production news

Martin MAC 2000 Wash XB's Light Obama Election Night Rally

By all accounts, November 4 was an historic day for America as the nation elected its first African-American President. The culmination of an arduous campaign came later that evening, in Chicago's Grant Park, when President-Elect Barack Obama held his presidential acceptance speech before a home town crowd of more than 100,000 revelers.

Called upon by event producer C3 Presents to light the rally was stage lighting rental and production company Christie Lites, lighting contractor and lighting supplier for the event.

"The job was somewhat unusual to light because it was outdoors and at the same time had to be lit for TV in a manner typical of an indoor studio," commented Huntly Christie, CEO of Christie Lites Orlando. "As such, it was a real mixed bag of lighting. However, the most prominent fixture on the site was the Martin MAC 2000 Wash XBTM. They were instrumental in making sure that the world witnessed this historic event."

Lighting designer for the event was Bob Peterson who described the evening and his assignment as such, "It was a very historical night with a feeling of excitement and also a sense of relief when the results were announced. I received directions from the Obama team that the lighting was to be appropriately conservative with no celebratory effects. The brief was to elegantly transfer from the exuberance of the campaign to the seriousness of the presidency."

The MAC 2000 Wash XB's, which made up two-thirds of the automated lighting package, were spread out across three 80' Stageco towers, a 30' 10 x 10 scaffold, a mobile Elevated LED Screen, and two stage backlight scaffolds. Light from the extra bright version of the MAC 2000 Wash was used for stage backlighting, for near audience lighting, and to illuminate a stately row of distant trees. Self-contained Musco mobile lighting trucks did a great deal of the far field lighting.

"As audience fill light the color temperature adjustment of the XB's allowed me to feather in the transition from the stage lighting (4800 Kelvin on President-Elect Obama) to the audience fill lighting (around 5800 Kelvin)," Peterson says. "I was thrilled with the CT variance capacity of the XB's and delightedly shocked at the light output from them. There was a bank of trees about 1000 ft away which they unexpectedly lit up."

The MAC 2000 Wash XB is a new 1500 W Fresnel that takes the optical and effect qualities of Martin's MAC 2000 Wash and adds greater brightness (over 60,000 lumens of power), new efficient fans, ballast, starter and more.

"The combination of Martin quality along with Christie Lites deserved reputation for phenomenal care and maintenance of all their equipment assured a fully functional system. We had no failures," Peterson stated.

Peterson does mention challenges, which he says were all present in the "cut shot," an important camera view from the southwest corner of the park through the President-Elect into the crowd all the way to the city skyline in the background. "The driving photographic issue was exposing to the skyline," he says.

Opening the iris to accomplish that task created concern about the amount of uncontrolled light from the huge corps of press photographers on hand. "I was a bit worried that we might be required to open up iris so much that the press lighting would be an uncontrollable competitive light source," Peterson explains. "In the end the hundreds of Chimeras and Kino's acted like the world's biggest softlight and filled his profile to that camera angle."

Championed by Emmett Belliveau of the Obama campaign with field general duties handled by his event producer John Liipfert of The Obama Campaign Team, the event came off without a hitch. The night had a magical air to it and the event was viewed as a success on all fronts. Much of the success on the lighting front can be attributed to the Christie Lites event staff of 15, including Account Rep Robert Roth who was on the job site from start to finish.

Roth was part of the event survey which took place October 14th and 15th, a mere three weeks prior to the event! That survey was led by C3, and Obama's advance team. All major departments were represented including lighting, video, staging, and audio, as well as security, and the United States Secret Service.

"Bob Peterson had a clear vision of the lighting and The Campaign Team (OFA) had a clear budget they had to adhere to," Roth comments. "We then got every body on the same page as far as what was doable and Bob sketched out broad elements of the lighting for them.

"The stage wasn't a traditional square covered stage and was expertly conceived by Bruce Rogers. It was then a question of us getting the supporting physical elements in place correctly to provide lighting positions. The XB was the primary base instrument. I've been using them since their launch, including festivals this past summer, and I am very impressed with the fixture's performance and reliability.

"A special part of this was the scale of the event and what was going to appear on the TV screen at home and in newspapers around the world the next day. That is where Bob excelled at his craft. The Obama campaign wanted a lack of visible production elements so that when the cameras looked past the President-Elect to the crowd there was not an abundance of technology showing.

"It was about the people, the skyline, the moment; Bob did a masterful job of getting it lit for still camera and television so that all the elements worked in balance with each other," Roth concludes.

Lighting Equipment:
72 x Martin MAC 2000 Wash XB                   
2 x grandMA console    
6 x SyncroLite XL's
2 x Musco Type "C" Trucks
72 x Altman Focusing CYC                      
29 x 2 foot Ministrips    
3 x Jem ZR33 Hi-Mass     
3 x DF-50 Hazer                  
3 x Versa Fan                    
3 x M2 2.5k Lycian Spots      
4 x Lycian 1293 3k Xenon Followspot

www.martin.com

Martin MAC III Profile Passes Test on James Blunt

Martin Professional's new MAC III Profile is getting a thorough run through on one of this year's most popular and extensive world tours - and needless to say, stage fright has not been a problem.

"I'm impressed," commented James Blunt LD Paul Normandale, one of the first lighting professionals to get his hands on the new 1500 W profile spot. "The fixtures offer a significantly brighter tier of lighting, a great wide aperture source, a dramatic zoom, real strobing...and finally a real red!"

The James Blunt tour is one of a handful of field test outings for the new profile spot. The tour, which has been playing venues worldwide since early in the year, has embarked on a new leg (Europe and Canada) with a freshly designed lighting rig. The addition of the MAC III ProfilesTM along with an LED wall of Martin LC SeriesTM panels expands the show's visual impact for the larger venues that Blunt plays on the current leg.

Normandale, creative director and lighting, set and video designer on the English artist's prolonged 2008 tour, says he chose the MAC III because he was looking for a bright hard edge fixture for a high 48 ft trim and needed a powerful spot to complement a Martin LC Series LED screen. Capable of punching out over 33,000 lumens of power, Normandale says of the MAC III's: "Even at extreme zoom it has light to spare from a trim of nearly 50 ft across a video wall."

Located high in a circle truss arch, the MAC III's broad front lens projects a unique fat beam that looks great mid-air for a refreshing new look. "The high output is a nice feature and when you combine it with the broad beam it gives a much welcome, very different look," Normandale says.

The MAC III Profile is the first luminaire in Martin's third generation of MAC moving heads. It features an all new design both inside and out for greater performance and includes new 1500 watt lamp technology, a long list of innovative features and advances in control, handling, service and more.

Glen Johnson, who handles lighting direction and runs the lighting and video on the tour, commented, "So far there have been no failures in the rig, which for a new light is fantastic."

Normandale of Lite Alternative, the UK based lighting production company that serves as worldwide vendor for the tour (Upstaging & Lite Alternative in Canada), directs a rig of Martin MAC III Profiles, MAC 700 Profiles, MAC 250 Washes  (changes to MAC 700 Washes in Canada), MAC TW1s, Stagebar 54L LED bars, and Atomic 3000 strobes with Atomic Colors scrollers.

A checkered wall of LC Series LED panels provides a stunning backdrop to the set. Twenty-two LC 2140 panels were chosen because of their 2 x 1 m configuration, Normandale says. "Moving trusses with the panels mounted on them reconfigure through the show, forming a true screen only once for one song. The interlock of the screens was critical and the modular speed of the LC made this possible." The LC panels use standard Prolyte CCS6 conical truss connectors, so linking the lightweight panels together is simple, and with no external power supplies or drivers, each unit comes with everything it needs built in, which reduces logistical costs and set-up time. Lighting control is from a Wholehog III console with Catalyst running the LC panels via fiber optic.

"Support has been great, as usual," concludes Glen Johnson, "with thanks to Mark Ravenhill, Matt Cowles and Simon Allan from Martin for allowing us to abuse their new light!"

Blunt's ‘All the Lost Souls' tour is truly a world tour having already played in the UK, US, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The current leg has him in Europe before hopping the pond for a string of Canadian dates beginning in mid-November.

Tour manager is Robert Hayden, stage manager Jonny Gallagher, lighting designer Paul Normandale, lighting director Glen Johnson  and crew chief Mick Stowe.

photo: Allan Toft

www.martin.com

Coemar De Sisti Supply Opera Australia with Custom LED Solution

Coemar De Sisti Australia was contacted by Colin Alexander from Opera Australia regarding a lighting feature required for the upcoming production of Don Giovanni. The feature included hundreds of 300mm short fluorescents that needed to be DMX controllable. Through investigation they found a fluorescent fixture but had reservations about its suitability and the daunting aspect of control which was going to involve hundreds of dimmer channels.

Colin then met with Peter Kemp, managing director of Coemar De Sisti, and they discussed the possibility of a custom LED solution. Peter proposed an LED strip with a diffused lens with built-in direct DMX control, requiring only an external 24v supply. At first Colin was sceptical of the idea, however Peter arranged for some handmade samples to be made with varying number of LEDs as Opera Australia had a strict budget they needed to adhere to.

In due course Colin was shown the samples and was very impressed with the results and pricing, and he felt it was the perfect solution to their problem. A few minor changes required to the sample such as the mounting system, blackout of part of the fixtures and end caps. These changes were made and a final hand-made sample submitted for the final approval.

One feature that utilises the LED is known as "the clock" which replicated the old style multi segment digital clock and each segment is one LED strip. Coemar De Sisti prepared detailed wiring schematics for the layouts which included all the inter-connecting cables for both 24v supply and DMX to assist Opera Australia when installing the systems. After everything was settled with samples for the project, Opera Australia requested Coemar De Sisti supply a complete system of LED strips and cabling system and manufacture began.

In April this year Coemar De Sisti supplied the complete system, and installation began. Colin was extremely pleased with the end results and raved about the products. "I am so happy with the Custom LED fixture that Coemar supplied and for the level of commitment and service that we received from Peter and his team. They worked hard to supply us with the right product for our 1m x 4m 'Clock' in our production of Don Giovanni. The LED clock had two forms: Act 1 when it was the Clock, it consisted of 121 x Custom LED fittings and then during interval the whole piece was re-hung vertically and an extra piece added to increase the quantity of LEDs to 151 and it became the 'Statue'. Peter worked with myself and lighting designer Nick Schlieper a year out from the opening night, showing us various options of LED fittings and power/control systems.  When we first used the 'Clock' in the Opera House, it brought out quite a few ooh's and aah's from the creative team and crew - not always the easiest audience!"

As Coemar De Sisti frequently have clients with a demand for such a diverse range of custom made LED products, Peter Kemp travels at least once a month to China to work closely with the factory on required samples. This gives the company the opportunity to offer clients a tailored made product and provide them with exactly what they need.

XL8 and XL4 on Oasis World Tour Illustrate the Importance of Being Midas

The Oasis world tour 2008/2009 is a working demonstration of why Midas digital and analogue consoles are the choice of leading sound engineers. On stage, creating state-of-the-art monitor mixes for the band, is a Midas XL8 Live Performance System in the hands of Nahuel Gutierrez. Meanwhile, front of house engineer Bruce Johnston has gone back to his favourite XL4 for this tour after several years of mixing the band on digital boards. Both are extremely happy with their individual choices, which suit their respective tasks and preferences.

The second leg of the band's 14-month world tour got underway in Liverpool the day after new album Dig Out Your Soul hit the streets, and both engineers will be using their Midas desks of choice - supplied by Britannia Row for the European dates - throughout.

Twenty-seven year old Gutierrez has pretty much cut his teeth in the digital era, though this is his first time on an XL8, and his first time as Oasis' main monitor engineer. "Now I can get the analogue sound on a digital desk," he says. "I've been mixing for 10 years, with just the first three on analogue, and until now there hasn't been a console that could deliver the real analogue sound, and more than that, the Midas sound!"

The XL8 is allowing Gutierrez to create more complex monitor mixes than he's previously managed, storing his settings from each show and tweaking and perfecting them for the following one.

"It started quite simply, with 35 inputs, and around 20 mixes, and now I've gone up to 56 inputs with 38 mixes - for a six piece band!" he says. "For example: I do a mix of all the keyboards and bounce it down into two channels, so I've got control of all the keyboards with one fader and if anyone wants more keyboards it's easy; however the keyboard player can have individual channels and the submix goes to everyone else apart from him."

The band are on combinations of in-ear monitors and wedges with sidefills, so Gutierrez is taking advantage of the XL8's flexibility, capacity and features to pull off some really intricate monitoring. Guitars take up a large proportion of inputs, as does Liam's vocals which get split into three different channels for monitors, in ears and effects, the two latter mixes being gated using the onboard dynamics to cut out the stage noise. Gutierrez is also using the XL8's onboard  compressors. "Having four different choices of compressor again means this console is a step ahead, and you can switch between them live with the push of a button and really hear the difference, without having to repatch or load a plug-in.

"There was a lot of room for expansion and flexibility on the XL8, which has meant I can try out new ways of doing things," he continues. "For me the POP (population) groups, which group the channels and bring them to you, are one of the best things. I'm also making good use of the Area B for songs which have cues; I have a bunch of channels I need to have handy all the time and access easily, and they're always over there in Area B."

Front of house engineer Johnston has worked with Oasis since 1997, starting off on an XL4 and working through various digital boards before returning to analogue for this tour. "Oasis are the perfect band for it; their last few records have been really dirty and fuzzy and compressed so I couldn't justify going back out with a digital board," he says. "I really wanted to hear what the XL4 would sound like going back to it, and I've found it's 100% better, it's like night and day. I felt digital was distracting me from mixing; I was so preoccupied with touching buttons and looking at screens that the sound became secondary.

"I always struggled with the drums on digital boards; I could never make them sound right. When I got back onto XL4 I pushed up the kick drum and there it was - that drum sound I'd been missing! My gut feeling is that the XL4 will be the Neve of the future."

In picture (top) Oasis monitor engineer Nahuel Gutierrez with the Midas XL8; (lower) Oasis FOH engineer Bruce Johnston with the Midas XL4.

www.midasconsoles.com

Bandit Lights Jackson Browne World Tour

Bandit Lites is on tour with Rock & Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter, Jackson Browne. Promoting his 2008 album, Time the Conqueror, Browne is currently out on a world tour including stops in the United States, Asia, Australia and Europe.

Browne will be touring through March of 2009. Lighting and production designer, Dave Davidian chose to use an LED-based rig including American DJ PAR LEDs, ETC Source Fours, Coemar Impressions, Pulsar Chromabanks and 4lite inline moles. He also added Martin MAC 500s. Lighting is controlled by two High End Systems Whole Hog IIs. Davidian said the concept behind the design was in doing a smaller theater-based tour, to give the artist as many different angles and levels of lighting that they could within that format. Davidian provided Browne different levels of height with vertical trusses, horizontal trusses and sidelight angles both upstage and downstage.

Another key element to the design was to be environmentally aware when making design and equipment choices. It was something very important to Jackson Browne and something that he was very specific in his request to do.

"The fact that we're using a lot of LED fixtures saves a lot of power. It was important to (Browne) to use less energy and to leave a smaller carbon footprint as he comes and goes in each town," Davidian explained. "We believe it'll be the difference between a system that would normally be a 500 amp- 3 phase to a 200 amp- 3 phase per leg, so it's a significant reduction. It isn't a financial savings, and that wasn't his goal as much as he wanted to do all that he could to leave a greener planet."

Davidian added: "This is my first venture into LED fixtures. It's certainly new territory for me. This isn't the first ‘green' full LED system but it is one of the first. It is both interesting and challenging for me to break in new technology, especially because it mixes colors differently than we're used to."

Davidian said the big challenge that he dealt with was to provide a multi-layered, leveled rig within a system that has to be flexible with a quick set-up. Jackson Browne does early afternoon sound checks so Davidian had to create a lighting system that could be up and away by lunchtime everyday. "In the past Jackson has used a lot of straight trusses to facilitate set-up time but I really wanted to break away from that this time around and give him a little more varied looks," Davidian explained. "This is also the first tour that Jackson has multiple moving light fixtures. By going green, he has actually changed the look of his show from what is traditionally a par can system to more of a moving light, led system. It will certainly provide a different look for the show for him, his fans and for me."

Bandit general manager, Dizzy Gosnell added: "At the design stage, Dave  (Davidian) and Dennis Scrimo (the production manager) asked if it was possible to provide an all LED par can system in addition to the Impression LED moving wash light. Jackson was keen to have a regular touring lighting system be as environmentally efficient as possible on power, and the 132 LED Pars and Impressions have certainly achieved that. Dave has been able to re-think how you work with the trusty Par and created a really fresh and inspiring show. The design options using it are really exciting for the future, and we are really proud at Bandit to be able to showcase this technology with such a well respected artist."

Bandit crew on this tour includes programmer, Nathan Alves and lighting technician, Steve Comer.

www.banditlites.com

Alicia Keys Stars on a Brilliant Stage

UK-based stage set fabricators, Brilliant Stages have designed and constructed the dynamic and exciting set for the Alicia Keys As I Am Tour. Following a European launch at the beginning of the year and a summer spend touring the States, the tour has returned once more to Europe, before embarking on its final leg in Australia later this year.

Tour Producer, Steve Dixon, of Music Tour Management Inc, who has been responsible for producing tours for other high profile clients such as Justin Timberlake, Barry Manilow, Britney Spears and Mariah Carey, contacted Brilliant Stages before Christmas on the recommendation of Production Director, Jake Berry (U2, Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, Cher).

The creative team responsible for the original design concept consisted of Dixon, lighting designer Bryan Leitch (Siyan Limited), co-lighting director Nick Whitehouse (Visual Light Ltd), video designer Emric Epstein (VYV Corporation) and Martin Granger-Piché (VYV Corporation). Dixon called for a non-traditional use of video and worked with the rest of the creative team to enhance the music message with colours and textures rather than full on traditional video. The presentation of this video was to have a strong influence over the final design. The original concepts from Dixon, Epstein and Granger-Piché were drawn up by Seth Jackman and subsequently handed over to Whitehouse and Leitch further adaptation.

Brilliant Stages finally received the full information for the design in mid January, with the brief that it should be ready for rehearsals by the beginning of February, leaving them a turnaround time of approximately three weeks.

The core of the much-changed design centres around a convex video screen which provides the main projection backdrop. This, in turn, is surrounded by a 4' wide walkway curving around the screen at a height of 10' above the main stage.

Suspended directly underneath the walkway are twelve sloping panels of Philips I-Tiles, each measuring 12' x 4' and comprised of twelve individual 2' x 2' I-Tiles. These panels are hooked onto a track running around the front of the walkway to facilitate rapid assembly and are locked together in two sets (six each side) so they can slide off stage to create an entrance for the piano riser directly under the walkway and video screen.

The result is, as Dixon terms it, "a very dramatic set".

"We designed the set for maximum effect with the minimum of effort for the construction and transport crews involved," explains Brilliant Stages general manager, Tony Bowern. " The curved projection screen enhances the effect of a big set but it is actually very simple. The bi-parting screens, for example, are very effective but, along with the rest of the set, are efficiently designed for rapid set up and break down over the long tour."

David Mendoza designed a magic reveal sequence featuring Color Kinetics iColor Accent Powercore fixtures and a piano riser for Keys' initial entrance. Brilliant Stages created the piano riser as a circular truck, 10' in diameter, the top half of which revolves with the piano on top, while the bottom half acts as a steerable truck.  Both truck and revolve were controlled by a Kinesys system to Brilliant Stages instructions.

Following the curve of the video screen at the lower level are band risers situated either side of central entrance. These are constructed out of Brilliant Stages' low, carpeted Dekex lightweight staging system and backed with the Phillips I-Tile panels as surrounding fascia.

Then came a real challenge - Dixon wanted the artist to be revealed in front of the projection screen on the centre of the upper walkway. Brilliant Stages had to devise and construct a method of making an electric ‘Star Trap' which would emerge from the piano revolve and be located into the centre of the walkway.

Brilliant Stages worked on the project with sister company Tomcat UK which used Tomcat medium duty box trussing to support the video screen and the curved outrunning trusses for the drapes either side. The main lighting rig was composed of thirty sections of Tomcat Swing Wing in a combination of 8' and 10' lengths, plus 5 rotating followspot chairs. "As usual, the turnaround from Tomcat was painless and rapid," says Bowern.

For the American leg of the tour a thrust stage was added. This catwalk was mounted on rollers for ease of fit up and was designed to interface with any height of stage during the three month tour. The catwalk takes Keys through the audience to a circular B stage, also designed by Brilliant Stages, which was originally intended to be 5' in height to conceal the piano beneath it.

However, a last minute decision was made to reduce this height to 4' leaving Brilliant Stages with the problem of how to house the piano within the foreshortened structure. This was overcome by replacing the legs of the piano with electric linear actuators (and the pedals with MIDI foot controls) which could alter the height of the piano as required.

This redesigned B stage and walkway were added to the touring combination only two weeks before rehearsals in another example of how Brilliant Stages is quick to respond, adapt and change according to the customers' needs.

"Brilliant Stages delivered in a crunch, on time and on budget," says Dixon. "When you are working to a tight deadline, it is very important that people can do what they say they can. Equally important is to say when something is not possible.  Brilliant Stages' communication was very clear at all times, presenting us with a series of viable alternatives at any point when what we asked for was not practical."

Alicia Keys tour runs to the end of 2008 ending in Perth Australia.

photo Todd Kaplan

www.brilliantstages.com

projectiondesign in Immersive eArts World Exhibition

As part of its ongoing commitment to exploring new frontiers in audio-visual communication, Norwegian high-performance projector manufacturer projectiondesign has announced its support for the forthcoming eArts Festival. The Festival, which started on 18 October in Shanghai, will offer a three week programme of events, performances and installations, uniting artists from all over the world and creating a fusion of art and new technology.

The eArts Festival activities will take place across a range of venues, each with its own theme. At the Shanghai Science & Technology Museum, the theme is ‘eLandscapes', in which curator Richard Castelli seeks "a total re-working of the screen-spectator relationship, for which new technologies and new narrations are necessary".  Among the exhibition's wide variety of interactive and immersive displays is AVIE - the Advanced Visualization and Interaction Environment pioneered by the Australian-based artist and director of the UNSW iCinema Research Centre, Jeffrey Shaw.

The Shanghai implementation of AVIE will see 12 of projectiondesign's F20 sx+ DLP projectors firing two 1,000 x 8,000 pixel polarized stereoscopic images over the entire surface of a 360-degree screen, which can be viewed by 30 or more visitors using polarizing glasses. A cluster of seven high-performance graphics PCs delivers the image data to the projectors using custom geometry correction and edge-blending software.

Complementing the unique visualization and interaction features of AVIE is its spatialized audio system - a 14.2 channel system with custom surround-sound application software.  With its speakers situated behind the micro-perforated projection screen, this system enables a fully immersive 360-degree placement of sound anywhere around the viewers.

As well as AVIE, a similar panoramic exhibit using two F20 sx+ projectors will take place in the Hampi exhibit.  Five F20 sx+ projectors will be used in a dome configuration in the Hemisphere exhibit. A further six F20 sx+ projectors will be shown in the Globorama as well as 12 projectors configured in a hexagonal back projection in the Virtual Room exhibit. All areas of the event use the existing resources of both iCinema Centre and ZKM Karlsruhe to create an unprecedented array of projectiondesign products to create numerous spectacular visulization scenarios.

Industry-veteran Thierry Ollivier, sales manager at projectiondesign manages the Russia, Japan, Korea and France territories and played a key role in supporting the numerous projects and sponsorship of the touring, comments: "As video projector manufacturers, it is our responsibility not just to give our backing to established business and domestic applications of our technology, but to support artistic work which has the potential to give people an entirely new perspective on how they relate to, and interact with, projected imagery.

"An immersive experience such as this requires projectors with a very high degree of uniformity as well as high levels of brightness and contrast, and that is what our F20 sx+ delivers.  In return for supplying these projectors, we are in the privileged position of being able to see, at first hand, how visitors react to such an immersive and interactive experience.  This in turn deepens our understanding of how people perceive projected images and enriches our own R&D efforts going forward."

As well as the eArts installation, projectiondesign F20 sx+ projectors will also be used for two other projects, co-authored by Jeffrey Shaw and Sarah Kenderdine.

The first is Place-Hampi which includes a series of 3D stereoscopic panoramas inspired by the drama of Hindu mythology opening on November 12, 2008 and showing for the next 15 months (ending January 2010) at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Rosco Gobo Rotators on the Tour de France

The 95th annual Tour de France - the best known cycle race in the world - was broadcast by the Belgian national broadcaster VRT, which presented their programme, including interviews with cyclists and other TV personalities, every night, in a different location along the route. Rosco brightened up the sets by providing gobos and a Gobo Rotator to animate the images.

Projections of a bike, used in the outside courts during the evening, consisted of one fixed gobo of the bike frame, whereas two Gobo Rotators did the moving wheels. There was also one fixed gobo of a bike, projected without moving parts, which was used for interviews and placed in the hotel that the cyclists stayed in.

The gobos and Gobo Rotators proved a hit with the lighting designer Karel Perneel, who's said: "I used them every day without any problem. I was very pleased with the result."

www.rosco.com

Anolis on Oakenfold Stadium Shows

Anolis ArcLine Outdoor Optic LED strips have been installed into Paul Oakenfold's spectacular bespoke rolling riser DJ platform, which is being utilised for his opening sets on Madonna's ‘Sticky & Sweet' world tour stadium shows.

The ArcLines were supplied by Anolis UK's Scott Callis to Litestructures, whose Gareth Mallon designed and built the booth in conjunction with DJ equipment specialist, Pioneer, following instructions  from Oakenfold.

Oakenfold wanted the structure to be as spectacular as possible and help make a real impact during his performance on the stadium sized stages. Complete with integral lighting and plasma screens, it can be assembled by one person in an hour which was another key criteria of the brief. Measuring 3 metres wide by 1.2 metres deep and 1.5 metres high, they needed a robust, powerful and bright LED lightsource to backlight the ‘Paul Oakenfold' logo emblazoned across the front of the structure.

The ArcLine Luxeon Rebel K2 LEDs are well protected inside the sturdy aluminium extrusion that features on the outdoor version of this product, which is also IP rated, and therefore protected from the elements on outdoor shows. The ArcLines backing the logo have been programmed to produce a blue hue to match the corporate colours of Oakenfold's record label, Perfecto. Additional ArcLine Outdoor Optic LED strips have also been integrated into the trussing legs of the structure for general colour washing and effects. All fixtures have been programmed and are run via the Anolis ArcPower 72/K2 driver unit.

Oakenfold comments: "My future global touring schedule will include more and more large stadium shows, both with Madonna and my own Perfecto events. It made sense to custom design my own console for such high profile appearances, and more importantly, a console that is easily transported, can be adapted and expanded for any specific reason or occasion, and is visually appealing. I have been very impressed with the level of professional support and advice received from Anolis, Litestructures and Pioneer, and I am delighted with the beautiful piece of staging technology that has been produced."

www.anolis.eu

L-Acoustics Kudo for Andreas Bocelli Tour of Australia and New Zealand

Italian tenor Andreas Bocelli has completed an arena tour of New Zealand and Australia with an L-Acoustics Kudo line source array system provided by Norwest Productions. The tour included a show at the Sydney Acer Arena, the largest in the southern hemisphere, where Bocelli broke his previous world box office arena record, putting $AU3.273 million through the registers.

The concerts featured a 76-piece orchestra and a 60-piece choir together with baritone Gianfranco Montresor, soprano Paola Sanguinetti and guest star Tina Arena accompanying Bocelli.

"As each orchestra member is playing towards the conductor, the orchestra itself can be considered a point source," says sound designer Andrea Taglia, whose priority for the main system was to preserve the orchestra's sound image, retaining a sharp correlation between the visual of the musicians playing live and the sound system reinforcing it. "I designed a full mono system with a centre cluster of between 12 and 15 Kudo cabinets, depending on the venue, to cover the floor. There was a left and right hang, again of between 12 and 15 Kudos per side, to cover side balconies; left and right side hangs of eight Kudos per side to cover audience seated at the sides of the stage; delays of one or two clusters of six to eight Kudos for covering the front of the balcony and an arc delay subwoofer system of 12 SB218 subs on the ground in front of stage."

Kudo was chosen because its variable horizontal directivity kept the focus on the audience, avoiding reflections. On the side balconies, an asymmetrical configuration of 55°/25° gave smooth dispersion of SPL and frequency for those close to the 55° angled loudspeakers, while those further away enjoyed good high frequency penetration and SPL thanks to the 25° angles. Fully open Kudo cabinets with 110° angles, often rigged at around 15m from the floor, helped cover the front rows without much image shift, while those closed to 50° gave a good focus for the audience further back. "In Melbourne we didn't use delays as the rigging points didn't allow this, and with a centre cluster of 15 Kudos we could easily cover the floor and centre balcony up to an amazing distance of 76m from front of the stage!" says Taglia.

Another benefit of Kudo was that its small footprint preserved sightlines, while its easy captive rigging system allowed the full system to be rigged in a few hours, leaving plenty of time to focus, trim, align and EQ the day before the show. This meant that show days were relaxed and focused on mixing.

Taglia used L-Acoustics' Soundvision prediction software in conjunction with seating plans and rigging points for the different venues. "As both the Soundvision predictions and venue databases were very exact, we only needed to trim the system using an inclinometer and laser pointers mounted on top of Kudo bumpers," he says. "Kudo is a true line source array so a cluster of even 15 cabinets will be heard as a single huge loudspeaker with perfect fusion of all components. With a little tuning the sound image and frequency response will be enjoyable for any audience member.

"Soundvision helped define what was needed months in advance, allowing us to plan the tour budget accurately and give the crew a printout of the system report. This software is highly reliable, with amazing precision that can solve any problems and glitches."

It wasn't just the sound crew who appreciated the Kudo system. "The promoter, local venues and audiences were amazed that the sound system was virtually invisible, giving the illusion that the sound was coming directly from the orchestra on stage," concludes Taglia. "This was noted in the press by several journalists who appreciated the natural and clear sound reinforcement, regardless of the venue or the seat." 

Robe Tungstens for Gold Coast Arts Centre

Eight new Robe ColorWash 750AT Tungsten fixtures have been added to The Gold Coast Arts Centre's moving light system. Arts Centre technical manager Chris Dbais, states:"We needed some new fixtures, and the Robe Tungsten's were the best choice for excellent reliability and great features."

Robe's Australian distributor, the ULA Group, provided the Arts Centre with some demo Tungstens, which were utilised on the ‘Whitlams Orchestral Tour'. After this, everyone was happy and so it was a very easy decision to purchase. Another big advantage was the level of local service offered for the Robe products, on which Dbais says: "I'm well impressed with ULA's fantastic technical support."

The Tungstens are being rolled out in the coming weeks for the Centre's annual in-house production of smash-hit Broadway musical, The Boy from Oz. Lighting director Scott Allan has included the fixtures in his rig, and Dbais comments that he is "excited" to see what the LD comes up with.

The Gold Coast Arts Centre is a multipurpose facility incorporating an Arts Theatre, Art Gallery, Comedy Clubhouse, board rooms, function facilities, cafes, costume hire and chapel. The Arts Theatre is an 1174 seat auditorium, with full stage facilities for theatre shows, conventions and product launches, etc. The Centre also hosts a wide variety of touring productions and special events in addition to staging their own productions and performing arts summer schools.

In picture: GCAC technical manager Chris Dbais, ULA's sales and support Jesse Radatti, GCAC venue services manager Marcel Takac, and GCAC technical co-ordinator John Wallace.

www.robe.cz

Barco Helps Put China's First Spacewalk in Full View

Barco joined in the Shenzhou VII space program in providing large screen projection for the command and control of its first spacewalk.

Shenzhou VII, China's third manned spacecraft, successfully lifted off on Thursday, 25 September at 9:10pm at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province. The pride of China, the Shenzhou spacecraft, with astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng on board, will orbited the earth for 68 hours over a three-day period.

Barco SLM R12+ projectors were used to command and control the entire launch program at both the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and Beijing Aerospace Control Center. The monitoring continued through the duration of the spacewalk and concluded with its culmination, when the astronauts' re-entry module landed in central Inner Mongolia.

When employed in conjunction with an event as momentous at the Shenzhou VII spacewalk, product reliability was paramount to success. Still, more than just delivering a superior, advanced technology product in support of the event, Barco is also providing on-site technical standby around the clock via a specially assigned technical team.

The SLM R12+ is a powerful large-screen projector that features the unique quality of three-chip DLP colors and a very bright 12,000 lumens light output at a sharp price-to-quality ratio. Its bright light output makes it suitable to operate even in venues with lots of other light sources.

"There's no understating the importance of the Shenzhou VII launch and China's aerospace program," says Mr. Xie, the command and control leader of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. "From top to bottom, it needs to go off without any problems. In this sense, Barco has greatly contributed to the effort with its reliable products and highly professional support."

"To participate in and provide support for the Shenzhou VII spacewalk is a true honor for Barco," says Frank Christiaens, managing director of Barco China. "Product reliability is the crucial factor for customers choosing Barco. We're always happy to be able to provide state of the art technical support in any and everyway possible."

Robert Juliat Followspots Highlight Beijing 2008 Olympic & Paralympic Games

In front of 91,000 spectators at the Beijing "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, and an estimated worldwide television audience of 4 billion, the Opening Ceremony kicked off at eight minutes and eight seconds past eight, on the eighth day of the eighth month, 2008.

After a ceremony which lasted over three hours and showcased some of the most advanced technology, the event culminated in the signature lighting of the Cauldron with the Olympic Flame. This was undertaken in dramatic aerial fashion by Chinese sporting legend, Li Ning, a gymnast who won three golds at the 1984 Games, before starting a successful sports clothing business.

The number 8 is considered a lucky number in China, associated with prosperity. Eight Robert Juliat Lancelot 4000W HTI followspots were used to cut through the vast quantity of light produced by the largest moving light rig in history, highlighting critical scenes of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic & Paralympics Games 2008. Eight Robert Juliat Cyrano 2500W HMI followspots were also used across other Olympic-related events across Beijing.

Chief lighting designer for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies was Mr Sha Xiaolan who worked closely with director Zhang Yimou to create the spectacular effects.

Jamie Boey of Robert Juliat China which supplied the Lancelot and Cyrano followspots, spoke to Mr Sha. "Mr Sha was delighted with the performance and quality of the Robert Juliat followspots," says Boey, "and confirmed his decision to use Robert Juliat was based on sound technical reasons."

"The brightness of the Lancelot was a deciding factor," affirms Mr Sha, "since more than 2700 units of 1200W moving lights used in total, so it needed to be able to cut through this amount of light.

"The projection distance was, at times, was more than 200m. The Robert Juliat Lancelot therefore had to fully comply with our requirements for the best ‘distance versus light output' ratio, which it achieved with its extremely narrow zoom range of 2° to 5°.

"Obviously, we must not forget the light quality which gives both flatness of beam as well as sharpness of projection. All these are possible thanks to its excellent optical system.

"I especially like the dimming mechanism which allows a very low output yet maintains its light quality. I also like its user-friendliness and operational smoothness despite its weight, and the fully closing iris mechanism. These are all high-performance, unique features of the Lancelot.

"The Lancelot is a well design followspot with an excellent optical system - a high quality product giving excellent performance.

"Robert Juliat products are excellent!" concludes Mr Sha. "I hope that there will be more new products from them, not only with new technological break-throughs, but which also retain the excellent performance and quality."

www.robertjuliat.fr

grandMA at the Olympics Finishing Line

After 17 days of athletic highlights the Summer Olympics 2008 recently ended with another stunning show in the Beijing National Stadium. Similar to the Opening Ceremony, more than 2,300 DMX controlled fixtures were used to create a worthy finish for the Olympics. And again, three grandMA full-size plus three grandMA full-size as backup, two grandMA light as well as 46 MA NSPs proved their power by controlling the gigantic lighting rig.

Paul Collison, who was responsible for the control system and broadcast lighting, reported: "It always amazes me that the first time people really focus on the Closing Ceremony is two days after the opening. Beijing was no different. What made things very hard was we only had three nights with the stadium lights off. In total this amounts to only 18 hours of programming. Compare this to the six months of programming and thought that goes in to an opening and you start to see my point.

"For that reason most of the closing show was busked. It's not everyday you get a show with 2,000 plus fixtures that is busked. However essentially that's exactly what we had. Mr. Sha, lighting designer for the ceremony, was calling colours and levels and the operators worked hard to facilitate his requests. It was a true example of just how versatile, fast accessible and absolutely reliable the grandMA control system is. To go from something so meticulously planned as the Opening Ceremony to the free flow of ideas that was the closing was amazing to see.

"For the closing we dropped one of the grandMA light consoles into the pit so the LEDs in the tower could be checked properly before it was erected," Collison continued. "This worked well. We knew beforehand the operators would be busy during the show so utilising the multi-user aspect of the grandMA was the perfect option for us.

"A grandMA system was also used in the London's stunning handover show, when a red London bus drove around the stadium and transformed an English lawn into a performance stage," reported programmer Tim Routlegde. "The bus and stage were lit by a variety of LED products, was designed by lighting designer Durham Marenghi, and controlled from laptops running grandMA onPC sending data to an MA NSP and a MA 2Port Node onPC."

The final lighting elements were 26 specially created LED umbrellas that formed two big screens on either side of the bus. These were fed by a grandMA video media server with content created by Routledge.

"To be inside the bus on its journey was the most exhilarating experience of my life; it was both the shortest and longest eight minutes of performance I have ever done and the MA Lighting products were perfect for the show," says Routledge. The showfile was uploaded to laptops inside the bus for the show performance because space was very tight inside - I also never thought I would be controlling headlights and indicators of a bus from a lighting console!"

The handover show during the Closing Ceremony included performances by British singer Leona Lewis, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, and football star David Beckham, representing the change from Beijing to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Instead of relying on the host to offer a stage, the London team used the "double-decker" red bus, a typical vehicle of public transport in London, for their show. Following this, Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing, handed over the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London,After the vast success of the two Olympic ceremonies the grandMA system will also be used at the Opening and Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games that commence on 6 September.

www.malighting.com

Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1200s Light Up Olympic Ceremonies

Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1200 luminaires played a key role in colouring the various scenes for what will be remembered as one of the most spectacular, colourful and thrilling ceremonies of the beginning of this century. More than 2,300 DMX controlled fixtures transformed the main stadium into a sea of lights.

"These are the Games of the records, and so was the opening ceremony," stated Sha Xiao Lan, lighting designer of the opening and closing ceremonies. And to control this never before seen rig of lights I chose the grandMA system from MA Lighting."

Over 100 Clay Paky fixtuires were employed in the lighting inventory.

www.claypaky.it

Solotech Takes No Chances with Sennheiser and Neumann on Céline Dion's World Tour

Céline Dion is on a year-long world tour following her residency of nearly four years at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. This current 'Taking Chances' Tour began on Valentine's Day 2008 in South Africa and by the tour's completion it will have encompassed 120 shows in over eighty cities on five continents, before winding up in Florida in January 2009.

Dion and her crew have long relied on Sennheiser wireless microphones and personal monitoring systems, as well as Neumann microphones. The Taking Chances Tour is no exception, with dozens of channels of Sennheiser RF equipment, courtesy of the singer's exclusive sound, video and lighting provider, Solotech, accompanying her on the global jaunt.

The Tour features a seven-piece band, three backing singers and eight dancers, and is presented in a variety of formats, including in the round, according to each venue configuration

"The fact that we are travelling almost everywhere on the planet with the wireless microphones means that the system has to be really flexible in the choices of the carriers' frequencies," explains Dion's front-of-house engineer, François 'Frankie' Desjardins. "Sennheiser has been a pioneer in that domain and that's one of the main reasons we are using them. We use Sennheiser wireless microphones and belt packs, along with other wireless equipment, because of the flexibility of the system and the great variety of mic capsules. We can always find a microphone that will do the right job in the extensive list of products from Sennheiser or Neumann."

The audio crew, which on this tour includes monitor engineer Charles Ethier, RF engineer Marc Thériault and audio system engineer Mario St-Onge, in addition to Desjardins, makes its recommendation regarding the main vocal mic, but overall say goes with Dion herself.

"She has the last word on the choice of capsule," confirms Desjardins. "On this tour, she is using a Neumann KK 105 S mounted on a Sennheiser SKM 5200 handheld transmitter. The background vocal microphones are Sennheiser MD 5235 capsules mounted on SKM 5200 handhelds."

The Taking Chances Tour is carrying an extensive catalogue of Sennheiser RF equipment that can operate reliably anywhere in the world. The tour's microphones include ten SKM 5200 handheld transmitters with a choice of cardioid and super-cardioid capsules. There are 20 EM 3732 true-diversity twin receivers; 36 EK 300 IEM G2 bodypack receivers; 24 ultra-compact SK 5212 bodypack transmitters; and 12 rack-mount SR 350 IEM G2 twin transmitters, plus a variety of antennas, splitters and combiners. The wireless equipment is monitored and coordinated remotely via four NET 1 systems.

Sennheiser is the first choice for the Taking Chances Tour because of the breadth of the product range and quality of the Company's equipment. But equally important to the crew is the knowledge that as soon as a question arises, Sennheiser will be there with the answer.

"We get super technical support from Sennheiser," explains Marc Thériault, the tour's audio RF/electrical engineer. "Sennheiser is always prepared to go the extra mile to accommodate the specific needs of Céline Dion's elaborate stage presentation, which places extra demands on the equipment. I can talk with a Sennheiser engineer and do some customization for the way that we use it. That's very important for this tour."

Other microphones include Neumann KM 184 and KM 150 condensers, evolution series e 902, e 906, e 835 and e 835 S dynamics, e 914 condensers, plus four each of the MKH 40 and MKH 60 shotguns to pick up audience reactions.

Even the production crew uses a number of Sennheiser HMD 25 boom headsets.

"The HMD 25s are used primarily by the backline people to communicate on the 'party line'," continues Desjardins. "Those are modified by Sennheiser Canada. They have a magnetic switch in the boom so when the boom is up the mic is off. The speakers are the ones found in the HD 25. The people have an SK 5212 transmitter to talk and an EK 300 to listen to their respective mix during the show so they can be fast to troubleshoot a problem. Some other HMD 25s are used as a standard intercom system by the stage manager and lighting director."

Céline Dion's world tour continues across North America this September.

Martin MAC 2000 Wash XB Colors Singapore National Day 2008

"The MAC 2000 Wash XB's are awesome! It's an absolute winner!" That's how lighting designer Paul Collison described Martin's new extra bright MAC 2000 Wash fixture's performance on Singapore National Day 2008.

As in past years, this year's National Day celebration was on a grand scale with large numbers of Martin automated lighting fixtures used to bathe the Marina Bay venue in swathes of celebratory colour: 320 MAC 2000 Washes, 60 MAC 2000 Wash XBs and 20 MAC 2000 Performances. Lighting production was by Showtec Group of Singapore.

Singapore National Day is an important cultural event for the people of Singapore. Held annually every August 9th, this year the event marked the 43rd anniversary of the city-state's independence. The event's location is quite spectacular with over five thousand performers forming a mass picture on a 120 x 80 meter floating platform, a grandstand holding over 30,000 spectators at its side. "It is a truly breathtaking site," says Paul Collison, who took his position in the lighting hot seat for the second year running.

The 60 MAC 2000 Wash XB fixtures formed the bulk of the stage's front wash for the National Day event. The MAC 2000 Wash XB is a 1500W Fresnel that takes the proven optical and effect qualities of the MAC 2000 Wash and adds even greater brightness, new efficient fans, ballast, starter and more. Replacing 180 standard MAC 2000 Washes from 2007's event, the MAC 2000 Wash XB's were fitted with the brand new micro-Fresnel Lens.

"With the XB's I'm getting more level on stage and much better control, and the new lens has taken them to a whole new level," Paul comments. "They were sent directly from Martin's Danish headquarters and gave much more control over the 100m+ throw to the stage."

"The shallow angle of the FOH position caused all sorts of grief last year with excess ambient light being thrown on to the construction site on the other side of Marina Bay. The new lens' 9 degree spread was perfect to tidy this up. [Note: Using the micro-Fresnel lens at that angle gives a fixture efficiency of 31 percent.] It's like they were designed for this show. I wouldn't do another show of this scale without the micro-Fresnel Lens in the arsenal."

Also in the system were some 320 MAC 2000 Washes along with 20 MAC 2000 Performances, which Paul says were ideal for locking down performers on the promenade. "I love the Performances, they are so very versatile. I'd have them on every show I do if I could."

This year saw the introduction of video as a major part of the scenic landscape with 1,800 square metres of custom made LED netting framing the back of the stage. Four MA Media PC's drive this. "The influence this has on the view is amazing," Paul says. "I've always liked playing with video and lighting however I've never had the chance to work with such a massive screen and have total creative freedom to entwine it in to the lighting landscape. Playing between the lighting fixtures and the screens is a lot of fun. On such a big scale as this it's something you need to be careful with not to take over the whole stage."

Control is also via MA. One session handling almost 16,000 Parameters is the backbone of the lighting system. Over 1 km of Multi Mode Optic fibre connected four data distribution points on the platform.

www.martin.com

 

 

Meyer Sound Matrix3 Drives the Pulse of Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony

Few live events have the power to draw an audience of billions, but the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics easily surpassed that landmark. The largest international sporting event of the 21st century was also the most technically complex Olympics ceremony ever, broadcast for the first time in High Definition and surround sound. At the heart of it all was Meyer Sound's Matrix3 audio show control system, which managed all technical aspects of the performance, including audio, motion control, pyrotechnics, and lighting.

The audience of nearly 95,000 in National Stadium included over 80 heads of state, international celebrities and VIPs, along with more than 17,000 performers. The crowd and viewers around the world were treated to an event like no other, including audio from a stunning Meyer Sound system designed by event technology specialist Gary Hardesty of Sound Media Fusion LLC (SMF).

As Beijing Olympic Ceremonies chief designer of audio systems and technology consultant to Top Olympic Partner Panasonic, Hardesty explains that the venue's complex acoustics were rife with potential reflectivity issues. "This was the stadium's first event, so the acoustics were a complete unknown," he observes, adding that the large stage compromised potential loudspeaker locations, making it virtually impossible to use conventional non-powered systems. "With more than 56 high-definition TV cameras in the venue, I needed to design a system that was low visibility, kept as much energy off the field as possible, and yet would deliver the kind of sound you'd expect for an event of this magnitude."

Hardesty called for a distributed system comprising multiple stacks of three Meyer Sound MILO line array loudspeakers on the field of play to cover the two lower levels, and to augment the new Panasonic LA3 line array speakers covering the upper level seating. Hardesty took special care to ensure the systems would integrate successfully.

Providing powerful low end were 700-HP subwoofers, arranged in cardioid pairs and topped with an additional MILO cabinet focused on the lower level audience. Hardesty reports the system's relatively diminutive size belied its power. "The results were amazing. By far the best sound I've heard in a large venue. From our vantage position, if you closed your eyes it didn't sound like the speakers were as far away as they actually were."

For Hardesty, one of the most critical aspects of the system was the performance and reliability of Meyer Sound's Matrix3 audio show control system, which was not only used for virtually all audio outputs, but provided the time code for the entire event. "It's hard to overstate the importance of Matrix3 in the system," he says. "All the audio, from the console outputs to the WildTracks hard disk playback, was routed through the Matrix3. But even more importantly, time code from the Matrix3 triggered the entire event - sound, lighting, projections, pyrotechnics, video - every aspect of the show was dependent on the Matrix3."

A veteran of multiple Olympics, including Salt Lake, Torino and Athens, Hardesty has long called on Meyer Sound to deliver world-class performance, and he cites more than just audio quality in choosing Meyer Sound. "Great sound is just the beginning," Hardesty says. "For us, Meyer gear is also about reliability. There's no room for error in an event this size. The Matrix3 gave us the flexibility we needed for such a complex system. And Meyer Sound's support is second to none; they've always stood behind their equipment."

Of course, none of it would mean a thing if it didn't sound good, and Hardesty reports the Olympics organizers were overwhelmingly pleased. "They came to us with a mission: to deliver the best-sounding Olympics opening ceremony anyone has ever heard. With Meyer Sound, I was able to deliver."

SMF will call on Meyer Sound for the Olympics closing ceremony on August 24, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies for the Beijing Paralympic Games, held on September 6-17.

High End Systems Sets Records at Beijing Olympic Ceremonies

High End Systems (a new member of the Belgium-based Barco Group) not only played a starring role in the Olympic opening ceremonies, but helped set some records: for the largest quantity of media servers (110 HES Axons) in any live event, and for creating the largest High Def projection -- in this instance, one clip covered a screen encircling the stadium that measured 1,942 feet long (592 metres) by 45 feet high (14 metres).

All effects were achieved in "real time" using the Axon media servers and projectors with 78 HES Orbital Heads. Four Wholehog 3 lighting consoles controlled the Axon media servers in the ceremonies, connected with 12 DP 2000s.

HES Axons created a number of non-stop visual effects in the show: from the projected visuals encircling a video ring - called the "membrane" - around the top of the stadium, to the projections on the Globe. The HES Orbital Heads were used to project images onto performers on the field.

Olympic Ceremonies lighting designer is Sha Xiao Lin. Dennis Gardner is the chief lighting programmer and digital lighting/video programmer. Gardner says: "The show was the largest I have ever done. Normally I have worked with about 6-8 media servers and this was just huge at 110! This was my first time to use Axon and I found it very easy to use and very flexible. For the scale of the show, it was ideal!."

"The Globe was projected on from eight projectors, external to the Globe, set up in four groups approximately 90 degrees from one another," Gardner explains. "We had no Orbital Heads for this one as we needed a much bigger image and more brightness. We used Axons and their blending feature to help achieve this effect. We had the Globe recovered with white material to get the best from the projection; the original was dark grey."

Gardner describes the Wholehog 3 console setup: "We programmed the show on one Wholehog 3 network running version 2.6 software. We had the network set up as: one server console that was never touched and just used as the server; two client consoles at FOH for myself and (my programming assistant) Steve Kellaway; and one console as a roamer for programming around the stadium to get better viewpoints. I have been using the Wholehog 3 console since its birth and I feel it's the best tool for the job. The ease at programming lots of media servers and being able to link to timecode was a joy. The show was run on LTC timecode, which came from the music. The whole system was rock solid."

HES distributor Leifull in China purchased and installed the HES equipment, and also created the media server room specifically for the Axons. HES sent four product specialists to help with set up, with Zach Peletz from Austin serving as product support on the scene from May until the closing ceremonies, to be televised Aug. 24 on NBC-TV. The closing ceremonies will use the same equipment but in a different design, described by Gardner as having a "bit more party feel".

Another Wholehog 3 worked in the TV broadcast booth in Beijing's International Broadcast Center. Broadcast lighting director John Pappas used the console to control a media server for Seven Network Australia's broadcasting.

PR Lighting Helps Brings Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium to Life

Several billion people worldwide witnessed the splendour of the lighting effects in the Bird's Nest, Beijing's National Stadium, where the opening ceremony of the 29th Olympic Games was held on August 8th. More than 200 Century Color 2500 and XL wash light fixtures from PR Lighting were specified for their brilliant output, to illuminate both the opening and closing ceremonies of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Full of remarkable cultural atmosphere, the grand opening in the Bird's Nest conveyed to the world the essence of Chinese culture and spirit, and the entire Stadium was saturated with colourful lighting, resembling a resplendent pearl.

The night view lighting effects of the Nest were designed in five sections. The main sets focused on the traditional Chinese colour of Red, while the lighting system displayed different dynamic scenes, adding in Gold and Silver.

In fact, the lighting played such an important role that the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games surpassed that of the previous Olympic Games - both in its high-tech application and the quantity of computerised fixtures needed to meet the requirements of the performance and suit the structure of the architecture. The professional hi-tech innovation had to meet the brief for a ‘Green Olympics', integrating elite functions, environment protection, and energy saving with sheer performance; this provided a severe challenge to the lighting manufacturers.

Innumerable Chinese and foreign lighting manufacturers fought for the opportunity to be a supplier to the Bird's Nest. Passing the strictest selection procedure by the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee - who assessed the brands and products of all the suppliers - PR Lighting became one of the few appointed suppliers of lighting fixtures to the 2008 Olympic Games with its branded wash lights - and more than 200 Century Color 2500 and XL wash lights were chosen for the opening/closing ceremonies.

While the fixtures of all other suppliers were used in combination with each other in order to achieve the optimal lighting effects for the specific sequences in the Nest, PR Lighting was used as a stand-alone brand. Hundreds of PR wash lights were selected to function independently to produce magnificent lighting effects to the very top structure section of the vast Bird's Nest. The outstanding features and superior quality of the PR Lighting fixtures were thus displayed to the full extent.

Throughout the opening ceremony, people of all countries were overwhelmed by the saturation of the lighting, with international lighting experts impressed by the quality and stability of the PR brand wash lights.

During the process of nearly three months of rehearsals and commissioning for the opening/closing ceremonies, the PR wash lights won high praise from the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee and committee of ceremonies for their stable performance and superior quality. In the critical eyes of the General Director of Ceremony, Mr Zhang Yimou, the lighting was highly colourful, creating a striking visual impact.

The chief lighting designer of ceremony Mr Sha Xiaolan commented: "Even earlier than the Beijing night show - during the One-Year Countdown Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Games - I was deeply impressed by the excellent performance of the PR brand products which gave us full confidence to specify PR Lighting fixtures for the opening ceremony."

High praise had also been granted by innumerable international lighting experts to almost 1,000 PR Lighting fixtures that were deployed last year in the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai.

 

35 Million Viewers Watch SHoW DMX at the Olympics

City Theatrical's new SHoW DMX wireless DMX performs flawlessly at the Beijing Olympics in front of an average of 35 million viewers per day.

NBC Olympics lighting designer Steve Brill of The Lighting Design Group utilized SHoW DMX to light the Bob Costas NBC Prime Time Studio set which rotates 360° on a turntable. Power to dimmers mounted on the revolving set is run through a three-phase commutator, but DMX data is sent wirelessly from a SHoW DMX Transmitter in the studio. SHoW DMX delivers DMX data to dimmers, which control 26 key lights on a circular truss over the newsdesk.

SHoW DMX's unique user interface allows it to be adjusted to have minimal impact on any other wireless equipment in the studio. It was set to output in limited bandwidth mode and to output only 30 DMX channels, thereby creating only a very small radio footprint, and not affecting any WiFi networks in the studio.

Steve Brill commented: "We needed a solid wireless DMX solution, and SHoW DMX met that need. There is a lot of RF in the facility, and SHoW DMX fit in seamlessly and reliably."

The electrician for the show is George Gountas. SHoW DMX equipment was provided through PRG Lighting.

CTI's award winning SHoW DMX system utilizes a patent pending method that synchronizes the hopping pattern of the radio with the incoming DMX packet to attain levels of data fidelity previously unreachable with wireless DMX. Additionally, SHoW DMX has a range of features including adjustable output power, limited bandwidth mode, and limited burst mode that allow it to peacefully coexist with other radio signals in the busy 2.4GHz band.

Martin Lights Beijing Summer Olympic Games: LD Sha Xiao Lan Interview

In what has been universally praised as the most visually spectacular Olympic Opening Ceremony of all time, and arguably one of the most remarkable events ever produced, China celebrated its emergence onto the world stage in grand fashion by hosting the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games at Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest.

On 08-08-2008 at 8:08 pm that stage was lit by over 1,100 automated luminaires from Martin Professional.

The workhorse of the massive automated lighting system, the largest single automated lighting system ever assembled for a single event, and the largest Martin rig ever, was Martin's MAC 2000 Wash and new MAC 2000 Wash XB moving head luminaires.

A multimedia, three-dimensional display created by director Zhang Yimou, some 22,000 people took part in the gala, in which 15,000 costumes were used. Martin is the largest automated lighting manufacturer represented at the Beijing Olympic Ceremonies with more Martin MAC 2000 Wash luminaires in use than any other single fixture in the lighting system.

Lighting personnel began initial installation of the fixtures already in March with most of the MAC luminaires rigged in the roof of the stadium and several hundred lining an upper balcony. Main lighting supply for the Ceremonies is by China Central Television (CCTV) with several lighting sub-suppliers also contributing. The Martin fixtures will remain in place for the Games' Closing Ceremony on August 24^th and subsequent Paralympic Games to be held from September 6-17. 

Sha Xiao Lan (pictured): "After knowing I would be the chief LD of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games, I spent a lot of time conceiving the lighting design. The Olympics is not only for the Chinese people but for people all over the world, so we had to satisfy not only the Chinese but people from all countries. The problem is that people from different places have different tastes in aesthetics. To be specific, Westerners prefer elegant pastel colors, Chinese are fond of strong highly-saturated color, and this was the major part to be considered.

"We did research on the Athens and Sydney Olympic Games and in order to emphasize the technological factor of the Beijing Olympics we decided to utilise the most advanced technologies and products to actualise the Opening and Closing Ceremony design.

"You know that the Beijing Olympics gained nationwide support from the very beginning. However, the budget for the lighting design was less than that of the Doha Asian Games. Yet many well-known manufacturers and suppliers promised they would do whatever they could to provide whatever we needed and I was deeply touched by their gratitude.

"After we knew about the Bird's Nest's 14-meter high by 500-meter long brim, which is perfect for positioning fixtures, we adjusted our plan accordingly.

"The Beijing Olympics is being transmitted in a high-resolution digital signal, so we needed the lighting fixtures to be highly uniform in color temperature. According to our plan, we needed approximately 2,700 moving lights, which is unprecedented. Martin, Vari-Lite and many other well-known brands attended the bid and we had to choose the most suitable ones. Even as the head LD, I didn't have the authority to decide which brand would be used in the Ceremony, though my opinion was important.

"The Martin MAC 2000 Wash was eventually chosen because it's the most stable fixture with the most uniform color wash I've ever known. We used about 1,200 MAC 2000 Washes in the Opening Ceremony, which is also unprecedented. No event has ever used so many units under the same brand before as far as I know. About 90% of the Washes were used to wash the performance area, the ceiling of the stadium and the audience. We also used 110 Washes to add backlighting for the audience.

"Martin fixtures have the highest value for money and are quite stable with a low dysfunction rate. The nominal dysfunction rate is 2% according to the information from the manufacturer, but the actual dysfunction rate is lower than that. Plus the uniformity of color is perfect, which cannot be reached using other fixtures. Besides the foresaid merits, I am very impressed by the MAC 2000 Wash's speed and accuracy in movement and positioning. In the Opening Ceremony we used wash light to position, that's rare, and the Martin fixtures' performance is excellent; this is widely acknowledged by my colleagues.

"These fixtures were indispensable in achieving the goal of satisfying everyone. Without these fixtures none of our ideas would have been possible.

"Even when using the white color, we needed it to be tasteful. If you watched carefully enough you noticed that the white color in the Chinese Landscape Painting scene was different from the white color in the Movable Typography scene. In the Road of Silk scene we used the amber color to simulate the atmosphere of deserts and in the Rites and Music scene we used the royal golden hue to create an atmosphere of the Imperial Palace. During the Tai Chi and Zheng He Fleet scene we used highly saturated deep blue. I dare say without the Martin MAC 2000 Wash, none of the above would have been possible. The wash effect of the MAC 2000 was so perfectly uniform; light from the 1,200 units was just like light from one single unit. And the saturation of the MAC 2000 was fantastic as well. Remember when Lang Lang and the little girl began to play piano together? The colorful light was just like an impressionistic painting.

"I believe through the Opening Ceremony we successfully showcased the lighting design ability of China. All factors including organisation, backstage, control, and lighting design are quite satisfying and we have gained the praise from the Western media."

The Most Watched Television Event in History

With over 90,000 spectators in attendance for the Opening Ceremony and most of the world glued to their TV screens, the event was perhaps the most watched television event in history. The man responsible for ensuring that the broadcast lighting aspect for the Opening and Closing is optimal is Australian Paul Collison, a veteran lighting specialist who brings experience from several large sporting events such as the Commonwealth Games, Gulf Cup, Asian Games and Rugby World Cup.

Paul comments: "Lighting for television on an event like this can be quite a challenge. The performance area is huge and when you add the audience in as a background you have almost a full square kilometer of surface area to light. Even though the show, at times, is orientated to one side, the cameras can be pointing in any direction. We are very aware that every area of the stadium is a part of the show.

"The MAC 2000 XBs have been great. They are bright. Really bright. They sit in perfectly well with the other 900+ standard MAC 2000 Washes. We have used them out wide on the level 3 balcony position to get some extra kick in from the sides when the performances are orientated towards the VIP/on camera side. They also have a slightly longer throw to the center of the field from that position.  

"All of the Martin fixtures have performed well under trying conditions. High humidity and high temperatures are hard on lighting fixtures. Not to mention the huge amount of dust that we encountered through the final stages of the construction of the Bird's Nest. I'm sure these fixtures have seen more dust over the last four months than most vacuum cleaners see in a lifetime! Despite this the fixtures are still working well. We have a much lower fault rate with the Martin fixtures than any others in the system. Martin's commitment and support has been exceptional and certainly helped to make this project run smoothly.

"Personally, this has been an amazing experience. Even though culturally China is very different from many other countries I have worked in, the level of knowledge and willingness to learn has been quite refreshing. Everyone I have come in contact with on this project has been friendly, caring and above all most professional. I'd come back to China in a heart beat to work on another project...if only for the fantastic food!"

Martin Support

Martin is providing on site support from several individuals including Mark Ravenhill, vice president of television & theatre lighting, as well as Søren Storm, managing director of Martin Singapore who was instrumental in securing Martin's participation in these Olympic Games. On-site technical support is headed by Martin's product and application specialist Claus Jensen.

Christian Engsted, Martin Professional CEO, said: "We are honored to again play an integral role in the staging of the world's most prestigious sporting event. The MAC 2000 Wash's extremely high output and long throw capability coupled with its proven reliability make it ideal for such a large scale event. Martin's position as an industry leader with an extensive global reach allows us to deliver in these record breaking quantities while our support network provides 100% on-site backing throughout the course of the event."

Martin Lighting at Other Sites

Martin lighting is also employed in several other areas including 800 Martin fixtures used for an Opening Ceremony at an alternate site in Tsingtao (Qingdao), home to sailing events. Several on-location TV studios are also using Martin gear including US television network NBC on the "Today" show and Mexican TV network Televisa.

www.martin.com

 

Renkus-Heinz the Sound of Beijing Wukesong Olympics Basketball Arena

With the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games now in full swing, the Wukesong Basketball Arena, one of the three major landmark buildings specially created for the Games, is delivering top quality audio to its 24,500 spectators with a Renkus-Heinz PN102/LA self-powered, digitally networked four-cornered centre cluster and distributed delay system.

Part of the Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Centre, it ranks alongside the Beijing National Stadium (the ‘Bird's Nest') and Beijing Aquatic Park as one of the Games' three showpiece buildings. Post-Games, its world-class facilities will continue to host the NBA Basketball it was designed to showcase - as well as providing Beijing with a new, all-purpose live music venue, capable of seating up to 18,000 fans.

With a brief to deliver excellent speech and music to every seat, Taiwan-based Linfair Engineering - which has offices in both Hong Kong and Beijing, as well as Taiwan - won the contract to design, supply and install the complete audio and video systems into Wukesong Arena. The deal included a substantial audio system, the US-style four-face centre-hung video scoreboard cluster, and LED advertising banners that ring the playing area.

While the audio brief was large in scale, it was more than matched by the arena owners' high expectations. Many similar Renkus-Heinz arena systems have already been installed in the USA and around the world, most notably the Indoor Stadium in Singapore.

The tall, deep Wukesong Arena required careful audio design to ensure both vertical and horizontal front to back dispersion would deliver high intelligibility to each seat in a reverberant environment. Digital signal delivery and remote loudspeaker control and monitoring were also essential, using CobraNet and Renkus-Heinz R-Control respectively.

As Renkus-Heinz's distributor, Linfair opted for a midsize self-powered PN102/LA line array, configured as a four-cornered centrally flown system. Each 12-cabinet array is mounted slightly above and outside of the scoreboard screen cluster, exploiting the system's ultra wide 150 degree horizontal dispersion and up to 129dB SPL (program) output to maximum effect, with the line arrays configured as ‘banana' arrays on BGV-C1 rated ATM flying hardware, supplied by Allen Products, to optimize coverage angles. These are supplemented by six self-powered Renkus-Heinz DR18-2 subwoofers.

The only seating locations not reached by the PN102/LA arrays, the upper ten rows, are specifically targeted by a ring of 20 Renkus-Heinz ST7/94 self-powered three-way loudspeakers, which employ CoEntrant technology to blend high power with compact dimensions. The loudspeaker line-up is completed by four more self-powered cabinets, two ST7M/64 and two ST7M/94 versions, which provide playing court audio coverage.

Underlining the high level of engineering and commissioning support that Renkus-Heinz extends to major projects, Technical Engineers John Olshefski and John Dowling were closely involved - both in the California factory and on site in Beijing - in designing and commissioning the system's R-Control and CobraNet infrastructure and fibre optic backbone. Rack room space, cabling and installation time alike were minimised through the use of an entirely self-powered system, each cabinet having internal Class D bi- or tri-amplification.

Linfair Engineering's Beijing office coordinated the installation and provided project personnel. Jim Mobley, Senior Applications Engineer at Renkus-Heinz, provided loudspeaker system design and system commissioning, modeling the room in EASE, while the Linfair Engineering team used Renkus-Heinz's Aimware software program to pre-determine optimum rigging point locations and coverage angle settings.

Jim Mobley comments: "We worked in great detail on the R-Control setup and were able to use it to apply a small but significant degree of the beam steering techniques we've developed for the Iconyx product line. This gave us an extra ‘edge' in terms of dispersion controllability, which is a clear advantage in a reverberant space."

Audio distribution is accomplished via three MediaMatrix NION N3 processors, equipped with the MM AEC4 acoustic echo cancellation card, providing remote configuration of all signal processing and protection functions.

The source side of the system comprises a Yamaha M7CL digital console, with a pair of Shure ULXS4 wireless microphone systems for speeches and announcements. Furman PM-PRO E Series II and AR-2306 power conditioners deliver a smooth and well protected power supply to the audio system, which can be adjusted remotely via a wireless laptop from any seat in the arena.

The Wukesong Arena, also known as BOBA (Beijing Olympics Basketball Arena) hit the headlines after all remaining basketball tickets for the Games were snapped up in less than 11 hours to fans who'd queued outside the venue for up to two days. According to Li Bing, Vice Secretary General of the Wukesong Stadium, "most people wanted to buy tickets for China's matches, especially the match between China and the United States on August 10". Whatever the personal motivation, the spectacular new building is guaranteed full houses and pristine sound throughout the Games.

Robe Looks To The Future

Over 100 Robe moving lights were supplied by Clifton Productions for Australia's 2008 Future Music Festival, which was headlined by The Chemical Brothers, along with a line up of top international DJs.

Clifton's supplied lighting for all the festival's auxiliary stages, all of which featured Robe at the core of their rugs. The event was project managed for them  by Michael Parsons, who states: "Reliability was the key factor we looked for here, and that's why we chose Robe for this event."

For the Sydney and Brisbane legs of the tour, lighting for the main Future Music Stage was also operated by Parsons during the afternoon, who elucidates that the biggest challenge was to cut through the daylight, so he chose Robe ColorWash 2500 fixtures fitted with PC lenses, which were hung on side trusses and positioned so as not to impede on the Chemical Brothers' rig.

These were used to wash the stage and audience. "Their brightness and punch is amazing," he says, adding: "They even made the strobes in the rig look like blinking LEDs!"

ColorSpot 2500E ATs were hung on the front and back trusses which were also utilised in the Chemical Brothers' show.

Lighting production for The Chemical Brothers slots was supplied by Phaseshift Productions for all shows except Perth, and specified by the band's lighting designer Tom Lesh and Ricardo Lorenzini who directed and operated the show.

Behind their 12 x 7.8 metre Stealth LED screen which featured their famous visuals show, Phaseshift was asked for a powerful wash fixture to blast through the semi-transparent screen, which came in the form of 27 Robe ColorWash 1200E ATs, rigged on angled pods. Phaseshift project manager Simon Aitkin says, "The ColorWash 1200E ATs are a great unit and proved totally reliable for the whole tour".

For the Melbourne gig, the Mischief Stage lighting was operated by John Stanley of Light & Sound Solutions, again with equipment supplied by Clifton Productions. This included eight Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs and six Robe ColorWash 1200E ATs. Stanley, who has used Robe extensively on his shows, says: "I chose Robes for their fast CMY mixing as I needed to produce extremely fast colour flick effects. I think Robe has the fastest colour flick on the market ... and of course their reliability is excellent - always a consideration when you are driving units to their limits during an event".

Other stages featuring Robe on the 2008 Future Music tour were the Fan Klub stage, with six ColorSpot and the Famous Stage, each of which featured six ColorSpot and 6 ColorWash 1200E ATs. GODSKITCHEN, the main trance stage had eight ColorSpot and ColorWash 700E ATs, and the Silent Disco had four ColorSpot 700E ATs. The Future Funk stage utilised 4 ColorSpot 700E ATs, while the hugely popular retro Roller Disco lighting included four ColorSpot 575E ATs on its rig.

Parsons sums up: "The Robes were all trouble free throughout. I did tour six spares, but they never had to leave their cases! They withstood everything - rain, heat and dust - without a glitch."

www.robe.cz

Bandit History: 40 Years of Excellence

Part 4: The 90's

Little did the Bandit family know as the 90's began, that the decade would bring inventions, massive superstars, phenomenal growth, moving lights and awards beyond belief! It was a journey for Bandit that began with an unknown man named Garth, and ended with a well-known event called Woodstock. Everything in between was as diversified and interesting as the decade in which these events took place.

Bandit had the great fortune to hook up with who would become the largest selling artist in the history of the business, Mr. Garth Brooks. From 1990 on, Bandit and Garth became fast friends and continue to work together on projects today. Garth set a standard that the industry would follow for years to come. He carried bigger lighting systems than any heavy metal act ever dreamed of, and today holds the record for a single show attendance (with over a million people in Central Park in 1997).

At that same time, Bandit delved heavily into film and television work, as well as into ownership of the early moving lights offered for sale. Bandit worked on over 200 feature films in the 90's, including What About Bob, Delta Force 2, Sleeping With The Enemy, Hellraiser 3, Wayne's World 2, Hoffa, Pet Semitary and Earnest Scared Stupid.

On the TV front, Bandit worked with regularity on HBO Boxing, HBO Comedy, MTV Spring Break, The Dove Awards, Fox on Ice, CBS Ice Wars, Larry King Live, Clinton's Economic Summit, CNN, Hot Ice, Garth Brooks Live, Paul Simon in Central Park and hundreds of other shows. One of the biggest events Bandit was proud to illuminate was the Super Bowl 29 Half Time show in Miami.

The biggest breakthrough in entertainment lighting at that time occurred in the early 90's as a number of companies developed moving mirrored lights to compete with the dominance Vari*Lite had in the industry. Bandit Lites surveyed the landscape and decided to partner with High End Systems out of Austin. Within no time at all, Bandit and High End had hundreds of the new Intellabeam on acts all over the globe. Soon, other firms joined Bandit and High End, and eventually other manufacturers joined the game at a high level, thus altering the fate of the Vari*Lite monopoly. Bandit became the world's largest High End rental company for many years and together with High End, Bandit placed the I-Beam, the Studio Color, Studio Spot, F 100, Data Flash and other High End products into mainstream touring.

In the early 90's, Aerosmith approached Bandit to become their lighting vendor, and Bandit took the challenge in stride. Both Aerosmith and Garth Brooks required a sophisticated computer motor control system unlike anything in the marketplace. After six months and two million dollars, the patented Moto Data system was created. This evolutionary control system worked in conjunction with the custom Bandit Motor Controllers and allowed for operation of chain hoist from a touch screen with a graphic representation of the lighting trusses on the screen. The simplicity, safety and brilliance of the system made it an immediate success. Bandit continues to use the system to this day and has offered up Moto Data 2.

In the same period of the early 90's, world leader Avolites was spun off by its parent company and Strickland purchased the U.S. portion, moving it from New Jersey to Knoxville. The company relocated to Bandit's Dutchtown offices and development of what would become the Diamond Console and a new 72 way dimmer rack began. Sales and service for Avo were brisk and the company reorganized itself both sides of the Atlantic. The UK side was purchased by the directors, who eventually also purchased the U.S. side from Bandit.

A man named Chris Cronin left Thomas Engineering in the early 90's and eventually set up Tomcat. Along the way, Chris and Michael Strickland collaborated on stage sets (which Cronin built) and in the process, the pair was nominated for ‘Stage Set of the Year' for Amy Grant and Quiet Riot. As Cronin expanded Tomcat into the U.S., he collaborated with Strickland to found Tomcat U.S. operations. After helping set up the firm, Michael Strickland stepped away to focus on Bandit. He also sold his interest in Thomas Engineering in the mid-90s to spend maximum time on the Bandit growth.

The 90's also saw Bandit continue the process of giving back in the form of charity work. Farm Aid has been a Bandit project since 1991. Bandit began a corporate giving campaign that includes over 60 charities today and involves hundreds of thousand of dollars each year. Bandit supports the United Way, The American Heart Association, Boys and Girls Clubs and many other worthy causes each year.

It was also in the 90's that Bandit coined the term, Humanomics, or business planning based on concern for people. This principle is what guides the firm to this day. Bandit set up an educational department to train and educate people both inside and outside the firm. This educational reinforcement insures the quality of both Bandit service and of the industry as a whole. Seminars are held every year all around the world for the sole purpose of education. The Bandit Lites' sales team grew to staggering heights in the 90's, due in large part to the great educational system. The combination of a qualified, caring sales team backed by this emphasis on education made the sales growth a natural progression.

As Bandit continued to expand, Strickland saw a need in Asia and quickly set up offices in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Asian market additions were followed by recognizing the need for greater control in Europe, and buying out the partner in the UK. As a result, the Bandit London office was able to better monitor the product quality. Dizzy Gosnell joined Bandit in the Nashville office in the early 90's when the assets of the firm he worked with were acquired by Bandit. Today Gosnell is the GM of Bandit San Francisco, which he set up in the late 90's. Richard Willis returned to Bandit and assumed an office position that he still holds today, as VP. Mike Golden continued as VP in Nashville and the Bandit Global Management team was shaping up.

Bandit was called into the world of WCW, and then into WWF (now WWE) to provide the ‘Bandit Standard' to the fast-paced world of sports entertainment. The partnership between Bandit and the WWE is now over 15 years old. Bandit and WWE continue to set the standard for live television events and set the bar higher every year. WWE is the world leader in sports entertainment and Bandit is proud to be their partner.

From this modest beginning, Jason Robinson has become one of the senior staff members within WWE and a world-renowned production designer for his absolute brilliance.

Production Manager, Mikey Weiss opened the eyes of Bandit in 1994 regarding fall protection, and from that day to this, Bandit has lead the initiative to put OSHA and HSE compliant fall protection equipment on all lighting systems. The use of the equipment was a huge challenge in the early days but Bandit moved on. Today, thanks to Bandit and others that joined in, the industry is a much safer place to work.

As the world of moving lights continued to change, Martin from Denmark emerged as a new player and Bandit quickly became a believer. Soon, Bandit became the world's largest Martin rental house and helped Martin gain a large market share globally. The MAC 500, 600 and 2000 quickly became the industry favorites. Martin rolled out many successful products in the 90's and Bandit was a partner in them all.

Bandit started to earn a lot of recognition in the industry in the 90's. CMA named Bandit the ‘Production Company of the Year' in 1993, an award Bandit would win 3 times before the award ceased to exist. Both Knoxville and Nashville would name Bandit as a winner of their ‘Future 50,' five times in each city, leading Bandit to go into the Business Hall of Fame in both locations.

In 1996, Performance Magazine named Bandit ‘Lighting Company of the Year,' the first of what is now 16 such awards, more than any other firm. Mass Mutual named Bandit Lites as one of the top 50 firms in the U.S. with its Mass Mutual Blue Chip Award in 1996. That same year Bandit was named ‘Entrepreneurial Company of the Year' in Knoxville by the city. The pinnacle of the awards in the 90's occurred when CNN / USA TODAY named Michael Strickland ‘Entrepreneur of The Year' for 1999, a distinction held by Bill Gates, Michael Dell and other such notables.

This is a very proud moment in Bandit history. Bandit Lites is honored to continue receiving awards today, a testament to the hard work of the dedicated family at Bandit Lites. Many new and old clients joined Bandit in the 90's. The Judds, Alan Jackson, Brooks and Dunn, Jethro Tull, Damn Yankees, Ted Nugent, The Moody Blues, Blondie, The Go-Go's, Donnie Osmond, YES, Alice Cooper, Barry Manilow, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Hall & Oates, Aerosmith, REM, Offspring, Jewel, and hundreds of others were all Bandit clients.

Knoxville purchased a new 90,000 square foot facility, Nashville custom-built a 30,000 square foot facility with the industry's first hanging room, and London purchased a new 25,000 square foot facility. Real estate was fast becoming a part of the Bandit business plan. The hanging room, known as Venue One now, is 100 x 40 x 40 and holds 80,000 pounds. This was the first and only hanging facility in the industry that artists could use free of charge to hang and program their show. Bandit had once again set the standard.

As the 90's came to an end and the world looked toward what Y2K would really be, Bandit lit the infamous Woodstock ‘99. While it was a huge event and a technical achievement, it signaled the true end of what we had all known as the Woodstock Generation. It is an event Bandit was proud to have been involved in, but the tragic, violent ending will long be remembered.

"From the ashes of Woodstock, we all looked forward to the new millennium with eager anticipation of what the next century would hold," Strickland commented. "In light of where we had been in the last 30 years, where could we possibly go in 2000 and beyond?"

Stay tuned for Bandit History: The 2000's.

In picture: Garth Brooks concert, 1992; 1996 Bandit Annual Global Meeting; Bandit Nashville location (Hennessy); Bandit UK location.

www.banditlites.com

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