46 PL & P
Project Update
American rock band Widespread Panic made its first MEMPHO Music Festival appearance at the 2021 edition of the show where Ayrton Domino IP65-rated LED profiles took the stage with the popular headliners . A mix of touring national acts and local favourites , MEMPHO 2021 was held in October at the Memphis Botanic Garden ’ s Radians Amphitheater .
Paul Hoffman , co-owner and president of Pulse Lighting in Nashville , became the lighting designer for Widespread Panic in 2009 after serving as the band ’ s crew chief for three years . He worked with ACT Entertainment , Ayrton ’ s exclusive North American distributor , to obtain Domino fixtures for the band ’ s MEMPHO debut .
“ We own probably 150 Ayrton Mistral and Ghibli fixtures , which have been great workhorses for us , and have grandMA consoles , motors , and cables from ACT ,” says Hoffman .
Hoffman placed 10 Dominos on the stage floor behind the band to silhouette the musicians and put patterns , colour washes , and breakups on them from the rear . “ They were really punchy ,” he recalls . “ We also used them in beam mode for searchlight effects behind the band . Then we turned them around to do graphical stuff on the back wall of the stage like the star field we used for the song , ‘ Space Wrangler .’ We had a lot of fun playing with them .”
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Based on a beloved Boston pub , O ’ Learys is a Swedish restaurant chain with operations across Europe and Asia . Featuring an abundance of screens constantly airing a variety of sporting events , the restaurants provide a uniquely American sports bar experience where patrons can watch their game of choice while socializing , dining , and playing pub games such as darts and bowling . “ For a mid-sized venue , there ’ s usually at least 40 to 50 screens ,” says Jörgen Olsson , project sales specialist at Effektgruppen AB .
To provide each location with a seamless solution for controlling these screens , O ’ Leary ’ s hired Swedish AV integration company Effektgruppen AB to equip each facility with AMX SVSI N2400 Series encoders , decoders , and control systems . Utilizing JPEG2000 encoding , the N2400 Series solutions deliver cinema-quality video at 4k resolution and 60 fps frame rate with sub-frame latency . Support for HDMI 2.0 , HDCP 2.2 and HDR allows end users to realize the full potential of their source and display devices .
Effektgruppen ’ s use of the AMX SVSI is driven , in part , by the need for a standards-compliant video-over-IP control system that could scale efficiently when franchises expand . Operating on standard 1 Gbps networks and requiring only POE + power , N2400 Series encoders and decoders provide the most scalable 4K60 4:4:4 solution .
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The world-renowned Vienna State Opera House in Austria – also home to the Vienna State Ballet – has invested in new Robe Forte HCF LED moving lights and Forte HCF FollowSpots , selecting the high CRI LED engine option for these fixtures , which utilize Robe ’ s TE ( Transferable Engine ) technology . The venue purchased 10 Forte HCF luminaires and four Forte HCF FollowSpots , which work in conjunction with a customised RoboSpot control system , explains deputy head of lighting Robert Eisenstein .
The Opera House has a busy repertory schedule , and these luminaires – delivered via Robe ’ s Austrian distributor , Signal – replace the old manual-focus generic FOH tungsten fixtures with brighter , more adaptable , and more sustainable lights , and have upgraded the traditional follow spots in this impressive 1,709-seat and 567-standing capacity Renaissance Revival-styled venue , opened in 1869 .
The Opera House follow spot slot rooms are in the high gallery in the middle of the FOH lighting positions , which were already very tight for space , making having a small fixture essential . Custom software allows the output of the inbuilt Forte FollowSpot cameras to appear on monitor screens attached to the wall of the follow spot box together with some of the RoboSpot system features , allowing the spotters to simultaneously see the stage in classic style .