In the early days of automated lighting, there was no such thing as a quiet moving light. Manufacturers began addressing the issue by using noise absorbing foam and baffles, and with automated lights that had no fans at all. But the absence of forced air cooling doesn’t automatically mean an absence of noise. There are other moving parts, and there’s nothing like theatre silence to bring out even the slightest noise in your gear. Soft goods can help mask noise. You can also minimize noise by reducing the speed of panning and tilting as much as possible, and by programming the show so that you are moving the fixture during scene changes and loud passages.
— Phil Gilbert, from Technopolis, PLSN, June 2008
