CHATTANOOGA, TN – (For Immediate Release) – Nestled on 23 rolling acres in one of the most picturesque regions of the United States, the 700-seat New Covenant Fellowship church offers its members plenty of opportunities to worship, bond and enjoy life outdoors. There is the community garden, which helps feed the needy and brings worshippers closer together. There are also a community playground for children and a restful area where people can sit and read the Bible under the shade of towering oak trees. Recently, as the church celebrated its 20th anniversary, its members complemented the natural beauty of their surroundings by enhancing the appearance of their building’s interior with help from a collection of 30 LED fixtures from CHAUVET Professional, supplied by The Design Oasis.
The fixtures were installed throughout the sanctuary as part of a project “to bring the church into the 21st century,” said LD Justin Casey of Helm Projects, who designed the new lighting system. Casey revitalized the interior of the church by replacing its old ellipsoidals with a system made up of 12 Rogue R1 Washes, 12 COLORdash Par-Quad 18 RGBA par style fixtures and six COLORado Batten 72 Tour RGBWA linear washes.
“I had been in the room before for some events, so I was familiar to the people there,” said Casey. “Pastor Miller wanted to revive the room and give it a new energy. They reached out to me, as they were looking for some advice on things they could do that would be impactful but sill would be within their budget. At the same time, they didn’t want the church to look like a club. So my emphasis was on washing the walls and key architectural elements with rich colors. I saw the Rogue R1 at a demo in Nashville and was really impressed with its size and brightness. We were looking for a wash fixture that could take up very little room and also one that had a nice zoom range on it, so the Rogue was hired!”
Casey positioned his Rogue R1 units on the floor and had them shine up the wall across the entire area backing the stage. The zoom range of the fixture gave him the opportunity to create varied looks by mixing tight beams with broader washes.
“The Rogues provide us with a lot of impact for a relatively low investment,” he said. “We can do beams on some songs and wider washes on others – or we can mix them. The dimmer curve is also extremely smooth, and it looks very crisp when we run dimming chases.”
Controlling his system with a Martin M1, Casey does do some chases during praise sections, but for the most part lighting is more low-keyed for this traditional congregation. “We really rely most on colors to create a nice atmosphere and set different tones throughout services,” he said. “We have been using cool colors that are contrasting for the worship part of the service. Then, for the sermon, Pastor Miller likes saturated colors like red and ambers to be able to bring some warmth and energy to his sermon.”
Also adding color and warmth to the room are the six COLORado Batten 72 Tour washes that Casey has arranged three each on the ledges that flank the stage. The 12 COLORdash Par-Quad 18 fixtures are also positioned on the stage floor with the Rogues and are used to provide background color and uplighting.
“The people at New Covenant are very happy with the end result, which makes me happy, because they were really great to work with,” said Casey. “They had a vision they wanted to achieve, and even though they had a limited budget they were able to achieve it. That’s the whole point of having affordable fixtures that do a good job.”
For more information on Helm Projects visit: www.helmprojects.com
NEW YORK – People who go to a moe. concert thinking they know what to expect, have probably never been to a moe. concert before. The quintet from upstate New York epitomizes the freewheeling improvisational unpredictability of jam band music, as it reels off 10-minute riffs with casual ease and seamlessly moves from song to song with nary a break in between. No two moe. performances are ever alike, which is why so many dedicated fans (aka “moe.rons”) have been to 30…40…50… or more of the group’s concerts.
More details from Chauvet (www.chauvetlighting.com):
A show by band that’s original enough to incorporate a xylophone into its tunes requires a lightshow that’s unique, varied and very flexible. This is exactly what Justin Casey of Pulse Lighting has been serving up on the current US moe. tour with help from 12 CHAUVET Professional Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures, supplied by Main Light Industries.
Casey positions the 360° rotating moving fixtures (each of which has five independently controlled moving heads) three apiece on four upright truss poles that are spread evenly across upstage risers at most venues. “This is the Rogue R1 FX-B ground package that’s most adaptable,” he said. “We can use it at all of the different size venues we appear at. I want to put the Rogues behind the band, because it gives me some very great geometrical shapes and positions that I can use to capture all of the different twists and turns that the group takes throughout the show. We really get an endless variety of looks with this fixture.”
Adding to the variety of looks Casey created has been the Rogue R1 FX-B’s pixel mapping capabilities. “We did a lot of pixel mapping,” he said. “Combined with the individual tilting of the heads, it makes for some very dynamic effects when we need them. Really, there are so many options for different positions, you can always come up with new looks and hold back something, so you’re always introducing something fresh as the show progresses to keep things interesting.”
Also coming in for praise from Casey was the brightness of the Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures. Controlling his rig with a grand MA2 Light Console, the LD has four high output strobes, as well as 10 profiles and six washes, on his rig. At times, when he has his movers lighting air over and behind the band, he will sweep the stage with crossing patterns from his Rogue R1 FX-B units. In these instances, the intense Rogues have no trouble making their presence felt.
“The Rogues are very bright lights, which really helps at some venues,” he said. “We never worry about them getting overshadowed by other fixtures. The rig we have for this tour is really well blended; everything works together regardless of which direction we push it.”
Working together smoothly even when moving in new and unexpected directions has been a trademark of moe. On this tour it’s an apt description of their lightshow too.
NEW YORK – For jam band moe.'s winter tour, LD Justin Casey chose a rig that included 12 Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K20s and four Stormy CC RGBW LED Strobes, with a grandMA2 light and onPC Command Wing for lighting control. Although a lot of venues have strobe lights in their house rigs, Casey selected the Stormy CC RGBW Strobes to add color to conventional strobe effects. A lighting designer with Nashville-based Pulse Lighting, Justin Casey has been working with the band since last July. Moe. tours year-round; their winter tour recently concluded in NYC.
More details from ACT Lighting (www.actlighting.com):
A.C.T. Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of both Clay Paky and MA Lighting products in North America.
“The band celebrated its 25th anniversary year in 2015, and the winter tour wrapped in New York City on St. Patrick’s Day,” says Casey. “I’ll be redesigning the winter rig for Moe.’s summer festival tour.” Main Light Industries supplied the lights and consoles for the winter tour.
Casey chose 12 Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K20s and four Stormy CC RGBW LED Strobes for the rig. The B-EYEs were the “workhorses of the rig” delivering the primary lighting for the band as well as “eye candy in their pixel-mapping mode,” he explains. “I liked having full control of the lights to create my own very colorful gobo effects – the band got crazy and the lights got crazy, too. The B-EYEs gave me the ability to make things different all the time; they set the rig apart from others that moe. had before.”
Casey is new to B-EYEs having seen them at LDI and at product demos. “Up ‘til now I haven’t had a client who was a good fit for them,” he notes. “Moe. is a really creative jam band so the B-EYEs’ really cool eye candy and kaleidoscopic looks suited them.”
Casey deployed the B-EYEs in a ground package or flew them depending on the size of the venue. “Sometimes we flew half and used half on the ground,” he says. “In smaller venues they were all on the ground.”
People commented on the powerful lights “every time we did a show,” Casey reports. “In their pixel-mapping mode I could do different color chases and dimming runs. Sometimes I used them as rings, sometimes I used the middle couple of cells, sometimes they were washes open wide and throwing color everywhere.”
But “programming the B-EYEs was a task at first,” says Casey who also served as lighting programmer and board operator. “A.C.T was really helpful in getting a profile up and running for exactly how I wanted to use the B-EYEs.”
Although a lot of venues have strobe lights in their house rigs, Casey selected the Stormy CC RGBW Strobes to add color to conventional strobe effects. “They gave us a traditional look for some songs and a lot of color saturation for others,” he explains. “It was nice to have them along on the tour.”
Casey used a grandMA2 light for lighting control and an onPC Command Wing for back up. “grandMA2 is my go-to console,” he says. “It was the console I wanted to learn, and I’m still learning more and more every day. It gives me the flexibility to design a show exactly as I want it and to set up the palette so it’s comfortable for me to run the show night after night. For moe. the grandMA2’s Layout Views made pixel mapping the B-EYEs amazing; it was also easy to develop custom effects.”
Casey had the onPC Command Wing as back up in session. He also used it in his home studio to preprogram the winter tour. “It was great to have the control surface at home and see everything in MA 3D because we had no rehearsal time at the venues. It made my life way easier,” he says.
“Main Light has been great to me during the tour,” Casey notes. “They know how the road is and sent me out with great gear.
“A.C.T’s technical support was amazing, too. It was really huge. If I had any questions on site I’d call and they were on it right away giving me an answer or walking me through a solution.”