, we take it off its leash by switching to wireless, with a natural simplicity. No slowdown, no hesitation is noticed when choosing the W-DMX option. It starts to show its teeth. The dimmer starts very gently, with a rare finesse at low level. The non-linear curve (thanks to the electronic dimmer) is a treat. Pushing the watts up, the beam hits you with force, a bright white, a noticeable but not excessive hot spot, with a uniformity that improves as you zoom in.
A plot of the dimming curve from 0 to 10%…
… and from 0 to 100%. The unique dimming curve provides precise intensity control.
The zoom range is insane, spanning from a concentrated beam, to the wide mouth of a wash, at more than 50°. A 15-fold multiplication that takes its time: more than two seconds in normal mode, compared with one second when boosting the zoom speed via the menu.
The zoom, with the help of the spectacular front lens, goes from 3.5° to 53° very smoothly.
The shutter is also electronic, with the typical styles: constant, pulse and random. It strobes fast and well. A little disappointed, I realize that the effects of the LED module have disappeared, a competitor having patented the idea. When it moves, the inertia due to the weight of this titan is significant. Its speed is far from fast but it stays fluid. If the 5 seconds minimum to make a complete turn annoys you, you can switch the speed in the menu. You will gain 2 seconds on the turn, but you will lose the repositioning at the end of the course. Basically, the Huracán-LT will shake when it comes to a stop.
The gobos are faithful to the Ayrton philosophy, with a first wheel for aerial effects and a second one for projection. For aerial effects, the first seven designs are simple and have been studied to work with a narrow or wide beam. A ring of dots, windows, stars, multi-holes… the classics are there. Surprisingly, an off-center hole allows for some very interesting combinations.
At the end of the first gobo wheel, the bar can be used with frost to illuminate a catwalk or as a front light with shutters.
The other seven designs are more detailed, suitable for more theatrical atmospheres. “Starry Night”, ripples, “crosswalk”, rose, foliage, colored rays and Ayrtonʼs signature, the popular circle of color. Each one is well defined, with a unique focal plane. The yellow diffraction associated with the insertion of gobos is automatically corrected by the application of a corrective filter.
Between well-known gobos and new ones, every possible taste is covered.
Regarding focusing, the mechanical stacking of the effects in dense layers requires a lot of finesse when adjusting the zoom and focus, especially at the extremes of the range. The focal point is to the millimeter and, for once, the autofocus parameter is more than welcome. By indicating the projection distance, the sharpness remains constant at any zoom value and also adapts to changing from one gobo wheel to another. Very impressive. A separate adjustment channel is even available for defocusing, if needed.
The two animation wheels bring some delightful freshness to the concept, combining simplicity and efficiency.
The two continuously scrolling discs are rich in animations. The first one is a revival of the colored oil bath effect, while the other one is an aerial animation wheel on two channels. The first channel allows you to choose the position of the wheel for horizontal, vertical or axial scrolling, while the second channel allows you to choose the speed. The combinations offer a wealth of possibilities.
The two prisms offer a radial or linear dispersion, or even an overlapping combination of the two, and they can be indexed and rotated. As is often the case today, the divergence of the prisms remains fairly tight, so that they do not spread outside of the throat of the luminaire. A slight insertion delay occurs with a moment of defocussing, when the focus lenses move aside to let them through, as though it were taking a deep breath.
The radial prism, the linear prism and the combined prisms with the cage gobo.
The 16-blade iris is remarkable, both fast and exceptionally sharp. The projection delivers a dazzling coin when it reaches its target. The two frosts are carefully chosen. The light one is there to “wash out” the gobos, and is inserted all at once, while the second one is worthy of a Fresnel lens, and transforms the Beam into a Wash with little loss of intensity. The beam is diffuse and uniform, worthy of a theater key light.
Practically everything is available in pairs, such as this duo of frosts, a light one and a more diffused one, which goes so far as to make the gobo disappear.
The four framing shutters are capable of complete closure and are mounted on two motors. Each channel drives one of the corners of the blade, while sliding it slightly.
The framing shutters are on different focal planes, which causes a slight green or purple diffraction around the edges.
It takes some practice to master them well. The very generous optical system is less gentle with the lines: at wide zoom settings, the edges of the shutters start to curve. The entire framing and iris module can be rotated ±60°.
The color management is a pleasure with this huge chameleon. CMY color mixing plus three progressive correctors, a 6-color wheel and a macro channel, nothing is lacking. The CMY goes after saturated tones, with a yellow like an egg, a green like a fir tree and a cyan like tropical waters. The correctors are complementary pastels, with a CTO that is almost sepia, going down to 3000 K, a CTB that tends toward lavender and a pink gradient, serving as both a progressive CRI and a minus-green, which elegantly brings out skin tones.
A few dense solid colors are available on the color wheel, Congo, Green, Orange, Blue and Red; after a ¼-CTB, the famous Yellow-Shift that is introduced when Gobos are inserted. To save time, a channel of macros, 93 virtual LEE Filter gelatins, with DMX values that match the numbers of the gelatins. Last but not least, the control channel incorporates control of many of the menu settings. Display on, ventilation, PWM frequency, dimming curve, Yellow-Shift filter, motor reset and so on. This avoids the need to use the RDM, which is very advanced, with a large number of variables.
A selection of aerial gobos.
Measurements
Measurements at the tightest sharp-focused beam
Measurements at the widest sharp-focused beam
Like scientists fascinated by a new giant predator, after having observed, handled and tamed it, we end up submitting it to a battery of tests to gauge its strength, consumed by curiosity.
derating curve
In the lab, the data comes out. The flux goes from 13,200 lumens at the tightest beam, with an illuminance of 50,000 lux, to 35,700 lumens at the widest wash. The light distribution is amazing for a Beam. While there is a hot spot in the center, it is well contained, and the rest of the beam is very uniform. The derating is well controlled, with a 10% drop in the first five minutes, before stabilizing after ten minutes.
Measurements at a 20° beam
At 20°, our reference setting, the Huracán-LT reaches 36,700 lumens of flux, with a center illuminance of 24,700 lux. The color temperature is quite high, 6740 K, and despite a CRI of 70, the white is very balanced, with a nice vibrance. Engaging the CTP flags at maximum, the CRI climbs to 89, the hue warms up and drops to a color temperature of 5400 K, ideal for frontal work. However, the intensity drops by 2/3. The CTO makes it possible to go down to 3000 K, there again with 35% of the flux preserved, while the CTB sends up the degrees Kelvin like a rocket, but only allows 18% of the photons to pass. The standard CMY system is less greedy on the yellow, reducing the intensity by “only” 34%, while cyan and magenta absorb 86% and 97% of the flux.
Inserting a gobo, which triggers the Yellow-Shift filter to avoid amber diffractions, also reduces intensity, as it absorbs 30% of light. Keep this in mind, as well as the possibility to deactivate this filter through the control channels, especially for warm hues. Beyond its fearsome appearance, the most pleasant aspect of the Huracán-LT is the use of the Fresnel frost, which provides a soft fluff to the beam, while absorbing only 17% of the lux.
The Huracán-LT is not a simple clone of the Huracán Profile, a sort of super-Ghibli with a tighter zoom. Instead, it represents a new development in the Ayrton ecosystem. An evolution towards that utopia, almost within reach, of a fixture capable of switching from Beam to Spot, from Profile to Wash. Incredibly complete, precise and full of subtle novelties; an exaggeration in every way, including weight, heat and channel count. This gentle monster, with its majestic walk, will thrill Ayrton fans with its many dazzling facets.
PRG, the world’s leading provider of production solutions for entertainment and live events, has named Stephan Paridaen as CEO, effective Jan. 3, 2022. Paridaen currently holds the role of President & COO at PRG, leading its operations in EMEA & APAC since 2010. Simultaneously, Jeremiah J. (Jere) Harris will become the company’s Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer.
“There’s no one better prepared and able to lead the company than Stephan Paridaen,” Harris said. “Since arriving at PRG 12 years ago, he has demonstrated an exceptional passion for our mission and has focused on the continual growth of our business in the EMEA and APAC regions, while improving our operations and expanding our offerings.”
As Executive Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, Harris will work with and support Paridaen and the leadership team on continued excellence in areas that established the company in the first place and define its legacy: customer experience, technology and the mentoring and development of the best industry talent.
Harris felt that the timing was right for the CEO transition. He said, “We are at an inflection point for the company, the industry and indeed the world. After leading the company through the most difficult period in our history, we are now on solid footing. There is still much work to do, and I am confident in Stephan’s ability to realize the tremendous opportunity ahead.”
Speaking on behalf of the PRG Board of Directors, Lauren Krueger, Managing Director, KKR, said, “We thank Jere for his exceptional leadership of PRG and look forward to his contributions as Executive Chairman & Chief Creative Officer. We are confident that Stephan brings the strategic vision and operational focus needed to accelerate growth and profitability at PRG.”
Paridaen has led PRG’s growth in the EMEA region, establishing the company as a major presence on the entertainment and event production landscape there. Recent achievements include the development of new markets, such as esports; a network of digital and virtual production facilities across EMEA and APAC; and a significant expansion in the Middle East, a region actively positioning itself as a destination for entertainment and sports. Before arriving at PRG, Paridaen was President, Media & Entertainment at the leading visual technology & systems provider Barco. While there, he played a transformative role in the converging technologies of video and lighting, the digitization of cinema theatres and LED display innovation.
Paridaen said, “It is a true honor to lead a company as rich in legacy and innovation as PRG. Jere Harris was among the first to see the tremendous power of technology to transform how audiences engage with music, TV and film, theatre, corporate events and more, and his founding mission now has greater relevance than ever. PRG is uniquely positioned for growth with its industry-leading team of people and global resources.”
Harris is a legendary figure in entertainment and event production. He began his career on Broadway as a carpenter’s apprentice and has since earned a Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award, four Tony Awards, multiple Drama Desk Awards, an Olivier Award, and an Emmy Award for engineering. PRG, the company he founded in 1995, has grown into a global presence with 62 offices in 28 countries and an unsurpassed diversity of technologies and skillsets. In addition, it holds over 250 patents and trademarks and is responsible for innovation that has reshaped production practice in theatre, concert touring, TV, and film and more.
UK-based rental, and production company HPSS Ltd, invested in Robe MegaPointes to provide spectacular results for the city’s 2021-22 festive illuminations of Hull, which feature 16 of these super-bright multifunctional fixtures. These were distributed on the rooftops of three landmark city centre buildings in a concept and system design by HPSS’s Graham Roberts.
Graham and HPSS Ltd have delivered this project for the past few years, working alongside Jonathan Black from Hull City Council. Each time the challenge is to create something new, fresh, and different, but based on the same principle of energising the heart of the city, and bringing it alive with vibrance, colour and movement in a visual scheme that can be enjoyed by all.
The festive lighting system was also integrated with some of the city centre’s existing lighting and AV control infrastructure which was installed by HPSS a couple of years ago to facilitate municipal events, comprising both wired and a wireless Luminex network with Avo TNP control.
The three buildings utilised are Hull City Hall – designed by City architect Joseph Hirst in the Baroque Revival style and built between 1903 and 1909; The Ferens Art Gallery, donated to the city by Thomas Ferens, and opened in 1927; and the magnificent Maritime Museum, a striking piece of classic Victorian architecture originally constructed in 1872, dedicated to exploring the seafaring heritage of the city. The latter is currently closed for extensive refurbishment.
It was the first time that Graham had used MegaPointes for the festive illuminations! He had explored some other options in past years, but for this year, Hull City Council decided to extend the illuminations beyond the festive season for another couple of months as the buzz they create is very much appreciated, so with this longer period in mind, Graham needed “flexibility, brightness and above all reliability” when it came to light sources.
MegaPointe ticked all the boxes, and due to the length of the installation, investing in more MegaPointes to cover the period was an easy decision to make. Eight MegaPointes are positioned on the City Hall with four each on the Art Gallery and the Maritime Museum, each cross-projecting gobos and wash lighting onto the other buildings, with some of the throw distances around 40 – 50 metres.
“I really needed a properly multi-purpose fixture for beam-work, spot effects and washes plus texturing / gobo projections, and MegaPointe was perfect,” said Graham. Also informed by the “excellent” experience with HPSS’s existing stock of MegaPointes, when the duration of the lightshow increased, it made financial sense to invest in more Robe.
The lights are in static states most of the time, however every half hour, a QLab system triggers the Avo Quartz master console, and they fire up and perform a timecoded lightshow to one of six randomly selected Christmas songs, which blast out from a small PA system located on the City Hall balcony. This will be changed after mid-January when the festive period officially ends.
For more info. on Robe lighting you can visit www.robe.cz
There are two different ways of being (a) patient.
– While being battered by the oncoming waves, be it the third, the fourth and now the fifth, we wait and be patient securing our vessel. Closing the port-holes and hatches, checking our life rafts, and doing everything needed to continue our journey once the storm has blown over. – The other is in a packed hospital, because we thought we knew better than an expert from 24/7 news channel, used good ol’ remedies passed down through generations, and found new ones every day on social media, we have become a patient.
We do not know what future is awaiting us. In 2022 we must keep patient, united, generous, and rational to continue our fight against this tiny and deadly thing. The virus and its mutations, are stronger than we think and will be coming at us after and after again, we must stay strong and learn to live with it.
2022 is also the year that, in France, we choose which Captain will be at the helm of our vessel. He will need to have enough experience and give him/her a crew seaworthy for us to sail the high seas side by side with other countries around the world. Their mission is to heal the wounds in society, rebuild Europe, and most importantly having a new and different relationship with our planet.
Celebrate 2022, the year of the Tiger, with courage and strength, be safe rather than sorry. We must continue to enhance our artistic culture with technical advances, as we have done, even with the pandemic. Art, in all its shapes, is what we need most in these difficult times, it gives one that nice feeling we all strive for.
Edinburgh-based production services and dry hire company, Blue Parrot, has become the first company in the UK to take stock of one of Ayrton’s latest products, Perseo Beam, having purchased 10 of the brand new fixtures from Ambersphere Solutions, Ayrton’s exclusive distributor in the UK.
Released in July, Perseo Beam is the first compact, waterproof multi-function beam effect LED luminaire and the latest in Ayrton’s family of IP65 rated fixtures. Well-suited for use indoors as well as outdoors, the fixture is equipped with an ultra-intensive 2° beam and 21x zoom ratio, making it an extraordinary tool that will help achieve some incredible effects.
“We are extremely excited to add Perseo Beam to our line up alongside our pre-existing stock of Ayrton Perseo Profile,” says Blue Parrot managing director, Rebecca Clough, who explained that the reasons for selecting Perseo Beam were the same as for their first investment in 2019.
“They were everything we were looking for: LED-sourced, IP65-rated and compact enough to use indoors as well as out. They have SO many gobos we haven’t had the chance to use them all yet, but its most impressive feature is the intensity of the 2° beam – outstanding from an LED source – and the zoom that allows you to change from a beam to a profile. It has a flexibility unmatched by anything else.
“I’d been contemplating beam fixtures when I saw Ayrton was bringing out the Perseo Beam. I contacted Ian Green at Ambersphere to ask to see them as soon as they were available. We have trust in the Ayrton brand from having good experience with the Perseo Profile units, so I only had to look at them for a matter of minutes before I decided we would buy them!”
Blue Parrot’s Perseo Beams were immediately put to use on a Halloween event at Lochore in Fife, where they illuminated the Horr’Ore night walk. Based on popular horror movies, this 20-minute themed walk through the forest saw brave souls separated into small groups with timed starts to increase their sense of isolation. The walkways between action sites were deliberately kept very dark and populated by live performers whose purpose was to frighten the passers-by. Blue Parrot was tasked to light the route in such a way that it was safe enough to walk through the trees in the dark, but using as little light as possible until each group triggered lightshows as they moved into the live action areas.
Perseo Beam fitted into this scenario very well: “We took advantage of that tremendous beam by siting three Perseo Beams at the walk entrance where they shot their beams into the sky,” says Clough. “People reported being able to see them from the Firth of Forth bridge, some 12-13 miles distance. But Perseo Beam is more of a hybrid fixture and capable of much more. It was great to be able to switch between beam and profile functions and even use it as a wash in places too.”
For one installation – a tunnel with very loud, pulsating music and disorientating lighting – Clough used them as a combination of a standard spot with gobos to texture the light and add to the confusion before the walkers were jumped by an actor. “We used more Perseo Beams for a backlight wash at another site, triggered by the approach of the group to create a massive burst of dramatic red light. With most lights you lose much of the intensity when you add red, but the red in the Perseo Beam is really punchy and provided some great red beams as backlight for the man with the chainsaw!
“None of us at Blue Parrot really like horror movies – our production manager, Rhys Turner, had a very nervous time doing the preshow walk around! However, one of the most satisfying part of the event was standing in the forest on the trail and hearing people screaming their heads off all around you! We knew then we made something that worked!”
Perseo Beam’s IP65 rating was also put to extreme test for the event: “We had horrendous weather with the first night cancelled due to torrential rain but we had no concerns about the Perseo Beams. The units were getting pounded with water but I had full faith from our experience with Perseo Profile that they would be absolutely fine – which they were. They were filthy and very muddy when they returned to the warehouse but we just hosed them down and they were ready to go again!”
“We are delighted that Blue Parrot was so impressed with its original Perseo Profile fixtures that they decided to invest in Perseo Beam,” says Amberphere Solution’s Ian Green. “It’s fair to say the weather here in Scotland can be a little challenging at times, even in the summer! The Blue Parrot team works on a wide variety of creative events and I can see these new Ayrton fixtures are destined for an interesting and demanding life – which is exactly what they were designed for.”
Following a 17-month hiatus from the road, pop rock band shakes off the cobwebs on 8-week tour across North America. Lighting supply by Upstaging.
Photo Steve Jennings
Three-time Grammy Award-winning band Maroon 5 wrapped an early fall tour on October 8th in Concord, California, the conclusion to an 8-week return to the road lit by Brian Jenkins using Upstaging-supplied Elation lighting. The pop rock band played sheds across North America in support of “Jordi,” a summer release dedicated to band manager Jordan Feldstein, who passed away in 2017.
Part-time full-time gig
Maroon 5 has proved to be one of the most successful acts of the past 20 years with at least one top five single on the Billboard Hot 100 on every album since their 2002 debut release. That staying power echoes a consistency that has defined the tightly bonded group, a constancy that includes the production crew.
Lighting designer/director Brian Jenkins is in his ninth year with the band, a collaboration he calls “my part-time full-time gig,” explaining that the band will “knock out a block of shows, and then retreat into the shadows for a bit.” It’s a schedule that has worked out well over the years, allowing him to work on other shows and with other designers. “We have a friendly, tight-knit crew and mostly everyone has been with the organization for some time,” he says.
Like old times
With touring in limbo, the band had shelved its 2020 North American tour but already in early 2021 murmurings emerged of a shed tour and by late March, it was apparent that a fall tour was going forward. “Nothing was 100% with pandemic reports and restrictions,” Jenkins said, “but we had to get the ball moving and would figure things out as we went along.”
Photo Steve Jennings
The tour kicked off on August 10 in Auburn, Washington, with an eager production crew thrilled to be back working. “During the first week of shows, everyone found their groove again and it was like (new) old times,” the designer states. “Kudos to our production team and the Live Nation staff that did a lot of leg work to make it smooth and safe. Covid protocols threw a bit of a curveball sometimes, but overall we had a safe tour and everyone was thankful to be doing live shows again.”
New 2021 design
Although they could have relied on a postponed 2020 tour design (the band had played a string of South American shows in early 2020 and was planning a North American tour before the plug was pulled), Jenkins says that this 2021 tour design turned out to be quite different. “Originally, Adam [lead singer Adam Levine] and the band were going for a very polished, modern look with clean lines, slick content, integrated camera work with notch effects, and automated lighting/video pods,” Jenkins says.
“Given a year to gather new ideas, they did a 180 after working with Sophie Muller on a music video for American Express. The new direction requested was a deconstructed, post-apocalyptic world. So we ended up with old cars, dead trees, a massive horse head, and Roman arches to name a few set elements. Oh, and tumbleweeds.”
Photo Steve Jennings
Working together with the band during the initial concepts and renderings, Jenkins then relies on his familiarity of the band, their music and aesthetic to flesh out the lighting looks. “They’re pretty easy-going, honestly,” he says. “Being with the band for this amount of time, I have a sense of the style and energy the show needs to display. We certainly exposed a different color aesthetic for this tour with Sophie Muller’s direction, and I think it worked well with the content and overall feel with the set.”
Design looks
Being a pop show, Jenkins says there were a lot of “cues, pops, bloops, and occasional whistles” together with a number of beamy looks, high-side sculpting, and silhouette moments speckled throughout the set list. “LEDs and strobes are loaded-up and used frequently,” he said, before providing a further peek into his design schemes.
“We generally lean into heavy color saturation for the higher energy songs and then reset the palette for more of the slower tempo segments. For each song, I tend to create a base look that rides through the song and layer on top with effects and timecode hits. Once the guys start, they usually do 5 to 8 songs back-to-back so there’s a lot of energy and not much downtime with blackouts, talking, guitar changes, etc. It’s a lot of fun. After 25 minutes, they come up to take a quick breather and then go after it again.”
Proteus, Fuze, Volt
Elation Proteus Hybrid
An integral part of the color and effects package consists of 14 Proteus Hybrid LED moving heads, 40 Fuze Wash Z350 LED wash lights and 24 Volt Q5E battery-powered LED wash lights. “We use the Proteus Hybrid primarily as key light,” Jenkins explains. “Considering that they’re occasionally exposed to the elements on the downstage truss, the IP rating was a key in choosing this fixture.”
Elation Fuze Wash Z350
The Fuze Wash Z350s with their single source RGBW color mixing and non-pixelated lens face the designer calls his “workhorse” fixtures. “The large aperture face with a homogenized LED color engine made this a new favorite light of mine.
Elation Q5E
It’s nice to get a look out of the face of the fixture at 5%. With LED engines on fixtures, dimmer and color curves are certainly important and I was especially happy with the performance we achieved from the Fuze Washes. Great lights!” Meanwhile, the unobtrusive, battery-powered Volt Q5E fixtures helped light all the floor set elements. “We added a bit of frost and they worked out nicely with the DMX transmitter. Our guys charged them during load-in and we fired them up during set change.”
Trusted gear, Upstaging
Sensitive to the needs of a hard-working crew that had the show up at every stop and back in the trucks after every encore, Jenkins names reliability as a particularly important aspect of the lighting gear. “The techs have long enough days, as it is,” he says, and then quips, “If we can keep them from climbing around the rig, they tend to give me less hell.”
Lighting vendor for the tour and the company keeping the gear in good shape was Upstaging, “a lovely company to have as a touring partner,” Jenkins says. “John Huddleston and the colleagues he surrounds himself with are top in the game – they run a tight ship. They take great pride in offering a polished touring product and supporting it to all degrees. Their combined years of experience really pays off when it comes to brainstorming and figuring out solutions to problems.”
Photo Steve Jennings
Jenkins gives a shout out to Touring Manager Fred Kharrazi and Production Manager Alan Hornall “for supporting the design and working together through it all. Our crew chief Mike Green and his band of technicians are top notch and indispensable! John Dacosta, our media server guru (who also fills in running M5 lighting from time to time), is one of the best people you’ll meet on the planet. Finally, kudos to my good friends and colleagues Matt Geasey for the PreViz and drawings, plus my co-conspirator Jason Baeri for work in the initial design phases.”
Lighting designer, Tim Deiling, used 35 Ayrton MagicDot SX fixtures to help construct the visual narrative for the Broadway production of SIX The Musical when it transferred from London’s West End in October. Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s multi award-winning musical follows the story of Henry VIII’s six wives, expanding on each of their stories and translating their historic power struggles into a modern day pop contest which breathes dynamic new life into the story.
@Joan Marcus
Tim Deiling’s associate lighting designer, Tim Reed, tells us more: “The show takes place on a standing set with no set moves throughout. Instead, we chose to use a rock concert style of lighting with lots of beam looks at all times to determine the visual architecture of the show and to identify and delineate the Queens and their individual looks.
“The MagicDots were an important part of this process, providing striking mid-air effects as well as enabling us to open up the room when all the Queens are present, carve the performance space into different areas, or give each Queen a definitive look. Jane Seymour, for example, is lit in mainly in white using MagicDots with which we are able to create a very ‘closed down’ state, using the architecture of the lighting to really pull the eye towards her.”
The MagicDot SX fixtures are sited on upstage towers where their compact form proved a real advantage: “The towers are narrow with not much real estate, so a big part of the decision process was the size of the MagicDot SX and how they fitted into the set,” says Reed. “Also, I’d used them before on several shows and they are the most reliable fixture I know for their continuous rotation and their constant ability to return to a specific position. I would definitely recommend Ayrton for that!”
“Originally the MagicDot SX came to be on SIX because it was an offering from Stage Electrics, our supplier in the UK,” states Tim Deiling. “But I now can’t imagine doing the show without them. They are so small and easy to hide in the set, however, they are so bright, so fast, and so punchy that they can really dominate a scene. You can mix them in with much larger fixtures and not know the difference.”
“Because we were using them to create great beams and effects rather than lighting the performers themselves, it was really nice to have continuous rotation and a few other effects that we don’t normally use,” continues Tim Reed. “We also took advantage of the SX model’s zoom feature, zooming them out to light the towers and give them a glow, and really frame the trussing. “They behaved fantastically, they are super quick and they gave us the beams we want.”
SIX The Musical continues its run on Broadway and in the West End, and is currently touring the UK, with a US tour scheduled to start in spring 2022.
More information on MagicDot SX and Ayrton’s full range of LED lighting fixtures, can be found at www.ayrton.eu
Cirkusrevyen (Circus Review) is hugely popular and the longest-running review performance in Denmark, with a 6-month season kicking off every year since 1935 except for 1945 (due to fire) and 2020 (due to you know what!). Staged in a purpose-built big top tent in Klampenborg, Dyrehavsbakken north of Copenhagen, known and loved for its incisive and hilarious style of political satire … the 2021 season was lit for the first time using Robe Esprite moving lights.
The lighting spec also included a Robe RoboSpot remote follow spotting solution, LEDWash 300+s and LEDBeam 150s, all supplied by rental specialist Live Company, who were working on their second season as a supplier.
Photo Henrik Petit
Lighting designer Malthe Haugaard was designing his fifth Cirkusrevyen season, which started on its usual date of around 6th May initially to restricted audiences due to Coronavirus rules. As these were gradually relaxed, ticket sales opened up and were devoured as demand for live entertainment far outstripped availability!
A brand-new production design is created for each season, just as a new review format is evolved and developed. In addition to the backbone of sketches, the action is interspersed with performance slots for music and dance numbers. The challenge is always how to best and most efficiently maximise the confines of the tent space to deliver the highest production values, and for the rig to be infinitely adaptable, as the show script changes right up to doors most weeks, keeping pace with current affairs and issues. For this season, the Esprite were newly purchased by Live Company to replace the older moving lights that have featured on previous productions. Of the 19 x Esprite used for general show lighting, seven were rigged on a truss between the tent’s rear king poles – making up the ‘front’ position in relation to the stage – with the other 12 on the over-stage rig where they were used for back lighting and gobo effects.
Photo Henrik Petit
Malthe likes the output, the colours including the range of whites – he’s a big fan of white source LEDs – as well as the colour mixing, flat beam field and “fantastic continuity” offered by the fixtures through every show. This is important with nine shows a week, and an aspect that was a lot more idiosyncratic using discharge lamp fixtures!
The show is also recorded for television, and the TV production team were also suitably impressed with Esprite capabilities and features like the high CRI, green filters, and anti-flicker C-Pulse PWM management. Using LED light sources has also contributed to reducing the overall temperature of the tent during the summer months which can hit a sizzling 50 degrees!
A RoboSpot system was first introduced to Circusrevyen three seasons ago, making a massive difference to the show and benefitting everyone’s health and peace-of-mind not having spot operators in the tent roof! “Safer and more versatile all-round,” says Malthe.
Photo Henrik Petit
Three Esprite FS (Follow Spots) were supplied for the 2021 system, complete with the integral camera, controlled via two BaseStations located in a small office outside the tent with a full screen view of the stage. Keeping this area completely separate worked well for the Covid distancing regulations whilst still in place. Using an integrated RoboSpot system also enabled the lights to be utilised for other tasks apart from just following artists.
The other Robe elements on the rig were 35 x LEDWash 300+s, used for stage and front washes. Malthe says with a smile, that he’s hoping to get LEDBeam 350s onto the 2022 season for this same function, and he’s also eyeing up using Tetra2s, Robe’s moving LED batten, as he really likes these. Eight Robe LEDBeam150s under a glass topped podium were used to great effect for one of the dance acts, and there was also an old-skool PAR can wash along the front positions for some tungsten contrast. All lighting was controlled via a grandMA3 console.
Photo Henrik Petit
Malthe works at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen as a programmer in addition to running his thriving freelance lighting design practice and has used Robe for many years in his work, having first encountered the brand whilst working at Copenhagen’s famous Tivoli Gardens amusement park around 15 years ago. He thinks Robe has “advanced enormously” in the last five years and is now “constantly bringing new, cutting edge and properly innovative products” to the market.
Live Company is a fast-growing rental company based in Copenhagen that has also started investing steadily in Robe products. For Circusrevyen, they supply the full lighting package including a production LX and console operator.
For more info about Robe lighting, you can visit www.robe.cz
SIXTY82, ‘The New Original’ manufacturer of next-generation trussing and staging systems, has continued the expansion of its global distribution network with the appointment of PSP Elektronik as its exclusive distributor for the Republic of Serbia, with immediate effective.
PSP Elektronik started its company in 1990 with its main activity being the service of pro audio and video equipment, before expanding into the sales and hire of this equipment to meet the increasing demand in the entertainment industry market for professional products.
(From left to right) Bijana Sremcev, Miodrag Tarailo, Aleksandar Tarailo.
On becoming SIXTY82’s distributor for the Republic of Serbia, PSP’s Miodrag Tarailo says: “I have known many people from SIXTY82 for many years and I have always had a very positive experience with them. With such great, professional and positive people behind the brand, the products are sure to be top level, which is why we choose to be a distributor for SIXTY82.”
PSP Elektronik will sell the whole SIXTY82 product line as well as holding rental stock of several SIXTY82 products. “Knowing PSP as a company for many years, it’s a big pleasure to have them on board as our SIXTY82 partner and exclusive distributor,” says SIXTY82’s executive account manager, Henry Schuil. “Their approach, experience and professionalism are a well-known fact in the Serbian market. I’m looking forward to meeting new challenges alongside the fantastic PSP team.”
To increase familiarity of the SIXTY82 brand in the Republic of Serbia, PSP Elektronik will promote the product range from within the company and across the internet. A programme of open houses and customer visits is also in their immediate plans. ‘I must listen closely to my customers, get a feel for the market, and have eyes to see every detail,” says Miodrag Tarailo. “I shall be a ‘priest’ who preaches about SIXTY82 products and connects them to its ‘believers’!”
‘Ministry of Sound Classical presents Three Decades of Dance’ took clubbers on a journey through the dance anthems of yesteryear. Martin Audio’s signature sound, as featured in Ministry of Sound clubs worldwide, was provided by RG Jones and mixed by Phil Wright a devotee of Martin Audio’s flagship and multi-award-winning MLA.
Working for promoters Coalition Presents, who produced the event with Raymond Gubbay, RG Jones—who already had a relationship with MoS, having provided equipment for some of their events—fielded 18 MLA a side. This was a similar configuration to that fielded for War of the Worlds at the same venue. Hangs of 12 MLA Compact provided outfills on each side, and 16 MLX subwoofers were set in a broadside cardioid array with a 2m central gap for a stage thrust, surrounded by a circular screen, on which the DJs performed. Eight DD12s were deployed as front fills along with some MLA Mini enclosures.
The components were chosen by RG Jones’ Jack Bowcher and his colleague Sam Millen handled the prep, assembled the racks, built the network (on a Dante and AES backbone) and was onsite technician alongside Doug Hunt.
Millen stated, “We worked together to achieve a great sounding PA, using the Merlins [Martin Audio’s digital loudspeaker management system] to provide more outputs in order to have greater control of the system.
I then time-aligned the PA and then Doug and I tuned the system together.” Hard Avoid was used to avoid slapback from the back of the arena. This provided a perfect environment for Phil Wright to mix the sound on a 96-channel DiGiCo SD12. “And we used every channel,” he exclaimed.
It was the sound engineer’s first time working at the O2, in front of 18,000 people. Of the challenges he said, “Although it was a loud show, with four DJs, we had to ensure the orchestra was the headliner. Local promoters feared we may had peaked too early, as Paul Oakenfold was on relatively early. But the production went up a level when the orchestra came on.”
Of MLA he confirmed ”We managed to avoid a lot of slapback [using the Hard Avoid feature in the DISPLAY software] and the direct-to-reverberation ratio was mind boggling.” The entire orchestra were on in-ear monitors, and most of the instruments were miked with DPA CORE 4099. “The combination between this and the PA was fantastic,” he said.
“Despite the proximity to the PA we achieved a super amount of rejection at the back of MLA which meant I could mix it at 105dB comfortably without feedback. The crowd were screaming at 102dB and so I had to put the show on top of that.”
He said the power offered by the MLA / MLX combo meant “I had another 15dB [under the hood] had I needed it; it’s bonkers how loud it would go. By putting in a really big system and merely tickling it, the impulse response was utterly visceral and really grabbed you in the chest.”
Also represented were Martin Audio’s parent company Focusrite, with their RedNet Audio-over-IP solution, an A6R MkII analogue interface for Dante feeding the Shure PSM1000 in-ears.
Other RG personnel on duty included Rosie Tarrant (on stage and RF tech), Leigh Davis (on stage and personal monitors) while Nathan Kennedy was PA tech.
Idols South Africa 2021 underwent its most substantial visual transformation for a few years with a shift of venue, from the State Theatre in Pretoria to Studio 10 at the Urban Brew complex in Johannesburg.
This moment was seized by the show’s long term lighting designer Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier, for a radical re-think, and for the first time in 17 Idols seasons, he presented a lighting co-design created collaboratively with Andre Siebrits, also from Visual Frontier.
The pair relied heavily on Robe moving lights – over 200 were specified on the rig, plus two RoboSpot remote follow spotting systems – to assist with a fresh new aesthetic that takes the SA edition of the show production to ‘next level’ status. Due to Covid regulations, a large live audience was still not possible this year, so Josh and Andre embraced this effective restriction by redefining the look and optimising it for the multi-camera direction of Gavin Wratten, who also had some clear ideas about visuality.
Taking a ‘bare stage’ approach was a bold and confident move that utilised lighting plus all the negative spaces in the room to create the drama, depth, and diversity. “It had to look completely different from anything before but also very contemporary,” explained Josh, “and for this we needed multi-purpose fixtures to be at the core of the rig.” The backbone of the slick modern lighting look was created with Robe Esprites and MegaPointes with 24 of each type. The rig was enhanced by having the two RoboSpot systems controlling six BMFL WashBeams – also a first for an Idols SA series.
The RoboSpot systems controlled four front and two back BMFL WashBeam luminaires, bringing precise control of key lighting. “It was a case of the right kit for the right space!” commented Andre, explaining that the clear uncluttered stage area and the way it was lit evoked the huge depth and perspective shots that Gavin wanted.
With a high gloss-black floor and large sections of upstage LED video screen complete with a central entrance – the LED reflections produced great bounce-back along the stage floor – the ESPRITES, MegaPointes and other Robe moving lights were all chosen for their power and flexibility plus other key features like the CMY colour mixing.
Both Josh and Andre use Robe products regularly and enjoy the range and the reliability of the fixtures. The Esprites were rigged above the centre stage area with the MegaPointes arranged in striking horizontal left, right and centre lines running lengthways down the studio, producing a sense of linear elegance and numerous effects as the ‘show workhorses’.
Both fixtures are “light in weight, bright and proved perfect for lighting artists, bands and judges as well as creating big gobo looks, stage washing and those glorious ‘international’ scenes that we wanted as a signature for this season,” elucidated Josh, who has been involved with lighting every Idols SA since the concept started there in 2002! Having the lines of MegaPointes and the pool of Esprites tied into the way the RoboSpot BMFLs were used as they were also a vital part of the lighting and stage geometry.
With all six follow spots run from the two BaseStations positioned at FOH near to Andre and Josh, this was an excellent set up for producing more interesting spot lighting effects whilst tying up less crew! Using the RoboSpot system also made it practical for the first time ever to have rear follow spots on an Idols SA show! “All of this further boosted our adaptability and ability to react at short notice,” observed Josh.
In between the MegaPointes in the studio roof were 24 x standard Robe Pointes and joining them on the rig, 24 x Spiiders for overhead washes, plus 24 x Spikies and 24 x LEDBeam 150s for whizzy fun effects and beam looks. Josh and Andre appreciated the colour matching and “excellent consistency” in colouration that exists between all the different Robe fixtures, which all helped speed up the programming process and is highly effective for television lighting scenarios.
In addition to some the most recent Robe technology on the rig, some favourite ‘legacy fixtures’ included LEDBeam 100s, LEDWash 600s and 800s and even ColorSpot 700s and ColorWash 2500E ATs which are still going strong! These and all the other lights on the rig were programmed and run on a grandMA3 console.
Challenges as always include creating a series of complex and fabulous lightshows for all the artists. They were often dealing with up to 14 songs a week in a tight timeframe due to the show format and schedule and a short amount of onstage time for both artists and the production team. And while after 17 years Josh isn’t fazed by this as he has the routine down to a very effective process, it still gets the adrenaline rushing every time! He comments that while it’s become quicker in some ways over time, the complexity of what’s now expected in that same short time window … has grown massively!
In this context, it was great having Andre working alongside him as co-LD. “Two minds working in unison the way we have are so much better,” he commented, adding that his extensive Idols experience combined with Andre’s fresh eyes on the show made it an “exciting and invigorating” way to work together with the “fantastic” range of multipurpose fixtures at their fingertips! All technical AV equipment was supplied and managed by Dream Sets, co-ordinated for them by Eben Peltz for Idols SA producers SIC Entertainment. The show’s producer was Anneke de Ridder and it was broadcast live each week on the Mzansi Magic network. The 2021 Idols SA winner was Berenike ‘Berry’ Trytsman winning the title following weeks of intense competition with over 12 million votes cast!
For more info about Robe lighting, you can visit www.robe.cz
From the invention of the modern line source array in the 1990’s to the introduction of L-ISA immersive hyperreal technology in 2016, L-Acoustics has earned a solid reputation in live entertainment for forward-looking innovation to elevate the listener experience. Today, the company announces that it has become a major investor in Mixhalo, as well as the exclusive audio professional partner of the San Francisco-based company.
Founded by Incubus guitarist and songwriter, Mike Einziger and internationally acclaimed violinist, Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger, Mixhalo enables live event organizers to give audiences low latency audio, delivered directly to their own phones and headphones via a mobile app.
Mike Einziger
Ann Marie Simpson-Einziger
L-Acoustics and Mixhalo first collaborated in 2019 on Aerosmith’s Deuces Are Wild residency at the Park Theater in Las Vegas, offering a live immersive audio experience with L-ISA technology, combined with a VIP on-stage experience with Mixhalo. Since 2019, Mixhalo has successfully deployed its technology across venues and live events including Sting’s “My Songs” Residency at Caesars Colosseum, Red Rocks, Stern Grove Festival and DTE Energy Music Theatre, as well as multiple major league sports venues.
L-ISA immersive technology and Mixhalo powered an enhanced listener experience at Aerosmith Deuces Are Wild residency in Las Vegas. photo Zack Whitford.
The partnership will foster cooperation and co-development between L-Acoustics and Mixhalo to create hybrid solutions that combine sound reinforcement from loudspeakers and wireless audio signal sent via Wi-Fi or 5G to mobile devices and headphones, as well as customized immersive experiences via wireless transmission of spatial audio content. L-Acoustics will provide guidance to support Mixhalo’s organic growth and participate in Mixhalo’s strategic discussions via the appointment of a Board of Directors’ seat.
L-Acoustics CEO Laurent Vaissié.
“Mixhalo has both the team and technology needed to make mobile wireless streaming a premium live event experience. With this strategic investment, L-Acoustics affirms our focus on industry-leading innovation to shape the future of sound,” expressed Laurent Vaissié, Chief Executive Officer at L-Acoustics. “Together with the team at Mixhalo, we look forward to leading the development of hybrid solutions that will complement L-Acoustics high-performance loudspeaker, software and electronics offering and to elevating the fan experience from sports venues and corporate events to immersive concert experiences and beyond.”
Guillaume Le Nost, Executive Director of Creative Technologies at L-Acoustics.
“I’m convinced that hybrid solutions for live events will bring unique immersive experiences to audiences everywhere,” explained Guillaume Le Nost, Executive Director of Creative Technologies at L-Acoustics. “Whether to improve coverage in hard-to-reach seating areas, offer additional content like sports commentary at a game or create a unique and personal experience onstage like Mixhalo did for Aerosmith fans, the potential is bound only by the shared imagination of our development teams.”
John Vars, CEO of Mixhalo.
“L-Acoustics is widely known across the industry for driving innovation of premium audio products, and their extensive global relationships will open many doors for us,” said John Vars, CEO of Mixhalo. “We always look to work with innovators who share our vision for elevating the live entertainment experience, and L-Acoustics is the perfect fit.”
Mixhalo’s $24 million Series B funding round is led by funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC (“Fortress”). Mixhalo’s Series A investors also contributed to the round, including Foundry Group, Sapphire Sport, Founders Fund, Defy Partners, and Another Planet Entertainment.
Twelve Ayrton Domino-S fixtures, part of Ayrton’s IP65 multi-function luminaire family designed for intensive outdoor use, played a variety of roles at Les Francos de Montréal and the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, staged back to back in September this year due to COVID-19.
Les Francos de Montréal is a large annual pop music and performance festival featuring French-language performers from around the world. It has been held for more than 20 years. The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world’s largest jazz festival; every year it features about 3,000 artists in more than 650 concerts and welcomes 2 million-plus visitors. This year’s 41st edition was reduced in size due to the coronavirus pandemic with all shows taking place outdoors. Both events were centered around downtown Montréal’s Quartier des Spectacles.
Solotech in Montréal provided the Domino-S fixtures, which combine extraordinary light power with a full feature set in an IP65-rated, minimalist-designed fixture that can resist hot or cold temperatures, wind, rain, hail, salt, fog, sand and dust. Solotech supplied all the lighting, video and audio gear for both festivals.
Nicolas Labbé, senior technical specialist, business development at Solotech and a lighting designer himself, had seen and tested the Dominos and knew they would fill the bill for Les Francos and the jazz festival. “I was really impressed by what they could bring to the festivals: their intensity and resolution, the richness of the colours, no hot spots at all, and no need for weatherproofing covers that destroy the look.”
Ayrton Domino
Bruno Rafie, lighting designer for both events, hung the Dominos 35 feet in the air on giant, arm-like mega-structures positioned on the street during the festivals. The multi-functional Dominos served as house lights and texture for the public entering the entertainment area, provided illumination for TV reverse shots, and acted as architectural lighting on the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, whose façade was to the right of the public.
Rafie, who has designed the festivals for the last ten years at the Quartier des Spectacles site and who has an even longer history with the festivals, typically needed 64 LED PARs to light the plaza. In addition, for the winter festival Montréal en Lumière he’d used moving lights on the structures but had to enclose them in housings to weatherproof them. “Now, I only needed twelve Dominos, which made for a big saving of time, energy, trussing, cabling and focus,” he says. “They were easy to set up and program, much more versatile and no more installing ugly domes to protect them from the weather!”
The time-saving element of the Dominos was especially important this year when time constraints came into play. “We had only 48 hours for the install, including the stage, compared to the week we usually have,” notes Dan Meier, technical coordinator for both festivals. “I was really happy with the Domino solution. They were easier and quicker to install and program: It only took us three-and-half to four hours to install them instead of a whole day. Different colours and looks were programmed, but there was no need to refocus.” The Dominos furnished top light and texture for the public entering the entertainment area to see performances at both festivals. During shows the Dominos projected colour and gobos onto the museum and its 35 recessed columns to match the on-stage colours of the performances for a very “immersive look,” Rafie explains.
“The Dominos opened very wide for a top light on the big audience and gave us never-seen-before gobo effects plus animation wheel gobos,” he reports. “They also had a nice CTO and had no problems when it rained a lot for several days. I was happy that the festivals showcased what Domino can do.”
Meier recalls one performance that featured people on bikes with Bluetooth speakers riding among the audience. “The moving lights patterned the places where the bikers were,” he says. “The Dominos were much more flexible fixtures for everyone. I was also impressed by their power – even though the Dominos were so high up, they were powerful enough for really nice effects. I think they’re a really good solution for everybody.”
For his part, Rafie is eager to use Domino again and has other applications for the fixture in mind. “I can’t wait to use them as stage lights next,” he says, “especially in the front lights position where they are more exposed to different weather conditions.”
Solotech’s Labbé looks forward to putting the Dominos to the test when temperatures really plunge in Montréal. “We have the winter festivals and the Montréal en Lumière celebration of lights coming up next year,” he notes. Below zero temperatures don’t stop festivities for hardy Montrealers.
ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton products in North America. www.actentertainment.com
More information on Ayrton Domino IP65 rated fixtures and the extensive portfolio of innovative Ayrton LED fixtures can be found at www.ayrton.eu
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