PRG Distribution North America supplied six ChamSys MagicQ 100Pro consoles to Upstaging, Inc., the lighting supplier for the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) tour, which travels year-round with live events in two cities per week. Production designer Jason Robinson is using ChamSys consoles for the varied needs for the WWE's current tour. At each location, the crew tapes four hours and broadcasts two hours of live TV. In addition, they handle 12 arena shows for pay-per-view events, plus the annual WrestleMania stadium show.
"For all these different shows, we take our ChamSys systems," Robinson said. "It is not just recording a show and programming a show, but having a console that can expand and contract to whatever show we are doing and changing to completely different shows throughout the day," he added. "The ChamSys console has handled it fantastically, it has been rock solid."
The WWE lighting team includes LD Jeff Wilkin and programmers Anthony "Geddy" Kordyjaka and John Buck. They each work on a pair of ChamSys consoles controlling everything from standard single-channel dimmers, moving lights and LEDs to multiple DMX universe needs.
The built-in bitmapping of the ChamSys is a particular favorite feature. "Programming the video to the LED walls and units is something new to the WWE," said Robinson, of a process overseen by Buck. "Our ability to handle all of that and have a stable console that performs for us every day has been huge."
"Jason Robinson is a real pro; he knows what he wants and is very creative," said John Huddleston, managing director of Upstaging, Inc.
"I think the MagicQ is a great desk," Huddleston added, calling it "versatile and it is easy to use. The gear has to be first class on the WWE tour, and the ChamSys has been just that. Also, the support from PRG Distribution has been really very good."
"It has been fantastic working with PRG Distribution; 24 hour service, anytime we need help or a problem, within hours we have whatever we need," added Robinson. "They are on top of everything. Right from the start when we changed to the ChamSys, they were at Upstaging whenever we needed them."
