I don't think I'll be shocking anyone to say that the
future, maybe even the present
of entertainment lighting is LEDs.
Over the last decade, our industry has shifted heavily to solid state
lighting; at first for the energy savings, but more and more recently for
the other advantages, such as additive color mixing and intelligent features.
Transitioning to LED fixtures may be an easy decision to make,
but determining where to begin could be much more complicated.
Most venues will not have the ability due to schedule or budgets to update
the entire system at one time.
So where do you start?
How do you get the biggest bang for your buck?
I want to start by breaking down the average performance space into four zones:
the backdrop or cyclorama, the over stage and side stage wash,
the front light or balcony rail system, and the long throw or back of house rail.
The first zone, your backdrop or cyclorama, is likely to
make the biggest impact.
And therefore will make the best starting point for many spaces.
Traditional cyc lights are power hungry fixtures that can burn thousands of watts.
This inefficiency is compounded by the fact that they utilize
subtractive color mixing,
which suffers from significant energy loss, especially in saturated
colors, due to the gels and filters used to remove parts of the
spectrum from the initial source.
Interestingly, they actually use subtractive color mixing to create a
set of colors that you then use in an additive manner by mixing them together
to achieve the desired color point.
These systems do have simple controls, one channel per color, usually
RGB or RGBW, but the independent color sources can also lead to a
site that is not fully homogenized.
Converting this zone to an LED system can significantly reduce
your theater's power consumption by reducing the fixture's wattage.
We're talking hundreds versus thousands, maybe tens of thousands of watts.
The ColorSource CYC fixture, for example, will allow you to put up
to 10 fixtures on a 20 amp circuit.
Depending on the size of your drop, that may be more fixtures than you need.
Imagine having your entire cyc lit from a single circuit.
If you haven't seen it already, you should check out the ETC Photometry App that will
allow you to set the size of your cyc and the setback that you were working with.
It will then calculate how many fixtures you need and how far apart they
should be spaced for optimal coverage.
And don't forget that LED fixtures will lower the BTU's emitted from this system.
Those old fixtures can run pretty hot.
You also gained the benefit of better homogenization as well as
a virtually unlimited color gamut.
And because these fixtures utilize additive color mixing, they
actually have better efficiency the more saturated the color.
The stage wash or zone two, can also be a great starting point
for your conversion to LED.
Traditional incandescent stage washes can be difficult to maintain, as the
fixtures can be tough to get to for replacing lamps or gel changes, which
limits your color palette choices.
Scrollers are often used to give some color options, but they could
be noisy and often need maintenance themselves, as well as suffering from
color fades that are less than elegant.
You know, I can say I was working on a Broadway show that had a
scroller break during a performance, and it was spinning endlessly over
the stage, which was very loud.
The show had to be halted and somebody had to walk out on the electric
to unplug it in order to continue.
An LED stage wash can be an efficient and time-saving upgrade.
Because LED fixtures are virtually maintenance-free, you will only
really need to put your hands on them when you need to change focus.
And just like we mentioned with the cyc system, they give you a
virtually endless color gamut.
So you'll be able to wash your stage in any color you can think of, effortlessly.
Also many of these fixtures allow for more advanced mixing modes, so once you
get comfortable with RGB mixing, you can expand your programming methods to
access even more parts of the color gamut.
And unlike with scrollers, you can fade from color to color seamlessly.
Another big advantage of LEDs in this type of system is their relatively
cool exterior temperatures, because they do not get anywhere near as hot as
incandescent, which can reach temperatures of over 420 degrees Fahrenheit.
You don't have to be as concerned about the fixture coming into contact
with soft goods or soft talent.
For those of you dealing with a tight budget, both the cyc and stage wash
systems are a good place to value engineer, as the quality of light will
be less of a concern because you're not going to be relying on these fixtures
for skin tone rendering, as much as you would with a front light system.
ColorSource products are perfect for these locations.
Source 4WRD Color could also be used when budgets are difficult.
Zone three or your front light system is up next.
Once we leave the stage and head out into the house systems, the
priorities about features, brightness and quality begin to change.
Incandescent fixtures are natively bright, cheap, and have good quality of light.
While color-changing still suffers,
like we pointed out before, the need for a large gamut is usually not as
high, especially for saturated colors.
Interestingly, I've heard designers say that some actors have commented
that it's more difficult for them to find their light with LED fixtures
because they no longer have the familiar warmth in the beam that they have
grown accustomed to with tungsten.
This does not mean that there's no benefits to upgrading, to LED.
While there are fewer options available that can give you the brightness and high
quality light output that is recommended for a front light system, they do exist.
For these locations, we would recommend a fixture with the
X7 or X8 color mixing engines.
They provide the punch and rendering that is needed to make your
stage look beautiful and natural.
And with more advanced features and control modes mentioned earlier, they
will allow you to tune the light to get precisely the look you were after.
Maybe I want something close to a lead to a one, but with a little bit more
warmth, or maybe I need that special that desaturates the stage for effect.
The possibilities are only limited by the designer's creativity.
These features and quality come at a premium, however, making this system
one of the more costly to upgrade.
An important thing to keep in mind is that you may not need to replace
these fixtures in a one-to-one manner from your existing system.
Many times multiple fixtures are hung in the same focus to
allow for a warm or cool system.
Because the LED fixture can change colors,
you may be able to hang a single fixture for all of your color needs.
In situations where budgets require some concessions, ColorSource products
can provide a great deal of value with these locations, and will provide
adequate quality at a lower cost.
In very tight financial situations, products like Source 4WRD or Source
4WRD Color could also be used.
Zone four, which is the back of house system has a lot in common with zone
three, only with some more distance.
This distance exaggerates the needs we discussed with zone three and puts more
emphasis on the brightness requirements.
Incandescent fixtures continue to be the best lumen per
dollar option on the market.
They're cheap and they are bright.
Again, they can be difficult to reach in some places, so maintenance
and color changes could be tough.
Until recently, there were not good LED options for hanging positions
like this, but that has changed with the current generation of spotlights,
such as the Source Four LED Series 3.
With fixtures now putting out over 10,000 lumens, you can easily use them with a
ten degree or five degree lens tube to deliver a beautiful, punchy
beam of light to your stage.
The image you are looking at now is taken during our video shoot for the
launch of the Source Four LED Series 3.
This venue is here in Madison, Wisconsin at the Capitol theater, which
is in the Overture Center downtown.
When I was a kid, it was actually called the Oscar Meyer Theater, a local company
that I'm sure many of you have heard of.
Although before that it was actually called the Capitol
Theater, so it has come full circle.
We use this venue for a lot of our testing and photography, because
as you can see, it's gorgeous.
This is the first time that we had hung an LED fixture from these lighting
positions, and it was the first time we had seen the [ColorSource] Series
3 project from over a hundred feet.
We were nervous, until we turned it on.
And don't forget the bonus zone five: houselights.
Upgrading your architectural lighting system to LED such as ArcSystem, can
have a dramatic effect on your energy consumption, as well as making your
life easier by eliminating lamp changes.
There are great features in these products like fade to warm, which will
mimic tungsten output for a natural demand curve, high quality output that
is virtually indistinguishable from tungsten, and installation options
that can make for a pain-free upgrade.
And for some venues, we could be talking about hundreds of fixtures
that are now low powered LEDs.
So to recap, as you get further away from the back wall of your stage, the need
for higher quality light with brighter output becomes more important, as does
generally the complexity of controls.
Along with that, there is usually an increase in the cost per fixture.
For that reason, most users will find that the all-important bang for your
buck and ease of transition is likely to be the biggest starting in zone one
and decreasing as you move to zone four, remember that every theater is different
and these are only generalizations.
You should always discuss your specific needs with your local dealer or rep.
They can help to ensure that these upgrades make the
most sense for your venue.
Thank you.