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Mike Ledesma and the Art of Lighting Latin Music

Mike Ledesma and the Art of Lighting Latin Music

The term Latin Music gives the average listener a fairly straightforward idea of what they are about to hear. It would seem to be an easy genre to pigeonhole, as is the wont of most music journalists. But, pay a bit closer attention to the ensemble of percussionists that actually lead the band, more than just providing a backbeat, and the rich diversity of its myriad roots soon comes out. Michael Ledesma has been listening to those polyphonic rhythms all his life.

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George Elizondo

George Elizondo is an award-winning, Parnelli nominated, well-respected video director. He’s made his name in concert touring and live events working with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Aerosmith, Sting, Chance The Rapper, Guns N’ Roses, Jennifer Lopez, the Dixie Chicks and Sir Elton John, among other. But Elizondo originally started out in the family business on the back lots of Hollywood. PLSN caught up with him to give us 1,000 words on his background, his work and what he loves about his job

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At MEGA Systems, It’s a Family Affair

M.E.G.A. Systems Inc. (Mega) consists of the four Cabada brothers, doing what they do best — developing new fixtures, selling all kinds of gear, maintaining relationships with clients and backing their products. They do all these things well, because each brother has a separate job in the company that they are responsible for. They work in tandem, and despite their different roles, all company-wide decisions are made by the four partners. On top of that, I love hanging out with all of them because they are happy, fun people who have a zest for life.

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17th Annual Parnelli Awards

The 17th annual Parnelli Awards gala, held Friday, Jan. 26 at the Anaheim Hilton during NAMM 2018, honored Bobby “Boomer” Thrasher, Jonathan Smeeton and John Stadius with the Lifetime Achievement Award, Visionary Award and Audio Innovator Award, respectively.

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Vari-Lite VLZ Spot

It is, I think, uncontroversial to consider the VL3000 spot fixture as having a special place of prestige among intelligent fixtures. In that 1200-watt fixture Vari-Lite realized a truly excellent light, one that set the standard for the quality of its brightness, effects and optics, and it has been used extensively in entertainment lighting since its inception. It was, to understate things, a very usable intelligent light.

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White LED Lights

If there is one category that has changed dramatically over the last few years, it would be moving heads with white-light only LED light sources. Three years ago, all the major manufacturers offered at least a pancake LED fixture. With a few notable exceptions — Claypaky has an excellent one — not as many of these particular fixtures are offered these days. So for PLSN’s Buyers Guide this month, we decided to run the gamut, expanding the focus to include all kinds of products with a white light LED light source, ranging from LED tape to spotlights and lights designed for use with a camera.

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Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend

When you are given a project that will require a variety of images and clips to be displayed on LED walls with unusual orientations, how do you prepare for programming? Recently I encountered this scenario and in the process of working out the details, I found a unique solution to this very specific situation that I think deserves sharing.

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IP-Rated Fixtures From PR Lighting/Mega Systems Inc.

With the call for IP-rated weatherproof fixtures becoming a serious concern in all aspects of the lighting business, there are two questions I hear from people when contemplating whether to purchase these types of fixtures. How much extra money will the initial cost be, and how much of a pain is it for the techs to work on a fixture and then put it back together so it’s still waterproof?

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The Genre Series: Concerts

One of my favorite things about working as an automated lighting programmer is that there is a vast array of different types of genres to work within. While the basics of programming are the same, there are certain things that are unique to the various types of productions. Over the course of the next few months, I will cover some of the distinctive attributes that you must be aware when programming on specific types of shows. For this edition, the programming procedures and operations common for concert and live music type productions will be discussed.

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NAMM Buzz, Bits, Brian, Butts and Benoit…and a Bit More

There was a bright buzz reverberating around this year’s NAMM show, considering this was the first year of live production panels at this musical instrument-focused event…Sprinkled throughout this month’s column are familiar faces Designer Watch caught around the NAMM show. Top picture – LD Bryan Hartley (center) visits with LDs Susan Rose and Celine Royer during the Parnelli Awards. Middle picture – LDs Seth Jackson and Howard Ungerleider at the 17th Annual Parnelli Awards reception. Bottom picture – LDs Matt Guminski and Gurn Kaniski catch up at NAMM.

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