In every business, there is a lot of scheming and plotting to get accounts. Presentations mean a lot. Not just the financial charts or 8-inch-by-10-inch glossy renderings of a stage, but of the presenter himself. Whether we like to admit it or not, lighting and set designers are salesman. And as we sell ourselves to any potential client there is one thing we must be able to deliver on demand without any hesitation whatsoever — BS.
Since Lighting & Sound Design introduced the Icon M at LDI in 1998, manufacturers of lighting equipment have ventured into the video production market. Barco, the Belgium-based manufacturer of video equipment, has reversed this trend and ventured into the lighting market with their new product, the Digital Moving Luminaire 1200.
My buddy and I fell for a manufacturer’s BS about lumens and rented a bunch of fixtures for a client who wanted the exterior of… Read More »The BS Factor
American DJ Accu Series
American DJ’s Accu Series now has two new LED-powered moving heads — the Accu Spot 250 Hybrid, shown here on top, and the Accu LED MH. The Accu Spot 250 Hybrid com-bines a 250W discharge lamp with nine 1-watt LEDs (3 red, 3 green, 3 blue). Features include seven replaceable rotating gobos plus spot (two dichroic glass gobos), nine colors plus white, sound active mode with built-in programs, RDMX remote DMX addressing, auto X-Y repositioning, 360° pan/ 265° tilt and a four-button menu system. It has a beam angle of 15° with an optional 18° beam angle (sold separately). The MSRP is $1,399.95. The nine-DMX channel Accu LED MH is a moving head with 69 red, green and blue LED beams that produce an output similar to a 250W halogen lamp, while consuming less power. Its MSRP is $999.95.
American DJ • 800.322.6337 • www.americandj.com
What if you owned big shiny dump trucks to haul 100 tons of sand, but they leaked? And by the time the driver got to… Read More »Plug the Leaks
This year has been really strange for me in the variety of music I have been lighting. I seem to lighting quite a few heavy metal bands this year. Nothing wrong with metal mind you, I just haven’t bought into it since Deep Purple and Led Zep hung up their rock n roll shoes. (Or did they?).
In the spring of next year I am looking to do some workshops for the Mass Communications and Theater departments of a local university. These workshops will introduce how video and lighting are work hand in hand in the live production industry today. I really want to get the ball rolling and get the students hip to what cool toys we get to work with out there nowadays and no matter what major you come from you can definitely find a niche in both. It's only introductory stuff, but I'm hoping they'll enjoy the workshops and I can get rolling with some more technical stuff for them after this trial run. Here's a rough draft I started…
Transparent LED displays add a creative element to any visual designer’s tool bag. A few manufacturers are also taking the LED concept into the 3D… Read More »LED Panels are Going 3D
It’s important to become familiar with a wide range of consoles, but by learning at least one console top to bottom, you can give yourself… Read More »Learn One Console Top to Bottom
So I’m working with another heavy metal artist this week. A band called Disturbed, a popular hard music act. They are extremely nice guys. If you were stopped at a red light and they got out of the car next to you, it could make you feel a tad uneasy about the impending future. But in real life, they are just good old boys who like to play loud music.
Exile in America Tour
In 2000, Benoit Richard was working on the Matchbox Twenty Mad Season tour with lighting designer Marc Brickman. When Rob Thomas struck out on his own in 2005, he brought Richard along as the lighting designer. From his experiences with the band and its front man, Richard has compiled quite a knowledgebase about the band’s likes and dislikes. “For this tour,” he said, “our goal was to top what we had done in the past. When I showed my concept to the band, they were very excited. One band member (Paul Doucette) actually participates in the creation of the show cues with me and we worked well together this time around.
BUSINESS
Who: Brian Friborg, President, Martin Professional, Inc. (U.S. division)
What: Manufactures automated lighting, effects lighting, LEDs, fog machines and controllers which are used in all aspects of the entertainment industry. Martin also has a line of architectural luminaires for architectural lighting applications.