NZ trip: Day 9, Wellington

Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET® Professional

After a long day of presentations and setting up, we are back the next day at Audio Progress tearing down. I finally have a chance to speak with Malcolm and learn what he likes about CHAUVET®. He has invested heavily in the COLORado™ 2 and COLORado™ 6p. He says he is really happy with how they hold up, are consistent with the colors and run efficiently. He has gotten rid of all but about nine of his original PAR 64 units in favor of the COLORado™ fixtures. He is also big into using ShowXpress™. They are using a Obey™ 70 combined with the ShowXpress™ so that they have fader control and makes it much more like a standard lighting desk. They were using another more expensive desk and were much happier to be using the ShowXpress™ with the Obey™.  Allan Reiss (product manager for club/DJ line), that is a major win for you my friend.

Now it’s back to the road. No way am I going back over that mountain though. I ignore the GPS girl and stay on the road by the ocean. The view is awesome and the weather is perfect. Sorry, no pics of that as I was driving. I get back to Wellington just in time for dinner. Perfect timing and the distance was almost the exact same as if I had done the mountain thing. GPS girl apparently has a wicked sense of humor.

NZ trip: Day 8, Wellington – MDR dealer night

Written by Mike Graham, product manager for CHAUVET® Professional

Get up early and drive to work. It’s almost like being at home, except I am driving on the other side of the road through some of the most dangerous roads on the North Island.  There is a safer way, but apparently the GPS I am using hates Americans enough to send me over the mountain instead of around it. All in all, the drive up the mountain was easy. Just a matter of staying in my lane and taking it easy. No problem until I started going down the mountain and all I could see was huge cliffs and water that seemed like a mile below. Needless to say, I was sweating bullets and could not wait to get down from there, but wanted to make sure it was by road, not by air.

Brodie’s license plate. Yes, he can spell, but there is only space for 6 letters.

Once I finally got to MDR, it was time to get to work and help finish up the dealer night preparations.

The sign is self explanatory.

The lighting rig consisted of the following: (2) LEGEND™ 300E Spot, (2) Q-Spot™ 160-LED, (2) COLORband™ TRI, (7) COLORado™ 2 IP, (4) COLORado™ 1-Tri TOUR, (4) COLORado™ 1 Tour, (1) COLORado™ 1 VW, (8) LED PARr 64 TRI, (1) Cirrus™ and (1) Eclipse™. (The last three are members of our club/DJ line of fixtures.) There were also one each of the COLORdash™ Accent family members, an assortment of ILUMINARC® products, as well as the popular club/DJ wash lights 4PLAY™ and 4BAR™. It was all controlled by ShowXpress™ and an Obey™ 70.

Controlled by ShowXpress™ and Obey™ 70

The night was hosted by MDR and Audio Progress Ltd. We had a guest from Massey University, Professor of Sustainable Energy, Ralph Sims, who discussed the effects of CO2 emissions as they relate to global warming concerns. He described what can be done to help prevent further release of CO2 and how we can lower our carbon footprint by using more efficient methods of transportation, energy production in our everyday lifestyle. He touched on the lighting industry and offered comparisons between traditional incandescent lighting and compact fluorescent lighting (CFL).

Prof. Simms speaks about green and sustainable energy.

After his presentation, I was able to expand on his discussion by going into the energy savings of LED and also include the fact that LEDs are much more flexible and actually usable in the entertainment industry where CFL is not. I then touched on the fact that comparisons between LED and discharge lamps is difficult to do on paper and is something that has to be shown in person. The crowd was very receptive to this and I think Brodie is going to get swamped with demo requests.

The presentation from offstage. We waited until it got dark to start going over the fixtures themselves.

We took a short break between the technology portion and the fixture overview and then reviewed the entire professional catalogue fixture by fixture. After the presentation, both Brodie and I were mentally exhausted.

Brodie then wanted to give me a ride around Palmerston North to show me the two outdoor installations he has worked on. There are more in the works, but for now there is the Clock Tower and Regent on Broadway Theater. The Clock Tower is lit with a combination of COLORado™ Batten 72 Tours and COLORado™ 6p units. The Regent Theater is uplit with COLORado™ 6p units only.

The clock tower is lit with a combination of COLORado™ Batten 72 Tours and COLORado™ 6 IP units.

The Regent on Broadway Theater is lit with COLORado™ 6 IP units only.