The Los Angeles Bureau of the Fox News Channel has seen its share of rising and falling news personalities but a constant star is ETC.
The small studio in Culver City serves as the Left Coast broadcast centre for several prominent US TV presenters, including Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Geraldo Rivera. In the late 80s and early 90s it was the home of the late-night talk show, The Pat Sajak Show. In 2017, the stage underwent a complete overhaul – out with the wood-panelled look in favour of a Plexiglas and stainless steel design with a curtain track backdrop that can switch from night to day faster than you can say “breaking news.” With its unusually high ceiling and excellent acoustics, the stage is now home to The NextRevolution with Steve Hilton Sunday night broadcast.
The revamped set design came with a much-needed new lighting package provided by 4Wall Lighting’s Los Angeles office. Lighting Director Eric Reinig and his counterparts in New York specified a mostly ETC LED system. “It only made sense to go LED, for the flexibility and the reduction of heat onstage and the running costs,” says Reinig. “The old rig of standard 1K and 2K fixtures and old Strand gear was well past its prime.”
The new rig features 32 ETC Source Four LED Series 2 fixtures with Lustr arrays and a range of lenses (19, 26 and 36 degrees), serving as the new key lights for the talent and colour washes on the scenic panels. A few classic Source Fours are used as specials, powered by an ETC 24-channel Sensor3 dimmer pack. “Even though we have to colour correct them to 4300 degrees, the conventional fixtures give me a softer look. But you can’t beat the Lustrs for flat field and coolness to the touch.”
Describing the change in lighting control, Reinig jokes: “We went from a ‘baby starter’ two-scene, preset to an ETC Ion 1500 with a 2×20 Universal Fader Wing.” The learning curve more than paid off in the ability to set up pre-programmed looks for Fox shows and any incoming rentals. The nearby Fox Sports One/Fox Deportes studio, where Reinig is also an LD, uses an Ion console.
Reinig’s career path was equally transformative. While he worked in construction, he maintained an interest in photography and operated a DJ company with several DJs and mobile systems for private parties and nightclubs. When he was injured on a construction job, he went back to school – first to Moorpark College, followed by a degree in cinematography at California State University, Northridge. “I was lucky to have a friend at Fox who let me play with equipment and learn the gear – I also was also an apprentice with cinematographer Bill Bennett (a member of ASC) and fell in love with lighting.”
Today Reinig uses studio down time to experiment with new lighting looks and get deeper into the workings of the Ion. Pointing out the extremely long top hats on the Lustr fixtures around the news desk, he explains, “Our host Steve Hilton is bald and we use this technique to reduce hot spots on his head. I am guessing other shows have faced the same challenges in controlling multiple points of light off of the top of their host – it’s a great trick.”
Looking ahead, Reinig already sees a need for 12 more Lustr fixtures and 12 spares, as the studio may expand into more of an entertainment stage. “Every time I go to LDI, my mind starts racing with the possibility of new gear. It’s an exciting time in lighting.”
Please contact us or your nearest ETC dealer for more information on ETC products.
The Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum in Albuquerque showcases the beauty, ingenuity and history of lighter-than-air flight in a building that has become a beloved landmark in its hometown. Thanks to new control products from ETC they were able to modernise their lighting control, offering a dynamic lighting environment that was also more energy efficient.
The museum doesn’t just house balloons, it also is meant to look like one. Its striking facade is the silhouette of a hot air balloon, with the top of the building a dome – newly washed with colour-changing LED fixtures. The museum wanted to take advantage of capabilities of the LED fixtures and reinforce the iconic nature of the building. The solution was an ETC Paradigm system. Lighting looks were programmed into the system and now the museum staff can choose custom colours for different themes or special events.
“Because we are used a lot and we do a lot of activities all year round in the very early morning or late at night, it gives us a way to add an element of beauty to the building,” says Paul D. Garver, manager of the museum. He has plans to let the lights react to weather conditions like temperature, wind speed and more, and when he’s ready to do that ETC’s system will be able to accommodate that as well. As it is, the lights are still a big hit. “They’re a living, breathing part of what’s going on and it’s a big benefit to us.”
The Paradigm system is also a hit inside. The Museum’s event spaces are now easily changeable thanks to Paradigm control and the 7-inch Touchscreen station. Positioned near the ballrooms, the museum can easily shift preset looks in the ballrooms, showcasing the flexibility of the space.
“We use the Touchscreen and its ease of use as a selling point to potential clients,” says Garver. “Everyone is really impressed.
“Museums are educational and engaging venues. We’re always looking for creative ways to get people involved and connected to us, lighting is one way to do that.”
Now, thanks to ETC, it’s easier than ever for the museum to take its patrons to new heights.
Please contact us or your nearest ETC Dealer for more information on ETc products.
ApexPro and ETC are proud to announce a 1-day training course to take place on 2nd March 2018 at the ApexPro offices in Weltevreden Park.
The course will cover programming on ETC’s range of ColorSource consoles. The course will also introduce participants to ETC’s range of LED fixtures, providing them with a working knowledge of the different types of fixtures, the light that they produce and how to spot a bad LED fixture as well as where the pros and cons of LED over Tungsten truly lie.
The aim of this training course is to offer young technicians who are keen to learn, the opportunity to get hands on experience with real-world lighting equipment in an atmosphere that is fun and not intimidating while also being informative and above all, useful
By the end of the day participants will leave with the ability to program on ETC’s ColorSource Consoles as well as have practical knowledge on various kinds of performance lights and how to deploy them properly to get the best results.
All participants will be presented with a certificate upon the successful completion of the course confirming that they have undergone the training.
The ColorSource Console and Fixtures Training course offers an excellent opportunity for those looking to get into lighting to give themselves a boost into the industry. Absolutely anyone is welcome from any one or more disciplines so please don’t feel shy. The only real pre-requisite is a desire to learn, and perhaps pick up a few new tips and tricks along the way.
Space is limited but don’t worry, if you miss out on this session, there will be more later in the year.
ETC will showcase a selection of its versatile and scalable architectural lighting control solutions at ISE 2018. Stand 15-R260 will be dedicated to a collection of reliable, well-supported and easy-to-maintain architectural systems from ETC – designed to suit installations of all sizes and budgets – from a single room to office complexes, large museums, convention centres and entire theme parks.
Unison Paradigm control system
Designed as a new way of thinking about building control, ETC’s visionary Unison Paradigm system fuses architectural lighting control advances with entertainment lighting control technology. ETC’s award-winning expertise in both areas together, providing the best of both worlds.
Paradigm delivers a new level of comprehensive control – sophisticated facility-lighting and building systems integration. And it does so with unprecedented flexibility and simplicity: a green-minded energy management system that capitalises on daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing and time schedules for maximum electricity and budget savings, plus the power to speak with different devices from different manufacturers over the same control system.
Making its debut at ISE, Paradigm version 4.0 boasts several additional features, including energy management monitoring and display, colour control support for conversion to RGBA and RGBW, and comprehensive Paradigm Inspire support in LightDesigner.
Unison Echo control system
The Unison Echo control system offers flexible, intelligent, and scalable control – simply. Whether it’s turning lights on and off, a need for multiple presets, daylighting and occupancy controls for energy savings or the ability to control hue, saturation and intensity of colour-changing LED luminaires; Echo has a solution to fit your requirements.
Mosaic control system
Everyday life has become the staging ground for entertainment technology experiences. The art and wonder of interactive lighting, automation, audio and visual spectacle, kinetic-art displays, water effects, and more are captivating people’s attention – differentiating a venue, creating a landmark, making a truly memorable event. ETC’s Unison Mosaic is a control solution that allows users to merge show control, LEDs, moving lights, media effects, and more into a single work of art, seamlessly closing the distance between technology and life.
“ISE 2018 presents the perfect opportunity for visitors to explore the full range of architectural solutions from ETC,” says Rosi Marx, ETC’s European marketing manager. “Whether you’re looking for one control system used independently as a focused control solution for a specific room or small venue, or multiple systems integrated together to form a single powerful system, our team of professionals will be on hand to discuss options to suit your specific requirements.”
Mosaic version 2.4 software The premiere product for lighting control and media effects on a grand scale just got better. The newest version of Mosaic software – 2.4 – is here, and includes features big and small, including a new type of timeline, RGB over DALI control, and more.
Timeline has undergone the biggest change in Mosaic v2.4 – adding a real-time 24-hour timeline option. The new timeline starts at midnight and ends at midnight one day later. This real-time timeline makes it very easy to program effects based on any given hour of the day, and includes all events within one timeline, removing the need for multiple timelines and triggers.
The new real-time timeline also includes waypoints that automatically adjust to astronomical events. For example, events can be set to run from sunrise to sunset, and the software will automatically adjust the timing of events to fill the time, whether it’s a long summer day or in the middle of winter.
Other new features include the addition of I/O module support to distribute custom triggers to external programs, a newly re-designed patch to make setup easier, simple RGB control over DALI, bug fixes and optimisations.
Mosaic v2.4 is available for download now. Current generation Mosaic products already in the field can be upgraded.
Eos v2.6.2 is a patch that addresses several bugs in the previous Eos family software release. It is recommended that you update your console as soon as production schedules allow.
If you’re updating from an older software version (pre-v2.6), please note that the output of your Eos family controller may be increased/adjusted in accordance with the new output scheme introduced in that release. You can read about the changes in v2.6 here.
For a rundown of Eos v2. 6 features, check out the intro video:
ColorSource v1.1.3 is a patch release that fixes a number of playback-related issues in the previous release for your ColorSource or ColorSource AV console.
It is recommended that all ColorSource users update as soon as their production schedules allow.
The Los Angeles Bureau of the Fox News Channel has seen its share of rising and falling news personalities but a constant star is ETC.
The Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum in Albuquerque showcases the beauty, ingenuity and history of lighter-than-air flight in a building that has become a beloved landmark in its hometown. Thanks to new control products from ETC they were able to modernise their lighting control, offering a dynamic lighting environment that was also more energy efficient.
