Happy Monday, Lighting Industry!
We hope that you had an excellent weekend full of productivity, or rest and relaxation, or if you’re like us, both!
We’ve got a real treat for you this morning on the Chauvet Professional Blog — if you’ve never heard of the blues master Joe Bonamassa, check this out. Here’s a video of the man playing a cover of Sam Brown’s STOP! — get ready for some awesome Monday morning tunes!
Another week has come and gone here on the Chauvet Professional Blog… we sincerely hope that it has been an amazing week for you and yours, and that you got through every load-in, every performance,, and every load-out like it was your first and last! For those of us in this industry, it’s amazing to do the work we do – arriving at an empty venue and leaving it as you found it, yet hours and pounds of sweat later.
We really do work in the best industry!
Let’s recap what went on this week on the Chauvet professional Blog — it was an awesome week, and you all seemed to love what we had to say! Check out a recap of this week’s post goodness!
Got A Case of the Mondays? How About Some AWESOME Grooves?
TECH TALK September 2013: LOADING OUT
A LEGO CONCERT KIT?! YES PLEASE!
What is YOUR Chauvet Professional Lighting?
KLF (Uh Huh Uh, Uh Huh Uh Huh): Hump Day Energy!
Our Favorite TECH TALK Articles from MIKE GRAHAM!
KASKADE’s Atmosphere Tour Rehearsal Teaser, with NEXUS 4X4 and Geyser RGB!
Stevie Ray Vaughan Playing TEXAS FLOOD on the Chauvet Professional Blog
Multitasking COLOR WASHES with the COLORado 4 IP!
Thanks for reading, everybody!
Have you seen the COLORado 4 IP video from Chauvet Professional?
We ran the COLORado 4 IP through its paces for your approval — we made it act like a multi-pixel mapping audience blinder, let it play the role of an architectural wall washer (with IP 66 status!) and had it do its thing as a linear wash. Never once did the COLORado 4 IP disappoint!
The 4 IP is another awesome addition from the COLORado line! It’s dependable, intensely bright, and built like a tank – it’s what you expect from Chauvet Professional! The COLORado 4 IP features an IP66 rating along with an incredibly bright series of four 40-watt RGBW LEDs — incorporating white into the palette gave us the ability to provide you a broad choice of color mixing and creative expression. COLORado 4 IP also has 15-degree lenses that give an amazing punch to the output of the fixture, making it excellent for any wash application!
COLORado 4 IP also features individual pixel programming, enhancing the visual impact of this very versatile and resilient fixture. A removable yoke doubles as a mounting bracket for stacking an array of up to four units that maintain a perfect pixel pitch. it’s road worthy AND versatile!
Check out the COLORado 4 IP product feature video:
Happy Thursday, lighting industry! We’ve got something this morning that will set your Thursday ablaze with musical feeling…
Ladies and gentlemen, here’s Stevie Ray Vaughan playing one of the best blues tunes in the history of music: Texas Flood!
Stevie?
Kaskade is on tour with his new upcoming album Atmosphere — and the tour is amazing. He’s calling it the Big Rooms, Small Tour tour. He’s also using some amazing gear on that show: Chauvet Professional’s Nexus 4X4 and Geyser RGB foggers!
Check this out:
This is some awesome stuff — if you’ve not had your ears on Kaskade, you need to give yourself the pleasure of that kind of enjoyment!
Every time we look over at Mike Graham, one of our resident human walking awesomesauce packets, we can’t help but wonder how he fits all of that knowledge into one polo shirt wearing container. Mike provides great articles for Tech Talk here on the Chauvet Professional Blog, full of insight and hard work from his years in the business.
We decided to look through the last few years of Tech Talk articles and pick our five favorites. Check them out!
TECH TALK: How Many languages Do You Speak?
TECH TALK: Video in the World of Lighting
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
TECH TALK: Keep Your Movers Moving
TECH TALK: 16-Bit Dimming for LEDs
TECH TALK: LED Lights, Camera, Action!
Stay tuned for more Tech Talk articles and more from the Chauvet Professional Blog!
GOOD MORNING, lighting industry! It’s that special day again, the day where you’ve got half the week done and the other half creeping quickly towards the weekend’s events, activities, or sleeping in time. You know what we’re talking about. If you’re out in the bus, we hope your Craft Service is hot, your bus food is fresh, and your back lounge is clean!
Today we have a special Hump Day post for you — an appearance from the KLF!
Enjoy! Get that Wednesday morning blood pumping!
We here at Chauvet Professional love to know what is going on in the industry, especially when it comes to how you’re designing with Chauvet professional fixtures and equipment! Every day in this business there are hundreds upon thousands of events and performances happening in every corner of the world, and that amount is staggering.
We ask the question: What is YOUR Chauvet Professional lighting?
We would love to feature your work using Chauvet Professional fixtures and equipment on the Chauvet Pro Blog — send us images and video of your work and we will showcase you to the lighting industry community! Contact us at [email protected] and we’ll take it from there.
We look forward to showcasing your awesome design work on the Chauvet Professional Blog! Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/ChauvetProfessional, would ya?
GOOD MORNING, lighting industry!
It’s another Tuesday morning, and before you go getting the “I’m too tired for Tuesday” blues, remember this — you’re awesome and we know it! This industry is so full of amazement and wonder that only people who deal with lighting can muster!
(Did that rhyme? Apparently we’re also poets without knowing it today…)
We found something awesome for your Tuesday morning… LEGO concert rigs!!! These aren’t actual LEGO concert kits or anything, they’re the creative imagination of LEGO fanman Mario Fabrio. There’s also a video made by a German LEGO fan below to energize your creative fluid this fine Tuesday morning!
Check out these great images from Mario Fabrio’s MOC Page!
One of the happiest times of any show is the completion of load out. Especially if it is complete before last call at the nearest bar. However, load out is also, in my opinion, is often an overlooked event of show planning. By organizing your load out in the same fashion as your load in, you can be sure that there is a cold beer with your name on it waiting for you.
The best time to start thinking about load out is during your show design. At the same time you are thinking about how cool your show will look, and how much it is going to cost to load it in, you have to already be thinking about how much it is going to cost to load it out. Typically, your goal is to make sure that your rig can come down in less than the four hour minimum that you often time have to pay your crew. So, in the same way you can estimate how long it will take to load in, estimate the load out as well.
During your show pack, keeping track of exactly what goes into what box is really important. Having a complete and accurate packing list as critical for load out as it is for load in. Knowing what needs to go back into every box will greatly assist you in keeping your pack time down. This will also help you to make sure that everything that you brought to the show goes home with you. It is also a great idea to label each case that you take with you. On that label, you should have the following listed:
When you get to the venue and start setting up, As you empty cases, use the empty cases to store your truss carts. Make sure that you label the cases your truss carts are in so you can easily find them, but this will keep them all in one place and save you time in looking for them at the beginning of load out. Making sure that all of your cases are prepped to return in the order that you will need them is also really helpful. I also suggest that having all of your spare items in its own case so you can easily find them if you need them.
As you get to load out and your cases start showing up, keep them in order. As you load one up, the next one you need is there for you to use, this will also keep your “case clutter” to a minimum. Once you load a case, get it moved away from your work space and staged for packing back into your truck, then load the next one. As to cables, I suggest taking all cables that five feet and under and bundling them in packs of 10. This will make counting them easy and they can be easily stored. Typically, the most common lengths of cable are 5ft and under, so you will save tons of time by not rolling them up individually. As you get to your trussing dollies, set them up and keep them to the side until you need them. Always load your cases outside of your rig s footprint. This way, you can keep dropping your rig to the ground without having to move a bunch of half full cases around.
Keeping the process moving is important. By the time that load out comes, everyone is getting worn out and could be getting a little complacent. Keep an eye on how your gear is being packed is important, especially if you are working with a local crew that is not going with you to the next show. Firstly, you need to know where your gear is getting packed, but you also have to make sure that they are not just jamming it in a case with no care. Also, because it is the end of a long day, or in many cases, a long few days, your crew will be tired. Make sure that they are still following safe practices and not standing on the “OSHA approved chair” for taking lights out of the rig.
Remember that load out is not complete until all of your gear is on the truck and the door is dropped. It is important that not only is all of your gear in on piece, but so is your crew. Keep safe and stay organized and you will all make it before last call.
Stay tuned for more Tech Talk articles from Chauvet Professional — we’re here to help you own the road!