Robe and Anolis go VIP
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Robe moving lights and Anolis architectural LED fixtures have been installed into Cocktails & Dreams newest venture - the VIP Bar, CDs. The Gold Coast venue has been transformed from the underground grunge club, The Party, into an upmarket and elegant location aimed at attracting a young, sophisticated crowd.
CD’s now welcomes guest via a red carpet into an oasis of interior design including a 14m-long bar, polished timber floors, carpeted areas, black leather lounges in booths and crystal curtains. The lighting renovation – carried out by JVG Sound, Lighting & Visual – includes the install of all the architectural fixtures as well as a revamp of the dance floor set up. The architectural lighting, including staircase lighting, and up-lighting of the podiums and bar, features Anolis ArcLine 36 strips controlled via an Anolis ArcPower 144.
CDs dance floor lighting is an overhaul of the previous venues rig and features 14 Robe moving lights -  6 Robe ColorSpot 160 XTs,  4 Robe ColorSpot 250 XTs, and 4 ColorWash 250 XTs, as well as a Robe 1500FT Fog Machine and a SDV 750W DMX GigaStrobe - supplied by Australian Robe supplier ULA.  The dance floor lighting is controlled by an E:cue touchscreen system which was also supplied to JVG by ULA.
The whole lighting installation adds versatility by providing a greater choice of colour and gobo effects across the whole venue. JVG’s General Manager Jade Golar has been specifying Robe for about 4 years, so there was no question about working with the brand. “The brightness of the XT Series is fantastic” he declares “And the 160s and 250s were really perfect for the application”. He adds that he knows the Robe products really well, and that he receives great support from ULA. JVG is also a warranty repair agency for Robe, so keeps a good stock of spares – not that they are needed very often!
www.ulagroup.com

Archileds paint a new picture for Goulburn Soldiers Club
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Last year Goulburn Soldiers Club received an exterior face lift with the rendering and painting of the building. The colours for the render and paint job were designed to fit in with the heritage precinct guidelines and were decided upon in conjunction with Dulux consultants.
The result was spectacular and certainly revived a tired exterior however the Club felt that something was missing.
“I saw an article in Venue magazine detailing the use of coloured lighting to bring an exterior to life,” said Toni Mitchell, Goulburn Soldiers Club’s general manager. “The article in the magazine was about a venue that used coloured lighting to light up from the awning on the ground floor to enhance the second and third floor exterior. We thought that we could do something similar.”
It was decided that the lighting had to be modern and something different that is not currently seen elsewhere in Goulburn. FM Solutions, the Club’s facility managers, recommended Show Technology to provide a solution and Toni was impressed by their professionalism.
“The most important factor was to create a presence and interest, a wow factor, from the main street and areas surrounding the Club,” added Toni. “We also wanted to be able to easily theme the Club for important events such as pink for Breast Cancer Fund Raising Events, green and gold for the Olympics, blue for State of Origin etc. The rendered exterior supplied an ideal blank canvas for the coloured lighting.”
The installation project was managed by FM solutions and Show Technology provided commissioning and expert programming advice. Thirty-eight Studio Due Archileds were strategically placed around the building to enable the structure to be painted in coloured light. The Archileds were an ideal choice as they house 3 Watt LEDs resulting is no lack of punch regardless of whatever colour you program. This coupled with their 1 Watt Amber LEDs really makes these fixtures value for money.
Archileds are IP66 rated straight out of the box so there are no exterior mounting concerns. A number of different lenses were used in order to be able to light each area of the building as evenly as possible.
“We used 10, 23, and 45 degree lenses in various places,” explains Mark McInnes, Show Technology’s National Sales & Marketing Manager. “For programming and control we’ve used a simple Martin Lightjockey 2 system set to ‘scheduler’ - the lights automatically come on as night starts to fall and then turn off as a predetermined time after the venue closes.”
The beauty of the scheduler is that it has an astronomical clock included so, as summer approaches, the program start time gets a little later each evening to correspond with the sun going down. This means no program updates are required and less use of the fixtures makes it very cost effective to run. Of course using LED here instead of any other lighting source means the entire installation is extremely energy efficient.
“It was a really good experience to work with the Soldiers Club,” commented Mark. “Usually I find that as we walk through the quotation and demonstration processes with venues they try to reduce the amount of fittings we recommend in order to attempt to save money. In some cases these installations become compromised due the financial restraints applied by the venue management. Toni Mitchell and her team were precisely the opposite. Toni wanted even more fittings on this job and I was trying to wind back her enthusiasm!
“The results here really speak for themselves. The vision the club had from day one was of a completed job done correctly first time and I believe that they have achieved their aim. The custom-made brackets, with their swivel access system, are a good indication of the lengths they went to – well done Goulburn Soldiers and FM solutions.”
“In general, the reaction from members has been very positive,” concluded Toni. “In fact, the night we were programming the lighting, from Belmore Park across the street, cars were pulling up and taking photos! Patrons have also been requesting 'special lighting' for their functions.”
www.showtech.com.au

Regent Place, Bathurst St, Sydney
Sydney’s midtown has become a vibrant living quarter through the creation of Regent Place, Australia’s first vertical village. The design for a mixed-use development on Bathurst Street in the heart of the city transforms this key area into a lively urban hub where people can live, work and enjoy life in the city. Regent Place consists of two towers floating above a 5-storey sandstone podium that contains retail, commercial and leisure spaces.
The newest masterpiece by renowned British architectural firm, Foster & Partners, Regent Place incorporates 456 exclusive apartments (Lumiere Residences) and 201 serviced apartments (Fraser Suites), directly above the 5,400 sqm, 3 levels, shopping centre - Regent Place Shopping.
Integral to the design, and as part of the building planning conditions, Foster & Partners had to provide a public artwork in the buildings entrance. They commissioned Phil Goodwin, a Sydney based water feature architect with Waterforms International, to design a striking water sculpture to take centre stage at the building’s entrance.
The water sculpture is organic in design and provides a strong contrast to the disciplined geometric and organized style of Foster’s architecture. The sculpture includes a series of eleven craggy overflowing pools that reticulate 5000L/min of water flow between the pools and a balance tank located two floors below.
The lighting is a feature of the sculpture with 94 Anolis ArcSource6 RCWB LED underwater fixtures installed in the pools. They are controllable via an E:Cue e:node 512 wall mount user terminal, to provide color changes from night to night to ensure the sculpture maximizes its effect to the streetscape. The Anolis products were supplied by the brand’s Australian distributor, ULA, for whom the project was overseen by Con Nomikos from the Sydney office.
The Anolis fixtures were chosen specifically for this installation as they were unique in their ability to be completely submerged, due to a 316 stainless steel housing and a IP rating of 68, as well as their ability to provide programmable color change underwater. Additionally, the fixtures were customized for this installation to incorporate the color choices requested by the client – the fixtures feature 2 x Red, 2 x Cool White, and 2 x Blue LEDs. Waterforms International used this project as a pilot, and has already followed on the use of these fixtures in several other projects.
The Regent Place water sculpture has been a tremendous success since opening, and has established itself as a landmark in the Sydney streetscape with a constant stream of people taking photos of the night time effects created by the underwater Anolis fixtures. Both the developer, and Foster & Partners attribute the water sculpture to overall success of the development, and are more than happy with the result.
www.ulagroup.com

Martin MX-10's the ideal solution for the Ivy Room
The Ivy Room is a purposely designed, dedicated function space within the mega-trendy Ivy complex in Sydney. The 509 sqm space is totally devoid of columns or partitions, making it an awe-inspiring floor which can hold 1,000 people.
The dramatic size of the Ivy Room is enhanced by soaring six-metre high ceilings and six white papier-mâché chandeliers – a stunning 2.25 metres in diameter – hanging from the white glossy solid timber ceiling. A sophisticated, yet relaxed atmosphere is achieved through carefully chosen contemporary furnishings including a chic zebra-print carpet that forms the focal point of the room’s stylish black and white theme. A silver travertine stone floor trim draws the eye to the lush, green atmosphere of the covered outdoor garden room terrace at the George St end of the room.
On the opposing side, a black curtained wall makes an impressive backdrop for presentations by day, and by night it transforms to an elaborate fifteen metre long shelf of electric candle lights. Triple-height (floor to ceiling) windows on two sides flood the space with natural light, however, lighting levels can be easily controlled if needs be with blackout blinds and plush translucent curtains featuring a garden motif.
With its ability to transform from a motivating function environment during the day to an enchanting ‘magical’ room in the evening, The Ivy Room provides a unique and inspiring event destination.
With such an emphasis on the aesthetics of the room and fabulous interior design, chunky black moving head fixtures hanging from the ceiling would have been a visual calamity. Fortunately there was one – and only one – lighting fixture that could solve the dilemma of how to light the room, tables or performers. Enter the Martin MX-10 Extreme, a powerful 250 W discharge scanner with 12 replaceable colours, 8 interchangeable indexed-rotating gobos and a 3-facet prism for brilliant effects.
A total of forty-five Martin MX-10 Extreme were chosen as they fitted snugly into the box truss that has been installed into the roof.
“Basically, we’ve designed the audio visual system so that the motorized truss can go up and down whilst the speakers and lights remain inside the truss,” explained Peter Wilson, general manager at Avsound Productions who designed and installed all of the audio visual elements into the Ivy Room. “When you’re standing beneath the ceiling all you can really see is the mirrors of the MX-10’s, there’s nothing hanging out of the ceiling giving a nice, clean look to the roof.
“The MX-10’s are used to light tables, the dance floor, the look of the room, and band wash.”
Although the truss can be lowered for maintenance of the fixtures hidden within it, it was important to have a lighting fixture that was reliable and needed minimal maintenance.
Controlling the Martin MX-10’s is a Martin LightJocky with touch screen overlay chosen as all of Avsound’s operators are familiar with the programme and favour its’ capabilities.
www.showtech.com.au

Listle Light solution for Hunters Hill Hotel
LED lighting in venues is certainly catching on as venue owners realise that it not only looks good but is low maintenance, inexpensive, bright and eco friendly. And LED lighting doesn’t have to be a myriad of colours, a simple and classy white can be just as effective.
The recently renovated Hunters Hill Hotel in Sydney is a modern and sophisticated venue with a classic design approach. A simple ‘halo’ lighting effect was required under the main bar and Paul Vella of MPV Electrical recommended Show Technology’s Listle Light as the ideal solution.
Paul has many years experience installing all aspects of lighting into hospitality projects, particularly hotels, and he has used Listle Light on quite a few of his projects. In this installation there was very limited access to the underneath bar areas both below the bar top and below the wooden bar front at the bottom of the bar. Fortunately with Listle Light, being both flexible and available in easy-to-manage one meter sections, the installation in these tight spaces was made much simpler.
The low power consumption and longer expected ‘lamp’ life of LED is perfect for these harder to access places. The fact that they have used a warm white LED - instead of colour LED highlights - makes the acceptance of these particular products into broader architectural applications as well as more traditional entertainment spaces.
“This increases the value of our offer to the hospitality market from both Show Technology and our customers,” commented Mark McInnes, Show Technology’s National Sales & Marketing Manager. “We are looking forward to many more similar installations.”
www.showtech.com.au

Coemar De Sisti revamps 2 studios for Fox Sports Australia
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Foxsports is owned and operated by Premier Media Group Pty Ltd and brings original reporting from their dedicated team of editors and sports writers offering the most relevant, comprehensive, live and exclusive coverage of sport on Australian television.
July 2006 Coemar De Sisti’s Managing Director Peter Kemp and Project Manager Cameron Moody met with Foxsports Chief Engineer Michael Day and Technical Supervisor Mark Sheridan to discuss the necessary revamp of their 2 main studios.
The plan was to completely gutter the studios, construct new control rooms and change the size of the studios. Both studios had simple pipe grids in them and Foxsports was looking to update the studios with the latest and greatest in studio lighting systems. Peter supplied Michael and Mark with some interesting information on the latest cool lighting systems that are in use throughout Europe and informed Fox Sports if they wanted the latest and greatest this is what they should consider. Peter and Cameron went away and prepared a submission including a new D rail lighting rigging system from De Sisti Italy, LSC dimming systems and De Sisti lights.
After some modifications to the systems Foxsports raised a purchase order to fit out of the two studios with installation to commence in mid – December and to finish early February. Coemar De Sisti’s work included the full installation and commissioning of all the lighting rigging system, control systems and luminaires.
We utilised De Sisti’s ‘D’ Rail, an extruded aluminium profile featuring a broad range of accessories and offering many standardised solutions to provide a grid. Versions are available in either fixed or with trackable facilities. Its optimized shape allows many solutions to different applications and wide spans between supports, to minimize the number of hanging points to the ceiling. Many of the ‘D’ RAIL’ accessories, trolleys and flanges can be used in combination with standard steel ‘I’ beams available in the market, that are compatible with the ‘D’ profile bottom flange.
The De Sisti ‘D’ Rail extruded aluminium profile is available with integrated electrical distribution. In particular it offers valuable benefits under the cost and ease of installation for Cold Lighting studio solutions, where Direct Mains and DMX connections are required for each lighting fixture. Obviously the described integrated distribution simplifies the remaining part of the electrical installation and the system provided has a very slim and clean look. The known advantages of DMX controlled lighting fixtures of not requiring Power Dimmers and the valuable Cold Lighting solution for the energy saving and extremely low thermal emission, are now enounced with the availability of the “D” Rail with Built In DMX and MAINS distribution.
For dimming Coemar De Sisti installed LSC Eko dimmers (a tried and proven dimming system Coemar De Sisti have installed in many studios throughout Australia) plus a Coemar De Sisti data distribution system to provide lighting data throughout the studio.
The new EKO wall mount installation dimmer is available in 6, 12 and 24 channel versions with a choice of output capacities. The EKO dimmers incorporate a cleverly designed installation frame that can be fixed in position without the dimmer being present. Load and control screw terminals on the frame allow for building wiring to be terminated in a clear and unhindered manner. When the installation is ready for commissioning, the dimmer can be hung on the installation frame and output circuits then plugged into the special screw terminals – the 24 channel dimmer can easily be installed onto the frame and made fully operational in under 5 minutes! After installation internal electronics can be easily accessed through the lockable hinged front door. The door has been designed with reversible hinges and locks allow the dimmer to be customized to suit the installation environment.
Once Coemar De Sisti’s installation team had finished the installation of the D rail system, the dimming and data distribution Cameron was on-site to commission the system and handover the new light fixtures to Fox Sports. The new lights include De Sisti De Lux 4x55w fluorescents, Magis fresnels, zoom profiles and telescopic drop arms.
The De Lux compact fluorescent units are the perfect fill light and set light to compliment any studio or video package. The original De Lux design has been modified to offer a fluorescent fixture without the need of a bulky, exterior “intensifier”. The new reflector system offers the brightest, flattest field in the industry at very competitive prices. 2 lamp, 4 lamp and 6 lamp 55 watt configurations are available to achieve the necessary footcandle levels in the studio. DMX, phase and local analogue control options are available to dim the units to 10%.
De Sisti’s versatile Magis Fresnel which houses a 300, 500 or 650 watt bi postal lamp and can be purchased individually with manual or pole operated yoke, or in a portable lighting kit.
www.cdaust.com.au

The Met upgrades with Martin MAC’s and Atomics
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The Met is a purpose built, state of the art, entertainment complex and nightclub situated in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. Since opening in 2006, the venue has become Brisbane’s hottest dance destination.
Comprising of three levels and five bars, the venue is 2,000sqm and can hold up to 2,200 people comfortably. The Met prides itself on a high standard of service and appearance with beautiful features such 24ct gold mosaic tiles and luscious seating.
When the club initially opened it was decided to use a hired lighting rig but the club owners became increasingly dissatisfied with the quality and reliability of this rig. Consequently the decision was made this year to purchase their own lighting and Josh Frey, who has serviced their lighting gear from day one, naturally turned to Show Technology.
Show Technology’s Queensland Branch Manager, Adam White, knew exactly which fixtures would be ideal for the venue recommending eight Martin MAC575 Kryptons, four MAC600 washes and a couple of Atomic Strobes.
“The size of these fixtures and the brightness they offer for their size works really well with the room which is quite cavernous,” commented Adam. “More points had to be installed into the room but other than that, the installation was trouble-free and I believe that the client is more than happy.”
Tim Snartt has been operating the lighting at The Met since May, and he was thrilled to walk into the venue just after they had installed a new rig!
“I was really keen to see what the new MAC575's performed,” he said. “Due to the look and feel of the room and the height of the rig, I was mindful that the fixtures would have to be punchy enough to counter the dark walls and floor. I have to say I was impressed with their output. Even when using the really saturated colours, they deliver a great punch.
“I try to create a theatrical style of club lighting and the MAC575’s are versatile enough to let me do that. Both the zoom and iris allow me to get great wide coverage, when required, and then I'm able to quickly turn them into precise narrow beams for special effects. The four-facet prism is something I haven't used before and it just looks amazing.”
Tim finds that using the four-facet prism with some of the line rotating gobos creates some really stand out effects. He also reports that the accuracy and response from the dimmer is spot on, whether he is doing long slow fades or snaps.
“Having the second colour wheel is great, it’s the next best thing to having CMY,” he adds. “It’s got a good range of really warm natural colours to some great icy blues.”
Tim reports that he has only ever had to do maintenance on the fixtures once and they barely ever need a clean.
“I've had some experience doing maintenance on other types of fixtures and it can be pretty painstaking at times, but with the MAC’s it is so simple and takes half the time because of the modular design,” he said. “I couldn't believe how easy it was.
“As for the MAC600's, their output is amazing. Most of the time I have to run them at 50%, but when I want to create a high impact look pushing them to full intensity really allows me to do that. The shutter speed on them is also great. They really let me add another dimension to the look and feel of the room. And the Atomics are always a great effect, especially when I am able to bounce between the two.”
www.showtech.com.au

Oxley College's sustainable new Stadium
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With all the recent political talk about Climate Change and a worldwide focus on reducing carbon emissions and dependence on natural resources, every new construction now faces the complicated challenge of being energy efficient, or as the politicians like to say, being ‘green.’
Such concerns were evident in the design of Oxley College’s new gymnasium. Project Manager for the construction of the building Robert Duncan of the Life Ministry Centre – the Christian church affiliated with the school – is now also Manager of the stadium and states that “Energy Sustainability was a big consideration for the building, even from the early stages of design.”
With the stadium requiring a heavy reliance on Artificial Lighting, the concept of daylight harvesting – using PE sensors to monitor the level of natural light available and dim the artificial lights accordingly - was bought to Robert’s attention at a design meeting with Advanced Lighting Technologies and BRT Consulting, who wanted the new gymnasium to utilise the latest in lighting design and system control.
Lightmoves supplied and commissioned a fully comprehensive daylight harvesting package for the five basketball courts that are illuminated via custom MH High Bay lights. PE Sensors located at the end of each basketball court read the lux levels of the room and dim the special ballast in the High Bay lights via a 0-10v control signal to the appropriate level. Temperature sensors in the stadium roof are programmed to turn the lights off once the temperature hits 40 degrees; the point in which the special ballasts can no longer efficiently operate. The Dynalite Lighting Control System was also responsible for general control of fluorescents in the foyer, toilets and upstairs class rooms, with Stretch Electrics doing the installation.
Dynalite’s own end-user software program Controlsoft with the on-screen ‘Virtual Control Panel’ was used as the primary user interface. The software allows Robert to easily create his own usage schedules, create and adjust preset levels (which include a low-level ‘Cleaners’ preset, which operates early morning) and even access information regarding circuit usage, lamp burn times and fault reports; which assists him in administering and planning scheduled maintenance. 
Even in its infancy, the Oxley College Gymnasium is heavily used with the venue operating seven days a week, including competition on Saturdays and church groups on Sundays. This extensive usage has kept both Robert and the control system fairly busy. “So far, the lighting control system has been running effectively and has easily met our expectations. With the venue used this much, it’s frightening to think how much energy would be wasted running the lights at 100%, seven days a week.”
Dynalite equipment used
3 x DDRC1210 Relay Controllers
3 x DDRC820 Relay Controllers
2 x DDBC1200 HF Ballast Controllers
17 x DLP User Panels
8 x DUS704C Universal Motion Sensors
11 x DUS704w Universal Motion Sensors
6 x DUS704W Universal PE Sensors
2 x DTS900 Temperature Sensors
For more information on Dynalite Lighting Control Systems, please contact Haydn Brennan of Lightmoves on (03) 9701 2500.
www.lightmoves.com.au

LSC system in Sydney club refit
The SoBar Nightclub at Sydney's lower north shore Cremorne Hotel has recently been transformed and reinvented with a AUD $2M fit out by design innovators SJB.
DJW Projects were contracted to undertake the sophisticated audio and lighting install, emphasising their own philosophy of "total integration of all systems." Dave Croxon, DJW's MD, commented: "One of the key issues we had to undertake was selecting a dimming and control system that was easy to use, provide enough useful features and was rock solid and reliable. After evaluating a number of commercially available systems, we chose the LSC EKO wall mount dimmers and e-PLATE wall controllers."
Croxon continued: "I was attracted to the EKO dimmer by the immediate support provided through the integrated touch screen on the front panel. No matter what else was happening in a commercial installation, if there is a problem somewhere, the touch screen lets you go straight to the dimmer and set a channel to 100% so the client has some lights on and the venue continues to operate."
Another key feature that Croxon liked was the separate install frame of the EKO dimmer that allowed him to connect all lighting circuits to the terminals on the frame and test continuity without the actual dimmer being present. Prior to official opening, the dimmers were then connected to the install frames and final commissioning commenced, thus not exposing the dimmer internals and electronics to dust, paint and other particles that play havoc with sensitive equipment during the construction phase.
Croxon concluded: "When integrated with LSC's e-PLATE remote wall controllers, we have provided SoBar with a very simple to use and highly reliable Lighting solution. It was so successful we now have chosen LSC EKO dimmers for a number of our new projects."
www.lsclighting.com.au

Studio Due ArchiLED's for Wests Ashfield Leagues Club
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Wests Ashfield Leagues Club has been busy with a variety of renovations over the past few months including new restaurants and bars. Unfortunately the venue was being let down by it’s all important exterior lighting feature and so this was also revamped.
The previous colour changing lights that were supposed to make a feature of the club’s exterior had became rundown and eventually they had stopped operating. The fixtures they were using had an older style colour change CMY blades system and architectural outdoor rated lighting fixtures. Time has shown that these fixtures require far too much on going maintenance and repair.
Show Technology’s Mark McInnes was approached by Stephen Askins and Greg De Vries of The Saltec Group about this project as the cost for repair of the fixtures was so expensive it had led to the scrapping of the project altogether.
“With the advent of RGBA LED products from Studio Due we were able to completely replace the fittings for the same price as the repair of the existing competitor’s fixtures,” stated Mark. “The Studio Due ArchiLED’s also have many more benefits; a much greater colour spectrum, low heat from the fixture, no lamp changes required, and no moving parts in the fixtures meaning greatly reduced maintenance requirements. Also, being smaller fixtures they were easier to fit and their DMX capability allowed us to use the existing DMX playback system. Plus the club can enjoy greatly reduced power consumption from the LED’s over the discharge lamps.”
A total of seven Studio Due ArchiLED compact yet powerful 3watt LED fixtures were installed. The unit is IP rated to 66 allowing for full outdoor use in all conditions. The face of the unit has a simple touch panel allow us to access preset programs or for DMX address changes. As well as Red, Green and Blue LED’s it also has 1Watt AMBER LED’s. This allows the fixture a greater range of colour output and creates more flexibility in its possible applications.
“The LED fixtures are much more efficient than the older style outdoor blasters, this project is now running off 30% of the power of the previous fixtures, and in today’s environment I think this is really important,” commented Stephen Askins. “The colours available to us, with the added amber LED’s, really allows us to make the display very dynamic. Basically, they’re just a great little light and I believe that Studio Due has nailed it with this one, it’s so easy to use and install.”
www.showtech.com.au

Martin MACs are the perfect teaching tool
Queensland Academy for Creative Industries has been developed in partnership with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) for high school students wishing to pursue a career in Design and Technology, Media, Film, Music, Theatre Arts, Visual Arts, or one of the emerging creative professions in Business or Industry.
This month the Academy showcases its’ inaugural performance at their new multimillion-dollar theatre venue at 61 Musk Avenue in the Kelvin Grove Urban Precinct. The venue seats around 360 with a multi-format proscenium and adjacent divisible Drama-theatrette teaching space. Architecturally the auditorium started life as a lecture theatre and is buried in the centre of a seven-story complex with the raked slab hard on the bedrock.
Phil Viney, Principal of Brisbane-based Design Stage, who specialise in architectural lighting, theatre and audiovisual system design, was called in fairly late in the design of the project when the decision was made to change the brief.  It proved a challenging task to squeeze a functional theatre into the available building envelope as it was difficult to reclaim any space at all, especially above the stage.
“It is not a big lighting install by any means with only two moving fixtures to complement the traditional stage lighting rig – two Martin MAC600 and two Martin MAC575 Krypton - however it is unusual for moving lights to be included in the initial fit-out due to budget considerations and rare indeed to see any professional models in an educational institution,” commented Steve Beck, Design Stage’s designer for the project. “It’s great to see quality moving lights such as Martin’s appearing in secondary education. The initial fit-out equipment gets them underway and they can expand the rig as required once they settle in. As it is, they are thrilled with the toys they have.”
The Martin MACs were chosen for their industry proven track record. Famous for their reliability, ease of use, fabulous optics and wide-acceptance throughout the country, they are the ideal moving heads with which to learn about lighting.
Brisbane Sound Group provided the fit-out equipment with the AV infrastructure works being carried out by Videopro throughout the entire building.
www.showtech.com.au

Studio Due’s new ArchiLEDs draw attention to Bottle Shop
On any evening of the week the Pacific Highway at Ourimbah is busy with commuters crawling home in their cars or alighting from the train station. After a stressful day at work, a drink if often in order and the Tall Timbers Hotel makes sure that their bottle shop is not overlooked with the recent introduction of dramatic colour-changing lighting.
The Studio Due ArchiLED was chosen for its simple stand-alone control, its super bright output and its long term, maintenance free operation achieved through LED technology and its stainless steel body.
“The customer wanted a simple ‘turn-key’, long lasting and reliable lighting solution to attract attention to his bottle shop," explained Mish Bosnjak from Sydney-based hire and install company Nitezone. "The concept is fairly simple in this application, to attract attention and get the locals talking; this install just puts our clients venue into the front of peoples minds be it stopping off for a beer from work or to grab some "take-aways" on the way home."
“I needed an outdoor fixture that didn’t need much power and would not get too hot especially as the building is quite old. LED’s were the obvious answer and once Darren McLanders from Show Technology had showed me the new Studio Due ArchiLED, I knew it was the right product and the owner loved them. It worked out perfectly particularly as they don’t need a controller and have all the required presets inside. The results are really good and they do exactly what the customer wanted them to do.”
www.showtech.com.au

Coolangatta Hotel lights up
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The iconic Coolangatta Hotel has received a much awaited make-over, transforming the venue into a chic beachside setting and making it part of the modern day Coolangatta streetscape. The once dark and disjointed venue is now an open air space with indoor/outdoor bar and dining areas, live entertainment spaces, a night club, a pool room, a sports bar, as well as TAB and gaming facilities.
JVG Sound Lighting & Visual were responsible for lighting, audio and visuals in the venue. JVG’s General Manager, Jade Golar, states “The install was done over three months, with a big team of guys doing long hours. It was done in three stages; the gaming room and Cuddy’s Bar and Nightclub first and then the public bar, bistro, tab followed by the live venue upstairs.”
Lighting in Cuddy’s Bar consists of 2 White and 8 Black Robe ColorSpot 170ATs, which are controlled via a touch screen running the E:Cue Programmer through the E:Cue Twilight Excite DMX to PC interface. Golar states that 170’s were selected for Cuddy’s Bar because, “In parts there are low ceilings, so we needed a small fixture that could provide high output. The 170’s have a tidy profile, nice clean beam and great output for a 150W fixture”. E:Cue has been used to set up pre-programmed profiles to allow the lights to be used to create different moods in the bar depending on the event or time of day.
The public bar also has moving lights in the form of four iMove 250 Spots and four iMove 250 washes as well as twelve SDV PAR56 stubbies. Golar states that the iMove’s were selected for this part of the venue as “they provide a very versatile, low cost moving light option”. The iMove’s are required to serve several functions, including wash for the whole venue, various looks for bands and dj’s, and general stage lighting for functions and presentations. Twenty presets have been programmed to enable the bar staff to change the lighting through the touch of a button.
The hotel has extensive feature lighting throughout all sections of the venue. JVG worked closely with the architect on this aspect, creating lighting effects that provide a warm and inviting feel throughout the venue. In the Public Bar, the front bar is lit with Acme ColorFusion LED Strip and the ice wells behind the bar are filled with IP68 rated Anolis Outdoor 6 RGB LED. The gaming area, which includes its own bar and lounge, features a fiberoptic star ceiling and Anolis Micro LED RGB strips in all cove ceilings with Anolis Micro 270 transformers.
The revitalization of the Coolangatta Hotel has been the largest audiovisual install on the southern Gold Coast, and has truly helped re-establish the Coolangatta Hotel as a premier entertainment venue.
www.ula.com.au

Lighthouse Distribution Lights Up ANZ Stadium
State of Origin legends Laurie Daley and Wally Lewis have inaugurated the new ANZ Stadium signage that will light up the Stadium’s eastern and western grandstand exteriors.
Daley and Lewis featured in a Nine Network ‘Footy Show’ presentation that included the giant signage lighting up for the first time.
The signs are 42 metres x 9 metres and feature the biggest letters of any illuminated signage in Australia at 3.9 metres tall. Hollywood-style spotlights showcase the high-tech LED signage, which uses half the energy of a comparable neon sign.
The first phase saw Lighthouse Distribution provide fixtures for a temporary installation of one sign for the Inauguration on the Footy Show. Lighthouse provided eight DTS Delta LED Projectors, which produced a vivid blue wash over the ANZ sign and four Clay Paky Mini Scan HP3s to create the spotlight effect.
The second phase involves the permanent installation of the fixtures. An additional eight Delta LED Projectors will be added to the sign on the Eastern side of the stadium. Also, the Mini Scan HP3s will be replaced by four Clay Paky Alpha 300 Beams on each sign. Each night visitors will see the ANZ sign shining brightly, with the spotlights used for major events, such as the upcoming State of Origin.
The DTS Delta’s are IP65 rated LED providing the perfect weatherproof low power solution. The Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300 produces a super concentrated near parallel light beam. It produces a “long throw” that will break through stage washers and LEDs, making it the ideal moving light beam for live professional use. It is also a low power option with a 300W lamp that produces three times the brightness when compared with an ordinary 1200W projector.
“The new ANZ Stadium signage creates a quite majestic aura as you approach the Stadium,” said ANZ Stadium CEO, Ken Edwards.
“The Hollywood-style spotlights add that sense of occasion that comes with a big event. The signage looks sensational and I’m sure it will make an impact on all the fans that come to our venue, starting with the big Origin crowd.”
The honour of officially hitting the button went to Laurie Daley after Maroons great Wally Lewis deferred to the former NSW Blues captain, who played his last Origin game at the Stadium in 1999.
“The Stadium has hosted some of the most famous sporting occasions in Australia’s history,” said Daley.
“And the venue has special memories for me from the last Origin game I played. We won, so the memories are great.”
The new signage, constructed and installed by Claude Neon, completes the re-branding of the venue that became ANZ Stadium on 1 January this year.
ANZ Bank signed Australia’s biggest stadium naming rights agreement worth $4.5 million annually and $31.5 over the seven-year term.
www.lighthousedistribution.com.au

Pro Shop LED fixtures go Underground
Sydney’s Civic Hotel has opened a new venue - Civic Underground, an intimate and trendy nightclub that has gone back to the basics: top DJs, a strong door policy and stunning décor along with state-of-the-art sound and lighting.
The club, formerly known as the Civic Theatre, an original cabaret and live rock venue, has been refurbished, upgrading its sound system and adding a range of cool installments including white plush seating. This innovative interior design has now created a relaxed and sophisticated atmosphere.
The Civic Hotel has always had a deep passion for music and it is thus no surprise that the hotel’s adoration of house music and late night disco has been the party gateway for thousands of people. The Underground will occasionally host a number of live acts, including several Australian acts such as Ajax, Potbelleyz and the Presets.
Luke Everingham from Everingham Audio has a solid reputation for supplying and installing audio into venues and when he was contracted to do Civic Underground he knew he’d have to also have top quality lighting. Straight away he turned to Show Technology for quality lighting, quality advice and quality pricing.
The venue already had a variety of Martin lighting including MiniMACs and CX4 which they were keen to retain as they had given the venue years of reliable service. However the par cans on the stage just had to go as, with a low ceiling, they were frying the artists! Show Technology had a simple answer in the form of LED strips fifteen of which are used to light the stage. As well as running cool, their low profile gives the audience better sightlines.
“The LED strips are about one and a half metres from centre stage with a continuous row across the front of the stage as well as a row stage left and right to provide a side wash,” explained Mark McInnes from Show Technology. “It’s great because they don’t need to change gels or run them off dimmer channels – they can just run it all off their control system via DMX. The back of the stage is dressed in white vinyl to match the rest of the décor and the reflective qualities of the vinyl from the LED strips are fabulous.”
The trusty MiniMACs and CX4’s had been installed at the venue for eight years and so were given a bit of a makeover in the form of a thorough cleaning and new lamps to ensure they lasted several more years.
The mood lighting in the venue provides a euphoric experience. LED strips stream across the dance floor and the white walls of the club, creating a vibrant interplay of subdued light and shadows. The colours are reflected by several disco balls hanging above the dance floor and cast hypnotic flashes of light onto the dancers.
A strip of red LED Neon Flex light lining the bar casts red hues onto a row of spacious white booths. The ceiling, illuminated by 28 Pro Shop LED square panels which continuously change colour, further enhances the club’s already sensual and seductive surroundings.
www.showtech.com.au

P&O Pacific Sun Cruiser Prefers Pulsar
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Grayboy Entertainment has enjoyed a long association with the cruise industry acting as producers, consultants, event coordinators, and agents for a number of domestic and international organisations. One company they regularly work with is P & O Cruises and their latest commission was to design two fantastic shows for the popular Pacific Sun’s showroom. The resulting shows, Music, Music, Music and Cinematastic, have been lauded as the best yet.
A totally new set was needed that could cater to both productions and set designer Justin Green turned his creative thoughts towards LEDs.
“I’ve used Pulsar LEDs, including ChromaBattens, on a previous cruise ship and I loved them,” said Justin. “I was looking for something new to play around with and had a good look on the internet. I had a chat with Mark McInnes from Show Technology and he suggested a few ideas including the ChromaPanels. Once I realised what they could do, I thought they were a great option.”
Consequently the backdrop for both of the productions is designed around the use of sixty Pulsar ChromaPanels controlled by six ChromaZone PS12 units and supplied by Chameleon.
“Originally Grayboy were spending an enormous amount of money on soft LED cloth for the backdrops but the results, in my point of view, were quite poor,” commented Justin. “With 100 mm spacing between the LEDs you needed to be a mile back before you got any resolution out of it! On any one cruise you can have five different shows running so you need something that can give you variety.
“What I love about the ChromaPanels is that you can use them subtly or you can be really gaudy with them to create lots of different effects. The idea behind this installation was to create a tiled background that we could treat as a cyclorama if we wanted to by warming them all the same colour or, at the other end of the scale we could do a full Saturday Night Fever dance floor effect.”
To achieve a successful wall of colour the LED panels need to consistently provide extreme evenness of colour and colour consistency across all of the fittings; something which is hard to find in less professional panels. Whilst their low power consumption was not a huge attraction to Grayboy, the fact that they run so cool was a big draw card.
Justin is currently working on a third show to be produced in front of the Pulsar ChromaPanel wall and he has enjoyed discovering the different ways in which the wall can be altered.
“With the last show I did, I put a lot of perspex in front of the wall with silhouette cut-outs so that the wall was used subtly to create things like sunrises,” he said. “Gavan Swift was responsible for the lighting of the production – I come up with ideas as to what I would like the lighting to do whilst Gavan is the brains behind the fiddly parts, programming and getting different effects. Gavan has such a bank of knowledge and he has used LEDs extensively in the past. He can always come up with a bright idea in a flourish.”
“The ChromaPanels look great, my client is very happy with the product and the difference they have made to the look of the showroom in general and more specifically the two new shows we put on board,” added Gavan.
www.showtech.com.au

Anolis is a Star at The Casino!
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Anolis LED fixtures are illuminating a stunning key water feature at the entrance to Sydney’s Star City Casino.
The installation is the first of its type in Australia to integrate Anolis in this very specific way, and was designed by a leading Sydney-based water feature specialist.
The Anolis products were supplied by the brand’s Australian distributor, ULA, for whom the project was overseen by Con Nomikos from the Sydney office. It is the first of a series of water features in and around the Star City complex that will be lit or re-lit with Anolis.
The prime position of this fountain at the entrance of the Casino is designed to make people stop and look before being enticed up the steps and through the portals onto the gaming floor, so it was essential that it was bright, lively and eye-catching.
The circular shaped fountain encompasses three concentric circles of Anolis. There is a sphere of 20 cold white ArcSource 3s on the outside, and two tiers of ArcSource 12 RGBs in the centre, totalling 12 fixtures. The lights are run via an E:cue controller, triggered, along with flame effects and the fountain jets via a ShowMagic show control system.
The fountain’s designer Robert Portocarrero explains, “This is our first LED lit work, although we have been considering using the technology for some time – for all the obvious practical reasons – power and energy saving, low maintenance and cost-effectivity. Additionally, the Anolis colours and the quality of the light are really excellent, so there’s plenty of imaginative scope, and the product is robust and very well made. It is the perfect solution all round”.
This water feature cycles through and runs a 7 minute show which also includes flames and an audio track, during which time 40,000 litres of water is pumped around the system. In the show, the jets - which are programmed into many different formations - shimmer, sparkle and refract the light, creating some great colour mixes and some unusual aberrations.
The Casino is so impressed with the spectacular results of the entrance fountain’s lighting, that Anolis has now been specified to replace the current lightsources in all 14 of the complex’s water features.
The client is also looking into upgrading its various other city centre fountain sites with Anolis.
www.anolis.eu
www.ula.com.au

LED’s and Effect lighting find a Home
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Last year Home, Australia's largest nightclub situated in Sydney’s busy Darling Harbour, revamped its’ lighting system calling upon Jands to manage the project. Jands then called upon Show Technology to supply a large amount of LED lighting as well as effects lighting to the entire venue.
Supplementary lighting for different elements was very important to the owner Simon Page and he worked very closely with Show Technology to ensure the best effect for different areas of the venue.  Furthermore Simon believes strongly in linking these areas together to ensure that the walk from one to another does not escape the overall effect. 
”It is always a different roll working with Simon; he is very creative and comes up with some really interesting ways use the gear,” commented Darren McLanders of Show Technology. “We had to work hard to stay ahead and ensure his ideas were in fact possible.”
In the main room, a supplementary LED Video system was required for the main focal point behind the DJ/Stage area; a matrix of Pro Shop LED Video Panels was sourced for this application. With their ultra bright output and 31mm pixel pitch, they were ideal for this location. Their output cuts easily over the moving lights in the venue as videos and visuals are displayed, fed from an ArKaos media server system; these numerous visualizations are at the lighting operators finger tips.
To compliment the video wall, there are about 150 Pro Shop LED DMX tubes placed around like a border and a continuation of the LED Video Screen. These are operated from the LED Mapping extension of the ArKaos media server package and signal is distributed to them via some ELC Ethernet distribution nodes. These offer a visual extension to the LED Wall as the visualization or video that is playing on the wall also appears on the tubes as a more abstract and low resolution images that wrap around the dance floor and draw your eye to the focal point of the stage.
The newly designed and located bar in this main room now features LED Strips set into the shelving to under light the spirit bottles. On the front of the bar there are also evenly spaced Pulsar ChromaMR16’s featuring the front face of the bar set from the overhang of the bar top. The ChromaMR16’s and LED Strips are controlled by a Pulsar OutStation simple wall panel controller.
Another great feature on the ground level is the abstract installation of LED Strips facing the main entrance to the venue. These are hung on abstract angles and positions in an area that would normally be very dark and boring. Their ultra bright output creates a slow colour changing effect shooting along the curved entrance way; once you enter the doorway and as you walk around this bend you are faced with a blinding glow of strips directing you vision upwards, immediately demanding your attention to the venue you have just entered.
Home features many little corridors, platforms and stairways that need an interest of their own, Martin effects were chosen for these applications due to their reliability and long operating life. The Martin oil effect, the Mania DC3 is used in more applications where as Martin Ego effects are used for more dynamic
applications in other stairwells and corridors.
Further to the main areas and corridors, the smaller side rooms and chill out areas benefit further from extra LED fittings set to closely follow the theme of each room. “The Box” for example is a small tucked away room that features walls and ceilings that are lined in yellow and black checker patterns, it is a small room aimed at a harder kind of dance. Its only lighting is numerous LED Strips shining parallel to the ceiling, across the faces of dancers in the middle of the room; perfect for the darker and dirty tracks played here.
The “Top Bar” features some Martin Mania EFX700’s, Martin Ego’s and a number of Pro Shop LED 4-Way Panels mounted on the walls around the room and behind the DJ. The EFX units provide punchy beam effects over the dance floor while the panels provided interesting chases, colour and movement around the room and highlight for the DJ. The panels are very versatile as they are also used for theming and branding when the room is hired for the night; a simple layer of semi transparent film creates an interesting back lit sign.
Other rooms around the venue also feature LED Strips, LED MultiPAR’s and Martin Effects to create different effects and themes.
The former front Home Bar also received a facelift and rejuvenated lighting look; newly named “Tokio Hotel” creates a larger sense of space in the bar along with sleeker furnishings for a far more modern feel. LED Strips are used in the shelves behind the bar her as well. Pulsar ChromaMR16’s are used in custom built mirror cubes. Designed by Simon, these cubes feature a Pulsar MR16 unit on each visible face, 5 per cube, perfect for control via the Chormazone as each 5 ChromaMR16’s can be wired together within each cube and cabled back to the ChromaZone under a single 5 core cable.
www.showtech.com.au

Robe at the Mentone Hotel
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A Robe DigitalSpot 5000 DT, two ColorSpot 575E ATs and 42 Anolis ArcSource LED down-lighting fixtures have been installed at the Mentone Hotel in Melbourne.
The Mentone is a busy venue in close proximity to the beach of the same name, located in one of Melbourne’s most desirable suburbs. It’s owned by Open Door Pubs, one of Australia’s best known pub chains, and lighting, sound and AV was designed and supplied by Adam Dullens of Pulse Audio Visual. After the initial installation, Dullens was asked to specify a flexible visual solution to liven up the upstairs floor for their popular Wednesday disco evenings, which sees first floor regularly  packed to its 700 capacity.
Dullens has used Robe products for some time including for several other Open Door sites and states, “Robe is a fantastic brand. It’s always my first choice for anywhere needing ‘professional’ lighting kit”.
The Mentone was initially considering an LED screen display for the upstairs to create a banner effect around the walls of the quirkily shaped landing, which forms the main dance floor. However, when Robe launched its DigitalSpot was launched, Dullens realised this was the “perfect” fixture for providing visuals which could be changed, manipulated and moved around the space.
He then added the two ColorSpot 575s for additional wall and ceiling colour washing, movement effects and gobo patterns. They were specifically picked for the frost filter which enables them to produce great wash effects as well as gobo projection, along with a Robe Haze 400 FT hazer.
To lift the dark corners and spots around the space, he added the Anolis ArcSource 3’s, which are dotted around where needed. This includes a row of fixtures down-lighting from the ceiling of the exterior balcony running along Beach Road, which can be clearly seen from along the road and act as a beacon attracting attention to the Mentone.
The pub’s owners were initially sceptical about using LEDs, but have been so impressed by the effects and performance of the Anolis units that Dullens has already spec’d them for another of their venues.
www.ula.com.au

The Three Wise Monkeys get wise with Pro Shop and Martin
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From 1886 until 1998 the Three Wise Monkeys public house, a building that is an excellent example of Victorian Italianate Architecture, had always been a bank. It transformed into an entertainment destination in September 2000 in time for the Sydney Olympic Games.
The design is dominated by a curved corner pediment of the Three Wise Monkeys and is heritage listed. Last year the owners decided that the venue required a facelift and consequently a soft-refurbishment including new carpets and wall finishes was carried out. The owners were also keen to change the supplier of their permanent-hire lighting and audio equipment approaching Revolver Audio to do so.
The venue consists of three bars over three levels with the top floor catering for live music every night of the week. The band plays three sets and in between the sets, a Nightlife DJ system is cranked up.
“The owners wanted to bring the venue up to date in terms of lighting and audio,” explained Lee Conlon, managing director of Revolver Audio. “There were some really old moving lights in here previously and they didn’t have the required brightness to make the room fresh.”
In line with many of cities more progressive music venues, Lee was very keen to use LED stage lighting mainly because of the amount of colours an LED system can offer.
”LED fixtures are so much easier than using a fixed white Par Can with gel!” he said. “Let’s face it – the venue has to have a future and the future is LED. It’s an obvious thing to change colour on stage anyway and you get a greater effect for a lot less lights. The ability to colour change gives you so many advantages.”
Lee turned to Show Technology for his LED requirements ordering four Pro Shop LED strips, four Pro Shop LED PAR56, and five Pro Shop LED MultiPAR.
Lee put a lot of effort into the stage lighting; something previous suppliers had tended to let lapse. He found that the use of LED fixtures made the stage look bigger and consequently expanded the size of the room.
“Everybody is amazed at how bright the LED Pars are,” stated Lee. “They’re so bright they shine right out of the windows down onto the street which is a good advertisement for the venue! We’re very happy with them.”
Lee also supplied an array of dance floor lighting including six Martin SCX600, two Martin EFX800 and a Martin Magnum 800 Fog Machine. The Mania SCX600 is an exceptionally powerful scanner that can create a multitude of brilliant effects whilst the Mania EFX800 delivers a broad sweeping flower effect. In fact the light output has an amazing 170 degree spread which rotates and sweeps - wider than any flower effect light in its class, which means you can cover more space with fewer fixtures.
“The Martin Manias haven’t given us any trouble and do everything that they say they do,” commented Lee. “They’re incredibly reliable. In here it gets pretty dusty so we make sure the filters are regularly cleaned to keep them working well.”
The venue employs a lighting operator for five nights of the week whilst Lee supplies one for the other two nights. Maurice Marse is the operator employed by the venue and he is ecstatic with the variations he can now achieve with a LED rig on stage.
“The LEDs have been working very efficiently since they’ve been put in and their effect is amazing,” he said. “They can completely illuminate the room on their own if you want them to. Their capability of switching from one sequence to another is amazing. They deliver a lot more out-come for what you’re operating compared to the old rig.”
www.showtech.com.au

Crown Christmas Happy Tube Spectacular
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Crown’s Christmas Spectacular is starting to become a Melbourne Christmas Institution, which is seen by hundreds of thousands patrons over the eight weeks the free automated sound, light and animation show runs each year.
To keep things fresh and different each year approximately 1/3 of the set is replaced. This year it was time to replace the old LED festoon system, which had adorned the roof for the past three years.
Creative Stylist and design guru for Crown Casino, Christian Wagstaff wanted a new lighting based feature to create a canopy in the oval shaped atrium. Together with Lighting Designer, Richard Grenfell of BLOW Productions and Production Manager, Mel Robertson of Melanco they brainstormed many ideas using all sorts of products and eventually came up a dome canopy made out of Pro Shop DMX LED Tubes. Along the way other concepts of spirals, nets and solid roofs were discussed and modelled but were discounted due to cost, rigging complexities and design flaws.
“One major consideration was that the whole structure was to be built, rigged and commissioned over a three night period, as we were working in a public space and that other large existing set pieces still had to be set up underneath it,” remarked Richard Grenfell. “Whilst being aware of the similarities between our design and the video of Lenny Kravitz’s “Are you going my way?” it was not a conscious decision we made to copy the 20-year-old classic.”
Once a concept was agreed upon, Alistair Fleming was engaged as the set designer to make sure the structure would look good and Tim Hall of Resolution X was brought on board to oversee bringing the concept to reality.
The concept was then presented to executives at Crown to get the funding. To help convey the idea Richard modelled the concept in WYSIWYG and placed it into our virtual 3D computer model of the atrium and wrote some cues and sequences. These cues were made into movies, which were edited together with a soundtrack and dumped onto a DVD. This enabled the executives to see what they were spending their money on. It was also valuable in working out what sort of ideas would be worth displaying on our low-res video screen and what wouldn’t.
For those who have not seen it, the canopy is made out of approximately 440 “Happy Tubes” or to give them their correct name Pro Shop DMX LED Tubes. These tubes are suspended on 96 cables running between a 2.5 metre truss ring Crown already owned and an 18 metre diameter circular tri-truss ring, which after a few difficulties was supplied by Browns Welding. The tubes are spaced a metre apart on the cables and the cables alternate between having 4 or 5 tubes on them.
As the DMX LED Tubes are spaced one metre apart, Crown purchased custom made tubes with an extra metre of cable on them so the whole system could be set up without the need of any extra extension cables which would be a weak link in the long term reliability of the system. Whilst things were being customised, the metal work was painted black and black cables were supplied so the canopy would blend into the back ground when not being used.
All the control equipment is located in the ceiling to simplify maintenance issues as the centre circular truss hub was beyond the reach of a scissor lift and would require a boom lift hired in to fix things.
To keep things neat and to simplify cabling issues, well on the canopy anyway, each cable of DMX LED Tubes was run from its own DMX line from a data splitter. This “simplification” resulted in a cable pack of about 120 power and data cables running into the roof.
Andrew Arney from Resolution X looked after construction and installation of the system. The tubes were tested, spaced out precisely in a custom built jig, addressed and attached to there supporting cables at Res X’s factory before the installation. All this effort meant that the tubes could be installed overnight one night and plugged together and commissioned the next. He did a fantastic job, which meant the system worked perfectively as soon as it was turned on.
A conscious design decision was made very early on that a canopy was required to display distinctive and highly graphical content rather than more organic fluid images seen in other media server driven applications and as a result it was possible to run the tubes in a lower resolution. This meant the system could be run from only 12-13 universes of DMX not the 50 or so it would take to run it in a high-resolution mode.
Once the system had been designed, control for it had to be decided upon as it’s no good to have spent an awful lot of money on the hardware and none on the content displayed on it.
Initially and up until 8-9 days before opening, it was going to be driven by a Hippotiser V2 media server running custom made content made in Flash.
“Unfortunately the media conversion from FLASH to video (a problem with Flash rather than the Hippo) was not as successful as hoped and we were left with the dilemma of do we spend 3-4 days trying other conversion methods to save a couple of months of media creation and risk having the same problems with 4 days till opening or ditch the work we had done to date and change the control system,” explained Richard.
After a lot of deliberation, the control system was changed to a MA Lighting grandMA running three NSP nodes to get the necessary control channels.
The layout display mode of the grandMA actually made the change quick and simpler than anticipated. Being able to select each of the 1800 or so LED fixtures via a touch screen saved a lot of time.
“So much so that when the system was set up and laid out all fixture selections were made via the touch screens rather than trying to figure out what fixture numbers were required to make the 600 or so individual groups we made to make our shows sequences,” added Richard. “Once the system was changed over and a couple of 10-hour days on the console we had the system working with all our old content replicated. Whilst we lost some of softness of the previous control system the pixel perfect accuracy we were now achieving made up for it.”
It should be noted that only two of the eighty or so sequences used in the show were created with an effects engine. Most were created with lots of steps or single cues with multiple delays entered by hand, group by group (rather than the quicker fanned delays) built into them to get the precision required.
Once the sequences were made, the grandMA made it a simple process to sync them up to Time code, which triggers the cues and sequences.
“Thanks should also go to Vince Haddad of Show Technology who helped answer many seemly simple and obvious questions, which came up during programming,” commented Richard.
For the tech heads out there the control system for the LED Canopy ended up being 1 x grandMA lite console (a full size was used for programming) 3 x grandMA NSP nodes, 2 x Enttec Data gates, 13 x Jands DD8 data splitters and 3 x 3 phase distribution boards.
On top of this the house system was also used (looked after by Bytecraft Special Effects) of 3 x Whole Hog 2’s, 70 x Cyberlights, 120 x Dataflash, 5 x Golden Scan 2’s, AR-500’s, numerous conventional source 4 profiles and par cans to light and control the rest of the show.
The Hog 2’s also are used to trigger the automation in the show which includes, a carousel, pneumatic reindeers and big top, ballerinas, flip-jacks, mirror trees, show girl marionettes, fairies, elves and even Santa.
All this equipment is triggered by time code by a Tascam DA 88, which has seven tracks of surround audio on it as well.
“In the end we would like to think that Lenny would like this new colour interpretation of his 20 year old classic,” said Richard.
If you would like to see the free show, it runs every 30 mins from 10 am to midnight everyday to January 6th, 2008 and can be found in the atrium at Crown Casino, Melbourne.
Photos: Peter Casamento
www.blowproductions.com.au
www.resolutionx.com.au

Robe & Anolis - The Perfect Cocktail
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Robe moving lights and Anolis architectural LED fixtures have been installed into Cocktails & Dreams, an iconic club/pub venue in Surfers Paradise.
The installation – carried out by JVG Sound, Lighting & Visual – is part of a lighting upgrade being undertaken at the popular nightclub.
The Cocktails & Dreams dancefloor has been completely revamped lighting wise, and now features 7 Robe ColorSpot 250E ATs, 2 ColorWash 250E ATs and 6 ColorSpot 170 ATs - supplied by ULA.
The venue was challenged for ceiling height, particularly over the raised dancefloor area explains JVG’s General Manager Jade Golar, so he was looking for compact and neatly sized fixtures that would not take up much space or intrude. In terms of aesthetics, he also wanted to offer the clubs lighting controllers a greater choice of colour and gobo effects than had been available in the past, and to generally give the whole lighting rig a more contemporary and NOW look and feel.
Golar has been specifying Robe for about 4 years, so there was no question about what brand he would choose. “The brightness of the AT Series is fantastic” he declares “And the 170s and 250s were really perfect for the application”.
He adds that he knows the Robe products really well, and that he receives great support from ULA. JVG is also a warranty repair agency for Robe, so keeps a good stock of spares – not that they are needed very often!
In addition to functioning as a busy club, Cocktails & Dreams also hosts model searches and corporate events, so the new rig also had to be ultra- flexible.
The dancefloor lighting is controlled by an E:cue system which was also supplied to JVG by ULA.
In the main seating booth and lounge area to the left of the dancefloor, Anolis ArcSource3 LED downlighters have been installed to bathe the walls in light. Adding lighting has completely transformed this area, previously rather dark and cold, into a warm, inviting and intimate chill-out space.
Anolis ArcSource 6 warm white LED downlighters have been utilised in the DJ box. “They provide a very economic and practical solution that looks great” says Golar. In addition to this, he specified Anolis ArcLine 24 LED strips to illuminate the spirit rack in the VIP bar.
All the Anolis fixtures are controlled via the E:cue and also triggered via Crestron touch screens located at each of the venue’s bars.
The new lighting installation has been a massive and instant hit with the 900 capacity club’s owners and guests alike, with news of the “great light-show” travelling fast around the area!
www.ula.com.au

Empire Hotel chooses LED stage set up
One of Sydney’s most iconic live music venues The Empire Hotel in Annandale has been renovated and expanded whilst maintaining its live roots.
The live music room underwent major changes in its layout particularly with the relocation of the bar and stage. Avsound Productions were contracted to supply a full refit of the hotels distributed audio system and a redesign and recycling of as much of the entertainment equipment as possible.
Whilst much of the entertainment audio was recycled, the venue required a full lighting upgrade. Because there wasn’t enough power to run the existing incandescent lighting and also because they had a limited budget, David recommended a LED stage lighting. As a result a state of the art LED lighting system from Show Technology comprising of eight MultiPAR lamps for the front wash and eight LED Par64 plus two GigaLEDs for side wash. Control is a Studio Due Control 5.
“We picked the Control 5 for a few reasons,” commented David. “It was new on Show Technology’s inventory, it had more functionality than some other controllers at the same price, and it also controls moving heads better. We weren’t sure at the time of specifying whether or not we would have the option to put a moving head over the dance floor. The Control 5 is proving to be what will be our standard install controller for any installation over $30,000 of lighting. It’s a beauty – even I can use it and I’m a sound guy!”
According to David, the LED fixtures look absolutely fantastic delivering good colour and brightness.
“They give the operator a lot of ability to create variation with their shows,” he said. “They also add an income stream to the venue owners as they’re great for band videos or picture shoots because the reds aren’t going to be grainy and the blues aren’t going to be washed out.”
www.showtech.com.au

All Shape and Colour at JWCCA
The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts is a cutting-edge venue which incorporates a 300-seat performance space, modern art gallery, a screening room and multifunctional rehearsal spaces.
In 2007 the main foyer of the centre underwent a major facelift with the installation of colour changing fixtures and a comprehensive control solution.
Lighting technician and operator Keith Clark has been with the centre for four years and was instrumental in the refurbishment and comments, “Originally we had fluorescent down lights and the atmosphere was cold and stark. We wanted to make the foyer more colourful and to represent the shows that were going on inside, so that the whole ‘theatre experience’ begins the moment you enter the lobby.
Steering the whole lighting system is the new Lighting Playback Controller from Pharos Architectural Controls. This compact architectural controller, distributed in Australia by LSC Lighting Systems provides fast, intuitive control for lighting, audio and video, making it ideal for use in architectural installations.
“Architectural controllers can be quite confusing, especially when it comes to timelines and triggers, but the Pharos controller was straightforward” comments Keith. “From start to finish it was simple to program and easy to use.”
To toggle between lighting shows Keith installed LSC’s 8 button ePlates as the everyday user interface. The ePlates are remote wall station controllers that operate by recalling the pre-programmed shows on the Lighting Playback Controller.
“When we want a specific lighting scheme to match what will be playing in the theatre for example, or if we want to just flash the lights to let the people know the show is about to begin, the e-Plates provide a simple control for the front of house manager to use on call with confidence.”
In choosing the right control system for the centre, Keith says that price was a major consideration, but after installation it became much more than that. “It is a very affordable system, but another major plus with the Lighting Playback Controller is that it’s so fast to program and you do not need a dedicated computer. Once it’s programmed the system is stand alone. It also has preset settings which are great. If you have banks of LED fixtures you can get some great looks without trying to hard.”
A full demonstration of the Lighting Playback Controller and other Pharos controllers will be available at the upcoming ENTECH tradeshow, on the LSC stand. (Sydney, 11-13 Feb 2008, Stand #B28). Visit www.lsclighting.com.au for more information.

Pro Shop LED solution for major live venue
The Oxford Art Factory is a brand new Warholian arts and performance space located in trendy Darlinghurst, Sydney. The 600 capacity venue hosts local and international talent in the art and music world. The two room basement venue has an industrial feel to it with exposed brickwork and commissioned graffiti-style artwork.
Mark Hammer was contracted to design the lighting for the venue with Avsound Productions supplying and installing the gear. Mark’s primary concern was the limited power in the building but fortunately Show Technology had the answer in the form of their Pro Shop LED lighting.
“Every day we kept getting less and less power!” said Mark. “The initial brief was not for a nightclub look but a live venue so we wanted to give the place live venue options. The whole building is run off one main feed so power was a big issue. We started out with one 3 phase outlet, as in 32 amps, but they kept adding things such as video gear and moving screens and it all went onto our power.”
Mark decided upon twenty-three Pro Shop LED Strip with 35 degree beam placed around the room and on the stage as well as twenty-four Pro Shop High Output LED PAR64 cans for the stage.
”I placed the LED strips around the room as well so that we can have the entire room lit up rather than just the stage,” explained Mark. “The LED PARs are great, very punchy. The trim height on the stage is quite low so we wanted something that had punch, spread, and colour options but it was important that it did not give out heat. The Pro Shop LED PARs were ideal. We use them for specials, front pick-ups and a few different looks from the Strips.
“The more we played with the Strips the more we could see what we could get out of them with different effects. That’s the good thing with these LED products – you’re not limited to a few PAR cans which no one can bother changing the colour of. Sit down and have a play with a system like this and you’ll come up with heaps of looks.”
The venue owner wanted a system that was as low maintenance as possible and the LED fixtures offer that.
Also used are four Martin MX-10 moving mirror lights which are situated above the dance floor from where they can do front specials, gobo washes over the drapes and stage as well as dance floor effects. They can also light around the room and pick up the DJ.
“They’re a true multi-functional piece of equipment,” commented Mark. “Again, they’re nice and bright for this situation. I thought they’d combine well with the LEDs and compliment the whole system so you didn’t have anything that was too screamingly bright.”
Martin Light Jockey DMX Control Software was chosen to control the lighting, a choice that was budget driven and Mark hopes to upgrade with some of the extra functions such as a touch screen or a Finger system soon.
“It’s set up so that we can get some basic looks in so that during the day the owner can cycle through a few scenes – hit the go button and away it goes – whilst at night an operator can use it for the live music,” said Mark.
www.showtech.com.au

Anolis at Melbas
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Anolis LED fixtures have been specified and installed for an interior lighting scheme at the new lounge/gaming area of Melbas in Surfers Paradise – one of the highest profile entertainment hot-spots on Australia’s Gold Coast.
The project was undertaken by VenuTech – who have previously installed Anolis and Robe fixtures into the bar, restaurant and night club at Melbas as well as into many other venues in the area.
The aim of Melba’s new lounge area is to provide a classy space fusing elements of neoclassical and contemporary design in which guests can relax and chill out … whilst indulging in a spot of game playing if they wish.
The low ceilinged roof features several large recessed Romanesque style frescoes, which contain a lot of detail and have been painstakingly decorated with inset gold leaf work. There is also an eye-catching marbled acrylic fronted bar which is internally lit, along with the spirit shelves behind it.
The lighting scheme was designed by Tony Dowthwaite of TDLD, a high profile lighting design company, and VenuTech’s Mick James.
Dowthwaite – who has also used Anolis products on previous projects - had originally contemplated using neon to illuminate the frescos. However tests revealed that it would be difficult to get sufficient output to do this properly, and so he consulted James and they looked into using LED. It was equally as important not to over-light the delicate frescoes.
They asked Anolis’s Australian distributor ULA for their help in finding a solution to get exactly the right quality of lighting ensconced into the recesses to emphasise the frescos properly.
ULA came up with custom made cool white, warm white and amber Anolis ArcLink 3 fixtures  – the tungsten tint of the ‘warm’ white combined with the richer and denser amber tones are tempered by the coolness and crispness of the cool white to make a perfect combination of hue and texturing for highlighting the gold leaf work.
Anolis first produced a choice of cool white, warm white and amber prototypes which were installed and tested to see if they achieved the desired effect. The final combination was selected by owner, local entrepreneur Paul Allan.
Once the best combination was identified, over 120 of these special fixtures were made to order at the Anolis factory in the Czech Republic. “This is one of the beauties of dealing direct with the manufacturer” explains ULA’s Blair Terrace ….. “Tailor made options and solutions can be constructed efficiently and easily”.
The Anolis ArcLink 3s are programmed into an E:cue controller and mixed in exactly the right quantities.
The front of the 70 metre bar is lit with 6 Anolis ArcLine 36 RGB strips embedded behind its fascia, and the bottle shelves are also lit with ArcLine 36s.
Paul Allan also owns another nightclub and restaurant, both of which feature Anolis and Robe. Melbas is one of the longest running venues on the Gold Coast, and something of an institution in Surfers. It has now been a leading entertainment venue for over 25 years.
www.ulagroup.com

CLS helps History to Shine!
The development of a new building at 25 Smith St, Parramatta by Leightons Construction seemed like any other construction site until historical artefacts were discovered during the excavation process. These archaeological artefacts include plates, teacups, glass bottles and other items dating back from early colonial times. Due to regulations imposed by the Heritage Council and Parramatta City Council, the construction process could only continue on the condition the artefacts were historically interpreted within the new building.
Artist Regina Walter designed an artwork for the foyer of the building that allowed selected artefacts to be seen through viewing ports in a painted engraved glass wall. The engraving on the glass is based upon the decorative design of one of the dinner plates recovered. The artefacts were preserved and displayed by International Conservation Services (ICS).
Regina enlisted the help of Dave Brockett from Essential Design and Integration (EDI) to light the artefact spaces. EDI installed CLS OmitRGB 3x3w LEDs with DTS Power Supplies into the display boxes, in various positions depending upon the individual items. The placement of the LED fixtures illuminates the artefacts whilst creating interesting shadowing and constantly changing colour effects. Multiple DMX controllers have been used to give each display box its own “show”.
“CLS were the right light for the job. The CLS LEDs are the right combination of colour and control combined with easy installation and simple configuration.”
Dave Brockett.
EDI were assisted during the installation process by Lighthouse Distribution, the Australian distributors for CLS Lighting Solutions. EDI and the Lighthouse Technical Support team programmed the CLS LEDs to maximise the impact of the display.
Lighthouse Distribution is a national lighting distribution company, servicing the architectural and professional lighting industries with offices across Australia. They are the Australian distributor for DTS Lighting Solutions, Clay Paky, ChamSys Consoles, Creative Lighting Solutions (CLS), Optikinetics and Flesineon Fibre Optics.
www.lighthousedistribution.com.au

Robe at City Life Church Melbourne
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Robe moving lights have been installed into the City Life Church’s Knox campus in Melbourne.
City Life is a non denominational Pentecostal church and the largest church in Melbourne. It has a congregation of approximately 7,500 – and growing - 5000 of whom attend regular weekly services at the 1850 capacity main auditorium in Knox.
In addition to the services, a host of other events are staged at the Knox venue, including weddings, funerals, youth events and local school theatre productions. The main auditorium is utilised every day for a wide variety of performances that can feature anything from a single preacher to full choirs, orchestras and electric or acoustic bands.
The Church’s lighting director James Fielding specified the 4 Robe ColorSpot 575 ATs along with four ColorWash 575 ATs which are hung above the stage, and with a Robe Haze 400 FT hazer.
The sound and AV facilities were upgraded earlier in the year, and then came the turn of lighting – by which time they were regularly hiring in moving lights for their larger events and functions. At this stage, it made good financial as well as creative sense to make the investment.
The Church also broadcasts to over 30 countries around the world on Christian TV, and in addition to catering for good TV lighting, Fielding wanted to make the space as flexible and dynamic as possible with the upgrade. He was given a budget allocation and knew that he “Definitely needed pro fixtures”, so started weighing up the options.
Although he was already very familiar with Robe, he looked at several other fixtures before coming to the conclusion that they were the best and most appropriate for the situation.
He chose Robe for three principle reasons – competitive pricing, his own hands-on experience of seeing them in action and using them (when hired in), and because of the excellent support and backup he knew he would receive from Powa Audio, the local Robe agent who supplied the kit.
Fielding first come into contact with Robe’s whilst working on a “Youth Alive” gig at the Rod Laver Arena for Powa Audio in 2006 which featured 70 units. He was very impressed with the brightness and range of effects, and on top of that, Powa Audio reported that they were very reliable.
This was a key factor as well, because the lights are used for at least 30 hours per week in the venue, and will sometimes be run continuously for 3 or 4 days during special events.
He also thought they were the ideal size for the room, which is wide but has a relatively low headroom of just over 4 metres. In terms of features, he “loves” the colours in the 575s and also their quietness, which is often essential when working in a church environment.
Having the moving lights in house has made a massive difference to the level of production values that City Life can offer for all its events “There’s just so much more scope for being interesting” enthuses Fielding, who controls his Robes along with various generic lights from an Avolites Pearl 2008 console, which was also part of the upgrade. This along with the Robes was supplied to Powa Audio by ULA.
www.ulagroup.com

Anolis gets a great reception
Anolis LED fixtures have been installed into the Grand Ballroom of the Merrimu Reception Center in Melbourne, Australia and have proved a great hit with director Peter Batziakas’s various clients which range from weddings to corporate events.
Merrimu (a local Koori word meaning “meeting place’) is a venue focused on hosting functions and receptions of all types. The original homestead was built in 1882 and converted into a reception venue in 1955, with the 400 guest-capacity Grand Ballroom added in the late 1960s.
Batziakis took over in 2005 and completely renovated the entire venue, working with interior designer Alistair Sarris from Kinetic Space. Sarris had specified Anolis fixtures and they were installed by the project’s electrical contractors.
Wanting to make Merrimu a unique experience in all ways, he decided that the renovations should include a spectacular color-changing wall washing lighting installation.
The venue features a combination of Anolis ArcSource 3 and 6 fittings. Sixty-five ArcSource 6s downlight all four walls of the rooms, while 32 ArcSource 3s are ensconced into the coved ceiling centrepiece, illuminating the center of the room. All of these are driven by 4 ArcPower 144 drivers, giving independent control over the two areas.
The fixtures will give over 100,000 hours of life at approximately a tenth of the power consumption of using conventional lights for the job. They also require very little maintenance.
The Anolis kit was supplied along with an e:cue control system, featuring a specially customized front page for Merrimu, enabling the selection of different patterns, chases, or looks.
The impact of the lighting scheme has been remarkable. “It creates an amazing sense of atmosphere and occasion,” enthuses Batziakis. “Ambience is crucial to the success and memorable nature of an event, and the lighting really makes this venue very special, imbibing it with its own character and life.”
Merrimu’s busy schedule hosts approximately 12 weddings a month and the rest of the time hosts corporate events.
www.ulagroup.com

LSC & Channel 9, Australia’s Best
Studio 2 at Sydney’s Channel Nine Studios has to be the busiest television studio in the country hosting a myriad of successful programmes such as The Footy Show, Funniest Home Videos, Mornings with Kerri-Anne show and the Sunday Show.
A decision was made earlier in the year to replace the Studios aging Strand dimmers and Andrew Veitch, Channel 9 Lighting Supervisor, knew exactly what he wanted; twenty-four channel wall mount installation LSC EKO dimmers.
“You really get bang for buck with the EKO dimmers and basically, they’re very good,” he remarked. “The dimmers have been installed for a few months now and we’ve had absolutely no problems with them. The installation by Coemar De Sisti was brilliant. They put them in and everything worked on the first day.
”With the EKO’s you don’t have to put any contactors in to run moving lights, or any of the normal everyday things you want to plug into the system, and that was for us, a really big thing. Just simply make them relay-mode and away we go!”
In fact Coemar De Sisti has been busy providing LSC EKO dimmers to the television industry ever since they hit the market. Managing Director Peter Kemp happily admits that the EKO dimmers have been extremely good for his business reporting that they have become their standard for studio work, providing all the right features at the right price.
Andrew Veitch also favours using a local Australian manufacturer over importing from overseas.
“I think that the way the industry is in Australia, people can’t afford to spend large amounts of money on dimmers from overseas and the back up in this country is great. All we’ve got to do is ring Melbourne and I can have something happening within hours.”
Andrew is also running Houston Remote Monitoring Software, LSC’s PC based application that allows for remote monitoring of your venues dimmer systems.
“The Houston is great for letting you know exactly what is going on with the dimmer system. During the winter the air conditioning broke down in the dimmer room –and thank god it was winter – but we could monitor how the dimmers were coping via Houston in the lighting control room. It was easy to see that, even though there was no air flowing into the room, the dimmers were fine, in fact they handled it very well.”
www.lsclighting.com

Let there be Light….and there was thanks to Jands!
City Impact Church of Auckland, New Zealand has unveiled its new Sanctuary, a church with state of the art facilities that can seat 2100 people. City Impact deliver rock’n’roll inspired worship and thus require a high end lighting and audio system. For the Sanctuary, a totally new venue, the performance system design was provided by Mitech Design and Auditoria.
Oceania Lighting supplied and installed the lighting system including seventeen Jands HPX Dimmers (three portable and fourteen hardwired) installed in Jands 24RU racks and two Jands WMX Dimmers hardwired for run house lighting. Four Jands PDS 12R power distribution systems were also supplied along with four DD8 data splitters and sixty ETC Source Four PARs.
“We have used the Jands HP12 dimmers in our hire department for years and they have always been reliable, flexible and easy to use,” commented Nick Abel, Oceania Lighting’s Service Manager. “Because of their solid performance we looked no further than the Jands HPX dimmers which are really the new model of the HP12 dimmers. Internally the HPX is fairly similar to the HP12 dimmer; you still have the ability to drop them down to 120 volts and they have the same type of DMX addressing. The HPX has a good rise time of 250 milliseconds.”
In fact the major differences between the HP12 and the HPX dimmers are in the way they are constructed. The HPX is designed as a series of blocks so that customers can access a range of features and outlet styles without having to build a whole range of complete dimmer products.  Simply put the HPX range is manufactured as a series of components that can then be assembled in any configuration as required in a very quick time. 
For the operator, the HPX is easier to use than the old HP. In response to feedback from our customers the menu options have been simplified and made selectable by a simple button press interface much like your mobile phone.
Rather than the old 240/120/60 volt selections on the HP the HPX lets you set the maximum dimmer output anywhere from 40 to 100% of the mains input. The dimmer can also be set up to run from single or three phase supplies from 100 to 240v and between 40-65Hz meaning it can be sold to any market worldwide. There have also been major advances in the filtering which make the HPX even better at rejecting mains tone interference from ‘noisy’ power supplies.
Ian Anderson, Mitech’s managing director, specified the ETC PARs for their clean, even wash and easy to use range of snap-in lenses.
“We’re using the ETC PARs as house-lights with their wide-angle lenses and we’re also using them onstage with their other lenses,” he reported. “They’re a very easy lamp to use, they’re lightweight and they’re easy for the church volunteers to use.”
www.jands.com.au

Pulsar ChromaStrips getting damp at Ivory
Ivory is the newest addition to the RDL Group who owns several venues in the Wollongong area. A classy cocktail bar for the slightly older patron, Ivory offers DJ facilities, plasma screens, a Nightlife system and an EV PA system but it is the actual bar that has become the most talked about feature.
Michael Schafe, managing director of Illawarra Production Services, was consulted early in the design process of the venue, as was Len Lucas of Creation In Glass, to create a bar that incorporated textured glass, water and colour changing lighting. This was made possible by the use of Pulsar ChromaStrips, linear strips of colour mixing LEDs designed to highlight architectural features such as windows, doorways, coving or building structure outlines.
“It was quite a challenge for us especially as it was a water feature too,” admitted Michael Schafe. “Fortunately the Pulsar ChromaStrip is IP65 rated so although they’re not submersible they get quite wet in the tank that they’re in and cope with no problem. We had to get a custom-built tank made for them as well as a water system that includes a cistern system similar to in your toilet to auto fill it.”
Michael and Len worked closely with John Basic of LC Stainless Solutions to produce the mechanical mounting of the lighting system riveting the ChromaStrips into the custom-built channel to suit them.
Five textured glass panels, each 1.4 metres wide by 1.6 metres high, make up the back of the bar with each panel lit by a ChromaStrip. The ChromaStrips are set on an auto chase although they can be set to one colour for special events such as the upcoming National Breast Cancer awareness week when they will stay pink. Normally the ChromaStrips provide slow pastel-coloured chases, inbuilt into ChromaZone controller, which Michael describes as softly mesmerising.
One more ChromaStrip is located above the entrance to the bar where it colours and lights another panel of textured glass with the venue’s logo depicted on it.
www.showtech.com.au

The Empire Theatre upgrades with grandMA and MAC TW1's
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The Empire Theatre in Toowoomba is a fine example of art deco architecture and is heritage listed by the National Trust of Queensland. In 1997, after years of neglect, the 86 year old grand lady was plucked from cinematic obscurity and transformed into a thoroughly modern performing arts theatre triumphantly reclaiming its place as Toowoomba's cultural hub.
The design of the theatre is reminiscent of the g