a>
LD Jon Weir puts Martin's new 1500 watt spot through its paces on top Christian music tour
America's most popular Christian artist of the past few years, Chris Tomlin, is currently out on an ambitious “Hello Love” tour in support of his latest album of the same name. The tour, which kicked off in January and is playing arenas across the U.S. into 2010, was one of the first U.S. tours to spec the MAC III Profileâ„¢.
Jon Weir of production company Majestic Productions Inc. of Summitville, Indiana designed the lighting and handled programming for the tour with lighting supply by Majestic as well. The lighting rig is all Martin gear and includes 16 MAC III Profilesâ„¢, 12 MAC 2000 Washesâ„¢, 12 MAC 600â„¢ washlights and 2 MAC 2000 Profilesâ„¢.
“When I started designing this tour, details on the MAC III were few and far between,” says Weir. “But after talking to our Martin rep we arranged a demo and as soon as I fired it up and saw the huge beam coming out of it, I knew it would be perfect for this tour.”
Weir, who says he has a tendency to spec gear that is new to the field, enjoyed putting the MAC III Profiles through their paces. “So far they have performed beautifully – real rock solid,” he says. “And as far as output, no other fixture in this class even comes close. The optics are crystal clear and the colors are amazing.”
Red-red
The MAC III Profile represents Martin's third generation of award-winning MAC moving heads and features an all new platform for greater performance. One of those advancements is an enhanced CMY color mixing system that gives a wider range of colors across the spectrum – like true reds for example. The new technology wasn't lost on Weir.
“For years designers have put up with mediocre colors coming out of moving lights, but this fixture gives me the colors I want like a true red. No more orange-red or pink-red but a red-red. It's making a huge difference in the show.”
Fit the requirement
Other innovative features of the MAC III Profile include greater output than other profiles in its class, exceptional gobo and animation effects, a wide zoom range, and advances in control, handling and service.
“Because of the nature of the design on this tour, I needed a fixture that has substantial zoom and iris capabilities. The MAC III fits that requirement perfectly. Being able to go from a pin spot to covering the ceiling of an arena is great,” Weir stated.
Perhaps the fixture's most noticeable quality though is its distinctive fat beam which gives designers a new visual dimension to work with. “I was very impressed with the beam coming out the front of the fixture,” Weir says. “It's a great fixture to use at high trim heights.
“I love the menu functionality on this fixture as well. With a large screen and the jog wheel, getting to parameters is incredibly easy. Internally, the fixture is very easy to maintain. It comes apart in no time for service. From a rental company standpoint, this is critical. Rental companies want to keep the gear out of the shop and on shows. With a fixture this easy to disassemble and maintain, time in the shop can be cut down. In the current economy, this is very important.”
Clean machine
During a recent one week break from the tour, the MAC III Profiles were returned to the shop for routine maintenance. The job proved simple. Weir comments, “They were remarkably clean on the inside. We opened up a fixture that sits about 8' from a hazer and the optics were completely oil free. Keep in mind that these fixtures are powered on and running about 11 hours a day on the road. Support from Martin has been outstanding as well. I think this fixture will have a long and successful future ahead of it.”
Martin Professional
Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark, Martin Professional is a world leader in the creation of dynamic lighting solutions for the entertainment, architectural, and commercial sectors. Martin lighting solutions are industry standard on top tours and events, grace prestigious theatres, energize nightclubs, and decorate major television studios around the globe. Other important areas of application are indoor and outdoor architecture and commercial applications where Martin products are increasingly being used to transform spaces through dynamic light. Martin also offers a range of advanced lighting controllers and media servers, as well as a complete line of smoke machines as a complement to intelligent lighting. The company operates the industry's most complete and capable distributor network with local partners in nearly 100 countries. For more information please visit www.martin.com
For more information contact your local Martin distributor or PR Coordinator Larry Beck at Martin Professional at:
Telephone: +1 719 686 0793
Fax: +45 87 40 00 10 (DK) / +1 954 858 1811 (US)
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.martin.com