Queenstown’s Tom Tom Productions is famous for pushing boundaries regarding ingenious lighting. To maintain their creativity at a top-notch level, they require the right equipment. This emphasis on imagination led the company to purchase 24 x Martin MAC Ones, the revolutionary Beam, Wash and Eye-Candy fixture featuring a captivating Fresnel lens.
For many years, the legendary Martin MAC101 has been a staple of Tom Tom’s lighting inventory, with Managing Director Hamish Roberge commenting that they’ve been a great light for the company.
“In the last couple of years, they’re starting to show their age a little bit, so we’ve been waiting for the right replacement for them,” he explained. “We probably started maybe a year or two ago, looking, and nothing had quite ticked all the boxes. Initially, I wanted something that was IP-rated, and unfortunately, the MAC One doesn’t, but there was enough in the MAC One that was worth jumping on!”
Hamish realised that making the MAC One IP-rated would have affected one of its most attractive qualities – its superb light weight – so when they became available, he leapt to buy some.
“Last year, we put all of our MAC 101s into their retirement job, which is an installation for a venue,” he continued. “We saw the MAC Ones at Show Technology’s 30th birthday in Sydney, and they stole the show! When I heard New Zealand’s Electro-Tech Services purchased 24 x MAC Ones, it gave me a little bit more confidence as it meant there was the option to cross-hire.”
Hamish remarks that his biggest plus in buying the MAC Ones is that it is a Martin P3-enabled fixture that optimises performance and simplifies workflow. Martin’s next generation of P3 tools is explicitly tuned for Martin fixtures, unveiling limitless potential.
“We’ve got Martin VDO Sceptrons, Atomic Dots and Hippotizer media servers, and that all work nicely in that P3 world,” said Hamish. “A lot of our productions are in the daytime, in venues that don’t let you use smoke and haze, or we’re integrating them with LED screens or video systems for conferencing. The P3 system is a nice, easy ecosystem to overlay video and create different dynamic looks across your stage. So that’s my biggest thing: they’re good fixtures that fit into that family.”
While Hamish can use the MAC Ones simply as a wash light, he loves to use them as a video feature and for all those eye candy effects, which are great for daylight or when there’s no smoke and haze.
“It’s nice to add new inventive fixtures into the inventory just to give us some more options for when we’re trying to be creative,” he commented. “We try to push the boundaries as often as we can. I don’t think we have ever used it as a basic light! I’ve used the pixel effects every time I’ve had them out. There are just so many layers of features now; it’s incredible. You’ve got so many more features packed into them. So yeah, they’re pretty impressive little lights.”
As always, Hamish was impressed by the service from Show Technology, particularly on this occasion, as they were able to respond swiftly to the order and deliver the units before the Christmas rush.
