What is an Opto-Splitter?
As your lighting requirements grow, the need to split your DMX signal may grow as well. Perhaps you’ve made do with your DMX by daisy-chaining your fixtures; however, too many …
So, You’re Ready To Go LED…But Is Your System?
As time goes on, the market continues to develop new, more flexible and efficient means to light the stage with LED technology. Originally, LED lighting fixtures were not capable of producing a high-quality light output. We now have access to high quality LED’s that can produce light almost as good as an incandescent fixture while also adding some very beneficial side effects, like color changing capabilities, lower power draw requirements and low heat radiation. They are used in all levels of production, from Broadway to High Schools.
Because LED’s have become almost commonplace in the entertainment industry, we often take for granted the changes that they can require to our facility’s infrastructure. Most venues that still utilize incandescent lighting systems continue to do so because of the cost to change their existing systems to allow the use of the new fixtures. An LED fixture differs from its incandescent predecessor because it is more of an electronic device than a light. With that difference comes special requirements for proper use. LED’s require both data, in the form of a DMX signal, and power be supplied to each device.
GLP to Unveil Impression X5, Impression X5 IP Bar, and XDC1 IP Hybrid at Prolight + Sound
With the brand-new impression X5 series, GLP sets a new standard for LED wash moving lights. This new development is the prelude to a whole series of innovative luminaires and will be on show at Prolight + Sound alongside the X5 IP Bar and XDC1 IP Hybrid, an exciting fusion of X5 Wash and untamed JDC1 strobe power, at Stand C30 in Hall 12.1.
The impression X5 is a “next-generation LED wash light” – a new workhorse that brings all the benefits of the iconic X4 series with cutting-edge technology and much anticipated new features. The fixture weighs only 29.3 lbs (13.3 kg) and is equipped with 19 powerful 40-watt RGBL LEDs that provide an incredible light output and an expanded color gamut. GLP’s new iQ.Gamut color algorithm, for example, ensures that the impression X5 produces a clean white point at 6,500 K with high color rendering (CRI 90 / TLCI 90) as standard, plus the option to switch to other fixed and precisely calibrated white points. With the new super-fast zoom mechanism, the impression X5 offers a 16:1 zoom from 3.5° to 60° with homogeneous light distribution across the entire range.
Brightline Lights Illuminate Virtual Learning and Meetings at Temple University
Brightline, a leading manufacturer of video lighting systems, announced a sale of 13 ZELo desktop lights and four Flex-T Series multi-directional lights to Temple University in Philadelphia. The project came together through the efforts of lighting consultant O’Donohoe Lighting and lighting rep agency Diversified Lighting.
The ZELo desktop lights are currently in use by faculty and administrators at Temple for remote instruction and internal meetings. The Flex-T’s will be used to light the office of the President of Temple University, Dr. Jason Wingard. Wingard made headlines last year after his appointment as the first African American to serve as President in the school’s 138-year history. He was previously the dean and professor of the School of Professional Studies at Columbia University.
DCR Nashville Says “Bring on the rain!” With Proteus Maximus™
Like many in our industry, full service event production company DCR Nashville (DCRNashville.com) expects things to get extremely busy in the very near future. “Things in the live event industry are about to go absolutely nuts,” declared Howard Jones, founder and CEO of DCR Nashville, who just added 65 Proteus Maximus™ LED power luminaires to its ever expanding inventory. “With the supply chain issues that continue to plague the industry, it’s often a case of ‘If you’ve got the gear, you’re going to get the gig.’ With acquisitions like this, we’re positioning ourselves to be able to take advantage of that.”
DCR is dedicated to offering an up-to-date inventory of new equipment for clients in the corporate, live event and the concert touring markets. Seeking to add more powerful fixtures to their inventory, especially IP65 rated offerings, Jones says they knew they wanted to take a close look at the Proteus Maximus.
GLP JDC1 and X4 Bar 20 Deliver Better Days for Dermot Kennedy
Production designer Owen Pritchard-Smith used multiples of GLP’s impression X4 Bar 20 battens and JDC1 hybrid strobes for several rescheduled UK shows on Dermot Kennedy’s recent Better Days tour. These included dates at Alexandra Palace in London before the Irish singer headed off to the States.
“Two of the Ally Pally shows were rescheduled from last year, and then a third date was added,” he explains. “We also did shows in Manchester, Glasgow, and Belfast, and a couple of festivals.”
Returning to the same winning combination he had taken out with the artist when they first started working together three years ago, the GLP fixtures again formed the “absolute core” of a rig that was embellished for Ally Pally, Pritchard-Smith says. Working alongside creative director Richard Sloan and producer Peter Abbott, he adds that he set out to design a show that could be “fractured and unsettling but also perfect and beautiful.”
ADJ Fixtures Light Up Performance Stages At 5th Annual Black Joy Parade Headlined By Ashanti
The Black Joy Parade is a celebration of the black community’s influence on cultures past, present and future. This year it involved a parade that started at 13th Street in downtown Oakland just after noon and made its way down Broadway to a four block ‘Celebration Site’ around 20th and 21st Street that was filled with vendors, attractions and two performance stages. The roads of the site were closed for the day and the party ran throughout the afternoon up until the 7pm finishing time. Across the Main Stage and Diaspora Community stage, a continuous lineup of DJs and performers entertained huge crowds, building up to a headline performance from RnB singer Ashanti.
Technical production for both stages was the responsibility of Islay Events, a full-service event planning and production company based in Buellton, CA. The company, headed by industry veteran Jeremy Cable, also took care of production for the last Black Joy Parade event in 2020, which took place just weeks before the global pandemic brought the events industry to a grinding halt. The parade wasn’t able to run in 2021, but Jeremy and his team were invited back for this year’s event based on the professional service they provided to the organizers back in 2020. Islay Events’ in-house Lighting Designer, Lazer Freidman, was responsible for the design, programming and running of the main stage rig, which had scaled up production for this year’s show due to the caliber of the headline artist.
MMJ Get Whimsical With GLP KNV Dot Starfield Galaxy
After celebrating 15 years lighting My Morning Jacket (MMJ) – including seven design cycles – any LD could be forgiven for running out of fresh ideas.
But not Marc Janowitz, who recently started using GLP’s innovative KNV Dots – the latest in a long history of discovering solutions within the German company’s fast-evolving LED inventory.
GLP FUSION Exo Beam Creates ‘Reflection’ in the Bauhaus
When lighting designer Henning Schletter received a commission to develop a light art installation in a former study room of the Bauhaus building in Dessau, he didn’t have to think twice. As part of the Bauhaus Festival 2021, an interactive installation was created in which the building’s vertically opening windows, in combination with FUSION Exo Beam spotlights from GLP, sparked a light spectacle with contemporary relevance.
“For someone who is very interested in design himself, the Bauhaus is the Holy Grail,” says Schletter, who specializes in the theatre and installation sectors, as well as light art and video, and Berlin Fashion Week. “The Bauhaus was a breeding ground for everything that involves us today in terms of modern design. It was really great to be able to work in these ‘sacred halls’ for once.”
Elation Expands US Sales Team With Addition of Ross Blitz as Channel Market Manager – East
Elation Professional is pleased to welcome Ross Blitz to the company’s growing US sales team in the position of Channel Market Manager – East. Ross, who is based in New York City, started in the new position in late February with a primary focus on the key vertical markets of live entertainment and broadcast & film across the Eastern US.
Ross brings with him invaluable experience as a lighting director, programmer and production manager from years working in concert touring, television and broadcast. He spent the last 10 years as a concert touring lighting director, honing and expanding his lighting skills while developing important relationships in the live performance market. His many credits include working as Lighting and Media Director for Lionel Richie, as well as serving on the lighting team for three Olympic Games (2016 Rio de Janeiro, 2018 South Korea, and 2020 Tokyo).