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Martin MAC Viper Air FX and Quadray Lens

Martin MAC Viper Air FX and Quadray Lens

Last year, Martin Professional unveiled the first in their series of new lighting fixtures, the Viper. It’s an extremely bright, hard-edged lighting fixture with a lot of functions. Since then, Martin has unveiled the Viper AirFX. It appears that somebody has finally stepped up and built a lighting fixture that’s designed for the rock ‘n’ roll lighting designer. By that, I mean a light that caters to how we can shape and color a light beam, as opposed to primarily caring about the subject the light would be illuminating or shining a texture on.

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The author was able to use TouchOSC to control her ArKaos software.

Rediscovering MIDI

With the rise in popularity of electronic dance music (EDM), DJs are touring now with elaborate visual productions. The majority of these DJ acts feature visuals that are programmed using a media server but not operated using a lighting console. Instead, many visual jockeys (VJs) are looking to other types of communication protocols for the ultimate in control. One such protocol, not as often used in lighting today like it once was, is MIDI. Combine this interface protocol with a touchscreen GUI, and you’ve got a powerful control interface with virtually unlimited configurations. Let’s take a closer look at two of the more recent MIDI/Touchscreen interfaces that are making appearances at your local EDM venue nightly.

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Fourth of July in Nashville.

Music City Celebrates Fourth of July with Bandit Lites

NASHVILLE– Bandit Lites helped pull off Music City’s Fourth of July Celebration. Striking Matches, Keb’Mo’ and The Band Perry took the stage before more than 26,000 firework shells erupted over the Nashville skyline. LD Chris Lisle played off the look of the bridges directly behind and adjacent to the outdoor stage. The new GLP X4S fixtures lined the main arch upstage center and two half arches on either side, while the downstage portion of the rig included three more horizontal arches to create a cohesive design.

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Music City is Show-Ready

From what you read and see in the media, Nashville looks like it’s wall-to-wall music. Its music industry is still centered around Music Row, the Grand Ole Opry is located in the Music Valley area, and the commuter rail line is dubbed the Music City Star. But scratch the surface, and you’ll find a production community teeming with lighting designers and directors, video producers, staging specialists and projection poobahs. Music gets the headlines, but Nashville can push a major-league tour out the door or pull a television production in without putting up any help-wanted notices at IATSE Locals 306 or 728.

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Three Approaches, One Result

The fact that there are many ways to achieve the same look on stage is often one of the most overwhelming things for new automated lighting programmers. Trying to decide on the best method to use can be daunting, and making the wrong choice could lead to unnecessary work, further confusion or incompatibility with other show elements. For these reasons, it is important for programmers to be aware of different methods to accomplish the same goal as well as to understand the consequences of each. As an example, let’s look at one of my favorite animated sequences on stage that I call “kicks.”

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LiteConsole's new website.

New Website for Prolyte Group’s LiteConsole

WAKEFIELD, UK – Prolyte Group, manufacturer of trussing, staging and custom structures, has refreshed the brand identity of its LiteConsole product range with the launch of a dedicated website and a new logo. LiteConsole represents a selection of lightweight, innovative performance platforms that are popularly used as mobile DJ booths, but also impress as stands or podiums for corporate presentations, trade shows and retail environments.

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Destroid performs in body armor at Warfield in San Francisco. Photo by Rukes

A Destroid Lighting Design with Body Armor; Award Winning LDs; Quick Cues and More…

Destroid is using hundreds of custom LEDs — not in the rig or lining the stage, but clothed on their bodies.  The EDM group is outfitted with specially-made $100,000 body armor — complete with smoke machines, CO2 and laser arm blasters, custom LED panels and animatronics and built-in video cameras feeding live visuals. That doesn’t even take into account the rest of the production. LDs Michael Smalley and Kyle Kegan worked together on the show for the group, which is performing at some summer festivals and is planning to embark on a major tour in the fall.

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CryoJets on New Kids on The Block's tour. Photo: Marcello Ambriz

New Gear From Strictly FX Part of ‘The Package’

CHICAGO – “The Package,” the current New Kids on the Block tour includes more than just the members of the band. It also includes two new pieces of gear that merge lighting and special effects from Strictly FX. Production Designer Butch Allen and New Kid Donnie Wahlberg, who is very involved in the production, wanted something fresh. “Butch and Donnie wanted a party atmosphere for the production, and we had something new that fit the bill perfectly,” notes Ted Maccabee, partner and visuals director at Strictly FX.

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Illustration by Andy Au

Loyalty

I like shooting the breeze with the old timers in our biz. People who have been around the block a few times. The folks who follow all the unwritten rules just the same as the pertinent ones everyone knows. Whenever we start chatting, the subject of loyalty will eventually rear its head. It may be a great story of “Gee, look how far that person has come. So and so has kept them busy.” Or it may be ugly as in “Shame about that one, he had a shot… once.”

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Glastonbury site. Photo: Jason Bryant.

Robe Lights Stages and Spaces at Glastonbury Festival

SOMERSET, UK – Around 400 Robe fixtures were on site in various areas at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in Pilton, Somerset UK. “Glasto” had a capacity of 175,000 with an eclectic line up of live music and entertainment over three days. Robe UK’s Ian W Brown took his tent and Wellies and got into the festival spirit, where iffy weather turned to sunshine, soaring temperatures and sizzling expectations.

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Eurolite at the EDC in Las Vegas.

Eurolite Dazzles 345,000 at Electric Daisy Carnival

LAS VEGAS – Dominating what may be one of the largest stages ever constructed in the U.S., AG Light and Sound provided 430 Eurolite Performance Clusters (PMC 16x30s) to the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), the electronic dance music festival taking over Las Vegas Motor Speedway June 21-23. Deployed on the Steve Lieberman-designed main stage “Kinetic Field,” the PMC 16x30s represented fully 20 percent of the more than 2,000 fixtures used on the stage, which required over 2 million watts of power.

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