INDIANAPOLIS – Mid-America Sound, based in suburban Indianapolis, is among the first companies in the US to acquire Ayrton GHIBLI fixtures and grandMA3 consoles for its production business and its equipment rental inventory. The company also purchased Chain Master electric chain hoists. All of these brands are exclusively distributed in North America by ACT Lighting, Inc.
More details from ACT Lighting (www.actlighting.com):
Mid-America Sound is one of the largest full-service concert and event production companies in the US with more than 30 years experience in sound, lighting, rigging, roofs, staging and backline. Its qualified design team, with the support of its engineers and technicians, provides the highest-quality production services to projects nationwide.
“Mid-America Sound is known for being in the forefront of new technology. They’re quick to adopt the latest innovations for event production and to expand their rental inventory,” says Brian Dowd, VP Sales and Marketing at ACT Lighting. “It’s always exciting to introduce Mid-America to our newest products and partner with them to bring the best gear on the market to their customers.”
Mid-America Sound was looking for a new LED profile when ACT Lighting demo’d GHIBLI and staged a side-by-side comparison with a popular 1000-watt arc fixture. GHIBLI is Ayrton’s first LED spot luminaire with a factory-equipped framing system.
“We’re expanding our LED and moving light inventory,” says Bob Williams, Owner and CEO of Mid-America Sound. “We liked all of the GHIBLIs features: its brightness, the flat, even field and the build quality. So we ordered 16 GHIBLIs to start.”
Williams expects concert touring and corporate events to be the primary users of the GHIBLIs. Several days after the fixtures arrive they are due to leave on a six-week tour for which Mid-America Sound is the lighting vendor and lighting designer. Corporate events scheduled for the summer will also take advantage of the new LED profile units.
Mid-America has also become an early adopter of the new grandMA3 lighting console. The company owns grandMA2 full-size and light desks and has already ordered grandMA3 full-size and light for delivery once the product begins shipping. The new consoles promise expanded features and functionality and greater network connectivity and effects handling.
“We started using the grandMA2 after it was introduced to the market,” Williams recalls. “They’re great consoles and have become the industry standard for festivals, touring and corporate events. When the grandMA3 was announced we decided to jump right on board. The grandMA3 represents the evolution of the console with a lot of new features to explore. We expect it to be the next big thing in consoles that everyone will want to use.”
Additionally, Mid-America made its first purchase of Chain Master electric chain hoists with the acquisition of D8 Plus 1/2-, 1- and 2-ton double brake hoists for touring, one-off shows and corporate projects. The products’ two DC brakes provide additional security for every job.
“We chose Chain Master for its quality and features,” says Williams. “Some of the hoists are equipped with encoders for use with Kinesys motion-control systems.”
