Chauvet DJ creates varied moods at World Club
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“The space really gives the LD creative freedom to set the mood,” said Eye Dialogue’s Travis Pagels, who used a collection of Intimidator fixtures from Chauvet DJ to anchor his rig. “All the walls and furniture in the venue are black or metallic silver, so there really isn’t a colour scheme restricting the lighting designer. Then with all those universes in the ceiling, it’s easy to turn the dancefloor into the face of the sun.”
During a typical evening the lighting starts off more slowly, according to Pagels. The club begins most nights lit in darker colours like blues and violets with slow movements from the 33 Intimidator Beam and Intimidator Wash fixtures in its rig. Then as the evening progresses, the lighting picks up along with the action on the dancefloor.
“It is easy to be sneaky with the way we tiered this design,” said Pagels. “When patrons walk into a colour washed room at 9 o’clock and they see dark colours and some simple slow movements, it’s easy to blow their minds later when the main act starts by letting loose with 33 movers going all white and eight strobes going wild. At that point, if I had to use one word to describe the overall look of the club’s lighting, it would be ‘punishing.’ With this many lights in the air, it’s extremely easy to make the room jump and support the high-energy acts that the club brings in on a weekly basis.”
Pagels has 24 Intimidator Beam 140SR and nine Intimidator Wash Zoom 450 IRC moving fixtures flown from the club’s overhead truss. The Intimidator fixtures are arranged to conform to the original truss structure that Eye Dialogue founder Jack Kelly designed for the venue in 2012, when it was occupied by the nightclub Label.
“We ultimately decided to keep Jack’s original truss layout since it worked so well,” said Pagels. This layout has a 25’ truss above the DJ booth with six of the Intimidator Beam 140SR fixtures hung on it. There are also six rectangular truss structures angled at 45° above the dancefloor. Each of the rectangular structures holds three of the Intimidator Beam 140SR fixtures.
On the opposite side of the room from the DJ booth is a 30’ x 20’ raised VIP section that doubles as a stage when the club hosts bands and special events. A group of 20 Chauvet Professional COLORado 1-Quad Zoom Tour fixtures is used to provide colour accenting and stage washing for this area.
“I’m very happy with how we put together a lighting system that really stands out in shows by top DJs, yet at the same time creates unique looks on other nights, and can also serve us very well when the club is used as an event space during the week,” said Pagels. “This could not have happened without a total effort on the part of our team. My project manager Jesse Poreca and the rest of our install crew worked their tails off to turn this club around in two months, and I couldn’t be prouder of the amount of precision and hard work they put into this project.”
(Jim Evans)
