In North America, getting an occasional shock from a 120VAC household mains supply is almost a way of life for some of us. In Europe, getting shocked by their 230VAC or 240VAC is a good way to lose your life.
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Each year it seems that new lighting fixtures become more and more complex. If you attend any lighting tradeshows you will find that most manufacturers have LED fixtures, media servers and digital lighting products. These unique products are very different in output and control from good old “automated” lighting fixtures. Many of these units require knowledge of their protocol as well as a good understanding of how they interact with a lighting desk.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
Read More »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?).
Read More »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…
Read More »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
Read More »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
Read More »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.
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