Phil Cullen has been lighting up stages in Sydney way back in 1966, and has helmed his company Electric Sunshine since 1977. With both production and installation strings in their bow, Electric Sunshine were recently involved in a major lighting system upgrade to the Campbelltown RSL Club, replacing all their fixtures and control with factory-fresh product. Working closely with their customer, there were some hard choices to make between what was on the wish-list and what was in the kitty.
“Our client had their heart set on a console that was way out of their budget,” related Phil. “So then there was talk about running a PC with a wing, but we were only comfortable with installing a stand-alone console.” Phil guided his client through the available consoles in the price bracket he could afford and made a hearty recommendation for a High End Systems HedgeHog4.
Tiny in size and price but big on features, the HedgeHog4 packs a 12 touchscreen, four encoders, 12 user keys and 10 playback faders into a package immediately familiar to any Hog user. Using the same operating system as its bigger Hog brethren, the HedgeHog4 can load show files from other consoles in the family, making it an incredibly flexible proposition for multifunction spaces like Campbelltown RSL.
“The room we were fitting out is a space with a stage that does a bit of everything,” Phil continued. “Karaoke, bingo, DJs, covers bands, presentations, dinners, buffets, and even wedding receptions. It’s an enormous range. Because any lighting console we put in was going to be used by a wide range of operators, we had to put something in that everyone could use. The HedgeHog4 is more user friendly than other consoles in the same price range. There’s a lot of operators out there that know the Hog family, and anyone that does can sit down and operate the HedgeHog4. Even if they’re not familiar with Hogs, after explaining it for a couple of minutes, it’s very easy.”
A HedgeHog4 now sits proudly at the operating position in Campbelltown, easily accommodating the breadth of gigs and technicians tasked to run on it. “At the end of the opening night for the new system,” Phil related, “our client said ‘It’s a great console, Phil, you’ve done real well!’. Well, I told him it was good! I wouldn’t have put it in there if it wasn’t! But seriously, the HegdeHog4 is just the right fit for that space, and the feedback we’ve had is that all the different operators like it because it’s so user-friendly.”
