The ART 2000 Dimmer

Avolites’ unparalleled excellence in manufacturing touring dimmers continues with the launch of the ART 2000 dimming range.

ART 2000 is a cost-effective solution offering all the quality, robustness and specification you would expect from an Avolites touring dimmer.

The ART 2000 is built to the same standards as the original Avolites dimmers - still in active operation after 15 years of hard labour!

The ART 2000 is designed for modern lighting rigs containing numerous intelligent fixtures as well as conventional lanterns.

To facilitate the constantly changing needs of today’s shows and events, the ART 2000 has four bays that can be fitted with either mains distribution or dimming channel modules. For total flexibility, faster set ups and expedient cabling, the mains distribution and dimming channels are all available via the rack’s integral Hot Patch.

Avolites’ comprehensive experience of touring productions has kept us focused on the need to specify only the most robust components to ensure longevity and the reliable, trouble-free dimming that everyone expects from Avolites products.

Avolites are able to offer this remarkable flexibility and specification at a highly accessible price!

New Avolites Brochure

The new super-sexy Avolites all-product brochure is now available! This publication provides a control solution to meet any specification. It highlights the full Control 2000 range including the new ART 2000 dimmer, the Azure 2000 Shadow and the Sapphire 2000 consoles. It also covers the immensely popular large scale touring and installation products such as the Diamond II and the Diamond III consoles and the ART 4000 dimmer range.

Exciting peripherals include the Avolites Stage Visualiser and the award-winning Focus Finder and Graphic Tablet.

The brochure also includes useful product weights and dimensions information and a technical appendix.

Order your copy from www.avolites.com or call + 44 (0)20 8965 8522.

Azure Shadow

Avolites continue to expand their dynamic console range with the Azure 2000 Shadow.

The console is a variation on the highly popular Azure 2000 which has enjoyed success in a variety of applications, particularly clubs and time-coded environments.

The Azure 2000 Shadow features all the facilities offered by the Azure 2000 with the additional functionality of the ‘Schadow’ live playback buttons that have always been integral to Avolites’ consoles.

Avolites have listened to customer feedback which revealed that traditional users felt more comfortable with the Schadow rock ‘n’ roll buttons as opposed to the waterproof membrane of the Azure 2000.

For theatre users, the Azure 2000 Shadow incorporates a new suite of theatrical programming functions. The new console design also allows the specific labelling of these theatre plotting facilities on the front panel.

The small but immensely powerful and highly cost-effective Azure 2000 Shadow can control a mixture of up to 200 intelligent fixtures and 200 dimmer channels. It can run 20 separate Sequences or Environments simultaneously and has 50 direct access memories and chases per page with 10 labelled playback pages.

Manic Visions

The Manic Street Preachers (photo by Phil Dent)

The Manic Street Preachers, one of the UK’s top bands of 1999 are never short of optical sensations. Their lighting designer is Bryan Leitch who has lit the band since their inception in the early nineties.

Bryan has always been a keen Avolites advocate. He has been utilising a Diamond III for the Manics recent tour and festival appearances to give the band a show appropriate to their music industry status and to match their highly intelligent, attitudinal rock-with-message.

The automated fixture count for the tour was awesome - twenty-eight VL7s, thirty-two VL5 Arcs, thirty two VL6s, thirty eight VL5s and eight MAC 500s. An impressive total of 138! In addition to these, Bryan was also running sixteen Molefey units, twelve ETC Source Four profiles and eighteen Megastar strobes with the Diamond III.

Brian chose the Diamond III because of his familiarity with it and its fast programming. For the first time he utilised his newly purchased Avolites Stage  Visualiser simulation software/hardware package (launched at PLASA 98) and spent 5 days pre-programming the show.

Using the Visualiser, Bryan was able to set up the basic creative infrastructure of his highly complex show in less than an hour. The Visualiser’s reporting functions output directly to MS Excel, which made checking, patching and ensuring fixtures were assigned to the correct smart repeater very simple. Without the Avolites Visualiser increased rehearsal time would have been required, and so this saving alone paid for the software.

The pre-programmed information was then imported into the Diamond III allowing Bryan the luxury of starting three days of intense production rehearsals with a large proportion of the show already completed.

Bryan Leitch on the Avolites Visualiser: “It allowed me to programme all the basic building blocks such as fixture groups, colour palettes, preset focuses, indexed gobos and timing. The importation worked perfectly! Fantastic!”

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones in action. (Photo by Steve Gillett)

The historic Rolling Stones Bridges To Babylon world tour, predicted to be their  last, ended this summer after two years on the road. It opened at Soldier Field in Chicago and the last show was in Koln, Germany. In between these points it morphed into The Rolling Stones No Security tour for three months at the start of 1999 for a North American arena tour.

Lighting designer was Patrick Woodroffe. The task of looking after the show on tour was undertaken by lighting director Ethan Weber, working alongside Icon operator Mark Risk. The stunning set was designed by Mark Fisher, and lighting equipment was provided through main lighting contractors VLPS, with Icons, naturally, coming from LSD!

Ethan chose an Avolites Diamond III as his console - which he loves! Lighting statistics included 148 VL5s, 24 VL5 Arcs, 62 Molefeys, 46 with colour-changers, 8 Lightning Strikes strobes and 36 Diversitronic strobes - which were run from the desk. The 80 Icons were controlled independently from their own controller and other lighting equipment included six 72-way Avolites dimmer racks, 8 Sky Arts and 12 follow spots, 8 cracked oil machines and 2 Gem Roadie fog generators.

Avolites have enjoyed a long and illustrious history of providing control gear for The Rolling Stones dating back to at least 1982.

Mark Risk (L), Ethan Weber (R) and the Rolling Stones Lighting Crew
with the Diamond III (Photo by Amanda Rose) 

Double Vision

Catatonia in action. (Photo by Phil Dent)

Lighting designer Jonny Gaskell was presented with a challenging situation at the beginning of the year when he was offered two incredibly high profile tours - Orbital and Catatonia - both scheduled to run concurrently.
There was only one thing for it - do both! He purchased an Avolites Diamond III console and the Avolites Visualiser software package to help him take advantage of this unique creative opportunity, and to design both tours simultaneously.

Jonny Gaskell on the Diamond III: “It’s great! Two flicks of a button and you’ve done whatever you want to do!”
Jonny Gaskell on Visualiser : “I couldn’t possibly have taken on all the work if I hadn’t had Visualiser. People were amazed at how chilled I was when I arrived at production rehearsals because I’d achieved so much in advance. By day two, when LDs are normally pulling their hair out and have just about done the first track, I was finished and relaxing!!

Obviously unable to clone himself, Jonny had to make a physical choice between the two, which saw him taking on the operation of Orbital, touring with his new Diamond III. This he used to control all the moving lights - 12 x Clay Paky Golden Scans, 12 x Starlights and 26 High End Studio Colors. Other lighting included strobes, pars, profile spots, 4-lite Moles with colour changers, Solar 575s and 11 mirror balls. His very original lightshow was complimented with video images designed and produced by Giles Thacker.

Luke Losey (L) & Danny Bocking (R) (Photos by Phil Dent)
Once the design and programming for Catatonia, the buzz band of 1999 both in terms of record sales and live performance, was completed, Jonny’s long time creative associate, video artist and LD Luke Losey, took over as lighting director.

The fixture list for Catatonia was similar to Orbital’s.  A Diamond III operated by Danny Bocking controlled all the moving elements while Luke ran the generics from an Avolites Sapphire. Video images produced by Luke and Jez Benstock also featured strongly in the visuality.

Lighting equipment for both tours was supplied by Light & Sound Design.

Avolites America

The Colossus IMAX Entertainment Centre in Canada

Avolites America report that ‘Diversity’ is the buzz-word for markets in the Americas as we approach the Millennium.

The Azure has been incredibly popular in major installations throughout 1999.

The highest profile of these is Colossus, an IMAX Entertainment Facility in Canada. The installation was undertaken by Avo America’s Canadian representative, Westbury National, and the Azure’s functions are being used to their full capacity, from Midi Time Code to the control of Martin & High End Systems intelligent fixtures.

In the US, trendy hot spots as “Rave”, “Tonic”, “Revere” and the “Lava Lounge” all  in Houston, Texas, found just what they had been searching for in lighting control when ON Design Group’s Tim Hannum specified the Azure.  It fitted both budgets and complex technical requirements.

With the infectious Latin Beat also spreading across all Continents this year, the Pearl is in action on the Chayanne tour, with production being supplied by Avo America’s Puerto Rican representative, Musique Xpress. LDs’ Carlos Silveira & Jorge Caraballo are using two Pearls to control a multitude of lights - both conventional & moving.

LD Jeff Ravitz specified and used the ever-popular Diamond II on two of this year's highest profile world tours - Shania Twain, and the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour.

The list of current tours using Avolites consoles in the Americas is long and varied, including Offspring (LD Phil Ealy), Dave Matthews (LD Dan Sherman), Crystal Method/Orbital (LD Jonny Gaskell), Elvis Costello, the Steve Miller Band (LD Chaz Herrington) & Styx (LD Jeff Ravitz).

Into the Groove

Cream operator Andy Kayll (Photo courtesy of Night Magazine)

Avolites’ popularity in the club market continues to grow with several high profile installations during the last 12 months.

Cream, the world-famous aorta of Liverpool’s hyperactive dance music scene has recently undergone an equipment upgrade. The club now features three Pearl consoles and a host of Martin MAC moving lights. The equipment was supplied  by locally-based sales and rental company Futurist, who have a long standing creative and technical relationship with Cream. Futurist’s own hire department also contains a healthy crop of Avolites consoles. Additionally, they supplied the lighting specification for the Creamfields Festival, held at Old Liverpool Airfield at the end of the summer. This featured seven Pearls, each controlling different arenas, operated by various Cream LDs.

Back in London, the newly re-opened Scala nightclub is an 800 capacity multi-purpose venue in the heart of London’s vibrant Kings Cross area that has been transformed by London promoter Sean McClusky. Scala has been redesigned by style team FAT and is now hosting a myriad of different club nights - including McClusky’s own Saturday night Sonic Mook Experiment - plus adding its stamp to the local colour and nightlife.

The lighting installation in the Scala’s main room was by The Art Of Darkness and is based on a moving box truss system. Featuring a stage at one end, the room caters for both live music and hi energy dancing. Fixtures include six High End Systems Technobeams, Data Moon disco effects, over thirty par cans, effects and six smoke machines.

Bryan Leitch comments on the Azure : "Its absolutely perfect for the dual purpose application of lighting stage and dance floor."
For control, Art of Darkness’s Bryan Leitch chose an Avolites Azure 2000.
Bryan has had plenty of previous experience with installing Avolites consoles, with Pearls in venues such as The Complex in Tottenham and The Forum in Kentish Town. He felt the Azure was a natural choice for the Scala.

He enthuses “I needed a console that was straightforward and intuitive for the various house operators and light jockeys who are using it. It also had to be small enough to fit neatly into the control room and powerful enough to deal with the variety of fixtures.” The fixture list is intended to expand in the future, and he adds that the Azure is also virtually beer-proof, an essential prerequisite for any club console!

Ewan McRobb programmed the Azure with a mind bending array of spectacular dance floor lighting effects. Visiting live acts either bring their own lighting designer or use one supplied from Art of Darkness’s pool of talented young LD’s.

Other recent Avolites club installations include BudWorld (Azure 2000 via Lightfactor) in Croydon, The Café de Paris in the West End and The Temple in Tottenham (both Pearls via Halo).

Festive Season

The Cuban All Stars perform at The Royal Festival Hall.
Photo by Phill Dent.

The Royal Festival Hall, in the midst of London’s famous South Bank Complex, is one of the most important centres of contemporary live performance in the UK.

The venue operates 364 days a year hosting a divergent mix of events including dance pieces, world music concerts and the esoterics of physical theatre and performance art. Many of these are one-offs and are spread across the venue’s six sites, two of which are outdoors.

Over the course of the year, the RFH has been revamping its equipment inventory for the 21st century. After exhaustive research, Head of Production Nigel March decided to buy two Avolites Diamond III consoles and two 48-way ART 4000 dimming systems as part of this important upgrade. Other equipment purchased includes 30 Martin MAC 500s and 20 MAC 600 moving lights.

Nigel is delighted with the performance of the Avolites consoles. He states “They are perfect for active, hands-on intuitive live control of fixtures. They also work like clockwork with the MACs and are quick and simple to programme. The instant access to fixtures is brilliant and no lighting desk does it better!”

Another motivating factor in Nigel’s choice of console was that, in addition to the lighting undertaken by the in-house team at the RFH, visiting artists frequently bring their own LDs and operators. So he needs to offer consoles that are widely used and with which people will feel immediately comfortable.

He was also impressed with the passion, commitment and service of Avolites - where he dealt with both Steve Warren and Tony Shembish. His various crew members all took advantage of the extensive training facilities offered by Avolites to familiarise themselves with the huge creative capabilities of the Diamond III.

Don Giovanni

Lighting designer Hal Himsworth chose an Avolites Sapphire to control the light-show he designed for Bristol University Operatic Society’s performance of Mozart’s popular masterpiece of philandery and deception, Don Giovanni.

The show was staged in the Anson Rooms in Bristol, a local venue of great repute featuring a concert hall style stage and auditorium. For Don Giovanni, Hal decided that it needed an authentic raked stage, which the production team (Bristol Stage Technicians' Association) constructed from scratch in just six hours. Hal hired a six leg ground support system plus the lighting rig from local rental company Fineline. A sound system from Sonix Audio was also installed for the four performances.

Hal’s 50 strong fixture list included ETC Source Four zooms, ADBs, profiles and Harmony fresnels, PCs, codas and a street lamp! They also utilised an Avo 72 way dimmer rack.

Having previously used a Sapphire to run the Theatre Tent at Glastonbury 98, Hal was confident that the console provided the necessary theatrical style playback operation needed to run his show. “It’s incredibly easy to pick up, and great to plot with” he enthuses “It’s very much a question of what you see is what you get. In fact it’s far better than certain ‘theatre’ desks I could mention”.

He continued by saying that one of the Sapphire’s many advantages is the straightforward application and editing of fade times. He adds, “I also find it invaluable to have so many faders at my disposal, and having the multiple submaster pages is also excellent”.

Getting the Hump

Avolites' Steve Warren (L) and Tony Shembish (R) with Kali (Centre).

Avolites recently announced their new Irish distributors, High Resolution Lighting, headed by the upbeat Peter Canning. High Resolution are based in Dublin and work very closely with film and television lighting specialists The Electric Light Company, run by Dieter Hartfiel.

The deal was cemented by Avolites’ Steve Warren and Tony Shembish who also took the opportunity of being in Dublin to run a training session at the ultra-trendy Temple Bar Music Centre - where resides an Avolites Pearl.

After cracking open a celebratory bottle of champagne, Steve and Tony decided to catch a taxi back to their hotel.

Although acquainted with the often atemporal, idiosyncratic nature of life in Ireland and the expansive Irish sense of humour, the situation suddenly became very surreal! The taxi turned out to be none other then a rather splendid Bactrian camel which sashayed round the corner -  complete with a hump for each rider!

Steve and Tony both saw the hilarious side of the situation as they argued about who should occupy the front and rear humps... “At first I thought the champagne had some strange
hallucinogenic properties!” declared Steve... although it turned out that someone had taken the warm Irish
welcome to extremes in thinking that Libyan-born Tony might feel more at home astride a Ship of the Desert!!

Kali, a 5 year old female Bactrian camel is owned by Robert Fossett of Fossett Brothers Circus, a family run business since it was established in 1888. The circus has recently purchased an Avolites Azure 2000 console to run the stage lighting for its performances.

Of course, camel trainspotters will point out that the smaller, stockier, two-humped Bactrian is a native of Mongolia, China, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan... not to mention industrial estates in Dublin... rather than the more arid Arab countries! Kali was actually born and bred in Ireland and has been raised by Robert since birth.

Lighting the Top People's Store

Harrods' illuminated.

Avolites equipment is known to get into the strangest places!

Harrods, the ‘Top People’s store’, London’s largest department store and undoubtedly the capital’s most famous shop, launched its 150th anniversary year with an awesome visual spectacular, featuring a lighting and firework rooftop extravaganza.

The highly challenging task of lighting Harrods for the occasion was handed to outdoor lighting and laser specialists Illuminatum and lighting designer Mark Powell, who chose an Avolites Pearl for the job of controlling a varied selection of exterior and architectural fixtures.

The distinctive skyline and dome of Harrods’ roof was lit from the outside in saturated red by 10 Studio Due City Colors. From the inside it was lit with contrasting white Pani beam lights plus 4 and 8-lite Molefeys. Blasting up into the sky beyond were four WWG RazorHead 7 kW mega-searchlights, two 6.5 kW Dominator moonflower-style effects and several 12K HMIs. Mark operated the entire show from the Pearl console situated on the roof of the store.

The dome wasn’t the only element to be saturated! The weather was appalling and the intrepid lighting crew braved driving rain, high winds, bitter cold and an extremely exposed position to make the show happen. 

LD and operator Mark Powell from Illuminaturm with his trusty Pearl.

Mark was particularly impressed with the Pearl’s performance under such adverse
conditions, “It was fantastic” he enthused “Many lesser desks just wouldn’t have coped at all, but the Pearl went right on working perfectly all night despite the damp and the dreadful operating circumstances”.

The 150th celebrations were launched by Harrods’ flamboyant and charismatic owner and Chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed, who made a speech to assembled Harrods directors and on-lookers at the front of the store on street level. The end of his speech was greeted by a fanfare which also signalled the start of the breathtaking firework display (all devices were also rigged on the roof) produced by Le Maitre, followed by a 50 minute light-show.

Desert Flames

The combination of an Avolites Pearl console and Visualiser software simulation package provided the control solution for leading rental company Midnight Design and their new Digital Fire Effects system. This was premiered on a retina-burning corporate launch event produced by JMK Associates for Jaguar in Dubai. Lighting and visual effects were designed and operated by Dave Bryant.

The event was staged mid desert, set against the dramatic backdrop of a huge scenic Arab fort surrounded by sand dunes. It utilised over 100 digital gas Flambeaux torches and 24 Vulcan Flame Jet effects units, the latter of which were used for illuminating the set.

The event’s finale featured fire performers from ‘Scorch’, Midnight’s Fire Effect System and a massive fireworks and pyrotechnic display from Pains Fireworks. It required a complicated 5 minute sequence of events, and with thousands of pounds worth of  fuel being burnt off on each test firing during rehearsals, it was essential to find some way of simulating the effects during programming.

Enter the Avolites Visualiser.

The Visualiser allowed all effects to be mimicked on screen in similar fashion to the show set up. The mimics also included the fuel priming pumps and safety systems, ensuring it was clear at all times as to which devices were primed and preset to fire. The Visualiser enabled the visual effects team to edit and programme until they were happy with all aspects of the various sequences... at which point they could test them for real (and burn fuel).

All safety cut outs were patched to faders on the top preset of the Pearl, and the device firing systems themselves were patched to the equivalent fader on the bottom preset. Thus any device could be instantly overridden if a safety issue arose.

Yet again, the Pearl proved that it could overcome all technical challenges produced by being located in extreme environmental and operating conditions. It contended with daily sandstorms, freezing nights with heavy condensation and searing daytime desert heat.  The console didn’t flinch once!