Brisbane’s Cannon Hill Anglican College has updated the lighting in its auditorium with an all-LED rig thanks to Brisbane Sound Group.
The old energy-consuming Fresnels, Profiles and PAR 56 fixtures have been replaced by Martin ERA 600 Performance, ShowPRO Pluto 250, Prolights EclFresnel 2K, EcLFresnel Jnr and ShowPRO LED Profile VW. Finally, the College has thousands of colours at their fingertips!
Josiah Kerridge, BSG’s Installation & Projects Dept Manager, was impressed by the power of the Martin ERA 600, describing it as also extremely versatile.
“The throw distance is quite long in the auditorium, so they needed a fixture with a high light output to be able to cope with it,” he said. “The ERA 600s are used for rear light or front profile spots so it’s a super flexible light for them. You know if you look at the Martin brand, they have quite a long history of reliable products. They’re the test of time in terms of their performance and dependability. There are always a lot of moving parts in a moving light, so you want a brand name that’s going to be able to last day in and day out. In terms of installation, I knew that they were going to do the job.”
Josiah adds that the client saw a demo of just one ERA 600 in the space and was impressed by its brightness, quality and speed.
Josiah has installed plenty of Prolight EclFresnel 2Ks into Queensland venues and so he was confident that they were the ideal Fresnel fixture for the College.
“I knew they would be bright enough, not just with the white output but also with their colour engine because you know with other fixtures as soon as you flip between colours the brightness can dim quite a bit,” he commented. “Once again reliability was a key issue and I’ve never had any problems with Prolight Fresnels. So, hence why I’ve gone with that option.”
A dozen Prolights EclFresnel 2Ks were installed in the auditorium and, keeping the quality across the board, four of the smaller EcLFresnel Jnr in the foyer where there is a small stage.
As for the ShowPRO LED Profile VW fixtures, Josiah says that he has installed this particular profile in other schools with similar throwing distances, so he was confident that they were going to be punchy enough and have the appropriate zoom range required.
“Once you put on a zoom lens, obviously your intensity is lost to some degree, but I knew these would be fine,” he said. “The variable white helps for the different styles of events, whether it’s lighting for video or a stage performance and so on.”
Initially, the six ShowPro Pluto 250s were purchased to be used for the foyer where aesthetics and size of the fixture were important.
“The Plutos deliver nice looks, including gobos on the wall, within the foyer space for pre-show entertainment or pre-show drinks or nibbles,” explained Josiah. “Sometimes the Plutos get moved into the auditorium to supplement that rig, creating some nice looks and beams with haze.”
For control, a Zero 88 FLX S48 console was chosen after the client had demos of the console, as well as some other brands, and they adapted to the workflow of the Zero 88 well.
“They have a separate touchscreen monitor to assist with their shows,” added Josiah. “Plus they also used the Zero ArtNet nodes as well, which were implemented to use, so there’s a lot of zone capability.”
Josiah remarks that the assistance from Show Technology with this project was invaluable. He says that the design and spec from Show Technology was bang on and he never hung anything that underperformed. If anything, it exceeded the client’s expectations.
“We had some issues with a couple of lights, but it was more of a DMX termination thing which needed a DMX terminator in line,” revealed Josiah. “Sam Walter came out to the site at the drop of a hat and he quickly figured out the problem. He immediately supplied a terminator for us which resolved the problem on the spot. So they’re very quick to respond. And Sam’s also followed up with our client post-install, to touch base and see if there’s been any teething issues or anything that needs to be brought up. So he’s been really quick to support the product post-sale and install as well. It’s not just grab the money and go with Show Technology.”
