More than 100 CHAUVET Professional COLORado 1 IP wash lights were part of a temporary installation for the NCAA Final Four event in New Orleans, lighting the main entrance to Champions Square, a tailgating facility adjacent to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. Specified by the Solomon Group lighting company, the fixtures performed flawlessly for two evenings in a row, even though the final night brought torrential rains.
Our own Jamey Brock, national sales manager for CHAUVET Professional, interviews Scott Chmielewski president of Digital Media Designs. The firm has worked on a variety of projects including the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, venues in Las Vegas, awards shows, live concerts like Winter Music Conference 2012, as well as our own award-winning booth at LDI 2011.
Here is part one of two:
More than 80 CHAUVET Professional fixtures are on the set of “Colombia Tiene Talento” [“Colombia Has Talent”] show, which runs on RCN Television. Twenty-five SparkliteLED Drape backdrop drapes serve as background for the semicircular design, which features arches of light. About 50 COLORado 1-Tri Tour wash lights are placed along the luminous arches and above the audience, while six COLORado Zoom CW Tour light the judges’ booth from the inside.
Our knowledgeable sales team went to Phoenix, Arizona, to show employees of Richter Scale Productions the value and performance of our MVP 12 modular video panels. CHAUVET staff demonstrated how easy the 48 modular panels included in their inventory interlock to form a high-definition video wall ideal for live video content and amazing animation graphics. Once up, Richter Scale Productions employees had a semi-transparent video wall with a breathable, flow-through design, ready to be used. Enjoy great pics:
CHAUVET South Africa dealer Audiosure invited 150 distributors for an evening of showcase, interaction and prizes. On display and also the talk of the evening were a variety of CHAUVET fixtures. See photos:
CHAUVET Professional MVP 18 modular video panels wowed with dynamic animation graphics at Miami’s Ultra Music Festival 2012, the biggest dance festival in the world, which this year attracted a record crowd of 165,000 people in March. Pictured on stage is one of the world’s biggest DJs, Kaskade, who performed hits from his latest album “Fire & Ice.”
For the first time at the USITT show, CHAUVET attracted visitors with an array of lights, including our COLORado Series of powerful wash fixtures, ideal for stage use. On display we had the COLORado Zoom Tour, COLORado Zoom CW Tour, COLORado Zoom WW Tour, COLORado 2 Zoom Tour and COLORado 1-Quad Tour. Projecting beautiful saturated washes COLORado Zoom Tour and COLORado 2 Zoom Tour were among the most popular, next to the LED Followspot 75 light and Impulse 648 bright strobe light. COLORado Batten 72 Tour Tour and COLORado Batten 144 Tour linear wash lights impressed with their precise color temperatures, while the Q-Spot 560-LED demonstrated its brightness and even output. Our professional dry ice machine Nimbus flooded the booth floor in thick fog and COLORado Ridge IP projected intense colors due to its red, green, blue, white and amber LEDs. Perfect for adding a lot of color to small performance venues, SlimPAR Pro RGBA was also showcased, for its complete spectrum in some of the harder-to-create warm colors.
One hundred CHAUVET MVP 18 travel with the Dayglow Tour for a two-month marathon from March to May, for more than 50 shows in cities throughout the U.S. and Mexico. The tour entertains thousands of fans with spectacular DJ performances, soaring aerial acts, stilt-walkers, contortion acts, fire shows, and cannons to deliver the famous “Paint Blast.” Legendary DJs such as Laidback Luke, Robbie Rivera, Diplo, Funkagenda, A-Track, Porter Robinson, Alex Gaudino, Funkerman, Static Revenger, and resident Dayglow DJ David Solano performed live in front audiences reaching more than 5,000 people. Click here to read story on our website.
Six questions with David Ayala, lighting designer, director and programmer for grand-scale TV shows and concerts in various countries, with almost two decades of experience in the lighting industry.
1. How did you get into this field?
I have started working in the lighting industry about 18 years ago, in my native country of Venezuela. I have always been influenced and surrounded by music. Back in the day, some friends and I set up a mobile DJ company, that people used to call ‘minitecas.’ We did musical animation with sound and lighting for weddings, quinceañeras and various events. Later on I transitioned to the lighting industry when I started programming and installing lights in discos in Caracas and other cities in Venezuela. I was passionate about my job, so the public and customers started noticing my work. One day a big lighting company invited me to work for them. I took advantage of this opportunity and worked on growing professionally and prepared myself to face a complex industry that also brought plenty of satisfactions to me. While being involved in a lot of big events, shows, conferences and other activities, from 2003 to 2005 I have worked in collaboration with the department of lighting for the TV station Venevision, designing, programming and operating automatic lighting for Miss Venezuela, a popular show in the entire world. In 2005 I started designing the lighting for the tours of Olga Tañón—famous singer of merengue from Puerto Rico—and this is how I pretty much started my international career. While traveling with different artists, in 2007 I was invited to Puerto Rico to be part of the lighting crew for the TV show “Objetivo Fama” (“Goal: Fame”). I worked for this show for three seasons as lighting and video servers programmer, and when the seasons were over I established myself in Puerto Rico, where I live now with my family. The same year, in 2007, I had my big chance, when I was called to be the lighting designer for the Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas. Since then until 2010 I was part of the crew for UNIVISION Network, which did shows like Premio Lo Nuestro, Premios Juventud and Latin Grammy Awards among others. In various occasions I have worked with famous lighting designer Carlos Colina.
2. What do you think is the next big thing in the lighting industry?
I have been witnessing for some years now the fusion of lighting and video, and I think this merger is still evolving. Each year we will see something new and we will have better designs, where the lights, video and other visual elements combine in harmony. I am very satisfied with this shift, and with the fact that the industry is seeing a change from big crews to smaller ones, but with great potential. The development of LED lights is also something worth noting, and the overall goal of achieving more power while thinking ‘green.’ Imagine that now we have the power of a 1,500-watt light from LED lights, with brighter and sharper colors.
3. Do you have a favorite fixture (and why)?
I love the Q-Wash 560Z-LED from CHAUVET. I am very impressed with its colors, its zoom and low power consumption. I was convinced of its performance during the concert of Gilberto Santa Rosa at the Center for Bellas Artes in Puerto Rico, when I used other CHAUVET lights, such as Q-Wash 260-LED, COLORado 3p IP, and COLORado Batten 72 Tour fixtures, all provided by rental company Musique Xpress Lighting, which has supported my projects a lot.
4. What has been your favorite design/project?
Working for Puerto Rico Idol has been a tremendous experience for me. For this show I have worked from the very beginning, since it was just in the concept stages. I was the designer and director of lighting and I have also programmed the lights with the video crew. I used as base for my design 10 SparkliteLED Drape backdrops from CHAUVET. With these drapes I have managed to build my background and the most important layer of my design for the television set. The drapes were my base for color and furthermore, they played an important role in the scenography. Currently, I am very excited because we have confirmed a second season for Puerto Rico Idol and I know I can count again on the SparkliteLED Drape, and on other CHAUVET products. I have also had the opportunity to work on big tours of big budgets, like the tour of Natalia Jimenez, Daddy Yankee, and the one of reggaeton singers Wisin and Yandel. I have also enjoyed working as lighting director for the TV recording of Yanni’s new DVD, which took place at El Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Puerto Rico. For this project I have used other CHAUVET lights, like COLORado 1 IP, COLORado Range IP, COLORado Ridge IP and COLORado 3p IP, all from rental company Musique Xpress Lighting.
5. What was the biggest unforeseen obstacle that you’ve faced in one of your designs, and how did you overcome it?
In this industry, you always have obstacles to overcome. Unfortunately, one of the biggest obstacles is the ‘human’ one, because there will always be a struggle with the competition. I have managed to overcome these types of obstacles through my work, heritage, proving myself and showing my potential. Some technical obstacles are accidents, which can occur when you less expect it. Also, in this industry the time factor is also an obstacle that we always have to take into account. A perfect show is the one that has been rehearsed lot, that the staff has put a lot of time into and has been allowed certain freedom while working on it.
6. Complete this thought: A show without light is like…
…a forest without the moon.
Mike Graham looking pensive in front of MVP panels.
Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET Professional
Keeping your equipment running is critical in this day and age. No one can afford to have a broken fixture just sitting there collecting more dust than if it were in the rig. Scheduling preventative maintenance protects your investments and brings more money in the long run. Depending on your environment and on how much you are using your lights, you should plan for a preventative maintenance usually once a quarter. If your lights perform in a particularly harsh environment, then it would make sense to do it twice or more a quarter.
1. Exterior inspection. This is the easiest to do, and to be quite honest, should actually happen every time you pack for a show. Watch for these steps when conducting the inspection:
A. Cable and connection check: check that all of the connections are tight and that the power connector holds the power cable correctly. If it is not locking properly, or is falling out, then it may be time for a new connector. Make sure your DMX connections are sung, but don’t let the cables hang up when you are trying to release them. If you have tails coming from the light, inspect the cable strain relief to make sure it is not cracked. Also, verify that the wire and the connections are in good condition.
B. Fan vent inspection: if your lights have fans, then there are fan vents. If the fan vents look like the lint trap on your dryer after you run a load of towels, then it is time for a cleaning! This can be done with a rag slightly moistened with glass cleaner.
CAUTION! Never spray any kind of cleaner directly onto a fixture. Always spray it on a towel or rag, and then rub the fixture clean. NEVER use an air hose or caned air to blow into the fan vents. Spinning the fans may sound cool, but can create a positive voltage feedback into the main PCB and will for sure damage the bearings on the fan itself.
C. Optics inspection: take a look at the lens and make sure it is free of garbage. Again, a little glass cleaner goes along way. Do not use anything abrasive to clean glass. It will scratch and you will cry. While you are looking into the optics, check and make sure that there is no apparent heat damage on anything under the glass.
2. Internal inspection. On any product that has a fan, internal inspections are important. For IP outdoor rated products, this is completely not necessary. Keep in mind that only qualified personnel should open IP products. Opening up a COLORado 1 IP is easy. Getting it back together and maintaining the IP rating is tricky. Also, opening up an IP rated fixture will void the warranty.
A. Cable and connection check: visually assess the inside of the light to make sure that all of the connections are attached properly. You can give them a little wiggle—not a tug—to verify that they are not falling off. Make sure that no cables are pinched and that they are still flexible.
B. Fan cleaning: always clean fans before you clean your optics. Once the head covers are off, you will see that you have a rat’s nest of hair, dust, dead skin cells, haze or fog fluid, and other nasty stuff stuck to your fans and heat sinks. To get this off, first put on a mask. You do not want to breath in the dust bunnies that you are about to blow out of here. If you are working on a fixture with an exposed lamp, such as a typical 250-watt or 575-watt moving head fixture, you may want to remove the lamp to avoid having dust stick to it. It’s not so much that the dust will start on fire when you turn the lamp back on, but it will stink as it burns off. So, to make it simple, just follow these steps:
Step 1: make sure your fan is not going to spin freely. Use a screwdriver to put threw the blades to hold the fan in place.
Step 2: put on your mask!
Step 3: using an air compressor, blow the fans clean. Once the fans are clean, blow out the rest of the fixture head with the compressor. Check to see if there are clumps of gunk stuck to anything, especially to the optical path.
C. Optics clean: make sure that your optics are clean. A little dirt and dust can go a long way to dropping your output. If you are using foggers and hazers, then you will want to pay close attention to this. For the glass gobos, fortunately for you, all CHAUVET glass gobos are on slot and lock gobo holders. Remove the gobo, clean it with a cotton cloth and a little glass cleaner, dry and replace. You can use a cotton swab to get the grime out of the outer edges. If you notice specs of black in the outside of the image when looking at a projected gobo after it has been cleaned, then you are dealing with gunk, which you can only remove with a swab. I like the ones with the long wooden stick like they have in the doctor’s office. For the color wheel, do not remove it. Just do your best to get it clean. Again, I like swabs for this too. Takes a little longer, but looks much better. Repeat process on the prism and other optics as needed.
All of the above should be followed about once every four months. If you are in a higher usage area, more frequent maintenance might be necessary. Planning a routine like this will keep your rig working for you, and not you working for it.