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Los Angeles, March 3,
2008
Lighting designer Keith Hoagland has selected grandMA as his traveling
companion for the national tour of Grammy-nominated country artist Joe
Nichols. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor of grandMA in
North America.
Nichols’s tour comes hot on the heels of the release of his
new album, “Real Things.” It includes his
performance the Super Bowl XLII’s Super Jam event.
Hoagland, of Nashville’s CK Productions, did the initial
programming for Nichols’s show on a full-size grandMA console
using a grandMA light as tracking back up. Then he dumped the show into
the grandMA light which goes on tour along with a grandMA PC with a
two-port Node Pro as back up.
“It’s my first tour with the grandMA, and I had to
learn and program 20 songs in five days,” he says.
“For having never been on it, it was a very easy transition.
I like it. Getting around softpatch and adding fixtures have been easy,
and MA offers great online support.”
Hoagland, who serves as Nichols’s lighting designer,
programmer and board operator, joined the singer after finishing
Wynonna Judd’s Christmas tour. “Joe’s
tours are a ‘weekend warriors,’ year-round kind of
project. He does 80 to 100 shows but the dates aren’t etched
in stone; they’re often decided on a month-by-month basis
with him playing casinos in the fall and winter and doing the biggest
shows from May to September during fair and festival season,”
he explains.
Hoagland finds the grandMA flexible enough to adapt to an ever-changing
lighting inventory. “We bring 12 Elation Professional Design
Spot moving lights and the promoter provides the PAR cans at each
venue,” he points out. “On one show we may have my
12 lights and 20 to 30 PAR cans. On another, they’ll supply a
lot more lights, so I just clone in that new information and add it to
my show. The grandMA allows me to recreate my show per venue, based on
what’s available.”
For Han Henze, whose Nashville-based Keylight LLC is the lighting
equipment vendor for the show, introducing the tour to the grandMA was
a win-win proposition. “The programming is transferable from
the grandMA light to a full-size grandMA if the show warrants
it,” he notes. “And the grandMA’s
expandability and networking aspects are critical, should Keith
incorporate media servers one day. This feature set provides a path for
any future expansion.
“Sending out the smaller desk with Keith and running a PC
with a two-port Node Pro as back up is a huge advantage,” he
adds. “It enables me, as the vendor, to get my foot in the
door with equipment that’s cost effective but still gives the
client all the capabilities they need. That really works out
well.”
"We are so happy to have these flexible offerings in the grandMA range.
Keith has made great use of three different models, the grandMA, the
grandMA light and the 2-port node with OnPC. All of this is
transferable to any of the grandMA platforms and helps future-proof
this show as Joe’s popularity skyrockets. Keith has proven
that he is a quick study and I would credit Han Henze’s great
tutoring skills," comments A.C.T Lighting President and CEO Bob Gordon.
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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