18 May, 2020 | ETC
City council building, Majilis Bandaraya Johor Bahru, has been installed with an array of ETC fixtures by AFS Engineering. Located in the heart of Johor Bahru, the new government building is 15 storeys high, with seven additional underground levels.
AFS Engineering has installed a variety of ETC fixtures including Source Four Zoom, ColorSource Linear and Source Four Fresnels into the Majilis Bandaraya Johor Bahru’s auditorium and banquet hall. The company also installed SmartPack ThruPower dimmer packs, and all lighting is controlled via an Element 2 console, which runs on the Eos platform. According to ETC Asia, the brand was chosen because of the reliability of its products, the 24/7 support available locally and the manufacturer’s warranty.
The Majilis Bandaraya Johor Bahru, which has received the Green Building Index Recognition as a mark of its ecological credentials, is used to host frequent government meetings and forums as well as major public events.
7 May, 2020 | ETC
ETC has unveiled two new product ranges, designed to work together: ArcSystem Navis, a range of LED luminaires as well as an F-Drive system with customisable output cards, combining together to create an LED system for a variety of spaces. The Navis line of luminaires fixtures are available in a range of colour temperature options from 2700 K to 5000 K alongside an RGBW colour-mixing option.
A 3000 K fade to warm variant is available as a warm light at lower intensity levels, with aesthetic changes able to be made with a range of magnetic trim plates, clip-in optical accessories and twist and click beam angle lenses.
The Navis 100 features three wind-down clamps for ceiling thicknesses from 0.5mm to 20mm, with Navis 100 products able to be transformed into a surface cylinder or pendant system by sliding into hardware accessories.
An optional wall wash accessory is also available, allowing the Navis 100 to provide a blanket of light for a wall or corridor application.
The F-Drive LED power control is designed for use with ArcSystem Navis luminaires and third-party fixture applications, using category type cable with RJ45 connections.
The F-Drive range can include both an R12 rack mount option and a W1 wall-mount option.
The R12 option includes 12 slots for swappable output cards with four channels of power output each, with mix-and-match driver cards available that are compatible with a variety of LED fixtures such as constant current and constant voltage loads.
The cards are hot-swappable, allowing changes to be made while maintaining power for the rest of the LED system. Power and data support is provided for up to 48 individually controllable Navis 100 luminaires.
20 Apr, 2020 | ETC
In theatre, the word “immersive” is often tossed around to describe the flimsiest of attempts to create a pre-show atmosphere.
It’s a gamble that mostly comes up short. By contrast, Woolf and the Wondershow’s production of Cages succeeds in spectacular style. The show takes place in a downtown Los Angeles warehouse that has been transformed into a Victorian wonderland. The audience enters through a stylish, highly-decorated “Study”— complete with whimsical rain effect projections and air perfumed with a custom scent, and stern governess—into the performance space. Hard to categorize, the show tells the story of Anhedonia, an allegorical world where emotions are banned and hearts are confined to cages. The story is told in holograms, multi-screen projections, and jaw-dropping illusions. Actors interact with projected characters in a fluid balletic dance, all with a throbbing sound design that puts music and special effects everywhere.
An ETC Ion Xe handles more than 1,000 lighting cues in the 90-minute show, all triggered from a SMTPE feed. “It took a long time to program, and the performers have to hit their marks consistently,” says R.S. Buck, the lighting designer for the show and a CalArts grad. And, despite the large number of cues, “the lighting is intentionally discreet.”
Discreet, but highly technical. Because of all the projections, illusions, and multiple screens, dealing with light spill became a big deal. “The focus and shuttering are very precise,” says Buck. “We even 3D printed our own barn doors to get the control we needed.”
Production Manager and Associate Producer Monica Vandehei watched the show take shape from the idea stage. “We used the empty warehouse for all the pre-production. We built the props, filmed everything in miniature, and used green screen to create the holographic characters—it was very long and very detailed.”
The Ion Xe doesn’t just handle the show, either. The lavish “Study” that welcomes people into the show also operates as a bar (nicknamed “The Chemist”) during nights without a show. So Laura Green from L.A.’s Kinetic Lighting specified a control system that is multi-functional, allowing for the board operator to control the Ion Xe Console during the show, while during non-show nights, the wait staff can control the lighting in the bar using ETC’s Unison Echo Inspire button stations. This way, the venue only needs one control system, but the staff doesn’t have to be trained on a console. They just press a button on a wall switch, and an Echo DMX Scene Controller plays back snapshots from the console. Unison Foundry dimmers send power to chandeliers and sconce practicals in the elaborate space. ETC ColorSource PARs light the lobby area and ETC Source 4 Mini LEDs cover the stage.
8 Apr, 2020 | ETC, High End Systems
The 2017 closure and eventual demolition of the Sherwood Auditorium in San Diego could have dealt a fatal blow to the La Jolla Music Society who had been its tenants since 1986. “It was a huge shock,” recalled Christopher Beach, the society’s president and CEO, “We had no place to call our own.” Now, after a Herculean fund-raising effort, it has a new home in the $82 million dollar La Jolla Conrad Prebys Arts Center.
Located in the heart of La Jolla Village, the 49,200-foot facility houses two performance venues with a total capacity of 620. The 49-foot stage can be configured for concerts, theatre, lectures, or film. Curtis Kasefang of Theatre Consultants Collaborative, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, turned to ETC and High End Systems to create a house rig that could be augmented by touring shows. “There were several factors that drove fixture selection: color rendering, fixture noise, and heat contribution chief among them,” says Kasefang. “The client had a clear vision of a very theatrical space, not your traditional concert hall. He wanted it to be able to support acoustic music, amplified music, film, and secondarily dance and other performing arts.”
Kasefang faced several challenges. “The noise floor was very low, so lighting fixtures had to be fanless for acoustic events and the lighting had to be invisible. The audience chamber and the stage are surrounded by wooden grillage, through which you can see the enclosing box, which was built as an enveloping cyclorama. The initial architectural lighting fixtures didn’t cut it, so we employed the ETC ColorSource CYC fixtures which provided a beautiful quality of light that felt limitless.”
FIXTURES AND CONTROL
The project is predominantly ETC equipment driven by an Ion Xe 20 Console, including Source Four Series 2 Lustr+ front light for amplified events, ColorSource Spots for side and high side light for amplified events, Desire D40 Lustr for down lights, ColorSource CYC lights and wall wash fixtures, and High End Systems SolaFrame Theatre automated fixtures.
“We banked on the development of the High End Systems SolaFrame Theatre units because the tightness of the room and the acoustic requirements demanded a remote focusing light, but we could not tolerate the noise. Early in design, we met with Bobby Hale and based on his word, we trusted the fixture would be a success,” said Kasefang. Being a California installation, environmental factors were important. “The decision to go all LED was a big one. In truth, cost was a wash relative to halogen, but it enabled a reduction in duct sizing which made the building design possible,” Fang explained.
3 Apr, 2020 | ETC
ETC knows times are tough out there for a lot of their valued users and friends in the industry.
This won’t last forever, but for as long as it does, ETC is here for you. From now until May 15, ETC is offering all LearningStage classes FREE.
They will continue to offer resources over the next few weeks to help keep you learning, and adjust this timing for as long as needed.
Until then, stay safe and stay connected.
https://courses.etcconnect.com/
11 Mar, 2020 | ETC
We all
know that ETC provides 24-hour service to Broadway shows, concert tours, and
high-profile installs – but to airports?
When
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (billed as “America’s Friendliest
Airport”) was looking to replace its aging control system, they recognized the
legendary products and services ETC had supplied to the entertainment business
and decided to apply them to the airport.
“What you
get with ETC is excellence. ETC’s work at Disney and Universal Studios were
clear examples to our client that they would receive the same high-level
customer support,” says Stuart Pieloch, the VP of Controls and Technical Service
for RC Lurie, the local Phoenix ETC rep agency. “They could have gone a more
traditional route, but chose ETC.”
In return,
ETC gave them the gear and support they needed to centrally monitor and control
lighting across the whole airport, over a complex network, without losing sight
of the fine details. “If a light goes out at a gate, that information can be
relayed back to maintenance and be corrected very quickly,” explains Pieloch.
“There’s a high level of awareness.”
Each area
being renovated at the airport features an ETC Paradigm Processor networked
back to a Paradigm Central Control Server for facility-wide monitoring and
control. ETC Echo Relay Panels provide 277V power switching for large circuits
of lights, with 0-10V dimming based on light and occupancy sensors, plus
time-of-day scheduling for terminal operations.
Recently
completed projects include a brand-new Terminal 3 South Concourse expansion,
the Terminal 3 main “Processor” upgrade (Ticketing, TSA security, and baggage
claim), and a just-started North Concourse remodel. Outside Terminal 3, several
stand-alone buildings – such as the Command Center, parking garages, bus
station buildings – have also been remodeled and outfitted with ETC gear.
“Only ETC
could bring together that many points of control spread across literal miles of
real estate and all under a 24/7/365 support system that is the standard
against which all other companies are measured,” finishes Pieloch.
