AUSTIN, TX – Martin Professional's MAC 350 Entour hard-edge LED lighting fixture is being test-driven on Crowded House's current world tour by LD/set designer Paul Normandale. "It's a very neat unit and very, very bright for its size," Normandale said.
The lighting operator/director on the tour is Dave Harding, who is with Normandale's lighting production company, Lite Alternative. Lite Alternative served as lighting vendor for the U.K. leg of the tour. Upstaging Inc. is supporting the U.S. leg.
The Crowded House tour is one of several field test outings for the LED-based profile moving head. Delivering 8,000 lumens of output, the MAC 350 Entour sets new marks for light output compared to other compact LED profiles on the market.
"I was looking for a small, bright profile to suit a range of venue sizes and the 350 Entour seemed ideal, which indeed it was," Normandale said. "Also, as energy concerns are becoming an ever important factor and feature more and more on artists' wish lists, the 350's energy-efficiency was very appealing."
Although light output compares favorably with many larger 250/300 watt fixtures, the MAC 350 Entour also saves on energy by using very little power when the LED sources are not in use.
Greater reliability and less maintenance (the LED light sources have a rated life of 25,000 hours) are additional selling points, according to Martin.
Used initially as keylights for band members, Normandale opted to switch the fixtures to a front truss position after being impressed with the 350 Entour's output and gobos.
Along with eight interchangeable dichroic colors, the fixture houses six rotating and indexable gobos – all new designs that are easy to change.
Accompanying the 350 Entours in the Crowded House rig are Martin MAC 250 Washes, MAC 700 Profiles and Atomic 3000 strobes.
Crowded House toured the U.K. and Europe through June, then embarked on a North American leg in July. "The 350's healed up so well we shipped them to the U.S. for that leg," Normandale noted.
Photos: Allan Toft / Martin Professional
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