Chauvet creates concert looks for Roland at NAMM
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Having this number of high-output moving fixtures in the lighting design for a trade show exhibit represented outside-the-box thinking, but for Preston it made perfect sense, given his objective of creating a multi-dimensional environment. “Our concept in lighting the Roland space was to merge a club and a trade show look,” he said. “While we wanted to be able to create a full club vibe in the Roland Room during shows, we also needed to create an atmosphere that promoted customer-product interaction between the musical performances.
“The Mavericks were instrumental in helping us do this,” continued Preston, who rented his lights from Kinetic Lighting. “We used the Mavericks to provide a saturated wash of the exhibit between shows, and also to serve up some eye candy effects and beam effects when we had performances. Their large zoom range allowed them to be used as beams during performances and as a general wash between shows; plus, their virtual gobos gave us an extra diversity of looks. I even ended up using them for key, fill, and back light at Roland’s international press conference – even though I didn’t intend to do this originally -- and they performed quite well.”
Powered by 12 40W Osram RGBW LEDs, the Maverick fixtures had the output needed to stand up to the bright video content in the room. “Our VJ Grant Davis was an amazing collaborator,” said Preston. “Videos were an important part of the overall booth presentation, so it was essential that any light we used was able to hold its own in this setting.”
In addition to the Maverick MK2 Wash, Preston used four COLORado 1 Solo fixtures to add extra colour to DJ performances in the Roland Room. Preston also relied on the COLORados for colour washes through the extensive exhibit area, which included an outdoor patio as well as indoor rooms.
“The Roland exhibit is always a top attraction at NAMM, because it showcases the latest technology, so it called for a top-level lighting design,” said Preston. “Our team, including my ALD Will Chandler and equipment manager Garret Kelly, did an excellent job. When our lighting wasn’t supporting performances, it was accenting products and allowing their quality to speak for itself.”
(Jim Evans)
