Elation dealer Aurora Sound & Light Design which has sold Elation lighting rigs to such prestigious venues in Philadelphia as SoundGarden Hall and Rumor nightclub, was called in to design the new lighting system, which would marry new Elation lighting fixtures with the venue's existing Elation lights.
"We supplied the new lighting equipment, did the design and programming, and educated the venue staff on how to install the equipment," says Ian Hoffer, president of Aurora, who also explains that the venue wasn't getting the most out of their rig due to an insufficient and outdated lighting controller. Ian specified a new all-LED Elation lighting package to complement the existing system and rectified the control problem by specifying a more contemporary lighting console.
Building 24 is used as both a nightclub and live music venue for national and regional acts. Its performance stage hosts all types of music from DJ to jazz and also sees use for theatrical plays and other events. The 1200-capacity venue, housed in a turn-of-the-century industrial complex, which also includes a restaurant, game room and go kart track, wanted to make the biggest improvement possible within the allotted budget while reusing their existing Elation Opti Tri PAR, Design Spot 250, and Elar 108 fixtures.
"It's a versatile space that needed a versatile rig," Ian says. "The client wanted club effects as well as lighting that could be used to light the live performances. They wanted as much excitement and possibility as they could get out of one fixture so we chose to install Cuepix Panels," he says of Elation's bright, full-color LED matrix panels. "We have them mounted along four overhead trusses and they are used for a bit of everything such as blinders, pixel chases, stage wash and low intensity color wash, and even as work lights for personnel."
The new lighting package also includes Arena Q7 Zoom LED PAR lights used as front lights on the stage; Opti 30 UV lights used for blacklight glow parties; and compact Rayzor Q7 LED moving heads used in a side room bar to "give the space some life." Elation Driver 1 Pro's, an RGB LED driver, were also installed to custom modify the existing LED tiles above the side room bar to be DMX controllable, giving them the ability to chase and colour mix and bringing them back to life.
As an important element of the upgrade, Ian replaced the venue's outdated controller, which was limiting the functionality and flexibility of their existing lights, with something the staff could use. "Now they can get functions out of their existing lights that they never knew were possible," he said. "The client was amazed that the existing lights could do so much and now combined with the new rig we can do all sorts of chases and sweeps and other effects. They can do so much more."
(Jim Evans)
