Buyer’s Guide

LED Battens hit the scene more than 10 years ago. Some LDs were searching for the ultimate color mixing cyc light, while others wanted a new LED footlight to use for their cameras. Eventually, designers pointed them towards the audience, and the term eye candy took on  a whole new meaning. Original models such as the Chroma-Q Color Force have been updated with serious improvements, and other manufacturers have added their own innovations to this dynamic product category. Take a look at all of the latest models and see what each has to offer.

As I walk along convention floors, I often notice cool little gadgets, from tools to lights to smoke devices and more. Each of these fits a nice little niche in our world of live events. Whether it’s a physical gadget, pressurized effect or an electronic device, we’ve compiled a few nifty devices we felt were worth a look this month.

It’s been two years since PLSN presented a Buyers Guide on video cabinets. Since then, just about every company has updated their product line with new and unique products. Whether they are higher resolution, curved models or waterproof tiles, they are all being engineered for faster assembly, lighter weight and higher quality. Take a look at the latest products from these leaders in the business.

There’s a fine line between entertainment and architectural lighting. They even invented the term “archi-tainment” for such a reason. There comes a time in every… Read More »Exterior Architectural Lights

While stage lighting advances occur yearly, the art of lighting the audience is often overlooked. In today’s new arena and theater installations, the buildings are making it easier for touring LDs to control the house lights. The first series of audience blinders to become popular were the Mole Feys. Mole Richardson manufactured these various sized fixtures around the amount of DWE par 36 wide bulbs that the user wanted. They were soon used on tours so touring acts could see their audience on cue. AC/DC incorporated over 100 of these on their last tour. Almost any bright light illuminating the audience from stage is now just called a “blinder.” Here’s a look at a bunch of fixtures lighting audiences these days.

Framing shutters have been a part of ellipsoidal fixtures for as long as anyone can remember. They consist of four separate blades that can cut into the focal path and shape the beam of light. The shutters (blades) are spaced 90 degrees apart around the fixture and can be moved inwards and angled, allowing the light source to concentrate its beam on a particular area. With the advent of the Vari-Lite VL1000, we saw a moving light with electronic shutters for the first time. Now, framing shutters on moving hard edge and wash fixtures have become immensely popular. PLSN displays what’s on the market today.

Looking back, 2008 was a magical year for concert lighting. That was the year that Claypaky unveiled their highly successful Alpha Beam fixtures on a moving yoke, dedicated to the art of the tight collimated shafts of light. A year later, Elation kept the evolution of moving light fixtures moving with units that had a smaller footprint and tiny moving beam. As LED technology continues to sweep across the world of entertainment lighting, we’ve seen more single LED Beam models pop up in the last year. This month we present the latest and best beams on a moving yoke.

In 2013, The MagicPanel-R from Ayrton hit the scene, and everyone took notice of the shape of the fixture. Someone had invented a new way for lighting designers to control pixels in an incredibly bright manner that could be used in all kinds of cool applications. This opened the floodgate for a plethora of LED products that adapted to this block shape. Whether they are moving heads, static LED panels or fixtures one can assemble into a grid of their own design, there is a lot of demand for these fixtures in today’s market. Take a look at what’s out there.

According to some historians, the first spotlights were used in Paris opera houses in 1803. They involved the use of limelight. Invented by Henry Drummond, the technique was to heat a piece of lime with a flame of oxygen and hydrogen. This produced a hot white light that, when put behind a lens, could focus a hot spot of light in a directional manner. As you can see from the latest crop of followspots listed here, we’ve come a long way in 200 years.

It’s been about 35 years since the first batch of hard edged arc sourced moving Lights were mass produced by Vari-Lite. With the advent of… Read More »Hard-Edged Arc Lights

It used to be that you either wanted a hazy mist on stage to augment light beams or billowing fog effects for masking the performers.… Read More »Hazers and Smoke Machines

The first moving LED wash lights appeared on the scene about a dozen years ago. Upstaging lighting took a couple hundred Martin MAC 300s and had them retrofitted with RGB “Skittles” LEDs on the front, replacing the arc light source. LD Leroy Bennett requested such a fixture be made. Within a couple years, GLP came up with their series of Impression LED moving wash lights. Because these lights had no base and seemed to be able to just flip over in any direction at an incredibly fast rate, LDs started to refer to them as “pancake” style fixtures. These fixtures have undergone transformations and modifications, and it didn’t take long for them to start selling like hotcakes. Today, every major manufacturer offers at least one fixture that fits within this category. Each fixture has at least one unique aspect or feature that separates them from the rest. Look here for who’s offering what this year.