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Los Angeles, May 3,
2007
Yee-haw! It’s rodeo time in Texas, and the grandMA made its
debut
at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo where two consoles were
used
to control the main and perimeter lighting rigs for star turns by
leading performers. A.C.T. Lighting is the exclusive distributor of the
grandMA in North America.
The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, held February 27-March 18
at
Reliant Park, has benefited the youth of Texas since 1932. Over one
million tickets were sold last year for rodeo and concert performances
by star entertainers who appear nightly after the rodeo events
conclude.
“What’s unique about this show is that
you’re dealing
with 20 performing artists in 20 days,” notes LD
Systems’
John Dickson, who handled all the overhead stage lighting.
“And
that means 20 different lighting designers. They don’t run
the
board; they give you ideas to translate. The challenge is coming up
with different looks using exactly the same rig every night.
“The grandMA is really fluid, and its timecode is totally
cool,” he continues. “Two shows were done to
timecode: the
National Anthem and a multimedia presentation honoring the volunteers
and featuring a brief history of the rodeo. The grandMAs took the
timecode feed better than any other system I’ve used. While
it’s my first year using the grandMA, I can’t
imagine going
back to another desk. The grandMA’s playback is so much more
powerful, and the executor buttons put everything at your fingertips
for doing bumps, flashes and strobes.”
The main rig, programmed by Dickson, featured 24 VARI*LITE VL 3000
Spots, 24 HES Studio Command 1200 Washes, 20 Coemar Parlite LEDs, five
HES Studio Color 575s, and four HES Studio Spot 575s. The grandMAs and
lighting equipment were supplied by LD Systems.
Matt Mills, who controlled the perimeter rig for audience lighting,
says the show “went great” with the grandMA. Using
the
console’s Group Masters “made it very easy to
control the
intensities on the fly,” he reports. For example,
“If the
Syncrolights were blasting out the look I had created, I could just
pull the Group Master back to fix it,” he explains.
“I also
put several different bump looks on the executor buttons so at any
moment I could jump right in with the beat of a song.”
In addition, Mills tapped the Speed Master function of the console for
gate chases. “This worked great because of the
‘learn’ function,” he says. “I
could set the
rate by just tapping along to the beat of the song and then let it
ride.”
The grandMA’s Effects Engine also proved helpful.
“It was
very easy to make huge movement effects simply by focusing all my
lights at the stage then running a circle effect and adjusting the size
and speed of the effect,” Mills notes.
The perimeter rig, programmed by Mills, consisted of 36 Syncrolight
7Ks, 42 HES Cyberlight Turbos, and 16 HES Intellabeams.
MA Lighting is
exclusively distributed by A.C.T Lighting.
A leading importer and distributor of lighting products, A.C.T
Lighting, Inc. strives to identify future trends and cutting-edge
products, and stock, sell and support their inventory. The company
provides superior customer service and value for money to all of its
clients.
For more information call 818-707-0884.
Copyright © ACT Lighting 2009. All rights reserved.
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